And people wonder why so many look at today's Church of God being so confused:
John Miller began the presentation by explaining that a lot of energizing work went into the Strategic and Operation Plans that the committee will present and a lot of people contributed to them. The plans build on what has been done before and add to it.
The essence of what is before the Council came from a spontaneous moment in the August 2021 Council workshop during a discussion about Truth in Love. Truth in Love provides a roadmap to achieve the Church’s vision. The concept is simple enough that a child should understand it.
Turning the Page From Old to New: Aaron Dean said that adding scriptures to the plan would be beneficial to the entire Church. In the plan that is being presented, you will see the same plan in two different forms. The second layout is the recasting of the existing plan in a new light to help the Church to move ahead spiritually. It adds a spiritual scale alongside the existing physical elements.
The new plan format will allow pastors to give sermons based on the strategic plan. We expect significant enhancements and modifications to the proposed format in the coming years.
In the presentation, he demonstrated that markers in the old format Operation Plan show where the same elements show up in the restructured plan.
Mapping the Path Toward Living the Vision: John Miller reminded the Council of the Church’s vision statement and the importance of mapping a path to fulfill that vision. This plan will provide more opportunities for more engagement at a local level so that every member can do their part. There is a lot of pent-up opportunity for people to get more involved.
Truth in Love Map: Aaron Dean said that everyone in the world lives somewhere on the Truth in Love map. God the Father and Jesus Christ live in the upper corner of the top quadrant. Others live throughout the other quadrants. We seek to move on the grid toward a goal to “Be Like Him.” If you are in the top quadrant, no matter where you are in that quadrant, you are okay.
We hope that all elders and members will be in a culture of truth in love. We want to practice servant leadership and make meaningful relationships, practicing truth in love to become more like our Father in heaven. We all want to live in that top quadrant, but there has to be a change in each of us to change the culture of the Church.
62 comments:
They can certainly move forward in their goals if they'd only shake the old Armstrong crap from their shoes as they walk out of the barnyard.
This new quadrant is going to be a disaster for internal PR. Many UCG ministers, by now maybe most of them, realize that they are teaching many lies, but believe that they are doing it in love, for a greater good. Pressing ministers to teach "truth" in "love" will turn more of them into conscious hypocrites, and will cause the best ones to rebel or leave.
Now that is potentially a great comment. 🤔
The concept is simple enough that a child should understand it.
Quick! Find me a child!
-- Groucho Marx
"Turning the Page From Old to New: Aaron Dean said that adding scriptures to the plan would be beneficial to the entire Church."
Sure, why not. This could really help the plan. I mean, like us being a church and all that.
'whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant and whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave'.
Quite the opposite of the culture we find within Armstrongism and the cog movement.
The way ahead is to embrace the Gospel and too abandon the flawed doctrines of HWA such as BI etc etc etc...........
The fact that membership is declining within the cogs is a witness against this movement but especially against the 'shepherds'.
See even if they are right on the British Israel prophecy stuff, if you have not love, you have nothing. 1 Cor. 13:2
I doubt they get it, because by default they are in the wrong template. I wish them the best of luck or good fortune.
No ACOG can even think about dropping British-Israelism
(even tho it's causing falling membership!)
...yeah, they're stuck with that horrid Armstrongist teaching...
Many, if not most of the ministers are elderly and hence terrified of risking their jobs by trying to correct any church teaching. Not that they have my sympathy. Ordinary church members risked their jobs over the Sabbath and holy days over the decades, and in some cases did lose their jobs. For ministers, this trial has come later in life.
Hi all.
I'm the koala bear in the pic. I want to take this opportunity to thank God for keeping Australia free from cats such as lions, tigers, leopards and other predictors from which my kind has no defense. So thank you Lord for sparing us from going the way of the dodo bird.
To think:
That's how HWA started out:
Declaring COG7 heretics because they wouldn't accept his crackpot-Anglo-Israelism.
The dumbass high school dropout also believed in 'Egyptology'
(the art of divining prophecies by measuring Pyramid tunnels!)
