The Exodus: A Meaningful Story But Let's Not Take It Literally?

“Yet all agree that the Pentateuch is not a single, seamless composition but a patchwork of different sources, each written under different historical circumstances to express different religious or political viewpoints.”
― Israel Finkelstein, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts

“biblical history did not take place in either the particular era or the manner described. Some of the most famous events in the Bible clearly never happened at all.”
― Israel Finkelstein, The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts

 –Dr. Steven DiMattei

PhD New Testament studies

http://contradictionsinthebible.com/steven-dimattei/

"Despite its provocative and even misleading title, “Contradictions in the Bible” is a website devoted to bringing biblical scholarship to the public, what experts in the field now know about the Bible’s various textual traditions, the historical and literary contexts that produced these texts, how they came to be assembled together, and even the competing aims and agendas of their diverse authors. Thus, this website’s primary aim is to reclaim the topic of Bible Contradictions for its proper field of study—biblical scholarship. In other words, biblical scholars have known and written about the Bible’s Contradictions for centuries now—what has traditionally been labeled as source-critical scholarship, that is the study of the Bible’s numerous, and often competing, textual traditions! "

"In its present form, the book of Exodus is a composite of the Yahwist, Elohist, and Priestly sources. These biblical traditions, which record the story of the Israelites’ enslavement in and exodus from Egypt, maintain that the Israelites were oppressed by an unnamed Pharaoh, used as forced laborers in the Pharaoh’s building projects, and were subsequently liberated by Moses, under Yahweh’s guidance, with signs and wonders.

Yet despite these traditions, historical specifics are never described, and neither are there any extent extra-biblical sources nor archaeological data to corroborate these narratives:

No Egyptian records of a large number of, nor any, Israelites in Egypt during the alleged time periods proposed by our biblical sources

No  literary nor archaeological records of a mass flight of 600,000 males (Ex 12:37) accompanied by women, children, servants, and livestock in what would have been a heavily fortified Egyptian presence from Egypt to Canaan

..

No archeological record of settlements in the Sinai peninsula in and around the time of Rameses II, or the whole New Kingdom period (15^th-11^th c. BC) for that matter—especially true of Kadesh-barnea where this one million plus troop allegedly encamped for 38 of the 40 years spent in the peninsula!

No trace of Egyptian influence on Hebrew material culture and language as the result of four centuries of direct Egyptian contact."

...At the other end of the spectrum, there is significant archaeological data confirming the re-importance of the city of Rameses as well as the foundation of Pithom (Ex 1:11) in the 7^th century BC. In fact, all the major places in the wilderness narratives have settlement layers in the archaeological record for the 7^thcentury BC, especially Kadesh-barnea where the Israelites allegedly remained 38 of their 40 years in the peninsula—at least according to one tradition. In other words, the authors who sculpted the Exodus narrative were familiar with the geopolitical world of the Egyptian delta and the Sinai peninsula as it stood in the

7^th century BC!"

Additionally, such stories need to be assessed from within their own historical and literary culture, and not from modern reader’s agendas, presuppositions, or whims. For example, the biblical plague narrative itself was influenced by older ancient Near Eastern literary—and not historical—traditions. There are a number of Sumerian tales that narrate how the goddess Inanna brought forth three plagues upon the land, the last of which was turning all the water of the land to blood. Various plagues and skin diseases, such as boils, are prominent curses among numerous different covenantal treaty documents in the literature of the ancient Near East. Hail is visibly one of the plagues sent by Inanna as well, and swarms of plant eating locusts are a popular divine punishment in Assyrian vassal treaties and other texts from Mesopotamia. Moreover, in the ancient Near Eastern world one of the most significant ways a scribe could argue for the supremacy of his national deity over and against another nation’s god was to present his god, in the present case Yahweh, as ultimate sovereign over the forces of fertility, life, and death—and this is exactly what the whole plague narrative accomplishes. These stories must be understand and read as products of their own literary and historical contexts.

Thus, far from being a work of historical fact or the recollection of an historical event, the Exodus traditions were most likely the product of centuries of accumulated and shared cultural memories of past events in the long history between Egypt and the land of Canaan: the expulsion of the Semitic Hyksos; the fact that the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom regularly used Semites in their building projects; and the underlying political reality that the Canaanites did in fact liberate themselves from Egyptian control in the 12^th century BC, but it was the Egyptians who were expelled from the land of Canaan, not the Israelites from Egypt! As some scholars have suggested, the shared cultural memory of the liberation of Semites in Egypt might have been a powerful enough narrative to have been the catalyst for creating a shared ethnic identity and past which took the form of the Exodus narrative."

Continue...

Is the Exodus History?

UPDATE
We at the Continuing Church of God offer a  rebuttal

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Living Church of God - Not salvation issues - Justification - Germany

 

Worth a discussion: Trooisto has left a new comment on your post "LCG has 90 New Members in the United States! Woo Hoo!":

I'm preparing for a trip to Utah, so I asked an LCG associate if he had eaten at Castle Burger while he was at the FoT in Utah last month.  

