The Extra-biblical Religious Beliefs and Practices Held by Various Modern Church of God (COG) Groups, Sub-groups, and Individuals

In the Spirit of the Pharisees, 

by ACM

March 2017

He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

`This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' (Mar 7:6-7 NKJ) 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and
cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (Mat 23:23 NKJ)

Below is an ongoing project and survey documenting an exhaustive, open-ended list of arguably extra-biblical religious beliefs and practices held by various modern Church of God (COG) groups, sub-groups, and individuals. The groups are not named - this is only a list of the beliefs and practices in no particular order. The project illustrates that many, if not most, of these practices and teachings are equivalent to the commandments and traditions of men which the scribes and Pharisees held, and which Jesus condemned (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7). Likewise, there is not a detailed discussion herein of the various ancient Jewish sects among and other than the Pharisees (Sadducees, Essenes, etc.) but only a rather generalized description of “Pharisee” and “Pharisaical” for the sake of a basic comparison. While the Pharisees may not have held the specific beliefs listed (and they may have had a longer list, and been a less fragmented body of adherents) these modern COG extra-biblical doctrines and practices have been established and kept in the same or similar motivation (“spirit”) as the Pharisees. (list of actual Pharisaical rules: THE 39 MELACHOT 

Lamed-Tet Melachot)

It is commonly accepted that a major problem with the scribes and Pharisees that warranted

condemnation from Jesus was the emphasis, deference and weight that they placed on their

own rules, as well as their emphasis on the physical aspects of real biblical instructions, to the neglect and exclusion of the spiritual, "weightier" aspects of the law (Matthew 23:23).

Furthermore, the scribes and Pharisees used their extra-biblical commandments of men and

emphasis on the physical aspects of the law to establish their own righteousness.

The focus of this project is to bring into the open widespread pietism, albeit denied by the

pietists, created because of the similar weight and importance placed on the modern

manifestations of COG-created rules, doctrines, beliefs and practices. An extension to the

project may be done later to show that the churches place inappropriate emphasis on the

physical aspects of real biblical instructions, however for this project only the extra-biblical

practices will be listed for the purpose of focusing attention on the fact that there are many

such practices prevalent, and held in high regard among the believers.

The known hurdle to the project is the argument, "I'm not being Pharisaical in the practice of

my religion," which this project is intending to expose as a misconception by showing that in

the modern Church of God, inappropriate emphasis is being placed on the items listed. If the believer’s righteousness and standing with God are believed to be compromised by the neglect of the items on this list, then we are forced to admit that these items are being used to establish the believer’s righteousness.

Not all of the items listed below are common to all of the various Church of God groups, and

there is no suggestion that all COG adherents hold to all of these beliefs. Nor is there an intent to depict believers as exhibiting the spirit of the Pharisees only if the believers practice the entire list. It is left to the reader to determine how large one’s own personal list, or that of his particular faction, needs to be before qualifying as Pharisaical. While the Pharisees were noted for their peculiar rules, their large quantity of rules also commonly receives notice, and indeed such a large number is an important factor (it wasn’t just the strange rules they had that were notable, but the fact that they had so many). Yet, would Jesus remove his condemnation if the scribes and Pharisees had a smaller quantity of rules, say, half or one quarter of what they really had? Or is it rather the spirit (intent), regardless of how many or few man-made rules they had, which was the root issue? The challenge is to lower our defensive fists and evaluate whether we are susceptible to the same intent of the Pharisees, even if we don’t possess as full and diverse a collection of extra-biblical religious beliefs ourselves.

Just as the Pharisees would claim that their damnable beliefs were extensions of God’s will,

modern-day Church of God adherents may claim that the below list contains beliefs and

practices that are biblically justified. Furthermore, the list is not intended to show doctrines

that are clearly biblical yet no longer required, relating to the aforesaid inappropriate emphasis on real biblical instructions. Nor does the list depict examples of “legalism” in the modern theological sense of law and statute keeping in general. For example, the list does not contain the practice of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath holy in general, even though many COG critics would identify this as a legalistic practice by itself, regardless of the emphasis placed on it by the Sabbath keeper. However, the practice of not eating at restaurants on the Sabbath is appropriate for this list because it is a modern, extra-biblical rule, perhaps devised with a similar purpose that the Pharisees had in devising their rules on Sabbath keeping.

Many of the beliefs that are appropriate for listing in this project are not officially or historically documented in COG literature, but are cultural practices that have come to bear the weight of established, pious tradition. Some of the practices are widespread traditions, and others are observed by fringe individuals peppered throughout the factions. Thus, research to find more items to add to the list involves learning about individuals’ experiences in the churches. You are invited to send items you deem applicable to . All correspondence will be strictly confidential except for content you wish to have added to the project, and at the author’s discretion. The list will be updated periodically, probably irregularly.

The list (in process):

• Refusal to obey the instructions of the ministry is equivalent to rebellion against God.

• Refusal to believe new teachings of the ministry is equivalent to lacking faith in God.

• Disrespecting the ministry is equivalent to disrespecting God.

• The ministry is not to be second-guessed.

• The ministry is tasked with helping the lay members become submissive to the ministry.

• You must address the minister, elder, deacon as "Mr…".

