News of Those Once Affiliated with the Global Church of God

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 the 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); later he 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). In 2010, several of the main leaders who went to UCG from CGCF left it and went to a group called COGWA. A couple of people, like Norman Edwards (Servants' News), left GCG well before the 1998 takeover (he has Port Austin Bible Campus). On 12/15/11, a minister in good-standing with LCG anointed Bob Thiel with oil and prayed that God would grant him a double-portion of His Spirit (see also How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God): and things have not been the same since (he still, of course, supports the goals and biblical beliefs of Philadelphia era of the Church of God). Website links for most of those who were once part of GCG and that have websites can be found at the COGlinks page. After concluding that insufficient value was placed on the truth by certain leaders of LCG and that they no longer held to biblical church governance (see also Why Bob Thiel Left the Living Church of God), on 12/28/12 Bob Thiel formed and then announced the beginning of the Continuing Church of God.

03/27/13 p.m. Many who were once part of the old WCG and GCG do not seem to understand the implications of Matthew 24:14. Here is a new YouTube:

Offertory: Implications of Matthew 24:14

Does Matthew 24:14 still need to be fulfilled? What did the old WCG really teach about that? Are there parallels between Matthew 24 and Daniel 11? How will these affect Christians? Will the Philadelphians be subject to persecution for working to fulfill Matthew 24:14? How will Matthew 24:14 seemingly be fulfilled? Are you willing to support the efforts of the Continuing Church of God to fulfill Matthew 24:14 despite the prophesied risks?

03/18/13 p.m. David Pack recently put out another article against various groups and promoting RCG. That is nothing new. But I would like to quote part of that article and comment about it:

While some no longer care about the doctrines, traditions, standards—and fruit—of an organization, the majority still do...

Only the ONE Church that Jesus built passes the test when fruit alone is made the standard. All true fruit—that from God—springs from having the truth, God-appointed traditions and standards of the past, alongside God’s guidance and blessings—which are all demonstrably provable!

The organizations (small, medium and large) that formed from the Worldwide Church of God in the wake of the apostasy grew very little or in most cases not at all in 2012! In fact most declined in size, as well as in virtually all categories of measuring fruit.

I will not attempt to speak to the "fruits' of the specific COGs that David Pack is referring to.

I will, however, state that the Continuing Church of God has been growing in proclamation reach. We have now had over one million article views since the official formation on 12/18/12, reached hundreds of thousands over the internet, and millions over the radio.

As far as RCG goes, I will state that I do not believe that it actually understands the gospel and I do not consider that it should be an option for those who hope that they are Philadelphian Christians. On that last point, please see the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

03/14/13 a.m. I have mentioned various aspects of how the Continuing Church of God is doing the proclamation work on this page. Related to "feeding the flock" various sermons related to the gospel and the Spring Holy Days have been produced lately. Here are several:

  • ContinuingCoG uploaded a video 5 days ago

    The Night to Be Observed

    On the 15th of Nisan is the night to be observed. Do any Christians keep it? What is it about? What are some of the physical and spiritual lessons associated with it? Do the Jews keep it?

  • ContinuingCoG uploaded a video 1 week ago

    Preparing for Passover

    Passover comes each Spring. Faithful Christians have historically observed and prepared for it. What does the Bible teach about this? Did the Apostle Paul teach that Christians were to examine themselves before taking P...

  • ContinuingCoG uploaded a video 2 weeks ago

    History of the Christian Passover

    Jesus and His disciples kept the Passover on the 14th of Nisan. After Jesus died, what day did the original apostles and their faithful followers keep? Did the Council of Nicea follow the practices of Jesus and His disci...

  • ContinuingCoG uploaded a video 3 weeks ago

    The Gospel of the Kingdom

    What was the message that Jesus preached? What were His first and last sermons about? Did the apostles teach the gospel of the kingdom? What is this gospel? Why do some view this as a threat? What does the Catechism o...

 

03/12/13 p.m. In the March-April 2013 LCN, LCG's R.C. Meredith wrote the following:

And we certainly do not encourage “yes men” in any way...

Brethren, I have never tried to “appoint myself” as an apostle or to any other high office. But many of you realize that even throughout the extended Church of God fellowships around the world—there is no one who has had the depth of experience I have had as one who has spoken the word of God to you. In spite of my human weaknesses, Christ has used me to teach more Bible classes than any other human being in this age. I am the only one who has been Deputy Chancellor of all three colleges, and was Second Vice President of the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College for many years. I have written literally hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of evangelistic campaigns all over the world.

That first statement is simply not true and I repeatedly tried to tell Dr. Meredith that in the past. I should also comment that Dr. Meredith did tell me a few years ago (January 2009) that he was somewhat thinking of taking on the apostle title and that if he did that perhaps he would appoint me, Bob Thiel, as a prophet. So the above, presuming he actually wrote all it himself, is strange.

While Dr. Meredith certainly did do evangelical campaigns and taught Bible classes, I would suggest that writing "hundreds of articles" is not that unique of an accomplishment. I have written well over 4,000 articles/newsposts at COGwriter since changing to the WordPress format in June 2007. There were at least hundreds of articles and newsposts prior to then that I personally wrote. Perhaps I should mention that I have had affiliation with the Church of God for forty years myself and am not without a depth of experience myself.

Anyway, while Dr. Meredith apparently hopes people will believe that God will use him and LCG to finish what I have called "the final phase of the work," it would require repentance and significant change in LCG for that to be possible. Even one Charlotte-based LCG minister told me recently that he believed such change could not happen without a least one major death in LCG's top leadership. And I believe it would take more than that as I have found insufficient "love of the truth" there, and unnecessary hesitation which often prevents bolder proclamation of the truth by the media outlets LCG uses.

A major advantage of utilizing the internet the way that we in the Continuing Church of God use, is that not only can more countries be reached than tends to happen with media such as television, the Continuing Church of God can be bolder in proclaiming Christ’s message to the world without the compromises that certain other groups (like LCG) must do to remain on television.  It is not that there is no place for television, but my experience with LCG is that because of its emphasis on television, it simply would not publish its positions on various matters (hence did not truly proclaim the entirety of the truth to the world) as it was concerned that if it made certain views public that this could result in trouble remaining on certain stations.  And while there are times to pull back and remain silent (Amos 5:13), there are also times to be bolder in proclamation:
“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)
This is the time to cry aloud.  

We in the Continuing Church of God are boldly going forward with the work. We are leading the final phase of the work. Hopefully, more who were once part of various COGs, as well as those who are newer seekers of the truth, will be like the Bereans and search to see that these things are so (Acts 17:10-12).

03/09/13 a.m. Since the Spring Holy Days are coming up, the Continuing Church of God has recently produced the following two video sermons and one video sermonette:

One or more additional ones related to the Spring Holy Days is planned to be available prior to Passover.

03/05/13 p.m. The Continuing Church of God has reached many since it began on the internet. Here are statistics for the past two months:


Month Unique visitors Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
Jan 2013 100,403 173,010 353,889 1,532,964 36.71 GB
Feb 2013 124,552 183,588 400,212 1,616,512 38.42 GB

These statistics are up significantly from the prior year. Note: "Pages" refer to individual web addresses/articles, and some of them are up to 100 printed pages long.

We on the internet, of course, also have www.ccog.org, Bible News Prophecy channel, and ContinuingCOG channel--all of which are new.  Over 7,000 YouTube views happened in our first two months of existence. God seems to have greatly blessed the reach of the Continuing Church of God.

02/23/13 a.m. Ever since I had to leave the Living Church of God and form the Continuing Church of God, LCG has experienced a variety of problems. Here are some comments from two recent letters from Dr. Meredith:

Even since my last message to you indicating that we have some serious problems and weaknesses here at Headquarters, I have received word from Mr. Gerald Weston that—like at Headquarters—Satan appears to be striking directly at the television area in Canada. Because we do not have enough “Canadian content,” we are being put off of our third best station there. Also, because of “doctrinal differences,” we are being put off of our second best station in Canada. Then, on top of that, our overwhelmingly major station in Canada, VISION Network, is in danger because of certain governmental regulations that are being changed.

The “prince of the power of the air” is striking directly at the major center of our media efforts in God’s Work today—our television program!...

We will deeply appreciate your fervent prayers, dear brethren, that God will intervene and help us do everything we can do and should do so that He can bless us and deliver us in all these situations.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Within the last few weeks, the income for this Work has dropped somewhat, and a spiritual malaise has appeared to set in among a number of people...

Dear brethren, this Work will carry on with increasing power as it always has—if we do our part. (Letter, 2/14/13)

Yes, I agree with Dr. Meredith that a type of spiritual malaise has set in among people in LCG (cf. Revelation 3:17-20). While Dr. Meredith blames Satan and various of his supporters for this, the reality is that LCG has long compromised with content in order to avoid being kicked off of television stations. And while there certainly can be a place for television, the self-censoring that LCG does in order to remain on it (which includes censoring content of magazines, its Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs, certain booklets, etc.) is one of the reasons that it will not boldly make various proclamation statements and cannot (without massive change) possibly lead the final phase of the work. As far as what LCG should do, in my view, its leadership needs to repent of hypocrisy, bearing improper witness, and not truly accepting God's governance which it claims it follows (The Bible, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government), but sadly does not.

Perhaps I should mention that Dr. Meredith did send me an unusual email this week, and in my reply, I told him that "without changes, I do not believe that LCG can possibly be the group that God will use to complete the final phase of the work. I have totally committed myself to support the Philadelphian end time work of God, which is why, to a great degree because of steps you did and did not take, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) had to be formed."

Maybe those in LCG should realize that God may not be giving that group as much favor anymore? LCG no longer truly leads God's work. Hopefully, possibly because of its fast today, some will be better able to reflect on that.

Although the time for additional censorship is coming (cf. Amos 8:11), there are reasons that we in the Continuing Church of God have chosen the internet, radio interviews, and other media to proclaim the gospel. Frankly, we can be (and have been) better able to truly boldly proclaim what LCG has sometimes called the "whole gospel" without the compromises that LCG has done (and looks to probably increase).

We in the Continuing Church of God are boldly going forward with the work. We are leading the final phase of the work. Hopefully, more who were once part of GCG/LCG/WCG/UCG/COGWA/EnCOG/ECG, etc., as well as those who are newer seekers of the truth, will be like the Bereans and search to see that these things are so (Acts 17:10-12).

02/22/13 p.m. LCG's fast has began. However, as I wrote in the Letter: February 22, 2013, basically, I believe that LCG must make significant changes as currently I do not believe that it is possible that it will lead the final phase of the work.

As far as the Continuing Church of God goes, just this week we reached tens of thousands over the internet, sent out some Bible News Prophecy magazines, and reached between one and three million people over a syndicated radio program as we strive to do the work. The sermon recommended for people to watch this Sabbath is The Gospel of the Kingdom. I believe that the situation of LCG and CCOG is somewhat like that of Saul and David after David had to flee Saul.

02/19/13 a.m. In his latest letter LCG's Dr. Meredith complained that LCG income was down, called a fast for this upcoming Sabbath, and has urged people to have faith in him:

Within the last few weeks, the income for this Work has dropped somewhat, and a spiritual malaise has appeared to set in among a number of people...They have apparently “taken for granted” all the work we are doing and the blessings God has given.Some have “let down their hair”—spiritually speaking...But I hope all of you who are aware of my ministry for the past 60 years will have enough faith that God is guiding me in this Work that you will join me and our Headquarters team in praying fervently that God will help us overcome any weaknesses that are appearing in our spiritual “armor”!...

All of our leading ministers here at Headquarters join me in asking all of you brethren to join us in a spiritual fast a week from this coming Sabbath—which will be on the Sabbath of February 23.

One online comment (not from me) that I saw was (bolding in source):

Has it occurred to Rod Meredith that LCG's confusion, division, and drop in income could be his own fault? No! Somehow, when things go wrong in Rod's world, it is everybody else's fault except his own.

Notice how Rod says nothing in his letter about the offenses caused at last December's Charlotte Winter Weekend, right before LCG’s income collapsed. Does Rod apologize, or even acknowledge that his arrogant son, on Rod’s behalf, deeply offended long-time loyal members at that event? No! Does Rod promise to abandon his policies of nepotism and ignoring the sins of his family and friends, while applying a hypocritical double standard ruining the lives of others whose sins are not as grievous? No! He just blames other people, instead of examining himself!

Also, Rod doesn’t explain why his statements in his live Internet presentation last week contradicted what Doug Winnail has been teaching about 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Winnail says people who don’t accept his new teaching about the falling away are deceived. Is Rod now deceived?

There are issues in Charlotte and perhaps more are starting to see some of them. Interestingly, today's LCG commentary begins as follows:

Commentary: Compromise
By Charles Knowlton | Tuesday, February 19, 2013
How often do people feel tempted to compromise in order to live in peace? Sometimes, when disagreements arise, everyone involved agrees to give a little in order to reach the ultimate goal--or sometimes just to break even. Regrettably, when we compromise moral principles to this end, the result is often frustration and failure in the long term. Do we see this happening in our lives today?

I believe that at this stage, many people are remaining in LCG because of compromise--many are going along to get along. They want "peace" so much that they overlook much that Philadelphia Christians should not overlook.

Now, related to this, perhaps all should consider two things that I have written about in two different articles:

In the past, Dr. Meredith has specifically taught that LCG members were not to follow him in the event he commits some type of major apostasy. By accepting and promoting the falling away change, allowing LCG to be defined by that change, and by allowing the repeated condemnation of those that do not agree with that change, combined with not keeping his word, knowingly putting out incorrect literature, and not repenting of sending out improper accusations, etc., I believe that this demonstrates that he has committed sufficiently major apostasy. But since it was in a lot pieces, many seem unwilling to realize the seriousness of all of this. (from article Why Bob Thiel Left the Living Church of God)

About a decade ago, evangelist R.C. Meredith and I were talking and he agreed with various points I was raising about the end time work. And back then, I was able to help lead him to essentially state that in the end it would not mainly be the message of the COG vs. the Protestants, but it would be the COG basically vs. the ecumenical religion that will rise up in the end that will likely (for a while) refer to itself as "Catholic."  In 2005, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Clearwater Beach, after a private lunch, we and our wives met at his hotel room and I also discussed various aspects of the final phase of the work with him--and I had other meetings, discussions, and emails related to that with the other Charlotte evangelists through December 14, 2012. Yet, even though he and others in his church agreed to take many steps related to the final phase of the work, few, if any, of the promised steps were taken by his group--this is a major part of why the Continuing Church of God needed to form.

During the final phase of the work, the faithful in God's Church will take a stand against the views of those who will support the compromised persecuting religious power (cf. Revelation 17:1-6). And though aspects of this have occurred throughout history, in the end it will be a major testing of their patience (Revelation 14:8-12). A bolder, yet truthful, willingness to "name names" and call out what is happening will need to happen than the official COG groups formed between 1986 and 2011 have done--and this would seem to have to be led by the Continuing Church of God. (I have emails from one or more LCG evangelists where they objected to doing parts of this themselves, as well as notes from a meeting where they told me, and one was Dr. Meredith, that they were afraid that I was could become too bold and that they did not want to take bold proclamation steps that could trigger the persecution that they teach is biblically prophesied.) (from 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?)

Unless it changes, LCG is cannot possibly regain the Philadelphia mantle and will not be the group that God could possibly use to lead the final phase of the work. Dr. Meredith is leading a type of work, but it is not one that has demonstrated willingness to boldly change and correct its errors so that it could possibly be lead the final phase of the work.

Those in LCG can fast, and fasting is normally good. But:

4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as you do this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
5 Is it a fast that I have chosen,
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 "Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:4-6)

Those that fast should in LCG should reflect on the fact that major changes have been happening and that LCG is not now what many hope it is. Two articles that I recently updated that may help greatly could be What About the Living Church of God? Are there Doctrinal Differences with the Continuing Church of God? and The Falling Away: The Bible and WCG Teachings.

The Continuing Church of God has gone through doors that God has opened for us since 12/28/2012. Since forming, in total, we have reached millions of people with COGwriter.com, ccog.org, radio interviews, our magazine (see CCOG announces Bible News Prophecy magazine), our daily e-newsletter, our BibleNewsProphecy YouTube channel, our ContinuingCOG YouTube channel, and various books. These, sometimes bold, approaches have been effective and will be helpful in completing the "final phase of the work." 

Something for all who consider that they should be Philadelphian to consider.

02/17/13 a.m. Last week, LCG's Dr. Meredith did an online TWSP. Two people who watched it told me that Dr. Meredith taught that the "falling away" involved converted/COG people falling away by accepting the religion of "false, professing Christianity." While that is part of the "falling away" of 2 Thessalonians 2:3, this is in conflict with some of his recent writings on the subject and seems to contradict several official positions that LCG has taken on this matter since May 2012 (including his own writings). One person told me that he thought that since Dr. Meredith is an old man that perhaps he simply remembered what he used to teach on the subject and taught that--which is interesting as Dr. Meredith basically declared on May 10, 2012 that the new teaching that LCG adopted was not really a change, but a long-held position.