The LCG associate, in true COG form, could not answer my harmless question without including a disparaging remark about Mormons.

So I said something like those Mormons are a wild and crazy bunch with so many doctrines coming from a book outside of the Bible.

The COGlodyte then added, "just like the Catholics and Protestants".

I replied that the COGs were known for their doctrines that were not found in the Bible and gave him three examples.

For each example, he could not cite any scripture but said that he felt they were addressed in the Bible, and to my surprise, he said, "these are not salvation issues, so it doesn't matter".

After being shocked by his statement I agreed that these examples were not salvation issues but said justification is a salvation issue that LCG will not address.

The COGlodyte said I was wrong and texted me a link to LCG sermons and literature and told me to do a search.

I searched on the spot and could not find a direct match for the word justification.

He then sent me a link to the LCG Statement of Beliefs and said I would find it covered there.

To my surprise, I did find the word justifies in the Statement of Beliefs (I have not yet compared this current Statement with older versions to see if it was recently added). However, this is what was written: "God justifies us from past sins."

Then the Statement of Beliefs goes on to describe how you must keep the law to earn salvation.

The LCG rendering of justification is not biblically accurate.

God forgives (not justifies) us of past sins - present and future sins too. However, the definition of justification is Jesus' righteousness is given to us to make us righteous. This righteousness, from Jesus, is the only righteousness God accepts - and it is not relegated to cover the past - it's an ever-present, forever righteousness that is the only way we can enter the Kingdom.

I guess I'm glad that LCG is looking at the concept of justification but I'm also appalled to see how badly they've mangled the term.

When I pointed out the LCG's egregious mistake to my LCG associate, he quickly changed the subject to how LCG is coming out with a new booklet on Germany.

He seemed excited about this new booklet, which surprised me because one of my examples of extra-biblical doctrines beloved by the COGs was phrased as "Does the Bible reveal the identity of modern Germany".

He kind of admitted that Germany was not named in the Bible.

However, just like his church and fellow COGlodytes, they get much more excited about a non-biblical topic, mere speculation, of the antics of that evil Germany then they care about a beautiful concept that is lovingly displayed in the Bible, such as justification.

This LCG associate would not comment on my wondering if the new LCG booklet on Germany will cover any of the failed prophesies about Germany preached by HWA during the 1930s and 1940's, any of the failed prophesies involving Germany that were recorded in the booklet "1975 in Prophesy", or any of Dr. Winnail's recent praise of that disgraced booklet.

With all the biblical proof that racial/ethnic identity don't matter because we are all one in Jesus, I cannot fathom why LCG feels they can get away with hate speech about the Germans.

10 thought patterns that trip up former Christians

 

Mental health expert details 10 thought patterns that trip up former Christians

                                                              By Valerie Tarico

Perhaps it's been years or even decades since you left biblical Christianity behind. You may have noticed long ago that there are human handprints all over the Good Book. It may have dawned on you that popular Christian versions of heaven would actually be hellish. You may have figured out that prayer works, if at all, at the margins of statistical significance—that Believers don't avoid illness or live longer than people who pray to other gods or none at all. You may have clued in that Christian morality isn't so hot and that other people have moral values too. (Shocking!) You may have decided that the God of the Bible is a jerk—or worse.

But some habits of thought are hard to break. It is a lot easier to shed the contents of Christian fundamentalism than its psychological structure.

Here are ten mental patterns that trip up many ex-Christians even when we think we've done the work of moving on. None of these are unique to former Christians, but they are reinforced by Bible-belief and Christian culture, which can make them particularly challenging for recovering believers.

