Thursday, December 9, 2010

110 UCG Elders Sign Letter Stating: "...we are left with no other conclusion than that...our differences are irreconcilable."

So far 110 UCG Elders and Ministers have signed an "Open Letter" to Dennis Luker.  There will be others that will sign soon too.  Many honestly do not see any chance of reconciliation and that a major split will be occurring within the next month or so.  Both sides of this issue are filled with greedy, self-serving men who are only out to make a name for themselves.  I have seen them in action and they truly are a sorry lot!  All of them! How many more lives will they need to destroy before church members wake up and leave?






An Open Letter to the President of the United Church of God, Dennis Luker

Dear President Luker,

This open letter is being sent to you as the chief executive officer of the United Church of God (UCG) from current pastors, former pastors and otherwise employed elders in good standing of the General Conference of Elders of the United Church of God, an International Association. We write with deep concern over the conduct of the current administration and the Council of Elders, a concern shared by numerous non salaried elders, many of whom would readily add their names to this letter.

We have supported the governmental system agreed upon in 1995 and this letter is a confirmation of working within that system. Our deepest hope is the complete healing and the effective continuation of the UCG.

The biblically mandated responsibilities of pastors and elders compel us to state our concerns, as do those duties specified in our governing documents, which do not permit us to allow the present situation to continue. As our Constitution states, “God has established the office of elder to provide care and oversight to the congregations. Thus, the General Conference of Elders is responsible to God to ensure that His people are served and their needs attended to” (Article 3.2.2.3). We consider resolving these concerns to be the greatest need God’s people under our care face at this time.

No one doubts that the UCG is in a dire crisis. We believe that the steps necessary to resolve the crisis are in your hands and those of the Council. Over the last year there have been repeated attempts to bring genuine concerns to both you and the Council. We believe that those concerns have not been addressed in a way that is appropriate for the established leadership of the UCG—or any Church of God.

Your letter of November 4, 2010 attacks the ministry in general and contains a number of misleading and false accusations. Among them are attempts to link ministers and members who have sincere disagreements with the administration to a handful of people posting extreme or ungodly views on Internet sites. Less than two decades ago, most of us were accused of being divisive, rebellious and satanic in our previous association, and it deeply grieves us to find ourselves in a similar toxic environment in the UCG.

While there have been some improper comments made on Web sites, none of us have made or encouraged them and we do not condone them. And we will not join you or the Council in condemning ministers or members who respectfully ask questions, challenge wrong behavior or who simply post factual material.

Both Scripture and our historical origins have taught us that Christianity is a matter of individual conscience, conviction and action. Members have rightly been encouraged to think for themselves and that is exactly what many are doing (Philippians 2:12; 1 John 4:1). Those who have spoken out responsibly should not be accused of causing division. Nor should they be charged with unthinkingly following sowers of discord, when their conclusions are often based upon what they have witnessed personally.

At the heart of our immediate concern is a pattern of wrongly equating loyalty to God’s government with submission to human organizational authority and then labeling as disloyal or rebellious any who express concerns over leadership’s decisions and methods. Recent home office documents, letters and recorded sermons have repeatedly contained negative accusations about supposed plots to sabotage our governing documents, to start a new church and that there is a spirit of rebellion in our ministers. This barrage of accusation and inaccuracy is disheartening the members; it is wearing down the church and it is causing increasing frustration among the ministry and the membership.

Unknown to many members, the administration has engaged in punitive action against certain pastors, accusing them of disloyalty to Christ, when what they have done—conscientiously and respectfully—is voice disagreement with doctrinal statements that they deemed unsound. Or, they expressed concern over administrative decisions that these ministers believed to be outside the bounds of our governing documents or Christ-like management. This pattern of punitive behavior does not follow the biblical or organizational standards. Men have been accused of and/or punished for “disloyal behavior” on the word of a single witness or on mere rumor. In contrast, Scripture is explicit: “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19). Punishments have been administered at the highest level—suspension followed quickly by decredentialing, instead of our traditional and biblically mandated pastoral attitude of working with someone to address the issues at hand in an effort to resolve them and to retain every minister if at all possible.

