When James Malm is not dealing in prophetic interpretations and end time speculation, he has great moments of clarity as to the current state of affairs of United Church of God and Church of God a Worldwide Association.
Today's post by Malm deals with Clyde Kiloughs member letter published on July 7th. Kilough goes to great lengths to distance himself and those henchmen he surrounds himself with as being apolitical righteous men. Yet, the main reason Kilough and his crew left UCG was over politics!
Kilough lays out these points as to what he says shows the political corruption that corrupts unfaithful Christian leaders (i.e. - not him or anyone in his splinter cult).
We could recount many stories in the Bible that illustrate politics at work and its destructive consequences for individuals, nations and the entire world. Would we dare be so naive as to think it could not exist in the Church today?
How does it manifest itself? Just to give a few examples, we can see politics at work when people:
- Ambitiously strive for personal goals and put themselves and their interests first in trying to advance themselves.
- Use their power or position to obtain their own will over what is best for the whole body.
- Advance certain other people due to friendship, reward or payback for favors.
- Manipulate situations to get close to those in positions of authority, either to influence them or perhaps just for the prestige of being in some kind of “inner circle.”
- Shift blame when they’ve done something wrong in order to avoid accountability and responsibility and thus try to protect their place or position.
- Manipulate others, such as through controlling the flow of information or slanting of information.
No siree Clyde! That does not sound like you and your men at all! No way, no how! Puke, gag, sputter..........
The best part of Clyde's letter is how he describes what these kind of men are like. Talk about a pot calling the kettle black!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me leave you with this thought. Where I live is in a part of the country where one of the nastiest and filthiest of insects—cockroaches—commonly invade and infest houses, and virtually everyone has a battle on his hands to keep them out. Worldly politics is one of the nastiest creeping sins that can infest the house of God as well. There are basically three things to do to prevent cockroaches: You don’t bring them in from the outside, you stop them from coming in by repairing the cracks in your house, and you keep your house clean so they don’t have anything to feed on. Brethren, preventing politics in our spiritual house is no different—let’s not bring it in, let’s not give it openings, and let’s not give it anything to feed on in our hearts and minds! July 7th Member Letter
Malm says there is a deeper meaning to this letter than Kilough is letting on. Malm says there is deep division in COGaWA concerning government. Many of the men who jumped ship to join up thought they were coming into a church that was going to clean up it's act. Now that the dust has settled, they are quickly seeing that things have not changed. Kilough and crew are still dealing in dirty politics and are in the process of weeding out all that disagree with him.
There is a power struggle going on in COGWA between the split leaders who want power and those who had followed them believing that a new and better way was on offer. Clyde and friends must be deeply frustrated to resort to this level of dirty politics.
The genius of this missive is that it does not name anyone, rather it takes the more generic approach of attempting to link the concept of any type of dissent, as somehow being evil and in need of being eliminated. The use of innuendo, inference and double talk to make his faction appear righteous and any dissent appear evil, is the very classic dirty politics which he is railing against.
By making this link in people’s minds, people are united in support of his factions policies and any dissent is thought as an unthinkable evil. This is “Power Consolidation” at its worst, and is the very thing that they complained about in UCG. This is the very reason some left UCG and here it is; right back in their face.
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The HWA WCG was a very political organization that was in a constant state of political intrigue which resulted in regular splits. The brethren were kept ignorant of most of this through the control of information. Even so several major splits in the 1970s could not be kept secret.
As the Tkach changes took place over a period of about five to sight years, most of the elders fully supported the changes [some did not]. Many of those who did not support the changes either resigned or were fired by those surrounding Joe T. Only when a large segment of brethren began to understand what was going on and began to leave, did a large group of Tkach supporters decide to leave and set up shop for themselves.
You can read the rest of Malm's missive here: COGWA Member LetterThese people cared little for doctrine and cared mainly for power, a paycheck and personally belonging to a caste system that elevated them above the brethren. Within this group of elders was division over how to proceed, but the main division was over which clique of friends could gain and maintain control.
