One of Apostle Malm's acolytes lets the world know the real reason behind Malmism and Armstrongism. It is better to be a pretend Jew than it is to be a follower of Jesus, the radical rule breaking dude who ate with and walked with the poor, the disposed, the rejected, the sick and the outcasts of society. Instead let's worry about eating in restaurants on Saturdays, driving too far in one day, worshiping the moon and other irrelevant proclivities.
I am new to COG and have been obeying Torah for about two years now. I tried a Messianic church where they sell merchandise on the Sabbath, another Messianic church where they had ladies day out shopping day on the Sabbath and skipped Sabbath services. I tried a 7th day Baptist church where some observed Christmas and some ate pork. Then I found COG which is much better at observing Torah. I do struggle with the eating out in restaurants on the Sabbath and holy days. I don’t struggle myself because I don’t do it. I just don’t understand why it is allowed? I appreciated your comments about not going to the feast at a touristy area. I have changed my feast location for this year thanks to your comments to a more out of the way place. I feel like I’m at the best place I can be right now, but I feel like there is so much more. I really appreciate your blog and your call to a holier lifestyle.
I think we all understand that WCG viewed Christianity as a Jewish Christian for life organization.
ReplyDeleteJesus may have originally been of the Essene view as was John the Baptist, but eventually broke from it to follow the same route as the Essene Teacher of Righteousness had done decades earlier to Jesus. Jesus definately lightened up the Essene view and thus broke even with John the Baptist even though Jesus was an earlier follower of John.
John really did baptise Jesus in the oldest accounts (Mark) for the remission of sins but later Gospels upgraded this to "to fulfill all righteousness" as they had to get Jesus away from his humanity and sin and grow the legend.
However, we have no writings of Jesus on it all. The Gospels are not eyewitness accounts and the names affixed were added much much later to give the four gospels credibility. The original authors were annonymous. "Mark" was the original book and while we think they are four different accounts, in fact, Matthew copies 94 % of Mark verbatim and Luke 56%. Hardly original accounts.
There is no real connection between the Gospels and Paul's writings. The Gospel writers never heard of any Pharisee named Saul in Jerusalem being so smart. The Gospels were written after Paul died. As mentioned elsewhere, Jesus for Paul was NOT the Jesus of the Gospels. And the Gospel had no clue of what Paul would make of him.
Paul wrote first of the Cosmic Christ
Then the Gospel accounts came along and brought the Cosmic Christ to earth as Jesus
Revelation made the Gospel Jesus into a world king coming "shortly" to route the Romans..
Which he never did and the Romans won in 70AD
It is my current view that there is not one NT scripture on the Second Coming of Jesus that goes beyond 70AD when Judaism tanked and Christianity began it's rise.
All the talk of Jesus coming in the NT is "soon," with "the day is far spent..." Either it happened in some symbolic way back then and fulfilled it, or it never happened and Jesus failed.
No NT personality ever envisioned a Jesus coming beyond the events of 70AD and the scripture talk about Jesus coming has nothing to do with our time.
WCG just chose the Gospel Jesus Church view with a touch of Acts while Paul chose the Gentile version. You can't have both as Paul was at odds with every Jewish Christian element in the NT including the ones he originally agreed to go along with and then didn't.
One will NEVER get the story straight trying to make the Jewish Church and the Gentile Church under Paul one and the same.
John stands on its own and introduces the Cosmic Christ who did little of what the other Gospels talk about and some things they don't mention.
Wasn't the Battle of Pearl Harbor Fought to defeat the Torah.
ReplyDelete"Torah..Torah...Torah"
I could be wrong.
M.T.Bombays
Well, as goes Torah-fixation, a Christian's difference is in the fruits, and the quality of spiritual experience. If you dwell on the shadows of the Old Covenant, picking and choosing and becoming o/c about whatever laws and ordinances you hold over, then you are going to become very like the Jews and Israelites of Old Covenant times. That will be the extent of your spiritual experience.
ReplyDeleteIf you read and practice the gospels, and the epistles of Paul, unfiltered by Armstrongism or the Old Covenant, then your spiritual experience will become similar to what was experienced by the early Christians in the apostolic era, as in the book of Acts. It is no accident that the Jewish Christians largely disappeared very early in the Messianic era. According to the writer of Hebrews, they just never moved beyond the milk and into the New Covenant.
The Olivet discourse, Jesus' own prophecy, clearly referred to the destruction of the Temple, and the scattering of the Jews into a diaspora, which events took place in 70 AD. However, many of the events prophesied in the books of Daniel and Revelation have not as yet occurred, which is why endtimes speculation is rampant amongst Christians today. Some scholars believe that Revelation was written during the reign of Domitian, John being the last surviving Apostle.
HWA's private theories, and Adventist tradition, used as a scary advertising "hook" have created unneccessary panic and a disquieted spirit amongst ACOG members, even though a constantly revised timetable has consistently failed. I'm surprised that some fool hasn't come out and proclaimed that we're now living in the last days of the hundred year period, or some such nonsense.
BB