Gerald Flurry: Salvation Only Available through the Sabbath

Gerald Flurry has a new article up on his web site about the sabbath.  His byline starts off with this:

If we properly keep the Sabbath, we would never look to hopeless men.

The proper translation to that should be:   "If we followed Jesus, we would never look to hopeless men like Gerald Flurry. "

He starts by quoting Jeremiah  17:19-25 and then says this:

The Laodiceans can stop the curse. They must start with properly keeping God’s Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a sign that we are God’s royal Family.  

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your genera­tions; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31:13-17). 

Today we must look at these verses spiritually. It is far more serious now than it was anciently. We get to know the true God through proper Sabbath-keeping. Only the firstfruits are called to that honor today. If they turn away, they won’t just die physically as ancient Israel did. These saints entered into a covenant with God. Now their eternal lives are at stake!

No ones salvation is contingent upon Sabbath keeping or law keeping, regardless of what the apostate COG leaders claim.

"I look back now and I cannot believe how damn stupid I was!!! I KNOW BETTER THAN THIS!!!!"

The following is from False Prophet Ronald Weinland: Don't Drink the Flavor Aid Served by False Prophets

A question was directed towards a former follower of Ron Weinland to respond to.  It is a question that almost all who have left Armstrongism and the Churches of God get asked by people when they hear stories about the corruption, lies and aberrant doctrines that members were expected to overlook or believe.  It was a specific question concerning Ron Weinerdude Weinland's teaching that Christ did not preexist.  The preexistence of Christ is almost a universal understanding of Christianity, but not for some COG followers.

A person was asked why they got sucked into Weinerdude's teachings.  The same can be applied to how could people have been sucked into Herbert Armstrong's, Rod Meredith's, Dave Pack's, Gerald Flurry's, Bob Thiel's, Vik Kubik's and other COG leaders lies and deceptions.

I look back now and I cannot believe how damn stupid I was!!! I KNOW BETTER THAN THIS!!!! 

The only thing I will give nothingburger weinland credit for is this, “he is one hell of a salesman”!!! Until you realize that, this is all he is, a salesman!!  

The good news is that I am far wiser now than I was then. I stand on “what I know” and “what I believe” and I do not give a damn what someone like weinland has to sell. As a matter of fact, I would welcome a face to face encounter with weinland!! He knows and I know he would NOT stand a chance against me ever again!! weinland is a liar and he lacks the courage to face any opposition that would challenge him and/or embarrass him in public and/or in front of his remaining worshipers (they worship weinland not God). If they truly understood what God teaches they would have left long ago!!! 

Ask yourself this question, where the hell is he?? All of his boisterous claims about God’s only chosen one and how the world will tremble at his feet, well, where the hell are you nothingburger weinland!!??

"Salesman" is a good term to describe all past and present Church of God leaders.  They are selling their version of a product no matter how bad and stinky it might be.  Like people who buy products on late night TV, Christians get sucked in by "dynamic" preachers who make them feel special and set apart from the world with insider or exclusive truths that have been supposedly revealed by the preacher's god.

In Armstrongism alone, there are between 400 - 700 different splinter groups that have arisen over the last 80 some years.  Everyone of these blowhards claim an exclusive inside track to knowledge not reveled to any other COG minister.  From the bombastic big boys like HWA, GTA, Flurry and Pack to the latest pissant upstarts like Bob Thiel and James Malm, these men of deceit are destroying peoples lives.

In every single group out there today, there are members sitting there every week thinking, "Why am I here?" or "Why don't I have the guts to get up and walk out?" or "How can Dave say such idiotic things?"  We have all done it.

So the next time you are sitting there and hear something incredibly stupid or appalingly wrong, remember that you KNOW BETTER THAN THAT and take a bold move and set yourself free!

COG False Prophet Twists World Refugee Day Into An Attack Against Other COG's And Christians

Syrian refugee camp

It has always fascinated me as to how COG leaders can take everything that happens in the world and twist it into something completely out of context and then use it as a weapon to smear other COG members and Christians in general.  99% of the time these theological buffoons have self-appointed themselves to their positions.

Our favorite deluded false prophet and godless wonder-kid has posted about World Refugee day that draws attention to the millions of people currently refugees from their own countries and home because of war, famines, and despotic leaders.

In marking World Refugee Day Saturday (2015), the United Nations refugee agency [UNHCR] said a record number of people, 59.5 million people compared to the 51.2 million from the previous year, have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety. 

“We are witnessing a paradigm change, an unchecked slide into an era in which the scale of global forced displacement as well as the response required in now clearly dwarfing anything seen before,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said of the new report. 

The U.N. said one in every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum.

So how can this be twisted into something used as a weapon to smear other COG members and Christians?

This is how Almost-arrested Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Habakkuk, Bob Thiel does it:

However, before then, there will come another time when all real Christians will be subject to intense persecution.

But this will come in stages. First, mainly the faithful Philadelphia Christians will be affected: 

Of course, the only "real" Christians out there are those poor deluded fools in his personality cult.

25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. (Daniel 7:25a)

33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34 Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. 35 And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time. (Dan 11:33-35)
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. (Rev 12:13)

The Philadelphia Christians who survive will then be protected:

The Philadelphia Christians flee to become refugees in a place in the wilderness: 

Some believe that this place in the wilderness will be in or near Petra in Jordan 

Prophecy scholars tend to recognize that the expression “time and times and half a time” equates to 3 1/2 years. The fleeing to the wilderness happens just after the Philadelphians have successfully preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14) and just prior to the start of the Great Tribulation(Matthew 24:15-21). 

