The DEPTH of Satanic Deception!!

I'm meditating on the Church of God over the last 50 years - specifically the organization that started out as The Radio Church of God and then changed the name in the middle 1960s to the Worldwide Church of God. It's leader was a man called Herbert W. Armstrong.  I was a member of that church organization from the winter of 1961/62. I well remember up to the death of Loma Armstrong - HWA's wife - a humble Herbert Armstrong, who did not want anyone clapping as he came up to deliver a sermon at the Feast of Tabernacles.

All that humbleness began to change after Loma died in 1967 - I watched it all - I saw HWA get more filled with vanity as 1968/69/70/71 rolled on by. I was out of that organization by 1972.

Over the next 7 years I saw how the WCG grew and grew - indeed worldwide. In the Western world you began to see the Plain Truth magazine (published by the WCG) on street corners in most average to large towns and cities. I also saw how more vanity and vain glory was entering the mind of this man called Herbert Armstrong. It all led to the man adopting the Roman Catholic form of "church government." It led to men by his side pushing him up into more and more glory of the praise of men. It led to the organizations belief that this man was the "Elijah to come" as prophesied in the book of Malachi, and by Jesus in the Gospels (I have a full study of this subject "The Elijah to come" on my website). It led to most of his organization believing this HWA man would lead their church to the "place of safety" during the Great Tribulation, which would end with the coming of Jesus Christ.

Certainly by 1980 I had come to clearly see this man Herbert Armstrong had transformed his organization into a cult, with him as supreme cult leader. For many details as to the truth of that statement you can read "Lying with the Truth" by my late co-worker Jesse, that is on my website, and the book by John Tuit called "The Truth Shall Make You Free" also on my website.

In January of I believe 1986 (if my memory is correct) HWA died. Needless to say many left the WCG organization after his death, when they realized their hope and trust in this man to lead them into the Kingdom of God was now shattered. Most did not leave at this time, as long as the old doctrines were being taught, but the new leader (appointed by HWA before he died) by 1990 has done away with the weekly Sabbath the Feasts of the Lord. Well there arose SPLITS - Rod Meredith was told to leave, not wanting to, but he had no choice, he was to "get gone" and so he formed the Global Church of God first of all. It later split and Meredith became leader of the now Living Church of God. In the meantime a large group of ministers were playing their cards in secret, until they knew there would be a large (in the thousands) following, when they decided to pull the plug and leave the WCG. Hence the United Church of God was formed, which in the last year or so has also split. There were others who split from those splits.

Well in knowing a good deal about most of those splits I would say none of them HAVE EVER acknowledge the sins and wrong teachings that HWA moved into after 1967. None have called for a day of Fasting and REPENTANCE for being part of an organization that was turned into a CULT by the late HWA. It is very humbling to say the least to admit to yourself you were deceived into a WRONG church government teaching that had dictatorial authority over your life, who you could talk to, what literature you could read, how you were to think, and act, at any given function. It is VERY DIFFICULT for most people to admit they were a part of an organization that used heavy-handed "disfellowshipping" practices, where the local minister just cast people out of the church at the drop of the hat, as we say; if he thought people were not thinking or saying or acting "just right" - they were cast out, and in so doing the organization as a whole taught such people were OUTSIDE of salvation! It is VERY DIFFICULT for people to admit they were once part of (going along with) a BRUTAL, yes in many ways a HITLER type government, where you did as you were told, where people were spying and reporting to the "minister" about people who were thought to be NOT "toeing the line" as the line came down from the top dog - HWA - to those below the top dog, to ones below those, to ones below those, all the way down to the "deacons" of the local church.

Why is it that people in such organizations get that way? Well there are many reasons of course, not just one reason. Why is it that those who are still part of the larger splits from the WCG since 1990, have NEVER REPENTED as whole groups of people, and NEVER admitted to themselves just what they were part of when under the old WCG led by Herbert Armstrong? I was thinking about this in the last few hours of this 14th day - the Passover day - this afternoon around the time Jesus was dying on the cross.

