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01/13/06 a.m. CEM's Ron Dart wrote the following:

Anti-Semitism

 

It is more than odd that anti-Semitism has been such a strong force in history. The Jews have been accused of unspeakable crimes of which they are no more guilty that the run of humanity, perhaps less. And yet there is no comparable anti-Islamicism in spite of the crimes done in the name of Islam. It calls to mind the prophecy, "They hated me without a cause," and Jesus' statement that they hated him because they hated God. It may be that the real roots of anti-Semitism lie in the hatred of God.

Anti-semitism has been used to justify many improper decisions and actions, and is a major reason that Sunday ended up being more acceptable to the world's churches.

The following is from German Spiegel news:

01/12/06 a.m. Yesterday, Reuter's had this story:

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Roman Catholics would be the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time if Samuel Alito is confirmed -- a historically remarkable prospect in a country where "papists" were once taught in state schools that their faith was a lie.

But so far the development has passed for little more than a curiosity, reflecting how politics trumps religion when it comes to appointments to America's highest court, experts say.

Alito and the Catholics already on the court -- John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas -- appear to share many conservative views held by evangelical Protestants, a group historically suspicious of Rome and its hierarchical church...

CONSTITUTION OR POPE?

Historically, many Americans questioned whether Roman Catholics could uphold the U.S. constitution, or whether they were obligated to follow the dictates of the Pope while in office. There has been only one Roman Catholic U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960.

But evangelical Protestants seem so far to be embracing Alito...

I have been aware of this possibility and thought about posting a related story last week. It is interesting that Protestants are becoming so accepting of Catholics that they tend to endorse them for the US Supreme Court.

The Connections advertising section of The Journal has this in an ad from Ken Wesby's ACD:

God alone is the cause of human salvation. In Jesus, he appointed his Son supreme agent of his salvation. Jesus functions as the medium or symbol of God who saves all humans according to the pattern revealed in Jesus. God, who is the creator of life, is also the finisher of life by his acceptance of those who acknowledge him and his son, and by resurrection. Jesus does not cause salvation, but reveals the God who does. Jesus is also the only one who has, in the ultimate, been saved from death and given eternal life.

ACD does not believe that Jesus was God. They believe in some type of unitarian error. Some of their arguments, as well as that of other unitarians, are dealt with in the article Binitarian View: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning

Unitarianism, in my opinion, is a significant heresy in some COG circles. Wade Cox's group, CCG, is also unitarian (an article of related interest may be Teachings of the Christian Churches of God).

UCG pastor Don Hooser passed on the following someone else wrote about a new television program titled The Book of Daniel:

The Book of Daniel was aired by NBC on Friday night. Several NBC affiliates did not carry the program including those in Beaumont, TX; Tupelo, MS; Meridian, MS, Little Rock, AR; and Terre Haute, IN. In addition, NBC lost several million dollars when advertisers pulled out. NBC ended up selling the time for pennies on the dollar. The review below before sums up the emails we received by those who watched the program.

"I watched the Book of Daniel show on NBC tonight just so I could see if it was as bad as you said. Mr. Wildmon you have it wrong - it was worse than you described. The so called pastor takes drugs, smokes, drinks, takes the Lord's name in vain. He supports homosexuality and drug use. He broke the law by giving out prescription drugs to a Bishop. Two Bishops were committing adultery. They mis-quoted the Bible. The program portrayed our Savior in a joking way. There was a corrupt Catholic priest. The maid smokes pot. The Bishop drinks, the pastor's wife is a drunk and her sister is a lesbian and the son is a homosexual. One son sleeps around. I found this program very offensive to my Christian beliefs. They were poking fun at our Savior."

WBIR in Knoxville invited ministers in to see the program. Here are some of their comments. Rev. Brian Kearns, minister of Lighthouse Christian Church: "I think it's very demeaning to Christianity. If this is their view of Christianity, it's going to be as a joke. It's an assault on the Christian faith." Rev. Tom Seay, pastor Bearden United Methodist Church: "It's just a pretty sorry piece of work." Dale Powers from the Catholic Diocese of Knoxville: "You're portraying something as normal that is just absurd." Rev. John Stuart (no church identified): "Christ is at the center of my worship. What the show has done is demean my faith. You've diminished the person I worship...you've wounded me."

These comments are typical of those who watched the first episode.

