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HWA: Pray For My Son Who Is Dying, AND Send Me Your Money!

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The Philadelphia Church of God has spent over two decades deifying Herbert Armstrong.  They now are attempting to deify Richard Armstrong, by calling him the first martyr of the end times.
“God called on Abraham to be willing to sacrifice his son. God was willing to sacrifice His Son for you and me. I have had to give up my son. Richard David Armstrong died Wednesday morning, July 30, as the first real martyr for God’s cause in these latter days just before the return of Christ in all power and glory” (Herbert W. Armstrong, co-worker letter, Aug. 5, 1958). 
One thing that stands out in the article is the attitude of Herbert Armstrong.  Never one to miss an opportunity to gather in money, he used Richard Armstrong's terrible accident to guilt trip members into sending in as much money as they could.  HWA would later use this same tactic when his wife was dying from a blocked colon.
Another co-worker letter, dated August 28 of the same year, states, “Some had thought God would never let such a thing happen …. But nothing would please Satan more than to see us now lose faith.”
It’s no wonder why God, in the same chapter known as the “faith chapter,” goes into detail about the martyrdom of so many of His saints. The Church and its co-workers received perhaps the biggest lesson in faith it had ever received! In a co-worker letter written after the accident, before Richard died (on July 27), Mr. Armstrong scolded many of them for letting down in their prayers and offerings. “Co-workers, will you not only pray for my son’s miraculous and speedy recovery—but also for the financial salvation of the Work of God?” Throughout the letter, with the call for more believing prayers, Mr. Armstrong called for more faithful offerings. He said Satan had struck one of God’s “very chiefest laborers,” but that God’s Work needed more co-worker laborers “who help with their urgent heart-rending prayers, and with their tithes and generous offerings, regularly every month, or even every week.”
The financial salvation of the work?  Seriously?  How sick can the manipulative man get?  This request was all about manipulation. Make the members feel that because THEY had slacked off on prayers and in giving that it was their fault Richard had this terrible accident.

"Disgusting sinners!  If you had been praying more my son would not have been injured and the work would be increasing! Get on your knees and beg God to heal my son and to correct your sinful attitudes as you give more money!"




Cheers!

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A tough thing to do, but a freeing thing to do.

While Everyone else is SCARED about 1972/1975 in Prophecy, GTA JOKES ABOUT IT TO MINISTERS!!!! (1971, DEC)

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photo scanned by SHT


While church members around the world worried about the time of our eminent fleeing to Petra, Garner Ted and others in Pasadena knew nothing was happening and made fun of it all.  The dumb sheep were easy to mock.

I always find it interesting to read COG apologist who will get on their soap boxes and vehemently deny the church ever set dates.  Those men are liars, plain and simple.

I have related here before how the ministry int he Dayton, Ohio church revealed a timeline down to the month we would be fleeing.  It was at a combined service with Columbus that this all went down.  It had to be at a holy day service because we were instructed to arrive back on time for the afternoon service as the doors were to be locked at a certain time and anyone left outside would not be permitted in.  This was supposed to prohibit unconverted ears from hearing what was about to go down.

We arrived back and the minister had a large blackboard on stage.  He proceeded to map out in detail the timeline for the date for us to flee to Petra, down to the month, the week, then day.  My mother copied this down precisely, as she was the one who typed up all the sermons and gave them to the tape library to hand out each week at church.

As the weeks and months went by, my mother crossed each one off.  She had posted this inside the kitchen cupboard so that wandering eyes of neighbors, or the police would not see it.  I remember her mentioning hiding it from the police.  It was a well-known fact that Satan would send the police to try and stop us all from fleeing.

This epic prophetic failure disqualified Herbert Armstrong and every single evangelist, and minister that promoted it.  Scripture tells us that all one need to be a false prophet is to have ONE prophecy fail and they are not to be trusted after that. 

As we all know by now, in 2018, the Church of God is filled to the brim with lying fools like Weinland, Pack, Flurry, Thiel, Malm, and others who continue to set dates and then have to refigure those dates to fit their epic failures. 

20 "But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven't commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die."
21 You may be wondering among yourselves, "How can we tell the difference, whether it was God who spoke or not?" Here's how:
22 If what the prophet spoke in God's name doesn't happen, then obviously God wasn't behind it; the prophet made it up. Forget about him. Deuteronomy 18:20-22

1 God's Message came to me:
2 "Son of man, preach against the prophets of Israel who are making things up out of their own heads and calling it 'prophesying.'
3 God, the Master, pronounces doom on the empty-headed prophets who do their own thing and know nothing of what's going on!
4 Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals scavenging through the ruins.
5 They haven't lifted a finger to repair the defenses of the city and have risked nothing to help Israel stand on God's Day of Judgment.
6 All they do is fantasize comforting illusions and preach lying sermons. They say 'God says . . .' when God hasn't so much as breathed in their direction. And yet they stand around thinking that something they said is going to happen.
7 "Haven't you fantasized sheer nonsense? Aren't your sermons tissues of lies, saying 'God says . . .' when I've done nothing of the kind?  Ezekiel 13:1-7
The vermin, the false teachers, the bastardizers of the law, and the self-appointed who have set themselves up as church leaders and prophets have proven to all be liars.  None of them deserves to be followed.
But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death. Deuteronomy 18:20-22



Why You're Going To The Lake of Fire: July 19, 1961 Co-Worker Letter

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Co-Worker/Member Letter - July 19, 1961
Yet, when our Lord and Master and leader Jesus Christ PUTS HIS CHURCH TO THE TEST, a very large portion of us seem to FAIL HIM. We, like carnal Israelites of old, do not want to OBEY His orders. We gripe and "murmur" and complain and criticize, and want to go contrary to HIS way, even as carnal ancient Israel. But, IF we are really IN God's own Church, WE HAVE RECEIVED THE GIFT OF HIS HOLY SPIRIT----we have had our carnality CHANGED---we have been graciously given, by God's mercy and loving grace, a NEW NATURE---A NEW ATTITUDE AND SPIRIT---one of willing and eager submission and cooperation, instead of the spirit of rebellion, independence, and criticism.
I am thoroughly discouraged, and I'm going to tell you WHY---and if some of you---yes, MANY of you---do not WAKE UP, and REPENT, I say to you on Christ's authority that He is about to spue you out of His mouth, and your end will be the lake of fire! I am not going to soft-pedal or mince words. God commands me, as His minister, to cry ALOUD and show you who profess to be HIS PEOPLE your sins, lest you fall under HIS TERRIBLE CONDEMNATION! I do not propose to minimize this, because MANY OF YOU PROFESSING BRETHREN ARE IN DANGER OF THE FINAL HELL FIRE JESUS SAID SO MUCH ABOUT!
I am heartsick and grieved at heart. Some of you whom God has called to be my real HELPERS in His work make yourselves,instead, my biggest discouragement.
This is being caused by TWO current experiences.
1) On June 19---just a month ago---our office in Pasadena sent you in the western third of the United State a long letter about the Feast of Tabernacles being held---for brethren of this western part of the country---at a new place JESUS CHRIST has designated for us---a magnificent, exciting, breath-takingly beautiful place---Squaw Valley.
YET IT IS NOW REPORTED TO ME THAT MANY OF YOU SEEM TO BE COMPLAINING, AND PLANNING TO REBEL AGAINST YOUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND GO TO GLADEWATER, TEXAS, IN SPITE OF US!
Brethren some of you---and apparently MANY of you---need to go to a private place of prayer, and beg the Christ who died for you and granted you the gift of His Holy Spirit to HAVE MERCY ON YOU and FORGIVE YOU! Some of you are showing a wrong rebellious uncooperative and selfish spirit. Some of you are putting the visiting with unconverted relatives ahead of obedience to CHRIST, and cooperation with His CHURCH!

contributed by SHT, all direct quotes of Herbert Armstrong


LCG: Gerald Weston Institutes A Church Wide Fast To Be Held Yearly After The Feast of Tabernacles

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Leave it to the Church of God to institute more extra-biblical legalistic nonsense over their members.  More hoops and regulations for people to go through in order to please their god.  LCG members always seem to have to be doing something to appease the wrath of their angry god who is perpetually pissed off.

