Rod Meredith and the Living Church of God redesignedtheirTomorrow's Worldmagazine recently. In it Rod is declaring that LCG is BOLDLY shouting the word ofGod to the world. Bob Thiel, the non-ordained self-appointedprophet claims LCG is too afraid to do that. Is Rod attempting to prove him wrong?
It containstheusual COG material on end timesmalarkey and Catholic bashing. Then as usual, with all Living Church of Godpublications, it has to resort to sex.
This time the focus is on all these huge erect penises in cities around the world. You know, that huge pointy phallus in Washington DC that was almost circumcised during the earthquake a year or so ago.
Davy Crockett writes:
According to Davey the entire world is filled with these erect bulbous shafts with hoards of people gathered around them worshiping them.May-June 2013What do Mecca, Jerusalem and Vatican City share with London, Paris, New York City, and Washington, D.C.? In these cities, and in others around the globe, sometimes in the most incongruous locations,we often find great obelisks. Some are actual relics from ancient Egypt—where the design originated—while others are modern interpretations of this ancient theme.
Davy and the Living Church of God seem to be under the impression that people gather around these erect phallus's worshiping them. They ride up the shafts and then peer out slits to the world below them. When they do this they are worshiping the penis.Where else is this obelisk design or something very similar to it, often found? Think of the many Protestant church buildings with their soaring steeples, or the minaret towering above a Muslim mosque. Many greatRoman cathedrals prominently display these ancient architectural features.
So what does LCG's all powerful masculine He-man God say about these pagan edifices?Ancient Egyptians worshiped many gods,including a sun god—and the obelisk wasan important symbol in that worship. The Egyptians, like many other ancient paganpeoples, ascribed mysterious power to symbols, particularly those picturing fertility,abundant crops or healing. These customs spread to other cultures and remain widespread, even in our present day, where the obelisk and other similar spires have become a familiar icon not only of professing Christianity, but also of secret societies such as the Freemasons.
These are natural reactions, but what does God say about the matter? Interestingly, if we look into the Bible, we find that the way we worship and honor God theFather makes a great deal of difference to Him. A quick search for the phrase “sacred pillars” in the New King James Version Bible reveals at least 15 references, each associated with instructions to remove or destroy those symbols of pagan worship .
The basis for this instruction is found in the Second Commandment, “You shall not make for yourself acarved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that isin the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them” (Exodus 20:4–5). Further,in His instruction to the nation of Israel, God said, “When you come into the land which theLord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations” (Deuteronomy 18:9).
Somehow Davy uses this to justify the LCG tradition the LCG using rented halls for church services. Somehow we went from erect phallic symbols to meeting in Masonic Lodges. Oh wait, I get thepicture!The principle is clear. God chooses how He is to be worshiped, and He does not find it acceptable when His people take it upon themselves to use the methods, practices or symbols of false, pagan religions in aneffort to worship Him. In fact, not only does He reject such worship; He considers it an abomination. Again and again, throughout Scripture, God instructs His people to remove these symbols ofpaganism (Deuteronomy 7:5). In the worship of God, there is no room for pagan tradition.
Some may say, “But these are beautiful traditions!” Yes, perhaps they are beautiful tomankind. But Jesus Christ let the people of His day know—very plainly—that in the true worship of the true God, “tradition” cannot be substituted for truth. “He answered andsaid to them, ‘Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of yourtradition?’” (Matthew 15:3).
Why does every single thing that the LCG puts out have to resort to sex? This sick obsession is discredits the church immensely.It can certainly be enjoyable to worship God in a building of beauty and quality. ButHe does not require the use of fine buildings. Rather, He insists on being worshiped inspirit and truth (John 4:24). True worship in modest surroundings, even in rentedhalls, does please Him, in a way that the finest man-made traditions taken frompagan worship never will. We should never forget this in our worship of the one true God.
The next thing we will see in the LCG publication is an article on the sexualimplication of lighthouses and how people gather aroundworshiping them.
