God seems to be having a tough time maintaining the integrity of his universities" that he supposedly established to train the true world leaders to come.
First, he had to shut down his world class campus in England where he was going to have a ringside seat when the beast power rose up in Europe. Then he was unable to keep Big Sandy open so he inspired COG leaders to move the student to Pasadena. Then God had problems in Pasadena and was forced to shut down Pasadena, which led him to inspire leaders to send the students back to Big Sandy. Then after inspiring church leaders to dump millions of dollars into his university, he failed once again to keep it running and was forced to close it down.
With three universities closed down, God needed a new school for the training of his true ministers. After putting a bug in Rod Meredith's ear to start his own true church, God whispered to the powers to be that they needed a university too. God said to even bring in Michael Germano to once again start the university. As one LCG member said on Facebook the other day, Germano has had his fingers in the middle to three campus closings! Rod Meredith should have known better...or maybe God should have known better.
What LCG members and other COG members should realize by now is that God was not a part of the inspiration to start these world-class universities. It was just a bunch of narcissistic men seated around a large conference table who thought they knew what the church needed. God was never part of the design and certainly never inspired any of them to start a college or university.
Living University was no more relevant than Gerald Flurry's Herbert W Armstrong College, United's Ambassador Bible Center, or Dave Pack's failed "university."
As usual for any of the churches behind the closing of their universities, it was NOT their fault. Living U is blaming their closing on censorship in the world around them.
The god of the Churches of God seems to be one weak creature. He can't keep his colleges open any more than he has kept his churches joined in unity and one in truth.The Spring 2018 semester at Living University will be the last for its curricular programs. As we push further into the 21st century and the laws of the land become more restrictive, it is becoming more difficult for LU to function, especially in the United States. Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens and we anticipate that number will grow in the future. In this light, we have been directed to begin to wind down the efforts of Living University with the goal of concluding formal operations by the end of the Spring 2018 semester (May 2018).
26 comments:
The project was doomed from the start. In the USA, a "University" is an institution that offers post-baccalaureate degrees. If it offers undergraduate education, a University consists of several colleges that together form the larger University.
Dr. Michael Germano, with his extensive background as an educational administrator, knew this when he took leadership of something he called "Living University." The university in its lifetime offered only a few B.A. degrees, and never offered an M.A. or Ph.D. (not even a Th.D.) program.
A school that called itself "God's college" despite being based on such a brazen lie should not have expected to succeed. Just another example of the lying that is so prevalent in LCG.
Here's what LCG was saying about Living University as of August 2017:
Living University: Ten Years and Growing
From the article:
The Fall 2016 semester began with both our largest online enrollment, and our largest on-campus class yet! More than 225 students, from 15 nations, enrolled in classes. These included 14 on-campus students in Charlotte, North Carolina, and four studying at the regional office in Adelaide, South Australia. Charlotte on-campus students inaugurated two new student residences (Sheryl Manor and Redstone Hall) with the annual Faculty Reception on August 24, 2016.
Why close your university when it is serving its largest number of people ever? Weston says the closure had something to do with not enough people being able to take LU classes, but LCG's own article refutes this. The LCN article also says:
In March, 2017, Living University received notification from the University of North Carolina General Administration that its application to license a proposed Associate of Arts (A.A.) program and two Bachelor of Theology minors (Business and Communications) was approved by the UNC Board of Governors. Beginning in August, 2017, L.U. students can enroll in a fully licensed A.A. degree program and in Business and Communications certificate programs. Licensure of these programs completed an in-depth, two-year application process.
LU got an accreditation in March 2017 that it had sought for a decade. LU wasn't closed because it couldn't get accredited. So, what is the real reason? The article concludes:
Over the last ten years God has richly blessed Living University and its students. Dozens of graduates and hundreds of brethren are now better equipped to serve in their local church areas and regional offices and at Headquarters. L.U.’s future will continue to be bright as its students and leadership continue to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
In this article from earlier this year, LCG told its brethren that "L.U.'s future will continue to be bright as its students and leadership continue to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ." Now that LU's future isn't bright, isn't this an admission that its students and leadership weren't walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ?
Imagine how God's people would react if Gerald Weston gave a very different, truthful, explanation.
