From a contributor:
From the (LCG) Weekly Update:
The Most Important Quality: Most of God’s people understand the importance of keeping the commandments, the Sabbath, the Holy Days and the dietary laws. They also understand the importance of government, tithing, faith and watching for the fulfillment of prophecy. Yet sometimes, in our zeal to obey the laws of God, we can overlook something else that is even more important—the need to develop and exercise godly love. We are told in the Scriptures that without godly love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Here, the biblical word for love (agape) refers to an unselfish, outgoing concern for others. In this same chapter, the Apostle Paul states that godly love does not seek its own way, it is calm and not easily provoked, nor does it jump to conclusions or assign motives or sit in judgment of others. Instead, godly love is gracious and forgiving. It is positive and focuses on what is right and true. It never fails or falters. Godly love is the most important fruit of God’s Spirit that we must nourish and cultivate if we hope to become like our Father and our Elder Brother Jesus Christ. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and we are to become like Him (1 John 3:1-3). Let’s ask God to help us learn to love Him and to love others as He does, so we can develop this most important quality—of godly love.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
______________________________________________________________________
Doug Winnail writes about the importance of godly love which is almost comical for anyone who has been in LCG for more than a couple of years.
Maybe it was intended as instruction for all the easily provoked, ungracious and totally unforgiving ministers under his authority like Rod McNair and Gerald Weston.
Your average citizen of the world has more “godly love” for his fellow human than 95% of the ministry in LCG.
Doug Winnail writes about the importance of godly love which is almost comical for anyone who has been in LCG for more than a couple of years.
Maybe it was intended as instruction for all the easily provoked, ungracious and totally unforgiving ministers under his authority like Rod McNair and Gerald Weston.
Your average citizen of the world has more “godly love” for his fellow human than 95% of the ministry in LCG.
The hypocrisy of this article reeks like a pile of hog manure left in the hot sun for a month.
Meredith is one of the most easily provoked, impetuous men one could ever encounter! He specializes in “jumping to conclusions” and “assigning motives” before obtaining all the facts. He has an advanced degree in “sitting in judgement of others”.
Would anyone EVER use the words “gracious and forgiving” to describe Rod?
He is a documented grudge-holder who is completely incapable of admitting any personal wrong doing. He destroys people with his hate and lies and then sits back satisfied that he wields enough power to do it.
Many of the men under him have witnessed his total and complete lack of godly love for decades but they continue to support him because they feel he keeps to the truth more closely than any of the alternative ACOG leaders. These followers of Rod (not followers of God) will have a rude awakening in the final Judgment.
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
They may make a concerted effort to keep the letter of the law over in LCG (the commandments, the Sabbath, the Holy Days and the dietary laws) but they make zero effort to keep the spirit of the law and it is well documented as evidence by their harsh and unforgiving treatment of so many sheep over the years.
I suspect that the growing discontentment among the brethren over how horribly HQ’s has treated good people this last year inspired Winnail to write this piece of propaganda. It looks like an effort to attempt to counterbalance all the bad PR going around about Meredith bearing false witness and refusing to recant when proven wrong and about them refusing to make any effort to reconcile with lost sheep which shows how harsh and unforgiving they truly are.
Winnail is right about one thing. Godly love IS the most important fruit of the Spirit and the fact that it is completely lacking in the core leaders at LCG is evidence that LCG is not God’s church.
