Since when is it a salvational issue that COG men serving MUST be dressed in a white shirt? Samuel Kitchen claims it is shameful towards God to wear a colored shirt in church, especially if you are a leader. Rod Meredith pulled a stunt like this in 1974 when he popped his veins, screaming about men wearing pink Izod polo shirts. The next time the class met, most of the class wore them just to piss him off even more.
People are also supposedly asking Samuel Kitchen to take on the reins of a minister. What the holy hell!
This is the result of decades of pulpit pounding men focusing on irrelevant things instead of being followers of Jesus and teaching about Him and what He accomplished.
More eternal words of wisdom from Samuel Kitchen:God says we’ve been robbing Him of tithes and offerings! Haven’t you given to your church organization?Haven’t you benefited from tithes and offerings in these churches?Why then is the Temple of God in ruin? Who among you seek to restore what God has ordained?God says to put the tithes and offerings into the storehouse, so there may be meat in HIS HOUSE.Yet it is spent in the houses among Babylon, these variety of church groups and works.Not one of these groups is supporting the Worldwide Church of God. They all expect those who came from the Worldwide Church of God to support them.Who came out of whom? Who convinced us to feel shame towards what God ordained holy? Sounds like Adam and Eve after sinning. Now we are made to feel shame of the Worldwide Church of God, that which God ordained, because of sin and wickedness.Just as they were barred from the garden of Eden, so will anyone who tries to enter the Kingdom any other way.Why is priority and importance placed on these church organizations over the Worldwide Church of God?
Why are women wearing makeup? Why are birthdays celebrated? Why do men serve with no white shirt? Why is a doctrinal committee established? Why was a “regional pastor structure established by Victor Kubik in 1993, and used to form the UCG? Mr Armstrong abolished and gave instructions! Why wasn’t he obeyed? Oh….because he died? Is that a valid reason?I’m not here to call upon destruction to befall anyone. But God giving you all a chance to repent and turn things around.
25 comments:
What is the evidence for Sam Kitchen to feel that he has a mandate from God to be the acting head of something Church Of God? Was he ordained? Do such rules of office apply to others and not to him? What if Aaron Dean chooses not to be the glove on Sam Kitchen's hand? then what? In the case of Jehoiada the priest restoring the kingship of Judah, and young King Joash and wicked Athaliah, at least Jehoiada was clearly an anointed priest.
I thought Herbert Armstrong was irrelevant to people's faith today. Seems entirely central to Kitchen's faith. If he's going to bring back the nonsense about birthdays and major in the rest of those minors - things Worldwide moved away from right after Armstrong learned there is a Hell, but long before the schism - then he might as well just join Philadelphia. He's just a Temu Gerald Flurry.
Sam if you (and anyone else) believes in mandating tithing money you need to read Kelly’s “Should the Church Teach Tithing?” It’ll be the eyesalve you need to be anointed with to open your spiritual eyes so you may truly see God’s truth that tithing money as HWA taught and his ACOGs still teach is actually a gross perversion and egregious sin.
And as for makeup, birthdays, white shirts—as McEnroe would say: “YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!”
Dress up... or God might kick you out. HWA said so:
Page 3: https://www.herbert-armstrong.org/Worldwide%20News%201980s/WWN%201984%20(Prelim%20No%2003)%200130.pdf#search=%22white%20shirt%22
This was totally predictable. Lets all get ready to watch it not grow.
I was scolded for wearing a purple dress shirt by an older lady in my small congregation. Apparently you're supposed to wear a white dress shirt when giving an opening or closing prayer. Who needs to read and study the bible to get into the kingdom when all you have to do is wear a white dress shirt lol.
Under the Levitical Priesthood 10% of the harvest of land and trees in the 3rd & 6th year of a 7 year cycle and stored up was enough food for the Levites who were 2% of the population and the stranger, fatherless, widow who were apparently 1.3% of the population. End of 3rd yr tithing is equivalent to 3.3% [2% + 1.3%] every year. No tithes were given in other years but the owner saved 10% of the harvest for use at the 3 festivals every year except the 7th year of the cycle when the owner took of the stored greater increase from the sixth year's harvest since no harvesting was done in the 7th year. There was no command to tithe on money income.
The tithing laws were removed at the ceasing of the Levitical Priesthood but tithing and offering may be done today in money but is not by law.
4:54, re Kelly's book that denies the tithing doctrine, anyone with a Ph.D. who needs to write 288 pages of proof against it can't be trusted. The thesis is not an eyesalve but an eyesore. Reminds me of Scott Ashley's booklet (from UCG) trying to explain grace in 50 pages when 1 Pet 2:19 is all you need.
Forget what the Lord said in Mt 11:25? "I thank you Father for hiding these things from the know-it-alls (the ones we expect to be intelligent) and for revealing them to uneducated, humble babies (the ones we expect to know nothing)".
The kingdom is at hand. (which means you'll be getting the message soon)
Tithing is NOT a New Covenant command. That is a simple fact that can't be refuted. Followers of Christ are encouraged to give as they have been blessed, not commanded to give tithes anywhere in the New Covenant.
YPCOG (Yellow Pencil Church of God)
What a bunch of caca! Regurgitated HWAcaca at that!
Rock n Roll, Baby!
