Since the November 1998 takeover of the old GCG by the board in the U.S., those once with GCG went to many places. Nearly 80% of the members and vast majority of the ministers ultimately went with the Living Church of God (LCG), 8-15% went with the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship (CGCF) and smaller percentages ended up with David Pack's Restored Church of God (RCG) (which was formed after the GCG board put him out), Harold Smith's Church of God Fellowship, Northwest (CGFnw), and other groups (at least one which is outside the U.S. uses the term Global Church of God). Most in Belgium left with GCG, but many in Belgium and Northern France came back to LCG in 2009. On July 1, 2001, eight ministers resigned from CGCF and formed the Church of the Eternal God (CEG), similar in name, but not related, to the Eternal Church of God (ECG--founded by a minister removed from the original GCG ministry for impropriety) about a month later CGCF (USA) dissolved and most still with it ended up in the United Church of God (UCG). One former GCG minister (Ronald Laughland) became pastor of the Wholeworld Church of God. In 2004, Raymond McNair, having been in GCG, CGCF, LCG, then went on his own and formed Church of God, 21st Century (COG21), then became ill and died. Don Haney, once in GCG/LCG, formed the Church of God In Peace and Truth. In 2005, Ben Faulkner, who was in GCG and LCG, formed the Church of the Sovereign God (CotSG). In 2006, Charles Bryce who was in GCG and LCG left, and formed the Enduring Church of God (En COG). (More news specifically on LCG is at the News of the Living Church of God page.) In 2010, several of the main leaders who went with UCG left it. A couple of people, like Norman Edwards (Servants' News), left GCG well before the 1998 takeover. As in this writer's opinion none of these non-LCG groups are part of the remnant of the Philadelphia Church era (though a few of their members might be), history has shown that they have accomplished relatively little of significant value and have contributed to dilution of full gospel proclaimation. Hence, this page mainly is intended for those who went with the non-LCG groups (or who may be thinking about going to them) to realize that those groups are not truly part of the remnant of the Philadelphia Church era. Website links for most of those that have websites can be found at the COGlinks page.
12/31/11 a.m. Went to the website of Ronald Laughland's Wholeworld Church of God today. Its home page has the following quote:
MATTHEW 24:14 "AND THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD”
Yet, "Wholeworld" seems to have no reach to the world. It has no major media presence, nor do many people go to its website. When I did an Alexa search on it today, it came back with no data. That basically means that probably 1,000 times more people go to the COGwriter.com website than that of Wholeworld. Anyway, I have always liked Ronald Laughland and hope he will consider the real fruits of not really fulfilling Matthew 24:14.
12/26/11 p.m. At the Q&A portion of its website, ECG has the following:
Question
Why the splits and differences in the Church of God?Answer
It is our belief that the Almighty did not cause the current splits and divisions within the Church...Because of the human greed, egotism, and mistreatment of members that has occurred during a time when there is no apostle, the Eternal Church of God recognizes that these splits and division will likely continue.
I would add that because most people who were once part of the old WCG simply did not accept the type of governance that Herbert W. Armstrong felt God ordained nor put the priority to proclaim the gospel to the world as a witness, that it was also the membership that bears responsibility for the splits.
12/09/11 a.m.In its announcement dated 12/10/11, COGWA has the following:
Launching church newspaper! One of the greatest ties that bind a family together is knowing what is happening in the lives of each member of the household. To that end, we are pleased to announce a new publication for the members of our spiritual family, the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.
Beginning in early January, we will begin producing a monthly online newspaper covering the events and news of brethren and congregations around the world...
As ones who previously worked together on church newspaper production, Larry Salyer and Elizabeth Glasgow are going to serve as editor and managing editor, respectively.
Larry Salyer was a key player involving the takeover of the old GCG. He helped it dissolve, then helped form CGF, left for UCG when CGF was failing, left UCG and became part of COG-America, COG-America dissolved, and he became part of COGWA. And now, he is their online church newspaper editor.
11/26/11 p.m. RCG has given its reason for the expansion of its facilities:
The reasons for major expansion—then and now!—can be summed up in two words: HUGE GROWTH!
Yet, the truth is the following is the reason that David Pack originally gave in his nearly three hour RCG 2008: The Great Turning Point sermon (given late 2007 or Jan 2008):
A new building is now necessary...A new world headquarters' building for God's work...We are planning to break ground this year...We proposed phasing four buildings in our plan...
The campus does the work of God...it will also make a powerful statement to the splinters
If it supposedly was necessary in late 2007, why is it now supposedly needed for huge growth? His "powerful statement to the splinters" in my view back then, and now, is that David Pack wants to show off--he may claim that is only one of the reasons for the building project, but in my view it is part of the main reason. David Pack may claim that he is following HWA, but the reality, to use an American expression, he is "putting the cart before the horse." He does not really have the spiritual need for such a campus.
It should be noted that 2008 was NOT the great turning point for RCG like David Pack tried to portray that it would be--he claimed then RCG would make major impact on the internet, instead it dropped for a while and simply has not had the tremendous growth that he indicated it was supposed to have by 2009 and beyond (RCG has had some growth, but so has COGwriter.com).
RCG apparently is also going on television and is upset that more people on the internet do not mention it:
How interesting that our critics say nothing about upcoming nationwide television, or the large expansion of Ambassador Center and a massive uptick in literature distribution that were announced at the same time.
I had not noticed that RCG had announced the television plan, which is why I had not mentioned it (I do not read all RCG literature). Yet, having now seen that, I still believe that this construction project is all related to David Pack's ego.
RCG supporters should ask why it is taking RCG 13 years to go on television (see also Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?), when it only took LCG about 8-9 weeks--LCG was and remains the leading COG in terms of television response.
And speaking of "how interesting" as RCG put its announcement, how come RCG never publicly states its actual membership or has not publicly published audited financial statements like groups such as LCG do? Maybe some year RCG will report its membership statistics by year, and perhaps it will tell its membership that its claims years ago about Kenya were in error, and that I was right about what was happening there--but I will not hold my breath.
It is interesting to me how David Pack continues to take people in by his hyper-exaggerations and selective use of statistics. He has been doing this for years. For more information, see Why Not the Restored Church of God?
11/22/11 a.m. It has been 13 years since the takeover of the old GCG by a power-minded board. As I wrote at the time, their approach to governance and lack of focus on gospel-proclamation would eventually become apparent.
Even counting UCG (which existed prior to the GCG takeover, hence did not actually come out of GCG), LCG has received several times more responses to its radio and television broadcasts than all the groups combined that came from the GCG takeover supporters (as well as all other groups that had origins in WCG for that matter). And of course, some of the top leaders that went with UCG (Larry Salyer, Jack Hendren) later left there and were part of the UCG split that brought about COGWA.
Groups like CEG and CGFnw lost the teaching about a coming King of the South (Is There A Future King of the South?)--yet with all that has been happening in the past year in the Arab and Islamic world, one would think that they would correct that--but it is hard to change, even from error. Some like EnCOG got so tied up in makeup (which they really should not have, see Makeup and the Philadelphia Era of the COG), that they have accomplished little beyond keeping some who went with them (and at least two of their top leaders came back to LCG after realizing this--and from what I heard recently in a conversation I had with one who went with Charles Bryce, but who returned to LCG, there is not much left at EnCOG). The other small groups picked one or two peripheral issues as justification for their existence, but again have failed to truly fulfill the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20).
Norman Edwards, who left before the takeover, changed tithing (which still should be done, see Tithing Questions and Some Answers) and has had a lot of financial problems with his group--though as I posted last week, his group still exists.
Ignoring RCG for a moment (who also misunderstands makeup as well as the gospel), even the COGwriter.com website (a member site) receives several times the visits that all the groups that left Dr. Meredith (and LCG's various websites reach several times the people that COGwriter does). LCG has also had several times more baptisms (which demonstrate that more people had significant interest and understanding of the gospel message) than all the groups that abandoned Dr. Meredith since 1998 have.
RCG's leader took a different approach than others who left. First, he made gospel proclamation his third priority, yet later he decided to focus on the internet (which if you spend enough money on internet advertising you can generate traffic, which is what he did--on the other hand, I have never spent any money advertising COGwriter). Additionally, he declared himself an apostle, put the highest emphasis on himself, and later told his followers to sell their assets, mortgage their homes, and deplete their retirement accounts and send RCG money for its glory. And while that helps get an internet presence and sometimes media coverage, RCG still has not been highly effective (see Why Not the Restored Church of God?). In my view, David Pack's ego has long been the real focus at RCG and its recent announcement for its HQ complex (see 11/13/11 a.m. post on this page) is consistent with that view, no matter how RCG wants to try to spin it.
So, in the past thirteen years, I believe that the fruits have spoken for themselves. LCG has had more baptisms, reached more of the public, and held fast to the Philadelphia era teachings and priorities of any COG. LCG follows the standards that Jesus set. For details and specific statistics, please see the article There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God?
All who were once part of GCG, but did not support LCG to present, have had negligible impacts on gospel-proclamation. Surely CEG, GCG-UK, and other similar groups are not meeting the requirements for the Philadelphia church. (And while RCG sometimes has internet reach, its approaches to doctrine, etc. disqualify it, please see Why Not the Restored Church of God?) And while some went with UCG, this involved compromise (Beware, Doctrinal Compromise is in the Air!).
As regular readers of this particular page should be aware, those that failed to support LCG simply do not have the fruits of LCG.
Since it has now been thirteen years, if you were once part of GCG, perhaps it is time to realize that the other groups simply have failed in the fulfilling the mission of the Philadelphia remnant church. Pray and study your Bibles about it.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Beware, Doctrinal Compromise is in the Air! Discusses some doctrines that CGCF may have had to change in order to merge with United.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
11/16/11 p.m. The November-December 2010 (yes, 2010) issue of Servants' News arrived in the mail via the US Post Office this afternoon. Servants' News is often late, but this is a quite a bit late. Anyway, it has an article by Norman Edwards titled Biblical Basis for PABC Ministry to Homeless. And while I am not going to comment on the focus of PABC's ministry here, I would like to add that I have been planning on having an article about the biblical basis of what some may consider to be restrictions on capitalism in the future. It is not that I feel that the "Occupy" movement is necessarily correct, but I do believe that biblical instruction related to current topics is something of value.
11/13/11 a.m. RCG announced the following:
World Headquarters Complex: The Restored Church of God is pleased to announce plans for its magnificent World Headquarters, to be built in Wadsworth, Ohio, USA.
This state-of-the-art complex, reminiscent of the Worldwide Church of God’s Pasadena, California campus, will be without equal, and will benefit both the Church and the local community. It will provide a beautiful setting for the rapidly expanding Work of God, and also serve as a Conference and Festival site, as well as a location to receive visiting dignitaries.
So, about four years after telling his followers to cash out their retirements, get in debt on their houses, take 1/2 of their spouses' assets and send it to him (see also my 2007 post, David Pack of the Restored Church of God Declares: “Go get those assets and get them here”), RCG's David Pack is now in position to get the type of complex that he has long coveted.
Here is some information for the archives of the GCG news page for 12/07/07 (at http://www.cogwriter.com/8gnews.htm) that are approximate quotes (I tried to type verbatim and the following is fairly close) from what purports to be a 11/03/07 sermon by David C. Pack to his followers in the Restored Church of God titled Clarion Call -- The Time is NOW!:
"Yeah, I know, one or two can leave and say, 'Hey, you stopped preaching and started meddling, now you're messing with my goods here on earth' "
"First Timothy 6 verse 17...'Charge them that are rich in this world'...If you were born in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, then you're rich"
"If you hold those riches, I'm telling you, you trust in them"
"Go get a big chunk out of your home. And put your money where your mouth is and send it here. And I'm not talking about one, two, three thousand either. How about ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, or one hundred thousand dollars? Go do it"
"Wives, you can be independent in this. You have 1/2 the worth of whatever you have in your house. I'm officially telling you this...Wives, legally you have the 1/2 the funds. What are you going to do about it?...Husbands...'well, my wife is not in the church'...tell her...'you don't have a voice woman' "
"Go get those assets and get them here"
"Don't sit on vast resources that we can use now"
"We are not a splinter"
"I do not covet your silver or gold...the gold and silver is God's and He will get it someway"
"We do not have the funds...plans...bookstores...We need to redesign our website...We need many hundreds of thousands of dollars to arrive at God's headquarters soon...the timing is now"
"This is different...ask Him for the faith to liquidate certain assets and give it to the work"
"I'll say it again, we are talking about liquidating existing assets...it all belongs to God and the brethren"
"We have a lot of plans so big going on in this office it would cause just this room to to rock and gyrate if you knew what was going on. We just need a lot of money and we need it post haste...I would give more if I had it"
"Herbert Armstrong wrote an article...'Prepare to greatly reduce your standard of living'...What he wrote by far, is more for us now than it was then...its all going to be taken away from us anyway brethren"
"There will be follow-up sermons. Time to bring in related points"
"Let us know how much you plan to send and when you plan to send it...You must be willing to communicate...If you do need to counsel, please do that...If you are not ready to distribute what you have...you don't believe the flow of prophecy"
"This is announcing the last blast, the clarion call as it were, to finish the work...Whether it is 4,5,7, 9 years to go, God knows...This is liquidating assets...I have the authority to tell you to do it...I have the moral and spiritual, and ecclesiastical authority to tell you to do what I have also done"
"Get it now when it requires faith...when you are dead you don't need it...if you named us in your wills, it can take us months or years to get it"
"The wives in the faith will say give everything you can...We don't have the luxury of waiting years...today, leaving everything in your will simply doesn't work"
"Now you just have a second mortgage...and frankly we flee before most of it ever becomes due"
"...some may think that they want to tap their 401k--maybe you want to let us know that...why would you want to tell us? We are starting to prepare a budget now, the needs are now...it would be nice to know now"
"Think big...Pull big triggers"
"There is only two positions you can take regarding all that I have mentioned, only two, there is no middle ground. You're either going to yield, to submit and to follow, the clarion call that the time is now or you're not. And postponing a decision is deciding not to do it...It's saying I'm going to wait until it gets closer because it is not there yet...Don't say that I'm going to wait until it gets closer, when I can see...The decision is that my treasure stays on earth or I goes to heaven. Period. I will not lay up for times to come or I will. And this is the real test of Laodicea...either hold on to your assets...or give it...God is in this decision, no question. Testing the church's faith"
"We live in the most materialistic age in the history of the world. People trust in physical things. They trust in bank accounts...If you have excess and don't need it, those verses mean you...That's the Laodicean attitude...Put your money where your mouth is...Empty your assets"
"There is only one place He works...Where the...work is...that's where God is working...one elder commented here at headquarters, if people can't be motivated by a clarion call to finish the work such as this, why will those same people somehow believe the internal signal given to the church of the 1335? Why would they believe it?"
"This is the Laodicean age...Be careful that you don't tell us how to spend your assets...It belongs to God..You don't tell God or His servants how to spend it"
"Your faith is being tested. Think about that"
"We will all fast on November 17th...I have to...ask you for a very special financial sacrifice for God's work"
"The purposes of the fast...
a. To fast for God's intervention...
b.Fast for personal faith and courage to follow what I am asking you to do...
c. Fast for personal strength...
d...Fast for faith and courage in others with more than you to give...Go get a big chunk out of your house...their assets, IRAs, and pension funds...
e. Ask God to move specific properties...that they have told us they want to sell. Pray that these properties move...that is part of what this fast is about"
I have warned people for years that David Pack is not an apostle, not the leader of the faithful portion of the COG, etc. It sounds to me like he is excessively trusting in money to do the work. While money is needed to do the work, I feel that this is excessively and irresponsible for David Pack to call for people to liquidate their assets at this time.
People who are following David Pack and who give their assets are NOT supporting the Philadelphia work of the Church of God. David Pack truly began RCG with the wrong priorities. Those who he persuades to give their assets to him and his church are NOT being led by the Spirit of God.
Does not David Pack fulfill the following?
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. (2 Peter 2:1-3).
Are not RCG followers being exploited with deceptive words?
I will add now that I recall David Pack indicating that part of the reason for him wanting the assets was so that RCG could build fancy buildings that would get the "splinters" (his term for COGs not part of RCG) to notice. I have long felt that RCG was mainly about David Pack's ego, and believe that its current plans are consistent with that. And while he and his supporters will likely claim that they are following in Herbert W. Armstrong's footsteps, the reality is that HWA had about 100 times as many members and in current dollars, 100x as much money--plus HWA's old WCG had a college for about two decades before the Pasadena Auditorium was built, etc. I believe that David Pack's ego, and not gospel commitment like HWA had, is the primary reason for the building project.
More on David Pack's group is in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
10/28/11 a.m. In its latest update CEG reported:
We observed the Feast at Pismo Beach in a most beautiful facility (at the Hilton Garden Inn) and an outstanding environment.
The above was one of only two FOT sites that CEG reported having. Pismo Beach is next to the town I live in.
10/11/11 a.m. I received some emails purportedly from m.venish22@gmail.com that contained his opinions:
I appreciate you sending this News. I'm a former minister of the RCG who was disfellowshipped and fired in June for accusations about Zec 3 and being accused of calling David Pack's counsel of elders "filthy rags" - Joshua's filthy garments - and I also disagreed with his claim to be a High Priest an office held by Jesus Christ. My wife and I were harangued for two hours by this vain narcissistic tyrant who cares little for those of age and whether or not he destroys their lives, and I have evidence that he has done the same to many others...My wife also work at RCG headquarters as a volunteer for over 15 months without even a thank you.
I hold no animosity toward David Pack or any of his ministry, I came to see that the work he is doing is about vaunting himself as well as coning his members with clever sermons, into disposing their assets in favor of RCG so he can build an empire. He claims an apostleship which is false he claims to follow Mr. Armstrong, but simply took his literature embellished it with his own thoughts and ideas and palmed it off as truth. Mr. Pack is a clever man who knows his Bible well, he has used this wisdom, to do a work that on first appearance looks like the real thing, but over time one wakes up to the realization of what Paul warned about in II Cor11:13 that it is simply a work of the flesh he he will bear the consequences of his actions.
My hope for him is that God will show him exactly what he is, what he has done and what he is doing, so he to may have the opportunity of facing Christ in the not to distant future and enter into the kingdom of God. I can send you all the correspondence I have emails, back and forth, an agreement they wanted me to sign as well as a letter from RCG attorney to substantiate what I have told you, of course you understand once you post what I send, you will receive an email from Jeffery Ambrose denying, or justifying my disfellowship and firing from RCG...
Kind regards
Michael venish
So, this is how an apparently former RCG minister views RCG. My own opinions are in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
10/10/11 p.m. Received an email from Norman Edwards that included the following:
This is probably the most diverse Servants' News ever!...and is also the most delayed-11 months late.
Servants' News has had a lot of delays over the years, and rarely came out "on-time."
Norman Edwards, himself, is one of the more "political" people who was once part of GCG and advocates voting in US presidential and other elections--something that those of us in LCG do not (see also Should a Christian Vote?).
10/04/11 a.m. Today's LCG commentary seems to be aimed at people who should believe the Bible, but have been misled by false charges from some who were once part of GCG that LCG changed the gospel. Here are a few excerpts:
Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14). Jesus continued throughout all the cities and villages, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 9:35). Instructing His disciples about signs preceding His Second Coming, Jesus warned that although false ministers would deceive many (Matthew 24:11), the true Gospel of the kingdom would be preached to the entire world (v. 14)! Scripture makes plain that the focus of the true Gospel is the coming kingdom of God! Yet, how terribly neglected is this powerful message of Christ’s literal return by so many of today’s churches!
But, does this mean that Jesus is not part of the Gospel? Absolutely not! While the Gospel is primarily about the coming Kingdom of God, it is unscriptural, illogical and impossible for Christ to not be part of that message! Don’t believe peoples’ opinions about this! Holy Scripture makes it absolutely evident that the true Gospel includes both components! Simply accept what your Bible proclaims! Notice:
- God’s faithful ministers have always taught “the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12).
- Paul declared, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16).
- Peter taught, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
(Source: Commentary: Are you being taught a false Gospel?)
- The Apostles were literally often beaten for “preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42)!
09/29/11 a.m. Visited the EnCOG website this morning and noticed that its last posted article is titled Always Tell the Truth. And that is a fine statement. My experience with the leader of that group indicated to me that he was highly supportive of the violent sport of American football based on statements he made in certain sermons. Of course, the late Herbert W. Armstrong was opposed to such sports and considered them evil (for details, please see Is American Football Evil?). Those in EnCOG may ask their leader the truth about why he has seemed so supportive of a sport that Herbert Armstrong considered to be evil.
Another truth that those in EnCOG should consider is if they really feel that their group can possibly fulfill Matthew 24:14. And if not, what should be done. With an Alexa popularity ranking today of 8,882,290 for EnCOG's website, relatively few ever see their message (an article of related interest may be Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?). (COGwriter, for example, with an Alexa ranking of 147,924 apparently reaches about 100 times as many people as EnCOG does, and COGwriter is only a member site of one LCG supporter.)
09/12/11 a.m. A group once affiliated with GCG still had the following at its website this morning:
The Bible is not clear that there needs to be a future king of the South, since history has shown that the prophecy in Daniel 11:40 concerning the king of the South was fulfilled, and Scripture could allow for, but does not demand, that this prophecy be dual in fulfillment. The current view of some, which DEMANDS the coming of another king of the South and identifies him as a confederation of Arab nations, under Egpyt's leadership, is certainly in contradiction to the clear teachings of the Bible.
It is sad that some want to insist that the appointed time of the end may have already happened, that there does not need to be a King of the South, and that there will not be an Islamic King of the South. Maybe they will change their mind once this leader has fully risen up? Those interested in more information on this, should check out the article Is There A Future King of the South?
09/03/11 p.m. A reader forwarded me two press releases this afternoon.
The Bible is clear that Jesus came with a message from the Father. He fulfilled a mission. His position is Savior of the world. Roderick C. Meredith wrote, "God the Father sent Christ to announce a message from Him. What kind of message was it? The word 'gospel' originates from the Old English word godspell, meaning "good news" or "announcement of glad tidings." Mr. Meredith also went on to say that the Gospel time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. This is the Gospel...
Background Information
Roderick C. Meredith is an author and contributor to the www.tomorrowsworld.org web site. He is the leader and founder of the Charlotte, North Carolina based Living Church of God. One of the first five Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God, he was ordained to the rank in 1952 by Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Radio Church of God (later renamed the Worldwide Church of God or WCG in 1968). For many years he was one of the Church's leading theologians, top executives, and college professors.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/31/prweb8758735.DTL
08/27/11 a.m. Someone sent me a Facebook ad from RCG linking to another letter from David Pack where he again falsely accuses LCG of changing the gospel. He has been on this campaign off and on for years. It is sad that even now David Pack has problems with the fact that the Gospel of the Kingdom includes the teaching of Christ's sacrifice and our need to accept it. His selective quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong fail to convey the totality of what Herbert Armstrong actually intended to have taught on the subject (for details, see my article Why Not the Restored Church of God?). David Pack's accusations about LCG and Protestantism is something I believe he will have to answer to God for.
David Pack may wish to consider other statements he has made in old sermons such as about when Christ would return and how RCG would grow (which have not happened as he has said) and perhaps consider that he still does not truly understand Christ's Gospel of the Kingdom.
08/18/11 a.m. In a letter yesterday from its secretary, COGWA announced that Larry Salyer did not win enough of an election to be one of 7 to serve on its Ministerial Board of Directors. Larry Salyer has been in about 7 groups (WCG, GCG, takeover GCG, CGF, UCG, COGA, COGWA) in the past 16 years.
08/07/11 a.m. Several groups that were once part of the group that took over GCG teach that there is no future King of the South. They tend to go so far as to teach that the old WCG did not teach that there would be a future King of the South. Now, this is wrong as I have written many times.
Anyway, last night I was looking over lesson 2 of the old Ambassador College Bible Correspondance Course. Notice some of what it taught:
COMMENT: Then at least a part of Daniel 11 must also be DUAL! And no wonder, for we find the chapter concludes with the "time of the end" (verse 40) - leading up to the resurrection of the saints (chapter 12 :2). (In the original text, there is no chapter break between Daniel 11 and 12.) (Ambassador College Bible Correspondance Course, Lesson 2, World Peace Coming in Our Time! 1972 edition, p. 14)
Thus, since Daniel 11:40 discusses the King of the South, those who are willing to see the truth will realize that as of 1972, the old WCG did teach that there was a coming future King of the South. The above reference was just added this morning to many others that are in the article Is There A Future King of the South?
07/30/11 a.m. In a letter today from its secretary, COGWA announced that Larry Salyer won enough of an election to be one of 14 "nominees to serve on the Ministerial Board of Directors".
Larry Salyer was instrumental in causing the GCG split in 1998. He also helped bankrupt GCG as well as its temporary follow-up group, COG, Fellowship. He was instumental in leading several ministers (as well as at least scores of members) to become part of UCG--where he stayed until 2010.
He also was the leader for North America of a group called COGA (COG America: A Group of Former UCG Ministers), that did not last, and was not particularly motivated to proclaim the gospel (see COGA Rationalizes Away Most Public Gospel Proclamation). We will see what happens with COGWA.
06/26/11 a.m. In his latest weekly update, LCG's Dr. Winnail mentioned that he was leaving for Australia and New Zealand to conduct public lectures on matters of biblical doctrine and prophecy--these lectures have proven to be a great tool in spreading Christ's gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14). Subscribers to Tomorrow's World magazine are invited to attend them. And for most of the non-LCG member attendees, this is their first exposure to actually meeting people in the Living Church of God. It has been a fairly effective way to multiply the impact of the Tomorrow's World telecast and magazine.
Those once part of GCG (including those who are in LCG) may wish to consider the following:
To me, at least, it suggests that LCG has been the most serious COG to proclaim the Christ's gospel of the kingdom to the world as witness (Matthew 24:14) in all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).
06/17/11 p.m. I have noticed that certain people actually, and falsely, still believe that LCG's Roderick C. Meredith somehow tried to embezzle funds when he left GCG. That is absolute nonsense. Again, for the record, let me state that what Dr. Meredith did in November 1998 was to respond to requests from 2-3 people who had loaned GCG money, which money was supposed to be payable on demand, and he signed checks to pay them back. Since there was some controversy about his signature authority that week, he contacted Fred Dattalo (GCG's then head financial guy) who told him that yes, he could sign the checks and pay back the loans. I personally verified this with Fred Dattalo over a decade ago as well as with one of the people who had asked to be repaid. Those who hint that Dr. Meredith somehow tried to embezzle funds are bearing false witness.
06/10/11 a.m. Norman Edwards just sent out the following:
The following message is from Aaron Baker, about the untimely death of Elizabeth Difranco, age 22, a well-loved and hard-working believer, known by many who are on this mailing list. Here is the note from Aaron Baker, an elder in her Haslett, Michigan, congregation:
Hi all
I'm sure by now that majority of you have heard of the untimely death of Elizabeth Difranco. She passed in her sleep last Sunday night. Because she had so many friends in Michigan and the surrounding area, her parents, Jim and Mary have along with her brothers, Dan and David decided to hold a service in Michigan over this coming weekend.
I did not know Elizabath Difrance, and while I do not normally post death announcements, I do understand that losing a 22 year old must be difficult.
06/07/11 p.m. There are reports that some once associated with GCG/LCG have decided to change their position on new moons. Those interested in learning more about new moons may wish to read the article simply titled New Moons.
