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03/19/07 a.m. The Jan-Feb 2007 edition of The Journal came out last night. It has been going to two combined month issues for a while lately, I presume so that it can get caught up with the calendar dates (it has been behind for some time now, though not as much as the old Servants' News was).

Anyway, the following was on the front page:

TYLER, Texas—The Church of God International (CGI) and the Church of God Big Sandy plan to cosponsor a Feast of Tabernacles site in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 2007.

Charles Groce, administrator of the CGI, expressed his delight at the prospect of working with the Church of God Big Sandy, which is pastored by Dave Havir.

“We have so much in common with the Church of God Big Sandy and we look forward to sharing a Feast site with them,” Mr. Groce said. Mr. Havir gave credit to Mr. Groce for initiating the idea.

“Charles approached me and asked if we could pool our resources in Myrtle Beach to serve the brethren who attend that area for the Feast,” he said.

Last year attendance at the CGI site in Myrtle Beach was 350, and the attendance at Big Sandy’s site in the same area was 225.

The above is one of the more ecumenical events I have seen in the COGs lately.

David Havir's group was part of UCG, which left WCG in 1995 and CGI is a group that left WCG around 1978.

On common doctrine is that neither CGI nor UCG (and presumable not David Havir's Church of God Big Sandy) teach church eras like WCG once did and how LCG does now (e.g. LCG discusses it in its Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs). Herbert Armstrong used to indicate that he felt that CGI was composed of a lot of "liberals". CGI had a lot of splits, with ICG and CEM the two biggest (and both of them have bigger media presences than CGI now does).

The front page of The Journal also mentioned another sort of ecumenical gathering that included some once part of CGI (Oasis and CEM) and some that were once part of UCG (like J. O'Brien's group). The Journal stated:

The need for a “free” Church of God was high on the list of things to talk about at an invitation-only conference of COG leaders conducted by organizers of the Lexington Winter Family Tournament...

Mr. Dart drew an analogy between a literally pacifist stance —traditional in the old Worldwide Church of God and its derivatives—and a metaphorically pacifist stance that keeps people from taking active steps to protect brethren from dangerous doctrines and leaders.

“We have inherited spiritual pacifism unthinkingly,” he said. “I have a 12-gauge and a 9-mm handgun in my house, and, if some guy breaks into our home and threatens my wife and me, he will go back down those stairs head over heels. I’m not a pacifist. I believe I have every right to protect myself and my family”...

Mr. Dart criticized the concept of “one man” as leader of a church. “Now, maybe he’ll be a good guy, a benign despot,” he said, “but the fact of the matter is that, when you leave the task of protecting the church to one man, you are taking a risk on autocracy and authoritarianism.” Mr. Dart praised Mr. O’Brien’s mention, in the introduction to the conference, of a “free church.”

“The idea of a free church is so powerful, so meaningful,” the CEM leader said, “but we haven’t gotten down to understanding what it means to be free”...

“Doctrine has been kicked around this church for too long,” he said. “I don’t know why it’s such a big problem. We tend to use the word in a sense of the word dogma. Now, does a church have the right to establish what we teach?”

On his last point, please look at some of what the Apostle Paul wrote about the church:

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Having watched DVD presentations previously by at least two the leaders at this conference, I will simply state that "the independents" do have a real problem with doctrine, getting the Gospel message out, and remaining a coherent body (these type of confederations have never seemed ideal in meeting the mission of the Church of God as far as HWA and others have been concerned).

Speaking of doctrine, Ron Dart is perhaps the leading COG leader to support COG members serving in the military etc. This, as well as the more traditional COG position, is documented in the article Military Service and the COGs.

Here is more from another attendee at the aforementioned conference:

Mr. Swenson said that “one of the controversies in evangelism we had in United [Mr. Swenson is a former elder of the United Church of God] was this statement, that the mission of the church is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all things.” In line with the traditional Church of God consensus on the second resurrection, “we’ve had people say in United and in the independent world that God’s done calling people. Now the job is just to prepare the bride.”

While I doubt that the majority in United would state that God is done calling people and have heard that from some independents, I would state that have never heard anything remotely like that in LCG.

