Herbert W Armstrong TV Archives Still Falsely Claiming 'Famine of the Word " Is Here

In mid-May Grace Communion International (the former Worldwide Church of God) filed a "take down notice" with YouTube against Herbert W Armstrong TV Archives and two other pages.  Like many others in the Church of God, they felt they had the RIGHT to steal copyrighted videos, booklets, articles, etc. from GCI.  They claim this right because they feel that Herbert Armstrong was a true prophet of God and his words are sacred and need to be preserved.

Various individuals over the last two and half decades have plagiarized, in one way or another, every single thing that HWA and the WCG produced pre-1986.  One of the  biggest offenders of this was Gerald Flurry.  Without asking, he published Mystery of the Ages and other books by Herbert Armstrong, resulting in a humiliating series of court trials. The Philadelphia Church of God LOST these cases and had to pay the WCG 3.5 million dollars for rights to publish HWA materials.

Most of these people got their inspiration from Donald Tiger who started copying everything he could get his hands on in the late 1980's and sent the materials out on CD's to anyone who asked.  Then....God's most important man to ever exist in human history stuck his dirty hands in the pie and created a huge mess for Tiger.  Dave Pack apparently framed Tiger for embezzlement....see Did David C Pack Frame Don Tiger? Dave Pack, being the narcissist he is, gets extremely jealous of ANYONE who is doing sometime better than himself.

With Tiger out of the way, others stepped in to fill what they saw as a void in keeping "the truth once restored" alive.  Huge collections of the writings of HWA and most other WCG leaders prior to 1986 started filling the web.  With the disgust that so many felt towards many of the splinter group leaders many COG members used these materials to stay and home and away from these groups.  As the spiritual perversions of Flurry, Pack, UCG, COGWA and LCG started getting more and more bizarre, people started flocking to these sites for sustenance.

The three most popular sites for several years have been:

The Real Elijah TV on Youtube
Herbert W Armstrong TV Archives on Facebook
Worldwide Church of God Archives on Youtube

Now these sites are empty and the guardians of these sites are screaming "FAMINE OF THE WORD!" even though no such thing is happening.  These people got caught doing something illegal and they are not happy.  For people who claim to follow the 10 Commandments to the letter, theft of works owned by someone else apparently is not "theft" in their eyes.

These people and many other COG wanna-a-be leaders all claim the "fair-use" excuse to justify their theft of privately owned works:

This channel is about the preserving of the works, and literary, and video and audio productions of the "Worldwide Church of God, a unincorporated spiritual organism". We are apart of this church, and we wish to protect and preserve the teachings of this "Church". And we wish to make them available, for our fellow brethren worldwide. And this is protected under the fair-use provision of the copyright regulations, as defined in 17 USC 107.  HWA TV Archives

Here is what "Fair Use" actually means which is NOT what the COG splinters are claiming:

What Is Fair Use? 

In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an illegal infringement.

So what is a “transformative” use? If this definition seems ambiguous or vague, be aware that millions of dollars in legal fees have been spent attempting to define what qualifies as a fair use. There are no hard-and-fast rules, only general rules and varied court decisions, because the judges and lawmakers who created the fair use exception did not want to limit its definition. Like free speech, they wanted it to have an expansive meaning that could be open to interpretation.
Most fair use analysis falls into two categories: (1) commentary and criticism, or (2) parody.

Commentary and Criticism

If you are commenting upon or critiquing a copyrighted work — for instance, writing a book review — fair use principles allow you to reproduce some of the work to achieve your purposes. Some examples of commentary and criticism include:

• quoting a few lines from a Bob Dylan song in a music review
• summarizing and quoting from a medical article on prostate cancer in a news report
• copying a few paragraphs from a news article for use by a teacher or student in a lesson, or
• copying a portion of a Sports Illustrated magazine article for use in a related court case.

The underlying rationale of this rule is that the public reaps benefits from your review, which is enhanced by including some of the copyrighted material. Additional examples of commentary or criticism are provided in the examples of fair use cases.

Parody

A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that, by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to “conjure up” the original.Copyright and Fair Use: Stanford University

None of these people are criticizing or parodying Armstrong works.  They are publishing or rebroadcasting in the entirety copyrighted and licensed works of someone else.  Being prohibited from doing that by the legal owner, no matter now disgusting many think this to be, is NOT the "famine of the word."

