A reader here sent the following comment in:
it's so ironic that you think that you make christians who are trying really hard to please God look bad on your website, to any christian who has Jesus Christ living in them it is actually you who looks worse and worse with every post that you put online.My response:
nobody can seperate christians from the love of God and their fellows, bet you thought you could lead alot of people into darkness. Because that is all that this website exudes, darkness and hatred against christians. Why dont you write some of this stuff about some muslims? Oh thats right you are to afraid of those.
You have used your ability to write for evil.
I have no beef with Christians who really practice their faith and do good works. There is no way I can attack anyone who is secure in their faith, If I were able to do that then they have no idea what they believe. Just look at the COG with its hundreds and hundreds of splinter personality cults with members following vain and narcissistic leaders who lie and deceive them. If these people were secure in their beliefs, there would be no need to see thousands of church members jump ship from one group to the next because they cannot find fulfillment in what they think is right. Twenty some years of church hopping proves that.
If you were secure in your faith you would have no problem whatsoever in reading about how some churches and leaders prey on their people. You would immediately recognize some of the traits mentioned in the article that your present day leader may be exhibiting.
A secure person in their faith has no problem reading and studying about opposing viewpoints. A secure person in faith would have no problem reading about evolution, how cults work, the new covenant, or even talking about Jesus. Atheist and agnostic viewpoints would not disturb you but make you seek to find common ground where respect resides.
If you actually understood the new covenant, grace, justification, sanctification, and Jesus, you would realize that you do not need to continually "try" to please God. Any Christian who has Jesus living in them realizes this. You are right that a real Christian can never be separated from God, but look at the trail of bodies and broken lives left in the wake of Armstrongism. God certainly is NOT pleased at how COG leaders have separated them from him.
As a regular church goer there is nothing what I do here that exudes darkness and hatred towards Christians. The darkness and hatred drips from the fingertips and the mouths of the sick and perverted COG leaders who lie and deceive their followers into believing perverted and twisted truths they claim God has revealed to them in dreams or in some kind of revelation. How has Meredith, Pack, Thiel, Flurry, Kubik and others made real Christians? How did Herbert Armstrong make any REAL Christians? Why do they enslave their members with the law? Why do self-appointed dreaming liars pretend to be God’s instruments? Why do liars claim God has revealed an additional second millennium to them where Jesus comes to visit in Ohio before he goes to Jerusalem?
As for the Muslims I have absolute NO FEAR from any of them. In fact, I know several personally. Do you?
8 comments:
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand." -- John 10:28.
Gerald Flurry, the proven liar, tries to snatch you out of God's hand. Other churches "of God" try to snatch you out of God's hand. But NO MAN can snatch you out of God's hand. They are liars and are the children of Satan. You NEED NOT FEAR THEM. You do NOT need those churches!
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." -- John 8:44.
No LIAR--and their lies are proven on the web--can snatch you out of God's hand. Stop listening to liar like the Herb and Gerald and Packer.
I have no beef with Christians
As the blog title says, Books, News and Observations About Armstrongism.... Far from being an "anti-COG" site as some of the COGleaders put it, I like Byker Bob's term, Troubleshooters. I usually use the term "COG-Critique".
Whenever I think I've personally gone too far, and want to refrain from commenting, I realize it's a Judeo-Christian duty to "troubleshoot" COG faults. This is something I couldn't do when I was a WCG member.
As for Muslims, I've had some as students. Except for some women who wore burqas, I only knew they were Muslim because they told me...
There is no way this blog can destroy your faith if you were actually a follower of Christ. This blog holds people accountable for their abusive actions and that is what ticks people off. They prefer to live in their own little bubbles as if their church is a foretaste of the kingdom. When liars like Malm, Thiel, Pack, Flurry and others are exposed, with their own words, people cannot handle that.
My hat is off the those that post here and to the Living Church of God members who dare to defy their leaders and share what they are going through. The Church of God is in no way a healthy church, regardless of which group people attend.
