Lying For God: What Adventists Knew And When They Knew It!

As much as the various harlot daughters of Armstrongism deny it, the Church of God is an off shoot of Adventism that was tied into the false prophecies of William Miller.  The COG and Adventism are both harlot daughters of Millers utterings.

The 227 page book is here:  Lying For God: What Adventists Knew and When They Knew It

Some excerpts:


Every Saturday, a goodly number of SDA pastors preach sermons about things they know could not possibly be true. Every Monday through Friday SDA University professors of history and religion teach things they know are nothing more than fairy tales. They understand that they would be fired if they acknowledge what they know. For example, no Adventist Hebrew scholar would dare to teach his students what Genesis 2, Exodus 16, and Exodus 20 have to say about the origins and proper application of the Sabbath concept.



Sabbatarianism develops when a proof-texting approach to Bible study is utilized that ignores the major themes, concepts, and principles of the Bible. Its greatest single cause is an unfortunate ignorance of the nature of God's Law and the way New Testament writers, and especially St. Paul, thought and wrote about the LAW. For this reason your authors have spent a lot of time researching and presenting a biblical view of the Law as it would have been understood by St. Paul. Additionally we demonstrate that a few SDA theologians have betrayed their awareness of these principles by mentioning them in their own work.

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You are about to embark on a theological adventure that is stranger than fiction. Like the J.R.R. Tolkien epic series, The Lord of the Rings, explores the self-destructive nature of evil, Lying for God examines the nearly unfathomable mystery of how a long string of men and women who appeared to be honorable in nearly every other way could stultify their consciences and place the good of the institution of Adventism above truth itself– deceiving themselves and others into believing that the end (preserving the Church) justified the means (deception). Whether reading our book leads you to renounce Sabbatarianism or not, you will at least be led ask yourself why “truth” has to be shored up by a vast web of tightly woven lies.

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The last place on Earth you would go to look for the TRUTH about the Sabbath is the Seventh-day Adventist Church itself. Since its leaders and workers depend on the Church for their income, they are only interested in preserving the belief model that helps them to continue to receive their denominational salaries. Going to the Church would be like going to the manufacturers of artificial tanning equipment or the owners of tanning salons to get the truth about the dangers of artificial tanning.

Church of God International Continues To Promote a COG Lie

I had a blurb a while back about the Waldenses and how they were NOT Sabbatarians or a remnant of the 'true church".  You would think that the various COG's would do some actual research before they write their articles.  CGI apparently did not feel the need to do so and relied upon illogical research of past COGers.

CGI's magazine Armor of God had this to say:

Extreme and excessive persecution was used to wipe out every historical trace of the Sabbath-keeping, Feast-keeping Church of God, which stood up for the doctrines left by the Apostles. As the Church of God struggled to survive, moving from place to place, it took on various ‘nicknames’ in different territories.

Names like the Paulicians, Waldenses, Leonists, Vaudas Cathars, and Albigensians were all attached at some time or another throughout the centuries, describing
these people and their movements.

Who does CGI rely upon for this information?  An outdated and poorly research book and a COG members' research:

For example, Orthodox Christians date the Waldenses as originating in the twelfth century and named after a wealthy French merchant Peter Waldo, who was founder of a radical ascetic Christian movement. But much information has come to light proving the Waldenses existed as early as the second century.

The recent work of Andrew N. Dugger and Clarence O. Dodd, titled, A History of the True Church, and Richard C Nickels’ Six Papers on the History of the Church of God, have done much to preserve some of the earlier writings about these groups.

In another bold claim, they said that England was a sabbath keeping nation until Ethebert, King of Kent converted to Catholicism in 597 AD.

“Catholicism was not established in Britain, until the conversion of the Angles in the 6th century by Augustine of Canterbury. According to Butler, Ethelbert, king of Kent, was converted to Catholicism at Pentecost 597AD with some 10,000 subjects baptized at the pagan midwinter Christmas festival of 597. The Christians of Britain were up until that time, predominantly, Sabbath-keepers, who kept the food laws and the Holy Days.”

