Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
The Ethics Committee is tasked with addressing ethical violations by any elder, overseeing the Member Appeal Committee and the Elder Appeal Committee, in addition to any other matter the Council would remand to it.
Currently there are no pending matters before the Ethics Committee. However, since the December 2019 meetings the Ethics Committee was involved in three proposed Member Appeals. Those Member Appeals were rejected because the individuals submitting the appeals did not meet the criteria for a Member Appeal (specifically, they had not received any “disciplinary measures” to appeal). The Ethics Committee worked collaboratively on the letters to explain to these members why their appeal was not being considered.
Later in these meetings, the Ethics Committee will discuss moderators for the GCE Elders Forum and ask the Council to appoint men for the Member Appeal Committee.
Members on the Ethics Committee: Dan Dowd (chair), Bob Dick, Darris McNeely, Mario Seiglie and Tony Wasilkoff.
Church of God members have never had a real avenue of justice in the church when abusive church leaders assert their power over members. Usually, that justice was a swift kick out the door. These people will soon get a pretty little letter filled with UCG's version of we "love you, but we are not going to do anything about your accusations." As we are all well aware, no one exemplifies love more than the boys in Cincinnati.
One of the Church of God's self-appointed lawgivers and prophet of doom is not happy today. For many years now he has been telling various Church of God groups how wrong they are and that they are doomed to suffer mightily in the tribulation because they ignore him. No one in the Church of God or the entire universe is as zealous as James Malm, no one can there ever be. No one can ever live up to his zealotry and extreme expectations. That's why a new covenant was given to humanity, but this has failed to sink in to this prophet of zealotry.
Mario Seiglie’s Doctrinal Committee confirms that UCG will continue to pollute the Sabbath. This guarantees God’s correction in the tribulation for UCG, along with COGWA and LCG and all those who likewise pollute God’s Holy Sabbath Day.
Malm is incensed that UCG is refusing to force members to not eat out in restaurants on Friday nights and Saturdays. Nothing infuriates the Pharisee more than seeing people ignore his demands that he regularly sends in emails and letters to UCG and other COG's. Imagine a god that damns people to the tribulation for having a nice meal on a Friday night in a nice restaurant after a long week, or buying some food on a Saturday and heading off to the park with the children. Malm's god is NOT happy!
Doctrine Committee Update—Mario Seiglie
A brief update was given on one completed project by the Doctrine Committee (DC). This project did not receive any support from the DC or its sub-committees. Presenting this project follows the guidelines for the DC to inform the Council of its completion and the author was informed there was no support. This project was “Eating Out on the Sabbath.”
No matter how long the unemployed prophet bangs away on his keyboard, everyone seems to ignore him. Prophets are always without honor in their countries, but that especially hits at home with Malm as he begs for others to support him with financial contributions. He never seems to realize that no one supports him because they are sick of his unnecessary demands.
One thing the Church of God has been an abject failure at is its prophecy addiction. The church has vomited out so many self-appointed prophets and false prophecies over the decades that you would think they would have learned to keep their mouths shut. But they cannot. In their self-righteous narcissism, they go on spouting endless streams of illogical and baseless nonsense. So far, the track record of every single COG leader and self-appointed prophet of doom in the church has a batting average of ZERO. All except for one church of God. The Living Church of God has the SURE WORD of prophecy. They know it all and exactly how it will happen.
