UCG Still Struggling Financially

Things still are not rosy, money wise, within UCG.  After COGWA's stealth apostasy against the UCG, hundreds of thousands of dollars no longer flow into UCG's coffers.  Money  continues to be tight as many UCGers are withholding tithes and offerings as they wait and see what is going to happen.

A recent UCG financial report states:

I’ve heard, second hand, that the income has grown some in the last year but frankly we now realize that we had not made the necessary reductions to reflect our reduced income from what we were receiving two years ago.  My understanding is that the savings we had, that would have been enough to take us through 10 weeks of no income, is now basically gone and we’re having a cash flow crunch.  Some expenses that were to be paid before the Feast of Tabernacles were paid after the feast.  There is still a cash flow problem despite having a good feast offering.

Church employees in the U. S. no longer receive matching funds for retirement accounts (this is one cut that was made two years ago).  Healthcare benefits are going to have to be cut.  There will probably be larger deductibles and co-pays.

Church pastors are being asked to cut down on trips and their mileage reimbursements are being lowered.  Most meetings are now being done on the phone or online rather than face-to-face.  The Council of Elders is having most of its meetings online, though they do need to get together face-to-face for some things.  Aaron Dean, our treasurer, wrote us this: “I hope that cutbacks in our travel will be a temporary situation, and that God will bless us with more income from donors. Please fervently pray as I and all in the Home Office are praying for God to increase income, heal our employees and increase our faith in him. The whole country faces a rough road ahead, as you all have preached for many years.  In the meantime, please do more phone visits and less driving where possible.”

Grace Communion International/Worldwide Church of God Sticks It To Employee's Again

Today my mail box was filled with over 30 different emails regarding Grace Communion International/WCG latest screw job to present and past employees.

Several years ago as they were contemplating selling the campus they stood up in the Student Center at an employee meeting and promise retirement to all the employees that stuck by their side through the Great Theological Debacle that sent tens of thousands of people into hundreds of splinter cults.  They even stood up there and said that they would double the years employee's had worked as a Thank-You for being loyal.  I remember a minster sitting behind us saying under his breath that we would never see it.  We should have listened to him.  It never happened, at least the doubling of years.

They did eventually start a retirement program after the campus sale that they said would be funded with the money from the sale.  They also stood up there and said that the money would NOT be maintained by the Church but through an outside retirement management company. They said they were doing this to eliminate any conflict of interest.

Well, that did not last long!

In letters that were mailed out this week to all present employee's and those past employee's that they had permitted to join the program, it was announced that the retirement fund was  in serious financial trouble because of the "Great Recession."

There are at least three different letters that went out. One to present people in the retirement program, one to future vested ex-employees and another to the ministry.  One guess as to WHO gets the shaft in the scenario.  The ministry will still get their retirement, while all present retirement beneficiaries and future vested beneficiaries are being paid off in lump sums.

One of the letters said:

"As you know, Grace Communion International (formerly Worldwide Church of God) adopted a Defined Benefit Pension Plan ("Pension Plan") out of concern of its employees in 2004.  At the time the Pension Plan was adopted, it was our sincere hope that the assets that were contributed to the Pension Plan, plus the earnings on those amounts, would allow the Pension Plan to be self-sustaining and pay benefits to our current and future retirees throughout their lifetimes.  Unfortunately, as I am sure you are aware, the financial markets have substantially underperformed the reasonable expectations of investment professionals since the Pension Plan was established due primarily to what is now being called the "Great Recession."  Although we have managed the funds in a prudent manner and have earned a reasonable rate of return over the life of the Pension Plan, the projected growth of the Pension Plan's assets will now likely not, over time, be sufficient to cover the continuing payments to current and future retirees.  We are very concerned about this issue.

After careful deliberation, and out of concern for participants, their families and the Church, the Board of Directors has decided to terminate the Pension Plan with respect to exiting employee's and vested terminees.

This is causing serious concern to many elderly employees who have health issues because of their age and because of the work they performed for the Church.  They had counted on this retirement through the remainder of their life.  Now that has all be shot out the window.

