Gerald Weston Says We Push As Far As We Can...But...

Living Church of God, serving Wimpy Burgers daily.

One thing that Herbert Armstrong taught his loyal evangelists was that God's word was all-powerful and necessary to get out to the world as a witness of the soon coming kingdom of God.  At least for a few years, he did.  HWA started out powerful and bombastic with his message and then wimped out as he travelled the world talking about a "strong hand from someplace". Embarrassed to proclaim the God he claimed to follow, he travelled under the auspices of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation instead of the Worldwide Church of God.

Fast forward to 2019, and the same wimpiness is still prevalent in the Church of God as many of the "ministries" who claim they are God's ONLY true church still are all too embarrassed by their message to do any great witness. They skirt issues they claim they want to speak boldly about and find ways around getting their videos and articles from being censored.

Gerald Weston is now making excuses as to why he won't stand up for the "word of God" he claims is essential for all humanity.

Greetings from Charlotte, 

We held a Council of Elders teleconference this past Wednesday and heard reports from around the world, as well as from departments here in Charlotte. Mr. Peter Nathan brought out how all-consuming Brexit is at this time for the U.K. and Europe. We are seeing a significant increase in GOTOs from French-speaking Africa. Mr. Rob Tyler reported that a Muslim backlash is the result of the recent attacks on Muslims in New Zealand. Weather has been the talk of members in California, Nevada, and the Midwest, where there has been significant snowfall followed by rain and flooding. Interstate 29 between Kansas City and Omaha is closed and 70 percent of the counties in Nebraska are declared natural disaster areas. Mr. Brian Pomicter sent this update from Nebraska: “Many brethren may be concerned about the flooding that has recently occurred in Iowa and in Nebraska. All of our brethren are safe and have been spared injury. The same cannot be said of some of the brethren’s property.” Mr. Smith’s upcoming telecast, “What Happened to Right and Wrong?” is being rejected by television stations in Australia and New Zealand. Some members ask why we don’t get stronger on the telecasts and this is the reason. We push it as far as we can and occasionally cross the bounds of what stations will accept, especially outside of North America. Dr. Douglas Winnail reported, following his recent around-the-world trip, that he felt a real family atmosphere among the members.—Gerald Weston Weekly Update

"Ah..(city/town of your choice).......We got a problem"

The Controlling, Narcissist Leader/Pastor 

              http://setfree0408.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-controlling-narcissist-leaderpastor.html

*I am bringing back this post that I originally wrote on September 16, 2009. Based upon the comments I've received lately, I believe there's a need to bring this subject back to the forefront.

The Controlling, Narcissist Leader/Pastor

Ungodly, controlling pastors have hurt many people. The phrase "ungodly pastors" seems to be an oxymoron. These two words shouldn't go together in the same sentence, but the sad truth is there are pastors and leaders who are only in the position for their own lustful desires.

These dictating leaders can be described by many words - controllers, manipulators, narcissists, psychopaths, cult leaders, false pastors, false prophets, and dictators, to name a few. There are varying degrees of this type of leadership and some are more damaging than others, but I have seen the negative effects these type of leaders can have on people. Some pastors are just strong leaders, while others are narcissistic psychopaths. If you haven't ever been around a person like this it may be hard for you to imagine that there are people who go to these extreme measures. But for those who have suffered under this type of heartless leadership, you know all too well how deep the wounds go.

Here are some signs and characteristics of a narcissist, unscriptural leader.....

*Resembles the same attitude Diotrephes had in III John verse 9. He is proud, carnal, demanding, overbearing, impatient, uncompassionate, "loving" only toward those who submit to him, but mean-spirited toward those who do not agree with him.

*He develops doctrines from pet verses that appear to support his view.

*He makes people feel that they cannot make important decisions and know God's will without him.

*He exalts himself before the people.

*He ridicules his associates, making them look small in the eyes of the church members, thus increasing his own prestige and authority and decreasing theirs.

*He treats people who leave as fools and evil men. All kindness and friendship is withdrawn by the leaders. People are only treated kindly when they submit to his doctrines and "authority."

*He contradicts himself a lot.

*He is accountable to no one.

*He provokes and intimidates people to get what he wants.

*He demands respect instead of trying to earn respect.

*He wears a phony grin and acts like everything is all right even when things are falling apart in his church.

*He acts as if he knows everything, but he really doesn't know how to handle problems he has caused.

*He is a captive storyteller and exaggerates the truth all the time. He is able to spin a web that intrigues others and pulls them into his life.

*He has the capacity to destroy his critics verbally and disarm them emotionally.

*He does not recognize the individuality or rights of others.

*He is extremely self-serving and thinks he deserves royal treatment.

*He has no checks on his behavior - anything goes.

*He has tremendous feelings of entitlement. He believes everything is owed to him as a right.

*He presents himself as a genius.

*He has an insatiable need for adoration. When others aren't praising him, he will praise himself.

*He gives the perception that he lives a grandiose life, but paranoia rules him. He creates an us vs. them mentality because of his perceived hostile environment.

*He lies coolly and easily, even when it is obvious he is being untruthful. It is almost impossible for him to be consistently truthful about either a major or minor issue.

*He is a plagiarist and a thief. He seldom gives credit to the true originators of ideas.

*He is extremely convincing and could more than likely pass a lie detector test.

*He does not have friends.

*He doesn't not have feelings of remorse, shame, or guilt. He feels justified in all his actions because he considers himself the ultimate moral arbiter. Nothing gets in his way.

*He is unmoved by things that would unset the normal person, while outraged by insignificant matters.

*He is cold, with shallow emotions, living in a dark world of his own.

