Trouble is already brewing in the Church of God Assembly with Sheldon Monson disfellowshipping his own family member.
The biggest blessing a COG member could ever receive is to be disfellowshipped from the COG. The day that happens you are free from the madness that is the COG.
Church of God Assembly
Sheldon C. Monson, Pastor, announced 8th of January 2022:
We are saddened to announce that Daryl Monson has been marked for cause. We pray he will repent and change soon so that he can be restored to fellowship and membership in the Church.
According to Scripture an individual must be “marked” for causing strife or division among members because not doing so will destroy the faith of others.
Romans 16:17 states: “Now I beseech you brethren, Mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them.” COGNews
36 comments:
Anyone disfellowshipped is also no longer under the putrid stench of church government and the horrific physical, spiritual, and mental damage it causes
No reason is given as to why he was disfellowshiped.
As to why he is ‘marked’.
No doubt it was dangerous to the well-being of the ‘collective’.
Freedom, that most valuable commodity is always a threat to authoritarian regimes.
Stalin would recognise the similarities within his system to the cogs.
The practice of disfellowshipping/excommunicating is one of the greatest heresies to ever hit the Christian Church. The practice directly contradicts the principles laid down in Christ's Parable of the Tares (and other scriptures too numerous to mention here).
And let's take just a minute to talk about the hubris necessary to leave the "one true church," start one of your own, and then begin excommunicating the folks who have followed you! Talk about having brass on a certain part of one's anatomy!
For me, my disfellowshipping from the Worldwide Church of God has indeed proven to be a monumental blessing. However, there is always a whole lot of pain/sorrow/suffering/torment on the front end of these things. Mark this you ACOG zealots: Christ warned of terrible consequences for anyone who intentionally causes one of his little ones to stumble (I believe it was something about a millstone around the neck and a large body of water).
Marking has been abused almost like the Stalin show trials of the 1930's to get rid of anyone perceived as a potential threat. Monson's group seems as if it was created as an anti mask/anti covid fringe group. Unfortunately covid isn't going anywhere but I doubt Monson's group has much lasting power.
We do not have spiritual or social fellowship with disfellowshipped ones because Removing an unrepentant wrongdoer from the congregation upholds God’s standards and preserves the congregation’s spiritual cleanness. It may also bring the unrepentant one to his senses.
So stop acting like Mr. Sheldon Monson is the bad guy when if he works hard enough could be the next armstrong.
Miller Jones disfellowshipping is not heresy it is sound doctrine.
Ha! Oh the weird hypocrisy of this blog.
I was marked but not officially disfellowshipped for telling HQ the truth of a matter. The locals got told off and I got marked in their fury. They could not disfellowship me as I'd done nothing wrong. So the unprofessional cowards way out is to "mark" a person.
If you're officially disfellowshipped you can appeal to HQ, but marked, on the side behind HQ backs, you have nothing official to appeal about. It's the cowards answer to their deceitfulness and volcanic anger problems.
Agree 11:27.
True followers of Christ must be willing to give up, even to the point of “hating” all that is in our lives, even our own families, if we are to be worthy of Him whoever loves father or mother more than God is not worthy of God, and whoever loves son or daughter more than God is not worthy of God.
Being kicked out of WCG was the greatest blessing to ever happen to me.
Even street gangs and bikie gangs like the Hells Angels have strict rules that are ruthlessly enforced. No group can function without rules.
People here are assuming he's a victim of some sort. But he could be a victimizer. We don't know.
"Christ warned of terrible consequences for anyone who intentionally causes one of his little ones to stumble (I believe it was something about a millstone around the neck and a large body of water)."
maybe that's why they booted him out, to protect the membership from him and whatever he was doing....
"Monson's group seems as if it was created as an anti mask/anti covid fringe group. Unfortunately covid isn't going anywhere but I doubt Monson's group has much lasting power."
40yr of science has shown masks to be of no value in stopping viruses, so I can understand their resistance to them, especially since wearing masks leads to other infections (check out the Danmask-19 Trial published Nov. 18, 2020 in the Annals of Internal Medicine).....
but yeah, they will likely continue as a small group, never growing much from where they started in terms of membership. (or, they might grow as large as any other group out there, that's up to God)
Most of the people I know of my association with Worldwide and it's spin-offs since the 1970's were marked and disfellowshipped over false reasons and often outright lies while others who SHOULD have been disfellowshipped were allowed to remain in good standing depending over their political position on the local congregation.
Anon 6:14 am exactly! We need lots of strict rules for law and order. So DcP and other tight groups that are exaggerated as being " north Korea " are right we need the Great mosaic law for order.
disfellowshippment is a punishment for church criminals.
