Dennis surmises: "In Jesus Name no doubt"

Anonymous writes:

"Herbert W Armstrong was human man, is dead, and his bones are all that is left. He was a sinner as you are, he did not always do things the way he later saw that he should have, yet when you are dead Dennis C Diehl you will be forgotten far FAR sooner than this man who was used by God to bring truth from the Bible back into focus.

I used to water plants in solid Gold planters in HWA's office

I ate at HWA's table with these, but when I said I wanted one because my parents paid for them, HWA said "No".

I challenge you to prove that Herbert W Armstrong EVER personally owned the extremely expensive items you claim he owned as items that he owned.

You mean like Bill Clinton saying it depends on what the word "is" is?

You are a "punk assed charlatan" you are laughable with your "acute revulsion to religion syndrome".

I only read your blog as a result of somebody recommending a story dealing with Steve Andrews CoGaic.

I am dumber than a rock already, but once I saw your deplorable blog I felt even dumber.

Fortunately I have the option to NEVER pay you attention again, that is unless you take me up on the challenge I issued, I don't thiMk you will because you have no valid basis for doing so.

HWA might burn up and become ashes under your feet one day (I doubt it), but he even in death for right now is far FAR a better person than you.

My advice stop blogging or drink a good glass of anti freeze!"

Thank you for your kind words and observations.  First of all, it is not my blog but that is a common assumption.  I am merely a guest writer, one of one as far as I can tell.  I'm sorry my views , and they are merely mine, made you dumber than you already feel you are.  Bummer.  You did have the original option to never pay attention to me in the first place.  I would find it  somewhat creepy to find anyone as ashes under my feet and I have no personal need to stand in them.  I'm not a bad guy once you get to know me.  I tend to think outside the boxes folk like yourself confine yourself to. I have a really nice dog and miss both my parents who passed away this year at the age of 97. Beaver Cleaver and I have a lot in common. I am a very tolerant and forgiving kind of guy.  In hind site I found WCG appealing because I grew up visiting my brother in a state mental institution because he was born premature and the Oxygen they poured on him destroyed his eyes and ear bones.  In the day they put the physically handicapped with the mentally unstable.  I guess I thought the "Wonderful World Tomorrow" would fix that and  if I could help, I surely wanted to. 

Oh yes, I am a sinner. No problem with that observation here...

My "revulsion" to religion is not the same as my desire for a genuine spirituality.  I guess I got the "revulsion" from reading books.  Ever hear of them?

As far as HWA "owning" those treasures posted by the blog owner, I have sat at the table with HWA while served from them or looking and talking about them as they were explained by HWA.  The blog owner would know even more about your question than I as he worked regularly in the home of HWA as well as around him to a much greater degree.  He helped clean out GTA's home when Ted went to Texas and started his own church I believe. 

PS  I don't begrudge a busy man his needful suits.  Personally, whoever invented tying a knot around your windpipe to look nice needs counseling. 

I heard HWA say often "I own nothing but a few suits."  I was 18 when I first heard that and thought that was a bit dishonest of him or at least missing the point.  He had a million dollar home on Orange Grove Blvd to live in without payments.  He could fly all over the world without any personal expense.  He could buy anything he wanted because he asked for church monies to put in his wallet. He ate where he wanted and others paid the bill I assume.  His non possessions were available to him to enjoy 24/7.  I guess that's not my idea of "only owning a few nice suits."  He lived in his own Garden of Eden without expense personally as far as I could tell.  Having a budget like normal folk was not a concern to him who "just owned a couple of nice suits."

 

Anyway, thanks for the kind words.   It fascinates me how true believer types, of which I assume you are one, can become so vindictive and hate filled when their human leaders are less than honest about their humble estate in life.  Personally I prefer the obvious loving kindness and genuine compassion the current Pope seems to have for all people.  I know you think he is just pretending so he can rule the world for Satan, but I think he's a genuine human being.  While not Catholic, when I think of just what would Jesus do, I'd not think of either you or Herbert W. Armstrong.  

I'll pass on the anti-freeze.  I'm from NY and I was born with it in my veins.

Thank you again for sharing

Nobody special

Dennis muses: 2014...

Another Year of the Sheep People?

I believe those who have had the Church of God experience in all its forms are quite familiar with  the Biblical analogy of humans being the sheep of God's pasture and followers and subjects being the sheep to Kings, priests and the NT ministry.  It was an obvious analogy in the day but it is far past time to put this one to rest.  Jesus himself was said to be like the sheep who would not even speak up to his accusers.  Psalm 23 makes sheep of all in life under the Great Shepherd.  It is an analogy that leaves the sheep helpless and need of endless guidance and herding to hold them all together.  

