Aaron Dean: Jesus Is Telling Him To Repent, Return To The TRUE Worldwide Church of God, And Be Pastor General

 

This is so far off the charts it does not deserve commentary...other than this, COG members will no more follow Aaron Dean than they did Bob Thiel.

So here we have a man, who was a minister of the Worldwide Church of God(Church of God in Philadelphia era), needing to REPENT, in order to receive GOLD to apply to the candlestick!

He already is a messenger of the church OF THE LAODICEANS, a separated group. Jesus Christ calls on him to REPENT, and make purchase of gold tried with fire. The gold, or tithes and offerings, are to be applied to the PHILADELPHIA CANDLESTICK or the WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD! This "good work" will provide "white raiment".

Now since the Worldwide Church of God, the Philadelphia Candlestick, is already in existence,(Rev. 3:10; Rev. 12:14-16) this man switches SUPPORT away from a separate group unto God's Church. He then will ADDRESS THE SEPARATED from a CLEANED UP POSITION. Notice Zechariah 3! And from that position, the TEMPLE WILL BE FINISHED, aka the Church age will be finished at the return of Jesus Christ! Notice Zechariah 6!

Revelation 12:17, explains that those who do not repent prior to the Great Tribulation starting, are SEPARATED THEN, and therefore are the Church of God in Laodicean era when they repent and OBEY GOD. The Laodicean Church is an OBEDIENT CHURCH!

The warning to the Laodiceans, in Revelation 3, is to those who have separated away from the Worldwide Church of God, or Philadelphia Candlestick.

They must return to being the Worldwide Church of God! Those who repent prior to the Great Tribulation, will be counted among Philadelphia!

Those who repent too late, wont be able to flee and will go through the Great Tribulation as a REMNANT. That is when they become the Laodicean Church!

So this messenger, is called upon to repent and be part of the Philadelphia Candlestick, to apply what he has received from Jesus Christ TO THE PHILADELPHIA CANDLESTICK.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."(vs 20)

A knock is a loud RAPPING of knuckles against a hard surface.

It shows that the Church of God is in a SCATTERED STATE. Now, God has a VOICE He is using to reach the people of God. That voice is Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. He is the voice crying in the wilderness.

So that's how Christ is dwelling among the Worldwide Church of God today, and feeding His sheep. Those who are sticking with His apostle, His Voice, are enduring until the end, and OVERCOMING.

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

So when you view Revelation 3:7, you read " And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write"

This is talking about the Church of God INSIDE of the Philadelphia Era.

When you get to verse, 14, however, " And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write"

This messenger, is being talked to, to REPENT, so God could use him in the Philadelphia Candlestick, aka the Worldwide Church of God.

This is the SECOND man of the Two Witnesses!

The Laodiceans, in verse 14, are those SEPARATED in the Great Tribulation(Rev. 12:17), while Philadelphia is in the Place of Safety.

This man will be ministering unto them who COME OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION.

Notice Revelation 11:4 about the Two Witnesses.

"These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth."

Reason for writing this...Mr. Aaron Dean is a minister of the Worldwide Church of God. He is now attending with, and has also been ordained as a minister of the UCG. The United Church of God is a SEPARATE GROUP, collecting the ministers and members of the Worldwide Church of God to PREVENT "one man rule" to be restored back to the Worldwide Church of God.

So it is basically serving as CHAINS, on the ministry. And so you see a picture like that of Zechariah 3. Satan is ready to ACCUSE, the ministry.

When I write about Mr/ Aaron Dean, I do not worry about those who wish to do him harm. I believe he is the man spoken about in Revelation 3:14-21.

Now if you notice, Revelation 11:4-5.

"These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.

"And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed."

Now, out of all the ministers of the Worldwide Church of God, he was there with Mr. Armstrong, meeting the heads of state, the Kings, Queens, Emperors, Presidents, Prime Minister's etc.

There is NO ONE ELSE, who can provide a first hand testimony, and witness, to those leaders of the world.

Just like Joshua the High Priest, under Zerubbabel, Aaron Dean is the assistant to the end time Zerubbabel.

Now, when Mr. Armstrong examined the Advisory Council of Elders, he found ONLY ONE MAN, and he told Aaron Dean that God wanted HIM to be the next Pastor General. Mr. Dean said he talked him out of it.

But Tkach left Christ. The rest have died or left Christ and only Aaron Dean remains of that "casting of lots".

But because of the wolves, he is now found among another church. He has NO GOLD to apply to the Worldwide Church of God candlestick. He is busy applying gold to a GOLDEN CALF.

Which brings you to the picture of Aaron the High Priest, the brother of Moses, while MOSES IS NO LONGER AROUND, being swayed by rebellious people, to apply GOLD to a "suitable replacement"(quote, unquote) which is a golden calf.

So he is aiding the United Church of God right now.

Jesus Christ is calling him to REPENT, and to make PURCHASE, and that means sacrifice, and CHANGE. When you repent, YOU GIVE UP THE WAY YOU WERE HEADING, and TURN AROUND.

And through repentance, he receives GOLD from Jesus Christ, and as a minister APPLIES IT, uses the Tithes and Offerings, to the candlestick Jesus Christ has raised up. The Worldwide Church of God.