Holloywood has a tendency to pick at things Christian, including those who are only nominal Christians. As this show is on Friday nights, I did not see it. There also seems no reason for me to tape it and now see it either.

01/11/06 a.m. The Nov-Dec 2005 edition of The Journal is finally out. This is the second time in a row, that The Journal combined two issues in order to attempt to get caught up. Since there are almost three full weeks left in January, it appears this is possible now.

Its front page mentions John Robinson's death, and several other items. The back page has Gavin Rumney's report on closing his AW site--which I reported about here a couple of weeks ago. The front and back pages can be accessed at this pdf file location: www.thejournal.org/issues/issue105/jf123105.pdf

This issue of The Journal is mainly focused on FOT reports. It begins with an article on Feast of Tabernacles sites in Ballina, Australia written by one affiliated with ICG:

BALLINA, Australia—Ballina is on the east coast of Australia, at the mouth of the Richmond River, and was the site for this year’s Feast of Tabernacles for the Church of God International and Living Church of God.

Ballina is the usual Feast site for the CGI so the ICG decided to go there to be able to mix with them. We then learned that LCG members were also having their meetings there.

For the ICG meetings at the Ballina Library, a number of DVDs were made from tapes of Garner Ted Armstrong’s sermons at previous Feasts. The Australian GTA tape library has a collection of old Feast videos that go back for 20 years, to Gulf Shores, Ala. The CGI members met at the Comfort Inn. Ferrel Vincent from the U.S.A. gave a number of sermons, along with Herb Haupt, who is the Australian representative of the CGI. They also showed a special video by Bill Watson and Bronson James about the holy days.

The LCG met at the Returned Servicemen’s League Club, with sermons by Dayrell Tanner, who is the Australian director, Bruce Tyler and Robert Tyler, who is the manager of the Brisbane office, Ken McLeod of Perth, and Rod King, Mel Jenning and Roderick Meredith via DVD, who told us that “no other church understands” and that “Petra is protection”...

Dayrell said the LCG is the remnant of the Philadelphian church and the only ones doing God’s work, that it is church policy to not permit recording of the services and it is not the church’s tradition to applaud those who give special music.

On the Last Great Day we were told to beware of the Internet. It was good to meet new people from the different groups and old friends we had not seen for many years.

Outdoors we enjoyed the spacious beaches and beautiful scenery that surround the township, which boasts of only one set of traffic lights. Around the mouth of the river, dolphins can be seen splashing about. There were several dinners organized by the groups and a few barbecues as well.

After the Feast on a visit to the old headquarters of the WCG at Burleigh Heads in Queensland, it was found to have been sold about one and a half years ago and that the WCG has moved to an upstairs office in the suburb of Varsity. David Moffitt, North Sydney, Australia.

Ballina was our second choice for Feast 2006--and if LCG has a FOT site a bit further north in 2006, Australia may be our first choice then.

I should comment that the writer, an apparent ICG supporter, may not have quite properly understood what LCG teaches about Petra and other matters. LCG does not teach that Petra must be the place of safety. An article of possible interest may be There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra.

It may be of interest to note that both ICG and CGI do not teach church eras, nor a place of safety. Two articles of possible interest may be:

Intercontinental Church of God Garner Ted Armstrong's last group.
Teachings of the Church of God, International This article focuses on where CGI differs from the old WCG.

On other matters, last night WCG announced:

Next month, Christian Odyssey will get a new look...John Halford...has been appointed editor.

I have been a bit surprised that John Halford went along with the WCG changes and is still part of WCG. But so did many I would not have expected too.

On still other matters, the anti-COG XCG site posted this today:

herbertwarmstrong.com suspended · 11 January 06

Open thread to share info on the latest web adventures of “anti-COG” sites. The Painful Truth, yet another of the first COG watch-dog/ex-member advocacy sites at herbertwarmstrong.com, is no more.

The site reads,

Account for domain herbertwarmstrong.com has been suspended

A reader wrote,

Hi, I was just wondering if you have any knowledge of why herbertwarmstrong.com has now gone the way of the ambassador watch site.

I’ve no idea—it was the first I heard of it.

Another reader wrote,

I just looked at the Painful Truth site and find it is gone now.

First I thought it may have been due to the fact there was uncomplimentary words posted about Wade Cox, the Coordinator General to the Christian Churches of God, but now it seems more likely that it could be one of the larger orgs.

