COG False Prophets On Australian Drought And Wild Fires

Every time a natural disaster or a man-made disaster happens, the self-appointed prophets of doom in the Church of God haul out their megaphones and start shouting their vitriol about how angry their god is and how it is punishing the "Israelite" nations of the world for their sins.  What you never see them discuss is how the citizens of the nations and the world will band together and help those afflicted with humanitarian needs so that they can recover.  Nor, do you ever hear them talk about the rain that comes and puts the fires out or ends droughts. They are not happy that their god does such things.  It destroys their narratives.

From Exit and Support:

Saying Drought in Australia Was a Curse From God:

February 16, 2020

I been thinking recently about the bushfires in Australia. Flurry (and other similar people) would have people believe that the lengthy drought in Australia was a curse from God for people’s (the public’s) sins, and that God would give them rain when they repent of whatever sin was the cause of the drought.

I seem to remember that we were taught in the WCG that it is God who grants repentance. If only a “few” are “called now” and given the chance to “repent,” then why on earth would God be punishing the rest of humanity for their so-called sins when He hasn’t even granted them repentance?

Now there has been rain across the bushfire regions and the fires are effectively put out.

Did the people of Australia “repent” of their sins? No, probably not, but it rained anyway. There are floods now which are a natural result after a drought.

These religious leaders all seem to say the same thing in their literature and television broadcasts to suck people into their cults by saying the words, “You need to know.” No, you don’t “need to know” anything that they have to say.

–Australia

UCG: Vic Kubik Claims UCG Members Have A Voice In Who Runs The Church

Though, in actuality, UCG members actually have NO SAY in who rules over them.  It's always the good old boys club voting in the same old boys in order to keep their power structure in place.

Vic Kubik writes about how African tribes elect their leaders.  He marvels that the women do it!  Can you imagine the UCG or any Church of God ever letting women vote the leadership in.  Oh, hell no!

The chief structure in various African cultures is very important. Chiefs took care of various local civil necessities, often resolving property issues and disputes. Chiefs also allocate land to the inhabitants. In Zambia we have a few church buildings built on land “given” to us by a chief. Chiefs also resolved minor violations—judging what we would consider in the United States a small claims court.

In one locale Bev and I asked about how a chief was chosen.

The answer was interesting. The women of the village decided who would become the next chief. “Why was that?” we asked. The answer was that many of the women were mothers of the candidates for chief. They understood best the nature and temperament of the men because they had known them since they were little boys. Their nature from childhood was an indicator of what they would be like as adults, and more importantly, as community leaders. The women would gather and discuss who would be selected. What characteristics defined this new village leader? Was he kind? Did he have a temper? Was he truthful or deceptive? Manipulative? Compassionate or cruel? Was he self-promoting or humble? Selfish or generous? Was he a bully? Negative traits could carry into adulthood and not bode well for a future leader.

Personal characteristics would be discussed among the women who knew the nature of the candidates best. The candidate who was most charming and charismatic was not always the best choice.

How do we judge who the best leaders are for the Church within our congregations? While we ask for God’s will and judgment to be evident, He delegates to us a voice in the process.

What voice do UCG members have in the process?  They never have had any since the very first days that the good old boys met in the 360 SOG apartments on the Pasadena campus to plan their escape route and money supply when they jumped ship.  They set themselves up, elected each other to positions of control, and still do it to this day. UCG members never had any voice in the process and never will, despite the words of Vic below.

How do we choose our “village chiefs?” Those who have responsibilities within our Church? Is it on outward appearance and show, or is it based on the inner person? As we look at the qualifications for an elder in I Timothy 3, we see that God is looking for those who are not hot-tempered, not greedy for money, but hospitable, self-controlled, humble, gentle, sober-minded. Sometimes charisma can mask undesirable qualities, but these are the ones that we should be aware of first.

We learned an important lesson about how the village chief was chosen in a rural Malawi community. It’s an important lesson for us as we consider our future chiefs and servants in the church. 

LCG Members Still Being Distracted By Divisions And Contentions Because They Lack Humility?

