LCG laid down some rules for their upcoming summer camp in Delaware, Ohio. Not only will they be "breaking" LCG's version of the sabbath by arriving after 7:00, they will immediately begin fasting in order to provoke God to do the bidding of Rod Meredith. I wonder how many of those teens know the reason they are fasting. Do they and their parents know that they have to do this because Meredith and McNair don't have the capacity to say, "I'm sorry!"
7. For those few arriving early at camp: No one is allowed on campus until after 7:00 p.m. on Friday evening, July 29. You will need to eat before arriving as the Church-wide fast begins at sunset. On Saturday evening, dinner will be served after sunset.
8. Guests are welcome to attend Sabbath Services at camp on the Sabbaths of August 7 and 14. Space is limited so come early. Overflow seating will be available in the dining hall. After services, coffee and snacks will be served in the dining hall for all guests. Weekly Update
Maybe you should check the facts first. Sunset in Deleware, Ohio is around 8.50 on that evening. 7.00 pm is therefore nearly two hours before sunset.
ReplyDeleteSeeing they are going to be fasting from 8.50 onwards, it wouldn't be practicable to both check everyone in, and rush through a meal before 8.50.
I have no connection with LCG, but it is nice to get facts straight, before making accusations.
Great camp memory to give kids. I recall my first day of AC which was also my first day of campus work, which was also the first Sunday I ever worked in my life, which was also the first time I was ever told I was fasting to get the school year off to a good start, which was the first time I learned modern humans fasted in Christian churches and still had to work pulling weeds, and I threw up.
ReplyDeleteGot me off to a great start with WCG and great memories. lol!
I can't say that I fasted frequently, but somehow, as an adult, I never really minded it. It was just another discipline, akin to learning to hold one's breath, running the mile and gutting it the last half lap, or learning to endure intense pain, all of which are gladiator skills. There were a couple of times when I pulled a 48 hour fast. Nothing memorable ever happened that would have been missed under normal eating or drinking conditions, probably because the premises were bogus, based on things having to do with WCG/HWA.
ReplyDeleteBB
I do not see have fasting on the Sabbath, is a day of rest. The only exception could be the 'pulling the sheep out of the ditch' in the form of fasting for a sick person at deaths door. This fast is another example of Rod using a church fast as his personal tool. First everyone fast for his health, now everyone fast to get him out of the lawsuit bind.
ReplyDeleteGod has given people a choice as to which church to join after Herbies death. Why are people staying with this abusive tyrant? I ponder how Israel rejected God as leader, and asked for King Saul. That is, do people deep down, want a bastard as a leader. Yes, they whinge and bitch, but it's what they really want.
As for me, my eldest brother is treating Mom and I to a feast at Golden Corral for my birthday (a couple days after the fact) this Sabbath. I plan to laugh out loud at LCG for the mess that they are in as I stuff my face!
ReplyDeleteRonco
Hoping that if they make the kids fast, they score that many more points with LCGs men. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteNew LYC slogan:
ReplyDelete"Come to camp...FAST!"
fasting on the Sabbath? can't say that it's absolutely wrong, but it's not something I would encourage...
ReplyDeleteapparently all of the COGs promote pollution of the Sabbath by teaching their people to eat out on the Sabbath and holy days (and they wonder why they are always in such turmoil).
not going out is one thing (perhaps the only thing) Malm has right.
Eating out is pollution, 6:47, whether or not it is done on the sabbath. The grill and ovens in all but kosher restaurants are used for preparing unclean meats, often side by side with church members meals. The residual grease and other liquids from these unclean meats contaminate it all. Even if you go to Subway, just watch them slice ham on the same rotary meat cutter as roast beef. How can church leaders make a fetish over one doctrine, while looking the other way to ignore another? Utensils played a big part in the dietary laws of the Old Covenant. ACOG selective practices make no "legal" sense at all, if one aspires to the level of observance of the Pharisees.
