Can there be a better description of the men pictured above than the following verses from Ezekiel 13?
Sadly, those in the various COG's blindly follow these men as if God speaks directly though them. The church has been well trained to listen to their lies as god inspired. It loved listening to the endless speculations of Gerald Waterhouse and John Ritenbaugh before Herbert Armstrong died. Then as the church miscarried hundreds of splinter groups, new prophets and Elijah's stepped in with even more wildly fantastical utterances. Why do the people of the church love listening to their lies?
People Who Love Listening to Lies
Ezekiel 13 1-2 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, preach against the prophets of Israel who are making things up out of their own heads and calling it ‘prophesying.’
2-6 “Preach to them the real thing. Tell them, ‘Listen to God’s Message!’ God, the Master, pronounces doom on the empty-headed prophets who do their own thing and know nothing of what’s going on! Your prophets, [Church of God], are like jackals scavenging through the ruins. They haven’t lifted a finger to repair the defenses of the city and have risked nothing to help Israel stand on God’s Day of Judgment. All they do is fantasize comforting illusions and preach lying sermons. They say ‘God says . . .’ when God hasn’t so much as breathed in their direction. And yet they stand around thinking that something they said is going to happen.
7-9 “Haven’t you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren’t your sermons tissues of lies, saying ‘God says . . .’ when I’ve done nothing of the kind? Therefore—and this is the Message of God, the Master, remember—I’m dead set against prophets who substitute illusions for visions and use sermons to tell lies. I’m going to ban them from the council of my people, remove them from membership in Israel, and outlaw them from the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am God, the Master.
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Reviewing the collage pictures of Armstrong and company prompts me to ask the question - Which one of these AREN'T like the others?
There are two answers in my mind - On one level, Herbert Armstrong is in a class all of his own and is not like all the others. He dined with the Classes because he lied to the Masses. No HWA wannabee has even come close to being as successful as Herbert himself. In fact, Herbert if alive today, would have nothing to do with the clowns who now claim his mantle.
The second answer in my mind when I saw the photo collage of someone who is not like the others and doesn't belong in the collage is Almost Arrested Doubly Blessed Elijah Prophet, Dr. Bitter Bob Thiel. He is so deluded in thinking he is been ordained to the office of Prophet for all the COGlets yet also acts as Pastor General of his own little ACOG business franchise - the grossly misnamed Continuing Church of God. He preaches the gospel of Modern Dating through the open door of Animation - a door God opened but no one is watching. You would think his first animation would be prophetic and about the coming Great Tribulation and not modern dating given his claim of being a Prophet. He is a joke! And given Meredith, Weston, Pack and Flurry head larger Armstrong Churches of God (well, I don't really know how large Pack's Gulag is), and given how flaky Thiel is, Thiel just doesn't belong in a picture collage of modern Armstrongite leaders. Perhaps Thiel and Tax Cheat Felon - One of the two witnesses from the book of Revelation - Ron Weinland belong in their own separate class. The class of batshit crazies in the splintered Worldwide Church of God.
Richard
7-9 “Haven’t you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren’t your sermons tissues of lies, saying ‘God says . . .’ when I’ve done nothing of the kind? Therefore—and this is the Message of God, the Master, remember—I’m dead set against prophets who substitute illusions for visions and use sermons to tell lies. I’m going to ban them from the council of my people, remove them from membership in Israel, and outlaw them from the land of Israel. Then you’ll realize that I am God, the Master.
Yes, this describes what Armstrongism has done and is doing to a tee.
The part that says "Haven't you fantasized sheer nonsense" strikes lie an arrow to the bullseye. It is an exact description of the loony teachings of Thiel, Wienerdude, Pack, Flurry, and Malm. It is a striking blow to the larger COG's who have prophesied in the name of God to no avail. And yes, ALL of them have used sermons to tell lies - in the name of God. They will deny, deny, deny that they are doing any of these things. They constantly and consistently try to nudge, fit, stretch, and contort anything in scripture to fit their fantasized sheer nonsense. They do this partly in delusion and partly from greed. Even though the entire Empire of Armstrongism has been forcefully stricken down, scattered, and proven completely false, they continue in their dreams of power, wealth and greed to continue the lies, the false visions, and the illusions. They continue the legacies and the doctrines of abuse and oppression without remorse, without guilt, and without shame.
They cannot be talked to, they cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be counseled. They think they are right - even though history and truth has proven them as wrong. These scriptures are a screaming indictment as to what they do, and yet when they read them, they turn them around and are blind to the indictment laid before them.
I sometimes wonder if there are two kinds of COG leaders. Those who are fully and completely brainwashed in delusion and honestly believe the vomit they spew (think Weston maybe?) - and those who know everything is bull and are simply in it for the power and greed and knowingly and deliberately perpetuate it.
6.24 PM
There's also the category of those who believe (minus the endless prophesy speculation) but have waved the white flag and have given in to power and greed.
I believe Dave packman and Ron Weinland are in this category. The others are harder to read. They appear to be some combination of categories.
This post is a prime example if how God's word cuts through all the fake crap and cuts to the truth. It was true in Ezekiels day and it is true now.
The Church of God groups are overflowing with godless sinful men who love power and the sound of their own voices. They are running personality cults where their opinion is the rule of law and God has most probably hidden his face from us all over it.
Those who are fully and completely brainwashed in delusion and honestly believe the vomit they spew (think Weston maybe?)
Weston was on Meredith's Council of Elders for many years before becoming LCG's leader. He knew about many of Meredith's abuses and compromises, yet continued to serve and support the man, despite the overwhelming Biblical evidence of what happens to people and institutions that tolerate evil.