1. All or nothing thinking. In traditional Christian teachings, no sin is too small to send you to hell forever. You're either saved or damned, headed for unthinkable bliss or unthinkable torment, with nothing in between. Jesus saves only because he was perfect. Moderate Christians are "lukewarm."This kind of dichotomous black-and-white thinking seeps into us directly from Bible-believing Christianity and indirectly from cultures that are steeped in Protestantism...
2. Good guys and bad guys. One consequence of black-white thinking is that we put people into two mental boxes—good guys and bad guys. You are either with us or against us, a patriot or a socialist, an anti-racist or a racist, one of us or one of them. Disagreement becomes synonymous with schism and heresy. When we discover the personal failings of a public figure like Bill Gates, we may move them from one box to the other, good guy to bad guy. Christianity offers no mental model in which people are complicated and imperfect but basically decent—we are just fallen ("utterly depraved" in the words of Calvin) and either washed in the blood or tools of Satan.
3. Never feeling good enough. Since we are acutely aware of our own failings, it can be hard internally to stay out of the bad-guy box. Some of us toggle between "I'm awesome" and "I suck." Others have a nagging internal critic that tells us nothing we do is ever quite good enough. After all, it isn't perfect, and that's the biblical standard.
4. Hyperactive guilt detection. Biblical Christianity gives tremendous moral weight to all of this, and the practice of "confessing our sins one to another" turns believers into guilt-muscle body builders. We live in a world of shoulds and should-nots, and in the Protestant ethic, those daily failings are moral failings. A nagging sense of guilt can become baseline normal, with little bursts of extra guilt as we notice one thing or another that we have left undone or goals where we have fallen short.
5. Sexual hangups. For many former Christians, particularly for women or queer people but also straight guys who like sex, it's impossible to talk about guilt without talking about sex, because sexual sins are the worst of the worst. When it comes to the Bible, getting and giving sexual pleasure are more matters of temptation than of intimacy and delight. Idolatry and murder share the top 10 list with coveting your neighbor's wife. Then there's virgin-madonna-whore trifecta. And don't forget God hates fags.
6. Living for the future. Sexual intimacy isn't the only kind of pleasure that biblical Christianity devalues; the consecrated life focuses broadly on the future rather than the moment. The small every-day wonders that comprise the center of joy in mindful living are mere distractions for a person who has their eye on the prize of heaven. As former believers grow convinced that each person gets one precious life, those individual moments can become treasures. But the habit of focusing on the future can make it really hard to center in the moment, breathe in, and bask in the ordinary beauties and delights around us.
7. Bracing for an apocalypse. Even worse than being drawn by the lure of heaven is being braced constantly for some impending apocalypse. We may no longer expect a Rapture or the Mark of the Beast or Jesus riding in on a horse. But the idea of a cataclysmic disruption in history looms large nonetheless. A sense of nuclear doom or pandemic doom or overpopulation doom or underpopulation doom may nudge us to action or be paralyzing. Either way, the experience is very different from being driven by a sense of curiosity and discovery as we face the unknown.
8. Idealizing leaders. Living in a cloud of anxiety makes us more susceptible to demagogues and authoritarians, people who exude confidence we lack, who convey that they know what's right and true and how to solve problems. They prey on our fears and on our desire to do good and be good. They prey on our sense of ourselves as sinners and tell us how to atone. (Sound familiar?) They prey on dichotomous thinking, reinforcing our sense that people who don't share our worldview must be evil and so must be silenced or defeated.
9. Desperately seeking simplicity. Biblical Christianity tells a story about us as individuals and about human history that is clear and simple. Multi-dimensional causality? Moral ambiguity? Conflicts with no good side and bad side—just sides? Problems with no right answer? Blurry boundaries between human beings and other sentient species? No thanks! Fiction from Western cultures often mirrors and reinforces older Christian templates and tropes and specific types of oversimplification. And it's all to easy to project these in turn onto the hard-to-parse and hard-to-solve challenges of the real world. We know deep down that things aren't so simple, but it's easy to act as if we live in a world of saints and sinners, elves and orcs.
10. Intrusive what-ifs. And so we struggle, with new and old interpretations of reality and thought habits competing in our brains. We tell ourselves it's ok; that we're ok. But often nagging doubts persist. What if I'm wrong? Many years ago I told a therapist that I didn't believe in the Christian god anymore, but I didn't talk to anyone about it because I didn't want to take them to hell with me. He laughed and I laughed at myself, but it also felt very real.The journey out is . . . a journey. Along the way people second guess themselves, especially if Bible-belief got inside when they were young. Years after quitting a former smoker may crave a cigarette. That doesn't mean they were wrong to quit. It just means those synaptic connections got hardwired, soldered in place, and some of them are still there.

Rod Meredith Says Members Who Do Not Send in Extra Money are NOT Part of God's "Team"

The financial downward spiral with Living Church of God's income is having a serious impact on how the LCG spreads its message.  It recently lost several of it's largest television stations due to income decline.  Those stations were immediately picked up by Dave Pack who has been gloating ever since on how his ministry is now more important and bigger than Meredith's.

Like any Church of God leader out here, it is the members fault that the income has dropped.  It is never taken into consideration that people stop sending in money because of the buffoons in charge and that members are disgusted by their lack of good stewardship.

Meredith has sent out a letter to the faithful using the new Pope as his "fear factor." and that other Christian ministers do not speak out continually on sex matters.

Meredith says:

"... the professing “Christian” ministers of the mainstream churches have virtually no fear or profound respect for the God of the Bible! They seem not to care about what His inspired Word says about abortion, same-sex marriage, young people just “living together” or anything else!"

Could it be that LCG members are getting sick and tired of the incessant topic of sex in ALL of Meredith's letters, booklets, TV programs, videos, blog entries and more?

Meredith continues:

My friends, this is the Work of Almighty God at the end of an age. We really do “tell it like it is.” And we really do understand biblical prophecy and are constantly proclaiming the truth about what lies just ahead for your very life. The God who gives us life and breath proclaims in His inspired Word: “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it? Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:6-8).

I'm sorry, but Dave Pack is already doing this.  Oh wait!  Gerald Flurry says he is too!  Don't forget Weinland and Webber, they too are the only ones who have the "balls" to preach the truth.

