Mike's Answer to an Atheist
| I received a letter awhile
back from a former WCG elder who believes we are running some kind of
"religious racket" with our webpages. This man became an atheist1 a few
years after leaving
Worldwide Church of God. Following is my response to him.
(Includes section at bottom on, "Are Atheists Happy?" "What About Thomas Paine's Book?" "Refuting Common Atheist Claims" and "Confessions by Atheists.")
I was a fellow "target" like you and I fell for a false prophet that Jesus Christ warned us of, except I fell for this falsehood after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, and it was for one of his offshoots, the Philadelphia Church of God. I am so happy to be free of what I came to see was a deceptive cult!* It was awfully hard to keep up with their demands and to live under Old Testament laws. I am sure you know what I mean. The ESN saved me from this. They opened my eyes to the true Jesus Christ of Scripture (not the "messenger"2). If it were not for ESN, I would be either dead, without a family, and/or still deceived! Since then, my whole life has turned around from bad to best. ESN does not use "religion for a racket." Our goal is to help others who are survivors of HWA's cult, especially former elders like you. Many ministers raped, robbed and stole from their "sheeple." Please take note of how much money you think we are making! We have only enough to pay for copying tapes, mailings, internet expenses, etc. This is not a business enterprise but a helping cause for those, like you, who have been injured from the evil influence of Satan and his cults. Personally, I, like you, dislike religion.3 I do not attend church services, but that doesn't mean that I don't have fellowship with the Lord Jesus. He shows Himself to me daily, answering prayers and protecting me and my family. He also fights for me. He changed my heart totally. That is why I can only be sad for you as an angry non-believer. I know what you are missing in life and yet it is so easy to receive what He has to give. I would pass Scriptures on to you to prove my point, but obviously you would just trash them. Unless you have close fellowship with the Lord Jesus, you cannot understand what I am talking about. This sounds like your case. It's like trying to explain to a starving person in Ethiopia what a steak dinner is. I truly hope that your involvement as an elder in the WCG hasn't caused you to believe that you are shunned from the true Lord Jesus Christ, the coming King, who will replace Satan and his army of followers. I don't know what you did to others as an elder, but I do know that many elders and ministers caused much harm. Are you feeling guilty? Guilt can make people believe they can't be accepted by God. On the contrary, they can still ask for forgiveness and the true Jesus will come into their lives as He promises. It sounds like you have much anger in your heart. I have peace. Don't you want that? What happens if you do appear before the throne of judgment? What will you answer? I would start to think about this if I were you. Who is your god now? The world? Sex? Satan? Money? The god of nothing? Don't be conquered by Satan and give up just because you were hurt by HWA. Don't quit. You mentioned the many sites on the net about "non-theists,"4 but there are also many about Jesus and His ongoing work in this world. I have even witnessed His miracles in my life. Sadly, you are another case of a person who was ruined by Worldwide Church of God. While it is not your fault what happened, in Jesus name you are duly warned that, even though you were hurt by a false church, you are still held accountable to the one and only true God. He saved me and turned my life around. He will you also. Just ask Him to show Himself to you and accept Him. I pray you will come to Him because I feel love for you and your situation. I hate to see you give up even though you will say you didn't. You gave up on the true God, as it sounds, and that is dangerous. Please re-consider. Remember, Satan is the prince of this world--for now--but that does not mean forever. One day, Christ will return. You surely can't take this chance of giving up and losing out! Just because you lost all the games in one baseball season doesn't mean next season will be the same. You just have to make adjustments and get the right players on your team and make sure Jesus is your line-up! His all abundant grace awaits you. All you need do
is: Live by faith and share His Word. Sincerely, Mike (formerly involved with Philadelphia Church of God) *The word "cult" is used in the context of
a deceitful, abusive, mind-manipulating organization. See:
Identifying Marks of an Exploitive, Abusive Group.
