Thursday, August 22, 2024

Um...Why Is LCG Warnng Us About False Teachers?

 

Living Church of God wants to warn us about false teachers. We know this was posted quite a while back in response to Bob Thiel's heretical blasphemies, but isn't it the pot calling the kettle black? Isn't the Living Church of God also filled with false ministers?

Sadly, the Church of God today is filled with wolves masquerading as true ministers of God who are dominant out one blasphemy after another. Great will be the day when Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, Ron Wienland, and Dave Pack are silenced!

Beware of False Teachers: Warnings about false teachers are found throughout the Bible. Jesus warned they will come in “sheep’s clothing” (smooth-talking, congenial, appearing spiritual), but are actually “ravenous wolves” seeking to divide and devour the flock of God (Matthew 7:15–19). As the end of the age approaches, Jesus warned that “many will come in My name” claiming to be representatives of Christ “and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:3–5). The Apostle Paul warned that these false teachers would be guided by a different spirit and preach a different gospel about a different Jesus, and are actually ministers of Satan masquerading as ministers of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:4–15). Peter warned they will promote “destructive heresies” that deny the truth of Scripture—and that many will follow their erroneous teachings (2 Peter 2:1–3). Let’s remember these warnings and ask God for the discernment to recognize false teachers and their misguided ideas (2 Timothy 1:6–7)—because we will all be tested in this crucial area.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

The Philadelphia Church of God Lashes Out Against Modern Day Idolatry And Falls Flat On Its Face

 


The Philadelphia Church of God broadcast their complete utter hypocrisy really well today when they reposted an article from 2011 that Lil'Stevie Flurry wrote, The Sin of Idolatry - It’s more common than you might think. 

That is pretty rich considering how the PCG worships Herbert Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages, the Book of Malachi, and the supposed prayer rock of HWA, which is now the new coronation stone that Jesus will return to be crowned King of Kings upon. Also, don't forget how they dance around this rock in Celtic pagan ecstasy in their stage shows that travel the Midwest paying homage and honor to it.

But seriously, how could we expect anything less, considering how Armstrongism has failed to look inwardly at itself and its actions over the last eight decades. That is why we are where we are today, an absolute shitshow of idiocy and blasphemy.

Lil Stevie writes in the very first paragraph:

Of all God’s commandments, the ban on idolatry might seem the most outdated. It must be for another age, many assume—when people offered sacrifices before man-made statues or deified the sun, moon and stars.

Notice this from Shane Granger of the PCG:

Shane Granger of Armstrong Auditorium talks about the pagan roots of Irish dance and how the PCG celebrates the paganism:

Riverdance is based on the story of the Irish people. The beginning of the show deals with the first settlers coming to Ireland and realizing the power of the land. This part of the show incorporates symbolic elements representing the sun, the moon, thunder, lightning and water. The stories and themes are heavily influenced by Celtic mythology. The second half of the show deals with the Irish people’s emigration to America. Scenes depicting Irish immigrants and African-Americans sharing dance and song illustrate the unifying power of these human experiences. The Riverdance finale shows how the Irish people have joined the various communities of the world while retaining their heritage through music and dance.

Nothing like a little sun, moon, and nature worship to go along with the worship of Herbert Armstrong in the PCG!  The PCG talks about Riverdance in all its promotion when it comes to promoting its Irish dancing members.  The show has always had a great following regardless of the countries it has played in.  It's a fascinating evening of dance all filled with one pagan reference after another.

Some of the lyrics of Riverdance include this in its opening act:

Out of the dark we came
Out of the sea
Where the long wave broke on the shore
As the day broke and the night rolled back
There we stood
On the land we would call home
Out of the dark we came
Out of the night,
The first of many mornings in this new place
When the sun rolled back the mist
We rose like a strong wave on land
Now we were the people of this place
What burns through through the mist?
What banishes rain and dark?
What makes the children straight and bright?
What makes the mountain sharp?
The sun is our lord and father
Bright face at the gate of day
Comfort of home, cattle, and crop
Lord of the morning, lord of the day
Lifting our hearts we sing his praise
Dance in his healing rays
Blessed Beltaine

                                                                       Celtic Sun Worship 

From the 2014 article here on Banned: Are Philadelphia Church of God Elite Children Now Dancing to Honor the Sun - Their Lord and Father?

A little further down Lil Stevie writes:

Notice: “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the Lord your God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 26:1-2).

