This is also applicable to all Church of God's out there today claiming they are the only ones that are right, that all the others are wrong, and that they are better than all the others.
Rod Meredith, Dave Pack, Ron Weinland, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, James Malm,
Vic Kubik, Gerald Weston, and David Hulme have all said this very thing.
And non of the church leaders are teachable. They expect everyone else to see the light and repent, but never them. Repentance is only for the unwashed masses.
ReplyDeleteA few more commonalities would be: arrogant, uneducated, and lacking in fruit of the Spirit.
ReplyDeleteAnd they all miss the big example left to us in the first chapter of the book of Revelations. With 7 churches all having various problems of one type or another, Jesus himself said that HE stands in the MIDST of those churches. Not separate and apart from 6 others and only in one, but right smack dab in the middle of 7. They also miss the account in the gospels, where the disciples come across an individual doing a work in the name of Jesus, and they forbad him (typical of today), yet what did Christ instruct them NOT to do? To not forbid those kind of men, because they are for him. If only the ministry of today, would follow the true instructions of Jesus, if only.
ReplyDeleteI once asked a minister why you never heard a minister say 3 things...1) I'm wrong 2) I'm sorry and 3) I don't know. His response was to give a sermon on the subject. He did fairly well until he got to the core of the issue; where he had to reinforce the ministry's place as the leader who must maintain the ability to correct when needed and that God had set them apart for this role.
ReplyDeleteWhat never seemed to happen with most of my interactions with the ministry over many decades was their complete lack of self-introspection and true humility. There also was the oft stated declaration "that God would correct the ministry" when needed, but it seemed awful convenient that they were the only one's that got this option, but the rest of us, required their express lofty ability to see all within the actions and character of us, the lowly minions. I guess God couldn't reach down to us in the same way he did with them.
I even asked Gerald Weston one time why they gave so many sermons on government. He gave the usual pablum, that we needed to understand the attitude and manner which would be the reality in the Kingdom, so it must be learned and practiced now. I then said, using this logic, that since a husband was the head of the family, that perhaps in an equal percentage of times, he should get all his family up in the morning, stand them to attention and once again, declare that he was the head of the family.
GW couldn't see the correlation, because it placed a husband on the same plane as the ministry, which could never be acceptable in their minds, even though it too, had a hierarchy as its premise. Husbands had to accept they needed to do these 3 things, but I guess the same wasn't required for the ministry, mainly because they couldn't be seen as weak or known to have normal problems, like the rest of us.
What seemed ironic, was even though they often gave themselves the out, when they would state from the pulpit that they were only human and we shouldn't expect them to be perfect or have all the answers, it seem to contradict the perfect persona they always wanted to convey, especially when they felt threatened by one of us.
Since so many of these individuals have now blatantly proven they themselves now could be wrong, especially with all the splintering and disagreements among their own ilk, especially when it might be required to rejoin themselves to one another, is proof that it really isn't about truth, but who keeps the power (and the money).
Made up of a subset of inumerable folk who believe "I am right", "Everyone else is wrong", "I am better than you."
ReplyDeleteFOURTH UNIVERSAL TRUTH...
ReplyDelete"You are obligated and required to give us your money"
That's so true what you stated, I guess saying it with more religious meaning like gives us your tithes and offerings makes it all the more convincing to members, never using the word money. Well played Connie, well played.
Delete
ReplyDeleteMagazines, Newsletters, and Blogs in the Laodicea Era of the Church
After their paychecks ran out in the degenerating and declining World Wild Church under the apostate Tkaches, some of the ministers formed the Council of Evil and started the disUnited Church of Godlessness. The UCG has a Good News magazine which should, supposedly, have some good news. So far, though, there is only a malaise. Allowing unrepentant, unconverted, and godless UCG attendees to run wild and out of control is as good as it gets for them. There is no good news for the godless and disunited UCG people.
David Hulme left the UCG when he was not allowed to spend it into the ground any more and started his own Church of Hulme, an International Community of the Blind. It had a Vision magazine which should have been produced in braille since it was for people so blind that they have now spent almost two decades secretly and very quietly sitting in darkness and doing virtually nothing at all.
