United Church of God: Continues To Struggle On How to Remain Relevant In The 21st Century

United Church of God has an article up on their Updates page concerning issues in Canada (and the US) about the ageing out of its members and the drop in income that will result.  Of course, UCG like any "good" Church of God has solved that issue...preach more sermons on tithing.

Included in the financial discussion is retirement of the baby boomers and what affect that might have on the income of the church. The source of our donations is: 70% from members; 20% from donors and 10% from coworkers. It was suggested it would be a good idea to give sermons as to the importance of giving tithes and offerings and what the scriptural basis for doing so is.

Considering there is no New Covenant command for tithing, UCG is going to have a hard sell in getting ageing baby boomers and others to fork over more and more money so the elite can stay in power and live comfortable lives while they struggle in retirement.

UCG never stops to consider that their message no longer has any impact on UCG members or the world around them.  Like most COG's it still tries to cling to the "glory days" of the past and still looks at old paradigms to run their current iteration of the church.  In Canada, they have lost 1/3 of their responses/viewership due to their message no longer having relevance.  Of course, UCG has a quick response to that, change broadcast stations.

Edwin van Pelt presented a PowerPoint showing a breakdown of statistics regarding the Beyond Today television program. This past year responses have dropped about 1/3 from the previous year. However, almost 30 percent of those responding each week are new people. It was asked if we should try a different station or time. This is a possibility, but can be quite costly even if there is a time slot available.

If you can't rope them in with cable TV and other video sources, then let's resort to Readers Digest.  Does anyone read RD anymore?  It is 2017, not 1965 when every article was some syrupy sweet story of cotton candy and warm fuzzies.  While warm positive stories certainly are good to read and restore faith in humanity, those kinds of books appeal to the 65 and over crowd who remember the magazine from their youth and wish to wax nostalgic compared to the mad rush of society and the digital age of today.

The issues in UCG extend far beyond ageing baby boomers.  According to UCG brass in Canada, current day UCG members have no sense of commitment to the church as people had in the past. You know UCG is having trouble when they cannot get church members to register for the Feast!  Add to that the lack of commitment of UCG members to even have their name put forth to be on UCG's Canadian council that runs the church.

A portion of the morning was reserved for brainstorming. Included in the discussion was: media challenges, trends, the Ministerial Newsletter, current challenges facing the church (lack of commitment, not registering for the Feast,  the need for succession planning for replacing the Secretary, and the lack of individuals willing to have name on ballot selection for council...

UCG Canada is also trying to figure out how to safely navigate rules on spam emails in Canada. UCG now has to have a way for recipients to "opt out" from receiving their mail.   Every email list and every church list that I am on has ways to opt out from receiving their mail.  It is strange in 2017 that UCG has never given their members and readers that option.

Michael Erickson presented concerns to be aware of regarding Canada’s Anti-Spam legislation. Part of the problem is a lack of definition of terms. The legislation concerns “commercial electronic messages”. It is not clear if some of our emails might fall into that category since they may sometimes advertise an event (socials, feasts, etc.). Much of the definition will be determined in court so the church needs to do what it can to protect itself from potential lawsuits. By July 1 all corporations need to have explicit consent to send the commercial electronic messages. We must also find a way to provide an easy unsubscribe for those who no longer wish to receive messages. The legislation applies to both corporations and individuals and all electronic forms of sending messages. It carries a hefty fine.

Many people I know in UCG say they are only there till their kids grow up and head off to college.  They don't want to leave and have their children's friends be lost.

UCG lost its relevance when they kept filling all of the seats on the Council of Elders with aging baby boomers who too often keep looking back at the "glory days" of old and naively thought they could recapture it.

Their model from the past was corrupt and continues to be today.  Abusive ministers still abound.  Legalistic doctrines still keep members shackled down.  Jesus is ignored or at least given a little lip service.  The law reigns supreme, grace, not so much.

UCG had a chance and blew it.  Twenty years later and it still has not comprehended that fact.  Fancy offices, nice homes and steady income for the upper echelon does not make a church make.

United Church of God: Men Have Authority Over Women

United Church of God has always tried to portray its self as more enlightened than other Church of God's.  After all, they were the "new and improved" version of the Worldwide Church of God when they established themselves a couple decades ago.  They were going to do things bigger and better than their mother church did.  Love and grace were supposedly going to trump rules and regulations.