25 comments:
Rabbis view the word "love" not as a thing, or an emotion, but as a verb, an action. When Paul wrote, "Husbands, love your wives", he meant, "treat her in a loving way IN SPITE OF YOUR LACK OF FEELINGS TOWARDS HER. Leaders asked Jesus, "What is the greatest commandment?" It meant, which one weighed the most or was most important. What prompted the questions was the obvious issue of having 613 Old Testament laws and sometimes to obey one you must disobey another. For instance, circumcision was required on the 8th day but no work was to be done on the Sabbath. What do you do? Jesus replied that the most important commandments were to love God and love your fellow man. Bottom line: Do the most loving thing. Now the LCG might say, "Obey the letter of the law, as understood by the LCG leadership, in spite of the hurt that it might cause someone." Love your neighbor . . . even if he is a jerk. Treat him in a loving way, even if you despise him and hate his nasty, loud dog who uses your front lawn as a toilet. Do the most loving thing, in spite of your feelings. Perhaps in time your heart will catch up with your action. In the meantime, you are doing good. Do any of the churches of God have any understanding of this concept? They just returned from the FOT. Do you think anyone learned anything new? I suspect they heard nothing but reinforcement of the same ideas they have heard from their first FOT. Few, I suspect, read anything that is published outside of their organization. I remember my first week at AC. Everyone walked down to the printing plant and walked back with armfuls of everything that was in print. We thought we had hit the jackpot. We should of just dumped it all in the dumpster behind the Salt Shaker restaurant.
Hog manure that's been left in the hot sun for a month has no smell, so you mean it doesn't smell, or do you really know what you mean? Seriously if you get something as simple as that wrong, you're obviously wrong all over the place.
This is probably because of your desperate zeal for exageration and lies to brain-wash and maintain the couple of regular readers you have that do agree with your propaganda.
After all these years you have been trying to convince the masses of COG people and others that you know what's best for everybody on the planet, that you are the only righteous and perfect ex-cog's in the universe trying to do everyone a massive favor by saving them from the big bad cog monster...where has that gotten you, I'll tell you, NO WHERE because you still have the same old tiny little group of whiners you've had from the beginning and in actual fact many have dropped away. This is absolute proof that people are sick and tired of you finger pointing, "we're perfect and your not" commentaries. I wonder sometimes if high school kids are running this website.
This site doesn't even show up on the alexa rankings it has such a small readership, so that must tell you something about the quality and accuracy of the articles.
So what's the alternative? What's your perfect church people should go to? Yeah I thought so, you don't have one and if you did people could pick it to pieces. You just get the thrill of finger pointing with no solutions, what a cowardly approach.
You obviously can't grasp what a tragedy this website is, and that's sad, oh well you know the old saying; a person who is decieved doesn't know they are. Maybe you'll "wake up" out of your deep slumber and see the light by stopping the exageration of your completely twisted stories, stop telling everyone how bad cog is and how you know what's best for the whole world ( like you're some type of messiah ) and start being honest with your readers. Only then will people start taking you seriously.
i actually look at dr. winnail's brief mention of the importance of love as a positive step; for years i have been complaining to lcg and to theil that the doctrine of love has been neglected in their preaching, and that the best way for the church to grow in popularity was if they had a reputation of brotherhood and charity; people ultimately judge an organization by its actions...
having said that, it is worth pointing out that the article cited above is not only several weeks old, but nothing about love has been mentioned since, nor has there been a doctrinal shift; at best they have been lukewarm on the concept...
and once, years ago, theil allowed me to write a couple of paragraphs on his page: i sent him my submission, and he published it on his page, but had edited out the part where i talked about loving our fellow man (i kid you not)...
Organized religion is like plaque that clogs the arteries of life and prevents the free flow of life sustaining blood to the whole self. The blood of life that contains a healthy amount of love for self and for others is obstructed by the plaque of organized religion.
I'll just bet anon 6:07 is Wyatt Ciceilka. He's one of LCG's internet trolls.
My comment to 6:07 (Whyatt):
If this website is so irrelevant why are you on it and taking the time to comment on it? Such a hypocrite!
Further, what kind of moron concludes that the ENTIRE article must be in error because the writer doesn't know how crap smells in the sun? Seriously?
Maybe you are a crap expert and all knowing when it comes to the various strengths of shit smells in different environments but most of us were intelligent enough to deduce that the metaphor was intended to paint a picture; not to be taken literally as you obviously did.
The point of this website and this article is to expose how filthy, abusive and hypocritical these churches are. LCG specifically states that they are the one and only true COG and Meredith says he's committed no major sins and that he has the purest church in history. It is our right to expose what LIES those statements are.
