Trouble At A Texas College

 

Screengrab from Collin College Youtube video

From a reader:

I don’t know if you have seen this, but a former COG member and Ambassador University faculty member, Neil Matkin, is in the news. My niece is at this college and this isn’t the first time Matkin has been in the news at this college.

 

At a Texas Community College, the Attack on Free Speech Is Coming From the Right
BY BRANKO MARCETIC 

Community college professor Michael Phillips spent the past year speaking out against a right-wing “purge” of progressive faculty at his college. Then he was fired.

For the past year, history professor Michael Phillips has been warning about a right-wing “purge” taking place at Collin College, led by administrators angling to remove progressive voices from the Texas school. Then he himself was purged.

 

Further down the article, there is this about Matkin:

Phillips had been clashing with administrators for some time before he was fired. Phillips immediately butted heads with now president H. Neil Matkin when he was a finalist for the position in 2015. Concerned that Matkin had received degrees from an unaccredited college run by the Worldwide Church of God (now known as Grace Communion International) — described by one former adherent as a “white supremacist doomsday cult” that taught that God approved of slavery and wanted white people to rule the world — he recalls confronting Matkin privately, asking him about his attitudes to matters like interracial dating and evolution. 

 

According to Phillips, Matkin got upset. For Matkin’s part, he’d later complain that Phillips had “come to the conclusion the church was racist and that therefore I was racist.” 

 

In 2021, Kera News of North Texas said this concerning issues at Collins College over students begin sent back to class for face to face class in the midst of the pandemic: 

Amid controversies over COVID-19 and fired professors, some blame Collin College's president
Over the past year, several controversies have been swirling around the college system in Collin County, north of Dallas.

Some faculty say morale is low because of continued concerns regarding COVID-19 safety protocols. For a long time, the college didn’t post COVID case counts online. Matkin once wrote that the pandemic’s effects “have been blown utterly out of proportion.” Meanwhile, over the summer, the college’s dean of nursing died from COVID-19 complications.

National organizations have berated the school, blaming Matkin for speech and academic freedom violations. Professors who’ve been fired have sued the college.

Further down this article: 

Tensions began to bubble more than a year ago, after some faculty, like longtime professor Audra Heaslip, wanted the college to consider online-only classes during COVID-19.

“The board of trustees made the decision for the college to go back face-to-face during the pandemic. I did not merely accept that but I questioned it,” Heaslip said. “They told me that I put outside pressure on the college to go completely online, which is not accurate.”

Heaslip was fired. She wasn’t the only one. 

 

There’s history professor Lora Burnett, whose contract wasn’t renewed after she sent a negative tweet about then-Vice President Mike Pence. 

 

Burnett's Twitter post led to complaints from State Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican, who tweeted that Burnett should go. He also sent a text message to Matkin asking if Burnett was paid with taxpayer dollars. Matkin responded, saying he would "deal with it."

Burnett said her free speech rights were violated. The school denied the accusation and said it doesn’t talk about personnel issues. 

 

In October, Burnett sued the college. 

 

The school fired another professor, Suzanne Jones, who taught at Collin College for 20 years. She told KERA it was because she questioned the college’s COVID health protocols. Jones, too, has sued the college. 

Matkin then got into trouble for mocking a Jewish member of the faculty by putting a bowl on his own head when talking about the faculty member mocking the yamalka he wore: 

The high-profile firings grabbed the attention of investigative reporter Michael Vasquez. In preparing a story for the Chronicle of Higher Education, he sought out former Collin College employees, and ran into problems. He learned many had signed nondisclosure agreements or NDAs. They’re rare for universities, but not Collin College, Vasquez said. 

 

“There were a number of former employees who I talked to who mentioned, 'You know, sorry, I wish I could talk to you, wish I could dish dirt or whatever, but I signed an NDA and I can’t,'” Vasquez said. “So I don’t have a firm grasp of how many, but I can tell you it’s not three, it’s not five, not seven. It seems like it’s considerably more.” 

 

Vasquez confirmed a story about the time Matkin put a bowl on his head, as if he were wearing a yarmulke. He was impersonating the college’s previous president, who’s Jewish. 

 

Matkin told Vasquez he was "going for a couple of laughs." 

Collin College history professor and writer Michael Phillips was shocked.
“I wonder how comfortable Jewish people feel at this institution where they think a symbol of their faith is a punchline?” Phillips said. 

 

Matkin, who’s not Jewish, told Vasquez he made a mistake, and would never do that again.

 

D - Lets Make Even Better had this to say about Matkin in March of 2021:

At Collin College, a Collision Over Free Speech

Matkin says he was caught off guard by the opposition to aspects of the reopening. “What I underestimated was that there are people who are scared beyond anything that I could imagine,” he says. “And they weren’t wanting to hear somebody talk to them about operating in the new normal. What they wanted to hear was the college is closing. And I didn’t say that. If I had to go back and do it over again, I wouldn’t try to bring logic to an emotional argument as I did.”

