Church of God Outreach Ministries: Prepare to worship the Devil

 

COG UK joins the fear bandwagon, not that they were ever really off it, with fears about the election of Joe Biden and his Catholocism that he supposedly will integrate into the U.S. Government. A new church-state will be formed and will immediately start attacking COG members.  They envision the world where we are all told to worship the Pope by Satan himself and then the world will swiftly come to an end. 

This has been an ongoing COG fear tactic for decades to keep members in line. Dare to question that and you will be under the bonds of Satan himself and will soon be kneeling down worshiping Satan and the Pope.

Bible readers have long understood (in a variety of scenarios) that 'all the world' will in the latter days succumb to a despotic anti-Christian fusion of religion and state. Perhaps unwittingly, Donald Trump facilitated this in a bid for evangelical votes but he restrained the imposition of a world ruled by and for the elite.

The incoming President, a life-long and devoted Roman Catholic, has made clear his intentions to entwine church and state through state aid. The call to unity and peace, however sincere, is a prel-ude to the real agenda - the universal worship of 'the god of this world.

When this long-envisaged global plan is implemented the choice for Christians will be to worship as the Devil (through his anti-Christian servants subservient to the Papacy) dictates. Or worship the one true God as and when He has prescribed since creation.

When that moment arrives we are assured that the true universal millennial Kingdom presided over by the Saviour will be at hand: '...when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your re-demption draws near' (Luke 21:28).

Is Your Pride Stopping You From Recognizing And Following The True Prophet?

 

It's another day in our crazy world and the Church of God. Our favorite self-appointed prophet and savior to the African continent has posted one of the most idiotic things possible in the last couple of days.

The Great Bwana to Africa and leader of 299 caucasian members, worldwide, has posted a story about how "pride" is causing COG members and ex-members from recognizing him as a true prophet of God.

 The holistic pill peddling Dr. Thiel also drags out Norm Edwards as a legitimate source of information about pride. Norm, as you may recall, set himself up as the great preserver of truth that he supposedly received under Herbert Armstrong. Norm's theology is as skewed and erroneous as Bob Thiel's and Dave Pack's and should not be considered "truth" by anyone. Norm was also one of the failures on the board of Global Church of God where he and the rest of the inept board members led to the demise of the GCG and the formation of Living Church of God. He also set up a community in Point Austin, MI that turned out to a total disaster with backstabbing, property theft, lawsuits, and more. If any of you remember Homer Kizer, he is the one who went after Edwards. The community Edwards set up for recovering addicts always had problems and was always in financial straits due to the fact that none of the COG groups supported him and very few members did. Port Austin is now being used to house Puerto Rican employees of Huron Casting.

Prophet Bob quotes Edwards to prop his crown up with this:

"With dozens of New Testament Scriptures explaining and encouraging the ongoing prophecy in the New Testament and with no scriptures clearly declaring its end, one must conclude that prophets and prophecy are something that God wants for His Church today!"

"In this 21 st century, most who call themselves Christian neither observe the Sabbath nor seek prophets or prophecies in their congregations. A few teach and practice one or the other. Only a tiny fraction accepts both. 

 

The single biggest difficulty in acquiring any truth, no matter how valuable, is overcoming our own human pride. It is very difficult to accept that we have been wrong about something for many years— especially when we have been right on other things. The lessons of the books of Kings and Chronicles come to mind. Each king’s life is frequently summed up in a single statement— explaining what he did right and where he fell short. If we hunger and thirst for God as King David did (Psalm 63:1; 107:9), we can receive all that he has for us—and obtain a good report (Acts 22:12; Hebrews 11:2, 39)." 

 

"Finally, for members of a church group with a doctrinal statement that is decades or centuries old, growth is rarely quick or even possible. Both religious and civil leaders struggle with prophets today for the same reason they did in the Old and New Testaments. The prophets speak for God, not for the religious or civil leaders of the day. People who always prophesy what the leaders want are probably false prophets. 

 

This writer heard a church leader put forth this argument against prophets in the church: “If there are real prophets today, then we could ask them and know for sure when Christ will come back. But the Bible says that no man knows that time, so there cannot be prophets today.” We should never underestimate God. He is quite able to not answer the questions we do not need answered now. Jesus already explained this leader’s question: 

 

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:6-8)."

