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The Ten Commandments     How to love God and people. Exodus 20:3-17, NIV     Printable list of commandments. Annual Holy Day Calendar     God's plan of salvation. 2008  |  2009  |  2010  |  2011     Printable calendars. Clean and Unclean Meats     Developing good taste. Unlawful Sexual Relations     Right and wrong in God's sight. The Origin of the Bible     Did it come from paganism? The Christmas Story     Turning aside from truth to myths. 9-11 Terrorist Attack on USA     Is something worse coming?

January 2008:

• New year on different calendars

  January 1, 2008 is the first day of the new year on the Gregorian calendar. Many people who celebrate it will stay up late waiting for it to arrive. On the Gregorian calendar old days end, and new days begin, at midnight. This is a good time to remember that on the Hebrew calendar the new year begins in the spring time rather than in the middle of winter. Also, old days end, and new days begin, at sunset rather than at midnight. The first day of the new year on the calculated Hebrew calendar this time will be on Sunday April 6, 2008 on the Gregorian calendar. For special dates in the coming year go to the Annual Holy Day Calendar for 2008.

  
  

February 2008:

• David C. Pack wants access to all your wealth NOW!

  To the public, the so-called Churches of God (COGs) try to project an image of generously giving away free literature in the public interest. On the inside, it is a different story. The more strict so-called Churches of God (COGs) are infamous for wanting lots of money from their followers. With groups like David Pack's own Restored Church of God (RCOG), even the little bit of "free" literature that they do send out to impress people seems to get cut off if the recipients are not quickly impressed to send in some money.

  Members are expected to send in a tithe (tenth) of their gross income each year, which might seem reasonable since it takes money to run a large organization. Members are also expected to save up a second tithe (tenth) of their gross income each year to cover their expenses of attending the annual conventions, and send a tithe (tenth) of this second tithe (tenth) to headquarters. Any leftover second tithe, referred to as "excess second tithe," is expected to be turned in to headquarters. Every third and sixth years of a seven year cycle, members are supposed to send in a third tithe (tenth) of their gross income to headquarters. This "third tithe" is supposedly for such things as helping poor church members, which sounds good, but it no longer seems to find its way to them in groups like Gerald Flurry's so-called Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) or David Pack's own Restored Church of God. Guys like Gerald and David seem to find other uses for the third tithe money. They like to brag that they are faithfully collecting third tithe in their groups, but don't mention that they are not faithfully helping their own poor members with it. Also, at each of the church's seven annual Sabbaths, members are supposed to give generous offerings above and beyond their required tithes.

  Typically, even all the regular required tithes and offerings are not enough money to satisfy the leaders, and special appeals are made for even more money from the members. Merely paying the three required tithes (tenths) of their gross income and giving offerings at the seven annual Sabbaths is considered to be only doing what is required of them, and makes them "unprofitable servants." So, they then find out that they are expected to give extra, generous offerings above and beyond the regular required tithes and offerings, to support building programs, etc. The leaders even want people to neglect their own families and relatives, and will their estates to the church when they die. But, the need and greed for more money is so great that the self-appointed church leaders cannot even wait for their own members to die! They want to help themselves to their members' estates right NOW! And, just as the Pharisees of old would devour widows' houses and make long prayers, so the modern--and even worse--crooks will devour everything in sight that they can and make long explanations in seemingly endless writings and preachings to justify it. They try to give the world the impression that their church knows how to live the abundant, good life while in fact their own members are being absolutely plundered. David Pack wrote a booklet called End All Your FINANCIAL WORRIES. Little did his followers suspect when they went with him that their financial worries were just about to begin.

  Mark 10 contains the story of a rich, young man. "Jesus looked at him and loved him. 'One thing you lack,' he said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me'" (Mark 10:21, NIV). It was not a poor man, or even an average man, but someone with "great wealth" (verse 22). He was told to give to the poor (not to con-artists pretending to be poor). Notice that he was not told to hand the money over to Jesus, or to Judas Iscariot who carried the money bag and was a thief (John 12:4-6), or to the church, or to the synagogue. Rather, he was to give it to the poor. It is very interesting when some supposedly stricter COG groups can't even stand to help their own poor members with the third tithe money that was supposedly collected for that very purpose. Members are expected to live within their means and have the faith to send in the third tithe money, as well as all sorts of other tithes and offerings. Yet, the leaders of these groups don't seem to live within their means, or have the faith to use these directed funds for their stated main purpose.

