THE MYSTERY OF THE AGES REVEALED, 1919 - ANOTHER ONE? AFRAID SO.

I STUMBLED ACROSS THIS OUT OF PRINT GEM while doing research for my upcoming book which discusses many sources of the doctrines that false prophet Herbert W. Armstrong taught in the World Wide Church of God that do not agree with new covenant theology.

Many of the sources that are well known in x-WCG circles and have been written about by others I have reviewed. But this one I had never heard of. If this book influenced his teachings it is difficult to know for certain. If he read it, it may have influenced him in his British Israelite theories to some degree in an obtuse and unusual way.  Larsen claims the western United States was actually the promised land and was inhabited by ancient Israel after the exodus. This book with a familiar title was possibly in the public libraries in the 1930's when Herbert was doing his research on religion.

 

The authors middle initial was incorrect on this cover, it is "B" not "A." On his photo it is correct. Very little is known about this author. The preface to the book written by Larsen  himself is dated April 1919 in Portland, Oregon. Some of his books can be purchased on line but none that I could find had the same title. It seems like Larsen may have been Mormon, or heavily influenced by their teachings. While I did not see where he actually says so in the book he makes reference to many Mormon teachings and the book of Moroni, the last of the books of Mormon.

 

This book may explain why HWA ended up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and later Los Angeles.  Larsen claimed Los Angeles would the the heart of missionary work in America in the 1920's and that the tribe of Judah would inhabit the southern California area.

 

Larsen's book is full of failed prophecies and absurdities. But GOOD NEWS, the invasion of America by Germany will not occur until the year 4000 so he claims on page 154. So Larsen has not failed on that one...yet. Herbert's failed in 1972, then 1975....thankfully I add.

 

Did HWA read Ludwig B. Larsen's book written in 1919 

before writing his own Mystery of the Ages in 1985? 

Maybe. 

PHILADELPHIA CHURCH OF GOD 1996 SUMMER CAMP - MY FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE AND IT WASN'T GOOD!

 

I Thought We Were Done With This Maynard Fella! Can We Mark Him Twice?

 

The following is a comment I posted on the Blog "Banned by HWA" in response to another horror story that came out of the "Geraldine Flurry Cult. 

 

I was a very active member from 1994 until fall of 1996. I saw, heard, and experienced things that were simply, NOT SANE! The Article is:

"More to Philadelphia Church of God Family Horror Story"

http://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-to-philadelphia-church-of-god.html

 

Michael D. Maynard said...

I had first hand experience with the utter incompetence at the PCG summer camp in Guthrie, OK in 1996 when my son and daughter attended. When we arrived there a day or two before the camp ended we visited with the campers and staff and spoke to Gerald Flurry at length. We were appalled at what we found. My daughter had second degree sun burns covering on her face her lips were seared and infected from being forced to play sports activities for many hours in the scorching sun without being offered any sun screen. My daughters knees had been damaged from these same marathon sports activities. They were treated like they were seasoned atheletes and run into the dirt. My daughter had pain from her injuries form many years after that. She related how they were all forced to go mountain biking in very steep hill country around dangerous boulders and cliffs. At one point they were forced to ride down an extremely steep hill which terrified my daughter who grew up in Florida and never rode on any hills. One of the girls lost control of her bike during this part of the ride and body slammed a huge bolder at a high rate of speed. It was a wonder she was not killed. My daughter said she had a bruise that covered nearly her entire side. continued...

May 21, 2011 10:26 AM

Michael D. Maynard said...

