We have Dave Pack claiming Jesus is returning to Wadsworth to work with him to plan Jesus' 3rd coming. We have Gerald Flurry who dug up a dirty old rock in Oregan, deified it, and now proclaims it will be the throne Jesus will return to sit upon. We have Bob Thiel, the self-appointed lapsed Catholic, that has attached so many self appointed titles to his name that no one even knows what or who he is anymore. He was so messed up that even Rod Meredith had to kick him out of the church. There is Ron Weinland, the first COG leader to ever be a convicted felon, proclaiming he and his looney wife are the two witless witnesses. Every day that goes by, there seems to be a new crackpot on the scene.
That brings us to Jon Brisby, the leader of the Church of God The Eternal, based out of Oregon. He took over the reins of COGE when Raymond Cole died. Brisby is young and charismatic and that has delighted some and offended others.
Reading his bio on Amazon is as mythical as Bob Thiel's fantastical imaginations about himself.
About Jon W. Brisby
Jon W. Brisby was raised in the Worldwide Church of God by parents, Don & Pat Brisby, who joined the church in 1959. In 1968, Don was recruited by Herbert Armstrong to work at the Ambassador College Press in Pasadena, CA because of his expertise in commercial color printing. That is how the Brisby family, much like the Beverly Hillbillies, made it to southern California from middle Tennessee. Jon attended the church's private grade school on the Ambassador College campus (Imperial Schools) from 1968-1972. His own experience as a child "at headquarters"--as well as that of his parents during this significant time period for the church--would leave lasting impressions.
After 1972, the family moved first to Denver, CO, then to Houston, TX, and finally made it back to Nashville, TN, where Jon graduated public high school in 1980. He chose to attend one year at Ambassador College in 1980-81 as a freshman, but did not return for a second year due to his personal conviction that things were not right in the church, even though he still held a personal respect for Mr. Herbert Armstrong.
He joined Church of God, The Eternal (a remnant fellowship) in 1981 at age nineteen, was baptized the same year, and finally found a spiritual home through the influence of Mr. Raymond C. Cole. It was Raymond Cole who showed him by example how a minister can both defend divinely-revealed truth and at the same time show loving and patient support to individual members. Without that particular personal example, it is very likely that Jon would have chosen to reject his "parents' religion" as a young adult, even as most of his childhood friends in the WCG had already done.
Jon married at age 24, had two sons, finished his business degree with the University of the State of New York, had a successful career in corporate middle management, and remained a devoted lay-member of the church. It was in 1996 that Raymond Cole pressed Jon to become a minister, a course that he never would have chosen of his own accord. He was ordained by Mr. Cole on the Feast of Trumpets in 1997 but did not jettison his corporate career until late 1999 when the church was in dire need of more full-time helpers. He moved his family to Eugene, Oregon that year and worked as Raymond Cole's ministerial assistant until Mr. Cole's death in 2001. Thereafter, Jon became Pastor and Director of Church of God, The Eternal, a position of service he holds to this day.
Brisby has turned out to be filled with a lot of ideas and some of them are old school Armstrongism. One of them would make Rod Meredith proud:
Church of God, The Eternal (COGE) is a small group. The lead minister is Jon W. Brisby (age 55). He has some wild ideas. A married couple came to the group from LCG a few years ago. They had been married for about 18 years. Brisby soon found out that the man had been married briefly to someone else when he was a really young man. They divorced and his ex married someone else. Anyway, this married couple of 18 plus years were instructed to split up and live separately but not get divorced. Jon Brisby told him that if his ex wife happens to die then and only then can he and his current wife live as a couple again. The couple have remodeled their home and made it into a duplex. They each live in one of the side by side units. They are allowed to go back and forth to each other's apartment for meal times but not allowed to sleep, shower or linger at each other's place. At the Feast of Tabernacles and Pentecost they were not permitted to sit together for services. This couple is in their 50's also.
