Is It Ever Right for a Christian to Lie?

From time to time I have heard of or experienced in conversation situations where someone who claims to be a member of the Church of God asserts that it is sometimes ok, in the eyes of God, for a Christian to lie.  According to this view, perhaps, one can lie to "defend a greater truth", or to support or protect the work, etc.

In other words, some claim it is lawful, according to God's spiritual law, to lie for a good cause.

In one case, in conversation with a "member" of the Church of God, I or someone brought up the passage in Revelation that said that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8, 22:15).  This person said that this only applies to those who tell lies habitually, all the time, not to those who occasionally lie, and that it is ok to lie once in a while.

Let me state right now that it is never ok with God for a Christian to knowingly tell a lie.

We can make mistakes, and accidentally say something that is wrong or repeat a lie someone else told without realizing it.  We have a responsibility to exercise caution and be careful not to do this.  A mistake is not necessarily a sin.  But it is always a sin to tell someone something we know is not true with intent to deceive.

We can make jokes, as long as the other person knows it's a joke.  But to make a false statement with intent to deceive is always a transgression of God's spiritual law, and therefore sin (1 John 3:4).

One may point out cases in the Old Testament where someone tells a lie and God does not call them to account for it.  But God uses the examples of men in the Bible to teach particular lessons, and God can choose to emphasize one thing or another, and in the accounts that describe the history of God's work in the Old Testament, God does not always make a point about lying - He chooses bigger fish to fry, bigger lessons to emphasize.  Nevertheless, God's word is clear - it is never right to lie.

Some of God's faithful servants in the Old Testament had multiple wives, but that does not mean it is right to have multiple wives today.  God doesn't point out every sin in the Old Testament.

I will give my strongest argument for this right now.

God is reproducing Himself in us.  And God cannot lie.  See Psalm 19:7, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18, and John 10:35 for evidence God cannot lie.  See the following scriptures for evidence God is reproducing Himself in us:
Genesis 1:24-28
Matthew 5:9
Matthew 12:48-50
John 10:31-36
Romans 8:14-22
Romans 8:28-30
2 Corinthians 11:2-3
Galatians 3:26
Ephesians 5:22-32
Hebrews 2:5-12
1 John 3:2
Revelation 19:7-10.

Also, contrast Luke 4:6-8, Acts 10:25-26, and Revelation 22:8-9 with Revelation 3:9-12.

Though the Old Testament does not label the lies of Jacob to his father to obtain a blessing as sin, it is clear that it is sin.  And God taught Jacob a lesson about lying.  God says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Galatians 6:7).  Jacob sowed lies and he reaped lies and suffered as a result.  He was deceived by Laban and he was deceived by his sons about Joseph being killed by beasts, and he suffered as a result.

GOD CANNOT LIE!  And that is why we can trust His word.  And we are to be like Him.

A wife is to obey her husband in the Lord, but she must obey God rather than man if he tells her to lie for him (Acts 5:29).  She must refuse to lie.

We can keep silent about something, but not lie.  We must avoid making false statements, period, no matter what the pressure, no matter what man tells us to lie.

Ministers and Church members should obey those in the Church who have authority over them, the top leadership and ministry, but not to lie on command.  In that case, our submission to God is direct, not through the leadership and government in the Church, and Christ leads each one of us individually, as head of the Church, through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit.  Recall my recent post in which I said Christ administers His office as head of the Church and exercises leadership over us through three separate chains-of-command - through the government in the Church over Church matters, through the husband in family matters, and through every man and woman individually, through the Bible and the Holy Spirit, in matters of obedience to God's spiritual law and in our direct relationship to God.  And it is that last chain-of-command that has precedence over the others, in the matter of God's law, such as not bearing false witness.

If we violate one point of God's law (the ninth commandment), we violate the whole law (Acts 5:22), and the violation of God's law is sin (James 2:10-11).

People in the Church have their stories to tell about how they had trouble in their jobs with their employers over the Sabbath.  But I tell you I have had more trouble with my employers over lying than the Sabbath.  I felt they had pressured me to tell lies, and I had to resist that pressure, more than I felt pressure to work on the Sabbath.

