CWGMR

If you've hung around this blog for any length of time you know that I don't have a high opinion of Greg Albrecht's Plain Truth Ministries, nor the slogan "Christianity without the Religion." Albrecht publishes a reasonably substantial quarterly magazine called CWR, the latest issue of which is now out, but I think it'd be more accurately titled CWGMR (Christianity With Genetically Modified Religion).

Which isn't to say that the burned-over constituency of the COGs won't find some interesting stuff here, particularly those who've traded down (or is it up?) to a less demanding, more evangelical type of faith. Hey, whatever works!

One article took my eye in particular. Zack Hunt writes some really good material, and he's a regular columnist for the "Gregoriana", so to speak. His blog is definitely worth the occasional visit (I even link to it over on my disgracefully inactive Otagosh blog.) In this issue he has a one-page piece with the provocative headline "Sometimes I Wish the Bible Had Never Been Written." Well worth the trip across to check out.

CWR magazine is available in - shudder - flipping book format, but you can hit the download button when that screen comes up and access the far more readable PDF version.

RIP Karl Beyersdorfer

Since Gary broke the news online of Karl Beyersdorfer's suicide a number of other COG-related websites have posted follow-up comments including a commendably pastoral piece on Living Armstrongism. The following summary appeared on the COG-friendly COG News.

On the 28th of May a pastor’s suicide was reported: 

“Today it was announced in the Charlotte LCG congregation that LCG Joplin, Missouri pastor Karl Beyersdorfer has killed himself on 5/27/2016. Recall that his wife Gaylon fell and broke her hip two weeks prior on Saturday 5/14/2016 and had to have hip replacement surgery." [From Banned]

He was ordained in the Worldwide Church of God, joined Roderick Meredith in founding the Global Church of God, then continued with him in the LCG. His name in its list of congregations has been replaced by that of the area pastor, Gene Hilgenberg, but there is no announcement of his death on the website as yet. 

One LCG member has commented [on Gary's blog]: “I can tell you first hand that what is happening at LCG is heartbreaking. Especially for those of us who survived what happened in WCG. It can lead to feelings of depression, hopelessness and despair. Many of us love our church, despite what our critics think about it, and it is hard to watch it crumble like it is. I’m sure Karl had other reasons for what he did, but the current state of LCG didn’t help, I’m sure. It’s hard to see something you heartfelt believed in and gave your life in support of fall apart because of egos and bad decision. I could see where that would make your life feel like a total waste. In the months to come, especially after RCM’s death, it will be important for us to stick together and love one another through the turbulent LCG splits ahead which, at this point, seem inevitable.”

Bruce Tyler's death has been marked with a fulsome tribute from Rod Meredith. The suicide of a prominent minister is a much more difficult event to address, and yet the impact is just as profound - probably more so. Hopefully, LCG will do the right thing and publicly acknowledge Karl Beyersdorfer's passing in a respectful way that not only mentions his contributions but also speaks to a difficult situation. To pass by in silence and ignore what has happened would merely compound the problem. They could do worse than by using the Living Armstrongism post as an exemplar.

Focus on William Miller

The father of Adventism, and hence the Churches of God, was William Miller, an American Baptist preacher active in the 1800s. Know about Willie, know something about the backstory that led to not only Herb Armstrong and the COGs but Seventh-day Adventism and a motley bunch of somewhat related sects which at various stages "cross-pollinated" with the Adventist movement.

Pam Dewey has an excellent discussion on "the Great Disappointment", the inevitable let-down when Willie's prophecies failed dismally, and ties it in with the theory of cognitive dissonance. I found it interesting that Miller wasn't the stereotypical wild-eyed ranter that many assume, and actually moved from a non-controversial Deism to premillennialism over a period of time. Then, as we know, he got caught up in all those confounded numbers in Daniel and Revelation. As do many even unto this very day. Another Willie for example (to wit, William Dankenbring) is currently promoting a new and novel interpretation of the "Seventy Weeks Prophecy" in Daniel chapter 9. Having taking countless pratfalls on prophecy in the past you'd think he would learn to keep his speculations to himself, but alas no. There are lots of dates tossed around in his Prophecy Flash newsletter (affectionately referred to as the Prophecy Flush by some) and long outdated commentaries (Jamieson, Faucett & Brown; Adam Clarke, Alfie Edersheim) are dusted off to back his convoluted logic. You'd need to be a more determined person than me to wade through the schlock in detail but, in the end, Dankenbring determines that 2016 is prophetically significant; fancy that!

