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AMBASSADOR WATCH The Missing Dimension e-zine Issue 44 - November 2003
Covering developments and
advocating accountability in the Worldwide
Church of God and related
groups MD Quick links: Home Page Columns Bookshelf Previous AW Site Guide Links Search MD E-mail MD |
28 November. WE HELP JOE SELL STUFF! Mail: Humble Herman, Jon the Rebel
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Hire a mini-bus, invite all your ex-member friends and take the free tour next month! |
The Price is Right: In the market for a nice residential property in Pasadena? An anonymous source passed this information on:
Following are the prices for the homes going on sale in December. The open house is scheduled from December 6-7... they may not have them listed officially yet. These prices are from the brochures that were published for the sale.
280 South Orange Grove (The Bella N. Scofield House) Tkach Sr./Feazell residence listed for $1,800,000.00
268 South Orange Grove (The Dr. Henry H. Sherk House) LaRavia/Tkach Jr. residence listed for $1,098,000
260 South Orange Grove (The Hugh E. Montgomery House) Feazell/R.Dick residence listed for $1,250,000
252 South Orange Grove (The Bruce & Mabel Dray House) Schnippert residence listed for $1,290,000
250 South Orange Grove (The Arthur T. Haben House) VanPelt residence listed for $1,198,000
The 260 residence was where the Feazells lived for a while. Prior to their moving in the home was completely remodeled, but the lady of the house reportedly did not like what was done and they had the ENTIRE house redone. Then, we're told, because they were still not satisfied, they had them redo all kinds of things. It was reported by people at accounting that over 2,500,000 was spent to remodel that home to the satisfaction of these lucky tenants! Tithe money well spent!
The 268 residence was also extensively remodeled to suite the extreme tastes of the wife of a wanna-be successor to HWA. Her big project was to remodel the kitchen in French Country style with Subzero refrigerators, Thermador ovens and a professional range/oven.
The listings are through Dickson Podley Realtors, 336 South Lake Ave, Pasadena CA 91101, Diane Hardie-Aurit and Chris Dickson Agents.
We're sure Diane (626) 639-1648 and Chris (626) 233-1100 would appreciate calls from lots of AW readers keen to view these properties! Or hire a mini-bus, invite all your ex-member friends and take the free tour next month!
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The
'umble Mister 'oeh: Hi Gavin --
The letter about Herman Hoeh is a bit curious.
My WCG Pastor told a speaking club in early
1995 that Dr. Hoeh was the one who wrote Joseph
Tkach Senior's earth-shaking December 1994
sermon about the covenants -- the one published
in full in the Worldwide News a couple of weeks
later. PCG info needed: I was wondering if you could possibly send me any more information on the PCG. My girlfriend and her family are part of the [named] congregation and I would like to try and understand the [teachings] and find some hard facts to produce to her and possibly make her look a little closer. MD: You could start with the PCG page on MD and follow the various links. A PCG member in good standing is highly unlikely to pursue a relationship with an outsider for long, and it's never easy to convince someone who doesn't want to be convinced. Any other suggestions (other than "run like hell!")? Rebel figure: There were some of us who attended Ambassador College that needed a rebel figure within the WCG org that we could admire, and believe in. We were always told that you could learn the easy goody two shoes way by just doing as the ministers said, unquestioningly, or find out the hard way by perhaps experiencing a bit of the wrong way, as of course defined myopically by HWA. Because, as he's stated many times in sermons and classes, David Jon Hill was responsible for many of the rules with which we were greeted in the AC Student Handbook, I found him easy to admire. I don't believe that anybody realizes what we've all lost because he has left us prior to being able to complete his memoirs for the Journal.
Instinctively,
you just have to know that his insights would
be a very significant contribution, having the
potential of helping a great number of people
make sense of it all. I personally was looking
forward to hearing about his post-WCG
experiences. My deepest condolences go out to
his surviving family, and Jonathan, if you read
this, please know that many of us would find it
helpful to know more about your Dad's later
years. Extra-biblical: Just read Paul Ray's remarks about things "extrabiblical." Nice word. Of course ALL Christians accept extrabiblical doctrines. Probably the most obvious "extrabiblical" Christian doctrine? The Canon of the Bible. Yep, the Bible has no inspired table of contents. Jared Olar Royal Place of Safety: Apparently, the Place of Safety is on the grounds of Buckingham Place:
And I thought it was the Egrets that were supposed to take flight and carry off the Auditorium... |
Mailbag
26 November. DEATH OF JON HILL. Mail: LCG-PCG spot the difference, the unpredictable Mister Hoeh, machinations?
Jon Hill,
RIP: We were saddened to hear of the death of
David Jon Hill, a former WCG evangelist, on Monday. The
following item appears on
The Journal
website.
The Journal has learned that longtime Church of God member and former Worldwide Church of God evangelist David Jon Hill died Nov. 23 at his son's home in Shingletown, Calif.Jonathan Hill discovered the next morning, Nov. 24, that his father had died in his sleep.
