Guest article by John AC Forster
To members of the LCG.
I am one of the commenters on this site. I consider myself part of the body of Christ, being baptized in 1976. I spent about 15 years with WCG before waking up and seeing the truth about the sinfulness of the organization. I then spent a year with CGI until they as well proved that their organization was just a business like WCG. Since that time I have studied and read many an article from several cogs. In each of them I have found bits of truth mixed with a lot of error. With due diligence I discovered that HWA was not all he was put out to be.
I learned that when god revealed a doctrine to him, it meant something totally different to us. To us, it mean that God put it in his mind, that it came from God personally. In truth, HWA got his truths from the books of other religions while researching at the public library. HWA didn't outright lie about this, but he didn't remove the misconception either. With study on my own, I discovered that the basic truths (Sabbath, Holy Days, Heaven, Hell, etc) were right. Most of the rest were opinions, some of which were minor errors and others were down right wrong. HWA was no prophet. He has over 200 failed prophecies under his belt. So many failed prophecies that he had to run away to California to start all over his church.
As the years went by, the sins of HWA were been revealed one by one. His worse one was having sex with his own daughter for over 10 years. This has been confirmed by many of his family members. All of his family members deserted him. Not what one would expect from one being put forth as the present day Elijah. Overall HWA accomplished the task of preaching the gospel to the world. Yahweh did use his unrelenting ambition to accomplish this task, but HWA was no man OF God. A good study for you all can be gained by studying Zech.Chapters 11 to 13, especially (Zec 11:15 - 17)
Zec 11:15 And YAHWEH said to me, Again take to yourself the tools of a foolish shepherd.
Zec 11:16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land; he shall not visit those who are cut off, nor will he seek the young, nor will he heal that which is broken, nor will he sustain that which stands. But he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear off their hoofs.
Zec 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye. His arm shall be completely withered, and his right eye shall be totally darkened.
HWA deserted the flock by flying around the world for about a year proclaiming a strong hand from some place, and never the name of Christ. He and his ministers never tried to help those disfellowshiped, neither attended to their needs, but instead lived high off the hog (ate the flesh of the fat), and robbed them blind of their money leaving them with little to stand on (tearing off their hoofs).
Yahweh told us that He would raise up such a man. WHY? Because it would force people to make a decision of whether they would follow Him, or a man. It was a test of character. A brutal test that shook the entire church. A test by fire. Many forsook their duty and decided to wait and let God work it out. They did not realize that Yahweh was expecting them to get off the fence and decide whose side they were on.
Some never made any decision until 1995 when they were confronted up close to bail out of the WCG. Many became scattered as you can read in the above chapters. While you are reading/studying this, note that Yahweh was going to perform yet another test, by removing His sheep/flock from the ministries that sprang up. Yahweh is totally angry by what the hirelings have done to His sheep. The abuse, the high living style and the totally disdained attitude of those that were to be examples to the flock.
If you are still members of these organizations of men, come out of them, no longer remain a tithe slave to those that are biblical exempt from receiving tithes, as they are NOT Levities. The NT assembly was to exist on offerings and not tithes, especially 3 tithes. Only 1 tithe was expected under the OT, but it had 3 purposes. No wonder so many of you are broke and cannot provide for your families. This is a grave sin unto you.
In conclusion I write the above in love and concern for you lost sheep. Hope that you see your way through this mess.
John AC Forster