The Friday Night smack-down is back for LCG members.
This repeat accusation claims that LCG members are not walking worthy of their calling and are creating contention in the church.
Those sad folks are devoid of any humility and therefore are filled with pride.
Remember, the ministers are not filled with pride, just the members.
LCG members also do not seem to have much respect for each other.
They had better get their act together as they are going to have a rough time when they all converge on Petra and find out Bob Thiel and Gerald Flurry are in charge.
Humility—Key to Unity: David wrote, “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Psalm 133:1). The Apostle Paul urged Christians to “walk worthy” of their calling “with all lowliness and gentleness... endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1–3). But, what destroys unity and causes contention? The Scriptures reveal that pride is an underlying cause of contention (Proverbs 13:10), yet humility can promote peace, harmony, and unity (James 3:17–18). Jesus was exalted because He first humbled Himself (Philippians 2:5–9). As Christians, we are admonished to be forgiving (Matthew 6:15) and to treat each other with respect—as we would like to be treated (Romans 12:10; Matthew 7:12). Let’s all take this advice to heart so we can be in the Kingdom of God together.
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail
20 comments:
Mind meld time at the ol' LCG Corral! Seems like some may be trying to gap themselves from the borg, and this is Doug's attempt to shame them back into it.
I am really surprised/shocked/appalled at how often he repeats these messages. Anyone in LCG should be too, I can't believe that Gerald Weston let's him get away with this regurgitation. It makes a mockery of the weekly updates and insults the members intelligence. Did someone say "propaganda" recently? Maybe the idea is to repeat something often enough people will believe it is true.
Winnail is so abusive!
Winnail concluded his repeat admonition with: “Let’s all take this advice to heart so we can be in the Kingdom of God together.”
Winnail denies people entry into the Kingdom if they don’t produce the right works, his concept of humility, in this case, in the amount that he requires but does not specify.
How much humility does Winnail require to for one of his sheep to make it into the Kingdom?
Winnail never defines the minimum amount of each work he requires for salvation - but he often repeats the warnings that people are failing to do what they must do to gain entry into the Kingdom.
In that way, Winnail keeps the sheep in the striving but never arriving loop of earning salvation.
Winnail denies the people a present Savior who gives salvation as a gift of and removes their burdens of anxiety and striving today and forever, by justifying them with his righteousness (Romans 5:16-17).
Preferring to keep God and the Kingdom out of reach and only possibly obtainable in the future, Winnail denies his people a present King who rules a present Kingdom (Ephesians 1:18-23).
Winnail works to keep the people unsure in Jesus’ power to save, ignorant of grace for all circumstances, and unaware of the guarantee of salvation (Ephesians 1: 13-14).
Winnail is also sly in his abusiveness, so that the numb sheep are less likely to detect or care about the abuse.
By taking a worthy, beautiful topic such as humility, Winnail deceptively turns the attention from humility inspired from the gift of Jesus and his grace and instead makes humility an act of submission to his church rule – whereby failure to be humble enough to his church government results in no salvation for you.
This combo of abusiveness and deception make Winnail extra dangerous.
The good news for the starving, depressed, and oppressed sheep of LCG is they can truly have a profitable Sabbath by freeing themselves from the tyranny of Winnail.
If they desire to enter the eternal Sabbath Rest, they can study about the grace, justification, and free gift of salvation depicted in their Bible, but they need to do so free from the deceptive confines of COG literature.
Ephesians 2: 4-9: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
I never cared for Doug Winnail. I was in LCG for many years. I never cared for his letters nor sermons. So glad to be away from the LCG. They are very cultish. Happy to be part of UCG where there is balance and love. LCG is about control and policing the brethren. They call that unity. They lord over the brethren Jesus said that was not to be so in his church
At first this statement seemed fine. Then I had to stop and reflect on the fact that I am a recovering Armstrongist and that I would have to really parse finely, beyond my usual reading level for Armstrongist material, to find any doctrinally questionable meaning. What seems to be missing is any reference to grace or the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Pride is the problem. But what is the solution? As a Christian it is DIY. "Let's all take this advice to heart." The ball is in your court and your backhand better be good.
