Church of God Leader Does Not Own Cell Phone Because It "Could" Be A Tool Of The Beast Power

Its always fun to wake up every morning and do a quick check of the various Church of God's and find another minister or church leader making a fool of themselves.  Its not like this is something that happens infrequently, its almost very single day!  Eighty some years down the COG pipeline you would think they would learn to keep their mouths shut.  But.......THANKFULLY no!

Today's silliness comes from a man who feels he is the most intelligent and well informed leader of the Church of God in this dispensation.  As a world renown authority on prophecy, end times events, vitamins, holistic medicine,  the Mayan's and Baron Karl zu Guttenberg's hot mustache, it does not take too much to imagine who this guy is.  Its our very own, Bob Thiel.  Woo hoo!

It seems that Berkeley, CA is getting ready to pass an ordinance that will require the city to include in all cell phone purchases a warning detailing how dangerous phones are and how far to keep them from their body.  This has Thiel quit concerned!

Thiel quotes:

On Tuesday, the city council of Berkeley, California, will vote on a cellphone “right to know” law that would be the first safety ordinance of its kind in the country. It would require cellphone retailers to include a city-prepared notice along with the purchase of a cellphone, informing consumers of the minimum separation distance a cellphone should be held from the body.

He then goes on to say this and later quote from the scientists:

Berkeley’s vote comes the day after the release of a letter signed by 190 scientists from 39 countries calling on the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and national governments to develop stricter controls on cellphones and other products that emit RF or electromagnetic fields (EMF). The letter states, “The various agencies setting safety standards have failed to impose sufficient guidelines to protect the general public, particularly children who are more vulnerable to the effects of EMF.”

While all of that may certainly be true and a legitimate concern, our Chief Overseer takes it another step and equates cell phones to possibly being mentioned in the Bible:

I actually do not have a cell phone.  I sometimes joke that I am the only person in the world without one.  But it is not because of health reasons.  Basically, I do not have much of a need for one as I have sufficient land-line telephones at my home and office, so I prefer not to bother with carrying and charging a cell phone.

Now, despite potential health dangers associated cell phones, there are some prophetic ramifications of them.

 The following scriptures could potentially involve cellular telephones:

15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18, NKJV)

Armstrongites have loved to claim over the decades that the mark of the beast will be its power to require everyone to work on Saturdays and buy food, while true COG folk will be imprisoned for refusing to do so.

The above was written over 1900 years ago.  At the time it was written it would seem that there would be no way to stop/monitor buying and selling that Revelation 13:17 foretells.  Now, as more and more financial transactions are electronic, we are at the point that the vast majority of financial transactions can be monitored/controlled in some nations, like those in Europe. The Bible teaches that it will be a European power that is 666 and will enforce what is prophesied in Revelation 13:16-18.
How could this involve cellular telephones?

Well, there have been news reports that certain nations are considering doing away with cash completely.  And there are more and more ways to pay electronically with cellular telephones (e.g. see Could Apple Pay be a step towards 666?).

Like so many fools in Armstrongism and the evangelical community that take every single word in the Bible literally, it is easy to see how Thiel can jump to these conclusions.   Thiel apparently realizes he is starting to sound absurd so he wants to make sure you know he is not banning cell phone use:

Now, lest anyone get the wrong impression, I did not post this to tell people that they should not have a cellular telephone nor to imply that cellular telephones are 666 nor the Mark of the Beast.

I posted about all of this to warn cellular telephone users that the health risks associated with them should not be ignored.  And I posted this so prophecy watchers would consider that the technology that is needed to fulfill the buying and selling prophecy in Revelation 13 already exists and possibly may involve cellular telephones.

But he wants you to also know he has WARNED you and anytime a COG leader warns you about something you must realize it is a command!

That being said, there will be a place for more than electronic currencies.  The time will come that problems and debt of the USA will trigger its economic collapse (Habakkuk 2:6-8) and military conquest (Daniel 11:39).

Because much of the world has used the USA dollar for decades as the international/trading/reserve currency, after the USA dollar collapses people will be hesitant to accept another ‘fiat’ currency (one with no real backing).  This may be one of the reasons that the Bible prophecies that the European Beast King of the North power (Daniel 11:40) will take “the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt” (Daniel 11:43).

But as more and more people use cellular telephones, it may well be that some version of them (such as what might become part of a national identification/bank card) will be part of how the Beast power will be able to control buying and selling.

 Just my luck to find out my iPhone  is a tool of the beast power.  Who knew....who CARES!

Dave Pack: Cowering In Wadsworth

God's most highly favored man-child.

 From a reader:

I think it's hilarious that Packman devoted 2 entire World To Come programs to bash Harold Camping's failed prophetic dates back in 2011, and now he's getting a taste of his own medicine after that epic fail last year- he actually thought he could get away with a rewrite of some of his earlier material as a cover-up after the blowout! Pack is now left to cower under his desk at the magnificent Hall of Administration and hasn't put out much of anything since. This couldn't have happened at a better time while he's right in the middle of building a costly and glorious monument to his own foolishness in Wadsworth.

