The Living Church of God is apparently the ONLY COG out there that is 100% unified. It can only be unified because the people at the TOP are the only ones capable of solving problems thus keeping the ravenous wolves out.
I'll digress a little bit, but I know that some, uh, churches in the past have tried to take this example – some of those who split off from Mr. Armstrong – that they don't need any government; they've tried to say that back here in Acts chapter 6, where they appointed these, uh, deacons, that that was voting; that was one example they've tried to use when they first started out, I don't know if they still do it or not, but they use that many, many times. It talks about in Acts chapter 6 – there was murmuring about which people were getting the service – and so, "The twelve (disciples), summoned the multitude…
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saying, 'It is not good for us to leave the word of God and serve tables." Who took the lead, who started this, did it start from the bottom? No, the NEED came from the bottom, but the ones who solved the problem were the APOSTLES, the leaders said, "Here's what we want done, you choose out from among you…" they had hundreds of brethren, and maybe actually thousands in the Jerusalem area by that time; it grew very rapidly. So they asked the other leader – leading men and women, no doubt – "Who among you…" they got input, they got counsel. Proverbs 11:14, "Without counsel the people are disappointed," things don't work out right, get counsel. "In multitude of counsel there's safety." That's another part of right government – counsel. They were getting input. "Choose out from among you seven men (or "seek out") seven men of good reputation…" you see, you're to recommend them to us; they must've discussed it. Maybe they were given a list of ten or fifteen and then by discussing it with these people that knew about them and among themselves they chose seven of that multitude that were given to them, no doubt. "Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may…" "we?" who is "we?" Not the church as a whole, but the APOSTLES, "Whom we may appoint." He didn't say, "You elect these men," "We're taking the lead, you give us input as to who fits these qualifications, and then we will choose these men, and we will appoint seven of them over this business of serving tables, of doing this physical job as deacons." That is not VOTING! That's hypocrisy to try to call that voting; that's ridiculous. Don’t let people fool you with that kind of reasoning. I'll just tell you brethren, from one end of the Bible you'll never find that at all – never, never, ever, that's not in there. So God never had that as part of his, his Bible; part of this book, which is the mind of God, he always had it by appointment from those in charge based on the fruits of the individuals, and undoubtedly many times with input, and counsel, and prayer and so forth; prayer and fasting they did before they ordained people. So God's government can be a great blessing in serving the church and keeping the people together, creating unity, and in keeping the wolves away.
Unity? Really?
Wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe leadership are the wolves.
It is appropriate to review this list every now and then... I know it helps me a lot.
ReplyDeleteTHE FIVE THINGS WE CANNOT CHANGE
1. Everything changes - nothing last forever.
Everything ends, every beginning is the start of an end. Relationships end, people die. Seasons turn, things change. Get used to it. Learn to let go gracefully, change and grow yourself.
2. Things do not always go according to plan
The best laid plans often go astray. No plan survives contact with reality. Adapt, improvise, flex, adjust your sails, innovate. Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out. Plans are useless but planning is invaluable.
3. Life is not always fair
Some serious wrongs cry out to be righted but many more are best dealt with by moving on and not getting ensnared in a negative energy cycle.
4. Pain is part of life
There is a cost to everything and suffering may be part of that cost. Pain is not necessarily punishment and pleasure is not necessarily a reward. Pain can be a source of tremendous personal growth. But there is no need to seek out pain to speed your growth. Life will send you your proper measure!
5. People are not loving and loyal all the time
We are social, gregarious creatures. We depend on each other. But people are human and inevitably let us down. Our work as healthy adults is to feel this fear of betrayal and abandonment and deal with it, embrace it, learn from it, grow beyond it, NOT run from the fear. Running only strengthens fear.
Simple laws of probability, considering all of the splinters, and even other groups, are against an individual actually finding leaders who have God's authority backing them up, and who would therefore be essential to respect and obey. The people who make the most vocal claims on that authority do not exhibit the fruits. Their entire game is, "It's my ball. If you don't like the rules, go home, and none of us will ever play with you again!"
