COGWA Declares That The Spiritual State Of Its Ministry Is The Best It Has Ever Been

 

There truly can be no greater church on the face of the earth than a Church of God. Everything about it, from its existence to its mission, occupies the most important moment in the history of humanity and they make sure to let us all know how glorious it is.

This is part of the latest statement on the health of the Church of God a Worldwide Association. Notice how they extend their reach all the way back into the glory days of old in the mother church, the Worldwide Church of God where everything's perfect and wisdom and truth emanated from it to the world, while inwardly it was a hotbed of corruption, immorality, and financial misappropriation, led by power-hungry men who left a trail of destruction in their wake. Some of those same men sit comfortably in COGWA where they went after their apostasy from the United Church of God.

God has apparently been shining his favor upon COGWA ever since, especially when it comes to its ministry.

In reviewing the modern history of the Church, we can clearly see that the spiritual health of the Church is at its best when there are dedicated pastors who have a passion for the truth and a genuine love for the brethren. If you take a small slice of our history, beginning in 1933 with the inception of the Radio Church of God and going forward 20 years, you will find a lot of people tuning in to The World Tomorrow program and many thousands of subscribers to The Plain Truth magazine but the Church was still primarily a radio ministry, even after 20 years. In 1953 there were only a handful of congregations in the northwestern part of the U.S., and none outside the United States. But in the next 20 years—from 1953 to 1973—things changed dramatically. The attendance at the Feast went from less than 1,000 in Big Sandy in 1953 to almost 100,000 in multiple sites in 1973. What changed? In 1952 the first graduates from Ambassador College began to be sent to the congregations, serving a year or two as ministerial assistants and elders before becoming pastors.

Later on, various educational programs were established to assist the ministry in upgrading their biblical knowledge and their abilities to better serve the brethren. At one time we had a program called DELS, or Deacons and Elders Lecture Series, and in the early 1980s the Refresher Program was established to provide this needed education.

In recent years we have seen additional programs established for ministerial education. Today we have four primary programs that we rely on for biblical education and the development of future leadership: the Focused Mentoring Program, to develop leadership in the United States; the International Leadership Program (ILP), to develop leadership outside the United States; the Pastoral Development Program (PDP), to provide continuing education for the U.S. pastoral ministry; and Foundation Institute, to provide a basic biblical education for all those able to attend the nine-month program.

In addition to these formal programs, there are various conferences that keep the ministry informed and provide additional classes. These include an international conference for the worldwide ministry every two years and a variety of regional conferences in other years. We also usually have daylong webinar classes for the ministry in the spring and fall of each year. And we have conferences annually for special groups—Feast coordinators, camp directors and the Ministerial Services team. All of these education programs create a lot of activity here in the office. It seems that each week I am either planning for an upcoming conference or in the midst of one.

Each group of the recently completed PDP had approximately 15 hours of classroom instruction—along with time for interaction and socializing between classes and in the evenings. To give you an idea of the topics presented in the PDP, here is a partial list of classes in each four-day session:

• The Importance of Integrity and Character in Doctrine and Christian Leadership.
• Your Relationship With Your Congregations.
• Divorce and Remarriage Issues: Doctrine and Process.
• If I Knew Then What I Know Now.
• The Pastor’s Role in Developing Leadership in the Local Congregation.
• Helping Gen Z and the Alphas.
• The War Against Truth.
• Preparing for the Tribulation.
• Technology for Today’s Pastor.
• Preparing for Retirement.
• Legal Considerations for the Ministry.
• Politics and Voting: What We Teach and Why.
• The Unique Stresses of Serving in the Ministry. Member letter

Um...Why Is LCG Warnng Us About False Teachers?

 

Living Church of God wants to warn us about false teachers. We know this was posted quite a while back in response to Bob Thiel's heretical blasphemies, but isn't it the pot calling the kettle black? Isn't the Living Church of God also filled with false ministers?