"Brethren, the men leading LCG today know how much their lives were transformed by their Ambassador College education, and they fervently desired to share that same transformation with today's generation. Because of this enthusiasm, we failed to count the cost properly, trusting that God would back our desires. He didn't. The church lost members who saw some false doctrine being taught alongside much that was good (the proverbial drop of arsenic in the glass of water). Even among those who didn't leave LCG, enthusiasm for the University was meager enough that keeping it afloat sucked resources away from our true commission. Fortunately, many of the educational resources LU developed to sell to students can now be shared for free with church youth, adult members, and even prospective members. We hope that those of you who were unable or unwilling to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to access LU resources will find value in the material we will soon be making available for free. We apologize to the brethren for being poor stewards of God's tithes, and we ask for your prayers that we do better in the future."
Why can't those eggheads just be satisfied with a theological seminary?
Protestant churches start up Bible Colleges without a hitch, and yet the ACOG cults always have major problems keeping a liberal arts college going. Just goes to show you on whose side Jehovah God is on.
And again, we have a typical example with what can happen to something that is misnamed. Naming something after God when He has nothing to do with it, especially if you do that to deliberately manipulate people with it, rarely ends well.
I don't know where they get the idea that freedom of speech has been suspended. Seems like there's more of that now than there ever was at any other time in my life with the internet and all. There are people that you can't trash any more, but it was always a good idea to practice restraint in that area anyway.
BB
It is easier to blame the government and lie to your members and claim perrsecution than it is to admit you screwed up as a church.
The best ministers I have ever known did not go to formal theological schools, but rather lived real lives, and worked real jobs , just like all of the other brethren, and did not draw a salary.
From my perspective, it seems that all of these religious colleges and "educations" are pretty much a waste of time. Life lessons can only be taught by those that have "lived life".
Could it be that there are no, (or few) young people left in the LCG. Could that be the real reason for closing "Living U"?
I'm detecting a pattern here....first close the "university" and then the church.
5:36 PM asked,
Could it be that there are no, (or few) young people left in the LCG. Could that be the real reason for closing "Living U"?
Unlikely. Notice how in their August 2017 article they bragged about their largest on-campus class yet. Those are young people. Weston is closing LU just as it is having the most success it has ever had, by LCG's own testimony. He must want to spend the LU money on something else.
All those students and potential students should be happy that they are saved from wasting years of their life, and instead can go to a 'real' or at least accredited institution.
"Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens"
What? Skepticism of Hillbilly University deep in the Bible Belt?
It would be nice if these ACOGs provided real reasons and honest stats. The problem is that they always give out whatever propaganda depicts them in the most favorable light possible. Unfortunately, that leaves us needing to guess, even as their members assume that they have the straight scoop. Spin doesn't matter. Shutting down Living University still constitutes a reversal.
BB
"Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens..."
I find that hard to believe....maybe they are not approved to receive student loans, or something like that....but people are free to study under whomever they choose.
I'm sure that Flurry will hear about this and exploit it. He will try to prove that the work of the PCG is the only legitimate work of God.
Yet, his college has less than 20 graduates every year. He brings in young people from all over the world to try and make a BIG show.
Good riddance to Living University. Maybe, they will send Michael Germano packing too.
Comment was made saying: "...God seems to be having a tough time maintaining the integrity of his universities" that he supposedly established to train the true world leaders to come......The god of the Churches of God seems to be one weak creature. He can't keep his colleges open any more than he has kept his churches joined in unity and one in truth..."
And it would certainly appear that way if God, Jesus Christ's Father, had anything to do with any of that, but Jesus, when He walked upon this earth as a 100% human being (without some fractional god-part) told religious leaders:
Matthew 15:13 "… Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."
That Father is no wimp, no weak creature. If anything, Satan is the wimp, but a strong wimp, if that is possible. That vile, evil, thing has his "little helpers:"
2 Cor 11:14 "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."
Of course, Satan's light in reality is as darkness.
:15 "Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."
What they do may all look so good to the outward appearances, but in time the fruit will be revealed whether it is "of God," or it is "of god."
Jesus Christ went on to say:
"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matthew 15:14
The ditches are all about us. All of the xcogs are striving to duplicate the work God accomplished through HWA and cannot do so. They didn't even count the cost before they attempted their ventures that looked as though they would be so successful, "advancing the work," progressing further than eve, etc......
If/when God plants something, then He will surely finish/complete it:
Phil 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath BEGUN a good work in you will PERFORM it until the day of Jesus Christ:"
Satan, the strong wimp, couldn't stop it:
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall NOT prevail against it" Matthew 16:18
Try though they may.
Time will tell...
John
"Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens." Really. Why is it that the Mormons and SDA's and other religious groups are able to operate schools in spite of their theological teachings? Is God's true church being persecuted or did the LCG simply decide that they were wrong in starting Living University and wanted out and needed someone else to blame for it?