For some reason, apostate Thiel thinks he is doing a "work" that is preaching the gospel to the world. NO witness is being done in the United States.  World leaders know nothing about the self-appointed buffoon.  No global reaching work in happening.  Nada...just crooked bookcases, 1980's curtains, thumping bibles, nonsensical sermons on scores of subjects that never discuss Jesus, grace, justification, or mercy.

He next writes this:

Jesus said to watch and pray to be accounted worthy to escape, indicating that not all Christians would be accounted worthy:

One guess as to who the worthy Philadelphia Christians are.  It is not anyone in Living Church of God or Restored Church of God or Philadelphia Church of God and most certainly would not be anyone in Grace Communion International!  Only those in the improperly named "continuing" Church of God are true Philadelphians.  

As if any of his followers in Africa care about this church era malarkey.   

According to the lying fool, no one in the other COG's has any chance because none of them are Philadelphians.

So, what about the rest of the Christians in those days?

The Bible shows that they will be subject to death and persecution:

17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

25…Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time. (Daniel 7:25b) 

While he and the rest of his little flock are in Petra, the rest of the COG's will be suffering intense persecution because they refused to "gather together" with apostate Bob and crew.

So, this second period of persecution for those who do not flee to the wilderness lasts 3 1/2 years as well. Those subject to the persecution from the Beast power are mainly Laodicean, Sardisian, and Thyatiran Christians (though some of the Thyatiran remnant may be protected per Revelation 2:22-24). Those Christians would be those that failed to heed various parts of the Bible as they should and will ignore the warnings in Zephaniah 2:1-3 to gather together prior to the time to flee.

The apostate one has said over and other that those in the other COG's have the wrong view on prophecy and understanding.  Therefore they will not know when the time to flee happens.  Only apostate Bob knows this.  All of the other COG's will not be ready and will certainly have not joined forces with Bob.  This has been a bitter pill for Thiel to swallow, just as it has been for Dave Pack. Everyone in the other COG's know these men to be false prophets and liars.

While we Christians go through our day to day lives, the Bible is clear that those who live long enough are going to be subject to intense persecution and becoming refugees.

Apostate Bob is suffering intense persecution now, or so he claims, and it is only going to get worse. 

So if you do consider the plight of the millions of refugees on the Earth, you may also consider that if you are truly a Christian, that you will be subject to intense persecution and even being a refugee yourself.

Won't you join apostates Thiel as a refugee in Petra?  Doesn't that sound fun?  Just imagine 3 1/3 years listening to him pontificate as his whiny voice wafts around the valley sides.  That would be the ultimate persecution!

Dave Pack and the Stork Women

Beware the Stork Women!

But we need to appreciate, once you understand where the land of Shinar is, all of a sudden you understand the ephah is shooting from the Vatican to Jerusalem—not from some unknown place to the Vatican. You have to clarify that. Then all of a sudden…Ahhh, his resemblance through all the earth…I get it. This is “Christ” coming on the Mount the Mount of Olives. The whole world has to see it, or obvious scriptures in the gospels are just slaughtered. And he has to sail through the air, meaning, he comes down on the Mount in a visible way that…Ahh, that, and it happens fast—the wind is in their wings. Tuesday, the world is a normal place. Wednesday—BOOM—we escape, fire explodes into the cab and drops on the whole world, and this guy drops in on Jerusalem…to put it mildly. So there’s a lot here, and it’s a grander story as to why, of course, this temple will be built for another man and then ultimately destroyed.

So, the stork-women, if you will, are first seen flying at high speed before lifting up the ephah to bear it. Now that’s interesting. They may be visible in some way, to those of us watching, before they start on this high-speed move to Jerusalem. We’ll have to see. Or that may be over reading it. If you are there in Zechariah, you can clearly see that they just come forth. In verse 9…

“Then [I lifted] up my eyes, and looked, and behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings…they had wings like the wings…and they lifted up the ephah” (Zech. 5:9). Now, if it’s literally the way it’s written there, then maybe we see them, or we know of them, a little bit before we know who this man is. But it’s not in any way that ruptures, or fights the principle of…of the snare, because it still has to snare the whole world in a single day.

The devil has the ability…Let me just throw in an interesting thing here…has an extraordinary capability, has the ability to cast apparitions and do all kinds of trickery and gimmicks and devices. His wiles and his depths are just almost unlimited. It’s no trick for the devil to be able to pull off a trick. It’s barely a trick to him…Let me put it that way…for the whole world to see this happen. He comes with all of his power—all of this deceptive and destructive capability—and his ability to purport fraud on people who are eager to be frauded.

All Foods Are Clean - Debunking Samuel Bacchiocchi

When I first came to Pasadena, the college bookstore was selling Samuel Bacchiocchi's, Sabbath to Sunday book.  Certain ministers in Pasadena were enthralled by the book, a book by a man who was part of a crazy cult that placed Ellen G White into the same position that COG members had placed HWA - God's only true messenger of the end times and one step below God.  The WCG also loved this book because Bacchiocchi had been granted permission to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University at the Vatican where he claimed to have "proven" that the Sabbath had been changed by the Catholics.  This sent certain leaders of the Worldwide Church of God into ecstasy to have "proof" those evil Catholics had changed the Sabbath and therefore HWA was right, never mind the fact that the SDA's are just as theologically bankrupt as the WCG was.

