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Armstrong's illustrator for that booklet was Basil Wolverton of MAD magazine...how appropriate.
Posted on 01/04/2014 2:34:24 PM PST by Colofornian
...Never before...have so many people become so deceived in such a comparatively short time of less than a decade. How could this unprecedented end-time deception have happened with such lightning rapidity? The success of this...apostasy was due, at least in part, to mass defections in the ministry, but...also partly due to the power of modern means of communicating and disseminating information.
At the time of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong’s death in January 1986, about 130,000 members of the Worldwide Church of God regularly observed God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths, as well as other important laws and commandments of God. During the next few years after Mr. Armstrong’s demise—while the Church stayed on track—the number of commandment keepers increased to about 150,000, as faithful members continued to observe God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths, along with other laws and statutes of God.
SNIP
Today, it is doubtful if as many as 30,000 true, commandment-keeping brethren exist in the 300+ newly incorporated “Churches of God”—churches which sprang from the Worldwide Church of God. How could such an apostasy have swept away scores of thousands of brethren, turning them back to old pagan doctrines and practices which they once believed?
...we should never put our trust in any man or in any church or human organization...
But we must also remember Christ’s words: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing [but are in fact] ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15)!...
But someone will yet ask, “Can’t we trust God’s true ministers?” No, not in the strict sense of the word! For, as we have seen, the Bible gives numerous examples of “men of God” turning from the Truth—apostatizing and leading others astray; and in recent years many top-rank ministers apostatized, and led others astray!...
(Excerpt) Read more at friendsofsabbath.org ...
From the excerpted article:
At the time of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong’s death in January 1986, about 130,000 members of the Worldwide Church of God regularly observed God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths, as well as other important laws and commandments of God. During the next few years after Mr. Armstrong’s demise—while the Church stayed on track—the number of commandment keepers increased to about 150,000, as faithful members continued to observe God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths, along with other laws and statutes of God. ... Today, it is doubtful if as many as 30,000 true, commandment-keeping brethren exist in the 300+ newly incorporated “Churches of God”—churches which sprang from the Worldwide Church of God. How could such an apostasy have swept away scores of thousands of brethren, turning them back to old pagan doctrines and practices which they once believed?
Several notations here:
First of all beware, when someone portends that the VERY PEAK of Jesus' disciples maxed out -- worldwide -- at 150,000! (Mark of a cult #1)
That ONLY 30,000 "true...brethren" existed as of circa 1995. Now somebody could say, "Well, he's only referencing "true...brethren" of Herbert W. Armstrong groups...Yes, but when a cult defines itself as the ONLY "true brethren" church around, look out!
That a mark of a "disciple" is how he "observes...annual Sabbaths...other important laws and commandments...statutes"
Here, within the article, this writer (McNair) acknowledges that: "we should >NEVER put our trust in any man..." ... all while at the end of the article he cites appointment after appointment + an ordination by "any man" Herbert W. Armstong...(go to the link and see the "boxed" section)
IoW, it wasn't God or Jesus Christ who appointed McNair; no his mousetrap "authentication" is Herbert W. Armstrong alone! He ironically tries to cite his very authority as being Armstrong, all while warning vs. personality cults!
Because of the tremendous INTERNAL conflict that existed within the Worldwide Church of God from around 1988 on, these "Church of God" splinter groups have waged war vs. each other in the same way they've waged war vs. Christians and Christian churches: They readily accuse them of being "false prophets" -- and they broadly use the term versus ANY and all "individual members" of churches...not just the "prophet":
Here are several examples, starting with McNair in this article:
* "...we must also remember Christ’s words: 'Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing [but are in fact] ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15)!"
* "Thus INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS are to bear fruit. And, beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them (Matt 7:15-20)." (Unity: Which Church of God for You? [Note: While misusing the word 'unity' -- the author actually discusses more of the 'disunity' within 'Church of God' splinter groups!])
* " Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. The word translated "false prophet" here is not referring to a Godly person who has a prophecy that fails. Instead it's referring to a person who pretends to be a Christian but in reality is not. They are compared to "ravenous wolves" among the flock." (DouglasKc: Linked with United Church of God offshoot of Herbert W. Armstrong)
Notice how the above "generalize" "false prophets" and apply it to "individual members" and those supposedly "pretending" to be Christian -- and not just "false prophets" themselves, even though the very Greek word in Matthew 7:15 is pseudoprophetes" (false prophets).
