Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Official Wild World Church of God Pastor/Church Rebellion Guidelines



Official Wild World Church of  God 
Pastor/Church Rebellion Guidelines

Please consider the following guidelines should you feel the need to rebel against the authority of God’s true leaders, church or government. Please be concise and ministerial.   We will get back to you about the most appropriate format that your rebellion should take so as to inflict the most skepticism, mistrust and eye rolling amongst the sincere seekers in the COG’s.  We will do our part to insure the success of your rebellion.   
It’s what we do best.
1.    What is the nature of your rebellion? We beg you to be original. Answers containing the terms “remnant”, “144,000”, “the faithful”, “God says”, “Eljah”, “Two Witnesses”, “that prophet”, or overuse of “I” or “Me” and other such exclusivism on your part, will be returned for rewrite.  

2.    Please proof text your reasons why you are right and we are wrong. All scriptures from Genesis to Revelation are valid but we give more weight to your proof texts from the Major and Minor Prophets. Any rebellions not containing the phrase “but there will be a great falling away first”, etc will be rejected out of hand as mere pablum for the brethren and a sign of a boring ministerial career on your part.

3.    Please split Old Testament and New Testament proof texting 40/60  It is important to those watching the show we give the impression we are a New Testament/New Covenant Church.

4.    We expect curses on us, a pox on our head and fire called down upon us, so please be original. Points will be deducted for cliché’ and plagerizing the prophets out of context or original intent. Know your story!

5.    Please try to quote your proof texts in context. While we realize we all have the knack to make a scripture mean what it never meant, we have to appear that we are not , in fact, doing this.  Both our causes will be damaged if we violate this rule.

6.    Please be specific when accusing the leadership or the brethren.  Terms such as “they”, “those fools”, “the administration”, “the people”, “us”, “we” and “them” are too generic.  We want names! 

7.    Please be SURE to quote the appropriate falling away, deceived by Satan, in the bonds of iniquity, hireling and so on, scriptures to add weight and a sense of rightness to your cause.  Poorly worded or unsubstantiated or unscriptural outbursts will be a source of lost points as well.  We’re looking for emotion and clarity of thought.  I know this is expecting way too much.  We promise to do our part to match your expectations of our own responses.

8.    Please have the appropriate number of clandestine meetings with elders, deacons and members BEFORE you reveal your rebellion.  A minimum of 3 clandestine meetings, no less than eight hours long EACH, preferable held at night and during the week are required before we will even consider your rebellion valid. Points will be deducted for short meetings, poorly attended meetings and meetings held on the Sabbath where we are to be singing “We are not divided, all one body we. One in hope and doctrine. One in chariteeeeee”  Major points will be deducted for NOT singing the appropriate hymns during the duration of your rebellion.
Also, anyone falling out of the window during your sermons or meetings on the rebellion are points DEDUCTED!  It is not proof of your rebellion skills. I shows you don’t have a watch.