Later as the WCG started its devolution into debunking the requirement for keeping Sabbath on a specific day of the week, those still tied into HWA's  teachings latched back on to Bacchiocchi's books and actively sought him out to put a dent in the WCG changes.  Books and articles flew around Pasadena trying to stop people from accepting the changes.  He also came out at the time with a book telling women in the SDA church they should not be wearing jewelry, wedding rings or dressing fashionably.  Certain legalists in the WCG jumped on that bandwagon too.

Many critics over the years have debunked Bacchiocchi's writings, and now a new book has taken Bacchiocchi's SDA tainted research on the Sabbath to task and the issue of food laws for New Covenant Christians.

This is an excellent work on the age-old issue of Sabbath observance by Christians. The writer, a young scholar in the making, ably challenges the Seventh-day Adventist church’s position on and arguments for weekly Sabbath observance as a requirement for Christians today. Through careful exegesis of primary scriptural texts bearing on the Sabbath question, as well as explicit considerations and applications of the principles of biblical hermeneutics, the writer presents a thorough and convincing case against mandatory observance of the weekly Sabbath, establishing that for Christians, Old Testament feast days and festivals (which included the weekly Sabbath), as shadows pointing to Christ, met their consummation in Jesus Christ, and consequently have no claims on Christians who are children of the New Covenant presented in the New Testament. 

While the work extensively interrogates long held scholarly arguments in support of weekly Sabbath observance, and explores in detail the peculiar family of doctrinal teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church on the Sabbath, both the scholar and the lay individual will find the work refreshing, insightful, and provocative. The work is heavily referenced and the writer evinces a comprehensive grasp of the material on both sides of the argument. Every Sabbath keeper (and every Adventist in particular) should read this book and critically assess its evidential worth. Of course, any Christian who so chooses, may without condemnation, observe the weekly Sabbath; but in doing this, the individual should know that he/she has no special mission from God to evangelize other Christians to keep the Sabbath. Importantly all Sabbath keepers must realize that keeping the weekly Sabbath does not make them especial in God’s eyes, nor does it secure for them God’s unmerited grace, through which He has reconciled us unto Himself. The interested student should eventually come to appreciate that the believer’s true rest does not consist in the ceremonial observance of special days, but is instead found in the glorious Person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who Himself gives us life more abundantly. 

In respect of the issue of dietary proscriptions for the Christian, the writer sets forth a very strong case for liberty in dietary choices based on the clear teachings of New Testament Scripture. Thus for the Christian, there is no food which is essentially unclean, and those believers who embrace vegetarianism, do so against any injunction expressed in Sacred Scripture. It is therefore potentially spiritually dangerous for any church or Christian leader to marry diet to the experience and final realization of salvation, as Ellen G. White, SDA prophetess, has done in her doctrinal and prophetic pronouncements.”—Andre R. Hill (Ed. D, M.S., M.C.C.Psy., PGD Psy., M.Th. (Prospective), BA.).

Dave Pack: 2017 "Might" Be The End Of The 6,000 Year Time Line

All of you Laodicean back-sliders out here had better party hearty this year because this might be your last gasp of freedom according to Dave Pack.  This may very well be the year the crapola hits the fan.

Dave writes:

But the generally accepted year of creation…You’ve heard me say this; the Church has believed it for scores of years…was 3981 B.C.…3981 B.C. I remember back in the’ 70s,’ 80s,’ 90s and then the 2000s…Wow, you know that if there’s no year “zero,” that means 6,000 years lands in 2020. And a few years ago I mentioned that a time or three, but what is interesting is that you’d have to back off of that general year, if it’s accurate, over three-and-a-half years and that would throw you sometime in 2017.

And it was years ago that I last thought about that, and I was just sitting last Sunday thinking, you know what? I ought to at least mention that since an awful lot of things are lining up. Is it possible…Since we’re into normalcy and we have a list of things that don’t have to happen that we thought did, is it possible that that kind of cycled back through my mind at the same time? Now I’ll throw one other related point. I don’t know exactly if 3981 is right. Neither does anybody else, because it always turns a little bit on the date of Solomon’s Temple. However, something I’ve thought about more than once and you ought to think about it…there’s some reason God told us how long the ancients lived prior to the Flood.

We don’t know exactly how long Christ lived. We know He was about 33 and a-half years. We don’t know a single apostle or a single prophet…when they were born or died. There are theories and ideas. But the Bible tells us those years, and I just wonder, why? Why are the ages of the lives of those early men more important to know than others, unless it was to assist in a kind of a linear time construct that, in part, led Mr. Armstrong to believe that God’s first 6,000 years—first six days—of a 7,000-year plan had a starting date that 3981 B.C.—no year “zero”—that takes you to 2020. And so I’ll just throw that out there. 

All of the bumbling buffoons in the various COG's that make endless predictions now have to contend with Dave Pack throwing his hat in the mix.  Almost-arrested Bob Thiel will now have to write an article stating that Dave is wrong and that he (Bob) knows better as to the real time frame.
Dave cannot be right because Ron Weinland claims otherwise, plus he and his dingy wife need to be the two witless witnesses first.  Gerald Flurry can't be right because he has not dug up the Ark of the Covenant yet.  John Rittenbaugh has proven to be wrong for making one failed prediction after another since the late 1980's despite the fact he had a rabid following of believers.  Every idiotic thing Gerald Waterhouse ever uttered has been a failure.

