ICG: Tyrannical Statements by Pope and COGs

Last night, ICG’s Mark Armstrong stated:

Can you believe what an absolutely brash, insulting, ridiculous statement came out of the Vatican late last week? And yet hardly a peep out of anyone about it. No salvation without acceptance of papal authority? Well, that’s preposterous! It disputes the whole theme of the New Testament! This was up for discussion in Columbia, it will be in the letter you’ll get around the first of the month. Try as you might, you won’t find anyone prominent disputing the brazen statements of the German pope. It’s almost as if it’s a trial run for the kind of blasphemy prophesied at the time of the end.

Similar claims are being made by some self-styled Church of God leaders. Have they no shame at all? And what of those who buy into their megalomaniacal rants? Have they taken leave of reason? The whole thing is sickening, particularly where it concerns the name and the memory of HWA. Not to get carried away again, but the letter deals with some of these pertinent, important, and potentially dangerous issues. I can’t tell you folks how thankful I am for you, practical, friendly, down to earth people who aren’t playing these sick games. Pity the poor, abused, intimidated people who’ve been ensnared by the abuse of people’s love and respect for name of HWA. Lucky for his “successors” he’s not here to witness their false claims or their tyranny.

Two comments.

1) The COGwriter page has already had posts about various Pontifical rantings. Even though these are not new statements, the fact is that the Roman Catholic Church has long taken the position that only it and the Eastern Orthdox are churches and that other groups are only ecclesiastical bodies. What is most amazing is that he claims this because he claims that only the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthdox Church have can truly claim apostolic succession. While it is true that they have claimed that, the truth is that historical scholars no that there is no historical proof–also true biblical scholars realize that both of those churches adopted doctrines that the early true Church opposed.

This is documented in the following:

What Do Roman Catholic Scholars Actually Teach About Early Church History? Although most believe that the Roman Catholic Church history teaches an unbroken line of succession of bishops beginning with Peter, with stories about most of them, Roman Catholic scholars know the truth of this matter. This eye-opening article is a must-read for any who really wants to know what Roman Catholic history actually admits about the early church.
Location of the Early Church: Another Look at Ephesus, Smyrna, and Rome What actually happened to the primitive Church? And did the Bible tell about this in advance?
Apostolic Succession What really happened? Did structure and beliefs change? Are many of the widely-held current understandings of this even possible?
History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church?
The Churches of Revelation 2 & 3 Do they matter? Most say they must, but act like they do not. This article contains some history about the Church of God (sometimes referred to as the continuation of Primitive Christianity) over the past 2000 years.
Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? This documented article answers those questions.
Some Similarities and Differences Between the Orthodox Church and the Churches of God Both groups have some amazing similarities and some major differences. Do you know what they are?

Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict XVI

2) Tyrannical comments from alleged COG leaders. There are at least three leaders who claim to be in the COGs that have claimed certain titles that I believe they have acted presumptuously about, hence this disqualifies them as in the COG unless they repent. The three main ones are PCG’s Gerald Flurry who claims to be a prophet, RCG’s David Pack who claims to be an apostle, and COGPFK’s Ronald Weinland who claims to be one of the two witnesses (there are also a few similar leaders in extremely small groups).

Articles quoting those leaders as well as showing how they are not faithful to Herbert Armstrong’s and the Bible’s teachings would include the following:

Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God Simply calling oneself ‘Philadelphia’ does not make one so (see Revelation 3:7-9), nor does Gerald Flurry calling himself “that prophet” make it so. This article provides quotes from this group which claims to be faithful.
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.
Concerns About Ronald Weinland’s Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God Ronald Weinland claims to be one of the two witnesses. He has at least one other view that suggests that he is not part of the COG.

The articles on the above claimed COG leaders tend to be among the most popular at the COGwriter website. Hopefully all will read and study them so that they are not deceived by people who inaccurately claim titles that God has not given to them.