UCG Members Never Stopped Searching For Grandparents In Paradise CA Fire

A desperate search and an impossible Camp Fire escape: 

One family's fight to reunite

JOHN WARNER NEVER STOPPED HOPING HE'D FIND HIS FAMILY MEMBERS WHO WERE MISSING AFTER THE CAMP FIRE DESTROYED PARADISE, CALIFORNIA.

John was working Thursday when he heard: Another California fire.

He stopped what he was doing. He listened. An evacuation had been ordered. People were trying to make it out of Paradise.

Paradise. No.

The scenic town of about 26,000 in the Sacramento Valley is about four hours from John’s home in Mi-Wuk Village, a scenic spot in California’s Gold Country east of Stockton

John calmed his frantic thoughts. He’d call his uncle and aunt. They also lived in Paradise and routinely checked in on his 96-year-old grandpa and his grandma, who didn’t like telling people her age. They would tell him not to worry. They would say: Everything is OK.

John had no idea what was about to happen. Soon the photos shot by trapped evacuees on their own cellphones would start flooding social media and news sites. People escaping in cars would post video of whole neighborhoods engulfed in a wall of flames.

The Camp Fire was the blaze everyone had always feared. It swallowed the canyon, moving through the North Central Sierra hills like a tsunami.

Read the entire story, with more pictures in the link above.

LCG: Our 15 Top men have been in the ministry for decades and have '"sound biblical understanding"

Gerald Weston is once again perturbed by the lowly members who send in papers concerning scripture translations and doctrine.  One must never forget that lay members are too stupid and not theologically trained like the LCG ministry...as if any of them have a sound theological training!  When one's theology comes from booklets, sermons, member letters, a few classes at the now-defunct Living University and/or the defunct Ambassador College/University,  or claiming to have been trained at the feet of Herbert Armstrong, how can they claim to be able to come to "sound biblical understanding?"

November 08, 2018

By Gerald Weston

Greetings from Charlotte, We finished a very inspiring series of meetings this week with the Council of Elders. The genuine dedication, unity, and friendship among the members is greatly appreciated. Over the years, I have come to value the advice given to us in Scripture regarding receiving a multitude of counsel (Proverbs 15:22). There truly is safety in doing so, as Proverbs 11:14 reveals. We so often hear of members coming up with different doctrines, fancying themselves as Bible scholars. By the time they come to the ministry, they are so convinced of their own rightness that nothing will persuade them otherwise. The issues raised are almost always peripheral, or doctrines contrary to our longstanding understanding. The Church’s Council of Elders often discusses subjects that may appear simple on the surface, but are frequently more complex than first thought. It is through thoughtful and prayerful discussion with the Bible as the foundation that 15 or more men, who have been in the ministry for decades, are able to come to a sound biblical understanding. Telecast responses are up the last two weeks, and we are adding a few new stations.  One is WNAB Nashville, which should begin airing on Sunday, January 6, at 8:00 a.m. Your prayers are requested for Mr. Martin Fannin, who is in hospital with pneumonia, and Mr. Ed Breaux’ wife Connie, who is hospitalized with blood clots in her lungs.—Gerald Weston

Schism In The Church of God

The Fragmentation of a Sect – Schism in the Worldwide Church of God by David V. Barrett: Book Review(available on Amazon) 

This book is based on his PhD thesis and is an independent look at what happened, what is happening, and how WCG is similar to other founder churches. 

Part one discusses the doctrines (Sabbatarianism and Observance of the Law, millenarianism, the ten lost tribes and British Israelism, Church governance, and a comparison between Worldwide and Mormonism. Then continues with how WCG got started. Next it covers failure in prophecy, major doctrine changes (Pentecost, divorce and remarriage, and liberalism), sex scandals, ousting of GTA, and other problems.

Next a chapter on Tkach doctrinal changes, membership of WCG then and today.

The final chapter in Part one covers the schism, the schism of the schisms, smaller groups, and special focus groups.

Part two – Analysis 

First chapter – authority and governance in HWA and Tkach eras, and in the offshoots.

Second chapter – after the founder dies – examines other organizations as well as the WCG splits, plus looks at what happens when the split founder dies.

Third chapeter – who went where and why.

Finally, he covers his research behind the book.

For an unbiased look at what happened and how we compare to other groups, this is a book well worth reading regardless on whether or not you are a believer in the original WCG doctrines.

Submitted by TLA

My comments

David Barrett was given almost unfettered access to Worldwide Church of God historical archives and Herbert Armstrong's writings.  Of all the hundreds of books written about the WCG over the decades, this one has been deemed the fairest and most balanced.

Barrett also goes into depth the doctrine of British Israelism.

Living Church of God even quoted his book in their The Incredible History of God's True Church by Ivor C Fletcher, as did the United Church of God's Michael Snyder..

James Tabor had this to say:

Prof James D Tabor, Chair, Dept. of Religious Studies, UNC Charlotte, wrote:

“Millions around the world listened by radio or watched on television 'The World Tomorrow' program with Herbert W Armstrong or his son Garner Ted Armstrong, or subscribed to The Plain Truth magazine in the 1960s through the 1990s. Both were sponsored by Ambassador College and the Worldwide Church of God. The Armstrongs believed they had been raised up by God to warn the world before the final Apocalypse. In many ways they were the most successful such movement of our times. David V Barrett, a sociologist of religion with no connection to the Church, has provided us with the most thorough and objective history to date. From its inception in the 1930s to its schisms and transformations, Barrett weaves the fascinating story of faith, corruption, disappointment, and hope. His careful research and skillful analysis has not only advanced our understanding of the Worldwide Church of God and its history, but clarified the dynamics of such modern apocalyptic groups more generally.”

Oxford University Press had this to say about the book:

The Worldwide Church of God was a largely American 20th century Christian sect (or new religious movement: NRM) with heterodox beliefs and practices. It was Sabbatarian, millenarian, British Israelite and legalistic. After the death of its charismatic founder Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986 his successor changed the Church’s distinctive doctrines, leading it towards an increasing convergence with mainstream Evangelical Christianity. Ministers and members faced massive cognitive dissonance: whether to accept or reject the authority of the Church leadership which had abandoned the authority of the founder’s teachings. Groups of ministers left to form new Churches, taking thousands of members with them. These schismatic Churches in the “Worldwide family” in turn faced continuing schism, resulting in over 400 offshoot Churches by 2009. This sociological study examines some of the processes involved in schism, including the legitimation of authority, within both Worldwide and its range of offshoots, from hardline to comparatively liberal. Religions frequently face a period of turmoil and readjustment following their founder’s death. This book offers a new typological model for categorising various outcomes, including schism, and explores the usefulness of this model by applying it to both the Worldwide Church of God and a wide variety of other religions. It also extends Stark and Finke’s rational choice concepts of “social capital” and “religious capital” when people make religious choices, specifically reaffiliation between movements; it introduces a third factor, “moral capital”, covering for example past problems with leaders, and tests the relative strengths of these factors.