There is another man, a single man around age 60. This man was also married but years ago his wife left him and married a Seventh Day Adventist. Brisby told him he must never remarry. This man said God would not allow him to marry unless his ex died. Brisby stays in total control of the dating and marriage relationships in the group. He comes off as very intensely and genuinely kind, but if he feels you cross him, then he gets an attitude and can be very arrogant.Jon Brisby sinks to a new lowWhen I posted the above story in a blog post in April of 2018, I had no idea that it is the most commented-on post on this blog. The comments range from being totally disappointed in him to those totally enthralled. Enthralled so much so that some even believe he is now the embodiment of Jesus here on earth.
Many of his devoted followers now are claiming Jesus is present within Jon and speaks through him. Jon is apparently a living walking Savior in our midst.
This has to be a major disappointment to Dave Pack, Bob Thiel, and Gerald Flurry as they and they alone think Jesus will appear to them first.
Sometimes though the comments go off the deep end and are just plain ludicrous and others are deeply entrenched in the teachings of Armstrong.
One thing though, many do not like anyone criticizing their dear leader. And that makes this blog the target for allowing criticism.
This is so much fun!
I love being cursed!
25 comments:
“He [Jon W. Brisby] joined Church of God, The Eternal (a remnant fellowship) in 1981 at age nineteen, was baptized the same year, and finally found a spiritual home through the influence of Mr. Raymond C. Cole.”
They rebelled against Herbert W. Armstrong (who died in 1986) and the Worldwide Church of God. Such rebels never seem to amount to much. They seem to stop growing.
Those marriage rules are wacko.
Those marriage rules are similar to the RCG-rules. The only difference is that the RCG doesn’t admit things like that officially anywhere. It’s only when it happens to you and your spouse, you get told by a minister ‘what the Bible says about that’.
Can someone point out to me WHERE it says that? Because I tried to look it up and couldn’t find it.. But what do I know? I’m only a poor lost sheep that needs guidance.
Cult of personality. If Jon becomes destructive you will have another Waco on your hands.
I'm not kidding you when I say that he is definately working with the wrong spirit. Back in 2013-14 he told the brethren that it was okay to curse someone if they are giving you a hard time in life, making it difficult for you. You could accomplish this by asking it in prayer. Anyone with a little Bible knowledge knows that this goes completely contrary to the Bible. I know he attempted to spin a couple of examples to make it look okay to put a curse on someone. He also purposely mis-translated a word to mean something else. Regardless, we know what the Bible says. Ask yourself, who would want Gods children to incorrectly practice the priciple of "bless and curse not" more than anything? What it comes down to is that there are some over there I know of that see this gross error, but are so afraid to step out in faith and stand. They have become locked into a physical building and a man because of 2 doctrines, Pentecost and D & R. These are hammered ad nauseum as a control mechanism. There is nothing in the Bible that says you have to stay in an organization if they teach error of any kind, in fact the contrary is written in the word of God..."get out", is the command. I pray and hope the best for my brethren over there. I hope they see things soon before they become to spiritually exhausted to stand on their own when the time comes.
Brisby actually believes people in his church can and should curse their enemies. He actually gave a sermon about this, and told how he has cursed others. This is absolutely against the bible! He is instilling fear in his people to control them.
Very strange man idolatry going on there. It won`t end well. Church of God Eternal has always been the aloof group. My impression of them was they sent their recruiting agents into the larger Churches to target the rich members.
I firmly believe that at no time is a minister or anyone else to come in between a husband and wife. The marriage vows say to forsake all others and when another person comes in and puts themselves in between the couple, nothing good comes out of it. God is not the church and the church is not God and neither is any minister. When a church leader becomes so important that one spouse will do what they say instead of listening to the advise of their mate then they no longer have forsaken all others. The "others" have replaced the mate and the relationship will be destroyed.
It appears that Brisby's group is the only group still hanging on to the old "D&R" rules of pre 1974 Armstrongism. Raymond Cole had the "inspiration" that only doctrine that HWA had prior to 1974 was valid, and that even HWA apostatized away from himself.
Ray Cole was in rebellion against God's apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong. He was a tool for Satan and a heretic.
