Did God Strike Down Radio Network Owner When He Canceled The Great Bwana's Radio Program?

Check this out from the Great Bwana. 

His magical god was working hard to punish the Wilkins Radio Network for daring to cancel the Great Bwana to Africa's radio program. The son of the owner has repented and is asking the Great Bwana to come back and continue to broadcast his heresies.

Radio

Speaking of name calling, last Summer a former disgruntled WCG member wrote a radio network (Wilkins) we were on and basically told them since we did not accept the Trinity of Emperor Theodosius of the 4th century, they should not broadcast our program. That network succumbed to that.

Interestingly, the owner of that network died in May. The new owner, which is his son Jacob, contacted me several times this week and has asked us to come back on their radio stations. He said that their own internal review of our program had been positive and we should not have been cancelled. He also said he would not listen to negative or name callers against us should any contact them again.

When we spoke on Tuesday, I said I had interest, but needed to see whether we could afford to add them back as we replaced their network with others, plus have had to deal with expenses related to issues in Rwanda. Yesterday, Jacob Wilkins sent a proposal to go on some of their stations, which I am considering. Please pray about whether or not to go through this radio door that looks to be opened to us again.

 

Crackpot Prophet Blows A Gasket Being Called A Cult! Oh, Noes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Our resident self-appointed prophet to the last days Church of God movement isn't having a pleasant weekend, though this is nothing new since EVERYTHING in this world ticks off the beleaguered prophet.

Today, he has taken major umbrage on people calling his little group a cult and him a cult leader.

Cults and other Name Calling
What is a cult? What is a heretic? If the Continuing Church of God holds to the original faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) can it be a heretical cult? Was the Apostle Paul accused of being the ringleader of a cult? Did Jesus warn that people would insult His faithful followers? Do scholars teach that the Greco-Roman Catholic churches have or do not have the teachings of the first two centuries of the Christian church era? Does the ‘Parable of the Sower,’ recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospel accounts warn that Satan the Devil will try to sway people away from the true faith? Was the original church trinitarian? Was the trinity formally adopted by the Council of Constantinople called by Emperor Theodosius in 381 according to the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’? Were early Christians actually binitarian (semi-Arian)? Should doctrine be based on the word of God, the Bible? Are there scriptural and historical reasons to consider the Continuing Church of God as faithful and not some changed cultic faith? Dr. Thiel deals with these issues and more.

It is a well-established FACT that the Great Bwana to Africa and the occasional 100 Caucasians are NOT practicing 1st century Christianity. Anyone who says they are doing this is a liar. 

The Great Bwana Bob has proven nothing in this mind dump of a sermon. Unable to be concise, he covers too many topics to try and prove his point. It just turns into another poorly made "sermon" as he flails and bounces about like the cheap harlot Samuel Kitchen calls him

Addendum:

I missed this fun from his weekly letter to his little group:

Cult?
A month or so back, a supporter mentioned to me that one of his relatives was trying to dissuade him from the Continuing Church of God, because his relative was trying to tell him we were some type of weird or heretical cult. I suggested that he read an article I had written at that time. Later, I decided to change and expand it (see Is the true Church of God a Heretical Cult?). 

 

Anyway, it seemed like this might be a good time to make a sermon on that topic, so here is a link to the recommended sermon for this Sabbath: Cults and other Name Calling. Of course, by putting that out, critics who already call us a cult will probably harden their hearts and continue to say bad things about us and that message. But those relatively new to the faith, as well as for some of us who have been around for multiple decades, can benefit from understanding that such name calling is expected and has occurred throughout the entire Christian church age.

The Great Bwana to Africa and his occasional 100 Caucasians sure is a delicate little guy. He constantly gets offended at everything. 

Do Harl*ts Practice True Church Government?

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.

Dave Pack: I Don't Tout Myself! Wut?

