The Great Reconciliation Between Jew and Gentile in the New Testament

If there is one subject that the COG's have absolutely failed to teach their congregants properly is the great reconciliation that shocked the Church in the New Testament in the book of Acts.

Of course, it was the Church's beliefs on the differences between Jew vs. Gentile and who compromised "Spiritual Jews" or "Spiritual Israelites" that literally muddied the waters when it came to just how huge of a big deal it was back in the days of the beginning of the Christian Church at and shortly after Pentecost.

In the Worldwide Church of God's alternative facts, the story-line was completely different. Jesus came not for the world, but for a select few called "the Church". The "Gentile" line went off the deep end, ignored the "true" Gospel, which, according to Armstrongism, laid dormant and powerless for centuries - save for an infinitesimally small group of observant Christians who kept the Jewish Law throughout six different eras - up to the "Philadelphia" era which, of course, was started, and ended, with Herbert Armstrong.

What this different chronology does is shocking to the standards of orthodox Christianity, the work of the Spirit, the inclusion of the Gentiles, the lessons of Acts, the epistles of Paul, and actually, the entire framework and network of the New Testament. That framework being the freedom in Christ with the inclusion of the Gentiles into the Church that came with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

We pick up the story at Acts 15: (NIV) (emphasis in bold mine) (my inserted comment in brown)

15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute (AHA! Well, this wasn't expected at all, was it?) and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

Let me interject here what it must have been like at this point. Paul and Barnabas were at "Sharp Dispute". I bet you hands were flying and spit was being spat, and they obviously did not come to a solution or a conclusion - both held their ground. The only thing to do was for them both to be sent up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and the elders to talk about what to do. I can imagine that both were absolutely and completely set in their ways (What else is new?? This was a prospect of huge change, great for Paul, nightmarish for Barnabas!) BUT - they both could not deny the fact that the Gentiles had been converted. And for them, this was a Game-Changer - a Very Big Deal.

³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

Until a section of believers felt that the Gentiles must now become Jews in practice: 

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, (something tells me that this was a major understatement!!) Peter (NOT Paul, NOT Barnabas, but Peter!!!) got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. ⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

Shocking words!! Just look at the first four words in the next verse: 

¹² The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. ¹³ When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon^[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁶ “‘After this I will return
    and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
    and I will restore it,
¹⁷ that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
    even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’^[b]—
¹⁸     things known from long ago.^[c]

¹⁹ “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. ²¹ For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

I think it's good to point out here that you can definitely see the difference of opinions that are existing within the different personalities at this point. We have Paul, who is championing Grace and Freedom for the Gentiles. We have Peter, who is adamant that placing the Law of the Gentiles would be too much for them to bear and that salvation is by Grace through Faith.  We have Barnabas, who is championing the Law of Moses and Circumcision for the Gentiles. We also have James, who seems to be thinking that eventually, they'll come around to the law of Moses. Oh no, it's a split decision! It's sometimes difficult to see the human reasoning within scripture, but we have to remember, these were humans - men - just like us - with thought and reason and rationale just like what happens when a group of us get together.  What then was the end result? We read it in verse 22.

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers

²² Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. ²³ With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

²⁴ We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. ²⁵ So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul (THIS IS SIGNIFICANT, since both had very divergent opinions!!) — ²⁶ men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. ²⁸ It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: ²⁹ You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

³⁰ So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. ³¹ The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. ³² Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. ³³ After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. ^{[34] [d] 35} But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

That wasn't the end of the disagreements between Paul and Barnabas - two totally different opinions on Law and Grace and Church Administration, the Law of Moses and the Gentiles. Look what happened in verse 36:

Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas

³⁶ Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” ³⁷ Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸ but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. ³⁹ They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

It doesn't take a lot to see that there were hard feelings between the two who had completely different opinions on the path that they thought the two were supposed to take. Doesn't this all sound familiar? A huge shift had just happened within the Church. The Gentiles were included as believers without the inclusions of circumcision and the observances of the Law of Moses.

It is with this perspective that one must read the Pauline Epistles, as Paul went from church to church writing the congregations trying to explain to those who sided with Barnabas' opinion about Law about why the Law existed, what it was for, what it did, and the new way of faith in Christ and Christ in you in such books as Galatians. It is with this background that one can understand why Paul wrote exactly what he wrote, and went into such lengths and details about such issues - because he was dealing with people who could not accept the decisions of the Jerusalem Council, and that the Gentiles were not subject to the same yoke that they spent their whole lives observing. This did not change the fact that the decision was done and the Gentile Church WAS the Church - even though they did things and observed things differently. 

And here is where Herbert Armstrong could not reconcile that the Gentile Church was as much a part of the Church as the Jewish Christians were, 1900 and some years later. Instead, Herbert Armstrong condemned the Gentile Church as a wayward, backwards, pagan people who did not operate on faith but had become absorbed in apostasy. His mindframe was that the Gentile Church must act as the Jewish Church acted in the first Century - as the earliest Christians had to act. His mindframe was that the Gentile Church had to be subject to the Law of Moses. In short, Herbert Armstrong defied the authority and judgement of the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 and made the unilateral decision that the Gentile Church WAS bound to observe the Law of Moses and even circumcision. Herbert Armstrong was in rebellion to Paul, to Peter, and to the entire Jerusalem Council. Herbert Armstrong sided with Barnabas, and put a yoke on Gentile Christians that was too hard of a yoke to bear and distracted them from grace and faith in Christ. THIS is the reality of what happened, and this is the reality of where Herbert stood in relation to the authority of which the Council's decision was made.

