The following is the personal opinion of the author.
One of the most misunderstood aspects of the doctrines of Armstrongism has to do with the personal relationship that Jesus Christ clearly brought into being for Christians with the Father through His life, death, and Resurrection, which brought reconciliation of man to the Father.
With Armstrongism, the corporate hierarchy were layers of separation between a person and God. The all-important concept of the Church being "the Government of God on Earth" literally poured cement into the spiritual conduit between a believer and God Himself. All of this, of course, modeled after a form of Government prior to the reconciling work of Jesus Christ - when Christ had not yet come, the Law had not been fulfilled, and access to God was barred because of the law of sin and death, which chained and enslaved. A Personal Relationship with God? Only if you went through the human layers of Government of the Church - and only if you were thoroughly obedient, thoroughly submissive, and thoroughly in agreement with the human administration that God had to go through to "get to you". The Armstrong Ministry intentionally thrust themselves directly between the personal access that one has between a Christian and God - direct, personal, spiritual communication with God from the spiritual dimension - to go through flawed, human, untrained, idiotic, unqualified "ministers" filled with the lust of power and the thrill of unchecked power and authority.
This was all because of the way that Herbert Armstrong understood the Bible. Using the "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little" way of Biblical interpretation - a cherry-picked jigsaw of non-contextual sublimation of text with a random, non-scholarly approach bent toward personal bias and prefabricated opinion - Herbert was able to blend in the Old Testament with parts of the New Testament, pulling out key points and emphasizing other points to create an entirely different religion completely at odds with any sort of Christian thinking. What was created was an impersonal, authoritative, ridiculously physical interpretation of scripture, whose foundation was not built on what - or, rather, Who - the Old Testament pointed to - but on the foundation of the Old Testament itself. Instead of the foundation being Jesus Christ and the Gospel, the foundation was a base of crumbled, broken, obsolete, aged and cracked rubble, decayed and rendered obsolete. The foundation was based on an attempt to revive what pointed to Christ instead of Christ Himself who enabled reconciliation with the Father through the Gift of the Holy Spirit. And, in all of this, the Personal Relationship with God Christ enabled through His death and Resurrection was fully quenched for thousands who instead put their trust and their hope in the fouled up, rotten, putrid thinking of human ministers.
I don't need to tell you where that got thousands of people who were caught up in Armstrong's deceptions. The evidence is freely available everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.
What is available, now, and today, is a Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ - regardless of what Church you go to. Jesus Christ is far more powerful than any Armstrong Church of God. I do not care if it is Flurry's church, Pack's Church, Weston's Church, or any other splinter group you can name. I do not care what Thiel says, and I do not care what Malm says. I don't care what lies are spewed in the name of Christ - lies about when Christ will return, or how. I don't care what their voices or dreams in their heads cry to them to proclaim that end up - every time - being deceptive, outright lies. I don't care what titles they dream up in their heads. Whether or not they call themselves "Presiding Evangelists" or "Pastor Generals" or any other haughty esteemed title they can think of. These men cannot separate one from the Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ that was bought, paid for, and gifted to us through Jesus Christ. Their churches cannot separate one from the Personal Relationship with Christ. And most of all, their churches cannot separate one from the Love of God between a Human Being who believes in God and the Father.
This is why the Churches of God are powerless, dismal, shrinking and failing. Jesus Christ is reigning on His throne for those who believe and who trust in Him. Through the Spirit of God, a new believer can, by His Power, repent and turn to God in faith and hope through the Light of Life in the newness of Grace and love. Through the Spirit of God, lies are exposed, the light shines, and people who were blind can see. The deaf can here, and the dead can be given new life. No Armstrong Church or Minister can come between a believer and God when a Believer puts their faith and trust in God. This is where freedom takes hold and shackles fall.
I rejoice when I hear the stories of answered prayer - even in the Armstrong Churches of God. Throughout my decades in the Church I was well aware of stories within the Churches of God of how God answered prayer in simple, yet powerful ways within members of the Church. After everything fell apart within the Church, for a while, I was puzzled as to how it was that God seemingly worked miracles within the Church to "promote the Church". Then it hit me that these miracles were not "promoting the Church". God was working directly with a person, one on one, showing them He's still there - with them - God With US - Personally - regardless of the abuse, dictatorship, and harm that the Armstrong Churches of God imposed on the victims. God works with each person individually, and personally. He did then, He does now, He will tomorrow. He always has since the Resurrection of our Lord to those who believe and trust in Him.
