The Sagan Standard: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" and there ain't much.

The application of James 5:14 in the Churches of God to divine healing with or without, most without, medical interventions, was always controversial. Some, of course, will claim   Well, I..." or some family member was miraculously healed by just being anointed, as per James 5:14.  Others, such as myself, after having anointed hundreds for various maladies, most rather harmless but many lethal if not healed, did not experience seeing anyone, and I mean, anyone, dramatically and unquestionably healed by the practice of anointing with oil and the expression of simple faith that it would occur. That is my experience. Your experience may vary. 

I have watched many die in their faith refusing all medical interventions because of the clear mandate in James 5. The problem is with the scripture and the promise, not the ministry who applies it or the person who receives it.

At times, I endeavored to get the member to seek medical attention in addition to "the prayer of faith."  Some were relieved thinking, as I knew they would, they weren't "allowed" to seek medical attention and be a "good and faithful Christian". Privately they felt they needed to, but that "going along to get along" kept them from taking full charge of their health as they sought fit.   I know there were a few who wanted to turn me in for encouraging them to violate their "faith" by suggesting they consider medical attention. I never cared if they did. But it never happened to my knowledge. I did get turned in once for not wanting to attend the happy slappy million man march with Promise Keepers, but that's another tale. 

Others understood and practiced as a matter of course, both anointing for their maladies and medical attention. I and my family fell into this category. It was how I grew up and frankly never could see the topic as being either/or.  

I had a ministerial assistant once who announced to the church in one of his first sermonettes that he would either anoint them for healing or visiting them in the hospital, but not both.  I asked him to retract that the next week. I don't recall if he did or not but the congregation knew that I was not going to put up with that approach. 

It is and always will be an emotional topic in the COGs and in the lives who passed through them. Regrets abound in many lives with the unchangeable decisions and naivete of the past haunting many. There are many tragic stories in church history, and I suspect going all the way back to when James wrote his formula for divine healing with the seeming absolute, "and the sick shall be made well". It does not say, "maybe".  James was sadly mistaken in this simplistic view.  

There are a myriad of arguments on and about this topic, but how it was applied in WCG and yet in a number of WCG debris is still in the classic sense. Some have matured and I suspect as the ministry got older, "God revealed to them that it was ok to seek medical attention as well as be anointed for healing. Herbert Armstrong came to this realization for himself in his final years. 

Personally, the application of James 5:14 never was a safe or even a common sense way to address the afflictions common to man, "even" church members. It was lesson learned the hard way, but I suspect that, like the lesson in the NT that Jesus is coming soon, yet didn't and wasn't, one that hindsight would prove to be less than the only way to go when actually and seriously ill in an effort to exhibit and prove one's faith. 

Perhaps this was only James' opinion. Paul had Luke, whatever kind of physician he was. And it is obvious in NT scripture those two never saw eye to eye on much of anything. 

So if some here are still befuddled by this scripture, it's ok if you don't see eye to eye with your faith only for healing splinter. Take care of yourself and your family and always be willing to remind anyone who thinks they know how you "must be" and how you must practice your faith there are those three classic places they can stay for free.

In your own lane...

Out of our business...

and

Over there...

===============================

Cochlear Implants - 1

Faith Only - 0

I also realize that there are apologetics for James 5:14 that relate it to a spiritual weakness but that does not actually seem to be what was meant by James and physical healing was what he did have in mind. 

https://www.bibleref.com/James/5/James-5-14.html

What does James 5:14 mean?

Verse 14 and 15 have been the source of controversy among Christians. The question James is asking is how should believers respond when we are "sick," and what result should we expect when we take action. Most translations render the Greek word asthenei here as "sick," and many Bible scholars agree that James has in mind a physical illness. Some scholars, however, suggest that James is referring to a spiritual weakness or lack of faith. The Greek word is sometimes translated in that or a similar sense (e.g., Romans 5:6). The word carries mostly a sense of weakness, or being feeble.

If James has spiritual weakness in mind, his instruction is directed at someone who does not feel firm in his faith. This might be because of ongoing suffering or some other cause. Such a person should to call for the elders—the spiritual leaders—of the church to pray for him. This instruction comes with the promise that the Lord will reestablish his faith. And, that any sin responsible for his spiritual weakness will be forgiven.

The other possibility is that James simply means for someone with a physical illness to do the same, with the promise of eventual physical healing and the assurance of forgiveness of sins. Whatever the case, the elders are called to anoint this unwell person with oil in the name of the Lord.

To anoint someone with oil in the culture of the time meant to pour oil over them for one of four possible purposes. Oil was sometimes used in the ancient world as a general medicinal cure. At other times, it was used to express concern, as a physical demonstration of emotional care for a person. Or it's possible that James meant for the oil to be part of a sacrament of healing or a physical symbol that someone was being set apart for God's purposes.

