Saturday, March 24, 2012

Dennis On: "A Moment When the Lights Went On"




A Moment When the Lights Went On

Dennis Diehl - EzineArticles Expert Author

If the Apostle Paul wrote the following, it indicates a brief moment of enlightened spirituality in his own life.  Paul, as all of us, often was none of these things mostly  He cursed those who didn't go with his view of the Gospel.  He wished those who promoted circumcision to go ahead and cut it all off.  He turned those who offended over to Satan and advocated public shame to those who strayed.  He mocked the Jerusalem leadership when it suited him and was very proud of the fact that he learned nothing from them that he didn't figure out himself.  Paul was used to breathing out threatenings and old habits don't die easily. Just the target of his breath changed. But it seems that still small voice in his soul leaked through at times.  Like this time maybe.

It seems he came to realize that all the "Jesus is coming soon," talk was rather untrue and that  what he viewed as prophetic surety, was much less than sure. Maybe it wasn't as important as he thought it was. While I don't find any apologies coming from Paul for his many misspoken words and for the lives of real humans he probably disrupted with his views and enthusiasm, perhaps this is his apology. 

He admits that being a good speaker (in his own view of himself) didn't matter much if he didn't learn what love was all about.  He comes to see that being a good speaker can also be just as grating as banging pots and pans together. 

He seems to realize for a brief moment that "beating himself into subjection" was of no value without these deeper qualities.  He regrets his impatience and boasting about himself that he was known to do. "I was above all my fellows..." usually means, "And I always will be." He briefly contains and repents of his envy of the other Apostles (Mostly Peter, James and John).  He admits he has been unkind to others at times, has kept track of the wrongs and missteps of others to hold against them and easily lost his temper with those that did not filter their world and ideas of Jesus as he did.  He seems to admit he tended to dishonor others to whom honor may have actually been due and that he had his moments of self seeking.  Perhaps he regretted letting everyone know he viewed himself as the smartest pencil in the box and both the greatest and least of the Apostles. 

The Apostle admits to delighting in the failures of others and not very good at bearing, believing, hoping and enduring when that would have been the high road and more helpful. Paul admits he may not have been as in the know as he perceived himself and that the kind of love he thought he had failed on a regular basis.  He seems to admit he had many wrong priorities and made much ado about nothing. Much like many pastors today who roar and snort, screech and yell as if this way of speaking makes what they say more true or even true at all. 

The Apostle Paul, for a brief moment, admits his views were childish at times and he had some growing up to do.  Perhaps he actually did grow up before it was all over for him. We don't know that. He did admit his time tables were off but he had done his best, fought the good fight, kept the faith and that HE would be fine.  I think he threw in the "as well as those who love his appearing," to lesson the selfish tone of it all, or perhaps that was added later to address the apparent selfishness of Paul in reality.  I don't know.

He seems to finally have come to see, or maybe it was only for a brief moment before returning to his old ways that life consisted of episodes of faith, times of hope and the actual expression of love with love which is the opposite of fear being the most important.  Perfect love casts out fear not hatred.  We hate others out of fear and loss of personal control over the events, beliefs and actions of others. 

As I said, I don't know if the Apostle Paul actually wrote the following.  It was so not his way of being when we read his authentic letters. The skeptic would feel someone inserted it later to polish the hard edge off Paul's actual reputation.  But giving the benefit of the doubt, what an enlightened moment he had. I can imagine those who know him saying, "Well about time.  I wish he had been all this when he turned me over to Satan for my shortcomings..."

I have found that millions love I Corinthians 13 but few practice it. Mostly we practice it when we have no real threats where REALLY have to practice it.  It's mostly like singing "We are not divided. All one body we," when we know it is far far from being true. 

 There have been times when I personally would have wished others, or some other, would have extended this to myself and times when I wish I had been able to extend this to others, but could not out of personal pain or fear. 

You know, it's the painbody in all of us that tends to run the show. The Apostle Paul, like anyone else, ran full tilt on his painbody.  But the real human being occasionally shone through, if he actually wrote this.

You want to know what would heal the planet and turn ministers, modern Apostles and Church Gurus, splinters, slivers and shards around?  Want to know what WCG lacked and thus imploded?  If you are a self appointed Apostle, Evangelist, Watcher, Witness or religious CEO...  read on....and then consider what it might mean for you to come down from the heights of your own thinking and join the rest of the human race.

You're not special. We're all special.  There is only one of us in the entire Universe. You're not better than anyone.  We are all one and the same.  Your insights can be very off base and your ideas of who and what you are and what others are supposed to see in you can be far from the truth of the matter.  When you say, "God says," or "God expects,"  or "God revealed to me,"  then just go ahead and keep reading...

Just where exactly are THESE people on this planet?


1 Corinthians 13
 1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Dennis
DenniscDiehl@aol.com


Dave Pack In Land Battle at New Cult Headquarters



It looks like the bully Dave is getting a dose of his own medicine.  A neighboring property owner is in a land fight with magnanimous Dave over Dave supposedly buying land that he had no right to.  So in typical COG Christian love, Dave has sued the property owner.

