LCG Prepares To Sacrifice Jesus Again At The Local Masonic Lodge and/or School Gym

It is that time of year when the Churches of God focuses upon Passover. It is the one time of year that the focus is supposed to be entirely on the guy they call Christ or Jesus if they want to look cool to their members. The rest of the year, not so much.  

They look forward to the ritual symbolic killing of Jesus once again. Microphones will be brought forward so that when the matzo wafers are broken the sound of the breaking of the bread is amplified so that members sitting in the congregation are filled with guilt and remorse for their inability to remain sinless since the previous Passover.

Due to the previous sins in their lives since the last Passover, they have to kill Jesus all over again on the night of the COG version of the Passover. The problem is, as soon as they leave that gym or Masonic Lodge, Jesus seems to remain there for the rest of the year. 

The meaning of his life, the significance of the resurrection, which is way more mysterious and meaningful than the crucifixion, barely gets a peep the rest of the year. COG leaders shy away from resurrection stories because they don't want to seem too Protestant and Easterish. Justification is rarely discussed as it is more important to focus on following rules than being justified. Grace and unmerited pardon are not looked upon too freely either. In fact, as the year progresses, the church will, as usual, be more graceless than ever. The rules and new rules will be enforced as Jesus Christ gets shoved in the corner again where he will have to wait till Passover next year.

Prepare for the Spring Holy Days: In just a few weeks, we will be observing the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. These annual Festivals are a memorial of the great sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for our sins and the sins of the world. They are also a reminder that we need to recognize and eliminate sin and inappropriate thoughts and actions from our lives so we can become more like our Father and elder brother Jesus Christ. For the Passover to be meaningful and profitable—and not just routine—we need to do our part to prepare for this important step in God’s Plan of Salvation. To put the Passover in proper perspective, it will be helpful to review the gospel accounts of the events that led up to the Passover, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. Placing our own period of self-examination within this biblical context can help us appreciate the tremendous significance of Jesus’ sacrifice. The Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread provide us with an annual opportunity to examine every aspect of our lives in the light of God’s instructions found in the Scriptures. Spending time every day in prayerful study and reflection, as we go through this Holy Day period, will help us grow to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ.
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

Its COG Passover Time!

It is time for Armstrongism's yearly ritual of it's continual crucifixion of someone they call Jesus.  Armstrongism has left its Jesus broken and beaten in college/high school gyms and Masonic Lodges around the country for the last 70 some years.  For most in Armstrongism this is about the only service in the Church of God that really has anything to do with its Jesus. Other than closing a church service with "In Jesus Name..." it is all about Moses, David, Elijah, Jeremiah and the Prophets of Old and every minuscule thing you can attach to the law.

For decades it was also one of the most secretive services of the church.  Only  baptized members who were approved by the ministry were allowed to participate.  Guards were placed at the doors to keep out any public and for those who had been disfellowshipped.

This is also a night that Armstrongism picks and chooses on how it will observe it.  There are some in the COG that call this a 'bastardization of the true Jewish Passover.'  The COG keeps the parts it wants while rejecting other parts of it. The COG tries to get as close as it can to Jewish law and traditions without ever really doing anything that pertains to Jewish law or tradition.  Like it's interpretation of Scripture the COG picks and chooses what it wants for this night.

Sadly though, this is not a night that brings most members into any kind of relationship with Jesus.  It is the ultimate in power control of the Church over the membership.

For weeks ahead of time the minister stands up preaching that the church members are unworthy worms who will NEVER be able to do what God says.  The members are portrayed as disgusting vile sinners just teetering on the edge of annihilation. Sermons and sermonettes, week after week, will dwell on the unworthiness of members while the enlightened one is up in front of them preaching.  Members are told to examine, reexamine and  otherwise prove themselves worthy to even share the same room as the enlightened humble minister as he prepares to be Jesus' instrument of torture..

This is also the one night of the year that all true members know they cannot miss.  God forbid if they have done something and the minister has told them to not come.  If they miss this night then their sins for the past year will not be forgiven.  Two full years of being an unredeemed filthy sinner will weigh heavily on the members mind.  Because of this, members will do anything the minister tells them.  They will do it through the year when the minister, evangelist, or Apostle tells them to do something that they may not even like.  If they refuse they know their eternal salvation is at risk.  In other words, keep the brethren fearful, ashamed, browbeaten with unworthiness, never being able to measure up and they will be compliant unquestioning sheeple.

Working in Pasadena for the many years I was there I got to see much of  this kind of attitude first hand.  Ministers threatening Church members or employees with being barred from Passover services scared the hell out of people.  People came to this service many times totally distraught and nauseated.  They would get physically sick having to listen to the the minister making sure that you heard the sound of the breaking of the matzo's.  In Pasadena they used to turn the sound up higher as the minister broke the matzo's so that you got to hear the crunching and breaking sound to remind you that you are a filthy piece of human garbage that continues to crucify Jesus - oops, sorry, CHRIST- day in and day out. Some would also get sick when the wine trays were passed with the dry red wine that had such a strong stomach turning odor..

And how would a COG Passover be complete without foot washing?  We had ministers and department heads in Pasadena who would hand pick the  people who would wash their feet.  God forbid if any of them had to touch a lowly ordinary member!  Those people got pulled into special areas where the  ministry washed feet away from the wandering eyes of the clods that were Church members.  In heated  rooms with hot water and fresh fluffy towels you were treated to the Holy feet of God's true ministers. You knew you had reached good standing with God if you got to wash a ministers feet.

It got so that I never participated in the Passover services in the last few years that I attended WCG.  I would help people set things up and prepare for it but it no longer had any meaning to me.  Watching the hypocrites in the ministry day in and day out ruining peoples lives made it a disgusting display of arrogance to sit there as they pretended to be humble servants of God.

Only Aphrodite Worshippers Put Honey In Their Homemade Matzo's

The lunacy continues with God's appointed end time prophet/apostle, Pastor Malm:

PASSOVER ULB:  It has been brought to my attention that there are some recipes put out by COG Groups which actually call for honey in Unleavened Bread.  The Scriptures absolutely forbid the use of honey in any baked offering [made by fire] to be eaten, or grain [meat] offering to be burned [consumed by God in the fire; the fire symbolic of God's spirit]  in the fire.

This is because of the heavy connection of bees and honey with pagan religions and witchcraft.  The pagan deities are strongly associated with bees and honey – Aphrodite, Vishnu, Pan, Cybele, and Ra, just to name a few.

That does NOT mean that bees and honey are bad; they are creations of God and are good.  It does mean that these good things are being used as symbols of perversion by the heathan.  NEVER use honey in any Passover or ULB unleavened bread.  Please simply google paganism bees for more.

And what about those sinful eggs???

 No, I am not talking about THOSE eggs, Apostle Malm is upset about these eggs:

How dare you cooks out there beat your eggs to put in your UB baked products!  Everyone knows you are trying to get as close to Satan as possible when you do that! Heathen, perverse generation of laodicean sinners!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It should also be remembered that recipes calling for an artificial leavening by the addition of beaten eggs is symbolic of getting as close to sin as possible while actually breaking the letter of the law.  This is breaking the spirit of the law and it is SIN; in the same way that hate is murder, or that lust is adultery.