UCG Claims They Have Brought In Over $20 Million Dollars This Year

Those fun boys in Cincinnati are on a roll.  Money is flowing in as over 12 BILLION hits are happening on Google and elsewhere.  But what do they really have to show for it? UCG is still an unknown commodity in almost every community in the United States, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. Only extremely small pockets of people know anything about them. There is no global identification of UCG like Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God Ambassador Foundation had.

The Audited Report is the official representation of the Church’s financial condition that is provided to and relied upon by vendors, bankers, donors, members, and others. As such, it is important for the Council to take some time to review the statements and the notes included therein. Mr. Shabi then took the Council through a cursory review of the Report.

He pointed out that the auditors again cited no deficiencies in internal controls and needed to post no adjustments to the Church’s internal financial statements. It was noted that the Church’s financial condition continues to remain strong, with income for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 exceeding $20 million and total assets increasing by over $1 million, continuing a trend we have seen over the last few years. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, which curtailed travel and other related expenses during the last three months of the fiscal year, expenses came in under budget for the fiscal year, resulting in the net increase in assets.

The complete audit report will be printed in the next issue of the United News.

Next, current year (fiscal year 2021) financial statements, including a Revenue Statement for November and the fiscal year-to-date, a recap of fall Holy Day offerings and attendance, the November balance sheet, departmental expense statements, a “COVID-19” period income statement, and operating statistics were presented and discussed.

It was noted that income for the first five months of the fiscal year, especially in General Contributions and Holy Day offerings, is well above budget. This is a blessing from God as we did not know what to expect during this pandemic time. At the same time that revenue has been strong, operating expenses have been well under budget during this pandemic, which was unforeseen when the budget was prepared, presented and adopted by the Council last February.

Mr. Shabi shared a “COVID-19 income statement” that covered the period of March – Oct. 2020, noting revenue increases and citing those expense areas, such as travel, meetings and conferences, and local church subsidies that are significantly under budget. He commented that the Church will not expend all the funds approved in the current budget due to these unique and unprecedented times and that, at Council and Administration discretion, some of those unused funds may be allocated to other areas of operation during the remainder of the fiscal year as needed.

Mr. Shabi concluded the financial report by discussing upcoming budget planning for the Church and acknowledging God’s blessing on His Church which has been so evident during this time.

Where did this $20 million go to, besides the pockets of the upper elite?

Current statistics include:

• 397 elders in the United Church of God (UCGIA)
  • 109 outside the U.S.
  • 288 in the U.S.
    • 79 church pastors
    • 10 associate or assistant pastors
• 1 ministerial trainee
• 192 churches and Bible study groups in the U.S.
• 35 U.S. baptisms since the August meetings (93 baptisms so far in 2020)

Peter Eddington went through some of the following statistics as of November 30 this year:

• United News circulation is currently at 17,941, which is an all-time high and 1.1% more than this time last year.
• Our coworker count is now at 7,599, our highest ever (and 16.5% higher than the same time last year).
• Our donor list now includes 9,392 people—28% higher than this time last year (Our all-time high was 9,564 in June of 2016).
• Donors combined with our coworkers is now 16,991 (22.5% more than same time last year).
• Total Beyond Today magazine circulation worldwide is at 310,945 for the Jan.-Feb. 2021 issue—which is 5.4% more than the same time last year.
• U.S. magazine subscribers are at 258,460 for the Jan.-Feb. 2021 issue. This is 7.2% more than the same time last year.
• Those people on our U.S. file associated with the Church (teens, members, associated) as of October 31 is 12,111.
• The Church’s Beyond Today YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV has had 13.25 million video views since November 2006 (a 12.5% increase since last December), has 60,100 subscribers (a 12.5% increase since last December), and hosts 2,323 videos (an 11% increase since last December). This is an average of 2,600 videos being watched every day (an increase of 4.7% since last December).
• The number of Google, Yahoo and Bing advertising impressions since 2004 stands at 12.4 billion.

• UCG reports these things as if they are the greatest COG ministry ever to hit the scene in decades. This in spite of the fact Bobaniah Thiel, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry all claim they are the fastest-growing COGs in the 21st century. All groups where their leaders lie to them that tithing is a requirement of the New Covenant. 

Davey Pack Is Back And He Is Ready To Deliver His Most Important Sermon In 50 Years!

Davey is back after disappearing for a while in embarrassment that his Christ has not returned to Wadsworth. Not to disappoint any of us, Davey says his sermon on Saturday will be the most important sermon he has ever delivered in 50 years! Will JC finally be returning to Wadsworth?

A comment on another thread about his absence:

When has Davie ever gone this long without giving a message? He has egg on his face for constant looney failed prophecies (but genius too because if you wait long enough after the worst failure, the simple and foolish will forget). That or he is too scared to come out of his glided home to attend services for fear of COVID. Talk is cheap. If there is a sniffle in the congregation he is one of the first to avoid contact and stay away. A man who claims to speak with authority from God has to sneak in amd out through a back door and sit with only vetted, approved people. Give me a break!  