LCG members will have celebrated 8 days symbolizing a time that depicts the Kingdom of God, a time of joy and rest, yet they must be such vile creatures that they immediately sin after being in that kingdom and have to start fasting.  You can be guaranteed no such thing will be required in the Kingdom of God that they all claim to be looking eagerly forward to.

Oh yes, and lest you forget, EEEEEEEVIL is about to descend upon the Living Church of God and troublesome times are ahead.  That broken record has been skipping in that same spot for 80+ years now.


Dear Brethren and Fellow Servants of God,
We have much to be thankful for as we enter into the seventh-month Festival season. Events certainly seem to be speeding up, hastening the time when these Feasts will be fulfilled. We often turn to Nehemiah 8 when giving sermons during this time of year. There we read of how the Jews kept the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day. Although it does not mention Atonement, it is almost certain that they fasted on that day. We rarely go on to read the first verse of the next chapter, which offers an interesting insight. The Last Great Day ends on the 22nd day of the month. In chapter 9, verse 1, we see that they fasted two days later, probably on the first Sabbath after the Feast. It has been a practice of the Church to have a Church-wide fast from time to time, and since we have not had one this year, I thought it would be good to do so shortly after the Feast. Some of us discussed this at a recent meeting here in Charlotte, and since many travel all over the world, it seems best to hold a fast a couple weeks following the Feast. We are therefore calling for a Church-wide fast for the Sabbath of October 20. We recognize that some individuals or Church congregations already have plans in place for that Sabbath, so it is certainly fine to choose the next day or another day close to this day. Let us plan now to voluntarily set that day aside, or one close to it, to examine and humble ourselves before our Creator, and beseech Him to strengthen and bless His Church as we see an evil time descending around us.
Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Gerald Weston

Rod Meredith made "DOUBLY SURE" there was no chance of an "accidental ordination" of Bob Thiel

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Written by Rod Meredith himself: December 1957

Did Rod Meredith foresee decades ago self-appointed wannabe's trying to rise up in the ministry?
I guess "Doubly Blessed" Bob thought that an accidental ordination was being "Doubly Careful" under Rod Meredith. 
Rod Meredith made sure there was no chance of an "Accidental Ordination". 
Sorry, Bob. Your ordination was absolutely not legitimate, by Rod's Own Words. And seeing that this was the man that you were under this man in corporate authority when you got accidentally doubly blessed and made into a something something - you know better than that. 
So who ordained you, and authorized you to act as a minister and start the Continuing Church of God? 

Rod Meredith knew that Thiel was not qualified to be ordained, which is why he refused to do it ever since Global and Living Church of God formed. Meredith knew that a large number of the membership had no respect for the guy and actually found him to be rather obnoxious.  Thiel was not trained and certainly was NOT qualified to be ordained a minister.  His bogus double blessing by Gaylyn Bonjour was no blessing at all to start a new church.

"Thus, we have been doubly "careful" in recent years 

about ordaining 
elders, deacons and deaconesses.
And we whould be!


Herbert Armstrong: Races were to remain segregated till the end of this world...

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Source: Good News, November 1957 
"Why America is CURSED" 


Here are three clips I have grabbed from the Good News. If there be any doubt HWA was racist - here's the proof. Apparently to HWA, God "commands" racial segregation, and apparently, segregation was not considered sinful and evil to to HWA. Those who thought so were "deluded". 

Among those whom HWA considered deluded were Eleanor Roosevelt, and the other politicians who worked to end racial segregation. 

Just more things to add to the files of the evidence that the WCG under HWA was fully racist. 

Like we who know better didn't know that already. But you can't tell a horse led to water to drink, can you. 

Of course, it all has to do with the Fact DEUTERONOMY is "still in force". 

Source: SHT






A-theist Spirituality

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Article in Salon
"Recently an “educational” pamphlet designed for Christian children made its way around Facebook. It warned God’s little lambs to avoid sour unhappy people called “atheists.” A private school curriculum called Accelerated Christian Education includes cartoons in which the atheist characters are rude, mean and drunk; and bad things happen to them.

Stereotypes like these get echoed sometimes even in Christian books and lectures that are targeted at adults. I once attended a successful megachurch on the  Sunday before Easter. The pastor wanted his audience to be clear that the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t merely some spiritual metaphor. “If the resurrection didn’t literally happen,” he shouted, “there is no reason for us to be here! If the resurrection didn’t literally happen—there are parties to be had! There are women to be had! There are guns to shoot! There are people to shoot!”

You caught the subtext?  Atheists (and even liberal Christians) have no basis for morality. Nothing—and I mean nothing!—stands between a godless person and debauchery or lechery or even violence.

Population demographics suggest otherwise, of course. Atheism is far more common among elite scientists and some of the most peaceful and equitable societies on earth are also  the least religious. But believers persist in fearing that godless people are amoral, that unfettered by religion the world would descend into the anarchy and bloodbath depicted in the  Left Behind movies.

In reality, when asked about their moral values or what motivates them in life, atheists use words that sound downright spiritual, very much like the words religious people use in fact, with a few noteworthy differences. To create his book,  A better LifePhotographer Chris Johnson asked 100 atheists about what gives their lives joy and meaning. To some Christians the question is equivalent to asking an elephant where he gets his chocolate ice cream. The answers might surprise them even more. Themes include love and connection, compassion and service, legacy (leaving the world a little better), creativity and discovery, gratitude, transcendence, and wonder—all heightened by a sense that this one life is fleetingly transient and precious.


Here are 20 short quotes from Johnson’s assemblage, each of which is crushingly at odds with the standard stereotype of the angry, selfish godless scrooge.

