Dixon Cartwright On Why he Is Shutting Down "The Journal"

The Painful Truth blog reached out to Dixon Cartwright regarding the reason he has chosen to shut down The Journal in January of 2018.

One of the comments Dixon made in his letter to the PT was this:

My original intent for my newspaper was to help people maintain contact with other COG Christians across the boundaries of the various COG groups and also to provide a forum. We were kind of like a blog before there were blogs. We were different from In Transition in that John’s aim was to have two of his trusted friends check out articles before they were published in In Transition for correctness of doctrine. The friends were Ron Dart and Leon Walker. I did not share the view with John that that was an appropriate consideration for my newspaper. Rather, I welcomed creative essays, even those advocating unorthodox versions of doctrines, and did not feel the need to make sure they were correct or for me to agree with them. As a result, we printed many such opinion pieces — editorials, letters, essays — with many of them disagreeing with each other, frequently in the same issue of The Journal. My main consideration was that writers deal politely with each other in their doctrinal and political discussions, especially since people with different interpretations of Scripture can reasonably prove their varying doctrines from the Bible.

I think this is what made The Journal more widely accepted than some other venues.  As crazy as some of the ads and articles were, he gave them a place to share their viewpoints.  Armstrongism has had a horrible track record in doing everything its power in shutting people down over the decades.  The Internet has changed all of that and none of them have any control over the flow of information anymore.

I think the Ambassador Report was the forefront in starting all of the blogs, websites, and other venues that have popped up over the decades since the late 1980's.  Church members were hungry for information and news about the constant upheavals, whether over doctrine or administration problems, that they eagerly read anything they could get their hands on.  After Ambassador Report stopped being published, John Robinson started In Transition to document the ongoing issues in the Churches of God. The Journal filled a unique void in the church news sphere and was also instrumental in sharing the constant drama during all of the doctrinal changes in the Worldwide Church of God.

Read the entire letter here:  Dixon Cartwright. Why he is closing down the Journal

The McDonald Twins: Living Church of God Family

You may have seen this story in the news lately.

New life, apart: Rare surgery to separate brothers conjoined at head

The parents say they are telling their story to honor the medical staff for taking care of them over the last several months -- and they hope their message can help other parents struggling with a sick child. "To let them know these things that are difficult," Christian says, "can be a blessing in disguise." 

Nicole, 31, worked as a pediatric physical therapist and has been helping the boys with their motor skills, preparing them for being separated. Her favorite thing now is sitting quietly in the living room, listening to them babble back and forth in their bedroom, as if they're talking to each other.  

For Nicole and Christian, life nowadays is a collision of fear and joy, of excitement and anxiety. There are so many unknowns about prognosis and survival the McDonalds have had to find comfort in uncertainty. Christian says they understand that "one or both twins can be neurologically challenged, or they can have a mental or physical handicap" as a result of the operation. 

"We know that is definitely a real possibility, but we're still going to love our boys," the 37-year-old father says. 

Formerly conjoined twins return home

Did Peter and the Key-Man Principle Pass from Herbert Armstrong to Rod Meredith and then to Gerald Weston?

Church of God News has a post up about how Living Church of God's Rod McNair claims the office of Peter passed from Herbert Armstrong to Meredith and then upon Meredith's death it passed on to Weston.

COGNews is correct in pointing out that Herbert Armstrong found great umbrage in Rod Meredith's actions and treatment of members.  Herbert Armstrong never passed on any authority to Rod Meredith and certainly never intended for him to start two different splinter churches.  HWA received countless reports about how Meredith was mistreating members and finally took action banishing him to Hawaii for a year.

But more importantly was the claim that Herbert Armstrong assumed he could bind and loose earthly things in heaven, particularly when it came to doctrine or church traditions.  The biggest example of this was the change in the date that the church kept Pentecost on.  In an instant, it went from Monday to Sunday.  The same could be said about other doctrines of the church, including the make-up doctrine. One minute it was on, and then the next off, and then on and then off again all bound and loosed in heaven, over and over again.

On September 8th a video by Rod McNair, ‘Peter and the Key-Man Principle’, was uploaded onto both the lcg.org and Facebook websites, and also YouTube. 

In an interview with Jeff Booth in 1980, Herbert Armstrong declared: 

“The title, and the keys, passed from chief apostle to chief apostle, from Peter to Peter. Each chief apostle was the new Peter. 

He said, ‘Now I am the chief apostle, and I am the Peter’.”

“Whatever I bind is bound in heaven, and whatever I loose is loosed in heaven.” “The Day of Pentecost is now on Sunday. But, since I had made the decision to observe Pentecost on Monday, for years the Day of Pentecost was actually on Monday.”

If Herbert Armstrong held the office of ‘The Peter’, as he believed, did he pass it  to Roderick Meredith? Herbert Armstrong wrote to Roderick Meredith (later in 1980), rejecting him as a possible successor:     

“Rod, in frankest candor, JESUS CHRIST will NEVER put any one at the head of His Work on earth who is competitive, covetous of power and status, and self-righteous. In brutal frankness, you lack the charisma to lead God's work. You do not attract - as I said before, you REPEL people. You are a harsh taskmaster over those under you. THAT IS YOUR RECORD!” 

How then can the ‘Peter Principle’ have passed ‘the title and the keys’ from Roderick Meredith to Gerald Weston - giving him the power to bind and loosen biblical doctrine?

COG leaders who have started various splinter groups have all take this "binding and loosing" to themselves and who feel they are God's only vehicle to do this.  Dave Pack takes it as far as claiming that he is able to know whether God has forgiven people for their sins or not.

“…and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven…” Some will say that this verse gives men the power or authority to change what God has said in the Bible. This is absolutely not the case! No man can change what God has said! The true ministers of God have been given the authority to bind only that which is in agreement with God’s laws. That, then, would be backed up—bound—by God. When God’s ministers make a decision, it is based on Scripture—based on God’s will. But this in no way is giving ministers the power to forgive sin. Only God can and does that (Mark 2:7). God does give ministers the ability to discern when a person has repented of certain sins, thus concluding that God has forgiven them.

No Church of God minister has the qualifications to discern any such thing.  COG leaders have always placed themselves between their members and God.  COG leaders no longer have any control over members lives because not a single one of them received any authority from Peter that supposedly was held by Herbert Armstrong.  HWA could neither bind nor loose any doctrine or belief any more than any present-day COG leader can.  Whether it is Gerald Weston, Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry or Vic Kubik, none of these men have that power handed down to them from Peter.  It is an impossibility.