Last Sermon of Ron Weinland

Ron Weinland preached his last sermon before the end of the world today.  You would have thought Ron would have instructed his loyal followers on how to deal with the horrendous events to soon unfold.  You would have thought how he would have given them comforting words when they know their relatives and friends will all be killed in the fires of Armageddon.  You would have thought there would be comforting words on how God was going to protect them as members, and to persevere because "...we all know how it works out in the end."

So what do you think Ron was talking about today in his sermon?  Litterbugs!  Litterbugs tick him off!  WTH?

Doesn't he realize the blazing fires of nuclear holocaust and Armageddon will burn up all that litter?  The end of the world is happening in a little over 7 days and Weinerdude is worried about litter.

ht:  Dennis

When Church of God Prophecy Fails

Here is a great article detailing what went on in the minds of Harold Camping's followers when the end times did not happen according to Camping's predictions.  The ironic thing about this article is that Bob Thiel posted excerpts on his blog about this.  Thiel obviously does not have the brains to see that this article is talking about himself and how he defends the false prophecies of Rod Meredith and Herbert Armstrong.  Hundreds and hundreds of false prophecies, predictions, and baseless speculations have been uttered over the years by these men and yet there are lemmings that refuse to look at all the errors and defend these men as "men of God."

Ron Weinland's cult will be the next to experience this.  Then it will be Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, David Hulme, and  myriad of others who open their mouths and make statements that never come to pass.

A Year After the Non-Apocalypse: Where Are They Now? A reporter tracks down the remnants of Harold Camping’s apocalyptic movement and finds out you don’t have to be crazy to believe something nuts.

“God’s Not Going to Let Us Down”
Some believers stayed up all night. They watched TV or sat in front of their computers, hitting refresh on their browsers, confident that reports of a massive earthquake originating near New Zealand would soon appear. Other believers went to sleep, assuming that they would awaken in the presence of the almighty.

When the sun rose on May 21, they were taken aback. Maybe it would happen at noon. When noon passed, they settled on 6 p.m. When that came and went, some thought it might happen at midnight. Or perhaps it wouldn’t happen until May 21 was over everywhere on the planet. “It will still be May 21st in American Samoa (last time zone before the International Date Line),” someone posted on Latter Rain, an online forum for believers.

By Sunday morning, new theories were floated. “It was God’s plan to warn people. It was His purpose to hide the true meaning behind May 21. It’s about us suffering what He went through,” a believer commented. One hypothesis had it that three days would elapse before the actual rapture, just like the three days between Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. Someone else wondered if it might be seven days considering that seven is a holy number, or forty, the same amount of time Noah was forced to sail around with a boatload of animals.
When those deadlines passed, another narrative took shape. What happened was a test. God knew that believers would be mocked when He failed to return on the assigned date. Would believers hold firm or would they allow the jeers of the world to weaken their resolve? The Lord was separating the wheat from the chaff, they liked to say, paraphrasing Matthew 3:12. It helped that Camping, before he vanished from the airwaves, had seemed to endorse this view.

When a prophecy fails, it’s crucial that a group’s leaders provide an alternate explanation of what happened, or what didn’t happen, according to Lorne Dawson, a professor of sociology at the University of Waterloo, who has studied apocalyptic sects. “The followers of the group are so heavily invested that they have tremendous incentive to accept these rationalizations,” he said. But the revised story needs to be issued rapidly—wait too long and your followers will fall away.

United Church of God: What's Wrong With This List?

Look at the list of names below and see what you can see out of the ordinary.  These are the men making the decisions in UCG.

• Doctrine Committee: Scott Ashley, Bill Bradford, John Elliott, Darris McNeely, Don Ward and Bob Berendt as chairman.
• Ethics Committee: Carmelo Anastasi, Gary Antion, Mark Mickelson, Robin Webber and Mario Seiglie as chairman.
• Education Committee: Scott Ashley, Gary Antion, John Elliott and Don Ward as chairman.
• Media Committee:  Carmelo Anastasi, Scott Ashley, Bill Bradford, Mario Seiglie and Darris McNeely as chairman.
• Strategic Planning Committee: Bill Bradford, Mark Mickelson and Robin Webber as chairman.
• Roles and Rules: Carmelo Anastasi, Bob Berendt, John Elliott, Mark Mickelson and Gary Antion as chairman.

What's that? You see nothing out of the ordinary? You are correct.

It is 2012, well over 15 years since all of these men were WCG employees kicking people out of the Church for not following Tkach's new teaching.

Fifteen years later and these very same men are STILL in charge. No new blood has entered the picture.

The same corrupt power structure is still running UCG.

It's no wonder the UCG is losing members and not growing.

Is anyone on that list under the age of 50? Where is the new blood coming up through the ranks with new ideas and new focus?

UCG is aging out, like all the other 700 some harlot daughters of Armstrongism.

Larry McElroy's Magical "god" Only Heals In Restored Church of God

Larry McElroy, apparently back from his reeducation camp stay, has written another article about the mighty and magnificent Restored Church of God.  Healings—Why Only in The Restored Church of God     Yet again, he has opened his mouth and made a royal fool of himself.

Dave has been telling all the various COG's that his little group is the most important, most magnificent, most technologically advanced, prints better magazines, and has more money than any other COG out there.  God oblivious is dwelling in Wadsworth, Ohio.  Because god is only working through Dave in Wadsworth, it is only natural that healing can only occur under Dave.