Jesus Christ is saying all you have to do is repent, Mr. Dean, and to turn around and apply your labor to the Worldwide Church of God. The Philadelphia Candlestick.

I'll have to write more on this later. But I will say this...

The Worldwide Church of God is NOT the church of Samuel Kitchen! I am NOT an ordained minister. I am simply a member.

I am not asking for support. I am not asking to be made a minister!!!!!!! And I mean that! What I am concerned with, is making known the Worldwide Church of God aka the Philadelphia Candlestick EXISTS!!!! And to bring attention, to perhaps a man who is the next Pastor General, picked by God, and NOT BY MEN.

I wish to declare the works of God! That's all. But If I am to take the flak, for mentioning this, and become the prey all because of what I am saying... so be it. Bite all you want, wolves. You can't overthrow God and His Word.

If my torn flesh is what is needed, then so be it!

Revelation 3:14-21, is talking about a LEADER of the Church of God, who was part of the Worldwide Church of God, who needs to REPENT from being SEPARATED from the Worldwide Church of God. Jesus Christ is telling him NOT TO GO INTO THE TRIBULATION with that separated people, but to return, and be one of the two witnesses.

So...Im putting my own name on the line, in saying this is Aaron Dean. He seems to fit the picture, and appears to be the one God picked. No man has picked him. No man is voting for him.

I don't support the UCG. I don't believe it to have been established by Christ! So why would I choose Aaron Dean out of anybody, if i was off my rocker and trying to build a church of my own? This isn't the Church of Samuel W Kitchen! The Worldwide Church of God is THE SPIRITUAL BODY OF CHRIST! Jesus Christ is head of this Church! Like I said, Im nobody. Im not a minister. I'm just a member.

But since THERE ARE MORE OF YOU, than me, go and ask questions. Go and search for answers. Take it to God. See if what I am saying is crazy or not. BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD! It's that simple.

Dave Pack: Strange Leading the Strange

 

Strange-r Danger

David C. Pack is an expert on the topic of strange ideas. He is obsessed with distorting Bible doctrines, perverting them into an abomination of his own corrupted imagination. The Pastor General of The Restored Church of God clearly sees the reasons for his prophetic failures and dwindling membership. None of those reasons have anything to do with him because the answers are always external.

The wicked spirits in high places are very active in The Restored Church of God. Just not the way David C. Pack thinks.

According to him, the reason brethren flee his spiritually bankrupt organization always has some outside, nefarious cause. The devil seduced them. Their spiritual weakness revealed itself when their human nature pulled them away. They just followed their dumb wives out the door. They just want to go off and sin and eat pepperoni pizza.

They lack the faith to accept “The Greatest Unending Story!” Series is God ending the Mystery of God through His chosen human vessel. They lack patience because “This is taking too long.” They are high-minded because “Mr. Pack can’t get all the tiny details right.” They are rigid and unable to accept revealed knowledge because “This isn’t what Mr. Armstrong taught.”

He thinks leaving The Restored Church of God, “is as easy as sipping a cup of coffee.” Since I understand firsthand because I lived it, strange ideas like that broadcast that David C. Pack has no idea what he is talking about.

David C. Pack wants to believe every reason under the sun for why brethren leave RCG except for the one that is true: David C. Pack.

The Pastor General is a hypocritical blaspheming liar, false apostle, false teacher, and false prophet preaching antichrist doctrines that defy the Word of God. He weaponizes the Bible to manipulate minds and control them with fear. Love has waxed very cold inside RCG, and it stems from the central vortex of bitter madness: David C. Pack.

There is a thick darkness permeating Headquarters. The Series will never end because God is not guiding David C. Pack to teach his doctrinal debauchery. The Holy Spirit does not move David C. Pack to utter the words that cause him deeply troubled discomfort. He preaches a foolishly meandering, confusing cesspool of doctrinal filthiness presented as honey dripped from heaven.

People leave The Restored Church of God because they read and believe their Bibles. Hearing what David C. Pack says should be all anyone needs to discern if he preaches the truths of God.

During “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 506),” on April 9, 2024, David C. Pack seized the opportunity to warn members from leaving the organization because they would forfeit their salvation and make the biggest mistake of their existence.

After proving for months that the Kingdom of God would arrive on Abib 1, April 8, 2024, only to have nothing happen, he knew he had to address the potential for even more people to flee.

Part 506 – April 9, 2024
@ 01:19:34 I I wonder if there is a very difficult period. I wanna inoculate you. If we do go through a very di–difficult period, Matthew 24 and Luke 12 have always suggested (let's hope I'm not reading it right) that some yet leave and kindle a fire and do not abide the day of Christ coming.

Matthew and Luke foretold some would leave RCG and cause trouble for them. Interesting.

@ 1:20:42 So, do Matthew 24 and Luke 12, some say, “My Lord delays his coming.” Kindle the fire is that the last unbelieving hypocrites among us who were purged by God?

A great David C. Pack irony is that he has been preaching for eight-and-a-half years that "My Lord delays his coming." With each prophetic failure, he has to preach why God gave the members more time. When David C. Pack moves the Kingdom of God's arrival from Abib 1 to Abib 15 to Iyar 1 to Tammuz 1, he is preaching to the brethren of The Restored Church of God, "My Lord delays his coming."

