Doug Winnail exhorts members to value the word of older and wiser people, i.e., the current leadership of the church. After all, these are the wisest men on earth who are filled with the knowledge of God and by listening to them you will become more like Jesus!
The Value of Wisdom: We live in an increasingly secular and materialistic world where people strive to gain many physical things—money, homes, cars, and fame. Yet Solomon wrote that of all we acquire in life, “wisdom is the principal thing” and it is worth more that gold (Proverbs 4:7; 16:16). Jesus stressed the importance of wisdom, and we are told that as He grew up, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). The Apostle Paul urged Christians to use wisdom in dealing with others (Colossians 4:5). The Bible reveals that the key to gaining wisdom is learning to fear God and live by every word of God (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). We are told to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5) and to seek wisdom by studying the Scriptures (Deuteronomy 4:1–10; 2 Timothy 3:15), and to listen to older and wiser people (Proverbs10:1; 15:7; 18:15). If we follow these instructions, we can become more like Jesus Christ and the wise God whom we worship (Romans 16:27; Philippians 2:5).
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail
17 comments:
Amazing... they gotta get a comment on there in each trying to make members look to the "ministry" for guidence in life. It seems this is a focus recently since I heard they complained about it at a recent Council of Elders meeting...
I don't know about this style of article... take 8 words out of a larger text, and turn it into a headline. That just sounds like cynical spin to me.
I think LCG has some flaws, but you do your message a disservice if you dilute it with doubtful accusations.
Doug is also teaching us the value of more or less repeating what you wrote in January 2007, March 2010, and May 2014.
Who the hell is Doug trying to kid? It is he and the "ministry" who look to money (other people's), homes (paid for by other people) and cars (see previous answers).
Just shut up Doug. You're a leech.
Doug's weekly messages seem innocent enough to me and what any pastor type would say and back with scripture.
I know we put any COG scriptural "admonitions" into the COG context and actual experience where there might be room for scorn and comment, but the actual content of Doug's comments are what any normal pastor or Christian would note. He may repeat but what scriptural content have we not all hear repeated a thousand times in sermons or said ourselves? The Bible is a book one repeats and repeats and repeats. There are other fish to fry on other more serious and ridiculous topics. IMHO
This is a problem in Information Theory. I think everyone who has exited Armstrongism recognizes that whether or not they would use that terminology. It has to do with the fact that humans in ad hoc communication impart meaning to words rather than receiving meaning from words. We all decode.
When the Very Stable Genius says that Liz Cheney is a RINO one must decode this. She is a member of the Republican Party and she has an almost perfect record in voting conservatively on issues. So what is Very Stable talking about? You have to decode it. RINO means someone who does not support Very Stable in his personal, self-serving agenda. To make sense of what Very Stable says, one must ignore the traditional sense of the language and decode the message using the special knowledge base that Very Stable has innovated. This is study in neologism. Information Theory.
HwA was right when he said the Bible is a coded book. He was wrong when he implied that he was the only person who could decode it. He was not bashful about his supremacy as the interpreter of scripture. Essentially, the Bible meant for HwA's followers what he said it meant. And once a person is trained in the HwA body of knowledge, that person, too, can decode, although the Armstrongist ministry might add "ineptly." This I think is the hot radiating core of the whole Armstrongist issue. Information Theory.
So, you have to read the statement and realize that it can have many different meanings depending on how it is decoded (equivocity). What does this preacher mean by "wisdom?" Many of us know but the average outside observer would not. The preacher means the diligent application of religious ideology based in the booklet theology of HwA. Something that Solomon would know nothing about. And the decoding of just that one term does much to place the statment in its proper coloration. An Armstrongist might say "How can someone find something wrong with this statement that is so true, clear and Biblical?" That's how.
Just saying ...
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If we compare him to Dave Pack, Doug Winnail may be a bit of a dimwit. But Doug has lived much closer to Jesus' standard than Dave ever has.
Yes, Doug's words seem so mainline, so friendly. Who would suspect anything is amiss? "Don't believe me, believe your Bible," said the spider to the fly.
"listen to more older wiser people" LOL
Yet Jeremiah was young, Daniel and his friends were young, Jesus & John the Baptist was in his early thirties, David was called when he was a young lad tending to his shepherd, the disciples were relatively young, Josiah was young, Timothy was young...
The older generation died in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb
We are suppose to listen to the elders of splinterdom.
A key identification mark of a cult is loaded language. These words or phrases may not mean a huge amount to the uninitiated, but to those who are in the know, it means exactly what he intends it to mean, that is, in order to get wisdom, one should consult their minister.
Going to the LCG ministers for wisdom and inspired guideance is not wise. They just give their opinions and insist you obey them because you are then submitting to God's government. Just their opinions, no devine inspiration, and all too often really faulty ways of figuring things out. They judge matters before they even hear them out. they listen to their yes men and yes women, their favoured pets, about others in church. They simply act as mouthpieces and the little fingers of those up higher in their hierarchy, that's all. If they change their minds the next month or next year, or they are out of LCG, then what. There's no wisdom with that dull bunch, no godly inspiration. They have no pastoral counselling training, and no special insights just because they work for the LCG organization. whether or not one is looking at LCG as an option, whether or not one follows the Bible's teaching on Sabbath and so forth, do not be phased by the LCG ministers and their claims of being God's inspired and guided men. don't believe them. Follow God.
Many Christians who believe the Bible is God’s inspired word experience the Bible as the living word – as an active agent in the sanctification process.
