Who should you place your identity in today? Should it be in a physical church? A so-called spiritual one? Or, in the One you should be placing your identity in?
Samuel Kitchen says it should be IN the Worldwide Church of God. He writes:
The Holy Spirit distinguishes the Worldwide Church of God from all other peoples.
If someone is called of God, receives the Holy Spirit of God, the more they walk by the Word of God the more they look like the Worldwide Church of God!
Eventually they will have to accept the fact that their identity is the Worldwide Church of God aka the true Church of God.
And I think that is what is being suppressed in these church groups! The ability to finally come into the full identity of the Worldwide Church of God.
If you attend with these other churches, you can’t wholly take on the identity of the true Church of God. Because the more obey the word of God, the more you run head on into the government of God. The Worldwide Church of God only has the government of God.
The more families and people submit God’s will and government the more they become The Worldwide Church of God .
And the more you obey God the more you have to separate away from that which is not of God! Come out of her my people!
Obey God no matter where you are!
People have joined with these cog groups saying this other church has people obeying God.
My family was shown how the idea of a second church is heresy. And since not one of the cog groups have continued with 100% of what was learned by the members of the Worldwide Church of God, but only parts of it, we are commanded to avoid those groups! To hold fast!
This has led us to proclaim the continued existence of the Worldwide Church of God as a spiritual body!
It also has led me to warn brethren about departures from God and His Truth and against heresies. This is the Laodicean warning! Don’t become lukewarm or indifferent to what God says in His Word!
You won’t slide into the Kingdom of God! You won’t be protected by mingling with other people! You have to WALK according to Gods Word!
The more we do, the more Satan gets angry. Because he thought by destroying the human organization for the Work would destroy the church! But if you are in another church obey God! If you are in jail, obey God! Wherever you are obey God!
Then God will gather his flock. You just have to obey God and not get caught up among the sifting machine Satan is using against you!
After reading this bullshit, it is no wonder the Church of God today is an extreme mess of idiocy and utter blasphemy. Any Christian, even a nominal one, recognizes their identity is in Jesus Christ and NOT in any physical, "spiritual" church or some gelatinous slimy thing they love to call the spiritual organism. Their identity is in The ONE.
They know this because because of how God sees his children:
You Are Loved
In Christ, you are loved. You were created with a purpose. You are not just a convenient carbon copy of someone else. You were created uniquely and with intention. God lovingly designed every detail of your person. Can you imagine the love involved with that intricate design?
You Are Chosen
In Christ, you are not only loved but chosen. God sent His own Son to earth to die in your place so that you could be included in His family.
God was not obligated to choose you based on your performance or credentials. He chose to carry out an intricate plan that involved the death of His own perfect Son, which allowed you the opportunity to be a child of God.
You are no mistake. You are chosen and wanted.
You Are Forgiven
In order to be counted a child of the perfect Father, you had to be free of sin — that is, you had to be perfect with regard to doing right and not doing wrong. That is a tall order considering no one but Jesus was or is perfect and no one can attain perfection by their own effort.
However, because Jesus, who was without sin, died the death you should have on the cross, you can be forgiven of sin. What you’ve done wrong is not counted against you, and all that Christ did right is counted for you. This forgiveness allows you to be considered a child of God.
Therefore, in God’s eyes, if you have accepted what Jesus did for you, you are completely forgiven. From His perspective, you are without sin. It’s not that you won’t sin, but when He looks at you, He calls you forgiven. That is something on which you can build your identity.
You Are Redeemed
What does your forgiveness mean? You are redeemed — that is, Christ’s sacrifice has bought you back from the forces of sin and evil that once owned and controlled you and made you His.
When God looks at you, He does not see a former sinner. He does not see you in light of who you once were. He sees you as redeemed: a new creation that has been made whole.
You do not have to define yourself in light of your past mistakes. God does not do that. You can walk in the identity of someone who is made new in Christ.
You Are Adopted
What does it mean to be considered a child of God? It means that you have been adopted into His family. You are considered a legitimate child of the God of the universe, having all the rights and standing of Jesus His Son.
God sees you as a cherished child who bears His name. Just as earthly adoption is a legally binding process that names you a permanent part of a family, heavenly adoption is just as permanent and binding. You are His child, and He will never take that away. Your Identity in Christ: How God Sees You
Our identity is not in the Worldwide Church of God or that creepy thing they call the spiritual organism. It is most certainly not in the Worldwide Church of God, Herbert Armstrong, Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, or ANY other COG leader.
