Saturday, May 27, 2017
Five Years Ago A Church of God Leader Lied To His Members
It has been five years since a self-appointed lying false prophet made a statement to his members that was regarded as fact. This is nothing new to the Church of God though. COG leaders have been lying to their members for decades with one false prophecy and teaching after another. Not once in the 80 some years of the current configuration of the COG has any leader or minister utter a single true prophecy. From the King of the North to the King of the South, to invading Germans, rampaging Chinese and Muslims, concentration camps, Fatima and Mayan prophecies to the precise date Jesus is supposed to return.
It was five years ago that one of the COG's biggest liars (till Dave Pack and Bob Thiel hit the scene full throttle) made the prediction that on this day, May 27, 2012, Jesus was returning in all his glory.
Ron Weinland made the prediction that the creature he calls "christ" would return on May 27, 2012. When it failed to happen Ron had his excuses ready, just like all COG leaders have done for decades.
Herbert Armstrong lied to the church when he said the Christ would be returning in 1975. For his "christ" to return in 1975, the church needed to flee to Petra on January 7, 2012. Who can forget that even prior to this Herbert started preparations for building his monument to himself, the Ambassador Auditorium, with groundbreaking in 1972. Deep down he knew he was wrong, just like every single one of the COG leaders who lie today knows.It just struck me today what day it is…………today’s the day the world was supposed to be changed forever five years ago, but it turned out to be the day when almost everyone in PKG had their lives turned upside-down.Yup—–May 27, 2012 was to be THE DAY that Ron claimed Jesus Christ would return, but instead it was a big “nothingburger” and a lot of us were looking up to the sky (at noon on May 26), and a HUGE letdown was to follow. I still remember a flurry of emails going back and forth, and one of them was from Johnny Harrell letting everyone know to calm down and Ron will be sure to have a sermon to explain what happened.Ron gave a very interesting sermon that day looking back, and I truly believe he had that sermon pre-written out. IIRC, late in the day Ron posted on his blog a lengthy “explanation” of what happened, and how “heavy of heart” he was. The very next day, he gave a lengthy sermon expounding on what he wrote the day before.I can’t believe he came up with all of that on the fly, and the more I think about it, Ron could have had that sermon written as far back as 2008 when he made the first “change” from 2011 to 2012. He knew that there’s no way it would happen despite believing it with “all his being”.Just the same, life has certainly gone on for me, but this is one of those days I’ll never forget for as long as I’m walking the planet. I got to see firsthand all the damage that was done to people’s lives, and if nothing else it certainly was an eye opener into how deceptive people can be. It still would take me 2 and half years to finally wave goodbye to PKG and get on with the rest of my life.I had a hard chuckle from a co-worker today (overtime) as I was telling her what had happened back then. She said, “You mean all this was supposed to happen? I wouldn’t have had to come into work today——–I hate when that happens!”I got a good laugh, but five years ago it was no laughing matter!So here we are with 2017 about halfway over, and still no earth shaking events to make one stop and pause. 2018 will be on our doorstep before you know it, and Ron will be proven wrong YET AGAIN when 2019 comes and goes without so much as a whimper.And there will still be those that will swallow the “disclaimer” hook, line, and sinker.So sad…………… From Don't drink the flavor aid
Not only did he lie then, he did it countless times previously:
1934:"...the year 1936 will see the end of the Times of the Gentiles.... we may expect the present worldwide depression, time of trouble and fear of war to continue until the year 1936!... quickly after that time, we may expect to see the heavenly signs of the sun and moon becoming dark, the stars falling.... which shall be followed by the 'Day of the Lord." (The Plain Truth, June-July 1934, Herbert Armstrong, p. 5)1940:"...Armageddon, we believe, must be at least three or four years away..." ("Democracy Doomed!" The Plain Truth, April-May 1940, Herbert W. Armstrong)1947"...in a few years NONE OF US will be living in our present homes—EVERYTHING material we possess now will be swept away from us...it will strike DURING THIS PRESENT GENERATION—it cannot now be more than A FEW YEARS... (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker letter, December 8, 1947)1953:"Now HERE IS SOMETHING STARTLING! Herman Hoeh, in his eye-opening article you will read in the June number of The PLAIN TRUTH on the Times of the Gentiles shows that the Times of the Gentiles—if chronologies are correct—will come to their final end