Mercy and Living Church of God together in one sentence...um, no!
Given the horrific track record of LCG ministers in how they treat LCG members, it is disconcerting reading that LCG imagines itself as an agent of mercy. Still pretending that they will be gods ruling over kingdoms in the millennium, they exhort members to learn mercy here in 2017. Reading about the abusive antics of Rod McNair and others over the years does not give one a sense that LCG is a merciful church. Just ask the Scarborough family about how mercy was extended to them. We have all witnessed how THAT turned out!
Is the Living Church of God a church of mercy and compassion?
Does Living Church of God let mercy triumph over judgment?
Will Living Church of God be ruling with Jesus in the kingdom?
Importance of Mercy:
One of the fundamental qualities that Christians need to develop to become like God and reign with Jesus Christ is mercy. Showing mercy involves exercising patience, understanding, compassion, and forgiveness—even when we don’t feel like doing these things. The Scriptures reveal that God is full of mercy and compassion (Exodus 34:6-7), and He wants us to develop these same qualities (Micah 6:8; Hosea 6:6). Solomon states that showing mercy honors God (Proverbs 14:31). Jesus taught that the merciful will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7) and that God values mercy over sacrifice (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13). Jesus also taught that mercy is a vital key to good human relationships and those who receive mercy but do not show mercy to others will face serious consequences (Matthew 18:21-35). In human relations we may judge others guilty before the law, yet, the Apostle James states that “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). As we develop the mind of God, we will come to understand the importance of showing mercy to everyone we deal with—and we will be preparing to rule with Jesus Christ in His kingdom.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S, Winnail
43 comments:
Doug Winnail is NOT Gerald Weston. The Doug I knew , while steeped in WCG right or wrong, is a kind and gentle person and unlike Gerald Weston who is a narrow minded and opinionated authoritarian. This is typical Doug Winnail , from my experience, and is at odds with Gerald Weston I am sure in the depth of it. Gerald would give lip service to the concept of mercy while Doug would extend it, IMHO.
Reading Dougs article, he does not really define mercy. He mentions what it involves, but no definition.
And this from a ministry that has a track record of 'a accusation is a sentence.' Especially when it comes to the spoilt brat single women complaining about their dates. These women in turn repay the ministers by treating them like movie stars. I know since I've seen it. It's the unjust steward game. Mafia women jumping in bed with mafia ministers.
So forget about due process in these churches, let alone mercy.
It's only Doug and his ministers 'playing church.'
They really didn't teach Matt. 7:2 much in Armstrongism. It was more like we were taught to judge people by the standards set by HWA as the quasi-biblical character "God's Apostle". We were also not taught to love others as we love ourselves. Such things as love and mercy were always very conditional in Armstrongism.
Dr. Winnail seems to fit into the club we've compiled of less bad, less malicious leaders of Armstrongism, but he's still part of one of the more toxic splinters. Hopefully, his continued influence will impact that group in a more positive way over the long haul. One can always hope, for the sake of their members. It's too bad that RCG and PCG don't each have a Doc Winnail clone.
BB
I wonder, do you examine yourselves as closely as you do those you hardly know, are never in contact with and I imagine never actually speak to?
You would do well to heed Gamaliel's advice in Acts 5:38-39 would you not?
Maybe see Christ's in Matthew 7:1-5 or does the word of God not apply to YOU
All I have ever seen here is confusion , slander,tale bearing, you even fight among yourselves at times and I don't for a minute believe you have inside sources, you're simply on the mailing list it's pretty obvious. All 6 of you really need to get a hobby or a job, really this isn't healthy
How much mercy did Doug Winnail show to Patrick and Elizabeth Scarborough? As the trial depositions prove, Winnail knew the truth, but preferred to keep his job rather than to stand up for the truth and for two entirely well-meaning LCG members.
This is Doug's pattern. He knows the right words, and he often says them (except when he goes on crazy BI tangents or talks about his pet new Falling Away doctrine), but he acts just like any other ACOG minister. This only makes it worse for brethren who are softened by his words prior to the death-blow delivered by his action, or in the case of the Scarboroughs, by his lack of actions.
2.34 AM
On the contrary, it's healthy for everyone to expose the lies, mistreatment of members, slander and every manner of shenanigan by the ministers. These ministers portray themselves as infallible junior gods, but are in fact mere Pharisees.