God’s “benefit package” includes healing of diseases that befall brethren, especially in the end time. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from destruction; Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies” (Psa. 103:2-4). How many of God’s people have forgotten His promises? Forgotten His benefits? When you consider all of God’s benefits, He truly is the ultimate “Health Maintenance Provider” all should look to in times of physical distress due to poor health and the need for healing.

While scores of millions need healing, how many are ever healed? How many look to God for healing? How many of His people today seek Him for healing? Those in the Restored Church of God DO look to God. Many dramatic healings take place in the Body of Christ, which is teaching the full truth of the Bible. The remainder of this posting will explain why God is healing individuals in His Church and almost no one in any of the splinters. (emphaisis mine)

McElroy writes about several "healing" that have supposedly occurred in his cult.

These dramatic miracles occur for a reason. Mr. Pack writes in the “Fruits” letter, “Healings are only one of many kinds of miracles we see in God’s Church on a regular basis, miracles that God’s enemies cannot gainsay.” But again why are there healings and other miracles in The Restored Church of God?

Then he states something that all RCG members had better take note of.  If Dave says it, you had better believe it and NOT qwquestion it.  Otherwise you will NEVER be healed!

God’s Church teaches the full truth of the Bible. It is the “pillar and ground” of the truth (I Tim. 3:15). God’s people are required to OBEY ALL TRUTH without compromise. Obedience includes commandments, doctrines, sayings of Christ and traditions set in the Church by apostles. These purify us: “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth…” (I Pet. 1:22).

So what happens when you get sick?:  You are sick because you are a grievous sinner!  You have sinned some great sin that causes you to be sick. Healthy people apparently are sin free.  How depressing is that!

Also, fewer and fewer ministers taught the doctrine of healing—taught that God is our healer! Most of these men did not tell people that sickness was caused by physical sin—violating God’s principles of health. Many of these negligent ministers now lead the splinters and it should come as no surprise that they are SILENT on God being our Healer and “health maintenance provider.”

The deviate teachings continue with a subtle wranning that if you disobey God you will get sick!  It's your fault!

So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” God’s Church teaches the gospel and the doctrine of healing—and God’s promises in this regard. It also teaches how to acquire faith. Brethren must hear the FULL truth to develop faith sufficient to trust God for healing. Individuals who are doing their part to obey the gospel and trust God in faith can EXPECT God to intervene for them! Healings take place where God’s ministry is teaching His Word regarding faith and healing, and the brethren take heed and implement that teaching.

If you dare to question or ignore the holey writ from Dave and crew then you are damning yourself to a life of sickness and disease.

Did you know that the  government of the Church is the healer.  That's a new concept for me. God only heals through the proper chain of command.  God is apparently to stupid and weak to just pop down and heal a person out of the blue that has never kept a legalistic law in his life.  Instead, Dave's god has to heal through a governmental power structure.

All of you COGgers in the various splinter group had better beware! You cannot and never will be healed because you are following heretical idiots who do not preach government.

Splinter groups do not have God’s government in their organizations—none of them! Properly ordained elders and ministers who have the authority of Jesus Christ are NECESSARY to administer the healing doctrine:

Understanding the LEGITIMATE government of God is critical to understanding why healings take place within the Body of Christ.

“Government is everything,” as Mr. Herbert Armstrong stated. Healing is, in essence, a government function within the Church..

Dave also is the sole heir of the apostolic chruch tradition.  God only is working through Dave because Dave was ordained under HWA.

During the 20th century, a unique individual trained by Christ came to lead the Philadelphian era of God’s Church—Herbert W. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong was an apostle, as well as the end-time Elijah that came to restore all things to the Church (Matt. 17:11). The fruit of his 52-year ministry involved MANY healings and mighty deeds, including the largest Work of God ever seen on Earth.

In the 21st century, Mr. David Pack leads God’s Work. The fruit of that Work includes many dramatic healings and miracles—and the gospel being taken powerfully to all nations. Apostolic authority is in place in God’s true Church—“mighty deeds” and signs such as miraculous healings will continue to occur in The Restored Church of God.

But never fear, God may just slip up and heal you outside the RCG, but only on the condition that you immediately join the one and only true chruch, the Restored Church of God.

 Here is another great reason for healings occurring in The Restored Church of God and nowhere else: The Bible lists healing as a gift given within the Body of Christ. Notice this: “Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that…gifts of healings…” (I Cor. 12:27-31). While God may on rare occasion choose to heal someone outside the Body of Christ, for the purpose of getting their attention and bringing them back to the Body, healings as a whole occur ONLY WHERE JESUS CHRIST IS HEAD!

Dennis on: "Oh God! No!"

"Oh God!  No!"

He had fallen into the now abandoned and half full of rainwater family swimming pool unnoticed.  The pool had not been used for some time due to financial reverses in the family company which saw them lose many of the material acquisitions of better days now gone by.  When he went missing and a search was made for the boy, they missed him in the first check of the now muddied swimming pool.  Having run out of places to look, they looked again and found him drowned in the murky pool. 

When they weren't looking other relatives washed the muddy hand prints all around the water line off before the parents could see them....  That image has always stayed with me. It also made me wonder what kind of a God could sit idly by and watch, if one does watch, this horror unfold.

