Church of God International Continues To Hide Or Minimize Differences In The Church

 

From a CGI source:

I just noticed that CGI has removed all of the comments associated with Jeff's post from their website, and they have removed Jeff's post and the 90+ comments associated with it on their Facebook page. I can think of a number of reasons for doing this (none of them very good). It does appear from Mr. Stinson's and Mr. Reed's comments that they were particularly sensitive to the characterization of their organization as being bitterly divided over the issue. Whatever their reasoning, I think that it is dishonest and futile to attempt to hide or minimize the differences within the church on this issue (and very reminiscent of how the old Worldwide Church handled anything which presented the church in a negative or unfavorable light).

See this article that spurred it on:

Church of God International Internal War Over COVID Continues

Jeff had even commented on the above article on this blog and then deleted his comment after CGI officials deleted his articles and all of the comments. It is amazing how COG leaders work so quickly to silence people but yet take forever if at all, to assist members when they are in need. Just more proof of the downward spiral of the Armstrong Church of God movement.

How quickly things change. From having the full support of CGI and the publication of his well-written article to his articles and comments being deleted. The COG, as unified as ever! 

Jeff has left a new comment on your post "Church of God International Internal War Over COVI...": 

Nothing that I have written previously or in the current article should be interpreted as some sort of civil war in the CGI. The real war we face is against Covid. As an elder in God's Church, I have a responsibility to teach our membership and others Biblical truths that can save lives. Especially when that information is currently critical.

My article "Pandemic Fiction" addressed the false information that has been responsible for so many people unnecessarily getting sick and dying. These are real-world scenarios proving that God's instructions about blessings and cursings are true. If you believe and follow lies, you will experience "curses" in your life. 

I wrote this follow-up article, "Delta Isolation," after several well-meaning people commented to me that they heard Covid is more severe when you are vaccinated. Where did they hear this? All of the data is exactly the opposite of this. I was barely sick myself but tested positive enough to spread the disease. This is what was learned from the outbreak in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Of the 374 vaccinated who tested positive, there were only 4 hospitalizations with no deaths. That number would normally be around 10-20 percent in the unvaccinated and around 2 percent deaths. The majority only suffered very mild symptoms similar to my own. So with this easily available information, why would some in the church believe the opposite?

The church of God culture has some who from previous affiliations are very anti-medicine. And they get their bad information from conspiracy sources such as Natural News or Infowars. This is also true of a growing number of evangelicals.

This is not the teaching of CGI. Some quotes from our Systematic Theology Project of what we teach:

"The scientific and technological progress of the health sciences has been remarkable, especially over the last few decades, with increasing sophistication and effectiveness of technique, combined with a decreasing incidence of complications and side effects. For such achievements man should give God the credit; for it was God who created the human mind, empowering it with the creative brilliance to constantly attain to new heights of achievement in the physical world."

"What about medicines and drugs? Revelation 21:8 says that “sorcerers” (Greek, pharmakos) shall have their part in the lake of fire. The clear evidence indicates the word pharmakia referred to cult worship and the use of drugs to induce spells, rather than modern medicines and drugs. Medicines used to heal sickness are not condemned in the Bible."

"When one seeks professional medical help, he should select the most competent within his means. There are different specialties and different degrees of competency among individual practitioners just as in any profession."

It is my intention to direct the Church of God to professional, competent health sources and away from the false information that can lead to misery, suffering, and death.

Many so-called "alternative medicines" are, in fact, not medicine at all. It is either medicine, or it is not. Much of "alternative medicine" is related to occult and pagan ideas about magic, amulets, etc. For example, the founder of chiropractic got his information from necromancy.

The first chiropractor was a Canadian who claimed he received a message from a ghost

And creating magic potions from over-diluting substances, combining essential oils, or redirecting your chi is just a waste of time and could cause serious problems to go untreated.

Church of God International Internal War Over COVID Continues

Delta Isolation

Facebook comment:

"This is what a luke warm church sounds like...sad to see a Church of God promoting the end time pharmakiea that deceives the nation's and makes the merchants of the world rich. 

Revelation is being fulfilled befor your eyes and you praise the beast that is rising. 

GOD help you when the False prophet and Lawless one arise."

CGI’s Civil War Continues!

The Church of God International recently posted another article by Jeff Reed about his personal experiences with Covid-19 on their website and on their Facebook homepage. In the article, Mr. Reed wrote: “I’ve been in isolation since testing positive for Covid last week. I am blessed to be vaccinated, so my symptoms were very mild. My God-given immune system had a blueprint for defeating this pathogen quickly. It felt like a head cold except less of an inconvenience. Head colds usually stay with me for up to two weeks, and this infection was gone in a day and a half. I continually praise God for His guidance and protection in my life. Understanding His Word can help us avoid and mitigate a lot of problems we face in life.”