Pyramidology arose in the same ignorant times as Anglo-Israelism
HWA fell for both of them
"We seek to move on the grid toward a goal to “Be Like Him"...We want to practice servant leadership and make meaningful relationships, practicing truth in love to become more like our Father in heaven."
Pros and cons:
On the upside, bringing in a consultant who has a methodology can cause people to feel that they have some power of control over a situation that has gotten out of hand. (I have seen this in operation throughout my career.) The organization spends some money, seeks professional advice and everyone feels like something got done. In a few months the whole methodology will fade away or be replaced by the latest and greatest. But it does transiently lift morale. Sounds pretty cynical, I know, but in my career, I have observed and participated in events like this many times.
On the downside, I get the impression, right or wrong, that this is a group of Armstrongists trying to systematize further human behavior. Now their systems analysis extends to that normally spontaneous and creative quality called love. This could be a subheading under the broader topic of Performance Christianity. For churches that are already involved in a heavy emphasis on works, this kind of thing could carry them further in the wrong direction. This effort could be based on the meme, "If we can't measure something, how do we make judgments?"
My two cents: Rather than looking for something that will systematize further the behavior of congregants, leadership should look for and eliminate those factors that suppress the expression of love and respect for the truth that members would naturally feel.
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FROM THE COG NEWS WEBSITE...
United Church of God
In early March Victor Kubik was informed by the Council of Elders that his presidency would not be renewed in May 2022. The CoE has drawn up a short list of candidates, which is understood to include Aaron Dean, Peter Eddington, Darris McNeely and Rick Shabi.
"New plan format will allow pastors to give sermons based on the strategic plan." What he means is, "The new format will control what the pastors teach."
Their explanation of these changes brings to mind a parody concerning the Vietnam War entitled, What the Captain Means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ1AYVcAS7k
Are you implying that many if not most of the UCG ministry don't believe in what UCG teaches ?
Maybe that's the plan 4:40.
paul said...
Hi all.
"I'm the koala bear in the pic. I want to take this opportunity to thank God for keeping Australia free from cats such as lions, tigers, leopards and other predictors from which my kind has no defense. So thank you Lord for sparing us from going the way of the dodo bird."
Hi Paul, God here. I let you evolve over 15 million years along with your friends who did not have to put up with the evolution of lions, tigers and bears on the Island Continent.
It was the dear humans, that showed up and killed off the Dodo Birds with Over-harvesting of the birds, combined with habitat loss and a losing competition with the newly HUMAN introduced animals, was too much for the dodos to survive. They were doing fine as all of the other unique creatures of Australia until they showed up. The last dodo was killed in 1681, and the species was lost forever to extinction.
The Evolution of the species has your back. Just stay away from humans if you can.
Anonymous 11:05 wrote, "No ACOG can even think about dropping British-Israelism (even tho it's causing falling membership!)"
This would have to be done carefully. If they were to decide to drop BI, they will find themselves in the same dilemma as Tkach, Albrecht and Feazell. How does one make change with minimal damage? Easy to criticize but hard to do.
I believe there are people, a group of unknown size, in Splinterdom who warm a seat in the pews simply because they are proponents of White Nationalism and, hence, BI. They know in their heart of hearts that God loves White people more than people of color. Those people will leave when BI leaves. And will probably end up somewhere in the Christian Identity movement.
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8.36 AM
Absolutely. Most in their old age would have seen through the moral compromises within their organization. They know for instance that church tyranny is non biblical, and that the sheep are deliberately been fed spiritual milk. Or that church culture is partial towards the most morally challenged. But they've decided to remain silent and coast along until they die from old age.
I'm 8:36. 9:56 If what you comment is true, then they are in grave danger of spiritual jeopardy with God Almighty. Spirit and truth Jesus Christ taught about. Where is the truth if a corrupt church culture is partial towards the most morally challenged. If the very leaders dont believe and even like their own church culture. Who cloned such cowards? Who exactly is their God? Satan or Jesus Christ? To what cause do they really lead their congregations? Their own cause ? To ruin them unto death?
Your comments give the impression some kind of loose ministerial coward group have decided to "remain silent and coast along until they die" Who'd want to be led by those type of cowards? Their get up and go has clearly got up and went.