Way to go, Dave!

Living "University" Class on "How To Lie With Statistics"

Living Church of God could not have picked a more appropriate title for a book to use at their so-called "university."  The Church of God has had a horrible reputation of using statistics to falsely present an over inflated "God inspired" work.  As one director of the Accounting Department once said, "We can make any figures mean any thing we want them to mean."  That is what the COG did for decades whether it was talking about PT subscribers, members, or income.  That is ghat the present day splinter personality cults do too, especially Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, United Church of God and Rod Meredith.  Pack and Flurry are hands down the biggest liars out there, closely followed by LCG and UCG.

Rod McNair Dares To Preach About Family Communication While Destroying Families

Here is Rod McNair; the one that gets in screaming fights with his brother at LCG HQ.  The one that says elderly people are possessed by demons.  The one who disfellowhips those who do not cowtow to his idiotic demands.  This is the man who rips families apart and then dares to speak about "family communication"...what a joke!

Pasadena Campus Construction

 Click to enalrge all pictures to full size

 taken May  8, 2015

Early morning pictures of the new 1.5 million dollar condo's going up along side the former Italian Gardens area.  Where the arching fountain previously was it will be turned into a swimming pool for residents.

 Ambassador Hall (Merritt House is for sale still.  The price has now dropped to 9.95 million dollars.
Merritt House for Sale    Who ever buys this house will have no privacy at all.  All the former COG folk and public constantly peering in your windows.

Why Do So Many Living Church Of God Members Cover Up The Spiritual Abuse That LCG Commits Daily?

The Naked Pastor

I have received various emails from apparent LCG members decrying the piece about Rod McNair disfellowshipping a person because they did not quit a job in a nursing home swiftly, because according to McNair, demons inhabit the elderly residents.  They deny McNair would ever say such a thing because he is a "man of God."

Various other readers here know for a fact that Rod McNair DID say these despicable things and disfellowshipped the person involved. 

I was having trouble believing this story. So I did a little digging.
And to my horror it is true!
How can this happen?
How can someone be so unchristian?
My mind is boggled by this!

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I know this person. They were in a good position at this nursing home for years. I went to this facility to visit 3 different church members who were each there for a short time after being in the hospital for different things. One of them was a minister.

Each time I left the nursing home I remember thinking that you would have to be a saint to work there. I can't imagine helping people like that with everything from getting food in their mouths to going to the toilet (or worse, cleaning a diaper).

I have heard this rumor going through LCG ever since the Winter Weekend but I haven't talked to the person because we have been told not to. It makes me feel sad that something like this could happen and I don't understand it.

Serving those who are rarely served (the elderly) seems honorable.

It seems like it would have been easy enough for Mr. McNair to prove that this person had quit their job simply by calling the nursing home and asking if so-and-so still worked there.

Even still, I can't imagine asking them to quit in the 1st place :(

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There are so many troubling things about this story. I heard it months ago and sort of knew that it would eventually end up being made public. Despite what anon 6:00 says, LCG members are troubled by the story.

It's troubling that they think nursing homes are demon-filled. It's troubling that the ministry think they have the authority to ask someone to quit a job helping people (including church people). It's troubling that this member was accused of "lying about quitting" because they worked a 2 week notice. It's troubling that this person was subsequently disfellowshipped for the so-called lie. Especially since anyone who knows the person knows that they really did quit the job when they said they quit their job which would have been pretty easy to prove in the first place. The whole situation is sad.

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Then we had a reader respond that there was a reason why the person had to leave their job, did what they were told and then disfellowshipped because they were too slow in quitting.  It is this same mindset that has led to numerous suicides in the Church of God, of parents killing their children because they refused medical treatment, for marriages ripped apart by idiotic minister decisions, families separated and lives destroyed.  This is why so many LCG members sit there and watch these sick bastards rip lives apart and do nothing:

"Are LCG members outraged?"

No. They aren't. They believe that LCG is the Church of God under the direction of Jesus Christ led by Christ's chosen leader, Rod Meredith.

We believe that God is in charge of the Church and that it is not for us to understand why God's ministry do these kind of things. It is our job to trust and obey them. In doing this it shows that we are able to be lead and therefore we will be established as pillars in God's Kingdom.

If we question the ministry but say we believe they are being lead by Christ, then we are in essence questioning Christ.

If this person was told to flee to the place of safety, would they wait 2 weeks to do it? Maybe this was a test to see if they really trusted LCG ministry, and they failed. They should have had the faith to not worry about their reputation in the field, or money or anything else. If you follow without questioning you show your loyalty. LCG ministry has an extra measure of God's Spirit and is better able to discern these things. Most LCG members acknowledge this. To quote Mr. Meredith, "those who don't know where the door is".

