Leaving the Fold

There is an interesting conversation going on in a COG related Facebook page right now over how the church felt the need to control all aspects of the members lives.  The above quote is from Leaving the Fold by Marlene Winell

Being enveloped by a church that seeks to control every aspect of a members life leads to a false sense of security.  A person meets the warm approval of family members and friends and the church looks upon you favorable, if it is as nothing more than a money making entity.  But dare to step outside that cocoon and the world quickly changes.  Even though the person who has left is healthier, mentally, spiritually and physically, there is still the loss of approval that sometimes creeps in.

An excerpt from the book states:

It has been a wells established fact that those who are in fundamentalist groups, and the COG was fundamentalist to its core, are in it for security and for the sense of belonging to something special.

The Church of God has always presented its self as something special, called out, set apart from, God ordained.  That was the very thing Herbert Armstrong used when he rebelled against the church and started his own version, steeped in extra-biblical interpretations received though special revelations received in the public library or from his god.  His previous association was wrong and he was right. God had personally revealed to him the right and true way.  Those that bought into it were special and set apart from the lukewarm believers they left behind.

Continuing on from the above quote:

The church has always felt the need to have an answer for everything.  Why else would the church have produced hundreds and hundreds of "Letters" from the Letter Answering Department, or the countless booklets, books, magazine articles and hundreds of thousands of sermons.  Having one's questions answered provided a sense of relief knowing that one was no longer accountable and had no need to study or research further.  God's minister said it, so let it be done!

We see this today in the various fringe groups of Armstrongism.  Bob Thiel does it with sermons covering 10-20 different subjects at a time.  Dave Pack does it with 190+ new revelations from his god.  His members no longer need to think, just accept and they will be saved.  Gerald Flurry does it with his members when he threatens their salvation by daring to say "hi" to a family member who has left the fold.  Rond Weinland has led his members to believe they are so special that they will soon be gods, kings and priests in his world a few months away.   Rod Meredith has done the exact same thing by telling his members they are special and set apart from all other COG's. God is doing a special end time work with them exclusively. And then there is United, which has never quite been able to figure out what it needs to be doing, yet they are so special and called out, so much so that even Jelly has more followers than Jesus does.

Everything in the church seems to be exaggerated to the extreme. Doom, death and immediate obliteration is the game of the day for the church.  Members are constantly being warned about one thing after another. Famine, disease, parents eating children, concentration camps, invading Russian, Germans or Chinese armies, rampaging Muslims, all fear factors to maintain control.  As long as members stay together in the fold, they will fight and survive together because God will exclusively protect them.

We were always encouraged to "fight the good fight" and if we did then we had guaranteed entrance into the World Tomorrow where the lion would be dwelling with the lamb and we would be wielding rods of iron over our dominions or worlds.  that all sounds pretty good to this eon the "right" side of ht equation, but no so much for those being ruled over.  But that never mattered.  We were special. We were set apart.  We were God's very one chosen from billions of people. 

All of the benefits that the Church of God/Armstrongism offered always externals. Being kings, priests, world rulers and God was more important than the inner healing of one's heart and mind. Church members were and still are constantly berated as never quit measuring up. We were sinful slobs/worms that God was just itching to blot out.  The glorious rewards of the World Tomorrow were always just out of reach.  God always seemed eternally pissed at us, even more so than the deceived world around us.  It was our fault that Jesus never returned when he was supposed to.  We were not ready.  It was our fault that Loma Armstrong died from bowel blockage because the church was backed up with sin and rebellion.  That list can go on and on.

There's nothing inherently wrong with meeting human needs. However, in practice these needs are exaggerated and used to frighten potential converts into joining and to preserve existing membership. In fundamentalism, the dangers of life -- both now and in the here after -- are emphasised. Incredible threats and promises are made for heaven, hell and miracles here on Earth. The result is that people are disempowered by this approach to having their needs met. Since the source of all the benefits offered is external, requiring dependence on God and the church, internal resources atrophy. This process degrades the self and becomes a serious threat to human well-being. 

It all gets exhausting after a while trying to constantly measure up.  Our brains atrophy because our thinking has been done for us or we finally realize that we are worthless creatures and what's the point of trying any more.  The questioning stops and people just trundle on week after week listening to bland and boring sermons waiting for that "strong hand from someplace" to finally make things right.

In spite of all of that, there are individuals that never settle for the status quo and let that spark of questioning be given space to shine forth and they wake up.  They realize that so much of what they have been taught is not the "truth" and step out into the unknown where questions do not always need answers. Doubt, ambiguity and the gray areas of life then become learning places and growth.

Are you willing to live in doubt and ambiguity?

The Church of God and the Baluchitherium

Never has there been a church that has felt it has had to have the answer about everything mentioned in the Bible.  Every myth, allegory and metaphor had to have an explanation in order to prove them as "true" and "factual."  The problem with all of that is the things they tried to prove as true were not and the things they really needed to believe, they refuse to acknowledge.  But that is another story that most here already know.

One of the things we attempted to prove was the meaning behind the behemoth mentioned in Job. Those wise archaeologists of the letter answering department  latched on to the discovery of the largest creature ever found, the Baluchitherium.  This was the behemoth of scripture. They then claimed that this was the large animal that was supposedly created when Adam and Ever were created.