He is also letting people in the chairs know that if they leave, God is purging them. They are not leaving because they discern a fool and depart from his presence. They are not leaving because the Bible instructs everyone to not be afraid of false prophets. They are not leaving because Paul warned of false teachers. No, they want to leave because Jesus Christ is vomiting them out of His mouth.

This is cultish mind control. If you stay in your seat, you are NOT being purged by God.

@ 1:20:58 I watch people leave for for reasons so silly I I just can't even fathom it.

He is saying brethren who leave have no legitimate reasons for doing so. That is a lie. David C. Pack belittles anyone who disagrees with him because he cannot accept the reality that he is the direct cause of anyone's departure.

None of this is new.

Flashback Part 499 – March 21, 2024
@ 32:40 I watch people leave the church. We just had a little cluster of people leave the church because a serpent bit all of them. And and I watch ‘em, again, just like a a sip of coffee. They just let their salvation slip away. But, let’s read. I mean, would people do that? Did they hear the 500 hours? And the answer’s No. What then, why where they here? And they leave over some of the dumbest things.

Fleeing from a documented blaspheming liar false prophet is what the Bible teaches. People who DO hear the five hundred hours have more than enough information to discern the wisdom of leaving David C. Pack and The Restored Church of God.

Do not walk away. Run.

@ 38:14 And you’ll wonder how could anybody ever leave the only church who knows the things I’m showing you.

Things he would later show them are inaccurate, and have to re-invent the wheel as he has been doing for years.

@ 1:13:36 I’ve watched scores of thousand, I’ve said this over and over to people who will sit and hear me say it and blow it off like they never heard me say it. They must have a way of lying to themself.

When brethren finally do escape The Restored Church of God, it is because they DID hear the words of David C. Pack.

Another great David C. Pack irony is he lies to himself all day, every day. It is the only way he can stare perfect, consistent failure in the face and still cling to the lunatic fantasy that God is guiding him.

@ 1:14:57 We’ve had to wait twenty-five years. No wonder. Attacked, lied to, lied about, lied to, attacked. And people just, “Yeah, I’ll leave the church.” Like they snapped their fingers.

Since June 2022, the exrcg.org website has been dedicated to accurate and honest reporting on the happenings inside The Restored Church of God. David C. Pack is quoted correctly and in context. Video clips are provided when his delivery is coherent enough. He is not being lied about from here.

Flashback Part 500 – March 23, 2024
@ 1:47:01 You think you wanna be in this world? [chuckles] You know, we got people just too stupid to be a First Fruit—What? What? They leave. But I've watched it my whole life.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and the heart of a loving shepherd just burst forth.

Flashback Part 501 – March 30, 2024
@ 10:47 And I've searched diligently, but somebody was supposta understand. You think if you think, “Well, I’m not the one,” well, then you better wait for some other David. Some people wouldn’t wait. “Mr. Pack, you figure out what thousands of prophets over centuries of their lives knew nothing of. If you figured out and if you don’t, I’m gonna leave.”

David C. Pack has a disturbed perception of the people who recognize his wickedness and depart from him. The paradoxical Pastor General is both an arrogant narcissist and a whimpering victim. He knows how to attack and pout at the same time.

 

Near the end of Part 506, Dave felt more comfortable laying harsher criticisms upon those who had already left as a warning to anyone else in the audience who might dare to follow.

The Romans crucified criminals and staged their bodies along the main road as a warning.

David C. Pack adopts the same philosophy.

Part 506 – April 9, 2024
@ 1:33:08 Eight and a half years just seemed too unreasonable, too strange for the self-righteous among us who were just above this, and they left. Followed their own lusts. They left. And I I started all of this to tell you a few more might. And what we've done is not so strange or hard, and that people who've quit, you should not think that's strange because people have been walking away from the way of God since the Garden.

@ 1:33:45 No other church on Earth knows about this Kingdom. 

The Kingdom that did not come on April 8. The Kingdom that has been changing for over eight years.

@ 1:34:21 This is 506 or 7, I guess. I could do it in a hundred messages and speak much less often. Maybe fewer people had left, but that iddn't, apparently, what God wanted. I kept thinking it was right and it was wrong. 

David C. Pack has NO IDEA what God wants. His consistent failures prove God is not backing him up.

@ 1:35:24 Life would've been more normal and maybe more people would've stayed that God did not want to stay because we had to be willing to go through this difficult period.

Could people remaining in The Restored Church of God thwart God's purpose? Imagine the implications.

@ 1:35:43 To leave the only church that sees it is far beyond foolish. One who does this is without excuse. You know what they believe? They reject the whole thing.

 

STOP
Do not miss this next sentence.

This is clinical proof that David C. Pack possesses a warped mind entirely disconnected from reality in 3…2…1…

@ 1:35:57 The fact that I got a date or two right wrong or something, or some detail wrong, but saw a kingdom nobody else could see.

A date or two? That perfectly encapsulates the mentality of David C. Pack. Talk about lying to yourself.

The homepage of exrcg.org hosts a tally of 79 failed dates proclaimed by David C. Pack, and that is only as of Tammuz 1, 2022. If there were "only two," not including the day before Dave uttered that stupid comment, we could start where it all began on Elul 24 in 2013 and throw in Esther's Fast “Night Watch” in 2019.

It is sometimes hard to fathom that David C. Pack believes his own words, considering how filled they are with lies. David C. Pack does not just speak lies. It is who he is.