*He can witness or order acts of utter brutality without experiencing a shred of emotion.

*He casts himself in a role of total control, which he plays to the hilt.

*He is tragically flawed in being able to either give or receive love.

*He despises community and emotional intimacy, and so he is profoundly lonely. On the one hand, though, there is something about his loneliness that he likes; for he can attribute it to his unique and superior nature.

*He constantly tests the beliefs of his followers, often with bizarre behaviors.

*He readily takes advantage of others, expressing utter contempt for anyone else's feelings. Someone in distress is not important to him. Although intelligent, perceptive, and quite good at sizing people up, he makes no real connections with others. He uses his "people skills" to exploit, abuse, and wield power.

*He will favor and offer help to people who are down as long as he thinks they will be useful to him later on down the road. Such favors might include offering employment, loaning money, or offering personal counseling. He may call in his favor if he sees you slipping away. Also, such opportunities help the narcissist persuade himself that he is good, despite the gnawing awareness of the dark cellar at heart.

*He has an inflated sense of superiority which propels him to recklessness; for he is subject to fantasies of omnipotence and unequalled brilliance, and he feels that he is above the law. And it is this sense of superiority that allows him to underestimate the intelligence and determination of his adversaries.

*He is indifferent to injustice and it's victims, but he rages against the person who is a threat to his charade and/or who refuses to cooperate with his underhanded schemes. "

Comments:

Bob Thiel Releases First Set Of Youth Lessons

Humiliated that Grace Communion International refused his request to republish the Youth Lessons from days gone by, Bawana Bob has just released his first set of lessons:

• Lesson 1: How to Recognize Proper Dreams of a Prophet
• Lesson 2: Why Your Leader Needs a Double-Portion Anointing But Doesn't Need a Proper Ordination
• Lesson 3: When Is It Time To Stop Shilling For Your Bible Daddy and Break Out On Your Own?
• Lesson 4: The Plain Truth About Mayan Prophecy
• Lesson 5: The Plain Truth About Catholic Prophecy
• Lesson 6: How To Prophesy With Wiggle Room and Disclaim Your Failures
• Lesson 7: Crooked Bookcases Are Not A Sign of Spiritual Crookedness
• Lesson 8: Effeminacy Is A Blessing in a Football-Hating Philadelphian Overseer
• Lesson 9: Why You Should Respect Unaccredited Graduate Degrees
• Lesson 10: All Rod Meredith's Dead Friends Said I Was Much Better Than Rod
• Lesson 11: I'm Predicted In Scripture Even More Than HWA or Dave Pack!
• Lesson 12: It's Not the Gospel OF Bob Thiel; it's the Gospel ABOUT Bob Thiel

ht: anonymous 

GCI tells Bob Thiel NO! and he says he will do it anyway!

One thing that has always amazed by about so many of the current splinter cults of the Armstrongite Church of God, is that while claiming to be commandment keepers they STEAL WCG/GCI owned works for their own use, or plagiarize it as much as they can while adding their own little twists and perverted interpretations.

The Self-anointed great Bawana Bob Thiel says he is going to do just that!

He reached out to Grace Communion International (former WCG) to see if he could use the old Youth Bible Lessons aimed at the youth of the church.  GCI, thankfully said NO!

No matter, Bawana Bob, just like the Kitchen clan, will steal their works anyway.

Youth Bible Lessons 

After being told in writing by Grace Communion International that they would not make available for us to purchase, etc. the old Youth Bible Lessons from the old Worldwide Church of God, we have begun a program to look into republishing slightly edited versions of them. 

So far, I have reviewed and tentatively approved about two dozen lessons, with minor edits (mainly additions of historical facts) in about half of them. 

The intent is to produce the youth lessons in English and Spanish, and perhaps other languages. 

We plan to make relevant announcements in one or more future letters.

Like any ACOG leader, practicing what one preaches is never a given.  Bawana Bob cannot even heed the words that he writes later in his letter to his members:

Brotherly love involves caring for others and keeping the commandments–all of them! As the James wrote: 

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27) 

8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. (James 2:8-12)

Letter to the Brethren, March 21, 2019 

RCG: Future Homemakers of RCG Make Dinner For Select RCG Ministers

The women of the Home Economics Department gained experience for their role as a proper helpmate for their future husbands by fixing dinner for their adored Pastor General Dave Pack.  Nothing could have been more exciting than this grand culinary evening than to learn their place in a proper RCG household...in the kitchen, cooking and serving.  Dave likes that!

The King of Self Deception Warns ACOG Member To Not Allow Themselves To Be Deceived

It is time for another doozy from the Self-appointed, almost arrested but not arrested, Elijah, Elisha, Joshua, Second Witless Witness, Chief Overseer and eternally Bitter Bob Thiel.  Has the church ever had a man so preoccupied with self-deception as we have witnessed in Bawana Bob?

For many years he thought his prophetic powers so significant that he could tell Rod Meredith just how things should be. That deception clouded his brain so much that he actually thought Meredith and the rest of the boys in Charlotte would actually heed his words. After his spiritual wanna-be father publicly rebuked and humiliated him in front of the entire Living Church of God, the Chosen One had a dream.

In that dream, his brain revealed to him that HE and HE ALONE was the Chosen One of God to lead the remnant group of true believers into the Place of Safety and ultimately into the Kingdom of God where HE and HE ALONE would sit on the right hand of Jesus Christ as they ruled the universe together.  His brain told him that no human leader of ANY other Armstrong Churches of God was as qualified as he was.

His brain also told him that this was NOT self-deception but direct channelling from his god as to how things WILL BE in the end times and that HE and HE ALONE had the ONLY truth.