In fact, Herbert Armstrong was rebellious to anybody who made a decision that was different than he thought. It didn't matter if it was Peter, or Paul, or Herb's own ministers, or Herb's church before he started his own. Herb had no respect for the Church, for the Decisions of the Council, for the Gentiles, and the list goes on and on. The reality is that what was in Herb's mind was a methodology to use religion - specifically taking the position of Barnabas - to attempt to revive the inclusions that had been outlawed by the council upon the Gentiles for his own personal benefit and gain. Such actions were mutinous, disrespectful, and against the very Spirit who inspired the decisions of the council in the first place.

Just because the Gentiles did things differently did not eliminate, and does not eliminate their faith and their belief in Jesus Christ and does not eliminate their prospects for salvation nor their inclusion into the Church of God. This is the hardest pill for the Churches of God to swallow - and it all stems from the great reconciliation and acceptance of the Gentiles by God in the Spirit at the day of Pentecost.

Will the Church of God recognize the decisions of the Church of God made at the Jerusalem Council? Will the Church of God accept the decisions of Peter, Paul, and all the Apostles? Will the Church of God stop trying to imposing yokes and burdens on the Gentiles that are too hard and cumbersome for them? Will Thiel and Malm and others take the decisions of the Jerusalem council and humble themselves and obey their spiritual authorities and stop imposing Jewish Law on Gentile Christians and creating more hardship than they can bear distracting them from CHRIST? 

What Is it that makes Armstrongism SO appealing to those who support it?

It's a valid question.

What is it exactly, that makes Armstrongism SO appealing to those who fully embrace it's completely flawed ideologies? What is it about Armstrongism that has caused people to completely deny reality in their quest for truth and understanding?

Despite the full brunt of historical evidence which is a free and open library for the browsing, Armstrongist supporters wear blindfolds and earplugs in the face of such dramatic affronts to their concepts and mindless imaginations. Despite the full brunt of hardships and assaults on rightful living, and despite the full brunt of even half-ways intelligent rebuttals to some of their most easily dis-proven theological embarrassments, they continue to relish in the madness of constant deceptions and continual delusion. They do not believe it is deception, nor do they believe it is delusion. To them, it's reality - even though clearly, and without any legitimate dispute, it is anything but reality. It is clearly, and unarguably, complete non-sense - made up by one man, with one vision, and one dream, fueled by vanity, ego, conceit, and power.

With that framework clear - what is it, then, that makes Armstrongism SO appealing to those who support it? It is the clear embracing of the concepts and imaginative dreaming of exactly the mindsets of the one who started it all. Namely, vanity, ego, conceit, and power.

Armstrongism is a fairy tale land of make-believe for many who did not, in real life, achieve, attain, or grasp the lifelong dreams of authority they may have wanted in their human lives to that point. For others, it was an avenue to create within that very structure the very embodiment of real power, using ego, and vanity, and conceit to achieve just such.

For others, traditional religion had, for one reason, or another, burnt them severely - whether it was Catholicism, or Protestantism, or any other form of organized religion which had shown itself, to them, as a fully evident fraudulent system - Armstrongism provided bucketfuls of theories as to why Corporate Christianity was as untruthful as they had observed it to be. With stories of abuse and freshly laid paths that all led to evil and paganism from within their horror stories of Corporate Christianity past, they were more than eager to embrace a different, seemingly refreshing concept of what they took to be a new light of truth.

This new light of truth, in fact - was the spark that all of these people began to fully indoctrinate within themselves, regardless of what exactly their specific reason was. Their leader, Herbert Armstrong, or whichever splinter leader they bought into later on down the road - spoke with enough convincing argument and authority that - when juxtaposed against the lies they had bought in the past, simply seemed to make sense and were appealing to minds that rejected what they thought was correct in the first place. Perhaps, in previous experiences, they experienced the abusive Southern Baptist Pastor, or the deviant Catholic Priest. Perhaps, in previous experiences, they remember the commercialism of secular Christmases, or the perceived emptiness they may have felt chasing Easter eggs on Easter morning. Or, perhaps, they simply were not taught the tenets of actual, authentic, Christianity - instead trapped in a televangelist-oriented, money-abusing system bent on money, authority, and power - and fled it, only to be attracted to the exact same system by someone else who told them they, well, were not after their money, and were not, initially, believing the system was about money, authority, and power. In short - they were duped once, then were duped again.

In a majority of so many of these cases was one common characteristic that was embraced. The idea that what was before was wrong - so what is now must be right.

And you have to admit, from the surface - in the worldview that it was in the 20th Century - it seemed right. It certainly did seem right! Technology - the space age - in fact, the nuclear age - made a convincing argument to Herbert's theories. The rapid rise of Armstrongism and growth led a sense of credibility to the argument. It's hard to argue when your emotions are completely overtaxed with 14,000 other people who are believing what you believe, and are of the same mindset! If they are right, and you are right - well then, it must be right, and that's that, right?

And that - right there - was the seed and the trap that made it all appealing. Here's a new and different way of living and thinking that opened up new doors to a whole new world of opportunity. But with all of the available opportunities and traditions were the acceptance of unquestioned and unchecked power from those in charge of the system they were embracing. The kicker that said "I'm in" The belief that down the road, in just a few years - is the absolute assurance that Herbert's ideas were true - including you being a part of a World Rulership where you, yourself, would be one of those in the King's Inner Circle, ruling and governing in - you guessed it - authority, luxury - and power - right back to square one.

The only thing is?