And how is the 'confusion' and 'fighting among yourselves' solved in the churches? Why, by the ministers verbally bashing, tearing down and intimidating members of course. Some 'solution.' Yet you moralize to us!
2:34 "All I have ever seen here is confusion , slander,tale bearing, you even fight among yourselves at times"
Funny that's all I ever saw in the 10 years I was an LCG member. I didn't come in without inside information like most "newbies" my in-laws gave me ALL the background information on EVERYONE before I ever stepped foot in the parking lot. There is no mercy in LCG. They don't even know the meaning of the word let alone practice what they preach.
Romans 14:10-13
Matthew 12:35-37
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks
I am a victim of LCG's complete and utter lack of mercy.
Can they really be so deceived as to believe they exemplify the character traits outlined in Doug's comments?
What LCG did to me is the single most painful, abusive life event I have ever experienced.
They have zero mercy.
@ anon 3:45
I was emailed transcripts of the Scarborough/LCG depositions. They seemed to be passed around about a year ago. As a side note, they made for shocking reading. LCG as a whole should be ashamed of their horrific treatment of two people who's offense was clearly proven to be a complete lie.
Oddly, Doug Winnail was not included in the file attachments.
It made me wonder if Patrick and Elizabeth were protecting Doug. They were the originators of the initial email (by the time I got it, the email had been forwarded several times).
I know Doug was deposed. I know Doug was involved in the altercations that lead to the lawsuit. I was curious to read his responses but alas, his depo was absent.
I can't think of any real explanation for this other than he was being protected.
So when you state, "as the trial depositions prove", I am curious as to how you obtained Doug's depo.
Please reply below so I can take a gander. Kind Regards.
2:34 wrote, I wonder, do you examine yourselves as closely as you do those you hardly know, are never in contact with and I imagine never actually speak to?
I try to follow Christ's guidance in Matthew 7, verses 16 through 20.
“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
If I did not examine the fruits of the LCG HQ ministry, I would be disobeying Jesus Christ. Especially since I attend in Charlotte, actually in Matthews, to be specific, I see their fruits regularly. I am enough of an insider to be almost certain that at least two or three posters here share genuine insider information, though one of them often colors or exaggerates what he/she knows.
About Gamaliel's advice, you must be one of the stupider HQ ministers to have posted as you did, showing your complete lack of understanding of that exchange. Are you the one who flunked out of AC, or are you one who only attended Living University?
Mercy and Grace have always been the step-children in COGs. With many protestant churches teaching that the Law was done away, WWCG went out of it's way not to emphasize Grace, because we will all use Grace as a license to sin.
Without God's mercy, humans don't have a chance, because we are all just temporary, animated clay models who can't come close to their Creator's level of character and our God knows that. We only become like Him and His Son by a miraculous transformation, just like the Apostles at Pentecost. And then they still were flawed.
The Kingdom will only be as great as it is portrayed by everyone having a loving, merciful attitude toward each other.
2:34, I have seen the crushed cigarette butts left by one of Dr. Meredith's sons, and the double standard applied to minister's kids and member's kids for things like smoking or fornicating. I have seen an open bottle of liquor in a former employee's desk drawer. I have seen a minister pay on the Sabbath for take-out food delivered to HQ. I have heard a minister say things about another minister that would make your skin crawl and would have resulted in disfellowship and marking if RCM had been there to hear it.
2:34, members who aren't in Charlotte have another way to contact and speak with HQ people. It's called Living University. Members see the changes in kids who come home during breaks or who join their families for the Feast. Living University has made some decent kids into total jerks.
People in COGWA are in contact with Patrick and Elizabeth Scarborough and think very well of them. When they learn that Rod McNair is a minister in good standing while the Scarboroughs were cast out, this tells them all they need to know about LCG values.
I really don't care whether or not others believe me. I know you believe me, 2:34, because if you are an insider you have seen the same things or others like them. What I care about is helping the innocent. People who read this and don't believe me will still have this in the back of their mind when they see for themselves some of the irregular things going on, and because they know others have seen the same they may be more likely to trust the common sense God gave them, instead of accepting the minister's lies.
In a way Doug Winnail's writing about mercy is worse than Rod McNair's lying and total lack of mercy. McNair attacks the brethren as a wolf attacks the sheep. Brethren can be on guard when they recognize wolves, but Winnail writes things that try to convince you that the wolves are shepherds.
