Armstrongism like many cults, always has had people pushed over the edge. When your entire belief system continually makes you out to be a worthless, sinful and doomed human being; what hope is there?
Just take a look at a typical COG 'Passover' service. You are made to feel like human excrement because you dared walk in the room. You are unworthy to even be there. They read those scriptures over and over.
And then the ministry rise up in all their pompous glory and pull the microphone down low over the tray of matzo's. Then they start breaking the matzo's. Making sure to go as slow and deliberate as possible. They want to make sure you re-crucify Jesus over and over , year after year, decade after decade. When you walk out of the room that evening you don't know Jesus any more than you did when you walked in the room.
When you have no hope all joy has been taken from you because you are exhausted trying to measure up. You try to attend all services, Bible Study's, choir practices, spokesmen clubs, helping people move, painting the minsters home and cleaning his house then what fun is left? You don't have time to do anything away from church members. And if you do, you feel guilty.
Here is story about a man in the WCG who killed his family and himself. The relatives blame Armstrongism
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Religion was key to slain Lessard family, relatives say
By DIANA COSTELLO
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: February 24, 2007)
Steven and Kathy Lessard of Lake Peekskill were quiet people who met at a church event as young adults and deepened their devotion to God as they traveled to religious festivals around the country.
Polite. Generous. Personable.
These are the qualities people who knew them -whether intimately or just in passing -attributed to the couple and their only child, Linda.
"If you're standing in line and somebody looks in your basket and sees you've got fewer things and lets you go by -that's the kind of kindness I'm talking about," said the Rev. Jeffrey Broadnax of the Worldwide Church of God, an evangelical Christian denomination. "They were always just really pleasant people, and you just enjoyed being around them."
But the family's final chapter ended in tragedy last week, authorities said, when Steven Lessard strangled his wife and 14-year-old daughter before thrusting a steak knife into his groin to kill himself.
The gruesome event has since taken a toll on family and friends, who say they are struggling to make sense of a fate they never imagined would befall what had seemed to be a lovely family.
Autopsies have led police to think that 51-year-old Steven Lessard strangled his 48-year-old wife with his bare hands the night of Feb. 15 or early Feb. 16. He then used a ligature to strangle his daughter when she returned from school the afternoon of Feb. 16, police told the wife's family.
He tucked them both into their beds once they were dead.
Lessard took his own life by cutting the femoral artery on the right side of his groin sometime after 3 p.m. Saturday, police said.
He had been receiving psychiatric treatment for emotional problems and was worried about losing his job at the Indian Point nuclear power station in Buchanan, where he had been put on leave this month for overreacting to a flat tire on his car.
In conversations, one aspect of the Lessards' lifestyle that has emerged as a sore spot with relatives was their involvement with the Worldwide Church of God.
The church was founded in Oregon in 1933 by Herbert W. Armstrong, who viewed himself as an apostle chosen by God.
Under his leadership, the church followed a strict interpretation of the Old Covenant. As such, members were forbidden to celebrate such traditional Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter.
Armstrong's death in 1986, however, was the beginning of the end for the church's restrictive philosophy.
His successor initiated a series of doctrinal changes and set forth a new proclamation in 1995 that transformed the movement into a mainstream evangelical denomination. The National Association of Evangelicals voted to accept the Worldwide Church of God into its membership in May 1997.
Steven and Kathy Lessard apparently met at a Church of God event in the Baltimore area, according to Kathy's family.
They had belonged to the Mount Kisco branch since at least 1993, according to Broadnax, who became pastor that year.
He described the family as active participants, frequently attending services and church events throughout the country.
But the family left the church about the same time it joined the evangelical association.
It was also around the time the Mount Kisco church relocated to Armonk and the family bought a home in Lake Peekskill after moving from Cortlandt.
Helen Beach, Steven Lessards' mother, said the family was upset about the church's new direction.
"I know they were very unhappy. I don't remember the specifics," Beach, 78, said by telephone from her Florida home.
After leaving, the family members apparently did not belong to any formal religious organization, but nevertheless continued to follow the same customs they had been living by, Beach said.
They read the Bible. They loved God. And they still shunned traditional Christian holidays.
That infuriated Lessard's mother, who had raised her son Methodist and said his family must have been brainwashed. She said her son had returned to a Methodist church within the past few months.
Kathy Lessard's family also was troubled by the couple's approach to the holidays. Kathy was raised in a Catholic tradition, attending church in South Baltimore, her family said.
