Tuesday, August 25, 2020

One Man and One Woman? Jerry Falwell, Garner Ted, Herbert Armstrong, and Your Ordained COG Leader Here _____________________)





One Man and One Woman?


Jerry Falwell Jr. has joined a distinguished/notorious list of Evangelical Christian leaders whose private sexual morality has not matched their public pronouncements. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Herbert W Armstrong, Garner Ted Armstrong, and Jimmy Swaggart promoted the "one man and one woman formula" when it came to homosexuals, but not so much when it applied to themselves. Likewise, we have learned that Jerry Falwell Jr. apparently welcomed a third person into his marriage for eight years (we are told that he liked to stand in the corner and watch his wife and the pool boy get jiggy with it).

I can hear it now: "Their moral failures don't make homosexuality right!" Which I am not at all reluctant to acknowledge is certainly true. However, it does negate the moral authority of these folks to discourse on the sexual morality of others. And, if we compare such behavior to the list of credentials which the Apostle Paul outlined for Church leaders, we are forced to reach the conclusion that they are disqualified from serving as leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ.

"What about David and repentance?" some of my religious friends will demand. It is one of the foundational tenets of Christianity that ANY time we are willing to repent and ask for God's forgiveness in Jesus' name, God is willing to forgive. Nevertheless, when Paul composed his list of qualifications for Church leaders, we have to assume that he was fully aware of how grace, mercy, and forgiveness worked when he recorded them. God forgave David, but we are told that he and his kingdom suffered horrendous public and private consequences for his sins. Paul said that no one can separate us from the love of God, but it is evident that he felt that folks could disqualify themselves from Church leadership!

Lonnie Hendrix

Monday, August 24, 2020

The Vikings: Your Ancient Tribal Ancestors...Does it Matter?


Our one and only self-appointed COG prophet and ONLY true teacher of history and the Bible is back with a wonderfully written craptastic post about the Vikings being our spiritual ancestors, thanks to the British-Israelism myth the COG embraces. 

Thanks to Herbert Armstong plagiarizing John Allen's, Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright when he jumped on the money-making British-Israelism train, the Church of God got stuck with the 12 tribes nonsense as the ideal diversion to not have to talk about Jesus. After all, what is more interesting, fictional speculative history or hearing about Jesus, that effeminate emasculated dude that Protestants talk about. The Armstrong Church of God movement made a clear choice in the matter on which path to follow. From Herman Hoeh to Bob Thiel to Craig White, BI is the doctrine of the day, Jesus be damned, but Woo-hoo 12-Tribes!

Our amazing Doubly-blessed and almost-arrested Bob Thiel is enthralled by a former COG member's (Bert Otten) speculation that some of the Vikings are from the tribe of Benjamin! Who knew! 

Thiel writes:

Retired teacher Bert Otten, who was once part of the old WCG, sent me a paper with his reasons why he feels that many ‘Western Vikings’ are the descendants of the biblical tribe of Benjamin. He told me that I could edit and/or use what he sends in any way.

Here is some of his article:

The tribal area of Benjamin was a buffer area between the House of Israel and the House of Judah. People tended to stay in their cities and homes and thus a number of the Benjamites were taken along into the Assyrian captivity of the Ten Tribes. …

Vikings in the British Isles

During the Viking Age many Vikings settled in the British Isles. Many Britons have some Viking blood. … Vikings from Norway circled the whole and came from the north and settled in Scotland, Ireland (Dublin), Wales and the Isle of Man. Benjamin embraced Joseph in the Bible and in a sense Benjamin embraced Joseph on the map and mixed with Joseph.

Thanks to the Vikings we now know where the words come from when we talk about the berserk COG leaders and the ugly muck they continually thrust upon us in their sick quest for power! Again, Who knew! 