Just who can a Church of God member actually follow and believe in 2017?

"YES Lesson of the Week--When Jesus Just Won't Do

  

Living Church of God Camp For Pre-teens: Loving Moses More Than Jesus

From a reader:

LCG last week held a summer camp for pre-teens who have parents in the cult. What would you guess the children learned about? Jesus and His love for little children? Jesus' great mercy toward repentant sinners? The glorious World Tomorrow in which there will be peace and love and prosperity for all?

Of course not.

The camp theme was the Book of Exodus. Suffer like the Egyptians unless you obey Biblegod. Accept the heavy burden of Old Testament law-keeping, not the light burden of Jesus' yoke. Don't sin like you constantly see your parents and ministers sinning (remember, youngsters are EXCELLENT hypocrisy detectors), or else you will go into the Tribulation or the Lake of Fire. What a dreary camp that must have been.

Poly the Cult Child - Pentecost Spirit Plants

Someone had fun making a parody of UCG's latest epic failure.

The Beast Is Dead! Add Another Failed Prophecy To The Already Long List

Well, another Church of God prophecy bites the dust.

This afternoon's headline:

Helmut Kohl, Chancellor Who Reunited Germany, Dies at 87

By CRAIG R. WHITNEYJUNE 16, 2017

Helmut Kohl, a towering postwar figure who reunified Germany after 45 years of Cold War antagonism, propelled a deeply held vision of Europe’s integration and earned plaudits from Moscow and Washington for his deft handling of the fall of the Berlin Wall, died on Friday at his home in Ludwigshafen, Germany, the Rhine port city where he was born. He was 87.

“We mourn,” his party, the Christian Democratic Union, said on Twitter in announcing his death.   New York Times

Every prophecy that the WCG/Armstrongism uttered about Germany has failed, as usual.  Now, all we have to do is wait on Bob Thiel's bromance buddy, Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg to declare himself the leader of the Holy Roman Empire so that he and Angela Merkel can open concentration camps to imprison Americans.  That is the wet dream that some COG "leaders" dream about.

Every prophecy of Herbert Armstrong's has failed.  Almost-arrested Theil's prophecies are failing.  Dave Pack's prophecies are failing.  Gerald Flurry's prophecies are guaranteed to fail.  All it take sis for ONE prophecy to fail and the scriptures call them liars. When will they all just ever shut up?

Bob Thiel Mansplains to Tina Englebart

Almost-arrested Elisha, Elijah, Amos, Habakkuk, Thiel is doing what he does best, mansplaining.  No other man in the history of the Church of God has ever felt the need to tell everyone in the church just how things are supposed to be on every imaginable topic.  Even Dave Pack, the king of mouth diarrhea, at least sticks to his topic of the First Dominion instead of sticking his nose into hundreds of other subjects that most COG members could care less about.

The doubly cursed self-appointed false prophet has taken great exception to Tina Engelbart's series of articles in The Journal concerning women speaking in church.

Tina wrote:

Corinthians 14:34-35. Here are the two verses in the King James Version. “Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience [Gr. hupotasso], as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame [Gr. aischros] for women to speak in church” (Emphasis added). 

First, some observations: The italicized phrase “they are commanded” was an addition by the translators; it is not in the original Greek. Further, hupotasso is more correctly translated “submission” rather than “obedience.” And the word translated as “shame” in verse 35 is the Greek word aischros— the same word translated as “ filthy” elsewhere, as in “ filthy lucre” (1 Timothy 3:8). 

Most churches, and most Churches of God, and Mr. Mokarow say this means women must be silent in the church. UCG specifically said in their paper “The Biblical Role of Women”: “‘ Women should not speak,’ ” that is, preach or teach before the congregation” (emphasis added). It is interesting that women are allowed to sing before the congregation, which is not exactly being silent. … 

There is only one law that specifically forbids women to speak in the assembly — and that is the Oral Law of the Jews, later written down and known as the Talmud. 

What a shame that our churches, in imposing the silence injunction on our women, are actually following the dictates of the Talmud instead of the Apostle Paul!

The doubly-cursed false prophet writes:

Let me make a few points.

First, while Tina Engelbart is entitled to her opinion about what she thinks the Greek means, the reality is that there is no record of Christian women preaching in either the New Testament nor in early Christian writings. While it is possible that the apostate Simon Magus may have had a female preach, and maybe did some other apostates, people who understood koine Greek at the time apparently did not feel that the Apostle Paul was allowing women to preach.

Second, UCG is correct that women should not be preaching. This is confirmed by the following passage that is in the Bible (hence, even allowing for a different translation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, this is not something only to be derived from the Talmud as Tina Engelbart indicates):

11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:11-12). 

Third, as far as the Talmud goes, Tina Engelbart needs to consider that the Jews DID allow women to sing and hence the prohibition they had related to women speaking before the assembly did not include singing. That is the same in the Christian church as well.

In the (improperly named) Continuing Church of God we do not believe that women are to preach.  

Perhaps you should Bob.  They could do a far better job than you are doing. 

