Living Church of God's recent debacle with Sheldon Monson has created quite a few job openings in Charlotte. Of course, Gerald Weston is claiming this is because of a dramatic rise in new people interested in joining the church thanks to a new way of doing things with prospective members. For decades the Church of God has made it almost impossible for new people to check out the church and attend services. If you made it past the Gestapo agents of the church then you had to deal with overzealous deacons and deaconesses making the life of new members horrendously awkward.
Now Gerald Weston wants to put on a new face for the public and stop grilling interested people. Too little too late, buckwheat!
Church of God News had this up:
Gerald Weston reports a big increase in the number of people wanting to attend services, as a result of a change of approach, no longer vetting new people so much.
“In the last quarter, July-September, we had more people request to come to Sabbath services than any quarter since the Living Church of God began – that exceeded our 2015 record by 36%. Now there’s a reason for that. It isn’t just the normal situation. We have changed the way, what we require of people when they ask about Sabbath services. For example, when they go online, we used to ask a lot of questions that were unnecessary. And so we’ve cut it down to the bare minimum … We want to screen them a little bit. We don’t want some nut out here coming to services, someone who’s going to be causing a disruption, but we want to be a little bit more friendly and, for those people who are more shy about giving out information … We don’t want to scare them off before we have a chance to engage them. We do ask them about why they came to the decision to attend services, but that’s optional, and that comes after we already have some other essential information.”
Later on the COGNews site, it had this little bit which I saw in LCG's announcements last week, and we had fun with it here. Weston also wants us to believe that there is such a huge influx of new members that they need to hire new employees. However, the real cause may be that Charlotte has lost employees and ministers to the Church of God Assembly. If so, it is freakin hilarious!
Gerald Weston writes: “We have significant personnel needs and are working to fill some of those positions in the field ministry and in understaffed departments here in Charlotte.
Beginning in 2021, the Tomorrow’s World English-language magazine will increase from six issues (one every other month) to ten issues per year. This is a major step forward! This will give subscribers more regular contact with the Church. We will drop four pages, from 36 down to 32, and make some other alterations, but overall there will be more content each year.”
Why has such a large proportion of ministers and HQ staff left (for Church of God Assembly?) that LCG now has significant personnel needs? Disquiet among employees is not recent but goes back to the time of Roderick Meredith, who employed members of his family in positions which appeared not to be merited. He also showed partiality toward people he knew and liked, such as the three who joined from David Hulme’s church, and were immediately employed as full time ministers – and exactly one year later all three were promoted, much to the dismay of long-time ministers.
33 comments:
Suppose, just suppose Weston speaks the truth on an above average influx of "new" interested people.
To me it, based on historical data extrapolation, it would mean that some splinter out there is losing members real bad.
It would be a whopper to be asked about your daughter's skirt length, when one after much deliberation and prayer, finally accepted the "saturday sabbath truth to have significance."
nck
Some time back, RCG also changed standards for attendance, being more "lenient" than before to boost numbers. It's pretty similar to how they count "downloads" or "views." Give it a couple months and you will see there was no change in their strategies, just a new way to count the numbers.
Maybe the lcg should open up a hwa theme park.
You hop on a ride, run thru the darkened tunnel and out pops a oversize herbie head shaking his jowls and screaming "the wages of sin is death" or something of that like.
Might be a real hit with the kids!
Weston writes:
We don’t want some nut out here coming to services, someone who’s going to be causing a disruption,
MY COMMENT:
You know, like someone that shoots up a congregation with a gun, like they had in Milwaukee. Great screening job there LCG.
Presiding Gerald noted: "We want to screen them a little bit. We don’t want some nut out here coming to services, someone who’s going to be causing a disruption, but we want to be a little bit more friendly and, for those people who are more shy about giving out information"
Again..." A litte too late Buckwheat" Lol, got a good chuckle out of that! Love the wanting to be a little bit more friendly. Don't overdue that!
"Come unto me all yea that labor and heavily burdened of heart. We are a bit more friendly than we used to be. Answer less questions and don't be shy, and we might let you in. Take our yoke upon you, though it not be much less of a burden than you were burdened with and hopefully not learn everything about us. For we are somewhat arrogant know it alls and haughty of heart, and you shall find drama and confusion for your soul" Weston 1:1
Alas.
If a doorman had just kept Tkach out in 1961 or something because his dad DID serve in battle in the Pacific and couldn't remember his name.
The disruptiom causing nutcase would have been eliminated in an early stage. :-) :-) Lol.
Nck
Back when I was with LCG, it looked like they let everyone come.
Maybe Jerry cracked down on it recently, and then decided to ease up.
Maybe a current member could weigh in.
