Friday, July 16, 2021

Living Church of God Tells Those Soon To Be Ordained To "...cut ties with friends who are members and rather build friendships with those who are ordained"


 


A reader here commented on Doug Winnail's Peacemaker post about how Living Church of God expects those soon to be ordained to cut ties with friends who are members and instead build friendships with those already ordained. Talk about elitism! Talk about being peacemakers! Sheesh!

Dr. D. Winnail is one of the main Ministers who tells people before they become ordained they have to cut ties with friends who are members and rather build friendships with those who are ordained. He is not the only one who teaches this as it is a "Normal Routine" to tell anyone who is considered for an ordained leader position.

I have seen many friendships just end all of a sudden and the ones who are not ordained are left wondering what happened. I thought it was crazy and something that was NOT Biblical at all and it certainly does not promote unity.

I was told by not only family who were being ordained but also close friends who were about to be ordained that they had to distance themselves from us in order to be ordained. After about another 10 years of dealing with practically being ignored at the Feast because we are not of the "Elite ordained" so they could not fellowship with us...HA that was my own family and of course our once very close friends that could not have time for us until maybe after the Feast. Mr. Weston also told our "very Close friends" (who turned out to not be real friends) to "SEEK OUT and DESTROY ANYONE who is considered a cancer to the Ministry and church." That hurt us deeply and our children. So we have left that because the fruits are not good. There are good people in that Organization but the majority of the leadership that we have met (remember we have family that are in the Ministry ) do not have good fruits. I have heard that Atlanta is almost as bad as HQ too.

Friday Night Smackdown: LCG Members Are Not Peacemakers


 

What would a Friday night be without the weekly smackdown of LCG members who seem to constantly never do anything right? This week LCG members are mistreating friends, gossiping, and otherwise not being peacemakers. Why blame the members? The biggest peacebreakers in the LCG are its ministry and leaders.  When has the ministry ever sat down with a member, in a spirit of meekness, to counsel? Instead, those sessions tend to be an egotistical power trip as the member is berated for failing to do what the minister thinks is right. When the leadership sets the example, the members will follow.


Are You a Peacemaker? Jesus explained a fundamental aspect of Christianity when He told His disciples, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). The Apostle Paul advised Christians in Rome they should do all they can to “live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:17–21). Paul explained we can become peacemakers by not seeking revenge or mistreating others when we have been mistreated and by overcoming evil with good. Solomon stated, “He who covers [overlooks and forgives] a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter [keeps talking about or won’t let go] separates friends” (Proverbs 17:9). Real peacemakers are willing to go to their brother or sister when problems arise and talk things over in a spirit of meekness (Matthew 18:15), and a brother or sister led by God’s Spirit will be willing to listen to bring peace (James 3:17–18). One important lesson we must learn as Christians is that peace comes when we follow and learn to apply the laws of God—as David wrote, “Great peace have those who love Your law” (Psalm 119:165). How are you doing in this area of your life? 
 
Have a profitable Sabbath, 
Douglas S. Winnail

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Weather Happens and Fake COG Prophets See Divine Punishment


The great Bwana to Africa is having a naturopathic meltdown today over various weather stories in the news over the last few days. His god is one angry pissed-off creature that is so mad that he is letting satan run amok causing all kinds of problems in the world, particularly in the United States, so much so that it is a sure sign that his god is not pleased and is punishing rebellious sinners who are not COG members.

‘Germany floods: At least 33 dead’ ‘Record-breaking drought, heatwaves, wildfires, melting permafrost, and plagues promises to be a worrying summer for the United States! … Canada … Bulgaria … Spain’

 


Weather happens, buckwheat! It happens in cyclical patterns for millennia. What is happening today, thanks to amazing technology and instant access to news is that weather is reported as it is happening, instead of having huge delays in publishing.

Analysis of trends and of aggregated time series on climatic (30-year) scale does not indicate consistent trends worldwide. Despite common perception, in general, the detected trends are more negative (less intense floods in most recent years) than positive. Similarly, Svensson et al. (2005) and Di Baldassarre et al. (2010) did not find systematical change neither in flood increasing or decreasing numbers nor change in flood magnitudes in their analysis.


Like Holdren, many people who ascribe to doomsday scenarios related to AGW seem to think that severe weather is happening more frequently. From a perception not steeped in the history of television technology, web technology, and mass media, which has been my domain of avocation and business, I can see how some people might think this. I’ve touched on this subject before, but it bears repeating again and in more detail.

Let’s consider how we might come to think that severe weather is more frequent than before. Using this Wikipedia timeline as a start, I’ve created a timeline that tracks the earliest communications to the present, adding also severe weather events of note and weather and news technology improvements for context. 

