Living Church of God: Members Forced To Watch Film About Life of Rod

Apostle Malm is reporting on happenings in Living Church of God at the Feast of Tabernacles.  There seems to be a power struggle going on as the top brass attempt to see who can kiss Rod's ass the best.  Also, the LCG membership was subjected to a film on the life of Meredith while at the Feast.  God forbid if you got up and walked out during that!

I wonder if it talked about how Meredith claims he has never committed a major sin since baptism. Or how he made the membership and ministers lives miserable when he was over the ministry.  Did they include Meredith standing up in Tuscon bad mouthing Leona McNair causing him and the WCG to get sued?  Did it include film of Rod screaming and throwing a fit in the Auditorium during the receivership?  Did it include film of HWA removing him from office and banishing him from Pasadena for a year?  Did they include film of him planning to form a splinter cult while the WCG was defending him in court for his loud mouth?  Did they include film when he refused to reimburse hundreds of thousands of dollars that  members loaned him to start Global Church of God after he jumped ship to form Living Church of God?  Did they include film of Raymond and Eve McNair on their knees in front of him asking for forgiveness "with trembling lips?"

This film has to be one of the biggest whitewashes ever produced about a COG minister! But then, most of the Feast films were always propaganda that painted a rosy picture over the face of a deceitful cult that was destroying lives.  LCG Film : The Whole World Will Be Following Us In World Tomorrow

LCG is now in a power struggle over the succession to Rod Meridith and the game of office politics is raging as contenders and hopefuls compete in a “loyalty to Rod” contest.  In the midst of the Feast a film on Rod’s career was aired. I hear that on the Day of Atonement one elder actually preached that the day was all about obeying those ministers above you.

I will give it a day or two before Prophet Thiel gushes about the important witness about the life of Rod that was put on film, that there is no power struggle, and "yes, members are supposed to obey ministers!"

False Prophets: Harold Camping and Rod Meredith

Prophet Thiel has a tirade today against Harold Camping who has once again predicted the end of the world this coming Friday, October 21st.  Thiel at least recognizes that Camping is incorrect and a liar.

According to Harold Camping and other supporters of his Family Radio, Jesus will return on and the world will end on October 21, 2011.  Here is what he wrote in his We are Almost There! book:

Significantly, the number 17 links perfectly to the fact of the rapture because spiritually, the number 17 signifies heaven. Moreover, the number 2 (second month) spiritually identifies with those who have been commissioned to bring the Gospel. Is it not amazing that they will be raptured on the 17th day of the second month? Is that coincidental? We also have learned that the last day of the earth’s existence, October 21, 2011, is the 23rd day of the seventh month of the Biblical calendar. The number 23 normally signifies God’s wrath being poured out. The number 7 (seventh month) signifies the perfect fulfillment of God’s purposes. Could this also be coincidental, that the final completion of God’s punishment on the unsaved occurs in the seventh month on a day that features the number 23, which is a number that completely identifies with God’s wrath, thus signifying God’s perfect wrath on the unsaved?  (p. 61-62).

So, based on his proclamations, the world has only a couple of days to exist. Of course, that is not possible, so in a couple of days, his remaining followers will again see that his prediction was wrong (like they did about his predictions for 1994, and the one for May, 21, 2011)

It is interesting that Thiel can see that Camping is a false prophet but cannot see that Meredith is also a false prophet.  Meredith has had just as many false prophecies over the years and MORE!

But Thiel dances by the false prophecies this way.  He claims Camping is making private interpretations of of prophecy, while LCG's and Meredith's version is "literal."  Camping takes his interpretations as literal also.  I do not understand why Meredith's private interpretation are any different than Camping's private interpretations.

We in the Living Church of God believe:

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (2 Peter 1:19-20, KJV)

Now, Peter is warning that unlike improper human reasoning, prophetic scriptures were not private interpretations. October, 21, 2011 and many of the numbers that have been associated with it are not biblical prophecies, but improper private interpretations of scripture.

While we in believe that we have “a more sure word of prophecy”, it is because we believe that many prophetic scriptures are literal and should often be understood that way. Sadly, those into their own private interpretations, and misunderstand the Bible and the Holy Days, have another view.

Thiel then goes on to say this:

Because he prefers his own imaginations to the truth of the Bible, Harold Camping seems to load one misleading calculation onto other misleading information to get to the wrong answer. He should not be listened to by those that actually believe the Bible. The heavenly signs in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 have not happened, and they must happen first according to Jesus before He can return.