Herbert's ideas were not true. They were lies. They were built on financial greed and empirical lust. They were built on irrational concepts of racism and superiority. They were built on worldly business models, with the capstone worldly treasures that would make the top rich and powerful in their world, and the poor impoverished and shackled. The promises of a Utopian government in 3 to 5 years were false. The promises of interpretations of prophecies were also just as false. The ideas of the majority of the ministers were - you guessed it - false. In fact, Herbert's empire was just as scandalous, just as abusive, just as divisive, and just as greedy as anything you'd find in what they came from in the first place. The end result was disappointment, disillusionment, and a deep hunger for facts without the emotional and/or spiritual concepts that hurt them so much in the first place. And what was created? Dysfunction, Distrust - and in many cases, agnosticism and atheism. And in most cases? Anxiety, depression, trauma - to name just a few behavioral issues that were born from the cesspool of Armstrong's Atrocities.

Bringing it back around to the original question. What is it then, NOW, that makes Armstrongism SO appealing to those who support it - despite all of the above, or the reasons, and what not?

It can only be one thing. And it's best described summarily in just five words.

It is, what it is.

Their entire lives, full extended families, decades of memories, and a host of other entrenched webs are simply worth more than what it would be to start new. So, even though there are other more appealing options that look available despite the disgust of the deceit they plainly see, not changing anything would be, to them - a greater risk of collapsing their entire life's structure than it would be to leave the structure and build new. In other words - they fear it would all collapse on them before they get out to start new.

Thus, the appeal the remains, honestly - in totality -  is for many - rooted in just ONE word.

Survival.

1 John 4 -5: Armstrongism Revised Version

                                

1 John 4/5: What Armstrongism REALLY is trying to get the scriptures to say they mean.
Actual scriptures crossed out. What Armstrongism actually says in their doctrines in pink.
Not official, my interpretation.

*****


Dear friends, let us love one another keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, for love Sabbath and Holy Day keeping comes from God. Everyone who loves keeps the Sabbath Day has will be been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days does not know God, because God is love has given the Church the sign of the Sabbath. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. He gave his Church the Sabbath and the Holy Days as a sign to those He has called as His people. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. so that we may be begotten by God's Spirit and someday might have a chance at eternal life. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another by Showing God we love him by being obedient to God's commands of Sabbath and Holy Day keeping. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: We keep ths Sabbath by He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to someday be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone God calls acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love The sign of the Church is Sabbath keeping. Whoever lives in love keeps the Sabbath lives in God, and God in them. ¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus set ourselves apart by keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love Sabbath Keeping. But perfect love Sabbath Keeping drives out fear, because fear Sunday Keeping has to do with punishment. The one who keeps Sunday is not made perfect in love.
¹⁹ We love keep the Sabbath because he first loved us kept the Sabbath. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet does not keep the Sabbath hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, Keep the Sabbath physically whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen, if they keep Sunday. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. keep the Sabbath, and the Holy Days, and Tithe, and go to Church, and obey the minister without question.


Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born begotten of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands of Sabbath and Holy Day keeping and the Law. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands of Sabbath and Holy Day keeping. And his commands to observe the Sabbath are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the worldly attempts to stop you from Sabbath keeping. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God keeps the Sabbath and the Holy Days and obeys the Law.
⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three two that testify: ⁸ the^[a] Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three two are in agreement. ⁹ We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. obedience to the Law. ¹⁰ Whoever believes obeys the Sabbath in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God keep the Sabbath has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. kept the Sabbath.  ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has may given us eternal life if we qualify, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever keeps the Sabbath has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God keep the Sabbath does not have life.

The Legacy of Church of God "Ministers" and Deception.

Power.

It's quite the word in the Churches of God, because those in charge have had a lot of it.

Add money in, and you've got a narcisist's dream job.

Then add supposed divine authority - and you are a god.

That's the long and short of the story of the ministers in the Churches of God, who for over 70 years have convinced good-hearted and well meaning people that they are the inheritors of supreme authority on the basis of a supposition of the inheritance of diving power through top-down ordination. And when people buy into that belief, there's little - if anything - that you can say, or do, that they won't believe is right.

That has been the story in the Churches of God ever since Herbert Armstrong began his vain, narcissistic scheme of self-interpretation of religion for the furtherance of his financial empire and worldly success. It has been a story that Herbert's hirelings have written over and over again - with tragic mental and physical results.

Not every one of these people - named "Ministers" of varying rank and title - have taken advantage of members in various ways as many have. But those that have taken advantage of members for their own benefit, either personally or corporately - have done so vigorously, unashamedly, and forcefully, as they personally have benefited from their perceived deceptive power plays. From the beginning, it has been the minister who has been served by those they have been entrusted to serve. It has been a culture of privilege, superiority, arrogance, pomposity, and hubris that had encompassed their entire lives - all enabled and created by the headquarters corporate who developed a system that rewarded them for their heavy-handedness towards those who they were entrusted to spiritually develop.

From the beginning, the "ministers" who were ordained into full-time ministry into the Church were given "the Good Life". At the peak of their financial prosperity, due to conning the members to believe they were required to give 30 percent or more of their income to the Church, they were given handsome salaries, expense accounts, for a time utility expense, parsonage credit, a fleet car - and that's just financially. They also - well, many of them - used the members of the Church as personal slaves - car washers, lawn mowers, movers, or anything else that the members were willing to do. And their "work"? Many of them in some areas really did not have much to "do" during the week! Prospective member visits were low, visitations were not always required, the occasional wedding and/or funeral, and a whole week to write a sermon or sermonette. Those who did have large congregations and were constantly busy had high expectations - and were sometimes the most brutal with their unrealistic and supposed authority that they pounded home was, according to them, from God.