"He was content and lived his last few months in the woods in a peaceful and loving home," Jonathan Hill said. "Please let folks know he went just the way he wanted."
Mr. Hill's son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Bonnie Hill, receive mail at P.O. Box 319, Shingletown, Calif. 96088, U.S.A.
The Journal began running what was planned to be a series of autobiographical articles by Mr. Hill in the October issue. Three more installments of the series had been planned. Earlier on the evening Mr. Hill died, The Journal received several photos he had chosen to accompany the second installment of his series.
Jon Hill distanced himself from the church following the stresses of the late 1970s, which had taken their toll. He authored a ground-breaking booklet, A Tale of Two Prophets, which circulated only briefly before the cultural revolution of 1978/1979 swept all before it, many years before the pseudo-evangelical "reformation" that launched its own counter-reign of intolerance and neo-legalism.
From what we've heard, Jon Hill lived his post-WCG life with great integrity. We express our condolences to his friends and family.
Jon Hill's recent article can be viewed at www.godward.org/archives/Special Articles/a_hill_of_an_experience.htm
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LCG -
PCG in a better suit? Bob Thiel
posted this on his site in response to your
Flurry "Sweep" article.
Hooey: Herman
Hoeh may have many fine qualities, but courage
does not seem to be one of them. When the big
blow up occurred in Big Sandy in the mid 90s
over the doctrinal changes introduced by Joe
Tkach Sr. (especially the 7th day Sabbath),
Hoeh was flown in to smooth things over. Dr.
Winnail told me he talked with Hoeh regarding
his determination to speak out in favor of
Christians observing the 7th day
Sabbath. MD: Winnail is currently with the Meredith LCG. Man the lifeboat! Ministers first! Reading your reports about the Worldwide Church of God’s deteriorating financial condition and the diverting of assets to a new entity makes me wonder if their leaders are quietly making the advance financial preparations for a future bankruptcy. Under a bankruptcy scenario, the new entity would already hold the assets while the other old entity (WCG) would hold all the debt for bankruptcy reorganization and/or discharge in liquidation. Does this seem plausible to you? It would certainly explain the very cavalier attitude the church has towards its last remaining loyal members, such as those you’ve mentioned in Glendora, while it simultaneously suffers a slow corporate death. In fact, one would think the WCG would be extra careful not to alienate its last remaining members, if for no other reason than sheer corporate survival. After all, these are now the core members that choose not to leave and instead support the new WCG. From what I’ve read and learned in the past year about what has transpired in the Worldwide Church, anyone still remaining in the WCG is either: 1) clueless as to the true motives of their leadership; or 2) remain loyal convinced by Herbert Armstrong’s constant threats of eternal damnation (lake of fire) for anyone leaving “God’s Church” in spite of the church’s subsequent doctrinal changes after his death; or 3) knows the true motives of their leadership, and they simply do not care. It would be interesting to know if the new entity has already been created for the assets; and which entity has collateralized the line of credit reported in your November 15 edition? It would also be interesting to know if the fixed assets of the church were pledged in the line of credit, or if the line of credit is only collateralized by the accounts receivable (tithes and offerings) of the Church? In a “planned in advance” bankruptcy scenario, the church would have to transfer the assets to the new entity far in advance of a bankruptcy filing to avoid a fraudulent transfer. The new entity could co-exist with the old entity and would hold the assets for whatever mission outlined by its corporate charter (which may, or may not be religious). The new entity could certainly provide a nice, comfortable living for some people given the asset size. The old WCG entity is still necessary, even if operating in bankruptcy. Why? Besides continuing to collect the tithes and offerings from its last remaining clueless members, let me remind your readers of the annual effort by WCG legal department to help members in their estate planning to include the WCG in their wills (as if the church didn’t suck enough of the financial life out of its members while alive). Who knows how many members and former members have failed to update their wills to exclude the WCG? The old entity could also provide a nice, comfortable living for some people. Of course, when you are dealing with an organization that has little accountability to its members it is very difficult to understand what really, truly is going on. Richard Dahms |
24 November. PCG PURGE PREDICTED, A COG CAROL. Mail: Otto & the demon
Gerry-worship: Many observers regard the Philadelphia Church of God, an Oklahoma-based cult run by Gerald Flurry, as the most disturbing of the major Armstrong splinters. The following insider report was received yesterday.
PCG member alert: It has just been reported that ministers are 'sweeping' through their regional congregations with [the intent to drive] out all rebels, heretics, and their greatest threat: spies! The movement has already started along the eastern seaboard in New Jersey, with next stops in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Ohio. [They are asking]: "Do you believe that Gerald Flurry is That Prophet?" It has been said that each member is being taken one-on-one in a 'counsel session'. Those [who know otherwise] can either fess-up and lose [their] membership status or lie and get to witness the continuing circus. (Those completely deceived can relax.)
We trust at least some PCG members will be forewarned. The correspondent continues:
A recent sermon given by Gerry was heralded by one member as a "re-introduction" to the greatness of That Prophet, with no biblical importance, but a warning to keep studying the booklets. [Flurry was] proud to be back on television, mentioning that the recent solar flares had happened to try and stop its broadcast...