As we have all seen over the last 20 years, that has never happened.  One upheaval after another has hit God's special church. Thousands of members left to join up with a splinter group that also took a large percentage of UCG's ministers with them.  UCG once again placed more emphasis on the rules and regulations than they did on love and grace.

To show that some things never change in the UCG, a UCG source sent me the following today:

The UCG is the most moderate of the splinters right?  Well, you should
listen to Joe Dobson's Aug. 12 sermon on "God wants us to have living
faith."  About the middle, he goes out of his way to say that husbands
have authority over their wives, given by God.  I'd sure hate to be
his wife!

Men, you too can listen to Joe Dobson's sermon here:  God wants us to have living faith

The False Prophets of Africa

This article is sure to cause Bob Thiel some major butt hurt!  African nations are getting fed up with the lying false prophets from America that come there to spread their lies.  this will lead Thiel and other COG false prophets to claim persecution, which it is not.  Liars need to be held accountable.

They rob and steal from the people. They speak lies and utter vain prophecies and visions, leading people astray. They draw people to themselves, claiming to have a special relationship with God, but they lie and deceive the people.They claim to know everything about you but they lie, and know nothing! They sleep with married women and break the hearts of single women. They destroy homes and families. They destroy marriages, businesses and destinies. They are mere diviners and sorcerers and are no prophets of God at all. The Lord says,” I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied.” Jeremiah 23:21. They prophesy lies in God’s name, but God did not send them, command them nor speak to them. They prophesy lying vision, worthless divination and the deceit of their own minds. Jeremiah 14:14. They are all over the place and they spring up everyday like mushrooms.They claim to be “men of God,” “apostles,” “pastors,” “prophets,” “bishops,” “archbishops,” and what-nots, but they lie ! They are ordinary criminals parading as “men of God” and deceiving the gullible who don’t know their Bible and have no discernment. 

The problem of false prophets and pastors is not peculiar to Africa alone, but is all over the world. Many false prophets and pastors have infiltrated the church of Jesus Christ and are causing a great deal of havoc, destroying souls, families, marriages, businesses, and worse of all, faith in God. But their day of reckoning is coming and has come. Many of them will be exposed and are being exposed, and unless they repent they would surely face swift destruction. Jeremiah 23:12; 2 Peter 2:3.

Anyone who studies the Bible would see that the emergence of many false prophets and pastors in the world today is nothing strange but a fulfillment of prophecy. It is one of the signs of the end-times. Jesus said,” For there shall arise false Christs or false messiahs, and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders and shall deceive many.” Matthew 7:15-23; 24:5, 11, 24. The apostles also warned of the coming of many false apostles, prophets, pastors and antichrists. 2 Cor 11:13-15; 1 John 4:1; 2:18; 2 Peter 2:1 These things must be fulfilled because the word of God is true and must surely come to pass. So when we see all these false prophets and pastors and so-called men of God, we should see them as the charlatans that they are and have no regard or respect for them. Certainly, there are true men of God, but most of those out there are just riff raffs and God does not even talk to them nor has He sent them. They are in the ministry for the money, for fame, for possessions and for cheap sex, using the name of the Lord to lure and deceive gullible women, whether they be married or single.

Many of these rogues who claim to be “prophets”, “pastors” and “men of God” are not even Christians and don’t even know the Bible, but they prey on the ignorance and gullibility of so many people who are desperately trying to find God. Many of them are ordinary sorcerers and wizards who use divination to “prophesy,” just like Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8:9-13. Simon was a common magician, an unbeliever, who was not even saved, but the ignorant people saw him as “The Great Power of God,” because they were enchanted by his sorceries. Just because someone performs miracles, signs and wonders does not make them genuine. Miracles alone do not validate a ministry, because Satan is also able to work miracles. Nor does the lack of miracles mean that one is authentic. Certainly, God works miracles, but miracles glorify God and point us to Jesus Christ, and not to anyone who wants to draw people to themselves and lead them astray. Those are ministers of Satan, who masquerade as ministers of righteousness, to rob people of their money, to destroy souls and destinies, to break homes and families. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. They are all over the place, and they use lies, deceit, manipulation, fabrication, divination, false prophecies, threats, intimidation and all kinds of gimmicks to lure people after themselves and destroy them.

See:

The menace of false prophets and pastors in Africa

The False Prophets of Our Time in Africa