Monday, April 16, 2012

Van Robison on "The Magnetism of Charismatic Public Speakers"




The Magnetism of Charismatic Public Speakers


There is no doubt that some human beings have charisma.  Herbert W. and Garner Ted Armstrong both had that quality.  Public speaking with a sense of authority can be very captivating.  Apparently the "apostle" Paul
had that same quality, because his writings or speeches have influenced a multitude of people.  Some sources actually state that some of the writings attributed to Paul were penned not by Paul, but by unknown sources.
Nevertheless, it is true that the voice of some human beings is very captivating.  This is true of many who sing and have beautiful voices.  Politicians and preachers have a lot in common in that they seek to influence
people to see their point of view.

There is indeed something in the human voice that can persuade others, even when that voice is propaganda or not true.  The "news" media and movies are powerful agents of persuasion, even though the astute know
beyond doubt that these sources are major players in the world of disinformation, falsehoods and out and out lies in many ways.  Those who control the "news" and movie industries are not naive and gullible about the
power in their hands to persuade.  It has been said that if a lie is told often enough, that lie is believed by many to be "truth."  It then becomes next to impossible to persuade people that the lie they have believed as being "truth" is really a lie.  Many will think that a lie is truth and that real truth is a lie as a result of being brainwashed.

When you listen to a public speaker it is easy to believe that what they are saying is the "truth."  This is more than evident as many listening to the "World Tomorrow" radio broadcast of the Worldwide Church of God
found that they accepted and believed what Herbert W. or Garner Ted said on those programs.  Believing what public speakers say often causes people to become followers of those who speak.  It is not only true in the world of religions and religious beliefs, but also in the world of politics.  There is indeed a magnetism in many people that will cause many others to follow those individuals.  It matters not whether the magnetic personality is "Christian" or not, people will fall in line and become believers in charismatic and persuasive personalities.

The obvious danger in thinking that persuasive personalities and public voices are somehow the voice of "truth" is that many have been led astray by wolves in sheep's clothing.  A voice can seem believable, but that does not necessarily make that voice truth.  Some voice was the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church, another voice was the origin of the Mormon Church, and yet another voice was the origin of the Jehovah Witnesses.  It goes on and on endlessly.  The voice of Herbert W. Armstrong was the origin of the Worldwide Church of God.  Another voice was the origin of the Seventh Day Adventist group and yet another voice was the origin of "The Family" (or the "Children of God"), which was the deceased David Berg.  Every voice that originates a church or religious group eventually returns to dirt and ends in the grave yard.

There was a voice that initiated the Methodist Church, another that was the origin of the Baptist Church and yet another that is the voice of the Pentecostal group.  Another voice is Amish, another Mennonite and another voice that of the "Sacred Name" groups.  These voices are like the sand upon the seashores and they are many.  The same is true of the splinter groups of the original Worldwide Church of God.  One voice is that of Rod Meredith, and another that of Gerald Flurry and yet another that of David Pack, and the voices are many.

That anyone would follow any of these voices is really quite astonishing, from the stand point that all these voices are mere human beings who are all without exception very fallible and subject to human nature the same as all other human beings.  No man or woman is God and yet millions worship at the feet of these charismatic public speakers as if there are.  A MAJOR mistake!  Like lemmings multitudes of human beings rush headlong over the bluff and drown in the sea of false beliefs, following their human leader who is also self-deceived and indoctrinated by his or her teachers.

The Worldwide Church of God has led many into destruction as lemmings.  The problem with human lemmings is that they follow men instead of Jesus Christ.


Van Robison

Are Weather Issues A Result of God Punishing the English Speaking Nations?



With all the tornadoes, earthquakes and other disasters that  have been in the news over the last several months; the various COG's have been kicked into a frenzy of "prophecy in action" articles and postings.  Due to the non-provable belief in British Israelism, these COG's feel that it is God taking his wrath out on the lost 12 tribes.  One person who harps on this worn out line constantly is Prophet Thiel.

He writes:

Perhaps the record weather problems can serve as another wake-up call. As my book indicated, weather-related troubles with their related food issues, of course, are biblically expected as Jesus stated:
7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7-8).
8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:8)
We may be at this prophetic point as all the earthquakes and other weather problems that have happened in the past year or so could be considered as “troubles.”
Much is going on that we in the Living Church of God have expected would happen. For example, LCG’s Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, who expect certain prophetic issues to rise up this year, years ago wrote a booklet related to coming weather problems titled Who Controls the Weather?
2012 is already been a turbulent year.

The Gun Lap site has a great article up with loads of statistics that make mincemeat of these doom and gloom scenarios.


The Seventh Day Churches of God (COGs) believe that natural diasters are fulfilling Bible prophecy of the end-times. Can this view be supported by the data on natural disasters?

The COGs also believe that the white English-speaking peoples are descended from the twelve tribes of Israel and that these nations are being punished by natural disasters because they once knew the God of the Bible and rejected him and his truth. Is it true that these nations are suffering from natural disasters worse than other nations?