  David C. Pack started his own money machine, which he called the Restored Church of God. At its Web site is posted a sermon called Clarion Call--The Time is NOW!, given on November 3, 2007. In it the aggressive, competitive David Pack is going for the gold--your gold! Another Web site, called the Exit & Support Network (ESN), has an article about it called Exposé of "Clarion Call--The Time is Now!" (Pt. 2) posted online at http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/pack3.htm. Before anyone follows David Pack anywhere, or sends him a dollar, they should have a look at this article. It could give them some valuable insight into what is going to come in the future from the Pack man: he is going to gobble up everything he can. If a member does become destitute as a result of the whole experience, he cannot count on receiving third tithe assistance. He probably can count on being told to get a job and get back to work.

  The March 2008 issue of The Real Truth magazine that David Pack produces had an article called America's Banking Crisis--A Financial Tsunami Approaching! to frighten people with stories about the economic problems that might come in the future. Members of his own Restored Church have already been hit by a financial tsunami that could leave them all washed up.

  
  

• Gerald R. Flurry wants to get into the entertainment business

  Gerald R. Flurry is planning to build an auditorium at his Philadelphia Church of God (PCG) headquarters in Oklahoma. The cost of this 800-seat performing arts center is estimated at fifteen million dollars with completion scheduled for late 2009 or early 2010. While it is called a "house for God" it is really just an auditorium for musicians, singers, and actors (hypocrites in Greek). Just playing with round, loose numbers, if $15,000,000.00 is extracted from 5,000 people, it works out to about $3,000.00 a sucker. The three grand will be above and beyond their regularly required tithes and offerings. A letter about this new development has already been sent to the people who will be paying for it. If sales of tickets for the shows does not cover the cost of upkeep and hiring performers, the PCG members might have to subsidize this thing on into the future. Instead of supporting the truth of God, their money can go to support the high-paid musicians, singers, and actors of the world. No doubt, some PCG members will come to regret having been ripped off, and will wish that they had used their 3K+ to buy their own personal entertainment system for their own home.

  When he started his PCG cult, Gerald initially talked about what a "short work" they were prophesied to do. He said that they were not only in the end time, but "the end of the end time." There was even talk about being in the "last hour." Many members took this to mean that they would soon flee to a "place of safety" (expected to be Petra in Jordan). Now, after so many years of such talk, Gerald has started working on a massive building program for himself and his buddies. Any questioning of all this would, no doubt, be considered a sign of a "bad attitude."

  Even with inflation picking up, fifteen million dollars is still something, and could be used to spread the truth of God. But, it won't be. Whenever someone gets his hands on enough money to seriously spread the truth of God, they are struck by impulses to waste it on something else. In Gerald's case, he never had the truth of God anyway, so it is better to spend the money on entertainment than on spreading his misunderstanding of Malachi. Now, the people at PCG headquarters will have more than just a boring, little clown to entertain them. When his ranting gets monotonous, they can go watch a different show.

March 2008:

• How to spot lying false prophets--like Ronald Weinland, for example

  A man by the name of Ronald Weinland was a minister in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), and then a minister in the United Church of God (UCG) for a couple years, before starting his own little splinter group called The Church of God--Preparing for the Kingdom of God (COG-PKG), which has a Web site at http://www.cog-pkg.org. You can get his latest updates about his shenanigans at another one of his Web sites at http://www.ronaldweinland.com. He wrote a book called The Prophesied End-Time (288 pages) in 2004 and another book called 2008--God's Final Witness (244 pages) in 2006. These are two books that you do not need to bother reading.

  One of Ronald Weinland's Web sites at http://www.ronaldweinland.com had a February 7, 2008 update that said, "the final countdown has begun, as the 1335 days before the actual day Jesus Christ returns began on February 2, 2008." It also mentioned "the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of God's Government over all the earth in the fall of 2011." Another page at his Web site at http://ronaldweinland.com/?page_id=5 claimed that God made him a prophet in 1997. He also claimed to be one of the "two witnesses" mentioned in Revelation chapter 11, but said that he would not know who the second witness was until at least April 2008. Anyway, Ron will be the spokesperson for the two.