Being the Anglophile that I am and in the collection of numerous books I have back several hundred years, there is no mention in any of those books that the nation of England was a nation of sabbath keepers! Even my extensive collection of Celtic books never refer to the English or Saxons as "sabbath keepers."  Sure, many of the traditions of the Celts were carried north to England as they travelled across Europe and Asia as the people migrated, but, sabbatarianism is not one of the traits that is ever mentioned.  Of course, there is a reason for this in COG lore.  It is not mentioned because Satan was seeking to destroy the true remnant with intense persecution and those evil Catholics stopped the truth from being published.  Ho hum......

Does Being A Sabbath Keeper Give You Special Protection From God?

For decades I heard over and over from various ministers that because we were faithful sabbath keepers we were set apart from the world by God and given special protection.  Ministers always loved to get up in church after some major disaster and trumpet out that Mr and Mr's Set Apart's home and business were left untouched by the tornado that destroyed every single home next to them over a 50 mile wide path.  Their home alone out of 30,000 homes was spared........or, "...the earthquake damaged thousands of homes in New Zealand, but all of our Church members homes were not damaged, not even a broken glass..."

Of course, such miracles could only occur in Church of God land.  Anyone outside the "true church" were agents of Satan and were not able to be protected.  That's the simplistic logic and magical god that permeated Armstrongism and still does to this day.

This mentality is not unique to Armstrongism, it is also found in other Sabbatarian sects.  Take a look at this story in the latest Seventh Day Adventist, Adventist World for a similar story of miraculous protection.

Note that this story has only women in it, no men or children were spared. Unbelieving husbands who refused to believe were killed.

While I have no doubt 'miraculous' things have occurred around the world that are unexplainable, there is something not quit right about this story.  If this is true then it should scare all Armstrongites into leaving their respective splinter cults and head over to the nearest SDA church ASAP!

The Hiroshima Miracle: Saved from the atom bomb

When the first atomic bomb in history was dropped on Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, it destroyed everything within a two-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius: the temperature of the ground reached an unimaginable 6,000° C (10,832° F). Everyone within a four-kilometer (2.5 mile) radius was burned to death. A tremendous wind, at the speed of 4.4 kilometers (2.7 miles) per second, was generated, causing even cement buildings to collapse and broken glass to fly up to 16 kilometers (9.94 miles) away. The radiation from the bomb was unbelievably strong, causing those exposed to it to lose all bodily functions and their cells to undergo apoptosis, a kind of cellular suicide. Between the blast itself, the resulting fires throughout the city, and the radiation burns, some estimate that 200,000 citizens of Hiroshima lost their lives.

Not One Adventist Harmed
In the midst of all this devastation, was it really possible that not one church member, even the one living within 1 kilometer (.62 miles) of where the bomb hit, was killed, or even hurt?

During her investigation the journalist heard the testimony of church member Mrs. Hiroko Kainou, who, surprised by the sudden fierce wind, fell to her knees and prayed. Though every piece of glass in the house blew out, she came away without a single scratch. All of the other 20 Adventist church members in Hiroshima were also kept alive and safe. Though six of them have since passed away from old age, Mr. and Mrs. Morita, the Yoshimuras, the Sumis, the Matsutanis, and others are still active.

Iwa Kuwamoto, who is still doing evangelism from her home by telephone and letter at age 83, was within one kilometer (.62 miles) of the bomb site when the bomb fell. When she crawled out from under the fallen buildings, she witnessed the giant mushroom cloud that was obscuring the sun and shrouding the land in darkness. She tried desperately to help her husband, an unbeliever at the time, to get out from under the fallout, but the raging fires were threatening to close in on them. Taking her husband’s hand and crying, (Iwa) said, “The fire will be here soon. I can’t do anything more, so let’s die here together. God knows everything. Please believe in Jesus Christ. I cannot save you!” But her husband said, “No. I will die here, but you must escape for our children’s sake. You must somehow get to safety and find the children. Do it for the children!”
 

The Sundown Kid: How Sabbatarianism Destroyed a Career and Life

The case of Danny Thomas was more clear-cut, but no less somber. A highly touted prospect in the Brewers’ system, Thomas also had emotional concerns and required psychiatric care. After the 1976 season, he decided to join a religious group known as the Worldwide Church of God. According to the group’s religious beliefs, it was not appropriate to work from sundown on Friday to sundown on Sunday. As a result, when Thomas reported to spring training in 1977, he informed the Brewers that he would have to miss a number of weekend games. Thomas became known as “The Sundown Kid.”