What is accomplished by disfellowshipping? It keeps God's holy name clear of reproach and protects the fine reputation of his people. Here's a useful tip if you want to avoid getting disfellowshipped from the church: if your minister gives you a command that doesn't contradict God's laws obey it even if you disagree with it.
Anon 4:27. Please show me a minister who hates his life ? Did HWA hate his life ? Did Loma hate her life? I very much doubt the average christian loves father and mother more than God. That is a very base argument as the is different types of love. The love shown to family members is very different to an all powerful, all trusting love faith filled covenant relationship with God and Jesus Christ.
Disfellowshipping, as we generally conclude here, is two conflicting things at once. It is a bad thing, often unjustly administered, which throws the disfellowshipped ones' lives into chaos. But it's a good thing, because it gets the disfellowshipped ones out of an evil and toxic organization so that they can get on with the next phase of their lives. And that is in the idealized cases.
There are other instances, in which we would all agree here that certain people should be disfellowshipped. Examples would be sexual predators, practicing criminals, and druggies.
But, the disfellowship concept is not a one size fits all. Examples vary widely, and are not all good, or all bad. We've seen reports in the past in which members were disfellowshipped for refusing to throw a helpless relative living with them out on the street when the ministers disfellowshipped them, or when a person was told to quit a job and was disfellowshipped for giving the customary and ethical two weeks notice to their employer. Ministers somehow find the time to scour "dissident" sites, and disfellowship members for sharing the bad things the church brings into their lives with family members who share those bad things here.
In some cases, members make a conscious choice not to comply with church policy, knowing that they will be disfellowshipped. In that case, it simply becomes a method of quitting the church, a milder form of suicide by cop.
These days, with all the splinter groups holding to the same basic core of doctrines, being disfellowshipped, especially from one of the batshit crazy groups, has lost its sting. It's so easy to splinter surf. My own point of view is that anything that shakes members up, and causes them to re-examine their lives and paradigms is a good thing. Anything which causes the further diminishment and destruction of Armstrongism should probably be applauded. Obviously, if people who know that we here sympathize with them as they leave their ACOG for any reason, it is helpful to them at a time when they are feeling all alone
It is virtually impossible for anyone with any degree of autonomy or intelligence, (within a 20 year period of time), to either be told "You are not welcome here anymore" or more decidedly formally "disfellowshipped and marked".
One way to explain all the back and forth criticizing of COGs in this site. Most, if not all bible believers and non-believers, have the mistaken idea that all this is being done by our “free wills.” That is, we are free to do or believe what we wish. We are autonomous. Right? Is that what’s going on here?
Believe the book, or not, we should at least acknowledge what it actually says, right? Whether we believe it or not is not the question. The question is what DOES it say?. Here is something I found in a CPC publication, along with a title by me.
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Errors of Atheists & Theists No. 1: Man's So-called "Free Will."
There is room for only one dominant will in the world, & that is the will of Elohim. It is His intention that His will be withstood. He
"locks ALL up together in STUBBORNNESS, (in order] that He may be MERCIFUL to ALL" (Romans 11:32c) During the eons, "It
is not of him who is willing nor yet of him who is racing, but of Elohim the Merciful." & "to whom He is willing He is merciful, yet
whom HE IS WILLING, HE IS HARDENING." "Has anyone withstood HIS INTENTION?" (Romans 9:16-18). He "is operating
the universe in accord with the counsel of HIS WILL.." (Ephesians 1:11). Man does not create his own will. It is the product of his
heredity and his environment. Because he is IGNORANT of the forces which move him he imagines he is free to will as he pleases.
A child's will can be altered by a bauble. A wise mentor knows how to change a man's environment so that he wants to do the
mentor's will. ELOHIM alone has power over the source that contribute to form our wills, and He can easily turn man's will against
Him or for Him. Free will is a philosophical fable. Man is a creature, not a creator.
"It is Elohim Who is operating in us to will as well as to work for the sake of HIS delight." (Phil. 2:13)
That’s it, stop and think awhile. Enjoy..
Given enough time, just about everyone will end up getting forced out of one or two splintering splinter groups...or three or more.