@ 1:36:06 And you leave the only church that says that, you're probably gone. There is a fire that devours before the Father got here. There are people who are gonna be cutting two. They had to have rejected the whole thing because, you know, because “Mr. Pack couldn't get details right, I'm gonna go back into the world,” and most of 'em do go back into the world.

The Father will devour those who leave RCG with fire or cut them in two. That is a strong motivator to stay. According to David C. Pack, we all left because we rejected the details. What a foolish, deceived man he is.

@ 1:36:28 So, I wanted to say all of that because we might go through a bumpy period. Do what will not be strange is unbelieving hypocrites. Hypocrite means, in the Greek hupokritēs, it means a stage actor. There are people who are stage actors. Some are really good, like Judas, and you just cannot know it. 

Documented hypocrite David C. Pack is really bad at being a Judas because we can spot him easily.

 

Dave was proud of his 15-minute “strange” angle during Part 506. He set up why the Series was moving closer to nine years without the Kingdom of God in sight. It was not strange that people were leaving RCG because God wanted that. Just as God wanted the Series to drag on.

@ 1:21:07 First, let me say it's always seems strange to me that God required the Series to be so long for me to finally get the picture right. Always just seemed strange.

That would require God to be behind the Series. He is not. It would also require David C. Pack to “finally get the picture right," and he has not. Part 509 set an exclamation point above that.

Every week, he changes the picture and explains why the last right picture was actually the wrong picture because the new right picture is better than the last right picture, which is now wrong. Right?

@ 1:22:12 Now, speaking of strange, I want you to, God has us go through strange things. Isaiah walked for years with his bare bottom hanging out. Strange.

Dave frolics through the Bible to point out all the “strange” things God had people do. In his conclusion, he exploits these instances as a cover to explain away his own failings.

I will list a few of his points, let him conclude, then defeat his entire fifteen minute argument in a single sentence. Well, Dave actually defeated himself, but he did not realize it.

“Strange” Bible Occurrences
•  Isaiah walked bare-bottom
•  Jeremiah hid a belt in the rocks
•  Hosea married a whore
•  The Two Witnesses will walk in sackcloth
•  Ezekiel ate a scroll
•  Jonah was in a whale's belly
•  Israel marched around Jericho for seven days
•  Noah built an ark
•  Abraham instituted circumcision

You get the point. Dave presented fifteen minutes of that. And he was so excited about the perfect logic of it all and how warm that blanket must have felt while doing it.

@ 1:23:24 Those are all strange things that God has asked His people to do.

@ 1:26:23 Eight and a half years learning about a kingdom isn't all that strange.

@ 1:28:54 Those are the strangest things you get. That's why a lot of people laugh at the Bible because it's a God who requires things of people. Eight and a half years for a Series. Can you imagine the persecution I get that I don't even tell you about?

David C. Pack drew a line between strange things in the Bible and the Series creeping along. He had built for himself a sure house of excuses. Watch him defeat his entire argument in one of his own sentences.

@ 1:23:24 Those are all strange things that God has asked His people to do.

God did not ask, direct, command, commission, charge, instruct, inspire, or even suggest that David C. Pack teach any of the content in the Series. There could be ten thousand strange things listed in the Bible, but none apply to David C. Pack. God did not send him, yet he ran.

The greatest tool for defeating David C. Pack is accurately quoting David C. Pack.

That is not so strange.

Marc Cebrian
See: Strange-r Danger

The United States and Britain in Fantasy by Peter Ditzel

A Short Critique of Herbert W. Armstrong’s British-Israelism

The United States and Britain in Fantasy Peter Ditzel

Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986), one of the most popular and controversial radio and television evangelists of the twentieth century, was one of the better known proponents of the teaching known as Anglo- or British-Israelism.1 His most popular book on the subject was The United States and British Prophecy. According to this theory, there is a distinction between Jews and Israelites; the descendants of the Israelites are now the white, English-speaking peoples of Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, etc., as well as the majority of the people living in northwestern Europe; the above nations are the Israel of Bible prophecy, and the British Royal family is Jewish and descended from King David of Israel.2

If any Worldwide Church of God doctrine can be considered Herbert W. Armstrong’s pet teaching more than any other, perhaps this is it. Armstrong was not, however, its originator. According to Ruth Tucker, the idea that British ancestry could be traced to ancient Israel originated in the seventeenth century with a man named John Sadler.3

Later, Canadian-born Richard Brothers (1757-1824) claimed a right to the British throne based on his assertion that he was a descendant of King David of Israel. Brothers was committed to an asylum. In 1840, a man named John Wilson published a restatement of Brothers’ ideas in Our Israelitish Origin. This restatement of the probably mentally deranged Brothers’ ideas served to popularize the view. In 1902, J. H. Allen wrote a book called Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright. J. Gordon Melton writes: "Through the efforts of Merritt Dickinson, who had read and accepted the arguments in Allen, Anglo-Israel thought entered the Church of God (Seventh Day) [though it was not accepted as an official teaching of that church]."4 Armstrong, once associated with the Church of God (Seventh Day), based his book The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy (later renamed The United States and Britain in Prophecy) largely on Allen’s book.

Copyright © 1993-2009 wordofhisgrace.org

Permission is granted to reproduce this article only if reproduced in full with no alterations and keeping the copyright statement and this permission statement intact.