    • Prior to 3500BC – Communication was carried out through paintings of indigenous tribes.
    • 3500s BC – The Sumerians develop cuneiform writing and the Egyptians develop hieroglyphic writing
    • 16th century BC – The Phoenicians develop an alphabet
    • AD 26-37 – Roman Emperor Tiberius rules the empire from island of Capri by signaling messages with metal mirrors to reflect the sun
    • 105 – Tsai Lun invents paper
    • 7th century – Hindu-Malayan empires write legal documents on copper plate scrolls, and write other documents on more perishable media
    • 751 – Paper is introduced to the Muslim world after the Battle of Talas
    • 1305 – The Chinese develop wooden block movable type printing
    • 1450 – Johannes Gutenberg finishes a printing press with metal movable type
    • 1520 – Ships on Ferdinand Magellan‘s voyage signal to each other by firing cannon and raising flags.
    • 1776 The Pointe-à-Pitre hurricane was at one point the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record. At least 6,000 fatalities occurred on Guadeloupe, which was a higher death toll than any known hurricane before it. It also struck Louisiana, but there was no warning nor knowledge of the deaths on Guadeloupe when it did. It also affected Antigua and Martinique early in its duration.
    • 1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Hurricane San Calixto is considered the deadliest Atlantic tropical cyclone of all time. About 22,000 people died when the storm swept over Martinique, St. Eustatius and Barbados between October 10 and October 16. Thousands of deaths also occurred offshore. Reports of this hurricane took weeks to reach US newspapers of the era.
    • 1793 – Claude Chappe establishes the first long-distance semaphore telegraph line
    • 1812 – The Aug. 19, 1812 New Orleans Hurricane that didn’t appear in the Daily National Intelligencer/(Washington, DC) until later September. Daily National Intelligencer. Sept. 22, 1812, p. 3. Dreadful Hurricane. The following letters present an account of the ravages of one of those terrific storms to which the Southern extreme of our continent is so subject. Extract of a letter from Gen. Wilkinson, dated New Orleans, August 22.
I skipped several years to this:

    • 1986 July 18th, KARE-TV in Minneapolis dispatches a news helicopter to catch live video of a tornado in progress, live at 5:13 PM during their news broadcast.
    • 1988 – Doppler Radar goes national – the construction of a network consisting of 10 cm (4 in) wavelength radars, called NEXRAD or WSR-88D (Weather Service Radar 1988 Doppler), was started.
    • 1989 – Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau built the prototype system which became the World Wide Web at CERN
    • 1989 – August Sony announced the Sony ProMavica (Magnetic Video Camera) electronic still camera, considered the first widely available electronic camera able to load images to a computer via floppy disk.
    • 1991 – Anders Olsson transmits solitary waves through an optical fiber with a data rate of 32 billion bits per second.
    • 1991  – The 1991 Perfect Storm hits New England as a Category 1 hurricane and causes $1 billion dollars in damage. Covered widely in TV and print, it later becomes a movie starring George Clooney.
    • 1992 – Neil Papworth sends the first SMS (or text message).
    • 1992 – August 16-28 Hurricane Andrew, spotted at sea with weather satellites, is given nearly continuous coverage on CNN and other network news outlets as it approaches Florida. Live TV news via satellite coverage as well as some Internet coverage is offered. It was the first Category 5 hurricane imaged on NEXRAD.
    • 1993 – The Great Mississippi Flood was carried on network television as levees breached, millions of viewers watched the flood in real-time and near real-time.
    • 1994 – Internet2 organization created
    • 1994 – Home satellite service DirecTV launched on June 17th
    • 1994 – An initiative by Vice President Gore raised the NOAA Weather Radio warning coverage to 95 percent of the US populace.
    • 1995 – The Weather Underground website was launched
    • 1995 – DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) began to be implemented in the USA
    • 1996 – Home satellite service Dish Network launched on March 4th
    • 1996 – Fox News Channel was launched on October 7, 1996 with 24 hour news coverage
    • 1996 – The Movie “Twister” was released on May 10, showing the drama and science of severe weather chasing in the USA midwest.
    • 1999 – Dr. Kevin Trenberth posts a report and web essay titled The Extreme Weather Events of 1997 and 1998 citing “global greenhouse warming” as a cause. Trenberth recognizes “wider coverage” but dismisses it saying:   “While we are indeed exposed to more and ever-wider coverage of the weather, the nature of some of the records being broken suggests a deeper explanation: that real changes are under way.”
    • 2002 – Google News page was launched in March. It was later updated to so that users can request e-mail “alerts” on various keyword topics by subscribing to Google News Alerts.
    • 2004 – December: A freak snowstorm hits the southernmost parts of Texas and Louisiana, dumping snow into regions that do not normally witness winter snowfall during the hours leading up to December 25 in what is called the 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm.
    • 2004 – DSL began to become widely accepted in the USA, making broadband Internet connections affordable to most homes.
    • 2004 – On November 19, the Website “Real Climate” was introduced, backed by Fenton communications, to sell the idea of climate change from “real scientists”.
    • 2004 – December The website “Climate Audit” was launched.
    • 2005 – August, Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage along the Gulf Coast of the United States, forcing the effective abandonment of southeastern Louisiana (including New Orleans) for up to 2 months and damaging oil wells that sent gas prices in the U.S. to an all-time record high. Katrina killed at least 1,836 people and caused at least $75 billion US in damages, making it one of the costliest natural disasters of all time. TV viewers worldwide watched the storm strike in real time, Internet coverage was also timely and widespread.
    • 2006 – Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opening in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24. It went on to limited theater release and home view DVD. It was the first entertainment film about global warming as a “crisis”, with hurricane Katrina prominently featured as “result” of global warming.
    • 2006 – The short instant message service Twitter was launched July 15, 2006
    • 2006 – November 17th, Watts Up With That was launched.
    • 2007 – The iPhone, with graphics and Twitter instant messaging capabilities was released on June 29, 2007.
    • 2007 – The reality show “Storm Chasers” debuts on the Discovery channel on October 17, 2007, showing severe weather pursuit as entertainment.
    • 2007 – On October 10th, in Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education and Skills Al Gore’s AIT moviewas challenged in a UK court, and found to have nine factual errors. It was the first time “science as movie” had been legally challenged.
    • The 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak was a deadly tornado outbreak affecting the Southern United States and the lower Ohio Valley from February 5 to February 6, 2008. With more than 80 confirmed tornados and 58 deaths, the outbreak was the deadliest in the U.S. since the May 31, 1985 outbreak that killed 76 across Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was widely covered live on US media.
    • 2010 – A heat wave in Russia was widely reported by global media as being directly a result of “global warming”. Scientific research from NOAA released later in 2010 and 2011 showed that to be a false claim.
    • 2011 – On January 4th, the Pew Research Center released a poll showing that Internet had surpassed television as the preferred source for news, especially among younger people.
    • 2011  – March, notice of an Earthquake off the coast of Japan was blogged near real-time thanks to a USGS email message alert before TV news media picked up the story, followed by a Tsunami warning. A Japanese TV news helicopter with live feed was dispatched and showed the Tsunami live as it approached the coast of Japan and hit the beaches. Carried by every major global news outlet, plus live streamed on the Internet, it was the first time a Tsunami of this magnitude was seen live on global television before it impacted land.
      Watts Up With That? The world's most viewed site on global warming and climate change

