10 Million and Counting!

 

Who would have imagined that this blog would have ever hit 10 million site views? It was not even a spark in the back of my mind over twelve years ago when I originally started this to post information about books that were critical; of Armstrongism that were banned by the church so that members did not read them. 

I remember one time at a Deacon/Elders get-together at Dean Blackwell's home when he took us to his garage. It was filled with thousands of books, of which was a huge collection of anti-WCG/Herbert Armstrong books. One of the self-righteous deacons became rather upset seeing all of these books. Blackwell shut him down rather quickly and said that if you were ever going to debate and challenge assumptions about the church then you need to understand the opposing viewpoint. He also mentioned that many of the books that were critical of the church contained a lot of accurate observations about the condition of the church. It was at that point I started collecting these kinds of books and currently have over 50 of them from the early 1960s to the present day, as the count keeps growing yearly as more and more exCOG members tell their stories.

Of course, no one in their critical thinking would have imagined the Worldwide Church of God imploding in such an appalling fashion as it did in the mid-1990s. I was one of those who supported the changes in the church and knew them to be drastically needed. Working in Pasadena or even attending there as a student or as a church member at church services, you quickly learned that the church never practiced what it preached. Its public face and its behind-the-scenes face were two different entities. One proud and boastful and the other, a vengeful spiteful hypocritical mess.

As the church imploded many of these vain spiteful men broke off to form new Church of God movements, which most of the time were nastier and more abusive than anything that WCG had ever contemplated. Each and every one of them told the lie that they were returning to the "truth once delivered" and returning to 1st century Christianity. There is not a single COG out there today that has ever accomplished this and never will even as they continue to lie that they are.

With the rapid birth of hundreds of these harlot daughters of Armstrongism, the church grew crazier by the day. Failed or discredited ministers in the WCG soon earned a following in the splinterdom of Armstrongism.  None of us could have imagined the absolute craziness that they all started preaching and how they began to act.

Gavin Rumney soon came on the scene documenting the rapid decline of the church and particularly the fallout over the doctrinal changes affecting the college and church as they were both imploding. Numerous people in Pasadena and the church were feeding him a steady stream of stories about conditions in the church. Soon, members in the splinter groups start sharing stories of abuse already happening in these young churches. Also during this time, Ed Mentell started The Painful Truth site which was a no holds barred expose of church abuse and its heretical teachings. In 1997, Dixon Cartwright started, The Journal-News of the Churches of God, which rapidly became a slightly neutral ground for various COGs to share their stories and doctrinal stances. Former members and present members also shared their stories of how they were abused.

Never would I have imagined that this blog would end up doing the same thing, but when the church started getting so crazy and the internet was rapidly holding them accountable this blog also took off Gavin Rumney, unfortunately, had died and the Journal ceased operating. During this time and now, church leaders in the Philadelphia Church of God, Restored Church of God, Church of God Preaching the Kingdom, and the absurdly named "continuing" Church of God started saying and doing incredibly stupid things. 

Never has the Church of God been filled with such incredible theological idiots as have in Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, Ron Weinland, and Bob Thiel. These guys may be the weirdest leaders, but the church also has to deal with lesser men like Weston, Kubik, Zerubbabel, and others. 

So, as long as these blithering idiots say and do stupid things I will continue to highlight them for as long as I am able or get so tired of their stupidity that it's time to hang it all up. But, till then all I can say is, Keep it up, boys! Especially Bob Thiel! Has the church ever had a more vain, narcissistic, tone-deaf leader than we get to watch in him?

 It is never a dull moment in Armstrongism as we get to watch in real-time as the church disintegrates into meaningless nothingness.

Crackpot Prophet Mocks Orthodox Christians And Then Claims They And Everyone Else Needs To Join His "Truest Christian Church"

 

 The Holy Light: The Miracle happened in Jerusalem (VIDEO) (upd)

One thing Church of God leaders has done is honed their skills on mocking the faith of others outside the little circle of Armstrongism/Church of God.