Anyway, those who would like to see the facts on LCG's falling away position, what the old Radio & Worldwide Church of God really taught about it, as well as what the Bible teaches, please check out the article The Falling Away: The Bible and WCG Teachings. LCG's recent position is Part 2 of the article The Falling Away: The Bible and WCG Teachings. LCG's position is also basically the subject of the sermon on YouTube titled The Falling Away Part 2: Positions Presented by Others.

02/15/13 p.m. Sent out the weekly Letter: February 15, 2013 today. Some may be interested in possibly watching the sermonette and sermon videos it suggested, which are and Did Jesus Teach a Pre-tribulation Rapture? respectively Might Petra be the Place of Safety?

BTW, yesterday over, 21,000 different computers went to CCOG-affiliated websites. Many are getting the word from CCOG. And while it is usually tens of thousands each week (more when I do radio interviews), it was tens of thousands just yesterday!

02/14/13 a.m. Although I do not intend to keep posting about statistics here every day, yesterday also was a very popular day, according to AWStats for COGwriter.com:

Day Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
13 Feb 2013 14,453 21,544 80,173 1.62 GB

Thus, over 14,000 different people/computers visited the cogwriter.com website yesterday and over 20,000 articles/pages (most articles are multiple pages, but each is only counted as one "page" by AWStats) were viewed. Just for one day. Additionally, others visited us on the internet at ccog.org, BibleNewsProphecy YouTube channel, and ContinuingCOG YouTube channel. The COG message is being proclaimed and more and more people are getting the truth from the Continuing Church of God. The group that now has the Philadelphia mantle. The proclamation fruits are in the for Continuing Church of God. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:9).

02/13/13 a.m. This week more people than usual are getting information from CCOG. Notice the statistics for yesterday, and only yesterday:

Day Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
12 Feb 2013 10,497 17,460 79,887 1.53 GB

So, over 10,000 different computers visited the cogwriter.com website yesterday. Plus others visited us on the internet at ccog.org, BibleNewsProphecy YouTube channel, and ContinuingCOG YouTube channel. The COG message is being proclaimed over the internet. Also, yesterday another syndicated radio interview was scheduled, so between 1,000,000-3,000,000 people may be reached that way next week.

Speaking of YouTube videos, here is a link to our latest (which is expected to be announced at the main news page later today): Will Pope Benedict's resignation lead to the prophesied Antichrist?

02/10/13 a.m. Some of the internet have suggested that they would like to see more detail on the CCOG proclamation statistics. Many were included in a post titled CCOG met COG proclamation goal.

James Malm emailed me today and specifically asked to see my AWStats (a program that measures internet impact). After seeing them, he suggested that they be posted "on your site to remove some of the suspicion surrounding the totals you claim." So, here are the AWStats for the COGwriter.com website for January 2013 for those who want that type of detail:

Month Unique visitors Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
Jan 2013 100,403 173,010 353,889 1,532,964 36.71 GB
Day Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
01 Jan 2013 5,410 11,969 49,958 1.11 GB
02 Jan 2013 5,561 12,288 52,213 1.48 GB
03 Jan 2013 5,223 12,345 48,773 1.65 GB
04 Jan 2013 5,673 12,831 56,442 1.60 GB
05 Jan 2013 5,507 12,398 55,454 1.45 GB
06 Jan 2013 5,592 11,978 54,324 1.09 GB
07 Jan 2013 5,433 11,211 51,672 1023.89 MB
08 Jan 2013 5,399 11,155 49,023 1.01 GB
09 Jan 2013 5,808 11,697 52,162 1.30 GB
10 Jan 2013 5,308 10,146 44,331 1.14 GB
11 Jan 2013 5,506 12,488 56,265 1.36 GB
12 Jan 2013 5,374 11,081 48,469 1.10 GB
13 Jan 2013 5,373 9,773 42,507 1.19 GB
14 Jan 2013 5,471 10,440 48,870 1.11 GB
15 Jan 2013 5,649 10,397 47,384 1.14 GB
16 Jan 2013 5,781 11,183 48,021 1.14 GB
17 Jan 2013 5,367 10,516 47,685 1.05 GB
18 Jan 2013 5,371 10,818 50,469 1.34 GB
19 Jan 2013 5,481 11,206 47,452 1.26 GB
20 Jan 2013 5,747 11,753 45,749 1.26 GB
21 Jan 2013 6,134 11,759 50,223 1.24 GB
22 Jan 2013 5,856 11,675 46,680 1.07 GB
23 Jan 2013 5,781 11,361 48,473 1.02 GB
24 Jan 2013 5,939 12,022 53,446 1.07 GB
25 Jan 2013 5,649 12,014 55,640 1.11 GB
26 Jan 2013 5,491 11,797 48,531 1.26 GB
27 Jan 2013 5,672 11,486 46,108 1.12 GB
28 Jan 2013 5,839 11,060 47,382 1.11 GB
29 Jan 2013 5,852 11,146 47,579 1.00 GB
30 Jan 2013 5,494 11,578 46,092 988.81 MB
31 Jan 2013 5,269 10,318 45,587 967.31 MB
Average 5,580 11,415 49,450 1.18 GB
Total 173,010 353,889 1,532,964 36.71 GB

Hopefully, the above will help demonstrate the accuracy of the statistics in the post titled CCOG met COG proclamation goal for those who wanted more detail.

Now, another comment probably should be added about the reach that CCOG had on the radio in its first 30 days. Some have wondered how doing three radio interviews could possibly reach over 2,000,000 people. Those that seemed to have publicly questioned that did not seem to realize that when I posted that two of them were on a radio show with a much larger audience, that the show was syndicated over at least 60 radio stations, plus various internet outlets, etc. So, hopefully this will clarify this for some who wondered about that.

We in the Continuing Church of God are proclaiming the gospel to the world as a witness, and as posted a couple of days ago, we also have a new magazine, which you can read if you wish if simply click on Bible News Prophecy: January – March 2013.

02/08/13 p.m. There have been several improper reports about me and why I left LCG on the internet from some who claim that they are part of the Church of God. Perhaps several of the reasons were not clear enough to many. Part of this would be probably because I decided to not go through personal details about the likely motivations, etc. of those who made it so that staying with LCG was morally impossible for me.

The simple reason that I left was that I was convinced that LCG could no longer have the Philadelphia mantle. LCG could no longer be considered the group that would lead the final phase of the work. For more details, please see the article Why Bob Thiel Left the Living Church of God.

In other news, the Continuing Church of God is please to announce that we have our first magazine. It is titled Bible News Prophecy. For a pdf copy, simply click on Bible News Prophecy: January – March 2013. Those interested in the latest sermon from the Continuing Church of God can watch it by clicking on The Falling Away Part 2: Positions Presented by Others.

02/01/13 p.m. Earlier today, the latest CCOG Letter to the Brethren Letter: February 1, 2013 was posted. It mentioned the latest BibleNewsProphecy video Should Christians watch American football? What is astounding that despite the fact that Bible says that love does no harm to one's neighbor (Romans 13:9-10) and the documented fact that American tackle football cause irreparable harm to its participants, relatively few in the COGs seem to be even willing to look at the truth about this subject. Many seem to love the world and the things of the world more than what the Bible teaches. Facts and scriptures about American tackle football are in the article Is American Football Evil? as well as the YouTube video Should Christians watch American football?

01/28/13 a.m. As most of you who read this page are aware, last month I predicted that the CCOG would reach more people in its first 30 days of existence with at least part of the COG message than any non-GTA group that came from the old Worldwide Church of God or any that came from the old Global Church of God and current Living Church of God.

Technically, late yesterday, the Continuing Church of God has existed for 30 days. So was the goal hit?

Yes, this has happened. According to estimates from radio hosts for interviews I did on biblical matters (mainly prophecy), over 2,000,000 people were reached via radio (the high-end of the radio audience estimate was 11,000,000). And according to internet collected statistics, over 100,000 unique computers were reached in the past 30 days from CCOG-related websites. Since the total of the radio and internet reach appears to be more than other groups, this has happened as predicted here. Those who want more specific details can read the article CCOG met COG proclamation goal.

But why did I bother to make such a prediction?

The reason for making this prediction was to provide interested people a concrete goal to watch, that was not too far into the future, to demonstrate that the gospel proclamation intent of the Continuing Church of God was not the type of lip-service or imagined hope that various groups have claimed they would attain when they began (many of which I have reported about on this and other COGwriter pages). I wanted to make it clear that CCOG would be different than many others in that aspect. And the statistics of what was accomplished have helped demonstrate that.

The Continuing Church of God intends to strive to fulfill Matthew 24:14a, and I believe will be the primary group that God will use to accomplish this. Yes, we have quite a way to go, but have done a lot so far with so very few.

Please pray as Jesus said:

37…”The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

01/26/13 a.m. There were some processing delays and it was not until a few minutes ago (it is 5:26 a.m. here now) that the suggested sermon for today went live. Here is a link: Sermon: What is the meaning of your life?

Also, late yesterday, the latest CCOG Letter to the Brethren Letter: January 25, 2013 was posted. It contains information about a lot of went on last week which is not posted anywhere at the COGwriter.com website, along with a little information that was.

01/25/13 a.m. Although the free-trial period for the book Barack Obama, Prophecy, and the Destruction of the United States-Second Term-Amazon Kindle edition is not up (it expires at midnight tonight), already more than twice the number of free books have been downloaded from Amazon Kindle than when the first edition was announced in September 2012. Normally, one would expect that less people would be interested in a second edition, especially if they already had the first edition, yet we of the Continuing Church of God have reached more people this way than prior to the formation of the Continuing Church of God.

01/18/13 p.m. It has been a very busy week.  We of the Continuing Church of God have been answering emails, updating web information, creating and uploading YouTube videos, putting together services, and considering various ways to try to fulfill Matthew 24:14 and Matthew 28:19-20. Based upon statistics on the internet and radio estimates I have received, it appears we in the Continuing Church of God have reached more people with at least portions of Christ’s gospel of the Kingdom in our first few weeks than other non-GTA COG groups were able to do. I plan to publish the statistics and estimates on the numbers of people reached by the end of this month.

Those interested in learning more about what has been happening in the Continuing Church of God this week may wish to read the latest Letter to the Brethren that I wrote and posted online today.

01/18/13 a.m. There is a new BibleNewsProphecy channel video that just was made available on YouTube titled Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?

01/11/13 p.m. Posted a new Letter to the Brethren of the Continuing Church of God earlier today. It has information and links for a suggested church services for our scattered brethren and those interested in learning more about doctrine and Christianity.

01/07/13 p.m. After responding to something he emailed me Friday, I just received an email from Dr. Winnail that contained various comments, some of which are other than accurate. But I felt that perhaps some may wish to see the following excerpts from the email he wrote to me today. Dr. Winnail wrote about himself and the other two LCG Charlotte-based evangelists:

When we made comments to you  that “you may be a prophet” (and that could include some point in the future) that was to be kind to you and also acknowledge that God can use anyone He chooses when he chooses to use them...If God chooses to use your or anyone else in the capacity of a prophet, that is His decision and that will become obvious... 

Time will tell if your claims are valid…so let’s leave it at that.

Those who look at the "Bob Thiel prophetic chronology" on this page should be able to see that the statements to me were more than in general. How many others in LCG were told so often something to the effect that “God might consider you to be a prophet,” “You have an in-depth understanding {of prophetic matters}—you could be a prophet,” and “We all (the three Charlotte evangelists) think you might be a prophet.” Others may ask why the LCG Charlotte evangelists encouraged me to consider that God may consider me to be a prophet as this is not historically been a standard COG practice? And also what I really did (ask them to correct errors, etc.) that led to their letters of improper accusation?

Furthermore, it should be recalled that it was Dr. Meredith himself who first brought this prophet matter up with a telephone call to me in October 2008. It was not like I had ever asked him about that prior to this.

Notice also that Dr. Winnail wrote today that all the Charlotte evangelists were trying to basically encourage my prophetic writings and leanings. And by the time they made “We all (the three Charlotte evangelists) think you might be a prophet” comment in August/September 2012, they all knew about the anointing for a double-portion of God's Spirit by Gaylyn Bonjour on 12/15/2011 and also had a decent idea of how I viewed it.

Hopefully, for those who have believed the misinformation that the three Charlotte evangelists never thought that I might and/or may be a prophet will realize that in fact, they all did. And perhaps one day they will all do so again.

01/05/13 a.m. As expected, some associated with the LCG ministry have leaked the 12/28/12 letter to me to anti-COG sources on the internet. They can later try to explain this to God as obviously several with insufficient love of the truth or trust in the word of God would not actually want to first talk to me to find out if these things are so (Matthew 18:15-20). The reality is that that letter contains false accusations, improper statements, and a variety of false statements. The Bible warns against spreading such things, for "whoever spreads slander is a fool" (Proverbs 10:18).

Since at least one anti-COG source is harping on this, one more time, related to Gaylyn Bonjour and me, here is what really happened:

The fact that the 12/28/12 letter omitted many details has been seemingly taken by at least one-anti-Church of God site to be the whole story. Perhaps I should mention that I did discuss the 12/28/12 letter with Gaylyn Bonjour and he told me that while it was true that he personally had not intended to pray that God would grant me a double-portion of His Spirit, that in fact he did do that and of course, he concurred that he made the other statements that I reported that he did.

(Perhaps I should add that Dr. D. Winnail sent me an email yesterday where he denied making clear statements that he made on August 26 and September 7, 2012 and made other improper assertions--I responded to his email last night. It is astounding how those who have claimed to truly have the love of the truth have done what they have done and, and this will be kind, recently developed what I will politely call "severe memory lapses.")

Now while the 12/28/12 letter attempts to portray my interactions with Charlotte as improperly pushy, perhaps the last two emails that I sent to all the Charlotte evangelists prior to the 12/28/12 letter will give any who are truly interested in the truth, exactly how I approached them. Here is what I sent on 11/29/12:

Dear Charlotte Evangelists:

Instead of now sending a paper on other aspects of the final phase of the work, after reviewing LCG’s Personal Correspondence department letter L187 on the days of Daniel 12, it seemed that perhaps aspects related to the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days of Daniel 12 should be addressed first. And mainly, in this paper, I will focus on how they tie in with Daniel 11:28-35.

I copied Wyatt Ciesielka and Gary Ehman as I sent them a prior draft of this a bit earlier this month and have discussed this. So, I thought they both would like to see my revised recommendations.

The main item from L187 that I hope to deal with is the following section:

We may not know the exact time when the 1,335 days begin, since no one knows the day of Christ’s coming (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). Apparently, however, at the beginning of the 1,335 days, the organized efforts of God’s Work to proclaim the Gospel to the world will end (Amos 8:11-12).

My proposal is to slightly modify it as follows:

Since no one knows the day of Christ’s coming (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7), we may not know in advance the exact time when the 1,335 days begin. Apparently, however, at the beginning of the 1,335 days (Daniel 11:28-30), a type of persecution will begin, and sometime prior to the start of the 1290 days, efforts of God’s Work to proclaim the Gospel will fulfill that portion of Matthew 24:14, and shortly thereafter there will be a famine of the word (Amos 8:11-12).

This paper is intended to demonstrate why this could be a scripturally better wording (and it also brings up some other points).

But summary of the rationale is as follows:

Should you wish to read more details on that and other aspects of Daniel 11, a paper on this is attached. And I may make some changes to some of those details in the future.

Best regards,

Bob Thiel

No direct response was received to the above email from the Charlotte evangelists. Was that "pushy" or somehow improper?

In order to keep a promise that I had made to Richard Ames on 10/08/12, on 12/14/2012, I sent the Charlotte evangelists the following email:

Dear Charlotte-based Evangelists:

After services on the Last Great Day, I promised Richard Ames a paper on various aspects of the final phase of the work.

Let's begin with some brief history. As you all probably are aware, by 1970, the old Worldwide Church of God estimated that it was regularly (as opposed to only cumulatively) reaching 150 million people through radio and television (Kelly R, Robinson J. Ambassador College Big Sandy Campus. Good News, July-August 1970, p. 4). The next year, Herbert Armstrong wrote:

We now are reaching more than 150 million...Think of it! -- that is one in every twenty-three of all the people on earth, or one in every sixteen persons above age fourteen. (Armstrong HW. Co-worker Letter, May 28, 1971)

Herbert Armstrong also met personally with world leaders in Europe, North America, Africa, India, China, Japan, Philippines, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and elsewhere to give a witness of the gospel to the world.

But that was the 20th century. So, what about the 21st century?

On a cumulative basis, out of Arroyo Grande (mainly through the internet and radio interviews), millions have been reached. On a cumulative basis, out of Charlotte (mainly through television, printed publications, and the internet), multiple millions have been reached.

But this, even including the growth that we both have had this year, is a mere fraction of Herbert W. Armstrong’s 1971 reach—and even if he overstated the reach, he reached even more in the 1980s than the early 1970s—which is still many times more people than are being reached now. I, like the late Dibar Apartian did, believe that I could assist in not only working on aspects of the message, but in increasing the impact of the efforts in Charlotte through making aspects more interesting, more relevant, accurate, etc. More impact is needed in the 21st century than in the 20th century.

