Was God the Father Active at Creation and in the World Today?

For those religiously inclined...

James Malm, the Chief Pharisee and official bastardizer of the law, is having a meltdown over United Church of God's recent stance on whether or not God the Father was active in the world at creation and in this present age.

An acolyte wrote:

Mr. COG Member

19/05/2018 at 08:41 

The conclusion reached by the Doctrine Committee was that God the Father and the Word were and are both very active in all of Scripture. The paper did not receive support to move forward.

I couldn’t resist laughing at this. Has the COE decided the Father and Son are not very active in the Old Testament? Talk about puzzling.

The Chief Pharisee responded with this:

This is complete error, since the Father was NEVER active in any part of scripture beyond using the Holy Spirit to call some to him (John 6:44) through Christ. The Father will be present at the wedding feast in heaven but since creation he has NEVER been present on the earth; until he will later come with the New Jerusalem.

Sin has separated humanity from the Father and as soon as sin entered in the Father left. The Father is not and has never yet been active on the earth since original creation; Jesus Christ taking care of the things on the earth as the mediator between mankind and the Father.

Yes, the Father was mentioned in scripture but he was never active on the earth. John 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
James

Dave Pack: No COG Pastor Ever Has Been Able To Plan A COG Picnic Better Than Me!

Everything that Dave does is superfantabulous!  There has never been a minister in the history of the entire COG to have planned better church picnics than he did.

In previous years, only about one third of the brethren, and sometimes only 15 or 20 percent, typically attended the annual summer picnic. Mr. Pack felt it his duty to make picnics so much fun, with so much going on, that there would be higher attendances there than at services. This was because he wanted members to be able to include their non-member relatives in one positive, happy Church function a year that cast the members in a good light in the eyes of their relatives.

But, to enhance the occasion, the decision was made to have one picnic for both congregations midway between the two cities, while recognizing that this extra driving could actually reduce attendance—if the picnics were not made to be very special. Also, new people were more likely to come to functions. Big, exciting, fun announcements were prepared for weeks in advance, building up anticipation and letting out new details each week.

Even with the extra drive, higher attendance than services the day before would still occur because some brethren did still bring their non-member relatives. This level of participation was almost unheard of in other congregations. It became a reason that brethren from surrounding areas sometimes came, something that did not generally please their pastor—they were looking for a better picnic or social elsewhere.

The congregation enjoyed the fruits of these improvements. And some who had stopped attending returned to Church.

“After we transferred from an area it seemed that invariably the specialness of these occasions was quickly lost under the hand of succeeding pastors who did not seem to care. Sadly, I would hear that attendance was beginning to drop back as before. But never all the way.

“Looking back, I have to admit that subsequent pastors were sometimes in an awkward position trying to ‘match’ what had gone before. But my job was to bring an event that mirrored the joy of Acts 2:42-46.

“I think this is still the picture at The Restored Church of God Headquarters picnics today.”