Passover: Keeping your library card up to date.

Living Church of God members still cannot do anything right.  It's a constant struggle to measure up to the standards LCG expects of them, and of which not one single leader in the Living Church of God has ever done himself. Not a single one!

Living Church of God members spend weeks before the Passover beating themselves up for one sin after another. Others wait till they walk in the door that night. Either way, walking into the room, you know ahead of time, that you are worthless and lower than the worms in the ground. Then as you are sitting there listening to the same story, every year, that you are worthless crap, you get to hear the breaking of the matzos as it is amplified through the sound system so that you feel EXTRA guilty as you recrucify Jesus Christ every year.

As Bereans Did had this up on their site today: Passover in the Age of Social Distancing

It's more challenging to clearly define the views of the Churches of God, since they never had a  systematic theology and each splinter has its own flavor. Generally, though, the COGs view Passover – their annual communion service – as an observance critical to salvation. This view is based on Numbers 9:13:

But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, they must be cut off from their people for not presenting the Lord's offering at the appointed time. They will bear the consequences of their sin. 

This application is in keeping with COG teachings on “ongoing justification” - that man is initially reconciled to God through Christ's sacrifice, but then is responsible for keeping his own slate clean – to varying extents – through a track record of repentance and spiritual growth. In short, if you're required to keep your library record up to date, the appointment for renewing your library card is critical.  and the schedule for available renewals is pretty limited - in this case, one evening per year.

This is exactly what Doug Winnail is describing below:

Passover and Beyond: The Holy Days are a vital part of God’s plan for mankind of eventually becoming part of His family. In the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, we are given two incredible tools to help us grow and develop the mind and character of God (Philippians 2:5; 1 John 3:1–3). To grow in this direction, we need to take time during this period to carefully examine our own thoughts and actions (1 Corinthians 9:24–27; 2 Corinthians 10:3–5). We need to honestly and prayerfully study God’s word and ask Him to help us see what commandments we are breaking and what instructions we are not following as we should (1 Corinthians 11:26–32). We also need to focus on clearly seeing our own shortcomings and resist judging others for their problems (Matthew 7:1–5). Recognizing the problems that are hindering our own growth is a big step toward becoming more like God and our Elder Brother Jesus Christ. It is also tremendously encouraging to realize that we can be forgiven of our sins (John 3:16). Yet, there is more to the process—we also need to be overcomers (Revelation 2:26–27; 3:12, 21). To actually make progress in overcoming our sins, we need to spend some time during the Days of Unleavened Bread planning how we are going to replace certain thoughts and actions that are holding us back from growing to become more like our Father. We need to “ponder the path of [our] feet” (Proverbs 4:26–27) and identify what changes we need to make (more time to pray and study, how we can treat others better, etc.)—and then focus on doing those things. Make a list and begin to work on it in the days following the Passover and Days Unleavened Bread, so we can prepare to be more effective instruments in God’s hands.

Have a positive and profitable Sabbath and Holy Day Season,

Douglas S. Winnail 

Not a single thing mentioned about what that sacrifice they claim to be celebrating or any word about justification or sanctification.  But then, Jesus is not that important in the LCG.  The law still reigns supreme.

Stephen Flurry: "...Christ 'will sit down and talk to our Father about how to remove our sins.'"

The spiritual madness has descended deeper down the rabbit hole in the Philadelphia Church of God.  For a while, many were looking at Stephen Flurry as the potential savior to lead the church out from under his dad's abominable teachings.  That idea is moot now considering the following:

Flurrys Re-Writing the Bible With Their Heresies:

April 6, 2020

Almost everything that SF and GF says is unbiblical. Not only has GF re-written much of what Herbert Armstrong wrote, they are now re-writing the Bible with their heresies. Neither of them understand how to teach the Bible accurately.

On Saturday SF said Jesus Christ (our Advocate) can “help us get through to the Father.” Help us get through? Both SF and GF at this time of year do nothing but focus on members’ sins. The temple veil (signifying man was separated from God by sin) was torn the moment Jesus died. Jesus does not “help us get through” to the Father. He is our Advocate (“helper, adviser, or counselor” from the Greek word parakleton) in the sense of pleading our case because He has already satisfied the demands of the Law. True Christians have already “gotten through” to the Father because they have been redeemed by His Blood. Colossians 1:14:  “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”

SF also said that Christ “will sit down and talk to our Father about how to remove our sins.” Such absolute nonsense. Christ already removed our sin when He died for all of them on the cross. Psalms 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” [Also read: The Sin Question]

Another heretical teaching is when SF says we have “two” comforters–the Holy Spirit (which he says is the power of God) and Jesus Christ. That is totally unbiblical. Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit when He went away, back to Heaven. [Read: Is the Holy Spirit Only the Power of God?]

