Gerald Weston is back at doing what the Church of God is best at doing, constantly resetting the clock for the end times. After 8 decades of one lie after another a person would think that they would learn to keep their mouths shut and just go about being "Christians" instead of speculating on end times malarky. But no, they can't, even though every single day, month, year and decade they have to keep resetting their end time countdown clock.
Living Church of God, like most of the other COG's sighed a collective sigh of relief after Hillary Clinton massively lost the election. Hillary was Satan personified in the eyes of many in the church, while Trump seems to be portrayed as the golden haired saviour.
Gerald acts like he and the Living Church of God are being constantly persecuted for their message. They are not and never have been.
It appears from a policy perspective in light of the outcome that we may have a few more years of freedom to preach the Gospel. However, unforeseen events can change this picture overnight. It is going to be interesting to watch.
Gerald Weston is the very picture of incompetence -- he's so incompetent that he has no idea that he's incompetent.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, no one in the LCG has a clue as to how complex the Presidency is nor how diligently Donald Trump is pursuing his responsibilities preparing for the Presidency.
The truth is, the LCG knows nothing at all and should just shut up, lest they be judged for their foolishness at some later (unspecified) date.
And for you LCG rank and file members, I have the same question I posed years ago to someone from the LCG complaining about "how horrible" it was at the LCG. I read II Timothy 3 to him and then emphasized the Scripture, "From such turn away". I asked him why he refused to obey Scripture.
He never talked to me again.
So to all the members of the LCG, I say again: The Bible clearly says, "From such turn away". If you believe in God, the Bible and the authority of the Apostle Paul, then I say, Why don't you obey?
Well?
According a TV studio hair stylist, touch up artist, Trumps hair is all real (despite Dave Letterman jokes to the contrary). But he does dye it. It's ordinarily a darker colour. At 70, he'II be the oldest president ever. He nudges out Reagan who was 69 when he came to office.
ReplyDeleteYou lose stacks of privacy when you become president. Just like king David and others. If they don't like it, too bad. It goes with the territory.
I just assumed it was a bad combover. Not that it would be new, Joe Jr has been trying to get away with combing over for years. Look, when you have to part your hair below your ear, just stop. We all know you're bald. It's OK.
ReplyDeleteDon't you understand? Gerald is pure as the driven snow. It's those OTHER PEOPLE who are guilty of Slander on Steroids!
ReplyDelete9.38AM. the reason people don't leave the LCG is the same reason people don't walk away from domestic, workplace abusive relationships. They are trapped for any number of reasons. There are thousands of web sites on this topic. It is painful for the victims to discuss their predicament. Hence your 'why don't you leave' question is insensitive and offensive in itself.
ReplyDeleteThe laws of the land are that you need to be licensed to play psychologist or psychiatrist. This acknowledges the bible scripture of 'life and death is in the power of the tongue.' In my view, you have crossed the line with your advice. At most, I would pose the question of 'have you considered leaving the church as a step forward in your life?'
First, let me state that I don't believe the apocalypse will happen during our life time. And whoever Israel really is, if they repent, it may not be necessary at all.
ReplyDeleteBut,
Wouldn't it be ironic if a candidate from the unofficial Armstrongite party ended up setting everything they forecast in motion instead of the Democrats? Look at the hints in this direction: 1) HWA forecast trade wars. Protectionist tarriffs are a really good way to set off a trade war. 2) Economic crash: Abruptly ending the Democrat stimulation program by tightening all of the purse strings + a tax cut for the super rich would certainly do that. 3) Race war: how better to set off the social injustices which would lead to race war than with anti-immigrant, anti-multiculturalism rhetoric? 4) Weird weather patterns including flooding and droughts: Incredibly, Donald Trump still actually believes that global climate change is junk science made up by the Chinese to ruin our American standard of living! This, as temperatures in the Arctic circle are 35 degrees above normal for this time of the year, and the formation of ice during the sunless season is expected to set new records for the scantest accumulation yet.