 

@exrestoredcog David C. Pack - Enemies Attack Me - Members Of RCG Will Be Prophets #prophet #narcissist #religion David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God spent one hour during "The Greatest Untold Story! (Part 526)" On July 27, 2024, teaching that he IS Joshua The High Priest and Elijah the Prophet. All the members of RCG are also prophets. Credit to former member: https://www.exrcg.org/blog/elijahn-wink​ exrcg.org #exrcg​ #restoredcog #davidcpack #falseprophet #restoredchurchofgod #herbertwarmstrong #worldwidechurchofgod #churchofgod #fyp #foryou #viral #antichrist #kingdomofgod #returnofjesus #returnofchrist #prophet #prophecy #prophesy #cultsurvivor #religiouscult #cultsandextremebeliefs #coercivecontrol #cultleader #endtimemadness #endtimes #biblestudy #twowitnesses ♬ original sound - exRestoredCOG

PCG Headline: How To Repel People

 

The Philadelphia Church of God, one of the more restrictive controlling personality cults of Armstrongism, has a new article by Ryan Malone. It is titled: How To Repel People.  

This is pretty rich coming from a church that has worked overtime in repelling people, including their own members. This includes the blatant worship of Gerald Flurry, the worship of Malachi's Message as equal to the Bible, telling members to abandon children at the mall if they have health issues or are troubled so that the state can take care of them and the parents can send that money into the church, to the appalling prohibition of members from talking to spouses, children, parents, grandparents and friends who have left the church. Dividing families repelled a huge number of people.

Anyway, this is what Malone said in his idolatry of Flurry:

When I first started working at headquarters in 1998, I assisted in the editorial department. Right at that time, we had just come into a possession of a sermon recording of our pastor general from long before he held that position—back when he was a field minister in the Worldwide Church of God.

This sermon was the most profound we’d heard on the subject of self-righteousness, and my co-worker Joel Hilliker was working on turning its transcript into an article—which would be the very first piece I edited at my new job. The article made the July-August 1998 Royal Vision, and I remember a particularly life-changing sermon from our department head Stephen Flurry later that summer which explored the article and elaborated on some of its poignant points. The article has since been immortalized as the third chapter of the Church’s book How to Be an Overcomer.

Every time any of us reviews a piece of Church literature, our life experiences are like a different set of highlighters causing certain statements to stand out. When I reviewed that chapter recently—now as a minister overseeing the singles program of God’s Church— several statements stood out about how self-righteousness impacts relationships. Four passages are particularly relevant. As we consider our relationships, we can all benefit from considering these.

Here is the first quote, which describes how a self-righteous person makes others feel:

Have you ever been around a person who made you feel guilty, or very unrighteous, because you felt this person was doing so many righteous deeds? You didn’t want to become close friends with him because he always made you feel so unrighteous. Job had that effect on people. We need to understand that self-righteousness repels, while the true righteousness of God draws people to you as it did to Jesus Christ. People liked Christ. He was a nice man to be around because He didn’t put people down or make them feel inferior.

Armstrongism made a money-making empire out of making people feel guilty and constantly being unrighteous. The self-righteousness of the leaders, so many in the ministry, and the local kiss-asses have repelled generations of Church of God members. Every day it gets worse.

The "true righteous" mentioned above have been few and far between with many in the church, particularly since most COG leaders are repelled by Jesus and the New Covenant message. They would rather prostrate themselves at the altar of the law which they have never truly kept.

This comparison between a self-righteous person and Jesus is immensely insightful. We need to examine which example we gravitate toward. 

Now, if we flaunt our “righteousness,” it might not be from arrogance, but from a feeling of inferiority—because we feel we need to prove something. This is still vanity. We must realize that instead of impressing others, this repels them.

Gerald Flurry has always felt inferior to others in the church. This is why he and almost every single splinter group leader decided to start their own group. They needed to impress others with their superior knowledge and righteousness and expected large swaths of members to follow them. Every time a new group started it repelled huge numbers of people. Just look at what has happened with Bob Thiel! He has probably repelled more people than Flurry ever has! Over 11,000 people in the LCG refused to follow him! That is major repelling!

Mr. Flurry describes how the religious elite in Christ’s day—the Pharisees—exhibited this relationship repellant: 

They were wearing their righteousness outwardly—a big spiritual flaw. That is why we feel uncomfortable sometimes around people who flaunt their self-righteousness. If we are self-righteous, that will turn people off more quickly than anything—guaranteed. If we want friends, we can’t go around feeling superior to them. On the contrary, we should work to make all people feel like royalty.

Have you ever seen a more self-righteous group of people than those in ordained positions in today's COG groups? They flaunt their positions and power as they lord themselves over others. Servant leadership is not a common thing with most of today's COG groups.

Of all our potential flaws, self-righteousness is the quickest turnoff. This quote’s last sentence alone is cause for deep reflection: Do I work to make all people feel like royalty?

