Prophecy addicts and many Church of God leaders seem to get giddy with delight anytime a natural disaster strikes people around the world. They view these disasters as divine retribution from an angry God so pissed off that He has to deliver continual warning signs before He really loses it and obliterates one-third of humanity and the natural world. It's a God with lightning bolts in His hands and a big thick ledger in front of Him where He's been writing down every single failure we've committed.
This kind of reasoning is understandable when a church is based entirely on old covenant belief systems—and which, for some unknown reason, does not take delight in a new and better covenant that eliminates the old one.
An angry God is always predictable: Do what's right, and God is happy; do something wrong, and God is angry. It's relatively easy to navigate the world that way. Black-and-white, either/or worlds are simple to maneuver in—they don't require thinking. Someone else has laid out what you're supposed to believe or do, and you know that if you don't, something bad will happen. We need someone in charge, keeping score. Because He can be so quick to do that, it gives us the perceived impression that we can do it too.
Is an angry God really a projection of our own guilt and shame? Church of God leaders have told us for decades that we are unworthy and condemned, and that we should expect God to be angry. Using this kind of flawed thinking, church leaders and members search the Bible looking for ways an angry God is just itching to punish us. That's the kind of God that Armstrongism has created—one that punishes and excludes, just like we do when slighted by someone or when we're angry with them.
Rod McNair, in the July LCG member letter, remarked on how the Texas flash flood that hit the youth camp and killed so many was just a foretaste of what an angry God has in store for the world
Mr. Gerald Weston has asked me to write to you, as he and his wife are currently working with our young people at our two-weeks-long teen summer camp in Athens, Texas. Athens is about 300 miles from the devastating floods that occurred two weeks ago, along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. Tragically, 134 people perished—and 101 are still missing—from the tragic flash flooding that occurred in the early morning hours of July 4. As we read reports of the tragedy, it’s astonishing how quickly the water levels rose, and the awesome power it unleashed on hundreds of unsuspecting victims. Be sure to remember the victims and their families in your prayers in their time of need. And we must all pray daily for God’s protection, as these types of natural disasters are only a foretaste of what the Bible says will come in the times ahead.
He then jumps to the US supporting Israel in their fight with Hamas, and then he has to interject with this about his angry god, and as usual, it's all about sex. It is the Living Church of God, after all:
But at the same time, the descendants of Judah and Joseph have squandered the overwhelming material blessings they both inherited as sons of Jacob. God intended the descendants of Jacob to become model nations of decency and integrity, showing the rest of the world how to obey God’s laws (Deuteronomy 4:6). Instead, both the U.S. and Israel today are known around the world for their promotion of immorality and sexual deviance.
God is not mocked. Just as He has blessed our nations remarkably, He can also bring us down, with breathtaking speed, because of pride. And Bible prophecy shows it will happen. The book of Hosea details a prophecy of Joseph and Judah that seems to have dual application. In ancient times, the northern House of Israel (led by Ephraim, one of Joseph’s sons) collapsed, overthrown by the Assyrians in 721 BC. The southern House of Judah followed after, conquered by the Babylonians, in 586 BC. Hosea writes, “The pride of Israel testifies to his face; therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with them” (Hosea 5:5).
LCG, like so many legalistic churches, regularly gets mocked for its hypocrisy, and that does not sit well with church leaders. So, they unleash their "God is not mocked" comment to justify their own anger at being mocked. An angry God has a right to be angry, and so do they!
They so desperately need to see a national chastisement that placates their angry God.
This is speaking of the Great Tribulation, a time Christ prophesied of, which will be like no other in human history (Matthew 24:21). It will be a time when nations that should have known better will be punished for their refusal to follow God’s laws, as revealed in the Bible.
But if you read on, you see the context also shows that this time of national chastisement will be followed by a widespread and profound national repentance. Notice the next verse: “I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me” (Hosea 5:15). Many modern theologians and pastors emphasize that the church needs to move beyond a simplistic view of God's anger and focus on the broader biblical narrative of love, redemption, and restoration.
Why is McNair so angry that "modern theologians" seek to move beyond the simplistic God of the absolutists? Jesus irritates the hell out of legalists. How dare God love a sinner! How dare God redeem a sinner before them, the one true church? How dare God bring restoration and wholeness to them when an angry God wants to spank them? Armstrongism loves to talk about a soon-coming Kingdom of God where everyone will live in harmony and peace, and a true Sabbath rest will be the theme of the day. Yet, hardly any COG leader or minister ever tries to bring forth that kingdom as a reality to those in the world around them. Bringing love, redemption, and restoration to the world around them is not a present reality, but it should be. They should be so excited to share that love that they can't shut up about it.
McNair ends with this:
McNair ends with this:
Joseph and Judah will together acknowledge their sin and seek the true God, in sincere repentance and worship. How can this be speaking of any time other than the coming millennial reign of Christ? Jesus Christ will have returned to earth to set up His glorious Kingdom, and there will be a time of prosperity and peace like the world has never known. Just as the sons of Jacob will fall together because of their sins, so they will also earnestly repent together and finally seek God.
You who are reading this letter are part of a Work that is boldly proclaiming these events to the descendants of Jacob and to the world. Your support of this Work helps our dear friends and neighbors understand the why behind today’s news. And it gives them vitally important information about what is to come and what they can do about it now
Imagine what kind of world we would have if those who claim to be the truest Christians on this earth today actually believed in that kingdom so much that they sought to bring it to the world around them in this very moment in time? That would inspire people to the repentance that COG leaders want to see happen. Instead, it is an endless drone of an angry God just itching to spank the world with vengeance and anger.
Sadly, that kind of ungodly character is not shaped by the teachings of Jesus, who emphasized love, compassion, and forgiveness—the God who dishes out unconditional grace.
Perhaps Jesus did not come to change God's mind about us, but for us to change our minds about God?
Nothing infuriated 1st-century and 21st-century legalists more than Jesus sitting down with sinners to share a meal, laugh, have a good time, and—worst of all—forgive those who had failed to live up to all of the rigid rules. Legalists back then, just as today, need an angry God ready to smite their enemies. They needed Jesus to step in and smite the sinners and unbelievers; instead, they got a God who sat down and ate with them! Scandalous!
Jesus exemplified the God who was slow to anger, overflowing with mercy. Compassion was the action of the day. Just like today, the only people who get angry with Jesus' actions are those who need an angry God dripping with retribution—a God who excludes while backslapping the truest Christians on earth today. In their eyes, the cross never satisfied that angry God; in fact, the cross is widely mocked in Armstrongism to this very day.
The cross carried this message: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Isn't it about time that COG leaders and ministers practiced that simple phrase instead of gleefully getting their rocks off at all of the destruction their angry God is ready to dish out?
The entire point of the gospel message is that God seeks to draw us in, instead of a so-called gospel about a God seeking to keep sinners out. How dare those Catholics and teetotalling Baptists be the first to arrive in the Kingdom of God to greet them when they finally arrive! Scandalous!
Grace isn't for those who have it all right; it is for those who admit they don't. The Christian walk is not about proving yourself at the feet of an angry God who might have an eraser in His hand and crosses off a few lines here and there.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. NIV Isaiah 1:18
