UCG: People Who Have Crosses In Their Churches Or Homes Are Lazy

Church of God "logic" is never boring...

What does the Second Commandment forbid?

The Second Commandment forbids anyone from making or displaying visual images with the goal of incorporating them into their worship of God. Many Christian churches and homes display revered religious images, including crosses, crucifixes, statues and paintings that are supposed to be of Jesus or Mary or a “saint,” mystical symbols, steeples, special shapes, stained glass windows with religious designs, etc. Especially problematic is the practice of directing one’s prayers to God through Mary the mother of Jesus or some other “saint.”

Many religious people don’t understand the Second Commandment and the intent behind using images in their worship is sincere. They feel that the images inspire them and help them to feel closer to God. We can admire their good intentions, sincerity and zeal, but we must understand the problem with this practice.

Adding to the issue is the fact that many “Christian” images are in fact inherited from ancient pagan religions! For example, some pagan religions worshipped a “Madonna and child.”

Please understand that the Second Commandment does not forbid artwork showing people and animals or even artwork showing biblical scenes. God commanded intricate artwork to be engraved in God’s temple and elsewhere. But none of that artwork was regarded as representing God.

Why shouldn’t we use religious images?

It is human nature to desire to see, hear or touch God. That explains why people are naturally tempted to look at something they can see to represent God. Furthermore, human nature is lazy. It is mentally challenging to contemplate God as invisible and infinite. The human mind desires to bring God “down to earth” in some tangible form.

Such practices enormously diminish God in people’s minds. The Creator of all things cannot be equated with anything in His creation! To read how strongly God feels about this issue, see Deuteronomy 4:12, 15-19, 23-29; 7:5; 12:1-5!

By that "logic," the symbols of their "Passover" service are also lazy and diminish God.  The Church of God has always looked at the symbols of bread and wine as pointing to Christ and his sacrifice. Yet a person who has a cross in their home is a deceived, unclean pagan who secretly abhors God and is deliberately diminishing God. 

What about the Feast of Tabernacles, a "symbol" of the millennium to come?  Was it co-opted from the surrounding pagan harvest cultures the Israelites were next to because they were lazy and did not know how to relate to God?

These are all symbolizing God coming to earth in a tangible way.

In Armstrongism, the cross is the most despised symbol of Christianity that it holds in contempt. Who can forget Bob Thiel's OBSCENE display of vile insensitivity when he had a meltdown when Christians in Milwaukee erected memorial crosses for the Living Church of God members slaughtered during a church service.

Yet, the cross commemorates Jesus' death on the cross and thus the central event of the Christian faith. On the one hand, the cross represents the sacrificial death of Jesus, but at the same time, it symbolizes his resurrection from the dead and the reconciliation between humans and God. Christians do not worship the cross and never have, in spite of the lies of COG leaders claiming they do.

What about the Azazel goat that symbolized the sins of Israel being placed upon it which it carried out into the wilderness during Atonement? It is an important part of Armstrongism, yet Christians are lazy.

Then there is the fish symbol that early Christians used as a secret way of identifying themselves to other Christians. I guess they were too lazy to proudly proclaim they were Christians in the surrounding pagan Roman world. It would have meant an instant death sentence, but shame on them! They were too ashamed to talk bout Jesus, much like Herbert Armstrong was.

The rainbow, which is supposed to symbolize God's faithfulness after the flood, was a sign of the covenant between God and man. He made his promise to the people that he would always provide for them, for "as long as the earth endures, sowing and reaping, frost and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease". (Genesis 8:22).

Symbolism in Armstrongism has always been important. The Church of God has its own set of symbols, myths, and legends that make it who it is as a church today.

And while we are on symbols in Armstrongism, lets not forget Ambassador Auditorium! Hoo doggie! 

The auditorium has its worshippers facing Eastward to the rising sun for worship services. 

Or, the fact it was a Masonic cube that also had an interior room up in the ceiling that symbolized the 33rd degree. This was relayed to me by a construction worker who helped build the building when I gave him a tour years ago, He said the auditorium was filled with Masonic symbolism.

My two favorite symbols of the auditorium are its bridges in front symbolizing the female vagina opening with a phallic fountain erupting in all its glory in the center opening of it...

...and its majestic phallic columns exploding at the tips to the four corners of the earth like the gospel of Armstrongism was doing.

You may think I am making this all up, but these are actually things that people at HQ have said over the years. The best, though, was the man who actually convinced a few people in 1974 into believing that when it came time to flee to Petra, God would make the 5 egrets in the front fountain come alive, which would then pick up the auditorium and fly it to Petra with the 5th egret leading the way.

This is the legacy of Armstrongism.

 

Are Demonic Forces Trying To Destroy Living Church of God?

