April 6th, 2002
Dear Friends,
The Passover has now passed and we have all returned home to resume our daily
tasks and continue on in the count to Pentecost.
As usual we faced a series of problems which exposed common errors in thinking.
The one we face more than most is self righteousness and it was evident in a
number of places from the various post feast reports.
I will issue a paper on this most difficult of all sins in the not too distant
future.
One of the most serious problems we face is the brainwashing that members of
the churches of God have experienced in their previous church groups and their
inability to see the reason God destroyed the system as he did. I raised this
problem in Australia at the feast site. It was obvious that some found it difficult
to expose and challenge aberrant behaviour and brainwashing in the churches
of God. I said that we could see the most extraordinary behaviour carried out
by the ministry of various COGs and yet when we rightly condemned that behaviour
then people became uncomfortable with that criticism. A number of people agreed
with my assessment on this brainwashing effect on the churches and especially
by the Armstrong ministry. One young man who had been exposed to it all his
life agreed and said to me that he hated what they did to the church but he
had been so affected in their conditioning that he was unsettled when they were
criticised and it was purely because of the mind control they had exercised
all those years. Most people do not comprehend that they have been brainwashed
and think it impious to expose these hypocrites. Recognising that one has been
brainwashed is the first step to overcoming it and regaining control of your
mind and thinking processes.
A caretaker of one of the facilities that we were at was a previous member of
the WCG system and said that in 1996 he had been exposed to the criticism of
the system and he had read a Philadelphia Trumpet magazine which stated that
Herbert W. Armstrong had really been Elijah and that settled things for him.
I did not even answer him nor did the minister with me who knew him. That minister
had been a founding member of the Armstrong church in the state we were in and
one of the original twelve there. We said nothing because this man simply could
not bear truth. He had adopted the cultic approach that resolved all debate
to one issue. Did you or did you not believe that Herbert Armstrong was Elijah?
If the answer is yes then there was no need to prove all things, as he was infallible.
If you did not then there was no point in discussion over truth as you denied
a basic tenet of the faith of the PCG system. The fact that Herbert Armstrong
never got a prophecy right and his system was destroyed because of the corruption
of its ministry in the sight of God was of no reality to their followers. It
was never even discussed. We have found this to be so all over the world with
the cult followers of Armstrong when they come to us. It is a long process to
deprogram these people as they are seriously damaged emotionally and intellectually.
The reasons why Armstrong could not have been Elijah are contained in the paper
Elijah? (No. 233). It is recommended that you familiarise yourself with that
paper and simply hand it to people that are damaged in this way. Do not debate
with them as it merely reinforces their delusional mindset. The ministry with
us that have come from the PCG system agree with this reasoning.
We have even seen our ministry still influenced by the charismatic approach
to the leadership of this organisation.
I say and the facts are that God has removed these people from the leadership
of His people and we had all better realise that and turn from its influences.
That ministry can repent and turn to us as many have genuinely done but the
ministry itself as a system is being systematically destroyed.
Each of you will see and hear people from many different backgrounds come to
us and at the Passover we will always be faced with new and difficult trials
and people. Do not be affected by it and be strengthened by the requirements
to deal with such influences. I have noticed that James and I are often the
focus of such attacks and it is often along the lines of the reaction to overturning
false doctrine within the churches of God and the Armstrongite system seems
to be the worst. I have seen entire families reduced to the inability to discuss
religion at all because people in the Armstrongite system simply cannot address
the truth of basic issues and be compelled by the logic of the arguments in
truth.
Each of us should be concerned with the love of one another and the ability
to overcome the problems evident in those joining us. Some find it difficult
to deal with such problems. Each of us is being strengthened to be leaders in
God's system. Leadership starts with the self and your own family. If you cannot
control your own family then you cannot control the church of God. Remember
that fact fathers and husbands. Wives submit yourselves to your husbands as
to Christ, and all support the church in all due humility and service.
Love one another and keep the faith.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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