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Following find a report by John, regarding the Pharisees, and what they were up to in their day. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. So someone here is caught in sin, by the "Religious Right" of their day. The Pharisees were the Holy ones, the Chosen ones, the elite, the most religious ones of Jesus day. They thought they were it. Yet it was them who Jesus condemned, not the sinners. Here Jesus could have joined them in their execution of the law. But that is not why he came. He came to save sinners. "...let him first cast a stone", here we see Jesus setting the criteria for passing judgment on the women, about her sin. Jesus did not stop them, they walked away on their own, because of their sin. The way the Church of God Restoration (CoGR) teaches on sin, they would have been picking up stones and casting them at the women, just to prove to Jesus they were without sin. Their doctrine demands, that they would be the first to throw the stones, they must prove they are sinless. "How warped is this?" There is several ways to go here, but lets start out with the fact that the "Religious Right" of Jesus day used the law against Jesus. Used the scripture to try and manipulate the very Son of God. The CoGR does the same, they attempt to use the scripture to manipulate God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to be on their side. The scripture says this, so God will do that. They will take the scriptures and yell in their prayers, demanding things of God. "God you said this, so you have to do that..." The law says this, so what are you going to do, Jesus? When a group thinks they are the elect, the only ones, they get a very lofty view of themselves, thinking they know better, than the ones God sends. God sent Jesus, but these "elect" denied him. So the CoGR has rejected so many of Gods little children. They only let those in power who can do what they say, and not fail. They will never let the humble one in power, the one who would call them out, about their evil ways. The one who would call them to repent. The Pharisees were better than the CoGR, because when they were reminded of their sin, they admitted it, and walked away. The CoGR when confronted with their sin, deny it. They will say, "We live free from sin, we don't sin, we are pure, holy, saints." I personally believe that this CoGR, its ministry, and many of the people have years of repenting to do. They have taken on a doctrine, that is not true, one where they deny their sin, and go on professing to be saved. The scripture says if we "confess" our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive. The CoGR, because of their "sinless" doctrine, have went for years without confessing their sins. They hide them instead, in order to hold up a false doctrine, that "saints" don't sin. They preach and condemn the Baptist people, for saying they sin more or less every day. They are actually up to date. They admit when they sin, they recognize it, they confess it, and they are clear with the Lord. They admit when they sin, and deal with it. The people, and especially the ministry of the Church of God Restoration, cannot admit when they sin, and most every time will not, because if they do, they must go through a long list of things in order to get back in favor with the group. I remember one Brother who had to keep getting baptized over and over again, till, ...because of the embarrassment, they would do this at night in secret. In order to be someone in their group, you must not sin, if you go around admitting you sin, you will not be anyone among them. You will be at the alter (prayer bench) all the time, you will be condemned as being "always up and down". You will never be a minister, a spiritual one, or a minister. So how do these people deal with unconfessed sin, how do they go right over the still small voice in them? We know that, "...whosoever covereth his sin will not prosper". So what about the CoGR, years without repenting, without confessing any sin whatsoever. Herein hides one of the biggest problems with their doctrinal stance on sin. They cannot admit sin, because they claim to be sinless. So what must they do? What they must do is redefine what the bible teaches is sin, they have to categorize sin, and that is exactly what they do. One group of sins, murder, theft, adultery, and so forth; go in one box. Then all the other "little" sins, goes in another box. The first box they call "sin", and saints don't do those. The second box they call "mistakes". What does the Bible call sin? "He that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Now this is very plain, if you get up in the morning and your dog trips you, and you yell at the dog, and get all out of sorts about it, and you kick the dog on its way out the door, and then because you are angry you yell at the kids about letting the dog in the house, and then when your wife attempts to kiss you, on your way out the door, you ignore her, because of the anger you developed over the incident with the dog, blaming her also. Then to make matters worse, you do not apologize for all your behavior. You just go off to work. The family and dog are all totally upset by your behavior. The Bible says you sinned, it was not good. You have sin to confess, you should ask God for forgiveness, you should ask you children for forgiveness, you should beg your wife for forgiveness, and you should give your dog a treat, and ask for its forgiveness as well. And further more, when you go down to the "Church of God Restoration" you should stand up and when you testify, tell what a horrible person you are, and confess your sin, and tell how God, your wife, your children, and your dog, has forgiven you. Sad to say, that is not what you will hear when you read their testimonies, in the Gospel Trumpet paper or in their meetings. You will hear them talking all about, "Thank God for the Church of God", or "Thank God I am in the Truth". What about repentance, what about the sin you committed just this morning? What about all the unconfessed sins from years of not confessing them? The CoGR says you only made a mistake, you did not sin. And thus they can go around treating people and possibly even animals in very mean and cruel ways, and still profess to be living free from sin. These people because of this categorization of sin in separate departments, are possibly the worst sinners of all, ones who will not admit they are sinners. The Baptist, "...be merciful to me a sinner." The CoGR, " ...we live a sinless life, we give tithes, we pray three times a day, we go to meeting, "...not Church", three time a week, we dress sooooooo.... holy, we pray on our nee's before meeting ...at our seat, we walk into meeting with this "humble walk", we have no musical instruments in our meetings, we do this, we do that, and the list goes on and on. In other words, "... because we are so holy, Lord, you must hear our prayers." I tell you the Lord is ready to "throw up", or spew you out of his mouth. These people are committing sin after sin, and not confessing them. In most cases not even admitting them, and not dealing with them. There is not much you can do with a person who is in denial about the situation. They many times need intervention. They are blind to what they are. The CoGR is blind to the fact they are sinners first, that they need a whole lot of mercy, that they need to start repenting today, because it will take a lot of repenting, to make amends for their past 20 years of abuse, and sins against so many of the children of God. The CoGR and its ministry, unless they repent, will be one of the ones in the final judgment who will say, Lord, when have we seen you destitute, hungry, and naked.... and he will say to them, "...in as much as you did it not unto the least of these, you did it not unto me", (not good), and he will tell them to depart from him, forever. You see, it is not a matter of if you sin, but if you confess your sin. It is not a matter of what you do religiously as a group, but how you treat the least among you, do you help them, do you feed them, do you clothe them, do you even care. The CoGR can drop you in a heart beat, and never call you again, totally write you off as far as a person or human being. One day you are a brother, the next you are nothing. They will make allowances for those who have money and wealth, they need that money, but they can dismiss the poor, like they were a fly. "Shew Fly, don't bother me." Conclusion: The Church of God Restoration and its ministry are engaged in sin, every day, and not repenting of it. Only one of their sins, is teaching extra-biblical teaching, that cannot be found in the scriptures. Another one is the teaching that they do not sin, which has totally warped their concept of reality, and especially their spiritual reality. They favor the rich. Abhor the poor. They are not engaged in the real work of God, which is to help the destitute, the hungry, and the naked. These types of people would never fit into their religion. And finally but not least among their sin, they would be the first to cast a stone, at the women whom Jesus did not condemn. |