Dave Pack: Do Real Men Wear Facial Hair?

From The Practicing Heretic Blog

Want to work for Pack? Grow those sideburns and ixnay the goateeay...

At one point during my short stint at RCG HQ, Dave caught me in passing at the office and chastised me for my facial hair, claiming that it might create a weird impression of HQ if multiple mugs showed up sporting the look. (A couple of other staff members at the time must have been equally short on time in the daily morning mirror.) So, being the dutiful employee that I was, I went in the next morning sans goatee, only to be later told by Dave that he'd thought about it and it really was no big deal. Imagine that. As if three guys at HQ were going to start some kind of razor revolution. (I'm sure there's an example of that somewhere in the great book. Probably right across the page from the Sideburns Statute...)

Is God In The "Serious" Business Of Constantly Testing Us?

The god of Armstrongism has always been a testy guy.  Nothing you could ever do would be quit good enough and you were assured you were bound to fail.  From the moment you are born to the moment you die, that god was pushing you to your limits to see if you would sin.  This god has spent all of its time testing you over and over and over.  Its no wonder so many have become weary of that kind of god and walk away.

God is training us, but He is also testing us. As merciful as He is towards us individually, He cannot afford to let someone into His kingdom who is not wholly committed to His way of life. He needs to find out if we really believe in His way of life, or if we only want the rewards of eternal life but only kid ourselves that we believe God's way of life is best. If we tell ourselves and God that we want to be in His kingdom, but our hearts are not really with God, then His mercy towards His whole family will override His mercy towards us individually, and He will not let a potential rebel into His kingdom.

This is serious business.

So God has to test us throughout our lives. He gives us a variety of circumstances, sometimes peacefulness, sometimes trials and turmoil, to see how we react.

How well we pass these tests depends on how well we prepare, and the preparation comes before the trial if we are to get through the trial the best possible way. It is during times of relative peacefulness that we need to be "redeeming the time" (Colossians 4:5) to draw close to God.

That statement that "this is serious business" is a perfect description on why Armstrongism is a joyless belief system.  If one is truly set free by the Savior they claim to follow then why do most of them walk around with ball and chains?  Its all about rules and regulations, correct doctrine, proper sabbath keeping, clean meat eating and any other legalistic malarkey they can come up with.  Instead of simply being set free, they prefer the darkness of the dungeon.  Its safer and confines them between four secure walls.  They wistfully look out the cell window at others having fun and then retreat to the dark corners with their  law books.

Ron Weinland's Created Creature He Calls Jesus Is Not An Original Idea

One of the greatest "truth's" Weinerdude has taught his dwindling flock is that his "jesus" is a created being and that God the father is the only God. When Weinerdude came up with this "new truth" he stupidly thought that this was an originally thought that God had out in his head.  Armstrongism has always had a small group of adherents to the "one God" theory over the decades.  Sir Anthony Buzzard from Armstrongism is the most famous.

Greatest Proof of God’s True Church:

During the Feast of Tabernacles in 2005, God mightily separated His Church from all other scattered groups who formed due to the Apostasy. God did this through the 21st Truth that is attributed as being revealed to the Church of God – Preparing for the Kingdom of God through me. No other scattered group believes this truth!

The 21^st Truth states, “God the Father is Yahweh Elohim and He alone has eternally existed. The teaching that Jesus Christ had always existed is a holdover from the teaching of traditional Christianity of the Trinity. There is only one Almighty God who has eternal existence” (“The 57 Truths of God”).

The purpose for covering this truth in this post is to illuminate more fully that it is this truth above all others revealed after the Apostasy that proves where God’s true Church is and through whom God is working as His apostle to this end-time. It is this truth that fully established the identity of God’s Church! No other group or organization from the Apostasy believes or teaches this great truth. It was after God restored this most powerful truth yet, to His Church, that He began to inspire the writing of the book 2008   God’s Final Witness.

Do you grasp the magnitude and importance of this great truth being taught and believed by only one scattered group of people?

Actually Weinerdude does not know what he is talking about.  His little cult is not the only COG group that believes Jesus was a created being.  There is quit a few COG'ers tied in with Sir Anthony Buzzard and the "One God" movement that also believe this.   Buzzard is one of the few with ties to Armstrongism that have went on to get theological degrees from  a seminary.  He was also a professor at Atlanta Bible College, an anti-trinitarian college of the Church of God General Conference (Abrahamic Faith).