The Church will be making lump sum payments to those presently in the program with a buy out.  If you take the lump sum and don't roll it over, you will have over 30% taken out in taxes.  Because the church for decades never paid into Social Security, because Herbert saw no need for it (the church was supposed to take care of it's own) they do not have large Social Security payments coming to them.  They were counting on this to help maintain housing and for food.

However, through this debacle there is one group of men who will still maintain their retirement.  All the leadership of the church and the ministry who remain in good standing.  When you are already making salaries in the $100,000+ (I have seen the pay stubs) this is just another added benefit.  The lowly employees who worked for the church for12 years or more without raises or cost of living increases continually got the shaft, even as the ministers received raises, cost of living increases and year end $10-15,000.00 bonuses.

Hundreds of employee's were refused admittance to the program. Some former ministers were not allowed to have any part of it, even those who did not join other splinter cults.

One long time loyal member of the church said, "We just got fucked again!"  Another said, "Lies, lies lies!  That's all they have ever ever done to us."  One women said, "Why I ever trusted them I have no idea!  I guess I thought they were Christians.  How wrong I was!" Another remarks, "Even after all these years they still have their claws in us."

I guess we all thought that since this was a Church, a church that had seen the Light and reformed it's erroneous ways, that would actually put the New Covenant into practice. How wrong were were. Apparently they are just as morally bankrupt as Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack and Rod Meredith.

HWA Did NOT Mislead Anyone?????

A reader posted the following comment to a thread about the barf-bag video called The Sign..  How would you respond to this person (with CIVILITY)  to what they wrote below?

To me it is a rather naive viewpoint considering the REAMS of material published, that is on the internet and elsewhere about Herbert Armstrong, what he taught, on the fallacy of tithing, etc., etc.

I am an ex-WWCG member and a current COGWA member. HWA did not mislead anyone. He preached EXACTLY what is in the BIBLE. How is that misleading anyone? "Worldly Christians" say that Tithing is evil and if you Tithe, you are in a cult. Hogwash!! God commands us to tithe. HWA built a Church- founded on exactly what the Bible says...word for word!!!! You..need to read and pray on the word of God. Do NOT believe what a man tells you, believe what the Bible tells you. The Bible is God breathed and inspired. God can not lie, neither can the Bible.

False Teachings and Division Disrupting Apostle Malm's Group

Apostle Malm recently had a man start a Facebook page for those loyal acolytes who were afraid to publicly write comments on his main blog.  Malm claims he did not participate on it or have anything to do with it's content.

Things went along rather well for the loyal acolytes who had a common interest.  Then, Satan sent his demons to start infiltrating the Facebook site with "tares."

The Apostle writes:

OUR FACEBOOK SITE ANNOUNCEMENT:   A few months ago one person volunteered to set up a private FB site for LIKEMINDED persons. Since that time a number of tares have slipped in who are NOT of LIKEMIND.

It has taken some time to identify most of them and in the interim the matter was dealt with by deleting obvious false doctrinal posts.  When such nonsense posts were deleted the individuals often reacted by personally attacking the moderator.  Eventually the false sheep more or less took over the posting and many of the good people just sat back and observed.

This has come to the point where the FB Group has been dissolved.

Since the dissolution of the FB Groups several spin offs have begun; many now without a moderator and being totally open to false doctrine including such things as sacred names and their false teachings.

At first when the moderator decided to close the group down I objected, but it was his group and I had no part in it [I was not even a member].  Now that I understand what was going on; I do NOT endorse any of these new groups and I fully concur with the dissolution of the FB Group.

If we set aside our disappointment for a moment this in microcosm is exactly what has happened to the Church of God.  Satan has slipped in his tares and they have taken over and led very many of the brethren astray.

Crackpot leaders tend to draw crack pot followers. The  apostle obviously got a dose of his own medicine and he did not like it. Preachy people with strong viewpoints are not allowed.