Nope, no self-deception there, no-sirree Bob!

The Undeceived One has these words of wisdom for ACOG members:

Researchers have concluded that there are costs associated with self-deception:

The invisible downside of cheating in life

People who take shortcuts can trick themselves into believing they are smarter than they are, says Tom Stafford, and it comes back to bite them. …
The researchers ran another experiment to check that the effect was really due to the cheaters’ inflated belief in their own abilities. In this experiment, students were offered a cash reward for accurately predicting their scores on the second test. Sure enough, those who had been given the opportunity to cheat overestimated their ability and lost out – earning 20% less than the other students.
The implication is that people in Chance’s experiment – people very much like you and me – had tricked themselves into believing they were smarter than they were. There may be benefits from doing this – confidence, satisfaction, or more easily gaining the trust of others – but there are also certainly disadvantages. Whenever circumstances change and you need to accurately predict how well you’ll do, it can cost to believe you’re better than you are.
That self-deception has its costs has some interesting implications. Morally, most of us would say that self-deception is wrong. But aside from whether self-deception is undesirable, we should expect it to be present in all of us to some degree (because of the benefits), but to be limited as well (because of the costs).
Self-deception isn’t something that is always better in larger doses – there must be an amount of it for which the benefits outweigh the costs, most of the time. We’re probably all self-deceiving to some degree. The irony being, because it is self-deception, we can’t know how often. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150225-unexpected-downside-for-cheaters

Jesus taught that Satan was a liar and the father of lies:

44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it (John 8:44)

Of course, Satan takes advantage of deception and encourages humans to deceive themselves. Recall what happened to Eve:

Also recall all we have witnessed with Bawana Bob over the last several years! Eve was not the only one deceived!

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. (1 Timothy 2:14)
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6-7)

Satan was involved, but the woman allowed herself to be deceived. This type of deception happens every day.

It sure does Elijah Bob!  It sure does!

But what about Christians? Can Christians fall victim to self-deception?
Jesus warned that most Christians in the end times would be deceived:

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:14-19)

Although most Laodiceans do not believe that they are deceiving themselves, Jesus said that they were. Jesus said that Laodicean Christians needed to repent–they need to change.

This is the same tired and worn out excuse that self-appointed and self-deceived ACOG leaders have been dishing out for 80 some years now.  Anyone who does not believe them is a Laodicean.  Bullshit, Bob.  Bullshit!

In addition to doctrine and how they lead their lives, there are serious prophetic deceptions that the Laodiceans have fallen for. A list of 38 prophetic deceptions that various Laodiceans (and those of Sardis) believe is in the article The Laodicean Church Era. Believing several of these will insure that Laodiceans will not realize that the Great Tribulation is here until it is to late for most to flee (cf. Revelation 12:14-17).

Self-deception is common. Try not to fall for it. The word of God is truth (John 17:17), hopefully you will believe it enough so that you will resist Satanically-encouraged self-deception (cf. James 4:7).

For once I agree with Elisha Bob!  Do not fall for the Satanically-encouraged self-deception of the self-appointed doubly blessed Bob Thiel! Of all the sick idiots leading various splinter groups right now, self-appointed Bob is the sickest of the lot.

Why Is This Time Of Year So Discouraging To Church of God Members?

It is rapidly approaching the Armstrongite version of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Members will be taking stock of their sinful lives as they scour their homes, cars and lives of leavening.

One of the more extremist Armstrong Churches of God, the Philadelphia Church of God, acknowledges that this time of the year can be very discouraging to church members.

Spring Holy Days: Appreciating God’s Goodness

This can be a discouraging time of year—unless we have the right focus.

By Gerald Flurry • March 8, 2019

This year, baptized members of the Philadelphia Church of God will observe the solemn Passover ceremony on the night of April 18, commemorating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that pays for the physical and spiritual sins of all humanity past, present and future once we repent. From April 20-26, everyone in the Church—converted or not—will celebrate the Days of Unleavened Bread, which picture the complete removal of sin from our lives.

As we rapidly approach the spring holy day season, we should be thoroughly examining our lives for sin and preparing our minds to discern Christ’s sacrifice. This can be a very sobering experience as we begin to grasp the horrifying sins we have committed—sins that required the death penalty of our Savior.

The church has had a horrible reputation of grinding people down into worthless worms and maggots this time of year as they are berated as worthless sinners that killed Jesus. This sends members into a week-long frenzy of beating themselves up over their sins, especially the sins that the PCG leaders and ministers claim they have committed.

Then they show up at Passover services, in great solemnity, as ministers break the matzos with microphones amplifying the cracking and breaking of the bread. Members are supposed to sit there and ponder those sounds as if they were at the foot of the cross striking Jesus or thrusting the sword into his side.

Throughout church history, the Eucharist, communion, the Last Supper or the Lord's Supper has been the various names given to this event. Many look at it as the Love Feast or a foretaste of the heavenly banquet prepared before the origins of the world that will be celebrated in the Kingdom of God.

This heavenly banquet concept was something that Tkach Sr. recognized and told members in Pasadena that they needed to stop coming to the service with a sense of dejection and instead come to it with joy.  They were to look at it with the joy of participating in the great heavenly banquet to come.

ACOG members get depressed this time of year because their church leaders browbeat them continually down as they degenerate them as much as possible  Then, they are supposed to leave the Passover service exhilarated that all of the past sins of the last year have been wiped away. For many, this is an exhilarating feeling, but it never lasts long. All they have to do is wait until the first day of Unleavened Bread to be knocked down again during the sermon for failing to put sin out of their lives.  Then, they happen to find a cookie or bread crumbs in some strange place and the helplessness begins all over.