May God Almighty deliver his church in this godless leaders era.
Never heard of such confusing psyco babble in all my life. Reads as if Sycresisim has infected UCG. Not good news at all. How unbiblical are they going to go? They'll be preaching from the book of knowledge next....a medieval forgery...oh wait...
Rick Shabi is a CPA ,with business experience.
It is my understanding that the President position is more of an operational one, and home office management one. The council and the Chairman are more of the ecclesiastical issues.
Im surprised by the Aaron Dean nomination. He has got to be something like 70 years old now, and as I recall he had some kind of brain surgery a couple of years back. Would seem a bit old and worn out for a demanding day to day job.
Tonto:
Aaron Dean worked for me briefly when he was a student in Big Sandy. He was very impressive. He immediately deduced what the job entailed and worked diligently. Other students required micro-management and were balky. It was like you had an experienced hand on his first day of work. If he is the same as he used to be, he is redoubtable.
Aaron turned down Herbert Armstrong's request that he become Pastor General of WCG.
Kenneth, what is the frequency?
There is no need for a president or chairman can’t the board all work together? Jesus Christ is the head of the Church period!!!!
6.28 PM
I take that claim with a grain of salt. Perhaps HWA said that when he was drunk.
This reminds me of something very humerous that happened years ago when my wife and I practically lived at the dirt track stock car races each weekend. We went there to see the big powerful cars like the Winged Outlaw Sprint Cars, the Late Models, and the Modifieds. Every once in a while, they'd bring in some unbelievably lame "filler" cars, like micro sprints, that just made ring a ding noises or sounded like leafblowers, so the big cars would have time to cool down between rounds and before the main event. One Saturday night, while I held our seats, my wife needed to use the bathroom while the leaf blowers were running. When she got back, they had finished their main event and she asked "Hey, Babe, who won?" I smiled and said, "It doesn't matter!" She laughed uproariously, and repeated this back to me several times over the next week.
Why repeat this story now? To illustrate the fact that it is really of no consequence who they pick as new leader, or what new models they employ. They're the leaf blowers of the church world, and are trapped there. So, it's unimportant who wins, or what he does, as they continue to fade.
Tonto, I think they are all around 70?
Sounds a bit like scientology--next thing you know there will be OT levels and "the bridge"
Sounds a bit like scientology--next thing you know there will be OT levels and "the bridge"
Hang around ACOG ministers long enough and you'll realize this has already been done. Scientology turns its top people into Operating Thetans. Armstrongism turns its most zealous participants into Operating Satans.
GTA loved to hunt and fish in Alaska, so it's a pity he didn't live long enough to see the fuss over the Gravina Island "Bridge to Nowhere" which might have given him some ideas.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Aaron turned down Herbert Armstrong's request that he become Pastor General of WCG.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
6.28 PM
I take that claim with a grain of salt. Perhaps HWA said that when he was drunk.
This is what Aaron shared with me personally as well as the drama around that time just prior to HWA's death
"They know in their heart of hearts that God loves White people more than people of color."
I'm in UCG, and I haven't met anyone of this description. Rather, I simply see a devotion to church dogma including BI due to the conviction that this is the true church and all its doctrines are correct.
Is anyone out there sincerely convinced that the original apostles went through rigmarole like this? It seems to me to be just another way to sort people into hierarchical levels, so that those at the top of the structure can assert their importance, instead of everyone being equal brethren, with only Jesus above each member of the Body. Still obedient to the example set by Pope Herbert.
1.57 PM
How old was Aaron at that time?
And I wouldn't mind knowing the tone in which it was said, ie, it might have been a kindly compliment by HWA rather than a genuine offer.
Is anyone out there sincerely convinced that the original apostles went through rigmarole like this?
Scripture tells us that the mother of James and John tried to push Jesus into giving her kids the highest positions in his entourage. Jesus resisted the pressure, but church leaders after him have a pretty sorry record of letting politics and favoritism rule the day.
That was so hard to read, and I don't think I understood much, so it can't be useful to newcomers or old-timers.
It does, as someone earlier mentioned, sound a lot like Scientology.
Why bother wasting time on trying to obtain existence in a non-biblical upper quadrant?
