Leave it to the Church of God to institute more extra-biblical legalistic nonsense over their members. More hoops and regulations for people to go through in order to please their god. LCG members always seem to have to be doing something to appease the wrath of their angry god who is perpetually pissed off.
LCG members will have celebrated 8 days symbolizing a time that depicts the Kingdom of God, a time of joy and rest, yet they must be such vile creatures that they immediately sin after being in that kingdom and have to start fasting. You can be guaranteed no such thing will be required in the Kingdom of God that they all claim to be looking eagerly forward to.
Oh yes, and lest you forget, EEEEEEEVIL is about to descend upon the Living Church of God and troublesome times are ahead. That broken record has been skipping in that same spot for 80+ years now.
Dear Brethren and Fellow Servants of God,We have much to be thankful for as we enter into the seventh-month Festival season. Events certainly seem to be speeding up, hastening the time when these Feasts will be fulfilled. We often turn to Nehemiah 8 when giving sermons during this time of year. There we read of how the Jews kept the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day. Although it does not mention Atonement, it is almost certain that they fasted on that day. We rarely go on to read the first verse of the next chapter, which offers an interesting insight. The Last Great Day ends on the 22nd day of the month. In chapter 9, verse 1, we see that they fasted two days later, probably on the first Sabbath after the Feast. It has been a practice of the Church to have a Church-wide fast from time to time, and since we have not had one this year, I thought it would be good to do so shortly after the Feast. Some of us discussed this at a recent meeting here in Charlotte, and since many travel all over the world, it seems best to hold a fast a couple weeks following the Feast. We are therefore calling for a Church-wide fast for the Sabbath of October 20. We recognize that some individuals or Church congregations already have plans in place for that Sabbath, so it is certainly fine to choose the next day or another day close to this day. Let us plan now to voluntarily set that day aside, or one close to it, to examine and humble ourselves before our Creator, and beseech Him to strengthen and bless His Church as we see an evil time descending around us.Sincerely, in Christ’s service,Gerald Weston
47 comments:
Again, treat members like children by choosing their fast day for them.
Adulthood, what's that?
It has been a practice of the Church to have a Church-wide fast from time to time, and since we have not had one this year, I thought it would be good to do so shortly after the Feast.
Do you see the logical fallacy in Weston's statement? Remember that it has also been a practice of the Church of God to have a church split from time to time. Does that mean Weston should have a church split if there hasn't been one in a while?
Maybe LCG hasn't had a church-wide fast in a while because there hasn't been a special reason to have one. Maybe it's just another instrument of control?
Gerald has noticed: "We rarely go on to read the first verse of the next chapter, which offers an interesting insight."
Here's even a better one you rarely, if ever, go on to read, which really offers an interesting insight into the concept of rule upon rule in the COGs.
Matthew 11:28-30 28
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
As long as we're at it Gerald:
Isaiah 28:9&10 says line upon line precept upon precept” this is not only repeated in the same verse, but also in verse 13, I have always found that when something is repeated that many times it must be important. Could you please explain these verses to me?
The Church has traditionally used this verse as an admonition against taking verses out of context...
It’s good advice, but the passage is really God’s sarcastic indictment against Israel’s leaders for turning His word into a list of rules, repeated endlessly to the people as if they were little children, barely able to understand. (In Hebrew the passage reads, “Sav lasav, sav lasav, kav lakav, kav lakav, like a child’s rhyme.)
Instead of teaching them that He intended for their land to be a place of rest for the weary, the leaders had taught the people to live in fear of breaking His rules. In verse 13 He tells them, in effect, that since they’ve done this to His people, He’s going to bring the Assyrians to do it to them. Shortly thereafter the Assyrians over ran the Northern Kingdom and dispersed the leaders.
So I guess you could say that, however well-intended, the Church broke it’s own rule. We took the passage out of context."
https://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/line-upon-line-precept-upon-precept/
Not scoffing...just noticing
No Dennis,
God didn't bring the Assyrians against Israel because "the people lived in fear of breaking his rules," Rather He brought the Assyrians because Israel became depraved.
