You LCG members who read here had better start being humble and teachable or things are not going to go so well for you. You had also better take advantage of all that "wise council" the ministry has to offer you. Do it now!
Seek God’s Guidance: In the world today, it is common to want to “do your own thing.” However, the Bible records the tragic results of this approach (Judges 21:25; Jeremiah 9:12–16). In the Scriptures we are admonished, “Seek the LORD while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). We are also told that God looks on those who are humble and teachable and “trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). King David modeled the attitude that God is looking for when he wrote, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes... Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:33, 105). Jesus Christ instructed His disciples to “live by... every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). We are also advised to seek wise counsel to avoid making bad decisions (Proverbs 11:14). An important lesson in life is that to succeed in any endeavor, we must seek God’s guidance and get wise counsel when we make decisions—because that leads to lasting rewards.
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail
9 comments:
I quite agree. But.
We do indeed need to seek the Lord. And to tremble at His Word.
And we will at times need to seek wise counseling.
Doug, many who do tremble at His Word and seek God have found Him outside of your ‘organisation’.
And have found His ‘burden and yolk’ much more agreeable than the one you ‘yolk’ your membership with.
There is also much wise wisdom to be found in professional counseling services outside of the Armstrong movement.
Away from the untrained and unqualified ‘counsellors’ posing as ministers in your organisation.
The inference here is only the lcog has the answers. Your comments here are simply a reinforcement of the control you seek over members to keep the money flowing in, and hence salaries paid.
In the world today?
The US cultural has prided itself in the "rugged individualism" and vilified the supposedly rigid conformity of socialism.
In a taped sermon back in the 1970s, HWA commented on the sermonette, which apparently mentioned the tabooed "do your own thing". Yet if you look at comments from CG7 leaders from HWA's years with them, and bold comments HWA made in the PT installments of his autobiography, HWA was totally "doing his own thing". So was RCM when he left WCG to form Global, and when he left Global to form LCG. If there is any hope to curb members from the "do your own thing" mentality, they should at least apologize for that behavior in their own ranks.
It's hilarious that ACOG ministers and members were apparently so impacted by the hippies that they retain and repeat their sayings as if they were still current fifty years after they have passed on the national scene. Isn't that just too groovy? Get down, Dougijuana!
Doing your own thing is not always necessarily bad. There are times when one choice of a matter is the right choice, rather than that of another individual or church organization. We will all stand before the Most High to give an account of our actions during this life period. If we have made a bad choice, that i.e. one against the will of Elohim, then we cannot blame the organization or expect them to step up to take your punishment. They will receive their own punishment for what they have done, same as us.
We are commanded to 'Come out of her' or else we will receive/partake of her punishment. Stand we must, on our own two feet and be responsible for our own decisions. All of us are responsible for what we do, either directly or indirectly, so do all you can to make the best decision that you can with the knowledge that you obtained. Be not a fence sitter, or allow yourself to be intimatedated by others by letting fear dicate your actions or lack of action. Be strong and of good courage and plow through wearing the amour of Elohim knowing that life without Him is not worth living anyway, so calm yourself and submit to your decision regardless of what consequences it may produce.
Infantilize.
Definition: "treat someone as a child or in a way that denies their maturity in age or experience."
The above is the standard operating procedure of all the ACOGs. They cripple members minds so that ministers have undue influence over their flocks.
So yes, members need to be humble and teachable, but in church culture it's code for accepting being lorded over by the ministry. And yes, there are occasions to seek counsel from man and direction from God, but again the church culture is that members pretend that they are children who need constant counsel for the most simple decisions.
The bible instructs to acquire wisdom and understanding, but the church insists that even if these are acquired, members should pretend that they are dumbo's who need to be micro managed by the ministers for their own good.
So Doug's above letter seems reasonable to outsiders, but they are nothing more than abusive cult code words.
If Doug was open, he would say "have a profitable Sabbath boys and girls. And boys and girls, and that's naughty boys and girls, don't forget to address your minister as Mr."
