Doug's words of wisdom this week. The world is falling apart around us and big old meanie Satan is stirring up rebellion. The record keeps skipping at this point.
Satan’s Divided World: This week millions have watched a massive convoy of Canadian truckers converge on the nation’s capital of Ottawa to protest the government’s restrictive COVID policies. America and Europe have seen similar protests by angry citizens against coercive government regulations. We see political parties bitterly opposing each other and angry leaders in science and academics denouncing each other and denigrating opposing ideas. The winds of war are blowing again in Europe, and Asian nations are launching supersonic ballistic missiles to threaten other nations. Few today realize that Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), that he is a rebel who promotes rebellion (Isaiah 14:12– 15; Revelation 12:4), and the author of anger, hatred, and lies (Galatians 5:19–21) that lead to chaos and confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Brethren, we, as God’s people need to recognize and resist the negative and divisive influence of Satan’s world (1 Peter 5:6–9) by building and maintaining a closer relationship with God.
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail
28 comments:
There’s no doubt this world is in a sorry state.
I don’t doubt those living in the late 1920s early 30s suffering under the depression would have said the same.
Or those in the late 30s and early 40s watching Hitlers rise.
Or those watching the Vietnam war or the Middle East wars of the 1960s,70s.
And so it is today.
But the utterly invisible LCG has nothing to offer.
They are unknown.
Their message is unheard.
And for them in this Information Age their misdeeds stand exposed and naked.
"Have a profitable Sabbath"
How can we have a profitable Sabbath if the COG's are sucking off tithes and offerings from the faithful?
The message which Armstrongism has promoted since its inception is that the end is coming, but you can be spared if you are part of our little group which we call "God's True Church." Upon becoming a member, one learns about an unfortunate group of people in "God's Church" who are known as Laodiceans, and who won't be spared because they are not zealous enough in yielding to the controllers of the church in every way imaginable. Designation as Laodicean is very arbitrary, making the gist of the matter that your protection and status are perpetually in the air. You won't know that you have been counted worthy to escape until you are actually on the way to the place of safety, if such a place of safety even exists. So, really, there is no peace of mind whether you are on the inside, or on the outside of an Armstrong church. They are not the gatekeepers presiding over what we see around us. How could their promise of protection be any more accurate than their litany of failed prophecy?
To all but those who are either dumb as a rock, or in denial, it is perfectly obvious that $h*t is happening. There are very turbulent waters ahead. Neither political party is capable or equipped to deal with it all. Neither are churches. Church and state are only concerned with preserving their own power and influence.
The very worst thing anyone could do at this point is to surrender their thinking to someone claiming to have all the answers, as if suddenly, somehow, one size fits all. That will only get you exploited. Best advice is to watch what is going on around you, analyze it, and make adjustments. Be creative. Remember, there have always been survivors, even in the case of the Hindenberg.
He rants against anger, opposition and division. Church culture is that many have a right to sin, and when the victim resists and fights back, they are the ones accused of "anger, opposition and causing division." My bible instructs to rebuke a sinning member. People have a right and responsibility to defend themselves. It's the sinner rather than the victim who causes the "division."
Btw, unity is a commie theme that's used to shutdown dissent. Scratch and surface, and the church is morally commie.
What a crashing bore this fundamentalist simpleton is!
It's what happens to your brain if your reading is restricted to Herbie Booklets
A sad state of affairs indeed. The combined effort of all the COG splinters is now so insignificant.
Doug is so dangerous.
He gives way to much power to Satan and never mentioned Jesus in his post.
Christians would consider Doug's writing to be pastoral malpractice, since Jesus is now victorious over Satan (not just at some future date).
Trying to scare people with Satan and COG-style the sky is always falling without offering ultimate hope in Jesus is ridiculous.
Doug's focus is on Satan - not Jesus.
This is because Doug's reliance on the law, instead of Jesus, making him alienated from Jesus and fallen from Grace (Galatians 5:4).
Doug will always preach about Satan's antics and power but will never teach his people how Jesus has delivered us from evil and has created peace with us and God.
Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Have a profitable Sabbath by avoiding Doug, COG writings, and their Satan - instead, spend the day learning about the victory and peace we have in Jesus!
