Of course, just like in WCG during all the changes, many of the UCG members are totally oblivious to the rancorous atmosphere swirling around them.
Just a sampling:
A growing number of UCG members and ministers do not believe that Jesus was/is God
Let me be very careful here. I only said that Melvin Rhodes had said that the divinity of Christ is a Roman Catholic dioctrine (sic) like the Trinity. I did NOT say and I do NOT know if that statement means that he does not believe in the pre-existence of Christ. For that information you will have to ask him directly. The doctrine of the divinity of Christ holds that the one who became Jesus Christ was a part of the family of God and was the very Creator who later married Israel and later bacame (sic) flesh to die for humanity.
I know quite a bit about the elder in Calif. who does not believe in the divinity of Christ. I was there at a meeting (unapproved by UCG) where he made the statement that if you sat in a church that believes that Christ is God then you are breaking the first 3 commandments. I reported this to Kilough. He did not approve of this. It all went on too long and that church is still suffering partly from that mess. I don’t think it is real widespread (the belief) but I also have friends who believe it.
Actually it is far more widespread than you think. Mark Bosserman has even quoted to me the Melvin Rhodes comment that the divinity of Christ is a Catholic doctrine, in support of the idea. I cannot say what the Rhodes position might be, but he has commented that the divinity of Christ is right up there with the Trinity as Roman Catholic.
Unity has been achieved in the Roman system which includes the Harlot Daughters of the Catholics. I find their untiy (sic) to be stronger than that amongst the COG’s. It is good to not have unity especially in these end times as there are new truths being revealed daily to the individuals who have a direct relationship with Christ. In this sense would those individuals have been seeking and given that new understanding if they were united under certain old doctrines which do not encourage or allow searching for the new truths being revealed in these Last Days?
Unity has been achieved in the Roman system which includes the Harlot Daughters of the Catholics. I find their untiy to be stronger than that amongst the COG’s. It is good to not have unity especially in these end times as there are new truths being revealed daily to the individuals who have a direct relationship with Christ. In this sense would those individuals have been seeking and given that new understanding if they were united under certain old doctrines which do not encourage or allow searching for the new truths being revealed in these Last Days?
I also feel that UCG is too liberal to pass this resolution. However, even if the DC, as it is presently constituted is allowed to rule, and is overruled by the COE8, even then, I think the cult conditioning is so strong that most people will still believe anything the COE8 say. I daresay that 2/3 of UCG will be led into apostasy this time, even though they resisted last time. Do not ask me how an individual can fail a test after passing it the first time, but the facts on the ground support this conclusion.
Not that I ever doubted either the fairness or thoroughness of the Kilough-Franks arbitration that determined (as did their then-pastor Saul Langarica) that the Roig family’s behavior disqualified them from sitting in the assembly of God’s faithful servants until they brought forth fruits of repentance in their lives, but that their subsequent behavior continues to so disqualify them.
And of course we cannot forget UCG's Sabbath and Fasting Papers That Stirred the Pot Up Even More. One of Their Main Demons is John Elliot.
While I would hope for repentance from those usurpers who are destroying UCG, I think that if by some miracle the dissenting elders prevail, the usurpers must be removed from any and all leadership positions, even from speaking in the congregation.
If a mere member, committed any of these sins, they would be expelled without even a conference.
Beyond the disgust and outrage that someone under the guise of being a minister of Jesus Christ would utter or write such nonsense, John Elliot and those of his ilk are a cause for sadness and instruction.
John Elliot is not some village idiot or certified imbecile, so how do we explain his contempt and disdain for the law of God?
Mr. Elliot gives the appearance of supporting attendance at family Christmas and Easter gatherings! He argues: “Some non-Church families hold their family’s reunions only in connection with religious holidays.”
Yet according to Paul’s clear instruction in 1 Corinthians 10:14, 18-21, 28 (and throughout the Bible!), we are to refuse to eat any meal that we know to be connected with idolatry – as certainly is the case at any Christmas or Easter dinner!
•Beyond the matter of Christmas and Easter, much could be said regarding Mr. Elliott’s other listed points, many upon which the Church has yet to conform to God’s Word. However, for brevity, may I just comment on Mr. Elliott’s misconception that “Contractors often require that construction work on members’ homes and Church buildings continue on Saturdays”:
Perhaps Mr. Elliott derives his misconception from the fact that when we were at Ambassador College, Mr. Herbert Armstrong claimed (verbally to us as AC students) that during the construction of the Auditorium, the site belonged to the building contractor, that we had no rights — even of access to the construction site, and that the Church had no choice but to let the contractor work on the Sabbath (the contractor did work on the Sabbath).
