The Churches of God Enter Their Last Days

It's hard to believe that this little blog is close to reaching 3.2 million hits in the next few days.  What was started as a pastime to highlight the craziness of some in the Church of God movement has now morphed into the "go to" source for information on the Living Church of God, United Church and Restored Church of God.  

We have really struck a nerve in LCG, UCG and RCG.  Many members in these groups are frustrated by the lies and cover ups presently going on in their groups.  They suffer under abusive tactics of ministers and see tithe money foolishly spend on building lavish mini-me campuses and decorating offices, because coddling the child of a leader is more important than the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted redecorating office space.  Millions are being spent to build buildings that no one is allowed to be in other than the elite of the church leadership. 

For decades the church felt it was not accountable to the membership for anything.  The leadership was above reproach and and criticism of them was the same as criticizing God. 

Then, the internet became available and information freely flowed about.  The church leadership could no longer contain the flow of information coming from the PR departments.  The membership rebelled and spilled the beans on countless abuses and injustices.

The church splintered into hundreds and hundreds of little groups.  Some benign and some more abusive than the parent organization.  Information continued to flow out and various leadership went into massive meltdowns. The membership continued to share horror stories as the leadership continues to abuse.

2016 certainly will leader to another year of horrendous stories of abuse in the various churches. Dave Pack will continue to claim he has the most superfantabulous Church of God to ever exist as tens of thousands of COG members still refuse to join his cult.  Rod Meredith will fade further from the scene as his health and mental capacities deteriorates. United will still continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on failed campaigns and billboards as the public continues to ignore them.

The Churches of God are in their last days.  Not the biblical last days they desperately want to see explode around them, but the last days brought on by their own lies, abuses and lusts.  They need the end times to happen in order to make themselves look legitimate.  Decades of lies and failed prophecies have not deterred them.  As they continue to lie and spread false prophecies, we here on Banned and on the various other COG related sites will continue to post information about them.

Here’s to another fun year!

Is LCG Willing To Break The Bank To Get Accreditation?

From a reader here.

A few short weeks ago LCG was visited by the accreditation powers that be in an effort to further the process of getting Doug Winnail's beloved Living University (LU) accredited. Accreditation is a process of external quality review used by higher education to scrutinize colleges, universities and higher education programs for quality assurance and quality improvement. Part of this accreditation process requires Living University to undergo a peer review of the prepared materials and curriculum.

It would be fun to be a fly on the wall when the reviewers get  to read about British Israelism and LCG's denial of the efficacy of carbon dating and other archaic scientific (or non-scientific as the case may be) teachings. If you ever want a good laugh, ask an LCG minister how dinosaurs fit into things.

Because of the process of accreditation, students can trust that the education they are paying for is valuable and worth their time, money, and effort so Meredith, Winnail and the other LU proponents are head strong about getting this validation despite the unpleasant consequences it may bring in it's wake.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from those in LCG is that LU classes are "too expensive" at $300 a class. Students are only able to obtain federal financial assistance if the institution they are attending has achieved appropriate accreditation status from an accreditation organization recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE). This could be one big reason LCG wants LU to become accredited. I can see Ol Spanky up in his ivory tower imagining that their attendance numbers will quadruple if potential students could only qualify for federal financial aid.

The USDE is also concerned with factors such as a college or university's standards of student admission and practices of student recruitment, financial well-being, and student learning achievement outcomes. Many in the Living Church of God are concerned that this translates into LU having to accept applications from people "in the world"; more specifically, homosexuals, Catholics and other people they disdain.

Will Living University have to "water down" their fundamental teaching and become more mainstream to satisfy reviewers and potential non-convert students? It is certainly a concern expressed by those currently in LCG who watched precisely that happen when they left Worldwide. Compromise for numbers is ACOG history bound to be repeated.

Another complaint I have heard for years from grumbling LCGers is the old adage of "freely you have been given, so freely you should give". Many in LCG feel that LU is in direct violation of that scripture by charging for their "knowledge".

Still others query as to why it is so important to replicate Ambassador College, which is clearly Spanky's dream of dreams for LU. Did anyone graduate from AC and get a good job as a result of THAT education? Probably not, but they sure did learn how to step on others to exalt themselves and how to look down at others with righteous indignation.

The number one concern voiced in LCG about this willful push to get LU accredited is the exorbitant cost associated with obtaining the accreditation. They have already spent close to 1 million dollars on the accreditation process which is not yet complete. Many on the Counsel of Elders are opposed but as usual, none of them are really willing to make a stand for their beliefs.  LCG is also presently in the market for another piece of commercial real estate for which to house their classrooms and LU office staff. They are also actively shopping for condominiums which they plan to use as dormitories for all the students they hope to entice into the fray. It's no secret that LCG is hemorrhaging money (and members). They seem to have a smaller bottom line with each passing year. One could speculate that that 1 million dollars worth of tithe payer money could have so been used to "preach the gospel" and save more people from the tribulation through conversion to LCG membership. Ezekiel warning vs. accreditation, hmmmm tough choice. Winnail and Meredith's full steam ahead mentality is kind of like the Titanic thinking it's unsinkable. Is this forced accreditation the metaphorical iceberg that will ultimately cause the impending LCG bankruptcy? Time will tell.

When Will The Herbert Armstrong Gravy Train Ever Be Derailed?

A quote from the Shining Light blog:

When will the gravy train that Herbert started stop. The train is still running and the ministers are still supporting Herbert who have them the right to travel on this train. The ordinary members are still being ripped off by them and the train is still running. Examine the tithing scriptures in Leviticus brothers. Do you really have an increase or are you just struggling to keep a roof over your head and paying to have an overpriveliged elite dominate you and feed you a lot of selfserving and watered down teaching? Take care of your families and study the word of God yourself Teach your children yourself and don’t hand over your responsibilities to others.

When will the sheeple in all the various harlot daughters of Armstrongism stop feeding these fat cats?   Until members stop sending in money to fund these fraudulent ministries the train will continue to roll on.