Sunday, March 26, 2017

The Extra-biblical Religious Beliefs and Practices Held by Various Modern Church of God (COG) Groups, Sub-groups, and Individuals





In the Spirit of the Pharisees, 
by ACM
March 2017

He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
`This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' (Mar 7:6-7 NKJ) 
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and
cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (Mat 23:23 NKJ)
Below is an ongoing project and survey documenting an exhaustive, open-ended list of arguably extra-biblical religious beliefs and practices held by various modern Church of God (COG) groups, sub-groups, and individuals. The groups are not named - this is only a list of the beliefs and practices in no particular order. The project illustrates that many, if not most, of these practices and teachings are equivalent to the commandments and traditions of men which the scribes and Pharisees held, and which Jesus condemned (Matthew 15:9, Mark 7:7). Likewise, there is not a detailed discussion herein of the various ancient Jewish sects among and other than the Pharisees (Sadducees, Essenes, etc.) but only a rather generalized description of “Pharisee” and “Pharisaical” for the sake of a basic comparison. While the Pharisees may not have held the specific beliefs listed (and they may have had a longer list, and been a less fragmented body of adherents) these modern COG extra-biblical doctrines and practices have been established and kept in the same or similar motivation (“spirit”) as the Pharisees. (list of actual Pharisaical rules: THE 39 MELACHOT 

It is commonly accepted that a major problem with the scribes and Pharisees that warranted
condemnation from Jesus was the emphasis, deference and weight that they placed on their
own rules, as well as their emphasis on the physical aspects of real biblical instructions, to the neglect and exclusion of the spiritual, "weightier" aspects of the law (Matthew 23:23).
Furthermore, the scribes and Pharisees used their extra-biblical commandments of men and
emphasis on the physical aspects of the law to establish their own righteousness.

The focus of this project is to bring into the open widespread pietism, albeit denied by the
pietists, created because of the similar weight and importance placed on the modern
manifestations of COG-created rules, doctrines, beliefs and practices. An extension to the
project may be done later to show that the churches place inappropriate emphasis on the
physical aspects of real biblical instructions, however for this project only the extra-biblical
practices will be listed for the purpose of focusing attention on the fact that there are many
such practices prevalent, and held in high regard among the believers.

The known hurdle to the project is the argument, "I'm not being Pharisaical in the practice of
my religion," which this project is intending to expose as a misconception by showing that in
the modern Church of God, inappropriate emphasis is being placed on the items listed. If the believer’s righteousness and standing with God are believed to be compromised by the neglect of the items on this list, then we are forced to admit that these items are being used to establish the believer’s righteousness.

Not all of the items listed below are common to all of the various Church of God groups, and
there is no suggestion that all COG adherents hold to all of these beliefs. Nor is there an intent to depict believers as exhibiting the spirit of the Pharisees only if the believers practice the entire list. It is left to the reader to determine how large one’s own personal list, or that of his particular faction, needs to be before qualifying as Pharisaical. While the Pharisees were noted for their peculiar rules, their large quantity of rules also commonly receives notice, and indeed such a large number is an important factor (it wasn’t just the strange rules they had that were notable, but the fact that they had so many). Yet, would Jesus remove his condemnation if the scribes and Pharisees had a smaller quantity of rules, say, half or one quarter of what they really had? Or is it rather the spirit (intent), regardless of how many or few man-made rules they had, which was the root issue? The challenge is to lower our defensive fists and evaluate whether we are susceptible to the same intent of the Pharisees, even if we don’t possess as full and diverse a collection of extra-biblical religious beliefs ourselves.

Just as the Pharisees would claim that their damnable beliefs were extensions of God’s will,
modern-day Church of God adherents may claim that the below list contains beliefs and
practices that are biblically justified. Furthermore, the list is not intended to show doctrines
that are clearly biblical yet no longer required, relating to the aforesaid inappropriate emphasis on real biblical instructions. Nor does the list depict examples of “legalism” in the modern theological sense of law and statute keeping in general. For example, the list does not contain the practice of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath holy in general, even though many COG critics would identify this as a legalistic practice by itself, regardless of the emphasis placed on it by the Sabbath keeper. However, the practice of not eating at restaurants on the Sabbath is appropriate for this list because it is a modern, extra-biblical rule, perhaps devised with a similar purpose that the Pharisees had in devising their rules on Sabbath keeping.

