Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Gerald Weston: Even though kids got sick at summer camp it was worth it!
Dear Brethren,
The last two years have been challenging. Some of you have lost friends and loved ones, and many of us have experienced varying levels of sickness. Our hearts and prayers go out to all who have suffered losses. Thankfully, most of us have survived and stayed out of the hospital.
While the coronavirus is different from a flu virus, many experts draw some parallels to the 1918– 20 flu pandemic, which came in waves and took the lives of 50 to 100 million people worldwide. Major cities experienced a deadly fourth wave, extending the pandemic into the third year. As for coronavirus in 2022, we have seen a sharp spike in cases here in Charlotte from what appears to be the Omicron variant. While it is unpleasant, members are getting through it, many now have some natural immunity, and cases are dropping. This seems to be the situation elsewhere—a sharp spike followed by an equally quick drop. Individuals will no doubt come down with one variant or another this year and in the years to come.
After discussions here in Charlotte, we have made some decisions. We will continue to respect the laws of the land and local venue regulations regarding masking, but where allowed, the pastor, in consultation with his Regional Pastor or Regional Director, may determine what is the best course of action given local circumstances. This means that in many locations around the world, masks will be optional for part, or all, of our services, and snacks and/or congregational meals may be permitted. We still encourage social distancing for the time being, and it is essential for anyone with symptoms of any sort of potentially contagious illness, or recent exposure to COVID, to stay home.
Those with underlying conditions should feel free to continue wearing masks, but we recommend that they be properly fitting masks of the type (such as the N95) that offer real protection. If someone feels he or she needs to continue wearing a mask for any reason, no explanation is needed. We must not judge one another!
Thank you for your cooperation these last two years. Not all decisions were perfect or popular, but you understood God’s instructions about deciding matters of controversy. Some of you subordinated your will to keep peace within the Body of Christ. I especially want to thank those of you in this category.
As a result, we observed the Feast of Tabernacles for two years—most meeting in person—and as far as I know, while we had a few cases of COVID during or after the Feast, we did not have asingle death from anyone attending one of our sites. Our largest outbreak was at our summer camp in Texas where masking and social distancing were not realistic. Despite having to end earlier than planned, the camp was a welcome break for all our young people who attended.
I believe God has blessed us because He saw our willingness to follow His instructions about solving controversial issues (Deuteronomy 17:8–13) and saw us acting prudently—not tempting Him (Proverbs 22:3; Matthew 4:6–7). And His mercy was upon us despite our shortcomings (Psalm 136). Yes, some of our members have died from this virus and some may still succumb to it, but it appears this current variant carries less risk than previous ones. COVID is not over. Please do not throw all caution to the wind, but let us move forward with faith and courage and let us thank God for His protection and great mercy toward us these past two years.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Gerald E. Weston
22 comments:
This is more proof that this blog is run by ministers. How else could this information make it up BEFORE we hear it in church on the Sabbath? You people are hypocrites! You love getting paid by the church and then turn around and stab it in the back! I would be trembling in my shoes right now to be in your positions!
Anon 12:38 AM they report about these subjects because there is lots of suffering in the church of God due to ministers' lack of care.
Their leaders have a lack of concern for example even though children became ill at day camp it was worth it. They don't seem to care if the kids are feeling better or shutting down the camp to prevent spreading Covid 19 and a lot of them are anti-vax and anti-mask.
True 1:04 they don't care who catches the virus as long as they make money.
"..God is blessing us because of our willingness to follow His instructions about solving controversial issues."
This statement is comical. How do ministers solve all controversial issues? Why with a sledge hammer of course. Members who question or disagree with their minister are verbally beaten to a pulp.
The Do-and-believe-as-I-say-or-we-beat-the-crap-out-of-you-Church-of-God.
The "God is blessing us" line is pure marketing. I heard it many times at church.
What... you dont read the letters sent to you? You just wait to have them read to you?
I'm so happy I went to the COG7thDay instead of going to the splinter groups.
Not that you can compare bad to worse and come out with good, but in consideration of the redneck BS that's coming out of CGI, this is a breath of fresh air. It's nothing short of amazing to someone from the WCG graduating class of 1975 that an Armstrongite minister would actually allow for and even encourage church members to have personal opinions. Back in the day, discussions with WCG members were useless, because if you wanted to know their opinions, all you had to do was read the PT or Good News, and you'd know them in advance.