Ronald Weinland left the UCG to start his own Church of Prediction Addiction--Preparing Another Wrong Guess. He caters to and entertains those with such a serious case of prediction addiction that they do not even seem to care that his prophetic guesses are total nonsense that never come to pass, as long as they can get another “fix” to string them along. He might not have a hard copy magazine to publish his ridiculous guesses in, but if you ask nicely, and beg, and send money, maybe he will send you one of his old travel brochures or shopping catalogues.
Some ministers left the UCG to form the Council of the Lesser (?) Evil and started the Church of God, a Worldwide Association when the apostate Tkaches' henchmen were gaining control of the UCG just like they had previously gained control of the WCG. As the splitting and splintering continues, there are less and less funds for printed magazines and booklets. There is barely enough for the leaders' paychecks and retirement packages. The COGWA leaders were trying from the start to think of a clever way to do something like a Work without having to work hard at it. If you must read literature printed with ink on paper, maybe go purchase a Bible and read that.
Roderick Meredith got squeezed out of the WCG by the apostate Tkaches, so he started the Global Church which went bankrupt and died and was succeeded by the current barely Living Church. The LCG's Tomorrow's World magazine tried to get people's minds off of today by getting them to focus on the future, which will supposedly be better than today. These mind games proved to be ineffective and unsatisfying. The LCG members still have to live with the corruption in the LCG today. Old Rod, who claims he never committed a major sin since baptism, just cannot stop fibbing.
Norman Edwards left the GCG with a stolen mailing list to start his Serpents' News newsletter in the early years of the great splintering to try to help cause more splintering and cheer it on. It helped to scatter the stray cats (who mistakenly thought that they were the really cool cats) in all directions and then it disappeared too.
David Pack got fired from the WCG, and then fired from the GCG, so he started his own Restored Cult. He claimed that the RCG's Real Truth magazine would bring “responsible understanding rather than reckless speculation.” In one of those strange twists that routinely take place inside the so-called COGs, the RCG members quickly got clobbered over the head with massive amounts of reckless speculation, doctrinal changes, and totally selfish and irresponsible financial advice that left them betrayed and destitute.
Continued below...
ReplyDelete...continued from above.
Robert Thiel threw a temper tantrum when the LCG would not call him a prophet, so he left it and started the Continuing Church of Paganism. The CCG has pagan prophetic trash from Mayan, Kenyan, and Catholic sources but no magazine yet to put it in. The only thing that CCG members realistically can look forward to receiving in the future is exciting and promising Nigerian letters and e-mails.
Gerald Flurry got fired from the WCG because even the apostate Tkaches could see that he was a nut who just wanted to elevate himself. So he started the Philadelphia Cult which called its Philadelphia Trumpet magazine “the most informed news source on the planet.” In one of those strange twists that routinely take place inside the so-called COGs, the PCG members literally got officially “cut off” from all sources of knowledge and truth, and became some of the most ignorant and uninformed sinners in the entire COG universe. Easily deceived and tricked into thinking that God wants them to break up their own families and do Irish dancing, PCG members behave worse than unbelievers.
James Malm left the WCG while HWA was still alive to get into all sorts of mischief and confusion while trying to think for himself. He eventually produced a Shiny Black Hole Blog that really sucks. It sucks people's brains out through their ears and then refills their heads with nonsense and with the curse known as confusion of the mind, which comes from his rebellion. Malm, who could never listen to or follow anyone else, now wants everyone to listen to him and go along mindlessly with everything that he comes up with and then carelessly think that they are thinking for themselves.
***
The so-called COGs have a well-earned reputation for being dishonest and untrustworthy. What they call rumours turn out to be the plain truth, and what they call the plain truth turns out to be their own deliberate lies and rumours. In yet another one of those strange twists that routinely happen with the so-called COGs, those who just wanted to know the plain truth about what was really happening in the so-called COGs had to go to something produced by NO2HWA (G.L.) called the Banned by HWA Blog.
"..and what they call the plain truth turns out to be their own deliberate lies and rumours."
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting how Herbie and Dave and other slivers, use the word Truth in the magazine titles, just like commies did with their Pravda newspaper.
"Pravda, ( Russian: “Truth”) newspaper that was the official organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1991."
