Armstrongism And It's Love Of Hidden Meanings

  
When the Worldwide Church of God sold the Pasadena property the lower campus was sold to Maranatha High School.  It is an upscale college prep school that has an excellent reputation for its classes and cost.  Yearly tuition is over $17,000.00.

When they took over the property it was in a sad state of disrepair.  Maranatha dumped millions of dollars into gutting and rebuilding Grove Terrace from the inside out into a state of the art classroom building.  The track was resurfaced and extended into a regulation football field and stadium lights installed.  Major repairs were done to the Student Center also.

They take great pride in the property and have a waiting list for students to attend it.

They take the name Maranatha from the Bible.

Maranatha (either מרנא תא: maranâ' thâ' or מרן אתא: maran 'athâ' ) is an Aramaic word occurring twice in the New Testament (see Aramaic of Jesus) and also in the Didache which is part of the Apostolic Fathers' collection. It is transliterated into Greek letters rather than translated, and is found at the end of Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 16:22) . The NRSV translates it as: "Our Lord, come!" but notes that it could also be translated as: "Our Lord has come"; the NIV translates: "Come, O Lord"; the NAB notes:

"As understood here ("O Lord, come!"), it is a prayer for the early return of Christ. If the Aramaic words are divided differently (Maran atha, "Our Lord has come"), it becomes a credal declaration. The former interpretation is supported by what appears to be a Greek equivalent of this acclamation in Book of Revelation 22:20 "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!""

The phrase may have been used as a greeting between Early Christians,^[1] and it is possibly in this way that it was used by the Apostle Paul.

This is all good if you are a strong believer in scripture.  It is a name that serves them well at the school.

Then, Armstrongism enters the picture.  This was sent to me by a person tonight.  They said it was on Facebook.  Everything in Armstrongism has to be a conspiracy or have some hidden meaning behind it.

What's in a name?

After AC closed, the campus was purchased by a local high school, Maranatha High School. Interestingly, this word appears in the Bible a grand total of only ONE time. Here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+cor+16%3A22&version=KJV

In fact, both words "Anathema" and "Maranatha" appear only once in all of scripture, here in this same verse. I looked up their root meanings and found something interesting.

"Maranatha" means "Our Lord comes, or will come".
"Anathema" means "a person or thing doomed to destruction", "a curse", or "a man accursed, devoted to the direst of woes".

Isn't it ironic that Ambassador College is now linked to a high school's name that Paul described as being cursed? Did the church (and by extension--the college) lose its love for our Messiah? Did the closing of the college and the subsequent splintering of the WWCG occur as a result of this warning?

This can't possibly be just a mere coincidence.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about Maranatha and anathema:

The original Greek meaning of "anathema", a gift or sacrifice to God, leads to the interpretation that "Anathema Maranatha" in a New Testament context could mean "a gift to God at the coming of our Lord." John Wesley in his Notes on the Bible comments that, "It seems to have been customary with the Jews of that age, when they had pronounced any man an Anathema, to add the Syriac expression, Maran - atha, that is, "The Lord cometh;" namely, to execute vengeance upon him." The Catholic Encyclopedia states, "Anathema signifies also to be overwhelmed with maledictions... At an early date the Church adopted the word anathema to signify the exclusion of a sinner from the society of the faithful; but the anathema was pronounced chiefly against heretics." The negative understanding of maranatha began to die out by the late 19th Century; Jamiesen, Fausset and Brown's commentary of 1871 separates Maranatha from anathema in the same way as modern scholars. However the traditional interpretation is still occasionally found among some Christians today.

It is quit obvious that this person does not have any idea what he is talking about.  Plus, it is quit obvious that this person still believes that the College had spiritual significance and that God removed his presence from the property when the so called apostasy happened. So many Armstrongites look at the property still as a sacred place.

"Not only is Malm playing a silly game, but he is arrogant enough to lie about it."

Poor apostate apostle Malm.  Intense persecution is hitting him from every side! This blog picks on him, Bob Thiel picks on him, and today John Carmack picked on him.