05/18/11 a.m. I noticed that RCG just posted something that "Judgment Day" will not be May 21, 2011. Of course, LCG put out a denunciation of this several weeks ago (see LCG: Will Jesus Return on May 21, 2011?), and I put together a long article about that over a year ago, which I have added some updates from time to time (see Harold Camping's Teachings About the End of the World Do Not Agree with the Bible). Jesus is not coming on May 21, 2011 and for additional proof, please see the following articles:
Harold Camping's Teachings About the End of the World Do Not Agree with the Bible Harold Camping teaches that the rapture will be on May 21, 2011 and the world will end on October 21, 2011. What does the Bible show?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2011, 2012, or 2013? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the "beginning of sorrows"? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000?
05/11/11 a.m. In the latest on-line edition of his Philadelphia Remnant magazine, Don Billingsley wrote:
Jesus Christ knowing this man would be used by Satan the devil to destroy the corporate Worldwide Church of God, temporarily closed the door to the Gospel for the Elijah had died on January 16, 1986 (Revelation 3:7-8). And there was no way that Christ would use an apostate to fulfill this endtime commission.
There would elapse a time period of 20 years before Jesus Christ would once again RE-OPEN THE DOOR to the Gospel and the Ezekiel warning message.
There are several problems with the above. The first is that Jesus Christ did not close the door of proclaiming the gospel for twenty years. Herbert W. Armstrong, who Don Billingsley refered to as the Elijah who died, appointed Richard Ames and others to continue to proclaim the good news on television and/or radio after his death. And Richard Ames, Dibar Apartian, and others did that.
Furthermore, when the Global Church of God formed, it was on radio making that proclamation at first through evangelist Roderick C. Meredith, and then getting others like Richard Ames and Dibar Apartian to join and assist him. All of those men were appointed and ordained as evangelists by Herbert W. Armstrong, but apparently Don Billingsley no longer accepts their ordinations/authority as valid as he does not accept church governance as I believe the Bible and Herbert Armstrong adocate it.
Additionally, when I spoke with Don Billingsley about ten years ago on the telephone, he indicated that he had accepted that the Living Church of God was going through the open door, so the fact that later Don Billingsley claims it was closed then seems to be a contradiction to me (he actually told me that the only reason he was not with LCG was that he would likely lose some of his followers).
And I should also add that Don Billingsley's group has reached only a small fraction of what GCG reached and LCG is now reaching. I would be interested in knowing what scriptural proof that Don Billingsley can point to showing that God would close the open door for Philadelphia for 20 years as I do not believe that such justification exists.
Anyway, some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
The Elijah Heresies Does the Bible teach that there will be a future Elijah? Must it be Herbert W. Armstrong?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
04/23/11 a.m. RCG posted the following:
The following are excerpts from Mr. David Pack’s April Brethren/Co-Worker Letter: “Last month, 661 households asked to attend services at a local congregation, the second-highest total we have seen, after January’s 674. Even more important, the Church grew in membership by an absolutely incredible full 6.0 percent in March alone...On our websites, the March total download count was 1,180,565. This number is a record..."
It is disappointing, to me at least, that people are being taken in by David Pack. He is a powerful speaker who sometimes convinces people of things that are truly not so. Hopefully, those supporting him will awaken before it is too late.
Although RCG formed within months of LCG, it is still a fraction of LCG's size and its impact on gospel proclamation also remains a fraction.
RCG still has no television presence, and while it does have an internet presence, even its main website has a popularity ranking similar to COGwriter. In total, LCG has a much greater internet reach than RCG (though RCG's members may not realize that)--and this is something that I calculated again a couple of days ago. My conclusion is based upon an Alexa review of the two official RCG sites, with the four main official LCG sites and COGwriter, plus including statistics for LCG's telecast views on YouTube (which do not come up individually via Alexa).
Three articles of possibly related interest may include:
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders--here is some of why you should be concerned about them.
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
04/15/11 a.m. Norman Edwards sent out the following today:
Our world is more precarious today than it ever has been in my lifetime. The most powerful nation in the world is fighting wars abroad and implementing laws at home that the majority of its own citizens do not like, using borrowed money it will never repay. What does that mean? The need for Christians to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom is now greater than ever before. Are we ready?
The world is precarious and we need to warn the world that they need repentance, as well as to examine ourselves this time of year to be sure we are ready.
04/03/11 a.m. LCG's Dr. Winnail reported the following, for the 4/2/11 announcements:
This has been a very encouraging week for the Work! Mr. Wayne Pyle reports that Mr. Meredith’s Tomorrow’s World telecast last weekend, program #379, “How to Watch World Events” broke all previous records with more than 6,700 responses. It was also exciting to see that last weekend’s Tomorrow’s World Special Presentations drew 226 new people. Mr. Meredith spoke to more than 200 brethren last Sabbath in Kansas City, and on Sunday 114 visitors attended his Tomorrow’s World Special Presentation there. We had 59 visitors for the TWSP that I made in Lansing, Michigan and 44 visitors for the TWSP in Valparaiso, Indiana. Mr. Ron Poole had nine visitors for the follow-up TWSP in Asheville, North Carolina. This coming weekend, I will be in Jackson and Hattiesburg, Mississippi for two more TWSPs that will focus on the topic “What’s Ahead for America?” It is very inspiring to see God’s people working together to make these presentations possible. Mr. Mario Hernandez left yesterday to visit members and congregations in South America. Thank you for your prayers and support for God’s Work and these Special Presentations—they are needed and appreciated. Please remember to pray fervently that God will intervene for many of our brethren who are facing trials and serious health problems
LCG continues to show fruits for its gospel proclamation efforts. Also, FWIW, over 90,000 unique visitors came to the COGwriter.com website in March 2011.
03/18/11 a.m. CEG reported the following today:
Matt 28:19-20
Preaching the Gospel and Feeding the FlockDue to the annual conference, there will be no Update for the week ending March 25. The next Update will be published for the week ending April 1.
Our annual conference will begin on Friday, March 18, and is scheduled to last until Wednesday, March 23. Please pray for God’s inspiration and guidance for the success of the conference.
I pray that those in CEG will consider their fruits and realize that in the greater scheme of things they simply do not have the gospel proclamation fruits that they should have and disband and support LCG.
If those in CEG believe that the internet is how they are reaching people, they should ask themselves why they are the 5,558,923 most popular website on the internet according to the independent Alexa, whereas the COGwriter website (which is only a member site for someone in LCG) ranks as number 146,608?
Essentially, the Alexa rankings suggest that COGwriter reaches the world probably 30-100 times more than the entire CEG church does.
The gospel proclamation fruits for CEG simply are not there. This is something that they should consider at their conference.
Those interested in helping fulfill Matthew 24:14, 28:19-20 etc. would be wise to consider that CEG and its affiliates really are not doing much to accomplish that.
Those interested in learning more, may wish to read the following articles:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
03/07/11 a.m. In a letter a long while back (8/15/09), Warren Zehrung, once of GCG posted:
In May of 1995, John and I, independently, traveled to Indianapolis, IN to participate in an effort to put the Church of God back on track. The name chosen for that new organization was the, "United Church of God, an International Association." I personally approached Richard Pinelli (Ministerial Services operational manager), about the doctrinal beliefs of United at that conference – but it had been predetermined that doctrine would not be discussed until a later date, and that organization was of primary importance. (For the record, doctrine and obedience to God must always come first.)...
At that same conference, Victor Kubic asked me the whereabouts of some of the ministers who were not in attendance at that formational conference...
I told Victor, "If you expect all those men to be on-board, the first thing that you will have to do is to repudiate the false Trinity doctrine." Victor responded to me, "We are not going to repudiate anything – we are going forward from here." And with that, Victor Kubic literally swept me and my wife aside and walked off. Most of the men in United were the very last to leave Worldwide. They left only after most of the faithful brethren had previously left. (Wait for me – I'm your leader!) They stayed in Worldwide after the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments were done away with. Some of United's ministers disfellowshipped brethren for continuing to keep the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments.
Five years later in 2000, when I was on the Council of Elders of the Church of God a Christian Fellowship, I was asked by Larry Salyer to be on a "Task Force" with George Meeker (coordinator) and Norbert Link to work with our counterparts, United's Roy Holladay (coordinator), Clyde Kilough, and Dennis Luker for the purpose of bringing our groups together. From the days of the Global Church of God, Larry Salyer had been working behind the scenes to have us join with United CoG, aia. Later on, speaking before the Council of Elders of the Church of God a Christian Fellowship, Larry said, "We are robbing United of tithes." I did not agree with his assessment. Had Larry supported our Task Force's findings, we could have helped United strive for higher standards, rather than settling for less.
I campaigned for individual ministers in United to make amends, and to reconcile with those members whom they had disfellowshipped for political reasons during the apostasy – some five and six years previously. On March 12th, 2001, the Ministerial Council of Elders of the Church of God a Christian Fellowship and the United Church of God, an International Association met together in executive session at a cumulative conference in Cincinnati, OH. I was asked to make the opening comments to the combined councils. I asked President Les McCullough, specifically, and the others generally, why the United CoG, aia was still reluctant, after 5 years, to invite those members who had been disfellowshipped from WCG back to church. Many of the men on United's Council of Elders had disfellowshipped brethren, not for any sin or heresy, but for failing to go along with the Tkach's false doctrine.
Les McCullough answered that obviously those people knew where United was and could make their way back, if they had a mind to. I felt that the response was entirely inappropriate for a minister of Jesus Christ, and a servant of the brethren. There was absolutely no humility or remorse for the terrible infractions some of the ministers were guilty of.
So why post any of Warren Zehrung's account now?
Mainly because yesterday I received an email from a former UCG supporter who is now part of COGWA. And amongst other things, he and some others in COGWA essentially believe that the leadership left in UCG is tending too much towards Protestantism.
Now, in the above account we have Victor Kubik (still in UCG and on its board), Dennis Luker (UCG's current president), Clyde Kilough (the de facto leader of COGWA), Roy Holladay (still in UCG and often in its top positions), Larry Salyer, COGWA minister and recent director of COGA and IAO), and Les McCullough (who I believe I heard is now in COGWA, though as of this morning he in not on the COGWA congregation's web page).
I have heard the trinitarian charges against Victor Kubik and others (like COGaIC's David Hulme) before, but since I never heard their statements directly, and they have not officially publicly made them during this century, I cannot suggest that they are actually trinitarian. But I can state that doctrinal compromise occurred in UCG when David Hulme was its president (In Their Own Words: Doctrinal Differences Between the old United Church of God and the old Global Church of God) as well as later when Les McCullough and Clyde Kilough were also its president (Differences between the Living Church of God and United Church of God)--and Roy Holladay and Victor Kubik were on its board for much of the times these compromises occurred.
There are now a bunch of charges and cross charges between Tom Robinson (once part of GCG and now supporting UCG) and Joel Meeker (now part of COGWA) on the internet. The reality is that I believe that both groups have people who have made mistakes and that neither UCG nor COGWA have given me reason to consider that either organization could possibly be Philadelphian (though both groups may have some Philadelphians as members). An article of possibly related interest may be What is a True Philadelphian?
03/04/11 a.m. EnCOG has a new article at its website titled Unity by Jerry Steward:
There are many words that can describe a group of people—corporation, college, team, church, government or family. Their successes can be attributed to words such as team work, dedication, faith, family, scruples and work ethic. But there is one word, which must be employed by any group, whether work–related, educational or competitive or it will eventually come crashing down in dismal failure. That word is unity.
Unity is a most important building block of any endeavor by a group of people, including a nation. Unless there is a common goal and purpose, success is just a dream that will never come to fruition or reality...
The leadership of God’s true church has the responsibility to feed the flock and to aid them in striving to measure up to the stature and fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13). They are to be in unity and speaking the same thing, teaching for doctrines the commandments of God, not man. The body of Christ is to become one unit in complete harmony with Jesus and the Father through His Holy Spirit.
From the overwhelming evidence of the Bible, we have to conclude that unity with God and His Son Jesus Christ is of the utmost importance. Unity is a must for us to enter the glorious Kingdom of God. The time is coming that we will be in complete harmony, oneness and perfect unity with God. But we must be in the process of becoming at one with God and each other now. Given the fact of our carnal nature and the attacks of Satan our adversary, it is not easy at times, but with the help of Christ we can do all things (Phil. 4:13). How much importance do you place on that five letter word—unity?
So let's see, Charles Bryce, leader of En COG, rebelled against LCG, caused a minor split, has relatively few members, but is Jerry Stewart is telling others (probably members of En COG) that they need to place importance on unity. It is my understanding that En COG lost several who came with it. And some of them have realized that if they wanted to be unified with the Philadelphian-portion of the COG, that they should support LCG once again. If Charles Bryce and Jerry Stewart truly value unity, they will follow the examples and ask to come back to LCG.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include the following:
Unity: Which COG for You? Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God? Has it always been this way? What can/should be done about it?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
02/25/11 a.m. RCG wanted people to know its position on the King of the South, and sent me three emails related to it. Here is what my article Why Not the Restored Church of God? now currently reports:
RCG's position seems to have been that Ethiopia would be the final King of the South, as David Pack specifically wrote:
The King of the South is Ethiopia Once again, only Ethiopia continued and remained independent in East Africa from the time of the Roman Empire. Therefore, no other country or government could fit as the king of the south—i.e., by having been a part of the ancient land controlled by the “king of the south.” Remember, verse 40 explains that the setting is the time of the end. Once again, only Ethiopia continued and remained independent in East Africa from the time of the Roman Empire. Therefore, no other country or government could fit as the king of the south—i.e., by having been a part of the ancient land controlled by the “king of the south.”
And although HWA once felt that Ethiopia was a king of the South, HWA changed his position (in my view, RCG does not see it that way) on the future king of the South. The following is from an article that was produced under HWA's leadership:
Bible prophecy reveals the coming emergence of an Arab-Moslem confederation in the Middle East. It is referred to in prophecy as "the king of the south" (Dan. 11:40). This confederation will play a crucial role in end-time events. (Seeing the World Through Islamic Eyes. Plain Truth, June 1983).
In 2011, I received the following in an email from RCG's Communications Director Jeffrey R. Ambrose:
The Restored Church of God has never taught that the final king of the south, yet ahead of us in time, will be Ethiopia...
Therefore, any attempt to portray the following as a “doctrinal change by RCG” would be misleading.
Here is our position on the future king of the south, as explained in detail in Mr. David Pack’s 2007 sermon on the subject:
· The final king of the south is a conglomerate of radical Arab nations. These will separate from more moderate ones that ally with the king of the north, as described in Psalm 83.
Our position is very close to the one reflected in the 1983 Plain Truth article “Seeing the World Through Islamic Eyes.” (Ambrose J. King of the South. Email to COGwriter, 02/24/2011)
So, while I consider this to be a change, RCG apparently does not. But at least RCG currently seems to have this correct.
02/17/11 a.m. CEG had the following today beginning at its homepage:
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Every splinter group or offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God claims to be God’s true church. What do you say of yourselves?...
The Church of the Eternal God in the USA; the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada; the Global Church of God in the UK; and the Kirche des Ewigen Gottes in German-speaking areas all hold to a common statement of beliefs...
We believe that we are part of the Church of God—the body of Christ—which is a spiritual organism. We do NOT believe that we are the ONLY group comprising the Church of God. At the same time, we would like to encourage you to study our literature in order to determine whether we belong to the remnant of the Philadelphia era, or whether we are part of the church of the Laodiceans.
It is good that CEG is telling people to look to determine if it is Laodicean or Philadelphian. The answer should be obvious to all who consider the works, governance, emphasis, and lack of fruits at CEG. CEG and its affiliates simply do not have evidence of Philadelphia era fruits nor Philadelphia governance.
CEG essentially has no major media presence, either in print or electronic form. It simply has not gotten the gospel of the kingdom to the world as much of a witness, nor has it shown evidence that it will shortly.
And since most of its "public proclamation" is via the internet, perhaps a brief comparison of website popularity should be mentioned.
This morning, CEG's main website had an Alexa popularity ranking of 7,942,768, while the COGwriter website had a ranking of 148,507. This means that 7,942,767 websites in the world are more popular than CEG's, while only 148,406 are more popular than COGwriter. It also essentially means that COGwriter (a member website) has a greater reach in a few months than CEG's website has since CEG began.
Those interested in helping fulfill Matthew 24:14, etc. would be wise to consider that CEG and its affiliates really are not doing much to accomplish that.
Those interested in learning more, may wish to read the following articles:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
02/12/11 a.m. I noticed yesterday that Larry Salyer is now listed as the minister for the COGWA Ruston, Louisiana congregation. Larry Salyer had been the Director of Church Administration for GCG and was part of that takeover, until GCG was dissolved. He was then part of founding CGF and abandoned it shortly before it dissolved for UCG. He then advanced in UCG, then was put out of his positions in 2010, then he co-founded COG-America in November 2010. That group also now seems to have been dissolved, so Larry Salyer is now part of COGWA. He has moved a lot.
02/07/11 p.m. As I have written before, RCG's David Pack has a history of selectively focusing on certain statistics to give the impression that RCG has phenomenal growth or is highly successful in some area. His latest letter, which I will not quote here at this time is titled "A New Open Letter to UCG Members and Ministers". Those in UCG might wonder why RCG does not publish audited financial statements or how many members attend its Feast of Tabernacles sites.
As I reported last month, David Pack in his The True Church – One Organization, Or Many? booklet wrote:
In the past, God’s people all accepted the simplicity in Christ’s Matthew 16:18 statement—“I will build My Church”—and that it was solely fulfilled in the Worldwide Church of God, under Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s leadership. (You will see those who claim Mr. Armstrong taught otherwise are confused.) We knew the Church was a single, unified organization—and that it was the only place Jesus Christ is Head. We knew it could be traced through 2,000 years of history. We also understood without the slightest ambiguity that the true Church was also the undivided Body of Christ. In addition, we knew that some people in the WCG did not have the Holy Spirit, and were thus not part of Christ’s Body. Conversely, we recognized that there were occasionally people who received God’s Spirit outside the WCG (Mr. Armstrong explained this) but that they would always be led to the one place Jesus Christ was working and is the Head (he also explained this)!
And I tried to tell his followers that this was not the view of the late Herbert W. Armstrong. It is David Pack that is confused.
Interestingly, today, I ran across something from the RCG booklet Herbert W. Armstrong His Life in Proper Perspective BY DAVID C. PACK WITH BRUCE A. RITTER, where it was written:
In the June 24, 1985 special edition of the Worldwide News, Mr. Armstrong wrote, “I continued to work with and fellowship with West Coast members of the Sardis era until 1942, when the rapidly growing work of the fledgling Philadelphia era required my full time. The present era was officially begun in October, 1933.”
So, Herbert Armstrong wrote that there were two eras and two COG organizations at the same time. He also never wrote as far as I can tell that Sardis ended (he even had early Ambassador College students attend CG7 services in the 1950s in areas that there were no Philadelphia era congregations).
Perhaps David Pack should have read his own booklet before writing what he did as there seems to be a contradiction here. In my view, RCG has long had difficulty truly understanding the writings and teachings of the late Herbert Armstrong. He, despite how he may wish to explain this away, needs to be careful about what he seems to insist upon in his writings.
02/05/11 a.m. Today, I noticed that Don Haney's Church of God in Peace and Truth changed its URL. On its "Who We Are " page, it had the following statement:
...we are a small branch rooted in the original Jerusalem Messianic Church of God...We believe salvation is God’s free gift to us through Messiah Yeshua... Looking for a Messianic Congregation in Southern Oregon?
This seems disturbing as we in the Churches of God are not really part of the Messianic movement as commonly defined. This may signal a shift even further away on doctrine by Church of God in Peace and Truth.
While of itself, the use of the term Yeshua instead of Jesus is fine, this sometimes is associated with groups focused on the wrong things. Don Haney originally said that his group would use the internet to get the gospel out, but with an Alexa popularity rating of 9,550,486 as of today (compared to COGwriter's 151,922; lower numbers mean greater popularity and reach) this suggests to me that it has not succeeded in matters of public proclamation and instead is getting further off-focus.
Some articles that may be of related interest could include:
Why the Names Jesus and Christ in English? Was the New Testament Written in Hebrew or Greek? Various groups believe that the name Jesus should not be used, but instead other pronunciations and spellings. This is an article, which appeared in the The Living Church News by the late evangelist John Ogwyn, addresses this "sacred name" issue, as well as if the New Testament was written in Hebrew or Greek.
God’s Names and the Jewish Reading Tradition This article which appeared in the The Living Church News by John Wheeler, addresses this, as well as a few other Hebrew and Greek points.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
01/29/11 p.m. In today's announcements, LCG's Dr. Meredith wrote:
[D]ear brethren, ask God to guide and protect all of us in the Living Church of God. For Satan has recently inspired certain hate-filled false ministers to attack us and to “accuse” us of preaching a false gospel because we sometimes dare to mention the “name” of Jesus Christ in connection with the true Gospel! This, of course, is something Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong did again and again in sermons, Bible studies, radio broadcasts, ministerial meetings, and so forth and so forth, etc. Dozens of us are still alive who personally heard and read these comments about Christ from Mr. Armstrong and no one can say, “It didn’t happen!”Please read again Acts 8:12, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” Also, read Acts 28:30-31, “Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.”Carefully read Acts 20:20-25 and see how Paul connects the “gospel of grace” with the message of the “Kingdom of God.” For they are both part of the true Gospel—describing God’s mercy and grace to us along with the ultimate goal of being a part of the very Kingdom or Government of God if we are “overcomers” through the guidance and “grace” of God.How clear!In addition, brethren, please study carefully 1 Corinthians 15:1-10 where Paul was inspired by God to spell out in detail, “the gospel which I preached to you…. that Christ died for our sins….”, etc. Over and over, the Bible is exceedingly clear that the Gospel has everything to do with Jesus Christ as our Savior, our living Head and High Priest and the coming King over the soon-coming Kingdom of God. Dear brethren, please do not ever let Satan confuse you on the vital part that the “name” of Jesus Christ plays in the true Gospel and in your personal salvation so you can eventually be part of the ruling Kingdom of God here on this earth!So let us put our hearts into this time of fasting and prayer and genuinely “cry out” for one another and for all of God’s people wherever they may be! And please write me personally—if you can find time—and let me know how this day of fasting may have helped you and others as well. I pray for all of you and ask your prayers for me and for God’s Church at this time.
Though it has happened in the past, LCG has recently been improperly criticized again by ministers in RCG and PCG.
01/27/11 a.m. As I mentioned yesterday, RCG's David Pack has a history of selectively focusing on certain statistics to give the impression that RCG has phenomenal growth or is highly successful in some area.
Yet, he tends to be inconsistent in the fact that David Pack has to change what particular area he is reporting about. For example, for nearly a year he has been focused on the number of what he calls "church inquiries" that RCG gets and how that has increased. In 2010, that total number of inquiries was 4,790. Now the fact that the Living Church of God has often received more responses to its telecast in a single week than RCG's record high "church inquiries" is discounted by David Pack.
But there is more. David Pack historically has made a big deal about his internet reach. He even asked his membership to take out mortgages on their homes and cash out their retirements a few years back so that, amongst other things, RCG would improve its internet reach.
Yet, David Pack has no longer been making such a big deal of his internet reach.
Why?
Well, perhaps because RCG does not do that well with it right now.
For example, as of this morning, according to Alexa (an independent internet rating company), RCG's thercg.org website had an internet ranking of 185,503. This means that 185,502 websites are more popular than RCG's. And while 185,503 is not a bad ranking, the COGwriter website had an Alexa internet ranking of 154,255 this morning.
This means that the COGwriter website, which has never spent any money on advertising itself, is significantly more popular than RCG's, despite the fact that RCG does spend advertising money to promote its website.
RCG simply does not have the gospel proclamation reach or fruits that LCG does. And while Alexa rankings change (and when COGwriter's is better than RCG's, this seems to trigger more spending on website ads by RCG to change that), the reality is that looking at all of LCG's web presence (LCG, Tomorrow's World, You-Tube, and COGwriter), LCG has nearly always had more internet reach than RCG.
RCG tends to temporarily brag about certain statistics for a while, then switch to others when the previous ones are not as impressive. It has done this repeatedly over its history, yet his followers seem not to have caught on to this game.
If RCG truly had the fruits of the Philadelphia era of the COG, one would think that it would actually reach more people with the good news, but this is not the case. LCG exceeds RCG's reach on television, in print, public lectures, baptisms, AND on the internet.
People in RCG need to pay close attention to the selective manipulation of statistics that their own organization seems to engage in.
01/26/11 a.m. David Pack posted a long and often inaccurate letter again. I really do not feel it deserves a blow-by-blow analysis of all of its errors, but will quote something toward the beginning of it to demonstrate that RCG simply does not understand:
In the past, God’s people all accepted the simplicity in Christ’s Matthew 16:18 statement—“I will build My Church”—and that it was solely fulfilled in the Worldwide Church of God, under Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s leadership. (You will see those who claim Mr. Armstrong taught otherwise are confused.) We knew the Church was a single, unified organization—and that it was the only place Jesus Christ is Head. We knew it could be traced through 2,000 years of history. We also understood without the slightest ambiguity that the true Church was also the undivided Body of Christ. In addition, we knew that some people in the WCG did not have the Holy Spirit, and were thus not part of Christ’s Body. Conversely, we recognized that there were occasionally people who received God’s Spirit outside the WCG (Mr. Armstrong explained this) but that they would always be led to the one place Jesus Christ was working and is the Head (he also explained this)!
Apparently, David Pack discounts the FACT that Herbert W. Armstrong taught that many in CG7 were part of the Church, that they were the remnants of the Sardis era, and that the Laodiceans would be separated from the Philadelphians. Related to non-Philadelphia Christians, Herbert Armstrong did not teach "that they would always be led to the one place". And while I believe that the Philadelphians would tend to go to one place, the idea that the non-Philadelphian Christians must is simply not the case.
In his article, David Pack has some HWA quotes to try to disprove this, yet they are overlooking what HWA really taught.
Now David Pack did quote the following:
“The living Jesus Christ founded the one true Church of God, A.D. 31. The same living Jesus Christ started the Philadelphia era of God’s Church through me, as His chosen apostle, August 1933.
“God commands in His word that we all ‘speak the same thing.’ That ‘same thing’ He put into His Church through His apostle.”
“Watering Down—Or Slowly Building Solidly Up?”, Worldwide News, June 11, 1979
And the above does basically reflect what Herbert Armstrong meant.
A careful look at Church history does not reveal a single unified organization--the idea of a single unified organization is what the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox basically hold. In the COGs, we believe that God revealed that there would be different churches that were not highly unified as is clear from Revelation 2 & 3 as well as from Church history. The unification is with the Spirit of God.
Now, I do believe that those who wish to be Philadelphia should support the Living Church of God. But the reality is that there have always been non-Philadelphian Christians and in this end time, the reality is that there are many Christian organizations/churches/individuals that are not directly part of LCG.
Perhaps I should add that if RCG was the "one and only true Church" as David Pack implies, one would think that it would be larger than it is, more effective in gospel proclamation than it has been, and would show more Philadelphia love to its members than it has. RCG does not have the fruits of being the the Church it claims to be.
Speaking of fruits, David Pack wrote the following in his previous letter on his RCG news page:
RCG Fruits—Phenomenal Growth Continues!
By David C. Pack
The “offense, hatred and betrayal” (Matt. 24:10) that Jesus foretold would exist among His people before His Return defines what is happening in the United Church of God (UCG). But it also summarizes what is occurring within and between virtually all of the other groups that left the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).
Only one organization stands completely apart from all of this. This separation is defined entirely by fruits, which spring from having the truth and God’s guidance and blessings—which are all demonstrably provable.