There is a spread of beliefs and motivations on this site. But the difference is that readers do not experience coercive pressure to conform to certain viewpoints. This was Christ's approach. He used persuasion rather than bullying. He didn't say 'believe me cause I'm the Big Cheese.' He reasoned, pointed to good traditions at times, pointed to scriptures, and peoples own experiences. He left people to decide for themselves. By contrast the splinters revert to verbal abuse, threats (including separation from family), brainwashing, and psyching people out with 'I'm the bossman.'
Members are effectively robbed of their right to 'choose life.' And it's only by this ongoing choosing, that people can mature.
The poster longs for the 'good old days' when the church leaders had a monopoly on information given to members. They had that for several decades and what did they do with that monopoly? Just prior to Herbies death, the church published three monthly magazines, The Plain Truth, The Good News, and World and News in prophecy. The format in each publication was to start off with a nice heading, a few nice paragraphs and then just about always finish on 'give, help, serve, outgoing concern.' This is bait and switch. The frequency amounted to murderous mind twisting. Stand alone 'give, help, serve, etc' are anti concepts. They are attacks in cause and effect, you reap what you sow. This was advocating LAWLESSNESS.
This is what the church did with its monopoly when it had it. Please look at the log in the church leaders eyes rather than bash 'dissident sites,'
1) Is Armstrongism actually part of Christianity, let alone, the only true church, or is this another case of the accuser being the real doer? Herbert W. Armstrong called mainstream Christians "Christians falsely so-called." Did he actually understand Christianity? Or, was he himself what he called the mainstream of believers in Jesus Christ?
2) There may be at least two ways to regard comments here. It would be easy, if one had a particular mindset, to see some posters as attempting, for whatever reasons, to convert people to atheism. However, many of the points they raise are valid, legitimate, and verifiable. It's true that some who were programmed by HWA to consider conspiracy theories as plausible explanations for certain "gaps" have never gotten over the conspiracy theorist's flaw, and now have new ones of their own. If you can separate fact from theory, much of the other information they present can make you an "informed" Christian, a better Christian with a stronger foundation for faith.
As with everything else for a thinking human being, it's up to you what you do with it. You can remain Christian, but you will no longer be an exploited or exploitable victim.
BB
BANNED WRITES:
"I have no beef with Christians"
QUESTION: Do you have pork with Christians?
For Armstrongism, it's a no brainer: They aren't Christians and you can't separate them from God, because they don't have one thing to do with God, except to commit idolatry, which really really irritates and annoys Him.
I'm not an atheist, but here's the deal, it should be clear that there isn't anyone who can really speak to who or what God is. Humanity doesn't know. The Bible has observations and ideas from people over millennia which may or may not be useful for inspiration... in places.
However, there was No Exodus. I'm sorry, but I follow the truth where it leads me. I didn't want to know that, but the evidence is in and, well, there you are. The Jews themselves know their ancestors just made it up. Well, it makes a good story, that's for sure. And it is inspiring to think that the good will out and the bad guys are dealt with, but it never happened.
This is a problem for far too many people. It's one of those "Shoot, what do we do now?". I can't help you. I have had the same reaction. Nevertheless, it is important to admit error and keep on the path of truth. It may not be comfortable or convenient, but it is the best way in the end.
The reason people are here in the first place is that Herbert Armstrong lied. He not only lied, but lied convincingly and sold the lies. It's so bad that most people have a terrible time extricating themselves from the insanity he laid down. He was a kook. Each of us needs to understand that if we want to progress in our lives and we need to stop paying homage to a very stupid immoral boozing alcoholic man. It's not good for any of us.
None of us should continue to wallow in the muck of insanity. It's just not healthy. It's time to stop scurrying into dark corners to flee the light of truth because we are uncomfortable with it. We end up paying for cowardice and compromise our integrity when we do so. It's better to be sane rather than insane, no matter how inconvenient it is and how many people you will offend moving to sanity. You may lose relationships, but if you think about it, you shouldn't have those types of relationships in the first place and in spite of how it FEELS, they are bad for you.
And finally, it's important to escape slavery, because serving a dead narcissist is just too expensive for all of us.
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