As you all are aware, it is the faithful in the Church of God that will finish the final phase of the work before (Matthew 24:14-15) and during (Revelation 11:3-14) the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord. And, at least in my view, the final phase will also involve dealing with the King of the North and the ecumenical religion that will rise up (cf. Daniel 11:28-44; Revelation 13:4,8; 14:8-13; Matthew 24:14-15). This could be the “short work” that the late John Ogwyn felt that the Apostle Paul wrote about (Romans 9:28). Those involved in that phase should not be ignorant of Satan's devices (cf. Job 5:12; 2 Corinthians 2:11), which is one reason that knowledge of his plan is helpful.

But that does not mean that more impact cannot, or should not, happen before the final year or so before the Great Tribulation begins.

About a decade ago, Dr. Meredith essentially agreed and stated to me that in the end it would not mainly be the message of the COG vs. the Protestants, but it would be the COG basically vs. the ecumenical religion that will rise up in the end that will likely (for a while) refer to itself as "Catholic." In 2005 during the Feast of Tabernacles in Clearwater Beach, after a private lunch, we and our wives met at his hotel room and I discussed various aspects of the final phase of the work with him. Partially, because of this, a few weeks later I spoke with Dr. D. Winnail about me pursuing more formal education in theology and early Church history (and he encouraged me to do so), and then did so. With Evangelist Richard Ames, I discussed parts of the final phase of the work briefly on the Last Great Day in 2012, and he concurred with Dr. Meredith’s assessment about this phase would mainly consist of the COG vs. the ecumenical “Catholic” faith and less related to the Protestants.

This final phase of the work seemingly will consist of finishing proclamation of Christ's gospel of the kingdom as a witness along with persecution (Matthew 24:9-14), identifying what is happening in the world (specifically also in Europe, the Middle East, and the Anglo-descended nations), the rise and work of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:2-12) (which will likely overlap a few days of Matthew 24:14), the likely assistance to the two witnesses by the scattered flock (cf. Luke 9:2-6), the three angels' messages (Revelation 14:8-11; and other angelic proclamations), and the witness of those persecuted and martyred for Jesus (cf. Revelation 17:6).

It remains my opinion that when the European King of the North is publicly identified, and the media picks this up, that this will cause the King of the North to become furious (cf. Daniel 11:28,30). This media attention will magnify at least parts of the message, and likely lead to the final fulfillment of Matthew 24:14. Probably prior to unleashing direct persecution, the King of the North and/or his allies are likely to go through COG literature to look for errors, contradictions, and anything else to discredit God’s Church. This will likely cause the way of truth to be blasphemed (cf. 2 Peter 2:1-2). Real steps should be taken to minimize this.

Now, I am not saying that any in Charlotte are intentionally trying to teach known error (even though I believe there are doctrinal errors coming from Charlotte). Yet, related to matters of history, Charlotte has intentionally sent out, for one example, church history booklets that contain known error (and still does so). This complicates, in my view, the final phase of the work.

Those of us who have a love of the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10) need to place a very high priority on the accuracy of what is taught (cf. Acts 18:25-26), properly protect “the pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:45-46), and take away the stumbling block (Isaiah 57:14) of error (Jeremiah 23:24; Mark 12:24), which can cause unnecessary offense (Matthew 18:7).

The point of this email is to encourage LCG to make decisions and take more steps to correct various issues that I have brought up in the past in preparation for the final phase of the work, consider some of the ramifications of not doing so, and to consider how the final phase of the work will be accomplished.

A lot has happened in the past year. Yet, it still remains my view that if Charlotte and I can actually work closer together, that this could possibly be more effective in finishing the final phase of the work than our working further apart. If that is not God’s will, however, the final phase of the work will get done.

Please let me know if you want additional involvement or distance.

Best regards,

Bob Thiel

 

Was that "pushy" or somehow improper?

Yet, the response I got to that ignored all the specifics (although I did conclude that "distance" was what Charlotte chose), but instread contained a tirade of accusations, attacks, false witness, etc. about me. This is the truth for those still interested in it.

Sadly, instead some wish to feed the gossip mills and hope that most in LCG will not grasp the truth and significance about what has happened (cf. Proverbs 17:9).

Please recall the following, that was correct and in the July-August 2012 Living Church News:

It is important to understand that having a thoughtful opinion and expressing it respectfully does not constitute murmuring. Scriptural admonitions against murmuring do not require us to “follow blindly” or to have no opinion. The key is our attitude, and how we express ourselves...

No, a true Philadelphian Christian will not be a “yes man” or a “blind follower.” Absolutely not! There is a right way to give input.

Did my last two letters to the Charlotte evangelists prior to Dr. Meredith's 12/28/12 letter (which others had to 'assist' him to put together) try to provide input the right way? And if so, how can any justify the response that I received and still believe that they are being faithful Philadelphia remnant Christians?

LCG should not have allowed its ministers to spread improper statements about me (Proverbs 10:18). But it did. Do you wish to believe the truth or do you prefer the lie (Revelation 22:15)?

Brethren, please pray the God will grant all of us wisdom (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2; James 1:5), that He will provide more laborers for the harvest (Matthew 9:37), that we in the Continuing Church of God will go through the doors that He opens (Revelation 3:7-9; BTW here also is a link to the new Bible New Prophecy channel on YouTube, which now has its first video, with others coming soon), that we will love one another (John 13:34-35), and be the type of witnesses He wants us to be (Matthew 5:15; 24:14).

01/04/13 a.m. From what I have learned, it seems that Charlotte sent an email related to the "Bob Thiel prophetic chronology" (shown in the 12/28/12 p.m. update on this page) to its ministry. This was sent along with a letter from Dr. Meredith in which he flatly denied making certain statements (that he did make) and having certain views that people including himself and Dr. D. Winnail told me that he had. He also suggested that at times he may have been sufficiently incapacitated that I should not have relied on certain of his statements to me. Instead of getting in a "he said she said" battle about this, this tells me that some in Charlotte strongly hope that people will not believe all of the facts that are in the chronology.

The following, which I received in an email today, offers a certain insight that all people who are interested in the truth should consider:

I took the keys and sermon discs etc back this morning to our assistant pastor (Our Pastor is in Australia at the moment). I was expecting to get questioned but wasn’t at that time. Later he rang me back to inform me that he had rung our pastor who told him to contact Charlotte. He was sent the letter that you were expecting to be sent to pastors and they made a big deal about the fact that you were declaring yourself a prophet and one of the two witnesses. I’m happy to say that God answered my prayers and gave me the words to reply to him (I’m not normally good at that). I said to him that it was LCG elders who suggested you might be a prophet and he responded that we shouldn’t rely on what Dr Meredith said after having his stroke. Of course if we can’t rely on that then we can’t rely on what he said in his sermons at that time either. I also told him that Dr Winnail had suggested that he also was one of the two witnesses and he didn’t have an answer to that.

It needs to be understood that while I will accept the type of prophetic role that God anointed me to have (see also How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God), and it is possible that I may end up being one of the two witnesses (see Who Are The Two Witnesses? ), I have never stated that I was one of the two witnesses. If that is God's plan for me, that will be clear around the start of the Great Tribulation--which is probably at least four years away (see When Will the Great Tribulation Begin?).

Now, since I am not bearing false witness, and the letter from Charlotte makes false and improper accusations against me while contradicting known facts, does LCG have enough in the ministry who have enough of "the love of the truth"? An interesting question for LCG's ministry. Will any of them "stand in the gap" (cf. Ezekiel 22:30) as they have long suggested that Philadelphia Christians should? My impression is that they will stay on the sidelines, though eventually some will wake up once they realize the truth or otherwise decide to take a stand. And this is despite the fact that at least two Charlotte evangelists and several LCG ministers have known enough of the details about this that they are without excuse.

Those who received that improper letter from Charlotte, and those who will be given improper information because of it, may wish to review the following events as the letter gives an improper impression about them:

The above is true, and one can even verify the facts that he was involved in with Gaylyn Bonjour himself if they do not wish to simply take my word for it. And if he has sufficiently credibility left, all should be able to ask Dr. D. Winnail if the last two statements are true--which they absolutely are--and they flat out contradict one bold and improper strong assertion in the letter sent to the ministry from Charlotte.

All should pay attention to the following warning, which is near the end of the Bible:

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. (Revelation 22:14-15, NKJV)

14 Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14-15, World English Bible)

Since I have not born false witness, what does that mean for those who want to act otherwise? Since a prophet is above an evangelist in biblical terms (see The Bible, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government), are you supporting God's form of hierarchial governance by believing false statements above those of one that God has had anointed?

"Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things" (2 Timothy 2:7).

Some others may also wish to meditate on the words of Jesus who said:

41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. (Matthew 10:41)

Notice that He did not say anything about relying on misinformation or confirmation from an evangelist. One is supposed to receive the prophet by the authority that the prophet has. Those are the words of Jesus.

Perhaps it should be noted that I do understand that some may need to take time to process a lot of what has been posted here. And everyone needs to be sure. But let me add that those that God's has already convicted to believe the truth will always have a special place in my heart.

01/03/2013 p.m. Although there is a lot of sarcasm and false information about me (and many others) at the anti-Church of God Banned by HWA! website, one who recently commented correctly realized a lot of what was going on (note, I edited out one of his insults against the late Herbert W. Armstrong, though left in those directed towards me and Dr. Meredith; despite a lot of the improper tone, his overall point as to why the matter was changed from fixing LCG matters to one against me is one to that more should consider):

Anonymous VonHowitzer said...

Largely overlooked in the discussions so far are the implications of what in reality is a Bob Thiel power grab.

What if the LCG poobahs had announced that BT was a prophet? It would have immediately put El Presiding Evangelista Meredith in second place in church power rankings, since he would have been a mere evangelist. You recall the scripture that gives the power rankings, and it goes Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist. As BT The Prophet, BT would have stood in spiritual prominence above the Presiding Deacon, even though the Presiding Deacon would have still held the purse strings.

In the COG world it's pretty heady stuff to have yourself talked about as a possible Prophet by Men Who Knew the Man... Of course, it's a discussion that's never going to end - I mean, really, there's only one way for a prophet to show his bona fides and either BT did that or not.

This ambiguous power sharing possibility was not lost on Meredith, as BT's chronology shows, the only way BT was going to become a Prophet was if the Presiding Deacon got a raise himself to Presiding Apostle, or some such title. Hard to believe that men like Ames and Winnail would also allow ol' Bobbo to slide right into the ranks of power over them. Perhaps they were thinking of being named Jr. Apostles, or Lt. Apostles, or Disciple Apostles - some tag that would mean that in any meeting ol' Bobbo would be the one getting the coffee for the others.

For there is one consistent truth about the COG leaders, and BT's story holds it out once again. They would rather be wrong and in power than right and out of power.

January 1, 2013 9:43 PM

Whle I do not believe that the COG leaders in general are always about power or having improper motivations (hence do not agree that this is a "consistent truth"), the idea of some being concerned about rank and position may partially help explain why LCG did not correct various known errors, refused to publicly issue obvious corrections about the "Falling Away" matter, did not handle Heads Up! as promised privately, and put out an announcement about me in September 2012 (which contained factually incorrect information), as well as certain other improper information since. Something for those interested in the truth to consider.

Now, as far as the bona fides of being a prophet, many in the COGs simply have not studied the matter and have ideas and requirements that are not consistent with what the New Testament teaches. This may be because it has not been a common (if ever) sermon topic. Those who are willing to believe what the Bible and believers have written on this subject are invited to read the article How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God.

01/03/13 a.m. Those in LCG who have said or written some negative things about me in the past week or so, may wish to re-read the following from the July-August 2012 Living Church News:

Sometimes, when brethren hear messages (or read articles) that warn against murmuring, they may take offense, thinking they are being told to “shut up, pray and pay” or to act as “yes men” to the ministry. It is important to understand that having a thoughtful opinion and expressing it respectfully does not constitute murmuring. Scriptural admonitions against murmuring do not require us to “follow blindly” or to have no opinion. The key is our attitude, and how we express ourselves...

No, a true Philadelphian Christian will not be a “yes man” or a “blind follower.” Absolutely not! There is a right way to give input.

And for over 14 years, I provided input to the leadership of LCG inaccordance to the promise that Dr. Meredith made me make and the appointment he later gave me, until he made it clear on 12/28/12 that he no longer wanted it: a true Philadelphian Christian will not be a “yes man” or a “blind follower.” Are you?

01/02/2013 a.m. Just signed and dropped in the mail the Articles of Incorporation for the Continuing Church of God Overseer and successors, a corporation sole. This basically could not have happened earlier as the State of California prefers receiving them from the U.S. mail, and rules changed effective yesterday, so waiting until the first business date for the State seemed most prudent.

01/01/2013 p.m. Just filmed our first three videos for a new YouTube channel that should go live soon. I hope to produce higher quality videos in the future as I get more comfortable speaking before a camera. But at least today was a step towards going to another avenue to try to proclaim more of the message of the Bible.

01/01/2013 late a.m. A few scattered individuals and groups, consisting of people that I do not know personally, have contacted me and declared that they want to support the Continuing Church of God. Though we are still quite small, counting them would make the Continuing Church of God larger than most of the allegedly 300-700 groups that previously came out of the old Worldwide Church of God. And in terms of gospel reach (on the internet at least), in less four days, it appears that we have reached more people with parts of the Bible's message than probably all the aforementioned groups currently smaller than the Continuing Church of God combined for the same period.

12/31/12 a.m. Many have asked me for a list of doctrinal differences between LCG and the Continuing Church of God.

I have hesitated for several reasons including that I did not leave for what many would call improper doctrine per se (though I would consider some of them doctrinal in at least one sense). The reason was specifically because that LCG demonstrated insufficient "love of the truth" and had been making improper assertions/witness/claims/unkept promises that caused me to conclude that it truly had dropped the Philadelphia mantle; thus so began the Continuing Church of God.

Now, because I am trying to avoid a "war" between Charlotte, I have thus far been able to avoid posting a detailed and fairly complete line-by-line analysis of why many statements that Dr. Meredith made to me in his letter of 12/28/12, and his letter about me that was part of the Weekly Update of September 6, 2012, were improper. And hopefully, later I will not find that necessary. (Also, a "shout-out" to Charlotte, other than informing the LCG minister for Arroyo Grande and a few relatives, I have also not initiated contacted with ANY LCG members that I am aware of since finalizing the decision to form he Continuing Church of God). FWIW, I was appointed by Dr. Meredith as an advisor to Charlotte on matters of doctrine and prophecy in August/September 2005 and have tried to take that role seriously--and completely ended that role on 12/28/12--and this post has some details related to that.

Yet, perhaps the best place to start with was a series of meetings that I had with the evangelists on December 15th and 16th of 2011. The meetings were to go over issues that I had raised in past with literature, my prophetic influence, and a variety of promises from leaders in Charlotte. Although certain statements from mainly Dr. Winnail concerned me (and mainly private ones that were not directly part of the meetings where Dr. Meredith and Richard Ames were also included in), there seemed to be at least two positive developments.

The first to mention here, and this has long been at the About COGwriter page, was that on December 16, 2011, Richard Ames prayed, with “Amen” concurrence from Dr. Meredith and Dr. D. Winnail, that I would continue to do the work that God has had me to do, etc.  He also specifically called my writings/work “an additional witness.”  Hence, there was a broad top-level concurrence with the evangelical and prophetic fruits of that work. 

Furthermore, when in those meetings of December 15th and 16th of 2011th I gave Charlotte the "out" that perhaps that it may take six months to address certain topics that they agreed to address, Dr. Meredith specifically stated that, no, some of the more critical ones involving the Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs would be addressed the next month (January 2012). To the best of my knowledge, despite repeated promises from at least two of the three evangelists, this has not yet happened (though my reporting about some of this now may provide additional motivation to Charlotte on this and other matters).

Toward the end of those meetings, Richard Ames asked me to summarize the priorities of what we discussed that Charlotte should do. On December 21, 2011, I sent the following email:

Dear HQ Evangelists:

Thank you all for meeting with me multiple times, as well as attending Michael & Becky's wedding, in the past week.