 

As founder and "apostle" of the Worldwide Church of God, Armstrong considered British-Israelism to be one of most important doctrines in his church. Writing in the late 1970s of what he considered the treasonous watering down of the church’s teachings behind his back, Armstrong criticized those who tried to minimize this teaching: "Church teachings were being changed. The most resultful booklet of all, The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, was attacked, greatly deleted and later put out of circulation."5 Armstrong ordered that the full-length version of the book be circulated once again.

As is all Anglo-/British-Israelism, Herbert W. Armstrong’s belief concerning the modern identity of Israel is heavily based on a mix of sloppy scholarship and pure myth. Yet, incredibly, Herbert Armstrong called this fantasy "the vital key necessary to unlock closed doors of biblical prophecy" and "the strongest proof of the inspiration and authority of the Holy Bible!" Armstrong even went so far as to claim, "It is, at the same time, the strongest proof of the very active existence of the living God!"6

The United States and Britain in Prophecy was one of Armstrong’s larger works and to refute it point-by-point would take a good-sized volume. Fortunately, it is not necessary for our purpose to go into every particular to prove Armstrong’s claims false. Picking out only a few points will suffice.

First, an examination of some of the myths that Armstrong preached will help convey the flavor of this wild hypothesis. One was that the tribe of Irish mythology that Armstrong continually misspelled as the "Tuathe De Danaan" or "Tuatha De Danaan" was Israel’s tribe of Dan having migrated to Ireland. Armstrong claims, "Tuatha De means the ’people of God.’ The name Dunn in the Irish language, for example, means the same as Dan in the Hebrew: judge."7 The implication is that the name of this Irish tribe identifies it as the biblical tribe of Dan.

In reality, Tuatha Dé Danann (correct spelling) means "people of the goddess Danu." In Irish legend, the Tuatha Dé Danann were the fourth race to invade Ireland. According to Françoise Le Roux and Christian-J. Guyonvarc’h writing in The Encyclopedia of Religion, "They came from the north, according to a very old Hyperborean tradition."8 Israel is, of course, not to the north of Ireland.

The accounts of the Tuatha Dé Danann sound like they are straight out of "sword and sorcery" fiction. Apparently so as not to ruin his

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credibility, Armstrong never related the entire legend. Notice these far-fetched highlights from the Encyclopedia of Religion: The Tuatha Dé Danann invade Ireland, take it from the Fir Bholg, and "defend it against the demonic Fomhoire." They divide the land with the Goidels, "the Goidels on the surface of the earth and the Tuatha Dé Danann within the hills and beneath the lakes...symbolic and concrete representations of the otherworld." When Lugh (the shining one) enters Tara, the Tuatha Dé Danann’s royal court, "he enumerates all his abilities to the doorkeeper druid and is allowed to enter precisely because he possesses together all the capabilities of the other gods."9

We have gone this far with the description only to impress the complete fantasy with which we are dealing. Yet this is one part of a doctrine that Armstrong says proves the existence of God!

After saying the tribe of Dan went to Ireland, Armstrong says that the prophet Jeremiah later joined them. According to this story, Jeremiah brought with him a stone that is supposedly the stone beneath the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey in London. British monarchs spend part of the coronation ceremony sitting on this chair with the stone beneath them. According to legend, this stone is "Jacob’s pillar stone," the stone upon which Jacob had his dream of a stairway to heaven on which angels were ascending and descending (Genesis 28:10-22).10 In reality, this stone has been proven to be from Scotland.11

Jeremiah also brought to Ireland, according to Armstrong, the daughter of Zedekiah, king of Judah. When this daughter married the son of the king of Ireland, the Jewish royal family descended from King David was successfully transplanted to the British Isles. Eventually this Jewish royal lineage entered the British Royal family. The lineage of Queen Elizabeth II, then, goes back to King David of Israel.12

All this is a twisted version of various legends. Yet, by this, Armstrong tries to prove that a descendant of King David is still sitting on a throne over the people of Israel (according to Armstrong, the British). This is based on Armstrong’s understanding of Jeremiah 33:17: "For thus saith the Lord; ’David shall never want [fail to have] a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.’" After also quoting verses 25- 26, Armstrong writes: "Unless you can stop this old earth from turning on its axis—unless you can remove the sun and the moon and stars from heaven, says the Almighty, you cannot prevent Him from keeping His covenant to maintain continuously, through all generations,

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FOREVER, from the time of David and Solomon, a descendant of David in one continuous dynasty on that throne!"13

Armstrong’s conclusion is completely unsound, however. Jeremiah 33:18 continues from verse 17: "Neither shall the priests the Levites want [fail to have] a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually." Armstrong admits that the Levites do not offer sacrifice today: "But Jeremiah prophesied that Levites would always be available—in existence—who could offer sacrifices if there were a temple."14 Armstrong cannot have it both ways. If verse 18 refers to lineage and not activity, then so does verse 17.

Jeremiah 33:17 simply means that the lineage of David would be preserved, not that there would be no interruption in its ruling over the house of Israel. The reason it was to be preserved was to prove, as shown in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke, that Jesus Christ was of the line of David. And with Jesus Christ, Jeremiah 33:17 reached its ultimate fulfillment because the living Jesus Christ is the living, legitimate Heir to the throne. If the British monarchs were really sitting on the throne of David, they would be usurpers!