Our God is a Personal God. He is a God that cares about every one of us uniquely, and individually. He is a God of love, light, and peace - with us, guiding us, leading us, and directing us. God Himself has said that He who began a Good work in us will be faithful to complete it. And that promise is for all that put their trust and hope in Him - regardless if they are Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Pentecostal, Baptist, Seventh-Day, Mormon, Armstrongite, Amish, Mennonite, or whatever physical group you can name. God transcends the physical and deals with a person personally, and spiritually, through the Power of the Personal Holy Spirit - God With Us, God in Us, and God Through Us.
This is what Jesus Christ has done for us. This is what Jesus Christ has made possible. This is the Gift that the Father has sent to us. And no human group made by man has any power or authority to sever or disconnect that link to the Throne of God that we, through Christ, may boldly approach.
This is the Personal Relationship with God all have access to. It's not Religion. It's a Relationship. And that, in a very broad brush, is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because it is true - that He who began a Good work in us, in ALL of us - will be faithful to complete it in Him.
Submitted by SHT
23 comments:
Exactly! You said it so eloquently! Thank you!
ditto
Gary writes:
“Jesus Christ is reigning on His throne for those who believe and who trust in Him.”
Ps 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Technically, Christ is not reigning on "His" throne.
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
"Two thrones are mentioned: (1) His Father's, upon which He has sat since His ascension, after victory over death, sin, world: upon this none can sit save God, and God-man Christ Jesus, for it is the incommunicable prerogative of God; (2) the throne peculiarly His as the one humbled and then glorified Son of man, to be set up over the whole earth (heretofore usurped by Satan) at His coming again: in this the victorious saints shall share (1 Cor 6:2). The transfigured elect shall with Christ judge and reign over the nations in the flesh, and Israel foremost of them" (A.R. Fausset, Revelation, JFB, Vol.3, Pt.3, p.671).
I couldn't have said it better myself.
It is interesting that SHT and Dennis have such different points of view.
SHT still believes in Jesus - but much more so than the COGs - Dennis believes there is no God.
My questions for the thoughtful are:
1) What about the other non-Christian religions? The followers can all follow the ways of peace and love if they choose, or follow them to hate - much like Christians have done. Does God only care about Christians?
2) The origins of man in the Bible do not agree with DNA science - does this make Genesis into a telling of myths? If yes, does it matter?
3) The NT is built on the OT. With the exception of NT prophecy, the NT builds on the positive ways of life and love written about in the OT.
4) NT writes that Christ's return will be unexpected - no one knows the day or hour. How then can we have a very precise three and a half year tribulation (Daniel) and a terrifying day of the Lord in Revelation with major warfare going on? Everyone with a Bible will know what is happening and there are probably over 100 million Bibles in existence.
5) If you are an atheist, have you some convincing examples on how life started and how the building blocks of life came about by random chance, when scientists don't yet have any way of creating them on purpose?
6) There are miracles in this world - how do you explain these without Watchers who are invisible to us, and have power to intervene?
The bible god does not exist for he was made in the image of man.
I say this sincerely.
Personally, I have never understood just what a "Personal relationship with Jesus" actually means, how it feels or how you know you have one to begin with? Is it a fuzzy feeling? Is there any benefit and do I feel that Jesus is just right there next to me, foot prints in the sand and all that? I understand that people get very emotional about their "relationship" with God, Christ or Jesus. I don't and never have, not just in WCG, but from a child, just what this all means.
No God or Jesus has ever made manifested itself to me in any real way such that I was sure it was what it actually was. I have prayed sincerely for everything from the healing of my brother to that of thousands of church members by way of James 5:14, along with "bless the work, help me to be a kind loving minister, please have Mr. and Mrs. so and so calm down and stop sowing discord, help Mr Armstrong to pass the baton properly, Please shut Joe Tkach up, heal my wife's ovarian cancer, (surgery actually saved her the first time but the brain cancer took this wonderful faith filled person this month), and a thousand other things ask in "relationship" with God, Christ and Jesus.
Nothing. "Well sometimes (all times) the answer is 'NO'" I call BS on that excuse. "Ask whatever you will and I will give it to you". Aside from the fact that that promise would produce chaos and disaster for all if that really happened, it is simply a lie.
The concept of "relationship with Jesus or God" is one way and most of you here, not very deep down, know it. "Prove me now herewith..." Ok, I will...……….. nothing.
Perhaps "you were never converted" will cover it for most who live in denial or want to shift the blame onto the person endeavoring to follow the rules of "relationship" but "by their fruits you shall know them" and that should also apply to God, Christ and Jesus in the multiple failures to deliver, even on blatant and obvious promises.
