Living Church of God: Forbidden Bible Study

The Living Church of God not only FORBIDS its members to study the Book of Enoch, it now also forbids its members to study the Holy Bible.

LCG has had the policy that its members are not permitted to have private Bible studies with "10 or more  people without a minister" for some time now. Their justification is that studying the Bible without one of "God's ministers" present could potentially lead to a wrong understanding which could in turn lead to potential problems and "divisive ideas". Several Charlotte members have been suspended and/or put out for participating in "private Bible studies".

Of course it's far better for the controlled to be spoon-fed their information from those in control. After all, lay members are probably too stupid to understand the written Word all by themselves. The control of information is always the best way to maintain one's authority over the people.

Gone are the days of HWA pounding his fist on his desk shouting, "Don't trust me! Look it up in your own Bible. Prove these things to yourself brethren!".

They have been fully replaced with, "If you don't understand our doctrinal upgrades, perhaps you aren't fully converted" and "is it your job to question God's ministry?". And the ever popular, "you may not fully understand it brethren, but if you have faith that we are God's chosen ministers, you should have the faith to do what we say, even WHEN you don't fully understand it".

Apparently not trusting or even questioning a LCG minister is akin to not trusting Christ Himself. Who knew?!

All that was crazy enough but LCG has tightened the reigns EVEN MORE of late. Now the private Bible study rule has been extended to ALL groups regardless of size. Even a group of two constitutes a forbidden offense in the Charlotte congregation.

Of course many continue to study their Bibles with friends. Just don't get caught by LCG Gestapo or you will have Rod McNair to deal with! Guess who's name will turn up as the next "Visiting Minister" prize winner???

The old-timers aren't happy with the new rule and are having a difficult time understanding how a church feels it has the right to tell its members NOT to study the Bible. When questioned, McNair spouts non sequiturs like, "you might be strong enough to study the Bible by yourself, but what about the babes in Christ and what about the teens? Should they be able to do Bible study without a minister?"

It's convenient to use the "we must have the same rules for everyone" line when it suits them. Only, everyone has seen that the same rules do not, in fact, apply to everyone in LCG where favoritism and unbalanced scales abound.

If you are an LCG member reading this and you don't believe it true, don't trust me, go ask you minister.

Or don't. Sometimes not knowing how tyrannical the church you've pledged allegiance to is easier than the change that acknowledgment will likely foster. 

The Church of God Obsession With Creepy Sock Puppets

This is Jelly and his "handler" in one of many of United Church of God's creepy sock puppet campaigns to brainwash their kids with aberrant doctrines.

Not to be outdone is the Church of God International with Buckaroo Bob and the Roadkill Cafe. 

 

Dave Pack and the Restored Church of God Face Another Year of Epic Failure

The Feast of Tabernacles will soon be upon us, again.  We are now heading into the third year after David C Pack's epic announcement that his god was going to strike down three Church of God leaders and in turn lead all the members of their  respective churches over into Dave's flock.  Two years have passed and not one single leader  has died.  Nor are any members of  any of the splinter groups joining up with Dave.  In fact, Dave is LOSING members!

Dave has no large Feast sites this year ready to accommodate new members.  People are not packing their bags to go to Dave's Feast. No splinter group is in negotiation with Dave to change their allegiance and festival sites turning them over to the Restored Church of God.

This is what Dave wrote that keeps coming back to bite him:

Details may begin (and only begin) to come into view on the first of the month of Elul (in God’s calendar—August 7 in the Roman Calendar). A more complete picture will emerge by Elul 24 (August 30). Right now, all are urged to have in their thinking that they will be reassigned to a new nearby Feast site, and those who choose to return to the Body of Christ will attend with what becomes a much bigger organization—probably significantly bigger than the largest splinter! (Crucial Questions—Important Answers! July 19, 2013, http://rcg.org/sep/crucial-questions-important-answers)

Which three leaders are the greatest obstructionists to God’s stated purpose in Haggai—returning HIS people to doing HIS Work? (The Final Announcement. August 2, 2013, http://rcg.org/sep/the-final-announcement)

