Ever the master of double-speak, Weston begins his Trumpets sermon mocking human interest in disasters. He references how many disaster movies have been produced, including spoof versions like my favorite, Sharknado. BUT, then proceeds to show how Trumpets represents our own disaster movie in which we get off on annually and is the driving force behind the "work."
His first Biblical reference as an intro to the sermon was Amos 5:18
"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light."
The only real proof of conversion in the eyes of COG headquarters everywhere is tithes and offerings. If your Jeremiah 17:9 heart is not fully backing this "work" financially, well you can expect a gruesome death in just 3-7 years at the bloodthirsty hands of Germans.
Let not the irony be lost on anyone. The Hebrew word for "desire" in this verse means: to wish for, covet, lust after, crave, be greedy for.
It is the same word used in the 10th Commandment: Thou shalt not covet.
Emphasis on what makes one "Christian" in the Millerite movement for 180 years has been the expectation of Jesus return in your lifetime, often including set dates and urgent warnings of only having 3-7 years left to get it right. HWA turned this into a lucrative business, using the Day of the Lord as his primary message in whoring for so many "Christian" dollars. [Check out my post, "Whoring For Money"]
In the 9/17/2020 World Ahead (Weekly Update), Weston says,
"Mr. Richard Ames recorded a Tomorrow’s World telecast titled “What Happened to the Christianity of Christ?,” offering one of the late Dr. Roderick C. Meredith’s strongest booklets, Restoring Original Christianity." [Check out my review of this booklet in the post titled, "Narcissists Ruin Everything"]
Anyone who has spent any time in any of the COG's should know what is meant by Air Quotes Christianity. It is the unreal Christianity out there. It is mainstream Christianity. It is the way we automatically and always discern ourselves from this world's Christianity, even when we speak amongst ourselves. We can't help it. It is Pavlovian.
To discern ourselves from Air Quotes Christianity, Meredith initially was calling LCG Christianity, "Apostolic" Christianity. But fearing this might confuse people into lumping us in with Apostolic churches, he changed the label to "Original Christianity."
COG Christianity can be summarized as a sect that puts emphasis on tithing, the observance of days, and prophecy peddling. It relies on external conformity to the detriment of internal awareness and critical thinking. It relies on the sacrifice of self to an imposed greater good to the detriment of personal responsibility to your most intimate and cherished blessing, the family. COG Christianity is a fascist nanny state that usurps the sovereignty of a man in his own household. COG Christianity lives and will die by this one verse, Matthew 24:14.
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come."
Just what did happen to the Christianity of Christ, Dick?
LCG has been bragging for years about how they have the "more sure word of prophecy." I have no idea on what they are able to base this. The 2019 Behind the Work video made for the Feast of Tabernacles had this as the theme. These men are truly greedy for and coveting after global calamity. They spend all their time cherry-picking gloom and doom news headlines from the four corners of the earth. The Day of the Lord is their primary source of income. It is what they covet but not for the sake of mankind or that it would actually come but because it puts food on their tables, suits on their backs and braces on their children.
COGs love to cart out Amos 3:7 this time of year.
"Surely the Lord does nothing unless He reveals his secret to His servants the prophets."
The Millerite/SDA/COG movement came into existence rooted in the idea that they had a more sure word of prophecy. HWA staked his marketing on Matthew 24:14 and the support of his corporate nanny state as the surest way to escape the horrors of a Great Tribulation that is always 3-7 years away.
Weston goes on to complain about the echo chamber that is the internet and confirmation bias, the very things that butter his bread. He complains about brethren being on the internet and using platforms to communicate with one another (much love, Gary). He literally complains that brethren are getting caught up in "reasoning" with one another in the cloud.
BUT the cold hard truth everyone in COGs must face is that their God has revealed no secrets in 180 years. They must face the fact that their God has done nothing in 180 years. There has not been one single incident where anyone in the corporate COGs can cite as proof that they are true prophets and that they have a sure word of prophecy. No, not one.
This must lead any thinking person to come to grips with the fact that all COGs are just the same as all the other Air Quotes Christian churches out there. They all make up what can best be described as "Corporate" Christianity. They are all designed and used (to varying degrees) to control people and milk them of their livelihoods.