Many of the beliefs that are appropriate for listing in this project are not officially or historically documented in COG literature, but are cultural practices that have come to bear the weight of established, pious tradition. Some of the practices are widespread traditions, and others are observed by fringe individuals peppered throughout the factions. Thus, research to find more items to add to the list involves learning about individuals’ experiences in the churches. You are invited to send items you deem applicable to . All correspondence will be strictly confidential except for content you wish to have added to the project, and at the author’s discretion. The list will be updated periodically, probably irregularly.

The list (in process):

Refusal to obey the instructions of the ministry is equivalent to rebellion against God.

Refusal to believe new teachings of the ministry is equivalent to lacking faith in God.

Disrespecting the ministry is equivalent to disrespecting God.

The ministry is not to be second-guessed.

The ministry is tasked with helping the lay members become submissive to the ministry.

You must address the minister, elder, deacon as "Mr…".

The pattern of governance that Moses established should be used in the Church today.

You must avoid contact with all individuals who have left the faith.

You must proclaim that Herbert W. Armstrong was an apostle of God.

The ministry has the authority to forbid you from marrying, or having a romantic
relationship with a particular individual.

Interracial dating and marriage is forbidden.

A wife’s infidelity is more egregious than a husband’s.

You must disown your son, daughter or any other household member if he/she is not in
the faith, even if it means expelling the individual from your home, regardless of age.

You must be baptized in order to attend Passover.

The Church must only preach the Gospel to the physical descendants of Israel.

A tithe of the tithe is to be paid to the Church.

Your faith is measured by how much you materially contribute to Church.

Your governmental position in the Kingdom of God will be determined by how much you
materially contribute to the Church in this life.

Wearing makeup is sinful.

The name of the organization must have "Church of God" in order to be the true Church.

True Christians do not serve on juries.

True Christians do not vote in civil elections.

Members are required to wear their best dress clothes to services.

You should bend forward during the prayers at services (bending further indicates
greater devotion).

Only Dwight Armstrong hymns are to be sung at services. Some members refuse to sing
the non-Dwight hymns.

Mushrooms should not be eaten because they are unclean life forms.

Self-defense is sinful and indicates a lack of faith.

Reading fictional literature will make a Christian susceptible to demon possession.

Hypnotherapy will make a Christian susceptible to demon possession.

Most mental and emotional illness is the result of demonic possession.

Mental therapy and psychiatric counseling should be avoided. The minister will provide
all the counseling you need.

Medical practitioners in general should be avoided. The minister will be the conduit of
miraculous healing instead.

Sometimes illness is the result of sin, but you don't know when this is true.

When a competing faction or enemy has problems, it is because God cursed them, but
when your faction has problems it is because Satan is attacking you.

In the Kingdom of God Jesus Christ will serve you food as a waiter.

Christians will become individual gods after they are resurrected and other humans will
worship them.

Satan causes the hostile nature of wild animals, except God can increase this hostility in
order to curse large populations of humanity.

Begging God during prayer increases the likelihood of the prayer being answered.

Preaching to the public is not done with the intent to convert, but to witness against
those perishing, toward the end of saving from condemnation the one preaching.

You must not preach spiritual salvation to the public.

You should not overuse the terms “Jesus,” “grace,” “salvation,” “saved,” “beloved,”
“Lord,” “O, Lord,” “dear Lord,” “praise,” “praise God,” “praise Jesus,” “praise the Lord,”
“thank the Lord,” “mercy,” “born again,” “sweet,” or “precious,” to name a few. These
terms are generally Protestant and embarrassing to say.

You must not add fuel to your vehicle on a Sabbath.

You must not eat in a restaurant on a Sabbath.

You must not travel beyond a certain distance on a Sabbath.

Only classical music is Sabbath-appropriate music.




Open Categories

Category: Things the ministry has authority to decide for you

Category: Things that insult God

Category: Modern ways to break the Sabbath

Category: What activities are Sabbath-appropriate/inappropriate?

Category: Ways to invite demonic possession

Category: Physical things or symbols that defile you

Category: Ways to be rebellious against the ministry

Category: Things that justify disfellowshiping (excommunication)

Category: Avoiding paganism and things that have ever been associated with paganism

Category: Evidence of British-Israelism

Michael Germano, LCG Minister and Living University President Goes Mental on James Malm



When I started this blog it was never a project that I took seriously.  How could I really do so when the various COG ministers and leaders constantly run off at the mouth and say some of the most idiotic things imaginable.  When Dennis and I speak on the phone we spend a lot of our time laughing at the craziness of the church.  So many of these men take themselves so seriously that that they come off looking like bumbling fools when they react to people criticizing them. Today was no exception to the foolishness that permeates the church Internet guru's.

