Thank you for this web page! As a student in a
residential school for the blind, I had a chance to listen to my radio in the
evenings after study hall. I was interested in science and news. Mutual
Network had a program hosted by Tony Marvin, "The World Today." CBS had
Lowell Thomas and "The World Tonight." (See where we're going?) "The World
Tomorrow" first with Herbert
Armstrong, then Garner Ted, absolutely grabbed my
interest as a 14-year-old. The counselors ("house parents") at the school were
more interested in keeping order, making sure we got our homework done, and
preventing the girl students from getting pregnant, and felt that our religion
was our own business as long as we all ate fish on Friday and didn't
disrespect the views of others.
I am fortunate in that when I attended
Worldwide Church of God I had
not yet had the training I needed for successful employment, and therefore,
was not a source of income for the church, let alone myself. My Social
Security Disability and food stamps were what I lived on after I graduated
from the school for the blind.
While I was not "damaged" by the WCG, I was not
fully accepted by other members. The real line was crossed when it was
decided that the prayer of faith would heal the sick. Now, this gets
interesting. I have been blind since birth from bilateral congenital
cataracts; my mother was exposed to rubella before I was born. After
anointing, the laying on of hands, etc., nothing happened. Of course, I am
certain it was because I didn't have enough faith. :)
I look back on the experience of 40 years ago as
more of a stupid joke, a bad dream or something on that scale. But I am aware
that people have sold their homes, property and burned bridges with family
members to get ready for the tribulation that so far has not come, a bit like
the followers of William Miller did back in the 1800s.
Happily, today I am not a member of any church,
though I do worship God and trust Him for what I need. I have worked as a
medical transcriptionist for many years now, and support my wife and two
teenage boys. We have a mortgage on our three-bedroom house, and own a 1978
Mercury that still runs.
If the WCG did anything for me it was to make me
question not only what I believed at the time, but it caused me to question
what was being taught by the WCG itself. To his credit, in the early days,
Herbert W., said, "Don't believe it just because I say it, read your own
Bible." It was really only later that Herbert W. Armstrong started telling
the general public that he was God's true spokesman. (And they used to tell
us that the Pope was the antichrist.)
I will keep this potentially lengthy story short,
thanking you for the opportunity to share my views with you.
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