"The lack of self-awareness and utter denial of the leadership within many of these groups is truly amazing."

A comment from the "Narcissists in the Church of God Ruin Everything posting

"It is an undeniable fact the 'fruit' of the Protestant Reformation is the divided 'churchianity' of our day. We must say at the outset that this is bad fruit. Paul tells us that the Spirit of God produces unity-not division." -p.104 The Plain Truth About The Protestant Reformation, Rod Meredith

The quote about the "undeniable fact" that the Protestant Reformation resulted in divided "churchianity" and the observation that God's spirit leads to unity and not division is priceless. All I can say is wow! The lack of self-awareness and utter denial of the leadership within many of these groups is truly amazing. I simply cannot think of any other explanation as to why this stuff would be published since it is so descriptive of the current state of the splintered cogs that has just gotten progressively worse over the last twenty-five years, with little effort or even desire from the leadership of our various factions, or denominations, which is what we are, to try to remedy the situation. What then, should this tell us about any evidence of the Holy Spirit working through the governmental structures and leadership of these groups when we are a reflection of the very thing we criticize about those we consider Protestants? What conclusion is any thinking person supposed to come to? Or are we simply to read the words but not make too many connections with the reality of the Corporate COG itself, and therefore not learn the lesson that God seems to be placing in front of our own noses. We point to the lack of clothing someone else is wearing, when we ourselves are poor, blind, miserable, and naked. 

If the Roman Catholic "system" is truly to blame for the ills of Christianity, then why do so many of our corporate church leaders mimic and defend their governmental system? Does the fact that we call the man in charge a president, presiding evangelist, or pastor general instead of a pope, somehow make it okay? We claim Jesus as our head, but so do the Catholics. They claim Jesus as their "invisible head" while the pope occupies the position of "visible head". Are we so very different? Ask your average cog member or minister where their "headquarters" is. Most will tell you it's in Charlotte, Cincinnati, etc. It won't even occur to them to tell you that it resides in heaven, where the true head of the body currently sits. We pay lip service to Jesus as our king, while we seek out human kings, just as Ancient Israel did. 

Want more proof that the governmental system many of us grew up in and have largely continued is in many cases effectually the same as theirs? Here is a quote from a letter HWA wrote to the ministry in a publication called the Bulletin in the 1970s..."Meanwhile, Christ, who KNOWS better than we that He is dealing with fallible humans --but who are HONEST with His Word, has BOUND in heaven what His Church, even in unrealized error, has bound in earth." (Dec.3, 1974) In other words, what is being said here, is that even if the "church", meaning the corporate structure, or guy in charge is in "error" Jesus binds it anyway. How is this in practice any different than what the Catholics teach about humans being given the authority to bind and loose? And what happens then if we as individual Christians within the body come to see that something is in error? Are we to just wait until Jesus somehow "unbinds" it, and hope the guy in charge or "church" picks up on it? Or do we have a responsibility to work out our own salvation with trembling and fear? Will we be held accountable if we continue to practice or believe something that is untrue, because it has been "bound" by the human powers within the corporation we attend? This is just one of the pitfalls of a strict pyramidal hierarchy, that does not allow for the practice of faith and conscience of the individual Christian. 

Concerned Sister

Locked Up Abroad: National Geographic Story On Former COG Member Story Of Redemption

Jesse Moskel tells his amazing story about his life from prison in Thailand to owning a successful copywriter business. Moskel was the son of a COG minister and tells an emotional story about how his sister died because his parents did not get her medical treatment.

S10E2Korean Ecstasy King

An American, a convicted drug trafficker, traces his redemption and good fortune to a decision one day to be the happiest person in the prison. He not only survived what is for some, a death sentence but also, in short order, became a free man, a stronger man and one with a mission. Thai prisons have a significant mortality rate for those serving long sentences.

Next week, the story of an American who spent five years in Thai prison and who survived an ordeal which saw him facing a death sentence and finally a jail term of 104 years, will be published by National Geographic Channel, the paid-for TV channel coast to coast. The inspiring story shows how Jesse Moskel’s response to his predicament, at its darkest point, transformed his life and put him on the right path.

The story of the 44-year-old American who now runs a PR and advertising business in the city of Columbia in South Carolina is about to become national news in the United States next week when featured by TV channel National Geographic. It is another inspiring story of a western man who finds himself, after plumbing the depths of the despair and the nightmare of being locked up for life in a Thai prison.


Initially facing the death sentence

Jesse was facing two very serious charges, one carrying the death penalty and the other, a lesser charge with a potential four-year term. Even if spared the death penalty, he was facing a lifetime in prison and that in itself would take costly legal representation.