• The pattern of governance that Moses established should be used in the Church today.

• You must avoid contact with all individuals who have left the faith.

• You must proclaim that Herbert W. Armstrong was an apostle of God.

• The ministry has the authority to forbid you from marrying, or having a romantic

relationship with a particular individual.

• Interracial dating and marriage is forbidden.

• A wife’s infidelity is more egregious than a husband’s.

• You must disown your son, daughter or any other household member if he/she is not in

the faith, even if it means expelling the individual from your home, regardless of age.

• You must be baptized in order to attend Passover.

• The Church must only preach the Gospel to the physical descendants of Israel.

• A tithe of the tithe is to be paid to the Church.

• Your faith is measured by how much you materially contribute to Church.

• Your governmental position in the Kingdom of God will be determined by how much you

materially contribute to the Church in this life.

• Wearing makeup is sinful.

• The name of the organization must have "Church of God" in order to be the true Church.

• True Christians do not serve on juries.

• True Christians do not vote in civil elections.

• Members are required to wear their best dress clothes to services.

• You should bend forward during the prayers at services (bending further indicates

greater devotion).

• Only Dwight Armstrong hymns are to be sung at services. Some members refuse to sing

the non-Dwight hymns.

• Mushrooms should not be eaten because they are unclean life forms.

• Self-defense is sinful and indicates a lack of faith.

• Reading fictional literature will make a Christian susceptible to demon possession.

• Hypnotherapy will make a Christian susceptible to demon possession.

• Most mental and emotional illness is the result of demonic possession.

• Mental therapy and psychiatric counseling should be avoided. The minister will provide

all the counseling you need.

• Medical practitioners in general should be avoided. The minister will be the conduit of

miraculous healing instead.

• Sometimes illness is the result of sin, but you don't know when this is true.

• When a competing faction or enemy has problems, it is because God cursed them, but

when your faction has problems it is because Satan is attacking you.

• In the Kingdom of God Jesus Christ will serve you food as a waiter.

• Christians will become individual gods after they are resurrected and other humans will

worship them.

• Satan causes the hostile nature of wild animals, except God can increase this hostility in

order to curse large populations of humanity.

• Begging God during prayer increases the likelihood of the prayer being answered.

• Preaching to the public is not done with the intent to convert, but to witness against

those perishing, toward the end of saving from condemnation the one preaching.

• You must not preach spiritual salvation to the public.

• You should not overuse the terms “Jesus,” “grace,” “salvation,” “saved,” “beloved,”

“Lord,” “O, Lord,” “dear Lord,” “praise,” “praise God,” “praise Jesus,” “praise the Lord,”

“thank the Lord,” “mercy,” “born again,” “sweet,” or “precious,” to name a few. These

terms are generally Protestant and embarrassing to say.

• You must not add fuel to your vehicle on a Sabbath.

• You must not eat in a restaurant on a Sabbath.

• You must not travel beyond a certain distance on a Sabbath.

• Only classical music is Sabbath-appropriate music.

Open Categories

• Category: Things the ministry has authority to decide for you

• Category: Things that insult God

• Category: Modern ways to break the Sabbath

• Category: What activities are Sabbath-appropriate/inappropriate?

• Category: Ways to invite demonic possession

• Category: Physical things or symbols that defile you

• Category: Ways to be rebellious against the ministry

• Category: Things that justify disfellowshiping (excommunication)

• Category: Avoiding paganism and things that have ever been associated with paganism

• Category: Evidence of British-Israelism

Michael Germano, LCG Minister and Living University President Goes Mental on James Malm

When I started this blog it was never a project that I took seriously.  How could I really do so when the various COG ministers and leaders constantly run off at the mouth and say some of the most idiotic things imaginable.  When Dennis and I speak on the phone we spend a lot of our time laughing at the craziness of the church.  So many of these men take themselves so seriously that that they come off looking like bumbling fools when they react to people criticizing them. Today was no exception to the foolishness that permeates the church Internet guru's.

Michael Germano threw down the gauntlet at James Malm the other day and the sniveling Pharisee and his Wiccan side kick did not take too kindly to it.  The spittle was flying so fast out of the Chief Pharisee and Michael Germano that my computer screen was wet!

Watching this smack down is like watching a heavy weight fighter slap a whiny little light weight crybaby on the cheek. As much was we have derided Michael Germano's decision to leave grace and freedom behind for legalism with Rod Meredith, Germano is no light weight with the education he has. He far surpasses any of the legalistic lightweight bullshit that Pharisee James Malm vomits out daily.  Even with that knowledge, it boggles my mind how Germano went about doing what he did.

Here we have a high ranking Living Church of God minister and the President of Living University, the official educational arm of the Living Church of God, lashing out at Malm and Constance.  Even if all of his accusations are true, which they are, why did he do it in the way he did?  His words will be forever immortalized on the Internet.  Are these the actions that a "converted" long time COG member would do?  Living Church of God members as well as followers of James Malm are equally appalled at Germano's reactions.