  After the complete doctrinal change and break-up of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in 1995, many people who still believed some things began to search for the one true splinter group that they assumed must exist. Unfortunately, many fell for the various, different, self-appointed prophets that appeared out of the wreckage of the WCG. On page 16 of his second book, called 2008--God's Final Witness, Ron wrote that,

  "It is now with boldness, confidence and great clarity that I give to you what God has given me. I am to announce, through God's direct revelation, that I am one of those two witnesses."

  This claim certainly catches one's attention. After all, one does want to listen to any message from God through any true prophet, or witness, of His. In Old Testament times, God told Aaron and Miriam, "Listen to my words: When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams" (Numbers 12:6, NIV). But is this what happened to Ron? Is this how it was revealed to him? Apparently not! Rather, he just felt that God had "directly revealed" something to him through his "study" of the Bible and his daydreaming. He just imagined that he was onto something, and wrote up some theories of his own devising. And that is where it all falls apart and goes bad. You cannot just make up stuff in God's name. God has to give you the message. The Apostle Peter explained that, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:20-21, NIV). Yet, people continue to make up prophetic theories of their own and expect God to bring them to pass. This is an ancient problem. God once explained, "They say, 'The LORD declares,' when the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled. Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, 'The LORD declares,' though I have not spoken?" (Ezekiel 13:6-7, NIV).

  Will Ronald Weinland be so full of the Holy Spirit that he will have the power to help people? He himself writes not to expect it. You should note what Ronald wrote on page 12 of 2008--God's Final Witness:

  "You should note that God did not use the gift of healing or the performance of other miraculous signs to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, and He will not use such signs in the end-time to reveal where He is working and with whom."

  Those who have read the Bible, or even just the book of Exodus, might recall that God did use miraculous signs and wonders to deliver the Israelites from Egypt. Rotten Ronnie is just trying to discourage people from asking for the healing that he knows he has no power to do, even though he claims to be a prophet and one of the two witnesses. Perhaps deep down inside he wonders why a man of his position has no power, and why God does not talk to him. He is neither the first guy, nor the last, to imagine that he is one of the two witnesses, and to be still waiting to receive his power. He has now been reduced to hoping for the deaths of the leaders of the other splinter groups to fulfill his own guesses and desires.

  What can one expect from the "two witnesses" when the true ones really do appear? The Bible says, "If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want" (Revelation 11:5-6, NIV). They will stand out from all the false witnesses who came ahead of time. You can expect that they will actually wear sackcloth like the Bible says, rather than reason around like Ron that it just means that they are humble.

  Technically, false prophets like Ronald Weinland should be stoned to death. God said, "But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death. You may say to yourselves, 'How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?' If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:20-22, NIV). Fortunately, with Ron's guesses, one won't have to wait the usual three to five years to figure out that he was just another nut case. Three to five months should be plenty. Then, some of those who have had their time, and energy, and money worse than wasted might begin to understand why God had such a drastic penalty for telling lies in His name.

  The New Testament contains this warning from the Apostle Peter: "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping" (II Peter 2:1-3, NIV). It is easy to ignore all the ham-eating, Sunday-keeping false prophets in the world. Obviously, such ignoramuses don't know anything. The big problem today is with all the false prophets that came from within the Worldwide Church of God.

  A serious problem has arisen these days as many former members of the Worldwide Church of God started their own groups that observe the biblical seventh-day Sabbath, and call their groups by the name Church of God (COG), yet make up lies in God's name and pretend to be His prophets. This certainly does "bring the way of truth into disrepute." The only reason that most of these goofballs know any biblical truth at all is that they learned it from guys like Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA). So far, so good. But then they point out that not all prophetic knowledge was revealed to HWA, so they take it upon themselves to fill in the gaps by making up crazy new theories of their own. They also say that HWA did not quite figure out everything, so they come up with new doctrinal ideas that contradict what he taught. Even while praising HWA they disagree with him and change what he taught, and not for the better. Ron is just one example of many who do this. Here is a quote from page 205 of 2008--God's Final Witness:

  "Although Mr. Armstrong understood that the Trinity was a lie, God did not give him full understanding of what was true concerning Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ. God did not fully lead him out from the pollution of the false Trinity doctrine. Mr. Armstrong still believed that Jesus Christ had eternally existed. God gave Mr. Armstrong enough to conclude that the Trinity was a lie, but He did not lead him fully into the truth. God reserved this revelation until now, at this very end time, during the time of the opening and the fulfillment of the Sixth Seal of Revelation."

