Why is it that so many in the church of God desire persecution and martyrdom? Millions of Christians have died in the faith through the centuries who were never part of the so-called Church of God movement. Armstrongists make a point of devaluing their faith as illegitimate or deceived. The only true faith is an Armstrongist church which will soon be persecuted for holding on to the truth. Never has as a church been picked on as much as those with Armstrongist ties. In their eyes, it will only get worse.
Samuel Kitchen has taken this belief to the extreme. He has no followers, other than a 3 or 4 who pay some lip service now and again. Yet, he and his Worldwide Church of God will soon be persecuted so much that he will need to head off to Jerusalem where he will back up the two witless witnesses, Bob Thiel and Ron Weinland. If Bob misses the plane because he had interpreted scripture wrong then it will be Ron and his looney wife Laura.
Satan is going to be ANGRY!
Those of us who have been called and are part of the body of Christ, must obey God, and suffer wrong, suffer persecution and even martyrdom for Christ’s namesake.Satan will use any of us, if we are OFF THE TRACK and in some other condition.By looking back at what was taught and remembering, and relearning, we can work together to become Philadelphian in condition, and qualify. By setting this example we are giving a witness. The Worldwide Church of God and our work, is under attack. Our work may end by the beast power ordering us to shut down, but we will immediately move to Jerusalem and the two witnesses will have our support.People are too busy looking at these groups, when we are to be coming out of them and setting the right example. That is our work in support of the gospel being preached through the archived works of Herbert W Armstrong and the ministry that was there with him.If you are off track… REPENT and let’s refocusing our energies and direction to become more like Jesus Christ, more Philadelphian, and more like the Worldwide Church of God.In Christ’s name,Samuel W Kitchen
The Worldwide Church of God was spit out by God close to 3 decades ago. It is not and never will be revived.
ReplyDeleteThis graphic on the post is spot on! Everything is a trigger for Armstrongites and yet here we are almost 40 years after Herbert's death and no one has had to flee to Petra.
ReplyDeleteOr the WCG was spued out 4.5 decades or so ago when Herb was emphasizing his "apostleship".
ReplyDeleteThere are mental health professionals in Jerusalem who are well trained to handle people like the Kitchens. It might be best for them if they go there and get the involuntary help they truly need.
ReplyDeleteThis poor man almost makes Bob Thiel look good!
ReplyDeleteThere is something really strange about Millerism. It drives people to believe that they are “in the moment” regarding scripture. I remember when I got baptized in a small town in the Midwest by a WCG minister, there were other people present. One middle-aged lady with her elderly parents was waiting for baptism. She posed a question to the little waiting group, “Do you know where Hebert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong are mentioned in the Bible?” My reaction was electric. I was fascinated Someone said “No” and she went on to explain that they were the Two Witnesses mentioned in Revelation.
ReplyDeleteOne of the phenomena that rises to the surface in cults repeatedly is their ability to see themselves in the Bible. They are active participants in its prophetic scenarios. Millerite David Kresh saw the Branch Davidians as actors in the end time prophecies. And for the Branch Davidians that came true. But it wasn’t the apocalypse for anyone else. The Essenes were an apocalyptic sect and were waiting patiently for the prophesied war with the Romans. They got their war. The Qumran Community was destroyed by the Romans in the First Jewish-Roman War. The Essenes disappeared and were never heard from again. What I am saying is that historically the global end-time prophecies of the apocalyptics don’t happen. But small local apocalypses happened to some of the odd-ball sects like the Branch Davidians, their cousin organization, the WCG and anciently the Essenes. Maybe wanting to find yourself in the Bible is a little presumptuous and not a good thing. Maybe this desire is correlated with a cultism that always turns out to be a precursor to destruction.
The truth is, the global powers are not interested in a little odd-ball, neo-Millerite sect.
Scout
Scout,
DeleteWonderful insights by By NeoDromos and thanks for the link. And I agree with most of the commentary For instance, Armstrongism teaches that the woman in Revelations 12:1-3 is the church. When it’s not, as the woman represents Israel with its symbolism that correlates to Genesis 37:9 (12 tribes of Israel). This also correlates to Romans 9:4-5. The woman (Israel) gives birth to the Child Christ. The Church or New Testament Church can’t possibly give birth to Christ (That would be in reverse). And John recording Revelations is receiving the prophecy in the 90’s AD, the Roman sieges of Judea/Israel had occurred in 70 AD and that was their version of the great tribulation. And some of it is related to this chapter.
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman (Judea/Israel nation), and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring (Jewish Church/Church), who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Two distinct groups
Satan went to make war with the woman (Jewish/Israel nation) and to persecute the Church in the first century after the Roman/Titus siege. Those in Judea were to flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:16)
I looked at a few commentaries and only a couple have it right. The Cambridge Bible for Schools & Colleges and the Expositor's Greek Testament had it more aligned with the woman being Israel.
I love this quote from the Expositor’s Greek Testament concerning the woman:
“The prophet views the national history of Israel as a long preparation for the anguish and woe out of which the messiah was to come.”
This is the starting point, if you get the woman wrong, then your resolution fails.