The Chief Pharisee is incensed that Germano has called him out on his "right" calendar nonsense.
Germano sent this to Malm's sidekick Constance:

Michael Germano Why do you and James push that phony so-called Biblical Calendar? Its a complete fraud and total foolishness. You and James have several screws loose! Beside that, why does James continue to defame me on his website? He knows absolutely nothing about me or what I believe and teach. Slander is continually in this mouth. How can he possibly believe he belongs to the Ekklesia? He is a false Christian, a complete and total fraud. You and James have not taken even the first steps of true repentance. Please stop living a lie. The Great White Throne Judgment is not going to go well for you two. Why continue to be a fraud and a deceiver? Shame, shame, shame on you!

Michael Germano It is not the calendar followed by Jesus. You are deceived. There is not enough evidence in the world to convince a mind against its will. I may as well try to convince the Pope to keep the Sabbath. It is foolishness to try to convince you of anything. I hope some of the people you have falsely recruited as friends will wake up and get rid of your heresy. There is no hope for you or James Malm. You are completely in the hands of Satan the Devil. He has you right where he wants you.

Ouch!  I feel the butthurt all the way here in Pasadena!

Michael Germano And how did you get to my Facebook page? You are teaching heresy. I have no problem calling you out. Why don't you do those of us who are actually part of the Ekklesia a favor by getting off Facebook and stop posting heresy and lies? You chose this public forum, so if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen! If that fool James Malm wants to take me on, then let him come to me directly on my Twitter Account or on Facebook and I will theologically destroy him as he does not know the Bible--he is pretending. All who you have recruited to your Facebook page need to see how pathetic your false teachings and approaches are. You two sit back with that dismal The Shininglight and control the conversation. Come on, get on my turf and see who has the high hand.

And thus the Chief Pharisee responds:

Notice that he claims that I slander him, but he does not mention what has been said which he claims is a slander; in fact I quoted his own words directly from his own papers. Where is the slander or defamation in that? 

Further he has never contacted me in obedience to Jesus Christ as per Matthew 18 to correct me or to rebut. For the record Michael has not contacted me in any way and if I have said anything in error about him it is his own fault for not obeying Jesus Christ and correcting me.  

Finally Michael is absolutely and very easily provably wrong on the Calendar.  

Today’s Jewish Calendar was NOT in use during the first century.  It was first developed over several hundred years and finally formalized, finalized and accepted in 1178 A.D.  Ask ANY Rabbi or better still ask Hebrew University’s Calendar expert Dr Roy Hoffman  when today’s Jewish calendar was established.  

Malm's Pharisaical nonsense on the calendar is worthless.  Just because he and so many other in the church  wrote a paper on the calendar does not make him an authority on it any more than Bob Thiel is an authority on the Mayans, the Catholic church, church history, grace, justification or prophecy.

Michael, get informed about what I really teach before launching unwarranted attacks. Solomon had something to say about judging things you know nothing about (Proverbs 18:13).  

YOU have attacked me; and YOU have challenged me!  Put up, or apologize and admit the truth.

Now the ball is back right square in your camp!  Read the material, do the research and then send me your biblical or historical factual proofs of any error.  

Indeed have your entire doctrinal committee take the matter up and have the whole LCG team work on the matter. Even invite the other COG corporations to join you.  All of you believe the same thing so why not get together and prove me false by the Word of God! 

All of the Ekklesia is waiting for – and is entitled to – a scripturally and historically accurate answer.  Take the time you need; do you need a year?  Hopefully sooner than that. 

My address is jddm3@hotmail.com  

Every time this FOOL spits out that COG members have no zeal, that they lack faith, it is actually a personal attack by Malm against all COG members.  All of the Ekklessia could car less about Malm's calendar issues, and rightfully so.  No new covenant Christian needs to concern themselves about the new moons and calendar issues.

I call all of LCG and all the COG groups to witness that Michael Germano has declared that he will theologically destroy me, and has challenged me on the Calendar issue, and I have accepted that challenge.  

Michael, I will not be bullied and I will not allow you to bully Constance; I fully expect you to “put your money where your mouth is” and do a proper,  spiritually honest and scholarly study on the subject of the Calendar in the Holy Scriptures and in the facts of history; which I will gladly publish for all the COG community to see.   You can win me over with the truth but you cannot intimidate me with insults and vain bluster.  

By the time the sun sets on the next Sabbath, most of the brethren across the COG constellation will be aware of your challenge on the Calendar.  

I know that you must be a very busy person, but the brethren in LCG and across the COG community will expect a timely, scholarly, intellectually and spiritually honest research paper on the Biblical – Rabbinic Calendar subject; without personal rancor.

Next Germano publishes this on his own Facebook page:

Michael Germano

4 hrs · 

For all of my Facebook Friends that have been bombarded on the News Feed with the phony gospel of the unbiblical calendar guru James Malm, I would like to share a photo of his lovely headquarters. The drive needs a little work. You can call him on the phone and tell him what you think of his heresy at 1-604-941-5807. His basement headquarters for his false, deceptive unauthorized ministry is 1735 Morgan Ave, Port Coquitlam BC V3C1J6, Port Coquitlam. This humble clapboard shack needs a little maintenance, don’t you think? Maybe James should spend less time writing religious propaganda and defaming people on his computer and go out and work at something physical. It would be more profitable. Poor old fool! 