Another "Church of God" splinter preacher, Martin G. Collins, does the SAME thing here -- and even says he is "generalizing" it:
* "The title prophet has a general application to ALL who have messages from God to man. The infamous label of false prophet also has a GENERAL application which includes: ministers, teachers, authorities, and the so-called scholars that do research (as the theologians do) and come up with their own human ideas. This sermon will analyze false prophets from a general perspective. I do not intend to get into details specifically of a false prophet, but the content of a false prophet. A MORE GENERAL APPROACH that includes all of these individuals: ministers, teachers, authorities, scholars, and theologians, whatever they may be called."
Source: Sermon: Beware Of False Prophets: Their Motivation, Appearance, and Works
What is consistent here with Church of God splinter group leaders is that they somehow think literally EVERY streetcorner is bedeviled with false "prophets!"
And let's face it, if you think you and 29,999 others are the "only game" in town on the face of the whole earth...
...and that 120,000 of your former associates have apostatized in less than a decade...
...and you ALREADY had been slandering the ENTIRE TRUE worldwide church of Jesus Christ as being full of "false prophets"...
...of course you're going to toss that term EXTREMELY loosely!!!
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Mention of you in post #2
Men and Churches are imperfect, The Word is perfect.
Read and understand Galatians and you will know that there is no “Sabbath Day”. Every day is a Sabbath day with Jesus. Also read and understand Ephesians it explains it more.
[double facepalm, not sure whether laughing or crying or both]
Escape From The Iron-Fisted Worldwide Church of God Cult into The Power and Freedom of Jesus Christ!
... I seem to remember that after the founders death, the church became trinitarian.
Who's Who in Prophecy -- Post #7... This list includes "...those from pseudo-Christian organizations (so-called Christian groups that adhere to doctrines outside mainstream Christianity)."
Yes, one portion did:
That group was led by Joseph Tkach.
He enlisted CRI to try to get their orthodoxy re-focused.
The rest fractured into 300+ groups (as this thread article mentions) in less than a decade. Most of the fracture was over "governance" issues; some of it was still highly doctrinal.
Armstrong's illustrator for that booklet was Basil Wolverton of MAD magazine...how appropriate.
They say:
(You can go to above link to read a LOT more)
What's been consistent with the Worldwide Church of God and some of its offshoots is that they still rely heavily on media -- both print and broadcast -- to try to influence the spiritually vulnerable/gullible.
“Every day is a Sabbath day with Jesus”
You might even say, considering that ‘a day is a thousand years’, that we are in the last thousand years, and thus are in the Sabbath (7th thousand years).
I live in the Lord’s Sabbath = The Lord’s REST each and every second.
“After he died in 1986, church leaders began to realize that many of his doctrines were not biblical. These doctrines were rejected, and the church is now in full agreement with the statement of faith of the National Association of Evangelicals.”
Ah, if only mormonism would see the light. This shows it can happen.
Yeah...supposedly back in the 70s/80s, you could walk up & down many Southern California cities and see "The Plain Truth" magazines offered up for free in the same kind of vending machines that newspapers would come in.
I remember seeing them around here, a lot more recently than that.
Yeah, one of the break-off splinter group leaders, David C. Pack...claimed to be either THE key (or one of) the instigators of the Worldwide Church of God newsstand distribution programs.
Pack said in one message still online that 80% of the membership of the Worldwide Church of God either went with Grace Communion International (see post #15) or left the "Church of God" entirely.
In that same message, Pack then said 80% of the major break-off group (headed then by Roderick C. Meredith) wound up leaving that group...which...if I do my math correctly, tells me that ONLY 4% of the original Worldwide Church of God stuck with the BIGGEST remnant cultic portion of the splinters...
And, per this thread article, The Worldwide Church of God peaked at 150,000 in the late 80s...
Therefore, 20% of 150,000 = 30,000...and then another 80% left after a further split...whittling it down to just 6,000.
Yup...that's a "cult" which claims that their 6,000 is the ENTIRE worldwide REMNANT of God's church...
I mean, that's worse than the JWs saying ONLY 144,000 will be in heaven!
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