To some of our dimmer light bulbs, this is not my endorsement of the HWAcaca, or my equating it with scripture, it is my critique of it. I only assume their position for the sake of demonstrating that it is ludicrous.
BB
Gee, the Apostle Paul is so insensitive and offensive in II Timothy 3:5.
ReplyDeleteMy mistake to believe that any Bible believers would actually honor God by obeying a simple command in Scripture.
So I guess that we should all ignore what Dr. Phil says in "Life Code" and tolerate, yea, embrace those who or men are lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. So not only do the rebellious ignore and rebel against God, they won't even take the advice of a qualified psychologist.
Yes, because we all know that it is great wisdom to wallow in abuse. That way, no one will have to suffer the pain of having the courage to make changes in their life and remain comfortable in their misery.
No, it's evil to use wisdom because it's just too harsh for the tender sensibilities of those who have become slaves of those demanding their narcissistic source. Slavery is good. Freedom is bad.
We've tried 'gentle persuasion' and 'having a balanced approach'. It doesn't work. People ignore you and go on their way without ever pursuing any change. Have you considered that saying 'have you considered leaving the church as a step forward in your life?' will do absolutely nothing?
At a bus shelter a man was smoking cigarettes and blowing smoke in my direction. I pointed out that he was breaking the law. He became hostile. He said, "I pay taxes and I have every right to smoke wherever I want". We had more words. I was 'forceful'. He seemed to be intransigent.
Months later, he got on a bus I was taking and he came up to me. He thanked me and told me that he hadn't smoked cigarettes for 8 months.
I have concluded that more often than not, people need to be jolted out of their comfort zone to make any progress whatsoever.
But in today's world what with all the political correctness, this sort of behavior is frowned on. And the leaders of the ACoG? They continue not to listen to anyone and continue their rude behavior and oppression -- because everyone is so afraid to give any sort of offense and be accused of 'causing divisions'.
Great.
That's just great.
No wonder the ACoGs are in the rotten mess they are in....
9.38AM. the reason people don't leave the LCG is the same reason people don't walk away from domestic, workplace abusive relationships. They are trapped for any number of reasons.
ReplyDeleteAnother point is that many people who show up at LCG Sabbath Services every week already have "left the LCG." They don't tithe, and they do their best to avoid the ministers. During the sermon they may zone out or fall asleep, or they may write letters to friends to make it look like they are taking notes. Some may be on their laptop computers, but instead of taking notes they are visiting websites much more interesting than whatever is going on in the sermon.
They come to Sabbath Services to be with their friends, because they know that if they didn't take part in LCG activities they would lose those friends. Simple as that. Some self-righteous people will complain: "What kind of friends are they if they would drop you over your church attendance?" The answer is simple and sad: For many in LCG, those are the only friends they have.
If you want to help an old WCG friend escape from a current splinter, the best thing you can do is be a welcoming and non-judgmental friend. You can't "convince" someone to leave LCG. In fact, many are already "convinced" but have nowhere else to go. If more LCG members had a network of loving non-LCG friends to whom they could turn, LCG would fall apart quickly.
Mr. Weston and other COG types are badly misguided when they think that a character such as Trump will make things better. What they should be saying is that Trump could take us much closer to fulfillment of the Armstrong prognostications. Because of Trump's rather tepid commitment to our allies, Europe is already rethinking its security arrangements, particularly with a newly energized Russia to the east. It is easy to imagine that this will drive Europe towards some sort of greater unity as well as military capability we have not seen up to this point, and that capability could indeed be turned against Britain and the United States at some point. I realize that the key word in the previous sentence for most people on this blog is "imagine", since HWA's prophecies are not taken seriously due to a rather unfortunate number of failed predictions. :>) But if what he said about a united Europe hostile to this country is at all true, Trump could be the catalyst to start the ball rolling in that direction. I think Trump's election is a national tragedy. We shall see what becomes of it.
ReplyDeleteLCG's Gerald Weston said, "It appears from a policy perspective in light of the outcome that we may have a few more years of freedom to preach the Gospel".