These Christians love reading the word of God for several reasons, such as reading familiar passages and being overwhelmed by experiencing a richer meaning, or a surprisingly different application, or an encouragement that’s freshly warming for the need immediately at hand, or a wave of peaceful acceptance for a situation beyond one’s control, or a convicting instruction to take a certain action.
Re-reading the same Holy Scriptures can produce rewards, insights, and motivation that can have temporal and permanent impacts, such as sanctification – making us spiritually mature – growing to be more like Jesus.
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Re-reading Doug’s duplicative, duplicitous writings produces nothing.
Weighing the evidence of Doug Winnail’s repeated use of his dull-as-Doug writings, I’m guessing that Doug is not one of those Christians who experience the Bible as the living word, as described above – and/or – he doesn’t care enough for the people who pay his salary to bring them any fresh insight or encouragement or motivation that hit’s the spot of the moment.
As I feel a slight conviction not to be so harsh with Doug, I’m also concerned for the poor, starving people of the LCG.
I pray for Doug and crew to see that there’s much more to the Holy Word of God beyond what the COGs constantly rehearse for indoctrination purposes.
The fatal flaw in Doug’s rehash on wisdom – a mistake I can’t imagine any of my favorite Christian writers making – is the failure to identify Jesus as the Wisdom of God, as displayed in 1 Corinthians 1:24 and 1 Corinthians 1:30.
A related verse that I often use to sum up the sad, powerless, wisdom-lacking state of GOGdom is 1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
I agree with those above who’ve pointed out that Doug is using loaded language and the LCG ministry lacks the ability to impart wisdom.
Doug can wish his people a profitable Sabbath but, his tragic teachings cannot lead them into the Sabbath Rest.
My prayer for the starving people of the LCG is that they spend time in the Word, free from the cultic heavy hand of the Doug and the LCG.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The meme attached to this post is great!
I wanted to make my own list for being more like Jesus.
I wanted to put calling out Pharisees on the list but I can't seem to get past my first list item, which is tying to turn water into wine.
My first minister in the 1970s complained from the pulpit about members reading self help books. He demanded that his underlying minister give a sermon condemning and ridiculing these books.
By the way, there was zero spiritual meat in all his sermons. Before I left, an elder sneaked up on me, and with threatening body language demanded that I don't read any books. This was the church culture.
I recall HWA writing in one of his articles that "all members need is the ten commandments in order to be happy." This is code language for members having wisdom of a 12 year old. I had members parrot this with the same obvious meaning.
"Wisdom" in ACOG-land means just having enough understanding to be in their group, but not sufficient knowledge to challenge the church teachings or be independent of ministerial meddling. Everything is about control in these groups.
Back during that era, 5:56, a much loved and respected elder in the NYC WCG had recently gone off the deep end applying one of the principles of Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz in requesting a meeting with GTA. Supposedly he had a message for Garner Ted that GTA was supposed to already know in advance. There was a major dust up, and Maltz's book which had been used as an AC textbook in one of the classes I actually took, was thrown in the garbage or burned by most members who normally clung to or imitated all things AC. The elder was also disfellowshipped.
Strangely, Psycho Cybernetics had enjoyed the status as "approved" reading material from outside the church. I think I may actually still have my own copy in boxes of things from various eras of my life. There were some very good principles in that book, but, ironically, the elder had seized on one of the items which had been excluded from what we were taught in Mr. Elliott's Psychology Class.
9.50 AM
Psycho Cybernetics was mandatory reading in one of the branches of the armed forces at that. Someone told me that the book was eventually banned at AC. For those not familiar with the book, it deals with removing inhibiting negativity. Power hungry ministers are into mentally shrinking their members, so this book will definitely have their disapproval. It needs to be read in secret.
Trooisto, Friday, August 5, 2022 at 7:39:00 PM PDT, said:
"...Re-reading Doug’s duplicative [[Anon, Friday, August 5, 2022 at 6:11:00 AM PDT, said...
Doug is also teaching us the value of more or less repeating what you wrote in January 2007, March 2010, and May 2014.]], duplicitous writings produces nothing...
The fatal flaw in Doug’s rehash on wisdom ... is the failure to identify Jesus as the Wisdom of God, as displayed in 1 Corinthians 1:24 and 1 Corinthians 1:30...My prayer for the starving people of the LCG is that they spend time in the Word, free from the cultic heavy hand of the Doug and the LCG..."
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Doug is just a babe, and the people of LCG are not starving; however, Doug only provides them with milk, which is nourishing for a baby, but at some point the baby should be weaned and eventually eat some steak: strong meat! Doug has not provided that strong meat as you have properly observed. Doug is a babe:
"For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe." Heb 5:13
Yes, Doug continues repeating the giving of milk. When will the babes grow up; Doug apparently thinks his audience of followers are babes like himself. He enjoys his milk. Be careful the milk isn't spilt!
When will Doug discern both good and evil (Heb 5:14) and teach some good strong meat? Time is telling. Doug is stuck on milk for non.
Might Doug preach about another Jesus to very soon return to reign on earth for 1,000 years? That is not very nourishing! HWA expected that to occur decades ago! The theory is evil, but Doug cannot discern that yet. 10 Nations coming very soon? Some 3rd resurrection is going to occur? His Jesus is God of the Old Testament? Not strong meat, but non-nourishing food...milk is better! Strong meat is best if it's good!
Doug not only has a "...failure to identify Jesus as the Wisdom of God," but Doug seems to be blind (Matthew 15:13-14) with his failure to identify Jesus as "...being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation..." Doug won't preach the grace of God, because more than a diet of milk is needed!
When will Doug cease being a milk-drinking babe and guide others into strong meat?
Time will tell...
John
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