They also had the full backing of their boss, Herbert Armstrong, when it came to disputes or claims of malpractice. Herbert Armstrong had a policy of always believing the minister's word over the members' claim - and let that be known specifically - if there was no specific evidence against the minister. The weight of that kind of backing was something the ministers knew and wielded well, in many cases.

And then there was the belief of absolute divine authority, which many ministers claimed they inherited via ordination - and the belief that their every decision was through the guiding ministry of a higher portion of the Spirit of God within them. From the very smallest to the very largest decisions, such a mindset and belief caused a co-dependency from member to minister that was just as powerful as the dependency from a son or daughter to a parent. The difference between this child to parent relationship and a member to minister relationship? The parent-child relationship was temporary until adulthood. The member-minister relationship was eternal. In short, the members were never permitted to grow up.

The ministerial dominance of supposed authority extended well into the realms of discipline, as any rebellion, slacking, without full support, or disobedience in any way shape or form could result in not only extreme physical consequences (losing friends, even family, isolation and rejection, as well as separation from Church, either temporarily or permanently) but also spiritual consequences (loss of salvation, condemnation, rejection from the Kingdom, and being thrown into eternal cessation via being burned in the Lake of Fire). Some of these "ministers" fully abused such a belief that they had such supernatural, God-ordained powers to the order of complete oppression of their members, and fully hijacking every decision that members ever made in their lives in many cases. This was not the case with all of them, or all of the members. But it did happen. And it did happen often.

All of this of course created an atmosphere of excessive pride and arrogance within the ministry that they created their own super-culture that was far and above beyond the normal clique. It was a culture that created special seating, and roped-off areas. It was a culture of higher living that in many cases the regular member was not invited to nor ever could know. It was a culture of "We are better than you,and you well better know it." It was a culture of posh, arrogant hubris and superiority. It was a culture of superiority based on rank and position and power. They were them, you were you, and you better follow the rules, or you, who were next to nothing, will be nothing. This was the message sent and widely received by many.

Your expectations, spiritually and physically, within the dominant sphere of the minister's supposed authority, were both excessive and exhaustive. Submission to not only the rules and regulations required by the doctrines and dogmas of the Church's spiritual interpretations, and the rules and regulations of the local Church as interpreted and enforced by the pastor, dominated every aspect of the life of the member, the member's family, and all areas within. Personal decisions were expected to be ran by the pastor in cases of job, marriage, dating, finance, personal issues, sex, school, friendships, Church attendance, Church social lives, and all issues related to "the world" as to what was proper and what was not, including birthdays, holidays, events, gatherings, sports, and overall life, including what to wear, music, child-rearing, child discipline, and a host of other subjects that you were not "smart enough" to know on your own what was or what was not appropriate or expected of you. Your adherence to expectations was constantly analyzed, judged, disciplined, and reported to superiors on a constant basis. You were judged on your masculinity, your femininity, your handshake, your hair length, your dress, your suit, your communicative style, your personality, your macho or manliness, or your ability as a homemaker or wife. The minister's power within the marriage was nearly absolute when it came to marriage counsel - and for some decades, broke up or dissolved marriages based on their own interpretive judgements of what defined adultery. Make no mistake - lives were under, in many cases, the complete dominance and power and authority of the Minister, the one whom was Greatly to Be Feared.

This was the power they had - the power of deception. This deception was enabled by fear, first and foremost. Fear of God's Punishing Power. Fear of the Minister. Fear of the Church. Fear of Disobeying, and lastly but certainly not least - the Fear of Discipline up to and including dis-fellowshipment.

Once you had invested your whole life into the controlling powers of the system - who controlled your life in every way - who could ruin your entire life in one letter of disfellowshipment - or one order to quit your job - or one order to leave your spouse - or to reject a family member in some recent cases - you resigned yourself to their will. You resigned yourself to just obey them, because the consequences would be rougher than if you lose your entire social system. That power over the social system that the Church wielded was, and is, the biggest shackle and chains that grab onto and hold a member under their thumbs. The minister sits on them with that power with the full weight of a 400-lb tablet of stone. If they leave, they lose. If they leave, they fear. They believe it's the end.

Tragically, because of that belief, many have simply given up, fallen into depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and some have committed suicide according to many reports. This is the tragic results of drunk on power charlatans who have abused members emotionally and spiritually for far, far too long.

Those who have been abused sometimes do not think it's really that bad because they're used to it. They believe what's out there is far worse than what's "in there". They believe that what they have experienced for decades, is normal. They believe this because that's what they've been told to believe. They have been lied to, deceived, and had have their minds stolen, and many have lost the capacity to live on their own or even make the most basic decisions without help. All the while, their pastor and corporate church rake in their income, their assets, their estates, and their lives because of the love of sordid gain and the lust of mammon and riches. Their cold, calloused assault on the well being of their members is excused and rationalized away with the belief and statements that "Their donations and acceptance of the doctrines is voluntary" and no one is forced to do anything.

Of course, that's a lie.

When you threaten their eternal salvation because they aren't doing what you tell them to do. When you threaten their eternal salvation because they don't submit to your authority or every order. When you threaten their eternal salvation because they are not giving you the required donation. When you threaten their eternal salvation because they have failed in every expectation handed down from on high. And not just their eternal salvation, but their family's well being? Their jobs? Their social lives? Their marriage? Their everything? And you make the dastardly excuse that it's "voluntary"? There's nothing voluntary about it. You've deceived yourself into thinking you are doing nothing wrong.