A reader of the Akron Beacon Journal Ohio.com  has this to say about Dave Pack's land grab:


I happen to know the people that live in front of the property that this church is building on.
They are suing them over property they have maintained for 23 years now.
This so called Christian church is bearing false witnesses against my friends.
They offered to buy their house but don't want to pay them what it's worth. Instead they are harrassing them and trying to drive them out.
What kind of church treats their neighbor that way?
David Pack claim to be God's apostle. Why doesn't he do the right thing by my friends. Instead they want to control you.
People beware of this so called church. Do your homework and research the true believings behind this so called church. Their members will never see this because they are forbidden to be on the internet unless it is strickly for business. if they are caught they will be disfellowshipped.

Then in typical COG fashion an acolyte jumps on and accuses the home owners of being greedy for wanting more than what magnanimous Dave was offering.  This acolyte even goes on to say that these homeowners fired a gun over their heads.  As if a person is going to be firing a gun in City limits!  Where is the police report that Dave filed??????????

Unfortunately, in an Internet world, people like you feel entitled to hide behind a cybername like "energybooster" and spew all manner of lies and falsehoods in cyberspace with no regard for laws against defamation or any other consequences. I am affiliated with the Restored Church of God ("RCG"), and I saw your post on the Internet, as did many other RCG members. Your statement that we are forbidden to "be on the Internet" and will be disfellowshipped for doing so is just one of the lies contained in your post. Contrary to your lie, the Internet is one of the primary means that RCG uses to spread the gospel, boasting multiple websites on which it publishes various kinds of literature, including its flagship magazine, The Real Truth, which is read by members and prospective members across the globe.

As for the matter with “your friends” who lives in front of the property, RCG offered them significantly more than the house was appraised for, and that offer was met with a sneer and a refusal to counteroffer. Ever wonder why they have had so much trouble selling their house? While RCG personnel were on the land RCG owns, away from the area that “your friends” are now attempting to take by adverse possession, “your friend” fired live rounds overhead and has done so on more than one occasion. Without any discussion, “your friends” hired a law firm and had an attorney send out a letter claiming that they own land that RCG bought and paid for in October of 2011. “Your friends” have and continue to block RCG from accessing its land by placing a pickup truck and trailer on the land that RCG owns! RCG did not resort to having the vehicle and trailer towed, but given the' refusal of “your friends” to discuss the matter, wild-west style gunfiring, vehicle blockade, communication through retained legal counsel, and claim of ownership of the land, RCG did initiate suit to have a court resolve this matter. Energybooster, do your own homework, and that should include a perusal of the laws against defamation.
As usual we see another COG leader who can do no wrong. It's the other persons at fault.  God's most magnanimous Apostle to ever walk the earth is now filing a lawsuit against property owners that have lived there longer than Pack's cult has been around.  Greed seems to be the name of the game in Armstrongism.

ht: Jace

Church of God Dallas/Fort Worth and it's Female Pastor






Here's a Church of God unlike all the others.  It is sabbath keeping, commandant keeping, holy day keeping, and like all other COG's except for one area, it has a female pastor.  You can read about the reasons they find for women being able to lead in the church. Women’s Role


A clear translation is,
Let those women keep silent among the called out ones
The New American Standard: Let the (THOSE) women keep silent in (AMONG) the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the Law also says.
Let those women--who are not yet a part of the converted membership-- keep silent among the called out ones-- the ekklesia -- and subject themselves to their poor embarrassed, converted husbands. Rather than participating in services as the converted women do, they are to ask their husbands to instruct them at home. The KJV adds several words to this verse that are not in the Greek manuscripts, adding "your" to women, and the phrase "they are commanded". These added words make it sound like a universal ruling against ALL the women when it is not.
THOSE and AMONG written in all capitols are alternate translations of the Greek words. To find hoi/hai  (male/female forms of the same word, Strong's 3588) translated as THOSE see Matt 8:33, 9:12, 10:36, and 12:3 in the New King James. The Greek en is frequently translated as AMONG, see Matt 2:6, Matt 4:23, Matt 16:8 and Matt 20:26. The word translated as "churches", ekklesia, means the true believers within the churches, both men and women.
All members participated in services as we see in 1Cor. 14:26 and 31, and this was to continue, but women attending with converted husbands--wives who were not presently among the "ekklesia"-- were not to participate as the converted women did.

This must really gall Bob Thiel that a woman knows more than he does!

The best part of the web site is a link where they describe a run in they had with Art Mokarow and his Associates For Restored Truth.  They describe a symposium that Art ran where he brought in different speakers to talk on different subjects and then at the end basically told them all they were wrong and they he knew the right and correct way.  I see things have not changed in regards to Art's know it all attitude.

The pastors last letter was in 2010, so I don't know if they are still operating or not.