If you and your COG don't want to see articles about your church on this website, may I suggest that you stop treating members horribly, walk righteously and demonstrate the love that Christ spoke of instead of abusing your power and being lying hypocrits which would then PUT AN END TO THE FLOW OF INFORMATION CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS SITE INFORMATION TO EXPOSE???
Thank you Wyatt for the laugh. It's appreciated. Maybe one day we can all be poop experts like you :)
I know what LCG loves.
RCM loves power.
Lil Jim loves money.
Anon @ October 11, 2015 at 6:07 AM writes
'Seriously if you get something as simple as that wrong, you're obviously wrong all over the place.'
----------------------------------------------
from http://www.hwarmstrong.com/history/hwa-meredith.htm
HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
Tucson, March 14, 1980
President and Pastor
Dear Rod:
Your letters of February 1 and March 7 show, I am sorry to say, that either you still cannot understand WHY the living Head of God's Church, Jesus Christ, had you sent to Hawaii, or you are unwilling to see or admit--and I prefer to believe the former. There is no point in telling you this letter is written in LOVE for YOU -- for you ought to know that without my saying it. But out of love for you, and DESIRE to see you back as PART OF GOD'S TEAM, working in full co-operation and right attitude with the rest of us; I shall take time and space to make it clear once for all this time. I have tried to hold the mirror up for you to see yourself as others see you. But still you don't see in that mirror the same YOU that others see--or are unwilling--I hope not the latter. But now I must be SURE!
In deep LOVE as a father to a son,
In Jesus' name.
Herbert W. Armstrong
Anon@ 6:07 AM-
This blog has over 3 million page views. Obviously more than a handful are viewing it. The reason it does not show up on Alexxa is that blogs are not tracked by Alexxa.
It may be true that at times the discourse here is petty, bitter and perhaps sophomoric. The reason BANNED exists in the first place is that the COGS in general, and throughout their history, have stifled free and open discourse within their own groups, and freedom to express concerns and positive ideas.
I know of no avenues for Non "PC" or "party line" expression in any of the COGs, and I still am a Sabbath observer myself. Whenever you frustrate a free market, there will always be alternative supply for such, or a "black market" which is what BANNED serves as . Quality and distribution are often compromised in black markets, but they are what they are and again exist because an authority figure or government is trying to deny reality.
The COGS as a whole could make BANNED irrelevant by allowing for free and open forums, enfranchisement of the membership to express their desires, and not to sweep uncomfortable situations or history under the rug in a cover up manner.
What HWA and the COGs do is pretend there's no antagonism between the imperatives of purity/sanctity and love. These two priorities cannot be reconciled. Purity comes at the expense of love, and love comes at the expense of purity. Either you love your fellow man and make peace with sin, or else you shun him so that you might remain sanctified. It's like the old "god and mammon" thing. Either you can love your fellow sinning neighbor, or you can love god. These are two different masters and you can't serve both.
This is why there's different flavors of christiany. There's the pharisaical fundy's who would rather love god and hate evolution and their fellow man, and there's the liberals who would rather not be assholes and god can go suck an egg if he's got a problem with that. You can't pursue both within a single denomination.
The COGs have always been of the pharisaical fundy flavor. We've always preferred our own ceremonial purity and thought that "loving our neighbors" meant dancing with glee at the thought of them being our slaves in the kingdom, if not tossed into the lake of fire outright.
This incoherence means that fundamentalism is a wild goose chase for the devout believer. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. No matter what you do, you'll always be guilty of something, and therefore in debt to the company store. I don't think this fact was lost on some of the early church fathers, or HWA, who must have realized that this would keep many chasing their tails much longer than if you gave them something coherent that could be mastered, and therefore would result in them tithing many more denarii to you over their lifetime. It reminds me of the old joke about putting a stupid person in a round room and telling them to pee in the corner. I have to admit I'm not proud of how long it took me to realize that HWA's theology was that all people who aren't Superman and therefore capable of doing the impossible, are only eligible for the lake of fire. When I realized this, I was like, "Okeedokee, lake of fire it is then! LOL"
6:07 seems to have forgotten that the movement (no pun intended towards the poopologist) that he is part of is miniscule to start with. Not too many people with any common sense are going to subject themselves to Armstrongism for very long. In fact, over the years, more have left (with numerous grievances) the WCG and splinters than have remained in the fold. This is probably why "Banned" often gets more hits monthly than some of the splinters do on their primary evangelistic sites. Comparisons of published stats have proven that to be exactly the case.
