LCG Continues With More Camps After Having To Close Down A Youth Camp Due To Numerous People Getting Infected With COVID

Just weeks after children and adults, including Gerald Weston and his wife, being infected with COVID and having to shut the camp down, LCG is marching forward with more summer camps for their kids. One would assume they would have erred on the side of caution and shut things down to prevent more infections, but this is a COG after all. God is on their side and no one will suffer.

Greetings from Charlotte,
We are thankful to have received the keys to the new Canadian office this last week, and our staff is now moving in. By the time you see this, the Adventure Camp will be underway in the spectacular Bob Marshall Wilderness Area of northwest Montana and the West Virginia Preteen Camp will be in the history books. The 2021-2022 Living Education on-site program is getting underway—orientation begins next week and classes begin August 16. Mr. Dan Hall will be filling in for me at the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Tomorrow’s World Presentation this Sabbath. Next week we have Tomorrow’s World presentations scheduled for Long Island, New York, and Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Smith announced that the September Tomorrow’s World magazine is now being printed, with 498,000 copies. As with others who contracted the coronavirus at camp this year, Carol and I are recovering. Carol is getting back to normal and I’m following close behind. Please remember to pray for those who have not yet recovered and are still battling this disease.—Gerald Weston

Living Youth Camp – Must Read if Someone in the Congregation Attended Teen Camp

This year, we concluded the Teen Camp in Athens, Texas, early because of concerns about COVID cases and exposure. Staff and campers received an email last week describing our efforts to relieve any financial burden that might have been caused by the early shutdown. We are refunding camper tuition and offering assistance to staff and campers who incurred additional fees for flight changes to return home early. As a reminder, the deadline for any requests for assistance is August 11. 

Rain miracles happen at Preteen Camp!  

West Virginia Preteen Camp

This is day three of preteen camp. We have 87 campers and staff enjoying the beautiful Mercer County, West Virginia, 4-H camp facilities. A week that was forecast to be filled with rain has turned into partly cloudy skies, sunshine, a breeze, and temperatures in the low to mid-70s— “Gorgeous” would be an understatement. We asked God to hold us under His wings and to give His angels charge over us, as Psalm 91:4 and 11 mentions. And wow!—has God delivered! Yesterday (Tuesday) was supposed to be rainy and we had many outdoor activities, including a bonfire and sing-along planned. All have been praying fervently for God’s intervention in the weather. During the sing-along, we felt a couple raindrops hit our sing-along books, but a glance a hundred feet to the side saw rain pouring down... rain that never reached our location. It was as if we had a giant umbrella over us. Overall, health has been good and we’ve had only a few bumps and scrapes and a couple of runny noses. We continue to pray for God’s protection for our health. Things are running very smoothly and there is a level of peace that I’ve not felt to this degree at any of the previous preteen camps I have attended (and I have attended some excellent camps in the past). Our camp theme this year is “God’s Way Works,” and campers and staff are intent on proving this theme to be true. Thursday is our last full day of camp and we are excited about our final activities. We are super grateful to God for His blessings, protection, and mercy.—Scott Winnail

Wonder if they will ever have a summer camp that is all about "Why Jesus Way Works Best"? 

Doug Winnail On Modern Misguided Leaders

 

It is time once again for the weekly Friday night smackdown, but this time it is not LCG members who are the targets but everyone around them in the world. Everyone rejects LCG teachings and the so-called prophetic warnings they are dishing out, though if one was to really pursue LCG's literature and broadcasts those warnings are nothing new and many of them are just as loco as Bob Thiel's warnings.

In LCG's eyes, everyone in the world around them are hypocrites and mockers of LCG's bible-based values. We are also supposed to forget the hypocrisy of LCG  and other COG leaders that are supposed to be leading the "true" Israelites into the Kingdom of God. It's always the other guys that are so bad, not the current church regimes. Never has the COG movement been such a pathetic cesspool of hypocritical weak leaders.

Please tell us what message that LCG leaders have taken to world leaders? None of them, including every single COG leader out there, has gone to speak to any world leader for decades now. They all believe that was Herbert Armstrong's job, but today in 2021 not one single person in any of those countries could tell you what HWA's message was or even who he was. Some gospel message that was! Some warning!