If this is true then Thiel must stop listening and following Rod Meredith, because Meredith over the decades has used his own imagination to interpret scripture in accordance with his belief on the way things should be.  So far has has struck out every single time he opens his mouth.  Once a liar, always a liar.

Yet, Thiel can call Camping a false prophet and not Meredith:

It remains my view that when Jesus does not come on May 21, 2011, hopefully the warnings to his followers will finally sink in. And some may remember that Jesus said,

11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. (Matthew 24:11)

Meredith is a proven and documented false prophet, along with Herbert Armstrong, Gerald Waterhouse, Dean Blackwell and Herman Hoeh.  They have all lied through their teeth for decades.

But there is a grand scheme going on by Satan here.  With Camping and others continually being proven to be false prophets this will have an impact upon the Living Church of God whenever they decide to make an end time prophecy in the future.  Because of all the failed prophets in the past, when people hear LCG/Meredith utter prophecies the world will laugh at LCG and Meredith.  They will be mocked and scoffed at.

Despite false predictions, Jesus will return. And we are to look forward to His return as the Apostle Peter wrote. Jesus will return no earlier than 2018 (and likely later) as certain biblically-required steps have not yet happened (Daniel 9:27; cf. Matthew 24:15,21,29-30).

When God’s true servants proclaim the truth about prophetic events, people are likely to point to false predictions (supposedly, but not really, from the Bible) and scoff, though God still wants people to repent (2 Peter 3:3-9). This scoffing is one of the dangers of the October 21, 2011 date that will soon be proven false.

If Thiel and LCG don't want to be mocked and scoffed at then stop telling prophetic lies as if they were the truth!  Shut down your cult headquarters and stop lying!

Sexualizing War and Armstrongism's Fascination With The Subject

Two of the biggest topics in Armstrongism that continue to pop up are sex and war. The COG's find inspiration in Hebrew Scriptures more than with Jesus.  Of course that pay more attention to Revelation than Jesus. They claim Jesus is coming back as a god seeking revenge on all unrepentant sinners while totally ignore what he actually did and said.  Meredith has sexualized his church to the extreme while reveling in blood, guts and gore of coming conquering armies.

This may explain how the Hebrew Bible seems to sexualize all conquest and wars in the OT

 

The Israeli Woman, by Lesley Hazleton, the Hebrew language  sexualizes war: 

"Gever" is the Hebrew for man, pronounced with the main accent on the first syllable, giving it an aggressive swing. The word also means a cock, or rooster.

But if heroism is purely masculine in Hebrew, weapons and fighting are even more explicitly so. While the sexual connotations of "gever" derive from the cock of the roost, those of weaponry derive directly from the penis.

The Hebrew for penis is "zayin," which is also the word for a weapon. The phrase for Israel's armed forces can thus translate as "an army equipped with penises,'' and the verb meaning "to take up arms" also means "to have sexual intercourse. '

Hat tip to Dennis.

"The Religion Was Soaked With Fear..."

Here is an excerpt from an entry on a "conspiracy" site that is discussing the weirdness of Bobby Fisher.  Someone responds with the following:

American Protestants were fairly enlightened until the time Armstrong came on to the scene, its all gone down hill since. Billy Graham once referred to Herbert Armstrong as "a great man of prophecy". Herbert Armstrong predicted the end of the world would come in 1972 - doesn't pay a prophet to be too specific. We jokingly refer to Armstrong's church as a "non-prophet" organization. 

For me it wasn't a conversion by choice, my father joined the religion when I was very young and I was compelled to go. I did spend about 34 years in the religion, which is not unusual, most Catholics grew up in their religion too, they didn't convert to it. In 1993 I began to see the little man behind the curtain for what he was. Then me and few friends started an internet campaign to change the organization and reveal its corruption. About half the membership left it for more productive lives. Those that remained splintered into dozens of new organizations. The parent organization is now a Karl Barth Calvinist style church. 

I won't go into all the scandals of the religion, if you are interested in the sordid historical facts of its founders they are available at: http://hwarmstrong.com/ on a web site run by a friend of mine. I am not bitter towards the religion, the experience was a mixed bag. I still maintain friendships with those that don't mind having a heretic for a friend. Somethings taught were very good, but the image they presented of God, was frankly a monster. 

The religion was soaked with fear and because the end was always near members never put away money for their children or their retirements. Fear of God, fear of the end times, fear of even your own God given reasoning and common sense were hallmarks of the religion. Armstrong practiced a self-censoring form of mind control and had studied not only Hitler, Marx and Hegel...he says just to know how evil they were. In one letter to co-workers he admits to being an FBI informant during the McCarthy era.

