The final words of encouragement from Gerald Weston:
It is human nature to postpone difficult decisions and to think “I can change later.” I well remember growing up and hearing several of my friends say they were going to live for today until they got old and then they would, in effect, come to a deathbed conversion. The problem is that later in life it is not always so easy to make needed changes. How many I have seen over the years who ran out of time while trying to get right with God. Sickness, family entanglements, and other circumstances make it difficult at best, and how does one approach God while knowing he or she was playing games with Him? It is impossible to “fool God” with this kind of plan!
I hope none of you will try to be like my young friends by postponing what you know you should do. All of you have a head start in the right direction. You believe in God. You are striving to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). You chose to be a supporter of this Work in carrying the good news of the Kingdom of God to this world (Matthew 24:14). You are doing your part in helping us “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11).
I urge you dear friends and co-workers, do what you know you need to do while you can. This world is going in a very bad direction and none of us can afford to be caught off guard. Thank you for your prayers and support. God sees your faithfulness. And thank you for the kind letters we receive from you. Your encouragement is noticed and appreciated.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Gerald E. Weston
Imagine what would happen if these guys actually found their "sabbath rest" in that dude they claim to follow?
11 comments:
Does Jesus Christ gossip on the Sabbath "No2HWA" ? No. Didn't think so.
What the hell are you talking about? Another pissed-off Karen. Is this Bob Thiel?
.... in effect, come to a deathbed conversion
Such a "conversion" is a gimmick not repentance from the heart, so it means nothing. That's the real issue.
Does he lie to his followers? Give false Prophecies? Use cult tactics against his members? Steal money so he can live a luxurious lifestyle? Twist Scriptures? Think one group of people is better than another? Get Baptized by a Sunday Baptist Minister? The list could go on and on.
These are truly some of the sickest men on earth. It's no wonder they only see gloom and doom before them, because not a single one of them has any understanding of Christianity in the first place. None.
Until they come to Jesus, they will remain clueless, miserable and under the curse of the law...the very ministry of death they think will save them. Meanwhile, Jesus is waiting for you, but you would not have Him.
There are a lot of us who dislike the Zeitgeist of our times. We all have our own interpretations of what is wrong, what can or cannot be fixed, and how it will affect us.
There does seem to be hope suddenly. Despots who cloud our present and appear to cloud our future do not last forever. Joe McCarthy was eventually exposed and we were suddenly rid of him. President Nixon became very unpopular, and as he was shown to be what he was, even his staunchest supporters had to reevaluate and agreed that he had done things that had disqualified him. Now, as the full extent of former president Trump's disregard for our democracy and the rule of law is made known, the spectre of him returning and turning the USA into a Republican totalitarian state appears to be diminishing in its possibility. Much of the American public had no idea how close we actually came to that, until significant members of "team normal" gave their testimony.
If we can get this one big thing fixed, purge the Republican party, and get the so-called Reagan Republicans back in control, just maybe the two political parties can get to working together once again to resolve the most important issues of our times. Just maybe, there is hope.
The words of this preacher do have merit. I believe we will segue into a period of widespread internal strife in the USA. It will be a race based civil war with White and non-White militias and frequent violence and death - bombs exploding in shopping malls, people dying violent deaths in the produce sections of grocery stores. It will not be along a North-South divide but more like the Troubles in Northern Ireland. And the head of the American eqivalent of the Sinn Fein/Irish Republican Army will be someone in the spirit of The Donald - an autocratic populist. And the Union will suffer. That is not a prophecy - just a look along the trendline.
After that little rant, let me make my point. The words of this preacher are well and good on the surface. But what bolixes the whole thing is the insistence of Armstrongist theology on the idea of "qualifying" for the Kingdom. This is just another rhetoric for salvation by works. It lurks in the shadows behind these words, denaturing them of any real value.
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The DYING CHURCH OF ROD -- Under a Curse??
ALL the teachings in the Worldwide Church of God had come through Herbert W. Armstrong, so near the end of his life HWA began to teach that he was the one who was prophesied to come in the spirit and power of Elijah to “restore all things.” In his Feast of Trumpets sermon on September 16, 1985, HWA said, “There was an Elijah to come and to restore things in the Church. That has happened and what has been restored is the government of God -- and many of the truths, at least 17 or 18 principal, vital doctrines of truth, have been added to the about three that had survived in the Sardis era of the Church.”
At the time, everyone in the WCG seemed to believe that HWA was obviously the Elijah, including Roderick C. Meredith. In fact, RCM was one of the men on the Advisory Council of Elders when it presented HWA with a Steuben crystal art glass called “The Cup of Elijah The Prophet” (see May 10, 1982 Worldwide News).
