Gerald Weston says the only hope any of us have is joining their highly chosen group. This must frost Bwana Bob's delicate sensibilities now that he is no longer part of the one true faith. Left outside the circle of truth, once again.
Dear members and co-workers, the world needs hope, and we in this Work are able to give the only true hope for mankind, the good news that Jesus came to bring. Those of us called now and who respond to that calling, will be born sons and daughters in His world-ruling Kingdom, with the opportunity to solve the problems we see here on earth today (2 Corinthians 6:18; Luke 19:11-19; Revelation 5:10). Who else is going to proclaim this truth of the Gospel to the world? Who else will give the world, not false hope, but living hope?
Be prepared for 12,274 future gods and goddesses to be unleashed upon the world to spank it into submission.
14 comments:
"we in this Work are able to give the only true hope for mankind, the good news that Jesus came to bring"
So if Im reading this right, the Good News that Jesus came to bring, is the LCG work to be able to give the true hope for mankind. Question-- Isn't just going to the source of the Bible for the Good News of Jesus a shorter distance between two points??
WCG belief system is the Earth is old and the current world system was created on a barren and void Earth.
Since the angels were created before the Earth - according to scripture, this means that resurrected humans who have lived less than 100 years for the most part, will be put in charge of beings who are billions of years old and know far more than us.
Does not make much sense to me, once I thought it thru.
But first the gods and goddesses gotta figure there's only one 7 day feast in the spring of the year beginning the 14th, with feastING on the 15th - Lev 23:6 - and on the 7th day - Ex 13:6.
But if you don't meet THEIR expectations, you're out the door, no questions asked, no witnesses to support you, no due process, no collaborative approach, just a simple hastily hatched verdict that you are guilty, delivered from a distance or by e-mail in order to discourage an appeal, blacklisted and blackballed with a smile that says, "The ministry is always right, don't fuss over it, you're guilty, we're right, and don't correct us or we'll charge you with a bad attitude."
But, but... Mr. Minister, don't I have a chance to speak?
No, you don't. Get away because I'm too busy doing the Work, I don't like your personality, I don't understand you so I have to disagree with you. Others gossiped about you and I believe their gossip even though I teach against it. You have to obey my subjective judgments because I'm the one in charge here. There's no appeal for you. No, you don't get your day in court. We run a kangaroo court around here. On the testimony of one witness and you're out, even if it comes from a woman. We in the ministry are so pure that you can't fault us for anything. We have diplomatic immunity as far as the law is concerned. I'm running a tight ship here. My wife, family and friends can disagree with me BUT NOT YOU. It's a double standard but God understands that we are better than you. Anyone (except family and friends) crossing the line HAS to be put out! We have you on record as having sinned before so we can't trust you, even though we teach that God forgives sins. Go away and let us keep speaking evil of you. (James 4:11) Even though Paul brought back the fornicator to church (2 Cor 2:6), we can't let you back because you are too self-righteous, which is a worse sin. And don't you dare call me a hypocrite or self-righteous when you correct me because I am more righteous than you by virtue of being a minister. Sorry I can't bring you back because you might embarrass me or cause me to lose my job or expose my sins. The ministers have to put up a good front, you know.
Yes, WE have the message of the hope of deliverance from all evil!
9.01 AM
As a engineering student, my worst teachers had doctorates.
Even though the angels are about 14 billion years old, I wonder whether they are like some people I know who have no interest in self betterment. The writers of Star Trek The Next Generation bought up this phenomena in their last movie. They found a physical copy of Data. but he had no interest in personal growth.
9.46, excellent post.
TLA at 901
Exercising common sense and reasoning are good traits,, but both can sometimes fail one in a quest to understand God. Isn't that one of the lessons from the book of Job?
God knows His angels and their capabilities and limitations (see Heb.1:14, 1 Peter 1:12). He also knows man and his potential by comparison to the angels
(see 1 Cor.6:3, Hebrews 2:5-10, 1 John 3:1-3).
Jesus Christ became flesh for many reasons. At His resurrection He became the firstborn of many brethren, and the glorified federal Head of a new order of beings! This truth is not an "Armstrong thing" but a "Bible thing".
Luke 20:35-36 says, "those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry or are given in marriage, neither can they die anymore (see Romans 6:9, 1 Tim.6:16) for they are like angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection (NASB).
