Wednesday, January 27, 2016

It's OK to salt unleavened bread but not wear alligator cowboy boots, especially if you are a woman who has just given birth to a daughter



The Church of God has always had Pharisees in its midst that took things to the extreme when it came to law keeping. The law was always the god that demanded total obedience. Every unreasonable rule and regulation was expounded upon and taken to the extreme. Every booklet, article, coworker letter, sermon and telecast talked about the law while Jesus was relegated to a few days around Passover.

With the demise of the Worldwide Church of God various groups broke off trying to preserve  the law with even more extreme measures.  Everyone of these groups claim that only they are right and the others are apostate heretics. Everyone tries to out do the other group when it comes to all keeping.

That Judaizing continues on today with the Chief Pharisee of the Churches of God who claims only he has the really understanding of the law.  For several years now James Malm has been rewriting the bible to fit his own twisted interpretations.

One of his acolytes recently asked about salting unleavened bread.  We are getting up to that season, remember....  The fact that someone had to even ask for permission shows how brainwashed his followers are.

A question has come about salting the unleavened bread for Passover and the sacrifices and I have added the following explanation to the  Leviticus 2:13 post. 
All Unleavened Bread for Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the sacrifices  is to be seasoned with salt as commanded in Lev 2:13. 
Salt is a preservative which is added to indicate the eternal everlasting nature of our Covenant with God and our faithful everlasting abiding in that Covenant (Numbers 18:19). 

Then the Chief Pharisee moves on to what is supposedly "clean" and "unclean."  As usual in the mind of an Armstrongite, that is open to interpretation, and interpret his own views is what he does.

Here are his convoluted ideas he passes off as "truth."

While we are commanded to not even touch a dead unclean animal, many sects claim that the commandment is only concerned with eating the flesh. Using that false premise they say that any other products from dead unclean creatures may be used at will. 
Living “unclean” animals are not unclean to touch and neither is the hair or wool sheared from living animals; it is the DEAD animals that are unclean and not to by eaten or even touched. That means that the skin and furs of dead unclean animals are not to be touched.  
We may not eat, use or touch the dead body of any creature that does not BOTH chew the cud and split the hoof among animals, or any under water creature that does not have BOTH fins and scales at the time we take it. We may not eat, use or touch the dead body of any bird that does not have a crop and is not able to fly, nor can we eat any insect that does not have both legs for leaping and wings for flying.
To even touch the carcass [dead body] of an unclean creature; becomes unclean and must bathe and be unclean until the sun is set. 
To touch the dead body makes one unclean and if we wear skins and furs from unclean creatures it is as if we have eaten them; for both acts make us unclean. 
Dang it!  Now that I have my alligator boots broken in I have to throw them out!

The next time you pick up the dead bird carcass your cat brings in or that lizard, you are unclean the second you touch it.  Slide on those comfy Hush Puppies made with pig skin and your are unclean!  Wear those alligator cowboy boots and you are unclean.  Carry that camel purse and you are unclean!

Next he tries to make his acolytes do the impossible.  Any follower of the new covenant knows that what he writes is a lot of useless hooey.

We should be zealous to be physically clean, in our overwhelmingly unclean world; and we should go forward from the physical; to be zealous to become spiritually clean, without any spot, blemish or wrinkle of spiritual uncleanness or sin. 
We should be as shocked, disgusted and appalled at the very idea of eating some scripturally unclean thing, or for some spiritual uncleanness and sin like calling the Sabbath holy and then paying others to serve us; as we would be if we were served a bowl of sewage.

This is the kind off crap that is fostered off as truth when you leave Jesus out of the picture.



Then the Chief Pharisee has this to say about women who have children.  If you have a daughter it is even worse!

If the child is female the mother’s separation shall be double that of a male child 
12:5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six [66] days.  
66 days plus two weeks is 80 days. My wife and I practiced this by mutual consent for our three sons and one daughter. 
We make these specified sacrificial offerings to day, by going to God the Father in prayer and asking that the sacrifice of Christ be applied to us and to the child, setting apart the child through our faithfulness, and asking for an understanding of these things.
A sin offering for the shed blood; which goes back to Eden where sin and bloodshed entered the world and a burden was placed on women for that sin, as a perpetual reminder of sin (Gen 3:16); the sin offering for the mother, being the application of Christ’s sacrifice for the repentant obedient woman. And a burnt offering to demonstrate the wholehearted faithful service to God the Father and Jesus Christ and those of like-mind.
What a relief to be free from this tyranny!





