The Holy Microphone of Herbert W Armstrong

From the Church of God Holding Fast To All Things splinter group:

During the midst of the 2012 Feast of Tabernacles, someone who is not affiliated with our group, nor have I ever met, emailed me with what I thought at the time was an unusual question. He asked if I would be interested in having or acquiring a microphone that at one time belonged to Mr. Herbert W Armstrong.

At first I thought this was some kind of prank or scam, but I noticed he had attached some pictures of the microphone in his email. The pictures looked legitimate and this person also gave some background about the microphone (he is a musician) and how he came into possession of it and his past association with the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College.

It didn’t take me long to respond to this email and indeed affirm my interest in this microphone. It would be nice to have for historical purposes as well as sentimental value even though I didn’t know if the microphone even worked. This man then emailed me back to inquire as to “why” I wanted this microphone. He was apparently wanting to find a good home for it and wanted to make sure it was not destroyed and he stated that he knew there were people out there who love to destroy anything associated with Mr. Armstrong.

I assured him that this would not happen and gave him some background about myself and our work here on the Church of God website. We made an agreement on the price for the microphone which was very fair, and I received the microphone in the mail shortly after the 2012 Feast of Tabernacles.

I was surprised to find that not only does this microphone work, but it works very well! I have been using this microphone to record my sermons that are posted on this website since shortly after the 2012 Feast.

I fully understand that this microphone is just a physical object. But to me it takes on a great symbolic meaning. This “physical object” was used by God’s end time apostle in helping to fulfill Matt. 24:14 (preaching the gospel to the world as a witness) which we know is a fulfilled prophecy.

This microphone came to me “out of the blue” (or did it?) and was totally unexpected. And it came at the end of seven years since the beginning of this website. To me it is a great blessing and an honor to be able to use this powerful tool. I only hope I can live up to the example and standard that was set by its original owner.

Daniel E. Cohran

Dave Pack: Do Real Men Wear Facial Hair?

From The Practicing Heretic Blog

Want to work for Pack? Grow those sideburns and ixnay the goateeay...

At one point during my short stint at RCG HQ, Dave caught me in passing at the office and chastised me for my facial hair, claiming that it might create a weird impression of HQ if multiple mugs showed up sporting the look. (A couple of other staff members at the time must have been equally short on time in the daily morning mirror.) So, being the dutiful employee that I was, I went in the next morning sans goatee, only to be later told by Dave that he'd thought about it and it really was no big deal. Imagine that. As if three guys at HQ were going to start some kind of razor revolution. (I'm sure there's an example of that somewhere in the great book. Probably right across the page from the Sideburns Statute...)

Is God In The "Serious" Business Of Constantly Testing Us?

The god of Armstrongism has always been a testy guy.  Nothing you could ever do would be quit good enough and you were assured you were bound to fail.  From the moment you are born to the moment you die, that god was pushing you to your limits to see if you would sin.  This god has spent all of its time testing you over and over and over.  Its no wonder so many have become weary of that kind of god and walk away.

God is training us, but He is also testing us. As merciful as He is towards us individually, He cannot afford to let someone into His kingdom who is not wholly committed to His way of life. He needs to find out if we really believe in His way of life, or if we only want the rewards of eternal life but only kid ourselves that we believe God's way of life is best. If we tell ourselves and God that we want to be in His kingdom, but our hearts are not really with God, then His mercy towards His whole family will override His mercy towards us individually, and He will not let a potential rebel into His kingdom.

This is serious business.

So God has to test us throughout our lives. He gives us a variety of circumstances, sometimes peacefulness, sometimes trials and turmoil, to see how we react.

How well we pass these tests depends on how well we prepare, and the preparation comes before the trial if we are to get through the trial the best possible way. It is during times of relative peacefulness that we need to be "redeeming the time" (Colossians 4:5) to draw close to God.

That statement that "this is serious business" is a perfect description on why Armstrongism is a joyless belief system.  If one is truly set free by the Savior they claim to follow then why do most of them walk around with ball and chains?  Its all about rules and regulations, correct doctrine, proper sabbath keeping, clean meat eating and any other legalistic malarkey they can come up with.  Instead of simply being set free, they prefer the darkness of the dungeon.  Its safer and confines them between four secure walls.  They wistfully look out the cell window at others having fun and then retreat to the dark corners with their  law books.