9:16, Exactly. š
I feel compelled to comment on LCG elder Winnail's situation with his wife whom he divorced and later remarried a while back. Some have written about this from time to time on this blog. It's a serious matter when an elder commits adultery and, when that happens, the whole church should know about it -- not just the lackey fellow ministers who want to cover it up just to save the corporate face. Apparently Winnail did counsel beforehand with the "elites" who presumably OK'd his remarriage, even though Deut 24:1-4Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) strongly proscribes against it. And not just Deut 24. In 1 Cor 7:11Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) the apostle clearly shows that a divorced woman should not remarry and that THE HUSBAND SHOULD NOT DIVORCE HIS WIFE TO FREE HER TO REMARRY! If Winnail's wife was freed by him, then Winnail not only committed a great sin but he also caused his wife to sin when she remarried. (Mark 10:12Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)) Jesus Christ's testimony in Mt 19:9Open in Logos Bible Software (if available) shows that divorcing for reasons other than fornication is adultery, and that such a divorce tempts both the divorcee and another man to commit adultery as well. See how many times adultery was committed by Winnail's original actions, his, his wife's and her second husband? And there is a fourth sin if he took her back without any remorse or confession on her part.
Someone should tell this to LCG so that the deception and coverup doesn't continue and so that the sinner can repent. The pressure has to come from somewhere if the ministers continue to turn a blind eye and connive at a major sin.
6:57 AM, what makes you think LCG isn't already aware of this?
Weston knows he inherited a turkey as his CAD Director. His problem, though, is that there are several men who believe they are "next in line" to become CAD Director when Doug retires. By keeping Doug in place for as long as possible, Weston hopes to avoid creating more division within LCG. He wants Winnail gone, but Winnail plans to hang on for as long as possible, since as soon as he retires he won't be able to use members' tithe money to go on trips without Sherry.
6.57 AM
If any church member did as Winnail has done, they would be thrown out of the church. It's a monster double standard.
7:54, if LCG is aware of Winnail's adultery why aren't they putting him out, this same fellow who says that we should "get close to God"? (You who teach another, teach you not yourself? Rom 2:21)
Why are their members turning a blind eye?
Adultery is punishable with death. (1 Cor 6:9)
They should be checking out his reasoning for remarrying her and comparing that with 1 Cor 7:11, Mt 19:9, Deut 24:1-4 and other related verses.
4:09, Doug Winnail puts the topic of of Satan first and foremost above the topic of Jesus for one big reason. Tithes. It's easier to get more money from members by scaring them then giving them peaceful views.
Plus Doug's closing line, "Have a profitable sabbath" dosen't necessarily have to to be directed to members. And could be ment as monetary wealth. I think he is telling his ministers and other LCG henchmen to get more money from his sheeple. After all, recycling old sermons over and over is lots of work
"Doug Winnail puts the topic of Satan first and foremost above the topic of Jesus "
Satan has always been the most powerful god of Armstrongism, far stronger than Jesus, who rarely, if ever, gets mentioned.
Look at Bob Thiel's articles listed on his page right now, not a single one about Jesus. What you will find are hundreds of usels=ess articles trying to whip up hysteria for news stories he copied off NewsMax and other sites. His stories are a mixture of paganism, shamanism, Catholic mysticism, half-truths about Christianity, and outright lies. He thinks trying to appear as a pseudo-Christian is enough, but it's not.
If you look at UCG, LCG, PCG, and other COG writings it's almost the same thing. Jesus usually appears in the last couple of paragraphs of an article, almost as an afterthought. David Hulme is really adept at that trick.
7:54, if LCG is aware of Winnail's adultery why aren't they putting him out
Have you heard the term "Mutual Assured Destruction"?
Winnail knows LCG's darkest secrets. If Weston ever ruins him, Winnail could turn the tables and ruin the reputations of several top LCG ministers. He could even retroactively trash Rod Meredith's reputation so soundly that nobody would believe God could have used him to start a church. Weston lives in fear of that.
"They should be checking out his reasoning for remarrying her"
__
Maybe he always loved her and pulled a I Cor 13 out of the hat for her?
Maybe he always loved her and pulled a I Cor 13 out of the hat for her?
But 1 Corinthians 13 tells us about love. And we know, as Doug himself teaches, that violating God's law is not love. God's law defines, or, rather, IS his love. Remarrying her was only an act of love if you would also consider it love if he sacrificed a few babies to Moloch in her honor. Don't get upset with me for saying this, I'm just telling you what Doug himself teaches.
Except, of course, when it applies to him. He gets to do pretty much what he wants to do.
It's Sherry's health/well-being that I'm concerned about.
Love is truly blind - but, how disabled does love need to be for one to desire Doug for a second round?
Anonymous said...
"It's Sherry's health/well-being that I'm concerned about.
Love is truly blind - but, how disabled does love need to be for one to desire Doug for a second round?"
But 1 Corinthians 13 tells us about love. And we know, as Doug himself teaches, that violating God's law is not love. God's law defines, or, rather, IS his love. Remarrying her was only an act of love if you would also consider it love if he sacrificed a few babies to Moloch in her honor. Don't get upset with me for saying this, I'm just telling you what Doug himself teaches.