The example of Peter in Acts 5:1-11 shows the seriousness of lying to the Holy Spirit, to God.  Some ministers like to use this example to say that it is a serious thing to lie to a minister.  But they miss part of the point.  Yes it is a serious sin to lie to a minister, but it is just as serious for a minister to lie to a lay member of the Church of God.  Why?

Peter didn't accuse Ananias and Sapphira of lying to an apostle.  They lied to God because Peter had the Holy Spirit, and when they lied to Peter, they lied to the Holy Spirit.  But members have the Holy Spirit too.  When we lie to each other, or when a minister lies to a Church of God member, we are lying to God, that is, to someone in whom dwells the Holy Spirit, just as much as Ananias and Sapphira did when they lied to Peter who had the Holy Spirit.  And God killed them for it!

Ministers and leaders in the Church of God should be afraid of God's judgment if they lie to the membership.

God specifically emphasizes that we should not lie to each other (Colossians 3:9).

Before we tell a lie, we should recall who is the father of lies (John 8:44).

I mentioned the example of Jacob lying, and then God punishing him by causing him to himself be deceived, reaping what he sowed.  We need to be afraid to lie, lest God allow us to be deceived ourselves.

There is a great time of deception coming.  Satan deceives the whole world, and it is only by God's grace that we can escape Satan's deceptions.  For that reason, we should fear to tell lies to deceive others.  For we shall reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7).  If we sow deception by telling a lie, might not God punish us by letting Satan and others deceive us, maybe in something important, maybe causing us great suffering and heartache?

And if we deceive others, and then if God, as a result, allows Satan and the great false religious system to deceive us, might we lose our salvation because of our lie?

God tells us to keep ourselves far from a false matter (Exodus 23:7).

Lying is always a sin.  We should never lie because a man tells us to, whether that man is a husband or a minister or the leader of a Church of God fellowship.

Church of God Assembly New Website

Church of God Assembly - COGA - led by Mr. Sheldon Monson has populated its website with some content.  I reported their website URL in a previous post.  Here is the URL again:
http://www.cogassembly.org

Their website is NOT cog-assembly (notice hyphen).

Preaching the Gospel by Tapping into Reserves of Church Manpower

There are potential ways of preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the world that have not been tried in modern times in the history of the Church of God.  And these ways, by themselves, do not necessarily require a lot of money.

From the time of Mr. Armstrong, from around the end of 1933 and beginning of 1934, the Church of God has primarily preached the gospel to the public through the use of channels of communication that cost money, such as: radio, printed magazines and literature, TV, paid Internet advertising, print advertising, and public meetings in rented halls.

These types of methods are still important and will remain important as long as they are available.

But members have not gone house-to-house.  They have not stood on street corners handing out literature.  They have not approached strangers to try to tell them about the gospel.

The Church of God has understood that these methods are not appropriate.  And I agree that we should not do these things.  From a practical point of view, people often take offense at these things.  Those who use such methods are viewed as being pushy.  The reaction is usually negative rather than positive, and these methods can do more harm than good.

Besides that, members, realizing the likely reaction, usually are not willing to do these things.

Television, radio, and print advertisements are different.  They are not as intrusive.  People can pay attention, or switch attention to something else, as they do with other programming, advertisements, and messages.

But new technology has opened up a new way.

I am talking about the Internet and public forums and blogs.

The Internet is full of forums and blogs.  Many people own their own blogs and participate in the discussions that take place in many blogs.  It is a whole new community, worldwide in scope.

And in these forums and blogs, people expect discussion, sometimes controversial discussion.  If done appropriately, you can express your views in blogs that many people will see without coming across as pushy or offensive.

If done appropriately.  If done wisely.  That is a big qualification.

But if done right, it may have the potential to be a way of preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to our Israelite nations and to the world.

It does not necessarily cost a lot of money.  But it is labor-intensive.  To make a program of this would require the time and effort of many COG members.

Whether this would really be effective or not, I do not know.  But it is something that could be tried in addition to (not in substitution for) the traditional means of preaching the gospel through radio, TV, print, and advertising that the Church has always used, and has always cost money.