We are to work out our own salvation with trembling and fear of the Eternal not the ministry, which has has failed since the dissolvement of WWCG and the splinters.
They are the ones not teachable. Their titles and positions are their idols.
Amen! You nailed it
Doug, as with his latest repeat post on God's Guidance, wrote: "...Seeking God’s Guidance: In the world today, it is common to want to “do your own thing.” …the Bible records…tragic results of this approach…In the Scriptures we are admonished, “Seek the LORD while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6)… An important lesson in life is that…to succeed, we must…seek God’s guidance and get wise counsel when we make decisions—because that leads to lasting rewards…”
******
Well, Doug, like the rest of us, is guilty of “doing your own thing” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25) more times than he/we admit. Who does not “do your own thing?” And why might that be? “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jer 10:23
Why is it that the “living” members’ behavior rarely meet Doug's expectations? Do they not know Doug’s God/LORD like Doug does? Which God does Doug have in mind? Some (e.g. the United Ass.; living group too?) think Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. Doug, which God do you have in mind? The One HWA taught you?
Jesus told us: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3
AND
"O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee:..." John 17:25
But, Doug, seeking God…the LORD? How do/did you know that the God/LORD can be found, especially in light of the following verses?
Psalm 14:2 “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
Well, how then does one seek that guidance? Do those verses mean what they say? Are Doug and his followers an exception?
But, that was Old Testament: what about the New?
Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
Doug, how do you get around those verses? Is there any room, somehow, for grace? Does Doug think he, of and by himself, can just go out and find God, somehow overcome, and do good, and seek God’s guidance?
Isaiah has the answer, and it follows the verse Doug cited:
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
But who does Doug acknowledge as that God/LORD? After all, isn't it idolatry to put anything, or anyone, in place of the only true God?
Time will tell…
John
Doug, a babe, continues to be concerned with giving his followers spiritual milk, non-nourishing spiritual food that appeals to the 5 senses, and very little strong meat. Doug, like a babe, u-weaned from milk, is stuck and stagnant in 1986!
As it turns out my post above to Doug was a virtual repeat about Doug's "another Jesus," his God of the Old Testament, not that I want to follow Doug's example in any way, shape or fashion. I doubt that God, God the Father (Acts 3:13), that God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, needs another Apostle (Pack? Flurry?), another Evangelist (Meredith? Winnail?), another Prophet (Wineland? Thiel?), etc.
Why not?
Eph 4:11 "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;"
And that word "some" should be replaced with the word "the," but don't expect any of these professing xcog leaders to tell you that. Thinking of Doug, God already gave us The Evangelists, and guess what? We're still learning from them! What is anyone learning from Doug?
Idolatry by teaching Jesus is the God of the Old Testament? Another Jesus that will "very soon" return to reign on earth for 1,000 years when all of the enemies have not been subdued (think what happens 1,000 years yet to come and then Satan is loosed from some pit!)?
The living group's followers to receive "lasting rewards?" What rewards?
Doug wrote: "...An important lesson in life is that to succeed in any endeavor, we must seek God’s guidance and get wise counsel when we make decisions—because that leads to lasting rewards..."
And what happens if one does not seek God's guidance or get wise counsel?
Enter grace, which Doug, the babe, turns his blind to. Does Doug not know that God already has the judgment in on human beings? They will either be in the first or second resurrection.
Does God not know that God already has the judgment in on Satan and his evil angels? Second death via the Lake of Fire.
Of course, Doug can't explain that strong meat, especially is one still believes HWA telling us that spirit beings cannot die, right Doug? Die once? Die twice? It's been appointed once for human beings.
And Doug preaches "lasting rewards," but really can't identify them. For any like Doug, it's God or mammon, and mammon is a lot easier for Doug to deal with to be profitable every day of the week, including retirement; after all, why else was the United Ass. (and Global, Living, cogwa, etc.) created for if it wasn't for sustaining a stream of $mammon$?
But, in the meantime, when will God grant/give babe Doug repentance/change regarding grace associated with the life and death of Jesus Christ, and the life and deathS of Satan and his angels?
Time will tell...
John
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