Wheat or Chaff? Which one are you? Living Church of God has the answer!

Dexter Wakefield of the Living Church of God has an article up talking about The Wheat and the Chaff.  Anyone who has even limited contact with the Church of God movement, knows immediately what he is talking about.  Non-COG members and backsliding church members = chaff; diligent COG members = true Christians and are the real wheat.

Now that the Church of God has imploded into hundreds and hundreds of upstart movements, all claiming they are the "true wheat" it is pretty difficult to do anything but laugh at this silliness.

Wakefield writes:

There is a recurring theme in the Bible of God’s separating out the good fruits from the bad, and our Father has both the will and ability to do just that. The annual Holy Days and their timing within the harvest cycle of ancient Israel work together to picture elements in the plan of salvation, and it is good to remember this great harvest theme during this season of the year. 

Jesus totally upends his comment above, but that makes no difference to him or most of the other COG's.

It’s important to remember that the good and bad often grow in close proximity to each other. Referring to the Father, Jesus said, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). In this age, the unrighteous often prosper more than the children of God living among them, but the time will come—pictured by the Feast of Trumpets—when God will separate out those who are His good fruits. 

It is interesting how the COG loves to focus upon weeding out the undesirables, but Jesus, once again, upends their nonsense by welcoming tax collectors, prostitutes, eunuchs, Samaritans, and even the thief on the cross, into the 'good fruits" of God's love.

Wakefield goes on to make a very specific claim directed to all COG members, who are the chosen ones:

At the spiritual harvest, when God’s begotten children enter His Kingdom, there is a separation involved.

The COG has always been giddy about seeing people removed from God's presence so that they, and they alone can bask in the glory of God as they are made into gods themselves.  This disgusting chaff will either be burnt to a crisp or if their god is merciful, it will give them a second chance to head the call of Herbert Armstrong's message.  It truly boils down to HWA's message instead of the message of Jesus.

Wakefield continues:

God says that we are to be patient while He works out His purpose in this age, but sometimes His children can become discouraged because they have manifold trials while the dishonest seem to prosper. During the long wait between the spring and fall Holy Day seasons, it’s good to remember that while the world loves its own, God loves His own much more. He has a desire for the work of His hands (Job 14:15) and will surely perform what He has said, separating the wheat from the chaff by making His children immortal. Our job is to be His faithful, fruitful, obedient servants until our Lord comes. He left us some good advice:

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place…. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming…. Therefore you alsobe ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:32–34, 42, 44).

How can COG members ever been encouraged when all around them abusive ministers make their lives miserable.  They watch as one group after another breaks away to start a new COG while claiming they are the only true access to God. They watch as hard-earned tithe money is blatantly wasted on the church elite and their progeny. They sit in church, week after week, getting lambasted about one thing after another that they are doing wrong.

One has to stop and wonder as to just WHO is the chaff in the church and WHO is the wheat?

Crackpot COG Leader Getting Ready To Die For the "Truth?"

It is never dull in COGland with one self-appointed apostate church leader after another trying to set himself up as a martyr for the "truth.  None is more blatant in his desire to see death and destruction than our very own Bwana Bob Thiel.  He spends several hours a day searching out one idiotic scenario after another to bolster his warped beliefs that he can use to deceive his African members into believing he is a prophet sent by God.

The Great Bawna continues to search out Catholics and ex-Catholics to bolster his nuttiness. Of course, he found one to support his desire to be seen as a martyr:

Mike Gendron’s lead article in a past newsletter was titled Telling the Truth May Get You Killed. Here is some of what it said:

