Monday 4 June 2012

Latest Journal

As you may already know, the latest issue of The Journal: News of the Churches of God has been released.  The Journal chronicles developments and trends within those bodies that originated in the Worldwide Church of God.  As such it's a unique read.

My byline appears again with a piece that appeared recently on Otagosh.  I was expecting - dreading even - a reaction to my last piece on the canon, but it seems to have sunk out of sight, out of mind.  Only that trusty Aussie commentator, Henk Jens, has risen this time to the challenge initially posed by editor Dixon Cartwright, and that's in the ad section.
The question of the correct canon of Scripture is the latest in a series of shocks to test the faith of Church of God members since the 1986 death of Mr Herbert W Armstrong... Questioning the canon of Scripture is close to the ultimate snare Satan can put before the Church of God because, if we can not depend on the Bible for Truth, then how can we be converted?
Henk is obviously easily shocked. 

There's a good deal about the Stan Rader interview with the late Mike Wallace, more on the role of women, and a nice little piece about David Barrett's upcoming book.  The usual suspects dominate the advertising section.

For those so inclined, the entire issue can be downloaded in PDF format for free.

11 comments:

  1. Questioning the canon of Scripture is close to the ultimate snare Satan can put before the Church of God because, if we can not depend on the Bible for Truth, then how can we be converted?

    Well, uh, why not just make stuff up as you go along - that's what the early Xians did. I'm surprised, actually, that Jesus couldn't fly over the water instead of just walking on it.

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  2. corky response. dream on.

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  3. "Questioning the canon of Scripture is close to the ultimate snare Satan can put before the Church of God because, if we can not depend on the Bible for Truth, then how can we be converted?"

    Translation: "If people won't fall for "the Bible is God's Word", how can we reel in more suckers?"

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  4. With Armstrongism, it's not about the canon of Scripture -- Armstrongists never get that far.

    They are stuck in British Israelism, which is not only extra Biblical but easily disproved.

    Since BI and the fabricated church history are proven lies, there is no reason for The Journal to exist, unless it wants to admit it is all about alternative science fiction alternative history.

    For me, even the Syfy channel is better and with Prometheus coming out, what can I say?

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  5. Strangely enough Douglas, I never bought into the BI thing, but other teachings swayed me. The Sabbath stuff, the God Family stuff... BI? No. BI appealed to the redneck, racist element, but that wasn't everyone.

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    1. Which is odd, since Herbert Armstrong was all about prophecy and he made sure we knew that British Isrealism is the 'Key to Prophecy' -- his prophecy -- which is exactly why all his prophecies failed in his life time.

      And I have you to thank personally for getting me out of Armstrong by realizing that British Israelism is, how did you put it, ridiculous. Once that is disproved, all the rest of Armstrongism falls. It doesn't help Armstrongists one whit that their church history is easily disproved: The Waldensians never kept the Sabbath. I learned that after my broken knee as I hied off to the University of Washington Library on my crutches to research there and found the proof in the dusty archives. I sent my findings to Pasadena where they were promptly ignored.

      Of course, it was back in 1987 that I was calling the WCG Church Corporate -- that the WCG wasn't a church, it was a Corporation and a pretty worldly one at that.

      As for the Sabbath stuff: All that was taken from the much maligned Church of God Seventh Day. If you are interested, they have a new statement of their doctrine that just came out this year, "This We Believe". You can order it off their website. You know, Gavin, except for a couple of minor points, the doctrines look suspiciously like Armstrongism -- without all the hyperbole.

      I don't know if you are aware, but the "Bible Advocate" had an article on British Israelism this past year (they're agin it).

      But then, all we need is a little DNA, a comprehensive Human Genome Project and a few scientific studies and we don't need to dig into Judah's Sceptre & Joseph's Birthright because we have instant irrefutable proof that would stand up in court that Britain and the United States (along with Western Europe) didn't descend from Abraham.

      Armstrongism is dead.

      Why don't the zombies stop walking around and following people like Ronald Weinland?

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  6. Yes, I'm waiting to see "Prometheus" too - I want to see what our outer space origins really are :)

    Gavin! I'm shocked! You didn't believe in British-Israelism? Then how did you explain all those old testament prophecies that were about Britain and America?

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    1. Corky, it helped to run across a copy of Judah's Sceptre & Joseph's Birthright (1903 or thereabouts) shortly after reading Herb's magnum 'dopus', The US & British Commonwealth in Prophecy (the '67 edition). Even a moron in a hurry could see that Herb had borrowed a hundred dopey claims without a moment's critical reflection (let alone an acknowledgement!)

      But hey, like a lot of others who'd drunk the kool-aid I decided, on balance, such dipstickerry could be overlooked in the broader view.

      Ah, the follies of youth!

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  7. I also never gave much thought or cared much for BI. Never gave a sermon on it and didn't think it mattered much. All the speculation on BI prophecy as mined from the OT was just opinions that came and went. I was like yu Gavin. Sabbath, Kingdom, Holydays, Jesus message and of course "end time stuff." intrigued me. I was so naive as to all the Bible contained and don't intend to let that happen again.

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    1. Really odd since BI was the source of all teaching about the Sabbath, Kindom, Holydays, Jesus' message and of course "end time stuff", especially "end time stuff," since it was based solely on BI as the Key to all prophecy.

      I guess you didn't really comprehend the teachings of the WCG even if you attended Ambassador College.

      Odd that they made you a minister, having never accepted the core beliefs.

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  8. Well, I'm guilty of believing the BI thing - that was the reason I fell for all the rest of that nonsense. My only excuse is that I was only 16 years old when I started believing in Armstrongism. Yep, Gavin...I wish I had some of that youth back (sigh).

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