Some have wondered if atheists might be happier than other people. If one is willing to do some research on this subject, they will notice that the biggest practitioners of atheism were the ones that caused more death and suffering than all the religious crusades combined. Communism and Nazism were led by a belief in atheism. Many famous atheists were shown to only find happiness in hating, criticizing and demeaning others. The facts are clear that atheism has caused more unhappiness and insanity in this century than all the religious conflicts of the preceding centuries. Madalyn Murray O'Hair Murder (statement by her son William J. Murray; offsite link) What About Thomas Paine's Book? Thomas Paine, a theist, published his book Common Sense in January 1776. Was his later work, The Age of Reason, a reliable source to discredit the Bible? Some former members of Worldwide Church of God seem to think so. An in-depth review of Thomas Paine's book, Common Nonsense: Or a Real Paine in the Posterior, shows that Paine's tactics and arguments have been proven worthless many times over, but are still in use today. Thomas Paine also was interested in Freemasonry. His pamphlet, Origin Of Free-Masonry, proposed that Masonry's embodiment of the sun worship of ancient Druidism was a legitimate alternative to Christianity. He notes that Freemasonry's god, "...Osiris and Isis, theologically represented the Supreme Being and universal Nature..." (Writings of Thomas Paine, Thomas Paine's Origin of Free-Masonry, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1896.) Another interesting bit of information is that Paine was known to be an alcoholic, as was Herbert W. Armstrong. A good book describing the traits of alcoholics (and which briefly mentions Thomas Paine) is The Secret History of Alcoholism: The Story of Famous Alcoholics & Their Destructive Behavior by James Graham. Mr. Graham asserts that alcoholism causes egomania, displayed in such behaviors as denial, lying, overachievement, grandiosity, etc. (Note: There are different stages of alcoholism and while HWA was not in the latter stage; i. e., a drunk on skid row, he was nevertheless considered an alcoholic and observed drunk on numerous occasions.) Over the years many deathbed quotes of saints and sinners have been gathered by many writers. One such quote of Thomas Paine's last words is in Robert L. Sumner's book, Hebrews: Streams of Living Water, Chapter 7, "Deathbed Visions of Saints":
Only a handful of people attended Paine's funeral. Why do some exiters say The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine disproves the Bible? (Q&A) A Book Often Listed on Ex-WCG Atheist sites: The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christian's Self-Inflicted Wound by Anthony Buzzard and Charles Hunting [a critical review of the book] Note: Anthony Buzzard (formerly lecturer at Ambassador College in Bricket Wood, England) and Charles Hunting (headed Ambassador College in Bricket Wood, England) are both former WCG members. Much more on Anthony Buzzard (and Herbert W. Armstrong) and their connections can be found in this offsite report.] Refuting Common Atheist Claims: Was Jesus Christ just a CopyCat Savior Myth? A Refutation of Acharya S's book, The Christ Conspiracy Acharya S Refuted (problems with The Christ Conspiracy) Confessions by Atheists: "The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom." (Aldous Huxley, Confessions of an Atheist, Report: Perspective on the News, Vol. 3, June, 1966, p. 19.) "Atheism is a cruel and long range affair: I think I've carried it through. I see clearly, I've lost my illusions." (Jean-Paul Sartre, The Words, Translated from French by B. Frechtman, George Braziller, Inc. New York, NY, 1964, p. 253.) "The root of the matter is a very simple and old-fashioned thing, a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it, for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words. The thing I mean—please forgive me for mentioning it—is love, Christian love, or compassion. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide in action, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty." (Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society, Unwin Paperbacks, London, England, 1952, Re-issued 1985, p. 105.) "The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshippers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith." (George Bernard Shaw, Too Good to Be True) "I have swallowed nothing but smoke. I have intoxicated myself with the incense that turned my head. You can do nothing for me. Send me an insane doctor! Have compassion on me--I am mad." (Voltaire, recorded by his Christian physician during his last illness) In Conclusion: In his introduction to the book of Ecclesiastics, J. Vernon McGee (1904-1988) stated that Ecclesiastics has always been a favorite of atheists (and cults), because they can take certain Scriptures out of context and give them an entirely wrong meaning.
1 Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines an atheist as: "one who denies the existence of God." Roget's College Thesaurus says: "heretic, unbeliever." 2 HWA diminished Christ to merely the "Messenger" of the gospel. While one of Christ's titles is Messenger of the Covenant (see Names and Titles of Jesus), it is only mentioned once in the Bible (Malachi 3:1) and refers to the day of judgment on the entire world. 3 True Biblical Christianity is not a religion, but the Lord Jesus Christ. Religion is that which is worn on the outside and usually involves rituals and performance. A person can have "religion," and still be lost. The Difference Between Religion and Salvation. 4 Another name for atheists.
Why Do Many Exiters of Armstrongism Turn to Agnosticism or Atheism? Will Exiters Who Become Atheists Have Another Chance For Salvation? My Position in Christ (accepted and secure forever)
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