·         "Knowing there is a world that will outlive you, there are people whose well-being depends on how you live your life, affects the way you live your life, whether or not you directly experience those effects. You want to be the kind of person who has the larger view, who takes other people’s interests into account, who’s dedicated to the principles that you can justify, like justice, knowledge, truth, beauty and morality." – Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist

·         "In the theater you create a moment, but in that moment, there is a touch, a twinkle of eternity. And not just eternity, but community. . . . That connection is a sense of life for me." – Teller, illusionist


·        "We are all given a gift of existence and of being sentient beings, and I think true happiness lies in love and compassion." – Adam Pascal, musician and actor

·         "Being engaged in some way for the good of the community, whatever that community, is a factor in a meaningful life. We long to belong, and belonging and caring anchors our sense of place in the universe." – Patricia S. Churchland, neurophilosopher

·         "For me the meaning of life, or the meaning  in life, is helping people and loving people . . . The real joy for me is when someone comes up to me and they want to just sit down and share their struggle." –Teresa MacBain, former minister

·         "Joy is human connection; the compassion put into every moment of humanitarian work; joy is using your time to bring peace, relief, or optimism to others. Joy gives without the expectation—or wish—of reciprocity or gratitude. . . . Joy immediately loves the individual in need and precedes any calculation of how much the giver can handle or whom the giver can help." – Erik Campano, emergency medicine

·         "Raising curious, compassionate, strong, and loving children—teaching them to love others and helping them to see the beauty of humanity—that is the most meaningful and joyful responsibility we have." – Joel Legawiec, pediatric nurse

·         "Anytime I hear someone say that only humans have a thoughtful mind, a loving heart, or a compassionate soul, I have to think that person has never owned a dog or known an elephant." – Aron Ra, Texas state director of American Atheists


·         "I find my joy in justice and equality: in all creatures having opportunities for enjoyment and being treated with fairness, as we all wish and deserve to be treated. . . . While I enjoy the positive feelings of self-improvement, this fire pales compared to the feeling of joy that comes from having contributed something to the greater good." – Lynnea Glasser, game developer

·         "You’re like this little blip of light that lasts for a very brief time and you can shine as brightly as you choose." – Sean Faircloth, author, lawyer, lobbyist

·         "Play hard, work hard, love hard. . . .The bottom line for me is to live life to the fullest in the here-and-now instead of a hoped-for hereafter, and make every day count in some meaningful way and do something—no matter how small it is—to make the world a better place." – Michael Shermer, founder and publisher, Skeptic Magazine

·         "I hope to dissuade the cruel parts of the world from their self-imposed exile and persuade their audiences to understand that freedom is synonymous with life and that the world is a place of safety and of refuge." – Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar, writer

·         "I look around the world and see so many wonderful things that I love and enjoy and benefit from, whether it’s art or music or clothing or food and all the rest. And I’d like to add a little to that goodness." – Daniel Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist




·         "I thrive on maintaining a simple awe about the universe. No matter what struggles we are going through the miracles of existence continue on, forming and reforming patterns like an unstoppable kaleidoscope." – Marlene Winell, human development consultant

·         "Math . . . music .. . starry nights . . . These are secular ways of achieving transcendence, of feeling lifted into a grand perspective. It’s a sense of being awed by existence that almost obliterates the self. Religious people think of it as an essentially religious experience but it’s not. It’s an essentially human experience." – Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, philosopher and novelist

·         "There is joy in the search for knowledge about the universe in all its manifestations." – Janet Asimov, psychiatrist

·         "Science and reason liberate us from the shackles of superstition by offering us a framework for understanding our shared humanity. Ultimately, we all have the capacity to treasure life and enrich the world in incalculable ways." – Gad Saad, professor of marketing

·         "If you trace back all those links in the chain that had to be in place for me to be here, the laws of probability maintain that my very existence is miraculous. But then after however many decades, less than a hundred years, they disburse and I cease to be. So while they’re all congregated and coordinated to make me, then—and I speak her on behalf of all those trillions of atoms—I should really make the most of things."– Jim Al-Khalili, professor of physics"






Herbert Armstrong : Most of the world is too dumb to understand my message

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(Bulletin, June 1975)



The Gospel of Jesus Christ was never worthy for the common person. 
At least, according to Herbert Armstrong. 


Those who are illiterate, cannot read or write, whose minds are like "dumb animals" were not worthy to comprehend Herbert's Message. Herbert wanted absolutely nothing to do with such stupid people, I guess. 

They have NO middle-class people. I guess you have to be middle-class to enjoy a meeting with God's One and Only Apostle. 

The educated are at the top. The "Tragically poor and ignorant" are at the bottom. These are Herbert's words, not mine. 

So Herbert only wanted to talk to the "important people". Not the ones who are on the same level as "millions of cows, horses and chickens". Whatever happened to "Feed my sheep"? Oh, wait. To Herbert, they were "DUMB sheep". 

Comparing the people of India, the South-east Asian Nations, and those in Africa and South America to cows, horses and chickens, calling them ignorant, illiterate, and with minds not much above dumb animals - well, what else could you expect from Herbert Armstrong. No wonder he wanted them segregated. Because they're different from those in the United States. Of course, they are. 

You wanted nothing to do with them, Herbert Armstrong. To you. their minds were undeveloped. 

You would much rather preach a gospel that wasn't a gospel to those at dinners, and luncheons, and Rotary Clubs, and in Lions Clubs then ever be around those who you thought had minds not much greater than dumb animals - like preaching to cows and horses and chickens. 

The crap that cows, horses and chickens lived in was so much better than the disgusting crap that I read here. And if Herbert were any sort of a Christian, he would have regarded those from India, Asia, Africa and South America as God's Children too - not the dumb ignorant poor people he wanted absolutely nothing to do with. 

But, after the conversations we've had the past few days, I think I understand. 

Yes, I know Herbert's dead, readers. But allow me the opportunity of expression here at Banned. 

submitted by SHT



LCG: They Wrote the Book on Religious Hypocrisy. They're Still Selling it.

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They Wrote the Book on Religious Hypocrisy. They're Still Selling it.

Recently, the Living Church of God has, with the force of a snail pushing a sailboat, declared a voluntary fast for their membership to be held maybe on October 20th, or around there, whenever. It was the most apathetic of any ecclesiastical decisions any Church of God could make. But for what reason? Why? And the bigger question is - on what spiritual basis? Do these Churches of God really show God, or who He is? Do they really obey His Commandments? Are they authorized, really, to ask for a church-wide Fast? Will the members who see the wickedness around them really respect the calls to fast of those who don't take their concerns to heart? And if they do fast - will it be in prayer against the leaders who proclaimed it, because they claim to know God, but by their actions deny Him? 

Titus 1:16 - They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for anything good. 

The word "Hypocrisy". It's defined as the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. (Google definition). Hypocrisy is one of the very things that has caused many scores of individuals to leave their particular form of Christian faith. It has been observed from all corners of organized Christianity - from the laity clear up to the governing bodies. It's one of the strongest condemned behaviors of Jesus himself. Since the Worldwide Church of God claimed to be the One True Church, you'd expect the hypocritical behaviors of this organization to be reigned in, wouldn't you? 

In the Plain Truth of 1952, a question was asked about the wearing of Jewelry. Of course, the thought was, "is it wrong"? The response is quite clear. 

No, it was not wrong to wear Jewelry - or wedding rings - the church deemed. Why was it not wrong? Here is the way the Church taught the brethren: 

"The wearing of gold ornaments and pearls in connection with costly array is forbidden by the apostles. Gold and pearls are not sin; for God sanctified the use of Gold in the temple.But their great expense was not becoming to Christian women who were to put their treasures into spiritual traits of character which God views as much greater worth. These two verses contain no prohibition on wearing a moderate amount of relatively inexpensive, but not "Cheap" adornment. A string of inexpensive pearls would not be violating the principle which the apostle lays down. For women to bedrock themselves with cheap objects for vanity is just as wrong as to put one's treasure in expensive jewelry." 

