Seasonal Musings on COGWRITER

The Non-Existent Demon of Christmas, or Easter or Halloween

Bob Thiel is out with his reasons real Christians should not keep Christmas.

Christmas is mainly for Wiccans and Witches, Pagans of all sorts and those who worship and follow Demons. 

https://www.cogwriter.com/news/church-history/25-items-people-who-keep-christmas-seem-not-to-fully-consider/

...and no, I don't mind sending you to Cogwriter. It's good to see how some reason and Grinch up the works majoring in the minors and speaking for the gods as if they knew.  

First of all, Robert also seems to be writing off the top of his head as he can't seem to come up with exactly how many reasons he's given or is about to give. Shades of Dave Pack?  Robert should also consider the pagan roots of Judaism and the Hebrew spin on a Sumerian creation story for the origin of the Sabbath. 

"20+ items people who keep Christmas seem not to fully consider"

followed by...

"Here is a list of 25 items people who keep Christmas seem not to fully consider:"

….and then goes on to give 24

The birth narratives in Matthew and Luke are not in agreement with each other by any means and made up to both give Jesus a miraculous birth and fight the charge that he was born of fornication whose father was unknown. Matthew cobbles his tale together based on OT scriptures he takes completely out of context as well. 

Next we have  an scripturally  out of context article about "children shall be their oppressors and WOMEN shall rule over them" and his ideas of the truth will set you free. As we know, this scripture was and is used to condemn any woman ruling over us present day and a sure sign of the end if it happens. Golda Meier and Margaret Thatcher didn't seem too wimpy  back in the day as I recall.  

Spoiler:  In the culture of the day, children were viewed as troublesome with no say and women even worse. In that context, the male leadership of Israel was in fact leading the country AS women and children. There were no real women ruling over them at the time. That wasn't going to happen. It was an insult by Isaiah pointed towards the men of the day. In reality, there is no real issue with a woman being a President or Prime Minister.  New Zealand, Iceland and Finland , come to mind and all of chosen Israelite stock!  Just kidding.   Perhaps Isaiah lamenting, as did Ezekiel, that the men of Israel were not up to snuff compared to Egyptian men....  

"whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses."

Ezekiel 23:20

(Never heard that one quoted in a sermon!)

 We probably would be much better off actually with the heart of a woman running the country for a change.  Matriarchy is not a bad thing and has fueled some of the most successful nations on the planet throughout history.

Part of the problem is, like most Church of God proof texters, Bob still repeats and practices  "Line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little" as the formula for how to study your Bible and come to how one should be based on the search,  which is another breach of context he won't admit to. Making scripture mean what it never meant is a hallmark of an untrained ministry. 

 https://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/search?q=diehl+line+upon+line

Christmas and Sex: For Many in the COG This Is All They Can Talk About This Time Of Year

It is that time of year again in Church of God land and some of the leadership and members are working overtime in trying to expose Christmas as pagan. God forbid if anyone found some joy in this time of year.  Everyone needs to be a Debbie-downer like many in the church. Because they are miserable, everyone else should be too.

The sad fact is that more people around the world are exposed to who Jesus is and his story at this time of year than you will ever hear in a Church of God.  Considering the COG claims to be the "true church" that is pretty sad. Just take a look at a typical yearly list of preached sermons, articles in magazines, and their list of booklets.  Jesus is hardly ever mentioned and is certainly NEVER the main focus of their gospel message. The law trumps every thing, including Jesus. Grace, mercy, justice, and freedom are anathema in the church, while rules, regulations, doctrines that border on demonic, and idolatry are the main focus.  Apparently, the more miserable they can make themselves the more holy and righteous they think they are.

And more craziness that some COG members post:

Christmas Trees symbolize Nimrod sprouting from the grave:

Nimrod the mighty hunter against God!!! Nimrod married his Mother. Nimrod was killed. The evergrowing tree sprouted from his grave. The first Christmas tree.

Have some angels on your tree?  If you do, you are hanging dead babies on your tree in honor of Nimrod

Nimrod was shown as a baby. With the pine tree representing Nimrod. Babies were burnt alive as gifts to Nimrod. Angels on trees represent dead babies -  MURDERED Babies.

Have some tinsel on that tree?  You are decorating it with Satan's snake.  I won't even venture to think what they mean by "snake".  :-)  Knowing the preoccupation of so many Armstrongites with sex, it could mean a couple of things.

        The strings of tensile on the tree symbolize the snake/satan.

Did you know that hanging ball ornaments on trees symbolizes testicles?

The balls on the tree are Nimrods Testicles.

I do not recall how the founder of all of this worlds religions died. I remember that he was cut up and they could not find his balls which is why they put balls on the trees, An evergreen tree was supposed to have sprouted from his grave which is why an evergreen tree is used.

Did you have a picture of your child on Santa's lap?

To celebrate Nimrods birthday they used to feed babies to the fire. All those angels on the tree represent dead babies that were murdered for Nimrod. Why he wears a red suit- it represents fire so any one putting a baby on a fat mans lap wearing a red suit is making their baby pass threw the fire!!!!

And my favorite:

Santa is an anagram for Satan

 The ironic thing is when these Armstrongites start spitting this stupidity it brings no one to the god they claim to follow.  It turns people off.  They are not performing a witness, they are not drawing anyone to Jesus Christ.  They are doing nothing other than making themselves look stupid.  But, maybe that is the current COG normal.....?

Adult Sabbath School: Why Don't You Just Go Home

The Fundamentalist craving for "The End" to come, a hallmark of the Churches of God, poisons the life one actually has and replaces it with a wasted life that lives for just around the corner, soon, 3-5 years, 10 at the most and 25 at the most.  

It has proven to be an insane and wasteful emotional way to live one's life under the mistaken views of Herbert Armstrong and is continued to this day by his shadow people who imagine themselves in high places and not infrequently spoken of in the scriptures, which is delusional to the harm of all who follow blindly and uncritically. 

This is theological and moral insanity

Cocky question. Truthful answer