The Church of God has always held a firm reign on members and what they should believe. Members were taught never to question, have doubt and express that doubt publicly, and to NEVER question the words of a minister or church leader. To do so was tantamount to blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
Ordinary lay members were too uneducated in the Bible, church history, eschatology, hermeneutics, and other areas theological studies. Only men trained at the feet of Herbert Armstrong were capable of passing on "truths" ministers under them. Ministers were never encouraged to attend real theological institutions and learn proper techniques. The result of this is over 80 decades of men who have had the exact same information passed on to them as holy writ from the mouth or pen of Herbert Armstrong. This kind of thinking has breed men like Rod McNair, Almost ordained Bob Thiel, James Malm, and others who have set themselves up as the end all in spiritual wisdom. To doubt any of them is borderline blasphemy.
Thus, church members should always look upwards with reverence at the leadership of the church for spiritual truths. At no point in time should ANY member EVER take it upon themselves to "correct" or "save" the church! According to LCG, that is supposed to be Christ's job. He does the correcting, through the leaders.
The question should be asked, What IF the leadership is so corrupt and graceless that Christ just might need to use a lay member to wake up the lazy, bloated, and self-important ministry? What happens then? We all know that answer. You will be kicked out and publicly humiliated from the pulpit, by the very same graceless, bloated, self-important ministers that need the correction.
Just the title alone of the Weekly Update is meant to instill fear into the LCG membership. If you dare to question, you are misguided and the church does not like that. Questions and criticism are "misguided" even though Christ might be waking you up.
Beware of Misguided Ideas
The Apostle Paul warned, “in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1-4) and that many will not listen to sound doctrine but will prefer to follow their own ideas (2 Timothy 3:1-6; 4:1-4). Paul also warned that critics from within and from outside the Church will try to divide congregations to gain a following (Acts 20:29-31). He pointed out that Satan will try various ways to mislead well-meaning people (2 Corinthians 2:11) who latch onto and begin to spread an idea—that has already been examined and rejected by the Church—in an attempt to influence others (2 Corinthians 11:4-15). While numerous ideas created problems among brethren in the early Church, Paul’s advice was to “Guard what was committed to your trust” (1 Timothy 6:20), “hold fast” to what you have been “taught” (Titus 1:9-11) and “avoid foolish disputes” (Titus 3:9; 1 Timothy 6:3-5). When questions arise over doctrine, the biblical example is to take the issue to the leaders of the Church for a decision (Acts 15:1-31). Nowhere do the Scriptures encourage individuals to take it on themselves to correct or “save” the Church.That is something that Jesus Christ will take care of in His time as He “builds” His Church (Matthew 16:18).Have a profitable Sabbath,Douglas S. Winnail