please capture it. The LCG is still looking for it
Richard Ames has sent out a letter to the Living Church of God faithful and as usual, it is filled with fear and damnation that is swiftly approaching.
July 14, 2021
Dear Brethren and Co-workers with Christ, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Weston are currently serving our Church youth in Athens, Texas, where about 240 teenage campers and staff are enjoying the Living Youth Camp. The Lone Star Camp grounds, including a lake, provide for many challenging activities designed to help the young people to “recapture true values.” Our youth are precious, and training them for potential leadership roles in the Church and community is vital for the future. We appreciate your prayers and support for the success of this intensive two-week program.
The Church of God, regardless of which entity is speaking, has made the comment for decades and yet, here we are in 2021 and NONE of them have recaptured ANYTHING! They still blunder along claiming they have the exclusive path to the "truth" and that God is on their side. Like their apostate bastard children, the Restored Church of God, Church of God Assembly, and the improperly named "continuing" Church of God, they all had the opportunity to recapture "true values" when they committed apostasy from the Worldwide Church of God. They all had a chance to start over and do things right. They did nothing of the sort. None of them decided to actually follow Jesus instead of the law. So here we are in 2021 as LCG has problems with its ministry and its membership.
Yes, youth are precious, but when COG's make their lives miserable and hellish with such absurd demands and doctrines that Christ does not even care about, LCG deserves to lose them. They have no further in the LCG and that is why so many are leaving. None of them have any business becoming ministers or leaders in the LCG! Their lives are more precious than that happening!
Meanwhile, after a year or more of lockdowns, public activities are increasingly opening across the United States, and sports stadiums are again filled with thousands of spectators. However, much of the world is facing dangerous variants of COVID-19. Just last week, because of rising COVID-19 cases, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo, banning spectator attendance at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics (Charlotte Observer, July 9, 2021, p. 1B.).
And yet, LCG in its amazing wisdom decided to go ahead with summer camps and the result is multiple infections resulting in the entire camp of campers and staff are now in quarantine. So much for considering them "precious".
As usual for any COG letter to the faithful, the next step is to cause fear in the reader. Has any of the COG's ever decided to write a letter to their followers just to tell them how much they are appreciated? How God is pleased with them? How much Jesus is working in their lives? Have they ever written a letter talking about what an amazing thing grace and mercy are? The answer we all is a glaring NO! Noting is more important than scaring the crap out of members and then asking them for money.
As we see these sobering trends, we are reminded to watch for the future end-time ride of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who will kill one-fourth of the earth’s population (Revelation 6:1-8). We must be prepared for prophetic events leading up to the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21-22) that will suddenly shock the Western world. Be sure to read Mr. Weston’s Tomorrow’s World magazine article “Then Comes Sudden Destruction” (July-August 2019). Brethren, we must never let down our alertness and watchfulness in these end-times. We must always remember Christ’s words, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).While the U.S. economy may appear to be strengthening, in reality it is a proverbial bubble that will someday burst—and suddenly. I hope you saw Mr. Wallace Smith’s Tomorrow’s World telecast “The End of America.” One of the biblical curses he discussed was “Crushing National Debt.” The program featured the “U.S. Debt Clock” which at the time of this writing shows more than $28 trillion dollars in U.S. national debt. The current debt-to-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio for the nation is 107.60, indicating a troubling risk of default. Remember God’s warning, “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:43-44)
LCG still imagines themselves as doing some mighty work that is world-encompassing and so amazing that God himself is pleased by it. They need that god to be working on their behalf so that their members can have jobs and send in their money, for only a "while longer". Time is short!
We trust that God will allow enough economic health to support, for a while longer, His Work of preaching the Gospel. But the time will come when our warning the nations of this world will cease: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, ‘That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it’” (Amos 8:11-12). We have a weighty responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission and to work with our whole heart while there is time. Jesus understood the signs of the times: “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4). We need the attitude of Christ, who said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).
While LCG operates in this very short time, the world around them is collapsing. Death, famine, and disease are their focus. Not Jesus, but death, famine, and disease.
Many tragic trends remind us of the crying need for God’s Kingdom to come. More than four million around the world have died from the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by the United Nations World Food Program USA lists the hungriest nations—including Yemen, which has more than “16 million people—over half of the population—waking up hungry every day.” The report notes that conditions in Yemen are “a devastating reminder of what conflict can do to a country. More than two million children are severely malnourished, and 400,000 are at risk of dying without treatment” (“Over 65% of the World’s Hungriest People Live in Just Ten Countries. Why?,” April 23, 2021).