At the time, Matkin told faculty members in an email that the effects of the pandemic were “overblown,” and that Texans were “one hundred times more likely” to die in a car crash than from COVID-19. His math was wrong, Matkin now admits, but he stands behind his point that it was possible to mitigate the risks of the virus.

“I think early on it was hard to get good information. I do not believe [the effects of the pandemic] were overblown. In fact, it’s proven to be a worldwide tragedy,” he says now. “There were things that I did say early on that—would I say them today knowing where this thing was headed and what was going on? No. What I was trying to do was calm fears and trying to help, but I wasn’t terribly helpful at that point.”

News reports citing members of her family say that Iris Meda, the Collin College nursing instructor who died in November after contracting COVID-19, first thought she would be teaching online. Matkin disputes this.

“Iris Meda was planning to teach face-to-face nursing classes from the day that she was hired, and she knew that and had been excited about it, according to folks that knew her,” he says.

Matkin says that Meda and others in her classroom were wearing masks, and administrators do not know for certain whether she contracted the virus at Collin College. One of her students did test positive for the virus shortly before she began experiencing symptoms.

“Her death is tragic,” Matkin says. “It’s unfortunately become a symbol for some [faculty members]. My response to them just recently was, ‘Friends, we have a lot of faculty members that pass away for a lot of reasons.’” (In response to calls that the college memorialize Meda, Matkin has suggestedhonoring “all of our fallen colleagues.”)

Matkin attributes his seemingly callous announcement of Meda’s death—deep in an email about other college updates and news around Thanksgiving—to something of a clerical snafu. He intended that another email with more information on Meda, including details on funeral services, would be sent out first. But it was held up while he waited for word from her family, he says. (The Thanksgiving email did not include Meda’s name.)

One of the most damaging articles about Matkin came from The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

‘That Man Makes Me Crazy’ How one president shattered norms, played down Covid-19, and sent his critics packing.

There is a lot more out there about Matkin, almost none of it flattering.

Academic Association Opens Investigation into Collin College over Fired Professors

After four months of stonewalling, Collin College reveals the ‘contacts from legislators’ over Pence critic

Collin College doesn’t renew contract of noted historian, author who was critical of school

Collin College Settles With History Professor Fired Over Tweets

What Did You Sign Up For? – Part 1

 

What Did You Sign Up For? – Part 1

A Review of Herman Hoeh’s “Which Old Testament Laws Should We Keep Today?” 

By Neo

This is a review of an article written by Herman Hoeh titled “Which Old Testament Laws Should We Keep Today.”   The copy of the article that I will be reviewing is dated 1971.  I have found no subsequent revisions.  This document represents the vetted Armstrongist statement on this topic.  It was written by Herman Hoeh under the aegis of Herbert W. Armstrong, regarded as an Apostle by the dispersed Armstrongist organizations.  Followers of Apostle Herbert W. Armstrong cannot abrogate or revise his words or words he approved just as they cannot abrogate or revise the words of the Apostle Paul.  So there is no need to review the writings of organizations derived from the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) on this topic.  Any writing with standing in the Armstrongist theological and Apostolic tradition will be compatible with Hoeh’s article. Any article published by a denomination derived from the WCG that conflicts with this article will be a renunciation of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Apostleship.

Two Models of Biblical Jurisprudence

Hoeh emphasized the importance of this topic.  He stated in the article “Everyone needs to understand in detail the answer to this question.  Christian growth – ones very character – depends on understanding the answer to this question.”  This analysis will begin by defining two models that provide a means of comparing the Hoehist view of the law with the Christian view.  

Model 1:  The Hoehist Model

1.     The Old Testament litigation (OT) contains God’s spiritual law from the beginning.  

Hoeh’s statement: “First, remember that God’s basic spiritual laws existed from the beginning. . . God will not alter his spiritual laws. The spiritual laws describe the very character of God.  They enable us to know what God is like.”  

2.     Parts of the litigation in the Old Testament are still in force.  

Hoeh wrote: “’Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel (Mal 4:4).’ This law we are not to forget.  We are to keep it.”

3.     The New Testament (NT) is a spiritual enhancement of the Old Testament.  

Hoeh wrote: “The purpose of Christ’s teachings in the “Sermon on the Mount” was to magnify the Old Testament law, not annul it.”

Model 2: A Common Christian Model

1.     God has an eternal law by which he lives.  He is not subject to an external law but he is a law unto himself (sibi ipse ex). 

2.     The Old Testament litigation is an instantiation of the eternal law adapted for use by the ancient nation of Israel.  The Old Testament is derived from 1 above and, therefore, in part resembles 3 below. 

3.     The New Testament litigation is an instantiation of the eternal law adapted for use by all of mankind under Christianity.   The New Testament is derived from 1 above and, therefore, in part resembles 2 above.

The Eternal Law

During the Middle Ages there was a controversy in the church about God’s relationship to law.  This was known as the Ex Lex Debate.  Some concluded that God was subject (sub legi) to some kind of law.  But this seemed to make this law superior to God.  This debate was resolved with the conclusion that God is sibi ipse ex, a law unto himself.  This eternal law was defined by Thomas Aquinas as follows:

“By “Eternal Law’” Aquinas means God’s rational purpose and plan for all things. And because the Eternal Law is part of God’s mind then it has always, and will always, exist. The Eternal Law is not simply something that God decided at some point to write (“Ethics for A-level”, Max Dimmock, Andrew Fisher).”

