Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Narcissistic COG Leader Claims He Is Elohim, Lectures Wikipedia and Australian Military Minister On How Things Should Be



Imagine the arrogance and narcissism that drives a Church of God leader, who claims he is Elohim, to lash out at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Australia over how he perceives history should be written.

Wade Cox says, "I am not prepared to stand idly by."  

It's always fun to see old Wade pitch one of his fits and lecture the world on how things WILL be.  It is even greater to see the world ignore him as Wikipedia and Michale McCormack have.  

This is especially delicious in seeing Cox lecture the Honorable Michael McCormack, given the track record that exists on the Internet about Wade Cox's distingusied military service.  

Then to add more fuel to the fire, Elohim Cox, as an Oracle of God, has to throw in two of his loony and loosely based "biblical" lectures in order to educate McCormack on how things should be. As if McCormack and Wikipedia would EVER read the steaming piles of crap that Cox publishes.

Wade Cox shared a link to the group: Calendar of God.
This was a recent letter to the Minister of Veterans Affairs etc. over the deliberate misrepresentation of the Battle of Jerusalem by unscrupulous religious identities.
The Hon. Michael McCormack MP
Minister for Veterans Affairs and Minister assisting the PM for the Centenary of Anzac.
Dear Minister,
It came to my attention that Wikipedia was deliberately misrepresenting the Battle of Jerusalem and attributing the Battle to the British on 9 December and totally misrepresenting the official History of the Fall of Jerusalem to the Australians on 7 December as detailed in the Official History by H. S. Gullett. From their entirely false portrayal the Australians taking of Jerusalem on 7 December is completely ignored and the history falsified.
I wrote on this some twenty years ago identifying a religious motive for the portrayal and published on it. It is being used to establish a false dating in the US and UK.
The purpose is to justify the modern Jewish Calendar which runs one or two or more days later than the Ancient Temple Calendar. The unscrupulous sources have obviously got into Wikipedia and written a false account and written out the true account of the ALH taking of Jerusalem on the 7 December 1917 and applying it to 9 December 1917.
The purpose is to make the prophecy of Haggai regarding the date of the retaking of Jerusalem under Bible Prophecy appear later in accord with Hillel. Haggai says it was to be retaken on the 24 of Chislev which in the ancient Temple Calendar would have been 7 December when it was taken. In the modern Hillel Calendar with the Jewish postponements it was on 9 December and so they had to rewrite the official history and take the remarkable achievements of the Australians and their role in prophecy out of the picture completely.
I have written on the matter and as an ex Army Major RA Inf and TPI Pensioner I am not prepared to stand idly by. However, It needs to be corrected officially and publicly by the Australian Warm Memorial Officers and our legacy preserved.
Furthermore, we need a Memorial officer with authority to monitor the War Record as misused by Wikipedia and some of their less than honest contributors so that our history is not lost or misrepresented. The Australian taking of both the Well of the Oath at Beersheba and the capture of Jerusalem are two of our great achievements of all time in their historical significance and were prophesied also in Habakkuk.
See Commentary on Habakkuk (No. 021H) at http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p021h.html 
Commentary on Haggai (No. 021J) at http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p021j.html 
And Oracles of God (No. 184) at http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p184.html.
Thanking you in anticipation. I have cced this to my local member who also has a military background.
Wade Cox
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
Christian Churches of God
As Elohim, Cox believes his back reading of world events into stories out of the Bible, is the ONLY truth that will lead the unwashed masses to salvation.

He claims that he, as the Coordinator-General, is an Oracle of God and therefore we should listen to everything he says as if it was the God-inspired truth.

He says:
God chose to speak to humanity through His servants. The established chain of revelation went from Adam through the patriarchs to Noah and then to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God chose to establish a people through which He would enshrine His laws and through which His plan of Salvation would be revealed.


Does truth even exist in the COG any more?

A Sword Drill for the Theologically Curious: In the Beginning...Gods Aplenty




The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,
    your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
 For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord?
    Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?

In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;

    he is more awesome than all who surround him.
Psalm 89:5-7
(These are the "Us" of "Let us make man in our image and "Genesis 3:22 22And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
The Trees of Knowledge of Good and Evil as well as The Tree of Life were God-fruit trees and not for humans evidently.

The uh oh scripture that didn't make the cut and should have.

"When the Most High (’elyรดn) gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated humanity, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of divine beings. For Yahweh’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage."

Deuteronomy 32:8-9


"There are two points to take away from this passage. First, the passage presents an apparently older mythic theme that describes when the divine beings, that is each deity in the divine counsel, ( The El-ohim of Genesis 2-3) were assigned and allotted their own nation. Israel was the nation that Yahweh received.

