The Philadelphia Church of God has an article up about how they and they alone are training their followers to be leaders in some magical kingdom they claim is coming where they will be of the same substance and equal with Jesus as gods.
Dwight Falk writes:
There is a massive leadership crisis in this world! Daily headlines show the terrible and harmful decisions being made by political and religious leaders—decisions that harm the very people they are supposed to be helping!
What is wrong with the leadership in this world? The answer comes by going back to who actually rules this world today. Satan the devil is the god of this world! (2 Corinthians 4:4). Shocking, but true!
Ephesians 2:2 reveals how Satan rules this world today: “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”
I don't think anyone here would have any doubt that most of today's world leaders are abject failures in what they do. Of course in Armstrongite speak, this is all attributed to Satan, the most powerful god in the Church of God movement. If one wants to believe in a literal devil then one has to also notice that the leadership crisis described above is also present in the Church of God movement today. Never has the church been filled with so many corrupt, lying, self-appointed prophets, and apostles as we have today in the church. Considering ALL of the splinter groups are children of rebellion this also makes all their leaders children of disobedience and followers of that Satan described above.
Satan broadcasts his evil moods and impulses. He is a very negative and selfish being. Galatians 5:19-21 list the works of the flesh that are a result of yielding to Satan’s broadcast. These wicked fruits include adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings.
This is a horribly wicked and depressing list of what we see on Earth today. Verse 21 further tells us that “they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
All of the things assigned above to Satan's "broadcast" are every single thing that is wrong in the Church of God today. With its history of adulterous leaders and lascivious behaviors to the idolatry of money, position, and power. To the hatred, some in leadership positions have against members and lower subordinates, to its rich heritage of appalling heresies. Add to that the incredible epidemic of alcoholism in the ministry and the membership. And last, but not least, is the appalling history of stalkings, rapes, sexual assaults, child molestations, and murders in the Church of God movement, It is no wonder God says they will not inhereit the kingdom to come.
But, this is the Church of God we are talking about here and specifically the Philadelphia Church of God and there is a special place for them above all others!
But the great news is that there is a Kingdom of God coming! This Kingdom will last forever and the leadership positions will be filled with righteous leaders (Daniel 2:44).
Where will these leaders come from?
God is using His Church today to prepare people to rule in the Kingdom of God. Incredible? Absolutely! But it is the very truth of your Bible.
Would anyone here want to live in a kingdom ruled by Church of God leaders and members, considering what we know about so many of them today?
God’s Church started small but it was beginning to grow. Christ shows in Luke 12:32 that God’s Church would always be a little flock in this world when compared to the numerous false churches.
Today's Church of God movement is just as fractured and broken as the world's churches they self-righteously condemn, so they have no right in casting stones of self-righteousness.
But through His Church, God is training elite leaders for His Kingdom. Once members are baptized and receive a portion of God’s Spirit, they must use that Spirit to take on the very character of God. God’s people grow as they put their heart into God’s Work.
Um, people grow as they place their faith in Christ, that inconvenient dude that is constantly in the way of the "Work" of the Churches of God. It's always about the physical things members must constantly be doing to impress and please the condemning god of the church. Faith is not a fruit of the spirit that is really emphasized in the church. Faith doesn't require submission to corrupt lying COG leaders but in the One, they are supposed to be following.
In spite of all of this, PCG leaders and COG leaders as a whole believe they are able to deliver the following to their followers, though 99% of them never do:
What type of growth does God’s Spirit produce? Simply, the fruits of God’s Spirit.
These fruits are listed in Galatians 5:22-23. These righteous rulers are using God’s Spirit today to develop love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
When have any of us ever seen a COG leader bring joy and peace to the church? How many of them have ever been long-suffering? Have they ever been gentle to their followers? Is there any COG leader who has ever been a meek person?
Christianity.com describes meekness as the following, something we have NEVER seen in any COG leader. Out-of-control emotions are how COG leaders operate.
Meekness is not weakness; it is power under control. As the writer of Proverbs says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city" (Proverbs 16:32). In contrast, the individual who is not gentle is likened to "a city that is broken into and without walls" (Proverbs 25:28). Gentleness always uses its resources appropriately, unlike the out-of-control emotions that so often are destructive and have no place in your life as a believer. Who are the Meek? Why did Jesus say "Blessed are the Meek"?
Falk continues:
These fruits are about to fill this Earth as they increasingly fill God’s Church today. God’s leaders will help bring the abundance and joy of God’s way of life to the whole Earth and, ultimately, the universe (Isaiah 9:7).
God help us all of we have to rely upon PCG ministers and members to bring abundance and joy to the earth! Not only can we not count on them to do this, but it will also not happen with LCG, UCG, RCG, and those in the improperly named "continuing" Church of God. None of them have the capacity to do this.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions [offices]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you,” Christ said in John 14:2.
Christ Himself is preparing eternal offices and positions of authority for God’s people. New leadership is coming to this Earth, and it will be righteous leadership!
If COG leaders and members cannot act with righteous leadership today, in the flesh, how can we expect them to do so in the "god spirit" they claim they will be? If we believe this then we are all f*@#ed big time!
Today, God is training His people in the skill of following the government of God. Jesus Christ said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus came to build only ONE Church! (Ephesians 4:4).
And through His Church and Work, God is preparing the rulers who will assist Christ in the Kingdom of God. This world needs new leaders who obey God’s government and implement His law. This righteous leadership will help solve the problems brought on by sin.
This "government" crap and the emphasis on the law is necessary to the COG because these necessitate the vengeful wrathful god they need to justify their rotten behavior in today's life. Punishment is needed for a rebellious world that doesn't live up to the standards that they have been preaching. They need blood, guts, and death to justify their existence over the Jesus that came and broke all the rules and implemented righteousness through grace and mercy to those he came in contact with.
When have you ever seen a Church of God implement and practice grace and mercy?
Is there any COG group or leader that you would want to live under in their magical kingdom to come?