Then Meredith continues trying to reinforce to his followers that if they fail to send in money then they are NOT part of "the team."  Their failure to support the mighty work of Rod allows the marrying gays, fornicating teens and  abortionists to have free reign.  Meredith wants his followers to know that the LCG is not as successful as Dave Pack with millions of dollars flowing.  LCG is a little work, struggling to get by as the ministry barely has enough to feed their families or pay for their recent shipping trips.

So, if you dear brethren and co-workers are part of the “team”—if you really are genuine “co-workers with Christ”—then along with our faithful team here in Charlotte and around the world, you will feel especially at this time the urgent need to zealously do your part in helping us warn our peoples of what lies just ahead and how they ought to be preparing to serve with Christ in Tomorrow’s World! We are not a big church or huge organization, with tens of millions of dollars pouring in to help us get out this vital message. So your faithful tithes and offerings—even every little “widow’s mite”—are vital to keep this Work going and growing.

Meredith  then begs for your money.  The work is in serious need and needs your EXTRA support now!  So, Dear Brethren, in addition to your tithe, tithe of the tithe, your third tithe and already excessive offerings, you MUST start sending in every single bit of extra money you can!  While no one at LCG HQ or the ministry has voluntarily taken a wage reduction, the members are expected to continue to lower their standard of living while the church leaders do not.

"...if you grasp the fact that our American and British-descended peoples really are “stumbling to the slaughter”—then, as true Christians and servants of God, you and I must take action. Even with you who have voluntarily elected to become “co-workers with Christ” in this crusade to get out His message, I very seldom desire to “get strong” unless circumstances warrant this. But, now, I tell you most sincerely, this Work of God really does need your extra-generous help and support right now."

 Meredith ends with this:

We have recently had to drop one or two of our better television outlets for financial reasons. We are already “tightening” our belts in a number of ways. As one who has tried to give my life in Christ’s service for nearly 61 years—full-time—I ask you to join me and other servants in going “above and beyond” in supporting God’s Work at this critical time. Please do not let me down. Please do not let God down. We look forward prayerfully for your loyal response soon.    
                    
With Christian love,

Roderick C. Meredith

Brethren, it was only "one or two stations" no biggie.  He makes the current drop in stations to sound less than significant.  He also should have the brains to know that the has already told the members in previous letters that it was MORE than two stations they had to cut.

Yes brethren, for 61 years I have been obsessed with sex and the invading German armies.  If I have not been able to scare the shit out of you by now then I have been a failure. Please send me more money so I can be more forceful in the few years we have left.

Bob Thiel: False Prophet Continues To Hallucinate While In Rome

Bob Thiel, the non-ordaiend self-appointed false prophet of the Continuing Ed Church of God is vacationing in Europe and made a pit stop in Rome to visit the Whore of Babylon.

As usual the false prophet is quoting the rantings of lunatics from hundreds of years ago as truth.  He did the exact same thing with the Mayan calendar last year and ended up looking like a fool.

Thiel places great trust in these extra-biblical nightmares that these people had.  From Fatima and Malachy to Loma Armstrong, the dreams and visions these three had hold more importance to anything that is continued in his bible.  Jesus takes the back burner while Fatima and Malachy are given places of prominence in his little personality cult.  Without these conspiracy theories and his proof texts of Revelations, Daniel and Ezekiel he has nothing to stand up for.

While in Rome he has this to say about the new Pope:

I was encouraged that in the former Archdiocese of our new Pope there exists a sanctuary and two parishes dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima. Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is especially practised on the first Saturday of every month. So the words and requests of Our Lady of Fatima would not be foreign to him.

The other thing I had in my background was a prophecy from Antonio Ruffini, who has a prophetic gift. He told me in January, 1990 that this Pope – he didn’t name him – but he just said “the successor of the successor of John Paul II would be the one to do the consecration.” If Ruffini is not mistaken, then it’s a good sign. We may finally have a Pope who is going to do the consecration of Russia. Prudently though, we have to wait and see whether or not Ruffini completely understood whatever message he got on that.

What this means is that a Catholic “prophet” told Priest Gruner that it would be Pope 112 on the Malachy prophecy list that would bring devotion to Mary to the world, peace, and prosperity.

Pope Francis himself asked twice that his pontificate would be consecrated to the Lady of Fatima (see Pope Francis’ pontificate consecrated to ‘Lady of Fatima’).  This would seem to be a step towards the type of consecration that The Fatima Center wants.  If this consecration is done, it could set off a series of events that will lead to the rise of the Beast power and the confirmation of the Antichrist (there are many antichrists, but I am referring to the one that is the False Prophet listed in Revelation).  Despite his age, Pope Francis possibly could be this leader.  He has taken steps that suggest he either is that leader or he is setting the stage for that leader (e.g. Pope Francis calls for new economic order and is alleged to have performed a public exorcism: Could these be signs of the final Antichrist?).

.

The Bible warns about a “Lady” in the end times (Isaiah 47) who is also called a “harlot” (Revelation 17/18).  As I have contended for years, it may well be that some of what is related to Fatima will tie into various end time biblical prophecies about signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9)–that most people will sadly believe as they have insufficient love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

Why Do You Need The So-Called Second Greatest Book On Earth?