I don’t know where SF and GF get these ideas but it’s not from the Bible. Not only do they not have the “love of Jesus Christ” as a previous letter said, but they do not even know how to feel or show love for Christ.

Also, the Flurrys are trying to create the impression that they are growing in numbers and so they’re propping up that illusion in the minds of their members. Most watching these “live presentations” are members. –W. N.

From Exit and Support 

UPDATE: Dave Pack Fails Again With Prophecy That Christ Was To Return Passover Night

Update:  Last night as Dave and his brainwashed devotees were waiting for his "christ" to return, tornado warning sirens went off. This for sure sent many devotees hearts racing! 

Sadly, this entire scenario Dave is creating has the potential to lead to deadly endings.  We may see another Waco happening or see RCG members killing unconverted spouses so they don't have to suffer during the tribulation while they are safely in Petra.


From an RCG source:

Meanwhile, David Pack has given his story yet again (..) a new twist, telling the RCG members he now knows (for sure!) when the Big Event will happen! It’s like watching a soap series, with a new cliffhanger every week over the last year or so. Making you wonder why there’s still people falling for it..

This is the Packsters latest announcement:

Our Passover Watch Continues! 

By now it is clear God wanted at least some of us to keep the Passover. Everyone east of the U.S. concluded services hours ago, which presented a great question: Does God want all brethren to take the symbols a final time?

Passover is a fixed date. It is not going to move. It is still the Day of Christ—the Last Day—“that Day”— and everything else we have come to understand. Of course, what we have long wrestled with is when events begin to unfold. Related to the question above, a second great question emerged: Would Christ really return before His day (Passover)?

The answer that perhaps should have been evident is a resounding no! Before proving this, let’s reason together. Which day would God want to memorialize—Abib 13 or Passover itself, Abib 14? Would God merely “come close” when aiming for a great Passover event? How could “THAT DAY” come “unawares” (Luke 21:34) on ANYONE if events began to unfold the day before?

There is simplicity in Christ, and this has proven truer than ever at the end. You will almost certainly agree by the end of this letter!

Deuteronomy 16:1 becomes even more central: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the LORD your God…” Our watch is inextricably tied to Passover!

Many verses support this understanding:

* First consider I Corinthians 11:26. We “eat this bread, and drink this cup” showing Christ’s death “till He come.” In one sense this could be taken to mean right up until He comes!

* Verse 27 shows how much turns on this: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” We have long understood the process of self-examination that precedes Passover. Yet think about this in relation to the imminent period of judgment when Christ arrives. In verse 29, Paul adds, “He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation [judgment] to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

* Ask: In light of I Corinthians 11, might God want to see how His people scattered across multiple continents in multiple groups—and in a world under lockdown—take their final Passover, ahead of the Great (Passover) Supper that will occur later in Abib 14?

* Peter wrote, “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (I Peter 4:17). What better way to start this judgment than all God’s people observing a final Passover service?

* Revelation 22:11-12 reads: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly [after this judgment process begins!]; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

Brethren: nothing will happen before all have taken the Passover—nothing even can! Nothing was ever scheduled to start before Abib 14. That was always God’s target date—the last day possible that we could “back into.”

We have all been intently watching, and now will through Passover evening. Every “night” verse we have considered comes into play. The night they speak of apparently points to tonight! Of course, on a round earth, many who have already kept the Passover would again be working, satisfying other verses we have long had to factor into the prophetic puzzle. Maintain faith—and HOPE!—to the very end. Passover has not moved. We have merely moved closer to Passover. We are so very close! 

Not close enough buckwheat!  Christ did not return.  He is not in Wadsworth. He is not even shopping at the Giant Eagle for a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream.

Once again, Dave's cabal of ministers sit there supporting these lies, knowing full well that Dave is full of bullshit. There will be blood on these men's hands before this is all over.

