Ghosts of the Past

New Yorker Magazine

Ron Weinland, Convicted Felon, is Asking Church Members To Try and Influence Judge With Letters

Mike has the following letter on his blog from convicted felon Ron Weinland begging church members to write letters to the court on what a magnificent ministry Ron performs.  Weinland's Impacts

From: “Ron Weinland”
To: elders
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012
Subject: To All in the Ministry

Hello to everyone,

This is being sent out to all elders and I am requesting that you pass along this request to members in your area. This should be sent out in a coordinated manner, so please follow the structure of Church government to make certain that all areas get covered.

My lawyer has asked me to send out a request to Church members. It is not requested that everyone respond, but if you have what you believe is a strong story of what has impacted your life by my ministry, and you feel moved to write about it, please send a letter to the address listed below. The purpose for this is for the use of the lawyer in his appeal to the judge concerning my future sentencing if it comes to that time. This is a normal legal process, but this needs to be done immediately if you are going to participate.

Please first read the new post that should be up sometime tomorrow (Friday). It is in the spirit mentioned in that post that you should write–one that reflects God’s way. We are looking for examples of things that have impacted your life like financial assistance or other assistance, help through teaching that has changed your life in some manner or some counseling that has done the same. Perhaps your statement might be about help in overcoming some problem in marriage, addiction, relationships, etc. Your response should contain specifics, while being specific, and not be long and drawn out.

It is requested that nothing be sent that is critical or an attack against the government or the system, and do NOT proclaim anything about your belief in my innocence, injustice, etc. This needs to be done by way of mail and not e-mail, so it is all the more important that this be done quickly. So when you write these letters, you need to mention my name and what it is that I have done which has influenced your life.

Here is the address where you need to send the letters:

Frost Brown Todd LLC
Attn: Bob Webb
{redacted}

Thanks for your help in this matter.
Our love,
Ron & Laura

What Rona and Laura still fail to see, or perhaps are deliberately ignoring, is the fact that at NO TIME did the court, prosecutor or the government go after the church that Ron runs.  Many of the articles in the news media make that fact know in their headlines.  Ron was convicted because of HIS deliberate misuse of funds.  The jurors that comment on Mikes blog also strongly bring this point to the forefront in all their postings.  It was never about the church, it was all about him.

I hope the judge and the prosecutor see through these deliberate distractions and nail his ass for the full extent that the law allows.

Huffington Post: Ronald Weinland, Doomsday Prophet, Found Guilty Of Tax Evasion

Forbes: Man Who Touted 'End of the World' Guilty of Tax Evasion

Doomsday Prophet Guilty of Tax Evasion

Why the Gatekeepers of Armstrongism No Longer Have Control

There was an interesting post today on the Slacktavist blog, "‘Christian bookstores’ and the unsustainable bubble of the evangelical subculture.

It discuses how the Southern Baptists "gatekeepers" are still trying to legislate morality in the Southern Baptists subculture.  One leader was offended that a Southern Baptist bookstore was selling the video The Blind Side because it contains a few swear words.  The movie is about a woman and her family that took in a homeless black youth who, with their care and encouragement, went on to be an NFL first draft player.  He made demands and the bookstore crumbled.  However, the article points out that people will now spend their money elsewhere because the gatekeepers no longer have the power they once had.

LifeWay Christian Bookstores is a large and still-influential chain with 165 locations across the country. But which do you suppose sells more DVDs — LifeWay or Amazon? Do you think it’s even close?
More people shop at Amazon. More Southern Baptists shop at Amazon. More conservative, evangelical and fundamentalist Southern Baptists shop at Amazon. Southern Baptist evangelicals are still buying and watching The Blind Side, but LifeWay no longer sees any of the revenue from those sales.

The walls are gone and no one — not even conservative, sheltered, evangelical-leaning-fundamentalist Southern Baptists — needs to go through the gates or the gatekeepers anymore.