Sadly, the Church of God today is filled with wolves masquerading as true ministers of God who are dominant out one blasphemy after another. Great will be the day when Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, Ron Wienland, and Dave Pack are silenced!

Beware of False Teachers: Warnings about false teachers are found throughout the Bible. Jesus warned they will come in “sheep’s clothing” (smooth-talking, congenial, appearing spiritual), but are actually “ravenous wolves” seeking to divide and devour the flock of God (Matthew 7:15–19). As the end of the age approaches, Jesus warned that “many will come in My name” claiming to be representatives of Christ “and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:3–5). The Apostle Paul warned that these false teachers would be guided by a different spirit and preach a different gospel about a different Jesus, and are actually ministers of Satan masquerading as ministers of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:4–15). Peter warned they will promote “destructive heresies” that deny the truth of Scripture—and that many will follow their erroneous teachings (2 Peter 2:1–3). Let’s remember these warnings and ask God for the discernment to recognize false teachers and their misguided ideas (2 Timothy 1:6–7)—because we will all be tested in this crucial area.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

The Philadelphia Church of God Lashes Out Against Modern Day Idolatry And Falls Flat On Its Face

 

The Philadelphia Church of God broadcast their complete utter hypocrisy really well today when they reposted an article from 2011 that Lil'Stevie Flurry wrote, The Sin of Idolatry - It’s more common than you might think. 

That is pretty rich considering how the PCG worships Herbert Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages, the Book of Malachi, and the supposed prayer rock of HWA, which is now the new coronation stone that Jesus will return to be crowned King of Kings upon. Also, don't forget how they dance around this rock in Celtic pagan ecstasy in their stage shows that travel the Midwest paying homage and honor to it.

But seriously, how could we expect anything less, considering how Armstrongism has failed to look inwardly at itself and its actions over the last eight decades. That is why we are where we are today, an absolute shitshow of idiocy and blasphemy.

Lil Stevie writes in the very first paragraph:

Of all God’s commandments, the ban on idolatry might seem the most outdated. It must be for another age, many assume—when people offered sacrifices before man-made statues or deified the sun, moon and stars.

Notice this from Shane Granger of the PCG:

Shane Granger of Armstrong Auditorium talks about the pagan roots of Irish dance and how the PCG celebrates the paganism:

Riverdance is based on the story of the Irish people. The beginning of the show deals with the first settlers coming to Ireland and realizing the power of the land. This part of the show incorporates symbolic elements representing the sun, the moon, thunder, lightning and water. The stories and themes are heavily influenced by Celtic mythology. The second half of the show deals with the Irish people’s emigration to America. Scenes depicting Irish immigrants and African-Americans sharing dance and song illustrate the unifying power of these human experiences. The Riverdance finale shows how the Irish people have joined the various communities of the world while retaining their heritage through music and dance.

Nothing like a little sun, moon, and nature worship to go along with the worship of Herbert Armstrong in the PCG!  The PCG talks about Riverdance in all its promotion when it comes to promoting its Irish dancing members.  The show has always had a great following regardless of the countries it has played in.  It's a fascinating evening of dance all filled with one pagan reference after another.

Some of the lyrics of Riverdance include this in its opening act:

Out of the dark we came
Out of the sea
Where the long wave broke on the shore
As the day broke and the night rolled back
There we stood
On the land we would call home
Out of the dark we came
Out of the night,
The first of many mornings in this new place
When the sun rolled back the mist
We rose like a strong wave on land
Now we were the people of this place
What burns through through the mist?
What banishes rain and dark?
What makes the children straight and bright?
What makes the mountain sharp?
The sun is our lord and father
Bright face at the gate of day
Comfort of home, cattle, and crop
Lord of the morning, lord of the day
Lifting our hearts we sing his praise
Dance in his healing rays

Blessed Beltaine

                                                                       Celtic Sun Worship 

From the 2014 article here on Banned: Are Philadelphia Church of God Elite Children Now Dancing to Honor the Sun - Their Lord and Father?