But wait, there's more. In the midst of "the week", which the highly knowledgeable Mr. Dankenbring has determined to be a period lasting from 2016 to 2022, the Messiah will return.

Well, it makes about as much sense as 1844 or 1972. The difference is, I guess, that Miller eventually stepped away from prophetic fantasies and number-crunching after he'd made a fool of himself. Our Willie, however, seems ever willing to give it another try.

Maybe he should read Pam's article.

Is it a Cult?

"It has been said, not entirely tongue-in-cheek, that the difference between a cult and a religion is about a million members." (David V. Barrett, The New Believers, p.21.)

Is Armstrongism a cult? The gut reaction for many of us is to respond with a rousing 'yes!' But then Armstrongism comes in a seemingly endless assortment of flavours. Is PCG a cult? What about the Church of God Big Sandy? Toss in the UCG and Ken Westby's ACD and there's the making of a red-eared argument. The reality is that some COG groups are far more objectionable than others, and it helps to tease out the reasons why.

"... Evangelical Christians tend to use words such as 'cult' and 'sect' to show that such movements are, in contrast with their own true faith, false religions." (Barrett, p.25.)

The problem is criteria. What makes Dave Pack's RCG so different from Laestadian Lutherans? Why is Thiel's micro-sect different from the Church of God (Seventh Day)? To broaden the discussion, are Southern Baptist churches different in essence from their more progressive Northern brethren. Where do you draw the line?

Doctrinal fanatics tend to hunker down behind Trinitarian barricades. If it's not Trinitarian then it's a sect or cult. I guess that lets the loopy Laestadians off the hook. Those of us who view the doctrinaire types with a jaundiced eye are more likely to cite patterns of abuse and manipulation. But then, is there a single Pentecostal prosperity gospel group which isn't rotten to the core when it comes to blatant snake-oil manipulation?

For some of us, finding an alternative term to replace 'cult' is political correctness gone mad. But then again, maybe not. Maybe, by falling for the popular usage, we're allowing the rats who hide under mainline labels to escape scrutiny.

Which is the argument advanced by Jonny Scaramanga on his Leaving Fundamentalism blog.

"Churches are not either good or evil, either ‘cults’ or ‘Christian’. That kind of binary thinking is for Sith Lords and fundamentalists. Church practices exist on a continuum... When we divide congregations into ‘churches’ and ‘cults’, as if there is a clear distinction between the two, it absolves ‘churches’ of the need to consider ways in which their own practices might be controlling, harmful, and abusive."

Read it through for yourself (it's not a long piece). Maybe we should reframe the problem. It's cathartic to call Armstrongism - whether in the whole or in its peculiar splinters - a cult. The reality is that many of these groups are abusive, controlling, manipulative and deceptive, but a few (too few!) are not really in that ballpark. Perhaps we should first be calling them out on their practices rather than reaching for convenient labels handed to us by people who are often just as guilty of these things as their targets.

Tribulation Ahead for LCG

Gary is reporting that tough realities are striking home for the Living Church of God. Leading minister Bruce Tyler recently suffered a major stroke and died. Rod King, a former Tomorrow's World presenter, is said to be afflicted with stage 4 cancer. Rod Meredith struggles on, at least part-time wheelchair bound. There are rumblings about the appointment of Gerry Weston as the heir apparent, a man not known either for pastoral skills or empathy. Not surprisingly there are rumours of defections.

The reality is that the old guard is passing on, men who thought (and loudly proclaimed) that we would all live over into "the world tomorrow". The tragedy is that this line is still being pushed in pulpits, broadcast and print media. Nobody has said, hey, push the pause button, we've obviously got something horribly wrong here.