ReplyDeleteIt must be difficult for some, who have suspicions that their leaders might just be wolves or tares, but are programmed to obey under penalty of the tribulation and Lake of Fire. The idea of personal accountability directly to God would never occur to many of those simply aspiring to be sheep. If your tithes are being used in obviously wrong ways, but you just keep on naively sending them in, won't you have some responsibility before God for this? If you witness some outstanding Christians being put out if a church group without any elements of fairness, or due process, and yet continue to support the people who do this, are you blameless before God? I believe the ACOGs over the years have established a false hierarchy of the gravity of certain types of sins, and that that hierarchy is self serving to their leaders.
BB
Take any WCG split you wish, each one consists of ministers, who rebelled against the leaders of the previous church group before them. None accepted the "divine right of apostles to rule" doctrine of the previous group. Everyone, though, is OK with the idea they are the ruler and you are the rulee.
ReplyDeletePersonal Beliefs
ReplyDeleteI am presenting these beliefs for those who claim to be Christian no matter who they fellowship with.
I believe in the existence of the God revealed in the Christian Bible.
I believe this God is revealed as Infinite, Eternal, and Unchangeable in His Being.
I believe this God is the source of everything that exists.
I believe this God has an eternal planned purpose that is being fulfilled.
I believe this God is aware of everything that transpires and can make adjustments if there is something or someone causes a change that threatens the fulfillment of His purpose.
With that said I will say that I make no attempt to get involved in telling God what He should or should not do in my life; let alone the lives of other people. “enouf said”
AB
Personal Beliefs
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of equal right to expression, I am presenting these beliefs for anyone who cares to read them, without regard to age, color, national origin, ethnicity, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, or military status.
I believe in existence of any gods to be highly unlikely.
I believe that if there are any infinite, eternal, and unchangeable beings, they have a lot to answer for.
I believe that a god is unnecessary to explain everything that exists because such an appeal creates more problems than it solves.
I believe that if there are any gods fulfilling any purposes here on this insignificant speck we call earth, then their purposes are either nefarious or their powers to fulfill them are insufficient.
I believe that if there are any omniscient beings capable of intervening in human existence, why call them gods?
I make no attempt to petition, bribe, appease, coerce, manipulate, browbeat, or otherwise twist the arms of any gods who might or might not exist either for my own benefit, or on behalf of someone else, since numerous clinical studies have shown such activities to manifestly be a waste of time.
Not AB
I think I will stick with and agree with AB.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Black Ops Mickey - The leadership of LCG are the wolves. They are proclaiming another Jesus and teaching a different gospel (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6-9). Acccording to these LCG wolves in sheeps clothing (as well as all who adhere to Armstrongism), they teach that the gospel of the kingdom of God that Jesus Christ preached is that God is reproducing Himself in human beings and that when Jesus Christ returns, humans "who are truly converted" will be "born again" to become God, just as God is God at the resurrection, so that millions or even billions of humans will be added into the Godhead (i.e. human deification/apotheosis - Polytheistic Deification) so that they can "rule forever".
ReplyDeleteThe LORD God Himself says this false gospel LCG and Armstrongism proclaims is not true (Isaiah 43:10-11). The fruit they are bearing is that they are thinking and behaving like their father Satan (Isaiah 14:12-14).
God's government is based on love, but LCG is not practicing it. God's government is there to serve, but LCG is not practicing it.
LCG's government is not "God's governtment". As a former LCG member I can attest to the fact that the ministry of LCG does not practice "God's form of government" nor servant leadership, but they do practice spriritual manipulation and spiritual abuse. They take Scriptures out of context in order to support their beliefs. They isolate “proof texts” and “cherry pick” verses to persuade the uninformed that their interpretation is right, even to the extent of claiming they alone have “the truth”, that there is "not one loose brick" in their statement of beliefs and that everybody else is wrong. They train their members to block out any information that is critical of them, so that they can control them. They demand loyalty to LCG. If you disagree with them, then they kick you out and turn everyone in LCG against you.
Repent LCG and turn to Jesus Christ!