Kinda sounds like those folks who see Jesus in a piece of toast.
Fast Car Brisby teaches his followers to curse those they disagree with. Be prepared to pay the price for pointing this out.
Maybe Mr. Brisby would have a different take about his D & R (mis)understanding if he experienced what I did upon entering the church.
I was talking to a young woman my age who had recently gotten engaged to a nice young man in the congregation and I asked her how she had come into the church. Her reply was she attended at an early age with her mother. Her mother who was remarried was told by the church she had to divorce the man she was with and remarry the father of this young woman. The incessant verbal abuse started all over again and the mother not able to bear it any longer committed suicide.
A startling story on all accounts for anyone to hear, let alone a new church member.
Dave Pack related in a sermon that the correction of D & R was based upon "the church" understanding that no other former sin that a member had committed was required by "the church" to be made right.
I would think that there was a lot more that contributed to that doctrinal change. Nonetheless, Mr. Brisby has not taken on the Christ like nature but has become a perpetrator in the act of putting away and far more egregious than that is the forced committal of an unholy union or separation.
Blind obeisance is what one future "christ like" entity will require in the most unholy union with a foreboding conclusion. It looks like a preliminary act to that is happening now.
Wasnt it all over whether duck meat was "clean" or not?
What we have is a group of people, much like many of the other "splinter groups" who either cannot, or have a hard time thinking for themselves. This comes from being conditioned over a number of years in such a way that our focus becomes transferred from Jesus to a man. Jesus may be spoken about, but the man is there physically for them to focus on much like the Pope and the Catholic Church. Fear elements are introduced over time and therefore reside subconsciously in the back of peoples minds. It is an amazing thing when God begins to open ones eyes to these tactics in play. The D & R situation is such a delicate thing that no man, no minister should ever get involved in separating people. The simple truth is right there in the word and sure it should be preaches about from time to time in a general way, bit never with a jackhammer which most of these men employ. Let me ask you something, if you were to read what the Bible has to say on the topics, which does God hate more; D & R, or division?
When you take a man and a woman who have been remarried for any length of time and have created a loving family and then they stumble upon that knowledge, do you thing God holds them more accountable if they dont break up, rather than destroying that family by dividing it? Creating divison, hate, animosity, etc...? Really people let's use some common sense.
Ultimately, it is the New Testament both Gospel Jesus and Paul are the source views on the topic of Divorce and Remarriage. All churches, who care about such thing in this day and age do is try to figure out how to apply it so as not to offend the Deity or disobey Jesus.
Also realize that all the views on what a husband and wife, first or second marriage or what to do if a marriage is on the rocks for any number of reasons come from single men who, far as we know, were never married and in Paul's case, promoted celibacy above all as best. It was connect to both end time events as they perceived them, and were mistaken, but also to doctrinal purity practices for church members.
Anonymous May 22, 2020 at 3:26 AM and Tonto May 22, 2020 at 7:18 AM
What I understand is that Raymond Cole believed that Herbert W Armstrong was God's servant sent to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God that was not preached worldwide since the Apostles' days. What differentiates Church of God The Eternal from other COGs is the doctrines of Monday Pentecost and Divorce and Remarriage. COGTE firmly believes that these two doctrines are God's true teachings and revealed to HWA and cannot be changed since they are spiritual. Scholarship was the cause of the 1974 doctrinal changes that Raymond Cole was the only minister who refused to disobey God. After all, if Worldwide of God was wrong in these two doctrines which were taught for 40 years as God inspired, then wouldn't it make WCG a false church, no different from other churches of the world? Which 20th century church preached these two doctrines fearlessly for 40 years with God's blessings on WCG? What happened to the WCG starting from 1974 and blowing up in 1995? Looking back isn't it obvious that HWA's prophetic statement made in a April 13 1973 Bible Study on D&R that if he were to change the D&R doctrine, God would spew WCG out of His mouth? If we are honest with this fact and see what happen to WCG/COgs now, isn't it true God really cast WCG/COGs out? COGTE has the faith to stick to HWA's original teachings no matter what. COGTE may be a small group, a remnant if you will but since when has numbers become a criteria of a true church? Yes,Raymond Cole and Jon Brisby teaches that Christ is in them in person/ spirit leading them the way. What is wrong with that? They are not saying they are Christ but the spirit of Christ in them. In short, they are being dogmatic that COGTE is the remnant true church and nobody believes them, not unlike Christ not being recognised by the Jews in His days. Do you think we are any better in recognizing Christ today? Matt 7:14 for starters? Also, remember God's true ministers teach God's truth without fear or favor, it is up to the individual to do what he wants with the truth. If he accepts the truth, let him follow it as something between him and God. He is a free moral agent. Follow the man as long as he teaches the truth. Why is HWA's teachings so unique and so unlike modern churchianity? It is true that only those called can understand and they know that they know what the truth is.