The COGwriter page mentioned the possible move of UCG's home office to Texas a short while back. Here is more on what The Journal is reporting on it:

Although the GCE chose the Cincinnati suburb of Milford over Dallas-Fort Worth in 1997, the elders will have the opportunity to reconsider that decision in 2007. Whether the proposal to relocate to Texas passes or fails, the atmosphere surrounding the proposed move should be far less unsettling than back in 1997.

As Mr. Kilough wrote recently to UCG elders: “This is obviously a big decision, and we respectfully ask that you prayerfully and seriously consider the explanation and rationale for such a move.”

The move, while an item of news, is not currently a major item of importance to me, though it will impact the lives of many who work (or will work) for UCG. I suspect that it will impact UCG's spending plans and continue to divert funds that could have other mission-needed uses.

Anyway, for those that do not get the Journal, here is a pdf link to The Journal's front and back pages for Jan-Feb 2007.

03/18/07 a.m. In his latest letter, CBCG's Fred Coulter wrote:

Jesus Christ was the Lord God of the Old Testament before He was made flesh. As God manifested in the flesh, He came to live a perfect human life and lay down His life as the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.”  That was the whole purpose of the Passover Day...

Would God actually become a human being in order to personally bear the sins of the world?  The answer is, YES!  Yet, even to this day the Jews do not believe the true meaning of Isaiah 53. As we approach the Passover, we need to once again prayerfully read these scriptures in preparation: “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He has no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.  Surely He has borne our grief, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken.  And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: when You shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:2-12).

Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, making intercession for us.  As Paul wrote: “Having therefore a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold fast the confession of our faith.  For we do not have a high priest who cannot empathize with our weaknesses, but one Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our own temptations; yet He was without sin.  Therefore, we should come with boldness to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16).

Sadly many do not understand the COG position that Jesus was God prior to coming to the earth and emptied Himself of His divinity in order to do so. This is documented in the article Jesus is God, But Was Made Man.

Since the Passover will occur just over two weeks from now, three articles of possible interest may include:

Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach?
Melito's Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? This article supplies some biblical answers.

LCG reported the following news item:

Germany: Leaving Europe Behind?  “Twenty-seven kings came together in Brussels last week, and each of them wanted to be treated like royalty,” began a recent article in the German paper Der Spiegel.  The author touted the finesse and political dexterity with which German Chancellor Merkel operated among the leaders of Europe – guiding all of them to an agreement on a controversial political issue.  Merkel is viewed as “a child of Eastern Europe, and yet she has quickly made Western Europe her own…”  Ultimately the Germans, at least, are hailing her as Merkel: The Queen of Europe.  In addition to the German Chancellor’s increasing influence in Europe, Germany recently announced plans to “go to the moon” in search of minerals which are scarce on earth.  The Germans will make this venture “apart from Europe” (Der Spiegel, March 12, 2007).  Germany also ordered four new high-tech, long-distance submarines for its navy (Naval-technology.com, March 14, 2007).  For decades we have warned people to “watch” Europe and especially Germany.  As European politics and Bible prophecy move forward, the “King” of the ten-nation Beast will be increasingly clear (Revelation 17:7-13).  Germany is moving toward this important position. 

A German-dominated Europe will form and is forming. I am convinced that there will be a few major bumps in the road before it fully does, but it will still form (see also Europa and the Beast of Revelation).

03/17/07 p.m. I noticed tonight that Gavin Rumney at the AW site questioned my uses of the term "we in the COGs" in some comments I make. Perhaps it needs to be mentioned that a relatively high percentage of the visitors to the cogwriter.com website do not have a Church of God background. My use of that expression is intended to distinguish a position from that held by others (normally Protestants or Roman Catholics) so that readers understand that the position being taken is generally held by those of like-affiliation.

Perhaps it should be noted that others in the mainstream (especially Protestants and Roman Catholics) frequently indicate that they speak for all Christians when they say "Christians believe etc." And even though I do not normally consider that they even understand what it is to be Christian, I do recognize that they feel they are representing a commonly-held view within their religious community.

