It is Appointed Unto All Men Once to
Die....
One of the hallmark traits of the COGs is
that somehow "we" are unique to the history of humans dying. When I was a
pastor, I taught the "we who are alive and remain," concept. It was very
nice knowing that of all the times in history where humans have come and gone by
dying, I was NOT going to have to experience that. Of course, that was
bullshit.
EVERY COG minister teaches and inspires by
telling the faithful that they are unique in the history of mankind and will not
have to die. We live in "awesome" times. We are the special, the
chosen those who will not have to die as billions have before us. We
will be changed, and "in the moment, a twinkling of an eye," shall be
changed.
Of course, Paul was very very wrong.
The Apostle Paul, 2000 years ago, 2000 YEARS!, was wrong. He finally had
to give in to , "I have fought a good fight..." etc, but he was toast. He
had told others to think "time was short," but had to finally admit it
wasn't.
Much of the motivation behind the COG "time
is short," is the absolute fear of death. Everyone dies. If you
agree to show up, you agree to leave. I would love to think that somehow I
was living in a time and in touch in such a way as to never die. I'd love
to think that , "we shall not all die, but we all shall change, in a moment, in
a twinking of the eye.." but, alas, we do all die.
The idea that humans can know the
future is terribly flawed. Prophecy makes us feel as if we are special and
not subject to the common fate of all those before us. The COG guru's
teach as if they will not die and will live over into some kind of amazing
change not common to men. But they are wrong.
Roderick C Meredith will die before Jesus
returns. David C Pack, will die before Jesus return. Gerald Flurry
will die before Jesus returns. Joseph Tkach will die before Jesus
returns. Ron Weinland will die before Jesus returns. We ALL will die
as it is the nature of agreeing to show up!
In hindsite, I realize I wanted to be
special. I wanted to be excluded from the common experience of all human
beings before me. I wanted to feel special as to being called of
God. I wanted to feel that I was among those that would not die but would
be "changed." The reality is that no one is special and that all of
us will die.
How motivational is the idea that "you
won't die as others," But it is a lie. The Apostle Paul spent a few
years thinking he was special in this regard. He said, "we who are alive
shall be changed," yet ultimately had to admit he was wrong. He finally
had to admit he had fought a good fight, finished his course and was going to
die.
Dying sucks. But it is what ALL
humans experience. There is no way out of this biological demise.
Cells can only replicate so many times and old age is a function of the failure
of cells to do this efficiently. All life form get about the the same
number or breaths. A mouse lives about 3 years and breathes about the same
number of times as a human does in 70 years. An elephant that live 125
years breathes about the same number of times as a human at 70 years. Life
and cells last only so long.
So give up the idea that some COG minister
can get you out of this experience. Dying is good for our soul. We
are not, then we are, then we are not. That's how it works. Fighting
it is futile. Thinking that some church or religious view can free us from
this reality is vain.
Jesus died. The Apostles died.
The Apostle Paul, who thought he'd not die, died. All gurus died. HWA
died. GTA died. Gerald Waterhouse died. Raymond McNair died.
All will die is just how it is.
Learn to live now as now is all you
have. Don't give in to the "just around the corner," or "soon"
types. Reject them. Live your life in the now. Enjoy and learn as you
go.
The whole idea that those in the COG "know"
how it all will be are wrong. They are afraid of dying just like everyone
before them and misuse the Bible to get them off the hook.
NO ONE gets off the hook. Live in the
now. Forget the past and do not speculate into the future for you will
probably be wrong.
Amen.
Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
