Monday, January 27, 2014

Philadelphia Church of God "Flee Twice" Program Moving South Africa Members To Australia



This letter was up on Exit and Support the other day:

January 27, 2014
I have heard from an inside source that the South African PCG members are being encouraged to emigrate to Australia. The ministry will try and secure work for SA [South African] members with Australian members who have business in Australia. For those SA members who are not able to work, the plan is to get them into Australia as refugees. The ministers are convincing the SA members that the South African PCG members are going to have to flee twice as South Africa is going to fall first. Some members have already been offered employment in Australia.

Is this "new revelation" from Gerald Flurry that South Africa falls first?

I suppose with the new "flee twice revelation" the South African work will disintegrate. So much for preaching the Gospel to all nations (Mark 16:15). Fear and confusion. From where does that spirit come from again? II Corinthians 4:4. Scripture teaches us to test the spirits.

Thanks again for awakening us to the abominations of this false prophet. --Former PCG member
More sickness from Gerald and Stephen Flurry!

The COG's Biggest Chief Overseer; Apostle; Grand Chief of State; Permanent Minister of Ecclesiastical, Indigenous & International Law & Justice; Special Attorney; International CEO; Traditional Medicine physician; Inventor



There has been several conversations going on about this guy in Facebook.  It seems that Apostle and Chief Overseer Jackson Sr. is a former Worldwide Church of God member.  In the grand tradition of Armstrongism, yet another idiot claims he has special insight from his "god."

A young guy on Facebook grew up in this cult.  He says the guy claims to have been on the security for HWA.  I honestly never saw this guy around HWA's home.  He does look familiar though.

I grew up in a splinter group of WCG called Sovereign Church of 'ELOHIYM, International (SCEI-1BLOOD) and we observed most of the same same things. The cult leader is named Kenneth D. Jackson, Sr. and I am trying to find out if anyone knows him. He claimed to be on HWA's security and now claims to be the apostle and prophet just like HWA. Anyone recognize him from those days?

Another person replied that his mother was part of the cult and even though he sees the damage it is causing, will not speak badly of them.  That's why people die because of these cults!

They have done a lot of good but my mom has nothing to show for at the age of 66. My father passed in 04 and the kids had to pay for the funeral. Dr. Jackson did help. His ministry in Africa is huge and his Orphanage is helping a lot of children. Smoke Jackson his son is in charge of the church here in Macon. They are family friends and I treat them with the upmost respect. With all the tithing and offerings the kids have no inheritance. My mom's adopted church family holds priority over blood family.

The young man who is a former member then replies:

...most of that stuff was all elaborate lies. They don't have millions of followers, but thousands, and over half have been abandoned by the church. He never ran any legitimate orphanages or other outreaches. They were all lies. Kenneth Jackson to this day speaks poorly of Ken, but I am not aware why.

I then looked up info on this crackpot and found several sites that seek to expose the cult for what it is.  One of them,  Who Is Apostle Dr. Kenneth Jackson Sr.?,   has this weird information about things that the church never even possessed or that HWA passed on.  The craziness that Armstrongites dream up is never ending!

Kenneth Sr. teaches that prior to HWA's death, he was entrusted with one of three official WWCG seals of authority. Another of these seals remained with HWA and the third was passed to his successor

Joseph W. Tkach.  During a two days sermon on the history of the church, during which Kenneth Sr. glorified himself and his congregation as the 7th and final era of Christ's True Church, he revealed the wooden seal, claiming that it had been given to him as part of GODs divine plan to place him in the high office of Apostle after the inevitable fall of the false Apostle Joseph Tkach. However, a high level member of the church, who occupied the office where the "official" seal had been kept, also found a second seal. This one was still in the process of construction, being only half complete and damaged. It was of the same wood and design of the first, and clearly had been the first attempt at forging the WWCG seal of authority. This leaves very little doubt that the seal presented by Kenneth Sr. was in fact a forgery, and that HWA had never passed on any seal or mandate to him as he had so convincingly stated. This seal remained in the members care during which time her revealed it to others. After some time, he presented it to JoAnne Jackson, who quickly took it and clearly implied that he was to remain silent, and the seal disappeared and was never seen again. By now it has likely been destroyed or hidden out of our reach to hide the fraud. It is primarily for this deception that we have raised serious questioning of the legitimacy of all of his other WWCG claims.

He sounds just as crazy as Armstrongite Buffalo Bill "Ysrael" Hawkins from the House of Yahweh in Abilene, Texas!.

Up until 2003 it seems that Kenneth Jackson largely comprised his Sabbath sermons on in depth biblical studies and breakdowns of scriptures. He dressed in coats and ties, read from the Bible and gained a larger following. However, members then noted a change in Kenneth following a trip to Sierra Leone around 2003. Apparently, the success of his first seed rice farms in the Bo District of Sierra Leone had caused the natives, as is their natural way, to exhort Kenneth with great parades and tributes,    including grand displays and gifts and offerings. It seems that this adoration consumed him and when he returned he immediately began to change in the eyes of his members. He began wearing royal clothing, and adorning himself with gold and diamonds. He had a crown constructed for himself and wore it for all Sermons and official meetings. His Sabbath sermons began to shift from bible studies into long rambling stories of his exploits, grand designs, visions, prophetic powers, ecclesiastical authorities and he also claimed himself Apostle. It reached the point at which Kenneth rarely opened the Bible or read from it, claiming that he now received visions and new testimony straight from the Most High GOD who he identified as 'ELOHIYM, based on the original phonetic translation of the Hebrew word used to describe GOD in the ancient Chaldean. The church which had been called International Church of GODs Elect became Sovereign Church of 'ELOHIYM International, and he established 1BLOOD International as his outreach ministry and registered it as an NGO.

