Monday, September 2, 2024

Has The Church of God Ever Been "Kind"?

Living Church of God had this up for Doug Winnail's weekly update for August  22, 2024

The Importance of Kindness: The Bible reveals that in the last days, people will be “unloving, unforgiving, slanderers… brutal” (2 Timothy 3:1–4). However, God wants Christians to develop godly qualities and become like He is, “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness” (Nehemiah 9:17). David writes that God “has shown me His marvelous kindness” (Psalm 31:21). Solomon says of a virtuous woman: “on her tongue is the law of kindness” (Proverbs 31:26). Jesus said that God is even “kind to the unthankful” and we should be likewise (Luke 6:35). The Apostle Paul wrote that true Christian love “suffers long and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4) because kindness is one of the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). If we hope to become like God and be in the Kingdom of God, we will strive to develop and exercise this important quality of kindness.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

While these questions include LCG in them they also apply as a whole to the Church of God movement. 

Has the Church of God, as a whole, ever practiced kindness to its members? 

Has the ministry been kind to its members? 

Has their version of kindness been only restricted to church members or has it shown kindness to the world?

Has the church been "unloving, unforgiving, slanderers...brutal?" to its members?

Can church members learn godly qualities by how they have been treated by church leaders and ministers?

Does the love of members "suffer long and is kind?

Do you believe that you will be a good god considering how you treat people today in this lifetime?

Book: Broken Trust: A practical guide to identify and recover from toxic faith, toxic church, and spiritual abuse



Have You Been Hurt by Spiritual Abuse?

If you have suffered spiritual abuse from a toxic church, toxic organization, or toxic leader, your trust has been broken. You entrusted your life to someone you thought would care for you: someone who initially inspired you to know God, only to reject you in the end. Now you are left wounded and disillusioned, wondering if you can ever trust others, yourself, or possibly even God, again.

The Impact of Spiritual Abuse

Most people don't understand the devastating impact of spiritual abuse. Many suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of experiencing it. If you think your spiritual community might be abusive, or you have just left an abusive congregation, then this book could give you the direction you are looking for. In "Broken Trust,"

Broken Trust Is a Guide Out of Spiritual Abuse

F. Remy Diederich relates his personal experiences of toxic faith and spiritual abuse along with the experiences of other survivors. But this isn't just another tell-all story of abuse; it's a guide that will help you to first identify spiritual abuse, and then offer you a practical plan for recovery. Diederich is convinced that God is the God of resurrection and restoration. He believes you can begin again.

One of the Best Books on Spiritual Abuse
One review wrote: "As a spiritual abuse survivor and blogger, I have now read dozens of books about this topic. Many are academic in nature, or very dense. I am comfortable saying that this book provides the clearest, simplest, most helpful coverage of spiritual abuse and recovery." Stephen A. Smith, libertyforcaptives.com

Broken Trust" builds on the wisdom laid out in previous books on the topic, such as "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse," by Dave Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderen.

The book is laid out in five parts: 
 
Part One: Defining Toxic Faith and Spiritual Abuse
Part Two: Practical Steps to Deal with Spiritual Abuse
Part Three: The Road to Recovery
Part Four: I Left My Toxic Church…Now What?
Part Five: How to Rescue Your Church From Spiritual Abuse (advice to leaders) 
 
The book draws wisdom from the examples of toxic faith in Paul's letter to the Galatians to show that spiritual abuse is not new to the church.

The Author Understands You and Spiritual Abuse

Diederich's words are not religious or preachy but he writes in the typical "down-to-earth" fashion he's shown in his other helpful books. He speaks in a personal tone that will encourage you to understand yourself, your abuser, and the steps you can take to reclaim your relationship with God and, if possible, your relationship with the church or spiritual community. Be sure to read the reviews to see how Broken Trust has helped many people break free from spiritual abuse.

Sunday, September 1, 2024

Stinking Pile Of Feculence That Claims To Be A Church Leader Maligns Dr. Stavrinides

 

Dr. Stavrinides died the other day and just like clockwork the ravenous wolves of Armstrongism started peeing on the ground marking their territory as they sought to malign his character and his faith.  

Most of this bad-mouthing has come from self-appointed stinking turds masquerading as faithful men of God who in rebellious fits of vile impertinence decided they were better than everyone else and started their own little cults. 

Castrated from the very start by Herbert Armstrong's very own words condemning their actions, these little men struggle to find position and honor in their tiny little apostate communities as they continually lash out at others who are better than they are.