It is not clear what Hoeh meant in the term “from the beginning” in his description of the essential spiritual law in point 1 of his model.  One might conclude from this that he is referring to the creation of the universe or the creation of Adam.  But his statement, “The spiritual laws describe the very character of God” places this law in the category of the eternal law in the Christian model because God’s character is eternal.  And in this Hoeh departs from orthodoxy.  

The Old Testament Litigation was Implemented for Humans

Strategically, Hoeh has positioned the Old Testament litigation as the Eternal Law in his model.   This seems to lock the Old Testament litigation into place and would prevent it from ever being superseded.   Note that he states explicitly, “God will not alter his spiritual laws.”  This sets up his later argument that the New Testament does not replace the Old Testament but extends it spiritually.   But the Old Testament litigation is clearly an adaptation for human beings.  It speaks of the seventh day, stealing, coveting, lying and adultery.  These are human, earth bound activities and concepts. In the depths of timelessness, why would God have, as a part of his essence, a law against adultery when human sexuality had not yet been created?  Why would we think that any temporary human concerns and attributes would be a part of his essential eternal law?  

The OT and NT are both adaptations of the eternal law to human conditions as the Christian model indicates. The OT and NT are based on the eternal law but they are not the eternal law itself.  The eternal law is intelligible to us in some of its features because we are made in the image of God.  God can instantiate other laws as needed.  Perhaps, there are laws that pertain to angels that we would not even understand.  God can also modify or revoke this litigation.  That the OT is based on human circumstances and is not in the category of the eternal law is so self-evident that it cannot be denied by the rational mind. 

The Ten Commandments will always exist as long as humans exist.  They are meant for humans.  When humans cease to exist as humans through resurrection, we cannot really expect these laws to continue.  This clearly marks them as a special implementation of the eternal law not the law itself which will never go away.  But there will be other laws for resurrected human beings.  No doubt this litigation will have points in common with both the NT and OT because they are derived from a common source, God’s Eternal Law that reflects God himself.  

Did God Have a Foreskin?

Did you sign up to observe the OT litigation?  You are responsible for keeping the statutes, judgments, ordinances and laws in the OT according to Herman Hoeh.   These are a part of God’s spiritual law which God will not alter.  Although circumcision was implemented through an Abrahamic Covenant, it was later incorporated into the OT litigation and conveyed by Moses to Israel (Leviticus 12: 1-2).  (A question to pose here is if circumcision is a part of God’s unalterable spiritual law, why did God alter it by making it spiritual in the NT?  Apparently OT laws can be altered contrary to Hoeh’s assertion.)

Why would God make circumcision a part of his spiritual law that describes the very character of God from eternity as Hoeh claimed?    Does God, in his essence, have a foreskin?  The inclusion of circumcision in the Mosaic Law would suggest so.  Hoeh states, “They (spiritual laws) enable us to know what God is like.”  Here we collide with another troublesome area in Armstrongist theology concerning the Doctrine of God.  The idea that God’s eternal law would include circumcision comports with the mistaken Armstrongist idea that God in his essence has a body.  This means he would have always had a body, was always male and always had a foreskin in his essential being and circumcision would then have some kind of meaning.   And the claim that the OT litigation is God’s eternal spiritual law exalts the OT to eternal, essential divine status and at the same to demotes God to a human-like bodily state.  We understand circumcision to have been transformed into a spiritual condition under the NT but its inclusion in the part of the Mosaic Law to be kept leads one to a review of other eternal laws that one may have signed up to keep without being aware of it. 

Coda - Part 1

The OT litigation, including the Ten Commandments, started within the created human sphere and will end within that sphere.  Hoeh missed the boat.  He did not understand that the OT was an instantiation of a higher divine law that reflects the nature of God himself.  He mistakenly set up the human-oriented OT litigation as this Eternal Law and then proclaimed it inviolate and slid chunks of it into his formulation of the New Testament.  If Hoeh made this kind of mistake, what are you really signed up for?  But that is a topic that I will continue to examine in Part 2.  

Gerald Weston: Beware of Fake News

It was kind of funny reading how Gerald Weston wants us to beware of fake news. Remember, this is coming from Living Church of God..need I say more?

We hear a great deal about fake news these days and there is no lack of it coming from all quarters, as objectivity is sorely lacking in politics, academia, media, and popular culture. However, there is also much misinformation regarding God’s plan and how He is working it out. The doctrines of Jesus and first-century Christianity have been drastically altered, watered down, and infused with pagan philosophy and religion. You likely understand this, being readers of Tomorrow’s World and viewers of our television program. Our booklets point out biblical truths that you never hear in most churches, where greater emphasis is placed on “feel good” gospels rather than straight-talk messages from the Bible about the need to change and become conformed to the Jesus Christ of the Bible.