In usual Church of God fashion, the apostle blames all of this on Satan and that it is a "test" to weed out the tares.

Why then do we give the working of our salvation to others?  Blindly following men and not questioning, checking up. or proving them from the scriptures.

Do we not realize that Satan has a plan to lead the whole congregation astray with his tares, and will sow the most talented and ambitious of men to gain eldership and leadership among us?

Are we not aware of our own history how in almost every generation the tares rise to the top and begin to lead us astray and there is a split?  This is a continual process throughout many generations, ans why?  Is it not because God is TESTING his faithful and teaching us to trust in him alone?

It's your damn fault because you are weak in the faith and are not able to hold up apostle Malm's arms in this mighty ministry!  REPENT!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! No New Moon/No Bible Study Tonight!!!!! Whew!

You can rest easy tonight as you are not required to have a Bible Study in honor of Malm's new moon god.  The moon watchers in Jerusalem did not see the new moon rise, so you are free one more night to be a heathen.

You had better be ready though on Thursday to have a new moon festival and follow a prescribed ritual in study.  You need that dude Christ to intervene on your behalf to an obviously angry god who is not going to listen to your prayers otherwise.  Wimpy Jesus doesn't have the power to help you.

Apostle Malm writes:

ANNOUNCEMENT:   The new moon was not seen this evening.  It will definitely be easily visible tomorrow evening in Jerusalem making Friday the first day of the ninth biblical month.

We are commanded to “Worship God” on the new moons and the most appropriate way at this time is by having a formal Bible Study; with like minded persons if possible.  By formal I mean in the presence of Christ by seeking his presence in prayer to the Father to open the meeting.

Remember that assembling with anyone just for the sake of assembling with people is wrong.  We are to assemble with Christ and the Father and they come FIRST; followed by others who are are like minded in faithfulness to Christ and the Father.

Ron Weinland Off To Jail For 3 1/2 Years With Big Bubba

I just love it when the courts get all Biblical on Weinland.  3 1/2 years jail time, a time of intense persecution or a time of safety and final training.  Let's see how the spiritual deviate spins this one!

Mike is reporting the following on his blog.

District Judge Danny Reeves pronounced sentence on False Prophet Ronald Weinland this morning:

• A sentence of 42 months
• Followed by 3 years of supervised release
• A fine of $7,500
• Restitution in the amount of the criminal tax loss, approximately $245,000

United Church of God: STOP Picking On God's Anointed Jelly!

A reader here did not like the previous  posting and all of the comments that appeared about Jelly The Feast Keeper.  Remember that?  It's those creepy UCG videos extolling the virtues of the 10 Commandments and the Feast.

Here is what was sent in as a comment:

All the negative comments reek of arrogance. These videos are for CHILDREN. Remember children? These are the one's Christ said we adults should become like. I encourage you to spend more time trying to help others and less time slamming videos that were intended for children.

So, all of you people out there that found the video disturbing, you did so out of complete ARROGANCE!  You stupidly forgot that it was a brainwashing tool for small UCG children.

My question is,  WHEN does UCG talk to their children about Jesus?  What did he do for them?  What's it mean to follow Jesus? Why do they need to follow Jesus instead of the laws UCG claim are still in force?

It's still creepy!

The Church of God: Embarassed By The Cross?

Given the extent many of us were entrenched in Armstrongism I am sure we all heard how evil crosses were.  Armstrongism has had a deep hatred for crosses over the decades.

Years ago there was an opera in the Auditorium.  The opera was TOSCA.  The first act of Tosca takes place in a chapel.  Traditional European chapels contained crosses.  This opera company had a large cross set up on stage in the stage sets.  HWA was in the habit of coming down to the auditorium to play the piano early in the morning.  When he walked in and saw the cross he just about lost it. He started screaming and yelling that that cross had to be removed or the opera would be cancelled.  The shit hit the fan rather fast and flew all over the place.  It made the headlines in the local papers and the Los Angeles Times.