Have you ever considered why religious people plotted to kill the Lord Jesus 2000 years ago? Why would devout Jews, who had a zeal for God, kill one of their prophets? It was not because He was so merciful (Luke 23:34). Nor was it because of His abundant grace and sacrificial love (John 15:13). So why did the religious leaders seek to have Jesus crucified? This may surprise you. It was because Jesus told them the truth (John 8:40). He proclaimed the truth about Himself and the truth about who they were (John 8:44). As the personification of truth, He declared His Word to be the truth (John 14:6; 17:3). He told them that He came from heaven to testify to the truth (John 18:37). He did not come to be a man-pleaser, but to do the will of God. This truth angered the Jews so much they plotted to have Him killed.  The self-righteous Jews became incensed when Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Their religious pride, a powerful tool of the devil, had blinded them from the truth (2 Cor. 4:4). It is no wonder the proud oppose God, and God opposes the proud (Jas. 4:6). In one of the Bible’s curious paradoxes, people were put to death for telling the truth, but made alive for believing the truth (John 5:24). (August 2016)

Mike Gendron is a former Roman Catholic.

Of course, this is all the Great Bawna needs to prove from scripture that "true" Christians will be killed.

Let me add that Jesus made it clear that His true followers would face persecution:

12… they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake (Luke 21:12).
20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you(John 15:20).
2… yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you (John 16:2-4).

The Great Bawna then goes on to mock real Christians claiming that they will not be killed because they are "so-called" and deceived, while he is his little band of merry Africans are the true believers.

Now, does this mean that in the end times, all who claim to be Christian will be killed? 

No. 

But all who are real Christians will be subject to persecution. And telling the truth can get you killed. 

Notice the following prophecy:

25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time. (Daniel 7:25)

The Great Bawna then rattles off a list of things what may be what get him and his followers killed:

In the past, Christians were persecuted because they:

• Taught the truth about Jesus

Well, the Great Bawna will not need to worry about this one, since he denies Jesus and anything he accomplished.

• Kept Passover on the 14th

Nor this one since it is not required in the New Covenant

• Refused to eat unclean meat

Nor this one as it also is not required in the New Covenant

• Would work on Sunday

Especially this one since this is not an issue either

• Had false accusations railed against them

What false accusations have been railed against Bwana Bob?  The fact that he lied claiming God worked through a cult member of the Living Church of God to "double anoint" him as a prophet?  Or that his dreams validate his self-appointment?  Nope, those aren't going to get him killed but may be locked up in the looney bin.

• Were binitarian

Not an issue either.

• Kept the Sabbath

Not a New Covenant command.

• Kept the Fall Holy Days

Certainly not a New Covenant command, either.

• Were not trinitarian

Not an issue either

• Taught that the pope was an Antichrist and precursor of the final Antichrist

If that is true, then what does that make Herbert Armstrong?  He lied and told so many false prophecies that he too is an antichrist.

• Having and teaching from the Bible

Since when has a COG minister ever done this properly?

The Great Bwana continues on with his nuttiness:

• Rejected papal authority
• Did not accept idols
• Had different teachings than the Church of Rome
• Had writings Rome did not like
• Rejected Roman sacraments
• Objected to the dress of the Roman ministry
• Considered Rome to be the prophesied Babylon
• Taught that in the time of the final Antichrist that some would fall away
• Had practices that Rome considered Jewish
• Refused to baptize infants
• Did not participate in carnal warfare
• Teaching the millennium
• Taught the Kingdom of God
• Baptized adults

Total nonsense.

The Tithe of the Tithe Con Game

It is Feast of Tabernacles time, did you send in your tithe of the tithe so your respective church could finance its Feast sites?  At least that is the con game they told you they would use it for. 

After Herbert Armstrong dreamed up this 4th tithe, the hundreds of splinter groups continue this nonbiblical tradition to this day.

While many COG families struggle to get to the Feast and stay in the cheapest hotels as possible, or even camp, those above them are staying in the finest hotels and eating extravagant dinners while downing the best alcohol they can afford.

Some of that 4th tithe money goes to pay for these ministers and Feast coordinators hotel rooms and food during the feast.  Or it goes to people like Lil'Jimmy Meredith who was paid to travel cost-free to Hawaii and other areas to check out feast sites.