How would it work?

The Church would train and supervise members to set up their own blogs and memberships in forums and social media platforms and then engage in discussions in the forums and in the other blogs about matters concerning the gospel and the warning, and some members may do this without training and supervision.  Some blogs and forums that members enter comments in might be religious in nature.  In the members' blogs or social media and forum profile pages would be links or references to COG websites that can guide those interested to booklets and videos that cover the full range of God's message and truth.  Once in contact with the Church's official websites, they can be guided, if God is calling them, to make contact with a minister and be prepared for attendance and possible baptism.

For example, let's say there is a blog or forum in which there is a hot discussion among various people about evolution - some for evolution and some against evolution.  Call this blog-A.  A COG member, having set up a blog of his or her own, could write and publish a post showing some flaw in the theory of evolution and show that evolution is wrong.  In the side bar of the member's blog could be a couple of links - one perhaps to the Church's official website for all literature, another to a particular booklet on why evolution is false.

With that preparation, the COG member could then start to participate in the ongoing discussion in blog-A, using his identity or profile that can lead interested readers to the Church member's own blog.  The member can add his comments to blog-A, participating in the discussion.  Interested readers can follow up on that member's profile and identify and find the member's blog.  There, he may enter his own comments in the member's blog and maybe go to the links in the sidebar.

Some individual COG members probably have tried something like this from time to time, but never, as far as I know, has a Church of God fellowship actually organized and encouraged something like this.

There will be a learning curve.  There are right ways to do this and wrong ways.  There are wise ways and foolish ways.  Mistakes will be made, but we can learn from our mistakes.  Over time, an effective program can be developed.

But this should never be a substitute for the proven methods Mr. Armstrong has used and the Church has used of broadcasting, print, advertising, and public meetings.  Those methods cost money, and that money should come out of the tithes and offerings of the members.  Members should still support those traditions methods and support a fellowship that uses those traditional methods with their financial contributions.

But some members have more than money to contribute.  They have time.  They have Internet connections.  They can contribute in other ways, donating their time and effort, in addition to contributing their money.

The Church of God is scattered.  It may become more scattered in the future, perhaps because of persecution.  Television doors may close at some point.  But notice an example from the book of Acts.

"Now Saul was consenting to his death [Stephen]. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:1-4).

Notice, the Church of God, except the apostles, were scattered, and they went everywhere preaching the word.  It was not just the apostles who preached the gospel.  It was the Church of God, the scattered members.  You don't have to be a minister, necessarily, to preach the gospel.  The Church of God has always taught that members are to set a good example and answer people's questions about their faith (neighbors, family members, friends, co-workers), without being pushy, and sometimes this leads to the conversion of others.

Discussing the truth of God in blogs and forums just takes this a step further.

There are pitfalls.  There will be problems.  There will be mistakes.  But the Church of God and its members can learn and improve over time.  

Another way COG manpower can be used is something Mr. Armstrong did.  When a minister organizes a public meeting, members can distribute flyers announcing the meeting.  This is cheaper than advertising.

Another way that has been used before - response cards.  The Church can produce a printed booklet on a subject, and mail-in cards can be printed advertising that booklet.  Card display cases and cards can be placed by members in various businesses and locations after getting permission from the owner.

Here is a possible method for preaching the gospel that I have not seen used, but may be made possible by the Internet.  I don't know if this would work, but here is an idea anyway.

People often search the Internet for information about a breaking news story.  Let's say there is an earthquake in some part of the world.  People will go to Google and type in "earthquake" and the country where it happened.  Google will present a list of stories, and the person will click on several and read them for information.  Some people will spend a lot of time on this, depending on their level of interest in the story.

Google updates its search results very quickly to respond to this demand for information, even hourly.

If the Church set up a website, or several, specializing in information about news events, when a story like this breaks, they could quickly put together and upload a new webpage for the story and properly submit it to the search engines.  The Church's webpage can report the story using other news sources, giving links and credit to those sources, but summarizing the story in a useful way.  The article might be a couple of pages, and towards the end the content of the article can transition to what the story means in terms of prophecy or some other Bible truth, then give links to COG literature.