That hatred still carries over to this day to the Living Church of God where we saw the disgusting articles put out by Bob Thiel after the Milwaukee LCG murders.  Local citizens erected crosses in memory of those killed.  Thiel went ballistic about the pagan crosses and how inconsiderate and unthoughtful the citizens of Milwaukee were to the LCG members.  He made a royal ass of himself and caused LCG more problems.

Today, I received a note from a reader telling me about Gerald Flurry's cult and it's latest article condemning crosses.  Flurry's lap poodle, Wayne Turgeon, has a short blurb on PCG's web site about how evil crosses are.

He writes:

First, are you sure that Christ died on the cross? History, and more recently archeology, show that the cross was used as a religious symbol centuries before Christ. The shape of the two-beamed cross had its origin in ancient Chaldea and was used to represent the god Tammuz. Tammuz is the deified Nimrod, the first man to lead the opposition against God after the great Flood. He founded the city of Babylon, and along with his mother/wife Semiramis, founded the pagan Babylon mystery religion—the origin of all false religion today. The Egyptians used crosses in abundance, as did the Hindus. The British Museum, for example, exhibits statues of the ancient Assyrian kings wearing almost perfect Maltese crosses around their necks.

He is so concerned about pre-Christianity’s use of crosses, yet never discusses the feast days and holy days that were observed by the "pagan" nations that surrounded the Israelites who basically copied those dates and re-imagined them for a new purpose that fit the story of the Children of Israel.

With Armstrongism's deep hatred of the cross they need something for what they call "Jesus Christ" to be killed on.  So they pick a few verses that call the instrument of Jesus’ death a "stake."

Turgeon writes:

The New Testament does not specifically describe the instrument upon which Christ died, but the following accounts all use the Greek word xulon, which can be translated as “tree,” but can also mean “a stick, club … or other wooden articles” (Strong’s).

·         “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree” (Acts 5:30).

·         “And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree” (Acts 10:39).

·         “And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre” (Acts 13:28-29).

·         “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

·         “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Unlike Wayne and PCG, when Christians wear a cross, it is because they have unashamedly chosen to pick up their cross daily and follow the person they claim as Savior.

Jesus said this to his followers:

Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not
worthy of Me.
Luke 9:23 And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Luke 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot
be My disciple. 

These people would not be ashamed to have carry a cross or even wear one.  Of course this makes no difference to those entrenched in Armstrongism.  They have no idea who the man is, they can't comprehend any thing about the guy, what he supposedly was here to accomplish or even what it means to be the People of the Way.

Philadelphia Church of God leaders and followers worship a man.  There are buildings built in his honor, rocks dedicated to his name, sculptures and crystal bought by him, and much, much more.  Herbert Armstrong is the face of the PCG. Jesus is not.  HWA's face and name are on everything.  Booklets, books and articles glorify his name and his writings as on par with the Gospel.  They have whored themselves out to a rock, some metal birds, and a false man.

I think what really pisses off the Armstrongites the most is the understanding that Christians have that the law passed away at the cross.  The law in Armstrongism is far more important than the cross.  The law is far more important than Jesus.  Jesus to them is like an annoying zit.  You see it there and ignore it for a while and then you have to pop it open so it will go away.  They begrudgingly have to mention Jesus once a year at Passover and then conveniently do away with him the rest of the year.

Since Wayne and Gerald Six-Pack claim to be Christians I wonder why ignore this:

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Dennis on: "Surrendering to the Mystery"

Surrendering to the Mystery

"How do you know the experience you are having is the experience you are suppose to be having?...  Because you are having it."

Eckhart Tolle

I don't think anyone would argue with the reality that the Worldwide Church of God experience was a life changer in many ways.  I can't speak for others, but I know that had I not had the WCG experience, I would have had the same experience in some other form, with others I never met and friends I never made because I had the WCG experience.  I know that whatever theology, and I had been accepted to a Wesleyan Seminary before being accepted to Ambassador College, I adopted, I know that I personally would have had a crisis of faith and gone through the same learning that I feel I have now learned about the Bible and religion.  Somewhere in my 40's no matter what church I had thought I needed to pastor and minister in, I would have generally the same experience and come to the same conclusions though perhaps under different circumstances.

