Thursday, April 23, 2020

10 Sure Signs Of A Church of God Leader


42 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you're saying Bob Theil is not a Church of God leader?

Anonymous ` said...

"The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton."

We can borrow this principle, attributed by some to the Duke of Wellington, to describe where this kind of "leader" came from. This class of men was founded and developed at Ambassador College. This "leadership" style was not so much taught to them academically as exemplified to them through the sociology of Ambassador College. And this is not leadership at all but a form of narcissism that emphasizes and encourages autocratic behavior and is a form of counterfeit leadership.

Doesn't it strike you as odd that with all the aberrant leaders among the various branches of Millerism, including Armstrongism, that nobody from the inside has tried to figure out what is going on.

I would like to think that somewhere among the many splinter churches there would be a group of conscientious people who could collectively admit that Ambassador College was a failure because it produced the kind of men that the Armstrongists are ruled by today. HWA used to say that "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." But instead we have some Ambassador College replicas that are trying diligently to reproduce this pathological outcome.

Note: Let me add that I do not believe that all the men and women in the old Armstrongist ministry succumbed to this kind of personal engineering. Here and there was a good man and wife trying to do their best.

Anonymous said...

Well NEO, very few if any of Flurry's minsters went to AC and they are among the worst (most harsh, most opinionated, most legalistic, and least caring) of all the ACOGs.

Anonymous said...

I am praying these "leaders" die of covid 19 but it's hard to have faith in that. If they all die of covid19 after continuing to meet at services we'll know the virus really is as bad as the media says and the lock-down is justified. If not, they must have divine protection (yeah, right) or the virus is just another flu, a bit nastier than most perhaps, but not the Great Fearsome Terror. Pneumonia deaths are down as covid deaths arise. Relabeling the cause of death is profitable. How many hundreds of church members have died so far? Anyone keeping count? Or is it a tempest in a teacup?

Byker Bob said...

There is an eleventh. They are totally blinded to the fact that they have the first ten. In fact, they would most likely describe themselves as having a servant's attitude.

BB

Anonymous said...

Ambassador college taught it's students how to become banana republic dictators. The World Wide Totalitarian-State Church of God.

Anonymous said...

Beware karma catches up with you anon 9:31.

Anonymous said...

I've dealt with bad leaders from AC and good leaders from AC. Not all the same.
But by far the worst heartless leaders I've dealt with are not from AC. So it is not a given. It's down to the individual and if they are walking with God.

Anonymous said...

1.27 AM
Your comment ignores the church culture of "obey, yield, surrender, submit," and its non stop Pavlovian conditioning to that effect. Bully ministers behavior is governed exclusively by what they can get away with, so it's not just a matter of "if they are walking with God." There's blood on the hands of church leaders and its AC teachers.

Anonymous said...

Does becoming a minister emasculate? If so, could some of these characteristics reactions to make the male minister more "manly"?

Anonymous said...

well, you find a couple of bad apples and deduce that the whole barrel must be bad....


as I was saying to a friend the other day, where would you expect Satan to put his ministers?.....he's not interested in the "sunday, christmas, easter" churches because they're already going his way and doing his work....he's more interested in infiltrating The Church and trying to discredit it by making others think everyone is like those he's planted in it...

you do a good thing here by exposing the frauds, but constantly trying to paint The Church as being like them is going to come back to bite you....

Tonto said...

11. Lives a lifestyle much higher than the average congregant.

12. Projects and claims a "more special" or closer relationship with God , including special revelations, than what other brethren have.

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:09 The irony is the Wizard of Oz frauds are all over this blog pretenting to have left.
Smoke and mirrors. Watch those who shout and mock the loudest. Intricate comments telling info no one needs to know. The COG needs a real tonto dog to pull back the curtain.

Anonymous said...

Does becoming a minister emasculate? If so, could some of these characteristics reactions to make the male minister more "manly"?

AC taught a weirdly mixed message. A true minister was supposed to be a true manly man. Yet this manly man was supposed to be completely submissive not just to God but especially to the manly man above him in the hierarchy.

jim said...

5:09,

You really believe that Satan believes he is successful when genuine Christians have committed themselves to God and gather together on Sunday after reading or being taught that Saturday Sabbath does not apply anymore to Christians? Even if mistaken, you really believe that makes them false Christians? You must assume your doctrine is flawless to believe this. You really believe celebrating Christ's birth and resurrection are held against Christians simply because there may or may not (look into it again) be elements that were once done by pagans? Many Christians avoid the bunny/egg aspects. Christ was first discovered to have risen on Sunday morning and there was great joy at that time. You really believe Christians displease God for rejoicing in that? Is it better that the COGs largely ignore that glorious time? Hannukah nor Purim seemed to draw Christ's anger so it seems it is at least okay to observe uncommanded days.
You shall know the frauds by their fruits; the COGs have very limited good fruit. I'm truly sorry you define "the church" in the manner you do. Belief and reverence toward the Lord apparently is not enough to your thinking, though that is what the Bible says repeatedly. You are judging Christians as true or false without Biblical backing. I did too, but it is wrong. Where in the Bible does the new covenant teach real Christians have perfect adherence to the Law? You won't find it. Where in the Bible does the new covenant teach real Christians have a belief in the sacrifice of Christ? over and over. And no, the old canard that this means you can do anything you want if you just believe is a strawman the COGs manipulated the brethren with.

