As Living Church of God members age, more and more are dying off, leaving "new" members to fund the church's operations and payroll. After two acts of rebellion (from WCG and Global), LCG's earliest members were church members from the 1970-1990's. As they age income comes from Social Security and people can't give as much. Newer members struggle with daily living and give even less than their previous generation. LCG is looking to fill that gap with the Boomer generation putting the church in their wills. After all, money is the king in the Church of God.
Some will immediately say, that the church has always done this so why pick on LCG?
The Church’s demographics are changing. Two or three decades ago, most of our members had come from our former association, and many of them were longtime Church members. Since then, many new people have come in. In addition, recent years have seen quite a few weddings of second- and third-generation members, and it’s great to see all their kids at services. We grandparents love it! It’s wonderful to see the teens and young families bring their liveliness and energy to fellowship on the Sabbath.
Many who came into the Church in the 1970s and 1980s (or earlier) have moved into retirement, so we are seeing the primary source of the Church’s regular income transition to faithful newer generations. Many of the new attendees and baptisms that we are seeing are from that newer group. God always provides for His work!
The demographics of retirement have also brought other changes to the Church’s finances. People in society often remember their church or favorite charities in their wills, and some of our members have been very thoughtful to remember the Church in their planned giving. We greatly appreciate it, and we thank you! It is an important source of support for God’s work.
Notice how they subtly shift attention away from putting them in your will to always having a will in place. Diverting attention has always been a subtle way of manipulation in the church.
Whether or not you remember the Church in your planned giving, it is important to your loved ones that you have a well-drawn will, or other testamentary instrument. Without one, things can be difficult for your survivors, and a poorly drawn one can be problematic. Preparing a thoughtfully considered testamentary instrument is an act of love.
It’s good to seek the advice of legal counsel or a financial advisor, and most counselors advise even young couples or single adults to prepare testamentary instruments. Going through probate court can take years and can incur substantial costs, so it’s wise to lawfully route assets around that possibility. Bank accounts, stock accounts, retirement accounts, and similar documents can have a designated beneficiary upon death. And, in most states, real estate can be transferred to a designated successor or beneficiary by filing a special deed that transfers the property automatically upon death while keeping owners in full control during their lifetime.
End-of-life healthcare is also an important consideration, and setting forth your wishes in advance relieves loved ones of difficult decisions at a difficult time. The end-of-life healthcare that you don’t want may be as important a consideration as the healthcare you do want. Such matters are important personal decisions that can be made in advance. Advance healthcare directives are only used when individuals can’t voice their wishes themselves, and are usually coupled with a durable power of attorney for healthcare, allowing important decisions to be made without difficulty. An attorney can give detailed advice on what is needed in your state or country of residence. Some states offer premade forms for their citizens to use.
You can also request our helpful free booklet Planned Giving, or you can read or download it at LCG.org/planned-giving. Local congregations should also have a copy of the booklet on their information tables.
You know the old saying: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” That saying can be applied in more than one circumstance—if you don’t have a well-drawn will, there may not be a way for your wishes to be carried out. A little planning can make a big difference!
25 comments:
At least there's diplomacy in this remember us in your will request. This is in contrast to Rod Meredith's crass 'give us your excess wealth' exhortation. For the one last push of course.
They are not getting my hard earned money. It is going to local charities that actually do some good.
I do plan, and obviously wish to add to the quality of the lives of my children after I'm gone. Rather than leaving some toxic and controlling church any money though, I think that it's incumbent upon those of us who have benefitted from the (note the subtle invention of a new word!) "Caucasity" of it all, to try to do some good for some of the people our ancestors exploited and screwed over, many of whom are still working towards that elusive state of existence known as equality.
"We greatly appreciate it"
Of course you do you fucking bastards
No one has a better approach to the topic of one's will than Apostate Dave C Pack. Truly one of his more stupid, illogical and ignorant rants about the money he craves.