This "royalty" crap is a prime example of PCG's self-righteousness. 

Here is another piercing passage from the book:

Self-righteousness makes you a person without much compassion because you just can’t understand why people have so many faults. If you don’t look deep down and see your own problems, you are going to be very critical of other people. You will be a difficult person to get close to, because who wants to be put down all the time?

Has there ever been a more compassionless COG than the PCG? Who can forget in 2016 when George Witt told a family to take their disabled son to the mall and leave him there so that the state could take care of him. The money they were spending to take care of them would better be used by the PCG to preach its gospel (which was actually for paying for dancing lessons for Flurry's grandkids). See: UPDATE: Philadelphia Church of God: Take Your Disabled Child To The Mall And Abandon Him - Let Someone Else Take Care Of Him 

Reflect on how much compassion you have, and that you extend to others. If you lack patience with others, as the above quote says, it could be because you’re not honestly evaluating yourself. Lack of consistent self-examination makes someone “critical” and “a difficult person to get close to.”

The final passage I’d like to draw attention to is in response to Job 42:6, which quotes Job as saying: “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Mr. Flurry comments:

Consider the fruits we will bear if we have this attitude. Sometimes we have little problems with other people. In that situation, self-righteousness can produce a defensive attitude. We end up thinking, I try to get closer to people, but this person criticized me, and it causes us to hold back. But if we really saw what Job saw here, we would abhor ourselves. Then if somebody makes a negative remark about us, so what? It doesn’t really matter. We can go on and love them and be friends with them. What difference does it make what people think of you? All that matters is what God thinks.

Consider all the relationship advice in that paragraph! Self-righteousness can cause you to be defensive. Your own self-righteousness can cause you to distance yourself from drawing closer to others. Godly relationships actually start with each person abhorring himself as Job did—specifically, seeing himself accurately as compared to God’s immeasurable greatness. A self-righteous person will be wrapped up in what others think of him and get agitated by little remarks. But those in a consistently repentant and humble attitude overlook those things, because they care only about what God thinks. 

The more we shed self-righteousness, and the more make God’s estimation the only one that matters, the more positive fruit it will bear in our relationships!

We did not need an article from a questionable brainwashed cult member telling us to be careful of repelling people. It has been a blatant fact from day one when Gerald Flurry set off to do his own mini-me Church of God group. repelling people is in the DNA of the COG leadership.

The PCG has placed Gerald Flurry right up there next to the creature they call "christ". Gerald is the new KING of the Church of God and now sits on the throne of the so-called "christ" he claims will return soon to sit on it and be crowned King of Kings as the PCG dances around the throne with Irish Dance. This also has repelled people.

It wasn't long after starting the PCG that Flurry stole Jules Dervaes' Letters to Laodicea and pawned it off as his own revelation from his god as Malachi's Message. This book is esteemed by the PCG as standing right next to the Bible in holiness and truth and is the "foundational" text of the PCG. Flurry claims it is the "true history" of how his god removed the lamp from the Worldwide Church of God and placed it in the PCG.

Malachi’s Message is a history book to us. That can be a hard concept for our parents and the previous generation to grasp sometimes. If they came out of the wcg, that book explained current events that were unfolding before their eyes. They probably have an “I saw Mr. Armstrong speak live” story. They can put bearded faces to names like Joseph Tkach and Joe Tkach, Jr. They also remember the changes. They remember the books and booklets being taken out of print. They remember the Who Was Jesus? booklet. The things you read as history, they heard from the pulpit.

Malachi’s Message is one of the foundational writings of this Church era, and the revelation from God that showed many true Christians where He had moved the lamp. Our inability to imagine what that time period was like should drive us to learn from our elders about their experience with that important book.

The idolatry of this fraudulent book is appalling:

Our appreciation of Malachi’s Message needs to be far deeper than just a surface reading and an intellectual understanding. That book changed peoples’ lives, and our generation has to work to understand that in a deeper way. 

 

Talk to your parents if they came out of the wcg. Seek out the older members in your congregation and learn their history with that foundational book. Make Malachi’s Message come to life. Make Malachi’s Message more than history.

