Old magazines are about as close as most of us can get to time travel, so welcome to 1968, courtesy of Life magazine and the Covering 1968 blog. In 1968, Life ran this ad (click to enlarge). There's the Plain Truth with a mushroom cloud cover, and the wacky Wonderful World Tomorrow booklet that explained what it would really be like in the twenty-first century. Yours free and gratis!Talk about messing with your head! Here, as listed on Covering 1968, are some clips from the text.
“It was never like this before”
“All of a sudden what’s happened? It was never like this before.
“Unsafe to walk on streets–in city or in town! Your house may be broken into if you’re away! Crime rampant, even in residence areas!
“Student revolt in 20 countries–violence on campuses. Disheveled hippies lolling about aimlessly.
“Unhappy marriages–increasing divorce– juvenile delinquency! WHY this sudden breaking down of family life?
“Racial strife, mass demonstrations, riots, looting, VIOLENCE! And threat of nuclear war!”
. . . “Many scientists are frightened! They and even military leaders are now using such phrases such as ‘Armageddon’–and ‘the end of the world.’ Humanity’s BIG problem, now, is SURVIVAL!”
Which leads one to wonder, would a major mainstream magazine today run an ad like this? Would Reader's Digest accept an ad for PCG's Malachi's Message? Could LCG promote Armageddon and Beyond in TV Guide?How about the racist trash that parades as the key to biblical prophecy? How likely is it that a full page ad for UCG's The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy could appear in O: The Oprah Magazine?
Of course, anything can be (and is) promoted on the Internet, but perhaps not with the veneer of respectability that Life lent to Herbert Armstrong back in 1968.
68 comments:
Disheveled hippies lolling about aimlessly.
Oh man, that's priceless!
The Apostate Paul
Oh yeah, the hippies! Or, were they "beatniks" or "flower children"? Searching for the truth...
Down with the establishment, free love, Mary Jane and LSD. You can sure tell that Jesus is about to return.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
"He who will not eat of my body and drink of my blood, so that he will be made one with me and I with him, the same shall not know salvation." - Mithras.
This doesn't sound any more extreme than the right wing rantings of crazies like Beck and O'Reilly. Or Dobson.
I wonder if anyone re-sheveled all those dis-sheveled hippies?
I looked at my hardware store and I couldn't find any shevels. I did find some rakes and pick axes!
Looking at this ad, and knowing what I know now, I feel that I'm looking at the deceptive nature of pure evil.
I think what we had here was a lay over from the fear mongering 50s that had people in the West worried all the time about the Bomb. Things were said in videos in movie theaters and on TV like: "They can even blow up your house." The images that were staple for WCG fair even well into the 80s were reminders of the time when people were building underground shelters and hiding under desks in preparation for the big one.
The fear mongering of Herbert and his German apocalypse has been traded in for the fear mongering of Al Gore and his global warming apocalypse. Same s**t, different day.
I saw an ad from UCG in Reader's Digest in 2003. I think there were two ads. They were in hand outs placed in the magazine.
The first was promoting British Israelism. I think it was advertizing for UCG's BI booklet. More specifically it was 'asking questions' that I knew would lead to British Israelism.
The second promoted their Good News magazine.
So this advertizing still goes on.
The world according to WCG made sense in the 60's. After the first 19-year time cycle the gospel went to Europe in 1953. JFK's assassination began a decade in which it looked like things were falling apart in this country: the RFK & MLK assassinations, Vietnam, the counterculture, drug use, and the Civil Rights movement, which was threatening to many whites. It seemed quite logical that Franz Josef Strauss would be the strong man from Germany who would become the beast and that the second 19-year time cycle would herald the beginning of the end of this world's civilization. Of course it didn't work out that way, but it all made more sense at the time than we might appreciate looking back with hindsight. It helps to keep these things in context.
I think any advertizement that promotes any of Armstrongs teachings should be agressively challenged.
Call, e-mail or write the publication that prints or television stations that air these ads. Inform them that these are cultic groups that abuse their members. Urge them to discontinue the ads.