Because the ACOG places all of its trust in physical things and in the law, it fails to recognize the one they claim to celebrate at Passover.  Instead, they spend the night torturing and killing him in some gymnasium or Masonic Lodge.

Flurry says this in his article:

Yes, when Christ came to this Earth, His life was at stake. He could, indeed, sin. Christ’s life was the greatest risk in the history of man. But He took it because He wanted people like Abraham in His Family—people who would go out and sacrifice their own son if necessary, knowing that God would resurrect him to fulfill a promise (Hebrews 11:17-19). Abraham had that kind of faith and trust in God, and God returned that love many times over. All people who can repent like you, Abraham—I will give my life for them. I know that if I don’t make it, nobody else will. But I’m going to do this so we can build the Family of God. That’s the cost it took for us to receive God’s Holy Spirit.

Because Flurry refuses to know the Christ he claims to follow, he says that his Jesus could have indeed sinned.  That is typical Armstrongite bad theology.  Many Christians feel otherwise about that.  Consider this:

"We must strongly affirm the reality of Christ’s temptations, but we must not make his temptations the same as ours in every respect. Why? Because, as much as Jesus is like us, he is also utterly unique, and his temptations reflect this fact. For example, Jesus was tempted to turn rocks into bread, a temptation that normal humans do not face. He was tempted to use his divine prerogatives instead of walking the path of obedience, and he chose to live in dependence upon the Father in order to become our merciful and faithful High Priest (Heb. 2:17–18). In addition, he faced temptation in Gethsemane, but not by anything within himself, since he was perfectly holy and righteous. Unlike us in our fallen condition, in Christ there was no predisposition to sin and no love of it. The temptation he faced was unique to him as the Son, and it was unique to him as our sin-bearer. He rightly and legitimately recoiled at the prospect of losing his communion with his Father for a time; as a man, he rightly wanted to avoid death in this way for many reasons. We must never deny that Christ’s temptations were real, indeed more real than we could ever imagine or experience, but we must also affirm that they were utterly unique to him. (3) God cannot be tempted with evil, and God cannot sin (see, e.g., James 1:13). 

"But there is more to the identity of Jesus than this, especially when we think of the who of the incarnation. Jesus is not merely another Adam or even a greater, Spirit-empowered one. He is the last Adam, the head of the new creation, the divine Son incarnate, and as the Son, it is impossible for him to sin and to yield to temptation, because God cannot sin. Behind this assertion is the fact that sin is an act of the person, not of the nature, and that in the case of Christ, he is the eternal Son. As Macleod rightly reminds us, “If he sinned, God sinned. At this level, the impeccability of Christ is absolute. It rests not upon his unique endowment with the Spirit nor upon the indefectibility of God’s redemptive purpose, but upon the fact that he is who he is.” "  Could Christ have sinned?

Flurry continues with this absurd statement that once again lays a heavy burden on members backs.

If Christ had failed, God the Father would have been sitting in solitary confinement for the rest of eternity! That’s the kind of sacrifice these Gods made for us. We can forget that in our callous, carnal thinking. But God the Father and Christ did it—and they did it for you. They want you to be aware of that. Not out of their vanity, but so that you will recognize that repentance must be toward God! We must understand repentance if we are to enter the God Family."

All PCG members must always hold in the back of their mind that their sins that they continue to commit are still to killing their "jesus" to this day.  They must always hold in the back of their minds that the "jesus" they claim to follow just might have screwed up and sinned, prohibiting them from ever become gods like their version of "God the Father" is.

So yes, I do agree with Gerald Flurry. This IS a depressing and discouraging time of year for so many Armstrong Church of God members.

Philadelphia Church of God: Is Another Upcoming Split Of The Church In The Works?

Church of God News has a post up from a group that split off from Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God.

This group is the Armstrong Remembrancers and Keepers of God Foundation.  They are former PCG members who are mainly located in the Philippines.  They have had particular issues with John McDonald that I have reported about previously on here.  McDonald has a rich history of abuse towards the Philippines members and has kicked out close to 300 PCG members since he was sent there. He has a nasty reputation due to his callous and vengeful nature. Plus, PCG's track record in the Philippines has also taken huge hits with several suicides that have happened to members because of the implementation of the "no contact" policy that they implemented a few years ago.

The Remembrancers also recently restored Liberty Bell Park in Jerusalem that HWA and Ambassador Foundation had built decades ago.

Like any typical Armstrong related Church of God out there, it has selective enforcement of policies and doctrines.  Big money gives are always the first to be courted and tolerated for their mistakes that would have led others being kicked out of the church.

From Armstrong Remembrancers and Keepers of God Foundation (a PCG breakaway group in the Philippines) 20th March 2019: 

“SELECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF SUSPENSION AND NO-CONTACT POLICY BY THE PHILADELPHIA CHURCH OF GOD 

If a member is a big tithe payer, the PCG ministers will do everything to keep him in the fold no matter what. But for a member who is more of a seeker of financial assistance due to his poverty, his expulsion from the Church is just hanging by a thread. Historically, there were nearly 300 PCG members in the Philippines who were excommunicated for the flimsiest reasons under the continuing reign of terror of John Macdonald, which was halted only when the Remembrancers burst in the scene and started exposing PCG’s wicked policies and rules. The majority of those members who were spiritually slaughtered by the PCG ministers were excommunicated primarily because of their poverty. 