First Ambassador Watch had posted some links to a site where people could pull up financial reporting information required by IRS on Church of God groups and their non-profit corporations to learn about income and salaries etc. Gavin was likely pressured, but was leaving AW anyway so it is gone now.

The Journal posted the same sort of information and it remains up—for now at least. The Painful Truth site had a link to this information too, so I am wondering if this may be why they have been suspended.

The Painful Truth site recently had several posts related to some type of potential legal argument with Wade Cox of CCG. Wade Cox once contacted me and essentially demanded that I no longer link to his website and that I not have my article about his group. Well, I told him I would drop the link (hey if he does not want people to see his side, what else can I do?), but would not drop my article (which remains at Teachings of the Christian Churches of God) as I felt that I was exercising my freedoms of speech, religion, and press.

I doubt that the larger COGs had anything to do with the Painful Truth's departure as I do not recall seeing much about them ever at the Painful Truth (herbertwarmstrong.com) site. Of course, I did not visit it very often, but its emphasis would not seem to me to be anything any of the larger COGs would have bothered with.

As far as financial information as a reason, since The Journal, etc. did not have financial info on PCG, and since both LCG and UCG publicly post their audited financial statements, I am unsure why any would raise that as the reason any site would be closed down. Plus, since I have personally posted a comparison of the income of the two largest COGs for the last 8 or 9 years, that reason simply does not seem logical to me.

Anyway, since those associated with the Painful Truth were by and large admitted atheists (at least that is my recollection of what they told me a few years ago), I am not disappointed that another anti-COG site is gone.

01/10/06 a.m. In the Feb 2006 edition of the Philadelphia Trumpet, PCG's Gerald Flurry has "An Open Letter to the Churches of God". Amongst other things, it states the following:

Mr. Armstrong oversaw a work that was based on the principle of give—which is what God’s love is. By the end of his life, each month the Church was giving 8 million free monthly copies of the Plain Truth newsmagazine (which this magazine is patterned after)...

Do you remember that history?...

Do you remember what life was like in the Church under Mr. Armstrong?...

The original Elijah and the end-time Elijah held extremely important “father” offices for God. The Philadelphia Church of God, like Elisha, recognizes that fact. This is the foundational issue that sets the pcg apart from any other Church of God group. If you follow the Elisha example in this respect, God will make you a king with a headquarters position forever. Why? Because this foundational truth points us to God the Father.

Actually, since I do remember that history, I do not support PCG.

Gerald Flurry has historically taken for himself many titles, and since pope is a term for father, it almost seems that he is now implying he is a pope.

And what about the Elisha matter?

At fromer PCG member Robert Kuhne's webpage he quotes from PCG booklet, Who is That Prophet? (TP is Kuhne's abbreviation for that booklet) written by Gerald Flurry, and then from HWA:

Elisha followed Elijah anciently. So it should be no surprise that there is an Elisha type who follows the end-time Elijah. The Elisha work has some great examples for us, because Elisha was always grounded in Elijah's instructions, and he carried on the Elijah work. Where on earth is there someone who points you back to the end-time Elijah and continues the end-time Elijah work? [TP pg. 67p4,5]

My office must be a type of the Elisha office [TP pg. 68p6]

That is also a prophecy that the same evil will surface in this end-time -- in the Elisha work. ... Elisha continued God's educational work, which indicates that our work will do the same, at least in a limited way [TP pg. 70p4,8]

Elisha promised never to leave Elijah. That is what the Elisha work is like today. ... He was being prepared to carry on the Elijah work. ... I was chosen to lead God's Elisha remnant. ... This is the attitude we must have in continuing Elijah's work! [TP pg. 71p2,3,4,5]

This strikes at the heart of how we continue the Elijah work today. ... God has to have a man fulfill the Elisha role today" [TP pg. 74p3,4]

The above quotes make it clear that Gerald Flurry believes that he is doing the Elisha work and is that he is Elisha or a type of Elisha. However, this contradicts what HWA believed and wrote:

But I think God has called me for a job to do. If I have been someone in the power and the spirit of Elijah, remember there is no prophecy that God will have an Elisha following Elijah [WWN March 6, 1981, pg. 12 (L.M.)].

Gerald Flurry also wrote:

Mr. Armstrong has been dead 20 years now. But did the Almighty God who empowered his work die?

Is God too weak to do the same marvelous work today—simply because a man has passed from the scene?

One big problem with PCG is that they do not have the same marvelous work today.

