Come grab the benefit!
Later came the letterbox drop from the mainline Hope Project, a fat little 34-page mini-booklet. It's supported by a wide range of churches, but the tone is heavily evangelical. We'll come back to that.
Yesterday it was the turn of UCKG.
UCKG gets a (deservedly?) bad press; but put your doubts aside. If you attend on Good Friday you'll get a free gift.
RECEIVE FOR FREE A BLESSED HANDKERCHIEF MOISTENED WITH WATER FROM THE JORDAN RIVER IN ISRAEL.There's a nice Bible verse - this time not in caps lock - to follow: "... who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed."
Healed. Thus saith the brochure:
Let's think together, it doesn't make any sense for Him to have conquered good health for you and yet you struggle with health issues; love and unity in relationships, but yours is falling apart; a rich and successful life only for you to lack the basic necessities; inner peace, but your mind is constantly tormented. It doesn't make sense! This is why for us, Good Friday is not a day of mourning - it's a day to stand up and claim the benefits of faith in God. We believe that there is nothing in this world that's too strong for Him; no addiction, financial problem, faily feud, health issue, love triangle or tragedy that an active faith in God cannot solve.
"Let's think together", just what kind of person is this targeted toward? Isn't this just manipulating people who are having a hard time in their lives? Bear in mind that other than healing, UCKG is very big on tithing.Bring out the snake oil. Or, in this case, the holy hankies.
The thing is, while the UCKG advertising is crass and obvious in its appeal, the Hope booklet isn't really all that far removed, just more subtle and nuanced. The blood has been mopped up and things are a good deal nicer all round. But it's still the Jesus panacea. Is this really what Christianity is all about? It's hard not to wince when you come across a section titled "The ultimate insurance" (p.25).
The Easter story (or Christian Passover account if you prefer) has got to be about more than this, surely?
The Easter story is fiction, but the Passover, which is on 22nd April this year, is of significance only to true Christians.
ReplyDeleteIf you thought the contents of the booklets that were pushed through your letterbox were bizarre, you want see GCI's Easter baskets. They introduction by the bearded Joe junior, is a leap towards deeper insanity - if that is remotely possible.
Yes, indeed... deeper insanity is indeed possible.
ReplyDeleteFor example, it does seem that the Passover is actually in March this year and most of the churches keeping the Passover are a month late.
Not to worry -- there's a Scripture that allows you to partake of the Passover a month late -- but I'm not quite sure it intends to support postponements.
Some will actually take The Lord's Supper instead of the Passover.
So, yes, deeper insanity is not only possible, but widely practiced.
BOM tentatively assert thus:"it does seem that the Passover is actually in March this year.."
Delete"It does seem," is not a positive phrase. The Passover is either in March or it isn't. The Sacred calendar shows that the Passover in 2016 is on the 22nd of April this year. Those who are planning to take it before or after that date are indeed insane.
The so-called "sacred calendar" in use is the Jewish Calendar produced in the Fourth Century by Hillel II -- the very last to preside over the Sanhedrin. That calendar was off some 14 minutes from the actual astronomical year and over 17 centuries, the Jewish Calendar has drifted until the date for the Spring Equinox is computed from the Hillel produced calendar to be April 7 / 8 (depending upon leap year). So the Jewish Calendar -- which would have absolutely NO impact on the Christian community which was to figure things out for themselves, given that they were given the keys to the Kingdom -- particularly after 70 A.D. when there was absolutely no more Temple Levitical Priesthood for rather prosaic reasons, being that the temple was destroyed by the Roman armies -- is absolutely provably wrong. There's no fix for it. It's just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteSo Passover, as calculated by the Jews in the Jewish Calendar is in absolute error and should not be used. Period. There can be no discussion. It's wrong.
But there's another problem. Christians don't actually keep the Passover. That's the Old Covenant which has been supplanted by the New one in which Christians keep the Lord's Supper. If you were to keep the Passover, truly, you would be required to have a Levitical priest offering animal sacrifices.
After all this, though I may say "it does seem that the Passover is actually in March this year..." I really mean that Passover is NOT in April... it simply isn't.
But there are more problems than this, seeing as how that it does seem that much of the New Testament was forged and the books were not written by those whose name is on them. This suggests that nothing is as it seems and that to rely absolutely on what we may have come to believe certainly, at minimum, requires a great deal of reexamination.
In this case, it well may be that anyone is welcome to keep whatever they want to because it's irrelevant anyway....
Firstly, God's calendar has 30 days for each 12 months, 360 days for a year. That is what I meant by the sacred calendar, and it does not include any leap year.
DeleteSecondly, the Apostle Paul, lovingly called by his Lord and master, A Chosen Vessel, wrote to the churches of God, reminding them that Jesus celebrated the Passover with bread and wine, and that true Christians are required to do the same, in remembrance of his death until he comes. So your heretical opinion that one has to kill a lamb to celebrate the Passover is, indeed, insanity.
Thirdly, I may be wrong, but you need to stop reading the nonsense William Dankenbring publishes in Prophecy Flash. He has deceived many gullible people.
I haven't paid any attention to William Dankenbring for years, but then, I haven't paid heed to Herbert Armstrong for some time because he was a false prophet. Not only that, but Robert Coulter of the Seventh Day Church of God declared Herbert Armstrong a liar in his book, "The Journey: A History of the Church of God (Seventh Day)" and gave proof. Herbert Armstrong was also an heretic in the view of the CoG7D.
ReplyDeleteIt might be instructive to read the latest The Journal where John Kiesz reveals why Herbert Armstrong was wrong about using wine for the Lord's Supper.
Moreover, it would be well to contact Paul Woods of the Seventh Day Church of God in Caldwell, Idaho about the calendar. At minimum, he can guide you to Exodus where it shows that the Passover begins the Days of Unleavened Bread. So all Armstrongists are keeping the wrong calendar on the wrong days (in the wrong way).
But what would you expect of a false prophet who didn't even finish high school and never realized that British Israelism was absolute bunk?
All the people you mentioned are fixated on trying to prove that HWA didn't understand when the Passover should be celebrated, but they are all wrong.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if one had to finish high school to be a servant of God, then Peter, Andrew, James and John were not Apostles, as they were called "ignorant men" by those who had finished high school.
I also note that you dismissed the fact that Jesus celebrated the Passover with bread and wine, and he didn't call it, "The Lord's Super. That is Catholic rubbish.
Also, you failed to reply to the fact that Paul confirmed the symbols of the Passover, as bread and wine.
Finally, you ducked the fact that the calendar of God consists of 30 days for each month, and 360 a year. You obviously ignored all these fact, hoping that I wouldn't notice. But you are communicating with a forensic mind, that able see through the ignorance of the devil.