Saturday Morning Coffee With The COG Ministry

 

The Church of God Mantra

The Great Disappointment

The Great Disappointment 

He was only 19 but already a Methodist preacher for two years. He and his mother looked up at the New York night sky and witnessed the great meteor shower of 1833. Moved to prophesy, his mother stated, "Gilbert, the day of judgment is at hand." This was enough to convince him that he had just witnessed the fulfillment of Matthew 24:29 and Jesus was on His way.

"When October 22nd dawned in the Cranmer household, Gilbert was busy preparing to join his Adventist friends at a nearby schoolhouse to await the Advent. His wife, Betsy, had no intention of accompanying her husband. She sympathized with her family, the Heaths, and did not believe Miller's doctrine. When Cranmer was ready to leave the house, he prayed with her. She said, 'Gilbert, you will be back.' He left her with a heavy heart, feeling he probably would not see Betsy and their young daughter, Mary Ann, again. 

 

He and his Adventist friends read Scripture, prayed, and sang hymns while they waited for the great event. Their spirits ran high throughout the afternoon and early evening, as they were sure they were on the verge of seeing the face of their Lord and Savior. But apprehensions grew as midnight approached and no Advent. After midnight, their hearts grew heavy as Jesus' appearance seemed less likely with every passing hour. By sunrise, their expectations turned into bitter disappointment. That is the reason October 22nd, 1844, is called the Great Disappointment. 

 

As the early morning sun began to shine on October 23rd, Cranmer bid his Adventist colleagues farewell and started home with a heavy heart. On his way he was accosted by some non-Adventist neighbors who joked and shouted, 'I thought that you were going up last night.' When Cranmer arrived home, Betsy met him at the door with a smile and reminded him, 'I told you, you would be back.' 

 

After October 22 most Millerite Adventists were harassed in one manner or another but in New England especially some were jailed and others incarcerated in asylums." --The Journey: A History of the Church of God (Seventh Day) by Robert Coulter, pg. 45

Qanon conspiracy theorists and Trump Savior optimists are beside themselves now that their prophecies of a January 20th coup has come and gone. I don't know about you but I got my fair share of links sent to me by folks I know who just a year ago I thought were rational beings. Christians sharing videos from wild-eyed strangers around the country claiming their inside sources are guaranteeing a bloodbath of communists and the jailing of everyone that has been determined to be part of the swamp by Trump, Savior of the free world.

On Inauguration Day, there was supposed to be a blackout. Trump would use the National Guard and the Navy and announce Martial Law through the Emergency Alert System. Make sure you have a CB radio and stock up on toilet paper (here we go again) and food. There would be mass arrests to cleanse our Christian nation of commie scum.

Many across their forums were calling the event "The Great Awakening." Some have resigned quickly to the reality that they have been duped, it was all just a cruel hoax. Still, others are holding on to continued narratives over the following days and weeks.

Intelligence has revealed that since the Capitol riots on January 6th, white supremacists raided Parler and other alternative social media platforms in hopes of recruiting the disenfranchised. One Neo-Nazi recruiter was advising other recruiters to not focus their message on WWII but instead on Democrats and injustice toward white Christians. While many people are angry at Twitter and Facebook for a 'cancel culture', Facebook has pointed out that they removed over 60,000 pages of shit just like this starting in November.

This was such a bizarre year. It makes me wonder if the Churches of God in particular with so many years of pent up yearning and waiting for the end of the age, just finally used Savior Trump as a release. For so many years, duped people have put their whole lives on hold and sent in their hard-earned money to these serpents claiming to be doing God's Work.

It also makes me wonder why it is so much of humanity has sought Saviors down through time. I know there are any number of psychological and sociological explanations. Whatever the reasons, it seems to me that it only harms people and robs them of living a complete and fulfilling life now. And there are no shortage of thieves all too willing to take their money for the assurance that a Savior is surely coming in 'your lifetime.'

I see single people who never marry because they refuse to marry outside their tiny organizations. Smart young people deciding against higher education because they think, what's the use? Struggling families with multiple children who live paycheck to paycheck because after paying three tithes, there just isn't anything left to get their teeth fixed, let alone save or invest for retirement. What will they have to live on in their retirement years when they gave it to a ministry to send their kids to college and retire on?