Most Christians would express encountering God in more biblical terms, like being in the arms of Jesus, or being at the foot of the cross.
However, as 1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, while jabbering about quadrants - and depicts why UCG is so powerless, while espousing their alternate method of salvation.
According to Aaron Dean, being in that upper quadrant will change church culture.
None of these church "leaders" would ever think about changing UCG's culture by actually teaching about Savior Jesus, or justification, or grace - but this quadrant thing is what gets them pumped.
Very sad - but 1 Corinthians 1:18 has all of the top men of UCG pegged as foolish, perishing, and powerless.
Hopefully, more members will seek Jesus, his justification, and refuse to support UCG's foolishness.
Anonymous 3:00 wrote, "I'm in UCG, and I haven't met anyone of this description...I simply see a devotion to church dogma including BI due to the conviction that this is the true church and all its doctrines are correct."
If someone believes is in the dogma of BI, it is unlikely that they believe that people of color are at parity with White people. This is because of the nature of Armstrongist BI. It proposes that the Northwest Europeans are the chosen people of God. Hoeh's Compendia are really about the dominance and importance of the British Israelites in world history. Dean Blackwell preached that Israel would rule over the Gentiles in The Wonderful World Tomorrow. The WCG used to have strict standards as to who come marry White church members. There were no equivalent standards for people of color in the WCG that I know of. Correct me if I am wrong. It was years before young people of color could attend AC. Blacks and Latins had a special fun night at the FOT in Big Sandy. Blacks at one time had to sit in a special section in the big auditorium at the FOT in Big Sandy. I asked a Deacon about this in the Auditorium and he told me "God's church believes in segregation." With that segregation came an attitude of condescension towards "non-Israelites." I have heard it, I have seen it and I have lived it.
I do not know what life is like now in Splinterdom. Maybe these foundational views have all been abandoned. Maybe some great reform has taken place that none of us know about. But I doubt it. I think the jury is out. If your splinter group abandoned BI, we would have to see what the response would be. It is irksome when Armstrongists feign innocence when this topic is brought up.
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Back in the late 1950s, at the F/T in BS, my parents sent my brother and I from the dining hall (Old Tabernacle) to the Big Tabernacle to get seats for our family for Ambassador Fun Night (the Talent Show). When the deacons allowed us in, we actually had an altercation with other kids as we attempted to save seats for our families. Suddenly, the deacons came through and told us that we would all have to move and find other seats, because the section we were in was going to be the "Colored" Section. By the time they had done this, many others had entered the Tabernacle and there were no more really good seats left. My parents were angry at my brother and I, thinking us to be foolish and untrustworthy to even accomplish ths simplest task. We tried to explain that we had had some really good seats, and that the deacons had come through and made it "Colored Section", but we were accused of making that up because "they would never do such a thing in God's Church." And, in my parents' defense, they actually didn't do it for regular services. The talent show was considered to be a social event, as opposed to religious services. Years later, some old guy from Texas on one of the forums explained that it had been done to keep the church compliant with local law.
My problem is that I would have thought the church to be in the vanguard of enlightenment, standing up for equality and justice for all. But, someone was enjoying compliance with local law and custom way too much to be bothered doing that. I hate that we were taught that non-whites were gentiles with the minds of wild animals. It continued later at AC, when the ministers, teachers, and profs continued to chant that same mantra, even as the rest of the country was awakening as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. Racism is going to be a vibrant part of Armstrongism for as long as British Israelism is part of the belief system. It is proof positive that Armstrongism is not God's True Church.
How do you know ? To write 'absolutely' denotes inside knowledge.
11.37 PM
How do I know this?
1. The "you shall know them by their fruits" thingy.
2. Personal dealings with the ministers and elders.
3. I'm old and have personal experiences.to call on.
4. I've read many books on abusive Christian churches
5. I too am human.
"Proving all things" is a life long process, so people can easily be deceived in their youth. But still deceived in their old age? And especially ministers who would have heard umpteen complaints from abused members. No inside knowledge is required for my conclusion.
It’s astonishing, there’s absolutely no validity to BI which is utterly untenable as the evidence provided by this site and many others attest too.
