Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Every now and then, usually in the middle of the night, I wish I had never heard of Herbert W. Armstrong, Garner Ted , the Worldwide Church of God and the Wonderful World Tomorrow
We're taught to try to live life without regret. But why? Using her own tattoo as an example, Kathryn Schulz makes a powerful and moving case for embracing our regrets.
For better and for worse, these are heady times in cosmology. Over the past two decades, astronomers have pinned down the age of the universe quite precisely (13.72 billion years), confirmed its geometry as perfectly flat through exquisite maps of the Big Bang's faint afterglow, and found that its expansion is speeding up rather than slowing down. Three researchers shared the physics Nobel Prize for the latter discovery just last month.
Yet, embarrassingly, cosmologists have also come to realize that everything we see – the myriad celestial bodies that our telescopes reveal – constitutes a tiny sliver of what makes up the cosmic pie. Mysterious "dark matter," undetected except through its gravitational tug on galaxies, count for much more. The rest, a whopping 73 per cent, is in the even more bizarre form of "dark energy," the dominance of which dictates a dismal long-term future for the universe.
In A Universe From Nothing, Lawrence Krauss, celebrated physicist, speaker and author, tackles all that plus a whole lot else. In fewer than 200 pages, he delivers a spirited, fast-paced romp through modern cosmology and its strong underpinnings in astronomical observations and particle physics theory.
Other popular science books have covered many of the same topics, but Krauss's slim volume is bolder in its premise and more ambitious in its scope than most. He makes a persuasive case that the ultimate question of cosmic origin – how something, namely the universe, could arise from nothing – belongs in the realm of science rather than theology or philosophy. What's more, he goes on to argue, our current understanding makes it quite plausible that the universe indeed emerged from quantum nothingness, thus dispensing with any need for divine intervention. There is free lunch after all.
The book traces its own beginnings to a lecture that Krauss delivered in 2009. The video of the lecture has netted nearly a million views online, becoming something of a YouTube hit (though not compared to a clip of a piano playing cat, with 23 million views). So it is not surprising that the book at times has the tone of a lecture: You can almost hear the author's gleeful voice and picture a wry smile. Some sentences run long: I counted one at 107 words. Exclamation marks are sprinkled liberally. There are delightful historical anecdotes and humorous commentary. My favorite story is about the amateur astronomer who persuaded Einstein to publish "the results of a little calculation" on how gravity could act as a lens, the basis of techniques now used by researchers to weigh distant galaxy clusters and to find planets around other stars.
The author does not shy away from tackling complex physical concepts, and often finds clever ways to illustrate them. Even if you don't feel fully conversant with eternal inflation (of the cosmological, not economic, variety) or false vacuum energy by the end, you will almost certainly be rewarded with interesting insights, and a sense of awe, if you persist. Krauss explains how scientists know what they claim to know, for example, laying out the multiple, compelling lines of evidence for a hot Big Bang. He is careful to delineate what is well supported by experiments or observations and what is at the more speculative end of the scientific discussion.
A Universe From Nothing is not always an easy read – unless you are a science buff familiar with some of the lingo and the ideas – but it is surely a very rewarding one to plow through. The many fans of Krauss will devour it, and rejoice. Others, picking up a cosmology book for the first time, perhaps after watching Big Bang Theory or curious about what's new in astronomy, would find it demanding, but also mind-blowing. Those who feel the need to invoke a supernatural cause for the origin of the universe may – should? – find it disturbing.
"Changing by what we mean by things is called learning. It doesn't happen in theology but it does happen in scholarship."
Almost arrested, but not arrested Elijah Amos, Joshua, self-appointed, bitter, Bawana Bob Thiel
is back with another outstanding video cartoon that is GUARANTEED to make all the youngsters out there do a double take and immediately join his African church.
This time around, Bawana Bob is imagining himself as the world's foremost authority on the Big Bang. If you were never a believer in evolution you probably will be after watching this mess. Bawana Bob is living proof that evolution is real.
According to Bawana Bob:
Colleges and universities teach variations of a godless 'Big Bang theory' as science. But is it scientific or simply the musing of scientists? The late Dr. Stephen Hawking stated that there was nothing before the Big Bang. Is it logical that nothing became everything? What should have happened then according to scientists? What happens to radioactive materials like uranium? What does the Bible teach about errors called science? Is God's existence more logical than a godless 'Big Bang'? Which has more actual proof? In this animation, a university student asks a professor questions and provides information that students and those out of school should know.
