WCG to Interview Itself
TRANSFORMED FROM TRUTH
Here is the first portion of the letter that WCG sent out today:
Letter from Joseph Tkach:
March 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This month marks the first U.S. regional conference of 2009, followed by meetings with our international Mission Developers. Please join me in praying for God’s blessing on the meetings and for the safety of all who attend.
We will be taping interviews with our Mission Developers while they are here and making those available on our website. I do hope you have been able to view the interviews already on the website.
On our WCG Together program Mike Feazell has interviewed Reconciliation Ministries Director Curtis May, Superintendent of Ministers Dan Rogers, African Mission Developer Kalengule Kaoma and his wife Nsama, Asian Mission Developers Rod Matthews and Eugene Guzon, as well as my wife, Tammy, and me.
Upcoming WCG Together programs include interviews with Pat Shaw of Church Administration, Russell Duke of Grace Communion Seminary, Ted Johnston of Generations Ministries, Randy Bloom of Church Multiplication Ministries and Regional Superintendents Ken Williams and Lorenzo Arroyo, Camp and Events Director Greg Williams, CAD personnel Charles Albrecht and Nancy Akers, Treasurer Mat Morgan, Information Technology Director Robert Meade and many others.
These interviews are a wonderful way to get to know fellow church members and be inspired by the spiritual journeys of others.
You also want to be sure to watch every episode of You’re Included, our unique and fascinating interview series devoted to exploring the practical implications of Trinitarian theology in today’s world.
So, apparently WCG feels that interviewing its own employees and affiliates is helpful to its current objectives.
However, I would like to focus on the last portion above, some of the ramifications of trinitarian theology.
First of all, I believe that WCG likes to repeatedly emphasize that so that it will be more acceptable to the religions of this world: that is not good (Luke 6:26).
Second, I would remind everyone that although the Living Church of God does believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it does not accept the trinitarian explanation of the Godhead that was ratified at Theodosius’ Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. Perhaps, for historical reference, I should mention here that both the Bishop of Rome Liberius (Arendzen, John. “Pneumatomachi.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 11 Jul. 2008 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12174a.htm>)and the Bishop of Constantinople Macedonius (Forget J. Transcribed by W.S. French, Jr. Holy Ghost. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VII. Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York) in the mid-4th century endorsed what would better be considered as binitarian, not trinitarian, views of the Godhead. The late acceptance of the trinitarian formula by the “Constantinians” should show those with “eyes to see” (cf. Ezekiel 12:2) that it was not a doctrine held by the original Nazarene faith of the Apostle Paul (see Hurtado LW. Lord Jesus Christ, Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. William B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, 2003, pp. 175-176).
Third, I do not believe that WCG truly understands the longer-term ramifications of their trinitarian position. There are a variety of Marion apparitions that make odd claims about the Trinity.
Notice what “Mary” allegedly stated in an apparition Pfaffenhofen, Germany on June 25, 1946:
I am the great Mediatrix of Grace. The Father wants the world to recognize His handmaid…My sign is about to appear. God wills it…I cannot reveal my power to the world as yet…Then I will be able to reveal myself…Chose a sign for yourself so that the Trinity may soon be adored by all! Pray and sacrifice through me!…I will impose crosses on my children that will be as heavy and as deep as the sea because I love them in my sacrificed Son. I pray, be prepared to bear the cross in order that the Trinity may be honored (Culleton, Reign of Antichrist, pp. 217-218).
Real Christians would not pray and sacrifice through Mary–but that Mary wants the trinity of Theodosius adored.
Two Catholic prophetic writers have claimed:
Soon all will call Mary, “Queen”…The Holy Trinity has sent Mary, the Mother of God, Mother of the Church, to warn us. (Flynn Ted and Mary. The Thunder of Justice. MaxKol Communications, Inc. Sterling (VA), 1993, Acknowledgements and p. 4).
Notice another rather bizarre claim made by the apparition of Tre Fontance (1947):
I am she who is in the Divine Trinity; I am the Virgin of Revelation (Culleton, Reign of Antichrist, p. 220).
I would think that even most trinitarians would have trouble accepting the above statement (even though it is in a book by a respected Catholic priest) as they would not accept that Mary is in any way the “Divine Trinity”. But, again, in the end-time, many will probably accept a lot of strange statements from what the Bible refers to as “lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
Anyway, my primary point is that the end result of trinitarian theology, to a degree, will possibly lead to the acceptance of Marian visions and ultimately a reconciliation between an ecumenical religion composed of a compromised Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism. And as I reported here a couple of days ago, this is consistent with the warnings of an evangelical writer that within the next decade there may be no more evangelicals (see The End of Evangelicals Next Decade?).
While most who accept the 381 A.D. Council of Constantinople’s views of the Godhead do not have sinister motives, I strongly believe that the acceptance of that doctrine will help the religion that the Bible warns against of the final beast power (Revelation 13) take over pretty much all of the world.
Some articles of possibly related interest may include:
Mary, the Mother of Jesus and the Apparitions Do you know much about Mary? Are the apparitions real? What might they mean? Are Protestants moving towards Mary? How might Mary view them?
Binitarian View: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning Is binitarianism the correct position? What about unitarianism or trinitarianism?
Is The Father God? What is the view of the Bible? What was the view of the early church?
Jesus is God, But Was Made Man Was Jesus fully human and fully God or what?
Virgin Birth: Does the Bible Teach It? What does the Bible teach? What is claimed in The Da Vinci Code?
Did Early Christians Think the Holy Spirit Was A Separate Person in a Trinity? Or did they have a different view?
Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity? Most act like this is so, but is it?
Was Unitarianism the Teaching of the Bible or Early Church? Many, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, claim it was, but was it?
Binitarianism: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning This is a shorter article than the Binitarian View article, but has a little more information on binitarianism.
Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 This article explains how the LCG views this, and compares this to Ellen White.
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? What is ahead for Europe?
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer.
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders–here is some of why you should be concerned about them.
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