Look at the decades of misinformation that has streamed out of the church, doctrinally and spiritually. Weston is in no position to warn us about misinformation, particularly when it comes to religion. Living Church of God does NOT follow first-century Christianity.  That is a totally impossible thing for any of today's groups to do.  It doesn't matter how much they claim to.

LCG's booklets do not steer people to the truth but to legalistic mumbo-jumbo that is not required of new covenant Christians. The so-called "straight talk" is devoid of anything about grace, mercy, and justice, all things Jesus talked about and accomplished.

Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthians is as relevant today as it was in the first century: “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Paul explained later in this same chapter about those preachers who bring a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into minister of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (vv. 13-15).

Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians is certainly relevant today when it perfectly describes the hundreds of splinter groups all doing what they want and not being followers of the Word. 

Of the five things listed below they have zeroed in on one of them...REBUKE. LCG has a sad reputation of using this to the extreme, though rather selectively depending upon who you are. Rod Meredith was heavy-handed at this down through his slash and burn periods when he was over Church Administration and then as leader of two separate splinter groups. Long-suffering has never been quality that LCG and its leaders practiced, but then neither did Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God.

No, the problem was not for that day alone. The Bible prophesied this would be an issue for our day as well. Paul instructed the young evangelist Timothy, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).

And the prophet Isaiah was instructed to take God’s warning and to “write it before them on a tablet, and note it on a scroll, that it may be for time to come, forever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us’” (Isaiah 30:8-11). 

And here we go again, sex. Is there any topic that fascinates LCG leaders more than sex? 

It has never been popular to teach the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and to warn this world of what is to come if we do not turn around and go a different direction, but it is shocking how rapidly censorship of non-politically correct ideas is descending on our Western world. Truth is suppressed, while every kind of sexual filth and violence is promoted. You would be surprised how often one of our television programs is rejected by a station or governing authority because it does not fit the politically correct narrative.

Ah, the other favorite topic of Weston and select COG leaders...we are being persecuted. These sad boys have no idea what persecution is. Having an asinine broadcast or article rejected is not persecution. Real Christians around the world face persecution every day from Muslims, Hindus, and others. They are dying for their belief while Weston, Theil, and the rest of the boys go home every night to their nice homes, feed their faces, drink their wine, and play on their computers. Persecution has never been so horrible!

Paul instructed Timothy regarding “the last days” and how they would be marked by danger, as “men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control. . .” (2 Timothy 3:2-5). Danger may come in many different forms and include physical injury or death, but what about the danger we see today of someone losing a job for tweeting a comment that does not fit the agenda of today’s “social engineers”? 

This is the world in which we are to preach the truth unapologetically, and God tells us through the prophet Ezekiel that we will be held accountable if we fail to do so (Ezekiel 33:1-7). Even the Proverbs warn us that we will have to answer to God if we hold back from warning the world of where it is heading: “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” (Proverbs 24:11-12).

LCG and the mother church never preached the truth unapologetically. From Herbert's, "A strong hand from someplace" tot he wishy-washy sermons and mind-numbing cable programs, LCFG and most of the COG's are like kindergarteners playing on a playground spinning the merry-go-round as fast as they can to see who they can throw off.

Dear brethren and co-workers, we have a job to do. We are faithfully doing it and your prayers make a difference. When we receive an unexpected tithe from someone who is not even a subscriber, or an inheritance from someone we don’t even know, we recognize that God is blessing us and answering the prayers of His faithful people. Frankly, those of us here in Charlotte and in our offices around the world have been humbled at how our Creator has blessed us during this difficult economic time. I cannot thank you enough for your generosity and for your heartfelt prayers. Please remember to give thanks for the way God is blessing His Work, and for the blessings He pours out on each of us individually.

Sincerely, in Christ’s service,
Gerald E. Weston

Always end your letter with a money appeal. While you lazy and unappreciative brethren fail to send in money, we want you to know that random people send us money all the time. Even more amazing is random people sending us tithe money! Woo Hoo! Now get off your butts and send us your money, too!

Former WCG Member On Being Black and Jewish

On being Black and Jewish

June 28, 2020

SAN DIEGO — Being of mixed racial background and also Jewish often feels like no matter what group you are with, you are perceived as the “other,” sometimes prompting doubts if there is any group with which you truly belong. Such was the thrust of comments made by Jessica Lemoine and Jenni Asher during an Internet forum on Sunday sponsored by the San Diego Outreach Synagogue and moderated by Rabbi/ Cantor Cheri Weiss and her husband Dan Weiss.

Asher, a musician with a degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London, is now studying for the cantorate at the Academy of Jewish Religion in California, the same institution at which Rabbi/Cantor Weiss was ordained. Married to a Jew whose family fled Egypt, Asher decided to convert to Judaism first in a Conservative ceremony and later in an Orthodox one. When her 2-year-old daughter grows up, she explained, should she want to marry a religious Jew, she doesn’t want anyone to question the authenticity of her mother’s conversion.

