What sets apart the COG from other churches?

What is the distinctive mark of the Church of God that separates it from other Christian churches?  One of the more legalistic web sites is claiming that it is the Bible that sets apart COG's.  The blog is under the belief that the Bible alone sets the beliefs and practices of the COG and not man's interpretations.

I don't know what planet the author is living on but every single COG group, starting with Herbert Armstrong, relies heavily on personal interpretation by the spiritual leader.  All of the hundreds and hundreds of "doctrines" that these men have come up with are directly from their own lips and thinking and NOT from the Bible.  Just look at the insane things coming out of Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and Bob Thiel lately. Can there possibly be a bigger quagmire of nonsense ever uttered in the church? Not one thing these men utter have anything to do with the "bible" they claim to follow.

There is one thing that separates the Church of God and its doctrines from the false religions of this world. That is the Bible. The Church of God bases its beliefs, doctrines, and practices on the word of God, the Bible. Many or most members have proved what they believe in the Bible, and most who have not proved them have learned them from traditions passed down to us from Mr. Armstrong, and he proved them from the Bible.

We should all follow the example of Mr. Armstrong and prove our beliefs in the Bible. We do this, not by accepting the interpretation of the Bible by men, but by letting the Bible interpret the Bible, getting all the scriptures on a subject and letting clear scriptures interpret difficult ones.

That is basic.

That is what Mr. Armstrong did, and that is what separates us from the false religions of the world. from Preaching the Gospel

Being Disfellowshipped Is a Blessing

On Exit and Support the following letter was posted.  It shows how sick the various splinter groups are in making demands on their members to the point they will willingly divorce spouses in order to remain in the "church."

Those who have been disfellowshipped and marked over the decades will all most agree that being put out was the greatest blessing imaginable.  Freed from the shackles of despotic church leaders people finally experience what true freedom is.  Whether one is led to leave organized religion to those who revel in grace, being free is a tremendous feeling.

My Disfellowshipment Was a Great Blessing in Disguise:

March 20, 2017

I was disfellowshipped from PCG 4 years ago; when I told my wife to leave also, she told me, "Where will I go, what other church shall I go to?" In her mind she had to find another church to go to before she left PCG, or she wouldn't leave. This is what high demand churches do. They instill in the member's mind that without their "church"--in this case PCG--the member is doomed, and will not have God’s favor. My wife was willing to end a 23 year marriage, with two children, so she could remain in PCG.  

At the time I was disfellowshipped, I thought I was lost forever, but I did not know it was a great blessing in disguise, even though my marriage ended (she is still in PCG). I have never regretted how God pulled my out of that cult, and opened my eyes up to the truth of the scriptures, that we are saved by Christ alone, by grace, through faith. 

I guess it is true what people say, you only get rid of poison in your system, when you stop receiving the needles. At first it will be hard to let go, but as time goes on, the truth will come into focus, and you will see all the lies you were led to believe. To those who are thinking about leaving, don’t be afraid, it is God who is guiding you. --S. A., former PCG member

Dave Pack: My god will make all snakes and other mean beasties be good to First Dominion believers

Dave has been working over time in working out his First Dominion.

When people around the world see Jesus walking and working in Wadsworth, they will be so envious that they will want to immigrate so they can share in the First Dominion.  Even though many in the United States and other BI countries will be sorely vexed with God's punishments, Dave's "jesus" will be working with the true Israelites and helping them to be protected from the trials going on around them. Many of these people from around the world (gentles in unconverted nations) will come from countries that have no snakes and will be unfamiliar with water moccasins, rattle snakes and coral snakes.  Because of that, the mean snakes would kill hundreds of thousands of the First Dominion immigrants which would make moot the point of them coming to be trained by Jesus.  No worries though.  Following in the footsteps of COG ministers who claimed God sealed the anuses of the animals on the ark, Dave's god is going to stop all snakes and other beasties from biting people.

Dave's god is superfantabulous!

Every single year—every single year—just in India, 20,000 people die just from cobra bites—just India, just that one snake, in just one year. So when you say I don’t know too many people who die of snake bites in the United States…Well, Israelites live all over the world and people in the Kingdom live all over the world, where the deadliest snakes are. America has four—copperheads; I think, water moccasins; coral snakes, down in Florida…a little, tiny snake, 16 inches long, but deadly if they get you; and various forms of rattlesnakes.

There is the family of rattlesnakes—eastern massasaugas, western diamond backs, and there’re all kinds of rattlesnakes. But the deadliest snakes…you know, the deadliest rattlesnakes, for instance, are in Peru. Most people survive a rattlesnake bite in the United States…a Peruvian rattlesnake get you, you’re dead in five minutes. Nobody survives. But it’s a rattlesnake—they make noise, and five minutes later you don’t hear anything. So these deadly snakes are all over the world.

If God is bringing people into His Kingdom all over the world…I mean, tens of thousands, and thousands and thousands…just hundreds of thousands of people all over the world just die from snake bites. And by the way, God is going to be sending the four sore judgments. He’s actually going to turn animals from the way they are today, to worse, because wild beasts is one of the four sore judgments of Ezekiel 14. So He’s going to take the animals, where God’s people are, and your children can say “Here kitty, kitty” and it’s a 650-pound African lion in the back yard.

On the other hand, you’re anywhere else in the world, and you have access to this Kingdom and you could come…There’s no guarantee that animals will not be a major problem, particularly, for the nations of Israel. So remember, God is going to punish Israel. The four sore judgments are on Israel, so animals are going to turn particularly bad in the nations of Israel, where primarily, they are particularly benign.

The most deadly animals are in Africa and South America…The deadly snakes—7 of the 10 deadliest snakes, in the world, are in Australia. And so God could turn those loose. There are terrible, deadly snakes all through Asia, but you get to Europe and not so bad. And North America, the temperate zones and so forth…Never mind, the wolves and bears, and so forth.

So that promise begins for anybody who responds to God in the Kingdom. Their children can play anywhere. There’d be no problem. You have come into the Kingdom, not into the spirit family of God, but you’ve come into the Kingdom. You’re in God’s holy mountain, and there’s nothing that’s going to hurt you, including accidents.

Now I know there are some martyrdoms…I understand that. There are problems in Judea and other places where certain of God’s people die for purposes I have explained. But it’s critical you understand where God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to tell us about animals’ natures changing. It’s in the middle of a description of That Prophet and Jesus Christ before Christ gets to Jerusalem…I mean, there are a lot of places in the Prophets, Christ could have described that…but right in the middle of it, He says, and also along with this, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid; and the calf with the young lion, and so forth. So I just wanted you to understand the timing there has changed…I understand that…from what we saw earlier in the series, and I hope you find that to be very inspiring.