Which leads me to ponder Melvin Rhodes' latest blog column. Mel is prominent among those who try to discern the "signs of the times". He manfully attempts to join the dots, trawling through news trends and consequently finding exactly what he expects to find. The fact that he is affiliated with UCG rather than LCG is no big issue; on this both groups sing the same tune.

And yet, Mel's latest post is well worth the read. I suspect he intended it as a lightweight piece, but in reality, it has far greater depth than most of his output. He observes his three-year-old grandson digging dirt in the driveway with the unmistakable affection of any grandfather and ties it together in a good-humoured fashion with the state of the roads in Michigan. He concludes:

Perhaps, 15 years from now, when he graduates from High School, Leeson can work for the Transportation Department and help fix the roads.   I’m convinced those potholes will still be there.

Even Mel, the doomsayer, suspects at some level that the end of the age isn't all that close and that his grandchildren will grow up in the world we have today. And yet, what are the chances that his next contribution will return to the usual watch-world-news prediction-addiction?

Meanwhile, LCG tumbles toward the abyss. It's tempting to give a cheer, but we're talking about the lives of real people, and most of us know the negative impact of such events first-hand. The danger is, if LCG crashes and burns, the vultures will swiftly arrive to pick over the remains.

I was wrong, but...

I've been reading Ron Miscavige's book Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me. As the title implies, Ron is the father of Scientology boss David Miscavige, the heir to L. Ron Hubbard's empire.

The elder Miscavige is a longtime Scientologist who introduced the religion to his kids. Now in his late seventies, he and his current wife have left his son's toxic dominion behind them and moved back into the real world. Sort of.

It's quite a story involving private investigators, manipulation, abuse and "disconnection" - the Scientology term for being marked and disfellowshipped. What struck me most in his account, however, is how he still clings, to some degree, to the image he bought into all those years ago. He's willing to see the negative side of Hubbard as a person, and he's brutally honest about how he sees David's leadership as an entirely negative, oppressive force. And yet he sincerely believes that Scientology - at least in the early days - had a lot to offer. With apologies to Ian Boyne, he seems to advocate a "Reformed Hubbardism".

If you're going to make a huge change in your world view, best to do it when you're young. The older we get, the more likely we are to throw in a truckload of "yes, but" statements. It's painful to cut our moorings completely. Cognitive dissonance is not kind to us in the later decades of our lives.

Miscavige tells an important story bravely. He's a regular kind of guy, not overloaded with subtlety in his views or his approach to life. There's no doubt he's recounting things as he sees them and with honesty and integrity. If you get the chance, Ruthless is well worth investing some time to read.

The parallels with many who have left various branches of COGdom behind them is hard to miss. They want to pick and choose from the flotsam and jetsam of their former affiliation. Herbert Armstrong may have been a deeply flawed man, but... Some parts of British Israelism may have been a bit off, but... The church went too far in some areas, but...

I'm glad Ron and his wife have escaped from the Scientologist gulag, but it's not always true - as Rodney Lain maintained back in the early days of WCG Internet resistance - that if you "free your mind, your behind will follow." Some of us want to find a comfortable compromise that allows us to save face, admitting that we were wrong, but not entirely wrong. Miscavige's book illustrates just that point.

Going for the package deal

Back when WCG congregations often had over 500 members and were growing fast, most had at least one Spokesman Club to hone the men's communication skills.  In our area, our club met on the second and fourth Monday's of the month.  In one meeting in late 1985, the topics session got off to a slow start.  However, the astute Topics Master knew how to remedy the situation and deftly lobbed a softball question to the club... "Can anyone tell us how were you called into the church?"  The hands began to shoot up in the air - everybody in WCG had a story to tell about their calling.  The floodgates had been opened.  A barber told his story about  the wind blowing a magazine onto his leg as he walked to his mailbox one afternoon. He shook his leg again and again and yet the magazine remained - it just wouldn't break free.  He reached down and grabbed the magazine and what do you know - it was the Plain Truth!

My father had a story, too.  His parents had not attended church and neither did he.  He was not at all interested.  However, while driving to work one morning, he turned on the radio and - Boom! - Mr. Armstrong's voice bellowed from the speakers and it grabbed his attention.  He became hooked.  Shortly thereafter he was reading the Plain Truth, WCG booklets, and the Bible.  His mind had been opened and he began to understand the Bible even better than those who had been trained to become priests.

