Giving Away Your Power

We have all done it. We are all guilty of it. We have all turned against ourselves by allowing it.

One of the problems one faces in belonging to and being a member of an organized Christian Church is that, either consciously, or subconsciously , one places themselves under the authority of others. We say we do it willingly. We believe that there are special people groups and leaders under whose supervision we need to be. It is others who tell you how to think, what to do, how to act and what to believe based on some criteria that they got from those "over" them, or those who came "before" them. For some, this works. For many, it is a formula for physical, psychological and emotional disaster.

In the case of Christians, the Bible is used to proof text any particular perspective one wants to promote. Whether we can admit it or not, within the Bible are enough speeches, personalities and dramas, which if manipulated properly and with enough conviction and showmanship, are justifications for just about every human endeavor in the name of God, Jesus and the Church. Many have the near crippling inability to conduct their lives without knowing what God, Jesus or the Bible would have them do, according to others.

In a church setting it is presented in some form of from God to Jesus to the Church to the minister to the elders to the deacons to the laity.....to the women...to the children who get to lord it over their pets. I am reminded of the parent who watched in horror as their child filled a backyard hole with water and nearly drown the family cat with the ceremonial words "in the name of the Father, the Son... and in the hole you go."

Funny, but not for the cat!

This fear based chain is kept in place with appeals to biblical authority, fear of consequences for disbelief or misbehavior based on select criteria. It is reinforced with guilt (I did a bad thing) for failure to meet the standards set and paid for with an appropriate amount of shame (I am a bad person). The control factors are kept fresh every week with sermons or studies and every day with admonitions to study to show oneself approved or "pray about it." The "it" can be your attitude which is not in sync with the system and your success with "it" is compliance and a good attitude. If you forget the criteria for success you can now go to a Church website and replay the sermons of those that control your mind and do your thinking for you. Throw in the idea that a human can have the unreachable goal of becoming perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect, which whether meaning real perfection or maturity, and you have formula for major guilt and shame and the control stays in place. I have never met any human being who is remotely mature or perfect like a god, and neither have you. Well ok, a few Buddhists. :)

In addition, others tell us that we are to grow in Grace (actually a nice concept few grow in) and Knowledge (a good thing but one which, in reality, the organization prays to God you don't grow in), and one can never get out of the box without grevious consequences. Usually what growing in grace and knowledge really means is growing in adherence and compliance graciously and knowing that what you are being told to think is the truth and you need look no further. Personal looking and personal conclusions based on that looking, is bad for the individual and best left up to others who are more in tune with the conclusions that need to be drawn for your own good.

When we come to realize how manipulated we have been on the topic of religion, we usually get angry at others for doing this to us and get depressed, which is the anger we are directing at ourselves "for being so stupid" that we will not express properly. I believe the reason depression is so prevalent for those who come out of a bad religious experience is that we are so programmed not to express our anger, doubts and simple "hell no, I don't believe that," that it has no other place to go but inward and provoke the depression. "Be angry and sin not" often means keep it to yourself and don't show it, unless of course you are higher up the authority chain.

Minister types seem to be in a perpetual state of anger of one form or another. Many of my clients tell me how tired they are of the minister being angry all the time in sermons and letting everyone have it. I say he is faking it and doing it because he is expected to by himself, his church and his concept of God. If ministers really spoke that way in public or in the workplace, they would be fired or at best labeled as wacko. I've sat through lots of biblically salted harangues. I once heard a curse put on someone publicly from the pulpit with a lot of anger. But that is the privilege of rank. Anger in organizations can only be expressed downward. Upward anger results in lynching of the laity.

One additional fact we need to keep in mind is that the the Bible itself is the source of every organizational and mission blueprint no matter how people use it to advance their perspectives. Most men and organizations aren't out to deliberately deceive others. They too are the victims of the system before them and keep it going with their own fears, shame, guilt and hope for reward and peace. Peace is really what the soul craves but we go looking for it by repeating such tried and proven unworkable perspectives.