Note: Reading Armstrongist material - vigilance is the watchword. I still find that reading text written by Armstrongist writers to be somehow mesmerizing. I don't know if you experience the same thing. It is odd because I have been a Christian for nearly thirty years. But if I am not careful, I let Armstrongist concepts flow into my mind without really testing them. Like reading with your mind unplugged. If I am lax, Armstrongist interpretation becomes the natural and easy default. I have to consciously force myself to reflect on the meaning and compare it to what I know to be The Way.
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COGWA- UCG- LCG and a number of others basically believe the same things, yet THE MINISTRY just cant seem to get along with each other and have to have things "Their Way".
The ministry of all these groups, including Winnail need to take deep hard looks at themselves, and ask WHY they have the spirit of division , pride and lack of cooperation.
What strikes about about such articles is the lack of clarity. In the American constitution, it's one of the bill of rights that government cannot make vague laws. The reason being that the government could change definitions from case to case and person to person, making it government by men, rather than government by laws that apply equally to all.
My point is that no definition and examples are given of "pride" and "humility."
And as some posters have already pointed out, this gives the ACOGs the ability to use these terms as a club to enforce any immoral perk that they have given themselves, such as blind belief and obedience.
8:56, Perhaps the danger in clearly defining pride and humility is that readers would immediately recognize the presence of pride and the lack of humility within their own ministry. The ministry of Armstrongism has long taught that they are above evaluation or critique by the laity.
When blogs and forums first appeared, it must have been shocking to the so-called leaders of Armstrongism to see for the first time how people actually saw them, and to learn how their pronouncements and actions had affected real people, real church members who had previously not been permitted to speak of such things. We know from the anecdotes of such people from the past that the ministry angrily tried to determine blog participants' identities, and expelled some from the church. They would not heed the vision which had been presented of them, or make corrections. They remained completely unrepentent. And, of course, many of those critical members were also unrepentent, and having learned nothing at all about hypocritical and toxic doctrines they simply embarked on a splinter surfing adventure.
ACOGaholism requires a lifetime of recovery for all involved!
Well said, Tonto, 8:46. That's why the prophet said, "they were scattered for lack of a shepherd." (Ezek 34:5) They see everything breaking down around them so they work to secure their own welfare first. (34:2) THESE ARE THE SAME HYPOCRITICAL MINISTERS WHO TURN AROUND AND CONDEMN THE LAYMEN FOR NOT "GETTING ALONG" OR WANTING THINGS "THEIR WAY". It's a mad cycle that's going to end soon because the Lord has said that He will separate the sheep from the goats.
All of this abitrariness, capriciousness, judging on a whim, discretionary backpocket policies, constant respect of persons, headoffice-flattering, sophistry, casuistry and equivocating is going to end soon.
Some ministers cannot for the life of them be honest because they fear its consequences, unlike the Lord who died for it and who is called the Amen and Trustworthy, in contradistinction to the Laodicean ministry. (Rev 3:14)
Listen, ye elders, get ready to be bullied if you are bullying your sheep because the Lord is the head of the sheep.
And stop trying to bludgeon your sheep into submission just to show who is boss. That is a work of the carnal mind.
And what more disgrace is Pack bringing on himself by launching a lawsuit against an unbeliever, a dolt of a minister who still hasn't learned from the sermon on the mount, where the Lord said, "if any man sues you let him take away more"? (Mt 5:40) This doesn't sound like a countersuit is sanctioned to me so why is Pack initiating one contrary to the words of Christ? For the money, dare I say, since his reputation is already shot? If it is an utter failure for a brother to sue a brother (1 Cor 6:7) why is Pack suing an unbeliever whom he hopes to convert one day? Moron. Why didn't Christ take his slanderers to court when He was defamed? Guess who wins that court case in the end?