If Weston believed in God, rather than Rod, he would not have tolerated the continued employment of a Meredith family member who was not only a serial rapist, but who in at least one case seduced an underage girl while married? Clearly, Weston loved power more than he loved God. In Weston's mind, it was OK to let an abuser ruin the lives of several young women, as long as it kept him in Meredith's good graces and in line for more power.
In a recent Tomorrow's World article, Weston oh-so-ironically talked about the #MeToo movement and how it should remind us of the importance of Biblical morality. Yet it was Weston who took Meredith's money to sit on a Council that refused to hold Meredith accountable for employing a serial rapist. That makes him not just an enabler, but a hypocrite. If Weston's actions were Godly, Weston's God is a monster.
Why this scripture does not fit the Armstrongist/Millerite latter-day faux prophets:
This is an admonition to Jews who are legitimately a part of the polity of Israel. God is condemning them and directing them to reform and get back on the correct path.
This message would never be applied to the Armstrongist/Millerites fragments because they do not constitute legitimate god-related organizations. They are rather a loose collection of heretical organizations that are alienated from God. Just making a course correction on prophecy would not be a remedy. They would have deny Armstrongism altogether and disband.
The reason why I point this out is that Armstrongist/Millerites like to find themselves in the Bible. Recall how both GTA and HWA were discovered to be in the book of Zechariah. The fact that they are "in the Bible" legitimizes them and appeals to their vanity , even though the cited passages may be condemning in substance.
The only place I can remotely connect Armstrongist/Mlllerites with the Bible is in the book of Revelation where it speaks of the Synagogue of Satan - and I am not sure about that even. The Bible is just not going to mention a tiny, insignificant group of heretical sects on the North American continent in the 21st century. Their prophecies are "sound and fury signifying nothing."
But I get the point overall. What I have mentioned is just a nuance.
PEOPLE WHO LOVE LISTENING TO LIES is a tag that is given from people with a view from the outside looking into the greater COGs. Those on the inside for the most part don't have any idea they are listening to lies because after all, it is all about following church government for most of the membership.
Many of the leaders of the COGs are very shrewd and cunning. If you are in Dave Pack's organization and you start to waver in your allegiance a little because whole sermons become a pile of untruth just within the span of a few weeks or months as the march forward with new understanding continues, you are told that "It took HWA many years to come to a full understanding of doctrine". If a member gets to be really concerned about the failed prophesy timing that has happened many times with Dave Pack, you will be told that Peter and Paul got it all wrong too. If a member gets really troubled by long winded extra biblical scenarios given by Dave Pack, you will be told that Daniel said that knowledge would be increased in the last days. If all of the concerns of a member boil enough to force the member to seek counseling, you will be told that you are in God's church and belief and obedience to what Dave Pack teaches is required for salvation. There will always be an answer given and ultimately all those answers will point the member towards believing that their leader is the true representative of Jesus Christ and his church.
Really love this blog. Keep up the good work.
7:32 -
There is a common denominator in your correct responses that need to be pointed out.
"You are told".
You have made a statement that has been said time after time, but I think it has been understated in it's significance. It is the "Government" that exists in the COG's that is the primary block toward people escaping the chains and bondage.
When they are confronted with the "Illogical Spouts of Yuck" from the ministers, who is it they turn to? The very ones who are spouting the "Illogical Spouts of Yuck" for clarification. Put more simply, to rectify the lies, they turn to the liar, expecting truth that will settle the issue. They turn to the liar because they have been convinced there is no truth on the outside.
So they get lies from the inside they can clearly see. They are taught everything on the outside is already lies, so that's not an option. Thus, their only option is to turn to the liar to sort out what their brain is screaming out "Lies, Lies!!" The liar then turns to deception an delays. Because these deceptions and delays have been taught to them to be a better option than the "horrifying world of satan outside the church in the pits of hell", to them, it is a "higher hope" than what they are told is on the outside.
So their response is "well, we'll give it another shot", a forceful "push" of the truthful thoughts into the brain's "whatever" file, and a reset to see if the next set of lies and deceit from the liars are true again.
First, they're brainwashed. (LIED TO.) Second, they're told everything on the outside is worse than the inside. (FEAR) Third, they can't seek outside opinion because they're convince of what they've been told. (FEAR) Fourth, they turn back to the liars believing somehow the liar is telling the truth, that just hasn't been revealed yet. (DECEPTION).
The truth is, the liar's lies will never be revealed because they're the fantasies of con-artists and fully deceived hirelings of a false reality.
To come to the decision to break free completely, cold-turkey, and have no contact with the liars that deceive them whatsoever, is so hard for them to do. Sadly, that's a very shocking, scary, and frightening thing to ponder if you look at the viewpoint that the ministers have put in their head for decades.
Yes, they will have to start their lives over again. Yes, they will lose "Friends" in the church. But these are people who claim a belief and knowledge of Jesus Christ. They will have to embrace the core of their faith and realize that Jesus said he would NEVER leave them, NEVER forsake them, and will walk with them through the valleys and the shadows. The only answer is for Jesus himself to lift them out of the pit and show His hand - because only Jesus is truth. That's scriptural. He has done this for hundreds and thousands who have come out of the pits of Armstrong's deceptive snakes - and he'll do it for them too.
Be strong, and take courage, do not fear, nor be afraid For the Lord shall go before you. (Joshua 1:9)
I do like (in the original posting picture) how Bob Thiel is BONKING Dave Pack in the head with his stupid book, and it does appear that Ted is looking upon Weinland with "lust in his eyes".
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