When I was 18, I had to follow the WCG.  You could not have stopped me.  I tucked my application under my shirt and secretly mailed it so my parents would not know what I had done.  I was surprised when the local pastor in Buffalo called me to interview me and my parents invited him over just fine.  They actually became good friends as my parents are like that. 

When push came to shove and I had not heard from AC and the Wesleyan Seminary had already accepted me, I called Pasadena and said I needed a decision now.  The lady on the phone said, "just a minute."  She then came back and said you are accepted.  How hilarious is that.  What a turn of the wheel of fate that was to prove to be and all the associated lessons to come.

I eventually got on a plane and somewhere over the Western US knowing it would be my last, ate a ham sandwich on the approach to Los Angeles.  I had already had my last Xmas and my last Easter.  I was one naive yet sincerely seeking kid at 18.  Oh..and it was the height of the Vietnam draft as well and at 18, my draft number was 14 if I remember and I ain't no soldier.

To keep it short, the whole WCG experience played out over 40 years.  College, 14 congregations, 5 states, a scandal every five years along with a nagging tension that things should not be this difficult in a religious organization.  The older I got, the more I regretted the choice I know you could not have talked me out of originally.  My mind found all sorts of ways to cope.
 "Well this is like the New Testament Church.  They had problems too."  "Well, every organization has its cranks."  "Oh that's not true and even if is, people are just people."  "After HWA dies it will be better."  "I'm not giving sermons on that topic anymore."  "I wish I had never heard of WCG."  "I wish I had gone to the University of Penn and become a paleontologist......"   

Kids grew up, relationships were strained, anger became a suppressed friend,  painbodies erupted, marriage fails,  relationships fail,  I want to now know what I should have known to begin with and the rest is history.

Sometimes I sit here with Chewie the Wookie like Shih Tzu talking to her and asking, "what the hell happened Chewie?"  I get the Buddhist look of "life happened....what's your point?"
 

 

What happened was a story.  We all have one.  Had I gone to Roberts Wesleyan Seminary instead of AC, it would have been a different story.  Had I not delayed a plane trip at age 21 for a day, I'd be dead as it was hit by a fighter jet over Duarte, California June 6, 1971.   So many ways a story can change.

But I had the WCG experience.  Was it a good experience or a bad one?   I don't have to judge it or define it I suppose, but I do have to live with it and the only choice I have is , not did I have it, but what do I do with it?  Crying over spilled milk and all.

I can't speak for anyone but myself.  But I do know that each of us has to answer the question, "Has this experience made me a better person or a worse one?"  Can one accept what is unchangeable now and chalk it up to just being a story which at anytime could have changed courses and been another one?   Can you change one thing about the experience that is already past?  Can I undo it?  Can I fix it?   Can I wish it away?  etc...Nope...It is what it is and the years go on and eventually we run out of time any way.  I'm not going to be an paleontologist specializing in Neanderthal's in Europe.  My Kodak dad always said he wanted to be a State Trooper so I guess this trait runs in the family.  

The stages of going through the crash of WCG and the faith and perceptions of tens of thousands contains all the stages and traits of what one goes through when something or someone dies.  It is a perceived loss.  At the time I wondered why a couple hundred folk could not have run the Tkaches out of town on a rail and kept it all together, but now I realize that, for me, that would have only been a temporary fix.  I was bound to outgrow it in any form.

So, when it's all said and done, are we better or worse for it all?   Only each can answer for themselves.  Some are more vocal than others.  For the thousands that read this site, it is interesting to me that there is just a core group of those who jump in.  I assume all others just read and think about it all.  Because if we perceive we are worse for it all and intend to spend the rest of our time bitter, angry and manifesting all the things painbodies love to feed on, how does that serve us?  How does that serve you?   What does that make of the rest of our lives?

"What eats you...eats you.."  comes to mind.   Emotions can make the heart and the body quite ill.  How does that serve me?