It stands in complete contrast to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the epistles of Paul who was sent to the gentiles with the message of salvation through the Jews in Jesus Christ. They were ‘grafted’ into Israel as scripture so plainly and explicitly states.
This love of God for both Jew and gentile should indeed vanquish these appallingly racist theologies.
But alas Armstrongism has embraced them and expanded on them.
Perhaps if the UCG abandoned this theology and truely grasped the message of the gospel, church leadership would not be such an issue.
To do so would of course lead to their speedy demise as members flee and money (tithes) dry up.
Regardless their decline is well underway.
Anonymous 7:29 wrote, "Years later, some old guy from Texas on one of the forums explained that it had been done to keep the church compliant with local law."
Thanks for the corroborating evidence. Regarding the statement above, Herman Hoeh told me the same thing in correspondence with him. He stated that the Church was following the norms of larger society and that there was no theological basis to such policies. And he sent me newspaper clippings evincing the mainstream American attitude towards minorities at that time.
Oddly, the fact that this was conformist and not theological seems to have never been presented to the church. As the deacon said, "God's church believes in segregation." He didn't say "We are doing this so the surrounding community will not be agitated." And Hoeh's writing on the races was regarded as theology not speculative history in the WCG. The Compendia were companion pieces to the Bible and part of the inventory of booklet theology. (Although Dean Blackwell told me that there was debate as to whether church members should have access to the Compendia. It was thought that they would not understand it.)
If the racial policies of the WCG were a legal/sociological position and not theological position, why was this never clarified to "the brethren?" Would not the "cream of the crud" (RCM) not require some education on something so inapparent and subtle? The brethren thought they were the chosen people of God and Gentiles, both White and people of color, were confined to a subordinate realm for eternity. As George Wallace might have said, "Israel now, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever." I hold the opinion that Southern congregants in Armstrongist denominations are especially weak in the flesh concerning this issue.
This view on races may have faded out in modern Splinterdom. But I never heard of an admission of guilt or a formal renunciation of anything past from that quarter. I think these views still smolder in their pews.
Thank you for the statement, "I hate that we were taught that non-whites were gentiles with the minds of wild animals." I have not heard that principle since my days of working at AC Big Sandy. Since this is based the Nebuchadnezzar incident, it would seem to have a theological footing, notwithstanding Herman Hoeh's assertion.
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lovemap
n. a person’s mental image of the ideal lover, the ideal love relationship, and ideal sexual activity with the partner, expressed in fantasy and in actual sexual behavior. It incorporates issues of sexual orientation and also of desire for deviant behaviors (see paraphilia). [proposed by John Money] Source: https://dictionary.apa.org/lovemap
If its a TOP quadrant (1/4th), then their square must be tilted 45 degrees. How fitting!
Totally correct Anonymous 1:09, “It’s astonishing, there’s absolutely no validity to BI which is utterly untenable as the evidence provided by this site and many others attest too.”
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The problem that they have is the self righteousness (knowledge puffs itself up). They feel that the BI birthright blessings are still physical, and they have bypassed Paul’s interpretation by misapplying Abraham’s blessings (Gen. 12:3). Paul uses this scripture in Galatians 3:8-9, to fulfill the spiritual meaning of the blessings to all people. Somehow Armstrongism bypasses the spiritual meaning and it goes back to something physical. It’s dangerous, and they won’t change. Somehow they know more than the Apostle Paul.
In their booklets: America and Britain in prophecy, they say after the year 1800, Britain and America began to possess the birthright promises.
It can be disputed physically, biblically, scientifically and logically.
When taking a closer look at America:
Germans immigrated to America: 6 million from 1820 to WW1
Italians immigrated to America: 4 million from 1880 to 1920
Irish immigrated to America: 4.5 million from 1820 to 1930,
French immigrated to America, 730K were from 1820 to 1950
Not to mention the mixing that occurred with native Americans and africans who were brought over.
So how can Germans and Italians who are considered Gentiles be associated with Manasseh?
And how can the French who are Ruben, and Irish who are Dan transform into Manasseh? At least when the tribes of Israel who left Egypt, they maintained their tribal territories in tact when they settled in the promised land which their boundaries. But somehow thousands of years later, these physical migrations combining into one nation are ignored by the splinters.