Jesus taught that “You shall know them by their FRUITS” (Matt. 7:16, 20)...
Almost none of the organizations (large or small) that formed from the Worldwide Church of God in the wake of the apostasy are growing.
If RCG had the fruits, RCG would publicly list its income for each year since it formed, its members for each year since it formed, and other statistics. Instead, David Pack has demonstrated a pattern of pointing to one or two statistics one year, then others in other years, while at the same time not revealing publicly his membership.
This selective use of statistics seems to have worked for him, but this is not proof of fruits.
Now in that same letter, he made many inaccurate statements about LCG, so perhaps I should quote one section:
The Living Church of God (LCG) has long boasted that it does the biggest “work.” While false on its face, where is the growth that this “big work” should have been producing? Using their posted numbers, LCG is almost exactly the same size that it was 15 years ago!
First, LCG was formed in late 1998 (just over 12 years ago). Second, it has had the most baptisms of any COG. Third, it has had more people contact it to request literature than any other COG. Fourth, it has had about a 25% increase in membership and attendance since 1998. Fifth, if we go back 15 years, then LCG is still about 25% larger than GCG was then. Sixth, LCG did not reject the fact that evangelists were the highest ordained individuals by HWA and that their office still existed (David Pack overlooked that and raised himself above that in his mind). Seventh, Roderick Meredith did not ordain himself, but in fact is the longest surviving of the original individuals that Herbert Armstrong ordained as an evangelist. I made the last two points because David Pack wrote about proper church governance several times in his letter.
I could go on, but the point should be clear that David Pack seems to want to overlook the fact that he was a factor in the division of GCG which led to LCG and that he rejected proper church governance.
An important point that those in RCG also seem to miss is that David Pack initially wrote that proclaiming the gospel was the third priority for RCG.
And its lack of understanding on that point, combined with its exaltation of David Pack, that should send concerns to all who claim to be Christian.
Anyway, some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Old Testament Church Eras Are there seven church eras in the Old Testament? Do they parallel those in Revelation 2 &3?
The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3 from 31 A.D. to present: information on all of the seven churches of Revelation 2 & 3.
1. The Ephesus Church Era was predominant from 31 A.D. to circa 135 A.D. The Church of James, Peter, Paul, and John, etc.
2. The Smyrna Church Era was predominant circa 135 A.D. to circa 450 A.D. The Church led by Polycarp, Melito, Polycrates, etc.
3. The Pergamos Church Era was predominant circa 450 A.D. to circa 1050 A.D. An especially persecuted Church.
4. The Thyatira Church Era was predominant circa 1050 A.D. to circa 1600 A.D. The Church during the Inquisition.
5. The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D. Discusses early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and COG-7th Day.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
01/15/11 a.m. I recently received a couple of emails from someone who was affiliated with UCG and was considering LCG. However, he heard various false accusation about Dr. Meredith and the GCG takeover that I would like to address here.
Accusation Roderick Meredith attempted to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars and was stopped by the board of the Global Church of God.
Response This is a preposterous tale perpetuated by those who supported the takeover of the Global Church of God. The truth is that Dr. Meredith did not embezzle, nor did he receive any money.
GCG had a practice of repaying loans on demand to individual members if they asked to be paid back early. Dr. Meredith honored that practice by attempting to repay a few of those loans when some of those lendors asked to be repaid. Yet the new GCG board stopped payment on those checks. Though the board said they would pay the loans back later, the sad truth is that after spending all the money that was in GCG's bank account on their salaries and other expenses, the board declared a type of bankruptcy and did not pay back the lenders. For those with any doubts, it is interesting to note that a court later concluded that the loans Dr. Meredith attempted to repay upon demand were indeed due and payable (Donald Davis v. Global Church of God, Superior Court of San Diego, Case No. GIC 734248). Therefore, it was the Board of Global that acted improperly by stopping a bona fide repayment of those loans. And there is no way that Dr. Meredith was embezzling any money, nor did he try to take any for himself.
Accusation Dr. Meredith co-signed one or more checks after knowing that Don Davis no longer had check signing authority.
(Years ago, this accusation was sent to me by someone in response to the previous accusation.)
Response Let's look at the facts. First, it is true that the board decided to remove Don Davis's signature authority. Second, it is true that Dr. Meredith was aware of this. However, Dr. Meredith was not certain as to when this removal was to be effective. He had Don check with the then controller (Fred Dattolo) to be sure that he still had signature authority. He was told he still had it. The checks were signed. I personally talked with Dattolo, Davis, and Meredith to verify this in 1998/1999.
Also, I should add that I have had signature authority in four California corporations, and in two of them, the effective date was an issue at some time. Thus this was not that unusual. So there is no way that I believe Dr. Meredith was involved in any kind of embezzlement. I believe the embezzlement issue was a smokescreen, which sadly too many believed.
Accusation Did Rod Meredith not create the $1 million debt to go on television? Is this responsible stewardship?
(Years ago, this accusation was sent to me by someone in response to the first accusation in today's post.)
Response No, Dr. Meredith did not, though he bore some initial responsibility. Dr. Meredith made the decisions he did based upon information he was provided by his staff. A leading staff member erred with some of the information he provided to Dr. Meredith. Fred Dattalo told me that when he discovered this, he went to Dr. Meredith and advised him of the problem. Dr. Meredith immediately embarked on a cost cutting program and began to reduce the debt (this debt-reduction program was mentioned in a letter to the membership). The cost-cutting program was so successful, that the debt was in the process of being retired at a faster than anticipated pace.
Furthermore, in the final GCG board meeting that Dr. Meredith attended, he essentially stated to the board they were about to remove him, "So you understand that doing this makes you responsible for all the Global assets and debts?"
The board said yes and removed him anyway.
By removing Dr. Meredith from the board, the board absolved him of all debt responsibility and took it upon itself.
The other pertainent facts to consider are that GCG had about $500,000 in the bank at the time of the takeover, but instead of using it to pay off debt, the GCG board stopped payment on 2-3 debt repayment checks, did not repay any significant amount of the debt, spent the money on itself, and then left by declaring a form of bankruptcy. It was the GCG board, and not Dr. Meredith, who in my opinion, did not practice responsible stewardship.
Accusation The majority of GCG Council Members removed Dr. Meredith from his position in GCG.
Response It is amazing that some associated with the GCG takeover published this type of statement even after they bankrupted GCG. The fact is that there were originally 12 members of the Council of Elders. Ten of which agreed to expel David Pack (two abstained), which left eleven (since David Pack was expelled). Then Colin Adair died, leaving ten. Six Council of Elders members supported Dr. Meredith. They were Roderick C. Meredith, Carl McNair, Richard Ames, Dibar Apartian, Charles Bryce, and John Ogwyn. Hence Dr. Meredith's opponents never had a majority of GCG Council Members who truly opposed him. All of this information is included in An Open Letter from the Council of Elders Dated: 12/4/98.
I should probably add that at least one member of the board said that Dibar Apartian and Colin Adair supported them. I personally called Dibar Apartian in the end of November of 1998 and he told me that no, that he did not support the board--he was with LCG until his death last month. Regarding Colin Adair, it is somewhat presumptuous to say what he would have actually done, nor does it matter since he was deceased prior to the takeover. The truth is that Colin Adair and I met in September of 1998 and discussed the doctrinal differences between UCG and GCG--he told me that he supported my work in this area and thus indicated that he did not agree with UCG. He also told Dr. Meredith around this time that he would never support his removal. Thus to conclude that he would have broke his word, based on what his wife ultimately did, seems highly presumptuous.
Anyway, Dr. Meredith did not embezzle and was not removed for embezzlement. Yet some prefer to believe lies over the truth.
01/10/11 a.m. I have read David Pack's latest claims, etc. related to the UCG crisis, LCG, and other gropups. I plan to eventually deal with them here. I have been out of the country for 12 days (in Costa Rica) and plan to get to this. Suffice it to say that it seems that his ego stops him from seeing the facts and understanding that truth.
12/27/10 p.m. Since I reported about lack of gospel proclamation on various groups, I decided to post something I saw a while back as ECG's website, "This present financial malaise has also placed increasingly difficult budget constraints on the Eternal Church of God. As a result, we have been temporarily forced to place the re-printing of literature on hold." Thus, ECG appears to be making relatively little progress in that area.
On the other hand, EnCOG lists that it is on 6 radio stations. Yet, that mainly seem to be for fairly small markets.
So, some efforts are being made, but I do not believe that the works of ECG or EnCOG could be categorized as hot.
12/27/10 a.m. Larry Salyer is now also a director at something called Church of God - America (COGA). I have long warned people that those that took over the old GCG and did not become part of LCG would be ineffective in fulfilling Matthew 24:14 as they had a low priority for that. In the new organization that Larry Salyer is in, let me list the sixth of its six listed "commitments":
6. To preach the gospel.
Sadly, those who left GCG and did not support LCG continue to demonstrate that they do not have that "fire in their bellies" to preach the gospel to the world as a witness.
12/14/10 a.m. Larry Salyer is now a director at something called the International Ambassador Outreach (IAO). Not surprisingly, its focus does not seem to include public proclamation nor biblical church governance (see Larry Salyer & Leon Walker are Directors of International Ambassador Outreach).
I had hoped and prayed that Larry Salyer would finally realize that his actions since 1998 had been in enough error for him to repent and possibly go to LCG. Instead, he seems to have gone further away. This is sad and disappointing. Of course, it is still not too late and those that are supporting IAO can still repent.
12/10/10 a.m. My friend Dibar Apartian died Wednesday night. When the GCG takeover took place in 1998, some indicated that he was supporting the takeover. So, I called him at his house and he told me no he was not. He essentially thought the takeover group was ridiculous. And, in my view, events have proven him right about this.
12/04/10 a.m. Perhaps I should also mention that I would be willing to speak to Jack Hendren, who I believe I met many years ago (and who supported the GCG takeover, ended up in UCG, and recently started his own group) as well as other ministers in or out or unsure about UCG. My email remains COGwriter@aol.com.
11/27/10 a.m. Perhaps it should be mentioned that not only was Larry Salyer demoted back in April 2010, in November 2010 he was removed from UCG ministry. Perhaps he may wish to reconsider the fruits of his actions, including his part in the GCG takeover. If he still has my home telephone number, he is welcome to give me a call (it is because of a telephone call from him to me that this site ended up with the name COGwriter) and I would be happy to discuss this further. And yes, I am being serious here.
11/21/10 a.m. It has been about 12 years since the GCG crisis came to a head. As I wrote about 12 years ago, I felt those that opposed Dr. Meredith would not be effective in proclaiming the gospel, and they have not been.
Some realized that and came back, and became part of LCG.
Even counting UCG (which existed prior to the GCG takeover, hence did not actually come out of GCG), LCG has received several times more responses to its radio and television broadcasts than all the groups combined that came from the GCG takeover supporters.
Additionally, some of the top leaders that went with UCG (Larry Salyer, Jack Hendren) have either been demoted or left there.
Norman Edwards, who left before the takeover, changed tithing (which still should be done, see Tithing Questions and Some Answers) and has had a lot of financial problems with his group. Groups like CEG and CGFnw lost the teaching about a coming King of the South (Is There A Future King of the South?). Some like EnCOG got so tied up in makeup (which they really should not have, see Makeup and the Philadelphia Era of the COG), that they have accomplished little beyond keeping some who went with them (and at least two of their top leaders came back to LCG after realizing this). The other small groups picked one or two peripheral issues as justification for their existence, but again have failed to truly fulfill the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20).
Ignoring RCG for a moment (who misunderstands who the King of the South will be, as well as the makeup issue), even the COGwriter.com website (a member site) receives several times the visits that all the groups that left Dr. Meredith (and LCG's various websites reach several times the people that COGwriter does). LCG has also had several times more baptisms (which demonstrate that more people had significant interest and understanding of the gospel message) than all the groups that abandoned Dr. Meredith since 1998 have.
RCG's leader took a different approach than others who left. First, he made gospel proclamation his third priority, yet later he decided to focus on the internet (which if you spend enough money on internet advertising you can generate traffic, which is what he did--on the other hand, I have never spent any money advertising COGwriter). Additionally, he declared himself an apostle, put the highest emphasis on himself, and later told his followers to sell their assets, mortgage their homes, and deplete their retirement accounts and send RCG money for its glory. And while that helps get an internet presence and sometimes media coverage, RCG still has not been highly effective (see Why Not the Restored Church of God?). LCG reaches many more people on the internet than RCG when its YouTube telecast statistics are included.
So, in the past twelve years, I believe that the fruits have spoken for themselves. LCG has had more baptisms, reached more of the public, and held fast to the Philadelphia era teachings and priorities of any COG. LCG follows the standards that Jesus set. For details and specific statistics, please see the article There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God?
11/19/10 a.m. CEG reported the following news item:
EU Must Establish Common Defense Policies
The Financial Times wrote on November 14:
"The 27 member states of the European Union must 'grow up' and establish far better co-ordination of their national defence policies if they want to cope with the inevitable withdrawal of US forces from Europe’s land mass, Finland’s foreign minister has warned... 'The US is starting to flirt with other partners than the Europeans. The EU is not as sexy as it once was. We are like a grumpy old couple. We’ve been together for 60 years. We nag at each other. We might have the same values but America is starting to look elsewhere... If the Americans are looking elsewhere then we have to start... coming up with European solutions.'"
The Europeans are doing more than talking about military cooperation and solutions, they also have the Large Hadron Collider. For more on Europe, see the article Europa, the Beast, and the Book of Revelation.
11/12/10 p.m. RCG's David Pack put out another nonsensical letter to supposedly try to get UCG members to come to RCG today. In the letter, he spends a lot of time on governance, yet fails to mention that he rebelled against the authority of all the evangelists that Herbert W. Armstrong appointed (he also attacks LCG and PCG). He seems to be claiming that he did not change the type of governance that the old WCG had. David Pack really should examine his own style and rejection of proper servant-leadership governance.
Two articles of possible related interest may include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
11/05/10 p.m. Jack Hendren who was once part of GCG, then UCG, now has apparently co-started his own group with Arnold Mendez, Jr. called Church of God, South Texas. They claim three congregations.
I believe I met Jack Hendren in Northern California once. If my memory serves me correctly he was transferred to the Massachusetts area and later, along with Larry Salyer, became part of UCG. And while Larry Salyer rose in the UCG organization, he was effectively demoted in a major way several months ago in UCG and faced other problems in UCG recently for trying to explain what was happening there to his local congregation.
10/30/10 p.m. LCG announced the following:
Last week we launched a new News & Prophecy e-mail magazine (e-zine). Mr. Charles Ogwyn reports that this new online service will cover news items of prophetic significance. To subscribe, go to the Tomorrow’s World website, www.tomorrowsworld.org, and click on the E-mail Updates icon at the top of the screen and then check the appropriate box. The News & Prophecy e-zine will be sent once a week to your e-mail account.
10/16/10 a.m. Today, I again noticed that Harold Smith's CGFnw's home page still leads with the following statement:
The primary mission of the Church of God Fellowship is to help the Bride of Jesus Christ prepare herself for marriage to Him by fulfilling the purpose of Christ's ministry as stated in EPH 4:11-14.
There are, however, several problems with the above.
First of all, the idea of preparing the bride is NOT the first priority for the church according to Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20) (nor is the term "bride" mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-14).
And secondly, Ephesians 4:11 lists evangelists ahead of pastors. And since I do not believe that Harold Smith was ever ordained to an office higher than pastor, he and his followers may wish to ask themselves why their church's primary mission has to do with a statement involving evangelists as none in CGFnw apparently believe that they need to be in a church led by one ordained as an evangelist.
10/07/10 a.m. Today, I checked out the website of Ben Faulkner' Church of the Sovereign God (CotSG). As far as I can tell, its main "outreach" for "public proclamation" seems to be to have one verse of the Bible posted each day, without commentary. And while people should read the Bible, this seems to be a highly limited "work".
Of course, no group that came out of GCG (other than LCG) has much of a public proclamation work (RCG does the most other than LCG, but it has various inaccurate teachings it added).
09/16/10 p.m. I received a few emails asking me about Eng Monson and confirmed that he left EnCOG and came with LCG. He apparently concluded that Enduring was not doing the Philadelphia work that LCG is doing.
09/09/10 a.m. Enduring COG's website has the following two statements (in different locations):
I have long disbelieved EnCOG's commitment to publicly preaching the gospel. Its members may wish to try to convince themselves that minor effort is the fulfillment of what Jesus taught (Matthew 24:14; 28:19), but the relative lack of fruits that EnCOG has here should be a signal to everyone that its commitment seems lacking.
Two articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
09/03/10 a.m. The following was number 4 of the Statement of Beliefs at the Wholeworld Church of God website today:
We believe that we must preach the gospel as a witness for those God may be CALLING as they seek His word. (Rom. 10:13-15)
Two comments:
Now, I have always liked Ron Laughland and hope and pray that he will come back and support the main group that actually meets the criteria that his Statement of Beliefs declares, the Living Church of God.
Two articles of related interest, that Wholeworld Church of God should study include the following:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
08/28/10 p.m. In an email today, Norman Edwards wrote:
Even though several articles are finished, Servants' News has not been published this year...
The rest of the email was about his PABC, the upcoming FOT, and attempts at fundraising. Fundraising was an emphasis of the email. Norman Edwards has taught against tithing and has seemingly had a series of financial problems for many years.
An article of related interest may be:
Tithing Questions and Some Answers Addresses some non-biblical arguments against tithing. Should people tithe?
Those who claim to be in the COG and do not teach tithing rarely have successful efforts when it comes to proclamation of the gospel. Of course, most of those who were part of GCG and not LCG have little success that way either--but for them it is normally because of priorities. Norman Edwards tends to be on more of shoestring budget if my understanding of his writings is close to accurate.
08/20/10 a.m. RCG announced a new booklet titled "The Church, Work, Truth & Government of God In the Words of Herbert W. Armstrong". The purpose of the booklet is to apparently persuade people that David Pack is the faithful "apostle" and leader of the Philadelphia portion of the COG. Here is some of what RCG says about it:
Make no mistake, they are doctrines that he taught! These quotes were assembled for those who want his words...Only one Church teaches all of these and every other truth God restored to His Church.
RCG does not properly teach all the truths God restored to His Church (see Why Not the Restored Church of God?).
And while RCG's document does contain selective quotes, and all such documents would have to be "selective" (otherwise it would have been a multiple volume document), RCG tends to strain a gnat in order to swallow a camel:
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! (Matthew 23:23-24).
Based on my contacts with ones who were affiliated with David Pack, I would state that he does not understand the weightier matters of the law.
RCG's new booklet starts out with a chapter titled Truth Only Comes Through Apostles. This is apparently used to persuade people that the COG needs a leader who claims to be an apostle. Yet, Herbert W. Armstrong did not believe that an apostle would lead the Philadelphia portion of the COG after he died. Actually, that is the one title that he specifically did not allow J. Tkach to assume.
Furthermore, Herbert W. Armstrong taught that truth also came from prophets, and not just apostles, so RCG perhaps should consider changing the title of that chapter to be more consistant with what Herbert W. Armstrong actually taught. In addition, Herbert W. Armstrong also taught that ministers and evangelists could clarify various portions of the truth. The Bible, though the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is the source of truth.
Thus, I believe that the quotes are selective and the chapter titles misleading. RCG also goes into the Elijah matter, but again does not include statements from Herbert W. Armstrong where he either denied fulfilling that role or admitted that someone else could have.
And as far as doctrine and truth goes, RCG may wish to reflect on the following scriptures:
17 Your word is truth (John 17:17).
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
I would also add that the Apostle Jude admonished all Christians (including mainly non-apostles) to:
3...contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3)
RCG makes claims, but falls short scripturally.
For one item of prophetic interest, please recall that RCG still believes that Ethiopia will be the final King of the South. And since Ethiopia is in no position to do that, followers of David Pack will not realize when certain biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. Selectively quoting Herbert W. Armstrong (who for a while taught that Ethiopia would be the final King of the South, then later decided against that) is more dangerous than RCG followers apparently realize. RCG is not what it claims to be.
Two articles of possibly related interest may include the following:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
The Elijah Heresies Does the Bible teach that there will be a future Elijah? Must it be Herbert W. Armstrong?
08/13/10 a.m. CEG had the following by Norbert Link today under its latest update:
I believe that we are living in the last days (2 Peter 3:3; 2 Timothy 3:1; James 5:3). I believe that Christ's return is imminent (John 14:3; Matthew 24:30). I believe that the 6,000 years which God allotted to man to rule this earth, are almost up (2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4; Hebrews 4:4-11). I believe that the signs of our time indicate that Christ is near--even at the doors (Matthew 24:32-34; Revelation 3:20).
But -- I also believe that no man knows the exact time of Christ's return (Acts 1:7). I believe that it is useless to speculate or try to figure out the day, month or year, when He will return. I believe that neither Jesus Himself nor the angels know, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32)....
I believe that Norbert Link may have gone a little overboard in his beliefs. Since there is a 6,000 year plan, I believe that Jesus knows the year. The fact that while He was human He did not know the day or hour does not mean: 1) He did not know the year (CEG tries to claim that a prophetic "hour" may mean something different to justify that) and 2) that Jesus may not know more now.
I have long felt that those who rely on CEG's understanding of matters prophetic will find that they followed a source with error (see, for example, Is There A Future King of the South?). And I still feel that way.
Note: I am not claiming that I know the exact year when the 6,000 years end--just that Jesus likely does. The fact that the Bible has so many chronologies suggests that God wanted humans to use that information. And since God apparently has a 6,000/7,000 year plan, it would seem prudent to try to understand what the chronologies indicate.
Those interested in learning more about the 6,000 years may find the following of interest:
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2018 or 2019?
08/06/10 a.m. In his ad in the latest issue of The Journal, Don Billingsley begins with:
Excitement is building in men, women, and children, with joyous anticipation of being able to observe another Feast of Tabernacles at the site of their choice—while not taking into consideration that it is Jesus Christ who chooses the location where He places His Name, and not places chosen by men who have gone ASTRAY from His teachings (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). Be assured—Jesus Christ will not be in those Feast sites!!! To most it is a fun time with no serious thought of where we are in time: a time we have now entered of which we were forewarned over many years by Jesus Christ through His late apostle, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.
Don Billingsley should look in the mirror. Here are some articles that could possibly help:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
07/17/10 a.m. COG-eim's last statement under fundamental beliefs states:
CHURCH GOVERNMENT. We believe the form of government in the Church is expressed in Ephesians 2:19-21 as being a hierarchical structure. We believe that Jesus Christ is the living head of the Church, and that church doctrine has been established by Christ through the apostles. We believe the Bible, for our time, is complete, and that the Church has had its fundamental doctrines and teachings restored by the living Christ.
They really believe biblical hierarchical governance? Here are what some scriptures they did not refer to in Ephesian teach:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 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; 14 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, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16 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)
Here is some of what Herbert W. Armstrong taught:
The government of God has been restored to the Church, and the government of God has been placed in the Church. You read that in Ephesians 4 and I Corinthians 12. Christ is the head of the Church and under Christ in the administration of the government are an apostle or apostles, then evangelists, then pastors, then all are called elders, all ministers all the way up clear down to the lowest. So then there are teachers and elders both speaking elders and preaching elders, deacons and deaconesses. And the Church is restored in that form of government. The Sardis Church even didn't have the right form of government (Sermon. Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era by Herbert W. Armstrong given on December 17, 1983).
Neither Steve LeBlanc, Dave O'Malley, or anyone associated with that group was properly ordained as an evangelist (I have met the two I listed and they were ordained to nothing hirer than pastor). And hence if they really believe in hierarchical structure for church governance, then they should have accepted the authority of at least one properly ordained evangelist. Hopefully, their members and leadership will repent and accept scripture over improper assertions.
An article of related interest may be Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government
07/09/10 a.m. RCG reported:
“Nightline” Interview Update: In the absence of the producer who conducted the interview (who was on vacation), the direction of the “Nightline” segment changed. Hence, Mr. David Pack’s comments were no longer relevant to the topic, and in retrospect, it was fitting and desirable that they were not included. In any case, the recorded interview footage may prove useful in the future.
06/27/10 p.m. RCG reported:
David C. Pack Interviewed by ABC’s “Nightline”: The Pastor General of The Restored Church of God and voice of The World to Come program has been interviewed for ABC’s “Nightline,” which airs at 11:30 P.M. (Eastern Time) on ABC affiliate television stations across the United States. (It is also available in Canada, and around the world by satellite.)
And while this could be an interesting accomplishment, I believe sadly that ultimately David Pack's public statements help fulfill the following scripture:
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. (2 Peter 2:1-2)
For some of the reasons why, please see the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
06/18/10 p.m. In its update today, CEG reported the following:
Saudi Arabia Will Not Allow Israel to Use Their Airspace
Haaretz reported on June 12:
"Saudi Arabia would not allow Israeli bombers to pass through its airspace en route to a possible strike of Iran's nuclear facilities, a member of the Saudi royal family said Saturday, denying an earlier Times of London report. Earlier Saturday, the Times reported that Saudi Arabia has practiced standing down its anti-aircraft systems to allow Israeli warplanes passage on their way to attack Iran's nuclear installations, adding that the Saudis have allocated a narrow corridor of airspace in the north of the country.
"Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, the Saudi envoy to the U.K. speaking to the London-based Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, denied that report, saying such a move 'would be against the policy adopted and followed by the Kingdom.' According to Asharq al-Awsat report, bin Nawaf reiterated the Saudi Arabia's rejection of any violation of its territories or airspace, adding that it would be 'illogical to allow the Israeli occupying force, with whom Saudi Arabia has no relations whatsoever, to use its land and airspace'...
"Despite tensions between them, Israel and Saudi Arabia share a mutual hostility to Iran... Passing over Iraq would require at least tacit consent to the raid from the United States, whose troops are occupying the country. So far, the Obama Administration has refused this.
"On Wednesday the United Nations passed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in an attempt to force it to stop enriching uranium. But immediately after the UN vote, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed the nuclear program would continue. Israel hailed the vote – but said sanctions were not enough and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to rule out a raid."
It appears indeed doubtful that Saudi Arabia would lend a hand to Israel, as Arab nations, including Saudi-Arabia ("Ishmael"), as well as Turkey ("Edom"), will form a confederacy against Israel (Psalm 83:5-8).
However, there are several misunderstandings in the above.
While it is great that CEG seems to be recognizing that the powers associated with the King of the South will make a deal with the King of the North (Daniel 11:27), the situation in Psalm 83 between Saudi Arabia and Israel does not exist today. Currently, Saudi Arabia is much more worried about Iran than Israel.
Secondly, while it is not likely that high ranking Saudi officials will go on the record as allowing Israel to use airspace, it is fairly well reported that Saudi Arabia has given tacit approval for Israel to use its airspace. Many details on that are in the news post Saudi Arabia Will Allow Israel Airspace to Attack Iran.
And while I am not saying that Israel must use Saudi airspace, CEG will be proven wrong if it does.
06/03/10 p.m. ECG has the following under as part of its Mission Statement:
The Two-Fold Commission to the Church
I. Preach the Gospel
The scriptures reveal two great works Jesus commissioned His disciples to do. The first was to preach the gospel of the kingdom as a witness to all nations. So important was this commission that Jesus declared the kingdom of God would not be restored on earth until it was done.And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mt. 24:14)
The proclamation of God's kingdom by the disciples began on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. (Acts 2) and continues to this very day. It will culminate with the appearance of two witnesses who will have great power and will testify against all the nations on earth (Rev. 11:3-6).