They copied commie ploys, commie tyranny, and commie ideology with their 'give way.' And no mention of trade, since that amongst other things, it reduces the ministers power. Herbie was so in love with communism, that he had all the men wear dark blue neo 'Mao suits" during the sixties. Yes, he did publically oppose communism, but that was only against a certain gang taking over America, and stopping him playing church. By his fruits, he was passionate towards 'government is every thing' communism.
Cheers TradingGuy
Oops, I almost forgot, another two examples of trade.
Mark 8:2 I have compassion on the multitude, BECAUSE they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:
1Th 5:13 And to esteem them very highly in love FOR THEIR WORK'S SAKE (no causeless esteem). And be at peace among yourselves.
Note the ministers ongoing war on cause and effect, (ignoring some lip service) with their constant give, help, serve, be generous etc etc.
It's a cult.
ReplyDeleteThe leaders are insane.
Actually, one of the most authentic representations of apocalyptic cult leaders and cult thinking that I've ever seen can be found in season 6 of Dexter, a Show Time TV series. Someone obviously did a lot of research. It may be different by slight degree from what we experienced in Armstrongism, but as the HWA prophecy mold continues to fail, we may witness some activism and increased intensity as people begin to get a sense of anxiety as they watch the thing which had given their lives purpose and meaning continue to be a non-event.
ReplyDeleteIf you do rent Dexter or check it out from your local library, be aware in advance that the little gal with the Susan St. James ears (Dex's sister) has a real bad case of potty mouth. Aside from that, the show provides a fascinating exploration into abnormal psychology.
BB
None of the above church leaders have the charisma of GTA. Since they all believe similar doctrines, minus who are the two witnesses, one would think the could unite in an end time push to world. But they cannot, since the real issue for all of them is "I am in charge - You are not." Individually their witness to the world would require an electron microscope to see.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the legend in his own mine, Mr. Thiel, leaves everyone in the dust.
http://www.cogwriter.com/final-phase-of-the-work.htm
...Perhaps this would be a good time to mention that at the News of those once affiliated with the Global Church of God page in late December 2012, I posted a prediction that I felt that in its first 30 days, the Continuing Church of God would reach more people with the COG message than any non-GTA group (‘GTA’ is Garner Ted Armstrong and he had a type of celebrity status, which I did not count) which that came out of the old Worldwide Church of God as well as any group that came out of the old Global Church of God. The Continuing Church of God reached millions of people all over the world in our firrst 30 days of existence as I predicted through the internet, radio, personal contact, and the written word (see CCOG met COG proclamation goal).
Furthermore, according to AWstats, CCOG has now reached people in over 220 countries/territories have accessed our websites. According to YouTube, our BibleNewsProphecy videos and other videos have been viewed over 600,000 times by people in at least 214 countries/territories. Tens of millions of computers have been reached through CCOG's church history Google campaigns. Millions of people have been reached over the radio. We have materials in European, African, and Asian languages, and thousands of printed books and magazines have been given away.
This post concluded with saying: "...Rod Meredith, Dave Pack, Ron Weinland, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, James Malm, Vic Kubik, Gerald Weston, and David Hulme have all said this very thing..."
ReplyDeleteIt may sound strange, but that all reminded me of Sam Ting's story, which goes "something" like the following:
This guy is walking through Chinatown. He is fascinated with all the Chinese Restaurants, the Chinese shops, the Chinese signs and banners on the buildings. He is having the best time just walking and looking. He turns a corner and sees a building with a sign "Hans Olaffsen's Laundry".
"Hans Olaffsen?", he thinks. "How in the world does that fit in here?"
So, he walks into the shop and sees an old Chinese gentleman sitting in the corner. The visitor asks, "How in the world did this place get a name like Hans Olaffsen's Laundry?"
The old man answers "Is name of owner."
The visitor asks "Well, who in the heck is the owner?".
"I am he", answers the old man.
"You? How in the heck did you ever get a name like Hans Olaffsen?"
The old man replies, "Many years ago when I come to this country, I was standing in line at Documentation Center. Man in front of me was big blonde Swede. Lady look at him and go 'What your name?' He say 'Hans Olaffsen.'
She look at me...”What your name?” I say “Sam Ting."
(Sam Ting = 'same thing')
John
P.S. Anon 7:51/53, excellent short xcog summaries...