 The apostate apostle claims his web site is the largest COG news site in the world.  Never  mid the fact that Dave Pack claims the same thing.  He makes these claims in order to cast a bad light on Bob Thiel and his blog.  Or at least he tries.  Silly little man!

Apostate Malm was taken to task today by John Carmack on the Church of God Perspective blog.  Malm has been taking a lot of pot shots lately towards Bob Thiel.  Thiel has been calling out Malm on his erroneous prophecies and absurd teachings.  Malm then hits back with my "site is bigger than your site" silliness.

Carmack  takes Malm to task bit by bit making apostate Malm look like the liar and fool he is.

It is becoming more and more obvious that James Malm’s delusions of grandeur know no end.  He thinks a “certain blogger” is “dedicated” to attacking his site, when in reality, Church of God Perspective is dedicated to the truth, which is something that he cannot fathom because he is a liar and the truth is not in him.  He is not the only liar I have exposed on this site, although I try to concentrate on promoting the truth rather than correct the hundreds of errors that false teachers promulgate.  If it seems that he gets more mention on here than others when it comes to exposing deceit, then the reason is obviously because his teachings are more error-ridden than most others.

Besides misquoting me, Dr Robert Thiel, Herbert W Armstrong and numerous others, he now is making up “facts” wanting you to believe, in article “Prophecy marches on: Early elections for Israel”, that his news site is the “Number One COG site for the news that counts and its prophetic implications.”

 Not only is Malm playing a silly game, but he is arrogant enough to lie about it.

Apostate Malm: Directions On How To Stay In A Hotel on the Sabbath/Holy Days

The apostate apostle is giving directions to his acolytes on how to stay in a hotel/motel, on a sabbath/holy day, during the Feast.  No more beds made or bathrooms cleaned on Malm's so called sabbath.  Nada!

An acolyte asks:

In relation to the correct calendar days and correct way of keeping the Sabbath holy, how and where do you and your family keep the Feast of Tabernacles? Are there any congregations in the COG’s that keep the correct days and believe in not buying and selling on the Sabbath? (as per Neh. 10, 13) If staying at hotels for the Feast (which has been our tradition for many years) is hiring a room and paying the hotel management for it (which would include the Sabbath/Holy days) is breaking the Sabbath then what is the proper way of residing in booths? Do you suggest camping, bringing tents or campers to a Feast site? What about meeting halls? Is renting hotel meeting rooms for weekly Sabbath services considered buying and selling on the Sabbath?

The emerging splinter group leader writes:

We would stay in a motel usually and sometimes camp. Staying in a motel is not a problem as we pay and get settled BEFORE any Sabbath or High Day, and we simply inform them that no service will be needed on Sabbaths or High Days; which usually delights them.
We do prefer a room with a Frdge and stove but if that is not possible a small cooler to keep a few perishables overnight on a Sabbath is helpful. If you are a fly in, a styrofoam cooler can be bought for a couple of dollars at the local market.
Right now this is a work in progress and while there are hundreds perhaps a thousand or more people faithful to the Sabbath etc, they are widely scattered worldwide and I have cautioned everyone to stay where they are until the fruits of their orgnization is very clear to them. That time is almost at hand. James

Obviously the future Pastor General feels he has quit a following, enough so that they will eventually need to break away from the apostate Churches of God and start their own Feast site.  One can only imagine what a downer this site would be like.  Sour, legalistic, know-it-all's clicking their tongues at every perceived infraction.  Imagine being a youth or teenager at this so called "festival" site!  How depressing!

Apostle Malm Hyperventilates In Horror! UCG Preaches Tkach Style Sermons This Weekend!

Apostate apostle Malm is hyperventilating today about a couple of sermons that happened in UCG this past weekend. There were fainting pastors, lots of Jesus love, and teaching on how the UCG is correcting the many errors of HWA and the past.  You can hear the sermons here: http://cincinnati-east.ucg.org/

These two sermons were so horrific that they are reminiscent of Joe Tkach's Christmas Ever sermon.

