I Was Never In This For The Money!

 

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Satan continues to persecute the Great Bwana to Africa. The Great Bwana has been living in abject fear of "deep fakes" making fun of him in order to discredit him.

Though, with this latest ramp-up in persecution the real truth comes out!

PERSECUTION!!!!!!!!!!!

Submitted by a reader...

Jon Brisby Opens Pandora's Box Concerning Porneia

Church of God, The Eternal

Current leader Jon Brisby is the successor of the late Raymond Cole.

From a reader

In December of 2021, Jon Brisby pastor director of Church of God, the Eternal, opened Pandora's box concerning the teaching on Divorce and Remarriage. In two messages entitled "Just what do you mean the faith once delivered" numbers 48 and 49, he delves into the interpretation of the word "Porneia". Using scripture to support his message, but excluding other scripture, sets up an easy-to-knock down argument on one hand similar in nature to his topic, while on the other hand presents the argument he has formed around the word Porneia. His assertion postulates that the definition of the word Porneia is much more expansive in meaning than just merely pertaining to sins of a sexual nature, i.e. fornication, adultery, etc... His tactic makes his argument look legitimate because the easy argument he sets up can be clearly seen in scripture, which makes sense and is easily knocked down, but the assertion that he is trying to make look legitimate on the other hand, is convoluted in Greek and Hebrew and bogged down in multiple scriptures that he has put together himself. This blurs the listeners ability to discern the error because of how the two are mixed together. It all seems legit.

Ironically, this little church group screams to the heavens in defense of this teaching as it was taught prior to the changes made in WWCG 1974. Here we are almost 50 years later, and the sanctity of marriage is yet under attack once again within this little group. In short, Mr. Brisby states that God would have never bound a marriage that has fraud (Porneia) involved in it if the fraud happened prior to the marriage. Porneia he says, has a broad definition, and because of this, the word does not pertain to sexual sins alone. He elaborates more on this broad meaning in #49.

If you can already see where this is going, then you can see Pandora's box wide open. When we date a person with marriage in mind, and we get serious about it, how many agreements or promises are made between the two during courting? How many of those are serious? How many of those may be inconsequential to either party? If I follow Jon Brisby's logic, if I lied about my love for chocolate cake (which she hates) prior to the marriage, and then she discovers this in marriage; God never bound it because it is fraud or Porneia, and she can divorce me according to mans law. As laughable as that sounds, that's the box this man has opened. 

This man is clever, and it takes an astute alert listener to hear the interwoven layers of deception. This group as of the past few years has had some issues with marriages, and it is no secret that there are favored ones who Jon would like to keep in the congregation. Money, i.e. tithe payers is always at the root of it. Why not joggle teaching around a little to keep these favored ones around with the future option of a new mate available to them? Now justified by convoluted teaching that if confronted, would get you kicked out. Seems like a well played plan to me.

The Most Spoken About Entity In Armstrongism

The Philadelphia Church of God recently finished celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, a period of time that they claim portrays the millennium and eternal peace and happiness. Then, just like a typical COG immediately after the Feast, they start harping about Satan, politics, and other useless topics that constantly occupy their minds.

Satan even rears his ugly head the day after Passover when COG followers believe all their sins from the previous year have been wiped clean. They now have a clean slate for another year of grievous sins as Satan starts filling up their scorecards.

Satan, particularly in the COG, is the entity that is mentioned the most in sermons, articles, and broadcasts. Satan is the powerful god of this world and apparently in the eyes of many COG leaders and ministers, He is far more powerful than that seldom-mentioned dude, Jesus Christ. Mention Satan and church leaders and ministers' eyes light up because they have a lot to say about the guy. Mention Jesus and they immediately shut down not knowing what really to say.

Biblical Archaeology Society has this interesting history of Satan in Judaism and Christianity.

In the Hebrew Bible, YHWH’s greatest enemies are not fallen angels commanding armies of demons, nor even the gods of other nations, but, rather, human beings. It isn’t the devil that spreads evil across the face of creation—it is mankind. Other than human beings, YHWH has no nemesis, nor are there malevolent spiritual forces not under his authority. YHWH is ultimately a god of justice. He is behind the good and the bad, behind the blessings and the curses. It is within this divine court of justice and retribution that Satan has his origins. 

