Here's What Dennis Fischer Says Will Happen If You Eat in a Fine Resturant on the Sabbath

Here's why it is a sin if you eat out at fancy restaurant on the sabbath.  There might be high class call girls in the room or business people might be doing some work and you do not want to be in the same space as grievous sinners. 

These are actual reasons that Dennis Fischer gives on his 30 Excuses: Fine Dining

Example I

"Working Girls"

 

    Suppose that this elegant restaurant was a gathering place of numerous prostitutes. However, these “ladies of the evening” are not the typical “hookers” one might see on street corners in sleazy parts of town. These particular women are high priced “call girls” with very influential clients. Each of these "ladies" is highly educated. Most have graduate degrees and may speak several languages. They enjoy the opera and are well versed in literature and the arts. They can converse intelligently about politics and philosophy. Additionally, they command as much as $10,000 an evening for their services. To put it mildly they are very sophisticated. But they are prostitutes nonetheless. Furthermore, at this particular restaurant they are everywhere—engaging in their craft, making contacts and networking. Add to that, dining with these very expensive “escorts” are men whose wives are at home with their children totally unaware that tonight their husbands will be spending some “quality time” with someone else.

     Now here is our question.

• Is such a place conducive for honoring God’s Sabbath?

• Or, would you recommend that God’s people choose another place to dine?

     Most would have to admit that such a restaurant is not an appropriate place to dine on the Sabbath or, any other day for that matter. After all, regardless of how you want to slice it, God’s law is being trampled on with impunity by its patrons. Furthermore, adultery is a capital crime in the Bible. It attacks the very core of decency.

 

     Now some may argue that such a hypothetical situation doesn’t exist—and even if it did God’s people would be unable to detect such behavior. After all, discretion is the stock and trade of such “ladies.”

 

     This may be true so lets try a different example—one a bit more real.

Example II

“A Capital Crime”

   

     Suppose you and your family are at another fine restaurant on the Sabbath and everyone there is desecrating God’s holy day right before your eyes. At every table this sacrilege is taking place. Work is being done. Business is being transacted. The conversations all around you (even if you can’t hear them) relate to the profane world. Even an occasional round of “Happy Birthday” is being sung by attentive servers.

Now, here is our question.

• Is this a place that is conducive to keeping God’s day holy?

• Furthermore, should God’s people actually pay to be in such a place? In other words, should they do business with it, on God’s Sabbath no less? Remember that profaning the Sabbath is also a capital crime in the scriptures.

                                                  Embracing Sin

 

    The reason most people in God’s Church dine out on the Sabbath is either 1) they never think about what is really taking place all around them or, 2) they don’t regard what is being done as an egregious sin. Tragically, we have become desensitized by our contemporary world to accept what God condemns. Furthermore, by never questioning what restaurants do on this day, we never have to question what we do.

 

    The bottom line is this. You can no more find a restaurant elegant enough to offset what is taking place in it every Sabbath than you could find a cathedral elegant enough to offset what it is doing every Sunday. No matter how fancy it is, no matter how exquisite its atmosphere, it is still POLLUTING what God Himself made HOLY! Here is the question we should ask ourselves. What does God Almighty think of what is taking place at this fine eatery every Sabbath and holy day? Furthermore, what does He think of His people seeking out and paying for this sacrilege?

Here's What Dennis Fischer Thinks About You Eating Out On The Sabbath

Wrestling With God

I picked up an interesting book the other day at Fuller called “The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief” by Peter Rollins.

In an interview here       Rollins states:

…"what if God is not to be found directly in our beliefs and practices but rather indirectly as the name we give to the source that generates our desire to form beliefs and practices". 

If one believes that we ought to take this question seriously then we are led to ask where it leads. This is something that I began to explore in How (Not) to Speak of God and that I have continued to investigate in The Fidelity of Betrayal. If the last book involved exploring how such an idea leads to the embrace of doubt, complexity and ambiguity then this new book investigates faith as the outworking of a constant wrestling with our religion, a struggle that involves being ready and willing to betray the very theological and ecclesial structures that sustain us. In exploring this I wish to show how betrayal, contrary to popular thought, can actually express the most radical fidelity to the source that generates our desire to forge these vast structures in the first place. In short, the book can be described as a singular sustained reflection on what it means to be baptized into the name "Israel", a name that describes one who grapples with God.   

