You Know You Grew Up In The Church of God If...

ExCOG member Ken Jackson claims to be the hereditary KING of Africa and has power to raise the dead and banish demons!

Armstrongism has produced a lot of crackpots over the decades.  I'm not talking about Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, Rod Meredith, and the other delusional church leaders.  I'm referring to COG members who felt god had personally spoke to them

None seems to be more crazy that Kenneth Jackson.  Here is Ken's "official" title:

Apostle Dr. Kenneth D. Jackson Sr., SSD, PhD, TMD, DED, ND, 

Ambassador of ‘ELOHIYM/Diplomat, Apostle & Chief Overseer, Grand Chief of State / Permanent Minister of Ecclesiastical, Indigenous & International Law & Justice – Washitaw Indigenous & Immigrant Nation, Special Attorney - S. G. Sta. Romana Estate, International CEO – 1BLOOD, International (An Int’l, National Development NGO, Traditional Medicine physician / Inventor – Disease Elimination Specialist, Founder / CEO – Word of ‘ELOHIYM Int’l University, Founder / CEO – SCEI-1BLOOD Skills Development Centers & IFSEC – GLOBAL (Independent Food Security Project Int’l Ambassador, Grand Chief-of-State, King, Diplomat, Chief Overseer, Exclusive Special Attorney, Int’l Non-Government Organization CEO, Traditional Medicine Physician, Inventor, National Development Specialist

Jackson also claims he is in possession with a magical pearl:

...claims that he is in possession of a $400 million dollar luminous pearl, an ancient far eastern artifact of immense pseudo historical significance.

So where does the Church of God connection come from?

Kenneth Sr. claims to have been a top security official of the personal guard and administration of World Wide Church of GOD leader Herbert W. Armstrong.

Kenneth Sr. teaches that prior to HWA's death, he was entrusted with one of three official WWCG seals of authority. Another of these seals remained with HWA and the third was passed to his successor Joseph W. Tkach.

One thing seems clear, Kenneth Sr. lusted for HWA's power and office, and made it his mission to build for himself the same prestige, international respect and power; seeds which grew into Sovereign Church of 'ELOHIYM International and 1BLOOD International a church of even greater apostasy and deception than Armstrong's organization, despite its relative insignificance in world events.

The only "seal" the church had was one that was metal and was a stamp that embossed letters onto documents.  There was no wooden seal other than the lion and lamb seals that were give to almost every single church area to affix to their speakers podiums.

Jackson reportedly took a trip to Sierra Leon in 2003 where was met with much adoration and gratitude for a successful food program he had supposedly initiated years before. 

...the success of his first seed rice farms in the Bo District of Sierra Leone had caused the natives, as is their natural way, to exhort Kenneth with great parades and tributes,    including grand displays and gifts and offerings. It seems that this adoration consumed him and when he returned he immediately began to change in the eyes of his members. He began wearing royal clothing, and adorning himself with gold and diamonds. He had a crown constructed for himself and wore it for all Sermons and official meetings. His Sabbath sermons began to shift from bible studies into long rambling stories of his exploits, grand designs, visions, prophetic powers, ecclesiastical authorities and he also claimed himself Apostle. It reached the point at which Kenneth rarely opened the Bible or read from it, claiming that he now received visions and new testimony straight from the Most High GOD who he identified as 'ELOHIYM, based on the original phonetic translation of the Hebrew word used to describe GOD in the ancient Chaldean. The church which had been called International Church of GODs Elect became Sovereign Church of 'ELOHIYM International, and he established 1BLOOD International as his outreach ministry and registered it as an NGO.

Like with any good Church of God leader, that adoration went straight to his head and he began to imagine himself as something highly elevated by God. This is much like what Dave Pack, Bob Theil, Gerald Flurry, Rod Meredith, Vic Kubik and others have done.,  They set themselves up in positions they had no right to.

Once he abandoned the Bible as the center of his teachings his doctrines began shifting radically. He began printing and publishing his own doctrinal writings and forcing his congregation to undergo intense workshops where he indoctrinated them with his new lofty visions and scriptures. He began to identify himself as a hereditary king of West Africa, based on some connection he had found through his slave ancestry leading back to Africa. He rapidly convinced the West African natives under his influence of this belief and he gladly accepted royal praises, titles and tributes from his new subjects. As his food program grew, so did his ego. In time he began to claim that he was in fact a modern day Joseph, in reference to Joseph of ancient Egypt whom GOD used to implement a national food security program to stave off famine for the glorification of GOD. This became a regular topic of his "sermons" which were little more than several hour long bragging sessions during which he would boast of all things from having the power to raise the dead, over power demons, speak self fulfilling prophecies and influence world leaders.

The latest I could find on the guy was from April of last year where he promised to help fund a soccer stadium:

 

Only the BEST in the COG Went To Ambassador College/University

Nothing illustrates the "set apart" mentality better than this sweat shirt design.