This brings us today to our great Bwana Bob Thiel, the chief overseer of the improperly named "continuing" Church of a lesser "god". Nothing pops his holistic cork more than COG and former COG members being more successful than he is and having a better relationship with God than he does.

After he read the notice I put up on this blog and copied the exact information I posted on this blog, he set about maligning the character and faith of Dr. Stavrinides. Dr. Stav's religious knowledge, his historical knowledge, and his ability to debate and examine issues of importance make the superficial crap that was spoonfed the Great Bwana Bob by Armstrongism and his spiritual daddy, Rod Meredith look like baby pablum curdling on the highchair. Dr. Stav could have wiped the floor with Bwana Bob's so-called intellect many times over, but he was too good of a person to do that. Not so with Bwana Bob.

The Chief Overseer of Feculence starts off by claiming Dr Stav's church, where he was a Greek Orthodox priest, said he was God. Can Bwana Bob really be THIS stupid? Godly men who practice their faith will always be said by their associates, members, and others as God sent to them. In no manner whatsoever do any of these people claim the person is God. That is blasphemy in almost every branch of Christianity except in Armstrongism and Mormonism which both teach humans will be God.

Bwana Bob says:

No, Orthodox church, he was NOT “God sent to us as a church.” That is a blasphemous statement.

His parish wrote in his obituary:

We are truly going to miss you. We have learned so many things from him. He has taught us to love and respect each other.You were God sent to us as a church. Not only we got the best priest, we also got a very educated priest who just loved to teach and guide us in the right way. He never gave up on us. He always remained committed to the church, even having to endure a two-hour drive plus traffic from Glendora to Saint George Orthodox Church Hesperia. We are extremely grateful to meet you and spend lots of time with him. 
 
No matter how busy things got, he always made time for the people he cared about, and showed us that family always comes first no matter what. Everyone who knew him knew how proud he was of the people he loved, 
 
He stressed the significance of attending church and emphasized the need to prioritize it. He used to say, (We always should put God first before anything) 
 
Father Alexander had the Bible memorized. Any question you ask, he would say go to this verse and chapter. 

Here we have a group of people who recognized the God-given attributes that Dr. Stav epitomized and practiced to all around him. He epitomized godly attributes as all REAl Christians are supposed to be doing (except for Bob Thiel, apparently). He was not God on earth or sent as a God to his church. Greek Orthodox Christians would be appalled how some small-minded iniquitous man such as Bwana Bob would say this.

Bwana Bob continues on trying to malign him.

Dr. K. J. Stavrinides had been a member of the old Worldwide Church of God. 
 
After Herbert W. Armstrong died and the Tkach Administration was in place, he rose from being basically a little known teacher to being one who tried to persuade the membership to change and embrace the Greco-Roman trinity that was enforced by Emperor Theodosius.

Dr Stave was not a "little-known" teacher. He was highly respected by students, faculty, and church members for his intellect and his Biblical knowledge, something that Bwana Bob is greatly lacking in. He wrote numerous articles for church publications and was sought out by other institutions for his knowledge and expertise.

Next, the Bwana tries to smear his name by attaching him to Tkach jr and the God Is... booklet. The God Is...booklet was a wake-up call for many in the church to examine how we understood God.

Bwana Bob then tries to smear him one more time by stating he taught at Azusa Pacific University as if this is some kind of great blasphemy. APU is highly rated for its education, nursing, religious, and other teaching areas. It has also been in existence since 1899, something that Armstrongism was never able to accomplish with its three colleges or even its church!

Dr Stav's students rated him highly, something that Bwana Bob has never accomplished. Imagine at any point from this moment forward that anyone and I repeat ANYONE would EVER say this about Bob Thiel:











Again, I ask...will you ever hear ANYONE ever talk about Bob Thiel in this manner? Even his own church, the Living Church of God which kicked him out, never had anything good to say about him and still doesn't to this day.

Only those who are part of the highly chosen of Bwana Bob's cult are the faithful, chosen, and called by God. Dr Stav, not so much, and even worse for Tkach Jr.

It is those who truly hold to the original faith that are called, chosen, and faithful. 
 
Sadly, Dr. Stavrinides, Hank Hanegraaff, Joseph Tkach, Jr. and many thousands who had at least some affiliation with the old Worldwide Church of God fell away from being faithful. 
 
Do not follow their poor legacy.

No one in their right mind would ever be following the Great Bwana Bob Thiel. Do NOT follow his poor "legacy", if we can even call it that. In a few short years, no one will remember Bwana Bob, know what he taught, or will even be part of his so-called church.

Dr Stavrinides will be remembered for a long time. Bob Thiel, not so much.