To make the idolatry even worse, Gerald reportedly gave a copy to his disbelieving son (Lil'Stevie) who then took the book with him to Robber's Care in Oklahoma. There, the heavenly hosts opened wide the doors of heaven to reveal to Lil'Stevie that the book was true. (If this suspiciously sounds like the crap of Mormonism when readers are supposed to get a "fire in their bosom" when they read it the Book of Mormon, it most likely involves the same entity "revealing" this "truth".) 

This idolatry of a stupid little book has repealed a lot of people.

How can we forget the Irish Dance crap the church now promotes as gospel truth to gullible public members who go and watch their stage shows.

Here are just a few of the issues we have covered over the years of this repellent activity:

Are Philadelphia Church of God Elite Children Now Dancing to Honor the Sun - Their Lord and Father?

Gerald Flurry: Why Dancing A Jig On Friday Nights Is OK For His Grandchildren But Not For Regular Members

PCG Spending 1.15 Million To Build Dance Hall For Flurry Grandkids

Philadelphia Church of God: Murmuring Ministers Rebelling Against King Flurry and the Sons of Zadok

PCG: Hezekiah and His Irish Dancing Buddies

PCG: How Is Irish Dance Spreading The Gospel?

PCG Members Disturbed By Enormous Amounts Of Tithe Money Being Spent On Jude Flurry And Celtic Throne Stage Show

Philadelphia Church of God And Its Fraudulent Gospel Message Roadshow

PCG On Throne Room Culture 

In 2017, Gerald Flurry then proceeded to repel more members, COG members, and the public with his demand that he have a jet at his disposal so he could take the gospel to the world (which he has never done). All the jet has been used for is to fly Flurry family members around the country for stage shows and dance competitions, to England, and to Israel. 

FYI: Yesterday in a play-all-areas sermon entitled “Abraham’s Vision”, Gerald Flurry mentioned that he is now considering buying a private jet!  The rationale behind this unbelievable decision stems from experiences Flurry had last year on his flight to and from a US feast site.  Apparently his trip left him feeling so unwell that it took several weeks to fully recover his energy levels.  During the message he commented that modern air travel is now very unpleasant and that breathing in recycled air was unhealthy for him.  He also complained how in the US passengers needed to get to the airport in sufficient time to allow for security screening, sometimes requiring that they arrive up to 3 hours before an international flight.   He concluded by saying that owning a private jet meant he would be able to travel and do more for the work, especially being able to travel quickly between the two campuses in Edmond, OK and Edstone, UK. 
 What that all translates into is this:  After buying a multi-million dollar stately home in the UK, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars refurbishing it, literally pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a fruitless UK TV campaign for his son, after building a multi-million dollar music and Irish dance facility for the Edmond compound brats, all of which is financed by an ageing and declining membership, the PCG is now going to buy a private jet so Gerald Flurry's children Stephen and Laura and their children and friends can travel the world like rock stars and not have to rub shoulders with the unwashed masses. This unbelievable decision has been made during a time when PCG is experiencing a current 25% drop in income!

You seriously have to wonder about the long-term stability of the PCG and who is really running the church behind the scenes.   Repeatedly throughout his message, Flurry referenced Josephus and how this ancient historian taught that Abraham was an educated and cultured man who introduced fine arts and music everywhere he went.  Each time Flurry made that statement, after the expression, “fine arts and music” he would quickly add “and dancing”.  I know for a fact that “Wittle Laura” and “Wittle Stevie” are both obsessed with Irish dancing, perhaps this is where the pressure is really coming from to buy that oh so needed Lear jet!

See: 

Gerald Flurry Follows in HWA's Steps and Buys Gulfstream G450 Jet

PCG Members Expected To Send In Money To Fund $80,000.00 Jet Rides For Lil'Stevie And The Grandkids

More On Gerald Flurry's Extravagant Con Game To Own His Own Private Jet

As Income Plummets 25% Gerald Flurry Set to Buy Jet Plane So Stevie and His Kids Can Fly In Luxury 

Perhaps the most repellent thing Flurry has done is name himself King and claim to sit on the very throne that Christ will return to!

PCG: Gerald Flurry Going Is To Be Crowned First And Then Christ Can Return And Get His Crown.

Can you imagine those early pioneers of the Church of God as they gathered in Belknap Springs envisioning what absolute vile filth that the Church of God would descend into with the current reign of apostate leaders (Pack, Flurry, Weinland, Thiel)? They would be appalled that people could descend to this level of spiritual degeneracy! 