The UN reports sobering news of famine and starvation:
The dramatic rise in global food prices over the past twelve months, coupled with diminishing food stocks and escalating fuel costs, has gravely jeopardized global food and nutrition security, and has re-emphasized the critical actions needed to realize the right to adequate food. Hunger and under-nutrition are the greatest threats to public health, killing more people than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Each day, 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die from hunger and related causes. Some 854 million people worldwide are estimated to be undernourished, and high food prices may drive another 100 million into poverty and hunger. The risks are particularly acute among those who must spend at least 60 per cent of their income on food: the urban poor and displaced populations, the rural landless, pastoralists and the majority of smallholder farmers (“Losing 25,000 to Hunger Every Day,” UN Chronicle).
If the LCG is so concerned about the undernourished and those "walking hungry" then why in the hell don't they do something about it? Let's see the Livign Church of God set the example for all the other COG's and give $1,000,000.00 to Feed The Children, Feeding Hungry Children, or to Compassion. They won't do this any more than they use 3rd Tithe to take care of the widows and orphans in the church. Members have to beg and plead to get even a morsel of assistance from LCG ministers.
Instead, Richard Ames praises LCG's so-called gospel message to the world and its literature as being good work.
As we preach the Gospel around the world, more and more people are being introduced to the Truth. The Tomorrow’s World Bible Study Course is one of those tools through which human lives are being transformed. In the second quarter of 2021 (April through June), we sent out 35,593 copies of the first lessons, more than any previous quarter! If you have not yet subscribed, be sure to do so. Read this inspiring comment by a student from Wisconsin:
I have finished the 24-lesson Bible Study Course and I’ve learned so much. I never before really understood the statement, “Let he who has eyes to see…” Some of the scriptures I’ve read many times but didn’t really see what they meant. I have filled twelve ring binders with notes along with every scripture referred to in the study. Great job to all who put this together.
Writing down every single scripture in a COG course does not make one a Christian or one who has proven anything. This is all Ames has been doing for decades, speaking slick words that impress whichever COG group he is in and tossing around scriptures as if he knew what they were all about.
I know an elderly woman from a Protestant church down the street who knows the Bible inside and out, understands the role of Christ in her life, and who could knock down Ames and his self-righteousness in a matter of minutes. She knows the real gospel message, unlike COG leaders who should know better.
Sadly, many professing Christians neglect the Bible, though now is not the time to “let down.” Satan is increasing his attacks on belief in the existence of God, the veracity of the Bible, and God’s way of life. We must strive to submit to our Father’s and Lord’s instruction: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’” (Luke 4:4). Our Lord quoted that scripture in His battle with Satan!
Sadly, many professing Church of God leaders neglect the bible and that inconvenient dude they claim to follow. Never fear though, that creature who is more powerful than the god they claim to follow is waiting on the sidelines constantly ready to devour "real" COG Christians. Satan has to be the most powerful creature the COG has ever followed. Jesus is an impotent wimp next to Satan.
Richard Ames offers hope to wayward LCG members. He directs them to trust in Jesus and to become followers of him read more LCG literature! Reading COG literature is the cure-all for everything!
If you have been neglecting your Bible, I urge you to determine to read, study, and research it daily. Set aside 15 minutes or a half-hour of your time—make it a daily habit. Always keep the big picture in mind: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,’ says the Lord. ‘But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word’” (Isaiah 66:1-2).
Next Ames highlights the mind-boggling work of the Living Church of God. Out of 7.9 billion people, LCG is sending its rag to 488,000 people AROUND the globe. Wow! I stand in awe!
You too should be in awe of this amazing work! So much in awe that you send them your money! Look at all of those open doors!
Our Tomorrow’s World magazine helps readers understand the Bible. Our August 2021 issue will be sent to 488,000 subscribers around the globe. Yes, God is blessing His Work. Your support is contributing to growth online, in print, and on the air. Please pray that God will inspire new viewers and open doors to new stations. And I encourage you to read the inspiring, motivating, and informative articles in every magazine, particularly Mr. Weston’s in the July 2021 issue, where he writes,
Ames ends with a cure-all for LCG members. Follow the law! No mention of following Jesus, but follow that law!
If God is real to us—and if we truly believe there is a reward for obeying Him—we will strive to keep His commandments. We will forsake the holidays of this world that put the name of Christ on pagan practices. We will keep His Sabbaths—the seventh-day weekly Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths. We will allow nothing and no one to deter us from obedience to our Lord and Savior. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:37-39). Yes, if God is real to us, we will put Him first, above all else! Those words come straight from Jesus Himself! (“Is God Actually Real to You?,” p. 8).
Thank you for your continuing prayers for the preaching of the Gospel. As you seek God wholeheartedly, claim His promise: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). And take comfort and joy that Christ’s prophecy is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
In Christian love,
Richard F. Ames