Compare the reach and speed of communications and news reporting at the beginning of this timeline to the reach and speed of communications and news reporting technology around the beginning of the 20th century. Then compare that to the beginning of the 21st century. Compare again to what we’ve seen in the last 10 years.

With such global coverage, instant messaging, and Internet enabled phones with cameras now, is it any wonder that nothing related to severe weather or disaster escapes our notice any more? Certainly, without considering the technological change in our society, it would seem as if severe weather events and disasters are becoming much more frequent.

While it is a fact that global warming and other issues are really happening, the frequency is no more frequent than in the past. So don't let lying COG false prophets frighten you with their stupidity. 

The Great Bwana writes:

Weather is not as random as most seem to want to believe.

Are weather calamities totally random? Does God control the weather? What does the Bible say? Are there biblical prophecies for weather blessings and weather curses? Are those affected by hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, droughts, and floods necessarily worse sinners than those not as affect? Does God use weather to try to get people to change or repent?

As regular readers of this page are aware, I have repeatedly warned of weather problems coming. Back in 2009, in my book, 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect, I wrote that the following was about to happen: 
 
Odd weather patterns result in food shortages and natural disasters. Matthew 24:7

The world is actually in a berserk transition, as the real age of peace is not yet here. It may be a period of chaos. It is the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24:8

Since that was published, we have had record smashing heat and odd weather problems. These weather issues should serve as a wake-up call.

The Great Bwana wants you to know that all of these severe weather issues are because his god is pissed off that you are refusing to follow him and his improperly named "continuing" Church of "god". Shame on you sinners! Bobs the man! Heed his warning!

The Bible is clear that God controls the weather and various calamities, but wants people to heed His prophets:

6… If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:6-7) 
 
The Bible tells of weather-related blessings for obedience and weather-related curses for disobedience. Weather is not as random as many people seem to want to believe. 
 
The Bible shows: 

30 God … commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) 

 

And weather-problems are one tool that God uses to urge people to repent (cf. Haggai 2:17; Amos 4:7-12). But most will not. Nor will most Christians as they should (cf. Revelation 3:14-18; see also The Laodicean Church Era). 

Most will ignore weather changes and simply believe that weather changes all the time and the changes do not have to do with God or disobeying His laws.
Jesus taught:

7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:7-8).
8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:8) 
 
The sorrows and troubles are just beginning and will get much worse. 
 
Severe weather is consistent with the troubles that Jesus spoke of. 
 
The Bible teaches that weird, severe, and odd weather patterns are part of the warning messages that God gives. 
 
Are you paying attention to those messages?

Severe weather happens. It does. It however is not a sign for the self-appointed make-believe prophets of the COG to start spouting nonsense.