The Church of God International's Bill Watson delivered Part 4 of his continuing series of sermons on The Prophetic Advantage: The Israel Paradigm this past Sabbath to his Medina, Ohio congregation. For Pastor Watson, the completely discredited teaching of Anglo-Israelism is the key to understanding today's headlines in the light of Biblical prophecy. As the title of his sermon series suggests, Bill believes that this understanding gives him and his church a prophetic advantage over all other Christians in their attempts to interpret Bible prophecy and explain what is currently going on in the world. Indeed, Bill and his allies have repeatedly proclaimed their commission as a "watchman to Israel" (meaning the United States and other English-speaking nations).
In this latest installment of his series, Watson proclaimed that "This is a very important subject, especially in light of what we’re going through today. Many people don’t understand what is going on around us in this country, and it is getting very disturbing. Some of the things that we’re witnessing today are unlike anything that we have witnessed ever in the history of the United States."
The pastor then proceeded to identify some of the circumstances which he finds so disturbing. He mentioned the recent failure of the Silicon Valley Bank and followed with a lament over the "palpable" corruption of the government of the United States. He claimed that the United States government has currently incarcerated over one hundred innocent citizens without legal rights or representation and said that he had recently seen a video of them gathered together singing the National Anthem and praying. He continued: "Allegedly they are the men that were involved in the insurrection What insurrection? It wasn’t an insurrection. It was a protest that was aggravated by, actually, FBI agents." Later in the message, he said that these were just "a bunch of unarmed Americans walking down the halls of the capitol." Sound familiar? Think Tucker Carlson on Fox News! He went on to decry the "disastrous shift in morals," and talked about boys claiming to be girls as symptomatic of that trend. For Bill, these current events validate his narrative that Israel (the U.S.) is suffering these maladies as a consequence of its national sins.
Watson's narrative, however, is NOT consistent with the past statements of CGI's Vance Stinson on this subject. In Ezekiel's Timeless Message, Stinson wrote: "According to some, the work of the watchman involves 'watching' for prophetic fulfillments in the daily newspaper and assuming prophetic significance for every earthquake, drought, flood, or other disaster that makes the headlines. Incredibly, even when a particular 'watchman' has a long history of failed predictions, people will continue to follow him, claiming that he has some special 'anointing,' which is reflected in his oratory skills and 'gift' for analyzing news events 'in the light of Bible prophecy.'" He continued: "Beware of those who come along and, with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, attempt to read prophetic fulfillments into the headlines. Such are the tactics of the false teachers Jesus warned His disciples about." Hence, by Vance Stinson's own standard, Bill Watson and his allies are identified as FALSE TEACHERS. The question then becomes: Why does CGI continue to provide a platform for these false teachers?
The following comment was posted to my private email account:
ReplyDeleteFox gives its viewers what the viewers want to see and hear, not what the viewers need to see and hear. The tail wags the dog. Is something analogous going on here perhaps?
My comment: I seem to recall something about itching ears!
Your article states, “Bill and his allies have repeatedly proclaimed their commission as a ‘watchman to Israel” (meaning the United States and other English-speaking nations).”
ReplyDeleteIn WCG, I remember the watchman’s message message being for the WHITE English speaking nations.” Has Bill changed on this point? If so, does this message now include nations lake Bermuda and Barbados? They are English-speaking nations.
In fact, you would have to include India because the English language is what unites India.
When some apocalyptic preachers speak from the pulpit is it inspiration or is it economics? I believe it is the latter. They are not directed in their rhetoric by the spirit but by the supply and demand curve. The principles recognized by Adam Smith are functioning nicely in this context. While the dynamics are easy to identify, the nagging question is “Where does supply and demand lead us.” The suppliers stand ready, recognizing their vested interests, and the customers clearly have an appetite. But where does the Holy Spirit enter into this? And what is the ultimate outcome?
ReplyDeleteAnd the economic chain of events is easy to follow. The old adage is “follow the money.” The pews want to hear a certain message so the preachers craft that message and deliver it at the pulpit. This makes their product, their message, competitive. Competition – the bête noire of HWA – the spoiler of all good in human affairs. But Armstrongist ministers must survive in a new and brutal environment. The landscape is littered with Splinter groups dueling with each other trying to acquire membership so that their tithe base will expand and the bandwagon will look nicely full. And that is the arc that the money traces out. From pulpit to pews and then back to the pulpit through the tithing system. And the whole arc may be a market transaction rather than pastoral.
Somewhere it says “let their table be their snare.” This can affect all of us but in this case it seems especially dramatic. Conservatives laud the capitalist system. I, too, believe that capitalism is better than other economic systems. But it is not a perfect overlord. Sometimes capitalism can be grotty. It can deliver to people what they want, what they will buy with their dollars, even though what they want might be suspect.
For those in wildfire apocalyptic denominations, the caveat is this. When your preacher gets up to speak, he may not be led at all by the Holy Spirit (he probably hasn’t used the phrase “Holy Spirit” within your memory.) He may be led by “the invisible hand” not “from somewhere” but of Adam Smith. He has a product to sell you and it is crafted to appeal as much as possible to your appetite for the provocative. Fact, history and science may be cast aside as impediments to the transaction. And you walk away feeling validated in your views, but should you? This kind of preaching is not really edifying Christian homiletics but entertainment. It is scripted to sell. If nobody buys, the system does not work. The meme is this: HWA, above all else, was a marketer.
Very perceptive analysis. Thank you.
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