It was another of many "Oh God! No!" moments in my ministry.  Those phone calls are tough and the initial minutes arriving at the home is usually chaos.  I have made any number of such return trips to a church family home in the immediate hours after such unthinkable personal family losses.  I have had to restrain the arms of a parent attempting to beat on me while they screamed "Why!!!  Why us?"   I learned to just hold on and the aggression would soon turn into a total collapse into my arms of weeping at a deep deep level most never want to discover in themselves.  It is almost primitive.  Next would follow a listing of sins or faults such as knowing they did not pray as much as they should or attend church as often as they must.  All in the name of finding a reason for two things.  1. What bad things have I done to deserve this?  2. Why did God not protect my son or daughter, as clearly written he would,  in such a time as this?

On one other such horrific occasion, I had just left the home visiting before the twin teenage girls loved by all got off from school.  The Twins were the center of moms world and even though they had a son, it was the Twins, both beautiful and precious that seemed to get all the attention.  On that visit the thought crossed my mind, "I hope she never has to lose one of these girls for it would be too much to bear."  I drove home and arrived for the phone call from the mom.  The one Twin had been hit by a car crossing the road to get to her Burger King job.  I said I'd meet her at the hospital.  When I walked in I was greeted by a Zombie who took my hand and said she'd take me to see her.  As we walked thru the basement I realized what I had not been told.  We were going to the morgue.  We walked in an there she lay in her Burger King outfit.  Beautiful and not a mark on her.  She was gone.  She was dead.  Those minutes seemed like hours as we just stood there and then the typical hell broke lose in that morgue and the screams were,  "Oh God!  No!"  Where were you!"

I had no answer and didn't try.  I held her when she collapsed and eventually buried her daughter in the Prom dress she had bought for the YOU prom that weekend. It was odd to see her living exact twin standing next to her casket.  The picture kinda sticks with you...  I believe the family left the church in a short time and became Mormons. 

It was VERY COMMON for the bereaved family to LEAVE the Church to seek solace elsewhere.  VERY COMMON...almost expected.  In one case that happened under my watch but I was transferred out of the area at the same time, the minister following finally told the family "It's been six months now.  It's time to get over it."  I remember being absolutely enraged at that fool.  The family left the Church to seek actual and not non-encouraging encouragement in short order.   Can you blame them?

I have a number more such events that all contain that element of "Oh God!  No!"  With many of those behind me as pastoring went on I always thought how ridiculous it was when someone told me how God healed them from a cold or the flu or helped them pass a gall or kidney stone.  "Luck of the draw.." I tended to tell myself.

"Mystic and writer Amos Komensky, who lived during the 17th century, wrote that God assigns guardian angels to help protect children “against all dangers and snares, pits, ambushes, traps, and temptations.” But adults get the benefit of guardian angels’ protection, too, says the Book of Enoch, which is included in the holy scriptures of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. 1 Enoch 100:5 declares that God will “set a guard of holy angels over all the righteous.” The Quran says in Al Ra'd 13:11: "For each [person], there are angels in front of him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's command."    (Whitney Hopler)

Scriptures to skip during the funeral...

Matthew 18:10

¹⁰ “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Hebrews 1:14

¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation

Psalm 91

¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

³ Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹ If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
¹² they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
¹³ You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

¹⁴ “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation. ”

 

Concepts and Non-encouraging encouragement NOT to bring up to the family.

 

"God promises not to give you more than you can bear."

 

Answer to this 100% of the time.  "I can't bear this...

"At least you will see them in the Kingdom if you remain faithful"

 

Answer to this 100% of the time. "I want them home tonight for dinner."

"At least God has blessed you with other children"

 

Answer to this 100% of the time.  "Please don't say that...."

"God lost his only Son as well and understands ...."

 

Answer to this 100% of the time.  "No, God knew his Son would die and be back in three short days better than ever.  That was a weekend inconvenience.  My child is DEAD!"   (Usually this can be followed by..."A sacrifice should STAY dead to be a real sacrifice.")

"God does not think as we do in such cases."

 

Answer 100% of the time.  "Then don't tell me He understands what human is!"

"God's ways are not our ways."

 

Answer 100% of the time.  "Then He shouldn't promise to do things the way we understand in only our way or talk in spirit codes"

 

"There is a way that SEEMS right to us, but it ends in death..."

 

Answer 100% of the time.  "Then I don't understand this God, never will and am not sure I want to.

 

Like Job getting back ten brand spanking new children from God after the loss of the original ten, it just seems this God doesn't understand how these things work for humans.  We generally don't want another child replace the lost one.  We want THAT ONE BACK!" 

The apologetics for God are typical in such cases.

" We have looked at God’s sovereignty and how important that truth is. Because if I am not convince that God is sovereign, then His promises will mean nothing to me. In fact I might even observe that God doesn’t keep His promises because my understanding of God is superimposed with my experience with man. Man fails, doesn’t keep promises and really has no power to ensure that any promise is kept. We wrongly transfer those weaknesses of man onto God, but God is not limited as man is. He is perfect love, complete, lacking nothing. The promises of God are identical with His character, to us as temporal beings, they are a revelation of the character of the Most High."

(If God promises to protect us, why doesn't He?-Crave Christian Apologetics)

 

Which being interpreted is...see above for encouragement that is not encouraging..

 

And more...