Well isn't this interesting. 

The wearing of gold ornaments and pearls in connection with costly array is forbidden, the church wrote. Though God "sanctified the use of gold in the temple", it was the great expense that was sinful to a woman because the "spiritual traits" are of greater worth than the gold. 

Beautiful, timeless, and humble pastoral counsel, isn't it. I'm sure every woman in the church at the time followed it expressly. It would have been a great example for the church to practice what they preached, wouldn't it. 

What happened? 

It took only around two decades to find out what happened. 

As the Church continually chastised the brethren around the world for the accumulation of wealth - what did they do? They accumulated wealth. Why did they accumulate wealth? For the purchase and use of expensive property. Yet, we know that it went far beyond just expensive property. 

It was Garner Ted Armstrong who - just a couple tens of years later - was flaunting, according to one of our readers here - a thirty thousand dollar watch (in today's monetary value) as if it was a small toy out of a cereal box (remember those days?). I'm pretty sure he thought it was okay because of the extremely expensive furnishings, paintings, and apparel purchased by his father for the college. His mom was photographed in a denominationally-famous large wall art wearing an expensive fur wrap. In fact, GTA was so used to wealth, that in one large, negative missive from the ministerial Bulletin, he was complaining about being trapped in the four walls of "the little condominium" he had to stay in. 

It was Herbert Armstrong who was continually obsessed with the accumulation of wealth. He never was "getting enough", it seemed - discouragement was always on him like a dark, musty cloud from a dingy, ratty basement. His plans were always costly - never inexpensive. 

But it wasn't the large, expensive, gold-leafed, wool-carpeted, extravagant Auditorium that wasn't sinful. It wasn't the million-dollar buildings that was the sin. We all know that the Campus was awarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. What was sinful was the absolute, blatant, carnal, disgusting hypocrisy that rained down from Headquarters like a tropical torrent, that flooded the life out of the members who hardly could have 60 percent of their own money to themselves. 

The very church that told woman to put their treasures in spiritual worth put all their treasures in physical riches. The very church that said that such an accumulation of wealth was violating the apostles' mandate went full steam ahead violating the same mandate's spirit of the law in snatching the finances of their members in the most threatening, abusive ways possible. 

Though women were commanded in the church to be temperate in expense and modest in apparel, (and even strip them of any form of make-up as soul-exterminating), the church was anything but temperate and modest. Time after time, they'd take out loans for expenses beyond their means and thrust the bill on the members with the force and weight of a beach-ball shot out of a cannon. Time after time Herbert would beg, plead - and finally threaten members with eternal damnation for not giving enough. He'd call them slackers or not fully converted. He'd make them feel like a dog's freshly defecated dinner from lunch in so many letters about how they're not "in it" or helping enough. Herbert would lower their standard of living while increasing his, letter after letter, year after year, decade after decade. 

Eventually, Herbert would be living in the lap of luxury with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tableware, an auditorium worthy of the greatest kings and queens, a Gulfstream Jet worthy of a Fortune 500 for-profit organization , with his son Garner Ted reaping all the benefits. 

This was hypocrisy. And what did Jesus say about hypocrisy? 

Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28)

Luke 20:46 says these "teachers of the law" devour women's houses. Who is it that had no problem taking the homes of the elderly and asking for their wills? Was it not the WCG, the "teachers of the law"? 

Matthew 15 says "these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me". How accurate this is, when GTA constantly made fun of people who "gave their hearts to the Lord". No, that's pansy pansy, love love talk, he would say. 

2 Timothy 3 condemns those who are "lovers of money". It also condemns the abusive, the conceited, the proud and the brutal. The WCG is well-documented to have been ALL of these things. .

This all from a church that claimed to be the One and Only true Church. This all from a church that claimed to hold the keys to the Kingdom of God - This from a church that claimed to hold the bindings and loosing of ecclesiastical power from heaven. A church that became rich and powerful in the ways and wealth of the world by lording it over the weak, and using the tithe as a way to financial gain and accumulation at the oppression of the poor, the needy, the hungry, and the sick - even denying the sick health care to gain more finances, which in some cases led to death. This is the very definition of wickedness. This is the very definition of injustice. This is the very definition of ungodliness. Yet, in this same church - this was all okay - because they were "the True Church who was keeping the Law - the Sabbath, and the Holy Days" - and called themselves "the Church of God". 

Hypocrites.By their actions we know they didn't know God. By their actions we know that their hearts were on the things of this world. By their actions we know that their minds were on material positions. And by their words we know what their intentions truly were. 

These attitudes continue these days in the organizations that remain from the mother, the old Worldwide Church of God. From Edmond to Wadsworth, the same hypocritical passion for material wealth and the oppression of the people continues. The same spiritual starvation emanates from the leaders who were trained by the worst hypocrites of them all.

And people still go to church to have fellowship with those who scripture clearly says by their actions deny Him. Those ministers who claim they are ministers of Christ, but are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for anything good. 

Yes, I do think that Living Church of God - and the other COG's - need a fast. But not the members.Those who stand behind their lecterns and take the tithes of the people need to fast. The only "fast" that needs to be done by the members is the setting on the level of speed required by their legs on their exit. 


-by SHT, Contributing Writer

Wes White: There Is a Lack of Love Within Too Many COGs

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There Is a Lack of Love Within Too Many COGs

By Wes White


Suppose you lived during the founding of Jamestown in 1607 and you suffered from hypertension (high blood pressure).  You were basically screwed because back then the medical professionals had no cure for this disease.  In fact, they didn’t know this disease existed.


            The invention of the sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) by Scipione Riva-Rocci in 1896 was perhaps the greatest breakthrough in diagnosis of this disease.  The development of oral diuretics in the 1950s was perhaps the biggest breakthrough in the treatment of this disease.  


            In medicine, accurate diagnosis and correct treatment are both required in order to cure a disease.  One without the other will not allow for beating the illness.  


            It’s the same in religion.  If a church suffers from a sin and doesn’t know it, then all the cures listed in the Bible are not going to enable these Christians to overcome that sin.  That group must first understand they are suffering from the illness.  


The malignant disorder of mistreating people is still rampant among many Armstrong COGs. This contagion is still as epidemic today as it was at any time since the creation of Armstrongism in 1933.


And this religious pathology is not going to go away as long as the leaders and the brethren refuse to recognize there is a problem.  Like any medical disease, it is only after recognition of a sin that removal of the sin can begin.  Again, you’ve got to have both diagnosis and treatment. 


            The Bible can help Christians who need to do better in their treatment of others.  The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) is the perfect antidote for the spiritual malady of lacking proper love for others.  But this cure is no good if the afflicted church doesn’t understand that it has an illness.  

Your bathroom medicine cabinet can be filled with the wonderful drug Lisinopril.  But it does your hypertension no good if you don’t know that you need this medicine.   After all, how can you know to pop one of these pills into your mouth every morning if you have not been properly diagnosed?


            This is the problem in so many of the Armstrong COGs today.  The very Bibles that sit on their laps during church services every Sabbath have the perfect cure for what ails them, but they have no idea they are infected. 


            And infected they are!