33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jesus Who? You mean we were supposed to preach Jesus? I thought we were supposed to preach the drunken hothead Churchill. That's what Gerald does.

Byker Bob said...

Probably the weirdest story of pharisaic behavior I've ever read was about some young ACOG woman who was concerned about breaking the sabbath by getting an abortion on it. She felt so guilty that she ended up recheduling the appointment.

BB

Anonymous said...

I recall James Malm saying on his blog not long ago, that young people who want Christ to delay His coming, do so, that they can have fun. Lets see, James had an education, developed job skills that he uses in his blog, got married and had 4 children. He states that his children are his pride and joy. But if young people want the same for themselves, he implies they are being selfish and hedonistic. I'm not impressed James.

Anonymous said...

The man is Malmtally ill.

Anonymous said...

"We should be as shocked, disgusted and appalled at the very idea of eating some scripturally unclean thing, or for some spiritual uncleanness and sin like calling the Sabbath holy and then paying others to serve us; as we would be if we were served a bowl of sewage."

Well well well! James Malm sure sounds like a fun guy to be around!

I can imagine the following scenerio happening in a restaurant-

James walks past a lady eating a crabcake, and the lady - to be friendly - says, "Hi, how are you?"
James responds with, "How am I? How AM I? I AM SHOCKED, DISGUSTED AND APPALLED! YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE EATING SEWAGE!"

The maître d' then calls police who come to drag James out of the restaurant, and he kicks and screams something about his being 'persecuted' as proof of his righteousness.
The chef offers the cops a pig snout which an officer shoves into Malm's mouth to shut him up and minimize the noise and disturbance to diners as Malm is dragged from the premises by officers wearing their police-issued pigskin gloves.

Just another day in the life of an uber-legalist, LOL!

Anonymous said...

Isn't about time everyone admits that Armstrongism is insane and that anyone who engages in it loses their mind?

Herbert Armstrong was a kook who made the most daft things seem reasonable and wrecked the sanity of everyone who came within his sphere of influence.

And yet... and yet....

No one seems to recognize the fact.

Anonymous said...

I have to say, hands down, Rabbi Malm is my favorite self-appointed COG leader. No one is more entertaining than he is. His logic, his opinions, and the implied cause-and-effect relationships are so absurd. He's a walking, talking, embodiment of Poe's Law.

I admit that, having been raised not eating pork or shellfish, I don't enjoy them, and whenever possible, I don't eat them. But when it isn't, then guess what I do? I don't worry about it. And how is it possible that I could simply not worry about it?

Simple.

I don't think there's a judgmental lunatic in the sky keeping track of whether I've touched the wrong thing, eaten the wrong food, or purchased the wrong pair of shoes. To think there is, well, just makes you delusional. Nobody has ever been thrown into a lake of molten rock for eating a ham sandwich before, and nobody ever will.

Unknown said...

Jesus road a donkey. John had a camel's hair coat. Hmmmmm

Unknown said...

Every single bite of food that you eat, and every single breath that you take, has molecules that were at one time or another part of an unclean animal, including even molecules that were once part of another human being.

Not eating unclean foods is a good thing. However, the overriding lesson to be learned by a Christian in regards to clean/unclean, is that ultimately, everything that is Earthly is unclean , including ourselves. It drives us to the realization that we need a Savior, and that our ultimate "cleanness" comes from Jesus Christ, not by anything that we can accomplish through our own effort.

Isn't that self evident in the New Tesatament?

Anonymous said...

James constantly talks of enthusiastically obeying Gods laws. It seems he has borrowed from chef Ramsay. I don't find that word used in the bible. I find delighting in Gods law, but no enthusiasm. What exactly is enthusiastically not stealing or not murdering for instance? If he is so enthusiastic, why isn't he magnifying Gods laws (other than the ritualistic stuff), and why does he condemn self help books that do? He lumps all such books together, sneeringly calling them 'Psychology Today.' It seems he wants the sheep kept ignorant, just like most ministers.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite books is AMOS. They were so observant, but they forgot what was really important, living a ethical, loving life. So true today with WCG and their splinters. It reminds me of other churches that focus on giving up coffee, chocolate, etc. It is so much easier to give up these things than gossip, lying, unkindness, impatience, etc. which are more important. I don't think God is impressed with observant C of G members who focus on salt on unleavened bread, etc when there is so much "works of the flesh" and so little "fruit of the spirit." Legalism is a distraction for many people.

