UCG has the chance this spring to change the face of its organization with new blood and new ideas. The past several years have been a complete disaster under Vic Kubik's reign. From the COGWA defections with 1/2 of the ministers and over half of their members, epic media failures from hiding their beliefs on their web site to the recent personal campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and garnered one new church attendee, UCG's relevance has been shattered.
UCG has been operated by the same men who ran WCG before they conspired while on WCG payroll to form a new splinter group. They carried the same old business model of the WCG over to their new incarnation where the corruption continues. Its ht same old men doing the same abusive things they did while still in WCG.
Its 2016 in the 21st century. New ideas, new methods of advertising, and new ways of communication are changing the world we live in daily. UCG still seems to be in the 1986 mode that died with Herbert Armstrong. Will UCG finally pay attention to the younger men in the ranks? They have dumped millions of dollars into training these men and can't find much use for them so far.
With declining income and membership someone had better wake up to the sinking ship they are in right now.
UCG has kept it low profile, but remember that Victor Kubik’s 3-year term expires this spring. The COE should soon be voting to reelect him to an additional 3-year term (or to a shorter term); or begin a search for a new President.
It appears Victor Kubik feels confident enough that he will be reelected that he is already scheduling himself to give the national feast sermon as President this fall.UCG members are getting tired of Kubik's "holier than thou" attitude that the UCG cannot operate without him in control. The problem is that with the defection of COGWA ministers his opposition has basically been eliminated. Its the good old boys who could care less what the membership thinks.
Personally, I hadn’t forgotten that his 3-year term expires this spring, and like you, I figured that it meant very little – both based on the things he’s been saying that indicate that he sees himself as a fixture, as well as the fact that their jettison of the COGWAN ministry 5 years ago makes it very unlikely that this bunch will be voted from power anytime soon – because they eliminated most political opposition and most of the ministers they’ve installed are obligated to them.
13 comments:
Evil can only survive by leeching off its betters. Zombie movies and series portray this phenomenon. It strikes a chord with the audience. With UCG, their victims have fled. No brains to eat. They can't even stomach a Pharisaic appearance. I would love to secretly observe how their members relate to one another. The battle of the bullies no doubt.
Actually, Vic Kubik isn't running UCG. If anyone does, it's Robin Webber. And even then, UCG is an oligarchy. But, of course, Kubik has always run UCG, because there has never been a time in UCG's history when he did not sit on the board of oligarchs, until he was forced to vacate his council seat to become president, that is. Even when Kubik vacates the presidency, it will only be to return to his seat on the council. He's one of the oligarchs after all, and the voting is all rigged anyway. There's no way the oligarchs will risk losing to their power because of some schmucks on the GCE who don't know which end of UCG is up. Besides, the only time there's room for new blood in Armstrongist organizations is after there's been spilled blood, like how they ordained a bunch of new suck-ups who were both untrained and unpaid, after they got rid of half of their paid staff. For everyone who was left in UCG, it was a win-win...if only there hadn't been that huge hit to their bottom line...
The original WCG was a personality cult. About the only person who could have continued its successes as a personality cult would most likely have been Garner Ted Armstrong, a man who was being groomed as his father's clone. Once he was unmasked, and his moral failures known, he was never able to duplicate his earlier influences and successes in a context of his own making. Had the life he made for himself been different, GTA may have been able to successfully continue his father's legacy. The point is moot at this point, because even if he had done this, a lifespan which was shorter than that of his father would probably have exposed the same sort of leadership crisis which is endemic to the fractured Armstrong movement at this point in history, and has been since the death of HWA.
In a world where leaders are at best simply attempting to hold on to fond Kodak moments of a cruise, even at a time when only bits and pieces of the wrecked cruise ship can be clung to, does it really matter who gets to be president of individual pieces of the jetsam and flotsam? Do people, as XEROX used to proclaim, actually make the critical difference? If God were ever a part of this failing movement, it appears that His annointing is either totally lacking, or for some reason, greatly diminished. No sufficiently strong personality has either been bred or groomed by the movement, or has surfaced, equal to the task of making a difference. No specially enhanced abilities are being granted or accorded so that the movement could be revived, and restored to spiritual and financial prosperity. And, the leadership crisis appears to be poised for even greater decline, in the face of the advanced age of all of the pretenders to the throne.
So, does it really even matter if one particular person is reelected to preside over a small part of the wreckage? Probably not. The only factor which could possibly make a difference would be the emergence of an individual with talents on a par with the Armstrongs, and with the contemporary media savy to take the message viral. Even so, it is doubtful in the face of the apathy which has been the natural by-product of the continued failure of the prophecy which was the original "hook" of the message, that even the most gifted individual could revive the marketability of a failed, defective, and dated product. Both the nice guys, and the not so nice have attempted this, failing equally in their efforts, as they miss even the 51% benchmark required as the minimum standard for success.