We usually stop the blame game and pity party with the people who advance the ideas and not the source. Few blame the Bible itself as the source of more human misery, war, prejudice, racism, chaos, family division, sexual repression, male abuses, female victimization and the evils of exclucivism than Christians are capable of admitting. Most would never take the time to study the dark side of Christianity and it's rotten fruit.

When confronted with the stark facts of how the Bible has been used to control, shame, frighten and organize individuals, whether by early church father types, governments, churches or ministers, it is all to easy to say, "well they are not REAL Christians." Well, yes they were and yes they are, just ask them. They do these things because they are using the book as their guide. They appeal to the examples of God, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus, usually in that order. They are "living by the book" as they would say and the fruit is rotten, as we could say. They are doing what God would have them to do. Bible Atrocities They think that there is one continuum of truth that can never change, be clarified, reworked, or even dismissed and negated as ignorant. There is nothing new to know and keeping blinders in place is the same as being faithful. If God can say "I change not" and Jesus can be "the same yesterday, today and forever," that works for them and better work for us too, context not withstanding.

Where do we go wrong when we allow others ideas of how things are to control us? It's kinda like so many who take long trips to meet family holiday obligations. You don't want to go. It's expensive. It's tiring and we have other things we need to do. The kids want to play with their friends and we want to just do nothing with the time we have off. It's not that we don't love or appreciate, though sometimes we don't and the attitude we get home in is not the one we went with, but it is just too much effort. On top of that, we go because it is too much costly not to go. The tribe will be mad. Feelings will be hurt. Uncle Louie will be disappointed that John's wife wasn't there to leer at. And grandma won't have the chance to drive you nuts yelling at your kids to be quiet and stop having fun. Dad won't talk as usual and your sister will have that look that makes us all so pleased she came. But we did it... we gave away our power of choice and we did what we were expected to do for the benefit of others to to keep the illusion alive. Where do we go wrong?

We go wrong by giving up our own personal power. We go wrong by negating our own doubts. We go wrong by keeping that niggly question deeply stored in the back of our brains, never to be asked. We go wrong by saying we agree outwardly when we hate the idea or concept inwardly. We go wrong by letting things go and ideas we think are stupid pass. We go wrong by allowing some ancient text, idea or opinion pass as the only way to be. We go wrong by letting other humans with legitimate "authority" or only imagined to intimidate the reality and common sense out of us. We go wrong by letting others use the Bible to makes points that the Bible shouldn't make in this day and age. We go wrong by finding meaning in a scripture that the scripture never meant for us to take. ....take a breath....ok... We go wrong by letting doing what our heart is not in and repress where our heart is. We go wrong belonging to something outwardly that hurts us inwardly. We go wrong saying yes to sermons we should say no to. We go wrong by letting advice become a command. We go wrong by letting another human being think that whatever they come up with to do or say is fine with us.

In short, we give up our power of discernment and choice. I know that some get very angry when phrases like "take responsibility for your choice" is said. We don't like to hear that. I have hated it because it is costly and embarrassing. We come up with a dozen reasons we could not and that we HAD to give up our power. Realizing we did give our power to others is very very painful! "You weren't there" is usually a good lead in to why one had to comply. "I'd get disfellowshipped" or "I'd be demoted." "God would be mad at me." "I might end up in the Lake of Fire." "The Bible says..." We all understand how that worked. I participated in it. I preached it. I enforced it. I wish I had not. I am glad it was not personally for me as bad as it could have been had I not been willing many times to quietly ignore what I did not agree with and encourage others to do the same.

We wanted to do the right thing as perceived by others so we gave them our power. We even gave the Bible God our power by counting on everything from healing and good health to financial prosperity through generous giving. There were PLENTY of texts in the Bible to motivate us to do the right thing and believe it. Don't blame men for twisting the Bible out of context. That happens enough. IN context, the Bible can promote plenty of grief. It makes promises it doesn't keep and that is painful to admit. We still think that somehow we must still be at fault and that the Bible, or the Church or God, as defined by the Bible, can't be the misleading factor here. It has to be our fault.