Church Eras and Shirt Colors
Herbert W. Armstrong taught that the Worldwide Church of God was the Philadelphia era of the true church. HWA also taught that men should wear nice white shirts to the Sabbath meetings of the church. HWA could get loud about this.
Now that we are in the Laodicea era of the church, many people like to wear black shirts, or gray shirts, or even red shirts, to the church meetings.
"HWA could get loud about this"
*****
I've noticed Herbert preachers get loud, raise their voice.........when they're wrong.
Anon @ 12:42:58 PM PST
I don't wear red shirts. Reminds me of Communism. I don't wear black shirts. Reminds me of Mussolini of Fascist Italy. I don't wear white shirts. Reminds me of the KKK. I don't wear gray shirts. Reminds me of winter. Don't start me on pink shirts. I go naked to church. The hot air from the Armstrong pulpit keeps me warm. But on colder days I may wear a fig leaf. Don't ya just miss the Philadelphian era. What fun we had.
"The cloud moved." - The late UCG Pastor Ken Martin, explaining why he left/was fired from WCG in the 1990s.
To me, the ultimate in style has always been exemplified by African Americans! I knew this back when I was in high school and told my Mom I'd like to rent a paisley tux for a church dance. She said, "Uh, no.... That would look good on Jerome." I said to myself, "How come Jerome gets to wear all the cool clothes?"
Most of the COG remnant types I have interacted with also wear Red Hats.
10:48, saying “anyone with a Ph.D. who needs 288 pages can’t be trusted” is basically dissing the messenger cause you don’t want to deal with the message. And if page count invalidates a position, then by that logic HWA’s own long booklets, articles, sermons and broadcasts—many far longer than Kelly’s book—should disqualify him as well! Not to mention HWA and his henchmen who liked referring to themselves with titles like “Dr” or “Pastor General” (which is a title reserved for Christ Himself btw) that they weren’t even qualified for! I don’t think you want to apply your standard consistently.
The real reason Kelly wrote a detailed book is simple: tithing on money in Armstrongism is built on a chain of assumptions and misapplied verses, so yes it absolutely requires careful untangling. When a doctrine is propped up by decades of selective proof-texting, a thorough response isn’t excessive, it’s very much necessary!
Your comparison re Scott Ashley actually proves my point. When a doctrine has been so distorted for decades, you can’t fix it with a 5-word bumper sticker. Peter himself said some teachings are “hard to understand” (2 Pet 3:16). Serious examination isn’t arrogance; it’s faithful obedience!
Re Mat 11:25, Christ wasn’t condemning study and scholarship or careful examination and indeed re-examination. He was condemning pride—the refusal to listen, the refusal to be corrected, the attitude that says, “I already know, so I don’t need to learn anything more.” Ironically, that’s exactly the posture your comment reflects.
And if the tithing money doctrine is true, it should withstand careful biblical scrutiny. If it collapses the moment somebody examines the passages in context…maybe the problem isn’t the person doing the studying eh?!
As for “The kingdom is at hand”—Amen, and may God speed that day! But, you know Christ also said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” That requires looking honestly at Scripture, not dissing anyone who digs deeper than a single verse.
So reject Kelly’s Scripturally grounded conclusions if you want—but in the end the truth always wins and I genuinely hope you’ll get that message soon enough.
In the Star Trek franchise, it's typically the red shirts that get killed. So for their own safety, men are advised to avoid wearing red shirts.
Very apt and Ken Martin one of the best, 'The cloud moved'. I like that.
11:20, I am not disrespecting "the messenger" (Kelly), as you put it, when Scripture says that the messenger of the new covenant is Christ (Mal 3:1), who, not coincidentally, says that we have robbed Him of tithes. (v8)
"Tithing on money in Armstrongism is built on a chain of assumptions"? We weren't the only ones keeping this doctrine. A 2018 Lifeway Research study found that 72% of (Protestant) pastors believe tithing is a command for NC believers. More Protestants than Catholics support this doctrine, so are you on the Catholic side now?
We have gone over the arguments before (Heb 7, Gen 14, Mal 3, Mt 22-23) but you do not want to believe them because you are still bitter towards the past. If you are saved by grace, why are you still bitter if you have grace?
Re 1 Pet 2:19-20, which Ashley could have quoted to give us a simpler definition of grace, it states, "THIS IS GRACE (charis), when a man with a consciousness toward God, endures distress suffering unjustly... THIS IS GRACE with God." And this is not a 5-word bumper sticker, as you call it. It is the reason why some put up with the errors on this blog.
Take a good look at Mt 22:21. If we are to give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's, what do you think? Who is greater here? If we are commanded by Caesar to pay the tax, is not God entitled to more than just a simple offering, more than "what we FEEL like giving", since He owns the earth and is Chief Landlord? What? Caesar gets a set amount every time but God gets the leftovers? And Christ as High Priest gets the same treatment even though He purchased your redemption? You are fooling yourself and others if you think that the owner of the planet and the High Priest in heaven have no demands on your money more than just your discretion (the freedom to decide on your own).
"Temu Gerald Flurry" - brilliant description.
Thank you for clarifying. Definitely no tithe money in the Bible, no matter how hard ministers try to convince people otherwise.
What about yellow shirts?
It does not matter what color shirts real men or real Christians wear! As Jesus once quipped, "It's what comes out of a man's mouth!" (don't go anal retentive on me, I'm paraphrasing!)
Seems like Armstrongism only attracts collared people.
Post a Comment