The Apostle is still on his tirade against United Church of God and it's new focus on "love." Love obviously is a four letter word in the field of right wing Armstrongism.
UCG has recently come out with several points in leading the church into a new direction. Two of them are:
1) A godly environment that promotes Christ-like service, spiritual growth, humility, love and unity.
2) Open communication channels and administrative policies and practices that enhance effectiveness, unity and godly relationships among the employees and elders.
I know, aren't those the most appalling things you have ever read! Imagine having that kind of love in a Church of God! Disgusting!
Apostle Malm feels that when people have "love" towards one another they tend to cover up a multitude of sins. The Apostle cannot stand sinners in his midst! So be forewarned...when you attend his Feast this coming you you had better NOT be a sinner!
Apostle Malm lays the blame at this at Norman Smith's feet:
The truth is that way back in the sixties a man, Norman Smith fell for the pop psychology approach of justifying sin, by teaching that we are not responsible for our own actions; “it is your upbringing”; “you have an issue because of what your father did” or “what someone else did”; “Its in your genes”; “its your formative environment”.
I am all about personal responsibility before God, these folks are all about justifying sin by blaming others, and tolerance for that sin in the name of a false “love”.
I know that there are still some good elders in UCG who do not buy into this apostasy. These things will become clear over the summer after this New Strategic Plan is approved.
This man and his two disciples, Denny Luker and John Elliot, caused enormous harm to the brethren by this attitude of tolerance for sin and encouraging brethren to blame others for our own conduct, avoidingh personal responsibility; and eventually HWA heard about it and went off on a rant about pop psychology and acted to correct this situation.
In their personal friendships and especially after the death of HWA; with the very similar changes made by Joe T; this pop psychology took deep root in many.
Today the New UCG is filled with this very attitude which is so close to the evangelical persuasion that it is almost indistinguishable.
What perturbs the Apostle even more is that UCG does not have a 100 point list on things you are NOT allowed to do on the "sabbath." According to the Apostle, the more rules and regulations in place for the "sabbath" observance the better!
Today the New UCG is filled with this very attitude which is so close to the evangelical persuasion that it is almost indistinguishable.
Oh, they may say that the seventh day is Holy and in that way be different, but they will then wink at whatever people want to do on that Holy Day; being the same towards Sabbath as others are in their Sunday observance.
Here are some of the "goals" that UCG is claiming to strive for which have upset the Apostle so grievously. Most of these do not sound all that bad for an Armstrongite group. It will be interesting to see if they actually can implement these without getting heavy handed again with more rules and regulations down the line.
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• Goal: A godly environment that promotes Christ-like service, spiritual growth, humility, love and unity.• Objectives:o Improve the quality and effectiveness of pastoral care in congregations.o Increase positive member involvement in their congregations and the larger work of God.o Promote members spiritual growth through educational programs.o Increase percentage of youth retained in the church.o Improve the Feast of Tabernacles experience for all participants.• Goal: Open communication channels and administrative policies and practices that enhance effectiveness, unity and godly relationships among the employees and elders.• Objectives:o Increase satisfaction levels among home office employees and elders.o Improve internal communications.o Improve teamwork.o Improve efficiency among employees and administration.