Well it is not. Whatever power I gave, I gave by choice. I can only speak for myself. Fault is not the issue here. It just is. People give up their power every day. Wives give up their power to say "enough," to abusive husbands. Men give up their power to employers who abuse their time and capitalize on their fear. Members give up their power to Churches and Hierarchies that really don't care much what you do as long as you are there when needed to give the appearance of credibility and the physical support needed to keep it going. And on and on.

Every day, and in may ways, both in general living and, in this context, in religious affiliations, we have the power to keep or relinquish our power. Anger, depression and the inability to move along in life are directly related to the skill of holding onto our power when we simply don't agree or believe what the tribe, the government, the boss, the church or the minister say. Yes goes with no just like oceans go with sand. Every time I say yes when I mean no, every time I agree when I don't and every time I am sitting down on the outside while standing up on the inside, I am giving away my power. Sometimes it may be temporarily discrete to do this. But as a life habit and practice...No. For the times we did, forgive yourself and don't be the monkey on your own back. Giving up our power doesn't serve us in the long run and will impede our progress in life in the search for peace and truth. If we weren't looking for that in the first place, we probably would not have had this experience and I would probably not be writing anything about it.

Dennis Diehl is a former Pastor of 26 years and currently has a Therapeutic Massage practice in Greenville, SC. It my simple wish that humans beings learn to think for themselves before they let those who attempt to organize religion to do it for them. SCMassageTherapy@aol.com

We Are Ranked #12 in Religion Blogs!

Who would have thought this little blog would work it's way up to #12!  All thanks though goes to UCG and COGaWA and there split.  When the bickering churches stop bickering things will die down until Living Church of God implodes next.  Thanks also needs to go to those who send me information!

GTA: "A Combination of Captain Kirk and Paul Harvey"

Battle of the engineers in the World Tomorrow, Part 1

Richard Krajewski

1/14/2011 8:25 AM EST

There was a television show in the 70's that became very popular, though you'd be hard pressed to find even one copy of it intact today.  It was The World Tomorrow, a religious program that, at that time, featured the charismatic and handsome Garner Ted Armstrong.  The program had a following of millions of people worldwide, perhaps largely because of the captivating and mesmerizing delivery of Mr. Armstrong.  His style was a dramatic combination of Captain Kirk and Paul Harvey, delivered with an entertaining bit of sarcasm and sense of irony, punctuated by an occasional weighty pronouncement worthy of a Shakespearean actor.  So engaging was he that he even appeared on an episode of Hee Haw, and, later in his life, on Oprah Winfrey (as most great thinkers eventually do). It didn't matter that the church he represented at that time, the Worldwide Church of God, had predicted World War III would begin in 1972, with the “United States of Europe” overthrowing the United States of America.  It didn't matter.  You'd watch anyway.  At least until Garner Ted and his church got into a fight and Garner Ted pretty much disappeared.

 Rest of article is here:
Battle of the Engineers in the World Tomorrow Part-1

"You tell your husband I have no empathy for him."

This interesting exchange took place on MySpace.  Pay attention to the comments in green.

UCG/WCG/Tkach Jr.

Rainbow Poetess:
thank you for sharing so much

if they do not believe in a trinity, then how is it that they believe Jesus is eternal?

what changes in doctrine happened after Armstrong's death?

From their web site, they state the following:

First of all I believe it is important to state what the United Church of God teaches regarding this subject.
The
United Church of God teaches that God is a family. At the present time
there are two eternally living beings in that God family - the One we
call the Father, and the One we call Jesus Christ. Both are separate and
individual ever living Beings and from them everything exists and is
sustained.

On the surface that seems to be an accurate account of what the church teaches.  There is a pamphlet that the church offers called "Jesus Christ: The Real Story" that you can read at:  http://ucg.org.au/?library/booklets/jesus-christ-the-real-story.  It goes into greater detail of what it teaches.