FWIW, I do not believe that I have ever used the expression "we in the COGs" for any doctrine or position that is not widely held by those who still claim to be at least significantly faithful to the teachings and doctrines of the pre-1986 WCG (and my oldest son confirmed this when he did a search of the COGwriter website on his own after I wrote this). If someone has a specific incident where that is not so, please email me with specific details. My email remains COGwriter@aol.com

While I appreciated the link AW provided to the article Why The Church of God Does Not Wear Green on St. Patrick's Day, I did not appreciate the following, which included a partial quote from that article, nor the implication of the comment that followed it, which was:

Bob even wallops old Saint Pat for something he might be accused of himself: "It is quite presumptuous, as well as wrong, for Patrick to conclude that..."

Presumptious. Very apt.

He then chided me further. Perhaps he has been out of the COG so long that he no longer remembers what we actually teach and generally agree upon. And no Gavin, just because I think I often do remember, I am not "claiming to be some kind of ecumenical spokesman" as you suggest. I have never endorsed ecumenicalism--and anyone who thinks I am ecumenical clearly has not read enough of the articles at this website carefully enough.

Anyway, since many readers at AW probably did not read the actual article (Why The Church of God Does Not Wear Green on St. Patrick's Day), let me put the entire quote below that Gavin only partially referred to:

It is quite presumptuous, as well as wrong, for Patrick to conclude that God will use him on the last day to judge all the Irish race. This suggests to me, at least, that he was delusional.

Now I will list every time the expression "we in the COGs" was used in the article (Why The Church of God Does Not Wear Green on St. Patrick's Day), for everyone to see if what I represented was true or not:

We in the COGs do not consider that Patrick was an apostle...

{Regarding Patrick multiplying Roman Catholicism in Ireland} we in the COGs feel that what Patrick did was not beneficial. However we feel that Jeremiah and others called of God were in Ireland well before Patrick (for more detail please see the entire article Behind the Mists of Ireland)...

St. Patrick's Day is a Roman Catholic holiday to honor a Roman Catholic saint, who upon orders by a Roman Pope, spread Roman Catholic doctrines all over Ireland. Doctrines that we in the COGs believe obscure the truth of God (like the trinity) and which obscure the message of the Bible to many in Ireland today.

The stories of St. Patrick lead to a misunderstanding of what Christianity is and the nature of the Godhead. It also is highly deceiving for the Irish as they will not be judged by a Roman Catholic saint named Patrick. For those and all the related reasons, we in the COGs do not intentionally wear green on St. Patrick's Day, do not pinch others, nor do we intentionally observe other celebrations related to Patrick on that day.

While Protestants would tend to not consider that spreading the trinity obscures the truth of God, we in the COGs clearly do (the COGs are NOT trinitarian)--that is primarily why the expression "we in the COGs" was used.

According to "The Catholic Encyclopedia" Patrick of Ireland actually claimed that he was "deputed to judge the whole Irish race on the last day" (that is in the article now, and was last night when I first posted it). There is no comparison in my writing that "we in the COGs" would not wish to observe practices dedicated to what the Roman Catholic Patrick did and what Patrick said about himself.

Gavin Rumney is certainly entitled to his opinions, but those with eyes to see should be able to see through what he posted. Now my posting here will not change the writings of those that are in opposition to the COGs or me. But for you others, I simply wanted you to see the type of logic that COG critics use, so that you will not be adversely affected by the types of inappropriate tactics they sometimes use against me and others in the COGs. I normally let the inappropriate criticisms of me slide, but this time thought the readers of this page may like to know my thoughts on this one (see Proverbs 26:4-5).

03/17/07 a.m. Last night, ICG's Mark Armstrong correctly observed:

As we approach the Biblically sanctioned and commanded observances associated with the Spring Holy Days, the mainstream “Christian” world is gearing up for Easter.

Articles of related interest may include:

Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach?
Melito's Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? This article supplies some biblical answers.

Tomorrow is allegedly the anniversary of creation according to one Catholic Doctor and monk named Bede:

Modern cosmologists estimate that the universe has been around for 13.7 billion years.But for how much longer?

Only 53 years, according to the godfather of modern science, Sir Isaac Newton. He spent far more time trying to work out when the world would end than he did wrestling with mathematics or gravity. After more than 50 years (and 4,500 pages) searching for clues hidden in the Bible, he scribbled down 2060 on a scrap of paper that he hid in a trunk. It was only discovered in 2003 (just in time)...

