Darris McNeely and Days of Unleavened Bread

There is another excellent article on As Bereans Did concerning the Easter/Unleavened Bread teachings of the Church of God.  In the article is a section on the baseless claims if Darris McNeely about what Easter supposedly does not teach to Christians and what keep9ng Days of Unleavened Bread supposedly do.

I think it's safe to say that things haven't changed much since I left the COGs. I recently read the March-April edition of the United Church of God's “Beyond Today” magazine and, predictably, saw these regurgitated claims and more in Darris McNeely's article, “What Easter Doesn't Tell You.”

Here are the downright absurd things McNeely claims Easter fails to teach:

1. “Only God coming in the flesh could open the door of salvation for the human creation.”

2. “What's missing is understanding the way to eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Son of God!”

3. “Jesus Christ tasted death for every man so that God might give eternal life to those who call on His name.”

4. “You are missing out on the wonderful meaning of Passover and the death and reconciliation of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered, died and was resurrected once for all time so that men might have the opportunity to enter into eternal life. Easter obscures the truth about that.”

Some other things mentioned that are worth conversation are:

2. Physical acts don't factor into your salvation.

Try as the modern COGs might, it's hard to get around the fact that the Days of Unleavened Bread focus on the physical. For days, weeks, and sometimes months, you focus on getting physical leaven out of your home. You pause to celebrate the Passover, and then the Night to be Much Observed – a lavish celebration not observed by Jesus' disciplines and AT LEAST as extra-biblical as Easter – then continue avoid leavening for the next seven days. Do you do it because you WANT to, because it's time to clean out the house, or because you want to try a low-carb diet? NO!!! You do it because you believe that not doing can keep you out of God's Kingdom. Yes, it was commanded – for Israel – and we have record of a few New Testament congregations like Corinth keeping it. It's likely that Christians like Peter and Paul observed it, although they certainly knew that doing so neither secured nor disqualified them. I get the distinct feeling that's not the impression members of UCG, COGWA, LCG or PCG get.

3. You will never be good enough – and that isn't the point, anyway.

You must put leavening out of your house, your minister tells you, because it symbolizes sin. In fact, those that don't put out leaven are sinning. But don't go overboard, because it's not possible and your focus should be primarily spiritual anyway. Also, laugh it off when you find a sandwich crust wedged in the bowels of your recliner next week, because God knows how hard you tried and will give you a pass. That one wasn't really sin because, you didn't know it was there. Or you forgot. Or whatever.

Huh? NOW who doesn't understand the gravity of sin?

Read the rest of the article here:  What the Days of Unleavened Bread Don't Tell You

One Year Left Till Ron and Laura Weinland To Be Left Rotting In The Streets Of Jerusalem

There has been so much idiocy spewed out by Ron Weinland, aka Weinerdude,  that I forgot that the timing is now short for the end time Two Witless Witnesses.  In April of 2019, Ron and Luara Weinland will be breathing fire and turning rivers into blood as they preach for 3 1/2 days in the streets of Jerusalem.

Weinerdude and his loony wife will then be slaughtered and left to rot in the hot sun in the streets of Jerusalem.  Then they will be raised to life after 3 1/2 days to wreak vengeance and destruction in the name of their creature they call "christ."  All of this happens while his money laundering daughter and weasely son Jeremey are travelling around Germany and Switzerland in their BMW's withdrawing hidden tithe money and recovering diamond rings Laura had hoarded in various banks for the end times.

martin says:April 3, 2018 at 10:22Oh, by the way, Ron is supposed to martyr himself at the end of the 1260 days, he said it would be physical “this time”. So that means by next April, Ron will go to Jerusalem (I wonder if he’ll get approval for that), and then both he and laura are to be martyred by the beast.  from False Propeht Ron Weinland

David C Pack On Jesus Return: Where and When

Having Parents Who Still Defend The Past

Are Church of God Members TRULY Your Family?

There is an excellent post on The Painful Truth site about what really constitutes a family in the Church of God. Are you fellow church members your "new" family?

Will they truly support you in times of need?

Will they give you unconditional love and support?

Will they accommodate your beliefs and understandings?

Will they stand beside you at all costs?

What is your experience?

Joining the Worldwide Church of God meant major sacrifices. Being a church of God member made it harder to fit in with the outside world. Some things we had to give up entirely. Armstrong tried to provide substitutes for everything we lost when we joined the Worldwide Church of God, but they were poor substitutes indeed.

Armstrong deliberately structured his belief system to alienate his followers from their families 

and make them more dependent on the church. When I joined the Worldwide Church of God, all of a sudden I couldn’t participate in most family get-togethers because they were “pagan holidays,” I couldn’t eat the food on the occasions I could attend because it was “unclean,” and I offended family members, especially my mother, when I did not give gifts on Christmas and birthdays.

My family still gave me their unconditional love despite my beliefs. When I visited my mother, she would always make sure that there were no “unclean” ingredients in my food, and while I felt unable to compromise my beliefs by attending infant baptisms and holy communions, she would attend church social events occasionally. I couldn’t bend to accommodate her, but she did all she could to accommodate me.

Compare that to the so-called substitute “family” the church provided. The “love” the church gave had many strings attached. If you didn’t obey the ministers and submit to their authority, if you didn’t agree with “Mr. Armstrong” in every respect, you could find yourself kicked out, and all of your “family” members were forbidden to have any dealings with you. If you did not regularly attend all of the church’s activities, you were loved less. The more blindly you submitted, the less you complained, the more “love” you received. If you had any questions or doubts, all of a sudden the love was withheld, and if you weren’t careful the “love” disappeared altogether. Former church members were and still are shunned by those still in the Worldwide Church of God and its splinter groups. The church did not only encourage the shunning of disfellowshipped members, it required it. There were serious penalties for associating with disfellowshipped members.

Read the entire story here:  The Family
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