UCG: Struggling to live in troubling times

 

Rick Shabi has sent out a letter to the faithful about these terribly troubling times and how UCG members should rely upon the certain truth that the UCG has to give them.

For us in the Church, who discern the times and understand the prophetic words of the Bible, these times should catch our attention and wake us up. When Christ was asked by His disciples, “What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?” He clearly showed them what to look for. We see those signs all around us. “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11). 

For almost 8 decades the church has not been able to "discern the times" or even understand the "prophetic words of the Bible". The prophetic failure rate is broad and troublesome. Troublesome in the fact that many lives have been ruined by the outright lies of COG leaders down through the decades. Not once have any of them been right, including today's crop of bellowing jackasses.

I hope we are all wide awake and aware. 

 

As the world finds itself in this time of transition, the Church of God remains steady and focused on the return of Jesus Christ and preaching the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. The Church of God remains anchored to our Rock and the only source of pure and unblemished truth available in the world today. It is only in Jesus Christ that we have hope. 

Anchored to what rock? While Christians acknowledge it to be true that hope is found in Christ, when has the church ever truly devoted itself to him? They sure love to bow at the altar of the law, but seem to begrudgingly have to acknowledge Jesus in the last couple of paragraphs of an article or a sermon.  

The world and its leaders, relying on their own ideas and resources, cannot bring peace or stability or a resolution to this world’s ills. Instead, they are bringing it to ruin. It is only Jesus Christ who can save the world from destroying itself. 

The COG and its leaders, consistently relying upon their own ideas and resources, have not brought peace and stability to the COG ills. Look at the divisions that UCG has had! 

The world needs to hear the truth of God, and we must preach that truth to a dying world. We, as faithful Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ, must live the truth and be ever more closely learning and striving to live by “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” and drawing close to one another and to God in this special fellowship of which we are a part. 

 

We are His people—the “called out” ones, the firstfruits. Bearing that name and identity carries with it a huge responsibility, but God has given us His Spirit so that we can succeed in the calling He has given us. Let’s make the best use of the time we each have by individually and collectively building the spiritual temple Christ will return to. Let’s be sure we are being diligent in making our “calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10, King James Version).

The fact of the matter is, Church of God members are no more special than any other Christian in the world today. The COG seeks to hoodwink its members into believing that the church holds hidden knowledge that was only revealed to them as truth while the rest of the world is stumbling around in utter darkness. Nothing could be further from the truth!

As for him desiring that UCG members continue to work to make their "calling" secure, any Christian with the slightest bit of understanding of redemption, justification, and sanctification knows that that matter is already secure. COG leaders who constantly whip up members by guilt-tripping them that their salvation is always at stake are the ones who do not seem to understand.

Crackpot Prophet Wants to Know If A Good Tree Can Bear Bad Fruit

 

The most highly favored prophet to ever exist in the history of the Church of God, the first doubly-blessed Germanic/Native American, the end-time Elijah, Johsua, Amos, Habbakuk, and the Great Bwana to Africa, is asking if a good tree can bear bad fruit. Perhaps he needs to rethink that phrase and ask himself like everyone else already has, "can a bad tree bear good fruit"? Thankfully, due to this critical thinking, the overwhelming majority of COG members have determined that there is nothing appealing about the guy.

Can a good tree bear bad fruit? 

The New Testament teaches that the “full number” of the Gentiles are prophesied to come in before Jesus returns and we have seen growth in Gentile congregants in Asia (India and the Philippines), Africa and other places. Furthermore, our upcoming radio broadcast out of Italy should help us reach more European Gentiles (as well as some Israelites) starting next month.

As far as reaching those of Israelitish descended backgrounds, most of our video views come from them. Most of the listeners to the Genesis Network program I frequently am a guest on and most of the multiple millions of computers our online campaigns reach are also those with Israelite heritage–so we are not ignoring Gentiles nor Israelites (cf. Matthew 28:19-20).

Because of obeying Jesus’ commands to go to all nations, along with God’s blessings, the CCOG has been the fastest growing x-WCG COG in the 21st century. We have used tithes and offerings to pay for trips, literature, radio, videos, internet support, online campaigns, visits, building materials, youth camps, festival assistance, equipment, seeds, work projects, and other things to reach people around the world, and including the Gentiles and Israelites.

We have also added more congregants without a prior WCG-related background than any other Church of God who leaders had ties to the old WCG than any we are aware of.

Why mention that?

Because Jesus said:

18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7:18-20)

The fruits are there, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Yet, the great Bwana is incapable of attracting the British Israelite followers like he so desperately needs in order to keep his money stream flowing.  Try as he might, he has been an epic failure in the U.S., Canada, England, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere his mythical so-called British Israel potential members are. Never one to accept responsibility for having the most boring COG ministry ever to exist in human history, he places the blame on prejudices against him and his message. The Great Bwana and Chief Overseer believes that his Gentile hoard needs to come from black Africans and other people of color, ignoring the fact that there is no racially pure race on earth today, particularly here in the United States.  Armstrongism has always treated people of color as Gentiles, the unwashed masses.

Yet, sadly, many people are affected by prejudices and other factors which stop them from acting on the truth and more directly supporting the reaching of the Gentiles. The Jews of the Apostle Paul’s day were not particularly impressed with Gentiles becoming Christian, but that was part of God’s plan. Most Laodiceans do not understand how God is working at this time, and they also ignore and/or discount aspects of His word. Jesus taught that the end does NOT come until the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom of God‘ reaches enough nations (Matthew 24:14) and, based on Paul’s writings, we also see that “the full number” (as the NIV, NLT, BSB, CEV, GNT, HCSV, ISV, and NET Bible, put Romans 11:25) of Gentiles is something God wants in this age come in. This is something that must be done and we in the CCOG have a lot of fruits related to that.

Although God is the one who calls (cf. John 6:44), we in the CCOG seem to be having major success in assisting with getting the message out to many that are responding to God’s calling.

Gerald Weston: If we have time for social media and video games, we have time to tune in to where "Christ" is leading His Church

It is constantly a battle for the soul in the Living Church of God. Cannot members ever have a "sabbath rest" from all the nit-picking and guilt shaming that the church so easily dishes out? Satan is constantly on the warpath against the church. And, like clockwork, those gays, are always the cause of LCG's problems.

Greetings from Charlotte,
We had very profitable Council of Elders meetings this week. All except a few men were able to attend in person with the others connected by livestream. A range of topics was covered—some listed in the weekly video update. One item was the lessons we can draw from the last two-plus years of the coronavirus. It is evident our world has changed dramatically, and one change is how we as members of the Body of Christ handle all that has occurred. If we evaluate our thinking, we may very well discover that the world has rubbed off on us to a greater or lesser degree. This calls for us to be discerning of our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions. Satan is stirring up hatred and division. We must recognize his devices, resist, and overcome his broadcasting. The second item is one that most of the Western world is facing— what we refer to as the “woke” agenda—LGBTQA+, cancel culture, the destruction of values regarding what it means to be male or female, the rejection of God-given roles in marriage, critical race theory, and so much more. As God’s people, we must strive to get back to the basics of biblical values. These subjects and more will be addressed in the Living Church News and in sermons. Please make time to read the Bible and our publications as well. If we have time for social media and video games, we have time to tune in to where Christ is leading His Church. Please pray for one another, and thank you for your dedication and love.—Gerald Weston

It is always everyone else's fault except their own. Everyone is out to oppress them.