Jethro said...
The world according to WCG made sense in the 60's.
I could not agree more. There was Vietnam and the six day war as well along with anything one could imagine as pointing to the endtimes as outlined in the bible.
I know I had to be there. While looking back, I regret it, I had to be there then and had you tried to talk me out of it, I would have seen you as Satan trying to turn my devotion and understanding.
I don't kid myself. I made my choice to go to AC, to study to be a minister and to finally be one. It was a difficult road for me personally in many ways. The outcome was not as I would have thought, but during that window when I was young enough to fight in Vietnam (draft number 14), and the world was going to hell in a handbasket, it all seemed right.
Had I gone to the other seminary I was accepted to instead of AC, I probably would have gone through a similar process with it as I did with WCG...
Whatz with the "z"? Are lotz of wordz like advertizement spelled with a "z" in New Zealand?
"Looking at this ad, and knowing what I know now, I feel that I'm looking at the deceptive nature of pure evil."
I'm with you, Coco Joe, you hit it on the head.
Jethro: "z"? OK, I give up, what are you talking about?
Gavin,
I was rather shocked when I say an advertisement for Fred Coulter's "bible" in Psychology Today last month. So, really, anything is possible
for your free 3 month trial subscription...
"Just send this coupon to Ambassador College Press"
Hmm, hiding behind a Front-Organization.
No mention of Dr Perbert's Zombie-Control-Money-Extraction Cult.
That ad also appears in Archaeology and the BAR. A lot of money going into those full page promotions, but the latest ones seem to be funded by the Century One book store, not Fred directly.
where are the hippies now? they're all in washington, and still seeking to bring this nation down.
"“Unhappy marriages–increasing divorce– juvenile delinquency! WHY this sudden breaking down of family life?
“Racial strife, mass demonstrations, riots, looting, VIOLENCE! And threat of nuclear war!”
. . . “Many scientists are frightened! They and even military leaders are now using such phrases such as ‘Armageddon’–and ‘the end of the world.’ Humanity’s BIG problem, now, is SURVIVAL!”"
yep, it's all coming to be....most marriages end in divorce, kids killing kids, family life is virtually non-existant,...
race relations getting worse by the day (electing Obama didn't help in that area at all...lol)
looters strike every chance they get...
scientists are scared to death of global warming (which is a farce as well) and claim mankind's survival is at stake....
maybe ole Ted wasn't so far off base after all....
What seems funny to me is that "after the fact", Christians take credit for all scientific discoveries and accomplishments.
They fought against every scientific discovery and accomplishment down through history and had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to eventually accept it but later they say . . . he was a Christian, you know.
One of these days they will be saying, "Darwin was a Christian, you know".
It's too bad that so many had to suffer torture and die at the hands of good Christians before they were recognized - but hell, they were Christians, you know.
Anonymous, can you prove global warming is a farce? Maybe it is but to look back at my 62 years, there is definitely something changing - weather-wise, that is.
It probably doesn't matter, because we have always waited until it was too late, haven't we?
Frost used to kill the pumpkin vine and then Halloween was in season - not anymore, not where I live. Pumpkins are long gone before the frost anymore.
I used to eat a few persimmons after the first frost (you can't eat a persimmon before a good frost, they are too bitter) but now they have all fallen from the tree before it ever comes a frost.
I swear, a person could have grown oranges in Arkansas for the past 20 years, if they had only known that the weather would stay warm until January. It's crazy the way the climate has changed. But, we have people who are saying it's all a farce? Well, we'll see.
Readers Digest has always played the pimp in taking money from cults to promote their asinine beliefs. That is part of the reason Readers Digest has declined to almost nothing. RD has no impact any more, other than still taking cults money. Armstrongism and Mormonism were/are it's two biggest harlots.
Anon writes:
"yep, it's all coming to be....most marriages end in divorce, kids killing kids, family life is virtually non-existant,..."