Anonymous said...

5:09am The problem is that anyone claiming to be a "Minister" of the AC type, is a fraud.

A ministerial clergy class is not biblical, has never been biblical and will never be biblical. We are all to minister. We are all given certain gifts. A gift of teaching (which most AC grads definitely didn't/doesn't have) does not make one more important than someone with a different gift.

HWA's AC trained "Clergy" was solely established to control. You can read that in his worthless autobiography. He'd establish churches, set up a leader in the churches, fully expecting those churches to support "his work", and none of them stayed "faithful" to ol' Herbie boy. So he started a college to "train" men, train them to do what? Be loyal to him and the way to do that was through a paycheck.

HWA built a college to train "shepherds" to feed themselves and himself rather than the church.

Anyone who still remains in one of the imitation splinter cog's are actually working contrary to God's will. You are not supporting God's work, you're supporting the work of a dead, arrogant, self-righteous pervert.

Free yourself of such evil and obey God. That's really what He's seeking.

km

Anonymous said...

5.09 AM
"...a couple of bad apples??. If that was the case, this blog and similar would not exist. On the contrary, the whole barrel is bad, with only a few good apples. That's what the past and present body of evidence says.

Researchers of cults have found that every group accused of abusive cults practises by multiple members, proved true on investigation. Kinda cheap to blame it on Satan. Where's personal accountability? Aren't these ministers supposed to have a double dose of the holy spirit?

Anonymous said...

Anon, April 24, 2020 at 5:09 AM, said: '...well, you find a couple of bad apples and deduce that the whole barrel must be bad....as I was saying to a friend the other day, where would you expect Satan to put his ministers?.....he's not interested in the "sunday, christmas, easter" churches because they're already going his way and doing his work...."
******

And for the same reason, Satan would not be interested in virtually all of the xcogs, b/c he's got them too.

If you were Satan how would you do it? Who would you snag, take captive?

"And [that] they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." 2 Tim 2:26

Again, if you were Satan take captive?

Certainly, Satan would not waste time on a widow in God's Church. It would be to snag the hirelings, those thinking they can qualify to earn their salvation by their efforts, their "works, who then can "drag" others (with their $$$mammon$$$) along with them to support those xcogs especially striving to be like the former WCG.

But what is some of the end results? Scattering, confusion, divisions, strife, whereby these leaders just can't seem to "love one another" from xcog to xcog...as though God's Spirit were not guiding, leading, any of them...as though they each lock on to "another Jesus," "another gospel," as if they were guided by something: "another spirit!"

Time will tell...

John

Anonymous said...

13. Projects and claims to have the wisdom of king Solomon and the understanding of doctor Phil. Hence they are always right and have all the answers.

Byker Bob said...

You must be one of our "Valley Girls", Anonymous 5:09. Most of the people I've ever met from the Sunday-keeping churches which are the descendents of Paul's gentile churches have a more highly developed set of Christian fruits of the Spirit and talents than were ever present in the so-called "Churches of God". This is because the main driving forces in their lives are the Christian living principles, rather than the arrogance of believing that Phariseeism makes you special to the extent that God would reveal the correct understanding of prophecy. The Sunday-keeping Christians are extroverts with their religion and actually participate in their surrounding communities, setting examples and working on solutions right here and now, like refilling the food banks for the impoverished, taking those who are involved in the sex trades off the streets and rehabilitating them, assisting in disasters, and giving blankets to the homeless on cold winter nights.

Armstrongites are a cloistered bunch of separatists with their noses in the air and a withering sneer, who look down on the people they say God is punishing, rather than exemplifying Christian compassion.

BB

Anonymous said...

Never under any circumstances indulge in minister-member confidentiality. Everybody's secret sins should be shared with the entire church. When a new minister arrives, proper etiquette is to introduce yourself as the one with the drinking problem, or the individual who committed adultery.

Anonymous said...

"You really believe that Satan believes he is successful when genuine Christians have committed themselves to God and gather together on Sunday after reading or being taught that Saturday Sabbath does not apply anymore to Christians? "



well, since the bible defines christians as those that keep the commandments of God, among other things......you tell me.

Anonymous said...

always remember John 6:44...(and that's not the only verse...it's repeated a couple of times)

one of the first things I was taught upon coming into The Church is that not everyone AT Church is IN The Church....

Anonymous ` said...