"We were told very clearly that we could never send a Christmas gift or even a card at Easter time. They did not have a Christmas tree or house ornaments," said her nephew, Michael Aro, 38, of Glen Burnie, Md.
It particularly bothered Rosella Aro, who was married to Kathy Lessard's brother.
"I'd see something in a store and think of Linda, the same age as my granddaughter, and would want to get it for her, but then I remembered that they would not want me to," she said this week.
"I did send a holiday card for the New Year and was told that was all right. We never got one back."
Since the local church turned more mainstream, it has seen membership drop to about 70 families from about 250, mirroring declines and splits in the Worldwide Church. The church overall says it has 67,000 members in more than 100 countries.
Seeing Steven Lessard labeled as a "killer" and "family annihilator" in the newspapers has hurt Broadnax, who said he doesn't view him that way and trusts God will deal judgment appropriately.
"We do believe that in the afterlife all people will stand before God and will have to give account for themselves," said Broadnax, who lives in Peekskill. "We believe that God is a merciful God who judges what we can't see as human beings. He judges the heart, not always just the actions."
Staff writer Barbara Livingston Nackman contributed to this report.
Reach Diana Costello at dcostell@lohud.com or 845-228-2278.
Religion Key To Murder
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Family of murder victims shocked at the brutality of their deaths
By BARBARA LIVINGSTON NACKMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Related Articles:
Tragedy divides relatives of slain family
Mother of man who killed wife, daughter, self: Psychiatrist 'could have stopped it'
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(Original publication: February 23, 2007)
PUTNAM VALLEY - After Steven Lessard, a nuclear engineer battling emotional problems, strangled his wife and daughter, he tucked them neatly back into their beds. Much later -after shoveling snow off the end of his driveway - Lessard took a steak knife and killed himself, leaving behind two inches of blood in the bathtub.
The grim details and grisly remains of the drawn-out murder-suicide at the house on Maple Road are what the family of Kathy Aro Lessard has had to confront over the last several days as they prepare to take her and 14-year-old Linda back to Baltimore, Md. for burial.
The horror of what happened to the Lessards seemed beyond comprehension as Kathy Lessard's side of the family sat yesterday in her pink-and-beige living room surrounded by her needlecrafts. Above the front door a plaque read: "Home Sweet Home."
"Seeing the house tells you he provided for them and she took care of things," said Edward Aro, 69, a 30-year veteran of the Baltimore city police department who's seen more than his share of gruesome crime scenes. "It makes you think what was wrong that this happened?"
Although there was nothing to hint at the violence Steven Lessard visited on his own wife and child, there were other signs, family members said, that the marriage was unhappy.
"He controlled everything that went on in the house and to them," said Michael Aro, Kathy's 38-year-old nephew. "I did not really think about it, but looking back, it was bad. She smiled, but you can see in these photos it was a sort of plastic, fake smile."
The family described Steven Lessard, a 1977 Naval Academy graduate, as a manipulative man who kept Kathy and Linda Lessard away from the Aros. The Lessards visited Baltimore many summers, but always stayed in a hotel rather than relatives' homes.
Kathy never was in a room without Steven present, her nephew recalled. His mother, Rosella Aro, said when she called her niece, Kathy often gave clipped answers and it was clear that Steven was in the room too.
"I just can't believe, can't imagine, my husband or kids getting that mad to do something like this. Why didn't he pack up and get out, or tell her to get out?" Rosella Aro said.
The bodies of the Lessard family were discovered Monday after police received a call from Steven Lessard's mother concerned that she was unable to reach them.
Lessard was placed on leave Feb. 8 from his job at the Indian Point nuclear power plants in Buchanan for bizarre behavior. He had been seeing Sleepy Hollow psychiatrist Mark Russakoff and, according to his mother, had an appointment with Russakoff Thursday but the doctor was not there.
Sometime that night or the next morning, autopsies led police to conclude that Lessard strangled his wife with his bare hands. The next day, after his daughter came home from school, he strangled her with some kind of rope, police told the Aro family. Lessard did not take his own life until sometime after 3 p.m. Saturday. A neighbor said she nearly ran over Lessard with her car as he shoveled snow from the end of his driveway late that afternoon. He later bled to death on the staircase after stabbing himself in the groin.
