One thing many of the Churches of God love to do is mock Christians who talk about love. They hate that word. They claim it is because they see the hypocrisy in those who practice love. They also seem to believe it is a word that gives people a license to sin.
The sad thing is that when you look at most of the Churches of God's leadership and those in power you see absolutely NOTHING that equates to Christian love. The church is now filled with some of the nastiest men we could have ever imagined. They abuse members spiritually and mentally. They dream up draconian evil rules and demands that they impose on their members. They steal tithes for their own use. They self-appoint themselves to grand titles of apostle, prophet, Elijah, Elisha, pastor generals, chief overseers, and zealots for the church. Salvation is only available to "true" Christians through their group.
All these men have done is to leave a trail of destruction in their wake. Broken marriages, families torn apart, suicides, horrendous child abuse, rapists, stalkers and even murders.
The disgusting thing is watching these legalistic spiritual perverts impose their garbage on the youth in their groups.
This is Gerald Flurry's latest admonishment to the youth of the Philadelphia Church of God and how their redemption will only happen IF they DO something. Of course, never forget that reading
The Mystery of the Ages solves everything.
Jesus is still that inconvenient dude that embarrasses the hell out of them all.
Follow Leadership
In Addicted to Danger, the authors
highlight the need for strong leadership on an expedition to make it all
the way to the top. If you are to make it to the top, you will need to
look to strong leadership. You must know
if someone is telling you what Jesus Christ says. Allow people to lead
you away from Him, and you’ll get killed as you climb the mountain.
Now, don’t be discouraged. If you’ve found yourself slipping, God is merciful—if you repent. He will give you a chance to redeem yourself if you are serious about living the way He says.
It is up to you to earn your salvation. Do what the Dear Leader says and you will be ok. Maybe.
Familiarize
yourself with Matthew 24. Most religious teachers today talk a lot
about the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), but not
much about Matthew 24. In this chapter, Jesus Christ gives a brief
synopsis of the events to occur immediately prior to His return to
Earth. The first warning He gives is for you to not be led away from His
truth because of false leaders (verse 5).
This may be why mirrors are frowned upon by so many in COG leadership positions. God forbid if they ever truly looked at themselves.
Verse 12 states,
“And because iniquity [or lawlessness] shall abound, the love of many
shall wax cold.” Young people must learn what real love is. This
magazine may be corrective at times, but only because we love
you. We want to help you reach the summit. We want to tell you when you
are about to slip off the mountain. But we can’t pull you up there
ourselves. You need to respond to God’s leaders, accept loving
correction, and continue climbing.
Oh yes, a bunch of pervert old men telling the youth how to get to the mountain top. Is it any wonder why the youth of the COG is leaving?
This world loves to talk
about love. Yet, look around you. Violence, crime, war, divorce—these
problems are getting worse. That is not love! But what did Christ say
about this end time? The love of many will grow cold. Oh sure, people
may still talk about love. They may talk about climbing the mountain, but reaching the summit requires action!
“But
he that shall endure unto the end [or the mountain summit], the same
shall be saved” (verse 13). Jim Wickwire states about one of the
mountains he was climbing, “After about 300 feet, I determined it was
safe to crampon across the mountain’s upper north face toward the
colonel [Colonel Steve]. Steve and I had just begun our traverse when I
heard a sharp, scraping sound. As I spun around, I saw Al on his
stomach, sliding headfirst down a 40-degree slope. … Steve thought he
saw Al and Dusan, still roped together, slow down before disappearing
down a narrow gully. Maybe they had landed on a ledge? ‘We’ve got to
descend fast if we’re going to help them,’ I insisted. Belayed by Steve,
I climbed down to a dome of snow where I could see all the way to the
Gilman Glacier 4,000 feet below. Shaped like a V, the steep gully had
rock outcrops on the left side, snow on the right, but no ledge. No one
could survive such a fall. Looking down the gully, I felt sick. ‘Dusan!
Al!’ I yelled pointlessly, knowing I would hear no answer.”
The
book then discusses why these climbers might have fallen. “[T]hese
friends died right in front of me. As Steve and I walked away from Peak
8440, I kept asking myself how this could have happened to such
competent climbers. Did Al and Dusan disdain the steps I kicked for them
to use?”
An interesting observation. He kicked and chipped out
steps where they could walk to make it safe for them; but, it appears,
they somehow didn’t want to use those steps. And they both died.
How
many people have you seen fall headlong into the worst disaster that
could ever befall them? Think about that. God wants you to understand
this deeply, not to just have an emotional experience.
There once
was a man who kicked and chipped out steps for you to walk on. His name
was Herbert W. Armstrong. He died in 1986, but you hear a lot about him
in this magazine. That’s because he was a spiritual mountain climber.
And we want you to follow in the tracks he left behind.
Remember kiddies, your salvation is only assured if you read the most boring and pathetic book the churhc has ever published (besides
The Missing Dimension in Sex.)
If you like, we will send you your own copy of Mystery of the Ages.
It’s written in a simple, straightforward, understandable way. Study
it—it will help you understand the Bible. It will help you see that the
Bible is not an old, outdated manuscript. It was written for today! It
was written for you—to help you reach the summit. Any mountain climber
needs instruction and teaching. The Bible provides that. Mystery of the Ages puts
all of the pieces of the Bible together like a jigsaw puzzle. It will
help you understand the Bible. Any young person serious about spiritual
mountain climbing needs both—the Bible and Mystery of the Ages.