DeleteBB
6.47AM It is not breaking the Sabbath or holy days by eating out at a restaurant as MaIm claims. This is one of his gimmicks. He loves to throw around theological hand grenades. Two of his recent is that make babies should still be circumcised on the eight day, and that women should wear some veil type on their heads during church services, just like the Catholics. Ah, the thrills and infamy these claims bring.
ReplyDeleteI've written to Maim, pointing out that Christ is the lord of the Sabbath, and gets the final say on this matter. Hence he should pray about this. Malm has obviously ignored this advice or God has refused to answer his prayer. About two years ago whilst shopping, the holy spirit put the thought (with its unique emotional feel) into my mind that it was getting close to the Sabbath. Yet it has never ever rebuked me for eating out on the Sabbath. So Malmo is wrong, wrong, wrong about the restaurant issue.
I had to fast before my colonoscopy. That's the only reason I would ever fast. Certainly no "church" is going to tell me what I can and can't eat. As I've asked so many times before, why do people turn over their reason, their rights, their minds and their bodies to these crazy cults? But the worst and the things that most infuriate me are what they do to the children. I've read some of the stories of children raised in these crazy cults and I had a relative raised in one. He committed suicide at age 19. I assume he felt utter hopelessness.
ReplyDeleteGloria Olson
Topeka, Kansas
New LCG slogan:
ReplyDelete"Come to camp...Pray and fast your asses off! If you're fervent enough (and servant enough), maybe you won't die like the others did!"
"PS: A ten dollar surcharge will necessarily be added to all attendees camp tuition. This will cover the cost of removing crosses should any of you die. Excess unused surcharges, per KJV principles espoused, will be used to help elderly members such as RCM"
"PSS: If you almost die, you will be given a position of power in Petra, handing out tampons and sanitary napkins to only those who truly deserve them. Your extra Holy Spirit will give you the ability to KNOW who shouldn't get them. Thanks in advance for your awesome powers of discernment."
Hey, Gloria Olsen, I love your posts! Don't know if you were ever subjected to one of these crazy WCG cults, but I was. Their mind and thought control is powerful and numbing. So happy to now have freedom of thought, and the ability to live my life without religion.
ReplyDeleteI have roots and numerous relatives in Kansas. I graduated HS in McPherson, and came to California to attend AC in 1962. Beautiful buildings and grounds, but no freedom to think for myself. So happy to say that I escaped eleven years later with some scars, but able to recover.
When you get sucked in, and your ability to think is removed, it is difficult to locate the exit. I am sad for the people who continue to be dominated by any of these nutty mind-control groups. There is no reality in any of it. One scam after another.
The last few years I attended LCG, I did not partake of Meredith-decreed church-wide fasts. He consistently comes up with reasons/excuses to call a church-wide fast, which usually have something to do with the failure of the people (not enough faith, not enough humility, lackluster, not walking humbly before your minister, etc.) or something to do with his own vanity (demand God give me the power to heal, call all of the other COGs to LCG, demand God give me the spiritual powers so all will see that I'm the True Leader, etc.). Meredith almost ALWAYS calls for a church wide fast during the hottest season of the year (US), often making the experience physically miserable, not to mention the nauseating "spiritual" excuse for the fast. These fasts were predictably non-effectual. Never once did Meredith ask people to fast so that the ministry may be more clearly lead by the Spirit, or to ask for humility and faith among the ministry. The given is that the ministry is perfect before God (though they pay lip-service to imperfect men, but these imperfections are never as imperfect as the imperfections of the members - just to be clear). After so many years, I just stopped caring what Meredith's latest rant was about. Honestly, I can't understand how his followers don't see that he calls these fasts for his vanity and glory, and uses them as a tool of manipulation and to lord it over the people. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with a church leader calling a fast in a way that shows his humility and reverence toward God (not one of these men appear to have humility these days, so this type of fast might be most fitting for any of these groups). And certainly there's nothing wrong with a person deciding on their own to fast. But, to call a fast for your own benefit, to use it as a tool of manipulation, and then require a bunch of young campers to show up at camp, in late July, with no air conditioning, during the hottest part of the year, and fast for your own glory, in an attempt to manipulate the outcome of a lawsuit in your own favor, under the guise of stating followers are just not humble or zealous enough is just plain mean bordering on despicable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gloria and Gerald about abusive cults. Their mind control techniques are demonic. But I also believe that they are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Abusive human behaviour does not invalidate the existence of God. There are many 'independent Christians' who do not attend church services, and still have a healthy Christian life. When John the Baptist complained to Christ about being in prison, Christ replied that 'blessed are those who are not offended (ie, spiritually stumble) by me. In the book of Psalms, David details all the evil directed against him, but doesn't use it as a excuse to reject God.