Yep, it's already come to be...Armstrongite marriages are failing, divorce is rampant in Armstrongism, Armstrongite evangelist kids kill themselves, pastors kill them selves, ministers are rapists and child molesters, ordained men are sexual predators, family life in Armstrongism is just like their neighbors - broken homes, alcoholic parents, drug addict kids, unmarried daughters pregnant, lying church leaders stealing money from their members, con artists promoting false religion....ah yes, Armstrongism sure knows how to set an example!
The swelling crowds of free spirited Flower Children in San Francisco may have appeared to be anarchy to control freaks like HWA GTA RCM, but was mainly a reaction to the senseless carnage of Vietnam created by those other control freaks: politicians.
The rich street life of late 60's San Francisco reminds me of the wonderful street life of post revolution Paris (after centuries of tyranny & war) as masterfully recreated in 'Les Enfants du Paradis'(1945 B&W).
GTA was visibly irritated by the democratic nature of the Hippie & 'Jesus Movement' - the antithesis of his Orwellian-Zombie-Mind-Control-Wealth-Stripping cult.
"There was Vietnam and the six day war as well along with anything one could imagine as pointing to the endtimes as outlined in the bible."
And in the 80s in the church it was the Cold War and the destruction of the environment, Iran-Contra and Afghanistan, the Iron Curtain and the World Trade Organization and the European Union.
Forget "seeing yourself as one of the characters from the Bible", we saw the daily news in the Bible! That's seriously messed up, man.
Three-quarters of a century, and that Kingdom ain't come yet. It's the end of the world again and again and again and again.....
I really believe that all you guys are so afraid of the end time that you would rather pretend it won't happen so you scoff at others who believe God and are submitting their lives to Him. Anyone can see that the world is rapidly destroying itself and that the events Mr Armstrong prophesied are coming to pass not the exact way they expected but nonetheless are occuring daily.That is anyone not too afaid to look. It should be especially obvious to anyone who grew up in the fifties as I was. This is a whole different world -one with countries like N Korea Iran, India, China all having nuclear weapons. Do you think for a minute that North Korea will not use them? Terrorists have access to dirty bombs which they are waiting anxiously to unleash on the US and the UK. As I said anyone who is too afraid will always try to pretend and scoff at God,s messengers.
Corky said "Anonymous, can you prove global warming is a farce?"
No, Corky, he can't. en't we?
"... we have people who are saying it's all a farce..."
Yes, Corky, but they're a minority. Those who say this are mostly deeply religious and not very educated, especially not in the life sciences. You know, the same people who deny evolution and think the Bible is inerrant.
The Skeptic
I tend to see this as an issue of the free market instead of values. I find I must go back to the market frequently to explain such strange phenomena as evagelicalism.
At one time, back in the Sixties, there was a market for apocalyptic drivel among the readers of Life magazine. And Life was perfectly happy to accept money to run the ads.
There is still a large demand for apocalyptic drivel and I am amazed how often such material appears on the Discovery and History channnels in the US. While magazines do not seem to be the medium of choice any longer, novels and TV programming is selling briskly. The challenge to the COGs is how to capitalize on this momentum.
Like Bob Dylan said: "Money doesn't talk, it screams." And it nowhere screams louder than among the media-savvy religious right.
The Bear
The conditions described by the PT ad was extant at the time, and have gotten much worse since then. Only the supernaturally blind will fail to see that man is on a collision course with disaster. Scoffing is very easy, analysing the conditions is much more difficult!
Dennis observed: "I don't kid myself. I made my choice to go to AC, to study to be a minister and to finally be one." Therein lies the problem. One does not make a choice to become a minister; one has to be called by God. No wonder you failed to be faithful!
OK Tom, using your criteria please name one minister still living who WAS "faithful" and "called."
global warming, huh?
well, since 1998 the earth has been cooling slightly...doesn't sound like warming to me...
look at the graph al gore uses in his movie, the temperature goes up and then the CO2 starts to rise...doesn't sound like CO2 is causing that does it?
wonder what caused the last ice age to end? cavemen driving around in SUV's??? (it's ok though, they had GEICO, I'm sure)
our sun is a variable star, which means it's output varies....and so does the earth's temperature, but a few with political ambitions jump on the natural cycle and convince an ignorant population that we are causiing it....
critical thinking is a thing of the past, i suppose.
