Mr. Sheldon Monson has chosen a name for his new group, Church of God Assembly.
I don't think he has a website yet. Church of God News reports the name of the new group correctly as "Church of God Assembly", but does not necessarily give a correct link with that name to the real website, at this time.
I think the URL for the new website will be http://www.cogassembly.org but I can't confirm that as definite. The domain was reserved by someone a few days before Mr. Monson announced the name of the new fellowship, but there is no website built yet, which is understandable. The domain is parked with Go Daddy, an Internet web service provider. My information comes from WHOIS, a service that lets you get information about Internet domains. I expect some kind of website will be built and uploaded to that domain in a few days or a few weeks. Right now, if you look, you only get links to various religious groups, which Go Daddy does till a real website is uploaded.
I will use COGA as an abbreviation for Church of God Assembly.
COGA no longer makes its live services and recordings of new live services available on the COG Broadcast Youtube channel. You can still see their first three services on that channel, but no more new ones. They have apparently made the decision to try to keep their services private among their own group, not publicly available.
Perhaps this indicates that Mr. Monson feels he has had a large enough response from his first three public videos and does not need more members who become interested through his public services. He may be getting many people who register for his Feast site.
Based on words and actions of Mr. Monson and his group in the first three or four weeks of his activity, which are a matter of public record, in my opinion he is not preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to Israel and the world and does not have zeal to do so. I think he sees his role as preparing the bride only, or mainly, and leaving the preaching of the gospel to other COG fellowships. He is not against the preaching of the gospel and Ezekiel warning. He has already verbally acknowledged its importance. But I see no evidence that he intends to make any substantial and effective effort himself to do so.
I said before fruits will tell.
I hope and pray Mr. Monson and his group do not siphon much tithe and offering funds from LCG and LCG's work of preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning.
I myself will not support Mr. Monson financially and will continue to tithe to LCG. I want to support God's work of getting a warning out to our nations, as God commands, and I recommend that others who have zeal to warn Israel as God teaches in Ezekiel and elsewhere NOT pull any support from LCG (or any other group that preaches the warning), but continue to support that work with prayers, with tithes, with offerings, and with service.
God has been testing the Church of God for 34 years since Mr. Armstrong died, and He is still testing us. Those who enjoy Mr. Monson's sermons and are sympathetic to him and are considering going with him are being tested like all of us.
Bible prophecy indicates a period of massive death and intense suffering for the millions who are punished in the great tribulation.
How much do you love your neighbor? God wants to know.
The "Ezekiel Warning" is not being given by ANY Churches of God today: Read Ezekiel's Chapters 3-5. None of them preach what Ezekiel warned, that they "refuse God's statutes and judgments". In chapter 3 three times God refers to them as a "rebellious house". Mr. Armstrong even called the statutes and judgments of God to Israel, the "temporary civil law of Ancient Israel" and said that we "can't do them because we're not a nation"; whereas, we ARE to be a HOLY NATION, of kings and priests. HOW can one be HOLY or a nation of Kings and priests if the king is to read from the Law daily, in his own handwriting, and the priests are not to fail to teach according to the Law, every jot and tittle that have not
ReplyDeletefailed? Which is the "least commandment" anyway? It is the one no one wants to DO, or teach. To me, there are MANY "least commandments" in the Church today that are refused. Christ taught this principal, didn't He, IN the Gospels? THAT is the Ezekiel Warning. It is sent to the very ones that are supposed to proclaim the warning! Truly, Christ is building HIS Church, not those that have a directive to take care of His Vineyard while He's away on a long journey as they spoil the Vineyard and teach falsehoods. NONE of them even know WHEN the solemn seventh year is, and because they don't none of them read the whole law AT the Feast in that solemn seventh year, the year GOD solemnized at Creation Week, Day 4, when the heavenly ordinances were appointed! They are tearing the Church into splinters, whereas those that hear the Voice of the Good Shepherd, are few, and they won't listen to those that don't speak according to His Word. The idols today are MORE than meets the eye, I'd say.