Do COG Leaders In 2017 Suffer Persecution Like Jesus Did?

For someone who claims to be directly appointed by his god, through dreams, revelations and double blessings by an apostate splinter COG minister, God's most important end time man sure has a delicate sensibility.

The Apostle, second witless witness, martyr and Mayan authority claims he is being persecuted just like Jesus was.  Oh, get down off your cross Bob!  Someone in Africa needs it for firewood!

Apparently, Elisha, Amos Habbakuk, Thiel took exception to comments made by readers here.

Those who post lies at the Banned site need to realize that God will judge. The Banned site should not allow people to post lies, but it does. People lied about Jesus, Paul, and others.

The Bible also teaches:

15... outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. (Revelation 22:15) 

No one truly in the Church of God would spread this pork lie and other lies about me. Hopefully, no one reading this page believes the lies either.

Self-appointed Thiel fails to acknowledge that he is a liar.  That is a fact.   God did not set him up to be a splinter group leader.  He did that himself.  God did not send special double blessings through the hands of Gaylon Bonjour that set Thiel apart as a church leader.  That also is a fact.  God did not inspire Rod Meredith or Richard Ames to declare Thiel to be a prophet.  God had no part in the warped sensibilities of Meredith or Ames when they said (as Thiel declares with no proof) that he could be a prophet.  Armstrongism is full of myriads of men who have set themselves up as false teachers, just as Scripture said they would.  Every one of them has been proven to be liars.

So Bob, who really is the liar?

If your child was malnourished and starving, would you feed your child pork?

For many decades I have heard more than one COG member who has said they would refuse to let any "unclean" meat touch their lips, even if they were starving to death. or even in a concentration camp.

Would parents let their child die if the only food around was pork or some kind of shellfish?

The reason I ask this is that certain splinter cults of Armstrongism claim to have a large presence in Africa where this is an issue.  Wade Cox and Bob Thiel both claim they have thousands of followers in Africa.  Cox takes that a step further and claims half of the African continent are now his followers.

Not only are various Church of God splinter group active in Africa, but there are Seventh Day Adventists too.  All of these groups are cults that have their origin in American mythological faith-based upstarts who had dreams and visions from their "god".

There is an article that was posted today on an exSDA Facebook page.  It discusses how African children are starving because of the "health" rules set down by the SDA's, i.e. vegetarianism.  Growing children need meat in addition to vegetarian foods.  This is an established and well-researched fact.

The article says this:

ADVENTIST SECTS ARE STARVING PEOPLE IN THE CONGO

A report published on May 25 in a Spanish online news source, El Confidencial, carried a heart-wrenching report by Trinidad Deiros writing from the territory of Masisi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The author ran the piece under the title (translated using Google Translate), “The ‘Famine Sects’ in Congo: Protestant churches that aggravate malnutrition”, and the details are alarming. 

The piece opens with the story of a mother, 25-year-old Antoinette, who walked 60 kilometers through the remote trails in the Masisi territory in the eastern region of the Congo, still occupied by both soldiers and bandits, to reach the Kibabi Health Center in North Kivu, the province of the Masisi Territory. Their trek took a week to complete, and the two of them took shelter in the homes of village people along the way when night would fall. Antoinette carried her five-year-old daughter Sarah on her back because Sarah, who is the size and weight of a two-year-old, is unable to walk and is suffering from acute malnutrition and nutritional edema in her feet. 

When the nurse at the health center tried to help Sarah to stand up, the child was unable to do so and broke into inconsolable crying. Antoinette clearly loves her daughter, but when the health professionals talked to her about Sarah’s diet contributing to the girl’s sickness, Antoinette responded that “she would never give her meat” to eat. In fact, not only would she never give her daughter meat, but she would never feed her milk, fish, eggs, or anything with an animal origin. 

“All animals are contaminated,” she says, explaining that her church forbids eating animal products. “If you taste flesh, you do not enter paradise.”

This woman was a member of an SDA splinter group.  Like the COG, SDAism has produced thousands of splinter groups with leaders who claim they know more than anyone else. One of the reasons Church of God cults like Bob Thiel and Wade Cox can garner lots of African members is because Sabbatarianism already has a foothold in many African nations.  These people, in their earnest desire to do what they think is right, will jump ship regularly when some other Sabbatarian group claims to have more enlightenment.

Note the many similarities to Armstrongism as the article continues on:

Antoinette is a member of a Seventh-day Adventist offshoot religion called church of Temperance [iglesia de la “Tempérance”] which has a large number of followers in the Masisi territory of the Congo. According to humanitarian workers in the region (such as those with the Italian NGO Cooperation Internazionale [COOPI] and ECHO, the European Union’s humanitarian agency), this Adventist offshoot believes in creation, a millennium, and the return of Jesus Christ to Earth. It considers itself to be the true continuation of the “church of the Apostles”—a claim which strongly echoes traditional Adventist belief. 

Significantly, the church of Temperance also claims the Seventh-day Adventist prophet, Ellen White, as its source of spiritual direction.

Local health workers further state that this sect operates by a literal interpretation of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, and it insists that its followers adopt the “edenic diet” of fruit, vegetables, and legumes. Strictly vegan, they believe that any product of animal origin is “unclean”. 