If LCG does need to hire, then maybe the employee to member ratio of those leaving was higher.
And they could cut back on the useless TV station spending to have more money for more employees.
Anon. 4:39 A.M. said:"Some time back, RCG also changed standards for attendance, being more "lenient" than before to boost numbers. It's pretty similar to how they count "downloads" or "views." Give it a couple months and you will see there was no change in their strategies, just a new way to count the numbers".
And the results of that experiment in the RCG was a highly agitated Mr. Pack vociferously bemoaning the fact that they were walking in the front door and heading straight for an exit through the back door in no time.
What happened to counting the cost. Welcoming in the "unsaved" and befriending them is one thing. Welcoming in the "unsaved" and enslaving them to a monetary numbers game for salvation is another thing.
Speaking of numbers: is there no Old Testament fear of God's reprisal unto them for numbering those that can carry a sword (wallet/purse)? (1 Chronicles 21)
If the retribution upon Israel for counting was 70,000 men via a plague, has the Monson/Fritts/elders/member
departure (via the plague) cost LCG $70,000 a month?
Maybe Mr. Weston, you should be looking for a threshing floor in Moriah, North Carolina 125 North East of Charlotte and quit playing with numbers.
Painful Anonymous Painful Truth said...
Maybe the lcg should open up a hwa theme park.
You hop on a ride, run thru the darkened tunnel and out pops a oversize herbie head shaking his jowls and screaming "the wages of sin is death" or something of that like...."
It would be "There were two trees in the garden..." or "Sometimes I think most of YOU don't get it"
"..We don’t want some nut out here coming to services"
My recollection of the Armstrong-Doomsday-Cult was that all of the pitifully few new attendees were nutz
Just to be honest, Dave was "bemoaning" before they cooked the numbers...
If LCG wishes to present a friendlier approach to gain prospective members, then what about being genuine, repentant and therefore friendly with those who have been unjustly castigated, accused and mis-treated by them. Is this not ironic? No charity at home; no charity abroad. If these basic matters are never addressed and nought but the appearance is transiently altered, then I cannot see how the overall LCG results will be better.
As for not wanting a nut to attend in LCG, I personally know of several "nuts" who are not only openly welcomed in LCG. and integral parts of its weekly operation, but who openly display their clinically harmful conduct. In one case of a man here in our Ottawa Ontario congregation, he has an ongoing police record as long as one's arm, and while he successfully plays the local LCG congregation game, he declares the teachings of Mr. Armstrong and "these churches" as "a bunch of B.S.", and he lives a life worthy of the most extreme Corinthian. Long ago, the LCG and its leadership negated what one might loosely call the composite immune system of the church body by never remotely following specific scriptural precepts and principles, which also include the Gifts Of The Holy Spirit, all of which when applied in my view would lead to fool-proof inspiration. Now, sadly, it is fool-ridden. Where is the implicitly infallible direction of the ministers who not only do not see these things right under their noses, but are even made a part of them. Yet, these LCG ministers demand obedience -- indeed, unconditional submission -- at the point of a doctrinal sword?
Well if they had no new visitors 3rd quarter and two visitors 4th quarter, that’s a 200% increase. They funny around with numbers all the time. Just ask Jerry Ruddlesden or Rod McNair. It’s a total joke.
Regarding the amusement park... we also need a hologram of Rod Meredith rolling around with his BF Jimmy I’m the Bermuda grass with some 70’s porn music playing in the background. Maybe just before the hologram of HWA? Or how about an exhibit where people can rub the fur the wrong way? So many options!
UCG like LCG
Just what is the difference?
I agree with Anonymous of November 17, 2020 at 1:14 PM - Weston is playing with numbers and minds.
His motive is to be deceptive.
If he wanted to be informative, he'd give actual numbers.
The members know there are no newbies walking into services at their rented Masonic Lodges.
LCG minions should withhold tithes until Weston respects them enough to talk straight with them.
You can be as nutty as it gets, as long as you pay tithes and hand in everything you own.
This blog is exactly what I would expect from those who have left the truth of God and have now been taken over with reprobate minds. Satan is behind everything here. those that mock God's own will pay a severe price. Repent of your Satanic evil and return to the truth of God that was restored for us by Mr. Armstrong. We owe that man our life and must dedicate ourselves to following his teachings.
November 17, 2020 at 10:39 PM, a brainwashed cult zombie.
10:39
We owe HWA our lives? Pa-lease! He and his henchmen owes us for stealing our money, time, families, friends, careers, health, future, peace of mind, and lives! And be assured they’ll pay an infinite fold in the next world for their deceit and destruction.
Very strange case Painful Truth, thanks for posting.