Another apostate, God smearing comment from you.
In the kingdom of God there would be no requirement to fast. So if you have just spent 8 days celebrating that goodness why on earth would you immediately be fasting for some wrong? Every year that goes by I actually think the churches of “god” get dumber!
LCG's Gerald Weston said, "Events certainly seem to be speeding up, hastening the time when these Feasts will be fulfilled."
MY COMMENT - A line straight out of the 1950s/1960s Radio Church of God. How many times have I heard that phrase in my youth 50+ years ago?
Suggest Gerald Weston and the other Splinter leaders should read Aesop's fabled story of "The little boy who cried wolf". Eighty+ years of false predictions including Herbert Armstrong's 19-year time cycles, "1975 in Prophecy" booklet, many other post-January, 1972 predicted dates and LCG predecessor Rod Meredith's continuous statements that "we have 3 to 5 years left" which he made for 50 years - have all contributed to the tithe slaves' reaction that if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t. The moral of Aesop's fabled story!
Richard
@ 7:11 AM, are you suggesting that LCG needs to fast because it has become depraved?
Why do "Fasts" go so SLOW??
Anon 7:27 AM, I suggest you read about methods of cult mind control. Pressure/release is a standard technique that many cults use to induce depression and leave members susceptible to suggestions implanted by their cult leaders. Similarly, Weston is doing a textbook cult thing by letting members feel a "high" and then bringing them quickly to a "low" rather than letting the "high" last for too long.
Anonymous said...
No Dennis,
God didn't bring the Assyrians against Israel because "the people lived in fear of breaking his rules," Rather He brought the Assyrians because Israel became depraved.
Another apostate, God smearing comment from you.
Methinks you neither read the actual quote, which is not mine by the way, nor understand it and explanation of Isaiah 28. The COGs never got it right either thinking it was a formula for how to study the Bible.
If you'd really like to read my "apostate , God smearing" view on Isaiah 28 on Banned go here:
http://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/search?q=here+a+little+there+a+little
Or put "here a little, there a little" in the search box. I wrote several explanations of Isaiah 28 because the church never got it right. Not even close and Bob Thiel was ranting at the time that the way to study the Bible was found in Isaiah 28 as in "here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept." He was also showing his ignore-ance of context and meaning.
And too...I am not an Apostate God Smearing" kinda Guy. Obviously theology done by people actually educated in the field and probably scientific inquiry bothers you and is an uncomfortable to your pious convictions held together with marginal information
My, my, my. How the Church of God scene has changed. In LCG, that is.
First: Why? Just because?
Gerald says:
"It has been a practice of the Church to have a Church-wide fast from time to time, and since we have not had one this year, I thought it would be good to do so shortly after the Feast."
This is the weakest version of any call-to-fast that I have ever read. Where's the power? where's the authority? where's the oomph? Where's the big crisis? Where's the impending doom and gloom? One thing about Gerald Flurry. HWA he definitely is not!
I mean, not like there's not any lack of fast-inducing material out there! ;)
Here's a template of what he could have used:
"Persecution is INCREASING exponentially every DAY! Our dissident enemies are constantly ATTACKING God's ONE TRUE CHURCH! Brethren, we are in DANGER of listening to the ruthless, awful, deceiving, twisted LIES - which are DESTROYING this very work! We are in DANGER of becoming LAX and LAZY about the TRUTH! Therefore, I am declaring a CHURCH-WIDE FAST to be held on OCTOBER 20, 2018. Brethren, We ALL MUST HOLD FAST! WE MUST NOT LET DOWN! Are we going to be CAUGHT UP in the PUTRID SEWER of the minds of those who have FALLEN AWAY? I KNOW you won't!"
Ahem. Wow. I'm almost ready to put my banana back on the counter! Whew!
But what do we get from Gerald?
Ohh... we were just sitting around, looking at some scriptures. We really haven't fasted for a while. Soooooo.... why don't we do that. Yeah, let's do one. It's been a while. We need to look at ourselves once in a while. Because evil's dropping on us.