And the well-intended, good hearted members who simply just want to do what they believe God has said for them to do end up in  system of bondage and chains - thinking in full belief right is wrong, and wrong is right. The results are tragic.

The entire concept of ministry is to serve. The entire concept of ministry is to help those who are Christ's as a supporter, an encourager, a defender, and a protector - not an abuser, a parent, a fraudster, a charlatan, a scammer, a conner, or a robber. The entire concept of ministry is humility, not pride. The entire concept of ministry is not based on money or assets or estate, but on the spiritual health and well-being of the member. The entire concept of ministry is growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ - not the wallet, not mammon, not money, not corporate. The entire concept of ministry is not rooted in wickedness, or pride - and most of all, the entire concept of ministry is not rooted in abuse of a member. Whether that abuse is emotional, mental, physical, or developmental - abuse is abuse. And the truth is, the COG's have miserably failed as a whole in not only failing to stop abuse within the churches - but enable it, in the name of greed and presumptuous gain.

Those ministers who truly are ministering are out there - the few, and the faithful. The other ministers? The so-called ministers who have trashed everything Jesus Christ stands for - who puke and vomit on God's Word? The ones who got rich by making the poor poorer? The ones who idiotically stand in their pulpits enthralled in the stink and filth of their vomit-stained words, nauseating those who are shackled with their putrid arrogance? They aren't ministers.

They're a disgrace.

The members who are in bondage can regain control. They can regain their lives. They can be set free. They can live again. They can recover. But they can only do it through and by the power of the Living Jesus Christ. It is my prayer that through prayer, they can live again, and be set free.

Ramblings

Today, I just thought I'd ramble a little bit. It's been a little bit of a difficult day, in some respects, as certain things shift and move in the waves of life. But it all is a matter of perspective in the way one deals with the way the winds change, isn't it.

I've been watching with interest a few things in the Church of God Universe i wish to talk about. Again, it's more of a rambling sequence of thoughts in the form of print. I have not taken the effort to outline this particular thread in any consistent dialogue. Keep that in mind as I write this posting.

On Depression

At the Banned Site, there has been some reporting on PCG's stance, according to an article published by their group, on depression. Apparently, the PCG seems to think they have the scholastic and psychiatric training and ability to interpret and diagnose clinical causes of depression and mental health issues. Anyone mind if I take a moment to step out, laugh my head off, and run back in? You don't mind? Fine then!

HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA.

Now I'm not an expert on the issue in it's clinical study, but I know enough about it - both from those who do know a little bit about it, and from personal experience - to talk about what depression is, and isn't.

Depression IS, in many cases, a bio-chemical imbalance in the brain, and may or may not be rooted in actual issues of life. Depression CAN be "enhanced", or even develop, or become chronic due to life's stresses and issues. And I can tell you, based on much evidence I have read over the years of PCG's Direct Influence on Life, that their doctrines and policies can be a direct initiator or enhancer of MAJOR depressive disorders.

For them to get on there, and act like they are the ones who can cure depression when they have directly caused so much for so many people is one of the most laughable and nearly ironic things that could be written in print.

Regardless of what they say the causes are, depression is extremely serious, and it is critical that those who suffer from depressive disorder get help to know what steps to take to isolate and proactively resolve any issues that are severely impacting and destroying their well-being.

On Certain "Ministers" 

It is irking to watch certain self-appointed "ministers" attempt to assert themselves as some sort of "authority" to those who subscribe to their splinter or "church" body. One of the most irking - yet, strangely - amusing - ones that is setting themselves up as such an authority is the leader of the Continuing Church of God, Bob Thiel, who has to call himself an "overseer".

I have consistently said that many of those COG-types who attempt to present themselves as authorities set themselves up as some sort of spiritual "parents" who rob and steal the intellectual and adult abilities of those who "submit" to their ideas and claims. Calling ones self an "overseer" is certainly not subtle about it.

Then, there's the time-old lies that leaving their church body corporate is a spiritual death sentence. That is absolute rubbish and a lie from the pits of darkness. The CCOG is, in no way, shape, or form, any kind of "One True Church", and it's leader is not even - despite their claims to the contrary - ordained or appointed to any ministry. The arrogance and hubris is appalling. As in every movement no matter how insignificant, there are always a few who get sucked into the thinking of the leader of the subgroup. And let there be no doubt about this: The only "overseeing" power that Bob has is only the power that any individual person gives him. The only power any COG minister has over anyone is the power to deceive and make people believe their claims. When those claims do not pan out, then the evidence is clear they are not who they say they are. Sadly, many decide to stay with the lies then to pull themselves out into the light of truth.

On LCG

It appears, according to some LCG insiders, that a certain LCG minister is "recycling" "inspirational" messages each Saturday to their congregants, using the same material on repeated cycles.

Look, I don't see how this is any different, if true, then the same sermons being recycled over and over again! We all know this goes on in COG services. The same subjects, the same sermons, the same messages, the same material recycled over, and over, and over again. I don't honestly know how people - no matter what COG they go to - can sit there, and take the same dull and repeated and boring, lifeless messages time and time again - especially when given by ministers who have no clue how to give a sermon if their life depended on it!

I remember very well with my time in the COG's how I would have to endure a hopelessly borin speaker. It was much like listening to National Public Radio (No offense to NPR) when they introduce classical music. Anyone who has listened to NPR knows exactly what I am talking about! How is it that people put up with it?

Because they feel they HAVE to.