The really big issue with them was that Joe would no longer be able to afford to pay them with so many leaving, and there would be many layoffs and pay cuts. They acted to leave Joe and lead the leaving brethren; for the primary purpose of saving their jobs and pay checks! Doctrine was never a real issue for most of these folks. The elders who had doctrinal questions had already left long before. They come close to admitting as much on the UCGAIA website when they said that they left for administrative reasons and made no mention of doctrine!
Today, neither UCG nor COGWA has any real interest in doctrine; the split was all about control and power as Denny admitted. It is about the success model that they want to follow and the control to follow their agenda. To them doctrine is a means of keeping the brethren happy and contributing and it is really only lip service with little practical application.
It finally became clear in 09 that the Franks Kilough group would lose control and be forced out. As soon as the balloting for the new CoE took place the new president Dennis Luker invited the losing group to an amicable separation. This was a mutually agreed divorce. This then took some months to effect as both groups vied to maintain control over as many brethren as possible.
The new group called COGWA was then set up with the split leaders in charge temporarily; followed by those who would naturally follow them, as well as many who were motivated by disgust over the treatment of the Latin American brethren and the rhetoric concerning the UCG Council’s unethical behaviour.
With fewer than about 15,000 people between them, there's not much to ignore.
ReplyDeleteAnd unlike cockroaches, there isn't much chance of their multiplying.
Clyde said:
ReplyDelete"Where I live is in a part of the country where one of the nastiest and filthiest of insects—cockroaches—commonly invade and infest houses, and virtually everyone has a battle on his hands to keep them out."
One part of this great article really grabbed my attention because I live in Florida.
This area of the country is probably the worse for those pervasive pests. Not only impervious to radiation but repopulate exponentially.
The truth is; after I left Armstrongism last year (and the UCG) my home has been virtually free of roaches, which is not the norm no matter how clean your home is.
OK, maybe one straggler, but I crunched him like a potato chip on a tile floor. The other one I saw scurrying for cover under my stove and could not catch was legs up dead the next day in the middle of the floor. Suicide, miracle, fire from heaven, lightning bolt, I do not know. Just gone, thank God.
What am I trying to say?
To Get rid of the filthiest roaches. Get rid of Armstrongism.
The roach in your pantry and the fly in your ointment...
Like every other "authority" figure in the COGs, they can take the Old Testament and shove it up their collective asses.
ReplyDeleteAt least, they could if their collective asses weren't so tight you can't even get a pin up there.
"And unlike cockroaches, there isn't much chance of their multiplying."
ReplyDeleteDivision is what I was thinking.
My prayer is for division upon division until their AC pastors have to get honest jobs.
There are a lot of windows that need washing and greeters needed at Walmart. Both occupations completely honest and noble.
"At least, they could if their collective asses weren't so tight you can't even get a pin up there."
ReplyDeleteI ain't gonna ask.
Bug meet insect. Insect meet bug.
ReplyDeleteThe so-called COGs are full of people who lie, slander, and try to murder each other for all eternity. That is the basic, insurmountable problem. That is why no good will ever come from these groups.
It is not that the biblical laws of God are bad. They are, in fact, very good. The problem is that nobody actually obeys them.
Animals, including humans, were created and evolved into political units. You will always have alphas and the underlings will always sniff ass. It is the way of the universe.
ReplyDeleteClyde, get over yourself. If you wish to be a servant, end tithing and pledge poverty as you preach Christ "Providing neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food"
I found myself contemplating the concept of "perspective" while catching up on the latest ACOG news here over the past several days.
ReplyDeleteThis stuff all appears quite ridiculous to those of us who see it from that outside as we look in.
Obviously, it must make a great deal of sense to those still on the inside, or they would be jumping from the proverbial pan of water as it heats up.