The Aros arrived Tuesday night, finding what otherwise appeared to be an orderly house where the bills were paid on time and Kathy Lessard had recently redone the kitchen. It was their first visit to the house in Lake Peekskill although the Lessards had lived there for 10 years.
The Aros said there were more than 100 messages of support and condolence left on the answering machine. They unplugged the machine and said they would listen to every message and return the ones with phone numbers when they got back to Baltimore.
It was there at Martin's West, a popular Baltimore caterer, that Kathy Aro married Steven Lessard 18 years ago. Their wedding photo shows Kathy in a sweeping white dress embraced in the arms of her blond-haired, dark-suited groom.
Raised a Catholic, the youngest of five, Kathy grew up in South Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood and later worked as a clerk for the state of Maryland. She became involved in the Worldwide Church of God, an evangelical denomination with 67,000 members in more than 100 countries. She met Steven Lessard at a church event for young adults.
Family members said the Lessards often traveled on what they thought were church-sponsored trips. They did not celebrate holidays and while they could receive cards, as far as the Aros knew, there was never a Christmas tree in their house.
There will be a funeral Mass for Kathy and Linda Lessard on Tuesday and a wake sometime before that.
Yesterday, some 50 of Linda Lessard's classmates at Putnam Valley Middle School gathered for two counseling sessions.
"If only one person showed up it would have been worth all of our planning," said Principal Edward Hallisey, who opened the school during the winter break to help the community cope with the tragedy.
Linda Lessard was a talented artist, her cousin Michael recalled, sharing two sketches she drew in January showing emotionless faces of a boy and girl with careful details of spikey hair and proportional features. Linda often sang the 1970s tunes of Barry Manilow and the BeeGees that her mother loved.
The Aros said they did not want to pry when they heard less frequently from Kathy - the Lessards did not make the trip to Baltimore last summer - but figured that she knew her family was there if she needed them.
They had no inkling that she and her daughter were in danger from Steven Lessard.
"He wasn't a favorite character in the family," said Edward Aro, his clear blue eyes growing wet with tears. "Now we are just sad, very sad."
Staff writer Diana Costello contributed to this report.
Reach Barbara Livingston Nackman at bnackman@lohud.com or 845-228-2272.
Murder Article
Friday, September 24, 2010
We Found Our Way Out (1964, 1975)
We Found Our Way Out
Edited by James R. Adair and Ted Miller
Baker Book House
Michigan
1964
1975 printing
First hand stories of people escaping from various cults in the United States - includes Armstrongism
The People and Their Stories
You already have an idea what you may find between the covers of this book. The jacket design and the title, We Found Our Way Out, suggests that the writers – all living, flesh-and-blood people – were once ensnared in a web of dark beliefs and philosophies that failed to provide them peace of heart. They were sincere-but sincerely wrong, they now confess. Each believed something different from the other, and each eventually abandoned former beliefs to acknowledge Jesus Christ to be, as Himself said, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Independently of each other, they came to recognize the Bible as the supreme authority concerning God and His plan for mankind. Each person received Jesus Christ as Personal Savior, according to John 1:12 truly became a member of God’s family.
The stories are from the pages of Power for Living, adult Sunday School take-home paper published by Scripture Press Publications, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois, and are used by permission….
Some readers may feel that this book is not in accord with the spirit of religious tolerance of our day. Perhaps not. While we respect the right of any individual to believe and worship as he wishes, we maintain our duty and right to challenge doctrines and systems that we believe lead people away from the true God. Each of the ‘isms’ presented in this book in some manner denies the Biblical way of salvation – faith in Christ alone for complete forgiveness of sin and full acceptance into God’s family. Some of the philosophies represented here are radically contrary to the Bible.
The Bible has much to say about false religions and philosophies, and indicates that they will flourish when the end of man’s era is near: “…in the latter times…seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1); “…the time will come when [people]…shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables” (II Timothy 4:3, 4); “…there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets” (Matthew 24:24). The apostle Paul, in Galatians 1, speaks out intolerantly toward any that “would pervert the gospel of Christ.” He says, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
These stories touch a few of the false philosophies deceiving men and women in our day. If you belong to one of these groups described, or if you know someone who does, you may profit from the experiences and spiritual insights of these true stories. Paul’s admonition in II Corinthians 13:5 is applicable to everyone who genuinely desires to know God:
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.”
The book then includes the following stories (chapters).