Herbert W. Armstrong died on January 16, 1986, and Roderick C. Meredith went on to start his own little Global Church of Rod splinter group in 1992, and then later still his own little Living Church of Rod splinter group in 1998, which both REJECTED the idea that HWA was the Elijah. RCM tried to make it sound like almost nobody had ever heard of HWA and the WCG but that Rod's own little groups that were never even one-tenth of the size of the WCG at its largest, and that got all their members from the WCG, were somehow going to “shake the nations.”
Rod and his doctrinally unstable accomplices wanted to come up with their own doctrines to put their own doctrinal stamps on their own little churches. They wanted to think that they had been around for a long time and that they could make up doctrines too. The problem is that the LCG has gone in a very bad direction. It has come up with such nonsense as the two-fold, or hybrid, gospel message (RCM took HWA's gospel OF Jesus and combined it with the Protestant's gospel ABOUT Jesus). Maybe the LCG has come under the apostle Paul's double curse on those who would pervert the gospel message.
All these doctrinally unstable old rebels in the Dying Church of Rod splinter group need to get serious and REPENT.
The vague Weston wrote:
"I urge you dear friends and co-workers, do what you know you need to do while you can. This world is going in a very bad direction and none of us can afford to be caught off guard."
What do you need to do now?
Christians emphatically declare that what you must do now is accept Jesus as your Savior, receive salvation, and preach that to all (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9).
Vague Weston is weak in his effort to rally his followers to do more works of the law, which includes sending him more money.
Weston is wicked in his gospel of doing more, without resting on, and praising Jesus, for what Jesus has done.
Though LCG claims to be "Original Christianity", graceless Weston's gospel of save your self by obeying him, does not compare to the Gospel St. Paul preached:
2 Timothy 1:9
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Doom & Gloom Weston lacks the objective thinking skills to evaluate what's really happening in the world.
Weston wrote:
"This world is going in a very bad direction ..."
Yes, there is terrible, scary, evil in all parts of the world that has the capability of causing tremendous calamity, up to the point of destroying the whole world.
However, Weston can only see the bad because he has been cut off from the glory of God, with Jesus entering as the light of the world, as told in the Christmas story.
Weston rejects the Easter story of Jesus dying to save us from our sins and rising to give us new life.
So, in a world that supports the largest population ever, there are fewer people starving now than in the 1970s.
Yet to the far too many who do lack food, Weston offers not a crumb; nothing but a call to save themselves and send him money.
Weston diverts his followers from helping the world's needy people by labeling groups who are feeding the poor and providing them with clean water as being "Christians, falsely-so-called".
Despite a worldwide pandemic that has ravaged far too many, Weston cannot give medical science credit for improving the lives of the globe's human billions with countless medical advances - because in his mind, science is only evil.
In the context of a world that has been historically horribly prejudiced toward "others", Weston's dark prejudice won't allow him to see the unprecedented move happening in many countries in which societies are embracing and welcoming the uniqueness of their neighbors.
Weston's dark vision is focused on evil because he scoffs at those who keep their eyes on Jesus and who believe that Jesus is a current King ruling a current Kingdom.
Hebrews 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gerald Weston wrote: "It is human nature to postpone difficult decisions and to think “I can change later.” ... The problem is that later in life it is not always so easy to make needed changes. ...how does one approach God while knowing he or she was playing games with Him? It is impossible to “fool God” with this kind of plan!
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Gerald E. Weston"
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How much of what Gerald wrote is really "in Christ's service?" That human nature Gerald mentioned is not very good if it postpones difficult decisions.
Human nature, which Adam and Eve, had was "very good:"
"And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Genesis 1:31
Was there some evidence that Adam and Eve postponed anything? Now, a carnal nature or attitude would be another story, but human nature is very good.
Gerald says it is harder to make changes when one is older? How does he know that? Experience?
The ancient physical peoples of Israel could not make changes (Deut 29:4 "Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.") on their own. It is God who grants/gives repentance, which is another word for "change(s)."
Now, it is impossible to fool God, but who is playing games with God? Does Gerald enjoying playing games like he had in mind?
When would Israel repent? When God works it all out (Acts 15:18; Heb 4:3), when that God of the Old Testament works out something with His Son. Like what?
Acts 5:30 "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
Human nature is not the problem, whether for us, or for ancient Israel.
Gerald says: "...This world is going in a very bad direction and none of us can afford to be caught off guard..."
Striving to grow, doing your part, etc. according to the dictates of Gerald just won't "cut it." Self can't do it. Israel proved that, yet all Israel will be saved.
When will Gerald (and Doug Winnail? other xcog hirelings?) learn to stop blaming human nature and give God the glory, honor and praise for saving all Israel: not losing one?
Time will tell...
John
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