They Believe HWA, Like I Did

One of True Christian Ministries' articles, Does God Speak to us Through Our Dreams?, (which seems to have been written in 1999) the author, Joseph Santora, relates an encounter with some friends of his. According to him one of them has had a dream which Santora interprets to be God warning him about the coming Great Tribulation, which was supposed to come in 1975.

According to Santora:

In the past 11 years [since 1988?] that we have been friends, they have witnessed many of the things I had told them come to pass, no matter how far-fetched or unlikely they may have seemed at the time it was said.

Jim and Freddie say that they believe the Biblical truths I have taught them through the years and know that they should be following the True Christian ways that God is calling them to-
But they still do not.

According to Jim and Freddie, there is just no way they can fit God's calling into their present lives:

"My wife won't stop celebrating Christmas"

"I can't keep the Sabbath, I work on Saturdays"

"Friday night is when I party with my friends"

"I can't ask for Passover off at my job, they'll laugh"

"Is believing in the Easter Bunny that bad a thing"

"My parents would disown me if I changed my religion"

These are just a few of the reasons I have heard them and others offer through the years, as to why they can't do the things that Christ requires of those who believe in him.

You see - It's not always easy or convenient to be a True Christian, especially in a world where God's ways are so misunderstood and frowned down upon.

He then expresses hope that the dream will cause Jim, one of the friends, to dedicate his life and follow the ways of 'true Christianity' (Armstrongism).

That story spoke to me.

Because while I was a follower of LCG from 2000-8 I was just like those friends. I passionately believed in what LCG told me was true Apostolic Christianity. I actually tried to follow the dictates of Armstrongism. No pork. Strict Sabbath observance. No TV shows on the Sabbath. No Christmas.

Throughout that time I had this gnawing sense of failure because I had not joined the church. Then when I made contact with an LCG minister, he refused to meet with me. I still believed in them nevertheless.

I was like those two friends who "believe[d] the Biblical truths [Santora] have taught them through the years and know that they should be following the True Christian ways that God is calling them to- But they still do not."

Let me just say that I am very glad that I have proven to my satisfaction that Herbert W. Armstrong did not restore Apostolic Christianity but was in fact dreadfully wrong on many issues. He in fact shamelessly stole many ideas from various sources, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and British Israelism. He was a false prophet who predicted that Christ would return in 1936, 1975 and by 2005.

God could not have worked with Herbert W. Armstrong.

Herbert W. Armstrong is a false prophet.

"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath NOT SPOKEN, but the prophet [like HWA] hath spoken it PRESUMPTUOUSLY: thou shalt not be afraid of him." (Deuteronomy 18:22)

If only I could tell those friends that they don't need to worry about failing God because they are not in a COG. HWA was a false prophet whose words fail. HWA just made up his religion.

I hope that one day, maybe it has already come, that these two precious souls will realize that what HWA said is not true and that they get out of it, just as I did in 2008, and be free of any false sense of guilt they have.