O Tannenbaum: With news that a festive Xmas tree is to appear in the Hall of Administration, MD columnist Douglas Becker has been moved to improvise new lyrics for an old favorite:
Oh, Christmas Tree,O Christmas Tree,To my song do hearken,Your branches will,The Admin Hall surely soon Darken.The Hall will have such cheery light,From ornaments so shiny bright,UL approved they'd better be,'Cause the fire would be the end of thee!Oh, Christmas Tree,O, Christmas Tree,To my song do listen,Your branches will,With ersatz snow soon glisten.Ignore the past of yesteryear,Of doctrines held so very dear,Of changes made so very bold,The Campus sale is getting old.Oh, Christmas Tree,O, Christmas Tree,Just what is your draw?Offending split-offs far and wide,Who want to keep God's Law.But WCG is on the path,To take a really big financial bath,They thought they'd pause,For Santa Claus,And ignore Moses' Burning Tree.Douglas Becker
Douglas wonders whether Richard Burkard might sing it for us. We wonder whether UCG might include it in its next revision of the Supplemental Hymnal!
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More on WCG exorcisms: I saw an exorcism done at Orr in 1974 on a young boy. It was done by Otto Lochner. It left an impression on me as I was 12 or 13. I remember it was done in a small room and the two ministers asked another camper and me to sit in on the exorcism. Wild stuff!! Norman |
23 November. NEW COVENANT NAZISM. Mail: the unexamined life, dangerous book, exorcising with Larry
Christian Freedom - Glendora style: Another news item from Glendora WCG ("The Friendly Church of the Foothills"), where Neil Earle is reported to be continuing to throw his weight around with the "dumb sheep":
More silliness from the "Earldom": It seems that his lordship is rather perturbed that the over 100 some members that fled from Pelley's church are not fans of weekly or monthly communion services. In the past "the Earl" held communion in a separate building after church services for those that wanted to attend. But no longer, his lordship told members recently that he will no longer be 'advertising' upcoming communion services but rather will have them UNANNOUNCED. So when one shows up to church they will never know for sure if there will be a communion service or not.
Earle is also perturbed that the Pasadena expatriates are not enjoying his new praise and worship song services. After recently lecturing them all for not singing and clapping along with the worship songs, he said he was going to grab them by the neck and remove them from the church if they did not start singing along.
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To paraphrase 2 Chronicles 10:14,"My colleague Den made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; Pastor Pelley scourged you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions." |
Could this be true? The alleged threats of physical assault don't seem to make the "sermon summary" posted on the Glendora website, but you can review notes on the "Eating and Drinking in His Presence" sermon (Nov. 15).
In the church today, we’ve broken with old traditions. The Glendora church has a communion service four times a year. We now have freedom in the New Covenant. It is a new and mind-opening experience, and there are lots of options in taking a fellowship meal.
But apparently not the option most people want.
Where is the Worldwide Church of God going to land with this ceremony of the Bread and Wine? Somewhere in the middle. How often should Communion be taken? "As often as you do it." The Bible doesn’t specify, but leaves it up to us.
We wonder exactly who Neil is referring to by "us". Not, it seems, the members of the Glendora church.
So, whatever could be the problem here? After all, "Mister" Earle is The Minister, and all those folk who warm the pews are just plain, vanilla-flavored plebs who just don't know what's good for them. Don't these people know their place! How dare they think they can disagree with an important, articulate and ordained man-of-God! Next they'll be wanting to vote and do all that dangerous stuff other Christians do as-of-right in healthy churches. Heavens no, we couldn't possibly have that! We advise Neil to buff up his jack-boots, taking comfort in the knowledge that WCG ministers are so much more important in the grand scheme of things than the mere dime-a-dozen laity! To paraphrase 2 Chronicles 10:14, "My colleague Den made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; Pastor Pelley scourged you with whips, but I will scourge you with scorpions." What those Glendora malcontents obviously need is a good healthy dose of Old Testament chastisement. Maybe next week Neil could arrange a New Covenant Stoning Ceremony where the more enlightened (and suitably docile) brethren could sing a round of cheery praise choruses while they chuck gravel at the independently minded troublemakers...
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Cadaver Church of
God: I appreciated Jim Baldwin's
comments on the Unexamined Life. The Christian
perspective and the pursuit of "God's Truth"
can take the form of Church hopping and looking
for the church that most faithfully follows
what the members can READ. The problem is in
what it MEANS or WHERE the account comes from
and WHY in the first place. If one literally
believes Joshua caused the sun to stand still,
we know today what he really had to do was stop
the Earth from spinning at 1000mph. We then
have to suspend belief in the catastrophic
consequences of such an account and wonder why
NO ONE else on earth in any culture took notice
of this or wrote it down. With an instant stop,
I suspect one would have noticed. Just saying
that nothing is too hard for God is not a
reasonable response. We have the same problem
with the sun going dark for three hours at
Jesus death. MD: Yeah, so are we. Anyone able to provide us with a picture of the tree? We'd love to let the rest of the world admire the HQ decorations! Spit-roasted heretics: I just purchased a copy of David Daniell's new work "The Bible in English", a 900 page history of the translation of the Bible into English. Daniell, a Shakespearean scholar, previously authored a highly respected biography of William Tyndale.
