UCG To Start Begging Members To Fund New Buildings

After losing close to 50% of their ministry and well over a third of their members, UCG thinks it needs to build more buildings in Cincinnati.  Pretty soon the UCG will start a new building campaign for funding and chruch members will start lining up to donate.  Well, at least some of them blindly will.  Others are disgusted by the proposition of more HQ space being built.

As we strive toward our goals, the administration requested the Council consider   plans to expand the home office. This is primarily being driven by our need   to have expanded areas for our Media and Communications Services department   to more effectively and powerfully preach the gospel of God’s Kingdom. The  department is currently over capacity.

There are many needs, including a larger and more effective television studio   and a bigger meeting hall (which could double up as a permanent Feast site,   allowing 500 people to meet). There is also a need to provide additional space   for our young adults and ministerial education programs. Initial plans would   enhance this area, as well as our media department.

Some Council members expressed caution on taking on a loan at a time of economic   uncertainty. So after a great deal of discussion, a decision was made to go   ahead and hire an architect to draw up plans to give us a more accurate estimate   of costs. After seeing more concrete costs, and if the project is approved   by the Council in February, the money for it will be included in the 2012-2013   budget for approval by the General Conference of Elders in May. This will   also give us time to raise the funds in order to move forward in a measured   way. We would appreciate input from you and from our members, and are open   to a collaborative approach as we move forward. More information will be forthcoming.   We estimate that the final cost will be about two million dollars.

Maybe it is time for the members to give UCG brass a wake up call and call  halt to this program.  Why dump all of this money for new facilities when there is no need other than to pump up the egos of HQ brass so they can look more important!.

Is It Right To Give Estates To the COG?

I have always thought it rather disgusting that the COG has always begged for estate donations.  The COG is already taking over 40% of your income and they want more and more.  The sad part is that many families have been written out of wills in order to give everything to the chruch.

This happened in WCG numerous times and multiple lawsuits were waged by family members who had been left out.  WCG always fought those lawsuits vigorously doing everything in their power to discredit the people filling suit against them.  Multiple families have been left destitute while WCG got all the money.  Millions of wasted dollars went to pay the attorney's fighting these suits leaving the church with little from the original amount, yet the attorneys lived high on the hog all the time.

I was surprised to read on Apostle Malm's blog to day about people donating estates to COG's.  I was impressed that he said DON'T DO IT!  Malm says it is a sin to leave everything to the church while leaving nothing to your heirs.

Aaron Dean, operation manager for Financial Services, reported that our finances   are better than expected. In trying to take care of all the needs of the church,   including ensuring that all our congregations around the world are taken care   of with a resident or visiting minister and with people cared for, we have   often had to step out in faith. Our “faith line” was bolstered in the first   six months of the current fiscal year by two estate donations. God is looking   after us and taking care of our needs—congregations, ministry, people cared   for—the mission of the church is being funded. The Council deeply appreciates   the prayers and continued financial support of the brethren.

  Malm says:

I would warn the brethren that willing our estates to any church without leaving anything for our heirs is a terrible SIN in God’s eyes .1 Ti 5:8   But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Even if our heirs are not converted, we are to provide for them to the best of our ability, thus setting a Godly example that will remain with them for all eternity.  Even if they dispise us, WE have a command from Christ to return good for evil at all times.

We are to NEVER leave our estate to anyone but our natural heirs unless we have no natural heirs.  If we are very wealthy we can of course leave a small amount to the church.  The defrauding of natural heirs amounts to the ROBBING of widows and orhans and is one of the terrible sins of these COG Groups.  I know that this is done out of a misguided love for the corporate church organization, which makes this fall into the condemnation of Christ as per Mat 15:3  But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Does UCG HQ Have Money To Burn?

UCG HQ has a letter out to the ministry of the Church.  They are preparing for their upcoming conference where it will be one big happy back slapping fun fest.  "Everything is is glorious in the church and we are one big happy family on the verge of bringing in thousands of new members.

After suffering a horrendous exodus of members to Church of God a Worldwide Association and a dramatic drop in income UCG is proposing building  new recording studios and other facilities:

Amongst other things, we will be discussing plans for the expansion of the home office to enable the building of a new recording and production studio to increase our broadcasting effectiveness. Also, attention will be given to the annual international reports submitted from every region of the world. These will be particularly interesting this year as we hear of the progress that has been made in different areas following the challenges we faced a year ago.

UCG still has no major impact in the world and is has not drawn in a measurable number of non-COG related members.  UCG, like most of the other COG is made up of church hopping COG members who look for a current COG that fits their fancy as they jump from church to church trying to find a home.

UCG like it's mother church the WCG has always been adept at using numbers to their advantage.  WCG always boasted about how many read the Plain Truth - over 8,000,000 at one item.  But ask them how many of that eight million actually became members and you could probably count them on two hand.  The PT and WCG's myriads of booklets never brought in huge numbers of "new" members.

So you have to question UCG's current vision of wasting millions of dollars more in members tithe money for another production studio.  Of course there will a few who will willingly deprive themselves in order to send in money to finance this new adventure.

UCG dumped millions of dollars in tithe money for a useless piece of land in Texas that is still sitting empty to this day.  There must still be some delusional men sitting at UCG HQ who think the glory days for UCG is yet to come.