How many of us in Armstrongism ever really wrestled with the scriptures, doctrines and church traditions?  The answer to that is quit simple.  None of us did so while we were part of the collective.  Armstrongism lived in a world of black and white.  It was believe it or leave it.  There was no ambiguity, there was no room for doubt,, there certainly was no place for questioning. How many times did we have to sit through screaming harangues by HWA as he bellowed about “The Two Trees”  It got so that when we saw him walk out on stage you could hear people groan. At least we got to hear him scream at us live.  I can’t imagine sitting in an Elks Lodge in the middle of the country listening to a stupid tape of him bellowing!  Oy!

Armstrongism left no room for members to doubt, to question, or to wrestle with scriptures.  To dare to wrestle and to question was a sure sign of being unconverted.  That word alone sent shivers down members spines.  To be unconverted meant you had lost your place in eternal salvation.  To be labeled as “unconverted” was tantamount to a death sentence.  There was no hope for you.

Armstrongism has always love to imitate and pretend to be Jewish.  Yet Armstrongism has always neglected one of the major understandings of Judaism. Questioning, arguing and wrestling with God were major themes in Hebrew scriptures.   

Abraham felt perfectly comfortable questioning God and God did not seem to have a problem being questioned.  When you read about Abraham arguing with God about not destroying Sodom if he could find 50 righteous people and then argued God down to 10 righteous.

Rollins writes:

This discussion continues until Abraham has persuaded God to hold back from destroying the city so long as there are as few as ten righteous people living there.  Regardless of how one wishes to interpret the nature of this dialogue, it is obvious that the narrative affirms (1) that Abraham felt able to question God and (2) that God did not seem to mind being questioned. The story even seems to  imply that God wants Abraham to disagree, for why else would God be presented as openly and audibly considering whether or not to destroy Sodom within earshot of Abraham?

 
Then there is the story of Jacob wrestling with the stranger who approached Jacob as he was camped out by a river. This stranger was unable to over power Jacob in a fight which lasted all night.  The stranger even had to ask Jacob to set him free. Jacob refuses without first asking for a blessing.  The stranger says, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with human beings and have overcome.”

Rollins writes:

 Whereas Abraham questioned God with a certain deference and respect, this story presents Jacob in a much more defiant and aggressive light.  Jacob does not seem in any way repentant when he discovers who this stranger really is, and God, far from seeming to have a problem with such an unrepentant follower, bestows the victor with the blessing of a new name that would come to represent, not only Jacob, but all of his descendents.

It is here, in this encounter between Jacob and God, that we discover why the Jewish community is marked out by the name “Israel.”  This title represents the spirit of a people who have “wrestled with God and with men and have overcome.” This name illuminates the living dynamic of Hebraic faith. It magnifies a radical idea that marks out the Jewish people, describing something almost paradoxical about this faith: that absolute commitment to God involves a deep and sustained wrestling with God.  In this story we discover that the Israelites are to be marked out, not as a people who live out their faith through unquestioning submission but as a people who demonstrate their love and commitment to the source of their faith in a radical commitment to fighting with that source. This is a people to be marked out by struggling, by passion, by critical engagement.

Whenever in Armstrongism did we ever struggle as a church to wrestle, question and argue  with God?  Where was there any passion Armstrongism?  How can you be passionate for something that you think you know everything about it?  Whenever was their critical engagement in Armstrongism?  When were members allowed to question, argue and challenge beliefs?

Rollins continues:

While the Islamic faith is derived from a word that can be translated as “submission,” the tribes of Israel bear a different name, one that evokes the image of conflict, tension, and turmoil.  Thus, if relationship with God within this tradition is to be understood as promising peace and harmony, it cannot be understood as a peace and harmony that stands in contrast to a kinetic life of tension, striving, and  conflict. For the blessing that God bestowed upon Jacob brings us face to face with the fact that God wants a fight.

Then we jump to Peter as an example and his dream about foods that were considered unclean:

About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.
“Surely not Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
The voice said to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

 Rollins writes:

This vision fundamentally challenges what Peter holds to be a command of God and opens up a difficult dilemma: in order to obey the command of God he must disobey the command of God.

Rollins continues:

“…each of them brings the reader face to face with a time when individuals have questioned, fought an even betrayed the word of God as a direct result of their fidelity to the way of God. More than this, each of these examples is framed in such a way that the reader is left with no doubt that the wrestling was acceptable to, and even desired by, God. Yet the text is structured in such a way that it challenges us to go deeper, for it does not merely offer us examples of people who wrestled with God but also presents us with situations in which we are invited to do the same. The text itself places us into various situations where the God we read about is one whom we must question, not out of our weakness or selfishness but rather from out of  the very depths of our faith.

