Adult Sabbath School for Passover: "And Many Bodies of the Saints Which Slept Arose...

"Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?... And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."
 (Matthew 27:45-53)

What might this tale be all about?  Never mind that no one.in the New Testament Church ever mentions this event again. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, writing during the second half of the first century AD, produced two major works: History of the Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews. He says nothing about this most extraordinary occurrence. This one missed his attention so he reports nothing of this, and misses an opportunity to interview any of the "many" who must have been around for years after just itching to be asked about how it felt to be resurrected at the time of Jesus death. 

Peter never mentions it in all his attempts to convince the masses that Jesus did rise, in fact, from the dead. Paul never mentions this event as proof of Jesus resurrection either. Of course, the Gospels were written long after Paul lived, wrote and died so he never heard the tale in the first place.  Paul made a great deal out of the man he knew who was caught up to the third heaven seeing and hearing things that no man was allowed to see or know. You'd think if he knew that, he'd mention risen Saints at Jesus death but he knows nothing of it.  

Anyway...

 The fact that these risen saints must have lived on and been members of the  early Church never seems to come up. You'd think they at least would get to be deacons and elders!  Pretty impressive to have you Elder being one of the dead raised when Jesus was on the cross. Perhaps they died, rose and died again the same day when whatever the point that was being made was made but that seems a lotta work for a little benefit since it didn't seem to leave much of an impression on anyone but Matthew. 

But there was a problem in the text...

So here we have Jesus on the cross, still alive and distressed that God has forsaken him. At this time it appears, or perhaps by implication, at the moment of his death, the graves of many of the "saints" open and they rise from the dead. Well not quite yet because it appears someone spotted a problem with this verse and added just a bit to make it doctrinally acceptable for future reads.

But first, how can these newly dead, I assume newly because  if they had died any further back than one to three years, depending on which Gospel you read as to the length of Jesus ministry, they never would have even heard of Jesus in their first life. (John has Jesus around for three Passovers. The Synoptics only one.) They would not be qualified as "Saints" or even disciples if they had never heard of Jesus. 

 Aren't saints members in good standing of the Church and converted Christians? Jesus is not even dead yet, or just died! There is no church and certainly no saints unless just following Jesus around as a curious follower the past one or three years qualified one as a "saint." The use of the word "Saints" is an indicator that the story was written by one author many years later when there actually were Christian Saints. It certainly is not an eyewitness account of anything.  All four Gospels are not eyewitness accounts of the events they report. 

Secondly, it says that it was a resurrection of "many bodies of the saints." Many? What happened to "all." There could not have been too many to leave some behind! Can you imagine the conversations that must have followed in the weeks following this event?

"Hey, Shlomo is back! So, where is your Benjamin? Oh, really? Not one of the many huh? Sorry." 

Anyway, it seems that only the many but not the all got raised. I wonder what criteria were used to choose some over others?  

 Next we have the problem of the graves being opened, but no one being allowed to come out of them until after Jesus personal resurrection. This is where being doctrinally correct comes in.

A later editor spotted a doctrinal problem where the story could not have Jesus being preceded in resurrection, by any, much less, many of the "saints." This would be putting the cart before the horse. Jesus could not be the "first born of many brethren," (Romans 8:29),  if many of the brethren had already been up and running from the dead while Jesus was either on the cross wondering why God had forsaken him, or newly dead and not yet resurrected himself. One might also view Lazarus as "the first born of many brethren" but that issue doesn't seem to come up.  So the phrase, "after his resurrection" was inserted to make this a doctrinally correct event. Had that phrase, "after his resurrection," not been added, the story would be an unending source of doctrinal problems and a recognition that Jesus was not the first born of many brethren. The many brethren would have been first born before him. 

Back to the story...

So here we have these graves opened, but the bodies just lying there, open to view evidently.  Then, after Jesus rose, the bodies stood up and went home to see the family and friends. You'd think someone would have mentioned this later, but it didn't make much of an impression on anyone but Matthew it seems.  I say Matthew but the original Gospels were anonymous books and the well known names were added much later for credibility reasons.  We also have to realize that none of the disciples were witnesses to any of this since they had all fled just prior to the Crucifixion. Perhaps "Matthew" had forgotten this fact, although he mentions it himself in 26:56. 

If the graves were opened for three days, would not word get out and the town get about the business of filling them in again? If they were fresh bodies, what a stink and if they were alive, fresh bodies laying low for now, what a scare!  No doubt, word would have gotten out in the three days after Jesus death that graves around Jerusalem were open with exposed bodies or living people not yet able to get up. Crowds would have gathered around the graves perhaps encouraging the now risen but not yet raised to be patient for a few days?  

Well, it's a great story that no one but Matthew seems to be aware of or use to further the Gospel. Knowing the writer of Matthew, it never happened. Matthew was great at over reaching and searching the scriptures to make a point about Jesus. Matthew could make an Old Testament story mean what it was never meant to mean. All of Matthew's "and thus it was fulfilled" accounts in the birth narratives of Jesus, where he goes back into the Old Testament, "searching the scriptures",  to prove everything from Jesus virgin birth to it being predicted that he would be from Nazareth or return out of Egypt after Herod dies, are examples of this over reaching. No one else quite had this way of proving the birth circumstances and drama down pat as well as Matthew. . It would be a bit like me using portions of Lord of the Rings to show how Tolkien prophecied the war in Iraq.

Eventually the Saints rise and able to leave the graves.  Off to visit friends in Jerusalem these saints went. But we have no names and no further accounts. We have no stories of happy reunions of the dead with the living. No one seems to write about this in any public records and no one ever after uses this event to further the proof of Jesus resurrection or the power of God. Actually, it never happened in time, space or history.  Perhaps the story had meaning to "Matthew." It had no meaning to anyone else in the NT. Perhaps it was someone's "type" of the General Resurrection but creating the story created a future doctrinal problem as shown by a simple insertion of the words "after his resurrection" by a genuine Saint many years later before he died and as far as we know is still dead. 

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.