Obviously, not all that appears on any blog can be solid gold. But, the content here is of sufficient quality that when members or even ministers wonder what the real truth might be concerning some of the activities in their particular splinter, they turn to a venue known for freedom of speech, and non-suppression of truth. Banned. I believe that this is what prompted 6:07's outburst. It has probably dawned on him that many of his own brothers, sisters, and ministers in the splinter actually find what is written here to be credible, because it corroborates what they see and experience at a church which they mostly attend these days for social reasons, not because there is anything of any value there any more. I mean, those "solid" prophecies with their mathematic equations proving 1975 just had to be the date are now 40 years overdue, and all the leaders who ever spouted them are steadily dying off. Bummer for 6:07. It must suck to be him.
One last note. Therapy isn't pretty. And, that is clearly one of the things Banned offers: group therapy to assist in recovery from the Armstrong holocaust. No one belief, church, or non-belief is pushed or shared, because the various participants have found and chosen a variety of solutions to the Armstrong problem, and share and debate the merits and drawbacks of each. This must be very confusing to a person who believes that there is only one true splinter left of the one true church, and that he is in it. We participants are the A.B.A. (anything but Armstrongism).
In addition to Armstrongism's time and date stamp having expired without them ever delivering on their "gospel" message, our testimony regarding our own experiences in that movement just might be one of the additional factors preventing its reemergence. So, in a way, we reflect the same attitude the Jews adapted following the holocaust: Never again!
BB
How "repentant" is a Doug Winnail? How much has he really repented, changed, since the time he believes God has "drawn" him to Christ?
What he wrote above is just some writing to the choir, but how much has their choir changed since any of them were "drawn" to Christ? Really! I ask this b/c it appears that the Living group is very similar to what the former WCG was, and that WCG stagnated the day HWA died. What "new" has the Living group brought to the table for any of us to examine, to digest, to be edified by?
Doug wrote this:
"...Godly love is the most important fruit of God’s Spirit that we must nourish and cultivate if we hope to become like our Father and our Elder Brother Jesus Christ. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and we are to become like Him (1 John 3:1-3). Let’s ask God to help us learn to love Him and to love others as He does, so we can develop this most important quality—of godly love..."
HWA could have written as much back in the former WCG. Doug could have said that back when he was part of the United Association. He says it today, but how much of it is really worth thinking about?
Godly love, like Godly faith, cannot be bought. It cannot be stolen. It cannot be found by human beings. Those of fruits of God's Spirit. One cannot USE God's Spirit to GET to SELF those fruits...and develop them...no matter how much one asks God to help them, because either God gives that fruit, that invisible fruit, by measure/proportion of one does not have them. How do we know? Consider the fruiof faith (pick any fruit of God), and the Bible tells us this:
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God HATH DEALT to every man the MEASURE of FAITH.
:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the PROPORTION of FAITH;
If God wants any of His fruits developed in human beings He will just have to add it: just DO IT!
"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." I Thess 5:24
One does not have to beg God for it, or even ask God for it, but one may do so.
When God chooses to make a human being the workmanship of His hands, start something in one, he will finish it, because it will be done by His Spirit doing that work in the individual. Humans can't work those fruits up.
"...Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." Zech 4:6
Does Doug recall that verse? And how about these verses:
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
:13 Which were born, NOT of blood, NOR of the will of the flesh, NOR of the will of man, BUT OF GOD.
God, not self, gets credit for doing all of that.......and God does intend, before all is said and done, to do it for "every man." Yes, and women too! He is no respecter of persons.
Doug still believes that he can earn his way into God's Kingdom. That is earn his way in by doing some sort of works to impress God, but God will not be impressed:
1 Cor 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Doug, may some of these words of the Bible complement what you are striving to say b/c ancient Israel proved human beings cannot do it b/c only God can do in our lives what Doug is asking us to do.