in the year 1982." ............."Now if this chronology is correct, that means Christ shall return some very few years PRIOR to1982! NO MAN KNOWS THE DAY, HOUR, OR YEAR OF CHRIST'S RETURN. But we CAN know exact dates of one or two other events." ..........."IF THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES END IN 1982, in October, as Mr. Hoeh has it figured, THE INVASION OF AMERICA AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION MUST BEGIN NOT LATER THAT MARCH-APRIL, 1972!" (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker letter, May 22, 1953)1956:"Indications of prophecy are that this drought ... will strike sooner than 1975— probably between 1965 and 1972!" ... "Yes, millions of lukewarm inactive professing Christians will suffer MARTYRDOM—and that before the anticipated push-button leisure-year of 1975 dawns upon us!" (1975 in Prophecy, 1956, pp. 10, 20, Herbert W. Armstrong)"You're going to be shocked to read what goes on undercover in the United States. Five major vices threaten the total collapse of our country inside of 20 years. The handwriting is on the wall of America, now!" ("U.S.A. Riding to Total Collapse in 20 Short Years!" [subtitled: "Here are the naked FACTS that ought to astonish and shock you into immediate action.] (The Plain Truth, February 1956, Herbert W. Armstrong)[After fostering many scare tactics in the article concerning how many in the U.S.A. are going to die of famine, pestilence and war "in less than 20 years," he goes on to say:]"I've shown you from the very word of God what is next coming in prophesied events...It's prophesied for 15 to 20 years or less." ("U.S.A. Riding to Total Collapse in 20 Short Years!" (Ibid.)1957:"God prophecies that finally, within the next fifteen years, fully ONE THIRD of our whole population will die of disease and famine." (The Plain Truth, December 1957, Herbert W. Armstrong)1958:"We are just coming now to the grand smash climax of this whole age when there are far more prophecies--far more world shaking events--to happen in the next 15 or 20 yearsthan ever happened before in the history of the world!" (The Proof of the Bible, 1958, Herbert W. Armstrong)1959:"I say to YOU, now, that your money—your home—every material thing you have—will be taken from you SOON—probably in 12 to 13 years, certainly in 15 or less!" (Herbert W. Armstrong, August 13, 1959 Co-Worker letter)1960:"In 12 years or less the U.S.A. will suffer the worst depression ever suffered by any nation." (Herbert W. Armstrong, December 1960 Co-Worker letter)1963:"We may now have only eight or nine more years to FINISH His Work!" (Herbert W. Armstrong, October 27, 1963 Co-Worker letter)"In eight years all of our ministers will be silenced!" (November 23, 1963 sermon, Herbert W. Armstrong)"Somewhere along about seven to ten years from now the REVOLUTION IN THE WEATHER will become a national and international calamity. Drought, epidemic of disease, will reap a mountain harvest of death across North America--and in Britain." (The Plain Truth, January 1963, Herbert W. Armstrong)1964:"We may have an occasional good year in the weather, but the trend in general will continue until--probably by 1971-1972--it will become an acute disaster, especially to the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia." (The Plain Truth, January 1964, Herbert W. Armstrong)1965:"We are in the grand smash climax--only six more years left." (Co-Worker letter, December 13, 1965, Herbert W. Armstrong)1966:WE MAY HAVE ONLY ONE OR TWO MORE YEARS LEFT TO FINISH THE WORK THE LIVING CHRIST IS DOING THROUGH HIS CHURCH! Time is running out on us! It is now FAR later than you think! (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker letter, June 27, 1966)"The God who is REAL says of OUR PEOPLES: 'Prophecy against the prophets of Israel . . . O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes of the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up a hedge for the House of Israel TO STAND in the BATTLE IN THE DAY OF THE ETERNAL (Ezek. 13:1-5).' That is NOT a message to ancient Israel—but to OUR NATIONS TODAY. The 'DAY OF THE ETERNAL'—a time foretold in more than thirty prophecies—is going to strike between 5 and 10 years from now! You will know, then, how REAL it is. You will wish, then, you had heeded. I am not writing foolishly, but very soberly, ON AUTHORITY of the living CHRIST!" ("HOW the U.S. Can END the Vietnam WAR . . . NOW!" (The Plain Truth, Feb. 1967, p. 47, Herbert W. Armstrong)"A STAGGERING TURN in world events is due to erupt in the next four to seven years. It will involve violently the United States, Britain, Western Europe, the Middle East." (The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, Introduction, 1967, p. IX, Herbert W. Armstrong)3"Now, other prophecies reveal, we are to have soon (probably in about four years) such drought, and famine, that disease epidemics will follow taking millions of lives ... Well, we have been getting foretastes of that! That condition is coming! And I