The Feast is rapidly approaching and this fraudulent COG leader is expecting you to give him your hard-earned money

Where would the Church of God be without some miserable grumpy self-appointed old leader demanding more money at Feast time?  The COG Chief Pharisee, James Malm, was sitting in his lonely kitchen tonight banging away on his keyboard bemoaning the fact that no one is sending him money right now. Seriously people, get your act together!  You are supposed to financially support the man who does not do any physical work but expects you to hand over your money to keep him living comfortably.  Sadly, there will be some few that will.

12 Sep 15:00 PDT: Dear Friends, over this summer TheShiningLight has received an average of 5,000 unique visitors reading nearly 150,000 pages each month.  This COG News site receives almost the same amount of traffic.  In spite of this almost no one has remembered that your financial support is necessary to do this work.  As the Fall Festivals approach our bank balance is shrinking towards zero and we find ourselves in serious need; please consider helping us to serve you.

Is the COG Belief in Zechariah 14:16 a "Profound Misunderstanding"?

It's that time of year again - time for COG Members and families to go forth and celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, in obedience to the prophetic writings of Zechariah in chapter 14. For the COG Community, because the Bible Says It, you then must do it, as a commanded convocation, and this is enough reason for them. Let's look at Zechariah 14:16 and it's commentaries:

¹⁶ And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁷ And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. ¹⁸ If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁹ This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
²⁰ In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. ²¹ Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lordof hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. (NKJV)

Zechariah 14:16-21 Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary (Concise) (Bolding mine) 

"As it is impossible for all nations literally to come to Jerusalem once a year, to keep a feast, it is evident that a figurative meaning must here be applied. Gospel worship is represented by the keeping of the feast of tabernacles. Every day of a Christian's life is a day of the feast of tabernacles; every Lord's day especially is the great day of the feast; therefore every day let us worship the Lord of hosts, and keep every Lord's day with peculiar solemnity. It is just for God to withhold the blessings of grace from those who do not attend the means of grace. It is a sin that is its own punishment; those who forsake the duty, forfeit the privilege of communion with God. A time of complete peace and purity of the church will arrive. Men will carry on their common affairs, and their sacred services, upon the same holy principles of faith, love and obedience. Real holiness shall be more diffused, because there shall be a more plentiful pouring forth of the Spirit of holiness than ever before. There shall be holiness even in common things. Every action and every enjoyment of the believer, should be so regulated according to the will of God, that it may be directed to his glory. Our whole lives should be as one constant sacrifice, or act of devotion; no selfish motive should prevail in any of our actions. But how far is the Christian church from this state of purity! Other times, however, are at hand, and the Lord will reform and enlarge his church, as he has promised. Yet in heaven alone will perfect holiness and happiness be found."

Such an interpretation was never considered in the Worldwide Church of God Days. Zechariah 14 - as most of the prophetic writings were in the Old Testament - was taken absolutely literally. Did we ever consider the fact that our literal interpretations of scripture were wildly out of the realm of realism? 

Coffman Commentary:

Any literal acceptance of this verse as a pledge that God will destroy the whole world except a remnant of Jews in every nation, and that the entire physical earth shall journey three times a year to physical Jerusalem to live in tents for a week must be accounted as a preposterous misunderstanding.

There is nothing in the last 2,000 years that resembles a fulfillment of this prophecy, except the repeated triumph of Christ and his gospel in those very lands which once were pagan enemies of the Lord. This verse is a pledge that it will continue to be so.

Yet it is exactly that "preposterous misunderstanding" that the Churches of God hold to - and dearly - when it comes to what they view as biblical support of their steadfast adherence of their unique version of the Feast of Tabernacles. What logistics would be required to literally bring "all nations" to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem? "You, your son, your daughter, your maidservants, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widows"? Has it ever truly been considered that the city of Jerusalem itself cannot possibly contain all nations within it's gates? 

Have the logistics of food, water, sewage, lodging, sound, meeting (how, when, where) ever been considered? It was our belief way back in the day that a literal (there's that word again) Super-Highway would be built to handle the traffic of all nations. Again. Has anyone considered the logistics? 

Perhaps we were certain a supernatural miracle would have had to happen. In exactly the same way we took other literal prophetic statements - such as the taming of wild animals in the World Tomorrow - to be supernaturally conducted. 

So here's the question. For those who hold on to the "literal interpretation" of the Zechariah 14:16 prophecy concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, I ask you - have you ever considered the logistics - and why is it a figurative allegory to these verses cannot, and does not, to you, apply? If Herbert Armstrong was wrong about over 200 "prophecies" in scripture - then what makes him so right about understanding Old Testament prophecies such as the Zechariah prophecies? 

