Guess What PCG Says Is The Greatest Thing The World Needs Today?

 

When it comes to the Philadelphia Church of God and its proclamations, nothing should surprise us anymore. The focus is never on Jesus, but on sacred rocks, Irish dance, Gerald Flurry's visions, breaking up families and proclaiming Gerald Flurry as King.

Today they featured an article on their website that is from 2003 and written by the King himself.

It discusses the MOST IMPORTANT thing in the entire universe that PCG is to proclaim. Is it Jesus, his words and what he has accomplished, or something else? This is a Church of God after all, so forget about the focus being upon Jesus.

This focus is God's most supreme goal facing humanity today. Without this goal, humanity will never understand anything about salvation! 

This must be God’s supreme goal for His Philadelphian elect today. 

So what is that goal? Many of you probably already know. It is the promotion of the most god-awful book ever written. A book so bad and sooooooooo incredibly boring that most COG members have never completed it and a book that they have stuck in a box in the garage or on the top shelf of a bookcase where it will never be looked at again. Yet humanity's salvation is dependant upon this book.

The greatest single gift we can give to the world is Mystery of the Ages. Let’s think and work like God and give it to “the largest audience possible”!

Who knew that the single greatest gift to the world was a frigging book! Not Jesus. Nope! But a stupid, poorly written book. A book filled with so many doctrinal errors and outright deceptive lies that it should be dumped in the trash just like the Worldwide Church of God did in the 1990s when it hauled tens of thousands of copies of the book and other literature in the Glendale dump.

Even Bruce Lyon in Servant News panned the book.

A Mixture of Truth and Error

“All teaching came from Christ through the apostles… God’s Church today, as in the first century, receives its teachings from the living Christ, through an apostle, just as in AD 31.” (Page 350)

Considering the plain errors noted in a number of the teachings of this book and the previous book (The Incredible Human Potential), something is terribly wrong here. I’ll trust the Bible over Herbert Armstrong any day. Sure, I could go through this book and list a dozen or more good things. However, I did not come to praise this book, but to bury it.

I honestly thought we had allowed these two books, Mystery of the Ages and The Incredible Human Potential, to die natural deaths after they were both withdrawn by the WCG about 1990. They were rarely, if ever, referred to even before 1990 in my experience. I assumed that was because the numerous obvious errors were plain to many—especially to educated elders. 

When books have upwards of ten percent error, then they are as much or more trouble as they are worthwhile.

In the categories of unproven statements and opinions stated as fact (many of which I believe are easily disproved), along with information that is simply erroneous, I estimate that The Incredible Human Potential is 30% or more flawed (and not just chapters 4 and 5!). I estimate that Mystery of the Ages is at least 25% flawed. I have only shown some of the problems in this book.

As a whole, these books have way too many holes!

When truth is greatly interlaced with errors, the credibility of the whole suffers and the credibility of those who promote it. Even unconverted people can often see some of the false concepts, scriptural and historical, noted above.

The mixture of good and error in these books is strongly intertwined. Several themes and concepts Mr. Armstrong weaves throughout both books are false or unsupported by the Bible (yet stated as fact).

My desire is simple: let’s get rid of obvious biblical errors and other misinformation (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and let’s not be unbiblically cult-like in any way.

God was never dependent on Herbert Armstrong. Nor does our salvation depend on Mr. Armstrong in any way; it never did.

If grossly inaccurate books are retained as beneficial and recommended, then continual and needless controversy and confusion will result. This is already the case.

Truer words could never be spoken than what Bruce Lyon stated above (highlighted in yellow).

God did not need Herbert Armstrong. He does not need Bob Thiel, Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack, Vic Kubik, Gerald Weston, Bill Watson, or any of the other splinter group leaders out there to do His supposed "work". 

COG groups need to stop focusing upon "grossly inaccurate books" and grossly inaccurate teachings of people like Thiel, Pack, and Flurry. Their words are nothing more than stinking dung on a steaming pile of manure.

 

"Easy Peasy" APistol David C Pack Knows What UFOs Really Are

 I made the effort to listen to Sermon 305 but same old, same old. More rambling, scripture mining, and cobbling the unrelated into the irrelevant, signifying nothing.  He does like the phrase "Easy Peasy" when something is obvious so here is the takeaway.

UFOs are clearly demons preparing our minds for what is to come. It is no coincidence this comes up just before everything Dave understands is about to come to pass.  

Doug Winnail Actually Has A Profitable Word For Once

 

We have been ragging on Doug Winnail's annual Friday night beat down of LCG members and things they have constantly been doing wrong. Perhaps LCG has have been paying attention to the comments by LCG members here because for the last three weeks Doug's Friday night message has been relatively positive.

0. Be Prepared! We are living in increasingly uncertain times, with unstable economies, job insecurity, storms, floods, droughts, and sudden terrorist activities. Due to our modern dependence on technology, these dramatic events can cause serious disruptions in our daily lives—thus we need to plan ahead for unexpected emergencies. This is reflected in the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared! Solomon offered the same advice when he wrote, “Ponder the path of your feet”—think about where you are going and how to get there (Proverbs 4:26). Solomon also observed, “A prudent man foresees evil [danger] and hides himself [takes refuge], but the simple [the naïve and unsuspecting] pass on and are punished [they have to face the consequences of not being prepared]” (Proverbs 22:3). God’s Church has long encouraged members to prepare for unexpected emergencies—keep a supply of bottled water, a stock of non-perishable food, extra vitamins, first aid supplies, extra batteries for flashlights, a battery-powered radio, a camp stove or heating device, etc.—things that may be needed if normal public services are disrupted. While God’s people will look to Him for their ultimate protection, we also need to do our part to be prepared—so we are not taken by surprise.

   Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

Gerald Weston on the Continuing Mind-Boggling Growth of the LCG

 

Remember the days when Herbert Armstrong and others gloated about the thousands of viewers they had to broadcasts and the thousands of live people who showed up for personal appearance campaigns and other speaking events the church-sponsored? It was literally in the thousands, and quite a few of those people ended up joining the church.

But this is 2021 and we have the Living Church of God bragging over the 17  people who show up. Of course, this was to hear Jonathan McNair. Jonathan McNair! Sigh. 

Mr. Wallace Smith was in Indianapolis, Indiana, last Sabbath for a Tomorrow’s World Presentation. Twenty guests and 31 members attended in person. Mr. Jonathan McNair conducted a TWP in Crossville, Tennessee, for 17 guests and 17 members who attended in person. While we see continual loosening of COVID-19 restrictions here in the United States, it is not the same elsewhere. Mr. Rajan Moses reports that Malaysia has gone into complete lockdown from June 1 to June 14. Since these lockdowns are often extended, he requests prayers so that they can plan for the Feast. Also pray for Mr. Ephraim Abok, one of our Kenyan ministers, who is in hospital with pneumonia.—Gerald Weston

Why Aren't COG Members Allowed To Own Canadians?

This never gets old.

 The same logic that COG leaders pick and choose from.

In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. 

The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination ... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. 

A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? 

  

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of Menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. 

 

The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence. 

 

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9. 

 

The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them? 

 

5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. 

 

Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it? 

 

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination? 

 

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here? 

 

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die? 

 

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves? 

 

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14) 

 

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

(It would be a damn shame if we couldn't own a Canadian)