Prior to Asher’s decision to become a Jew by choice, she had been a member of the fundamentalist Worldwide Church of God, whose members often styled themselves as inheritors of Biblical Judaism. She said she decided to search out “real Jews” and began attending synagogue in London, then continued her exploration of Judaism and eventual conversion in the United States. At first, she said, she welcomed explanations of synagogue rituals from members of the congregations she attended, but after she learned her way through the rituals, she was bothered that people still assumed that she had to be instructed — that because of her skin color, she must not be Jewish. “To be seen as the other, comes as a surprise, when you don’t think of yourself as the other,” she said.

Asher recalled playing violin at a Friday night service, and being asked afterwards by a female congregant, who was White, whether it was true that she was Jewish. The mother explained that her daughter is half-Mexican and considers herself to be, like Asher, a “Jew of Color.” Asher said anyone who looked at the girl would consider her to be White, no matter her Mexican heritage. “I had to grapple with my feelings: ‘This girl passes, what problems does she have?’ At that point, Asher added, “I realized that I’m as racist as anyone else.” Difficult conversations among people of different race are needed “to recognize these feelings exist.”

Asked if she had ever experienced anti-Semitism, she said she had been challenged by people of her former church, but that the opposition she felt was “different” from the kind of negativity she experiences as a Black person.

Read the rest of the article here:  On being Black and Jewish

GCI: Lamenting Racism and Loving Your Neighbor

Grace Communion International has the following up in regards to the recent horrific deaths and racial tensions. Not many of the COGs out there are publicly expressing grief or sorrow as to what is happening in the United States right now.  Instead, they spend their time spitting and snarling about everything being a sure sign the end is near.  None of them feel inclined to get off their self-righteous pedestals and do something constructive during this time. We certainly do not see them loving their neighbors when they cannot even love their own members.

In our monthly GCI Prayer Guide for June 2020, we begin with these thoughts – “Togetherness is a theme throughout Jesus’ teachings. Through corporate prayer, we draw closer to one another, reconciling differences, focusing on the same events and opportunities…”

The US has once again been rocked by the horrific incident of excessive force by police that led to the tragic death of George Floyd and resulting in protests turned destructive in more than 30 US cities.

The US is not the only nation where injustice and outrage are a cyclical pattern. It is emblematic of human history and human nature. It is regrettable that we face this unrelenting pattern time and time again as humans treat fellow humans in unspeakable ways.

Considering the recent events, I am asking our church family to lament together for the tragic loss of George Floyd’s life and the deep-felt pain by his family and the African-American community.

Please pray for our cities even as government officials make reasonable appeals and attempts to restore peace for safe assemblies. And may restored peace bring about meaningful dialogue to properly address grievances and bring about positive change.

It is through these opportunities of corporate prayer that we as the GCI family draw closer together, and our hearts are broken for our broken world. I am proud that our fellowship is multi-racial, and we are empowered by the unifying Holy Spirit to display Christian brotherhood and sisterhood in ways that glorify Jesus. In our united prayers we seek reconciliation for our cities and citizens that can be accomplished only by the work of the Great Reconciler.

“Lord may the hate and rage of our world be replaced by the love and goodwill that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. And as we journey together through this fallen world, make us instruments of your peace. Amen.”

Greg Williams
President Grace Communion International

P.S. As members of the National Association of Evangelicals we stand in solidarity of their statement:

Recent events surrounding the wrongful deaths of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and George Floyd in Minnesota illustrate severe racial injustices in the United States. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) laments the recurring trauma experienced by African Americans. We condemn racism and the violent abuse of power, call for justice for victims and their families, and exhort churches to combat attitudes and systems that perpetuate racism. We are grateful for law enforcement officers who honorably serve and protect our communities and urge our members to uphold them in prayer. (NAE)

The Church of God Wikipedia Propaganda Machine

Silenced has a call to action in regards to the mountains of erroneous material that fills up many Wikipedia entries that pertain to the hundreds of Churches of God and Armstrongism.  Many have fairly accurate information in them, while others look like they have been written by the PR officers of the various splinter cults.  The biggest offenders are (which should not be a huge shock):

Radio Church of God/Worldwide Church of God


United Church of God




Philadelphia Church of God


Living Church of God


Terry Ratzmann


Roderick C. Meredith
Silenced writes:: Wow. Just…wow. Did he write this himself?


This includes one that is missing and SHOULD be written: Ron Weinland

Armstrongism has always done a white wash on its self over the decades.  In its eyes it has done no wrong, committed no evil, and has been the most glorious resurrection of the True Church in 1,900 years. The truth is, in many cases, that the Church of God has blatantly lied about it's history.  It has attempted to cover up murders, suicides, huge legal challenges, rapes, wife swapping, child molestations, stalkings,  embezzlement and more.  If you can name an evil present in the world it most likely can be found existing in Armstrongism.  One person some years ago even accused he Church of genocide with is vile medical prohibitions.  How many thousands have died over the decades because of church leaders deliberately banning medical intervention? 

It's time these liars be held accountable on Wikipedia!

So if any of you want to join the Wiki Truth Squad contact Silenced for more information

Charles Hunting 1919-2011

CHARLES FREEMAN HUNTING (1919 – 2011)

Charles Freeman Hunting (commonly known as “CFH”), a figure well known in Worldwide Church of God (WCG) circles and its offshoots, died at a hospice in Sarasota, Florida, on 11th of November, 2011 – Veterans Day (or Remembrance / Armistice Day). He was just short of his 93rd birthday.

