Bob Thiel Makes Time Magazine! Woo Hoo!

 

PCG Gloats About New $170,000 Steinway Piano

 

Steinway Model D piano

Everything we hear out of the Philadelphia Church of God is about the imminent return of their creature called "christ" and the end of this age. Yet, PCG spends money like they have a bottomless wallet...well, they actually do...gullible church members who will send in money for this kind of extravagance.

They are gloating about how much prestige that being an "all Steinway school" brings them, supposedly so impressive that the State Department will look at them differently now.

PCG went on a piano quest when the Worldwide Church of God was dissolving and the Ambassador Auditorium was shut down. Flurry then bought one of the Auditorium's Steinway grand pianos. They bought the piano around the same time they bought the two Baccarat Crystal candelabras that used to be in the Auditorium lobby. This was a significant coup for the PCG as anything thing could collect that Herbert Armstrong had touched added to the collection of idolatrous artifacts.

Since that time the PCG has been on a quest to replace all of its campus pianos with Steinway's.

OKLAHOMA—Piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons has recognized Herbert W. Armstrong College as one of its 221 “All-Steinway Schools.” The certification, which Armstrong received news of in May and official notification of on July 20, is given to schools whose pianos are made or designed exclusively by the German-American piano company. The college qualified earlier in May after purchasing a Steinway Model B for the Armstrong Auditorium rehearsal room. 

 

With only 72 students, the college is one of the smallest schools to “demonstrate a full commitment to excellence by providing their students with the best instruments possible for the study of music,” as the All-Steinway program is described on Steinway.com.

The college began the process by purchasing a Steinway Model D from the company’s factory in Hamburg, Germany, in 2009. The sponsor of the college, the Philadelphia Church of God, had previously purchased a 1983 Steinway Model D from Ambassador College in 2004. Since then, the campus’s dozen or so practice or performance areas have transitioned from lower-quality instruments to Steinway-designed pianos, typically an upright from its Boston brand. 

 

When the college finished constructing the Dwight Armstrong Performing Arts Conservatory in 2016 and purchased two grand pianos and an upright for its classrooms, the school’s quantity of Steinway-designed pianos rose high enough to qualify it for the recognition. Armstrong Recognized as ‘All-Steinway’ Institution

Here is the current cost range for Steinway pianos, including the Model D which PCG purchased.

Cost Of A Steinway Piano (Price Chart and Buyers Guide)

In PCG's continuing quest to gain legitimacy and pander to the U.S. Government, even though they claim it will soon deport them all to Jordan, they look at this piano as their ticket with the U.S. Immigration Service as a means to get in foreign students to their cult collge.

“Having toured the Steinway facility in Hamburg, we understand what it means to have this peerless name associated with our institution,” music director Ryan Malone said. “We feel honored to receive such a distinction. Though we’re not a large school, or even a music school, this recognition highlights how we are committed to the highest quality education when it comes to the performing arts.”

The Church’s chief financial officer, Andrew Locher, gave an example of other effects of the recognition: “Being an all-Steinway School adds a respectable credential to Armstrong College in the eyes of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While we meet the necessary standards to have international students granted a visa for study, each recognition like this helps the reputation of our college.”

The college plans to host a presentation ceremony with Steinway representatives in the months ahead.

While everyday members of the PCG struggle to survive, the elite at the cult compound spend lasciviously and cavort around the country for Irish Dance competitions and to England in their own private jet. 

It pays to be a cult leader of Armstrongism! 

 

Grover Beach Crackpot Prophet Wants To Educate Vatican On Proper Church History

 

Things were already weird in Grover Beach California where the world's foremost historian, the most widely respected scientist, and the world-renowned authority on the Catholic Church lives. The Great Bwana to Africa and 299 Caucasians has dreamed up so many titles and accolades about himself that it is hard to keep track of them anymore. Being that he is self-ordained and not part of any apostolic succession, many consider him a fool beyond measure.

That self-appointed awareness has reached a new height today as the Great Bwana has decided he needs to educate officials at the Vatican about TRUE Church history (the Armstrongite version). This all comes about because the Vatican announced the other day that they were forming a commission to research into the early days of the church and the amazing history of that time.