Anonymous said...
Corky said "Anonymous, can you prove global warming is a farce?"
No, Corky, he can't. en't we?
"... we have people who are saying it's all a farce..."
Yes, Corky, but they're a minority. Those who say this are mostly deeply religious and not very educated, especially not in the life sciences. You know, the same people who deny evolution and think the Bible is inerrant.
The Skeptic
The earth might be warming, but it isn't from CO2 from man's efforts. Its from solar activity in the last 20 years that was off the charts (which is now, btw, quite silent).
The entire GW theory is based on computer models of chaotic systems and they do not include fluctuations in solar radiation. Garbage in, garbage out.
Check out http://www.bobbrinsmead.com/e_index.html>
Anonymous said...
I really believe that all you guys are so afraid of the end time that you would rather pretend it won't happen so you scoff at others who believe God and are submitting their lives to Him.
Afraid? Not at all. Nobody gets out of this life alive! I'm more afraid of being frozen in place by a cult again, 34 years of my life wasted in that mess.
Anyone can see that the world is rapidly destroying itself and that the events Mr Armstrong prophesied are coming to pass not the exact way they expected but nonetheless are occuring daily.
Your phrasing "believe God and are submitting their lives to Him." (you really mean HWA) is interesting because you declare those prophecies to be HWA's and NOT GOD'S!
That is anyone not too afaid to look. It should be especially obvious to anyone who grew up in the fifties as I was. This is a whole different world -one with countries like N Korea Iran, India, China all having nuclear weapons. Do you think for a minute that North Korea will not use them?
How can you simultaneously believe that God bets all his poker chips on Herbert Armstrong and his followers and not believe God also has full control of what he lets North Korea and China do?
Do you really think God is going to let a few loony tunes nuke life off this planet? There might be a few go off. I don't know. Somehow I doubt it.
Terrorists have access to dirty bombs which they are waiting anxiously to unleash on the US and the UK. As I said anyone who is too afraid will always try to pretend and scoff at God,s messengers.
And if they did, there wouldn't be a Mecca, or a single Muslim country left who was involved in doing that.
Anonymous 4:12 wrote:
"Anyone can see that the world is rapidly destroying itself and that the events Mr Armstrong prophesied are coming to pass not the exact way they expected but nonetheless are occuring daily."
Anon, your above comment only serves to highlight your deep ignorance of both the history of the world and the actual state of today’s society. For your end-time apocalyptic view of the world is simply not supported by the objective facts.
Of course, I realize fully that you will, in your arrogant prophetic sense of “certainty" mock these facts, as fundamentalists ridicule all facts not in accord with their intellectually lazy worldview. But they are FACTS nonetheless.
To those laboring under the widespread yet FALSE assumption (heavily promoted by the end-time fundamentalist community) that things are getting more and more violent in the world in general, to cite but one example, I would recommend they watch the following 19-minute video. All I ask is that you give it a fair hearing, because it will probably go against the grain of what 99% of you presently believe.
http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the
_myth_of_violence.html
(Please copy and paste one line at a time into your internet browser because I just don’t know how to get the above link all into one easily copied line without being cut off by the right margin restrictions.)
The written work of the late Dr. Julian Simon would also be a good supplement to Pinker’s presentation. Virtually ALL the objective data and statistics show that things—on the whole when taken in aggregate—are getting much less violent when compared to what they once were.
Yes, you read that correctly, the documented facts tell us unambiguously that today’s world, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, is actually getting considerably LESS violent than it once was when seen from a broad historical overview.
Fundamentalists will bristle at this reality because it mercilessly rips out from under them the foundation of fear upon which their end-time views are based. But as John Adams once said, ““Facts are stubborn things. Whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
And I’m more than willing to debate anybody who challenges my above assertion. At one time I fought against it too, because it went against all that I learned in the COG about the present state of the world. But facts, rather than the bogus prophecies of the Bible and HWA, ultimately persuaded me.
