Will Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, and others continue to flout rules set in place regarding holding church services during the uptick in COVID cases, another COG is setting the example. Of course, Thiel, Pack, Flurry, Weston, and others believe these are not real Christians and certainly NOT true COG members, the COG7 continues to preach and witness better than any Armstrongite COG does.
Wishy-washy Thiel lets his own ministers make the decision whether they want to follow the rules instead of being a real manly leader and tell them to stay home. No COG service is that important and certainly, no sermon is that important to miss.
Pack and Flurry flout the rule be having services on thier compounds while telling local churches to stay home if they want.
Armstrongism has always been filled with double standards.
Here is COG7 recent statement on COVID-19 and what they expect from those that still hold services:
Central District – Church of God (Seventh DayDear Pastors and LeadersGreetings to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus.I pray that you, your family and your church are well and staying safe during this difficult time. I am writing to you to encourage you as a leader in your church to do all you can, in a responsible and thoughtful way, to keep your members safe.Not all leaders are doing that. Some are ignoring suggested guidelines, for what- ever reasons, and by doing so, put their families and members in jeopardy. Just this week, in a Superintendent “ZOOM” call with Loren Stacy and Jody McCoy, we learned that one of our churches in the Southeast District, where the pandemic is now increasing rapidly, “refused” to follow any guidelines like masking and social distancing – with this result. Every member in attendance at their services now have the virus and are under a strict individual 14-day quarantine. The authorities came in and shut them down until further notice. Several churches in the S.E. District and the S.W. District are being mandated to shut down, again.In both the Southeast District and Southwest District, the number of members of the church with COVID 19 are increasing rapidly. We have had several of our leaders and pastors who have had and some who now have the coronavirus. In two entire churches, almost all members have the virus.As I have written before, as a Leader/Pastor, you are responsible to make wise and compassionate choices to keep your people safe. This is your responsibility, and also in making your choices, you accept the liability for the choices you make.I URGE YOU to google the following research experiments of the following individual. RICK DAVIS, EXPERIMENTS REGARDING COVID-19. Reading this should make us well aware of the absolute value of WEARING MASKS and SOCIAL DISTANCING. PLEASE take the time to read his experiments. His work is the result of measuring droplets, by coughing, sneezing, talking and singing into identical culture plates, from various distances. The results are a bit startling to say the least.After you have read that, I urge you to make the wisest decision for the safety of your congregation. I encourage you to make it mandatory that every attendee in your services WEAR A MASK! No exceptions. I encourage you to practice social distancing of 6 ft. I encourage you to insist that there be no close contact or hand shaking allowed. I encourage you to sanitize your facility and have hand sanitizer available to your congregation. I encourage you to design a worship experience and fellowship that is SAFE! Ask them to use hand sanitizer when they come in and when they leave. I would not and will not, at this time, attend any church where even one member attends refusing to wear a mask. To behave in such a manner puts every vulnerable attendee at risk. Now, even young people, not just the elderly are getting sick.Everyone of our District Superintendents and our GC Leadership are alarmed at the response of individual members, and some leaders, who have put their church at risk by irresponsible choices. Watch for a coming statement from the GC Leadership with their recommendations.If you have already opened up your church for services, PLEASE study again your choices for the safety of your congregation. Make whatever adjustments you need to for their safety. Make wise choices, not based on your politics or your view of constitutional rights. Think first of others and their needs and the seriousness of their vulnerability.If you have visitors come to your church from other cities/states, you MUST have them wear a mask and practice social distancing. To not do so is not being responsible as a leader. Many churches may have visitors tomorrow, July 4th.Leaders and Pastors, we need to be a pro-active part of the solution, and not make choices that put us in the area of being part of the problem.May our God be with you and may His Holy Spirit be in you.Sincerely in ChristSuperintendent – Ken Lawson
24 comments:
Since I didn't see a link to Rick Davis experiment, I post this as possible to one referenced.
https://www.boredpanda.com/no-mask-vs-mask-experiment-rich-davis/
Even though I think the COVID 19 is blown up by the democrats to destroy Trumps chance in 2020, I still wear a mask when I am around the public because that is the way a follower of Yeshua will act. Show love of your fellow men.
My wife went to UCG meeting and was the only one with a mask, one of the members ran up to her and hugged her and gave her a "godly kiss".
It has always amazed me how people in Armstrong-ism has never stayed home when sick even though they have told to stay home when they are sick.
There is no command in the word of God which says you must be in a church meeting on the Sabbath, only to REST on the sabbath.
July 3, 2020 at 11:24 AM
Anonymous said: "Even though I think the COVID 19 is blown up by the democrats to destroy Trumps chance in 2020'
The virus is not a political or religious test. It's an I.Q. test and you failed.
My wife went to UCG meeting and was the only one with a mask, one of the members ran up to her and hugged her and gave her a "godly kiss".
Whooahh if UCG are doing this how bad are all the other more isolated groups. Out of all of them i would have assumed UCG to be following sensible social distancing guidelines.
