Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Gerald Weston Shocks Living Church of God Members UPDATED




Gerald Weston, a minister in the Living Church of God, gave a sermon in November that caught the attention of many in his congregation LCG.  Some of the LCG members understood that the sermon was given because of defections and  massive grumbling going on in the Living Church of God.



 A reader here had this to say about the sermon:


Apparently many of the members of the congregation were appalled and deeply disappointed by the sermon. Gerald Weston was the pastor of this congregation through the 1980s-1990s and was visiting over Thanksgiving this year as he usually does. Weston was instrumental in leading this Kansas City WCG congregation into the Global Church of God, and so he is beloved by many there. Because of his leadership, his was the largest congregation in GCG and LCG up until recently when the Charlotte congregation surpassed it in attendance. He became famous shortly before he resigned from WCG when he stated in his final sermon in their employment, “I will not prostitute myself for a paycheck,” to which the congregation applauded. This makes the things he states in this sermon even more notable by contrast. Several years ago Weston was promoted to evangelist in LCG and installed as the head over the Canadian office, where he still maintains that position. He is also the main presenter for the Hong Kong version of the Tomorrow’s World telecast. This sermon is a perfect encapsulation of the level of cultism that is permeating the Living Church of God. The ministry searches the scriptures to find anything that can be used to maintain their authority over the membership.


Many LCG members are disillusioned that their prayers were NOT heard in regards to healing Mr.s Meredith.  Rod and COG tradition has always emphasized that if you prayed had enough God would hear and heal, particularly when it was a high profile person in the church.

 “And we have deaths from time to time. We’ll no doubt have some deaths in the next year; perhaps in this congregation – very likely, one or two. Although we never know exactly who it might be because sometimes it’s the younger ones instead of the older ones who you expect. Perhaps what makes the death of Mrs. Meredith a little unusual is the fact that she is high-profile, was high-profile. Many hundreds and thousands of people were praying for her. And perhaps it’s because Mr. Meredith has EMPHASIZED healing and faith. And so many may wonder, ‘Does God truly exist and hear our prayers. Does God indeed heal today? Is there something wrong with the church?’ Sometimes people worry about THAT. ‘Are we lacking in faith?’ These are some of the questions that we might have.  
One person who listened to sermon had this to say:



What he said about healing is pure craziness. So *I guess* we should thank God for not healing us and pray that he would continue to withhold healing, so that we can maintain our faith, because if he did heal us we would certainly lose faith. Of course we better add that "we know you can heal us God, but please be sparing with the healings". This is one part that appalled some of the folks, especially the ones who are suffering from some serious health issues. The ones I spoke with acted like they wanted to give him the big middle finger on that point.
UPDATE: 

The outrage from the members related specifically to the statements in the sermon such as, "But faith is the substance of things hoped for. Healing, for example, is one of the things we hope for. It’s not the only thing that we hope for, but it’s one. And it’s the evidence of that – we believe that God CAN HEAL – and we hope that he will heal in our particular case during this lifetime, and the sooner the BETTER. Consider if everyone was healed every time he got sick. The problem would be that it wouldn’t take faith would it? It would be something that we could see. What lesson would we learn?"



LCG is also having an issue with members leaving the church.

. I note that when one mate leaves the church how often another goes with that mate. It would seem like one might be strong – and, and sometimes we see that – but so often, when one leaves, the other leaves. And it shows that we follow other human beings, and are persuaded by other human beings far more than we’d like to admit to ourselves. ‘…be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses’ taught him to do. So he is telling ‘em to follow him and not follow the people in essence, and that takes FAITH to do it because there’s times when it doesn’t look like the thing to do; it’s easier to go along – to go with the flow.



LCG is also having a huge problem stemming the flow of information on the Internet that speaks negatively about the LCG and its leaders.  Weston is particularly incensed at James Malm and his blog, The Shining Light.  Malm is regularly fed information about issues in the LCG, UCG and other COG's by insiders who feel their respective church has lost its way.  Lots of information has been flowing over the last couple of years about LCG leadership power struggles.  The more they deny them the more  information it is that gets out.  The fact that Weston has to say that the LCG Council has to LAUGH at Malm and others show that they really ARE concerned.  By mocking Malm and others in a sermon in order to get a couple chortles out of naive members just goes to show how desperate and pathetic these men are.