Living Church of God members must still be struggling to be unified and friendly with each other.  Its another lecture on working together and avoiding contentions and divisions. 

Once again they get lectured about pride.  Seriously? Take a look around the prideful and ambitious people in Charlotte who stab each other in the back in order to advance up.

 Humility?  In LCG?  Seriously?

Keys to Working Together: One of the challenges of life is learning to work together with other people—in families, on the job, and in the Church. The Bible gives us instructions and examples to help us accomplish this vital task. Jesus built bridges with others by referring to His disciples as His “friends” and encouraging them to “love one another” (John 15:12–17). The Apostle Paul, who had his own challenges with this issue (Acts 15:36–41), learned that we must focus on the mission to be accomplished and not on each other’s opinions, ideas, actions, and faults. He referred to those who assisted as “my fellow workers” (Romans 16:3) and “fellow workers for the kingdom of God” (Colossians 4:11) and “workers together [co-workers] with Him” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Paul also urged believing Christians to “be perfectly joined together in the same mind” and to avoid contentions and divisions (1 Corinthians 1:10–13). Solomon reveals that pride and ambition are sources of contention (Proverbs 13:10), while Paul notes that humility, patience, and understanding are keys for working together (Romans 12:16–18). As disciples of Jesus Christ and followers of the Apostles, let’s strive to love one another and learn to work together humbly and peacefully as “fellow workers for the kingdom of God.”
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

Musings: A Cup of Coffee and Two Small (For Now) Fish

Philippians 4:8, NIV: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." 

OK, I can do that...

I was sitting quietly this morning, coffee in hand, and spending time with my therapist. Actually two therapists in the above 60 gallon "Goldfish Bowl". It also serves as a Television as I have not owned one in 20 years.  Obviously with John Denver playing in the background many things come to mind.  Turning 70 when I am 27 in my head also helps

😲

Poems, Prayer and Promises

I've been lately thinking about my life's time
All the things I've done and how it's been
And I can't help believing in my own mind
I know I'm gonna hate to see it end

I've seen a lot of sunshine
Slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own
I've known my lady's pleasures
Had myself some friends
And spent a time or two in my own home

And I have to say it now
It's been a good life all in all
It's really fine to have a chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long it's been since yesterday
And what about tomorrow
And what about our dreams
And all the memories we share

I got to thinking about my brother and all the years of a quick dinner after church and then off to the State Hospital to visit him. This was a weekly ritual.  It was in that State Hospital in Newark New York much of the fixer in me felt the tug towards ministry. After all, it was the greatest story ever told and ending up in WCG is no mystery to me.  With a blind, deaf and speechless brother, those Wonderful World Tomorrow scriptures beckoned.  They don't speak of such things in the Dutch Reformed environment. You live, you stay in church, you die and you go to Heaven. That's it.  Even Hell never came up with the Dutch. 

 I have recounted the brother story a number of times, so as to avoid the "here we go again" problem, I'll just leave the story at that.  The experiences every week seeing what can go so badly wrong with humans, mentally and physically as they mixed them all together back in the day, needless to say, molded my worldview from about age 5 onwards. And too...it was the 60's.

That being said, I got to thinking about Dr Bob Thiel. Behind the scenes of his life, I know he, his wife and siblings if present have the same challenge , or at least I believe this to be so and correct me if I am mistaken, with a special needs child.  I don't know the nature of it.  But I do know the challenge it must be as a parent. I know the work it takes to keep up with it all and the extra care needed to keep the family together and thriving. I know it's hard mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The well meaning, I suppose, Presbyterian minister of my parents day told them at some point "Well, you must have done something wrong or you'd not have had a handicapped child".  A bit enraging of course but that crack motivated my mom to spend the rest of her life being the perfect mom, perfect woman and perfect human being.  She spent a lot of her life, it seemed, proving "I'm not dirty!"  I miss them both, of course, but they made it to just under a hundred years old and died within months of each other as we suspected they would. 

