The latest is from the Official Church of God Chief Zealot, James Malm, a man who has prostituted himself at the base of the "law" and who is totally ignorant about
Like any good Church of God leader, he has to stick his bible-thumping nose into the sex lives of church members.
Sex on Passover, Sabbath and High Days
The man and woman were created without sin and it was only AFTER sin entered, that Sacrifices, a High Priest Intercessor and the Law of Clean and Unclean were instituted.
Even then, there were clean and unclean animals, but the further details only began at Sinai with God’s detailed instructions for Israel and a PHYSICAL priesthood.
If one considers the laws given to Israel one cannot help but come to the conclusion that it is physically impossible to avoid becoming unclean for more than a very short time.
A woman can be absolutely perfect yet she cannot overcome the female nature [natural cycle], a man can be absolutely perfect yet he cannot prevent an emission even if he restrains himself otherwise.
This is meant to teach us that the physical state of man once Adam and Eve had sinned is antithetical to godliness, and only God can make us spiritually clean washing away our sins. Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
In practical terms; yes, let a man and his wife enjoy each other to the full, but refrain from sex on High Days and Sabbaths [and on the Appointed Time of Passover day] so as to be clean on Holy Time. This principle is presented when God commanded Israel to refrain from their wives for three days before Pentecost at Sinai (Ex 19:15).
I have been in error on this point in the past and I now realize that it is proper to rest from sex on the Passover, Sabbaths and High Days. This is not a burden since one can prepare on Friday afternoon and before High Days and wash before the Sabbaths begin.
In other words, it is ok to breed in sexual abandonment four days prior to the three-day restriction, then just make sure to wash up afterward AND before sundown so that the Holy Spirit can descend upon you on Pentecost.
35 comments:
So wet dreams make a man dirty now? Women's periods make us dirty? What about the vile filth that pretend church leaders preach? It makes us dirty every time we read or hear it! If anyone needs a bitch slap across their hypocritical face right now it is James Malm. What a disgusting pig!
The power that all these arbitrary rules gives to the Sabbath police. Power, power, I want more power.
Christ experienced this same crap when He was critized for healng on the Sabbath.
James Malm needs to keep his nose out of the lives of his members. Marriage is between a couple and God. Period. "I have been error...I now realize"... yeah, so people are supposed to have their intimate lives revolve around Malm's ideas?
Any couple who reads this tripe and actually says "Ok, spouse, now we can't do it on such and such and such and such..." or times the conclusion of the act at exactly sunset because Malm says so, and you can go on with the possibilities, you get the idea... get with it and take control of YOUR marriage and kick Malm out of the bedroom.
The bedroom belongs to YOU, and YOUR SPOUSE. Doing what Malm says about sexual stuff puts Malm right in the bed with you. EW???!!!!!! And THAT is as repulsive a thought as one could ever imagine. If you listen to what Malm says about sex, or ANY man, then they are a party to your sex life and your marriage. Basically now it's... you know the word. This is between you and your spouse and God, and it's time people start to say enough is enough.
It's time COG people draw the line, and lock the door and tell those nosy Dr. Ruth wannabes to bug out of their sex lives because IT IS NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS, AND WHAT IS PROPER AND WHAT IS NOT PROPER IS BETWEEN THE COUPLE. Who cares what Malm thinks about sex. As Riker from Star Trek would say, "YOU'RE OUT OF LINE, MISTER!"
I echo Sharon.... Disgusting and creepy. Malm needs to butt out. I am so tempted to make a joke concerning Malm and a certain kind of Florida/Hawaiian/Californian tree that would be pretty darn funny right now. Being it inappropriate, I shall refrain, and hand this over to the next commentator, so I can quickly end this post and get off the computer for a minute.
Metal illness.
Religious zealots never get any sex and t is apparent Malm isn't getting any. Who would have sex with such a "man" as this? I can see why his wife left him.
These kinds of fanatics are what makes some folks want to give up and die. They instill hopelessness. Because everything the person is doing, or might do, or does by DESIGN, is wrong. Always wrong (according to them and their interpretations.) Their kind have done great harm to many. There is no love and encouragement out of their mouths. There is only law, law, law. The 'you are a hopeless piece of shit' channel 24/7. There is no mercy, no grace, no loving-kindness, no gentleness, and no tender mercy. There is only law, law, law and you aren't and won't EVER be good enough because there is always gonna be LOTS of other things you are doing wrong just give them time to get the interpretation or understanding and they'll tell you all about it. You dirty, filthy, vile, nasty piece of animated dirt.