00:12:32
There are times when it’s easy to complain, because after all, we are JUSTIFIED in our complaints because we’re only saying the TRUTH. We see something that happens and so we complain about it; we grumble about it. And if we go back to the accounts of where all this happened – they were complaining against Moses, against Aaron, against the leadership of the church. And how many times do we complain about the leadership of the church – the local leadership, maybe it’s a deacon, maybe it’s an elder, maybe it’s someone higher up. Maybe we hear a rumor some place and we just pick up and believe it without any fact whatsoever. We’ve got a fella up there in Canada – and, and I never hear about him until I come down to the States, and I always hear about him on Shining Light or something, and he’s, he’s always talking about what’s going on in the Living Church of God – I don’t know who he IS. I don’t know if he’s ever attended a service of ours. I don’t know where he supposedly gets his information – he’s always talking about a, a great power struggle that’s taking place i-in the church. And he gets even more specific than that and, and it’s RIDICULOUS – it really is ridiculous. And those of us who sit on the Council simply laugh about it. And yet here’s somebody out there saying that, and people get on the internet and they’ll believe the INTERNET. Someone that they’ve never met – someone that they don’t KNOW. But there’s somebody out here and they’ll believe it, and then they’ll pick up on the grumbling and the complaining. 
You would think after 80 some years of the church being in existence that they would stop fighting over make-up, eating out in restaurants on Saturdays and smoking.  

I love the fact he brought up smoking.  I know some LCG ministers and a couple higher up's that enjoy a good cigar every once in a while.  Is Weston talking a jab at them?  Instead of allowing members make their own decisions, the church has to make it for them.  Rod and HWA were able to make the decisions they have made, unmake them and then make them again, over the decades because they alone know the mind of God.  Really?

Sometimes things aren’t clear. Eating in restaurants on the Sabbath – that’s been discussed for decades, no doubt. Goes back to the time when Mr. Armstrong was alive, and it’s been discussed in the Council on numerous occasions and we’ve come up with answers on that. Of course, we-we look at all these things, whether it be makeup, or eating out on(sic) restaurants and such – either [it’s] okay or it’s not okay – we never hear the qualifying statements about those things like makeup in moderation, and without going overboard. Or eating out at restaurants – it’s okay on certain occasions, but not all occasions – we just think it’s okay or it’s not okay, as human beings. Now, of these four – circumcision, smoking, makeup and eating in restaurants on the Sabbath – of these four examples, only one judgment is directly mentioned in the scriptures, and of course that’s the one about circumcision. But in every case the church has sought the mind of God. A-and Mr. Meredith has pointed that out – that the Bible IS the mind of God. This is the book that we need to search to try to figure out what is God’s attitude toward the subject. And we try to discern that. And sometimes even for us it’s not always clear, but judgments have to be made for peace within the church. And there are a few times, like in makeup, where we have changed on more than one occasion, and we’ve-we’ve looked at all the circumstances; why the change was made and why maybe it shouldn’t have been made, but nevertheless a-a judgment was made. Because it was dividing the church, and we had to have unity within the church.

Apparently many in the LCG are not heeding the admonitions of the ministry.  According to Weston, God is going to heap judgment upon these rebellious members.  Is Weston trying to scare members into being submissive to the ministry?

In his sermon it is also interesting to note how he talks about what a tragedy it is for people to die when God chooses not heal them, yet when  church members fail to heed the judgments of the ministry then Weston is glad his god wants to kill them.



