The following letter appeared on the editorial page of the Pasadena Star-News, Wednesday, November 9th.
Worldwide Church member speaks
It’s time on of us speaks out, “Us” refers to the thousands of Worldwide Church of God members who are fed up with continually being viewed as “dumb sheep” who are getting “ripped off” by the Armstrongs. We are tired of being thought of as dummies who are coerced into obeying archaic laws. We resent being accused of mindless devotion to the Church by certain malcontents who feel it their God-given duty to self-righteously expose our every flaw. Thousands of us believe — down to the depths of our being — that we are working for a cause that is bigger than all of us put together. We consider it a privilege — not a burden. We give willingly — only wishing we had more to give. We are confident — knowing that the Worldwide Church of God is exactly what it says it is. We believe we are part of a vibrant expanding organization dedicated to helping man find the way to peace and happiness That is a gross oversimplification of who and what we are, but it is not my purpose to justify our existence. It is rather to turn the tables for once on a certain group who apparently feel we have no right to exist. No one left Mr. Herbert Armstong a million dollars to start a Church. He began with absolutely zero — not even a weekly paycheck! With endless personal sacrifice, work, dedication and vision, a work began that was to mushroom way beyond his wildest dreams. Thousands of people joined him in his mission. Now that we have grown large enough, we have “qualified” to attract our own little hate-filled group of poisoned-penned Pharisees who have nothing more uplifting to do with their lives than to sit back and criticize, slander, distort and malign us. What kind of perverted pleasure do they get out of self-righteously pointing to our every error “real or imagined?” Yes, we have made mistakes, and will probably continue to make some. We have never claimed to have reached the state of “divine perfection”. Apparently only the staff of “Ambassador Report” can make this claim. But if they have so mastered the art of human perfection that they could do a better job, then why don’t they? How much effort and brains does it take to sit back and criticize what another man (and the tens of thousands who have joined him) worked so hard to build up? Let’s see them start from nothing and build it into an organization of world renown dedicated to a positive mission as we have done. I won’t hold my breath until they do. It takes a lot more than mutual hatred to hold people together. (On second thought, I do seem to remember several groups in history who were held together by their mutual hatred of a body of people. It’s when more and more people gave them credence that they turned from critics to crushers.” So you, the people of Pasadena, can decide for yourselves. But if you give blanket acceptance to every morsel of slander and criticism printed about us — without asking why or examining motives — then tell me, who really are the “dumb sheep”? GAIL MYERS GUBBELL Altdena
For Your Interest
Worldwide Church of God