CGI’s Mike James: The Sabbatarian Churches of God Are REAL Christians - everybody else, NOT so much!

CGI’s Mike James: The Sabbatarian Churches of God Are REAL Christians - everybody else, NOT so much!

Lonnie Hendrix

In the latest edition of their flagship publication, The International News, Mike James generously admits that he “can’t be sure of who God will raise from death to meet Him in the air at His Second Coming.” He went on to ask: “Could there be Christians there who were not part of the Church of God movement?” Unfortunately, while Mike acknowledges that there might indeed be a few of those so-called Christians in the mix, he makes clear that he believes sincerity isn’t that important in securing a spot in the preferred resurrection! He reminds us that “sincere people can be sincerely deceived.”

To demonstrate the truth of his assertion, James went on to quote the standard ACOG prooftexts about how everybody is deceived except them. Naturally, Herbert Armstrong’s absolute favorite was first. You remember – the one which identifies Satan as “the deceiver of the whole world.” (Revelation 12:9) Of course, it is understood by everyone within the ACOG culture that they are NOT part of the WHOLE world which has been deceived (After all, God has revealed “His” TRUTH to them). In similar fashion, they exempt themselves from the many who proclaim Christ and lead others astray (Matthew 24:5). Likewise, they also exempt themselves from all of those false messiahs and prophets which Christ mentioned in those same remarks (verse 24). This, despite the fact that the movement has produced numerous demonstrably false prophets down through the years (beginning with its founder, Herbert Armstrong)!

From there, predictably, James went on to underscore the importance of the “truths” which he and his associates claim that God has revealed to them. He asked: “Does it matter if we observe holidays or holy days? Does it matter if we keep Sunday for the Sabbath? Do we live on in a conscious state after death or not? Are people in heaven or hell right now?” Of course, for Mike and his brothers and sisters in the ACOGs, there is only ONE TRUTH (and they have it, and others don’t)!

According to Mike, belief in Christ isn’t enough. He wrote: “Many Christians today believe you are a Christian if you believe that Jesus lived and died for us and rose from the dead. Scriptures that are cited for this idea are Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 2:2, and John 3:16. Now let me be clear—I agree with these scriptures, but what does it mean to believe in someone or something?” In other words, you must observe the Old Covenant holy days, shun traditional “pagan” holidays, observe the Sabbath, and believe that people remain unconscious when they die and do not go to heaven or hell! They simply do NOT understand that the entire message of Scripture is ALL about Jesus Christ and salvation through him – that THAT is what we MUST believe and accept. In short, our beliefs and practices are really rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things. What you or I believe about what happens when a person dies does not alter what actually happens one iota! We could keep the Sabbath flawlessly for our entire lives and still accomplish absolutely NOTHING!

So, how does one really know whether or not someone is a real Christian? Jesus once said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) Now, Mr. James quoted an impressive list of prooftexts (a favorite device of the ACOGs), but he did NOT reference Christ’s simple statement about how to identify his disciples. Isn’t that peculiar? Instead, Mr. James focused on a long list of things that we should believe and do to demonstrate our love for God. Nevertheless, spiritual understanding is NOT listed among the fruits (or evidence) of the presence of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and Paul said that salvation was NOT accomplished by works (Ephesians 2: 1-10).

Why? Why can’t these folks simply believe in and accept Jesus Christ? Could it be that they’re deceived? Could it have anything to do with a need to feel superior to other Christians? In his article, Mike wrote: “Now I know no one group has all the truth or understands all Scripture completely. But I think most of you would agree that on major doctrines like the state of the dead, the nature of God, the Kingdom of God, heaven and hell, the nature of man, God’s law, worship days, and much more there is a big gap between what the Church of God movement believes and what mainline Christianity believes.” Later, in this same article, he wrote: “God has always been working through a small minority of people. In the book of Genesis there are not many people who walked with God.” For Mike and his associates, it’s all about their special little package of doctrines – it’s what sets them apart from all of the rest! So, don’t look for them to give up on what they see as their advantage over everyone else anytime soon.

As the end time is imminent, Satan's wrath is doubling down on the greatest COG in human history!

 

Satan is angry! And, I mean ANGRY! 

The greatest Church for God to exist in the entirety of Christendom is being attacked AGAIN! 

Never has the Church of God movement had a church that has been attacked more than the improperly named  "continuing" Church of "god". 

When God and Jesus sat around their kitchen table in the 7th heaven planning the foundations of the world and how the great Bwana Bob Mzungu Thiel would fit into it, they deviously planned numerous persecutions to test the faith of the greatest prophet the church would ever see. They had to make sure the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu would be able to stand the test like Jesus would have to do, at least short the crucifixion part...though knowing the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu to come, he would dream dreams that this would eventually happen to him at some point in the future. All because he printed so many booklets in so many languages that Satan could not keep up with them all and thus would kill him to stop him.

That constant persecution of the devious Satan and his wiley minions brings us to today. It appears that the Christian radio station that had agreed to host Bwana Bob Mzungu's sermons has reneged. On July 20 the Great Bwana Bob Mzungu wrote:

Well, we are now facing some radio issues as the Protestant management of one of our radio platforms believes that it should break its contractual promises and not keep its word regarding hosting our radio broadcast. I wrote several emails to them related to their anti-CCOG plan this week. 

 

Their improper plan brought the following words of Jesus to mind when He dealt with those who thought they were faithful to God:

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ (John 15:18-25)

It is interesting how Bwana Bob Mzungu goes out of his way to denigrate Christians by calling them "so-called Christians" or even worse PROTESTANTS, and then gets his delicate Bwana butt hurt over them canceling his program. Bwana Bob Mzungu will use so-called Christians for his benefit and think that is ok while trashing them on the sidelines. Hypocrisy continually drips from the Great Bwana Mzungu. But, this is Bwana Bob, what more can we expect?