            In addition to the typical maladies that bedevil Armstrongite churches (headline theology, setting or implying dates of Jesus’ return, racist beliefs against interracial marriage & interracial dating, 2nd & 3rd tithes, church eras, judging another’s heart, love of revenge, authoritarian church government, end-time apostleship, humiliation thru marking & disfellowshipping, harsh D&R administration, one true church, condemnation of non-Sabbath keeping Christians, banning members from voting, anti-doctor/anti-medicine/anti-science teachings), many COG people also suffer from either possessing insufficient love for others or a total lack of love for others.  


We see this particular Armstrong illness demonstrated in the following ways:


n  Inability or unwillingness to resolve conflict;

n  Showing interest and loyalty only to those who are in their own organization;

n  Imputing motives;

n  Falsely accusing others;

n  Name-calling of those they disagree with;

n  Unwillingness to tolerate even the most minor of doctrines differences;

n  Refusal to acknowledge the sins or errors of their leaders;

n  Undo loyalty to fellow elders within a ministerial brotherhood;

n  Denial of any responsibility to help those in need in their communities.

            
And it gets worse.

Alongside of their inability to recognize their lack-of-love illness, many of these folks work from the faulty premise that, the more biblical knowledge of certain doctrines you have, the more morality you possess.  They then assume the converse must be true which is that, the less biblical knowledge of certain doctrines you have, the more immorality you possess.  These Christians don’t understand that atheists and agnostics can indeed possess honesty, kindness -- AND LOVE!  Further, these misguided Christians don’t understand that people who are irreligious can actually live their lives being more in line with the loving precepts of the Sermon on the Mount than many Christians! 


History has shown us that understanding truths like the Sabbath and unclean meats is no antidote to the affliction of lacking love.  The hard-headed Pharisees were the perfect example of this principle.  Like the Pharisees, love-lacking Armstrongites seem to have this problem within their very DNA.  

A COG leader once confessed to me that his church needed more of Matthew 5, 6, and 7. At the time, he was trying to place emphasis on these Gospel chapters in his sermons.  That was several years ago.  Today, I am convinced he has not succeeded in that mission.  And I fear he has given up on the whole idea.  Lack of love may very well be too deeply embedded within the DNA of that congregation.  


            For those of us with faith, it becomes more and more incumbent on us that we pray daily for those who claim the name of Jesus, but fail to have love for their fellow man.   Those of us who follow Jesus and embrace God’s Law have a responsibility to reach out to the spiritually ill – even those with the very disease that inspired them to run us off or write us off.  


            As one who has had to overcome the disease of lacking love, I can speak about it candidly in the same way that a recovering alcoholic can speak of the disease of being addicted to liquor.  I don’t bring up the subject to condemn others. I am discussing it only because I want my brothers and sisters in Christ to know that they can overcome it.  But you can’t overcome it until you have admitted you have a problem. 


            And just because your church organization refuses to overcome this sin, it doesn’t mean you as an individual can’t.  If a Christian has this problem, his first step is to admit that there needs to be more love within himself and the COGs. Only then can he truly follow the admonition, “Come out of her my people,” and have healing.  And it is only then that Jesus will be able to truly say, “By this will all know that you are mine.  That you have love for one another.”


            Make yourself a committee of one which has been tasked with the job of promoting Christian love for all other people. 



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            Wes White is president of the Ronald L. Dart Evangelistic Association (RLDEA.com), a Sabbath-keeping Christian ministry which preaches the Gospel of Jesus thru the works of the late Ron Dart.                       

A Reminder for New COG Lurkers

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AnonymousAnonymous said...





I don't care whether people love me or not. I do not believe that that's the problem in HWAs church splinters. All I care about is people not harming me by respecting my rights. What's in peoples hearts is between them and God, but if people respect my right to life, liberty, my property rights, my right to freedom of expression, my right to choose my own beliefs, my right to be free from abuse, my right to privacy, my right to be left alone etc, I' m satisfied.
Not surprising, rights are taboo in these splinters.

Church Member Bill of Rights

The following are basic human, religious and spiritual rights any person has as a member of any and all religious organizations or church congregations.
You have the right to expect the church to keep your personal contributions private and should be able to expect that any who deal with such things for accounting purposes will do the same.
You have the right to expect that your membership in any church or congregation is not contingent on how much you give or do not give. You should also expect that jobs, positions, opportunities or offices are not given based on the amount anyone gives to the church.
You have the right to say I can only give this even if it is not a tithe of your income gross or net.
You have the right not to be spiritually judged or have your loyalty or sincerity questioned based on what you are able or unable to give financially to the church.
You have the right to ask a Pastor if he checks tithes and offerings for any of the above reasons before giving to a church.
You have the right to say "I'm tired and won't be there, " to any and all activities, plays, fundraisers, studies, seminars, prayer groups, rehearsals, practices and sermons.
You have the right to say "I don't care about that."
You have the right to question the advice, counsel or sermon of any minister, elder, deacon or any other person in authority. 
You have the right to question authority and to still expect to be allowed to attend your church. 
You have the right to question a minister who declares himself one or both of the Two Witnesses of Revelation, a Prophet, the Supreme Watcher of Mankind for God, The Only True Apostle in this Age and any other title or position he can come up with to impress you as to why you need to support him.
You have the right to suggest a pastor get spiritual or psychological help should the need arise. You have the right tell him that the congregation is noticing a trend here.
You have the right to ask why the church believes what it does when the Bible might say otherwise, or why the Bible says something that the church practices that seems scary, weird, inappropriate for this time, out of date or controlling. 
You have the right to notice that ministers often quote scriptures out of context or fail to enforce or address the rest of the story that does not agree with the point they are trying to make.
You have the right to ask all the "how can that be,""how could that happen,""why does it say this here and that there," questions you can come up and expect an intelligent answer. If you are told that you are using human reasoning, ask the pastor what kind of reasoning he uses. If he says "God's," find another church.
You have the right to not want elders, deacons or your friends accompanying the minister on visits to your home to talk to you.
You have the right to discuss or not discuss your life with the minister as you see fit.
You have the right to expect absolute confidentiality and for your story not to show up in the sermon next week, even though "I won't say the name."
You have a right to be called ahead of time when the pastor wants to ask about stopping over.
You have the right, when he calls to say, "I'm tired,""I'm busy,""No, but I appreciate the call," without repercussions.
You have the right to keep a dirty home, grass not mowed perfectly, an older car, red in color and kids that don't say "yes sir, nice to see you sir," in just the right way.
You have the right to watch and read what you wish even if the pastor just got done bashing that particular program, movie or book from the pulpit in his sermon on "Demons in Your Home--Six Ways to Assure Your Eternal Death."
You have the right to ask the pastor not to call on you at work, even if you own the business.
You have the right to say, "I can't afford to take you to lunch.""I can't afford to give you free wood or brick.""I can't afford to fix your house up free,""I can't fix all your teeth," to your pastor should he expect professional courtesies, even if he offers to do your funeral free.
You have a right to expect free use of your church for weddings and funerals.
You have the right to expect these usages are not dependent on you, your parents or children living a sinless life six months prior to the date of the event.
You have the right not to answer questions your pastor may ask you or your children about your sexual practices. If he insists, then insist that you all share together.
You have the right to not let the pastor inform you as to who you can and cannot date or marry.
You have the right to enjoy your sexuality free of church or pastoral approval. Something that is wrong for the pastor is not necessarily wrong for you in how you express yourself to your partner. There is no Bible prohibition against....well you know. And if there were, you'd have the right to disagree with that too.
You have the right to not share which or if you are taking medications of any sort with the pastor.
You have the right to take such medication and not be judged as having a lack of faith or trust in God to heal you.
You have the right to seek professional help without informing your Pastor of the nature of the help and you have the right to not be helped solely by the pastor under threat of repercussions.
You have the right to insist the pastor get professional help should the need arise and the man is causing more harm than good. 
You have the right to remind him that God does not directly speak to him nor express His will only through the mind of the pastor and that makes you uncomfortable if he thinks that is so.
You have the right to be wrong about a many things.
You have the right to believe you are correct about many things without repercussions.