I hate the way they ignore the verses that say things like, "mercy TRIUMPHS over judgement."
I wish I had never heard of the ACOG's, EVER. But I especially wish I had never been exposed to anything from James Malm. Toxic.
This man has some serious mental health issues! Why is it that so many church leaders are text bookcases for mental illness examples?
Hmm, so Malm rather than Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath.
NO2HWA said, "Like any good Church of God leader, he has to stick his bible-thumping nose into the sex lives of church members".
MY COMMENT - This is too funny, but it does seem to follow an Armstrong Church of God tradition. Remember when HWA once said in a sermon there were only two acceptable positions for sexual intercourse. Church members were left to wonder, "Which two?".
Of course, Rod Meredith was always good for a reference or two about sex in his sermons.
Only an Old Testament legalist would misconstrue an instruction made to Moses and Israel at Mt. Sinai as something that the spiritual Church of God should be doing today. My comments to NEO about fringe people from the WCG in the previous blog post also apply here as well.
If Malm is consistent, he should also take the verses previous to the cited Exodus 19:15 in context to be literally enforced today. Exodus 19:12-13 in Malm's toxic version of Armstrongism must also endorse stoning and putting people to death - "And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned" Exodus 19:12-13
Does Malm endorse the stoning and death of any Church couple who engages in sexual intercourse three days prior to the Feast of Weeks (Old Testament Pentecost)? The whole context of Exodus 19:15 was preparing Israel to meet God. "For on the third day, the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people". Exodus 19:11. Does Malm think he and his followers are going to meet God at the end of three days like Israel at Mt. Sinai? Of course not. Absurd!
Of course, typical of Armstrong Church of God leaders like Malm on the fringe who major in the minors, none of this has anything to do with Jesus' sacrifice and with personal salvation. I agree with "Stay out of my bed, hypocrite". Malm isn't getting any, and he wants the rest of the Church to suffer along with himself and he came up with this misconstrued verse to provide him with ammo to guilt trip his fellow Churchmen.
James Malm, we don't care what you say just as long as you keep us entertained!
Richard
It is almost inevitable for any Cult leader of any type... they want to regulate "the marriage bed". Odd , for even God himself says the marriage bed is "undefiled".
", for even God himself says the marriage bed is "undefiled".
Actually no God actually said that. The author of Hebrews, who was not Paul either, said that.
Pardon the bluntness however, I sat through a Ministerial Refresher seminar where the speaker was introducing the idea that church needed a statement on whether oral sex should be part of the Church/Christian experience. After he accidently said, "personally I find the whole topic distasteful " and we all fell out laughing, he being oblivious to what he said, the French Regional Director , way in the back, started waving his hands and demanding to be heard. He said "Stop! Stop! DO NOT RULE ON SUCH A THING!!!! The whole Paris Church will defect!" We fell out again and called off the discussion.
Had it been "forbidden" I suspect the church would have imploded long before it did. lol
"Pardon the bluntness however, I sat through a Ministerial Refresher seminar where the speaker was introducing the idea that church needed a statement on whether oral sex should be part of the Church/Christian experience. After he accidently said, "personally I find the whole topic distasteful " and we all fell out laughing, he being oblivious to what he said, the French Regional Director , way in the back, started waving his hands and demanding to be heard. He said "Stop! Stop! DO NOT RULE ON SUCH A THING!!!! The whole Paris Church will defect!" We fell out again and called off the discussion. "
This is the funniest thing I read all day! "The WHOLE PARIS CHURCH WILL DEFECT" bahahahahahahaaha :)) :)) :))
And here I thought those Ministerial Refreshers were so stiff and boring. Goodness gracious.