James Malm then responds:

This shows the quality of Michael’s research. I moved from that rental house into a small rented apartment almost seven years ago, I do not even live in the same town! The Phone number is wrong as well. May we see a pic of the Germano home please, I expect that it is no humble dwelling.

I never cease to be amazed at how so many of these fools take themselves so seriously.  Put down your damn concordances and Bibles and get outside and enjoy the creation around you and live life instead of parking you butt in front of a computer and commenting on every single scripture and writing your own interpretation of it.  That is all the calendar issue is to the foolish Pharisee and his acolytes, his own distorted interpretation that God no more cares about than he does Gerald Flurry buying his own jet.  These fools lie to their followers leading them off into useless and unnecessary legalistic tangents that serve no purpose other than puffing up leaders vanity.

Was Germano right in doing what he did?  I do not disagree with anything Germano says, but really is this the kind of leader a church needs as its public face, even if he is right about the lies of James Malm?

The Church of God comedy stream is never ending!

Grand Jury Formally Indicts UCG Elder Stephen Allwine on First-Degree Murder 3/24/17

STILLWATER, Minn. — A Washington County grand jury indicted a Cottage Grove man for premeditated first-degree murder in his wife's death last year.

The indictment announced Friday elevated the charge and potential sentence against Stephen Carl Allwine, 44, who was charged earlier this year with second-degree murder in connection with his wife Amy's Nov. 13, 2016, death. A premeditated murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of release.

Prosecutors allege Allwine killed his 44-year-old wife in their 110th Street home and attempted to stage her death as a suicide following a failed murder-for-hire plot against her. Amy Allwine was found in their home with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Investigators allege that in months preceding the death Stephen Allwine made contacts in the Dark Web — an area of the internet where users often are anonymous and involved in criminal activity — in connection with the murder plot and an inquiry into the purchase of a drug found in an unusually high concentration in his wife's body after her death, according to court records.

Allwine appeared in Washington County District Court Friday on the premeditated murder charge. District Judge B. William Ekstrum set Allwine's unconditional bail at $2 million and conditional bail at $1 million.

"We have great faith in the grand jury process and those people serving on the grand jury exercising their civic responsibility," Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said.

Read the entire article here:  Grand jury indicts Allwine on first-degree murder

What was the most destructive doctrine of the church?

Gerald made the following comment in an earlier thread.  This is, in his opinion, the most destructive doctrine the church believed?  Do you agree or is there something else even worse?

I would say HWA's most harmful doctrine was his continued proclamation that the Return of Jesus was just around the corner---at most 2-5 years. And not only that, if I just hang on to HWA's coattails, I will be with him, ruling and reigning (quite a few rungs down on the ladder, of course) over the tribes and nations of the world!  

If you really believe in that kind of a promise/declaration, why would there be any incentive to do anything with your current life?

Why buy a house, or have it painted? Why get an education? Why look for a better job? Why plan for your children's education? Why have a savings account or plan for retirement? Why try to help the poor or feed the starving? Why vote, or become aware of political issues? Why do anything to improve the here and now? 

Very soon, it will all be taken care of for you. All you need do is wait, have faith, and presto, you will be part of the ruling class in the World Tomorrow! You may be an ignorant slob today, but in the World Tomorrow, magic will occur and you will become a decision-making, political genius.

The real problem is that this may be (most probably) the only life you will ever have to live. Please, don't waste it believing in the stupidity of false prophecy. You may be squandering the most precious gift you will ever be given. The magical promise from HWA is a cruel and devastating myth. Many generations since Jesus have wasted their entire lives, waiting on the promises of these liars.

There a ton of hurtful HWA doctrines: God will heal, divorce and remarriage, church government, avoid the world, even your unconverted family members, tithing, abusive child-rearing, Holy Days vs. pagan holidays, ministers standing between you and God. It is all pitiful, but prophecy (if you believe it) will steal your life, the only one you have, and give nothing back in return. 

Bulletin: NOBODY KNOWS THE FUTURE. 

Christ has been kept out of the loop on when he is to return

In the grand scheme of the biblical story, Jesus Christ has been sitting in heaven eagerly waiting for his dad to tell him it is time to come to earth.  Apparently his dad is not aware yet either, at least according to Dave Pack. Apparently Jesus Christ did not know about church eras, so he has been receiving some schooling in that matter.

The apostles spoke and wrote as they did, and asked the question they did, because they knew nothing of Church eras. But the greater question we never asked, and that is, did Christ?

Christ is still waiting, and has been waiting for thousands of years. Sixty-five years waiting to find out about Church eras is a kind of a short wait. He said 2,000 years ago, He didn’t know when the Kingdom would begin. He’s still waiting. Now, we could suppose, I guess, at some point along the line the Father told Him…if the Father knows.

 What will happen if you rely upon 

Dave Pack, Bob Thiel, Gerald Weston and Gerald Flurry 

to tell you when Jesus is returning.

New Book: Fooled Into Thinking: Dylan, the Sixties, and the End of the World

Buy it here 

Fooled Into Thinking

Prelude
Sunday afternoon in the Catskills in August 1969. An irregular column of young people straggled along a road half-blocked by abandoned cars in the tired, haze-filtered sunlight. 