In his introduction, on page 7,
Daniell makes this observation regarding church
government in the early church: "All these
early Christian communities ... are more
individual and independent than is suggested by
the word 'churches'. The picture of some
of the earliest of them, as for example in I
Corinthians 12-14, shows little if anything of
any organized authoritarian structure,
something which the word 'church' tends to
suggest today." Larry Walker vs. the demons: In response to Sharon Mooney's note, I did know of an exorcism performed on a young man that attended the Minneapolis North congregation that had several exorcisms performed on him by Larry Walker. I was personally acquainted with the family involved and heard many of the details. We had a pretty serious sermon the next Sabbath which might have been the day after one of the exorcisms, I remember the minister being very fatigued during the sermon. The individual involved was ultimately hospitalized. I heard that he was "possessed" again some time after his release. Some of the details prior to this stem from being at SEP camp at Orr, Minnesota. Never did hear what the outcome was. RM
Copycat
cult: I just wonder if Greg
Albrecht's new Recovering Legalists site is
another attempt by WCG to divert attention away
from other sites such as Ron Lohr's
http://www.recoveringlegalists.org/ |
21 November. THE GREAT ASSET HEIST? PAINFUL TRUTH BATON PASSED, SPEAK NOW. Mail: Hoeh-rides, clergy ranks and functions, the god premise, exorcisms
Has Bernie bagged the bucks? From an anonymous source:
This past week, Bernie Schnippert reportedly held a meeting with bank officials in the Hall of Administration. Sources say Schnippert wants to set up a separate account, which he will oversee, and that will be used at his discretion. The money going into this account will be all the money received from the sale of the homes and the campus property. That budget will be totally separate from the WCG. The plan is to have a separate Board of Directors for this new entity. If so, there will be two Boards, one for the WCG and another for Schnippert's creation. Bernie has been reported to have said that he will be serving on BOTH Boards.
WCG exec's have repeatedly said that the first thing they would do with the money from the sale is to fund the retirement program. With these changes, the retirement program would now seem to be entirely at Schnippert's discretion.
Some are speculating that he is doing this because the WCG financial situation is in such serious decline, despite the glowing PR reports from Ron Kelly. Church membership and donations are believed to be steadily on the downward trend.
The scary thing about the new program is that since all money garnered through the sales seems destined to go into this account, it seems there will be none going directly into the church retirement program. WCG exec's have repeatedly said that the first thing they would do with the money from the sale is to fund the retirement program. With these changes, the retirement program would now seem to be entirely at Schnippert's discretion.
Meantime all church department managers have been told that absolutely no unnecessary expenditures are to take place from now till March of next year because of the serious situation with church finances. The question that many are asking: will Schnippert spit in the face of the belt-tightening strictures and give his staff pay raises at the end of the year - something he has done many times in the past.
An earlier email poses more disturbing questions for supporters of a church that continually pleads poverty:
Some are even reporting that when they sell the 5 homes on Orange Grove Blvd in December that those proceeds will go directly into [Schnippert's] budget. He and his employees are expected to receive bonuses just as a real Real Estate Agent would receive a commission on each sale. Currently commissions in CA are running around 5-7% of the total sale. With each house bringing in over a million dollars they all stand to receive a hefty bonus.
We would be delighted to post a denial of these reports if they are in error. We hope, for the sake of all concerned, that they are. Our source, however, is both credible and reliable.
Ed Mentell bows out: The Painful Truth site founded by Ed Mentell Sr. is "under new management". The following announcements appear on the site.
Note: From this day forward, The Painful Truth website will be under new management. I don't have the time to keep the maintenance of the site up to date and so I have passed the "baton" on to a younger person that will be able to better serve those who desire to find out the painful truth about Armstongism, the Worldwide Church of God and religion in general. Good luck on your search for truth. If you find it, at first you probably aren't going to like what you find. Give it some time and you will discover what true freedom is all about. Freedom from the cultmasters. Freedom from those that want to control your mind. Freedom from those that want to control your life. Freedom from those that want your money or your worship and will sell you "god" to get it.
Ed Mentell Sr.
And
Hello All -- New Editor here. I have some quick info for any who might want it. "Quick" because, I'm obviously trying to get my bearings here. This is a huge undertaking; the mechanics of the website, and also remembering its Good Readers, fans or not.
The quick notes are these: 1. Nothing really big is happening here in terms of layout, etc. Things should be where you always saw them in the past. There will be some problems in converting counters, and I will most likely goof up a link here and there. I ask for your indulgence as I try to bring the site back up to light-speed. It shouldn't be an unbearable task, but may take a while to stamp out bugs. Feel free to write me (same email as before: editor@herbertwarmstrong.com) and tell me of bad links and other technical hangups.