This has rapidly accelerated to include several resignations by church pastors who felt they could no longer in good conscience work for the church. Others have been terminated by the administration, greatly increasing an environment of tension and uncertainty for the ministry and the membership.

Undoubtedly, the most damaging administrative action that was taken in plain view of the membership (as opposed to Council actions taken in executive session) was the wholesale removal of the Latin American members and ministers—approximately 10 percent of our entire church! The ensuing stream of paperwork from the home office has not mitigated the alarm or the bewilderment caused by the removal of loyal people from church membership for no justifiable biblical reason and by the severance—without warning—of the financial support that the UCG had promised to some of our poorest members in that part of the world. We should all imagine ourselves in their shoes.

Funding for the Latin American work and ministry was cut off on July 1, 2010. Yet most of the Latin American elders remained members of the GCE until November 30, 2010 when the Council decredentialed them. This adds to what we ministers and many of our lay members can only describe as inconsistent and bizarre.

Lengthy and differing explanations from the home office for these actions have left us unconvinced that the church leadership action was fair, decent, gracious—or even legitimate, whether according to biblical standards or the UCG Rules of Association.

What is seen as a conspicuously offensive error has only been compounded by the administration sending representatives throughout Latin America to convince members and elders to “join United” when they believed they already were part of the UCG. The glaringly obvious conflict of interest in your choice for the primary administrative representative in this matter is evident to thousands of UCG members, and seems to indicate a callous disregard for the clearly expressed objections of the Latin American brethren and ministry.

When 166 pastors and elders appealed to the leadership to bring the Latin American members and ministers back into our fold, the president and chairman of the COE acknowledged receipt of the appeal and said they would get back to the senders soon. That gave hope to the entire church (especially to the UCG in Latin America), only to have their trust dashed when the appeal was answered with a letter—not to the 166 ministers, but rather to the entire church membership. The response falsely accused the signers of being part of a rebellious conspiracy, a political caucus and an attempt to undermine our governing system. In contrast, many ministers and members understood the appeal for what it was: a sincere request for reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The fact that no serious attempt at reconciliation has ever been made adds to the disillusionment.

The so-called “white papers” on the doctrines of fasting and Sabbath observance generated great concern about our doctrinal purity and integrity, without which the UCG cannot truly remain part of the Church of God. Valid questions from members and ministers alike have been met with ridicule, unproven and unreasonable assertions that “one or two people” are stirring everyone up and with repeated statements that questions about the papers are not worth answering. This demonstrates that the administration does not perceive the serious doctrinal errors within the papers. It further illustrates a troubling lack of respect for discerning pastors and members who have been dismayed by these papers.

The question currently in the minds of a growing number of elders and members is, “What do we do now?” You have said you are willing to talk. But in reality, the present administration and the Council have rebuffed or ignored specific requests to talk from individual ministers; from all of the 10 U.S. regional pastors at the time (including you, Mr. Luker), as well as several requests from approximately a dozen men, serving in the previous administration as well as on the Council of Elders.

The workable—and what we believe is biblical—pathway to proper functioning as a church has repeatedly been proposed to you and the Council privately and publicly. That is, an open (not executive session) face-to-face meeting between current and past leaders of the organization for the purpose of identifying and removing the obstructions that impede the function of the United Church of God.

Sad to say, every such proposal submitted to the Council has either been significantly altered, ignored or rebuffed, publicly or privately. Even you, Mr. Luker, proposed such a meeting to the Council, only to be denied. On the other hand, the method the administration and Council has chosen to deal with the situations previously mentioned is one of confrontation, seeking to impose control with no attempt to resolve the underlying issues.

