Those who have had even the slightest impact being involved in the church know that ultimately NOTHING is free in the church.
UCG apparently now believes that their articles are so mind-bogglingly relevant that you will give them money just for reading. Trying to cash in on the success of Substack they think they can do this with their articles.
After a Mario Sieglie article
Worth a discussion: Trooisto has left a new comment on your post "LCG has 90 New Members in the United States! Woo Hoo!":
I'm preparing for a trip to Utah, so I asked an LCG associate if he had eaten at Castle Burger while he was at the FoT in Utah last month.
The LCG associate, in true COG form, could not answer my harmless question without including a disparaging remark about Mormons.
So I said something like those Mormons are a wild and crazy bunch with so many doctrines coming from a book outside of the Bible.
The COGlodyte then added, "just like the Catholics and Protestants".
I replied that the COGs were known for their doctrines that were not found in the Bible and gave him three examples.
For each example, he could not cite any scripture but said that he felt they were addressed in the Bible, and to my surprise, he said, "these are not salvation issues, so it doesn't matter".
After being shocked by his statement I agreed that these examples were not salvation issues but said justification is a salvation issue that LCG will not address.
The COGlodyte said I was wrong and texted me a link to LCG sermons and literature and told me to do a search.
I searched on the spot and could not find a direct match for the word justification.
He then sent me a link to the LCG Statement of Beliefs and said I would find it covered there.
To my surprise, I did find the word justifies in the Statement of Beliefs (I have not yet compared this current Statement with older versions to see if it was recently added). However, this is what was written: "God justifies us from past sins."
Then the Statement of Beliefs goes on to describe how you must keep the law to earn salvation.
The LCG rendering of justification is not biblically accurate.
God forgives (not justifies) us of past sins - present and future sins too. However, the definition of justification is Jesus' righteousness is given to us to make us righteous. This righteousness, from Jesus, is the only righteousness God accepts - and it is not relegated to cover the past - it's an ever-present, forever righteousness that is the only way we can enter the Kingdom.
I guess I'm glad that LCG is looking at the concept of justification but I'm also appalled to see how badly they've mangled the term.
When I pointed out the LCG's egregious mistake to my LCG associate, he quickly changed the subject to how LCG is coming out with a new booklet on Germany.
He seemed excited about this new booklet, which surprised me because one of my examples of extra-biblical doctrines beloved by the COGs was phrased as "Does the Bible reveal the identity of modern Germany".
He kind of admitted that Germany was not named in the Bible.
However, just like his church and fellow COGlodytes, they get much more excited about a non-biblical topic, mere speculation, of the antics of that evil Germany then they care about a beautiful concept that is lovingly displayed in the Bible, such as justification.
This LCG associate would not comment on my wondering if the new LCG booklet on Germany will cover any of the failed prophesies about Germany preached by HWA during the 1930s and 1940's, any of the failed prophesies involving Germany that were recorded in the booklet "1975 in Prophesy", or any of Dr. Winnail's recent praise of that disgraced booklet.
With all the biblical proof that racial/ethnic identity don't matter because we are all one in Jesus, I cannot fathom why LCG feels they can get away with hate speech about the Germans.
The year is winding down and Doug Winnail has continued to pull his old file drawer open and randomly pull out another tired repeat. LCG members need to seek wise counsel when they have problems or questions. That wise decision-making should include going to the ministry, the authority upon everything!
The Value of Counsel: A common pitfall in life is trusting in our own judgment when we only see part of the picture. Making decisions or taking actions based on our own opinions can be costly—to ourselves and others. This is why Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:5, “Lean not on your own understanding,” and in Proverbs 3:7, “Do not be wise in your own eyes,” and again in Proverbs 28:26, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” Solomon also warned in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” To help us avoid making serious mistakes, God inspired Solomon to write in Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” and in Proverbs 15:22, “Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.” We can obtain wise counsel by studying the book of Proverbs and by seeking advice from parents, the ministry, and more experienced people who can be objective and see a bigger picture than we can see on our own. These are the benefits that come when we learn the value of counsel.
Have a profitable Sabbath,
Douglas S. Winnail
Living Church of God has hit a mind-boggling new milestone! Out of 332 million Americans living in the United States, they have gained 90 new members! Woo Hoo! 90 out of 332 million! HWA would be soooooo proud!
Canada also hit a new milestone, it has 45 new members out of 38.25 million citizens.
When that door is open no one can shut it!
Greetings from Charlotte,
The Council of Elders met this week, and it was most encouraging to hear of new members coming to the Church and reports of harmony and warmth at our Festival sites around the world. All except Mr. Rob Tyler were able to attend in person and Mr. Tyler participated electronically for most meetings, in spite of the significant time difference. It was also encouraging to learn that we have about 90 new people attending services in the United States and 45 in Canada (and there are many more who are still showing some degree of interest) as a result of our Tomorrow’s World Presentations this past year. There is no video update this week as we have all been extremely busy with the Council of Elders, telecast tapings, review of the new Germany in Prophecy booklet, and other pressing matters.—Gerald Weston
Germany, Germany, Germany! Where would the COG be without Germany? Germany is Armstrongism's end -all bogeymen. Without Germany, LCG would have no need to function.
Things are not looking too bright for the United Church of God's Angola branches. The government is cracking down on sects that claim to be churches. UCG is being required to get 60,000 signatures of active members that are also willing to have their names publicly listed as members of the church. UCG will never be able to do that as their entire church worldwide is around 22,000. Even if you took every COG splinter out here and added their totals up you will not achieve 60,000 active members.
This not only will be hitting United Church of God but also the other COG's operating there. This will certainly be an issue for God's most perfect COG to ever exist, the improperly named "continuing" Church of God. Bob Thiel will soon be screeching PERSECUTION!
United Church of God
Prayer request from Jorge de Campos, senior pastor, Portuguese language areas:
In the last few years, the Angolan government set up a law entitled the “Law on Freedom of Religion and Worship” which requires any new religious organisation to meet certain requirements to be able to exercise its religious duties. As the Church in Angola has not been registered, it was deemed to be a new religious organisation. One requirement to be registered is that the Church must have 60,000 signatures of members (over 18 years old) who are willing to have their names publicly listed as members of the organisation. 94 religious organisations in Angola are listed as not recognised, and God’s Church in Angola is one of those.The Church has applied for that recognition with the help of an attorney organisation. After a number of years of waiting for a decision, finally such decision was reached by the governing authorities and the Church’s application for recognition was refused.In a letter received just after the Feast, the governing authorities recommended that the Church “join a recognised religious confession whose doctrine and principles relate to the religious beliefs and practices identified with your denomination” and furthermore stated that “you must immediately close down the activities of your Church, under penalty of disobedience, in the general terms of the applicable law.”The penalty for disobedience to this “Law on Freedom of Religion” would involve closing of the Church’s halls and the associated minister or pastor being placed in jail.We are working with the Angolan leadership and are ready to assist them in their endeavours to look for a solution. We will do what we can do, but the key factor is in our Heavenly Father’s hands and subject to His miraculous intervention according to His will.As such, we request your prayers to our Heavenly Father, through His Son and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, for His intervention in this most difficult trial.
Please note that the school we have sponsored in Angola is not affected, as it falls under a different government department and will be able to continue to provide its service to the community.