Thomas had enormous power and hit well in two stints with the Brewers, but several disciplinary infractions and his refusal to play on weekends curtailed his career. He seemed to have legitimate mental health problems. Ultimately, the Brewers felt he was too much trouble and demoted him to Double-A; when he refused the assignment, the Brewers gave him his release. In 1979, he attempted a comeback, playing minor league ball for the Miami Amigos in the ill-fated Inter-American League, which folded in the middle of its first season.

The following June, his playing days over, Thomas was arrested on charges of rape and sodomy, a situation made even more complicated because he happened to be married with two young children. On June 12, as he sat in jail awaiting trial, Thomas cut strips from his jeans, tied them to his jail cell, and hanged himself. Like Wilson, Thomas was only 29 years old. To make matters worse, Thomas’ family was so poor that it could not afford to pay for a funeral.Observations from Cooperstown 

Wikipedia had this to say about Thomas and Sabbath keeping:

The "Sundown Kid"

After his strong performance in 1976, Thomas required psychiatric care in the off-season.^[2] He joined the Worldwide Church of God and began practicing strict Sabbath observance. When he arrived for spring training in 1977, he informed the Brewers that he would not play on Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.^[5] "The Sundown Kid", as he came to be called, missed a night game on Saturday, April 23, 1977, when he was slated to be in the lineup as cleanup hitter and left fielder, after having been excused from pre-sundown batting practice earlier in the day.^[6][7] Thomas said he heard on the radio that he was scheduled to play in the game and apologized to Brewers manager Alex Grammas.^[6]

He told People magazine, "If I'm good at baseball, it's only because God gave me the talent. I'll give it all I've got, but I won't play on the Sabbath".^[8] Thomas was also outspoken in criticizing pitchers who hit batters, saying, "I think they ought to make a rule that if a guy gets hit and is able to get up, they should tie the pitcher's hands behind his back and let the hitter smack him in the face."^[9]

And then you have to ask where was the Church at this time?  Did it stand beside Thomas?  Or did it just take and take his money, leaving the family high and dry? Check this out:

Thomas and his wife, Judy, had two children. The family lived near Spokane, where he had difficulty finding steady employment after baseball.^[12] Thomas died at age 29 on June 12, 1980, after he was arrested in Mobile, Alabama, by hanging himself in his jail cell.^[12][13] His family was so impoverished by then that they were unable to afford funeral expenses or even remain in Alabama for his potter's field burial.^[12]

In later years, sports writers such as Furman Bisher have recalled Thomas's once-promising baseball career and eventual suicide, as in Bisher's 1986 column, "When great talents fail", and Howie Stalwick's 2003 article, "Remembering the Tragedy of Danny Thomas".^[13][14] Sports columnist John Blanchette of the Spokane Spokesman-Review described him that same year as a "troubled soul", saying, "no one was more haunted than Danny Thomas".^[5]

Isn't It Time You Started Questioning Sabbath Keeping?

from The Monty Python Haggadah

If Charlton Heston had never went up that mountain we would not have all the Sabbath keeping controversies today!

Armstrongism is continuing to lose members because they realize sabbath keeping is not required of Christians.  Seventh Day Adventists are leaving too.  In 2005 the SDA church announced that 1.5 million SDA's have left the church in the last five years.  Part of the reason why is the same phenomenon that is decimating Armstrongism: "The Internet has made information accessible to people worldwide who are seeking for the answers to their questions about Adventism."

  

There are numerous web sites out there that have a wealth of information for those who are questioning sabbatarianism.

Sabbath Keepers Refuted

Lying For God

Kerry Wynne is a former third generation Seventh-day Adventist.  William Hohmann is a former Worldwide Church of God member.  The Sabbath “heritage” of both authors goes back to one, single group of believers which adopted Sabbatarianism almost immediately after the Great Disappointment of 1844. Thus, these denominations are truly “sister” churches.   Both authors graduated from the universities which host(ed) the theological seminaries of their respective denominations. The authors have worked in association  with biblical researcher, Robert K. Sanders, a former Seventh-day Adventist who now hosts a comprehensive web-site which addresses issues in Adventism and Sabbatarianism—Truth Or Fables.Com. 

Sabbatarianism Re-examined

Support for Questioning and Transitioning SDA and Sabbatarian Pastors

Journey Out of Legalism

Truth Lead Me Out

Proclamation Magazine: Combating the Errors of Legalism and False Religion

Truth or Fables?