Those boys in Edmond Oklahoma are having fun again. At first, I thought this was an April Fools joke, but alas, it's April 22. The boys sent out an email today from the greatest King on earth today (sorry, Bob Thiel, it's not YOU!) His Majesty the Royal Highness King Gerald Flurry, the right-hand man of God and possessor of the coronation stone that some creature he calls "christ" will come back to sit its holy derriere upon.

King Gerald wants you to know that you really NEED the second most holy book on earth today. Everyone knows about the Bible, but far too few know about Mystery of the Ages, the second most important book on earth followed closely by the third most important book, Malachi's Message.

Where would the Church of God be without all of these extra-biblical tomes that so many rely upon?

The King writes:

We give away a lot of free literature and educational material. The book we have given away more than any other is Mystery of the Ages. This is a masterful work by the late educator, philanthropist and unofficial ambassador for world peace Herbert W. Armstrong. Thousands of people have said that this book, when they have applied its teachings, has brought real meaning to their lives and given them true happiness!

Mystery of the Ages is a synopsis of the Bible. It allows you to understand God’s Word, which would otherwise be a mystery.

MOA along with The Incredible Human Potential has to be the most butt-numbing boring books ever written. They are right up there next to The Book of Mormon in readability and Christian understanding. 

On the cover of the book, Mr. Armstrong wrote, "Did you ever ask yourself: ‘Who am I? What am I? Why am I?’ You are a mystery. The world about you is a mystery. Now, you can understand!"

With this life-changing book, the Bible is decoded before your eyes, if you want it to be!

If the Bible had been decoded with the MOA then there is no reason for 400+ splinter groups each preaching their own unique set of biblical "truths".

Look at society around you. Clearly the Bible is a mystery to most of humanity. It is the world’s bestseller that nobody knows. It is a mystery to science, to education, even to religion! God is not real to most people. But Mystery of the Ages will make God real to you. This book will make God come alive and understandable to you.

The Bible is still a mystery to the Church of God. Every single splinter group has its own interpretation of scripture which is always better than the others. 400+ different versions with no one willing to agree upon common points. 

For this reason, Mr. Armstrong considered Mystery of the Ages the second-greatest book on Earth after the Bible.

It's not and never has been! 

Dave Pack: Splinter Group Lemmings Are Addicted To 200 Extra-Biblical Teachings

Dave calls all the members int eh splinter groups lemmings because they stay with the crowd.  That is exactly what the 1,200  members of RCG do.  They are afraid to buck the trend after they joined.  The fear and intimidation keeps them involved.  Its better to fit in and lay low than it is to open ones mouth and question.  Once more Dave describes his own group and is too stupid to realize it.

Mr. Armstrong described one of the great earmarks of Laodicea as teaching doctrines that are “less strictly biblical.” ALL the leaders and ministers of the splinters mirror this description. These men certainly say that their doctrinal changes are biblically-based. Who would say otherwise? Now, astonishingly, over 200 easily known, but largely unrecognized, false teachings exist throughout the splinters—with more all the time. How could this be? How could standards have collapsed so far that God’s people dress and act much like worldly Christians, and below the standards of my Baptist in-laws?

The answer: Spiritual blindness prevents these men from seeing their new doctrines and standards as false.

Look around you. Examine your organization. Look at Sabbath services, activities, socials and gatherings. Put aside any fun and enjoyment of fellowship you see, and ask yourself two hard questions:

(1) “Why are we not holding fast to that which we have?” (Rev. 3:11)
(2) “Who is truly washing, cleaning and purging themselves in God’s Word, seeking daily more of the Spirit of truth?”

The longer you have been where you are, the more the law of spiritual inertia—that “objects in motion tend to stay in motion and objects at rest tend to stay at rest”—came into play. Coupled with the natural group instinct or “lemming effect”—to stay with the crowd—over time, inaction takes on a life of its own. This should sober—and frighten—you!

The Most Spoken About Entity In Armstrongism

The Philadelphia Church of God recently finished celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, a period of time that they claim portrays the millennium and eternal peace and happiness. Then, just like a typical COG immediately after the Feast, they start harping about Satan, politics, and other useless topics that constantly occupy their minds.

Satan even rears his ugly head the day after Passover when COG followers believe all their sins from the previous year have been wiped clean. They now have a clean slate for another year of grievous sins as Satan starts filling up their scorecards.

Satan, particularly in the COG, is the entity that is mentioned the most in sermons, articles, and broadcasts. Satan is the powerful god of this world and apparently in the eyes of many COG leaders and ministers, He is far more powerful than that seldom-mentioned dude, Jesus Christ. Mention Satan and church leaders and ministers' eyes light up because they have a lot to say about the guy. Mention Jesus and they immediately shut down not knowing what really to say.

Biblical Archaeology Society has this interesting history of Satan in Judaism and Christianity.