This is a Tkach moment; a veritable bombshell sermon, which I will be covering in depth along with other UCG writings; and yes you can download these two sermons. Please do download and keep them for a personal record of the day the apostasy came out of the closet.

These sermons were also so painful for the  preachers that one even fainted afterwards and had to be hauled off to the hospital:

The pressure on Eddington was trememdous as he tried to craft this in such a way that they would not lose the large numbers they did when they did it in WCG.

The apostate apostle has been on a holy terror against UCG  since before the break up with COGWA.  He has been having fits that UCG is placing  more emphasis on Jesus, grace and love, than on James sackcloth, ashes, chest beating, flagellation and law keeping.  Even if you are not religious, I have a feeling you know which group you would be attracted to!

UCG has been trying to move away from the legalistic bull that continues to whore it's self out in various Armstrongite splinter cults.  After 70 some years of lists, rules, regulations, legalistic do's and dont's, they realize that the membership of the COG does not have a personal relationship with the person they claim to follow.  If you asked the typical church member to name the laws of the Hebrew scriptures they can rattle them off for the next fifteen minutes.  But ask them to talk about Jesus and there suddenly is deafening silence.  What they might mention about Jesus tends to be tied to beatings, torture and death on a cross. Jesus had to die because everyone is a dirty, rotten, filthy scumbag, and are worthless pieces of human garbage.

Because of Armstrongism's absurd understanding on grace and love, the splinter cults spit and snarl at the mention of grace as if it was a four letter word.  To Malm and the rest of the legalistic pimps, it means nothing more than a license to sin.  Then, add the stupidity of apostate apostle Malm and his legalistic bastardization of the law and you quickly see there is no redeeming hope left.

Malm writes:

These folks have been working long and hard to reset the focus and attitude in UCG away from grace being forgiveness to repentant keepers of the law; and towards a grace covers all and Jesus want us to be united with each other in love.
They are perverting grace into a license to tolerate sin; and perverting unity with the Father thorugh internalizing his very nature by the keeping of his commandments, into a unity with each other through loving, patient gentle, understanding andtolerance of sin; as the prophets have foretold.
I have been trying to warn for the past year.

According to apostate apostle Malm the UCG is turning it's back on the law and moving towards grace and that filthy four letter word, love.  Imagine, if you possibly can, a Church of God filled with grace and love!  I know!  It's hard to do!

Here is what has ticked of the apostate apostle:

UCG NEWS:   The broadcast UCG sermons yesterday were shockers and I will be dissecting them as part of this weeks series on the doctrinal changes  in UCG.

Bill Eddington was obviously extremely  nervous and stressed  as he tried to put the new UCG over on the brethren; and he collapsed and fainted right after the sermon and was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

His sermon was a much more subtle “Dec 94 Tkach declaration” that doctrine was indeed being changed.

He clearly stated that they were reassessing the past teachings and correcting the mistaken teachings of the HWA WCG.  And he openly admitted that they had already succeeded in changing the spirit and attitude in UCG over the past twelve months. I have been warning of this all the while.

That change of attitude and focus was the preparation phase for the new teachings.

If this is all true I am sure there is going to be great fodder to write about and quote over the next week or so.  If UCG really is changing away from law to grace then I say more  power to them! Time will tell as to what they actually do, grace and love certainly trump Malm's bastardized law keeping any day!

Big Sandy COG Splinter Cult: "Walmart Is The Devil"

Church in the Wilderness

Is Walmart the devil? The day will come shortly when the rug will be jerked out from under our feet, and then where will we Christians buy our TV's, our shotgun shells and even our eggs and broccoli? Buyer beware! Christian support of the Edomite agenda is at our own economic peril. Walmart has unfairly, through jewish banking connection, forced small retailers to close, by the tens of thousands across America.

It's time for Christians to take back "buying and selling." It's time for Christian retailers to present alternatives to Walmart, a difficult task without the banking connection. China Mart must go! We American Moms and Pops, born of Christian Biblical stock, must wake up our neighbors to the economic train wreck about to happen. We must reclaim our heritage! We must present our collective alternatives to what the devil has given us as his last, best effort for conquering us economically.