So, for my own sake, and I can't speak for others, I surrender.  I had this experience that was full of both joy and sorrow, good times and bad, great gains and losses, friends and not friends,  success and failure and just about every dichotomy there is in life.  There was much to be thankful for and some to be sorry for in hind site.

"How do you know the experience you are having is the experience you are suppose to be having?...  Because you are having it."

I don't see anyway it could have been different than it was and is.  The only choice left is what to learn from and do with it in what I now consider to be just one more way of attending Earth School.

Email Dennis

Ron Weinland: Court Documents State: "...Weinland has no respect for the law."

Court documents record that Ron Weinland has no respect for the law (of the land.)  That goes against everything that Herb taught us in the church. Wee were told to follow the laws of the land and to render to Cesar what was his.  Weinerdude too what he thought was his and also stiffed the government.

3. Promote respect for the law.
The facts of this case demonstrate Weinland has no respect for the law. Weinland was revered as the leader of his church and as the Prophet. Church members testified that it did not matter to them what Weinland spent or what he was paid. Weinland could have paid himself and his family members virtually any salary, and the members of PKG neither would have been concerned nor known. Yet, Weinland chose to comingle funds and expenses, file false W-2s, and file false returns (or no return), all in an attempt to evade paying taxes. To date, Weinland has neither admitted culpability nor accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct.

Income taxes are a duty required by federal law. The federal income tax system is based on voluntary taxpayer participation. For it to function, taxpayers must respect the law and follow it. Weinland cannot be allowed to fail to pay $245,000 in taxes on approximately $4.4 million dollars under these circumstances merely because he is a religious leader. No one is above the law. A significant term of imprisonment in this case will promote respect for the law.

The entire court document is here: The Sentencing of False Prophet Ronald Weinland 

Ron Weinland: "Has Suffered from Highly Public Destruction and Ridicule"

The Cincinnati.com is reporting that Ron Weinland is two days away from finding his sorry ass sitting jail for up to five years.  Weinland's own attorneys say  Weinland's reputation has been permanently damaged.  Because he has been publicly ridiculed he only deserves to serve 2 1/2 years instead of 5.

“No one who has witnessed the highly public destruction and ridicule visited upon Mr. Weinland and his family will be tempted to engage in similar conduct,” Coffman wrote in his argument for a lesser sentence. “The indictment in 2011 brought increased media scrutiny and public contempt and significantly damaged his reputation.”

200 of his brainwashed followers have written to the judge asking for leniency.  Weinerdude supposedly has helped them recover from drug addiction and has helped them financially.

Nearly 200 followers from as far away as Australia, South Africa and Canada have written U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves asking for leniency for their spiritual leader. While the names of letter-writers were redacted, many wrote that Weinland helped them overcome drug additions or provided them with financial assistance.

Weinerdude wants all of us who have ridiculed him and mocked him to know he prays for us.

Weinland also addressed his conviction on the website. “We are to pray for those who have engaged in activities against us, who have participated in ridicule and shown disdain toward us,” he wrote. “We are to be of a forgiving attitude and remember we were once in those shoes and God has forgiven us.”

Weinerdude claimed religious persecution while the court trial was going on.  The prosecution called him a liar and said this was never about religious persecution.  It was all about his lying and embezzlement. 

At trial, Weinland’s defense team implied the church leader was prosecuted for his religious beliefs. It is a claim McBride denies.

“His assertion is baseless,” McBride wrote.

“It was Weinland at trial who invoked his religious beliefs as justification for his actions. His false claim of religious bias is, however, consistent with his practice of hiding his misconduct under the cloak of religion.”

 You can read the entire article here: Doomsday 'prophet' awaits sentence: Weinland faces up to 5 years in prison for federal tax evasion

The Reason Behind Malm's Superstitious Religiosity

I know we all wonder what happened in James Malm's life 

to make him such a superstitious religious imbecile.  

Today I happened to find the reason for Apostle Malm's issues.  