Yet in actual fact, Mr. Herbert Armstrong gave another student and me a personal tour of the partially constructed Auditorium one Sabbath morning without asking anyone’s permission! Interestingly, God did not let us retain that building, did He?
Further, in my experience of over three decades of buying, selling, remodeling and/or building several homes, I have never had a contractor or a realtor refuse my business due to disallowance of working on God’s Sabbath or Holy Days, and I have always refused to allow them to work for my benefit during holy time.
•In his overstated claims regarding the Church’s duty to “bind and loose,” Mr. Elliott apparently experiences confusion from having failed to search out the actual meaning of the Greek in Matthew 16:19. Brethren who investigate this for themselves will discover that the Greek regarding “binding” here is estai dedemenon, which is singular in the future perfect passive tense; thus, “shall have been bound.” The Greek regarding “loosing” here is estai lelumenon, also singular in the future perfect passive tense; thus, “shall have been loosed.” For both Greek phrases, Mathew 18:18 is the same, except that the verbs are plural. (The newest NASB translates these verses accurately, and emphasizes in a Study note that Christ is delegating, “Not authority to determine, but to announce …”)
•Most alarming to me are Mr. Elliott’s assumptions: (1) that current Church leaders are certain to arrive at “God-inspired judgment[s],” and that (2) “Consequently, [all] opinions which run contrary to [any of] the Church’s Judgments become irrelevant and insubordinate.”
Beyond the fairly recent fact that WCG’s Church leaders failed to arrive at God-inspired judgments, why are we not all Catholics? Frankly, the proto-Catholic “Church fathers” worked very hard to turn their followers away from God’s Sabbath and away from His Holy Days utilizing an approach very similar to Mr. Elliott’s – they repeatedly pounded the hammer of “the authority of Church leaders.” More recently, do I recall correctly that these arguments about judgments for the Arctic Circle, etc., were among those same arguments put forth by Mr. Tkach and his helpers in their efforts to ultimately disconnect God’s people from His Truth?
God, Christ and His apostles, on the other hand, despite being authoritarian, applaud the individual Christian’s evaluation of Church leaders’ teachings and their conduct. (Compare 1 Kings 13; Jeremiah 35 [where God expects righteous people to disobey His prophet!]; Ezekiel 9; Matthew 7:15-23; Acts 5:29; 17:11; 2 Timothy 3; 3 John, etc.)
Although Mr. Elliott acknowledges certain of the pertinent Biblical passages, and he admits that judgments are to be made “under the umbrella of God’s Law”; nevertheless, he appears completely blind to the peril that current decisions may contradict the clear instructions of God’s Word. However sincere his intent, Mr. Elliott sedates unwary sheep at a time when we most urgently need to be Bereans, “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things [taught by the Church are] so,” willing to do God’s will so that we are able to discern whether teaching[s] are of God or from men (John 7:17), standing firm with Peter and the apostles in our conviction that “we must obey God rather than men.”
The book all UCG members should be reading at this very important time
3 comments:
I daresay that 2/3 of UCG will be led into apostasy this time, even though they resisted last time. Do not ask me how an individual can fail a test after passing it the first time, but the facts on the ground support this conclusion.
You think 2/3 ??? Very interesting. Almost ten years ago a quick survey I did suggested that only about 1/2 of the people who went to the UCG were unconverted and unbelievably evil in their behavior. That seemed bad enough. Either I must have underestimated the problem or else things must have deteriorated some more since then.
I did not make that comment, it was written by someone else. I think things are spiraling out of control way more than anyone realizes.
I daresay that 2/3 of UCG will be led into apostasy this time, even though they resisted last time. Do not ask me how an individual can fail a test after passing it the first time, but the facts on the ground support this conclusion.
The answer is that most simply did not "pass the test the first time." Many very bad people slipped into the UCG right from the start. There has also been a steady exchange as good people either left or were told to stay away while more bad people were welcomed in to replace them.
The idea "that 2/3 of UCG will be led into apostasy this time" could very easily be correct. Again, as usual, not all the bad ones will be left behind. Some rotten ones will always try to slip into any new organization to try to destroy it from within later on, just as many who helped JWT to destroy the WCG then slipped into the UCG.
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