Are COG Ministers the "Unfriendliest of Church Members?"

Naked Pastor

A reader here sent me a great quote from an article The Phony Feast of Tabernacles

In spite of their admonitions to the membership, ministers were among the unfriendliest of church members. In one sermon shortly after I started attending the WCG, my first pastor explained why he didn’t socialize with lay members – if he got too friendly with them, they wouldn’t respect his authority. “Familiarity breeds a certain amount of disrespect,” he said. Ministers, with few exceptions, maintained an arms length relationship with lay members as a matter of policy. At the Feast of Tabernacles, ministers socialized with other ministers. When you saw them dining in restaurants, they dined not with lonely lay members, but with other ministers, usually their chums from Ambassador College. They had their own parking spaces, their own ministerial luncheons, and reserved ministers-only seating during services. Even if they participated in social activities open to lay members, such as dances and luncheons, they sat at reserved, ministers-only tables. “Ministers Only” signs were ubiquitous in the Worldwide Church of God. The ministers segregated themselves from lay members by staying in the best hotels and dining in the most expensive restaurants. The ordinary member couldn’t afford to patronize these establishments, but the ministers could because of the generous festival allowance they received from church headquarters. This is yet one more example of the Worldwide Church of God ministry applying one set of standards to the membership while applying another less rigorous set of standards to themselves. Needless to say, there are no “Parents Only” signs on the dinner table when the family gets together for Christmas.

I remember working in the Auditorium in Pasadena and how each week we had to mark of rows and rows of seats for ministers and their families.  Many of them never could get to church on time even though they lived on campus.  We had to ensure that they had seats when they came in late.

For many years I also set up and worked in the ministerial dining room at the Feast in Pasadena.  Members were forbidden to enter the room.  They were to remain in the main area of the Student Center at all times.  Most usually brought their own lunch and used the dining area, or on holy days ate from a potluck where unknown and questionable foods always were present.  However, it was another story on the other side of the folding teak walls.  A well stocked bar with every imaginable liquor, beer and wine was waiting. A vast array of food was waiting to be gorged upon, roast beef, turkey, salmon, lamb, chicken, all freshly cooked in the kitchen.  If you were the feast advisor and specially selected men (always men) you also received a gift basket of cheeses, salami's (beef of course), crackers, candies and wines costing over 200.00 each.  Go back outside those teak folding walls and it was another story.

The Lack of Credibility of Dissenting Ministers Who Jump Ship Continually

I find it interesting to watch the ministers in the various COG's as they jump from one group to the next keeping their jobs as ministers.  Every single one of them never has the balls to step out on their own without first negotiating with the church they want to go to about their jobs.

Those that were in Pasadena saw Kubik, Orchard and others gathering loyal followers around them while still on the WCG payroll.  They plotted and schemed behind the backs of their leaders.

Meredith is well known for doing this.  While the WCG was fightingthe lawsuit that Leona McNair brought against him, Meredith was plotting with various men in Pasadena to form Global Church of God.  Then when Raymond McNair plotted to overthrow him, Meredith had his loyal group of men plotting behind the scenes to form Living Church of God.

Gerald Flurry did the same thing. David Hulme did the same thing, as did David C Pack.

Recently we watched as David Hulme's ministers plotted behind his back to form Church of God Father's Call.  Yet within one month of it forming, Peter Nathan and others were already plotting to move to Living Church of God and United Church of God.  Nathan was so slick that he negotiated with Rod Meredith to keep his ministerial titles, secured his housing and is promising to bring into LCG the churches in Kenya he was over while with Hulme

...Peter Nathan said that he expects to be joining Living Church of God as an employed minister as soon as arrangements are finalized. He will be supervising congregations in all Africa and probably teaching at Living University, LCG's college. He hopes to move to LCG and the Charlotte, N.C. area around the end of March and would like to be in Africa for Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Charlotte is the headquarters location for LCG.