If you grew up in the LCG, sat through two hour worship services and had all that literature crammed down you throat, should they really need a university to indoctrinate them with their teachings? Shouldn't they simply have an apprentice program for future pastors? Work alongside other pastors, rotating from one to another every six months and let them mentor the next generation of pastors.
Steve,
If you grew up in the LCG, you heard RCM sermons about half of the time. He had about 10 hours of material that he would recycle through his 80 minute sermons. If you heard him for six months, you heard all he had to say.
LU had a problem. If it educated students beyond RCM's comfort level, it was seen to be challenging him as the ultimate authority in LCG. If all it did was educate students to RCM's comfort level, there wasn't enough material for a two-year degree.
The current university model itself appears to be broken. Note Wall Street Journal opinion piece from earlier in the year: "It has been clear since the 1980s that U.S. colleges are failing...Over 90% of U.S. colleges will be gone within the next generation, as the higher-education world inevitably flips over and sinks."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-high-tech-rebirth-from-higher-eds-ruins-1485123354
Steve D. said, ""Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens." Really. Why is it that the Mormons and SDA's and other religious groups are able to operate schools in spite of their theological teachings?"
MY COMMENT - Nail meets hammer. Steve D. hit the ball out of the park.
As many of us know, the Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Church Of God, Seventh Day - parent Church of the Worldwide Church of God, and Grandparent Church to the splinter Armstrong Churches of God - were the seventh day Sabbath siblings in embryo of the William Miller movement in Michigan until the Ellen G. White as a Prophet splintered the Sabbatarians into the two groups.
Unlike the Church of God, Seventh Day line, the Seventh Day Adventists have operated 2 Universities continuously for over 100 years that I am aware of - Andrews University and Columbia Union College which is now known as Washington Adventist University. Here is a cut and paste from Wikipedia:
Andrews University is a university in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Founded in 1874 as Battle Creek College, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists, and is the flagship university of the Seventh-day Adventist school system,[5][6] the world's second-largest Christian school system.[7][8][9][10] Andrews is the largest evangelical Christian college or university in the state of Michigan, in terms of undergraduate and graduate enrollment.
The university consists of eight schools or colleges, offering 130 undergraduate majors and 70 graduate majors. In addition, post-baccalaureate degrees are offered by all.[11] It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, and the Adventist Accrediting Association (AAA).
Washington Adventist University is a Seventh-day Adventist liberal arts university operating in Takoma Park, Maryland. Since 2008, when its new president Weymouth Spence announced a restructuring, the school has seen its enrollment increase by 50%. Washington Adventist University was established in 1904 by the Seventh-day Adventist Church as Washington Training College. In 1907, it was renamed Washington Foreign Mission Seminary, in 1914, Washington Missionary College, in 1961, Columbia Union College, and in 2009 received its current name.[3]
END OF CUT AND PASTE EXCERPT
Was Herbert Armstrong so selfish that he did not establish an endowment fund for Ambassador University so that "God's College" would live on in perpetuity beyond the life of its Founder? Apparently, he was!
The Church of God movement has a horrible record in the business of higher education when compared to its more successful related movement, the Seventh Day Adventist Church
Richard
"Twenty states currently prohibit us from educating their citizens."
Carefully chosen words there. As if twenty states have laws/policies saying "NO LCG". Weston wishes!
RSK,
Those 20 states did not change their student aid laws between August 2017 and November 2017. Nor did they forbid students from taking LCG courses. All they did was prohibit students from taking out student loans to attend LU. Ironically, there's an LU course that advises students to be careful not to go into debt they can't handle. By LU's own curricular standards, they should welcome the conservative approach taken by those 20 states. I guess their financial self-interest is more important than the financial good of their students.
Remember, though, that even without student loans in 20 of the 50 states, LU had its largest enrollment ever as of August 2017, and had great future projects. That is, unless the August 2017 article was filled with lies. One way or another, we know that either the August 2017 article was lying, or Weston was lying to LCG members in November 2017.
i noticed this page scooped the cogwriter on this story...
The LCG brethren were told that "Living University's future will continue to be bright as it's students and leadership continue to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ." Now they're told it will be closing? Is Gerald Weston looking to buy a luxurious retirement mansion? Or a private jet like Gerald Flurry now has done? Are LCG members wondering if this is WCG all over again? I wonder if they aren't closing the campus because members are all falling asleep from the boring sermons and their bible studies are dry as cardboard laying in the sun. With very little meat in due season at the Feast sermons has a greater affect on members to search elsewhere.
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