Living Church of God: The Path To Peace

Living Church of God has the way to peace! Who knew?

Considering its previous leader's divisive history in the Church of God and his outright rebellion against Herbert Armstrong, his heavy-handedness in Church Administration and his rebellion in starting two separate COG's after apostatizing from the Worldwide Church of God, Living Chruch of God is in no position to claim they are a pathway to peace. Imagine LCG leaders and some LCG members being rulers in the world to come?  Who would want to be trained by them or live under their rule? Oh, hell no!

The Path to Peace: Many have been shocked by the recent eruption of riots and violence, anger and hatred all over the world—and many wonder what is happening in a world where many yearn for peace. However, the Apostle Paul warned, “in the last days perilous times will come,” as proud, self-centered people mistreat and attack one another (2 Timothy 3:1–5). Jesus also prophesied that wars and rumors of wars and ethnic strife would increase prior to His return (Matthew 24:3–7). Yet Jesus is coming back as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6–7). Those who will rule with Him will show the world the way to peace and explain why human efforts could not bring peace to the world (Isaiah 59:8). The way to peace involves learning to love and live by the laws of God (Psalm 119:165), and the “work of righteousness” (keeping the commandments) is what leads to peace (Isaiah 32:17; Psalm 119:172). Brethren, we have been called to become peacemakers (Matthew 5:9; James 3:17–18). Let’s learn the way to peace, so we can fulfill our incredible calling to bring real peace to a troubled world.

Have a profitable Sabbath,

Douglas S. Winnail

Laodicean COG Leader Says Being Baptized Into His Group Is Only Assurance Of Salvation

On this Independence Day here in the United States, one COG so-called leader is claiming that true Christians (which he is not) can only be independent of the world they live in if they are members of his "church". He valiantly struggles to claim he and his little group are the ONLY true "Phialdelphain" Christians on the face of the earth today. So, if you really want to be free, you must LEAVE your COG and follow him, agree to support his work, and then after meeting all his demands for baptism, be baptized. Only then can you be saved and be independent of the world.

All of that is kind of weird considering how much he depended upon using a church of the world to prop him up as he used LCG to garner as many "proofs" of his prophethood status as he could. After manipulating people into saying and doing certain things to stroke his ego he joined the myriad of worldly Laodicean COG leaders who are enticed by money, prestige, power, and rebelled to start his own group, godless though it may be.

So open your wallets kiddo's, say you have repented of being a so-called Christian in one of the other fake Churches of God and join the ONE TRUE LEADER of the ONLY TRUE COG who will guarantee your salvation and a chance to be in Petra with him for 3 1/2 years. 

My heart is filled with excitement!

If you have been appropriately baptized, then we also suggest that you read the Statement of Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God. If you agree, will live as a true Christian, and wish to be part of us, then we accept true believers who wish to support us as we lead the Final Phase of the Work by proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as a witness (Matthew 24:14), teaching all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20), working to reach the full number of those called in this age (see What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles), while also preparing for the ‘Short Work, remembering the poor (Galatians 2:10), and proclaiming the Ezekiel Warning. 

This spiritual degenerate does not have the ability to determine what is a "true" baptism and no real Christian would ever submit to his list of requirements to be a member of the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god". 

Once you agree to follow his list and agree to support him, then you will be one of the chosen people, set apart from all of the other slovenly COG's who are not being led by a doubly-blessed and dreamed over prophet. 

As the world comes to an end, which COG prophet and leader would you choose to follow into the "final phase"? One who self-appointed himself or follow no man and place your confidence and assurance in the ONE you should be following instead? You don't need some self-appointed man who dreamed himself into being to be leading you anywhere.

You can contact a minister or other representative near your area to let him know you wish to be part of us. We also would expect you to live as a Christian and, among other things, keep the Sabbath, attend or watch our church services, and strive to attend the Feast of Tabernacles.

Salvation is not dependent upon keeping the sabbath or watching some lame-ass questionable "church" service of a spiritually bankrupt man flailing his arms all over the place expounding upon 66 points for an hour and a half that he could have accomplished in 10 -15 minutes. 

Please understand, their is no minimum or maximum amount of time required to learn about the church. The important thing is to believe the word of God and understand the about living as a true Christian. 

Nor is one even required to DO anything as the rebellious prophet claims.  Just ask the man on the cross who needed to do nothing more than belief.  Pretty simple. No long list of rules some wayward spiritual degenerate has set in place. Nothing. Nada.

Once you have turned you life over to God and learned about the church, you are ready to become part of the body of Christ. You become a member of the Church of God through being baptized by a representative of the church. Baptism is a critical and fundamental step. Baptism signifies the death of our carnal nature and our being begotten as a follower of Jesus Christ. It allows us to partake God’s plan of eternal salvation. 

Baptism is NOT critical and is NOT a necessity for salvation.  Scripture proves that over and over. The ONLY so-called "requirement" is faith. Faith alone is what saves, not baptism, or following some self-appointed, self-righteous, or so-called prophet in some asinine "final push." No Sabbath-keeping, no law-keeping, no works period are required other than faith.  Justification comes through faith and never though Bob Thiel.

• Romans 3:28: “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
• Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.”
• Romans 4:5: “To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
• John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 
• Acts 13:38–39: “Through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed [justified] from everything from which you could not be freed [justified] by the law of Moses.”