Oh, what's a great response to this obviously lax and ho-hum, texted-in-bed call to fast? Hey, I got it!
MINISTERS!
You are becoming LAZY, LAX and LUKEWARM! I have seen you calling FASTS for little to no REASON! Do you REALLY THINK your brethren will see the NEED of such a FAST with such a lazy and half-hearted call? You ministers ARE SPEAKING WITHOUT POWER AND AUTHORITY! You must WAKE UP! Times are closing IN! It's almost HERE! The HAIL And FIRE and BRIMSTONE is CREEPING UP TO THE CHURCH like a WALL OF LAVA! Can you SMELL THE SMOKE? Now let's GET INVIGORATED! HUBBA HUBBA! HOO-RAH!!!!! SOMEONE GET ME A SAMMICH I'M HUNGRY! AMES!!! AMES!!!! WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING??? AMES!!! YES, YOU! GET ME A SAMMICH!!!! WALLACE!!! ARE YOU ON FACEBOOK? SHOULDNT YOU BE WORKING ON AN ARTICLE? MY JOWELS ARE GOING TO FALL OFF!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah.
Way to go, Gerald. Your authority is like a balloon letting off it's air. Just one big ptttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Glad you found something to do a ministerial ecclesiastical command with. Good luck with your church's total and complete compliance.
-SHT
Dennis
Yes, I recall you on several occasions bringing up your "here a little, there a little" explanation. And as I commented at the time, the "here a little, there a little" interpretation is a good description of the way the bible is written. Hence, so what if that particular scripture is a mistranslation.
Why do you keep harping on this one scripture?
Isa 28:13 - But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
So, the bible isn't the word of the Lord?
While I respect your right to your own conclusion, I disagree. Even if the context isn't exactly talking about the bible, it's describing how God's word works at times, and it sure seems to fit with all the various interpretations today.
Not saying herbies interpretations were all correct, but it sure looks like this can also be applied to the word of the Lord that we have today, the bible.
I understand that you no longer believe the bible to be the word of the Lord, but that is irrelevant.
May God bless you Dennis,
Kevin
Did I say Flurry?
I meant Weston. But the same goes for Flurry too. ;)
-SHT
Anonymous said...
Dennis
Yes, I recall you on several occasions bringing up your "here a little, there a little" explanation. And as I commented at the time, the "here a little, there a little" interpretation is a good description of the way the bible is written. Hence, so what if that particular scripture is a mistranslation.
Why do you keep harping on this one scripture?
I wrote about the actual meaning of Isaiah 28 because for 30 years and to this day the COG's think it is a premier scripture to use to tell people how to study the Bible. They, like you evidently, want it to mean what it never meant. If they do this here and aren't called out on it, they will do it everywhere that fits their fancy, and they do.
It is not a good description of how the Bible is written either and it is not written deliberately so one can hunt and peck their way around finding every conceivable thing they want to believe. The Bible is not, as Art Mokarrow wrote, a puzzle to solved. Why are you so defensive about giving the correct meaning to a scripture very popular with Church of God ministers?
and too...howz come I can bring up the proper view of a oft misquoted church of God scripture, that I too put the wrong spin on as a pastor, to remind Gerald Weston that his rules on the members, in this case, another capricious fast day, are actually what the priests in Isaiah 28 were doing and getting prophecied against for as they behaved as little children, not to mention all the drunkenness they got nailed for in the text?
I think it's a little crazy to think that a person's "command" to fast actually accomplishes anything - spiritually.
Fasting is supposed to be a "from the heart" kind of thing. It's where you - at least, in my opinion (this isn't probably the way a lot of people think about it) - are so grieved and upset at something that you've literally "lost your appetite" and are grieving, remorseful, and totally immersed in prayer or whatever it is.