True Christianity cannot exist anywhere in any way other than in the sovereign consciousness of individuals.
"Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness and not light."
Organizations that peddle fear, using the Day of the Lord and using dollars to measure conversion are the very ones that need to heed this verse. There is going to be a very large number of individuals who are employed by and support corporate prophecy peddlers that will be surprised to find they have very little oil in their lamps when the time comes or find themselves unemployed in their Kingdom of God. Amos goes on to say in 5:21,
"I hate, I despise your feast days."
[I have taken Amos 5:18,21 out of context, just like the COGs do regularly, but my point is made.]
So what is required of all Christians? Is it to financially back Corporations that justify demanding tithes and offerings to support a fulfilling of Matthew 24:14? I will say this. Individuals, called by a God who has been silent for 180 years, may reveal secrets some day and be accredited to spreading the gospel at the end of the age. But just like Paul, they will do it on their own dime without any financial demands put upon others. There may be "a" Christian that will fulfill that calling. But as for "all" Christians who want to be in God's favor in that day of judgment, I recommend you fulfill what is so plainly given by Jesus Himself in Matthew 25:31-46.
Your daily walk with that God and how that God works through you in daily interactions with other human beings is what will determine who is a Christian and who is an Air Quotes Christian.
HWA (like many religious charlatans before and after him) duped a generation of well-meaning folks into breaking very fundamental verses required of all Christians to put their families first and instead, embraced a devastating lie to put Corporate Christianity first. Judeo-Christian wisdom cries out in both testaments.
"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children" --Proverbs 13:22
"But if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." --I Timothy 5:8
As for Weston and the rest of the COGs, the writing is on the internet wall. You can cite all the clicks, likes and views that you want from your laptop "work." We all can see there are no new faces walking into services. We see the inflated feast attendance numbers you announce. (Dude, I'm right here!) Your conversion rates are essentially zero. COG growth today is measured only in births. 180 years of history is calling you out. And thankfully, that history will be there for them to read right here in the cloud when they come of age. The movement is over. Men...Put YOUR families first! Putting your family first is putting God first.
Stoned Stephen Society
31 comments:
James 1: TRUE religion (not the phony one) that God finds acceptable is: taking care of those in need and living an upright life. How have the Churches of God done in this area?
What have the CofG done to help those in need? How upright have the leaders lived?
The Fruit of the Spirit: Which ones come quickly to mind when you think about people like HWA, GTA, RCM, etc? Gentleness? Kindness? Patience? NO!
Greedy, power hungry, status seeking, lying, mean spirited, vengeful and corrupt come to mind.
Very good article!!
My understanding of priorities is
1. God
2. Your family
3. Your job
4. Your church.
And to be fair, I have heard this echoed by some COGs.
"A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children" --Proverbs 13:22
MY COMMENT - Has anyone in the Pack Unrestored Church of God cult ever asked the Packatolla, "How does a good man leave an inheritance to his children's children if we give everything to the Church with the Common doctrine"?
Richard
Stoned Stephen Society stated, "He complains about brethren being on the internet and using platforms to communicate with one another (much love, Gary). He literally complains that brethren are getting caught up in "reasoning" with one another in the cloud."
Malachi 3:16... "Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name."
Colossians 3:16... "Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts."
Romans 15:14..."I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them."
Hebrews 3:13..."You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God."
1Thesalonians 5:11..."So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing."
I think we're supposed to talk to each other. Isn't that the point of building a community or assembly (ekklesia) of Christians? We are to build each other up, encourage each other, teach each other, warn each other. These verses don't talk about this being done exclusively by some ecclesiastical hierarchy, but by Christians talking to other Christians, every day. Many people are scattered and have become isolated. Add to that all the factions and splits, as well as efforts of the leadership within these splits to limit or discourage access or fellowship between Christians, and we have no choice but to use whatever means are at our disposal, which for many is the internet. This is how people stay connected, and how issues can be discussed and breaches potentially healed. It's also how we can share information and "warn"each other when something we have heard from our leaders doesn't sound right.