Mr. Naciancino Guillar is a generous donor and obviously, the PCG cannot simply let him go or do something that will make him feel bad or hold grudges against the PCG ministers. The ministers visiting him in Pagadian City are well aware that Mr. Guillar’s son, Joel Guillar, who is a leading member of the ARK of God Foundation, has never been restrained from visiting his father. He can freely come to see him and talk to him anytime. The PCG ministers are very well aware of this, but they would not dare IMPOSE THE NO CONTACT POLICY on Joel Guillar. Mr. Guiillar does not believe in the need to CUT OFF his relationship with his son, and the PCG ministers know that, if they will insist on him to cut off his connection with Joel, the probability of losing a BIG TITHE PAYER is very high. So, they have been very lenient in the case of Mr. Guillar. 

Now that Mr. Guillar is threatening to bolt out of the PCG if Mr. Gerald Flurry will decide to split-off with his son Stephen, the more that they are very uneasy about causing Mr. Guillar to have any ill feeling against them. 

Let’s see what happens when Mr. Alex Harrison comes to the Philippines for the PYC. Will he take a trip down south (to visit Mr. Guiillar), or will he require their disabled, two-legged amputee, a senior member from Pagadian City to travel to the PCG office in Angeles City, Pampanga? Most likely, Mr. Harrison will take option 2, which will put the heavy burden on Mr. Guillar, while thinking it will discourage him from taking the trip because of his extreme physical disability. They will avoid a meeting with him at all cost while trying to keep him at ease in continuing his membership in the PCG.” 

While the above information is nothing new to the Church of God, what follows may be a brief hint at an upcoming split in the Philadelphia Church of God between Flurry and Lil'Stevie.  There have been hints thrown around for some time now that there is a strained relationship between father and son, much like HWA and Garner Ted.

A post on 11th March said this of Alex Harrison: 

“IS HE A MINISTER OF GOD OR NOTHING MORE THAN A GLORIFIED HIRELING? 

He is a Kiwi who is based in Australia and holds the rank of an Evangelist in the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG). He is the Regional Director of the Cult over Africa, Australasia, Oceania and the Philippines. 

Alex Harrison is a family man himself and he has a son who has left the PCG, but since he is a high-ranking minister, who can prevent him from breaking their own man-made law? He doesn’t apply the NO CONTACT policy to his son Paul of course. But he is zealous in applying it on the membership beneath him.”A comment on 17th March might give a reason for the suggestion of a rift between Gerald Flurry and his son Stephen: 

“Stephen Flurry abandoned his post as Regional Director of the PCG in Jerusalem. His father made great plans of establishing a Regional Office in Jerusalem as well as a base of operations for on-site Trumpet reporting. He was also given charge to undertake the initial steps in establishing a branch of Armstrong College in Jerusalem. The details of this plan were covered in an article in the Trumpet Magazine. Stephen Flurry came to Jerusalem for in early 2012 with all the staff and students to help in pursuing the plan laid out by his father, Gerald Flurry. Things seemed to run smoothly for a while, until we learned later than Stephen had decided to abandon Jerusalem in August 2013. The reason for this abrupt termination of the plans for Jerusalem was obviously Stephen’s burning interest in pursuing another work in England and Ireland. In short, Stephen Flurry chose Edstone over Jerusalem!”

Dave Pack: Brethren, Stay Quiet!

Life after the Worldwide Church of God (The Old vs. the New Law)

Why Do The COG's Continue To Allow False Prophets In Their Midst?

This is a reposting of a 2013 blog entry, by request. Almost seven years later and the various ACOG leaders still do not speak out against ACOG leaders who are abusive and liars, like Pack, Flurry, Thiel and others.  They still consider them "brothers" and choose to let their god take care of matters.    So here we are seven years later and horrendous abuse is still being dished out and ACOG do not care.





The All About Armstrongism has an excellent blog entry today asking why it is that COG members continue to allow lying false prophets in their midst. Men like David C. Pack, Ron Weinland and Gerald Flurry, lie through their teeth with one false prophecy after another and yet the sheeple continue to support them.  Why?

And then there’s what happens when the prophecies completely fail. You would expect from Christian people a certain respect of what God says about false prophets. You would expect from Christian people to be intolerant of proven falsehoods. You would expect them to immediately withdraw from those who speak things that don’t come true in God’s name. You would expect Christian people to get as far away as possible from those that meet the criteria of a false prophet. But the reality is, there is little respect for God’s opinion in the COG’s when it comes to false prophecy and false prophets. Nearly every time, the prophecy and the prophet are excused by COG members – even when the false teacher’s own words condemn themselves as a false prophet. Then the “everybody makes mistakes”, “errors happen”. and excuses start up as the false prophet blasts excuses, clarifications, rewrites and reboots. And what do the members do? They excuse the person and fall for the reboot all over again, just to have it fail again, and again, and again.

They have no problems giving mainstream Christian leaders every judgement in the book as to what they are doing wrong, how they are doing it wrong, where they are weak, in error, in confusion, or just plain wrong – and every vile thing they have self-righteously judged others on – but when there’s something going on as serious as accepting false prophets and false prophecy when there is clearly no excuse to do so, there’s no fear. There’s no repentance. There’s no respect.

And this to me raises many questions. They claim to take God’s word seriously. But do they? Do they really and honestly? One thing I’ve learned from Armstrongism over decades in the religion is that they only take seriously what they want to take seriously. Armstrongism is a hodgepodge religion full of pickings and choosings, lines upon lines, precepts upon precepts, where certain things are taken VERY seriously, and other things are ignored or completely whitewashed away. Members are used to being told, thus, what is right and what is correct, not by the understanding given by the Holy Spirit to themselves, but by the understanding given to the Apostles then to the ministers and then to the members.

LCG Mentioned In Article on "War on Religion"

Jonathan Madison, in an article for The Daily Journal, out of San Mateo, CA, mentions the Living Church of God in an article about attacks on places of worship.  The mass killings at the mosque in New Zealand spurred on the article.