I don't know if you've updated your data lately, but Mr. Monson HAS emphasized both the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and the "Ezekiel warning" from the beginning. Do remember, cogassembly.org (yes, there is a Web site) is a "startup" and much is being done by volunteers. CGA's outreach to the world is still "under construction", but we insist such an outreach needs to be made as first priority.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Walker's gratuitous claims are just that. I will not dignify them with an answer.
For the record, I worked for some 20 years in LCG's Personal Correspondence Dept. and pointed out toward the end how specious LCG's arguments about singing in services are. I think Gamaliel's advice to the Sanhedrin is worth remembering in lieu of passing judgment hastily on CGA.
John Wheeler
Hi John, and thank you for commenting.
ReplyDeleteYour point is well taken, that CGA is a start up and is intending and planning to preach the gospel to the world and the Ezekiel warning to Israel. They may feel they need more time to get started. But we should be wise about this. What a person says and what a person does are two different things. Sometimes true intents are made known more by actions than words (Matthew 21:28-31, Matthew 7:15-20). CGA has professed the desire and intent to preach the gospel to the world, but they have existed for a year and have done virtually nothing to bring the gospel to the world, which is commanded by God, though they have had summer camps, which are fine but not commanded by God. Does this not tell us their real priorities? And it didn't take other groups a year to start preaching the gospel. Mr. Armstrong started in a few months after leaving the employment of Church of God Seventh Day. Dr. Meredith started in about 6 weeks after leaving Worldwide. The apostles started the same day after they received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
Moreover, as I have pointed out, CGA has made a commitment that disqualifies them from having an open door for preaching the gospel that Christ promises to Philadelphians. They have committed to not learning new knowledge from the Bible and correcting Church of God errors from the Bible as Mr. Armstrong did. They claim to hold fast to his doctrines but they reject his way of life. Thus, if they go to the public and tell them to believe the Bible more han their traditions and learn new things from the Bible that their churches have not taught them, they are hypocrites for asking the public to do what they are not willing to do. How can God give an open door to hypocrites? You tell me.
Maybe God will overlook this for the sake of the gospel for a time - I hope He does. But I doubt He will.
What I say is, let CGA repent of their position on never learning anything new that Mr. Armstrong did not teach. Let them be willing to look at proposed changes with an open mind. Let them be willing to correct Mr. Armstrong's errors, if there are any, and openly say so, and let them be willing to learn new things from the Bible that Mr. Armstrong did not know, and let them say that they are willing to do this. Then maybe God will give them an open door for the gospel.
I hope this happens.
God doesn’t have a NEED for a reply by ANYONE to His “gratuitous claims” when He devotes three chapters to His statements on ALL the shepherds of Israel. He IS God. Moses obediently wrote down all that God told him to write and for that there needs no reply except repentance towards God for continuously lawbreaking and teaching the people so. God uses the word “foxes”, “sly”, and worse when He says He is “against you”. Ministers may only THINK they’re feeding the people the Truth, when in fact they “promise them life” and speak “lying divination”. They build a house on SAND that will fall greatly under the weight of the coming years. Hosea 5 speaks of one month devouring those that go to a P.O.S. Thinking they go to worship God when they don’t DO what He says. Never in my 75 years did I ever hear a COG read the WHOLE LAW of the house in ANY SOLEMN 7th year, AT Tabernacles as commanded. Why? They don’t want the people to hear the eternal judgments, especially the ones regarding human sexuality, virginity, vows, new moons, and other such laws in the Law Moses wrote in the Book. If you can’t believe Moses, you cannot believe Christ, so indeed He hath said. No reply necessary to me, Margaret. I claim NOTHING except the Blood of Christ when I break His Law. The only reply to God is, “Forgive me, LORD, by the Blood of Jesus Christ. They didn’t tell me THAT, so I just did what they taught, no more. I was afraid to really dig under the pile of lies to find that new moons are a command, or that I have to marry THAT GIRL because they didn’t teach me what YOU said. (I was a virgin bride myself, and so was my husbands.) And vows, well You take no delight in FOOLS, Father in Heaven: so we have to PAY what we vowed, even if that means…well, just forgive me, LORD. I am deeply ashamed not to have proved all things.” Hold fast to that which is GOOD and toss out the myriad of lies not IN the True Gospel. Read the law of the voluntary PEACE offering and see if THAT FITS A MID-WEEK Passover: Lev.7:11-21; 19:5-8. It doesn’t. Polycarp knew what day of the week He was crucified and took no issue over that with the Bishop of Rome. They both knew what day, so it couldn’t have been 30AD or 31AD, or we have no Saviour. Time is short. Let us not be foolish virgins with no oil. The 6000 years are up in THIS DECADE, men. Prove it BY the Laws of God on everything. Ask God to show it you and don’t just play politics. Play in tune, like a professional string-player in one of those European Philharmonic orchestras. Conduct yourself like the composer wrote the MUSIC; no improvisations!