NO, NO, NO, disfellowshipping is NOT sound doctrine:
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2014/04/does-god-approve-of-practice-of.html
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2014/04/excommunication-part-ii.html
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2014/04/excommunication-part-iii.html
https://godcannotbecontained.blogspot.com/2014/04/excommunication-part-iv.html
Did you see where Booby T had to weigh in on this and claim that Daryl has always had a "governance issues". Booby forgets his governance issue when three times in a row he was in direct rebellion against the church of God. He left WCG to join the heretics in Global Church of God, the like all the other weak weasels jumped ship with Rod Meredith to Living Church of GOd. Then gets his delicate feelings butthurt and has to start his own little cult. Booby has huge governance issues!
In the late 70s my wife and I walked out of the WCG at the end of the Sabbath service. We never went back. A year later Larry Neff marked us from the Pulpit. Just so happened a local reporter was in the audience. Being curious she found our phone number and set up an appointment for an interview. Turned out she also set appointments with Ted Armstrong and Stan Rader. The article she wrote included all three of us. It was quite long. A full page and more.
Anyway, I called Larry and asked why he did that a year later, since we left quietly, and talked to no one about leaving. I told him we made no trouble for the church, so why? His response: Well, you could have.
I still have copies of the long interview.
The younger ministry then didn’t know how to use marking, and disfellowshipping. Now, they are the older ministry doing similar things. Doesn’t help their image today. Sad.
Thiel has always had a governance problem, even when in Global and Living. It was either his way or the highway. The guy thinks he is never wrong and refuses any correction. They had to reign him many times over the years and each time he would throw a fit until his ultimate temper tantrum when he started his illegitimate cult. I was in some of those meetings where they told him to stop what he was doing and then watched him go right out and continue on and then start blaming church leaders for not listening to him. There is not an honest bone in his body.
9.08 AM
It's an old topic. You used free will to write your article, and disagree with others, so your "free will is a fable" is nonsense.
I know Sheldon and I know his family member, but I know nothing about what brought about this marking. Looking at the Biblical instruction, it is my responsibility to note (or mark) those who cause division. I know of nothing this family member has done to cause division. However, Sheldon definitely caused a division between him and his family member by publicly severing the relationship. If anyone caused division, it is Sheldon. Therefore, I note (mark) Sheldon and will avoid him.
That is very true, however at the same time, I believe there to be a direct correlation between the number/ willingness to disfellowship/mark and the degree they are a cult. Monson has shown himself to hold a fairly "traditional" form of armstrongism.
Got it, BP. So somehow that experience made you equal to GTA and Stan the man. Is that why you've descended upon us here, pretending to be the great teacher and corrector?
Your poor brainwashed person!
Gerald Weston caused a division in the church also- will you use consistency in your logic and note him and avoid him?
2:32 and 2:52 wrote,
It's an old topic. You used free will to write your article, and disagree with others, so your "free will is a fable" is nonsense.
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Well, who knows more, you or the Creator? I’d say you don’t come close. How many thousands of years have your writings lasted? Besides free will has to do with salvation. You are gonna get it whether you want it or not.
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Got it, BP. So somehow that experience made you equal to GTA and Stan the man. Is that why you've descended upon us here, pretending to be the great teacher and corrector?
I’m not pretending anything. I’m stating a fact. It was quite a surprise when I saw the finished article.
I didn’t ask for it. Maybe someone caused it for some reason. So, why weren’t you the one interviewed? And, it gave me the opportunity to explain to a large audience a major problem the WCG had in keeping members at the time.
So, what’s your big beef? Doesn’t make any sense.
Doesn't help their image ???? What sort of feeble response is that ? Why didn't you roll over and let him tickle your tummy too.
These men stand on sabbath days in Sabbath christian services gibly marking others as if they were God themselves. Neither do they consider nor care the long term consequences. On themselves I'm meaning. They will stand before Jesus Christ one day with marking and disfellowshipment nazi against their name. Perhaps that's why Jesus instructs Christians about perilous days.
8.17 PM
"Who know more, you or the creator?"
No, it's not me versus the Creator, but rather me versus your interpretation of the Creator. Claiming that the words of your mouth come straight from God is an old, cheap parlor trick. Where are your facts and line of reasoning? Oh, that's only for the little people. Big people like yourself are above that. All you do is try to lord it over peoples beliefs through intimidation of "thus sayeth the Lord." It's dishonest and immoral.
It seems that others negative comments about you are true.
12:20
Please, try reading what I posted. I said I found that quote in a CPC PUBLICATION.
I would be more impressed if you factually rebutted what they said. Apparently you can’t so you stoop to an ad hominem. So typical here.
I liked Daryl when I knew him. I can see him being disfellowshipped for not fitting into the corporate church mold. That is not a condemnation mind you. More of a comment on Armstrongism’s failure to understand that variety in human beings goes far outside their narrow lens.
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