An Open Letter to the Board Members of CEM

An Open Letter to the Board Members of CEM: Willie Oxendine, John Beasley, C. Roderick Martin, Jon Garnant, John H. Currier, Richard Crow and Larry Watkins at 312 W. Main St. Whitehouse, Texas 75791, and to other concerned Brethren,

We, Gary and Dianne McDonnell, both Church of God members, recently received a phone call from a CEM board member that we would soon be receiving a legal summons regarding a home which Allie Dart willed to us. 

This summons is directly related to Christian Educational Ministries wanting half of Allie Dart’s Estate and not settling with an offer made by Cathy Gibbons and the two remaining Dart relatives on October 18, 2018.  Mrs. Gibbons offered to give CEM 100% of a home willed to her by Allie Dart, a home valued at more than our house, if CEM would take Philip Hufton and us out of the Family Settlement Agreement. Her generous offer would have excluded us as dedicated church members from the litigation. 

It read in part, “I (Cathy Gibbons) and the surviving Dart/Driver families are requesting that CEM allow these three parties to fully have what has been willed to them….I believe that the selling of these properties will create a hardship specifically on the McDonnell’s and Philip Hufton who are members of the Church of God faith… Please consider this request as an act of Christian love…”  

But on December 5, 2018, one of CEM’s lawyers replied, “The CEM board declined the offer. I apologize that was not clear from our prior communications.”

It is a great disappointment to us as contributing, long-time members of Christian Educational Ministries that you, CEM board, did not first reach out to us regarding this matter. We have considered many of you our friends and we called out to you by your first name at Holy Days, Sabbaths, and in personal fellowship. We, Gary and Dianne McDonnell, together have been in the Church of God for a total of over 86 years! We are your brethren. Mr. Dart was a great teacher and we are fortunate to have known him. He was fond of 1 Corinthians 6:1-6.

“If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life? Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court and this in front of unbelievers!”

We know that you are aware of this scripture and the many other ones that warn about bringing your brethren to court. We believe that the Bible instructs us to sit down together and talk about our differences and try to settle this as Paul wrote. No lawyers. No recordings. No secret legal angling. Just Brethren together working out an important issue. We understand that many of you are scattered across the country and for your convenience we offer to meet with Larry Watkins or whoever else from our faith you feel will represent your side. Meeting in Tyler will entail us driving and flying many hours to meet you in this manner. We are willing to make this effort and discuss this face to face. We hope you share our commitment. Peace to you.

Dianne McDonnell

Gary McDonnell

Kennon McDonnell

The Ark of the Covenant: Soon to be discovered by a Church God Group?

For many decades now the Armstrong Churches of God have been rife with conspiracies and soon to be revelations that certain people claim their god has told them. From declaring themselves Elijah's and Joshua's, to being the two witless witnesses, to apostles and prophets and the lunatic fringe who dream dreams and claim double anointing.  Every one of them has been abject failures.

But that has not stopped certain deluded men in the ACOG from self-appointing themselves and making all kinds of fantastical predictions.  Besides the lunacy of Bob Thiel, no one has been more out there than Gerald Flurry.  This guy has truly jumped off the deep end and hit his head on the pool bottom.

After traipsing through the woods of Oregon and digging up a dirty old rock, Flurry has now declared it as the very stone Jesus will return to and sit upon!  But before that happens certain major world discoveries need to happen in order for Flurry to be proved RIGHT in the eyes of the world.  Discovering that stone was just the first step in a bigger discovery to soon take place in Ireland. Gerald Flurry claims his group will soon discover the Ark of the Covenant.  He knows exactly where it is, but dangnabbit, those pesky Jesuit scum won't let him dig up Hill Tara.

Pretty soon though, he and his little group will dig it up and it will be tourist attraction until all hell breaks loose and Armageddon

On the Philadelphia Church of God's Watch Jerusalem site they have this article up:

Finding the Ark of the Covenant

Gerald Flurry writes:

The Ark of the Covenant has inspired a lot of curiosity over the years. The Ark was a holy chest that God instructed the Israelites to build. It represented the throne of God. In the past, it has been the subject of documentaries and movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark.  

Few people are talking about that artifact today. Yet a fascinating verse in the Bible says that in this modern era, many people will be talking about it. The implication is that very soon, the Ark of the Covenant is going to be found!  

That verse is found in Jeremiah, a book of prophecy that was written for this end time (Jeremiah 30:1-9). So this prophecy about the Ark is for us today. 

