Would You Quit Your Job Over Pork Shoes?

I have not looked at Apostle Malm's, "Glowering Darkness" blog for a few days now.  It is always such a hoot to get back to reading some of the silliness that makes his blog.

Today a person admitted she/he quit their job at Payless Shoes because they were selling shoes made of pork leather.  I am so glad Apostle Malm is an authority on EVERYTHING!  How would we exist in this evil polluted world with out the magnificent instruction from our beloved Apostle?

I know I have asked a similar question, but I used to work at Payless and then after I left it hit me: was I selling some leather that was from swine? I recently have an opportunity to work at a supermarket that respects the Sabbath. But I can’t help but think that they sell pork products and I will be working the cash register. Is this somehow supporting it? Like selling what I myself wouldn’t buy? Is it wrong to work there? I have been looking for a job for some time now with no luck, either because of the Sabbath or other issues.

It is the store that is selling the product not you.  You are just working for that company and as long as you are not involved in becoming unclean through the cutting of the pork etc then you may work for that company.  If we could not work for sinners we would need to be taken out of this world altogether.  We are IN this world: We are not OF this world and are to keep ourselves personally unspotted by its wickedness.  We can work for a store that sells pork in the same way that we can work for a man who curses;  that is their problem and not ours unless we begin to sin as well.

"Dreaming In Arabic" Now Available In Book Form

Jennifer Armstrong's book, Dreaming in Arabic is now available in book form.  Check it out here: Dreaming In Arabic

I grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, an organization labeled “cult” by most of mainstream Christianity. At the head of it, was Herbert W. Armstrong, a forceful personality, with a unique interpretation of scripture. I grew up believing that we in the Worldwide Church of God were the only true Christians in the world. My mother told me a story of how when I was a toddler in the stroller and we were passing by a large old church, I pointed and said “Man's way.”

The Worldwide Church of God took a lot of their beliefs from the Old Testament. Being young, I never really understood why some of the ancient laws were kept and some were discarded. I'm sure there was a reason and I'm sure it made sense to the adults. At least, I hope it did. I've never felt bad for being part of a group that taught Biblically unsound doctrines. I was a child and a child will believe in
Santa Claus if you tell them with enough conviction. But I do wonder about the adults and why they were so quick to let someone interpret the Bible for them. My husband, who is eight years older than me, said that it wasn't so much the doctrine that attracted him as much as the emphasis on righteous living. And there was an emphasis on righteous living. But unfortunately most people were not living
up to the high standards we taught.

 I think another draw for a lot of people was the emphasis on prophecy. I grew up believing that someday, before a great tribulation fell upon the world, we believers would be taken to a place of safety where we would be hidden from the wrath that fell on everyone else. Herbert W. Armstrong had a radio show and a television show called The World Tomorrow where he preached out of Daniel and Revelation and gave his own unique interpretations. I think there were quite a few people who joined the church to escape the great tribulation.

It was believed that the place of safety was Petra, in Jordan. Mr. Armstrong would travel around the world as an “ambassador for peace” and one of the people he met was King Hussein of Jordan. The church had some sort of outreach to handicapped children in Jordan. Since Petra was in Jordan and Mr. Armstrong was a “friend” of King Hussein, it was taught that we would all fly to Jordan and stay in Petra for the duration of the tribulation. I have some vague recollection that at some point, soldiers of the world would surround Petra and threaten us all, but that heavenly retribution would strike them down. What was more critical to people was what they would bring to survive the years in Petra. One woman said she was going to bring two suitcases of maxi pads.

As a child, I once packed a small briefcase full of my favourite books and then carried it around with me, even if we went across the city on the subway, because it was said that we could be called to flee at any moment. One of my childhood fears was that I would come home from school and find my mother and younger brothers gone and that I would somehow have to make my way to the airport (by taxi, I suppose) or else I would miss the flight to safety. Contacting my dad at work was not an option. He wasn't a member of the Worldwide Church of God and therefore would have to face the tribulation. When it was preached from the pulpit that during that horrible time the guillotine would probably be restored as a form of punishment I resigned myself to my dad's inevitable fate. You see, my dad knew
too much. He had lived with a believing wife and would therefore have to stand up for the truth in the future time of persecution and would be punished for his belated realization that everything the church taught was true.

The Great Tribulation would be followed by ....

Spiritual Bastards

You never know what deep theological ramblings you will find coming from COG members.  Of all the important things in the world labeling people "Spiritual Bastards" seems to be important to some.    This classification by some Armstrongites is a convenient way to label all who disagree with them. You are the way you are because you are the child of unequally yolked parents.  Or the offspring of a believer and non-believer.  Or a person born out of wedlock.  You might be from an  incestuous relationships. Or, God forbid, you are the product of interracial marriage!  That is the ultimate abomination!

There are all kinds of ways some Armstrongites seek to deligitimize anyone who disagrees with them.  Sadly, that seems to be their goal.  To do as much as they can to make non members illegitimate and unworthy.  It is important in Armstrongism to be be able to label people as "the other'.  This deliberately makes them out of bounds from God's love.  By having 'the other' out there, it makes the Armstrongite feel special and called out above all others. God's chosen. Rulers of worlds. Gods to be.  Yuk!

What is a bastard?: Based on the above Bible helps, a bastard could be one of the following:
      · Descendant of an irregular union
      · Illegitimate children
      · Person produced as a result of an incestuous union or
        adultery/fornication
      · One born out or wedlock
      · Offspring of an interracial union

In a spiritual sense, a bastard is one who refuses to use God’s
correction to change or to be changed. He/she is one that is
supposed to be of the Body of Christ, but is not a pure spiritual
Israelite – washed white and clean by the blood of Christ.
Instead, they have become like an illegitimate offspring from a
wrong union. A mixed breed - like those that were the mixed
multitude that followed Israel out of Egypt – becoming thorns in
the flesh of the Israelites – causing problems and issues (Ex
12:28; Num 11:4). These try and destroy the sons of light with
their slanders and lies. From such, turn away. Origin of Nations: Spiritual Bastards