Crackpot Prophet On Memorial Day, "Just Wars", And American Football

Here we are on Memorial Day, 2024, a day set aside to honor fallen soldiers who have fought for the freedoms we have and against tyranny both domestic and foreign. It started out as Decoration Day in 1917 and officially became Memorial Day in 1971.

So this brings us to today when our crackpot prophet has to weigh in with more of his stupidity. It's kind of odd some of the things he says and does considering he comes from a military family. But, like many self-appointed COG preachers, they talk the big talk siding with conservative values while never lifting one of their delicate fingers to ever serve the country or their fellow citizens. Thankfully in the early days of the church, we had a lot of men and a few women who had served in the military and did it proudly.

Many like to say the church was pacifist because Herbert Armstrong had a Quaker background but it probably went deeper than that as he thought himself too good and important to join the military. Joining the military would have meant he had to give up his ego and learn to work as one cohesive unit with the other men in his platoon.  Working hard in manual labor was not part of Herbert's thinking. Look at how he boasted about losing one job after another and sitting there watching his family suffer because he felt he was too important to do manual labor.

We are so blessed today in 2024 to have in our midst the GREATEST prophet God has ever sent into this world to deliver such amazing articles and videos unlike any the world has ever seen, until now. God apparently foresaw that Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Gerald Weston, Vic Kubik, Jim Franks, Ron and Laura Weinland, David Hulme, and Alton Billingsley were going to be epic failures, so he preordained that the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel would rise up in the last dispensation to give a final warning to the church and the world. I guess with Bob we have never really understood that God was a great jokester and that he was pulling a fast one on us.

Here is some of the amazing stuff our Great Bwana thought was worth sharing with us on Memorial Day.

He starts by quoting a snippet from an article on the meaning of this day and how we should strive for peace and immediately has to get snarky mocking what was said. Are COG prophets ever happy about anything?

Today, many in the USA observe ‘Memorial Day.’ It was originally known as ‘Decoration Day.’ It started after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20th century, Memorial Day was extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. 

 

A secular source posted the following:

May 29, 2023

On Memorial Day, we honor those who died in the service of our country. Let us do everything we can as a people and a nation to stop war and all its brutality.

A peaceful future without war and all its awfulness is the best way to honor our troops, even as we cherish the memory of the heroes who gave their all. The best way to honor sacrifice is to seek an end to war and militarism

The  Great Bwana then adds this:

While that would be great now, that type of peace will not happen until after Jesus, the Prince of Peace, returns. 

 

A reader sent me a link to the following article about it:

Memorial Day a time to question war…

It is proper to pay respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. Memorial Day should also be a time of reflection on when it is moral for the United States to wage war and, if allowed, how this country should conduct war. 

 

War is awful. In these days of shallow, sanitized news coverage, the real horror of war rarely confronts us with the terrible death it levies against fellow humans, soldiers and civilians alike, and the maiming injuries, physical and psychological, it leaves behind in its wake… 

 

Over the centuries, religious leaders and moral philosophers have clarified moral principles for commencing a “just war.” Choices about war and peace involve not only military and political options, but also moral questions

The Great One then adds this about "just wars", something that was preached over and over in the pulpits of Armstrongism as a necessary evil at times. The Great Bwana blames the "just war" concept on Catholics.

The ‘just war’ concept, to a major degree, is based upon the writings of the Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas and was a term used by early followers of Martin Luther. In the 16th century, Martin Luther’s followers condemned those who did not believe that Christians were to be soldiers. Notice what the followers of Martin Luther declared in 1530:

Article XVI: Of Civil Affairs. Of Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that it is right for Christians to bear civil office, to sit as judges, to judge matters by the Imperial and other existing laws, to award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers...They condemn the Anabaptists who forbid these civil offices to Christians.

It should be noted that some of those called Anabaptists were in the Church of God. Martin Luther would have also condemned groups like the Continuing Church of God which hold to beliefs that he condemned on these matters. 

Martin Luther is in good company considering that even God condemns the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god", but that's another story.

Yet, from the beginning of the New Testament church true Christians (and even most of the heretical apostates) would not participate in carnal warfare.

Yet, Armstrongist ministers have been heard justifying "just wars" over the decades.

Then, being the Great Bwana that the Great Bwana is, this talk of  "just wars" and war itself deteriorates into Roman Colosseum gladiator battles and then into American football. WTH? Only in the mind of a warped COG prophet can "just war" be stretched to fit this mindless scenario.

Athenagoras, a professing Christian apologist, wrote around 170 A.D.:

What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?…

Who does not reckon among the things of greatest interest the contests of gladiators and wild beasts, especially those which are given by you? But we, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have abjured such spectacles (Athenagoras. A Plea for the Christians, Chapter XXXV). 

 

Even today, many Christians realize that watching brutal events intent on causing physical harm, such as real boxing and American football, is inappropriate.

Now, here is something from Theophilus of Antioch (who apparently was part of the Church of God) perhaps written about 180 A.D.:

Consider, therefore, whether those who teach such things can possibly live indifferently, and be commingled in unlawful intercourse, or, most impious of all, eat human flesh, especially when we are forbidden so much as to witness shows of gladiators, lest we become partakers and abettors of murders. But neither may we see the other spectacles, lest our eyes and ears be defiled, participating in the utterances there sung. Theophilus of Antioch. To Autolycus, Book III, Chapter XV.

 

So, true Christians did not believe that they were to fight nor even watch the violent sports that were popular in the second century.

The Great One ends with this:

So, as many remember the soldiers who died in warfare today, Christians can look forward to the time that there will be no more war nor pain of war.

Christians look forward to the day self-appointed lying false prophets leading the Church of God are eliminated and will no longer have any power to destroy followers' lives; physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

May that day speedily come!

