Van Robison on "Thinking About Life"

Thinking About Life

I confess that there are so many issues about life on earth that make no sense, that it leaves me frustrated.  Sure, for those of us who experienced years of the Worldwide Church of God, we learned what truth is not.
We know that religious hierarchy stinks.  We know that men who stand in pulpits and pretend to represent God are far off base.  We know that tithing is a very false doctrine.  We know that many have made prophecies about the future and were very wrong.  We have learned that charismatic personalities can often persuade the gullible and naive.  We have learned that FEAR and GUILT are tools of control.  We have learned that the Bible is NOT infallible and inerrant, and that it is interpreted in as many different ways as there are specks of sand upon the seashores.  We have learned that anyone can potentially be caught up in cult groups and man-made religious beliefs.

Beyond all that, when we read that "they shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall recover", it does not always happen and even in most cases does not.  I have yet to see a paralyzed human being healed instantaneously, or a paraplegic restored and I have prayed for both categories of such people.  I have been in a nursing home where some human beings are nothing more than physical and or mental vegetables, and all the prayers never had any result that was positive.  I have been to two Benny Hinn "Healing Crusades" and have witnessed first hand the emotional impact such events have upon thousands of human beings in attendance.  I have read many books by the most famous "healing evangelists" or preachers known to man, such as Kathryn Kuhlman, Smith Wigglesworth, Oral Roberts, John G. Lake and others.  I even attended an Oral Roberts "healing crusade" in Amarillo, Texas as a young child and was overwhelmed with what I saw and experienced.

Once, some years ago my wife and I traveled to a church to hear a man who proclaimed that he had "raised" something like 14-people from the "dead" in Mexico, in his personal ministry and over a period of years.  During his talk, we were all spell-bound with what he had to say, and during the service, in through the doors came a family rolling a man in serious condition (Lou Gehrig's Disease, as we learned) on a hospital bed.  Naturally we expected a "miracle", because after all, here was the man standing in the pulpit who "raised people from the dead."  After the service, the guest minister was ushered over to the bedside of this man who was at death's door, and nothing happened.  The sick man went out the same way he came in.  Our disappointment was deep.

Once, my wife and I attended a service at a church where the guest speaker and his wife, had a "healing" ministry, where people supposedly had their teeth filled with "gold" where their cavities were.  The guest minister asked that anyone who wanted gold fillings to come forward, and a friend of mine and myself, along with others went forward.  The "minister" looked in our mouths with a flashlight and literally said "I see nothing but gold."  In our gullibility of course we thought that our fillings had been turned to gold.  When we went home and looked in the mirror, there was no gold.  Naturally our disappointment was enormous and such an experience only added to our loss of faith and confidence in the clergy class of people.

In my personal life, I have experienced church beyond the Worldwide Church of God.  My personal church life includes charismatic, pentecostal, baptist and other groups and even including what is called "house church", which is not controlled by any church organization.  In many organized churches they have what is called "cell groups", which I have also been a part of in years past.  Ultimately my wife and I came to the conclusion that 100% of all organized churches are man-made institutions and having nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Admittedly Jesus Christ has NEVER approached me personally, in a visible and physical form and spoken to me, so much as one word and yet I still believe in Jesus Christ.

In spite of all the negative church experiences, Jesus makes sense to my reason.  I will never embrace atheism.  I concede that what is called the "Bible" is full of myth, legend, human fabrication and yet it is astonishingly the most read "book" in the world, and argued over more than any other writings in human experience.  In fact the "Holy" books of the major religions of the world are to my thinking the reason for so many problems in human life.

Indeed God is a mystery and I have never found a satisfactory answer to human suffering.  I have never known anyone who has not suffered in human life.  Suffering is both physical and mental and life is overwhelming at times.  Who can comprehend why there are tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and what we all call "natural" disasters?  Who can comprehend why humans can be so intelligent and genius and at the same time so stupid as to be idiots, which to my thinking is what all wars are---insane?  Why can't life be for positive and constructive purposes instead of idiot and never ending wars of death and destruction?  Why sickness and disease and mental anguish and torment?

The only conclusion that I have been able to come to is that "the wisdom of God is greater than the lack of understanding of human beings."  As far as what happens after the death of the body, no one has a clue, other than what we all read in ink on paper, which is nothing more than human say so.  Atheism offers no hope.  If there were no hope of life beyond the physical human realm, then human life is to my thinking without meaning and purpose.  What makes sense about Jesus to my reason is that He taught "love your neighbor as you love yourself", "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "blessed are the peacemakers", "blessed are the meek" and so forth.  In essence what Jesus taught in one word is LOVE.  Anything attributed to Jesus that would appear to contradict Himself, makes no sense and to me is very questionable as to its real source.  As far as we all know Jesus Christ never penned anything and all that we know of Him is strictly based upon what men write.

We can choose to believe or we can choose not to believe.  Strangely, no matter how we believe about God, it does not change the fact of His existence and if He does not exist, it does not change that reality.

Personally, I choose to believe.


Van Robison

It's A Masonic Conspiracy!

