Steve Martin: The Atheist Hymnal

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers perform at Merlefest 2010

UCG Asks: Why Are We Fighting? What Happened?

I had to laugh when reading UCG's agenda for their upcoming conference.  On the first day this is their topic of discussion:

9 a.m. – 10 a.m. • Opening prayer
• What happened and why? (Luker/Rhodes)
10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Q&A: What happened and why, and lessons learned
(Council/Administration/Elders & Wives)

Does anyone actually expect that they will discuss what happened and the root cause of it?  It will be blame game extraordinaire.  No one in UCG will take responsibility.  They will not acknowledge that the core foundational beliefs of the church are morally and spiritually bankrupt and totally void of Jesus.  They will not acknowledge that legalism is killing their church and destroying the lives of their members.

How many Elder's wives will speak up? Will UCG allow these woman to speak?   UCG knows the place of women in their leadership, that's why they are being relegated to a side room for tea, crumpet's and cookies because they perceive women have no capabilities on advancing the work of Christ.

2 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. • Opening prayer
• Advancing the work of Christ (Rhodes)
2 p.m. – 3:40 p.m. Women’s-tea fellowship time for those interested

That belief is no more evident in the following quote by uber-legalist Malm on his Dead Light blog.
Malm quotes a letter from Tim McCaulley which has to be one of the most ignorant things I have read lately.   If you talk about Jesus you are a Tkach follower?  This is just further proof on how spiritually bankrupt Armstrongism is!

Because I had an infected sore on the bottom of my foot, I got a seat in the front row in front of the stage and by coincidence near a major entry way for people looking for seats.  This is how i got to meet none other than Leann Luker, wife of the president.

 I decided to play dumb and introduce myself and tell where I was from and then ask, “and who might you be?”  I have found this an excellent way to allow people to show themselves for who they really are.  When she said her name, of course i recognized it and welcomed her to Florida and asked if being the wife of the president of the UCG made her the “first lady” of the UCG.  To her credit, she insisted that no it did certainly not do any such thing and that I should regard her as “your sister in the faith”.

 As pleasantries continued and we talked about the rather difficult situation that both her and her husband had stepped into, she made the comment that she wasn’t worried because, “you know Tim, it’s all about Jesus”.  This immediately set alarm bells off in my head, (because I remembered my own wife saying the same thing as she embraced the heresies of the post-’95 WCG) but all I said was ‘Jesus said He came to reveal the Father” and He also said “I and My Father are one” and then I said, “you sound like Joe Tkach in the late 80′s”.

Another UCG Resignation