LCG: Be like us as we LOVE the law. We may love Jesus too, but not quite as much as the law.

 

The Living Church of God, like most other COG's claims to keep ALL the laws, yet they and the rest of the COG's pick and choose which laws they want to keep and make excuses for the rest of them. Every group has its own special set of laws they follow while not keeping others. They just never seem to grasp the condemnation that comes from law-keeping as they should. Break just one little law and you break them all. It is an impossibility to keep them all. No one and I repeat NO ONE in ANY Church of God has ever kept the law completely. Not even Rod Meredith who said he had never committed a major sin since baptism. To say they have is to prove themselves liars.

Do You Love God’s Law? We live in an age when many professing Christians believe God’s laws are a burden or out of date. Many in our secular world have no knowledge of God’s laws. Few today understand that God gave His laws to the Israelites so they could be lights and examples to the world (Deuteronomy 4:1–10). Yet Bible prophecy reveals the time would come when future Israelites would reject God’s laws and view them as “a strange thing” (Hosea 8:1, 12)—which is where we are today. However, David loved and meditated on God’s laws (Psalm 119:16–18, 97–104, 129), and David will rule over the tribes of Israel in the coming Kingdom and teach them God’s ways (Ezekiel 37:24–25; Hosea 3:5). Many professing Christians and peoples in our secular societies today will be surprised when Jesus Christ and His saints return to teach the world the laws of God (Isaiah 2:2–4). This is the future for those who love God’s law.
Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

Jon Brisby Claims What You Eat And Wear Is Salvational

When Raymond Cole appointed Jon Brisby as his successor he had no idea the depth of spiritual depravity that Bisby would sink to and force upon the brethren. A lot has been posted on this blog over the years about Brisby's theological heresies. One of the most commented articles on this blog remains active today with over 2,000 comments.

The following was sent to me by someone with connections to the Church of God, the Eternal where they describe the latest nonsense from Bisby that he is forcing upon his shrinking flock.

Jon W. Brisby the pastor of Church of God, the Eternal in a 4 part sermon series entitled Dietary Apostasy, claims that what you eat is salvational. This group left teaching spiritual principles long ago, and now instead chooses to focus on the physical. Making their appearance look perfect. Wearing the correct suit and ties, having proper beard lengths, and making sure what your eating in front of others is a good example for a healthy body to name a few. I'm pretty sure none of this is the criteria that Jesus is going to judge us by, but it is the criteria by which Jon Brisby claims to be the faith once delivered by Herbert W. Armstrong. Not Jesus mind you, that which Jude spoke of, but HWA.

We talk about Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, and Dave Pack here a lot with their dangerous theology and teachings, but there are smaller groups out there that are just as bad or worse. 

When you open Church of God, the Eternal's main website the very first thing you are bombarded with is Jon Brisby's book, A Peculiar Treasure. This is Bisby's version of Mystery of the Ages where he attempts to price he is holding fast to HWA's teachings and doctrines, which he is not. It is amazing how so many of these small COG leaders have to use HWA to prop up their ministries. Without HWA none of them would even exist.

CGI: The Death of CGI’s Bronson James

 

The Death of CGI’s Bronson James

Late last week, the Church of God International announced the death of longtime Pastor, Bronson James. In their In Memory of Bronson T. James, they noted that “Bronson, 76, was a long-time servant of God's people. He was one of the pioneers of the Church of God International ministry. He pastored churches, served for decades on the CGI's Ministerial Council and Board of Directors, and was instrumental in the creation and production of the Armor of God television program. He was hired by the CGI in 1988 to manage the Letter Answering Department, and he continued working at the home office, taking on various other responsibilities, until he moved to Detroit, MI, in circa 2002.”

After leaving the Worldwide Church of God, I had the opportunity to meet Pastor James and listen to him speak and sing in 1986. I was immediately impressed with both his sincerity, warmth, independent spirit, and oratorical abilities. Over the years that followed, I became aware of the fact that Bronson was adamantly opposed to the preaching of Anglo-Israelism, and that he had made his opposition to that doctrine very plain to both my father and Bill Watson. Moreover, as one of the few African American ministers in the church at that time, his open opposition to the teaching of Anglo-Israelism was a source of some difficulty and embarrassment for many of the White Anglo-Saxon ministers within CGI. To his credit, Bronson continued to extend the hand of fellowship to his deceived brethren in the ministry, but he steadfastly refused to preach it to his own congregation or endorse it when others chose to preach it to their congregations.

In September of last year, I wrote privately to Bronson expressing my own strong distaste for the teaching of Anglo-Israelism. I said: “I am of the opinion that this belief has been completely discredited by science, history, linguistics, and Scripture. Moreover, I believe that the underlying premise of the teaching has proven to be racist, and that its disqualification necessarily renders any prophetic interpretation which depends on it to be invalid.” And, although we both understood that correspondence to be confidential at the time, I don’t feel the same need to protect that communication that I felt while he was still living. Indeed, I think that it is more important to make very clear that Pastor James did NOT support the teaching of this pernicious doctrine!

It didn’t take Bronson very long to respond to me. He wrote: “Thanks for reaching out to me! To keep my response short and to the point: I'm in agreement with your correct perspective on the issues you presented. I have confronted Bill on his point of view going back 20 years or more. British/Israelism is totally un-Biblical. I don't teach it or allow it taught in the Detroit congregation. I try to respond to a growing number of Believers in the Body of Christ who see the error of that teaching. I eventually see a split materializing in this matter. But those who hold fast to the Truth of the Bible will not be drawn into this untruth. Thank you for expressing your difference even with your own father on this matter. Be strong in the Truth you know!”

Pastor Bronson James was a voice of sanity and reason within CGI, and he will be sorely missed. Nevertheless, I believe it does a disservice to the man and his memory to gloss over or dismiss his determined opposition to the messaging associated with the teaching of Anglo-Israelism. The TRUTH is that Pastor Bronson James believed that British-Israelism was “totally unbiblical” and should NOT be taught from the pulpit!

--Lonnie Hendrix