ReplyDeleteOne more thing here: please, don’t be like my favorite physicist in San Francisco when it comes to Col.1:20 who said in reply,
ReplyDelete“Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t a PEACE offering!” Oh yes it was, and a peace offering must be waved within a certain time frame and has stipulations or it will not be ACCEPTED. Please, read those in the Leviticus chapters I posted above. This is downright serious and time to get it right is ticking away rapidly. This law reveals the Jubilee year also.
“gratuitous” can mean free or in the case of a person using it t0 0ut down the Truth of God, it would mean “unnecessary”. Let that person see if the Blood of Christ covers “sins of ignorance” for it 9noy doesn’t when one knows he has sinned and repents and makes the sacrifice: otherwise with sins of ignorance one is STILL guilty. God told Moses He will “by no means clear the guilty”. If we don’t KNOW the Law of God that is no excuse to claim it as an excuse to continue to break it thinking we have no need for a sacrifice we’re not going to get in our ignorance. What Conductor continues t0 hire a string-player that cannot read sharps and flats in a key signature, and is careless? A review of Lev.4 is imperative these days.
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I approved your comments because I wanted you to have a chance to reply to John's statement that your comments were "gratuitous", which you did.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of points I think you are in error on.
First of all, we cannot practice all the statutes and judgments in the Old Testament because we have no authority to do so under existing goverments. We may disagree on what we should or should not do, but there are some statutes and judgments I think we can agree on that they do not apply today. If you hear someone blaspheme God, if you try to stone them to death, you will end up in jail. Also, the government will not allow you to recover in the Jubilee year land you have sold long ago. There are many such laws that cannot be applied today. Nor are we to practice animal sacrifices.
I think you are also wrong to impute wrong motives to ministers who do not read the whole book of the law at the Feast of Tabernacles. You may disagree with their decision to not do so. But you go farther. You say their motives are wrong. You said, "Never in my 75 years did I ever hear a COG read the WHOLE LAW of the house in ANY SOLEMN 7th year, AT Tabernacles as commanded. Why? They don’t want the people to hear the eternal judgments, especially the ones regarding human sexuality, virginity, vows, new moons, and other such laws in the Law Moses wrote in the Book."
How can you know WHY they don't read the whole law? Only God can read their minds. They may have other reasons, other motives, not the one you mentioned. They have to take the time to expound on the whole meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles, that it pictures the millennial rule of Christ and the happiness of that time, which is not fully explained in the book of the law. The full truth of the millennium which the Feast pictures is made more clear by many passages in Psalms, the prophets, and the New Testament. You may disagree with that reason, but it is not what you said. You said it was because the ministers do not want the people to hear the judgments, especially the ones regarding human sexuality, virginity, vows, new moons, and other such laws.