The church of Temperance, however, is not the only religions group exacerbating the widespread malnutrition in the Congo. In the same hospital room where Antoinette sits with her critically ill daughter, there is another mother with her malnourished child. When asked, this woman responded that her religion is “Adventist”. 

Health workers report that while the Seventh-day Adventist church is not as rigid in its food restrictions as is the church of Temperance, it nevertheless puts its members at risk. While the Adventists do allow “clean meats” and dairy, the reality of Congo poverty is that permissible food is hard to attain. While a vegetarian or even a vegan diet may pose no health threat in a place such as the United States, in the Congo the population is impoverished and lives with a nutritionally deficient diet. 

How many Church of God members would do the same thing today?  Will the Thielites and Coxites suffer at some point in the future because deluded men based outside Africa have told them they should not eat pork?

The Real Cause of the Race Crisis

Herbert Armstrong's racist teachings that so many COG's want to go away, far away...

See the entire magazine here: The Plain Truth, October 1963

Read pages 6, 23, 27:

He claims:

- Adam was white (notice that he says Christ was white and since Adam 

was made in God's image, that means Adam was white..somehow he 

didn't understand what Semitic means lol)

- Asians and Blacks were mutations and mongrels

- Mankind was destroyed for intermarriage

- God is the author of segregation, not integration

Source: Facebook Page:  United Church of God: An Armstrongite Cult

Freed From The Worldwide Church of God

UCG creates new tool to suck small children into the myths they preach

Snare the little kiddies while they are impressionable so they will remain as teenagers and then become regular tithe machines.

Marion McNair: Armstrongism: Religion or Rip-off - The Armstrong Modus Operandi

Double click on the expansion window to enlarge to full screen

It Happened To Me: Growing Up Black In The WCG and UCG

Here is a fascinating short story of an African-American woman who grew up in theWorldwidee Church of God, with all of its Caucasian British Israel idiocracies, and later went with her parents into the United Church of God.

IT HAPPENED TO ME: I Grew Up In A Small, Strict Sect Of Christianity That Outlawed Christmas, Easter, Shellfish And Pork

The religion is based on the erroneous notion of British Israelism (the idea that Anglo-Saxon people are descendants of biblical Israel -- an idea actual DNA does not support), and we follow a model of Christianity similar to what first-century Christianity might have been.
JIHAN-FORBES 

DECEMBER 5, 2013

TAGS:

 RELIGION,  CHRISTIANITY 

For many kids growing up in New York City, it's not uncommon to have a kid in your class who goes to church on Saturday and doesn’t celebrate Christmas. That kid is usually Jewish. Unless, of course, you were in my class, in which case that kid would actually be Christian -- and that child would be me.

I grew up with parents who were members of the Worldwide Church of God, which was then a non-denominational association of churches that followed a brand of Christianity which more resembles Judaism in its holy days and practices.

The foundation of the church’s doctrine rests on British Israelism, the idea that people of Western European descent are the direct ancestors of the ancient Israelites to whom God gave His law. Under this belief, the church concluded that the modern British Royal Family are direct descendants of King David. This theory has since been disproved with the help of genetics and common sense, but that didn’t stop WWCGs from teaching it. 

Worldwide broke up into smaller splinter groups back in the ‘90s after church officials decided on a series of doctrinal changes which were more in line with modern evangelical Christianity. My parents left Worldwide for one of these smaller groups, the United Church of God, who continued to teach what they believe to be the truth.

I followed them, and through high school, and even in college, continued to worship with them. I didn’t exactly go to church every week, but I still participated in high holy days and kept to the dietary restrictions I followed as a kid. 

As you can imagine, it was not easy as a teenager to grow up in a religion no one seemed to understand.

“Wait, are you like a Jew for Jesus or something?” was a common question when I tried to explain why I couldn’t go out on Friday nights, or why if I believed in Jesus I didn’t celebrate Easter. 

Back then, it was definitely disappointing for me to miss out on so many middle school dances because I had to be home by sundown on Friday evening. But looking back, I am thankful that I was at least spared the extra opportunities for crippling adolescent embarrassment. I had plenty of friends at school, but my religion was a huge difference -- even for hardened New York City kids who have pretty much been exposed to everything. It was clear that school friends would never be able to fully understand my life.

So, I built close friendships with other kids like me in my congregation, some of whom remain my best friends today. It was nice to be around people you didn’t have to explain your entire existence to when you opted out of 10th grade Secret Santa. But as I grew older, a lot of the people I was friends with wound up leaving the church.

I stayed and still attended services. Why? Partially because I didn't want to disappoint my parents, who are a very zealous pair and follow the strict doctrine to a T. They expected the same from me. Unfortunately, I always seemed to come up short in one way or another.

If it wasn’t getting home in time for the Sabbath, it was drinking at a party or not reading my bible enough. So, through my teenage years I cultivated a rather conflicted relationship with my religion. And it wasn’t the standard stock of teenage angst and general feeling of rebellion that did me in. My reasons had little to do with me, and more to do with the fact that I began to see that the church at large was not the bastion of loving Christendom I’d been brought up to believe.

My local congregation was cool. Many of the people I grew up attending services with had known my parents for decades, a few had even been at my mom’s baby shower. It was also a diverse group, as one might expect for NYC. Most of the other kids I knew in the church were from the tri-state area, and came up same as me.

