Armstrongism has always had legalistic people who demanded that the WCG observe New Moons, sacred names and other non essentials.
James Malm has take this to a new extreme that I have not heard before. He will actually have people in Israel to see if a certain type of barley has achieved ripeness in order for the 'correct' date of Passover to be observed.
There is a small segment of Armstrongism that has attached it's self to the Karaite Jews and their legalistic rules and regulations that are completely irrelevant to Christians. There are a couple of people on the Original COG Yahoo board that practice all things Jewish and try to get others to do it also. You never hear these people talking about Jesus, but spend their entire time talking about Jewish law, rules and regulations that people should be following.
Malm claims to be a 'new covenant' christian yet goes it fits over people eating out on the 'sabbath', working over onto sundown, and other legalistic rules. There is nothing 'new covenant' about this delusional guy! No matter how hard Armstrongites pretend to be Jewish they are not Jews.
He writes:
NEW YEAR: The last day of the twelfth month of this year is expected to be March 5. It appears that an intercalary 13th month needs to be added to bring us into the proper season for Passover. To comfirm that and to make absolutely certain; my friend Brian Convery will be in Judea with a team of specialists to determine the state of the Aviv Barley. A number of other COG groups as well as the Karaite Jewish community will also be doing this Aviv search. The search will take place next week, just before the end of the twelfth month, unless the airlines cancel flights. In that case observers living in Judea will do the search alone.
If no Aviv barley is found then another month will be added to the year and Passover will take place in April. Please pray that God’s will should be clearly revealed in this matter and that his servants should be kept safe from all harm in this difficult time.
While one can calculate the probabilities, it is very important that practical experience be gained by taking the time to actually study and do these things. The major COG Groups do not understand the Biblical Calendar because they are content to cling to their past traditions and are not willing to make any real effort to find the truth of the matter.
11 comments:
dennis, i cain't for the life of me comprehend what in the world you believe in....are you an atheist or what? You seem to take great pleasure in poking fun at church of god groups shame on you...
Anonymous:
I don't think Dennis posted this. If you look at the end of the post, it says "posted by NO2HWA" which is someone else.
It is sadly obvious that this website is devoted to hate, revenge, and bitterness, barely disguised as 'HWA recovery assistance.'
Its very much like Kahn in Startrek, cursing, "I spite at thee from hell!"
If you even believe in and love 'Jesus,' you would not continue to hate WCG and her daughter groups.
Your Savior said that you cannot be forgiven until you forgive them. Nor will He even hear your prayers.
A strange mix of Atheism and COG hate speech, you PERFECTLY fulfill the concept of end-time scoffers and gainsayers.
Ummmm, for the tenth time....this is NOT MY BLOG. The blogger is kind enough to let me contribute articles but this is not my posting as are not many others. Only if it has my name on it is the article mine.
I don't make fun of COG groups. I will however offer another perspective on what they teach or the arrogance of specialness that infects some of the leadership types and hurt others in the process.
Dennis
PS..However, I agree this kind of cultic Bible behavior is silly and a far cry from anything one has to concern themselves with in the real world. But, if one thinks they need to do this or that a God plays these silly games to reveal himself, well...it's silly.
I still feel that if the Biblegod absolutely needs us to know the absolute thing, then just show up, hold a seminar with a nice luncheon and tell us face to face what you want from us. These cultic games of divination are crazy
That's YOUR opinion.
If the Creator wants to do it that way, what's your problem? Have you no respect at all?
Proverbs 25:2: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
History is littered by thousands of unknown despisers of men who aspired to follow a higher force.
What is laughable about the aggregate of this website's articles, if it weren't so piteous, is 1) the openly contemptuous treatment of all things COG based on supposed 'moral' or scriptural grounds, while at the same time, and out of the other side of the mouth, spews 2) unabashed ATHEISM, denial of the scriptural Creator and His Word.
That's what is really 'silly' foolish and childish here.
I'd rather be a man of faith, than a scoffer any day. You can judge what I believe, but at least I believe something. This website is devoted to HATING everything HWA and COG.
Dennis and No2HWA are two different people here. Dennis is a guest contributor who has thought provoking things to contribute that cause those steeped in the legalistic BS of Armstrongism to stop and think.
Hi James! I see you're reading this blog. Yes, James, you have strange ideas about your old covenant god. You really think the bible god wants you to keep an eye on the barley in Israel? Do you kinow how silly and odd you seem to others?(At least over here you can't "disfellowship" me like you have done over at your site).
Excuse me Watchman: the openly contemptuous treatment of all things COG? Seriously?
See now, I don't see anyone here taking whacks at the Church of God Seventh Day, nor has anyone attacked Paul Woods and the Seventh Day Church of God with The Herald of Truth.
