* The Big Sandy UCG congregation has turned over its facilities from local ownership to denominational control after a hastily convened meeting.
* A feature article on Harry Sneider, former AC faculty member, trainer and onetime mentor to chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer.
* Wise words from Reg Killingley who suggests that, if you root for a political candidate, you've "already voted for him in your heart" (him? a non-inclusive slip that surely needs de-gendering in light of the campaigns run by Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin), and provides much needed balance on the recent election.
* Another blast from Dennis Diehl, whose writing style is unmistakably different from any other Journal contributor.
* Assorted FOT reports.
* A seemingly scholarly article by Ron Moseley, a graduate from Oxford Graduate School and a Fellow and Scholar of the Oxford Society of Scholars. Sounds impressive, but considering the blatantly apologetic quality of the writing I googled the guy and found that Oxford Graduate School isn't associated with Oxford University but is located in Dayton, Tennessee. Moseley now runs his own school which is, according to its website "accredited and in good standing with a religious accreditation commsion [sic]".
* Ken Westby warns about "the prophecy pit," and pushes Journal readers up the learning curve with references to Montanus the Phrygian prophet. I guess you could say, in terms of Journal essays, Ken has gone "the full Monty."
* AW gets a mention in the Notes & Quotes section for a couple of recent polls.
You'll also be relieved to know that Willie Dankenbring has issued a prophecy update complete with prophetic algorithms! Prepare to be stunned!
Cool, huh! But wait, there's more...
You'll find that it the Connections section. As they say on the MasterCard ads: priceless!
Check out the front and back pages online and free for all to access here.
20 comments:
I'm curious as to where he got the "390 years" and why start counting in 722 BC?
My guess is that 2520 years wasn't on the mark so now it's been stretched to 2730 years. In other words, playing with numbers to make it come out where ever you want it to come out.
Here's a better deal: Begin the 2520 years in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans instead of by the Babylonians. That way we have 442 years left to go to bring in the "fullness of the gentiles".
Then, if it doesn't work out in the year 2450, we could then use the 390 years X 7 and put it off until the year 2660.
Yep, I can see many centuries of this mindless crap continuing.
Yes, those 'prophetic logarithms' are something!
And, in the Connections section, no less.
Here's an imagined ad for the Connections:
SSIWM(single Spiritual-Israelite male seeking SSIWF.
Enjoys long walks on the beach, prophetic logarithms, and puppies.
I am totally tithe-worthy and am comfortable enough in my role as one of the 144,000 to wear my deacon armband in public.
If you can guess the name of my puppy(hint- his name is the date when the second trump will sound) then you may be my future help-meat and possibly even the second witness.
Looking forward to romantic FOT nights with you, and perhaps you will even see my shofar.
Thnx for the latest prophecy flashes from Cogdom's Resident Rabid Prophecy Analyst
Concerning what Mel said: Shofar shogood.
I believe we owe the MAYANS a big hearty thank you for showing us all the real end of time and giving more prophetic deadlines and endtimes to weave into the tale.
Since Abraham was the Father of Circumcism but Paul was able to flip him over to the Father of the Uncircumcised without any problems, I believe Mayan Holydays need to be examined for more COG truths to be revealed.
Let me at least take a stab at prophetic mutterings concerning 2012.
I predict, and I think I have the spirit of Marduk, that we will see the profound truth to the apologetic for the last end time flub up, and all preceeding, that "a day with God is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day."
I predict, "my ways are not your ways," "the wisdom of God is foolishness with man," and "there is a way that seems right unto a man," will all come back into vogue.
I predict that no one will ever again say, "Well yeah, the Bible says that we can't know the day or the hour, but does not say we can't know the minute or the second."
I predict most of us will look back on our lives and ask why we didn't do our homework better.
Now to the truth....
So here it is. If you add 20+12 (2012) you get 32. If you add 3+2 you get 5. If you add 2+0+1+2 you also get 5.
5 is the number of states I was sent to as pastor.
The Word "Pastor" has 6 not five letters.
6 is man's number. If you add 6 (man's number) to the previous 5 (my number) you get 11
I was born on April 11th in the sign of Aries the Lamb.
I was born in 1950
1+9+5+0 = 15
15 is THREE Triunities X 5!
There are FIVE letters in M-A-Y-A-N!
MAYAN can also spell Ya Man!
Brethren!!!! WAKE UP!
Ok ok...I just got in from 13 hours on the road between Rochester, NY and Greenville. I'm not responsible for any of this.
:)
Oh...and I was going to wait to reveal this but time is short.
I was 14 when I came into the truth.
I think we can see where this is going.