You can read more about Sir Anthony Buzzard here:

Restoration Fellowship

21st Century Reformation

Sir Anthony Buzzard, 3rd Baronet

The Unscholarly Scholarship of Anthony Buzzard  

Anthony Buzzard's False Gospel

 

 

 

Dennis On: "Sometimes I Can Be A Little Judgmental"

"Sometimes I can be a little judgmental"

 

" Do you often—or ever—meditate on whether God is truly ruling you?"

Not really actually. I get more concerned that if I associate with RCG 

it would be YOU truly ruling me and my family. 

 You seem a tad judgmental and maybe a bit to serious about yourself.

'The apostates formed a committee to examine all of the Worldwide Church of God’s doctrines. UCG, with its endless committees and study groups, is continually reviewing virtually every doctrine Mr. Armstrong taught.'

Now I'm just sayin', but I prefer humans who exam things once in awhile instead of closing the doors, as you no doubt will, to introspection and inquiry.  Unfamiliar concepts to you I know.  It is awesome that what YOU currently understand is all there is to know unless, of course, more info comes to you in the night. 

"Nothing short of a declaration of war against your condition, carried out with tremendous zeal, will restore you."

Oh man, War on Terror, War on Drugs, War on Poverty, War on Stupid.  Now this...War on Ministers That Aren't Dave.

Let me guess....And you are the General on the winning side?

Awesome, Amazing and completely over arching in scope!

Zeal?  You mean like The Inquisition?

"This includes every minister, elder and leader who is reading these announcements! Be careful you are not dismissive of these words, which merely reflect what Christ declares about the vast majority of those with His Spirit today. I am not exaggerating for effect! Neither is Christ."

You're threatening us aren't you...Don't threaten us. We'll send the Karma Fairy

Pardon my skepticism, but that 'merely' thing sounds like  you and Jesus, I mean CHRIST, are pretty tight.  Is it like "I and the Christ are ONE"? 

I hope not...

"I am not exaggerating for effect!"

Oh Zule you nut, yes you are!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg7MAacSPNM

"Remembering Isaiah 55:6-9, be careful you do not assume you have obeyed this passage when you may not have even read it for years."

First of all, don't tell us what we have read or not read much less understand or do not understand. 

I don't like you much.  I'm going with Gospel Jesus instead of you.

Oh Oh!  I got one for ya!  

Sorry , It's in the New Testament though.

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

13 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. ^(Ahem)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.(Ahem)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. (Ok, not much chance for this one from what I can tell by your writings and sermons)

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind.(AHEM) It does not envy,(AGAIN AHEM) it does not boast, (BZZZZZZZZZ...THANKS FOR PLAYING) it is not proud.(AHEM) ⁵ It does not dishonor others (AHEM AGAIN), it is not self-seeking, (Oh Man AHEM!) it is not easily angered,(Nuther AHEM) it keeps no record of wrongs. (DITTO)) 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. 

"And it was this change in the make-up doctrine that Satan began injecting liberalism into the Church in order to get the Church off the track in the 1970's"

^"

^{You talkin' to me?}

I hope you're not talking to me...

Yep.....he's talking to you...He showed up at my party and went bonkers. Closed us down. Disfellowshipped my parents and called me a little Jezebel. Man...I bet the circus in the World Tomorrow will be dumb.

Grow up Mr. Pack. The the theological posturing gets old.  Come out of your castle and down from your throne and join the rest of humanity. The world of all things God, Christ and Jesus (oops)  does not center on you. Truth does not reside in your opinions and perspectives. Accountability to others is a good and safe thing in the real world. It's actually in the Bible.  The views and experiences of others are equally as informative to them as yours are to you.  It is wiser with your "brilliant mind" to enroll yourself in a excellent theological program and actually get a true overview of the all things actually Biblical including the history, background and actual intent and origins of scripture. 

 DO NOT tell them you are Joshua the High Priest for Today (You'll get an F right off the bat.)  and please keep any icebreaker's in class to just under a month and personal pronouns to under 1000.  Mention Jesus at least once and let others talk too.  Oh..and as difficult as it might be..listen.

 

contact Dennis at: denniscdiehl@AOL.com