9.    Please do not bill HQ for all personal calls relating to your rebellion.  We can’t afford to underwrite the cost of talk, talk, talk and endless emails and paper explaining your position worldwide or at church. In every war, you have to pay for your own bullets and bombs. We also will not pay for meals out or renting facilities for the rebellion. While we suspect you are lying anyhow and we will be proven correct, please tell the truth on your monthly expense forms. We have now added the appropriate “rebellion expense” category to our expense forms and expect you to use them appropriately. Forms not listing any rebellion expenses during the breakout of an actual rebellion will be return unpaid until you can fess up to the differences between Godly and rebellious expenses.
10.   Points will be awarded for the most references to Mr Armstrong.         However, we expect that you personally to have known him and were actually present when the quote was given.  Co-worker letters, booklets and articles by HWA are second hand sources and we consider them hearsay. Mr Armstrong was always surprised at how many letters and articles he wrote and for good reason. Points will also be deducted for saying “It’s God, Christ, Herbert W Armstrong, (Garner Ted when appropriate) myself and a few leading evangelists that God is working through.” Like you know this? These comments will be thrown out of the discussion. We want names as we said and we expect “a few leading evangelists” to be defined.
11. Rebellions must stay within the “time, times and half a time” principle.  Rebellions that go on and on will require the participants be placed in an On and On Anonymous class.  We have to carefully schedule our scandals and rebellions so we must ask you adhere to a beginning and end date of your rebellion.
12.  Church wide fasts called to fuel the rebellion are illegal. No one can think correctly when tired and hungry. Those who ordain themselves to a higher rank during the actually breakout of the rebellion will be dismembered with cause immediately. Also please note. Any self ordination sermons given in less than four straight hours will not be considered sincere and you’re elevation to the next rank will not be recognized. Please call Dave Pack for details on how this is best done. We also would consider not ordaining yourself with multiple and exclusive titles during the rebellion to be an act of slackness on your part and your form will be returned to you with suggestions on how you can make it more convincing.
Rebellion and division is not a pleasant thing.  But it can be done right and with God’s blessing. No matter what happens or your obvious skill or lack of skill in implementing a rebellion in God’s Church, we will pray for you, not wish you ill will and hope for your genuine repentance that will be evident to all in time.  One again, proof text, proof text, proof text!   Make those puppies scream at us! Extra points can be given for rants on “The Chosen People” and “We are Israel.”  We promise to do the same to you.
One final note even though 12 is a sacred number and we are done.
Please know WHY sheep drop little round balls of dung, cows gravitate more to pie shaped dung and horses and elephants have straw in their dung. We cannot take ANYONE seriously who does not know sh….well you know. And then, once again be ashamed for all this baloney we inflict upon each other over nothing in this present evil world.
Happy Trails and warmest regards
Dennis C Diehl/Rebellion and Revolt Dept representing all the Churches of God united in love and hope. Now…let us prey and let the games begin!  J

UCG Resignations January 1, 2011

The master of spin doctoring - Spinelli Pinelli - has now split from UCG.  Will he continue to lie through his teeth as he smiles and makes pretty his new splinter cult as the one and only true church?


New Temorary Leadership Teams for Worldwide 2 Pressuring Independant Breakway Groups



The world's most gifted and super righteous leadership team is starting to tighten the thumb screws on all of the COG that splint off and incorporated themselves as independent churches.  Frankie and crew want these churches to dissolve and merge their people with them.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Worldwide 2 Has it's Web Site Up Ready To Suck In All The Disenfranchised

It still amazes me that these fools cannot come up with an original name, without using something from the past as part of the name.  Stop imitating Herb and WCG and be original!

Mike Blackwell is working over time to get the Worldwide2's conference ready in Louisville Kentucky on January 9th.  More UCG members are expected to leave during or after this conference once it makes known it's new direction.






UCG HQ Srambling To Halt Members Leaving



To: Melvin Rhodes
Subject: Council of Elders Q&A

Greetings Fellow Ministers,

The Council of Elders has prepared a document (attached) with answers to some
of the more common questions asked of the Council in recent weeks. Council
Communications Committee chairman, Darris McNeely, has subsequently recorded a
video of the questions and answers for you to watch. The video is 15 minutes
long and is now posted on the Council of Elders Web site at http://coe.ucg.org/videos
Both an audio MP3 version and a Windows Media Player video version are
available for download at   http://coe.ucg.org/content/questions-and-answers-council-elders-darris-mcneely

. This may be shared with our members.

Thank you,

Melvin Rhodes
Chairman

---------------

From: Peter Eddington [mailto:peter_eddington@ucg.org]

Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 3:56 PM

To: Peter Eddington

Subject: Live Sabbath Service Webcast Available

Dear Fellow Ministers,

In order to help provide Sabbath services for our congregations and
scattered members, the Cincinnati East congregation is going to provide a
live webcast of both its AM and PM services for the near future.
Service times will be at 11 a.m. EST and 2:30 p.m. EST. You can access the
live service from our Sabbath webcast page at
http://members.ucg.org/content/sabbath-webcast . A link will also be
provided on the home page of our member’s Web site at http://members.ucg.org

Please note, if you are not able to connect during the live broadcast, or
the time is inconvenient, an archive of the morning service will be made
available for download very soon after the live webcast ends.

Since we pay for the bandwidth used during the webcast, we ask that this
service be provided primarily for those brethren not able to attend
services, or for your congregations which do not have a live speaker
available. Please pass along this information to the scattered brethren and
congregations in your area of care.