Many COG members through the decades refused to send it in.  With their churches bragging incessantly on how much money they took in on Holy Days, why would they continue to fund the privileged elite?

Like the old Worldwide Church of God, ministers in many COG groups get Feast bonuses of thousands of dollars for them to spend at the Feast. Add to that the travel vouchers for rental cars and food allowances, and these people are sitting pretty while you send in your hard-earned money to keep them all happy.

Next year, take that tithe of the tithe and take your family out to a nice dinner, take an excursion at feast site,  or overindulge your wife and children, but don't fund these crooks!  They have the money to pay for these sites so don't fall for their lies.

Oh Noes!!!!!!! Satanists Keep Birthdays!

The official Church of God self-appointed know-it-all is taking time out of his busy Feast schedule to breathlessly screech that Satantanst keep birthdays and celebrate Halloween!  Oh, noes!!!!!!!

Birthdays and Halloween are major holidays for Satanists

The self-appointed liar of the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god" then goes on to claim that the Church of Satan considers birthdays one of the three most important days they celebrate.

So what!  Satanists wear pants, wear shoes, eat hamburgers and pizza, wear jewelry and rings and breathe the same air we do.  Does that make all of these things wrong too?

Bwana Bob Thiel gets his pharisaical knickers all in a twist over the most idiotic and mundane things imaginable that no follower of Jesus ever needs to worry about.

This is a list of some of his latest idiocy that never talks about Jesus.  It is easier to deflect people's attention to small worthless subjects than write about grace, justification, mercy, resurrection, and being freed from the law.

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Could there be a cause for so many American children have attention disorders?
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Invoke USA Insurrection Act? Fanatical Supporters? Emotional Civil War?
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Where's Jesus?

UPDATED: Which Entity Did Does The Church of God Focus The Most Upon?

Did we hear more about Satan than Jesus?

Did we hear more about Moses and the law than Jesus?

Did we hear more about HWA than Jesus?

Did we hear about Jesus Christ as much as the above entities?

from an LCG member

How the Rich Prove 2nd Tithe is Wrong

How the Rich Prove 2nd Tithe is Wrong

There are so many good reasons why COG7D acknowledged annual holy days and permitted people to observe them BUT refused to make them official doctrine of the church. HWA chose to make them one of his pet doctrines and used them to carve out his own cult following. Making them a New Testament requirement brought with them a laundry list of questions on how this was to be done. And no answers can be found in Scripture. So what is a man to do? One way is to declare yourself an Apostle and Elijah and presto, your answers are now un-admittedly on par with Scripture.

I have a whole series of posts coming on the topic of tithing but since many are just days away from traveling to feast sites around the world, I thought I would make one simple observation about 2nd tithing that when thought through, proves it is not a New Testament concept.

The highlight of the year is "keeping" the Feast of Tabernacles for many brethren in the churches of God. While the sermons usually suck and it is annoying to be expected at services every morning, it is a vacation better than a vacation because not only are you with family but you get to be with like-minded friends on your vacation. It is always exciting to see what old friends show up at the same feast site.

The dark side of 2nd tithe is the fact that it is compulsory. Church of God tithing is an egregious doctrine to the poor. It is inherently unfair and actually drives the poor out of the church. If you don't believe this, just look at the cars in Church of God parking lots today. The truth is the poor can't afford to be in the churches of God. This is the exact opposite from Christ who told John the baptist's disciples that one of the proofs that He was the Promised One is the fact that He preached to the poor. Why bother preaching to the poor? They cannot support your ministry through compulsory tithing. The poor are unable to sustain an organization dependent on cash to preach the gospel so the end will come. (I will talk more on the poor and tithing in another post)

I spent many years on meager wages saving 2nd tithe to the harm of my family. 
While the feast was always an oasis of joy for 8 days, the stress it put on me and 
my wife the other 357 days of the year was almost unbearable some years. And 
to fail to obey God in this would bring great mental anguish and shame... so year 
after year, I sucked it up, obeyed and suffered and watched my family suffer.