A little further down Lil Stevie writes:

Notice: “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 26:1-2).

Keep my sabbaths, God said, and don’t bow down to idols. These were the two great test commandments for the people of Israel. Now why would God emphasize these two? Because these two, more than the others, were designed to keep man in the closest, most intimate contact with his Maker!

Gerald Flurry's teachings and Armstrongism are designed to keep people isolated from the Christ they all claim to follow and yet do not know.

He continues:

Now notice how the Second Commandment flows right out of the great command to put God above all else. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God …” (verses 4-5).

This commandment obviously forbids the use of any physical substitutes or aids man sets up in order to “worship” God. But what about the spiritual idols we set up in our hearts, as it says in Ezekiel 14:3? We may not bow down to physical idols made of stone, wood or precious metals, but our modern world is filled with idolatry just the same!

How can we forget Gerald Flurry traveling to Oregon, traipsing around the woods, begging the land owner if he could buy the rock, digging it up, transporting it to Edmond Oklahoma, positioning it in a garden for meditation and contemplation, then encasing it in a display cabinet on a bed of royal purple velvet, and then later placing it in the coronation chair used in their traveling Irish dance stage productions. 

Idolatry leads to pleasure seeking which leads to wasting money on these pleasures instead of sending it all to Gerald Flurry and Lil'Stevie.

Pleasure-seeking also separates a lot of people from God—things like entertainment and sports or excessive television viewing. God’s way of life, after all, is demanding. Among other things, God expects us to observe His weekly and annual sabbaths, to tithe on all of our income and to seek Him daily through effectual fervent prayers and diligent Bible study. If we spend most of our leisure time pursuing things other than God, this might be an idol.

His article ends with this, proving once and for all that the PCG has failed miserably in its idolatrous lifestyle.

“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” Paul wrote to the brethren at Corinth, well over a thousand years after Israel had come out of Egyptian captivity. He knew well that the idolatry command was not meant for some bygone age. It was written for us. Like the rest of the Ten Commandments, it applies to our time today!

And it remains, even to this day, as one of two critically important testcommands. If faithfully obeyed, it automatically draws us closer to our Maker!

Keep yourselves from idols, as John wrote to conclude his first epistle. Give God first place in your life. Make your relationship with Him more important than anyone or anything else. Nothing in this material life is as important as that. 

:Same Fruit-Different Tree: The Bob Jones University Cult is WCG and Ambassador College on Steroids.

I spent more than two decades just down the street from Bob Jones University. My practice was just a few blocks down the same street the campus was located on.  It didn't take long to realize that BJU produced and continues to produce the same drama, scandal and blowback that WCG/AC did. Truly two birds of a feather if there ever was one. 

Bob Jones Sr was a contemporary of HWA and was said to detest HWA as both competed on the radio for the religious audience. Bob Jones Sr also detested Billy Graham, a graduate of BJU because Graham went him therefore into all the world and avoiding the world was classic BJU. 

A client told me of the sermon Bob Jones Sr gave assuring the students that it would be over his dead body when kissing was ever allowed on this campus. In time he died and ended up being buried on the campus. You guessed it. It is now the place where forbidden couples go to kiss. 

Bob Jones University has its own gay community that it is in complete denial over.  My gay BJU clients assured me that they did well on the campus. BJU has an excellent music program as well as theatre. Their art collection is incredible. I asked how they managed to lay low on the campus to which they said it was easy. Not wishing to date women, they looked like very compliant and obedient students concerning the prohibition against dating. Students were forbidden to stand around with the girls to chat. They had to chat on the move. I met a student who was expelled for catching a female student in a fall. He was told it would have been better to let her fall than to touch her. 

Dating was by permission and dating outside the campus required the couple to take a faculty member with them. In reality, I was assured that paying off the faculty member to not stick around was also not unheard of. 