Michael Germano threw down the gauntlet at James Malm the other day and the sniveling Pharisee and his Wiccan side kick did not take too kindly to it.  The spittle was flying so fast out of the Chief Pharisee and Michael Germano that my computer screen was wet!

Watching this smack down is like watching a heavy weight fighter slap a whiny little light weight crybaby on the cheek. As much was we have derided Michael Germano's decision to leave grace and freedom behind for legalism with Rod Meredith, Germano is no light weight with the education he has. He far surpasses any of the legalistic lightweight bullshit that Pharisee James Malm vomits out daily.  Even with that knowledge, it boggles my mind how Germano went about doing what he did.

Here we have a high ranking Living Church of God minister and the President of Living University, the official educational arm of the Living Church of God, lashing out at Malm and Constance.  Even if all of his accusations are true, which they are, why did he do it in the way he did?  His words will be forever immortalized on the Internet.  Are these the actions that a "converted" long time COG member would do?  Living Church of God members as well as followers of James Malm are equally appalled at Germano's reactions.

The Chief Pharisee is incensed that Germano has called him out on his "right" calendar nonsense.
Germano sent this to Malm's sidekick Constance:

Michael Germano Why do you and James push that phony so-called Biblical Calendar? Its a complete fraud and total foolishness. You and James have several screws loose! Beside that, why does James continue to defame me on his website? He knows absolutely nothing about me or what I believe and teach. Slander is continually in this mouth. How can he possibly believe he belongs to the Ekklesia? He is a false Christian, a complete and total fraud. You and James have not taken even the first steps of true repentance. Please stop living a lie. The Great White Throne Judgment is not going to go well for you two. Why continue to be a fraud and a deceiver? Shame, shame, shame on you!
Michael Germano It is not the calendar followed by Jesus. You are deceived. There is not enough evidence in the world to convince a mind against its will. I may as well try to convince the Pope to keep the Sabbath. It is foolishness to try to convince you of anything. I hope some of the people you have falsely recruited as friends will wake up and get rid of your heresy. There is no hope for you or James Malm. You are completely in the hands of Satan the Devil. He has you right where he wants you.
Ouch!  I feel the butthurt all the way here in Pasadena!
Michael Germano And how did you get to my Facebook page? You are teaching heresy. I have no problem calling you out. Why don't you do those of us who are actually part of the Ekklesia a favor by getting off Facebook and stop posting heresy and lies? You chose this public forum, so if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen! If that fool James Malm wants to take me on, then let him come to me directly on my Twitter Account or on Facebook and I will theologically destroy him as he does not know the Bible--he is pretending. All who you have recruited to your Facebook page need to see how pathetic your false teachings and approaches are. You two sit back with that dismal The Shininglight and control the conversation. Come on, get on my turf and see who has the high hand.
And thus the Chief Pharisee responds:

Notice that he claims that I slander him, but he does not mention what has been said which he claims is a slander; in fact I quoted his own words directly from his own papers. Where is the slander or defamation in that? 
Further he has never contacted me in obedience to Jesus Christ as per Matthew 18 to correct me or to rebut. For the record Michael has not contacted me in any way and if I have said anything in error about him it is his own fault for not obeying Jesus Christ and correcting me.  
Finally Michael is absolutely and very easily provably wrong on the Calendar.  
Today’s Jewish Calendar was NOT in use during the first century.  It was first developed over several hundred years and finally formalized, finalized and accepted in 1178 A.D.  Ask ANY Rabbi or better still ask Hebrew University’s Calendar expert Dr Roy Hoffman  when today’s Jewish calendar was established.  
Malm's Pharisaical nonsense on the calendar is worthless.  Just because he and so many other in the church  wrote a paper on the calendar does not make him an authority on it any more than Bob Thiel is an authority on the Mayans, the Catholic church, church history, grace, justification or prophecy.