I wonder what would happen if some of our friends who died "in the faith", let's say sometime in the 1970s, suddenly came to life. Would they even recognize these splinter groups as being the spawn of WCG? Certainly they would recognize the end time rhetoric, although they would probably be shocked that life on the planet had continued for so many years beyond 1975. They would probably also wonder momentarily about the "Apostle's" allegedly Spirit-motivated authority system, and whether there had been a broken connection leading to such a large proliferation of splinters. Somehow, the catch-phrase "great falling away" doesn't completely account for the total confusion of the Armstrong movement!
No, it was HWA's legendary explosive temper disorder which preserved the unity of the original WCG for so many years! And explosive temper is not one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit!
BB
Cockroaches flee the light.
ReplyDeleteBB,
ReplyDeleteExplosive tempers are a part of sociopath/psychopath behaviors.I have just begun studying this mental illness and realize HWA and R.L. Hubbard both had the same disorder.
Many in the WCG suffered from these horribly damaging behaviors. I feel that many of the youth leaving the COG's and becoming athiests are "collateral damage," as Douglas said on my blog yesterday.
I recently read the letter that HWA sent to the co-workers and members at the time his son Richard Armstrong was in the hospital barely clinging to life after the horrible head on car crash.
What stunned me about the letter was how Herbert used this horrific situation to try to milk more money out of the donors.
Two days later Richard died.
The athiest writers at Armstrong Dilusion, are probably victums of this wrath. I had a very heated debate with Casey, a former WCG/PCG youth, over the last couple of days. He displays a great amount of anger toward those who discuss any religious views.
I was probably a fool to get into the fray to begin with but I think it shows what damage occurs under bad leadership and flawed theology.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI've examined the atheist phenomenon from both sides over the past several years. In fact, I was originally one of those WCG atheists or agnostics when I first hit the internet about ten years ago. There was some anger, anger which I had repressed for a number of years.
A Christian former member of WCG whom I knew as "Big Red" once shared that the most healing thing which we can do for the bitter, or for those still in the cult is to show love. That can be a hard road to travel, but I'm convinced he was right. As an atheist, I was often put off by the enthusiasm displayed by those who had found healing through traditional, mainstream Christianity. Ultimately, however, when I realized that these folks had been healed in some of the ways in which I needed healing, their contributions made a great deal of sense. A lady by the name of Shirley displayed particularly infectuous enthusiasm
for what Jesus Christ had done in her life. And, if I understand correctly, our web hose right here on this blog participates in the ministry of a mainstream church in Pasadena.
I believe that at least in some cases, non-belief is a recovery stage from the toxic and false teachings of Armstrongism. Not everyone goes to non-belief, and not everyone comes out of it. I think it varies as did our personal experiences while in the cult. People don't always want to discuss the things which made them most sensitive, or to embrace solutions which they feel are much too similar to what has hurt them in the past. Somehow, we all stumbled on to a really bizarre phenomenon, perhaps one of the most extreme known to man. Emotions tend to run very strong, and healing doesn't come easily.
Probably the best thing we can all do for one another is simply to share, whether good or bad. Many have eventually ended up talking out all of their negatives, until they are largely diffused. I found that it requires a lot of energy to hold on to anger. Thank God for the internet! Had it not come along, I'd still be suffering from PTSD, and an incredible amount of repressed anger.
BB
Actually, I don't know if specific atheists who had grown up in Armstrongism were collateral damage and became atheists because of it.
ReplyDeleteI believe two things: Without Armstrongism, some of the people who have become atheists would not have become atheists.
The second thing I believe is that we were all collateral damage as each one of us were contributing to Herbert Armstrong's on demand cash machine. Which is really insulting because he thought of us with such contempt that he trivialized us out of existence.
Note that he paid attention to those with money and power. He might have paid attention to those who were lackeys who stroked his ego sufficiently or disposibly useful in some manner to him.
It's great to be God as God is God with no accountability.