Are You Embarrassed To Say You Follow Sam Kitchen?

Samuel Kitchen has issued a clarification about how important he is.

Supporting Jesus and supporting him are the same assignment. Hesitate, and you have already failed both.

If you won't lose everything for Samuel, you obviously hate Jesus

There is a sentence some people say when a self-appointed restorer of the Worldwide Church of God asks them to go public: "I hope my life doesn't get screwed up because of this."

According to Samuel, that sentence is not caution. It is cowardice. It is shame. It is proof you are ashamed of Jesus Christ, that your life is an idol, and that Jesus doesn't need you anyway. The tell is in the wording. He does not say you are ashamed of the gospel. He says you are ashamed when you do not want people to find out you are a supporter of his work. The two have been merged. Question the merger and you have questioned the Lord.

The pastoral program that follows is admirably simple. Stand up. Lose everything. This is not your time to shine; it is your time to serve God, which in practice means it is your time to be useful to him. Build character. Shoot the damn dogs. Speak in boldness. Die serving God if the heathen get difficult. Any pressure that makes you wonder whether attaching your name, job, family, or pets to this particular project is wise? Demonic. Absolutely terrible. They should be tolerable toward you. They are not, so the mature response is to die, secure your crown, and stop loving anyone more than God - which is to say, stop loving anyone more than the man equating himself with the assignment.

The idolatry charge is the cleanest part of the tantrum. If you will not let critics, employers, relatives, or basic pattern recognition outrank your public allegiance to him, those people are your idol. Get rid of the idol. What he does not mention is the scoreboard those idols keep consulting: the flipped switches that did not flip, the resurrections of Herbert's church that stayed dead, the titles that multiply faster than the fulfilled dates. Embarrassment, in that light, can look less like hatred of Christ and more like literacy.

And the dogs. "Shoot the damn dogs" is not a metaphor that improves on a second reading. It sits in the same paragraph as the demand that you die serving God and the complaint that the heathen are insufficiently tolerable. The man in the kingly robe, mouth open, fingers pointing at the you, is not asking whether you love Jesus. He is asking whether you are embarrassed to be associated with him, and he has already graded the quiz.

Are you embarrassed to support him? He says that embarrassment makes you a hater of Christ. The rest of us can hold a simpler theory. Some people are not ashamed of Jesus. They are ashamed of being drafted as free advertising for a man who thinks loyalty to his work and loyalty to the Lord are the same invoice, and who offers dog management and a crown as the receipt.

IF YOU EVER SAY "I hope my life doesn't get screwed up because of this" when you don't want people to find out you are a supporter of HIS WORK! You are a COWARD, and you are ashamed of Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ doesn't need you! And your life shouldn't be above serving God! If you are really as committed as YOU CLAIM.

You have to be willing to stand up and LOSE EVERYTHING to serve Jesus Christ! This isn't YOUR TIME TO SHINE. It is YOUR TIME TO SERVE GOD, and an opportunity to BUILD GOD'S CHARACTER! 

SO shoot the damn dogs, speak the truth in boldness, and don't let the heathen dominate YOU. Oh you may die? DIE serving God. What kind of pressure are others placing on you, that makes you feel like you will die if you STAND UP and do what God says? That's demonic! That is absolutely terrible! THEY SHOULD BE TOLERABLE TOWARDS YOU! But they hate you, and you want them to hate you? Or maybe you can shift responsibility off to Jesus Christ, and get them to hate HIM, and LOVE YOU? Then aren't you a hater of Christ? That is the path and doings of a COWARD, and someone who does not Love God! We ought to love God above all else. And not let those who HATE GOD dominate that love you have towards God! YOU CANNOT LOVE THEM MORE THAN GOD! That would mean they are your IDOL!! SO get rid of your idol! and secure your crown with Jesus Christ!

Operation Cookie - The Great Cookie Crisis of the PCG

Listen to song here: The Great Cookie Crisis

PCG Ministry and the Cookie Comment

A personal account by Dan Moffett

 

Sometimes a small incident reveals why an organization feels controlling. For me, one of those incidents involved a few dozen cookies.

A couple of years after my wife died, I decided to take my two boys on a little vacation. The Southeastern region of the Philadelphia Church of God was holding a Fourth of July family campout, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to get away together.

After I signed up, the event coordinator emailed me a list of things to bring. One request was for a few dozen cookies.

I had recently lost a considerable amount of weight and had been dealing with health problems. With those concerns in mind, I suggested that cookies might not be the healthiest contribution and asked whether I could bring something else.

It seemed like a simple question about food for a family outing.

A few days later, however, I received a telephone call from my local minister, Aaron Eagle. As I remember the conversation, he told me not to bring up the cookie issue again.

I was shocked. How had a question about bringing a healthier alternative become something requiring a minister’s warning?

If the event coordinator objected to my suggestion, he could have answered me directly. He could have explained the menu or simply said that cookies were what they needed. Instead, my understanding is that the matter traveled through the following chain:

• The event coordinator contacted his local minister.
• That minister contacted Craig Winters, the Southeastern regional director.
• Craig Winters contacted Cal Culpepper, the Northeastern regional director.
• Cal Culpepper contacted Aaron Eagle, my local minister.
• Aaron Eagle then called me and told me not to raise the matter again.

I was not present for those other conversations; this is my understanding of how the matter reached my minister. What I experienced directly was the email exchange and the subsequent warning from Aaron Eagle.

By that account, two ministers and two regional directors became involved over a comment about cookies.

What troubled me was the disproportionate response. I had asked whether I could contribute something healthier. Yet the response left me feeling that even an ordinary question could become a matter of ministerial scrutiny.

I had wanted a little vacation with my boys after losing their mother. Instead, this incident became another reason I felt controlled within the PCG.

To me, it illustrated an atmosphere in which a member could be made to feel that asking a reasonable question was stepping out of line.

Today, I am grateful to be free from that atmosphere. I can make ordinary decisions about my health, my family, and what I bring to a picnic without fearing a telephone call from a minister.

A question about cookies should have been answered with a conversation—not escalated into a warning.