Living Church of God's Doug Winnail has written another missive to LCG faithful warning them that they are not to take it upon themselves to correct or "save" the church, much like Bob Thiel attempted to do and still pretends he can do.
LCG warns about the demonic spirits trying to sway LCG faithful with their own imagined doctrines and against those within and without the church who are critical of LCG policies, actions and treatment of members.
Apparently, Jesus Christ is having a hard time building his church with all of these pesky interruptions happening all the time with the members. Its always the members who have these problems and never the ministry. When will LCG stop being such problem children?
So there you have it brethren! Now you can truly have a profitable Sabbath!
Beware of Misguided Ideas: The Apostle Paul warned, “in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1–5) and that many will not listen to sound doctrine but will prefer to follow their own ideas (2 Timothy 3:1–6; 4:1–4). The Apostle Paul also warned that critics from within and from outside the Church will try to divide the Church to gain a following (Acts 20:29–31). He pointed out that Satan will try various ways to mislead well-meaning people (2 Corinthians 2:11)—often new people (1 Timothy 3:6)—by appealing to the human desire to be recognized as an authority (3 John 9–10). Numerous issues threatened to destroy the early Church: different ideas about foods, hair lengths, the resurrection, circumcision, etc. (see 1 Corinthians and Galatians). However, Paul’s constant advice was to “Guard what was committed to your trust” (1 Timothy 6:20), to “hold fast” to what you have been “taught” (Titus 1:9–11) and “avoid foolish disputes” (Titus 3:9; 1 Timothy 6:3–5). When questions do arise over doctrine, the biblical example is to take the issue to the leaders of the Church for a decision (Acts 15:1–31). Nowhere do the Scriptures encourage individuals to take it on themselves to correct or “save” the Church. That is something that Jesus Christ will take care of in His time as He “builds” His Church (Matthew 16:18).
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
Obviously there is yet another storm brewing
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this applies only to LCG, or do they include PCG, RCG, Continuing, UCG, COGWA, etc., etc., etc.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how some of the COGs worship the government structure proposed by a Midian priest.
(Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian).
Dennis, you are obviously mistaken. Doug's comments this week are almost identical to the ones he shared with LCG brethren on September 7, 2017 and July 9, 2015. There was no particular storm then, and there's no particular storm now. It's just another lazy effort by lazy Doug, filling space by restimulating members' old programming.
ReplyDeleteAny organization that is quality orientated not only wants feedback, it encourages it and seeks it. How else can the "product" improve and how can it remain customer oriented?
ReplyDeleteYelp and other customer feedback mechanisms are not feared by top notch human organizations, and remedy and response are great marketing instruments when people see that issues are handled promptly and professionally.
Only shoddy operations discourage open discourse. The problem with the COGS is their perfectionism, and requirement that everyone is always firing on all 8 cylinders, (like the nonsensical "best FOT ever" line) , and that things are ALWAYS going great.
Its time for all of the COGS to grow up, and realize that it needs to be "customer driven". They are supposed to be servants, not the ones "being served". HWA got the whole flow of service upside down!
"Have a profitable Sabbath"
ReplyDeleteOn apostate Thiel's blog today he flashes the "white power" hand signal. http://www.cogwriter.com/gnews.htm
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“LCG says church members do not have the right to correct the church or call out its errors”
Not a problem. Those who are not members of that false LCG church that was built on competitive rebellion against HWA can call out its errors and correct it.
All those so-called “doctrinal upgrades” that the LCG came up with are serious problems that will never go away.
HWA wrote, “First, Jesus warned them of the great deception, the false 'Christianity'--preaching CHRIST to the world, preaching ABOUT the Messenger, but not proclaiming his message--His gospel.” By coming up with a “two-fold gospel” that incorporates the world's ideas the LCG risks bringing the apostle Paul's double curse on itself.
Saying that the great “falling away” is something that happens in the world rather than what actually did happen in the WCG in January 1995 with the Tkaches' Great Apostasy is the LCG's way of saying that it rejects HWA and the great work that he did, even though the relatively little LCG got its relatively few members from HWA's much larger WCG.
Ah perhaps so 135. Its a flashback to my own experience when it signaled yet another shit storm of firings and new people to follow to choose from
ReplyDeleteA church is supposed to be God-oriented and God-led not customer oriented and customer led.
ReplyDeleteIf Armstrongismiteism is true, then people in the world cannot fall away from the truth because they never had it.
