LCG: Oh Noes! Time Is Short! Again...There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth

Members and co-workers, time is short. 

By that I do not mean that next year, or the year after, 

will begin the three-and-a-half year period the Bible calls 

the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, 

but stage-setting troubles can and will come at any moment.

Oh, Noes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It is always a pleasant surprise to see Gerald Weston speak about uplifting things instead of war, disease, famine, and widespread death and destruction.

Oh, wait! Wrong article.

Never fear though, you can write for a free booklet on British Israelism and then feel all warm and comfy as you know that by joining the one true church your salvation is assured. Eternal life...here we come!!!

Dear members and co-workers, those who have eyes to see can recognize that world events, as outlined in Scripture, have sped up dramatically. Many troubles—too many to list here—are converging during this most dangerous time in mankind’s history. Israel’s government has been severely divided for several years. The United States left behind billions of dollars in military hardware in its disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and is dramatically depleting military supplies over the war in Ukraine. Many question the cognitive state of the president and wonder who is really in charge calling the shots. On the other side of the political aisle, Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives—a first in the nation’s history—effectively putting all business on hold during this critical time until a new Speaker can be elected. It appears that if anything can go wrong, it will. 

 

Referring again to my “2023 in Bible Prophecy” telecast, recorded in November 2022, I stated: “Yes, when you think it can’t get any worse, 2023 may once again prove that notion wrong. The United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, and other British-descended peoples are on a downward spiral, and unless we turn back to God—and we see no evidence of that—no elected leader will save us. We will have ups and downs, but the trend will continue down.” 

 

Members and co-workers, time is short. By that I do not mean that next year, or the year after, will begin the three-and-a-half year period the Bible calls the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, but stage-setting troubles can and will come at any moment. The time of Jacob’s trouble (see our booklet The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy) could descend on us sooner than we might expect. However, God gives us fair warning: “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:48-51).

Nevertheless, let us never forget these words of Jesus Christ: “By your patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:19). Nor, let us fail to remember these encouraging words: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (v. 28).

Yes, there is good news. Christ will return to stop our insanity (Matthew 24:21-22). He will set up a world-ruling kingdom, and He will be “King over all the earth” (Zechariah 14:9). Nations will “beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:2-4). And there will be a lasting peace under His rule when adversarial nations will work together in harmony (Isaiah 19:24-25). 

 

Thank you, dear members and co-workers, for all your support in this Work of the living God. Life on this earth is short, but there is a reward for those who put God first in their lives, and that reward is eternal life. That is the reward that truly matters.

Sincerely, in Christ’s service,

Gerald E. Weston

Four Yahovah's and Thousands of Lesser God's

 

Christianity has been infected with heretics from its earliest days and Armstrongism is right there in the midst of that madness. No one in the history of Christianity has ever publicly said that Church of God leaders are theologically well-trained and grounded in Paterology and Christology. No one!

Check out this gibberish from Wade Cox, the other Great Bwana to Africa, Islam, and a few Caucasians in Arkansas about the four Yahovahs and Jesus being an actual physical son of the Eloah (the Father) who is subservient to him and the elevated one of thousands.

Wade got his self-righteous Christo/Islamic undies in a huge knot over a sermon by Frank Nelty in 1994.

It is true that Yahovah is a name used for multiple sons of God and Genesis 18 and 19 refers to four Yahovahs at the same time. One stayed with Abraham and two went to Lot at Sodom and then they called fire down from the Yahovah in Heaven. This is explained in the paper The Angel of YHVH (No. 024).

Thus the language of the text can admit of a subordinate Yahovah of Israel; however, if the wording of the First Commandment were to apply to Christ or another Yahovah it is direct idolatry and the Sin of Satan. 

Such a view comes from the false assertion that the God of the OT was Jesus Christ which is the false theology of Armstrong running directly against the OT texts. Were the claim to be made that the Yahovah here refers to Christ and not to God as Ha Elohim then we are faced with the fact that this text, being singular, makes Christ demand that he is the object of worship in Israel and not the One True God. 

