Paul wrote the Jews want a sign, the Greeks want wisdom. And the Vulcans want logic.
COGs are good at producing “new truth”, “proof-texting logic” and “signs”. H.W.A (Hoeh, Waterhouse and Associates) came up with so many “proofs” that HWA was whoever he was supposed to be. I think Gerald Flurry’s first “proof” of being HWA’s successor was that he was disfellowshipped 40 days before the date of HWA’s death. And Dave Pack has God’s fingerprints. These proofs are no more credible than the proof that Franz Josef Strauss was the Beast.
Now I haven’t been picking on Pack and others without reason. The Pharisees, Scribes, disciples of John the Baptist and others questioned Jesus, and they were right in doing so. When someone appeared as a teacher and purveyor of truth it was their duty to check him out. I contend the COG critics have every right to sound out those who claim to be Top Dog of the Top COG or facilitator of the faithful fragment. If you don’t like the heat, don’t put yourself in the spotlight!
And now, as I understand it, Bob Thiel stated he has a “sign” regarding the timing of the setup of his CCOG.
Back in 2006, in the LCG, Dr Thiel said he was asked to do a sermon on the Law during the FOT. And this year, 2013, as pastor of the CCOG, he decided to do a sermon on the Law at the FOT again.
The clincher comes when he noticed Deuteronomy 31:10-13:
Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this Torah before them in their hearing…
… as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. [NIV]
Got it? A sermon on the Law, seven years, at the FOT. Wow, this must be a sign that God wanted Bob to leave the LCG and start his own COG.
Now Moses didn’t say, “Every seven years at the FOT, wherever you chose to hold it, give a sermon about your interpretation of the Law.” The seventh year is the year when debts are canceled, slaves are released… [Wait a minute, slaves… didn’t Bob call himself the Overseer?] And this is to be done at the place God will choose: first it was the Tabernacle at Shiloh, then the Temple in Jerusalem.
In Synagogues, the weekly “Torah portion” is read each week, with the objective of reading the Torah through each year. Of course when the “seven years” begins is not certain, and strictly speaking this applied to Temple service, or at least living in Israel. (Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel, not some country dubbed Israel by British-Israelism.)
[“Sign of the T” was borrowed from Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)]
There are several questions that should be addressed.
Is Jesus actually a part of any of The Armstrong Mafia? With 300 to 750 or even (as one estimate puts it) 1,200 sects of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong, it would seem unlikely that Jesus could be a part of the divisive splintering of the warring tribes.
Just how could God the Father tolerate the absolute arrogance of the leaders when they are so insufferable that they aren’t about to listen to anyone but those who tell them what they want to hear?
With all their lies, why aren’t the leaders in abject fear of the Lake of Fire, because if Scripture is true and they don’t change, they are going to be burned to a crisp and that will be the end of the — and we will finally have relief from them and be able to live in peace without their constant mental noise of deception and cover ups?
What with 9 different calendars in use, if God really wanted the Gentile peoples of the United States and British Commonwealth to actually keep the purely physical rituals of a Bronze Age Religion where the adherents were declare Holy Spirit Free, then why wouldn’t God make it clear what days the Feasts were to be kept on?
If the Gentiles of the United States and British Commonwealth are to keep the Feasts, why then, do they not have burnt sacrifices each day at the hands of the Levites from the first tithe they were to bring of their produce? If the burnt sacrifices which were bound seamlessly to the Feasts were done away, then why are the Feasts not done away?
How is the Feast of Tabernacles, kept as a Corporate Business Conference at Corporate Convention Centers, supposed to be funded if there is not and has not been any tithing on wages in Scripture ever?
Just how important is it to keep the Feast of Tabernacles when you find in Nehemiah that the Feast wasn’t kept by the Israelites since the time of Joshua? Are those unconverted Israelites supposed to be some sort of spiritual guide to those who have the Holy Spirit when they didn’t have it in Old Testament times?
When is the cycle of the seventh year kept and when are the Jubilees? The Jews don’t seem to really know, so how could we?
And while we’re on the subject, how did the Apostles set the Feasts in the New Testament? Did they go to the Jews (who would have executed them on the spot) for the right calendar so they could have the Gentiles keep the Feasts (as sure as shootin’ the Gentiles would not have been permitted to keep the Feast in Jerusalem from year to year)? Why isn’t there any record of the Apostles telling the Gentiles to keep the Feast of Tabernacles? If it were required of Christians, you’d think that the Apostles would have mentioned it.
How does keeping the Bronze Age religion of the Israelites teach anyone about God the Father? Jesus was the one who revealed the Father and the Israelites of the Old Covenant not only didn’t have the Holy Spirit, but they had no clue there was anyone like God the Father because He wasn’t revealed yet. Will the Armstrongist Feasts get you even one step closer to knowing Jesus as a person and his character, let alone how God the Father thinks and what He is really like?
Does the Millennium pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles (supposedly, as reported by Gilbert G. Rupert) really represent the Kingdom of God or has The Armstrong Mafia missed the point of the Kingdom of God entirely and the Scripture in Revelation where it says that the Father will be God and they will be His people and that is the Real Kingdom of God?
Just why does everyone give Herbert Armstrong a free pass to be a false prophet when he prophesied that the United States and Brits would lose World War II ~ 1943 and was taken off the air by the United States Government for a time (and was lucky he wasn’t executed for treason) and (more importantly) why would anyone trust one word that lying dead false prophet said when not one of his false prophecies ever came to pass in his life time?
When someone claims to be “The True COG” or words to that effect, they tend to establish criteria that define their claim, and then attempt to prove they alone meet those criteria.
What I generally attempt to do is look for a flawed criterion (such as “must follow the teachings of HWA”) or a criterion that is not really met (“must obey ALL God’s Laws”).
Of course, I do ponder what COG leader actually think of themselves, such as, do they really think they are what they claim to be, or do they accept themselves as hucksters in a moneymaking sham? Such a question I can’t answer, so I’m content with looking such things as flawed argument and loopy logic.
And another question: Why would anyone play a recording of Herbert Armstrong preaching Matthew 24 when he was such a failure as it was this morning by Art Braidic of the Eternal Church of God? Just what are we supposed to get from a proven false prophet? What’s with that?
“Why would anyone play a recording of Herbert Armstrong preaching Matthew 24 when he was such a failure….”
Because HWA is their god.
They pay lip service to Jesus once or twice a year in order to appear to be worshipers of the carpenter.