David Hulme's Group Losing Members to Rod Meredith in Europe

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Church of God's are not growing because of new "worldly" members coming in, but are growing because of church poaching/hopping.

Global COG UK, has lost so many members over the last several years to be able to hold a Feast in the UK.

Even David Hulme's personality cult is losing members.  Slick magazines that  don't talk about God or Jesus until the last 2 or 3 paragraphs are not getting the message out.

The Global Church of God (aka Church of the Eternal God in the USA and Church of God a Christian Fellowship in Canada) will not be holding a Festival of Tabernacles in the UK for the first time since the church’s inception in 1993.

When Roderick Meredith found himself unable to exert full control over the church, he established the Living Church of God, and then left Global in November 1998, together with over 70% of the ministers and members. The remnant splintered, with some re-grouping, but the UK (plus congregations in Belgium and France) remained intact as Global.

Global has declined steadily, and now comprises only a nominal congregation in Derby, England. The Living Church of God in Europe has been a mirror image of Global, rising from almost nothing to over 200 attending Sabbath services today – albeit the large majority have been transfers from the Global church and David Hulme’s Church of God an International Community.

Leon Sexton: Church of God In Burma: Death, Sin and Apostasy Are Hurting My Spiritual Babies

Leon Sexton has spent several decades preaching the gospel of Herbert Armstrong and a "strong hand from someplace" to the Thai, Burmese and other nationalities of that area.  Sexton has given the impression over the decades that he alone is the authority on that region and what should be preached.

Apparently not enough COG members are flocking to the region and now apostates who actually speak about Jesus are disturbing his "spiritual babies."  With that kind of condescension directed towards these people it is no wonder they are becoming disillusioned.

The idea that he calls the Gospel message a "perversion of doctrine" shows what a shallow little man he is.  It is the doctrine of a man that he is concerned about, and not the doctrine of salvation and justification by grace.   Law vs. grace, where in Armstrongism rules trump and are more important.

The Church of God in Burma has been devastated by the loss of pastors due to death, sin, and apostasy. More and more are coming to Jesus Christ, but we have no pastors to feed and protect them. Without spiritual food, the newly called wither and die spiritually. There are also the wolves that lurk about, hoping to pounce on unsuspecting new spiritual babes who are not strong in grace and knowledge. These would-be teachers hide in the shadows and periphery of a congregation until some unsuspecting weak new member—or even an old, tired member—comes along; and then they pounce with false accusations of others and/or perversion of doctrine. If a congregation has strong pastoral leadership in place, these false wanna-be ministers will be exposed for what they really are.

Bob Thiel Copies Another COG Book Because He Can't Come Up With Anything Original and Then Promptly Sells It Members

Bob Thiel, the non-ordained self-appointed Chief Overseer of the Continuing Ed Church of God, Mayan authority and self-appointed world renown scholar on prophecy, has announced that his splinter personality cult has a new Bible Hymnal. Don't expect originality here.  Same old songs from from 1974 and Ross Jutsum.  Just another copycat.

Since its formation on December 28, 2012, the Continuing Church of God has used the 1974 edition of The Bible Hymnal of the old Worldwide Church of God (WCG) for its song book and made it available online.  But it was always our goal to produce additional song books by the Feast of Tabernacles for 2013.

Several have asked if other hymns, such as those composed by Dr. Ross Jutsum, could go into the new hymnal.  So, after a series of attempted, and finally successful, contacts, an arrangement between the the Continuing Church of God and Nazarene Books with Dr. Jutsum was agreed to and finalized last week.  So certain additional hymns from Dr. Justum were added to the song book.   The late Herbert W. Armstrong had long ago approved the hymns by Dr. Jutsum for use in WCG church services.  Many will recall such titles by Dr. Jutsum as By This Shall All Men Know, How Good and How Pleasant, and It Won’t Be Long Now.

So, the new 2013 hymnal of the Continuing Church of God consists of all the hymns, etc. that were in the 1974 edition of The Bible Hymnal of the old Worldwide Church of God, plus 17 additional pages added after them for the additional ten hymns that were composed by Dr. Jutsum.  The front and back covers were changed (the front cover shows the remains of what could be the oldest Christian worship building; see also Church of God on Jerusalem’s Western Hill).

Bob is selling this magnificent earth-shattering book on Amazon through his book publishing front that seeks to be a legitimate source for books in the world's eye.

Now, I, through Nazarene Book, have arranged to make the paperback edition of The Bible Hymnal via Amazon.   The Continuing Church of God is not selling the book, but Nazarene Books via Amazon is.  The list price for The Bible Hymnal is $8.99, but Amazon is temporarily selling it for $8.54.  Since Amazon has recently been selling used 1974 editions of The Bible Hymnal of the old Worldwide Church of God (WCG) for USD$22.73, and since the new version of The Bible Hymnal contains all the same unedited hymns, etc. that the 1974 edition contains (plus more), some looking for a COG hymnal may find it a bargain.

UCG Admits They Have Not Grown As A Church - So Let's Start "Operation Broken Rung!"

The UCG admitted today that their church has not grown over the last several years.  This is a well known fact.  None of the COG's are growing (except for COG7).  All any of them do is poach members from other COG's to increase their numbers.  Worldly pagans are just not interested in their message of law, doom, damnation and death.  All of the COG's still are living in the 1950-1980's.  They cannot for some reason repackage their messages.  They cannot move into the 21st century and find relevance with humanity.

We have a tremendous library of literature, but the problem is that we have not grown in membership. We must have a peaceful environment before we can expect growth, but we must also find ways to progressively engage those who learn about God’s truth through our efforts. Our present ladder of involvement from first contact to baptized member has some broken rungs on it. Call it “Operation Broken Rung,” but we must fix that progression of engaging to teaching to converting those new who God is calling.

UCG Vic Kubik: Talks About Loose Lips

The UCG is having theri ministerial conference right now. In it's open rekarks Vic Kubik ahd this to say:

After greeting the Council Mr. Kubik commented on the positive bond and lack of tension among the administration and the Council that is such a hallmark of our present circumstance. Such peace and harmony is allowing us much needed time to focus on important items.

Now that the cretins and trouble makers are gone, peace and harmony has arrive.

He outlined the function of the management team that has worked together for the last three years. The team has a seamless relationship that is so beneficial for rebuilding our processes over the past three years. He mentioned that the role of operations manager of Ministerial and Member Services (MMS) has not and will not be filled in the immediate future. Chris Rowland has been a big help administrating MMS along with Roy Holladay overseeing the manpower in the field ministry. Various ones of the management team oversee projects on behalf of the president from international oversight to leadership training to other functions.

We must have a strong priority to keep the peace within the body. We need to continue to monitor conditions and resolve situations that can cause division, and move forward together. Which is more important, our petty grievances or continuing to do God’s work? An old World War II motto in the U.S. shipyards was, “Loose lips sink ships.” Likewise, loose lips that cause division can terribly damage the Church today. We need to seek peace and pursue it.

Hum, what about Vic's loose lips when he was plotting and coniving in the  SOG Dorm 360 along with several others as they sought to rebel against Tkach Sr.?  I guess it was OK to plot and plan while still on WCG payroll so that a smooth transition to another payroll system could be thought out. 

What about kicking out WCG members who did not agree with the changes in the year or two it took to plan his church?  The way they found out about these people was through loose lips.  Then they sat around the Hall of Ad and the Library Annex talking about these people and what to do with them.  The loose lips of the staff at Ministerial services was appalling when they were located on the first floor in the Hall of Ad.  Laughing and mocking  members problems and trials was an ordinary experience.