All the best for the upcoming Sabbath,

Peter Eddington

Media and Communications Services

Friday, December 31, 2010 UCG Terminations

UCG has removed all the New Zealand elders and Ralp Levy (UCG's resident scholar) was removed today.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Are UCG Members Catching On To Jumping Jack Salyer?


Salyer has jumped from one COG splinter group to another in the past few years.  It seems like once he gets in a new group all hell breaks loose and churches start having problems. Let's send him to Meredith and Flurry's groups next!  Maybe he can run back to Meredith 'with trembling lips' like Raymond McNair did.

This little tidbit was on a Yahoo forum :

Apparently it breaks down by area. I understand the Houston area, which is a large church area for UCG, has lost up to 70 % of the membership, as well as in the Kansas church areas the majority of membership has gone with Greg Sergeant. Whereas in Louisiana apparently, the church membership has stayed with UCG mostly, even though Mr. Salyer left.

Shouting Matches, Ethical Ministers, Men of Integrity........NOT!



Imagine heading into church one day and having your former minister stand there and tell you that you would be having church in  the same place, same time, same minister, only the church name had changed.

The shouting matches are happening too.

Those ethical Christan ministers who left to form splinter personality cults would NEVER do such a thing would they?  No sirree Bob!  Ethics is the number one priority of all those splitting off UCG and for those remaining in UCG.  These are men of integrity!  Yep!  Men of integrity................excuse me as I puke......


In Bethlehem, PA, Roy Holladay spoke.  Paul Luecke had already resigned, but King Finlay [UCG elder and father in law of Clyde K] was there. After the meeting  there was a pot luck, and after that what amounted to a shouting match. Brethren surrounded Roy Holladay and barraged him with questions.  There were angry folks on both sides, but mostly on King’s side.  Roy Holladay reportedly maintained his cool throughout.

King Finlay announced that they would be meeting in a grange the next week, but in 2 weeks they would be meeting at the normal UCG place at the normal time and that Paul Luecke will be their pastor.  He said those remaining with UCG could meet at 10 in AM.  Since then, I have heard that some of the members going with King Finlay and Paul Leuke  and told them they didn’t agree with treating their friends that way.  Now they are going to meet at the grange and leave the UCG group with the normal meeting place. 

Reportedly, Bethlehem’s sister congregation, York [about 15 people] apparently the local elder there is going with Paul Leuke and they are combining with the Bethlehem group. 

In WV, John Foster got up in his congregations and told them they would be meeting same place, same time, same pastor, just in new church.
I was told that much the same thing went on in areas of Florida and Texas.
Local corporations were set up to facilitate this split and then will join loosely together in Jan.  Later as they prove unable to stand alone, a new conference will meet to reassess and build a stronger more centralized oraginization.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Jimmy - The Man Behind the Curtain?



Frankie is dancing around the fact that he has been implicated in the the background workings for the  formation of UCG's new splinter group.  Once again we get to see ministers lie through their teeth.  Ethics be damned!  Oh wait, I am talking about Armstrongism where ethic's is not taught or practiced.

You can read more about Frankie's indignation on the Shining Light blog

From: Jim Franks <jimbfranks@                                                                                                 
 Sent: Fri, December 17, 2010 9:52:38 PM
Subject: December 17 Update


Hello,

I simply can’t imagine how things could get any more interesting!  Each day now brings a new twist.  Legal accusations, firings, resignations and suspensions are coming at us from all directions.  I have a couple of items to share with you this evening and then I will leave it until our meeting on Monday.  There are some important decisions that we will need to make in the next few days…

Next week we need to firm up plans for moving forward… 

Within the next few days we will need to discuss the following (among other things):

When should a general meeting take place?
Where should a general meeting take place?
Should we resign or should we wait to be terminated?  What should be the timing of a resignation?

Please keep in mind that all of this is confidential.  We have added another 12 men to the mailing list, which means it is even more important to be circumspect in any information that you share with others.

You should have received an official invitation for a meeting on Monday, December 19.  The time will be 12 Noon CST.  I look forward to talking with all of you soon.  Take care.