Begin with Job 40:15: “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee: he eateth grass like an ox.” What does this tell us?

First, as recent articles in “The Plain Truth” have graphically shown, God made a distinct creation of plants, including grass, and animals for the benefit and pleasure of man. The warm-blooded animals and the grasses and herbs were FIRST made when man was made — about 6000 years ago (Gen. 1:24-25). Evolutionists have always been puzzled at the fact that this kind of vegetation appeared so late in geological history.

Now notice again Job 40:15: “Behold now behemoth, WHICH I MADE WITH THEE ….” Here is an animal God made when man was made. Behemoth did not exist in the pre-Adamic world which was filled with giant dinosaurs and other types of strange creatures. Behemoth was an UNIQUE animal created WITH MAN — and for a purpose, as we shall see later!  Plain Truth, March 1964

----------

Notice the amazing confirmation that the giant rhinoceros “Baluchitherium” was “the chief of the ways of God.” It’s described in a modern book on fossil animals: “In an age when a hippopotamus is big and the elephant a giant, “Baluchitherium” seems ALMOST UNREAL. His head was about 5 FEET LONG, yet it was absurdly small upon his gigantic body, which stood 18 FEET HIGH at the shoulder and was very deep” (“The Fossil Book”, Fenton, page 406).

Another author reveals the fact that “Baluchitherium” was “at least 25 FEET LONG” (“Historical Geology”, Dunbar page 413).

“It was the LARGEST OF ALL LAND MAMMALS” (“Time, Life, and Man”, Stirton, page 325). 

Not only was it the largest of all known land mammals, but “very probably, like the huge sauropod dinosaurs among the reptiles, IT REPRESENTS ABOUT THE MAXIMUM SIZE TO WHICH A LAND-LIVING MAMMAL CAN DEVELOP” (“The Illustrated Library of the Natural Sciences”, article “Giants of the Past,” by Colbert, Vol. II, page 1192). 

His great legs, longer than those of elephants and living rhinoceroses, also gave him the RECORD FOR SPEED among both of these groups, living or extinct” (“The Wonder Books”, Janssen & Cole, page 324). 

But, there is yet more proof! 

Notice again the inspired Biblical account of “behemoth.” Job 40:18 informs us: “His bones are as strong pieces of BRASS; his bones are like BARS OF IRON.” These facts are upheld by the findings of “Baluchitherium”: “‘Baluchitherium’, as it was called, had HUGE POSTLIKE LIMBS …” (“Time, Life, and Man”, Stirton, page 325).

The church spent time and money having people study these subjects when they refused to study that most inconvenient dude they never attempt to really follow.  The church has always made a business out of majoring in minors and never getting to the meat of the matter.

That tradition of wallowing in the unnecessary things still is alive today in all of the splinter groups today.  That is why none of them are growing.  They are so out of touch with reality that people are turned off by everything they teach.

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Why has the Church of God always been embarrassed about its self?

I am on a secret Facebook page filled with over 780 former COG members that has all kinds of conversations going on, usually about abuse at the hands of the ministry or church.  One of the conversations has centered around how the church called it's self  a "nondenominational church" instead of a Christian church.

I remember in 1962 when I was in first grade that we had been instructed to say the church we attended was nondenominational.  We did not claim to be Christian because that was a label for back sliding,  Sunday keeping, pork eating  Christmas keeping false Christians, even though they proclaimed Jesus much more than the COG did.

Because of church beliefs many thought church members were Jews because  we rarely, if at all, talked about Jesus but sure talked about old testament holy days and old testament biblical characters.  However, church members found the Jewish label to be just as offensive as being called Christian.  

Church literature and sermons rarely mentioned Jesus and if they did, it was in the last couple of paragraphs in an article or as a side comment in a sermon.

Even Herbert Armstrong could not bring himself to say God or Jesus and had to talk about a "strong hand from some place."

When HWA started gallivanting around the world bribing audiences with world leaders with offers of cash and Steuben crystal, he did it under the auspices of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation.  It was too embarrassing to say he was there as a leader of a church.

Even if you look back at old issues of the Tomorrow's World magazine, which was supposed to be filled with "meaty" articles for the baptized, there was seldom mention of Jesus, but lots and lots of law.

I think part of the problem today that almost all of the various COG incarnations suffer from is the fact they still cannot take a stand on who they are and what they believe.  They pretend to be Jewish, then whence when people compare them to the Jews. They pretend to be Christian, but can't talk about Jesus.  

Because the church has no identity, it allows it self to fall under the spell of devious men like Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel and James Malm.   These men have made it all about themselves. They are special conduits of streaming knowledge directly from God the Father, but never Jesus.  Everything revolves around their personal interpretations regardless of how sick and perverted it is.  Just look at Dave Pack and Bob Thiel with all their self aggrandizing comments about themselves.  It is all about them and not the church or Jesus.

United Church of God makes endless attempts to make a name for itself with public campaigns and appearances, but it has accomplished nothing other than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.  It has left no witness about Jesus anywhere.

Now that this version of the Church of God movement moves into the 80 some years of existence it is still shocking that it still has no identity or focus on the one it claims to follow. 

One Facebook user made the following accurate description of the Church of God:

"A non denominational non sectarian educational group in the public interest!"

This is exactly why not a single Church of God group is growing today nor has any impact.