God's greatest prophet in the entire history of the church, who was set apart by God before the foundations of the world was set in place so he could emerge in the end times, had a conniption today over the observance of the Orthodox Christians as they celebrate Holy Saturday before Orthodox Easter, tomorrow.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem today; thousands in attendance at the Holy Fire ceremony pic.twitter.com/MoHyT27Sqd

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) April 23, 2022

Whether you believe the story of the fire or not, Orthodox Christianity has a fascinating history that is richer and more authentic than any of the drivel we were spoon-fed in the church. Orthodox Christianity in the Eastern Church is more similar to what the original church believed than any of the crap we see today in the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god". 

The Great Bwana believes this to be a Satanic conspiracy:

By currently believing in “holy fire” many Orthodox are unknowingly setting themselves up to accept the signs and lying wonders that the Bible warns about. The acceptance of signs and lying wonders over the truth of the Bible is part of Satan’s Plan. All, including the non-Orthodox, need to understand that signs and wonders are NOT of themselves proof that something is of God, including the annual ritual of “holy fire.”

The Chief Overseer of his Africa members concludes:

Anyway, God HAS NOT BEEN PROVIDING HOLY FIRE ON THESE ORTHODOX ANNUAL SATURDAYS. Those who believe that He did are deceived. Partially, because of that deception, they accept a compromised religion that IS NOT “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). 

The great prophet mocks their faith in divine occurrences they believe in while he expects us to believe his lies about his own "divine" double blessing" and holy dreams by mentally disturbed individuals, including himself. If there is a Satanic conspiracy meant to deceive believers then Bob Thiel is at the top of the list.  

Of course, even if you are not Eastern Orthodox, you need to consider whether or not you believe and practice the original faith that is laid out in the Bible (see Continuing History of the Church of God), and even if you somewhat do, if you are supporting the truest Christian church.

Truest Christian Church?????? Seriously? Everything about the improperly named "continuing" Church of "god" makes a mockery of genuine Christians down through the centuries. Bob is such a pathetic little man. 

Holy 10 Toes, Batman!!!! Crackpot Prophet Makes His Followers Suffer Through 3 Mini Sermons Today

 

The world's greatest prophet to exist in human history, so important that he was doubly blessed, announced to his followers today that they deserve to sit through THREE mini-sermons today. Holy Naturopathy, Batman!

For the weekly Sabbath, instead of a short sermonette and a long sermon, we decided to try something a little but different this time. So, we are recommending three messages that are between the usual lengths of a sermonette and sermon.

Here is a suggested service for this weekly Sabbath: 

 

2-3 hymns (our songbook, The Bible Hymnal, contains the materials from the 1974 Bible Hymnal from the old WCG with new covers, plus ten additional hymns; there is also some Choral Accompaniment online). 

 

Opening prayer.

Message 1 by Bob Thiel: The Biblical Calendar.

Message 2 by Louis Rubin: Faith from God.

Announcements (if any) and one hymn.

Message 3 by Aleksandar Veljic: Background and Introductory Comments to the Book of Jeremiah.

Other sermons are also available at the ContinuingCOG channel.

Final hymn.

Closing prayer.

Still no Jesus, but this is a Church of God, after all.

Why Do You Need The So-Called Second Greatest Book On Earth?

Those boys in Edmond Oklahoma are having fun again. At first, I thought this was an April Fools joke, but alas, it's April 22. The boys sent out an email today from the greatest King on earth today (sorry, Bob Thiel, it's not YOU!) His Majesty the Royal Highness King Gerald Flurry, the right-hand man of God and possessor of the coronation stone that some creature he calls "christ" will come back to sit its holy derriere upon.

King Gerald wants you to know that you really NEED the second most holy book on earth today. Everyone knows about the Bible, but far too few know about Mystery of the Ages, the second most important book on earth followed closely by the third most important book, Malachi's Message.

Where would the Church of God be without all of these extra-biblical tomes that so many rely upon?

The King writes:

We give away a lot of free literature and educational material. The book we have given away more than any other is Mystery of the Ages. This is a masterful work by the late educator, philanthropist and unofficial ambassador for world peace Herbert W. Armstrong. Thousands of people have said that this book, when they have applied its teachings, has brought real meaning to their lives and given them true happiness!

Mystery of the Ages is a synopsis of the Bible. It allows you to understand God’s Word, which would otherwise be a mystery.

MOA along with The Incredible Human Potential has to be the most butt-numbing boring books ever written. They are right up there next to The Book of Mormon in readability and Christian understanding. 