Whatever the specific answers are to these questions, we can all agree on several things from this verse: First, God doesn't intend for Christians to suffer alone. Nor does He want them to pray for themselves in private without ever revealing their problems. Second, God does intend for the spiritual leaders of local churches to be ready and willing to pray together for the struggling people in their congregations.

Gerald Weston Compares Maui Fire To Lot's Wife and Sodom

 

Why is it that COG leaders have to be such total jerks? 

Their minds dwell in a constant state of death and damnation. Utter destruction is constantly present in their graceless minds. 

Just imagine you were a resident of Maui and lost family members or friends in this tragedy and then read what Weston wrote below. 

What can we expect though when Weston and his band of merrymakers look at everyone outside their little enclosed group as so-called or even pagan Christians. Because they don't follow the teaching of Herbert they are blinded sods that will suffer fiery punishment either now or in the future when the angry god of Armstrongism unleashes hell on earth while Weston and his followers picnic in Petra.

Dear Brethren and Co-workers with Christ, 

 

We are all saddened by the fiery devastation that hit the Hawaiian island of Maui. Thousands lost virtually every possession they once had, and the death toll continues to rise. As I write, 99 are confirmed dead, but only 25 percent of the homes and businesses have been searched, so the death toll will almost certainly rise. 

 

We can only imagine the terror of those fleeing the rapidly moving flames. One lady described telling her children to “run and don’t look back.” She then told them not to worry about her. “Just run for your lives.” I could not help but to think of Lot and his family as they were told to flee from Sodom and not to look back. 

 

Nor could I help but to think of a time in the future when the Church of God will flee from Satan’s persecution. “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time [three-and-one-half years], from the presence of the serpent” (Revelation 12:13-14).

He then continues on with this drivel by saying that LCG members and lazy Laodiceans in other COG's will not make it to Petra where he and the truly righteous will receive their final training to be future gods.

While some will flee to a wilderness hideout, we see that other true Christians will hesitate. “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). These are those described in chapter 3 as being neither cold nor hot. “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 3:16-18). 

 

Sadly, many will be caught off guard and will be too spiritually blind to see the danger. As with Lot’s wife, they will look back, not wanting to leave what they have. Jesus speaks of this coming time. “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. ‘In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back’” (Luke 17:28-31).

Weston then brings us back to the Maui fire and talks about Lot's wife, again:

He then gives us this warning. “Remember Lot’s wife [who turned back]. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:32-33). There will be no secret rapture at the time of Christ’s return. There is a time of fleeing—a time to “get out of town” and leave everything behind, just as the people of Lahaina had to do. We do not yet know when that time is.

What happened in Maui was not the time, prophesied in Scripture, of God’s servants fleeing from an enraged Satan, but it holds a lesson for all of us. As in so many disasters, such as 9/11, the difference between immediate action and hesitation may mean the difference between life and death. Tragically, in the case of Lahaina and elsewhere in Maui, the clear path to safety was not always obvious and many innocent lives were lost in the confusion.

Weston cautions to not believe that the Maui residents were worse sinners than the rest of humanity, though secretly LCG members are many steps above those grievous sinners. 

There is another lesson we may learn from this tragedy. We read that, “There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1). Jesus asked this important question: “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (vv. 2-5).

Weston brings up other human tragedies. Tragedies that he and the LCG used to their own benefit as examples of God spanking the world for failing to see that the Living Church of God is the one true church with the one true doctrine that impotent god had lost for 1,900 years. 

Human tragedies occur every day, but occasionally one is so great that it captures widespread and historical attention. Such is the case of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that took an estimated 3000 lives, or the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which claimed some 300. We likely remember the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the 2011 tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant along with thousands of lives. The Maui firestorms will no doubt be etched into our memories.

Weston ends with this:

We look forward to and pray for God’s Kingdom to come. In the meantime, our hearts and prayers go out to the people traumatized by the Maui firestorms.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,

Gerald E. Weston

You can read the rest of his letter here:  August 15, 2023 Co-worker letter

Bricket Wood England Campus Farm Info Solicited

 

I received the following today soliciting information and photos from anyone who worked on the Ambassador College Farm in Bricket Wood:

Good morning to you, 

 

please forgive my unsolicited email, but I came across your website/blog that has much content relating to an area of Hertfordshire that I am researching of former farming activities from the 1950's through to the 1980's.

I fully approciate that my ask may not be considered , however I would like to ask you and your forum if there are any photos and materials relating to the farming that the college conducted during its ownership of the Bricket Wood campus.

Any and all information relating to the farming activities will be of great interest to me and I do appreciate that it may well not be of interest for you to support my request.

I am not posting his email address here due some of the crazies that may cause issues. If you have information/photos and want to converse with him, email me and I will connect the two of you.

no2hwa@yahoo.com