PCG Continues Its Control Over Members Lives. Men Are Not Allowed to Have "Me" Time

One of the classic traits of cults is that they seek to separate its followers from family and in doing so keep them occupied at all times.  This can be accomplished by weekly or biweekly bible studies, speech clubs, women's groups, men's groups, teen activities, an hour of prayer and an hour of Bible study, and more. By occupying members time they have no opportunity to become tainted or influenced by the world.

Two of the most abusive Church of God groups that use this tactic is Dave Pack's, Restored Church of God and Gerald Flurry's, Philadelphia Church of God.

On PCG's website, Joel Hilliker has an article up called Men: Report for Duty: Biblical Manhood.

PCG men are being told that they CANNOT under any circumstance have some "me" time.  Forget about joining up with some buddies after a long week of hard work and kicking back for some "me" time. That is selfish!

Isn’t it time you got one for yourself? Indulge. How many advertisements have you seen with this message? Take a break! You’ve worked hard. You deserve this! 

It’s not just in the commercials. It’s in our entertainment, it’s in our workplaces, it’s in our schools, it’s in our leadership—it’s in the air! It’s a powerful and influential satanic attitude that surcharges the atmosphere around us: self-importance, self-promotion, self-serving, self-righteousness—selfishness! 

Men in God’s Church are tempted by this same attitude: Have some “me” time. Check out of your responsibilities for a little while. 

Jesus Christ never did that. 

Christ was on duty—all the time.

Apparently, PCG is under the impression that Jesus never sat down and did nothing after a long day of carpentry work or preaching. God forbid if Jesus kicked back with his apostles and had some wine, olives and some feta on a hot night. With such logic from PCG it has to be a miracle that Jesus even had time to eat or take care of bodily functions.

Hilliker continues:

Here is His perspective: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). Christ’s life was short, limited in duration. He was urgent about taking full advantage of every moment and every interaction. 

Christ’s supreme example defines biblical manhood. The more Christ-like we become, the more masculine we become. Manliness is next to godliness (just as, for a woman, femininity is next to godliness). 

Like Him, Christian men are always on duty.

If anything symbolizes what being like Christ may be is this:

“Have the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8 

Christ came as a servant who stooped down to wash peoples feet. Christ exemplified love as he associated with the lepers, prostitutes, the disenfranchised and ultimately gave his life in love. Jesus work was an incarnational work, something that PCG cannot do since they are too busy worshipping Moses and other Old Testament heroes.

Hilliker continues:

This is the unselfish attitude godly men must have: a vigilant urgency to take action and to work at serving others. You have to pay attention to other people’s lives, and act on what you see.

You may look at tomorrow as just another routine day: pray, study, snag breakfast, endure the workday, unwind at home, watch a show, go to sleep. But Christ in you looks at tomorrow as a deluge of opportunities: What can I do? Who can I help? How much can I give?

One of the problems with this is that PCG men are to "take action" only if it is directed towards PCG leadership and members. All actions are directed inwards, instead of outwards to the world. But even that is conditional, only members in good standing benefit. In doing so the men of PCG can expect to be "deluged" with time-consuming "opportunities."

Don’t underestimate the potential value of every decision, every encounter, every conversation you have! Recognize opportunities to give for what they are. You’ll probably have one as soon as you finish reading this article.

Imagine that if you don't feel like jumping up after reading Hilliker's article how guilty you will feel and less of a man!

To follow Christ’s example and seize that opportunity, you must fight the pull of selfishness and relaxation—and embrace the call of duty!

The question is not whether you have a duty to serve others more than yourself. The question is whether you will fulfill your duty. The more you do, the more God-like you will become, and the more habitual this Christ-like attitude will be.

There you have the moniker of the PCG, the more you do, the more you become like their god.  They sure might be like Moses or some other OT hero, but they sure won't be like Jesus. Works vs grace, the never-ending story of the COG.

So seize the moment!  Be a PCG man!

Many of us intellectually understand and agree with the concept of male Christian leadership. But the harder step is to encounter a day-to-day routine occurrence and actively recognize: I need to use this moment—right now—to express biblical manhood!

