Things continue to spiral down for the Hulmerous Church of God. I guess all the two decades of rebellion have finally caught up with him. He has had his own rebellions in his group with countless ministers and members leaving his flock. Money is shrinking as membership declines. He still has his million dollar HQ house on South Madison that he could mortgage, if he hasn't already. Or maybe he could sell his precious Jaguar's. That won't happen though as it is important to impress the "dignitaries and leaders" he meets. God's chosen would not be driving a Honda van!
Church of God News writes:
Church of God an International CommunityThe Church has been unable to continue financing the print version of its quarterly magazine Vision. The Internet version has been re-designed, entailing a complete overhaul of the website, which now embodies every issue - from 1999 to 2016 - in English, French, German and Spanish.
Its development is continuing, with a bible study course soon to be added.The August 2016 issue of its Church of God News is now available on-line.
The Hulmerous Church of God is one of the most secretive COG's out there. Very little will be found online about them. Their web pages are usually password protected for he exclusive use of their frozen chosen members.
In Pasadena and the surrounding area he is an unknown presence. As legalistic as he is, its for the best.
This is an ominous pattern which will be affecting all of the splinters soon, if It hasn't already.
ReplyDeleteI was studying the birth rates and demographics of some nations the other day, and since in some notable cases, the birth rates have sunk below the death rates, some are projected to actually decrease in population within the coming decades. This means that just to continue supporting a growing economy, immigration is going to become very important to these nations. Many people don't realize that this is the reason why the USA has attracted so many immigrants over the past decades. Family planning amongst the majority had caused a shortage of workers, and even impacted the Social Security program. Home values would be nowhere near what they are today without a steady stream of Asians and Middle Easterners. They've been the salvation of the construction industry.
BB
HWA had a dumb message, but also a charismatic manner which made him capable of attracting new members despite the dumb message.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, after he disappeared, all that's left is the dumb message, so all the splinters can do is cut up a gradually shrinking pie into smaller and smaller portions.
Their online tax return (a photocopy) from a few years ago, was an income of about one hundred thousand dollars for the year. That's a small income for an international church.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:57 AM wrote: "Their online tax return (a photocopy) from a few years ago, was an income of about one hundred thousand dollars for the year. That's a small income for an international church."
ReplyDeleteOnly $100k? I am not 100% sure of this, but I believe that David Hulme as President of the United Ass., "back in the day," received an annual paycheck worth more than that from that "non-profit," man-made, association.
It always seemed so difficult for United Ass to broadcast the wages of those in the ministry, and I'm not sure if they were ashamed to tell us about them or perhaps just embarrassed that such high wages were given out while the average church member made far less.
It's mammon or God. With the xcogs it's "follow the money!" For what is accomplished they ought to be ashamed getting those high wages for what they do instead of going out and getting a "real job."
Well, time will tell...
John
They have to have an income higher than 100,000.00. If you look at the online version of their magazine you will see several employees. I can't imagine them all volunteering but there are stupid church members out there.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense to go all internet anyway. Newspapers, magazines, even television are all 20th century obsolete and are dying slow deaths.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons the COGS keep insisting on producing mags and purchasing TV is that many of the older brethren who are contributing financially don't want to support the internet. It is viewed as "not real" or as "free". And, in a sense this is true!
Even low budget fools in a garage, like Thiel and Malm, one man amateur bands that they are, have more of a "footprint" than Hulme. Internet is indeed the future for everything, but production cost is FAR LESS than the old methods. How can a cult demand more money for "the work" and use that as an excuse to solicit funds, when the cost production of "the work" is so much cheaper than yesteryear via the internet?
The COGwriter.com (Almost arrested Bob) has an article on Church of God an international community. It does list the financial information of Vision.org of $99,600 for Jan 1 to Dec 31 for 2001. But this is a arm of the church. He quotes a former minister with:
ReplyDelete"After 15 years and an estimated expense for Vision of $3+ million dollars for salaries, advertising, publishing, design, shipping, PR, video, travel and whatever, there has been no fruit from Vision or the Vision website."
So there yearly income is greater than $100K.
BB, from what I've seen in my area, it's mostly Mexicans who have, as you put it,"been the salvation of the construction industry", and my experience has been that such illegal immigrants display a work ethic and abilities that are superior to their USA-born counterparts.
ReplyDeleteIt's "Asians and Middle Easterners" who excel in technology positions, imo.