  People need to stop and consider that if the God of the Bible really does exist, He can and will carry out His own plans on His own schedule. There is no need for anyone to make up lies in His name, other than to fulfill the prophecy that many false prophets will arise and deceive many. People need to read the Bible for themselves, and hold on tight to the truth of God that it teaches, while rejecting all the time-wasting and money-wasting false prophets who come around telling ridiculous lies that they have made up. It is truly amazing how many greedy, outright liars came out of the WCG. But then, Jesus did warn that "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" (Matthew 24:11, NIV). As this problem continues, some people might start to take more seriously Jesus' warning about false prophets.

  
  

April 2008:

• Cost Update: David Pack's "vision" grows more expensive by many grand

  In a sermon called March 2008 Update: The Vision Grows Grander, the self-sent apostle David C. Pack announced some of his great building plans for the future. Below are some quotes from his sermon.

  "We have to have a building. We cannot go forward as the final work of God on earth any longer without a building."

  "We have secured quite a few acres...."

  "We are planning a building of four stories with an incredible view that will boggle your mind."

  "We are never going to finish the work of God on the second floor of someone else's building."

  "This is not my work, brethren. If it is, we're all in big trouble."

  Besides a headquarters building, David Pack said he wants to build a college campus and start a two-year college program so that the first crop of students can graduate on Friday June 4, 2010, exactly 39 years after his own Friday June 4, 1971 graduation from Ambassador College. He also wants to have a youth summer camp and a full-time worldwide ministry. He plans to have all sorts of gardens with one being called the "Footprint Garden," which will be the size and shape of the auditorium he plans to build, and hopes will be the final "house of God" in this age. If you listen to his sermon, which is posted online at his Restored Church of God (RCOG) Web site at http://www.thercg.org/sermons.html, pay careful attention to his comment near the end that if it is just his work they'll all be in big trouble. Actually, David would still come out of this OK. The financial backers might be a different, sadder story.

  Why the need for the headquarters building, and college campus, and auditorium? The early work of Jesus and His Apostles did not seem to need an expensive building program. Apparently, things are different now that it is the final work of God. These future dreams are always very inspiring. The actual past history is a bit more sobering.

  After Herbert W. Armstrong's (HWA's) initial foray into prophetic guessing was proven wrong by the passage of time, HWA moved to Pasadena, California and built the headquarters for his Worldwide Church of God (WCG), as well as the Ambassador College campus. Later, the beautiful Ambassador Auditorium was built.

  Building a Christian college always seems like a great idea. However, these things do not always work out as well as one would hope. Without serious, ongoing, active effort they can degenerate into worse places than a regular college. One might even wonder what the point of it all is when one thinks about all the Ambassador College sluts who fooled around with Garner Ted Armstrong (GTA) and others during the Armstrong era of the college. Or the godless sluts who dropped out pregnant after one year, or the godless sluts who graduated "with distinction" under the Tkach era, before the whole sordid cesspool was shut down. One graduate, Gerald Flurry, became a drunken, lying false prophet with his own cult full of lying, slandering, sex maniacs. Another graduate, Ronald Weinland, makes up so many prophetic lies in God's name that one wonders how a grown man can lie that much in God's name without blushing. And there are many other greedy, lying kooks who came out of that place. In fact, it is sickening to think about all the BAD characters who came out of Ambassador College, with many of them passing themselves off as ministers in order to collect a paycheck.

  The example of HWA's building program seems to have started the strange custom among some splinter groups of trying to build an expensive auditorium for worldly musical performances and plays to try to impress the world, and calling the auditorium a "house for God"!!! According to Herbert Armstrong's booklet called 1975 in Prophecy!, the end of the age and the return of Jesus should have come soon after the Ambassador Auditorium was completed, but HWA later explained that his 19-year time cycles had actually ended up being fulfilled by the WCG getting to put advertisements in the Readers Digest magazine, and by the church obtaining some financing. In similar manner, David Pack has his followers thinking that the end of the age and the return of Jesus will come within about half a dozen years after they have completed his buildings. Once again, time appears to be short. So, yet again, people must scramble to sacrifice and give to a building program. To modify a phrase someone else came up with, those who do not know or remember the past are condemned to rebuild it.