Living Armstrongism continues to do a great job in picking apart articles in various COG publications. He recently reviewed an article by Mark Mendiola in Living Church of God's Tomorrow's World, "The Bible: A Book for All Time."
In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock. He was credited as helping to produce COG-FF's magazine, The Philadelphia Remnant, as late as 2012.
Anyway, on to some points from his article that Living Armstrongism delved into:
The fourteenth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (September-October 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "The Bible: A Book for All Time." (pp. 16-19.) This was the twelfth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola praises the Holy Bible and cites Christians who disagreed with many of Armstrongism's dogmas to praise the Bible but then he says the Bible cannot be understood until one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.
COG propagandists in various publications love to trot out Christians who support the Bible and go out of their way to find comments and antidotes to publish on the veracity of the Scriptures. But then, as usual, will immediately turn around and call them so-called Christians because they do not understand the Bible as the enlightened COG leaders believe they do.
Christians throughout the centuries have understood the concepts of the Bible, especially grace and justification, even though COG leaders do not. Yet those followers of Christ are ridiculed and mocked because they are not law-keepers and members of the true church. They are pagan Sunday worshippers.
Mendiola also cites some other persons like Jeffery Sheler and Grant Jeffrey but, again, they belonged to Christian churches which worship on Sunday thus, according to Herbert Armstrong and his imitators, they bear the mark of the beast. Why does Mendiola cite people who worship on Sunday when he belonged to an organization that teaches that worshipping on Sunday is a terrible thing?
He also cites Charles Sellier and Brian Russell but those men did not appear to have been affiliated with any Armstrongite organization. Mendiola cites all these people to praise the Bible but he does so selectively. He chooses to cite certain words of theirs to say the Bible is of religious importance and reliable but, at the time this article was written, he disregarded anything they say contrary to Armstrongism by choosing to be a follower of LCG.
COG leaders and most ministers have no foundation in real biblical hermeneutics and instead rely upon booklets and articles by previous church leaders and ministers, with the assumption that those people were actually trained in real hermeneutics.
COG leaders and ministers all assume that they and they alone have the "true" understanding of the Bible and because of that claim, NO ONE can understand the Bible outside of a specific COG, in this case, the Living Church of God:
Then after praising the Christian Bible he insists that the Bible cannot be understood unless one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.Amazingly, the Bible even predicts many would not understand it and would consider it cryptic. Most people in the world are drunken with false doctrine and ideas that blur the precious truths contained within its pages. Many consider it sealed. Others think they are not educated enough or must be fluent in Hebrew or Greek to understand it. Even ministers are confused about its teachings....Jesus Christ said that His disciples would be given the spiritual discernment to understand the hidden truths of the Bible. He told His disciples that He spoke in parables so only they would understand the mysteries of God, and the world at large would not ....The Living God who inspired the Bible must open our minds to understand it as we show Him a willingness and humility to obey His instructions. ... Obedience to God is the key that will unlock for you the truths of the Bible: a book for all time!
The Christians who have died defending the Bible down through the centuries and understood it beg to differ with LCG's narrow vision. The Christians who have died at the hands of terrorists over the last 50 years also beg to differ.
Also, when has the Living Church of God or even the broader Church of God EVER been obedient to the Bible? The Churches of God as a whole cannot agree upon anything and continue to split into irrelevant useless little groups because none of them will be obedient to the word they claim to follow.
Ultimately, this belief is an excuse to cover up the reason people are not joining COGs these days.
Among the Armstrongite organizations it is taught that one cannot join unless (Armstrongism's interpretation of) God open that person's perception to begin to believe Armstrongism. This explanation is quite useful in explaining away why most people do not convert to Armstrongism after learning about it.
32 comments:
The ? should be, wil anybody inside the ACOG's ever understand the Bible?
They are all "right" in their own eyes, and they refuse to believe that there could be multiple right ways. When there was only the mother ship, I used to say that their entire gospel message was that Jesus Christ would soon return to set up and enforce Armstrongism as God's government on earth. Let anyone try to ignore or defy them then!
These people refuse to even consider the possibility that they will be receiving further training when Jesus does return. We've actually had recent comments to that effect here within the past two weeks. They think they have received all the information and training they need for the Kingdom from HWA and his lackeys.