A quarter of Americans believe that the Second Coming will happen in 2007. A large proportion of these believe in the concept of "rapture", the process by which all "true" Christians are immediately transported to join Christ, disappearing from their cars, homes and offices, leaving only their clothes behind. Preparations for "The Rapture" are big business in the US. In 1988, Edgar C Whisenant's book 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988 sold more than four million copies. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/exclusions/quiteinteresting/nosplit/ftqi117.xml

Well, Christ is not returning in 2007, but may return within the next 10 to 20 years (we in the COGs believe that Bede and Ussher erred--Bede is considered by Catholics to have been a "Doctor of the Church"). We in the COGs believe that God has preordained 6,000 for humans to devise their own civilizations and be apart from God and that Jesus will appear at the end of that 6,000 year period. This idea is not unique to the COGs as even Catholic writers from the second to twentieth centuries have taught it.

Here are three such writings:

Irenaeus wrote:

Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception (Irenaeus. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 29, Verse 2. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

A fourth century apologist and Catholic teacher named Lactantius wrote:

But we, whom the Holy Scriptures instruct to the knowledge of the truth, know the beginning and the end of the world, respecting which we will now speak in the end of our work, since we have explained respecting the beginning in the second book. Therefore let the philosophers, who enumerate thousands of ages from the beginning of the world, know that the six thousandth year is not yet completed, and that when this number is completed the consummation must take place, and the condition of human affairs be remodelled for the better, the proof of which must first be related, that the matter itself may be plain. God completed the world and this admirable work of nature in the space of six days, as is contained in the secrets of Holy Scripture, and consecrated the seventh day, on which He had rested from His works. But this is the Sabbath-day, which in the language of the Hebrews received its name from the number, whence the seventh is the legitimate and complete number. For there are seven days, by the revolutions of which in order the circles of years are made up; and there are seven stars which do not set, and seven luminaries which are called planets, whose differing and unequal movements are believed to cause the varieties of circumstances and times.

Therefore, since all the works of God were completed in six days, the world must continue in its present state through six ages, that is, six thousand years. For the great day of God is limited by a circle of a thousand years, as the prophet shows, who says "In Your sight, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day." And as God laboured during those six days in creating such great works, so His religion and truth must labour during these six thousand years, while wickedness prevails and bears rule. And again, since God, having finished His works, rested the seventh day and blessed it, at the end of the six thousandth year all wickedness must be abolished from the earth, and righteousness reign for a thousand years; and there must be tranquility and rest from the labours which the world now has long endured. But how that will come to pass I will explain in its order. We have often said that lesser things and things of small importance are figures and previous shadowings forth of great things; as this day of ours, which is bounded by the rising and the setting of the sun, is a representation of that great day to which the circuit of a thousand years affixes its limits. Lactantius. Divine Institutes, Book VII, Of a Happy Life, Chapter 14).

...the time of the First Resurrection will end...It is the time when the Seventh Millennium will set in, and will be the day of Sabbath in the plan of creation...It has been the common opinion among Jews, Gentiles, and Latin and Greek Christians, that the present evil world will last no more than 6,000 years...Christians and Jews, from the beginning of Christianity, and before, have taught that 6,000 years after the creation of Adam and Eve, the consummation will occur. The period after the consummation is to be the seventh day of creation--the Sabbath...St. Jerome said, "It is a common belief that the world will last 6,000 years." (Culligan E. The Last World War and the End of Time. The book was blessed by Pope Paul VI, 1966. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), pp. 113-115).

The second lesson of LCG's Bible Course suggests that Jesus may return about 10 years from now, which puts the date closer to Ussher than Isaac Newton. If I recall correctly, I believe that before he died, Herman Hoeh thought that the 6,000 years would end no later than the decade of 2020.

Two articles of related interest may be Did The Early Church Millenarianism? and There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra.

03/16/07 p.m. Here is a draft of new article I put together this evening titled Why The Church of God Does Not Wear Green on St. Patrick's Day

03/16/07 a.m. UCG Canada wrote:

For several years, Canada has maintained a modified French version of its Web site at www.ucg.ca. With limited resources, only a small portion of the Web site information was available to those who spoke French.