In the Hebrew Bible, YHWH’s greatest enemies are not fallen angels commanding armies of demons, nor even the gods of other nations, but, rather, human beings. It isn’t the devil that spreads evil across the face of creation—it is mankind. Other than human beings, YHWH has no nemesis, nor are there malevolent spiritual forces not under his authority. YHWH is ultimately a god of justice. He is behind the good and the bad, behind the blessings and the curses. It is within this divine court of justice and retribution that Satan has his origins. 

 

The Hebrew word śāṭān, meaning “accuser” or “adversary,” occurs several times throughout the Hebrew Bible and refers to enemies both human and celestial alike. When referring to the celestial adversary, the word is typically accompanied by the definite article. He is ha-satan—the Accuser—and it is a job description rather than a proper name. From the Accuser’s appearances in the Books of Job and Zechariah, it seems that the job entails calling attention to the unworthiness of mankind. The Accuser is essentially the prosecuting attorney of the divine court of YHWH, and part of his job includes collecting evidence to prove his cases. With this bit of knowledge in mind, it isn’t difficult to envision the various “outcries against sin,” such as that against Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20–21), as the voice of the Accuser. 

 

It is difficult to determine at which point in Israel’s history the Accuser began to take on a much more sinister role in the Israelite/Jewish belief structure, or how heaven’s great prosecutor became the prince of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). It is certainly easy to make the connection between Israel’s time in exile and the likely influence of the cosmic dualism of Persian religion.1 However, even within books written well after the return from foreign lands, the Accuser is still a self-righteous lawyer. Though if 1 Chronicles 21:1 is any indication,2 they began to believe the Accuser wasn’t above getting his hands dirty. 

 

It is perfectly clear, however, that by the first century C.E., Judaism developed a belief in the divine forces of darkness doing battle against the forces of light. This can be seen within the New Testament and other extra-Biblical writings such as those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. There are likely several factors that inspired these developments, including the influence of Persian, as well as Hellenistic, religions. 

 

If there was an army of evil spiritual forces making war on the righteous, they had to have a commander. It is at this time that the impersonal and lofty Accuser began to acquire the various names and titles that have filled the writings of western civilization for 2,000 years. The Greek word diabolos (from which “devil” is derived), meaning “slanderer,” comes from a verb that means “to hurl” (i.e., accusations). 

 

Diabolos was typically used as the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew śāṭān (in the Septuagint version of Job, for example), though it was not uncommon to simply transliterate the word into the Greek satanas (1 Kings 11:14). Other names used for the leader of the forces of evil at this time include Maśṭēmāh, which means “hatred” (1QM 13:4, 11; Jubilees 10:8), and Belial, a popular name among the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which means “worthless” or “corrupt.” “Children of Belial” (Hebrew: bene-belial) was a typical phrase used to describe evil people in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Samuel 1:16; 2 Chronicles 13:7, etc.). If someone were searching for a name that personified evil in the Hebrew Bible, it would be Belial, not Satan. Interesting enough, the name only occurs once in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 6:15), as Paul’s stark contrast to Christ.
It is also in this period that we begin to see the development of the tradition of equating the talking serpent in the Garden of Eden with Satan (Life of Adam and Eve xi–xvii). 

 

Etruscan fresco of Typhon from the Tomba del Tifone in Tarquinia, Italy, c. third century B.C.E. According to Greek mythology, the montrous Titan Typhon battled the mighty Zeus, who bound his foe in the dark depths of Tartarus to bring about a new era of peace. 

 

Satan’s role in the New Testament, though highly expanded, has much more in common with the Accuser of the Hebrew Bible than the commander of the armies of darkness that is typically portrayed in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even though he is given such lofty titles as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), “father of lies” (John 8:44), “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), “ruler of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and Beelzebul, “ruler of the demons” (Matthew 10:25; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15), Satan is essentially treated as nothing more than a glorified prison warden who has been corrupted by his own power. Throughout the Gospels, Satan’s “kingdom” is never considered to be a burning underworld full of the tormented dead, but, rather, is equated with the bondage of sin and the curses brought upon humanity for acts of unrighteousness. According to Jesus (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21–22), a “strong man” (Satan) must be bound in order to plunder his house for treasures (humans), and it is clear he viewed his ministry and that of his disciples within this context. All other references to Satan in the New Testament, including those in Revelation, reflect this struggle for spiritual freedom. 

 

Over the course of several centuries of influence from many different cultures, the defeated Accuser of the Christians would go on to appropriate aspects of various divine enemies (Typhon, Hades, Ahriman, Hela, to name but a few) to become the complex mythological monster that was thrown out of heaven at the beginning of time to rule the fiery underworld and torment the souls of the damned. Such a character makes for great movies and Halloween costumes, but would have been virtually unknown to anyone in Biblical times.

The Church of God movement has created its own unique understanding of Satan and the power he has over people. Far too many believe that power is unparalleled. In their eyes, Satan is equal in power to God. 