do not mean in 400 years—nor in 40 years—but in the very next FOUR or FIVE!" (Ibid., p.184)"You need to look at the prophecies of Jesus of Jeremiah, of Isaiah, and others, describing how much more INTENSE is to be the punishment God is going to lay on the British and American people in five to seven more years!" (Ibid., p. 185)1969:"If that unseen Hand does not exist, humanity will not survive on earth another 25 years, or less! I know whereof I speak, for no organization on earth has a more knowledgeable grasp and understanding of world conditions, trends, and causes, than ours. ..." (The Ambassador College Correspondence Course, Lesson 5, 1969, p. 15)"There is very little time remaining. You now know only a minority of humanity will remain alive just a few years from now1977:"During this generation--within 60 to 90 years or less-from 1927--Christ will come again..." (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker letter, January 20, 1977)1980:"The actual movement of world events as prophesied WARNS US that all this MAY now occur in the decade we entered day before yesterday--and, if delayed past 1990, most certainly during the decade of the 90s." (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker Letter, January 3, 1980)1984:"The Plain Truth brings you UNDERSTANDING of the very Word of God, the SOURCE of TRUTH--and of the PROPHECIES of events soon to occur, in the next two, five or 10 years!" (The Plain Truth, September 1984, Personal from Herbert W. Armstrong)Right up to the end of his life Herbert Armstrong continued to make false predictions. Here is just one quote from his Mystery of the Ages:"And, secondly, to reveal—preserved in writing for us TODAY—what is to happen "in the latter days"—actually within the next two decades—THIS LAST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY! (Mystery of the Ages, Herbert W. Armstrong, p. 298)
From Exit and Support
Why do COG members sit there, year after year, listening to the lies of men like Dave Pack, Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, James Malm, Rod Meredith/Gerald Weston and others, as everything they have said consistently fails to happen? Even with the blatant lies of Ron Weinland, there are still gullible members who send in money to him. Despite being liars, Malm, Thiel, Flurry, Pack and others still con their members into sending their heard earned money in. Why?
Dave Pack: RCG Members Will Be "Reckoned" Away From Their Ungodly Mates Who Might Happen To Be In Other COG's
But I want to go to another question. Christ said and, we could say, was most careful, and…yet again, using the term…went out of His way to talk about a moment when He comes to Earth where one is taken and one is left. He says it five times, and once and for all, I want to clarify exactly who it is that’s taken and left. I think we all pretty much know who is taken—it’s us taken to the reckoning. That’s pretty easy. But why does Christ, five times…I’m going to do this for dramatic effect…say one is taken and one is left…one is taken and one is left…in Matthew and Luke…one is taken and one is left…one is taken and one is left, and one is taken and one is left?Five times, He emphasized that one gets left. Who is that? And they are working together…these are people right beside those who are taken. Who is that? Now the Rapturists think it’s the poor…the poor idiots on the bus, that when the driver is taken away, they’re left behind to crash and get killed. Or, the pilot on the plane…You’ve heard all these lunatic ideas that they’re vacuumed up to heaven. Well, we know we’re not vacuumed up to heaven. We are taken to the reckoning, the Kingdom of God arrives. But beside those people who are taken was somebody who was left behind—whether in the field, the mill or the bed.Who are those people that you and I are going to be right with? We’re jerked away and they’re not. It’s a critical question, and it’s one I have battled with and I have the answer and the answer is simply astonishing. It will astonish you, and it sets up a bigger question that we’re going to address right after it, although this is a big one. Well, let’s go through the possibilities. Here are the possibilities…“It’s you working at the mill beside some Lutheran, and you’re in the field beside some Baptist, or you’re in bed with a carnal husband or wife. It’s just people in the world…all around us.” Now that would agree with the Rapturists. I’m suspicious of that one just because the Rapturists came up with it. So is that really what Christ wants us to know? Five times emphasizes that the world is going to be left behind while we go to the reckoning. Who would doubt that? Who would doubt that the world is not going to the reckoning to be given the Kingdom…and we need to be told five times, with specific references to different locations, they’re not going; they’re right there with you and they’re not going. I’m not saying it’s wrong to believe some in the world could be near us when it happens, but is that Christ’s meaning?
