A reader here commented on another thread:
Yesterday Pat Robinson said that his prayers had diverted the hurricane away from Virginia Beach southward to the heathens in the Carolinas. (He may not have used the word "heathens" but his lack of concern for anyone but himself is no different than that of the COGs.) It is the nature of those who think they alone have religious truth to despise others.Pat Robertson is just like the Churches of God who pray every year that "satan" be restrained from sending hurricanes and bad weather to Feast sites.
I remember sitting in the large green tent in Jekyll Island when the preacher got up and asked everyone present to pray that a hurricane that was headed towards the Island be turned around. The wind was roaring, the tent was flapping, rain was pouring in as light bulbs were popping. Deacons and men were hanging on to tent poles as they bounced in the wind. Not one minister ever apologized for bring out thousands of members to sit through the storm. God was testing our faith.
Eventually the hurricane turned and devastated Cuba causing massive destruction and countless deaths. Church members clapped with glee when told the hurricane had turned and hit Cuba. After all, this was an island filled with god-forsaken socialists; so any loss of life there was just a fact of life for being part of Satan's world.
The magical god of Armstrongism has always been on the side of the church and answered every prayer, turning hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes and other disasters around so that OTHER people suffered instead of COG members. That vengeful god always destroyed other peoples lives so that COG members knew they were special and set apart.
Pat Robertson's god does the same thing. It is always listening to every prayer Robertson utters, all at the expense of the rest of humanity. Robertson's god loves destroying other lives.
We must never forget that that same god is going to take delight in destroying most of humanity when the end time hits. That is where Robertson and the COG meet. Both groups need a vengeful god at their beckon call.
19 comments:
To be exact, he ordered it to go "north and out into the sea", not to the Carolinas.
A man once watched the weather forecast and saw a shower moving in his direction via radar. Sensing the opportunity to play a little prank on his young child, he said "In five minutes I'm going to make it rain."
The Child said, no you can't do that daddy!
The father said, yes I can! Watch!
So the father went outside, outstretched his arms, and yelled, "I command you to rain! May a storm brew from the west, and move in, and may it rain!"
On cue, the sky darkened, the rains fell, and the child was in awe of his father. The father made his child believe he had the power to control something he did not.
It's easy for a televangelist - or a con artist - or any person - to cause someone to believe he is the cause for something to happen or not to happen with the weather, especially in this day and age - just by watching the weather channel. Truthfully, instead of taking credit for natural processes that control the steering of hurricanes (like the tropical depression in the gulf that pulled it south a bit), which, when taking credit, no doubt increases the people who pledge money - he should instead be focusing on the things that matter - like preaching Christ and him crucified. But that doesn't bring in the bucks, does it.
Most people these days aren't so gullible.
We believed God watched over us especially so we did not have to employ common sense to handle "trials" such as hurricanes or cancer.
My experience with the Armstrong cults is that they show very little concern for people out in the "world" and their lack of empathy is only matched by their ignorance of new testament christiananty.
A hurricane will not strike where "god has placed his name"!
NO2HWA said, "I remember sitting in the large green tent in Jekyll Island when the preacher got up and asked everyone present to pray that a hurricane that was headed towards the Island be turned around. The wind was roaring, the tent was flapping, rain was pouring in as light bulbs were popping. Deacons and men were hanging on to tent poles as they bounced in the wind."
MY COMMENT - I remember it well. My older brother was one of those men on tentpole duty. He had only one suit for the 8-day Festival. His suit was soaked. I have an old picture of him at the end of the Feast standing next to "the worlds largest tent". His suit was wrinkled so bad.
As I remember it, the height of the storm from the outer bands of the approaching hurricane peaked on the evening when Garner Ted Armstrong spoke. It was difficult to hear him over the loud sounds of wind and rain belting the tent. Of course, the Church spin was that Satan was angry and attacking Garner Ted, the public face of the Church.
Times have changed greatly. I doubt Civil authorities would allow 8,000+ people hunkered under a huge tent with a hurricane approaching.
Richard
I also remember Ted speaking. As the wind whipped the tent and rain poured in everywhere the light bulbs were popping on the stage. Then God did a miraculous intervention, the only bulb left flowing was the one above Ted’s head. It was proof Ted was the Man!
Re Richard: "Times have changed greatly. I doubt Civil authorities would allow 8,000+ people hunkered under a huge tent with a hurricane approaching."
Most of my postings center around "and the times they have been changing". It is therefore no surprise that I absolutely enjoyed Richard's comment.
