Dennis, please come back!

 

Dennis, please come back!

A few days ago, I read the following statement by Mr. Dennis Diehl with some dismay: “I realize I am pretty much done with posting.” Now, while I realize that that statement is not definitive (and that he has indicated this sentiment on previous occasions), I wanted to publicly state that the quality of this forum would decline without the voice of Dennis. Yes, I have arrived at very different conclusions from him about God, the Bible, and the value of Christianity; but I believe that he brings a unique perspective to these discussions that would be sorely missed here.

We all need to occasionally hear from people who do not share our views. In fact, I would say that it is essential to anyone who would even pretend to have an open mind or to be intellectually curious. Unfortunately, most of us tend to live in self-reinforcing bubbles these days. We surround ourselves with people who share our opinions and sustain our prejudices. This is the path to stagnation and ignorance. Moreover, even when a different perspective does not persuade us to change our opinion on some subject, it almost always makes us better informed and clearer about why we believe what we believe.

Dennis’ perspective is unique in several ways. He is one of the few former ministers of the old Worldwide Church to publicly comment here. As anyone who regularly participates here also knows, Dennis is a representative of the agnostic/atheist perspective. As such, Dennis tends to present an analytical and scientific approach to most topics (and we should all be able to see value in that). It is certainly helpful for people who are emerging from the fog of Armstrongism, and who are often in the process of reevaluating their belief system, to be exposed to the kinds of questions and observations which Dennis contributes here. It is naïve to think that many of these folks are not questioning just about everything – and there is value in validating their right to have questions!

Although I am a theist and a Christian, I appreciate Dennis’ sincere desire to help people to emerge from the trainwreck of Armstrongism. His journey led him to a different set of conclusions from my own, but it has endowed him with the same compassion and need to help others that motivates most of the rest of us here. Hence, even when we challenge his conclusions (or take him to task on occasion for appearing to be condescending), we should all strive to appreciate his journey, perspective, and desire to help others. Social media sometimes has the unintended consequence of dehumanizing our responses to each other, and occasionally makes us say things that we would never dream of saying to each other when face to face. So, while I am confident that I will feel compelled to challenge Mr. Diehl on some occasion in the future (if he chooses to return to this forum), I would like to express my sincere desire that he decides to do just that!

 

Lonnie Hendrix/Miller Jones

COGWA Wants You To Know They Don't Water Things Down

Remember, THIS is a Church of God stating this! A splinter group of a splinter group. A splinter group who thought they were more evolved than their mother church, the United Church of God. So, in normal COG fashion, they had a sanctimonious hissy fit and left to form their own church, taking with them hundreds of ministers and members, only after they had enough money to keep the ministry in their privileged lifestyle. The best example of 1st-century Christianity ever!

Our job—the mission Christ gave to us—is to share God’s message of life, hope and truth with the world. We don’t believe that message needs to be updated or polished or reinvented for the modern age. The words of God are as timeless and powerful today as the day they were first recorded.

Throughout the centuries the church has ALWAYS  updated itself, polished and refined itself, and reinvented itself to adapt to the rapidly changing world they were in. While the basic principles might remain the same the overall mission and action of the church has always made itself relevant to the age it was in. Unless of course, you are a Church of God and think you are better than everyone else and you remain stuck in the unreachable "glory years" of the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert Armstrong. The current COG movement is stuck in the past, always trying to recapture some lost value or pipe dream that remains stuck in their heads.

The Bible contains the reason you were created. It contains God’s plan for you and what He expects from you. It explains where the world is heading and why—and how God is going to rescue it. It contains the blueprint for living a successful, meaningful life in the present, and inheriting eternity in the future. 

 

As the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, our job is to share that message with the world and then care for those who respond to it—to give them a place to grow and flourish. We are a community, a brotherhood of believers, marching together toward a common goal—the future promised to us by God.

COGWA, while larger than the improperly named "continuing" Church of God is almost in the same league. No one knows who they are. Other than continuing to poach COG members from other groups, little is known about them. 

Our Values 

 

Our values are developed from those of the New Testament Church. We teach the living Word of God from both the Old and New Testaments, which transforms peoples’ lives. 

 

The Church of God, a Worldwide Association, teaches and practices the same way of life Jesus Christ and the first-century Church of God followed. We observe the seventh-day Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths or Holy Days, as did Jesus and the early Church.

There is no Church of God today with any ties to Herbert Armstrong that teaches and practices what Jesus taught and what the 1st-century church did. No matter how much they claim this, they do not. 

PCG: Absurd Statement's By Gerald Flurry

 

When one looks at the appalling history of the Philadelphia Church of God breaking up families and telling parents to abandon their children at the mall for the state to take care of, it is rather hypocritical to see Gerald Flurry say the following things about the family. Of course, family to him is ONLY those who are currently PCG members. Former members are considered apostate, regardless of whether they are a spouse, parent, child, grandparents, etc. Those people are discarded by the wayside unless they fully repent and return to the fold and submit to Flurry and his apostate hierarchy, AND after reading Mystery of the Ages and Malachi's Message, AGAIN. Salvation cannot be archived without reading these two books. The simple scriptures on salvation are moot points with all the rigamarole that PCG puts their members through which can be stripped away at a moment's notice.

God’s people must be an example to the world of showing no partiality, and treating each member of Christ’s Body with honor. That way of life must begin within the Church because God wants it to reach every corner of the world! “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Hold to the Head, Jesus Christ, and then reach out to all those within God’s Church, and then everyone in the world, as we have the opportunity. 

PCG is not unified and never has been. Members are leaving by the day. Division fills the church, including in the elite realm of the chosen ones. They are always on edge fearing that they are going to piss off the Dear Leader and be banished from the cult compound.

God wants His Church to “dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133)—to be of “one spirit” and “one mind,” “likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 1:27; 2:2)—to “speak the same thing,” with “no divisions,” “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). He wants His people to be “as one man” (Ezra 3:1). That is truly deep Family unity! 

No one and I repeat NO ONE, who has ever left the PCG has lost ANYTHING! There is NOTHING that they need to recapture. What they do need to do is dump 99.99% of the crap they were taught into the rubbish bin and burn it. 

James really emphasizes this truth. He is showing the Laodiceans how much they have lost, and how much they are going to have to recapture in order to make it into the eternal Family of God! They must get back to the Family understanding. 

Gerald thinks that within the next 10 years the end times will have hit and the PCG members will be transformed into mini gods and goddesses and will be educating the world with the message of Gerald and Lil'Stevie Flurry. 

Probably within a decade, God’s people are going to be teaching the world about the Family of God! This world desperately needs that Family education. That is what God wants to give it most of all.

The world does NOT need the family education that Flurry rants about. The world needs NOTHING that Flurry has to offer.