II. Feed My Sheep
The second commission concerns the nurturing of God's children. The gospel of John reveals that after Jesus was risen from the dead, he met with His disciples and gave them special instructions regarding the great work that lay ahead of them. At one point, Jesus spoke personally to Peter and indicated that if Peter truly loved Him, he would take care of God's children.
But, so far, ECG, like the others that are not part of LCG, has failed to accomplish the first commission (the second commission can be debated--essentially ECG has been divisive from my perspective).
Its website lists that it is on a couple of stations in Montana and Arizona--which does not represent that much of the world as a witness. And as far as the internet goes, today ECG's website has an Alexa ranking of 3,112,013 compared to for 160,335 COGwriter. Basically, this means that ECG's internet presence is fairly insignificant (it apparently receives less than 3% of the traffic that COGwriter gets).
ECG may consider that it is fulfilling the first commission, but I would simply state that its efforts have not been "hot".
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
05/27/10 a.m. After trashing the idea that the gospel included the death and resurrection of Jesus, EnCOG posted the following:
In January 1934, Mr. Herbert W Armstrong restored the vital knowledge of the true gospel and began preaching it to the world. That gospel Mr. Armstrong restored was the good news of the Kingdom of God. God's true Church continues to preach it today.
It may be small in number, a little flock, with a little strength. Other organizations are larger in number and have vastly greater resources. They have magazines and literature. Their ministers maintain a presence on radio, television and the internet. Their message, however, is a FALSE gospel of a watered–down, syrupy, feel–good message about Christ. It is a mixed and confusing message about a multi–dimensional, nuanced and enhanced understanding of the gospel. There was only one gospel Christ preached. That pure, clear, true and undiluted gospel was the good news of the Kingdom of God.
The truth is that people under Charles Bryce can try to delude themselves into thinking that they are the faithful remnant of the Philadelphia portion of the Church. But the reality is that when he was part of LCG, Charles Bryce simply did not have his emphasis on proclaiming the gospel. Nor has his EnCOG succeeded in getting the message out like Christ intended. Jesus taught that you would know the most faithful by their fruits, and EnCOG simply does not have them.
And as far as the late Herbert W. Armstrong goes, perhaps EnCOG should consider reading what he wrote in his What is the True Gospel? booklet:
Which Gospel Did Jesus Preach?...
Notice, Jesus said, "Believe THE GOSPEL!"
WHAT Gospel? the one He was proclaiming—"the Gospel of the Kingdom of God."
But, one may ask, don't we need to believe on Jesus? Of course. Other scriptures teach that. but at this particular time Jesus said we must believe Him --believe what He said—believe the Gospel of the Kingdom of God!
Some believed on Jesus, but did not believe Jesus --did not believe what He SAID (John 7:31; 8:30, 31, 46).
What About the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
But if the one and only TRUE Gospel is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, what about the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Is that a false gospel?
Not at all. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel He brought as God's Messenger—the Gospel He proclaimed is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ IS NOT man's gospel ABOUT THE PERSON of Christ. It is CHRIST'S Gospel—the Gospel Jesus PREACHED—the Gospel GOD SENT by Him, and therefore it is also called, in Scripture, the Gospel of God. The Gospel of God is God's GOSPEL—His Message—His Good News which He sent by Jesus.
Also the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Christ's Gospel—the Gospel Christ brought from God—the Gospel He proclaimed.
We hear a great deal today of the gospel of MEN about the PERSON of Jesus Christ—confining the message solely to the things ABOUT Jesus. As a result, millions believe on Christ, who do not BELIEVE CHRIST! But Jesus' Gospel IS HIS MESSAGE!...
Conditions of Entering
Now, HOW do we enter into that glorious KINGDOM? Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying, "REPENT," and "BELIEVE THE GOSPEL."
Just TWO things we do—REPENT, and BELIEVE. We must BELIEVE the Gospel, and that means also believing on JESUS CHRIST, the KING of the Kingdom of God, and coming KING of kings over all the families of the earth. It means believing in Him as personal SAVIOUR, as High Priest now, and as coming KING.
But to repent is to completely CHANGE THE MIND in respect to SIN, and "sin is the transgression of the LAW" (I John 3:4)—the law of God by which God RULES the Kingdom.
It means a total, complete CHANGE OF MIND AND OF LIFE. It means we REPENT of transgressing the rule, the will, the laws, of GOD. What did Jesus say to the young man who asked Him HOW to inherit eternal life? He said, "IF thou wilt enter into life, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS" (Matthew 19:17) (Armstrong HW. What is the True Gospel? WCG booklet, 1972, p.6).
Herbert W. Armstrong clearly taught that Jesus was part of the message. Furthermore, LCG does teach that Christians do need to do what Christ taught--LCG clearly teaches the ten commandments--hence to suggest that LCG is somehow diluted the gospel is in clear error.
What Herbert W. Armstrong taught in 1972 is the same as what LCG teaches.
If Charles Bryce truly believes the Bible he may wish to meditate on the following:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Romans 1:16).
Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them...But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized...So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip...Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea (Acts 8:4,5,12,24,25,40).
...he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:18).
Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him (Acts 28:30-31).
Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient-- in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:15-19).
...that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power (Ephesians 3:6-7).
Now while we in LCG teach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, we acknowledge that Christ is part of that Gospel as we feel that we have fully preached the gospel of Christ. It may be of interest to note that the Bible uses the term "gospel of Christ" at least ten times.
The "gospel of the kingdom" is NOT diluted by including Christ in the message. People in EnCOG apparently wish to delude themselves into thinking that LCG does not teach the true Gospel of the Kingdom, but that is distorted thinking on their part.
05/18/10 a.m. In his latest newsletter, CGFnw's Harold Smith began with the following:
It is impossible to watch the news or go on the Internet without being inundated with
news reports that indicate more preparations for the further fulfillment of end-time events
which God has prophesied in His Word. The Middle East is once again the primary focus.
The Hezbollah are receiving Scud missiles from Syria to add to their current stockpile of
at least 40,000 various types of rockets. According to the Russians, who are helping to
build it, the Iranian nuclear reactor is to go online in August. Despite growing opposition
from Congress, the Obama administration seems intent on further distancing itself from
Israel, leaving that small nation all alone in a world that is anxious to fulfill PSA 83:4.
I once heard Harold Smith teach that (like CEG) that there did not need to be a future King of the South. The above writing suggests that he believes that tiny nation of Israel alone is the target of those plotting in Psalm 83. Whether he believes that or not is not completely clear, but I would add that we in LCG believe that Psalm 83 includes more than Judah, that it includes Ephraim and Manasseh (the UK, USA, and their Anglo-allies) as Israel said they should have his name named on them (Genesis 48:13-16).
See also Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? What does the Bible say?
05/07/10 a.m. In the link titled "Our Purpose" Church of God In Peace and Truth still states:
To share the Good News of God’s mercy and promises of the wonderful world tomorrow with each of you is our privilege and pleasure; it is the commission God has given to those in His Church (Mark 16:15). This website is our contribution to that God-given commission to preach the Gospel (Good News) of God’s glorious awesome Kingdom!
How much of a "contribution" is that?
The current (as of this morning) Alexa ranking of Church of God In Peace and Truth's website is:
The higher the ranking number, the worse the website is doing. The above rank suggests that this group does not reach any significant amount of outsiders and really does not have a zeal to do the work.
To put this in perspective, this morning's Alexa ranking for COGwriter.com is 171,502. COGwriter (a mere member site) reaches probably about 50-100 times as many people as Church of God In Peace and Truth does.
Those in Church of God In Peace and Truth really should check out the article Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?
05/01/10 a.m. RCG's David Pack took a swipe at UCG publicly with an open letter related to its current crisis:
When UCG began in May of 1995, it openly declared—and has periodically acknowledged since—that it adopted an entirely new form of church government, one completely different from what Mr. Armstrong taught was the pattern of government that God had restored to the Church under his leadership. And recall that Mr. Armstrong repeated often, “Government is everything!” When the apostasy came, UCG’s leaders decided that what allowed it was the system of government Mr. Armstrong taught rather than the false leaders who commandeered it. Few seem to consider that these men could no longer have believed God gave revealed knowledge of His form of Government to Mr. Armstrong—and that this alone disqualified any UCG leader from being one whom God could use. This rejection of established, proven understanding was further confirmed when evangelists, pastors and preaching elders at the outset of UCG so willingly gave up their previous, Christ-ordained higher offices in order to all become equal “elders”—thus allowing “one man, one vote” by hundreds of men. This new false system was carefully calculated to attract more ordained men from the WCG into what would be seen as an “inclusive” system, where local elders, even brand new ones, had the same authority as senior evangelists. This “very different structure” (as it has been acknowledged again in recent public UCG letters) governed choice of leaders, selection of doctrine, expenditure of money and the making of major decisions.
In regard to government, UCG’s membership is now reaping what its leaders sowed—but also what at least most of the members just as willingly accepted.
David Pack has his own problems regarding governance and being faithful to what the Bible and HWA taught on a variety of subjects (see also The Bible, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government). Those who wish to learn more on that should read also the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
04/30/10 a.m. The home page of Harold Smith's CGFnw boldly claimed the following this morning:
The primary mission of the Church of God Fellowship is to help the Bride of Jesus Christ prepare herself for marriage to Him by fulfilling the purpose of Christ's ministry as stated in EPH 4:11-14.
While I am glad that he is more upfront with that than most of the others who once were part of GCG, the biblical truth is that his statement is not consistent with the order that Christ gave or that the late Herbert W. Armstrong understood. For details, please see Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?
04/24/10 a.m. Although I was not sure how newsworthy this was, since a couple of people mentioned it, here is some of what RCG wrote in a news release:
The Restored Church of God’s (RCG) flagship magazine, The Real Truth, recently received unwelcome publicity due to a Michigan-based militia linking to The Real Truth website as a news source on its own site.
An organization has almost no control over where and in what context links to their website appear. One organization linking to another’s website is not grounds to assume the two are affiliated, or share any objectives. Some will draw connections anyway...
Again, we explicitly disavow any connection with the Michigan militia and the militia movement generally.
As much as I disapprove about a lot of what RCG teaches (see Why Not the Restored Church of God?), they are correct to report that they have no connection with the Michigan militia group Hutaree.
04/06/10 a.m. I received the following email yesterday:
I was wondering if you have any current info on the Stedfast Church of God. I have used their website to download some of Mr. Armstrong's sermons, and for the last couple of weeks their website hasn't been available.
SCG was founded by a former RCG member named Arlen Berkey. As far as I can tell, he no longer has SCG and now supports Ronald Laughlin of the Wholeworld COG. Although I do not recall seeing a formal announcement of this, Arlen Berkey has a few sermons now on WWCG's sermon page. Ronald Laughlin's group is quite small and I am disappointed that he has done what he has.
Regarding Arlen Berkey's group, my old article always had the right name It's Not Stedfast.
04/05/10 a.m. RCG reported a lot of statistics. Here are some:
- Field Ministers—March 31, 2009: 4 full-time ministers – One year later: 18 (8 U.S., 10 int’l)
(By mid-May 2010, five more area Pastors or Associate Pastors will have arrived in London, UK; Chicago, IL; Orlando, FL; near Kingsport, TN, and also Cincinnati, OH a few weeks into the summer, bringing the total to 23 full-time ministers—with 12 U.S. and 11 international. All of these men [and wives] have received very sophisticated and very thorough training. Of course, there are also many additional local church elders, deacons and deaconesses being added. There are also 8 other full-time ministers who will continue to serve at Headquarters. Up to 10 or even more pastors or associates will likely be added to the field by mid-2011.)
- HQ Staff—March 31, 2009: 46 (Five of these went to the field on 9/1, reducing the total to 41).
March 31, 2010: 52 (Six more staff members will leave for the field in May. Eight other people will join our staff within 60 days: four in April, one in May, three in early June, then making 54 on staff.)
- Ambassador Training Center—The Church’s educational arm, Ambassador Training Center, will graduate its first class of 94 men and women from many countries on Sunday, May 2, 2010. Ambassador—which offers an extensive two-year liberal arts and theology curriculum, both on-site and by audio/video online—equips leaders for service at Headquarters and in the field ministry.
The above represents major changes for RCG. I believe that it is sad that so many have been misled enough to support the self-appointed "apostle" David Pack. For other information, see also Why Not the Restored Church of God?
03/26/10 a.m. CEG reported the following:
...we have just completed our annual Church conference—this time hosted by the brethren
in Colorado.The conference was attended by Norbert Link and his wife Johanna, along with Margaret Adair,
Michael Link and Kalon Mitchell (all from the San Diego area); Rene and Delia Messier from Canada;
Brian and Jill Gale from Great Britain; as well as Dave and Peggy Harris; Wray and Jule Zehrung;
and deacons and members from Colorado...Following up on recent statements, Evangelist Norbert Link again reminded everyone that true success
for our Christian growth relates directly to our involvement and dedicated participation in the
Work given to the Church...An outgrowth of this conference was the appointment of Dave Harris as Director of Church Administration
and as Chairman of the Technical Committee.
So the annual conference had 13 attendees, plus those that lived in the area. I do not recall Norbert Link claiming to be an evangelist before (he was not one in GCG), but many have taken titles to themselves these days (RCG's David Pack, who claims to be an apostle, is one who comes to mind).
Anyway, there was no discussion in the past two weeks' updates from CEG about its position on the King of the South. That was something I had hoped it would publicly address as it indicated that it would several weeks ago.
03/11/10 a.m. In a paid ad in the 2/28/10 edition of The Journal, was the following:
Here at Last—
The 19-Year Time Cycle—2010!
By Alton “Don” Billingsley...The Gospel and the 19-Year Time Cycles
Having entered the 19-Year Time Cycle of 2010, there is the expectation that once again something very significant will take place this New Year that connects with the Gospel Message, and possibly on Thursday, January 7, as before. Perhaps it will be obvious to us, and maybe not. But Christ knows and will make it known in due time.
Is it possible the open door will begin closing on this date and year to the warning witness that is now going forth to the Church, to Israel, and the world (Revelation 3:7-8)? At the time of this writing, it is too soon to tell.
In other words, nothing happened on January 7, 2010 that was so significant that anyone noticed. And if nothing happened, then CG-ff will likely claim that the door to proclaim the Gospel was closed once more (according to them). Those at CG-ff really need to wake up and realize that they are NOT supporting the true Philadelphia remnant.
Here are some articles that could possibly help:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
03/04/10 a.m. In an article supposedly being Philadelphian, Harold Smith posted:
3:8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it…
An Open Door
The only way anyone can come to Jesus Christ is when his mind is opened and he is given the ability to understand the truth. The way Jesus provides an open door is by opening people’s minds and making them receptive to the truth they hear. Jesus provided the sixth stage of the Church with an open door unlike any before it: the largest number of receptive minds over the longest span of time. He does not make this promise to any other era. Prior to and after this historical stage, Jesus only provided limited access to the truth. He did open a door for Paul (and no doubt did the same for other apostles) from time to time so that he could perform his role as an apostle; those open doors allowed him to reach many who had never before heard the gospel:
- 1CO 16:9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
- 2CO 2:12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord,
- COL 4:3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,
Paul clearly did not have a door left open throughout his apostleship; when he writes to Timothy that all of the members in the province of Asia deserted him (2TI 1:15), it is clear that the door to the truth was closed to them.
As long as the sixth stage of the Church existed, the door would remain open. However, Jesus did not promise that the door would be left open for the seventh era. Therefore, when the sixth era ended, the door was closed and locked by the One who has the key—and no one can open it! There is no large number of receptive minds promised to the final historical stage of the Church.
This is an inappropriate and inaccurate interpretation. There still is a harvest to be had. Now Harold Smith basically contradicts himself when with the following from the same article:
3:10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere [NIV:“endure patiently”], I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Persevere
The command to which Jesus refers is the one He delivered during the Olivet Prophecy, directed to His disciples who would be alive at the conclusion of the age:
MAT 24:12-13 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Hour of Trial
The “hour of trial” refers to the time of great tribulation at the close of the age:
MAT 24:21-22 For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again! Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited. (JNT)
Philadelphians do still exist according to Harold Smith, as they are the ones to be protected.
And if they still exist, then they still need to be doing the Philadelphia work.
Some articles that he and others may wish to review are:
Do You Believe God Used Herbert W. Armstrong to Raise Up the Philadelphia Era of the Church of God? Nearly everyone while in WCG used to believe this, most do not seem to anymore.
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
Samaritans: Old and New Who were the Samaritans? Do the represent true Christianity or something else?
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical 'place of safety' and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject--thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory.
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
02/26/10 a.m. In its update for this morning, The Church of the Eternal God's Norbert Link wrote the following:
...due to our annual ministerial and Church conference in Colorado in early March, the publication of our weekly Updates will be discontinued for two weeks. The next issue will be published on March 18.
This gives all of us more time to concentrate on the very important issues which we need to discuss and decide upon--including our growing Internet activities; the publication of new booklets in 2010; clarifications on doctrinal issues pertaining to the "king of the South"; the future of the "spirit in man" for unpardonable sinners in the third resurrection; the use of an anointed cloth in regard to demons; today's application of certain Old Testament laws; and perhaps most importantly, combating Laodicean attitudes in this last era of the Church of God.
It is about time CEG decides to re-look at its inaccurate position that there does not need to be a future King of the South. CEG, which once had two of the board members involved in the GCG takeover, actually wrote this in its July 30, 2004 News Update:
...the prophecy in Daniel 11:40 has ALREADY BEEN FULFILLED. And verse 40 is the LAST TIME where the king of the South is mentioned! Beginning with the second half of verse 40, we read exclusively about the king of the North and his activities, and, in verse 44, about rumors from the east and the west. This means, then, that there DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ANOTHER end-time king of the South. If there were to rise one, following the historical and Biblical records, as set forth in the 11th chapter of the book of Daniel, it would have to be -- mainly -- modern Ethiopia. But, as we said, ALL WHICH STILL NEEDS TO BE FULFILLED (and which the previous king of the North -- under Mussolini -- did NOT fulfill), is the invasion of the Glorious Land by the future and final king of the North (verse 41), including Jerusalem (verse 45), as well as the overthrow of "many countries" (verse 41), including Egypt, and the "Libyans and Ethiopians" following at his heels (verse 43).
Although CEG had referred to a 1972 article by HWA prior to reaching this conclusion, this is NOT what HWA actually concluded.
CEG has been in error on this for quite some time. And while CEG has a variety of Laodicean practices, if it looks at the facts it may be able to fix its errors related to the King of the South. And then maybe it will look at other issues it has.
An article that CEG should study (as it contains a lot of references in one place that should help them come to the correct conclusion on this matter) is quite simply titled Is There A Future King of the South?
02/06/10 a.m. This morning I received an email from who provided excerpts from an article from CG-ff's Don Billingsley. So, I went to the article and here is one part of it:
"New 19 year time cycle."
"JANUARY 7, 2010 FALLS ON A THURSDAYPerhaps what will take place on this day will go by unnoticedby all of the Corporate Churches of God and will bemeaningless to all with the possible exception of theELECT of God’s Church."Whether or not – there is no question but that we
can begin expecting all of the major end-time
prophecies to be fulfilled within
this new Time Cycle – certainly
within the very next
few years, and very probably
a lot sooner than many
may expect.
As far as I can tell, Don Billingsley has not reported what major event occurred on January 7, 2010 that he believes fulfills a nineteen year time cycle--he is NOT God's chosen leader for the Philadelphian remnant. Also, the reality is that CG-ff is also a corporate church in the connotation sense, hence, this comment from him seems hypocritical.
Speaking of hypocritical, Don Billingsley also wrote (he also took some shots against UCG, where he had been part of for a short while):
"Whether large or small, each of thesechurches has a leadership that hasbeen rejected by Jesus Christ!"
And
"THE GATHERING OF THE SCATTEREDPHILADELPHIA REMNANT MEMBERSSoon Jesus Christ will begin bringing the 7,000members or more together with this Congregation(Romans 11:2-5, 7); and with the pastor, whoeverhe might be at the time, just short of the time toflee to the place of safety"
Don Billingsley admits that he is only a pastor (a rank that is BELOW evangelists). He has rejected biblical governance (see The Bible, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government).
Furthermore, I want to remind readers that Don Billingsley personally told me several years ago that the Living Church of God was Philadelphian, but that he did not come with us then because HE WAS AFRAID HE WOULD LOSE HIS FOLLOWERS! How anyone can think that he has been faithful to governance, etc. is totally illogical--so perhaps that is why he condemns others for what he does.
Don Billingsley's group numbers no more than in the hundreds, yet he expects 7000 to be with him. Of course, the false prophet Ronald Weinland is expecting millions (see Concerns About Ronald Weinland's Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God). Don Billingsley does not lead the true Philadelphia remnant as he indicates that he does.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG. Most have rejected proper biblical governance.
02/05/10 a.m. This morning, I visited EnCOGs website. EnCOG was supposedly started because Charles Bryce changed his public position on makeup--he decided that it was an extremely important subject and that it needed to be prohibited. After forming, EnCOG apparently convinced some people that it was going to essentially finish the work of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14). And while it has not succeeded in the latter (though it is on a few small radio stations), this morning I noticed that a search for the terms "makeup" or "make-up" did not turn up any written materials on this subject at its official website. So while EnCOG may still be opposed to make-up, it does not seem to write against it online where others who may be interested in that subject could find it.
For an article on that subject, please read Makeup and the Philadelphia Era of the COG.
02/03/10 a.m. Received the following last night:
- On Tue, 2/2/10, Ken_Treybig@ucg.org <Ken_Treybig@ucg.org> wrote:
> From: Ken_Treybig@ucg.org <Ken_Treybig@ucg.org>
> Subject: Prayer Request-Harold Rhodes
> To: Ken@Treybig.org
> Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 2:14 PM
> An urgent prayer request was
> sent out today for Mr. Harold Rhodes, pastor of the Mobile
> and Geneva, AL and Pensacola, FL congregations. The request
> was:
> Please
> pray for Harold Rhodes (pastor of Mobile and Geneva ,
> Alabama and Pensacola , Florida ). Harold was taken
> by ambulance to
> the hospital in Gulf Breeze, Florida , last night. He
> was diagnosed with a
> serious infection on his backside known as “flesh eating
> bacteria.” Surgery was
> performed to remove as much of the infected area as
> possible. It won’t be known
> for a while whether they were able to stop the spread of
> the infection or not.
> In the meantime, Harold is in critical condition at
> the hospital. His wife,
> Loree, and his son David are with him. Harold and
> Loree would appreciate
> everyone’s prayers --Ken
> Treybig
>
I normally do not post prayer requests (I refer people to Prayer Requests), but this one seemed to be unusual enough that I thought many would be interested in hearing about it.
01/19/10 a.m. In his "Real Truth" magazine, RCG's David Pack wrote
You have come in contact with the only Church on the face of the earth that truly understands prophecy. On The World to Come program, we teach the meaning of today’s events, and what lies ahead for the world—and do so in detail. (Pack D. Did God Send Nostradamus? Real Truth, January 12, 2010).
Those who believe that statement from David Pack will be severely misled as he and his church clearly misunderstand various aspects of prophecy (as well as other bibical matters). For details, please see the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
12/26/09 a.m. In his latest letter, CG-ff's Don Billingsley wrote:
The apostle Paul makes known the False Prophet will also move from Rome to Jerusalem:
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you . . . Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will NOT come UNLESS the falling away comes first, and the man of sin (margin: lawlessness) is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, SO THAT HE SITS AS GOD ‘IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD’, showing himself THAT HE IS GOD . . . And then the LAWLESS ONE will be revealed, whom the LORD will CONSUME with the breath of His mouth and DESTROY with the brightness of His coming (II Thessalonians 1:8-10; Revelation 19:19-20).
Of course, despite claiming to be faithful to the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong, this is another deviation. The late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:
God made a prophecy in the third chapter of Malachy...Continuing, "...shall suddenly come to His temple..." What kind of temple is He coming to? Are the Jews going to tear down the Dome of the Rock and build a new temple? Oh, no!... A holy temple! Christ is coming to His church! Christ is coming to His temple! Do we see that? The church is the temple. "...in whom ye are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Armstrong, Herbert W. Congress of Leading Ministers Hears Defined and Reemphasized Spiritual Organization of Church. Worldwide News, March 6, 1981, p. 10)
In the Christian era, Christians are the temple of God. No physical temple in Jerusalem is required. CG-FF is not faithful to scripture or the late Herbert W. Armstrong on this doctrine.
For more information, please see the article Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required?
12/09/09 a.m. The latest issue of Servants' News arrived last night. The editor, Norman Edwards, who endorses voting wrote:
Do Christians Vote?
Should Christians vote in an election?...The Biblical truth is that God commands his people to choose good civil government leaders for themselves...
The only way a group of people can be responsible for appointing an individual is to vote for him— either directly or by having their representatives vote. (Edwards N. To Whom Does God Give Authority for Civil Government Today? (Part 3). Servants' News, September-October, 2009, p. 16).
"The Biblical Truth" is that God nowhere endorses voting for selecting civil leaders. And although Deuteronomy 7:14-16 alludes to humans picking a king, as Norman Edwards indicates, the reality is that God condemned the Israelites for doing so and had Samuel state that because of that they were rejecting God (1 Samuel 10:19). And that was a passage of scripture that Norman Edwards missed. Furthermore, voting is not the only way a group can get a leader.
People can pray and God can raise up leaders--and this is what God did repeatedly prior to the children of Israel insisting upon a king (Judges 2:16,18; 3:9, 15).
Although I personally like Norman Edwards, his political views and views on voting are more in line with arguments of men than scripture.
Faithful Philadelphian Christians do not vote. Those Christians that vote have always been associated with organizations that simply have not successfully proclaimed to Gospel of the Kingdom to the world as a witness or otherwise held to Philadelphia era goals and certain other beliefs.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should a Christian Vote? This article gives some of the Biblical rationale on this subject. Would Jesus vote for president? Is voting in the Bible? This is a subject Christians need to understand.
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG. Most have rejected proper biblical governance.
11/27/09 p.m. It has been over 11 years since some of the GCG board succeeded in removing Carl McNair so that they could ultimately takeover the old Global Church of God. Although the supporters of the board were highly vocal and critical of me during that time, the reality is that what I wrote would come to pass did. And that is that those that rejected proper hierarchical governance would not succeed nor would they have significant impact in proclaiming Christ's gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness.
In the past two weeks alone, the Living Church of God received over 12,000 responses to its last two telecasts. That is about 80% more than all who were originally part of GCG. All the groups that decided not to support LCG have simply fallen short when it comes to public proclamation of the gospel. And while some who have left will point to occasional emails, telephone calls, and conversions, if my COGwriter emails are any indication, then it would seem that at least as many have been baptized simply as a result of the COGwriter website as those other groups. And I am simply one member supporting the work of God as done by the Living Church of God.
If you were once part of the old Global Church of God (or the old Worldwide Church of God), it should be obvious for those who are willing to see that the Living Church of God is the only group that clearly has taken up the Philadelphian mantle to accomplish the work of the public proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom.
And yes, I realize that those of us in LCG are flawed and make mistakes, but none any more serious than those in the old WCG (and actually a lot less than that). While we may not see many more groups come with LCG, the Bible says, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12), which suggests that you individually need to do what is right. To learn more please read the article, There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God?
11/02/09 p.m. It's been a while since I reported on this page, and much longer since I reported much about COGwriter here. There are a few reasons, other than simply being gone for the Feast of Tabernacles.
We had so many problems with our server (the computer company which hosted this website), that we finally switched servers last week. It would have happened earlier, but the server we were on kept crashing before we could copy the content for the new server. We suspect that the increased popularity of the COGwriter and related pages may have been too much for the old server to handle. The new server has much greater capacity.