Per Richard Ames suggestion, here is a short priority list:
  1. Statement of Beliefs. Per your requests, I will attempt to provide rationale for each of my suggested additions/changes. Dr. Meredith indicated that after you receive this from me and decide which (if not all) you wish to adopt, a teleconference with the Council may take place.
  2. Fatima Shock book. If any of you have comments or concerns, about this "additional witness," please let me know soon as it should is close to complete.
  3. 2012. As it is impossible to prove a negative, I urge restraint in claiming that the Mayans did not say/believe something that they may have said or believed related to 2012. It seems that we do not benefit from such difficult to prove negative claims.
  4. Beginning and End book. Per your request, for this "additional witness," I will send a file to be printed there so that all of you have latest draft of the book and suggest certain chapters for each of you to look at perhaps more closely.
  5. God's Church Through the Ages booklet. I hope to send a marked up copy of the book to Bill Bowmer so that hopefully, historical and other issues in it can be resolved.
  6. Heads Up podcast. One or more of you are to help develop expedited review procedures to help make it more timely. And if it is again decided that I should participate in producing content, someone will let me know.
  7. Fourteen Signs booklet. There are a few sentences that perhaps should be re-written in order to be more consistent with the sequence of events in Daniel 11.
  8. Antichrist booklet. I hope to read the newest version of it and suggest rewording of certain sections so that it will be more difficult for Catholics and Protestants to overlook.
  9. Restoring Original Christianity booklet. I hope to propose a couple of paragraphs to better show how we truly teach early Christianity like the earliest followers of Jesus and the apostles did.
  10. Beast booklet. Scriptures could be added in various places to strengthen the booklet. Perhaps it should be mentioned that John Ogwyn basically agreed with me on this point when we discussed it years ago.
The reason that I call this list "short" is that I have not gone through all the booklets in a while and there
are some that I would like to add to the above--essentially with the objective of showing why we have better ties to original Christianity and/or clarify prophetic points. These changes are in the two - three paragraph range for proposed additions.
Of course, for many booklets, it would seem to make sense to perhaps deal with some of them as they come up for review as opposed to always following the above priority order.
Best regards,
Bob Thiel

 

And to the best of my knowledge, none of the above was done. Despite repeated reminders. This was causing concern about the depth of love of the truth.

In May/June 2012, I noticed information coming out on the "falling away" matter that was similar to what Dr. Winnail had brought up years before and that Dr. Meredith (and at least two other ministers in Charlotte) had told me that they disagreed with. This greatly raised my concerns. After hearing the "falling away" "must-play" sermon of 6/1/12 on 7/14/12, I suspended my LCG membership, began the process of removing all comments from the website stating that I was a member of the Living Church of God (also stopped using the expression "We in LCG" and similar in news posts), and a few days later sent Dr. Meredith an urgent request on this matter.

To reduce public embarrassment of one or more parties, this 7/17/12 urgent email has portions removed:

For over three years, you have directed Dr. Winnail to go over this matter in detail with me. And Dr. Winnail has repeatedly promised me, for close to four years, that he would do so. In the past year, to give you some details, he promised in August 2011 to do this by September 2011, in September 2011 to do this by the Feast of 2011, during the Feast of 2011 he asked me to send him a new version of the paper which I did on 10/10/11 so that he would do this by November 2011, in November 2011 he agreed to go over it in depth prior to my visit to Charlotte in December 2011, in December 2011 to get to it later, in March 2011 to get to it, etc. But he never did. Instead, he established a public position selectively overlooking relevant information--including information I sent him and you in May 2012 (as well as several other submissions since 2008).

In the oral portion of the sermon, Dr. Winnail repeatedly claimed that the USA was established as a Christian nation, the majority of the founders of the USA were Christians, that Christians started nearly all the initial universities, etc. Not "so-called Christians," but "Christians." Does the Living Church of God really wish to claim that Protestants and/or Catholics are Christian? Is this what LCG means to teach? This seems to go against many of your earlier statements and writings. While Dr. Winnail likely did not mean so, why was this allowed to go out in a "must-play" carefully scripted presentation?

Additionally, here are some of the written portions shown in Dr. Winnail's sermon that are problematic:
Falling Away - Implications
Clarifying this issue and powerfully delivering this prophetic warning about a universal falling away from the fundamentals of biblical Christianity, led by a Beast, a Man of Sin and Miracles will clearly set the Living Church of God apart from false prophets and false apostles who preach the falling away has already occurred in WCG...
This is why a correct understanding of the Falling Away is important!...
Will set LCG apart from false teachers who are saying this event has already occurred.
(Winnail D. The Falling Away. Must-Play DVD DVE704, June 1, 2012)
And on a related note, in that sermon Dr. Winnail stated (words may not be exact as they are from my notes), "This will be an issue that will separate the Living Church of God from others who teach something different...this view that it (the falling away) only applies to the Church of God takes it out of its biblical context." Is this sermon teaching that if one does not agree with that then one is not part of the Living Church of God?

Is this doctrine how the Philadelphia remnant of the Church of God would want to be set apart? Would not the Philadelphia remnant be clearly set apart by emphasis on Philadelphia-era love by going through the open doors of proclaiming the gospel and feeding the flock, while holding fast to the truths restored to that era?

Instead, now, does the Living Church of God wish to claim that it is set apart because of Dr. Winnail's teaching on the falling away? Has the Philadelphia mantle been dropped?

In the sermon, Dr. Winnail stated that to teach that the falling away has already come is a contradiction of scripture and what the church historically taught. Are you then endorsing the teaching that the view I have repeatedly sent you that the Tkach apostasy may have been the falling away of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and that if the Church increases in numbers that a future falling away from the truth could instead fulfill this, must be false?

Part of the conclusion to what Dr. Winnail seems to be teaching is that the secular Europeans and others constituting BILLIONS (his term) are going to fall away by turning to the presumably Catholic antipope False Prophet and this is how they will fall away from biblical Christianity. But truly billions have never even accepted it. And if you eliminate the Anglo-nations, there may not even be billions of nominal Christians on the earth (and if you eliminate various Catholics the number is even smaller).

Now, a significant amount of people in the various COGs (especially those who were once part of the old Worldwide Church of God) have tended to consider that the falling away under the Tkach regime may have fulfilled Thessalonians 2:3. Yet, in the sermon, Dr. Winnail seemed to indicate that those who hold to that opinion are being led by the "spirit of error." The only scripture that mentions the "spirit of error" is 1 John 4:6, and it suggests those with that spirit are not real Christians.

Is LCG trying to teach that those who differ from the "official" LCG view on this are not truly part of the Church of God? Surely that was not the intent!

Is it your position that those who have that view are being led by Satan's spirit or somehow are false teachers, because that is what the sermon, at least to me, hints?

In the sermon, Dr. Winnail seemed to teach that there would be a reconstructed temple in Jerusalem to fulfill 2 Thessalonians 2:4. While there may be a Jewish temple, this seems to be another change, and a matter that I went over with Richard Ames in detail some time ago (there is also an article, Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required?, that you might find helpful on that). Did you intend for that to be taught?

As far as Herbert Armstrong goes, while it is true that he discussed a massive falling away, he sometimes perhaps combined more than one "falling away" at times in a manner that perhaps he had not realized. At other times, Herbert Armstrong seemed to separate them. In addition to the radio broadcast he did titled End Time Falling Away, specifically in his 1978 book The Incredible Human Potential, he seems to teach that the falling away of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 was related to those supposedly actually part of the Church (pp. 161-162), whereas the 2 Thessalonians 2:7, etc. had to do with the false church (p. 8). Since Herbert Armstrong seemed to have made the distinction, is Dr. Winnail suggesting that Herbert Armstrong was not chosen then as supposedly in 1978 Herbert Armstrong may have had the spirit of error on this?

Now, if you wish, you and I can go through Dr. Winnail's entire sermon and I can provide you more details about where various errors of commission and omission occurred. But perhaps the most blatant scriptural omission was the failure to cite the following:

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…(1 Timothy 4:1).

That departure is clearly related to the falling away from the truth.

In the sermon Dr. Winnail insists that only his sequence of 2 Thessalonians 2 agrees with the rest of the scripture. Yet, as far as the sequence of 2 Thessalonians goes, scripture clearly states that the "falling away comes first" then the son of perdition is revealed. Please consider the order that Jesus Himself gave in Matthew 24:12-15 is consistent with what I have long urged you to teach, and this too, was not mentioned in that sermon. The timing of the sequence, and the way it was explained in that sermon, also seems to be in conflict with LCG positions on the Day of the Lord.

Additionally, Dr. Winnail's other statements in the sermon not-with-standing, one can believe that the falling away can be related to the falling away from the truth and still proclaim that the vast majority of humankind will be deceived by the signs and lying wonders of 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12. Is that not consistent with what my books 2012 and the Rise of the Secret Sect and Fatima Shock! teach? Perhaps you should consider telling the membership that some of Dr. Winnail's assertions and conclusion are not absolute as the sermon suggests.

Since it was in an official "must-play" sermon, does the Living Church of God really intend to hold to the following?

If not, please consider issuing a formal clarification and/or withdrawing the sermon.

Do you want to see more? ...

Please consider what should set the Philadelphia remnant apart. Should this falling away from the "fundamentals of Christianity" teaching, combined with not correcting literature errors and writing an autobiography, be your legacy? Should your legacy not be standing for the truth, going through open doors to proclaim the gospel, teaching the love of God, and holding fast to the truth?

I plead with you, please consider this matter in more depth.

Dr. Meredith delegated the response to the above and other matters to Dr. Winnail. Now, Dr. Winnail had already told me that he was planning to come out and see me late August 2012 to discuss the priorities and my mailed letter in June 2012 to Dr. Meredith. The "falling away" matter was later added to it. When he came out, Dr. Winnail made various promises related to items 1 & 5 above, as well as the falling away, that he did not keep.

On August 26, 2012, I decided to ask him about Charlotte's view of my prophetic role and Dr. Winnail stated, “We all think that you might be a prophet.”  In order to determine who “We all” was (since prior to August 2012, only my wife, some COE board members, plus Gary Ehman and later Gaylyn Bonjour, knew about it to the best of my knowledge), on September 7, 2012, Bob Thiel asked if this was a reference to all three of the LCG Charlotte-based evangelists and Dr. Winnail concurred. This testimony was oddly later contradicted in the 12/28/12 letter I was sent.

I also handed Dr. Winnail a more detailed analysis of the falling away matter on August 27, 2012. And Richard Ames, when we briefly discussed this on October 8, 2012, said he would be interested in seeing it. And after he received it, he emailed me that he would read the most relevant parts.

So, those were some developments.

As far as doctrines, unlike Charlotte, CCOG believes:

  1. That the word of God and not Protestant commentaries should be the basis for changing doctrine (it remains my view that the "falling away" logic was primarily based upon Protestant interpretations, overlooked at lot of what HWA's church taught about it, and was not consistent with many scriptures in the Bible).
  2. The Falling Away on 2 Thessalonians 2:3 mainly has to do those affiliated with the COG.
  3. That the leader of CCOG keep his word--really.
  4. That faith is not the first step towards salvation, but that God calls and send out His messengers to teach the word of God, and then comes faith (the Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs differs).
  5. That it is inappropriate to suggest that those that do not agree to a doctrinal change have somehow been led by or blinded by Satan (this is related to statements in two sermons by Dr. Winnail).
  6. That it is not necessary to rebuild a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem before Jesus returns (both a recent TW and one or more sermons have stated a view that disagrees with that).
  7. That literature corrections and/or retractions should be made when known (some of them are in this post).
  8. That the COG must be bolder in certain areas if it wants to fulfill Matthew 24:14.
  9. That it is wrong to knowingly send out tens of thousands of booklets with admitted and known errors for several years (tens of thousands of the GCA booklet have gone out, despite LCG being told that they contain known errors years ago and that they perpetuate certain Catholic myths; on 10/18/12 I was informed that over 20,000 incorrect booklets remained and were expected to be sent out).
  10. That it is wrong to continue to have one or more known errors/contradictions in an Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs, but still keep it unchanged for years after learning what they are (one is a seeming contradiction within the Statement, and the others are covered in points 4 and 18, though point four I had not brought that up before, but wanted to this month).
  11. That Philadelphians should expect persecution (Daniel 11:28-35; Revelation 12:13-14) and not excessively pull-back proclamation to avoid it (I was specifically told that some, who I will not mention now by name, were afraid I, Bob Thiel, could trigger end time persecution, despite the fact that they also specifically teach that the Philadelphians will be persecuted).
  12. That improving literature and doctrinal errors will greatly assist in the final phase of the work. (Briefly, what this refers to is when the COG publicly identifies the King of the North and media coverage gets generated, the Catholic scholars will tear through COG literature and find many, many simple to fix errors that will hurt the COG's credibility. LCG Evangelists agreed to fix many of them with me over the years, but have yet not done so. My being distant from LCG assists as I will not have to apologize for why a group that supposedly has enough of the "love of the truth" kept publishing errors. And several of those errors perpetuate Catholic myths. This could greatly damage the credibility of God's work.)
  13. It has a better grasp of the final phase of the work. (Briefly, basically this begins no later than when the King of the North is identified and continues until Jesus returns--it has multiple parts including fulfilling Matthew 24:14--which may happen because of related media attention, persecution, the angels' messages of Revelation, the two witnesses, and supporting those witnesses. If John Ogwyn was correct about the "short work" on Romans 9:28, this could possibly, temporarily swell the ranks of the COG prior to the persecution.)
  14. People should be more loyal to the word of God and leaders that God appoints than a corporation.
  15. Ignatius' writings did not do away with the Sabbath as that is a mistranslation (the God's Church Through the Ages' booklet has this and many other errors).
  16. Various D&R matters. Though since I have only been married once, we have been married for 31 plus years, and are not planning on divorcing, this was not a major personal item, but has long been a concern.
  17. That adultery, does not mean multiple adultery, as far as Jesus' words about divorce go (Dr. Meredith has said in sermons that adultery here means multiple violations. That is not how I read this and I called Charlotte about it a couple of months ago, with no satisfactory resolution.)
  18. That the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob's troubles, does not start at Daniel 11:40 when the King of the South pushes at the King of the North--it starts the prior verse (this is something that still needs to be corrected, in my view, in of the Official Statement of Fundamental Beliefs).
  19. Do not believe that any in the ministry should promote the sport of American Football (the Bible, in Romans 13:9-10 clearly teaches "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law"). HWA also specifically warned against this violent sport. There are other "love" issue matters.

Anyway, though there are other issues, hopefully this addresses this enough for now.

12/31/12 early a.m. As soon as I went to bed last night, I realized that related to the first 30 day proclamation prediction that I should have mentioned that I in my mind had excluded Garner Ted Armstrong and the re-groups he formed, which in my view were not new in the sense that I intended (it is not that the Continuing Church of God may not reach more than he did back then, but statistics related to him are harder to estimate and he already was a significant celebrity--I even remember seeing him as a television guest on the old popular show Hee-Haw, which for those who do not remember it, it was not a religious show. Also I recall hearing that at least one national network, and there were really only about three plus PBS back the, had wanted GTA to be a news anchor).

12/30/12 late p.m. Some have wondered about tithing and what the Continuing Church of God plans to do with any donations. First, let me state that unless anyone is hired (and no one, not me, is on the payroll), all monies received will be used for gospel proclamation, feeding the flock (which may include travel to various regions), and necessary administration expenses (which should be fairly low).

As far as gospel proclamation, I will make a prediction right here and right now. The Continuing Church of God will reach more people in its first 30 days of existence with the COG message than any COG that came out of the old Worldwide Church of God or old Global Church of God did in their first 30 days. This will be accomplished with various internet websites, radio interviews, and personal contact. I expect to report the results in case any want to see proof by the end of next month.

All donations to the Continuing Church of God are 100% tax deductible from federal income tax in all 50 states, as well as all the U.S. states that have income tax. For the State of California, we are in the process of completing the long documents to get formal approval, but this tends to be routine. If anyone in the State of California makes a donation and for some nearly impossible reason the formal approval never comes, we will refund the portion related to your California income tax issue. But we consider this to be nearly impossible.

Should anyone send in any tithes or offerings that are postmarked by 12/31/12 they will be considered a donation for the tax year 2012 and a receipt will also be given. Anything later will be for later periods.

Our address is:

Continuing Church of God
1248 E. Grand Avenue, Suite A
Arroyo Grande, CA 93420

12/30/12 late a.m. Various ones have asked for a listing of prophetic fruits, which would be one valid way to help determine (according to Jesus per Matthew 7:15-20) if one may be a prophet of God.

In my case, there is a listing of 32 related to my 2012 book at the beginning of the article End of Mayan Calendar 2012--Might 2012 Mean Something?; 7 related to Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg in the article Might German Baron Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg become the King of the North?; 1 related to China and Australian Prime Minister Julian Gilliard is mentioned in the article USA and Australia Concerned About Chinese Military; Chinese Concerned about Australia-USA Military Co-operation. And if one goes through the details of past news and other articles at the COGwriter.com website, the total seems to be in the hundreds.

While many would be considered common COG beliefs, many were more specific than the COG has tended to proclaim (and without the errors that some in the COG have tended to have had). And of course, some will try to pick at them and discount them in the near future--so yes, I am making that as a specific prediction. I will also predict that some who will be quick to jump to improper conclusions, as opposed to doing in-depth study and prayer into the truth, will ridicule me reporting about all of this. Prophets have long been ridiculed and doubted by the political and religious establishments (e.g. Isaiah 57:4; Lamentations 3:14), including claimed believers (Jeremiah 42:22, 43:1-7), and this will continue until the end (cf. 2 Peter 3:1-7). Do not be surprised when false statements appear about me (Matthew 5:10-12) even from ones who claim to be COG (Acts 20:30). Jesus warned that evil things would be said against those who truly follow Him (Matthew 5:10-12) (see also the news post Persecution and the article Persecutions by Church and State). Some are more comfortable making improper accusations or staying on the sidelines than they are in standing for the truth and/or further investigating the truth, but those approaches come with a cost of at least reward forfeiture (cf. Matthew 10:25-41).