"One of the most dangerous things we can do is begin thinking we already have everything important (Revelation 3:17-19). We must forever be humble before God and realize that He is bringing about His will. He is not there to back up our will or the policies of our church group. He also knows when is the right time to teach each truth to each person. Even Jesus could not teach His apostles everything at once: 

 

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12)."

Bobiniah Bob continues with more quotes from Edwards (you can read them all here) and then adds this to supposedly impress us with his ungodly self-appointment:

Norman Edwards was the editor for Shepherd’s Voice magazine. He is not part of the Continuing Church of God, where, I function as its human leader (and am an ordained prophet; the only known such ordained prophet in any legitimate Church of God group). 

 

While Norman Edwards and I have long disagreed about aspects of church governance and various matters of doctrine, we both agree that many who are in or claim to be in the Church of God (COG) wrongly do not accept that God has any prophets today and that Laodicean pride gets in the way. We also agree that most have severe difficulty identifying one who really is a prophet because of various unscriptural biases and improper criteria that they have.

Do you realize that you are blinded to the role of prophets due to the lies of Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry? Their foolishness is what is causing you to not believe Bobiniah Bwana Elisha Thiel is the only true COG prophet alive today. Shame on you!

The deluded prophet goes on to list 42 points as to why he is a legitimate prophet with the truth. Where would COG leaders and ministers be today without their bullet point lists? Those lists appear because the leaders cannot form concise thoughts into a simple statement. 

How dare any of you use your rational thought process and prove Bobiniah wrong! How dare you! Besides, he now has the Living Church of God and the United Church of God endorsing him as a true prophet! I am sure this is news to both groups since both groups denounce him and have never endorsed him.

Some will come up with their preferred rationale as why not to agree with the position of the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) on these matters. Yet not only is CCOG’s position biblical, it should be noted that leaders in the Living Church of God and/or the United Church of God confirmed to me personally that I was biblically correct on all the above points, despite the fact that their respective churches hold to several of the errors pointed out above. Those who rely too much on a compromised ministry (Ezekiel 34:7-10) to teach them prophecy that is not truly in accordance with scripture need to realize that according to Jesus’ words in Revelation 2 & 3 and Luke 21, only relatively few Christians will be protected from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world. 

 

As Norman Edward’s article points out, it is scriptural to now have prophets according to the New Testament. But many who truly believe that they live by the word of God have discounted or overlooked what the Bible actually teaches and/or have been influenced by others who have done the same or worse. The COG has at least one demonstrably true prophet today, yet most in the greater COG world seem to be able to ignore the truth about that, like most ignored John the Baptist and others in their day. 

 

Pride is a bigger problem for Christians than most realize.

Bobiniah Thiel is right about one thing though:

 

Discerning right from wrong when listening to your minister

Ever since Herbert Armstrong hit the scene and in the subsequent years after his death, the Church of God has been filled with men who claim to have direct access to God, that their words and writings are God-inspired, and that we as members are to heed every word that comes from them as the "truth." The problem lies when men like Pack, Flurry, Thiel, Weinland, and others say things, they expect us to take it all as being true when the vast majority of us know they are liars and blasphemers.

In the churches of God, we have heard over and over that God ordained the ministry and, therefore, they are the only ones who have the ability to interpret scripture. Bible studies held without a minister present are frowned upon, if not outright forbidden. 

 

But what does scripture say? 

 

Scripture says when we’re baptized, all of us whom God has called and chosen have the same two things: God’s spirit and God’s word.

Nothing irritates many of today's COG leaders than the laity sitting around and discussing scriptures. How dare they! They have not been educated at God's College, whatever and wherever that may be, so how can they know the proper meaning of scripture!

One of the amazing things about Judaism is that many of them regularly sit around and discuss and argue scripture. So many in the COG think it is blasphemy to argue over scripture, but if you look at the different COG leaders today, they all do that in their own unique way. The main way is when they each declare that God has delivered to them the CORRECT version of how things should be. That immediately negates every other COG leader out there. Then those offended COG leaders ramp up the discourse and clam revelations and dreams sent by their god to them. It is all one huge mess.

Jesus Christ, in Matthew 11, invites us to learn from Him. Luke tells us that the Bereans poured over the scriptures to compare what they were hearing preached with the word of God to see if the preaching matched what God says. 