ReplyDeleteMY COMMENT - Isn't Weston's statement in direct conflict with the Rod of God's repeated statements that "we only have 3 to 5 years left" which apparently Meredith has been saying for almost 50 years since I first heard him say it in the late 1960s?
Richard
Anon 11:58
ReplyDeleteyou described me to a T
-in/not in LCG
Forevermore with the end of the world doom and gloom that LCG is fixated on. That's all we ever hear!
ReplyDeleteWhat about the message of mercy and love and light and hope that our Lord Jesus Christ brought (yes, I said Jesus... I know that's an LCG taboo)???
Their message is exhausting. I have grown to despise it.
If any one group of people should pray that the end ISN'T near, it's LCG. They need more time to get their acts together and they certainly need more time to pray for God's forgiveness for all the horrible things they've done to their members!
Re-posted from my response to Byker Bob's comment in the blog post "The Kitchens and their love letter from HWA to Trump" which is also a relevant in this thread:
ReplyDeleteByker Bob said, "According to HWA's prophecy mold, Ronald Reagan, and the revitalization over which he presided were not supposed to happen. In the WCG parlance of the late '60s and early '70s, the pride of our (USA) power had been broken, and America had won its last war".
MY COMMENT - That is 100% correct, Byker. Preached from WCG pulpits, HWA sermons, and church chatter, the official Church doctrine was the second 19 year time cycle of the Philadelphia Church era coincided with the the start of the Great Tribulation in 1972 when the Germans were to attack America. Christ was to return in 1975 and of course, by logical conclusion, we would all be living in the Wonderful World of Tomorrow receiving advance training from Gerald Waterhouse and his 5 hour sermons by 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected.
One of the basic problems growing up in 1960s WCG was that we were never taught that we might have a future in this present world, and that time would advance to 2016 without ever receiving the Church's promises of a Wonderful World of Tomorrow. There were no sermons in 1960s WCG that stated time might go on. We were taught that Richard Nixon was the end time US President. No mention that there might be a Ford, a Carter, a Reagan, a Bush, a Clinton, another Bush, an Obama, and now a Trump.
Herbert Armstrong and his manner splinter franchise wannabees have ZERO credibility. Time has proven HWA a fraud.
Richard
Weston has no right to even comment on American politics since LCGers think its against God's law to vote in US elections.
ReplyDeleteI've several LCG ministers to show me where in the Bible it says we shouldn't vote but of course they can't. They just babble on about how we are called to "come out of this world" and therefore we shouldn't vote?! Funny thing is, we work in this world, pay taxes in this world, raise our kids in this world, etc. It's the dumbest explanation I've ever heard but the LCGers follow blindly.
i can remember dr. meredith making similar comments about president elect bush back in the day, and ironically bush nearly destroyed the nation...
ReplyDeleteyet again they who claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit demonstrate a lack of spiritual discernment, unable to recognize or refusing to acknowledge what is clearly a evil spirit...
...a few more years left.
ReplyDeleteDoes that change the LCG boilerplate in the next 3 to 5 years?
It is my observation that it is not healthy to surround yourself deliberately with those who are mentally ill led by those with malevolent narcissism.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way to be competent in a dysfunctional environment.
There only three options: 1) If you somehow have enough power, force a change in the venue to make it better (good luck with that);
2) Leave;
3) Stay and become progressively more and more mentally unstable until you can't really function any longer at all and you are unable to give up your addiction to the group.
Option 3 is not really an option.
"Wouldn't it be ironic..." BB
ReplyDeleteArmstrongism and the dogma of B.I. would not allow them to see things this way. But I've often wondered if Christains from other countries and around the world would think of America as the beast? Islam does in their own funny way, but what about the Christains who are not trapped in a tiny cult like armstrongism?
HRC would have gone after the Americans who didn't vote for her or the ones who get in her way like the way she went after Gaddafi and Assad.