The text linguistically cannot refer to two beings, although the claim that they were two beings as one is obviously the false premise on which they rely. The real understanding of the OT is clouded by the error of Armstrong being perpetuated by his advocates blindly accepting the false assertion and building on it as we see here. We have no doubt that Armstrong himself would have censured this view re the First Commandment referring to Christ. 

 

As was also pointed out here, the point should be obvious to anyone that if those were the commandments of Christ, then worshipping the Father would be a transgression because we would be worshipping the Father in the place of Christ. It's absurd. When we read Ezra chapters 4-7 we see that the Temple belonged to The Deity (SHD #433 Eloahh, Eloah), and the laws were those of The Deity, and in John 17:3 Christ called this Deity the One True God. Christ also identified this Deity as his God in John 20:17 and as such this would make this God Christ's Creator and it makes Christ a subordinate elohim who acts at the behest of his Creator. So those laws can only be the laws of God the Father and that would also explain why the First Century Church considered Christ the Great Angel of the OT who gave the law to Moses, as the Bible states.

 

Our God is Christ's God. We only have One True God. We serve Him, as does Christ.

 

This insidious heresy of two true Gods and the lie that the Father is not mentioned in the OT has been spread by these people to the extent that we see that one or two COG people in Africa have been approached via the Internet by one or two other ex-WCG people, seemingly in South Africa, who are trying to advance the possibility that the First Commandment applies to Christ. Fortunately it is being rejected as utter heresy by those of whom we are aware.

 

The Bible is quite clear that there is One True God and that God is identified in the OT as the Father and creator and His name is Eloah, and he has a physical son. Proverbs 30:4 directly challenges anyone who thinks he has understanding of the texts to declare the name of the Father and the name of his Son. The text then proceeds to identify Him by name as Eloah which is a singular name that admits of no plurality and it refers to the Father only. Understanding this name of God is the test of understanding in the Holy Spirit.  Ditheists or Binitarians fail this test. They deny or misrepresent its application.

A little later this is this absurdity:

He is the Most High (El^eyon or Elyon) and there can be only one Most High by definition and the logic of language. He divided the nations according to the number of the sons of God (Deut. 32:8 RSV and DSS). He gave Yahovah's portion to be the Children of Israel. Thus Elyon and Yahovah, as God and son of God, are set in place here in the Torah where Yahovah of Israel is one of the sons of God and Eloah is set as the creator. For this reason the MT was forged in this text in the post-Temple period and that is why the KJV is false.

Job mentions Eloah in 45 places. The redeemer is listed as one of the Thousand and is not Eloah in Job (Job 33:23).

As you can see, Wade Cox is not the brightest bulb in the package.

Christ has partners or comrades in association with him that shared in his position and above whom he was appointed or anointed. The absolute requirement of this position logically is that he cannot have always been above them. He was one of them until he was anointed above them. 

The asshattery just gets worse and worse:

What is it then that sets Christ apart from the other sons of God in the Angelic Host? The answer is that he was elevated above the other sons of God from his resurrection from the dead and his appointment as High Priest of the Host after the order of Melchisedek. We will all become elohim (Jn. 10:34-35) and be equal to the Angels (SGD 2465 i.e. SGD 2470 + SGD 32 equal or like an angel) (Lk. 20:36; Mat. 22:30; Mk. 12:25) who are also elohim by definition and as sons of God and the Council of the elohim of the OT texts. Christ will confess us before these angels of God (Lk. 12:8). They are referred to as sons of God in numerous places in the OT and we as sons of God will be as elohim as stated in both the OT and NT. They are sent with Christ to the earth at his return (Mat. 13:41; 25:31). Christ confesses us before them in order that we may be accepted among them as elohim. 

You can read this complete mess by Wade Cox here if you dare: Effects of 20th Century Churches of God Doctrines on the Nature of God

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For the grammar police

 

 

Are We Accusers OR Critics?

 

Are We Accusers OR Critics?

Lonnie Hendrix

NO2HWA posted a perceptive article (We Would Rather Be Offended By A Picture of Jesus Than Ever Actually Following Him) about the hypocritical nature of Armstrongist attitudes toward artistic depictions of Jesus Christ. In the comment thread which followed that post, one of the anonymous commentators observed that Armstrongists have always had a jolly time making fun of the beliefs and practices of other “Christians.” The comment grabbed my attention because I had recently posted an article on my blog (The Things That Armstrongists Can Say, BUT Others Cannot) which made much the same point.

