- Every life in my congregation is precious and dear to God.
- Every counsel that I give can impact a life permanently.
- My advice can alter the course of history for the life of the member and the lives of generations to come.
- I take personal responsibility for every word that I say in God's name.
- I have a responsibility to exhort, encourage, and uplift my congregation.
- I have the responsibility to take every interaction in equal importance, big or small.
- I must do nothing that negatively impacts a Believer's relationship with God, their family, and the Church.
- I must respect a Believer's personal relationship between them and God
- I am not an overlord. I am a servant, a helper, a mentor, and a friend.
- I am a guardian. I must protect the Church and it's members from abuse and harm, inside and out of the Church.
- I must avoid greed and the love of money in all its forms as a minister of Jesus Christ.
- I must flee from immorality and live a life dedicated to helping and serving the Church without distraction.
- I must preach on things that will make an impact and help the specific needs of my Congregation.
- I must center and focus on Jesus Christ in every interaction and in every message of my Pastorate.
- In every interaction I must act in love towards all I serve.
- If I must correct and counsel, I will do so in Godly love, kindness, and most of all, in prayer and respect.
- I will respect a member's personal life in regards to family, job, talents, and personal life in the Lord.
- I will resign from the ministry if my personal life impacts the health and spiritual welfare of the Church.
- I will counsel with the Church's leadership and devout members of the Church always and in prayer.
- I recognize I am a servant, not an overlord. I am a helper, not a commander. I am a guide, not a sheriff.
- I will keep my sermons on point, on message, and completed in a reasonable time.
- I will take seriously the impact I have on every life at every time in the position of service that I am in.
- I will never use the funds of the Church for self-centered, greed-oriented, personally-benefiting reasons.
- I will never ask for, demand, guilt, or coerce members for funds or for money in God's name or otherwise, especially Low Income members who would be harmed financially and spiritually.
submitted by SHT
NEVER HAPPEN EVER. THESE SO CALLED PEOPLE ARE REALLY INHUMAN, INCAPABLE OF SHOWING LOVE OR CONCERN FOR THEIR FELLOW MAN.
ReplyDeleteThey should but they sadly won't.
ReplyDeleteThe brethren are mere gossip fodder to ministry. Their leadership mentoring consists of gossiping about the brethren to stir up a them and us division. Thus opening up churches to toxic environments.
How many people have been drawn to these groups by their message, then turned off God entirely when they encountered the evil men who are so commonly found in the ACOGs?
ReplyDeleteRod Meredith and Rod McNair are just two of the many who will have a very hard time explaining their conduct to Jesus at the resurrection. These men claimed to wield God's authority, yet drove away many innocents. The millstones will weigh very heavily on the necks of those two men, and many others like them throughout the ACOGs.
POINT TO ADD----
ReplyDelete"Be aware of your limitations, and be humble enough to say " I don't know", and be willing to refer people quickly to outside professionals, whether it be business, medical, psychiatric, financial, marriage etc."
The doctrines always end up corrupting the leaders, especially when you introduce church era heresy into the mix and use a prophecy timeline to create false urgency. It’s been tried so many times now by so many people that there is no longer reasonable doubt associates with the outcome.
ReplyDeleteBB
Blaming the doctrines is an excuse. It is not the doctrines making men behave badly.
DeleteIt is their own hearts and character. It is by their fruits we are warned you will know them, not their doctrines.
Talk is cheap, and has become very cheap in COG.
I am sorry,1:08, I can’t agree with you on that. HWA’s “government from the top down”, combined with all of the graceless legalism, caused a system of entitlement in which the ministers and the administrators were groomed to believe that they had absolute authority over the members, and unless they were some of the weak ones, were strict enforcers as opposed to being spiritual guides. That does not produce character. It produces programmed androids.
DeleteIn practice, although we were said to be under it, grace was the sole prerogative of God. It was not understood as something to be practiced by humans who were in positions involving any sort of authority, including even the limited amount of authority exercised by lay members in their roles as parents.