Will you allow them to persuade YOU as well, or will you continue to persist in your incredible ignorance, thinking that this is somehow pleasing to God?
Anonymous said...
I really believe that all you guys are so afraid of the end time that you would rather pretend it won't happen so you scoff at others who believe God and are submitting their lives to Him.
Just one more thing you believe that's simply not true.
Actually you're just one more person from the Kingdom of the Blind visiting a discussion group of one-eyed people.
Tom Mahon wrote:
"Scoffing is very easy, analysing the conditions is much more difficult!"
I agree with you, Tom - scoffing against the objective facts of reality is indeed very easy and takes no intellectual effort at all, and that's why you have based your supernatural religious beliefs upon such scoffing, replacing facts with the Bible’s “sure word of prophecy” which have never come to pass as predicted when correctly understood.
I suggest you read through my above comment addressed to Anonymous 4:12 because it applies just as much to your astounding sense of ignorance and foolishness as it does to his.
Corky said...
Anonymous, can you prove global warming is a farce? Maybe it is but to look back at my 62 years, there is definitely something changing - weather-wise, that is.
Corky,
Check out this book:
Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, the Missing Science
by Ian Plimer
Author and Professor in the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide
Gavin said...
>>OK Tom, using your criteria please name one minister still living who WAS "faithful" and "called."<<
Personally, I have never met a faithful minister, except Mr. Armstrong. But that is not to say that Mr. Armstrong was the only faithful minister in WCG.
In addition, it is not my "criteria." When referring to the office of the high priest, Paul was inspired to write: "And no man takes this honour unto himself, but he that is CALLED of God, as was Aaron"(Hebs.5:4). Also, Jesus told his disciples whom he later appointed apostles, "I have chosen you, you have not chosen me."
Anyone who seeks to be a minister, without God's calling, is bound to prove to be a hireling.
What you're saying, Tom, is that everybody is out of step with reality except you. All the ministers were hirelings, you alone have not bowed the knee to Baal.
What's wrong with this picture?
Gavin said...
>>What you're saying, Tom, is that everybody is out of step with reality except you.<<
Where did I say that? I said HWA was a faithful minister, and there might have been others, but I never met them.
>>All the ministers were hirelings, you alone have not bowed the knee to Baal.<<
I never said anything of the kind, either. I said, and this is borne out the multiplicity of the church groups that have been formed since the break up of WCG, that the majority of WCG's ministers turned out to be hirelings. That is not might opinion! Just check John chapter 10 and compare what it says with the behaviour of the ministers operating in cog-land, and even you would conclude that they are making merchandise of some very deluded people. Therefore, they are hirelings.
Ridiculous? Yes. However, this little branch of a branch of a failed religion didn't exactly write the book on preaching a fear of a world that surpasses reality. They were just copying what the big kids were doing.
Don't be too hard on them unless you've personally sat through a real "hell-fire" sermon. The Armstrong message was quite polite by comparison and I can totally see the appeal. It isn't YOUR fault, it is Satan and all of the other WORLDLY people that will cause the Earth's ultimate destruction. Nice twist, Herbie.
only 143, 998 to go ;-)
anonymous said: "I really believe that all you guys are so afraid of the end time that you would rather pretend it won't happen so you scoff at others who believe God and are submitting their lives to Him."
Give me a break. I'm sick of being told I have to be afraid and growing up being scared I wouldn't be old enough to be married only to be having grandkids soon cuz the boogey man end of the world still isn't here. I don't just scoff at others who believe in god, I scoff at myself for having believed in god.
tom said: "Only the supernaturally blind will fail to see that man is on a collision course with disaster."
A collision course with disaster? What drugs are you on? Yeah, we have some short term financial corrections going on and we face dealing with global warming, but we are also far advanced in solving many problems compared to a few years ago. Medical science keeps making vast improvements in extending our life span. There are many other improvements in many areas. Stop looking for the boogey man and see the wonderment in the world around you.
