Saturday, November 3, 2012

Van Robison: "Sheep Like Church Members Only Allowed"






Sheep Like Church Members Only Allowed
Churches love sheep-like members.  Anyone who challenges the status quo is generally shown the exit door.  Anyone who makes waves or upsets the applecart is not allowed.  I can well remember many years ago when at Friday night "Bible study",  church members were allowed to write down questions on paper and send those forward via the ushers or deacons.  The minister conducting the service would answer the questions, as if what his answer was, was God speaking and that was the end of the matter.

Of course that was silly, because there are actually different views on anything.  There are thousands of different views about the Bible and it is interpreted in as many different ways, as there are people who have opinions about it.    Friday night Bible study ministers of the Worldwide Church of God, were not God, but they gave the impression that they were infallible and inerrant and spoke for God, every time they opened their mouth.  Sheep are always fleeced and their wool used by the shearers.  In the case of the WCG, the ministers were the shearers, who fleeced the flock and the bah bah sheep were clueless.

No pastor of a church wants sheep-like church members to THINK for themselves, because they are all bottle fed.  Any church member who does think for himself, will eventually exit the doors where he has been captive and never return, because living in the confined quarters of a box, called "church", is a prison of the mind.  The prison guard is the pastor, who is also the gatekeeper to what you are allowed to think.  Every minister is limited in his thinking by his denominational indoctrination and his mind travels in an endless circle to nowhere.

All WCG splinter group leaders travel down the same road of thinking they have God-like status over their sheep-like members.  They are all extremely self-deceived.    If the only input into your thinking over a long period of time, is that of the "pastor" of your church, then you are a clone.  Clones cannot reason or think,  they only imitate or react on how they have been cloned.  Even the ministers of the WCG splinter groups themselves are clones and they parrot how they have been schooled to think.  It is a road that travels in an endless circle of stunted mental growth and never coming to the knowledge of truth.

The whole organized church system, which is the pastor-dominated control church world, is a world of anti-intellectual, anti-thinking, anti-reasoning world of pastor worship.  For pastors of churches it is always "my way or no way." I guess preachers never read Matthew 23 and even if they do, they always apply it to everyone but themselves.

If you are a sheep-like church member, then your thinking is a product of the man or woman who stands in the pulpit and writes upon your brain what he or she says "truth" is, even when they are often very wrong.    The bah bah chorus of church sheep is deafening.


Van Robison

Friday, November 2, 2012

Jonathon McNair and His Angry God



We are a few days after hurricane Sandy.  Death and destruction lie in it's wake with damage into the hundreds of millions if not much higher.

Every time there is some major storm, some large weather pattern, some violent outburst, the Churches of God start screaming "...prophecy coming alive!"  God is really, really pissed and he isn't taking it any more.  Or, maybe it is Satan let loose upon the world to thwart the message of the true church of God.

Johnathon starts out letting everyone know that not a single Living Church of God member suffered any damage.  Our members are blessed and preserved from calamity because we are special while the rest of the world are sinful losers.

As a pastor of congregations in the region hit by Hurricane Sandy, I was thankful to learn that the Church members in my area were safe and unharmed. Yet some of the harm caused by Hurricane Sandy may not yet be evident, as the damage caused by the “storm surge” is further evaluated, and the cleanup continues.

McNair naively believes that Americans think things of this magnitude happen else where.  What a load of rubbish!  We know we have large hurricanes, tornado's, earthquakes etc.  The problem now is that more people live in the larger metropolitan areas than they did when Herbert started.  That, combined with instantaneous news coverage and disasters quickly become major stories.

For many of us, flooding, earthquakes and famines are disasters that are supposed to happen in “other places”—perhaps Bangladesh, Haiti or Ethiopia, not the prosperous and modern and efficient United States. We take “survival” for granted; we watch other nations struggle with it, and the closest many of us have yet come is to watch Survivor on reality television.

History books tell the story of natural disasters through the years. Storms and floods and droughts and famine are not new to human history. But for the better part of a century, we have enjoyed a time of unprecedented prosperity in the United States, allowing us to assist other nations with their disasters.

He goes on to talk about global warming, and other contributing factors:

Yet it seems that times are changing, and even in the complacent U.S. many are beginning to take notice. “The number of weather-related catastrophes has been rising dramatically since 1980 on all continents, with the steepest rise in North America. Insured losses on the continent soared from an average of $9 billion a year in the 1980’s to $36 billion a year in the 2000s,” according to Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance firm.

Why?

Some suggest that human-induced “global warming” is the culprit. Yet others dispute this idea, pointing to New York’s major hurricanes in 1821 and 1938. Are we simply in a normal cycle of the earth’s atmospheric conditions, or have we done irreparable harm to our world? Certainly we can take Hurricane Sandy and similar great disasters as a learning experience in preparedness—but should we see them as something more?

Only in one sentence did McNair mention Jesus.  He did however have lots to say about his angry God that is ready to dish out some whoop-ass.  His god is filled with wrath and anger.

The words of your Bible reveal that there is a God, and He uses the weather to teach and warn. In a prophecy directed to ancient Israel, He says, “I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:19-20). How many today realize that the United States is identified in Bible prophecy as the modern descendant of ancient Israel’s tribe of Manasseh (to learn more, order a free copy of our booklet, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy)?

God warned the Israelites—and He warns us today—that He would use the weather to show His wrath against their evil. In Genesis 7, we read that God used a flood to destroy most of the world’s inhabitants, not just the Israelites, for their wickedness. To learn more about how God works through these dramatic events, order a free copy of our booklet, Who Controls the Weather?
 Be ye warm and filled with the law.  Only then will you receive a chance at salvation.
 Hurricane Sandy is a powerful reminder that the storms on our nation’s horizon are bigger than any man. So, will our nation repent of its evil ways, turn its focus to God, and obey Him? Thankfully, no matter what direction the U.S. and other nations may take, Jesus Christ died so that you, individually, could repent, be baptized, and live a joyous life in harmony with His laws and His ways, preparing for the day when His Kingdom will rule the earth. God speed that day!






Thursday, November 1, 2012

Bob Thiel: New Book Publishing Company



Bob Thiel, the public face of the Living Church of God, has started his own book publishing company to distribute his books.  He claims to NOT be afraid to publish books with controversial points of view.  However, I can guarantee you if you sent a book to him critical of Armstrongism and  its deceptive doctrines that he would NOT be promoting it on his web site.  Currently the only books being offered are by the Doctor himself.

Referenced Books for Knowledge Seekers

Nazarene Books seeks to supply unique and highly referenced books for the discerning reader who is seeking knowledge that it not commonly available elsewhere. All books that are supplied contain documented knowledge in a systematic way that knowledge seekers will appreciate.

Nazarene Books is not afraid to handle titles with controversial points of view, and our highly selective list of available titles reflects that philosophy.

For a short time you can order his book on Mayan prophecy, 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect, for $0.01 + shipping and handling, for $4.97.   Admit it, you know you really want to read it!

I can see a potential lawsuit down the line from the SUBWAY sandwich company. There is too much similarity between the two parent owners.

SUBWAY is owned by:

SUBWAY® is a registered trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc.
© Doctor's Associates Inc.
All Rights Reserved. 

Bob Thiel's Nazarene Books is owned by:

Nazarene Books is wholly owned by Doctors' Research, Inc. Arroyo Grande, California.