The Scriptures are never irrelevant. For example, remember reading about circumcision in the Old Testament and some discussion about its necessity in the New Testament. I assumed that the topic was settled. Old, dusty history. I was so surprised when just a few years ago, I was present at an event where two different messianic groups were sharing a Passover meal. During that event, an angry, loud, and emotional argument broke out over whether or not a person needed to be circumcised to actually be saved. I was astounded.
Was that a one-off? No, it turns out that history has a way of repeating itself. Theological issues surface at the most unusual times. We are told in Colossians 2:18: “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind.” Currently, in the Church of God Restoration, there is an unhealthy emphasis on angels. Angels have become, not heavenly beings but instead, men whom God placed in history to do his work. Recently, Danny Layne was said to be the fourth angel of Revelation. Currently, depending upon the setting, either Ray Tinsman or the apostles in his ministry as a group is said to be the angel of Revelation 10:1. An example of this error is seen in the quote from Susan Tovstiga’s message. She states, “And I want to say, “Bless the memory of Brother Daniel, who ascended from the east having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt, not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees till” And in my Bible, I took a red pen, and I circled that till. A second example of this error occurs in a comment about Ray Tinsman, who is understood to be the Angel of Revelation 10. “Because we’re beholding as in a glance the glory of the Lord what’s the glory of the Lord? I wanted to take you in your mind to Revelation 10:1 about the angel. The mighty angel standing; its face was like the sun. Feet, one on the sea, one on the land. Like the world has never seen, standing in a time that no one else could stand in. And it swore that there would be no more delay.” Both of these verses encourage worship or veneration of angels. Jesus is demoted, and the Angels are promoted. The book of Colossians addresses the error of anything that is Jesus AND…
Elsewhere in the message, we are told that “The Three” are our examples both to be conformed to and to follow. She states, “They are the express image of God, And once the air was cleared up, then we were able to see. Beautiful chief, three brethren, you talk about the express image of God. Tell me, who else in the world is the express image of God who are supposed to know what to change it to?” and “They are the standard. I’m not going to make no standard. I’m not going to go and, like, ok, so what are we going to do? They’re the standard, and the Israelites watch the cloud, and we’re watching the cloud.” But the cloud is identified in Exodus 13. “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way” (Exodus 13:21). So Yahweh was the cloud. Therefore the speaker has identified “The Three” as Yahweh.
I want to add one final snippet to this very brief summary. The speaker thanks “The Three” for her freedom. She says, “Now, before I go on, I want to acknowledge Brother Steve, Brother Ray, and Brother Randy. And through them, I have the liberty to be me. When they have taken… Since they have taken their seats, that has not taken away power from us. That has given us power to be who we are inside of them.” Yet Stephen clearly tells us that we must think of things as he does. In reality, there is no liberty or freedom. “I don’t believe that you can just think about this any way that you want to think. I don’t believe that. Starting this moment, this day, that bit of mercy, if it was mercy, is over. If you don’t receive this, listen if you don’t understand this, do not pray about this. You’ve been praying too long. It’s actually time to stop praying. You pray too much. You pray so much that crimes are happening while you’re praying. So I’ll say, in closing, closing the service, that if you don’t understand what our dear prophetess, sister Sarah Tostiga has just delivered if you don’t understand it, I said, I’m not saying you’re understanding like a prophetess, but if you don’t understand it, if you’re struggling, you are going to go to hell. I’m talking to people in here, respectfully, I say, even if you were an apostle, respectfully I say, maybe I shouldn’t said that. But since I’m one of the three, I guess I can say things like that. You’re going to apostle yourself right to hell. Starting now!” And, “You religious bootleg, shake and bake, biscuit in the can Christians? You boring, white supremacist, racist, abusers of mankind? I wish you’d leave. I wish you’d leave tonight. I wish you get so offended that you leave, tonight. Don’t come back here tomorrow. We’ll never miss you, will never miss you. We don’t know you’re here now.”
Now this should help you to understand where the COGR is now and where it is heading. The transcript is available (lattema@icloud.com). I would love to hear from you either online or privately.
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