Many do not realize that of the hundred's of harlot daughters of the Worldwide Church of God, that we also have one who is striving to build it's own little city. Welcome to the world of A Congregation of the Church of God
This little group is lead by Darryl Henson and Nelson Nichols. Henson was part of The Church of the Great God for a while till he got bent out of shape over calendar issues. Henson is part of the "new mooner's" that have occupied the minds of many COG splinter groups. Henson, like all rebellious COG ministers, decided to start his own splinter group.
Darryl Henson
Nelson Nichols
Gordon Gueller
Henson was intrigued by Utah and Zion National Park, in particular. He looked at the names that made up the various natural monuments in the park and decided that God had placed his name in that area. I guess he never realized that early Mormon pioneers had named these various natural wonders with LDS related names.
Henson has started to build his own little city with a few followers. He has even created a township in Northern Arizona along 'the strip'. The Arizona strip is well known for it's polygamist communities and religious isolationists seeking to be separated from mainstream society.. It runs along Hwy 89 between St. George and Freedonia, Arizona. For some reason, Arizona has a "hand's off" policy with this area and allows the polygamists and others to operate freely and openly. It is also one of the most desolate and isolated regions of the country.. Search as you might you will not find information about the town or the township though.
Darryl left CGG in July of 2000 over calendar issues, rejecting the Hebrew Calculated Calendar. Calls came from around the country asking for a Festival gathering on the correct days. As a result, a telephone hook-up began on Trumpets 2000 and 70 gathered in Zion National Park for the Feast of Tabernacles and yet another "daughter of Worldwide" was born, A Congregation of the Church of God (ACCOG). It is headquartered in Northern Arizona, maintains a Feast in Zion and now has developed a legal Township: Anatoth, Arizona. Population about 70 in 2006.
18 comments:
Nope. Their calendar is wrong. They made the same mistake as James Russel and Wayne Bedwell for one of the Feasts this year.
And as for the town of 70... we all remember what happened to Port Austin, don't we?
I don't find one word about the United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy. Maybe they didn't get to it yet.
They do speak of seven church eras, which is a total myth and has been disproved for a very long time.
This one is a splinter of a splinter and does not seem to have much promise -- which is exactly what can be said of every single Armstrongist cog. One would think that if there were any viability, they'd be growing, but the fruit is never there.
As an aside, Susie Ormand isn't very optimistic about the 2012 economy, not that 2011 has been much to write home about.... If 2012 is really bad, CoGs may have to give up on the Feast of Tabernacles, except very locally. In fact, the whole idea of having small independent groups of no more than 50 in a community without a "headquarters" or "home office" may finally be the direction the Armstrongists may have to go, and return to the paradigm of Gilbert G. Rupert in the early 20th Century. If they survive at all.
Port Austin was a failure because of who was running it. He was always considered a nutcase when he worked in Pasadena. I don;t think there is one splinter group out there that is lead by a man who is mentally stable!
How stable can a man be who believes and acts out:
That the Book of Revelation is talking about their role in the world.
The Prophets pointed to them personally
They know the mind of God and exactly what he is doing and thinking at any one time?
Can demand 10%+ of other people's income and spend it as he sees fit for God.
Believes that God needs money, radio stations and them to tell the truth.
Sees women as props for the man's like and calling?
Writes his Autobiograpy as if the world is waiting in breathless wonder at just where did this amazing man come from?
Needs to document his life for future reference.
Sculps the story to fit his calling and not the way it really was. (Trust me on this one..I was there and it wasn't that away)
Confuses his Ego, which he knows nothing of and would dismiss as non-existant, with his true self, which may not exist either anymore.
Reads the Bible only and puts his personal spin on it without any background as to Bible origins and history because reading books about the Bible never crosses his mind and is Satanic.
Filters out what the Bible really says and implies plainly and in black and white.
Would never understand and it would never cross his mind what is really going on in the New Testament and between the players.