It is funny how ministers will say to test God on tithing and say you can't afford to 
not tithe. They will say (and sometimes without saying it) that tithing is 
proportionately related to your faith and obedience. Well, I can say I did test God 

on tithing for over 20 years. I was very faithful in "doing it" for a long time. I am 

now in a time of my life financially where tithing is no longer burdensome. So these 

ministers need to know that some people actually stop tithing or never start 

because it truly is unBiblical and unGodly.

I could not see the real problem with 2nd tithe until a wealthy friend pointed this 
fact out to me. The church takes an Old Testament concept and has to force it into 
a New Testament construct that is functional to a people in today's society. 
This gets back to simply accepting a man's explanation as to how this should be 
done. HWA decided that brethren should put aside 10% of their incomes to pay for
annual holy day observances. The bulk of this would be needed to observe the feast 
of tabernacles. The reading of this feast tells people to enjoy the feast, spending 
their tithe on food and drink. This has been interpreted by HWA to mean that one 
must blow 10% of your annual income in an 8-day spending spree on food and 
alcohol. If you fail to spend it all, you must give the excess to the church.

What a wealthy person can observe about this is something I never could afford to see but it is very true. Let us say you are a person who does have an above-average annual income. Maybe you are a successful entrepreneur, doctor, lawyer or IT guy. Maybe $300,000 a year. Maybe $500,000 a year. Does it sound like a Godly principle to take $30,000-$50,000 and blow it on whatever your heart desires in an 8-day spending spree? And do this year after year? You can quickly see as a rich person with Godly principles, that this would fly in the face of what God would have us do and not do concerning money.

Keeping 2nd tithe in its Old Testament context and thinking this one through actually appears to be a very sensible socio-economic principle for the financial well-being of a country. Largely an agrarian society, wealth and value was measured in nondurable goods. Enduring wealth-building would involve making annual purchases in items that would grow your agrarian family business into the next year. My wealthy friend proposed that the Feast of Tabernacles was used as an annual market place at the end of ingathering when one would take 10% of his annual increase and use it to trade and purchase what would be needed to continue growing into the next year.

This is just one really good example of how myopic HWA was in trying to take a specific socio-economic construct designed for an ancient nation and force it into an American religious cult. COG7D leaders who were smarter than HWA thought this through and probably told him as much in so many ways but as they said, "Herbert was not one to listen to anyone."

I still save money and attend the feast. It is a family vacation that we get to spend 
with friends that love God. I even suffer through the morning sermons. BUT I 
enjoy the feasts now more than ever because the other 357 days are not spent 
agonizing over a soul-stealing doctrine of the church.

I have much more to say about tithing coming soon.

Stoned Stephen Society

Gerald Weston's Inspiring Feast of Tabernacles Message

Chag Sameach!!

What an inspiring pre-recorded open message from Gerald Weston to set the tone for the next 8 days of our love feast.

1. This is NOT a vacation! God, (not a corporation) put His name here and commands you to assemble before Him for instruction. How dare you choose fishing or roller coasters over an additional morning nap.

2. Be here EVERY day for services. Ezra read from the Law every day so this is a clear example for all time.

3. Be very ashamed if you did not come with a fully saved 2nd tithe.

4. Stop being selfish and making the corporation look bad to the local businesses. Spend ALL your 2nd tithe even if it means over-tipping filthy illegal aliens. The church doesn't need your excess. 😳🤣

5. Don't be gluttons and drunkards. Get enough sleep. The last thing we want is for your snot-nosed children getting us sick when we take up your children in our arms to bless them. Do as we ministers say and not what we do. 

6. Come to services early and stay late so you build relationships with your future co-rulers. Just don't talk Bible. Enough can never be said about work, weather and football, brethren.

