LCG Members Told To Build Character And Focus Upon The Work

One thing you have to hand to the Church of God is that they constantly have their followers "working" towards some goal. Work, work, work. 

Times are evil and vile people are in the world trying to turn you away from the mother church.  

Turn your focus upon the church and support its ministry with your money. 

Work, Work, Work, earn the money to support the church. 

After all, it's reaching millions, thousands, hundreds, tens, with their mind-boggling Tomorrow's World presentations. 

But, if only you lazy brethren would turn your focus upon the church and away from your worldly pleasures, we could reach more people and convert them.

For 80 some years now church members have been told to build character and become perfect like God. It's an exhausting task that no one has ever been able to accomplish. LCG members, like most COG members, are tired and worn out by the constant busyness of working towards some unattainable goal that the leaders have set, all the while not realizing they are being relentlessly pursued by the one they never hear much about.

Adjusting Your Focus: During the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread is a good time to evaluate how we spend our time and where we focus our energies and concerns. Jesus told us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). The Apostle Paul advised Christians to “walk circumspectly” (live purposefully) and make the most of our time “because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15–16). Are we focused on the big picture—of doing the Work of God and building the character qualities needed to function in the Family of God? Jesus warned that “the cares of this world” can cause us to lose sight of the big picture (Matthew 13:22). The spring Festivals provide us with an opportunity to evaluate how much time we spend on TV, the Internet, social media, and what we post on Facebook. Let’s use this time to refocus on the big picture of God’s purpose for our lives.

Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail

LCG: Can the Bible Be Understood By Anyone Outside Living Church of God?

 

Living Armstrongism continues to do a great job in picking apart articles in various COG publications. He recently reviewed an article by Mark Mendiola in Living Church of God's Tomorrow's World, "The Bible: A Book for All Time."

Today in LCGland Mediola's writings are no longer used since he left the true faith and he went with Dave Pack for a while before jumping ship to the wackadoodle Church Of God Faithful Flock. 

In September 2006 Mendiola left LCG and joined Dave Pack's Restored Church of God. Around 2008 he left RCG and joined Don Billingsley's Church of God-Faithful Flock. He was credited as helping to produce COG-FF's magazine, The Philadelphia Remnant, as late as 2012.

Anyway, on to some points from his article that Living Armstrongism delved into:

The fourteenth issue of LCG's recruitment magazine, Tomorrow's World (September-October 2001), featured an article by Mark Mendiola of Pocatello, Idaho entitled "The Bible: A Book for All Time." (pp. 16-19.) This was the twelfth of several articles Mendiola would write for this recruitment magazine. Here Mendiola praises the Holy Bible and cites Christians who disagreed with many of Armstrongism's dogmas to praise the Bible but then he says the Bible cannot be understood until one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.

COG propagandists in various publications love to trot out Christians who support the Bible and go out of their way to find comments and antidotes to publish on the veracity of the Scriptures. But then, as usual, will immediately turn around and call them so-called Christians because they do not understand the Bible as the enlightened COG leaders believe they do.

Christians throughout the centuries have understood the concepts of the Bible, especially grace and justification, even though COG leaders do not. Yet those followers of Christ are ridiculed and mocked because they are not law-keepers and members of the true church. They are pagan Sunday worshippers.

Mendiola also cites some other persons like Jeffery Sheler and Grant Jeffrey but, again, they belonged to Christian churches which worship on Sunday thus, according to Herbert Armstrong and his imitators, they bear the mark of the beast. Why does Mendiola cite people who worship on Sunday when he belonged to an organization that teaches that worshipping on Sunday is a terrible thing? 

 

He also cites Charles Sellier and Brian Russell but those men did not appear to have been affiliated with any Armstrongite organization. Mendiola cites all these people to praise the Bible but he does so selectively. He chooses to cite certain words of theirs to say the Bible is of religious importance and reliable but, at the time this article was written, he disregarded anything they say contrary to Armstrongism by choosing to be a follower of LCG.

