Update on the Ronald L Dart
Evangelistic Association
Thank you for your inquiry as
to the latest developments at RLDEA. We are excited about things that are happening.
First of all, we are pleased
that Joe Limon has been added to our board of directors. I have known Joe since he was the assistant pastor of
the Church of God Seventh Day in Oak Cliff, Texas in the 1990s. As you can see from his bio on our website, Joe is now
pastor of the Church of God Seventh Day in Cedar Hill, Texas.
Joe brings a wealth of
knowledge and pastoral experience to RLDEA. Joe is not a pastor in the rational sense of the
word. Joe is truly a servant pastor. Joe is a volunteer pastor who receives no salary for
his service. He has always been just a volunteer. Joe is now retired and works full-time serving his
church.
The other new exciting
development has to be prefaced with a bit of history.
Before Allie died, she and I
spent a lot of time talking to me about how she would like the money from her
estate disbursed. As you know, most of it went to RLDEA.
First, Allie made clear that
she wanted Ron’s works promoted. We feel RLDEA is doing a really good job of that thru
our social media efforts. Promoting the Gospel of Jesus thru Ron’s
material has always been our top priority and it will always be our top
priority.
Second, Allie made it clear
where she did NOT want any of her money to go. She made mention of several religious organizations
that RLDEA was not to donate to.
Third, Allie made it clear
that she also wanted money to go to charities. She specifically mentioned St Jude’s Children’s
Hospital and the American Cancer Society. I am sorry we have not, up to this point, done
anything in the area of charitable giving. But this changed on April 5 when we made donations to
St Jude’s Children’s Hospital and the American Cancer Society. We will continue to support these two
charities.
Further, because of the
hardships caused by the coronavirus, we are researching to determine which charitable
East Texas organizations we might possibly send donations to -- organizations
that assist people thru these difficult times.
For example, right now we
have a problem in that kids can’t go to school. They are supposed to do their studies on line. Many kids in our area don’t have tablets and don’t
have access to the internet. So we are making donations to local schools to help
kids get tablets.
We are also having an
internet service installed at our Tyler Church of God Seventh Day
building. We are going to then invite kids in our neighborhood
to access this internet so that they can do their homework there. Even though no one is allowed in our building at this
time, we have a nice front porch and yard where they can sit so they can access
the internet to do their homework.
We are long overdue in our
efforts to helping local people.
And let’s be clear that any
contribution sent by the leadership of RLDEA is not something that we will be
rewarded for when we stand before Christ. It is Allie who will be rewarded for directing us to
do this. It
was her money and we’re trying to spend it the way she directed.
So again, we are excited
about these new developments and ask for prayers that God will guide us into
doing good works at RLDEA.
Wes White
wdwhite49@yahoo.com
Personal Comment: Ron Dart was about the only evangelist on
campus that would spend time talking to the campus workers who were considered
second class citizens by most other evangelists and church leaders. He was
always friendly to all he met.
I also know that Wes sticks his neck out by posting here and commenting. Some think it is abominable that he does this. Ian Boyne, from Church of God International in Jamaica, was also a friend of this blog. He and I had some interesting conversations over the years till he was tragically struck down by a heart attack. He discovered that we had more things in common than we do with differences.
Many in various COG's know the church has issues and they see that. We may certainly not agree on some doctrine and some extra-biblical teachings, but the bond that goes deeper with our common heritage is far greater than those that want to keep dividing the church or that waste their time trying to get people to stop reading here.
I am also very glad to see that Allie Dart's money will be spent to help the community she lived in for many decades. The sad thing is that most COG's do absolutely NOTHING for the communities they are in. Their easy way out was always this comment; "God will fix things in the end, so why waste our money and time on them now, They will get a second chance in the kingdom." If the Kingdom of God, that most of them long for is so fantastic, then why would they not want to share that with those around them as a foretaste of things to come?
19 comments:
Tricky situation with it being labelled Allies inheritance. I hope those charities really do get substantial donations. It might have read better had they already sent donation out rarther than talking about it.
Ronald Dart was my favorite minister back in the day. It's a shame he went with Garner Ted instead of establishing his own organization. If he had established Born to Win from the beginning, things would have been very different for him.
DBP
"If the Kingdom of God, that most of them long for is so fantastic, then why would they not want to share that with those around them as a foretaste of things to come?"
Because they are and always have been, all about money.
Had a look at Ron on YouTube. A very gifted speaker.
As I understand it, Allie Dart worked in the real estate brokerage business in that neck of the woods for many decades, and was well respected as a professional in that arena. She literally worked with 100s of locals , in buying and selling their houses.
It is appropriate that funds for the local community, and its children benefit from their legacy, especially since the Darts being childless, were greatly interested in youth education of all types.
Bravo to Mr. White for following the desires of the benefactor.
DBP
Ron Dart in 1978 was a different man to Ron Dart in 1994-1995. Everyone was. He was very honest about the whole Garner Ted fiasco.
You have to remember no alternative advertising existed, only the Radio and Television in 1978. Garner Ted had unique broadcasting skills Ron Dart did not have in 1978.