If you and the Council deny the viability of meeting to discuss openly the issues that have divided the ministry and the current leadership, then we are left with no other conclusion than that you and the Council of Elders have already decided that our differences are irreconcilable.

Is that your conclusion? If so, what would you have us do?

Respectfully submitted this 4th of December, 2010,

Signed by:
  1. Dan Anderson
  2. Dave Baker
  3. Neil Becker
  4. Andre van Belkum
  5. James (Bud) Beymer
  6. Gary Black
  7. Mike Blackwell
  8. Dempsey Bruton III
  9. Andy Burnett
  10. Arnold Burns
  11. Todd Carey
  12. Jeff Caudle
  13. Jim Chapman
  14. Tom Clark
  15. Martin Cole
  16. Dave DeHart
  17. Roy Demarest
  18. Thomas Diaz
  19. Glenn Doig
  20. Behrman Doucet
  21. Osmonde Douglas
  22. Kevin Epps
  23. Cory Erickson
  24. Don Erickson
  25. Dave Evans
  26. Eric Evans
  27. George Evans
  28. Steve Ferenchiak
  29. Herchial Fisher
  30. John Foster
  31. Jim Franks
  32. Alonzo Gjesvold
  33. Bruce Gore
  34. Larry Greider
  35. Jim Haeffele
  36. Arnold Hampton
  37. Mark Hampton
  38. Mike Hanisko
  39. Charles Haughee
  40. Alton Head
  41. Don Henson
  42. Bernard Hongerloot
  43. Doug Horchak
  44. Jim Hudson
  45. Michael Isaac
  46. David Jackson
  47. Bill Jahns
  48. Bill Johnson
  49. David Johnson
  50. Doug Johnson
  51. Ron Kelley
  52. Clyde Kilough
  53. Dick King
  54. Morgen Kriedemann
  55. William Kubon
  56. Dennis Kuhns
  57. Larry Lambert
  58. Ralph Levy
  59. Tony Levy
  60. Scott Lord
  61. Paul Luecke
  62. John Lusk
  63. Mike Machin
  64. Cecil Maranville
  65. Kingsley Mather
  66. David McCarble
  67. Gary McConnaughey
  68. Tom McCrady
  69. Melton McNeely
  70. George Meeker
  71. Joel Meeker
  72. Chris Moen
  73. Dave Myers
  74. Larry Neff
  75. Leroy Neff
  76. David Pavlik
  77. John Pentlin
  78. Bob Peoples
  79. John Perry
  80. Frank Pierce
  81. Richard Pinelli
  82. Maurice Ledet
  83. Richard Rand
  84. David Register
  85. Phillip Sandilands
  86. Floyd Satterwhite
  87. Greg Sargent
  88. John Seiver
  89. Tom Seltzer
  90. Jim Servidio
  91. Donald Shaw
  92. David Smith
  93. Neville Smith
  94. Jim Springer
  95. Blaney Sproul
  96. Paul Suckling
  97. Greg Swartz
  98. Britton Taylor
  99. Richard Thompson
  100. Dave Treybig
  101. Ken Treybig
  102. John Trotter
  103. Art Verschoor
  104. Tim Waddle
  105. Don Waterhouse
  106. Lyle Welty
  107. David West
  108. Roger West
  109. Jack Willoughby
  110. Mark Winner

De-Mystifying the Mysteries




In August 1985, Armstrong's final work, Mystery of the Ages, was published. He called it a "synopsis of the Bible in the most plain and understandable language." It was more or less a compendium of theological concepts as articulated by Armstrong. Including the notion that the bible was ‘a coded book’ to which he had been given the key.
In De-Mystifying the Mysteries we will be taking a look at the Herbert W. Armstrong vision of Worldwide Church of God, encompassing from the 1930’s until his death in 1986. De-Mystifying the Mysteries specifically will challenge Armstrong’s doctrines as presented in his last book, Mystery of the Ages, a book he proclaimed to be his life’s work and beliefs.
De-Mystifying the Mysteries will quote Armstrong directly, as well as some of his most trusted ministers and advisors and will refute Armstrong’s doctrines, using scripture and support it with historical documents, scientific documents, and writings from the men whom the Apostles ordained, writings Armstrong claimed were lost through the ages. When applicable, Hebrew documentation will be used as well, in order to show the Hebrew traditions in Old Testament times.
Last but not least, De-Mystifying the Mysteries will take a step back and use a little common sense and logic when compiling all the evidence against the doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong and his Evangelists in the Worldwide Church of God.

