When Church of God Prophecy Fails

Here is a great article detailing what went on in the minds of Harold Camping's followers when the end times did not happen according to Camping's predictions.  The ironic thing about this article is that Bob Thiel posted excerpts on his blog about this.  Thiel obviously does not have the brains to see that this article is talking about himself and how he defends the false prophecies of Rod Meredith and Herbert Armstrong.  Hundreds and hundreds of false prophecies, predictions, and baseless speculations have been uttered over the years by these men and yet there are lemmings that refuse to look at all the errors and defend these men as "men of God."

Ron Weinland's cult will be the next to experience this.  Then it will be Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, David Hulme, and  myriad of others who open their mouths and make statements that never come to pass.

A Year After the Non-Apocalypse: Where Are They Now? A reporter tracks down the remnants of Harold Camping’s apocalyptic movement and finds out you don’t have to be crazy to believe something nuts.

“God’s Not Going to Let Us Down”
Some believers stayed up all night. They watched TV or sat in front of their computers, hitting refresh on their browsers, confident that reports of a massive earthquake originating near New Zealand would soon appear. Other believers went to sleep, assuming that they would awaken in the presence of the almighty.

When the sun rose on May 21, they were taken aback. Maybe it would happen at noon. When noon passed, they settled on 6 p.m. When that came and went, some thought it might happen at midnight. Or perhaps it wouldn’t happen until May 21 was over everywhere on the planet. “It will still be May 21st in American Samoa (last time zone before the International Date Line),” someone posted on Latter Rain, an online forum for believers.

By Sunday morning, new theories were floated. “It was God’s plan to warn people. It was His purpose to hide the true meaning behind May 21. It’s about us suffering what He went through,” a believer commented. One hypothesis had it that three days would elapse before the actual rapture, just like the three days between Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. Someone else wondered if it might be seven days considering that seven is a holy number, or forty, the same amount of time Noah was forced to sail around with a boatload of animals.
When those deadlines passed, another narrative took shape. What happened was a test. God knew that believers would be mocked when He failed to return on the assigned date. Would believers hold firm or would they allow the jeers of the world to weaken their resolve? The Lord was separating the wheat from the chaff, they liked to say, paraphrasing Matthew 3:12. It helped that Camping, before he vanished from the airwaves, had seemed to endorse this view.

When a prophecy fails, it’s crucial that a group’s leaders provide an alternate explanation of what happened, or what didn’t happen, according to Lorne Dawson, a professor of sociology at the University of Waterloo, who has studied apocalyptic sects. “The followers of the group are so heavily invested that they have tremendous incentive to accept these rationalizations,” he said. But the revised story needs to be issued rapidly—wait too long and your followers will fall away.

United Church of God: What's Wrong With This List?

Look at the list of names below and see what you can see out of the ordinary.  These are the men making the decisions in UCG.

• Doctrine Committee: Scott Ashley, Bill Bradford, John Elliott, Darris McNeely, Don Ward and Bob Berendt as chairman.
• Ethics Committee: Carmelo Anastasi, Gary Antion, Mark Mickelson, Robin Webber and Mario Seiglie as chairman.
• Education Committee: Scott Ashley, Gary Antion, John Elliott and Don Ward as chairman.
• Media Committee:  Carmelo Anastasi, Scott Ashley, Bill Bradford, Mario Seiglie and Darris McNeely as chairman.
• Strategic Planning Committee: Bill Bradford, Mark Mickelson and Robin Webber as chairman.
• Roles and Rules: Carmelo Anastasi, Bob Berendt, John Elliott, Mark Mickelson and Gary Antion as chairman.

What's that? You see nothing out of the ordinary? You are correct.

It is 2012, well over 15 years since all of these men were WCG employees kicking people out of the Church for not following Tkach's new teaching.

Fifteen years later and these very same men are STILL in charge. No new blood has entered the picture.

The same corrupt power structure is still running UCG.

It's no wonder the UCG is losing members and not growing.

Is anyone on that list under the age of 50? Where is the new blood coming up through the ranks with new ideas and new focus?

UCG is aging out, like all the other 700 some harlot daughters of Armstrongism.

Larry McElroy's Magical "god" Only Heals In Restored Church of God

Larry McElroy, apparently back from his reeducation camp stay, has written another article about the mighty and magnificent Restored Church of God.  Healings—Why Only in The Restored Church of God     Yet again, he has opened his mouth and made a royal fool of himself.

Dave has been telling all the various COG's that his little group is the most important, most magnificent, most technologically advanced, prints better magazines, and has more money than any other COG out there.  God oblivious is dwelling in Wadsworth, Ohio.  Because god is only working through Dave in Wadsworth, it is only natural that healing can only occur under Dave.