2. There is no real philosophical difference, in direction, this site will or should take. The emphasis is and will be the people who lived through the WCG+ days and those that are currently in the split-offs, our families, our lives, their lives. This site is for you. We/you lived it. Still do. We're still learning about what this all was, and how we were affected (I tried hard NOT to say 'infected', there) by the cult.
There is no real argument I can find with Ed's thoughts here regarding Free Thinkers, and most else. His thoughts will remain, as a FAQ Base for the website. They remain valid. I will have one up at some time in the future, but more important things need to be done first.
3. There's a backlog of input from you Good Readers, that I have now, and I will get these posted up (hopefully) within the next couple weeks. The website is behind in updates -- Ed knows it. I know it...( we all seen it...:) Allow me to get my butt-in-gear-kit together, and things'll start rolling again, ok?
Again -- thanks for your patience in this matter. And all who wish to email, feel free to do so at the usual email addy. For new folks? Read the FAQ page first, ok?
Regards, Editor
We'd like to both wish the new editor well, and pay tribute to Ed's amazing work. Under Ed's guidance The Painful Truth has been an indispensable resource for many of us.
And who is the new editor? We don't know either, but we hope he soon steps out from behind the curtain to take a bow.
Speak out now: From the November-December Pasadena In Focus
Speak Up on Ambassador College Development Plans
Much of the Ambassador College campus near Old Pasadena may be turned into a neighborhood of 1,431 homes, with a few new shops and services. The property's owner, Worldwide Church of God, has proposed to build 696 new units on the 32-acre west campus at the southwest corner of Orange Grove Boulevard and Green Street and 735 new units on the 13-acre east campus south of Green Street between Delacey and Pasadena Avenues. Many of the existing buildings, including the Ambassador Auditorium, are proposed to be removed, but other historic mansions would be converted into homes, offices or visitor service centers.
The city is engaged in an ongoing effort to collect community input on the plan. You're invited to review and give your comments on the project's draft Environmental Impact Report (dEIR) when it is released. As with any major proposed development, the city prepared a detailed analysis evaluating potential impacts the project might have on population and housing, water and utility services, aesthetics, air quality, transportation, natural resources, noise levels, recreation, cultural resources and more.
Copies of this report will be available at city libraries, City Hall and at http://www.cityofpasadena.net/planning (click on the Ambassador Campus). You may also purchase a CD-ROM or hard copy of the report at the Permit Center, 175 N. Garfield Ave. Submit comments in writing to Brian League, Senior Project Manager, City of Pasadena Planning and Development Department, 100 North Garfield Ave., Pasadena CA 91109. Also watch for a series of public meetings where you can offer your opinion. For more information, check the web site, send an email to bleague@cityofpasadena.net or call 744-7194
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Herb's
pyramids: With regard to Hoeh's
reported comments about the now-accepted
Eucharist within monthly WCG communion
services, it would seem that Hoeh continues in
his role as the chief apologetics officer for
whatever quasi-political/theological theme is
in vogue at 300 West Green Street. For example,
HWA openly said and taught in the 1950s and
early 1960s that it was impossible that the
Egyptian pyramids would have survived the
Genesis Flood (and thus pre-dated the Flood),
so Hoeh hit the library stacks to find
alternative explanations for the Egyptian
dynasties, and thus the Compendium of World
History Volume I was born. The alternative
explanations that Hoeh researched and was
influenced by in preparing that particular work
(in fairness, Hoeh did not plagiarize in the
manner of HWA and Judah's Scepter, et al) would
cause a professional Egyptologist's eyeglasses
to fog over. Hence, the volume quietly
disappeared from print when HWA finally allowed
the pyramids could have predated the
Flood. Gold watch? You mentioned Herman Hoeh! He is still with the WCG cult? I thought Little Joe gave him a gold watch and a RV to hit the road with!! "Reverend Kscribe" MD: We understand Herman is retired but still preaches occasionally. Missing evangelists: I have been told that about 300 people attended Buck Hammer's funeral yesterday (Tuesday). Also, I hear there was a dinner afterward in the Big Sandy church building and that at least 120 attended--many from UCGaia. But I was also informed that Leon Walker, Don Ward, and Les McCullough did not attend the dinner. Is this a situation where these three UCGaia evangelists were too busy to attend? Or is this a case where they won't darken the door of the independent Big Sandy congregation's building? Does anyone know if they hold a grudge against the independent Big Sandy congregation? Wes White
Ministerial
sub-species: The guys running WCG
today are so cool. They convince folks into
believing the church bosses are doing one thing
when they are actually doing another. For
example, their article about ministers says,
"...we eliminated our former multi-tiered
system for titling elders. Whereas we once had
local church elders, local elders, preaching
elders,
But reading their article, you find that Joey and Co. have created a whole bunch of new titles:
It doesn't look to me like they have reduced the types of ministers at all. Just rearranged them and gave them different names. And all this just to run a church which has what? About 25,000 members? It doesn't make much sense to me. But I'm sure it makes all the sense in the world to Joey, Bernie, Mike, and Greg. You gotta love 'em! Wes White
