The length Armstrongism goes to in order to justify their wacky teachings has no boundaries of integrity. This current financial situation in Lebanon has been long going in the country and is nothing new. It was exacerbated when the explosion at the port happened a few years ago and by the political corruption that has wrecked the country.
This is the kind of idiocy that I would expect from Bob Thiel, yet here we are.
A Taste of the Future in Lebanon: The people of Lebanon are suffering under severe inflation, turning the U.S. dollar into the preferred local currency over the Lebanese pound (Deutsche Welle, May 8, 2023). Prices for goods are doubling, including the price of olive oil, the crucial, locally produced cooking staple. For many, this once-ubiquitous household product is now beyond their financial reach. This, in a country where the national minimum wage for private employees is about $94 USD or €84 per month.
Those with olive groves are keeping for themselves the olive oil they produce, yet, with the increased cost of transportation to olive oil facilities and frequent electricity cuts, even this is difficult. These barriers are affecting the entire olive oil industry, causing live oil prices to soar.
On the surface, the situation with olive oil in Lebanon appears to be a localized issue. But, for students of Bible prophecy it can be instructive. At the end of the age, as Christ’s return approaches, the Bible predicts plagues that will strike the Israelite-descended nations and touch the entire world.
Some of these plagues are symbolized in Revelation 6 by four riders atop four different-colored horses. The third horse is the “black horse,” representing scarcity and famine (vv. 5–6). It foretells a future when the cost of a quart of wheat will be equivalent to a day’s wages. It further identifies scarcity of wine and oil, which the context suggests is cooking oil. This serious food scarcity has not yet stricken the wealthy, Israelite-descended nations, but it is prophesied to come to them in the future. The situation in Lebanon provides insight into what this future scarcity could be like, especially in regard to “oil.” For more insights into these profound end-time prophecies in the book of Revelation, be sure to read or listen to Revelation: The Mystery Unveiled.—Scott Winnail, Francine Prater, and Chris Sookdeo
16 comments:
I think this is a bit of a stretch.
What will Popeye do without Olive Oil??
Another rabbit trail. They are so boring. Leave your notebook at home. Even better, stay home.
Ah yes, the famine of olive oil, predicted to start the end of days (but only for those who are students of Bible prophecy). Sounds more like something Bob picked up while attending Profit University, New Delhi campus.
You have got to be kidding me. What a gaggle of loons.
Their founders HWA & RCM preached avoidance of medical science while quietly getting the best medical treatment money - your money - could buy! Scumbags!
I hear the top executives at LCG are paying themselves $500,000 per year!
Olive Oil In Prophecy will be coming off the presses real soon!
“Doctrinal Upgrades”
Here are a couple of Roderick C. Meredith's major “doctrinal upgrades,” as he called his doctrinal changes.
Rod Meredith appeared to believe some of the early Worldwide Church of God teachings, but rejected some of the later teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, such as the idea that HWA was the one who had come in the spirit and power of Elijah to “restore all things.” All the doctrines in the WCG had come through HWA. Rod Meredith seemed to think that he too could make up doctrines, and that the Elijah had not yet come.
Rod Meredith also later messed with one of the WCG's biggest teachings of all, Jesus' gospel (or good news) of the kingdom of God. HWA had gone on and on about how the gospel OF Jesus had been soon suppressed and replaced with a gospel ABOUT Jesus. Rod Meredith combined HWA's teaching of the gospel OF Jesus with the world's churches' teaching about the gospel ABOUT Jesus to make up a two-fold, or hybrid, gospel that he thought was better than what HWA had taught.
Great Tribulation of Mat 24:21:
Armstrongism splits/splinters/slivers: IS COMING. BE FEARFUL. SEND MONEY.
Bible: IN JUDEA. 1335 days, all-inclusive, from Av 10, 70 AD to Nisan 15, 74 AD when occurred the horror at Masada - Josephus,Wars,VII,IX,1. Won't happen again. Since then Jerusalem has been trodden by Gentiles. Since then false prophets - Mat 24:24.
The gospel according to HWA:
Give money. Do as I say not as I do. Pay world leaders for photo ops. A mighty hand from somewhere….
Really fascinating gospel. Sooooo much good news.
I just showed this article to my business partner, who just happens to be here for the summer, from his home in Beirut, Lebanon. The olive oil panic is not true. To quote him, they are swimming in it. Inflation, yes, but it's everywhere. Electricity cuts, yes, in certain areas, but those too, occur everywhere in bad weather. He read this article, laughed and said obviously these people have never been to Lebanon because they have no idea what they are talking about. And to tie it in to prophecy, when the details are not even correct, is ridiculous.
Typical church of god, ahead of its' skis, as usual.
Roderick C. Meredith's rejection of Herbert W. Armstrong as the Elijah who had “restored all things” has been a bad influence on those who are/were in Rod's little GCG/LCG splinter groups. It helped to lead to some of the current nutty teachings in the LCG and to rebels like Dave Pack and Bob Thiel each thinking that they can be the Elijah. Lawyers like Norbert Link think that they can just study and pray a little bit and change HWA's teachings if they do not agree with them.
All the doctrines in the WCG had come through HWA.
Not true. The idea of HWA as Apostle came from his toadies Herman Hoeh and Rod Meredith, who wanted to get ahead by flattering the boss, and who by elevating HWA thought they were pulling themselves upward with him. Hoeh also gave HWA other ideas. And I'm pretty sure the idea of the penis pump came to HWA through Ramona.
But it's not just HWA and RCM who used doctors. GTA would have also obtained treatment for his many venereal diseases. Pity the women and men that he infected. These leaders also discouraged their members from going to doctors of the mind such as psychologists and psychiatrists, least they be informed that they are members of high control cults.
All the doctrines in the WCG had come through HWA.
Not true. The idea of HWA as Apostle came from his toadies Herman Hoeh and Rod Meredith, who wanted to get ahead by flattering the boss, and who by elevating HWA thought they were pulling themselves upward with him. Hoeh also gave HWA other ideas.
Yes. And worst of all was the idea of hierarchical church government, an idea that plagues the COGs to this day. First, read HWA's 1939 article on church government, where he despises heirarchy. Then, RCM spoke in 1953 about visiting a pastor in St Louis who had gone to Ambassador College and this was a very cordial visit. Just a few years later, this man would have been marked and disfellowshipped for being independent. Things changed quickly -- Hoeh's 1954 article says that the purpose of building up the people is to support the work of the ministry (which is a terrible translation of Eph 4:12). And the ball was rolling . . .
Cults refuse to talk about all 66 books of the Bible. These leaders don't know what are in these books, and they are trained to deflect relevant questions with shocking verbal abuse & slander of people who ask the questions.
They make up silly topics like this.
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