Can you imagine people in Pack’s, Flurry’s and Meredith’s cults every vocally questioning? They wouldn’t dare, because it just is not done!  Plus, they would find their asses out on the street so fast they would not know what hit them.

Armstrongism cannot allow questioning because it cannot allow dialogue between members and the elite.  Constructive dialogue about scriptures, doctrines, beliefs all lead to a richer environments where people are free to explore and deepen their relationship with their God.  But you never see this happening in Armstrongism.  The rules and beliefs were laid out by one man seventy some years ago. There was no dialogue at that time. It is a known fact that HWA never discussed things with the COG in Stansbury. He told them how things were going to be and when they ignored him he left in a huff and started his own church.  No wrestling, no dialogue, no questioning, no arguing, no enriching conversations.  Nada, just pitched a fit and left.

So to this day you do not see wrestling with scripture, dialogue or questioning in Armstrongism over things.  The only people from Armstrongism who seem to question are those that have left it.  You had to have that spark in you to wrestle and to question in order to begin the process of leaving.  Even if you have been kicked out and disfellowshipped, you started that ball rolling by questioning something.  

What has questioning done for you?

Bob Thiel SHOCKER! King of the North Visits Ground Zero!!!!!

 Karl wearing lederhosen that he will force all Americans to wear 

when he imprisons us in concentration camps.

Who woulda thunk it!  A sure sign of prophecy coming true when the Beast Power is doing reconnaissance in New York before he destroys it.  Only in the minds of an Armstrongite can this vision make it's self know!

Chiro/Naturopath/2012 Authority/Prophet/and All Around Know-it-All is all giddy that Stephanie and Karl zu Guttenberg visited Ground Zero this week.  It is a sure sign that the end times are approaching!

Stephanie and Karl zu Guttenberg visited the Ground Zero area in New York earlier this week...

As regular readers of this page are aware, I have had my eye on one-time German Defense Minister Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg since late 2009 as one who could possibly fulfill the role of the final King of the North.  He and his family recently temporarily exiled themselves from Germany and (about three weeks ago) moved to an expensive area in Connecticut (see also Baron Guttenberg’s House May Fulfill a Prophecy (and is in a Celebrity Neighborhood) (the following is machine-translated and then with some of the English corrected by me:

Former Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who left Germany in silence in late August, and moved…, along with his family to the U.S. State of Connecticut has moved.  He told Der Spiegel he has purchased an expensive property there for three million euros, and is less than an hour’s drive from New York…
Since his resignation as Minister,  Guttenberg has withdrawn completely from public life. Shortly before moving to the U.S., however, he celebrated at the Berlin bar scene until the early morning hours with his friends farewell from Germany.What Guttenberg is doing exactly at the new home remains unclear…His wife Stephanie said, “We remain German, with all our heart. And we will come back. That’s for sure.” (http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,785483,00.html)

The one-time Economics Minister for Germany resigned his Defense Minister post because of a plagiarism scandal related to his at least partially apparently copied doctoral dissertation.  And although the Guttenbergs left Germany, they intend to return.  Other than claiming he wanted to think and write a book, Karl Guttenberg has not stated why he is in the USA.
As I have mentioned before, Karl Guttenberg’s scandal and exile appear to be consistent with certain Roman and Orthodox Catholic prophecies about a leader commonly referred to as the Great Monarch and possibly biblical prophecy concerning the Beast, the final King of the North see also Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North?).

Here are a few other passages that related to the final Beast, the final King of the North, that indicates the Beast has certain corruption and planning tendencies:

23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom,
When the transgressors have reached their fullness,
A king shall arise,
Having fierce features,
Who understands sinister schemes.
24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power;
He shall destroy fearfully,
And shall prosper and thrive;
He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.
25 “Through his cunning
He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule;
And he shall exalt himself in his heart.
He shall destroy many in their prosperity. (Daniel 8:23-25)

The comment about “cunning” indicates that image is important to him, and parts of the German press indicated that image is the reason he and his wife visited Ground Zero (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/ex-minister-in-new-york-guttenbergs-ground-zero-show-1.1142531).  Learning more about the USA could be helpful for him if Baron Guttenberg returns to politics and/or becomes the final King of the North of biblical prophecy.

God Speaks To Dave Pack

Dave Pack: God's Greatest Gift To Humanity

 There is something not quit right about this guy!  It shows in his face and demeanor.