Yet Christians who understand what Jesus accomplished do not live in a constant state of fear.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers [satanic power included], nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38–89

“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4)

 

Leaving the Fold

There is an interesting conversation going on in a COG related Facebook page right now over how the church felt the need to control all aspects of the members lives.  The above quote is from Leaving the Fold by Marlene Winell

Being enveloped by a church that seeks to control every aspect of a members life leads to a false sense of security.  A person meets the warm approval of family members and friends and the church looks upon you favorable, if it is as nothing more than a money making entity.  But dare to step outside that cocoon and the world quickly changes.  Even though the person who has left is healthier, mentally, spiritually and physically, there is still the loss of approval that sometimes creeps in.

An excerpt from the book states:

It has been a wells established fact that those who are in fundamentalist groups, and the COG was fundamentalist to its core, are in it for security and for the sense of belonging to something special.

The Church of God has always presented its self as something special, called out, set apart from, God ordained.  That was the very thing Herbert Armstrong used when he rebelled against the church and started his own version, steeped in extra-biblical interpretations received though special revelations received in the public library or from his god.  His previous association was wrong and he was right. God had personally revealed to him the right and true way.  Those that bought into it were special and set apart from the lukewarm believers they left behind.

Continuing on from the above quote:

The church has always felt the need to have an answer for everything.  Why else would the church have produced hundreds and hundreds of "Letters" from the Letter Answering Department, or the countless booklets, books, magazine articles and hundreds of thousands of sermons.  Having one's questions answered provided a sense of relief knowing that one was no longer accountable and had no need to study or research further.  God's minister said it, so let it be done!

We see this today in the various fringe groups of Armstrongism.  Bob Thiel does it with sermons covering 10-20 different subjects at a time.  Dave Pack does it with 190+ new revelations from his god.  His members no longer need to think, just accept and they will be saved.  Gerald Flurry does it with his members when he threatens their salvation by daring to say "hi" to a family member who has left the fold.  Rond Weinland has led his members to believe they are so special that they will soon be gods, kings and priests in his world a few months away.   Rod Meredith has done the exact same thing by telling his members they are special and set apart from all other COG's. God is doing a special end time work with them exclusively. And then there is United, which has never quite been able to figure out what it needs to be doing, yet they are so special and called out, so much so that even Jelly has more followers than Jesus does.

Everything in the church seems to be exaggerated to the extreme. Doom, death and immediate obliteration is the game of the day for the church.  Members are constantly being warned about one thing after another. Famine, disease, parents eating children, concentration camps, invading Russian, Germans or Chinese armies, rampaging Muslims, all fear factors to maintain control.  As long as members stay together in the fold, they will fight and survive together because God will exclusively protect them.

We were always encouraged to "fight the good fight" and if we did then we had guaranteed entrance into the World Tomorrow where the lion would be dwelling with the lamb and we would be wielding rods of iron over our dominions or worlds.  that all sounds pretty good to this eon the "right" side of ht equation, but no so much for those being ruled over.  But that never mattered.  We were special. We were set apart.  We were God's very one chosen from billions of people. 

All of the benefits that the Church of God/Armstrongism offered always externals. Being kings, priests, world rulers and God was more important than the inner healing of one's heart and mind. Church members were and still are constantly berated as never quit measuring up. We were sinful slobs/worms that God was just itching to blot out.  The glorious rewards of the World Tomorrow were always just out of reach.  God always seemed eternally pissed at us, even more so than the deceived world around us.  It was our fault that Jesus never returned when he was supposed to.  We were not ready.  It was our fault that Loma Armstrong died from bowel blockage because the church was backed up with sin and rebellion.  That list can go on and on.

There's nothing inherently wrong with meeting human needs. However, in practice these needs are exaggerated and used to frighten potential converts into joining and to preserve existing membership. In fundamentalism, the dangers of life -- both now and in the here after -- are emphasised. Incredible threats and promises are made for heaven, hell and miracles here on Earth. The result is that people are disempowered by this approach to having their needs met. Since the source of all the benefits offered is external, requiring dependence on God and the church, internal resources atrophy. This process degrades the self and becomes a serious threat to human well-being. 

It all gets exhausting after a while trying to constantly measure up.  Our brains atrophy because our thinking has been done for us or we finally realize that we are worthless creatures and what's the point of trying any more.  The questioning stops and people just trundle on week after week listening to bland and boring sermons waiting for that "strong hand from someplace" to finally make things right.

In spite of all of that, there are individuals that never settle for the status quo and let that spark of questioning be given space to shine forth and they wake up.  They realize that so much of what they have been taught is not the "truth" and step out into the unknown where questions do not always need answers. Doubt, ambiguity and the gray areas of life then become learning places and growth.

Are you willing to live in doubt and ambiguity?

Fake COG Prophet Publishes 8 Points On Why He Is The Best COG Ever To Exist

One thing the Church of God lacked in so many of its leaders were ministers with a sense of humor.  Many were so tightly wound up that you wonder how they ever went to the bathroom.  Occasionally we heard sermons injected with humor which was a fresh twist over the constipated Debbie-downer sermons we were subjected to most times.

