There was in interesting comment on Facebook the other day about the upheavals that went on in the Worldwide Church of God as the changes in doctrine came down the pipeline. This person made a correct observation about the current leadership and ministry of UCG (COGWA too.)
There was no love toward those struggling with the changes. Let's set aside for the moment that I agreed with some changed but disagreed with most. When I respectfully and quietly expressed my concerns to the ministry about the sweeping changes they sent thugs from headquarters to shut me up. They wanted a Borg mentality. The thugs sent to me eventually became top ministers in UCG. The irony. It was not concern for me and others trying to make sense of it, it was hatred.
The sad thing in this is that while these ministers were treating people like dirt, disfellowshipping left and right, they were working behind the scenes to continue their paychecks elsewhere. After wrecking havoc with the WCG members, they jumped ship where they claimed to be enlightened TRUE Christians once again. Yet, to this day, they still treat people like dirt and look at them as uneducated chaff that only serve as ATM machines.
7 comments:
"The irony." That's a good way to put it!
In more recent "Christian irony news"...
Megachurch pastor Jack Schaap(firey preacher and author of books on Christian marriage and Christian dating) was fired a few days ago for having sex with a 16 yr-old girl.
Shaap is married to the daughter of the megachurch's former pastor, Jack Hyles, who was also involved in a church sex scandal.
The First Baptist Church of Hammond is one of the largest Christian churches in this country.
What made me think of this? Well, I guess it was "Liars for Jesus", "the irony", and also that this picture of Jack Schaap reminded me of the picture at the top of this blog entry.
According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, most current mega-churches were founded after 1955 after larger churches started to become more appealing to many church-goers. Many focus on ‘seeker services,’ which often offer little deep theology and instead appeal to skeptics and non-believers.
They are also aimed at targeting younger audiences, often with the prospects of contemporary music and more casual settings than traditional churches.
Norm
Ah, the arrogance -- they thought they had God behind them (while at the same time the didn't seem to have much real faith).
The stalking, the fondling, the people having to live with unanswered questions, the grandiose plans at the beginning, reverting to the original:
All part of one great Con Job.
The Facebook poster mentioned the irony of the UCG ministers' actions in his or her post.
When I commented, I should have also mentioned the hypocrisy of so many of those ministers who jumped ship when forming the UCG.
So, I'll say it now- They are hypocrites.
I have no fear that God will be a jerk and "judge me more harshly" because I "judge" them.
That whole, "thou shalt not judge" thingy is pure cult stuff, designed to use fear tactics to get people to: A) not use their own minds, B) not come to common-sense conclusions, and C) not criticize the org("Borg", lol!)
Then, I mentioned the megachurch, the First Baptist Church of Hammond.
I'll mention a bit more about it.
It's one of America's largest megachurches, and also operates the Hyles-Anderson College.
It became a megachurch under Jack Hyles' leadership (1959–2001).
Well, let's see...
(NOTE--IF I LISTED ALL THE SEXUAL SCANDALS INVOLVING KIDNAPPING, RAPES, MURDERS AND DEATHS, ETC, RELATED TO THAT CHURCH AND COLLEGE, I'D HAVE TO SPLIT THIS POST INTO AT LEAST THREE PARTS BECAUSE IT WOULD BE SO LONG, SO I WILL SPARE YOU THAT, AND JUST MENTION ONE OR TWO THINGS INVOLVING JACK HYLES' IMMEDIATE FAMILY.)
Megachurch pastor Jack Schaap(firey preacher and author of books on Christian marriage and Christian dating) was fired a few days ago for having sex with a 16 yr-old girl.(Photos were found, resulting in his dismissal.)
Shaap is married to the daughter of the megachurch's former pastor, Jack Hyles.
Somehow, this "little" latest scandal seems like almost nothing when compared to the rest of the scandals related to First Baptist Church of Hammond.
How about Jack Hyles' son, David Hyles?
David Hyles makes even Jack Hyles' son-in-law Jack Schaap(with his child-raping and all) look like good.
David Hyles, Jack Hyles' son, was discovered to be committing adultery with 19 women at his dad's church, after a janitor found photos.
David's wife then divorced him.
Then David Hyles lived with Brenda Stevens and was charged in abusing her year-old son, Brent, who was found to have eight or nine broken bones, all of which had been left untreated. He was removed from the household of Dave Hyles and Brenda Stevens. He was later returned, against the warning of Detective Paul Ciolino.
Brent died a couple of months after he was returned to the household. Police were called, and trusted pastor Jack Hyles had somehow managed to arrive on the scene before the police or paramedics(who rushed to the scene with sirens) before them. At the coroner's inquest, Brenda was a no-show, while David Hyles "corageously"(?!) pleaded the Fifth Amendment, and to this day, he remains the prime suspect.
David and Brenda Hyles later had a son, named Jack David Hyles. Later, Brenda Hyles ran him over with her car, killing the 5-year-old boy. Brenda claimed that Jack David had fallen out of the car and she could not avoid running over him.
There are many other improprieties by Jack Hyles and David Hyles, both sexual and financial in nature, but I'll figure it's 'enough said' at this point, to have made my point.
Norm
Sexual misconduct... divorce... impropriaties... say, doesn't that sound familiar?
Yes, and the common response is something to the effect of "thou shalt not use ad hominem".
But, but!
See now, there are these supposed qualification of ministers in Scripture (not that anyone in the ACoGs EVER really follow them -- or the ministers would be out on their ear). In some cases ad hominem is totally appropriate.
Don't go to her for plastic surgery, she never even went to medical school, never had a medical degree, is under indictment, has to practice in Mexico and you should see her patients!
Ad hominem.
Sometimes it's logical.
In this case it works.
What may be logical can be terribly irrational.
I'm not going to do a cut and paste from another blog, but there was kind of a parallel discussion ongoing at http://silenced.co called "Cognitive Dissonance".
I identified the phenomenon behind this and other examples of thuggery. Visit Silenced and check it out! Unfortunately, any reform movement in any ACOG is doomed by one main factor. The marketers.
BB
Re: UCG Thuggery
"When I respectfully and quietly expressed my concerns to the ministry about the sweeping changes they sent thugs from headquarters to shut me up. They wanted a Borg mentality. The thugs sent to me eventually became top ministers in UCG."
As a previous comment explained:
"The (unstated) main commission of the UCG is to provide paychecks for the ‘ministers’ while they try to finish Joseph Tkach's job of taking the people back into the world.”
David Pack once made a comment about some of the UCG ministers being “more cunning and deceitful than most could imagine.” Got to give credit where credit is due.
The UCG was full of injustice and evil from the start. It has only gotten worse, not better. Knowing the background of some of the wicked leaders in the UCG can help people to understand some of the otherwise seemingly senseless evil in the UCG.
P.S.: I am not in DCP's RCG (his followers have no "voice" and are not allowed to post on Blogs), so there is no need for any creeps like the one known as Assisting Demons (or whatever) to get all worked up about the quotes and start name-calling.
Z-z-z-z-z.
Doesn't matter which group you're with this week/month/year/whatever. You're all the same: promoting theories long-since debunked, and fighting amongst yourselves about who's doing it better.
Boring.
As for David Pack calling UCG ministers "more cunning and deceitful than most could imagine," that's one enormous pot in a sea of black kettles.
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