Mass media — from television to FM radio — chipped away at those walls for decades. Then the Internet came along and bulldozed them to the ground. (See earlier: “The evangelical bubble cannot be sustained, part 1” and “The evangelical bubble cannot be sustained, part 2.”)

But even though those walls are gone and cannot be rebuilt, the gatekeepers still maintain some of their power — partly through inertia and custom, partly through demagoguery that convinces their intimidated followers to pretend the walls are still there.

The article reminded me of the Church of God over the last several decades.  The COG ruled with a heavy fists for many years until cracks started appearing in the structure of the organization.  The leaders started losing power in the early to mid 1970's when people started waking up to the abuses around them.  Mass defections occurred and money flew out the window.  Immediately a crack down happened to regain control.  At that time all they had to do was command the members to not read the books or buy the magazines and people did it.  The few books that detailed the abuses in Armstrongism that came out at that time never had much of an impact on the COG.

Then things changed with the power of the internet.  Information began to flow swiftly around the world instantaneously. The COG leadership no longer had control.  People hungry for information read unlimited articles and participated on newsgroups to glean any information they could.  People could read, buy books, and see videos about the corruption and false teaching of the COG in the privacy of their own homes, without COG leaders ever knowing.  The COG started to implode rather quickly at this point and has never recovered.

The article also includes this:

But even though those walls are gone and cannot be rebuilt, the gatekeepers still maintain some of their power — partly through inertia and custom, partly through demagoguery that convinces their intimidated followers to pretend the walls are still there.

The gatekeepers of Armstrongism will never be able to reign in members as they did in the past.  Sure a few will bloviate and bluster trying to act like real macho men, but their hypocrisy is exposed to the world now for all to see.

American Kabuki Claims He Helped 50,000 COG Members Leave Armstrongism

This guy claims he helped over 50,000 COG members leave Armstrongism in the 1990's.  You have to read his story and his many claims, including dying and coming back to life.  I knew about the 300,000,000 income when I came to Pasadena. There for a while the church bragged that it was bringing in close to a million dollars a day.

Thank Heaven for 7-11 (2012, that is)… “American Kabuki: First Ever Radio Interview on The Light Agenda”

In a far-ranging interview, we find out that American Kabuki is, not surprisingly, American and grew up in a family of five kids; his father would talk about the UFOs he’d seen flying during the war; his mother’s cousin broke the land speed record; and that at the age of nine, when camping in the desert with his father as part of a group of 30 kids and parents, he experienced his first ‘cowboy’ angel; an angel who may have saved the whole group from dehydrating and possibly dying in the heat.

He also suffered terrible asthma and a dog mauling as a young boy; only to be healed, instantly – twice – by a minister of the church. And it is that same church which had a such major impact on his life – and for way longer…

From the age of five, American Kabuki was an integral part of the World Wide Church of God, led by former advertising guru Herbert W. Armstrong, which his father had joined. The church soon had control over many of the family’s regular activities – from the food they ate, to what they drank and where a percentage of their weekly income went.

Sometime after beginning his working life as a carpenter, American Kabuki finally landed, by accident, in the world of IT. He loved it and it brought him into a whole new world. IT widened his eyes on many fronts, as he soon had dealings with and access to people and confidential corporate and banking information from way outside his church group – and from all around the world. His work also led to him living overseas for several years, in the UK and France, and took him to countries as far away as Australia, regularly.

The Worldwide Church of God and its doctrines, meanwhile, retained American’s Kabuki’s devotion for 35 years. Yet it was his IT knowledge and worldly experiences, combined with what he was seeing and hearing within his church, that led him to uncover a mass of untruths about the church during the 1990s. Including the fact that his church had an annual income of over $300 million a year!

His disillusionment with the church – and his IT know-how – led him to setting up and running what was, albeit, a very archaic, early version (it was the 1990s, after all) of an email database and online chat room. But it was one that was highly effective, as during the late 1990s, he and a couple of others helped over 50,000 people come to terms with the church he had by then left – or leave themselves. Most joined him and left.

