The psychological impact of Armstrongism is very big in the sense of people consecrating their entire lives (both timewise and moneywise) to "preaching their gospel" - but always to a limit. In numerous offshoots there is a clear distinction between ministry and lay-members. People are asked, before joining, to "prove all things", using 1. Thess 5:21. What they forget to mention is the rest of that verse.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
In other words, discard all that is NOT good.
When people have then joined the "faithful flock" the attitude is "pay & pray" - leaving out the final "and by the way, shut up if and when you disagree."
Disagreement after you have joined the faithful flock is considered rebellion, instead of realizing that there might be something that was overlooked by the all-knowing and inspired ministry.
That is the very reason why some ministers still speak out against the internet. The information available contradicts THEIR claims, and therefore the easiest way to contradict what is being said is to write articles about how evil the internet is. Such has been the exhortation of both Gerald Flurry and David C Pack - one saying it in the Philadelphia Trumpet a few years ago, and the other writing it in one of his booklets.
The difficult way for such a minister would be to ANSWER the claims made. History proves them wrong, and their actions prove themselves wrong, so they need the easy strategy.
In fact, it's Mind Control 101.
Once you have people obeying the way the tail moves, you are losing faithfulness to Scripture because then man begins to follow MINISTRY over SCRIPTURE. That is a very dangerous path.
Dangerous because everyone knows the very ministry that speaks out against the internet have websites with THEIR version to attract even more people through this media...
But the best news ever is that you can truly see through these arguments once you have survived Armstrongism. That is the reason why this blog, and numerous others, will be kept alive with even more information to help those willing to open their eyes and ears. People caught up in Armstrongism NEED this type of information to help them in their process of surviving Armstrongism.