Recently Canada launched a new Web site (www.revuebn.ca) for the benefit of Francophones in Canada. This Web site has emulated the one that was produced by the home office. Having this Web site will give us the ability to add articles as our resources permit.

Some Internet ads are being composed to target specific cities in the province of Quebec and will tie into this new Web site. We eagerly anticipate an increase in subscriptions to the Bonnes Nouvelles magazine and are happy to be able to better serve this bilingual country.

UCG reported:

UCG pastor Bill Bradford addressed the Friends of the Sabbath conference in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, with a lecture titled "The Sabbath in the History and Experience of the United Church of God."

Sabbath-keeping groups attending the conference included the United Church of God, Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-Day Baptists, Reformed Seventh-day Adventists, Messianics, Christian Educational Fellowship, Christian Biblical Church of God, Fellowship in God, Worldwide Church of God and independent Christians. During the weekend attendance peaked at 460 on Saturday morning.

Samuele Bacchiocchi was the keynote speaker. His lectures included "My Search for the Sabbath at Vatican City," "The Sabbath and the Savior," "The Sabbath as a Time of Service" and "The Sabbath Under Crossfire: A Look at Recent Developments."

Dr. Bacchiocchi spoke very favorably of the United Church of God and the commitment of its members.

Dr. Bacchiocchi is a Seventh-day Adventist scholar. He is quoted in at least two COGwriter articles Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity? and SDA/COG Differences: Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666.

For information on the Sabbath in the Bible and throughout history, please read the article The Sabbath in the Early Church and Abroad.

LCG's RC Meredith reported:

Responses from the telecast around the world are certainly inspiring to all of us. In the United States, for the first time ever, we had two programs that produced more than 5,000 responses each. However, when the U.S. numbers are added to our worldwide TV results, the worldwide stats show that the 5,000-mark was achieved four times in January and February. Four times in two months! Last year was the first time for the worldwide telecast to break the 5,000-barrier, and the 5,000-mark was broken a total of five times in 2006, but already four times in just the first two months of 2007.

In the first two months of 2007, our combined worldwide TV stations generated more than 41,000 responses.

An article of possible interest may be There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God?

Pope Benedict was again in the news:

The Bible does not applaud such people as it teaches:

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt...Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge...? (Psalms 14:1,4).

Speaking of no knowledge, it is incredible that any thinking person could conclude that there is no God. Five articles of possibly related interest may be:

Is God's Existence Logical? Some say it is not logical to believe in God. Is that true?
Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God's Existence Logical? Part II This short article clearly answers what 'pseudo-scientists' refuse to acknowledge.
What is the Meaning of Life? What is your ultimate destiny?
The Bible: Fact or Fiction? This is a booklet written by Douglas Winnail that answers if the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends or the inspired word of God.
Read the Bible Christians should read the Bible. This article gives some rationale for regular bible reading.

What did Herbert Armstrong teach is the false gospel?

Well according to HWA, it is NOT including Jesus Christ as part of the Gospel. HWA taught that the false gospel was ONLY teaching about the person of Christ, WITHOUT teaching about the Kingdom of God, while ALSO doing away with the ten commandments. The gospel of Christ, the kingdom of God, includes understanding who the King of the Kingdom actually is. Notice what HWA really considered to be the false gospel:

For 1,900 years traditional Christianity has failed to preach about Jesus as coming KING and world ruler in the coming kingdom of God to replace Satan on the throne of the whole earth (Armstrong HW. Are We Living in the Last Days?).

Jesus' true gospel had been suppressed and supplanted with a false gospel--not the gospel of Christ (the kingdom of God) but man's false gospel about a Christ who did away with his Father's commandments (Armstrong HW. Mystery of the Ages, Chapter 7, 1985).

More information is included in the article There are Many COGS: Why Support the Living Church of God?

Tomorrow's World has a two-minute audio special report from Don Davis:

Will The Twelfth Imam Return With Christ This Spring?

03/14/07 a.m. The home page of t-COG states:

For over 50 years, Herbert W Armstrong taught the Truth of God’s Word. Many millions heard his voice on the World Tomorrow TV broadcast, or read the Plain Truth, the monthly magazine of which he was editor.

