UCG Still Struggling To Attract New Members

United Church of God has long been trying to be the most relevant Church of God splinter group out there. And yet, 25 years later they still cannot find their place. Even with having, what they claim is, the 13th most popular religious web site in the world, they still struggle to find new members.  As their present leadership retires and the membership ages, they cannot replace them with new younger members.  Still operating on a 1970/1980's model for television, they struggle to make their three presenters actually present topics that anyone cares about in 2019.  They recently dumped a ton of money on a new television recording studio, and they are hoping this will be their savior.

From Church of God News:

Media Director, Peter Eddington, states that, “UCG.org is currently ranked by Alexa as the 13th most popular religious denomination website in the world. Last year, the UCG.org website received over 10 million unique visitors and 99.8 percent were non-members.”

UCG is by far the highest ranked ex-WCG organization, having an Alexa ranking similar to the SDA, whose membership is over 100 times larger than the WCG at its peak.

UCG’s outreach to new people is thus exceptional – but how many of these become members?

Treasurer Rick Shabi reports that, “The Days of Unleavened Bread and fall Holy Day offerings this [past] year were $100,000 over budget, while general contributions were lower. This is due in part to demographics of the Church; as more people retire, they give offerings but have less titheable income.

The income is steadying out in the $18-19 million range, about equal to estimated expenses this year, as they have steadily risen in the last five years.”

The UCG is failing to gain new, younger members to replace those who are retiring and, if there is no improvement, expenses will have to be cut to match the flattening income. Much then depends on the success of the output from the new TV studio.

How We Were Manipulated By Herbert Armstrong

Techniques of Cult Figures

1) Connection With a Mass Audience: This was Herbert Armstrong's uncanny personal talent, something no one else in Armstrongism has been able to replicate.

2) Hope: The hook within all cultic messages is a promise of hope.

3) Mysticism: HWA sowed his own personal brand of mysticism, in which he claimed to be a latter-day Paul/John-the-baptist, the recipient of personal revelation direct from Jesus Christ and "a voice crying out in the wilderness," the chosen vessel to prepare the way for the coming of the messiah.

4) Confidence: That he was able to muster the appearance of utter certainty was a crucial part of HWA 's seductive power. We had confidence in his confidence. It is the same effect that all confidence men have on their victims.

5) The Myth of Infallibility: Through his mystical connection with Jesus Christ, HWA crowned himself with a halo of infallibility.

6) The "Father Knows Best" Myth: We were always told not to lean to our own understanding, but to trust in the Hebrew God. But that was the same as saying to trust in Herbert Armstrong and his ministers over and above any trust you should have in your own faculties.

7) The “Special People" Myth: We who had responded were sleepers who had been predestined by god to trigger on HWA’s message, receive supernatural esoteric knowledge, and then go on to reach our mystical "human potential" as kings and priests in a soon-coming utopian society.

8) The "If Only He Knew" Myth: HWA was a distant, godlike figure, above the squabbles of everyday life, so it became possible for us to dislike particular ministers we dealt with, and yet still respect Herbert Armstrong. I don't know how many times I heard, "Yes, if Mr. Armstrong could do everything himself, some things would be different, but he can't keep a watch on everything." This myth allowed us to gloss over the abusive aspects of the WCG and acted as a safety valve in the system, protecting HWA's image. 

9) No Rational Justification: HWA’s message made us feel like we were special, so we pinned our hopes upon it. But when disconfirming evidence arose providing rational reasons to disbelieve, like in 1972, instead we insulated ourselves from reality with irrational justifications like, "He's still right, but his timing is 'a little off.'"

10) Sense of Entitlement: HWA’s co-worker letters from the 30's always implied that his "work" should be more important that you, than your marriage, your children, your solvency, or anything else. He felt entitled to tell people what clothes to wear, whether they can wear makeup or not, when to divorce their spouses, etc.

Herbert Armstrong set himself up as a cult figure in order to abuse people for his own financial and narcisstic purposes, and took advantage of the same myths that benefitted other cults. "If only Mr. Armstrong knew, things would be different," shielded him from the responsibility for the abuses he was actively perpetrating.