BB
This articles complaint that "recent personal campaigns that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and garnered one new church attendee," is misleading. The purpose of the work is to warn people. The poor public response is beyond church control. God does not hold them accountable if people reject the warning:
Ezekiel 2:5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
Ezekiel 3:19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
The only churches that are growing are those that have a visual presence in the community. Driving down the streets of any large city you will never find a UCG church building. The leadership of the UCG should abandon the T.V. show and the printed media and use that money to build church buildings for the local congregations. The main problem with that is most congregations are too small to make that feasible. The old ways used by HWA are out dated and no longer get much of a result. The present leadership of the UCG is out of touch with the modern world. Also they might want to get rid of the 7th day Sabbath and Hebrew holy days these are also out dated relics of the old testament past.
A recent article discussed the idea that many mainstream churches are also having difficulty growing or even maintaining memberships. The author classified some people as "nones" meaning those who have no interest in religion. Others, the most active and passionate members who are increasingly leaving the churches are "dones." The "dones" are leaving churches, but not Christianity. The recognize the churches as being little more than social clubs for professing Christians, dysfunctional and not worth their time and effort. And, in an increasingly secular society and with the most mature active Christians disgusted with organized religion, this makes it even more difficult for the UCG or others to grow.
Byker Bob says that only someone with the talent of HWA and GTA could have continued the success of earlier years. I agree, but one problem with this is the fact that HWA didn't surround himself with such people. Take a walk down Waverly Drive in the 1970's where many VIPs lived. David Jon Hill, RCM, Raymond McNair, etc. Take a look at the board of directors, whose group photo in the faculty dining room appeared in the Envoy. Who is there? HWA didn't want strong people around him. He wanted puppets, weak men who had one and only one strong trait: LOYALTY TO HWA. HWA sowed the seeds of the church's destruction by his own policies of not listening to others and personnel choices he made. As long as things stayed together during his lifetime, I doubt if he cared beyond that. He put himself first, ahead of the "Church." So, with the leadership in the WCG offshoots and the culture we live in, what are the chances that any of these offshoots will last long or have much of an impact on the world?
Oh, well, there's no need to be all gloomy. United was having problems from the very beginning. Have we forgotten the Big Sandy fiasco? Then there's CoGWA -- for what reason no one really knows -- Texas, maybe? It's been two decades of this with over 50 splits. It's not a person, it's the system.
It's short sighted to claim demise for UCG, for, as long as they have their congregations, they will survive.
Though we're not forgetting the embedded entropy. There is that.
It used to be at the beginning, El Presidente was for life. But then the first one virtually bankrupted the UCG, so something had to be done, like, oh, term limits.
Keep the President. They're all interchangeable.
Hierarchy is always problematic in perpetuating itself, regardless of type of organization, whether it be national, political, business or religion.
An organization that practices the idea of "replacing ones self" with someone even better, and engaging with a philosophy that "the student has surpassed the teacher" is the ideal goal, are the ones that can carry the future. Instead what you find in all of the COGS are good old boy clubs, entrenched for life, stale and fighting any form of necessary "creative destruction" for future growth and evolvement.
Centralized money collectivism creates many problems. All local churches should collect money locally, have their own budgets, outreach and programs, hire/fire and pay their own pastors (at a set rate) and have local elected boards by the lay people who would be in charge of this. Congregationalism has always been slammed by the Armstrongist churches, but seems to work fine for the Church of God 7th Day and the SDAs as well. A percentage of local funds (10% ??) could be sent to a smaller national office for mutual associated congregations benefit.
United is an improvement away from one man for life rule. Sort of like the Magna Carta, the nobles (elders) were allowed to vote. However, the ultimate in liberty is enfranchising ALL the citizenry with a voice and right to vote. The every day member should be allowed to vote in their local congregations as stated above. Perhaps the rally call of the day could be similar to what the early USA patriots cried out... "No Tithation without Representation"! Perhaps a "Declaration of Independence" is in order!
Good additional points, Steve D. Those help fill in the total picture.