================================
Why is their reconciliation any business of yours? Why does your rambling about what you perceive as Doug's beliefs matter in this matter? Sometimes it is best to simply mind one's own business and leave the Bible out of it all.
Why is their reconciliation any business of yours?
At 12:11 PM, Dennis, you thought it was your business. Shouldn't 1:29 PM have the same privilege you took for yourself?
6:57 refers to Deuteronomy, the Constitution of Israel, and the prohibition of remarrying your first spouse. Deuteronomy was a covenant made between God and Israel, and which expired when the Messiah came (Gal.3:19). The covenant is null and void. The Jews still try to follow it because they don't accept Jesus as the Messiah. To continue to observe these laws, unless they are repeated for the church, is to deny that Jesus came once. Many are also inconsistent, only observing a few of the 613 laws in the Law of Moses, then arrogantly condemning those who don't observe the few that they observe. If you break one, you break them all (James 2:10). If you insist that Doug couldn't remarry his first wife, then don't you have to insist that he wear tassels and observe all the other laws in the Law of Moses?
I was reading an old interview with one of the hard rock guitar heroes of the '70s the other night. He said that it was his observation over a number of years that devout Christians seem to have more of the types of paranormal experiences that would be classified as Satanic, or demonic, than nonbelievers, or casual Christians. It is as if those experiences follow devout Christians around.
Maybe if the ACOGs preached good stewardship of the planet, like actively doing as individuals whatever we could to care for the ecology by reducing our personal carbon footprint, their main focus wouldn't be on Satan any more. Jeez, they are like Peter and the wind with their paranoia about Satan, forgetting that Jesus vanquished the devil!
The reason why LCG does not care that a top minister married a woman that divorced him and another man is that Armstrongists have an incoherent pattern of selecting which Old Covenant laws they want to enforce. They also condemn others who don't keep the same laws they have selected, in the same manner that they kind of keep those laws.
Calling out and making fun of this hypocrisy is what people on this blog do.
I was the one who wrote in wonderment of Sherry returning to Doug.
That was mean, wrong, and the situation is none of my business.
In general, I am happy for anyone who finds love.
On the other hand, this none-of-my business hook-up really does fascinate and perplex me for reasons I should not state, because it is none of my business.
As far as my experience with Winnail goes, he has not treated the members as harshly as other LCG ministers.
However, he fully supports a very cruel church that does extensive damage to marriages and people in general.
Since Winnail is a paid leader in this very cruel movement, I usually go along with the premise that he is fair game for a little Manpower Report activity of my own making.
I will re-evaluate that thought.
A question I have is wondering if COG leaders, who are celebs of the COGosphere, are really public figures?
They are hardly known by the public - but they are the faces of their micro-churches and hope to be known as public figures.
Perhaps Dennis could post a list of rules for when it is acceptable to write all kinds of unfavorable things about COG leaders and when it crosses the line of unacceptable.
An actual marriage between two people may be a good place to draw the line.
However, marriage is one of the topics on which the COGs have been so destructive.
And, dissenting Herbie's marriages have been so useful in exposing COG hypocrisy.
Doug Winnail wrote: "...Brethren, we, as God’s people need to recognize and resist the negative and divisive influence of Satan’s world (1 Peter 5:6–9 ) by building and maintaining a closer relationship with God..."
******
For Doug: Satan has never influenced anybody. Satan, by his spirit, controls (Matthew 23:33-35) and causes (2 Tim 2:26) one to err and sin (I John 3:8, e.g. :12). Virtually all of Matthew 23 reveals that Jesus knew Satan and his angels (Eph 6:12) were controlling the minds of leaders such as: Pharisees, scribes, Hypocrites, etc. And I suspect that Satan, like God, changes not. Satan is still doing it! Can Doug be so confident he has not been so deceived, too? Doug continues to blame/judge his own brothers/sisters, and can't seem to help himself. To change, would be to repent, but it is God, not self, that grants/gives one repentance, is it not?
Does Doug believe he is writing to people with lukewarm attitudes? People who are unable to recognize/resist Satan's control? People neither hot or cold, but just need to build/maintain a closer relationship with God? How does Doug know one isn't close enough? Is this "one jab, fits all" applying to all Doug writes to? Well, all, except to Doug!??
I thought it was God who begins/finishes (Phil 1:6), drags (John 6:44, 65), determines, predestinates, etc. who He would have any relationship with, and saves (John 3:16-17), and makes that all happen! Isn't it one God (not 2 or 3), by the power of His Spirit (Zech 4:6), through His Son (I Cor 8:6) the real Workers when it comes to repentance, salvation and relationships? Does God hear sinners, or not?