He got this trait from his mother!

Malm's mother was featured on the news in 1984.  

Check out this lost footage of the interview with his mother.

Malm: Thanksgiving is a Sin and a Pagan Blot on TRUE Christianity

Apostle Malm is hard at work this morning on stripping one more thing away from Armstrongites that they can have fun at.  Only Church approved holidays listed in the Hebrew Scriptures are for the enjoyment of the TRUE Church of God members.

We must remove every sin and every pagan blot on our garments to prepare for the marriage of the Lamb.

The traditions of the Protestants including Puritans and Anglicans came mainly from Roman

Catholicism, the Roman Catholic church is the ancient Babylonian Mysteries traditions were adopted from paganism.

Sunday, Easter and even Thanksgiving are very ancient pagan holy days.

The web site article link above in his quote has this to say:

The Primitive Fertility Religions have been portrayed through “cute” stories which effectively HID the VILE, HIDEOUS MEANING behind them. This WORSHIP during the day of “Thanksgiving” is emphatically the Ancient Fertility Rites merely veneered with the so called “respectability” of Christianity! The fact remains, that it is still the Ancient Fertility Worship.

“But,” you say, “Weren’t our Pilgrim Father’s righteous?” The Pilgrims only served YHVH as far as they would. Definitely, the Pilgrims worshipped on Sunday and they definitely did not keep the Holy Feast Days as ordained in Leviticus 23. They did not keep the clean and unclean food laws as listed in Leviticus 11 and Deut. 14. As the Pilgrims studied the Bibles they had, they would have read of the Sabbath, Holy Feast Days and about the clean and unclean food laws for themselves. I ask you now, “Why did they not obey God by doing what he commanded in Ex 20, Lev. 11 & 23 and Deut. 14?”

Like so many Christian churches and denominations today, the Pilgrims wanted to do it their way and not YHVH’s way. Is it any wonder then, that the Pilgrims would be just as deceived as the churches and assemblies of today--chasing after Baptized Paganism? However, there has always been an advocate for the TRUTH through out all ages, not all our early fathers were deceived. As for me and my house we shall serve YHVH, says Joshua the successor of Moses. Can we say that with conviction?

May our Father in Heaven have great mercy on us as we continue to study the origins of these holidays which have sought to usurp the authority, praise and worship of our Heavenly Father, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, Revelation 14:7.

I don't know anyone that worships a fertility god when they celebrate Thanksgiving.  One gets the impression from these mentally disturbed people that everyone is dancing around a maypole with garlands of corn, wheat and stuffing in our hair, dressed in our Puritan costumes. Many people, inside and outside of Armstrongism, regard the Church of God as a "joyless" belief system.  How true that is!

Apostle Malm then goes on to equate Thanksgiving with sacrificing virgins:

Actually the harvest feast was well known by these Indians and was a tradition practiced throughout the new world, as well as the old by the pagans.  Thanksgiving is a universal pagan tradition descended and spread from Babel worldwide.  Some of whom paid homage for the harvest by sacrificing young virgins.

I find it disgusting that Apostle Malm is also trying to stop us from sacrificing virgins on Thanksgiving day!  How perverse is that!!!!!!!!!  Whats wrong with a young nubile virgin covered in fruit, berries and some whipped cream on the dining room table?????   Sure the kiddies might need to leave the room when she is sacrificed, but come on!  Allow us to have some fun!  We can't do Christmas, Easter or Halloween, so at least let us have ONE day for some merriment!

Of course all of this has to be blamed on those damn pagans from England.  The Druids and Celts had an influence upon the Puritans who naturally brought over those beliefs to the new country.

“In England the ‘Harvest Home’ has been observed continuously for centuries. The custom was to select a harvest queen for this holiday. She was decorated with the grain of their fields and the fruit of their trees. On Thanksgiving Day she was paraded through the streets in a carriage drawn by white horses. This was a remnant of the Roman ceremonies in honor of Ceres…the Pilgrims brought the “Harvest in” to Massachusetts.’ (Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1953. Pps. 159- 160).” [The harvest queen represented the Queen of Heaven, mentioned in the Bible as idolatrous and Semiramis.]