Since his death in 1986, many of the Truths which Mr. Armstrong taught have been rejected. Many brethren have sought to hold fast to what they were once taught. This web-site is dedicated to those scattered brethren who wish to retain God’s Truth.

This site contains many of Mr. Armstrong’s articles and radio broadcasts. Also a number of sermons, Bible studies and articles by Jamie McNab, an elder in the scattered Church of God.

I would add here that since HWA's death, most who were part of WCG have rejected completing the work of proclaiming the gospel to the world as a witness by deciding that particular points of doctrine are more important than the Philadelphia work. Two articles of possible interest may be Did You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? and Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?

The Spring Holy Day season will be here soon.

Here is some of what The Catholic Encyclopedia teaches about Passover:

The connection between the Jewish Passover and the Christian feast of Easter is real and ideal. Real, since Christ died on the first Jewish Easter Day; ideal, like the relation between type and reality, because Christ's death and Resurrection had its figures and types in the Old Law, particularly in the paschal lamb, which was eaten towards evening of the 14th of Nisan. In fact, the Jewish feast was taken over into the Christian Easter celebration...The connection between the Jewish and the Christian Pasch explains the movable character of this feast...Since Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, had been slain on the very day when the Jews, in celebration of their Passover, immolated the figurative lamb, the Jewish Christians in the Orient followed the Jewish method, and commemorated the death of Christ on the 15th of Nisan and His Resurrection on the 17th of Nisan, no matter on what day of the week they fell. For this observance they claimed the authority of St. John and St. Philip (Holwek F. G. Transcribed by John Wagner and Michael T. Barrett. Easter. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. Copyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by Kevin Knight. Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York).

Well, actually those in the true church in the Orient observed the 14th day of Nisan (see article on Polycrates or Apollinaris). However, the basic point is that the Catholic Church admits that Christ was slain on the Passover and that it still should be observed (even though they changed the name, intent, and the date--also the Jews never called it Easter).

Nearly nine years ago, the Tkach WCG had some articles about the annual worship calendar. Quotes and critiques of it are in the article Is There "An Annual Worship Calendar" In the Bible?

Articles of related interest may also include:

Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach?
Melito's Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? This article supplies some biblical answers.
UCG and Its Unleavened Bread Study Paper What does the Bible say about eating unleavened bread for seven days? What has UCG officially said about it?

The following item was in yesterday's news:

Catholic politicians can't back gay marriage: Pope 

Reuters - March 13, 2007

Vatican City - The Church's opposition to gay marriage is "non-negotiable" and Catholic politicians have a moral duty to oppose it, as well as laws on abortion and euthanasia, Pope Benedict said in a document issued on Tuesday.

In a 140-page booklet on the workings of a synod that took place at the Vatican in 2005 on the theme of the Eucharist, the 79-year-old German Pope also re-affirmed the Catholic rule of celibacy for priests.

In the document, known as an "Apostolic Exhortation," Benedict says all believers had to defend what he calls fundamental values but that the duty was "especially incumbent" for those in positions of power.

He said these included "respect for human life, its defense from conception to natural death, the family built on marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one's children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms."

"These values are not negotiable," he said.

"Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce laws inspired by values grounded in human nature," he said...

Some bishops in the United States have refused to give communion to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights. 

http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd=24487&con=56&sec=4

The current pontiff and I agree that issues such as homosexuality and abortion are not values that should be negotiable.

03/13/07 p.m. The following news item was of interest:

03/13/07 a.m. CGOM-UK reports:

Three articles of possible interest may include:

There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra
Laodicean Warning for God's People
China, Its Biblical Past and Future, Part 3: China in Prophecy

A UCG supporter sent the following in an email concerning UCG's future move to Texas:

As I mentioned in yesterday's update (which includes the link to the article mentioned), I indicated that UCG's official announcement would be forthcoming.

Click here for previous COG news (includes comments on UCG planned move to Texas, EUs pollution plan, UCG looking for writer for its publication on dysfunctionality, CG7's apparent re-write of its history, Pope's comments on hierarchy, PCG's report on "safe sex", Voting, COGaic's view of the "Jesus tomb", Britney Spears anti-christ claim, Swedish Lutheran meeting, a new article on salvation being offered to all, etc.

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Volume 10, issue 41 COG writer B. Thiel (c) 2007