Richard Elfers on The Best and the Brightest

Richard Elfers, a former Armstrong Church of God member writes for The Courier Herald in Enumclaw, Washington.  He mentions his time in Armstrongism in relation to his story on John f Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson.

Kennedy, Johnson, and America’s “best and brightest”

The year was 1975. I had just received my master’s in history from Pepperdine University in Central L.A. I had also just left the religious cult I had been involved with since I was a teenager in 1963. Traveling home to Renton from Pasadena, California, in my 1963 American Motors Ambassador station wagon with all my worldly possessions packed in the back, I had a lot to think about. 

A few months earlier I had read David Halberstam’s book, “The Best and the Brightest.” 

“Published in 1972, it’s the definitive account of the decision-making process that led to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, written while the war was still being fought.” (Shapiro, David. “Geopolitical Futures”, March 5, 2019) 

Halberstam’s book dramatically changed my rather cloudy thinking about the Vietnam War and the Federal government. It was as if scales fell from my eyes and I saw reality from an entirely different perspective. 

The cult, the Worldwide Church of God, led by Herbert W. Armstrong, was anti-war. I was classified as an “IV-D” divinity student on my draft deferment. The WCG, as we called it, paradoxically favored the Cold War interpretation of the Vietnam conflict as a war against godless communism. Implicit in that stand was the belief in the domino theory myth: If Vietnam fell to the Communists, all of Southeast Asia would fall, too, all the way through the rest of Asia to Europe.

Read the complete article here.

How One Single Event In California Has Invalidated ALL COG Self-Appointed Prophets

How many years have we heard various self-appointed prophets of doom in the Armstrong Churches of God that the recent California drought was a direct punishment from their god? From James Malm zealoting in his kitchen to Bob Thiel claiming that gays had caused the California drought, the list of causes is endless.  Of course, add to this the mindless bellowing of Rod Meredith, Ron Weinland, Gerald Weston, Gerald Flurry and many other COG leaders and you will have heard the same message for over 7 decades. God is pissed at Manasseh and the other British Israelite nations and is punishing them for their sins. Drought is the favorite trial that the god of the Armstrong church leaders loves to use. Drought leads to pestilence and starvation and these guys get turned on by that. Once pestilence sets in, people are weakened and they are easy targets for the rampaging hoards of Germans, Chinses, and Muslims that will take over the nations.

That all came to a screeching halt this month in California.

This winter, California has been inundated with rain and more importantly snow.  With 300 - 500 inches in the Sierra's, California is now considered drought free.

Since scripture tells us if any prophet makes a prediction and it fails, he is a liar and is not to be followed.  Now that so many of the Armstrong COG leaders are certified lairs, why is anyone following them?

California drought free for first time in over 7 yearsLOS ANGELES — California is free of drought for the first time in more than seven years and only a small amount of its territory remains abnormally dry as a very wet winter winds down, experts said Thursday. 

More than 93 percent of the state is free of drought or dryness, and areas of abnormal dryness along the Oregon border and in parts of four southern counties amount to less than 7 percent of the state, the U.S. Drought Monitor said in its weekly update.

California drought officially over after more than seven yearsThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tweeted that weather in 2017 helped matters, but moderate drought persisted. Rainfall this winter further alleviated the drought, although 7 percent of the state remains "abnormally dry." 

"The storms this year have really helped snowpacks, the reservoirs," said Jessica Blunden, a climatologist with NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. Colder temperatures also helped prevent snow from melting off, she said. 

This winter — the meteorological winter starts on Dec. 1 and ends at the end of February — has been the wettest in the United States as a whole since records started being kept in 1895, with an average across the nation of 9.01 inches, which is 2.22 inches above the nationwide average, Blunden said. 

That precipitation has not just benefited California. "It’s been a great winter for the West," she said. 

The U.S. Drought Monitor website, which is an effort by several agencies including NOAA and the national drought mitigation center, says that well-above precipitation in the West helped build snow pack and fill reservoirs, and that normal conditions have returned to the Salton Sea in the southeastern part of the state. 

The Los Angeles area experienced cool winter temperatures that brought the fifth-longest streak of 41 consecutive days with a high temperature below 70 degrees since records began in 1877. Rare snowfall was reported in parts of the Los Angeles area in February. 

The end of the age of Satan is here! There will be NO FEAST sites this year!

The Chief Pharisee and official Zealot of the Armstrongite Churches of God has made a decree that his "work" will NOT be organizing any Feast sites this year due to the fact that the big bad meanie Satan is about to get this ass kicked in Malm's tribulation that is apprenlty set to begin this spring.

The special circumstances of the end of the age of Satan 

The various major corporate church groups are apostate from the Word of God, exalting the false traditions of men above the Word of God.  I am not presently setting up Feast sites because God’s faithful are widely scattered around the world.  The hour of trial is about to come upon this world and there will be no large Feast sites operating.   

During this time I advise the brethren to follow the instructions of Jesus Christ and meet together with like minded persons even if only a small handful.  

If you know of no others you can still visit and study the material at these websites and spend the days in prayer and reflection while avoiding any work on the High Days and weekly Sabbath. 

Those who are still fence sitting can go to their corporate sites and discuss the scriptures with others.  

The 42 month tribulation could easily begin at the end of 2018 or shortly after that.  During that time very many will have to learn to stand alone on the Word of God and may not have either Feast sites or even Sabbath congregations to attend. 

As you can see the lying false prophet has already missed his end of 2018 deadline and is now looking for all hell to break loose this spring.  Come October this moron will still be pounding away at his computer keyboard in his little kitchen claiming the end is here, or maybe a few more months away due to the fact the Two Witless Witnesses (Ron and Laura Weinland) have not risen up and directed tens of thousands of people to his blog.