One year later, after spending all his money on lawyers, Jesse Moskel’s finally determined sentence was reduced to one hundred and four years. A result. Fortunately, it was later reduced again to twenty-seven years in prison.
People don’t admit it, but there are uplifting moments of comfort inside a grim Thai prison

Even during this ordeal, however, Jesse found himself adapting to the situation. He readily admits what most people don’t acknowledge and that is that there are ways of coping with an ordeal like the nightmare he found himself in and at times, there were even some high points and things that happened that gave him comfort.
The turning point – a decision to be happy

The turning point for the American was one day when he decided that he was determined to be happy and break away from the negativity of many of the people about him.

He set himself the target of being the happiest person in his cell and the prison for that one day.

It worked. The American says not only did he feel better but through repeatedly practising this, he attracted other people towards him who had a more positive mindset. Even among the criminals, murderers and rapists, there were some.
Turned to God and not to crime

The American also faced the choice of which direction he would take with his life from that point. That is when he decided to recommit to God and religion rather than the other path which led to more illegal activity.

The American also began to read and was helped by his brother in the United States who sent him books and in particular, reading material on direct marketing and copywriting. There was a reason for this. Thai prison nightmare helped American copywriter Jesse Moskel put his life on a firm path

One Columbia man embarked on a trip to Thailand in 2007 after teaching English in South Korea for a year and ended up locked up.

Jesse Moskel, who now owns a public relations firm in the Columbia area, faced the death penalty for one drug charge and a life sentence for another in Thai prison. After five years and time in five different prisons across that country, he came home to the U.S.

Moskel said he was sitting in a jail cell in 2008, crammed in with dozens of others. He had just been arrested and had no way to call loved ones or even a translator to explain his sheet of charges. That is, until he found another prisoner who spoke English, and delivered some devastating news.

“He looked up after reading it and said, ‘Jesse, you’re never going to go home,’” Moskel said.

Moskel said he was charged with the death penalty and a life sentence for manufacturing and dealing drugs, a mistake he does admit to.

“It’s one of those weird things you can’t really calculate how painful it is to have that door slam behind you and have a guy explain to you that you are going to be there for the rest of your life. The sense of regret is so deep and so wide,” Moskel said.

For the next five years, he said he slept in a 15-by-30-foot room with 71 other people with one bathroom, no air conditioning, and no beds. S.C. man jailed in Thailand for 5 years shares journey of survival and redemption

Read his story here on his web site:  Jesse Moskel

The Unspoken Splinter: The Spiritual Atheist (Video)

"If you are true to materialist atheism, you should not apologize to anyone for anything. What would be the grounds? There is no morality other than what you arbitrarily determine. And even it you determine a "morality" for yourself, it doesn't mean anything to anyone else. And since you are just roiling protoplasm, not really different from an flowing amoeba except in size, why should you expect anyone to apologize to you? And if you know God does not exist, why should you be angry at Him or resentful? You should be totally chilled out waiting for the expiration of your meaningless life."

BannedHWA : Apologies and Why They Matter

Comment

(total bullshit :)

 Atheism is one of the "splinters" that arises when religion fails to deliver historically or personally. It can arise, as in my own experience, from years of soaking in the scriptures and recognizing the problems therein with the stories.  In my personal experience, it is not because of the failure of "that Church" or "those people."  It is not "You're just angry at God."  Perhaps I am in the same way I could be angry at the Witch in Hansel and Gretel putting them in cages.  Other than that I think we realize that I can't really be angry at the characters in a myth or human construct. 

 I can't tell you how many churches I have been invited to that claim they are not like that and I would be totally happy with them. It arose because I have always been one who wants to know. It got me into the church as a teen and out as an adult having spent way too long doing so. Or maybe it was just the right amount of time needed.  That is what I accept along with all that went with the transition back to who and how I have always been as a person. Religion put my natural curiosities on hold and the way things really are on the back shelf for a time. 

I consider and have ample evidence in my life that spirituality does not escape me. If anything, I have the freedom to be more spiritual than I did confined in WCG or Christianity itself. . This spirituality  is not Bible based. It is not Buddhist based. It is not something that someone else delivers to me.  It comes from the absolute awe of being alive. It comes from within and a gratitude for being conscious of this experience of being alive.  

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 It is reflected in my desk here covered in meteorites 4.5 billion years old, trilobites 450 million, Megalodon teeth the size of my hand at 12 million and many stone tools where once was the hand of another and now mine. They range from 1.8 million  out of Africa to the last Ice Age though the stone age. They speak to me of lives lived . 

In spite of the way some think they can define atheism, it is not a religion and takes no faith to practice it. Faith, as we should all know by now, is belief in that for which there is no evidence.  I am evidence based plain and simple and it fuels the wonder of it all.

It's why the living room looks like this too...

The orange 5 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain  has been with me for 45 years. I look through it as a young man.  The 10 Inch reflector is my upgrade of late 45 years later. The small one got me through the Church scandals of the 70's.  The large one provides evenings of awe at the other end of my life.

This flowing Amoeba composed of roiling protoplasm is this and feels this every day of my life...

"My Spirituality as an Atheist"
or whatever...