One thing you have to hand to the Church of God is that they constantly have their followers "working" towards some goal. Work, work, work.
Times are evil and vile people are in the world trying to turn you away from the mother church.
Turn your focus upon the church and support its ministry with your money.
Work, Work, Work, earn the money to support the church.
After all, it's reaching millions, thousands, hundreds, tens, with their mind-boggling Tomorrow's World presentations.
But, if only you lazy brethren would turn your focus upon the church and away from your worldly pleasures, we could reach more people and convert them.
For 80 some years now church members have been told to build character and become perfect like God. It's an exhausting task that no one has ever been able to accomplish. LCG members, like most COG members, are tired and worn out by the constant busyness of working towards some unattainable goal that the leaders have set, all the while not realizing they are being relentlessly pursued by the one they never hear much about.
Adjusting Your Focus: During the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread is a good time to evaluate how we spend our time and where we focus our energies and concerns. Jesus told us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). The Apostle Paul advised Christians to “walk circumspectly” (live purposefully) and make the most of our time “because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16). Are we focused on the big picture—of doing the Work of God and building the character qualities needed to function in the Family of God? Jesus warned that “the cares of this world” can cause us to lose sight of the big picture (Matthew 13:22). The spring Festivals provide us with an opportunity to evaluate how much time we spend on TV, the Internet, social media, and what we post on Facebook. Let’s use this time to refocus on the big picture of God’s purpose for our lives.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
In church culture it's "seek ONLY (rather than first) the kingdom of God and His righteousness."
ReplyDeleteIf a minister finds out that a member has any hobby or interests outside of the church, things can get ugly.
Members have found out the hard way that it pays to hide ones true beliefs and doings from the Gestapo ministers.
"Let’s use this time to refocus on the big picture"
ReplyDeleteHey Winnail:
- we're trying to pay the Rent - so Go and get Bent!
Focus on April of 2011 and Doug's words will look awfully familiar! Probably some other times, too, but that's the repeat I found right away.
ReplyDeleteWow. They repeat articles? I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.
DeleteAnon 9:03- you're either speaking tongue in cheek, or your are new to this part of town. DSW is renowned for his ability to repeat his previous messages, and not just once or twice either, sometimes many many times. Sometimes he gets a spark of creative energy and changes a word or two, but often its a copy and paste job. People think that Gerald Weston should just photocopy his pay check and give him his last months again because of it.
DeleteOften he doesn't have the patience to wait more than a couple of months before re-running too. It's like groundhog day every week.
From this post, "Are we focused on the big picture—of doing the Work of God and building the character qualities needed to function in the Family of God?"
ReplyDeleteIs that really the big picture? Based on my personal experience, that is a reference to cultivating zealous support of denominational activities - administration, fund raising, marketing - veiled behind Bible talk. On the other hand, the big picture in reality is the Gospel of Salvation in Christ and in the Kingdom of God and how the Gospel has come into one's life at a personal level. Denominational activities may be a useful subordinate activity - depends on how the denomination regards the primary concern of the Gospel - no primary, no valid subordinates.
This cog preacher targets electronic information resources. While I admit that electronic media can consume more of a person's time than is warranted, it is also the source of tempering information that militates against the pre-emptive control of thought that some organizations seek to achieve. For some in the pews, electronic information resources can be a lifeline.
******** Click on my icon for Disclaimer
Winnail doesn't want me to watch LCG's telecast or visit its website?
ReplyDeleteI guess that makes sense, as he is a writer for their magazine, and doesn't do TV or Web stuff for them. But why then doesn't he point out the dangers of reading the wrong kinds of materials? There's no logic or Godliness in Winnail's fear-based admonition. It's all about keeping the sheep dumb.
The Work. What IS the work that God would want His church to do? He isn't blessing the Work as He once did. Maybe He has moved on and His focus is on something else. Maybe if the COG's would wake up and look, they would see what has happened and beg for forgiveness and get in line with His will.
ReplyDelete"Let’s use this time to refocus on the big picture of God’s purpose for our lives."
ReplyDeleteOur purpose is to comment on the COGs, and theirs is to use the comments to improve themselves. Just like a Spokesman's Club evaluation of a speech. Instead they just want to whine and claim persecution when it's only feedback. They don't know what real persecution is like.
That's exactly what Bob Thiel does when we point out the things he does. LCG is the same way. They all read this blog and have the opportunity to use comments made here by their present members to improve themselves and make some changes. All of them are too big a narcissist to dare to take any criticism. They and they alone are right.
ReplyDeleteThese churches really don't know "squat."
ReplyDeleteThe church is totally confused about Jesus. Why was he the SERPENT on the pole?
What about the Azazel goat? If you really want to know, go to knowmorenews.org (Adam Green). He digs in deep and reads what the Rabbis (the people who wrote the OT in the first place) said about it.