Second, Yahweh received his divine portion, Israel, through an action initiated by the god El, here identifiable through his epithet “the Most High.” In other words, the passage depicts two gods: one, the Most High (El), is seen as assigning nations to the divine beings or gods (the Hebrew word is elohim, plural “gods”) in his council; the other, Yahweh, is depicted as receiving from the first god, the Most High, his particular allotment, namely the people of Israel. Similarly, in another older tradition now preserved in Numbers 21:29, the god Chemosh is assigned to the people of Moab."

The complete discussion and responses can be found here:


(That's as short as I can make it and offer it as a bit of historical and theological stimulation outside the boxes of the Churches of God :)




Living Church of God: Even unconverted husbands look forward to matzos and unleavened bread in their lunch boxes this time of year


It's that wonderful time of year again in the Churches of God when church members in both hemispheres pretend they are preparing to observe the "spring" Jewish holy days."  While church women are wearing themselves out "spring-cleaning" their homes of those nasty old bread crumbs those in the Southern Hemisphere are doing "fall-cleaning." That glaring dichotomy has never mattered at all to church leaders when they demand that members all over the world keep days specifically assigned to the Jewish people. Gerald Weston, of the Living Church of God, even thinks it's kind of fun and normal as he talks about squirrels delivering bread to his porch during Unleavened Bread time.

You remember those stories too! Admit it!  Finding cookies in your suit jacket as you walk up to give opening prayer, or dropping your pen in the car and reaching under the seat and pulling out a nice fluffy Twinkie your kids stuffed under the seat, or those devious breadcrumbs that deliberately worked their way into your pants cuff and discovering on the last day of the feast that your toothpaste had baking soda in it.  Oh, the horrors! Salvation and redemption is a dirty business!

Occasionally, some well-meaning speaker reads from Clarke’s Commentary on Exodus 12:19, where it says, “To meet the letter of this precept in the fullest manner possible, the Jews, on the eve of this festival, institute the most rigorous search through every part of their houses, not only removing all leavened bread, but sweeping every part clean, that no crumb of bread shall be left that had any leaven in it. And so strict were they in the observance of the letter of this law, that if even a mouse was seen to run across the floor with a crumb of bread in its mouth, they considered the whole house as polluted, and began their purification afresh” (Clarke, Adam. Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 1, p. 354).
What are the odds of a mouse running across the floor with a piece of bread in his mouth on the eve of this festival? Actually, not as remote as you might think, based on my experience. Twice while living in Canada, we had a bird or a squirrel leave bread on our front porch right before or during the Days of Unleavened Bread, and they were more like chunks of bread than crumbs! As trite as it sounds, you can’t make this up! At least they were on the porch instead of in the house. The timing was remarkable, as neither my wife nor I ever remember such a thing happening at any other time of the year. Maybe it was a kind Jewish neighbor disposing of leavening where wildlife could get to it. It seems to me that God has a sense of humor.
We stopped buying cookies from Girl Scouts (or, in Canada, Girl Guides) many years ago, because no matter how the Holy Days fell each year, the leavened cookies always seemed to arrive in the middle of the Feast. And have you ever noticed that it is during the Days of Unleavened Bread that the neighbor brings over a freshly baked cake?
Those damn Girl Scouts!  Satan is deliberately using them to remind church members their sin is not gone because their eyes and stomach yearn for those delicious Thin Mint 's as they are sneakily thrown in the neighbor's trash can. And those birds and squirrels! Wow! Satan's little spreaders of sin back into the lives of the chosen people of God!