Poor Dave Pack. he gets no respect!  But one can only respect that which is honorable and there is NOTHING honorable about Dave Pack.  Arrogant, pompous, self-serving, liar, false teacher, false apostle, and wanna-be HWA clone, are just a few of the words one could ascibe to Pack. He considers himself to be the worlds foremost Biblical scholar and his web site contains more Biblical information than any other site in the entire world.


UK Apologetics had this to say about Pack:

According to his own website, after attending Ambassador College, David C. Pack,

"...entered the Worldwide Church of God ministry in 1971 and was personally trained by Herbert W. Armstrong. He has established over 50 congregations, authored more than 20 books, written hundreds of booklets and articles, and appeared on The History Channel. As Editor-in-Chief of The Real Truth magazine and voice of The World to Come program, he has reached millions around the globe with the most powerful truths of the Bible, unknown to almost all."

There is appalling arrogance there. If somebody other than Mr Pack wrote these comments he needs to move quickly to remove the arrogant tone. But if - as one suspects - the comments appear with his approval, one can only gasp at a man who would claim that he alone reaches "millions around the globe" with an authentic Bible message which is "unknown to almost all." To be frank, this is typical of the amazing arrogance of the armstrongists. So, according to the reasoning which the "Restored Church of God" encourages us to accept, forget about Aquinas, forget about Luther, forget about Calvin, forget about John Wesley, CH Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and all the rest - until Herbert Armstrong came along we knew virtually nothing about the Bible and now - how wonderful! - Mr Pack is devoutly and selflessly continuing in his path. Herbert, of course, was full of an arrogance and (entirely misplaced) confidence just like that so it is perhaps no shock to find his disciples inheriting the very same trait.
In the very same, Who is David C. Pack? article on his website, Mr Pack (or, one presumably writing with his authority), modestly points out that in order to attend Ambassador College, he declined an invitation to attend Dartmouth College, as well as an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, plus numerous other scholarship offers. Hmm. What a very able and clever young man! Continuing in the same line of modesty, the article further tells us that,

"...he has traveled the world, pastored thousands and conducted many public Bible lectures. Mr. Pack has also held a number of leadership positions that have given him a wide range of ministerial and administrative experience."

Yep, while this may all be perfectly accurate, the impression is that this is real 'CV' material of the most embellished kind. Moreover, we are told that Mr Pack's writing is,

"Published on the most extensive biblically based websites in the world, Mr. Pack’s and the Church’s materials address the everyday concerns of the average man and woman..."

Of course, the unpalatable truth (for the armstrongists) is that no "biblically-based website" would allow any material coming from Mr Pack or any armstrongist disciple anywhere near their website unless the purpose should be to critique it, as we are doing right here.

Pam Dewey has this to say on her Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion: Worldwide Church of God Family Tree page:

Although Pack did have some folks follow him out of the GCG, that was a bit surprising for many people.

Here is how the Ambassador Report put it back in 1985 when Pack was still a minister in the WCG:

 

"For a number of years now, no WCG minister's name has  appeared more often in letters written to the Report complaining of  ministerial abuse.  A group of members was even so brazen as to  circulate an open letter detailing his abuses and calling for his  removal.  According to this group, he "intimidated members, used threats  and mind control, was given to emotion outbursts, disfellowshipped  members for trivial faults, prescribed diets while playing M.D., put  down women," etc., etc.

The letter quoted Pack as saying, "Everyone who has challenged me has  either died, been seriously injured or has been eliminated from the  work...God backs me even if I am wrong."

 

Someone who had been an insider in the Global Church of God, before Rod Meredith left to form the Living Church of God, confirmed to me that Pack's reputation was identical within that organization at the time, with numerous complaints from people coming in about his tactics all the time.  

In spite of all that, Pack did gather a following. Over the years since then there have been numerous defections from his ministry, but he has also gained more supporters, both from other WCG splinter groups and from the public via the Internet.

Like Gerald Flurry before him (whose claims Pack mocks) David Pack claims to have inherited Herbert Armstrong’s mantle. He also claims that his organization follows the teachings of Herbert Armstrong more closely than any other WCG splinter group.

------

As of an astonishing sermon given in February 2005, he declared himself to be the only Apostle of our time, and insisted that he will be personally "training" those two individuals who will end up being the “Two Witnesses of Revelation.” You can see a detailed overview of that sermon on the Exit and Support Network website.