From an LCG source:
If what Gerald Weston says below is true then why are LCG members and especially HQ staff/ministry been so inept at conquering sin COMPLETELY? Like clockwork, Weston mocks Christians outside the LCG while his own people are just as sinful or worse than the Christians he mocks? The difference is that Christians know they rest assured with their standing with God through Christ while LCG members have to be continually working for an unattainable goal that not one single COG member has ever been able to achieve...well, maybe except for Rod Meredith how ludicrously claimed that he had not committed a major sin since baptism. Minor sins are perfectly ok, but major ones? Oh, hell no!
Most professing Christians today believe that God’s law was “nailed to the cross” when Jesus Christ was crucified. They will say, “Jesus led a perfect life in your stead—there’s nothing at all for you to do except believe!”
We in God’s Church, however, have precious truth that mainstream Christianity ignores or rejects. We understand that God has given His people the motivation and the means to come out of sin. But are we using the tools He has given us? Are we really striving to come out of spiritual Egypt, as pictured by the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread? We must strive to conquer sin completely!
Like the Masons, LCG members are constantly working to progress up the ladder through various stages till they reach sinlessness.
Peter’s personal exodus from sin almost failed here because of his doubt, but Christ saved him. Each of us in God’s Church is on an exodus of our own, leaving sin behind and progressing toward righteousness.
Weston claims the world and worldly Christians find the true Christians in the LCG to stink of "the aroma of death" while LCG members are a fragrant aroma in the nostrils of their god!
To the world, genuine Christians are “the aroma of death.” To those who are perishing in their sins, Christ’s righteousness in us is an affront to their way—and they do not know that their way leads to death. But to God, we are the aroma of life, a beautiful fragrance. It reminds us of the incense coming up before God’s throne in the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8). And it is an aroma of triumph.
Weston hurls the favorite epitaph of the COG toward all Christians outside their righteous circle, "those people may be sincere, but sincerely wrong!" We have 8 decades of the Church of God being "sincerely wrong" in so many things.
Many call themselves Christians and profess to love Jesus. But are they truly Christians? Jesus Himself gave an answer: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me’” (John 14:23–24).
These people may be sincere. But they are sincerely wrong. It is one thing to be grateful for Christ’s forgiveness of sin when we repent. But it is another—and a grievous error—to make the false assumption that we can keep on sinning and expect God to ignore our conduct. As Paul reminded the Romans, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1–2). Such licentious, antinomian people are shamefully crucifying their Savior again and again (Hebrews 6:6).
Grace, that 5 letter swear word that so many in the COG mock. Only COG leaders are capable of understanding grace. If that were true then why has the COG been such a graceless church for so many decades?
So rest assured brethren there is no other COG on earth that is filled with as many progressing Christians as we have in the LCG, who apparently are just a couple rungs short of pure sinlessness.
Woo Hoo! Sign me up
15 comments:
Here Weston reaffirms HWA's crude interpretation of Ellen White's heretical Sanctuary-Awakening Perfectionism: Further borrowing from White, Armstrong includes sabbatarianism to this Perfectionist heresy (which has been so thoroughly refuted by Paul, and later, Luther.)
This preacher stated, "They will say, “Jesus led a perfect life in your stead—there’s nothing at all for you to do except believe!”"
This is a calumny against Christianity. Why have so many Christian groups firmly opposed abortion? Is it because they don't believe there is anything to do but believe. This is an old saw that HWA came up with that oddly is still cherished in Armstrongism. No doubt there are denominations that believe in "cheap grace" but it is decidedly a small movement and not at all reflective of Christianity.
He states further, "We understand that God has given His people the motivation and the means to come out of sin."
What is that means? We may not have his entire statement here but the means is grace. Grace lurks behind his words. For instance, he states, "Peter’s personal exodus from sin almost failed here because of his doubt, but Christ saved him." This is, in so many words, an act of grace. On the Christian side, we have Paul's statement about his ongoing life, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
I have a theory that Armstrongism promotes the idea that the believer must keep the laws perfectly for salvation. But since there will be a shortfall - perfection is humanly unattainable - Jesus makes up for that shortfall and this is undenominated grace. The Armstrongist does most of it under his own steam and Jesus comes in on that elusive last 5 percent. Otherwise, nobody would ever receive salvation. But in Christianity, grace is at the point of origin in the Christian's life and extends throughout. "For by grace are ye saved through faith."
Why is it that Armstrongists cannot mention the G-word even though their model of sanctification does not work without it. Instead they are famous for bold but ill-considered statements such as, "We must strive to conquer sin completely!" Lot's of luck. You would think that for a theology that advocates the Law of Moses as God's eternal spiritual law but does not keep a bunch of it, grace would be a really big deal - totally necessary.