Also, when I got back from the Feast of Tabernacles, our main desktop computer had hardware problems and the hard drive had to be replaced. This has resulted in some software not being available to me as easily.
Both of these events have affected my reporting for the past couple of weeks or so. Hopefully, we are now back to normal and in a better, more stable, position.
Also, for those who subscribe to our email updates, this again should be working. Making the switch to a new server seemed to have affected that for a while.
09/25/09 a.m. EnCOG reported:
Profanity and vulgar speech used to be shocking. There was a time when the use of such words marked a person as unfit for respectable society, but words that would make your grandfather blush are now commonly spoken and accepted in the mainstream media by both men and women, young and old.
This is true.
Of course, it is also shocking that one so outwardly supportive of hierarchical governance rebelled as happened. Those is EnCOG may consider reading the following three articles:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
09/19/09 a.m. Ralph Burgess, who once followed GCG then John Ritenbaugh then Harold Smith, started his own group in 2002. But apparently had a split that he feels that he has somewhat recovered from as his new web site says:
The original Present Commission website ran for about three years, but fell prey to division among our small local group.
So there has been a gap in the central message, for which I wish to personally apologize.
His group was called "Present Commission" and now is called "The Present Commission". As far as the message, my recollection is that his message has anti-tithing and anti-preaching gospel as witness. It is not a message that I believe has proper biblical support.
09/15/09 p.m. A source I have had for a long time sent me the following which indicates that David Pack has taken another title for himself:
This weekend he has posted a two part sermon (http://www.thercg.org/news.html) titled “Zechariah 3—Joshua Identified.” I listened to portions of the second message.
He is now teaching that he is the end time (or the third) Joshua. He reads Zechariah 3 and identifies himself as this Joshua and claims that he is the “High Priest” over this era of the Church. I didn’t listen to every word, but he seems to identify the “filthiness” of verse 3-4 as the sins of the Laodiceans that he had to bear by spending time in GCG (though he claims they are not his sins…but the sins of the era). He said he wears the spiritual miter of authority over the Church. He takes verse 7 and identifies himself having “charge of My courts,” meaning the end time Church.
The message is filled with very strange and goofy reasoning. One odd thing is that he seems to claim that he has had this authority over the Church ever since the Trinity doctrine was introduced to WCG in 1992/1993. He is saying that even though Mr. Meredith (who he refers to as a false leader) seemed in charge of Global throughout those years, he (Dave Pack) actually had the authority and was the leader of the Church even before he started his own group. He uses his story of working independently within Global to support this. He alluded to a connection between his “office” of High Priest and his last name meaning “Passover.” It seems that he believes he makes intersession for the Church in some way (I really wish I was joking or exaggerating, but he actually does make this insinuation).
He has also taught for some time that he is the “angel to the church of Laodicea” of Revelation 3 and that he is the last end time Apostle. With this latest discovery of himself in the pages of the Bible, he seems to be going more and more the way of Gerald Flurry.
Those who want to learn more about David Pack may wish to read the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
09/09/09 a.m. An email I received forwarded from a former RCG shows that David Pack is to be on the new History Channel series is titled “The Nostradamus Effect.” RCG reported:
Segments of Mr. Pack’s interview are tentatively scheduled to appear in mid- to late October, about halfway through the series—perhaps Episode Seven on October 21, if the schedule we were originally told about holds.
RCG has not done that well with book sales (I checked with Amazon yesterday) or as well as it used to on the internet (according to its Alexa rankings which I checked this morning). Being on the History Channel will likely help it. Of course, those interested in knowing more about it, would learn more by reading the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
09/05/09 a.m. In its latest update, CEG reported:
Arab nations are gaining economic influence in Germany, foreshadowing a biblically-prophesied economic and political arrangement or "confederacy" between Germany and certain Arab countries...
Netzeitung wrote on August 29:
"The Gulf state of Qatar has taken a 6.78-percent stake in Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen as part of a plan to take over around 17 percent of the company... Qatar's investment will total some EUR 7 billion and the country will become the third biggest shareholder in Volkswagen behind the Porsche and Piech families and the German state of Lower Saxony."This development is interesting in light of the fact that the Bible speaks of a coming "confederacy" between Germany and Arab nations in the near future.
While I am not sure of all of CEG's teachings, CEG seems to be suggesting (correctly) that a deal will be made between the Europeans and the Arabs. And that is consistent with Psalm 83 and Daniel 11:27.
However, what I am sure about is that CEG incorrectly teaches that there does NOT need to be a coming King of the South as it wrote this in its July 30, 2004 News Update:
...the prophecy in Daniel 11:40 has ALREADY BEEN FULFILLED. And verse 40 is the LAST TIME where the king of the South is mentioned! Beginning with the second half of verse 40, we read exclusively about the king of the North and his activities, and, in verse 44, about rumors from the east and the west. This means, then, that there DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ANOTHER end-time king of the South. If there were to rise one, following the historical and Biblical records, as set forth in the 11th chapter of the book of Daniel, it would have to be -- mainly -- modern Ethiopia. But, as we said, ALL WHICH STILL NEEDS TO BE FULFILLED (and which the previous king of the North -- under Mussolini -- did NOT fulfill), is the invasion of the Glorious Land by the future and final king of the North (verse 41), including Jerusalem (verse 45), as well as the overthrow of "many countries" (verse 41), including Egypt, and the "Libyans and Ethiopians" following at his heels (verse 43).
Although CEG had referred to a 1972 article by HWA prior to reaching this conclusion, this is NOT what HWA actually concluded.
It should also be pointed out that GCG-UK (a group with ties to CEG) posted about the same thing in August 2004. These statements are similar to those made by Harold Smith of Church of God Fellowship, Northwest in a cassette from him I listened to years ago (Harold Smith went along with the GCG takeover and is a former GCG member). Thus at least three groups that split off from the GCG takeover now have taken the position that the old WCG and the Bible do not require that there be a future King of the South.CEG fails to realize that the Arabs will cooperate with the Europeans, until after the destruction of the Anglo-American nations (Daniel 11:39). And then the King of the South will push at the King of the North (a European power) and then the King of the North will invade and win. Those who left LCG will simply not understand certain key elements of prophecy at the end unless they change.
Some articles of related topics include:
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? What does the Bible say?
The Arab World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
08/28/09 a.m. In its Q&A section of its website, ECG posted:
Because of the human greed, egotism, and mistreatment of members that has occurred during a time when there is no apostle, the Eternal Church of God recognizes that these splits and division will likely continue. Therefore, we strongly encourage God’s people to resist the urge to compete with other churches, to forgive mistakes that have been made, and to show respect to all the groups as being our brethren who are striving to hold fast to the truth.
I agree that human greed is the reason that ECG formed as I recall the greed that its founder was involved in prior to him being removed from the GCG ministry some time ago.
And while I agree that there is no valid apostle per se at this time in the COGs, the reality is that ECG does know that there are properly ordained evangelists. And it should know that they since they are the highest rank in any real COG, that ECG should accept the authority of at least one. But it does not.
And since ECG, like most of the COGs traces its history through early leaders like Polycarp of Smyrna (who was ordained by the original apostles, but was not an apostle himself), it should recognize that the "no apostle" argument is simply invalid. Other early leaders like Melito, Thraseas, Sagaris, Papirius, Polycrates, and Apollinius were not apostles either. Yet, as the highest ranking leaders in the COG, they were in charge under Christ.
ECG is actually separate because of personal problems with its founder and that is no excuse for ignoring proper church governance.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Polycarp of Smyrna: The Heretic Fighter Polycarp was the successor of the Apostle John and a major leader in Asia Minor. Do you know much about what he taught?
Melito of Sardis Who was this 2nd Century Church Leader? What Old Testament did he list? What did he teach that most who call themselves Christian later change?
Thraseas Thraseas died circa 160 in Smyrna, but oversaw the churches from Eumenia.
Sagaris Sagaris died circa 166-167 and oversaw a church in Laodicea of Asia Minor.
Papirius He died circa 170 and oversaw churches from Smyrna.
Polycrates of Ephesus He was an early church leader that claimed to continue the practices of the Gospel, John, Philip, Melito, and Polycarp, while refusing to accept traditions that came from Rome.
Apollonius of Ephesus He died circa 210.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
08/22/09 a.m. Rick Railston (formerly of Church of God Fellowship) is now part of a group called the Pacific Church of God. Here is some of what it says about itself:
- Our goal is to provide for the spiritual needs of the brethren.
- Loving and communicating with one another, especially the scattered brethren.
- In the Pacific Northwest, provide weekly Sabbath services with live speakers.
- A WEB site with sermon archives.
- A Sabbath update, weekly reporting on the health and needs of brethren.
- A shared speaking and traveling ministry with associated churches.
- Feast site(s) for brethren of like mind with elders in attendance.
- Counseling and anointing services.
- Sermon Audio CDs and Video DVDs as well as mailing services.
- Local Bible studies for adults and youth.
- Budgeted financial resources for providing the above services.
- Provide for the physical needs of the brethren.
- Identify those brethren in need and determine the proper means of support.
- Budgeted financial resources for support of brethren in need.
Thus, it is another group focused on itself as opposed to public proclamation.
08/21/09 a.m. For a short while (before he asked his followers to send him most of their assets, (see the news item titled David Pack of the Restored Church of God Declares: “Go get those assets and get them here”), David Pack's RCG had one of the most effective internet reaches of any group with a WCG background. Mainly this was because RCG decided that the internet was the place to spend money on ads in order to generate interest.
RCG, as of a few moments ago, had an Alexa ranking of 180,354 vs. COGwriter's ranking of 167,849 (lower is better). This should be of concern to RCG because David Pack has previously indicated that his internet reach is supposedly proof that RCG is the true church above all other COGs (even though UCG and LCG have better rankings and more reach than RCG).
And while I am not opposed to ads on the internet, COGwriter.com has never paid for any internet advertising and the ratings for this website are based upon people finding it on their own and telling others about it. And while RCG might once again decide to spend more in order to pass up COGwriter rankings, the simple fact is that public proclamation of the gospel is not what RCG is all about--it is mainly about David Pack and why he thinks that people should listen to him.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
08/12/09 a.m. Don Billingsley again put ads in The Journal. Here is some of what one states:
Hardly anyone seems to care enough to check the beliefs of their corporate Church as to whether they square with the true doctrinal teachings as found both in the Bible and in the original unedited book, MYSTERY OF THE AGES, written by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong during the last year of his life.
The problem is thatDon Billingsley should look into the mirror. He personally and specifically renounced the governance doctrine when he told me that the real reason he was not with LCG was because he was afraid he would lose his own following. He also stated that he thought that the Church did not need to put a priority on proclaiming the Gospel. Now that he has changed his mind on the latter, changes nothing. He also made other changes as the ads indicate that I will not take the time now to discuss other than to say that he does not seem to be part of the Philadelphia remnant as he claims his group is. He still refuses to accept the authority of any properly ordained evangelist that Herbert W. Armstrong authorized.
Some articles of related interest should include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Makeup and the Philadelphia Era of the COG Some consider makeup to be a doctrine more significant than proclaiming the Gospel; are they right or focused on a twig?
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
08/07/09 a.m. The first statement at Harold Smith's COGF (nw) website is:
The primary mission of the Church of God Fellowship is to help the Bride of Jesus Christ prepare herself for marriage to Him by fulfilling the purpose of Christ's ministry as stated in EPH 4:11-14.
And that apparently is what he believes. However, this is NOT what Jesus taught should be the primary mission (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; 24:14). Nor do I believe that they actually understand Ephesians 4:11-14. Let's quote it here:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 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; 14 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,
If they did understand this passage, then perhaps they would accept the authority of at least one properly-ordained evangelist. But they in that group do not.
Those who are in groups that do not believe that Jesus emphasized public proclamation should also meditate on the following scripture:
30... he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad (Matthew 12:30).
Most groups that claim to be part of the COG have sadly increased the scattering.
Three articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
07/31/09 a.m. RCG announced:
We have posted Volume Two of The Authorized Biography of David C. Pack, which contains 32 chapters and 70 pages of photographs and images.
Volume Two picks up where Volume One left off: It describes Mr. Pack’s final years in the Worldwide Church of God
Although it was decades between when the late Herbert W. Armstrong began his autobiography and the second volume came out, RCG has taken only about three months. David Pack seems to like to focus attention on himself. He has seemingly made himself the biggest news item of RCG this year so far. For more on RCG, please read the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?.
07/25/09 a.m. In its latest update, CEG reported:
"Chris Matthews Wrong on Obama Birth Certificate"
Newsmax wrote on July 22:
"MSNBC's Chris Matthews got into a heated exchange with a congressman on his show Tuesday as he revisited the question of President Barack Obama's birth certificate — or lack of one... Matthews seemingly undermined claims by some that Obama never has released his birth certificate, producing what Matthews said was a true copy of it. But Matthews made a false claim...
"The indisputable fact is that Obama has not released his birth certificate, which the state of Hawaii issues for all citizens born there. Instead, his campaign has released only his certification of live birth from the state of Hawaii, which is a document that offers a summarized version of the birth certificate.
"During the 2008 presidential campaign, GOP nominee Sen. John McCain quickly released his birth certificate when liberal bloggers raised questions about his eligibility to be president. McCain was born at a military hospital in Panama. Obama likewise could put the matter to rest by releasing his actual birth certificate, which would show, among other things, the place of his birth and the doctor who performed the birth procedure. This information is not provided on the certificate of live birth.
"As it stands, Obama is the only president in history whose birthplace is unknown to the public – a fact that would be stated on the actual birth certificate. Interestingly, his family has mentioned two different hospitals in Hawaii as the place of birth..."
Now while all the above is apparently true, I should point out that since his mother was an American citizen, that unless he renounced his citizenship, Barack Obama is still an American citizen-even if he (like John McCain) was born outside the USA.
Those interested in President Obama's possibly prophetic roles may wish to read the articles:
Prophecies of Barack Obama? Eight reasons why Barack Obama is apocalyptic and eight reasons why Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. This article includes many biblical and non-biblical prophecies, from around the world, that seem to discuss Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as at least one Shiite prophecy suggests? This is the longest and most complete article on this page on Barack Obama prophecies. Read it and decide for yourself if President Obama seems to be fulfilling various prophecies.
Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States Some claim that Barack Obama is the prophesied "son of Kenya", based up an early 20th century writing.
07/18/09 a.m. En COG reports that it is currently on six radio stations. Five in the USA (three of which are in Texas) and one in the Isle of Man. Thus far, it is not clear (to me at least) the amount of responses its radio broadcast receives.
07/05/09 p.m. LCG announced the following at services yesterday:
Reunion
Last week, we announced that brethren in Belgium and Northern France are joining with us once again. This week, we have more great news! We are looking into the possibility of grouping all of the French-speaking brethren in Europe at one Feast site in Forges-les-Eaux. We may be a little crowded, but the joy of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles together will largely compensate for the slight inconvenience. Mr. Roland Lecocq, our France Festival Coordinator, is traveling to Forges-les-Eaux this Sunday to make the necessary arrangements. Please note: As of now, no more transfer requests can be accepted for Forges-les-Eaux.—Dibar Apartian
The goal of the GCG news page since its inception nearly 11 years ago was to encourage those who believe that they should support the primary work of proclaiming Christ's gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14). It is great to see that some who have not been part of LCG retained the zeal and humility to support LCG's work again.
06/27/09 p.m. LCG announced the following at services today:
Dear Brethren,
I would like to share some very positive news with you. We would like to welcome back Mr. and Mrs. Rees Ellis, pastor in Belgium and Northern France, and brethren who have decided to reconnect with the Living Church of God after our unfortunate and regrettable separation about 10 years ago. Mr. Ellis spent several days this week here in Charlotte discussing aspects of this reconnection with me, Mr. Ames, Mr. Apartian and Dr. Winnail. The discussions about reconnecting actually began with Mr. Carion before he died. We certainly look forward to working together in Europe preaching the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God and warning this world of the prophetic significance of events that are occurring today. Mr. Ellis commented that he is excited about seeing the implementation of the Leadership Training programs and he feels that being part of a worldwide Work again will be very encouraging and rewarding.Your Brother in Christ,Roderick C. Meredith
LCG and the Belgians have been talking off and on for years. I have long prayed that they would return. Our family went to the Feast of Tabernacles in Belgium in 1997 and I first met Rees Ellis then.
06/26/09 a.m. This morning I noticed that the radio log for Ron Laughlin's "Wholeworld Church of God" lists one station only, and that is in Nashville, TN. It does not seem that his group is being effective to reach the whole world with the gospel message.
06/14/09 a.m. RCG reported:
The Restored Church of God is experiencing unprecedented growth in membership! To address an ever-growing need to effectively serve God’s rapidly expanding flock, beginning September 1 a number of ministers will be hired and transferred across the United States and other parts of the world. By the end of 2010, there will be as many as 30-plus trained fulltime ministers in place.
I have long wished that RCG would publish its membership totals as it has made growth claims before while tending to not mention its losses. I believe that its total size is still apparently less than 1000 attendees, but perhaps it estimates 30 full-time ministers for future growth it hopes to attain. For more on RCG, please read the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?.
06/12/09 a.m. The mission statement at EnCOG's website states:
By faith, we are going through every door God opens to us to preach the Gospel, the good news of the Kingdom of God, to all the world as a witness.
However, as far as I have been able to tell, EnCOG has not made any significant progress in accomplishing the above goal. It is not a supplier of significant amounts of published materials, nor any real presence on radio nor television to accomplish that objective of reaching the world. And as far as an internet reach goes, EnCOG was formed about 2 1/2 years ago and is not even ranked by Alexa (according to a search I just performed). It does, however, have some USA reach according to Quantcast (another independent web-ranking service that focuses on the USA).
But by now it should be obvious to those in Charles Bryce's church that since God has not been opening doors for them to preach the Gospel, that perhaps EnCOG is NOT the primary place where God is working.
Three articles of related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
06/07/09 a.m. A reader emailed me and pointed out that David Pack is now using iUniverse for at least two of his books. iUniverse is essentially a POD (print on demand) subsidy publisher for self-published authors who do not usually expect major sales.
I presume that RCG believes this approach will give it a chance to reach a broader audience.
Here is how RCG has the two books described on Amazon:
Perhaps the most important book written in the 21st century, The Awesome Potential of Man reveals the Bible's greatest truth, one hidden from almost everyone.
A new world is on the way! And Tomorrow?s Wonderful World ? An Inside View! reveals it!
While there can be value for religious writers to get published, I do not agree that any of David Pack's writings can truly qualify as "[p]erhaps the most important book written in the 21st century". Whether this will self-publishing mode of distribution will be successful or not for RCG remains to be seen (the current sales ranking of both books, apparently out since March 2009, suggests that they are not doing well--at least not yet). Of course, RCG can pour money into advertising them and this would likely assist sales.
On other matters, I noticed that RCG's Alexa.com ranking is again not as good as COGwriter.com. RCG, as of a few moments ago, had a ranking of 173,820 vs. COGwriter's ranking of 163,808 (lower is better). This should be of concern to RCG members for two reasons. The first is that David Pack has previously indicated that his internet reach is supposedly proof that RCG is the true church above all other COGs (even though UCG and LCG have better rankings and more reach than RCG).
And secondly, in order to have the ranking that it now has, RCG has to pay for google and/or related ads, while COGwriter has never paid for any advertising. This indicates that the COGwriter site (which is simply the part-time efforts of a private LCG member) has a more effective reach that the subsidized RCG site.
06/05/09 a.m. In his latest Servants' News, Norman Edwards wrote:
July through October, 2008, were good months for PABC. Two Servants’ News issues were produced, and we sold a lot of offerings on eBay, enabling us to make two $1000 mortgage payments. That progress was interrupted by a wonderful Feast of Tabernacles at Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and then the terminal illnesses and death of my parents. I spent most of November through March at their Arkansas home or hospitals...
In a way, the two are related. At age 53, as far as my family is concerned, I am now the older generation. I no longer have any parents, aunts or uncles from which to seek wisdom...
There are now six people who live at PABC: Norm, his wife, Bill Buckman and William Swenson, all who have been here for several years. Since last fall, Richard and Karen Heath have been here full time, helping with maintenance, kitchen work and other aspects.
We hope to soon finish paying off the winter utility bills, and generate additional money for improvements via eBay sales.
Norman Edwards split from GCG years ago and was attempted to have his own limited independant work.
Three articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Independent Members of the COG: Herbert W. Armstrong Comments, Plus Questions and Answers What did Herbert W. Armstrong teach about being independent of the organized Church?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
05/24/09 a.m. In his latest commentary COGeim's David O'Malley wrote, that there is:
a conflict of historic proportion is developing between the United States and her long-standing ally in the Middle East, Israel. This conflict is tantamount to a U.S. betrayal of her former stance of supporting Israel against her Arab enemies. The United States has been the hammer that has kept the enemies of Israel at bay. Now that Mr. Barak Hussein Obama has shifted his support from Israel to supporting the Palestinians' desire for a division of Israel into a two-state configuration, Israel's future seems very dark. You need to keep a close eye on the developments of this conflict...
I know that all of us are weary... Israel is tired of having to fight against her enemies. She desires peace more than anything else. And brethren, I know we feel that same way too. Some Israelis are beginning to say, "Give the Palestinians East Jerusalem, give them their own state within the borders of Israel, do anything that will give us hope for peace." Brethren, we can't be so minded. We can't compromise for peace in our lives. We can't go along with this world and give in to the spirit of compromise that would march us right into the hand of our enemy, Satan the Devil.
While I do not agree that President Obama has actually yet betrayed Israel, the situation there will undoubtedly be a factor that will get those in Israel more keenly interested in a deal with the Europeans. This will undoubtedly lead to the rise of the prophesied King of the North.
On other matters, David O'Malley also stated:
The recent spate of economic troubles has left many of us very worn down from the loss of our investments, from job threats, and from uncertainty about how the economic future will unfold. For some of us older folk, retirement has become an illusive butterfly that is flitting further and further away. Because times are worsening, I'm going to advise you to lean more on God for your help and less on your bank accounts. It is time to do a little more fasting for the purpose of strengthening ourselves against those things that lie ahead. We have been telling you for some time things are going to get worse; and brethren, they have, and they will, get very much worse.
The world's economic situation has been precarious for several years. It is only recently, however, that more in the Western nations have noticed it. However, despite the fact that there will be some positive economic news from time to time, the USA and its Anglo-Allies are prophesied to lose pretty much all that they have economically. For further details, please see the article Anglo - America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel.
05/19/09 a.m. In an ad in the Connections' section of the latest Journal, Don Billingsley wrote:
Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, not one of the Corporate Churches of God FULLY believes and obeys God and His Son Jesus Christ! This explains WHY Jesus Christ is not using any of them, for they have rejected Him by rejecting His apostle, Mr. Armstrong, in one way or
another, just as Israel rejected Moses.
He then attempts to assert that his group is faithful.
Let's make the record straight.
Some time ago, Don Billingsley told me on the telephone that the reason that he did not come with LCG was because he was afraid that he would lose much of his own following. It was Don Billingsley who rejected being part of the true Philadelphia remnant.
All the mumbo jumbo that he and his followers use to try to assert that they are faithful is built upon the foundation that he, Alton Billingsley, rejected the authority of all evangelists that Herbert W. Armstrong ordained and that the REAL REASON he is stayed part of COG-ff is because he would have lost followers.
Full paid ads in The Journal, designed to mislead people into thinking that his group is the "Philadelphia Remnant", do not change the fact that he did not take Philadelphian actions and that he simply does not have the priorities that Herbert W. Armstrong believed that Jesus set for Philadelphia.
Several articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
The Elijah Heresies Does the Bible teach that there will be a future Elijah? Must it be Herbert W. Armstrong?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Makeup and the Philadelphia Era of the COG Some consider makeup to be a doctrine more significant than proclaiming the Gospel; are they right or focused on a twig?
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
05/14/09 a.m. In perhaps its latest post, ECG stated the following :
Given during the last years of his life, these powerful words of rebuke were delivered to a Church in which many began to believe that they were rich with knowledge and increased with spiritual goods, but were in fact letting down, compromising and becoming lukewarm. In this sermon, Mr. Armstrong explains how God brought him back from death's door to correct the Church and to put it back on track. Those who are aware of the happenings during this period, as well as the events to follow, can clearly see that, through Mr. Armstrong, Christ revealed the beginning of the Laodicean era. By studying these events, and reflecting on this sermon, we can understand how the attitude and changes that began at that time have greatly affected the Church of God to this very day. We strongly encourage everyone to take heed to the words of Christ (Rev. 3:13-22) as well as the words of the apostle He sent to warn His Church at the end.
I strongly urge those in ECG and other groups not part of LCG to prayerfully study their Bibles as well as what Herbert W. Armstrong taught about not only Laodicea, but what it takes to be Philadelphian as none of those groups apparently have taken this seriously enough to heed his or Christ's warnings to both groups.
Some articles that demonstrate this would include:
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Laodicean Warning for God's People Is there really a place of safety? Do God's people need to be warned? Warned for what?
Here are Some Quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong on Laodicea and Holding Fast to Doctrine.
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
05/08/09 p.m. As expected, CGFnw's website is back up.
Interestingly, I received a couple of emails earlier today claiming that Rick Railston, an elder, recently left Harold Smith's group. But as neither source wanted to be publicly identified, I was not intending to post much (if anything) without further verification.
So, this afternoon I called Harold Smith who personally verified that Rick Railston left CGFnw. There is some debate as whether or not he has formed his own group. I did not ask how many people left nor remained with CGFnw.
05/08/09 a.m. This morning, I twice tried go to Harold Smith's site, but it would not load (the error message says that the site still exists, and probably will be up later).
I also went to Norman Edwards' Servant's News site which boasted that is has had almost 48,000 visitors since July 12, 2000. If that means visits, then, for reference, that is about what the cogwriter.com site gets in three weeks, and if it means unique visitors, that is basically what I get every five weeks. Other than RCG (which has other problems), few of those once part of GCG who are not affiliated with LCG are doing much via the internet.
(Note: COG-ff was never part of GCG, but as they for a while had some GCG Belgium affiliation, I also report on them here. They do have some internet presence but mainly supply the materials of the old WCG.)
05/01/09 a.m. Here is the beginning of the latest posted comments from COG-ff's Don Billingsley:
Dear Brethren,
For the comments this time, I am using an article I wrote for the Journal (The Big Sandy, Texas News Paper in which are writings regarding the scattered corporate Churches of God), for your reading as well. This article is now appearing in the current publication of their News Paper.Though this article is intended for the Church members in many of these corporate Churches of God, and the scattered members as well, it should prove to be helpful for you as well...
The above reminds me of what the late Raymond McNair used to do, and that is to refer to paid advertisements in The Journal as articles. And as I posted on 03/28/09 on this page, unlike Raymond McNair, Don Billingsley seems to have a tendency to copy the materials of others without giving them credit.
So, why bother to say anything about him at all?
Because he is spending money trying to reach people who hope that they are part of the Philadelphia remnant of the Church of God. However, those who truly are Philadelphian will realize that primarily trying to reach those in the church was never to be the top priority of that era.
Some articles of related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
The Elijah Heresies Does the Bible teach that there will be a future Elijah? Must it be Herbert W. Armstrong?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
04/24/09 a.m. In its newsletter today, CEG had the following:
Latin American Leaders Derail USA in Mr. Obama's Presence
Bloomberg wrote on April 18:
"Latin American leaders railed against the U.S. during President Barack Obama’s first trip to the region, turning what was intended to mark a new direction in relations into a history lesson that chastised 'Yankee troop' interventions and U.S.-dictated economic policies. Obama arrived at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday promising to 'listen and learn' from regional leaders. He got an earful.