“It’s the handful of brethren who might work beside someone who’s in United or Living or COGwa or PCG…or you’re married to a mate, you know, and we’re not in their church, but it describes us in bed with them or in the field or the mill with them; grinding at the mill with them. It’s got to be a mate, right?” That’s precious, precious few people that we actually work right beside at the auto plant or at Giant Eagle or flipping burgers together, or…There are very few people in the Restored Church of God, men or women, who are married to somebody who goes to a splinter. I’ll bet the number in the entire church, worldwide, of that kind of people, I’ll bet it is not half-a-dozen couples. I could be wrong, but it could easily be three or four…but maybe it’s ten, you know, the huge number of ten. Is that what Christ is talking about…or who He’s talking about that is left behind? You ought to want to know this.
Dave Pack: I am the Shepherd...I have trained more ministers than anyone in the church
I would love to hear from the 11.000 COG members who suffered through his church pastorates. I can be guaranteed that they have a different story than Dave does.
I’ve been a shepherd all my life. Mr. Armstrong’s background was not as a shepherd. His background was a businessman, and he began to work with the Church, and for a little while shepherd it, but pretty much got into colleges and trained others. The Church never got very large. The final man would have to be one who had spent his whole life shepherding…11,000 people…I know what I’m doing. Sometimes, I wonder why I don’t get to keep doing that. Except I understand that I can bring a grander application. I know how to do that. I’ve trained so many ministers, I don’t begin to have the fingers and toes to count them all. And I’ve seen bad ones and good ones, and men who progress, and don’t, and good ministers’ wives and bad ministers’ wives. I’ve seen monsters like this guy who just butchered his wife, and left an orphan…and all the while he was doing it, was standing behind a pulpit like I am now. No more converted than the very devil who was in him. I mean, I’ve seen at all! I’ve seen things you can’t imagine.It took a long time, over half a century, but I know how to shepherd. I’m trained to do it, and we have a lot of good shepherds among us, some in this room, and others around the world. If you’re blessed to have a minister near you, no matter how inexperienced he is, back him up, help him. You know, the big guys sold out, but he’s there, because he didn’t, and his wife the same. Many of them don’t even have wives. Their wives left them, or they never have been married.
Friday, May 26, 2017
Why Do Various COG Leaders Claim They Are Being Persecuted Today?
It is always hilarious to watch pansy-ass COG leaders scream they are being persecuted today in the United States. Their lives are constantly being threatened and Satan is attacking their ministries.
We have Almost-arrested, Elisha, Elijah, Amos and Andy, Joshua, Habbakuk Thiel constantly claiming he is being persecuted. Gerald Flurry claims persecution as he spends millions on a new flying machine for his personal use. UCG, LCG, COGWA and others claim they are being persecuted because they can't say what they want to say in their forceful messages about a "strong hand from someplace." Even the despicable Chief Pharisee James Malm claims he is being persecuted.
Not one single one of these lily-white, weak, emasculated, little men have ever suffered persecution.
Not so for the people below who have, and they go on to say it strengthens them and brings them peace as they see family members and friends slaughtered by Muslim terrorists.
The next time the lying fool, Bob Thiel, screams persecution and calls these people "so-called Christians" remember these people being slaughtered while he sits in his warm home, thrusting his big fat Bible in the air while bitching in his latest video about some perceived slight.
Why don't we ever have any REAL men ever step to the plate and lead a Church of God?
UCG: The Best Unified Church of God Ever!!!!!! Woo Hoo!
Has the Church of God ever been unified? Decades and decades before the upheavals of the 1990's scores of groups had already broken off of the Worldwide Church of God. Not a month went by without some minister or member declaring themselves God's new and improved leader and took a few people with them. Church members have been gullible dupes over the years to one fraudulent man (and a couple of women) after another. Each one always more enlightened and godly than the previous.
Then, Herbert Armstrong had to go and die. Damn! What a mess. Even though he declared that he had reached all of the world with his message, one self-appointed prophet after another have had hissy-fit 's and left the church huffing and snorting. Thousands of gullible members bought into their outright lies and followed them. Then, once reality sat in, church members quickly saw that the same perverse habits they had left behind were still occupying the minds of their new enlightened leaders. Corruption abounded and the lies became more outrageous. More families, marriages, and lives were ripped apart by deviant church leaders.