2:34 -- Nonsense, there are at least SEVEN of us, not the 6 as you stated! ;-)
It all sounds like George Soros style deceit and trickery.
This whole discussion is a testimony to the peril of not allowing the brethren input into the selection of leaders.
5.50 PM
No, no. It's more like Bernard Madoff.
2.15 PM
A minister paid for take away food on the sabbath? You sound like a Malm disciple. The only 'proof' Malm gives on this point is repetition. That is, brainwash your audience. Following his line of reasoning, members should never go to restaurants during the feast of tabernacles. Some feast.
Back in the '70s, as the GTA scandal had hit, and 1975 became the "disappointment of 1975", I recall a newspaper article on the WCG. One line stood out more than the others: "The leadership of the Worldwide Church of God have finally been exposed for what they are: business men!" In the intervening decades, and through all that has happened, that seems to have remained a constant. Business decisions are made rather than moral or theological decisions. It's whatever appears best for the corporation rather than for the membership. And, the members go along with this travesty soas to appear to be having the proper attitude. It's what happens when an advertising executive begins revealing "truth" and starting a church. Certain preset thought patterns become the dominant factor.
BB
BB
Evidently the Jehovahs Witnesses organization made a financial killing from the 1975 debacle. Many members sold their homes and businesses and gave the money to the church. They lost half a million members due to this date, (which they quickly made up for) but it in balance, a win for their church. That they came out with the year 2000 as the new date of Christ's return, raises suspicions of another money grab.
It's worth observing the JWs as they are the closest to Herbs church in behavior. They both use the same deceitful tricks and ploys.
There's a under the table link between the two. Perhaps former JWs joined Herbs outfit.
One of the chief cornerstones of LCG is "never admit you are wrong, even if you are".
Ministers can not be wrong according to LCG.
The church (administration) can not be wrong according to LCG.
They are so short sighted and can't seem to realize that admitting they make mistakes and apologizing for them when that happens would be a better attestation to their claims that they are being led by Christ and are 'God's true church' - 1000 times more convincing than their stiff-necked, merciless, Pharisaical actions.
Anon 7:49 the church of Scientology is pretty close too. Not in doctrine but in how they treat the members. I watched a great documentary on Scientology recently and I was like, "this is exactly like LCG!"
It is easy for us, with a larger context and the help of reason, to see the shortcomings of Armstrongist organizations. It is difficult for us to believe that these people are still living in an odd dream but they are.
So what do Armstrongists see when they witness the same bad behavior that is here described:
1. The ministers aren't abusive. In fact, what they are doing is exercising godly leadership - something not found in the pagan, so-called Christian churches. And like the patriarchs of the OT, this sometimes means that someone has to get stoned or impaled. If this violence were not done, the Armstrongist ministry would be a bunch of milk-toasts like the other "churches." It is a proof that we are the True Church.
2. The ministry must be tithe conscious. This, after all, is what runs The Work. And besides tithing is a pre-condition for salvation. The reprobate people who read and contribute to the Banned by HWA blog don't understand this spiritual concept. The emphasis on the flow of money is proof that we are the True Church.
We know the shtick. We have all been there and believed something similar. These people cannot be helped to overcome this brainwashing any more than Trump supporters can be helped from their simpleton beliefs.
What makes an Armstrongist abandon Armstrongism? Some kind of awakening happens - that's all I can say.
-- Neo
Heh, is this a broader version of papal infallibility, without all the conditions?
This whole discussion is a testimony to the peril of not allowing the brethren input into the selection of leaders.
The average voter is totally clued out and brainwashed, and democracy cannot function in that toxic environment. All they want is sex, drugs, music, and sports. Incompetent ditto-heads, every one.
Why does the media hate the "It's OK to be White" campaign? Why do they hate whites? Why is is considered hate speech to say you are okay if you are white? Who controls the media? The COGs hate this truth for it exposes them to the hilt. Get it? Why was Herb allowed to become the number one broadcaster for his destruction to traditional Christianity? Get it? Why is the LCG culpable for carrying on that tradition? Get it? Get it, or remain brainwashed. The facts are at your fingertips.
6.46 PM
Exactly. The average voter is a fool who needs a Hitler, Stalin, Mao or HWA to tell him/her what to believe, think and do.