Upcoming Sermon

In last week’s Brethren/Co-Worker letter we saw that every condition prophesied to precede Christ’s return exists right now. These 25 conditions (and even more could be included) powerfully illustrate that the world is now ripe for God’s kingdom to be established.

With this in mind, please note that Mr. Pack plans to deliver a sermon here at Headquarters tomorrow. With the passing of time, he learned exciting details about God’s overall plan and events soon to unfold. Mr. Pack is looking forward to sharing this understanding with the Church.

This message will be made available for download soon after it has been delivered.

Brethren, for many reasons this is the most important sermon Mr. Pack will deliver in his 50 years of preaching. Once you have listened to it you will know why.

You want to be ready, prepared to receive and listen to the message as soon as possible!

sent Today at 5:13 PM

LCG: STOP questioning, criticizing, disrespecting, and ignoring LCG leaders! You must RESPECT Us!

 

Here we go again. Sigh......  LCG members are doing something wrong AGAIN! Can they ever do ANYTHING to please the leadership of the LCG? Can they ever be praised and be told, "job well done, keep up the good work!" without constantly being raked over the coals for some supposed infraction that the leadership always perceives is against them? It is rather sad to be living a life where everyone is suspect and out to get you all the time. Real men of God never worry about such trite things. The devil truly is the god of the COG, it is more powerful than the God they claim to follow. 

Age of Skeptics: 

 

The Apostle Peter warned that in the last days, “scoffers will come” who will ridicule biblical ideas such as Jesus’ promise to return (2 Peter 3:3–4). Today, skeptics also claim that God does not exist and that the Bible is just a collection of myths and legends. These ideas have permeated our society and fostered attitudes of disrespect for authority figures such as parents, teachers, government officials, policemen, and even religious leaders. We need to be careful that these critical attitudes do not spill over into the Church of God and affect our views toward the leaders and members of the body of Christ. Peter also warned that false teachers would come who “despise authority” and “speak evil” of those in authority, because they are self-willed and presumptuous and determined to do their own thing (2 Peter 2:1, 10–12). The Apostle Paul urged Christians to respect authority and be subject to governments because God is the Author of structure and organization (Romans 13:1–2). Questioning, criticizing, disrespecting, and ignoring authority only leads to chaos and confusion—and God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). We need to be aware of the fruits that have emerged in the age of skeptics and avoid getting caught up in these ideas and attitudes. 

 

Have a profitable Sabbath, 

Douglas S. Winnail

Gerald Weston Pops A Cork On The Amazing Work of LCG in Canada. No COG Is Doing Such An Amazing Work There As LCG! Woo Hoo!

 

From an LCG source:

Greetings from Charlotte,

Following the breakup of the Worldwide Church about 25 years ago, there were those who said the Work of preaching the Gospel to the world had been completed and that all we needed to do was get the Church ready for Christ’s return. However, in a report out of Canada, we learn some interesting facts. The Living Church of God in that country is now larger than those splinter groups who said the Work was finished. Over the last 25 years we have grown from 493 members up to 874, with attendance increasing 16 percent over the last five years, and nearly two-thirds of Canadian members have been baptized since the year 2000. Similar statistics can be seen in other countries around the world. While our Work is still very small, the evidence is there for anyone with eyes to see—God is still calling people from around the world to be His children. Mr. Armstrong died almost 35 years ago, and I’m sure when the resurrection comes that he will be pleased to know that Dr. Meredith and members of this Body carried on the Work. Perhaps those who made the false claim that the Work was finished need to rethink their decision and join us to continue the commission God has given His Church.—Gerald Weston

God's most highly chosen and doubly blessed prophet, Bobiniah Thiel will NOT be pleased with Weston's claim above! I can hear the steam escaping the holy ones head all the way down here!

Yep, it is amazing that LCG can only garner 874 members out of 37,000,000 people across Canada. Amazing job there big boy!! Oh, but I forgot, the church is small because few are chosen.

As for Herbert Armstrong being very pleased with Rod Meredith's rebellious attitude that led to two different COG splinter groups which have left a littered trail of broken lives in their wake, I can assure Gerald Weston that HWA would NOT be pleased. What a ridiculous thing to say. 

Which COG is really carrying on the one true work that HWA would even recognize? He most assuredly would not say Dave Pack or Gerald Flurry are doing so. He would kick Bob Thiel off his homeopathic throne so fast that the only double blessing Bob would get would be two swift kicks on his self-righteous dreamy keister. Would HWA be pleased with UCG and COGWA? Not at all! It is sad that these guys all think they are doing the one and only work out there.

A Classic: Kiss Hank's Ass and You Get A Million Dollars

 Perhaps this is where and how the COG Ministry get their cues on control of the members?