Issue192
The latest issue of The Journal: News of the Churches of God is now online.
The Journal marks 20 years this month
THE JOURNAL, as of February 2017, has been publishing for 20 years. This newspaper’s Vol. 1, No. 1, came out in February 1997 one month after In Transition, published by John Robinson, ceased publication with its January 1997 issue.
“Although In Transition was the inspiration for our newspaper, we are not the same paper and not a continuation of In Transition,” said JOURNAL publisher Dixon Cartwright.
“John decided to end his paper after two years, 1995-97, and I could not talk him out of discontinuing it. We also could not come to an agreement by which I would buy it or otherwise acquire it and keep it going. So when he folded up shop in January of ’97 my wife, Linda, and I began THE JOURNAL” in February of 1997.
“Hard to believe it’s been 20 years and, so far, 192 issues.” Mr. Cartwright said. “Time marches on.”
The cover page includes an article about the Church of God Ministries International and Tom Terry's latest adventure. Kerry has been quit concerned about the lack of patriotism and the removal of God from the national psyche by leftists and democrats over the decades. He cites these three indicators:
He listed three events that he says marked the “beginning of removal of God” from American affairs ca. 1925:
- The repeal of Prohibition.
- The Scopes so-called monkey trial, pertaining to the teaching of Darwinian evolution.
- Christians campaigning for Herbert Hoover for president.
In the case of the latter, when President Hoover was seen as causing the Great Depression he, and his Christian supporters, were discredited.
Dixon Cartwright continues his series of Church of God historical events, this time focusing upon Amarillo Church of God Pastor Jeff Booth and how Herbert Armstrong fired him 7 times in one afternoon.
Church pastor recalls the time he was fired seven times during one meeting with his boss
Fired seven times
It was January 1980. Not many WCG members, even church pastors, could muster the temerity to request an appointment with Mr. Armstrong to ask him anything, much less probing questions about his opinions on pressing doctrinal questions of the time.
Though direct and to the point in the interview, Mr. Booth says he was never disrespectful, never raised his voice and never asked any personal questions, although the founder of the WCG and Ambassador College did “fire” Mr. Booth from his job as a church pastor seven times over a span of three hours and 20 minutes.
This issue also features an article by our very own self-appointed, doubly blessed, Chief Overseer Bob Thiel expounding upon the miraculous African work he is doing. We all know how well that has worked out for him.
Linda French is conducting a survey on Servant Leadership in the church: Executive Servant Leadership Scales (ESLS) and Church Attitude Inventory (CAI) instruments
My name is Linda French and I am conducting a research study entitled “A Correlational Study between Servant Leadership and Church Climate.” The purpose of the research study is to discover the nature of the relationship between pastors’ attitudes toward servant leadership and attendees’ attitudes towards pastoral servant leadership, the nature of the relationship between pastoral attitudes toward church climate and attendees’ attitudes towards church climate, and the nature of the relationship between combined pastoral and attendee perceptions of servant leadership within the church climate and church climate. Understanding pastoral and attendee perceptions of church climate and pastoral servant leadership could lead to changes and improvements of methods and use of servant leadership strategies leading to improved church climates and attendee outcomes.
There is also an article about those nasty Catholics and Jesuits who are out to destroy the United States and the church. This will play well into he conspiracy theories of the Kitchen family and others who find the Catholic Church to be the big bogey-man. How involved is the Vatican in U.S. politics?
There is also an ad for the HWA Storehouse that will send you a free 21 gigabyte USB drive of HWA and church literature and programs. Oh joy...
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Jeff Booth's HWA encounter and conversation are well worth the read as an insight to the ego and psychology of HWA.
ReplyDeleteWhile Bob Thiel is no fan of The Journal, he does use it to critique and comment on other COGs. And this time, he gets some front-page exposure, with an article that appears to be a montage of COGwriter clippings.