Modern Misguided Leaders of the LCG would be more appropriate.

Modern Misguided Leaders: Some of the strongest condemnations in the Bible are directed at the leaders of Israel who “cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness” (Jeremiah 23:32; Isaiah 3:12). Many do not realize these prophetic warnings are dual and apply to leaders in modern Israelite nations today! Not only atheists and agnostics deride belief in God and the Bible, but so do leaders in schools, churches, governments, and the media. The claims that Bible-based values are outdated and repressive, and behaviors condemned in the Bible can be promoted, are going to bring serious consequences on modern Israelite nations who have “forsaken” God and will “reap” what they have sown (Jeremiah 2:17–19). Part of our mission as God’s Church is to be a “voice... crying in the wilderness” (Isaiah 40:3), warning Israelite leaders and nations about the serious consequences that lie ahead. This will take courage and clarity in today’s dark world. Let’s do our job and pray, “Thy kingdom come.”

Have a profitable Sabbath, Douglas S. Winnail

Shocking and Disturbing News from Bob Thiel: The Early Christians Were Jewish!

 

Who would have guessed that the early Christians were Jewish?????????????

Was the Christian church originally Greco-Roman-Gentile like the Greco-Roman-Protestant churches or did it more resemble what has been called Jewish-Christianity as is practiced in the ContinuingChurch of God? 

 

Was it more ‘Jewish’ than many think or was the early Christian church led by a pontiff from Rome?

Any student in a real seminary and even one who actually knows their Bible will be able to tell you that the early Christians were Jewish or "more Jewish" as Bwana Bob calls them. But we should not expect much real Christian history from a guy who has only gathered his so-called "sought after" knowledge from COG booklets and teaching from Armstrongite ministers.

Also, let us not forget Bwana Bob's go-to source for his theological understanding...the Catholic Church. 

Many would be surprised what certain Roman Catholic scholars admit and teach about early church history.

For example, did you know that it was the written position of late 20th century Cardinal Jean-Guenolé-Marie Daniélou that church history has generally been mistaught and missed many aspects of what he called Jewish Christianity? He specifically wrote that this has led to a “false picture of Christian history” (Daniélou J, Cardinal. The Theology of Jewish Christianity. Translated by John A. Baker. The Westminster Press, 1964, Philadelphia, p. 2).

And while there are issues with aspects of his research, he was correct that the vast majority have not been properly taught the truth of church history and overlooked the fact that Christianity is more “Jewish” than what is accepted by most of the mainstream churches. Sadly in the 21st century, many seem to prefer the false version of history rather than the real one.

If Bwana Bob actually had a real theological education he would know that Christian historians have known this for centuries. There was also a recent book written about the Jewish Christians, but Bob was too lazy to research that, probably because a woman wrote the book and no woman is supposed to teach men, especially self-appointed COG leaders who are doubly blessed.

 

It's All Your Fault! "People that are abused either physically, mentally, or both did things before God healed them that were bad"

 

I have been sitting on this response from True Christian that came through earlier this morning because I wasn't going to publish it. The more I read it the more insulting it is. This is a comment that was sent to "Dave Pack's Sickening Ability To Destroy Families In His Cult".

This comment reeks of bad theology because the theology they have been spoon-fed by COG leaders,  especially by Dave Pack, has been totally destructive. Jesus really is not that much in the picture other than telling people to "go and sin no more". COG members have no concept of what grace, justification, and sanctification means, and thus they need to rely upon mental midgets like Dave Pack and Bob Thiel to receive visions and dreams from their creature gods. Because of that, we are supposed to excuse their "mistakes" and give them a pass when they lie, tell false prophecies, and/or mentally and spiritually abuse members. No one is allowed to judge these leaders, only the creature god that rules those churches can do that.