He went on to share his reasoning for self-isolating: “I’m in isolation because it has been confirmed that a small percentage of vaccinated individuals can get mildly infected with the Delta variant and be contagious to others. I am one of those individuals, and I want to do all I can to protect those vulnerable to sickness and death. In the past few weeks, Covid has hit many hard in the Church of God. Many CGI congregations have also been affected.”

Readers will recall that Pastor Bill Watson’s Medina, Ohio congregation was hit particularly hard by the virus and has been at the center of the storm over Covid-19 within the church. In fact, the reaction to Mr. Reed’s last article was so negative from that direction (Ohio) that the elder decided to take a much softer and more humorous stance in this post.

He continued: “As an elder in the Church, I have no expertise or business giving anyone medical advice. We believe the choice to receive medical care or vaccination is solely left up to the individual. I did speak to a Church elder who is a medical professional, and his warning to the Church of God is to take this Delta variant seriously. It is very contagious and is spreading quickly among the unvaccinated population of our country.” This comment was followed by a retelling of the joke about the man in the house in the midst of a flood who refused the help of a jeep, boat and helicopter that God had sent to rescue him (all the time professing his faith that God would save him).

However, even with this softer voice and a touch of humor, the rancor from the other side was not restrained. The most virulent comments appeared on Facebook. One commentator wrote: “I am out, I have been following the Church of God International for over 25 years … God I pray for the Christ followers all over the world, to See what is happening. God bless” Another wrote: “Amen, I am not taking their shot!! I am almost 65 years old, praise God, If more would trust in god and put their faith and trust in him and his hands!! There would be no sicknesses or diseases!! Praise the Lord, he is the only truth, way and light in this dark world! He is the true life, unto man!! We are only passing through. With his blood covering us!! I praise you JESUS!! And I thank you for your protection!! Amen!!”

And, if those comments weren’t bad enough, there were many more in the thread that were even more egregious! One man wrote: “This is what a lukewarm church sounds like...sad to see a Church of God promoting the end time pharmakiea that deceives the nation's and makes the merchants of the world rich. Revelation is being fulfilled before your eyes and you praise the beast that is rising. GOD help you when the False prophet and Lawless one arise.” Another lady observed: “Read Psalm 91. God is our healer. One has no idea how they would have dealt with covid without the vaccine. Doctors have told me all my life there is nothing you can do for a virus but let it run its course. The vaccine is NOT stopping people from getting covid any more than mask wearing is.” And this one was priceless: “I THOUGHT THE SABBATH KEEPING CHURCHS OF GOD WERE INSTRUCTING BREATHEREN NOT TO TAKE MURDERED, WEE ABORTED BABYS TISSUES, /// VACINES INTO THERE BODYS.......” (Many of the spelling and grammatical errors were retained to demonstrate the level of the discourse on the topic).

Poor Jeff! My own thoughts and comments were a little different from the ones quoted above. The comments which I posted on CGI’s website were as follows:

“May God speed your complete recovery from the infection, and may He bless you for your care and concern for those around you. I very much enjoyed that joke you related - it has been around in various forms for many years, and the spiritual lesson is sound. Our faith must allow for whatever means God chooses to address our needs, and we must be willing to admit that God's help may not always arrive in the way that we expected it to appear. God's thinking is superior to ours, and we must not fall into the trap of trying to make/imagine Him in our own image (we are a reflection of Him, not vice versa).

Opinions are great - everybody has them, but truth is supreme! God expects Christians to be humble and care for each other. Moreover, as long as the laws and demands of human government do not contradict God's laws and will, the New Testament makes plain (Christ and Paul) that God expects His people to respect and follow those dictates. God also makes clear in Scripture that He expects His people to take care of themselves and exhibit proper care and concern for those around them.

Public health measures (vaccines, masks, distancing, cleaning) are designed to mitigate the impact of disease - not to curtail rights or freedoms. Moreover, our failure to follow that guidance may be symptomatic of attitudes that are inappropriate in a Christian (willfulness, rebellion, haughtiness). There are numerous things that governments do to protect their citizens from harm (like requiring them to stop, yield or wear seat belts when riding in a car). We can refuse to follow those directives, but a number of very negative consequences may follow (like citations, crashes, injury, or death).

You are to be commended for the good example which you have set in this matter - an example that is consistent with sound Christian theology and teachings. Likewise, Mr. Vance Stinson is to be commended for giving voice to your perspective. I hope and pray that ALL of our brothers and sisters in Christ will take note of these examples and follow them. May God continue to bless us and help us through this current scourge.”

