LCG: Mike DeSimone Infantilizing Members In Order to Control Them

A post on a previous thread:

Just this last week, in Charlotte LCG, little Mikey DeSimone delivered a beat-down to LCG members old enough to be his parents and grandparents. Completely ignoring the Bible's instructions that he honor his elders, this kid used the analogy of white-water rafting to demand that members obey the ministry without questioning. The Bible tells us to follow the ministry as they follow Christ, but Mikey believes that LCG members must follow his instructions even if we recognize that he is making a mistake. Members are to recognize how little they know, and how much Mikey (like other ministers) knows. 

Mikey seems unable to realize that if everybody took that approach, we would all still be Roman Catholics, and that if Rod Meredith had taken that approach he would have died as a member of Grace Communion International.

Unfortunately, Mikey is a good student of Rod McNair, who recognizes that if you can infantilize the brethren, you can control them more easily. God gives brethren the Holy Spirit to help them grow in maturity and discernment, which means that Rod and Mikey must work very hard to bully LCG members into quenching the Holy Spirit and becoming jelly-brained robots.

Bullying: The Hard Facts of Armstrongism's Attitude Problem

By SHT, Contributing Writer

In case you didn't realize it, the Armstrong Empire was full of bullies. From the top, down - through all the ranks of ministry to the deacons - it was a haven that produced, enabled, and promoted bullies. Nowhere was this most evident, however, than at the very top. An article in the Good News, November, 1962, displays a sample of the prevailing attitude in bold, stinging detail.

Garner Ted Armstrong had a member of the Church come to him - who was "in trouble" with the Local Church because he only attends once in a while. This individual was judged to be "plainly carnal", and had the absolute audacity to come up to Garner Ted to shake hands with him.... get this.... "as if he was really a brother in God's Own Church".

GTA might as well have said to this man:

"How DARE you come up and shake hands with ME, you smelly, stupid, indifferent person!"

He might have said to someone who is overweight:

"You're fat and lazy. You're also a glutton! Why do you believe you're not, you dummy!"

Then Garner Ted Armstrong goes off on those who came to church as unshaven, uncouth, and unclean as deaf, dumb and blind. And if that wasn't enough, let's go off on the little children as well - and call them virtual MONSTERS. Then, he calls their parents deaf, dumb and blind too.....

"You dummy! You come to church completely unclean - how can you be so blind?"

"These children are MONSTERS! Have you no control over them? You DUMMY!"

Garner Ted Armstrong then asks them if they are "REALLY" a Child of God!

But that's nothing.He basically looks at a person and says:

"Why, you MISERABLE, FOUR-FLUSHING, LYING, CHEATING, CONNIVING, HARD-HEARTED, SELFISH, LUSTFUL, RESENTFUL, REBELLIOUS, SINNING, NEGLIGENT, APATHETIC, GOD-REJECTING, DECEIVED, PLEASURE-MAD, STIFF-NECKED, CAST-OFF WORTHLESS HUNK OF HUMAN JUNK" .

Well, that is, anyone who isn't in a "converted member".

 

 Talk about a beat-down.

 

This is the way the Worldwide Church of God treated their members who were not meeting their mold in the 1950s and 1960s. This is also the way that many of the members were trained to act in their ministries decades later. It is classic bullying. It is indefensible. It is absolutely inexcusable.

This is how we were taught to view the world. This is how we were taught to view those who were not in our church, who were not us. This is how we were taught to view those who go to church on Sundays. Or our co-workers. Or our school-mates. Or those who were caught up in addictions, or struggles, or in divorces. This is how we were taught to look down on people who we regarded as unconverted. We were taught to look down at them in the same manner as this man looked down on those he did not regard as "brethren". They world, to us, was the literal scum of the earth - not fit for us to associate with, to eat with, to be with. And if they couldn't be charged with any of those things, then they were heathen, pagan, awful CHRISTMAS-KEEPING, HAM-EATING, SUNDAY KEEPERS. Which actually, to us, was a worse charge than the laundry list of names that was spewed on the struggling in the Church by an Armstrong.

This is the inner mentality that was firmly etched into many of those trained into ministry. Some of that mentality still exists in a few of the ministers even now who are in the splinters. They look down on those who struggle with issues with haughty arrogance and nauseating pride. Instead of teaching others the positive message of Jesus Christ, and how the Holy Spirit changes you to reflect and show the fruits of the Spirit in Christian love and positivity, they sent the members to boot-camp with the full force of a drill sergeant and a blast furnace of negativity.

But to some of them, as long as you keep the Sabbath, and the Holy Days, and call yourself, "The Church of God" - it's all going to be okay. That's the sign of the true church, they say. And they're fine with the thoughts and attitudes of judgement that harbor to others who aren't in the same place as they are.

In case you wonder why the Splinters are in the shape they are in today - all you have to do is look at the attitudes that were displayed in those who they listened to as their trainers.

Doesn't this cause you to wonder how many times Garner Ted had to be called names this way by someone, in some manner, to think this sort of bully behavior was okay?