Ryan Bell is a writer, speaker, and ex-Seventh Day Adventist pastor of 19 years. While I don't necessarily agree with his atheist stance on life now, he does make some poignant observations about Christianity and the need of a Savior:

Popular Christian theology...renders this lifeless meaningful by anchoring all notions of value and purpose to a paradise somewhere in the future, in a place other than where we are right now. Ironically, my Christian upbringing taught me that ultimately this life doesn’t matter, which tends to make believers apathetic about suffering and think that things will only get worse before God suddenly solves everything on the last day.

Without the dependency on a cosmic savior who is coming to rescue us, we are free to recognize that we are the ones we’re waiting for. If we don’t make the world a fair and habitable place, no one else is going to do it for us. Our lives matter because our choices affect others and our children’s future.

I don't think we need to embrace atheism to understand and embrace what it is he is saying. As I pointed out in my last post concerning Wally Smith's response to supporting causes in this world, the Churches of God have a "preach alone" dogma that excuses us from living life in the here and now. It stops us from being neighbors and helping others. That is not what Jesus taught. Matthew 25:31-46 should be the emphasis of any Christian worth his or her salt. The Churches of God are full of priests and Levites, literally stopping brethren from being samaritans. The Armstrong legacy creates an us vs them that dehumanizes humanity from the rest of us. This isn't natural or normal and eventually begins to create individual and group psychosis that pushes us further and further from reality.

As we sit on the sidelines, waiting and waiting and waiting as life passes us by, we get antsy. Something isn't right. We are waiting for a battle that never comes. So now we go looking for it. And maybe some of us find it in politics. And for the first time in a long time, we feel alive. And the next thing you know, you are a Church of God member at the Capitol on January 6th. And like Gilbert, your Great Awakening turns into a Great Disappointment.

I'm not even saying it's wrong to be involved in politics. What I am saying is that Armstrongism and possibly to a lesser degree, American style Christianity, poisons minds in a way that moves people to the unhinged fringe extremes.

This waiting on a Savior and being told that you just have to pay, pray, and stay. This feeds into delusions, distortions of reality. Convincing people to live life on pause seems to me to be one of the cruelest hoaxes in the world. New England arrested and even threw people in the asylums after the Great Disappointment! Maybe it's time we get the authorities attention on these cults so we can get the leaders like Dave Pack, Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, and the rest of them thrown in jail and into rubber rooms.

THINK! If Jesus is coming back, it will only be ONCE and probably not in your lifetime. These Adventist peddlers, whoring for money in the name of religion have been doing this for 180 years! Take your life back. Save yourself.

Stoned Stephen Society

See: The Great Disappointment

The Restored Church of God: Who's Sorry Now?

It was back during one of Dave Pack's delusional prophecies, now completely failed and replaced by others of equal or greater failure value, that Dave made up a questionnaire for any splinter ministers, who might be drawn to RCG and regain minister status, to fill out in full  Dave's intrusive and self humiliating questionnaire.  It can only be assumed that now, all those men under Dave Pack's thumb in ministry have passed with flying colors or they would not be in the position they are in. 

Why did you do that?  Why are you so unable or unwilling to see the completely failed ministry of David C. Pack by now? 

 Can you not recognize Dave's narcissistic needs and that he is using you to fulfill them?

Do you know a personality disorder when you see one?

Why can't you recognize delusional thinking and one theologically misguided teaching after another?

How can you  really believe Dave Pack is spoken of in scripture?

Why does that not make you uncomfortable that he believes he is?

 Is it position you love in an organization that virtually no one on the planet has ever heard of?  

Do you enjoy repressing your views and thoughts , which I assume are sincere and hopeful with regards to all things theological, in favor of saying "yes sir" to Dave's thoughts on all things which time and again have proven to be totally false?

What are you afraid of?  Loss in income?  loss of self esteem (You have already lost it I suspect) ? What others will think of you? Family problems and consequences?

Why do you tolerate one failure after another in Dave's prophetic fantasies?

Did you think last FOT that Dave was really going to walk away and "not return to his home" because Jesus was coming by the end of the Feast?

Just how many times can you endure "We didn't understand but now I do" apologetic repeatedly following each failure in his dangerous theological games? 

How much of your authentic one of a kind self have you had to  repress to pump up  and fuel Dave Pack's ego and ludicrous vision of himself?