Linguistic Loans

No wonder that the English language has many Old Norse loans: anger, awe, are, berserk, call, cast, egg, fellow, fog, gap, get, gun, happy, husband, ill, kid, kindle, knife, knot, law, leg, loft, low, mire, muck, odd, outlaw, wrong, wing, window, whirl, weak, until, ugly, trust, till, tidings, thwart, thrust, thrift, though, their, teem, take, sway, sick, etc.

There are three Rachel tribes: Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin. The Rachel tribes camped west of the Tabernacle, under Ephraim’s leadership. I believe that the western Vikings (from Denmark and Norway) are descendants of Benjamin and ended up in Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands. Ephraim and Manasseh ended up in the British Isles, all three far to the west.

Quite a few Vikings settled in the British Isles. Many Danes settled in Normandy, which got its name from the Norsemen. Many of these Normans (with Viking blood) crossed the Channel with William the Conqueror (1066) and settled in the British Isles too. So, in the Viking Age many Vikings went west.

Norse Vikings

About 500 years before Columbus (1492) and the English (1497), the Norse Vikings arrived in America. The Norse Vikings sailed their ships westwards to Iceland, Greenland and Vinland (New Foundland, Canada). The Viking colony in Greenland survived for about 450 to 500 years. The Viking Benjamites were the first in the New World and the first of the Israelites to go west. Later on to be followed by many others of the Lost Tribes.

Benjamin is A RAVENOUS WOLF, in the morning devouring the prey, and at even dividing the spoil.” (Gen 49:27, RSV).

Jewish Encyclopedia

The Jewish Encyclopedia states about this: “[According to the rabbis]: His comparison to the ravening wolf (Cant. R. to viii. 1), “who devours his enemy” (Gen. xlix. 27) is referred to the men of Shiloh who stole their wives (Judges xxi.) or to Ehud or to Saul. By others it is referred to Mordecai and Esther (Gen. R. xcix. and Tan., Wayeḥi, 14; so also in the original text of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs [Benjamin ii]; whereas a Christian interpolation refers it to Paul). …

Vikings – wolves

There is no people that fulfilled this verse as the Vikings did during the three centuries of the Viking Age. In gangs they attacked early in the morning in hit-and-run style, and at evening they divided the spoil. The common sword of the time was the Ulfberht sword. Ulfberht probably was the name of a bladesmith or of a group of bladesmiths. Ulfberht translates into English as Bright Wulf.

Benjamin & Violence (Sword)

There are tribes that are quite peaceful, like Asher, Zebulun and Issachar. Then there are militaristic tribes like Ephraim, Gad and Manasseh. The tribe of Benjamin was often involved in violence. That’s why Jacob prophesied Benjamin to be a devouring wolf.

Lefthanded Ehud single-handedly killed the king of Moab. The men of Gibeah raped a woman a whole night long so that she died. The Benjamites did not want to hand over the culprits, so they started a civil war of 1 tribe aginst 11 (Vikings avant la lettre). Abner, Saul’s army commander killed Asahel with a backwards thrust of his spear. Saul fought 40 years for his kingdom and died on the hills of Gilboa with his sons. Jonathan conquered a Philistine outpost all by himself and Saul/Paul persecuted the church with the sword.

Benjamites are good organizers and kingdom builders. At the time of the judges Israel was a loose confederation of tribes. There was no central governance, no king. God used the Benjamite Saul to build the kingdom, which was later taken over by the House of David. …

Paul was instrumental in building that Church with his missionary journeys and his epistles. Paul wrote 13 of the 26 NT books. Paul was an able organizer and he was of the tribe of Benjamin. …

Vikings – organizers & kingdom builders

Vikings were not just plunderers in hit-and-run actions, but also good organizers. Otherwise they would never have been able to make these long journeys. …

Benjamites (Vikings) are good organizers and kindom builders. The Scandinavian kingdoms today are well organized states.

Then our amazing prophet makes this mind-boggling declaration that seals the above speculation as fact:

Perhaps I should add that my wife and I have been to Iceland once.