Now I have to go to the Envoys and check to see who the comedian was. And looking at the 1983 Envoy (just a guess) - D.A.??? I might be wrong, but, Well Ghastly!
having been celibate for the last 12+ years since my horny nubile 20 sumptn wife left me (and no she didnt leave me cuz i did not serve her properly), i guess i dont get all the hoopla about the struggles regarding sexual activity, refraining, etc...
i look at the simplicity of the example of The Christ Himself when He was in the flesh, and His being bound by The Spirit, and even the baptist and his example, and concede it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing...
c f ben yochanan
you suspected potential "implosion" long before, etc. is frankly rather telling on how much you clearly think in terms of animal logic vs. that of the Spiritual, or even the spiritual...
nonetheless: one has to be fascinated by the fact that you were privy to some of the innermost and intimate workings of an organization that shaped a generation; further justification in my mind to follow ur blog, despite its occasional base tendency, lol...
in my spock voice, all i can say is: fascinating...
c f yochanan
According to his understanding this is necessary to be ready to meet God. Aren't all other holy days a meeting with God and wouldn't they, as such, require the 3 day "purification"? Do you have to be clean 3 days to pray?
If he's saying folks can only have sex Sunday through Tuesday, boy that must have been a bugger in the garden of Eden. Created on Friday, told to be fruitful and multiply, but, but, ya gotta wait till Sunday.
Another thing, God was there all the time, they never knew when he was going to be walking in the garden so did they break the 1st instruction he gave them and not have sex till he kicked 'em outta the garden?
Better advice would be don't eat beans the night before any kind of church services.
BB
Is this three 24 hour days?, or three sunrise to sunset days?? Remember leap years to correct time difference between Mr. Sun days and atomic clock 24 days. How about if you live near the boundary of a time zone, can you jump back and forth and lose an hour, so you can have sex in 23 hours? How about if your a living in the artic and have a very long, long day during summer, and very long, long nights during winter? Will you only have sex twice a year?
*TRIGGER WARNING*
Humor Alert - SKIP THIS if you don't want to read a humorous post.
I don't think Dennis mentioned the Memo that came out after that Refresher........
"Fellow Ministers of The Work,
We are in MORTAL DANGER! We need to WAKE UP! I have received reports that our Ministers, in a IMPORTANT Ministerial Refresher, were engaged in COURSE and FOUL language, and were LAUGHING! The subject matter was PUTRID. We must be held to a higher standard! Let your ears BURN that those who LAUGH at such COARSE and PERVERSE conversation shall be in danger of ETERNAL FIRE!!!!!
Therefore, I am ordering, effective immediately, that all Refreshers will be OVERSEEN by my own hand picked Evangelists. They will REPORT to me on any kind of behavior that cannot be accepted in God's Church! And if this happens again, I tell you, you will be PUT OUT of not only the MINISTRY, but of the CHURCH! We must realize TIME IS SHORT, and it will only be a few years from now until God's Government RETURNS TO THIS WHOLE EARTH! WE MUST BE READY!!!!!
YOU MINISTERS are expected to be held to a higher standard! Let's make sure we are walking in UNITY and in LOVE! God's Church cannot allow these conversations to get us OFF THE TRACK!
Now, onto the subject at hand. I suggest all of you people re-read The Missing Dimension. And read it again! I fear, for our ministry, that we are in MORTAL DANGER of losing sight!
Now let's get back on track and focus on the WORK, not on COARSE TALK at a Refresher Program! WE HAVE MUCH WORK TO DO!!!!
***********
We now return to our regularly scheduled comments......
All religions seem to devolve to control. It permeated the church while I was in it, and nothing has changed in the interim. All this emphasis on times and days, what you can and can't do at specific times. What a burden it was back then, and in the case of Malm, it's only gotten worse. What a relief to be out of all that madness!
9.03 PM
Amen, couldn't agree more.
Dennis
There you go again, using your de facto minister status to simply invalidate Connies comment. Invalidation is the major tool of control used by Scientologists to keep their members in line. It's abusive. By contrast, Christ presented facts and lines of reasoning.
Dennis
There you go again, using your de facto minister status to simply invalidate Connies comment. Invalidation is the major tool of control used by Scientologists....
I was stuck in "God told me ..." mode. So often we take things in the Bible that people came up with and accredit it to God because it is spoken of in the Bible. For example, Acts tells us of the church having all things common and distributing church member resources to all in need etc. Dave Pack uses this to do the same and take vast amounts of member resources for his own benefit. No God told the church to do this. The men of the church decided that since Jesus return was imminent, why not do this. The practice did not last long but I am sure it did some damage to people. Once Jesus did not return and more wealthy "hell no, I'm not doing that, I worked hard for my money and status", the practice died a quiet death.
In the OT it was the Priesthood that came up with the rules and punishments which many today read in the same way as if a God said it thus making it "His will" and usable today in the same way.