If the Ark were found, it would electrify many people around the world!  

People don’t know where the Ark is, but I believe that the Bible—and a certain nation’s history—tell us in which country it is located today.

Gerald then goes on to proclaim that the Ark of the Covenant will soon be a tourist attraction.

Examine Jeremiah 3:16 carefully. It says that once the Messiah comes, “they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” They won’t say it anymore—which means they were saying it at some point. People are not saying it now, but according to this prophecy, there is coming a time when they will be saying it! “[N]either shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done anymore.”  

Notice that shocking statement: God says people won’t visit the Ark anymore! Do you know any place today where people visit the Ark? There isn’t any such place, but God here describes a time when people will visit the Ark of the Covenant.  

Remember, the time frame is leading up to the Tribulation and the coming of the Messiah. These scriptures refer to the time we are living in now. Just before the Tribulation, many people will be visiting the ark like a tourist attraction, according to this prophecy. It sounds like it has created a world sensation! I don’t see how you can understand this prophecy any other way.

So just how does Gerald Flurry KNOW that the ark is there?  Because none other thanHerbert Armstrong said so!   If he said it, it HAS TO BE TRUE! There can be no other explanation!

The ancient nation of Judah fell to the Babylonians in 585 b.c.e.In the siege, the king of Babylon killed all the sons of Judah’s King Zedekiah. Most people believe that the royal line of King David ended at that point. But if you study 2 Samuel 7:12-16, you see that God had promised to establish David’s lineage on that throne forever! If David never had another royal descendant—if the throne of David ceased with Zedekiah—then God’s promise would have been broken.  

However, as Herbert W. Armstrong proved in his book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, that throne did not cease. God kept His promise by keeping a royal descendant of David—not a son of Zedekiah but a daughter—alive. He preserved her with the help of the Prophet Jeremiah, whom God allowed to escape Babylonian captivity.  

“The real ancient history of Ireland is very extensive, though colored with some legend. But with the facts of biblical history and prophecy in mind, one can easily sift out the legend from the true history in studying ancient Irish annals,” Mr. Armstrong wrote.
[I]n 569 b.c. (date of Jeremiah’s transplanting), an elderly, white-haired patriarch, sometimes referred to as a ‘saint,’ came to Ireland. With him was the princess daughter of an eastern king and a companion called ‘Simon Brach,’ spelled in different histories as Breck, Berech, Brach or Berach.” This is Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch. “The princess had a Hebrew name Tephi—a pet name—her full name being Tea-Tephi. … This royal party included the son of the king of Ireland who had been in Jerusalem at the time of the siege. There he had become acquainted with Tea-Tephi. He married her shortly after 585—when the city fell. Their young son, now about 12 years of age, accompanied them to Ireland. 

As Mr. Armstrong proved in his book, this royal line was thus preserved in the British Isles. It can be traced directly to the British throne. 

Irish annals show that when Jeremiah migrated to Ireland, he brought with him more than just the princess of Judah who carried on David’s throne. “Besides the royal family, Jeremiah brought with them some remarkable things,” Mr. Armstrong continued, “including a harp, an ark, and a wonderful stone called ‘lia-fail,’ or ‘stone of destiny’” (op. cit., emphasis mine).  

The “stone of destiny” is also called “Jacob’s pillar stone.” It is the stone the patriarch Jacob set up to memorialize the promise God made to him in Genesis 28—that his descendants would become as numerous as “the dust of the earth.” This stone remained with the nation of Israel throughout its history. And when Jeremiah fled Jerusalem, he took this stone with him.  

We know where this stone is today: It is in Scotland, in Edinburgh Castle. In recent years, faithless critics have tried to discredit the origins of this stone—but for hundreds of years its true origins were widely accepted and understood. Queen Elizabeth was crowned over it, as was Tea-Tephi’s royal son anciently. 

Notice that along with that stone, Jeremiah brought the Ark of the Covenant on his journey to Ireland!

Not only is the Ark in Hill Tara, but Flurry claims that the 10 commandments are there as well.

In Volume i of The Journal of the British Archeological Association, published in 1895, an essay called “The Hill of Tara” by R. H. McDonald referred to the work of the Irish archaeologist Dr. Denis Hanan: “‘Tara,’ says Dr. Hanan, is almost pure Hebrew for Torah, which means ‘law,’ and the original tables of the law were in the Ark which, curiously enough, Irish history says is buried with Tea.”  

