Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Great post here. Acts 15, the Jerusalem council, surely is an acute embarrassment to Armstrongism. And this ‘picture post’ sums it up rather nicely. We are saved by grace and that through faith and that of ourselves, it is a gift of God. If ya want to observe the Sabbath not eat unclean meats etc etc etc go for it. I do. But it is not a requirement of salvation, of that the scripture is abundantly clear. What freedom we have.
130 The sabbath and unclean meats NEVER were requirements for salvation. That's not the role of the law. Enjoy your freedom but never forget that God is not mocked!
I find the approach of "what is required for salvation?" an odd way to look at God's will, our goal to live by God's holiness, our love of God. It would be likewise odd for my children to say to me "what is required for me to get free food and board?" It would not be a good way to approach our family relationship.
Why is it always bacon? The cheapest cut of the cheapest meat with preservatives and salt making it the well known meat of chavs.
But of course that's really getting one over on the memory of Herbert who eat the best of the best for 50 years. I even heard Garner Ted myself admit in a sermon in 80s how "..My father lived to his ripe old age because he had the best money could buy."
6:28:29 There are a lot of things not relating to "salvation" that could be beneficial if you did them and potentially harmful if you don't. You (not Armstrongism) are responsible for your choices.
Choose wisely and consider the excellent comment at 8:17:10.
Great meme. So many hide behind "new covenant" thinking it will save them from a life of ignoring God's instructions. They don't realize that the "new covenant" is simply a new agreement (contract) about the same law as the old covenant, with better promises for a higher level of obedience.
The thinking goes somewhat like this: Man violated God's law therefore Christ came to suffer and die so that man can continue to violate God's law with no consequences.
I got a speeding ticket, Christ came and paid the fine for me so now I can speed all I want without having to worry about getting another ticket.
I murdered a guy and Christ went to prison for me so now I can murder all I want without worrying about going to prison.
"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; - Hebrews 5:9........a new covenant.... - Hebrews 8:8........I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" - Heb 8:10
While I attended services, I did not experience God's laws in the minds and hearts of members and ministers. God can create the opportunity, but ultimately it's each person's choice to embrace or not embrace God's way.
Personally, I get a headache when I smell the neighbors grilling pork or cooking bacon. Unclean meats make me sick. There are several other ways in which I self-identify as a Jew, and I don't think it's harmful to myself or others. At this point it's culture, not even religion.
Yep, just walk down the aisle and "accept Jesus", get dunked in the tank and you're covered for life no matter what you do. (and if you're Catholic be sure to confess your sins to a priest on a regular basis, just to keep the forgiveness topped up)
To qualify for salvation you must live a perfect life. One sin disqualifies us from salvation. No one but Jesus has lived a perfect life. No amount of law keeping can qualify us. It is the grace of God that qualifies us. Sin is no longer the issue when it comes to salvation. The law keepers will say, "so we can sin and sin and sin as much as we want and we still will have salvation?" The answer is "yes". So, what is new? While in the WCG that seemed to be what people did pre-1995. Humans tend to sin and sin and sin no matter what they believe.
Cog members always say easy grace and now "easy beliefism". This thoroughly diminishes the miracle of belief and cheapens grace. I wouldn't want to do that.
I do however feel comfortable using the term "easy works" because works do not save, only grace and belief do. For cog members easy works is basically just warming a seat on Saturday instead of Sunday and warming seats several more times in the year while going on a "vacation" with friends each year. And, don't eat pork. Now, that is EASY as pie. A Stoic could do this in his sleep. You don't have to be concerned about anyone on the planet because "it is not their time yet". You can have weaknesses but that's okay as long as you show up on saturday. The definition of easy religion.
Further, millions of Christians exhibit more generosity and character than the cog members I have known (generally cog members are a well-behaved group, but so are most committed Christians). So grace doesn't mean sin sin sin any more than your easy religion (maybe less as we all know of hwa's sins and others). As an aside, saying "it is not their time yet" does affect your heart and love towards others. Think about it; it can't but do that. I recognized this in myself after having been a more caring and generous person previous to WCG. But, since WCG I have made some strides.
Well, I wonder if they're all still vigorously doing their calisthenics as an antidote to homosexuality. After all, that was the faith once delivered by Rod Meredith!
Great post here.
ReplyDeleteActs 15, the Jerusalem council, surely is an acute embarrassment to Armstrongism. And this ‘picture post’ sums it up rather nicely.
We are saved by grace and that through faith and that of ourselves, it is a gift of God.
If ya want to observe the Sabbath not eat unclean meats etc etc etc go for it.