You kind of have to look at net effect to determine whether spoken and written materials are part of the cause of the badness we are currently experiencing, or the solution to it. Promoting disinformation, supporting or fomenting additional disruption which prevents recovery, and fear politics are not helping. That churches would participate in such bogusness, rather than calming down the rhetoric, is appalling.
People of the nations must be circumcised and must observe the Law of Moses in order to be saved.
I’m confused…. Are these letters not allowed to be read by the general public? Are they supposed to be secret? I don’t understand why this is “stabbing anybody in the back”. That seems a little heavy handed of a term… can somebody explain this to me?
Even keeping the ten commandments is not enough to be worthy to escape.
ANNON FIRST POST TOP OF PAGE ASKS...
This is more proof that this blog is run by ministers. How else could this information make it up BEFORE we hear it in church on the Sabbath?
MY RESPONSE:
This stuff is up on the web in real time, well before "Sabbath Services"
https://members.lcg.org/weekly-member-updates
It is no secret about who runs this blog, and he is certainly not a COG minister, You need to do some more homework. Dude, its a blog, and if the COGS are vulnerable to a blog, then they are built on straw and hay.
"People of the nations must be circumcised and must observe the Law of Moses in order to be saved."
Great troll job 9:53, but it's really disturbing how many COG members believe this kind of stuff.
"I’m confused…. Are these letters not allowed to be read by the general public? Are they supposed to be secret? "
These updates are sent to the ministry first and then after the Sabbath or later, HQ posts them online.
Anon 11:13 AM if you read the Bible you cannot enter the kingdom of God if you do not exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and he did not do away with the law of God. Bart Ehrman in a video said he is not sure if he Jesus just wanted us to keep the 10 or all 613. You guys think anyone who defends the truth is a troll because your position is so weak that anyone who opposes you must be called a troll instead of refuting their claims.
Since you brought up LCG summer camp, it reminds me of the Maskless Munson Church of God.
Any news on them recently?
Are they still alive and separate?
God made regulations to be kept everlastingly, not only for the Israelites.
The blending of the old covenant and the new is dangerous. Weston says that the way to solve controversial matters in the new testiment church is found in Deuteronomy 17:8-13 this passage says that if there is a legal matter that cannot be resolved at a local level, one must come to Jerusalem and find a preist or a levite. Is Weston a preist, or is he a levite? Notice also that the matter was decided between things like making a judgement between manslaughter and murder. In other words these are legal issues in a civil nation. It has nothing to do with telling people they need to wear a mask or commanding them not to sing at Sabbath services.
Not only that,but Weston is saying that God was blessing LCG because of their obedience to this verse. This seems to be typical "cult mind control 101"- in other words he is saying 'God is happy and will bless you when you do what I tell you'. Conditioning the sheep to just "do what they are told", not use the brain that God gave them to make decisions on how to make God happy.
Gerald does love his American right wing media. It’s easy to see in his writing and opinions. It’s always a question to me of how much he knows he has been influenced, vs how much he knowingly borrows the narrative for his own gain.
Ah! The Israelites! Thanks for reminding us, 12:01! Excellent song from the late 1960s by Desmond Dekker and the Aces.
Yes this blog is run by rebels from within the wider community of COG Ministry. It is a corrupt movement that is ministry driven.
How many are in this group I don't know could be a tiny few or more loosely connected rebels putting their pennies worth in when it suits them. It is a sign of the times and a fulfillment of scripture. Bad shepherd's and all that.
5:08, you seem to get a banana in your pants over stupid conspiracy theories. I tried to,explain to you that I'm the only current minister here, and my ordination is not from any of the ACOGs, it's from Universal Life Church. You can get your ministerial credentials too, just by going on line and requesting them.
As a group, we have wished over the years that more of the ACOG ministers would come clean, and share what they know with us. Those we wanted to hear from most were the big guys from Herbie's original scam. They are all either dead or senile at this point. All we ever got were entry level ministers who were never full members of the club, and never were really trusted with the big dirt. Even though the big guys themselves are not putting their names to the facts, the facts continue to come out here. It irks the ACOG leaders to no end, because they have lost control of the narrative to the people, and they are unable to grow as a result.
Thanks, though, for the chuckles.
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