10.39 PM
Troll guy again. It's twisted to poke fun at victims of crime.
This blog is exactly what I would expect ...
If your comment is a pseudo-mocking satire, good job! If you are really condemning the blog and bloggers, I take issue. When the WCG splattered, members went hither and yon, to the four winds and beyond - some stayed, some went mainstream, even Catholic, and some rejected religion altogether. But some at this blog are honestly trying to repair the damage. Guys like Byker Bob took it upon themselves to try to repair the damage. We aren't all ardent athiests!!
10:39, HWA didn't "restore" anything. He lifted his teachings from various other men and other churchs' writings, didn't reveal or give credit to the earlier sources of his material and claimed these teachings as new revelations given to him by God. For proof of this compare his United States and Britain in Prophecy book with the earlier title Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright by J.H. Allen. In doing this, he not only denied these other sources credit where credit was due, but he also deceived and misled others into believing he had some direct link or inside track to inspired revelation from God, which he didn't have. He also promoted his own ideas of a prophetic timeline with specific players and when those predictions didn't come true he simply kicked the can further down the road and continued to promote his own speculations of times and players, drawing from whatever happened to be going on in the news at the time, and weaving those events into his predictions and narrative, promoting those things as part of his "gospel" message. By Biblical standards this made him a false prophet, period.
While there are many of us who make comments on this blog who still believe in keeping the Sabbath, etc., the idolozation of this man is one of the chief sins promoted and nurtured within many of the COG groups today. The idea that we somehow "owe" HWA our lives and need to dedicate ourselves to "his" teachings demonstrates this. We have replaced Jesus Christ with HWA. It is Jesus who saves, and Jesus who sacrificed Himself to pave a way for our redemption, and Jesus who is to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, not HWA, or anyone else for that matter. If we "owe" anything to anyone, it would be Him, and His teachings are what we need to be dedicating our lives to. The teachings of anyone else must be evaluated against those.
Concerned Sister
If this blog is exactly what you expected, WHY are you here then Anon 10:39PM?
If YOU are a follower of the ‘truth of god’ and you think that ‘we owe our life to Herbert Armstrong’, WHY do you visit websites and blogs like these?
Are you in doubt? Is there somewhere in the back of your mind a little voice telling you that all the COG’s are evil? What is your story? Share it with us! We don’t judge. We listen. We discuss. We share our thoughts. Talk to us.
They should target their recruitment efforts toward HOA board members, the type of people who love to make people's lives hell over an improper mailbox color or non-approved flower in the garden bed have just the moxie the ministry is looking for!
Anonymous at 10:39 PM said...“This blog is exactly what I would expect from those who have left the truth of God and have now been taken over with reprobate minds. Satan is behind everything here. those that mock God's own will pay a severe price. Repent of your Satanic evil and return to the truth of God that was restored for us by Mr. Armstrong. We owe that man our life and must dedicate ourselves to following his teachings.”
If you are paying attention, the Banned Blog is actually pretty good for showing how so many bad scoundrels have arisen speaking perverse things to draw away followers after themselves and lead them away from what Herbert W. Armstrong had taught. In a very real sense, Satan really is behind many of the people featured here.
One of the very real and serious problems today is that Satan-sent, Satan-directed, FALSE PROPHETS with reprobate minds, like Gerald R. Flurry and David C. Pack, have used Herbert W. Armstrong's name to attract HWA's former followers. They claimed to be holding on faithfully to everything that HWA had taught at the time of his death on January 16, 1986. But the PLAIN TRUTH is that they quickly went on to promote themselves endlessly and to edit, change, warp, mangle, and pervert virtually everything that HWA had tried to teach. They utterly refuse to repent of their satanic evil and return to the truth of God that was restored for us by Herbert W. Armstrong.
Other FALSE PROPHETS, like Ronald E. Weinland and Robert J. Thiel, have also arisen speaking perverse things to draw away followers after themselves and to scratch these people's “itching ears.”
Individual rebels like Norman S. Edwards arose to preach demonic DIVISION, and James D. Malm arose to preach CALENDAR CONFUSION. They openly and proudly rebelled against what HWA had taught, and yet hoped to get some of HWA's former followers and their money.
Power-hungry types like Roderick C. Meredith wanted to make major changes to put his own doctrinal stamp on his own church business, and to try to make himself out to be right and HWA out to have been wrong and not as smart and spiritual as RCM.
Former apostate Tkach goon Victor Kubic is now running a godless gong show back into the world in order to collect a paycheck and to finish what he had started to do under the apostate Tkaches.
So, yes, it really might be time to dedicate ourselves to getting back to what HWA had taught, rather than follow just any bad character who arises speaking perverse things to draw away followers after himself.
