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Archive for the ‘The Memory Hole’ Category

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The Kessler Letter–Corruption in the Cult

In Anti-Cult, The Memory Hole on December 4, 2011 at 7:55 pm

A bowl of spiders--revisited?

I just found this surprisingly eloquent and lucid piece of anti-corruption polemical from one of WCG’s disowned top officials. It’s obviously old news, but I’ve never seen or heard of it before. I wonder if anyone else knows about it or about what became of the author’s promised effort to hold Armstrong and his henchmen legally accountable for their alleged financial corruption after the state failed to zero in on the real problem: Armstrong himself.

Well, anyway, enjoy this scathing indictment of the lying fools who cramped your style and played like high-rollers with your hard-earned money (oh, and be sure not to miss the reference to Herbert’s prosthetic dildo! After all, you paid for it)… … Continue reading.

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Dear Brethren and Co-Workers!

In Flurry's Follies, He Was Wrong!, The Memory Hole on November 29, 2011 at 7:12 am

One might be well within the bounds of reason to surmise that being disfellowshipped and Marked means our access to inside information for the PCG is severely limited, if not downright cut off completely. However, you would also be mistaken! You see, while the prospect of being cut off from friends and family does keep many in the “pews” (chairs), it is not a policy that engenders loyalty. So, in truth, PCG is merely keeping spies in their midst that would happily fade away given the chance.

More’s the pity.

However, one man’s loss is another man’s gain, and that is where we come in. AD has a network of insiders passing us vital documents, like the most recent Co-Worker letter! … Continue reading.

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The Memory Hole

In Anti-Cult, He Was Wrong!, Pseudo-History, The Memory Hole on September 16, 2011 at 11:53 am

We have a section here at Armstrong Delusion called “the memory hole”. It is a section dedicated to long forgotten Armstrongist teachings. But we didn’t just come up with something that sounded kinda clever; no, the idea came from George Orwell’s masterful 1984. It is a dystopian novel about how life would be in 1984 (the book was written in 1948) under communist world rule.

Space Commies create a Cosmic Memory Hole

Within easy reach of Winston’s arm, [there was] a large oblong slit protected by a wire grating. This…was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building.” The purpose of these “memory holes” was the destruction of any printed material, any picture, book, newspaper, whatever, that was “out of date” or “inconvenient”. It was a destroyer of evidence.

Read the rest of this entry »

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F-16s Fly-over of Church Campus in Edmond Raises Questions.

In Anti-Cult, Flurry's Follies, The Memory Hole on July 15, 2011 at 9:07 pm

WTF?

On June 28, 2011 the Edmond Sun announced that “Armstrong Auditorium’s 2011-12 performing arts series will kick off July 3 with the screaming thunder of F-16s from the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard … when four F-16 Fighting Falcons fly over the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College …” Armstrong’s marketing director Shane Granger said the fly-over was “part of our Independence Day celebrations at Armstrong,” the Sun reported.

So the Pentagon is helping Gerald Flurry’s Philadelphia Church of God kick off their concert series. This might seem innocuous at first, but if we take a closer look, it raises some disturbing issues. … Continue reading.

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This Means War!

In The Memory Hole on July 15, 2011 at 5:18 am

Eric Sell

Blessed be the Lord my God that teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. -Ps 144:1

The recent news of the flyover of the PCG campus has stirred a lot of questions. One of the biggest questions has been “who paid for it?”. We’re not the only “anti-Armstrong” blog talking about it, either. Do any kind of Google search for Armstrong Auditorium Flyover and you’ll find a few. Many are asking “what’s Flurry’s angle?”. Others are decrying the event as a cheap publicity stunt designed to move the PCG out of “cult status”.

All valid points.

So, what will this bit of writing add to the collective conversation? A new angle; it was inspired by the many comments that ran something like this: how can this happen? Sure hope the taxpayers didn’t have to foot the bill for this since PCG preaches against being in the military! Read the rest of this entry »

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Deutschland Uber Alles?

In He Was Wrong!, Prophecy, The Memory Hole on March 23, 2011 at 11:52 pm

Eric Sell

During the past several months we’ve published several articles on the subject of prophecy–specifically, the brand peddled by Armstrongism. However, to date we have not specifically written about one of the biggest pieces of Armstrongism’s prophetic pie—the doctrine of a re-emergent, militant Germany! Today, that omission is rectified. Read the rest of this entry »

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A Broken Key: The Case Against British Israelism (Part Two)

In He Was Wrong!, Prophecy, The Memory Hole on January 2, 2011 at 9:14 pm

Herbert W. Armstrong needs no introduction, but it would be prudent at this point to modify our perception of the man. When Armstrong walked onto the stage of BI history he was not the bombastic preacher of prophecy that we knew him to be. In the late 1920′s, when he first encountered BI, this self-proclaimed “idea man” was all out of ideas. Once a rock star of the advertising world, he was now humiliated, unemployed and desperately grasping for a way of escape from the obscurity he had been plunged into. It was under these bleak, ego-starving circumstances that Armstrong had turned to religion. But what began as a search for solace quickly blossomed into a new opportunity for self-promotion.