My son's ankles were both so badly sprained that he could barley walk from this marathon of sports. They still wanted him to play in the final softball tournament without any medical attention. We forbade it and made him sit it out. If we had not arrived when we did no telling how bad his injuries could have been. When we first arrived at the beginning of the camp to drop our children off my wife and I were shocked and my daughter very embarrassed at the first sight we observed. Dennis Leap, the camp coordinator, came riding up on his mountain bike next to where we were unloading or children's gear. He was wearing spandex riding shorts that are skin tight. He was carrying a little extra weight so to start with the sight was bad enough, but what was worse was his "package" and you know what I mean, looked like he was very happy to see someone. To be kind it was repugnant, to be honest it was just LEWD. My wife and daughter spun around away from him while he was greeting them and froze wide eyed staring at me. After he left my wife and I had a private discussion out of our children's ear shot and actually had reservations. I had a strong feeling, which I wished I had heeded, not to leave them there for the camp. But we talked ourselves into leaving them because we knew how much both of them were looking forward to this and many of their friends were there. We found out also that the monitor that was in my sons dorm was an immature boy who had no control over his dorm. There were vicious hazings and my son fell off a porch roof and could have been injured though he just had minor scrapes. It took many months before my son could walk without pain in his ankles. My daughter still has slight scars on her face from the severe sunburn she suffered. But that was not the end of it. When we were loading my son and daughters gear into our motor coach for the return trip to Florida all of the campers were crying, hugging, saying their good byes, and all saying something like a slogan they learned from camp. I couldn't quite make it out so I slid a window open to hear better. I usually don't write this kind of vocabulary, so forgive me if you are offend, I apolgize in advance...BUT I was PISSED when I realized what the slogan was...PISSED! "Next year at the Rock, Next year at the Rock, Next year at the Rock." was what they were chanting as they said their good byes. Those worthless BASTARDS had used the two week camp to indoctrinate and brainwash our children into Gerald Flurry's insane prophecies about FLEEING TO PETRA. And told them there would not be a camp next year because they would all be together in PETRA. That is when I fully realized what a 'BOWL OF SPIDERS" the PCG was. When we got back to Florida I started my exit strategy and did not send another dime to them, and I was a rather large contributor. I know they saw that right away and that was a large part of why I was disfellowshiped so rapidly by the regional pastor that I wrote about earlier. I feel very sorry you had to get involved with this INSANE BASTARD too. My mother-in-law and brother-in-law are still in that group, just as blind as they can be. At least I only wasted two years there.  Michael TTDOCF

Today August 8, 2011, I read some more stories about a similar PCG parents summer camp experience , and PCG campers experience, that related some even worse outcomes than my families.  Another letter I read was written by a young person who was in the PCG and had also attended a PCG summer camp, here is the exerpt from that letter concerning injury at the camp and the guilt trip the PCG is famous for;  "..Mr. Dennis Leap, at Philadelphia Youth Camp would openly make examples of people at the camp that were doing things he didn't see as appropriate. I was an example on one occasion. I had been injured pretty badly while playing soccer earlier that week and had been on bed rest for the last few days. His way of thinking seemed to be that physical injury and illness were a direct result of "spiritual sin." He made a point to make sure everyone knew that the real reason I had been injured was not because of actual physical strain, but because I had sinned and was paying for it physically. Can you imagine hearing that? This is a small part of what I and many other young kids were subjected to at these camps."

May 21, 2011 10:33 AM

Reposted: I WAS THERE WHEN ARMSTRONG EVANGELIST GERALD WATERHOUSE ADMITTED TO BEING A LIAR.

As fate would have it Gerald was scheduled to speak in the Tampa Florida Congregation of the World Wide Church of God where I had attended with my wife and two children ever since graduating from the University there in 1978.

Guess what the date was. January 16, 1986.

As some readers may recall that was the day somewhere before 9A.M. Herbert W. Armstrong died.  My wife left a message at my office to call her right away late that morning. When I reached her at home on the phone she seemed shell shocked as she told me the news of his death. I was a little shaken, more dazed, because everything seemed to have changed in an instant. Things I thought to be true went out the window. At that moment while I waited for my client to finish an urgent phone call himself on a business matter I was looking out of his 14^th floor office window that looked out over the downtown business district and out across Tampa Bay. I remember everything was so crisp and clear in the bright sunlight that bathed the city and glistened off the bay.  Things gradually began to become more  clear to me as well - bathed in a new light so to speak.

When I hung up the phone after getting the news from my wife and consoling her a bit I suddenly remembered that this evening was Gerald’s visit…I had definitely planned NOT to be there, now I planned NOT to miss this…this was going to be GOOD! 

Armstrong's Evangelist Gerald Waterhouse

When I arrived at King High School where we rented the auditorium it was about 7 P.M. and the Bible Study was scheduled to start at 7:30 P.M. The mood was somber and the conversation quiet and shallow. No one really had any words that made any sense, and certainly did not want to state the OBVIOUS…the prophesied Zerubbabel, as Gerald Waterhouse continually referred to Herbert as had DIED. Everyone in the church knew that Herbert was a type of Zerubbabel and was completing the “Spiritual Temple,” which was his prophesied commission and WOULD live until the return of Christ to personally present this “Spiritual Temple” to Christ. Then Herbert would assume his rightful place in a top position ruling in the Kingdom of God somewhere among the Apostles, the Prophets, the Pillars, the Cornerstone, bla bla bla….snoring again. But apparently I was the only one that had the nerve to mention it, out loud to the pastor, who wrinkled his nose and suddenly developed a tic in his neck and upper lip. He abruptly turned and briskly walked away as pastors did when there was something they did not care to deal with…lots of other brethren that needed greeting you know.