The reason I have allowed my love of science to return, my acceptance of evolution and the findings of fascinating work in paleontology, cosmology and geology is precisely because the Bible does not deliver on "Relationship" The reason I do not consider the Bible as "God Breathed" is because of the Bible itself. The best way to become an atheist and a non-believer is to know the Bible very well and leave the emotion out of it.
Whatever "relationship with God" is, in my whole sincerely religious and spiritual quest with the Bible has come up empty. I find people who are emotional about theirs but get furious when you point out problems with the Bible and go into a strange and firm denial along with name calling. Don't confuse me with the facts and all that.
I have sat with scores of people trusting the promises of scripture in their "relationship" with God as they died of body eating cancer and waited on "and they shall be healed." They died. All of them. Each and every one over my entire lifetime.
Whether it's the windows of heaven opening or the promise of everything from protection (lots of dead children buried in my career as WCG pastor) to physical healing...nothing but searching for reasons the person lacked faith or was defective spiritually in some way, which was also BS.
Whatever all this emotional belief, and beliefs are just that, beliefs practiced to get into "relationship" with God and Jesus is, it has escaped me all my life and was, in fact, a one way street of compliance, false hope and a still small voice way too faint to hear.
Go ahead, slaughter me for my lack of faith and "relationship", which we all should know is the substance of what we hope is true based on absolutely no evidence that it is true. Hebrews 11:1
Thanks for listening! lol ugh! :)
Interesting enough after I left LCG I find it hard to believe anything religious, fortunately the experience didn't turn me into an athiest(no offence to anyone who is) but I just don't have the energy, vitality or zest for it(maybe that's just depression talking). I was such a strong believer in The true church movement(yes I thought I was 100% right)That I was in total shock as to how much I was deceived, then the fact when I tried to discuss my feelings with my close LCg friends they basically got defensive and I was even cautioned about becoming bitter, so I had to keep most of my concerns to myself(which made it harder to cope). I don't know if I can venture into religion again my focus now is on recovering from the feeling that I lost piece of my life,mind,finances and very Soul(recovery doesn't look so promising). I don't even trust my own Faith, If I was 100% sure in my believes but was still wrong how could I believe in anything 100% again and be certain my believe isn't just another deception. Belief and reality are two different things that's at least one thing that I learnt.
Right on Dennis! I agree.
One cannot look at the bible and take it serious. No way its the word of any god.
Denis is right.
Dennis, please consider that nobody disputes the historicity of Napoleon, yet people would call you crazy if you claimed to have a personal relationship with Napoleon. We think it is cute when a small child has an imaginary friend, yet we quickly call doctors or psychologists if the child starts obeying that imaginary friend's commands. When adults do the same, we hope for Mother Teresas, but just as often get Sons of Sam. God may be commanding millions of crazy people to build hospitals and feed the hungry, but He also seems to be good at commanding them to kill their enemies.
"Ah, but when the imaginary voice says 'Heal' it is God, and when it says 'Kill' it is Satan," some will say. Unfortunately, the Bible doesn't bear this out, as God's kill count is something like 1,000,000:1 compared to Satan's.
I often wonder why so many human beings are so keen on manufacturing certainty regarding uncertain topics. If we live in a 10-dimensional universe, as some scientists now suggest, why would we expect our four-dimensional perspective to come anywhere close to understanding the reality around us? For that matter, if we are living in a computer simulation, isn't it likely that the simulation will simulate eternal life after death for the simulated beings? Imagine dying and going to heaven, and still wondering whether you are living in a computer simulation that may arbitrarily end someday! Let's just hope that the simulation doesn't include a Hell invented by a capricious and sadistic programmer.
I don't know why some experience God in a personal way and others do not. Once upon a time I would have used a standard canned answer as provided by those who taught me to frame my spiritual life according to their own ideas. But now I won't presume to diagnose anyone who hasn't had such experiences as somehow lacking. It is wrong and unfair I now believe.
Just as there as I would have once dismissed those who haven't had such experiences, I understand if there are those who would be dismissive of mine as emotionalism or altered mental states.
We all try to make sense of the world as we see it.
The experiences I've had have, I hope, inspired me to be a more steady, kind and caring person. BUT having said that, there are plenty who have also become so without the same experience. In a way that may be the more admirable.
Paul says that we see through a glass darkly. For me the spiritual experiences I've had are the gleam that occasionally shines. I don't really understand it but I know it to be good.
In the 10th dimension Herbie is President and loved by the masses!
Scary thought.
I never bought into the whole "government" thing...if you reduce it down it is basically idolatry, obey men above God.