I have heard ministers preach many sermons on many of the topics you have mentioned, and ministers often encourage members to read the whole Bible, which includes every judgment in the law. So it makes no sense to me to say they don't want you to hear or read these things.
Thank you Mr. Moderator for your input. The first thing comes to mind is Ps.119:160 which states that "every one of your (God's) righteous judgments is forever." One may ask, "Does God have any unrighteous judgments?" I would answer in the negative to that question. A couple of other issues come to my mind also:
ReplyDelete1. I haven't talked with every single minister, no. But Christ said, "all that ever came before me are thieves and liars"....who is that? It wasn't Moses. He did all God said and God said so.
2. I have asked several ministers about Ex.22:16,17 and the reply from one was, "Do you know what THAT would DO to the Church?" My reply was, "I'm not asking what it would do to the Church, but if the Church should DO that judgment." (verse 17 is the Statute of Num. 30, verse 16 the judgment.)
3. Another evangelist when I asked him WHO can VOID the decision of a father to give his virgin daughter to a virgin man to be wed as per the Num.30 statute, and he was so angry, he stood to his feet huffing and puffing and with his bible open he said, "Your Heavenly Father!", then he slammed his Bible shut and sat down.
Yes, we cannot kill people for breaking God's Law today because it is against man's law.
But Daniel 2 takes care of that when God gave King Nebuchadnezzar "a kingdom" (verse 17, 18), one that would have power, strength, and would be "ruler over" ALL the children of men, beasts of the field and fowls of the air. That was given the king after they went into Babylonian captivity for disobedience to statutes and judgments. Then successive kingdoms came along depicted by the image, until the Return of Christ, and so it has been that way throughout history ever since. God gave man's governments the authority to execute judgments, enforce statutes, and of course man's governments haven't done that. So much they haven't done God's Laws that Zeph 3 shows God's "determination" is to gather all nations and "vent His fury" for it. We are to do S&Js ourselves except the one's man's governments are to do, execute criminals, etc. Murderers Num.35 are to be executed, but prisons are full of living murderers. Fornication is rampant such that ministers tell people baptism VOIDS the need to marry THAT girl. Israel was baptized in the Sea, and then God gave the judgment on fornication, so baptism doesn't take away the Law. Christ did show that adultery can be forgiven when repented of. But the only way to repent of the BOND that fornication causes is to marry, unless the girl's father refuses to give her to him. In Revelation most refuse to repent of their fornications, spiritual or physical. Stealing something requires making restitution. ALL those righteous judgments CAN BE DONE. And man's governments are responsible for executing many of them, which is the reason their law requires car insurance, social security taken out of a man's wages for the future need for a livelihood. The jubilee year is for the earth's recovery, and believe me, Israel, all 12 tribes, will return to the Promised Land in year 6,000, a Jubilee year, after the remnant repents. All God's Laws are possible to do, one way or another, but you must admit it is not the POPULAR thing to do. But in Josiah's day, they read the Law, and it was explained, and in Ezra and Nehemiah's day it was also. Some put away wives that refused to obey God's command to rebuild, and there's no evidence they remarried. Even Moses had married a Cushite woman before he was called, and Zipporah eventually returned to her father's house leaving Moses without her in the wilderness. Same with Jacob, who was married first to Leah, like her or not. And King David repented, his first wife having died childless...etc. The Church doesn't want to do these, but the Patriarchs did them...even if it took an eventual amount of time.Jephthah's daughter pleaded with him to keep his vow, to her own hurt. Our WORD, should be as TRUE as God's Word. Christ made that clear in Matt.5:32, and Jer.3. Now because the statutes and judgments aren't done, the land is "greatly polluted", as God predicted "they say". Yet, God pleaded with Israel to "return to Him", saying, "I am married to you."