If Weston or any one else claiming to be a "Minister" isn't happy with this, too bad. This is what we are supposed to be doing. He is subject to the scrutiny and examination of his words just like everyone else, and even more so, because he claims to be a teacher, and teachers are supposed to be evaluated and what they say must line up with scripture. These guys want to claim they have already proven themselves and therefore their words are to be taken as gospel. But that isn't how this works. We don't just park our brains at the door and stop studying or evaluating what we are told. We aren't to give someone our blind allegiance just because part of what they say might be true, or they cherry pick a scripture and quote it to back some idea up but ignore others that don't fit their narrative. Even Satan could quote scripture.
Concerned Sister
Concerned sister at 5:46 PM said...“Malachi 3:16... 'Then those who feared the LORD spoke with each other, and the LORD listened to what they said.'
Yeah, the Banned Blog in prophecy.
Oh look little children here is the hypocrite Stoned Stephen right on time. Nearly the eve of Tabernacles and here he is, a emotional rebel within the ministry, wanting to slog one to Gerald Weston in LCG. But not from LCG.
Here he is trying to cause division and stir up misery. To take the focus off worshipping God and Jesus Christ in a happy, peaceful environment but on the latest church trouble, using brethren if needs be.
Well didn't you try that last year, to cause trouble at Tabernacles, for members. I saw the delight in the real Stoned Stephens eyes after the trap you set had brought home what you wanted. Trouble to spread and gossip to divide the household of faith right on time before Tabernacles.
You love to take on the mantle that all others deny Jesus Christ and everything is wrong, even tithing and even belittle prophesy. But when do you behave like Jesus Christ ? Jesus Christ is the way and the TRUTH and the life. You live in the shadows, pretending to be what you're not.
Isn't it very easy Stoned Stephen Society (and the faithful cronies) to stir up hate but when do you spread genuine love and genuine kindness? You bang the drum of accusations that others deny Jesus Christ but your own actions deny Jesus Christ as well.
All you ever do Stoned Stephen is cause trouble in the household of faith. The was always peace and unity when you weren't around.
All the arrogant fingers you waggle at LCG is coming right back at you Stoned Stephen. Of course you'd never point any waggling fingers at UCG. Gotta be careful now.
If you hate and despise the COG's observing God's annual Holy days, then why don't you leave?
No-one is keeping you a prisoner "Stoned Stephen".
The Church can survive, or is that what keeps you in, the ultimate power and control it brings. Dictating who is in and who is out. Trapping, manipulating and assassinating the latest target. Bending the rules whenever it suits you.
Being two faced, a hypocrite and living a double life seems to pose no problem to your mind. Or does it.
Stone Stephen wrote: "COG Christianity can be summarized as a sect that puts emphasis on tithing, the observance of days, and prophecy peddling."
I know your point is to give a summary rather than a definition but I would like to make a few observations. There is no such thing as "COG Christianity." Armstrongism is not Christianity but rather a stand-alone religious philosophy. It is neither the OT or the NT but rather some third dogma. It is not a sub-branch of the Christian Movement and COG ministers and lay members are quite happy to tell you just that. They appropriate terminology from the Bible and heavily redefine it - that is why among themselves, for example, they speak of being "Christian" but that term is so radically modified as to be beyond recognition.
The other point is that to summarize COGs you list a collection of practices. The pragmatism of this approach is useful but liturgical practice by itself does not adequately circumscribe and set apart Armstrongism. The plain truth is that Armstrongists worship a different god from the one found in the Judeo-Christian tradition. They worship a god, in brief, that is defined by the anthropomorphisms of the OT - a pitfall of not developing a clear understanding of Analogia Entis. COGs, in their formulation of the Doctrine of God, believe that the Bible speaks univocally about the nature of God. And, of course, the metaphysics aside, COG ministers and lay members will be glad to tell you that they do not worship the same God that Christians do - even though, paradoxically, HWA used to visit foreign leaders and talk about how Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same god.
I would much rather have seen you start your summary in this way: "COGs are a collection of non-Christian religious organizations that are rooted in Apocalyptic Millerism . . . etc."