Anonymous said...

Connie, your 'Christ makes us clean,' implies God will let psychos into his kingdom. Is this so? Will there be thugs and bullies in the kingdom?

Anonymous said...

But Teacher Malm, when do we get to the good parts of old covenant living, like slaughtering our unbelieving neighbors and taking their captive families as extra wives? I wanna be a real O.T. gangsta!

Anonymouse said...

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins. Ex 26:14

Anonymous said...

What if James Malm slaughters an unbelieving neighbor, then takes his wife as an extra wife (which is totally Biblical)... but then on the Sabbath when he wants to caress her breasts, she's wearing a bra made of alligator skin!?

Anonymous said...

The idea that we are unclean is a part of the guilt that religion puts on us to keep us attending churches and also a good deal of guilt is put on those who attend to give much money to the leaders. The truth is that humans are good. The problem is that sometimes what we do isn't good. It is not what we are that is bad it is what we sometimes do that isn't always good. We are not inherently bad or evil. In the book of Genisis it states that after God created everything that he took a few steps back and said, "this is very good!" we are part of everything that God created so the statement, "this is very good" clearly refers to humans as well.

Unknown said...

ANON AT 10:18---

We do not earn our salvation.

However, we can do things that keep us from salvation.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11King James Version (KJV)

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Anonymous said...

11.24 AM God slaughters nations when they become vile rather than 'unbelieving.' There's mega slaughtering in the NT book of Revelation as well.

Ralph said...

on January 28, 2016 at 6:50 AM
Black Ops Mikey said...

"Isn't about time everyone admits that Armstrongism is insane...."

I just want to keep my sense of balance. Would you care to define "Armstrongism"?

cheers
ralph.f

Anonymous said...

So if the dog or cat dies during the night you cannot touch it to say goodbye? Does the bible say to use gloves?
Convoluted thinking by a convoluted man. As another here said, Malmtally ill.

Byker Bob said...

Uh oh! Malm forgot to parse it deeply enough. He should have specified that true Christians would not salt their Matzohs with sea salt!
It comes from fish poopie water for one thing, and also, many, many unclean animals die in the sea, contibuting to the collection of minerals in the sea salt!

I have yet to hear him forbid the drinking of vitamin D milk, whose vitamin D is added from porcine sources, and he has never condemned earing pancakes at Denny's, even though he knows that pigslop got on the griddle from the Jimmie Dean pork sausage cooked right next to your pancakes for the gentiles smilingly sitting at the table across from you.

Also, he should be mentioning that God uses the same word to describe eating lobster (abomination!) as He does for same sex couples committing cunnilingus or felatio on each other. So, if you ate a lobster dinner last night, guess what it was just as bad as!

This is what happens when you try to live your life today in another generation's covenant or dispensation! Everything looks out of step and ridiculous..

BB

Apostle Malm said...

II James

Chapter 1


:1 Though I have knowledge of all COG intrigue,

:2 Though I have all faith and believe all things such as legend, ancient hearsay, mythology, and other claptrap,

:3 Though I have prophesied for years that the beginning of the great tribulation is just a few short months away,

:4 Though I hold back my feet from igniting the burner on my stove or using the microwave oven on the sabbath day,

:5 Though I refuse to declare a new moon on my self-inflicted calendar until after it has been documented by two or three witnesses in Israel,

:6 Though I claim for myself the sole ability to know where God has placed his name, and keep the UB and FOT for extra days, just to be on the safe side,

:7 Though I salt my homemade whole wheat unleavened bread and refuse to serve "commercial" wine with sulfites for passover,

:8 Though I spend months scrubbing every nook and cranny of my home looking for "crumbs,"

:9 Though I appoint myself to the chief seat to preach bullgeschichte for hours as if it were righteousness for my own name's sake,

:10 Though I ask you to give away all your possessions to me so that may spend all day in gossip and boasting on my blog,

:11 Though I remove the hem of my garment from every "unclean" person, place, thing, idea, or woman,

:12 And yet do not have love, I am nothing but a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.

Anonymous said...

I know James Malm and he has outPharisse'd even the Pharisees with this one. But that is where legalism takes you - into deeper and deeper levels of minutiae.