Note that! Tara comes from torah—God’s law! There is a well-known connection between the famous Tara Hill and the law of God!  

This is amazing history. The tablets of the Ten Commandments were written by the very finger of God! (Exodus 31:18; 34:1, 28). God personally gave them to Moses, and they were placed within the Ark of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9).  

According to these archaeologists and historians, these tablets were buried with Tea-Tephi in Tara Hill! Why don’t we hear more about this history? It is clearly recorded in Ireland’s history books. This simply cannot be chalked up as a “legend” or “myth” of Irish history!

Flurry and the rest of the splinter cult leaders in the Armstrong Churches of God just cannot get past all of these "physical" things they claim we will all be worshipping or looking towards.  It is just like many who claim the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and all of humanity will go there.

The problem in all of that is that if one is truly following the one claiming to be Jesus, there is no need for any of these artifacts or physical things pointing to something in a kingfom where the One is already there.  That "something" will already be here.  People will be rejoicing in that instead of standing in line to look at some rocks or other objects of desire.

Has the Armstrong Churches of God Harbored Rapists and Pedophiles?

It has been well known over the decades that there have been some ministers, elders, deacons, ministers sons, department heads, TV studio employees, and others who have been sexual predators in the Armstrong Churches of God.  It has been reported upon by Ambassador Reports and numerous blogs and web sites.  Many cases have went to trial with leading ministers and church leaders being sent to prison for their heinous crimes.  But far too often, church members were/are embarrassed or afraid to confront their abusers and they keep it secret. leading to horrendous pshycological problems with the victims, so much so that some have committed suicide.

Who can they turn to when the person that was supposed to be "Christ's representative" is the one abusing them?

Are they to wait and let God take care of it later, as some have been told?  

I say they should immediately bypass all church leaders and go directly to the police! 

On a previous thread about Kevin Dean, the following was posted: 

Kevin Owen Dean: New Arrest Warrant Issue

Lisa Ann Davis said...

I AM the girl who escaped from KD when his daughters came back from swimming at SEP. I was working in the kitchen that session. He sent for me and under the pretense of giving me a back adjustment (he went down the front) proceeded to touch me in all the private areas. I was FREAKED out and told no one. Do you know why? Because somehow I knew I would be blamed for it. Took me 9 years before I was brave enough to tell my parents. All of the stuff listed above is true.

March 25, 2019 at 3:20 PM 

Anonymous said...

My kid sister was 15 when she was raped by a married member of the Armstrong family. (NOT GTA) When it came to light, my mother, a member of over 40 years at the time, and my sister were brought in front of the "council of elders" in the Administration building to stand on the charges of my virgin 15 year old sister seducing this pedophile. My mother sat, very submissive and never stood up for her. My sister, asking to go to the bathroom, left the grounds. I was never told of this story until about 5 years ago. Incredulously, my mother still ashamed and embarrassed, I looked her in the eye and told her that her daughter was RAPED! Until that moment, she had never considered this, as the elders made my sister out to be the guilty person. Did Pasadena harbor rapists and pedophiles? You bet they did.

March 27, 2019 at 11:06 AM 

Anonymous said...

Just to clarify... when he was with the girl at Imperial, she was at least a Jr, as she was a year younger than me, which means it was going on for at least two years, and started before she was 18. (This is my first time commenting, so many kids at school knew about this affair. We just had no idea what to do about it. Who do you tell when the person in charge is the one breaking the rules?)

March 27, 2019 at 1:27 PM 

Dave Pack Gets Schooled

Note:  I am not posting this to convince anyone on the truth of Evolution. I am not concerned with what anyone believes. I have satisfied myself over the years, through study and observation that Evolution is true. That fascinates me and should not irritate you. Religious beliefs have their own set of needs and reasons for existence. Over the years I have accepted the fact that I am personally evidence based and not faith based. If you can't show it, you really can't know it nor should we trust that one does.  They are opposites and while the cause for much debate and argument, I do not personally believe that Science and the Bible are or ever can be made compatible.

The Western world of Bible literalism has gotten stuck in Bronze and Iron Age perspectives in a world that has moved on to the Space Age. There is a price to pay for that. Dave Pack uses the same mistaken notions, scriptures taken out of context and need to believe that which is unbelievable in his theological ramblings. While going to great lengths to appear wise and , as I have been told, incredibly intelligent, he is not. Like HWA and GTA before him, he uses his supposed authority,  bluster and a literal view of scripture to not see what others clearly see through studied observation.