Good article and comments. The WCG always harmed the family as the father was told to believe without question a particular detailed doctrine. Christian training was the purview of the WCG and now the COGs rather than the parents. Parents just said what they were told. To think otherwise got you in hot water. This was worse for the fathers as they were told to lead the family and that meant like an executive but without decision making as the COGs tell you what to think about the most important issues of life and how one gets on in this life. Almost all vacation time was taken up with the feast and winter family weekends and sports such that after around age 8 the kids really did not spend much leisure/vacation time with their families except for the stressful times of getting ready for these events which didn't exactly help the family dynamic ("Yes you will wear a jacket!", "You should want to go to this activity!" "No, you cannot go out with school friends instead"). It separates family as the activities are meant to get kids together and then adults/parents get together.
Many in the splinter COGs accepted this coercion or were children of ministers or others in the in-crowd (AC, wealthy, elder/deacon) who did not experience the detriment because their dad was the boss or well-established or they themselves received the extra benefits such as AC. I don't know that the same can be continued for the next generation except that a large percentage of the men are approached about speaking particularly in some of the more mild COGs like UCG and COGwa so maybe that keeps the kids thinking they are in a good club. Jedem das Seine.
604,
Stephen was quoting the Lord who said, "I hate your feasts".
Does it bother you that he criticizes tithing and the hierarchy and coercion with fear? Should he support those things? Do you want only those people in your congregation that embrace those things? Is there a teaching in your COG you believe is okay to disagree with and discuss? Not wishing to antagonize to anger.
@Questeruk
According to David Pack/RCG your priorities should be this:
1. The ‘church’ (RCG)
2. Your job (because you need to be able to tithe and hand them the rest as ‘free offerings’)
3. David Pack (it should be God, but He isn’t that important to the RCG)
4. David Pack
5. David Pack
6. David Pack
7. Your family (but only if the RCG ministry allows you to)
the liars like al gore who promote the global warming hoax have a lot to answer for
the fact is -- and you can consult a list of natural disasters -- that disasters are not more frequent or more severe
the dollar damage is up due to inflation but the frequency and severity is not up
but "progressives" will NEVER stop lying to promote their agendas
Some thoughts on the topic:
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2020/09/christian-or-christian.html
7:53
Why put the nose into another's comments to the real stoned "Stephen".
What silly questions you ask.
I love this explanation NEO! It's spot on.
According to David Pack, member priorities should be:
1. Hand over all your money.
2. Hand over all your money.
3. Hand over all your money.
4. Hand over all your money.
149,
Thats the way a comment section works. If you know the real Stephen then talk to him directly rather than posting a public comment.
The poster up-thread must hate families. It hasn't occurred to him that Stoned Stephen Society has family in an ACOG, and values his family highly enough that he won't break ties with them, which would occur if he made plain how he really feels.
Neither Weston nor Bob Thiel have the ability to foresee or even understand world news events.
Bob Thiel has written volumes about President Trump, and about COVID-19. But you can see on his website that NOT ONCE has he prophesied that the President would suffer a bout of the virus, nor has he prophesied how that bout would turn out.
This is one more confirmation of Bitter Bwana Bob's non-prophet status!
Happy FOT to all my readers. Enjoy!
Bob would just reply to you "That's not how God works through his prophets."
Bob's god is a god of vagueness. Bob thinks Rod Meredith's minor stroke while in his 70's and Rod's wife's cancer due to LCG's views instead of someone more directly in charge proves Bob is a prophet. Bob's trophy room must be full of participant awards
To Stoned "Stephens" supporters,
Stoned "Stephen" has taken much time and effort upon himself to create what he himself calls a "movement" within the Church. His banner on his blog states "we surround them".
well i am from the household of faith who is not putting up with this anti Church darkness.
So stoned Stephen only reaps what he HIMSELF has sown.
I also think it is blasphemous and anti Christian that he has taken the name of the faithful Stephen the apostle and used how he died as a catchy online name.
What are ministers trying to do when they speak? What does it mean to "be a minister"?