Apologies if it came across as diminishing or invalidating anything. Not the intention. In many topics Biblical I just have always thought it important to distinguish between what some person said and what the text implies came directly from God though , of course, I personally feel it all came from Priests and the minds of men seeking control and status for themselves at the expense of the common folk. But that's another story.
Another anon said " Anonymous said...
you suspected potential "implosion" long before, etc. is frankly rather telling on how much you clearly think in terms of animal logic vs. that of the Spiritual, or even the spiritual..."
Me: "Had it been "forbidden" I suspect the church would have imploded long before it did. lol
It was a light hearted comment. I didn't really think the church would implode over it and was not some pre-awareness that it would later actually implode. Lighten up man.
Animal logic? What does that mean? Reminds me of the guy that accused me of using "human logic" and went silent when I asked him what kind he used. He wasn't about to declare that his logic was God's logic. Do you just use spiritual logic to get by only or do you slip into animal logic from time to time if ever? We're all literally animals, which is very hard for a human to admit, so the logic comes with product.
I'm a lot more spiritual minded than you could imagine. It's just not the kind you might be familiar with.
Aside from that, I actually don't understand the logic or meaning of your comment.
Dennis, I assume this refresher took place during the Tkach years when local cultural sensitivities were taken into account, as expressed in the aproach of the producing of an American language PT and a British PT.
Look, what happens when an entire church (area/region) defects over a certain issue is, that that particular issue becomes somewhat of a major definer of that particular split off.
The defection of the entire congregation of Lutetia over that particular issue would have made for an interesting split off. Probably making that particular (assumed) habit of couleur locale an obligatory part at the new moon celebration (re: opera norma or rusalka maybe)
Oh wait, the topic is not opera, it is soap opera...my bad.
(I assume the regional dir. was OC. If it was mr DA, that would be serious since he had worked very close to the allan dulles counter intelligence office, making the data trustworthy without empirical testing of the assumption.
And how would such a thing actually be put in words in the Systematic Theology Thesis "Le BJ"?
Now to end this topic on a serious note. It is not that the ministry wanted a ruling on BJ's for control. These type of questions usually surfaced because of questions from the field or young students at AC studying the required books on "how to live".
Greg Albrecht took a rather "European" position on the matter when confronted in class I heard rumored (chuckle chuckle)
I hope the apostle malm is served by my insights of the matter.
Nck
Remembering from the days I lived in a mixed Jewish community (Orthodox, Reformed, Progressive, non-practicing) the only High Holy Day with such restrictions was Yom Kippur - no coitus, no bathing, no wearing leather...
I haven't spent much time at James Malm's website, but it appears he's been through the Armstrong Doctrinal Cafeteria and now wants buffet. While the COGs accept the clean and unclean meats commands, having made them "health rules", they seem to dismiss the washings -- even though some of them (such as bathing after emissions) could also have been made a "health rule". The same Hebrew words (tahor and tamei) for clean and unclean are used in both sets of commands.
But then, falling asleep after coitus or flogging probably overruled having a shower...
And too...It was not uncommon, back in the defacto days, to have a couple call me. I did not call them and, usually..no always, the wife telling me to tell "him" that what he wanted was wrong in God's eyes. It always bothered me that maybe God was watching but that's another topic. I always responded with it simply being something that the two of them had to work out and such things are simply issues that one can decide for themselves. There is no right or wrong answer. Personal preference and all that.
Often as well, the problem was not indignation about what someone desired with someone and the other someone thought it to be wrong, but that the one did not wish it with THAT someone. I wasn't stupid.
Anyway, being " a defacto former ministurd reverting to my old devious ways taught to me at AC so I could control the members and take every advantage of them I could come up with.. members could be just as interesting and a challenge. The mere members, because I was exhalted above all, sometimes demanded I give sermons on the Illuminati, the Rockefellers and the Federal Reserve System. Ummm...no. That ranked even higher than not pontificating about Petra or British Israelism in my world.
And try not to take the above paragraph too seriously as to what you think I thought my role in ministry was ok??? Ok??? :)
In hind sight and on this day marking my 68th lap around the sun, my years as minister haunt me as such a waste of my time and aspirations in the interests I suppressed in my distraction with WCG. It was the 60's. I was naïve and for that I shall pay as will many many others. However, in my own personal "spirituality" , I could not be here if I had not been there and I like where I am. Life works like that.