 The moto when I was a member was "We are family".  This had deep meaning.  When Mr. Armstrong was alive it actually meant something.  We helped the world wide family members in any way that we could.   ~ But then... well it was during the doctrinal changes Joseph W. Tkach Sr started making that my husband was found to be terminal with liver failure and needed a liver transplant. 

I contacted "Headquarters"  to ask if a small prayer request could be put in the  world wide newsletter of the church.  The local minister contacted me via phone and absolutely tore me apart for making that request.  He told me that we did not deserve any help whatsoever, and that we sure didn't qualify for 3rd tithe assistance.  The strange thing was that I did not ask for third tithe assistance.  His phone call ate and ate on me for a number of reasons.  One) Why did this local minister think he had the right to speak to me in such a hurtful way?  Two) What happened to the "We Are Family" way of living?  It hurt me so deeply ~ to be treated so callously during a time of great hardship. 

And so ~ after 6 months of pondering I made a call to Headquarters... I needed some answers.  First I talked to a person that held no clout but really was a greeter.  I was a hand full (apparently) and was put on hold.. for 45 minutes I was on hold but had my jaw set and was not going to hang up until I got some answers.  Finally a man said "This is Joseph Tkach Junior.. you have some questions".   We talked for over an hour and a half and what he said blew me away... and not in a good way.  That one phone call ripped me away from the church.  The illusion was destroyed with no doubt left.

He said... there are a lot of people who need help world wide.  There is a baby that needs brain surgery or it will die and many other people that need prayer requests and we cannot help them ~ why should we put your prayer request in the newsletter?    I said... aren't we all a part of a world wide family of God and isn't that what family does.. help each other and pray for each other?  He then told me that I have no right to say what the church should or should not do. Oh... I thought. 

Yet that same church wanted me to continue to send in my tithes.. 1/3rd of my monthly income (that year) was to go for widows and people in need of help.  In total I was sending the church over $1,000.00 a month.  This quit immediately.  I used that money to pay for medical bills.    And so this was one of the changes that occurred after Mr. Armstrong died.  The very "heart" of the church had changed.  In total it took two and a half years for me to totally leave the church.  It was after I (we as a family) left the church that my husbands liver transplant happened... only two weeks after we made that decision.

Doctrinally some of  the changes were as follows.  I quote from a web site so that I am totally accurate:

...the church's three-tithe system was abolished, and it was suggested that
tithes could be calculated on net, rather than gross, income.

On January 16, 1986, Herbert Armstrong died in Pasadena, California. Shortly before his death, Armstrong named Joseph W. Tkach Sr. to succeed him as leader of the church.

As early as 1988, Joseph W. Tkach Sr. began to make doctrinal
changes. Doctrinal revisions were made quietly and slowly at first, but
then openly and radically in January 1995. They were presented as "new
understandings" of Christmas and Easter,^[12] Babylon and the harlot,^[13] Anglo-Israelism,^[14] Saturday Sabbath,^[15] and other doctrines.

In general, Tkach Sr. directed the church theology towards mainstream evangelical
Christian belief. This caused much disillusionment among the membership
and another rise of splinter groups. During the tenure of Joseph Tkach
Sr., the church's membership declined by about 50 percent. His son,
Joseph Tkach Jr., succeeded him after his death in 1995.

Eventually all of Herbert Armstrong's writings were withdrawn from
print by the Worldwide Church of God. In the 2004 video production Called To Be Free, Greg Albrecht, former dean of WCG's Ambassador College, declared Herbert Armstrong to be both a false prophet (though Armstrong himself did not claim to be a prophet) and a heretic.[16]

Eventually a great rift occurred.  Multiple splinter groups were formed.  I have not returned to any of them... nor any church for that matter.  One absolute fact is...  power absolutely corrupts ~ when left in the hands of man-kind.  I am one ~ not so unique who left the church never to return to any kind of organized religion.