Those seriously interested in the truth really should open their Bibles (not rely on their own guess of proper tradition) and learn the truth about prophets in the New Testament era. An article that really should assist the sincere is How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God. But it is likely that it too will be criticized and ridiculed by some. But hopefully not by any who really have "the love of the truth."

P.S. Despite some suggestions on the internet that I already had arranged some type of specific COG following (other than close family members and two local associates who had a week or so previously asked me about COG beliefs) before announcing the formation of the Continuing Church of God, this is not true. I walked out completely on faith that those who were truly Philadelphian would, over time, realize the truth and eventually support the Continuing Church of God.

12/29/12 p.m. Based upon some of the emails that I have received, let me make it clearer as to why I left LCG. 1) It had nothing directly to do with LCG not sufficiently recognizing my prophetic abilities/role. 2) It was completely related to the fact that over the years I have seen that the "love of the truth" was not there (including not having the love of following certain scriptural admonitions) to the degree that I felt it needed to be.

Instead of literature and doctrinal errors being addressed (cf. Revelation 3:17-20), the letter Dr. Meredith sent made the matter about me, which is not what I had tried to do--and the content came as a shock.

But that letter was 100% confirmation (to me at least) that Charlotte did not value truth enough (cf. Revelation 3:17-20), and suffice it to say, the letter was worse than that. Because Dr. Meredith sent out the letter without actually speaking with me about the issues (which included Charlotte continuing to send out literature with known discrepancies for years, relying on Protestant commentaries above scripture in some cases, and suggesting that those that did not accept the falling away change were being influenced by Satan, other doctrinal matters, final phase of the work, etc.), he and others have improperly come up with conclusions about why I left.

As far as my 'ministerial' qualifications go. Hands were laid on me and I was anointed with oil. Those who think that this had to be officially recognized by Charlotte (even though it happened in Charlotte, and Charlotte evangelists endorsed my evangelical efforts within hours of this happening), might mediate on what the Apostle Paul wrote, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God" (Ephesians 1:1) and "Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Galatians 1:1). Actually Paul made several more nearly identical statements as apparently some did not accept his ordination.

Hope this is clearer, and yes, I probably should have said more of this yesterday (but, yesterday, really came as a shock and I still am in a bit of a state of shock about all of this).

12/28/12 p.m. For the past year or so I have wondered if perhaps the Living Church of God had lost the Philadelphia mantle.  To be 100% certain, I have been trying to resolve many matters with those in Charlotte and telephoned Dr. Roderick C. Meredith every day this week.

Instead of speaking with me, a few hours ago I received a factually incorrect letter from Dr. Roderick C. Meredith.  Based upon its tone, numerous inaccurate statements, accusations, and his unwillingness to address the real issues that I wanted to bring up, this letter is 100% proof (to me at least) that my view that the Living Church of God lost the Philadelphia mantle in 2011 or 2012.   I am saddened by this development and had hoped to avoid having to make a variety decisions.  But, God’s will is to be done (Matthew 6:10; 1 John 2:17).

About an hour ago, I signed various notarized documents to declare the start of a new organization.  It is legally to be called the Continuing Church of God Overseer and successors, a corporation sole.  Next week, the corporate documents are to be filed–but legally it now exists as a real church.  The late Herbert W. Armstrong formed a corporate sole in the 1970s and this seemed to be the best available option for me in California.

We expect to best represent the true remnant of the Philadelphia era of the original Church of God that began on Pentecost in Acts 2 (c. 31 A.D.). Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God.

The following may help show how I could be possibly qualifiied to do this:

Also, we are told to pray for the Holy Spirit. And God shows us in His Word, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:7-10).

The fact is, that unlike the self-appointed leaders with COG-ties (like Ron Weinland, etc.), Bob Thiel was told by the Presiding Evangelist of the Living Church of God that God may consider him to be a prophet, to continue his evangelical efforts (and was also told to do that by others, including Richard Ames), that he (Dr. Meredith) possibly should have anointed Bob Thiel to the office of a prophet.  It seems that, perhaps because Dr. Meredith personally did not anoint Bob Thiel, God took steps to get that anointing done by a properly ordained member of the eldership. 

While God did have Ananias (described with the title of “disciple“ in Acts 9:10, probably a minister-level individual) lay hands upon Paul, no title was recorded as being given to Paul at that time (Acts 9:17).  Yet later, Paul wanted to make it clear that he was an apostle because Jesus chose him, not any human organization (Galatians 1:1). Nor did he feel “inferior“ to the more “eminent apostles“ (2 Corinthians 11:5). Does this not have some parallels to what happened to Bob Thiel? No man or group had gotten together to agree to anoint him with a “double-portion” of God’s Spirit in December 2011, but it did happen.

Dr. Winnail and others have stated in the past that Christians should “connect-the-dots” and that is something that seems to make sense here. 

As far as “prophetic fruits” go, Bob Thiel has asked all the Charlotte evangelists, “How many accurate speculations does it take before it counts?,” without getting an answer.  He has also asked, “If I have ever shown myself to be a false prophet, please explain how or why,“ also without getting an answer.

What humans conclude related to Bob Thiel's role does not, in one sense, matter.  It is God who appoints true church leaders (Ephesians 4:11) “for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12).

What really does matter is God's will (John 7:17) and our submission to it (James 4:7).  And it has not totally unfolded how He will work all the details out—but God’s plan will be accomplished.

The Bible is clear, “God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets…” ( 1 Corinthians 12:28) “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).

To the pure, all things are pure (Titus 1:15).

An article of possibly related interest may be: How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God. There are many false prophets. How can Christians determine who is a true prophet? The article How To Determine If Someone is a True Prophet of God should help any who really want to have the love of the truth, as well as those who believe that they should follow one that God raises up.

Here is a draft that I hope to finish next week on beliefs: Draft Statement: Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God.

12/16/12 a.m. Basically closed out the News of the Living Church of God page and, while there may be exceptions, expect to post certain types of news related to LCG at this page.

12/14/12 p.m. Shepherd's Voice magazine (dated Summer 2012) arrived in the mail a few moments ago (the publication is often quite late). In a Q&A, Norman Edwards includes the following in an answer:

Believers should never try to figure out how much of our sin we can“get away with” because it will be covered by imputed righteousness. We should seek to become “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

Perhaps I should mention that I agree with that. Christians who want to know how much they can sin have basically already crossed a dangerous line:

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, (Hebrews 10:26).

Those who have done so need to repent.

In the same issue, after reporting a financial request from someone with health problems in India, Norman Edwards responded with:

We receive dozens of requests for economic help from poorer countries. From the few we have looked into, we find quite a few to be exaggerated or completely false. Some even pretend to be interested in our teachings and write questions about them, but when we answer those letters, they show no real interest—they just continued to ask for money or other resources. Some of them sold the literature that we sent. Others went as far as sending pictures they obtained from other orphanages and ministries.

It is not good for anyone to send money or other resources to someone who is dealing falsely. It causes them to continue in their false ways, and it takes money away from those who are truly in need. The best way for a group of people in the USA to help people in a distant land is to send someone they know and trust to them so that they can see that their needs are genuine.

His experience with this type of thing is consistent with mine and likely many others.

12/01/12 a.m. In its current weekly update, CEG posted the following:

Muslim Brotherhood Stands for Radical Islam”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 26:

“Abd al-Galil al-Sharnubi says he can only laugh at the thought that there are people in the West who still see the Muslim Brotherhood as ‘moderate Islamists.’ Sharnubi is a journalist and a Muslim -- and he was a member of the Brotherhood for 23 years. He's been familiar with the movement since he was 14, and he says that the Brotherhood could be the kiss of death for democracy in Egypt.

“Last year, Sharnubi, 38, left the Islamist organization. Since then, he says that his life has become a nightmare…  he warned his fellow Egyptians that the movement was undemocratic and authoritarian, and that leading Muslim Brothers were no less corrupt than politicians from the old regime. Many accused Sharnubi of spreading panic, saying that the Islamists should be given a chance. But the former member of the Brotherhood says that last week's events show that he's been right all along. The president's ‘coup,’ says Sharnubi, provides just an inkling of the Brotherhood's obsession with power.”...

Egypt’s “democracy” will be short-lived. America and Europe have been extremely naïve in the matter of the Arab Spring, and Egypt will not be a friend of either one of the two Western power blocs—nor will it be a friend of Israel.

The truth is that the Muslim Brotherhood has an agenda to takeover the Middle East and North Africa (see The Arab and Islamic World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy). By reporting about them as it has, it seems like CEG is almost getting close to understanding that there will be a future King of the South? (which is something it has historically misunderstood and denied).

11/20/12 a.m. Craig White sent out some notes that the late Raymond McNair took from old WCG ministerial conferences, some of which I thought I would share here:

A. 1969 or January 1970:

HWA - "we need to pull together - to respect each other ... we need to learn to go to each other and talk things over. There is the ever-present empire-building tendency among those in responsible departments ... and are very ambitious".

"Mr. A said if there is anything, any difficulty, talk it over - come out with it, don't harbour it!"

B. 13 January 1970:

"just because one isn't in the ministry, it doesn't mean they aren't very valuable"

C. 17 January 1972:

Mr. A said the ministers feel nervous when speaking before him. But he said he does not sit there judging, evaluating- unless there is something outstandingly bad) ...

He said some felt he had wanted ministers only to wear a white shirt on the Sabbath - if speaking, but could wear a coloured shirt if not speaking.

He says he prefers to wear a white shirt on the Sabbath, but does not feel it is mandatory. He would wear a white shirt - if in the audience. But said this was merely personal preference.

HWA: watch events and pray. Things to watch:

a. US of Europe

b. militant Catholic Church

c. watch US economic conditions

d. Jerusalem and Mid East

e. This Work

The four world news items above as well as the true Work of God are still items to watch and pray about.

11/01/12 a.m. Got a few emails yesterday related to David Pack's claims about himself and his claimed relationship to the late Herbert W. Armstrong. And I also spoke to UCG's Aaron Dean about David Pack a few days ago. Suffice it to say, David Pack is believed to have exaggerated his relationship with HWA, etc. But that is little surprise as David Pack and Pharisaical emphasis is a lot of what RCG is about. But instead of posting more about him personally, I believe it is more important to mention that what he teaches is simply not right about the Gospel and a variety of other subjects--and the emphasis of RCG, in my view, is simply not the true Christian one from a biblical perspective. Some information about that is in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

10/18/12 a.m. RCG's David Pack decided to post another article about himself that starts off with the following:

Do You Know “David Pack”?

My Life and Ministry—Rumors and Lies vs. Facts and Truth

BY DAVID C. PACK

Like some of you, I have been the target of obvious lies—and in my case for many years.

David Pack posted a fair amount of lies and inaccurate information about me so far this year--perhaps he will look in the mirror and repent? His recent article seems highly pointed towards LCG, though it tries to deal with other groups as well.

On what could be considered a personal positive note, David Pack never actually named me as a false accuser in his latest defense of himself against false statements and lies. Perhaps this is because he knows that I have never lied nor intentionally posted anything inaccurate about him? Anyway, more on David Pack can be found in the popular article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

09/29/12 a.m. Jonathan Bryce of EnCOG posted the following:

Whatever the outcome of the government’s plan, the run–up to the current events and the staggering mistakes of America’s revered financial giants has left the rest of the world shaking their head in disbelief and searching for opportunities to increase the prominence of their individual economies. These countries feel that the United States has long had an economic superiority complex and run roughshod over other nations. Now, what was the crown jewel of free market economies is in turmoil after a series of missteps. Other developed nations are frantically taking their own measures to try to limit the global repercussions. And some are seizing the moment to try to claim a more prominent and powerful position on the world stage.

On September 25th, the German Minister of Finance, Peer Steinbrueck, spoke to Germany’s lower house of Parliament. He told them, “One thing seems very likely to me. The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multi–polar.” He also criticized the “Anglo–saxon capitalist drive towards large profits and massive bonuses for bankers.” Steinbrueck later discussed the role of the dollar as the world premiere reserve currency, saying that in the future, it would just be one of several major currencies alongside the Euro, the Yen and the Yuan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has also discussed the need for an overhaul of American–style capitalism. Sarkozy called for world leaders to meet together and create a plan to overhaul the global financial system. “It is the duty of the heads of state and government of the countries most directly concerned to meet before the end of the year to examine together lessons of the most serious financial crisis the world has experienced since that of the 1930s.”

And the reality is that world leaders are working on replacing the Anglo-dominated economic system with another one and that does not bode well for the USA or its Anglo-allies. Two articles of possibly related interest may include Anglo - America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel and Will the Anglo-Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves?

09/21/12 a.m. As part of its latest update, CEG posted the following:

Finishing The Work
by Dave Harris

Long-time members of God’s Church often refer to the activity of preaching the gospel and caring for the membership as “the work.” By this, we are thinking in terms of the special calling of God and the subsequent responsibility God places on each Christian...

However, just as we are so clearly told through the record of the New Testament era of God’s Church, some were more zealous than others in finishing their part in the Work of God. Not everyone of that time remained faithful, and it would appear that the few instead of the many continued to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Of this era, Jesus said, “‘…I have this against you, that you have left your first love’” (Revelation 2:4). Jesus Christ has much to say to His Church, and along with instructions about what we should be doing, there are somber warnings for us—all written down in the Bible for our guidance. We must not take lightly the job that has been entrusted to us. We are to go where God leads us, to do what He inspires us to do—doing all of this with ever increasing zeal and knowing that we, fulfilling whatever our part is, are participating in finishing the Work of God!

I agree that Christ will get the work finished and the more faithful and zealous will accomplish this. In addition to 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? which is now available with certain details, I hope to post something more in the next several months about the final phase of the work.

09/12/12 p.m. RCG contacted me today and stated that they changed part of the falling away article related to me. Without going into all the details, they still make false statements (and although I emailed them about it they had not changed them when I last checked):

Here is why Thiel disavowed his previous position and hid the facts. He saw the same thing we have seen since our posting—WIDESPREAD DISAGREEMENT IN LCG WITH ROD MEREDITH’S FALSE TEACHING ABOUT THE FALLING AWAY! He probably got the same avalanche of emails from LCG members that we did. He wanted to be in agreement with the large number in LCG who know this doctrine is WRONG!

For years I have prepared papers with the basically same "falling away" position. To state that I changed it back and forth in 2012 related LCG emails is not true. I contacted LCG-Charlotte on May 13, 2012 when it first seemed to me that the position was going to change--I had receive ZERO emails or anything else from LCG members related to this matter as it had only been a subject that I had discussed with the evangelists and perhaps a couple of ministers before May 2012. My writings were not altered by LCG member emails--this is another false conclusion from RCG.

09/07/12 p.m. Here are some details related the "falling away" matter and the 08/25/12 a.m. post.

In a bizarre post dated 8/16/12, David Pack posted a lot of falsehood about me:

We could also include here a statement from Rod Meredith’s puppet used to attack others, Bob Thiel, to show how he has quickly fallen into line with the new error/thinking. But his words are better held for later when they can be shown in stark contrast to what he once believed, in his own words... Mr. Armstrong occasionally cited II Thessalonians 2:3 to illustrate what happened to first century Christians turning away from Christ and the apostles’ original gospel message... But first, we examine how LCG’s designated attack/spinmaster has quickly stepped in line with the new teaching. Bob Thiel Reinforces New Belief Bob Thiel, a widely read LCG “blogger” referenced earlier, has of course publicly weighed in on the new teaching, and also of course supports it by having reposted (adding his own article) LCG’s May 3, 2012 “News and Prophecy” report, under “Rise of Atheism.” You will momentarily read a second public statement from Thiel PROVING that his thinking has flipped...

What did I write? I, Bob Thiel, wrote against atheism and quoted scriptures against those who do not want believe in God. The full name of the post was TW: The Rise of Atheism. The fact that I perhaps quoted more of the TW than needed just for that (and which were consistent with a radio broadcast from HWA in the early 1980s on the subject) is no justification for David Pack's false claims about me (I also had no idea an LCG position related to falling away was coming out). Furthermore, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a puppet for LCG. LCG does not review what I post at COGwriter and rarely comments about it. David Pack is bearing false witness. He goes further and actually quotes something I wrote in a different article. And while I stand by what I wrote in that article, David Pack goes on and states:

Like me during my GCG years, Thiel could not have posted, and for so long, his next public statement unless it was LCG’s official position for 14 years (and Rod Meredith’s for this and much longer). Thiel also becomes an additional proof that Rod Meredith (and LCG) until recently believed the Church’s long-held position. Originally posted in 2006, but actually updated in 2012, Thiel wrote the following in his article “The Philadelphia Church era,” interestingly, under the subhead “The Command to Persevere”

I had never to that point asked what LCG's official position was, so saying that what I wrote is proof of what R.C. Meredith believed is irrelevant. David Pack has trouble with the truth here. David Pack may have felt he had to compromise to do what he did during GCG, but as COGwriter I am not under direct supervision of anyone in LCG (nor the old GCG when I was in it). And even though my position has not changed, David Pack also falsely posted:

Bob Thiel has clearly changed—and you will soon see that what he fell into is a popular belief in the churches of a world that could not possibly understand the true meaning of II Thessalonians 2:3. Since you can understand, the question becomes: Will you see this deception for what it is? Or will you be just another “Bob Thiel” who goes along to get along because to do otherwise would be to jeopardize one’s standing? Thankfully, some people are not as easy to fool as Thiel.