WTH????? What does this have to do with anything?  I have stood at the crossing of ley-lines in England where ancient Celts and Druids had sacred places on which Christian churches exist today, but again, who cares? But, I am not a true prophet sent by god in this perilous end times to preach the truth lost for 1,980 years. Sigh....

Our Icelandic visitor ends with this:

While there are various ways to look at those and other prophecies, let me conclude by stating that I do believe that those of Iceland and Norway are essentially descended from biblical Benjamin, though there is ethnic intermingling.

As far as Bert Otten goes, he tends to be more of a Messianic than a Church of God leader, but we do have some points of agreement.

That being said, knowing where various peoples have come from, help us better understand how the Bible teaches that various ones will be affected by end time events that are still to come to pass.

That's a load of bullshit! While knowing about speculative mythology and history may be eternally fascinating, it has absolutely NOTHING of value for any follower of Jesus. This is just more crap to get in the way of people who should be told about Jesus and how to practice grace, love, and mercy as they make the kingdom of God tangible in the world around them, today. Sadly the COG movement places its emphasis in minor irrelevant things instead of focusing upon the bigger things in which they seem to be eternally embarrassed.

If this kind of mythology  interests you, then check it out here: Bert Otten on Western Vikings as descendants of the Tribe of Benjamin


Commercial Break: How to Be Ultra Spiritual

 

Sunday, August 23, 2020

Defending Sheldon Monson and What It Is Like To Be Mistreated By Living Church of God Leaders

 



NOTE: The original writer of this letter no longer holds to these views they wrote about Sheldon Monson, and regrets ever writing this, especially in light of the summer camp demon fiasco that happened in July of 2025

I have gone back and forth several times about commenting here. But, ultimately, I feel that I need to comment more than I care about what people think about the fact that I'm posting on this forum. You see, although I am no longer a part of Armstrongism, my family is and I love and respect them all and would hate to upset them. That being said, I can't remain silent. 

When I read what LCG was doing to Sheldon Monson I was completely shocked. Not that LCG would over-react or be unfair, because that has come to be their standard method of operation, but that they would do this to Sheldon.

Reading about what they did to him has triggered so many emotions within me. Mr. Weston's letters literally create a physiological response within my being. The trauma that LCG inflicted upon me was the worst thing I have ever gone through and reading about Sheldon brought all that pain back up to the surface. I wonder if I will ever be completely free of it. 

I know exactly how it feels to lose all your friends. I know how shocking it is to be going along, thinking everything will work out after being called into to HQ to "talk" only to be blindsided by the men at LCG headquarters a few days later. I know what it feels like to be shunned by friends that you truly loved with all of your heart only because the Presiding Evangelist tells them they can't associate you any more without risking their own security within the church or worse. I know what it feels like to find out you've been marked via a FedEx letter instead of a personal phone call or meeting. I know exactly how Sheldon Monson,his wife and his kids feel right now and it pains me.

My heart goes out to Sheldon and his wife and children who were as integrated into LCG as much as anyone could possibly be. This is a wound from which they will never fully recover. Sure, they will move on and hopefully they learn from this but one can never really be the same after being butchered by the high and mighty men at LCG.


All of that aside, the comment that was burning within me so much that I ultimately decided to post on this forum, is in defense of Sheldon Monson.

I first met Sheldon and his wife when they were in ministerial training in Kansas City (2002 or 2003 I think). We became friends. He is a genuinely nice person. He is loving and sincere. He has a huge heart and is fun to be around. He loves God and is a talented speaker and excellent camp leader. More than anything he is genuine which is not a characteristic of minsters (or members) in LCG. Whether you liked it or not, he had the courage to be who he really was without pretense. In a church full of fake people, he had the bravery to be real. He was the same person to your face and behind your back. He was the same person whether he was with the COE or drinking beer with you on the back porch. Did I agree with everything he believed? Hell no! In fact I ardently disagreed with many of his beliefs. But I appreciated his candor, openness and courage to be who he is, like it or not. I loved that we could utterly disagree and openly debate topics and then continue to be friends. People like that are rare in this life. People like that are almost non-existent in Armstrongism. His reputation deserves to be defended. He's a good guy and Mr. Weston should be ashamed that he couldn't handle this situation more maturely with the Fruits of the Spirit.