I was one of them, a slender 21-year-old clad in a pale blue chambray shirt and jeans. My eyes, as pale as my shirt, took in the sight through plastic tortoise-shell glasses. My shaggy light brown hair was shorter than that of many ambling alongside. A canvas backpack from an Army-Navy surplus store held a new Nikon camera, which served as my ticket to the event, my reassurance that I was merely there to observe; I was in the midst of what was happening yet not a part of it. In addition to the camera, the pack held a second lens, a few rolls of film, and two steak sandwiches on rye bread. 

My press pass for the festival was good for the entire three-day weekend. Why then was I among the last arrivals, shortly after noon on the last day? 

The day before, I had been in my home state, New Jersey, attending Sabbath worship services of a strict, Bible-believing group living in expectation of the end of the world. A group into which I had been baptized less than four months earlier. 

What was a member of a fundamentalist sect doing at Woodstock? Or, to turn the question on its head, what was a baby boomer rock fan doing in a conservative apocalyptic church? 

To approach an answer to this two-sided question, let’s go back six years, to another event that helped define the young lives of those born in the U.S.A. in the aftermath of World War II.

Chapter 6 (excerpt)

On the following Saturday, a married couple with two boys arrived at the dorm to pick me up and were disconcerted to find Sian there as well, intent on accompanying me. They were momentarily flustered, having been told only to bring me, but when she assured them that she had met the ministers as well, they figured it would be all right. The two of us arranged ourselves in the back seat with one of the two small boys, and we set off for the drive to services in Manchester, New Hampshire, an hour away. The church may have been “worldwide” (it had only recently changed its name from Radio Church of God), but their congregations were few, and widely scattered.

We arrived and found that services were held in the Odd Fellows Hall, a name that seemed appropriate as we entered the auditorium. The people we met were friendly, but shabbily-dressed, and seemed, for the most part, ill-educated. It was nearly time to begin services, so we found seats near the back. A mother sat in front of us with her small children; their frequent squirms were answered with sharp swats. Even though I had accepted what I had read in the book on child rearing, I found this disturbing, but it was more upsetting to Sian for the memories it evoked. 

There was a buzz of excitement in the hall. A leading minister, called an “evangelist,” was visiting that day. Raymond C. Cole was there to give the sermon; he pastored congregations in New York and Newark, close to my home, and oversaw the churches throughout the northeast as district superintendent. He occasionally contributed articles to The Plain Truth, and I was impressed that, on the occasion of my first service, I would see such a personality. It took a while, however, to hear from him. First, there were hymns, more like the Baptist hymns I had heard on visits down south than the Lutheran hymns more familiar to me. Many of the melodies were written by an Armstrong; it turned out that Dwight was Herbert’s younger brother. There was no organ. Again, like Sunday morning down south, the accompaniment came from an upright piano in the corner.

After three hymns and a prayer, Platt came to the lectern for what was announced as a sermonette, something I had never heard of before, although it was clear that the word must mean a small sermon. “Small” was a relative term, though; it was certainly shorter than the message that followed but was longer than sermons I was used to. Apparently, he had spotted my uninvited fiancée, and he peppered his message with what seemed to be gratuitous impromptu anti-Catholic remarks. The discomfort level rose. There was another hymn, but still no sermon. Instead, Cole was introduced for what were called announcements. Cole spoke of various events in the news, to which he assigned prophetic significance, and developments in “the Work,” which turned out to be the term used for what the Worldwide Church of God was doing. Although he rambled, the tone of these remarks, as well as the lengthy sermon he eventually gave, was on a more refined level than the first message. More than two hours, and many squirms and swats later, a closing hymn and prayer ended the service. Sian and I were eager to leave, began gathering our things, but the sidekick from Platt’s first visit tapped me on the shoulder and told me that Mr. Platt wanted to see us in the counseling room. We joined a line and waited for our turn. He may have planned to interrogate me about why I had brought Sian, even though only I had been invited. In those days, the church expected persecution, due to be part of the “Great Tribulation,” which at the time they were sure would begin in five years, in 1972. Services were closed to outsiders, the time and location not published; those who were curious were told about the gravity of hearing things they were not spiritually mature enough to understand. If they heard them anyway but failed to act on them, they could be held accountable in the judgment. For this reason, church members and ministers spoke of “dangerous knowledge.” This is what I assumed Platt planned to say, but he never got the chance. Not only had Sian been disturbed by what she heard and saw, but I was agitated as well. We were both ready to burst, and our question was urgent: “Where is the love?” Platt mumbled something about how we express love by keeping the commandments, but the conversation had the feel of a stand-off.

Perhaps the question was provoked in part by the fact that this was summer 1967, the media-acclaimed summer of love, the height of Hippiedom, a movement in equal parts non-stop party and spiritual yearning. But even without this, it was clear that a vital aspect of what we read in the Bible was missing. The protagonist of the Bible, God, is spoken of with many attributes, but only once does it say what he is: love. While it was impressive that the congregation, in addition to being multi-racial, was multi-generational, more so than most worship services we had attended, the display in the row in front of us, as well as the steady stream of parents with a child in tow for a short visit to the “family room,” the room that after services became the counseling room, had seemed hard to reconcile with that definition of God, as was much of what we heard from the lectern.