It also is NOT our identity to be abused by church government under Armstrongism. This perverse teaching has led us down the rabbit hole to the spiraling mess the COG is in today with its various apostate and heretical leaders. Armstrongite church government has allowed abuse to rob people of their literal lives. Armstrongite church government robs people of a deep spiritual connection to Jesus.
9 comments:
Before 1968, it wasn't even the Worldwide Church of God. The Kitchen family must have come in after 1968, and have no idea that for the first 34 years of HWA's ministry it was the Radio Church of God. HWA himself didn't get buggy about one true name for a Church of God, so the Kitchens look awfully foolish and seem not to realize that they are in effect attacking HWA with their weird WCG obsession.
YES! Our identity is in Jesus the Christ - period! He is the One who makes it possible for us to be a part of the ekklesia (the body of Christ) and God's family! Jesus is the One who allows us to be reconciled to the Father and stand before him whole and clean. Unfortunately, Jesus has never been at the center of Armstrongism - NEVER! They grope around in the darkness, because they have never seen or known the light!
''The Holy Spirit distinguishes the Worldwide Church of God from all other peoples. If someone is called of God, receives the Holy Spirit of God, the more they walk by the Word of God the more they look like the Worldwide Church of God!''
this presumptuousness about the ways of the Holy Spirit ranks in my view as a certain kind of blasphemy/
Yes indeed Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix,
Christ is our identity, our home our abode.
Everything else is secondary.
Saying these few words is a revolutionary concept to some within the confines of Armstrongism. But not to Paul. But but but but……………..I hear some say…………
Appreciate these loving caring words No2HWA
One's safest identity in life is just your own and with yourself. Aligning one's identity with anything or anyone else is very risky. It's all very emotional and cozy to say, "My identity is in Jesus or in Christ", but which one? Whose version? Can you be sure the story is accurate? Are you sure it was not written for reasons aligned with the ones one thinks it was? With faith being belief without evidence, but rather a hope something is true, be careful out there Just be yourself. That is enough. Not to mention you were probably born right the first time. :)
Ron Dart had a very insightful message into this phenomenon entitled "Faith in a Box". I highly recommend it. When you move further away from Christ, you tend to move closer to a set of doctrines, men, and organizations. Because you are unwilling to let go of Christ, you mold Him to fit your box.
I think you are correct. However, we can do the best we can by working to act in Jesus' valence!
Sam Kitchen tells us that: "...You won’t slide into the Kingdom of God! ..."
Sam, what's wrong with sliding into the Kingdom?
Jesus Christ said: "...Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" Matthew 25:34
The Father has already determined that a whole bunch of sheep/people will inherit the kingdom and it was already "set in stone" from the foundation of the world. Who will change the Father's mind on that? That sounds like someone will be sliding into a prepared kingdom.
Did the Father lie? Did His Son lie to us?
What else has been prepared? Something is going into everlasting fire!
Again, more of Jesus' words; He will someday say to Satan and his angels/goats: "...Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" Matthew 25:41, 46
But, Sam, HWA taught us that spirit beings cannot die, cease existence, and the former WCG taught that. The Bible doesn't provide back-up, because it admits that Someone is going to slay the dragon (Isaiah 27:1), and we know who the dragon represents. According to Ezekiel 28:19 that thing will one day cease existence.
And you, Sam, desire we "blindly" follow doctines of HWA and the former WCG organization?
But, Sam, you think you are going to do something to qualify to be in the kingdom of God, because you think people won't "slide in," but time will tell.
The former WCG taught John 6:44 about those who would eventually be drawn/dragged into the kingdom via the completion of the first resurrection. And the former WCG taught John 12:32 where "the rest" would be drawn/dragged into the kingdom via a second resurrection, because God and His Son will not lose one! God is giving all of us to His Son, who won't lose one, but Satan and his angels will eventually be taken and destroyed.
Will some slide into the kingdom of God, while others slide into the everlasting fire? Time will tell.
The apostle Paul was inspired to tell us this: "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Cor 5:19
Sam, God must be running a different plan of salvation from what you believe, because God intends to reconcile the entire world, and not impute trespasses to the world (which includes Christians and non-Christians); the entire world.
Will God accomplish all of that by Christ our Passover sacrificed for us? Is that enough to allow us to slide into God's kingdom, or is there more?
Sam, how about your own trespasses? Wouldn't you like God to not impute your trespasses to you.......and to this entire currently trespasses-filled world? Does grace ring a bell with you there in your "kitchen," and will it "ring a bell" in all of our kitchens, too, some day? You can't earn it, and you'll never impress God enough to qualify to be in His kingdom.
Does God require the entire world to follow you, and your version of HWA/WCG, in order to be in the kingdom of God? That is ridiculous, but...
Time will tell...
John
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