In a way, this would be similar to a technique used in the old Plain Truth magazine.  An article would cover basic information on a topic, not referring to the Bible right away, but towards the end of the article a transition would be made to a more biblical view, and the reader would be invited to request a booklet giving the Bible view of the topic.

This is not something every member can do.  Certain skill levels are needed for writing, editing, webpage construction and uploading, etc.  But it would be a team effort and many hands would be required, and various members may be able to do different parts.

And because news stories break 24 hours a day, the work involved can come at any time.

What are the functions that would be needed?

First of all, there is monitoring.  Someone has to watch the news and spot and report to COG headquarters any news story that has the potential to be used this way.  Not all news stories would work.  For this, there should be a schedule, and qualified and trained members would volunteer or "sign up" for various times slots, to monitor the news for that time slot.  So maybe one member might volunteer to check the news from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Others would volunteer for other time slots till nearly the whole week is covered, 24 hours a day.  There will always be a Church member watching the news, looking for the right kind of story that the Church can use to preach the gospel.

The whole week might not be covered because we should not do this on the Sabbath.  But even there, with the Church worldwide over many time zones, there can be members in different parts of the world where it is not the Sabbath, so even most of the Sabbath can be covered.

When a member spots an appropriate news story, he calls a project coordinator, at Church headquarters or elsewhere.  The
coordinator may call a minister for an OK.  Coordinators and approving ministers will also be scheduled in shifts.  Someone with authority makes a go / no go decision.

If it's a go, a qualified person or team is notified and an article is written, maybe in an hour.  An editor is standing by to edit.  Team members can quickly gather facts about the story and assemble the links and credits.  Maybe one writer can write the main top part of the article while another writer is simultaneously writing the transition and link to COG literature.  A webpage programmer is standing by to put it together, upload the new page to the website, and notify search engines.

Everyone needed for these can volunteer to be available, at various times, in shifts.

I don't know if this would work.  I am fairly sure it has not been tried.

The Church of God membership represents a vast pool of manpower.  There may be ways to tap into this manpower to preach the gospel.  Maybe others have more ideas on how to do this.

But as I have said over and over, the Church should still use the traditional methods that cost money.

How much money should a COG fellowship spend on the gospel compared to feeding the flock?

Historically, with Mr. Armstrong and others that followed him, I think close to half of the tithe and offering income is a good balance.  A fellowship that spends 45% of its income on feeding the flock, 45% on preaching the gospel, and 10% on administration and overhead, is probably making a good, balanced effort to preach the gospel and the Ezekiel warning to our nations.

If any fellowship tries to do this, they will be developing methods and learning lessons that they can use to preach the gospel, but those lessons can be shared with other fellowships to do the same.

Also, these kinds of efforts may cross organizational boundaries.  That is, one fellowship can get the ball rolling, but various members of many fellowships, or scattered members who have nowhere to attend, may contribute.

Christ is the head of the Church.  But He is not head of only one fellowship or one part of the Church.  He is head over every man and woman who has the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9).

We are all one team.

There is an account of the apostles forbidding one from casting out demons because "he does not follow with us".

"Now John answered and said, 'Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.' But Jesus said to him, 'Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side' " (Luke 9:49-50).  See also Mark 9:38-40.  

Notice, Christ did not say, leave him alone.  He did not say to be neutral towards him.  He said, in effect, he is on our side.  Not neutral.  On our side.  We are all on the same team.

Maybe we should act like it.

Update on Sheldon Monson, COG Broadcast Youtube Channel

For those who are keeping track of ongoing events with Mr. Sheldon Monson and the new group, Church of God Assembly, it appears that he may have changed his policy of not broadcasting his services for the public.

The first three services he gave were broadcast live on "COG Broadcast" Youtube channel.  You could access it by typing that name in the Youtube search box.  The last (fourth) service was not broadcast live through that channel and the recording of that service was not immediately put in that channel.

But that has changed.  The channel now has a recording of his fourth service.