So, I have another theory as to why the concept of grace is severely restricted in Armstrongism to an unmerited pardon at the time of repentance - a point in time transaction. I believe that to HWA, grace meant a lack of control. As chief parade marshall, he could no longer impose regimentation if all-pervasive grace were acknowledged. The ministry's power over personal lives would be eroded. Grace to him was like a fire that had to be fearfully sequestered in a tinderbox lest it touch everyone with freedom in Christ. You can determine for yourselves if my theory explains the data.
I think there are probably Armstrongist ministers who believe they are perfect and not sinning. But for me, this simply reflects the hollow and naive response of The Donald when he was asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness:
"I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t."
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Anon @ 3:48. I agree. HWA got that absurd heresy of sinless perfection from Ellen and the Adventists. Both SDAs and the splinters still think it is needed to "qualify for the kingdom". We are told in Scripture that if we say we have no sin, there is no truth in us.
This is the doctrine that just makes my head explode. The legalists will never see the transition from law to grace. The Book of Acts was written to explain that transition after Christ died for our sins and most of Paul's books were written to counter the legalistic Jews who were trying to get the new Christians to see the necessity of being circumcised and keeping the law. Hence why Paul said that you who think your righteousness comes from the law have fallen from grace and the cross of Christ is of none effect to you.
If salvation and grace are both the gift of God (and most will at least agree with that), then keeping the commandments and the other 600+ ordinances is no longer a gift. It's a strings attached, conditional benefit at best. The legalists don't seem to understand the difference between the means by which the Jews were saved BEFORE He died and the means by which whosoever believes in Him is saved, AFTER he died. That's why Paul said the veil of Moses covers their eyes.
Paul could not have been any clearer in his non stop effort to stop this heresy in its' tracks. Yet, here we are 2,000 years later and the same feud continues. Do any of us really believe, in our heart of hearts, that we can keep the Commandments perfectly? I hope not, because we would only be fooling ourselves if we did. That is NOT license to sin before someone jumps down my throat. But when we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, the Man Christ Jesus. Amen to that!
Shadowy Weston prefers the law, the shadows that pointed to Jesus, over Jesus, while he mocks and maligns those who prefer Jesus.
Weston said:
“They will say, “Jesus led a perfect life in your stead - there’s nothing at all for you to do except believe!”
Yes, that’s true – Jesus did live a perfect life and is our Savior.
We can add nothing to his power, love, righteousness, forgiveness – his ability to save,
The only thing left to do, regarding salvation, is believe in our Savoir.
Weston maligns those who’ve been saved by Jesus by mischaracterizing what Christians actually believe.
One has to wonder if Weston is just ignorantly misstating Christian beliefs or if he is deliberately lying.
Either way, Weston is falsely accusing Christians of doing nothing in service of God and wantonly crucifying Jesus again and again.
Redeemed people do not choose to go on living a life of sin.
Christians believe in honoring God by living in a way that pleases God – we rely on the help of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to do so.
Weston relies on the brainwashing he has perpetrated on his people remaining in affect so that they don’t question his false statements.
It is the Christians who Weston mocks who have fought to keep the ten commandments in schools and courthouses – while the COGs have done nothing.
The same Christians have sent missionaries all over the world to teach people about Jesus – not the COGs.
Christians also feed, cloth, shelter, and care for the needy, while COGs mock them.
Christianity is doing the words of Jesus, while Weston is demanding that his people be their own savior by following his contorted, partial version of the law.
Shadowy Weston’s screed is typical COG indoctrination – it’s been said/written thousands of times exactly as Weston’s recent words.
So why did Weston bother to repeat it again?
It’s LCG’s attempt to give an indoctrination booster, with that familiar dual smackdown plus puff-up.
Perhaps the COGlodytes are weirdly addicted to the abuse and then the heady uplift of feeling they’re the best people in the world.
The smackdown is a reminder to the people that they are not overcoming enough to earn their salvation.
The puff-up is a rehearsal of the indoctrination that LCG members are superior to those false, grace-reliant, Jesus-loving Christians, because LCG members rely on keeping the law (COG-odd, abridged version) for salvation.
Weston only uses the term grace with a limiting attribute – instead of its boundless nature.
Yes, St. Paul did admonish that we should not sin so that grace would abound – but he did not imply grace would not abound, regardless of how much we sin.
Paul, as we are, was/are frustrated with the frequency of sin our lives – but thank God, grace always prevails.
Redeemed people hate sinning and look to God to help them overcome sin.
Grace is what keeps going physically and spiritually; grace motivates us to please God because we appreciate how much and often we’re forgiven.
Grace is how we know we are cleansed and loved by God.
COGs teach that breaking the law is sin, while they ignore much of the law.
Armstrongites also get frustrated when they break a part of the law that they believe in.
In the absence of grace in their lives, they feel shame and receive condemnation from their leaders.