Armstrong’s entire case rests on his argument that the ancient northern Kingdom of Israel consisted of 10 of the tribes of Israel and that these were captured by the Assyrians and never returned. Armstrong emphasizes that while "Israel" might mean any or all of the tribes (including the Jews), "house of Israel" refers exclusively to the tribes of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The house of Israel remained distinct from the tribes living in the southern Kingdom of Judah—called Jews—and became known as the lost Ten Tribes.15 If we can prove that the house of Israel did not remain distinct from the Jews and that there is no such thing as the lost Ten Tribes, Armstrong’s teaching in The United States and Britain in Prophecy falls apart.

In Acts 2:14, Peter begins his inspired speech by saying: "Ye men of Judæa, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem." A few verses later, in the same sermon and to the same people, Peter says, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words" (verse 22). He ends in verse 36 by saying to the same audience, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, Whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." To Peter, the men of Judæa, the men of Israel, and all the house of Israel were one and the same. Notice also that Peter equates those who crucified Jesus with all the house of Israel. Peter could not do this if the house of Israel were not even in Palestine at

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the time. The Jews were not just the tribes Armstrong says lived in the old southern Kingdom of Judah. The Jews included "all the house of Israel."

Even the words of our Lord prove that Armstrong’s distinction between the house of Israel and the Jews is false. In addressing the twelve apostles before sending them out on a mission, Jesus said in Matthew 10:5-6: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Notice that the apostles were not to go to the Gentiles or Samaritans. These instructions must have been for the immediate mission at hand. They could not have applied to the apostles’ mission after Jesus’ resurrection because after His resurrection Jesus instituted through the apostles a ministry to the Gentiles.

Since the apostles could not go among the Gentiles and since they could not go into any city of the Samaritans and because they had physical limitations where they could go during this short mission, it is evident they went to the Jews in their immediate area. It is the Jews whom our Lord called the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," not tribes of Israel outside Judea.

Similar proof is found in Matthew 15. When approached by a Canaanite woman asking Him to heal her daughter, Jesus at first said nothing (verse 23). Then in verse 24 He answered, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." As can be seen throughout the Gospels, Jesus’ personal mission was to the Jews. Yet in Matthew 15:24, He calls those to whom He was sent the "lost sheep of the house of Israel." Jesus Christ considered the Jews to be the lost sheep of the house of Israel.16

But if, instead of being Israelites scattered among the nations and who had lost their identity, the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" were Jews who knew their identity, how were they lost? The "lost" refers to spiritual condition, not geographic disorientation. In Isaiah 53:6 we read, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." This agrees with Jesus’ parable in Luke 15 and Matthew 18 of the sinner symbolized by the lost sheep. As Jesus said in Matthew 18:11, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."

5

Contrary to Herbert Armstrong’s pet idea, then, there is no distinction between the Jews and the house of Israel. And "lost" is a description of the spiritual condition of the house of Israel—the Jews—not of their physical whereabouts. How appropriate that while The United States and Britain in Prophecy is full of "fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith" (1 Timothy 1:4), the truth points to Jesus’ mission of salvation.

One last bit of evidence before closing this subject: After Jesus’ resurrection, God opened salvation to the Gentiles. But most members of the Worldwide Church of God and its daughter churches are white, English-speaking people and the people of northwestern Europe. This means that—using Armstrong’s British-Israelism definitions—most "true Christians" (that is, according to Armstrongism, members of the churches that teach the doctrines of Herbert Armstrong) are Israelites, physical descendants of Jacob (Israel). This contradicts the biblical teaching "that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25; see also 10:19; 11:11, 32; and Matthew 21:43). But the fantasy world of Herbert Armstrong aside, most Christians today are Gentiles, just as the Bible says they would be.

Notes

1. Some of the adherents of Anglo-Israelism are part of what is called the Identity Movement, which has ties to white supremacy and neo-Nazism. Armstrong was never associated with the Identity Movement, although people in it have sometimes used his writings to promote their cause.

2. Herbert W. Armstrong, "Seven Proofs of the True Church, [part one]," The Good News, November 20, 1978, pp. 13, 16. This information is also found throughout Herbert W. Armstrong’s The United States and Britain in Prophecy. The edition used for this critique is the ninth edition (Pasadena, CA: Worldwide Church of God, 1986), November 1986 printing.

3. Ruth A. Tucker, Another Gospel, Alternative Religions and the New Age Movement (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1989), p. 207.

4. J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, (New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1986), p. 53.

5. Herbert W. Armstrong, "What Is a Liberal?", The Worldwide News, February 19, 1979, p. 3.

6. Armstrong, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, pp. 2-3.

6

7. Ibid., p. 98.

8. Mircea Eliade, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 15, (New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1987), s.v. "Tuatha Dé Danann."

9. Ibid.

10. Armstrong, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, pp. 98-102.

11. Melton, Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, p. 59.

12. Armstrong, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, pp. 100-102.

13. Ibid., pp. 55-57.

14. Ibid., p. 56.

15. Ibid., pp. 64-71.

16. Jesus’ mentioning in John 10:16 of "other sheep...which are not of this fold" is a reference to the Gentiles.

7

The Easiest Dating of The Exodus: A National Origins and Founding Myth

Ten Reasons Why the Bible’s Story of the Exodus is Not True

And why it really matters.