Philadelphia Church of God Still Ignoring COVID-19 Guidelines

The Flurry clan's personal slave detail cleaning leavening out of cracks in floor tiles, all the while ignoring the State of Oklahoma guidelines on COVID-19 infection prevention. Students have also spent many hours cleaning the Flurry's sins out of the family jet.

Classes have not been canceled and students are regularly in close proximity, even in the dorms and dining areas.

This is a Church of God after all, who follows a god that will never allow any of them to be infected. Magical god is amazing!

From a PCG source

PCG: People Catch COVID-19 Becasue They Broke HWA's Health laws

Did you know that those who catch COVD-19 caught it because they were not following Herbert Armstrong's seven laws of success?  Apparently, that includes their present members now sick with the virus. After all, regular members can NEVER do anything right.

From Exit and Support

SF Relating the Virus to Not Following the Seven Laws of Health:

April 5, 2020

SF on his April 3 broadcast brought up Herbert Armstrong’s Seven Laws of Health. This was after he said Sweden isn’t in lockdown and showed pictures. He said “most who get it will not die from it” and the vast majority who are dying “are already sick.” He played a brief clip of Gov. Cuomo talking about his brother who had it and said he (Cuomo) wasn’t acting too concerned about that. I heard him say this virus is mainly like a mild cold. From what I gathered this video was to prepare members for Passover and to concentrate on their sins. –F. U.

SF Using Crazy Talk:

April 5, 2020

To tell the truth I’m getting fed up trying to figure out where SF is coming from and what is behind what he’s saying. I get it that he’s trying to make members feel they are breaking “health laws” and sinning and if they get the virus it’s a result of their own choices. Much of his news sources are what he has cherry picked. So what if he did find health officials saying most people who become infected with the virus will recover? He would make us think: “All is well, go about your business. Sweden doesn’t have lockdown. They’re going on as normal. See how we in our country overreacted?” Next he’ll be saying, “My father and I haven’t got it.”

That’s crazy talk. What about people with serious health conditions that may catch it from someone (in PCG?) running around willy-nilly because they say they feel fit as a fiddle? –MO

Passover Time: It is exhausting to be a COG member at this time of year, both mentally and spiritually.

In the Churches of God, Passover has always been a time of inward introspection and self-examination as to why people do the silly things they do even though they know it is wrong. It is the most sacred observance in the COG calendar.  It is that one night out of the year that members look forward to having their slates wiped clean and can start anew into a more perfect walk.

That rarely lasts longer than the drive home when they start complaining that they had to wash the feet of a person they did not like, or that the person had nasty toe jam. The clean washed slate quickly erodes even more as a driver cuts them off on the freeway and they swear (under their breath, of course) at them.

The next day they hurridly scurry around the house searching for any last morsels of leaven.  Toasters are used for one last time and dumped. Suit pockets are checked.  Cars vacuumed. Children's toy boxes scrubbed clean.  It's exhausting!  All the time this is happening they are trying to cook a meal for a group of people coming over to keep the NTBMO. It's no wonder alcohol flows so freely on this night.

Then the next day they are up early for double services at some dreary high school gym or Masonic Lodge 150 miles away. The kids get antsy in the back seat and the parents snap at them. Arriving at church they have to help set up the chairs and get the food prepared for the potluck between services. They are worn out by the time the service starts. Then they have to sit there through the same god-awful recycled sermon that they have heard for 30 years. And, those damn metal chairs hurt!

The sermon they hear tells them that they are never good enough for God and to stop sinning. Or, even worse, you have a church leader like Dave Pack who declares himself Elijah and that his name means "Passover". Imagine sitting there hearing that!

Others will be sitting there wondering why they are there because their leader had told them Christ was returning a few days earlier, and yet, here they are listening to another boring sermon about how God has delayed the end time for one more final push. Thanks, Ron and Laura Weinland! As the official Two Witless Witnesses, you are the best!

You could always be a Living Church of God member who was told to examine themselves BEFORE Passover as to why they don't give more money, tithes or support the "work" more diligently.

TITHES AND OFFERINGS: Have you been faithful in paying your tithes to God this past year? Have you been faithful in giving offerings? Be honest with yourself. Stealing from God is a serious matter. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ’In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation" (Malachi 3:8–9).

