HWA Had No IDEA What the Future Would Bring

Ambassador College Correpsondance Course Lesson 10, 1956

submitted by SHT

God Is Watching You And How You Dress

Philadelphia Church of God will do anything they can to take any focus people might have off of Jesus and place that focus upon works in order to gain salvation. Salvation has always been conditional in Armstrongism as members were constantly being told they had to be doing something in order to appease that wrathful god just waiting to wipe them out.  Who could have ever imagined a god so pissy that it gets angry over a suit and tie or a dress down to the ankles?

Of course, this all boils down to one important topic in Armstrongism, government.  In reality, this actually has nothing to do with anything godly but perverted control tactics of corrupt men. Never forget that god is watching and will be intensely looking at your thoughts and motives behind what you wear!

In the 1970s, God’s Church began adopting the standards of society. Today, standards in society have dramatically fallen—especially since Mr. Armstrong died and God cast down Satan (Revelation 12:9, 12). This means we must emphasize even more what we wear, as well as when and why. Our clothing standards reflect our submission to God and His government (Hebrews 13:17). 

Different attire is needed for the Sabbath, formal events, casual visiting, manual labor and active pursuits; all have their proper place and time (Ecclesiastes 3:1). God is watching us. He knows our thoughts and motives (Psalm 33:13-15; Hebrews 4:12). 

Do we really want to be in God’s Kingdom? We all answer “Yes,” but as Mr. Armstrong pointed to in his article, THE WAY WE DRESS COULD KEEP US OUT OF GOD’S FAMILY (Matthew 22:11-14). The Laodiceans face this dreadful fate (Obadiah 3-16; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Hebrews 10:26). 

God requires us to raise our standards to match His regal Philadelphia standard. Mr. Flurry writes, “You and I, of all people, must uphold the standard of God’s throne, spiritually! If we are baptized members in God’s Church, we have the Holy Spirit, and we must show the world, as much as we possibly can, how things will soon be around God’s throne on Earth!” (The New Throne of David). 

The charge God has set before us is not impossible, for with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). 

Looking at this subject spiritually will inspire and motivate us to raise our personal standards in pursuit of God and His regal example.

Taking a Break From the Mere 85 Years Of Wild World of God Antics and Mistaken Views

If there is any topic the Churches of God never understood and still either don't or refuse to acknowledge, it is the concept of Deep Time.  It is beyond ludicrous to believe that humans are the center of all things.  Sure, the Bible starts with a wiz bang creation of seven days which never actually happened and by chapter four,the first humans have screwed up and the four of them, Adam, Eve, Seth and Cain are left to go out and be fruitful and all that.  By the end of the Chapter 9, all flesh but a few worth souls have been eradicated by the flood and by Chapter 11 the crazy humans are at it again and have to be confused of language and sent on their ways. Critcal Scholarship considers the first 11 Chapters of Genesis to be pure mythology.  By Chapter 12 Abraham shows up and the rest is Bible "history".   All this takes place over a  few thousand years and then we get a couple thousand years of very confusing and suspect Church History to this day.

Laying aside the fairy tale of the time between "In the Beginning" and the Earth becoming tohu and bohu-ish, that pretty much sums it up.  Scientifically humans have been around .ooo4 % of all the time our one lone sun and solar system have existed. Biblically, humans have been around almost 100% of Bible Time Creation.  This of course is insane.

Now I realize that few if any here will even bother to consider the concept of Deep Time, which is reality and the folly of Bible Time as it relates to the entire human experience.  Some will scream "What does this have to do with anything!" or "Why do you bother bringing this up at all.  Or as a few have begged, "Please go start your own Blog and leave us alone." I can also hear, "I thought you gave up contributing?"   To that I simply say I change my mind from time to time. Portland Winters are cold, rainy and since I go to work in the dark, work in the dark and come home in the dark, my mind is not right  :)

And too....Understand that anything I contribute along the way is not meant to convince or change minds.  It is merely to let those who have stepped out of Church of God boxes to know they are not alone and there be few, I suppose, who actually fit into this category.  

In talking to a close friend still involved in the Churches of God, I am assured that any number of members have joined the Earth is really flat believers.  That's about as pathetic as it gets but I am also assured that conspiracy theories and Republican Politics have infected many of the Churches and Donald Trump can do no wrong. The man is to politics and the fascinating reality of personality disorders as Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel  and Ron Weinland are to Religion.   Moving right along....  I thank myself everyday to be out of that mess and actually enjoying what I do now.

Three personal favorites.  14.5 Billion Year old Chondrite (Stoney) meteorites that spent most of their time orbiting in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter but now are MINE!  lol.  They are the oldest thing a human being can touch and existed before or as the earth formed and before Thea crashed obliquely into the Earth giving us our tilt and whose debris coalesced into our moon. These existed before any life arouse on the planet.  The one in the middle was a $20 find in a rock shop where the owner had taken it in from an estate sale not actually knowing what it was. When I spotted it, I invested the $20 and took it to be Certified.  It now has a history of being another 14.5 Billion Year Old Meteorite from a NW Africa Fall and revalued at $800.  So, yes, I have actually found a meteorite...on a kiddies rock shelf in Portland.

A small  piece of a much larger Iron/Nickel Meteorite , also one of my babies, from the core of a shattered asteroid. The polishing of both pieces was a mental health week project. Also a remnant of Deep time at 4.5 Billion.  Of course the Universe we inhabit comes in at 14.5 Billion but that's even deeper time. 

Anyway, Deep Time should give us pause and humble even the most twice blessed, "And yes brethren, I am an Apostle" or "Presiding Evangelists" who posture their shallow understanding  about everything in the Splits, Schisms, Splinters and Slivers still around from the Wildworld of God days. 

I'll save the 15 Million year old  5" Megaladon  Teeth for another annoying reminder of geological and paleontological realities as compared to Biblical  mythologies  taken way literally to be the actual explanation of Origins and Deep Time.

Those views belonged to the Dark and Middle Ages.