It is no accident that there are people such as David Pack or Gerald Flurry. They are basically poster boys for the type of authority which was taught by HWA. They are the moral equivalent of Hitler Youth. They exemplify what was actually expected of the ministry. Bob Thiel and James Malm are basically misfires, individuals who try to live up to the same poster boy image, but are limited In skill set and personalities.
The minute I first heard of the Tkach corrections, back in the nineties, I realized that there were far more experienced teachers of the new doctrines to be found in classic mainstream Christianity, pastors who had not been contaminated by HWA’s managerial style, ministers with actual training in theology and the Bible, as opposed to having learned the syncretistic system created by HWA. I knew that the “new” WCG would not reset and halt and catch fire, because the administration had been corrupted by HWA’s managerial style, actually believing that they had to cruelly enforce grace.
Best to throw out the bath water (there was no baby) and start from scratch, proving all things once again, but this time not robotically nodding one’s head at the guided conclusions of a religious dictator.
BB
1:08, exactly. The "church era heresy" isn't the belief in church eras, it's the idea that you know which "era" your organization is. "We are Philadelphia" is the heresy!
ReplyDeleteAs I've said before on here, I don't know if the era doctrine is true or not, it doesn't matter because we're told to listen to what the Spirit says to all seven of the groups. But if eras do exist we've obviously been in the Laodicean era for well over 100 years.
Kevin McMillen
Kevinmcmillen64@gmail.com
William Miller (Great Disappointment) taught that the Laodicean “era” started in the mid 1800s.
DeleteWhat’s true is that each of the attitudes depicted in the messages to the seven churches existed in HWA’s church simultaneously. The messages are a cautionary tale about right and wrong attitudes, not good or bad eras. Obviously, everyone would self-identify as Philadelphian, given the choice.
BB
"Blaming the doctrines is an excuse. It is not the doctrines making men behave badly."
ReplyDeleteSorry, but that's a cop-out. Those who behave badly are the ones who came up with the doctrines in the first place.
The foundation behind Armstrong's doctrines was not a full-on desire to biblical accuracy and proper training. The foundation was simply to "prove his wife wrong". This was "behaving badly" from the start. As Armstrong read the Bible, he did so not with a desire to understand context or proper theology - but with the continued desire he always had to become a "success" and organize a "family business". Every doctrine Armstrong created was either accepted or rejected based on how it benefited him and his business model. This is why some Old Covenant laws were thoroughly accepted (Holy Days with offerings) or rejected (such as Purim or the Festival of Lights, or Jubilee). The Pick and Choose Theology of Armstrongism was completely based on how well it affected his ability to expand and grow his businesses (Church, the fundraising arm of the College). His ability to spin his accepted practices into a "master plan" was standard advertising genius (as a businessman, he understood what he needed to do to sell his product). Armstrong was behaving badly from the beginning, and his hirelings have been behaving badly ever since.
It takes those behaving badly to create a church that behaves badly. And for seventy years plus, the Church is full of "ministers" who need to learn how to behave themselves.
SHT, actually I'd say for 1900 years plus, the Church is full of "ministers" who need to learn that ministry is a service not a rank hopefully leading them to behaving themselves. HWA adopted the corrupt hierarchy from the RCC and added his own corruptions to it.
ReplyDeleteFrom his earliest beginnings HWA was more interested in bringing people to "his" work rather than bringing them to Christ. So, as an addendum to my 6:24am post, I only agree in part. We can't blame biblical doctrines for the way men corrupt them. The sabbath doctrine is just fine, don't perform your regular daily work on the sabbath. It's when men add their own nuanced ideas to that doctrine and expect others to abide by their interpretation, that's when problems occur.
HWA and the WCG didn't allow the Holy Spirit to work in individuals and I believe that was blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
So, while we can't blame biblical doctrines for how men behave, we most certainly can blame the corruption of doctrine on the men and the corrupt doctrine itself.
An interesting caveat to that, God has given each of us the right to determine biblical doctrine for ourselves, but not for others. Trying to force a personal belief onto others is imo contrary to the bible. Free moral agency is a gift from God that a lot of men, HWA included stole from us. There's nothing wrong with taking it back!
Kevin McMillen
Kevinmcmillen64@gmail.com
Still yabbering like a brainwashed robot huh Ben?