After looking at the 'Covering 1968' link I noticed that this AD is actually a PROPHECY! Yes its headline actually boldly predicts that by the 21st century, the utopian Millennium will be a reality - cleansed of disheveled hippies, opponents of Arm$trong theology & Ambassador dress-code (almost everyone!)
It's nice that God's Rep, Perbert, could speak with such authority and confidence.
Perbert also predicted that his mega feast sites would be no longer required after 1972. He almost got this one right as they would be abandoned 20 years later for different reasons: a collapse of his autocratic cult.
Those who take a more analytical approach to history would see how impossible the Christ Myth is and could confidently predict: not 1972,not 1982, not 1992, not 2002 (even for Nostradamus - a believer in the Christ Myth - no Jesus in 2000!) and not 2012.
"Personally, I have never met a faithful minister, except Mr. Armstrong."
*chokes on spews coffee all over the keyboard*
And what criteria did you use to come to that conclusion? It's certainly not from the Bible- Armstrong pretty much fails the minister test.
The Apostate Paul
It’s very clear to me that when dealing with the likes of certain fundamentalists who blog here, we are dealing with those so stuck in the quicksand of self-delusion, with those who have become so disastrously addicted to circular reasoning that they can’t even remotely see it, who have mentally built up such a robust immunity to any object FACTS that run contrary to their religious ideology, that I really don't know what can be done other to just let them alone to live out their fantasy life, assuming they have no access to weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, it’s tragic when someone actually believes they will be ruling over nations in “the world of tomorrow” – and that only THEY have a correct understanding of reality— but what else can be done? And can you imagine what a delight the world would be to live in when ruled over by multiple THOUSANDS of such folks?
NOT!
Such people illustrate one of the great dangers of adopting supernatural ideologies as a window to reality, and that is that sometimes (though, on the whole, I think it’s relatively rare in the Western world) a person crosses over a certain point where a sane return to rationality is no longer possible because they have waged a mental war against objective reality for so long that, very unfortunately, they come to the place where they truly believe they are the only “chosen ones” who are on God’s side. Sort of a secular version of “the unpardonable sin,” so to speak.
On rare occasions I've had the serious misfortune of witnessing fundamentalists get very close to that "point of no return" and it can be frighteningly scary how disconnected from reality a human mind can become.
What in the name of all that is unholy possessed Thielogical Bob to yammer about the Berlin Wall as proof of his Mayan prophecy?
"Personally, I have never met a faithful minister, except Mr. Armstrong."
You mean "the faithful minister" Mr. Armstrong who used to eat on the Day of Atonement, do you?
PurpleHymnal said...
"Personally, I have never met a faithful minister, except Mr. Armstrong."
"You mean "the faithful minister" Mr. Armstrong who used to eat on the Day of Atonement, do you?"
C'mon now, PH. You know that HWA had to keep his strength up because he had to preach on Atonement,so it was OK for him to have some coffee, or OJ or other sustanence. Besides, HWA had a special calling from God and was therefore exempt from the rules that applied to everyone else. You gotta remember that. HWA and GTA were always exempt from the rules - special callings, ya know.
I for one am certainly not out of touch with reality. The cold hard facts are this: In 2012 Herbert Armstrong will be raised from the dead. He will be instructed by Ron Weinland, Gerald Flurry, and Dave Pack on how to use the internet. Then he will come to this blog and put a hex on all of you doubters who dare to speak ill of him. Your eyeballs will be consumed and you will develop genital warts. Then the end will come. You have been warned.
Leonardo,
Sadly, I know of one such person (In addition to you-know-who) who is so far gone that reality has become fantasy and vice-versa.
I fear the point of no return has been reached with this individual.
Anonymous 6:56 says "well, since 1998 the earth has been cooling slightly...doesn't sound like warming to me..."
Yes, and today was 10 degrees colder than yesterday so global warming REALLY is false.
Hopefully everyone here knows that the above exercise in data-mining has been thoroughly debunked by real statisticians. Honestly, Anonymous 6:56, if a patently misleading exercise in statistical manipulation is the best argument you can come up with, don't you think you should re-examine your conclusion?
