A reader here asked the following question on a previous post. It is not the first time this question has ever been asked, nor will it be the last.
Hi all. This may be an odd question but do splinters like cogwa, ucg, pcg, lcg, do re me, consider themselves "sister" churches or something like that?? When something happens at a splinter...oh..sorry..sister church, it is refereed to as such. I don't get it. All seem to hold same beliefs(?) as far as Holy Days and even same publication style. I don't get it..I just don't get it.
Oh..and thank any readers who can shed some light...you know...the one we are not suppose to hide under a bushel like talents that never got developed because what's the use everything is ending..thing. What's the benefit in that folks?
The WandererMost of the COG's are hypocrites when they say they love their fellow brethren in other splinter groups. The only time you ever see them shaking hands, hugging, or smiling at each other is at a funeral. Then everyone sits there saying, "he/she died in the faith" while privately thinking, "his/her salvation may be at stake because they were not members of the true end time work."
Each and every group out there seems to think they and they alone are the rightful heirs to the "truth." Many of them claim to be practicing "first century Christianity" yet turn their backs on former brethren.
Far too many look back at the glory days of the Worldwide Church of God in the 50's and 60's where "love and community" supposedly reigned supreme. Never was a word mention in any magazine article, member letter or booklet that things were not the "Ozzie and Harriet" world as it has always been portrayed. Families were being broken up at that time, marriages ruined and lives lost.
The glaring problems of the church came to the forefront after Armstrong died and the splintering started. Some of the most vile and hate-filled things were said about church members that never went along with certain groups. The leaders and fellow ordained men were the instigators of that. It is the leadership of the hundreds and hundreds of COG's that have separated the brethren.
Just look at UCG and COGWA. One week they were all slapping each other on the back and the next week thousands left along with 3/4 of the ministry, with each side thinking they and they alone were right in yet another split.
Look at Gerald Flurry and his vile policy requiring PCG members to turned their backs on spouses, siblings, children, and friends who have left the church or had no desire to join up with Flurry and remained in a splinter group.
Dave Pack thinks he is going to unify the church with tens of thousands jumping ship to join his most superfantabulous work ever.
Many of them actually think the Church will soon be unified when everyone flees to Petra. Can you imagine the hell on earth Petra will be when all of the self-appointed splinter group leaders arrive and start fighting over who is in charge! If these members who do show up there do the right thing, they would throw every single splinter group leader out of the place!
Since all of these men claim to be Christian, then why do they act so spiteful with each other?
All of them short-shift Jesus to the back burner and place the emphasis on the law and preaching about "God's kingdom" whatever that is since it has hundreds of different meanings according to each of them. Love, grace, mercy, and justification are not found in the law. The law leads to death and offers no salvation:
Or, another take in the vernacular:Romans 4:15-16New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,
Romans 4:15-16The Message (MSG)
13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.
16 This is why the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions andthose who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father.Until the hundreds and hundreds of Churches of God start practicing grace, mercy, and justice, the Church of God will NEVER be unified. It is an impossibility.