Maybe Dennis or other ordained men can chime in to answer this question, but I haven noticed something peculiar about Ambassador College graduates. When they end up in work other than ministry, a disproportionate number seem to end up in sales-related work. A few end up in "helping professions" but this seems far less common than in other denominations, where many former ministers end up in some kind of counseling or health care or educational role if they are diverted from ministry.
How did AC students and faculty process the fact that Paul was a tent-maker and Jesus was a construction worker? Would AC students' lives have turned out very differently if AC had maintained a "shop" class so kids came out of college not just as expert speakers, but also with a few real-world skills, whether as decent carpenters, electricians, HVAC technicians, or auto mechanics? Would WCG's ministry have had a different outlook and approach if, instead of adding a public speaking component to a shallow 'liberal arts" education, HWA had opened schools for electricians, woodworkers, HVAC technicians, or auto mechanics, and added a public speaking component to those? I suspect that most of what AC students were taught in four years of "Bible classes" could be absorbed without classes, just by listening to WCG sermons for a few years.
Instead, it seems that HWA mostly created salesmen, who might end up selling shoes or vitamins instead of Christ if they weren't employed as ministers. Weston is one of the many WCG/splinter ministers who, if they weren't in the "Christ business", would have little more in the way of marketable skills than the average high school graduate. Was this unavoidable, or did HWA lose out on something by failing to notice and act on the example of the first apostles?
Maybe all the COGs could each send the President an anointed cloth.
Bob could double bless his cloth before sending it.
I can see the headlines now - President Trump miraculously healed by a flood of anointed cloths.
Anonymous (8:30)
I was sitting in the audience in the Field House in Big Sandy when HWA stated that it was a shame for an AC graduate to work with his hands. The context was that some WCG ministers had just left the church and started washing windows. Window washing was a big involvement for the WCG at home time - on the order of selling dietary and weight-loss supplements.
There were looks of dismay among the audience members where I was sitting when HWA said this. I thought his statement was paradoxical because Jesus was a carpenter, Paul was a tentmaker, others were fishermen and it seemed like most of HWA's tithe base was comprised of blue collar workers. I don't know why HWA believed this. Maybe it had to do with his family values or the American micro-culture that he came from.
Back in the Eighties, an AC graduate who was a local church elder and a salesman once told me that he despised being a salesman. He felt that the act of persuading people had a moral taint. It made him feel strange although I recall he was successful as a salesman. He was later hired full time as a WCG minister. I'm not sure that solved the problem.
HWA abhorred manual labor and generally expressed contempt for those who "had to work with their hands." In his eyes it was one of the worst things that could happen to a former minister.
8.30 AM
My experience was that Herbs ministers had social polish, but were mentally stuck in teenage hood. The adult world and workplace that most members lived in, was foreign to these ministers.
Glenn
I do recall HWA in one of his recorded messages criticizing society for looking down on manual labor, which is why he said plumbers are well paid and in high demand.
It could be that HWA publicly said one thing but secretly believed something very different.
Can someone with better sources please check out something I heard? Is it true that, already, at two or more LCG FOT sites, there have been maskless Festival Choirs? I saw this for myself at one site, and if it is true elsewhere it really makes Gerald Weston look ineffectual for putting Sheldon Monson out of the church while still letting choirs put LCG members at risk. If anyone gets the coronavirus after being at a site where singers on stage belched the virus out to the hall, it's going to be on Weston's head. Will Weston have to put others out to show that he wasn't mistaken about Monson? Or will favored choir directors get better treatment than Monson?
@ 8:46 AM, I haven't heard a "Festival Choir" maskless at my site, but the "Special Music" singers are belting their breath out into a room that isn't very well ventilated.
Also at my LCG site, I heard a sermonette man tell us that Satan will be destroyed. Why would LCG let someone teach this, when they've always consistently taught that Satan will go into the Lake of Fire as a spirit being, and will suffer forever unlike the human souls that will be burned up and extinguished? I know that the idea of Satan's destruction is becoming more and more accepted in the wider Church of God community, but it was weird hearing this from an LCG speaker.
I don't think they're changing doctrine officially, though, I think they're just desperate for speakers and this is the best they can do, even though it looks like amateur hour to anyone who was in WCG.
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