The English-speakers are not believed to be all of the tribes, just the leading tribes. The COGs believe the other tribes migrated to Northwestern Europe or remained in Judea (Palestine). In this article I will use refer to any nations the COGs regard as part of the twelve tribes as "Israel" and call the rest of the world "Gentiles".

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Severity and Frequency
 
The COGs have been saying that both the severity and frequency of disasters is increasing in accord with Bible prophecy. So we will look at both the severity and frequency of disasters. Proving that neither one or the other is increasing should be enough to get open minded people to do a serious re-think about COG prophecy.

Looking at some "worst-ever disasters" lists is easy to do and shows no evidence that the severity of disasters is increasing as time goes on. 

First, let's look at the frequency, i.e. are disasters getting more common with time? [Keep in mind that I researched this article and wrote it up in 2010 so the lists could have changed since, but the main trends should be the same].
  1. Six of the 10 deadliest-ever natural disasters were before 1950.
  2. Four of the 10 deadliest natural disasters of the last 100 years (1910 to 2010) were in the first half of that time period (1910 to 1960).
  3. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever tornadoes happened since 1969 (but none were in the last 20 years).
  4. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever storms were in the 1800's.
  5. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever blizzards were before 1975 and five since then.
  6. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever tsunamis were in 1908 or earlier.
  7. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever volcanic eruptions were in 1919 or earlier.
  8. Four of the 10 deadliest-ever cyclones were in the 1800's.
  9. Seven of the 10 deadliest-ever earthquakes were in 1976 or earlier (though two were since 2004).
  10. Of the 20 deadliest-ever famines, 17 were before 1950 (even though world population has skyrocketed since then).
Now, let's look at where the worst disasters occured.
  1. Not one of the 10 deadliest-ever natural disasters took place in "Israel", all were in "Gentile" countries.
  2. Not one of the 10 deadliest natural disasters of the last 100 years were in "Israel", all were in "Gentile" countries.
  3. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever tornadoes were in Gentile countries.
  4. Eight of the 10 deadliest-ever storms were in "Israel."
  5. Five of the 10 deadliest-ever blizzards were in the USA, but the death toll in the 1972 Iran blizzard far surpassed all of them combined.
  6. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever tsunamis did not strike any Israelite countries (the one that did also struck Gentiles).
  7. Nine of the 10 deadliest-ever volcanic eruptions struck Gentiles.
  8. All 10 of the 10 deadliest-ever cyclones were in Gentile countries.
  9. Of the 70 deadliest-ever earthquakes, 69 were in Gentile countries. One was in the USA. It was ranked last (least destructive).
  10. 19 of the 20 deadliest-ever famines were in "Gentile" countries. 

Check out the entire article here as they make mince meat of LCG, PCG and RCG's doom and gloom scenarios.  Natural Disasters Are Not Getting Worse!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

PCG Ministurd: "I've come to whip all you into shape..."



Training Future Church "Leaders" To Be Asses

From a reader:

Here's a story...I was contacted by a friend of mine in Washington State a while back. She was upset because a certain favorite minister there was being replaced by another minister. She told me that the replacement minister had announced that,"I've come to whip all you into shape. Your all Laodiceans!" This minister was so obnoxious and vain, he was coming up with so many insane ideas. My friend told me this minister was training the congregation on how to make a "perfect pot of coffee" because only Jesus Christ would accept THIS MINISTERS perfect pot of coffee. This man and his wife have a daughter in Imperial Academy. The daughter was caught cheating, (because her mother or someone was giving her the answers online), but they were not suspended or disfellowshipped. The teacher was reprimanded though for accusing the girl of cheating. This minister has several children that have graduated from Armstrong College and this family has a prosperous family business that helps fund the Philadelphia Church of God. The other minister was just "recycled" and sent to headquarters. People not found contributing to the "pot" are out! What is that scripture/scriptures?: James 2:2, Acts 10:34, etc. It's all about money with this cult!

Banks Refusing To Loan Money To Dave Pack



Silenced is reporting in it's article Delusions of the Pack that Dave Pack has failed to secure funding of his mini-me monument to himself.

According to sources who wish to remain anonymous, Pack has revised the start date for construction on his personal shrine. He cannot borrow additional funds from the bank for the project, resulting in a renewed grovelling for member donations. RCG tried to borrow about 50 percent of it’s required funding, and now that the cult can’t get financing, Pack insists he never borrows money.
We have come to the spring of the year when the first two of the seven annual Holy Day offerings arrive. I do not need to tell all of you veteran members how important are these yearly “spikes” in our income. In what we have been describing as our “austerity year,” because we must (and are able to) pay for the entire building project cash-the banks are terrified of lending to any but their most established borrowers, and we never borrow anything-these Holy Day offerings become more crucial than ever. We can all understand why. Please go to God, at least once if not more, before preparing each of your Holy Day offerings. Consider making the decision on your knees. Ask God to give you the FAITH and the COURAGE-and the VISION of the world as it is and the great need to reach it with Christ’s “kingdom of God” announcement and the “Ezekiel warning” to the nations of Israel-before settling on a “number.”

Since he has failed to secure funding will he be able to open his completed campus in one year in April of 2013?  Has he told another lie or will gullible members mortgage their homes and businesses to fund this abomination?