I hope the donations were more then tokens to provide bragging rights.
I applaud any corrections that are made to the false paradigms of Armstrongism. This is one of them. For the most part, Armstrongism preached separatism from the surrounding communities in which we all had to function. The only charitable efforts which were acceptable were invested in the church corporate. Any contributions to the Red Cross, Unicef, United Fund, or similar charities were seen as aiding the people whom God was punishing. Contributions to the homeless were a violation of the scripture that "he who does not work shall not eat."
Donations to the NAACP, or UNCF were viewed as subversive activities. Any contributions going to faith-based funds were defined as supporting false churches. This produced a "don't care" image for the church. How many times were we told "Let the dead bury the dead."
The fact is that the only way in which outsiders perceive goodness of a group is through its interactions with the community at large, in other words, how it "gives back" or "pays its blessings forward". HWA certainly was aware of this, and although he proscribed us from doing this personally and on our own, he quite hypocritically projected an image of assisting the charities of the peer group in which he had inserted himself.
It is quite natural and also an innate drive for humans to help one another through the difficulties of life. To contribute to the betterment and uplift of the community. It's also a very Christian thing to do. Armstrongism created new Pavlovian reactions in all of its members as part of the brainwashing, thwarting and subverting some of the good and natural qualities of human nature, and replacing them with patterns that met HWA's own selfish goals and needs. It is so good and commendable to know that one group has risen above all of this, rejecting the shell, and restoring perhaps the best quality of human nature which had been taken away. Actually, this means there is great hope for all of us.
BB
With regard to work in the community (particularly during the Coronavirus crisis), it might interest some to know that the COVID-19-related community work of UCG lay elder and Ohio businessman John Miller with the Amish and county businesses attracted coverage from the national New York Times. Miller helped organize a major effort with local Amish and others to fulfill an emergency request from the Cleveland Clinic for 12,000 facemasks to be produced in two days.
As the NYT reported: "Almost overnight, a group of local industry, community and church leaders has mobilized to sustain Amish households by pivoting to work crafting thousands of face masks and shields, surgical gowns and protective garments from medical-grade materials. When those run scarce, they switch to using gaily printed quilting fabric and waterproof Tyvek house wrap.
“'We consider this a privilege that we can come in here and do something for somebody else who’s in need and do it right at home here, and do it safely,'” Mr. Raber said, instead of “taking handouts.”
"Mr. Miller, who is president of both Superb Industries, a manufacturer in Sugarcreek with medical, automotive and commercial clients, and Stitches USA, a commercial sewing operation, calls March 16 “Black Monday.” That’s when social distancing guidelines laid waste to Holmes County’s economy. It’s also the day he convened a conference call with Developing Excellence, an area business group, to discuss the damage. Member businesses employ about 6,000 people, the majority of them Amish. Three days later, Mr. Miller created “Operation Stop Covid-19.”
Details here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/politics/amish-coronavirus-ohio.html?
Talk and type is cheap and much blather gets typed these days. I'm glad and hopeful for good to come of the Darts financial legacy. Actions always speak louder than words.
There are two Dart financial legacies The RLDEA and CEM with Born to Win. And never the twain shall meet.
km
2:19pm It's good to see that John Miller stayed with UCG and didn't go with COGWA.
Please point me to the sources which say that Ron went back and said why he really left gta because of what gta was as opposed to Ron's heart problems which he should admit he used as a reason to leave.
Also, please point me to where Ron admitted and then paid back all of the money he made and received benefit from via perks with wcg and cgi because "the ministry has taken over from the Levites" which never was true while claiming to be an adherent to the law of the first five books of scripture which he and his cohorts submitted were not done away with.
The Jews clearly know that there has been no transfer of tithing as well as many others. The ot and nt show that this transfer never was made.
It is known that Allie probably made some money in her job over the years which probably allowed the Dart's to give to others. However, it is quite likely that their ability to do that was because of Ron's nice paychecks which could have been invested wisely.
Until then, he remains along with her (a minister's wife) in the same boat they were always in. Just because he may have been the best of the armstrong bunch and did some good things is irrelevant. Scripture shows that bad people do good at times.
As for the defenders of Dart (here or anywhere else), it is selective judgment to place him on any kind of higher level than any of the other "ministers" and while you can do that, it doesn't change the fact that he committed wrongdoing according to the law that he promoted and never did anything to pay it back.
In other words, if you don't pay back for something done wrong, you are still guilty of it even if you quit doing it and praying forgiveness for something that can be paid back, but is not, is fake. You still have done wrong to many thousands of people who received no repayment. The good does not cover for the bad which was never payed for, especially with no admittance of wrondoing.
Where do you get that repayment teaching, 10:17? Does the Talmud teach that?
So far as I know, Ron Dart never repented of teaching the Armstrong heresies. He just taught a modified version of them.
1017 ???
So far as I know.. clearly not much in regards to Ron.
I wonder what was Rons true reason for jumping ship and joining GTA.
10:17pm We're all thankful that you're not our judge!
Good on you Mr. White for deciding to shift these resources.
The more money making a positive, real difference in the community (and the less spreading Armstrongism-lite) the better!
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