Oops, almost forgot North Koreas Kim Jong-Un
Somebody has started an "it's ok to be white campaign"? Never heard of it. Don't understand the rest of your senseless prattling. Nobody "let" HWA become the #1 broadcater. Most of the radio stations were independently owned back in his time. He bought time on hundreds of unrelated stations around the world, using money. You also have to look at #2, #3, etc. Why were they "allowed" to broadcast their mainstream Christian broadcasts. Why were Billy Graham and AA Allen, and Oral Roberts so big? They had money to pay for time on the radio.
If you post your address, we can all send you some tinfoil?
BB
7.21 PM
You used the words 'get it' four times, but I still don't understand what we are to get.
Why 7:21 is Hitler, Jr. The greater "truth" he is trying to lead you to is that "the Jews" are the author of all badness, have organized in an attempt to destroy society as we know it, and have brainwashed all but the truly enlightened ones like himself. Reading his inflammatory crap is apparently supposed to motivate us to turn to him for truth and further education.
Seriously? He's probably sitting around in holey underwear in some dank and dark basement, drinking cheap wine or maybe even vinegar, as he blames "the Jews" for his lack of achievement in life, as if ruining people like him is their singular raison d'etre.
Reality? Collectively, the Jews have been an international blessing through their many inventions, contributions to the arts and science, financial models that create wealth and opportunities, and sheer intellect. This dude's life would improve exponentially if he'd just learn to imitate all of their good qualities. But, his Aryan brainwashing won't allow him to do that, so, he's stuck like a damaged DVD.
BB
People on this blog are so narrow-minded I'm surprised anybody here even knows the actual meaning of "grace".
I learn more from Paul Watson Jr. than from the COG.
...his lack of achievement in life...
And you would know, right? Keep making stuff up. We know that's your style. You wouldn't have much to say if you didn't.
Never heard of it
An admission of your total ignorance on racial issues.
America lost the respect of the world by repeatedly voting in psycopaths like Obama and his transsexual 'wife' Michelle and the sexual predator Bill Clinton. And by their wars in the middle east fighting for the Jews, even funding ISIS to subvert middle east governments like Syria. Surveys show that more countries now look to China and Russia for world leadership than to the USA. The USA is feared but not respected. They were once loved--when they held Aryan and Christian values--but are now hated. Herbie helped to bring down traditional Christianity and replaced it with essentially nothing because so few joined his cult. The destruction of traditional Christianity was a goal of the usual suspects who control television and porn and brag about it.
Paul Watson Jr of the Knicks? well, yeah, his ball handling puts Bernie Schnipperts to shame. :)
Untrue, 5:31. I'm a business man with many many contacts, and a wide variety of friends of various ethnicities, and have been an equal opportunity dater most of my life. If you were to call me a diversity booster, that would be an accurate description. My many friends and I do make diversity work, and we all thrive as a result.
I am happy to claim gross ignorance of white supremacist issues, but that is a good thing and by design. White supremacy is one of the most useless, ignorant philosophies known to man. It plays to people with inferiority complexes, and is shared mostly amongst people with the IQ of a soil sample who couldn't ever make a difference in the first place.
BB
Hah! An unfounded accusation made by someone who makes stuff up about Jews!
BB
"Transsexual wife"??? Got nude pictures and medical records?
BB
Got it. Read up on it. The ugly, evil shit we fought World War II to defeat is making a comeback, and infecting our own country. If this is allowed to go to term, the same fate that met the Third Reich awaits us.
BB
You used the words 'get it' four times, but I still don't understand what we are to get.
What you are supposed to get is who controls the media, how they subvert the truth and democracy with that control, why the COGs won't call them on it, and how that exposes the COGs.
No, to find 5:05's Paul Watson Jr., you have to Google "Paul Watson Jr, racist"
He's apparently another influential one to the alt.right. If these bozos are the future of white people, I'm going to pioneer a new type of reassignment! Watch for developing news on my upcoming race-change operation!
BB
Re Winnail, a former member of LCG who left for COGWA told me that Winnail once insisted in being called "Mister" by a member. This shocked him and gave him more ammunition to leave LCG. Not only that he said that Weston refused to cast out a demon from his brother. They may talk about mercy and truth but it's not very deep in their hearts. That's how many people are: one way toward some people and another way toward other people.
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