ReplyDeleteI know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. Revelation 2:2 NLT
ReplyDeleteAnd the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. Acts 17:11 NLT
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 NLT
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. Hebrews 3:12-13 NLT
The body of Jesus Christ or what we think of as the "church" is not a governing board of elders who are above question, or examination. It is not a pope, or other figure head who has the right to determine doctrine or anything else that the rest of the body must follow. This is the job of the head of the body, which is Christ. Our "head quarters"resides in heaven. It is not located in Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Edmond,or anywhere else on the globe at this time. The body of Christ is a spiritual entity, composed of the ekklesia or assembly of those whom Christ has called out. It is the entire body, and each member of this body is responsible for determining whether those who say they are apostles, prophets, teachers, etc., are telling the truth according to scripture. It is the job of each individual who works out their own salvation with trembling and fear (Philippians 12:12), to study so they will know if those who wish to oversee them have studied to show themselves approved, and have rightly divided the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), and then talk to and warn each other if something seems amiss. Those whom Christ has gifted to His body as apostles, prophets, teachers, etc. are to equip his people for works of service, so that His body is built up, becoming mature, and not tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Their leadership is not an end unto itself, but is to be an aid to help the body mature, support itself, and function, keeping in mind that Jesus Christ is the head and all others are simply members of the same body, who are not to lord over one another as the gentiles do, but to serve one another in truth and love, with every single member having a part to play and work to do, so the body functions properly (Matthew 20:25-27; Matthew 23:6-12; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1Peter4:10; 2Corinthians 1:24; 1Peter5:2-3; 1Corinthians 12:4-31; 1Corinthians 13; 1Peter 2:5).
This is the true picture of the functional body of the living Jesus Christ, when all the scriptures are taken together, and not cherry picked so that we do not receive a complete picture. This however is not what we see today. Instead of a functioning body who take their orders from their respective head, we have a dysfunctional and fragmented people, who have been conditioned by the leaders who are supposed to be shepherding them to be passive spiritual toddlers who are not encouraged to grow and function as mature members, but to continue to be spoon fed pablum by those who would rule over them as the gentiles do, and deceive them into abdicating their true spiritual responsibilities. It is time to wake up brothers and sisters. Wipe the sleep from your eyes, and function as the spiritual body must learn to do. These fractured human organizations and governing boards are not the Church of God. They are not the body of Christ. We are, and it is time we remembered this.
A concerned sister in Jesus Christ
Concerned LCG members could do what Dr. Thiel did.... and walk out.
ReplyDeleteEspecially if they're in an area with other COG's, they might find something closer to what the Bible says.
The problem with Thiel is that he did not walk out peacefully and get on with his life. He thought himself better educated and more theologically inspired that any other COG leader out there. He immediately started blaming LCG and tried to poach members to follow him. Then he started lying in order to set himself up as the one and only true COG left on earth today. He is a liar, a fraud, a narcissist, and a deceiver of the brethren. He has serious mental issues that may soon lead to extreme heartache in his immediate family or in his church membership. He is not to be trusted.
ReplyDeleteYour devil picture is quite appropriate. He constantly gets blamed for all the problems in the church when we all know it is our leaders who are causing it all.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is we were sold a time share and now we are faced with having to admit we were suckers or desperately try and justify our purchase.
ReplyDeleteIf you truly believe in the Bible, then stick your nose in it and read ALL the scriptures along with other translations and study guides.
There is a lot more to the Bible than the COG doctrines, plus some of the COG doctrines are not based on sound analysis of the scriptures.
But when LCG and Rod Meredith called out Joseph D Tkach in 1992 that was correct?
ReplyDeleteBut now no LCG minister can ever apostate?
Q: re sister that said we're "warn" those that go astray". So Q: is what about a family
ReplyDeletemember that has sucked up this BS, hook,line &sinker (DP&RCG)& ADAMANTLY REFUSES to admit being wrong, that has been taught LIES, etc, gets mad when confronted with proof of this
chicanery &stalks off in a "huff". And is confronted with these proofs in a reasonable
lets reason together approach?
Any comments on this, anyone?
Yeah, 11:57, Lighten up. You're probably driving them deeper. It's a miracle when such people leave their cults, and it doesn't happen because of anything you say or do. As with any other addiction, they have to bottom out for themselves.
ReplyDeleteBB
Dr. Winnail - You say that "Nowhere do the Scriptures encourage individuals to take it on themselves to correct or “save” the Church." Well sir, I encourage you to please stop cherry picking verses from the Bible, stop taking verses out of context and please read the Holy Bible in its entirety, because it does in fact encourage individual Christians to take it on themselves to correct or "save" the Church from false teaching (Armstrongism) and from false teachers (like yourself and the ministers of LCG). The Scriptures affirm that all individual Christians - regardless of their position - are responsible for upholding the truth and to identify, call out, and refute false teaching and false teachers. If you want to talk about this privately, you have my contact information. Give me a call. I look forward to speaking with you.
ReplyDeleteBut now no LCG minister can ever apostate?
ReplyDeleteThe entire COG movement, from William Miller to the latest splinter group, has been a history of breakaway groups. A difference between HWA and Bob Thiel is that HWA called CG7 "Sardis" and Bob calls LCG "Laodicean".