DBP
Black Ops Mikey, 'obeying a simple command in scripture???' Scriptures also says to live by 'every word if God,' not just one scripture. You obviously have not looked up web sites on abuse. Their are women who are the victims of appalling abuse in their marriages, but refuse to leave out of fear of losing custody of their children. In the book 'snakes in suites' the authors give the example of men being verbally brutalized and torn down by their psychopathic bosses, but do not leave because they have families to support, and fear not being able to find a replacement job. The book of Psalms many times makes mentions of the traps of the wicked, as do many other old testament scriptures. Sometimes, people are trapped in 'cages', just like animals.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, you advice is hurtful to these victims.
11.58AM you got it right. My compliments.
However, unforeseen events can change this picture overnight. It is going to be interesting to watch......as we live off member's tithes.....you don't expect us to get real jobs do you???
ReplyDeleteJerry W obviously can't get past the old HWA cliches and WCG shibboleths. He said what old Hog Jowls would have said at Bible Study the Friday evening following the elections.
ReplyDeleteBB
I have seen the sites on abuse and, in fact, recommend Bullyonline from time to time. Go read the article they reference about the risks of tolerating bullying.
ReplyDeletePeople have to use a bit of wisdom here. Obviously, leaving a situation can be complicated, if not downright dangerous. Bullyonline and several other sites give aid.
But not leaving is not really an option. It is dangerous to a person to stay and even if there aren't actual death threats (as there are with, say, David Pack who threatens that members will die if they oppose him), the stress alone is a killer.
To advise that people stay and wallow in abuse is totally irresponsible. Anyone who even suggests it is doing a terrible thing and is also supporting the bully.
Over at False Prophet Ronald Weinland are some stories of abuse and the success that some of the people have finally had. It's been a tough road to hoe, particularly of a wife of an abusive alcoholic husband in the PKG who was also a sheriff at the time. She left. Life is better now. It was tough.
It's amazing the stupidity of some of the posters here, but you have to expect that for the apologists and the fearful Armstrongists who don't really want to help save the people who really need help.
I've put my money where my mouth is and helped people behind the scenes. To not do so would to betray humanity.
There wasn't a heck of a lot knowledge regarding either cults or various types of bullying or abuse during the classic era of WCG leading up to 1975. The fact that the authorities back then would not have even believed what was happening to the children of WCG members, let alone knowing how to remedy or handle the various situations, is why there are so many horror stories still floating around.
ReplyDeleteOften, the people who are caught in abusive situations have been rendered helpless by the people or system causing the abuse. The church back then, and obviously some of the splinters today, basically elliminated any support groups which members might have had prior to membership, and replaced such support networks with themselves. If you suddenly cut off friends and family, they are no longer present as part of your checks and balances on life. So, if you leave "the church", you find yourself barefoot and naked in facing the surrounding world. In these more enlightened or less naieve times, probably an employee could sit down with his or her supervisor at work, engaging them and letting them know that they were in the midst of separating themselves from a very toxic cult, and their behavior and work relationships would probably be changing and improving, and that person might find that there was a whole level of support and understanding that they never knew was there.
But, for a woman with children, or a teenager, the helplessness often runs deeper. In many cases, women in these cults have been taught that it's wrong for a wife and mother to have a job or career outside of the house. The economic implications of leaving (with the children) often cause them to continue tolerating the abuse. For a teenager, you may be able to find part time employment, or even start your own neighborhood business, but except in noteworthy cases, what you earn is not going to keep you housed and in food and clothing, especially if your parents take to "fining" you for punishable offenses, and sending those fines in to Herbert W. Armstrong as additional special offerings. Abusers can be very resourceful in cutting off independence to preserve their ability to abuse!
The universal lesson in all of this is that each of us is at the mercy of whoever has power over us. Some of these people, we have a certain amount of control over, and there are others that at least for a period of time, we cannot do anything about. One would hope that those with power would be benign rather than malignant. A wise person will be very careful about the people he or she voluntarily allows to have power over their lives. A wise person will also strategize and build bridges away from abusers, bridges that lead to improved conditions. Like the proverbial psychiatrist changing the lightbulb, it only requires one to get the job done, but it takes a long, long time, and the lightbulb has to want to change!