At any rate, let’s hope that the common sense and Christian love exhibited by Mr. Reed and Mr. Stinson prevails in CGI. The physical and spiritual lives of their membership may depend on it!

Lonnie Hendrix

Church of God International's Civil War Over Covid-19

 

CGI’s Civil War Over Covid-19

Heretofore, the loudest voices in the Church of God International have minimized the pandemic, disputed the numbers and the science, hinted at hoaxes and conspiracy theories and ridiculed public health measures instituted by local, state and federal governments across the United States. In The International News (Summer 2020 edition), Mike James wrote an article entitled “No Need to Panic Over This Pandemic.” And, after going through the numbers from other historical plagues, he declared “this present virus is not as significant.” Another article by James in the same paper decried the fact that humans themselves are causing these pandemics and warned that bigger plagues are on the way.

In the next edition of their paper (Fall 2020), Pastor Bill Watson wrote: “thousands of convicted felons are being released from prison under the guise of ‘jeopardy to their health,’ due to the Chinese Communist Party’s virus (CCP virus). And California Governor Gavin Newsome has recently reversed his opening of the state and began to close down bars, gyms, restaurants, and churches across California again! All of this is an effort to continue keeping the state and, by extension, the nation, from restarting its economies.” And, in open defiance of the folks in Tyler, Mr. Watson hosted his own Feast of Tabernacles in Medina (mask-wearing was optional).

In a May 2020 “Coronavirus Special Report,” Mr. Watson attributed the virus to a decision by the Obama Administration to give a grant to a virology lab in Wuhan China (the clear implication being that the virus originated in that lab). Indeed, a large part of Mr. Watson’s presentation was concerned with blaming the virus on China (what that contributed to our fight against the virus was never explained). As usual, Mr. Watson’s sources were the standard right-wing outlets like Fox News and Breitbart. Like James, Watson went on to compare the current pandemic to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. He even questioned whether or not Covid-19 was responsible for all of the deaths attributed to it, and then said that the chances of dying from the virus were minimal and did not justify the measures taken to fight its spread. He went on to suggest that the impact of the virus was being exaggerated to hurt Donald Trump’s chances for reelection. In other remarks on the pandemic, Mr. Watson openly ridiculed mask-wearing and fumed about how it was infringing upon his freedom.

Finally, however, someone in CGI had the intestinal fortitude to push back against Mr. Watson’s war on the science related to the pandemic. In a May 25, 2021 post entitled “Pandemic Lies,” Mr. Jeff Reed wrote: “In the past year, we have seen many new lies originate and spread regarding the coronavirus pandemic. In my life, I have never witnessed this amount of widespread deception spread so quickly. The pandemic was a unique situation in that none of us were prepared for it, and many became so easily deceived. The danger in believing these new lies is that they could lead to your immediate death or the death of someone close to you. For many thousands, they unfortunately have. Satan is a deceiver, and he loves death.”

Mr. Reed went on to cite the horrible statistics associated with the virus and pushed back on the narrative that those death tolls had been “overly inflated.” In fact, he went on to make a compelling case that the death toll from Covid-19 has actually been underreported. And, on a note of optimism about the future, Mr. Reed remarked: 

“As I write this, there is hope that things will soon return to normal. God allowed one of the most outstanding scientific achievements in modern history. Humanity developed several highly effective coronavirus vaccines in the last year using new technologies. Two prominent mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna distributed in the United States have proven safe after hundreds of millions of doses.” 

 

Even so, there was immediate push back from the Bill Watson camp within the church. One commentator even pushed the now thoroughly discredited hydroxychloroquine as a potentially effective treatment for the virus. Indeed, my own nephew (who attends Bill’s congregation) suggested that the Pfizer vaccine had caused his father-in-law’s recent stroke! This, despite the fact that his father (my brother) and his fiancée (who also attend with Bill Watson’s congregation) are currently battling Covid-19! He went on to write: “Jeff, this article is only going to serve to divide the church even more. I received no edification from it but had what I know to my core attacked by it. I disagree with what you have said whole heartedly. Do you think Satan can’t influence information put on a government website? He can, he does, and he will. As your brother, I am offended completely by what you’ve said.”

Unfortunately, if past remarks and the present commentary on Mr. Reed’s post are any indication of what’s to come, my nephew is probably right about the division within the church. It appears that members of CGI currently have two options relative to the pandemic: Support Bill Watson’s narrative or keep your mouth shut! Hope springs eternal though, someone in Tyler did have the intestinal fortitude to post Mr. Reed’s remarks on their website!

For those who are interested in viewing Mr. Reed’s post in its entirety, you may do so here: Pandemic Lies

Miller Jones