This is also the time of year that unconverted husbands of church wives eagerly look forward to matzos and other unleavened products in the work lunches. Yummers! Church of God youth eagerly look forward to opening their lunch bag to share matzos covered in peanut butter with their lunch pals.  Who can forget the delicious taste of pizza-flavored rye crisps!  It certainly is the most wonderful time of the year!  Even though those church members in the Southern Hemisphere are NOT keeping a spring holy day.  Never mind though as Charlotte has decreed it is commanded of them.
One physical task that we may not find so pleasant is obeying the command to put leaven out of our homes (Exodus 12:15). Some go to extremes, spending days in what becomes spring cleaning in the northern hemisphere, and I suppose, fall cleaning south of the equator. Others barely give it a lick and a promise, taking a very casual approach toward the task.
Those of us who have been in the Church of God for 50 or more years have a unique perspective on deleavening. We have seen ministers, members and the Church as a whole sometimes fall into opposite ditches. Growth is a process, and we can, perhaps, have a few laughs along the way, such as the year I destroyed two toasters during the deleavening process. However, we also saw on more than one occasion where God’s instructions were watered down.
We all appreciate a clean house, but we must never forget that the purpose of this cleaning is to identify and remove leaven, and it is important that each member of the family take part in this process. Both removing leaven and avoiding eating leaven during this time provide valuable insights into our sinful nature. 
Yep, never mind the fact that if you are a Christian, that "sinful nature" has been obliterated by the work of Jesus. That work of washing clean is totally lost on Gerald Weston as he makes the following statement:
Jesus corrected the Jews for their oppressive interpretations of the law. He is to be our guide, not the Jewish custom described in Clarke’s Commentary. There is something about human nature that exalts physical activity over activity of the heart. Some, who once understood the truth, have joined Messianic Jewish groups that focus on the physical rather than the spiritual: prayer shawls, circumcision, certain kinds of dress, and other customs and rituals.
But Gerald does not do this. He is still of the "truth."  You know, the "truth" that is always used as a weapon to denigrate and label those demonically influenced unconverted slobs who reject the "truth" that has to offer Weston.  You know those people, they are the ones who make fun of Weston's demand that you eat matzos or deleaven your home and car, and all the other fun things associated with unleavened bread time.
There were also times when we heard comments that downplayed the need to deleaven. Such comments usually preceded or accompanied times of apostasy. How easy it is to make fun of or ridicule deleavening practices, and while some take deleavening to extremes that God never intended, but some of us have been around long enough to attest to the fact that when deleavening is abandoned, other apostasies follow. God clearly instructed Israel, “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land” (Exodus 12:19).
"God clearly instruct's Israel" and all LCG members are spiritual Jews in their hearts, so that makes it all kosher.
Some claim this is only for Israel, but we are, through the Holy Spirit in us, children of Abraham and spiritual Israel (Romans 2:28–29; Galatians 3:26–29). We keep the Feast as Paul commanded the Gentile Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:7–8): “Therefore let us keep the feast….” Paul then explains the symbolism of leaven in this context: “…not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Malice involves the thought process of an evil heart. Wickedness refers to wrong actions. These are to be replaced with a sincere heart and righteous behavior. Truth is described in 1 John 1:6 as something we practice. In other words, truth is more than academic. It is the way we act, what we do. So, we are to change in mind and in actions.
LCG leaders and HQ work so diligently this time of year to present themselves as stewards of the law as they publicly make a display of putting sin out of their lives, yet, come the very next day after the days are over, they are back to mistreating and abusing members. How soon after Passover are members reminded that their family members that have mental health issues or have family in nursing homes that they are demon possessed? Or, when members who work in nursing homes, to provide for their families, that they must immediately resign due to working in an environment controlled by demons?

Remember that actions like these happen right after LCG members have "spiritually deleavend" their minds and hearts, even though LCG leadership are the most "balanced" leaders in the church today.
Balance is difficult for human beings—that’s us. As one minister once pointed out, the only time we are in the middle of the road is when we are on our way to the ditch on the other side! The emphasis must be on spiritual deleavening.
We should take time each year for fasting and introspection, praying as Jeremiah did: “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing” (Jeremiah 10:23–24).
Pray for a tender heart that you might learn the less painful way, knowing that God loves you and that any correction He gives will only be for your ultimate good. As Paul instructs, “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:31–32). 
Oh, never mind. After all, this is the Living Church of God speaking.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God... Ephesians 2:8
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ... John 6:50-71






Friday, March 23, 2018

Friday Musings- On Being Wretched and Blind, Worm Prone and A Miserable Human Being Without Hope




The purpose of most religion is to make us "better" than we currently are. The Biblical premise is that all human beings are fatally flawed, not good enough and in need of vast improvements and control of their "human nature." Without this ongoing overcoming of the evil self, growing towards a better kind of person and change, one runs the risk of being so not good enough that they will spend eternity, for their inability to change over a rather short lifetime, in a punishing hell. Scripture goes out of its way to remind us all that our fundamental human qualities are deceit, wickedness, jealousy, anger, lust and greed. I find that personally to be one of the most unhelpful and controlling lies ever foisted upon human beings by religion. Of course that is how we can act, but that is not who we are by any real means when given the freedom to be authentic and feel safe in being so.
We are called "worms" and less than nothing in this great book of encouragement. Even the early leaders, prophets and apostle types knew that they had to degrade themselves as less than human in order to show they understood they were not worth anything as an unregenerate human being. Only when one realized they were a pile of manure, could they lead the people who were really composed of the same.
If you could not utter the words, "I am not worthy," you would never be a Bible CEO. The Apostle Paul noted that he was "the least of the Apostles" (but later said he was their equal) and that "the things that I don't want to do, I do and the things I should, I don't." He made his problems everyone's. He concluded he was simply a wretched human being, and so should everyone else. He reminded others that they were blind, miserable, poor and naked of heart and spirit. He even said he had to beat himself into submission, lest after preaching to others, he should flub up himself and be a castaway. Seems he didn't have the confidence "in the blood," to make up the differences in what he was and what he felt he needed to be.
Jesus is also said to have said that humans are to become "perfect, even (in the same way) as your Father in heaven is perfect." No challenge there to be better than one is at any one moment! Of course this is not possible and it is not possible or plausible in any "now I'm converted and full of the Holy Spirit" way. You have never met any Christian who has reached this goal in life. I have met some who act like they have and I have met some who agonize of not being able, but I have never met one that did in fact, whatever that means. Actually they would be one freaky human being I would think.