Bet you never knew that ALL the McNairs were Masons did you? What about David Hulme? Rod Meredith? Imagine Rod as a Mason - Oy! Stan Rader we have all heard about and Tkach too. Is any of it really true or is this just another conspiracy theory for the mentally disturbed in Armstrongism to latch on to in order to make themselves feel special and set apart?

Apostle Malm is on an anti-Masonry snit-fest today. It was all a Masonic conspiracy that destroyed the Church of God.  According to Apostle Malm and Christan conspiracy nutjobs, the Masons have been instructed by Satan Lucifer to infiltrate all religions and destroy them.

The Apostle notes that for decades the WCG had articles and booklets on Masonry.  Jack Elliot had written several articles on the subject.  Then along comes Stan and the brakes go on and the booklets and articles are removed.

One thing that Apostle Malm did not know about was the Auditorium.  Years ago there was a man touring the building and he informed me he was one of the people that helped construct the building through the auspices of Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall.  He claimed that the entire Auditorium was built with Masonic symbolism.  The Auditorium is a cube shape (take away the white pillars that disguise it).  It faces East so that all worshippers in the  building always faced the rising sun. There was a room in the ceiling area on the upper left side that was appropriate to Masonic symbolism in its placement.  The colors used. Various shapes in the design.  He also said that Masonic coins were located throughout the building in different locations, placed there by workers.

Nor did the Apostle mention this delightful little tidbit: the bridges over the lake intersect into a female sexual symbol with the fountain symbolising the penis with it's rigid shaft and spurting water.

Of course all of these things are nothing new.  There were rumors of this in the mid to late 70's, so much so, that GTA stood on the stage one day and said that some of these weird people who believe this kind of stuff would get "turned on by piano legs."

Never mind the fact that a huge percentage of Armstrongite churches have met in Masonic, Elks and Odd Fellows Halls over the decades.  I guess that all seeing eye staring down at us was Lucifer's way of infiltrating the church.

Van Robison On: "Splinter Group Cocoons"

Splinter Group Cocoons

In the world of religions, every group without exception lives within the walls and confines of the thinking of its founders and leaders.  Every Bible college and every Bible correspondence course is tailored to the thinking of the author or authors of those institutions and study courses.  Bible colleges are manufacturers of clones of their own making.  There is a two fold purpose for Bible schools and this is to perpetuate their peculiar beliefs and $money.  They are businesses that provide income to their existence and like a machine they make molds of their own teachings, which are rubber stamped in the young people who are caught in their web.

In the Worldwide Church of God, Ambassador College was the means to a never ending supply of Herbert W. Armstrong clones.  Young people are very impressionable, pliable and like clay---moldable.  Only those who are capable of independent thought and thinking, break out of the mold.  Many live their entire lives within the confines of their programmed minds and thinking, while some eventually break free and run as fast as they can.

This is true not only of the Worldwide Church of God and its many splinter groups who live in religious cocoons, but it is true of all groups, including Mormons (Brigham Young University),  Jehovah Witnesses (Watchtower Bible School of Gilead), Southern Baptist (many colleges), Seventh Day Adventist (Southern Adventist University), and the list is endless.  Of course many "Bible" schools and colleges also offer liberal arts and studies in non-religious venues.

Every religious group wants to perpetuate itself and there is no greater means to do so than "Bible" colleges.  In reality they are not "Bible" colleges, they are clone manufacturers of their own particular beliefs.  Many young people aspire to position and influence over others and so hence off to "Bible school" they go to become "pastors" and "preachers" of "truth."  What they really become are clones of how they have been indoctrinated to "think."  Have you ever had two people knock on your door and attempt to persuade you to listen to them or read their Jehovah Witnesses material?  Many have and I have also.  I admit that these people are generally friendly, sincere and zealous, but at the same time they are NOT independent thinkers, they are parrots.  They are programmed robots of Jehovah Witnesses indoctrination.  I always feel sorry for the two young people that I have seen with white shirts and ties walking down the street, who are intent to proselytize anyone who will give them an ear to Mormonism.

Young people in general don't have the experience to discern, but with time you would think that as people become older they would become wise.  Sad to say, many never become wise to the serpents, snakes and wolves in sheep's clothing who devour.  Worldwide Church of God splinter groups are all led by clones of Herbert W. Armstrong and they are NOT "the Way, the Truth and the Life."  There is NO mediator between God and man, aside from Jesus Christ, for those who still believe in Jesus Christ.  Religious cocoons are not a new phenomenon and they have been in existence for a very long time.  Public persuaders are often pretenders.  Most likely the common factor as to why so many will follow these fake religious rulers is simply FEAR.  However, God is NOT a monster.  The "Bible" may portray God as a monster, but I would suggest that in fact the so called "Bible" so misrepresents and distorts the true character of God is so many parts, that it is the very reason so many have warped views of the true nature and character of the Creator of all life and the universe.  No loving parent would act toward their own children the way the Bible portrays God as acting toward His own human creation, in many parts of it.

Splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God, are living inside religious cocoons.  In nature, cocoons break open and the butterfly or moth is set FREE.

Van Robison