I do. But it is not a requirement of salvation, of that the scripture is abundantly clear. What freedom we have.
That is a hilarious caption.
ReplyDelete130
ReplyDeleteThe sabbath and unclean meats NEVER were requirements for salvation. That's not the role of the law. Enjoy your freedom but never forget that God is not mocked!
If the sabbath and unclean meats are NOT requirements for salvation, how can God be mocked? Armstrongism has never made any sense.
DeleteI find the approach of "what is required for salvation?" an odd way to look at God's will, our goal to live by God's holiness, our love of God. It would be likewise odd for my children to say to me "what is required for me to get free food and board?" It would not be a good way to approach our family relationship.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it always bacon? The cheapest cut of the cheapest meat with preservatives and salt making it the well known meat of chavs.
ReplyDeleteBut of course that's really getting one over on the memory of Herbert who eat the best of the best for 50 years.
I even heard Garner Ted myself admit in a sermon in 80s how "..My father lived to his ripe old age because he had the best money could buy."
6:28:29
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of things not relating to "salvation" that could be beneficial if you did them and potentially harmful if you don't. You (not Armstrongism) are responsible for your choices.
Choose wisely and consider the excellent comment at 8:17:10.
Great meme. So many hide behind "new covenant" thinking it will save them from a life of ignoring God's instructions. They don't realize that the "new covenant" is simply a new agreement (contract) about the same law as the old covenant, with better promises for a higher level of obedience.
ReplyDeleteThe thinking goes somewhat like this: Man violated God's law therefore Christ came to suffer and die so that man can continue to violate God's law with no consequences.
I got a speeding ticket, Christ came and paid the fine for me so now I can speed all I want without having to worry about getting another ticket.
I murdered a guy and Christ went to prison for me so now I can murder all I want without worrying about going to prison.
Yep, makes perfect sense! /s
ReplyDelete"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; - Hebrews 5:9........a new covenant.... - Hebrews 8:8........I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" - Heb 8:10
While I attended services, I did not experience God's laws in the minds and hearts of members and ministers. God can create the opportunity, but ultimately it's each person's choice to embrace or not embrace God's way.
DeleteYou easy-beliefism-ists.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I get a headache when I smell the neighbors grilling pork or cooking bacon. Unclean meats make me sick.
ReplyDeleteThere are several other ways in which I self-identify as a Jew, and I don't think it's harmful to myself or others. At this point it's culture, not even religion.
"You easy-beliefism-ists."
ReplyDeleteYep, just walk down the aisle and "accept Jesus", get dunked in the tank and you're covered for life no matter what you do. (and if you're Catholic be sure to confess your sins to a priest on a regular basis, just to keep the forgiveness topped up)
To qualify for salvation you must live a perfect life. One sin disqualifies us from salvation. No one but Jesus has lived a perfect life. No amount of law keeping can qualify us. It is the grace of God that qualifies us. Sin is no longer the issue when it comes to salvation. The law keepers will say, "so we can sin and sin and sin as much as we want and we still will have salvation?" The answer is "yes". So, what is new? While in the WCG that seemed to be what people did pre-1995. Humans tend to sin and sin and sin no matter what they believe.
ReplyDeleteWow I thought this as an anti-COG site. This thread sorta blew up in your face.
ReplyDeleteAs Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) would say "that didn't pan out".
Cog members always say easy grace and now "easy beliefism". This thoroughly diminishes the miracle of belief and cheapens grace. I wouldn't want to do that.
ReplyDeleteI do however feel comfortable using the term "easy works" because works do not save, only grace and belief do. For cog members easy works is basically just warming a seat on Saturday instead of Sunday and warming seats several more times in the year while going on a "vacation" with friends each year. And, don't eat pork. Now, that is EASY as pie. A Stoic could do this in his sleep. You don't have to be concerned about anyone on the planet because "it is not their time yet". You can have weaknesses but that's okay as long as you show up on saturday. The definition of easy religion.
Further, millions of Christians exhibit more generosity and character than the cog members I have known (generally cog members are a well-behaved group, but so are most committed Christians). So grace doesn't mean sin sin sin any more than your easy religion (maybe less as we all know of hwa's sins and others). As an aside, saying "it is not their time yet" does affect your heart and love towards others. Think about it; it can't but do that. I recognized this in myself after having been a more caring and generous person previous to WCG. But, since WCG I have made some strides.
Well, I wonder if they're all still vigorously doing their calisthenics as an antidote to homosexuality. After all, that was the faith once delivered by Rod Meredith!
ReplyDelete