For the same reasons they feel they HAVE to keep the Sabbath, and they HAVE to keep the Holy Days, and they HAVE to do this, and HAVE to do this, "Or else". In the COG life, it's all about obeying commands militarily, instead of wanting to do things because they have the freedom and the ability to do so from the heart.

The Church was never supposed to be a military camp. But with the COG's, that's what people have voluntarily surrendered themselves to be - financial and spiritual slaves to their "masters".

And again - it's ALL about the money!

More interesting tidbits I'm not really commenting on at Banned about the big fiasco going on with CEM and the RLDEA people. I'm just going to say this:

How much evidence does one possibly need to conclude to the obvious answer as to what's in the heart and the minds of certain COG people? What in the world is it going to take?

A lavish expensive auditorium didn't do it.
The juxtaposition of the End of the World with the building of the auditorium didn't do it.
The threats of loss of eternal salvation because of lack of tithing didn't do it.
RCG's compound didn't do it.
Weinland's conviction didn't do it.
PCG's extravagance and jet airplane didn't do it.
The poverty lives of some COG members for the cause that turned out empty didn't do it.
The good life of pastors while the poor suffer didn't do it.
The evidence in co-worker letters 50 years back didn't do it.

What in the world will do it?

I say nothing is going to do it. They are willing to give up everything for the contemptuous sordid gain of a few bullies who capitalize on whoever they can devour. They attach like a leach and through lies and threats and shackles and chains pull the life out of whoever they can. And it's all deception. It's all lies.

It's a financial SCAM.

It's not like the evidence isn't there. It's literally everywhere. It's getting to the point where they just don't seem to care anymore. How is accepting lies in the face of truth any different than what they've been railing against in their own minds for generations???

That's it for now.

Materialism and Rest. Thoughts.

I've been reading but not really participating in great detail on the lengthy thread over at Banned by HWA on an estate fight going on over a late minister's estate.

I'm not going to get into it here. I'm not one to cast judgement, because I was not there, I don't know the details, it's all hearsay to me. But from the little I do know about what I am seeing, can I just say that I'm disgusted by the whole thing? Well, I am. Materialism is here today, and is gone tomorrow. And yet, what is consuming the attention of two supposed religious entities at this point? Materialism. Back and forth. He said, she said. Over what? Over property. Over money. Disputes. It's sad to watch this mess.

During the course of one or the other discussions over there at Banned, a subject came up regarding the Rest that Christians enter into. I'll just copy how the conversation started.

The original poster was a "c f ben yochanan":

yeah, afraid ur right: once they see the ancient writings of the Word of God fulfilled, particularly Luke 13:25 Spoken by Jesus, whom, ironically, the writers of this blog like to accuse the cogers of rejecting, then they will understand that they will simply not be entering into His Rest, and will go the way of every doubter and scoffer in the bible that has preceded them...

woe unto them, there will be wailing and weeping at missed opportunity to merely stay the course of the simplicity that is in Christ and receive Praise from the Son of David, son of judah...

c f ben yochanan  

Here, CF clearly states that the "writers of this blog", obviously including myself, "will simply not be entering into His Rest" - and then, in judgement, blasts them as doubters and scoffers, who will be weeping and wailing because of rejecting "the simplicity that is in Christ".

Pretty crazy stuff right there.

This commentator seems to know for a fact the spiritual condition and salvation status of each of the writers at the Banned Site. More than this, he has already judged that "they will simply not be entering into His Rest". In other words, he has judged me as a non-Christian. Pretty bold stuff, there, isn't it? Quite a convincing, judgemental statement, isn't it? I know for an absolute fact that such a judgement is absolutely incorrect - categorically incorrect. I know this because Jesus Himself saved my life, and Jesus Himself has guided and led my path. I know this because I acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior. This, and for a thousand other reasons I'm not going to get into here. Suffice it to say, YES, Jesus is Lord, YES, I obey and serve Him to the best of my abilities. NO, I am not perfect. But for someone to come on a blog, to a complete stranger, and state to them the judgement they have cast? Only believable in a religion such as Armstrongism.

Anyway, I digress. I responded in this manner;

Christians have already entered into His Rest. The opportunity is not missed. It's here. Christians do not have to wait for a future event to experience Christ. Sorry to say it, your words and predictions are empty and without authority. Jesus is alive and well within His people. 

I thought it was short, and to the point. I did not feel the need to go on and on about it. Armstrong followers have their minds closed, shut, locked and sealed. I don't want to waste my time or get my anxiety all up in an knot over this. It's not worth it for my health, it's not worth it - well, simply, period.  But then, I get THIS response from an anonymous commentator:

"Christians have already entered into His Rest."


you can't be serious, have you looked around you lately? have you not noticed the condition of the world???

the only rest Christians have right now is the Sabbath each week (Heb.4)

What?  Really? You have GOT to be kidding ME.

What were the words of Jesus? What did Jesus say? Any Christian should know the phrase and scripture by heart. Jesus said, "Come to ME, all you who are weary and heavy [burdened], and I will give YOU REST." And this writer really comes on and says that the only rest Christians have right now is the Sabbath each week? Really? Seriously?

Have I not noticed the condition of the world? Sure I have! I responded in this manner;

Did I say I was talking about the world? Did I say every liar, stealer, assaulter, and abuser is a Christian? Did I say that those who are on the "will not inherit the Kingdom" list are Christians? Did I allude to anything about that? What then is your definition of a Christian?

a Christian is one who has the Holy Spirit, Christ in them, and is known by the fruits they exhibit. The fruits they exhibit are directly correlated with Christ's Rest.