1+4= you tell me.....FIVE!
That was 1964
1+9+6+4= 20 4(the number of gospels) x 5 (MY number)
I was baptised in 1969
1+9+6+9= 25
Ahem....5x5!
Ya Man!
Oh..and I was "about 30" in my late 20's when I was almost 30.
30= 6 x 5
I hope I don't have to go over this again with you brethren.
Prophetic algorithms always made my eyes glaze over.
Waterhouse played a similar autistic game with names rather than numbers, "Armstrong because he's a man with a strong arm"....."Tkach means weaver...." (like in spiders web?)an outsider would have thought the man Waterhouse a complete loon!
What infraction did Waterhouse do that he was in perpetual state of exile extolling the praises of Herbert Armstrong from a nicely equipped Volvo?
I mean I like hotels, but after spending a year in hotels in 1990, I was glad to be back in a normal home.
ohhhhhhhhh Mel! Yes! I accept. You sound wooooooooonderful! My dream spiritual Jew!
Oh....I'm faint....do you really have a Deacon armband? Oh...what authority you must have! I'm so proud of you.
Is that your Shofar, or are you just glad.....oh I'm so bad.
I'll be in touch. I have a Women of Abraham and Daughters of Paul classes this evening.
the guy doesn't understand passover....why would anyone think he even begins to understand prophecy????
ROTFLOL!!!
Mel, you're the living end!
Paul Ray
Oh, Gertie!
I cannot wait till the next FOT!
Let's not Passover the next opportunity for us to get together.
I'll wear my Deacon Armband and even guide you into an upgraded parking space with my wave-a-rific flashlight.
After services we'll slip away, and I can take you out to dinner(we'll go dutch), and I will talk non-stop about myself, and even tell you of when I learned about The Truth!
Later, as the lights are low, you might just make me lose all control as you speak Hebrew to me, calling me "Bubkis"
Ohhhhhhh Mel, sounds woooonderful!
I have leftover red, yellow and green FOT stickers. We can park on the stage!
Gertie
I mean ORANGE! I am getting older now. but like Abraham's Sarah, am a cracker even beyond my 90's
Mel I raise you a Deacon badge!
Now now, Bamboo...
You obviously photoshopped "ass't" out of your deacon badge.
It is truly a sign of the End Times when people stoop to such shenanigans in order to gain rank in God's True Church.
And Gertie, all I can say, is:
1) "Polly wants a cracker!"
2) I meant to write "Bubbellah", not "Bupkis"
I do need to brush up on my Hebrew.
3) I'm very impressed by your sticker collection, and please don't worry about the colors, since I am half colorblind, anyway.
That has caused some havoc, such as when I waved some of God's Elect Ministers into the "regular" parking lot.
4) I do so look forward to the Feast, and you whispering "Bubbellah" into my good ear.
And, in the meantime, please don't listen to anything my fourteen ex wives may say about me, since they are all Jezebels and Korahs, and totally disrespected my shofar.
Hey Bamboo Bends, as far as your comments about Gerald Waterhouse.
Several years before his death, I used to talk to him on the phone, sometimes for hours at a time.
He felt very strongly that Christ had commissioned him to travel around the world pointing member's attention back to HQ and to what he referred to as "God's Master Plan,” keep reminding people of “The Big Picture,” etc.
When his health problems began arising, he told me he felt that since he'd already traveled around the world 11 times, that God would heal him and let him do one final tour to make it an even 12, a more biblical number (the number of organizational beginnings - like the 12 tribes of Israel, or the 12 apostles of Christ, etc.).
But it didn’t quite work out that way.
You know, obviously he was wrong on many things, but I really enjoyed talking to him like this before his death.
I'll have to somehow get a copy of this issue of The Journal, if for no other reason than to read the article by Harry Sneider. I haven’t talked to him in some years now.
But I simply can’t speak highly enough of Harry Sneider: he is a great guy - a totally genuine and compassionate human being. I can see why the eccentric and very weird world chess champion, the late Bobby Fisher, took to Harry, when Bobby trusted very few people. Harry was always sensitive to folks who were discouraged and in need of a kind word and a little attention. He was a superb coach and motivator. He has a doctorate in exercise physiology, is a professional Olympic trainer and runs a family fitness center out of his home – at least he did the last I heard.
He would occasionally get into trouble with the higher ups in Pasadena because of his contacts with some top names in various fields, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example.
Harry had Arnold come and give a lecture about weight lifting and strength training to some of the young students at AC (Harry used to teach the weight lifting class) - I think this would have been sometime around November of 1975. This was when Arnold was widely known in the world of bodybuilding, yet virtually unknown outside of that rather narrow universe, and obviously before he became a household world as a result of his movies and involvement in politics as Governor of California.