How did we get this way? Well, of course it was due to the "fall" where Adam and Eve, our really true and actual first human parents, created by God out of mud and ribs, flubbed up and ate the forbidden fruit. We have all been blamed for this event and must spend our lives coming under a blood sacrifice of a more perfect human/god being and then continuing the struggle to be "better" until we die. Its then we find out we understood being bad enough to be good enough to live forever.    
Redemption of humans by blood sacrifice and execution have always been the preferred solution to the depravity of man. Membership in the club usually cost ten or more percent of your material income and membership in the one true of many churches. I am not being disrespectful to the life and teachings of Jesus but few understand how that has been woven into a tale that Jesus himself would have cringed at.

I remember as a teen when it was "time you were baptized" being told I was all these miserable things and in need of deep and heartfelt repentance and, of course, a savior. The minister took me through all the Ten Commandments and asked me if I understood that I had broken EVERY ONE of them all my short life and thus, was condemned to death. I was a mere 18 year old, nice kid, good home, pretty compliant, a bit guilt and shame ridden by upbringing, but not a really big nasty sinner on drugs with three illegitimate kids. And yet, here I sat being convinced I worshipped other gods, (money, success, human hopes and dreams), somehow always took God's name in vain, (mom and dad would have washed my mouth out with soap...I only learned to cuss and such after being in the ministry) and worshipped on the wrong day of the week along with having to repent of keeping the wrong Holy Days all my short life.
I was in some deep evil way a killer, adulterer, thief, liar and coveter of all men's goods and women. When I said I hadn't really killed anyone, I was told that I hated and that's the same thing. I didn't recall hating anyone either but if you say so.  I admitted I had not had sex with anyone to that point, but my lust covered that one too. I wanted to say, "well no, I really hadn't done that either", but that would have been ill advised if I ever wanted to get baptized and have a future with the group. He told me to come back another day and more deeply repent of my nasty, evil and wicked 18 year old self.  I did admit to having a girlfriend from 14 to 17 who I kissed a lot and one at 18 who I kissed a lot but no babies or potential for one in either.  At AC I "dated widely" as in "do you want to come to bible study with me?  How about you?  And you're next..."   but I blame that approach with not getting to know or really spend time with one you really wish to in a quality way with consequences to follow. I did lust after Miss  __________ however.   
Of course I did take the plunge in time and joined the "you still aren't good enough" club for the next three decades as a pastor who then passed the good news of human depravity on to thousands and reminding them that while they might think they are nice people, they are under the eternal death penalty those stinkers Adam and Eve brought upon us all no matter. Be as nice as you want but you are a miserable human being especially if you don't tithe or show up when expected. 
However, I did a bit of growing myself and concluded the story of my guilt by association to Adam and Eve wasn't literally true. Human beings have evolved for the most part as good science has noted. I've had my own genome mapped back 60,000 years to all our African origins. I don't believe that it would be a very fair thing for humans to pay a literal and eternal death penalty based on a mythical and not literally true story.
Have you ever considered the fact that you and I may have been born right the first time? What if the most simple and spiritual goal a human being has is to become your own genuine, authentic and self? What if our purpose in life is neither to jump through the hoops set out by others, who think they know, nor to struggle and strive to improve yourself dramatically over what you are? People don't change much over a life time no matter what their religious affiliations, and while it's an improvement to stop killing one's self with sugar, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine along with other assorted body killing habits, it's OK to just be yourself?
That's a far cry from humans being merely wretched, miserable, poor blind and naked worms that need major rehab at the hands of prophets, priests and pastors. Saying we are born right the first time and not in need of being born again or reborn goes against the meme, which is the mind virus we all got taught as kids. Our parents had it taught to them and their parents before that. It is the idea that we are all flawed a birth by a non-event in the lives of our first not literally so parents Adam and Eve. It's the idea that even if you are a pretty OK person, you are filled with vanity, jealousy, lust and greed that unless paid for by a perfect blood sacrifice, demands you spend eternity in hell burning forever, cut off from God, or permanently dead. It's also not true and is not what a genuine human being, in reality needs to become the monkey on their back over.
How much misery and struggle to be all that one can never really be religion has heaped upon the faithful. Not many will leave the warmth and comfort of the boxes they were born in by happenstance and explore ideas that are not acceptable to the tribe or the church. But some will. They might be labeled "heretics" or perhaps more benevolently, "ahead of their times." In the past, those ahead of their times tended to be burned at the stake. Leaving the box of religious dogma is difficult and often one leaves it alone and on their own.  You get called a lot of names and labels are applied aplenty.
Don't expect those in the last box you were in to follow you into the next one your grow into. You generally and mostly go alone.
Politics, fear, guilt and shame are some of the reasons human beings behave badly. Feeling unsafe can do a lot of damage.  When people feel safe, appreciated, respected and listened to, you'd be surprised how much good can be accomplished and how well behaved they can be.  
What is the most simple spiritual truth a human can come to recognize? While there may be many, how about the simple recognition that we all do the best we can, warts and all and that being the lifelong monkey on our own backs as "not good enough" is a complete waste of time and unnecessary? I have done the funerals for those few who felt they were so unable to measure up, they took their own lives in despair.  None of them were necessary. That was a long term solution to a very short term problem of thinking badly. 