00:39:01
“The Bible has much to say about judgments and how we are to accept them. Notice back in Deuteronomy the 17th chapter, and I’ll just mention while we’re turning over there that in selecting judges, they were to be, um fair-minded, they were to be honest, but nowhere in the Old Testament say that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They did not have the Holy Spirit of God in the way that we understand it today, but they were to make JUDGMENTS. And Deuteronomy 17 and verse 8, it says, ‘If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another,’ notice ‘matters of CONTROVERSY within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Eternal your God chooses.’ Verse 9, Deuteronomy 17 verse 9, ‘And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them,’ so sometimes they would go to the priests or the Levites, other times to judges that were in the local vicinity there, and says, ‘they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.’ They would look at the facts, they would base it on the law of God as they understood it at the time. ‘And you shall DO,’ notice, the person after they make that judgment, ‘You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you,’ so this was a very PERSONAL matter, not just a general thing that affects a lot of people, but it was a very personal matter. ‘…you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you.’ Notice verse 12, ‘Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.’ This is very interesting because when a judgment was laid down in ancient Israel, to go against that judgment would bring the death penalty upon that person. It tells us that God is very serious about accepting the judgments that come down from his constituted authorities.

The COG has always had  a large number of people in it that did not concern themselves with all the bullshit coming down from on high concerning topics that really were none of the ministry's business.  Most ignored these pronouncements and went on with their lives.  Apparently many in LCG are still doing this and the hierarchy doesn't like it!


When the church makes a judgment WE – all of us – need to get behind that judgment. We’re not talkin’ about the LAW of God, we’re talkin’ about things that are controversial that are not clearly stated or-stated in the scripture, and somebody has to make a judgment on a controversial issue. ‘…you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.’ You see, these scriptures are very clear that I’m going to give your hear; the-there’s no ambiguity about these scriptures. Whether, uh, you should smoke or whether you should not smoke may not be clear to everybody – I think it’s clear to most of us – but that might not be clear to every individual. But these scriptures are very clear, that we’re all to have the same mind and the same judgment. 1 Timothy 1 verses 3 and 4 – you may want to look these up later – 1 Timothy 1, 3 and 4, it says, ‘As I urged you when I went into Macedonia-- remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.’ We had an individual we had to put out of the church recently because he had written – he’s still writing I guess – a book about the two witnesses. Now that might seem innocuous enough, but his theory is that Enoch and Elijah are the two witnesses. He’s up to about page 180 in his book, trying to prove it. And Enoch and Elijah are in one of these clouds up here someplace – I don’t know which one, we don’t have too many clouds here, so Enoch and Elijah aren’t anywhere near us today. But they’ve been in the clouds in the earth’s atmosphere for the last several hundred – not several hundred – several thousand years. That’s bad enough, but where’d he get his information? In part from the Book of Jasher – because the Bible mentions the Book of Jasher on a couple occasions. So he puts that on par with scripture – he thinks that’s part of the scriptures. Now there are three different Books of Jasher – at least three – that are out there, so you don’t know which one, and I think he’s got a fourth one that came out of Egypt – a good place to come from – that he’s going to put his-his, uh, stock in. But then there are other issues – when there’s one, it usually goes on to the other. The simplest thing for him to do would be to follow the traditions of the church: the two witnesses are people who are physical human beings at the end of the age; they are NOT Enoch and Elijah. And when you read Hebrews the 11th chapter it speaks of Enoch, it says, ‘These all died not having received the promises.’ These all died. But he’d rather believe the Book of Jasher than to believe the Book of Hebrews. You see, ther’re individuals with their private interpretations of the scripture and they’ll get them into trouble, and one wrong doctrine usually leads to another.
Did you know that unity in the church is absolutely impossible without the ministry and the presiding evangelist?  Members can never be unified on their own, it takes authority from on high to unify them.  COG of God history seems to have the standard that members are too stupid to do anything on their own without the ministry being involved.

