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Demolition has begun on the Hall of Administration at the former headquarters of the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College. The entire entire building has been gutted with its walls, ceilings and floors stripped away.
Many see this as one more indignity they have to witness and also consider it blasphemous, while others see this building as the seat of power that sanctioned their abuse, whether it be mental, spiritual or sexual.
World rulers and queens walked its marble floors. Priceless treasures filled its lobby from around the world.
It was the site of the sit-in during the receivership where children were encourage to sit with their backs against the glass so as to intimidate the police.
It housed the revolving offices of department heads, ministers and evangelists as long as they remained in good standing.
It was filled with file cabinets filled with data on the church members, tithing records, notes from counseling sessions and derogatory comments by ministers or faculty. It was the site of the Man Power Project that made horrendous libelous accusations at Ambassador College students due to race, perceived sexuality, women's issues, and more.
A private elevator whisked the apostle/prophet/ from his private parking garage to his fourth floor mahogany paneled office filled with antique European paintings, exquisite silver and gold pieces
It was the site of countless rebellions, rampant sexual liaisons, and eventually ended up being nothing more than studio set for made-for-TV movies due to its decades old furnishings from the 60/70's.
Forty years after it was constructed it is being ripped down. The seat of power in the church is gone and will never again amount to anything again. Its a fitting epitaph of the dying Churches of God.
Countless splinter group leaders and wannabe prophets all lay the blame for this at the feet of Joseph Tkach Sr. The problem lies in the fact that this belief is totally erroneous because no matter who would have been appointed there would have been major divisions.
At the time of HWA's death Ellis LaRavia thought he was the rightful heir. Members did not like LaRavia. Meredith thought the same thing because he thought that since he was trained at HWA's feet he would be the logical choice. Apartian was not a leader so he was out of the running. Richard Ames always pandered to whomever was in charge and could never take a stand, so he would have been driven out of office rather quickly. Headquarters members despised Meredith, so it was with a sigh of relief when he did not get it. David Hulme was not a sound choice. Gerald Flurry was considered a nutcase and was not even in the running. Dave Pack wasn't considered even though he brags that HWA personally trained him, which he did not. None off the present day leaders of United Church of God ever made it to the final round because HWA knew what power hungry ineffective men they were.
Whether it was Tkach or any other COG leader out there to this date, the church was destined to collapse. When Jesus is cast aside and the law is given power over grace it is guaranteed to fail, just like every single COG group is doing to this date.
Countless splinter group leaders and wannabe prophets all lay the blame for this at the feet of Joseph Tkach Sr. The problem lies in the fact that this belief is totally erroneous because no matter who would have been appointed there would have been major divisions.
At the time of HWA's death Ellis LaRavia thought he was the rightful heir. Members did not like LaRavia. Meredith thought the same thing because he thought that since he was trained at HWA's feet he would be the logical choice. Apartian was not a leader so he was out of the running. Richard Ames always pandered to whomever was in charge and could never take a stand, so he would have been driven out of office rather quickly. Headquarters members despised Meredith, so it was with a sigh of relief when he did not get it. David Hulme was not a sound choice. Gerald Flurry was considered a nutcase and was not even in the running. Dave Pack wasn't considered even though he brags that HWA personally trained him, which he did not. None off the present day leaders of United Church of God ever made it to the final round because HWA knew what power hungry ineffective men they were.
Whether it was Tkach or any other COG leader out there to this date, the church was destined to collapse. When Jesus is cast aside and the law is given power over grace it is guaranteed to fail, just like every single COG group is doing to this date.
17 comments:
Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I am going to buy some champagne and go and toast the demolition tonight after work! What a great sight to see! May all of those abusive bastards rot in hell for what they ahve done!
Ecclesiastes 5:10-13
He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. 13 There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
5. Ecclesiastes 6:2
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is all vanity.
A memorial should be constructed on this site dedicated to the memories of all the lives that where destroyed by HWA's organization and its off-shoots.
During my last tour of duty in the army I was driving from Ft. Huachuca to Bisbee, AZ and noticed an abandoned facility and the sing, Miracle Valley Bible College. This was the home of A.A. Allen, God's Man of Faith and Power. He claimed to not only heal the sick, but even raise the dead. Someone is trying to rebuild the facility. Another phony came and went. he Jonestown compound has been overtaken by jungle. Now, bit by bit, AC campus is disappearing. In time Flurry's and Pack's compounds will also be under new ownership.
I spent a lot of hours working in that building doing work I now believe was destructive to the lives of many people, even though I was young and idealistic and thought I was working to bring about a better world for humanity. One of my jobs as a student was taking photos of the electrical, plumbing and air conditioning systems of that building as it was being built.
What a gas! Normally, when some horrible atrocity happens in a neighborhood building, all they can do is raze it to get rid of the bad Karma. I guess this is a fitting end to a really bad place. That was the control center for the WCG version of the KGB or SS!
BB
I used to work there and thought I was doing great things. Indeed, it all was vanity and illusion.
"When .................... and the law is given power over grace"
I have seen this expression, or something similar to it, many times on this blog. Could someone please expand on it? Does 'grace' make the 'law' irrelevant? That is to say "the New Testament law".
cheers
ralph.f
'"When .................... and the law is given power over grace"
I have seen this expression, or something similar to it, many times on this blog. Could someone please expand on it? Does 'grace' make the 'law' irrelevant? That is to say "the New Testament law".'
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Gee Ralph, your figuring it out! And your a member of who's church family business?
on February 17, 2016 at 4:13 PM
James (???) said...
"Gee Ralph, your figuring it out! And your a member of who's church family business?"
What kind of an answer is that? I really am a simple fellow!
1. Figuring out what?
2. Being no longer associated with any corporate religious group, haven't been for many years, I ask, to what "church family business" do you refer?
cheers
ralph.f
Brings to mind all the ancient cities like Babylon that God reduced to rubble because of their many sins.
Hall of Ad...
Forever in my mind to be remembered, most of all, as the shortcut from the Student center to what was it, El Rancho supermarket...? :-)
Act 5:36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
Act 5:37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
Act 5:38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
Pity, It has nice style, basement parking and high ceilings, would have made for a good residential conversion if it wasn't set so far back from the street, making it wasteful of valuable land in present high population megacity Los Angeles planning.
Lots of people labored long and hard to send in the money that built that admittedly impressive building. It has all come to nothing. I remember watching out the window to see old Herb being driven out to lunch at Perinos or some equally opulent restaurant. He alsways bragged how he took himself off the road when his eyes went bad. Most people have to either call a taxi, a friend or use public transit and then walk if they can no longer drive. And, they certainly wouldn't have gone to Perinos. I don't even know where it is in Hollywood (I think) and no average church member could have ever afforded to go there.
The demise of HWA's three campuses and the dismantling of his iconic buildings should be a cautionary tale for anyone in any of the splinters, but especially those like PCG and RCG, who have chosen to build their own imitation campuses.
This is what it comes to. Don't say you weren't warned.
Anonymous said...
"The demise of HWA's three campuses and the dismantling of his iconic buildings should be a cautionary tale for anyone in any of the splinters, but especially those like PCG and RCG, who have chosen to build their own imitation campuses."
Except for the significant difference that HWAs campus/HQ was built on prime real estate in Pasadena. Relatively easy to sell off, given the high demand for the location, if you can just get rid of the buildings.
Pack/Flurry, on the other hand, have chosen nowhere locations and it's hard to see what kind of buyer would be interested in those properties when they go belly up and need to liquidate.
Instead of being demolished, I can foresee those HQs simply languishing without every being sold and thus gone to the trouble of demolition, but who knows.
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