The interview ended, with both Platt and I convinced that maybe I wasn’t quite ready to attend services. 

 

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United Church of God: St Patrick Believed And Taught The Exact Same Things We Do

If you thought UCG could not discredit themselves any more than they already have, get a load of the excerpts below.  UCG is under the belief that St. Patrick was a sabbath keeper, ate kosher (no snakes) and kept all of the same days that UCG does.

Is Saint Patrick’s Day in the Bible?

Saint Patrick’s Day is not a biblical holiday or Holy Day. And, as it is currently celebrated, St. Patrick’s Day actually has nothing to do with the historical man Patrick. Many “Christian” holidays are a mixture of truth and error. Because of this, most people don’t really know the history or purpose of the day. We encourage you to read what God said in the Bible to know which Holy Days He made and who He said are saints. The United Church of God traces its origins to the Church that Jesus founded in the early first century. We follow the same teachings, doctrines and practices established then, and believe our commission is to proclaim the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God to all the world as a witness and teach all nations to observe what Christ commanded.

It appears that Patrick believed these same teachings. We encourage you to read the online Bible study aids, Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of Godand The Church Jesus Built  to learn more about what individuals like Patrick taught and what we teach from Scripture. From our best historical understanding, the Patrick you didn’t know lived a life according to the Bible, rather than human traditions. You can too.

So how can UCG claim that St. Patrick was a true Church of God member?  They claim he had Celtic roots, and as we all know according to British Israelism mythology, the Celts were sabbath keepers that traveled through Europe and into England, Scotland and Ireland.  This is what they are basing their story upon.

Patrick observed the Saturday Sabbath, Passover and rejected the Trinity doctrine

Patrick also rejected the merging of church and state (a main teaching of Catholicism). He believed and taught the same as Jesus in John 18:36 that God’s Kingdom is not of this world. The Celtic Church had local ecclesiastical councils and kept Saturday as a day of rest , (A.C. Flick, The Rise of Medieval Church, pp. 236-327). In this matter of a Saturday (Sabbath) rest, Dr. James C. Moffatt wrote that, “They [the Celtic churches] obeyed the fourth commandment [the Sabbath commandment] literally upon the seventh day of the week” ( The Church in Scotland , pg. 140).

Patrick (and the Celtic Church) observed the other “festivals of the Eternal” (Leviticus 23), believed human beings were mortal (that is rejected the teaching of an immortal soul and the doctrine of going to heaven or hell), rejected the Trinity doctrine, followed the food laws of Leviticus 11, refused veneration of “saints” or worship of Mary, and believed that only Jesus Christ is our mediator (Leslie Hardinge, The Celtic Church in Britain  ; B.G. Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant ).

The Celtic Church had a long history before the Catholic Church pushed deeper into England, Scotland and Ireland. Celtic writings speak of individuals coming from Asia Minor who brought with them the doctrines they received from John, Paul, Philip and other apostles of Jesus. A Catholic “father,” Bede, (who lived in the mid 700s A.D.) who wrote about the Celtic Church: “They ignorantly refuse to observe our Easter [Pascha, or Passover] on which Christ was sacrificed, arguing that it should be observed with the Hebrew Passover on the fourteenth of the moon” (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica ).  Who Was "Saint Patrick"? Should a Christian Observe Saint Patrick's Day?

One thing I know for sure is that if St. patrick were alive today there is no way in hell he would ever be part of the United Church of God or any of the other Churches of God. He he had more integrity and morals to do that.  His Christianity was sound and made him who he was. UCG can never aspire to reach that level.

UCG Continues To Pretend They Are Christian By Adding New Feast Site At A "False" Christian Retreat Center

Those fun boys are back once again coddling up to the world around them, trying to get as close as they can to the deceived pagan so-called Christians (as prophet Thiel calls them) to give the appearance that they are just like the regular Christians.  So much for the "coming our of the world" teaching that Herbert loved to tell us all to do.

The ministry of the United Church of God has spent decades deriding Christians around them as false and deceived, but now that they want a nice facility to meet at they will slobber all over them pretending to be just like they are.  I know how some of UCG's ministers think.  They think they will be setting the example with what TRUE Christianity looks like and just might convert some of the false Christians at the retreat center.  But with any luck, it just might work the other way around and the deceived UCG members just might find out how much they have been conned  by the false ministers of the UCG.  They just might be intrigued by the examples of real Christians and leave the dark side for grace and freedom.  Lets hope so!

On Exit and Support:

New UCG Feast Site:

March 20, 2017

I wanted to let you know about one of UCG's newest feast sites. It is in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.  

What gets me is that organizations like UCG continually preach against these so-called "false Christians" and their wrong doctrines. Yet, they meet for services on the Sabbath (at their church halls, and now this feast site). They are the ultimate hypocrites! They'll be telling the membership (at the feast) how "we are to come out of this world" and they are right there with those they adamantly preach against.

UCG posted this note on their site: 

Note: On Lake Junaluska’s informational signs there are small crosses and there is a large cross at the far end of the lake. However, there are no crosses in the hall where services will be held.

--Former member of WCG and RCG

El and the Elohim. Plural Plural or Uni-Plural?

