Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The Church of God Flat Earth Society



Trouble has been brewing in some of the extreme sacred name groups as the wander further outside the bounds of reality and into sheer craziness.  It seems there is a growing number who actually believe the earth is a flat disk.  While these former people and the former Armstrongites who joined with them should know better, they have allowed themselves to be swayed by more nutty leaders.

The Church of God's Chief Pharisee, James Malm, is having to deal with this issue in a big way as his sidekick, Constance, has now jumped over to the flat earth society. Constance has a deeply troubled past with Armstrongism and Wicca. According to family members, she was deeply involved in Wicca for quite some time and then suddenly saw the "light" and jumped into James Malm's personality cult where she immediately became a prophetess, writing articles for Pharisee Malm.  Like most entrenched in the dark side of Armstrongism and its worship of the law, Constance destroyed her relationship with her family, egged on by Malm and others.  When family members tried to intervene, Malm lashed out recently, claiming that Satan was attacking them because they teach "the truth."

Constance was a writer for Malm's website of deception, The Shining Light, for quite some time.  While he devoted himself to twisting scripture to fit his fanatical devotion to the law, as he waded through the books of the Bible interpreting every scripture, Constance was writing letters and articles as filler for his site.  She got so good at it that Pharisee Malm let many of her articles be posted without editing.  She was his Pharisaical soul mate.

Recently Pharisee Malm said he had to go in and edit some of Constance's articles. Then the great apostasy happened, she became a flat-earther.

The Chief Pharisee was so shocked by her actions that he had to make a public statement essentially publicly marking her and disfellowshipping her from the True Church of the Law.

31 Jan:   It is my very sad duty to inform the brethren that my very dear friend Constance Lynn Belanger has been seduced and has left the faith.  At the beginning of 2017 Constance retired from writing for this site and during the course of that year departed from the faith under the influence of a certain person. 
Later in the year Constance wrote me with some links and asked me for my opinion on a flat earth.  I thought that this was an honest question and dutifully looked this up and then sent her my opinion.
She got all upset at my answer and wrote accusing me of treating her like a child and of attacking her.  It was obvious that she had swallowed this and had been trying to get me to accept it as well.  Then when I did not do so, she justified her refusing to look at the evidence and rejecting me, by accusing me of something that had never entered my mind. I had always considered her a beloved friend and I found this quite a shock.
This kind of cop out is so common in today’s COG’s: when people cannot refute something they do not want to accept; they just accuse the messenger of attacking them and tune out, cleaving to their error.
Constance had fully swallowed the Flat Earth error [hence my recent post on the subject].  She then chose to disassociate herself from me because I did not agree, taking the view that nothing I say can be believed because I do not accept the “truth” that the earth is flat.
Then she wrote insisting that I remove “her” articles.
I responded by reminding her that:
  • She had given me her very rough drafts and told me to do whatever I wanted with them and I had spent endless hours working on them to bring them up to a minimum level for use.  In fact the articles now bear very little resemblance to the first drafts she gave me,
  • Further I had actually paid her several thousand dollars for the articles
I am not about to trash several thousand dollars paid to her and several hundreds of hours of my own work on something that actually belongs to me,  just to satisfy her fit of pique.
Constance is now coming out against the “gap theory” of creation week and other issues. 
The understanding of a gap between the initial creation of the universe and the creation week on the earth did not originate with Herbert Armstrong and has been around for a very long time in the church of God and also in Protestantism.  
I had wanted to avoid making this public, but the need to inform the brethren of the facts has now become a priority.  Please be aware that Constance is no longer associated with me, that she is a flat earth believer and that she is now teaching contrary to sound doctrine.
Are there truly any normal people in Armstrongism? Why are people attracted such nuttiness? They spend their lives jumping from one nutty leader to the next, letting themselves get wrapped up in the latest conspiracy theory or outrageous claim.




27 comments:

Dennis said...

Mental illness with religious content strikes again.

Everyone knows the circle of the earth is held up by pillars and is covered with a dome with Windows of heaven to let the rain in. Stars are spirit beings and can fall to earth in tumultuous times. Angels can also gather people from the four corners if the planet .

Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth so there ya go...

Of course in Leviticus a bat is considered a bird do that's a puzzle.

Bible science comes slive!šŸ˜±

Dennis said...

Actually I've looked from the pinnacle of the Temple and you really can only see the surrounding hills. Not much of a view.

Anonymous said...

well that's a shocker James Malm was actually paying Constance for her articles to the tune of several thousand dollars. I thought James Malm was desperate for financial support for his website work. well well the truth reveals much.

Anonymous said...

For many years the Flat Earth Society had an office in Pasadena. Several COG members bought into the nonsense.

Anonymous said...

The earth is flat. The only reason it looks round is because light bends. If it didn't bend, you would see that it's flat.

Still Learning said...

Did I read that right--he PAID her for articles?

Percy K. Euttodd said...

For James Malm, I don't see how he can argue against flat-earthism, since that's the cosmology of the people who wrote the damn bible he thinks is so infallible. He certainly won't find anything in his covers to support any other view. Unless he anachronistically twists it into meaning something it never meant.

Anonymous said...

Yep you read it right. I'm very shocked. Many will be shocked by this revelation.

Anonymous said...

The slivers do give Malm a lot of material to find fault with.