After my first sermon being transferred to Kentucky a woman came up to me to introduce herself to me. She said,  "Really nice to meet you Mr. Diehl.  I'm the woman who committed adultery..."   That was her evermore label someone put in her mind and she adopted.  I took her aside and said "I don't ever wish to hear that label you have given yourself again.  What is your name?"   She looked at me quietly as tears filled her eyes and seemed not to know what to say or do.  She said her name, I said "Nice to meet YOU." We hugged and she was free.  She said she felt born again and I said she was probably born right the first time.  Based on her knowing smile, I believe she knew exactly what I meant.



Thursday, March 22, 2018

Sanctifying the Simple-Minded and the Erroneous COG Members



The 7th of Abib, a date that certain Church of God splinter groups finds significance in, especially those wild and crazy fold in the Christian Churches of God. Though this not one of those "fun" feast days COGers celebrate, this one involves members fasting.  This one involves supposed COG members fasting for the simple minded and the erroneous nincompoops of the world.

We observe 7 Abib, the Sanctification for and of the Simple and the Erroneous (Ezek. 45:20). On this day we fast. Why do we do this? Was not Christ's Sacrifice enough for the process for all time? Are we trying to do something that was done by Christ and usurp Christ's prerogative? 

Ezekiel 45:20  And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.
(cf. also Heb. 5:1-2.)
The church is apparently filled with simple-minded people too stupid to understand what God's most mighty COG leader is teaching.  Those spiritual idiots apparently are also members of the various COG's. They are lacking in intelligence and are unable to understand the amazing teachings of dingy Wade Cox.
Thus the Temple of God or House of God is composed of all grades of people such as those that make mistakes and for those that are less intelligent and can’t understand many aspects of the faith.  A good example is the Worldwide Church of God offshoots who are so misled by their ministry that they follow the Hillel calendar and keep the feasts and the Solemn Assemblies on the wrong days and sometimes in the wrong months; and so we must fast for their error and ignorance, and also for that of Israel and Judah and the nations that understand even less. 
This is the kind of crap that COG leaders dream up because they reject the one they claim to follow. Like many other COG leaders, Cox has rejected everything that Jesus came to do and replaced it with his bastardization of the law.  Once again the law trumps, Jesus be damned.

The asinine absurdities of Cox get even crazier:
The last day of the primary phase of the Sanctification of the Temple – which Temple we are – is the Seventh of Abib. Once that has happened the sanctification continues on until the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So do we say as some claim that we don’t need to do anything before the Lord’s Supper as he set it aside and the ceremony of the Footwashing and the Bread and the Wine was enough? That is a false doctrine taught by some offshoots of the Churches of God and shows the appalling ignorance of the ministry of those elements. The commandment of the faith is to be reconciled to one’s brother and that we should not go to the feast empty handed and all males must attend. It is taken for granted that we must prepare individually for the Passover, but also we are commanded to prepare as a congregation and the Sanctification process is and always has been undertaken by the righteous over the ignorant of the congregations of the faith. God has set a process in place that has always existed and must be restored to all the faith.
Sanctification in the House of GodIt is always a fact that the actions of the House of God and its ministry which Temple and Ministry we are, has always undertaken the process of sanctification.
It was from before the giving of the Law to Moses, by the patriarchs such as Job (Job 1:5).
Also we are told:Numbers 20:12 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.
 Numbers 27:14 because ye rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) 
The explanation here is that because the leaders of the congregation did not sanctify Christ as the Angel of the Presence and the Yahovah of Israel they did not go into the Promised Land. This was an example to the leaders of the Church of God that those who do not order and go through this sanctification process will not enter the First Resurrection.
Who in their right mind would want to spend eternity with this bunch of raving lunatics?  Imagine being part of the first resurrection with these nutjobs are your leaders!