This is the complete article that Bwana Bob quoted and edited out things he did not want you to read.

Vatican conference convenes experts to study early Christian history 

VATICAN CITY — A Vatican conference will gather both Christian and non-Christian historians and experts to delve deep into the history of the church in the first centuries of Christianity. 

 

Speaking to journalists at the Vatican press office Oct. 26, Norbertine Father Bernard Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, said the conference program was inspired by Pope Francis, who urged him "to work with scholars from all scientific backgrounds, from the most varied cultural sensibilities and from the most diverse historiographical methods." 

 

"Pope Francis insisted on the need for the committee to promote a fruitful collaboration in the scientific field, not only with Catholic academic institutions, but as well as with all historians and specialists in auxiliary sciences of history who are ready to work together in the search for the truth, taking into account only their scientific expertise," Father Ardura said. 

 

At the Oct. 27-29 conference, titled "Inquiry into the history of the first centuries of the church," will bring scholars from across Europe as well as India, Iraq, China and the United States to focus particularly on the first two centuries of Christianity. 

 

The two main historical accounts of the early church have several points of conflict, Father Ardura said. The first account is that of Eusebius of Caesarea, the fourth-century bishop who chronicled the church's development from the first century to the fourth century.

The Norbertine priest noted, however, that Eusebius' account of the first-century church was so similar to the Christian church that existed in the fourth century "as if it had always been as he knew it." 

 

"It is as if we were to say today that the early church was like that of the 21st century. It is obvious, instead, that there has been a development," Father Ardura said. 

 

The second historical account, he continued, was more in line with Martin Luther's perspective, which chronicles the "progressive degradation" of the church over the centuries until the Protestant Reformation. 

 

Father Ardura emphasized the importance of the conference in studying the church's history and searching for truth no matter where it may lead. However, he also noted that the conference is only the beginning. 

 

"We will not arrive at certain conclusions," Father Ardura said. "We want to give space to researchers who in various disciplines have acquired knowledge" of early Christian history.

The most amazing prophet to ever exist in Church of God history has this to say:

It would be fantastic if Bernard Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, really will pursue and accept the truth wherever it leads. Hopefully, his is not an ecumenical agenda, but real quest for truth–we shall see. I am considering contacting him and perhaps may try to meet with him someday.

Someone needs to give Bernard Ardura a heads up before he speaks to the greatest prophet the world has ever seen!

This is one more issue that is the cause of Rod Meredith and certain fools at LCG headquarters who stroked Bwana Bob's fragile ego by claiming he would be a thorn in the side of the Catholic Church. As if the Catholic Church would care what some whackjob cultist from California had to say!

 

UCG Struggling To Retain 18-age Group To Remain In The Church

 

Truly, what does UCG have to offer its young adults?

Youth in the Church—Len Martin
One question that came in last week with the Council workshop was how can we help the youth, especially the 18-age group from leaving the Church. What can we do as a Church? The Council discussed and brainstormed ideas for over an hour. The Chairman remanded to the SPFC to have further study and develop policies on this important subject and emphasized the importance of moving this forward and reporting in December.

UCG having problems with employee retention?

 

Sadly, the Church of God movement has never really valued its employees as it should. The mother church (Worldwide Church of God) treated its lower echelon employees like chattel. Many were the times when employees went in and asked for raises and were told, "We don't owe you anything." These very same men who said this are now sitting in UCG and elsewhere. Employees who had to retire due to age or illness were left high and dry, even after church leaders stood in front of hundreds of employees and said they (the church) would take care of them.

The second area was to look at employee retention. The Council recognizes that although we have limited resources to accomplish all that we want to accomplish, the cost to the organization when we lose valued employees and the subsequent costs to hire and re-train, hinders our ability to “do the work.” The Council would like to explore additional benefit opportunities that could be made available to our employees. Some may not have a cost impact to the organization, unless utilized (such as continuing education or other forms of tuition reimbursement). This point of interest was to see what areas of employee compensation can be used to help benefit the employees and to evaluate salary ranges and other areas to explore to help retain employees. This was remanded to the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee (SPFC).