 

We Must Draw Closer to God: 

 

We live in an increasingly godless, dangerous, and materialistic age. The head of the United Nations recently warned that humanity has “unleashed a modern-day Pandora’s box of ills” and the world is facing “grave uncertainty.” The Bible reveals that as we approach the end of the age, Satan will be actively involved in fomenting discord and division in the world and among God’s people wherever he can (Revelation 12:12–17). Many of God’s people are facing serious trials and Satan will seek to plant doubts and discouragement and stir up strife. We are also dealing with demonic forces that want to disrupt and silence God’s Work on earth. We need to remember that we are not just dealing with physical problems but are in a battle with spiritual forces and must stay close to God and heed His admonitions to get through these trials (Ephesians 6:10–18). Moses wrote that in the latter days, when we are in tribulation, if we turn to God and obey Him, we will find Him—if we seek him with all our hearts (Deuteronomy 4:27–30; see also 2 Chronicles 15:1–4 and Jeremiah 29:13). We also have the example of Daniel, who sought God with prayers, supplications, and fasting in a humble, respectful, and repentant attitude (Daniel 9:3–5). Jesus said that if we beseech God with prayer and fasting, miraculous things can happen (Matthew 17:21). As we fast together to draw closer to God, let’s do this with all our heart so we can be more effective instruments in God’s hands.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

LCG Declares Day Of Fasting

Apparently, things are not exactly rosy for many Living Church of god members right now. Trials continue to afflict the church due to all the sinning members.

This Sabbath is a voluntary day of fasting for the Living Church of God. We see a lot happening in our world—2025 is shaping up to be a critical year—and many members are experiencing serious personal trials. Several of us here in Charlotte, therefore, thought it would be good to call for a day of fasting and prayer, as we have not had one for some time. Please do spend extra time confessing your sins and earnestly asking God to show us what we need to do and to deliver those suffering severe trials. —Gerald Weston

Salvation and the Art of Not Wetting Your Pants

Abraham 

(By Urs, Fair Use)

Salvation and the Art of Not Wetting Your Pants 

By Scout

This morning, I went for a hike. I was high up on the side of a canyon with mountains off in the distance. I stopped to take a leak and momentarily ran into a problem – a problem specific to me. I am not circumcised. So sometimes, if I am not careful, my apparatus causes the stream to go in an unexpected direction. And I thought I had wet my pant leg but I did not. I did think how that most men don’t deal with this concern. It is a logistical burden and, ironically, I am a little part Jewish. I am your actual descendant of Abraham. I can’t tell you why my parents did not get me circumcised. Probably no good reason.

My son was circumcised on the eighth day. This made me realize that the only valid Mosaic circumcision is on the eighth day per scripture. If you were circumcised as the Torah said, you were part of an elite group that would inherit the promises made to Abraham. But circumcision also has a history in the Gentile community. Historians think that circumcision has been practiced for 10,000 years. The Egyptians in the Sixth Dynasty did it. It is an ancient surgical procedure – maybe the first one.

I am curious about what the Circumcision Party, that clashed with Paul, expected First Century Gentile Christians to do about circumcisions that did not happen on the eighth day. You can’t climb into a time machine and go back and re-do historical events. Do you get a special dispensation for the wrong day from the Jewish priests so your circumcision can be rendered valid? I think originally the Circumcision Party was not making an argument that Gentiles who wanted to convert to Christianity should simply undergo circumcision. They specifically asserted in Acts 15 that it was circumcision “after the manner of Moses.” Not just any circumcision but eighth-day circumcision. I think they were contending that uncircumcised or improperly circumcised Gentiles could not be saved - ever. It was a way of saying that the promises of Christianity were for devout eighth-day Jews only. Maybe after the Jerusalem Conference, the Circumcision Party softened up a little on this.

I am glad that circumcision now is not by hands in the flesh but of the heart. Had I lived in the time of Paul, I would be disturbed if a member of the Circumcision Party sidled up to me and said that if I wanted to be a Christian and be saved I would need to get circumcised. But I have had Armstrongists tell me that I could not eat pork (I don’t like it anyway. Smells funny.) Or tell me I had to unleaven my house. Some Armstrongist denominations have little Mosaic quirks that they elevate proudly to requirements for salvation – like observing New Moons, maybe. Or believing in this or that oddity said from the pulpit. It sets them apart. And it means that they are going to the Place of Safety and will receive a better salvation and everyone else can pound sand. Because the others do not have the special knowledge that they have about New Moons. Or maybe about not eating mushrooms. Or maybe about not eating jell-o. Or whatever it is that makes them the only ones in God’s inner circle.

The Circumcision Party wanted to contain salvation. They wanted to control it and limit access. They wanted only a very few admitted to the inner circle. The Jerusalem Council blew all that away but there are some who still cling to it after 2,000 years. They also want to contain salvation. The smaller and more exclusive their denomination, the better. This plainly goes against the spirit of Christ who wanted the Gospel of salvation in Christ to be spread far and wide. Even among the Gentiles. This containment view will probably be one of the last errors to die when Christ returns. But, let me tell you, I am seriously happy that the Bible unequivocally states that physical circumcision is not necessary for salvation, even though other physical Torahic activities are not so dramatically set aside in scripture. I shudder to think what the misguided zealots might have forced on me.