It's like if you discover that your loving spouse of 40 years had been having an affair for 25 of those 40 years with your best friend of 30 years behind your back. You wouldn't really have an appetite because you were SO upset about the situation. It just had to "get worked out" somehow. When you're finally at peace, you feel like eating again. If you're really, really cold-hearted, you'd then find out one of them got some sort of a transmitted thing and then go out and get a steak! (Yeah, that wasn't a very nice thing to imagine, but I'm making a point. :) )
The point is, what is the point in MAKING a congregation fast when your heart is not in it? What's the point of saying, "Okay, everyone, on October 20th, I want everyone in my church to fast. Because I feel like it." Everyone just sits around being hungry and thirsty just waiting to end it all and go out to a nice big restaurant for the Post-Fast Glutton Fest. If there's no real reason, if there's nothing that is really upsetting the person that is fasting (or really on the person's mind to cause one to need to fast), than it's useless. You're just running on fumes with no food (and no drink, if you really want to get into it) for no reason.
Besides, it's not really "mandated" in scripture for an Oct. 20 fast. So you could technically say "I'm not eating from 1 PM to 6 PM" and there's the fast. Then it's dinner time. But then Gerald will say, "I'm the big man on campus, and I have the authority to tell you to fast and when and for how long! Why rebellious?" and then you would say, "Why then are you not listening to scripture when your congregation is showing you what is wicked in your camp, but you are doing nothing about it? WHAT authority?" Since he seems to be so lax on correcting wickedness, but seems to enjoy the idea of barking out executive commands - I don't see his authority, either. But that's just my opinion looking in the window from the outside.
It just seems pointless to me to do what he is doing in the way he is doing. But maybe that's just classic Weston.
By the way. Doesn't "Weston" sound like some kind of creamy salad dressing?
I "here a little and there a little"d my way around the Bible and learned:
GE 7:1 Noah was righteous.
JB 1:1,8, JB 2:3 Job was righteous.
LK 1:6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous.
JA 5:16 Some men are righteous, (which makes their prayers effective).
1JN 3:6-9 Christians become righteous (or else they are not really Christians).
RO 3:10, 3:23, 1JN 1:8-10 No one was or is righteous.
GE 10:5, 20, 31 There were many languages before the Tower of Babel.
GE 11:1 There was only one language before the Tower of Babel.
GE 11:9 At Babel, the Lord confused the language of the whole world.
1CO 14:33 Paul says that God is not the author of confusion
MT 6:25-34, LK 12:22-31 Take no thought for tomorrow. God will take care of you.
1TI 5:8 A man who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel. (Note: Providing for a family certainly involves taking "thought for tomorrow.")
MT 7:21, LK 10:36-37, RO 2:6, 13, JA 2:24 We are justified by works, not by faith.
JN 3:16, RO 3:20-26, EP 2:8-9, GA 2:16 We are justified by faith, not by works.
MT 8:28-33 Two demoniacs are healed in the Gadarene swine incident.
MK 5:2-16, LK 8:26-36 One demoniac is healed in this incident
MT 21:7 Jesus rides two animals during his triumphal entry.
MK 11:7, LK 19:35, JN 12:14 Only one animal is involved.
MT 28:6-8 The women ran from the tomb "with great joy."
JN 20:1-2 Mary told Peter and the other disciple that the body had been stolen. (Would she feel "great joy" if she thought the body had been stolen?)
MT 28:1 The first visitors to the tomb were Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (two).
MK 16:1 Both of the above plus Salome (three).
LK 23:55 - 24:1, 24:10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and "other women" (at least five).
JN 20:1 Mary Magdalene only (one).
MT 28:2 An angel arrived during an earthquake, rolled back the stone, then sat on it (outside the tomb).
MK 16:5 No earthquake, only one young man sitting inside the tomb.
LK 24:2-4 No earthquake. Two men suddenly appear standing inside the tomb.
JN 20:12 No earthquake. Two angels are sitting inside the tomb.
https://infidels.org/library/modern/donald_morgan/contradictions.html
Ok, now I got the story straight...