LCG is so sure of its self that they have a warning for us all. BEWARE! There are self-proclaimed teachers and nasty people with blogs that ridicule the lies and false prophecies of the church and its various leaders. How dare anyone accuse them of "prophecy addiction"! Seriously! How can they ever be wrong? Rod Meredith never told any false prophecies. Nor does Bob Thiel, Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Ron Weinland, Don Billingsley, and James Malm. Nope, every single word they have ever said is 100% true. As the end-time prophets to the church and to the world, God is secretly speaking to each and every one of them with the exact timeline on how things will soon be happening. It is impossible for them to make a mistake and say something wrong with god on their side. The problem with false prophets in the church is that they usually tell partial truths. There's a Yiddish proverb that says, "A half-truth is a whole lie." These predictions sound good to naive church members and they quickly fall for these guys. Don't expect anything less from these fools. Outwardly they look as innocent as sheep, but inwardly, they are ravenous wolves ready to devour the gullible ones. Because the bastardizers of the law have taken the focus off the one they are supposed to be following, the members are not well-grounded in the new covenant and therefore become easy targets when they hear these fools say things that sound "right" but are actually statements filled with error.
Pay Attention to Prophecy: Jesus told His disciples to stay alert and watch for the fulfillment of specific Bible prophecies that will mark the approaching end of this age (Matthew 24). He also warned in the parable of the foolish virgins that many will be caught napping and unprepared by the surge of events that will precede His return to this earth (Matthew 25:1–13). It is truly amazing how God has given His Church a “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19, KJV) so we can warn this world about the prophetic significance of both current and impending world events (Ezekiel 3 and 33). Yet, misguided, self-proclaimed teachers have ridiculed the Church’s understanding of prophecy and accused members of suffering from “prediction addiction,” or promoted the idea that end-time Bible prophecies are not really for us today, but for some time off in the future. As we see world events building to a prophetic crescendo, let’s make sure that we are building a closer relationship with God and His word, and that we are learning to study and live by that word every day (Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:15). Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail
"It is an undeniable fact the 'fruit' of the Protestant Reformation is the divided 'churchianity' of our day. We must say at the outset that this is bad fruit. Paul tells us that the Spirit of God produces unity-not division." -p.104 The Plain Truth About The Protestant Reformation, Rod Meredith
The quote about the "undeniable fact" that the Protestant Reformation resulted in divided "churchianity" and the observation that God's spirit leads to unity and not division is priceless. All I can say is wow! The lack of self-awareness and utter denial of the leadership within many of these groups is truly amazing. I simply cannot think of any other explanation as to why this stuff would be published since it is so descriptive of the current state of the splintered cogs that has just gotten progressively worse over the last twenty-five years, with little effort or even desire from the leadership of our various factions, or denominations, which is what we are, to try to remedy the situation. What then, should this tell us about any evidence of the Holy Spirit working through the governmental structures and leadership of these groups when we are a reflection of the very thing we criticize about those we consider Protestants? What conclusion is any thinking person supposed to come to? Or are we simply to read the words but not make too many connections with the reality of the Corporate COG itself, and therefore not learn the lesson that God seems to be placing in front of our own noses. We point to the lack of clothing someone else is wearing, when we ourselves are poor, blind, miserable, and naked. If the Roman Catholic "system" is truly to blame for the ills of Christianity, then why do so many of our corporate church leaders mimic and defend their governmental system? Does the fact that we call the man in charge a president, presiding evangelist, or pastor general instead of a pope, somehow make it okay? We claim Jesus as our head, but so do the Catholics. They claim Jesus as their "invisible head" while the pope occupies the position of "visible head". Are we so very different? Ask your average cog member or minister where their "headquarters" is. Most will tell you it's in Charlotte, Cincinnati, etc. It won't even occur to them to tell you that it resides in heaven, where the true head of the body currently sits. We pay lip service to Jesus as our king, while we seek out human kings, just as Ancient Israel did. Want more proof that the governmental system many of us grew up in and have largely continued is in many cases effectually the same as theirs? Here is a quote from a letter HWA wrote to the ministry in a publication called the Bulletin in the 1970s..."Meanwhile, Christ, who KNOWS better than we that He is dealing with fallible humans --but who are HONEST with His Word, has BOUND in heaven what His Church, even in unrealized error, has bound in earth." (Dec.3, 1974) In other words, what is being said here, is that even if the "church", meaning the corporate structure, or guy in charge is in "error" Jesus binds it anyway. How is this in practice any different than what the Catholics teach about humans being given the authority to bind and loose? And what happens then if we as individual Christians within the body come to see that something is in error? Are we to just wait until Jesus somehow "unbinds" it, and hope the guy in charge or "church" picks up on it? Or do we have a responsibility to work out our own salvation with trembling and fear? Will we be held accountable if we continue to practice or believe something that is untrue, because it has been "bound" by the human powers within the corporation we attend? This is just one of the pitfalls of a strict pyramidal hierarchy, that does not allow for the practice of faith and conscience of the individual Christian. Concerned Sister
Jesse Moskel tells his amazing story about his life from prison in Thailand to owning a successful copywriter business. Moskel was the son of a COG minister and tells an emotional story about how his sister died because his parents did not get her medical treatment.