And I hope we’re thankful for that, getting back to our sermonette; it’s something that we should be very thankful for. And the booklets and everything else that have been written that help us to stay on track. You see, we may not have an apostle today – well we have some self-proclaimed ones out there, which is kind of laughable – but we do have a Presiding Evangelist. We have evangelists, we have pastors, we have teachers, we have individuals that God has placed in local congregations that guide the local congregation, as well as the church as a whole. But we have others that is says, ‘for the equipping of the saints… for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.’ And notice verse 14, ‘that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.’ Yes, there are people out there that are plotting their own ideas; they’re self-willed individuals. ‘but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.’ We may grow up to the-the head, which is Christ. ‘From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effectual working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.’ You read this passage and you realize that the Church of God – the true church, wherever it is, and I think we believe it’s hear, that’s why we’re here – but the true Church of God is going to be a unified church. When we read Corinthians we recognize that it’s not always perfectly unified, but this is what we strive for. And the reason that we can be unified is because we have government from the top down. The problem is that, when it speaks here of, ‘no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,’ when WE are carried about a wind of doctrine we don’t realize it – we think we’re right. I don’t know about you, but if I get in an argument with my wife, I know I’m right. The problem is, she knows she’s right. Now, we can both be wrong, but we can’t both be right. We-we don’t want to admit it, partly because of pride. The other aspect here is faith. Do we really truly believe that Jesus Christ is the head of his church? If this is his church will he, will he guide it? Will we accept the judgments that come down from time to time? I’m not talking about when somebody says it’s okay to play golf on the Sabbath and you don’t have to keep the Sabbath, or you have to work to s-, you know take care of your family. I’m not talking about THAT sort of thing. And then the casting aside of every doctrine, and going back and believing the Trinity and, and Heaven and Hell and all – I’m not talking about that sort of thing. I-I think that the ministry of the Living Church of God has proven itself. Mr. Millich is on the Council, and he’s been around – a minister longer than I have; Mr. Wells, longer than I have. And the rest of us, I think we’ve proven ourselves where we want to go: we want to follow God. Mr. Meredith, Mr. Ames, Dr. Winnail, all the way down through the ministry. I think we’ve shown and proven that we’re not trying to go off into some sort of heresy. Do we make mistakes? I would think so. Have we ever made a wrong judgment? I would guess so. But even when Mr. Armstrong made a-an error about the Day of Pentecost, God still blessed the church, and then he showed him where he was wrong. And God continued to bless the church.








35 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure most members are sincere, and try to do as they are taught. Sooner or later, it will dawn on these people that an ACOG is not the modern equivalent of Old Covenant Israel. If anything, they should be aspiring to imitate the New Testament church. Their problem is that you just don't find the same kind of human authority structure in the NT model. The temple veil was shredded. Man can commune one on one with God. Jesus is priest , judge, prophet, and king. No need for humans in those roles!

Anonymous said...

This is one of the most disgusting anti-God web sites out there. You are going to be sorry when God strikes you down for mocking one of HIS called and appointed minister, Disgusting filth!

Anonymous said...

I always desire truth. When I view articles such as this, it makes me feel like I've done due diligence if I verify its content. Will a link to a full audio of the sermon by Mr Weston by provided by the author at some point? Naming names also lends credibility. The author mentioned that he knows ministers in LCG that smoke a cigar now and then. It's obvious to me that if a minister smokes in front of the author or in front of any one else, then they must not consider their smoking to be a secret sin. So please share the names. They will obviously not care if others know. It's definitely time to name names for us out here to make informed decisions.

RSK said...

See, there you go already, bitching because somebody mocked a "ministurd", AKA The Guy Who Tells You Where To Find The Prooftexts This Week. And you people still rattle on and on about "god not men", even though you need men far more immediately than you need a god.

Anonymous said...

You are going to be sorry when God strikes you down for mocking one of HIS called and appointed minister, Disgusting filth!

Disgusting filth is an LCG minister? I guess that explains a lot!

James said...

Anon said.

"This is one of the most disgusting anti-God web sites out there. You are going to be sorry when God strikes you down for mocking one of HIS called and appointed minister, Disgusting filth!"

Looks like it is your turn Gary and Dennis to get ragged at !

DennisCDiehl said...

Anonymous said...
This is one of the most disgusting anti-God web sites out there. You are going to be sorry when God strikes you down for mocking one of HIS called and appointed minister, Disgusting filth!"

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....thanks for playing

This site is hardly anti-God. It is however anti-godmen who don't know where to mind their own business and when to stop saying inaccurate and outdated things that are certainly inflicting unnecessary burdens in people's lives and often not true.

You know someone is in trouble when the best they can do is quote where the Bible says to obey the priests and ministers no matter. Those scriptures were put into the text for the very control some still seek today.

Calm down Gerald......

Anonymous said...

Keep reminding yourself, it's just a worthless cult; it's just a worthless cult.

Head Usher said...