Never fear though, these nutjobs still think there is hope for all of us and will stand between us and God so God does not get too pissed at us.
The Seventh day of Abib is the sanctification of those that erred or were too simple in mind to understand that the Sanctification of the Temple had to be done. This process is for those people who have not yet come to understand the glory and mysteries of the Kingdom of God: those people who fall short and do not undertake their full spiritual responsibilities. As Moses and Aaron stood between the wrath of God expressed in Christ and the people in supplication for their safety, so too do we stand so that they may be helped and we may also stand together in safety for our nations.
Isn't that nice, Wade and crew are standing up for us.


  

COGWA Not Happy That Members Don't Let Their Lives Revolve First Around The Church


I rarely post much from COGWA (Church of God a Worldwide Association) here because perusing their website is one of the most mind-numbingly boring things one could imagine. Given that COGWA is nothing more than a dissident carbon copy of United Church of God, they have never set out to reimagine their church or the things they preach into a new and relevant model for the world today.

So thanks to a reader here we have this little tidbit, on how things have NOT changed in the church, to examine.

Starts around 35:29:

A second category we'll quickly go to it show honor to the Brethren show honor to the Brethren. We saw in previous scriptures how especially there in first Thessalonians how the brethren were just doing a fine job of honoring each other of caring for each other. Are there ways we can improve there? Let's look at Romans chapter 12 in verse 10. Romans chapter 10 12 in verse 10 we'll read verses 10 and 11  
Now the New King James starts out by saying “be kindly affectionate to one another” “be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love” I like to read that to you in the new American Standard translation. It says this, “be devoted to one another in brotherly love kindly affectionate” I don't know I often wondered what is why the emphasis? We could say be kind to one another be affectionate to one another but apparently Paul said there's a “kindly affectionate”. I'm not sure there can be an unkindly affectionate. But he's emphasizing that be really affectionate... be and that's why I think the new American Standard says “be devoted to”.  
So one of the trends that we've always been concerned about in the church is our lives getting so busy with other stuff that no longer does our life revolve around the church. Now the gray heads among us remember the days when everything in your life revolved around the church. Did it not? Every week revolved around the Sabbath and the Sabbath was the most important thing and everything went leading up to the Sabbath. And you got to the Sabbath and you went to Sabbath services and then you ate together with the Brethren. Then you went to spokesman club for a couple hours then the next day you got up and drove halfway to Timbuktu to do some YOU activity because all your kids were involved first with basketball and then with track and then with... you go on and on. Volleyball and okay what just it wasn't one basketball team it was an A team and a B team and a C team. And was there ever a weekend we didn't travel? Caring for those things? 
My wife got out to our first assignment and oh you're the cheerleading coach, oh really? So we spent how many fundraisers raising money to do what? To buy cheerleading outfits for our girls. Because they couldn't do cheerleading in school. Now why we thought cheerleading was that cat's meow I'm not sure but we did at the time. And that's not to say it's a bad thing but anyway. Won't get off on that. 
But everything revolved around the church. And so we had what? We had food co-ops. You have any here? Food co-ops were where you could get stone ground whole wheat. Not just not as regular whole wheat. Now why stone ground is better than metal ground I don't quite recall. But everything... we had Church cookbooks right? Some of you still got those right? Church cookbooks that you baked stuffed you made stuff out of the church cookbook.  
So everything in life revolved around the truth. And troubling at times is to see instead of the truth in the church being the hub of the wheel upon which everything else revolves… The concern is and that maybe is what being talked a little bit about here when he says be be devoted to one another. That the church cycles in instead of being the hub, it's kind of out here on the rim somewhere. And it cycles into our life once a week as it comes around but other than that we may not think of it much. Maybe that's what Paul was concerned about here? When he tells the Brethren to be devoted to one another and I really would like to help out so-and-so but man I got so much going on here. I don't have time to serve. I don't have time to take care of others. 
That's a sad thing there was a time we had a woman back 30 years ago in Massachusetts a woman who's stricken with cancer sad situation but we were able to do such a thing that I had 24-hour a day care for this woman by church members. Now again it's a different culture most of the women didn't work outside the home and I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing, it's just the way it was.  
But everything revolved around the church and around the Brethren. So Paul may be lamenting a little bit to say “be sure were devoted to one another” and preferring and it says to “give preference” Continuing here Romans 12 verse 10. “Be kindly affectionate be devoted to one of the brother love” and then it says “in honor giving preference to one another”. In honor giving preference to you, putting others first, you first attitude. Verse 11 “not lagging behind in diligence fervent in spirit serving the Lord” You see when we serve others were serving God Himself, serving Christ. With that turn over to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, in verse 37, you're very familiar with this section of Scripture without a doubt. Because every time we read it it kind of sticks us a little bit. Kind of prods our conscience, or pricks our conscience. Proverbs 25 verse 37, remember the scene here there's the the picture of who will be in the kingdom. And what did they do in order to be able to be brought into God's kingdom?  
And so there's this explanation, this kind of proverbial explanation, of what these people did to be considered worthy of being brought into God's kingdom. Christ said, you know to the righteous, come on. In verse 37 “the righteous will answer him saying Lord did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and gave you drink?”, remember what Christ said? The reason I'm having you all in is because when I was sick you took care of me. When I was down and out you watched over me, thirsty you gave me drink. And they're saying, “why we didn't do that”, verse 38. “When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? or when when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? and the king will answer and say to them assuredly I say to you and as much as you did this to”... who? “one of the least of these my brothers”. Not to the general world we can't care for the whole world. That's not wrong to do that kind of kind of thing for the world. But I guess our our thought really would be is that once everyone in the church is taken care of, great, let's go help others. But until that time let's make sure the Brethren are cared for. “...in as much as you did this, these things - one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me.”  
So we're to show honor to the Brethren by caring for them by fellowshipping with them by doing all we can to help. By encouraging them so we ask how might we show honor to the Brotherhood of believers? Well we can all meditate on that and maybe come up with some good suggestions even for the seminar this afternoon.
This continual looking back on the "glory days" of the church from decades past is a denial of how sick the church was at its core. It is one thing for members to care for one another with godly works so that no one is uncared for, but letting the church tell you that you need to reorient your life so that the church is central to everything you do is bordering once again on cult speak.