Believe it or not, Harry told me that Arnold was very interested at one time in the Church, and used to listen to the World Tomorrow radio show when GTA was broadcasting it during the early 1970's.
Arnold was pretty excited to meet GTA, and asked Harry if he would introduce them in person – which he did. But Garner Ted, in standard arrogant form, perfunctorily shook Arnold’s hand, and quickly dismissed him, which really hurt Arnold’s feelings. Later Garner Ted told Harry, “Please stop bringing freaks like this Arnold guy on the campus, OK?”
This is a true story – I heard it straight from Harry.
Harry also trained Bob Wieland, the fellow who lost both his legs in the Vietnam War, and who eventually “walked” by scooting along the ground…completely across the United States, an epic journey of over 3,000 miles!
Before that, Harry also trained Bob to complete the Los Angeles Marathon (26 miles). Harry inadvertently was interviewed on TV during the local media coverage of the event. Harry’s boss at AC saw him on TV, and got him into trouble for being involved in training Bob Wieland.
These two true accounts just shows the level of arrogance and jealousy that was so often manifested against humble, sincere, well-meaning Church members like Harry when they tried to do simple good deeds to their fellow man as they had opportunity.
The weight room was adjacent to the handball courts during my two years at AC, and was one of my regular hangouts. When I had arrived on campus in fall of '66, I was 6'2" tall, and weighed in at all of 159 lbs! Obviously, a bean pole. Early freshman year, I got a routine going, and probably spent about ten hours per week training. It paid off somewhat, and when I went home for summer, my family noticed the results of all the work.
When I returned to campus, fall of '67, I made a beeline for the weightroom. A stocky kind of blondish dude watched for a while, and began to ask me questions about my routine. Accustomed to typical WCG intrusiveness, and not having requested any help, or advice, I kind of gave him the brush. It wasn't until all of my weighlifting buddies started telling me about the new guy's background that I started to warm up a bit and realize that this was someone from whom I could learn. And of course, the new guy was Harry.
I got to know him about as well as I knew any of the students. He was tough as nails, but also very low key. Not arrogant, not a hardass, as it turned out, he was just an all around nice guy. I never knew him to be judgmental in any way, either.
We learned his story. He and his family had escaped as the communist regime came into power in their native country, Latvia. As a youngster, Harry had suffered from osteomyelitis, which had badly detereorated his hip. Essentially, all of the power lifting he did was supported by only one of his hips. One of his records in competition had actually been disallowed because the officials did not believe he could handle the weight which was ascribed to him with only one hip.
I probably would have been a life long weight lifter even if I'd never met Harry. Like Harry, I still work out regularly today. But, I sure did learn some things from him along the way. What an awesome human being! Now there's a guy who probably would have made a great minister. Unfortunately, WCG was looking for a different skill set and personality in those whom they ordained. Their loss.
BB
Byker Bob, I heartily agree with you about your assessment of Harry – and very much enjoyed your recollections about him – just an outstanding human being.
You arrived at AC ten years before I did.
Back in the spring of 1995 (before I moved away from Pasadena after being laid off) I used to work out at Harry's home gym (as a result of being referred to him by a chiropractor), and at that time he held the world record at bench press for his age group – 419 pounds at age 54. Not bad for someone who has, as you mentioned, had some fairly serious physical challenges in his own body. That's probably what has made him into such an effective motivator.
Once, during a very dark period in Bobby Fisher's life, he called Harry from where he was living somewhere in Eastern Europe and offered to pay for Harry to fly over and spend some time with him. Poor Bobby was extremely leery and untrusting of people, but he seemed to have trusted Harry more than anyone else in his rather sad and tragic life.
Like all great coaches, Harry was always extremely sensitive to what motivated a person. I casually mentioned once that I liked the music of the Moody Blues, and the next time I worked out with him he had one of their CD’s playing in the background – which, quite predictably, really got me going!
On his “Wall of Fame” in his home gym he put a picture of me (right up there with Arnold and other sports luminaries much more deserving than I for their athletic achievements) after I ran a personal best in the 1995 Disneyland Marathon he was training me for.
I really want to read his article in the latest Journal.
Harry’s sterling personal example is most certainly one of the bright spots in the 17 years of memories from my Pasadena days – which seem so long ago now. I sure would like to talk to him again.
"AW gets a mention in the Notes & Quotes section for a couple of recent polls."
Interestingly, Gavin does not mention at all his gratuitous mug shot on the post on the Journal.
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