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The real motivation behind this change in doctrine is quite transparent: Pack wants his money now. He knows this whole scenario isn’t going to happen, but he needed a way to get his hands on his followers’ cash to realize his dreams now. He didn’t want to have to wait, as HWA taught, until it gets close to the end. He doesn’t want to wait until they die and leave the goods in their Will. Even that is considered being “faithless”:
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From the classic "Clarion Call"
(1:42:30) Now let’s talk about Wills. Naming the Restored Church of God in your Will sometimes might cause an individual to think they’re doing the right thing. That’s good, that’s wonderful. But they feel comfortable that they’ve done their part.
Think about it. How much faith does that require? The Church gets everything when you die and you don’t need it anymore? Where did you sacrifice anything?? Now again, that’s a nice thought. But all you’re saying is since you’re dead you don’t need anymore financial security.
No faith. Get it now— When it requires faith. When you’re dead you don’t need it. We have people who have hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars— some even millions— they’re telling us they’re going to give us in Wills. We’re kind of put in a funny position when you think this through. Do we pray that people die so we can get it? We can’t do that! I’m going to get an inheritance from my uncle some day. I don’t pray that he dies— I can’t do that…
Don’t put God in the position where you have to die, where He must say “I need that money” and you won’t turn loose of it now. If you named us in your Will, it could take months or years, particularly if there’s litigation before we have it. Think it through… [talks about the natural “cycle of death” bringing funds to the church]
(1:45:40) We live in a strange, different, final generation—final generation. Don’t look for excuses to hold on to your treasure! We don’t have the luxury of waiting years…Today, leaving everything in your Will doesn’t work!
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Again, Pack resorts to extortion by making members feel that God will be put in a position of killing them so the Work can have funds. Even though Pack likes to claim that he is gifted in logic, what we find here is twisted logic. What kind of God does Pack serve? The god of Pack is quite a greedy, malicious monster that is easily provoked when He doesn’t get his money.
Don’t put God in the position where you have to die, where He must say “I need that money” and you won’t turn loose of it now.
Taking Pack's approach, wouldn't the logical action be NOT TO LEAVE HIM YOUR MONEY IN YOUR WILL? Then God would get no benefit from killing you.
I'd suggest instructing one's lawyer to invite your ACOG leader to the reading of your will, and include a brief sentence that you are leaving $X.xx to the (choose letter)COG as your final tithe check, and the balance of your estate to be equally divided between the Native American Rights Fund and United Negro College Fund, BLM, or NAACP. Really rub your tyrant's nose in it, by giving your money to others who have been ripped off.
Let them ignore this verse:
Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children:
But let’s just ignore the current young generation today and not pass down anything, even though it is almost impossible for someone in their twenties to purchase a home.
See the difference between the church back in Acts, is that new converts were giving to the church WHILE they were still living, not after they died. It was a sacrifice!! I guess the LCG members who have land, should sell it, and bring the money and lay it at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:37). I mean the evangelist's feet.
If someone feels compelled to tithe or give, just simply buy a term life insurance policy , with the Church as the beneficiary.
A policy of $500k is only about $30 a month for a 30/40 year old. You use your own money while you are alive, and they can have it with an insurance policy after you "bite the dust".
Then lead the way "Tonto" and take out such an insurance policy. Lead by example.
But of course you won't.
Maybe if the ministry didn't bleed the church dry with over inflated 'travelling costs' the would be no requirement for dead peoples dosh.
That’s a great idea Tonto, but what happens if that splinter group splits or imploded. Say like you did a term insurance policy for Global Church of God. Then what happens?
QUESTION:That’s a great idea Tonto, but what happens if that splinter group splits or imploded. Say like you did a term insurance policy for Global Church of God. Then what happens?
ANSWER:
You simply change the Beneficiary while you are still alive on the policy. Easy Peasy. Beneficiaries are NOT forever and can be changed as long as the policy holder is still alive. This also acts as a brake on a group going bad, and taking your money while kicking you out.