Buy yours now and feel superior to the lowly uneducated sheeple in our church area.

That Ambassador education will allow you to be a leader in Petra and rule your own planet.

Halloween Hysteria Strikes The Churches of God Once Again

It's that time of year again in the Churches of God when they bow to the pressures of Satan and his crew of pesky demons on this their most holiest night.   This is the time of year that COG members retreat to the back rooms of their homes and turn out the lights as they cower in fear at the evil standing on their front porch.  Can you imagine the terror in their eyes when looking through the front window curtains and seeing Jelly standing there with a Mystery of the Ages book in its hand!  Satan can't get any more evil than that!

Here is Keith Stump's article about Halloween that has irritated Bob Thiel and others in the various splinter personalty cults of Armstrongism.  Keith was a former writer for the Plain Truth magazine and other WCG material.

HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA

by Keith Stump

October is quickly flying by, meaning it’s time for the traditional Christian hand-wringing over that most “demonic” of holidays, Halloween! In anticipation of the usual anti-Halloween propaganda, I offer the following observations about this alleged “satanic festival of evil”:

First, there’s no need to point out that Halloween is not found in Leviticus 23. (Duh.) Leviticus 23 is obsolete and irrelevant anyway. Second, forget the lengthy dissertation about how the papacy (the alleged “image of the beast” and “great whore”) instituted the Roman Catholic celebrations of “All Hallows Eve” and “All Saints Day”. That, too, is irrelevant. Today’s Halloween has nothing to do with honoring Christian saints. For most, Halloween long ago ceased being viewed as a religious observance—and never was, by Americans.

The Halloween that many of us know today is largely an American phenomenon. And it’s a purely secular observance.

Yet some of Halloween’s customs do have roots in pre-Christian (“pagan”) practices. “Pagan” has long been a popular buzz word among Christians, especially among the COGs. As a Plain Truth and World Tomorrow writer, and occasional GHOSTwriter (how occult!) for the Armstrongs, I used the word liberally for decades. If it’s “pagan” in origin, it MUST be evil (like, I suppose, playing cards, wedding rings, dominoes, medicine, beer, the theater, the names of the days of the week and months of the year, and so on—all of which are scrupulously avoided in the COGs, aren’t they?).

Some of Halloween’s customs can be traced to practices of the Celtic New Year, particularly among the Druids of ancient Britain. The Celts worshipped nature deities and practiced a relatively benign type of witchcraft. (Shame on them for living before the birth of Christ! Why, they must have been as evil as Cyrus the Great, who worshipped Ishtar, the pagan goddess of love and war, and Ahura Mazda, god of light and wisdom. [Oh, wait a minute—God still called Cyrus "that righteous man from the East." Never mind.])

The Celtic festival of Samhain (which means “summer’s end” and marked the Celtic New Year, and is properly pronounced SOW-in, not “Sam Hain”) was considered to be a magical time, when the thin veil between the worlds was lifted, and the dead walked among the living. It was a night of ghosts and fairies, in which bonfires were lit and fortunes were told, and the thoughts of all turned to the afterlife. For some odd reason, the Celts didn’t think that exposing their children to contemplation of death and the afterlife was a problem. And, of course, the “witches” of the time were primarily herbalists and midwives. Witches as evil, devil-worshiping crones were an invention of the medieval Church, perpetuated by modern fundamentalists.

Despite fundamentalist assertions, there were no orgies or human sacrifices or cannibalism or devil-worshipping during Samhain. Anyone who claims otherwise is an incompetent researcher or an outright liar. And—despite all those sermonettes you’ve heard—there was never a Celtic “god of death” named “Samhain”.

The ancient Samhain festival in no way “glorified” the demonic world, nor—except for a relatively few “Satanists”—does Samhain today. Modern pagans who celebrate Samhain regard it as a time to look back on the past year and reflect on how they can become better people, and a time to honor departed loved ones and welcome them into their presence. Modern Halloween is even less focused on “making contact” with the spirit world.

Stop for a moment and consider rationally: Is a six-year-old girl trick-or-treating in a Cinderella costume “fellowshipping with demons”? Is a child covered in a sheet with eye-holes “associating with spirits”? Are employees attending a company costume party “consorting with the devil”? Is hanging a plastic skeleton in your window “paying homage to Satan”? Is carving a jack-o’-lantern “fashioning an idol”? Is bobbing for apples a “wicked revel”? Some who are reading this would reply with a resounding “yes”. And that’s because of the spiritual myopia that warps their thinking, as I’ll discuss in a moment. Goofball notions are de rigueur for the fundamentalist.

