17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
~ Ro 16:17
Do we take the above admonition seriously? Or, do we have a way of justifying our own bad attitudes by following them who are determined to undermine various legitimate fellowships? It is one thing to point out, from the Bible, the weaknesses of any given organization’s teachings, but there are many who are determined to draw away a following to themselves. And some of you put up with it!
30 Some of your own people will distort the word in order to lure followers after them.
Or, perhaps more to the point:
30 Some of your own people will tell lies to win over the Lord’s followers.
Some people talk about “The” Antichrist and worry about him, but what of all the others? The fact is that in John’s day, there were many antichrists! You know what? It hasn’t changed except to get worse.
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
~ 1Jn 2:18
That’s not overly clear, so let’s try a different version:
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
~ NIV
Usually, we talk about the end “times” or even end “days“, but John is talking about the last “hour” here!
During the 1970s, people could talk about the antichrists that abounded everywhere. They certainly have proliferated even more since then. Many of the prosperity preachers, televangelists and even the mainstream churches have perverted the true commandments of God into a code of license. However, it was always “them”, wasn’t it?
Now, however, they are in our very midst! They claim to be a part of the COG body, even while working to destroy it and divide the spoils amongst the vultures!
James Malm is drawing ever closer every day to declaring he is now the head of his own organization. It’s been a long time coming, but now that he has started having his own Feast sites, it was a given. We see now his obvious hatred of the COG organizations growing by leaps and bounds in order to separate people to himself even more.
I guess it is beyond me to understand why. God is love. The Bible is quite clear about it. Jesus even said the world would know His disciples by their love for each other. He did not build His Church upon a foundation of strife, discord and hatred.
No, that was the attitude of the Pharisees. They meticulously kept their rules and disparaged the unwashed masses, who they deemed were beneath them.
47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
David C Pack is another one who likes to sow strife. Certainly, here is a man who represents the very essence of the antichrist attitude. Perhaps he is only bested in this category by Gerald Flurry, the latter in which even separates very families and elevates pagans above COG brethren in other fellowships! However, Pack’s dreams of glory through the deaths of others reveals the depth of his perversity. Every one of his writings reveals his idolatry by quoting a dead man more than his own Bible!
Speaking of Pack, Bob Thiel recently wrote about him in “Alexa internet rankings of groups whose leaders were once part of GCG“:
Although he was once part of GCG, since I am convinced that David Pack is false apostle (2 Corinthians 11:13) and one who uses covetous words (cf. 2 Peter 2:1-3), I do not consider that he is truly part of the COG (see also Why Not the Restored Church of God?). Hence despite the money his group pours into the internet, I have not included those websites associated with his church (and yes, I know they have Alexa popularity).
What Thiel continues to ignore is that Alexa is inaccurate and can even be manipulated. The reason there are so many competitors to Alexa is because some know this. Pack’s popularity on Alexa and Google were bought and paid for through Google AdWords. You ever wonder why you can go to Facebook and do various searches and RCG’s material appears near the top and/or on the sides and/or on the bottom? That’s Google AdWords at work.
Mind you, there is nothing wrong with paid advertisements. It is part of the search engine game. However, it shows not only the fallacy of paying too much attention to search rankings but also the fallacy of assuming that rankings are genuinely 100% built upon popularity.
Speaking of Thiel, I didn’t think it possible his head would swell larger, but here it is:
Proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world as a witness over the internet (as well as through printed literature, radio, personal contact, etc.) is something that we in the Continuing Church of God are serious about.
There is a difference between the groups that once had connections to GCG. Only one can lead The Final Phase of the Work. [link removed]
Sorry, Bob, but there is a serious typo there! It should read: “Only One can lead the final phase of the work”!
Let’s be clear: Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, wherever and however that organism may manifest itself. He is the Head of the Church, He is the Head of the Gospel proclamation and the work of God!
Thiel thought he was greater than his former idol, Roderick C Meredith, took after his earlier idol, and so he left his organization to found his own. He thought he was special, so he read into some obscure anointing something that just plain wasn’t there, and he convinced himself he was a prophet. Now, he is indirectly saying he is greater even than Christ!
When will the arrogance end? Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, The Antichrist will take charge of the entire world and proclaim himself as God, so it really will not end until Christ returns. Until then, we have to put up with all these antichrists, lower-cased, i.e., “small”, ‘a’.
Pride and arrogance were Lucifer’s downfall. Want to know a false teacher? These are the first things to look for.