ReplyDeleteGreat delivery. Outstanding arguments. Keep up the great spirit.
ReplyDeleteOne thing not mentioned in the list is honoring self love, self interest and self profit. Herb and his minions rejected this as they viewed others as their personal slaves. The Sambos should be fully committed to serving their Massas alone. So this left terror religion, via prophesy, as the only meaningful way of motivating members.
ReplyDeleteForget about the carrot, it's all the big stick.
"The Pick and Choose Theology of Armstrongism was completely based on how well it affected his ability to expand and grow his businesses (Church, the fundraising arm of the College)."
ReplyDeleteThis is about the greatest load of crock I EVER read on this blog.
If HWA had remained as a speaker in one of the "normal revival" churches. He could have expanded his tent meetings to a megachurch.
The "strangeness" of wcg doctrine and the "by invitation" only policies kept the membership at a meager 90.000. After Tkach loosened up a bit the membership expanded in just a couple of years to 150.000. With a couple more changes wcg would have expanded to 500.000 by the year 2000.
My proof for the 500.000. SDA grew in that period to 25 million so wcg only needed to pick up some defectors to get that number.
Then again complete mismanagement and delusional cultic practices destroyed wcg from within.
But in no way did the doctrines amount to easy growth of the business model.
With an emphasis on the colored nations wcg would have had 3 million members by now. But nooooo the central effort was not about making members but delivering a message at the doorstep of leaders of the non alligned nations.
nck
Ever, NCK? Exaggerating exaggeration is unbecoming, based on how many times you have stated close to this exact sentence before!
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I defend my statement, and stand behind it. What was the driving fact behind the admission of the major financial policies of the Church? Tithes and Offerings. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Tithe of Tithe, Freewill Offerings. Building funds. Many times the Festivals were used as bully pulpits to squeeze out every penny.
I never stated that the doctrines amounted to "easy growth" of the business model. I stated that certain festivals in the Torah were chosen that enabled financial growth because of their mandated offerings. I am not comparing the SDA's to WCG in this case. I am merely stating a fact.
There was an abundance of minor Jewish Festivals that were not accepted into the WCG Dogma. There were also an abundance of orthodox "Church" standards that were also not adopted because they focused more on expenditures that income (i.e. Local Church buildings). Did any Church of God congregation under Armstrong observe Purim? Hanukkah? Or any other of the Jewish Festivals? Why not? What was the reason?
HWA was very careful about who was admitted into his church. He didn't want a threat from the inside - he wanted only those who were the "dumbest sheep" and the most "brainwashed" in the fold. That in itself was a hindrance to growth. This was a huge reason why growth was stifled. It does not eliminate the careful inclusion of festivals that promoted income, and the exclusion of festivals that did not. You are entitled to your observational opinions, but I defend mine.
There is no way WCG would have had 500,000 members by 2000. In 1996 and onward the church was closing down a church each week. The church in its entire lifetime had 500,000 pass through its doors from its start to its peak in the early 90’s. Once the splinter cults started the downfall of the church was firmly established. The public was never interested in the church, even though thousands loved the concerts and other things the church did, even then, it was not enough to interest them in joining. The endless public exposures of corruption, scandals and outright lies by church leaders turned off the public and church members.
ReplyDeleteSo thankful that the damage was limited to the extent that it was! 500,000 lifetime is half a million too many.
DeleteGoing back to the original topic, I recall back in 1967, a Headquarters Evangelist stated in a sermon that every day when we wake up and look into the mirror, we should be thinking , “Oh no! Not you again, you stupid jerk!” The problem being, how then were you to obey Mark 12:31???
What Armstrongism taught went against even the good parts of human nature!
BB
Hi No2HWA.
ReplyDeleteYour speculation extrapolates the numbers and developments from 1996 onwards.
My speculation extrapolates the 1985 -1989 graphic 100.000 - 150.000 (early tkach sr years) and combines this with the sda church's explosive growth since the 1980's.
As I said something went wrong with wcg after 1989. Since other sabbatarian ministries experienced explosive growth over time.