My mother followed his lead and their excitement soon rubbed off on us kids.  During high school, the excitement had waned a bit as it had for many church kids.  Early in my fourth year of college, a friend began to talk about how it was time for us to get off of the fence, one way or the other.  This made sense.  How could we keep going if it was merely to please our parents?  Shortly thereafter, I experienced my own calling.   On a Saturday morning, while searching for something interesting on the radio... BOOM!  I heard a voice crying out of the wilderness and I was hooked.  It was a familiar voice yet new at the same time.  It was actually a young HWA (perhaps a re-run of a 1950's program) and this dynamic man had grabbed my attention.  All the sudden 'the truth' became exciting once again.  It was time to set the school books aside and work through the correspondence course and, what do you know, it all made sense!  All those things taught to me as a child were actually true and I could prove it from the Bible.

During the same time period, about 30 miles across town, my uncle had been called.  His mind was also opened, he learned 'the truth' and he had proved it from the Bible.   And just five or six houses down the street, my friend was called.  His mind had been opened and he now understood 'the truth'.  Now the three of us all had something very important in common with each other - we had been called by God and could now understand the 'truth', unlike the vast majority of humanity.  It is amazing how it worked and what are the odds?

Of course, our experience would not make sense to most people external to the 'true church' but, for those in it, it made perfect sense.  We knew what we knew because  we had been called by God, given special understanding, and we because we had proved everything that we believed straight from the Bible!

Oops.  The was a small problem.  Even though my uncle, my friend ,and I had very similar experience that led to a complete change in our lives, we also ended up with a few significant differences.  I had been baptized into WCG.  My uncle became a Jehovah Witness, and my friend became a Mormon.

How could this be?  Well, obviously my uncle and my friend were deceived.  Although they were sincere in what they believed, they were sincerely wrong. I knew that to be a fact with absolute certainty.  At the same time, they felt exactly the same way that I did.  They knew that they were right and they knew that I was wrong.  We even had a bit of arrogance in common!  The sad thing is that although we could each recognize the error in the beliefs of the others, none of us could see our own error.  And there is the real problem.  We all had become blind regarding some truths that were obvious to others.  As a  result, we had each become slaves to organizations that had elevated themselves above God, merely because they were effective in tying up their core beliefs into attractively wrapped packages.  They had all the answers to life's most important questions and we liked what they taught.  We were special and we were going to fill some mighty important positions in the kingdom.

Looking back, it would have been nice had the internet been invented 25 years earlier.  Maybe we would have realized more quickly that not everything was quite what it had appeared to us initially.  We might have determined early on that they were not actually joining the 'one true' church being directly led by God as the organizations had claimed.  We might have realized that the neat little packages they had given us actually contained errors and half-truths, and had to be re-wrapped now and then to cover up erroneous prophetic predictions from the past and teachings that were conveniently reversed along the way.

My question to anyone still believing UCG, COGWA, LCG,  RCG, or any of the other splinters from WCG to be the only churches with 'the truth', please explain to me how you can know that for sure.  If we are dependent upon revealed understanding to make sense of the Bible and 99.9% of the world is deceived, how can we be sure that WCG's 'package of beliefs' had been the pure truth rather than merely a mix of error and truth?  Because we liked it?  Because it was wrapped up so well?  Because it made sense to us?

Nearly every member of every cult had a nearly identical experience as to ours when we had joined WCG.  They felt it, believed it, and proved it.  Just like we did.  Once we liked what we heard, we wanted to prove it.  Once we believed that we had proved it, we did not want to let go of it.  And then we surrounded ourselves with others that reinforced the fact that we had all proved it and that the worst thing in the world was to let go of that belief.  No wonder we were so sure.

But what had we actually proven?  Maybe just that we were human. We proved that we could be fooled just like the thousands of intelligent people that had been more recently fooled by Bernie Madoff.  He was self-confident.  He was convincing.  He was connected.  He gained people's confidence.  Yet he was a con man.

-Kevin

Visions in the Night

From a special correspondent.