Why can't you even see Dave Pack has a ludicrous vision of himself?

Do you ever consider the danger you are putting your family in following Dave and being in RCG?

Ever thought "I hope we don't end up on the front page with all this"? 

Are you simply hoping Dave will calm down, settle in, and let you teach I Cor 13 to your members and drop the Old Testament view of God and the Prophets for the New Testament one of Jesus and Paul? 

Is it possible you don't understand that all the soon, shortly, quickly and nights being far spent is not for you today and simply the mistaken notion of the people to whom it was written?

Is it possible Dave Pack presenting falsehoods enthusiastically are still falsehoods?

How would that realization change your ministry and your life?

Are you afraid of being disillusioned?

Why would you want to believe illusions?

Why did you agree to taking Dave Pack's "So you want to be in the RCG ministry?" emasculating and intrusive questionnaire? 

Are you secretly sorry you had to but at least you got in?

In case you forgot what you agreed to inform, admit and reveal to get back into ministry.

Dave required you to answer...

 

(3) Established Doctrine and Tradition

• In what doctrines or traditions do you believe Mr. Armstrong “got it wrong”? (Include all areas—be specific.)

(4) Did you actively resist false doctrine in your ministry?—or give safe sermons where you disagreed? (Be specific.)

6) Why should you still be considered for the ministry in God’s Church?

• Why should God’s flock ever again be entrusted to your care?
• Are you prepared to re-win brethren’s trust, including brethren now here whom you will likely also pastor? What about re-winning the trust of Headquarters?

(9) Do you now believe again that Christ works solely through one unified organization?

(10) In light of government(s) you followed, how do you see God’s government today?

(15) Are you willing to temporarily or permanently become an associate pastor?

(16) Are you willing to be excluded from the ministry until you requalify?

(18) If your ordination(s) is(are) invalid, are you interested in being re-trained for Christ’s true
ministry?

(19) Do you believe ministers should be able to voice opinions to others about:

• Where Headquarters is “wrong”?
• What Mr. Armstrong taught/said/did “wrong”?
• What Mr. Pack teaches/says/does “wrong”?
• Where your boss is “wrong” or harsh, etc.?
• Where you disagree doctrinally?

(20) Do you consider yourself as having been (rate yourself from 5 being best to 0 being worst):

• Weak                  
• Cowardly
• Slothful
• Covetous
• Confused
• Compromising
• Foolish
• Political (And did you ever “run for office” in a splinter?)
• Heretical
• Deceitful
• Easily deceived
• Betrayed your calling

(21) Why did you lose the ability to “discern good from evil” (Heb. 5:13-14)?—and for so long?

(22) What do you consider to be your ministerial rank?

(23) Are you prepared to dedicate the rest of your life to serving God’s flock and fixing completely
the horrific mess you helped cause in so many lives?

(24) In light of how you once saw Mr. Armstrong, do you still recognize the fruits of a true apostle when you see one

(25) Describe your spiritual condition today. (Also, rate your temperature from 0-10, with 10 the highest.)

(26) What 5 biggest lessons did you learn from and since the apostasy? (In order of importance.)

(29) Having now long abandoned many doctrines you said you would never leave, how would you convince Headquarters that this time you “mean it” if you intend to now “hold fast” (Rev. 3:11)?

(31) Are you prepared to spend a full year (or more) catching up with all you must unlearn, relearn, and learn new?

(33) How would you prove that you are still Spirit-led?—or were ever Spirit-led?

(35) What did you do after reading the article “God’s People Back Together—SOON!”?

If you need to talk confidentially, please get in touch.  If I can't help or my personal dislike of what Dave Pack represents makes you uncomfortable,  I will point you towards those that can and who want to help you make the best and well thought out transition possible

The Clergy Project

Snapshot of Bob Thiel's Passover Set Up This Year

 

Dave Pack: I like shredding brains with my prophecies...

 

In part 277 of his over 280 part sermon series, 

Dave Pack, (false) Apostle of The Restored Church of God, 

boasts of shredding brains. 

His prophecies are so complex, they even cause sleepless nights. 

Where is the Simplicity in Christ?

