Since 2010, the blog Banned by HWA has provided a forum for former Worldwide Church of God members (and current and former members of its MANY descendants), and the evidence of COMPLETE prophetic failure which has been presented there has been COMPREHENSIVE, STAGGERING, and OVERWHELMING! Most recently, a series of posts by Marc Cebrian have pointed out the utter failure of David Pack’s forays into the prophetic realm. Likewise, for the last eight years, this blog has occasionally commented on the prophetic failures of the Worldwide COG, Philadelphia COG, and the COG International. Let’s face it, the verdict is in on the prophetic messages of men like Herbert W Armstrong, Gerald Flurry, and David Pack. In short, their collective interpretations of Biblical prophecy and their predictions about the future have ALL come to naught! In the face of so much evidence that these men are NOT God’s prophets, the question naturally arises: Why hasn’t the membership of these organizations abandoned those FALSE prophets and returned to the Lord?
In times past, when the Israelites turned their backs on God, Moses stood before them and demanded, “Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me.” (Exodus 32:26) In similar fashion, the Prophet Elijah (the REAL one) once confronted the Israelites about their divided allegiances. He said: “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” (I Kings 18:21) It is interesting to note that both of these prophets demanded that God’s people be loyal to him, and that they not give any credence to false prophets or gods. In this connection, it is also interesting to note that Moses once predicted that “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
In the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews, we read that: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2) And how has Jesus spoken unto us? The book of Revelation informs us that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit (or essence) of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). It is also interesting to note that Christ echoed the words of Moses and Elijah when he said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me!” (John 14:6) And, in another place, he is reported to have said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” (John 7:37) Hence, in a sense, Christ is delivering to us the same choice that the prophets of long ago delivered to the Israelites. How long will you waver between following the Lord and following these false prophets? Will you come to Christ or will you linger with the evil doers? It seems to me that the day of decision has arrived, and it is time for the membership of the ACOGs to come home to Jesus. What do you think?
They should abandon the Armstrongite COG's, but most of them won't. As long as they hang onto the error of fideism, that is having faith in their faith, they'll cling to Herbert's corpse as long as they live. If they desire to be free, they must understand that faith must be rooted in something that's superior to them. That should be God and his Son. Sadly, their faith is in their own selves, and the false prophet they give credence to.
ReplyDeletePhinnpoy, I did not immediately respond to your comment, because I felt it provoked and deserved some reflection and consideration from several different perspectives (it was brief, but deep). Like most Fundamentalist-Literalists, Armstrongites do tend to denigrate reason/logic and make it the enemy of their "TRUTH." However, unlike many of their Christian brethren of the same stripe, they elevate their own reasoning over simple faith in the teachings, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ! Hence, in the way that you applied fideism in your comment, I believe that we are probably in agreement about the spiritual status of Armstrong COG theology.
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