Regardless of how you endeavor to spin this, the truth of the matter is, bully tactics have nothing to do with the fruits of the spirit.

Never mind the hypocrisy that you know too well in hindsight. But that's for another time and place.

 

Narcissistic Self-Appointed COG Leader Believes His Church Is So Great That All Other COG's Need To Just Shut Down And Join Him

The arrogance of certain Church of God leaders is mind boggling at times.  Of course, most of the issues come from the self-appointed milquetoasts that have never worked an honest days work in their lives and want others to support them.

Today, the Almost-arrested but not arrested Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Habakkuk, doubly cursed Bob Thiel has this to say about certain COG groups he looked at online today.

08/10/18 a.m. Visited the websites of the Church of God In Peace and Truth, COGNEOhio, Church of the Sovereign God, and Enduring Church of God today. They do not seem to update their websites very often and had no recent news of interest. In time, hopefully those associated with them will realize that they are not doing a Philadelphian work and then take proper steps to support that work in the 21st century.

Just ONE guess as to WHICH group is the one doing a work in the 21st century.  It is James Malm!!!!!!!

Oh, sorry, it is Thiel himself and his improperly named "continuing" Church of "god."

No one in their right mind would EVER join up with Bob Thiel and his band of church-hopping Africans.

Only an infinitesimal few....

ht: SHT

 What a weak and impotent god it is that allows only an"infinitesimal few" out of billions of people who will ever be chosen.  Church members do not seem to grasp how ludicrous this statement is.

Apparently, we were not called for salvation but to stand BEHIND Herbert...

well, we all know how THAT turned out...

UCG: That Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me...Except for HWA, Mystery of the Ages, That Rock...

United Church of God is starting a series on the 10 commandments in their United News.  It starts off with the 1st commandment and also makes reference to the 2nd commandment.  Like normal in Armstrongism, it is necessary to also lash out at Catholics and others because the church has always felt the need to claim they were worshipping idols.

The First Commandment is the most important commandment because it means that only God has the sovereign authority to establish commandments for every human being plus judge them by those commandments. Only God can define right versus wrong, good versus evil, virtue versus vice, and moral versus immoral.  

Confusion of the First and Second Commandments  

We in United Church of God know that Exodus 20:3 states the First Commandment and verses 4-6 state the Second Commandment (about not using images in religious worship). Sadly, many Christian and Jewish people are confused and regard verses 3 through 6 as only one commandment.  

The different meanings of the two first Commandments will be explained fully in the next article but we can briefly illustrate them now. If someone worships any image (like a statue or painting), that is breaking the First Commandment. But if someone is worshipping the true God but is trying to visually picture God with images, that is breaking the Second Commandment. 

It is always easy for the COG to smear others for supposedly worshipping statues and icons, all the while never seeing anything wrong with the blatant worship so many in the church have of Herbert Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages, and much more.  HWA has been elevated to position right up there next to Jesus Christ with many in the church believing that when Jesus returns HWA will be standing right next to Jesus along with Moses.

Others have elevated the writings of Herbert Armstrong to the point of canonization, claiming that the Mystery of the Ages is divinely inspired and is necessary for salvation.

Gerald Flurry traipsed over the fields of Oregon to dig up a dirty old rock that the holy hands of Herbert Armstrong supposedly touched, bringing it back to Edmond and placing it on display for the admirers who would sit and pray next to it.

Dave Pack runs his entire organization according to the very things he claims to have been taught while sitting at the feet of Herbert Armstrong.

Every single Church of God splinter group exists because of the idolatry of their worship of Herbert Armstrong. From Bob Thiel to the bastardizer of the law James Malm, these sick pissants have placed everything about Herbert Armstrong on par with Jesus Christ.  Rare is the moment when you hear any Church of God talk about Jesus, but oh how they love Herbert Armstrong.

So before any idolatrous Church of God incarnation starts smearing Catholics and others, they had better step back and look at the idolatry they commit daily with HWA. Take down his pictures from your hallways, dump his books in the garbage and publicly repent of your own idolatry first!  Hypocrites!

The Master Plan of Ambassador and 1975 In Prophecy

How was it that the Church could simultaneously predict the end of the world on the authority of Jesus Christ – AND develop and build a master plan for a distinguished private college at the same time?

Here's some of the facts of how this happened:

At around same time that “1975 In Prophecy” was published, The “present dimensions” of the Ambassador site were conceived in 1956, when the former estate of Hulett Clinton Merrit became available at auction.

While the Church was developing the Master Plan for the Ambassador College Campus, it became quite apparent that intense fundraising was needed. It was in 1956 that the Church came out with the largest push of Armageddon propaganda ever to come out – called “1975 in prophecy”.

As the Church was building toward a master plan to finish their College – they were publishing end-of-the-world propaganda to push their church – the main fund-raising vehicle of Ambassador College. The Church wrote the following in 1956, at the SAME TIME they were conceiving the master plan for Ambassador College.