The LCG nostalgia club sucks. Majoring in the minors is really not the big picture, it is tunnel vision or narrow casting. Don't think I want all of their limitations and filters, so believe I'll have to respectfully ask to be excused.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 8:34
ReplyDeleteI am glad you mentioned the Elephant in the Room. If the organization is not prospering, should it not occur to someone in leadership that something is wrong? Why is it that the WCG gave rise to Splinterdom instead of an integrated and purposeful organization? At a time when the Christian movement is becoming more and more ecumenical, Armstrongism is becoming more and more splintered.
******** Click on my icon for Disclaimer
> Why is it that the WCG gave rise to Splinterdom
ReplyDeleteMr Armstrong's brand was "the plain truth", which people were attracted to. So whenever people realise they see a genuine doctrinal problem, they either have to convince themselves it doesn't exist or else go looking for the real True Church that _does_ have doctrinal perfection.
If only these WCG offshoots weren't pinning their claims of legitimacy upon defending their doctrinal perfection, then there wouldn't be all these splits over every last doctrinal variation, including things as minor as Hebrew calendar determinations.
Focus on the Big Picture? How about James 1:17, True religion (not the phony church) that God finds acceptable (not everything that religions do is acceptable) is: take care of those in need and keep yourself from the corruption of the world."
ReplyDeleteTranslation: Help others, don't mock them. Live an ethical life. In other words, don't follow the ethical example of many church leaders.
That is the Big Picture, not "obey, pray and stay."
"0bey, Pray, and Stay"
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see that phrase, it reminds me of the old Bakersfield sign on the interstate. It read "Bakersfield, California, Sun, Fun, Stay, Play"
Sometime back in the '70s, the accumulation of pigeon droppings on the lights at the base of the sign generated massive methane gases, and the sign actually blew up. Don't know if they ever replaced or repaired it, but the news of the explosion made it to rock radio in So Cal. It was a real gas!
Guess the lesson here is that sooner or later, Armstrongite ministers will generate enough methane gas that the whole dang movement will blow up. We COGnoscenti can see this coming. The COGlodytes, not so much.
Anon, Friday, April 22, 2022 at 3:06:00 PM PDT wrote:
ReplyDelete"Anon 9:03- you're either speaking tongue in cheek, or your are new to this part of town. DSW is renowned for his ability to repeat his previous messages, and not just once or twice either, sometimes many many times. Sometimes he gets a spark of creative energy and changes a word or two, but often its a copy and paste job. People think that Gerald Weston should just photocopy his pay check and give him his last months again because of it.
Often he doesn't have the patience to wait more than a couple of months before re-running too. It's like groundhog day every week..."
******
But, those repeats are all the "work of Doug". Nice to get so amply paid for his "do-overs," but it raises some questions.
Question: how much knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and character, would Doug admit that he has grown in since the very day he was baptized?
Question: Does Doug deny the Father and His Son by denying the Father, who gave his son, and deny Jesus christ, who gave his life for us, by thinking his good works added something toward his own salvation?
Question: Does Doug still think he deleavens himself, or has he since repented and now believes that it is God that must unleaven individuals and make them unleavened?
Question: Has Doug set such a good example for us by showing us what we must do in order to impress God?
What would Doug think about and comment about such questions?
Time will tell...
John
Anon 1:05 PM, isn't it possible that the problem isn't that Doug is lazy, but that Doug sees LCG members as carnal spiritual babes who need repeated doses of his same old milky exhortations, again and again, because they are troublemaking malcontents who can't handle anything more meaty?
ReplyDeleteVery possible... it could be either, or both. Even if he viewed them as spiritual babes, he could still have original content, after all it should be self evident that if your child doesn't understand something, that you should try explaining it in a different way.
DeleteBasically, it's a cliche that when a man reaches a certain age, he picks his favorite 10-20 stories or lessons and repeats them over, and over, and over. Many of us witnessed this first hand, through the shocking number of retellings of the "Two Trees" by HWA. Cliches are cliches for a reason. They have been proven true over the eons. Most of the ministers are advanced well past their 20 story stage.
ReplyDeletePlus, in Armstrongism, the data set has been fixed since the late '40s when HWA embarked on his new 1975 in prophecy theme after the prophetic failures during WWII. So, working with that limitation, all a COG minister could do is really become part of the old joke, "Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out, who was left?" A minister could find a new and novel way of expressing the data, but after a while, even those became hackneyed. Winnail may be a little more polished than the average bear, but he's still limited by the entrenched system.
Are the repeats bad, and boring? Yep. Don't know how you folks can stand them. But, then again, I lived through the "Two Trees"! Is it necessarily a bad thing that there are so many complaints about repeats? Not at all! It means that people are hungry for new material which has the potential to take them to the next level. I believe that the very consciousness of new materials has some frozen in the proverbial "deer in headlights" stage, though. They know, deep down, that the next level will take them beyond their Armstrongian comfort level, just as it has done for us, and it scares them right back into the boat with ol' Repeat.