"This is one of the most disgusting anti-God web sites out there. You are going to be sorry when God strikes you down for mocking one of HIS called and appointed minister, Disgusting filth!"

I love owning it when someone writes comedy this good.

I suppose if your god-called-and-appointed "minister" knew this "God" of whom you speak, well, I suppose I might be scared.

I suppose if there were even a snowball's chance in hell that you "knew" that your "minister" was, in fact, "called" or "appointed" or anything else by any deity, I might be trembling in my little galoshes.

But I've been where you are. And I DO KNOW, by hard-won experience, that you and your ministers DON'T KNOW jack effing squat.

Thank you! Please Come Again.

Anonymous said...

People who claim to be speaking for God need to be subjected to rigorous and regular testing. That is common sense and accountability. For responsible people whose allegiance is to their relationship with God, this testing will be a life-long process.

Jerry restated One of Uncle Roddy's favorites, negatively critiquing the unity in which some loving married couples live, observing that when one member of a couple leaves, in the majority of cases the other member also lives. And, of course that would be tragic if indeed they were leaving an entity which were definitively provable to be God's one and only true church. But, that is not the case. One of his long ago colleagues actually made an honest statement, stating that people are leaving groups with bad or no fruits.

Still, perhaps these guys should expand the Roddism, and turn it inwards. We've noticed that any time some minister's ego gets offended, and he can no longer play nicely with the other ministers, he leaves or is disfellowshipped, and then just like a bunch of zombies, bunches of people follow him! What if these pissed off or offended ministers quit and nobody followed them? In the strictest sense, most splinter members have "left the church" two or three times, or more! The way to avoid splinters is for people to stop following ministers who leave!

I can't imagine how these people can call their splinters of splinters of splinters "God's Church", and act as if whoever leaves is in the bonds of Satan and headed to the Lake of Fire. That is delusion of the highest magnitude! LCG is an outlaw, rebel group to start with.

Redfox712 said...

Speaking of possible power struggles within LCG I would like to mention that Douglas Winnail has NOT had an article in the last two issues of LCG's magazine, Tomorrow's World.

I looked up LCG's back issues. Winnail has had an article in every single issue since the magazine's founding in 1999 without exception. Until the November-December 2013 issue, and the latest one.

Also he has had no article in the current issue of Living Church News.

Of course, this does not inherently prove anything, but I cannot help but wonder if this is a sign that Winnail is losing his power within LCG.

Anonymous said...

LCG Power Struggles-- At the feast in Indian Wells, Rod Meredith announced that Gerald Weston was now #3 behind Meredith and Ames, but in front of Winnail! Is Winnail on the outs? Is Weston preparing to assume the hammer from Meredith?

Anonymous said...

The LCG leaders still don't get it. You can't have unity by force. Uniformity, maybe. But you can only have unity when people choose to assemble together, when they choose to wash each others feet, when they choose to support others in their Christian walk, in spite of their differences. Trying to force unity by hammering them all into a box will only result in shattering.

DennisCDiehl said...

"Notice verse 12, ‘Now the man who acts PRESUMPTUOUSLY and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die."

All of these "Obey or die" laws in the OT are designed by heirarchy to preserve the status quo as they set it to be. It was to control thought and give a certain degree of "all speaking the same thing" impression of the group. If you disagreed or the kind of personality that thought differently for good reasons, you kept it to yourself. Since the church today can't execute you, and the Ananias/Saphira story was not such a story in it's intent, you can only get disfellowshipped, marked and "with one, no so much as to eat..."

It's all about humans controlling humans in thought, word and deed.

Anonymous said...

"I note that when one mate leaves the church how often another goes with that mate. It would seem like one might be strong – and, and sometimes we see that – but so often, when one leaves, the other leaves."

A commenter bemoans the fact that when a person leaves the church, his or her spouse will "so often" leave, as well.
Funny, that...... Because, usually it happened that when a person 'joined the church', his or her spouse also joined(though often reluctantly), which by default included their minor children.

Experience with such people has taught me that the commenter will not equally bemoan the "joining the church" scenario, and instead will see that in a positive light.

The reality is, whether joining or leaving, a spouse often only goes along with a husband or wife for the simple reason of wanting to keep their relationship intact, and has little to do with what the 'follower-spouse' actually believes regarding veracity of the church's teachings.

