Christianity, Cults and Culture

A Small Delusion

January 22, 2024

Good day! I am writing a series of short reviews of abbreviated COGR video clips. I am looking for input and comments. If it makes it easier, I will be glad to supply a Word document so comments can be put in the document and we can communicate directly. My email address is lattema@icloud.com. I hope you find these reviews helpful.

Transcript:

“Maybe even more relevant, in a sense, if you can understand what I’m saying, more relevant to us than any other time in history. Now, I love the Prophets, I love them dearly. But they had to look out and talk about another place and another time and another people other than themselves. And Brother, there’s something beautiful when you find yourself in the scriptures, and when you read what the Prophets have said before, and you’re not looking at another place or another time, or another people, but you read that and say, “Oh, yes, I see that. We can put first names to a lot of the scriptures. Isn’t that beautiful? Now, that’s beautiful, and I love the scriptures.” (D. Ray Tinsman)

Commentary:

Ray Tinsman, the chief apostle, asserts that we can identify ourselves in Scripture, even assigning our first names to certain passages. This is a bold claim, but one that lacks credible evidence throughout the Revelation series. The series spans fifteen sessions yet fails to provide examples demonstrating how the Book of Revelation clearly points to the COGR or its Apostles in Scripture. Claims are made without supporting Biblical evidence, and this pattern repeats throughout the sessions. Notably, when leaders like Daniel Layne are labeled as the fourth angel or Ray Tinsman as the seventh angel, no concrete evidence from the Bible is presented to validate these assertions. Instead, such claims rely on the audience’s trust and willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt, as exemplified in Ray’s concluding sentences.

The central assertion that Revelation was specifically written about the COGR and its apostles is a substantial misrepresentation of the book’s intended audience. The Book of Revelation was crafted for the entire Christian church and spans the entirety of the Christian era. Taking the COGR mythology seriously would undermine the meaningfulness of the book to its initial readers and diminish the relevance of its prophecies to the broader Christian community throughout history.