Here's a first for the Churches of God! Victor Kubic is reporting that former UCG members who split off to another splinter cult are stealing cattle from current COG members.
The church’s home office was recently advised that some seven head of cattle have been tragically and wrongfully taken from members of United Church of God in remote areas of Zambia. This creates a terrible and completely unnecessary crisis for these members, and prayers from Church members for resolution and protection are urgently requested.
These stolen cattle were for the most part offspring of heifers that were given to these members years ago as part of a LifeNets International program to help United member farmers (and other beneficiaries) rebuild livestock lost to a devastating cattle disease a decade or so ago. This program of gifting heifers to needy people by LifeNets was patterned after the Heifer Project International headquartered in the United States with an office in Lusaka, Zambia. The cattle are the personal property of the individuals to whom they were given, not some other organization or group.
In Zambia, when these heifers become oxen they are not only able to produce calves to rebuild lost cattle and to provide dairy products and manure for fertilizer and fuel, but they are also the “living tractors” for these subsistence farmers to plow their fields. With planting season taking place just after the Feast of Tabernacles, the loss of these oxen will dramatically affect the members’ ability to plant their next crop. For them, this act of thievery could not have come at a worse time.
Looks like the Church of God a Worldwide Association are really practicing Christian principles.The unhappy report that we received and verified related that these cattle were forcibly taken away by former friends or acquaintances of these victim-farmers. These former friends now belong to a Church of God fellowship largely comprised of former members and former ministers of the UCG. It is also our understanding from this report that the leader(s) of that fellowship refuse to intervene to stop the theft of these cattle by their members, nor have they condemned the actions that their members are taking.
Victor Kubic