Can't live without nice things
Screws in lightbulbs by holding it up in the socket and waits for the whole world to revolve around him.
Has never read a book, watched a video or talked with a counselor about their tendencies towards grandiosity and personal life issues.
Can utter the words, "And yes, I am that Apostle," "I and my wife are the Two Witnesses of Revelation," "It is time to flee," "Jesus will definately come in our lifetime," "Send it in," and other such blather without batting an eyelash.
Can fail in every prediction they make and keep predicting without consequence.
Have never had an original thought in their life and see themselves as the chosen extention of another man's ego.
Read the Bible like a newspaper
Don't understand scientific inquiry and find more literal truth in mythologies they think aren't.
Dismiss the undertanding of Albert Einstein because he had wild hair.
...and so on
M.T.Cerebellum
Good points M.T.
Doesn't everyone here find it more than a little disturbing that Armstrongists treat scientists and technologists with such contempt?
Dismiss the science and the technology which can prove you're full of scrap, and you're off and running with the wildest psychotic fantasies ever.
Oh year, they don't listen to psychiatrists either because the psychiatrists would tell them that they are filled with wild psychotic fantasies.
Reject what's real.
Lie to them and then take their money (now the Money IS real!)
M.T. Cerebellum said, "Sculps the story to fit his calling and not the way it really was. (Trust me on this one..I was there and it wasn't that away)".
MY COMMENT - M.T., Can you ellaborate? Which COG Apostle were you talking about? You made an excellent post, but sometimes it seems to refer to Herbert W. Armstrong, and other times refers to the wannabees and "profits of God" such as Weinland.
I know what I have learned about Herbert Armstrong's experience selling alluminum siding to a Seventh Day Adventist minister in the early years of the Great Depression. He was very impressed that the SDA minister had money, and came home to Loma announcing that he had found the new family business.
Can you clarify? Thanks!
Richard
It's hilarious to see pictures of "ministers". They look like they're ready to be buried in those suits. :-)
Zion is cool. Living in a commune with the right people probably would be, too. The problem I have with this news item is that a form of Armstrongism is apparently the system of governance under which the commune has been organized. While they are located in a "laissez faire" area of Arizona, there is still protection under the US Constitution. We've got a lot of kooks up there, but they're never going to get away with reinstituting stoning. They'll save that for Petra.
BB
Gosh, I'd suck it up and join to live in Zion! ha. Actually the group is a bit too zealous for me. If I remember correctly, the ministers mom actually cut off her hand years ago as the scripture encouraged in such cases. Nuther story I guess.
Richard,
I was referring specifically to someone who heads a splinter or sliver who worked with during the time of his early ministry. In his autobiography he remembers himself and the reasons for things differently than my impressions at the time when they were happening to him.
I also worked next door to him and he could do some amazing things to make his church area grow overnight like magic, until the other ministers around him caught on.
But they all do it.
MT Hall
Richard,
Think Dave Pack of "And yes brethren, I am an apostle" fame. He who could have been an olympic swimming champion had he not he been called by God to go to AC, has incredible writing, editing, business and leadership skills like few other people in the history of the world, and whom God has been directing step by step throughout his entire life.
Glenn said, "Think Dave Pack of "And yes brethren, I am an apostle" fame".
MY COMMENT - Dave Pack has written an autobiography? LOL.
You must be joking. That's the funniest thing I have heard all week!
Now if you really want a good laugh, go the the popular networking website linkedin.com. Search for David Pack and find the Dave Pack in Cleveland/Akron. Notice his industry, and his professional description - at least on linkedin he is honest in his industry and description!
Richard
Not only does pack have an autobiography, it is in two volumes just like good old HWA. I don't know if it has ever actually been printed, but it is available in pdf form on his website.
If you are in the mood to see how out of touch a man can get with his own ego, I recommend taking a quick look.
Dave is a fascinating study in Ego gone wild. I am sure he has no clue what an ego is or how it functions in the mind. Truly the false self. However, it may be the only one he has.