The truth is Christians can't answer all the questions Athiest ask? And Athiest can't answer all the Questions that Christians ask? Athiest have ask questions like How comes 99% of all unanswered prayers is considered God's will while the two percent of things working out is considered God's will as well? If claims of healings are true how comes no amputees or those born blind or deaf are healed convincingly? How come Christians could confidently say God answers their prayers for something like a mate but allows millions to die from starvation even some who pray for help? If someone who serves another god is delivered in their minds by their God how can Christians be so confident that every deliverance they think they get is a unique miracle from God fashioned carefully for them?Christians continue to ask Atheistic science.. How did all this come from Nothing? Who started the big bang? How comes the changes of intelligent life and design is almost mathematically impossible to take place by chance as opposed to planned design? How comes with science mankind cannot reproduce anything close to what is claimed to have happen by rare random chance? How do we determine it is wrong to kill or that morals matter if there is no other authority to determine right or wrong outside of ourselves? Why does having a moral code like not lying,stealing,cheating,killing,being faithful,e.t.c work for the betterment of society while the survival of the fittest ideology can prove Detrimental to society? Those who boldly claim there is no God and those who think they know it all because they of their religious beliefs are both peas in the same pod?
Newly discovered HWA unpublished book...
"The Missing 10th Dimension of Sex"
Dennis - could you please publish a book list in your blog.
I have a few books, but am interested in reading more on evolution, paleontology, cosmology and geology.
If you have any notes or materials or a recorded sermon on the politics of the new testament, I would like to have these as well.
I am also looking for intelligent discussions and books on intelligent design. (I have come across some very unintelligent videos about it.)
I feel like I am standing on quicksands right now while I re-examine everything.
How long did it take you to get on firmer ground when you changed?
Did you ever wonder how we would all get along as powerful spirit beings when we cannot get along with each other right now?
Deism has it figured out.
Not mentioned in the article is that Christ said 'follow me' 23 times in the NT. The ministers twist this with a 'yes, but by following a minister, one is following Christ.' This is a deceitful straw man argument which nullifies Christ's words. They are like Moses, who pushed God to one side for the sake of power lust. Interesting that Moses punishment for doing so doesn't deter them.
Dennis keeps writing frequent lengthy posts against the Bible and the existence of God. No one else does this. The many atheists on this blog don't. If a person sincerely disbelieves in the bible, why would they bother?
Dennis is a spiritual shark, targeting the spiritually sick and weak.
I'II pray that God deals with Dennis according to his works.
Wish I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which I have never experienced in WCG and COGEternal now. Really envy those who have. In this regard, I agree with Denis re this mysterious personal relationship with Christ.
No where in scripture does it say we can have a "personal relationship" with Christ or the Father. This "religious talk" only became common a few decades ago. How can you have a personal relationship with a person you can't have a conversation with and have never met? We are told we are not even supposed to pray to Jesus. I barely even have a personal relationship with my wife. We are instructed to become like Christ. To follow His examples. We could also become like Steve Jobs from what you can read about him, but I can't have a "personal relationship" with Steve Jobs. The apostles had a personal relationship with Jesus, but they never got the program until after the crucifixion.
The COG's have and still do to varying degrees diminish Jesus. It's too Protestant to "preach Jesus", (His examples, which allowed the ministry to be more like the Armstrongs.
Beyond that, Grace is still only lightly touched upon. Also too Protestant. An excuse to sin and without an understanding Grace, a reason for despair and hopelessness. On one COG site, of the first 400 sermons listed, not one of them has Grace as the subject. And then the church wonders why they aren't growing.
Try preaching the Truth Christ and Paul taught. It just might work.
Christ came to reveal that we can become the children of the Father by receiving His Holy Spirit. We can have a Father /son relationship with God the Father as well as a relationship with Jesus Christ. We are to be in a family relationship with them and each other. We have human families based on love not on government. Gods family should be the same. All the carry on about men having power over each other in a hierarchical set up is disgusting. “It shall not be so among you”. The forcing of people to give money they needed to live on was disgusting. God gave Israelites land houses crops etc and told them to give of their increase. He didn’t take from them what they needed. Without money from the members this system could not continue. If people worked out what was really their increase- after paying for their housing and other necessities many would find they have no money to fund their ministers often luxurious lifestyle. What would the ministers do if they couldn’t have better things than their “flock”. Would they continue. They think they have to perpetuate Armstrong’s business model. They want to be executives in a big advertising campaign using the current media methods I don’t think they know what they’re doing. Everything seems to hinge on money. Money money money. Where is god in all this? What are the personal fruit of the men who are claiming to be gods ministers and speak for Him? It’s important to not support men who are disobedient to God and give the impression that God is proud and demanding and doesn’t care about your well. being.
Post a Comment