The Skeptic
Don't know what's its like in Arkansas re global cooling/warming/mashup, but "The Gore Effect" (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15931.html) is amusing. Big Al apparently has had his share of the weather not cooperating with his evangelical green prophecies when he shows up for seminars.
Of course, his new book claims (as Newsweek points out in its recent review), people will begin to embrace global warming/environmental issues when greed can become a factor and one can make a profit off "green" issues.
Thus, according to Big Al, tautology reigns supreme in realms beyond that of our warm and familar Pasadena theology (unless one wants to equate belief in global warming with a form of theology). Will the ultimate Goreism read "greed wins in the end"? Thus asketh Trader With Style...
"What in the name of all that is unholy possessed Thielogical Bob to yammer about the Berlin Wall as proof of his Mayan prophecy?"
Once you unlock the key that the word "Mayan" means "Big wall between the Krauts" it will all become clear. God said he divided the day (Capitalism) from the darkness (Communism) and behold it was maya.." which means tohu and bohu in the Hebrew or "waste and empty" Add to this the 1260 days along with the blowing the 7 trombones of Relevations and one obo..and well...can't you see it?
Wake up man. Time is short...
"...the utopian Millennium will be a reality - cleansed of disheveled hippies..."
A loving Jehovah will institute the Final Solution- Woodstock style!
Hippies will be forced to wear a yellow peace sign, and their head shops and incense stands will be wrecked and shut down.
They will be shaven in the streets, mocked, and loaded onto cattle cars. Ultimately, they will live out their days in "obedience" camps, clean shaven with crewcuts- the uniform will not be striped pajamas but cheap suits. Loving spirit beings (newly transformed by the return of Christ) like Tom will oversee the work details, ensuring that the hippies get only enough unleavened bread to see them through the day. In the end, they will be worked to death, to be lovingly resurrected in the fourth (oops- third) resurrection.
What a wonderful world!
The Apostate Paul
Up to now I've found Tom's comments, while a bit one eyed, still reasonable in a church oriented way.
But: "Personally, I have never met a faithful minister, except Mr. Armstrong. But that is not to say that Mr. Armstrong was the only faithful minister in WCG."
What a load of nonsense. Mr Armstrong used to say by their fruits you will know them.
His fruits certainly don't point to him being faithful to anything except his narcissistic personality disorder which he had to the extreme.
Tom, I seriously suggest you consider getting therapy.
well The Skeptic....if you track global temperatures you will see that they go up and down. we go thru phases of warming, followed by cooling, followed by warming, followed by cooling, and so on and so on.
like i said earlier, something ended the last ice age, which means things warmed up...something also started that ice age, which means things cooled down.
to think that mankind is causing it shows how distorted your perception of the planet is.....it's much larger than you realize, and man doesn't have the ability to change the climate.
...and man doesn't have the ability to change the climate.
We are going to find out in a short time whether we've changed the climate or not.
As I've said before, people always, ALWAYS, wait until it's too late. It's probably too late right now anyway.
Anonymous 7:08 says
"to think that mankind is causing it shows how distorted your perception of the planet is"
Well, Anonymous, my perspective is shared by the vast majority of the scientific community, while yours is shared by religious zealots and political partisans.
You can attack Al Gore all you like, and you can search hard and find that one scientific article out of 1,000 that agrees with your predetermined opinion, But that doesn't make Global Warming false.
And yes, it is true temperatures fluctuate up and down short-term as well as long-term, but guess what - surprise - the scientific community has taken this into account and still concluded that man-made global warming is taking place.
Since I don't believe a magic savior is going to save us all in the nick of time, I agree with the scientific community that we humans ought to solve the problem ourselves. It's too bad we have to fend off people who deny reality as we try to make progress.
The Skeptic
"it was OK for him to have some coffee, or OJ or other sustanence."
Former AC staffers have commented here in the past that Armstrong had a full breakfast spread to preach on, on the Day of Atonement. Not just "coffee or OJ".