You have the right not to care about everything that others think you must care about to be a good Christian.
You have the right to tell the pastor he is wrong, mistaken or exaggerating.
You have the right to dress as you wish, wear the jewelry you wish and make up you wish or not wish without being labeled a whore or a goody goody.
You have the right to feel that dressing as if it was still 1957 and only watching Disney Movies or How the West Was Won as proof of your pureness is baloney
. You have the right to not be told that the best times for entertainment, movies and TV was when the Pastor was a boy. You have the right to like the food he does not like and to not like the foods he does. 
You have the right to like the schools he doesn't and not like the ones he does.
You have the right not to bear your soul to the ministers wife.
You have the right to like or not like, agree or not agree with the ministers wife.
You have the right to not view the world through the pastor's eyes morally or politically. You have the right to hate the war while he believes the war in Iraq is God's will and thinks it's all in the Bible.
You have the right to expect him to speak clearly where he thinks the Bible speaks for us today and to walk slowly and drink cool water where it doesn't.
You have the right to tell the pastor that that is his opinion and not necessarily the only true opinion on earth.
You have the right for you, your children, your partner and your friends to be themselves.
You have the right to read whatever you wish to read

And too...Since two wrongs don't  make a right, you are allowed to point out one or more than three times where you feel the pastor's sermon or booklet was a bit off the track.  
These are but a few of the rights any member of any Church, congregation or religious organization has. In short, you have the right to not be required to check your brains, your insights, your perspectives and your free will at the door to be welcome and a member of any church.
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XII Legions: Sabbath Keeper Motorcycle Ministry

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I was looking for something unrelated to COG things on Google the other day and an article I posted in 2015 popped up about a COG member in New Jersey who was starting up a Christian ministry for motorcycle riders.  It referenced an article in The Journal about a new ministry starting up.
A new Christian motorcycle-riding group, XII Legions Christian Motorcycle Ministry, has started up in New Jersey with the intent to develop chapters in other areas of the country.

The bikers are “looking for other bikers who have an interest in motorcycles, riding and the Word of God, including God’s holy Sabbath day,” Mr. Paparella said. The group is nondenominational and open to all regardless of church affiliation and “wants to promote the gospel of the Kingdom of God on two wheels,” he said. The founders are longtime Church of God members, with past and current fellowships with the former Worldwide Church of God, United Church of God, Church of God (Seventh Day), Beth Israel Messianic Congregation and Church of God Flemington (an affiliate of Church of God Ministries International), as well as several private-residence-based church groups.
I decided to look them up to see if they were still in existance.  They are, and have now taken on a more Sacred Names bent in their ministry.




I still can still picture hoards of Sabbatarian hog riders storming into Wadsworth, Charlotte and Edmond, proclaiming the gospel of the Herbert Armstrong or riding through peaceful neighborhoods on Sunday mornings, revving their bikes in order to disturb the heathen Sunday worshipers.

Just imagine the scene at some future Feast of Tabernacles site as the Charlotte Spankers, Wadsworth Narcissists, Edmond Idolaters, Double Blessed Africans or the Malmite Law Bastardizers clash over which one is the one true Sabbatarian biker group.

I highly doubt any of them will put John 3:16 or Colossians 2:14 on their jackets. Can't have any of that Jesus stuff, just the law.

Like everything else in the Church of God, this is nothing new. There have been Adventist Sabbath Keeper motorcycle groups for many years that attend all the motorcycle gatherings around the country. One of those events is here in California in Hollister.  

and their Facebook Page



The SKMM seems to be doing an actual ministry witnessing for Jesus, unlike any of the COG groups around today. While COG groups wince at mentioning Jesus or even emulating his actions, they much prefer prostrating themselves at the highly revered altar of the law.

Here is what the SKMM do:
Lambert said SKMM is the oldest and largest Adventist motorcycle ministry in the world. The Hollister, Calif., based ministry currently has 19 chapters and nearly 300 members, but the original SKMM members didn’t even own a motorcycle. Their first motorcycle was donated by National Sunday Law author Jan Marcussen.
SKMM members focus on the major biker events that attract hundreds of thousands of bikers annually. They’re all about bringing Jesus to the motorcycle community, using literature, prayer and testimony.

“We pass out a lot of literature during these events,” said Lambert.
The biker events have a combined annual attendance of over 1,000,000, which is more than 300 SKMM members can reach, but they keep at it, and not without results.
While at biker event Reno Street Vibrations, Kevin and Kellye Simpson stopped by SKMM’s booth. Kevin had left the Adventist Church in high school and Kellye had never been Adventist, but her grandmother had taught her Saturday was the Sabbath. Intrigued by the group, the couple took some literature. Later they were baptized into the Ceres Seventh-day Adventist Church, Calif., where they soon began a new SKMM chapter. SKMM’s influence has gone well beyond ex-Adventists, even touching the upper echelons of the Hells Angels and Mongols. 
About six years ago during a biker event in Los Angeles, a biker gang member killed a member of a rival gang while wearing the cut (leather vest) of another gang. In an effort to find the killer, the Hells Angels and Mongols began a shake down of each club in the surrounding area. However, the word was out the SKMM and Christian Motorcycle Association were not to be touched. God was looking out for them.
Can you imagine a COG motorcycle group associating with Hells Angels members, Mongols, or other biker gangs? I can see them now going to Sturges or Hollister and isolating themselves in their own cordoned-off area waiting for their god to send them prospective members, instead of getting off their privileged white asses and hitting the streets and proclaiming the good news they CLAIM to have.

We all know that would never happen.  Church of God organizations cannot even get along with each other so how can a witness of a peaceful kingdom ever be shared?

Dixon Cartwright Hospitalized

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This was in last nights mail, it is from the Ambassador Reunion site.  Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Dixon Cartwright is in the hospital in Tyler. He had another stroke. The last one was about ten years ago and he followed the doctor's orders and lost weight and such.

I e-mailed him a couple of days ago with no response, which was unusual. So, I called him last night and he told me what had happened. He has congestive heart failure and is scheduled for another stent (he has two) or possibly by- pass surgery today. He cannot walk at all. Linda is supposed to bring his laptop to him today.

Please all pray for him and Linda.

Two COG Related Books Make List of Top 100 Books On Escaping From Cults

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There is a list up of 100 Must-Read Books about life in cults and oppressive religious sects and two books by former Church of God members have made the list and #1 and #90.

The first book on the list is The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult by Jerad Walker.