Yet, if David Pack was interested in the truth, he would have been more careful than to post the above as the above conclusions are mainly lies from his own imagination. On May 13, 2012, when it looked like a change in formal position may be taking place, I contacted the HQ evangelists and urged them to reconsider certain points. Dr. Winnail ended up contacting me late the next month and discussed his idea to come out to see me. Before I played his "Falling Away" sermon, I was told in July 2012 by two LCG ministers that I would probably not have issues with that sermon, so I played it and watched it. After watching it, I contacted LCG and produced several documents stating my concerns which were sent in July and August 2012. And if David Pack would have read my LCG news page he should have been able to guess that I was not going along the way he suggested. May God forgive him of his false accusations here.

David Pack has implied because he thinks he is an apostle, that God will back him, even if he is wrong. David Pack's posted conclusions about me are clearly erroneous. God cannot bless falsehoods. I am trying to explain true things, God is the judge, while Satan is the false accuser of the brethren. I have not written false accusations against David Pack--he has done that, however, towards me (BTW, David Pack has had his employees contact me from time-to-time when they had concerns, and if there concerns seemed valid I dealt with them, hence if there is ANYTHING inaccurate at COGwriter, he and his staff know how to contact me to resolve them).

Readers, will you listen to the truth or will you be just another “David Pack” who goes along based on false accusations and assumptions that are not truthful? If you are being another “Bob Thiel” as he calls it, you will have stood for biblical beliefs even if others do not always see it your way. And that is what I have always striven to do.

08/30/12 a.m. Shepherd's Voice magazine arrived last night. In an article by Norman Edwards, he mentions that related to PABC's homeless ministry, there are "27 Guests now living on the Port Austin Bible campus...Nearly all come from difficult life circumstances: abused or abandoned as children, illness, job loss, spousal abuse, etc. Some are partly the cause of their own problems: one is on the Michigan sex offender registry, a few others have had prison or jail time."

08/25/12 p.m. Just read a post from RCG's David Pack about me a moment ago. It is unfortunate that he is mischaracterizing my position. His conclusions about me on this matter are false. No one should be a false accuser of the brethren like he is being here towards me as David Pack speaks of what he does not understand.

08/11/12 p.m. Tried to go to the Updates page for ECG today, and twice got the following message:

Not Found

The requested URL /main/updates.html was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache Server at www.eternalcog.org Port 80

This, the lack of regular updates, is one reason that ECG and some other groups rarely get covered here.

08/01/12 a.m. RCG sent out a press release yesterday that contained the following:

The Restored Church of God (RCG) will premiere The World to Come(TM) with David C. Pack on nationwide television in the United States this September. The program will feature Pastor General David C. Pack...

RCG has said that they were intending to have a telecast. It is sad that they do not actually understand the true gospel.

07/13/12 a.m. David Pack is back on the attack.

Since he does not understand the Gospel, he is claiming that LCG does not. Here is some of what he posted:

A 3-FOLD, FALSE GOSPEL How LCG Leaders Deceive Their Members!

The Living Church of God has preached and taught a false gospel for years...Here is UNDENIABLE PROOF!...

LCG’s most recent article about its gospel, published in the July-August 2011 Living Church News, contains the most blatant errors yet. Titled “Two Vital Aspects of the Gospel,” it plainly asserts that the gospel is comprised of two elements—(1) Christ’s sacrifice and (2) the kingdom of God.

So, he is suggesting that the above is false? His article does not like the fact that in that part of the article, Christ's sacrifice is listed before the Kingdom. Has he not read what the Apostle Paul wrote:

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)

Later, David Pack quotes the following, and has problems with it:

All LCG members should take a long, hard look at these words and, in light of the curse pronounced through Paul, ask whether they are ready to accept this gospel—one that is 50% classic Protestantism, the kind many had to unlearn and reject when they were called:

“We need to understand that there are two fundamental parts of the true Gospel:

“First, the good news is that the Christ of the Bible really is coming back to set up the Kingdom of God on earth and to bring genuine peace and joy to all humanity (Revelation 11:15; Psalm 72).

“Second, this includes the good news that Jesus Christ of Nazareth came into this world to die for our sins and to make it possible for us to be forgiven for those sins. And also it involves the wonderful promise of receiving the Holy Spirit—thus making it possible for us to grow in grace and in knowledge and to be those ‘overcomers’ to assist Jesus Christ in ruling this entire world when the Kingdom of God is set up on this earth.”

We will soon see from the pages of the Bible and in Mr. Armstrong’s writings that the above quote is patently false!

The term "gospel" is associated with quite a few aspects of the good news in the New Testament. Presuming, David Pack has read it.

David Pack goes so far as to claim:

Only the KINGDOM OF GOD...only the gospel the Bible teaches—the one Mr. Armstrong taught—the one solely about the kingdom of God...

That is not really what the Bible teaches, nor is it what Herbert Armstrong taught. Followers of RCG should realize that NOT ONE OF THE QUOTES THAT DAVID PACK PUT IN THAT ARTICLE FROM HERBERT ARMSTRONG, DID HERBERT ARMSTRONG MAKE THAT CLAIM.

Here are some of the terms associated with the term "gospel," in the order they appear in the most common order of the New Testament books, and with only the first scripture that mentions each expression cited (many are in the New Testament multiple times):

gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 4:35)
gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1)
gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24)
gospel of God (Romans 1:1)
gospel of His Son (Romans 1:9)
gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16)
gospel of peace (Romans 10:15)
gospel of your salvation (Ephesians 1:13)
gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:18)
gospel of the blessed God (Titus 1:11)

So we see that the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, grace, peace, salvation, and the blessed God are all aspects of the gospel. In the NKJV, the term "gospel" appears 100 times, and most do not solely consist of references to the Kingdom.

Now, to justify his misunderstanding, David Pack posted the following:

Here is what Mr. Armstrong taught, in his words—in one plain statement after another. Get them crystal clear in your mind before we examine the carefully contrived deceit from LCG Headquarters—and its top leader. Pay close attention to what is said—and to what is not.

Well, although the Bible, and not certain selected quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong, should be the guide as to what is the true Gospel, perhaps, it would make sense to quote some comments from Herbert Armstrong that are supportive of what LCG teaches.

The following is from Herbert Armstrong's 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, and we in the Living Church of God try to proclaim the full gospel message, which emphasizes the Jesus' coming kingdom and His role in salvation.

In various writings HWA explained the gospel had various parts of Jesus' involvement. Notice another:

Jesus constantly preached the good news about the coming Kingdom of God (Matthew 4:23; 6:10; 7:21; Mark 1:15; 4:11; 14:25; Luke 4:43; 8:10; 9:2, 11, 62, etc.). He pictured Himself as the young nobleman going away (to heaven) to be coronated, and to return to earth (Luke 19:12-27). Repeatedly Jesus said He would return to earth (Matthew 24:27, 30-31, 42; 25:13; Mark 13:26; Luke 12:42-43; 17:24; 18:8; 19:12; 21:27; John 14:3, etc.). "If I go and prepare a place [position, office, habitation] for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:3). He will then be on the earth -- Zechariah 14:3-4 with I Thessalonians 4:16. The living Christ is coming in all the power and glory of Almighty God, as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:11-21), to put down the rebellion of warring nations (Revelation 17:14), and establish God's world-ruling Government over all nations (Daniel 2:44; 7:9,13-14, 18, 22, 27; Isaiah 9:7) (Armstrong HW. The Wonderful World Tomorrow What it Will be Like. Everest House, New York, 1979 p. 100).

And, according to Herbert Armstrong, it involved our personal conversion and keeping Jesus' works:

The Purpose of the Christian Life

WHY do people not understand the very Gospel Jesus Christ taught? He taught the Kingdom of God. So did the apostles, including Paul. Jesus spoke mostly in parables. Take a quick look at one or two. Notice what Jesus revealed. Notice the awe-inspiring TREMENDOUS potential that is ours.

Take the parable of the nobleman going to a far country, later to return. It is in Luke 19:11-27. Jesus is the Nobleman. He was going to a far country -- to the heaven of God's throne, seat of the government of the entire universe...

Back to Luke 19. On his return, his servants, to whom he had given the money -- that is, the beginning unit of GOD'S SPIRIT at conversion -- are to be called to an accounting, "that he might know how much each man had GAINED" while he was gone. This means each Christian is expected to GROW spiritually -- in spiritual KNOWLEDGE and grace (see II Peter 3:18). The Christian life is a life of spiritual GOING TO SCHOOL -- of training for a POSITION IN GOD'S KINGDOM, when and after we shall be changed from mortal to immortal -- when we shall be no longer flesh-and-blood humans, but composed of SPIRIT, with eternal life inherent...

The nobleman (Christ) said to him, "Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in very little, have thou AUTHORITY over TEN CITIES.

He had qualified to RULE. He had been obedient to God's commands -- God's government. We have to BE RULED before we can learn to RULE.

The second servant had increased his spiritual stock of goods five times. He had qualified, in this life, for HALF as much as the first servant. He was given HALF the REWARD.

The Kingdom of God...

Jesus said: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth MY WORKS unto the end, to him will I give POWER over the nations: and he shall RULE THEM with a rod of iron (Revelation 2:26-27) (Armstrong HW. Just What Do You Mean...Conversion? WCG Booklet, 1972, pp.8-11).

In addition, in various writings, HWA made it clear that the gospel of the kingdom of God included more than simply proclaiming that God's governing kingdom would be established upon the earth. Notice what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:

I say Christ's gospel - the message He brought from God - was the advance good news of the establishment of the Kingdom of God. But just what does that include?...

Actually, Christ's message of God's coming Kingdom is directly concerned with world conditions as they are - with human nature - its source and origin - with world evils, suffering, unhappiness - with world peace. It's concerned with government - with the reason present human governments fail to be the benefactors of their peoples they are supposed to be. His message hits directly at the very roots of individual personal happiness and at the awesome transcendent potential of each human life. It is concerned with the CAUSES of present conditions that affect every human and with the WAY that will solve all problems.

But it is concerned with far, far more. It is concerned with God's tremendous, overwhelming, over-all purpose as Creator of the entire universe. It's concerned with the entire vast universe, filled with its uncountable galaxies, nebulae, suns, stars, planets, and with God's purpose for them...

God's message is concerned with overall truth. What has been covered so far should be considered as merely the introduction to the entire story of Christ's gospel message (Armstrong HW. Incredible Human Potential. Everest House, New York, 1978, pp.20-21).

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).

If those who claim to preach a gospel of SALVATION understood and proclaimed WHAT salvation really is...it might be A PART OF the gospel" (Armstrong HW. Incredible Human Potential, 1978 hardback edition, page 16)

I must call the reader's attention again at this point to the fact that a full and complete understanding of the MESSAGE sent by God TO ALL MANKIND, by His Divine Messenger Jesus Christ, involves a vast comprehension of God's great purpose, and of events, prehistoric, historic, present and future.    "I might say it means an overall understanding of EVERYTHING!" (ibid, p.15).

The true GOSPEL, when viewed with ALL THAT IT EMBODIES---the reason for it, the prehistoric truth of earth's first inhabitants, the reason humans were created and put on earth, the CAUSE of all the earth's evils and sufferings, the nature of the human mind, the need for spiritual salvation and what it is, the coming world tomorrow of peace, what lies on beyond, and man's ultimate incredible potential---becomes the MOST ALL-ENCOMPASSING SUBJECT that can enter the mind of man (ibid, p.11).

Jesus' gospel was the KINGDOM OF GOD. Does that have anything to do with afterlife - with spiritual salvation? It has everything to do with it. BUT THE WHOLE WORLD is DECEIVED and ASLEEP! The gospel of the KINGDOM OF GOD has to do basically with TWO themes - government and spiritual salvation...

Notice it! Not only is Christ to rule - but the saints - that is, converted true Christians - those begotten as sons of God - are to take and possess the Kingdom! They are to rule under and with Christ! In the New Testament it is recorded that converted saints are co-heirs with Christ!

...The commission He had given the CHURCH was to preach His gospel to all the world. They were to receive the Holy Spirit, begetting them as saints - as Christians - putting them into God's CHURCH. This would infuse them with the power to carry out the mission of the Church (ibid, chapter 13).

Notice clearly that the Kingdom of God has two themes according to HWA. And thus, the part about spiritual salvation is obviously intended to be part of the gospel that is to be preached to all the world. Not of David Pack's "undeniable proof" included a single quote from Herbert W. Armstrong that the gospel of the kingdom was the only aspect of the gospel.

Sadly, David Pack is ego-obsessed and simply prefers his interpretations over historical facts and the Bible. Those who follow him are allowing themselves to be deceived.

Three articles of possible related interest may include:

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God was the Emphasis of Jesus and the Early Church Did you know that? Do you even know what the gospel of the kingdom is all about?
What is the Gospel? True religion should be based upon the true gospel. What are some of the different gospels and where did they come from? Do you believe the true or a false gospel?
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.

07/10/12 a.m. Tried to visit the page of CG21 today, and it no longer seems to exist.

I also visited the page of Charles Bryce's EnCOG. For a group that was suppose to take the Philadelphia mantle, EnCOG simply has not been able to be close to doing so. While it lists being on four small US city radio stations, plus one in Phoenix, it simply does not have a major work of proclaiming Christ's Gospel of the Kingdom to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14). Over time, EnCOG lost several of the leaders who initially supported it. Perhaps those members still there will consider its fruits simply are not Philadelphian as EnCOG does not have a Philadelphian work.

As far as its internet reach, it has almost none. It has so little, that its "Alexa Traffic Rank: No Data." This basically means that almost no one visits it. EnCOG is not reaching much of the world with the Gospel.

06/19/12 p.m. Consistent with its less than humble approach, RCG's David Pack posted the following:

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.

David Pack long ago stated that he wanted to impress "the splinters" with his construction project. Thus far, however, it is mainly he and his followers who seem to wish to be impressed. Sadly, RCG still does not understand many truths about Christianity. For more details, see also Why Not the Restored Church of God?

05/27/12 a.m. RCG's David Pack apparently decided to write about me as follows:

One blog writer for the Living Church of God—tacitly authorized by Mr. Meredith and fairly widely read by LCG members—introduces his article “Who Are the Two Witnesses” with the following. Note the ambiguous terms used throughout (emphasis mine): “The Book of Revelation describes two individuals who are called the ‘two witnesses.’ Who are the two witnesses? What is their job? What does the Bible reveal? What has the Church of God (COG) taught on this subject? Might Roman Catholic prophecies give some clues here?

“This article will briefly attempt to answer those questions. Also, please note that the terms may, might, seem, possibly, etc. are used throughout portions of this article—those type of terms are used intentionally to distinguish that certain statements are still unclear. Hence, speculative comments are normally identified, as they may change. But they do attempt to explain information.”

The only thing the writer forgot to say is that “I am ignorant and you should not read one more word.” He continues, “Interestingly, the Book of Revelation refers to the seven Churches as lampstands (Revelation 1:20) and the two witnesses as ‘two lampstands,’ hence the two witnesses are intended to represent the Church [we will later see this is wrong]…”

“Because the above scripture [Zechariah 4] is prophetic, I suspect that the ‘two olive trees...who stand besides the Lord of the whole earth’ are two men currently on earth who are supporting the work of God.”

Then quoting Haggai 2:3-5 about Zerubbabel (who Mr. Armstrong plainly stated he was a type of), the blog writer states (again, emphasis mine), “Of course, since Christ is the foundation, the chief cornerstone (Matthew 21:43) of the temple of Christians (1 Corinthians 3:16), ‘Zerubbabel’ may be a type of Christ—especially since Jesus is specifically prophesied to return (Revelation 17:14) and destroy the kingdom of the Gentiles (Revelation 11:15; Haggai 2:21-23).