I thought the pleasant, open, and accepting folks I interacted with locally was a sampling of the people in the organization at large, most of whom live in the Midwest. I didn’t discover how wrong I was until I was 13 and my parents sent me to a camp run by the church, where I met other kids from across America (and a few from other countries) who followed my same religion. It was in these interactions that I slowly began to realize how out of place I was in a community within which I was supposed to feel comfortable.

Most people who met me were either dazzled by the fact I grew up in a city so unkind to “good Christian folk,” or eager to ask me every single question they ever had about people of color. After a while, I’d gotten used to being asked what it was like to live in modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah (*eyeroll*), or hearing my so-called brethren express how happy they were for our family to hear that Harlem and Brooklyn were finally getting “cleaned up.”

Indeed, I’d gotten so used to the unbridled ignorance, I could even control my anger when I interacted with brethren from out of town who were so excited to share the scientific evidence they discovered proving that black people are strong runners but poor swimmers.

I barely batted an eyelash when I was asked to explain why "my kind" was so devoted to “baby mama culture.” I learned how to calmly divert the conversation when folks tried to trap me into a conversation about illegal immigration, as if I was some sort of expert on the subject.

I ignored the ignorance because I really believed that in spite of it all, that I was getting the truth and that this was the right path to God. I was born into the religion and followed it because I'd been taught that it was the right thing to do, and it should be done regardless of who I was ultimately affiliated with. I just accepted what was presented to me without really thinking about why I did it. That is, until I started to actually sit and read the bible for myself.

It was in my own research that I began to realize that many of the church’s doctrinal stances didn’t make sense. Naturally, I took issue with the erroneous and borderline racist theory of British Israelism the church purported as biblical fact. I also wondered why we kept to certain traditions, but were not obligated to fulfill others.

The church is unique in that it follows many of the laws given in Deuteronomy, including those commanding celebration of Jewish holy days, and the dietary restrictions mentioned in the book. I did find it quite odd, that although we were to consider pork and shellfish as unclean meats, we didn't have to follow the law against wearing a garment made from two different fabrics. I’d heard plenty of sermons about staying away from bacon, but none about the danger cotton-wool blends bring to your salvation.

I had grown increasingly unsure about my place in the church. Not only because I simply didn’t fit in culturally, but because no one could really give me answers about what I was taught versus what I was reading with my own two eyes. But I didn’t decide to leave until last year, after one very illuminating conversation with a few members from out of town.

I was chatting with a small group of about four other people at a church retreat. We got to talking about our childhoods, in which we ‘80s and ‘90s babies waxed poetic about how awesome the ‘90s were (great economy, internet pre-social media, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Spice Girls, etc.). Not to be outdone by us young guns, an older gentleman in the conversation piped up. 

“The best time in America was the 1950s. This country had values, and we were safe -- you didn’t even have to lock your door at night.” 

“Oh, really, the best time in this country?” I answered, hoping he might sense my sarcasm.

“Darn right,” he responded. If there was any appropriate time for a real-life headdesk.gif, it would have been then.

“I guess it was pretty awesome if you looked a certain way,” I replied, hoping he might catch my drift. Hoping he would realize that for someone who might have been, oh, I don’t know, BROWN, that decade might not have been so great. Surely this fellow was aware of our country’s history.

“No, it was pretty much great for everybody. We were safe! There were values!”

I didn’t know how to reply. I just stayed quiet because I was shocked that anyone could say such a thing.

“I think what she’s trying to say is that the ‘50s were not too kind to black people,” another clearly keener woman explained. DING, DING, DING!

Now, people in the church have said several ignorant things to me over the years, but this particular comment really stayed with me. The fact that this fellow, someone I was supposed to call my spiritual brother, couldn’t even stretch his imagination enough to realize that in his little utopian image of the world, life might not have been so good for someone else was troubling, to say the least.

Isn’t part of being a Christian thinking of others? Nobody’s perfect, and the man might not have realized what he was saying, but for me, that comment was the last straw. I decided then and there that the church was no longer a place I could call home.

This is not to say that there aren't plenty of wonderful people in the church, or that my life there had been all bad. I had a fantastic upbringing, and for a long time, church was family time and I have many wonderful memories tied to a lot of church-related activities. Indeed, some of the people I love and know me best are in my life because of the church. It has been such a huge part of my life, and I am thankful that I've been able to know so many remarkable people because of it.

Still, the underlying, downright un-Christian bigotry and doctrinal dissonance compelled me to distance myself from the organization. Why would I participate in or give money to a church I didn’t believe was really teaching what Jesus intended? Christianity is not about following every law to a T or tithing, or being part of some sort of genetically elect group.

It’s about treating your family, neighbors, and enemies with respect, and showing selfless love for others and God. Of course, these are things my parents always taught me, but they believed their particular brand of Christianity is the only way to do it. 

I wouldn’t say I practice any religion today, to the great dismay of my parents. I wager they are extremely concerned for my salvation because I don’t follow the same set of rules they do. I don’t go to church anymore, I go out on Friday nights -- and, heck, I've even eaten shrimp scampi (sorry, dad).

But I don’t think that this makes me less of a Christian, nor do I feel further away from God. In fact, I’d say that simply trying to do right by people has brought me closer to Him. Doing those “good works” have already made me a better Christian. And, to top it off, I don’t feel guilty about supporting a dubious organization. 

