tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post1709517382223639989..comments2024-03-28T09:59:14.226-04:00Comments on AS BEREANS DID: When Your Feast Fever BreaksMarthahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12438486498450616814noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post-77758554543617099442016-11-30T12:29:51.376-05:002016-11-30T12:29:51.376-05:00I differed from most members when I joined the chu...I differed from most members when I joined the church. I immediately began reading self help books because I realised that the ministers were not magnifying Gods law. The result was a mental break from the physical church because it became obvious that what was taught from the pulpit, was the fox talking to the chickens, with religious window dressing. The ministers were creating a alternate reality whose purpose was a paradise for crooks. The ministers teach members to be eaten alive by the thugs and bullies in the church. It's these same thugs who still worship Herbie for giving them their personal garden of Eden in the church.<br />It's hardly surprising that these churches keep splintering, since no one wants to be the victim.<br />Most former members, in my opinion, are still morally confused. And this after listening to thousands of Kenneth Copeland type sermons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post-69036199220773212642016-10-29T21:45:49.561-04:002016-10-29T21:45:49.561-04:00I only attended five FOT's back in the 70'...I only attended five FOT's back in the 70's from ages 9 to 13 and I remember hearing how this feast was "the best feast ever"...yet I always remember asking myself, "how was this feast better than the others"? They ALL sucked as far as I was concerned. We sat through the 2 hour services on most days, waited for my parents to finally stop talking to people. Weather was usually on the cold side seeing we usually went to the Poconos and then endured double services on the first, last, and the sabbath days. One feast we were stationed an hour away from the feast site in a hotel that was being used for solicitation. how was THAT the "best feast ever"???? Thank you Jesus for delivering me from such a deceptive and false system.Child Survivorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05188734676695321602noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post-64003779806409381342016-10-24T14:17:50.105-04:002016-10-24T14:17:50.105-04:00A little late on this subject, sorry. I was dragg...A little late on this subject, sorry. I was dragged into the WCG from childhood, and looked forward to the feast every year just like every other kid there I guess. The let-down afterward however, was crushing. We had to miss school for at least 8 days, great to flaunt to your school peers before the fact, but subject to ridicule and even bullying because you were a freak in dress and diet and ritual. That lasted a good 7 years through high school when I promptly blew it all off. Years later, out of fear of the "tribulation and holocaust", I returned to the fold to keep my own kids safe. The feast was a financial burden, but it was the only time away from home all year. After the feast, I experienced depression, loneliness. I hated the Fall, it reminded me that Winter was coming, cold, gray and long. Now, Fall is one of my favorite seasons! It's just another time of year, just like all the rest! No build-up, no let-down, just another time of year. Relief. whatmeworrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post-55769440612024127392016-10-22T16:52:40.242-04:002016-10-22T16:52:40.242-04:002 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowle...2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge....<br /><br />And yet... and yet....<br /><br />James Russell gave a weekly Sabbath service and at the beginning of the sermon he said, "We haven't learned anything new in 40 years".<br /><br />He meant that the doctrines of the church were the same as what they were during the days of the Radio Church of God.<br /><br />And really -- in principle, it is true: The Feasts and Holydays, the Sabbath, clean and unclean meats, British Israelism, tithing -- pretty much all the same or at least attempts have been made to keep the practices from the golden age of the Bronze Age Olde Testament Christianity (there can be no such thing) in place... well, in place minus maybe the animal sacrifices. There. That's better. Just remove the animal sacrifices from the Old Testament and, voila, we have New Testament Christianity!<br /><br />The admission that Armstrongism has grown neither in grace or in knowledge over the past 4 decades should be a strong motivating force to engage research to find out what is wrong. If we aren't progressing, we're falling behind. There was nothing new under the sun until the First Century.<br /><br />It should have been a major transformation. Everything should have been made new. There should have been a new path including redemption along with a personal relationship with God the Father, unavailable to those in the Old Testament, who knew nothing of the Father because it took Jesus to bring the message.<br /><br />And so it is, Armstrongism represents New Testament Phariseeism, locked in physical rituals, insistent upon hierarchical structures looking to men instead of God for leadership.<br /><br />We all should have gotten the message when Jesus gave the parable of new wine in old wine skins: The old had been supplanted by the new and the Feasts were done away. By 70 A.D., the temple was gone and Judaism was wiped from the earth because it had served its purpose.<br /><br />The people were separated from God by the veil in the holy of holies, but when the veil was ripped asunder, God became available to all.<br /><br />The priests of Armstrongism want to keep the people away from God so they can take the money and have the aggrandizement. As long as people continue to indulge their alcoholism with booze, their minds will be clouded and they will have no hope coming to the truth. The Feasts actually keep people from God the Father and you know, none of us in Armstrongism ever had any sermons about what God the Father is really like because the leaders are ignorant and just don't know because of lack of knowledge and vision.<br /><br />And this is the indictment: That the Armstrongists have learned nothing new in the past 40 years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post-39929873601007818512016-10-22T10:27:22.312-04:002016-10-22T10:27:22.312-04:00I appreciate this article. Thanks Martha.
The FOT...I appreciate this article. Thanks Martha.<br /><br />The FOT was always the highlight of the year. It was always the thing most looked forward to, and most dreaded. Such a pleasure and such a burden at the same time. Yet if I had to choose one thing, aside from the weekly Sabbath, that didn't make any sense to me that people would want to give up - it was the FOT. <br /><br />When I first left my COG, I actually contemplated attending a non-affiliated FOT site. There were a couple. At least one person in the COG7 hosted a site in Pennsylvania. I never did end up going but I knew people who did. I hear the experience was woeful.<br /><br />But I came to understand that most of my attachment to the FOT was sentimentality and lack of any viable alternative. In short, after decades of indoctrination, I misunderstood and feared "the holidays." That was so very, very difficult for me to unlearn. I thank God each year for Seeker and Luk and the opportunity to write for this blog. We decided to investigate the holidays in a purely neutral fashion and I was forced to accept the uncomfortable fact that most of what I thought I knew was not true at all. In time, I can now say from my heart that the truth has set me free.<br /><br />From the perspective of a person who is still in the COG but knows they are on the way out, I can relate to the apprehension. I remember it will. So many unknowns. So many years of being told how wrong the path is.<br />But from the perspective of a person who has been on the outside for a few years now, I can say it was all in my head. Jesus still loves you. Grace is far better than false pride and fear that comes from a partial keeping of some of the law. Freedom from my own fears and superstitions - fed by the COG doctrine through Ministers who have a vested interest in "pay, pray, stay" - is by far better than what I put my family and friends (and myself) through each year as I ran away, pushed them away, and shunned their get-togethers because I was so much more enlightened than those pagans. I was blind to myself.<br /><br />I had to step out on faith. "Leap of faith" barely describes. Praise the Lord, I did it. I stepped into the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ. Free at last! I can say with truth that this alone is much better than the FOT.xHWAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01061716053302210598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5528158760608808912.post-49585586458722100232016-10-22T09:52:45.721-04:002016-10-22T09:52:45.721-04:00One of my favorite lines that I've ever heard ...One of my favorite lines that I've ever heard regarding the Armstrongist practice of the FOT - "Herbert Armstrong changed the law out of necessity."<br /><br />Classic.xHWAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01061716053302210598noreply@blogger.com