Friday, September 10, 2021

LCG: Still Pretending To Deliver A Powerful Warning Message

COMMENTS 
 
The Role of a Watchman: Many churches today feel their mission is to tell the world that God loves them and that Jesus came to save sinners. Yet, there is much more to the biblical mission of God’s Church. Jesus told His disciples to be alert and watch for events that will mark the approaching end of the age and His return (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). The events making news today—severe weather; increasing violence and war; the declining influence of Israelite nations and the rise of a European power with links to ancient Rome, promoted by an ecumenical- minded Roman church; and the rise of adversarial powers in Asia and the Arab world—all tie in to end-time prophecies. Just as the prophets were commissioned to warn ancient Israel and Judah, God’s Church has a commission to function as a “watchman” and warn modern Israelite nations of the coming consequences of their sins (Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 3 and 33). Delivering this powerful warning message must also accompany the preaching of the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God (see Matthew 24:14). 
 
Have a profitable Sabbath, 
Douglas S. Winnail

Thursday, September 9, 2021

UCG: Always Finding An Excuse To Look Backward Instead of Forward

 



From Victor Kubik


As disciples of Jesus Christ, we in the Church of God hold the marvelous gift of truth from God Himself. As Jesus declared to His disciples in the first century, “truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:17, English Standard Version, emphasis added throughout). 
 
In many respects, the New Testament serves as an illuminating and eloquent commentary on the truth revealed in the Old Testament. Isaiah declares to us that “The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious” (Isaiah 42:21, ESV). 
 
That’s exactly what Jesus did in His first-century ministry, as we read in Matthew: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20, ESV). 
 
All Old Testament prophecies and teachings ultimately reflect and point to the coming of Jesus as the Savior of humanity and future King of Kings in the coming Kingdom of God. The apostle John reveals: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 
 
Of course, we understand that we as humans cannot keep the law perfectly, nor can we somehow “earn” salvation by keeping it as a service of works. As Paul emphasizes to us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). 
 
Importantly, that does not change what Jesus said about those who try to “relax” the standard of the commandments, including the keeping of the weekly seventh-day Sabbath and the annual Holy Days. The commandments and teachings—embodied by the Word of God—guide our behavior. They tell us how to worship God. They provide incredible insight into both past and future trends. They give us sustaining comfort when we’re in painful trials and tribulations. They show us how to succeed, even in this earthly existence. They guide us on the spiritual pathway to transformation and how to put on the new man (Ephesians 4:24).

A Bunch of Bull-a! PCG's Gerald Flurry "Reveals" How an Ancient Clay Seal Heralds The Return of Donald Trump




A Bunch of Bull-a! 
PCG's Gerald Flurry "Reveals" How an Ancient Clay Seal 
Heralds The Return 
of 
Donald Trump


In the same publication of "The Trumpet" as previously posted, an article by PCG leader Flurry delves deeper into his manufactured reasons for connecting Jeroboam II in 2 Kings, with former President Donald Trump, who was democratically elected out of office last year.

Let's see if we can follow his iron-clad logic here. It seems that, during the 1980s, a "bulla", a type of clay seal, turned up in Israel in the possession of a Bedouin antiquities dealer, the seal bearing the words: "Belonging to Shema the servant of Jeroboam", together with an image of a roaring lion. Please remember the roaring lion.

The artifact was originally suspected to be fake, as is often the case, but careful examination has been carried out recently over the last 5 years and has led experts to conclude last December that it is, in fact, authentic. Interestingly enough from an archeological standpoint, this indicates that someone named Jeroboam seems to have existed and had at least one slave.

But for Gerald Flurry, this is so much more than an interesting ancient artifact - it's a strategically timed sign from God, that his wacky connect-the-dot style prophetic ideas are all true!

"For more than four years, I have explained that United States President Donald Trump fulfills a role prophesied in the Bible of an end-time King Jeroboam."

Hold on, let's hear him out... Pastor General Flurry knows this must be true because... lion on the bulla and Twitter memes!

"To many of his supporters ... Donald Trump possesses the qualities of a lion. Last year, one of these supporters posted a photo on Twitter of the president casting a shadow of a lion. (Remarkably, the shape of the image was similar to the one inscribed on the Jeroboam seal.) The message praised Mr. Trump as having “the courage of a lion.”

There we have it, folks, and after all who could argue against some random Trump supporter posting something on the internet? If they say Trump is a lion, and this ancient bulla seal has a lion image on it, well, that pretty much wraps it all up, doesn't it? Trump must be Jeroboam, it's just obvious.

And if this isn't already enough solid rock evidence, Flurry also seems to think that Trump has actually, in fact, been roaring like a lion since he left office!

"In spite of what virtually everyone believes, Mr. Trump’s job is not over. Since the 2020 election, he has been roaring like a lion. This is the message God wants us to take from the Jeroboam bulla: God is not done using Mr. Trump!"

Yes, roaring, my friends, whatever that means! Therefore, the bulla is a message from God to us, about Trump! How could we have been so blind?

And finally, he repeats his previous prediction that Trump will be back (probably by mutiny of the military and secession of Red states as he has "explained" previously):

"Donald Trump is going to return. When he does, a lot of people, especially the Jews, will be pleased. But when this happens, we must remember Amos 7 and 2 Kings 14. God will be the one behind Mr. Trump and what he accomplishes!"

So again, it seems that concrete predictions have been made. But he who makes predictions must also answer for them when they don't come to pass.

And while Flurry seems to be quite excited about this tiny little clay seal, it's not like similar such finds with various ancient names aren't found all the time in archaeological digs. What if this bulla seal is just another old bulla which happened to be found in the 1980s, and not some invented prophetic signal? And what if Flurry's enduring hope that Trump is reinstated by military insurrection is just a wacky idea that has more "bull" in it than bulla?

Submitted by Michael