The rest is not physical. The rest is spiritual. It's emotional. It's relationship. All those with the Spirit of God, Christ in You, are inheritors of the Promise. They are confident in their future because they have been sealed by the Spirit. What you are doing is confusing Christianity as a corporate, which it isn't. Christianity is personal. It is a relationship. Those who have Christ exhibit Christ and exhibit through their fruits the evidence of His Rest.

Why is this so hard for Armstrong followers to understand?

It's just inconceivable that a Christian would possibly say that the only rest a Christian has is the Sabbath Day. This is exactly the evidence of what I was talking about when I say how Armstrong followers deny what Jesus Christ accomplishes and freely gives to those who seek Him, and receive His Holy Spirit. This is the evidence of why I have often called Armstrongism non-Christian. Because so many of them wholly deny that Jesus Christ gives Christians rest through the Spirit of God within them! And through that Rest, by Christ, one exhibits righteousness. One exhibits peace. One exhibits joy. Patience. Lovingkindness. Gentleness. Mercy. Self Control. And of course, LOVE. These are the fruits of a spiritually rested person. These are the fruits of a Christian. "Come to ME, all you who are weary, and heavy laden, and I will give you REST".

Sure, people can take a day of rest on the Sabbath Day. It certainly doesn't mean they're RESTING. It certainly doesn't eliminate the attitudes and carnality so freely evident even on the Sabbath in so many Armstrong related movements. Just because one is working without pay certainly doesn't mean they're RESTING! God is Spirit, and His worshippers worship in Spirit. It should go without saying that His followers also rest in Spirit.

You can keep the Sabbath. You can keep the Holy Days. You can tithe. You can serve the Church. You can be a pillar in the Church, and still not be in His Rest. This is evidenced by the fruits of a non-spiritually rested person. And we all know in Armstrongism there is an abundance of this out there, carnality and wickedness in all of it's ugly nature, whether it's on the Sabbath or not on the Sabbath. Whether it's on the Job or at the Feast. Keeping a day or a festival does not change the heart and soul anymore than wearing a suit cleans you up if you haven't been able to shower for a long time. You're still dirty. And if Jesus has not changed your heart and your mind, no matter how often you keep a DAY of rest, you still have not entered into HIS Rest.

There are many, many Armstrong believers out there who hold to the belief that because they keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days, that that's the sign they are Christians. Jesus had something different to say. Jesus said:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (NIV)

I can just hear Armstrongites say just as easily, "Lord, did we not keep your Sabbath? Did we not keep the Feast of Tabernacles and did we not tithe and follow Herbert Armstrong"? If Jesus was so strong about people who actually prophesied in the name of Jesus, or people who literally drove out demons in the name of Jesus - or even performed many miracles in the name of Jesus - what about those who believe they know Jesus just because of the days they keep or the festivals they keep? What makes them even greater than those who did not know Jesus who were able to use His power and His name? Their hearts were not in the right place. Their fruits were not evident. They were not in his REST. They did not have a relationship with Jesus. Jesus never KNEW them. And he even called those who used his name and his power evildoers - because they did not know the one who was the Source of that power.  

Earlier in the chapter Jesus said: 

 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

³ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

For those who easily like to judge others who think a little differently then them - especially those who are Christian - this would be certainly some advice that might be worth a little bit of extra thought. 

It is Jesus - Christ in You - the Spirit of God - that gives you rest - as you yield yourself to Him. As you turn from the things that are not of the Spirit - the things of wickedness and sinfulness at heart - like idolatry, greed, covetousness, immorality, abuse, heavy-handedness, sordid gain, and the love of money - things disrespectful to God and to others - things not done out of love but out of power and greed and lust - you enter into that Rest and peace through obedience, and by following the will of the Father - to LOVE God, and to LOVE your neighbor. When you love God, your neighbor, and do right - that's a peace and rest beyond all understanding. And that - in this crazy, selfish world - is a virtuous, and treasured gift to be valued and held dear. 

 

The Cult View of Church

Church.

For most people, the imagery is fantastic and fascinating. Stately stone buildings with beautiful shades of colored glass. A tapering steeple extends to the heavens – containing the bell that called believers from around the city to come and worship. A cross – the symbol of the Ressurrection – topped the steeple, indicating this church believed in Jesus Christ – that he died on the cross for our sins – the only one worthy to do so because He was God – and lived a sinless life for us. 

We didn't look at the cross in that manner. We, in our church, a church steeped in Armstrongism, looked at the cross with disdain, and with disgust. We believed that the cross was not what Jesus died on. We interpreted it as a stake – a tree – anything but a cross – because a cross, in our belief, was pagan and was rooted in pagan origins. We believed that church bells were not devices that called people to worship – no, we believed that it stemmed from antiquity and actually represented, of all things, testicles. The steeple, we did not see as a tower that displayed the Cross as a symbol of recognition of the Christian faith. No, we interpreted that as phallic. And the hymns that blared in beautiful harmonies from the tower of the bells, declaring hymns of ages past declaring the wonders of the Christ? We interpreted them as nothing but lies – untruths steeped in the rituals of Babylon, the coldness of the great false church that had a stranglehold over Christianity – who taught and preached a great false gospel to the whole world for just about 1900 years. 

People in our programmed way of thinking saw this image as pagan.

