The kind of God needed for the COG's to function.
This past weekend the Living Church of God was asked to fast soon after the Feast of Tabernacles. Many LCG members found it rather odd that the church just celebrated symbolically the coming Kingdom of God and yet within a few days after celebrating the millennium, where no one will be required to fast again, LCG members were told to reexamine their lives in order to devote more attention to pleasing their god and refocusing themselves into supporting the church in order to give more income to the church for a final witness.
LCG members constantly seem to be found guilty of doing something so wrong that they need to keep God appeased with works. Instead of following Jesus, instead of the law, they fail to understand the rest they could have in the Jesus they claim to follow. All of this constant "doing" would be unnecessary if they understood the work has already been done.
Why Self-Examination? God told Abraham that one of the conditions of the covenant was to “walk before Me and be blameless [perfect]” (Genesis 17:1). Jesus urged His audiences to “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14–15) and to become “perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The Greek word for “repent” is metanoeo which means “to change your life, to think differently, to turn with contrition and sorrow from a former course of action.” This involves learning to live “by every word of God” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4) and learning to recognize and eliminate behaviors that are contrary to God’s instructions. This requires “self-examination”—prayerfully studying God’s word and prayerfully examining our thoughts, attitudes, and actions in order to follow the example of Jesus Christ. This is what the Apostle Paul advised Christians to do if they want to become more like their Savior (1 Corinthians 11:27–32). One way to do this is to review the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and to consider both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law as outlined in Mathew 5–7 and Galatians 5:18–24. Taking time to work through this self-examination process will help us walk more perfectly in the footsteps of Jesus and develop the very mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5–11).
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
COG ministers realise that members will only tolerate minister abuse to the extent that they try to please God. This letter by Douglas is nothing more than a call for the members to pay for ministers sins.
ReplyDeleteI've personally experienced this with ministers. One sentence is abusive, followed with something like "be sure to love the brethren." Be spiritually strong so that we can get away with behaving like savages.
It's heartless manipulation.
LCG is dying.
ReplyDeleteTheir Feast attendance number, this year, is fake. The number includes "shut-in" brethren who told their LCG pastor that they would be staying at home and listening to Feast sermons online. We know, however, that dozens if not hundreds of those "shut-in" LCG members chose to attend some other group's Feast site and just didn't want to get into a confrontation with their LCG minister.
It is good of LCG to release its FOT attendance number, even if that number (smaller than UCG and COGWA attendance) is cooked by Crooked Rod McNair and others who want to put a happy face on LCG's decline. What you can be sure LCG will NOT do is release its 2017 and 2018 income statements for the FOT and LCG, as this would make LCG's decline all too obvious. The best we can do is wait for next year's audit (if Weston chooses to release it to the public), which will show us the overall decline in income. Have you noticed that when LCG released its 2017 audit earlier this year, there was absolutely no publicity given? This is because the audit reveals a nearly 10 percent drop in income in 2017 from 2016, even though Rod Meredith was alive for nearly half of 2017. For those who missed it, here's the 2017 audit:
LCG 2017 Audit
God seems to be displeased with LCG.
Has Doug Winnail apologized to Patrick and Elizabeth Scarborough for the shabby way that he and others treated them? Has he invited them back to LCG services? Seems as though Doug has a little more self-examining to do!
ReplyDeleteA lowdown ploy to wrest more money from the Tithe-slave-sheep!
ReplyDeleteFasting originated when Aaron, Moses side kick in the Wilderness who came up with an idea that would promote his new Wilderness Restaurant called "The Golden Calf". He knew that after a day of fasting hungry Israelites would swamp his new venture and he'd be a wealthy man.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, it serves no actual purpose nor forces the hand of the Deity to be impressed with mere humans.
Let them show some real commitment and deeper sincerity! If you are going to afflict your soul, fasting has become old hat after so many decades. I knew some church members who used to fast once or twice per month, and others who went multiple days without food and water. Isn't it time that these folk go deeper? Shouldn't they at least be purchasing little whips and beating themselves as unChristian thoughts come to mind, or as they experience momentary bouts of lustfulness? I'm told that there have been special groups of deep Christians who have indulged in this practice throughout the Common Era. Shouldn't LCG be leading the way in this if they desire a deeper level of experience? Attention: James Malm and Bob Thiel! This is something that would blend very handily with the unique aspects of the gospels that you preach.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Edwards is held up as some sort of fantastic preacher, much admired amongst the protestant types....but he didn't know what he was talking about.
ReplyDeleteguess that's why the protestants love him.
I just hope no one got sick because of this. The fast that was done in the days of Nehemiah was after the Jews had been observing the festivals from Trumpets to the end of Tabernacles and had been there for over 3 weeks. They did not have the added stress of travelling back to their homes first. Some of the travels these days are lengthy and stressful.
ReplyDeleteComment was made saying: "...This past weekend the Living Church of God was asked to fast soon after the Feast of Tabernacles..."
ReplyDeleteWell, what was the purpose of fasting on the Day of Atonement, just this past 19 Sep, about a month ago? Was anything worthwhile accomplished with that fast? Was something more important than the Day of Atonement fasting? Like this recent request?????
God says not to fast for SELF and have one's voice heard on high:
"Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high." Isaiah 58:4
What are the "fruits" of the Living fast, whether voice was lifted or not?
Doug goes on with his usual "brow-beating" of brethren and writes:
"...Taking time to work through this self-examination process will help us walk more perfectly in the footsteps of Jesus and develop the very mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5–11 )...."
Why walk in Jesus' footsteps, something Doug has never done. Doug knows that only One 100% flesh and blood human being was perfect.....and that wasn't Doug.
Why develop the mind of Christ? Why not develop the mind of God, The God our Father? Is this anything like idolatry: putting something or someone in place of The God, the One quoted in Deut 32:40?
"For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever."
Christ didn't say that, nor did the Word.
Doug says to read a bunch of verses in Phil 2, verses 5-11. Why? Will one get lost in all of those verses?
How about just one verse?
:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"
Christ of Himself said He could do nothing, and He spoke His Father's words.
So, what mind was in Christ Jesus? Jesus' own mind, or that of His Father?
Time will tell...
John
I don't know about all of this fasting, but for those of you who keep the lunar sabbaths, I hope yours today is a delightful one!
ReplyDeleteI also must comment on how much I'm enjoying the global warming. I can't recall ever having been able to swim this late in October, and my pool water was 80 degrees at about 5:30. Got some good cardio this evenin'
John
ReplyDeleteYour view on Christ seems like the JWs position that Christ is a created angel.
Where did you get your non Herb belief about Christ? You must have a denominational home base.
Anonymous 4:44 PM wrote: "John Your view on Christ seems like the JWs position that Christ is a created angel."
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with teachings of JWs, but Christ was not a created angel.
Anon asked: "Where did you get your non Herb belief about Christ?"
Deut 32:40!
"For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever."
Only One Being, using those personal pronouns, could say something like that.
Christ didn't say that, nor did the Word.
Yes, it appears that Christ had a beginning, and that the Word had a beginning.
John
John
ReplyDeleteWe have debated your position on Christ before. You came up with a multitude of scriptures to "prove" your claim. This points to a another denomination. Your differing position on the millenium also points to another denomination.
How about coming clean with us rather than pretending to be a former ACOG member who has changed his beliefs after much study.
If your beliefs are that of another denomination, why are you here?