One last verse for Doug to reconsider:
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you willFor it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Phil 2:13
John
I give Winnail hearty applause for minimally addressing the foreign concept of love. Perhaps it's a small step toward practicing love - it my be a result of LCG' scandalously increased Jesus chatter. However, history says Winnail lined up behind RCM for the love of money. Winnail first announced his affections were with the newly forming UCG until Uncle Spanky made him a better offer. I wonder if RCM will consider it was a good deal as Winnail plots for superiority over Lil Jimmy?
whether this site shows up on the alexa rankings or not is obviously immaterial: clearly it has compelled you to come on here and mock and use disparaging remarks;
why is that? are these people affecting you personally? do you have a financial stake in a cog what makes you come on here in an attempt to belittle the site and diminish the the very legitimate concerns and issues they raise?
...and i noticed you made absolutely no mention of what dr. winnail said: you did not attempt to own or validate his words or the concept he spoke on; you made no attempt to associate lcg with the truth of what he said, or defend lcg as at least trying to practice what dr. winnail was preaching...
you spoke what was in your heart, and your words demonstrate what is really important in your mind: not the Love of Christ; not the feeding of His Lambs; what you chose to do was get defensive about being criticized, lash out and attempt to belittle, mock and humiliate, etc.
you arrogantly accuse this site of exaggerating, but one thing that cannot be exaggerated is the destruction of wwcg due to its ignoring the very issues that you continue to ignore to this day...
you mock this sites low ratings? based on that sentiment, you must also mock the ineffectual efforts of the so called "work" that lcg has been doing; i know of no one outside of the cogs that has even heard of lcg or its publications...
if you really want respect you should preach the beauty of fellowship, preach out against injustice, hold the least among you in high esteem, do more charity, you know, the kind of common sense things that any pr firm of the world is smart enough to do...
otherwise you are no better than this site which you so presumptuously look down upon...
A couple of comments. Yes Wyatt is a manure expert. Anyone that has been around him for a least five minutes knows he's full of shit.
Also, if you read Winnails weekly commentary on a regular basis you find that he has a handful of these commentaries that just get repeated. Many times almost word for word. It's all just hog manure! Shit is still shit!
Annon 1:43 Winnail is not related to RCM. RCM is McNair's uncle.
Regardless of this minor error, you are correct in your prediction that Winnail will present himself as an alternate to NCIS Jim.
Winnail is patiently waiting for RCM to die before he makes his move. He has calculated each move carefully and has put himself in a good position with a lot of quiet supporters.
When he writes stuff like the comment in this article, he gains even more support in LCG because many of us are not so blind as to see that the love that Christ spoke of is completely lacking in our church.
I hope the bully ministers in LCG will eventually learn their lessons but sadly I doubt they ever will. Other than Winnail, RCM has surrounded himself with the meanest, most corrupt and unloving men possible. Obviously, the rotten rise in LCG because that is what Meredith respects and promotes.
Annon 242 hit the ball out of the park! Well said and totally on point!
Knowing Doug Winnail personally I have always found him to be a kind and gentle man. He is , however, classic WCG/HWA. His doctorate in the sciences, biology I believe, has not led him any understanding on the topic of evolution of life on the planet but that is because his real education seems and always seemed clouded by Biblical myth taken too literally. Doug is not a dynamic teacher or even an interesting one by any means. As Paul in the NT noted about criticism of himself, "his presence is weak" . Paul made up for it by blowing his stack from time to time. Doug would be LCG light for sure and maybe the time is right for a kinder, gentler version of LCG, if it survives in any form. It could be renamed the "Nicey Nicey Church of God" maybe?? Regardless...there will be a rancorous and inevitable split along party lines as usual. Can't wait for Dave's split.