I have gone to school with him, swam against him, worked around him, pastored around him and listened to my family tell the tales as he pastored them.
I wonder what Dave would have become had HWA never existed since he copies everything HWA said, did and demanded. (Hey I wonder what I would have become had I not heard of HWA!!!!:)
Plus some stuff "I cannot reveal at this time.." ha. Or ever actually. I want to watch him unfold and implode without help at this point.
My guts tell me, and I could be way way off, he will also go through a Ramona moment to be sure he is trained completely as HWA was. If that ever occurs, it will just be more proof of his calling, to him.
M.T. Hall
The price of a false self and inauthenticity is very very high.
I read his auto biography online. And again, because i was there, it is fascinating to see how he views himself.
In his mind, he was marginalized by others because of his great leadership skills and insights. It never occurs to him the utter pain and carnage he leaves in the lives of those he touches is a factor if not the real factor. I never knew a man who got transferred as much as Dave did due to controversey and pain inflicted in each church he pastored by him.
I told the WCG administration that it is stupid to transfer problem pastors over and over rather than sit them down and explain it to them. Actually they did to Dave but he took it as persecution and just more training for his ultimate calling.
He has always been an interesting study to me. It's a psychological problem , IMHO, we all have them. Some just run wild unchecked with them at the expense of others.
Many of the COG leader types are interesting to observe as long as they don't impact me or mine, which they don't.
A man with real Ego/emotional problems or obtuse views themselves can hid very well in the ministry. Their quirkiness looks like some kind of dedicated obedience to "God." And the authority of the scripture can keep a congregation blind to what is really going on.
M.T.Couch
Douglas Becker
Richard
Steve
Lake of Fire
Dennis
Steve
Biker Bob
No2hwa
and Annonymous
Are we ALL making a difference or what..ha I wonder what the read vs Comment ratio is.
In the last 4 days over 2,000 people have read blog posts here. Comment ratio is obviously smaller. It is that way on all blogs.
Maybe some of us have a desire to comment but decide not to because in many cases it is a repetition of what has already been said.
Here is a comment I started to send several weeks ago but Dennis had already posted a similar comment.
Byker Bob wrote...
"The very fact that there are counterfeits suggests that the real article probably does exist."
Maybe the "real article"(s) was (were) simply man’s way to anthropomorphize (to ascribe human characteristics to things not human) the things seen in the heavens, stars, planets, sun, moon, etc, (astrotheology) in order to explain what was seen by every society, culture and nation throughout history. Maybe these stories and explanations became deeply engrained into those societies, so much so, that over time they became more real and the metaphors and allegories were set aside and forgotten. Maybe that is how cultures of the past developed their god-man belief systems..
Just maybe the narrative in the N.T. is just a retelling of those same stories in an up to date time frame of the first century. Maybe those things did not happen in the way we have traditionally thought. Just maybe those same metaphors and allegories are the same as those in the past with different names. Maybe we have not realized the real meaning because of the desire of some to control the lives of others. Maybe the tradition of men has become stronger than reality.
A counterfeit usually follows the real thing. If so, then maybe the Jesus stories are the counterfeit.
For those that accept the Jesus stories as fact - this is not an attempt to criticize you or your beliefs. It is however, an attempt to cause one to begin critical thinking rather than accept without questioning comments from the "preacher-man" such as, "We have men who have studied these things. Just believe what we tell you."
9 Tips to become a better Critical Thinker
• Be open-minded to new ideas.
• Know that people have different ideas about the meaning of words.
• Separate emotional and logical thinking.
• Question things that don't make sense to you.
• Avoid common mistakes in your own reasoning.
• Don't argue about something that you know nothing about.
• Build a strong vocabulary to better share and understand ideas.
• Know when you need more information.
• Know the difference between conclusions that could and must be true.
Very well thought out and stated, Homer. Yes, it is very similar to what Dennis has posted, but in a different way, so your time was definitely not wasted.
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