Notice UCG's latest Statement on Tattoos

This ruling from UCG's COE ends with the statement: "God’s clear intent with the above scriptures in mind is that our bodies should not be marked with tattoos."

Fine, but how does this affect Christians today? If I was tattooed before coming into UCG, does this mean UCG doesn't want me, as I am a continual offense to them? The UCG statement gives no hint that there is ever any forgiveness available for this highly visible sin. All it says is that UCG members' bodies should not be marked with tattoos. By implication, people with tattoos should not be part of UCG. If I were a UCG member who had a tattoo from before I joined, this statement by UCG's COE would make me very uncomfortable, and very disconnected from the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

Unknown said...

I think Constance Belanger and Stephen Allwine should become pen pals, and conjugal visits should be arranged.

RSK said...

So does a flat earth have a Copernican sun orbit, or does the flat earth still orbit the sun?

Byker Bob said...

Is it OK to use tithes for tattoo eradication?

I’ve often wondered how they would react to a woman who had lipstick, eye shadow, and eyeliner tattooed on her face.

BB

Allen C. Dexter said...

Regarding tattoos, I think I remember that Garner Ted had a few he got while in the Navy. Lots of old WCG members had tattoos from the past and nothing derogatory was ever said about them that I recall. Just another inane biblical injunction that people get all excited about.

Anonymous said...

The Bible is an incarnational document. The first chapter of Genesis uses the ancient Semitic model of the universe. The earth was seen as a great flat plate. The "four corners" wording of Revelation once again uses the knowledge of the times. Contemporary concepts and words were used to communicate principle.

You can understand the narrative arc of the Bible or you can become lost in the bewildering array of detail that sometimes reflects knowledge contemporary with earlier times.

It's like legalism. Either you rise above to find principle or you sift, forever and with grim anal retentiveness, through the issues of what is leaven and what is not, why the census is stated this way here and a different way there, why this fact is omitted here but not there.

A close reading of the Bible has value and may lead to constructive inquiry. Alas, the Bible is not the foundation of Christianity. The foundation is to be found elsewhere.

Anonymous said...


With James D. Malm & Accomplices, the only constants are such things as rebellion and error and confusion.

James Malm rebelliously left the Worldwide Church of God in 1985 to try to “think for himself” while Herbert W. Armstrong was still alive. James' wife got into sacred names nonsense and divorced James. James got into calendar confusion.

Having never paid attention in the WCG, James Malm also garbled the gospel. Now, the apostle Paul's double curse will catch up with James. Some sort of triple or quadruple curse will probably catch up with those who listen to and support James and his Shining Blight Blog.

Now that new comer and goer Constance has tried to “think for herself,” she is into the flat Earth error.

One certainly can learn the “odd” thing from all these rebellious kooks.

Anonymous said...

Herbert said that, according to the bible, the earth is round. He used Isa 40:22 which refers to the "circle of the earth", but a circle is flat like a pancake. A circle is not a sphere. Sadly, the bible does support a flat earth. I know people who really believe the earth is flat. They are bible readers.

Anonymous said...

"They spend their lives jumping from one nutty leader to the next, letting themselves get wrapped up in the latest conspiracy theory or outrageous claim."

It's amazing that in this day and age some people still associate conspiracy "theories" with nuttiness when in fact the real flat-earthers are those who dismiss conspiracy "theories" out of hand. They will never know some of them are real.

Anonymous said...

While it is disturbing Constance bought into the flat earth absurdities, it is far more appalling to find out James Malm was paying her thousands of dollars to write for him all the while he has been begging for money. Two pathetic sick individuals.

Anonymous said...

There's much technical detail in some of his articles. That he paid someone to research this material is unsurprising. People do have a right to be paid for their work.

Anonymous said...

I presume theres not much going on at your COG HQ then ...

Anonymous said...

I thought that flat earth bull shit was a joke. Hard to believe that some Christians and some atheists believe that crap.

Anonymous said...

So if member of the UCG have had tattoos from long ago and are forgiven, why not the same for those who have gotten a divorce, years ago, be forgiven?

Dennis said...

721
Divorce can be forgiven it's just that they don't know it.

set the captives free said...

"Then she wrote insisting that I remove "her" articles."

Maybe she doesn't want to be in any way associated with you James Malm. Even with her supposedly going into strange theories, because all I have at this point to go on is what you are saying and there is always, at minimum, two sides to a story, maybe it's your -ALWAYS law and never love, grace, or mercy- that drove her away to begin with.

NO2HWA said...

James Malm, an avid reader of this blog, was quick to react to this posting:

"1 Feb: Update; For the record- Over the space of more than three years Constance received about 3,000 dollars or about $20 per article, hardly a king's ransom but all I could afford. Those who think that this is a rich work paying tens of thousands yearly to various staff members like the major COG groups are quite mistaken. Our entire annual income is less than the wages of an average COG elder. That said God has blessed us greatly with a good understanding of the Word of God and thousands of visitors."

Chuck said...

The earth is flat, the earth is round, the earth is square, okay,so what? Whatever God created it so it is, suits me just fine even though I’m not 100% certain one way or the other but I will be one day,,a little more study maybe, right now for those who want to argue about it or make a big deal about it, go right ahead, have fun. Chuck.

Unknown said...

WTH?!!?