All the best,


When you read the comments on the Shining Light in regrades to Franks you see that this man has very few fans.  It is blatantly obvious to everyone that Franks was working for quit some time in the back ground while still on UCG payroll planning this.  This one post in particularly proves that Ethic's is not part of the picture.  Especially since Franks was also on the Ethic's committee for UCG!  What an idiot!

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy what a huge mistake you made! This makes you look like an unscrupulous leader, and you were in the Ethics Committee?! As James has stated it won’t be long before many ministers and L.A. sympathizers realize they were duped.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

I have always been fascinated by the Mormons.  Partly because when they made their trek west from Kirtland Ohio, their wagon trains came through the little town I grew up in as they made their way to Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi  River. I have been to Salt Lake City many times to hear them sing.

The  following video is excerpts from last years Christmas concert with Renee Fleming.  It is in their ten year old, 21,000 seat, conference hall. While their doctrines are just as crazy as Armstrongism's, they do make great music!

Keep the volume down till the ad at the beginning is over, then crank it up. Organ, orchestra, hand-bells galore!




Watch Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Faith & Spirituality  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Check out the HighDef picture of the conference hall.  Click on it a couple of times to get it to it's largest state:
LDS Conference Center interior panoramic

Conference Center

Was Jim Frank's The Snake In The Grass at UCG HQ?


Luker does not name the person, but word is that it was Jim Franks.  Information is supposed to hit the Internet tomorrow on this person.



The Council of Elders is in possession of irrefutable documentation that demonstrates complicity by certain ministers and members in secretive efforts to undermine and destroy the very organizational fabric of the United Church of God. We are greatly saddened to see this, as it hurts to know as a fact that some have essentially said one thing regarding reconciliation or resolution of differences while working behind the scenes with a completely different agenda.

This documentation, authored by a former home office administrator, lays bare organized efforts at a very high level to break away. It distorts the record and generally reflects a grievous state of mind among those who are fracturing current relationships and trying to influence members of the United Church of God into following them.

Sadly, if past events are any guide to the future, documentation will soon appear online, together with varied “analyses” of various stripes and colors, trying to again spin this documentation somehow into one more quasi-“proof” of the alleged evils of the Council of Elders. It is being said that we demand personal loyalty to men. This is not true—as we would not even sign a document that required that. We simply ask for the faithful service of our employees and ministry to the Church that employs them, recognizing that not everyone thinks alike but that we all need to work within the structure we all agreed upon in 1995.
Then Luker boldly makes the following predictions:



Please be comforted in knowing that we will continue to provide pastors and shepherds so that you have a peaceful and spiritually nourishing home in which to worship on each Sabbath and Holy Day. You have multiple sites to choose from to attend and participate in the annual Feast of Tabernacles. Your children have summer and winter camps available, where they can learn the truths of God and how to apply them as they grow and mature. You have the Ambassador Bible Center, where members can attend to obtain in-depth knowledge of biblical truth. You have a vast array of literature—available in print or online in increasingly interactive formats—together with a growing Beyond Today program that is reaching thousands of new people on television and through the Internet.

And that, we believe with all of our being, is only the beginning. Moving forward, we believe that we are being prepared by Jesus Christ for growth. How and when that appears is up to God and the living Leader of this Church, Jesus Christ. We must ready ourselves in renewed prayer, deep meditation and earnest fasting.

Monday, December 27, 2010

HWA, Pyramidiology and British Israelism




A new web site is in the works regarding the Armstrongite doctrinal myth that has been perpetuated by many of the 700 some splinter groups of WCG over the decades.  It is a theory that was around for decades before Herbert ever discovered it.

During the late 1800's there was a profound interest in the Great Pyramid which also spawned numerous other groups into trying to prove events in world history according to the mathematical measurements laid out in the design on the Great Pyramid.  According to Herb's interpretation of the Bible, Job was the one who built the Great Pyramid.  Because Job built the Great Pyramid then it naturally had to be God inspired.

HWA got a lot of his information from Charles Piazzi Smyth books.  The old Ambassador library in Pasadena had numerous books about pyramidology.  It had many of Smyth's original books from 1870 (which goes to show how incredibly out of date the library was).  Some of these books had HWA's scribblings in the margins.