Those days are now over!  Praise God and pass the offering plate, Bwana Bob Thiel is here to entertain us with the best list of proofs on why he has the most superfantabulous church in the 21st century. Dave Pack was seen whimpering, yet again, in his formal gardens over this humiliating situation.

God's most favorite end-time church leader is so superfantabulous that God had to doubly bless him and send him into several dream states where his mind regurgitated one of the silliest COG claims ever!

The Great Bwana has published a hilarious list of pointa as to why his personality cult is different than all of the other COG's.

Apparently, one of his potential converts had been church hopping through various Churches of God due to the fact she cannot make a decision on her own as to who might be doing what is right.  As usual, she needs someone to tell her how to believe.

Bwana Bob writes:

• Someone who attended with RCG, then CGG, and also LCG telephoned me and asked me how CCOG differed from the other COGs.

Bwana Bob then drew up a list, and then was so insecure in what he wrote that he had to consult with his 2 ministers in Europe and a few of those in Africa.

• After telling her several reasons, I put together a list and had it reviewed by CCOG ministers in Europe and Africa. Here is a partial list:

Get your popcorn ready and a beer for the entertainment that is to come.

• We are more biblically-focused. Our sermons tend to contain more scriptures than others–enough so that our English online sermons have truly helped fulfill Matthew 28:19-20–we have taught all that the New Testament records that Jesus taught (proof can be seen in a sermon listing of the Gospels, etc. with links at COGWriter.com).

Seriously?  Just because someone spouts hundreds of scriptures in a sermon that covers 30-40 different topics does NOT prove Bwana is more biblically focused!  Nor, does have a huge list of sermons on the Gospels instead of what they actually profess, still does not make one's cult as biblically focused.

• We also read the entire ‘book of the law’ every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles as instructed in Deuteronomy 31:10-13We also read the entire ‘book of the law’ every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Well, whoop-dee-do! During Herbert Armstong's reign, we had to hand-write out the entire book.  Other COG splinter groups, like the legalistic Pharisee James Malm do the exact same thing.

Those that seem to have turned their backs on Jesus feel the need to place the emphasis on the law nowadays.

• We have more information in more languages in order to fulfill the commissions of Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20 to reach the world with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and other teachings.

Bwana Bob, like most of the other self-appointed COG guru's, has no gospel message that humanity needs to hear.  When the crap that he fosters off as gospel is so totally devoid of anything that centers upon Jesus, there is no gospel message worthwhile.

• Many teachings are restored in more detail. 

Considering NOTHING was ever lost, to begin with, there are no teachings than have been revealed other than extra-biblical crap that no one needs to worry about.

• We were the first group in the 21st century to boldly, and more accurately, teach why God made anything including humans. Which is: God made what He did so that eternity would be better and that God made humans so each who ultimately accept Him, in their own way, will help make eternity better (it is not clear if the other COG’s teach this yet).

Well of course none of them teach this because it is not true.

• We post more accurate information online on prophecy and world events (for example, which shows we are serious about Jesus’ admonition to watch (Mark 13:37) and warn.

Never has the Church of God seen a bigger liar than we have in Bwana Bob.  Form his self-appointment and the lies about his double blessing to how moronic prophecy predictions, it has been a train wreck from the start.

Bwana Bob is so in tune with his god that he is INCAPABLE of having prophetic errors!  That statement alone makes him a liar.

• We do not have the prophetic errors that many teach, which (unless they change) will prevent them from knowing when the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21) will start until it is basically too late.

Bwana Bob claims to be the fastest growing COG out there.  He has less than a hundred followers in all the English speaking countries of the entire world, while most of his "converts" are professional Sabbatarian church hoppers who are constantly searching for the next convenient white savior to give them more laptops and money.  Besides, there is another Church of God who claims to add way more African members that Bwana Bob does.  Sadly, this is another idiotic splinter cult of Armstrongism run by deranged Wade Cox.

• We are the fastest growing xWCG church in the 21st century.

Bwana Bob still is trying to "prove" he is legitimate because had some dreams after a night of eating bad sushi.  He believes that just because some mentally disturbed woman in the Southern Hemisphere dreamed a dream about Bwana Bob that this also legitimizes him.  Of course, he tries to lend credibility to the dreams by claiming Loma did the same thing when she dreamed up the Church of God.

Because of that, Bwana Bob's personalty cult is the ONLY true Philadelphia splinter group out there today.

• Like the start of the Philadelphian era was preceded by a dream from God given to a woman, the official 21st century start of the remnant of that era was also preceded by a dream from God given to a woman–furthermore several associated with CCOG have had confirmed dreams. We are not just one of scores of COG groups, but the only international Philadelphian organization and the leader of the Philadelphian remnant that God is using to go through doors He opens (Revelation 3:7-8) for the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14, Romans 11:25, etc. in the final phase of the work.

If Herbert Armstrong were alive today, Bwana Bob's ass would be kicked out the door so fast that his head would spin.  The boot imprint would be permanent!