According to these people Jesus Christ is PERSONALLY being attacked by GCI's actions.  Of course this is all tied to SATAN trying to stop the words of HWA being promulgated upon on the world.  They also assume that God was an impotent creature that was unable to keep his word alive down through the centuries till Herbert came along and restored it.  Anyone with even the slightest bit of real church history knowledge will know this to be blatantly untrue.

Under Herbert W Armstrong, The Worldwide Church of God, was also attacked with attempts to muzzle the message they brought. God's apostle, Herbert W Armstrong, preached around the world, the true gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel or good news of the coming Kingdom of God!

And we, The Worldwide Church of God, an unincorporated spiritual organism, support him in God's Work. And we are still supporting him today, and that is why we make such materials available. And such attacks, from Grace Communion International, is an attack, believe it or not, on "The Worldwide Church of God, an unincorporated spiritual organism", and if God's Church is attacked, then the attack is on Jesus Christ and God the Father! 

This world does not know what spirits lead them to do such deeds. They actually think they are doing God's will to destroy, and to censor and to muzzle the true gospel message, which was delivered by Herbert W Armstrong, and supported by "The Worldwide Church of God, an unincorporated spiritual organism". 

So continue to pray brethren. Pray even for our enemies. Pray that God can bring them according to His Will to a place, where He can bless them for obeying Him. 

AND CONTINUE TO DRAW CLOSE TO GOD THROUGH FASTING AND PRAYER.

Because time is short, and we are entering it seems, the famine of the Word. But if that is God's Will, it will be done. But, perhaps God is testing His People Again, to see if they really love Him and His Truth, and to see if they are truly backing and supporting the delivering of the true gospel message, which Herbert W Armstrong preached?!?! Nevertheless, Satan the Devil is ANGRY!

There is a lot of other bullshit that these people claim further in their Facebook page; of which not one single thing they claim is true.  Of course this really is the fault of all the COG members who do NOT support these "ministries"  They are allowing Satan to lead them astray and the church.  Unless they repent God is not on their side.

He is watching our choices. We are truly being judged right now. 

We all have fell to sin, and have found each of ourselves off track. 

God corrects those whom He loves, and He allows calamities and trials and persecutions to come on His people, to test them, and to strengthen them. Faith is like a muscle, it must be used in order to grow and build. But unlike a muscle, we cannot work up faith, but it must be given by Jesus Christ. The Living faith of Jesus Christ is what we must have, and God has promised in His Word, that if we ask for faith, He will give us the LIVING faith of Jesus Christ.

Satan always gets the short-shift for mistakes COG leaders make.

We are not battling with human beings, but with spirits in high places, who do not want God's Truth made available, who want to see it destroyed, who want every single one of us DEAD forever. We have a large target on our backs. And Satan and his demons are zeroing on God's Church, and wanting to destroy us, any way he can. DO you have a sin you don't think matters? Satan will use that to destroy you forever, if you do not repent of that sin, and turn and begin doing it God's Way! The same is with us. We are in perilous times brethren. And we need to get each other back on track. 

They also think that GCI is going to let them have free reign and repost all the hundreds and hundreds of videos they had previously posted.  If they don't then it is a sure sign that the end is nigh and their "ministry" is coming to a close.  Of course dear brethren it is VITAL that you pray and FAST for this terrible tragedy.

We are awaiting correspondence from Kenny Ryans, who reported our videos, and we are praying that God delivers us, and protects His truth. 

Perhaps our job is coming to a close? You better make sure you have as much as these materials downloaded for yourselves if you want them. Because they are being taken down, as we speak. 

Please keep us in your prayers brethren. You are in our prayers. 

Please set aside a day for fasting, and take all of this to God. Examine yourselves and make sure you are on track with God. 

Fasting  has always been used by the COG as a tool to influence their God into doing something THEY want to happen even though  under the new covenant "fasting" is not a requirement of Christians. But heck, when has the new covenant ever been a priority in the Church of God?

Satan is NOT attacking these people, nor is he attacking any of the COG's.  Everything that is happening in all the Church of God's right now is directly a result of abuse or greed on their part.  No government is attacking them. No one from the Catholic Church even cares about them.  No one is creating issues for these people and the Church of God other than themselves.

