LCG's real vision is impending doom, rampant sex, famines, gay-sex, wars, straight sex, pestilence, sex, money collapse, sex, Russia, sex, China, sex, the Great Whore, sex, king of the north, sex, king of the south, sex, the law, sex, the Beast, sex, and more sex. Instead of preaching about that inconvenient dude they shy away from and everything that grace, justification, and sanctification bring, they wallow in the pit of impending doom and seek to scare people into joining up with them instead of inspiring people to walk on a restful journey to a peaceful kingdom they claim is waiting for them.
We were very encouraged by the Tomorrow’s World Presentations given by Mr. Ames last weekend. There were 52 guests in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. We began the congregation there several years ago in large part due to a TWP, but it has remained small, with about a dozen members. We are hoping some of those 52 will catch the vision and we will see some growth. Mr. Ames then traveled to Augusta, Georgia, for another TWP on Sunday with 44 guests attending—another fine response. Mr. Rod McNair held a TWP in Charleston, West Virginia, but several inches of snow blunted our expected attendance. Still, our members were pleased to see four zealous souls drive an hour or more to hear Mr. McNair. On Sunday, he was in Bristol, Virginia, with 17 guests. We had follow-up presentations in several other cities where our members had the opportunity to visit with 22 guests. This week, Mr. Ames will be giving a presentation here in the Charlotte area; Mr. Wallace Smith will be giving presentations in Arcadia and San Louis Obispo, California; and I am scheduled to be in Memphis, Tennessee, for a presentation. Mr. Lawdi Ferreira is on a ten-day trip to visit our brethren in Zimbabwe and Malawi, returning on March 20. This is the first ministerial visit conducted in those nations since the start of the COVID restrictions, and it is no doubt greatly appreciated by our members there.—Gerald Weston
I cannot imagine how mind-numbingly boring it would have been to sit there and listen to Richard Ames preach the same words he has never expanded upon for the last 40 some years.
Why does LCG see the need to send these boring men out to "inspire" communities into joining their "vision"? What should be happening is that those 12 members in Columbia should be filled with the love of Christ, live that love, and share that love with others so much so that people are drawn to them and want to share in their joy.
Christianity has its greatest impact by the day-to-day actions of its followers touching the lives of others than it does with any pope, evangelist, Chief Overseer, apostle, prophet, Pastor General, minister, priest, or any of the other titles vain men give themselves. While some of these figureheads may actually be inspiring people to be followers of Christ, it is the regular everyday people who make an impact.
Columbia, MO Population: 121,000+
52 attending with at least 25-30 of them LCG members
52 attending with at least 25-30 of them LCG members
Augusta, Georgia. Population: 197,000+
44 attending with at least 20 LCG members in attendance
Charleston WV Population: 48,000+
4 guests from outside the city, no one from Charleston attended. Unmentioned how many members were there. Snow to blame.
Bristol, Virginia. Population: 16,000+
17 guests with at least half or more LCG members.
Pretty much for all COG organizations, the total cost in marketing to get one new baptized member is around $100,000 all in.
ReplyDeleteInteresting figure- in my time behind the scenes at LCG, they would aim for a cost per response of $10 (total cost of the program over the total responses). However, most often the figure was many multiples higher than that... if the figure was $20 per response, that would mean that for every 5,000 booklets sent out, you would get one baptised member. I would think that $100k figure is not too far from the mark.
DeleteLCG allows visitors?! I thought all these cults have security guards at the door the way WCG used to have.
ReplyDelete12:19, The only visitors they recognise are those who have been indoctrinated with Armstrong's heretical teachings. Also, they pick & choose who gets baptised and those who won't. Remember that money is the name of the game in the ACOG.
DeleteWhat a sad bunch. Glad I'm not part of that life sucking group anymore.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteTonto,
It’s a totally unsustainable economic model. Its the same old same, producing the same poor results and returns. Yet when we take a look at the early church, the growth was phenomenal, and there was no ‘broadcast’ magazine or radio. That growth came from the evangelicals, the membership themselves of the church. There are flourishing churches out there, growing because of the direct evangelising of an active membership in their respective communities.
