Dennis muses on....

The Fountain

Close your eyes...Plug your nose...Enjoy!

Sharing a quotable quote on the nature of the experience we have had with the Worldwide Church of God/Armstrongs and all the many splits and schisms that have risen from the ashes of it all.  It applies both to the specific cultic, for that is what it is, experience and can apply to a much larger experience for those who have gone on to question larger problems with religion.  I believe one can at least see that the experience of personal sincerity, growth and change whether chosen or inflicted is a common one. The questions, that one who thinks about such things, experiences with organized religion and personality cults raise are common for those that question it. the reasons people stay put and the rationale behind their choices are both predictable and  universal.

Some keep drinking from dirty fountains because it is what they have always done.  They are used to it and besides, they are heavily invested in that fountain.  They may have even helped dig the well, lay the pipe or chosen the design.  Since we have to take the good with the bad, the quality of the water is acceptable as long as it doesn't make me specifically ill.  I may feel badly drinking from it, but I'll never tell you because I probably just have an attitude problem anyway...

I hope you find the observations in the following to be familiar feelings and realities that have come from our common experiences with "The Church", and all it's current manifestations, good, bad and downright silly. It's a normal reaction that thinking and observant folk have as time passes  and  when one has experienced a less than satisfying church choice.  If it resonates with you, you're alive and well.  You are doing just fine.


"For a long time I was an ardent admirer of Dr. John Piper.  I remember a sermon of Dr. Piper's in which he described God as a flowing fountain of delight.  The Psalmist writes, 'Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him' Psalm 34:8  Piper said that we would praise a fountain, not by standing passively by, but by sticking our faces deep inside it to take it in its wonderful refreshment.  We would stand up and shout, 'This is the best water I've ever tasted; come and have some with me!'  He invited others to taste and see  God's goodness."

But what about those of us who have left the fountain with a horrible taste in our mouths?  We came to the fountain and drank as deeply as we could and, for a while, could not get enough of it.  We loved reading the Bible and being instructed by it.  We believed that it made us wiser than our counselors.  We made our bodies our slaves so that they would honor God.  We prayed without ceasing.  We sought first the Kingdom of God.  We confessed our sins and believed that God was faithful and just to forgive us our sins.  We preached 'the Word' in season and out.  We attempted to study to show ourselves approved.  We fed God's  sheep.

But then something happened.  The fountain became foul to us.  We tried to ignore the taste.  We went back to it again and again hoping something would change.  We opened the Bible and, instead of finding wisdom, we found violence and the justification of immoral acts.  We found anti-intellectualism and backward thinking.  We found oppression.  Our prayers returned to us void.  They bounced off the ceiling.  We prayed harder and felt dumber for it.  While we could still enjoy the fellowship of Christian people, we discovered what we liked about them had nothing to do with their Christianity but rather with their humanity.  We found that we simply liked the people for who they were, not because they believed something about religion.

We weren't trying to 'leave the faith.'  The faith was leaving us.  We tried to hold on to the fountain but something had changed.  It wasn't the fountain; it was our taste for it.  We realized that the fountain wasn't a being; it was a religion. It was just dogma.  It is like we had been drinking from it with our eyes closed and noses plugged.  Somehow, though, we opened our eyes and unplugged our noses and discovered we had been enjoying filth.  The fountain was a fountain of blood and other foul things.  We realized we had spent most of our lives consuming a vile concoction.  

We would have been happy to have simply left, but we couldn't help but want to pull others away from such a cesspool.  We wanted to help them open their eyes and see what we saw.  We wanted them to see the trouble the fountain was causing in the world.  Quickly, however, we ran into opposition. We found that those still slurping away at the fountain with eyes closed and noses plugged resisted.  They said that we were lying about the taste of the fountain or that we had never drunk from it in the first place.  We told them to open their eyes, but they responded that eyes cannot be trusted.  We described the filth to them, but even when they accepted that the fountain contained blood and other 'foul'things, they insisted those things were really good..."

Why I became an Atheist, 

John Loftus

page 35-36

Was Earnest Martin a "Crackpot?" James Malm Says So. So it MUST be True!

James Malm maligns Earnest Martin's character with his latest tirade this morning.