And don't forget Mark Armstrong, who doesn't want to be asked Who is that masked man?
Mark Armstrong is right. Government should not have the power to tell free citizens to cover certain parts of the body when out in public.
12.56 PM
The COVID-19 virus is no worse than other pandemics in recent years. Governments have used it as a pretext to grab unlimited power and fully implement Marxism. So no, it's not a I.Q. test but rather a moral test since totalitarianism always favors the irresponsible.
In case you missed it, governments worldwide with their lockdown policies and rule by banana republic dictatorial decree, now parallel the ACOGs culture. So everyone in the world is now treated like an 8 year old by their government. Perhaps this blogs name should be changed to "Banned by all governments."
Appears to me that Mark Armstrong has a pretty good handle on on the current issues. Where's the beef?
Mr. Lawson might want to review Exodus 34. When did Moses take off his "mask," and when did he put it back on?
I'm surprised that they are holding services at all in the middle of this.
We've had ours cancelled since March, and they will continue to be cancelled through at least the end of September. Better safe than sorry. And nobody relishes the idea of meeting together with face masks, social distancing, no singing, and no food.
They're talking about a "second wave" Baloney! There never was a first wave
There's a phenomenon in the Armstrong churches typified by a refusal to admit that someone "in the world" could have anything less than perverse motives. If the world says to wear masks, it must be wrong. Unlike so many in that movement, COG7 folks don't tend to be threatened by the notion that they might not be the smartest one in the room.
Don't leave COGWA out. They are meeting for "church" services again and are being discreet about it so Banned won't discredit them. They are not any better that any other ACOG cult.
Oh the irony of it all! The so-called "dead Sardis era" Church of God, Seventh Day is doing more to literally stay alive than the Armstrong Churches of God - the so-called Philadelphia era remnant and the Laodiceans.
Richard
R.L., July 3, 2020 at 8:35 PM, asked an interesting question:
"Mr. Lawson might want to review Exodus 34. When did Moses take off his "mask," and when did he put it back on?"
******
Reviewing those verses we may read this:
Exodus 34:27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. [{commandments: Heb. words }]
:29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
:30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
:31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.
:32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
:33 And [till] Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.
:34 But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel [that] which he was commanded.
:35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
It is interesting that the people did not make a covenant with God as was done with the covenant made just prior to the golden calf incident. This time God made the unbreakable covenant with the people. Additionally, Moses' face shinned this time in God's presence, and continued to shine after leaving God's presence on the mountain. It shone sufficiently enough that people were afraid to be near Moses anymore. After talking with his brother, Aaron, the rulers and all of the children of Israel Moses put a vail over his face.
There is no indication that the shine wore off of Moses, and unless someone knows of another verse saying otherwise, I suspect Moses behaved the same way using a vail for the remainer of his 40 years of life until the day he died, but...
Time will tell...
John
Pack should wear a mask. No, not because of the COVID , but because he is a BANDIT!
So it's baloney Ocelot. Are you attending Church services?
The Ocelot wrote: "They're talking about a "second wave" Baloney! There never was a first wave"
Right. Just like there never was a Holocaust.
To the first post above, July 3, 11:24 am, where anonymous writes that there is no command to assemble on the Sabbath day, haven't you read and understood Lev 23 by now, where it says that there is a holy convocation on the seventh day? (v3) That's why you are given a day of rest; so that you may assemble on the Sabbath day. Resting on the Sabbath has to have a purpose. It's not just a timeout to rest your feet.
If your worried about the virus, wear a mask. The decision is up to the individual and not government. If you make the wrong choice, know that it may kill you. That's life.
I was wondering about the mask and distancing policies, if the COG would be led by a paternalistic 19th centurian with a quaker background, a fetish for perfection and ritual cleanliness, who had lived through the - american (so called spanish) flu.
Nck
Thanks Hoss for your explanation at July 4 5:11 on the "fake news" thread.
"Great idea for analyzing the COG take on commands. HWA's approach seemed to be that commands had to "make sense" to him - so t'hara and t'mah (clean/unclean) must mean healthy/unhealthy."
Nck
1.54 PM
One can observe a holy convocation by fellowshipping with God the Father and Jesus Christ in one's home. This option has to be the case, otherwise one can be trapped in a destructive group that has gone off the rails.
My wife went to UCG meeting and was the only one with a mask, one of the members ran up to her and hugged her and gave her a "godly kiss".
I have attended UCG for 20 years. Yesterday, July 4th, 2020 was the first time I attended at the Church after nearly five months due to COVID-19. We had temperature check, half our congregation attended last week and the other half attended this week to practice social distancing. All of us wore face masks. This is in Florida. Initially we had services web cast for many months so that we could keep the Sabbath and even all the spring holy days at home. If I recall correctly, then based on state guidance, after several months, some Churches may have gone back to attending at Church in some states. But in Florida that started only two weeks ago with all the necessary precautions described. This was HQ guidance. Just for clarification.
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