ReplyDeleteThe "Fastest Growing" claim reminded me of Avis many years ago. Former CEO Robert Townsend said the aim of the company was not to be #1 (which was Hertz) but to be the fastest-growing car rental company. They had some slogans, which I thought Bob could modify to fit CCOG:
C-COG, the fastest growing COG; We're #5 (or whatever), but we try (your patience) harder; and, C-COG, your other COG
ReplyDeleteMr Booth's 'Christain Church of God' keeps most of the doctrines of Scam Artist HWA even after HWA fired him 7 times! I looked at Mr Booth's church on Quail Creek Dr Amarillo. Next door to it is a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witlesses, then further down the street is - wait for it - a new Islamic Center! The human race is doomed to stupidity!
David Havir's article "Five phrases help to recognize who you are" should not be ignored, but the one phrase that he left out is the most telling, "Who are your enemies" -- which is probably the most telling indicator of who you really are. If the Armstrongist 1%ers are against you, you can't be all bad.
ReplyDeleteDixon Cartwright continues what he started any number of issues back and does a magnificent job of it: Showing what a nasty irrational narcissistic jerk Herbert Armstrong really was. None of us can be really sure if this is intentional or not, but we must say that Dixon is performing a mighty fine journalistic effort to undermine everything that Herbert Armstrong stood for. Who can't remember the inclusion of David Havir's article on servant leadership that eviscerated the elder defunct erstwhile Armstrong. And even in the last issue, the telling stories told by David Antion stopping just short of the incest he knew about.
This issue continues in that vein with the Jeff Booth meeting with Herbert Armstrong. It goes to show just how delusional Herbie was. The whole article was quite the reveal and an insight into who and more importantly what Armstrong really was. The whole thing was surreal.
Perhaps The Journal is totally unnecessary in the scheme of things being little more than a window to the insane asylum of Armstrongism, but we must say that Dixon Cartwright has done a stellar job of demonstrating just how crazy Armstrongism really is.
We can hardly wait for the reveals of the next issue... for free, of course.
Those HWA Storehouse people are going to be awfully bummed when the Tribulation comes and they find out that those old USB connector ports have long since been discontinued in favor of USB-C and their precious flash memory is inaccessible.
ReplyDelete"Jeff Booth's HWA encounter and conversation are well worth the read as an insight to the ego and psychology of HWA.
ReplyDeleteConnie, this was of course a special time only one year after a tiresome effort to shut HWA out. I guess everyone was still one edge. Having said that. What insight did you get?
I see a person who after firing another 7 times continues cordial conversation.
After the conversation his chief lieutenants see no reason to follow up on the actions of the president and make an effort to reinstate Booth. So the chief lieutenants probably were not so concerned with their own jobs OR the chiefs intentions as Booth thought.
For even a mediocre psychologist it was obvious that Booth had no desire to remain in the "system" in the first place given the sequence of questions and still HWA gave him 3 hours. Most CEO's would have fired Booth despite his insistence on his politeness.
Make no mistake, I do like Booth's response to HWA's invitation to meet with pastors though but I would question my CEO differently. Not questioning his authority to be the CEO but at least veinly attempt to assist him in his efforts, goals and pursuits and then fire at will at the lieutenants (who in this case were clearly with Booth).
nck
In corporate terms for the atheists among us.
ReplyDeleteThe scene.
One year after a "hostile take over attempt."
You question certain policies by your CEO.
You request a meeting and start questioning his authority for over three hours.
See what happens.
If you are still with the company 24 hours later I would like to hire you as an exceptional consultant to the board.
nck
But the Scopes trial was fake. It was designed for publicity.
ReplyDelete"There is also an ad for the HWA Storehouse that will send you a free 21 gigabyte USB drive of HWA and church literature and programs. Oh joy..."
ReplyDeleteHmm. I think I should place an ad in the "Free" section of Craigslists worldwide. Advertise it saying it just takes a few seconds for a quick reformat to remove the cult propaganda. It's rare they give away something I could actually use. I bet I'm not the only one who could use a free 21 gigabyte USB drive either. Bleed those suckers dry.