"In the weekend’s first speeches, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner voiced grievances on issues ranging from the U.S. drug war to American support for counterinsurgency movements of the 1980s. Both urged Obama to end the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, the only country in the Americas excluded from the 34-nation summit...
"Nicaragua’s president said he was 'ashamed' Cuba wasn’t invited to participate in the summit and called Obama’s lifting last week of travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban- Americans 'insufficient and unacceptable... Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Obama during a meeting today with leaders from the Union of South American Nations that another Summit of the Americas without Cuba was unacceptable."
Posturing aside, the reality is that ultimately, Latin America will decide that it needs to side with Europe. An article that explains why would be the following:
Mexico, Central America, South America, and Brazil in Prophecy [Español: México, America Central, Suramérica, y el Brasil en profecíal] [Português: México, América Central, Ámérica do Sul, e Brasil na profecia] What will happen to those of Latin America? Will they have prosperity? Will they cooperate with Europe? Will they suffer in the future? What rule might the various Caribbean nations/territories play?
04/17/09 a.m. RCG announced the following:
Biography Released:
The Authorized Biography of David C. Pack – Volume One reveals the fascinating family history, formative years and Ambassador College experience of The Restored Church of God’s Pastor General. It chronicles Mr. Pack’s extraordinary journey over his nearly 40-year ministry, presenting stories, experiences, trials, lessons—and unique training.
At over 600 pages (with photographs), this compelling narrative dispels myths, answers questions, clarifies history, and brings unprecedented perspective to events over the last 35 years. A must-read for all with a Worldwide Church of God background!
Volume Two will be released soon.
Here is some of what it says:
Why This Biography?
Year after year, millions of Internet users throughout the world visit the websites of The Restored Church of God—thercg.org and realtruth.org—and are struck by the sheer volume and quality of the written and audio material available.
If truly millions are so impressed, why does RCG have less than 1,000 people?
Those interested in more details, may wish to read the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?
04/09/09 p.m. The Journal reported the following about the death of Raymond McNair:
After THE JOURNAL published an article on page 1 of its issue No. 130 reporting that Mr. McNair, of Temecula, Calif., had died, Mrs. Mc Nair requested a follow-up article in THE JOURNAL to make clear that he had not died of cancer.
She explained that several years ago a doctor had visited Mr. McNair at his residence and assumed that an enlarged prostate gland meant he had cancer. But “an enlarged prostate does not mean evidence of cancer!” Mrs. Mc Nair said in a written statement she provided to THE
JOURNAL. “I never accepted his diagnosis. I prayed to God that he [the doctor] would not return to our home again. Months later we learned he had to retire due to an injury.”...Although Mr. and Mrs. McNair concluded, with counsel from health professionals they trusted, that Mr. McNair never suffered from cancer, he did suffer from bedsores...
Mr. McNair died Oct. 11, 2008.“On Sabbath morning, two days prior to the Feast of Tabernacles, God intervened again. But this time He
took him to his resting place. My husband and I were finally receiving the rest we had prayed and longed for.” So what was the cause of Mr.
McNair’s death? In a separate statement to THE JOURNAL from Mr. Ortmeier, the caregiver explained that “about two weeks before Mr. McNair passed away” a “dramatic change [was] beginning to take place” in his bedsores.“Mr. Cartwright, and members of the Church, I wish to assure you, and am repeating before the God I serve, that Mr. McNair did not die from Prostate cancer!! Absolutely not!! His death was caused by tremendously large bedsores, of which I have never seen in all my years as a care giver.”
04/09/09 a.m.While this page often covers news where groups once associated with GCG have deviated from the beliefs of HWA's WCG, today I would comment on where area that all are similar. To the best of my knowledge, all groups somehow associated with the old GCG all do accept that Holy Days and the same calendar that the old WCG did.
For example, all accept that today is the first day of unleavened bread.
Information on the Holy Days can be found in the following articles:
Is There "An Annual Worship Calendar" In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins?
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.
TPM: Passover on the 14th or 15th? While the LCG observes Passover on the 14th, some observe it on the 15th. Why is the 14th correct?
The Night to Be Observed What is the night to be much observed? When is it? Why do Jews keep Passover twice and emphasize the wrong date?
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? What is leaven? This article supplies some biblical answers.
Pentecost: Is it more than Acts 2? Many "Christians" somewhat observe Pentecost. Do they know what it means? It is also called the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Weeks, and the day of firstfruits.
Did Early Christians Observe the Fall Holy Days? Did they? Did Jesus? Should you?
The Book of Life and the Feast of Trumpets? Are they related? Is so how? If not, where not?
The Day of Atonement--Its Christian Significance The Jews call it Yom Kippur, Christians "The Day of Atonement". Does it have any relevance for Christians today?
The Feast of Tabernacles: A Time for Christians? Is this pilgrimage holy day still valid? Does it teach anything relevant for today's Christians? What is the Last Great Day? What do these days teach?
LCG 2009 Feast of Tabernacles' Information Here is information on many Feast of Tabernacles locations for this year.
Last Great Day study paper Was Jesus speaking about the 7th or 8th day of the Feast in John 7:37? UCG says the 7th, but what does the Bible teach? This extensive paper reviews UCG's LGD study paper and includes comments as to where it erred.
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2012, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur :)
03/28/09 a.m. I have reported in the past that Don Billingsley's COG-ff has sometimes plagiarized my materials (specifically parts of the article that my wife and I had published in The Journal titled The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? ). Well now, possibly, he has copied information from an articles at PCG's Trumpet website.
Notice what Don Billingsley's states in his most recent advertisement in The Journal:
"A massive banking crisis in America could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.” (Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-Worker Letter, July 22, 1984).
Problem is that that seems to be a modification of two quotes from PCG, and is not actually what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in that co-worker letter (though maybe he wrote it elsewhere). Perhaps Don Billingsley coincidently made an error that looks like he took the quote from PCG.
PCG, to its credit, normally posted it this way:
A massive banking crisis in America, he wrote to co-workers in July 1984, “could suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S. That, in turn, could bring on the Great Tribulation suddenly. And that will lead quickly to the Second Coming of Christ, and end of this world as we know it”.
Back in 1984, Herbert W. Armstrong, editor in chief of the Plain Truth magazine, wrote that a massive banking crisis in America could “suddenly result in triggering European nations to unite as a new world power larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S.” (member and co-worker letter, July 22, 1984).
Yet, when Don Billingsley's people picked it up, he/they placed the quotation mark in the wrong place, plus failed to mention that they were really possibly quoting PCG, and not Herbert W. Armstrong's letter.
Those who want to see what Herbert W. Armstrong really wrote in that letter can look at the following:
...United States banks are in a system of international banking for transference of funds. United States banks and the federal government have made bad loans of many billions of dollars to developing nations, especially in South America. Those countries can't pay back, and threaten to default altogether. That places the United States in a serious dilemma with European nations. It could suddenly result in triggering European nations to UNITE as A NEW WORLD POWER larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S. That, in turn, could bring on THE GREAT TRIBULATION suddenly. And that will lead quickly into the Second Coming of Christ and END OF THIS WORLD as we know it. (Armstrong, Herbert W. Co-worker letter, July 22, 1984, as supplied by cogneo).
While Don Billingsley's point about Herbert W. Armstrong was basically correct that an American banking crisis could lead to the end, why he and/or his people appear to plagiarize without proper credit has remained a mystery to me for some time. Of course, they could have simply been quoting something else that Herbert W. Armstrong said/wrote, but this seems to be a rather odd coincidence.
I would suggest that if Don Billingsley wishes to quote from that co-worker letter in the future, he post an edited version, starting earlier in the co-worker letter, like the following:
In the world, the drift toward world economic collapse is the most serious threat to the continued existence of the present civilization. The whole world is geared to the way of "GET." God's way is "GIVE"--serve, help, share, cooperate. The world lives by competition, greed, coveting, selfishness, strife, violence. Yet MONEY is the medium of exchange, whether for "GIVE" or "GET." Whatever people strive to "GET" is acquired through money. Money is handled through banks. The banking system is organized and regulated by the government.
But United States banks are in a system of international banking for transference of funds...That places the United States in a serious dilemma with European nations. It could suddenly result in triggering European nations to UNITE as A NEW WORLD POWER larger than either the Soviet Union or the U.S. That, in turn, could bring on THE GREAT TRIBULATION suddenly. And that will lead quickly into the Second Coming of Christ and END OF THIS WORLD as we know it. (Armstrong, Herbert W. Co-worker letter, July 22, 1984, as supplied by cogneo)
The USA truly will collapse as the world's leading economic power and Europe will rise up. The fact that Europe is now minimizing its accumulation of debt while the USA and UK are increasing them to the greatest levels that they almost possibly can attain, shows that in fact, Europe is setting itself to takeover as the economic power in the world after the USA loses its position.
Two articles of possibly related interest may include:
Anglo - America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about "the Beast"? What is ahead for Europe?
03/20/09 a.m. I have reported little about RCG lately as its last news update on its news page is dated 12/19/08. But I decided to look up its Alexa 3 month ranking and was a little surprised that the COGwriter.com website, which has never paid for any adverting (and does not have any employees or full-time staff) is again more popular than the thercg.org website which does pay for ads/popularity and does have full-time paid staff.
The sites, though, are fairly close:
159,924 www.cogwriter.com
160,907 www.thercg.org
Note: the lower the number, the more popular. Yahoo.com for example, is number 1, google.com is number 2, etc.
And while I suspect that RCG will spend more to try to pass COGwriter, it is of interest, to me at least, that since RCG's "public gospel proclamation" is only web-based, that it is doing no better than me. And all I am is a lay member in support of the Living Church of God, which not only has a strong web presence, also has the most effective television presence of any COG. Actually, LCG's television responses are probably as high (if not higher) than all the COGs combined.
Three articles of possibly related interest may include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
03/06/09 a.m. In its update for today, CEG had the following news item:
Mr. Obama's Proposed Budget--"The Great Illusion"
The Wall Street Journal wrote on February 26:
"President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it. On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end 'tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans,' and he promised that households earning less than $250,000 won't see their taxes increased by 'one single dime.'
"This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can't possibly raise enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama's new spending ambitions...
"Mr. Obama is of course counting on an economic recovery. And he's also assuming along with the new liberal economic consensus that taxes don't matter to growth or job creation. The truth, though, is that they do. Small- and medium-sized businesses are the nation's primary employers... The bottom line is that Mr. Obama is selling the country on a 2% illusion. Unwinding the U.S. commitment in Iraq and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire can't possibly pay for his agenda. Taxes on the not-so-rich will need to rise as well.
"On that point, by the way, it's unclear why Mr. Obama thinks his climate-change scheme won't hit all Americans with higher taxes. Selling the right to emit greenhouse gases amounts to a steep new tax on most types of energy and, therefore, on all Americans who use energy... Mr. Obama is very good at portraying his agenda as nothing more than center-left pragmatism. But pragmatists don't ignore the data. And the reality is that the only way to pay for Mr. Obama's ambitions is to reach ever deeper into the pockets of the American middle class."
I would simply state that I agree that increasing debt and thinking that 2% of Americans will be able to properly finance the increased spending is an illusion. Increasing debt is prophesied to lead to the destruction of the United States and its Anglo-Allies (C.f. Habakkuk 2:3,6-8).
But within the Church of God there is another illusion, and that is that groups that rejected the authority of all properly ordained evangelists and/or hierarchical governance are the same in God's sight as the one (LCG) that has held fast and kept the priority on proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 3).
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Independent Members of the COG: Herbert W. Armstrong Comments, Plus Questions and Answers What did Herbert W. Armstrong teach about being independent of the organized Church? Should independents who claim to accept Herbert W. Armstrong's teachings be part of LCG?
Here are Some Quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong on Laodicea and Holding Fast to Doctrine.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
02/25/09 a.m. RCG's David Pack has many inaccurate statements about LCG at his website. Here are two similar ones I noticed there last night:
The Living Church of God...is becoming increasingly Pentecostal...(How The Restored Church of God Differs From the Worldwide Church of God Splinter Groups. Pillar magazine, July-August, 2008).
The Big Pentecostal Splinter
Claiming to be the “living branch” of God’s Church, the second-largest splinter, formed in early 1993 under a different name...it is still led by a self-proclaimed “senior evangelist” (Pack D. The Government of God Understanding Offices and Duties. Copyright © 2006 David C. Pack.)
Now, as anyone who has attended an LCG service clearly knows, LCG is not heading towards Pentecostalism.
The comment about RC Meredith being a "self-proclaimed senior evangelist" is another odd statement as David Pack knows that Herbert W. Armstrong ordained Dr. Meredith an evangelist and as the longest duly ordained evangelist in any COG, Dr. Meredith is certainly the most senior of the evangelists. The other reason this is odd is that Herbert W. Armstrong never authorized David Pack to be ordained to any position above that of a pastor, yet David Pack declared himself to be an apostle--David Pack is clearly self-appointed (and he is certainly not God's apostle). Cannot those in RCG see through David Pack's odd statements?
But getting back to Pentecostalism, why would David Pack and RCG make those type of inaccurate statements?
Probably because of statements, such as the following recent one, from LCG's RC Meredith, like:
...as I have studied and prayed intensively—more than ever the last few months—it is obvious that we should be drawing closer to God and crying out to Him for the “gifts” of healings, discernment of spirits and casting out demons (Mark 16:15-20). As the power and scope of our Work increases, it is obvious that we really should have the “accompanying signs” (v. 17).
The problem that David Pack and the rest of RCG have here is that they apparently do not believe Jesus' words in the last chapter of Mark:
15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mark 16:15-18).
Since RCG has argued against public proclamation as the top priority in the past, it tends to not wish to emphasize verse 15 (nor verse 16). And because there is no way that God will be giving those in RCG the signs in verses 17 and 18 until they repent further, RCG simply does not truly believe. Apparently they instead believe that they should label those who do believe that Jesus will fulfill that promise to them are "becoming increasingly Pentecostal".
This is one of the reasons that RCG is not "hot" (cf. Revelation 3:15)--it does not believe that Jesus' words will be fulfilled by the true Church, while we in LCG are convinced that they will be. However, to label that LCG is "becoming increasingly Pentecostal" is flat-out wrong. Having a belief that God will fulfill His promises is not Pentecostalism.
The fact that mainstream "Pentecostals" believe their signs are from God, although they do not obey Him, has nothing to do with the fact that Jesus made promises in the Bible and that we in the true remnant of the Philadelphia church believe Jesus will ultimately manifest those signs within LCG does not in any real sense make us Pentecostal the way that David Pack intended his statement(s).
If you are in RCG, please (if you can attend and not be disruptive) attend an LCG service and prove to yourself that David Pack is wrong that LCG is "becoming increasingly Pentecostal".
Anoint your eyes and see that David Pack simply does not believe that his church will have or should pray for the signs that Jesus promised.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
Personal note to David Pack: Last night I checked, and your last weekly Alexa ranking was 190,960 compared to 162,913 for the www.cogwriter.com website. And while you will probably spend more money on ads trying to show people that your website is popular (and likely will temporarily pass my personal website again with your spending), the fact is that I have never spent any money on ads promoting the COGwriter website and have been more popular than your site for about as long as your church's site has been more Alexa popular than mine (starting with your formation in 1999, as I believe you are aware that RCG only moved ahead with massive ad spending, then fell in popularity when that was reduced until you increased its spending again). Without ads you have very little impact. And even with the paid ads, you still do not have the real Christian message (just like your Pentecostalism comment showing that you do not accept the promises of the Bible, your misunderstanding of what Herbert W. Armstrong and the Bible teach about the true gospel shows that you still do not understand the real message, hence you do not truly proclaim it). You have claimed your website results are proof that your church is the Philadelphia remnant (even though you have no real tv presence and insignificant baptisms). How then can a simple member's website (which is only a part-time effort by me as I also work for a living--and not for any church), ever do better than RCGs? Perhaps you should realize that God is really not on your side and you need to get on His side.
Personal note to those in RCG: Those of you in RCG may wish to realize that Ronald Weinland's the-end.com had an Alexa ranking of 112,399 for the last week that ratings were shown for. Essentially this means that apparently over twice as many visited Ronald Weinland's site than RCG's (he, like RCG, has multiple sites--but I am only contrasting the most popular for the two groups). Ronald Weinland's Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God is much smaller than RCG, but like RCG, Ronald Weinland really mainly has an internet focus for its message proclamation. If internet effectiveness is proof of the faithful remnant, then those of you in RCG should support Ronald Weinland's Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God or LCG (the combined impact of all of LCG's related websites, including cogwriter and You-tube, appears to be at least as high as all of RCG's--plus LCG has the greatest television impact of any group with origins in the old WCG) as RCG simply does not have the top leadership in internet impact.
02/21/09 a.m. ECG's website states:
The World to Come is a television program about you and your future. It is sponsored and produced by the Eternal Church of God and is being broadcast on various public access channels in the United States.
Various channels appears to be essentially two stations. One in Montana and one in Arizona.
02/13/09 a.m. The following is now at the beginning of CGFnw's website:
The primary mission of the Church of God Fellowship is to help the Bride of Jesus Christ prepare herself for marriage to Him by fulfilling the purpose of Christ's ministry as stated in EPH 4:11-14.
An odd statement for at least two reasons. First, that is not supposed to the primary purpose according to the Bible before the end (Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20). Second, that verse is more of an explanation of why their is church governance, yet CGFnw has rejected the authority of any properly-ordained evangelist to heed--this is consistent for most of the groups that are no longer part of LCG--they expect their members to abide by their lower level government, but refuse to heed the step or two above where they are.
I would also comment that Jesus condemned the Laodiceans for having a work that was different than that of the Philadelphians--this is something to study and pray about for those who think that they should not support LCG.
Some articles of of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
02/06/09 a.m. This morning, I noticed that EnCOG's Charles Bryce is posting a series of "verse-by-verse" expositions of the Book of Proverbs. Charles Bryce had done a Bible study series for LCG on that when he was part of LCG.
In a limited sense, his website reminded me of that of the late Raymond McNair who posted (often as new, which C Bryce did not do) articles that he had written/researched when part of WCG/GCG/LCG.
Anyway, if the internet is the place that EnCOG believes it is using to proclaim the gospel to the world as a witness, its popularity ranking (via Alexa this morning) of 2,738,628 indicates that it is not being highly successful (that ranking, for example, indicates that its reach is only about 3% of the cogwriter.com site reach), thus I suspect that it is mainly reaching its own membership, and some apparent one-time viewers.
01/30/09 p.m. Notice the following that I viewed at Don Haney's Church of God In Peace and Truth website (bolding theirs) a few moments ago:
Our Purpose
Seeking First God's Presence and KingdomTo love and worship God, and share God’s hope and truth with others, is our primary objective! Who we are is not really important. A focus upon the primary goal we all share IS important – it’s the vision and hope of the heavenly utopia called the Kingdom of God (Rev.2:7). It’s the ultimate fulfillment of all of the incredible promises that our loving God has promised to those who love and follow Him (1 Cor.2:9, James 2:5)! To share the Good News of God’s mercy and promises of the wonderful world tomorrow with each of you is our privilege and pleasure; it is the commission God has given to those in His Church (Mark 16:15). This website is our contribution to that God-given commission to preach the Gospel (Good News) of God’s glorious awesome Kingdom!
My friends, do you have vision? Can you see a better tomorrow? Those whose hope rests primarily in this world today, and who can only see the conditions of this present miserable world, are spiritually blind and most pitiable (1 Cor.15:19). Let God’s truth OPEN YOUR EYES...
Also notice the date of the latest update from Church of God In Peace and Truth latest updates page:
Latest Updates
May 15, 2008
Check out our new Feast of Tabernacles info for 2008!
Now, I always liked Don Haney, but he and those with them really need to open up their eyes to the fact that they are failing to meet what they declare to be their purpose.
Furthermore, notice what Alexa (an independent web statistics source) states about their website:
Godslawislove.org
godslawislove.org
Godslawislove.org has a traffic rank of: No Data
That basically means that almost no one goes to their website. And since Church of God In Peace and Truth states this, "website is our contribution to that God-given commission to preach the Gospel", should not those associated with it open their eyes to see that the website truly is failing to fulfill its declared purpose for it?
An article that all should study is Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?
01/23/09 a.m. The following is from CEG's latest update:
Will Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt Unite?
The New York Times wrote on January 19:
"At the talks in Kuwait, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion toward a $2 billion reconstruction fund [for Gaza] that Palestinians are seeking to establish... King Abdullah exhorted Arab nations to overcome their divisions and urged Israel to embrace an Arab peace plan put forward in 2002 or risk its being withdrawn... On the sidelines, leaders from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt met privately, apparently seeking to present a united front. Syria called for declaring Israel a terrorist state..."
The Los Angeles Times added on January 19:
"By offering cash and talking tough, Saudi King Abdullah sought to absorb popular anger directed at the so-called moderate Arab states, which have been accused of failing to do enough to halt the Israeli offensive. He also hopes to recapture Saudi Arabia's diminished stature in the Arab world.
"The nation has been eclipsed by Syria and Iran, which support Hamas, and Qatar, which emerged as a diplomatic powerhouse in May after bypassing the Saudis in brokering a deal between competing Western-allied and Iranian-backed factions in Lebanon."
While the fact is that the Arabs will to a degree eventually unify (the particular nations are not completely certain), since CEG does not believe that there needs to be a future King of the South, I am surprised that they reported about this. For related details, please see Is There A Future King of the South?
On other matters, I noticed today that RCG removed the internet download statistics for prior years from its new page. RCG had a drop in its internet reach in 2008, and I would suspect that is the reason why. An article about them would be Why Not the Restored Church of God?
01/16/09 a.m. This morning, COG-ff's website stated:
This site is dedicated to preserving the writings and messages of Herbert W. Armstrong
Here we provide a conduit for the work Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong spearheaded, the work of reaching out to people worldwide with the message of the soon coming Kingdom of God through the preserved writings, recorded telecasts and sermons, and Bible Study messages that Jesus Christ used him to do in his human ministry!
While that may have a certain appeal to some, there are at least three problems with it.
One, the Word of God is what we are to be dedicated to (notice what Jesus stated in Matthew 4:4), not Herbert W. Armstrong.
Two, like other groups who make similar claims, COG-ff fails to actually accept the type of governance that Herbert W. Armstrong advocated and that the Bible supports (for more on governance, see Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government).
Three, like other groups who make similar claims, COG-ff has historically failed to place its priority on proclaiming the Gospel and has had almost no impact in this area (for more on that priority, please see Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?).
Like many similar groups, COG-ff has to pick and choose which HWA writings that it is dedicated to because HWA changed his position on various matters, especially prophetic ones. Since it has rejected proper biblical governance, COG-ff, like other non-Philadelphian groups, then often improperly interprets for itself what to teach or overlook. Hence, no matter what groups like COG-ff claim, they are mainly dedicated to convincing themselves that they are better off outside the fellowship of the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Attending the Church of Choice This article discusses whose choice is important to worship God; should you attend the church of your choice or the church of God's choice?
Unity: Which COG for You? Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God? Has it always been this way? What can/should be done about it?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
Who Was Herbert W. Armstrong? How is He Viewed Today? Includes quotes from the 1973 edition of The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong and explains how he is and should be viewed today.
01/12/09 a.m. In an article titled "What is a Laodicean?" CGFnw's Harold Smith correctly wrote:
During the seventh era of the Old Testament Church, due to the failure of the priesthood to hold fast the truth and the integrity of their positions, non-Levites began assuming more and more of the religious power within the Church. The Jewish Pharisees usurped the positions of religious leadership previously held by the tribe that God had appointed to guide the Church in worshiping Him. By this action, the “people decided”, or “judged” what they thought God did or did not allow. Over the course of the past decade, due to a loss of respect for the ministry for the way the majority waffled, many false teachers have usurped positions in the New Testament ministry, claiming authority to manipulate the calendar, the time of the New Testament Passover, etc. Added to this are many who simply ignore those in the ministry who proved to be faithful servants of God. This is truly a time when the people judge, fulfilling the physical connotation of the name “Laodicea”. Laodicea is also the historical stage of the Church that will exist at the time of God’s judgment, thus fulfilling the spiritual connotation of the name.
Of course, it is he and all who were part of the GCG takeover that rejected hierarchical governance and that is part of why none of those groups has had any significant impact on proclaiming the true gospel.
Some articles of related interest may include:
The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
01/01/09 a.m. Although his internet reach seems discernibly less in 2008 than in 2007 (his latest Alexa is 173,111, it was closer to 100,000 a year ago), David Pack did apparently spend money on other projects and recently opened a school:
Ambassador Training Center Opens! The inaugural semester of Ambassador Training Center continues the tradition and spirit of the original Ambassador College, founded by Mr. Herbert Armstrong in 1947. Classes began Monday, December 8, with administrators and faculty welcoming an initial class of 88 students from across the United States and around the world.
David Pack suggested earlier in 2008 that it was his goal that those in the "splinters" would see his building projects and be impressed enough to support RCG (specifically after mentioning some of those projects he stated, "...it will also make a powerful statement to the splinters..."). However, those who look into RCG's doctrines and teachings normally can determine why they should not do so. An article of possibly related interest may be Why Not the Restored Church of God?
David Pack also declared the following in his sermon about a year ago titled RCG 2008: The Great Turning Point:
I've been waiting a long time...for the phase of the work that is now upon us...the work will grow large...this next phase begins this year...
Every aspect of our website...will be remodeled...We are going to spend a lot of money. Well into the six-figures...
We are the largest religious publishers in the world...
I had to listen to his "We are the largest religious publishers in the world" twice to be certain that he actually made that seemingly outrageously inaccurate claim. But, David Pack is into extremes, and although he sounds truthful, obviously some of his extreme statements are false.
David Pack did remarry in 2008, hence in that respect it was a turning point. And he spent money on building projects.
The major internet turning point RCG had in 2008 was to remove its "download counter" from its website after I pointed out that its results were down from 2007. However, now that his school is going, perhaps his internet presence will increase in 2009 over 2008.
12/31/08 a.m. Some have wondered why on the main news page, I frequently write about people such as Ronald Weinland and almost never about people such as Charles Bryce, Ronald Laughlin, Raymond McNair Norbert Link, Don Haney, Harold Smith, Art Braidic or Ben Faulkner.
There are basically two reasons.
The first is that relatively few people are being reached by the ministries of Charles Bryce, Ronald Laughlin, Raymond McNair, Norbert Link, Don Haney, Harold Smith, Art Braidic or Ben Faulkner. They have all basically proven themselves to be ineffective when it comes to proclaiming the gospel to the world as a witness.
Let's look at the latest Alexa ranking for each of their websites (note: the higher the number the lower the impact):
R. McNair (deceased) cog21.org 1,775,146
C. Bryce enduring.org 2,341,843
A. Braidic eternalcog.org 3,059,447
N. Link www.eternalgod.org 4,355,505
H. Smith cgfnw.org 5,079,407
R. Laughlin wwcg.org 16,446,923
D. Haney godslawislove.org over 20,000,000 (too low to rank per Alexa)
B. Faulkner cotsg.org over 20,000,000 (too low to rank per Alexa)
Their combined internet impact seems to be less than 1/15th (it may be as low as 1/40th as with Alexa numbers that high suggest relatively few visitors) that the COGwriter site has (COGwriter.com Alexa ranking is 193,192)--and the COGwriter site is simply an LCG member's personal website. What the Alexa ranking basically is supposed to convey is how the website ranks among all websites in the world. For example, yahoo.com is has an Alexa ranking of 1, google.com 2. Alexa rankings over a million basically mean that relatively few people actually go to the sites to see what is there.