Here are the things that manly PCG men can look to as opportunities:

A torrent of opportunities is coming at you. Helping your son with his math homework, approving your daughter’s new dress before she wears it, setting a household rule to unburden your wife, helping your neighbor fix his porch step, knocking out the reports nobody else wants to do at work, holding the door open for the mother of two children at the gas station, skipping the football game to visit an elderly Church member, putting your phone away so you’re not distracted when playing with your children, noting something troubling in your teenager’s voice inflection and following up with him about it, setting rules so that dinner time can be quality family time, choosing a topic to lead in conversation after Sabbath services—the deluge of opportunity never ends. And Christ wants to empower you to fulfill those opportunities.

In the family structure as God designed it, the man is the head of the home and a dynamic force within the family. He has a dominating—not selfishly domineering—personality that stands for the right. He is alertly, actively, intensively interested in his children. He uses his God-given authority to lead in serving and in loving his wife and children. There is just no room for “going on break” as a husband and father! He is never off-duty.

Hilliker then goes into detail about how masculine men in the PCG adhere to the teachings in The Plain Truth About Child Rearing. Yep, the final authority for all masculine men.

Once you give a command, remain on duty. Ensure the child follows through. This must be the case at home, at Sabbath services, in public, everywhere.

“In order to teach your child any of these constructive habits, you will need to apply constant diligence and never-failing attention to duty,” The Plain Truth About Child-Rearing says. “You simply cannot expect to have decent results if you just give your child instructions, and then forget all about the lesson—letting the child get down from the chair when he decides, put up his toys when he gets around to it, or begin to talk when you have told him to be quiet.”

And then, like any good COG writer, masturbation has to enter the picture.  Is Joel trying to tell us something here about himself?  I am sure PCG has more masturbators than any other COG, except for RCG and CCOG.  The more repressed people's lives are the more they find new avenues of satisfaction.

In The Missing Dimension in Sex, Herbert W. Armstrong specifically mentions the possibility of young people developing the habit of masturbation. “This would never be if parents realized their responsibility and were vigilant, ever watchful imperceptibly, and took proper means to protect their children from this curse!” he wrote.

Exercising authority in your children’s lives is not easy—it is labor. It is not a power trip. It is a service. It is for their benefit. And it is your duty.

As a Christian single, you are training for that duty right now by learning to pay attention to others, by learning how to treat women and children with honor, by learning to go after dating and to pay attention to the needs of single ladies, by learning how to serve the widows and the fatherless. These responsibilities also remain after you marry.

In your conversations, look for needs. Ask about things you could help with or find someone to help with. Find things you can pray about. Pay attention! You are on duty!

The duties of a man are constant. They require vigilance. They require you to work the works of Him that sent you, while you can. Be urgent. Recognize the onrushing river of opportunities for what it is. Seize each one. Let God come into people’s lives through you. Express dynamic male leadership. Put biblical manhood into action! Report for duty.

The Book of Acts. Are COG Members To Complete It?

One of the great myths of the Worldwide Church of God was that the Book of Acts is the only book in the Bible without an ending.  There was a reason for that, or maybe a couple of reasons, that the church ministry put forth.  I heard this in Pasadena in class and preached from the pulpit.

Reason 1 (This one I had never heard before, but it does not surprise me)

I also remember hearing from the pulpit at AC BS that the Book of Acts was not complete and that the co-worker letters authored by HWA would be used to complete the book. Can you imagine the grotesque presumption that would lead someone to think that those blatant appeals for money would come up to the standard of the Book of Acts?  (ht: NEO)

Reason 2 

The Book of Acts has no ending because the lives of COG members would be recorded for holding fast to the faith once delivered.  The inspiring stories of church members would be recorded for future generations. 

Can you imagine future generations reading about the corruption and abuse that COG ministers and leaders have dished out on people?  Imagine reading the Acts of Dave Pack, or the Acts of Rod Meredith, or the Actis of Rod McNair, or the Acts of Bob Thiel.  I can just picture people now saying, "I should have chosen the lake of fire over this malarkey!"