CFH was a strong and colorful personality, handsome in appearance and very persuasive in vocal delivery. Friends and opponents alike considered him a person of charm and warmth, with a mischievous streak. Charles could be insensitive and overly candid in expressing his opinions, although he had a reputation for being honest. He was a gifted speaker who could both inspire and instill fear. At the height of his career in the WCG, he was one of the top five executives, and met dignitaries, presidents and royalty in many countries, including Emperor Haile Selassie, Golda Meir, Yigal Yadin, Gideon Hausner, King Leopold, and the presidents of Lebanon and Egypt. His life can be conveniently segmented into three stages – the roughly 35 years before joining the WCG, the 20 years as part of that organization, and the 35 plus years of a relatively quiet life after separation from the group. 

Charles Hunting was the second and last child of Charles and Esther Hunting, born on 11th January 1919 in Santa Monica, California. He attended Redlands High School, then 3 years at San Bernardino College and one year at UCLA. Shortly thereafter WWII started and he volunteered for the Navy as a trainee pilot, received 6 or so weeks of flight training for combat fighters, and was dispatched on an aircraft carrier to the Pacific theatre. During the battle of Guadalcanal in late 1942 he was shot down by “friendly fire”, wanted to bail out, but his parachute was riddled with machine gun fire and full of blood. The plane crashed into the ocean, he survived and was rescued by locals paddling out on canoes. CFH continued to fly fighter and dive bombing combat missions from carriers till the end of the war, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart.

During the war CFH met Miss Veryle Cheney who served in the navy’s Medical Corp. After the war romance blossomed and in 1946 they apparently eloped across the border to Mexico where they were married. The coupled settled in Long Beach, California and had three children. CFH started a business refitting and refurbishing electrical transformers, having learnt the basics for the trade from a relative. It became very successful. Charles remained in the Navy Reserves and was training on jet planes when he abruptly resigned in 1956, just six months before he was to qualify for a Navy pension. He was a Lieutenant Commander when he retired. This unusual action was triggered by Charles’s decision to dedicate his life to the WCG church, which had been founded in the 1930’s by Herbert W Armstrong (HWA), and was a pacifist organization.

The family moved to Pasadena where in 1958, aged 39, CFH enrolled for a BA in liberal arts at the church’s training institution, Ambassador College (AC). His credits from previous tertiary studies reduced the normal time of four years by one, and thus he was never a sophomore. In his freshman year his first part-time job on the campus was on the garbage collection crew, but his progress within the organization thereafter was rather meteoric. His junior year saw him in charge of “the mail reading division” which handled the thousands of inquiries and requests for church literature, and appointed the lead on a two man team visiting church supporters. Charles was also a sportsman of note. In each of his two years at the Pasadena campus, he was the tennis champion and best hand ball player. In his senior year he was the Student Body President, ordained a minister in the WCG and transferred, with his family, to the Bricket Wood (Hertfordshire, UK) campus in March 1961, three months prior to graduation. In June 1961 he received his BA in the first graduation ceremony for the English campus, and was then given a flurry of responsibilities --- appointed as a lecturer at the English campus, made its bursar, appointed to Business Manager of the WCG’s activities in Europe, ordained a minister of the WCG, and designated the pastor of the Bristol WCG church. In 1962 he was raised to the level of “preaching elder”, and later in the same year ordained as a “pastor” rank minister. In January 1964 he was ordained an “evangelist”, bringing the total number of evangelists in the WCG to 12 at that time. In December 1969 he was appointed as one of the nine Vice Presidents of the WCG. He formed an effective team with the Regional Director for Europe, Raymond McNair.

In the mid-1960’s, HWA began to form personal friendships with a number of powerful figures, particularly in Israel, Germany and Asia. These included kings, dictators, high officials, as well as elected presidents. CFH, as one of HWA’s trusted advisers, was a frequent traveling companion (often along with his wife Veryle) on these trips, which took them across the globe. These travels were undertaken while still performing all his other responsibilities. Unfortunately, Charles’s wife Veryle died of cancer in 1973 and was buried on the campus grounds. Apparently in that year HWA indicated to CFH that he would eventually be elevated to the number two position in the organization, and that he would need to move to Pasadena. However there was considerable opposition to this plan and it never eventuated. Instead in 1974 CFH was appointed the regional director of the entire WCG activities in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, whilst the incumbent in that job, Raymond McNair, was transferred to Pasadena. 

During this time the WCG began to experience a series of crises. Various scandals shook the church, and several senior ministers and internal theologians began to question some of the doctrines. CFH was persuaded that some of the core teachings were in error. He spoke out, and his relationship with the WCG ended in late 1975. He resolved not to take a salary again from a religious organization; however, he never lost his faith in God and Christianity.