Even Gerald Flurry has declared that PCG has a different work when he wrote:

The commission is no longer to preach the gospel to the world (Daniel-Unsealed at Last!, 2004, p.45).

Only that group which declares the Micah [7:1] revelation does God's work (Flurry, Gerald. U.S. Justice and our 'Evolving Constitution'. Philadelphia Trumpet. January 2001. p. 6).

It is of interest to note that a literature search revealed that to the best of my knowledge, Herbert Armstrong never produced any literature about Micah 7:1, thus apparently was not part of a group that did Mr. Flurry's version of 'God's work'. Herbert Armstrong tended to emphasize Matthew 24:14;28:19-20. Those citations in Matthew are the commission to preach to the gospel to the world.

Two articles of interest may be Teachings Unique to the Philadelphia Church of God and Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work?

01/09/06 a.m. CG7 announced a new group is affliating with them:

Some 100 brethren gathered at the Alexandria, Virginia, Church of God (Seventh Day) to worship the Lord and celebrate the affiliation of the church with the General Conference.  After opening remarks and prayer by interim lay pastor Jacobo Martinez, Rondaya de Maryland, from the Lanham, Maryland, church led the congregation in a time of praise.  Then District Superintendent Richard Wiedenheft explained that while the local church and the General Conference are embarking on an organizational connection, the most important relationship is with the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Head of us all; and our most important affiliation is that of our hearts, knit together in love and a desire to serve God.  With the members of the church board looking on, he presented the Certificate of Affiliation to David Campos, elder and chairman of the board.  Elder Antonio Vega, pastor of the Lanham congregation, led the assembly in a prayer for the Alexandria congregation and for their service to the Lord as part of the General Conference.

Over the years, CG7 (Denver) has become a bit less like the COG and a bit more like the Protestants as is shown in the article Church of God, Seventh Day.

This morning, I saw the following email:

Speaking of HWA, one of the restored truths he was often criticized for had to do with becoming God. Essentially, some critics say he made it up, while others say he got the idea from the Mormons. HWA himself claimed to have been led by the Holy Spirit based upon his understanding of the Bible, the Holy Days, and the plan of God.

The question is, however, did any early church leaders teach this concept? Or is this only a concept that a false cult would develop?

Well, in the second century, there was a leader in the church at Antioch named Theophilus who specifically taught:

For if He had made him immortal from the beginning, He would have made him God...so that if he should incline to the things of immortality, keeping the commandment of God, he should receive as reward from Him immortality, and should become God...For God has given us a law and holy commandments; and every one who keeps these can be saved, and, obtaining the resurrection, can inherit incorruption (Theophilus of Antioch. To Autolycus, Book 2, Chapter XXVII. Translated by Marcus Dods, A.M. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Notice that Theophilus taught that Christians were to keep the law and the commandments, and as a reward should inherit immortality and become God.

Which commandments? Well, here is a little more from what Theophilus wrote:

But God at least, the Father and Creator of the universe did not abandon mankind, but gave a law, and sent holy prophets to declare and teach the race of men, that each one of us might awake and understand that there is one God. And they also taught us to refrain from unlawful idolatry, and adultery, and murder, fornication, theft, avarice, false swearing, wrath, and every incontinence and uncleanness; and that whatever a man would not wish to be done to himself, he should not do to another; and thus he who acts righteously shall escape the eternal punishments, and be thought worthy of the eternal life from God (Theophilus of Antioch. To Autolycus, Book 2, Chapter XXXIV. Translated by Marcus Dods, A.M. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

The ten commandments do teach against idolatry, adultery, murder, theft, false swearing, etc.

An article of possible interest may be Were the Ten Commandments in Effect Before Mount Sinai? Some have said not. This article provides biblical quotes to answer this important question.

01/08/06 a.m. Two days ago, in its latest Home Office Update UCG reported:

...this year's Winter Family Weekend in Louisville, held Dec. 23 to 27. Somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700 people attended (it was hard to get an exact head count with so many activities going on at different locations), and from the feedback we received it was an outstanding event. This is the largest church-wide event we host each year outside of the Feast of Tabernacles, and it is certainly the one with the greatest number of children, teens and young adults in one location...

The Farmington Room walls were bulging with Ambassadors from the '60s through 2005. Our largest gathering yet—over 250—attended this yearly event in connection with the Winter Family Weekend.