I Was a Mormon
I Was Brainwashed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses
I Was a Rosicrucian
I Am a Hebrew Christian
I Was a Christian Scientist
I Tried Communism
I Was a Humanist
Modernism Betrayed Me
I was a Seventh-day Adventists
I was a Hippie
We Escaped from Armstrongism
I Was a Theosophist
I Worshiped Satan
I Was an Agnostic Scientist
James R. Adair Editor, Power of Living
Ted Miller Managing Editor
Chapter 11
We Escaped from Armstrongism
By Wayne Leyendecker
(as told to Roger Campbell)
(pg 91)
Should we worship on Saturday instead of Sunday? Are Americans really Israelites? Is it sinful to celebrate Christmas? Should we change our eating habits? Are all churches preaching lies except Herbert W. Armstrong’s Radio Church of God?
These were a few of the questions that raced through my mind and demanded answers when I became interested in the dynamic radio preaching of Armstrong.
I first became interested in Herbert W. Armstrong in 1961 when some friends left their church and began to follow his teachings. I became a regular listener to “The World Tomorrow,” as he titles his broadcast, and I awaited eagerly each issue of The Plain Truth magazine.
Religion had not held much interest for me in the past. Most of the religious matters of ( pg 92) our family had been left to Ruth, my wife. She had attended church since she was a child and was not taking our three children Rosalyn, Gary, and Michele tot eh River Bend Bible Church, a mission style church which meets in a schoolhouse in the vicinity of our home near Grad Rapids, Michigan.
As the weeks passed and y interest in Armstrongism increased, I began to see that there were serious conflicts between the teaching my family was receiving at the church, and that which was persuasively presented on Armstrong’s broadcast and in his literature.
The church taught the doctrine of the Trinity, while Armstrong insisted this teaching was pagan in origin. Songs about heaven were a regular part of the worship services at the church, but The Plain Truth publications declared that heaven was not the destination of the saved. The church gathered for worship on Sunday, but the evidence presented by Herbert Armstrong seemed conclusive that Saturday was the proper day.
I pointed out these things to Ruth and the children. I called Ruth’s attention to the authority with which Armstrong spoke, and we noted together the many Bible verses he presented as proof for his teaching. And there was an impressive number of unfolding in world events that Armstrong neatly fitted into his prophetic teaching. Ruth was not fully convinced, but we (pg 93) decided to follow the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong.
We began to keep Saturday as our day of rest and worship. We dropped all pork from our diet. We even considered driving weekly from our home to South Bend, Indiana, a distance of one hundred miles, to attend a gathering of followers of the Radio Church of God.
Our decision to follow this new way of life was made near Christmas season 1961, as we decided there would be no recognition of Christmas, except for gifts to those who would expect them, since, according to Armstrong, all Christmas festivities were rooted in paganism. We sent no greeting cards to friends or relatives. We had no Christmas tree.
We must have been expecting a great blessing from that ‘no Christmas” experience, but instead it seemed so barren and empty. We truly missed remembering Christ’s birth that year.
Somehow, following the “Armstrong way of life” was not nearly as satisfying as I had anticipated. The conflicts grew rather than subsided. Unanswered questions pressed upon my mind every waking hour. My work required me to be alert, but my inward struggles demanded attention. Every part of my life was affected by the awful uncertainty as to my relationship with God.
While I had little instruction in the Bible, I (pg 94) had always held a great respect for the Scriptures. The thought struck me that God must have the answer to my spiritual struggle, and that His answer must be contained in the Bible. I determined I would seek out the truth in the Bible, and I would not rest until I had found peace with God.
It was about five o’clock in the evening when I opened my Bible to begin my search. I read with an urgency and interest greater than I had ever experienced. I read carefully and yet swiftly. It was as if I were trying to devour the whole Bible in an evening, and yet to sift from its pages some single truth that would be the key to this crisis in my life.
The hours passed quickly. That night I read for eleven hours, and when I closed my Bible at four o’clock in the morning it was only because my eyes were too weary to continue. At seven o’clock I was awake and back to the Bible again. All the next day I continued my study. It would have been useless for me to attempt to carry on the usual business of the day.
My Bible reading did not end until evening. When I finally closed the Bible that evening, I still did not have the answer.
A few days alter a business trip took me away from the city. I had pulled myself together enough to carry on my work, but the struggle continued. On the return trip the battle within (pg 95) became more intense, and I brought my car to a stop beside the road and once again opened the Bible.
