The Journal: Issue 197 Now Online

The latest issue of The Journal: News of the Churches of God is online.  It is hard to believe that The Journal is quickly approaching issue 200.

This issue covers the continuing controversy for some in the Church of God over "postponements" with an article written by Dixon Cartwright.

"If you haven’t yet heard about the calendar postponements, just wait a while. Questions about the Hebrew calendar and the touchy subject of its postponements are a hot topic in many of the Churches of God. To some people postponements are no big deal. To others they’re the mark of the beast. 

What are they? Do the brethren need to be concerned about them? Do they make any difference one way or the other? "

There is an interesting article by Benjamin Corey on "ghosting,"   a practice quite common in the COG and practiced by far too many members. He encourages members to NOT be the ones disfellowshipping.  This is probably the best article in some time.

Ghosting is something that can happen to anyone, in any social circle, or from any particular social group. However, we American Christians seem to have perfected ghosting to a finely crafted art. 

What is ghosting? You might not know the term, but you probably know the action. 

Ghosting is when someone abruptly ends a friendship with limited or no explanation, and when the former friend proceeds to quickly disappear from your life. 

Dixon writes about a former Air Force fighter pilot, now professional cartoonist, Earl Cayton

Lonnie Hendriks has a short blurb on former Armstrongites attracted to atheism, that I am sure will stir up a small stink.

I’ve noticed too that evangelical atheism has been particularly attractive to some of the former followers of Herbert Armstrong. 

I guess it’s a way for some of them to maintain their unique status as one of the enlightened (one of those who is not deceived). In short, they get to maintain their superiority over the ignorant, unquestioning masses. After all, it feels good to believe that my understanding is superior to yours. 

Moreover, ridicule and scorn are considered appropriate because the other side is ignorant and wrong. 

Hm, evangelicalism isn’t any more attractive in atheists than it is in theists, is it? 

Rex Jamerson, has an issue with slovenly dressed people at church.  You would not go to Buckingham Palace dressed like that, so why come to church dressed like that?  How many times have I heard THAT one?

COG members and leaders have been complaining about dress standards in the church ever since my family started attending in the late 50's.



Dave Havir as an article about leaders and people desiring to be "worshipped."  While this issue of The Journal was in the works before issues erupted in COGBS, it makes for an interesting read.

Some people (including religious people) have a lust to be worshiped and they overtly behave in a way to demonstrate their desire to be worshiped. 

Other people (including religious people) have a lust to be worshiped, but they are subtle in fulfilling their desire. 

Some other people (including religious people) do not have a burning desire to be worshiped, but they allow a group of people to draw them into sin. 

There is an article by Mrs Mokarow about her husband who died recently.

And, there is the usual nuttiness with some of the paid advertising.  What must a new convert think when they see this kind of malarkey?  Old time COG members laugh it off, but it portrays a disturbing mentality that has existed in the church for decades.

Herbert Armstrong Was RIGHT!!!!!!!!! Hitler Escaped To South America! HWA Vindicated!!!

Many in the Church of God have always had a fascination with alternative "news" sites, papers and books, as they promoted one conspiracy after another.  When I came to Pasadena in 1975, Gary North was the man of the hour.  Newsstands in Old Town Pasadena were filled with his books and WCG members and employees devoured them.  Anything concerning the Illuminati was sure to gather a COG following.  Then there were the Visions of Fatima crowd who thought Fatima had written down three prophecies with the final one sealed till the end of time.  This is the one that sends Almost-arrested and jailed Bob Thiel in orgasmic prophetic ecstasy.  Add to this the anti-Semites that filled the church who passed around the Protocols of Zion as proof that Zionists were trying to infiltrate the church.

In 2017, in the various COG fringe elements, are those who still find solace in alternative news sources and Internet sites.  The three biggest whack jobs in the church today that do this are the Kitchen family, Almost-arrested and jailed Thiel and deluded Wade Cox.  WorldNetDaily is the go to source for news in many COG's today, from Almost-arrested and jailed Thiel to United Church of God.

Timothy Kitchen is crowing on his Facebook page that Herbert Armstrong was right and finally vindicated by offering "proof" that Hitler and Eva Braun did not die, but had escaped to Argentina where they died of old age.

Herbert Armstrong taught this nonsense for many years and the church even printed this idiocy in their magazines.  The church somehow thought that Hitler was in Argentina rallying his troops for the final invasion to destroy the United States.  This has always been the scenario that the Church of God salivated over.  It was as if they actually looked forward to seeing people hung on meat hook parents eating their children, having concentration camps packed with Americans and fiery ovens burning alive American, Canadian and Australian citizens. Nothing would have made the COG ministry more happy to see the youth of the United States carted off to Europe to be slaves to their new European masters.

Timothy Kitchen, posted a story from YourNewsWire.com about Hitler being alive.  Kitchen states:

"Proving God's Apostle and Church true once again."

Documents proving Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun fled to Argentina in a Submarine

Newly released FBI files claim that Adolf Hitler escaped by submarine to Argentina where he lived in a heavily guarded ranch at the end of the Second World War suffering from asthma and ulcers.

An amazing cache of files shows that J Edgar Hoover’s FBI classified files surrounding Adolf Hitler’s escape by submarine to Argentina.

Recently released FBI documents are beginning to show that not only was Hitler and Eva Braun’s suicide faked, the infamous pair might have had help from the director of the OSS himself, Allen Dulles.

In one FBI document from Los Angeles, it is revealed that the agency was well aware of a mysterious submarine making its way up the Argentinian coast dropping off high level Nazi officials. What is even more astonishing is the fact that the FBI knew he was in fact living in the foothills of the Andes.

YourNewsWire mixes articles with half-truths and outright satirical information.  A quick search of the Internet can tell the Kitchens this, but no, that is too hard to do since it does not fit their narrative. This is not the first time that the Kitchens have fallen for a satire site, and it wont be the last.  Almost-arrested and jailed Thiel still does this, as does Wade Cox.  Apparently, decades of listening to half-truths and outright lies from the pulpit have not equipped them to deal with reality.  Distorting the Bible, preaching personal opinion as truth, and deliberately lying to their members, has been the distinctive hallmark of the COG ministry.  Whether one is lying to members about Hitler being alive, deceiving a couple thousand Africans with myths and lies or preaching that the Koran is a legitimate book for Christians and that half of the African Continent is now Sabbatarian and COG members.  Millions of Muslims have abandoned their religion in order to become Sabbatarian COGites.

Can truth ever be found in the Church of God?  As it shrinks into oblivion, does any one care anymore?

Herbert Armstrong:  IS HITLER ALIVE, OR DEAD? 
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No Matter Where You Go In The World, We All Think The Same...

"it's so great that whatever church we visit 

in the entire world, 

we know exactly what all the other members 

are thinking."

The above phrase is one that was common in the Church of God.

Read it again.

Is this really something that is good?

No matter which COG you ever visited, anywhere in the world, everyone believed and thought the same.

No questions, no "what if's," no room for doubt, just accept anything the minister tells you as "truth."