Anonymous (11:13): "the bible defines christians as those that keep the commandments of God"

Clarification is needed here. Christians would agree with you on this statement except they would not realize that you have your own definition of "commandments." It looks like this:

Commandments (Christian) = what is prescribed in the New Testament

Commandments (Armstrongist) = Some of what is in the New Testament plus whatever Herman Hoeh carried over from the Old Testament

There are many reasons why the Armstrongist rendition of the equation is wrong.

This can be a big point of confusion that needs clarity. Just saying ...

Anonymous said...

11:13am Do you not realize that the phrase Ten Commandments is a mistranslation? The Hebrew correctly transliterated says Ten Utterances, or Ten Words. So to insist that keeping the commandments of God means keeping the Ten Commandments stems solely from ignorance of the bible!

km

Anonymous said...

7:16am In case you didn't know, the Father doesn't have to consult you before calling someone, meaning, you have no clue who he's called and who he hasn't. Such arrogance on your part.

km

Anonymous said...

That was to 11:16am not 7:16am

km

Anonymous said...

No 7:16 On this thread km.

Anonymous said...

Ten Words

Yes, translators such as Tyndale got it right; the KJV was slightly "Catholicized" for King James. So like some other Biblical wordplays, the phrase "live by every word" lost a bit of its impact.

Byker Bob said...

Best choice in theme songs for this post: "Missionary Man" by the Eurythmics. Hottest harmonica ever!

BB

Anonymous said...

Ten utterances? Like, ten grunts?

Byker Bob said...

Whoops, got snake bitten! Also a contender, "Would I Lie to You?" by the Eurythmics.

Am right? Am I right?

BB

Anonymous said...

But km ministers who didn't train at AC are far worse. I

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that the folks here take great pleasure in condemning the beliefs and practices of those in the COG, yet take great offense when their beliefs are challenged. I find that rather humorous,actually.

Anonymous said...

From Strongs concordance for the Hebrew word dabar, mistranslated as commandments:


Transliteration dabar
Pronunciation dä·vä' (Key)LISTEN
Part of Speech masculine noun
Root Word (Etymology)
From דָּבַר (H1696)
Dictionary Aids
TWOT Reference: 399a

Strong's Info
Outline of Biblical Usage
speech, word, speaking, thing

speech

saying, utterance


km


Anonymous said...

11:27pm Which is why I said that a "ministerial or clergy class" is not biblical. All churches seem to use that system though. Whether they call them Pastor, Reverend, Father or Mr. The bible does not teach such a system for the New Covenant church.

You might want to read Frank Viola's Pagan Christianity book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APOW7JI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

The bible does not teach a "one man" pastorate over a congregation. Paul in Titus said to appoint elders in every city. That is plural. He didn't say to appoint "an" elder in every city.

A congregation was to be under the guidance of a plurality of elders, not one man, and definately not a 25 year old just out of A.C. still wet behind the ears!

HWA and the WCG got so many things wrong. It's sad knowing that at one time in 1939 Herbvert had it more accurate, but that was just because he didn't like the church of God seventh day ruling over him. He wanted to be King!


Here's the article thanks to James:

https://hwarmstrong.com/history/church-gov.htm



km

Anonymous said...

I agree anon 5:10

Anonymous said...

The ten commandments was part of God's Covenant with the ramshackle freed slaves of Israel. I like how Jonathan Sacks explains...

"So the ten utterances are not commandments as such but an articulation of basic principles.
What makes them special is that they are simple and easy to memorise. That is because law is not intended for judges alone.
The Covenant at Sinai was made by God with an entire people. "

Byker Bob said...

5:10 and 11:41, Sane people believe their beliefs to be correct. Unless you have multiple personality disorder or some other mental illness, how could you believe something you know is incorrect? Now, on to stage II. People tend to defend their beliefs, and if confronted will attempt to repudiate the beliefs that others express which they feel are in error.

And, in the "only in Amstrongism" category, there are those who emphatically state, "Don't believe me, believe the Bible!" They, of course then repeat their own or their talking head's (usually the same) interpretation or version of those verses, and expect everyone to believe that interpretation just as if it were the only, absolute, definitive, and binding truth of the Bible itself. See also: "Bbbbuttt Mr. Armstrong said:" which is to them the ultimate proof, or "If you really had the Holy Spirit, you would understand this correctly!"

That totally explains the gist and rationale behind many of the theological discussions held here, and the people it pisses off the most are the Armstrongites and independent Armstrongites who go to great lengths to prove that they left the group. Those two groups are the main people who give blog owners and moderators all the unnecessary grief in managing a blog which allows commentary.

BB

Hedgehog said...

Sounds like trump should become a church of god preacher.

Ex670 said...

With all due respect, I do not think you understand the Bible. And it has nothing to do with you disagreeing with the COGs but only based upon what you wrote.

Ex670 said...

I likewise agree with Anon 5:10.