No Church of God member needs to let any of their organizations control their lives with one activity after another, till they are exhausted and compliant when they are preached to on Saturdays. Look at how it wrecked thousands of lives over the decades in the WCG and then on into the hundreds of splinter groups. The typical church member's life is between them and God first and not between them and the church first.

Monday, March 19, 2018

Richard Ames: Living Church of God members are the "pioneers of the New Covenant"




Richard Ames writes:

GROWTH IN THE NEW COVENANT: Have you allowed God to write His spiritual law on your heart and mind? Have you energetically sought to internalize the Ten Commandments as away of life? Many mainstream churches wrongly say that the Ten Commandments are "done away," but the truth is that we in God’s Church are pioneers of the New Covenant, allowing God to write His law on our hearts. So, examine yourself to determine how thoroughly you have internalized God’s law of love.
  
The law still till trumps everything in the Living Church of God.   That inconvenient dude called Jesus still gets relegated to the back burner 95% of the time.

Here is a short chart of the things Richard Ames apparently refuses to acknowledge:


  LAW COVENANT--MADE OLD  

  NEW COVENANT--DIFFERENT, FRESH  
   1. Old covenant--2 Cor. 3:14 New Covenant--2 Cor. 3:6
   2. First covenant--Heb. 8:7; 9:1  Second covenant--Heb. 8:7; 10:1-9
   3. Came by Moses--John 1:17  Came by Christ--Heb. 8:6; 9:15
   4. Law of Moses--Acts 13:38,39  Law of Christ--Gal. 6:2
   5. Law of sin--Rom. 7:23; 8:2  Law of righteousness--Rom. 9:30,31
   6. Law of the flesh--Rom. 7:5,6  Law of the spirit--Rom. 8:2
   7. Not of faith--Gal. 3:12  Law of faith--Rom. 3:27
   8. Yoke of bondage--Gal. 5:1  Law of liberty--James 1:25
   9. Ended by Christ--Rom. 10:4  Estab. by Christ--Heb. 8:6; 10:9
  10. Law of death--2 Co.3:7; Ro.8:2  Law of life--Gal. 3:11;6:8
  11. Entangles--Gal. 5:1  Makes free--John 8:32,36 
  12. A shadow--Col. 2:14-17  The reality--Heb. 10:1-18
  13. Fulfilled--Mat. 5:17,18  Now in force--Heb. 8:6; 10:9
  14. People left imperfect--Hb.7:19  Makes perfect--Heb. 7:19
  15. Glorious--2 Cor. 3:7  More glorious--2 Cor. 3:8-10
  16. Powerless to save--Hb.9:9;10:4  Saves to uttermost--Heb. 7:25
  17. Many sacrifices--Heb. 9:12,13  One sacrifice for sins--Heb. 10:12
  18. Temporary priest--Heb. 7:23  Eternal priest--Heb. 7:17
  19. Remembers sins--Heb. 10:3  Forgets sins--Heb. 8:12; 10:17
  20. Yearly atonement--Heb. 10:3  Eternal atonement--Heb. 10:14
  21. Priests have sin--Heb. 5:1-4  Sinless priest--Heb. 7:26
  22. Aaronic priesthood--Heb. 7:11  Melchisedec--Heb. 5:5-10; 7:21
  23. Out of Levi--Heb. 7:11  Out of Judah--Heb. 7:14
  24. Animal sacrifices--Heb. 9:12  Human sacrifice--Heb. 9:14-28
  25. Earthly tabernacle--Heb. 9:2  Heavenly tabernacle--Heb. 8:2