“Yet, since ‘Zerubbabel’ saw the original temple and is not recorded as laying its foundation, then perhaps ‘Zerubbabel’ could be someone prophesied…If so, he would help finalize the work, and perhaps God would grant him the faith to flatten a mountain…”

“Because at least one is ‘chosen’ this may be that Zorobabel/Zerubbabel and ‘Jesus’/Joshua are a type of the two witnesses (Zechariah 3:8-10; 4:1-14; Haggai 2:3-5,23). Other scholars seem to have tied also Zerubbabel and Joshua as types of the two witnesses (Jamieson, et al. Commentary on Zechariah 4:11-12. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary). Since the name Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel (Haggai 2:23, DRB; or Shalthiel 1 Chronicles 3:17, KJV), means descendant of, or born of, Babylon (OT:2216; Zerubbabel. Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary) or “stranger at Babylon,” he may have been born into a family that was part of the religion that will support the final Mystery Babylon of Revelation 17:5. Joshua, Yehowshu’a, seems to mean “Jehovah saves” (Ibid, OT: 3091). This Joshua’s father’s name was Josedech (Haggai 1:12), meaning “Jehovah-righted” (OT:3087). Perhaps the names Zerubbabel and Joshua indicate that one of the witnesses was born into a Roman Catholic family while the other was born into a Church of God family.”

This speculative carnal nonsense is so ludicrous to any with God’s Spirit that no comment here is necessary. The man goes on throughout the article to quote and reference Catholic sources!...

I state without apology and with God’s authority that both of the Two Witnesses will be members of The Restored Church of God! Of this there can be no doubt! (Pack, David C. Where Will the Two Witnesses Come From? posted 5/25/12. Viewed 05/27/12)

Astute readers will immediately pick up on the fact that David Pack provides no true documented facts to challenge my writings. He resorts to his exaggerated assertions COMBINED with the repeated use of insult--these seem to be tactics of a bully, not an actual Christian leader. His approach is yet another reason why the falsely-named Restored Church of God is not what it claims it is. Those who read my article Why Not the Restored Church of God? should be able to see why the two witnesses will not be part of David Pack's RCG and that David Pack does not have God's authority.

David Pack, in his rush to try to condemn me, fails to realize that the old Radio Church of God and Worldwide Church of God also sometimes cited Catholic sources. Furthermore, Catholic prophecies were the main emphasis of at least two published articles under Herbert W. Armstrong's leadership. If David Pack and others have forgotten this, perhaps they should read my article Do Certain Catholic Prophecies About Antichrist Warn Against Jesus? where I quote from those two articles. Do not David Pack's followers realize that he seems to not understand how the COG has historically used Catholic sources?

For those who do not want to read my articles showing this, perhaps you will read the articles I cited: Hill David Jon.  Christ or Antichrist.  Good News magazine, Radio Church of God, April 1961 and Hill, David Jon. Will you be deceived by Antichrist? Good News magazine of the Radio Church of God, October 1964. These articles clearly prove that the old COG used Catholic sources and prophecies like I have (plus there are numerous other Catholic sources quoted in a lot of the old literature).

David Pack has the foolishness to refer to me as ignorant, suggests people not read another word of my article, then quotes from more of my article, while making it clear to people who know COG history that it is David Pack who seems ignorant about related matters. This is the same David Pack who falsely declared me as part of the Synagogue of Satan several weeks ago (RCG’s David Pack Says COGwriter, Dr. Meredith, COG leaders, etc. ‘Part of Synagogue of Satan’), so it is strange that he wants to read more from me. The fact that he is actually reading my articles indicates that perhaps he can repent and become less ignorant, though his latest post suggests that he is overlooking the truth even when it is documented and presented to him.

David Pack seems to also be criticizing me, because I used words like "may" or "perhaps" to distinguish between those statements from the actual word of God vs. how I understand certain matters as until the actual two witnesses receive power per Revelation 11:3, certain aspects of their identity may remain unclear. This is not something he should have criticized, it is something that he, if he truly is part of the COG (which I have long doubted), should have praised and encouraged.

In the same post, David Pack also wrote:

Now the Living Church of God (LCG). Roderick C. Meredith, leader of LCG, said this about the Two Witnesses: “Malachi 4 teaches...vs. 5, ‘Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD’...Elijah may be one of the two witnesses...They (the two witnesses) have power to shut up heaven, like the original Elijah did...These two men are a definite type of Elijah and Moses. And one of them may be the end-time Elijah” (“The Elijah Question,” sermon, May 19, 2001). Roderick Meredith’s position is utterly false and unbiblical, and contrary to what Mr. Armstrong taught.

Not only is Dr. Meredith's position biblical, it is in accordance with what Herbert Armstrong taught. L107 from the old Worldwide Church of God is on the two witnesses. Notice what WCG taught about the witnesses being similar to Elijah while Herbert Armstrong was alive:

These two witnesses are two human beings who are given extraordinary power for 3 1/2 years just prior to Christ's return (verse 3). If any man attempts to hurt them before their ministry is up, "...fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies" (verse 5). Note how similar this is to the power given to Elijah (II Kings 1:9-15). They also have power over the rainfall, to produce drought and famine as did Elijah (Luke 4:25; I Kings 17:1-7), and to smite the earth with plagues (Rev. 11:6). Their mission will be to give one final warning (Armstrong HW, editor. The Plain Truth Personal Correspondence Department response on the two witnesses to Mr. and Mrs. Thiel. September 13, 1984).

The above is something that David Pack should have known about as it was not just in a letter to me, but was the official letter from WCG on this. Additionally, it has been in my Who Are The Two Witnesses? article for years--which presumably David Pack recently read.

Furthermore, and it has also has been in my Who Are The Two Witnesses? article for years, notice what Herbert W. Armstrong himself wrote:

Therefore it seems that the most logical identification of the two witnesses is the one generally accepted--Moses and Elijah...John the Baptist was NOT Elijah, as he plainly said, yet he came in the power and spirit of Elijah. Compare John 1:21, Mat. 11:14, and the explanation in Luke 1:17. So it is likely the two witnesses will be two men who will come in the spirit and power of Elijah and Moses... (Armstrong HW. What is Going to Happen? The Plain Truth. June-July 1934, p. 7).

Sadly, David Pack is into his own ego and imaginations and does not understand enough of the truth about the two witnesses (for more information, please see Who Are The Two Witnesses?), nor the truth about the Elijah matter (The Elijah Heresies). His Church of David is not what he and his supporters claim it to be and his latest post is more proof of this.

05/24/12 a.m. The "Winter 2012" edition of Shepherd's Voice arrived late yesterday. It is put out by a group that calls itself Chicagoland Church of God. Its managing editor is Jim Patterson and it is also associated with Norman Edwards who is listed as an editor, a writer, and handler of its circulation. Norman Edwards was once on the Board of Directors and/or some high position for the old GCG. In addition to articles, Norman Edwards is doing a question and answer section in Shepherd's Voice titled Ask Norm!

In one of his Ask Norm! answers, Norman Edwards somewhat basically points a bit more towards experiential religion (being "instructed by God in our day through His Spirit, His Voice, dreams, visions, prophecies," etc.) than mainly the Bible. As far as the Bible goes, Norman Edwards claims "The God of the Bible is not one contained in books." He seems to refer to the Bible as "uncertain writings" in one place. He writes that he and others have had certain spiritual experiences that he values, presumably, for additional "revelations." While we are to live Christianity and not just read about it (cf. James 1:22-27), Norman Edwards' comments about the Bible and his reliance upon certain experiences seem to go beyond that.

Although Shepherd's Voice is pro-Sabbath and Ten Commandments, it seems to be leaning a bit towards non-biblical "revelations" than many other groups associated with the COGs tend to do. While I personally do like Norman Edwards, his comment suggesting that the Bible teaches God in "uncertain writings" is disturbing. Of course, he has long held doctrinal positions that I disagree with, but now I have even greater concerns.

05/23/12 a.m. This morning, I checked out Don Haney's Church of God In Peace and Truth website. It has changed since I was there last and now features online presentations from Don Haney. When he founded his own group he claimed that the internet would be the primary way his group would proclaim the gospel to the kingdom.

Today, I decided to check out his group's two URLs and found Alexa popularity rankings of 24,540,733 and 15,108,215. For those unfamiliar with Alexa rankings, the lower the number, the more popular the website. The current Alexa ranking for COGwriter.com is 213,333, which basically means that hundreds of times more people go to COGwriter than Dan Haney's websites. Thus, I question the priorities of his group as the fruits, at least in terms of public proclamation, still are not there.

He and his followers really should study the scriptures and quotes in 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?

05/08/12 a.m. There is even less than usual going on at Harold Smith's CGF. Notice the following today:

The following is a list of the travel and meeting plans
where you may be able to attend a meeting or visit with a Church of God Fellowship minister.

If anyone would like to schedule a visit during the time the minister is in your area,
please contact him by email at the appropriate e-mail address or phone number.
Dates
Location
Minister
Information or comments
No Current Travel Plans
No Current Travel Plans
No Current Travel Plans
No Current Travel Plans

While I have long considered Harold Smith an interesting speaker, his group simply has not done much to fulfill Matthew 24:14, which is not surprising as his group's goal (which I have mentioned before) is listed as:

Church of God Fellowship

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.

Yet, CGF seems to be having limited impact on that either. And those that doubt my assessment may wish to read the cited passage in Ephesians:

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 (Ephesians 4:11-14).

CGF currently accepts no authority from anyone properly ordained as an evangelist and has other issues as well (I believe it has had certain doctrinal and prophetic deviations because of that.) It may also wish to reconsider its goal in the light of what Jesus said:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

The faithful are not just to feed the flock, the faithful proclaim the good news to the world. CGF has not been particularly effective there.

04/29/12 a.m. In its announcements read at services yesterday, LCG had the following:

Beware of False Teachers: Jesus warned repeatedly that false teachers would come “in His name” and deceive many (Matthew 24:5). He also said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20). The Apostle Paul warned that false teachers would rise up “from among yourselves… speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-31). Isaiah provided an important key for recognizing false teachers when he wrote, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20). Paul also states that individuals who preach a different Gospel than Jesus and the apostles preached are “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves int o apostles of Christ,” and that they are actually functioning as ministers of Satan (2 Corinthians 11:1-4, 13-15). These are strong words! In order to avoid being deceived by clever arguments and long-winded expositions (Mark 7:6-9), we need to diligently study the Scriptures so we can correctly understand the “word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

And the above certainly would seem to apply to people such as RCG's David Pack. An article of related interest may also include Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders?

04/26/12 p.m. I decided to listen to RCG's David Pack's latest sermon. He rails against many and basically seems to be trying to stir up the pot so that he might get more COG coverage with the hope that many in the COGs will follow him. For details, see RCG’s David Pack Says COGwriter, Dr. Meredith, COGs, etc. ‘Part of Synagogue of Satan’). David Pack also indicated that one or more COGs was about to lose members to RCG without naming whom.

04/24/12 a.m. Mike at Don't Drink the Flavor Aid reported that RCG's David Pack referred to me and others as part of the "Synagogue of Satan" in a recent sermon. Presuming that the self-appointed false apostle has a mirror, he might wish to look at it when he makes those type of statements or otherwise reads that passage in Revelation 3.

03/23/12 a.m. One reason that many groups do not get a lot of coverage here is that they do not seem to say much or have much impact in terms of public proclamation. Sovereign COG, as one example, seems to mainly post a scripture each day and sometimes something else online as its most public work.

Here, for example, is what Sovereign posted yesterday (there was no post yet today when I checked):

Proverbs 22:12

Posted on March 22, 2012 by BenFaulkner

The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and He overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

Posted in Verse of the Day

While I should mention that although I have no complaints about groups posting scriptures, the amount of people that Sovereign seems to reach is quite small. Here is what the independant service Alexa reports about it:

Site Information for cotsg.org

 Get Details
Alexa Traffic Rank: No Data

Basically, since Alexa seems to rank the top 20,000,000 or more websites in the world, and it has insufficient data to rank Sovereign, this shows that Sovereign is not reaching many. Some are satisfied with that type of public proclamation of the gospel, but would Jesus be?

03/12/12 a.m. Notice something that David Pack has in his booklet Why The Restored Church of God? Should You Join?:

“How Big Do You Expect RCG to Get?”

Many have asked how “big” we are—what is our attendance. I have no plan to answer this! Though I have a general idea, I do not know for certain and do not really care to know. The Restored Church of God is not concerned with “numbers.”

... I am determined that RCG will never “number Israel.” During Mr. Armstrong’s ministry, counting attendance was natural—and right. But the next stage of prophecy changed that completely! Philadelphians are now vastly outnumbered. Size—numbers!—mean nothing to God, and we do not emphasize or talk about how big RCG is!

RCG has always been concerned about numbers. So much so, that it almost always had various statistics that it has selectively bragged about for years (it just tends to change which one it brags about once it does not appear as positive).

Furthermore, RCG's David Pack, after writing the above booklet, posted a letter dated 1-13-12 titled An Open Letter to All WCG Splinters RCG Fruits—Obvious Fingerprints of God! where he brags about and emphasizes many RCG statistics over several pages. RCG and David Pack are most certainly concerned about numbers and how they want people to perceive them. The contradictions in RCG should be obvious, yet its members overlook them (though eventually some finally have had enough once they realize that the emphasis of RCG is not the love of God, but often the ego of David Pack). For more information, opinions, and facts about this, please see also the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?.

03/10/12 a.m. RCG and its building plans were in the news in Ohio today:

...the Wadsworth church is planning to construct a three-building world headquarters on Ambassador Drive, west of the Giant Eagle store off state Route 261 (Akron Road). Church leaders said the organization has outgrown its current space in an office building on Park Center Drive.

Plans for the project, scaled back from an initial proposal of six buildings, were approved Feb. 27 by Wads­worth’s Planning Commission. Jeff Kaiser, the city’s planning director, said this is the first step: “The plans that were approved were conceptual. Now, they can start putting together detailed construction plans.”

Kaiser said a cost won’t be assessed until the church applies for permits for construction. Church leaders did not disclose cost estimates, saying contributions from donors, believers and the membership are making the project possible.

Medina County auditor’s records show that the Restored Church of God purchased a two-bedroom ranch at 303 Akron Road for $100,000. The church also bought more than 25 acres at 293 Akron Road for $1.15 million.

Plans include a four-story, 38,000-square-foot administration building; a 450-seat auditorium; and a three-story, 19,200-square-foot training facility that will house a printing and mailing center, office space and classrooms. The church, which has more than 370 congregations in more than 50 countries and employs 67 people at its headquarters, plans to launch its cable television ministry this fall. http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/wadsworth-church-continues-bible-prophecy-ministry-1.269664

More information on RCG and it's misunderstanding of the gospel and other subjects is in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

03/03/12 a.m. Just visited the home page of Harold Smith's church website. It states:

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 that may appeal to some, that was simply not the priority that Jesus had for the Church of God in Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20. To focus on the bride, is not the way of give, but the way of get--it tends towards a more selfish bride. CGFnw should study those passages as well as 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?

Philadelphia means love of the brethren, and brethren should show that love by loving others.

Some other articles of interest may include:

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God was the Emphasis of Jesus and the Early Church Did you know that? Do you even know what the gospel of the kingdom is all about? True religion should be based upon the true gospel.
Getting the Gospel Out is More than a Local Job Discusses Biblical rationale for doing an international, and not just a local, work.
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?
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.

02/24/12 a.m. RCG seems to be more and more distancing itself from the gospel and how salvation is through Christ. Notice what Larry McElroy, "a pastor in The Restored Church of God serving in the Kansas City area," actually posted:

Greetings again! My name is Larry McElroy, and in my previous communication I mentioned that my wife and I departed from UCG in the fall of 1999.

I have asked myself, is there a more rare and important commodity on Earth than Truth, which so few seem to find? But also, how far would I go to qualify for eternal life? And how much effort would I exert to obtain salvation?...

How far will we go to qualify for eternal life? How much effort will we exert to obtain salvation? (McElroy L. A Most Important Trip. February 22, 2012. ww.rcgtruth.com)

Does not he and those in RCG not realize that one cannot earn one's salvation? Do they not realize that Christians are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus?

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

The truth is that RCG has serious misunderstandings about the gospel.

We in LCG are not ashamed of Christ of His words. And as the Apostle Paul wrote, "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).

Sadly groups like RCG act like they would be ashamed to proclaim this portion of "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).

More information on RCG's misunderstanding of the gospel and other subjects is in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

02/13/12 p.m. A copy of the "Fall 2011" edition of Shepherd's Voice arrived today. It is put out by a group that calls itself Chicagoland Church of God. Its managing editor is Jim Patterson and it is also associated with Norman Edwards who is listed as an editor, a writer, and handling its circulation. Norman Edwards wrote four of the articles in that issue. The publication aslo mentions PABC which is essentially a Norman Edwards project. For a while, in the 1990s, Norman Edwards was a relatively major leader among 'independents' with a WCG background. Because of PABC, certain legal matters, etc., he seems to have less influence than in the past.

02/10/12 p.m. Jim Franks of COGWA announced yesterday:

I am happy to announce the location of our new headquarters office in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We will be leasing an office suite consisting of 5,590 square feet of space on the first floor of the building located at 1301 Central Expressway South, Allen, Texas. Allen is a suburb of Dallas and is located just a few miles north of the city along the Central Expressway (also U.S. Highway 75). The name of the building complex is “The Office Campus at Allen,” and it is in a beautiful setting with easy access to the freeway…

While the location decision was left to the administration, I wanted to make sure everyone agreed with the final selection. Joel Meeker, Leon Walker, Larry Salyer, David Baker, Fort Worth pastor Britton Taylor and I were involved in this review.