Mr. Nathan has been concerned about the Church he pastored in Kenya during his last several years in COGaic. This gives him the opportunity to serve ministers and members in Kenya more effectively (because LCG has certain government permissions in Kenya that COGaic has not had) and at the same time supervise more congregations in the rest of Africa. Peter Nathan Is Goign With Living Church of God

Now we soon may see these men and others jumping from LCG into COGWA and other groups.  These men are currently negotiating with other COG's so they can move right over and keep their jobs and salaries as ministers.

Stupidly, the churches are negotiating with them.  How many months down the line do we have to wait for yet another group of men to start plotting to jump ship again?

These men have no integrity any more yet members still flock to their sides in these matters of dispute.

E. W. King: God's Greatest Endtime Ministry Going Forth From A Rocking Chair

After seeing this video I want to sell all my belongings and join up with this mind boggling work!

Imagine sending your message to the world from a rocking chair in your living room dressed in your dirty jeans.  I guess if Bob Thiel can do it with crooked bookcases and doorknobs by his head, King can do it in a rocking chair with a crooked lampshade.

Living Church of God To Soon Face Another Upheaval

Despite repeated denials by the upper echelon at the Living Church of God all things are not bright and beautiful or unified.

We are soon going to be witnessing ministers leaving Living Church of God because of the "liberal" policies of Rod Meredith.  It will be interesting to see what these men claim are the "liberal" polices and beliefs that Meredith his been espousing.  Meredith is not known for being a liberal.

It also seems that the recently defected ministers from David Hulme's personalty cult are not too happy in Living Church of God either.  Will they soon defect elsewhere?

A reader here posted:

Rumor is that the three Hulme elders who defected to LCG are already reconsidering their decision, in light of the fact that several prominent LCG elders will soon be announcing their move to another Church of God group (not Thiel's group, and not RCG).

Since the death of Sheryl Meredith, a new wave of discontent has rocked LCG. For years, conservatives in LCG were told privately that Sheryl was the behind-the-scenes cause of many of Rod Meredith's liberal or nepotistic decisions. Now, with Sheryl out of the picture, people are realizing that the problem has been old Rod all along.

Rod is a liar.

Rod will lie to protect his family.

Rod will back other liars who defend him and make him look good.

Rod will soon have a much smaller church to give to his children.

Then, to add more fuel to the fire, James Malm had this encrypted message up today:

COG NEWS:   I need to be as circumspect as I can here, but I do want to present some idea of what is happening so that people will not be taken by surprise.  I do not want to upset anyone’s applecart so about all I can say is that there are various elders in discreet communications with certain COG Groups about changing their affiliation. I can also say that they will not be going to RCG and that this may take some weeks yet.

Things are not rosy in Charlotte and it will be interesting to see how the spin doctors rise up and deny that things are amiss in the Living Church of God.  We will be regaled with words of encouragement about the great unified family that exists in the LCG.  At no point in the history of the Church of God has the church been more unified.

Poor Jimmy Meredith may soon have to put in an application at Walmart.

Caltech Solved the Schrödinger Equation With WCG/AC Computers

The great thing about the following quote is that they admit that they got to use the church computers to do work on Saturdays. Apostasy! Like all things in Armstrongism, there were ways to get around everything just as long as you were not one of the dumb sheeple in a field church.

Kuppermann and his colleagues knew that these computer resources would not be sufficient for their project, so they actively started looking for solutions. The answer was provided by a postdoctoral scholar who uncovered a wealth of unused computer time at a Pasadena religious organization called the Worldwide Church of God. The church and its associated religious school, Ambassador College, used an IBM 360 computer to record information about their donors —the same type of machine that Kuppermann's group was using at the Caltech's computer center. Such machines required that each line of computer code be physically "punched" out on a card, which would then be fed into and read by the computer.

