It is always amazing how the little weasels that the Church of God has as its leaders have to continually find ways to make the lives of members more difficult. Even though the Days of Unleavened Bread were never a requirement for Christians to keep, certain COG leaders go out of their way to place endless burdens on their members.
Years ago when Ambassador Colege was operating, one self-important moron in Pasadena had an absolute meltdown when he walked into the Natatorium pump/filter area and saw the large number of 50lb bags of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). He went screaming to our department head DEMANDING that we dispose of all of the baking soda. Thankfully, our boss laughed in his face, as we all did, and refused to make us dump it all.
For those that do not know, sodium bicarbonate is used to keep the pH and the alkalinity of pool water balanced so it stays crystal clear.
Other foolish men demanded that toothpaste be dumped in the trash if it had baking soda in it. One idiot tried to get beer banned because it uses yeast. The list was endless as to what was allowable and what was not.
Never content to leave things alone, our Great Bwana to Africa and the occasional 100 Caucasians has now had revealed to him that calcium carbonate and disodium phosphate is now sinful at UB time:
Speaking of unleavened items, I recently learned that although Calcium Carbonate is not a leavening agent, when it is added into items that are baked it is one. Therefore, while you normally do not need to eliminate Calcium Carbonate, if it is listed as an ingredient in a baked item, that item should be consumed or disposed of prior to the start of the First Day of Unleavened Bread. Another substance I recently learned was a leavening agent is Disodium Phosphate–it is often used in packaged goods and is a leavening agent, hence packaged goods with it should be consumed or disposed of prior to the start of the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
Here are the two items Bob wants to eliminate from members' homes ( as if any of his African followers would have this):
Calcium Carbonate:
Calcium carbonate occurs in nature as limestone, chalk, marble, dolomite, aragonite, calcite and oyster shells. [NIOSH] Natural calcium carbonate can be found in the minerals calcite and aragonite (limestone, chalk, and marble). [Harber, p. 354] Calcium carbonate is used in the manufacture of quicklime, Portland cement, and paints. Pharmaceutical grades are used in cosmetics, foods, and drugs. [ACGIH] Used in paints, rubber, plastics, ceramics, polishes, inks, pharmaceuticals, adhesives, etc. [CHEMINFO] Used for whiting in glassblowing; [www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/medium.html]
Disodium Phosphate:
Phosphates like disodium phosphate are derived from the element phosphorus. They’re used to enhance food characteristics like nutritional value and cooking performance. Disodium phosphate is used in packaged foods, including macaroni and pastas. It’s also used in some cheeses as an emulsifier. You can also find it in meat products, canned sauces, Jell-O, evaporated milk, and some chocolate.
Originally derived from animal bones and urine, phosphorus is now extracted from phosphate rock. It’s purified and put through chemical reactions.
The COG has always been great about majoring in the minors. looking at the small things and never at the larger picture.
Bob has really stepped into the quicksand with this one. Using his logic for calcium carbonate and disodium phosphate, there are many other popular items that must be avoided, such as xanthan gum (which is a favorite of gluten-free eaters year-round).
ReplyDeleteWhen he isn't playing prophet, Bob claims to be a nutritionist. You would think that he would have known better than to make this new ruling.
So far it looks like disodium phosphate is a disodium pyrophosphate, & only performs leavening IF combined WITH baking powder/sodium bicarbonate. Your cereals & macaronis & zitis might NOT have the sodium bicarbonate needed to be paired WITH the disodium phosphate. ⚗️π¬
Delete"Disodium pyrophosphate is a popular leavening agent found in baking powders. It combines with sodium bicarbonate to release carbon dioxide"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_pyrophosphate#:~:text=Disodium%20pyrophosphate%20is%20a%20popular%20leavening%20agent%20found%20in%20baking%20powders.
And sodium bicarbonate, another name for baking soda, is not always combined with the disodium phosphate :
Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate[9]), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate
...should anyone REALLY dig deep enough to see if disodium phosphate is a disodium pyrophosphate, before they begin baptism counselling?ππππ
Harold Smith used to say it was sinful to use egg whites in baked goods. Jews don't even take it that far.
ReplyDeleteEgg matzo = righteous.
Egg WHITE matzo? Evil!
Do remember, fellow DUB keepers. It is the days of what? Unleavened [BREAD]. One can live the meaning of the week without having to strain at gnats and swallow camels. I know that some go seriously ape when delevening, likely because it is something obvious that they can get their hands on and do to the nines. The idea is to symbolize repentance, and I dont think God has His devine microscope out just waiting to Get you because of some undetectable piece of what just might be leaven that you cannot see but that he can see. If people are going to go ape in deleavening but not change their lives and become more like Jesus our Savior, well then it is better that they don't even keep the DUB in the first place. I know a number of folks in our Living Church Of God groups who deliberately and knowingly live in ways and who do things that would be completely sinful and unacceptable by anyone's standards. they know it. We're not talking about weaknesses here that one overcomes. What they do is deliberate. And yet they deleaven their houses each year, and they scan the packages for just a hint of death-dealing leavening ingredients. Bang Smash Cracker-Crunch Crash! They are worse than the Pharisees. And talk about "Laodiceans", which they call others not of their (our) own COG, and which none of them want to be. Come on fellow LCG'ers. What about "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth"?