I can't speak for others, but I am no sheep.  It took a few decades but I am just me now and that is enough.  I wonder what 2014 will bring for the sheep of the Splinter Folds?  How much more can these folk block out of their minds and how many excuses more can they make for the theological antics, and they are antics, of those such as a Dave Pack who, as a genuinely  untrained shepherd of aberrant theology , lead his flock terribly close if not over the cliff with his very strange and weird ideas about himself.  Lest we forget...

  "I want to make a statement about...me...now, if I became deceived, I will never tell you what I'm going to tell you now...I am telling you if I go off into strange ideas, misconduct, rebellion, you name it,  (We did) don't follow me. I want to tell you that now, because if I start doing that I'm gonna try to get you to follow me! I'm gonna come to you and tell you it doesn't apply, it doesn't mean me, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's OK to follow me because ABCD and XY and Z. Do you understand what I'm saying?(Yes we do..and you added new and expansive elements never before understood related to the timing stuff.  You ABCD'd and X Y and Z'd us) Listen to  to me now, when I tell you don't follow me if I go off into weird ideas, or if I get off into other things that are total absolutely unscriptural conduct, because if I do I'm gonna paint it with a different face and try to get you to follow me.  Do you understand what I'm saying brethren?  (We can hope-but evidently not) Please remember that, because I promise you that if I become deceived, I'll forget it, and I'll want you to forget it...And I hope you'll remember it well enough to quote it right back to me...  (We did) But I'll tell you what, I'm not going anywhere."  (And that's the problem)

David C. Pack

Anyway, this does not have to be long.  The question is just how much ridiculous theology and claims for authority to make them, will be tolerated?  How many more mental, emotional and physical resources of the sheep, who think being a sheep is a good thing, will we see exploited in 2014 in the ongoing drama of the Wild World of God Churches?  Spring promises to bring wounded Dave Pack back out into the limelight as the sheep were so dumb as to think his Haggai prophecy was about last Fall.  It is about this Spring!  Sheesh, anyone with new and expansive elements never before understood that God himself has now revealed knows that!  Will Dave end up telling the sheep, as Ron Weinland did when he fell on his face theologically, "I never said it was literally true!  It's spiiiiiiritual!" (you dumb sheep)?  We'll see.  He said "The Prophecy is very much still on..", so Spring Holyday season is not going to be pretty!

God made me too....

I guess by nature I'm a wolf.  I can't help it.  I was a wolf child when Presbyterian questioning the Westminister Confession of Faith.  I recall in high school geometry class the teacher putting a 15 step proof off something on the board.  I raised my hand and said if point 1 leads to point 2 and such and such is a given as it was  according to the book, then the point is already proven in 2 steps.  She looked at the board and said.."you're right, the book is wrong."  Yay!  I ended up questioning everything I ever joined.  I learned that one is not told everything at 22 needed to make lifetime commitements to.  I went from thinking Garner Ted Armstrong was about the smartest Bible guy in the world to stuck in the 70's and not as smart as I thought he was.  Listening to his sermons towards the end of his life was painful. He was stuck.  He stopped questioning and began to just repeat old errors and memes of the WCG.  I guess he thought that what used to work so well would still work.  It didn't work.

Rod Meredith never stepped outside the box he taught in.  I thought he knew all about the Gospels because, after all, he was the expert on "the Harmony of the Gospels."  I could tie him in a theological knot these days I believe.  I know I could cut Dave Pack down to theological size but he won't leave the Castle and you can't get in unless you pass through the  holy filters successfully.  All these men are mere Bible readers and proof texters at best..which is not a compliment.  Dave is the master of all prooftexting now that Ron Weinland is off the circuit for a time, times and half a time.  Dave can make more scriptures mean what they never could mean or ever meant than any man I know.  

Wolves gotta eat too

Anyway,  Wolves are beautiful, fearless, necessary and the origin of all dogs on the planet.  Chewie, my  Wookie-Like Shih Tzu came from Wolfdom but is a bit removed from it all  

Chewie the Wolf in Shih Tzu Clothing.
 Personally...I'm more this kind of wolf

So let me just conclude by saying, in these days and times, being a sheep is not a good thing.  It implies blindness and a compliance that comes when one feels they "should" do and believe as told, but not too far under the surface, they have their doubts.  Sheepness can keep one in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for way too long, for all the wrong reasons with nothing but wrong outcomes in store for the one who insists that being a sheep in some  theologically challenged nutcase's fold is a good thing.  

So consider you who lurk here.. What's 2014 going to be for you and others who believe being a sheep in a theological setting run by one or at best,  very few shepherds is a good thing?

This?

or...

This?

The very best for all in this coming year.  We only get older if we are lucky.