Anon 10:21 I can imagine the Churches of God 7th Day saying the same things about those who have left them back in the 1920' and 30's including HWA. Nothing prevents splits and splintering when personalities arise in any organization that think they have more to say and offer and will get no where personally working for others. Dave Pack is an excellent example of this. The man could never work FOR or WITH anyone as far as I recall. It was inevitable. It is his way and the highway
They're not losing a member here, a member there to Sheldon....LCG is losing congregations! Every bit of this is nothing more than the children's fable of the King's New Wardrobe. Completely delusional, falling apart all around you, losing money and members like crazy....but lets play this pathetic game where we all pretend the King isn't in his underwear exposing himself to everyone because if we believe a lie long enough....well it has to be true!? LCG can't figure out why people are leaving...it's what happens when your words don't match up with your actions. It's called lying, and we're not stupid...we see what's going on.
LCG is losing congregations!
Yes. About 5 out of 300. And in a couple of those 5, as many as half of the members are actually staying with LCG.
Furthermore, Sheldon is going to have a problem when he figures out that his new group has struck a chord with young members who have disproved the old WCG/LCG tithing doctrine, and who were tired enough of the Meredith/Weston despotism that it won't be possible for Sheldon to "crack the whip" without losing members.
Why members are leaving the so-called Churches of God is simple. After decades of ominous prophetic pronouncements, not a one of which ever came true as or when claimed, the fateful in the Lake of Fire pronouncements (for failing to Keep the Law) have lost all meaning.
Instead, in quiet, contemplative readings of the New Testament, thinking individuals have, on their own, pondered the actual life, teachings, and blessings of this Jesus of Nazareth. He's been mostly absent from the literature and pulpit utterances of church officials. In fact, what this Jesus claims is quite contrary to the teachings of the Armstrongian churches.
Simply, most of the controlling doctrines of the Armstrongian churches are not supported by the scriptures of the New Testament. Salvation by grace, through an affirmed belief in the life, death, resurrection and teachings of Jesus Christ is; actually.
The invalidity, falsehood of all the Armstrongian preachers is confirmed by Deuteronomy 18:21-22:
You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ When a prophet [or Armstrongian preacher] speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him [nor attend his worship services, nor pay any tithes to his organization].
Concerned Sister, may I ask if you attend with any COG group?
UCG.
"Anonymous at 10:39 PM said...“Satan is behind everything here. those that mock God's own will pay a severe price. ... return to the truth of God that was restored for us by Mr. Armstrong. We owe that man our life and must dedicate ourselves to following his teachings.”
Some of us -- many of us in fact -- do sincerely believe and practice what we belive to be the truth broadly speacking, much of what was taught to us through Mr. Armstrong, albeit from Very few enough of his sorry underlings and his alleged, self-appointed successors. It is not "the truths of God" against which some of us speak. It is these systemic and ongoing, extreme abuses done in the name of God and his government, and in the train of Mr. Armstrong. these things are opposite to the truth in more than deed and sentiment. Corporate church power people like Gerald Weston, Doug Winnail and others locally use the name of Mr. Armstrong to appeal to those who believe biblically in what we were shown and do understand, and to exert control over people in pain of the second death. One can believe in Seventh-Day Baptist-like doctrines, less the excess and abuses in the name of the "government" of God, of course. So, these are not Mr. Armstrong's teachings; they are held by many of us as teaching from Jesus through Mr. Armstrong. Are you able to separate teachings themselves from those who say they identify with Mr. Armstrong, who falsely claim to follow in Mr. Armstrong's train and purport to carry on "his work"? One can practice the Sabbath (like many Protestants practice Sunday), the sentiment and meaning of the Holy Days, know and believe that salvation is not of works, etc, and also decry the abuses done in the late Mr. Armstrong's name. It is these like Gerald Weston, Dave Pack and others who are impostures. It is these who "mock God's own" and who "will pay a severe price."
If "Satan is behind everything here", then what of the church power politics and the increasing departure from what are said to be "Mr. Armstrong's teachings" by people like Gerald Weston, Winston Gosse, Michael Elertson and others? Is God behind these people and what they do, or is Satan behind them? Any number of ministers in LCG and their shadows say:
"Even if we are wrong God will back us up. God backs up his government."
Does God back up sin? I always assumed that it is we who should back up God; not the other way around. Am I wrong?
If you posted this in sarcasm, then point well taken. If you posted this sincerely, then let me ask with sincerity, are you in part speaking the truth but also in part have you become a flunky for the ministry because you have been weakened by having been mis-treated but then rewarded with local church responsiblities? Like those who come to identify with their abusers? Here is a call for personal discernment.
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