This was also a period of time that saw a resurgence in British Israelism.  Great Britain was ruling the world.  Nations were being converted to Christianity and the Empire was riding high.  Of course this had to have a reason behind it. God was behind it all.   British Israelism reached it's zenith during this time too.

Scores and scores of books were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's trying to prove this concept. By the time Herb came onto the scene these books were well established in public libraries here and in England.  When Herb began his mind shattering six month study of the Bible, he would have had full access to these books.  It is no coincidence that the college library had these books, nor that his personal library and his safe in his basement  contained many of these books.

There were also books by Ezra Taft Russeell  in Herb's collection.  Russell was another splinter cult of the Millerites and SDA's.  It is also no coincidence that all various splinter cults of Miller (SDA, JW's, Armstrongism) all had many of the same beliefs.









HWA, British Israelism and Pyramidology
Anglo-Israelism and Pyramidology

Through the years, bizarre beliefs have sometimes become attached to Anglo-Israelism. Among the oddest has been pyramidology. Pyramidologists claim that if one correctly interprets the measurements of the inner tunnels of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one can know the future. Therefore, they believe that the Great Pyramid was inspired by God to help interpret biblical prophecy. Sad to say, this quackery found its way into parts of the Church of God (Seventh Day). (Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science provides an excellent critique of this belief.)

In spring 1927, The Bible Advocate published two articles that advocated pyramidology. The articles claimed that the Great Pyramid proved that the Great Tribulation would start on May 29, 1928.1 http://baonline.org/

The founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Charles Taze Russell, also believed in pyramidology. He used it to supplement the Scriptures in predicting Christ's return. After Russell's death, Judge Rutherford took over their organization. He didn't care for pyramidology and moved the main body of Witnesses to reject it. This led to splits within their church.

[In 1928] Rutherford...openly condemned resorting to non-biblical sources in the attempt to discover the will and plan of God. He specifically mentioned the Great Pyramid as an example. This provoked violent criticism from older members of the movement who had grown up under Russell's teaching and many of them withdrew (Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe, New York: Macmillan, 1949, 362. See also Edward Charles Gruss, Apostles of Denial, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978, 61-2).

Herbert Armstrong and the Great Pyramid
The pyramidology articles in the Bible Advocate did not go unnoticed. One reader who became especially interested was Herbert Armstrong. Wanting to learn more, he wrote to the author in care of The Bible Advocate. The Advocate forwarded his letter to Reverend Lincoln McConnell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of St. Petersburg, Florida. Reverend McConnell responded to Mr. Armstrong's inquiry on June 3, 1927. His letter set in motion a chain of events more momentous than either Mr. Armstrong or Reverend McConnell could imagine.

Yes, there are many strictly scientific proofs that The Great Pyramid is more than a mere tomb these days, and I advise you, if you want the REAL THING in the way of proof to send to the A.A. Beauchamp Pub. Co., 603 Boyston Street, Boston., Mass. and get Davidson's great book on The Great Pyramid.... Then you will have plenty to occupy your time for months to come and will also have the most recent as well as the most scientific work ever written on the subject....

The most recent book on The Great Pyramid and a much easier one to read if you want this, is by "Discipulus," and can be had of the same people.... Its special value lies in the fact that it connects Pyramid truth with "British"-Israel truth in a fine way. (Reverend Lincoln McConnell to Herbert W. Armstrong, 3 June 1927, Herbert W. Armstrong Papers collection [HWAP], #867).

To emphasize his point, McConnell added,

I must say that if you really want to KNOW your Bible you will have to get the books on "Anglo-Israel".... You will never know the real truth the BOOK is teaching without this key. This sounds radical perhaps, but you will see when you study it that it's simple truth.

Herbert Armstrong took the challenge. As was his custom whenever studying a biblical subject, he went to the Portland, Oregon public library, which held several Anglo-Israel titles, including J.H. Allen's Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright.2 Then, taking the advice of McConnell, he wrote to Beauchamp asking for more information on both Anglo-Israelism and on the Great Pyramid. He wrote:

I have heard that the most recent book on the Great Pyramids is one by "Discipulus," published by you. I know nothing about this book, but if it is authoritative, giving accurate and reliable measurements of the interior passages as well as other measurements, I want it.

