One thing that has always fascinated me is why COG members have to ask other members and other splinter group leaders on which church they should belong to. I guess part of that illogical thinking is that the church never empowered members to think, either theologically or personally. The minister had the answer to everything.
In the Dayton area Bible Study night people could send up questions for the minister to answer. I remember my mother asking the question if it was ok for us as kids to drink water after recess on Atonement eve. His answer was, no. In our church area, no one was to eat after 12:00 noon on the eve of Atonement so that your stomach would already be empty and you would already be hungry by the time the fast started. This was to make you more humble. Even elementary and high school kids were to do this. Others asked about proper car colors or the proper color a man's tie should be with his suit. One man asked what kind of vegetables were ok to paint in his garden. Seriously dude, grow a pair and plant what you want and enjoy!
As a result of the ministers making every decision for them, this led to a lot of members during the great upheaval of 1996 and later being unable to think for themselves as to which COG splinter they should join. People lived in fear of joining the wrong group endangering their chance of salvation. Such utter stupidity!
This brings us to today when our most highly favored crackpot prophet has another repeat of a letter he "claims" was sent to him by a COG member asking about which COG he should join. You can tell it was a man writing it because it is in all caps and asserts the authority this man believes he has.
The Great Bwana writes:
A while back, I received an email from a former Worldwide Church of God member that included the following:
I AM CONCERNED ABOUT SOME ISSUES OF MR. …. BELIEF AND APPARENTLY YOU DON’T AGREE WITH. I DON’T THINK THAT ANY OF THESE CHURCHES AGREE WITH OTHER SO WHO DO YOU GO WITH? …
The Crackpot then said this:
Anyway, here is what I responded to the former WCG member with:
Dear …:
As I have repeatedly written at COGwriter, I doubt that David Pack or Gerald Flurry are converted.
I consider that the only COG that is Philadelphian is the CCOG–though not all in CCOG are Philadelphian and there are Philadelphians not in CCOG–but no other COG represents the continuation of Philadelphia.
You should use God’s criteria, and none other to decide.
Here are two links you should read and pray about if you are truly serious:
How does the Continuing Church of God differ from other Sabbatarian COG groups?Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18?
But most refuse to believe and use their own standards.
Best regards,
Bob Thiel
Our Crackpot prophet bases his entire hermeneutic on prophecy. Jesus be damned, it's prophecy or nothing!
My response to the above was to tell him that the COG he attends as well as a group that came out of it do not teach much about prophecy. They also have a lot of prophetic errors.
Given the unadulterated FACT that not one single Church of God leader, wanna-be leader, church scholar, evangelist, pastor, elder, deacon, or self-appointed prophet has EVER been right about any prophecy proves them all to be wrong and NO ONE should join up with these agents of darkensss and give them their hard-earned money.
The answer that Jesus would give is, "DO NOT join any of them, but follow me and stop worrying about the silliness your minister has been telling you. Rest in me and enjoy your life!"