I post this to show just ignorant David C Pack is on the topic and how incredibly unqualified and out of date he is to think that he can explain the modern evidence for Evolution away with bombastic and horribly out of date information and speculations as to how religious statements and science fit together. Just as Aron has logically, patiently and accurately taken Dave Pack apart on this topic, any well trained theologian could take him apart piece by piece for his theological ramblings that we all know will simply fall into the same wastebasket those of the Armstrongs have.

Dave has always needed a bit of peer review and accountability for making the statements he does about science and of course theology. He gets his grade card here for not doing his homework in what we now know about Evolution vs what he thinks he has always known.

 I know what Dave considers to be his expertise in the topic of Creationism. He claims to have studied it 50 years ago as if 50 years ago was the peak time of knowledge on the topic. We have learned more in the last 5 years about human evolution and that of all life on the planet including the planet itself than in the previous 5000.

Dave thinks that his one class called Second Year Bible where we all simply had to read and outline The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris and that WAS the class that  settled the question once and for all.  That book has been debunked decades ago and wasn't fit to comment on the topic to begin with. No one taught Dave anything about Creationism at AC or why evolution was not true EXCEPT for Church Booklets , A Whale of a Tale, and A Theory for the Birds.  Interestingly enough , the clear evolution of both Whales and Birds is clearly and wonderfully understood today making a fool out of Garner Ted Armstrong, who like Dave, used sarcasm and ignorance to not prove a point. We now know that even feathers preceded flying and were not "created" for flight. They were decoration and insulation at first and only later did the aid in flight.

I guarantee you Dave Pack, nor any Church of God minister has read an up to date explanation of the science behind the Theory of Evolution. (And please do your homework on what a scientific theory is before thinking it means "opinion." or "guess".)

And no bullshit about Aron's hair or look please. You simply prove yourself most shallow and divert yourself from the content. . Aron knows more about the real science of evolution and paleontology than ALL the ministry of ALL the Churches of God put together...even Bob Thiel.  (That's a joke).  I know Aron personally. He has a heart of gold and knows whereof he speaks. A church member or minister would be a fool to try and pull a Dave Pack explanation of why evolution is wrong on him, or just about any science student at a real University.

If the posting does not appeal to you, seems foolish, anti-God, atheistic or just more of my old ministerial self rising up again to tell everyone how it all is because once a Ministurd always a Ministrud, just hang out a couple days and I'm sure you'll have something come up you like more like how your minister in the past agonized over could the air in your car tires be considered leaven because they were puffed up or was baking soda leavening.   Important and life enriching stuff like that. It's the time of year for all that foolishness as we all are no doubt aware so there will be plenty of straining at gnats and swallowing camels ahead as The Days of Unleavened Bread descend upon them.

For those few of us here who might find the take down of Dave Pack a sight to behold, I simply offer this one segment for your enjoyment. Aron took the time to do 19 sessions to refute Dave Pack's shallow and incredibly outdated explanations and he put Dave more than in his place. Any young person would benefit from watching the whole series to understand what Dave Pack never has and evidently never could understand about good science done well.

For those who might like more time in the topic of Creationism vs Evolution I would recommend Aron's latest book.

Overview

Religious fundamentalists and biblical literalists present any number of arguments that attempt to disprove evolution. Those with a sympathetic ear often fail to critically examine these creationist claims, leading to an ill-informed public and, perhaps more troubling, ill-advised public policy. As Aron Ra makes clear, however, every single argument deployed by creationists in their attacks on evolution is founded on fundamental scientific, religious, and historical falsehoods–all of them. Among their most popular claims is that evolution is a religion, that there are no transitional species, that there are no beneficial mutations, and that supposedly sacred scripture is the infallible word of God. Yet, as the evidence and data plainly show, each of these claims is demonstrably and unequivocally false. There is simply no truth to creationism whatsoever, and the entire enterprise rests on a foundation of falsehoods. This book explains and exposes the worst of these lies, and should be read by all who honestly care about following the evidence no matter where it might lead in pursuit of the truth.

Or for the more in the know in the Churches of God perhaps Ken Ham's Book will suffice.

The Great United Church of God Wikipedia Whitewash

Take a look at the United Church of God Wikipedia page if you want to see one of he biggest whitewashes in Church of God history. You will be hard pressed to find ANY connection to Herbert W Armstrong, Armstrongism, the Worldwide Church of God or its connection to any of the hundreds and hundreds of harlot daughter split offs littering the Armstrong Church of God landscape.