The fact is, if Mr. Armstrong did not know about a particular abusive episode perpetrated by his church upon you or your family, then thank your lucky stars, because if he had known, and could have changed things, he wouldn't have righted any wrongs, he would have done an even better job, and it would have been even worse!

From When the Sabbath Was Fun comment

COG Sex Therapist Slams Bob Thiel And Other COG's While Begging Church Members For Money

One of the main reasons so many of the splinter groups formed was to ensure money continued to flow into ministers pockets.  It was not so much about doctrine than it was about money.  Money still reigns supreme in all of the COG's today. But, not so much so for some of the small splinter personalty cults started by self-appointed men who imagine themselves as the sole voice of God to the church today.

The Chief Pharisee and self appointed sex-therapist to the Church of God is begging for money to keep his zealotry alive.  It is vitally important that the lives of his followers are just as miserable as his and thus he needs their money to do it. No other ministry on the face of the earth today is spreading the "truth" as he  imagines he is. Of course, like all of the other self-appointed fools running splinter groups today, the Pharisaical sex therapist is also revealing NEW knowledge to the church.  Since most of these upstart COG's do not acknowledge Jesus it is important to have constant new knowledge flowing forth.

On 8 July 2007 the first issue of TheShiningLight was published with an article explaining that a Middle East peace deal must be achieved just before the onset of the tribulation (1 Thess 5:3).   The article then explained that a regional war would be necessary to reset regional realities in order to establish the conditions far a Middle East peace agreement. 

The purpose of TheShiningLight is to help relieve the present famine of the Word in the various COG organizations, to restore that which has been forgotten and to reveal new understandings as promised by God in Daniel 12 so as to turn as many as possible to a wholehearted enthusiastic zeal to learn, to believe and to live by every Word of God.  To accomplish this your prayers and financial support are urgently needed. 

Like Bwana Bob Thiel, sex therapist Malm imagines that all of the COG's out there today are too stupid to understand the Bible and prophecy like he does.  Only Malm has the correct interpretation.  Only Malm is zealous! SHAME on all of the rest of you backsliding heathen Laodiceans!

Today, after twelve years of warnings including personal correspondence, UCG, LCG, COGWA, PCG and Bob Thiel still reject any zeal for God’s Holy Sabbath, the truth about the Holy Days and the Biblical Calendar; and they still teach the exact OPPOSITE of Holy Scripture in their prophetic presentations. 

These organizations teach that the various Middle East Islamic nations will unite together to form the King of the South [with PCG saying that Iran will head that confederation] which is the precise opposite of the scriptures.  Why do they have no understanding of prophecy?  It is because they exalt their treasured false traditions above the Word of God in all of the above mentioned subjects!

The various COG's have no understanding of prophecy because they, like James Malm. have based their entire story upon the false prophecies of Herbert Armstrong, Waterhouse and other COG leaders.  Every single prophecy Armstrong, Waterhouse and others predicted in the Worldwide Church of God have all ultimately failed. Not one single thing has ever come true. Nor, will any of the lies of sex therapist James Malm!

Never forget that no man on earth today knows more about prophecy than our newly appointed COG sex therapist does.

None of these things are understood by the leaders in UCG, LCG, COGWA, PCG and Bob Thiel because they reject any zeal for God’s Holy Sabbath, the truth about the Holy Days and the Biblical Calendar; and they still teach the exact OPPOSITE of Holy Scripture in their prophetic presentations. 

Also never forget that there is only one topic that Church of God members ever need to worry about, and that is Jesus.  Oh wait, sorry.  Jesus is not part of the picture. Something else is though:

Brethren prophecy is important but the most important thing is doctrine, doctrine, doctrine and a passionate zeal to exalt and to live by every Word of God above all else, including our own cherished false traditions! 

Doctrine and zeal!  

It is still amazing to witness the continued embarrassment COG upstarts have with Jesus, the things he accomplished and what he did.  Salvation still only comes through correct doctrine and zealousness and not from the grace and mercy of Jesus. That is just too inconvenient!

Morons!