Vidal: Big Bad Meanies Are Persecuting The Restored Church of God

Brother Vidal is back from Dave Packs reeducation camp with more tales of woe and persecution.  The persecution of the Restored Church of God seems to be particularly horrendous at this point in time.  Even though they live in nice homes, have plenty of food on their tables, travel freely around the country in the latest model of car, have tens of thousands of dollars in the bank, they are being persecuted for their beliefs. Really!  I have not read about their Masonic Lodges getting blown up for having church there, or the Elks Lodges, or the high school gyms. I haven't read about any car bombs going off in front of RCG's church services or gunmen  storming their meeting halls and killing their members.

I've got news for Vidal and Davey; THIS is what religious persecution looks like for REAL Christians:

So what kind of terrible persecution is Vidal and his cronies going through at the Restored Church of God at this time?

 This is the big bad meanie persecution they are suffering from:

It is not surprising that after this website was launched, haters of God started attacking every minister posting here. The spate of attacks vividly brought to my remembrance a foundational scripture: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death” (Phil. 4:10). This verse has truly come alive!

This is particularly galling to hear coming from Vidal when he comes from Africa where Christians are being killed at a horrendous rates in some nations. But then COG logic dictates that these "so-called Christans" are not real Christians because they are not sabbath keepers, followers of Dave Pack or Herbert Armstrong.  It is disgusting for this moron to even assume he is being persecuted!

He continues:

But contrary to what these enemies of God may be thinking, we are utterly grateful to God for giving us the wonderful and exceptional opportunity to share in a tiny fraction of Jesus’ sufferings. For us, it is a great pleasure to gladly submit ourselves to this situation rather than receive the vain attention and praises or commendations of men. 

I can guarantee that if real persecution came to the Restored Church of God, Dave Pack would be the first one high-tailing it down the freeway as he leaves his staff to bear the brunt of the persecution.  HWA did it when he fled to Tuscon and Dave will do it too.


These are what Vidal and Davey see as great persecutors of the Restored Church of God:

If Vidal and Davey think that this blog and others are agents of persecution then they certainly follow a weak, impotent little god.

Blogs and web sites filled with snarky little comments is persecution!  Who knew!

By all of us being snarky and making fun of their stupid assumptions; they see this as PROOF they are God's greatest gift to the universe.

...the evil reports that have been circulated about us since we started this site validate us. If haters had commended or agreed with us, then something would have been wrong. Christ has made it clear that any such commendation would be to our shame. But the fact that they do not speak well of us is as it should be. Again, it is such evil reports that validate true ministers! “Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22).

That we are detested gives us comfort that we are doing the right thing and are in the right place. In reality, we are better off when they defame, rail at, chide, taunt and try to represent us as evil.

Then Vidal take a giant leap into absurdness.  He equates their persecution with Jesus being tortured an killed:

Being offered the opportunity to taste a tiny sliver of what Christ went through, what His apostles and true servants have gone through over the millennia, what Mr. Armstrong went through in His 52-year ministry, what His 21^st century apostle has been going through, and what other faithful ministers of His are currently passing through is a unique privilege, and we are thankful to the Father for having us go through this process, and making it possible for us to truly count it all joy (I Pet. 4:13).

Their own words damn them.  Stupid little people.

You can read Vidal's silliness here:  Evil Reports Validate True Ministers

Nathan Albright on the "20th and 21st Century Experience Church of God

Nathan has another great article up about the experience of the 20th and 21st century Church of God member and they way we think/thought. And how that thinking has made the COG so dysfunctional. He goes through some of the conditions that caused the church to form some of the rigid ideas it had and still has in various splinter groups.

It is encouraging to read Nathan's articles which give cause for celebration because he has some various honest insights from an insiders point of view  into the Church of God than many refuse to even look at today.  There are plenty of us now on the outside looking it, but rarely do you have present members questioning things so sincerely.  It is more comfortable to go with the flow than to rock the critical thinking boat.  Nathan does not shy away from it.

In his a article today he asked these questions:

The question is: what came first, dysfunctional people or a dysfunctional culture and system within the Church of God? Or, to put this another way, were people screwed up by the systems of the Church of God or did they come this way, attracted by some weirdness within the existing culture....given such evidence as is available we can at least find areas for future investigation that are likely to lead to more definitive solutions, and at least rough proportions of where the responsibility and blame for the dysfunctionality of the Church of God culture belongs.

It is customary for the Church of God to think itself separate from the world, but even a very basic understanding of the larger generational and political patterns that the Church of God has experienced will show that the Church of God has been greatly influenced by the greater society it has operated it, whatever its claims to the contrary.

Most COG members never stop and consider this reasoning at all.  Nathan is right that Armstrongism has always considered it's self separate from the world.  Yet, it was deeply entrenched in it.  The world invaded every aspect of the church.  From our literature and television programs.  Our ministerial training tactics.  Our architecture in our buildings which was meant to awe and astound people. Our worship of money reigned supreme.  Our scandals mirrored the scandals going on in most televangelist organizations but many times to an even darker level. Our addictions to alcohol, sex, drugs, food, money, possessions mirror the world around us.

Nathan continues with these brilliant observations:

"There are really two fundamental outside influences here. First, early experiences (and dissatisfaction) with loose organization, along with the influence of isolationist and pro-fascist 1930′s culture, seems to have encouraged the early Radio Church of God to take a much more authoritarian stance, as right-wing thought was moving in a more authoritarian direction during the 1930′s. The period of greatest growth for the Church of God was during the beginning of the Culture Wars of the West, where a large group of conservative, traditional-minded people came into the Radio/Worldwide Church of God, seemingly looking to escape the doctrinal and especially cultural liberalism of the age. As right-wing political culture moved more in a libertarian direction and as authoritarianism was discredited in the post-Cold War period, it is little surprise that the Church of God as a whole has been in a permanent state of crisis at this time, given its tension between the influence of right-wing political worldviews and expectations from outside society and its generally traditionalist mindset, which fiercely defends traditions that are only a few generations old."

"It is the hallmark of co-dependent institutions that they show immense rigidity. And that has been the experience of anyone who has spent a great deal of time within a vast majority of the Church of God culture (including Worldwide). If we are to assume that the Church of God is supposed to be a model of a godly family, we would recognize that a godly family is to nourish and support the well-being and gifts and abilities of its members. In addition, it would recognize that growing maturity and capability would change an initially very unequal parent and child relationship into a relationship of mutual respect. Dysfunctional institutions and families show no such flexibility. Instead there are rigid roles that have to be followed, with little or no tolerance of deviation or even the slightest bit of independent-mindedness. Even if leaders are given great latitude for their own laziness or health issues, everyone else must work without rest or release, as meaning is only found in doing and not in being or relationships (which may be actively discouraged except among elites). In addition, a dysfunctional family does not show any change in its views. There is never any way to lower the gap between leaders and followers, no flexibility in recognizing changes in what roles or places a person would be best served, and often no interest in helping people find a best fit between their own talents and abilities and the places they serve, unless that person has reached sufficiently elite status to merit such (rare) personal attention and consideration."

There is a cornucopia of other great observations in his article, so please check out Nathan's article here:  On The Bi-Directional Feedback of Culture And Membership In The 20th and 21st Century Experience Of The Church Of God