It came to me, because I have some years back, observed the Passover service with the UCG (hoping they would come to see the light of truth concerning the past, which they have not, hence I gave up having any fellowship with them).  The PASSOVER service is only done once a year. It is THE most memorial service indeed, for it is the memorial of of what Jesus did for us - dying for our sins so we could have FORGIVENESS and LIFE!! So we could be JUSTIFIED!! So we could come under GRACE!!  So we could enter the FIRST part of Salvation (the second being His RESURRECTION for we are saved by BOTH His death and life, as Paul taught in the book of Romans and 1 Corinthians 15).

People in organizations like the UCG; the LCG and others, are very quiet, sober, as they partake of the foot-washing part of the service, then the taking of the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine.

It is all very EMOTIONAL the Passover evening!

People in organizations that know the truth of the Passover service, that it should only be done ONCE a year, on the evening of the 14th day of the first month in God's calendar......well they know they have some knowledge that is kinda "special" from all other people calling themselves "Christian." There can be a certain VANITY in it all, if you are not being careful. You can find yourself saying to yourself, "Look how sanctimonious we are; look how faithful we are to obey the truth of the Passover teaching; we must be the children of God; these ministers of our organization must be the true ministers of God; look at the many truths we have."

So this attitude then carries over from that point on........"We are the true people of God, and we need to acknowledge these ministers we have are the true ministers of the Lord.  So admitting that we better not question their teachings or directives. We better pray and obey."

With that attitude which I now see comes so easily from keeping the Passover, the mind becomes a blank, the mind becomes, to put it very bluntly - "brain-washed" - you no longer prove ANYTHING; you no longer question anything; you no longer have a mind that says, "Hummm.....I'm not sure what is said or going on here has any backing from the Scriptures.....Hummm.....I better do some checking in the Word, to see it what I'm hearing and what I'm seeing being done, is in line with the Scriptures."

Yes, I believe observing the Passover correctly as per the Scriptures, with serious emotion, can, if not guarded against, give you so much pride and vanity and ego, that you just do not question that your organization and the men leading it, could possibly be "out to lunch" from "planet pluto" on things that are done AFTER the Passover.

It's much like the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, of Jesus' day. They had the law of God, they were not like the heathen nations around them. God had at a point (in the past) given them KNOWLEDGE others did not have. Oh they thought, "we are special" - we have the law; we have the correct weekly Sabbath; we have the correct Festivals of the Lord; we have this Passover feast; we have God's special blessing, a special direct phone line to Him, that others do not have." They became so filled with "religious sanctimony" they could not see where they had WANDERED away from truth into all kinds of ERRORS! They had made THEIR "religion" into "God's religion" - oh yes mixed with some truth. But there lies the DANGER, there lies the DEPTH of Satanic DECEPTION - having SOME things correct, but as time went on MORE and MORE errors of VANITY kept coming into their religion. By the time Jesus came on the scene, well even starting with John the baptist - Jesus called them a bunch of whitened graves, full of dead men's bones, a bunch of deceivers, a bunch of people who would spend all kinds of time (money and effort) into going anywhere to make one convert, but in so doing they made them the children of hell. Jesus had to tell them they appeared to be very righteous (the Passover service can indeed make you feel righteous as you acknowledge the sacrifice of Christ for your sins) but then in reality, as a way of life, you do not see your religious errors of vanity.

Well Jesus pulled no punches with those religious organizations who thought they were close to God. You can read it all in vivid "tecnicolor" in Matthew 23.

Yes, sad to say, I'm beginning to see that observing the Passover correctly by organizations like the UCG,  LCG, PCG, and others from splits of the splits coming out of the WCG, is one reason that those organizations as a whole organization have NOT YET admitted and REPENTED of their part in the old cult of the WCG under the leadership of Herbert Armstrong.

But the good news is: YOU can, if you have not done so, REPENT, admit the past, and THANK and PRAISE the Lord you have MOVED ON into the true LIGHT that will indeed SET you FREE!!!

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