Satan's Allies Here On Banned Cause Major Boo Boo On Delicate Fake COG Prophet's Ego

 

The other day we quoted some of the Great Bwana to Africa's attendance figures that he himself posted on his blog. This did not sit too well with Bobiniah Thiel. As the modern-day Elijah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Elisha, and future witless witnesses to the Church of God, he could not let the ridicule of his attendance figures go unanswered.

In one of the most pathetic self-justifications we have ever seen him write so far, he went on a rampage with the spittle flying.

Some of Satan’s allies at Banned by HWA website continue to post lies about those of us in Continuing Church of God (CCOG) and other COGs.

Notice the following that was recently posted at Banned by HWA:

Spiritual and physical abuse in the Church of God had/has been going on for decades and people were and still are sick of it. That is why fewer and fewer people stay in the spiritually abusive cults of Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Ron Weinland, and other groups. Even the so-called “enlightened” groups led by Weston, Theil, Kilough, Kubik, Thiel, Hulme, and others, who imagine themselves to not be spiritually abusive, have been unable to keep members or draw in new cash cows members. After all, what this really boils down to is money flow. (Leonard, Gary. How A Marked and Disfellowshipped Employee of Living Church of God Is Making A Difference In The World November 30, 2020)

Since my name was mentioned twice (and misspelled once), (Sorry buttercup, but Grammarly does not recognize you as being legitimate  ) let me start off by saying that no, we in the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) have not been the source of spiritual or physical abuse. We will deal with the ‘money lie’ from Banned later in this post.

When a self-appointed fake prophet sets himself up as a new splinter personality cult of the COG movement it is spiritual abuse!  Bob's personality cult was formed as a direct result of Living Church of God refusing his demands. God was no more behind this apostasy, the improperly called  "continuing" Church of God, than he is behind Dave Pack and his cult in Wadsworth Ohio. 

Imagine if you will, that you were a little insignificant COG prophet sitting at home and got so butthurt by the stats we posted that he had to reach out to other Church of God groups to get their attendance figures. Bobaniah did just that, even after he claims that other COG leaders are false prophets:

As far as Ron Weinland (CGPKG), Gerald Flurry (PCG), and David Pack (RCG) go, they have all shown themselves to be false prophets–they are false prophets because they have publicly made false predictions that they said God told them that did not come to pass. 

 

As I have stated for years, I do not believe that they are converted Christians and, hence, are NOT truly COG (though some who have been drawn to them, often only for a time, have been). David Pack’s financial greed is also something I have denounced, for over a decade. 

 

Now regarding four of the “enlightened” COG groups (Weston-LCG, Kilough-COGWA, Kubik-UCG, Thiel-CCOG) they have not been unable to keep members as Banned indicated (we do not have specific information on Hulme-COGaIC–as that group split several years ago and seems to be a small fraction of how it started out). 

 

I personally contacted members/leaders in four of the groups who provided me, and/or directed me, to specifics on their size.

After quoting membership statistics of various COG groups, Bobaniah gets back to his little flock of members in Africa and calls them a bunch of Gentiles. So much for the foretaste of the Kingdom of God where there is  "neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The fact that he deliberately calls his black members Gentiles shows the warped mentality that dwells at the back of his mind thanks to Meredith and other COG myth makers promoting the myth of British Israelism.

As it happens to be, throughout the late Fall of 2020, CCOG has been reporting parts of its membership in different nations in some of its Letters to the Brethren. 

 

These reports were all consolidated, with additional information, in its Letter to the Brethren: December 10, 2020. That post shows that CCOG leaders have reported a total of 5,275 (mostly Gentiles) worldwide. 

 

Sadly, many who claim to be Christian seem dismissive of Gentiles in places like Africa. This is despite scriptures like the following:

25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25)

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:27-29) 

 

Yet, many use prejudices and other factors to dismiss the truth that the Gentiles count as much as non-Gentiles and that the New Testament shows that more must be called before Jesus returns (see also What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles?).

I do not think anyone here has been dismissive of Christians in Africa. The problem with Bobaniah Thiel's followers is that most of them followed their leaders into Thiel's group. Most church members in Africa look at their church leaders as "chieftains" like they do over leaders of their tribes. They follow their spiritual leader/Chieftans wherever they tell them to go. So they jump from one COG group to the next.

It always seems like it is the "do nothing" little groups in Armstrongism that whine the most. 