  

 

This is cultic mind control at its finest.  No matter how much these people turn a blind eye to that, that's what it is. The fact that ANYONE in the Church of God allows these spiritual THUGS to tell them to do such things is appalling.  Its time that members stood up to these sick bastards and tell them how far to stick it!

Bill Watson of the Church of God International, Keeping the Flame of Armstrongism Alive

Bill Watson of the CGI, Keeping the Flame of Armstrongism Alive

By

Lonnie C. Hendrix/Miller Jones

Although the Church of God International has enjoyed a reputation among the splinter groups descended from Herbert Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God as a relatively moderate and enlightened group, a closer look at the teachings of Pastor Bill Watson and those who support him suggest that such a reputation is unwarranted. The fact is that Mr. Watson is a vocal and enthusiastic proponent of some of the doctrines which are now considered by many former members of the WCOG to be among the most obnoxious legacies of that church. While the Church of God International can technically claim that it has not endorsed many of these teachings (they are not a part of their official statement of beliefs), they nevertheless continue to feature Mr. Watson’s sermons and writings prominently on their website.

In July of 2014, Mr. Watson produced an eight-part Bible study series entitled “Biblical Origins of the United States and British Commonwealth.” In the series, Mr. Watson discusses a number of themes that will be familiar to most of the folks from the former culture. He talks at some length about the European Union and the potential impact of the Euro on the world and the United States in particular. He also suggests that things like the legalization of abortions and same-sex marriage are responsible for many of the problems that the United States has experienced over the last few decades.

Likewise, although he vociferously denies that his teaching is based on race, Mr. Watson underscores elements of the doctrine of British Israelism that could easily be followed in Mr. Armstrong’s writings on the subject. Things like:  God’s promises to Abraham, the separation of the scepter and birthright promises, the division of the Israelites into two distinct kingdoms, the Assyrian conquest and removal of the Kingdom of Israel. Finally, he leads his students to the inescapable conclusion that the peoples of Britain and the United States must be the physical descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh based on the many blessings which they have received from God.

In that same series, Mr. Watson goes on to identify those who are really walking with Christ as having a right understanding of sexual preference, marriage, the proper day for worship and the observance of the correct holidays/holy days. In other words, Mr. Watson is a proponent of a very narrow and doctrinally based definition of what it means to be a Christian.

Much has been made about Presiding Evangelist Roderick Meredith’s (Living Church of God) obsession with the subject of homosexuality, but he has noting on Bill Watson! He states very emphatically that “Sodomites will not inherit the kingdom of God.” In his three-part Armor of God Web Chat series “Politics and the Bible,” Mr. Watson decries “the silence coming from the podium” about issues like same-sex marriage. He says repeatedly that “all it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to sit down and do nothing.” Hence, Mr. Watson sees it as his personal mission to condemn homosexuals.

In the same series, he tells us that the concept of the separation of church and state is a fallacy that has been foisted on American society by atheists and secular humanists. Mr. Watson clearly delineates his belief that the Church should play the role of the guardian of our culture’s morality. He (along with my father, Pastor Wayne Hendrix) underscored the situation whereby the Mayor of Houston attempted to regulate what her city’s pastors preached on the subject of homosexuality (which this writer does not endorse or condone). It was stated in Part One of the series that it was obvious that she had an agenda “by virtue of the fact that she is a lesbian.” In other words, sexual orientation equals political agenda.

More recently, Mr. Watson has commented on the Presbyterian Church’s decision to begin performing same-sex marriages (featured on the CGI’s homepage).  He sees this as a “major event” in the history of corporate Christianity’s stance on the issue. For Mr. Watson, the genie has left the bottle! He decries the Presbyterian Church’s decision to base their ministerial qualifications on faith and character instead of sexual orientation. “When has homosexual behavior ever been a sign of character?” he asks. Mr. Watson longs for the good old days when homosexual behavior was considered abnormal and unacceptable. He informs us that the term “gay” used to indicate that one was happy. Mr. Watson concludes that homosexual behavior “is not the kind of behavior you want to have if you want to please God.” 

It is ironic to me that the principal scripture which Mr. Watson has used for justifying his disdain for homosexuals and their behavior is Luke 6:22. For those of us on the other side of this issue, this scripture provides comfort and hope:  “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.” NLT On the other hand, if there are any Armstrongites out there who are still hankering for that old time religion, you may want to give Mr. Watson and the CGI a try!

Personally, I know that Mr. Watson has been a good friend to my father (Pastor Wayne Hendrix), and a devoted servant of the Church of God International. In offering this piece, it is not my intention to attack or disparage his character. Rather, my intention was to clearly delineate what he is teaching and underscore his agenda to such a degree that the CGI’s continued support for his preaching and writings will clearly demonstrate their endorsement of those ideas. In other words, those of you who are considering the CGI as a possible religious home should be aware that their actions have incorporated things into their statement of beliefs that do not appear in the pdf which they offer to the public.