From a concerned reader:
Living Church of God is foolishly going ahead with the ministerial conference in March. Their inane admonition that
"...no one should travel to the U.S. if they are feeling ill or have been around people who are ill..."
provides only an illusion of safety. Everyone by now -- except apparently the leadership of LCG -- knows that COVID-19 is asymptomatic, that is, you can have the virus and be contagious without any symptoms. It is time church members spoke out against this reckless folly that will needlessly exposes members of the church and employees to a potentially life-threatening pathogen. Aristophanes
Ministerial Conference, March 16–18As was mentioned in an e-mail this past week to all the ministers who have registered to attend the conference, after careful consultation, Mr. Weston has made the decision to continue with plans for the upcoming Ministerial Conference, but with caution. We are expecting over 300 attendees to the Ministerial Conference March 16–18. However, the international situation with the COVID-19 virus is very fluid, and we will be prepared to adjust plans as needed, with special concern for international travelers. We urge our ministry to be aware of the COVID-19 virus situation, and how it might impact their travels, particularly if they are coming from outside the United States. As mentioned in the e-mail, no one should travel to the U.S. if they are feeling ill or have been around people who are ill. All of us, especially the elderly, need to consider carefully whether or not to travel at this time. The Church has long practiced the biblical statute regarding quarantine (Leviticus 13:46 and others), and members should be especially alert and careful in these times (Proverbs 22:3). CAD is not requiring anyone to travel in these times if they would rather not. CAD will make arrangements regarding costs associated with cancelled flights, etc., on an individual basis. Concerning ministry from the U.S. and Canada, the quarantine statute should be carefully observed. If possible, drive instead of using air travel, and CAD will discuss the financial aspects with individual situations. In any case, you should not come if you are uncomfortable with travelling in the current conditions.
36 comments:
They will just pray it away and everyone can fly around the world and not get exposed t it or pass it on.
Oh NO we are all dooooomed from the scary virus!!
Now who is the prophet of false predictions? Who is the spreader of terror and fear?
It sure isn't COG ministers its atheists that are afraid of microscopic bugs.
The irony is amazing.
Seriously look at the media whipping everyone into a frenzy of panic. The news is your minister. Scientists are your bishops and they prophecy that everyone will DIE!
Just lame. Be consistent at least. All purveyors of doom should be roundly criticised not just the ones you don't like.
I predict this will be just like all the other world ending events of the past 100k years. Some people will die. But not most of us.
Panic inducement is for liars and manipulators... Even narcissists.
Proverbs 22v3 a prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself but the simple pass on and are punished
300 attendees from a church of 8000 members is a large conference. At tithe payers expense no doubt. Going ahead despite the health risks involved, shows the importance of maintaining the good ole boys club in these splinters.
We live in a time when videoconferencing is a reliable way for people around the world to communicate effectively.
Other than fan Gerald Weston's ego, what good will be done by risking the exposure of hundreds of LCG ministers to a pathogen we don't yet fully understand. Is he risking hundreds of lives just to get a group photo? Does he hate the people of Charlotte and hope that LCG's HQ city will become another Seattle or Wuhan? Is he deliberately tempting his God?
Because their work puts them in contact with many people in their local communities, these LCG ministers are much more likely to be exposed the virus than the average farmer or office worker. Why on earth would Weston choose to bring them all together to expose one another? Already, the Feast of Tabernacles and Winter Weekend are notorious for spreading ordinary flu bugs across LCG's membership. Why create an event that is so perfectly designed to infect LCG's leadership? Is Weston secretly an agent of Satan trying to rob the church of its ministry?
LCG is a tiny church in a big world. Even in a major pandemic, it wouldn't be surprising if just a couple of its members were affected. If disproportionate numbers of LCG ministers and members start coming down with coronavirus a couple of weeks after the Ministerial Conference, or if any ministers or members die of the virus, I hope Weston will do the honorable thing and resign his position, so a more responsible leader can succeed him.
LCG has gone without a Ministerial Conference for six years. Couldn't they wait another 6-12 months to have a proper conference, instead of making ministers decide whether or not to take the risk of travel? The ministers who do show up will go to all the trouble of travel, only to see a reduced attendance of their peers. Why travel now to see 100 fellow ministers, when Weston could postpone the conference and get 300+ together?
I suspect the real answer is money. LCG has already rented space and catering, and got a deal where the meeting space is free if enough ministers book rooms in the hotel. If not enough ministers come, LCG will be on the hook for thousands of dollars in fees for insufficient room rentals. So, instead of admitting that God isn't blessing his conference planning, Weston is willing to risk people's lives to save money. It will cost him less to have a poorly attended conference this month than to wait and have a nice conference in 6-12 months.