Since then, American Kabuki has enjoyed what he describes as a continuous and wonderful awakening.
But he has also endured incredible physical hardship. In 2007, he contracted an illness which, in early 2009, saw him die. He tells me what happened during his death and how, once he was eventually brought back to life, his life changed even further.

A Break From Ron Weinland and Apostle Malm

Quality entertainment for the brainwashed

Notice Kevin Dean and others entralled with this world class entertainment!

Dennis On: "If We Are Following the Churches of God, We Are Still Stuck in Them"

If We Are Following the Churches of God, We Are Still Stuck in Them

Our lives go where our energy flows.  Seems simple enough and self evident.  If we ask the average person who used to be a member of any of the myriad Churches of God when they left it, it's easy to get an answer of "in the 70's,"  "In the 80's," "in the 90's," or "not soon enough..." 

Really?   It has taken some time to understand that while I left in the late '90's,  I am still stuck in them...all of them it seems sometimes.   Like a lost love, I find myself thinking of it every day.  I write it letters to see if something can't be fixed.  I get irritated when they don't answer and keep on doing the very things that caused me to "leave."  Worse I suppose is having them remind me of why they left me!  

I watch and monitor their crazy new relationships.  Shake my head at their lofty ideals and goals while ever holding the carrot of Christ's return just ahead of their member noses.  A antics of a couple of the COG restored, living and packaged editions in particular still fascinate me.

I listen to them explain themselves and repeat the same time proven ways of getting the brain dead to respond with support for themselves.  And the brain dead seem to multiply faster than those who have awakened to the changes needed to get on with life.   Not all who leave a COG actually leave it.  It has had a powerful mind altering effect on most.  Let's face it...it was a program.  I got programmed like anyone else, and  I allowed it and wanted to be, and then I became a programmer until I woke up and realized this simply does not work as advertised and every quiet fear of what probably would happen if they didn't get their act together in the last days of HWA, did happen.  

It struck me how inane the constant monitoring of the COGs really is when I realized that the Great and Almighty Apostle David C Pack has about 1000 people in his whole church worldwide...  Really?  More people than that stop for coffee every morning at Starbucks around here  

This stupendous and thunderous copycat has 1000 followers and spends millions getting them?  If the number is accurate then we know it didn't come from DCP.  In his mind, practically the whole world knows who he is.  If it is accurate, then it will be interesting to see how a whole new Theological Industrial Complex can be founded on the contributions of so few.  If DCP gave the number then we can assume it is probably half that as DCP always embellishes and blows up the numbers because "I'm not about numbers..."   Really?   Of course it is all about the numbers.  That's what Gospel Spinners are told to do.  Get those numbers. 

But I digress....

I can only speak for myself  (well I could speak for you too, but you'd just get pissed.)    I want out of the Church of God, body, mind and spirit.  The body got out, but it is obvious to me, the mind and spirit never has to date.  Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most...as they say.  

In my world today, love is really all there is when we understand it.  Everything else, all the COG hype and views are an illusion.  The answer, for me, is not to find a better illusion but to simply sit down before the facts as a little child, as someone once said, and let the facts take one where they go.  The COGs are not big on facts.  Fantasy and illusions sound better, are much more encouraging in the short term and can generate a lot of income if done well.  Sorry Ron, you didn't do it so well and it caught up with you.  However and for now, he still seems to have the attention of some few more brain dead than ever until he doesn't.

In the bigger picture, the Bible spins a tale, or many tales that actually don't meld together well.  It presents it's own illusions and buying into them and refusing to see all is not as presented is easy.  It is much easier to be en-couraged by Lions and Lambs than doing the hard science needed to understand what is probably more real and more true about it all.  After all, the bottom line fear we treat with a good dose of religion, true or false, is our ingrained fear of death and what comes next if anything.