Full article here

Note: Edited for brevity here. The entire article is at the link above.

The story of the Exodus, in conjunction with others in the first five Books of the Old Testament, often referred to as the Books of Moses, the Torah or the Pentateuch, has been the foundation for three major religions and some minor ones.

History has many examples of nations, cities, ethnic groups and even families who proclaim their origin based on a mythological story or a highly exaggerated one. These “founding stories” seek to unify and exalt their group. Such stories in no way make the reality of their existence illegitimate.

Many quotes and links from Jewish Rabbis and Israeli archeologists and historians will be cited throughout this article. There are some Biblical literalists (both Jewish and Christian) who maintain that the Exodus took place exactly as the Bible states. Their main argument is that the lack of archaeological and historical evidence does not rule it out.

However, as we will see, most experts and scholars dismiss the story as mythology. While some of them still maintain a faith in God, they interpret their origin story as a metaphor or presentation, just as many Christians, who acknowledge the fact of evolution and contradictions in the Bible, view them as being far less important than “the greater truth.” They say it is the power of the sweeping epic that lies in its profound and timeless message about freedom and not whether it is based upon literal historical facts.

Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple’s senior rabbi interviewed By the Los Angeles Times, said: “The truth is that virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.”

Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, the distinguished professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College, in his article titled “The Bible is Fiction,” did not discuss history or archeology, but argued more broadly that the Books of Moses are fiction because their authors meant it not as science or history but as presentation. (National Origins Story)

William Dever, a convert to Judaism, and a professor of Near Eastern archeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona and one of America’s preeminent archeologists argued that “the Exodus story was produced for theological reasons: to give an origin and history to a people and distinguish them from others by claiming a divine destiny.”

Even if we ignore all these scholars and experts, there are many reasons why the very words of the Biblical account itself make the story of the Exodus implausible.

1. No evidence in history or in the ground: 

The story of the Exodus only appears in the Hebrew Bible/the Christian Old Testament and nowhere else. Not in Egyptian history, nor in any other history. Despite decades of extensive archaeological endeavors, not one trace of it has ever been found. This story describes over two million people escaping from Egypt and spending 40 years in the wilderness. That is more than twice the population of Jerusalem today. Almost all archaeologists, including those in Israel, acknowledge that it could not have possibly happened without significant evidence being left behind; yet not a trace has ever been found, even after numerous and extensive attempts to prove the historicity of this event.

 

2. An implausible start: 

The Bible tells us that all two million plus of them were informed that the very next day, they would be escaping from Egypt and had to immediately get prepared. (see Exodus 11:2–4 and Exodus 12:21–24)

In one day, over two million people, in Egypt, a very large county with no telephones or radios, were all contacted and instructed to collect treasure from their masters and then to kill a one-year old male lamb and smear its blood on the door posts of their house that night. Obviously, these slaves were apparently wealthy, as they all had houses with doors and a sizable herd of sheep so that each family was able to pull an unblemished, one-year old male lamb from it. In a normal flock of sheep, about 20% are one year old…half of those would be males.

3. A really long line: 

Two and a half million people would have created a line well over 200 miles long (at eight abreast with only three feet between each row) along with their animals, of which the Bible says they had many. They also took along much treasure. Many would have been with babies, pregnant, crippled, blind, or bedridden, and yet a line of people extending over 200 miles long were able to outrun the Egyptian army who were chasing them with chariots and horses, all in a single day and night.

Orthodox Jewish scholar Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University, said, “you’d have to be a bit crazy to accept that figure” when asked about the number of escaped slaves recorded in the Torah.

4. A load beyond measure: 

Despite the Bible saying elsewhere that they only took food wrapped in their shoulder sleeves and some treasure they obtained from the Egyptians, we see soon after this one day escape that they all had tents to live in, along with tools and weapons. They also had plenty of wood for the many required daily sacrifices that their God demanded. We see in Exodus 29:25 “You shall take them from their hands, and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.” God loved the sweet soothing aroma of the burning animals after they were just slaughtered as it floated up to His dwelling place; which is described elsewhere as actually being the floor of the sky (firmament) where the rain and snow are stored.

Exodus chapters 35 and 39 describe numerous other items they had to have in order to build the tabernacle which was built in the center of each camp including such things as 48 15-foot solid beams overlaid with gold, and dozens of other items. Where did all of these things come from? Numbers Chapter 7 states they had six carts pulled by oxen that moved those items from camp to camp.

5. Unrealistic hygiene requirements: 

Deuteronomy 23:12–14 says, “You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement. Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.”

For those living near the center of camp, it would probably require a couple of miles each way, given the estimate of the population, animals and bare-bone infrastructure. 

6. Moses did not write any of the Torah: 

It is very easy to confirm and to understand why the overwhelming majority of Biblical scholars today have determined that the “Books of Moses,” the first five books in the Old Testament, were not written until during or after the post-exilic period (later than 586 B.C.E.) and absolutely not by Moses, who would have died many centuries before… that is, had he been a real person. ...

7. There are many anachronisms: 

Many locations named in this story were not even in existence at that alleged time, clearly proving the story was developed at a much later time than it claims to be. This is called an anachronism, one of several factors that scholars use in dating old manuscripts. An example would be a story claiming to be written at the time of George Washington but referencing a city named Seattle or referring to things such as radios. That would be proof positive that the author was not telling the truth about when it was being composed.