Amazon has this to say about the book:
A memoir of growing up with blind, African-American parents in a segregated cult preaching the imminent end of the world

When The World in Flames begins, in 1970, Jerry Walker is six years old. His consciousness revolves around being a member of a church whose beliefs he finds not only confusing but terrifying. Composed of a hodgepodge of requirements and restrictions (including a prohibition against doctors and hospitals), the underpinning tenet of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God was that its members were divinely chosen and all others would soon perish in rivers of flames.

The substantial membership was ruled by fear, intimidation, and threats. Anyone who dared leave the church would endure hardship for the remainder of this life and eternal suffering in the next. The next life, according to Armstrong, would arrive in 1975, three years after the start of the Great Tribulation. Jerry would be eleven years old.

Jerry’s parents were particularly vulnerable to the promise of relief from the world’s hardships. When they joined the church, in 1960, they were living in a two-room apartment in a dangerous Chicago housing project with the first four of their seven children, and, most significantly, they both were blind, having lost their sight to childhood accidents. They took comfort in the belief that they had been chosen for a special afterlife, even if it meant following a religion with a white supremacist ideology and dutifully sending tithes to Armstrong, whose church boasted more than 100,000 members and more than $80 million in annual revenues at its height.

When the prophecy of the 1972 Great Tribulation does not materialize, Jerry is considerably less disappointed than relieved. When the 1975 end-time prophecy also fails, he finally begins to question his faith and imagine the possibility of choosing a destiny of his own.
The second book is Matches in the Gas Tank: Trial by fire in the Armstrong cult by Carla Powers.


Amazon says:
An empowering story of the survival of the spirit, this heart-wrenching memoir recounts a girl's stifled and abusive childhood in the Radio Church of God-a cult founded by alleged prophet Herbert W. Armstrong in Big Sandy, Texas. Rules imposed by Armstrong were arbitrary and unforgiving, covering everything from food preparation and appearance to arranged marriages and earning income for the church. Overcoming a childhood of warped teachings and deprivation, the wrath of narrow-minded, punitive ministers, and a dangerous, alcoholic father, Carla escaped the control of the church and surpassed the legacy of abuse and shame to become a highly successful corporate lawyer.
Gavin Rumney's old site has this about Carla Powers:
Carla Powers was Daddy's princess back in Arkansas in the late 1950s. Then Daddy got religion. That religion, based in the teachings and deprivation of narrow-minded, punitive ministers, tormented her dangerous alcoholic father and her entire family. Growing up, Carla never knew a woman could do anything more than she was asked—or demanded—to do. She definitely never imagined that other worlds would open up to her and she would rise to become a powerful attorney.Matches in the Gas Tank tells the story of life inside the Radio Church of God and the influence of Herbert W. Armstrong, the Church's founder and prophet. Under his influence, Carla's family moved away from relatives and friends to Big Sandy, Texas, an enclave in which everyone lived by strict and unforgiving rules arbitrarily determined by Armstrong. His vision of how to get to the "Kingdom of God" and avoid a sea of flames consisted of unending lists of rules covering everything from food consumption, to financial responsibilities, to sexual behavior. The only way to rise above the poverty level was to become a minister, and the only way to become a minister was to continually police your neighbors for sin. Ministers were allowed to barge in a home any time of the day or night to inspect everything from the cleanliness of a family's kitchen to the contents of their tax returns. 
This is the story of how Carla escaped the control of the church and found a way to deal with the legacy of abuse and shame left to her by her father. As she embraces her difficult childhood, she comes to understand that while those we love have the power to hurt us, they can't destroy us. We can find strength in unexpected places.

Anyone who has had a less-than-perfect family, has struggled with the faith of her fathers or has gone through recovery from abuse, perfectionism, or any cult of personality will connect with the power of redemption in this moving memoir.

The author heads the litigation department of a major multinational energy company (Shell). Before entering the corporate world, she was a trial lawyer in Houston for more than 20 years and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center.



Philadelphia Church of God Hides Behind Slick New Web Sites

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The Philadelphia Church of God has a new website up in an effort to legitimize their standing as a church and its Armstrong Foundation.  Like Herbert Armstrong, Gerald Flurry is embarrassed at many times by his Philadelphia Church of God and its crazy teachings.  In efforts to mask those dangerous and heretical teachings, he places great emphasis on his Armstrong Auditorium Concert Series, his Jerusalem dig with Eliat Mazar and its recent Ophel coin find, and his new website called Watch Jerusalem.  The interesting thing is that this site is copyrighted by Gerald Flurry and not the Philadelphia Church of God.

It is a mixture of wild prophetic speculating and pseudo-news beefed up in a slick new formula.

The same goes for their Key to David's City, masquerading as an educational site through the auspices of Herbert W Armstrong College.


It is these kinds of deceptive tactics that rope innocent searching people into the madness, just like the church did under Herbert Armstrong.  The problem with PCG doing this is that it has developed into a dangerous personality cult with an abusive leader and equally abusive ministers.  Families are being destroyed and lives are literally being lost.  This sickness is not unique to Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God, it is equally applicable to the Restored Church of God, Living Church of God, Bob Thiel's African cult and James Malm bastardization of whatever it is he thinks he is doing.  United Church of God and Church of God A Worldwide Association, while may appear to be more benign, are just as sick as the more dangerous ones mentioned above.

For a church that claims to be the end time restoration of true 1st century Christianity, it is in such a theological and spiritual quagmire that it is amazing that anyone even finds it beneficial.

When Services Are Over On A Double High Day

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After listeing to two 1 1/2 hours sermons on the same day.

Photo: SHT

The Methodology of the Churches of God: Confirmation Bias on Steroids

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This afternoon, during a nice nap, I had one of those “Church of God” Dreams that most people who grew up or were in the Worldwide Church of God often seem to have.

In this dream, I was led in the back of a large arena – obviously, where there was a convention going on. For some reason, I had the opportunity to have a conference with the Big Person in Charge, who happened to be Joseph Tkach. He was sitting behind a glass window, and I was in a line to talk to him. There were several behind me also waiting to talk to him.

When it was my turn, I asked him if I could return to the Orr, Minnesota SEP site. He began to answer with a rambling of some sort, I dared interrupt him, and his voice raised about two octaves with a “I am talking” in no uncertain terms intent, and I immediately shut up to let him speak. He then proceeded to tell me that the best times of a person's life are when they are 16 or 17. I told him that I was 16 or 17 when I went to SEP. He said something like “There you go”, and gave me a special green/white envelope of “Request to see the SEP Campus” that I had to fill out. I thanked him, and started walking down the hall to exit. As I was walking down the hall, I could hear the distinctive “Tkach Voice – Raised In Annoyance” lam-blasting someone else about something. When I left, someone else tried to get in to talk to Tkach, but the Secretary denied access and closed the camera-thing above the hall access-door.

A few years ago, I had another “COG” dream. In this dream, Herbert W. Armstrong himself – in spirit form – came down to Earth – alone. I was in the basement of what seemed to be a large, giant library. I heard Herbert call my name. I opened the box, and the “Spirit” of Herbert called out to me. Herbert apologized for everything that he did. I asked him why he did what he did, and he very remorsefully said: “I don't know.” He said he had to go, and I heard what sounded like a bell. I closed the small box that he was trapped in, and then, that was it. The voice was Herbert's, but a very, very mellow, humble, and contrite Herbert. I woke up, and thought “what a dream”.