I was shocked that hardly anybody had the courage to stand up and defend my husband and myself When LCG unjustly marked us. People who know our character sat in cowardly silence instead of saying something as they watched them destroy us and tell lie after lie about us. But guess what? I am not that person. I will defend those who deserve it. I will stand up when good people are brutalized by LCG headquarters. I will openly love those whom I chose to openly love and no man will ever have the authority to tell me who I can fellowship with. I am not afraid. I am ruled by God Almighty and not by the small, egocentric, insecure men that sell fear in an effort to control their members. I am free.


Sheldon Monson was one of very few in LCG that went to bat defending my husband and my character repeatedly during my fiasco with LCG in 2014. After that, he continued to make a concerted effort to remain our friend and to show us out-flowing love and concern. He was the only minister in all of LCG that acted like a shepherd. The rest of LCG ministry scraped us off their shoes like dog poop. Even ministers that knew us as well as a person can possibly know another and that includes Gerald Weston. Mr. Weston knows us better than most. He counseled us for marriage prior to leaving KC and he baptized my husband. He has stayed at my home more times than I can count. We are very well acquainted. Yet he did nothing because he lacks the fortitude to do the right thing. 

Sheldon was specifically told not to affiliate with my husband or me in 2014 but he refused to comply on the grounds that until we gave him a reason to believe we were bad people, he simply wouldn't cut us out of his life just because Rod Meredith told him to. if only more people in LCG thought like him! He continued to go out to dinner with us and check in on us even after the marking. One night we got busted by Jim Meredith who promptly ran to his daddy to tattle tail. When Rod Meredith called Sheldon up to his office the next day to ask if it was in fact true that he had gone out to dinner with us, he courageously said, "yes" and defended our character once again. That is the kind of character Sheldon Monson has. He is a stand-up guy. 

Is he perfect? No. But who is?

I know that ultimately this will be one of the best things that ever happens to Sheldon, even though it might be insanely painful. It was for me. I saw the true character of people who called themselves my friends. I saw the true character of men pretending to be ministers of God. My eyes were opened to the nature of these people. I have found happiness and I have a connection with the Almighty that I could have never attained in a church that can not even begin to conceive of the love of God because they themselves only understand conditional love. I am love. The love of Christ flows abounds within me and fills my being. I have a connection to Source that no man can ever alter. He is mine and I am His. I wish the best to all who read this. Be real. I promise it's worth it.

PS: If you are in a "church" that tells you not to be friends with good people, you might be in a cult
PPS: I would like to personally thank every minister and member of LCG for setting me free through your harsh and unloving actions. 

With Love & Light,


Saturday, August 22, 2020

Gerald Weston Intends To Shut Down Live Streaming Of Sermons

 

Church of God News has this little tidbit up:

It used to be possible for anyone to view LCG’s live Sabbath services, but one of Gerald Weston’s first actions on taking control of LCG was to deny access to non-members.

Soon afterwards he took this a stage further: “We ask you, brethren, please do not share passwords outside of your area.”

In his sermon on August 8th he announced his intention to cut off livestream services even to members … “when this whole thing is over.”

“Some who are healthy, some who really could go to the feast just think, well, it’s just an option. Yes it is an option, in the sense of you have to make up your mind what to do. But there’s coming a time, brethren, when we have to come out of our basements, and there’s coming a time, when this whole thing is over, we’re going to have to cut off the livestreams to just anybody.

And I think we’ll have to do that because otherwise people will say, oh, I’m so comfortable here at home. Why do I have to dress up and go all the way over here? I would maintain that, when we assemble together over the internet, because everything is closed down, I’d say that’s still assembling together … but this is not what we want to do forever.”