If you though the narcissistic behavior of David Pack and Bob Thiel was appalling, watch this video about the apostle:  Life of an Apostle

A former cult member shares her five minute story: Surviving a Religious Cult


Read more here:

Pro SCEI 1 Blood

1Blood.org

Anti-SCEI 1 Blood

SCEI 1 Blood Cult Watch

Why Sovereign Church of 'ELOHIYM International qualifies as a cult

Sunday, January 26, 2014

E. W. King: Pot Users Are NOT Welcome In My Church!



Ghastly Days!  Whats a poor COG member in Colorado and Oregon supposed to do now?????  They can't smoke pot and be part of King's personality cult!

King writes:  No pot user is a member of the true Church of God.

And just where does King get his authority to ban pot in the COG?  From this forty-four year old booklet by HWA which quotes from studies in the 1930's!

When I came to Pasadena there were many parties off campus where pot was smoked in spite of the following from Herb's booklet:

 Many myths have grown up associating marijuana and sex. Anti-marijuana propaganda has in time past suggested that the cannabis drugs trigger sexual debauchery.

On the other hand, pro-marijuana propaganda has intimated that "the high" induced by the cannabis drugs enhances the enjoyment of sexual intercourse. Again, there is no scientific evidence to back this up.-

We do know, however, that marijuana intoxication, during which a person's control of his or her own mind is loosened, breaks down moral barriers which would ordinarily stand unbroken. It contributes to immorality!
At no time did I see huge orgies of sexual debauchery.  Maybe in Garner Ted's home, but not in the students parties.

Apparently King doesn't want people high to come and sing songs of revenge and war in his services.  Who knows that they might be inspired to do!

 



The COG's Use of "...inappropriate, psychologically depressive and emotionally destructive" Psalms for Worship, Instead of Joy in Christ





For many years now in the distance by learning class I facilitate for a major university in the Southeast, on Hebrew and Christan scripture and church history, the reaction of people when they start reading many of the Palms is one of shock and revulsion at the blood lust and revenge so much of it is about.

When I tell them that my former church sang these songs as "inspirational" they all look aghast.

The average COG member thinks nothing about opening the day of worship with singing about marching off to war and bashing the heads of the persecutors in.


Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

...deliver me from all who pursue me,  or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

...let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.
Lord, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies.
...a God who displays his wrath every day. 12 If he does not relent, he[e] will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. 13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.

You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies, you have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished. 

The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.
On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.


Rise up, Lord, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked.

May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones.

 37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 39 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. 40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, 
and I destroyed my foes. 41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the Lord, but he did not answer. 42 I beat them as fine as windblown dust; I trampled them[f] like mud in the streets. 43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, 44 foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. 45 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

 When you appear for battle, you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and his fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from mankind.
We sang songs week after week of blood lust and war.  Imagine what this does to the mind of a child growing up!  Look what it did to the mind of David C Pack and Gerald Flurry!

Granted, I do know that many of the Psalms are uplifting and that many find them beneficial.  That's not the problem. It was/is our extreme focus upon the world BEFORE Jesus and not upon what was brought into fruition on the day of his incarnation.

I was glad to see the other day that the All About Armstrongism blog has a great article up about this very subject.  

Armstrongism has always looked backwards and never forward into new life in Christ.  The Kingdom of God broke forth into the world and the COG still can't find it.

From THE DEPRESSIVE WORDS OF THE PSALMS IN THE TIME BEFORE CHRIST: WHAT IMPACT?   Checkout the article for lots more in this subject!

 
For week after week, after week, every seven days and sometimes more, the members, AND THE CHILDREN, of the Worldwide Church of God, sang the Psalms of the Old Covenant, in the time before the revealing of the Christ, who is Jesus, as worship songs. Though not every song was as negative as the selected verses below, singing these hymns was for many untruth, was very negative, and did not reflect the life of a Christian who is in Christ.

These songs were composed and sang before the revealing of Christ, before Jesus ever came to Earth. We sang them as if He never came. We sang them as if they applied to each of us. Has it ever occurred to anyone the intense and subliminal depressive negativity and effect on the emotions of those who sang these hymns every single week?

Some of these songs were not appropriate to sing as worship songs. They reflected the opinion of a person who thought of God, at least in part,  as a defense commander – a warrior – an aide in fight and battle.

Worst of all, they shaped the imagery of God not in the manner of understanding the close relationship Christians can share in Jesus to children, but in the imagery of warfare for the young minds unfortunate enough to be molded and raised in Armstrongism. I have absolutely no doubt the psychological impact, in my opinion, of the words of these hymns, shaped and molded the perceptions of God into perceptions that were absolutely scary and harmful to children. The children, who had no Childrens Church of their own, but were forced to sit through adult services with strictly inappropriate and sometimes violent imagery content, had no choice but to sing the depressive words that are to follow. Though some COG leaders today somehow believe it is appropriate to sing these “psalms” as worship, I maintain it was not only innapropriate, but over periods of months, years, and decades, psychologically depressive and even emotionally destructive.

Thin Skinned Bob Strikes Back (Video Back)



Poor Bob Thiel.  He cannot take criticism from anyone without having to publicly correct it.  Every time he does so he makes himself look nore foolish.

For several years now James Malm has been pointing out to his readers that Theil's enormous preoccupation with "pagan" and Catholic prophecies is taking priority over getting the "gospel" out.  Thiel's entire message is based upon his Mayan prophecies and those of the Catholics.  He has written several books on these topics.

With in the first 40 seconds of the following video Thiel has to whine about James Malm picking on him. 






Bob, I think you need to stop attending the Steven Gilbreath School of hand waving. It's really distracting from your message.