I know Mr. Pack isn't perfect but hear me out. For people looking for a better life., Church of god literature will It is the most Biblically based literature. Church of god literature is because it is backed up by the bible. Our restored church of god it is a good church option that promises to help you further your character building with god. You need to remember something, ok people here at banned by Hwa. Christ said there would be tares mixed with the wheat. He said do not pull them up or the wheat would be pulled up too! We must never think the whole congregation is corrupt because of a couple of evil people. Satan has always come after God's people but he can't unless God allows it. But also people that lived terrible lives before they were called God can and does make clean after they are called and they never do really bad sins again. People that are abused either physically, mentally, or both did things before God healed them that were bad. Like Christ did when He was on this earth!! He healed and loved them and Said, "sin no more!!" GOD IS HIS JUDGE. We will know though. Everything that happened. Anyway, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us and there is no one worthy, no, NOT ONE!! because it is ourselves we should be looking at and repent of. No man is perfect not even apostles so we must remember that before pointing out everyone else's mistakes. So please stop talking about Mr. David C. Pack.

A Company Of Nations?

 

A Company of Nations

One of the linchpins of Herbert Armstrong's identification of the United States and Great Britain as the modern manifestations of Israel is found in the thirty-fifth chapter of the book of Genesis. The "prooftext" reads as follows: "And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins..." (Genesis 35:11, KJV) For Armstrong, "a nation" implied the single greatest nation in the history of the earth (the United States), and "a company of nations" suggested a great commonwealth of nations led by Great Britain. For him and his followers, those promises could never have been fulfilled by any other nations in the history of the world!

Indeed, this verse continues to be the foundational "prooftext" for the Armstrong Churches of God up to the present day. In their article Does the United States Appear in Bible Prophecy?, the United Church of God underscores the fact that: "God specifically told Jacob that through him would come 'a nation and a company of nations' (Genesis 35:11)." They go on to point out that "The promise of national expansion beyond Canaan into a great nation and company of nations was never fulfilled in biblical times by the Israelites." According to the article, this promise devolved onto the two sons of Joseph: Ephraim and Manasseh; and they go on to reference the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis (verse 19) to prove it. They conclude: "Descended from Ephraim was the group of nations that formed out of the greatest empire the world has ever seen, the British Empire...Out of this power came the British-descended countries of the Commonwealth of Nations—Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand." What of Manasseh? They conclude: "From Manasseh came the great single nation. Its people dwelt with the Ephraimites in Great Britain until it was time for their separation through westward colonization and a war for independence—the American Revolution, by which came the formation of the United States."

For the sake of this argument, we will overlook the license which they employ in their interpretation of greatness, and their complete dismissal of the fact that God's promises to the patriarchs were clearly tied to a particular piece of real estate in the Middle East (see Genesis 15). Instead, we will focus on those all important phrases in United's principal prooftexts (Genesis 35:11 and 48:19): "a company of nations" and "a multitude of nations" respectively.

First, it should be noted that these promises are directly/purposefully associated in Scripture with God's promises to make Abraham "fruitful" and to "multiply" him. In other words, whatever these promises entail, they are intimately connected to God's promise to make Abraham's descendants like the stars in the sky or the sands on the seashore in numbers.

Now, according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, the Hebrew word translated into English as "company" is "qahel" - meaning "assembly, company, congregation, convocation" (especially in a religious context). In similar fashion, the same source informs us that the Hebrew word translated into English as "multitude" is "melo" - meaning "fulness, handful, mass, multitude." In both cases, the English word "nations" is a translation of a Hebrew word that means nations or peoples (especially Gentile ones). Hence, to suggest that the original Hebrew predicts a "commonwealth of nations" frankly stretches linguistic credibility to the breaking point!

In fact, the sense of the original Hebrew wording suggests an assembly of folks from all of the kindreds of the earth. In other words, the language used in these passages once again points to these promises finding their ultimate fulfillment in and through the Messiah (tying it back into the promise that all of the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham). Indeed, the English word "commonwealth" suggests a republic or a collection of republics - a much more narrowly defined connotation than that implied by the original Hebrew in these verses.

Is it possible then that these verses refer to Israel and all of the other peoples of the earth who will be saved through Jesus Christ? In fact, isn't that interpretation much more plausible than suggesting that the United States and British Commonwealth are the modern manifestations of Manasseh and Ephraim (especially in light of all of the historical, linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence which refutes such a conclusion)? Don't we really have to stretch the language in these verses (and their context) to make them identify the U.S. and Britain as Israel?

Lonnie Hendrix