I wonder how many they'll send to a single name or address?
I have NO idea about the Scopes trial because there are (at least) two sides which portray it totally differently. Everyone thinks they know what really went on and why. My guess is none of them know. All that they think they know is likely a media smokescreen.
ReplyDeleteRight on Connie. From the article:
ReplyDelete"Mr. Armstrong informed Mr. Booth that members of the Church of God 7th Day were not true Christians. He said the Church of God 7th Day was not the true church, just the closest thing he could find to the true church."
So Herb did not find the true church. So he had no authority for his work. He was NOT the successor to the Sardis Era because he never found the Sardis Era or any Era of the true church.
Having just read the final pages of Orlin Grabbe’s letter at Painful Truth, the account of Jeff Booth in the Journal was a very fitting follow-up. One of the final topics Orlin raised was HWA’s legitimacy as a minister, based on his relationship with CG7.
ReplyDeleteIf HWA’s statements were considered the official story, CG7 seems to be only incidental in the history of the (mythical) True Church. HWA was, apparently, “the church” and he was trying to “troubleshoot” CG7, but they wouldn’t buy into it. Sounds familiar.
And so HWA learned nothing from CG7, took nothing from J.H. Allen, and doesn’t consider his ministerial credentials from CG7 had any significance on his becoming the End-time Apostle. If Jeff Booth had asked about G.G. Rupert, he may have been fired eight times…
As for “troubleshooting”, Bob Thiel mentioned in his post on PCG/LCG prophecy errors that if requested he’d go back and correct LCG’s mistakes. When Rod and Richard both succumb, I wonder if Gerald will consider Bob’s offer?
In Armstrongist philosophy people like Pol Pot and Stalin could still get salvation just because they had not encountered "the Holy Spirit" in this life. There was a very strict divide between those who "had" and those who "had not" received the "Holy Spirit" (as defined by Armstrongist phylosophy.
ReplyDeleteBy most people (like Miller Jones) this is one of the rational and merciful aspects of this theology/philosophy.
Following the same reasoning HWA said that the "7th day COG" had so much drifted from "the truth" as defined by armstrongist philosophy that it was not the true COG anymore. EXCEPT for the biblical "there are some among you" (re "history of the true church (as interpreted by armstrongist philosophers).
When HWA (who was to his definition filled by the holy spirit) tried to "bring/renew" truth to COG 7th day and they rejected this "truth" this moment established the EXACT "ceasure" in being the "true COG" since "a new era" had begun. (Just like the abortionist discussion when life actually starts.) In or out of the womb.
So according to HWA's rationale he indeed was for a time "the one man" church.
Another aspect in truly understanding Armstrongism is seldom discussed for lack of true philosophers in or interested in the movement.
I will mention it only briefly.
Armstrongism can for a large part be classified among the EASTERN religions. While most people assess it under the Western philosophical classification.
It is very evident because of the "church era" doctrine and the "19 year cycles" and many more such philosophical aspects, that WCG included Eastern Cyclical philosophy.
A direct linear succession from "pope to pope" or "Petric pastor to pastor" is a linear Western necessity. Any schooled in Eastern religion can see the Eastern influence in Armstrongist philosophy where the mere "mirorring" of Peter Waldo or "Hus" etc establishes that link.
Try and evaluate how the Tibetans define a "succession" of their spiritual leader. They establish that succession "by looking at the signs" that mirror a previous existence in a mythical way.
True scholars would know exactly what I am talking about. To me it is no coincidence that HWA was so well received in especially Buddhist countries and Dr Hoeh established deep ties with What Tai, having the Monks bring flowers to HWA's grave.
This was not a "money thing." This was a deep recognition of Eastern spiritual principles on "Cycles" and Transcedence.
nck
I just got my free flash drive in the mail. I reformatted it and it turns out it's actually 30GB. Nice. Everyone should request one. You can never have too many flash drives.
ReplyDelete