CFH threw his still considerable energies into making a living, and became involved in, among other ventures, construction in Dubai and golf courses in Spain. In 1980 he married again. His new wife was Barbara Greville-Smith, an English widow whom he had met in Spain, and whose best friend was Mrs. Yolande Farrell of Sarasota. Yolande and her husband Dick Farrell formed a longstanding close friendship with Charles. The Hunting’s moved to Vero Beach, Florida, where they lived in a duplex that CFH built. He resumed studying biblical doctrines privately and with help from Sir Anthony Buzzard was soon convinced of the Christian non-Trinitarian view of God, and co-wrote a book with him on the subject. He became a supporter of Buzzard’s Restoration Fellowship for many years. 

The year 1997 was traumatic as first his mother died, then both his only sister Frances and her husband Jack Bryan also died, and finally his wife Barbara passed away from cancer. Although Charles, now 78, became a man of considerable means due to his brother-in-law and sister’s estate being left to him, he chose to live his remaining years without flare or extravagance. He briefly moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and shortly thereafter in 1998 bought a modest 2 bedroom stucco semi-detached cottage close by his friends the Farrell’s in Sarasota, where he lived happily until his death. He supported humanitarian projects in the Philippines and Africa, making overseas visits on several occasions there and to relatives and friends in Australia until his health made it impractical. As with many hard-driving, successful men, his great regret was that he was not closer to his immediate family members.

About four years ago his health began to decline and he eventually needed kidney dialysis. CFH outlived his close friend Dick Farrell. Mrs. Yolande Farrell helped care for him in the last years of his life as he became increasingly infirm, although she herself was already in her 80’s. Charles was admitted to hospital in early November, and a few days before he died was moved to a hospice. His youngest son, Paul, daughter Sidni and her husband Dennis, together with Mrs. Farrell, were with him in his final days. His eldest son Chris, in Australia, was unable to travel there. CFH died in his sleep, and was buried in the Department of Veterans Affairs Sarasota National Cemetery.

Charles Freeman Hunting is survived by his three children, Chris, Sidni and Paul, as well as nine grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Chris Hunting suggests the following should be his epitaph:

“A unique individual who achieved much. Respected and admired by most, 
feared by many; a truly larger than life character, but not without human flaws”

[Obituary prepared by Dr. Garry de Jager, Robert Gerringer and Chris Hunting]

Dennis On "And try to use a 'yes' or a 'no' in your answer!"

"And try to use a 'yes' or a 'no' in your answer!"

 

I was sitting in the Ambassador Auditorium, in Pasadena, California at a Bible Study, in the early 80's, on the Nature of God given by the then resident Greek scholar and thinker. He really was a very intelligent teacher and I always enjoyed, to a point, hearing from him. At times, it was an exercise in going around and around but never quite landing anywhere.

 

The fact that I have yet to understand the true nature of the true God and how He/She/Him/Them relate is irrelevant. It was all pretty heady stuff for my denomination's ministry. I'm sure I was not privy to the half of all the drama being played out behind the scenes between those that were teaching and those that thought THEY should be teaching, but I suspect it would have been much like the Council of Nicea back in 325 where being on the wrong side could have serious consequences.

 

But the most hilarious moment came from a simple question in which the questioner, after trying to frame an intelligent question for this very astute teacher on this profound question, said... "please try to use the word 'yes' or 'no' in your answer."

It was a moment of sheer enlightenment. "Please try to use the word 'yes' or 'no' in your answer." I laughed to tears in that way that is much deeper than the comment warranted because it struck at the heart of what many who repeat the mantra, "God said, I believe it, that settles it for me." are incapable of doing---using a yes or no in an answer to a sincere question about obvious contradictions, impossibilities and inconsistencies of scripture.

 

So let's take play Yes or No. Take your time but you MUST pick a yes or no for the answer. No yeah-buts. While we are well aware that the Bible speaks of three kinds of leaders in the NT (the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the But-u-sees) try to leave them out of it.

 

From Matthew 1 and 2

 

Yes or No: It is interesting that Matthew includes a victim of incest (Tamar), a prostitute (Rahab), a foreigner (Ruth) and an adulteress (Bathsheba) leading up to Mary's birth of Jesus, rather than four upstanding women of Israel in Jesus' lineage.

 

Yes or No: With Matthew and Luke showing that Jesus' REAL father is not literally Joseph, but rather literally God himself through the Holy Spirit, the idea of Jesus being related through Joseph back to David and Abraham is broken and irrelevant.

 

Yes or No: If the Holy Spirit is a entity of himself, the Holy Spirit is Jesus father.

 

Yes or No: If God did not wed Mary as the father of Jesus, Jesus was born of  divine fornication?

 

Yes or No: While in the context, Isaiah 7:14 predicted the child would literally be named Immanuel, Jesus was never literally called Immanuel.

 

Yes or No:  Isaiah 7:14ff  indicates the child to be born would not know the difference between right and wrong until taught it.

 

Yes or No: Following a star from Iraq/Persia that rises in the East to a specific home West, five miles south of Jerusalem is not literally possible.

 

Yes or No:  Stars,comets and meteorites and planets in the sky can stand over a specific home on earth until you get there.

 

Yes or No: It is odd that Herod and his astrologers could not see the star and could not follow it themselves.