Why not … if it’s still assembling together? What is he worried that his members might be doing?

Weston has to be one of the pettiest COG leaders out there.  Everything irritates this guy and causes him to lash out in anger. As usual, LCG members are at fault. Can they ever do anything right in this man's eye? 

Ever since Terry Ratzmann murdered seven LCG members during Sabbath services, LCG has sought to close down access to their sermons to the public. One of Meredith's sermons drove Ratzmann over the edge and the media sought to gain access to what was being preached. LCG clamped down tighter than an oyster shell. So much for the Good News that they claim to be proclaiming to the world!  How can anyone ever hear the message if they cant listen to the truth? None of their watered-down crap in their magazines preaches the Good News. I thought LCG was BOLDLY and without fear, preaching the truth? Instead, they cower and whimper in their little office building in Charlotte dreaming about the good old days when people obeyed the ministry regardless of what they said.

Adult Sabbath School: "And women shall rule over them"

Dr. Making It Mean What It Never Meant Bob is once again misunderstanding and misapplying the classic WCG concept of how to study the Bible.  You know,  "Line up line, line upon line, here a little, there a little..."

In his "Kamala Harris selected for VP" comments Thiel says, as we would expect from Old School WCG....

"The 2020 presidential election is featuring people who are against many aspects of biblical morality.

The Bible itself warns that if the children of Israel sinned and did not repent, the following would happen:

"As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them..."  Isaiah 3:12"

Bob goes on, as to be expected, that the Bible warns us the time would come when female rulers as well as those not racially Israelite would come on the scene.  No really. He says this.  "While Barack Obama may have been about 1/2 Israelite descent, Kamala Harris is less so."  No really, he said that.

Bob then goes on to tell us that "since the time of Margaret Thatcher" he has felt likely that the USA would end up with a woman President.  Horrified, he goes on to note that women already rule as Prime Ministers in Australia and New Zealand and UK and Canada have had their Queens. I'll spare us the part about his fears about "Aliens rising up."

The fact that modern female Prime Ministers seem to do a much better job than their male counterparts escapes him. 


You can read his foolish Bronze Age misapplication of Isaiah 3:12 here:

https://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/kamala-harris-selected-for-vp-by-dnc-here-is-more-from-and-about-her/

You can read the actual meaning and context of  "here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept" here:

https://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2017/01/dear-bobi-repeat.html

But to the meaning of Isaiah 3:12. 

And while I would not endorse the Israelite Bronze Age view of women as weak and troublesome so as to use their womanhood an analogy about how the men, rulers and priests were acting, it is generally understood that the concept or supposed "prophecy" is of a time to come when just before Jesus returns, women would rise to political positions over the lost, yet found Israelite nations thousands of years into the future.  That is lame and dishonest to the text and intent. 


As for my people, children are their oppressors - This refers, doubtless, to their civil rulers. They who "ought" to have been their "protectors," oppressed them by grievous taxes and burdens. But whether this means that the rulers of the people were "literally" minors, or that they were so in "disposition and character," has been a question. The original word is in the singular number (מעולל me‛ôlēl), and means a "child," or an infant. It may, however, be taken collectively as a noun of multitude, or as denoting more than one. To whom reference is made here cannot easily be determined, but possibly to "Ahaz," who began to reign when he was twenty years old; 2 Kings 16:2. Or it may mean that the "character" of the princes and rulers was that of inexperienced children, unqualified for government.

Are their oppressors - literally, 'are their exactors,' or their "taxers" - the collectors of the revenue.

And women rule over them - This is not to be taken literally, but it means either that the rulers were under the influence of the "harem," or the females of the court; or that they were effeminate and destitute of vigor and manliness in counsel. The Septuagint and the Chaldee render this verse substantially alike: 'Thy exactors strip my people as they who gather the grapes strip the vineyard.'