ReplyDeleteMatzo Matzo man everyone wants to be a Matzo man…..
ReplyDeleteOh yes, do you remember….YMCA………..great songs ………
I lived in Israel for two years on a kibbutz and experienced Pesach/Passover in the ancient homeland.
What on earth were these flat tasteless ‘boards’ which passed as bread? That was part of the diet for a week. As a non religious and non observant Jewish guy I was amused. We had a small group of Rabbis visiting one day to ensure we were adhering to the rules. I asked an Israeli friend what would happen if something was found that was not kosher and he replied without a blinking an eyelid, ‘we will bribe them, easy’.
That said, even as a non religious kibbutz we did observe Passover with a lovely service in the community dining room, lead by the youth of the kibbutz with readings from Exodus in our native tongue of Hebrew.
It was a happy time indeed. There was a genuine sense of joy and freedom to be felt among the community during these times, in spite of their non religious affiliations.
It seemed that the religious communities were the least happiest ones. Such is the weight of the ‘Law’.
Well said Anon.217. The Days of unleavened bread picture putting something IN--not putting something OUT! The putting out is a biproduct of the putting in.
ReplyDelete"7 days you MUST (put in) eat unleavened bread", Leviticus 23:6.
Christ said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man EAT of this bread (putting something in) he shall live forever", John 6:51.
The reality is, it's the putting in of Christ that accomplishes the putting out of sin. Both come about by FAITH!! John 6:47
It's just too dangerous for COGlodytes to eat during the Feast of Unleavened Bread! I believe it's time to get real, and just fast like the moslems do for Ramadan.
ReplyDeleteCalcium carbonate has proven to be extremely difficult tor me to get rid of, this Passover Season. I had been completely unaware of its presence in all of the concrete on my property. Still, I am so grateful to my spiritual leader, Dr. Thiel for making me aware of it. I'm sure it will turn out to be a blessing somehow. I'm taking a break to post this comment, because my hands were beginning to tingle from the jack hammer. I have most of the walkway next to my home broken up, and about half the swimming pool, and am ready to haul the first load off to the dump. Fortunately, tests proved that the foundation to my home was OK. I don't understand how something so flat could be considered "puffed up", but Dr. Thiel is so much smarter than I, with his two advanced degrees, and his incredible business acumen.
ReplyDeleteOh well. I really don't feel that I'm being overly fanatical. Jesuit priests flagellate themselves with little whips, and some Catholics walk on their knees up flights of stone stairs to their holy places. Devout Hindus and Hare Krishnas use bovine excrement to purify themselves. The cows are their gods, so I understand how dung can be a purifying agent.
Blessings to all, and best wishes for a spiritually enlightening Feast of Unleavened Bread (and concrete this year!).
Bob Thiel is one extreme and the bloggers on here are another. God's word upholds wisdom and discernment as key to survival in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI almost thought one of those 2 new puffers was in my Frankenberry cereal. But I looked at the ingredients closely, & felt relief to find my Frankenberry free of puff'n stuff.
ReplyDeleteNo idea if they're in Count Chocula.
Calcium Carbonate is used as a leavening agent in bread and other baked goods.
ReplyDeletehttps://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/calcium-carbonate/
And apparently Disodium Phosphate is not a leavening agent.
https://foodadditives.net/phosphates/disodium-phosphate/ (at the bottom of the page)
So Bob is batting .500 on this one.
You know, the bible says that they ate unleavened bread because they didn't have time for it to rise. That leads me to think the bread had yeast in it, it just didn't have time to work.
ReplyDeleteThe issue seems to be not that the bread has yeast, or any other leavening agent in it, but rather, is it risen, puffed up?
I've often wondered about flour tortillas. They are flat as flat can be, with no trace of being leavened, but the ingredient list shows yeast. Sorta like the bread the ancient Israelites had as they left Egypt.
Sometimes maybe I think too much.
"So Bob is batting .500 on this one."
ReplyDeleteBob's batting alright, Batty as hell!
Casting out leaven has become the new Circumcison. It is a physical act that has a spiritual meaning. The physical act, in both cases, was implemented by a now obsolete covenant. Paul was in active belligerence with the Circumcision Party over circumcision. His problem was not with the surgical act of circumcision. His problem was with making the surgical act of circumcision a requirement for salvation. Casting out leaven was a reminder of the haste of leaving Egypt - haste in leaving this world and its ways.