Gerald Flurry has taken this spiritual degeneracy to a new low. He has crowned himself king. He dug up an old rock that Herbert Armstrong supposedly prayed at and has brought it back to Edmond Oklahoma where it is revered in awe by devotees as the very rock Christ will come back to sit upon...AFTER Flurry is officially crowned as KING before Jesus receives his crown.

This new throne changes God’s Work significantly!

The new throne elevates our royal standard.

Having this throne, we must come to think about ourselves in a royal way.

We have to think about and study this throne deeply to appreciate what God has given us. We possess the very throne from which Jesus Christ will rule, and the very law He will administer, in the World Tomorrow! God wants His Church today to demonstrate to the world as best we can what that rule will be like! That is quite a responsibility. But we are doing all we can to fulfill it. 

As I  mentioned above, can you imagine how the folks in Belknap Springs would be to see how degenerate the COG movement has descended to!

Never forget this by the perfect ministry of the PCG:

Remember that God also uses His ministers to give counsel (Ephesians 4:11-16). The ministry is there to give guidelines, to encourage and exhort, but not to make decisions for you. God wants you to learn how to make decisions.

We are judged on how we incorporate God’s instructions into our lives. We must not resist Him. By judging those in authority—employers, ministers, parents, teachers—and then deciding that since they are not perfect we don’t have to look to them for guidance, we are denying God’s authority over us.

God judges us on how we treat those under our authority and how we submit to those in authority over us. We rule and are ruled.

How do we react when “mistakes” are made? Perhaps we need to ask God what He is trying to show us about ourselves. PCG: Ministers Are Here To Rule Over You. When They Make A Mistake You Need To Ask Why It Might Be Your Fault

The actions of the Armstrongist COG movement have repelled more people than it has ever won over in its entire history.

Bang'n With The Crackpot Prophet

No, not this one, 

but this one below 

↓

It has always fascinated me how Armstrongist ministers and self-appointed leaders think they are the authority on every imaginable topic in the universe all because they think they have the inside track to a being they think is god. Nine times out of ten their responses are so far off the wall that they are nothing but comedy routines. 

The Great Bwana to Africa and the occasional 100 Caucaisans has a post up about the "purpose of life" and includes one of his lame-ass videos that makes a complete fool of him and his article, even if the article might have some truth to it.

I hate to post a link to his inane videos that will give him hits, but this is just too stupid to pass up.

Bible Talk: Could Jesus Have Sinned?

 

Could Jesus Have Sinned? (Of Course Not!)

I first heard the question, “Could Jesus have sinned?” in the early 1990s. The leadership of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) was making the point that Jesus was never tempted to sin, but rather was tested.

According to the popular usage of these words, they were absolutely right. Jesus did not endure temptation in the sense of resisting a strong urge to sin and only succeeding by the skin of his teeth.

But the old guard of COG doctrine vociferously objected. The voices that eventually caught my ear — like those of Garner Ted Armstrong and CGI pastors Bill Watson and Wayne Hendrix — would quote Hebrews 4:15, saying Jesus “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (KJV).

And so they insisted, “If Jesus could not have sinned, then you have no Savior!“

They believed as many COGers still do today — that Jesus' mission was the riskiest venture of all time. He might have sinned and all would have been lost forever, including God the Son himself! The stakes were high, but thankfully Jesus won the challenge.

At first I was sympathetic toward WCG's new position — that Jesus was “tested” but not “tempted.” It seemed to make sense. Yet, influenced by my associations, I eventually accepted the old view — that Jesus could have sinned, but didn't.

Now, I realize that this “old school” COG crowd was wrong — dreadfully wrong — because they didn't understand at least two things:

First, the fundamental Christian doctrine of who and what Jesus is — that Jesus is at once both fully God and fully man.

And second, how sin is committed.

The Real Jesus

We cannot correctly answer the question of whether Jesus could have sinned if we wrongly believe (as many within COGs seem to) that Jesus

1. was God in the beginning
2. stopped being God during his earthly life, and
3. became God again at his Resurrection.

If God is eternal (no beginning and no end), then he cannot stop being God. That's what it means to be “eternal.” He can't be “eternal until he stops being eternal” — a contradiction of terms.

The Word (who became Jesus — John 1:1,14) always was, and always will be, God. But when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, he took for himself an additional nature — a human nature. (By “human nature,” we don't mean in this context a proclivity to sin, but all the qualities that make us a member of the Homo sapiens family: body and spirit.)