Norm

Anonymous said...

Roderick Meredith has been a false prophet for over 50 years. I remember his articles from the 1960s.

He should just die. Maybe he will. The LCG will scatter to the winds.

Maybe then there will be peace.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I'd love to know the names of those LCG ministers who smoke a cigar now and then. Why play games with us if you're not willing to name names?

Sharon said...

So let's get this straight. Two ANONONYMOUS men who don't have the balls to use their own names are expecting the blog owner to break confidentiality????

Anonymous said...

We had the "privilege??" to have GW as our minister, both in WWCG, as well as Global/Living, until we also left. I assume he included my wife in his comments about a spouse "following" the other spouse, when we left many years ago.

I've heard rumors he has risen quickly in the LCG hierarchy, which doesn't surprise me as he has the same autocratic mindset that RM has. What is most interesting is how the Kansas City LCG congregation has started to shrink from what once was the largest, to now losing many people, over various doctrinal and political machinations, that all started under the guise of GW. Makes one wonder what else lies ahead, when RM dies and all the little tin generals come scampering forth, to claim their rightful place in the organization.

Anonymous said...

Notice that Weston says the judgment about circumcision is found in the scriptures, but that the judgment about makeup is not.

That's not what HWA taught! Old-timers know perfectly well the Biblical examples that were used to show the sinfulness of makeup.

So, why is Weston lying? Does his wife wear makeup?

RSK said...

Geesh, smoking, circumcision and makeup.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I'd love to know the names of those LCG ministers who smoke a cigar now and then. Why play games with us if you're not willing to name names?

Why does it even matter which ministers smoke? Meredith has said in LCG sermons, available on the Internet, that smoking occasionally (e.g. an occasional cigar) is not a sin.

Honest LCG members who aren't too embarrassed will admit this, but you might have better luck getting an honest admission of this from a former LCG member who left for another ACOG after hearing Meredith say this several times.

Frank said...

I can just imagine what would happen if the blog owner revealed the names of the ministers that enjoy a cigar once in a blue moon. Some butt-kissing busy-body who lurks on here would immediately run to Charlotte squealing like a stuck pig.

UT, The Reigning Being of Being Banned by Banned by HWA said...

I hate to agree with COGites but, I'm compelled to do so with the Anonymous who stated that to not name names of the dirty smokers is a dirty trick.

Do I believe LCG ministers smoke? Of course they do, as well as engaging in any other hypocritical action you can name - that's the nature of COG ministers.

However, to mention the leading Pharisees of LCG do something they perceive to be evil, without naming names, gives COG ass-kissers the cover they need to hide behind to believe you are making it all up while their ministers remain blameless.

That's the cult mindset; you can provide hundreds of examples where they are drifting from reality but, they only can focus on the one mistake you make in not providing abundant proof of your accusation.

Also, Rainman Meredith's ("In the next 5 to 7 years; in the next 5 to 7 years ....) tactics has always been to attack individuals without giving any proof of what he alleges. His sheep follow without needing any proof.

Former sheep demand proof.

If the other Anonymous is correct when stating that Rainman Meredith has blessed the occasional smoking of cigars, then that would make an interesting post, if proof is attached. That should smoke a few sheep out from his fold.

Those with the truth don't need to use the tired tactics of the COGs.

Anonymous said...

I don't know. I once knew a church member who admitted that he enjoyed taking a warm bath on Friday evenings and smoking a joint to get into the proper attitude for the sabbath. Ah, get down, brother!

I wish we had known about the secret cigar-smoking so that we could all have enjoyed it. Some of us participated in this as Ambassador College students, and one of our group who claimed to have insider information speculated about GTA and David Jon Hill were doing this as well. This story has been around for a long time. Uncle Roddy once counseled an AC coed I was dating that "smoking is not such a bad sin."

Anonymous said...

Your punishments only exist within your own paradigm. When you one day realize that mankind has never had any physical or spiritual contact with our creator, you'll laugh at this foolish comment as the rest of us do now. Until then, enjoy your hatred and learn how to capitalize.

Bad PK

Canada Joe said...