God's fruits are listed in Galatians 5 and other places, while Satan's fruits are listed also in Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 1:29-32, Proverbs 6:16-19 and elsewhere.
There is good fruit and there is evil fruit. Jesus explained some of it in a parable:
Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by [his] fruit.
:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
May Doug learn to discern between the good/evil tree and the good/evil fruits and come to stop blaming/judging his brothers/sisters, and begin to encourage them about all the good that God has promised to do for all of us? That would require repentance, so...
Time will tell...
John
1.31 AM
It's very considerate of your 70s hard rock guitar hero to take time out from his sex orgies and drug taking to comment on today's Christians.
As far as my experience with Winnail goes, he has not treated the members as harshly as other LCG ministers.
However, he fully supports a very cruel church that does extensive damage to marriages and people in general.
Winnail doesn't like conflict, but that's because he is crafty, not because he is good or nice.
When people come to him about a matter, he is good at avoiding confrontation and leaving people thinking that he agrees with them or even supports them. But it's really just his superior political skills. He gets the results he wants, but his fingerprints aren't directly on the dirty deed. The Scarborough situation is one of many examples of this.
As for his marriage, we should wish him the best. But the fact remains that he teaches an approach to Scripture by which his remarriage is problematic. But he's hardly alone in that. HWA taught one thing about marriage for decades, then changed overnight in order to marry Ramona. Let's hope Sherry is giving Doug more happiness than Ramona gave HWA.
Winnail's remarriage is not a case of being "not our business" to judge but a case of the whole church to judge. Look at 1 Cor 5 where Paul heard about fornication from the church which forced him to put the fornicators out. Glorying in fornication, Paul said (1 Cor 5:6), isn't good just as it is with adultery which is on the same scale of gross sins. (1 Cor 6:9) You can't just walk into church and do whatever you please. Leave the Bible out, you say, Mr Diehl? It is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God. (Mt 4:4) If you leave it out, you cut yourself off from life. Judgement has been going on in the church from the beginning and is coming soon upon the world for its sins.
As for 8:52's comments, Deut wasn't a covenant but a restatement of the law that Jesus expanded upon in Mt 5-7. Yes, everyone knows the OC is done away but many of its laws have been carried over into the NC, enhanced and expanded. You said so yourself when you said, "UNLESS they (the OC laws) are repeated for the church". This truth is also supported by Heb 7:12 where it says that with the change from the OC to the NC priesthood there is a "transferal" of the law to the NC ministry, meaning that the NC ministry ought to be administering it properly today under the inspiration of Jesus Christ, expanding on OC laws mentioned by Christ in Mt 5:21, 5:27, 5:31 (which is taken from Deut 24 but altered), v38 (which is annulled), 5:43 (partly expanded and partly annulled).
As for your last question about whether we should wear tassels if Winnail broke Deut 24, the answer was already given above. If the facts are true, he broke 1 Cor 7:11 and Mt 19:9, WHICH ARE NEW COVENANT LAWS PUNISHABLE WITH DEATH IF A MEMBER CONTINUES THEREIN. Deut came from Moses while the 2 NT references are attributed to the apostle and The Lord. Doug is supposed to be a minister of Christ and as such is to uphold the NC standards for righteousness. If he does not, the whole church has the right to condemn him even if Weston thinks that this is mutiny. Otherwise you let him die in his sins. What, you people who say that it's none of your business? You don't want to save your family and friends from death and just mind your own business? If Jesus Christ would have minded just His own business, He would not have come to this earth to die for your sins.
Comparing Deut 24 and 1 Cor 7:11, we see the NT as an expansion of the OT. Deut 24 allows for divorce but 1 Cor 7 doesn't except in cases of fornication. Deut 24 allows her to remarry while 1 Cor 7 does not. Deut 24 doesn't allow for reconciliation after a second marriage while 1 Cor 7 allows for reconciliation from separation. On top of these laws we have other factors to consider. His blunder in divorcing her, thus causing her to commit adultery with another man, the issue of his and her repentance, her conversion (baptized or not?), and the need for an elder to keep himself pure because his primary obligation is to Christ, not to sensual desires.
doug Winnail and Weston have interfered with and broken up dating relationships and marriages for far lesser reasons than what Doug did with Sherry. Mixed race marriages, mix race dating, just to mention the main issues for them, or just not liking the idea of a certain couple being together in the first place. I can't count the time these two ministers show their contempt to several mixed race married couples. So, there is one standard for our LCG ministers and another one for the members. Anyone who questions these ministers or disagrees with them is in a state of rebellion and has a bad attitude. What about agreeing with God.
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