The
unexamined life? It is
instructional to read of the experiences of
ex-WCG members as they try to cope with life on
the outside of the Gulag. The recent anonymous
letter to Greg Albrecht you quoted provides
another example of life continuing on but
unexamined. And in this case, not only
unexamined but held out as the basis for taking
on the formidable task of teaching
others... MD: I don't believe the writer regards her present affiliation as "the really true church" in any exclusivist sense. Exorcism: I searched on Google to see just how active the Worldwide Church of God was about performing Exorcisms -- I didn't seem to come across anything. I wonder if there's anyone else out there that had an exorcism performed on them. The minister who did it... had a daughter that died from Leukemia, if I'm not mistaken... there's one former preacher from the [WCG who] emailed me the other day, and he verified personally knowing this minister... I got to writing about it, jotting down my personal memories, and "shame" attached with the experience... if they did this to me as a child/teenager, surely there were others. Sharon Mooney |
20 November. MERRY XMAS WITH LOVE FROM JOE, NEW PROCEDURES FOR PASTORS, HOEH AND EARLE, KROLL THE CONQUEROR. Mail: Ask Greg, sizing up
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Surely this year they'll do the right thing and not restrict their largesse to the already well paid top executives. |
Xmas Cheer: Guess what's happening on December 16th from 4.00 -7.00 in the Hall of Administration? It's the WCG staff Christmas party! And yes, there there is expected to be a huge Christmas tree right in the center of it all! The invitations have already been sent out.
Of course, we're sure this isn't just a cheap way of denying the longsuffering and loyal employees their holiday bonuses by throwing them in a room with cheap plonk and making the usual seasonal grunts about "happy holidays". No. Surely this year they'll do the right thing and not restrict their largesse to the already well paid top executives.
Will Bernie dress up as Santa to hand out the checks, or will that job go to Joe (he already has the beard)? Will Greg come in a tutu as the Xmas fairy?
Interestingly the WCG leadership still can't bring themselves to call it a "Christmas party" - at least in writing. On the invitation it's called a "holiday party" instead. We wonder what other holiday they might have had in mind?
As for whether the bonuses get paid to everyone, or the bigwigs hog the lot as usual, we'll keep you posted.
Look what Santa's bringing! Santa has brought a special Xmas surprise to the valued ministry of the Worldwide Church of God. The lads get to reapply for their ministerial credentials!
The Church Administration department has sent a letter to all WCG elders in the United States informing them of our new ordination and licensing procedures and inviting them to submit an application for initial licensing and for re-issuance of their ordination certificate in accordance with our new Church Administration policies and procedures.
Hey, Hoeh... Two reports from a special reporter: Many of the hard-line members who are holding on to the old ways are infuriated by Herman Hoeh after his sermon this past week on Passover/Communion/Eucharist.
Hoeh claims he sees absolutely nothing wrong with participating in Communion once a month or however often the church celebrates it. He said he goes up any time it is offered. These people demand that the old teaching of observing the Jewish Passover is the only legitimate way of keeping the remembrance of Christ's death. Does anyone really know where Hoeh stands on anything?
Glendora Gestapo? Neil Earle is also said to be ticking off people by demanding that they serve and attend regularly in his church. He reportedly expects all members to do what he tells them and is checking up on people's attendance to see who is showing up regularly.
Poor Paul Kroll: Paul Kroll has one of the toughest jobs in the WCG. Anyone writes a "difficult" letter to cult HQ and it's Paul - a former PT writer and journalism teacher at AC, who seems to get lumbered with the job of responding. The man deserves a medal, or at least a raise.
Recently the HWA Critic webmaster attempted to contact sect webmaster Bret Miller over the news that WCG had registered the name ambassadorwatch.com. He wrote:
This seems awfully suspect to me, and indicates that the WCG hasn't changed at all -- that it still does all it can to shut up its critics and make sure no one has access to opposing points of view. I look forward to your explanation.
Not withstanding that the query was addressed to Bret, it was Paul Kroll that came out swinging:
Thank you for your message to the denominational offices of the Worldwide Church of God. The fact of the matter is that any company, organization or institution can register domain names. Since the name in question was not previously registered by any group, including the one that publishes "Ambassador Watch," we were able to do this. Why shouldn't we be able to register a name (if available) that has the word "Ambassador" in it? After all, the word "Ambassador" was very prominent in the Worldwide Church of God, which was summarized in the name of our college, Ambassador University.
If the "Ambassador Watch" publishers wanted the domain name "Ambassadorwatch," why didn't they register it? Since they apparently were not interested in the name, and it was available, why do you say it wrong for us to register it? Our registering of the domain name in question in no way affects or censures the magazine "Ambassador Watch," as you seem to imply. How could it? No doubt, "Ambassador Watch" will continue to be published by the group responsible for it Your implication that we are somehow attempting to or are able to censor this publication by registering a domain name is illogical.