On the cover of the book, Mr. Armstrong wrote, "Did you ever ask yourself: ‘Who am I? What am I? Why am I?’ You are a mystery. The world about you is a mystery. Now, you can understand!"

With this life-changing book, the Bible is decoded before your eyes, if you want it to be!

If the Bible had been decoded with the MOA then there is no reason for 400+ splinter groups each preaching their own unique set of biblical "truths".

Look at society around you. Clearly the Bible is a mystery to most of humanity. It is the world’s bestseller that nobody knows. It is a mystery to science, to education, even to religion! God is not real to most people. But Mystery of the Ages will make God real to you. This book will make God come alive and understandable to you.

The Bible is still a mystery to the Church of God. Every single splinter group has its own interpretation of scripture which is always better than the others. 400+ different versions with no one willing to agree upon common points. 

For this reason, Mr. Armstrong considered Mystery of the Ages the second-greatest book on Earth after the Bible.

It's not and never has been! 

LCG Members Told To Build Character And Focus Upon The Work

One thing you have to hand to the Church of God is that they constantly have their followers "working" towards some goal. Work, work, work. 

Times are evil and vile people are in the world trying to turn you away from the mother church.  

Turn your focus upon the church and support its ministry with your money. 

Work, Work, Work, earn the money to support the church. 

After all, it's reaching millions, thousands, hundreds, tens, with their mind-boggling Tomorrow's World presentations. 

But, if only you lazy brethren would turn your focus upon the church and away from your worldly pleasures, we could reach more people and convert them.

For 80 some years now church members have been told to build character and become perfect like God. It's an exhausting task that no one has ever been able to accomplish. LCG members, like most COG members, are tired and worn out by the constant busyness of working towards some unattainable goal that the leaders have set, all the while not realizing they are being relentlessly pursued by the one they never hear much about.

Adjusting Your Focus: During the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread is a good time to evaluate how we spend our time and where we focus our energies and concerns. Jesus told us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). The Apostle Paul advised Christians to “walk circumspectly” (live purposefully) and make the most of our time “because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16). Are we focused on the big picture—of doing the Work of God and building the character qualities needed to function in the Family of God? Jesus warned that “the cares of this world” can cause us to lose sight of the big picture (Matthew 13:22). The spring Festivals provide us with an opportunity to evaluate how much time we spend on TV, the Internet, social media, and what we post on Facebook. Let’s use this time to refocus on the big picture of God’s purpose for our lives.

Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

LCG: Can the Bible Be Understood By Anyone Outside Living Church of God?

 

Living Armstrongism continues to do a great job in picking apart articles in various COG publications. He recently reviewed an article by Mark Mendiola in Living Church of God's Tomorrow's World, "The Bible: A Book for All Time."

Today in LCGland Mediola's writings are no longer used since he left the true faith and he went with Dave Pack for a while before jumping ship to the wackadoodle Church Of God Faithful Flock. 

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock. He was credited as helping to produce COG-FF's magazine, The Philadelphia Remnant, as late as 2012.

Anyway, on to some points from his article that Living Armstrongism delved into:

The fourteenth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (September-October 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "The Bible: A Book for All Time." (pp. 16-19.) This was the twelfth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola praises the Holy Bible and cites Christians who disagreed with many of Armstrongism's dogmas to praise the Bible but then he says the Bible cannot be understood until one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.

COG propagandists in various publications love to trot out Christians who support the Bible and go out of their way to find comments and antidotes to publish on the veracity of the Scriptures. But then, as usual, will immediately turn around and call them so-called Christians because they do not understand the Bible as the enlightened COG leaders believe they do.

Christians throughout the centuries have understood the concepts of the Bible, especially grace and justification, even though COG leaders do not. Yet those followers of Christ are ridiculed and mocked because they are not law-keepers and members of the true church. They are pagan Sunday worshippers.

Mendiola also cites some other persons like Jeffery Sheler and Grant Jeffrey but, again, they belonged to Christian churches which worship on Sunday thus, according to Herbert Armstrong and his imitators, they bear the mark of the beast. Why does Mendiola cite people who worship on Sunday when he belonged to an organization that teaches that worshipping on Sunday is a terrible thing? 