 

The Hebrew word śāṭān, meaning “accuser” or “adversary,” occurs several times throughout the Hebrew Bible and refers to enemies both human and celestial alike. When referring to the celestial adversary, the word is typically accompanied by the definite article. He is ha-satan—the Accuser—and it is a job description rather than a proper name. From the Accuser’s appearances in the Books of Job and Zechariah, it seems that the job entails calling attention to the unworthiness of mankind. The Accuser is essentially the prosecuting attorney of the divine court of YHWH, and part of his job includes collecting evidence to prove his cases. With this bit of knowledge in mind, it isn’t difficult to envision the various “outcries against sin,” such as that against Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20–21), as the voice of the Accuser. 

 

It is difficult to determine at which point in Israel’s history the Accuser began to take on a much more sinister role in the Israelite/Jewish belief structure, or how heaven’s great prosecutor became the prince of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). It is certainly easy to make the connection between Israel’s time in exile and the likely influence of the cosmic dualism of Persian religion.1 However, even within books written well after the return from foreign lands, the Accuser is still a self-righteous lawyer. Though if 1 Chronicles 21:1 is any indication,2 they began to believe the Accuser wasn’t above getting his hands dirty. 

 

It is perfectly clear, however, that by the first century C.E., Judaism developed a belief in the divine forces of darkness doing battle against the forces of light. This can be seen within the New Testament and other extra-Biblical writings such as those found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. There are likely several factors that inspired these developments, including the influence of Persian, as well as Hellenistic, religions. 

 

If there was an army of evil spiritual forces making war on the righteous, they had to have a commander. It is at this time that the impersonal and lofty Accuser began to acquire the various names and titles that have filled the writings of western civilization for 2,000 years. The Greek word diabolos (from which “devil” is derived), meaning “slanderer,” comes from a verb that means “to hurl” (i.e., accusations). 

 

Diabolos was typically used as the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew śāṭān (in the Septuagint version of Job, for example), though it was not uncommon to simply transliterate the word into the Greek satanas (1 Kings 11:14). Other names used for the leader of the forces of evil at this time include Maśṭēmāh, which means “hatred” (1QM 13:4, 11; Jubilees 10:8), and Belial, a popular name among the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which means “worthless” or “corrupt.” “Children of Belial” (Hebrew: bene-belial) was a typical phrase used to describe evil people in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Deuteronomy 13:13; 1 Samuel 1:16; 2 Chronicles 13:7, etc.). If someone were searching for a name that personified evil in the Hebrew Bible, it would be Belial, not Satan. Interesting enough, the name only occurs once in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 6:15), as Paul’s stark contrast to Christ.
It is also in this period that we begin to see the development of the tradition of equating the talking serpent in the Garden of Eden with Satan (Life of Adam and Eve xi–xvii). 

 

Etruscan fresco of Typhon from the Tomba del Tifone in Tarquinia, Italy, c. third century B.C.E. According to Greek mythology, the montrous Titan Typhon battled the mighty Zeus, who bound his foe in the dark depths of Tartarus to bring about a new era of peace. 

 

Satan’s role in the New Testament, though highly expanded, has much more in common with the Accuser of the Hebrew Bible than the commander of the armies of darkness that is typically portrayed in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even though he is given such lofty titles as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31), “father of lies” (John 8:44), “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), “ruler of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), and Beelzebul, “ruler of the demons” (Matthew 10:25; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15), Satan is essentially treated as nothing more than a glorified prison warden who has been corrupted by his own power. Throughout the Gospels, Satan’s “kingdom” is never considered to be a burning underworld full of the tormented dead, but, rather, is equated with the bondage of sin and the curses brought upon humanity for acts of unrighteousness. According to Jesus (Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:27; Luke 11:21–22), a “strong man” (Satan) must be bound in order to plunder his house for treasures (humans), and it is clear he viewed his ministry and that of his disciples within this context. All other references to Satan in the New Testament, including those in Revelation, reflect this struggle for spiritual freedom. 

 

Over the course of several centuries of influence from many different cultures, the defeated Accuser of the Christians would go on to appropriate aspects of various divine enemies (Typhon, Hades, Ahriman, Hela, to name but a few) to become the complex mythological monster that was thrown out of heaven at the beginning of time to rule the fiery underworld and torment the souls of the damned. Such a character makes for great movies and Halloween costumes, but would have been virtually unknown to anyone in Biblical times.

The Church of God movement has created its own unique understanding of Satan and the power he has over people. Far too many believe that power is unparalleled. In their eyes, Satan is equal in power to God. 

Yet Christians who understand what Jesus accomplished do not live in a constant state of fear.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers [satanic power included], nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38–89

“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4)