It hath been reported from "impeccable" United sources that evangelists across the board in the US are having visions about Mr Trump and his taking his seat in the Oval Office. These visions are of a negative nature.

Hour-long sermons have a lot to answer for. The guy in the expensive suit mounts the podium/lectern/pulpit knowing that he's got to burble on for sixty minutes when what he's got to impart will, in all honesty, take 15 minutes tops. What to do, what to do...

Padding is required. Fullsome padding.

A couple of weak jokes.
A semi-relevant personal anecdote.
Time allowed for the lucky listeners to fumble up the scriptures in their wide margin bibles.
Time to read the scriptures in full with distractions along the way.

That accounts for another 10 minutes.

No, something more is required. A diversion off into punditry. After all, the minister is God's mouthpiece, so it stands to reason that his views have a degree of clout beyond anything the peons might come up with. What shall we talk about? Oh, I know: "world news and prophecy".

Is there a single COG minister - whether in UCG or an alternate franchise - who hasn't been beating his gums about the upcoming presidential election?

So the Great Man rattles his tonsils at length about what he read online last night in the Washington Times (the Washington Post would be a bit of a stretch for these guys). Or what he heard yesterday on talk radio. What an expert! How is this relevant? Why it's prophecy! Moreover, there's this imaginary commandment to "watch world news".

From there, perhaps it's only a short step to imagining that God is confirming their prejudices in the form of dreams - brought on by indigestion no doubt.

And so it's no surprise when a sermon turns from sound teaching and an emphasis on edification to... Trump.

But was it actually a sermon?

Not Edstone... Redstone

Redstone Hall

Ah, what a life, what with good people on limited incomes throwing money at you. So how do you spend "God's tithes"? Well, maybe you could shovel them into a faux university.

The students at Living University are currently moving into plush new accommodations. LU, you'll recall, is the unaccredited (and likely never to be accredited) training school for LCG members with aspirations to ministry (if they're blokes) or perhaps a ministerial husband (if they're not).

The men's facility is called Redstone Hall. Not sure whether there's a library, but there's a very nice billiard table.

Putting in the all-important billiard table

The women's residence looks pretty classy too. Study facilities don't get a mention here either - you get the impression that "book learnin'" ain't a high priority at LU. But it does have "an exercise room equipped with two Sole E235 Elliptical trainers... music room, formal dining room, kitchen and breakfast nook, living room and five bedrooms."

Nice. But just five bedrooms? How many students does this "university" actually have? Divide the cost of running LU by the total number of students on campus and... throw another million in the furnace Rod!

Actually, the moving van with the big, bold Tomorrow's World logo is quite impressive too. Well, I mean, gotta burn up those surplus tithes somehow, right.

Remind you of somewhere (and somewhen) else?

Not quite up there with PCG's edifices maybe, but clearly LCG is trotting along in the same well-worn rut, scattering greenbacks as they go.

Makes you kinda wonder how much the president of LU is making... speaking of which, my thanks to President Germano who proudly posted the pics.

Women's accommodation plus branded van

Who? Lil' Ol' Me?

Not being an American, I try not to comment on US politics, I simply don't have a dog in that fight. So it seems a tad inexplicable that a certain Michael Germano should take a FB sideswipe at me in that particular context. I could be wrong, but I don't recollect posting anything about Doc Germano around the March 17 mark (though I did a piece on Living University - not being aware of the FB entry - in April). So maybe there's another Gavin R he's referring to, or maybe I should wear the reference as a badge of honour.

We all know Germano's politics are to the right of Attila the Hun. Why else post a Trump-sourced video clip of Hillary Clinton "barking like a dog"? But that's okay. Michael is entitled to be a self-opinionated boor. Kinda goes with the territory out there in LCG-land. Perhaps I should be flattered that he knows who I am. Heavens to Betsy, do you think he's a regular reader?

And yes, occasionally I feel the need to "get a life". Then I think about all the has-been know-it-alls who pontificate each Sabbath in hundreds of pulpits and realise that things are never going to be that bad. Count your blessings I say...

As for relaxing and enjoying the show, well, if I was paid what Germano is for his Living University sinecure, I guess I'd feel that way too. Must be a laugh a minute in Charlotte.