This is the Master Plan that was finalized in 1963 – just SEVEN YEARS after the book 1975 in Prophecy was published, warning the world of a Very Soon to Come, Imminent Great Tribulation – which it is very obvious was not their “real concern”. (picture below from Ambassador Auditorium, the making of a cultural legacy, published 1994)

“While modern science and industry strive to prepare us a push-button leisure-luxury world by 1975, United States Assistant Weather Chief... warns us unofficially to really fear the big drought of 1975. But the indications of prophecy are that this drought will be even MORE devastating than he foresees... and that it will strike sooner than 1975... probably between 1965 and 1972! This will be the very beginning, Jesus said, of the GREAT TRIBULATION!” (1975 in Prophecy, published 1956) 

Notice what was going on in Ambassador College during the same time-frame and projection of “the very beginning of the GREAT TRIBULATION”. (1975 in Prophecy, published 1956)

“From 1957 to 1966, all properties within the projected Campus Boundaries were acquired.” (Ambassador Auditorium, the Making of a Cultural Legacy, published 1994)

Apparently, it was quite a fantastic, incredible and astounding coincidence that the greatest scare-mongering propaganda booklet called “1975 In Prophecy"came out just priorto the massive acquisition of all properties within the Campus boundaries – a booklet in which Herbert W. Armstrong unashamedly used the authority and the name of Jesus Christ to convince people the end of the world was near, and to join the “Work”, and save themselves from the terrors of Armageddon. It is very apparent that fear, intimidation, and the threat of destruction and war were used, with the full knowledge of the church, as a fund-raiser to complete the master plan of the Ambassador College Campus, including it's magnificent auditorium.

Notice the wording used in 1975 in prophecy in the quotes below. it's important to realize this was being penned by Herbert Armstrong ALL THE WHILE AND IN FULL KNOWLEDGE THAT THE MASTER PLAN OF AMBASSADOR COLLEGE WAS BEING FINALIZED, and a major push of properties purchase and financing was well underway: (All quotes from 1975 In Prophecy - 1956):

“GOD ALMIGHTY now reveals....that one third of all our people will soon die... that a second third of our people...of your personal friends, relatives, acquaintances – will be killed by the awesome hydrogen bomb...”

“our people will continue only a few more years in comparative economic prosperity”

“All this is now only a few years off.”

“people dying in every home, your loved ones, perhaps your children, or your parents, and scores of your close friends, perhaps even YOURSELF...”

“Only one in three of your friends, of your loved ones, will remain alive, unless they come under God's divine protection under HIS conditions!”

“YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED”

“Your immediate future is of your own choosing. You can take this lightly, let this slip from mind, allow yourself once again to be absorbed in the mechanics of today's complex society that you put this out of mind. If you do, I have now read YOUR FATE – and I say to you on authority of God Almighty that it is absolutely SURE”

The only thing that was absolutely sure was that while Herbert Armstrong was saying the above quotes on the authority of Jesus Christ, he did not believe a word of it – and was in the process of developing the master plans for the completion of his master building project – Ambassador College. Herbert Armstrong used tactics of great fear and panic of the end of the world to finance his vision of his college and his Auditorium – and the Church seems to have been the financing vehicle for his massive building projects and personal vision of “success”. (Image below from Ambassador Auditorium, the making of a cultural legacy, published 1994)

What then can we conclude?

Herbert Armstrong had absolutely no problem using the following methods to accomplish his building project: Co-Worker letters constantly touting financial emergencies, Using the name of Jesus Christ to suggest the end of the world while building a master plan for a college, using fear of war, death, and disease of friends and loved ones to entice growth in the church, the financial vehicle of funding for the project, and using God's name to grab money from any source possible to complete his project, without care or concern of the financial poverty afflicted on those who donated.

If anybody ever wondered how it was that one could summarily preach amazing prophecies of the end of the world, fully believed by the congregations of the fund-raising churches, and at the same time build up an expansive, expensive college campus - this sheds some enlightenment on the issue. We were all a part what I can only see myself - looking at the evidence - that all of this was one of the biggest doomsday-exploitation scams of the 20th century. Every prediction was a lie, and as we all know, never happened. I don't believe anyone ever expected them to occur. All eyes were on the final vision of the amazing campus of the Church and College, and Herbert Armstrong achieved his dream of becoming a successful, important person, with all of his treasures of worldly wealth at his control. 

You can look at the facts yourself with the following resources:

Ambassador Auditorium: A Cultural Legacy

1975 In Prophecy

And also, be sure to peruse the Co-worker letters to see the methods HWA used to fund his massive building project without regard or concern about the financial condition of those he was begging for money from:

December 20th, 1934 Co-Worker Letter

You will find the undeniable evidence that strongly indicates that the Church (and it's fund-raising conventions and Holy Days) was a well-planned financial operation, and the Media was a recruiting operation for HWA's dream real estate building project – using post-war doomsday propaganda in the name of Christ to accomplish his real estate dreams under religious pretense. 

If you dare, you may indeed begin to notice what appears to be much of the same use of familiar methodology in some of the splinters of Armstrongism even today. And it does not take much imagination to do so.

Contributed by SHT

The Harshest Lake of Fire Threat of All Time