Notice his list of requirements that he demands of his followers.

If you are not a properly baptized part of the Church of God, in order to be considered a real member of the Continuing Church of God, you must:

1. Be called of God.
2. Be willing to seek first the kingdom of God.
3. Repent of your sins.
4. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
5. Strive to live as a loving Christian.
6. Be persuaded that our beliefs are biblical.
7. Contact a CCOG leader for counseling.
8. Be properly baptized and have hands laid upon you.
9. Support the work of Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:19-20, and other aspects of the Philadelphian work.
10. Continue to live as a Christian and endure to the end.

Bob Thiel does not have the ability to determine who is "called" by God. No one should ever assume that.  No COG leader has that ability. It never did with Herbert Armstrong and most certainly does NOT today.

Faith in the one to come, faith in the one who was, and faith in the one who is. Even the continual repenting of sins and beating one's self up day after day and year after year, is not a requirement for salvation or even to be a follower of Jesus. Armstrongism required this, but Jesus never did.

So, on this Independence Day, it is time for the captives of Armstrongism and those of wayward, rebellious, and self-appointed Church of God leaders, to be set free from their sick demands. These men do not speak for God. 

True freedom is found OUTSIDE some man-made church run by bloviating men of no substance.

Church of God Seventh Day: WEAR A MASK! No exceptions

Will Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, and others continue to flout rules set in place regarding holding church services during the uptick in COVID cases, another COG is setting the example. Of course, Thiel, Pack, Flurry, Weston, and others believe these are not real Christians and certainly NOT true COG members, the COG7 continues to preach and witness better than any Armstrongite COG does.

Wishy-washy Thiel lets his own ministers make the decision whether they want to follow the rules instead of being a real manly leader and tell them to stay home. No COG service is that important and certainly, no sermon is that important to miss.

Pack and Flurry flout the rule be having services on thier compounds while telling local churches to stay home if they want.

Armstrongism has always been filled with double standards.

Here is COG7 recent statement on COVID-19 and what they expect from those that still hold services:

Central District – Church of God (Seventh Day

Dear Pastors and Leaders

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus.

I pray that you, your family and your church are well and staying safe during this difficult time. I am writing to you to encourage you as a leader in your church to do all you can, in a responsible and thoughtful way, to keep your members safe.

Not all leaders are doing that.  Some are ignoring suggested guidelines, for what- ever reasons, and by doing so, put their families and members in jeopardy. Just this week, in a Superintendent “ZOOM” call with Loren Stacy and Jody McCoy, we learned that one of our churches in the Southeast District, where the pandemic is now increasing rapidly, “refused” to follow any guidelines like masking and social distancing – with this result.  Every member in attendance at their services now have the virus and are under a strict individual 14-day quarantine. The authorities came in and shut them down until further notice. Several churches in the S.E. District and the S.W. District are being mandated to shut down, again.

In both the Southeast District and Southwest District, the number of members of the church with COVID 19 are increasing rapidly. We have had several of our leaders and pastors who have had and some who now have the coronavirus.  In two entire churches, almost all members have the virus. 

As I have written before, as a Leader/Pastor, you are responsible to make wise and compassionate choices to keep your people safe. This is your responsibility, and also in making your choices, you accept the liability for the choices you make.

I URGE YOU to google the following research experiments of the following individual.  RICK DAVIS, EXPERIMENTS REGARDING COVID-19. Reading this should make us well aware of the absolute value of WEARING MASKS and SOCIAL DISTANCING. PLEASE take the time to read his experiments.  His work is the result of measuring droplets, by coughing, sneezing, talking and singing into identical culture plates, from various distances. The results are a bit startling to say the least.

After you have read that, I urge you to make the wisest decision for the safety of your congregation.  I encourage you to make it mandatory that every attendee in your services WEAR A MASK!  No exceptions.  I encourage you to practice social distancing of 6 ft.  I encourage you to insist that there be no close contact or hand shaking allowed.  I encourage you to sanitize your facility and have hand sanitizer available to your congregation.  I encourage you to design a worship experience and fellowship that is SAFE!  Ask them to use hand sanitizer when they come in and when they leave. I would not and will not, at this time, attend any church where even one member attends refusing to wear a mask. To behave in such a manner puts every vulnerable attendee at risk.  Now, even young people, not just the elderly are getting sick.

Everyone of our District Superintendents and our GC Leadership are alarmed at the response of individual members, and some leaders, who have put their church at risk by irresponsible choices. Watch for a coming statement from the GC Leadership with their recommendations.

If you have already opened up your church for services, PLEASE study again your choices for the safety of your congregation. Make whatever adjustments you need to for their safety. Make wise choices, not based on your politics or your view of constitutional rights.  Think first of others and their needs and the seriousness of their vulnerability.

If you have visitors come to your church from other cities/states, you MUST have them wear a mask and practice social distancing.  To not do so is not being responsible as a leader. Many churches may have visitors tomorrow, July 4^th.

Leaders and Pastors, we need to be a pro-active part of the solution, and not make choices that put us in the area of being part of the problem.

May our God be with you and may His Holy Spirit be in you.

Sincerely in Christ

Superintendent – Ken Lawson