"We can give thanks to God for his protection by angels.  We never worship angels.  We worship Jesus (God).  God created the angels before Adam and Eve were made.  Some of the angels did not obey God and decided to follow the worst angel of all, Satan.  He is very bad.  He is a real and powerful angel that was so bad God threw him and the bad angels (demons) out of heaven.  You have a good angel that loves and obeys God that is watching over you.  Satan, the bad angel, tries to get us to do bad things.  But since Jesus created him, Jesus is stronger than Satan (the Devil ).  Jesus will protect us and use His angels to protect us from harm because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)(ChildrenSermons.com  Angels Watching Over Me)

 

It simply isn't true or if it is true it is so in way that makes the scriptures on such things meaningless. 

 

I never had a good answer for this.  I had good apologetics where no matter what the Bible actually said, it could be denied, altered or tweeked in such ways as to absolve the author or God from it actually meaning what it said.  The Bible is like that as are humans who , no matter what, can't imagine the advice or promise is really lame and unrealistic in real earthly experience.

 

Perhaps it would be better to just admit that in life, "shit happens." How many have been dis-illusioned when the SHTF in life becasue of what seemed so quaint and nice in scripture actually proved to be of no value in reality? Dis-ILLUSIONED is actually a good thing however painful.  Reality is actually our friend if we can face it instead of ignore it, try and end run around it or turn around and run.

 

I have buried a lot of children and young people. All flower shops smell like funeral homes to me. Well meaning, Bible reading Christians often cause more harm than good with their unrealistic and sometimes smug one liners of encouragement, as if they knew.  Please, please think before you open your mouth in shallow assertions about the why of such events or think that the many Biblical references in such cases meant to be encouraging are actually encouraging.   When push comes to shove, they seldom deliver and drive those caught up in harsh reality further from you. 

 

Most people can only offer sympathy.  Sympathy is imagining what others might be going through but one has no personal experience with what they are actually going through.  Empathy is knowing what people are going through because you have actually gone through the same thing and lived to tell about it.  Don't quote the Bible flippantly thinking it will help.  It doesn't and it won't.  Or if it ever does, that time is years ahead when the person has at least survived long enough for the memory of it all to dull. 

 

Conscious human beings are sensitive to these loses. We are not animals that can discard their dead in the bushes and walk away.  Encouragement should actually be encouraging to one who is discouraged.  Often times in fundamentalism, it is not.  Wise up and hope we choose our words carefully when "Oh God! No!"  comes to call...

Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com

Satan Is A Frustrated Hermaphrodite

More fun from Jeff Dugger: A Small Voice FAQ

Many who agree with your stance on Gen. 6 allege that Satan and Eve had sex producing Cain. Do you agree to this teaching? Absolutely not! God's word clearly states that Cain was the product of Adam and Eve (Gen. 4:1). There is no passage in Scripture where a sexual union between Satan and Eve is ever spoken of. Those who promote otherwise speak directly against God's written word. (Our research reveals Satan to be a very frustrated and hermaphroditic entity. Hence, there is hardly any chance at all of Eve ever being able to become impregnated by such a creature. Hermaphrodites don't reproduce very easily according to God's laws of physics.)

COG: "Earth Cake" or Fruitcake?

The "earth cake" theory.  Bet you never heard that one preached in a COG before have you? It certainly sounds more interesting than hearing HWA bellow on about the two trees week after week.

Here is what Jeff Dugger from A Small Voice has to say:

This "earth-cake" theory asserts that God placed the pre-fallen Lucifer on Earth (along with one third of the angels), to better complete what was supposed to have been an already perfect creation. God does not create in any other fashion than perfection. The analogy of the Earth being represented as a baked cake with the angels being ordered to frost the unfinished sweet concoction is often thrust forward as an explanation. Another analogy in this same line of reasoning portrays Earth as a piece of newly constructed furniture, with the angels being sent by God to sand, stain and varnish our planet to a final and better completed product. 


Scripture never states that God placed Lucifer on Earth to do any type of finishing work at all, unless one assumes God to be represented symbolically as the red dragon of Rev. 12--which is wholly impossible. This theory attempts to show that Lucifer was transformed from super-angel into the Devil while on Earth, and subsequently traveled to Heaven in an attempt to knock God from His throne. However, the text cannot possibly support such a scenario. It's abundantly clear from Rev. 12:3-4 that it was Satan, no longer the good guy super-angel, who was responsible for sending one third of the angels to Earth, and not God.

Instead of "earth cake" I think this more aptly describes him:

UCG's Unique Money Saving Plan

The WCG always had a liberal policy of reimbursing ministers for personal items.  This ranged anywhere from household food, alcohol, lawn care, clothing, and even condoms and women's sanitary supplies.  Many times there would be really strange things purchased and the church would pay for it.

Then the huge blow-up happened and tens of thousands went off to form new church corporations where these procedures were carried over.  UCG though, but the brakes on reimbursement for alcohol last year soon after COGWA split off.  I am sure this was a huge disappointment to several in the UCG ministry. Some of them are well know for their prolific alcohol collections and consumption.

I wonder how many tens of thousands of dollars have been saved over the last year?

Malm: Animals Suffer To Teach Us A Lesson About Satan

One of the apostate apostle's acolytes wrote to him asking why animals have to suffer.  According to Malm, animals have to suffer in order to make us realize how mean Satan is so that we will not rebel against God in the Kingdom. 