7. Rejoice! (OK, he didn't really say that.)

From an LCG source

Why Do COG Groups Continue To Lie That They Practice First Century Christianity?

For decades the Church of God movement has claimed it is the only church on earth that practices first century Christianity" just as the early Christians and apostles did.  After 80 some years of failed prophecies, outright lies, sexual shenanigans, theft of tithe money for personal gain, hundreds and hundreds of splinter personality cults, these self-appointed morons claim they are God's new chosen leaders. How can any of these groups say such a thing and keep a straight face?

United Church of God made the claim this week in a press release to inform the world that they were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles.

PRESS RELEASE: 14,000 Gather to Celebrate Life’s Dynamic Spiritual FocusChurch Follows Example of First Century Disciples

CINCINNATI [Sept. 6, 2018]—Reflecting a dynamic life journey as spiritual pilgrims, about 14,000 members and families of the United Church of God, an International Association , will follow the historic example of Jesus Christ and the first century Church in celebrating the biblically prophesied Kingdom of God. This annual festival, called the Feast of Tabernacles in the Bible, begins on the evening of September 23 and lasts through sunset on Monday, October 1. According to Victor Kubik, Church president, United Church of God members will assemble at more than 65 sites worldwide to take part in a contemporary Christian application of the biblical ancient Hebrew Holy Days. 

Jesus must really be impressed that they and 8 other churches are meeting in locations where none of them will associate with each other.  Jesus must really be impressed as he watched them connive and plan to break away from the WCG while still on the payroll.  Jesus must really have been impressed when they started acting so nasty that their church imploded and close to 3/4 of their ministers left to form yet another splinter group.  Yep, that certainly is 1st century Christianity. True religion at its core. NOT!

Then today, we had another splinter cult leader make the same obnoxious claim.  This time it was a rebellious self-appointed liar who broke away from the Living Church of God to form his own personality cult, where he claims he and he alone is practicing 1st century Christianity.

What is Armstrongism? Are Some Dismissive of Original Christianity? 

The physical head of the old Radio/Worldwide Church of God was the late Herbert W. Armstrong. What he taught has been derided as “Armstrongism.” What were some of those teachings? Was the old Worldwide Church of God some type of weird cult or did it strive to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints? Is “Armstrongism” improperly maligned and falsely described at GotQuestions.com? Are concepts such as the tribes of Israel, ‘soul sleep,’ and three resurrections unique to Herbert W. Armstrong or were they long part of original Nazarene Christianity? What about various holidays and Christianity? In this video, Dr. Thiel goes over his early experiences with “Armstrongism” as well as gives scriptures about persecutions that would affect Christians.

None of these idiots can be trusted to teach any truth that even resembles 1st-century Christian practices and thought.  No real Christian would ever place their trust in any of these men nor believe their lies.

Dave Pack: The Most Learned Man In History!

Dang!  This has to cause major butthurt for Bwana Bob Thiel who believes he is the most persecuted and learned man in the church today, who knows EVERYTHING about Church of God history, Fatima, Catholicism, CERN, prophecy, law-keeping, Trolls, doctrine, the Bible, and other piles of non-important facts that Christians do not need to worry about.

COG Hypocrisy: Self-Appointed Splinter Cult Leader Says Dave Pack Is A Cult Leader

Armstrongism = founded and sustained upon hypocrisy.

10/11/19 a.m. A couple of days ago, a former RCG attendee telephoned me. An interesting thing she mentioned was that the messages that those who attend RCG services get are often much more bizzare than those that RCG puts up online, particularly as they relate to David Pack. Essentially, her comments confirmed my personal view that RCG is more and more a David Pack personalilty cult and becoming less and less a COG. It remains my opinion that David Pack is not truly a converted Christian, but if he is (God is the judge), he is a very deceived one. 

Bwana Elijah Bob Thiel has the nerve to say Dave Pack runs a personality cult when he himself is doing the exact same thing.