One thing, however, that the commentator said really made me stop and think. He/She wrote: “People who come here to this blog from the ACOGs wonder why we have to bash HWA and his church and the ministers. The truth is, we are just turning the bashing they taught us around, and throwing it back at them. We are doing unto them what they have done to others.” Now, while I understand and support the contention that “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” I don’t believe that we should accept the Armstrongist notion that we are “attacking” them, or that we have made ourselves “Accusers of the brethren.”

When we accuse someone of wrongdoing, it is generally understood that we are charging them with the wrongdoing – support for the accusation may or may not necessarily follow. Likewise, an attack usually denotes taking some kind of aggressive or violent action against someone, and it is understood that it can be further characterized as having been provoked or unprovoked, justified or unwarranted, etc.. Hence, we see that charging or accusing someone is NOT synonymous with “attacking” someone (an accusation or charge can be leveled against someone with great solemnity and process – we do it all the time in courtrooms across the world).

As far as Scripture is concerned, the passage which Armstrongists like to wield like a club is found in Revelation where “the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, <the one> who accuses them day and night before our God.” (Revelation 12:10) We should have known that this one wouldn’t escape their notice because it immediately follows their favorite passage about Satan deceiving the whole world (which, of course, excludes them). Likewise, in the book of Job, Satan is portrayed as accusing Job before God and urging God to remove his blessings and protection from poor Job. Interestingly, Scripture also portrays Jesus Christ as our Advocate with God – defending us against all accusations (I John 2:1-2). Hence, we see that Scripture sets up this contrast between Satan (Accuser) trying to hurt/destroy, and Jesus Christ (Advocate) working to help/save.

Nevertheless, the Gospels also portray someone who was highly critical of the Jewish religious leaders of his day. Indeed, he is portrayed in all four of those accounts as someone who was NOT bashful about criticizing both hypocritical behavior and teachings. In this connection, it should also be noted that Christ’s criticism often appears blunt and harsh (as in the episode with the money changers at the Temple). Even so, Christ’s criticisms were always directed at correcting error, eliciting compassion and empathy for others, and effecting reconciliation and forgiveness. In other words, the criticism always had a positive purpose behind it – it was never meant to tear down or destroy.

Finally, we should also note that Christ taught his disciples to “turn the other cheek” when they were unfairly attacked by their enemies (Matthew 5:39), and to be quick to forgive offenses in each other (Matthew 18:15-22 and Luke 17:3). He also warned anyone who would offend one of his “little ones.” (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, and Luke 17:2) However, the clear implication in both of these instances is that the offense is real, not imagined. In this context, we should also note that the first epistle of Peter informs us that we should “not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For ‘Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” (I Peter 3:9-11)

Hence, we begin to see the difference between the accusations and criticisms which Mr. Armstrong and his followers have hurled at traditional Christians, and the ones leveled here against Armstrongism and its proponents. The criticism of Armstrong and his disciples that one finds here on Banned by HWA is focused on heretical teachings (those which depart from or contradict the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles), and the harmful policies and behaviors of the Apostle(s) and his/their ministers and followers. Moreover, most of the criticism which appears here is motivated by a desire to improve teachings and behaviors, NOT to destroy faith or assassinate character. Yes, the criticism here is often biting and pointed (as was the case with Christ’s criticism of the behavior and teachings of the Scribes, Sadducees, and Pharisees), but it is intended to initiate reflection and bring about repentance/change.

So, rather than screaming “ATTACK” and “PERSECUTION,” it might be more constructive to review the evidence provided in the post for the criticism and evaluate whether it might have some merit. Unfortunately, we have only had a few of the leaders of the ACOGs over the years who have acknowledged the legitimacy of some of the criticisms here and/or asked for forgiveness for past offenses – that has been very rare and precious. Moreover, currently, in the wider culture, we see that the trend is NEVER to acknowledge wrongdoing or ask for forgiveness. Indeed, those things are now anathema in some quarters! Nevertheless, when it is received in the right spirit, criticism can be a very constructive/positive thing.