Whether he broadcasts live next Sabbath on that channel will be seen next Sabbath.

Update on Sheldon Monson, Church of God Assembly (COGA)

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 Importance of the Ezekiel Warning at this Time

This is a critical time in God's work.

There is a crisis for the nation and the Church of God.  Within that crisis is danger but also opportunity.

The danger is that we will fragment due to the stress of the effects of the coronavirus.  There is also the danger that Church income will decrease due to mass unemployment because of the corovavirus.  This can diminish our power to preach the gospel to the world and the Ezekiel warning to Israel.  And by Israel, I mean all the tribes of Israel and the nations that are made up of those tribes: the United States, Canada, Great Britain, etc.

But the irony is, the opportunity is tremendous.  Interest in our work has surged.  This could be due to several factors.  Some people have more time on their hands because they are unemployed.  They have more time to watch our broadcasts and read our websites and literature.  But also people are worried.  Some are scared.  They are worried about the direct effects of the virus on themselves and their loved ones.  They are worried about the economy and their income.  And in an election year when the liberal Democrats have a real chance to gain control of the white house and Congress, some of them are worried about the liberal, anti-God agenda growing and being enforced upon the people.  Add to that, worry about national debt and a possible dollar collapse.

This is a great opportunity to expand the work and reach more people with a warning message, a message they desperately need whether they realize it or not.

This is a time when we should be spending more money on the gospel, not less.

Some people think of preaching the gospel only or primarily in terms of bringing in new people, those God calls.

That is certainly important.  And it may be that this period of crisis we are in is a time when God is waking people up and drawing to the Church a large group of people He is calling - a group that will increase our numbers, our income, and our power to do God's work in the years ahead.  There may be tens of thousands of new people God is starting to call and is ready to bring into the Church, and it may be that God is using the corovavirus crisis and economic crisis to wake them up and get their attention.  This may be the beginning of a big renewal of God's work.

But there is another, perhaps more important reason for getting the Ezekiel warning out to our nations.

We need to warn everyone of their sins before the great tribulation starts while there is time for them to repent.  This is important for reasons beyond helping those God is calling in this age.

God is not calling the majority.  Yet, the first generation of the millennium will be made up largely of people alive today.  

They are not called to salvation in this age.  But they need to hear the warning anyway.  Why?  Even though most, without God's calling, will not repent, they need to hear it, remember it, and know that God was fair to give them a warning.  This will make it easier for them to accept responsibility for ignoring the warning.  They will know God was fair.  It will be easier for them to repent and learn to trust God during the great tribulation so that they can be converted after Christ returns and be teachable as the first generation of Israel in the millennium.

In other words, we have the opportunity to do some of the work of the millennium now by preparing the minds of the people who will be in the beginning of the millennium.  Never before in history has the Church of God had the opportunity to deliver a message to the first generation of Israel that will be saved after Christ returns.  We need to show them that God is fair to give them a warning, whether they heed it or not.

Many Catholics and Protestants never heard a warning against keeping Christmas and Easter and other wrong traditions.  They need to be told.

It can mean the difference between people saying, "It's not my fault, no one warned me, God is not fair," and "It's my fault, I heard the warning but I didn't listen.  God is fair - I should have listened."

We are going to have to work with these people in the millennium, and I would rather work with people with a repentant, humble, and teachable attitude than a complaining people who think God was not fair.

By demonstrating God's fairness and love, we glorify His name and reputation.  In the model prayer, we pray for God's name to be hallowed.  By our actions now, with our prayers, our tithes and offerings, our service, and our loyalty to God's work, we honor and glorify God's name and reputation by showing His love and fairness to give everyone a warning while there is time to heed and escape the punishment.

Giving a warning now will make it easier for the people to repent in the great tribulation.  Why?  By showing God's fairness to warn, we make it easier for the people to trust God and believe in His goodness.  We make it easier for them to accept responsibility.  Both of those things make repentence easier, and if easier, then more likely.  God can grant repentance to all Israel during the tribulation, but He doesn't force anyone to repent.  Each person makes his or her own choice.