Through a neighbor the Armstrongs were introduced to a local congregation of the CoG (Seventh Day), which just happened to be that of Andrew Dugger, editor of The Bible Advocate. It was around this time, in 1926, that Armstrong’s prosaic view of Christianity was challenged by his wife Loma, specifically on the point of the Sabbath. Driven more by the threat to his ego (“wifely religious fanaticism” as he put it himself) than a thirst for truth, Armstrong launched a new career, one that would befit his high opinion of himself. He would eschew the search for honest employment in favor of long days at the library, poring over tedious books on theology, esoteric theories, and pseudo-scientific pablum.

The “idea man” was back in the saddle. … Continue reading

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He Was RIGHT! So Give Us Your Money or Die!

In He Was Wrong!, Prophecy, The Memory Hole on December 4, 2010 at 2:34 pm

Uh...no, he wasn't.

We recently got hold of the May 5, 2010 PCG Co-Worker letter. It was written much better than the most recent Co-Worker letter (about why Flurry is now an Apostle). This one is better because it has a very clear message: “He was right!”…and because he (Armstrong) was right and Bible prophecy is being fulfilled, then, basically, give the work your money lest you be left behind when everyone else goes to the place of safety.

In this letter Flurry plugs the booklet He Was Right and says how, well, “right” everything Armstrong said was. Well, was it? This is an important question, for if Armstrong was right—if prophecy is being fulfilled and the end truly is nigh—then we all need to start figuring out which WCG (now Grace Communion International) splinter group to support—and since there are at least 400, we better get a move on!

“A reunited Germany will dominate a soon-to-be-resurrected Holy Roman Empire! That was Herbert W. Armstrong’s keynote prophecy, which he forecast even as the flames from World War II smoldered amid the rubble of German cities.” These are the opening sentences for He Was Right. Most of us would recognize the above “keynote prophecy”. Who among us does not remember the astonishment our parents had as Germany recovered from the ashes of defeat? For us, it was maybe not so amazing since we weren’t old enough to see the most powerful nation in Europe brought to its knees…after it nearly succeeded in conquering all of Europe, Britain, Russia, and northern Africa. It was not so amazing for us to see it prospering since we did not see how terribly it had been bombed. But for many it was. That is why Mr. Armstrong’s prophecy that its resurrection to power (for the third time in a century) would happen was so striking—and frightening.

Unfortunately for us (and them) something had been forgotten. … Continue reading

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the GAP

In The Memory Hole on November 1, 2010 at 5:56 am

There was a time when I was a real “true believer” in the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong. So much of what he taught made sense. Of course it should have, since he took the Bible at face value to mean what it says it means. Sure, there are a hundred different ways to interpret the Bible, but reading it like it’s written seems pretty logical to me. A couple teachings really struck me as particularly, well, awesome. These teachings were, to me, emblematic of all the ways HWA was right and led by God, and how the rest of Christianity was clearly of Satan. These were the 7,000 Year Plan, and the re-creation of the earth. … Continue reading

EXTRA!!! EXTRA!!!

In Flurry's Follies, The Memory Hole on October 18, 2010 at 9:55 pm

 

Shocking developments of a rather confusing nature!!!

 

Edmond: ‘Tis the season of witches, ghouls, mystery and masquerade—and according to our sources, Gerald Flurry has finally decided to get into the spirit of All Hallows Eve by donning yet another farcical (but highly entertaining) mask. In fact, this one is so good even we were baffled by it. It seems the beloved Fuehrer has decided that he is, in fact, an apostle. That’s right folks, he’s added yet another title to his burgeoning resume. According to our informants, who recently had the pleasure of listening to a sermon by the man himself, Flurry came to this conclusion via—get this—logic. It seems that, according to the biblical model, God speaks directly to prophets, but only indirectly to apostles. Flurry realized, after two decades of claiming the prophetic role, that God doesn’t actually talk to him! Shocking, I know. But instead of demoting himself to the rank of evangelist, he decided that he deserved a raise. That’s right: Gerald Flurry is now on the same level as the Apostles Peter, Paul and (ostensibly) David Pack. The really curious aspect of all this is that even though Flurry has officially proclaimed his switch from prophet to apostle, he retains the title “That Prophet.” Hey, he wrote a book about it and everything, so it’s kinda difficult to put that (black) cat back into the bag. Obviously we’ll be monitoring this breaking story with considerable relish and we’ll bring you additional information as soon as it becomes available through our various channels. Stay tuned!

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