My question to you is this. Why do you think a Loving and merciful God lets millions of animals suffer everyday all over the world.
No one has answered this for me. With your wisdom and relationship with the almighty you may understand this.
Thank You

Right now this world belongs to Satan and God is letting Satan have his way within certain limits. Even humanity suffers greatly. In the kingdom God will take away the wild nature of even the beasts and the lion will lie peacably with the lamb and the wolf will play with the kid.
It is also true that God creted all things for a purpose; some were created for sacrificial purposes to teach us lessons; others were reated for other purposes. We are to use what God has crated for the purposes that God intended and receive that with thanksgiving.
I dare say that all the suffering and death is to teach us so thoroughly that the ways of Satan and the results they bring are so hideous that we will get so full of the horror of iot that once eternity has come, we will never rebel as he did. James

It is Not Safe For the True COG to Worship In This Age

Armstrongism has always had the strange practice of holding church services in Masonic Lodges, Elk's Lodges, and Odd Fellows Halls.  Making that practice even more strange are the numerous articles put out by the church criticizing those organizations as satanic.

We now have a COG splinter cult here in CA asking why the COG's continue this practice.  But before they get to that, they want you to know how dangerous it is for COG's to meet together on Saturdays.  I don't know what planet this splinter cult is on, but there has been no hindrance to any COG meeting in the United States.

Affordable, convenient, comfortable, and safe places to formally worship God are very difficult to find. However, the practice of the Father's  true religion is not convenient, comfortable, or safe in this age. The elect of God are limited in almost every endeavor they attempt in this evil world, and to use monetary justification,  convenience, and comfort as the foremost criteria or as an excuse to use the facilities of this world's religions seems to be missing the point of the many instructions of God that require a true Christian to separate themselves  from false religious systems  and false gods.

Questions to Consider

• Why  would a true Christian want to meet in a building that is dedicated to the worship of a false religion and god?
• Why would a true Christian want to worship the true God surrounded by idols,  paintings, and symbols that clearly violate the first two of the Ten Commandments?  
• Knowing how God feels  about false religious systems and their practices and places of  worship,  can a true Christian offer up praise to him and worship him within a building or a place dedicated to a false god in good conscience? Congregation of God, San Jose CA

Ron Weinland: "My Work Is Nearly Complete"

Armstrongism has had a long history of men who think they have an inside channel to God's master plan.  Over the decades they have run off at the mouth with some incredibly STUPID things.  Such as these lies from Dale Schurter, Herman Hoeh, Rod Meredith, and Herbert Armstrong:

4) 1964 Coworkers letter: "only 7 years before H-bomb warfare breaks out"

5) May 1965 PT: "Hitler will be falsely resurrected by the Pope"

6) Feb 1965: by Meredith: "documented proof Hitler did not die in his bunker"

8) 13 Dec 1965, HWA in co-workers letter: "We are in the grand smash climax - only 6 years left."

11) 1955 PT by Hoeh: "within 20 years this nation will be toppled by worst drought in its history" - note: 1975 US had one of greatest grain surpluses and sold it to Soviets

17) April 1956 PT by Hoeh: "Disease epidemics threaten US in 2 years"

22) 1934 PT: "Christ will return in 1936"

23) 1940 PT: "Christ will come after 3.5 years of tribulation in October 43"

24) 1982 Coworkers letter: (for those who claim he mellowed with the years) "I hope to arrange for the use of Petra as a possible refuge or place of safety during the Great Tribulation when I see King Hussein. Pray for this please."

25) 1960's PT repeatedly claimed 1972 would be the year of Christ's coming

26) after 1969: HWA claimed it would be 1975

27) first half of 1950's PT: Christ would return in 1957

36) Gerald Waterhouse continually: if HWA died, God would destroy the world

48) April/May 1978 Worldwide News: HWA teaches you can only come to Christ through him through government structure: cut yourself off from Christ if you disobey HWA

61) 1966 PT by Dale Schurter: prepare for famine in US within 3-5 years; note - hundreds of WWCG farmer members bankrupted following his teaching that fertilizer was sinful

  71) Turkey will prevent the United States Sixth Fleet from fleeing from Nazi European air attacks and will stab America and Britain in the back. It will later be destroyed for this treachery. - Plain Truth articles by Hoeh, Herbert and Meredith in the 1960s.

89) He and Dale Schurter warned farmers against using nitrate fertilizers claiming it would ruin their lands and would cause famines around the world. Instead, nitrate fertilizers, developed after the turn of the century, have fed billions of people. It was farmers who followed HWA who were ruined when they suddenly abandoned all fertilizers on his urging and went immediately to compost heaps without easing their land off it. Hundreds or thousands of families were ruined.

92) From 1950s onward, HWA and Hoeh: King Hussein of Jordan will grant the WWCG a tribulation-time "place of safety" at Petra. 1994, King Hussein is dying of colon cancer. Extreme Islamic fundamentalists are threatening to topple his dynasty and seize Jordan.

108) March 1950 PT: "One third of our people will die from starvation ... - and in the next FEW YEARS!" Is 48 years just "a FEW YEARS!"?