  26. Imperfect mediator--Gal. 3:19  Sinless mediator--1 Tim. 2:5
  27. No inheritance--Rom. 4:13  Eternal inheritance--Heb. 9:15
  28. Instituted upon animal blood
-- Heb. 9:16-22
 Instituted upon blood of Christ
-- Mat. 26:28
  29. Law of works--Rom. 3:27  Law of grace and faith--John 1:17
  30. Works wrath--Rom. 4:15  Saves from wrath--Rom. 5:9
  31. Non-redeeming--Heb. 10:4  Redeems--Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:12-15
  32. Non-pleasing--Psa. 40:6  Pleasing to God--Heb. 10:5-18
  33. Abolishment predicted--Is.51:6  Establishment predicted--Heb. 8:7
  34. Circumcision--Exod. 12:48  No circumcision--Rom. 4:9-12
  35. Changeable--Heb.7:12; Gal.3:25  Made eternal--Heb. 13:20
  36. Faulty--Heb. 8:7  Perfect--James 1:25
  37. Weak--Heb. 7:18  Strong--Heb. 7:25
  38. Unprofitable--Heb. 7:18  Profitable--Heb. 7:19,25
  39. Natural program--Heb. 9:10-14  Spiritual program--2 Cor. 3:6,18
  40. Daily program--Heb. 7:27  Finished program--Heb.10:10-18
  41. Infirm priests--Heb. 5:2, 7:28  Perfect high priest--Heb.7:26
  42. Priests by law--Heb. 7:12,28  Made priests by oath--Heb.7:21,28
  43. No salvation--Heb. 10:2-4  Eternal salvation--Heb.5:9; 10:10
  44. Perfected nothing--Heb. 7:19  Perfects faithful--Hb.7:19; 10:14
  45. Earthly priests--Heb. 5:1-4  Heavenly priest--Heb. 9:24; 10:12
  46. Repeated inability--Heb. 10:11  Glorious success--Heb. 10:10-18
  47. Many offerings--Heb. 9:7  One offering--Heb. 10:10-14
  48. Good promises--Deut. 28:1-14  Better promises--Heb. 8:6
  49. A good covenant--Rom. 7:12  A better covenant--Heb. 7:22; 8:6
  50. Many high priests--Heb. 7:23  One high priest--Heb. 7:24-28
  51. Typical tabernacle--Heb. 9  True tabernacle--Heb. 8:2; 9:11
  52. No mercy--Heb. 10:28  Complete mercy--Heb. 8:12
  53. Handmade things--Heb. 9:1-5,24  Not handmade--Heb. 9:23,24
  54. An old way--Heb. 8:13  New and living way--Heb. 10:19,20
  55. Unavailing ministers--Heb.7:18  Able ministers--2 Cor. 3:6
  56. Carnal ministry--Heb. 9:9,10  Spiritual ministry--2 Cor. 3:6
  57. Ministration of condemnation-- 2 Cor. 3:9 Ministration of righteousness-- 2 Cor. 3:9
  58. Glory covered--2 Cor. 3:13  Glory uncovered--2 Cor. 3:18
  59. Brings bondage--Gal. 4:24,25  Brings liberty--2 Cor. 3:17
  60. Cannot justify--Gal. 2:16  Does justify--Acts 13:38,39
  61. Brings a curse--Gal. 3:10  Redeems from the curse--Gal. 3:13
  62. Live by works--Gal. 3:10  Live by faith--Gal. 3:11
  63. Cannot give life--Gal. 3:21  Does give life--John 6:63-68
  64. Exposes sin--Gal. 3:19  Covers sin--Rom. 4:1-8
  65. Under law--Rom. 6:14,15  Under grace--Gal. 3:22-25
  66. Done away--2 Cor. 3:7-14  Not done away--2 Cor. 3:11
  67. Abolished--2 Cor. 3:13  Continues glorious--2 Cor. 3:11
  68. Ministry of death--2 Cor. 3:7  Reconciliation ministry--2 Co.5:18
  69. Only for Israel--Dt.4:7,8; 5:3  For all men--Lk. 22:20; Mk. 14:2


Chart link here:  Auburn.edu
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