 

Yes or No: When the Magi arrived, (perhaps up to a year after Jesus birth) Mary and Joseph lived in a house with no mention of a home in Nazareth or a need to go back to another home in Nazareth where they had just come from.

 

Yes or No: According to Matthew, lots of children in Bethlehem and the region paid for Jesus birth with their lives so that Jesus as an adult could die for their sins.

 

Yes or No: The angel told Joseph it was safe to go back to Israel but then changed his mind and told him "oops I forgot about Herod's evil son", so Joseph returned to live for the first time in Nazareth.

 

Yes or No: All gift shop angels are female and all Bible angels are male.

 

Yes or No: I can't find any place in the Old Testament where it says a Nazarene is a person who lives in Nazareth and foretells Jesus would be from there. In fact, I can't find Nazareth mentioned as a city in the OT.

 

Yes or No: Quoting a verse in the OT about Israel exiting Egypt is not much of prophecy of Jesus going home from exile in Egypt.

 

Yes or No: Matthew knows nothing of homes in Nazareth, taxes, mangers, shepherds, staying in Jerusalem 40 days for Mary to be purified according to Moses, turtle doves (offerings of poor people) and the long quiet trip home to Nazareth.

 

From Luke 2

 

Yes or No: Making everyone return to their city of birth to be taxed sounds like a formula for empire wide chaos.

 

Yes or No: If Jerusalem was able to care for the tens of thousands who came each year to the three great Festivals, one might think there would be more than a few places to stay comfortably especially if one was a young pregnant girl.

 

Yes or No: Mary having to give birth in a stable indicates the people of Jerusalem at Feast Time were inhospitable.

 

Yes or No: It seems odd that Joseph would take a nine-month pregnant Mary on the dangerous trip to Bethlehem when it was not necessary for her to go.

 

Yes or No: It seems odd that if Zechariah was a Priest in the area of Jerusalem, they might not have thought to let Mary and Joseph stay with them. Mary had just been to see them three months earlier when finding Elizabeth to be six months pregnant.

 

Yes or No: It is interesting that angels and the heavenly host went out into the fields to sing and witness to a few shepherds who then had to find Jesus and tell everyone else themselves what had happened.

 

Yes or No: Heavenly Hosts can't sing for the whole town.

 

Yes or No: The Shepherds seemed to know just where to find Jesus without the star.

 

Yes or No: Eight days after his birth, Jesus was circumcised in Jerusalem.

 

Yes or No: After 40 days, a time of ritual purification for Mary, they walked peacefully back to Nazareth, to their home, with no mention of fleeing to Egypt.

 

Yes or No: Living in Bethlehem in your own home, having Magi bring expensive gifts including gold and causing you to have to flee to Egypt for your lives as Herod slaughters all your neighbors children, is not the same story as trekking to Bethlehem to be taxed, giving birth as if no one knew you, and hangin' out for 40 days to safely return home to Nazareth.

 

Yes or No: If Nazareth was a safe haven, fleeing all the way to Egypt seems unnecessary save for Matthew's need to find more OT prophecies about Jesus.

 

OK, OK, enough! This "yes" or "no" game can be played with many many Biblical references. Just a few more outside of the Birth Narratives to illustrate.

 

Yes or No: If in the beginning, there was only Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, (Seth was called the third child of Adam and Eve after he was born after Abel's murder), it seems strange that Cain was worried about those that would kill him if God banished him to wander the earth. There was no one else. Was he waiting for Seth to grow up, marry an as yet unborn sister, and hunt him down with his kids? Did God forget there were no others out there to hunt him?

 

Yes or No: Jesus overturned the money changers early in his career as John said. (Jn 2:13).

 

Yes or No: Jesus overturned the money changers just prior to his arrest and crucifixion as Matthew said. (Matt 21:12).

 

Yes or No: John names turning water to wine as Jesus first miracle.

 

Yes or No: Matthew, Mark and Luke never heard of it.

 

Yes or No: Paul seems to know nothing of the Gospel accounts of Jesus real life, and says he was simply born of a woman like everyone else.

 

Yes or No: Paul was converted, wrote all the meaning of Jesus and died before the Gospels, which seem never to have heard of him, though he was "a Pharisee of the Pharisees" and "above all my fellows,", were ever written.

 

I would like to think that had I been asked these questions when pastoring, I would have at least said, "That's a great question."  I have sat in on nerve wracking sessions with some HQ type coming to my area to straighten out some member who asked the wrong questions or came up with different answers from those given.  Seems both were wrong when it is all said and done!

 

Sometimes, most simply don't even know what questions to ask.  It never dawns on someone to even wonder how you can flee to Egypt for two years AND simply leave town and go home to Nazareth after 40 days. 

 

Instead of "apologizing" which I know is a sincere defense of scripture as presented, the ability to think for oneself and come up with a yes or no is also an excellent exercise in being honest with a presentation. 'Nuff said....the birth narrative realities are my way of asking us to think about what we have always been told by others and honor your own observations about the Bible, without fear what your minister or organizations might think or do.

 

Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com