For decades now the Armstrongist splinter groups all proclaim they have restored the TRUE government of God which apparently is the only reason Jesus came back to earth. HWA thundered it from the pulpit and in his articles. The splinter groups proclaim it, especially the most rabid diehards like Thiel, Pack, and Flurry. Even the most liberal loosey-goosey COGs claim they too are practicing true restored church government.
This has thrown the One True Restored Worldwide Kitchen Church of God in a major Jezebel fit. They are sick and tired of the harlots running around claiming to be the restored truth in whom God's favor rests.
These splinters are nothing more than dirty harlots! Bad girls!
The Kitchen COG starts off by calling out all the COG groups as dirty little harlots:
Many, have developed their own churches, their own groups, and works, and organizations, and projects, over similar disputes, and once you join with a harlot, are you not one flesh with the harlot?
If a harlot takes you to court, they remain a harlot until they repent. But you suffer the wrong, and do what is right. This is the case concerning the Worldwide Church of God.
The solution to this is NOT becoming a harlot yourself, and seeking an incorporation of a new church.
This is what was chosen by some, and must be repented of!
That is what led to the starting of new groups! But the Mother of Harlots begets children of harlotry!
All of those bad girls caused this:
And so the result of harlotry, was more children were born out of the harlotry! More churches, more splinters. Now, each of those children will adhere to the teaching that the WCG became “apostate” and was destroyed.
What was destroyed was physical. The organization was destroyed, and the membership was DISPLACED
So what happened to all of these harlot COG groups? They lost the TRUE church government that was restored on this earth by Herbert Armstrong himself!
Considering what a hellhole the original Worldwide Church of God was with its wide-scale corruption and its adulterous leadership that wallowed in mammon and all kinds of perversions, it's a pretty big stretch to claim this was God's true government restored on earth through the WCG. The WCG was filled with adulterers, rapists, pedophiles, thieves, stalkers, and even murderers. I do not think any of these things are part of a godly government, do you?
The One True Restored Worldwide Kitchen Church of God claims this about church government:
But when it comes to how the true Church of God is ORGANIZED spiritually, what we have is the Worldwide Church of God! It is here Jesus Christ used His apostle Herbert W Armstrong to restore the government of God and the organization of the spiritual Body of Christ!
This is what is being omitted today by many.
They want to be organized some other way, and falsely claiming that they have authorization to make the changes!
And so while they have the appearance of holding fast to the name of God’s Church, they are holding fast to THEIR FORM of the Church of God.
Jesus Christ said in His Word, that if the world hated him, they would also hate us. And concerning the apostles, if the hearers would not obey Christ, they would not obey those whom He sends. They too would be rejected.
And also, if one claims to know Jesus Christ, yet doesn’t keep the commandments of God, is found to be a liar! That means obedience to Christ’s servants falls under the first four of the Ten Commandments! Obedience towards God!
Everyone outside the One True Restored Worldwide Kitchen Church of God are commandment breakers and refuse to be under church government! Bad sinners!
What has happened, is some have gone out of the church with disagreement on how the church is to be organized. They are telling Hod (sic), essentially, that they want to be the Church of God, on their own terms.
Another terms is a change in the gospel message!
They are teaching that their terms, is what will lead them and their followers into the Kingdom of God! That God will accept them with those terms!
But the Word of God is clear! They will be barred entry!
We cannot dictate to God our own terms and conditions to enter into his Kingdom!
The new covenant was brought by Jesus Christ!
The gospel of the Kingdom of God is not only a proclamation that the Kingdom of God will be restored to this earth at the return of Jesus Christ, but it also is the terms and conditions of the marriage contract and how one may enter into the Kingdom of God!
And so the use of the name of God’s Church, by these cog groups, which is named after the name of God, is in VAIN! It breaks the ten commandments and makes them LIARS!
All because they rejected Christs direction and Lordship through His apostle Herbert W Armstrong! They do not value the structure aka temple that Christ organized His Body into!
So we see a picture described in Haggai and Zechariah.
