No millennial lion and lamb tattoo's for PCG members!
The PCG has an article up about God has preserved "pure religion" in the PCG. One of the ways PCG's god preserves pure religion is in marriage. Its rather odd to see this article considering how the PCG has a horrible track record of breaking up marriages (see here.) Even when non-believing spouses desire to live with PCG member spouses, the goons in charge in Edmond tell the member to divorce their spouse and take all the money they can from them.
Why the PCG trots out Lil'Joel Hilliker, who has absolutely no qualifications to be discussing "pure religion" and marriage other than reading PCG booklets on the subject, is beyond most peoples comprehension.
Jumping from marriage Lil'Joel lets the world know that the Philadelphia Church of God is anti-immigrant. Never mind the FACT that this entire nation was populated by immigrants.
He next trot's out the old catch phrase of the Church of God movement: "We are in the the world but not part of it."God’s laws reveal His desire to protect Israel from the idolatry that saturated the surrounding peoples. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” Revelation 18:4-5 say. “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” That is a command to us as well, which is why the specific laws God gave Israel on this point are so relevant today.
When God brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, He used them as His instrument of judgment against the idolatrous pagans. Contemplate His command in Deuteronomy 12:1-3. Consider how this precisely parallels what Christ is going to do when He returns to this Earth (e.g. Revelation 19:11-15). At the same time, this command was also meant to protect the Israelites and preserve the one true religion.
Apparently some of the PCG women are having some hairstyle issues. Gerald Flurry was none too happy when this was taken at the Feast of Trumpet's dance this year:The people of God’s Church are in the world but not of it (e.g. John 17:14-16). We must be careful not to get wrapped up in the activities, business, customs and practices of this world. We all must examine ourselves individually and consider things like our dress, our language, our music and entertainment. Consider: God gave Israel specific laws about hairstyle, of all things. Clearly, God does care, and He wants His people to maintain high standards even amid a degenerating world.
Next Lil'Joel whines about PCG members reading dissident literature:Read Leviticus 19:27 where God forbade hairdos that were popular among idolatrous priests. He didn’t give this law so His people would look freakish—but to prevent them from looking freakish. Read verse 28 where He outlawed cutting your own body out of grief, as well as tattooing or making marks on your body. These practices all have pagan origins. God wants us to treat our bodies with respect and to avoid disfiguring or harming them. God says your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t want you making permanent marks on it any more than He wants you defacing His house with graffiti!
Well...I'm glad to be part of the dissident material that upsets PCG so terribly. I know PCG is mad at me since their servers regularly check out this blog. I have Rod Meredith mad at me. Dave Pack is mad at me. Wade Cox is mad at me. I must be doing something right!These laws directly correlate to New Testament commands about what to do when a Church member embraces dissident material or tries to pollute the true religion (see, for example, Romans 16:17; Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14; 1 Timothy 3:5; 6:5; Titus 3:10-11; 2 John 10-11). God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is just as concerned about purity in the congregation today as He was anciently—and, spiritually, He deals with the problem today the same as He did anciently.