Keep my sabbaths, God said, and don’t bow down to idols. These were the two great test commandments for the people of Israel. Now why would God emphasize these two? Because these two, more than the others, were designed to keep man in the closest, most intimate contact with his Maker!

Gerald Flurry's teachings and Armstrongism are designed to keep people isolated from the Christ they all claim to follow and yet do not know.

He continues:

Now notice how the Second Commandment flows right out of the great command to put God above all else. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God …” (verses 4-5).

This commandment obviously forbids the use of any physical substitutes or aids man sets up in order to “worship” God. But what about the spiritual idols we set up in our hearts, as it says in Ezekiel 14:3? We may not bow down to physical idols made of stone, wood or precious metals, but our modern world is filled with idolatry just the same!

How can we forget Gerald Flurry traveling to Oregon, traipsing around the woods, begging the land owner if he could buy the rock, digging it up, transporting it to Edmond Oklahoma, positioning it in a garden for meditation and contemplation, then encasing it in a display cabinet on a bed of royal purple velvet, and then later placing it in the coronation chair used in their traveling Irish dance stage productions. 

Idolatry leads to pleasure seeking which leads to wasting money on these pleasures instead of sending it all to Gerald Flurry and Lil'Stevie.

Pleasure-seeking also separates a lot of people from God—things like entertainment and sports or excessive television viewing. God’s way of life, after all, is demanding. Among other things, God expects us to observe His weekly and annual sabbaths, to tithe on all of our income and to seek Him daily through effectual fervent prayers and diligent Bible study. If we spend most of our leisure time pursuing things other than God, this might be an idol.

His article ends with this, proving once and for all that the PCG has failed miserably in its idolatrous lifestyle.

“Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” Paul wrote to the brethren at Corinth, well over a thousand years after Israel had come out of Egyptian captivity. He knew well that the idolatry command was not meant for some bygone age. It was written for us. Like the rest of the Ten Commandments, it applies to our time today!

And it remains, even to this day, as one of two critically important testcommands. If faithfully obeyed, it automatically draws us closer to our Maker!

Keep yourselves from idols, as John wrote to conclude his first epistle. Give God first place in your life. Make your relationship with Him more important than anyone or anything else. Nothing in this material life is as important as that. 



Tuesday, August 20, 2024

:Same Fruit-Different Tree: The Bob Jones University Cult is WCG and Ambassador College on Steroids.



I spent more than two decades just down the street from Bob Jones University. My practice was just a few blocks down the same street the campus was located on.  It didn't take long to realize that BJU produced and continues to produce the same drama, scandal and blowback that WCG/AC did. Truly two birds of a feather if there ever was one. 

Bob Jones Sr was a contemporary of HWA and was said to detest HWA as both competed on the radio for the religious audience. Bob Jones Sr also detested Billy Graham, a graduate of BJU because Graham went him therefore into all the world and avoiding the world was classic BJU. 

A client told me of the sermon Bob Jones Sr gave assuring the students that it would be over his dead body when kissing was ever allowed on this campus. In time he died and ended up being buried on the campus. You guessed it. It is now the place where forbidden couples go to kiss. 

Bob Jones University has its own gay community that it is in complete denial over.  My gay BJU clients assured me that they did well on the campus. BJU has an excellent music program as well as theatre. Their art collection is incredible. I asked how they managed to lay low on the campus to which they said it was easy. Not wishing to date women, they looked like very compliant and obedient students concerning the prohibition against dating. Students were forbidden to stand around with the girls to chat. They had to chat on the move. I met a student who was expelled for catching a female student in a fall. He was told it would have been better to let her fall than to touch her. 

Dating was by permission and dating outside the campus required the couple to take a faculty member with them. In reality, I was assured that paying off the faculty member to not stick around was also not unheard of. 

As legalists, BJU graduates of go into ministry, police work or City Government in Greenville. Control and Bible based law and order was the goal. It drove the good old boys nuts when BMW and the Germans moved to Greenville and wouldn't have part in their control. 

When I asked clients, gay/male or female who found the experience authoritarian and controlling the answer was always the same. It's the only school my parents will pay for. As well, going against their local church connected to BJU was a death sentence spiritually. Guilt, fear and shame is a powerful control mechanism. 

I present this to those who might be interested in seeing the WCG/AC experience was and is not unique. It is the product of fundamentalism, authoritarianism and getting mixed up with the one-man founder and show where it becomes a family dynasty over time. 

Many a BJU graduate spends years overcoming the experience. 

This will resonate with most here on Banned