------

One of the lawyers on that case told me the State of California went after the wrong things. They tried to find something wrong with the books. The Church had an air tight accounting system - in fact it was state of the art - it was a real time system that gave their current cash position at any given moment (that was in 1982). It was also pass phrase encrypting on the record level. What the State of California didn't ask was what Herbert W Armstrong did with that money, and all that required was a compliant Treasury who'd sign off on it. If the State came down, he could always have plausible deniability and fire the Treasurer. Those who didn't comply did get fired. I know of two such honest men.

The rest of the comments are here: Rumor Mill News: Bobby Fischer

You Are Now In Training To Be Priest Rulers --IF You Qualify!

So how does one justify all the whipping, stoning, lashing, killing that TRUE leaders of God will be doing in the millennium when ruling over planets, worlds and galaxies?

Below is what the Apostle uses to justify the actions he has been promoting.  You had better be keeping all the commandments, not eating pork, not eating in restaurants on Saturdays, making your wife wear hats in church, and observing new moons!  You are in final training to be Priests and Rulers and need to know how to administer JUSTICE swiftly and immediately!  No pussy footing around!  Be a MAN and assert your authority!

DEUTERONOMY 21

¹ If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: ² Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: ³ And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; ⁴ And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough [uncultivated]  valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:

This displays the Theocratic nature of the Mosaic Covenant and the priests as the law enforcement agents as well as the religious teachers.  Priest rulers, as we shall be in God’s kingdom IF we qualify.

⁵ And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: ⁶ And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: ⁷ And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. ⁸ Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. ⁹ So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

40 Lashes Ok, 100 Are Not

The Apostle speaks on how and when to whip grievous sinners:

DEUTERONOMY 25
A maximum of forty lashes is proscribed for evil doing, and a fair and honest judgment must be rendered.  Consider the Saudi and Iranian and Pakistani courts which even today hand out lashes up to and more than 100.

¹ If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. ² And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. ³ Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

Stone Your Rebellious, Gluttonous, Drunkard Sons!

And on it goes from Apostle Malm.  Apparently a multitude of opinions on stoning your child is required.  So when you are all in full agreement you are allowed to stone your children.  There are many in Armstrongism who think this will be a law in the millennium. Stupid, stupid people!

¹⁸ If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: ¹⁹ Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; ²⁰ And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. ²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Judgment is not to be made by any person alone but by duly constituted authorities. 

 The following is in main a reference to Christ and how he became a curse for us, bearing our sins and being taken down before the sun had set.  This also prevents the common abomination [if that time and the Middle Ages] of hanging people for days and weeks as an example to wrong doers.

²² And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: ²³ His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Malm pretends he is a Jew keeping the law as interpreted through the "new covenant."  On that he is a liar.

Even the Jews do not believe the above regulations to be valid or ever to have been enforced or carried out:

The rebellious son first appears in Shemot and then again in the last book of the torah, Deuteronomy.  In both texts he is stoned.

One who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death…One who curses his          father or his mother shall surely be put to death.  (Exodus 21:15-17).

“If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, that will not hearken to the voice of his      father  or the voice of his mother and though they chasten him, will not hearken unto         them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him and bring him out unto         the        elders of his city… They shall say unto the elders of his city: This son is stubborn and             rebellious, he doth not hearken to our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die; so shalt thou put away the evil          from the midst of thee; and all Israel shall hear, and fear” (Deut. 21:18–21).

His stoning is remarkable because the crimes of which he is convicted are not otherwise capital offenses.  Assault and even manslaughter are punished with compensatory damages and exile to safe cities respectively.  Exodus 21: 12-19.  The general rule changes if the victim or the accuser are either the father in Shemot or both the mother and the father in Deuteronomy.

Long before modernity, Jewish tradition rejected this practice and even the spirit of this practice.  Over several pages, the Talmud severely limits the application of this law – it could only apply in the small window between Bar Mitvah (onset of legal liability) and physical maturation (growth of body hair), a window that is estimated in the Talmud to be about three month, and there are further limitations on top of that. For example, if the rebellious son flees from his trial and then becomes an “adult” he is no longer liable.   There are no records of this punishment actually occurring.  Parents are prohibited from hitting their adult children.

The offensive law and ethos that give rise to it is effectively erased.  Its presence in the torah exists as testimony to what is possible in the sands of time and the light of day.  In the Jewish future, I imagine men and women will sit down to write Dvar Torah’s on how our generation effectively erased the prohibition on same-sex relationships and overarching gender inequality from the text.  They will look at those prohibitions as we look upon the stoning of the rebellious son – as a testimony to Judaism’s capacity to remain, after thousands of years, a religion in the process of becoming. Gather the Jews