There was a folding table, a single folding chair, a glass of water, and a small reading lamp and a microphone. Everyone was already in their seats and waiting quietly for the key speaker to arrive. He had not been in the auditorium visiting with the church members as one would expect, no one had really seen him yet except the pastor and a few key people. He was behind the curtain on the stage and right at starting time he emerged from the stage entrance door, head down, somber, and walked slowly 25 feet from the door to the table and sat down. He placed his Bible on the table squarely in front of himself and adjusted the microphone position. The pause before he spoke became uncomfortably long. He had not looked up to even see if he had an audience and was probably hoping when he looked up it would be to an empty room. If he had a conscience, I thought, this moment had to be his most difficult.

I was not expecting what came out of his mouth but knew there was only one honest thing he could utter at that moment. While still looking down at his Bible and the microphone a couple inches from his mouth he spoke very quietly and like someone who had been completely deflated, clearly in disbelief.

He said, “Well brethren….long pause….I guess I have been wrong.”  I heard nothing else that evening, remember nothing else. For me there was nothing else to be heard. Most if not all of the other members looked at it as just part of God’s plan, just speculation that failed. For me it was much more…why I didn’t walk out at that moment and never return to the WCG I do understand…but that is all ancient history now and so I write.

Gerald Waterhouse did not wait three days and three nights before believing he had been a false prophet just like his boss, that night of January 16, 1986 he knew. But no matter he had many rounds of golf to play, He would reinvent himself and have a new story soon enough! 

I remember having a conversation in 1996 with Roy Holladay, a former UCG  president and pastor and WCG former pastor. We were at the Pensacola Feast site a year after the breakup in 1996. I was not in the UCG but my parents were so I was there to visit with them. I told Roy about this experience during a conversation we were having. I had never seen eyes get so large, (except for Rodney Dangerfield) I was ready to duck, expecting any second they would dislodge their sockets and hit me. Then after stuttering he forced out a restrained but very angry reply, “well he was only wrong on that.” Some other members standing around in the conversation quickly realized they had other places to be and vanished. I smiled and thanked Roy for talking with me. Since then when he sees me his eyes start to bug out but he is polite and restrains himself as I smile pleasantly at him.

JAMES MALM CLAIMS THE NEW KING JAMES BIBLE IS FLAWED - HIS FLAWED PROOF IS ANALYZED

While I rarely visit his blog I did read an excerpt  last week from his comments on Bible translations. 

James Malm, writer of The Shining Light blog recommends to a commenter the King James Version Bible (KJV) exclusively and gives a website as his proof that the New King James Version (NKJV) is inferior and not reliable in it's translation of the Hebrew and Greek languages .   

The TTDOCF writer realizes that In academic circles some, not all, Bible Scholars claim the King James Version is superior to any other translation and should be the only one used by Christians. Many of these people think the New King James Version contains translational errors that lead readers into theological and doctrinal error. That the NJKV  translation does not accurately convey what God or the various writers were teaching. The True Doctrine of Christ Foundation disagrees with this and feels the New King James Version is an excellent translation and study tool for Christians seeking God's instruction and guidance.

Below is an example from one of three  websites given as proof by Malm promoting the KJV over the NK JV.  You will see again Malm's biblical expertise is lacking and he  is basically surfing the web Googling up sites he thinks offer proof of , in our view, his weak and baseless assertion. This  most likly stems from his very poor education in matters theological obtained at the Fundamentalist  Armstrong run Ambassador College.

James fails to fact check in this case the very proof he cites as we will explain.

David W Daniels, author of the King James Bible Companion, answers questions on the Chick Publications website that Malm refers his readers to.  Daniels contends that word meanings have been changed by the translators of the New King James Version  so that the reader will not be able to understand what God or the writer is speaking about.