They which lead thee - Hebrew "They who bless thee, or call thee blessed." (See the margin.) This refers, doubtless, to the public teachers, and the false prophets, who "blessed" or flattered the people, and who promised them safety in their sins.

Cause thee to err - Lead you astray; or lead you into sin and danger."

And destroy - Hebrew "Swallow up."

As for my people, {k} children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

(k) Because the wicked people were more addicted to their princes than to the commandments of God, he shows that he would give them such princes, by whom they would have no help, but that they would be manifest tokens of his wrath, because they would be fools and effeminate.

Verse 12. - As for my people. Return is now made to the sins of the dwellers in Jerusalem, and the first thing noted is that the people suffer from the childishness and effeminacy of their rulers. The rulers are called "oppressors" by the way here, the sin of oppression being dwelt on later (vers. 14, 15). Here the emphatic words are "children," "women." Children (see ver. 4). The rulers are "children," or rather "babes" - foolish, capricious, cowardly. It is not clear that any prince in particular is meant; rather, by the plural form, the upper class generally seems to be intended, as in Isaiah 1:10, 17, 23, etc. Women; comp. Herod., 8:88, where Xerxes says that "his men have shown themselves women, and his women men;" and see also Virg., 'AEneid '-

"O vere Phrygia, neque enim Phryges." The rulers were womanly, i.e. weak, wavering, timid, impulsive, passionate, and are therefore called actual "women." There is no allusion to female sovereigns. They which lead thee cause thee to err; or, they which direct thee lead thee astray. Professing to point out the right path, they led men away from it. Destroy the way; literally, swallow it up, or obliterate it.

Sorry Bob

Your racist and sexist defects are clearly on display in, yet again, making the Bible mean what it never meant or could. 

Friday, August 21, 2020

Did Sheldon Monson Comply To Weston's Rules And Then Have The Script Turned On Him (Like LCG Is So Good At)?



The more days that pass the worse Gerald Weston and the Living Church of God look in this situation

From a reader:

"He's called us not just for personal salvation but to do a work and if we splinter and we you know separate and every which direction everybody doing his own thing, how are we going to do the work of God?" - Gerald Weston Quote.


We have been in contact with Sheldon Monson, he has no intention to start his own church, at least at this time, as far as I know. We have been told he will pray and fast about the current situation he is in. For now he is holding Sabbath services online which would seem to be appropriate considering the fact he does not know what to do. I believe Sheldon is trying to do the right thing. I trust his word and my hope is he will.

Now regarding LCG actions. I believe it was unnecessary and wrong for LCG to treat Sheldon the way they did. No contact anymore? If true, not a good look. Was he really doing anything wrong though? I think we need to ask that question and take it to a serious level of consideration. Am I right or am I wrong? LCG members: this was not the 1st case of crookedness by the way.. LCG has been caught in lies to name one further example.

Now, here's something you may have not heard: 

Sheldon said he complied to rules from LCG and was able to hold Sabbath Services outside for 5 Months or so within LCG after the pandemic began, that is, COVID-19. But something strange happened from my understanding. LCG flipped the script and decided to change the policy regarding outside service from what I understand. They decided, as in the council of elders I believe, to take away access to outdoor services. For what reason? They never gave a proper explanation as to why. As many of us know, Sheldon, stood up for what he believed was right. By the way, this is not the only reason why LCG fired him and disfellowshipped him. Sheldon personally thinks it was a test of compliance. Odd, I know. Sheldon was an outspoken member during his time in the council of elders. Which made him quite unliked from what I heard. So I'm not really surprised and I don't think Sheldon is either, that they may have done something crooked, mind you, again. I'm not saying they surely did but they certainly could of.. Sheldon is not the only person I suppose you could say was abused, if what I said earlier could be true. My father was. Our close friend was. Dibar Apartian, right before his death from my understanding. The Scarboroughs from what I heard. The list goes on. 

To everyone: LCG needs really needs to take the weightier matters of the law very seriously which they claim to hold to. (Matthew 7:16–20)