An American, a convicted drug trafficker, traces his redemption and good fortune to a decision one day to be the happiest person in the prison. He not only survived what is for some, a death sentence but also, in short order, became a free man, a stronger man and one with a mission. Thai prisons have a significant mortality rate for those serving long sentences.
Next week, the story of an American who spent five years in Thai prison and who survived an ordeal which saw him facing a death sentence and finally a jail term of 104 years, will be published by National Geographic Channel, the paid-for TV channel coast to coast. The inspiring story shows how Jesse Moskel’s response to his predicament, at its darkest point, transformed his life and put him on the right path.
The story of the 44-year-old American who now runs a PR and advertising business in the city of Columbia in South Carolina is about to become national news in the United States next week when featured by TV channel National Geographic. It is another inspiring story of a western man who finds himself, after plumbing the depths of the despair and the nightmare of being locked up for life in a Thai prison.
Initially facing the death sentence
Jesse was facing two very serious charges, one carrying the death penalty and the other, a lesser charge with a potential four-year term. Even if spared the death penalty, he was facing a lifetime in prison and that in itself would take costly legal representation.
One year later, after spending all his money on lawyers, Jesse Moskel’s finally determined sentence was reduced to one hundred and four years. A result. Fortunately, it was later reduced again to twenty-seven years in prison.
People don’t admit it, but there are uplifting moments of comfort inside a grim Thai prison
Even during this ordeal, however, Jesse found himself adapting to the situation. He readily admits what most people don’t acknowledge and that is that there are ways of coping with an ordeal like the nightmare he found himself in and at times, there were even some high points and things that happened that gave him comfort.
The turning point – a decision to be happy
The turning point for the American was one day when he decided that he was determined to be happy and break away from the negativity of many of the people about him.
He set himself the target of being the happiest person in his cell and the prison for that one day.
It worked. The American says not only did he feel better but through repeatedly practising this, he attracted other people towards him who had a more positive mindset. Even among the criminals, murderers and rapists, there were some.
Turned to God and not to crime
The American also faced the choice of which direction he would take with his life from that point. That is when he decided to recommit to God and religion rather than the other path which led to more illegal activity.
One Columbia man embarked on a trip to Thailand in 2007 after teaching English in South Korea for a year and ended up locked up.
Jesse Moskel, who now owns a public relations firm in the Columbia area, faced the death penalty for one drug charge and a life sentence for another in Thai prison. After five years and time in five different prisons across that country, he came home to the U.S.
Moskel said he was sitting in a jail cell in 2008, crammed in with dozens of others. He had just been arrested and had no way to call loved ones or even a translator to explain his sheet of charges. That is, until he found another prisoner who spoke English, and delivered some devastating news.
“He looked up after reading it and said, ‘Jesse, you’re never going to go home,’” Moskel said.
Moskel said he was charged with the death penalty and a life sentence for manufacturing and dealing drugs, a mistake he does admit to.
“It’s one of those weird things you can’t really calculate how painful it is to have that door slam behind you and have a guy explain to you that you are going to be there for the rest of your life. The sense of regret is so deep and so wide,” Moskel said.