Nearly all of my Bible searching had been in the Old Testament. Much of what I had read had seemed to substantiate Armstrong’s doctrines. God had indeed given instructions to the Israelites concerning the eating of meats, the keeping of feast days such as Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Sabbath days, all of which Armstrong insists are to be kept today.
That cold winter day as I sat in my car, however, the story of Christ and His love in the Book of Matthew made a new impression upon my heart. As I finished reading the twenty-eight chapters and resumed my journey home, I felt sure the end of my search was near.
The following Sunday our family attended the River Bend Bible Church. I listened with interest to everything the pastor had to say that day. Many of his comments from the Bible called to my mind the picture of Christ’s death that had been portrayed so clearly in my reading of Matthews’s gospel. Before we left the church, I invited the pastor to visit our home. I thought perhaps his knowledge of the Bible might enable him to help me.
A few years earlier, I might have been careful to avoid a meeting with the minister, but I awaited this visit of Pastor Wright Van Plew (pg 96) with real anticipation. I wondered if he would really have the answers.
When Pastor Van Plew arrived, I found that he had not come to debate on Herbert Armstrong, but rather for my decision to trust Jesus Christ. Repeatedly he maneuvered the conversation from “questions” to “Christ.”
I was brought to see that my real need was to receive Jesus Christ by faith. That night in my home, I was able to see myself as a lost sinner in need of the living Savior. I saw that my real need was not laws, but faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I told Christ of my sin and I trusted Him as my personal Savior.
After the pastor had given me verses of assurance from the Bible, he turned to my wife and asked how things were with her soul.
Ruth says now that at that moment she was angry and offended. After all, she had been brought up in church and had been trained in the teachings of the Bible since she was a child. She had taken the children to Sunday school and church services. Why should anyone question her salvation, even if she had yielded to some of her husband’s wishes to follow the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong?
Before the next Sunday arrived, however, Ruth also had realized her personal need of Christ. She is thankful now for that question which shocked her into the realization that (pg 97) even religious training does not guarantee salvation. She rejoices now in faith in her living Savior.
Since Christ has come into our lives, our daily experience is truly much richer. There are ways in which we still need to grow in Christ, but with His help we are determined to do that. We want to do so yielded to Christ that He will be able to use us in our local church to carry the message of salvation to others of our community.
We are grateful to God that He guided us out of the errors of Armstrongism into the truth of Christ and His salvation. It was such a relief to find that all the demands of God’s law were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and our heart’s demands for peace and assurance are also fulfilled in Him.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Another Religious Book Burner: This Time Any Bible That is NOT King James Version
Why are Baptist so incredibly weird? Armstrongism almost appears sane next to some of these numbnut's. This moron sounds just as incredibly stupid as Fred Phelps, another so called Baptist. It's because of idiots like this that people are so disgusted with Christians!
Not only are they burning any Bible other than the KJV, they are burning the books of countless Christian writers. Reading his press release on this silliness he comes across as not the brightest light bulb in Baptistdom.
The official church information is after the post below.
Another Book Burner Lusts for AttentionPost by Candace Chellew-Hodge
When Terry Jones, the cartoon-mustached pastor in Florida, threatened to burn a Qur'an on September 11, I read many complaints about how nobody ever paid that much attention or showed that much outrage when people burned Bibles. Well, here’s their chance to get their rage pants on.
The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C. will celebrate Halloween by burning Bibles that aren't the King James Version, as well as music and books and anything else Pastor Marc Grizzard says is a satanic influence.
The church is burning other Bible translations that are not based on the “Textus Receptus,” and are, therefore, according to Grizzard, not the true word of God. Yes, the burning will include the Qur’an, along with books by “heretics” like Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, and Bishop John Shelby Spong. Those are the heretics you might expect Grizzard and his kind to burn.
Also on his list, however, the materials of other “heretics” like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bob Jones, Charles Stanley, Joel Osteen, Joyce Myers, T.D. Jakes, and even the newly beleaguered Eddie Long. Even Mother Teresa makes his list of heretics. Apparently, feeding the poor and clothing the naked makes one a “heretic” in Grizzard’s book (don't tell Jesus!). Fred Phelps didn’t make the list, so that should be a hint of just who Grizzard’s fellow believers might look like.
On their website (NB: mute your computer unless your idea of a good time is Amazing Grace on an infinite loop), they encourage other churches to hold similar book burnings, or book “tearings” if local laws prohibit open fires. If all else fails, you can send your blasphemous material to Grizzard who will do the deed for you at their annual event.
