Deconstructing Herbert Armstrong

"When my interest was first turned on to religious subjects....I knew that such unattractive, cheap looking, carelessly-designed literature never would sell goods, if used to carry the message of a selfish-motivated BUSINESS [and] cheapened the whole message by the psychological effect I knew....it inevitably had on those who saw it.....was less convincing......"

Translated:

"When I found how religion could profit, I knew that such cheap literature never would sell the message of a religious business by the psychological effect I knew it inevitably had on those who saw it."

contributed by SHT

Are you willing to take correction from Bob Thiel?

The great doubly-blessed self-appointed prophet from Arroyo Grande has posted one of his sermons for his so-called "feast".  It is part 10 of a 10-part sermons series consisting of a jumbled mess of hundreds of topics in those 10 sermons.  Just look at the subjects in this 10th sermon.

Thiel says you MUST be open to correction by himl and his minion ministers, then starts discussing fools, thieves, children, dating, speaking, and "not" pride. Then there is wealth, linen/flax processing, clothing and cotton. It doesn't take much thinking by a COG member to know where he is headed with this malarkey. He then covers the prophetic ramifications of Proverbs, ignoring the fact his prophecies have been epic failures.

Just imagine 10 weeks of listening to this crap with him bouncing all over the place.  No focus on a specific topic, but on hundreds and hundreds of things that almost all in the church could care less about. As he preaches about these issues through the lenses of a privileged American, the Africans in his group could care less.

Proverbs 29-31: Are You Willing to Learn From God’s Word?

This is the tenth part of a ten-part sermon series covering the Book of Proverbs. In this sermon,. Dr. Thiel covers all the verses in the 29th, 30th, and 31st chapters of the Book of Proverbs. He goes over why Christians should accept correction, dealing with trials and temptations, being a Proverbs 31 wife, being a Proverbs 31 husband, and other aspects of Christian living. He goes over verses related to fools, thieves, children, dating, speaking, and not pride. He goes over items that God’s word says to do as well as not to do. He mentions Solomon, Agur, Ithiel, and Lemuel. He even discusses work, wealth, linen/flax processing, clothes, and cotton. He also discusses prophetic ramifications of some of the verses in the Book of Proverbs. Furthermore, Dr. Thiel ties in various passages in the New Testament to show that the scriptures in Proverbs are also intended for Christians in the end times–including items related to the Beast and Antichrist.

What HWA Said Christ would Ask when He Returns: "How Much Did You Give to The Work?"

Herbert Armstrong's gold dinnerware that he used 

while begging us to send more money in.

One of the sickest, most wretched examples of the greed of HWA was found in a co-worker letter of February 21, 1974. 

In this long, drawn-out co-worker letter, which, "coincidentally" was drafted two months before opening date of Ambassador Auditorium, HWA said that when Jesus Christ returns, He will "demand of each of us to show how much we have used the GIFT of His Holy Spirit - how much we have CONTRIBUTED to His Work -- the PURPOSE for which 

He put us in His Church NOW! He will demand of each of us to show how much we have grown spiritually in the way of God's Law -- the way of CONTRIBUTING AND GIVING. Those who prove disloyal or drop out of the Work -- THE ONLY PURPOSE FOR WHICH YOU WERE CALLED NOW -- will find themselves in the position of the one described..."

Of course, he meant the Lake of Fire, and loss of salvation.

Why? Because you stopped giving to Herbert's Building Fund - "the purpose for which you were called" - because you were "getting" and Herbert was not.

Herbert Armstrong was extremely skilled at "Spiritual Double Talk", and you can see that in the quote above. He will first use the religious context to justify himself, and follow it with the physical context - what he really means to say. 

"The Gift of The Holy Spirit...how much we have contributed to His Work."

"Grown spiritually in the way of God's Law...Contributing and Giving."

Saying and preaching that on Christ's Return, that Christ would ask of the brethren "How much have you CONTRIBUTED to His Work?" and "CONTRIBUTING AND GIVING" was a very deceiving way to shroud a physical appeal for financial funds into a spiritual call of contribution. 