I've had other “COG Dreams” because the COG was such a large, massive, overwhelming presence in my life over the years. I've had dreams where I'm back leading songs – but somehow screwing it up, or not having the proper hymns coordinated with the piano player, or forgetting I had the song service until the last moment. I've had dreams where I was giving the Sermonette, but was wearing an awful, pathetic suit. I've had dreams where I felt that immense, consuming, powerful pride that I was in a higher position within the local church – and woke up completely disgusted and shameful about those untamed attitudes.

There's a big difference between the dreams that any one of us hundreds of thousands of people who lived in the COG's have – and the dreams that our current splinter leaders have. It's directly proportional to who we think we are in the grand scope of the universe, the church, and life.

When a typical person with a COG history – like me – has a COG dream, they do exactly what I did. They wake up, say “Wow, what a dream”, think about it, then go about their day. When a Current Splinter Leader has a dream (I'm thinking of one person in particular who needs straighter bookcases and nicer curtains), they think about it in the form that it is of world-impacting significance and importance. They think of themselves in such high regard and importance to the world, that every parcel and fractal of the dream takes on a divine significance – to them, to the other characters in the dream, and eventually, to the world. Their feelings of grandiose importance are so tremendous that they nearly take on their own prophetic ministry and theology based on what went on in the dream.


I recall when our Cheap Bookcase Prophet wrote a pretty lengthy oratory about a dream he had where “someone's line went down”, like a graph, and “his line went up”. Suddenly, this dream about “lines” went from dream to blog post to our Bookcase King of Bad Curtains suddenly using this dream as a divine affirmation that he was to take over the place and position of the owner of the “first line” that was going down on his dreamland bar graph. It went from dream to affirmation, to using the dream as a basis for an elevation in his position! The Mighty Waver of Gestures then had to tell everyone how this somehow was linked in to his own assumptions about The Mighty Double Blessing That Wasn't – somehow asserting what he thought in his head that a healing-anointing somehow was a hidden and morphed Ordination that elevated him from a simple layperson to a role he's always wanted but never got of an Important Dude in the church.

If I was to use the methodology that he uses with dreams, I could start a whole new belief system. I could say that the Spirit of Herbert Armstrong is trapped in a prison, and that he has become remorseful and contrite, and that I was granted a lone audience with Herbert to convey his apology and remorse for his actions. I could say that Herbert was timed and a bell signalled that “he had to go”. But I recognize it was a dream. I could also say that somehow I was in a parallel universe with Joseph Tkach, where he was now reduced to a receptionist – a rather forceful, assertive, and mean receptionist at that. I could think on that and somehow come to a bunch of conclusions about what that meant for Tkach's ministry, and all sorts of different conclusions – based on a dream. And to me – that would be naive, stupid, and dangerous.

Of course, Bob, and any COG member who ever listened to these stories would never buy their authenticity in a million years, even if they were! Why? Because these dreams contradict the beliefs they have already formed in their head. There's no immortal soul, there's no heaven, there's no conscious spirit, they would forcefully say – so obviously, it's just a complete figment of imagination and needs to be summarily dismissed. However, if you have a weird dream where one bar graph line goes down, and one bar graph line goes up, then, because it seems to affirm an already held strong belief, it's lauded up to some sort of divine affirmation.

This is a methodology that the COG's have down to a science, and a methodology that Kairan Underwood said that the PCG used in writing many of its own articles for its own flagship magazine. Look for anything you can find to confirm your beliefs, then throw out everything you can find that dismisses them. Take the smallest rock and elevate it to universal proportions. Or, take the biggest evidence and dismiss it completely because it contradicts already concreted viewpoints.


It was this methodology that Herbert Armstrong used over and over again in his ministry to legitimize his dogmas and doctrines. It was this methodology that Herman Hoeh used to support Herbert Armstrong's dogmas and doctrines. It was this methodology that field ministers used each Saturday while preaching to their congregations on their own belief divergences – within the lines of Armstrong's dogmas and doctrines. All of this led to variances of belief – within the confines of Armstrong's beliefs – which is why one local congregation sometimes varied considerably with another local congregation's experience. Every minister had, within the confines of their rank, that extreme hubris – only tempered by the dictatorial hand of Herbert Armstrong, who forcefully shot down any challenge or rise on his beliefs or his authority.

Once Herbert Armstrong died, once the Church collapsed, and that dictatorial hand of Herbert Armstrong was no longer holding down the hubris, pride, and self-beliefs of field ministers and evangelists under him – the individual dogmas and doctrines held by all the field ministers exploded without temperance. Now, 23 years later from the collapse of the church, we have one of them preaching a horrifying “All things common” doctrine, another one idolizing a simple garden rock, another one claiming to be a minister but never was ordained to the position, another one trying so hard to hold down the fort of his own rapidly crumbling splinter, another one who went to prison for trying too hard to replicate Herbert Armstrong's luxurious lifestyle – and then you have the weird and wacky ones who've only been able to grab a few hundred viewers on YouTube – literally the bottom of the barrel in YouTube Statistics and video viewers.

The methodology of the splinter leaders – Look for anything you can find to confirm your beliefs, throw out everything else that dismisses them, is how the Armstrong Churches of God have operated for decades.

In a recent expose' by a former writer of the PCG's Magazine "The Trumpet", and a true PCG Insider himself published right here on Banned By HWA, Kieran Underwood confirmed himself that this methodology has been used to write several publications by that splinter. But it's not only that splinter. One can easily see the exact personalities and attitudes that each of the COG leaders have. You can tell who is greedy, who is angry, who is physically oriented. You can tell who is jealous, who is wanting, who is child-like, who is wishing they were important, and who wants to bring back the glory days. By using this formula, you can tell very easily what an individual person's COG-Beliefs are – but more than that, you can tell who they are as a person. It is said that "By your fruits shall you know them." Equally true is that by their methods, you can see right through them, I would say.

And if you go by facts alone, the Splinter Leaders themselves have proven themselves to be completely enraptured in jealousy-driven, greed-oriented, physically-minded, money-loving, Herbert-worshiping religion that is not, never has been, and never will ever pass as any form of Christianity. All this is is a sham and a scam, exposing exactly who and what these splinters are – a reflection of those that lead them. They will do anything to confirm their own beliefs of their own minds, and do everything they can to destroy everything that exposes them for the falsehoods that they are. This is the methodology of the Splinters to it's core, and it is not the methodology ever practiced by Christianity, the Early Church, or any person who claims to be a real servant minister of those who put their spiritual well-being in their hands.

The methodology of the Armstrong Churches of God is no way to find truth. The only thing this methodology does is enhance confirmation bias, which is defined as "the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories." For more information on confirmation bias, visit the following links:





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Pam Dewey: Strange Brew Video

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Pam Dewey has had a website up for many years chronicling the various religious groups in America as well as the Church of God movement.  She has also been tackling many of the myths in American lore and history. Her Myth America site seeks to "Dispell MythInformation and MythPerceptions about American history.

Here is her latest video production:


You can continue to part 2 & 3 on her YouTube channel:  Meet Myth America
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