NOW THAT WE'RE IN CHARGE.... NO MORE
DISSENT!
As Dave Pack is busy recuperating from the inexplicable failure of all
COG splinter groups to meekly coalesce under him last fall, the current story
of the day seems to be the meltdown of another group of another Dave, i.e.
David Hulme.
It's an interesting exercise in group herding psychology to read
dissenting ministers' arguments vs.
establishment-supporting ministers' arguments.
Bemused and amused, I found a sermon by a supporting minister, Eric
Keefer, to be particularly interesting, not simply because of the
at-the-door-brain-checking aspect ("obey authority!") but yet more so
because of the blinding hypocrisy of some of the arguments.
The sermon audio is here (sermon given on
Dec. 28, 2013):
http://pabco7.com/~pabco/20131228KeeferE.mp3
All the background one needs is to recall the general history of COGic. Hulme (with followers) left WCG sometime in the 1990s, forming UCG, and
the sometime later left UCG to form their current group. In other words, COGic exists because they were willing to rebel against
"God-appointed authority", not once, but twice. But now we see what happens when the rebellion becomes the
establishment.
Things get unbelievable at around the 25 minute mark. After reading from (you've got to be kidding me!!!) HWA's Mystery of
the Ages (which should immediately on-the-spot destroy any speaker's
credibility), Mr. Keefer sets forth his argument as to why dissenters are wrong
to speak up.
[Transcripted]:
"If Mr.
Hulme has disqualified himself by leading us away from God, that would be one
thing, but he has not... This is a
matter of some deciding they know better, and God has not put them in a
position to make those kinds of decisions, and ... they're rebelling against
those decisions. I don't think God's arm is too short to put whoever he wills in that
place to make those decisions. I
just don't believe that God said "Oops I made a mistake, put David Hulme
there, I should have never done that, but now I'm stuck with him so now I've
got to create a rebellion to overthrow him". That's not the way God works, brethren. If God
has a problem with Mr. Hulme, God will take care of it. If God wants us to change our approach, he certainly
could have placed one of these ministers in his spot, but guess what? That didn't happen. He would have certainly done it without
appealing to what amounts to be a public rebellion. God does not work that way.
However, if you still have questions and doubts, that's ok. I completely understand why you might not be
as confident as I am. But my advice to you, as it always has
been, is to remain calm and wait on God.
Let God fix it, if there's a problem, let God fix it. Let God deal with it. If there's something hidden it will be
revealed in time..."
Yeah.... right. God always fixes
leadership problems in COG, doesn't he?
:-) Double smiley :-) No,
make that a triple :-)
Mr. Keefer, do you have any idea how bizarre and hypocritical those words
sound?
That is of course why half the church had to leave into various
splinters against the "God-appointed" Joe Tkach (appointed personally
by HWA, for Pete's sake! How much more
validity do these HWA-acolytes want?)
So, Mr. Keefer (and Hulme supporters), this implies that you took
exactly the wrong course of action, whereas the proper response should have
been "C'mon now, if God has a problem with Joe Tkach, God will take care
of it! Remain calm and wait on God".
After all his arm is longer than Joe Tkach's arm. Or was God simply no match for the mighty
Tkach?
We all know that the WCG splinter ministers/members were patient and
relied on HWA's God to set things straight, don't we?
Keefer later argues that differences in how the gospel is to be
preached (i.e. minister and member dissatisfaction about Vision magazine)
should not be grounds for dissent.
Yet
when COGic formed from UCG, that was one of the stated reasons for the defection,
at least according to
http://theshininglight.info/?p=14233:
"David Hulme, used two doctrinal
issues (better governance and
being more proactive in proclaiming the gospel) as his justification for leaving UCG and
starting his own organization."
So, instead, shouldn't you have submitted to the authority that UCG's
God had supposedly established? Why didn't Hulme & Co. take a more humble
approach and realize that "that's not the way God works"? and if he
had a problem with it, "He would have certainly done it without appealing
to what amounts to be a public rebellion."
Well, I understand it's all different when you're the one being
rebelled against, but it's the blatant hypocrisy that is so dazzling.
Of course, this is all very, very human-like behavior and simply
accentuates the fact that all of this drama has nothing to do with some God and
His Work(TM), but simply humans and their contrived beliefs and power-plays.
Michael