But, 11:02, arent the angels somewhat like drones? Is there advancement in the angelic kingdom? After all those billions of years, don't you think they already know pretty much everything? These beings are spirit and don't rely on physical brain cells to retain knowledge or set their intelligence.
Since you invoked Star Trek, I believe we can learn much from another imaginary genre. Vampires grow in power as they accumulate knowledge during their long lifespans. Much of their power comes from tactical knowledge they accumulate from their exposure to so many situations. They also gain intimate knowledge of the most effective ways in which to use their powers. Some even develop consciences, and learn to steal blood from blood banks rather than killing people for it.
12.47
I also think you are confusing knowledge with character. I've worked with knowledgeable and experienced people in engineering, and many were moral barbarians.
gospel = good news of the coming Radio Church of God, followed by Worldwide Church of God, followed by Living Church of God.
(Church of God Seventh Day might begrudgingly get a half-credit, slotted in prior to Radio Church of God, but it was mainly a warm-up act.)
9:01, it' not a matter of how much you know, how old you are, or having an interest in self-betterment, rather, it's a matter of faith in and obedience to God who created them. HWA talked about "free moral agency". Well, the angels have it too.
Do you have kids? It's the same with them. If they don't turn to God and obey the gospel, the lake of fire will be the result.
Look at the parable in Luke 16 re the rich man in hell calling for Lazarus to save his brothers, who is in such terror that he, being unbelieving, is calling for their salvation while he is losing his own, being consigned to the fact he can't be saved. The wages of sin is death, therefore, the more a man or angel sins the more he brings death upon himself. In the case of the angels, death for them is eternal imprisonment in a confined space (tartaroo).
Yes, we were made a "little lower than the angels" but the angels had to choose too, which shows you the power of the devil's influence when he managed to persuade a third of them to go with his rebellion. (Rev 12:4)
It is by nature unsettling to confront a spirit being that is many millenia older than you but the fact is that they were called to be ministers to God and the Godkind, which is men, who were made in the image of God in order to become sons of God. Sonship carries with it higher status than servanthood, as the Lord pointed out more than once in his teachings.
Well, 6:18, the angels are in a completely different field from engineers. You might say they work in the field of behavioral science. They deal with humans, and get to see the results of the right and wrong decisions their humans make. It would therefore be difficult to separate knowledge and experience from character because they are intrinsically interrelated.
If an engineer does some horribly perverted thing in a seedy park bathroom, it will not affect the knowledge and experience with which he designs a structure or machine. If an angel were to shapeshift into a man and seduce a couple of church ladies into a threesome, I doubt that God would allow him to continue working as an angel. The duties of an angel require exxcellent character.
It's apples and oranges. I don't believe we need to worry about the character of angels. The bad ones have already been separated from
the herd.
12.30 No, God did not originally call angels to be servants to mankind. That cannot be since mankind came 14 billion years later. The angels failed to live up to God's expectations, just like the earthlings prior to the flood. The angels failed to "mature to adulthood," and become among other things, stewards of the universe. God doesn't trust them for a reason.
3.24, angels deal with humans? What did they do for 14 billion years before God created man? There's every indication that their psychology matches mankind's, so no, they didn't have to wait for humans to "see the results of right and wrong decisions."
Their own poor choices would have taught them that.
I suspect that the big difference between humans and angels is the result of humans having to grow up from childhood. Angels never had to struggle to become functional adults.
6:54, Heb 1 makes it clear that He made them to be servants or "ministers" from the outset, even though mankind wasn't created yet, yet they served God from the beginning, until the fallen angels rebelled later, subsequent to the creation of the earth.
It's the fallen angels who sinned who failed to live up to expectations. That's why we see so much damage in our solar system.
The angels failed to mature? The good ones matured in faithfulness to God but the bad ones sinned to the point of no return, which makes them untrustworthy, unlike the good ones.
As for your last paragraph, Adam was created as a fully grown and developed adult yet that didn't help him with respect to choosing righteousness, did it? Same with the angels. As I said above, they had to choose. They didn't have to struggle to become functional adults like humans but they still had to learn that obedience to God is righteousness. My point? It wouldn't matter if we were born into adulthood from the womb (as Adam was, so to speak) because the issue of faith and obedience would still be at stake for us as it was for the angels.
I'm going to back out of this discussion. Unfortunately it is only possible to have an intelligent discussion with an individual who is awakening, questioning things for the first time and leaving Armstrongism.
It's just not possible to reach common ground with a practicing Armstrongite. But, hey. Have a nice sabbath!
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