Winnail writes, "Paul states that godly love does not seek its own way, it is calm and not easily provoked, nor does it jump to conclusions or assign motives or sit in judgment of others. Instead, godly love is gracious and forgiving. It is positive and focuses on what is right and true. It never fails or falters. Godly love is the most important fruit of God’s Spirit" -
I am in LCG's Charlotte congregation. Please don't attack me for my membership in a church that none of you have any respect for. I don't agree with everything I see on this site but I can not restrain from commenting on this post.
I watched how the leadership and brethren here in Charlotte have treated the Charlotte Scarborough's over the last year and the complete absence of godly love has been astounding. The comments after Winnail's words in this article are all unfortunately, true.
My ministers were not calm, not forgiving, not gracious. They jumped to conclusions, assigned motives and were easily provoked. I have watched those around me, people who have spent over a decade in friendship with these generous and kind people, completely cut them off on the word of Dr. Meredith. I struggle with that my self. I ask myself, "is that what Christ would do?". How can we as a group of people say that we are "letting Christ live in us" but then shun nice people who have been obviously broken hearted over the situation and say they have tried to reconcile? How can you cut good people off, grind their reputations into the dirt, intentionally cause them so much pain and agony and refuse to work with them to make peace and claim to be Christian.
I have a very difficult time resolving this lack of love in my church. I pray and pray and pray that God will soften their hearts and that they will change before it is too late.
My My ....this article really touched a nerve in LCG. Must have hit too close to home. And it did, it is 100% accurate. I can just hear the little feet pattering up and down the halls as they huddle in the Executive Lunch. Planning how to stop the reading of this blog. Can not have the masses wake up and really see them for what they are.
If the brethren ever really saw how LCG misspends the tithe (the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd) they would be horrified. Even the special offerings for the disaster funds are funneled off and spent for other things.
And yes brethren RCM really did take tithe money and buy gold with it...and it is in his house to this day.
It is all so sad.
to Anon 7:16
Yes the Charlotte Scarborough's are being treated so bad that it is unbelievable...but there are others who are being treated just as bad... how about the Pereira's? LCG put this entire family out and fired them and LCG knew they had absolutely no money...how can someone do that and call themselves a Christian?
How about Skip Stephenson...the only thing he did was not put people out of his house onto the street when they had absolutely no money no car and no job. He told them he could not in good conscience do that to a brother. Tell me would God do that to any of us? We are all sinners...does God treat us that way? Rod and Bob even told Mr. Stephenson he could divorce his wife (who was undergoing cancer treatment)because they had disfellowshipped her and fired her too... how can a church....do such a thing? Tell me what did Mrs. Stephenson do to be put out of the church when she was undergoing cancer treatment? How could you do such a thing? And they NEVER once counseled with her. Never visited her or called her in the year and 1/2 that she was in the hospital and at home. REALLY... and they call themselves the purest and most loving church.
How about Josh Beattie, Lara Prejean, Tom Bacca, Samanthia Kreis, and there are others...
How about the whispers that the LCG ministry did about all these people...how they whispered about all the sins these people committed...don't believe all of it brethren. A lot of the rumors and whispers are totally UNTRUE.
WE ARE ALL SINNERS....even Rod Meredith, Doug Winnail, Richard Ames, Wyatt C, and all the others. God will not show partiality just because they are (ministers) if you want to call them that. But their actions show that they ARE NOT!! Remember "By their fruit you will know them". These have shown that they are roaring lions and false ministers. ALL LIARS will not be in the Kingdom of GOD. That is their fruit.... they have been proven liars... and it has been A WAY OF LIFE with a lot of them. IT is what they PRACTICE on a DAILY BASIS...
Joh 8:44 You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you desire to do. That one was a murderer from the beginning, and he has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own, because he is a liar, and the father of it.