One thing is certain. The know it alls are in competition for butts as they try to find people who will single source all of their spiritual information from only them. If Dan Russo and his friends are any indication, there is a counter-trend amongst the younger members who represent the future of the ACOGs. They're the only ones who don't seem to have checked their minds at the door!
One of the first things I did when I left the church was to throw my bible in the trash along with every cog book. booklet, article, and buy a new unmarked Bible. Studying without any of Armstrong's booklets or interpretations by COG leaders was a rich experience. It was quickly easy to see how so much of Armstrongism was a blatant lie.
Someone needs to tell NO2HWA that there's a typo in his title. It should read, "Can the Bible Be Understood by Anyone Inside Living Church of God?"
I was stupid enough to follow David Pack when he left the Living Church of God to start the Restored Church of God. Never had I been spiritually abused as much as I was in the RCG. Week after week of getting yelled at and then having to sit there and listen to his outlandish lies about Christ returning got to be unbearable. When we left RCG we threw our bibles and every piece of COG literature in the trash. The chances of any of us ever opening a Bible again after this experience are pretty slim.
This attitude of having cornered the market on Biblical truth has been common in religion. There have been many denominations in the past that treated the Bible as if it were their own fount of knowledge and others could pound sand. Those were times less ecumenical than these. Every denomination was formed by people who thought they knew something that others did not. That's why they were compelled to start up a denomination. We have major divisions between Catholics and Protestants and between Arminians and Calvnists and between the Easten and Western churches. And they all seem to have a sense of ownership of the Bible. But these rifts seem much less important now than in earlier years. Maybe it is connected to the overall waning of Christian church membership worldwide. Armstrongists are just late to the party.
But accepting this idea of a special relationship with the Bible has its downside. Now one must ask, which denomination in Splinterdom is the true church and has the true understanding of the Bible? Would not God be working through his one and only true church? And should we not be able to tell which one it is? So far, none of them stand out in my view. They're all minor variations on a theme. Fractals. Fortunately, to me, this is just all theory.
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Much of splinterdom eats unleavened bread 8 days this time of year. Can't find that in the Bible.
So glad I'm no longer a member of LCG. It's crazy how much you learn when you pick up the bible and read it for yourself. A Concordance helps alot too. I never knew that I could experience so much happiness, joy, and peace in my life!
People keep making the same mistake over and over and over and over. It's called confirmation bias. Cure that and you'll be miles ahead of 99% of the people.
READERS DIGEST CONDENSED BIBLE (and about all that you need!) ...
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Much of splinterdom eats unleavened bread 8 days this time of year. Can't find that in the Bible.
Hmmm, not when I was in the WCG. We had matzo for the abridged Passover on the 14th, and officially the first day of ULB was on the 15th. But in Israel, no more leavened bread was baked by the 14th, so there wasn't any after the unleavening. In the Diaspora, because of calendar uncertainties, some Holy Days have an extra day tacked at the end. So you can get ULB being 7, 8 or 9 days, depending...
The terms Passover and ULB had become inclusive of the whole festival period, as is evident in the Gospels.
Anon 6:04 and 5:38 I'm so glad to hear that you (or both of you) have had such a peaceful joyful turn in your life/lives.
This website is anti cog propaganda.
12.29 AM
The verse says to only eat unleavened bread for eight days. Whether that means unleavened bread must be eaten for eight days is unclear. I, like many others choose to eat the unleavened bread just to be safe. It's no big deal.
10.27 AM
How many times did I hear "and now today's message" by the sermonette man in introducing the sermon man?
The "message" was sometimes 100% propaganda about the coming horrors of WW3, so don't leave the church. OR ELSE. Every fourth "message" of my first minister was "obey," "yield," "surrender," "submit."
Church attendance was mostly brainwashing and propaganda for the benefit of power hungry ministers.
In WCG and its splinters, rank has its privileges. Had RCM signed up for Ambassador College in 1959 instead of 1949, and had talked openly about his Native American ancestry, he would never have risen so high in the organization, and he certainly would not have been allowed to marry a McNair.
10:27, are you saying that as if it's a bad thing?
This website is anti cog propaganda.
TRUTH is anti-COG propaganda. Deal.
I, like many others choose to eat the unleavened bread just to be safe. It's no big deal.