120) August 1957 PT: Another old favorite still with us today. Roderick Meredith: "at the conclusion of the drought and floods we are now just beginning to suffer this nation is going to be punished by horrifying DISEASE EPIDEMICS - plagues." When? He approvingly cites a 1956 Plain Truth title: 'Disease Epidemics Threaten USA in Two Years!" Clearly, 1958 was meant. Meredith continued, "In addition to those warnings ...we will soon find that hoof-and-mouth disease will spread COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL!" The only thing that spread out of control, then and the next 40 years, was the disease of his own big mouth.

149) PT, June 1963 - Roderick Meredith gets his knickers in a twist claiming that a "Protestant leader credited the Roman priests of Europe as being 'the minds behind the (European Common) Market', the real planners of this coming Holy Roman Empire which is prophesied to arise in Europe and CONQUER America and Britain within the next 10 to 12 years ... It is later than you think."

34 years on from that remark, meredith continues to sound off on such subjects, still without humility, without shame. In fact, the true "Minds behind" the European Community after World War II were Robert Schumann, Jean Monnet and - most of all - Winston Churchill, whom herbert had already predicted years before would be conquered by Hitler.

156) PT, February 1965: Roderick Meredith - "Dozens of prophesied events indicate that this final revival of the Roman Empire in Europe -and its bestial persecution of multitudes of Bible-believing Christians - will take place within the next seven to ten years of YOUR LIFE!"

Yet another false prophecy, another foul lie. In fact, the years 1967-70 saw the Catholic Church charity organization Caritas make far greater and more successful relief efforts to save hundreds of thousands of starving children (hundreds of thousands died anyway) in the Nigerian Civil War than all other groups combined. The 1966 Medellin accords opened a new era of respect and support for human rights in the Catholic Church throughout Latin America. The complete list of 209 failed prophecies is here: Herbert Armstrong's 209 False Prophecies

      
There you have a record of some of the lies that have been spewing from the mouths of the "enlightened" evangelists, ministers and apostles of the Church.  Every single one of them have proven to be liars.


You would think that given this horrendous track record of lies and false prophecies uttered in the Church that other splinter cult leaders would have learned to keep their mouths shut.  Sadly, they have not learned a lesson from the past.


Today, the biggest liar and fool that the Church has is Ron Weinland.  Weinland claims he is THE end time prophet, that he is one of the two witnesses, and the last apostle for this age.


He has published and said  so many foolish and stupid things that he has no credibility anymore.  Yet, like the EverReady Bunny, he keeps on going.


On April 29, 2012 he had this to say about his awesome revelations:

As readers of this site know, May 27, 2012, is the time that I have stated as being the date Jesus Christ will return as King of kings over all government on this earth. For such an event to come to pass, the Trumpets of Revelation must all sound, the United States and dollar collapse, the ten nations of Europe arise to fulfill the final revival of the Holy Roman Empire, and Russia with China must unite against Europe in WWIII.

But as the last apostle in this age, and as God’s end-time prophet, I am still telling people that this is true and that a short-lived WWIII is now at our doorstep. Due to this strong conviction, the Church of God – PKG is putting all its resources into promoting this final message of Christ’s impending return in order to complete the “work” that God has given us to do. This “work” is nearly complete. As my previous post was written over two months ago, this may well prove to be my final one, since there are only four weeks remaining in this age.

Then a wave of sanity briefly kicks Ronnie in the ass and he rambles on about things maybe not happening according to plan because God is "merciful."  I guess on Monday morning  May 28th when the sun rises, Weinalnd will be saying, "God has shown great mercy on the church because it is not ready and has therefore delayed the coming of Jesus Christ."  That is the same broken record the liars of Armstrongism have been saying for 70 some years now.  The dumb sheep are not ready and God has to delay his awesome plan of death and destruction.

When I began writing posts for this site, I initially envisioned the possible need of writing more often, primarily due to our preparing for the possibility of “great tribulation” beginning at the very start of this final three and one-half year period. However, great physical tribulation did not begin at that time, and it thankfully has not yet begun. So the need to write more often in order to help people deal with tribulation that could have begun early on has not been needed. But rather, in the midst of horrifying prophecies for this end-time, God has revealed in a most powerful manner one of His greatest attributes toward His creation—toward mankind. It is the awesome quality of “mercy”!

Then, I guess Weinland's brain fart is over and he says:

A fast approaching fixed date of May 27th for Christ’s return does not seem reasonable to people. It just does not seem right. Throughout time, those things that God has given to people in the form of prophecy and instruction just do not seem right to mankind. Human nature has always resisted the true ways of God.

 Those in the world and in the Church that was scattered who hear (or read) what I have said about the timing of Christ’s return and all the horrific end-time events that will precede it respond in similar manner—with utter disbelief. Oftentimes, the response is also mixed with ridicule, slander, anger, mockery, chiding, correction and a seemingly endless barrage of other negative human emotions regarding the “message.” God actually addresses this exact kind of response, for this exact moment in time, by a prophecy given through Ezekiel (Ez. 12).

For all of you that mock Weinerdude and his prophecy this is what is in store for you:

God says He will scatter such people and they will be taken into captivity. This next part will make many mad and upset with me, but this is from God and not from me. This is speaking of the vast majority of the Church that was scattered after the apostasy. They have become so spiritually sluggish that they cannot and will not accept truth that God has given since the apostasy—truth that He has given to His end-time prophet.