The second, is that although people like Ronald Weinland and David Pack are ineffective as well in actually proclaiming the true gospel, they do reach numbers of people via the internet. And as the COGwriter pages are basically targeted towards an internet audience, the audience does tend to want to learn more about those who are reached on the internet and those on the internet tend to have almost no interest in those that have no significant internet presence.
However, as a portion of the COGwriter audience has interest in those who were once part of GCG, I still post about those groups here. Though, as they often report little going on, there is often little to report about them.
12/26/08 a.m. CEM reported the following world news item:
Germany--"The Calm Before the Storm"
On December 18, 2008, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:
"As the year draws to a close, and as the world faces recession, a credit crunch and job worries, the economic outlook is the bleakest it has been in postwar history. The next year is expected be a test of strength for the German economy...
"Economists are predicting new alarming scenarios for 2009 almost every day..."Despite the crisis, the coalition government in Berlin has not shown much leadership strength. Officially, Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democrats continues to oppose additional large-scale government bailout programs. Merkel's finance minister, Peer Steinbrück of the center-left Social Democrats, seems to prefer quarreling with the British and French who, he insists, are frittering away their money with their bailout packages. In doing so, he has also angered many...
"As Bavaria's new governor, Seehofer is trying to demonstrate his strength in the run-up to next September's federal election. Party politics, it seems, has distorted much of the government's response to the crisis. In November, the chancellor warned the public to be prepared for 'a year of bad news.' Never in the 60-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany have citizens been this anxious as they enter a new year, plagued by worries of how much worse things can get and, most of all, how safe their jobs are...
"What is most astonishing is the incredible speed with which the crisis is spreading from one company to the next... The Americans, deeply in debt, can no longer afford products made in Germany...
"Over the course of the year, well-known German companies like retailer Hertie, watchmaker Junghans and fashion house Wehmeyer have become insolvent, and another wave of bankruptcies could follow in 2009... the government cannot set everything straight. In fact, it is probably far less capable of doing so than politicians believe."
The real storm will occur sometime next decade. See Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2009, 2010, or 2011?
12/18/08 a.m.In the latest edition its Philadelphia Remnant magazine COG-Faithful Flock included the following statements:
To those Philadelphians, falls the prophetic responsibility (the principle found in Ezekiel 33:7-9) to warn Jacob and God’s Church of the coming punishments for rebelling against Him...
Now picture the elect people of God, possibly numbering around 7,000, or so, as the Bible indicates (Romans 11:2-7), as already being together in that place of protection...
Herbert W. Armstrong, an apostle sent by Jesus Christ to be the human head of His Church, in his final work “The Mystery of the Ages,” tells us EXACTLY how to prepare the bride. He was used to RESTORE government into Christ’s Church. He outlined and explained plainly the organization and the administering of that government with the sub-title: ONE CHURCH WITH ONE GOVERNMENT (Mystery of the Ages, page 243). This will prove to be a real test during that length of time.
This is interesting, because only LCG has gotten the message to millions of Jacob's descendants to fulfill the first statement, has about 7000 attendees which could fill the second, and is the only group whose human leader was ordained as an evangelist by Herbert W. Armstrong that keeps the same form of governance..
I am convinced that if those in COG-Faithful Flock would simply humble themselves and look at the truth, they would realize that it is LCG and not COG-Faithful Flock that meets the important criteria for truly being the Philadelphia remnant.
For more information on the Philadelphia remnant and the place of protection, please refer to the following:
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical 'place of safety' and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject--thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory.
Makeup and the Philadelphia Era of the COG Some consider makeup to be a doctrine more significant than proclaiming the Gospel; are they right or focused on a twig?
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
12/12/08 a.m. In an ad in the latest edition of The Journal, Don Billingsley of COG-Faithful Flock began with:
Mr. Armstrong often wrote of the True Church and the need to know where it really is and, even more importantly, to be an active member in it while doing the Work. Please note a quote from his booklet Where is the True Church?, page 26:
“Many have appropriated God’s name, but are not proclaiming the Kingdom of God, as the GOVERNMENT of God which we must OBEY. . . . That true Church is preaching the imminency of the coming of Christ as KING of kings and LORD of lords, to RULE all nations for a thousand years on earth. . . . There is only ONE such Church! It is doing the WORK of God. It is as Jesus said it would be, a ‘little flock,’ persecuted, despised by the world” [Luke 12:32; Matthew 10:22]. The few thousand true members yet scattered are trying to work their way through the maze of religious confusion brought about by the development of the hundreds of churches after the scattering in 1995 searching for the one true Church of God.
However, Don Billingsley too has rejected proper church governance as he refuses to accept the authority of any evangelists ordained by Herbert W. Armstrong--even though he (Don Billingsley) told me years ago that he knew that LCG was the most faithful Church of God. He actually told me that he was afraid to lose his following if he came with LCG.
Obviously, it is Don Billingsley and apparently many of his followers who have a problem with proper church governance.
Several articles of related interest may include:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
12/09/08 a.m. Apparently RCG (like Ronald Weinland's CGPFK) recently greatly increased its spending on internet ads as its Quancast reach went way up in November. Of course, none of that changes RCG doctrine, which sadly is misleading many (for details, please see Why Not the Restored Church of God?).
11/28/08 a.m. It has been 10 years since the takeover of the old GCG by a power-minded board. As I wrote at the time, their approach to governance and lack of focus on gospel-proclamation would eventually become apparent.
All who were once part of GCG, but did not support LCG to present, have had negligible impacts on gospel-proclamation. Furthermore, the once the power-minded board took over, they started with a large cash reserve (the takeover was shortly after the Fall Holy Day offerings) but essentially bankrupted GCG USA by the start of the next Fall Holy Days. They actually started a new group about a day before the Fall Holy Days, which enabled them to legally not pay the GCG debt, and once again start off with a cash reserve. But that effort (CGCF) also failed in some form of bankruptcy. So it split into pieces, including CEG, a group that has no television, little printed literature, and about 1/20th the internet reach of my personal website according to the searches I did this morning in Alexa and Quantcast. Surely CEG and other similar groups are not meeting the requirements for the Philadelphia church. (And while RCG sometimes has internet reach, its approaches to doctrine, etc. disqualify it, please see Why Not the Restored Church of God?) And while some went with UCG, this involved compromise (Beware, Doctrinal Compromise is in the Air!).
As regular readers of this particular page should be aware, those that failed to support LCG simply do not have the fruits of LCG.
Since it has now been over ten years, if you were once part of GCG, perhaps it is time to realize that the other groups simply have failed in the fulfilling the mission of the Philadelphia remnant church. Pray and study your Bibles about it.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Beware, Doctrinal Compromise is in the Air! Discusses some doctrines that CGCF may have had to change in order to merge with United.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
11/21/08 a.m. Quancast reported a dramatic increase in traffic at RCG's site last month. The data from Alexa this morning seems to confirm the same trend. In the past several years, RCG has had a major reach on the internet, but this started to drop in late 2007 and until last month, RCG was doing poorly compared to its past.
Although the Alexa ranking for the COGwriter website is still better than RCG's (204,260 vs. 227,121--lower is better with Alexa), presuming that RCG keeps paying for more visitors (which is something that the COGwriter site does not do), it may pass the COGwriter site again.
An article of related interest may be Why Not the Restored Church of God?
11/14/08 a.m. CEG recently posted the following:
Stubbornness--A Sure Way to Destruction
On Saturday, November 15, 2008, Norbert Link will give the sermon from Oregon, titled, "Stubbornness--A Sure Way to Destruction."
Hopefully, those associated with CEG and all the other groups that either caused the GCG takeover or left from LCG will repent of their own stubborness and realize that only LCG is having a significant impact on proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness and support LCG. I am absolutely convinced that those that do not repent and do that will not be protected in the wilderness from the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical 'place of safety' and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject--thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
11/11/08 a.m. Here is a comment posted at CG21's website involving Raymond McNair:
"I am sorry that you have lost your life companion. Raymond was beloved by so many. Carn and I have such fond memories of him. My memories date back to late 1949 when he baptized my parents on a tour in Texas. Carn's memories go back to the late 50's when he attended AC, especially the year he spent in England. Your husband was a true gentleman in an atmosphere that could sometimes be harsh and authoritarian. Referring to her college days when Raymond was (Deputy) Chancellor, my daughter Suzy recently said to me, "'I always liked Mr. McNair. He was one of the 'good guys."'
Carn and Joyce Catherwood handled (and still may) WCG's operations in the Italian language.
10/29/08 a.m. Today, I received verification that Bill Brazil, once of WCG, GCG, and a deacon in EnCOG did die.
On other matters, RCG announced:
Longtime Minister Welcomed by RCG from UCG:
The Restored Church of God is pleased to announce the arrival of Mr. Wilfredo Sáenz Asencios, a senior minister based in Peru.Mr. Sáenz was a member of the very first Peruvian congregation established in the Worldwide Church of God. After his ordination in 1978, he raised up and served a number of local churches in Peru and Bolivia, working full-time in the ministry from that point. He left the Worldwide Church of God for the United Church of God when it formed in 1995, continuing to oversee congregations in his native country.
This is some of very little positive news for RCG this year. RCG lost more ministers than it gained in the past year or so and its internet presence is but a fraction of what it was in November 2007. As far as I recall, this is the first time that a UCG minister went with RCG.
Two articles of possibly related interest may include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Differences between the Living Church of God and United Church of God This article provides quotes information from the two largest groups which had their origins in WCG as well as commentary.
10/28/08 a.m. The Journal confirmed that Don Billingsley remarried last month.
I received a report yesterday, that I am still trying to verify, that Bill Brazil died. There was a Bill Brazil who was formerly with WCG and then the old GCG, but it is not entirely clear to me yet if he was the Bill Brazil who died. If you have information on this, please contact me cogwriter@aol.com
10/10/08 p.m. I spoke with LCG's Dr. RC Meredith earlier today. Although he is still recovering, he sounds fine and told me that he did attend church services yesterday for the Day of Atonement. He mentioned that contrary to the claims of some, he has not been actively recruiting ministers from other COGs. And specifically that he had not spoken with John Meakin until after he indicated an interest in coming with LCG. Dr. Meredith and I are happy when any turn and decide to support the major work of proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to the world in these end times (see Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?).
Since there are always false accusations on the internet about Dr. Meredith, there are three articles that perhaps some may be interested in reading:
11 Accusations and Truthful Responses about Roderick Meredith
Did Roderick C. Meredith Really Make 26 Doctrinal Changes? An article at one website tries to suggest this. Is it true?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
10/02/08 a.m. I received a couple of unusual emails from one from in the Philippines yesterday. Here is most of one of them:
Whether Jesus Martinez Cordona was part of GCG was unclear (he seemed to indicate some prior connection in another email)--but in at least two of his emails he strongly indicated that he wanted to work with me (an LCG member). While I do favor getting more of the message to the Gentiles, it is possible that like Legacy's Leon Sexton, Jesus Martinez Cordona may be neglecting the Israelite portion--and hopefully he, like others, will realize that they should directly support LCG.
After receiving one of his emails, I suggested that he read the article There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God?
10/01/08 a.m. In his latest ad in The Journal, CG-ff's Don Billingsley wrote:
The Last Year for Its Observance?
...please know this could very well be the last normal year to observe the Feast of Tabernacles as has been done in the past years. When these ever-increasing disasters are understood in view of end-time prophecies, traveling could be fraught with life-threatening danger as well as lack of funds for many of God's people to even attend the Feast of Tabernacles in 2009 (Leviticus 26:18-22).
While there may be economic problems, the scale of the problems that Don Billingsley seems to referring to simply cannot be in place by 2009 (even if 2009 itself is a problem). Perhaps I should add that Leviticus 26:18-22 does not discuss the Feast of Tabernacles. Sadly, those not part of LCG are being misled by many who act like they understand prophetic matters better than they really do.
In the same ad, Don Billingsley mentioned:
...the more than 19 doctrinal teachings that were restored by Jesus Christ through his late apostle...
Yet his church falsely claimed that the door opened for the Philadelphians had been closed, that it opened later for CG-ff, and it specifically rejected the truth about governance. The real reason that Don Billingsley told me years ago that he was not in LCG was that he was afraid of losing his followers.
CG-ff is not the Philadelphia remnant, even though it has a magazine falsely so titled.
Several articles of possibly related interest may include:
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
Unity: Which COG for You? Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God? Has it always been this way? What can/should be done about it?
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
End of Mayan Calendar 2012--Might 2012 Mean Something? There is a Mayan calendar prediction for change in 2012. 2012 changes were also centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans (the Hindus may have some predictions for the next decade as well). Do these Mayan/Hindu/Hopi prophecies have any value? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
09/26/08 a.m. The last edition of Servant's News had the following:
In Matthew 6:20 we are admonished to lay up treasures in heaven where our investments will be safe from theft or other loss. I believe all of us need to seek out a practical application of this instruction, because everyone has financial decisions to make, regardless of our economic standing. In America we have had a tremendous period of prosperity in the last 70 years. This is a relatively long time span to have a financial upswing...
You have heard the old expression that cheaters never win, and that’s true in the long run; but sometimes in the short run they do very well. And though seventy years is a long period of financial prosperity, it is a pretty short period in the time span of the rise and fall of nations.
So how does all this affect us? Basically we live in a fantasy world financed by our nine trillion dollar debt to the international bankers. If we were to face financial accountability today, our standard of living would be reduced very drastically to say the least. This may explain why so few people understand or even care to understand these issues. Most of us would prefer to live in our fantasy world. Some would say that we know the economy will collapse someday but we might as well enjoy it while we have it.
I would simply add that the Bible warns that if the descendants of Israel fall away from God then they would end up in debt. Not only has this happened, we are close to the time when our creditors will rise up against us as it states in Habakkuk. For more information see:
Anglo - America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
09/18/08 a.m. In doing research related to the naos temple in the New Testament, I ran across something by Raymond McNair. 3 /12 years ago in an ad in the Connections section of The Journal, CG21's RF McNair wrote,
"Those who believe a “Temple [naos] of God” will be built in Jerusalem before Christ’s Return, often point to Revelation 11 and 2 Thessalonians 2 in support of their belief. But other students of Bible prophecy point out that the New Testament clearly refers to the true “CHURCH” as a “TEMPLE [naos],” according to Ephesians 2:20-22. Those who believe a literal “Temple [naos]” is implied is Revelation 11:1-2, seem not to have noticed that God sometimes uses a “measuring rod” in a symbolic sense, to indicate God’s spiritual judgment (or measurement) of humans (Heb. 3:16; 2 Cor. 10:12- 18). Some people believe Revelation 11:1-2 could indicate, symbolically, that God will “measure . . . those who worship” in “His spiritual Temple” (the “Church,” or “Body of Christ”), rather than implying a physical “Temple” will exist in Jerusalem during the 31/2-year ministry of God’s two “prophets,” called His “TWO WITNESSES” (Rev. 11:3). Apparently, those who believe the “TEMPLE [naos]” mentioned in 2 Thes. 2:3-4 is a literal “temple” have not considered that the “Man of Sin” (the “Son of Perdition”) who will sit in the “TEMPLE of God” could refer to some person who will claim to be a converted child of God, and like Simon Magus (Acts 8), will do his insidious, deceitful work inside the true Church of God, the very Body of Jesus Christ! If this “Man of Sin” refers to a great religious leader in Rome, as some have thought, then how can one conclude that this “son of perdition” could “fall away” (or “apostatize”) from the Truth—because the context of this text indicates that the Man of Sin will neither understand, nor obey, God’s Truth, as revealed in His Word!"
While Raymond McNair is correct that a naos temple does not need to be built in Jerusalem (see Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required?), his comments about the "man of sin" are in error.
Raymond McNair should have looked more closely at 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as it does not say that the "man of sin" falls away, only that he is mentioned as being revealed after there has been a falling away:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition
Raymond McNair's position is not only in error, it is dangerously close to that of the falsely self-proclaimed prophets Gerald Flurry (Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God) and Ronald Weinland (Concerns About Ronald Weinland's Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God).
Finally, notice what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote about it:
Certainly, then, this two-horned beast, the false prophet, the man of sin and the woman that rode the beast are all one and the same thing — the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH with its pope, its other bishops, its priests and deacons, comprising the hierarchy of order! (Herbert W. Armstrong. Who is the Beast? 1960).
Chapter 27 carries on with comparisons to passages in the 18th chapter of the book of Revelation referring to a politico-religious leader to come (verses 9-19)...Compare with II Thessalonians 2:3-4, speaking of "that man of sin... (Herbert W. Armstrong. Mystery of the Ages., Chapter 3).
CG21 is in error and not being faithful. For a more complete explanation of the naos temple, please see Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required?.
09/12/08 a.m. In its update this morning, CEG reported:
The Daily Mail reported on September 9, 2008:
"The architect of the despised European Constitution has reopened old wounds after he attacked Britain for 'hampering' the creation of an EU superstate. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who spearheaded the drafting of the constitution - only to see it soundly rejected by his own countrymen - said the UK should be given a 'special status' to prevent it blocking closer integration. The former French president said Britain's attempts to curb the expansion of power in Brussels was 'exhausting for all concerned, and disappointing'.
"The arch Europhile, who was speaking at a conference in Westminster on Britain's future relationship with Europe, has always been committed to a continental-wide 'superstate'. As the president of the EU convention he played a key role in drafting the constitution - which was then dumped by French and Dutch voters in 2005. It was revived last year as the Lisbon Treaty, which Labour forced through Parliament in March...
"M Giscard d'Estaing insisted closer integration of the EU's 27 member states would continue. But he suggested Britain should have a 'special status' which would maintain close links with the EU but prevent us from 'acting as a brake'. He condemned the UK for its 'permanently antagonistic standpoint' towards the EU.
"The EU Treaty creates a permanent European president, a foreign affairs minister and a legal personality for the EU which would allow it to sign international treaties on Britain's behalf. Despite being rejected by Irish voters in June, the EU has vowed to push ahead with it."
The fact is that the nominally Protestant UK will ultimately be on the outside of the rising European Beast power. And will ultimately be destroyed by it.
Two articles of possibly related interest may include:
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about "the Beast"?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
09/09/08 a.m. A reader pointed out to me that RCG seems to have a problem with its graphic representation of its internet results for 2007. Essentially, the height of the bar it shows apparently should be based upon 11,661,725 "downloads", yet it goes over what would be the 14,000,000 mark on RCG's graph. The bigger story, however, is not that. It is that RCG simply no longer has the internet reach that it has in 2007. RCG has been in a downward mode on the internet.
While at one-time it had the greatest internet reach of any affiliated with the COGs, the Alexa ranking of its best site (thercg.org) is 256,417, compared to cogwriter.com which has a ranking of 214,605 (lower is better). A related article may be Why Not the Restored Church of God?
09/05/08 a.m. Two years ago this month, both Mark Mendiola and Syd Hull left LCG for RCG. Syd Hull later left RCG for EnCOG, but after realizing that neither RCG nor EnCOG was Philadelphian, asked to return to LCG.
This morning, I noticed that Mark Mendiola has apparently also left RCG as he is now listed as a writer in a magazine for COG-ff. Perhaps once he realizes that COG-ff is also not Philadelphian, then perhaps he may ask to return.
Both the Hulls and Mark Mendiola should be in our prayers.
08/31/08 a.m. LCG's RC Meredith announced the following:
We are delighted to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Syd Hull in South Africa have come back to the Living Church of God! Although he went to two other different fellowships for a while, he has heartfeltly acknowledged that he made some terrible mistakes and wants to come home. They are coming back just as members—not in the ministry—and requested that themselves as they understand the situation. They have both acknowledged that what they did was wrong and that they are sorry for hurting others. They realize that this is where the Work is being done and want to be part of Christ’s Work at the end of the age. So let us all rejoice and pray with them that this will all work for good and that all of us can learn every lesson God wants us to learn as we move through the trials and tests of this human experience. Please pray for them—pray for God’s Church in South Africa—and please continue to pray for all of us in the Work.
Syd Hull and his wife left LCG almost two years ago for RCG, then once disillusioned there went with EnCOG, and now apparently realize that LCG is really the faithful portion of the Philadelphia era of the Church of God.
Though the past two years regarding them have been troubling, I thank God that they have decided to return.
08/29/08 a.m. In today's update, CEG proclaimed:
Why Continue to Preach the Gospel?
by Norbert Link...To focus on prophecy and to announce what IS going to happen is part of our ongoing commission to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Jesus told us that we are to watch the news to determine the signs of the time, enabling us to prepare for His return. For example, without Europe's unification; without America's downfall; and without Europe's invasion of the Middle East (all leading to or being a part of the Great Tribulation)--Jesus would not return (Matthew 24:21-22, 27)! And without the continual preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God in the modern nations of the ancient house of Israel and in all the world--as a witness--Jesus would not return, either (Matthew 10:23; 24:14).
There are some, even though they claim to be part of the Church of God, who think and teach that it is no longer necessary to preach the gospel--that our commission has been fulfilled and ended. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! In fact, those who teach this, SIN against God by not fulfilling His COMMAND to His Church to preach the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). They SIN against others for misleading and encouraging them to DISOBEY God. And they SIN against themselves, because ONLY those who are actively involved in God's Work of preaching the gospel will overcome their own selves more quickly. When we focus on the Work of God, we focus on others--how we can help them by teaching them the truth--rather than on ourselves and our temporary problems.
While the above is basically correct, those that have separated themselves from the Living Church of God simply are not having any significant impact in proclaiming the gospel message to the world as a witness. The fruits just are not there. Instead of diluting resources, the groups that were once part of the old GCG need to disband and support LCG.
For one small example, with the exception of RCG (which has its own unique problems), all the non-LCG groups that had origins in the old GCG have LESS impact combined in getting the message out on the internet than my own personal COGwriter website--and I do this site to support LCG. Surely by now those that left us will realize that they simply ARE NOT effective in proclaiming the gospel.
And if they will not disband, then individual members need to do that themselves.
Two articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
08/22/08 a.m. At Harold Smith's CGFNW website, is an article titled What is a Philadelphian? In part it states:
Paul clearly did not have a door left open throughout his apostleship; when he writes to Timothy that all of the members in the province of Asia deserted him (2TI 1:15), it is clear that the door to the truth was closed to them.
As long as the sixth stage of the Church existed, the door would remain open. However, Jesus did not promise that the door would be left open for the seventh era. Therefore, when the sixth era ended, the door was closed and locked by the One who has the key—and no one can open it! There is no large number of receptive minds promised to the final historical stage of the Church.
Actually, that is in plain error. Using that logic, there would be no place of protection for the church as the Philadelphia era has ended. The Bible is clear that there will be those of Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea left at the end. And that the Philadelphians still have a major work to do.
Several articles of possibly related interest may include:
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
4. The Thyatira Church Era was predominant circa 1050 A.D. to circa 1600 A.D. The Church during the Inquisition.
5. The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D. Discusses early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and COG-7th Day.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now basically the Living Church of God.
7. The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical 'place of safety' and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject--thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory.
08/15/08 p.m. COGeim's website states the following:
Sin Always Has Consequences
And that is true.
Quancast.com reported the following regarding one of David Pack's websites:
The trend for RCG has been down, but if they start spending on ads it will likely increase again.
08/07/08 a.m. In his "Pastors' Letter" this week, Wholeworld's Ronald Laughland wrote:
While a pastor in the Pasadena area years ago, I started an annual fair with a chili cook-off on the campus of Ambassador College. It was the highlight of the year for social activities and brought all the local churches together. A reunion of those who participated in building and serving at this affair occurred last week end. I was not there, but I received phone calls describing the interaction of those still in the Body of Christ and those who turned to the mark of the Beast––Sunday worship. A false minister at the end of the activities said something like it was nice to see everyone socializing and not talking religion. The whole reason for members to be together is so that Christ can be there. If not, it is just a worldly activity.
I am disheartened to see those whom I once served unable to hear the truth due to deafness. It reminds me of the section of Ezekiel where people sit and listen, thinking that the words were exciting but nothing sinks in to the mind. It all sounds lovely and exciting at the time, but the truth and the desire to live God’s way was not included in the process of their conversion. (Ezekiel 33:30-32) That experience was a strong reminder to me that if I let down, I could become someone who could fall away just as others have.
I agree with Ronald Laughlin that it is sad that people have turned away form the truth and rejoice essentially in ignorance.
FWIW, my wife and I attended this event once or twice, and once we helped represent the Long Beach congregation of the old WCG there with our entry (we lost). I recall Joseph Tkach Sr. speaking (he announced the winner) and essentially complaining that his choice did not win. That was probably the first time I heard him speak personally, and it did give me some minor concern about him even then (before he was Pastor General).
08/04/08 p.m. I noted that I have neglected to mention how RCG's other website, RealTruth is doing. Here is what Quantcast.com (an independant rating service) just reported a few moments ago:
So it went from 5,075 in February 2008, down to 957 in June 2008.
The trend for RCG this year in its websites is down. Whether RCG will decide to throw more money at Google/Yahoo ads to increase its numbers is not clear yet. A related article may be Why Not the Restored Church of God?
08/01/08 a.m. According to Alexa (an independent web services that measures relative popularity), COGwriter.com once again passes thercg.org
Although David Pack declared he expected significant improvement in RCG's internet performance this year, a check of RCG's Alexa ranking this morning for results last week showed that the RCG website's popularity dropped to 303,014 (meaning that 303,013 websites around the world were more popular than his last week.
One of them was the www.cogwriter.com site as according to Alexa, it was the 216,114th most popular in the world last week.
Now although one week does not make a trend, the past week does CONFIRM a trend that both Alexa and Quantcast (another independent measuring service that is more focused on the USA--Alexa's results are more international, though both are imperfect measures) continue to report: the popularity of RCG's internet site has been declining since November 2007 (especially at Quantcast--see news post Declines of the False Apostle and False Prophet). In calendar year 2008, Alexa shows that RCG peaked in February and has significantly declined since then.
It will be seen what type of impact it will have in a year or so after it has spend the savings and assets of many of its members (something its David Pack initiated in November 2007, see also David Pack of the Restored Church of God Declares: “Go get those assets and get them here”).
Two articles of related interest may also include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders--here is some of why you should be concerned about them.
07/25/08 a.m. In its newsletter for today, CEG had the following news story:
The European "Beast" Overtakes the USA...
The EUObserver wrote on July 16:
"Mark Schapiro - an American investigative journalist of some twenty years' standing and the editorial director of the Center for Investigative Journalism - believes... that we can date the eclipse of the United States by the European Union quite precisely indeed - 25 June, 2004.
"On that day, some 200 million Europeans went to the polls to elect their representatives to the European Parliament, consolidating the union's ascendancy. Europe's parliament leap-frogged the US Congress in size of population represented, with an additional two member states, Romania and Bulgaria, boosting the numbers still further to almost half a billion people in 2007. Even more critically, in 2005, the GDP of the EU overtook that of the States.
"'The EU is now the single largest trading partner with every continent except Australia,' he writes in his recent book, Exposed, which considers the massive global economic power shift that has occurred as a result of these changes. He looks at how companies and state governments in the US, China and the rest of the world increasingly take their legislative lead - whether willingly or dragged kicking and screaming - on issues such as environmental standards, health and safety regulation and consumer protection not from Washington, but Brussels."
The EU is taking many steps to become the major force in the world.