As legalists, BJU graduates of go into ministry, police work or City Government in Greenville. Control and Bible based law and order was the goal. It drove the good old boys nuts when BMW and the Germans moved to Greenville and wouldn't have part in their control. 

When I asked clients, gay/male or female who found the experience authoritarian and controlling the answer was always the same. It's the only school my parents will pay for. As well, going against their local church connected to BJU was a death sentence spiritually. Guilt, fear and shame is a powerful control mechanism. 

I present this to those who might be interested in seeing the WCG/AC experience was and is not unique. It is the product of fundamentalism, authoritarianism and getting mixed up with the one-man founder and show where it becomes a family dynasty over time. 

Many a BJU graduate spends years overcoming the experience. 

This will resonate with most here on Banned

The Dangers of the "God Given Purpose"

 

If you are like myself, and I assume you are, having a purpose in life is kinda what it all seems to be about. From "what's the purpose" to "what's my purpose", it tends to niggle at us in the background of our lives.

When we came "into the truth" back in the day, we found purpose. Not only did we find purpose, but we found a God given purpose. The Book told us that, as the chosen ones in the exact true church, our purpose was to become Kings and Priests and of course, go us therefore into all the world telling everyone else they could be too. 

For better or worse, in hindsight, worse, I felt my purpose was to go into ministry. At first it wasn't WCG ministry as I had been accepted at another seminary in New York before choosing WCG that in my mind was more accurate. So, my purpose was to go there and become a pastor. While GTA announced the first student forum that "if anyone here thinks they came here to be a minister, get that idea right out your head!", I thought to myself, "We' see..."  I didn't' understand then that God would decide who was the to be in ministry of WCG through the wisdom and leading of the Holy Spirit of the "Manpower Committee".  I guess that "we'll see" thing followed me through AC and the WCG. When my fourth year public speaking teacher announced "No one gets and 'A' in my class,"  "We'll see" thinks I and I made him retract that by getting an 'A'. 

All this because I had found my purpose. Of course, be careful what you wish for as I had no clue what was to follow over the next two decades of fulfilling my purpose in life. 

One personal note.  When I was told I was going into the ministry I called my dad to tell him. He got real quiet and I could tell he got teary, which I had never seen my dad ever do. I asked if he was, ok?  He said, "You know, when we had your brother (my only brother is blind, deaf and cannot speak from birth trauma and being born at 6 months weighing 1.5 lbs.,) I told God that if he gave me a healthy normal son, that He could have him."  (Questionable results I know :) Well, first I heard of that! No pressure there but I had purpose so obviously God made my dad a Diehl, err...deal.  I think this one conversation kept me in WCG ministry longer than my heart was actually in it not wanting to disappoint my dad or remove purpose form his own perceptions of his life and family. 

Gerald Waterhouse showed up every year or two to tell us all even more about our "God given purpose". It was to follow "Mr Urmstrong", who of course, would never die before the Jesus returned. I did ask him what he'd do when, not if, Mr Urmstrong, died?  He said "I'll believe it after three days and three nights!"  Ugh....hopeless. His God given purpose was getting really old and very annoying for me personally. I'm not sure it had not always been annoying to me personally when he showed up and I do recall telling him that he caused me more problems with the members than helped them. All he said to that was "really?". Yes, really. God given purposes are like that. 

As the years of scandal, BS and authoritarian control rolled on I convinced myself for a time that my God given purpose was to have come to the ministry "for such a time as this".  I thought I was there to stop the majoring in the minors and help the church grow up.  Wrong!  I failed to understand just how many first- and second-generation ministers were waiting to come up with their own God give purpose and either take over the church when HWA died or simply start their own version as the loons, Gerald Flurry, Rod Meredith, Dave Pack and many others did. 

Dave Pack is about as foolish and stupid a man believing in his own version of his God given purpose as it gets. I thank Marc Cebrian for exposing in the details what a foolish shepherd the guy is. Foolish, stupid, ill-trained in theology, delusional and not a little dangerous as he pretends to have his own version of a God given purpose. 