One of the groups that actually might have had a good chance in righting the wrongs was the United Church of God. It, however, got off on a wrong foot as its leaders plotted and schemed while still in the employ of the Worldwide Church of God on how to start their new and improved church. Membership lists and addresses were stolen in order to send out letters letting the faithful know that the truth was being carryied on in the new and improved Church of God, called United. United's goal was just that, unite the church members in one cohesive body to do an amazing work that HWA had already said he had completed.
Things rolled along well, till stories broke of church elders and members sexually assaulting women. Then there was the horrendous mess with the church member who embezzled hundred's of thousand's of dollars from the bank she worked at and with which she built a meeting hall for UCG. Once the government discovered what the church member had done she was arrested and bank regulators and the court confiscated UCG's church building and sold it. Corruption continued on unabated for years as one thing after another happened. Then, Jim Franks and 3/4 of the minister threw their own hissy-fit and started their own new most unified Church of God EVER (COGWA). More families, marriages, and friendships were shattered so that another group of selfish men could set themselves up as the final moral authority for the church.
A reader of UCG's magazines would never know the sordid past of the 20-year-old church. What one reads about today is the mess that Vic Kubik wrote about in his latest Letter from the President. A letter on how unified the UCG is today...um, someone needs to speak to Kubik about that!
As the Church of God and Christianity as a whole approaches Pentecost, Kubik is using the day as a reason to keep the UCG unified.
Kubik writes:
As we approach the day of Pentecost, let’s rededicate ourselves to our wonderful purpose, let’s all do our part to be a truly unified Body, a united Church for those whom God is calling.Remind you, this is the very same man who plotted and schemed to disunify the Worldwide Church of God so he and his buddies could keep their salaries flowing in.
On that original day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon those in the room, forever ending the idea that revelation and truth came down from human leaders lording themselves over the members. Members were enlightened. Their minds understood things in new and glorious ways and they were empowered to go forth with that message, each according to their own abilities, yet unified (of one accord) in their mission to free the captives and restore wholeness to broken and downtrodden people overwhelmed by the rules.
Kubik continues with this:
If that is what Kubik believes and what he thinks UCG is all about, then WHY has he refused to "stick together" and remain "unified" with other COG members? He and his cabal of buddies have never truly been held to this standard.Allow me to share my thoughts and prayers about this day and what it truly means to be “of one accord.” They center on what Jesus passionately prayed for concerning His followers shortly before being tortured and killed.In that passage, Jesus is actually praying for us today! “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word [including you and me]; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us , that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one , and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:20-23, emphasis added throughout).And so, we see that it was Jesus Christ’s intense desire that His followers stick together and be united together in purpose and action.
However, according to Kubik, there is only one Church of God on this earth who is "sticking together" and is truly "united." One guess as to who THAT is...PCG? RCG? LCG? CCG?
The Church of God no longer has a purpose or at least one they want to share with other COG members. It plods along with one failed campaign after another. One mind numbingly boring telecast after another. The world is not interested in their message and COG members are not interested in what they do either. Even Jelly cannot hold the church together and unify it.I invite you to consider how the Vision Statement of the United Church of God is drawn directly from what is called the “unity chapter” of Ephesians: “The whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies , according to the effective working by which every part does its share , causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).Unity represents the outcome of having a shared purpose and vision, a purpose that we all actively work toward! To achieve it, we must get in harmony with Christ’s prayer and diligently, as individuals, strive to all support and advance that collective purpose as one body in one accord .
Peace is not simply the absence of conflict. Pursuing and supporting our great purpose as a spiritual assembly—preaching the powerful gospel of the Kingdom and preparing ourselves for entry into that Kingdom as the very children of God —requires great effort and work by each of us. When we do so, when we are so minded and motivated, we have peace and unity!Of course, unity cannot be achieved in UCG if members fail to support the human organization. Screw following Jesus, the "Org." is more important. Oh, wait, Jesus? That dude that disrupts everything we claim to believe yet fail to follow...
Peace is the glue that creates a spiritual bond. Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). We have to be willing to wage spiritual peace rather than war in our daily lives. Of course, the waging of peace represents a more difficult challenge. It is far easier to tear down than to build up. But it is worth the effort. With God’s help, we canovercome the baser parts of our nature. We can put out anger, envy and pride—the mental and spiritual states that lead to words that hurt and harm.If one truly acknowledges Jesus, then they know that "peace" has been accomplished. There is no more struggling or continually "fighting" to make one's self accepted. The fight has been won. The battle has been won. But since UCG still places the law above that inconvenient dude, they still have to fight and struggle while constantly being disunified.