We saw the normal church – whether Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Mormon, Pentecostal, you name the denomination – as a church caught in the midst of mass chaos and utter confusion – and we saw them as ruled in deception and cloaked in a shroud of evil. We viewed those that went to these churches as workers of evil, deceived and not knowing what they do. We looked at them as rebellious sinners, unknowingly worshipping the god of this world – people who did not understand nor could accept what we called and believed was “the Truth”. We would not enter them, nor would we pray over them. For we believed that if God wanted them to come to what we believed was “his true church” - that is, the “One True Church” that my family was called by God, so we believed, to attend, God would draw them to himself. Until then, we saw them as a bad influence, distant, cold, and inferior to us – the ones, we believed, were the few called and chosen to be set apart from the world in God's one and only true church.

As we passed each business, car, person, and home on our way to the facility we would meet in privately, you couldn't help but think about how special you were. God had, after all, given you the greatest blessing you could ever conceive or think of. You were special. You were somebody. You had knowledge of a Gospel that everyone else in the world seemed to be blind to. You understood the purpose of life. You understood the plan of God. You knew your destiny – that someday, you would be God as God is God. You were, after all, in just a few years – maybe three, maybe four, maybe even ten – going to be changed, in a twinkling of an eye, to spirit – and were going to be one of the few of this world with the other church members to usher in the Wonderful World Tomorrow. This was your destiny, this was your calling – and if you did well, and if you did right – you might just be able to attain it and you might just make it and be worthy of your calling – maybe. 

Our version of "Church" in a building like this.

 

The Unwritten Tenets of Armstrongism

Tithing, Hubris, Inward Behavior, Expression of Appearance, Loyalty.


These are what I believe are the Five Unwritten Tenets of Armstrongism that define it's movement more than anything else. Let's break them down one by one.

1. Tithing.

No doctrine was more tightly monitored and enforced than the three tiered tithing system.

Where else does 10% of your income go directly to one place - national headquarters. Where else does the other 10% have to be saved so you could attend their annual convention. And where else on the third year of your baptism does the additional 10% supposedly go to a benevolence fund?  And on top of that, your offerings, your building fund offerings, local church activity funds, money for district meets and other activities - after government taxes and religious taxes (your tithes), you were lucky to have half your income met. That is, if you followed the letter of the Armstrongism law. Many were rebels. But if you had half a mind of wanting any type of ordination, your paycheck lived for the Church, and only the Church. They were first, and you trusted God for the rest.

Headquarters constantly checked up on members who did not tithe with their state of the art computer systems. This, in combination with the lies and destructive tactics that extorted money for their building programs, was what led to the Ambassador Auditorium and the sprawling campus properties and real estate developments of the Church - and the "highest paid ministers in the world", according to Armstrong. 

2. Hubris.

Pride.

Pride of being specially called people. Ministerial pride of prestige. Pride in the belief of kingly inheritance. Pride of being spiritual "Israel". Pride of having the most beautiful college campus in the world. Pride of having the magnificent gold and mammon Auditorium. Pride of hosting the most worldly celebrities and meeting the most worldly heads of state (Armstrong, that is). Pride of being the only ones in the whole world who were properly keeping the Law (don't get me started on that one.) Pride of biblical knowledge (without spiritual application and context). Pride of attending the largest worldwide convention on the face of the Earth. Pride of being the "One True Church". Pride of being God's elect. Pride of being "protected". Pride of "becoming God as God is God". Pride, pride, pride. Of course, if you didn't tithe, then your pride's busted, because you were a slacker headed for the Lake of Fire, so said Armstrong. 

3. Inward Behavior. 

Set Apart and called out from the World God was never trying to save. Friends that were only in the Church, ignorant of the evil of friendships and relationships, family or otherwise, outside of the church. Where anything resembling ancient paganism was the manifestation of evil (except for the things that headquarters deemed OK.) Where birthdays were equated with evil and satanism. Where members hid in the bathroom with their lights off on Halloween instead of letting their lights shine. Where congregations met secretly and silently in bingo halls and gymnasiums. Where the public knowing of their church was shunned for many years. Where The Church was just an "extension program" of Ambassador College. Inward behavior, a defining measurement of nearly all cults, was predominant of Armstrongism and still is. Inward behavior is a major unwritten tenet of Armstrongism. 

4. Expression of Appearance.

Appearance was, and is, paramount within Armstrongism. How you dressed, how you behaved, how you represented Herbert Armstrong was paramount. How clean your house was for ministers when they visited. How manicured and perfect the grounds of the Headquarters were. How cultured you were, how masculine of how feminine you were. This all played into the culture as one of the five unwritten tenets of armstrongism. 

5. Loyalty

Last, but certainly not least, Loyalty. How loyal were you to the Church? How loyal were you as a minister to Headquarters? How loyal were you to Herbert Armstrong's teachings? Were you loyal even if things seemed to appear wrong? Or were not working out as to how you thought? Or to how they thought? Would you remain loyal regardless of how things appear - and have the faith to remain, and be loyal, even if things seemed wrong - believing they would work out in the end? Because in the Church, if you weren't loyal, you would end up in the Lake of Fire. Loyalty to the Church was a chain of bondage that would not let you out and gripped tighter if you tried to escape.

The only way out of the bondage of the Tenets of Armstrongism was for Someone else to turn the key and release you. Yes, Bondage to T.H.I.E.L - Tithing, Hubris, Inward Behavior, Expression of Appearance, and Loyalty - the five Unwritten Tenets of Armstrongism - can only be released by the freedom available in Christ.

And what is the opposite of T.H.I.E.L?

J.O.Y. 

Jesus First, Others Second, Yourself Last. For J.O.Y. is diametrically opposite to T.H.I.E.L.

Something to always remember.