Dibar Apartian Has Died




Another mighty oak has fallen. Our beloved friend and brother, Evangelist Dibar Krikor Apartian, has gone to a well-earned rest. Mr. Apartian lived to 94 years of age—24 years beyond King David who died “old and full of days” at age 70. The Eternal God used Mr. Apartian to raise up the Work of God in the French language and to oversee and guide that Work for many decades. Through his ministry in the French language, through his sermons and articles in English, and through his well-known personal love and graciousness, Mr. Apartian had a wonderful impact on the lives of many thousands of people around the world.—Roderick C. Meredith

While Apartian certainly was over the French speaking areas, he was not always the favorite HQ administrator.  The Belgians and many of the French did not care too much for him.  He was a French speaking Armenian and therefore not a true Francophile.

He was also known for not getting too wrapped up in the politics in Pasadena.  At least that was the impression he gave.

He is preceded in death by his son, who committed suicide.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

UCG Council: "...ministers are to be servants,..."

If UCG ministers are to be true servants then THEY will be the ones kneeling and washing the lowest members feet.  I truly wonder if any of them have to balls to do that! The problem with UCG leadership is that they still expect the members to serve them, to be loyal, to fund them, and to be at their beckon call.  The truth is it is the other way around.



(The following letter was sent to the United Church of God ministry and membership by the Council of Elders and the President on December 7, 2010.]
Dec. 7, 2010
Dear Ministers and Members,
This letter to you is from the entire sitting Council of Elders and has also been signed by Dennis Luker as president of the United Church of God, representing the administration and ministerial team. We invite you to carefully read every word and pray earnestly about what we are writing to you today.
As we collectively write to you, we write in the prayerful, humble and confident knowledge that the Bible—the inspired Word of God—means what it says when we are told that Jesus Christ Himself is the living Head of the Church. That means that we must all—ministers and members alike—look to Jesus Christ for the power, the love and the direction that He will give His Church to know and fulfill God’s will. Sometimes we may be presented with things and events that we don’t totally understand at the moment, but nonetheless, we can and will be confident that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28, emphasis added throughout). We must not allow the familiarity of this verse to dilute its meaning!
This morning, during the regularly scheduled meetings of the Council of Elders, Melvin Rhodes was presented with the resignations of three members of the Council: David Baker, Michael Blackwell and David Treybig. The Council resignations today followed on the resignation from the Council submitted last Friday by Jim Franks. All resignations were received in a civil and respectful manner. No resignations from the Council from these four men were solicited by other Council members and they were not anticipated.
In following the process established by the Church’s Constitution, Roy Holladay and Victor Kubik were installed as members of the Council of Elders. These two men, both of whom have previously served on the Council, were in line for service per the balloting of the General Conference of Elders last May. The current Council of 10 represents sufficient membership to continue the work and mission of the Church under our Bylaws, and that work will continue forward!
The process for the remaining two Council positions will be fulfilled according to our Bylaws, and you will receive due notice of that progress.
As the work and mission of the United Church of God continues forward, we as the current Council of Elders, together with Mr. Luker, want to emphasize the intensely earnest need for all of us to be in alignment with God’s will (Romans 12:1-2). We must surrender ourselves to that divine will in order for this Church—this group of called-out ones—to be healed of our differences, achieve reconciliation and forge together in unity. That is the goal, that is the objective, that is the focus of all of us. None of the Council members desires division or discord. Our belief and our focus is not whether any one person is “right” concerning any given issue, but what is the truth, how should we act on the truth and how can we—as the duly designated governing body over the United Church of God—humbly yield to and accomplish the very will of God!
Many unfortunate comments have been made about numerous issues both recently and over the past several months. For the record, as the current Council of Elders, we would like to briefly address three issues and make them clear.