Daniels writes:

Changed Words Means Changed Meanings

We know that Bible versions disagree on how to translate certain words. Here is an example: Is Jesus God's "Son" or God's "servant"? If He is God's Son, then we all need to listen to what He said! Changed words like this make a great deal of difference in how we understand a passage.

1. Loss of "thee" and "thou"
   Please decide what God is saying to Moses:

"And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?" (Exodus 16:28, NKJV)

It looks like God is saying, "Moses, you are continuing to refuse to keep My commandments and My laws." But look carefully at the accurate King James:

"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?"

Now we understand! It was the people, not Moses, that God was upset with. "Ye" and "you" mean more than one person. "Thee," "thou," "thy," "thine," "doeth," "hast," etc., only mean one person. How do we know? The "y" is plural. The "t" is singular. Isn't that easy? Now you know what Jesus meant when He said to Nicodemus, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).

This is the source James provided to his readers so you can read for yourself from <http://www.chick.com/ask/articles/nkjv.asp>

In the first example Daniels uses to illustrate his point , which is rather inane; "Is Jesus God's "Son" or God's "servant"?  If He is God's Son, then we all need to listen to what He said! Changed words like this make a great deal of difference in how we understand a passage. 

TTDOCF replies; In fact Jesus  was and is  BOTH.  Jesus came to be a servant to mankind, anyone recalling the example of Christ washing the disciples feet and His admonition to do likewise shows this writer lacks understanding of the Bible and it's lessons. I would not want to rely on his obvious lack of expertise to help me understand the Bible.

Malm - this is far from solid proof for your KJV superiority so far. But let us continue.

In the next section Daniels is saying that the words "thee and thou" being replaced by "ye an you" is confusing and that the reader will draw a different conclusion from the NKJV than from the KJV translation.  In the example from Exodus 16:28  in the NKJV, "And the Lord said to Moses, "How long do YOU refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?" Then the writer quotes the same passage from the KJV, "And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse YE to keep My commandments and laws?"

In the NKJV passage the writer claims that the word "you" makes it seem like God is talking to Moses directly, singular.  In the KJV the writer claims that "ye" someway makes it more clear God is talking to the "people," plural, and not Moses, singular.  In Daniel's first example he is saying the "you" is singular pointing at Moses and in his second example "ye" is more clear indicating plural, or the people. Daniel's then draws his own conclusion being, "Now we understand!"

TTDOCF asks, But do we?  NO!  By Daniels' own explanation in the next section he contradicts his own definitions, "it was the people, not Moses, that God was upset with. "Ye" and "you" mean more than one person."  Daniels just said that "ye" was better than "you" but then he goes on to state THEY BOTH MEAN THE SAME THING - PLURAL.  Then he digs an even deeper hole for himself and his contradiction to fall into in the next section.  "How do we know? The "y" is plural. The "t" is singular. Isn't that easy?"  How can he draw such an erroneous conclusion when the "Y" he uses is both singular and plural in his example above?

So why does he go on to further confuse the reader  (and himself) with this; "Now you know what Jesus meant when He said to Nicodemus, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). He uses "thee" and "Ye" together in one sentence, one word singular with the "t" and another word plural with "y" by his own definition. But in fact he contradicts this by his own applications of "You" and "ye" which he claims are both plural. So what is the writer trying to prove, it is unknown from this example, more contradictions.

However, having made the argument in technical terms against Daniels' erroneous  assertions the reality was that God was talking directly to Moses AND  the people, both were included in this warning against breaking God's commandments and laws.  After the people broke the law and disobeyed God Moses ended up spending forty years wandering in the wilderness with them as a curse for their lack of faith. Then Moses, because he disobeyed God by striking the rock was barred from entering the promised land with the Israelites. So the "You" in actuality applied to All including Moses.  Either translation, if read within the context gives complete understanding of what God meant and the history of Israel's failings in obedience to God.

If James Malm feels Mr. Daniels is an expert source after reading and analyzing his view on the King James Version verses the New King James Version TTDOCF strongly disagrees with his position and his proof source.

We see another example here of Armstrong having wasted a lot of illegally collected tithe money and offerings seducing the churches' young people into attending  Ambassador College and then sending some into the field to pastor church congregations.  As it was in the WCGUA and is in the COG splinter groups now, "the blind leading the blind."