ReplyDeleteMargaret, I do believe we need to in many ways get back to teaching and observing God's statutes that were good and forever to be kept. One thing I will say, is that this particular statute is not an easy one to administer. There has been situations, one that I have for sure witnessed in LCG, of a couple fornicating, which resulted in a child born out of wedlock, and then it resulted in a "forced marriage", in an effort to "do the right thing". The couple did marry, but the relationship failed. Interesting enough, the couple split/ divorced and then both man and woman remarried in the church again, choosing different spouses. I think the church should have taken the position and executed 1 Cor. 5 originally when the offence occurred to expell both of them according to the directive of 1Cor. 5:5, deliver such a one to Satan, or the world. The church did not. We have to ask the question of what kind of message are we sending to the church/body when we do not uphold God's law? Obviously, not a good one. I think the church has failed miserably in this area and allowed way too much fornication by turning a blind eye of not correcting it. As you say, it's rampant in the COG's sadly. It's one of the reasons among others that God has and will continue to pull His blessings away, if we are not being faithful to His commands. Just think of how many missed opportunities even in regard to healings and answerd prayer that can be obtained from keeping His law along with His statutes and judgements!
DeleteYes only God can read their minds, but God also says in many places what they are thinking, that they "refuse judgments", as Ezekiel 5 says very clearly. I have heard sermons where the minister quotes the passage he chooses and then stops SHORT of the very verse mentioning the judgments of God to do them.
ReplyDeleteDeut.4 is God's dissertation for the "latter days" when we've utterly corrupted ourselves, warning us not to ADD TO or DIMINISH FROM any of His statutes and judgments, and that is for governments, individuals, children, youth, the elderly, parents, and strangers and widows and the fatherless: everyone, princes, prophets, priests, and ALL the people, but God found NONE "among them" to stand in the gap for the land, which is now greatly polluted.
So, at this time God's WORK is a work which NO ONE will believe though they were told it.
Jeremiah 3 is God's Plan of reconciliation with His wife, Israel: a 3-fold plan...
1. Acknowledge her sin
2. Return to Him fully with all the heart, mind and soul
3. and then God will give her PASTORS that WILL teach her the Truth
That Plan would save MANY a failed marriage today. It would save many a stolen inheritance today. It would increase persecution just to speak of the Law of God on those subjects, but IF we name the Name of Christ we are to depart FROM iniquity. If our righteousness doesn't exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, in NO CASE will we enter the KofG.
ReplyDeleteWe ARE a nation, a Holy nation, of kings and priests, no different than God's promise to ancient Israel. Christ is ALL the animal sacrifices and MORE because animal blood cannot pay for sins. And Hebrew calendar profanes the faithful moon, especially when one takes note that Day 4 of Creation Week caused the FIRST Passover to land on a "Tuesday", a day that Hebrew calendar POSTPONES. This year the Hebrew calendar kept the Passover on the 15th day of the moon. Are the heavenly ordinances a LIE, or are they the CLOCK? Where was the Jew or Hillel when God set up the calendar in Genesis 1? Jeremiah confirmed THAT calendar of day and night, to not have FAILED ever since Gen.1, or there will be no CHRIST on Israel's Throne, and no Israel forever (chapters 31 and 33).
God's Law is HOW we become Holy. Not to do it is iniquity for which Christ died. And then there's the international date line, which 25 nations put in the Pacific Ocean in 1884 over "merchandizing", satan's area of expertise. He's got the whole world "in his hands".
God says the Jews have cause His people to err. He says the shepherds have caused His people to err. Well, I must be in agreement with that or I call God a "liar". I can't do that. I think God is GREAT, higher than great; He is the MOST High God, a Living Eternal Being who is Love, as is His Law, and to say we can't do it, is just not true. God has given the KINGDOMS OF THIS EVIL WORLD, to man, to prove that all have sinned and come short. And they sure make a mess in China, Russia, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Germany, and ALL nations, and all the children and women...WHO of them can be saved for listening to all that men say who rule families, governments, courts, and ministries? Women are not in charge of preaching the True Gospel are they? They shouldn't be. But all women can easily be deceived, but all women haven't been deceived. SOME will be in the First Resurrection. What about from THIS generation?