As we approach the day of Pentecost, let’s rededicate ourselves to our wonderful purpose, let’s all do our part to be a truly unified Body, a united Church for those whom God is calling.Called into UCG? No thanks. Been there done that. Unified? Never in this lifetime.
Gerald Flurry, Apostle/Prophet/Martyr, and His Personal Family Jet...UPDATE
It looks like Gerald Flurry and Lil'Stevie got a burr up their butt's recently when it was discovered that people could track their personal flights with their new jet.
They have now changed the FAA Registry number of the jet to a new ID number:
They have also disabled anyone tracking their movements around the country as they fly grandkids to their Irish dance competitions.
Apostles and prophets in the Church of God must NEVER be accountable to their members, now should they? We must never assume that self-appointed church leaders would use these jets for their own personal jaunts around the country, now should we?
After all, prophets, apostles, and martyrs all need to fly in a clean breathable atmosphere so that those dirty nasty germs of the unwashed heathen masses might never enter their nostrils.
Oh, the joy of using hard-earned tithe money to buy what you want for your own personal extravagance.
See:
As Income Plummets 25% Gerald Flurry Set to Buy Jet Plane So Stevie and His Kids Can Fly In Luxury
Gerald Flurry Follows in HWA's Steps and Buys Gulfstream G450 Jet
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Dave Pack: Lay Members Are Too Stupid To Understand What I Explain To The Ministers
The hierarchical ranking in the Restored Church of God places the members at the bottom of the poop pole where they receive the dregs of Dave's superfantabulous revelations. Ministers receive deeper knowledge than the students. The students receive deeper knowledge than the lay members who are not educated enough to understand. His church literature is basic and rudimentary for the lower masses.
Apparently, Dave's god mind-streams his messages to him. He says that his god does not expect him to think. Well, that is rather obvious!
I told you a few weeks ago, or many months ago, really, in this series, that there were different ways that we bring knowledge to the Church. And I chose to bring the in-depth kind of knowledge to the Church—so, it’s why we’re at Part 59—more like you’d talk to ministers, which is even above what you talk to students, and way beyond what do you talk to lay members about. And of course, the literature is really basic and rudimentary when you’re teaching the truth to the world. But you’re getting almost…you’re getting graduate level detail here. And so, I’m explaining all of these different things at a level that we never understood in the time…in the past. But as God’s showing them to me…I’m constructed in such a way, I’m not going to sit…bottle it all up. Surely, God didn’t expect me to think…No one would ever think that increasing knowledge is so that one man can go around with a head full of it, or maybe half of it he dispenses; the other half he doesn’t.
Dave Pack: In His First Kingdom "The women are in the background. The world is not ready to see you ladies..."
The curse of Eve, always behind the man/boys of the Restored Church of God
Now, it’s interesting. The women are not mentioned yet. This does mean males…This is not salvation, where the women have the same power as men. That could be just a few months out. There’ll be no difference. Salvation for women; come to awesome power and authority, just like men. Don’t doubt that. But it’s interesting, one other important side point, the men are singled out. The women are in the background. The world is not ready to see you ladies, when God unveils you in final form.
But the men are the ones who are going to go and shepherd the flock of God. That isn’t something that women would do. So it helps you understand that there’s an emphasis on the men. You’ll be just as escaped as they are. You’ll be playing important roles, all over the world, in the background You’ll be helping, and nobody can lay a glove on you either. Now, it could be a special emphasis on certain men at Headquarters, or the ministry. Everybody’s role is going to be different and I’m going to come to that in a moment. But it is interesting, it could almost be—I’ll throw an interesting side, kind of side point.
Which Church of God Will Make Petra Bloom Like A Rose?
Now that Gerald Flurry is diminished in his mental capacities due to his recent strokes, PCG has been reposting many of his old articles. One such article is about the long-held myth that the COG has circulated for decades, that Petra is the place of safety (The Place of Safety: The World Tomorrow In Embryo!). Flurry believes that the PCG will be taken to Petra where they will make the desert bloom like a rose and send out broadcasts to the world on the "truths" of Herbert Armstrong.