SHT: yes My observation is that if HWA had relaxed a bit he could have made a billion per year. Just a bit more inclusive and perhaps a bit of make up for the women like Tkach would have led to an immediate 30% increase, if money was the main raison d'etre.
I firmly believe that HWA was 100 percent sincere in what he believed constituted "the truth". ( of course in a majorly paternalistic way but not insincere). I have seen him preach for hours in scorching heat to kids in his nineties. 15 minutes would have done for marketing purposes and a behind the work movie shot and retreat to a 5 star hotel. But he wanted to get something across badly.
Nck
That "specualtion" i posted was straight from Church Administration in Pasadena.
ReplyDeleteNO2HWA 12:02
ReplyDeleteYes I know.
And it is a correct extrapolation from 1996 onward.
My numbers are an extrapolation of the 100.000 - 150.000 growth from 1980 - 1989 backed up by the growth of the sabbatarian (sda) church since that period to tens of millions of members.
As I said. Something went wrong badly for wcg as compared to sda. And the splinters all exist on the basis of one or more speculation as to what exactly went wrong.
As I said wcg only needed to pick up defectors from sda to grow by the thousands as it had been doing since the 1950's.
I mean, Bricket Wood is just "opposite" the SDA school during the 1950's.
nck
To strangers I'd rather speak of "the sabbatarian movement' than explain all the differences between COG7, SDA, WCG, Baptists etc.
ReplyDeleteI have often referred to WCG as a "movement" rather than a "church."
Movements tend to start during certain times of tribulation, the 1500 hundreds had their savonarola in florence, the 1600 had their mennonites burning the city of munster, and the cold war had wcg, kinda......
nck
In no way do I want to advertise SDA.
ReplyDeleteI just don't like to stand corrected on the possibility of wcg growth to a meagre 500.000 members by the year 2000 when another former "cult", with dietary laws, sabbath worship andn other specifics had the numbers below.
The Adventist Church had 20,008,779 members as of Dec. 31, 2016, a net increase of 882,332 people, or 4.6 percent, from the previous year, the church’s Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research said.
In another milestone, a record 1.2 million people were baptized last year, including an unprecedented 110,000 in Rwanda, while new churches continued to be planted at a rapid rate.
Of course numbers are not important as SDA admits as they on average, DEDUCT 584.000 members per year....... 584.0000!!!! and then you will deny me my 500.000 wcg total "speculation".........if only........
nck
Nck, the truth about SDA membership is that they seldom clear their membership logs. They have many dead still on their list. Not to mention when they go to very poor countries they'll baptize anyone, and we know human nature will line up to get baptized if they think they'll receive something out of it.
ReplyDeleteTheir weekly attendance numbers would be more accurate than their membership list. And I know in a town of a little over 50,000 they're lucky to have 20 on the Sabbath. I could get more independent Sabbath and Feast keepers together here than that if they were willing.
Just in my family alone we had 12 for the "traditional" NTBR.
Kevin McMillen
Kevinmcmillen64@gmail.com
Hi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteMy only point is that it was not "a given" that a sabbatarian, food laws adhering, apocalyptic church should have "disappeared."
I get your point but SDA is not Latter Day Saints with billions of dead on the logs stacked in caves is it?
nck
I kind of felt a kinship with SDAs, just as I did with Jewish people back in the day.
ReplyDeleteSome close personal friends were Adventists. I liked them because they weren’t all repressed and cultic like the WCG brethren. Adventists were much more balanced and open, as opposed to being virtual separatists from society.
Google Loma Linda, CA. That is nearly an SDA city, and it’s a blue zone, meaning that the people there have exceptional health, and live on the average 10 years longer than the general population of the USA. Loma Linda University is world renowned for its advanced medical center. Our company’s computer salesman and tech was from there, and I built a friendship with him in the mid ‘80s, first because he was a cool dude, and secondly because I realized that the PC was our future, and wanted to learn as much as possible. It was all dos back then. What I learned from him helped out quite a bit in my next employment situation. I was selling some of the then emerging inkjet addressing technology, it was computer driven and had to be programmed. Had it not been for what I learned from George, I may have completely missed out on that opportunity. And guess what? At that new job, the main guy making the systems work was also a Seventh Day Adventist.
BB