How We Escaped a Cult

MY EXPERIENCE IN A CULT

While I was in high school, I came across a religious radio program called The World Tomorrow with Garner Ted Armstrong. The World Tomorrow was the most widely broadcast program of its kind in the world. Armstrong offered a wide variety of free literature such as The Plain Truth Magazine, fifty-two pages, color, graphically illustrated magazine with a circulation of over 8 million. The church also published a wide variety of booklets, such as The Wonderful World Tomorrow, What it will be Like! 

What I did not know at the time was that behind these broadcasts and publications was a church whose teachings were far from mainstream. 

The church taught that its members must observe all the holy days of Leviticus 23. This would include Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Tabernacles. And let’s not forget everyone’s favorite holy day, the Day of Atonement, where we fasted for 24 hours. We did not observe Christmas, Easter, or birthdays, because these were “pagan” holidays. 

The church also taught that pork and shellfish were to be avoided, as were doctors. Members paid three different tithes and women couldn’t wear makeup. Finally, the church taught that it was the only true church of God. 

I was a member of this group, which some would call a cult, for four years. 

Why didn’t I recognize the cult’s teachings as being false? I was never taught the truth and seldom went to church. But even if I had attended church, it might not have protected me from the false teachings I heard on the radio. I know this because while I was attending the church’s college in California, I met my future wife, Linda. Unlike my family, she and her family attended church faithfully. Yet she was not able to distinguish between the truth of God and the false teaching of the cults. 

We know that there have been false teachers from the very early years of the church. Acts 29: 29-30, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.”

Since Linda and I left the church back in 1974 we have been much like the Bereans of Acts 17:11, we don’t accept what someone teaches just because they are in a position of authority, have a title before their names, degrees after it or a radio program or website. We encourage everyone to be like the Bereans, who studied the Word of God and to get involved in doing the Work of God. That is what this modest ministry is about.

Several books that I recommend include:

The Truth Twisters, What They Believe, by Harold J. Berry

This book gives you the basic truths of the Christian faith and what some of the cults teach. 

When Skeptics Ask, by Norman Geisler

This book defends Christianity against the skeptics.