When one is converted and knows  salvation is a free gift  through the Grace of God and through Faith in Jesus, His Son, then the veil is lifted and blindness is gone. In my  forty plus years of studying God's word from the perspective of the Legalistic  I see now that most modern  translations of the New Testament are very clear on salvation,  It is only the Fundamentalist, Legalistic, Judaizes, who want to place an unbearable yoke and burden of the Law on disciples and spend much of their time reading from the Torah while blind.

With a veil over their hearts and minds rejecting Grace and Salvation in Jesus through Faith (2 Cor. 3:15-16) , it is they who argue pointlessly about Bible translations from the Hebrew. The Torah, the Law, contains an abolished covenant replaced by a better covenant and a new law because there is a new High Priest, Jesus Christ who has become the true believers Passover.

Why do some still refuse to enter the Kingdom of God and shut up access for those believers who would enter? Christ  warned the Pharisees in his day and for those of YOU FALSE SHEPHERDS today doing the same;

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
Matthew 23:13 NKJV

Grace and Salvation - A Short Bible Study For Armstrongites

After beginning to understand the concept of Grace and  Faith in Christ for salvation and what the New Covenant meant for true believers in Christ it seemed too simple. It was eventually easy to shed the burden of the Law under  Armstrongism. This understanding did not come to me all at once but over a long period. As I wrote in my letter found on this blog "Unraveling Armstrong's Doctrinal Errors - A Personal Journey" I had grown up in the Worldwide Church of God. From 1963 when I attended my first Feast of Tabernacles with my Mother and two younger brothers in Jekyll Island, Georgia until 2010 when I finally severed ties with the United Church of God I felt there was a great degree of hypocrisy in the doctrines of the church. I was able to read and grasp the concepts of the Old Testament Festivals of God at a very young age and the instructions for their observance. One need only read with an open mind Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16 and see Herbert W. Armstrong, while claiming God "Commanded Christians" to observe these days the church fell FAR short of actually fulfilling these requirements. After all what was the Apostle Paul writing about in Galatians 3:10, " For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, "Cursed is EVERYONE who does not continue in ALL THINGS which are written in the book of the law to do them," Armstrong certainly then fell under the curse of the law and brought his church under the same curse as well.


Within the Churches of God that found their beginnings in Armstrongism and base their theology on these false doctrines still prepare their annual festival cycle around this toxic soup that Armstrong brewed from some elements of an abolished old covenant and elements of the new covenant. Some Elders and members of these groups will read this blog, and they do read, with contempt and think, Hersey, Apostate!


But the Apostle Paul warns all those who reject Grace and Faith in Jesus Christ and count themselves unworthy for salvation and more so those who teach doctrines of men that cut their membership off from salvation by going back to the Abolished Covenant and rejecting the New Covenant, THE ONLY COVENANT OF LIFE THROUGH CHRIST.


Here is one of many Bible Study passages for those who believe salvation comes from keeping, or pretending to keep, the Old Covenant Festivals that were given to ancient Israel. Paul is warning the Christians in Galatia against Jews who were bringing a very similar false doctrine to what Herbert W. Armstrong taught. False for Christians then and now.

Galatians 3:25(NIV)
 ¹ You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?^{[a] 4} Have you experienced^[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? ⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^{[c]  7} Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. ⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[d] 9} So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
 ¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”^{[e] 11} Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”^{[f] 12} The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”^{[g] 13[h] 14} He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
 ¹⁵ Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. ¹⁶ The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”^[i] meaning one person, who is Christ. ¹⁷ What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.  ¹⁹ Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. ²⁰ A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
 ²¹ Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. ²² But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.

Children of God

 ²³ Before the coming of this faith,^[j] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  ²⁶ So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 


In this all important excerpt from Paul's letter to the Galatian church which was made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians CLEARLY STATES the Law of Moses including the Annual Festivals, including ALL of the Ordinances that were abolished at the cross ( Col. 2:14) were ONLY INTENDED UNTIL CHRIST,THE SEED ARRIVED. Verse 19; "...until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come."

Christ was the END OF THE LAW, as Paul writes in Romans 10:4. There is no purpose in attempting to keep Old Testament Feasts that actually cut believers off from Christ and are left fallen from Grace. Paul told the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Galatians 5:1-7 that were being taught FALSELY that they had to keep the Law of Moses for salvation that they, "should NOT become entangled AGAIN in a YOKE OF BONDAGE, which came directly from the Jerusalem Decision (Acts 15:10).


As the Apostle warned then and now in verse 7,  
                     "...who hindered you from obeying the truth?"