Weinland ends with this:

God’s timing is based on the day He has set for the return of His Son as world ruler. God will allow mankind to begin his final war, but He will also quickly stop it. The reason should be obvious! “Why” massive destruction from end-time events has not yet begun is due to the reality of how massive such a war will become as soon as it starts. Once a single nuclear device is detonated, and it will happen very soon now, who will refrain themselves from retaliating? Who will be the first to limit the response of their attack once the cycle begins?

It is because of such destructive power in the hands of mankind that God has shown that if He did not intervene quickly, once such a conflagration begins, mankind would destroy itself. That is exactly what God is going to do. He will cut short the war that man begins, and He will do so on May 27th, which is also the day Jesus Christ returns.

I am going to have a great bottle of wine, grill some shrimp and steak on the night of the 27th as I watch the sun set; while laughing with some other ex-COGers at yet another idiotic Church of God minister made a public fool of himself.

How Cults Rewire The Brain

Van Robison: "Truth is Always a Threat"

Truth is Always a Threat

The greatest control systems on earth are the religions of the world and the governments of the world.  Anyone who bucks the status quo with alternative thinking is always considered a "threat."  Truth frightens those who assume power and control over common people.  Truth is opposed, suppressed, criticized, ridiculed, mocked, scorned, laughed at and censored.  Truth is considered "propaganda", heretical, satanic, despised and hated. Truth is fought tenaciously, and truth tellers or whistleblowers are often silenced, assassinated in character and sometimes even physically.

Every religious culture perceives truth on the basis of their programmed minds.  It applies as much to the world of "Christian" churches, as it does Hinduism, Buddhism,  Islam, Judaism and all other religions on earth.  There are divisions and often many, within each religious culture.  We all know that there is a world of difference in the "Christian" churches and yet all consider themselves as knowing and understanding truth in God.  Governments of men also live in constant and perpetual FEAR, and this is more than evident.  All governments exist through brute force and the fact that there is any military upon planet earth is total proof of FEAR.

Religions and governments are not however the only control systems in life on earth, because there are many.  Those in power and control, as for example of the medical system, the vaccine industry, the prison system, the enforcement system, the insurance system, the banking system and so forth, all "think" they are God, in their particular expertise and that all the world should bow to these systems.  Who among those in power and control ever asks the question: "is there a better way?"

What is really done upon planet earth for the good of common people or for humanity, as opposed to special interests groups?  Governments generally exist to serve special interests, all the while they pretend to serve the public. People in power, whether in the church pulpits, governments and their agencies or special interest, generally HATE opposition to their power over others.  What "pastor" standing in a pulpit wants to be challenged?  Many pastors of churches are really tyrants and present themselves as having "authority", when in reality they have none whatsoever.  Why do people live in FEAR of these pulpit-freaks?

Authority figures in the world of churches are really 100% all self-appointed, or at the least "appointed" by other self-ordained church leaders.  People who challenge the man-made clergy/laity or priest class of rulers are always looked upon as skunks, when the real truth is that the "professional" clergy are the real skunks who deceive the simple minded lambs and fleece their wool.  Every splinter group of the Worldwide Church of God, without exception is nothing more than a fraud and a deception and they exist for no other reason than free $money.  Truth is always a threat to those who consider themselves "servants" in the pulpits, when in reality they are NOT servants at all they are bullies in power over weak-minded church goers.  Ok granted, some preachers are sincere and are self-deceived, thinking that the clergy/laity system is of God, when it is not.


Van Robison

Apostle Malm Not Ready To Baptize Acolytes - YET...

The apostate apostle claims to have acolytes asking to be baptized into his new splinter cult.  He is telling them he does not have that ability at the moment and to wait.  The day is apparently coming. 

A point on baptism:  I personally have people asking for baptism that I cannot accommodate because of a lack of means at this time.  I am confidant that, that will be remedied in due course.  What if a diligent lover of God and his commandments dies before he can be baptised?  God will judge him on his commandment keeping, in the same way that he will judge Abel and Noah who were neither circumcised nor baptized.

Circumcision and baptism are only symbols fo our commitment and there will by very many baptised people who will NOT be in God’s kingdom through their failure to overcome and keep the commandments of God.

There will be many who repent and even die for the faith in the imminent tribulation who will not have the opportunity to be baptised.  Baptism IS commanded and we are to do so at the earliest opportunity, yet it is far more important to love the Father enough to keep ALL of his commandments with passionate zeal; not just be baptised.

Just being baptised and attending some corporate church does NOT mean you have a pass into eternal life!

Ron Weinland: "Never Mind Lad's, Same Time Tomorrow..."

Ron Weinland has been passing a mighty wind over the last few weeks leading up to the return of this creature he calls "christ" on May 27th. Sadly his dwindling flock will be just like the people in this video. They will all be back, "same time tomorrow" after Ron's delightful failure on the 27th.

Joel Olsteen On Pork

This will certainly get COG groups tongues wagging! I think I will go out and get a BLT sandwich in honor of Joel today.  Or maybe a chicken sandwich.  I grew up around chickens that ate dead chickens, ate it's own feces and other delightful clean things......yummy!

How Does Your COG Spend Your Tithe Money?

The Silenced blog has a great entry today on how the Churches of God use tithe money of the members to fund their various "ministries".  It is The Myth of Free Literature  Most assume that their tithe money goes towards "proclaiming the gospel to the world."  In reality a small percentage goes towards that kind of outreach while a huge amount goes to salaries for lifestyle upkeep.  Note that this does not only apply to UCG, but to RCG, PCG, LCG, and most of the other COG's.

