Passover Time: It is exhausting to be a COG member at this time of year, both mentally and spiritually.

In the Churches of God, Passover has always been a time of inward introspection and self-examination as to why people do the silly things they do even though they know it is wrong. It is the most sacred observance in the COG calendar.  It is that one night out of the year that members look forward to having their slates wiped clean and can start anew into a more perfect walk.

That rarely lasts longer than the drive home when they start complaining that they had to wash the feet of a person they did not like, or that the person had nasty toe jam. The clean washed slate quickly erodes even more as a driver cuts them off on the freeway and they swear (under their breath, of course) at them.

The next day they hurridly scurry around the house searching for any last morsels of leaven.  Toasters are used for one last time and dumped. Suit pockets are checked.  Cars vacuumed. Children's toy boxes scrubbed clean.  It's exhausting!  All the time this is happening they are trying to cook a meal for a group of people coming over to keep the NTBMO. It's no wonder alcohol flows so freely on this night.

Then the next day they are up early for double services at some dreary high school gym or Masonic Lodge 150 miles away. The kids get antsy in the back seat and the parents snap at them. Arriving at church they have to help set up the chairs and get the food prepared for the potluck between services. They are worn out by the time the service starts. Then they have to sit there through the same god-awful recycled sermon that they have heard for 30 years. And, those damn metal chairs hurt!

The sermon they hear tells them that they are never good enough for God and to stop sinning. Or, even worse, you have a church leader like Dave Pack who declares himself Elijah and that his name means "Passover". Imagine sitting there hearing that!

Others will be sitting there wondering why they are there because their leader had told them Christ was returning a few days earlier, and yet, here they are listening to another boring sermon about how God has delayed the end time for one more final push. Thanks, Ron and Laura Weinland! As the official Two Witless Witnesses, you are the best!

You could always be a Living Church of God member who was told to examine themselves BEFORE Passover as to why they don't give more money, tithes or support the "work" more diligently.

TITHES AND OFFERINGS: Have you been faithful in paying your tithes to God this past year? Have you been faithful in giving offerings? Be honest with yourself. Stealing from God is a serious matter. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ’In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation" (Malachi 3:8–9).

God owns the earth, and everyone and everything on it. He promises to provide our every need (Philippians 4:19). God provides for His children, but some have "little faith" and do not trust Him (Matthew 6:30). He gave this admonition: "’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ’If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it’" (Malachi 3:10). God is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and He promises to abundantly bless the tithe payer. Those who have faithfully saved their Festival tithe know firsthand the joy God gives at His annual festivals.

Examine your degree of faithfulness this past year with God’s tithe. Have you stolen from God? Have you saved a full Festival tithe? Ask God for the ability to give. Trust and honor Him in your tithes and offerings. If you have been a thief this past year, ask God’s forgiveness, determine to trust Him this coming year, then take the Passover in faith!

If there ever was a WTF moment in COGland, this is one of them.

Within that first week after Passover, when the euphoria of being washed clean is still evident, you will get a sermon or a member letter from your church leader who will start lambasting you that the work is being delayed and that Christ cannot return because of the lack of faith of the members. 

Certain church leaders like Pack and Flurry will initiate new draconian rules for their members while they claim new enlightenment that God has personally delivered to them.  Others like Bob Thiel will tell us about more dreams he has had while expecting us to believe God personally delivered them to him.

It is exhausting to be a COG member at this time of year, both mentally and spiritually.

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 The Message (MSG)

"If you are a member of a Church of God splinter, you come from an organization that was born in false prophecy...And to this very minute it is led by men and women who continue the family tradition without shame or remorse."

As the Bereans Did has an excellent post up about the COVID-19 virus and how the Churches of God are reacting to it.  As we have witnessed over the last few months, as the pandemic reared its ugly head, various COG leaders have gone into fits of ecstasy over the pandemic as a sure sign from God that he is pissed at humankind and is ready to usher in the tribulation where the full force of his wrath will be on display. Of course, just as we have witnessed for decades in the church, all of these prophecies now being uttered by COG leaders have been and will be utter failures.

In the early 1930s, Herbert W Armstrong started his own ministry on the sly, not letting his COG7 leaders know. What did he do? Let's take a look at his message:

"...19 years after the first seige, or 585 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar made his final siege, drove out all the Jews, took complete possession of the land, and the Times of the Gentiles came fully in. And 2520 years later, or 1936 A.D., the Times of the Gentiles will have completely ENDED. As nearly as we can calculate from the dates of ancient history, the year 1936 will see the END of the Times of the Gentiles. Those "Times" have not been completely fulfilled until that year."

-Herbert Armstrong, Plain Truth, June/July 1934, pp.4-5

That's right. He started with false prophecy about the imminent return of Christ. Did Jesus return in 1936? No. Did that stop Mr. Armstrong? No. 

To save myself the time and effort of writing all this out again, I will direct you to our article "All Systems Are GO!" where we document HWA's repeated false prophesies that did not stop until his death.

HWA tried to weasel out of it all by claiming that he didn't "prophesy" but "predict." No. He DID prophesy! We have documented it. Read our article, "An Inconvenient Plain Truth" and see. We document over 60 time-specific prophecies from one small window of time, and some of those were done in the name and authority of the Almighty God. That's 60 time-specific prophetic failures, from only one publication, from only one decade. How many more are there? Countless!

We have plenty more articles that you can find on our Categories page.

Now, you might be thinking, "How is any of this relevant to me? This isn't 1972 and I don't follow Herbert Armstrong." It is relevant to you because it wasn't just William Miller, or Ellen G White, or Herbert Armstrong, but everyone that followed those people - including the leaders of the Church of God splinter groups today. And those people are relevant. When Dave Pack named his group "Restored" what do you suppose he was restoring? Why, the Worldwide Church of God, of course! Just Google it. It says so right there. When Gerald Flurry named his group "Philadelphia Church of God" it was because that was the name Herbert Armstrong chose for his next church, should the government of California force him to give up leadership of the WCG in the Receivership debacle in the later 1970s. Why do all Church of God groups call themselves Church of God? Because they all come from the Worldwide Church of God. They are not just following naming convention here. This is a continuation in every sense. Herbert Armstrong may not be directly relevant to you, but he is directly relevant to every leader of every Church of God splinter - and that makes this relevant to you.

If you are a member of a Church of God splinter, you come from an organization that was born in false prophecy. It was raised on false prophecy. It makes its living off of false prophecy. And to this very minute it is led by men and women who continue the family tradition without shame or remorse.

Read the complete article here: COVID-19: No More Fearmongering

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