'Malm cannot stand anyone who sounds "intellectual."  His first strike against Martin is that he used "professional language."  Of course as we all know, in Armstrongism, professional language means Satan is involved.  One can only acquire "professional languages" when one receives higher education and it is a well known fact that Satan runs all the universities and schools.

Ernest Martin:   In 1974 left the WCG and started the Foundation for Biblical Research in Pasadena where he remained as chairman until 1985. He wrote studies on subjects like the Sabbath, High Days and Tithing trying to destroy these doctrines by presenting large studies in apparently professional language, which if a person not grounded in sound doctrine read, would confuse him by the scholarly appearance and numbers of words.

In other words, if you are not a follower of Armstrongism (or James Malm) you would not be able to discern the demonic influence because of all those fancy prissy words!

In 1985 Martin founded Associates for Scriptural Knowledge and became a member of various other societies. 

Martin’s claims that the Temple was built over the Gihon Springs are untenable, because that area is on the lower side of a hill and not on top of a mount as the Temple is described in scripture.  In fact, from ancient antiquity, tunnels were built from the Gihon Springs to the city to provide water for the Temple at the pools [Siloam] adjacent to the Temple. 

Malm cannot handle the fact that Martin was way more highly educated than he is.  Anyone with a higher education is a "crackpot."

Martin was a mainstream evangelical crackpot with delusions of being a scholar. Dr. Martin went on to start his own church, and then to repudiate the keeping of the Sabbath and Holy Days altogether. 

He then accuses Martin of being a "pentecostal evangelical."  Anyone who knew Martin or read his books would know that is a complete fabrication!

 Ernest Martin was a Pentecostal evangelical who began the  movement inside the WCG that ultimately led to the Tkach changes.  

Martin left WCG, just before Ken Westby left in 1974. 

Ernest Martin is famous for attacking the sound doctrine of scripture and for his ridiculous archaeological claims based on false premises; like deciding that a retaining wall was part of the Temple, and then claiming  that the Temple was built on the steeply sloping lower side of another hill, instead of on the top of a Mount!   

Imagine a retaining wall in your own backyard, and thinking that retaining wall was a part of your house!

In short Martin’s studies have an appearance of scholarship, without the scholarship; being error, hidden in many scholarly appearing words designed to confuse and impress the reader to accept his false teachings and turn away from the word of God.

Earnest Martin debunked many of the long held doctrines of Armstrongism early on.  Some of what he easily proved  wrong were:

It is time for all to turn off the 'ongoing ex-WCG soap operas' and find out what the Bible really says about all of the truly important doctrinal issues:

1. There is no "true Church of God". In fact, the word "church" is not even mentioned in the original Bible translations.
2. There was no hierarchy (or organization) in the early Christian ekklesia (a gathering of like minded people). 
3. Yes, the Sabbath is on Saturday. And no, you are not required to keep it (or any of the Holy Days).
4. The tithing issue was put to bed four decades ago - by Dr. Martin. Christian charity, however, is still waiting to be practiced by most.
5. You have already been saved. Being a member of any of the above churches means nothing to God. You were saved before the foundation of the world.
6. You do, however, have one very important decision to make in this life. And that is whether you desire to be in the Kingdom of God.
7. Jesus was born on September 11, 3 B.C.E. All planetariums agree.
8. The Temple Mount is located one third of a mile from the Wailing Wall. The Tomb of David is buried underneath.
9. We are not in the end-times. We are not even close to the end-times. Maybe sometime around 2070?
10. Your experience in the WCG was for a reason. Wise people will learn from it.

The work of Dr. Martin is well preserved and is still available to the world through the Associates for Scriptural Knowledge (ASK). The totality of his research is available on their website and is the equivalent of a college education. And it is all free!

Philadelphia Church of God: Lost In Translation

Soon after the Philadelphia Church of God was forced to pay over $3,000,000 for the rights to publish Mystery of the Ages and to pay for the rights to publish the rest of HWA/WCG's old literature, Gerald Flurry began to subtly start changing things.

He first started with The Mystery of the Ages.  Herbert Armstrong had stated in the book that,

“No prophets are mentioned as having either administrative, executive or preaching functions in the New Testament Church.”

This statement was a big slap in the face for Gerald Flurry as he has declared himself a prophet in the Church of God.  Since Flurry has placed HWA on par with Jesus Christ, it would be a searing shock for PCG members to read that God's greatest man said there were no prophets in the church today, since Flurry has claimed he is one.  Who is a poor PCG member to believe?  Gerald or God's greatest man?