Today we would have multiple webcams placed carefully to watch that "strange hurricane defying cult on the beach". Or FEMA storming in to separate the children from the parents. Drones hovering over the tabernacle. Fox news defending freedom of speech. Mexican illegal aliens watching on tv in disbelief about the protestants while praying to the apropriate saint on our behalf. And the scarcely clad weather girl reporting in absolutely amazing 3D digital imaging how high the water would rise to flood us all.
nck
Ted should have stuck one of the bulbs in his mouth, and let it light up like Uncle Fester on the Adams Family!
I remember that as well. There was about a 20' tear or more in the tent and it dumped a lot of water inside. I recall the water being ankle deep in there and now I wonder about all that electrical wiring hanging there feeding those naked light bulbs! Maybe God did protect us all as no one got electrocuted as silly as we were to be there in those conditions. That hurricane DID stall, turn around and go back to Cuba.
I remember the startling beauty of the frothy waves crashing onto the beach at night. It looked almost lighting flashing down the beach with the roar of waves that sounded like thunder.
Anonymous said...
A hurricane will not strike where "god has placed his name"!
September 14, 2018 at 4:11 AM
True! When was the last time a hurricane hit Jerusalem? That is the place he said he placed his name.
"Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...
A hurricane will not strike where "god has placed his name"!
September 14, 2018 at 4:11 AM
True! When was the last time a hurricane hit Jerusalem? That is the place he said he placed his name.
September 14, 2018 at 9:47 AM"
Exactly! Which is why I posted that anonymously, I wanted to see if anyone was smart enough to recognize the arrogance of the "ministry" speaking for God.
Kevin M
@ 9:47AM, in 1927 there was a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in Jerusalem, killing at least 500.
So much for God's protection!
What year was that anyway? I've heard about it, but I think that was before I was born.
1966. It was Hurricane Inez. (Thanks for the confirmation which storm, Gary.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Inez
https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/atlantic/1966/Major-Hurricane-Inez
Good News Magazine 1966:
http://www.herbert-armstrong.org/Good%20News%201960s/Good%20News%201966%20(Vol%20XV%20No%2012)%20Dec.pdf
Page 12.
The hurricane I noted in a previous post was Flora, which "God held back" from hitting Jekyll Island. The death toll was around 7000, not 10,000 as I previously stated.
very little concern for people out in the "world"
A WCG minister said that the drop in our concern is proportional to the distance, giving the example that a devastating earthquake in China is equivalent to a stubbed toe. I think he was being optimistic; a stubbed toe can really hurt.
...where "god has placed his name"
Which meant the location of the Temple, not some COG feast site.
Yah, way before me. I remember hearing people talk about it though, like it was some lifechanging moment.
More on Inez from the weather service: (Here's the real explanation as to what happened.)
A weak tropical depression moved off the coast of Africa on the morning of September 18th. It moved westward through the tropical Atlantic. Further development finally commenced by the afternoon of the 24th, when the system had become a tropical storm several hundred miles east of Martinique. Slowing down its westward progression, strengthening continued, and Inez developed into a hurricane by the morning of the 26th.
Inez moved west-northwest, directly over Guadeloupe as a category 3 hurricane and was a storm of small diameter with hurricane force winds only extending 50 miles from the center. Intensification resumed across the eastern Caribbean, where the system reached category 5 status about 160 miles southwest of San Juan. Striking the Barahona Peninsula of the Dominican Republic around noon on the 9th, Inez rapidly weakened. Intensifying rapidly after leaving Hispanola, Inez hit Cuba near Guantanamo City on the morning of the 30th as a category 4 hurricane. Moving along the southern coast of the island for a time, it moved across Central Cuba around the 1st and continued a slow recurvature into the northwest Bahamas.
The high pressure ridge built in across the Gulf of Mexico, and Inez turned to the west-southwest, moving over all the Keys from Key Largo to Key West, and brushed to northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It briefly turned northwest in the Gulf of Mexico as the ridge weakened, but rising pressures across south Texas turned the system back to the west-southwest to just north of Tampico on the morning of the 10th. The graphics belowshow the storm total rainfall for Inez. Data was provided by the National Climatic Data 2Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/inez1966.html
Aw, God went to all the trouble of summoning a hurricane to punish all the gays or yoga students or soybean eaters or whichever people True Christians (TM) are supposed to blame for all the problems in their lives this week and then Pat Robertson goes and casts a magic spell to divert it and let all the heathens get away. Phooey :(
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