The move to internet publication was inevitable, although some leaders of the ACOGs either forbade or limited accessing this resource to their members. Dave Pack famously referred to it as "the internet cesspool". Assuming that people once accepted these ministerial edicts, the floodgates have now been opened as traditional alternatives go the way of the dinosaur. If members are forced to rely on internet surfing for their daily fix of all things Armstrong, they are going to become aware of the total picture, both pro and con, as well as related materials that tend to counter the doctrines and prophecies. It may be difficult to believe, but there are still a few older folk who are not online, and one would have to believe that with the dominant grey-haired, or even white-haired demographic of the ACOGs, a goodly number of church members fall into this category. The splinters will probably lose a few more members over this. It must already be depressing as some of the old timers who once attended congregations with hundreds of members now have twenty or less in their local area.
ReplyDeleteBB
Yeah, the Hulme cult is pretty secretive!
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine is one of MANY siblings, and their dad joined the WCG many years ago, dragging all the family into it. So my friend has siblings now all across the Armstrongist spectrum. She told me how she (after jumping through 'security' hoops), went to California to visit a sister, and saw her where she worked at Hulme's HQ, and there was a giant portrait of Herbert Armstrong hanging on the wall behind her desk!
Afterwards, she told me, "There's just some people you can't talk to rationally"
Connie, many people such as in poorer countries and the elderly, are not connected to the web. TV and magazines are still important tools of the gospel. You can't ignore any segment of society.
ReplyDeleteI suspect all the WCG offshoot churches are suffering from an aging church membership and a decline in new members. Eventually, the number dying will be greater than the incoming new members. Each split just leads to a smaller piece of the pie. Further decline will occur when all the two witnesses battle it out for supremacy. Will Pack fry Thiel, or vice versa??? The fasting LCG youth will probably hit the road when they become adults. The church offshoots are the North Korean model of church in a world that has left them behind.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many factors that affect the decline. Aging is perhaps the major one. When you can't work anymore, down goes your income -- usually disastrously. That means less tithe coming in. Certainly, there is little left for offerings. Then, cataracts often make reading the propaganda questionable too. Forget about internet access. A great many of the elderly are actually suspicious and afraid of it. Then, a great portion of the younger people have started to think on their own, and that is disastrous to any fascist and mafia-like organization. It's not a given that the kids and/or grandkids are going to dutifully fall in line. When your membership is getting dotty and poor and there is no viable way to replenish the numbers, the whole house of cards is doomed. It's only a matter of time.
ReplyDelete9.59 AM I agree with what you say, except the world leaving the North Korean model behind. In fact s discernible trait of society is that it is becoming more and more like the church. Obama has taken the role of Tkach, with increasing government surveillance of its citizens, and a corroding of peoples constitutional rights. Political correctness is paralleling 'doctrines according to Herbie' that the 'minister' brutality enforced. The IRS harassing conservatives is like ministers persecuting those who question the church. The world is going Herbie, sad to say.
ReplyDeleteMy advice to all the COG's, discontinue your magazines, booklets and T.V. shows. Use the money you save to build churches for the local congregations that are large enough to afford them. For the smaller congregations try to advertise locally to get people to attend and build up the size of the congregations so they too can afford a building. This may not work considering that all the COG's are out of the mainstream but that is the only chance that they have to grow and survive.
ReplyDeleteOne aging member at a time, one heretical cultlet at a time, the gates of hell are slowly but surely prevailing against the COGs. Will a miracle occur to halt it's inevitable march into obscurity?
ReplyDeleteAnd when all of it's rustic defenders are safely stowed six feet under, there won't be anyone who thinks there's merit to Armstrongism anymore. Will the stones then cry out? Will the god of the child molesting Herbert the Pervert then appear to shore up its collapsing façade?
Not very likely...
ReplyDeleteHere is a non-breaking, non-exclusive, non-earth-shattering, short article for the Banned Blog:
Finally Revealed Yet Again: The Unsurprising Plain Truth About What David Hulme's Unknown Church Has Secretly Been Doing That Everyone Knew All About All Along!
David Hulme got elected as the first president of the United Church of God from 1995 to 1998, but when it looked like he was just going to spend that splinter group of the Worldwide Church of God into bankruptcy, he got voted right back out of office in January 1998. So he divided the so-called United Church of God by taking an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 people with him in April 1998 to go do even less than the United Church of God was doing--much less!. His own personal church that he started is sometimes called the Church of Hulme, an International Community of unknown, secretive, inactive, ageing, declining, do-nothings.
David Hulme has now wasted his followers' time and money for almost two decades doing basically nothing! Calling his magazine Vision seems to have blinded David Hulme's followers to the fact that he has no vision.
If you, too, lack vision and are interested in joining Hulme's sliver group, you had better hurry up before it all totally disappears from sight.