The main problem all churches have is retaining membership. But that is also true with most community organisations.
The Gospel is being spread regardless of the near invisibility of Armstrongism today and the near total lack of success in its recruitment efforts.
How much enthusiasm could a presenter work up these days? There was always a sense of urgency prior to the great disappointment of 1975. I mean, we "knew" the Germans were coming, and it was going to be Catholic Inquisition time very soon!
ReplyDelete1975 was 47 years ago. That's 2-1/2 19 year time cycles! If Philadelphia got 2, and Laodicea got 2, what the hell are these people even doing? If I were one of these presenters, as I spoke, I'd be thinking, "Oh, no biggie! If 3 to 5 fails, we'll just reset the clocks for another 3 to 5!" Knowing what we know today about Armstrongite prophecy failure, how could you not just phone it in??? Noah only goes so far in covering such ignorance and naivete.
Weston said that he hoped some newbies would catch the vision, and join LCG.
ReplyDeleteSince LCG doesn't have Jesus as a selling point, and instead only feature very dull ministers like Doug and Wally, I decided to lend a hand to my LCG buds.
To add some desperately needed pizazz to the LCG messaging, I'm offering the following catch the vision catch-phrases, for LCG's consideration:
Catch the Vision - Focus on the Shadows; Ignore the Reality (Colossians 2:17)
Catch the Vision - Forget the Russians; the Germans are Coming!
Catch the Vision - Preaching the Return of Jesus in Just Three to Five Years, for Eighty Years and Counting!
Catch the Vision - Keep the Sabbath Holy; But No Worries, We Allow Fire (Exodus 35:2-3)
Catch the Vision - Our Matzos Are Amped!
Catch the Vision - Digging a Trench Back to the Old Covenant
Catch the Vision - Remember the Sabbath; Forget the Sabbath Rest
Catch the Vision - Join the Church that Encourages Wife Spanking!
Catch the Vision - We've Got Member Spanking Every Friday!
Catch the Vision - Saving Grace? No, We're Saving That for Protestant Preachers
Catch the Vision - Your Kids Don't Deserve Your Estate!
Catch the Vision - Forget About DNA; Discover Your Israelite Roots
You're welcome, LCG!
OK, now thats funny.
DeleteThat was great
DeleteDo you realize the song you crossed off is in the UCG and COGWA hymnals?
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, it's not in LCG's. They're Still using the purple "Bible Hymnal" after all these years.
UCG is a little more willing to talk about Jesus. It seems Rod Meredith made some steps that way (although he didn't go far enough, possibly because he knew it would be unpopular among the traditionalists), however Weston is going back to the old WCG- it sees Jesus as more of a messenger of God rather than God.
Delete@2:37
ReplyDeleteAlso, web-linked newbies fact-check Herbie-Heresies in real-time!
In sermons, I heard the traditional Christian teaching ridiculed as setting up Jesus as some sort of rebel upstart who changed all of His Father's principles and commandments. Armstrongism was a core shift of that, a core shift for which they ended up needing to deemphasize Jesus in order to support. Jesus was seen as an echo of the Old Testament, and not as God walking amongst us, ushering in an entirely new era, bringing the latest and best information to humanity. To the Armstrongite, the only change that Jesus brought was a change in method of sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Everything else remained exactly as it had been in the Old Testament/Old Covenant.
ReplyDeleteI think it cost $100k/convert back in the 1960s, but by 1968 it stopped growing, has been downhill ever since with steeper marketing costs yielding negative-return-on-investment. Why? Because the product is so bad....take Anglo-Israelism - please! take it!
ReplyDeleteI thought all these cults have security guards at the door the way WCG used to have.
ReplyDeleteThese days, the proper name for them is "greeters."
But sadly, given what's happened at some more mainstream services (First Baptist of Sutherland Springs and Tree of Life Synagogue, for examples), they ought to have security on their minds as well.
ReplyDeleteWHEN THE BLIND LEAD THE BLIND THIS IS **NO** VISION!!!