No, we're talking about Armstrongist churches of God. You know, the so-called churches of god which are nothing of the kind -- the ones which sprang from Herbert Armstrong's Radio Church of God. You know that one: The one led by an heretic who wanted to take over the CoG7 and when they wouldn't let him, he took off in a huff and claimed British Israelism as the only one true faith. In fact, in the Fifties and the early Sixties, no one could be a member of the Radio Church of God unless they accepted British Israelism.
Except now British Israelism has been proved to have no basis in reality. It is refuted by DNA, history, Scripture, linguistics, archeology. It is totally false.
Guess what? Anyone who believes any part of rubbish of British Israelism is seriously daft with distorted perception and needs serious help to get sane.
Armstrongism has nothing to do with God, Jesus Christ, anything godly or anything approaching the truth, except where it may have appropriated some small truths through plagiarism.
No, the non Armstrongist churches of God are not impressed. They see Herbert Armstrong as an idolater, false prophet and non apostle with delusions of grandeur which never really went anywhere.
Do you really believe in God? I certainly have my doubts. Even Satan can spout Scripture. The more aggressive Armstrongists I see around seem to have him as their father. They think they have encountered the angel of light while they follow a minister of darkness.
Seriously, another Canadian nut job? It was bad enough to have Richard Brothers invent British Israelism in the 18th Century. He was confined to a mental institution from 1795 to 1806, you know. He was completely daft.
Only now, these days, anybody with a fantasy can start a church. Witness Scientology: It's the same kind of crap of Science Fiction / Fantasy alternative earth history. The Ten Tribes were never lost (in what has become the worst math in the history of the world: 12 - 4 = 10).
Herbert Armstrong was nuts. And you still believe in him? Give us a break.
And now another nutty Canadian (it's not Canada's fault, all of them I've met so far are nominally sane). Someone who doesn't know one thing about how to calculate the Hebrew Calendar. He's never heard of Paul Woods or the Seventh Day Church of God, let alone the Herald of Truth. Oh well, no matter, nobody knows how to calculate the Hebrew Calendar, although Paul Woods did do a pretty good job, near as I can tell.
So here we have a new nut job desperately in need of mental health professionals.
There's nothing really new in Armstrongist land.
Watchman,
I am a Christian. I do not hate HWA, GTA, or any of the members of the Armstrong movement, past or present. And, you are absolutely correct that there are two unpardonable sins. The second, lesser known one, is refusal to forgive others.
That being said, all of the theology of Herbert W. Armstrong has been contaminated by the man's pet theories, and private interpretations. It is not just British Israelism, Petra, church eras, bogus lying church histories, dates for the end, and other obvious false doctrine. The more you examine Armstrong doctrine, the more you see that the teachings of Jesus Christ and Father God have been totally and flagrantly misrepresented by this man. God has been misrepresented. This has had a totally devastating effect on many peoples' lives.
The Bible has much to say about false teachers. Christians are required to speak out when we become aware of wolves in sheeps clothing. Speaking totally for myself, I hope there is forgiveness for Mr. Armstrong, and that he gets to be in the Kingdom of Heaven. I don't want him condemned as guilty on my account.
Although it is not up to me to judge, scripture does not seem to hold much in the way of hope for false teachers, though!
BB
While I totally agree that false teacher types are rather dispicable, in truth I have found no teacher who felt he was false and while some may believe they are deliberately false for gain, that is not my personal experience.
It's like no one saying, "I know I am in the wrong church." Just not a common thought that enters anyone's mind.
The problem is when a teacher really finds out he was wrong on some topic. The test comes when they either admit it, or bury it to keep something going. It is at this point one becomes dispicable. Especially if the "oops" hurts people by not revealing it.
DCD
Hello,
I am not from the WWCoG or any of its predecessors or descendants. But I wanted to comment on the attack posted here (this article) on people who try to restore and follow the calendar that God gave to his people.
We are told in Genesis and Psalms that God created the moon for denoting appointed times and seasons/festivals. The Hillel calendar averages out to be correct over the course of a cycle (19 years) but not always *within* a cycle. But God gave us the instruction and the means to carry it out, and the means are still available today, so why should we not observe the calendar the way HE laid it out? Why would you lambast people who do observe it that way?
As Christians, if we want to honor and obey God by not incorporating the ways of worship of false gods into our worthip of Him (He warns against this and calls this an abomination), then we can't very well remember Resurrection Day on Easter, now can we? If we want to remember the Resurrection Day, the only way that makes sense is to do so three days after the Passover prep, so we need to know when Passover is. The only way to know that, according to God, who gave the method himself, is to go by the Biblical calendar including declaring a leap year (prgnant year) by instituting a 13th month according to God's instructions on how to do that.
Everything else seems to me to be the result of men deciding to do it their own way, for their own purposes, and has no (Biblical) merit.
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