Michael, get informed about what I really teach before launching unwarranted attacks. Solomon had something to say about judging things you know nothing about (Proverbs 18:13).  
YOU have attacked me; and YOU have challenged me!  Put up, or apologize and admit the truth.
Now the ball is back right square in your camp!  Read the material, do the research and then send me your biblical or historical factual proofs of any error.  
Indeed have your entire doctrinal committee take the matter up and have the whole LCG team work on the matter. Even invite the other COG corporations to join you.  All of you believe the same thing so why not get together and prove me false by the Word of God! 
All of the Ekklesia is waiting for – and is entitled to – a scripturally and historically accurate answer.  Take the time you need; do you need a year?  Hopefully sooner than that. 
My address is jddm3@hotmail.com  
Every time this FOOL spits out that COG members have no zeal, that they lack faith, it is actually a personal attack by Malm against all COG members.  All of the Ekklessia could car less about Malm's calendar issues, and rightfully so.  No new covenant Christian needs to concern themselves about the new moons and calendar issues.

I call all of LCG and all the COG groups to witness that Michael Germano has declared that he will theologically destroy me, and has challenged me on the Calendar issue, and I have accepted that challenge.  
Michael, I will not be bullied and I will not allow you to bully Constance; I fully expect you to “put your money where your mouth is” and do a proper,  spiritually honest and scholarly study on the subject of the Calendar in the Holy Scriptures and in the facts of history; which I will gladly publish for all the COG community to see.   You can win me over with the truth but you cannot intimidate me with insults and vain bluster.  
By the time the sun sets on the next Sabbath, most of the brethren across the COG constellation will be aware of your challenge on the Calendar.  

I know that you must be a very busy person, but the brethren in LCG and across the COG community will expect a timely, scholarly, intellectually and spiritually honest research paper on the Biblical – Rabbinic Calendar subject; without personal rancor.
Next Germano publishes this on his own Facebook page:

For all of my Facebook Friends that have been bombarded on the News Feed with the phony gospel of the unbiblical calendar guru James Malm, I would like to share a photo of his lovely headquarters. The drive needs a little work. You can call him on the phone and tell him what you think of his heresy at 1-604-941-5807. His basement headquarters for his false, deceptive unauthorized ministry is 1735 Morgan Ave, Port Coquitlam BC V3C1J6, Port Coquitlam. This humble clapboard shack needs a little maintenance, don’t you think? Maybe James should spend less time writing religious propaganda and defaming people on his computer and go out and work at something physical. It would be more profitable. Poor old fool! 

James Malm then responds:
This shows the quality of Michael’s research. I moved from that rental house into a small rented apartment almost seven years ago, I do not even live in the same town! The Phone number is wrong as well. May we see a pic of the Germano home please, I expect that it is no humble dwelling.

I never cease to be amazed at how so many of these fools take themselves so seriously.  Put down your damn concordances and Bibles and get outside and enjoy the creation around you and live life instead of parking you butt in front of a computer and commenting on every single scripture and writing your own interpretation of it.  That is all the calendar issue is to the foolish Pharisee and his acolytes, his own distorted interpretation that God no more cares about than he does Gerald Flurry buying his own jet.  These fools lie to their followers leading them off into useless and unnecessary legalistic tangents that serve no purpose other than puffing up leaders vanity.

Was Germano right in doing what he did?  I do not disagree with anything Germano says, but really is this the kind of leader a church needs as its public face, even if he is right about the lies of James Malm?

The Church of God comedy stream is never ending!








Grand Jury Formally Indicts UCG Elder Stephen Allwine on First-Degree Murder 3/24/17




STILLWATER, Minn. — A Washington County grand jury indicted a Cottage Grove man for premeditated first-degree murder in his wife's death last year.
The indictment announced Friday elevated the charge and potential sentence against Stephen Carl Allwine, 44, who was charged earlier this year with second-degree murder in connection with his wife Amy's Nov. 13, 2016, death. A premeditated murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of release.
Prosecutors allege Allwine killed his 44-year-old wife in their 110th Street home and attempted to stage her death as a suicide following a failed murder-for-hire plot against her. Amy Allwine was found in their home with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
Investigators allege that in months preceding the death Stephen Allwine made contacts in the Dark Web — an area of the internet where users often are anonymous and involved in criminal activity — in connection with the murder plot and an inquiry into the purchase of a drug found in an unusually high concentration in his wife's body after her death, according to court records.
Allwine appeared in Washington County District Court Friday on the premeditated murder charge. District Judge B. William Ekstrum set Allwine's unconditional bail at $2 million and conditional bail at $1 million.
"We have great faith in the grand jury process and those people serving on the grand jury exercising their civic responsibility," Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said.

Read the entire article here:  Grand jury indicts Allwine on first-degree murder