An Edit That Missed the Cut

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 is one of those rare biblical passages that seemingly preserves a vestige of an earlier period in proto-Israelite religion where El and Yahweh were still depicted as separate deities: Yahweh was merely one of the gods of El’s council! This tradition undeniably comes from older Canaanite lore.

When the Most High (’elyôn) gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated humanity, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of divine beings. For Yahweh’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

"There are two points to take away from this passage. First, the passage presents an apparently older mythic theme that describes when the divine beings, that is each deity in the divine counsel, were assigned and allotted their own nation. Israel was the nation that Yahweh received. Second, Yahweh received his divine portion, Israel, through an action initiated by the god El, here identifiable through his epithet “the Most High.” In other words, the passage depicts two gods: one, the Most High (El), is seen as assigning nations to the divine beings or gods (the Hebrew word is elohim, plural “gods”) in his council; the other, Yahweh, is depicted as receiving from the first god, the Most High, his particular allotment, namely the people of Israel. Similarly, in another older tradition now preserved in Numbers 21:29, the god Chemosh is assigned to the people of Moab."

http://contradictionsinthebible.com/are-yahweh-and-el-the-same-god/

Are the problems in the COG the result of bad leaders or its theology?

A reader here responded to an earlier post claiming that the theology of the church is sound, once you throw out the majority of the doctrines of the church, and get rid of all the bad leaders. Really?  Of course this might mean they have to acknowledge that inconvenient dude they clam to follow and stop worshipping the law.

Anonymous said...

To all you abused haters of COG churches, the problem is the human leadership, like Pack and Flurry, not the basic theology I learned in WGC. There's no question of the sick leaders that destroy the story of God's loving Plan. If you throw out the stupid rulings on makeup, birthdays, Petra and the early rulings on D&R, you are left with truth not taught in mainstream Christianity. They are as you know, correcting the non-biblical immortal soul, Heaven and Hell, Sunday - Christmas - Easter traditions. I was taught to "worship" Mary, light candles, go to Mass and pray the rosary. Over a billion people think those things are ok with Christ.

Our understanding of the second resurrection is one the most important teachings which sets COG's apart. That fact that there is still hope for the majority of mankind, despite the appearance that humans are so evil and deceived, that only a few are given eternal life. Most of mainstream Christianity believe that most humans are going to burn forever in Hell by a "Loving" God. 

March 23, 2017 at 9:23 AM 

Chief Overseer Irritated At Connie's Comments

One would think that God's most important prophet ever (after Dave Pack, of course) would not be so thin skinned.  But no, the doubly blessed and self appointed false prophet and false teacher did not take too kindly to Connie's comments about his latest radio program.  All of you readers here are just soooooo bad!

Got an invitation Friday to be on the radio this past Monday. This was on The Andy Caldwell Show on 1440 am KUHL, Santa Maria, California. I wrote a post for COGwriter to announce it on Sunday, but it ended up posting on Saturday. This resulted in some anti-Church of God snide comments against me and the station on the internet. It was claimed:

Radio KUHL is a small 5000 watt AM radio station out of thinly populated Santa Maria. The signal only reaches some 20 miles and has no Arbitron Rating, because the market share , even in the San Luis Obispo area is so negligible.

Likely fewer than 50 people will hear the broadcast. In fact, he is getting more attention here at this website than he will get while being on air.

The anti-COG writers overstate their own importance and seem willing to post as ‘facts’ items that are inaccurate.

Satan Launches Vile Attack Against The Only True Church

Almost-arrested, Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Joshua, Habakkuk, Doubly blessed, Second Witless Witness, Apostle, Prophet, Future Martyr, Chief Overseer, and the disappointing "son" to Roderick C Meredith has experienced a vile attack by Satan against his web site.

Our websites were down for a couple of hours last Sabbath because of some type of, what we think, was a robotic attack that filled up storage space. While we have protection for that in certain places, this particular attack succeeded for a time. But this was noted and corrected. We do not think this was a humanly deliberate attack against us, but Satan was probably more directly behind it. We also upgraded some aspects of the websites Sunday, which also made them temporarily unavailable. But the websites have been functioning fine since.

Whew!  The magical god has answered the prayers! People are dying in Syria, starving in Africa, but Apostate Thiel's god has more pressing things to do, like correct his server problems.  Seriously?

Improperly Named "Continuing" Church of God Struggles to Find Location in Florida for Days of UB

Poor Almost arrested, Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Habakkuk, Joshua, Mayan Authority, Doubly Blessed, Second Witless Witness, Catholicphobe, and the disappointing "son" of Rod Meredith admits in his March 16 letter to his 25 American "members" and 1,975 African "members" that he is struggling to find a venue in Florida for the  Old Covenant Days of Unleavened Bread that invalidate anything Jesus set about to accomplish.

Apparently one of the hotels he contacted was not interested in accommodating him or his improperly named "Continuing" Church of God in any manner whatsoever. Since prophet Thiel is god's mighty mouthpiece, will he call down a curse on this establishment much like WCG did at the Pocono's site in the 1970's?  How dare this establishment REFUSE to allow The Chosen One a platform to speak at!  For shame!