Articles of related interest may include:
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about "the Beast"?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States?
Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? What does the Bible say?
The Arab World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy The Bible discusses the origins of the Arab world and discusses the Middle East in prophecy. What is ahead for the Middle East and those who follow Islam?
07/14/08 a.m. Dana Glatz, an elder in the Montana area, left LCG and formed his own tiny group. That is sad. We met the Glatz's at the Feast in Malaysia years ago and are sorry that they have taken this step. Thus, unless he repents, he has apparently decided against being part of the major work to proclaim the gospel for his own priorities. I have heard that there will be something called the Associated Churches of God, but its website is not yet up (as of 11:55 a.m. PDT) it states: "Coming Soon..."
07/13/08 a.m. COG-ff's Don Billingsley posted the following yesterday:
Dear Brethren,
For the comments this time I am using a writing from one of our members, Mr. Leonard Hatter, who lives in a part of the Midwest that has had its food crops virtually flooded out due to the heavy rains in that part of the breadbasket of this country. Hopefully this will be of some help to you to realize all parts of this country are being affected by disasters in one way or another and more are on their way.Here in California, there have been over 1400 fires burning at one time here in the northern part of the state; and some are flaring up again. An interesting comment has been made by one of the people having to flee for the second time from her home because of another fire and probably echoed by many others:
The Record, (Stockton, CA) Thursday, July 10, 2008, Forced to flee again
Butte Residents evacuated for second time in just over 2 weeks.
Nancy Henphill of Butte County where nearly 50,000 acres have burned in the past two weeks: “You almost feel like somebody is out to get you.”
Things are heating up. If the next few years continue the trend of 2008, it will become more and more difficult for those in the USA, China, and many other places.
07/04/08 a.m. How is the EnCOG doing with its gospel proclamation efforts?
While it is not on radio or television and has no significant printed material efforts, it is on the internet.
This morning, Alexa.com stated that Enduring's website was ranked 2,555,847 in the world (not good). The most recent statistics available from quantcast.com suggest that Enduring's website gets <2000 US visitors per month (that is the lowest amount it will state--it appears from one chart that Enduring got less than 1000). Definitely not a "hot" work. Not the group to finish the work as EnCOG indicated it would be over a year ago.
FWIW, the COGwriter.com website has apparently over 30x the reach of EnCOG. EnCOG simply is not focused on public proclamation.
What did the New Testament and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists? Please see Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?
06/28/08 a.m. I received a report that CG21's Raymond McNair's health is still a concern and he is now much less active as he once was. Although almost everything at his CG21 website states "NEW" a a changing color pattern, most of those same items have been saying "NEW" for 2-3 years now--apparently the web is also something he has not been able to update.
For reasons that perhaps only he knows, Raymond McNair rejected Herbert W. Armstrong's teaching on governance years ago (please see The Elijah Heresies and Herbert W. Armstrong and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government for details) and was not ever seemed to place as much effort on public proclamation as HWA and the Bible show.
What did the New Testament and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists? Please see Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?
06/21/08 a.m. Yesterday, RCG announced:
Videos Released!
The Restored Church of God has now launched video productions, recorded in our new World to Come television studio! Mr. Pack has produced and posted a series of promotional book introductions. These brief yet powerful video advertisements give viewers a preview of the content of these vital books. Those with a Worldwide Church of God background who view these promotions will immediately be reminded of the impact that Mr. Armstrong brought to video decades ago.
RCG has been losing its internet impact (please see news item Decline of the False Apostle). It will be seen what type of impact it will have in a year or two after it has spend the savings and assets of its members (something its David Pack initiated in November 2007, see also David Pack of the Restored Church of God Declares: “Go get those assets and get them here”).
Two articles of related interest may also include:
Why Not the Restored Church of God? This group, led by David Pack, claims to be the most faithful. The information in this article suggests otherwise.
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders--here is some of why you should be concerned about them.
06/14/08 a.m. COG-FF announced that it updated the second chapter of its The Three Elijahs book. Here is much of what Don Billingsley now says there regarding Herbert W. Armstrong:
In the early years Mr. Armstrong also strongly opposed anyone who might even suggest that he was the Elijah to come in the end-time. I remember the time, possibly 1955 or 1956, I took copies of articles to Pacific Press in Los Angeles for the printing of the Good News Magazine. One of the articles I read while waiting for the person to whom I was to give the articles was on this subject.
The article was written by Dr. Herman L. Hoeh in which he made known that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was fulfilling the role of the end-time Elijah. Upon getting the articles back for proof reading, Mr. Armstrong read the article and became very upset about it. He would not permit it to be printed.
Approximately 25 years would pass before Mr. Armstrong came to accept the fact that he was the Elijah to come. In retrospect, he could see that Dr. Hoeh was right in what he wrote in that article though Mr. Armstrong did not understand it at that time.
Finally, Recognition by Mr. Armstrong
It was in the latter years of his ministry, while looking back, thinking about it and the vision revealed to his wife, along with all that God had used him to do, he could no longer deny the plain and very clear fact of the role and mission God had given him. He then knew he was indeed the Elijah to come (Mystery of the Ages, pages 9-10).
Perplexing Doubts before Mr. Armstrong’s Death
Some who were close to him have said that toward the very end of his life he sometimes expressed doubts as to whether he really was or was not the Elijah. In view of his imminent death it is easy to understand why he would have doubts at times and yet at other times he would not deny it, as can be heard in some of his last taped sermons and in his writings.
Undoubtedly some of those doubts surfaced with the realization he was going to die before Christ would return to this earth. Mr. Armstrong’s belief had been based upon his special calling and mission of the end-time that would enable him to continue the work until Christ’s return (Malachi 4:4-6).
And now realizing he would not live that long gave him room for occasional doubt while wondering how the work would go forward after his death and continue until the coming of Christ.
Added to those perplexing thoughts was the realization there was no one else qualified to do it. This left him bewildered as to what Jesus Christ would permit to take place after his death.
Mr. Armstrong also knew there was no indication in Scripture that Christ would use another man to replace the Elijah of the end-time. It is no wonder he was sometimes perplexed in thinking about his mission and wonder how the work would continue after his death with no one else with the needed qualifications to do it.
The part I bolded above is simply not true. Herbert W. Armstrong specifically did express doubts on the Elijah matter as he realized that scripture (and circumstances did allow for someone else to come and fulfill that role.
Herbert W. Armstrong specifically expressed doubt to Evangelist Dibar Apartian (who is a member of LCG), and who also told me in 2003 and 2004.
On December 1, 2004 (as well as other times), I spoke with Aaron Dean on the subject of Herbert W. Armstrong and a future Elijah (Aaron Dean had more personal contact with HWA than anyone else in his later years, though in total, not as much as RC Meredith or some of the other early leaders). Aaron Dean told me that through most of his ministry, HWA generally believed that he would be around until Christ returned. However, in the final months before he died, HWA changed his perspective on that and other issues. He (HWA) was no longer certain that he fit certain roles like he had felt earlier. And HWA, according to Aaron Dean, specifically left room that the Bible allowed that some person other than him could be the final end-time Elijah.
In a sermon, given on the last day of Unleavened Bread in April 1985, Herbert W. Armstrong stated the following,
You know there is a prophecy about John the Baptist, while the prophecy is talking about Elijah. But if you read in {HWA apparently meant “about”} Elijah {“in Malachi”} 3 and verses 1-5, it is talking, not about someone preparing the way for Christ’s first coming, but when Christ comes to set on the throne of the earth and remove Satan. You read verse 1 and you can apply that to John the Baptist. But you read on through verses 2,3,4, and 5 and you find its talking about the second coming of Christ. The things He will do then, but He did none of those things that are in verse 2,3,4, and 5 when He came the first time. Now John the Baptist did fulfill verse 1. Even Jesus said so. Jesus said that he had come in the spirit and power of Elijah. Was he Elijah? No he wasn’t. They asked John the Baptist, ‘Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘No I am not’. He wasn’t a liar. He knew the truth. He was not Elijah. Am I Elijah? No, definitely not! Now I met Elijah. Elijah has come to me and announced that he was Elijah, but I showed him the way out of the office. I did not believe him.
Perhaps I should add that it was shortly after the above sermon was given, HWA admitted to Aaron Dean that there could be another Elijah still to come, an Elijah that WAS NOT HWA.
So we have Aaron Dean's, Dibar Apartian's, and Herbert W. Armstrong's testimony that Herbert W. Armstrong was not the final Elijah.
And for those willing to see it, we also have Herbert W. Armstrong's written words:
"Also Malachi 4:5-6 pictures the Elijah to come at the very end of the Church age" (Mystery of the Ages. 1985, p. 349).
Herbert W. Armstrong died over 22 years ago. The longer it takes from the death of HWA until it is time to flee to a place of safety, the more likely it will be that there could be one other than HWA to fulfill the Elijah role (with another option perhaps being that the entire Philadelphia portion of the COG could be fulfilling that role).
It is sad how all the groups that want to insist that Herbert W. Armstrong was the only possible Elijah have either rejected the authority of all the evangelists that Herbert W. Armstrong ordained, or in the case of CG21 have rejected the form of governance that Herbert W. Armstrong insisted that he was used to restore to the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God.
Several articles of possibly related interest may include:
The Elijah Heresies Does the Bible teach that there will be a future Elijah? Must it be Herbert W. Armstrong?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
06/07/08 a.m. RCG's David Pack confirmed in a recent sermon that he has remarried. Perhaps that is part of the reason that RCG's internet effectiveness has dropped since November 2007 (though I think the real reason is his call for everyone to send him their assets last November).
05/30/08 a.m. I have received some emails asking about CG21's Raymond McNair. To the best of my knowledge, his health is still a concern and he is not as active as he once was. Although almost everything at his CG21 website states "NEW" a a changing color pattern, most of those same items have been saying "NEW" for 2-3 years now. For reasons that perhaps only he knows, Raymond McNair rejected Herbert W. Armstrong's teaching on governance years ago (please see The Elijah Heresies and Herbert W. Armstrong and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government for details) and does not seem to place as much effort on public proclaimation as HWA and the Bible show (an article of related interest may be Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?).
05/24/08 a.m. Yesterday, RCG posted:
Since January 2003, The World to Come audio program has addressed life’s greatest questions—Is world peace possible? Is heaven the reward of the saved? What is real faith? Have we entered the last days? What is human nature? What is salvation? What is the true gospel?—with crystal clarity and easy-to-understand answers.
We are pleased to announce the soon-coming debut of The World to Come video program! From a new state-of-the-art television studio, David C. Pack will continue to focus on the pressing issues of today, making plain the truths of the Bible and their connection to world events, trends, conditions—and your life!
While the idea of more effective public proclamation is normally a good one, RCG has repeatedly shown that it simply does not understand the true gospel, it is focused on David Pack, it is greedy, and it is confused on prophetic matters. For details, please see Why Not the Restored Church of God?
05/17/08 a.m. I have received two reports, which I have not yet been able to indepently verify, that RCG's David Pack has remarried. I have been informed that he married Verna Anstey (spelling uncertain) who was in fact one of the nurses who attended to his first wife while she was dying last summer.
05/11/08 a.m. In the latest edition of the Living Church News, R.C. Meredith, in an article titled What Is the “Fruit” of Rebels?, wrote:
If there are any decisions or teachings in God’s Church that you have come to disagree with, should you flee or start your own church? What is the “fruit”—the actual result—of those who do? What does it lead to, in nearly every case?
Dear brethren, in my 58 years in God’s true Church, I have seen dozens of individuals who have become upset about something, disagreed with something or thought they have seen “new light” on some religious idea, then left the Church of God to go off on their own. In many cases, these people—mainly ambitious men who want to be “in charge”—will not only leave the established Body of Christ, but will go out and “recruit” others to try to start their own church!
How does the Eternal God look on this type of behavior? Is the Bible clear about His divine attitude toward those who, in effect, rebel against a good and decent true Church of God that is doing God’s Work and is teaching the Truth— however imperfectly?
I write “however imperfectly” because none of us is totally perfect. I do not mean to use this as an excuse for any kind of doctrinal error or wholesale apostasy such as took place in our former association! But, again, what is almost always the result of such rebellion?
The Eternal God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to establish the Church. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The Apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is the active Head of God’s Church. For God, “put all things under His feet and gave Him [Christ] to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22–23). Paul also instructs us to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. here is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:3–4).
So Scripture constantly encourages unity—not an attitude of divisiveness. It was Satan the Devil ho first fostered the attitude of divisiveness when he said, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13–14).
Throughout the Bible, God clearly indicates that He does not appreciate those who have an attitude hat causes division. He does not countenance rebellion against constituted authority, and does not support those who try to hinder in any way those human servants whom He is actually using to preach is ruth and do His Work.
Even though the sons of God’s servant Samuel were indulging in dishonest, illegal and ungodly behavior, the elders of Israel were shown to be wrong when they used Samuel’s faults as an excuse to rebel against God (1 Samuel 8:7). For, in spite of being old and a little slow to act on these problems, Samuel absolutely was God’s true servant, teaching the Truth and doing God’s work at that time. So God condemned those who rebelled against His true servant— and our nations have suffered terribly ever since, when God removed His direct government from Israel clear down to our time!
More Recent Rebels
Most of you realize that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong did not“appoint himself” into the ministry. Rather, he was ordained by the established, historical Church of God. He tried to cooperate with that Church for years, but finally felt he had no choice but to leave because they would not grow in grace and in knowledge and would not even accept key doctrines such as God’s Holy Days and the identity of modern Israel, along with other important points. Yet, even after separating from them, he tried to cooperate for many years, holding campaigns with and for them, and trying not to cause any huge division.
In my case,most of you know that I personally tried to cooperate with the Worldwide Church of God for a few years after Mr. Armstrong’s death, and allowed myself to be put in a kind of“internal exile” while waiting on God to show me clearly what to do. Finally, after the God Is… booklet came out and other major doctrines were being changed, God showed me that I had to leave, rather than go along with the greatest apostasy in the modern history of God’s Church!
I was not trying to rush off and“start my own church.” In fact, my wife wanted me to leave one year earlier and I resisted, telling her, Honey, I have always taught loyalty and unity. So I’m not going to leave until I am absolutely sure that these men have totally rejected God’s way!” Like Mr. Armstrong, I had already been ordained by a leading minister in the historical Church of God. Mr. Armstrong had ordained me himself, in front of the entire Headquarters congregation, on December 20, 1952. Like Mr. Armstrong, I did not go off and“appoint myself.” For God is very stern about the matter of anyone trying to “appoint” himself as a minister of Jesus Christ, or giving himself some “big title” that does not come directly from God.
God inspired Paul to give us this instruction regarding the ministry, which certainly applies today just as it did in Paul’s day, “And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was” (Hebrews 5:4). So those who break away and ordain themselves, or “appoint” themselves as so-called apostles or prophets, are not obeying or honoring the living Jesus Christ!
Jesus Christ said, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
It is vital that each of you brethren carefully think through whether you should follow some disgruntled member, deacon or elder who decides to rebel against the established Church that is preaching God’s word and is, in fact, doing God’s Work. Every Bible example of this kind of behavior shows that God Himself regards it s a form of rebellion!
Having watched so many men down through the years try to exalt themselves by practicing this kind of behavior, I have been fascinated to see how it has almost always worked out—to see that the “fruits” of such self-exaltation showed it to have been absolutely wrong! I recall one young “smart aleck,” back in 1953, who began to accuse Mr. Armstrong of “Armstrong extravagance.” This young man apparently thought he would tear the Church apart by his accusations, and he actually convinced two or three of the leading Ambassador College students to resign from their positions and to prepare to leave the college. One reason I was brought back down from Portland, Oregon was to help settle this situation. What happened to the leader of this rebellion? He went off and virtually disappeared—after managing to take only two or three people with him—and most of us never heard of him again!
Later, one teacher and a leading student at Ambassador College began to criticize Mr. Armstrong, charging that in one of his earlier booklets he had copied or paraphrased too much from other material. I looked into the charge carefully, and saw that it was at least partially accurate. So, I went to Mr. Armstrong about the matter, and he sincerely explained, “Rod, I have been as busy as a one-armed paper hanger, and I had to quickly put together a lot of material that I wrote during those years. If you want to help me look into it, we can straighten it out now.”
So I got together with Mr. Armstrong, Dr. Herman Hoeh and these two men, and we went through the booklet in question—carefully removing any material that was not correct, and rewriting the rest of it so it did not directly copy anything from another book. Mr. Armstrong was all for this, and was glad that I could help in that instance.
But, did these two men—an associate professor and a leading student—try to cooperate and be loyal to Mr. Armstrong and to the Church as we worked to resolve the problem? Of course not! These men were looking for an excuse to leave! This was apparent from their attitude at the time, and in fact that is exactly what they did.
What happened to them?
Although I know their names and have asked about them over the decades since, I never heard from them or about them again! In a sense, they “disappeared.” Where will they be when the Great Tribulation begins, and God is looking down from heaven to see who has been loyal to His Work and who is worthy to be taken to the promised “Place of Safety?”
The “Fruit” of Rebellion
Still later, a couple of elders back in the Midwest started to complain, becoming very upset and self-righteous because the Church was not using palm branches in observing the Feast of Tabernacles. Those elders came out to see Mr. Armstrong about this, and also met with me and with others. They were very adamant, pushy and self-righteous. Mr. Armstrong explained how we keep the genuine intent of Scripture in the way we observe the Feast of Tabernacles and other Holy Days, and that it is up to the “Body” of Christ to decide the exact details of how these matters are to be administered (Colossians 2:16–17, KJV). But, again, these two elders apparently had already made up their minds. So they left and tried to start a “church” on their own.
What happened? Again, they simply disappeared into the mists of time, and essentially vanished from the scene—accomplishing nothing and in no way being used to do God’s Work in preaching the Gospel and helping others!
More recently, we have seen a number of former Living Church of God elders rebel and try to “start something” on their own. Some simply wanted to “do their own thing.” Others professed to be “upset” about some doctrine or decision. One way or another, each thought he was justified— even righteous—for leaving to do his own thing. But look at the fruits. In no case has God even remotely used any of these rebels to powerfully preach the Truth to the world, or to genuinely strengthen people and help them grow—loyally and humbly—“to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). In most cases, these men’s little groups have fallen apart and come to nothing because of the selfish, divisive, bickering spirit that was in these rebels in the first place. Their spirit of rebellion attracts other rebels, who eventually rebel against those rebels, and they all drift apart, away from the Work that God is doing.
I realize that some disgruntled members have accused me of changing our teaching about the Gospel. Some have even rebelled and left the Church because of this accusation. Dear brethren, let me assure you that I still believe what I learned at the feet of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, and I strive to teach it faithfully. Yes, I am human, so certainly I sometimes misspeak or make some point unclearly, but this does not mean I have changed what I believe or teach. The Church has certainly “grown” in some small technical points, but not in any ways that contradict Mr. Armstrong’s plain teachings about the Gospel or about so many other foundational matters of Church doctrine and practice.
Most of you brethren understand this, and you see the fruits of how this Church is powerfully preaching the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Sadly, a few have gone into rebellion because of alleged mistakes and “changes.” But eventually these rebels always make their own mistakes, and some of their own people—who have become “picky” and lost sight of the “big picture”—accuse them of making “changes.” Then, these rebels who were slow to forgive others always demand that people forgive them quickly for their mistakes! They should all read the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18.
Brethren, why do some leading men get it into their heads to try to exalt themselves and—in one way or another—rebel against those whom God has shown by the “fruits” that He is using to preach His Truth and do His Work? Is it the same spirit Satan had when he said, “I will be like the Most High”? Each of us needs to think very soberly about this matter.
For if any of you drift into that kind of attitude or behavior—if any of you brethren follow such a man in his rebellion against God’s true servants— you are in terrible trouble with the God who gives us life and breath. Please understand that!
Certainly, if I or any one of our leaders should rebel against God’s commandments and start to completely dismantle the basic truths that we have been preaching for the past 50 years, that is a different matter! But we in the Living Church of God have not ever done this, and after 58 years of loyal service, I am sure that I will not make that kind of mistake!
In His inspired word, God tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He clearly shows that Jesus Christ was the“Rock” who followed ancient Israel in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4). He was the “God of Israel” who dealt with them during all those years, acting for God the Father. In all the ways He dealt with them, He was showing us the “mind of God,” which is why the Bible tells us, “Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted” (v.6). God repeats the same thought again in verse 11,“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Paul then was inspired to write, “Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (v. 12)!
Notice a vital Old Testament example of how we ought to “take heed.” Moses and Aaron were very human, and no doubt made some human mistakes. But was this a good reason for a number of leading Israelites to try to overthrow them? Remember what happened:“And they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’ So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face” (Numbers 16:2–4).
Certainly, Moses acted with confidence in dealing with situations around him. He sometimes had to correct powerfully these rebels and others. But what was God’s opinion of him? “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). You see, brethren, God looks on the heart! He knew that Moses, in his heart, was so deeply surrendered to do God’s will that He considered him the most humble man on the entire face of the earth! However, those human “men of renown” could not see Moses’ surrendered attitude. They were instead filled with their own lusts and their own desire for power. So they came up with various “excuses” to react against Moses and Aaron, and they tried to overthrow those human leaders whom God had chosen—and whom He was using to do His will.
What was the result?
“And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods” (Numbers 16:32)! Yet, amazingly, “on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘You have killed the people of the LORD’” (v. 41).
Wow! Israel’s people were so out of touch with reality that they could not see there was no way Moses and Aaron could open the earth and swallow up all those rebels! They tried to blame it on the human leaders— refusing to acknowledge that it was the great God of Israel who was dealing with them because of their rebellion and their sins!
Brethren, the lesson for all of us today is that we are to seek the kind of peace and unity that God wants us to have within His true Church! We are to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).We should be very careful and very prayerful not to allow ourselves to begin to “murmur” against those God is using to do His Work and preach His Truth.
God’s true ministers will be human. For we are not perfect yet, but we are trying. And we are growing in grace and knowledge—just as are all of God’s true people. So each of us should overlook the human frailties in our brethren—including the ministry—and do all we can to build a sense of unity—a sense of “family”—and a deep sense of brotherly love within God’s Church.
As God looks down from heaven, He is watching each of us to be absolutely sure if we will—as demonstrated by our “fruits”—continue to be loyal to Him and to His government throughout all eternity! God simply cannot afford to allow a bunch of potential “rebels” to be given eternal life and total power in His coming government. So He tells us in His word, “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10).
May God grant each of us a heart of sincere humility, of surrender to His Word and His government, and a spirit of love and unity so we can become full sons of God in His loving Family throughout all eternity! Be sure that you, personally, strive with all your heart to attain that awesome goal.
And the reality is that the fruits of those involved in the GCG takeover and/or the later splits from LCG have been negative. As one who has reported more of the details (and for a longer time) than anyone else, I have yet to see positive fruits from the rebellions. Actually, the only "fruit" I have really seen is a separation between those who wished to be part of the continuance of the Philadelphia era work and those that decided to follow non-Philadelphia leaders who have a non-Philadelphian work
Articles of related interest may include:
Attending the Church of Choice This article discusses whose choice is important to worship God; should you attend the church of your choice or the church of God's choice?
Unity: Which COG for You? Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God? Has it always been this way? What can/should be done about it?
18 Truths Restored to the Churches of God Herbert W. Armstrong wrote that he felt he had restored at least 18 lost truths to the Church, here is Herbert W. Armstrong's list given 12/17/83. This articles also has links to show that these truths were believed by professors of Christ in earlier times, hence they were not some invention of Herbert Armstrong.
What is a True Philadelphian? Many claim to be part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, but is claiming enough? This article has biblical and historical evidence about who really are the Philadelphians.
Are the Laodiceans the Modern Sadducees and Pharisees? Discusses similarities of the Sadducees and Pharisees to various COGs in this end-time.
Samaritans: Old and New Who were the Samaritans? Do the represent true Christianity or something else?
There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra This article discusses a biblical 'place of safety' and includes quotes from the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject--thus, there is a biblically supported alternative to the rapture theory.
The 18 Restored Truths: Do You Know What the First Changes the Tkach Administration Made? Some have said healing, others other subjects, but probably the first change had to do with eliminating being part of the Philadelphia era. This article documents what those changes were and compares the Tkach list of restored truths to Herbert W. Armstrong's list of restored truths. It contains many quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong.
The Philadelphia Church Era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God, now essentially the Living Church of God.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
Independent Members of the COG: Herbert W. Armstrong Comments, Plus Questions and Answers What did Herbert W. Armstrong teach about being independent of the organized Church? Should independents who claim to accept Herbert W. Armstrong's teachings be part of LCG?
The Laodicean Church Era was predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. Non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
05/02/08 a.m. In its latest newsletter, CEG reported:
Not For Us To Know
by Dave HarrisBeing “in the know” about life’s matters holds great appeal. We watch the news to stay informed, and we use the Internet and cell phones for almost instantaneous contact with people in our spheres of life.
But there are areas into which we should not intrude!
The disciples asked Jesus when He would restore the kingdom to Israel. His response was very much to the point: “‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority’” (Acts 1:7).
In another account, Jesus spoke of the future and of the prophesied end of this age. Again, He taught that His disciples would not know certain things: “‘But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only’” (Matthew 24:36).
Daniel wanted to know more, and Michael told him that the prophecies were sealed until the end time (Compare Daniel 12:8-10). Peter was inspired to write that even angels desire to understand the things God reveals to His Church through His Holy Spirit (Compare 1 Peter 1:12)...
In the wonderful environment of the Church of God in which love as brethren was to flourish, the members had to be reminded to take care of their own responsibilities. That same lesson applies today. Indeed, let us recognize that there are some things that are not for us to know.
And although the disciples at that time were not supposed to know the season, those at the end were. Notice that the Apostle Paul made that very clear:
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6).
Jesus, Himself, made it clear that those in the end should watch so that the end would not come upon them un expectantly:
34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34-36).
There would be no point in watching events if one could not know approximately when the end will be. The fact that the Father withheld certain information from the Son (and the disciples), two thousand years ago does not mean that this information will not be available at the end. Specifically notice a verse CEG referred to, but did not quote:
10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand (Daniel 12:10).
The wise would be those who continued with the Philadelphia era work and who kept all the 18 truths (including governance) that were restored to the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God--and the remnant group which did that is the Living Church of God (LCG). Those who rejected the true work or any of the restored truths would have to be considered something other than wise.
As time goes on, I am more and more convinced that those not part of LCG will not know when the end is and will not believe us in LCG when we try to tell everyone. CEG, for one more example, questions the need for a future King of the South. RCG, for another, mistakenly claims there will be one, but that it will be Ethiopia (which it will not be). LCG is the only group that I am aware of that has given detailed scriptures about how many of the 6,000 years have elapsed--plus placing the proper emphasis on proclaiming the gospel.
We in LCG will continue to try to warn all when the end is to come, but those that reject us will simply not heed those warning messages.
Some articles of prophetic interest may include:
Is There A Future King of the South? Some no longer believe there needs to be. Might Egypt, Islam, Iran, Arabs, or Ethiopia be involved? What does the Bible say?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says?
What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin?
End of Mayan Calendar 2012--Might 2012 Mean Something? There is a Mayan calendar prediction for change in 2012. 2012 changes were also centuries ago predicted by the Hopi Native Americans and the Hindu Indians (who were not even on the same continent). Do these Mayan/Hindu/Hopi prophecies have any value? Why might Satan have inspired this date? Does the Dresden codex show destruction of the earth by flood? Can the great tribulation start before 2012?
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? When does the six thousand years of human rule end?
Click here for the previous news of those once affiliated with GCG
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