Not all will repent when God grants repentance.  Some may choose to reject repentance.  They could lose their salvation and go into the lake of fire, eventually, if they do not repent when God gives them the opportunity.

So some could lose their salvation who otherwise might have been saved if we make their repentance more difficult by not giving the warning.

No wonder God counts us as murderers if we fail to do our part to warn our nations of the great tribulation to come upon them because of their sins.

God gave us a job to do, and we better do it.

"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins" (Isaiah 58:1).

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, "You shall surely die," and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand" (Ezekiel 3:17-18).

What makes us the Ezekiel watchman, you might ask.

Several scriptures make it clear that God commands us to warn the nations.

The most general, but perhaps the most important, is the command to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39).  Also, we are to do unto others as we would want them to do for us (Matthew 7:12).

We know that trouble is coming and our nations need a warning.  Love demands that we warn them.  And if we were in danger, we would want a warning, so we should do for others as we would want done for us.

But God gets more specific.  "Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter" (Proverbs 24:12).  The only way to hold back is to warn.

We know the truth.  We know the sins of the people and we know the punishment that is coming.  We have the opportunity to warn.  That makes us the watchman.  Our opportunity to warn plus God's command that we love makes us the watchman, because if we don't warn, we don't love.

And in Ezekiel, God makes it clear how serious our responsibility is and the consequences if we don't do our job.  The consequences are, God will count us as murderers.

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand" (Ezekiel 3:17-18).

There was a movie named, "The Perfect Storm".  The title referred to the perfect conditions for a powerful storm.

In the preaching of the gospel, God is giving the members of the Church of God a perfect test.  The test is a test of faith - if we believe God's word that the great tribulation is coming and what it will be like for the people - and a test of love - if we love our neighbors enough to go all out with sacrifice to get the warning message out.

For it is a sacrifice.  Each one of us who supports the gospel and the warning pays a price, in tithes and offerings, in prayer time, or in service.  The man or woman who gives up some small but unnecessary purchase to contribute a little more to the preaching of the gospel and the warning is making a sacrifice.  Those sacrifices can be small but they add up.  They show God where are hearts are.

So we are being tested.  And the eternal lives of many may depend on our passing the test.

Let us be motivated by love to go all out to preach the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning to all the Israelite nations and to the world.

Sheldon Monson of Living Church of God Is No Longer with LCG

Many or most of you probably have most of this information already.

The following is my understanding, which may be based in part on incomplete or unconfirmed reports.  Interested readers can do their own research and checking up.

On or around August 7, Mr. Gerald Weston, presiding evangelist of Living Church of God, announced that Mr. Sheldon Monson, a pastor with Living Church of God, and Mr. Jason Fritts were no longer ministers in Living Church of God.  I do not know, from what I have seen of Mr. Weston's announcement, if Mr. Monson was fired or resigned.  Other sources may have information on that.  This may be more clear over time.

The immediate cause of the separation seems to be wearing of face masks and singing in services.

On August 15, Mr. Monson conducted a Sabbath service which was broadcast live on Youtube and was made permanently available afterwards as a Youtube video.  He spoke on the subject of faith, and he made his email address available in the video for those who want a link to future live service broadcasts.

On or around August 19 Mr. Weston announced that Mr. Monson, by making the decision to "start his own work" (apparently by giving a Sabbath service live on Youtube), has caused division in some families and congregations, and consequently, members of LCG should avoid contact with him.

Since then, Mr. Monson has been giving live Sabbath services on Youtube each week.  He has given three services so far.  I believe all are available as recordings on Youtube.  In his second service, he gives some information about his separation from LCG.

In his third service, Mr. Monson talks about plans for a Feast of Tabernacles in Lake of the Ozarks.  According to his description, members will not be required to wear face masks in services and will be permitted to sing out loud.

Those who choose to access Mr. Monson's weekly Sabbath services can go to the Youtube site, and in the Youtube search box (not the Google search box) enter:

COG Broadcast

This will bring you to a listing of the recordings of his Sabbath services and a link to live services as the Sabbath approaches.  Live services start 2:00 pm, Eastern time on the Sabbath.