Perfect love doesn't cast out hate.  Hate is not the opposite of love.  Fear is the opposite of love and fear drives us more easily than love for the most part.  I'd like love to cast out my own fears.  I have too many of them and they rise up far too often and run the show until they dissipate.   So, I believe that love really is all there really is and all else in an illusion.  Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real, but it can appear very real if we are not careful.

So I left the COG in the 90's.   But it is obvious to me I have not left it.  I'm working on it and probably only stay in the hope that some few might benefit from hearing about the process.  Thinking you are the only one in the world having faced this kind of experience is, of course, not true and needs not be made larger than it deserves. 

If all else fails, I would appreciate it if some WCG/COG minister would just write and tell me I have been finally dis-membered and while they wish me no harm are sorry that they had to take such action and we can skip the part about doing it in the hope it will lead to repentance.

I once had a minister buddy send in a disfellowship card on a G. Shephard.  Seems the dog had bit him pretty good and this was his revenge.  

I'll end with Buddhist story that has an obvious point..   I guess one was a real monk and the other was just a monk-ey...  :)

Two Monks Carry Woman

Zen Buddhist story

http://users.skynet.be/lotus/story/story-en.htm

Two monks, going to a neighbouring monastery, walked side by side in silence. They arrived at a river they had to cross. 

That season, waters were higher than usual. 

On the bank, a young woman was hesitating and asked the younger 

of the two monks for help. 

He exclaimed, 'Don't you see that I am a monk, that I took a vow of chastity?'

'I require nothing from you that could impede your vow, but simply to help me to cross the river,' replied the young woman with a little smile.

'I...not...I can...do nothing for you,' said the embarrassed young monk.

'It doesn't matter,' said the elderly monk. 

'Climb on my back and we will cross together.'

Having reached the other bank, the old monk put down the young woman who, in return, thanked him with a broad smile. 

She left thier side and both monks continued their route in silence. 

Close to the monastery, the young monk could not stand it anymore and said, 

'You shouldn't have carried that person on your back. It's against our rules.'

'This young woman needed help and I put her down on the other bank. You didn't carry her at all, but she is still on your back,' replied the older monk."

"She's still on your back..."   I get it now.....

Dennis C. Diehl
DenniscDiehl@aol.com

Apostle Malm Starts Secret Facebook Site

Apostle Malm claims he is not set financially to start a Feast site this year so he has resorted to the next best thing - FACEBOOK!  Oh, and it is a secret site too.  Really?

Because I am unable to provide local services or a Feast site at this time, a suggestion was made to set up a Facebook group.

A man who has decades in the faith and with whom I have been in contact for over a year has volunteered to run a facebook site for the brethren.  This person has set up a group site with very careful consideration for the security of the group members.

He will moderate the site and will have the last word on who is admitted to membership.  All members may invite other persons to join with the understanding that acceptance is up to the moderator.  This site is for those of a common mind to meet and interact with each other.

He  may be contacted to join and for more information at:    E-mail address:
EkkleKonx@gmail.com  responses will show “Nw Christian” as the author.

I invite all those interested to email for more information as soon as possible to get this rolling.
This site is for those of a common mind to meet and interact with each other.  The security is to prevent trouble makers who are selling a private belief inimical to our positions or just want to cause trouble.   We wish to provide a sense of security as far as is possible.

The Fb group will be  secret – members must be approved – members may post and read posts.  All members may invite other persons to join with the understanding that acceptance is up to the moderator.

I know of several persons who would want to join the group, but I caution people that not everyone is ready to post on facebook for a variety of reasons.  Therefore I would expect this to start off slowly and then build over time.

 The apostle makes a point in telling everyone that he is not ashamed of his message or his god, yet he is now cavorting in secret with others.  Talk about hypocrisy!

...are people afraid to go forth in public boldness for our Mighty One and want some shameful “Strong Hand From Someplace” dissimulation to pretend to declare the word of God while saying nothing ? 3/8/11