ReplyDeleteThink about it. Do you think that Paul really cared that a male infant had a piece of his foresksin removed? There are medical pros and cons. What was alarming to him was that the Circumcision Party was advancing the idea that keeping the Law of Moses, including circumcision, was on the critical path to salvation. Paul was pugnacious about this. He stated, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
It someone purports to you that if you do not deleaven your quarters, you will lose salvation, and you believe this, you have ideologically joined the Circumcision Party and Paul's words above have suddenly become painfully relevant to you. Deleavening your house as a cultural activity, illustrating an aspect of salvation but not required for it, is fine.
Trying to qualify for salvation by zealously attacking everything that paranoia might lead you to believe has some leavening capacity will only separate you from salvation.
I am going to eat some unleavened bread soon because I feel it to be a good reminder of some spiritual concepts. I am not eating it so that I will qualify for (earn) salvation. I recognize that in the New Covenant, Jesus is the Bread of Life not a matzo.
Scout
Back in the day, we used to eat popovers.
ReplyDeleteIt is the feast of unleavened bread - egg whites are not mentioned.
The sticklers say that anything that causes bread to rise is wrong.
In the Gospels, Jesus excoriated the scribes and Pharisees for adding to the Law.
Dear Pastor Boob:
ReplyDeleteMy wife has an ongoing YEAST INFECTION . Can she still take the Passover and keep the days of Unleavened Bread?
Tonto
Connie
DeleteYou are not a man.
Okay, so you could not eat egg whites for seven days. How tragic. Don't you people have something more substantial to criticize the WCG for?
ReplyDeleteya, here's one : Stanley Rader
Deletehere's 2 : Osamu Gotoh
here's 3 : "Evangelist" Roderick C. Meredith A.C. class of 1952
Does Bob tell us whether hydrocloric acid was also added in the doughs to react "with" the calcium carbonate?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.quora.com/What-happens-when-you-add-calcium-carbonate-to-hydrochloric-acid
https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/469-carbonate-chemistry#:~:text=Like%20all%20metal%20carbonates%2C%20calcium,is%20placed%20on%20its%20surface.
https://melscience.com/US-en/articles/calcium-carbonate-and-hydrochloric-acid-and-their-/
No egg whites???
ReplyDeleteSeeing as how Armstrongism is a Millerite/Adventist derivative, Mrs. Egg White (as Uncle Rod used to call her in Bible Class at AC) must be rolling over as she "soul sleeps" in her grave!
Oh well. Got to have me some of that good old Soul! πΌπΈπΉπ₯π·πΊ
Bobby's concerned about carbonates but not about his 15th at even-Deut 16:4 delusion.
ReplyDeleteNo yolk here as one egg white said to the other.
PCG went back and forth on calcium carbonate last year:
ReplyDeletehttps://pcg.church/articles/7195/looking-for-leavening
Some of us finally went to sites like Bakerpedia to settle the matter, since it's "neutral" when it comes to religious interests.
This post led me to check my pantry. Several cans and boxes of pasta with sodium phosphate are going to a Blessing Box this coming week - and out of my home, a week before Days of Unleavened Bread.
ReplyDeleteThis is where the "anti" blogs do a great service! Even if you don't agree with what the ministry does, you're keeping believers updated on what to do. So thank you.
ok but did you check if the cans or pasta contained the "other leavening agents" that must be combined WITH the sodium phosphate before it of itself does any leavening action?
Deletehttps://www.canr.msu.edu/news/digging-deeper-sodium-aluminum-phosphate#:~:text=Sodium%20aluminum%20phosphate%20is%20an,allow%20baked%20goods%20to%20rise.
It's a safe blog overall.
ReplyDeleteThis is just more "straining at gnats" dogma that he has placed into his little group. Unfortunately, the COG has always gone to physical extremes regarding the Passover and The Days of Unleavened Bread. It's always been too much about what we've done or will do.
ReplyDeleteThe emphasis should be on the Father and His Son, not us!
PCG went back and forth on calcium carbonate last year:
ReplyDeleteEven PCG is willing to admit some error. This puts them well ahead of the Butthurt Bitter Bwana, who will no doubt find some way to twist his rash pronouncement and claim that while it is still the truth, his hundred-or-so Caucasian members don't really need to obsess over it.
Well I care for my Catholic dad who loves his bread and eats it daily. So I have to compromise. Hence while I won’t be eating any leavened bread or anything with leaven I will still have to buy it and have it around for him to consume during the FOUB.
ReplyDeleteConnie was a cowboy before she became a woman. I take it you couldn't trace the similarities back that far??? Prior to that, they used their actual name. Literary similarities are like a finger print. If you try hard enough, you can actually distinguish between anonymous posters.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly who Connie is. Try the root cause of this blog. Only existed since 2011.
DeleteWho are you guessing? Bobby or Bill?
DeleteIt might not matter who Connie is. Maybe the 1970s HWA team sparked a serious distaste out here when the booklet "1975 In Prophecy" went haywire.
ReplyDelete(along with wondering how a pious Philadelphian church could use goons like Stanley Rader, Osamu Gotoh, or to fuss at laity using meds & docs while their Pastor General used it all regularly as he aged like anyone else does).