7. If we assume there are about 10,000 baptized members left in UCG after the COGWA split (this is the estimate most popularly thrown about), and if they all had an average annual income of around $42,000, of which $1,281 was being sunk into media projects, this would give the a cult a yearly warchest of $12,810,000 for literature and broadcasts, of which its cheap printing and primarily web-based video productions cannot possibly cost that much. Factoring in GNM’s supposed 450,000 circulation, that would give UCG about $28.50 to spend per copy. It costs a fraction of that to print each run of the magazine. After six runs, they would have some of that left over.

8. Using these calculations, this family is paying $2,919 straight to ministerial salaries and other overhead costs per year through First Tithes and only $1,281 to print, web and broadcast projects. But the reality would be slightly different, since there are also annual offerings and whatever the COG can suck out of a family’s Second Tithe over the festival season, making the true cost much higher and more difficult to calculate.

Years ago, one of WCG's accounting men publicly stated that the Church could, "take any figure and make it say want they wanted it to say."  In other words, financial pictures and statements could be manipulated towards whatever direction the "church" wanted it to go to.

That's one of the reasons people do not believe Dave Pack when he says that the Restored Church of God has a huge money base to fund all of his earth shattering ministries.  It's no wonder he refused to release financial statements.  If he did the world would know him to be the deceiver he is.

Make sure you click on the above link for  the entire article.

Dennis On: "Foolishness of Preaching or Preaching of Foolishness?"

Foolishness of Preaching or Preaching of Foolishness?

1 Corinthians 1:21
For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.

I have to say that I do miss teaching an attentive group of people who simply want to know the truth of the matters placed before them.  Alas...it is what it is.  In my earlier years I gave many a sincere sermon that now makes me cringe knowing the information was less than accurate and the truth of it all was less than true.  But it's a journey, at least for me, and the key is not in what one used to preach or teach but what one has learned through the years and the personal growth in "grace and knowledge" one has actually accomplished in life.  "Growing in grace and knowledge" is not actually one of the positive traits of most churches most of us know.  Grace is only extended when not really needed or just needed for the self and knowledge....well forget that.

Ministers surely do say some incredibly stupid things in the name of preaching.  I suppose this could be easily illustrated by the last three years of sermons given by Ronald Weinland, but I spare us.  This should end or get substantially worse in the next few weeks.

I was never personally comfortable giving sermons on such things as The Place of Safety, British Israelism and tithing.  The first two seemed irrelevant to actual religious belief in the real world and all of the NT message, and I hated reminded people of what we already knew.  It takes money to do "the Work."  I don't recall many times where those over me reminded the brethren to give as they were able.

The concept of the Place of Safety was not only annoying but at times terrifying when I thought of how few thought HWA would die before the time.  I always hoped he would so that would end the idea of "HWA says it's time to flee."  Most of you know that the visits of Gerald Waterhouse , to me, were exercises in the exact art of preaching foolishness.  I felt that back when I was in my 20's.  I was right.

The COGs have many foolish teachings and they usually center around on just how do we "do things," like putting leaven out or eating out on Sabbath.  Some groups become experts in foolish preaching and never get around to the core message of the NT.  Mixing the OT and the NT has been raised to an art form by some.  You know, old wine in new wine skins...kaboom!  

There are foolish preachings about "science falsely so called."  The facts of evolution and a 4.5 billion year old earth are just too much handle.  Human origins as opposed to the Adam and Eve myth are way beyond their comprehension or the fact that those OT stories were never written to advance true scientific discovery.  They had meanings, but not the ones foolish preaching assigns.

Somehow the tithing admonitions are dredged up from the Old Testament, but the ones advocating stoning rebellious children or sabbath breakers are listed as "the old ways."  Men can't have long hair because Paul aid nature tells us it is wrong, but far as I know, lions have the best manes in town and the lioness seems rather bald.  I have never figured out just how Paul's foolish comments about that were to be understood.  "Time is short," was also one of Paul's more foolish preaching concepts.

I am sure the more recent "foolishness of preaching" topics are endless in the COGs.

Some include:

• Me and my wife are the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11
• Jesus is coming back in a couple weeks
• Revelation 11 is about the WCG apostasy
• Man is still 6000 years old
• Send it in
• "And yes brethren, I am an Apostle..."
• God needs a new college
• God needs a new house
• God needs us to give him money (He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Can't He sell some?)
• Fatima is somehow relevant to us today
• Revelations and the Mayans are right!
• The Mayans and the Wiffenpoof Indian prophecies are meaningful
• Women are still less important than men
• Men are the leaders  (wow...pretty well proven false by those with eyes to see)
• There is a place of safety still  (Resurrection avoidance?)
• God's puzzle has been solved!
• Noah's flood accounts for all world geology
• The story of Noah is really really true and it could happen
• All language started at Babel 
• If I came from a monkey, how come we still have monkeys around today!
• We are not to wear sunglasses because the eye is the light of the body... (one of my personal favorites I was personally told.)

and so on...

What foolish preaching have you heard over the years?  What nutcase personal opinions are stuck in your mind to this day?  Why do people listen to such stupid and ignorant teachings from the pulpit and never speak up?  Will the congregants or followers of the lone wolf preacher of foolish things ever stand up for themselves and call the man out on it.

Foolishness of Preaching...or Preaching foolishness?   

Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com