It looks like a really fascinating magazine but that is not the point here.
LCG is trying to get into this magazine. So I sent them this email.
Dear Parents magazine,Perhaps you would like to make your voice heard by sending your own email on this matter, (or cut and paste mine) and make it absolutely clear to them that LCG is not worth associating with. Perhaps add in your two cents worth to them so they clearly understand what sort of organization they are dealing with.
I beg you not to associate your magazine with Rod King or his organization, the Living Church of God which produces Tomorrow's World.
I read at the LCG's website (http://cogl.org/cgi-bin/cogl/weeklyupdates/cogl-wkupdates.cgi?category=WeeklyUpdate1&item=1264896047) that in mid-February a representative of yours will be meeting with Rod King, a minister of LCG, in order to negotiate running an article and an ad for a marriage booklet LCG produces.
Rod King wrote this in the link:I beg you not to associate your magazine with this man or this organization.
- I will be leaving for a trip to Kenya in mid-February, where I will meet with a representative from Parents magazine. We plan to run an article and advertisement for our marriage booklet.
LCG is a dictatorial organization that has no democracy within its hierarchy.
LCG is very controlling of members' lives.
LCG follows a brand of Christianity called Armstrongism. That religion was begun by Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986) self proclaimed Apostle, and leader of his authoritarian Worldwide Church of God. He plagiarized doctrines from various sources (Jehovah's Witnesses, British-Israelism, Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventists, etc,) to produce his own distinctive religion. He made 200 false prophecies. LCG is an offshoot of WCG which continues many practices of WCG.
He and LCG teach that God is not a Trinity but a family of beings presently composed of the Father and the Son (and not the Holy Spirit) into which human beings may be born into. (Similar to Mormonism.)
Members are required to give three tithes to LCG. This is a tremendous financial burden imposed upon all members. Furthermore members are expected to give more then this, the minimum, in order to please God, they are told. LCG cleverly hides this from potential converts. They do not mention Second or Third Tithes in any of their tithing booklets.
Members are forbidden to celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine's Day, etc because they are viewed as 'pagan.' This is a terrible isolating mechanism that causes members to loosen and neglect personal bonds with non-members. (This is very similar to Jehovah's Witnesses.)
This church is an apocalyptic cult. In their so called Bible Study Course they forecasted that Jesus Christ 'could' return in 2017. They constantly keep members in a state of fear about the future. This has always been the case with Armstrongism. Armstrongites have asserted that Jesus Christ would return in 1936, after World War II, 1975, by 2005, 2017. It just never stops. LCG's publications are filled with lurid and crude warnings that nuclear World War III will destroy everything they hold dear. This cause members to view their links with the outside world as worthless because it will soon be destroyed and they spend all their energies on this cult. Those who join this church live in ever present (false) fear that World War III will begin according to their elaborate false prophecies.
Members are forbidden from marrying outside of their particular and rather small church. There is such little hope for members to find a spouse that they have Singles Weekends in which singles desperately try to find a mate. A personal testimony to the dreadful situation of singles in LCG's parent organization may be seen here: (http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/dee/back/single.htm). Things have not changed. They still hold singles weekends as may be seen at the first link above.
Also interracial marriage is forbidden, as though Jim Crow is still in force. This was taught in Herbert W. Armstrong's book, Mystery of the Ages, chapters three and four.
If you publish that article of theirs and run that ad for them you could very well cause some person to get into this organization. I ask you again not to publish their materials. They know how to say fine words but it is just a trick.
Please do not do this.
Regards,
Redfox712
There is a lot of justified anger at what these Armstrongite organizations have done to us. Let us use it in a constructive, non-violent fashion.
Let us tell them the truth about Armstrongism.
We need to stop this.
Excellent! Sending them the Painful Truth about the LCD cult.
ReplyDeleteI see you are still telling lies, Redfox.
ReplyDeleteAt least you don't claim to actually be a Christian but rather "a believer in Christianity" - much like the demons who are believers in God. How Christ would be repelled if you actually claimed to be one of His and blatantly and repeatedly lied at the same time.