4.59 AM
No, no. The honorable thing would not be for Weston to resign if attendees contract the virus. Rather, the honorable thing to do would be for him to commit harakiri. This way, his honor and the honor of his family would be restored.
President Immortan Joe is not going to cancel any of his Warboy rallies. He has announced that the whole Corona virus thing is a hysteria stirred up by media that want to hurt his re-election plans. Soon there will be tweets that it is fake news, a hoax and a plot enacted by the Deep State. His credibility is so unimpeachable that his base will believe him implicitly. With this kind of psychodrama going on at the national level, how can we be surprised at the actions of a tiny church that already believes in some delusional ideas?
It's not as if the rest of their behavioral patterns aren't self-sabbotaging or self-destructive. I expected that we would see stupid behavior regarding the corona virus amongst all of the ACOGs.
BB
Oh, the virus itself is real. We also know that China is not above developing biological weapons. Trump has hurt the Chinese economy with his stupid trade war and tariffs. It is an established pattern in the USA that when our economy is good, presidents get reelected. I'm pretty sure that the Chinese do not want President Trump to be reelected. This virus is most likely biological election tampering. Or karma, depending on your viewpoint.
Stock market was hovering at nearly 30,000 a short time ago. Today it is at 24,500. That represents an unprecedented destruction of wealth.
BB
COVID-19 is especially deadly to people over age 70.
LCG's ministry is disproportionately over age 70.
Who could possibly think it's a good idea to bring together, for three days in one conference room, a bunch of elderly men from all around the world?
Maybe this is how Armstrongism will die. Literally.
If God hates their feast days, then he must really hate their Ministerial Conference's.
Weston is craftily separating his sheep from his goats.
Which ministers will use the prudence and wisdom God gave them and choose not to travel to Charlotte, hang out with men from around the world, then bring home whatever they might catch?
And which ministers will feel that they must "trust in God" and attend the conference?
It is obvious that staying home will be a career-killer for ambitious LCG ministers who fail to trust in God. But how will those men explain their conduct in the unlikely event that they catch the virus during their travels and bring it back home to their congregations?
One could argue about how serious this flu threat is , or is going to be. However, from just a public relations point of view, I would think that LCG would consider rescheduling the event as a matter of public image in being a responsible and diligent organization.
I'd never thought I'd swe the day where Biker Bob is misinformed and is the purveyor irrational fear. After this virus calms down will you do what you claim the COG ministers fail at? Admitting your error?
We already KNOW the virus is no more deadly than normal flu. Its in the news already about the cruise ship. The only people dying from it are old and or sick people.
But the attitude of Biker Bob and many others like him us EXACTLY like COG ministers. You are never wrong, you know the future and you are better informed than everyone else.
But the attitude of Biker Bob and many others like him us EXACTLY like COG minister's. You are never wrong, you know the future and you are better informed than everyone else.
Love your comments Anon 12:50. Keep thinking and keep digging like that and you will realize the truth.
It's all an illusion.
It is astounding that LCG is going to do this during this crisis. This is a new disease so nobody has immunity for it. It is far more deaxly than the flu. People over 60 are disproportionately likely to die from it.
And LCG is still doing this? Unbelievable. This conference should be postponed.
"The only people dying from it are old and or sick people."
Ahh, but do you want people transmitting it to old and/or sick people?
We already KNOW the virus is no more deadly than normal flu. Its in the news already about the cruise ship. The only people dying from it are old and or sick people.
LCG's ministry is full of old people, some of whom are sick and old. They are already prime candidates to die from the ordinary annual flu, like Bob League did a few years ago. LCG members around the world have already suffered from a widely spread bug that was passed around at the Winter Weekend in December 2019, which should have been a lesson and a warning to Weston and other leaders. It is extremely unlikely that anyone will die at LCG's conference next week, but if flu-like illnesses start popping up in LCG congregations as happened after the Winter Weekend, people may rightly question Weston's decision.
12:50 ~ Ttsssst! That's all you've got? Throw the Trump đź’© party line at me, and then an hour later come back to pat yourself on the back?
BB
One word is missing in this entire discussion - faith.
LCG seems to be going forward in faith, as opposed to fear. That's what the ministry probably preaches on Sabbath, so they're trying to be examples for the membership. It's part of what the upcoming Days of Unleavened Bread are about.
No COG Feast sites were canceled in the wake of Sep. 11, 2001. Isn't this a similar situation?
FYI Byker Bob im Anon 2:02 and i am not Anon 12:50.
Feastgoer said: “No COG Feast sites were canceled in the wake of Sep. 11, 2001. Isn't this a similar situation?”