Also, we cannot know whether HWA believed his own prophecies, and, if so, what inner conflicts and turmoil the failure of 1975 may have caused him. If he believed his own prophecies, then having a strong team to perpetuate his ministry and his church into the next generation would not have mattered, because Jesus would have personally assumed the leadership. And, if he did not believe his own prophecies, then once his system made him rich, he may just have thought what we used to see on the old bumper stickers: "He who dies with the most toys wins!" Either way, we get to the same place. Having strong people in place to succeed him would not have been important in either case. The problem becomes that the people who believed that he was some sort of prophet or apostle needed the organization which HWA had started to continue in perpetuity, and in unity, with strong leadership. And, that simply does not exist. If it was "of men", then it cannot be revived, no matter how much effort is put into the project. If it was "of God", then we would be forced to conclude that it is God's will that the church be in the state in which the ACOGs find themselves today, and that it was God's will that any warning HWA gave in his lifetime would fail. This is the conundrum that the members must face, if they allow themselves to think with any depth at all.
What do the so-called "leaders" of the splinters do? They exploit both the original beliefs, and the current conundrum as well. In a sense, Torquemada has tightened the screw to an even more intolerable level on those who alow themselves to continue to be exploited.
BB
Comment was made saying: "... UCG still seems to be in the 1986 mode that died with Herbert Armstrong..."
1986 mode? Well, yes and no. I recall a sermon given in late 1998 about God's Government, and a partial transcript of that 1998 sermon said the following:
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...They’re still stuck back there in the SIXTIES and the SEVENTIES. That’s where they’re stuck. That’s where all of these little organizations are. They have some truth, but they’re not being led!
Then, you look at UNITED! Now, I’m sure I’m going to offend a lot of people who will hear these taped sermons later out there, but this is a real mess! None of these men were even considered to be chosen by Mr. Armstrong; were they? None of them were, but they all VOTED themselves in anyway; didn’t they? Now, that’s not such of a firm foundation to have when you have to VOTE yourSELF into office.
Where was God? Oh, they may say that: “Well, look at the Apostles! They cast lots.”
Yes, but they were already Apostles!
You guys weren’t even that. None of you were the leaders.......All of these ministers who went with UNITED: they never liked being under authority and they wanted their say-so. They wanted their opinions to be heard, so they all joined in one big mass.
Now, why start a church like that? You already have one going that was doing the same thing that Mr. Armstrong was trying to do, but they didn’t want to be under authority.
I look at this as: “This is the ‘Boys’ Club!’ We’re going to do it our way,” and they’re not going to give up that RULE. Now they all think that they have the authority and that’s really a shame.
What’s their first agenda? “We’re going to pay ourselves very well!”...
Well, one of the first things that they want to set up is, of course, their retirement fund......
When they got together their attitude was: “We will vote ourselves to happiness! Every time we don’t like something, we’ll just take another vote! We’ll vote it our way again, and if we don’t like the other guy: we’ll vote him out!”...
That tells you something and it tells you something when you use a satanic government, which they are...
Satan’s ways don’t work and everything that United has proposed to be their foundation of government within their “church” is all devised by Satan. It will NOT work and you will see that!...
So, they can’t even agree on how to spend the money, and where to have their office and who the president should be. They’re all out there politicking to get into position so they can be the president and the same thing will happen to them. You’ll have this: turnover, turnover and turnover! Why?
Because God never placed anyone in charge! It just starts to get to me! Do you know? They preach some of the truth, some that was revealed to the past servant, Mr. Armstrong, but nothing has been revealed to them! Nothing has been revealed to GLOBAL [[WHICH HAS SINCE IMPLODED AND DOES NOT EXIST, except as some "splinter" remnant today]]. Nothing’s been revealed to any of them. They’re stuck in a rut!...
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The United Ass. (like cogwa, living, etc.) is still "stuck in a rut" whether it be the 60s, the 70s or as of 16 January 1986 mode. Why will these organizations eventually disappear? Here is what the Head of God's Church has to say about them:
"But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matthew 15:13
:14 "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
And time will tell...is telling...
John
Interesting quote, John (1:14), but you should reveal what background the quote came from, to understand the speakers agenda.
If I was to guess, the following paragraph gives a strong hint:-
"Now, why start a church like that? You already have one going that was doing the same thing that Mr. Armstrong was trying to do, but they didn’t want to be under authority."
Sounds like 'sour grapes' from LCG, who would have hoped for many extra people joining them under Rod's 'authority'. The comment about Global would also fit in 1998, as Rod would have just been removed from Global, and started LCG.
With all quotes, you need to understand where it's coming from, and which particular axe the person is grinding! As I say, just my guess on the source - maybe you could reveal the actual facts John?
Ultimately, HWA was in rebellion to the COG 7th Day, having accepted their ordination and even a small salary.
Looks like HWA didn't like being under authority either!
Why don't all these people who have also changed the doctrines simply reunite with GCI and be happy?
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