And a happy "Giving Tuesday" to you...
I watched their television show - or as much as I could stand of it. It was on very, very early Sunday morning; who's watching sleazy OTA television channels at that hour??
The show itself was anachronistic, out of step with the times, right out of the 1970's, so was the show's presenter!
The show's subject was the book of Revelation: problematic Greek apocalyptic-poetry now largely abandoned by Christians - let alone scholars!
At the end of the show, these Luddites, still living in the early 1970's, before Armstrong's spectacular prophecy failure, before the Armstrong-doomsday-cult itself imploded, offer a 'magazine', you heard right, a MAGAZINE!!
The magazine was touted as being "free", but watch out: it could end up costing you more than membership in a Beverly Hills Country Club!
All this talk of dying in depressing. Listen to this hot geeky chick tell you how to overcome the abuse of the cult and PTSD by having fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT1Iu58BHqU
Run up a big dept and leave it to the church.
Anon said "The magazine was touted as being "free", but watch out: it could end up costing you more than membership in a Beverly Hills Country Club!"
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The Lit was "free" like the worm on the fishing hook is "free" to the fish.
From a justice point of view, it's ridiculous. You are a member of an organization that has robbed you of your natural rights, yet are expected to remember them in your will. If there was justice in the world, they should be paying you. And that's after the church leaders have spent time in prison.
Ssssshhh! There may be some ACOG members or ministers lurking around here and we don't want to offend anybody!
Dennis - have you read the books on Persuasion by Robert Cialdini?
They are eye opening.
Free Tomorrow's World magazine
"..like the worm on the fishing hook is "free" to the fish"
lol..lol..
They talk about the youth in their sect; they don't have anything in the way of youth, just old folk they work over as milchkuhs.
Today's youth in not interested in discredited mid-century Arm$trongism!
Scripture says that if every mouth was stilled that God could make the stones to be able to speak and proclaim the gospel. Organized religions need money to stay in existence. The question is do we need organized religion?
If WCG had not imploded and they would had invested in local church buildings instead of four jets and other extravagances, they wouldn’t be asking for families inheritances. The holy day offerings could have been used to keep up the property taxes and insurances. That opportunity is gone.
Having your own buildings means you can, avoid hotel closures due to disease epidemics, persecution (if they are gods church), and they can even have weddings, baptismal, spokesman’s club or funeral services. It could have also been used for feast locations including the FOT for those who don’t want to pay expensive hotel cost.
It's interesting to consider a few what ifs, isn't it 8:14? I think that what doomed the splinters is two phased. First, the ones who corrected the Armstrong doctrines retained the name and the assets. This crippled those who either intended to retain the doctrines but evolved into whatever they are now, or made a show of retaining the doctrines in hopes of grabbing as many tithe payers as possible. Even so, the result was like a middle aged man loosing a lifetime accumulation of assets in a lawsuit or divorce, but retaining the majority of his salary. In any case, the incredible power of the voice and message of Armstrongism was lost. That totally eluded the splinter groups!
The splinters, in sticking to the doctrines, also perpetuated the policies set by HWA as if they were equal in importance to their proof-texting scriptures. This caused them to be stuck in their bubble, a bubble in which local congregations could not own their own buildings, because the local congregations were merely tithe farms to support headquarters. There was an opportunity to be open and to reach out to the local communities in which the congregations lived and existed, which might have produced growth. But they continued to be secretive, myopic, and cultic, hiding whatever light they thought they had under a bushel basket, and have quite predictably languished. They totally forgot that Loma first found out about Millerism through Mrs. Runcorn, a member of the local community who was not reclusive or hidden.
At the end of the day, Armstrongism was the author of their own doom. Well, that, and Gamaliel.
To 5:34
"Even so, the result was like a middle aged man loosing a lifetime accumulation of assets in a lawsuit or divorce, but retaining the majority of his salary."
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Very well said.
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