The computer at Ambassador College was only used for church business during the week, so Kuppermann's lab group got permission to use the computer for research purposes on the weekends. "We would take these boxes of computer cards and either drive or ride our bicycles to Ambassador College," Schatz recalls. "When it started, we were doing this on Fridays—we'd prepare these cards, deliver them on Friday afternoon, and then go back on Monday to pick up the results. And since the computers were sitting idle over the weekend except for our work, we were actually able to accomplish a huge amount."

 In fact, this unorthodox collaboration between a religious organization and a group of scientists enabled the Kuppermann group to resolve several important issues about the importance of quantum effects in chemical reactions. "These calculations allowed us to to solve the Schrödinger equation—in other words, to use quantum mechanics to describe the reaction of a hydrogen atom and a hydrogen molecule (H2)," he says. "And it was the first time that the Schrödinger equation was solved for this reaction," a highlight of Kuppermann's career, Schatz says.

Despite the importance of the computing time, the staff at Ambassador College "had no idea that their computer was basically the center of the universe for doing computations of reaction dynamics," says Schatz. "We acknowledged Ambassador College in our papers at the time, but they never charged us for anything; they just seemed to be interested in the fact that we could do fundamental science with computer resources that they just were never using.  Resourceful Computing Advances Chemistry at Caltech

Famine of the Word!!!!!! Gerald Flurry Is Receiving Intense Resistance To His Message in England, Europe and Israel

Poor Gerald Flurry, try as he might the world is ignoring his message.  In fact, they are resistant to it!  Its time to declare the "famine of the word!"  How dare these apostate nations turn their back on God's most mighty man!  England is thwarting him, most of the nations of Europe are a thorn in his side and Israel is giving him grief.  Even with all of his work in Jerusalem on an archaeological dig, at Liberty Bell Park and even buying a condo next to the Mount of Olives for little Stevie, they get no respect from Israel.

Here is what PCG has to say about their persecution:

The Key of David has broadcasted all over the planet throughout the years, predominantly in the United States and Canada, where we have experienced the least restrictions against airing the warning message.

Perhaps the most difficult location on the planet to deliver God’s program has been in Britain and Europe. The nation of Israel has also been nearly impossible to reach. We have aired on secular and religious networks via over-the-air, cable and satellite stations in Britain and Israel. However, this audience remains largely untapped to this day. We eagerly anticipate God opening a quality opportunity for us to broadcast on a station that is readily available to the populations of those nations. In the meantime, the program is available through the Internet of course.

PCG does like to brag though that they have filmed their broadcast "...right into heart of Europe and the seat of the beast power."

We went to Germany several times in the mid-1990s, right into the heart of Europe and the seat of the beast power! Many memorable statements were made as we walked through this prophetically important nation. When God records end-time Church history, it will leave quite a testimony to where He sent His prophet and apostle.

Say what?????  God is going to write more chapters in the Bible about Gerald filming in Germany and elsewhere?  That is about as dumb as the WCG minister (now in a splinter cult) who said the book of Acts was left "open" at the end so that the stories of Worldwide Church of God members could be added to it.

PCG also brags about Flurry and his telecast during an earthquake.  Gerald is soooooooooooooo powerful that an earthquake (Satan) cannot stop him from speaking.

While Mr. Flurry discussed Satan being cast down during his first program in God’s house, we experienced an earthquake. Mr. Flurry didn’t stop. The message continued to flow as it always does.

It's nasty job nut Gerald's gotta do it!

What a towering commission Mr. Flurry has. It doesn’t hurt to remind each of us of the duty we have to pray for inspiration, encouragement, faith and boldness for our pastor general as God speaks through him to a dying world. This is not an easy job; I can testify to that. Mr. Flurry’s devotion to giving this world God’s message regardless of how difficult it might be, and always, always conveying hope, is the very work you and I support.

Gerald is also the most humble Church of God leader ever!  He is right up there next to Jeremiah:

When God gives His message and courage to His prophets, whether it is Jeremiah or Gerald Flurry, we can have the confidence that the Almighty God of the universe will speak His mind through their yielded attitudes.

According to the PCG God is directly reveling hidden knowledge ONLY on Flurry's broadcasts.  Miss them and you are screwed!