Flurry writes:
In this place of safety, this great rocky fortress, God’s people “declare his praise in the islands.” There certainly are no islands in the wilderness areas of the Middle East—especially in the area of Jordan. So there’s some kind of a work going on from the wilderness, something more than just what the two witnesses are doing during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 11:3-12). God has a message and these people are declaring it, probably via satellite and other technological means. A powerful Work will be done somehow.
Now who will declare His praise in the islands? The Bedouin Arabs? No. God’s Laodicean Church? Of course not. They are spewed out and will go through the Tribulation because of their rebellion toward God and because they were overthrown in the spiritual wilderness as ancient Israel was physically. They had the truth and then they lost it.
God says, “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise” (Isaiah 43:19-20). In context, you’ll see this is during a time of great suffering. God is giving drink to His chosen, and He is making the desert blossom as a rose, even before the Millennium.
God is talking about a single wilderness and a single desert, and about “my chosen”—in the context of the rest of Israel, with whom He is not happy. So this cannot be during the Millennium; it must be in a place of safety, where God is going to start a “mini-Millennium.” There will be a message going out from the place of safety, and there will be miracles in that place, and the desert will blossom as a rose. There will be a message of hope to this world which will have very little hope—especially those who will have been victims of the Beast power.
Herbert W. Armstrong used to say that the Place of Safety would be an embryo of the World Tomorrow. And it may be more of an embryo than even he realized, because of the work God is going to do in the place of safety which will give the whole world a vision. He is going to use this small group, a very elect, to usher in the wonderful World Tomorrow—a beautiful paradise where all the world and all the deserts will blossom as a rose. There will be hope like this world has never even dreamed. The word paradise doesn’t describe it. It is far more than just a paradise: it’s a glorious vision!This is going to be a mighty tough job to do since Bob Thiel will also be in Petra when Flurry arrives. Flurry will not need to worry about Thiel though, all Thiel will be doing is still screeching about being doubly blessed, Fatima, satan's chair, and those damn ugly crosses. Add to that mix Dave Pack and his superfantabulous church. They will be making mincemeat of Flurry and Thiel as they proclaim that they are the ONLY ones doing a real work. Head on up the road a distance, then through a canyon, and there will be United Church of God doing their bold work by putting up useless billboards on the hillsides. Then round the next bend, you will find the Living Church of God building their one room cave university so they can educate the world on just how things will be. Further down the road, in a god forsaken place, you will find the COGWAites building their little exclusive compound and doing what they do best, nothing. Over in the next wadi, you will see David Hulme building fences around his little parcel of land in order to keep his members from commingling with the other heathen COGites while complaining how hard it is to drive his Jaguar on sand. Meanwhile, outside the siq, Mark Armstrong will be hold up in the Petra Marriott still living off the teet of long dead Garner Ted.
The Bedouins in the Petra area will be standing there in amazement at the complete asinine shenanigans of the TRUE Church of God. What an amazing witness this will be to the Bedouins! A foretaste of the UNITY of the kingdom...ugh!
Dave Pack Explains How To Know When You Have Escaped
Now I said last week that there’s another great question we needed to answer, and before I go back into more about the Man of Sin, I’d like to take you to that question. How will we know we escaped? You’ve arrived at a destination…Blessed, or happy, is he that waits and comes to the 1,335. (Dan. 12:12). To come to it, you’d have to know you did. I use the analogy of driving to Los Angeles from New York. You can’t head out to L.A. without a map. Without any picture of Los Angeles, you have no idea where it is or what it is…what it looks like when you get there. So you just sort of takeoff. Somebody says, “You know what? Go west.” Well, you could wind up in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, San Diego, or you could wind up at any city in the West that’s short of Los Angeles. You know, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver or Salt Lake City. You just don’t get there. Because you don’t know what Los Angeles looks like, you won’t know if you’re there.
And you’re with other people in the car…“Does anybody know if we’re in Los Angeles?”—“No?”—“Well, no, somebody said this is Des Moines, Iowa.”—“Okay, well…I don’t know where that is either, but I guess…” How would you plan a trip to Los Angeles without knowing whether you arrived? You’d have to know what Los Angeles looked like, where it was, what it meant…how to know your journey was over, and that’d be no matter where you started from, you see? You could take the analogy as, no matter where you lived in the world, not just if you’re starting from Los Angeles, because God’s people are all over the world. How do we know we got to L.A., if L.A. is “escape” at the 1,335?