Dennis said:
" Obviously theology done by people actually educated in the field and probably scientific inquiry bothers you and is an uncomfortable to your pious convictions held together with marginal information"
Spoken like your typical Herb minister. The big people ministers are always right and have all the answers. So who are the little people sheeple to disagree and have minds of their own. Since you missed it, the constitution was written with the point of view of people having self determination, and not necessarily being wise. All historic attempts to supplant this has proven worst, as in Maos China or Stalins Russia.
Commoners with their "pious convictions held together with marginal information" are a far better alternative to "wise" ministers like Dennis Diehl.
Why are they having this worldwide fast ? For what reason are they beseeching God ? Gerald writes so wishy washy, we have a fast from time to time, we thought we'd wait, uggghhhhh
Gosh Dennis, all these different accounts about angels inside/outside Christ's tomb and whether their was one or two, has shattered my Christian faith. You have persuaded me to become a atheist. I'II immediately stop praying, studying my bible and turn my back on the ten commandments. Off to the brothel I go.
Of course, if Isaiah wrote the phrase "the word of the LORD" to mean "The Bible", we have an issue in that the Bible did not yet exist when he wrote, much less Isaiah's writings (if they are his) being considered part of any sacred scripture yet at that point. There's not even necessarily a reason to assume it was a written word he referred to, if we're being objective here. :)
If Donald Morgan believes those to be contradictions he has that right, I'll never convince him otherwise. Since you copied and pasted part of his web page I guess you agree with him. Ok, great, that too is your right. It doesn't however make you another definition of the same word "right" (don't ya just love english?).
You know the explanations, just because you no longer believe them is irrelevant.
However, would you believe four eyewitnesses in a jury case who had the exact same story? Everyone perceives things differently. Does that prove the bible? Nope.
Does Donald's list of contradictions make them contradictions? Nope.
There has been enough written by most all Christian denominations answering these supposed contradictions so there's no point re-inventing the piano. ☺
Kevin
SHT is correct. Gerald so soft-pedals his command that it will be easy for people to ignore. His tone is very revealing as to what the post-Meredith LCG has become. It's not much more than the Rod Meredith Memorial Whitened Sepulchre Society. Weston's admission that he is calling the fast not for some greater purpose but simply because "we always used to do it" is more or less an admission that he is playing church even though Meredith demanded his people not do that!
One other point Dennis, I also noticed in an earlier post of yours on how you misrepresented Paul in Romans while trying to point out supposed contradictions.
You stated that Paul said no one is justified by the law and then later Paul says that we are justified by the law.
Dennis, I don't mind your disagreeing with the bible, but be honest. You know full well that Paul said that not the hearers of the law but the doers will be justified. This says nothing about how they are justified.
Clearly we are justified by Jesus' shed blood and his work as advocate for us in heaven not by our law keeping seeing that you know we don't keep the law perfectly.
That's why we have an advocate (parakletos) in heaven, Jesus. When we confess our sins to him he forgives us. We are then perfect law keepers in God's eyes and will be justified. Not because we kept the law perfectly but because he did, thus qualifying to be our advocate.
I realize that you know or at least knew all this, so your posts on law keeping and justification are irrelevant.
Have a great day,
Kevin
I think one of the things that has contributed to the rise of christianity as much as anything is the fact that the bible is as long as it is and as contradictory as it is.
"Here a little [of this], there a little [of that]." The bible is like a Rorschach test or a mirror: whatever opinion or belief you hold, you always see yourself in it, but with a "divine approval halo" filter.
It takes a lot of time, effort, and sheer sustained concentration to notice the "this" over here and the "that" over there at the same time. The bible is long enough so that most people are generally not capable of indexing that kind of thing. By the time you notice the "that," you've long since forgotten the "this," and vice versa. Assuming you don't put the thises and the thats together, then no matter who you are, then YOU are the kind of person the christian god approves of just the way you are. So the christian bible, and therefore christianity, is capable of appealing to almost all simultaneously. Like Paul, the bible, and christianity itself, becomes all things to all men.
Taken holistically, however, it becomes obvious that there's practically no topic on which the bible takes a clear and unequivocal stand. If the bible were incarnated as a politician, he'd be the most shamelessly silvertongued panderer.