 

He also cites Charles Sellier and Brian Russell but those men did not appear to have been affiliated with any Armstrongite organization. Mendiola cites all these people to praise the Bible but he does so selectively. He chooses to cite certain words of theirs to say the Bible is of religious importance and reliable but, at the time this article was written, he disregarded anything they say contrary to Armstrongism by choosing to be a follower of LCG.

COG leaders and most ministers have no foundation in real biblical hermeneutics and instead rely upon booklets and articles by previous church leaders and ministers, with the assumption that those people were actually trained in real hermeneutics.

COG leaders and ministers all assume that they and they alone have the "true" understanding of the Bible and because of that claim, NO ONE can understand the Bible outside of a specific COG, in this case, the Living Church of God:

Then after praising the Christian Bible he insists that the Bible cannot be understood unless one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.

Amazingly, the Bible even predicts many would not understand it and would consider it cryptic. Most people in the world are drunken with false doctrine and ideas that blur the precious truths contained within its pages. Many consider it sealed. Others think they are not educated enough or must be fluent in Hebrew or Greek to understand it. Even ministers are confused about its teachings....

Jesus Christ said that His disciples would be given the spiritual discernment to understand the hidden truths of the Bible. He told His disciples that He spoke in parables so only they would understand the mysteries of God, and the world at large would not .... 

 

The Living God who inspired the Bible must open our minds to understand it as we show Him a willingness and humility to obey His instructions. ... Obedience to God is the key that will unlock for you the truths of the Bible: a book for all time!

The Christians who have died defending the Bible down through the centuries and understood it beg to differ with LCG's narrow vision. The Christians who have died at the hands of terrorists over the last 50 years also beg to differ.

Also, when has the Living Church of God or even the broader Church of God EVER been obedient to the Bible? The Churches of God as a whole cannot agree upon anything and continue to split into irrelevant useless little groups because none of them will be obedient to the word they claim to follow.

Ultimately, this belief is an excuse to cover up the reason people are not joining COGs these days.

Among the Armstrongite organizations it is taught that one cannot join unless (Armstrongism's interpretation of) God open that person's perception to begin to believe Armstrongism. This explanation is quite useful in explaining away why most people do not convert to Armstrongism after learning about it.

Living Armstrongism: Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, The Bible: A Book for All Time (2001)

UCG: Will You Be Allowed Into The Top Quadrant On UCG's New "Love Map"

 

And people wonder why so many look at today's Church of God being so confused:

John Miller began the presentation by explaining that a lot of energizing work went into the Strategic and Operation Plans that the committee will present and a lot of people contributed to them. The plans build on what has been done before and add to it. 

 

The essence of what is before the Council came from a spontaneous moment in the August 2021 Council workshop during a discussion about Truth in Love. Truth in Love provides a roadmap to achieve the Church’s vision. The concept is simple enough that a child should understand it. 

 

Turning the Page From Old to New: Aaron Dean said that adding scriptures to the plan would be beneficial to the entire Church. In the plan that is being presented, you will see the same plan in two different forms. The second layout is the recasting of the existing plan in a new light to help the Church to move ahead spiritually. It adds a spiritual scale alongside the existing physical elements. 

 

The new plan format will allow pastors to give sermons based on the strategic plan. We expect significant enhancements and modifications to the proposed format in the coming years. 

 

In the presentation, he demonstrated that markers in the old format Operation Plan show where the same elements show up in the restructured plan. 

 

Mapping the Path Toward Living the Vision: John Miller reminded the Council of the Church’s vision statement and the importance of mapping a path to fulfill that vision. This plan will provide more opportunities for more engagement at a local level so that every member can do their part. There is a lot of pent-up opportunity for people to get more involved. 

 

Truth in Love Map: Aaron Dean said that everyone in the world lives somewhere on the Truth in Love map. God the Father and Jesus Christ live in the upper corner of the top quadrant. Others live throughout the other quadrants. We seek to move on the grid toward a goal to “Be Like Him.” If you are in the top quadrant, no matter where you are in that quadrant, you are okay. 

 

We hope that all elders and members will be in a culture of truth in love. We want to practice servant leadership and make meaningful relationships, practicing truth in love to become more like our Father in heaven. We all want to live in that top quadrant, but there has to be a change in each of us to change the culture of the Church.