tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30350949.post8011929904869780486..comments2023-05-20T06:04:23.157-05:00Comments on KEESEE HAS TOO MANY Es: SimilaritiesMikeeseehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049039610369036463noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30350949.post-38869488227380255312008-03-04T11:06:00.000-06:002008-03-04T11:06:00.000-06:00Nothing new under the sun. Man has always thought ...Nothing new under the sun. Man has always thought he had a better system than God. Another Similarity<BR/>1 Sam. 8:<BR/>I am glad you included ...Take heed lest you fall though. I have had to ask for help in pride as I have been trying to get back on track. I had realized that I was off track not because of what someone else was teaching or what I was listening to but because I wasn't implementing in my life the instruction I was given. I guess its beginning that season of in depth reflection isn't it. Talk to you later Mickeycoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00313276160024629947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30350949.post-3586261690004729582008-03-04T09:41:00.000-06:002008-03-04T09:41:00.000-06:00Excellent points, Mickey. Thanks for adding Ezeki...Excellent points, Mickey. Thanks for adding Ezekiel 34, since it has been a while since I both read that and wrote this, they are appropriate reminders to what lawlessness can do even to the faithful. I do remember hearing that same point about the 10%, though. The head leads the rest of the horse and those men responsible will be separated... er, I mean they practically ARE separated now! God has to go out now, as Ezekiel 34 states, and gather His own sheep since His ministry and shepherds won't do it. Satan is to blame for all, absolutely, and he is definitely ramping up his efforts. I shudder to think what will happen when he really gets going and the Beast appears. Will we follow God, or will we follow our judgment, which leads directly down Satan's path, at the climactic end of this age?<BR/><BR/>With this article, I am also attempting to show that those who ONLY point the finger at the ministers, or who ONLY point the finger at the <EM>style</EM> of government in place, or who think that tithes were misspent or the doctrines that Mr. Armstrong had in place were somehow to blame. Yes, the ministry played a role. Yes, we applied the system of God's government with a little more force than probably necessary, and we definitely did not always heed Christ's commands for the ministry to be a serving ministry rather than being served and practically worshiped. Yes, Mr. Armstrong admitted he could have had a firmer grasp on the reigns for a time, but then he did "right the ship", so to speak towards the end of his life.<BR/><BR/>However, there were murmurings in the congregation throughout the years, differences of opinions, etc., lawlessness as you put it, and the splitting began since the apostacy and has continued on even to this day. When will we learn that we are all "rich" and act as though we have need of nothing, when in fact we are groping at the wind?! I'm just as much to blame here in our decadent society... It's practically impossible to get away from this awful influence of pride of knowledge and action when our bellies are full, our homes are nice a warm and our lives are secure.<BR/><BR/>But a time is coming when once again, God will test this age of the Church to see who has built on the Rock (cuz Prudential will probably crumble, too... :) ) rather than sand. Speaking only for myself, having been through only mildly rough times with varying results, so I honestly don't know how I will turn out. What is MY breaking point? How hard will God SHAKE UP His Church and the seemingly stable world around us? "He who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall." Given the events that are speeding up lately, I'm taking nothing for granted anymore. Let's truly analyze ourselves and change so we can be together rejoicing in a short time from now.Mikeeseehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049039610369036463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30350949.post-77454517562054562712008-03-03T22:44:00.000-06:002008-03-03T22:44:00.000-06:00Hello Mike, I have to agree that there are many si...Hello Mike, I have to agree that there are many similarities. I did want to add in a couple points though. You mentioned that Mr. Armstrong commented that he didn't know if 10% got it. I can't remember which sermon title it was but Mr. Carl McNair explained that when Mr. Armstrong said that, he was looking and pointing at the ministerial section. I think its clear too that he was wrong as not even near 10% have stayed with the same teachings that he taught. Remember many ministers that now make up LCG and many of the other groups have been ordained since these new organizations inceptions.<BR/>My point is that so many are completly gone from the COG scene. I know many have died too but still that 10% is off. Also its imporatant to remember that the doctrines were changed while those same ministers who sat in the audience sat by and followed the changes. Where are they now? Who knows. <BR/> My point? Yes there is individual blame placed on those who forgot (as is the meaning of Manasseh) and also on the ministry where clearly Ezekiel and Malachi and other prophetic books explain what would happen BUT I think all TRUE blame goes unto Satan.<BR/>He is still at work and has turned up his influence so much now that few recognize it, even in the church. Wicked men still force their way to the "top", all sorts of atrocities go on at various HQ's. The percentage of abuse has not gone down. <BR/>The size of a people doesn't dictate how much more error will infiltrate or how unmanageable the group is. I have seen a foreman lose it when dealing with only a couple of people on the job and maintain control while over a hundred men on another. <BR/>I know when I left WCG I thought the work would really get accomplished more fully and the end would have to come soon because "We were the ones who 'got it" now here we are 14-15 years later and still problems. Except now the problems are so divisive that it actually hinders doing the work. So many splits and small groups all with their own agendas some with out ministry and some worshipping their ministers as prophets and apostles. A lot sit at home and don't think there can be another work until the two witnesses. And yet all called by God the Father for the same purpose and goal. <BR/>Yes misapplication and misunderstanding of Government is a huge problem, <BR/>no respect for the ministry <BR/>no regard for church doctrine <BR/>and individual interpretations of scripture rule this age. <BR/>In short LAWLESSNESS.<BR/>I guess it isn't a surprise after all that the prophets prophesied about today. Ezekiel 34 is the scariest of all of course. Now many ministers say that this prophecy is talking about worldly ministers, while in part they may be correct that some of the COG ministry is worldly, but even still this prophecy is regarding the COG as is Rev 3: where the Laodecian Era is not difinitive of the worlds attitude but the Church's. <BR/>Yes the similarities spill out all over. In Israel God gives a Priesthood charge over his Called Out some served well some didn't.<BR/>In the Church the same with some difference of administration of course (Heb 7).<BR/>In the end though many look to blame. I have heard about how the ministry did this or that and it rules over peoples lives and it turns into bitterness. I have some in my own family who blame there life's problems on mistakes of the ministry, its sad they can't recognize who really is to blame. God allowed WCG to split up but it was because of lawlessness which removes man from God. The same as in Ancient Israel. God will protect and guide those who hold fast and live rightly (not perfectly but rightly). Well I wrote far more than I intended. Talk to you soon. Mickeycoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00313276160024629947noreply@blogger.com