The church apparently burned books and other materials last year on Halloween. Grizzard does not give a specific date for this year’s burning—and just to differentiate himself from Jones (whom he denounced as a “coward” for backing down from his plans to burn the Qur’an), Grizzard makes it clear that the public is not invited:
We are inviting others to come but only by special invitation by me and me alone. I must know you personally, or your pastor, or if you wrote me last year in agreement with what we are doing. I may ask for your church’s name, phone number, and Web site to verify your stand.
What I see as the sin at the heart of Grizzard and Jones’ actions—as well as at the heart of anyone who seeks to violently control the free will or belief of others—is lust. These men lust for control; and in their lust they objectify others, people they call “heretics” or “sinners.”
Lust, in and of itself, is not a bad thing—not something sinful. As Matthew Fox writes, “Without lust, none of us would be here.” It was the lust of our parents that created us, the lust of the animals that provide us with their companionship, their meat, and their wonder.It’s the lust of flowers and grains and insects that make this earth flourish. It is when “lust becomes a vehicle for objectifying,” Fox writes, “it is no longer an intimate expression or a generative one, it is a power that needs checking, a stallion that needs bridling, a force that needs tempering.”
Grizzard, Jones, and others like them are the products of lust gone wrong—and that turns them into sadists who need to control others. As psychologist Erich Fromm has observed, “The sadistic character is afraid of everything that is not certain and predictable, that offers surprises which would force him to spontaneous and original reactions.For this reason, he is afraid of life. Life frightens him precisely because it is by its very nature unpredictable and uncertain. It is structured but it is not orderly.”
These men want order, and they will do whatever they can to quash the uncertainty of life. The King James is the only true Bible, Grizzard asserts, and in his assertion he makes his life certain—he’s right and others are wrong.
But, perhaps we can have more sympathy for Grizzard and those who believe as he does when we see them for what they are—people who are afraid of the messiness of life—people who cannot control their lust.These are people who need to be shown that there can be a healthy lust for life that affirms not just their lives, but the lives of the very different, yet Holy, people all around them.
Instead of condemning people like Grizzard and Jones, perhaps we need to look deeper at our own reactions to their actions. If we react by wanting to stop them, or denounce them, or to control them, then we are just as much a slave to our own lust for control as they are.
May we all, then, seek to find the Amazing Grace this church has named itself after.
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2010 Annual Book Burning
The annual Book Burning for 201 will be upon us very soon. This year is going to be much bigger and better. We already have collected more perversions of God’s Holy Word than we had last year, as well as many books by heretics and movies.
Many churches and individual Christians last year contacted us in support of what we were doing. Many comments about how they could help or participate in 2010. So we believe that God is using us to help encourage other believers to do what God’s Word says in Acts 19 about burning satanic books. We are not starting a movement, association, denomination, brotherhood, or anything else for that matter. We are not in charge of anything or over anything except our local church. We are just a “voice crying in the wilderness” trying to encourage others to “earnestly contend for the faith.”
We are burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NLT, HCSB, CEV, NCV, NIRV, TNIV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, ESV, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT (Jehovah Witness Bible), Amplified Bible, God's Word Translation, 21st Century King James, Young's Literal Translation, Reina-Valera 1960, Darby, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, Book of Mormons, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, Quran (Koran), Bible in Rhyme, Boomer Bible, and ect. As well as Greek New Testaments by Westcott & Hort, Metzger, Scrivener, Berry, Ginsburg, and Green. Also Herbrew-English Dictionaries by Brown, Driver, and Briggs. Also Greek-English Lexicons by Moulton, Thayer,
Danker, and Liddell.
These are perversions of God's Word the King James Bible.
We will also be burning Satan's music such as country , rap , rock , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel , contemporary Christian , jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.
We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Westcott & Hort , Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham , Rick Warren , Bill Hybels , James White, Kay Arthur, Charles Stanley, Pat Roberson, RC Sproul, Mary Baker Edddy, Josh McDowell, Sean McDowell, Britt Merrick, Max Lucado, Randy Alcorn, John Ortberg, Michael W. Smith, John David Clark Sr., Eckhart Tolle, Joni Eareckson Tada, Sarah Young, Stormie Omartian, Joseph Maxwell, John McArthur, James Dobson , Charles Swindoll , John Piper , Chuck Colson , Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart , Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham , Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White , T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn , Joyce Myers , Brian McLaren , James White, Dave Ramsey, Alister McGrath, Ron Hill, Denver Moore, Mary Beth Chapman, Steven Curtis Cahpman, E Stanley Jones, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa , The Pope , Rob Bell, Erwin McManus , Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young, Will Graham , and many more.