Marian Schibsly and Hanny Cohrsen in their book, Foreign Festival Customs and Dishes, states:

“Long before the Christian era, harvest gods were worshiped with curious and varied rites. Customs now in use at harvest festivals have their counterparts in pagan countries; in many cases their origin and their significance is shrouded in mists of antiquity. The American Thanksgiving Day is usually ascribed to the Massachusetts colony of pilgrims, who, in gratitude for their first harvest on American soil, devoted the day of December 13, 1621 to praise and rejoicing. [Actually ran 3 days]

Even you lost Israelites in Canada don't get off easy with Apostle Malm.  You are celebrating nothing more than Catholic filth when you keep Canadian Thanksgiving Day.

The history of Thanksgiving in Canada can be traced back to the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England in search of the Northwest Passage. In this, his third, voyage to the Frobisher Bay area of Baffin Island in the present Canadian Territory of Nunavut, it was also the intention to start a small settlement and his fleet of 15 ships were so fitted out with men, materials and provisions for this purpose. However, the loss of one of his ships through contact with ice along with much of the building material was to prevent him from doing so.

The expedition was plagued by ice and freak storms which at times had scattered the fleet and on finding each other again at their anchorage in Frobisher Bay, “..Mayster Wolfall, [ Robert Wolfall ] a learned man, appointed by her Majesties Councell to be their minister and preacher, made unto them a godly sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankefull to God for their strange and miraculous deliverance in those so dangerous places,…” . They celebrated  Communio,n the Anglican service comparable to the Catholic Eucharist, and “The celebration of divine mystery was the first sign, scale, and confirmation of Christ’s name, death and passion ever known in all these quarters.

The first two Thanksgivings in the present day United States  [Another was an Anglican service in Canada]were actually Catholic. The Pilgrims can only claim a third one, a correction I suggest should be made in school history books.

Apostle Malm also wants Americans to know that the original Thanksgiving was NOT celebrated by the Puritans in New England, but was done first by the Spanish explorers.  Leave it to the illegal aliens to cause us more misery!

The first Thanksgivings  in the US were celebrated by Spanish explorers, not pilgrims. It is Florida that today proudly claims the first Thanksgiving, with a feast and celebration between the Spanish and Timucuan Indians on September 8, 1565, 56 years before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth in 1621. Therefore, St. Augustine – and not Jamestown – is the first permanent European settlement and oldest city in North America. Another correction for many  history books.

The second Thanksgiving in the US, the subject of this article, was in Texas. On January 26, 1598, a Spanish expedition set out from Mexico with the aim of founding a new kingdom. Three months later, after a long, dangerous trek forging a new trail northward, the now famous El Camino Real [The Royal Road], it crossed the Rio  Grande and set up camp south of present day El Paso, Texas. On April 30, a Mass of thanksgiving was said, and the valiant leader of the expedition. Don Juan de Oñate, took formal possession of the new land, called New Mexico, in the name of the Heavenly Lord, God Almighty, and the earthly lord King Philip II.

Then, after the Mass, the Franciscan priests blessed the food on tables abundant with fish, ducks and geese, and the 600-strong expedition of soldiers and colonists feasted. The celebration ended with a play enacting scenes of the native Indians hearing the first words of the Catholic Faith and receiving the Sacrament of Baptism.

Thanksgiving is a truly Catholic celebration because even before the Pilgrim Thanksgiving celebration on U.S. soil in 1621, on April 30, 1598, in Texas, Don Juan de Oñate had already declared officially a “Day of Thanksgiving,” commemorated with the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

 In regards to all this silliness the apostle writes:

"...I have a moral obligation to Cry Aloud and help the faithful virgin to remove ALL blemishes."

"...virgin...?"   Apostle Malm gets to play with the virgins and we can't????"  No wonder his wife left him.

 I guess stamping out idiotic religiosity is not a priority.