I have seen the works by Smyth, and have read The Miracle in Stone by Seiss. If this book is equally authoritative and dependable, but giving more recent data and information, you may send it to me at once, C.O.D. (Armstrong to A.A. Beauchamp Publishing Co., 28 March 1928)

Mr. Armstrong's letter reveals a familiarity with the more famous pyramidology works. He has read Seiss' The Miracle in Stone, a popular book that underwent 14 editions. Mr. Armstrong also mentioned Charles Piazzi Smyth, who wrote the influential book called Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.3 In reply, Beauchamp commented, saying that the "Discipulus"' pyramidology book was very good and up to date. Much of the information is based on a book by Davidson entitled The Great Pyramid: Its Divine Message. It...is one of the most remarkable and most interesting things that I ever read on the subject after Smyth's great work.... I am sending you...a series of articles by Davidson.... They confirm in every respect the noble work done by Piazzi Smyth and for which he suffered scorn and ridicule. (A.A. Beauchamp to Armstrong, 5 April 1928, HWAP, #874).

Beauchamp was an interesting character. Before his correspondence with Mr. Armstrong, he had converted to a now-defunct offshoot of Christian Science called the Church of Integration. His publishing house became the principal means by which the Church of Integration grew. Through his influence, Anglo-Israelism became the central perspective of the sect, while its prophetess, Annie C. Bill, became increasingly fascinated with pyramidology.4

Pyramidology in Mr. Armstrong's Writings
Mr. Armstrong's original manuscript, What Is the Third Angel's Message?, referred at one point to the pyramids. In explaining Matthew 21:42-45, where Jesus spoke of the stone that the builders rejected, Mr. Armstrong stated:

The Great Pyramid is here referred to and used as a symbol of the nation Israel. It is significant that the corner-stone, which is the top stone of the Pyramid, is MISSING, as if it had been rejected by its builders. (page 138B)

This is an extraordinary claim, but Mr. Armstrong offered no proof that Jesus had the Great Pyramid in mind. Somehow the distant similarity between Jesus' comments about a missing cornerstone and the reality of an uncapped pyramid was all the evidence needed.

He also referred to pyramidology in an early magazine. In 1934, in the Great Depression, he said that the Great Tribulation had already started! It began in 1928. He based that idea, not on the Bible, but upon the Great Pyramid theory.

And for Great Pyramid students...the present depression, or tribulation, is there symbolized as occupying the entire low passage continuing from May 29, 1928, when the tribulation struck Europe, until September 1936. (Herbert W. Armstrong, "What Is Going to Happen," PT, June-July 1934, 5)

With the world in the midst of the Great Depression, it was easy to believe the Tribulation had begun. Mr. Armstrong was certain that only Jesus Christ's return would end the Depression. When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, Herbert Armstrong cried, "He is marching to Armageddon!"5

Endnotes

1 The Bible Advocate, 1 March and 3 May 1927.

2 When I visited the main Portland library in the 1980s, it had three separate catalogues. The newest was its computerized catalogue, another was the card catalogue that the computerized system had replaced, and the third was an even older card catalogue that apparently dated from the time of Mr. Armstrong's studies. That older catalogue was stored on the second floor. It had several Anglo-Israelite titles not found in the newer catalogues, including the 1917 edition of Allen's work.

3 "Our Inheritance is a classic of its kind. Few books illustrate so beautifully the ease with which an intelligent man, passionately convinced of a theory, can manipulate his subject matter in such a way as to make it conform to previously held opinions." (Martin Gardner, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, New York: Dover, 1957, 176)

4 J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of American Religions, 4th ed. (Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1993), 669.

5 Herbert W. Armstrong, PT, July, 1935, 5.

by Ralph Orr

Copyright 1996 Worldwide Church of God

UCG Resignations Vol 2 December 27, 2010

Finally some more UCG ministers stepped up to the plate and joined Paul Suckling by resigning today.  Thanks guys for the ongoing soap opera!

Joel Meeker: YOU'RE FIRED!!!!!!!!



Joel:  Don't let that mustache get caught in the door 
on your way out!


Bad Theology = Bad Ethic's = No Relationship With God = Failure of COG's



The blog entry below is copied from a blog that was referred to the mentors of the Theology class I facilitate.