 

PCG And Its INSANE "Logic": Because Flurry's Prophecy About Trump Failed, The World Now Knows There Was A Prophet Among Them...Wut?

No one in the COG movement expects anything logical to come out of the top 4-5 COG's anymore. The absolutely insane beliefs, teachings, and words spoken by these buffoonish leaders know no boundaries in reality.

Gerald Flurry and the Philadelphia Church of God have been on a holy terror over the last year insisting that Donald Trump would remain as President and Biden, Hillary, and Obama would be in prison by now. But, low and behold. It is now Wednesday evening on the date of the swearing-in of Joe Biden as the 46 President of the United States. Biden is in Washington, Donald Trump is in Florida, and Gerald Flurry has been proven to be a liar again. No shocker there!

Joel Hilliker said this yesterday in an article on their WatchJerusalem site:

That brings up the second historic thing occurring this week. This has to do with the organization behind Watch Jerusalem. Though small compared to the great machinations inside the halls of power in Washington, we are right in the center of this historic moment. That prophecy from Mr. Flurry is out there. We have advertised his article “Why Donald Trump Will Remain America’s President” on our website, in many online news sources and social media channels, to millions of subscribers of the Epoch Times, Newsmax and RealClearPolitics, plus Arutz Sheva and campaigns in France. The article has attracted a quarter million page views on watchjerusalem.co.il and our sister-site Trumpet.com in English and thousands more in other languages. Mr. Flurry’s prophecy is out there. 

 

And now only God can back him up. 

 

Watching the news, Mr. Flurry’s statement that Donald Trump will remain America’s president seems impossible. Because even if facts emerge showing incontrovertible election fraud, American media are in lockstep with radical Democrats to block the truth from ever reaching the average American. 

 

This is an up-against-the-sea, trapped-by-the-mountains, army-at-our-backs moment. Nobody can change this except God. 

 

Mr. Flurry continues the work of Herbert W. Armstrong, whom God used as an end-time type of Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6). The original Elijah faced a large group of false prophets who held a lot of power and collusion with the political authorities over the nation. He faced off directly against them, building an altar, laying a sacrifice on it, then pouring on it large amounts of water. Then he prayed only a short prayer. Yet he was absolutely confident God would answer! 

 

What happened? Fire from heaven devoured that sacrifice. God backed up His servant. Imagine what it would have looked like if He didn’t. But He did. 

 

We don’t know how God will intervene. Like many of our readers, we have looked at the Constitution and the political situation and the Bible, and we have thought perhaps God would intervene this way, or that way, or maybe this other way. We don’t know how, but we trust that some way God will intervene so His prophecies will be fulfilled. His ways are higher than our ways. We do not know how God’s prophecies will stand, but we know they will stand! 

 

Many people are watching us closely. If God does not intervene, a lot of people would feel justified in accusing Mr. Flurry of being a false prophet. But God says people will know that a prophet has been among them (Ezekiel 2:5; 33:33). 

Hilliker ends with this:

God does work in a way we can understand, believe and obey: He works through human government, led by God Himself. And how He respondswhen we believe Him, believe His prophets, and demonstrate our faith. 

 

We deeply believe that, somehow, this world will soon know that a prophet of God was among them. This seems like a spectacular opportunity for God to demonstrate that, and we have been trying to spread the word. Now God has to back up His man! Like those ancient people of Judah, we need to be praying for that. od that Flurry created did not back him up

Oops! Looks like the creature god that Flurry created did not back him up. Another failure! 

That is a big part of what you—yes you—can do to seize this historic opportunity. Not many of these come around in one lifetime. 

 

Prove Amos 7. Prove 2 Kings 14. Watch these events closely. This is your moment to live by faith! This is your opportunity, your test, to show God your mind and heart. This is your chance to prove God—and for Him to prove you. Put this squarely in God’s hands. This is your chance to stop ignoring, stop waiting, stop delaying, stop disbelieving. Believe in the Lord your God—so shall you be established. Believe his prophets—so shall youprosper. Why This Inauguration Day Is Especially Historic

It must be the member's fault for not putting their entire faith behind Flurry and this momentous prophecy!

As usual, it will be the member's fault that Flurry told a lie and Trump did not remain as president and that Jesus isn't going to return soon.