-------------------------------

Rainbow Poetess:

i cannot imagine the hurt and confusion caused by such terrible circumstances

but i can so totally sympathise with the feeling of dejection as the realisation of what the church and family that you loved was starting to become - the antithesis of all it had been

i am also "churchless" as such

i have a clear view of my own doctrine [most of it] and a clear view of how i should be living etc, but i have no "home" [churchwise] 

i was starting to look at various, as you may tell by my new threads, before the flood happened, but these floods have taken my attention away from my own spiritual journey and i am feeling that maybe i was being too "obsessed" by trying to find "a spiritual family" and that i just need to get on with living and being a good example for my children

It was hard Rainbow.  The church had been my family for over 20 years.  The last day I attended I just looked around at everyone who had been close to me and wondered how I had gone wrong.  One man walked up to me and told me in front of everyone... You tell your husband I have no empathy for him.  You tell him he pisses me off.  Not one person came up and defended me.  The thing was my husband was so very ill.  He had lost 165 pounds and was literally at deaths door.  This man knew this and still he said what he did. 

I just silently and calmly collected my things, took my two daughters hands and walked out, never to return.  I could not feel God among those people anymore.  So that was the day I walked away from the church and organized religion and walked calmly toward God Almighty.  It was a huge step out in faith for me. 
~~~~~~~

I was horrified when I sat down and watched the news last night.. and really got a eye opening look at what is happening with the flooding in your country.  The 12 years old boy that gave his life to save his little brothers.  I wept and wept.  I am so saddened by the massive suffering that is happening all around you. 

Now is the time for you to widen your heart and let your God given love flow to all those you can Rainbow.  I have learned that God's Church does not dwell within a man-made building... the sky is the roof and we are always in God's Church no matter where our feet are and no matter what we are doing. 

We ~ letting our light shine ~ especially all the brighter when hard times come is of the greatest importance.  It helps those who are afraid and in the dark to find their way, to absorb comfort and feel the God given love be  a balm that heals.

Be strong and endure.  Let your light shine and warm those around you.

Last Two True COG's In Pissing Contest To Take Members From UCG/COGaWA

You knew it had to happen sooner or later.  Meredith started the ball rolling by declaring a Church wide fast to pray for the brethren of UCG and those being hurt by the split.  Bob Thiel jumped on the band wagon and urged UCG and COGaWA members to leave their respective churches and join the only Philadelphian church doing the work of God today.


Meredith sent this out today:

“First of all, we need to pray fervently for everyone involved! Pray that God will guide them and keep them in His will. Pray that they may continue to believe the Truth and want to do the Work. Pray that God will bring with us those who should come and would loyally and cooperatively help us “do the Work.” For we certainly need more dedicated members and ministers, and I pray that all of us will wholeheartedly welcome them with open arms if they sincerely and lovingly want to come with us. Right now, as many of you know, hundreds of members are in the process of leaving the United Church of God. Many could go into little factions and end up doing nothing as far as reaching the entire world with the Gospel of the Kingdom. So we do need to cry out to God with all our hearts that some of them would come with us and that He would grant us favor in their sight and help them to realize that we do have a depth of love and unity that many of them have not been told about.

Fellow ministers, I urge all of you to stir yourselves to reach out to these people and these ministers, to visit them as soon as you are able, to work with your Elders and members to make them feel welcome and to help them in every way to become part of the group that is really “doing the Work” at this time. We do not want to pressure or “proselytize” anyone in a wrong way. But it is certainly not wrong to reach out to them and let them know that we love them and would love to have them with us to help us do the Work and get the message out to a very confused world.”

Income is down in LCG so this is a great money making tool to have members come in with  their tithes.  Flurry's cult is low on income too since they just built a monstrosity in Edmond that is for the purpose of worshiping HWA.

