Dennis On: "Onward Christian Soldiers"

Lyrics
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
Christ, the royal Master,
Leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
See his banners go!
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

At the sign of triumph
Satan's host doth flee;
On, then, Christian soldiers,
On to victory.
Hell's foundations quiver
At the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices,
Loud your anthems raise.
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

Like a mighty army
Moves the Church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
Where the Saints have trod.
We are not divided;
All one body we:
One in hope and doctrine,
One in charity.
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

 Onward, then, ye people;
Join our happy throng.
Blend with ours your voices
In the triumph song:
Glory, laud, and honor
Unto Christ, the King.
This through countless ages
Men and angels sing.
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

Even as a child in the Presbyterian Church, I never liked singing Onward Christian Soldiers.  It brought to my child mind white robed zealots slashing and burning their way through the countryside giving the heathen two choices...join or die.   As I got older I realized that in some parts of the world and in some ages that is exactly what the choices zealous Christians gave the heathen.  The heathen have their own rendition of Onward Islamic Soldiers I am sure.

When I came into the WCG, of course, there were many other hymns that I had never heard of.  Most "written" or adapted from the Old Testament by Dwight Armstrong.  They also seemed to have a rather gruesome theme of slash and burn or were based on the Psalms.   Some, like "Praise Ye the Lordo.."  made you run out of breath just trying to keep up.  We climbed and leapt through windows and who can forget "Death shall them seize and the tomb ALIVE they shall go down...Smiiiile Brethren!"   If you weren't depressed before church, you were after.

But at my first church service ever at age 14, there was good old Onward Christian Soldiers.  I sang the words,  "with the cross of Jesus..." at the end before I realized the words had been changed to "with the word of Jesus.."  That should have been my first hint of decades to come!

But it was that 3rd stanza that over the years in the WCG and certainly now came symbolize the absolute insanity of the Church as it presented itself in reality and ultimately.

Like a mighty army
Moves the Church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
Where the Saints have trod.
We are not divided;
All one body we:
One in hope and doctrine,
One in charity.
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.

The church , WCG and all that followed, were never a mighty army.  There was usually one who wanted the soldiers to promote them and send them, but there was no army.  The Church of God hardly moved from what I could tell and it often moved backwards, retreated, had to get back on the track or wake up.  What kind of army was that?   I guess we trod where the saints trod but that would mean they didn't have much success either and had to put up with one dumb ass scandal, commands from on high and snow flakes from heaven and HQ when they needed more ammo which was money.

"We are not divided, all one body weeeee.  One in hope and doctrine, One in charity."  Really?  Did I miss something over the years?  This was never true and singing about it was not going to make it so.  Any COG that sings these words to this day needs to simply drop it from the hymnal.  I bet 90% of the congregation, when they get to this part, are thinking.."Ummm...nice idea but when is this going to happen?"  

Personally, I believe that no group of many people can "all speak the same thing."  If  they all are doing this then there are a lot of brains checked at a lot of doors before entering.  When a Dave Pack, Ron Weinland or Gerald Flurry says this, what they really mean is "we must all speak the same things I speak."   It has precious little to do with what is true or appropriate.  It has everything to do with compliance and staying in your seat.  If the God of the OT had no problem slaughtering little children, and he didn't, was the now Jesus of the NT who wanted little children to come unto him, there is some real schizophrenia going on here. That speaking the same thing has changed a lot over the millennia.   If you really thought Jesus was the reincarnation of YHVH or EL of the OT, being called over to see him would be risky.  Kind of like having a conversation with Pennywise the Clown.

At any rate,  stanza three has no place in a COG hymnal and the church has no business singing it.  It indicts and incites but does not inspire.  I don't want and never did want to belong to a mighty army shoving and pushing its ideas and demands on others as Weinland, Pack and Flurry do.  (If you understand intercalation you will understand what you just read.)  

The Apostle Pack's latest screed on himself and his 25 reasons why he is right is simply ridiculous, as are the previous 20 something screeds about himself,  and the reasons aren't reasons at all. Neither  Haggai or any other place in the Bible ever heard of Dave Pack and it is some sort of delusion to see yourself spoken of in scripture.    He just makes bull shit up and it seems right to him. 

He so badly wants to be in charge and to be special.  He is not.   He is building his opinions, speculations, musings, misunderstandings, misstatements and misinterpretations on sand.  People are being and are going to continue to be hurt by this ego centric ministry, which only ministers to itself.

And.... we know how that sand thing works out...

contact Dennis at   dennisdiehl@aol.com