UPDATED: Top Ten Reasons You Can Get Disfellowshipped From The Living Church Of God

From an LCG member:

TOP TEN REASONS YOU CAN GET DISFELLOWSHIPPED FROM THE

LIVING CHURCH OF GOD

(In the spirit of David Letterman)

10. Saying anything critical of the ministry

9. Facebook posts

8. Unconfirmed rumors

7. Not accepting the “Upgrades” (after all, that proves that your aren’t really converted)

6. Reading the Book of Enoch

5. Private Bible study or discussion (particularly on Friday nights)

4. Not quitting your job when HQ tells you to

3. Not tithing

2. Not attending (some have been recently dis-fellowshipped for “their disassociation with the Church”)

1. Execution of personal vendetta from Meredith or McNair

Here is another list from another reader:

10. Giving the same three boring sermons again and again… unless you are a Meredith.

9. Setting brethren against each other by telling lies about them… unless you are a Meredith.

8. Coveting widows’ inheritances… unless you are a Meredith.

7. Violating ministerial confidentiality… unless you are a Meredith.

6. Telling lies to the brethren… unless you are a Meredith.

5. Unsuccessfully repressing your gay lust for your boyhood wrestling buddy… unless you are a Meredith.

4. Coming to work under the influence of drugs and alcohol… unless your father is Rod Meredith.

3. Getting caught violating Charlotte building codes... unless your father is Rod Meredith.

2. Cheating on your wife by acting out sexually with an underage girl... unless your father is Rod Meredith.

1. Being too much like Jesus, and not enough like Rod, Little Jimmy, David, and the other Merediths.

You Might Be A Legalist If....

Legalists, whatever they may say, are miserable people. Life is a ledger and they are always trying to measure up. They feel better only through their own perceived performance or by judging the bad behavior of others. It is a zero-sum game which never ends; you can never rest. Liberty for Captives

1. I am continually scandalized by the driving habits of others. Yes or No.
2. I believe that God loves me more when I behave. Yes or No.
3. When I write a check to my church, I tithe to the penny. Yes or No.
4. I entirely avoid alcohol, makeup, or jewelry out of fear of contamination. Yes or No.
5. I usually stand out from the crowd because of my formal or conservative attire. Yes or No.
6. When I encounter another professing Christian, I find myself judging their appearance. Yes or No.
7. My good friends are all from one church or denomination. Yes or No.
8. When I miss a Saturday/Sunday service, I feel guilty. Yes or No.
9. When I miss any church activity, I feel guilty. Yes or No.
10. There are only a few Bible teachers who truly teach God’s Word. Yes or No.
11. When I sin, I feel guilty even after I ask God to forgive me. Yes or No.
12. I believe that small children should behave like miniature adults. Yes or No.
13. In a snow-covered parking lot, I feel anxious because I can’t see the parking lines. Yes or No.
14. When someone gives me a gift or does something kind for me, I feel unsettled until I can reciprocate. Yes or No.
15. I always clean my house thoroughly before anyone visits—even if they’re just popping by. Yes or No.
16. I want my children to avoid contact with sinful people. Yes or No.
17. I prefer to do things myself rather than accept help from people who are sloppy or less conscientious than I am. Yes or No.
18. There is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. Yes or No.
19. I believe that God is most glorified through my preferred style of music. Yes or No.
20. I believe that all scripture is equally applicable to my life. Yes or No.
21. I have had several conversion experiences but still doubt my salvation. Yes or No.
22. I have a sneaking suspicion that if Jesus returned while I was sinning, I would go to hell. Yes or No.
23. I take pleasure in reporting or punishing people who commit minor infractions. Yes or No.
24. I like to make an example out of wrongdoers. Yes or No.
25. I feel guilty when I exceed the speed limit by even a few miles per hour. Yes or No.
26. I avoid certain behaviors primarily because they are wrong, rather than because they are harmful. Yes or No.
27. I feel morally obligated to finish every book I start. Yes or No.
28. Others could describe me as bitter and depressed rather than joyful and kind. Yes or No.
29. I feel unlucky or cursed if I skip Bible reading or prayer. Yes or No.
30. I believe that God is more like a policeman and less like a fireman. Yes or No.