I just listened to the audio for this sermon, and wow! What a Jim Jones this guy is. I wouldn’ta believed it if I hadn’t heard it myself, but he actually told them in no uncertain terms that the ministers are to rule the members and the members are to obey the ministers. Couple that with what he said about dissenters being killed, and I’m left wondering when the Kool-Aid will be served. Holy Shnikes

Canada Joe said...

sermon is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qHZsNsJdMJ0

Anonymous said...

Carole Dubreuil
Thanks for posting that last little bit of the sermon. It absolutely with no doupt shows that M. Weston is connected and doing the will of God. God has commissioned His Church to make decisions about and for His Church as long as it doesn't change His commandments (which other churches freely changed the 4th, God's Sabbath) nor His precepts (the holy days etc...). WE are here on earth to learn to yield to authority, if we can't learn to do that now in GOD'S Church, HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO THAT IN GOD'S KINGDOM ESPECIALLY WHEN GOD'S DECISIONS ARE NOT IN LINE WITH OUR OWN THINKING.Think about that! Faithful in little, faithful in much. God is watching

Head Usher said...

You've been very well trained, Carole. Good job...

"god's kingdom," submission, obedience, submission, obedience, "faithful in little, faithful in much," "'god' is watching"... LOLOLOL

In other news, this post received an honorable mention by James Malm yesterday. Will miracles never cease? He even said to take what Gary had to say with several grains of salt. I think that may be among the nicest things that James Malm, pharisaical ĂĽberman that he is, has ever said about any other human being, besides himself of course.

Byker Bob said...

I for one do not want to offend Ms. Dubreuil. She sounds as if she is knowledgeable and perhaps well connected, and may be able to help us learn who the cigar-smoking ministers in LCG might be. It's kind of nice when splinter members drop by to visit. They are not ogres or the boogie man, they are similar to our family members who are still involved with Armstrongism. Any time an ACOG member posts under their name rather than doing an anonymous drive-by, that is a built in recommendation!

BB

Anonymous said...

8.52AM,
The purpose of human existence is to build the mind of God, as in the parable of the talents. Trade means pleasing your customers, they pay your wage, not the ministers. Trade means making your best independent judgement rather than a daddy minister making the decision for you. In the biblical account, the nobleman went to a far country, meaning there should be no big daddy minister next to him treating him you a child. Your 'yielding to authority' is ministers stealing from you, yes robbing you of the talents that God gives to every person. The exercising of these talents is life itself. They are robbing you of your life. You cannot build the mind of God and learn how to exercise these talents, if greedy pirate ministers rob you of these talents. These men have twisted your sense of normalcy, they have twisted definitions to make them appear correct. Your rights trumps their so called 'authority.' That's the meaning of obeying God rather than man. Err, rights are taboo in the churches, how convenient. Every one is to supposed to pretend that they don't exist, since only ministers have rights. Say after me, trade is life, trade is life, these blood sucking ministers are robbing me of my life.

Anonymous said...

I remember all the rules Weston has for church dances. All music must be pre-approved. Very few contemporary songs are acceptable because of innuendo or too much drum/guitar, etc. No "free-style" dancing because it tends to encourage gyration or some such nonsense. All girls must be in dresses or skirts. No spaghetti straps and to the knee or longer. Couples (even married) must maintain a chest to chest distance of at least 12 inches to reduce the risk of titillation (bad pun, sorry). And the limbo is under no circumstances to be played because having females bend backwards to make it under the limbo stick is WAY to sexually provocative and has no place at a church dance!

Carole Dubreuil said...

You know anonymous you are a coward. You hide behind a no name mask. Your ignorance of God and of His plan is staggering. There is a government established in any Church but it seems that this one is especially urking you. You can't save the world in the Kingdom with strife, venom and bitterness, that is the way of Satan not of God. If you stay the way you are you will loose out. Sorry friend but this needed to be said. Harmony, peace and a good government of God on earth keeps the order in the Church. If this doesn't please people or they don't get it, they just leave and that's all just as you did, or did you?

charles said...

Any story can be told over enough times and changes over time and can become propaganda if not already propaganda when first stated. Any comment that has to be approved by the author means you may have to be a robot in favor of his sayings, true or not.