RB, that's all well and good concerning holding onto those 2 doctrines, but you still have to address all of the error that Jon has taught and the deceiving he has done since the death of Mr. Cole "01". This is well documented in his messages and writings. So with that knowledge, you must then leave that organization, so said the Apostle Paul. Call him accursed is what you must do.
It is my opinion that the D&R rules are about the same as the Roman Catholic rulings. HWA just took the "biblical rules" to extremes as Catholics never did.
As the ships log from a New Amsterdam captain mentions after a courtesy visit to New Haven.
"These settlers whipped on a pole and seperated a newly wed couple for weeks, for having had (sexual) relations before their wedding. Outrageous and wholly unpractical." (About 1650)
Those pesky liberal New Yorkers.
Nck
7.53 PM
"They are not saying they are Christ but the spirit of Christ in them."
This is getting as close as they can get to saying that they are vicar of Christ, or that their words are the words of God. It's the oldest trick in the book, and edging towards blasphemy. A true Christian tries to distance themselves from sin rather than getting as close was they can to it. Even Christ reasoned with people rather than saying blindly believe me cause I'm the Big Cheese.
Was Raymond Cole in rebellion? If HWA taught something for 40 years and then changed it, was not he the one in rebellion? against God?
May 25, 2020 at 5:40 AM No he had New truth just like Cole had new truth Jesus Is Come On earth Today in a MAN. New Truth Grow in Grace.
Jon Brisby has since Feb 21 did sermons and bible studies trying to destroy the character of of a young woman saying she has a demon because she went to the doctor to save her life. The lies ,half truth, and deceit is amazing. The truth has not been told. The man he is protecting is HIS Golden BOY. He can not to anything wrong ,and if you don't agree with Jon and his lies you are put out. Jon keeps saying the woman stole the children but the truth is the husband kidnapped his own kids and hid them at his mothers in another state and the police had to go get them back. But Jon keeps telling these lies.
Jon received sealed records illegally from the husband so Jon knows what the husband is being accused of. And he comes out in his sermons and it is all about him (Jon) and how HE is being persecuted and yet HE is the persecutor of this woman and her family. The husband is still not paying child support, when he was told to way back when. The husband was told to give his wife her things so what he does is throw everything out in rain to destroy it. WHO REALLY HAS THE DEMON HERE? There is much more that I could say. Now you can get a divorce over your finances, why did we sit through 3 months of divorce and remarriage sermons and now he has admitted he told his GOLDEN BOY TO GET A DIVORCE BECAUSE OF MONEY AND IT WAS THE HUSBAND WHO STOLE ALL THE MONEY.
Sad news the minister in Tenn has died. He was a nice man . Richard Litz. Jon Brisby has only a couple left. Do you think with all the curses he has put on people it is comimg back on him for doing such a things?
DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD IS COMING AND Jon Brisby JUST DECLARED MILK KEFIR IS A LEAVENING. Just like popcorn , popovers .Just because it puffs up doesn't mean it has leaven in it. Some Jews won't eat noodles because they expand in water. The bible states unleavened bread. But there they are adding to what the bible says. Just my thoughts on the issue.
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