Then the Second True End time Church jumped into the fire.  Gerald Flurry and Lil' Junior started a series of articles on their websites telling UCG/COGaWA to join up with PCG.  

Our church is better than your church. Who would have thought that in  1,980 years PCG was the only remnant church doing what God requires because only THEY have God's TRUE form of government.


Flurry Junior writes about Meredith:

When Rod Meredith left the Worldwide Church of God to start a new church in 1993, he clearly called into question the way Herbert W. Armstrong had governed the Worldwide Church of God. He wrote in Church Government and Church Unity that the subject of church government had been seriously misunderstood during the days of Mr. Armstrong’s leadership.

Furthermore, Meredith said, God’s Church had rarely ever been governed by one administration, with one man in charge—and Mr. Armstrong knew it.

In actual fact, Mr. Armstrong’s writings flatly reject this revisionist reading of Church history. He wrote in April 1981 that God always works through one man at a time. “He worked through Abraham. He worked through Moses, through Joshua, through one ‘judge’ at a time, through Samuel, through David, through Solomon. He worked through Peter and when Peter had left the Middle East, through Paul. These men had, in greater or lesser number, staff assistants under them, but God’s work was through the one man at a time!” Mr. Armstrong wrote (emphasis mine throughout).

Without a doubt, it was a deceitful and confusing web Mr. Meredith tried to spin after Mr. Armstrong’s death. On the one hand, Mr. Armstrong supposedly knew God didn’t work through one man. And yet, Mr. Armstrong’s own administration was obviously hierarchical, with one man at the top.

 -------

According to Meredith, this collegial “New Testament” approach is what they failed to grasp during the days of Mr. Armstrong. This is why, Meredith said at a ministerial conference in July 1993, he didn’t understand the right approach to government during the 1960s and ’70s.

Today, however, he does understand. “I’ve learned the right approach in servant leadership,” Meredith told his ministers in 1993. Later, he added, “Let’s try to do it right this time, as shepherds with a loving approach.”

It is well worth noting that this is the same deplorable tactic the Tkaches used to destroy Mr. Armstrong’s legacy. We’ve made so many mistakes in our past, they often said. And unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong didn’t live long enough to correct these many errors. But now, God has led us to make the necessary changes!

How convenient that argument was for them. And how pitiful and ignorant it made Mr. Armstrong look.

In Mr. Meredith’s case, he implies, If only Mr. Armstrong would have lived long enough to learn the right approach to servant leadership. If only he would have been able to administer government the right way, with a loving approach.

------

Now please—consider this carefully. The reason this history is so critically important is because there are many thousands of brethren—people who once devoted their lives to upholding the teachings of Herbert Armstrong—who now are laboring under the delusion that there are many different branches of God’s Church doing God’s work today. This is why, even if ministers in United and Living choose to ignore us, many of their members do not.

They may not believe the Philadelphia Church of God is the one true Church. But they do believe the pcg is one of many different branches God is using to do His work. In their minds, we may be the branch God uses to preserve Mr. Armstrong’s literature or to proclaim a prophetic warning to this world.

That kind of thinking is a deadly delusion. And as Mr. Armstrong wrote in the article quoted above, it started during the liberal rebellion against God’s government in the 1970s. And six months before he died, he felt compelled to remind the brethren about this history.

“I want you, brethren, to think about and understand what happened to God’s Church in the 1970s lest history repeat itself! I want you to see the ‘fruits’ of rebelling against God’s way and God’s government,” Mr. Armstrong wrote.

Seven years after he delivered that sobering warning, Rod Meredith left the Worldwide Church of God to, as he claimed, faithfully preach “the truths proclaimed by Herbert W. Armstrong.” And yet, in his very first booklet—the battle cry for his church and the framework for his new government—Mr. Meredith said Jesus Christ almost always uses many different co-existing branches to do His work. And Mr. Armstrong, he added, believed this too!

None of it was true. But many people believed it.

And today, many still do, even if Mr. Meredith is no longer one of them. But leaving aside what he might teach today, it is nevertheless true that the minister most responsible for popularizing the many different branches lie after Mr. Armstrong’s death is Roderick C. Meredith.