"...these people are from the Worldwide Church of God. Leave them alone".

 

Samuel Kitchen writes:

We had felt the Worldwide Church of God was an organization that fell into the hands of apostates, and so we called ourselves members of the Church of God instead.

But we soon found out the question raised would be "which Church of God?" And "Are you a separate group?"

We didn't feel we were a separate "Church of God group", as we were just a family who were members of the Worldwide Church of God (under Mr. Armstrong) who were holding fast to God's truth. So we began to use the identity, given to us by Christ, given through the apostle.

People soon realized we were not supporters of TKACH or the apostates that had abused the name, who had been using it to gain assets of the Church.

Before we began publicly using the name Worldwide Church of God, we had a little incident.

After the feast in South Dakota we were heading home, and soon we found ourselves at a hotel, surrounded by military and government personnel.

The night before we had seen the military doing maneuvers in Sioux City, and had to make detours to get to a hotel for the night.

As we ate breakfast, the lobby was filled with apparent military and government personnel. One of the people there, was heard telling the others "these people are from the Worldwide Church of God. Leave them alone".

I heard the same woman tell the others in line at the buffet, "not these people".

We were kind of shaken. If we hadn't been members of the Worldwide Church of God, what would have happened?!?!? We had felt that an angel was informing these people not to mess with us on our way home.

So when I hear people mock and attack me for saying the Worldwide Church of God exists. If that woman wasn't an angel, we were already considered by the government as members of this Church.

If she was an angel, then what she said was even more important. We hadn't used "Worldwide Church of God" in publications or posts. We had been using "Church of God".

So we began to use it.

Now, after my parents and grandmother's death, and my brother's separation, I have one little brother who is with me. My personal family is small.

But realize this brethren, the Worldwide Church of God is my spiritual family. And that is what I am focusing on.

Nothing else matters. The family of God is priority. God added me to the Body of Christ. And so I desire to see my family reunited someday. I think Christ is not slack concerning His promises. Those promises are sure.

And so we began looking into all these groups, at people who were members of the Worldwide Church of God.

Aaron Dean, the assistant to Mr Armstrong, seems to be in a pickle, just like the rest of us have been. He is attending a group, which has kept him separated from the Worldwide Church of God. He is among a group of separated people from the Worldwide Church of God.

The only way we could exist as the Worldwide Church of God, was to be outside of these groups, otherwise we were some other church. Jesus Christ pulled us out and showed us this.

Out of all the ministry, Mr. Dean has NOT sought any kind of power, position, or control. He has been humble, kind, good hearted, and hospitable.

I have been in contact with him since 2012.

I'm just looking at the ministry who were ordained in the Worldwide Church of God, from the perspective of someone outside of these groups. From the perspective of someone who is a member of the Worldwide Church of God.

Aaron Dean, has a different spirit than the others. When I look at Victor Kubik, and what he says, it's totally different. When I look at Meredith, pack, Flurry, and the others who were there in the Church under Mr. Armstrong, they have demon spirits ruling them. I do not perceive that with Mr. Dean.

So now what? I'm just a member of the Worldwide Church of God. What happened to the ministry? They seemed to have either died, or are now seen joined with ANOTHER CHURCH.  

Those joined with ANOTHER CHURCH seem to believe the Worldwide Church of God is just an organization, and believe that the spiritual Church of God is now organizing into their newer group.

But the Philadelphia candlestick has not been destroyed.

Just because THEY ARE NOT organized as the Worldwide Church of God, does not negate the evidence it does exist without them.

And it's humbling to think that time spent being organized as another church was all in vain, if they cannot now organize as the Worldwide Church of God.

I believe perhaps being organized temporarily while waiting on God, is a good thing. Gerald Waterhouse seemed to have thought that about the UCG in 1995.

But when the UCG comes out, through Victor Kubik, saying the purpose of starting the UCG was to constrain "one man rule" from being established and concentrated to one man, then something was deceptive.

Someone was told a lie.

And when ministers of the UCG start voicing their disagreement with the government of God as it was established through Herbert W Armstrong the apostle of Jesus Christ, that is something of great concern.

So I see Aaron Dean, as a minister who did well, and perhaps there are more men who did well, as they held fast in whatever group they landed, but now unable to organize as the Worldwide Church of God without a catalyst, without someone standing up and taking the hits and raising the alarm.

We need to realize the dangers, those of us who are SEPARATED have armed against us. Satan seems to keep us separated and divided.

If you notice Revelation 12, a remnant is divided off because Satan's wrath can reach THEM. He cannot reach the Worldwide Church of God who goes into a place of safety.

So that's what I'm focusing on brethren.

I'd rather bleed for my family to make it, than to see all of you not escape what is coming because I wanted a life of my own. So realize brethren what is coming. And realize that being divided, is of Satan, and being separated from the Worldwide Church of God has been only used to destroy the Church.

Do you trust counseling with your minister?

 

In the Church of God movement it was and still is consistently reinforced that members should counsel with their ministers about their problems and not go to licensed counselors and therapists. The COG said that since these people were not church members they were incapable of counseling and actually used Satan's deceptions to lead true believers away from God.

In each of the respective COG groups out there today you can count on one hand the number of ministers who have received training from licensed counseling professionals. Almost all ministers had their "training" from another minister who also had their "training "from another minister and so on. 99% of them had no real counseling training at all. David Antion is one of the standouts who has had professional training and runs a highly successful counseling service on South Marengo in Pasadena.

Do you agree with the Living Church of God's statement below? Are LCG ministers, or ministers in any COG actually dispassionate and without bias?

Sometimes, it is good to have someone outside our context take a look at how we might do better. Couples who are struggling in marriage can benefit from inviting their minister in to look at the problem dispassionately, without bias.