Entire islands were devastated by the hurricane Irma, homes, businesses, and infrastructure were decimated...except for a highly select few that were Living Church of God members/prospective members who were miraculously spared. God only listened to the prayers of the special LCG members and spared them while he let Satan kill people and destroy the island around them.
They are such highly selected people that their most pressing need is getting a generator to work so that they be able to watch a DVD with Feast messages. Never once in the story below does he express any sympathy for those elsewhere on the island or offer any help. I 'm sure many of them were praying for deliverance too, but God turned a deaf ear because they were not Living Church of God members.
This would be a golden opportunity for the Living Church of God to really do a witness, but they won't. Their god will fix it all eventually so why waste precious resources needed to redecorate HQ offices or fund luxury vacations for Lil'Jimmy. There are gospel priorities, after all.
Satan kills and destroys while LCG's god fixes generators so DVD's of the Feast can be watched. The magical god of Armstrongism, always at work. There are priorities.
Contact Made with Members and Prospective Members on St. MartinI was able to go to St. Martin yesterday, Wednesday, September 27, on an early flight which arrived at 9:00 a.m. The trip went very smoothly and I even rented a car at the airport. Because of a lot of garbage (roofs, electric or telephone poles, cables, fences, broken cars, etc.) on the roads, driving was not always easy.I was pleased to be able to visit our members and prospective members; they have not suffered physical injury and have no specific needs. Given the general state of the country (desolation), it can no doubt be said that God protected them. I was able to visit most people in person and made contact with one by phone. They are doing well, without any major problems but without electricity and telephone. They were repairing their generator and I hope they will then be able to use the DVD of the Feast messages that I carried to them. I also visited a couple of French-speaking prospective members who also are well and have very little damage at home.
We can thank God for having protected them and we also appreciate having been spared both in Guadeloupe and Martinique, because in my life, despite the many hurricanes that I have known, I have never seen such devastation, such desolation! I returned to Martinique last night. It was a safe trip, many thanks for your prayers and support.—Etienne Duval
It's good to be thankful when you are spared from suffering, but this is such a cliche for these people. The worst part is what happens when some of their own members in the same area are not spared. Imagine a scenario in which the minister's house was leveled, and several members' homes were untouched by the storm. Or one deacon's was trashed, and another deacon's was spared.
ReplyDeleteIt's also best to hold some things private. If you are spared, drawing attention to it may hurt someone who is already hurting because they were not.
BB
I imagine that there are members of other religious groups whose home, by chance, were also spared and their church leaders are making the same claim, that God protected them. If you are looking for a miracle here, you will find it. It's all in the interpretation of events, seeing what you want to see.
ReplyDelete“Seeing what you want to see”
ReplyDeleteSays it all when looking for the approval and validation of the gods.
It is so disgusting to read how the almost perfect LCG escapes unharmed while the sinners are punished. I am sure Jesus would would admonish us to ignore those who are suffering and pat ourselves on the back for being so perfect
ReplyDeleteJim
"We can thank God for having protected them and we also appreciate having been spared both in Guadeloupe and Martinique, because in my life, despite the many hurricanes that I have known, I have never seen such devastation, such desolation!"
ReplyDelete"Thanking god for sparing you in a natural disaster is like sending a Thank You note to a serial killer for stabbing the family next door." -Betty Bowers
She's right. Especially since Armstrongites can't stand their neighbors anyway. They got what they deserved and good riddance. In fact, we'd like to thank they guy who stabbed 'em for saving us the trouble and legal jeopardy.
High School students used to put together terrariums, basically closed ecology systems, as science experiments. The islands mentioned above, or any disaster areas, are in reality ecology systems. What happens to one member of that system happens to all, just different variations. The guy who suffered little or no damage to his home still can't get around because the roads have been blocked or destroyed, and can't buy food or provisions because the stores in his area have been obliterated. His kids can't go to schools that are now reduced to a pile of rubble. If he's an ACOG member, he may have seceded from the community on a day to day basis, but you can be guaranteed that necessity will compel him to participate along with his neighbors in relief of the disaster.
ReplyDeleteThere are natural disasters which are both dispassionate and impartial. Churches with end times agendas or other agendas often treat these as if they follow the epic Biblical patterns surrounding Moses, Korah, Noah, or Sodom and Gomorrah. This type of human logic is presumptuous, and does prompt comments like the Betty Bowers quotation. In this current case, people doing the post mortem on the disaster would be more accurate in blaming EXXON, Dow Chemical, Boeing, and the nations wiping out their rain forests for the intensity of the hurricanes.
But, then, Armstrongism has always been overly simplistic, and therefore very unattractive for people with brain power who are actually capable of thought.
BB
I feasted with the St. Marteen member in the Dominican Republic in 2013. He brought his girlfriend (not his wife) and they shared a room together (although he repeatedly assured us that nothing inappropriate was happening as they were just "friends"). On top of that he was a shareholder at the resort where we held the Feast and up-charged all the brethren so he could make a tidy profit off the backs of the members. His dishonesty and slimy behavior was appalling. He didn't even try to fake conversion by attending services. The site coordinator was dismayed. As usual in LCG, this St. Marteen man had money (I think he was a doctor and in real estate) and he was usuful to LCG at the time so they over looked his infractions. Had he just been a regular tithe slave he would have been extinguished.
ReplyDeleteFavoritism, dishonesty and unfair scales abound in LCG.
I don't get it. If LCG members were spared from a hurrican, why weren't they spared from Ratzmann?
ReplyDeleteThe more we give to minorities the more they hate us because they come to feel they deserve it and we have deep pockets and are holding back what they rightfully deserve. They are never grateful, the media always make them hate us anyway.
ReplyDeleteJeez! You must be the one whom Gary must censor! Do you always see every group as a monolith? (Of one mind). Have you ever heard the term "white paternalism" used by a person of color? It's quite a well known term, used widely by those who feel a sense of pride, want to do for themselves, and are proud to the point of refusing handouts. In other words, they are quite rightly insulted by the demeaning assumption that they would need a white sugar daddy. Sadly, it goes without saying that there are those who would attempt to hold such independent ones back. Level playing field is another very relevant term.
DeleteYou really need to get out more, read more widely, and broaden your horizons. Ignorance is not an attractive quality, in fact it is most likely your own glass ceiling. And, then what is left? You resort to blaming minorities.
BB
"the media always make them hate us anyway."
DeleteOh yes.
It's not your personal actions.
It's not your personal behavior.
It's not the personal stupidity you espouse constantly for all to see and hear.
It's the media.
That must be it.