A Cult Introduced Me to a More Tolerant World

I was a teenager obsessed with the unusual and the strange, looking for connection beyond the mundane. I remember spending lunchtimes in the school library reading fantasy books, and it was here I picked up a copy of Hal Lindsey's book "Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth", thinking it was a science fiction book. That started the idea of religion and prophecy and exciting things beyond the boring here and now. Not long afterwards, my brother picked up a glossy, free magazine called the "Plain Truth" in Dublin City. With attention-grabbing titles in slick fonts like "What's ahead for 1986 and beyond!" (Note the exclamation mark, no doubt in their minds), it grabbed my doubt-filled mid-1980s mind. In other words, I was hooked. It wasn't drugs or alcohol, but it was just as addictive. You could do all these free courses and books like "The United States and Britain in prophecy" and learn all about "THE TRUTH". I ate it all up. What was known as 'Armstrongism" had got a hold of me.

Luckily I had the sense not to actually get in contact until I was in my 20s, so I did my exams, getting a fairly decent result. It wasn't until 1992 that I got up the courage and looked up the minister of the Worldwide Church of God (in this old fashioned thing called a phone book). The minister was a very exuberant chap, and I think we hit it off well, though he was surprised to get a call out of the blue. Usually, it would go through the proper channels! He invited me to one of their Saturday meetings, and I imagine I asked Dad to borrow his car without giving him too many details. Probably not that it was a church that met on Saturdays, though I did tell him at some point. He said later that "Naïvely we thought it was church, so we thought that was a good thing."

We met in the Rathgar and Rathmines Amateur Dramatic Association's hall, a really good building, especially for the time. Everyone wore suits but were very welcoming – as you can imagine a group of Irish folk who felt like they had been specially called to be God's people would be. In actual fact, we were probably conditioned to "Lovebomb" potential new recruits, but to those of us who had felt isolated and not in step with the rest of society, that acceptance was overwhelming. Finally, I felt I belonged somewhere, with people having the same beliefs and outlook on life. Songs were sung – out of a book that was peculiarly made for the church, with only a few acquiesces to known songs that were not "Full of error"!

Ah yes, "Error". Only we were privileged to have the truth, and all other versions of Christianity were from the Devil – in particular, those spawning from that "completely false religion" Roman Catholicism. (So embarrassing to write that sentence now!) We believed in Jewish customs and festivals; Passover was especially reverent with its foot-washing ceremony. This was actually a very moving thing to do: to have people you cared about wash your feet and then wash theirs – especially a country farmers' feet! There was a day of fasting in the autumn, which was no food OR water for 24 hours, though this mellowed after a couple of years, then a full 8 days of going away to vast holiday parks and celebrations. It was a great feeling to travel and meet people from all over the western world as I have always enjoyed learning about different cultures. Lots of talks in halls or stadiums and great singing, although not my style at all, it sent shivers down my spine to be singing the same songs at the same time as the choir in California, indeed joining in around the world. I had the privilege to meet so many people from different cultures outside of Ireland as I travelled to their feasts in England, Sweden, Norway and eventually America.

One interesting, slightly gas lighting idea was that we were encouraged to "Be like the Bereans", who were exhorted in the Christian Bible as they "were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" - Acts 17-11. Though funnily enough, we all managed to come back to the false teachings of Armstrong. So we were really using the text to back up our assumptions. This sort of backfired on the sect when, after his death, some of those in the hierarchy actually did that and realised they had a big problem. The texts didn't actually match up to what we had been told! This opened up huge in-fighting, with many members leaving to create splinter groups.

Around the same time, I also put everything into going to their special college in Texas, though I didn't sell the shop I ran with my parents in Ireland (I wonder how much of me was subtly doubtful that I would be able to fit in). I did, however, pack up my old Mac and head to the backwater of the Lone Star State to be greeted by an atmosphere that was unique, to say the least. Again I was meeting people from very different backgrounds, but all with the idea of being the best for God (or the church). It quickly became very clear I was not at all suited for this environment, and although I was part of a small group of friends, we were on the outside. I was happier hanging out with those who would later be kicked out for helping a homeless person, getting in trouble for having a girl in the boy's quarters (we were practising our DJ set) and having the police raid said set off-campus. One of my friends became an advocate for scepticism, and another is now a lawyer for the disenfranchised. Ideas of change were already coming in, and I soon packed it in and drove across the desert searching for adventure. Lessons of diversity were, however, not lost on me.

For those of us that remained in the church, it opened up lots of dialogue, and most of us became actually very comfortable being with our friends who had differing views. I also had "permission" to join Christian single groups and met many people from all backgrounds. There were Evangelicals, Baptists, Pentecostals, Anglicans (Episcopal) and even a few Catholics (Gasp!). We walked, ate, prayed and talked together as well as going to the cinema and concerts. It really was a halcyon time for me as I navigated between social groups (all be it mostly Christian).

I was fortunate, I suppose, as I came into it just as monumental change came on the horizon, and I continue to be friends with many from that day. Many of them have become tolerant and open to different ways of seeing the world as well, despite growing up under an abusive system. Unfortunately, the beliefs of some I used to be friends with have become even more extreme and isolationist these days. It does test my tolerance for folks I used to discuss everything with, who are now hell-bent on being inflexible and downright nasty to those they disagree with. I am willing to be wrong, as I have been proven in many deconstructions, but the animosity, and the black and white thinking, tests me – as I am sure you can sympathise, dear reader. Still, I am grateful for the opening up of my mind that the cult that became a sect before joining mainstream Christianity gave me.

A very brief history of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) can be found at Grace Communion History and more details of their beliefs at wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrongism. Fleur Brown also has an article on Medium detailing her experience growing up in a cult.