Now...let's all rise and take up our hymnbooks and sing, "Death shall them seize and to the tomb, alive!, they shall go down..." and SMILE BRETHREN!
I don't know why y'all give Malm any attention and use him as any kind of standard for how any normal big COG org works, therefore using him as a reflection of the bigger orgs. He is a nut case and has a zero following and the things he spouts are ridiculous to the core.
Is this a full 3 days and 3 nights, or can we use "parts of a day" like the way Easter is calculated from "Good Friday" by most of Christianity?
Anon 6:54 wrote:
If he's saying folks can only have sex Sunday through Tuesday, boy that must have been a bugger in the garden of Eden.
I'm not sure Anon 6:54 knows what "bugger" means in some English-speaking communities, but he raises an interesting question. If you can't perform coitus with your wife from Wednesday through Saturday, is buggering still acceptable on those days?
Malms majoring in the minors. What he proposes is strange. There is enough strangeness about the COG landscape these days, Malm doesn't have to add to it.
Micromanaging people's lives always ends in disaster. Malm like many leaders these days seems to be becoming a victim of his own hubris.
Unless there is more that Malm said that is not quoted here, then there is nothing that indicates he believes people are to refrain from sex 3 days before Pentecost. He only alluded to that instruction given to Israel at a particular time as his basis for concluding that sex on the holy day is wrong. From what I read in what was posted, he is only making a case for no sex on holy days. Argue with that if you want, but don't make it out to seem that he is saying something else.
Who is this self-righteous prig that things he can stick his nose into church members bedrooms? Why has the church filled it with men who are so obsessed with sex? Helen
Who is this self-righteous prig that things he can stick his nose into church members bedrooms?
This is the result of a specific kind of training that happened in Armstrongism. This is the "training" of the following programming methods:
1) You were BORN to be A King!
2) Prepare to RULE!
These principles appealed to the egos of men in Armstrongism for decades. For generations, it was the whole being of soul of a man to be the best ruler of the house, the best "prince" of the Kingdom of God, to do good enough and to "qualify" for the highest "positions" in the Kingdom. You would a city, five cities, ten cities, a country, a planet - MAYBE even a whole galaxy to RULE over. The male egos were salivating thirstily for this ability to control, to dominate, to rule over their dominions and their territories. This was the teaching and the reality. There are many, many articles and teachings that cover this thoroughly.
When the WCG collapsed and shattered into hundreds of pieces, the path to a higher position in the Church (which many believed would lead to a higher position in the Kingdom) literally fell off the table. Many who were on their way to deacons, elders, pastors, or employment in the church or the college found themselves without a path to promotion. But the ingrained philosophies which were so thoroughly applied within their minds - the programming - did not go anywhere. That thirst, that hunger for power built on pride and ego was now starved without a central organization.
When the WCG divided, it fragmented into several core groups. There were those who left to form splinters, those who left religion completely, and those who went into mainstream Christianity. Of those groups were a few who were not going to give up the dream of power and rulership - and thought they could use Armstrong's Formula Of Success to accomplish what Armstrong did. What we are seeing now are the results of the few men who went rogue and are making an attempt to rebuild what was broken. What I am convinced we don't hear about, or know about, are the others who have tried but failed right off the bat, which is why we don't know who they are.
So now, we have the stories of those who have tried. We have the stories of Flurry, Pack, Weinland, Thiel, a few larger splinters trying to hold their own - all holding onto that dream of being a king and ruling a city or a galaxy or whatever territory they'll get (I wouldn't want to see them fighting like cats over borders!!!). What have been the results? Just skim through this blog or the 'net for a day and find out the results. It isn't pretty. The whole meat of the matter is simple: When you focus on authority, ruler-ship, control, power, rank, and dominion, you lose focus on boundaries, what's appropriate, good fruits, loving character, and godly characteristics. What we see here is simply the aggressive cancer of uncontrolled authority spreading like wildfire. The fruit of presumptuous behavior gone wild. And, like it or not - it was all enabled by Armstrongism's core teachings and doctrines - powered by pride and the hope of promotion.
Happy birthday, Dennis. :-)
I have never seen the Malm website. Don't want to either. Does he have any followers? Or is this a guy with a website?
DennisCDiehl at 5:50 PM
Dibar Apartian? Sam Kneller?
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