In a sermon on the first day of the CGI’s Feast of Tabernacles in Clearwater (CGI was also associated with two other festival sites in Florida), Pastor Bill Watson marveled over the fact that God’s people were still celebrating this festival in 2022. The clear implication being that most of the “old-timers” believed that the Kingdom of God would have been established many years ago by now. This observation was followed by a statement which anyone who is familiar with the history of the Armstrong Church of God culture will find astonishing. Watson declared: “We were falsely accused of actually setting dates, when in fact really we never did, as far as our culture was concerned.”
After that jaw-dropping statement, Watson went on to observe that Christians are currently viewed as an “annoyance” or as “troublemakers.” According to Bill, TRUE Christians don’t go along with the mainstream media. From his perspective, God has revealed HIS TRUTH to the folks in CGI, and they need to tattoo that stuff on their brains! He insists that CGI members can’t allow themselves to swallow the narrative of the world around them. In other words, Christians cannot be woke or politically correct!
What kinds of things did Mr. Watson have in mind? He went on to remind his audience that God created Adam and Eve - NOT Adam and Steve (I know I’ve heard that one somewhere before). Continuing, he went on to make the astute observation that homosexuals “can’t reproduce,” and that it’s consequently an obvious perversion of the biology which God intended. Watson then went on to decry the fact that he can’t say anything about voter fraud, because “we’ll lose our YouTube account.” He then proceeded to make clear that Bill Watson didn’t drink the Kool-Aid on Covid-19. He reiterated his often stated opinion that masks don’t make sense. This, apparently, is what Bill meant when he referred to the fact that Christians like him were now viewed as annoyances and troublemakers; but he also made it very clear that he was not intimidated by these gainsayers. He declared that Christians have got to put “blinders” on so that we don’t get distracted by the noise that these critics generate.
Nevertheless, Pastor Watson did admit that some folks in the Armstrong Church of God movement have been misled by clever individuals. He cited the unnamed leader of the Restored Church of God as an example of just such a deceiver and went on to declare that “any minister…that basically attempts to steer you to follow them - get outta there…because if they are not pointing you to Jesus Christ there’s something very suspicious that’s going on.” You know, despite the awkward wording, I think that Pastor Watson may be on to something with that statement – I kinda liked that one! What do you think?
The clause "...if they are not pointing you to Jesus Christ..." needs to be unpacked. Principally, how is Jesus Christ defined by the speaker. Pointing towards what?
ReplyDeleteHistorically, the Millerite Movement has had a checkered history regarding Jesus. Some of its leaders were Arianist. Arianists believe Jesus is a created being. This is not only a renunciaiton of the Trinity but a renunciation of Binitarianism. It is a stretch but it might qualify as Bitheism. As I understand, some ministers in the Church of God Seventh Day still believe in Arianism. I believe this view has influenced Rupertism-Armstrongism where Jesus seems to have been diminished and Moses and the Mosaic Law exalted.
So when a Rupertist-Armstrongist preacher speaks about Jesus, the question is, who and what is he talking about? The preacher's concept of Jesus may be only distantly related to the Jesus of the Christian Movement. And Rupertist-Armstrongists have also connected the Jesus of Christianity with Tammuz (see the dubious Hislop) the son of Semiramis.
In communication, we do not receive meaning from speakers and writers via their words. We impart meaning to their words from our own store of knowledge. In a sense, we translate everything we receive based on what meanings we have personally developed. So when someone says "Jesus," you impart a meaning to that word that may be much different from the idea that the speaker has in mind. It behooves the listener to find out exactly what the speaker's, no matter how respected or charismatic, intended meaning is before aligning with the speaker's statements. Don't be deceived by someone who throws out their chest and says, "I believe in the Jesus of the Bible!"
Anyone can say that.
Based on my knowledge of Bill Watson, I can assure my readers that his notion of focusing on Jesus Christ is VERY different from my notion of what that entails. Even so, the principle of focusing on Jesus Christ is at the heart and core of the Gospel - it is an unassailable premise. As always, as Neo reminds us in his comment, the devil is in the details.
DeleteFor those who may be interested, there is an extensive commentary thread on this post where it was republished on Banned by HWA.
ReplyDelete