The HWA Critic webmaster wasn't giving up that easily:
At the bottom of it all, though, is a question about morality. My first reaction was, “Doesn’t the WCG have anything better to do with its time and money than to go around registering domain names like that?” Considering the WCG’s fiscal troubles now, I should think this would have been considered money frivolously spent... Whatever became of wise Christian stewardship? ...
Lastly, there’s the argument that your “registering of the domain name in question in no way affects or
censures the magazine ‘Ambassador Watch,’ as [I] seem to imply. How could it? No doubt, ‘Ambassador Watch’ will continue to be published by the group responsible for it.” To be honest, this was the same argument you gave me when I wrote to you some years ago about the WCG’s copyright issue with the PCG. It didn’t hold then, and it doesn’t hold now...And I just can’t help but return to the simple question, “Doesn’t the WCG, as a supposedly healthy Christian church, have better things to do with its time and money?”
Would Paul respond? Of course!
I gave you the courtesy of an explanation, and I don't have anything else to add. People will express all kinds of opinions about the words or actions of other people, and they're entitled to hold to what they believe. You've expressed your opinion and it has been duly noted...
HWA Critic's final reply:
I do understand that you are not in any position to comment on the thinking behind superiors' actions, which is what I was indeed asking you to do. It must make your job particularly difficult at times...
If the WCG administration sits scratching its head as to "why so many people seem to hate us now," such silly conduct that seems more in line with "the WCG of old" and not the kinder, gentler WCG everyone desperately wants to put across, coupled with the refusal to justify one's actions, goes a long way toward answering that question.
Which just about sums it up. You can read the full correspondence at http://hwacritic.tripod.com/content/misc/aw.html
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Greg: (1) It is with amusement to see that ol' Greg is trying to help Christians recover from their legalistic mindset. Yes, Greg is the Ann Landers of the WCG... the poster boy of righteousness....the listening ear of concern... If one wishes to see the love and concern of Greg, follow this link: http://www.herbertwarmstrong.com/toxic_waste.htm (2) I took your advice and gave Greg some "feedback" by sharing a small portion of my "exit experience" from the (allegedly "reformed") WCG cult. Thanks for highlighting this opportunity--I sure wouldn't have ever known about it since I never, EVER log onto the PT Ministries website! And as you might suspect, I laughed so hard over this "invitation to share" that I dang near fell off my chair! Anyway, here's my "feedback".... Thanks for all your work (done with exquisite, tasteful humor....) in exposing the phony, non-credible, reform-wannabe's!
Size -
COGs comparing themselves with
themselves: I don't want to insult
anybody, but sometimes when I read the mailbag
I want to laugh. Other times I want to
cry. |
19 November. GREG ALBRECHT - WCG'S FUNNY MAN. Mail: Nose thumbing
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"We welcome your comments", says a statement on the RFL site, "about your struggles with legalism." How very considerate! If you'd like to give Greg some feedback, follow this link. |
Dear Greg: You've gotta hand it to Greg Albrecht. Does that guy have a wicked sense of humor or what! Now PTM presents its newest face: Recovering from Legalism. The new "ministry" poses the question: Are you convinced that your obedience and performance has some bearing on your salvation?
Boy, are we glad Greg asked! You see there's this reformed (or perhaps deformed) cult we're aware of called... well let's just say it's based in Southern California. They teach that unless you mindlessly follow their leader's directives, change your worship day on demand and clap 'n stomp, then you're a third class Christian. Moreover, they chuck out people who defy the edicts of their hierarchical ministry and run the whole shebang without any elected office holders! Dear Greg, what word from the Lord do you have to bring succor to these poor deluded folk? We anxiously await your response.
And here's the really funny part. Greg writes the following on RFL: We all need two things in and from a church. We need a church that will nurture and feed us. But we also need a church where we can find a place to be involved and make a contribution. Greg, mate! You're a real hoot!
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Antion: Kathleen
Kakacek asks the following about David
Antion: "Because he was part of the 1974
exodus, I assumed for many years that he was one of
the ministers who left for the sake of
conscience." |
18 November. FRACTURED COG? HAMMER & VANCE FUNERALS, RAYMOND McNAIR. Mail: Herb's PR gurus, home improvements
PCG Splinter sites: It's hard keeping up with some of the smaller COG groups, many of which are solo operations by one minister drawing tithes from a very few supporters. It's also hard to gauge the real size of some groups, as anybody can put up a website. With that in mind we were interested to learn that TCOG ("The Church of God" funnily enough), a schism from Flurry's Oklahoma-based cult, now appears to have websites representing two distinct groups. They are: http://www.t-cog.org/ (Don Roth and Gary Liebold) and http://www.tcog.us/ (Jim Mortensen). We gather there has been a parting of ways and their miniscule flock has been further divided.