God owns the earth, and everyone and everything on it. He promises to provide our every need (Philippians 4:19). God provides for His children, but some have "little faith" and do not trust Him (Matthew 6:30). He gave this admonition: "’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ’If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it’" (Malachi 3:10). God is the Giver of every good and perfect gift, and He promises to abundantly bless the tithe payer. Those who have faithfully saved their Festival tithe know firsthand the joy God gives at His annual festivals.

Examine your degree of faithfulness this past year with God’s tithe. Have you stolen from God? Have you saved a full Festival tithe? Ask God for the ability to give. Trust and honor Him in your tithes and offerings. If you have been a thief this past year, ask God’s forgiveness, determine to trust Him this coming year, then take the Passover in faith!

If there ever was a WTF moment in COGland, this is one of them.

Within that first week after Passover, when the euphoria of being washed clean is still evident, you will get a sermon or a member letter from your church leader who will start lambasting you that the work is being delayed and that Christ cannot return because of the lack of faith of the members. 

Certain church leaders like Pack and Flurry will initiate new draconian rules for their members while they claim new enlightenment that God has personally delivered to them.  Others like Bob Thiel will tell us about more dreams he has had while expecting us to believe God personally delivered them to him.

It is exhausting to be a COG member at this time of year, both mentally and spiritually.

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 The Message (MSG)

"If you are a member of a Church of God splinter, you come from an organization that was born in false prophecy...And to this very minute it is led by men and women who continue the family tradition without shame or remorse."

As the Bereans Did has an excellent post up about the COVID-19 virus and how the Churches of God are reacting to it.  As we have witnessed over the last few months, as the pandemic reared its ugly head, various COG leaders have gone into fits of ecstasy over the pandemic as a sure sign from God that he is pissed at humankind and is ready to usher in the tribulation where the full force of his wrath will be on display. Of course, just as we have witnessed for decades in the church, all of these prophecies now being uttered by COG leaders have been and will be utter failures.

In the early 1930s, Herbert W Armstrong started his own ministry on the sly, not letting his COG7 leaders know. What did he do? Let's take a look at his message:

"...19 years after the first seige, or 585 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar made his final siege, drove out all the Jews, took complete possession of the land, and the Times of the Gentiles came fully in. And 2520 years later, or 1936 A.D., the Times of the Gentiles will have completely ENDED. As nearly as we can calculate from the dates of ancient history, the year 1936 will see the END of the Times of the Gentiles. Those "Times" have not been completely fulfilled until that year."

-Herbert Armstrong, Plain Truth, June/July 1934, pp.4-5

That's right. He started with false prophecy about the imminent return of Christ. Did Jesus return in 1936? No. Did that stop Mr. Armstrong? No. 

To save myself the time and effort of writing all this out again, I will direct you to our article "All Systems Are GO!" where we document HWA's repeated false prophesies that did not stop until his death.

HWA tried to weasel out of it all by claiming that he didn't "prophesy" but "predict." No. He DID prophesy! We have documented it. Read our article, "An Inconvenient Plain Truth" and see. We document over 60 time-specific prophecies from one small window of time, and some of those were done in the name and authority of the Almighty God. That's 60 time-specific prophetic failures, from only one publication, from only one decade. How many more are there? Countless!

We have plenty more articles that you can find on our Categories page.

Now, you might be thinking, "How is any of this relevant to me? This isn't 1972 and I don't follow Herbert Armstrong." It is relevant to you because it wasn't just William Miller, or Ellen G White, or Herbert Armstrong, but everyone that followed those people - including the leaders of the Church of God splinter groups today. And those people are relevant. When Dave Pack named his group "Restored" what do you suppose he was restoring? Why, the Worldwide Church of God, of course! Just Google it. It says so right there. When Gerald Flurry named his group "Philadelphia Church of God" it was because that was the name Herbert Armstrong chose for his next church, should the government of California force him to give up leadership of the WCG in the Receivership debacle in the later 1970s. Why do all Church of God groups call themselves Church of God? Because they all come from the Worldwide Church of God. They are not just following naming convention here. This is a continuation in every sense. Herbert Armstrong may not be directly relevant to you, but he is directly relevant to every leader of every Church of God splinter - and that makes this relevant to you.

If you are a member of a Church of God splinter, you come from an organization that was born in false prophecy. It was raised on false prophecy. It makes its living off of false prophecy. And to this very minute it is led by men and women who continue the family tradition without shame or remorse.

Read the complete article here: COVID-19: No More Fearmongering