I went to ntevangelism's site to try to learn what happened at the other Winter weekend, but there was no news--I will check other sources.

On other matters, UCG reported:

On January 11 and 12 four more Beyond Today video programs will be recorded in the new media center, with Darris McNeely hosting. This will bring our total to 12 programs. To date, 105 local community cable TV channels across the United States are airing the program, plus our presence on the World Wide Web is gaining momentum...

The total print quantity of the January-February 2006 Good News magazine was 401,231. While this is less than our highest print run of 526,173 reached for the September-October 2002 issue, there is an encouraging trend—the number of actual "subscribers" is continuing to rise...

Reports show that about 8 percent of United's income has come from those people who do not consider themselves part of UCG.

I am glad that UCG is finally producing a tv program after nearly 11 years. We will see how effective it is. I am also pleased that UCG has publicly clarified what many of us in LCG long knew--many of the magazines UCG produced did not go to those particularly interested in it. LCG gets out more than twice the number of magazines on a per attendee basis.

Tribune news services reported:

01/07/06 a.m. CGG noticed this story titled Man Should Obey God's Law from the Cayman Compass:

Following the recent controversy surrounding the hours of entertainment on New Year’s Eve, I was impressed to comment.

Here in the Cayman Islands and many other places worldwide, we have Sunday laws in effect. This law requires the closure of entertainment centres at 11.45pm on Saturday night.

I believe the intent of the law is to ensure proper Sabbath keeping. If this is indeed the case, it is a noteworthy effort of our forefathers. Unfortunately it is misguided although well intentioned.

Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is the Sabbath of the Lord they God. It is the only day of the week he specifically blessed, sanctified and set aside for Holy use.

From Genesis to Revelation the Lord magnifies and confirms His Sabbath indicating its eternal nature. See Genesis Chapter 2, verses 2&3 and Revelation Chapter 14, verse 12. It is the only day of rest and worship specifically commanded by God for us to keep; Exodus Chapter 20 verses 8 to 11.

Although anyone who truly knows and loves the Lord worships Him every day. However, the Sabbath is special. In it we find rest, restoration and renewal.

Many Sunday worshippers claim to hold to this philosophy on the premise of honouring the Lord as He rose on this day. This practice lacks Biblical foundation.

Jesus himself kept the Sabbath; Luke Chapter 4, verses 16&31.

Even in death, our Lord kept His Sabbath, resting in the grave and rising early on the Sunday morning. Sunday worship is an institution and tradition of men and not of God.

I would add that there is nothing wrong with worshipping on Sunday of itself, however, it is a sin not to keep Sabbath. Sin is the transgressions of the Law, the Ten Commandments, and the wages of sin is death.

The Sabbath of the Lord thy God is to be kept from sundown until sundown. As from creation “the evening and the morning were the first day” and so on.

Also, the first act of God in creation was to command “let there be light,” which indicates that the Earth was in a state of darkness.

Therefore, the Lord brought light out of darkness and the evening when the sun sets is the end of one day and the beginning of another.

This is why the Lord commands His Sabbath to be kept from sundown until sundown for a day consists of a period of darkness and light.

In my opinion the Sunday Law is also inconsistent in that it demands and requires the closure and cessation of entertainment prior to midnight on Saturday night as men know it. Yet the law allows the opening of bars and restaurants later that same day.

I presume the writer, Ian Wood, probably has some affiliation with the SDA Church (a group that disagrees with the COGs on prophetic and other matters, see article Two Horned Beast of Revelation). But it is refreshing when the press gets something about religion right. Another article of interest may be Is Revelation 1:10 talking about Sunday or the Day of the Lord?

Forbes reported this story last night:

While The Washington Post reported this related AP story:

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. -- The spiritual leader of the world's 200 million-plus Orthodox Christians celebrated Epiphany with an audience of American followers Friday, commending them for their "steadfastness in maintaining the faith."

Bartholomew arrived Thursday in Tarpon Springs and announced that Pope Benedict XVI will visit his headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, sometime this year in an effort to heal the ages-old rift between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The last talks broke off five years ago.

My wife and I visited Tarpon Springs while attending the FOT in Clearwater Florida a few months ago. Tarpon Springs is the most Greek of any Florida (and possibly any US) town.

While the Orthodox faith claims to be the original faith, its actual teachings place it in a position that shows that it cannot actually be. More information is included in the recently updated article Some Similarities and Differences Between the Orthodox Church and the Churches of God.

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