9/11 was a terrorist attack on the WTC that killed c.3000 people. It wasn’t a virus that’s spreading to the end of the earth and killing 4000 people and counting
the covid-19 hype is nothing more than a last ditch effort to tarnish Trump.....
these news media clowns hype it like it's the end of the world, a modern day black plague.....and Trump fiddles as the world burns.
the reports I've read from people who've actually had it indicate it to be a mild version of flu.
the flu should not be ignored, but it's hardly the death sentence the media presents it to be.
Byker Bob 9:18
"We also know that China is not above developing biological weapons. Trump has hurt the Chinese economy with his stupid trade war and tariffs. This virus is most likely biological election tampering."
Bob, what are you smoking? For the last 30 years the US has been getting it's butt kicked by China in a one way trade war. Even the Demon Rats admit that. And if you ever watched any YouTubes on the filthy "China wet markets" it takes less imagination to see how the virus started. This lack of logic helps explain your extreme HWA hatred.
There were reports of Chinese crematoriums working around the clock to dispose of the virus victims. Those who did the reporting have since been arrested by the Chinese government. So the true extent of the pandemic is being suppressed. I don't believe that China, and now other nations as well, are locking down their cities over purely a flu like virus. It's like a X file. A lot is being hidden.
There are quite a few people here in Charlotte very concerned that the leadership is still allowing this to happen. The flippant remark the other day by a minister that "God will divinely prevent anyone from catching the virus or prevent anyone from passing it on" is naive and foolish. That is the general consensus that so many of the top people in Charlotte have.
@ 9:56 AM, will you be attending services in Charlotte next Sabbath and the Sabbath after that, when so many out-of-town visitors will be among the local Charlotte brethren? God certainly didn't extend His divine protection to LCG brethren who took part in the Family Weekend last December, after which so many became ill, so how can anyone be so sure that He will protect the congregation from whatever circulates during the ministerial conference?
There's a YouTube documentary called "1918 Spanish flu historical documentary..." According to this documentary, the flu mutated several times, resulting in death from a variety of gruesome symptoms. People often died within hours of getting sick.
It's an absorbing documentary.
The Chinese people, who are very thrifty and believe in investment, have largely funded our American lifestyle over those same 30 years, 7:16. Without their investments in the USA, our monetary system would have collapsed many years ago. It was a symbiotic relationship, initiated by Richard Nixon, stabilizing both nations up until Trump decided to shit the bed with his trade war.
Also, these diseases are cyclical, like the weather and financial markets, having kept the human population in check to the continuing health of our planet, right up until the middle of the twentieth century. It is possible that the Chinese created or weaponized this particular strain of virus, or they might have simply just discovered or reported it first. Racists always have a field day when ever non-whites, are the first affected.
I have no problem when people attempt to call attention to existential threats. I have a big problem when they exploit them to impose a religious agenda on other humans. I also hate it when people politicize what should be objectively treated as science. That largely accounts for my disdain for HWA and DJT.
Since you're the same ol' guy who loves to pick fights and argue endlessly, I will now leave you to your own devices. Bye!
BB
7:16 said... “For the last 30 years the US has been getting it's butt kicked by China in a one way trade war. Even the Demon Rats admit that.”
So true. On the one hand we’ve got the US which has, over the last 50 years or so, built up Red China and is only now finally waking up to this absolutely dangerous and foolish project. And then on the other hand we’ve got the UK which has done likewise, financially supporting the EU and only now has finally realized it was a foolish mistake after all to turn her back on her Commonwealth family for the illusion of European unity. We sowed the wind and are now starting to reap the whirlwind...
"the covid-19 hype is nothing more than a last ditch effort to tarnish Trump....."
Right, the nation of Italy has taken the measure of going into lockdown because they only care about making Donald look bad. If a virus ever came along that could spread as fast and wide as ridiculous hot takes from political conspiracy buffs, I might actually start believing in the end of days.
This graphic illustrates why organizations like LCG should cancel big meetings before the virus spreads. If infections occur over a lengthier period of time, this will put less strain on health care providers. The more organizations that bring big groups together as LCG is doing, the more we'll see infections occurring in a shorter period of time, which will overwhelm health care resources.
Hilarious. According to that stupid graph implementing control measures extends the duration of the virus. I'm all for control measures, I'm against stupid people creating stupid graphs.
Hilarious. According to that stupid graph implementing control measures extends the duration of the virus. I'm all for control measures, I'm against stupid people creating stupid graphs
The point of the graph is that social distancing helps to ensure that care is available for sick people. I'm sad that this poor soul would rather seek a hospital bed when the demand exceeds the supply, beds aren't available, and health care workers are overburdened. On the other hand, I'm flattered that Gerald Weston apparently posts to this blog.
10:13am How are you able to discern that 8:44am "would rather seek a hospital bed when the demand exceeds the supply" merely from pointing out the stupidity of that graph? Are you that stupid too?
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