A UCG member had previously sent us information about the previous Billboard Campaign that UCG did that turned into a costly boondoggle of a mess. Now it seems they still have not been able to draw the public in without spending tons of money on them. I guess they think spending $400.00+ in tithe donations is well worth it to get a new tithing member. After all with UCG, it is all about the money and not the soul.
It seems that no matter how hard UCG tries, their message lands on unfertile soil. So one brainiac in UCG thought about having 15 minute "Ted Talk" style broadcasts to impress the public. TED Talks are usually fascinating subjects that cover a whole lot of information in a short period of time, all the while in an engaging style. UCG sermons are 1-hour butt-numbing marathons that should be paired down to 20 minutes. Even then, they still cannot present their theological mess in an appealing manner to engage new converts.
Public Appearance Campaign (PAC) Cost Analysis—Rex Sexton/Rick Shabi
Rex Sexton led the discussion of the cost analysis of the 22 PACs. The Council and the administration continually are trying to evaluate the effectiveness of preaching the gospel. There are four types of soil in the parable of Matthew 13. Our goal is to sow good seed on fertile soil. We see in the world that the soil is changing rapidly, and we are to see how we can improve to be as effective as we can be.
The cost-per-response for the PACs came to about $420 per new attendee. Mr. Sexton said we have tried other ways to preach the gospel and asked if we are making the best use of our funds. We remain committed to reaching all peoples with the gospel.
The Council discussed for about 30 minutes other methods that might be more effective.
Mr. Sexton mentioned how popular TED Talks are right now. Maybe a 15-minute Beyond Today presentation could be tried to see how effective it could be.
Peter Eddington stated that the $295,000 spent on the 22 PACs was about 1 percent of the media budget over the course of the campaigns, so it was a small amount used to try another avenue for preaching the gospel.
Jorge de Campos mentioned trying the Kingdom of God seminars again at the local level.
Mario Seiglie said the PACs in California were beneficial for the pastor and congregations as well. The presentations were encouraging to see how the three speakers approached the subject. He stated that he saw the PACs as more of a pilot program to help determine if the PACs would be effective.
Peter Eddington mentioned that in the first PAC in Cincinnati they invited magazine subscribers and utilized billboards along with Pandora ads and Google ads to target the general public. The general public did not respond as positively as subscribers did, so the focus for the future campaigns was moved to inviting and targeting just current readers and viewers.
Dan Dowd liked the idea of TED Talk type programs, where an ongoing series on our beliefs could be covered. Also radio is still a very valuable area to try again with possible podcasts.
Tony Wasilkoff said name recognition does have an impact with the PACs. When they tried PACs in Canada there were several that wanted to see the Beyond Today presenter.
Peter Eddington mentioned the bulk of the expense for the PACs is sending the invitation letters to get guests to attend. Over the course of 22 events, 52,000 letters were sent out three times at a cost of 50 cents per letter for printing and postage. One third of our total signups would occur each time the letters were sent out. About half of those that signed up to attend would not show up. So an additional challenge is getting guests to show after they have signed up.
Jorge de Campos suggested looking at the option to e-mail out invitations and see if that could work better.
John Elliott commented that the gospel message has to be preached even with low response. With different advertising approaches there is usually a 1.5 percent response, and our PAC response concurs with this. Sometimes the fruit comes later, but the gospel must be preached.
Mr. Sexton thanked the Council for their feedback.
Several of the Churches of God over the last 15 years or so have tried their best to rope members into spending money on "Weekends" tied into various holy days. These fun weekends are supposed to unite the true body of believers. The next one coming up is Pentecost, which for normal Christians falls on May 20th. But, the Church of God has to be different, so it has to have it on another day or two. The Church of God can't figure out which one is actually right. And, this does not even include the crazy dates James Malm and Bob Thiel claim is right!
This is just indicative of the sad state of affairs that the COG is now in. For a church that claims to be restored first century Christianity and that it is the one and only TRUE church, it demonstrates that it is anything but.
The Pentecost Festival Weekend in 2018 will be held over 3 different weekends (owing to calendar differences): May 19-20, May 26-27, June 23-24.
On the weekend of May 18-20:
The Church of God International in Ontario, Canada, would like to welcome you to its first ever Pentecost Super Sabbath Weekend.