Lil'Steveie wrote in PCG's PGR, Oct. 21, 2004, p. 3-4:

We removed that sentence from the 2003 version, not because we are doing away with Mr. Armstrong’s teachings, but because of what God has added to the Church since Mr. Armstrong died—the revealed truth that there is, in fact, a prophet guiding the Church today who also serves an administrative and executive position within the Church. God did not reveal this to Mr. Armstrong before he died, just as He didn’t reveal the specifics about the Laodicean rebellion—for obvious reasons…

According to HWA, God Himself dictated the book (along with Aaron Dean):

Dear Brethren and Co-workers with Christ:

Since last December I have been working diligently on the LARGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT BOOK OF MY LIFE. IN REAL FACT I FEEL I MYSELF DID NOT WRITE IT. Rather, I believe God used me in writing it. I CANDIDLY FEEL IT MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK SINCE THE BIBLE. …“We want to reach the largest audience possible with this book. I know you will feel the same way when you read it.

That certainly is a bitter pill for Flurry to swallow.  However, he could care less because most PCG member do not have the sense or intellect to research things on the internet.  They rather would prefer to be blindly led on and lied to by their prophet who can do no wrong.

Flurry has take the editing process even further.

PCG's latest "Lil'Super Boy" Grant Turgeon writes:

EDMOND—For a dedicated group of 45 Philadelphia Church of God foreign language translation department staff members and volunteers, translating is about much more than just cranking out as many words as possible. PCG translators and editors also strive to correct errors in previous translations and achieve complete accuracy.

Apparently all WCG literature was seriously flawed because of Satanic influences while they were translated.  Those errors have to be "correct" to fit the logic of the PCG.

Several translators and editors said the focus on accuracy within their 22-year-old department is heightened due to the fact that most of the Worldwide Church of God translations they inherited are unfaithful to Herbert W. Armstrong’s original style and intent. While they sometimes use faulty wcg foreign-language renditions as a foundation, they always compare their drafts with updated pcg English versions to ensure nothing is “lost in translation.”

WCG translators were so spiritually corrupt that they even changed HWA's book, The Incredible Human Potential! Those men and women who were part of WCG and who translated books and booklets into Spanish, Italian, French, German, Norwegian, Dutch were apparently used by Satan to bring error into HWA's writings.  Flurry declared recently that the Tkach's were "the man of sin" who were satanic.  Since neither man was in charge in the 1970's who was allowing Satan to work in its midst at that time?

Vernier said flawed versions in French and several other languages developed in the late 1970s when liberals took over the Church. Norwegian team leader Joop Roelofszen added that the Dutch and Norwegian translations changed in 1985, less than a year before Mr. Armstrong died.

“I’m nearly done reviewing The Incredible Human Potential; 95 percent of it is right on,” Local Elder Carlos Heyer, a Spanish-language editor, said. He added that “the style of intellectuals is not Mr. Armstrong’s style of all caps, italics and exclamation marks. They doctored the translations into the accepted style.”

PCG feels by their adding to the booklets and "correcting" them they are "putting back" the truth of Herbert Armstrong.  They do admit that the WCG changes some words because HWA's writing's were racist  at times.  PCG does not care about that.  Racism and bigotry is inherent in British Israelism and they cannot touch that sacred cow!

Mr. Heyer said wcg translators also tried to squeeze the Spanish message into the same number of pages as the original English, even though it requires “10 percent more words in Spanish to explain the same thing in English.” They even changed book and booklet titles. For example, The United States and Britain in Prophecy became The Master Key of Prophecy.

Vernier said the same thing happened with French translations. For example, translators axed 22 pages from Mystery of the Ages, eliminating any mention of the 12 tribes of Israel or the Assyrians. Translators supposedly made this major revision in order to make Mr. Armstrong’s message seem less “racist.”

“I know Dutch translations sometimes omitted parts of texts from Mr. Armstrong, just like the English ones,” Mr. Staal said, “mainly after he died, but even before that.”

“Why is there this tendency to help poor Mr. Armstrong communicate in their style?” Mr. Heyer said. “They felt he needed a filter. They took Mr. Armstrong’s punch and pow. We’re putting all that back.”