One thing I always tell those in my group is to question.  Question why a minister says what he or she says, question whether a belief is relevant to today's society, question dogma mired in the 16th century world that is irrelevant to their Christian walk today, etc.  So many people walk through the doors of a church and  check their brain in the vestibule.

Armstrongism created a world that lives in black and white issues.  The answer to everything has to come from writings of HWA or the ministry. There is no room for doubt, to question, or to have anger.

When you look at the early church Fathers and Mothers these were men and women who questioned, argued with and were sometimes angry with God.  Yet through it all they developed a deeper spiritual life.  There was room for growth and a desire to grow upward.

Armstrongism desires to shrink backwards.  It seems it cannot exist without reverting back to 1986 and earlier.  If Herb did not say it, then it is irrelevant to daily life.

It's time for UCG members and COG members as a whole to get off their butt's and start questioning your ethically and morally bankrupt Elder's/ministers, question your doctrines, and more importantly, question why you continue to allow yourself to be sucked into the cesspool that Armstrongism is sinking into.  There is freedom out there.  There is Grace.  It's there waiting, unconditionally.


Everyone Is A Theologian

There is a statement that I hear way too often, and it is one that makes me sad and angry:

I am not a theologian.

Most often, I hear it when I am teaching a class of some sort, and have shared a thought that seems contrary to what someone has spent most of their life believing.  Sometimes it is said when I have shared some information that someone has never heard before.  Most often, however, it comes when I am engaged in a conversation with someone during which we are sharing what we believe, and my conversation partner ends up “stuck” as they try to describe their understanding of something.

“Well, I haven’t really thought about it as much as you have,” they say. “I have a pretty simple faith. I’m not really a theologian.”

I hate that, and I try to never put someone who is earnestly trying to talk about God in that kind of place.  I would like to ask you to never say anything like that, ever again in your life.  I want you to remember something very important: We are all theologians. While it is true that some of us are more formally trained in theology (to greater and lesser degrees), this group of people are not the only ones who can claim to be “theologians.”  That title belongs to everyone, and we need to begin reclaiming it.

To be a theologian simply means that you “talk about God.”  That’s what the word theology means: (from the Greek) theos = god; logos = words or speech.  To be a theologian means that you try to put your ideas about God into words.  More specifically, because of what our scriptures say, we can say that the task of theology is our attempt to describe what we understand about God, what we understand about creation, and what we understand about the relationship between that two.  You can, honestly, have any kind of theology that you want.  There is no one, right way to think about something (despite what many so-called theologians might say).

Theologies are not created equal, however.  Some do a better job of describing God (at least according to other people), and they are instructive to the rest of us whose theological understanding might be lack in comparison.  There are many of these “better” theologies and they all have a few things in common.

They are consistent with the Bible. Any good Christian theology has its origin in the Bible.  The logic is sort of circular, but Christians believe that God was revealed to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ and that the Bible is the best witness we have to who Jesus was and what he did.  You’re theology does not have to be considered a “Biblical Theology,” but the themes of a Christian theology does have to be consistent with the themes of the scripture.

They are Good News. When it comes to theology, the opposite of Good News is not Bad News.  It’s Irrelevant News – news that is nice, but doesn’t mean anything important.

Imagine that you have just pulled into your driveway after being fired. You’re struggling with how to tell your spouse, and I run up to you and tell you that you daughter is at a friend’s house playing. That would be interesting news to hear, but, in the context of the moment, irrelevant.

Now imagine that you’ve just pulled into your driveway and your house is on fire.  You’re very scared and worried about your family, and I run up to you and tell you that your daughter is at a friend’s house playing.  In that moment, knowing where your daughter is constitutes good news.

Too often our theologies are full of interesting things that are true, but they are irrelevant to people’s’ lives.  They don’t address the situations in which people are living.  They don’t offer answers to questions people are asking.

They are humble. One of my favorite stories from the history of my religious tradition

A good theology will be one which says the best thing it knows how to say at the time, and, yet, leaves room for growth in our understanding of God.  There are things about God which I believe are eternally true, but I also believe that I don’t know what those are and that my ability to grasp what God is up to (hopefully) grows as I live my life.