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, and apparently assisted in approving their next office facility.

02/04/12 a.m. This week, RCG has continued to make odd posts and claims through another by William Behrer:

The Restored Church of God is often accused of “attacking” other groups when we point out their errors. Such people forget that God’s Church has the very serious responsibility of warning those who have drifted from the Truth, no matter how unpopular our warning may be.

The prior week, in a thinly veiled attack against me, William Behrer posted:

The aforementioned watchdogs love to start their drivel with things Mr. Pack supposedly once believed in 1999 and 2000. These men are deceivers and they purposely open their postings about Mr. Pack with ancient history—false history...

Now, it is absolutely true that I have posted comments and positions from David Pack and RCG in 1999 and 2000. Perhaps I should mention that in 1999, David Pack emailed me back then and told me that he essentially approved of my reporting about him and RCG (he strongly changed his views about me, however, as I documented more and more doctrinal and organizational problems related to him and his group). For William Behrer to call quotes and positions that RCG held as false history suggests that William Behrer is bearing false witness. He should mediate on the fact that perhaps he is being hypocritical as he supposedly also believes "that God’s Church has the very serious responsibility of warning those who have drifted from the Truth, no matter how unpopular our warning may be."

And so I have tried to do this.

Now, here is another statement William Behrer posted this week (2/1/12):

Internet critics continue to ridicule and mock the clear command of Jesus Christ to “anoint your eyes” (Rev. 3:18).

I have specifically wrote that RCG members should "anoint their eyes." It seems that perhaps William Behrer is being an internet critic ridiculing me. Here is something I wrote that is in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?:

Anoint Your Eyes

One who I spoke with who attended RCG for a while told me he was influenced by David Pack's writing titled Anoint Your Eyes.

Thus far, I have seen no reason to read that document, because it is clear to me (and many with a COG background) that apostasy entered the COGs and most have departed from the faith. I consider that most who were part of the COGs have become Laodicean with some associated with Thyatira and Sardis. Furthermore, I believe that most of the Laodiceans are modern Sadducees and Pharisees.

I, personally, have documented this over the years in a series of articles. Actually, the cogwriter.com webpage actually seems to have more documented articles detailing how the various COGs have specifically departed from the Philadelphia era teachings and practices than other sources do.

Some of my experiences with David Pack's inaccurate claims about LCG have already been addressed in this and other articles, so there is no point seeing them again in this other writing of his.

At this time, all I intend to do is give a brief list of why those associated with RCG need to anoint their eyes to see that RCG is simply not part of the remnant of the Philadelphia portion of the COG.

1) David Pack is a self proclaimed apostle based upon his opinions of his church, his writings, and a misunderstanding of the Bible and COG history. After trying to explain why the Bible requires that there be an apostle in charge of the COG, he clearly admits that there were no apostles for 3/4 of a century prior to HWA.

2) David Pack claims to carefully follow the teachings of HWA, however HWA specifically did not appoint anyone to be an apostle to takeover after HWA died (and I also confirmed this personally with HWA's personal assistant Aaron Dean). Hence, HWA clearly did not feel that the end-time portion of the Philadelphia portion of the COG had to be specifically led by a living apostle.

3) David Pack had the wrong priorities when he began RCG and felt that the Philadelphia work was basically over. Recall that he wrote,

Since Mr. Armstrong was not sure whether or not the open door was placed in front of Philadelphia or himself as its messenger, I have no intentions of acting presumptuously declaring it to be one way or the other. I sincerely do not know. I suspect that door is either closed or closing and have felt that this has probably been happening for some number of years (Pack, David C. Is the Work Finished? Booklet. 2000. p. 55).

4) RCG clearly does not understand what the Bible, HWA, and LCG teach about what is the true gospel. The proof is that while RCG falsely claims, "LCG’s gospel has become a hybrid of truth and Protestantism" and the Bible and HWA clearly show that,

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 (Armstrong HW. What is the True Gospel? WCG booklet, 1972, p.6).

5) As far as I can tell, David Pack has consistently made false accusations against LCG which he must know are not true, so why does he not change them if he is a true Christian leader?

6) RCG cannot be counted to be the vehicle that God will use for His final prophetic warnings (including the place of safety).

7) RCG clearly does not understand that the Bible and HWA authorized evangelists to proclaim the warning message to the world. HWA had both RC Meredith and Dibar Apartian do it while he was alive, plus approved that the telecast should be done by Richard Ames and other evangelists upon his own death.

8) RCG clearly misunderstands scripture concerning some of its Elijah teachings. It also does not understand what HWA actually wrote and admitted about a future Elijah.

9) RCG often emphasizes minor points (like the appearance of potential new converts at church services) over love and truth.

10) RCG misunderstands the truth about Laodicea. HWA and the Bible taught that they are part of the true Church. Recall that David Pack wrote,

While Laodicea means “the people rule, judge, decide,” they are still God’s people, but in a weak and confused condition. However, they do not represent His true Church, and are outside His Body (Pack D. Where is God's True Church? RCG Booklet. 2005 edition).

This is another change from HWA's church taught, which was

...the Laodicean era...they are the Church of God...the "Church of Laodicea" (What is the Laodicean Church? Good News, August 1959).

As well as a change from the Bible (Revelation 3:13-14). While it is true that the Laodiceans do not value the full truth as much as they should, they are not outside His Body.

11) David Pack admits that he has changed the work. While he claims HWA was the messenger to Philadelphia, he claims he is the messenger to Laodicea. This is clearly a different work.

12) David Pack now claims to have the understanding of the 144,000 for the first time ever. This suggests that he no longer believes it is heresy to differ from what HWA taught.

13) While David Pack has made a variety of boasts about the number of people he baptized while working as part of WCG, he and RCG simply do not have the type of fruits that Jesus says the faithful church would have. It is my understanding that rather than accept the baptismal fruits at LCG, since RCG misunderstands the entirety of the true Gospel, it claims that LCG only has those fruits because we proclaim the entire Gospel which RCG refuses to understand is true.

Will those of you associated with RCG anoint your eyes?

Readers will note that there is a quote from a 2000 booklet written by David Pack in the above. How much of its own history does RCG want to disbelieve? Again, those who want the truth should check out the facts, compare what I write with the Bible, and carefully read the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

01/27/12 p.m. Another former UCG (and one-time GCG, who supported the GCG takeover) minister who ended up with RCG who posted the following yesterday:

Greetings! My name is William Behrer, and I have been serving as the executive director of operations at The Restored Church of God Headquarters in Wadsworth, OH...After leaving the WCG because of the apostasy, we first attended the Global Church of God...

After a short period, most of us merged with UCG. At the first combined service of the two groups in MA, I led songs and could feel tears welling up at this (as I then viewed it) “wonderful display of unity” that was bringing God’s people together. I had fallen so far into the Protestant-style “love-speak” of Laodicea that I completely disregarded what I had proven in 1995—that the organization we now found ourselves a part of, by its choice of government alone, had disqualified itself from being the True Church of God.

While I am not a member of UCG and have various disagreements with that organization, I feel that it has not disqualified itself to be a true Church of God (but while it may have some Philadelphia members, I do not believe that UCG can be considered part of the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God). If UCG represents part of Laodicea as William Behrer writes, then he should realize that the Laodicean churches are part of the Church of God. On the other hand, I would suggest that William Behrer annoint his eyes and look at David Pack from a biblical perspective to see that he is NOT God's apostle as his has falsely claimed (see Why Not the Restored Church of God?).

William Behrer's letter also contains several veiled attacks against me personally that I have not bothered to quote here as his attacks against me are false and misleading. The truth is that my article Why Not the Restored Church of God? is accurate and I have even worked with representatives from RCG in the past from time-to-time to ensure that my facts are correct. If there is even one factual error in it, they know how to contact me (as they have in the past) and are fully aware that if I agree that a statement is not factual that I will change it.

01/21/12 p.m. RCG ended up with a former UCG minister in Nigeria, who posted the following yesterday:

Greetings! My name is Vidal Wachuku, a pastor in The Restored Church of God (RCG). Before telling the story of my previous affiliation with the United Church of God (UCG), I first want to urge you, brethren: do not allow slander and false accusations against Mr. David Pack, Mr. Dale Schurter or RCG to keep you from returning to the “faith which was once delivered” (Jude 1:3)!...

RCG, by its fruits, stood out (and still stands out) as the only genuine continuation of the Work led by Mr. Armstrong...Prove for yourself!...I urge you to take time to find out what RCG is.

Like Vidal Wachuku, I also urge those interested in RCG to prove what it is.

Which is?

An ego-based organization that has misled itself to believe that it is faithful when it truly does not understand the gospel or what the Bible really is about. It is an organization that is focused on outside appearance and seems to care less about spiritual development than the ego of David Pack. For years I have researched and documented this and much information is contained in the article Why Not the Restored Church of God? If Vidal Wachuku is a real minister of God, despite even being relatively far away from David Pack in Nigeria, hopefully he will wake up and realize the truth about the group he is now advocating. Since he publicly posted an open letter, I will publicly challenge him to read my article Why Not the Restored Church of God? and explain how RCG can be right based upon the facts the article documents.

01/17/12 a.m. Partially to justify their somewhat unjustifiable existences, at least two groups led by people once in GCG have made a varieity of improper accusations againt LCG for supposedly changing the gospel. And while I have dealt with the inaccurate claims of EnCOG and RCG on this before, a reader sent me some additional quotes from Herbert W. Armstrong and/or the Church while he led it which show again, for those actually interested in the truth, that LCG has NOT changed the gospel.

Here they are:

1. "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 SAVIOR, as High Priest now and as coming KING."

2.

--From the article "Your Awesome Future: How Religion Deceives You" by Herbert W. Armstrong

"The true gospel, when fully understood, explains the origin of the devil. Did God create a devil to mislead and harass humanity? The gospel explains how Satan came to be the great though invisible and hidden -- POWER that sways invisibly and actually rules this world. It explains why Satan moved with all his wiles and subtleness to suppress, through humans he could sway, this vital gospel message which God sent by Jesus Christ to mankind.

Remember this: The true gospel message, had humanity heeded it, would have saved this world nearly all its anguish, troubles, suffering, and evils."

"The true gospel, when viewed with all that it embodies -- the reason for it, the prehistoric truth of earth's first (angelic) inhabitants, the reason humans were created and put on earth, the (CAUSE of all the earth's evils and sufferings, the nature of the human mind, the need for spiritual salvation and what it is, the coming world tomorrow of peace, what lies on beyond, and man's ultimate incredible potential becomes the most all-encompassing subject that can enter the mind of man. Beside it, everything else shrinks to total unimportance. It is greater than any story of man ever written before."

3. If those who claim to preach a gospel of SALVATION understood and proclaimed WHAT salvation really is -- whether it is going to a PLACE, being changed into a different CONDITION, or WHAT -- or WHERE- -and HOW it may be obtained, it might be a part of the true gospel. But today's "gospel" programs do not teach what salvation really is or how one may receive it. When the blind lead the blind, they all fall into the ditch."

4. -From Ambassador Corespondence Course Lesson 1 Page 13-14:

COMMENT: The word "gospel" means good news, or glad tidings. Jesus went about preaching the good news of the coming Kingdom of God! The gospel of Jesus Christ is simply the very same gospel He preached. Jesus' gospel is not primarily a message about Himself personally, or about "receiving Jesus." It is not primarily a message about the events in His life and of His becoming the Savior of the world-although it most certainly does include all that. The message Jesus preached is the good news that God will restore peace on earth by establishing His divine Kingdom over all nations. Christ, through the power of God, will at His second coming seize control of all human governments and rule by God's law. Jesus' gospel also includes how we may receive the gift of eternal life and become a part of that eternal, ruling Kingdom!

5.

Lesson 20

"The coming government of God on earth will be administered by the ruling Family of God. When Jesus came preaching about the Kingdom of God, He was talking about the Family of God, and how humans, through Him, may be born into it." (pg. 5)

6. Lesson 21

"Contrary to what many have been taught, neither did Christ come to earth the first time to call everyone to salvation. Rather, He came to deliver His Father's message-the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. That message included salvation through Christ. But Jesus did not try to get everyone to believe this wonderful message!" (pg. 6)

7.

"Why the Church?" Sermon by Herbert W. Armstrong side one approx. 20 min. in:

"They were astonished at His doctrine... it was NEW to them, and it is new to people today. They haven't heard it in this world they havn't heard it in what is supposed to be the Gospel, because a false Gospel has been preached...it may have a little truth, because the Gospel being preached is about the person of Christ. And that part is alright, but it is so much more than just the person of Christ."

8. The World Tomorrow April 24, 1979

"Now here, Jesus shows that life comes from the Father. The Father gave it to the Son, Jesus and that is the human born Son who was resurrected immortal. He had had eternal life before he was changed into mortal human flesh for the purpose of death. But now the Father gave Him that is Son of man as well as Son of God to have life in Himself because He was filled with the Spirit of God and that is the Life of God that is eternal life – the Spirit of God, inherent in Him. And He gave Him, Jesus, authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of man. You see He is speaking of Christ there as the Son of man having been given eternal life. God didn’t give it to Him as the original Logos and one with God. He had always had it with God though He was a different person than the Father. But now He is made man and has been given eternal life. Why? In order that you and I might have eternal life. He became like man in order to pay the penalty of our sins in our stead, in order that He might make possible the wiping out of the penalty that stands between us and God that we could be reconciled to God in order that God could give Him eternal life inherent in Himself as the first among many brethren that God can give you and me eternal life and that we can be the begotten sons of God exactly as Jesus was. That WE can be BORN as the SONS OF GOD exactly as Jesus was by a resurrection from the dead! As He was GLORIFIED and became very God worthy of the worship of the angels and of man, so may we my friends! And we shall be GLORIFIED together with Him! “We shall be like Him; for we see Him as He is.”

Oh, do you grasp it! Can your mind conceive the wonderful Good News of the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is a kingdom you can be born into. God is that Kingdom. It is composed of more than one member more than one person but only the one Kingdom. One God, many members just like Jesus and the Father were one but they’re two persons but one God. Well, I’ve mentioned that so many times before."

Despite the facts, EnCOG and RCG continue to improperly charge LCG with "changing" the gospel. They seem to overlook the facts of history and scripture.

01/11/12 p.m. As many of you probably have heard, last Sabbath, Dale Schurter announced he left UCG to join RCG. He has made a few posts on a website that seems currently dedicated to this matter supporting RCG. I did not have access to the program I needed to report on this before, so waited until now when I got my first opportunity to do so.

I noticed that the resignation letter includes the usual RCG selective use of statistics. This seems to impress some, but not me. If RCG wants to be impressive with statistics, it should publish its membership stats, FOT attendance, annual income, and other numbers that it seems never to do. To post internet statistics has value, but in the bigger picture, not enough to impress me at least, for at times, my internet statistics have been better than RCG's and I do not pay to advertise COGwriter.com, do not have my own church, etc.

Other than rehashing some RCG statistics, one of the things Dale Schurter wrote in his public resignation letter was:

When we were led to the Restored Church of God, and did due diligence in our research, we confirmed to our satisfaction that the works and fruits of this organization were of God. Christ is the Head of this Church. We saw Christ at work through one He had called and appointed to finish the work --- to fulfill the prophecy of Revelation 10:11, which we should all know, “You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This prophecy was on Mr. Armstrong’s mind, especially in his latter years.

As far as it seems, unlike COGwriter, RCG has no impressive track record regarding prophecy. Actually, I believe in an earlier sermon, David Pack said that the Great Tribulation would need to start by now, and it has not (cannot recall the date or name of his sermon). It also appears that David Pack, and not Christ, truly rules in RCG--RCG truly is about David Pack.

As far as Dale Schurter goes, he and I met at the Feast of Tabernacles years ago in the WCG days. After hearing him speak a couple of times, I had concerns that he did not quite get the big picture. In my opinion, his decision to support a group like RCG confirms my feelings long ago.

On 1/9/12 Dale Schurter posted:

I’m so thankful to be working in The Church of God, with the Government of God in place, the Church that has the vision of striving to awaken brethren out of their slumber, while also powerfully preaching the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God to a spiritually and physically sick and dying world.

If Dale Schurter really felt that government was such an issue, why would he have stayed in a group like UCG for more than a decade and a half? (For more on governance, please see the article Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government.) Also, since public proclaimation of the gospel had initially been RCG's third priority, and apparently has not been Dale Schurter's for a long time, this is somewhat odd for him to now claim is so important to him.

In a post today, Dale Schurter wrote:

...investigate the fruits of RCG for yourself.

Well, I have and have never been impressed. For reasons why, please see the article Why Not the Restored Church of God?

We will see if Dale Schurter will realize the truth about RCG and David Pack in this age or not. But he will in the age to come.

Click here for the previous news of those once affiliated with GCG

COGwriter, 2012/2013