Still hurting from the humiliation of being canceled due to his nastiness and heretical teachings, and with a little help from people on this blog who wrote to the stations exposing Bwana Bob, he had to write some more about it in this week's letter to his 100 faithful Caucasians still screaming PERSECUTION:

As mentioned last week, a Protestant radio network we were using decided against fulfilling the contract term and we were looking at other radio platforms. 

 

Jesus said: 

 

20 If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you (John 15:20).

33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Satan cannot stop the church (cf. Matthew 16:18).

However, Satan and his allies can certainly persecute and attack (1 Peter 5:8-9).

This whiny little turd has no idea what persecution is. Ask the Christians in India, Africa, Iraq, Iran, and China what persecution is. Hundreds of thousands of them have died for their faith while Bwana Bob pitches little hissy-fits on the internet while sitting in his air-conditioned home while claiming they are not real Christians. 

In June 2023, before Bwana Bob Mzungu wrote on July 20 about the intense persecution he was facing, this article came out:

New Report on Christian Persecution Paints Grim Picture of Africa

By Agnes Aineah
Nairobi, 25 June, 2023 / 9:20 pm (ACI Africa).

Out of the 28 countries where Christians are most persecuted in the world, 13 are African, the Religious Freedom Report 2023 shows, painting a grim picture of religious freedom on the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent.

Published on Thursday, June 22 by the Catholic pontifical and charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, the report lists the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Somalia, Eritrea, Libya, as some of the African countries where Christians are persecuted the most in Africa.

The ACN report categorizes countries experiencing religious freedom restrictions into four: persecution, discrimination, under observation, and unclassified.

Other African countries in the persecution category are Mozambique, Cameroon, Chad, and Sudan.

Marcela Szymanski, the editor of the ACN report, says that during the period under review, intense persecution in all the 28 countries “became more acute and concentrated, and impunity grew.”

Toward the end of the article, there is this:

Meanwhile, the Religious Freedom Report 2023 lists other categories of religious-based restriction, including the discrimination category that includes 33 countries that together, are home to almost 853 million people.

In this category, new laws are being enforced, effectively legalizing the violation of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion of specific groups. In Africa, these countries include Ethiopia, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Madagascar.

Countries listed under observation in Africa include South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Guinea Conakry, Ghana, and Togo.

Bwana Bob sits in his wonderful home in Arroyo Grande, works out of a storefront in Grover Beach that he can afford to pay the mortgage on, has freedom of religion due to the country he lives in, lives the good life due to his white privilege, and yet whines like a little school girl who doesn't get her way.

This intense persecution was so difficult that he found another radio station group that would play his programs. Persecution? What persecution?

So, while one door has been shut, others have opened up. 

 

We have signed a deal with Legacy Broadcasting, Inc. to be on twice a day, five days per week at 11:45 am and 11:45 pm. 

 

Legacy Broadcasting, Inc. currently has four radio stations and is building a fifth, with the intention of ultimately having scores of stations–we have made arrangements for being on up to nine stations with them.

Furthermore, we are scheduled to go on the 50,000 watt WEMM FM 107.9 out of West Virginia (this is not related to Legacy) starting this Sabbath.

Once again, he mocks Christians and denigrates them every time he opens his mouth, but has no problem whatsoever using them for his own interests. 

Are there no men who are leaders in the Church of God movement who have integrity anymore? Or better yet, morals?

Church of God Magazines And Their Angry God

The 7th Day Churches of God site has a sub-column that highlights COG news and also lists several COG/Sabbatarian monthly publications.

It is quite interesting to browse through them occasionally. Some are more Christocentric than others. Some could be sold on newsstands as competition for NewsMax or other "far-right" publications that are constantly bemoaning the state of the world. 

One would imagine that for some Church of God groups that place so much heavy emphasis on a kingdom to come that their public articles would be more focused on what a glorious world it will be and how to bring those concepts into life today as a foretaste of that kingdom. But death, disasters, human tragedy, moral decay, and every other negative thing they can find to write about are far more important than ever mentioning Jesus or putting into practice what he taught and how he acted. 

God the Father is eternally pissed off and can't wait to unleash armageddon on the world. When church members are constantly confronted by this angry pissed-off god in its own publications it's no wonder so many have mental health issues or end up leaving the church.

These publications are:

The July-August 2023 issues are now on-line:

Bible Sabbath Association : Sabbath Sentinel

Church of God 7th Day (Denver) : Bible Advocate

Church of God 7th Day (Salem) : Advocate of Truth

Church of God International : International News

Church of God a Worldwide Association : Discern

Living Church of God : Tomorrow’s World

United Church of God : Beyond Today

COG7 (Denver) is the most Christocentric publication of them all. Grace, sanctification, and justification are talked about a lot.

COG7 (Salem) is far more legalistic than COG7 Denver. One can quickly see why there was a split between the two groups decades ago. Law trumps everything.

CGI's magazine could be a rebrand of NewsMax. If there is a negative story in the world this publication will be sure to highlight it. Grace-focused articles are few. Angry God and Jesus God seldom meet.

COGWA and UCG's magazines tend to be more like the old Plain Truths that took current world events, dissected them, and then had to begrudgingly mention Jesus in the last one or two paragraphs. Angry God still tends to dominate.

LCG's magazine continues the doom and gloom of Rod Meredith's era with a few angry Jesus things thrown in occasionally. Here, angry God the Father predominantly dominates.