Living Church of God members still cannot do anything right. It's a constant struggle to measure up to the standards LCG expects of them, and of which not one single leader in the Living Church of God has ever done himself. Not a single one!
Living Church of God members spend weeks before the Passover beating themselves up for one sin after another. Others wait till they walk in the door that night. Either way, walking into the room, you know ahead of time, that you are worthless and lower than the worms in the ground. Then as you are sitting there listening to the same story, every year, that you are worthless crap, you get to hear the breaking of the matzos as it is amplified through the sound system so that you feel EXTRA guilty as you recrucify Jesus Christ every year.
As Bereans Did had this up on their site today: Passover in the Age of Social Distancing
It's more challenging to clearly define the views of the Churches of God, since they never had a systematic theology and each splinter has its own flavor. Generally, though, the COGs view Passover – their annual communion service – as an observance critical to salvation. This view is based on Numbers 9:13:
But if anyone who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, they must be cut off from their people for not presenting the Lord's offering at the appointed time. They will bear the consequences of their sin.
This application is in keeping with COG teachings on “ongoing justification” - that man is initially reconciled to God through Christ's sacrifice, but then is responsible for keeping his own slate clean – to varying extents – through a track record of repentance and spiritual growth. In short, if you're required to keep your library record up to date, the appointment for renewing your library card is critical. and the schedule for available renewals is pretty limited - in this case, one evening per year.
This is exactly what Doug Winnail is describing below:
Passover and Beyond: The Holy Days are a vital part of God’s plan for mankind of eventually becoming part of His family. In the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, we are given two incredible tools to help us grow and develop the mind and character of God (Philippians 2:5; 1 John 3:1–3). To grow in this direction, we need to take time during this period to carefully examine our own thoughts and actions (1 Corinthians 9:24–27; 2 Corinthians 10:3–5). We need to honestly and prayerfully study God’s word and ask Him to help us see what commandments we are breaking and what instructions we are not following as we should (1 Corinthians 11:26–32). We also need to focus on clearly seeing our own shortcomings and resist judging others for their problems (Matthew 7:1–5). Recognizing the problems that are hindering our own growth is a big step toward becoming more like God and our Elder Brother Jesus Christ. It is also tremendously encouraging to realize that we can be forgiven of our sins (John 3:16). Yet, there is more to the process—we also need to be overcomers (Revelation 2:26–27; 3:12, 21). To actually make progress in overcoming our sins, we need to spend some time during the Days of Unleavened Bread planning how we are going to replace certain thoughts and actions that are holding us back from growing to become more like our Father. We need to “ponder the path of [our] feet” (Proverbs 4:26–27) and identify what changes we need to make (more time to pray and study, how we can treat others better, etc.)—and then focus on doing those things. Make a list and begin to work on it in the days following the Passover and Days Unleavened Bread, so we can prepare to be more effective instruments in God’s hands.
Have a positive and profitable Sabbath and Holy Day Season,
Douglas S. WinnailNot a single thing mentioned about what that sacrifice they claim to be celebrating or any word about justification or sanctification. But then, Jesus is not that important in the LCG. The law still reigns supreme.