Moreover, specialists in the Hebrew Bible say that the Exodus story is riddled with internal contradictions stemming from the fact that it was spliced together from several texts written at different times. One passage in Exodus, for instance, says that the bodies of the pharaoh’s charioteers were found on the shore, while the next verse says they sank to the bottom of the sea.

Another is that the Edomite kings listed in Genesis 36 did not live until a time well after Moses would have died. For more detail, see Book of Joshua.

8. What would it take infrastructure wise for a community of 2,500,000 to function?

After 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua and Caleb were the only two still alive from the original 2,500,000 who escaped. The Bible indicates that the population after the 40 years was nearly the same. (603,500 before vs 601,730 after the 40 years of men over 20 years old who were able to go to war).

This problem needs little if any comment. Water distribution in the desert would require an amazing network of wells, cisterns, and piping, assuming you can find the water to begin with.Since their food was rained down for them as manna, we can skip that necessity. Sanitation would be huge, manufacturing of clothes for those born in the wilderness, hospitals, first aid stations, schools, day care, where to gather wood for the many daily sacrifices (in the desert), medicines, soap, blankets or sleeping bags for those cold nights, and countless oth er needs that cannot be ignored. Factories and mining facilities were needed as they all had spades, tools, and weapons....

9. Can the earth ever stop spinning? 

As a climax to the Exodus was the alleged conquest of Canaan. The Bible claims that God literally stopped the sun for 24 hours so that Joshua could defeat the enemy while there was still light. Physics is clear; if the earth abruptly stopped spinning for even a second, all people, animals, rocks, topsoil, trees, buildings, and so on, would be swept away into the atmosphere. No where in the world is there any record of this long day.

10. Parallels of earlier known writings: 

Mythological stories are usually built around superheroes. The story of the Exodus was written during the Babylonian captivity where most of the Jewish captives assimilated into its culture. Many did not return when King Cyrus decreed them the right to. The fact is, many liked it there and were well settled and comfortable. What were the priests to do?

One of the most famous kings known to that history was the Akkadian King Sargon. He was called Sargon the Great who conquered among other places, Mesopotamia and the Levant. He established the first real empire. He was well known in Babylonian literature and was a famous legend due to his birth story and great leadership. Note how the writers gave Moses those same attributes. Here is a brief account of his Sargon’s birth and deeds:

The following worn translation of the legend comes from J.B. Pritchard’s The Ancient Near East Volume I, pages 85–86. It reads: (The legend of Sargon)

Sargon, the mighty king, king of Agade, am I.

My mother was a changeling, my father I knew not.

The brother(s) of my father loved the hills.

My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates.

My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me.

She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed

My lid.

She cast me into the river which rose not (over) me,

The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the

drawer of water.

Akki, the drawer of water lifted me out as he dipped his

e[w]er.

Akki, the drawer of water, [took me] as his son

(and) reared me.

Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener,

While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me (her) love,

And for four and [ … ] years I exercised kingship,

The black-headed [people] I ruled, I gov[erned];

Mighty [moun]tains with chip-axes of bronze I con-

quered,

The upper ranges I scaled,

The lower ranges I [trav]ersed,

The sea [lan]ds three times I circled.

Dilmun my [hand] cap[tured],

[To] the great Der I [went up], I [. . . ],

[ . . . ] I altered and [. . .].

We now understand why the writers of these five books developed its main character, Moses, into someone the people could identify as being a great superhero. The same birth story as Sargon’s along with many miraculous stories and fearful commandments saying that if they followed this God, all would be wonderful, but if not, there would be nothing but dreadful pain. The writers had an extremely hard task in motivating the people to return and become unified and this story of their alleged origin was key.

The writers knew that if there was going to be a unified people, a people who were enjoying the safety of another culture and other gods; they would have to be separated from “the snares of the world,” so the “carrot and stick” approach was utilized.

This story included many acts of genocide to accomplish two main goals: the obtaining of sacred land areas, and as the Bible says, to free them from being tempted by foreign women and gods.

We conclude with several more quotes from Rabbis and Jewish scholars:

Again, from William Dever, the professor of Near Eastern archeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona said; “The Exodus story was produced for theological reasons: to give an origin and history to a people and distinguish them from others by claiming a divine destiny.”

Ze’ev Herzog continued, “Scholars have known these things for a long time, but we’ve broken the news very gently, the old emphasis on trying to prove the Bible has given way to more objective professionals aiming to piece together the reality of ancient lifestyles.”

“Among Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews, there is a much greater willingness to see the Torah as an extended metaphor in which truth comes through story and law,” said Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

The first mention of Israel in recorded history is ironic. It was engraved by the Egyptian Pharaoh on the famous Merneptah Stele dated to 1205 B.C.E., about two centuries after Israel would have been well settled in Canaan.

,,,,

Not one trace of evidence after decades of diligent investigation with the most advanced technological tools.

Not one word in Egypt’s history recording anything connected with the Bible’s account. And not one word from any other surrounding nations or states (or private historian) who would have gladly published the destruction of a mighty army by runaway slaves. That is why few scholars will defend the Bible’s account of it.

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