I think you should reconsider this effort. I have never been a member of LCG (though I am a member of what you might consider a "competing" organization), but I do believe your letter contains misrepresentations and untruths about many of the good people I know there.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, have you been to Kenya? There are many wonderful hearts who are seeking (but maybe not finding) good solid family advice which the Bible contains in spades, even if you aren't religiously inclined.
Please don't let your anger interfere with people getting access to principles of living which they desparately need and may actually prevent situations of abuse and save lives.
With all due respect I do not see how I am misrepresenting LCG. My criticisms here focus on behaviors practiced by their organization, not so much the members, and on various doctrines that are taught by them and practiced by members.
ReplyDeleteI have not been to Kenya but I am sure they would not appreciate getting interested in this organization only to subtlety, piece by piece lose faith in such essential Christian doctrines as the Trinity and view the vast majority of Christians, Sunday keepers, trinitarians, Catholics, Protestants as fake Christians who are actually worshiping Satan.
When I entered into Armstrongism I did not know what I getting myself into. I read one article of theirs on tithing and it made no mention of three tithes. Their two booklets on tithing also fail to mention the other two tithes.
I have no problem with the readers of Parents magazine gaining access to family principals. They are already getting them from that magazine. They do not need LCG to help them. I would argue they would be better off not knowing about LCG.
And what is so family friendly about forbidding birthdays, Christmas, Easter? These prohibitions deny many families' attempts to be loving and to express their love to those who follow the COGs. What is so family friendly about that?
I know those in the COGs think they are serving God and setting a godly example for society and family to follow, but the hard truth is HWA stole those ideas from the Rutherford era Jehovah's Witnesses, a religion both of us would recognize as heretical because they deny that Jesus is deity. Many revered doctrines came from them. Birthdays, 'healing', 2520 years, and maybe even the God Family from the Russell era Watchtower. That's why he was so scared of them joining him.
I am sure most of the people in LCG and other COGs are fine and decent people, but their organizations do things that are objectionable. Such as hiding their three tithes from potential recruits. They also believe things that just are not true and which, to state plainly, were stolen by HWA from other sources, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, British-Israelism, possibly Mormonism.
I have no idea how LCG is presenting themselves to Parents magazine. But I will never forget how HWA stated that he got onto radio stations by not trying to preach at them. He gained their confidence and then got a radio slot. I have no confidence that LCG will be open about what the really do. (Maybe they are more honest in how they present themselves to them than they did to me, but I cannot assume that such is the case.)
Therefore I have done this in order to make sure that those running this magazine know very well who these people are and why they should not associate themselves with LCG.
Also I think it will do former COGers some good to strategically throw off some stream in a way that can affect what happens and I am inviting them to participate.
Also I am a (non-denominational) Christian.
Redfox, you wrote, "I do not see how I am misrepresenting LCG."
ReplyDeleteYou are misrepresenting LCG by telling outright lies about them.
The trouble is you are so eaten-up by bitterness you either believe or cannot see your lies.
Have you considered that the LCD will be scammed by the Kenyan's? One of those countries scammed either the LCG or the UCG some years ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hwarmstrong.com/Spam-We-Get.htm
I am a member of the Living Church of God. First off, do not say that Mr. Armstrong took the holiday and birthday issue from the JWs. It is commonly known, if you will do your research, that even the very first century New Testament Church of God did not keep those days. In the USA, it was not kept until after one state decided to keep Christmas in the mid-1800s. Before that, before there was a Watchtower, it was against the law to keep Christmas, Easter, New Year's, birthdays and the such. You had to attend on the seventh-day Sabbath (well before there was a SDA). You can find these facts documented in many resources pertaining to the 1600s, 1700s and even further back. You will find clear admissions of this that date further back.
ReplyDeleteSo, before saying that Mr. Armstrong was false, before saying that the LCG is false, do your research!