The End of the letter proves this:

It was YOUR job to fund Herbert's going before kings, presidents, emperors, prime ministers, and the Leaders of many nations as God's and YOUR representative.

If was YOUR job to fund him getting the "message of the Kingdom of God into all the world" - which he was not doing even in the slightest.

"Let's put our hearts and fervent PRAYERS" always meant "SEND MONEY". 

Let there be no doubt - in all of his writings, the picture becomes clear. 

Herbert had severe financial concerns. He was concerned that he had to meet the long-term 15+ year loans that he had spent the last 14 years sucking the blood and life out of enough good-hearted and scared out of their minds people through the extortionate threat of losing salvation, the tribulation, and Petra, and every conceivable tactic of manipulation and guilt to get the glorious oh so holy Master Plan of Herbert finally completed. Now he had to meet the obligations. If people drop out, and he didn't meet the revenue, he had a problem. Of course, it would have been your fault. So he had to keep up the pressure. At least until the loans were finally paid off  - somewhere 15 to 25 years from then. Oh, somewhere around the Middle 1990s.

He was concerned that now that he has these loans etched in stone for the Auditorium, his lavish world-travelling lifestyle talking about "A Strong Hand from Somewhere" and "world peace" would not be able to continue.

He admitted - if you will boldly read between the lines (ignoring his salesmanship, and looking at it in the context of a businessman) at the context of all of his writings over 40 years - that the purpose of the Worldwide Church of God was to FUND Herbert's "message"  and "work" on Earth. 

And expensive buildings, luxury treasures, and paintings, suits, dinners, outings, trips, expense accounts - all under the pretense of religion. ALL while the worst types of sin and debauchery were constantly happening at Headquarters from the ministers and leadership of the Church - who were doing a worldly work with worldly principles. 

What an abomination to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a deception to all those who fell for it. What a GOAL for crooked ministers who saw business potential. 

Which explains so much of today's problems in the COG's. 

Contributed by SHT. Read additional original material, or Contact SHT at The "Owl in Some Poor Wasteland" Blog, which is linked here. 

UCG: Aaron Dean Suffers Stroke and Brain Bleeds

Church of God News is reporting that Aaron Dean has suffered a stroke and had two brain bleeds.

United Church of GodThe Church of God Big Sandy reports that, “This week, Aaron Dean of Cincinnati, Ohio, suffered a stroke and two brain bleeds. He initially became weak on his left side. The family reports that he was conscious and expressing that he was doing fine. The doctors discussed the possibility of doing a procedure to remove some “blood off the brain.” He and the family appreciate your prayers.” 

Aaron Dean was due to give the main message on Monday afternoon, the 1st day of the festival, at the Church of God International site at Kentucky Dam Village (Land Between the Lakes). Richard Crow will now give the sermon.

It has been interesting to read Pharisee James Malm's blog recently as Malm has spent quite a bit of effort calling Aaron Dean a liar.   Pharisee Malm has been getting his legalistic panties with fringes on then, all in a tight knot over the last couple weeks as he claims United Church of God is changing its belief that Jesus is the god of the Old Testament. The spittle from the self-righteous one has been flying fast and furious, even though Aaron Dean has repeatedly told Malm he was wrong.

The COG pharisee writes:

The Doctrinal Committee recommends that the statement “Jesus is the God of the Old Testament” be removed from UCG and no longer used.  They will have a formal Study Paper supporting the position that Jesus was not the God of the Old Covenant for CoE approval in December. The CoE can approve such doctrinal papers and make them official in a simplified process due to the new formula for changing doctrines passed in May.  

They use a lot of double talk saying without any evidence [all evidence being to the contrary] that because the Father was alluded to in the Old Testament they surmise that he must have been the God of the Mosaic Covenant.  

Without doubt this is a dramatic departure from both Armstrong and Holy Scripture and is a massive  change in UCG towards the evangelical idea that God the Father was the God of the Mosaic Covenant; while Jesus brought the New Covenant which they falsely claim exalts “love” above God’s law; when God’s love [including all of the statutes, precepts and judgments which God gave to Moses] is love and defines godly love.   