The topic of Isaiah 28:9-11 came up after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986 and the total apostasy of the Tkaches in 1995. HWA had used these verses to explain how to study the Bible. Others now claimed that these verses were just talking about the babbling of drunks, and those who hated HWA immediately believed that theory and quickly exclaimed that HWA had been “wrong yet again.”
Notice that the major Bible translations like the KJV from four hundred years ago and the more modern NIV translate these verses the way they do. The NIV does have a footnote that says, “(possibly meaningless sounds; perhaps a mimicking of the prophet's words)”.
HWA had taught that, “The full explanation or truth of any one subject is seldom made complete and clear in any one passage. Other portions, factors, or phases of the subject are usually contained in one or several other passages in other parts of the Bible either in the Old or New Testament. A true and full understanding of this subject is profitable only when these perhaps several other passages, scattered throughout the Bible, are put together.” HWA wrote, “I learned that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle--thousands of pieces that need putting together--and the pieces will fit together in only one way.” (See Mystery of the Ages by HWA, page xi).
I still remember that someone who had been thinking about the matter turned to me in his swivel chair and said the following as I entered his office one day:
“Even if Herbert Armstrong was wrong--and I am not saying that he was--and these verses are just talking about the babbling of drunks, rather than 'here a little, and there a little,' nevertheless, that is how the Bible is written. It is written 'here a little, and there a little.'”
Dennis, based on these scriptures, the Sacred Word seems to contain numerous flaws and contradictions.
How about Matthew 24:30-35 where Jesus himself predicts the decent of the Son of Man in the clouds before that generation dies out. This is a blatant error spoken by Jesus himself. It did not happen! How can anything be any clearer? Isn't it time to begin to accept logic and reason over cherished beliefs, false hope and emotion?
How many decades and centuries need to pass before Christians can admit that the Bible and its end-time prophecies are full of holes and not intended for our time?
If you want to be encouraged and lifted up, read "Enlightenment Now" by Steven Pinker. This is a book for people living in the 21st Century. The Bible was not.
Old habits die hard.
So many people trying to figure out what the Bible is saying to them, when in reality it is saying nothing to people living today. The Bible is not what you have been taught. Sorry.
The fast is on the Day of Atonement (the tenth day of the seventh month), which is before the Feast of Tabernacles (which starts on the 15th day of the seventh month).
Dennis = maverick
Jody Foster = nck
Poker players = literalist thumpers
https://youtu.be/oNHfHmDkv3Q
Nck
they fasted two days later, probably on the first Sabbath after the Feast
Probably not. The only times Jews will fast on the Shabbat are Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av -- although there can be extreme exceptions. Again with those two exceptions, fasting is usually from sunrise to sunset, not sunset to sunset - and when it is the latter, it will be for close to 25 hours, not 24.
"Spoken like your typical Herb minister. The big people ministers are always right and have all the answers. So who are the little people sheeple to disagree and have minds of their own"
Nothing presented in an attempt to get those whose views in the COG are cast in stone has anything to do with the concept of "your typical Herb Minister." That has been thrown at me for the last 20 years and ranks as one of the most ignorant and stupid concepts those stuck in their own "you don't have all the answers, but just ask me because I do" idiocy. Anything I present is so that some will THINK and break out of the COG mindset, in this case and posting, that Gerald Weston's fast calling is just more control over what you call "the little people". I have been for the little people, myself being one of them along the way since I first stepped foot in WCG and much more now that I am free of it.
Your condescending and ill informed labels and perspective on the whys of my contributions are simply stupid. How about we hear from YOU and just start with Isaiah 28 unless you agree with just about every theologian outside the COG ministry on this small topic already. Or do you hold to it meaning what it does not mean?
...and as long as we're on the subject, what day of fasting either Biblical or extra Biblical as commanded by church leaders ever did one bit of good? Why does going without food make the Deity feel more amenable to answering prayer? How did a fast day ever make the church grow or humble the leadership or solve any problem? It never did. It never does and it never will.