BB
I understand what you are saying. Since I left a Cog I experience loneliness,depression like never before most of my social networks have evaporated,the leaders of the cogs really understand the psychological power they have over members that's why some wave suspension and disfellowshipping like a sword. I heard members mentioned to me how terrifying the thought of being disfellowshipped is. Sometimes I don't think I can make it all alone.
Deletethe fear of disfellowship is based upon what? if you view the cog as a social club, yeah fear...
Deletebut if you are a true Beleiver in the Power of God in man as demonstrated by Christ Himself, even if you were disfellowshipped, as i was as well, IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE CUZ IT AINT ABOUT SOME POLITICIZED ORGANIZATION MASQUERADING AS A CHURCH OF GOD, BUT ABOUT THE POWER OF GOD IN MAN!!!
4:13, without knowing anything about you, it's difficult to know what to recommend as being suitable. But, there is a wide variety of group activities for all manner and ages of people, where there is opportunity for socializing. I'm fortunate in that my customers and vendors double up as friends, but I also made a number of friends in the past participating in bowling leagues, and hanging out at the races at our local dirt track auto races. I know people who go to Bingo regularly, and others who volunteer at hospitals or charitable organizations. If you've got people around you, sometimes just taking an interest in some of the interesting special things they do gets you invited to places. One friend is a writer who has recently had his first novel published, and I went to one of his book signings at a craft and music festival.
ReplyDeleteI've commented before that I believe that some of our social skills atrophy if we spend years in a cloistered ACOG, where your friends are almost pre-selected for you. When I left, I also found that not all of the members necessarily keep the shunning doctrine. But, it can be painful if one's best friends are the ones who do.
There are probably a lot of readers here who are facing or do face the same challenge as they normalize, and re-enter the human race. People are social animals by nature, to varying degrees. Some need people around them all the time, and others require ample alone time to process and decompress. I'm generally highly sociable during work hours, but an inveterate loner off the clock.
BB
Anon 4:13 your post is heart breaking. I wish I knew who you were so I could offer you support. I realize that is an impossibility. I will pray for you. I know 100% what you are feeling as I have been in the very same boat. I can totally relate. If it is any consolation, like all heartbreaks, this too shall pass. Each day you will feel a little stronger and your sadness will subside a little more. It took me 2 years. It's helpful to build new relationships. It takes a concerted effort and many times you won't feel like doing the footwork (symptom of depression) but it is paramount to your healing. People in the 'world' are often kinder, more friendly and certainly more loyal than people in the ACOGs. I pray you will soon see the light at the end of the tunnel. Change is never easy but in this case it will be worth it. Armstrong churches are poison.
ReplyDeleteYou should really look up the definition of persecution, just saying
ReplyDeleteDear Anon 3:13, eyes welling-up with tears over here. I know just how you feel: I recently left a cog. The few people I've tried to confide in over what I've been through don't even believe me. It really breaks my heart, and it's hard, but I'm praying for you and me and people like us that God will give us the strength to heal and to endure.
ReplyDeleteIt hurts so deeply, it feels like I died in a way, I'm gone, and they could care less. All my life, growing up in the church, they were the only family I had. When I stopped attending over false doctrine, no one reached out to me, not even my own pastor called me. Now, you might ponder, "Well, there's two sides to every story," and there usually is, but nothing was resolved over the false doctrine. All my life, I've thought of scenarios, how some day, I might have to give my life for them. I've thought about that a lot, and you know, I'd want to be the one who stays behind so that they might live. But when I stop attending, no one calls....It was just another sign of a rotten, hollow church, a facade.
Byker Bob gave some wonderful suggestions. The best way to get out of depression is to DO something kind for someone else. That always cheers me up. Harness your long-suffering into something positive, something God would be pleased with.
Much love to you, whoever you are.
Gerald Westin serves a lying criminal and the people of LCG are accessories to his crimes.
ReplyDeletehttp://rcmcrimes.blogspot.com
Would Christ really choose to place an unrepentant criminal as the "Head of His Church"?
Not likely.