Others who are reading this have heartwarming memories of Halloween. It’s a slice of genuine Americana. It was one of the highlights of their childhood calendar—a time of family crafts and costume-making, a time to celebrate creativity and imagination. It was a time for children to dress up and solicit candy from their neighbors. (We were even taught to say “thank you”, which I’m sure irked Satan no end.) Trick-or-treating allowed the entire community to share in the Halloween festivities, as costumes were admired and rewarded with goodies. Halloween reaffirmed social bonds with friends and neighbors. These are hardly the “unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11), unless one is a fanatic who interprets that phrase like, well, a fanatic.

(A parenthetical note to hypocrites: Anyone who condemns Halloween, yet enjoys an occasional Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff film, or reads a Stephen King or Anne Rice thriller, or a Harry Potter novel, or who watches “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “The Wizard of Oz” or Disney’s “Snow White” or “Sleeping Beauty” or the “Lord of the Rings” films or who plays fantasy-based video games or visits Disneyland’s “Haunted Mansion” or watches a stage magician is a hypocrite, pure and simple. It’s like a conscientious objector being a fan of war movies. But hypocrisy is nothing new to the COGs, is it? And, for that matter, is “glorifying violence” any less “sinful” than “glorifying the occult”? (Hmm. I must have been imagining those LCG members sitting in the theater when I saw “Terminator 3″.))

 To all COG members out there: Is your children’s Christianity so feeble as to be endangered by a plastic mask and a few candy bars? Are your children so inadequately grounded in their religion as to be tempted into a life of witchcraft by attending a costume party? Are you yourself so poorly rooted in your faith that you fear your children will ask questions to which you have no satisfactory answers?

I have seen no evidence of children being psychologically warped or seduced into a life of witchcraft and perversion as a result of innocent Halloween activities. I HAVE, however, seen many fearful and superstitious COG children who have been conditioned to be abnormally hypersensitive to anything blackened with the feared label “occult”. One child in particular comes to mind, whom I witnessed shrieking in stark terror at the mere sight of a jack-o-lantern. Are you raising fearful children who, like medieval peasants, see Satan lurking behind every tree and demons skulking in every dark corner? Are you raising children who fear they will “open themselves up” to “demonic control” at any moment by the slightest misstep? What a tenuous, precarious and paranoid spirituality! Satan is a defeated enemy! We need not shrink inanimate mortal remains. Explain that fear of black cats is an ancient superstition of the ignorant. Talk to them about the fanciful creations of horror fiction, like werewolves and vampires. It’s healthy to examine the things that frighten us. Tell them about “ghosts” or disembodied spirits. (The dead are relatively safe; it’s the living you need to watch out for!) And talk to them about the subject of life after physical death. Tell them about the Lord of Life who overcame death. Assuage their fears about those who can kill the body but not the soul.

Halloween is also a good time to reconsider our own views about death and the afterlife. The unbiblical doctrine of “soul sleep” would be a good place to start. The Bible clearly teaches (and centuries of experience demonstrate) that death does not interrupt self-awareness; personal identity survives death! By contrast, Herbert Armstrong’s so-called “restored truth” about “What is Man?” is totally without biblical foundation, though his followers blindly accept it. Measuring truth by the teachings of a morally unprincipled deviate who was indisputably unqualified for ministry by biblical standards (i Tim. 3:2-7; Titus 1:6-7) is far scarier than any aspect of Halloween! (A rule of thumb, which I’ll throw in free of charge: The farther an individual or group moves away from the teachings of the so-called Philadelphia era of the Church of God, the closer he moves toward genuine truth and balanced spirituality.) 

So here’s my point: Objection to Halloween is a reflection of something much broader: an obsession with trivialities, a confusion of priorities, a primitive fear of the unknown, an arrogance that finds “righteousness” in being odd-ball and out-of-step. Fundamentalists can find something offensive or objectionable in almost anything. They have a world view in which virtually everything is “anti-Christian”. They have lost the ability to filter the important from the inconsequential. The traditional COG prohibition against Halloween ignores the facts of history, misrepresents the modern holiday, and demonstrates a woeful lack of spiritual discernment.

So, in a nutshell, my message to Christians about Halloween is: Lighten up! There is nothing spiritually harmful about this tradition. Sensibly observed, Halloween can be a day of wholesome fun and merriment. Believe it or not, not everything in life has to have some deep spiritual connotation. Halloween is “Satan’s Holiday” only to those who concede it to him or arbitrarily label it as such. Christians have been redeemed from the forces of evil. We don’t have to give credence to Satan’s claimed authority in any area of life. Don’t surrender to the fear, superstition and hypocrisy of the fundamentalist, who wouldn’t recognize a little harmless fun if he tripped over it, who is oblivious to the value of fantasy, who has no idea what “magic” and “witchcraft” really are, to whom everything paranormal is “demonic” and who trembles before the power of Satan and his demons (whether he admits it or not). Don’t fall prey to shady “scholarship” and flawed arguments about this holiday. Don’t let anyone judge you in respect of this or any other occasion. Safe, fun Halloween activities are NOT “of the “devil”.

To believe otherwise is just plain silly!