Church of God International on Racial Tensions

CGI on Racial Tensions

Always timely, the Church of God International has moved on from the Coronavirus to a discussion of racial tensions in the United States. This time the topic is handled via a “web chat” featuring pastors Bill Watson and Adrian Davis. Unfortunately, like the previous offerings on the pandemic, this one rapidly assumes the characteristics of an apologetic for right-wing conspiracy theories.

In fact, before the dialogue even started, I was struck by the absence of CGI’s most prominent African American minister, Bronson James. One has to wonder why a black Canadian pastor was chosen for this topic instead of the most prominent black voice within their U.S. churches. Could it have anything to do with the fact that Pastor Davis agrees with Pastor Watson’s conspiracy theories about a Marxist-Globalist agenda?

As the conversation proceeds, we see that this is exactly what is at work in this presentation. Pastor Davis begins by proclaiming that President Barack Obama was/is a neo-Marxist. Davis moves on to suggest that there is a dark conspiracy at work to bring down America. There is no recognition that anyone might be motivated by a desire to make America better – to extend the promise of America to all of her citizens. Pastor Davis insists that protesters are being played by powerful interests who do not really care about them or their demands for justice.

Pastor Watson quickly agrees and introduces his favorite whipping boy, George Soros, into the mix. He then proceeds to declare that these are facts, not conspiracy theories! He suggests that Soros is funding all of this unrest and implies that he is doing so to bring down America. Pastor Watson even implies that Soros is paying and training people to protest and sew discord.

The pastors then unite to tag-team the Black Lives Matter movement. Pastor Watson plays the good cop by lifting some noble quotations from their mission statement, but Pastor Davis immediately sets him straight. Davis informs us that it is a false narrative that blacks are being oppressed. He goes on to point out that the movement is queer affirming and opposed to heteronormative thinking. He tells us that no self-respecting Christian should even consider supporting such a movement.

Pastor Watson then inaugurates a brief discussion about the destruction of Confederate memorials. He suggests that folks are trying to rewrite history and undermine our forefathers. There is no acknowledgment that the objects of these memorials were traitors to the United States and were fighting (at least in part) to defend the institution of slavery. The pastors then conclude this segment with the suggestion that the ultimate objective of these iconoclasts is the subversion of the U.S. Constitution!

So, according to the Church of God International, there is no real problem here. This is just a bunch of neo-Marxists and homosexuals intent on the destruction of America. All of these racial tensions are indicative of “spiritual drunkenness” that people with nefarious motives are using for their own dark ends. The implication is that systemic racism and racial injustice are just illusions – a false narrative that has been promulgated to bring down America.

In providing a platform for this kind of discussion, it is clear to me that the Church of God International has decided that their best hope for appealing to a larger audience will be found among folks who support Donald Trump. They have clearly identified themselves with one side in the “Culture War.” In keeping with the times, they have staked out a clear political identity for themselves – one that eschews the center and the left. The obvious question that this brings to mind: Is that what a Christian Church should be doing?

Miller Jones

LCG Roger Meyer: "Skeptics retort that wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes have taken place since long before the time of Christ..."

Roger Meyer, from Living Church of God, has a small entry on the Tomorrow's World site on the end times:

Jesus Christ gave a prophecy in answer to His disciples’ question about when the end of the age would arrive. He described various worldwide calamities, including wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Revealing that “All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:4–8), He went on to describe other events that will take place before the end of the age.

Skeptics retort that wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes have taken place since long before the time of Christ, and indeed, history shows that these things have occurred for millennia. One can go online and find lists of armed conflicts, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, and such catastrophes continue to plague us today.

What about famines? Currently, African nations such as Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing severe food shortages. These countries have declared national emergencies in response to huge swarms of locusts, which are devastating crops in the horn of Africa and threatening their food supply. Pakistan has also declared a national emergency due to the locust infestation. These nations know they are facing genuine “food insecurity,” a modern term equivalent to the general meaning of “famine.” But millions more around the world are already undernourished.

Pestilences? We’ve seen many pestilences besides the current COVID-19. Ongoing pestilences include various iterations of influenza, SARS, Zika, Ebola, and AIDS, along with older pestilences (many of which continue to infect people today) include cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever, Marburg virus, and the infamous Bubonic Plague.

Meanwhile, earthquakes happen daily. Most are very minor, but these have been interspersed with quakes of significant magnitude that cause immense destruction to property and end thousands of lives every year.

But none of this is in conflict with Jesus’ answer to His disciples’ question. Jesus described these disasters as taking place until the end of the age, which comes after an even more significant event: the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world, as a witness to all the nations (Matthew 24:14).

Now, many might think that Christianity has already spent centuries preaching the Gospel to all nations. But if that were so, wouldn’t the end of the age have come—as Christ said it would? Since the end hasn’t come yet, might we conclude that the preaching of the Gospel to the whole world as a witness must not have yet been accomplished?

Consider that Christ’s first statement to His disciples was a warning to “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24:4). He further warned that those deceiving many would preach about Jesus Christ and claim to be Christians (v. 5). Perhaps the “Gospel” being preached by mainstream “Christianity” is not the true Gospel of the Kingdom—and if it isn’t, it does not fulfill Jesus’ statement.

The so-called gospel of many of the present-day COG leaders is nothing more than self-aggrandizing drivel that is devoid of any New Covenant teaching and most certainly devoid of anything to do with what Jesus accomplished.

Considering that every single prophecy uttered by Herbert Armstrong and Rod Meredith has failed, should not LCG members and COG members realize they have been deceived?  Scripture says they were and still are. They love to conveniently forget that scripture plainly states that if just ONE prophecy fails then the self-appointed prophet is a false prophet.

And if that is truly the case, then maybe the time has come to find out what does…

Splinter self-appointed leaders have long proclaimed they and they alone have the "good news" and boldly preach it to the world.  Yet, none of them do and all end up being abusive controlling failures who blame their followers for the failure of their end times to arrive in blood-shedding glory.

Gerald Weston Delivers Another Uplifting Message To The Faithful

Various Churches of God are over-stimulated right now with all the different news stories going on in the United States and the world. From COVID-19,  locusts, mayflies, riots, people on lockdown around the world, and many more events, COG leaders see world unraveling before their eyes. They see prophecy coming alive in their time, even though every single prediction they all made in the past as been 100% wrong. This time it will be different!  They will be vindicated!

Gerald Weston, continues the Living Church of God tradition of dwelling on all the wrong going on the world as proof they are right. LCG has always loved giving encouraging messages to the faithful.

Apparently, Satan and God are both ticked off at the world.

Greetings from Charlotte,

How swiftly a nation can be brought down! The whole world is aware of what happened in Minneapolis a little over a week ago. We see a house divided and we know what Jesus said about that. We must remember that we in the Church are, above all else, followers of Christ and brothers and sisters begotten of the same Spirit. Rather than saying any more on this subject at this time, I have written a letter to all members addressing the bigger picture.   

We are not even halfway through 2020 and the world is reeling from one blow after another. COVID-19 has killed hundreds of thousands and destroyed economies around the world. Riots are tearing apart city after city in the United States. Desert locusts continue to eat their way across East Africa, the Middle East, and into Pakistan and India, threatening apocalyptic starvation. Who knows what else “the prince of the power of the air” will throw at us.   

Opening in-person services is going slowly, as many halls are not yet open for our use, and where they are open, there are restrictions limiting occupancy to 25 or 50 percent of capacity, and many halls are not large enough for social distancing at any percent. I encourage our ministry to think creatively, but prudently, not jeopardizing safety. And if members have ideas or suggestions, please work through your local minister.—Gerald Weston