All this to say, that I have come to accept that one does not need a purpose to live life, learn all one can and exit. I don't need or even want a "God given purpose". I can't speak for anyone but me and in my own experience, but I have concluded that the most dangerous people on the planet are those who claim to live their lives with a God given purpose. Nothing but trouble especially if they insist that your God given purpose be identical to theirs with "send it in" attached for good measure. 

Those who claim a "God Given Purpose" have done most all of the most horrible things on the planet both in history and to this day. The concept of being "God's chosen people" doesn't help either. 

If one is not careful, life here in the now becomes less important and life in the fuzzy future more important.  For some, as it is said, "Some people are seeking the heavenly such that they are of no Earthly good". The Book tell us "the day of death than the day of one's birth." (Ecc 7:1). You can miss your entire life if that becomes your "God given purpose". I believe is one follows that path too obsessively "woulda, coulda and shoulda" will rear their heads somewhere down the line and regrets will pile up and infect the life we actually have.

I have become comfortable with being just a very small part of "life" and have my own personal experience of what some say is the Universe observing itself." That's enough purpose for me at this stage. I think most know I am not a believer in the Biblical story any longer. That is the result of my own questions, observations and studies about the Book. Your experience may vary as I am sure it does.

I did not know I did not exist the first 13.87 billion years before I showed up and I can "live" returning to that state when the time comes. I have no God given purpose to "make it into the Kingdom" or "do everything I can to avoid the Lake of Fire, which I have been consigned to many times in the past 20 years by those with their own God given purposes.

I had my DNA mutations outline my genetic trip out of Africa a few years back around 60,000 years ago. It only took one person between me and those genetic ancestors who either ducked or didn't duck to not lead to me. The chance of you being you today is pretty remote.

So I just wanted to share the two concepts that have brought me to making peace with my personal and original "God given purpose" gone awry.

While I have long ago gotten over following anyone else's path or purposes, I do recognize words of wisdom on the topic. These two views resonate with me. I don't expect it to resonate with many because many find fear of death or "what's going to happen to me" is much stronger than just accepting this present moment and experience leaving the rest up to reality and what actually is.

So for those so inclined at this stage in all our lives and with having had all our own experiences with the WCG experience, both as members and ministers...

Gotta go climb Larch Mountain in the Columbia Gorge. Ride here. Sorry is you find typos :) My heart was right!

THE MOST ASTOUNDING FACT

STOP LOOKING FOR PURPOSE

LCG, the only COG not motivated by individuals seeking power and to desire be seen

 

Doug Winnail had this up for the LCG member update for August 8. It is about what motivates you, particularly for those seeking a position and to be noticed. This is pretty rich coming from LCG when far too many of the leaders were motivated by position, recognition, and power.

Rest assured brethren, NO ONE and I mean NO ONE in the power structure of the Living Church of God, past and present was EVER motivated by selfish motivations! Never! Oh, and they have all served with genuine humility! 

What Motivates You? In today’s world, many are motivated by a desire for a position, power, prestige—and a bigger paycheck. Even in the Church, these same desires can motivate individuals to seek a position and be noticed. While Jesus saw these attitudes in religious leaders of His day (Matthew 23:1–11), He told His disciples, “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:20–28). Jesus also set us an example in that He “did not come to be served, but to serve.” The Apostles Peter and Paul urged Christians to avoid selfish motivations and be examples to others by serving with genuine humility (1 Timothy 6:3–5; 1 Peter 5:1–6). As we strive to come out of this self-centered world, let’s look for ways that we can serve others—so God can use us more effectively as instruments in His hands (Philippians 2:3–12).

Have a profitable Sabbath,

Douglas S. Winnail

New Video Series: "Getting Free" of the WWCOG Hooks (That Keep Us Stuck/Bound) Part 1 of 7 (series) UNCLEAN Meats!