But for that matter, CHRISTIANITY itself is legalism, isn't it? Why would there need to be a price paid for forgiveness and restoration to the Maker? The Romans turned the prophet Jesus (if he lived) into a HUMAN SACRIFICE - which is not only absurd, but forbidden by the Hebrew/Canaanite YHWH.

The father of the prodigal son didn't need a blood offering to forgive and restore his son. Jesus' teachings of love for others and the Life Source are great once the 'Christ' interpolations are espunged.

These modern Pharisees will say and preach anything except to live and do RIGHTNESS, LOVINGKINDNESS, and THANKFULNESS, which has made all the difference in mine and my family's lives.

Anonymous said...

if I remember correctly, pigs are the only animal we aren't to touch...

Redfox712 said...

It is just dreadful that such fanaticism can be stirred up among the COGs.

***

On another topic here is one early piece of Gerald Flurry's writings that has not been widely seen before.

"We can't ever remember foundational knowledge having such an impact on our lives. Our hands are almost paralyzed from writing! It seems to us that the ministry is more unified and teachable than we have been for years. And the greatest Teacher of all is truly teaching as never before. We thank God and Mr. Armstrong for making it all possible. Gerald and Barbara Flurry" (Pastor General's Report, July 25, 1980, p. 6.)

Gerald Flurry had no idea anything like the Tkach changes were coming.

We need to to de-mystify Gerald Flurry's early life. Some of it may be seen here.

Anonymous said...

9:51 PM, Have you ever noticed that every law in physics and chemistry has a equal sign? Yes, your 'legalism' is hard wired into Gods creation. So much so, that Christ had to die to pay for peoples sins.
Your comment regarding the prodigal son is mistaken. He wasn't 'forgiven and restored.' Read the account:

Luke 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine.

All the fathers inheritance went to the goody two shoes son. The womanizing prodigal son got none. Hence, the prodigal son paid for his mistake. This is correct, since Gods way is the way of trade.
A reminder that Gods way of trade, demands that we maximize our profits and minimize our loses.
Armstrongs 'give way' and the prodigal son does the opposite.
It maximizes ones losses and minimizes ones profits.

Cheers from the TradingGuy.

Anonymous said...

Connie, you state that we can't earn our salvation but you give a list of sins that keep us from salvation. therefore isn't the effort to rid these sins out of our lives the effort needed to "earn" salvation since they could disqualify us from salvation.

I am an agnostic. I doubt that the bible is divinely inspired and that God exists. I hope that there is life after this life but I tend to think this is the only life we have.

The bible contradicts itself on the question, "is salvation earned or is it a gift?". The reason for this is clear. It simply is a book written by different men with different ideas and agendas that are not divinely inspired.

Back to salvation, I believe that if there is life after this life that all of us live on somehow. It is neither a gift or something we earn.

Anonymous said...

I read that the reason Israelites were given the dietary laws was to keep them separate from the rest of society. It prevented them from having meals with others. Less contact would mean less corruption. Of course, once the Gospel was to go to the whole world, these laws were put aside. I doubt if the reason was for our health. If the issue was health, wouldn't God have given them instructions on what plant to avoid and how to properly store and prepare food also?

Ralph said...

on January 29, 2016 at 2:20 AM
the TradingGuy. said:

"Luke 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine."

Is this a parallel to:
"Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."
where human kind is the prodigal son and Yeshua is the faithful one?
It seems to fit.

Ralph said...

on anuary 29, 2016 at 3:46 AM
Anonymous said...

"Back to salvation, I believe that if there is life after this life that all of us live on somehow. It is neither a gift or something we earn."

"....if there is life after this life.....

If you don't believe that there is or not, how are you qualified to suggest "It is neither a gift or something we earn."?
Or are you simply expressing an 'opinion'?

cheers
ralph.f

Ralph said...

on January 29, 2016 at 4:57 AM
Anonymous said...

"Of course, once the Gospel was to go to the whole world, these laws were put aside"

How do you figure that one out?

cheers
ralph.f

Anonymous said...

8.15PM, I do not believe the two scriptures you mention are related. In Luke 15.31, the father is addressing the obedient son, not the prodigal son. But granted, most people do a 'prodigal son' to a noticeable degree.

Regards TradingGuy
'

Anonymous said...

This is anon 3.46 I am stating my opinion that if there is life after this life it isn't something we earn or something that is given us but something we are born with. If there is life after this life there is something about us that lives on. If there is life after this life we will progress into a new and different life, if not we just die and no longer exist forever.