It's Friday around noontime and things are kicking into gear for the weekly Friday Night SmackDown of LCG members who just can NEVER seem to do anything right.
Week after week it is one thing after another concerning things LCG members are doing wrong. This week, for some reason, LCG members are not being "respectful and patient" with one another, or more precisely, with the leadership. Is the patience that members are supposed to have running thin with leadership and how they treat members? If members are fed up with leadership how can the WORK get done?
In a previous comment in this newsletter Gerald Weston made the following comment:
Last Sabbath Carol and I were in Tampa, Florida, for a Tomorrow’s World Presentation where we had 54 (give or take one or two) guests. Mr. James Sweat will be giving the first of several follow-up presentations this Sabbath. Please remember to pray for these efforts, as we can preach the word but only the Father draws one to Christ.
Then at the end of the same paragraph, Weston writes:
The new television season began last week. This week’s telecast is “The Greatest Friend of All” by Mr. Richard Ames, advertising the booklet What Is a True Christian? Let us all pray that God will call many to understanding and action as a result of this encouraging telecast.—Gerald Weston
If God is the one who draws people to Christ in the LCG, and people are not showing up, then maybe, just maybe, LCG needs to examine why Christ is never in the picture so that people can be drawn to him? When it's the law all the time, ALL THE TIME, when is there ever any time for Christ to pop up?
If God is the one who sends people to the church, then what difference does it make if members are not all "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment"? God would be sending people by the droves to his true church because he sees a bigger picture. But, the simple fact remains that COG leaders refuse to believe and that is that PEOPLE make the decision to attend a church and eventually join. This myth in Armstrongism that only God sends someone to the church is without basis. Humans are given a brain to make logical decisions, and that involves deciding which church they belong to. The concept of God calling people to the church is the other side of the sword that the church welds when they want to kick people out, they can then conveniently say the member/s were NOT called by God. Logic in the COG never computes when you really dig deep.
The Blessings of Unity: We live in an increasingly divided world, yet David wrote, “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1). Jesus Christ prayed for His disciples, “that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:21–22). The Scriptures reveal that while the disciples had different perspectives (Acts 15; Galatians 2), they learned to work together to achieve their mission (2 Peter 3:14–16). This is why we must be patient and respectful with each other and endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” so we can do the Work (Ephesians 4:1–3). As we are led by the same Spirit, we will see divisions diminish and we will be more “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). The peace, harmony, and unity that is possible among Spirit-led Christians can be a blessing and an inspiring light in a troubled world.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
The good news for LCG and many other COG members is that many of them are blessings and inspiring to those around them, with or without LCG or some COG group backing them up. They take care of neighbors and help in their communities, unlike the leadership of the COG's. Real Christians are always a light, you don't need Weston, Winnail, Thiel, or other COG leaders telling you how to do things right.