Herbie was exempt from something all right. The fact that he could get away with that, and did, for half a century, just goes to prove there's no such thing as karma. :-P
Corky wrote:
"As I've said before, people always, ALWAYS, wait until it's too late. It's probably too late right now anyway."
Well then STOP uttering this nonsense, Corky – and familiarize yourself with history!
Was it too late for Britain to finally realize that it’s former appeasement of Hitler was utter foolishness? No. Under the brilliant leadership of Churchill they eventually faced the brutal reality threatening their national survival, and rallied onto eventual victory. I could cite many other examples from history, but I hope you get my point.
Always remember to never say ALWAYS and NEVER!
who's attacking al gore? i simply stated a fact....
watch the movie and tell me i'm wrong...
Always remember to never say ALWAYS and NEVER!
Heh,heh...Yeah.
By the way, Britian did wait until it was too late and was not properly prepared for war.
The USA waited until it was too late and got the hell bombed out of Pearl Harbor - in spite of being warned by the experts.
The folks in New Orleans waited until it was too late to heed the warnings about Katrina.
I could go on and on and on. Because, you see, I have read history. And, people always wait until it's too late to answer a threat, then they can only "rally" and react only after the ball has been dropped.
All down through history, it's the same story over and over.
How long did everyone in government know about the threat of Al Queda before the World Trade Center was destroyed?
It's true, Nero always fiddles around while Rome burns.
"watch the movie and tell me i'm wrong"
I watched it. You're wrong.
Al Gore is not a scientist. But his movie was pretty well put together. He came at the problem from many different directions and presented a LOT of evidence. Was every chart in his movie perfect? Was every argument airtight? Of course not. But overall the point was made by the preponderance of the evidence.
So perhaps you found a flaw in part of Al Gore's movie. Do you really think that disproves his whole point? It sounds to me like you're using "motivated reasoning", my anonymous friend.
The Skeptic
OK, Corky, now that you've more fully explained what you meant by "too late" - yes, I agree absolutely.
I previously understood you as saying "too late to do anything about the situation" - which in all the examples you cited wasn't the case (although the case of the Islamic threat to the West is yet to be decided).
Britain, America and the Allied forces did eventually DEFEAT the Axis powers, but at a considerably HIGHER cost than if they would have recognized the threat looming on the horizon during the 1930's and taken timely action much earlier than they did. We agree on this 100%.
Churchill mentioned after WWII that there never was a war in all of past history that was more easily preventable by foresighted and timely action. He warned; he shouted; he pleaded; he reasoned - but folks just didn’t want to face the FACTS.
We witness the same identical thing here with the fundamentalists, don't we?
Leonardo said...
Churchill mentioned after WWII that there never was a war in all of past history that was more easily preventable by foresighted and timely action. He warned; he shouted; he pleaded; he reasoned - but folks just didn’t want to face the FACTS.
We witness the same identical thing here with the fundamentalists, don't we?
Oh absolutely, the fundamentalists have always had to be dragged, kicking and screaming all the way, into accepting anything that doesn't agree with their holy book.
They are the millstone around the neck of any progress that has ever been made in the knowledge and true understanding of our world.
It's sad and funny at the same time but even the war for the independence of the USA had to be fought, not only against the armies of the king but also against the christian fundamentalist tories - the same people who today claim that the USA is founded on fundamentalist christian principles.
They enjoy those freedoms gained but fought all the way against the continental army that gave those freedoms to them.
I can't help but wonder how my country would be now if all the tories had been shipped out with the armies of the king.
"I can't help but wonder how my country would be now if all the tories had been shipped out with the armies of the king."
Now why do I hear the ever-so-faint strains of "Blame Canada" wafting up from south of the border....?
;-)
Canadian Hymnal, just be glad that the fundies have only recently landed in Canada. It's been the scourge of the US since....forever.
Come to Arkansas or anywhere below the Mason-Dixon line, you'll see what I mean.
so, what's happened to Global Warming
ah ha! i knew it all along!
it was a setup the whole time.
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