God’s “benefit package” includes healing of diseases that befall brethren, especially in the end time. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from destruction; Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies” (Psa. 103:2-4). How many of God’s people have forgotten His promises? Forgotten His benefits? When you consider all of God’s benefits, He truly is the ultimate “Health Maintenance Provider” all should look to in times of physical distress due to poor health and the need for healing.

While scores of millions need healing, how many are ever healed? How many look to God for healing? How many of His people today seek Him for healing? Those in the Restored Church of God DO look to God. Many dramatic healings take place in the Body of Christ, which is teaching the full truth of the Bible. The remainder of this posting will explain why God is healing individuals in His Church and almost no one in any of the splinters. (emphaisis mine)

McElroy writes about several "healing" that have supposedly occurred in his cult.

These dramatic miracles occur for a reason. Mr. Pack writes in the “Fruits” letter, “Healings are only one of many kinds of miracles we see in God’s Church on a regular basis, miracles that God’s enemies cannot gainsay.” But again why are there healings and other miracles in The Restored Church of God?

Then he states something that all RCG members had better take note of.  If Dave says it, you had better believe it and NOT qwquestion it.  Otherwise you will NEVER be healed!

God’s Church teaches the full truth of the Bible. It is the “pillar and ground” of the truth (I Tim. 3:15). God’s people are required to OBEY ALL TRUTH without compromise. Obedience includes commandments, doctrines, sayings of Christ and traditions set in the Church by apostles. These purify us: “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth…” (I Pet. 1:22).

So what happens when you get sick?:  You are sick because you are a grievous sinner!  You have sinned some great sin that causes you to be sick. Healthy people apparently are sin free.  How depressing is that!

Also, fewer and fewer ministers taught the doctrine of healing—taught that God is our healer! Most of these men did not tell people that sickness was caused by physical sin—violating God’s principles of health. Many of these negligent ministers now lead the splinters and it should come as no surprise that they are SILENT on God being our Healer and “health maintenance provider.”

The deviate teachings continue with a subtle wranning that if you disobey God you will get sick!  It's your fault!

So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” God’s Church teaches the gospel and the doctrine of healing—and God’s promises in this regard. It also teaches how to acquire faith. Brethren must hear the FULL truth to develop faith sufficient to trust God for healing. Individuals who are doing their part to obey the gospel and trust God in faith can EXPECT God to intervene for them! Healings take place where God’s ministry is teaching His Word regarding faith and healing, and the brethren take heed and implement that teaching.

If you dare to question or ignore the holey writ from Dave and crew then you are damning yourself to a life of sickness and disease.

Did you know that the  government of the Church is the healer.  That's a new concept for me. God only heals through the proper chain of command.  God is apparently to stupid and weak to just pop down and heal a person out of the blue that has never kept a legalistic law in his life.  Instead, Dave's god has to heal through a governmental power structure.

All of you COGgers in the various splinter group had better beware! You cannot and never will be healed because you are following heretical idiots who do not preach government.

Splinter groups do not have God’s government in their organizations—none of them! Properly ordained elders and ministers who have the authority of Jesus Christ are NECESSARY to administer the healing doctrine:

Understanding the LEGITIMATE government of God is critical to understanding why healings take place within the Body of Christ.

“Government is everything,” as Mr. Herbert Armstrong stated. Healing is, in essence, a government function within the Church..

Dave also is the sole heir of the apostolic chruch tradition.  God only is working through Dave because Dave was ordained under HWA.

During the 20th century, a unique individual trained by Christ came to lead the Philadelphian era of God’s Church—Herbert W. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong was an apostle, as well as the end-time Elijah that came to restore all things to the Church (Matt. 17:11). The fruit of his 52-year ministry involved MANY healings and mighty deeds, including the largest Work of God ever seen on Earth.

In the 21st century, Mr. David Pack leads God’s Work. The fruit of that Work includes many dramatic healings and miracles—and the gospel being taken powerfully to all nations. Apostolic authority is in place in God’s true Church—“mighty deeds” and signs such as miraculous healings will continue to occur in The Restored Church of God.

But never fear, God may just slip up and heal you outside the RCG, but only on the condition that you immediately join the one and only true chruch, the Restored Church of God.

 Here is another great reason for healings occurring in The Restored Church of God and nowhere else: The Bible lists healing as a gift given within the Body of Christ. Notice this: “Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that…gifts of healings…” (I Cor. 12:27-31). While God may on rare occasion choose to heal someone outside the Body of Christ, for the purpose of getting their attention and bringing them back to the Body, healings as a whole occur ONLY WHERE JESUS CHRIST IS HEAD!