Ezekiel 43 says to keep the "whole form thereof" of the Law. No way am I gonna put the whole Bible together and then DENY that statement. No way. I can't follow such thinking. I won't be with those that say, "we can't", like the spies told Moses. No way...
ReplyDeleteThe matter of Baalpeor is a POWERFUL testimony to statutes and judgments, that Moses commanded under God's Authority, to execute all Midianite women that had known a man, execute ALL the Midianite men, and then the viring women could belong to the men of Israel: and Midianites were Moses' father-in-law's PEOPLE!
Yes, the Christian is not to execute crimes that require the death penalty. That is for the governments of MAN to do, which also refuse to do God's judgments, and statutes. Instead, man's governments FORCE sin and evil upon the people, 'til there is no other choice. THAT is satanic rule... and Christians in Daniel 3 had learned to obey God rather than men...the hard part of being a Christian...the dividing line between sheep and goats...in my opinion. But most of my belief is not MY opinion. It is God's because He clearly states it beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Margaret Walker
Remember the GREAT COMMISSION is summed up in this O.T. Law:
ReplyDeleteLev.19:17
Thou shalt not HATE they brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him."
What is one to do about Christ's commentary on the Law: "think not that I am come to destroy the Law; I am come to fulfill," or "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail," ?
ReplyDeleteThe governments of this world will be held accountable to God for their laws and if they are truly God's Laws. Since the days of Noah, man has been put in charge of man to bring justice to the people. Let us not say God's Law cannot be done. God Himself does them and so did Christ. He executed no one. He didn't come for that reason at that time. The "whole form of the Law" will be kept from Jerusalem at His return, so says Ezekiel 43. Meanwhile Christ died for every broken jot and tittle. He kept it entirely in the flesh, "condemning sin in the flesh", or He was not our Savior. He made PEACE by His Blood: Col.1:20
First 8 minutes of this sermon reflects the priorities of COGA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJWPkcCAUaw
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a good point. When Mr. Monson made these statements, I was surprised and disappointed that he was planning to spend money on facilities, which God does not command, before spending money on the gospel message to the public, which God does command. Nothing wrong with facilities, but the gospel to the world should have priority.
I agree: the Gospel message is priority, today of all eras of time:
ReplyDeleteJohn 6:29
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
If a person really believes every Word out of the Mouth of God, not only will they LIVE, but they will know the True Gospel and be driven to share it primarily, even at the cost of their own life, as saints of old, putting that Gospel ahead of father, mother, siblings, houses, lands, et al. Moses warned ancient Israel not to even think that we are blessed by our own power to get wealth, or our righteousness is why God has blessed us. And God will reveal more to the person that with all the heart and mind keeps His every Word.
Good words.
ReplyDeleteBearing in mind that CGA had only just started in 2020 and created an organization nearly out of thin air right before the Feast of Tabernacles and had been blessed with a Feast site in record time, I think it's fair to say they were simply getting their legs under them. They had committed resources in late 2021 to create an outreach website (now, <a href="themillennium.org> themillennium.org </a>). It focuses on introductory doctrinal topics like the Kingdom, the Millennium, the resurrections, demystifying endtime events, and the Ezekiel warning.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the circumstances around the creation of CGA were "spun" by LCG. The issue came about as a result of LCG's stance on COVID policies when it came to keeping the sabbath, praising God in song/worship, and an overt lack of faith and blatant defiance and refusal on LCG's part to stand up and encourage its members to know the strength of God, and that it has always been enough to protect His people who faithfully obey Him and keep His commanded assemblies.
I could get access to the letters that Monson and fritts wrote. LCG forced them to leave because they were advocating for obeying God's commands in keeping the Sabbath, assembling, and worship. LCG chose man's mandates and dictates instead.