They refuse to change their business model, they refuse to adapt, they hang on to failures, they embrace falsehoods, they hang to decades-old business models, and don't even seem to try when it comes to promoting their "brand". How is it that they can seemingly be this incompetent?
No one ever said that the leadership of the Churches of God (Armstrong) had Masters of Business Administration degrees. No one ever even said they were qualified to even be a manager of anything. Most of them have lived their whole lives in Armstrongism in one form or another - and many got their degrees not from business school but from Ambassador College. Truth be said, many of them have no business at all leading a Candy Shop at the corner of a small town than a religious "non-profit" organization. Yet, there they are, doing what they do. What gives?
Most of us who read this blog know what Herbert did and how he did it to bring up his church. The conditions of his time were favorable for the rapid growth of a fear-based, prophetic-oriented, end-times religion. After just coming out of two nearly back-to-back world wars, the development of potentially world-ending nuclear weapons, and rapidly advancing industry and technology, the changing from one age to another seemed to indicate the "end of the world", not the end of an age. Herbert was successful in getting his followers to believe that the age to begin was his version of "a world tomorrow", not the current information and technological age of science we currently are experiencing. As we know, his vision of "the world tomorrow" was not accurate to what the reality was to be.
Yet it is this exact, failed "vision" of the "world tomorrow" that current Armstrong Apologists continue to propagandize. They continue to promote the falsehoods that classic Armstrongism wrongly promoted. They seemingly forget or are blind to the fact that the version that Armstrong promoted is not only out of date, out of reality, unsound, and proven completely incorrect in nearly every angle, they "obliviously" pretend it is still present truth and still to come "just around the corner". So the question, again, looms. What gives? Do they honestly truly believe this, or is there another motivation that causes such ignorance?
If they were to admit that Herbert Armstrong was incorrect and that the world has changed, and is a far different reality than predicted, what do you imagine would happen. If they were to admit that Herbert's theology - and the entire basis for his religion (such as British Israelism) was incorrect, the first thing that would happen is they would lose the loyal base that supports them. If they were to admit that the premise of Armstrong's theology had failed (prophetic interpretations, government, the world tomorrow, Armageddon, the 20th Century, 6000 years) was absolutely wrong, they would lose their entire support base. In other words, they would lose money and their jobs.
What they have to do at this point in time is to first and foremost, keep their base. No one is coming to replace the aging crowd of Armstrong supporters that are left. Each of the splintered scattered groups is trying to hang on to whatever shreds of the past they have left. To do this, they have to make an illusion that they are doing a "work" using the same "gospel" and the same "methods" as Herbert did to convince the stranglers that they are still the church while hanging on to the "foundations" - namely, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and the "name of the Church". What they have learned is that it does not take much to convince the stranglers they are doing " a work", even if they are using outdated and antiquated technologies no one listens to or cares about - radio and television, where "end time preachers" and money-hungry evangelists are not only a dime a dozen, but easily researched and debunked with an hour's time on the internet. This doesn't matter to the old-timers, because "the gospel's still being published". All that is necessary for them is to put out "token work" to satisfy the tithe-base that supports them.
Secondly, they have to continue to assert the illusion that they are God's Authority and ministry. To do this, they continue to rattle the same tired cliches to keep the "programming" and "brainwashing" active. This is done by maintaining the "COG Culture" of threats, government, appearances, and structure". This is why they cannot change from the past. If they make any moves to change from the past, they run the very real risk of the Old Timers withholding their tithes and ultimately quitting. This means that they have to hold on to the same liturgy, formats, and structures from the past. If they change any aspect of the past, they could lose their base. If they lose their base, there is no guarantee of replacements to come. They already see what happened when the mother Church gambled and lost on the premise of dramatic change. In other words, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they make changes, they lose members. If they keep the current format, no one new is coming in because it's proven false and incorrect. So what then is a COG leader today to do?
That answer is based on the one thing that they need to keep their positions and "power" somehow intact: Money. They must hold on to their members, keep the income coming in long enough for themselves until they retire or die, make the illusion of some sort of work being done while maintaining most of the funds to continue their lifestyle. They must somehow make old, tired, worn, cliched sermons seem relevant, while somehow trying to gain new members. Unfortunately, the only member base that exists to gain from is other splinter churches from the same mold. Experiments to gain from the outside world fail spectacularly, so all there is is COG Cannibalism - eating from their own to gain whatever slight income increases that they can get. What does this mean then?
If my theory is anywhere near correct - it means all one can truly expect is stagnation to come. As the groups slowly die off, you can expect no choice but mergers in the next decade as a means to survive. Authoritarianism will increase, and lies, threats, and deception will become more absurd and panic-based as their bases shrink. Unless Herbert Armstrong is somehow cloned in mannerism, authority, and ingenuity, the only ones that will benefit from the deceptive greed of Armstrong Splinters are the very top, while the rest simply hang on because there is nowhere else to go.
The current crop of COG Leadership is not stupid, nor are they incompetent. They are greedy, calloused, and uncaring business executives who can't imagine any other way to maintain their income or lifestyle except off the backs of the "dumb sheep" who pay their bills and buy their cars. And as long as these supporters continue to feed them off their income, the vampire ministers will continue to suck them dry, intentionally, deliberately, and with depravity. Because it's the only way they know to live while convincing themselves their delusions are god-ordained and real. The ones who are really being harmed are those who put their trust in mortals, for in them is no help.
submitted by SHT
submitted by SHT