Since his divine nature (that which makes him God) is eternal, then he can't stop being divine. Taking on an additional nature — a human nature with all that entails — does not change that. And so Jesus is often called the “God-Man,” which is a way of saying he is at once both God and man.

“But that doesn't add up!”

I've heard the objection that the math is all wrong if we say Jesus is fully God and fully man. If something is 100 percent one thing, then there's no room for it to be 100 percent something else, too. It doesn't add up — nothing can total 200 percent.

But there is no mathematical contradiction if we understand the difference between who someone is and what someone is.

What I am is distinct from who I am. The what of me is possessed by the who of me, not the other way around. (That's why I can speak of “my arm,” but not “an arm's me.”)

We have to realize that the Person of Jesus (who he is) is always and only divine. It's not 50-50 — he's not part divine Person, part human person. He is a divine Person, without qualification, 100 percent.

But the nature of Jesus (what he is) is twofold. He has a divine nature, and he has a human nature.

How sinning is done

I said earlier that the old guard of COG doctrine was wrong about Jesus being capable of sin because they didn't understand that Jesus is fully God and fully man. Now that we understand Jesus is one divine Person with two natures (human and divine), let's flesh that out.

How do we sin? Are we sinful merely because we have material bodies, with flesh and blood and bone? Or did God consider everything he had made in the Garden and say “it was very good” (Genesis 1:30)?

Think about the animals. With all its flesh — weighing tons — never has any elephant been guilty of sin. By instinct, an elephant can exhibit aggressive behavior, and does not live a monogamous mating lifestyle. But in no way can it be held morally culpable or even capable of “sin.”

Why? Because it's not what something is that sins. Sin is not committed by natures, but by persons! Elephants are not persons as we are, for we have rational, spiritual souls (think “spirit in man”).

And then there's Satan and his demons. They are incorporeal as pure spirits. (Even if we grant, for the sake of argument, that they have “spirit bodies,” they still don't have human flesh.) Yet they have committed the gravest sins!

So how does this apply to Jesus?

The fact that Jesus has a human nature does not mean he is capable of sin. Remember, while he has a human nature to go along with his divine nature, he is only one Person. A divine Person!

Natures on their own cannot sin. My body cannot sin without being directed by me, because only persons can sin. And since Jesus is a divine Person, it follows that Jesus cannot and never could sin.

The temptations of Jesus

Because the Eternal Word took to himself a human nature, he shares in our experiences and our sufferings.

He lived his earthly life in the flesh just like we do. He endured hunger. He bled. He cried. He suffered all the things we do.

But he never teetered on the edge of sin. There were no close calls.

Read Matthew 4. Even during the full-on assault in the wilderness by Satan the master tempter, Jesus did not hesitate in perfect obedience to the Father.

Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights, and was hungry. He could only be hungry through his human nature, which he shares with us. Yet when the great tempter tried to lead him astray, Jesus had no second thoughts:

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (verse 4).

His truly hungry human body was not his boss; he, the divine Person, was wholly in control.

His inability to sin is evident in the next temptation, when the devil told him to jump from atop the temple, since the Scriptures said he would be protected.

Jesus' did not have to battle pride. He did not think, “Hey, who the heck do you think I am? I am the I AM, buddy! I'll show you!”

No, with absolute, unwavering conviction, Jesus said,

Again it is written, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (verse 7).

And finally, the devil tempted Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world if only Jesus would fall down and worship him.

We can't take the fact that the devil tried to lead Jesus into sin as proof that Jesus was capable of having second thoughts.

No, the all-knowing God-Man was not impressed.

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Again, we see because of who he was (God), Jesus was unshakable; but because of what he was (Man), he suffered intensely.

In other words, while Jesus was tempted in the sense of being put to the test in his human weaknesses, he was not tempted in the sense of struggling to decide whether to sin.

He was never close to sinning through anger. He was never in danger of lusting for power, riches, or women.

Contrary to what I heard years ago, if Jesus could have sinned, then he is not God, and you have no Savior!

Conclusion: It makes perfect sense to think of it this way — that Jesus was tested, but not tempted.

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most (Hebrews 4:14-16, New Living Translation).

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The COG Catholic currently blogs at www.cogcatholic.org.