Thanks Scout!!!
If you want to know what persecution is …talk to the suffering women of Afghanistan. Talk to those poor souls languishing in the North Korean gulags.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Kurds of the Middle East. The Christian minorities of the ME. The Muslim minorities of Myanmar/Burma etc etc.
The list is endless. Armstrongism flourished in a golden age of western liberalism where freedom was taken as a given. And now this movement is dying a slow death, but suffering from persecution? Yeah well I have a bridge in San Francisco for sale……
Exactly! The pissants like Thiel, Flurry, and Weinland cry about persecution yet not a single one of them has ever been persecuted. They are just privileged white men basking in the glory they covet being church leaders. None of them have ever suffered for their beliefs nor ever will, yet they cry like stuck pigs at the slightest insult or tv cancelation as a sure sign of the famine of the word. Their messages are garbage that is unfit for human consumption.
DeleteI did not mention Dave Pack because he has had no outside "witness" to the world ever since he shut down his TV studios, so there really is no message he can be persecuted for. Mocked yes, but self-induced mockery is not persecution.
DeleteThe WWCG claimed that their church is spiritual Israel with the Anglo-Saxons being physical Israel. Since God spewed the Church out of His mouth, America and England will follow. These countries will become third world no-bodies. John is right in this case. Time will definitely tell.
ReplyDeleteYea HWA should have focused on "the big picture." But they didn't, they created a fear mongering religion focusing on physical Israel.as the forefront.
DeleteFleeing to one of the most dangerous places on earth for safety is like going to hell to cool off.
ReplyDeleteI'm checking out British Columbia. You have to listen to EVERYTHING certain people are saying, not just the parts of their agenda with which you happen to agree!.
DeleteI was watching a newer Netflix series yesterday about the "7M" Tiktok dancers group/Shekinah Church. Nice and short, at only three episodes. It was OK, but I was howling during the first ep as the "expert" one family hired in trying to make contact with their 7M daughter gave some really bad ideas for dealing with people in these kind of groups...
ReplyDeleteThe narrative from Neo about the Tribulation has already taken place: I agree with some of it (70 AD) while other portions I am not “yet” sold on. However there is a difference between the tribulation, heavenly signs and the Day of the Lord so it’s important not to confuse the three. But concerning the Tribulation taken place that occurred in 70 AD, I was thinking about connecting the dots towards the 144,000 and the verse that states that they came out of great tribulation (Revelation 7:14).
ReplyDeleteOkay bear with me: It doesn’t seem plausible that say you’re the LCG (who believe that they are the one true church), to have 12,000 jews (who are Christians) in their organization, 12,000 Reubenites (French descended) members in their organization, 12,000 from each tribe and so on that will go through the Great Tribulation (if one believes it’s future). This splinter group may have only 12,000 members total. Or perhaps God & Christ are more open minded than that and may consider other people who are not in one specific splinter group as true christians since one group can’t fulfill their attendance on their christian census.
But if the 144,000 is not a spiritual symbolism of Israel that is converted at the end time (which some believe), what if it represented a christian census that took place around 70 AD? Consider the inhabitants after Judah’s return from captivity and these verses in which some are Israelites
Nehemiah 11:3-4 These are the heads of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem. (But in the cities of Judah everyone dwelt in his own possession in their cities—Israelites, priests, Levites, Nethinim, and descendants of Solomon’s servants.) Also in Jerusalem dwelt some of the children of Judah and of the children of Benjamin.
1 Chronicles 9:2-3 And the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and the Nethinim. Now in Jerusalem the children of Judah dwelt, and some of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh:
Luke 2:36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
So what if by the time of Ezra & Nehemiah (everybody that could have returned after the captivity) up to the birth of Christ up to 70 AD, you would have enough population from each tribe to eventually be a Christian and they went through their tribulation forty years after the holy spirit was given. I mean what we find in the Gospels and Acts, or other letters is: identifying people along with their tribe, like Paul being a Benjaminite or Barnabas (Joses) being a Levite. However Revelation 7:1-4 the verbiage sounds like a sealing that takes place in the future and not something that took place in the past.
However, when looking at Luke’s version of the olivet Prophecy: Luke 21:20-24 the tribulation seems to be focused on a 70 AD perspective, then the heavenly signs happen after verse 24. I will be studying more if willing.
''That is our work in support of the gospel being preached through the archived works of Herbert W Armstrong and the ministry that was there with him..''
ReplyDeleteA weird way to preach the gospel - Armstrong's gospel is bunkum based on fake prophecies
''In Christ’s name,
ReplyDeleteSamuel W Kitchen''
thinking about this it becomes a form of blasphemy in my view to be falsely attaching Christ's name to these ridiculous affairs of men of which we read in these Posts.
"Our work may end by the beast power ordering us to shut down, but we will immediately move to Jerusalem and the two witnesses will have our support."
ReplyDeleteOkay, but what if the two witnesses don't support HWA archival work. What if those two witnesses have nothing to do with your organization or Armstrongism. Be careful, because whatever they say comes to pass, unlike the failed prophesies of Armstrongism.