Calling a fast gives the leadership a false sense of security and unity in the church. Most just go along to get along and always have. How more humble does one feel after fasting. Did you not already know lack of food and water catches up quickly with a human?
Fasting ranks right up there with "Prove me now herewith and see if I don't open the windows of heaven for you..." concerning tithing. It is not true and does not work out that way. And don't tell us "well you have air to breathe and sunshine don't you?"
It simply is a religious ploy to control the "little people" and get their obedience and resources putting the fear, guilt and shame back on them if things don't quite work out. You know..."You have not because YOU as amiss..." when told "ask and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." And if not..well...it's YOUR FAULT.
" so it is certainly fine to choose the next day or another day close to this day. Let us plan now to voluntarily set that day aside, or one close to it,"
Day one.... I'm gonna fast today.
Six hours later.... Im hungry. I'll do it tomorrow.
Day two.... I'm gonna fast today.
Three hours later.... Why do I have a Big Mac Attack now????
Day three... I'm gonna fast today.
Five hours later... I didn't snack. I fasted. Now to go out to eat for the breaking the fast meal!
Day four. Ring ring.
"HEY! Did you do your fast yet?"
"Yep! All done. You?"
"I'm just now finishing mine. Man my stomach is growling. Wanna go out and break it with me?"
"Um......... SURE! I'M STARVING......"
-SHT
Dennis
I have been studying the bible for over 40 years and would have discerned by now if it was Gods inspired word or not. Your so called contradictions have been addressed by many before, so I'm not going to play that game. I come across these so called 'contradictions' regularly on secular sites that take cheap shots at the bible. Typically they are ignore context, and I don't see how they fail to understand that, considering their intelligence.
You say "how about we hear from you and start at Isaiah 28." People in the lunch room don't discuss topics by one person controlling the starting point or similar. This is the minister in you that you fail to acknowledge, though obvious to outsiders. By contrast, how about we start at my answered prayers, Gods blessings and protection. No one is a lunch room has the degree of control that you are trying to exercise on this site. Once a minister, always a minister!
Anon 4:17 PM, let's start with your answered prayers, God's blessings and protection. How do these compare to the answered prayers, divine blessings and protections to which my Tibetan Buddhist co-worker attests? Is the same God giving blessings to both of you? Or are your blessings coming from Satan and his coming from God?
"Once a minister, always a minister!"
Wrong. Once fascinated by the Bible from my youth, its stories, their fantastic claims, generally impossible in real life accounts, conflicting characters and a deep wondering what really happened, who actually wrote it, why, how, when, where and for what reason...always fascinated. I just happen now to have more of the answers I was seeking about the Bible than I did years ago.
I took the bait of WCG in the 60's because the Presbyterian Church I grew up in did not ever touch on the topics WCG did. I wanted to be a pastor. I went to AC, which I thought was a legitimate seminary because the AC Catalogue looked legit and courses that all seminaries claim to have. Well, in hindsight they lacked many courses on what they should also have had but then it might disrupt the teachings of the church.
Through the years of ministry and knowing what was in the Bible very well, it did not take much to see problems in the stories, the texts and in the characters depicted in the stories. Once I came to understand the Gospels were neither written by the authors whose names are now affixed nor are they eyewitness accounts of anything, all bets on the one true church were fading. Add to this the conflict between the ever Jewish Peter, James and John about who Jesus was and the renegade Paul who only would abide his own views and cursed those who disagreed...the chasm of what's going on here got wider.
You as do most, need it all to be literally true. I don't anymore. Beliefs are not truth and I have never met anyone who will say that they know they go to the false church that teaches the wrong things.