Believe me UCG is abusive too. A minister lied to me and my wife about a sex offender in the church. Armstrongism is just bad.
I remember a very abusive minister in the LCG literally kick a family out of the church for nothing but a difference in opinion. And this family was a member from the 1970's. To through Worldwide, Global and Living and to have a minister with this type of abusive power do this was shocking. There was no "humility."
I have news for you; UCG is NO BETTER than the LCG!! Live and LEARN!! BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!! They are all HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT!! For anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.
The day WILL DECLARE IT!! You reap what you SOW!!
Pride to a LCG minister is not doing what you are told to. Everyone knows this. Thats it defined, but it is very rarely consistent or applied equally. I know this from over 20 years in LCG. Happy to be free from the abusive ministers.
The shocking thing is that HQ either condones, supports or encourages the ministers who do this. They are fed very select facts, and almost always in my experience, back the minister. The member can never be right with the accusation of pride.
Armstrongism is the only religion I've ever encountered that deliberately fosters an atmosphere in which all of the members are kept on edge all the time!
I was in Global and then followed Meredith into Living. 2014 I left LCG and been in UCG ever since. I can tell you dogmatically that UCG is far more balanced than LCG. You may disagree with our doctrines and that’s ok. I support your freedom to do so. But UCG is night and day different than LCG and other cultic cogs out there. Believe it or not.
Comment was made saying: "The Friday Night smack-down is back for LCG members!"
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Woo-Hoo!
Doug concludes with writing: "...Let’s all take this advice to heart so we can be in the Kingdom of God together..."
Is that the Mickey Mouse Kingdom with another Jesus reigning on earth for 1,000 years? Mickey Mouse Kingdoms already exist on earth, thanks to Disney, which has its own cable network!
But, what would Doug think and do if the Kingdom of God was not established on earth until after Satan is loosed from the pit, after the second resurrection occurs when billions will be made alive again? Could Doug wait that long?
Think about it. After Jesus Christ's second coming to earth, which only lasted about 40-days, and Jesus (no relation to Mickey Mouse) was about to leave earth again, His disciples, still unbaptized with God's Spirit, thought about one very important question. What was that question? Was it: how can we "be in the Kingdom of God together?" No!
Was it about a third coming? No.
Was it about the completion of the first resurrection? No.
Was it about their bodies being changed from flesh to spirit? No!
What question came immediately to their minds?
"...Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Acts 1:6
Well, putting that all aside, it's time for the smack-downed "living" members to answer a one-question survey, and it doesn't matter which subject/topic Doug chooses to repeatedly use as his "rod" to beat them with:
Which of the following blaming/judging individuals best represents Doug's self-righteousness?
1. Eliphaz the Temanite
2. Bildad the Shuhite
3. Zophar the Naamanthite
4. All the above
If Doug were to look into the mirror and ask himself that question he'd probably judge himSELF and say: "Oh, it's none of those answers. I'm not like any of them, and I am not even like "self-righteous Job! I'm righteous. I'm good. I'm doing it. I'm holy. I'm blessed. I, I, I, me, me, I,...I'm the greatest!"
Sounds like that former boxer who professed to dance like some butterfly...being a little facetious there, but will Doug look into the mirror and really "see" himSELF?
Time will tell...
John
Every time I hear about some ACOG leader talk about walkimg, I think of Lou Reed reciting "Hey, Babe, Take a walk on the Wild Side! And the Colored girls say "do ta do ta do do do ta doodle do ta do ta do ta do........."
Rainbow Rod came from Joplin, Missouri-a-a-a.
Sashayed his way to Californ-i-a,
Plucked her false prophesy on the way
Shaved her New Covenant and then he was a Herb-she
She says, "Hey, babe
Take a walk on the COG side
Said, "Hey, tithe-payin’ honey
Take a walk on the COG side!
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