I am saddened to learn that 50 victims have been identified among those killed in the March 15 terror attacks on two Christchurch mosques in New Zealand. The tragedy marks the single deadliest massacre in New Zealand’s history.

One can only fathom why someone would take the lives of innocent and peaceful members of a congregation engaging in a worship service. It is no wonder why the tragedy has shocked the world and has marked a period of mourning. As shocking the event and its aftermath, history reminds us that terror attacks on religious institutions and congregations are much more common than one might think. 

The Roman Empire is notoriously remembered for its relentless persecution since 64 A.D. The empire made terror attacks on believers in Christ a blood sport. These persecutions would occur in public places such as the Colosseum, and also involved floggings, beheadings and crucifixions. 

More recently, church bombings and shootings are on the rise in America and abroad. According to research by Charles Chinn, a church security expert, more than 617 innocent victims have been killed on faith-based properties in the U.S. since 1999. These deaths occurred as a result of 18 fatal church shootings in that timeframe. Below is a list of some of the churches in which those fatal shootings occurred.  The war on religion

He then goes on to list many of the church related killings in the United States between 1999 - 2017.

Living Church of God is included in this list.

Living Church of God made the news in 2005 when one of its members went on a killing spree in the Brookfield, Wisconsin church.  Terry Ratzmann, an LCG member, shot and killed seven people at Sabbath services.  Numerous media reports and even LCG members said he was spurred on by the rage filled sermons by Rod Meredith about the end times.

That is the difference between the LCG killings and most of the other incidents reported.  It was the aberrant teachings of Rod Meredith that spurred on Ratzmann. His endless bellowing aberrant sermons on the end times, his appalling homophobia, and constant brow beating of members that they were not worthy in God's sight, slowly built up into an uncontrollable rage in Ratzmann.  After years of hearing this dangerous concoction of misery, doom and unworthiness, Ratzmann snapped.

Living Church of God, as have most of the other Armstrong Churches of God have still not learned their lesson.  How long will it be till a Restored Church of God member, or a recent fired employee goes on a killing spree? What about the Philadelphia Church of God?  They are on the verge of fleeing to Petra.  How long will it take for a disgruntled member to snap and kill PCG members? Then there is the blithering idiot Ron Weinland and his dingy second witless witness wife Laura.  Has the ACOG ever had two more psychotic people in charge than these two?  Even Bob Thiel is going to have issues with is little group.  Having no control over his African "members", how long will it be till one of his "evangelists" leads his followers into killing themselves like other "Christian" ministers have done in the tribal areas?

Persecution of ACOG members has always come from within.  Its top leaders are to blame. They all have mental health issues that they need to get treatment for, and in some cases, committed!

Restored Church of God: Are You A Maggot Like Jesus?

It is Passover time in the various Armstrong Churches of God.  It is a time to face the fact you are a worthless piece of garbage in God's sight, so much so that you are nothing more than a maggot.  The church has been very good and making members believe they are unworthy, but the Restored Church of God takes it further.  You are a maggot!

Rod Meredith loved to say we are all worms and loved to reinforce that idea at Passover time.

Reading further in Psalm 22, Christ stated a comparison that can better help us understand His emotional state: “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people” (vs. 6).

Let these words sink in.

A worm can describe many different creatures such as microscopic grubs and 5-inch-long earthworms. Yet all of them live under man’s foot. They are disregarded by all above them, and they are subject to being stepped on and crushed.

The God-being known as the Word had lived for an eternity before His birth as a physical human being. He, under the Father’s direction, created billions of galaxies and planets. His glory was like the sun in its strength. He had limitless power. And His joy never ceased.

Christ gave that up to become a mere, fleshy human being. Yet that was still far above a worm. Recognize what it took for Him to feel like a pitiful ground crawler.

Job, too, referred to himself as a worm to describe his emotional turmoil. He stated: “I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister” (17:14).

The Hebrew word translated “worm” in this verse is rimmah, which is defined by Strong’s Concordance as “a maggot.”

Consider that Job had just lost all of his livestock, his children and his health. He was treated maliciously by his wife, and felt rejected by God. The best way he could summarize the crushing humility was by calling himself the son of a maggot.

How utterly worthless one must feel to compare himself to a larva that crawls on dirt and eats decomposing dead matter!

Because Christ labeled Himself a worm, He gave us a way to more deeply appreciate His sacrifice.

The term “worm” referring to Christ in Psalm 22 is different than the one Job used. The Hebrew word is tola. It also refers to a maggot but specifically “the crimson grub.”

When understood, this term sheds more light on Christ’s sacrifice.

Crimson grub is a species of scaled insect called Coccus ilicis or Kermes ilicis. Unlike most other worms, they are born with legs. However, females eventually lose the use of their legs, possibly giving them their worm designation.

The tiny insect—7 millimeters in diameter at largest—is notable for its color. Brownish-red when young, they become more reddish in color when maturing. According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Edition, when the insects reach maturity in March, they “appear full of a reddish juice resembling discolored blood.”

When the insects reach this state, they are collected and killed to extract a crimson dye. Crimson is a deep red color, with tinges of blue or purple, close to the dark color of deoxygenated blood.

In calling Himself a crimson grub, Christ described His state in two ways.

First, it represents His sacrificial body and the blood He shed for the sake of mankind (Matt. 26:28). Interestingly, the dye produced from the crimson grub was so valuable that it was used as tribute paid to conquering Roman armies. Landlords in the Middle Ages also accepted it as payment for rent. Christ’s blood is the ransom payment for our sins (Rev. 1:5).