I’m no angel. I have a ton of flaws. I occasionally hit the sauce a little too much; I curse, and sometimes covet Charlotte Olympia flats a little too hard. I'm a work in progress, but I do feel like I'm getting closer to my goal, whatever it is, than ever. But I do feel more forgiving, patient, and loving. Isn't that what it's all about anyway? 

Sharon Mooney sets record straight about Bobby Fischer and his time spent in the Worldwide Church of God

I received the following from Sharon Mooney telling her side of the story about being enraptured in Armstrongism and what it did to her life and Bobby Fischer's.

A Vindication of Bobby Fischer
by Sharon Mooney
vindication-of-bobby-fischer.coDIAGNOSIS: “Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” (C-PTSD) which explains Fischerʼs “bizarre” symptoms stemming from 15 years of deep indoctrination and thought control in the Armstrong Doomsday Cult. I ask that society seek knowledge and understanding about Bobby Fischerʼs life instead of merely judging what they clearly do not understand. Ultimately compassion and forgiveness. Whether it was leaving the cult, then attempting to fill the vacuum Armstrongʼs cult created in our minds, with the cult of “far rightism” or filling the vacuum with drug abuse the common thread between lives of Armstrongʼs ex-“true believers” was oft Self Destruction.
https://vindication-of-bobby-fischer.co/index.html

I know that there is a necessity for me to set the record straight, for Bobby Fischer, myself and many other victims of the cult we were all once devoted believers in. There are still many disciples of Armstrongism, and surely they will be on the offensive when they learn of my public testimony against the abuse of the cult that was and still is, the Worldwide Church of God and its splinter groups but so be it. Alas, I can set my soul at peace on this matter by sharing my story for sake of truth and justice and mercy.

My parents joined the cult in 1973 and stayed, heavily indoctrinated and involved until the mid 1990's. Bobby Fischer joined in the 1960's and stayed till late in the 1970's. To get to the crux of the matter, one must understand the core doctrines of Herbert Armstrong's 'prophecies'. It was the same method Hitler ruled the masses through use of terror. If they were not obedient to their authoritarian rule, “The Nazi soldiers will come get YOU. And they will kill … YOU”. This nightmare prophecy motivated both members and coworkers to open their wallets and dig deep in their pockets to “finish” God's work. But God's work is never ever done. Armstrong revised and replotted his depraved prophecies many times during the ensuing decades. Many times this “great tribulation” was foretold, and yet it never actually came to pass.

There were many “Doomsdays”... at least two in the 1970's

The end of the world as we know it, when the Pope's Nazi hoards would barge into the “…United States and Britain in Prophecy” and no safe place would be left to hide, except for God's chosen, in the Worldwide Church of God. 

Read her entire story here: A Vindication of Bobby Fischer

Gerald Weston Wants To Know Who Is Reading LCG''s Literature

Gerald Weston is locking control of LCG even further.  Gone are the days of the public reading LCG magazines on the Internet without first resisting their names and email addresses.  Weston claims that the church is facing a great difficulty in not knowing just how reads their rags.

The Internet is an exciting tool the Church uses to preach the Gospel to the whole world. At the same time, it presents unique challenges. We have always presented the Truth free of charge and will continue to do so; however, when we post everything we have on our Web sites, with no means of knowing who is reading our material, this creates some difficulties. 

This is the excuse he offered.  They cannot create data bases on who responds to their materials so they can contact them later when they get kicked off TV stations due to their heretical content (which has happened.)

For example, we were on television for over four years in Hong Kong until the station ceased operations. During that time, we had thousands of people responding to the telecast by going to our H.K. Web site. And without a cost-effective telephone service, we were not able to capture names, addresses, etc., except for a few hundred that signed up for a monthly e-mail newsletter. We embarked on that initiative as an act of faith, because we are commissioned to go to the whole world. We knew that we would not be able to do things in Hong Kong or China like we do in the “Western” world, but the result is that we have no idea who these people were and no way of contacting them. If we had their e-mail addresses, we could have informed them of a new offer, a new station, or a Tomorrow’s WorldPresentation. The same is true in India, where our primary source for people responding to our telecast is by means of our Web site. 

Several from LCG have written to me stating that this is another form of control of the members.  This tells LCG brass which church members are exactly reading their material.  Weston has always been about control.  Now that Meredith is out of the way, Weston has achieved his goal.  Rough days are ahead for LCG members.

Dave Pack and His Jesus In Wadsworth Scenarios

Dave Pack has been subtle as he inserts into his endless sermon series comments about his Jesus Christ coming to Wadsworth, Ohio where his earthly headquarters will be where he will run the First Dominion along side Dave.

Why would Jesus come to a town in Northern Ohio that is known for nothing more than its blue tip matches?  Of all the places onto entire earth and he picks Wadsworth to return to.  That is about as stupid as claiming JC is returning to Arroyo Grande where the true remnant has its headquarters.  Since both men are lairs, why would Jesus go to either place?

We learned that Christ’s kingdom starts small. He couldn’t start it in a place where He was going to create a giant fire. He started it in the cold, gloomy north and then He’s going to relocate that tiny kingdom that has now grown to Jerusalem, so it can be a world government. I don’t know, brethren, why I read all those parables…I can’t speak for all the other ministers who are not here…I don’t know why I read all those parables, or Mr. Armstrong read them, that say the kingdom would start in a tiny, concealed way and didn’t see it for what it said.