To Anon 7:16 (who commented on the absence of love for the Scarboroughs): I submit that you are still in LCG because you are a victim of Rod Meredith's propaganda: "We are the only ones with the right government." "We are doing the Work better than anyone." "United is only a social club." In fact, his promotion of hatred for the other churches is a deliberate tactic designed to keep you from leaving, no matter how bad it gets in LCG. Like all good propaganda, it doesn't have to be true, it just has to be a simple concept repeated over and over, and it is amazing what the people will believe. LCG has the right government? A structure that allows what was done to the Scarboroughs is Biblical? You find nothing like it in the Bible. Most in LCG don't want to take an honest look at government; they are afraid of what they will discover. LCG is doing the work better than anyone? This years behind the work film showed the truth once again. Richard Ames stated Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" and left off the rest of Mark 16, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned". The truth is, LCG is doing a good job at preaching the gospel as a witness, but that is all. Jesus never told us to preach the gospel as a witness; He told us to preach it with a specific purpose: "turn non-believers into believers" (the work of God in John 6:28-29), "make disciples" (Matt 28:19), "preach repentance and remission of sins" (Luke 24:47), "baptize" (Matt 28:19, Mark 16:16), "save" (Mark 16:16 and 1 Cor 9:22). LCG has no mission statements or intentions of doing any of this, then brags about doing the work of God.
Dear 7:16 am, your still small voice is trying to tell you something. I remained in the WCG, as second generation member, for over 30 years, seeing and hearing things that just did not seem right, but I stayed and prayed like you, that God would soften hearts and change direction back to what God would be proud to call His own. Along the way, I started to become desensitized to the mind control and became a clear thinking person and stepped out on faith, that what I found eventually as corrupt organization run by humans, was not for me. I had been attending almost 40 years as a child onward to adulthood, and it was little scary to become a free thinker. The COG's are just corporations, a pyramid scheme, and we members are the bottom, keeping the top in filet mignons. All religion is a money making scheme, and I will never ally myself to any formal religious organization again. Listen to your conscious, what is it saying? It will not let you down.
ANON 10:40 AM,
You wrote: "...". The truth is, LCG is doing a good job at preaching the gospel as a witness, but that is all..."
Where is your proof of that? How do you know that the Living group is not following another spirit (James 4:5; Eph 2:2) in order to preach another Jesus and another gospel (2 Cor 11:4)?
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
The Living group, like so many of the xcogs, preaches Fear Religion and encourages people to strive and impress God and earn their salvation by doing something.
Where is the grace of Christ in that? The Living group always has "strings attached!"
Is the Living gospel one of peace? Really? Well, it should be, shouldn't it?
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the GOSPEL OF PEACE, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Ephesians 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the GOSPEL OF PEACE;
Along with the Living groups Fear Religion preaching, there is all of that judging, and condemning, of fellow human beings. When will those leaders believe and practice the following words of Jesus Christ?
"For God sent NOT his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:17
No wonder Jesus Christ thought as follows:
"Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man." John 8:15
Doug Winnail, are you reading these words of Jesus? Do you still want His Father to judge human beings also?
"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:" John 5:22
Did the buck pass back to Jesus Christ?
"28 Verily I say unto you, All sins SHALL BE FORGIVEN unto the sons of men, AND blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:" Mark 3:28
Oh, how is God going to pull that verse, all of those words, off?
These scriptures apply not only to Doug Winnail, but to Jim Franks, Victor Kubik, David Hulme, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, Mark Welch, Dan Rogers...et all of the xcogs! Why? How? Because they all preach a false gospel, another gospel, the cannot preach the following words of the Apostle Paul...words inspired by the God they think they worship:
"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, NOT IMPUTING their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:19
You guys don't know the true gospel of peace that Jesus Christ taught, so you can't preach 2 Cor 5:19.
So, the Living group is NOT doing any good job of preaching the gospel as a witness, UNLESS they are guilty of preaching "another gospel."
John
I'm going to submit a new play on words for approval of my fellow bloggers: Pharasissies.
Armstrongism preaches, teaches, and endorses extreme legalism in all fields. But, when really confronted, and being given an opportunity to demonstrate the fiber of their convictions, teachers and practitioners alike will generally cave, retrench, and hide. Lob a few eggs, toilet paper a home or office, or threaten tax free status, and these guys will not be in the middle of the street tearing their clothes, throwing dust in the air, and making noise like the original Pharisees. They'll be off in a corner, hiding and whimpering about persecution. It's all street theatre to them.
BB
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