The Bible is a book that demands it be believed in faith which as we should know by now is what we hope is so even if there is no evidence that it is so. Or as another says, Faith is believing what you know can't be true. Modern Science and the Bible are not compatible and taking "prophecy" to be about us today or in many cases in the OT talking about Jesus in the NT is a huge mistake. Once one realizes that the life of Jesus was written using OT scriptures, which is why they seem so predictive of Jesus, you can't help but change your perspective. Of course, few will get that far in their realizations because of the need to believe otherwise. The fact is that no one knew much if anything about the real birth of a Jesus other than he seems to have been born of fornication or at least that was the more practical charge against him. The Birth stories are both contradictory and fanciful with neither agreeing with the other. They were added to the existing texts to combat the charge against Jesus of having no real identifiable father.
I can imagine him asking Mary when young, "Who is my father?" And Mary said ...um..."God is your father," and the boy ran with that the rest of his life to the more practical point of Mary and his brothers having to come and get him, "because they thought he was insane." (Mark 3:21) This was cut out of all other texts to follow as too embarrassing and evidence that Mary had forgotten Gabriel's visit and declaration of what occupied her womb.
indeeed, and a son of assyrians now presides over this nation; go figure...
c f ben yochanan
a fast for fastings sake; an empty gesture what makes mr weston feel as if he is doing something, leading, and what not...
meanwhile, in the real world: there has been a great falling away, and the man of sin is arising, seducing they what subscribe to The Covenant; fulfilling the prophesy of Daniel 11:21-45...potus #45, actuating the conditions under which the Father would Send the Christ...
c f ben yochanan
Fasting is NOT to be done on the Sabbath Day according to THE BOOK OF JUBILEES.
Book of Jubilees - 50:1-12
It is a day of REST and your not suppose to be afflicting yourself on this day. Except Yom Kippur/Atonement
In my church area we had sermons on Gods wisdom of a fast before the FOT. Which is a scientifically proven better position than the catholic position of having the fast after Mardi Gras.
The body will be shocked after a feast of plenty.
Nck
6.25 PM
Interesting point. I believe that Satan and his demons sometimes 'bless' people for morally falling away. For instance, I believe that some Hollywood uncopyrighted scripts are stolen by demons, and passed onto their human followers.
But there are differences. Demons don't have the same tool kit and power of God, so their blessings would limited in both quality and length of time. The Nazis always eventually maliciously threw their informers to the dogs, so that says sometime about demonic blessings.
Gods blessings are constant and of a greater magnitude than Satans. And lastly, God puts a unique feeling with thoughts He places in peoples mind. God does not allow Satan to imitate this for the sake of communication clarity.
Not 7:11 but depravity is epidemic within COG splinters. Fasting is putting a bandaid on a mortal wound.
I no longer go in for any of this nonsense. If I'm emotionally upset and don't feel like eating, I don't eat until I feel better. I don't get on my knees in a slave position and utter demeaning prayers to an imaginary deity. I'm no longer into self-torture to try to impress some invisible deity. If all that makes some people feel especially righteous and superior, they can have at it, but I'm not going to afflict myself to impress anyone here or in some non-existent great beyond.
It is interesting for all the negative stuff you post, going hungry gets the biggest response. How will we maintain our place as the fattest nation on earth if we fast?
I am not too sure about the timing though - some of us are not as young as we used to be and we will still be recovering from travel and change in diet.
LCG's latest Weekly Update announces the fast, and also shares some news of ministerial transfers. Jim Meredith is being transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee. You might think this has something to do with his father-in-law living nearby, but look closely at the announcement of the various ministerial transfers. Three other transfers are listed as husband-and-wife transfers, but the announcement says nothing about "Mr. and Mrs." James Meredith moving to Knoxville. It's just Jim:
Mr. James Meredith is being transferred to serve in the Knoxville, Tennessee area under Mr. Martin Fannin, and Mr. Lenny Bower will be coming from Knoxville to Charlotte as a ministerial trainee. The moves will occur sometime after the Feast.
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Nathan and Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Stewart are settling into their new roles in the U.K., and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Rodzaj, Mr. and Mrs. Phil West and Mr. and Mrs. Adam West are all settling into their new areas and responsibilities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Little Rock, Arkansas, and New York state, respectively.
So, which is it? Bad writing, or bad marriage?
The devil is in the detail anon 6:17
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