We are not burning Bibles written in other languages that are based on the original TR. We are not burning the Tyndale, Geneva or other translations that are based on the original TR or the KJB.
With that said we are asking for others to get involved this year in the 2010 Annual Book Burning. You or your church can do this in one or more ways.
1. Plan at your church or home to have a book burning this year.
2. If you are not willing to have a book burning then have a book tearing as we did last year due to state laws.
3. If you are not willing to do either a book burning or a book tearing, then begin to collect perversions, books by heretics, music, movies, magazines, idols (Buddha, Allah, Rosary Beads, crosses with Jesus on it, etc.), posters, etc. and send them to our church address (6865 Cruso Rd; Canton, NC 28716).
4. Pray! This is the most important step you can do is to pray for God’s Word to be glorified and grow.
I would like to make a few comments about the request above.
First of all, we are not encouraging any church or individual to break their state laws and act stupid and be put in jail. If your state fire marshal says that it is against the law to have an open air burning or burning paper is against the law then abide by that law. Don’t do it. Just have a book tearing as we did last year. It actually gets the people more involved to have a book tearing.
Secondly, I would video tape the service and the entire event to show that you didn’t break any laws and to encourage others to do the same.
Thirdly, don’t buy this stuff new. It just helps sales if you do. Last year we didn’t buy anything new. In fact, most of it was given to us free. If we did buy anything it was never over a dollar each, but most a quarter or fifty cents. We get these items at yard sales, consignment shops, second hand stores, flea markets, books stores, libraries, etc. Lots of places have a free area and that is what we keep an eye on all the time. One has to be committed to checking these areas each week. We always leave the KJB and good materials for people to choose from. Some people wrote last year making fun of us for buying all of this stuff new, and telling us how dumb we were. These “scholars” and Bible correctors are to smart to have common sense.
Last of all, we would ask that whatever way you decide to get involved to please let us know. Simply by telling us who you are and which of the four ways you are going to participate. If you don’t want your name mention, the date of your event, then please let us know when you write. We would like to list all that are involved for the very fact the media, Bible perverts, the world and others think that we are the only people that believe that the KJB is the only Bible for the English speaking people. We would like to show the world that we are not the only church that stands for God’s Word. Even in our own county we didn’t have one person (outside our church members) or church to stand for God’s Word. The reason for this is because they just tote a KJB and use it, but they don’t believe it or willing to stand for it for the world to see. Paul tells us not to be ashamed of the Gospel. Neither should we be ashamed of the KJB that contains within its pages the Blessed Gospel. Are the preachers in this area ashamed that they carry a KJB? If one is not going to stand for the Bible what good does it do to carry one? The Bible tells us in these last days that there will be a turning from God’s Word which is Truth. The Bible calls these people Apostates that turn from the Truth, that deny His Word, and deny His name.
Next I would like to make a few comments concerning our 2010 Book Burning this year.
First of all, we are planning one sometime this year, but we are not sharing the date with no one this year. We are not doing this to get publicity as others have said but to obey God’s Word in Acts 19. We are inviting others to come but only by special invitation by me and me alone. I must know you personally, or your pastor, or if you wrote me last year in agreement with what we are doing. I may ask for your church’s name, phone number, and web site to verify your stand. We are doing no advertising in any way before the event. You may ask are you ashamed of what we are doing. NO! That should be obvious from last year when the whole world heard about it. The fact is, we rent a building, and we don’t own our own land, so we have to respect our other tenants in the building as well as the landlord. When we do have our own land and building one day, we will do things different, but that’s in the future.
Secondly, Yes! This year we will burn everything. Yes, you heard me right. We will BURN everything. We will tear up and destroy everything at our church as we did last year, but carry it at a later date to another state that allows open air burning. We are donating it to another church that is going to burn it with us. Both the tearing and the burning will be video taped to prove everything. Are we going to share the details before we do this? NO!
Last of all, we will abide by all state laws as we did last year.
We look forward to having a great time in the Lord this coming year. You can contact me through my email at agbckjv@aol.com.
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