In the absence of grace in their lives, the Armstrongites assuage their shame and condemnation with thoughts of how at least they are better than those sincerely wrong, grace-blabbering Jesus freaks.
Contrary to Weston’s views, Christianity does not teach that believers can continue to wantonly sin.
My hope is that Weston’s followers would get off the rollercoaster dependency on the deep lows of being shamed for not doing what’s needed to save themselves, followed by the steep exhalation of being superior to all others.
My prayer is that these poor people would just embrace the Savior and embrace his grace.
We are sinners; hallelujah, we are saved by grace – and there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.
A quick way to test a church members mindset is to ask them WHAT does the days of Unleavened bread primarily symbolize? If the reply is, "putting sin out of our lives", they have a self, law, and performance mentality. If they correctly answer the day symbolizes putting something IN (7 days you must EAT UB, partake of that TRUE BREAD from heaven, Leviticus 23:6, John 6:32-33), then they are probably on the right path!
Both approaches are expressions of "faith"! The one, faith in self and one's performance. The latter, faith in Jesus Christ (John 6:47-48). Even Jimmy Swaggart has this right!!!
The Seventh-day Adventists have been battling Perfectionism, to no avail, for 170 years. Look at what happened in the Armstrong version: First attempt at reform saw massive defection to conservative factions. Wasn't Meredith one of the first? Hard to say who's dumber: HWA or Meredith?
Trooisto said...
Shadowy Weston prefers the law, the shadows that pointed to Jesus, over Jesus, while he mocks and maligns those who prefer Jesus.
Wrong. Those shadows did NOT point to Jesus. Col 2:17 "These are a shadow of the things to come"; -- things yet to come, written long after Jesus had already come. There were still things to come at that time, and they are still to come today. The holy days in particular, point to future events that will far exceed what the holy days were in the past. Yes, the substance of those shadows belong to Christ, but those shadows are not Christ, they are the still future events.
Tough call for who's on the lowest rung on the IQ ladder: Waterhouse? Meredith? HWA?
you left out the worst offender: Bob Thiel
Waterhouse, Meredith, HWA, Thiel
Waterhouse, Meredith, HWA, Thiel, Flurry, Pack
I'd like to see these banana-splits take an actual IQ test (God help us!)
Weston wrote: "...We in God’s Church, however, have precious truth that mainstream Christianity ignores or rejects. We understand that God has given His people the motivation and the means to come out of sin. But are we using the tools He has given us? Are we really striving to come out of spiritual Egypt, as pictured by the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread? We must strive to conquer sin completely!..."
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"But are we using the tools...?" What tools?
How does Weston expect to use tools to allow him to conquer sin completely?
Isn't Jesus Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us? Wasn't Jesus Christ a perfect One?
How might Weston think he will conquer sin completely? By keeping God's law?
We're told: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us..." Col 2:14
Doesn't Weston know that the law is against him, contrary to him? Might it be a little late for Weston to demonstrate he has conquered sin completely? And if he hasn't done that already, then where does it leave Weston?
Weston already sinned. The wages are death. Weston will pay the wages with his own death; it's been appointed to happen, and yet he wants to burden his followers with something they cannot, of and by SELF, can do. It's like we're all in the same boat together, but Weston gives the impression he is in a boat separate from the rest of us. Well, Doug Winnail would be in the same boat with Weston, since they both believe requirements/prerequisites must be met to qualify for salvation. Both are self-righteous with their thoughts.
What Weston/Winnail fail to understand is the parable Jesus Christ gave them/us; it's like there is a beam in both of their eyes leaving them both blind regardless of what ditch (boat?) they are in.
Matthew 7:5 "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye."
Luke 6:42 "Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye."
Who, besides Jesus Christ, a 100% human being (John 1:14) like us, didn't have a mote in the eye?
When will Doug Winnail and Gerald Weston use the proper tools to remove the beams from their eyes so that they will demonstrate to one and all that they have conquered sin completely?
Time will tell...
John
The interesting thing about "tools" is they can be used to accomplish great tasks and build marvelous things. That's how we value their worth. Not so with the ancient and modern Pharisee! He uses tools to glorify himself, not to build or uplift anything!
I can drive 1000 nails/hour with my hammer
I fast twice a week
I pray 3 hours a day
I keep the Sabbath and have perfect church attendance
I keep all 600 plus laws in the Torah
There is a difference!
The LCG may be sincere but THEY are SINCERELY wrong!! He HATES what they are doing!! (Rev. 2:6 and vs. 15) God is not HIERARCHY!! Their hierarchy SEPARATES the people from God by putting these so called Ministers in His place!! The fruits are proof of this!!
The LCG may be sincere but THEY are SINCERELY wrong!! He HATES what they are doing!! (Rev. 2:6 and vs. 15) God is not a HIERARCHY!! Their hierarchy SEPARATES the people from God by putting these so called Ministers in His place!! The fruits are proof of this!!
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