The endless cycle of appeasing angry God
It has to be tiring for Living Church of God members to constantly be reminded that they are incapable of doing anything right. Heck, even that first day after Passover every year they start getting treated like incompetent sinful Laodicean, and thus start another year of trying to do good to gain favor in God's eyes. It ends up being an endless cycle that usually ends up overwhelming the average church member.
What Is in Your Heart? The Bible reveals that God looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). God chose David to be king because he was a “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22). What did God see in David’s heart? God saw David would “do all My will” (Acts 13:22). David was teachable, and he “loved” God’s law and meditated on it daily so he could gain God’s mind and perspective (Psalm 119:97, 105). David did not argue with the Scriptures or look for ways to get around God’s instructions (Psalm 119:16, 18, 27). David praised God with his whole heart (Psalm 119:1–2) and repented wholeheartedly when he was wrong (Psalm 51). This is why David will reign as king over Israel in the coming Kingdom (Ezekiel 37:24). God is testing our hearts today (Psalm 7:9) to see if we are developing the mind of God (Galatians 2:20). The Bible reveals that our reward, to reign with Jesus Christ in the Kingdom, will be based on what is in our heart.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
Basic Christian understanding has long understood that salvation starts and ends with faith through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Trying to constantly do good works to appease the angry god accomplishes nothing other than exhausting the one trying to do good all the time.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 NRSVUE
And, in even simpler more relatable terms:
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. Ephisians 2: 8-10 The Message
That should be good news to anyone struggling to endlessly appease their angry god.
Galatians 3:10 - 11 says:
10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is reckoned as righteous before God by the law, for “the one who is righteous will live by faith.”[a] Galatians 3:10-11. NRSVUE
Again, in simpler relatable terms:
9-10 So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.”
11-12 The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.” Galatians 3:10-12 The Message
Legalists in the church never seem to be able to get past all the rules. The rules MUST be obeyed, no matter how minuscule they are, and yet Church of God ministers and leaders demand that their followers do it. No member has ever been able to do it right in their sight and constantly needs to be reminded what worthless worms they really are. Yet, just look at the stinking mess the lives of Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, Ron Weinland, Alton Billingsley, Gerald Weston, and others are constantly in. They never hold themselves accountable to the same rules that they dump on members. It is all about obeying the rules while destroying the broader context of God's love and redemption.
Incidnelty, there is nothing wrong with doing good work. People whose lives have been so richly blessed want to share that goodness with others, not for their own horn-blowing nor to appease an angry god, but because their lives have been enriched beyond their wildest expectations.
Sadly, the church has spent the last 80-some years prostrating itself to the law instead of being on a journey with the Christ they claim to follow.
The concepts of grace, justification, and sanctification are beyond the grasp of COG leadership and most members because the leadership has never understood it nor taught it. They fail to understand that followers of Christ are pronounced righteous through faith in Christ alone, not by any efforts of our own, especially in lawkeeping.