The groundwork was laid for this move to the evangelical by the recent new Trinity booklet and the Mark Mickelson paper.  Also see this article.

On top of that nonsense, Pharisee Malm is claiming that Aaron Dean forced HWA into appointing Joseph Tkach as his successor.

Pharisee Malm writers (in bold type):

1. Aaron Dean

   15/09/2018 at 11:42 

   I never asked HWA to appoint Tkach.

   Herbert was senile and stoned on medicinal drugs, and Aaron told him to follow Hoeh’s advice knowing full well what Hoeh would recommend, but did not directly recommend Tkach, preferring to place the onus on Hoeh.!

   Nor did I support his lies or apostasy. If I did, I would not have been removed from all positions HWA gave me and that he made JWT promise to keep me in. My career path proves that I fought him at every turn. I am not sure what ‘history the above person “looked into.” The conclusions are false, but people are allowed to believe what they want.

   Aaron, I notice that you said my conclusions are false [I made no conclusions] but you carefully avoided saying my facts are wrong, choosing instead to engage in obfuscation and weaseling of the facts. Those not familiar with these words should Google: “Define and the word”.

   Aaron, you were Herbert’s adviser, confidant and chief flatterer for five years, you were the only one he really trusted in his particularly vulnerable state nearing his end. When you advised him to do what Herman wanted, you were giving the leadership to Tkach on a silver platter.

   Tkach did not even begin efforts at change until he set up his doctrinal project in 89, so your comment about being fired by HWA if you supported changes by Tkach is irrelevant obfuscation.

   As for you fighting changes, you have admitted that you stayed with Tkach after his open changes in Jan 95; and you admit that you only left in 97 because AC closed [i.e. you were being laid off], even UCG was formed in 95. Then you tried to deny involvement with UCG before 2010 when you were a member of their CoE from 1999.

   Aaron you started this thread with an obviously false denial that a change was being made in UCG, and look where it is now. This whole thread started by you, is more a desperate attempt at self-justification by espousing a dedicated idolatry of HWA than anything else.

   Aaron you are either lying and supporting the Tkach agenda of your associates, or you are deceiving yourself in order to justify yourself in your own eyes; having been duped into actually believing that the serious changes underway in UCG are not changes at all, with these same folks using you once again as a cloak for their activities!

   Meanwhile you miss the point that we are to be loyal to GOD, NOT HWA or anyone else!

   The scriptures say that “a thousand years is as a day.” This Feast when you stand up and say that you are celebrating the millennium; you are being loyal to HWA but you are in defiance of Holy Scripture! In this and many other things Herbert was wrong, because it was prophesied in Daniel 12 that much understanding would be sealed until the very end; yet you claim to be faithful to him in all his errors.

   You reject godliness for idolatry of men, and that idolatry of men has opened you up to be deceived by men!
   James

In Pharisee Malm's legalistic eyes everyone is wrong but him.  Next to the self-appointed, doubly-blessed Bob Thiel, the Church of God has never had such a blatant liar as Pharisee Malm.  No matter how much Aaron Dean tells Malm he is wrong, the great Pharisee spits and snarls that Dean is lying.

While I hesitate to send you to the Pharisaical blasphemer's site, you can check it out here to see how vicious he is towards Aaron.

Rod Meredith on how he thought ministers should be in the end times

Tomorrow's World, July/August 1970

In 1970, Rod Meredith described what he thought ministers in the COG should be like in the end times.  The quotes above certainly do NOT describe any 

Living Church of God minister or leader today.  

"Without fear or favor..."

Current leaders of all the spinter groups do all they can to not offend anyone around.

Meredith's description does not even describe Bob Thiel, James Malm and the other henchmen currently leading various splinter groups. 

Who would have ever guessed that 48-years later 

the COG would be run by such weak, namby-pamby men?

nam·by-pam·byˌnambēˈpambē/
adjective

derogatory

1.
lacking energy, strength, or courage; feeble or effeminate in behavior or expression.
"these weren't namby-pamby fights, but brutal affairs where heads hit the sidewalk"
synonyms:

1. 
   

clippings courtesy of SHT, comments mine