 

Paul repeatedly admonishes us to study to show ourselves approved by rightly dividing the word of truth and to prove all things and to work out our salvation (this indicates an intimate relationship with God and Jesus Christ, which is impossible without being in the word of God).

Many COG members, regardless of the group they are in or not in, know far more about scriptures than most of the COG leaders today. There are women in the COG who can up to shame most of the present-day COG leaders, which I think is hilarious! 

The diaspora (this was all the Hebrew Christians, not just some) is admonished in the book of Hebrews that they should be spiritually mature enough to be teachers, but that they are not because they haven’t learned how to discern between right (God’s word) and wrong (everything else) and good (godliness) and evil (worldliness). 

 

Scripture does not say what we often hear in the churches of God. However, this belief among the church of God ministers is (although most of them probably don’t realize it) designed to make the non-ministers dependent on them for everything. 

 

But we are supposed to be dependent on God and Jesus Christ for everything, not another human being just like ourselves. 

 

Although this may be unconscious, it is a perversion of the word of God.

The belief that COG ministers and leaders are the direct conduit from God in all matters, both spiritual and physical is not only a perversion of the Word of God but utter blasphemy. Look at the perverted things they say and how members suffer under their leadership.

I wonder how many COG members out there actually study the Bible WITHOUT any HWA booklets or writings of any other COG leader? There are Christians in the "world" who are far better versed in the meaning of Scripture than many COG members because they are willing to look at many sources. Sadly though, far too many sit there month after month, year after year waiting for their minister or leader to tell them how things should be.

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, bear responsibility as well. Many of us aren’t abiding in the Vine continually by digging into the word of God and reading it (the words on the page, not the words we think are on the page), thinking about it (as the source against which we compare the words we have heard, not the other way around), learning it, and applying it. 

 

Instead, many of us look to human words (in writing, in sermons, etc.) for knowledge, instead of to God’s words. We are not guiltless in the perversion of the word of God either.

You can read the entire article here which includes two examples of subtle deceptions of a couple of current COG ministers.

Concretized Christianity: “Huh?!?” Things We Hear…

 

Gerald Weston: UK Banned Our Program On COVID-19 Because They Didn't Like It Due To The Fact They Eat Bacon And Sausage

This has to rank up there in "The Dumb Things Church of God Leaders Say" category.  Gerry sent this in a letter to supposedly 300,000 co-workers and members recently. What a shining example of logic this man displays!

It is still too early to have final figures, but our telecast “Why Does God Allow Pandemics?” looks as though it will bring in twice as many requests as normal. The offer for that program was a DVD titled, “God Answers His COVID-19 Critics.” Sadly, the program was censored in the United Kingdom because they did not like it. Perhaps it is because their “traditional English breakfast” includes two or three types of bacon, pork sausage, and black pudding (something that is made with blood, often pig blood, and looks like a thin hockey puck). If you were one of those who missed the program, just let us know and we will be very happy to send you the DVD that contains the program, or you can go online right now and see it at Why Does God Allow Pandemics. May 21, 2020

Living Church of God Minister Sets The Standard For All Other Ministers

Once more, we have the sterling example of Christian love that the Living Church of God exudes through its ministers. 

Sadly, the bar has always been low, but they keep lowering it.

I attended what I hope was my last WCG-splinter funeral today for my mother-in-law...a faithful, 50+ year member of WCG, then GCG, and for the past 20 years or so, LCG. 

I understand that in the eyes of their "pastor" that my husband and I are the worst possible people on the planet... Former members, apostates, the "fallen away". And it boy, did it show!!!! 

The pastor didn't offer a single word of condolence or comfort to my husband or his brother... The last living members of their immediate family. He didn't speak to my husband, didn't shake his hand and say "I'm so sorry for your loss... Your mother was a lovely woman and so proud of you both." You know, the kind and decent things that people usually say when two men just lost their last surviving parent. 

To be fair, his wife did make an effort to be polite and nice... Which frankly made the fact that her husband utterly ignored the deceased person's two sons even more noticeable. 

My husband, on the other hand, this EX member, the apostate, the fallen one... Went out of his way before we left to walk all the way across the cemetery to thank the two men who were waiting in their pickup truck to place his mother's coffin into the ground. You tell me... What would Jesus do? 

Reprinted from Facebook with permission.