  I also know how appealing the "Good News of the Wonderful World Tomorrow" can be and why one can end up not only embracing it because of our own special needs but because of having such a challenge in the family.  It may explain  a lot of the zeal to believe and do the right things and share that belief. We all do it as only the subjects and motives change I suppose. 

That being said, credit where credit is due and all differences, and my own theological or weather related criticisms aside :),  for the moment, I understand the quiet behind the scenes struggle and burden special needs children bring to the family table. This includes, of course, Mrs Thiel and any other children whose lives also are affected in many ways in such an environment growing up.  It does bestow compassion , patience and a perspective that seeks hope that perhaps only those who have experienced it can understand.  I have also seen it tear families to shreds with the stress and strain of it all.

I just wanted to honor and say something positive Dr Bob Thiel and family though  in spite of our observations about  the Wild World Church of God experience, splits and splinters. 

Gotta go...

My therapist says we're not finished, wrap it up and to pay attention, or she will move on to another appointment

.

COG Lunatic In Edmond, OK and Donald Trump

As we have pointed out on this blog many times, the Church of God has created some of the craziest and irrational men ever imaginable with all of them claiming God is on their side. These same vainglorious men believe they have the foresight to make sound logical decisions and prophetic predictions that are impossible to be wrong.

Gerald Flurry continues to make idiotic comments and predictions to keep his fledgling flock fearful of impending doom.  In Flurry's virulent hatred of Joesph Tkach Jr., his seething hatred lets his demons dream up many wild and fantastical scenarios for the end times, an end-times that Flurry believes Joe Jr. will initiate.

With decades of alcoholism destroying his brain cells, that mentally unstable mind has made several predictions over the last year that Joe Tkach Jr will soon be meeting up with President Trump and initiate plans in getting the Philadelphia Church of God and its members kicked out of the United States.  That is one of the reasons PCG is now looking to open a new office in Jerusalem, but that is a subject for another time.

Flurry, like many other COG leaders and ministers, look at President Trump as the ideal man to be in that position.  They feel that the entire world is going to hell and that temporary conservative leadership extends the return of Jesus just long enough to allow them to do a final push in getting their gospels out. Many of them look at Trump as the proper man to be in charge because he is white.  Many COG leaders despised President Obama with a passion. The idea that a black gentile was ruling over them was appaling. We know this because many of them said so and also because of how they reacted when Mayor Bradley was the first African American mayor of Los Angeles.  They found that abominable.

This all makes Satan really angry and he is starting to work overtime in bringing about persecution to the church.  From being banned on Youtube, having Twitter accounts shut down, to being told they cannot preach on certain subjects, Flurry and other COG self-appointed leaders are preparing for intense persecution.

Herbert Armstrong, using Rod Meredith and Gerald Waterhouse as his mouthpiece, created such absurd scenarios that kept COG members in a constant state of panic and impending doom.  From being tossed into concentration camps by the invading German armies to parents eating their children due to famine. I even remember being told in sermons how church members would be put on rockets and shot into space where they would die because the Catholic church hated us so. Then there was the story on how we would be hated so much that the U.S. government would put up on old jet planes that had cracks in the wings and force us to flee to Petra in them, with the hope the planes would crash.  Satan was and still is sorely pissed.

The Church of God's leadership has always needed scare tactics to keep the gullible sheep in line and ready to dole out money for their end-time pushes and final witnesses.  Of course, to add to fuel to the fire it is vitally important to still blame Joe Tkach Jr for all of their miserable failures. After over two decades of one failed prophecy after another, they need their demon to place blame on to sidetrack members from seeing their bitter truth.

Joe Tkach Jr has not been in charge of the church for over a year now and has zero interest in the pathetic personality cult ministries languishing out there. He also certainly has no interest in coddling up with President Trump in getting COG members kicked out of the country. The lies that these stinking turds tell their members make them more pathetic day by day.

From Gerald Flurry to Bob Thiel to Dave Pack and to Ron Weinland, the idiocy and false prophecies these fools make know no boundaries. No government will strike them down, only their own stupidity will do that.

It is time members wake up from their induced stupors and open their eyes to these lairs and leave them and along with their jets, campuses, and worn-out curtains.