It is this blood we symbolically drink during the Passover (I Cor. 11:25).

Second, the crimson grub comparison reveals Christ’s state of mind as He was despised and rejected by men and His Father (Luke 17:25).

The Rotten Fruit of the Armstrong Churches of God

"While ministers claim they are speaking godliness, truth, life, and hope, 

70 years of historical fact and evidence has proven it has been a 

volatile, cancerous mass of lies, deceptions, greed, and life-sucking, vampire-like, 

materialistic full-blown deception straight from the depths of the most harmful and destructive methods ever used by religion for greedy, 

unconscionably executed acts."

Over and over again, in the New Testament writings, on every occasion while talking with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus exemplified the greater elements of the Law which are activated and enabled by the Spirit of God. These attributes are defined by the Fruits of the Spirit, such as gentleness, meekness, love, temperance, patience, peace, mercy, joy, and self-control.

These have been the qualities of perfection that Jesus continually said to strive for – to bring the soul and spirit to perfection in Jesus – through the power of the Spirit. To become more like God – in love, in attributes – and less like Satan – who is defined by actions that are contrary to the fruits of God as listed above.

What the Churches of God in Armstrong did – and continue to do – is completely and totally disrespect the foundation and function of the intention of the Law of God through the highlighting of activities that do nothing whatsoever to blossom the spiritual fruits of the Spirit of God.

Sabbath keeping – as good in intention as members are to try to please God by keeping the Sabbath – fall short, for one very glaring reason. You can keep the Sabbath with complete physical compliance and completely break it by the slightest impure thought, the slightest illegal transaction – and a million other possible code violations of the Spirit. Jesus continually tried to hammer this point home to the legalistic Pharisees whenever they boasted at how they were the chosen and called ones because of their compliance to the Law. They were not. The Spirit of God calls for a higher code than Sabbath keeping.

The same exact principle is in play for Holy Day keeping (another form of Sabbath Keeping). There is absolutely no way, as good in intention as anyone possibly could be, will meet God's standard no matter how compliant one is physically. Because regardless of sunset times, work avoidance, looking at the moon, barley, or any other physical compliance of an ancient national code, these activities never touch the attitude and the fruits of the Spirit. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

Whenever you focus on the things of the physical over and above the things of the Spiritual, you begin to amplify and magnify the things of the physical. It's a law that when you begin to believe you are qualifying of yourself through your actions to salvation – which is, denial or not, what each of us believed – the negative spiritual fruits begin to take root. The chief of which is pride, which grows in conjunction and parallel with works. Once pride begins to take root, every other negative fruits of the physical begin to also take root – one of the biggest of which is judging (condemned by Jesus). This happens every time, over and over again, without fail. The pride of works also brings a certain arrogance that works against the Spirit's commands of love and understanding – facilitating the very hubris that leads to the self-righteous indignation that promotes the hatred, bigotry, and intolerance of the most religious and pious of professing Christians.

Of itself, Sabbath and Holy Keeping – without the revelation of faith and love – served a wonderful purpose. It promoted a system of order. It signaled a coming change from being cut off from God to being at one with God. It served a purpose of foreshadowing a time when humanity can be reconciled and at one with God, fully indwelt with his Spirit through Christ in His Rest. Yet those who were commanded to keep the Sabbath and the Law of Moses were absolutely not aware of the realities that had not yet been revealed. They couldn't be. Yet they were being made ready for such a time to come through and after Christ fulfilled all that the Sabbath, Holy Days, and the Law foreshadowed.

After the higher order was revealed – the things of faith, hope, and love – the New Covenant, and the revealing of Jesus Christ, and the reconciliation of God to Man – the book and the ways of God were then made known to man. These are the ways as taught in the entirety of the New Testament. These ways include the Beatitudes. Servitude. Kindness. Compassion. Being merciful. Giving. And the new commandment that Jesus gave to all man – to love one another.

What the Church did – what Armstrong did – and what leaders of Armstrong splinters do – constantly – is magnify the physical, and thereby the fruits of the physical, which, in itself, shuts off the very substance of faith, hope and love that was revealed in Christ. What the Church and Armstrong and Splinter leaders do is promote a system which is based on the magnification and promotion of sin, all while claiming it is godly (while the fruits thereof are entirely and purely wicked.)

While Armstrong claimed godly fruits, he was issuing false prophecies, lies, and speculations. While Armstrong claimed godly fruits, he was abusive in many ways, raging, dis-temperate, scandalous, greedy, impatient, and worldly. This is the same with many other Armstrong ministers, which lead to scandal, drama, crime, and intrigue. These very fruits of wickedness led to cover-ups of actions of wickedness, which defined the culture of the church from the inside and out.

While other splinter ministers followed the same formula as Armstrong, the exact same physical fruits of wickedness have borne dark fruit: Greed, materialism, spiritual extortion, crime, abuse, lies, and false teaching. It has happened before, it is happening now, and as long as the same wicked and satanic formula is being used, the same will continue to happen. Because while physical laws are being exemplified by the Armstrong Churches of God, spiritual laws are concurrently being violated, leading to an infiltration of wickedness and evil, all claiming to be godly when it is satanic. It is a masterful, cunning, slick deception to volatile, well-meaning members who are being slowly assimilated into the fold of darkness.

This cancer of Armstrongism – this drug of spiritual wickedness that has formed so many addicts – entraps members into actually enabling, supporting, and being an accessory to the very wickedness that the so-called “ministers” use as their fuel to rob, steal, and destroy. Members begin to lose all sense of rationality – blindly trusting in the untrustable, blindly following the blind, and obeying those who should never be given the time of day, or listened to. All of which is blatantly oxidized by pure, brilliant, paralyzing, and hypnotizing fear.