Acts only deals with Peter and Paul.  It does not include any other apostles. There is nothing about Bartholomew or of Thomas and his supposed journey to what is now India.  One would think that the stories of the two James who were the first two of the apostles to be martyred would be there.  Nope, not a thing, but yet Herbert Armstrong and Dave Pack's writings will be included.

Imagine reading the Acts of Gerald Waterhouse or Acts of Vic Kubik.  It makes me want to get a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and settle in for a good read.   NOT!

 

Wade Cox and the Islamic Unitarian Sabbatarian Church of God

Mo, 

of the

Islamic Unitarian Sabbatarian Church of God

The convoluted world of Wade Cox continues it downward spiral deeper into the cesspool of official Church of God stupidity!

Did you know that when Satan destroyed the church centuries ago, that God sent the church into exile in Mecca where it was persecuted by Jews and Baal worshippers?  Those pesky Jews destroyed the true understanding between the church, scriptures and the Koran!  Apparently, Mohammad had a Council of the Church of God there that which was Unitarian in structure as he was inspired to dictate the Koran as.

The reality is that God sent His prophets and then the Messiah and the elders and prophets of the church. Satan destroyed the church using Baal worshippers and then when the church was sent to the Arabs, Satan, using the Jews and idolaters, destroyed their understanding and used the same Baal worshippers to destroy the relationship between the church and the Scriptures and the Koran and their understanding was destroyed also.  See also the Introduction to the Commentary on the Koran (Q1) and also the various commentaries.  Most do not understand that the Muhammad was a Council of the Church of God and was a Biblical Unitarian structure as is the Koran. The church at Mecca was persecuted by the Baal worshippers at Mecca and had to flee to the sister churches in Abyssinia in 613 CE in the First Hijrah or flight of the persecution.  They were given their earliest doctrines to seek asylum among the Sabbatarian Unitarian Churches in Abyssinia (see the paperCommentary on the Koran: Surah 19 Maryam (Q019)).

Because the Church of God has failed to follow the mindless rantings of Cox, they have all be found unfit to be in the kingdom of God.  As usual, the only true followers of the end time god are those whoa re part of Cox's cult. Armstrongites have been declared dead and have been spewed out by Cox's god.

God is not losing the battle.  He chose those whom He knew would be able to survive and not be lost to erroneous doctrines and the lusts of the flesh. These were all predestined from the foundation of the world (see the paper Predestination (No. 296)).  Most of the world in these Last Days are simply not fit for the Kingdom of God, even those who are in the two sectors of the Churches of God in the Last Days are declared dead and spewed out of the mouth of God.

 

In order to be saved and make it into the Kingdom of God one must be a follower of Wade Cox, repent and be baptized by Wade Cox or one of his "authorized sabbath keeping ministers" into his cult.  The only true church today is a Unitarian Sabbatarian Church of God which keeps both the Old Testament and believes the Koran. Oh, and those Unitarian Sabbatarian Mohammedans had better make sure they don't follow the Hillel calendar of the Jews.  It was the followers of Hillel calendar that made it impossible for Islam (the Church of God of the Middle East) to be saved.

The requirements to be part of the Kingdom of God in the First Resurrection are to repent, and to be saved one must be baptised as a repentant adult by an authorised Sabbath-keeping minister of the Sabbatarian faith.  The church must be a Unitarian Sabbatarian Church of God that keeps God’s Calendar (No. 156) without postponements according to the Temple System.   

The Hillel Calendar of Modern Judaism postpones the Holy Days according to Oral Traditions of the Egyptians and according to the Babylonian Intercalations. The idolaters of Mecca simply and wilfully did away with the intercalations entirely to cut loose the feasts and so lost the feasts. They simply turned the preparation period of the Juma’ah into a Friday afternoon prayer service and did away with the Sabbaths of God and went to work and made it impossible for Islam as the Church of God in the Middle East to be saved. The pseudo-Christians of the Sun and Mystery cults moved the Sabbath to the day of the Sun and killed all of the faithful who refused to go along with them (see the paper The Jumaah : Preparing for the Sabbath  (No. 285))   Sabbath Message 18/11/40/120

Why is the Church of God filled with so many fools that have to reinvent history to fit their own perverted understanding?  The sad part is that people are stupid enough to follow these morons.