Wes White writes:
I can’t believe i once thought GTA was a great speaker! Just listen to the nonsense in this clip! The old Ambassador Report once rightly labelled Ted’s preaching style as “hallucinatory braggadocio.” I don't remember ever hearing any Christian love in his messages. Just prophetic warnings that, if you don't heed my message, you will be killed or taken into slavery by the German beast power. That is, if disease and pestilence don't kill you first. (Remember the Basil Wolverton pictures of people with boils all over their bodies? And the guy with a spear thru his neck?)
Looking back, i now find Ted’s nastiness and negativity unsettling. I now find his name-calling repugnant. As i recently watched this clip, i was reminded of Joe McCarthy’s drunken rants that included half-baked accusations against “all those communists” who had supposedly infiltrated the US State Department during his time. Both practiced demagoguery.
Yes, politicians and preachers love to create boogeymen for us to hate and fear.
And the false prophecy in this clip is hilarious. Ted spoke these words in 1992 during the Clinton Presidency. In this message, he falsely claimed that America would never again win some conflict and then proudly wave the Stars and Stripes as was done in the First Gulf War.
Apparently, the evil spirit that inspired him to utter this false prophecy was not aware that the second George Bush would soon — not only defeat Saddam Hussein — but that Bush II would also topple the Iraqi dictator from power.
Finally, it is public knowledge that Ted served in the US Navy. However, after his subsequent conversion to the WCG and promotion to being one its top leaders, he presided over an organization that forbade the young men in the church to join the armed forces. While enforcing this prohibition, Ted had the audacity to preach military saber rattling and military action. You can’t have it both ways.
What was wrong with me for falling in with this group led by people with so much personal, religious, and corporate dysfunction? Call me namby-pamby, but i find more helpful teachings in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 than in Ted’s sermons.
It is clear to me that, when i read the hateful rants of Mark Armstrong today, his teachings are an almost carbon copy of his dad’s futile blusterings. Until recently, i had forgotten how messed up Ted’s messages were.
May God forgive us for supporting men like this. For those of us who claim to be Christians, it’s time for us to repudiate these twisted prophetic teachings. It’s all done for financial gain. These teachings appeal to our basic instincts. They bring out the worst in us.
Instead, let’s embrace the wonderful teachings of the Word of God — remembering that while Armstrongism’s teachings and Bible teachings would often converge, the teachings in this clip are NOT biblical. They are not of God.
Wes White has a self-funded ministry called dynamicchristianministries.org that does not ask for and does not accept donations from the public. Wes may be reached at wdwhite49@yahoo.org.