The ministry has been taken into Babylon, and they have their own ceiled houses(their own groups) while the house of God(Worldwide Church of God)lays in ruins!
Everyone needs to get on their knees, repent, and join the One True Restored Worldwide Kitchen Church of God NOW! Your salvation depends upon it! Oh, and it would be great if you brought your saved tithe money along with you.
Maybe before blowing his stack at harlot church splinter-offs & pasting feminine labels on ones that don't interest or enthrall him, Sam could sample & partake bible lessons from Bette Davis's daughter, Ms. B.D. Hyman.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/ahpxhq6a8VI?feature=shared
C'mon, simmer down Bro. Sam. Aren't there enough "mantles" going around a-plenty out there without you too making a mad dash for one in the smash-&-grab flash mob currently in COG-dom/splinter-dom?
So... WCG became the Whore of Babylon, Mother of Harlots? Is that where this is going? Because that really makes their eschatological views even more interesting.
ReplyDeleteSimilar pattern could be applied to CG7. Or SDA. Once upon a Time in Armstrongism, “Church government” was the big baddie “Mark.” That was when Armstrong needed to be independent. Once he built his cult, it flipped.
DeleteThere's the old classic time-travel movie question: "What would old you tell young you if you ever met up."
ReplyDeleteI'd hit on the good (to accentuate) and the bad (to repudiate). Original Radio and then Worldwide Church of God presented so many non-mainstream concepts, that they actually succeeded in teaching me to be an abstract thinker. However, they taught an oxymoronic version of abstract thinking, one in which the abstract is constructed in such a way that it simply becomes a new form of black and white thinking. Open your mind to that, and lock it in as the total answer or solution. Don't seek out second opinions, and don't get into a bad attitude and rebel against what "God's ministers" have taught you.
So if old me had an opportunity to advise young me in one succinct sentence, it would be "You'll do much better in life if you rebel even more forcefully against spiritual motherf#ckers who claim to have all the answers!"
Church Government...ugh , I remember hearing those bullshit sermons ad nauseam back in the late seventies after HWA had his purge. Anyone who starts shoveling out nonsense about church government is guaranteed to be a 100% jerk & charlatan.
ReplyDeleteExactly. My last minister followed me like a dog. He was my resident critic, judge, jury and executioner. This was Herb's true "church government." They didn't dare articulate this from the pulpit, so it was taught via the ministers behavior. Welcome to Orwell's 1984. And when the church unsurprisingly fell apart, the culprit/whipping-boy was Joe Tkach rather than the toxic church culture.
DeleteIf true then he was either jealous of some aspect you are, earned or own. Or another darker reason...
DeleteAs I often point out, the more Armstrongism leans on “church, government,” the bigger the vulnerability from pointing out that they can’t trace their history. No organizational or ordinational lineage back to the original apostles. Throw in example of Ezra 2/Nehemiah 7, and regardless of government FORM, they have no claim according to their own doctrine.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting thought Anon1209. Would the COGs be weaker today if there had been no joe tkach? Would the weight of their hypocrisy and hierarchy mixed with the investigative power of the internet have more thoroughly exposed the corruption and false doctrine of the WCG? Maybe. UCG as an example rode the joe Tkach train for a good 10 years before they started their split to then precipitate Cogwa 5 more years later in 2010. Both groups during their ministerial meeting and conventions spoke how wonderful it was to be with people of like mind. That carried them forward for some years as well. Throw in the disruption of covid and we come to today. Will there be more splits or will the false doctrine and hypocrisy finally be seen by its remaining members and Armstrongism finally crumble away?
ReplyDeleteIn a perverse sort of way, I believe that Joe made certain segments of Armstrongism stronger, because he gave them something to fight against. He presented a totally new perspective with such excellent documentation that it forced members to go back and restudy what HWA had give them, the ol' bias confirmation kicked in, and they rejected the new materials without even making any sort of comparative study.
ReplyDeleteKilling a cult is nearly impossible. We're witnessing that on a much grander scale in another arena every day, in which people embrace and spread material that has been proven to be 100% deliberately fabricated lies, and as it was in the old WCG, it's all about power!