COG leaders and most ministers have no foundation in real biblical hermeneutics and instead rely upon booklets and articles by previous church leaders and ministers, with the assumption that those people were actually trained in real hermeneutics.

COG leaders and ministers all assume that they and they alone have the "true" understanding of the Bible and because of that claim, NO ONE can understand the Bible outside of a specific COG, in this case, the Living Church of God:

Then after praising the Christian Bible he insists that the Bible cannot be understood unless one chooses to obey (LCG's interpretation of) God.

Amazingly, the Bible even predicts many would not understand it and would consider it cryptic. Most people in the world are drunken with false doctrine and ideas that blur the precious truths contained within its pages. Many consider it sealed. Others think they are not educated enough or must be fluent in Hebrew or Greek to understand it. Even ministers are confused about its teachings....

Jesus Christ said that His disciples would be given the spiritual discernment to understand the hidden truths of the Bible. He told His disciples that He spoke in parables so only they would understand the mysteries of God, and the world at large would not .... 

 

The Living God who inspired the Bible must open our minds to understand it as we show Him a willingness and humility to obey His instructions. ... Obedience to God is the key that will unlock for you the truths of the Bible: a book for all time!

The Christians who have died defending the Bible down through the centuries and understood it beg to differ with LCG's narrow vision. The Christians who have died at the hands of terrorists over the last 50 years also beg to differ.

Also, when has the Living Church of God or even the broader Church of God EVER been obedient to the Bible? The Churches of God as a whole cannot agree upon anything and continue to split into irrelevant useless little groups because none of them will be obedient to the word they claim to follow.

Ultimately, this belief is an excuse to cover up the reason people are not joining COGs these days.

Among the Armstrongite organizations it is taught that one cannot join unless (Armstrongism's interpretation of) God open that person's perception to begin to believe Armstrongism. This explanation is quite useful in explaining away why most people do not convert to Armstrongism after learning about it.

Living Armstrongism: Reading Mark Mendiola's Article, The Bible: A Book for All Time (2001)

UCG: Will You Be Allowed Into The Top Quadrant On UCG's New "Love Map"

 

And people wonder why so many look at today's Church of God being so confused:

John Miller began the presentation by explaining that a lot of energizing work went into the Strategic and Operation Plans that the committee will present and a lot of people contributed to them. The plans build on what has been done before and add to it. 

 

The essence of what is before the Council came from a spontaneous moment in the August 2021 Council workshop during a discussion about Truth in Love. Truth in Love provides a roadmap to achieve the Church’s vision. The concept is simple enough that a child should understand it. 

 

Turning the Page From Old to New: Aaron Dean said that adding scriptures to the plan would be beneficial to the entire Church. In the plan that is being presented, you will see the same plan in two different forms. The second layout is the recasting of the existing plan in a new light to help the Church to move ahead spiritually. It adds a spiritual scale alongside the existing physical elements. 

 

The new plan format will allow pastors to give sermons based on the strategic plan. We expect significant enhancements and modifications to the proposed format in the coming years. 

 

In the presentation, he demonstrated that markers in the old format Operation Plan show where the same elements show up in the restructured plan. 

 

Mapping the Path Toward Living the Vision: John Miller reminded the Council of the Church’s vision statement and the importance of mapping a path to fulfill that vision. This plan will provide more opportunities for more engagement at a local level so that every member can do their part. There is a lot of pent-up opportunity for people to get more involved. 

 

Truth in Love Map: Aaron Dean said that everyone in the world lives somewhere on the Truth in Love map. God the Father and Jesus Christ live in the upper corner of the top quadrant. Others live throughout the other quadrants. We seek to move on the grid toward a goal to “Be Like Him.” If you are in the top quadrant, no matter where you are in that quadrant, you are okay. 

 

We hope that all elders and members will be in a culture of truth in love. We want to practice servant leadership and make meaningful relationships, practicing truth in love to become more like our Father in heaven. We all want to live in that top quadrant, but there has to be a change in each of us to change the culture of the Church.