Although they “may” have the gift of prophecy, if they do not love, they have nothing. (1 Cor. 13:2).
11.59 AM
Does knowledge really puff up? Err, no it does not! The more one learns about any topic, the more one realizes how little one knows. Which is inherently humbling.
In ancient times, people had crumbs of knowledge, and felt that their crumbs was all that there is to know. So they felt like junior gods with their Mickey Mouse knowledge. But not today. So the "knowledge puffs up" is a dated scripture, just like some fulfilled prophesies.
Anonymous 11:59
Good observations. Further, I would like to see Splinterdom mount a credible defense of their assertion that Ephraim and Manasseh are separate biological nations. There is now the genetic science that would permit this kind of a determination. At a minimum, the Ephraimites and the Manassites should be distinct subclades or groups of subclades. This is just another failure point for BI and it fails at this point.
The lesson to us in the real world is that you can't reason with people who set out to willingly believe fantasy. And for the reason of credulity their entire theological edifice is dubious.
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"..there was debate as to whether church members should have access to the Compendia"
There were a lot of things Armstrong-slaves didn't have access to, such as their HQ Member Files. Whereas local ministurds - and by extension their deacon friends + their gossip wives could pore over, chuckle at, sensitive, often salacious information. Now you know why you got dirty looks from them and their women at church.
ANONYMOUS WROTE:
"There were a lot of things Armstrong-slaves didn't have access to, such as their HQ Member Files. Whereas local ministurds - and by extension their deacon friends + their gossip wives could pore over, chuckle at, sensitive, often salacious information. Now you know why you got dirty looks from them and their women at church."
MY COMMENT:
There needs to be some kind of "COG Freedom of Information Act", where any and all privately held information held by a COG or minister can have direct access by that person at any time, and that information can be redressed, or deleted upon request. In fact, any of this private information should have to be signed off on contractually, in advance!
Oh please 6:54. You mean HQ member files that contained all the deacon and deaconessess wishful thinking and wild gossip.
The members are mere cartoon characters to many corrupt elite. They haven't a clue about reality of members at all. I recall a deacon once arguing with me over my career which was completely different to what he'd concluded. Only problem was he'd never bothered to actually ask me what I did for a living but with tremendous arrogance told me what he assumed I did.
Many ministers are complete slaves to their own deacon and deaconessess gossip control.
Why Tonto Why? Your idea speaks of desperation. Desperation to control members.
Any information kept on members in a Christian church is godless behaviour.
Let them wallow in cheap gossip. Let them think rubbish and lies. Maybe God wants corrupt leaders deluded.
Speaking of records, I really enjoyed reading about and laughing at all of the activities of myself and friends in the expose John Trechak wrote on the "manpower papers" for Ambassador Reports. I could just imagine the conniptions we gave to the con men in charge as they sought out possible leaders from the Embarrassing College student body. They had records on many of us from the early SEP years forward. I mean, they were giving us aptitude tests, and monitoring our physical fitness proclivities, and noting our attitudes from the time we were teenagers!
Thats new to me, I didn't realize Ds had that kind of access. Thought they just handled chair arranging in the rented halls and other bits of grunt work. Maybe yours were more active than the ones I knew.
LCG's Rod McNair is so careless and clueless that, when Living University was operating, his "pets" among the students figured out how to get access to "confidential" member records. Rod McNair can't be found on a "love map" but he is definitely in the top right quadrant on the "stupid map."
Since when did D's need access RSK? You mean access to actual files, when access to the ministers is all d's need.
“For I jointly testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophesy of this book, that if anyone adds to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book”. (Rev. 22:18)
Makes sense, if you have gossipy ministurds...
6.06 AM
What's your point?
“UCG: Will You Be Allowed Into The Top Quadrant On UCG's New 'Love Map'"
Better just hope that there are not too many dirty old men in the “just showing grandfatherly affection” Quadrant of the UCG's new “Love Map.” There are few enough teenage girls in the UCG already without those old boob-grabbing guys getting them kicked out.
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