If I have the same theology today as I did yesterday, then I need to take a hard look at some things.
They produce good ethics. One reality which I find very amusing is when I have people tearing me down for having what they deem as “incorrect theology.”  To them, anything I might say is an affront to the glory of God and I must be stopped at all costs.  I’m actually fine with them up to this point.  They are welcome to their opinion.  It’s the way they do it that I find wrong.

Jesus, himself, said that he came to do some things (give sight to the blind, set captives free, etc.).  Theology produces action, and if it is a faithful theology it produces good actions.  To my point above: if our theology allows us to treat one another badly, then we need another theology.

They are bold. No one ever came to understand the saving power of Christ because of an unassuming theological viewpoint.  Good theology shouts the Good News from the mountaintops.

We should never be afraid of messing up as we try to describe the great things God has done.  How is it wrong to try to tell the world all the marvelous things you’ve experienced?  Sure, we always try to be more clear and consistent tomorrow than we were yesterday.  But that should never stop us from speaking.  We’re not going to do God any harm be giving it our best as we proclaim Christ’s Grace and Peace.

Theology is actually something we all do, and something we all need to do. No one of us has a monopoly on thoughts and ideas about God.  Please share yours with each other so that, together, we might better share it with the world.

So…What do you believe about God, creation, and the relationship between the two?

The Metanoia Project   

Is COG Worldwide Association Looking To Buy the Denton TX Property?




The devious and manipulative minds of the men who have been plotting for several months to start a new COG organization seem to have lot's of plans in their pockets.  With the new group now formed and all that tithe money coming in they will need a new HQ presence to make themselves look legit - instead of a P.O. Box or a residence address.

Voila!  Problem solved! I can hear them now.... "Let's work on buying the Denton property that UCG turned down.  It's really part of God's plan for us!  God inspired UCG to turn down buying the property so that we could buy it and start building our HQ there!  God also inspired the inventors of the printing press so that gay King James could publish the Bible so we could have free access to the scriptures which would allow us  to preach the TRUE end time message."

From: “ mdad@bellsouth.net ” < mdad@bellsouth.net >
To: Andrew Jenkins < andrewmjenkins@bellsouth.net>; mdjenkins83@live.com ; ARNOLD HAMPTON < ahampton49@yahoo.com >; wilson6746@att.net ; Michael Moore < mmoore@rci-together.com >
Cc: james haeffele < jhaeffele@comcast.net >; Rgdpad1234@aol.com ; rjrand@comcast.net ; Richard Thompson < ricthompson1142@embarqmail.com>; mcorreiro@hotmail.com ; Jim Cannon < james.d.cannon@comcast.net >; jimfranks < jimfranks@juno.com >
Sent: Fri, December 17, 2010 6:57:24 PM
Subject: New Org.
Greetings:  I wouild like to suggest that as soon as our new org is up and running as an International Church org that we make a bid on the property in Texas and make it our home office if it is still for sale.  Maybe we could put in a bid now.  How much would it take?

Dave Jenkins

UCG Now Suspending Members Who Click "Like" on Facebook Posts



Abigal Cartwright has this tale of legalistic horror on her web site.  Can the stupidity at UCG get any worse?

Member suspended for pressing "like" on a FB post

According to the member, "He (Mr. Dowd) called her up and told her that several people had contacted him and told him that she "like" 'd a post a fellow member put on his wall. It was the "Open Letter to Minister". He asked her if she still liked it. She said yes. He asked her if she still supported it. She said yes. That's when he lowered the boom."

Members Suspended For Clicking "Like" on Facebook

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Map of the 2010 Great UCG Cabal

Check out this web site for a Google Map on the locations of the UCG ministers that have rebelled against UCG HQ in Cincinnati:




Blue pins are UCG ministers 'still loyal' to UCG HQ. 
(i.e - until a better paycheck comes along then they will jump ship too)
Red pins are those who are in rebellion to UCG HQ





ca·bal

  [kuh-bal]  Show IPAnoun, verb, -balled, -bal·ling.
–noun
1.
a small group of secret plotters, as against a government or person in authority.
2.
the plots and schemes of such a group; intrigue.
3.
a clique, as in artistic, literary, or theatrical circles.
–verb (used without object)
4.
to form a cabal; intrigue; conspire; plot.