While ministers claim they are speaking godliness, truth, life, and hope, 70 years of historical fact and evidence has proven it has been a volatile, cancerous mass of lies, deceptions, greed, and life-sucking, vampire-like, materialistic full-blown deception straight from the depths of the most harmful and destructive methods ever used by religion for greedy, unconscionably executed acts. Those trapped in the system become deaf, blind, mute, and desensitived to the harm, instead, steadfastly supporting the very evil they claim to abhor, following the ministry of death in favor of the law of the Spirit.

This is the legacy of Armstrongism. It is never found in a wicked power system which favors the powerful and craps on the peasants. It is never found in a system that has been proven as archaic, destructive, and obsolete. It is never found in a system which has a historical record of lies and deceit, while claiming to be Godly. It is never found in a system of oppression, isolation, and dissapointment.

Armstrongism is a destructive, deceptive, satanic cult which has hid itself as a ministry of light. Though some have made the best of a tragic situation, it does not change Armstrongism for what it is, and has been, and will continue to be, as proven by factual evidence of truth. And once one looks to truth and fact – and focuses on the things of God and not of the physical – blinders can be lifted. Materialism can be a very addictive drug. And Armstrongism was a powerful overdose of materialistic human nature, which some still defend to this day as righteousness. May sanity prevail in those still addicted to the powerful drug of Armstrongism, and the road to rehabilitation be available to those consumed by it's destructive nature.

courtesy of SHT

Is St. Patrick's Day a Christian Holiday?

There are those who will dismiss this holiday as a relic of our pagan or Roman Catholic past. They will also point to the drinking and partying associated with it as further evidence that the day should not be acknowledged or celebrated by "true" Christians. They will label St. Patrick's Day as a "tradition of men" that should be avoided by those who are truly seeking to please God.

Are they right? Should Christians ignore this holiday? Should a "true" Christian's only notice of this holiday be to condemn it?

Historically, Europeans celebrated the anniversary of someone's death rather than the anniversary of their birth. Hence, it is no great wonder that the day associated with Patrick's death would eventually serve to honor this remarkable man.

Moreover, to associate Patrick with either paganism or the Roman Catholic Church is inconsistent with what we know about him and the times in which he lived. Although it is difficult to separate fact from legend at this late date, the available evidence suggests that Patrick was an ardent foe of paganism, and that his ministry predated the consolidation of the Roman Church's power over European Christianity. In other words, it would be anachronistic to suggest that Patrick was Pagan or Roman Catholic.

Consider these quotes from St. Patrick's Confession:

"My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time. At that time, I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland, along with thousands of others. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved. The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was."

"This is because there is no other God, nor will there ever be, nor was there ever, except God the Father. He is the one who was not begotten, the one without a beginning, the one from whom all beginnings come, the one who holds all things in being – this is our teaching. And his son, Jesus Christ, whom we testify has always been, since before the beginning of this age, with the father in a spiritual way. He was begotten in an indescribable way before every beginning. Everything we can see, and everything beyond our sight, was made through him. He became a human being; and, having overcome death, was welcomed to the heavens to the Father. The Father gave him all power over every being, both heavenly and earthly and beneath the earth. Let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ, in whom we believe and whom we await to come back to us in the near future, is Lord and God. He is judge of the living and of the dead; he rewards every person according to their deeds. He has generously poured on us the Holy Spirit, the gift and promise of immortality, who makes believers and those who listen to be children of God and co-heirs with Christ. This is the one we acknowledge and adore – one God in a trinity of the sacred name."

"So I’ll never stop giving thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the time of my temptation. I can today with confidence offer my soul to Christ my Lord as a living victim. He is the one who defended me in all my difficulties. I can say: Who am I, Lord, or what is my calling, that you have worked with me with such divine presence? This is how I come to praise and magnify your name among the nations all the time, wherever I am, not only in good times but in the difficult times too. Whatever comes about for me, good or bad, I ought to accept them equally and give thanks to God. He has shown me that I can put my faith in him without wavering and without end. However ignorant I am, he has heard me, so that in these late days I can dare to undertake such a holy and wonderful work. In this way I can imitate somewhat those whom the Lord foretold would announce his gospel in witness to all nations before the end of the world. This is what we see has been fulfilled. Look at us: we are witnesses that the gospel has been preached right out to where there is nobody else there!"

"I pray for those who believe in and have reverence for God. Some of them may happen to inspect or come upon this writing which Patrick, a sinner without learning, wrote in Ireland. May none of them ever say that whatever little I did or made known to please God was done through ignorance. Instead, you can judge and believe in all truth that it was a gift of God. This is my confession before I die."

** The above quotations (and the full text of Patrick's Confession) can be found at: St Patrick's Confessio

After reading these things, I know that there are a few folks who will zero in on Patrick's references to the trinity (or some other minor point that does not comport with their stance on doctrine); but he/she would be hard-pressed to deny that Patrick was anything other than a devoted Christian missionary. Indeed, it seems to this blogger that anyone who would condemn Patrick for such "errors" must also condemn many generations of Christians who held similar beliefs (which for anyone of European descent would include almost all of their ancestors).

Think about it folks! Patrick is not going to be in the first resurrection because some of his beliefs were flawed? What have you got wrong? Is that going to keep you out of the first resurrection?

If you can't see that Patrick's life and legend is worthy of celebration, then I feel sorry for you! And to any Christian with a drop of Irish blood in your veins, what's wrong with celebrating the introduction of Christianity into Ireland? Sadly, for some, however, it's not about faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, it's about something else - it's about whether or not you've accepted their "truth."

Article by Miller Jones