Why is it that all of these splinter groups all claim to follow the truth delivered by Herbert Armstrong and yet in their public persona's they scramble as fast as they can to distance themselves from the the man and his teachings.

Talk about hypocrisy!

UCG Feast of Tabernacles observance in Branson, Missouri, 2015

The UCG follows and believes in many of the basic doctrinal principles shared by other Christian churches such as the inspiration of the scriptures, Christ's bodily resurrection, and the three ordinances of baptism,^[4] and agrees with Protestant theology regarding the tenets of sola scriptura and that Justification is a gift given freely by God. Like many Christian churches, it also believes in the resurrection of the dead, Millennialism, baptism by immersion, Gap creationism, and is strongly Adventist, believing that the return of Christ is imminent, interpreting current events in the light of Bible prophecy.^[4] However, its teachings differ from mainstream Catholic and Protestant theology in a number of key areas:

• Belief in Restorationism. Like many churches in the Restorationist movement, UCG believes that a number of today's mainstream Christian teachings resulted from doctrinal corruption under the influence of Greco-Roman philosophy, Gnosticism, Anti-Semitism, and mistranslation which occurred early in the history of the church. Much of UCG doctrine that is distinct from mainstream Christianity is the outgrowth of an effort to separate these influences and traditions from what is believed to be the beliefs and practices of Jesus Christ and the original Apostolic church.^[5][6][7] UCG holds that the Roman Catholic church and most Protestant denominations today have mistakenly syncretized various pagan doctrines and practices. For example, UCG teaches that the ancient pagan origins of traditional Christian celebrations (especially Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and Valentine's Day) render them inappropriate for true Christians.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}
• Nontrinitarian belief, i.e., that the Holy Spirit is the spirit/power of God and of Christ Jesus rather than a separate person in the Godhead. God 'the Father' and Jesus Christ are viewed as two distinct beings in the 'God family,' united in purpose only.^[14]
• Belief that Christians are begotten as children in the Family of God and will at their resurrection become "spirit-born divine beings who are part of Elohim, the universe-ruling family of God."^[15]
• Belief that the core of Jesus Christ's message was the coming of a literal earthly Kingdom and that people who are 'saved' will not go to heaven, but will live and rule eternally with Jesus Christ on earth after his second coming, and will subsequently share rulership over the entire universe as part of the 'God Family'. UCG also asserts that the final destination of the unrepentant wicked is not everlasting torture, but annihilation or permanent destruction.^[16]
• Belief that people of Western European descent, primarily the original British colonies and the United States, are direct physical descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of the northern kingdom of ancient Israel, whereas the historical Jews (and modern-day Israel) are descendants of the ancient southern kingdom of Judah. This belief is not used to assert racial or ethnic superiority, but solely to interpret End Time prophecies which are believed to be directed at the United States and Europe.^[17]
• Belief that the basic Old Testament law is not "done away with" and is carried over into the "New Covenant" such that certain commandments apply to Christians today, including the Ten Commandments and teachings such as clean and unclean meats, literal observance of Holy Day festivals such as eating unleavened bread during the 'Days of Unleavened Bread', and living in 'temporary habitations' during the 'Feast of Tabernacles'. These beliefs exclude civil and sacrificial temple laws,^[18] but includes the literal observance of the seventh-day Sabbath (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) and the Holy Days of the Old Testament Hebrew calendar,^[19] dietary restrictions,^[20] and the condemnation of practicing any and all sexual sin as identified by God in the Holy Scriptures.^[21]
• Belief that people who do not know or understand the truth of the Bible during their lifetimes will be given time to learn these teachings after the "Second Resurrection" to a new physical life. After living again in the Millennial world under God's Kingdom, those who continue to reject God's Holy Spirit and way of life will be annihilated after the "Third Resurrection" along with unrepentant former believers who had turned away from God. They are destroyed in the third resurrection (the "resurrection of fire") in the Lake of Fire, along with Satan and his demons.^[22]
• Belief in biblical tithing, a donation of 10 percent of a member's income to the church to fund the organization's gospel mission.^[23] Members are also taught to set aside a Second tithe, an additional 10 percent for their own personal use in observing the church's annual religious festivals, particularly the Feast of Tabernacles.^[24]
• Alcohol consumption in moderation is permitted but the UCG does teach against the misuse of alcohol. ^[25]