Continuing Church of God...Things are not as rosey as Bob Thiel wants us to believe

 

Things aren't pretty in paradise

Its no longer rainbows, unicorns, and lollipops

 

From a reader and one of his members:

As for the Continuing Church Of god and its leaders' credibility and counseling abilities, as a longtime COG member and a believer (in general terms), I did attend with them. I saw their people and their increasingly fixated and marginal work such as it really is. What of one of their foremost leaders, Richard Close? Years ago Richard was ordered to divorce his wife because his church minister--forcing some church policy--said he had to divorce her if he wanted to be a baptized church member. So, snap like that, he divorced his wife. Richard Close, now a leader in CCOG, chose to put his corporate minister's orders above the Bible's command in Matthew 19:6 which says: "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must never separate." He put a minister's word above God's holy Word. some years later when the church's policy on d&r changed, Richard Close's minister gave him his permission to remarry his ex-wife. So, he did. This is not simplistically just a case of love having won out. It is an avoidable, tragic example of a man caving into ministerial hegemony--spiritual bullying-- as the so-called "government of God" having been placed above God himself and God's holy Words. If Richard Close had not been given ministerial permission to remarry his ex-wife, he would not have remarried her. what kind of a COG leader is this? ( Like the plodding, dutiful, and obedient Boxer from Animal Farm.) this is not railing and nastily throwing someone's mistakes at them in a mean-spirited way. For, nothing, in essence, has changed. Consider the implications of such men in church "over" God's laypeople. LCG and other churches are really no different.

What of yet another of CCOG's top leaders, Steve Dupuie?

 

Steve comes across as being not unfriendly, but he is insecure and therefore pretentious and hollow about his church intellect and his knowledge. Therefore, he has been so desperate to prove himself intellectually and in the field of knowledge that he completely minimizes and excoriates the very best and the nicest and most gentle of people who raise points, even by way of friendly discussion.

 

In one case, Warren from Ontario--a good and gentleman in whom is no guile--merely raised a friendly possibility of an idea being extrapolated and not directly stated in the Bible. Immediately, in public and on CCOG's e-mail group, Steve Dupuie accused Warren of being a force of dissension and discord among the brethren. Steve does this regularly to anyone who can out-do him in church writings, knowledge, and Bible studying, which could include everyone. He can't get his way and be the foremost, so he slights and belittles others who are far better than he, and of whom the world is not worthy. the good news is that neither Steve nor anyone has to be seen as being superlative in knowledge and church intellect. Insecurity. Consider the implications of such a man in the church "over" God's laypeople.

I could write of more ... for instance of the CCOG leader I know well who petulantly hacked another COG member's e-mail account and put a trace on it, and taunted him, because he was sore at the member.

Aside from their superficial, fizzling claim to continue the teachings shown by god through Mr. Armstrong and doing "the Philadelphia work", how do these CCOG leaders show Jesus to others? If some read this, perhaps they can explain and help us to understand.

 

 

Divorce and Remarriage

Of all the teachings of Herbert Armstrong that he taught, the most vile was the Divorce and Remarriage doctrine.  Hundreds of families were destroyed by this asinine teaching.  Rod Meredith had his hand in destroying countless marriages too.  He forced apart long time married couples in the Dayton area who had been previously married.  Meredith was as sick as Armstrongism when it came to enforcement.  Of course that all changed when Herb decided he wanted to marry his secretary.  Suddenly it was ok for couple to remain married.  Some tied to go back to their previous spouses, but too many years had passed.

There is a thread on Facebook about people who's families were destroyed by Armstrong and Meredith.  Two are quoted below.

My Story: In 1968 when I was 4yrs old, and my sister was 9mos old. A pastor from our local WCG congregation came and told my parents that because my father had divorced his 1st wife, and later married our mother. Their marriage was not valid according to God, and therefore was not accepted, and honored by God. He told my father to move out immediately because he was living in sin. My dad did, and because they told him not to have contact with us, he moved about 500 miles away. My sister and I never got to bond with our dad. Because my dads' income was what we lived on, we fell into a terrible poverty. Mom tried to hold down the fort working 2 menial jobs, and trying to pay 3 tithes, there wasn't enough to sustain us, and we had to go on welfare. Then 4yrs later in 1972, while we were at church, the pastor walks up out of the blue, and tells my mother that the D&R doctrine had been amended, and that she was free to reconcile with her husband. My mom looked at him and said "you've got to be joking". Later she said she'd wanted to slap that pastor. I was later able to spend a little time with my dad, but the damage had been done, and we never bonded, and years would go by without us seeing, or talking to him. He is alive today, and I've forgiven him, but i haven't seen or spoken to him in 9 years.

___________

My parents had a different problem. My dad was in the Church, but my mom wasn't, she hated it and hated that my dad sent them so much money. It destroyed their marriage (I have to admit it might have fell apart anyway who knows). My mom tried to get a divorce, but back then (1960's) it was really hard to get divorced. My dad wouldn't allow her to get a divorce. She had no means of support being a stay at home mom and didn't want to leave her children. My dad could not divorce her because he knew he could never remarry and find a new partner. They lived together for years without speaking, the children had to relay messages, plus my dad became abusive towards my mother and she fought back. The police were constantly called to our house. Eventually they threatened to take the children away, so my mother stopped fighting, and became an alcoholic instead, and then a drug addict, and then became mentally ill. Eventually they threw my dad out of the church and after studying the Bible himself he decided that the D and R rules were wrong, and he went and made up for lost time having many girlfriends. My mom got put in a mental hospital and never regained her sanity.