Dennis Diehl posted The End of Fear yesterday over at Banned by HWA. The post consisted of a documentary style, short video with former members of Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God. The focus of the program was Armstrong's obsession with the prophesied horrors of the end time. Among the commentary which followed, I thought that one was particularly perceptive. The commentator wrote:
"HWA and Trump have one key manipulative technique in common. In order to sell their philosophy, both worked very hard at destroying trust in the normal practices and institutions upon which we have all grown up trusting and counting upon. I recognized this as a teenager in the WCG, and I certainly recognized it and saw it happening again on a larger scale here in the USA beginning in 2016-2017. Add some fear with readily disprovable conspiracy theories, and get enough people "authenticating" and spreading the lies, and you have a lever and fulcrum to manipulate massive numbers of people into a revolutionary level of insanity.
So many of us worked very hard to free ourselves from the damage done by HWA. We'll know sometime in the coming week whether or not we have a second, larger scale and more damaging scenario to live against as the election processes itself."
In response, I wrote:
Herbie preached that traditional Christianity was deceived and doing the Devil's work. He pointed out that higher education and science hadn't solved all of our problems either. Armstrong presented a world, and a nation headed for disaster and failure. Only God's direct intervention would prevent mankind from destroying himself and the planet he inhabited! Moreover, the state of California and a group of "dissidents" were attacking God's one and only "true" church (not Armstrong's and church leadership's malfeasance).
Likewise, Trump preached that the U.S. had lost its greatness and was headed for disaster and failure. He methodically and deliberately sowed and encouraged mistrust of our government, alliances, media, universities, and other institutions. Only he could save America from itself - from the "enemy within" who was seeking to destroy all that was good - those evil Democrats. Also, like Herbie, his enemies were America's enemies - they weren't really attacking him - they were attacking the U.S. Hence, all of the charges against him were a giant "witch hunt" meant to undermine his efforts to "help" the people of the United States.
It was bullsh-t back in the day, and it's bullsh-t in 2024! Both men cultivated a cult of personality and played on the fears of their followers. Moreover, the results were largely the same - a group of disciples who would excuse their every failure and remain loyal in the face of so much clear evidence of their own corruption and personal failures.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So, we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. --I John 4:16-18
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