Next, the 2013 Feast of Tabernacles: This will also be among the most special and inspiring times in Church history. It will be a Feast of unity and harmony among all of God’s people. Everyone will keep this joyous occasion as members of The Restored Church of God in scores of sites across the world. At this time, we have 21 sites, but we anticipate adding many more. In some areas, former splinter brethren will attend our current sites. In other locations, we will have to quickly add new ones. In still other areas, splinter sites will simply become Restored sites. The total number of Feast sites, and where they are, will depend entirely on how many brethren answer the “stirring” of Jesus Christ to return to His Church, and in what areas they live. Details may begin (and only begin) to come into view on the first of the month of Elul (in God’s calendar—August 7 in the Roman Calendar). A more complete picture will emerge by Elul 24 (August 30). Right now, all are urged to have in their thinking that they will be reassigned to a new nearby Feast site, and those who choose to return to the Body of Christ will attend with what becomes a much bigger organization—probably significantly bigger than the largest splinter! (Crucial Questions—Important Answers! July 19, 2013, http://rcg.org/sep/crucial-questions-important-answers)

It must be humiliating to be seen as such an epic failure in the eyes of his own members.  Its no wonder they are leaving.  Those tens of thousands of new members never jumped ship with their money, which Dave was greedily claiming as HIS. 

Dave now is struggling to keep the money flow coming in.  His mini-me auditorium yearns to be built.  Dave's master plan for his campus is stagnating.  His epic gardens look  out of place crisscrossed by high tension lines  while being squeezed in between the busting freeway and the big lot store across the street with its expansive parking lot.. His magic garden that Dale Schurter was supposed to be setting up as the epitome of agricultural genius has been pushed to the sidelines.

Dave's big dreams have turned out to be big dud's!

The Corruption of an Unconventional Mind

The Corruption of an Unconventional Mind

By

Lonnie C. Hendrix

As one of the many folks who accepted Herbert Armstrong’s theology in part or in toto, I have given a great deal of thought to the subject of what made me vulnerable/susceptible to his teachings. After all, most of the people who heard his message did not accept/adopt it as their own. Why? Because they were too smart? Maybe, but my sense is that there was something more profound at work.

It seems to me that Mr. Armstrong’s message had a particular appeal to those who were not satisfied with traditional religious teachings and explanations about Scripture. It appears to me that the folks who were already searching for something more spiritually and intellectually satisfying than the dribble which they had been spoon fed all of their lives were more susceptible to being seduced by his message. In short, Armstrong’s target audience was in large part made up of those folks who had what we might justly characterize as an unconventional mind (those not conforming to what is generally believed or accepted as truth).

Herbert Armstrong focused on some of the blatant inconsistencies between what Traditional Christianity was teaching and what these folks were reading in Scripture. He also pointed out the hypocrisy inherent in some of the teachings and behaviors exhibited by mainstream folks. Likewise, he skillfully ridiculed the illogical nature of some of their most important/cherished beliefs and teachings. In further contrast to his fellow theologians, he appeared to base his own teachings on an uncanny familiarity with human experience and history. Finally, he seemed to have answers to the deeply philosophical questions that had been haunting humanity for millennia.

At least, that’s how it seemed as long as one read all of his material, accepted it as the revelation of the Holy Spirit and didn’t dig too deep after doing so. Mr. Armstrong had taken the time to think about these issues and study them in a little more depth than the average Joe (which isn’t saying much, since even unconventional minds tend to be intellectually lazy). At any rate, he had readied/prepared himself for when those poor unsuspecting minds opened their eyes and ears to his message. In other words, he was primed for them; and they were ready to be seduced.

In this way, Herbert Armstrong was able to kidnap minds that might well have otherwise been on their way to bigger and better things. Once they were in his grasp, he erected all kinds of internal and external obstacles to further study or questioning. He assured them that they had found what they had been looking for, and any further searching was a useless and dangerous waste of time. In fact, if they continued to search, he assured them that they would lose what they had obtained and stumble into the Lake of Fire!

And just to make sure that they didn’t turn back, he attacked the very thing that had brought them into his fold in the first place:  their intellectual curiosity. Mr. Armstrong assured his followers that they were the “weak and foolish” things of the world. He told them that they had been sheep - blindly and mindlessly following the satanic teachings of Traditional Christianity, which really wasn’t Christian at all. Thus, doubting their own unconventional disposition, they became imprisoned within the bizarre kingdom of Herbert’s ideas. Fortunately, some of us were able to recover (or never completely surrendered/abandoned) that disposition and have been able to emerge from that dark prison of close-mindedness and begin to grow again in grace and knowledge.

Looking back on my own experiences in the kingdom of Armstrong, I can see how dangerous it is for someone to ever completely shut the door to his/her mind. According to the Bible, Satan is already lurking within the recesses of that place. Hence, a door that is shut and locked provides no exit for him, and no entrance for God or further enlightenment. The real truth is never threatened by further investigation or consideration, and a truly unconventional mind is never satisfied with the answers that the rest of the crowd so willingly gobbles up.