Gerald Weston Compares Maui Fire To Lot's Wife and Sodom

 

Why is it that COG leaders have to be such total jerks? 

Their minds dwell in a constant state of death and damnation. Utter destruction is constantly present in their graceless minds. 

Just imagine you were a resident of Maui and lost family members or friends in this tragedy and then read what Weston wrote below. 

What can we expect though when Weston and his band of merrymakers look at everyone outside their little enclosed group as so-called or even pagan Christians. Because they don't follow the teaching of Herbert they are blinded sods that will suffer fiery punishment either now or in the future when the angry god of Armstrongism unleashes hell on earth while Weston and his followers picnic in Petra.

Dear Brethren and Co-workers with Christ, 

 

We are all saddened by the fiery devastation that hit the Hawaiian island of Maui. Thousands lost virtually every possession they once had, and the death toll continues to rise. As I write, 99 are confirmed dead, but only 25 percent of the homes and businesses have been searched, so the death toll will almost certainly rise. 

 

We can only imagine the terror of those fleeing the rapidly moving flames. One lady described telling her children to “run and don’t look back.” She then told them not to worry about her. “Just run for your lives.” I could not help but to think of Lot and his family as they were told to flee from Sodom and not to look back. 

 

Nor could I help but to think of a time in the future when the Church of God will flee from Satan’s persecution. “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time [three-and-one-half years], from the presence of the serpent” (Revelation 12:13-14).

He then continues on with this drivel by saying that LCG members and lazy Laodiceans in other COG's will not make it to Petra where he and the truly righteous will receive their final training to be future gods.

While some will flee to a wilderness hideout, we see that other true Christians will hesitate. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). These are those described in chapter 3 as being neither cold nor hot. “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 3:16-18). 

 

Sadly, many will be caught off guard and will be too spiritually blind to see the danger. As with Lot’s wife, they will look back, not wanting to leave what they have. Jesus speaks of this coming time. “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. ‘In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back’” (Luke 17:28-31).

Weston then brings us back to the Maui fire and talks about Lot's wife, again:

He then gives us this warning. “Remember Lot’s wife [who turned back]. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:32-33). There will be no secret rapture at the time of Christ’s return. There is a time of fleeing—a time to “get out of town” and leave everything behind, just as the people of Lahaina had to do. We do not yet know when that time is.

What happened in Maui was not the time, prophesied in Scripture, of God’s servants fleeing from an enraged Satan, but it holds a lesson for all of us. As in so many disasters, such as 9/11, the difference between immediate action and hesitation may mean the difference between life and death. Tragically, in the case of Lahaina and elsewhere in Maui, the clear path to safety was not always obvious and many innocent lives were lost in the confusion.

Weston cautions to not believe that the Maui residents were worse sinners than the rest of humanity, though secretly LCG members are many steps above those grievous sinners. 

There is another lesson we may learn from this tragedy. We read that, “There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1). Jesus asked this important question: “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (vv. 2-5).

Weston brings up other human tragedies. Tragedies that he and the LCG used to their own benefit as examples of God spanking the world for failing to see that the Living Church of God is the one true church with the one true doctrine that impotent god had lost for 1,900 years. 

Human tragedies occur every day, but occasionally one is so great that it captures widespread and historical attention. Such is the case of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that took an estimated 3000 lives, or the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which claimed some 300. We likely remember the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the 2011 tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant along with thousands of lives. The Maui firestorms will no doubt be etched into our memories.

Weston ends with this:

We look forward to and pray for God’s Kingdom to come. In the meantime, our hearts and prayers go out to the people traumatized by the Maui firestorms.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,

Gerald E. Weston

You can read the rest of his letter here:  August 15, 2023 Co-worker letter