Let’s imagine we get to the 1,335, but we don’t know that we did…And maybe somebody has a hunch we did…and we’re all sitting in a circle. “Well, it said we’d be happy…Everybody feel happy? Everybody feel happy? Anybody not? Nobody’s not happy, are they? Oh, they’re all happy. Okay…Well, who feels like an escapee? Does anybody feel like an escapee? Who feels like we waited long enough? Anybody feel…Raise your hands, we waited long enough…” Does anybody think it could be like that? Where you wouldn’t absolutely know. You’re watching and praying always to escape, but you can’t really know if you did.
Dave Pack: When We Escape We Will Be Given Hats So That The World Knows We Are Escaping
Now I would suggest there’s the possibility…Along with something else I’m going to show you…there may actually be different clothing we wear. One of two things that suggests we’re different people…“Keep your hands off of them.” Because if you escaped, you escaped. There has to be some knowledge to others you escaped. Cain was marked so that people wouldn’t kill him. I mean, we can say he deserved to die; shouldn’t have escaped. But God didn’t want him to die, so God marked him in a way that people would leave him alone. What might He do with us?One possible thing, to just speculate and think about, since this is not the pure white garments of salvation and linen, it’s just a change. It’s saying that the way God views this man’s life and his record—the same with you—is it’s gone from him. Remember, if you’re deemed entirely deserving—all of you—then you escape at that point, not at the time of salvation. So that’s what the change of garments has to mean, and he puts on a mitre. He doesn’t put on a crown or a tiara. A mitre—a turban. It signifies something has changed. It’s sort of like an interim step between the way we are now, and the way we will be when we receive salvation—which is another interim step before resplendence.“And set a fair mitre on his head…[“Clean” is what it means—just clean; clean and pure. It doesn’t say white, just clean and pure.]…So they set a fair mitre on his head…[Who’s “they?” It’s angels there.]…and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. And [that angel] the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying…[Now, I’ve explained that this does not mean “protested.” It can mean that, but essentially, it’s most likely meaning, and there…You can go study the word; it’s fascinating…it’s more like an announcement, or a pronouncement; not protesting to him.]…The angel the LORD [announced] unto Joshua saying...
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
United Church of God Statement On Rod Meredith's Death
United Church of God released a statement on Roderick C Meredith's death and many LCG members are noting how the UCG statement is far more meaningful than Gerald Weston's own statement about Meredith's death.
Death of Long-Time Minister Roderick C. Meredith
[MAY 19, 2017—CINCINNATI, OHIO] As president of the United Church of God, an International Association (UCG), I offer the collective sympathy and condolences of our fellowship to members of Roderick C. Meredith’s family and also to the ministers and members of the Living Church of God (LCG). Dr. Meredith, a long-time minister and LCG presiding evangelist, died in the late evening of May 18. He was 86 and is survived by six children, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Gerald Weston has succeeded him as the presiding evangelist of LCG.
Many ministers and members in UCG who attended one of the Ambassador College campuses in years past, took one or more classes taught by Dr. Meredith. Like many others in our fellowship, I had deep respect for Dr. Meredith. In the course of our current fellowships we personally met together on two occasions (shortly after the death of Dibar Apartian, another long-time minister, and later following the death of Dr. Meredith’s wife, Sheryl) at the Living Church of God’s facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. We also conversed on occasion by phone and e-mail. The first Charlotte meeting was led by Dennis Luker, a former colleague of Dr. Meredith, who later died in 2013 while serving as president of UCG. Peter Eddington, our operation manager of Media and Communications Services, also took part in that meeting.
Through the years, Dr. Meredith demonstrated a powerful influence and a singular commitment to applying what he understood, including the role of the Church in proclaiming the gospel and announcing the coming Kingdom of God. He served in numerous administrative, ministerial and faculty positions in our prior fellowship of the Worldwide Church of God. He wrote multiple dozens of articles for The Plain Truth and other church publications before leaving that fellowship and subsequently founding LCG in 1998.
Dr. Meredith certainly led a full life of service in the ministry, and many in the fellowship of the United Church of God remember well the years of dedicated service that Dr. Meredith provided while part of the Worldwide Church of God and later as the leader of LCG. I encourage our members to please remember Dr. Meredith and his family—as well as ministers, members and families within the Living Church of God. He now rests and awaits the hope of us all—eternal life in the service of God the Father and Jesus Christ in the coming Kingdom of God.
Richard Ames, LCG evangelist and brother-in-law to Dr. Meredith, will conduct Dr. Meredith’s funeral, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 28. Details are pending.