It's a very big deal. It says a lot about your relationship with God that you feel you must perform certain works "just to be safe" from Him. That's very different from how Jesus' disciples feel, as they know that perfect love casts out fear.
6.38 PM
Talk about a schoolmarm.
"Perfect love casts out fear" means that you don't live in fear of the negative consequences of sin. You also don't live in fear of Gods and peoples vengeance, as do criminals.
Anonymous 6:38
Excellent comment. The torment people have over the minutiae of the Law of Moses is dismaying. I am glad I am no longer enslaved to times, cycles, rituals, manners, genealogies and customs stemming from the Old Testament. Jesus knew what he was talking about when he said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
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This website is anti God and anti life.
One of the first things I did when I left the church was to throw my bible in the trash along with every cog book. booklet, article...
So many members have said that before the WCG they had no religious background and no interest in the Bible. Take the WCG away, and many had nothing to go back to.
"Anti-COG" wasnt good enough for you, huh?
I would say that this blog provides a means for ACOG folks to rediscover God - the God who cannot be contained, and that it also provides help in finding a more fulfilling, meaningful, expansive, and happier life on the other side of the pitiful and narrow existence one experiences in Armstrongism. So, I guess it's simply a matter of perspective!
Anon 3:59 World war 3 just almost happened with the Russia and Ukraine conflict even the news I talking about it and had been so that is a proof prophecy is coming true.
Oh pssht. People said "World War 3!!!!" about the Bosnian War, the second Persian Gulf war (probably the first one too, although I don't recall it), and saber-rattling with North Korea. None of which became World War III, despite all the slack-jawed yokels drawling the slogans given to them from the pulpits. You can't just jump on the latest hype and claim that's prophecy coming true. Unless you like being wrong... repeatedly.
It's not WW-III that you really have to worry about. It's the new civil,war! And, that's coming in November with the mid term elections. We've got about 7 months of relative peace, and then the fools we thought we'd gotten rid of are going to resurface and reek havoc on our democracy. No escape! The Armstrong prophecy mold groupees will never even see it coming!
(although, honestly, those guys in the pulpits count on their supporters having the memory capacity of a dead goldfish. Amazing how many people fit the bill.)
The JWs taught that without their teaching accompanying your study of the Bible, you will end up in darkness. The Bible alone was not enough. Yet Paul said that Scripture was enough to prepare us for every good work.
Comment was made stating: "...Also, when has the Living Church of God or even the broader Church of God EVER been obedient to the Bible? The Churches of God as a whole cannot agree upon anything and continue to split into irrelevant useless little groups because none of them will be obedient to the word they claim to follow..."
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That is an amazing comment; however, in light of the covenant that the Israelite people made with God, their behavior regarding obedience is a lot like the carnal Israelites:
"And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD." Exodus 19:8
The xcog leaders, former WCG hirelings, and their followers are scattered all over the globe in a confused state: like some aircraft stuck in some holding pattern waiting for the fog to life so it can safely land...before running out of fuel!
God the Father's solution? He makes the covenant with the people, so that it all depends upon Him and not their professing obedience and things that, without His Spirit in their lives, are virtually impossible for them to perform on their own. That was the lesson to learn, and we're all still learning it.
"And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou [art] shall see the work of the LORD: for it [is] a terrible thing that I will do with thee." Exodus 34:10
Is The God smart or not? Will these former hirelings one day be so thankful that we avoided their hypocrisies, fake news, deceptions, lies, etc.?
Time will tell...
John
Thank you, NO2HWA, for your kind words about my blog post. I am glad you found it useful.
This misleading article was not only Mark Mendiola's fault. None of the editors stopped this misleading article from getting printed in LCG's recruitment magazine. The editor-in-chief was the late Roderick Meredith. The editorial director was Richard Ames. The executive editor was William Bowmer. The managing editor was the late Gary Ehman.
Any of them could have objected to this misleading article. Any of them could have said that it was misleading to, on the one hand, cite people affiliated with Sunday keeping churches to say the Bible is true, while on the other hand denouncing those same people as false Christians by saying those who worship on Sunday bear the Mark of the Beast and other such things.
But they published this misleading article anyway. They are also responsible for allowing this misleading article onto their recruitment magazine.
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