I will tell you on my end as one born and raised in the Church - it was taken absolutely literally, not figuratively. I was not told how these things would happen, just that they would happen. This led to more of a sci-fi like understanding of how these events would transpire in my young mind. Certainly, it would have to be somewhat different for those who came into belief of these prophecies through Armstrong who may not have seriously read these scriptures before. 

Let's have a conversation on Zechariah 14, how you interpreted it then, how you interpret it now, and what it was that made or makes you believe a particular way about this particular prophecy. Please comment below if you are so inclined.

submitted by SHT

New Book: Grace Communion International - A Giant Step Forward

Grace Communion International (former Worldwide Church of God) has released a new book co-authored by Greg Williams, Rick Schallenberger and Tom Nebel.

It supposedly documents the continuing "miraculous transformation" of the church into a mainstream denomination.  This can be considered Book 3 in a trilogy of books documenting the "transformation" of the church.

Amazon has this to say:

The last significant books written about Grace Communion International were authored by Joseph Tkach and Michael Feazell in 1995. A lot has happened over the past two decades, so this book is an update to anyone who may be looking in and wondering “What has transpired with this group that experienced such an amazing grace awakening? Where are they now?” This book does a pretty fair job of recounting the peaks and valleys of the past twenty years.It is a major transition for me to step into the shoes of President Joseph Tkach. It isn’t just a big step for me personally, it is also a big change for our worldwide fellowship. Who is this new guy? What does he have in mind for the next phase of GCI? This book discloses a lot of my personality, big portions of my journey in GCI, and a glimpse into my leadership style. I am excited to serve in this next chapter because I believe the Lord has good things in store for GCI.

Buy it here for 4.99

If anyone is interested in reading it and doing a review, I will post it, good or bad!

Dave Pack: Challenge My Doctrine...You Challenge Jesus Christ!

Adult Sabbath School: What Do You Do When No One Will Ordain You?

Have you ever wondered why:

The Apostle Paul never met Jesus in real life though he lived in and was a contemporary in Jerusalem

Never is mentioned in the Gospels as the Pharisee of the Pharisees

Never debated Jesus in Jerusalem like the Pharisees are said to have done

Never tells a story of encountering or challenging him 

Never relates talking with any disciple of Jesus in Jerusalem

Never quotes Jesus in his Epistles when it would be to his advantage to do so

Is claimed (by Luke in Acts) to have encountered only the risen Jesus on the Damascus road

...but of himself , in Galatians, claims he was called from the womb

...and like Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and Bob Thiel, ordained himself to his title of choice.  

???

Or maybe?

"All my Christian life people have told me Paul never met Jesus during his ministry. I have somehow instinctively never quite believed it. Why you ask? The main reason is psychological. Paul was driven by such hatred to persecute christians it seems hard to believe he hadn’t met the object of his fury. I suspect Paul had met Jesus, indeed I wonder whether many of Luke’s Pharisee encounters were actually told to him by Paul.

It seems bizarre to me that Paul who was a bright young pharisee (who also seems to have been a member of the Sanhedrin) would not have sought out Jesus to debate with him. Paul seems likely to have been in Jerusalem at the time as he would presumably have been trained as a pharisee. According to this quote seems to have lived in Jerusalem since being a youth having presumably been born in Tarsus.

Acts 26:4-5,9-10 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee……

I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.”'

Adrian Warnock

However, the facts are:

Paul went from a newby baptised Christian with blood on his hands to Apostle  skipping any and all steps in between

http://lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVSermons/WhatMadePaulAnApostle.html

Galatians 1:11-24

I.         Paul was different from the other apostles (Note:  First Hint of trouble)

            A.        He wasn’t with Jesus when he was on earth (Second Hint)

            B.        He was not among the original twelve apostles - Luke 6:12-16      (Third)

            C.        He started out as a zealous persecutor of the church

            D.        How is it that Paul claimed to be an apostle?

II.        Paul did claim apostleship

            A.        He was called to be an apostle - Romans 1:1

            B.        He was an apostle to the Gentiles - Romans 11:13

            C.        He was an apostle of Jesus by God’s will - I Corinthians 1:1; II Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; II Timothy 1:1

            D.        He was an apostle by God the Father and by Jesus Christ - Galatians 1:1

            E.        He was an apostle by God’s command - I Timothy 1:1

            F.        He was appointed an apostle - I Timothy 2:7; II Timothy 1:11

            G.        He was an apostle according to the faith - Titus 1:1

            H.        Notice that Paul didn’t just claim to be an apostle, he claimed that it was by God’s will and God’s command.

                        1.         No man made him an apostle, and that includes      himself

                        2.         And he said it was according to the faith

(Note: How convenient)

Anyway...food for thought and the oft used justification for men like Herbert Armstrong,  Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and Bob Thiel snatching titles for themselves, passed on to them by no one,  in the quest for credibility in speaking for all things God, which they don't. 

If no one will ordain you, just declare it so, no questions asked.