April 17 and 22 in Florida

As mentioned last week, my family and I expect to be in Florida for the Last Day of Unleavened Bread, which will be April 17, 2017. We also plan to be in Florida for Sabbath services on April 22, 2017.

Please pray that we may find an acceptable and reasonably priced location to hold services those two dates. The first facility we contacted in Stuart apparently was not interested, and we have since tried another place there. We are looking for something on the eastern side of that state, probably near West Palm Beach or Boca Raton. If you are in Florida and may wish to attend, please email me: 

The Chosen One also reports that he has to funnel much of his "income" into supporting his African "members" which has resulted in a drop in "viewers" to his Crooked Bookcase series of sermons that cover 10-20 different subjects every time he speaks.  Perhaps his viewers are dropping off because of the inane subjects being preached about that have no meaning whatsoever to his "viewership." As usual for a COG minister, it is the fault of the members in that income is down.  They are not diligent enough nor are proper "doers of the word."

Google reported that our campaign with them reached 3,104,839 computers last month. This is down from the previous month, but that is because a higher percentage of people responded and showed interest.  We could have reached more, but we have limited our budget to continue to provide support for the needs in Africa. We must be doers of the word and not hearers only (cf. James 1:22; 2:14-17) as we are diligently working to fulfill Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20.

Perhaps The Chosen One, the apostle, prophet and end time witness, Bob Thiel, should join forces with the one and only TRUE church, the UCG, and share the Edgewater resort in Panama City.  Talk about a double blessing!

UCG wants members to attend cheaper Feast sites so they can take care of the "vulnerable and disadvantaged" while the elite go to the high end resorts

Those fun and elite boys in Cincninatti are still up to their old tricks in making their followers toe-the-line when it comes to Feast registrations for the "elite" sites.  These are the sites that only the rich in the UCG attend.  God forbid if they had to fellowship with the lower class unwashed masses.

The telling things from the quote below that is from the Church of God News site is the comment from the boys in Cincinnati and how they do not want members who want to attend the Feast at the Edgewater in Panama City to find accommodations OUTSIDE the selected high rate hotel.  If the lower income members did that then the UCG would have to pay $20,000.00 a day.   Yes, you read that right, they booked a site that could potentially cost them $20,000.00 a day.  One large conference room in a resort hotel, not a large convention center like Tucson or St. Pete.  I am sure this will make Lil'Jimmy Meredith jealous as can be!

Notice how they try to "guilt trip" church members into going to the less desirable sites by making them feel guilty in not assisting the "vulnerable and disadvantaged."  Perhaps the ministry of the church should set the right example for once in their life and do what they expect the members to do.  They should be the ones assisting and working with the "vulnerable and disadvantaged" instead of indulging their privileged posteriors in high end resorts as they isolate themselves in "ministerial hospitality" suites.

The Planning Brochure for the Festival of Tabernacles 2017 is now online.Viktor Kubik writes: “Over the years we have greatly deregulated the assigning of entire churches to a specific Feast site because they were so large and we had to control attendance. But that has not been done in some time, and our current laissez faire system has worked well. 

However, at some of the less popular sites we do have shortages of able people to care for physical needs of the vulnerable and disadvantaged. God does care for them, and so should we. 

One of the most popular sites will be the Edgewater at Panama City, Florida. Charles Melear writes: “Sometimes a person can find a better deal for Feast housing by searching the Internet. But ... 

If every member did that, the rental for the Edgewater Beach Resort would be $162,000 and we wouldn’t be able to have the Feast there.” 

Over $20,000 per day for a meeting venue?  

The venue is so expensive because of the lavish facilities provided at the Edgewater (and at many venues used by other corporate Churches of God).Those members who can afford to stay there can probably afford to pay more to enable the Church to pay less. Church of God News

What sets apart the COG from other churches?

What is the distinctive mark of the Church of God that separates it from other Christian churches?  One of the more legalistic web sites is claiming that it is the Bible that sets apart COG's.  The blog is under the belief that the Bible alone sets the beliefs and practices of the COG and not man's interpretations.

I don't know what planet the author is living on but every single COG group, starting with Herbert Armstrong, relies heavily on personal interpretation by the spiritual leader.  All of the hundreds and hundreds of "doctrines" that these men have come up with are directly from their own lips and thinking and NOT from the Bible.  Just look at the insane things coming out of Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and Bob Thiel lately. Can there possibly be a bigger quagmire of nonsense ever uttered in the church? Not one thing these men utter have anything to do with the "bible" they claim to follow.

There is one thing that separates the Church of God and its doctrines from the false religions of this world. That is the Bible. The Church of God bases its beliefs, doctrines, and practices on the word of God, the Bible. Many or most members have proved what they believe in the Bible, and most who have not proved them have learned them from traditions passed down to us from Mr. Armstrong, and he proved them from the Bible.

We should all follow the example of Mr. Armstrong and prove our beliefs in the Bible. We do this, not by accepting the interpretation of the Bible by men, but by letting the Bible interpret the Bible, getting all the scriptures on a subject and letting clear scriptures interpret difficult ones.

That is basic.

That is what Mr. Armstrong did, and that is what separates us from the false religions of the world. from Preaching the Gospel