One, the members in Latin America have not been cut off. No one on the Council has abandoned anyone. In fact, a fair portion of the Council meetings this week was devoted to understanding the current issues in Latin America, the facts, and how the Church can make progress and achieve unity. We acknowledge that some tough decisions have been made. These decisions have been made in accordance to the facts that we know and in conformity with both the bylaws of the Church and biblical teachings. The door is and will remain open to reconciliation both in Latin America and elsewhere. Reconciliation in God’s time remains our prayerful goal.
Two, no doctrines of the Church are being changed, subtly or overtly. No changes are being contemplated. Conversely, particularly given the unnecessary turmoil that has arisen in some quarters of the Church about the Sabbath, the Council is intensely focused on making clear what is expected in terms of Sabbath-keeping and the seventh day worship of God. We uphold the established doctrinal teaching of the United Church of God on the subject of the Sabbath and the Holy Days.
Three, we on the Council and in the administration believe that credentialed ministers serving within the United Church of God must fulfill their ministerial duties. That means that ministers are to be servants, providing for the spiritual needs of the precious members in their congregations. Ministers are to edify and build up (1 Thessalonians 5:11), not sow discord and uncertainty among God’s spiritual flock. Numerous avenues and opportunities are already available to ministers who would like to raise issues with us as Council members or those within the Church’s administration. It has been written before, but let us again make it plain here: we on the Council believe the biblical precept that “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17), but when things get so hot that the iron melts, no one is served. We on the Council—as we expect of ourselves—expect ministers to fulfill the biblical mandate to “be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). According to the biblical requirements, we expect that ministers will “be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men” (Titus 3:1-2).
Those standards apply to all of us. The Bible tells us that we all fall short, that we are all imperfect. Yet we are instructed: “Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6, NIV). That means we must learn how to live in love, just as Jesus taught. That means we all have much to overcome.
While we may be buffeted by trials of various type and circumstance in this current time, we know that Jesus said “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). As Jesus declared to His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Even in the midst of this trial, we can be confident that God is directly using these experiences—however unpleasant, exhausting and taxing—to mold and shape our character. That divinely refined character will last for all eternity. We must not fail at this task: “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Despite the current trials, we know from the Bible that the work of God, the work of the Church, indeed, theChurch itself will continue. As we know from Scripture and from history, we know that if we are yielded to God, seeking His will and how to learn how to love one another, He will use us to accomplish His will. We all need correction, and we must seek it to achieve this.
With God as our witness, we whose names appear below bear no ill will to any man. The Church of God will be here today, it will be here tomorrow and Christ will continue to prepare the saints for the Kingdom of God. While we may be a comparatively small church, a little flock, God is magnifying our voice and has set before us an open door to preach His gospel.
In conclusion, we on the Council prayerfully join with what the apostle Paul wrote under inspiration to the first century church at Ephesus: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better” (Ephesians 1:17, NIV). Paul continues, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart [your innermost thoughts and understanding] may be enlightened in order that you may know…his incomparably great power for us who believe” (verse 18-19, NIV).
Thank you all for your prayerful support. Let us seek peace. Let us claim the promises of God and rejoice in the spiritual riches He makes available to all of us through our living Leader, Jesus Christ!
In Christ’s service,
The Council of Elders [Scott Ashley, Bob Berendt, Aaron Dean, William Eddington, Roy Holladay, Victor Kubik, Darris McNeely, Melvin Rhodes (chairman), Mario Seiglie and Robin Webber] and Dennis Luker (president)