ReplyDeleteEvil exists, so I turned my back on God, is a ridiculous line of reasoning.
Gerald Bronkar. You said you had a sister that died. What was her first name
ReplyDeleteTo Gloria Olson, sorry I misspelled your last name. I know that is annoying, because my last name is often misspelled. Lack of focus on my part. Keep posting. Your views are refreshingly sane.
ReplyDelete"6.47AM It is not breaking the Sabbath or holy days by eating out at a restaurant as MaIm claims."
ReplyDeleteand some people think Christmas & Easter are perfectly acceptable too....
Another stupid decision by Rod and LCG. Starting a youth summer camp by forcing kids to fast. What about health issues what if one of the kids is diabetic. These kids have no choice. No food or drink will be offered until after sunset on Sat. Seems like the authorities would consider this child abuse. Adults working at this camp should consider the ramifications should a youth get sick or worse.
ReplyDeleteThis teen camp starts the evening of Monday August 1st. Most camper will arrive Monday.
ReplyDeleteFloyd 1944: My sister's name is Rita Sue. She was born in 1957 with severe cerebral palsy. She was prayed for many times in great faith (belief in the unknown) with zero results. Naturally, this caused the ministers and other church members to have concerns about our family's depth of faith.
ReplyDeleteRita Sue was completely dependent upon others for her care until her ugly death in 2011 at the age of 54. Most CP's in her condition don't live that long, but she had great care and much love. She was a pistol, and she taught me many lessons of life. Possibly the most important is the lesson of the limited value of FAITH. It is one road you can follow, until you really need help. Then when you call out, you realize you are on your own, unless you fall back on the old "it must not be God's will" excuse. Why would it not be God's will to heal a baby girl with cerebral palsy?
Sorry, sometimes I ramble. I just tire of all the weak explanations human's invent in order to cling to their silent and invisible God. If he is so powerful, why doesn't he make it plain which church he is in? Maybe he isn't in ANY of them.
Gerald Bronkar. You and I went to AC. You were 2 years ahead of me. We were at summer camp as workers. I didn't know your sister Rita Sue but knew Millie. She was a blast to be around. Had a laughter like yours
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of a narcissistic monster makes kids, who are psyched about camp, fast to "beg God" for a favorable ruling in the LCG lawsuit? Because we all know that that is what the fast is for.
ReplyDeleteMany kids... most kids, in LCG wait for camp all year long. It is a highlight for these kids, many of whom are homeschooled and have limited social interaction other than with other LCG kids.
They have nothing to do with the trouble the corrupt LCG leaders have gotten the church into. Why make them fast? Fasting is utterly meaningless unless it's a personal decision. And even then, the goal should be to draw near to God and to relinquish self will and submit to God's will. "Begging God" is silly and futile.
I feel sorry for all those kids who are being forced into this insanity for no purpose. I'm sure it will ultimately drive them away from Armstongism even faster than they will like go in the first place.
Floyd 1944: is that an alias or your real name? Millie and I are much like we were back in the early camp days. She and my sister Carole Ann both live the greater Dallas area with their husbands. We still like to laugh and have fun. I am still in Southern California.
ReplyDeleteIs 1944 the year you were born? If so, me too. Sorry I can't place you, unless I'm not supposed to.