The Key of David is a must-watch for each of us. More new revelation has been declared on the program in the past few years than ever before. On multiple occasions, God “broke” the new revelation first on The Key of David. It has never been more important to stay tuned each week as God speaks through His watchman.

You can read the rest of this sickening slobber fest here:   TV Dept. Looks Back on 21 Years of the Key of David

Philadelphia Church of God: What Do Samson, Isaiah, Peter Waldo and King David Have In Common?

Herb's House

The Philadelphia Church of God is at it again.,  They are rewriting history to make it fit their worldview.  It doesn't matter that it is all historically bankrupt, its true as long as PCG does it.

Gerald Flurry has ordered Ryan Malone to do three "epics" to be performed on his HWA Auditorium stage.

The first production is a one hour show on Peter Waldo.  According to the inept PCG "historians" Waldo was a Catholic bashing rebel-rouser that faced down the Catholic Church.  We all know how the story goes from there.  Its the same one fabricated by Dean Blackwell and others at good old Embarrassing College.

It's those feisty heretics in the mountains of France that were the Waldenses, those sabbath keeping, kosher eating, immersion baptizing, and holy day keeping true Christians that preserved the "truth once delivered."

Never mind the fact that they were a Sunday keeping church.  PCG will portray them as Saturday keepers.

Therefore, the Waldensians did not keep the Sabbath (in the sense of Saturday instead of Sunday) and were not guardians of the "Sabbath Truth” as somebody calls it. The Waldensians never followed the Seventh-day Adventist’s Sabbath but they followed more Paul in Romans 14,5-8. 

We can therefore say very clearly that the Waldensians were not Seventh-day Sabbath keepers and they were not persecuted for keeping Saturday as the Sabbath! Thy were persecuted, [from 1532 (when they joined the Reformation - Angrogna Synod) to 1848 (when they received religious freedom)], because of their Reformed-Calvinistic faith in Christ. Did the Waldenses Keep The 7th Day Sabbath?

Malone writes about Waldo:

Morning Star, a one-hour vocal production about 12th-century Apostle Peter Waldo, will debut in June during the 2014 pcg ministerial conference. The cast includes Junior Ambassadors and Herbert W. Armstrong College voice students. Teenagers attending Philadelphia Youth Camp will perform the musical for entertainment night in July.

“It’s about the calling of an apostle, his work and the education of a generation,” Mr. Malone said. “It would be completely appropriate for anyone of any denomination or faith to watch. Any Christian would see the value in the work of Peter Waldo.” Mr. Malone described Waldo as a loner who broke tradition and faced down the Roman Catholic Church.

Who would have imagined a COG group ever doing a play about Sunday keepers!

Malone's next "epic" is on the book of Isaiah.

The Book of Isaiah is scheduled to premiere next year, with performances on January 1, 3 and 4. The cast will consist of about 70 employees and students. The 2½-hour musical centers around Isaiah’s most active year, when he helped King Hezekiah of Israel through a dual trial: sickness and an invasion threat from Assyria. Mr. Malone said the narrow time frame will help the audience follow the story. “Here’s the threat, here’s the conflict and resolution, and the conclusion,” he said.

Mr. Malone said he is weaving Mr. Flurry’s favorite poetic passages from Isaiah, such as chapters 35 and 40, throughout the plot.

Then the final extravaganza will be a dancing gillie Samson.  We all know that Samson, the one that traveled to Ireland where he learned Irish dance from Jeremiah and Tea Tephi!

Mr. Flurry also commissioned a dance performance; Samson will debut sometime next spring. The approximately one-hour performance will feature the Muggivan School of Irish Dance, composed of several Imperial Academy students. The story is biographical, starting with an angel’s promise to Samson’s barren mother that she would bear a son, and ending with the destruction of the Philistines after Samson collapses the pillars of their pagan temple.

 Will Malone EVER do an epic about Jesus, the man PCG does not know?