The Philadelphia Church of God is well known for how perverted its teachings are that are currently destroying family relationships in and out of the church. They naively think they are doing this to please that creature they call god.
Here are excerpts from an article by PCG's Greg Nice about, "Must We Avoid Them?"
Some of God's people outside and perhaps even inside the Philadelphia Church of God think that the PCG has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith-those the Bible describes as Laodicean-even their own family members. Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is NOT a policy established by the PCG. What the PCG does is teach and obey the doctrine established by God. Because this is a doctrine of God, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows God's commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God.
The doctrines of the Church of God come directly from the word of God. Not having fellowship with those who turn away from God is directly commanded from one end of the Bible to the other. The doctrine predates mankind and will continue into the Kingdom of God.
It seems strange to some that God would expect one of His children to stop socializing with his or her own blood-related, physical family members if that person was begotten by God and then turned away. But why should an individual who has counseled for baptism and has studied the word of God find this strange? Read Matthew 10:35. lf you have a red-letter Bible, you will notice the words are in red. These are the words of Jesus Christ, not any man: "For I have come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law."Verse 36 continues: "And a man's foes shalt be they of his own household."
This is a perfect example of why literalism is a pox upon the church.
Nice continues with this:
Most of those in the PCG or the Worldwide Church of God who studied prior to baptism were counseled to read Luke 14. Jesus Christ speaking again, says, "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh, not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (verse:33)."Forsake", according to Strong's Concordance, means bid farewell, take leave, send away. Isn't it clear that Christ makes some strong demands for an individual to be His disciple? starting with - verse 16, Christ begins this thought by talking about family, probably because this is one of the hardest things for a man to do: place his family secondary to something else. "If any man come to me, and hate [love less by comparison] not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. "Christ even mentions it before "hating" your own life. Christ is saying, To follow me, you might have to bid farewell to your own family. you might have to send them away.
In the baptism covenant in God's Church, the individual agrees to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Master'. They embrace what Jesus teaches as the supreme authority in their lives. They agree that no agreement or promise that they have ever made or will make, or any relationship they have, will supersede or intervene in them obeying Jesus Christ. If they have entered into that covenant, they simply cannot ignore what Christ says here in Luke 14 and Matthew 22.
Members ofthe PCG who are obeying Christ and the doctrine of cutting off contact with Laodicean family mernbers and friends are not doing it tightheartedty. Nor did they enter into their covenant with God lightheartedty. They understood these verses when they agreed to the baptism covenant. They can only presume that their Laodicean family members also understood when they made the same covenant.
They do not now "forsake" (as Luke 14 says) their family out of vengeance; they forsake them out of love. The Laodiceans entered into the very same covenant with God, and their eternal lives are at stake if they do not return to the covenant, not only will they be cut off now, but they will not have fellowship with their loved ones for etern ity! pcc members follow the doctrine of God and cut off fellowship with baptized family members at this time to send a strong warning that they need to repent. PCG members are not interested in just having a relationship with blood family members for the next 5, 10, 20 or 50 years in this physical life only'. They are interested in having a relationship with their family members for eternity. God's people are driven by the vision of eternity with God, not the present.
Even eating leaven bread during PCG's so-called holy days can lead to being cut off from family members.
There are more examples. In Exodus 2:15, God says that if you eat leavened bread during the Feast of uanleavened Bread, you are to be cut off for disobeying God. Many Laodiceans are now ignoring the Feast of Unleavened Bread after observing it for years. In Exodus 31:14, God says that if you are one of His people and you work on the Sabbath day, you are to be cut off from among His people. God is clear that anyone who forsakes Him and disobeys Him and does not repent is to be forsaken-to bring them to repentance.
A little later there is this:
Revelation 20:15 says that those not written in the book of life are permanently cut off. They are cast into the lake of fire and consumed. Each person who comes to that end was created by God. He loves those people more than we love our parents or our children. Yet God will cut them off for eternity. That is why He commands that we forsake them today: so they will wake up from forsaking Him-so that they will repent a nd not be cut off for eternity.
The entire reason God instituted and ordained this doctrine is love. God is love, and these are His words. The reason He stated them and preserved them for us is because He desires that all men come to salvation. God is not frivolous with those to whom He decides to impart His Hoty Spirit. If He called and gave your grandparent, parent, sibling or cousin the Holy Spirit, it is because He knew he or she could and should overcome Satan, society and self and become one of the firstfruits in His Kingdom.
lf we fail to avoid them or cut them off today, we are realtly doing it because we love ourselves, not because we truly love them. We would have to say, I didn't want to experience any hostility from you, so I ignored what the God of love instructed me to do. We must have the Kingdom of God vision, not be motivated by the here and now. Our desire is to have the relationshlp with Him for all eternity, not just for a few more fading physical years.
We must have faith that God had these instructions recorded in His Word for a reason. And we
must obey God in this matter. lt is a doctrine of God; it is not a policy of any man's organization that we might like to consider optiona.
A number of God's faithful people have family and friends who have turned away from God. We
should love them as God loves them. Let's follow His doctrine and avoid them until-and so that-they repent. God's way will lead to repentance. Doing it our way only leads to death. Forsaking, cutting off, stopping fettowship with those brethren who aie wirking contrary off God's way is the best for everyone involved because it is emulating the love of God.