Hammer and Vance deaths: The Journal is running announcements about the deaths of Buck Hammer and E. B. Vance on their website. Excerpts:
Buck Hammer of Gladewater, Texas, the man who donated the original property to Herbert W. Armstrong and the Radio Church of God in 1953 that 11 years later became the core of the Texas campus of Ambassador College, died early on Saturday, Nov. 15, after a heart attack...
Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 1 p.m. at Croley Funeral Home, Gladewater. Burial will be in Gladewater Memorial Park.
Memorials may be made to the United Church of God East Texas Building Fund...
Longtime Church of God member E.B. Vance died Saturday, Nov. 15. Mr. Vance was an area coordinator for the Intercontinental Church of God, based near Tyler, Texas, founded by Garner Ted Armstrong, who died Sept. 15.
Mr. Vance's funeral is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Burks Walker Tippit Funeral Home in Tyler.
David Antion has written the following about Hammer:
Buck Hammer was among the first deacons to be ordained in the early 1950's. He was also the one who donated the property that later became the first "Tabernacle" or Redwood library building for Ambassador College, Big Sandy. Buck really was a visionary and business entrepreneur. It was his idea to build a lake on the A.C. property. He could foresee that the lake could be built just by damming up a stream on the property and Lake Loma came to be.
He saw that a 9 hole golf course could be built on the same property. He believed in organic farming and was the impetus behind what was affectionately called the "Digester".
Buck Hammer grew up in East Texas and was instrumental (along with Roy and Pearl Hammer -- his parents) in winning the acceptance of the people of the community and fostering their respect of the Church of God, its festivals and practices in the Gladewater, Longview and Big Sandy communities.
McNair update: According to a recent news board posting, citing LCG's Carl McNair, former WCG evangelist Raymond McNair is believed to have developed a tumor at the base of his spine and was told by a surgeon that with an operation he would have a 50/50 chance of winding up paralyzed from the waist down. He elected not to have the operation. Since then the tumor is said to be shrinking and he is experiencing less pain. He is reportedly not aligned at present with any COG sect.
Story withdrawn: An item that appeared in the 16 Nov. AW upload was later withdrawn. It included a link to the latest Church of God News (published by the Hulme sect) and some comments challenging the idea that the COG movement is unrelated to the broader "Protestant" stream of Christianity. It was only after the story had been up a few hours that a re-reading of the lead article indicated that the passage quoted was probably not fully representative of the views in the article.
The points made in the AW commentary are still valid however. They were: (1) The COG movement is a part of the Adventist family. Adventism is subdivision of Protestantism (William Miller was a Baptist preacher). (2) The COGs use the Protestant canon of the Old and New Testaments - a telling indicator, and not the Septuagint canon of the early church (which is closer to the Roman Catholic canon). (3) The COG movement has never claimed to be a "Restoration" in the same sense the Latter-day Saints do (they claim the true church died out and had to be kick-started again). Instead many COG ministers have simply claimed that the Reformation did not go far enough (i.e. by not introducing COG distinctives). We stated that any attempt to draw a direct link between the COGs and the early Jerusalem church was ludicrous, and that radical reconstructions (such as those attempted by Dugger & Dodd and Hoeh) had never been able to stand up to any kind of scrutiny.
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Wisdom from a Frankfurter: I want to thank the individual providing the information about Herbert's enthusiasm for the writings of Claude Hopkins. It would also be interesting to know if Herb read the writings of Edward Bernays, the father of modern public relations. Authoring such books as "Crystallizing Public Opinion", "Propaganda", and "The Engineering of Consent", Bernays claimed the manipulation of the masses was both natural and necessary. In a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter described Bernays and Ivy Lee as "professional poisoners of the public mind, exploiters of foolishness, fanaticism and self interest." Sounds like a guy Herb could really cozy up to. JWG
3T
Home improvements: Was David
Antion ever known to have expressed any remorse
for the $40,000 in third tithe that was used to
furnish and decorate his home when he was a
minister in the WCG? MD: And Ron Dart was another lucky 3T recipient - we'd love to hear him explain that away. |
16 November. BUCK HAMMER, TITHING BOOK
Buck Hammer dies: Dixon Cartwright sent the following message to those on The Journal email list:
Just to let you know that Buck Hammer died last night, Friday, Nov. 14. He was visiting with his son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Terri, in Gladewater when he became ill. They called an ambulance and he died either on the way to or in a Longview hospital.
Buck Hammer was the brother of Shirley Armstrong and Molly Antion.
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No More Tithing, by George W. Greene
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15 November. BORROW & HOPE? Mail: WCG eats UCG's dust, the name game, CGI trumps Big Two in Jamaica, Flurry's friendly FOT, victimhood
WCG puts it on the tab: The latest financial reshuffle on the good ship WCG has been announced by Ronald Kelly in a letter accompanying the latest Tkach weekly update.
We are now excited to announce that in keeping with our plans and policy of not using member donations to fund either our discretionary assistance program or our property holding and sales costs, the church has obtained a line of credit under very favorable term to cover all these items on a moving forward basis. This move has been made after careful consultations with, and on the advice and aid of, third party financial experts who are familiar with prudent practices on such matters. The line of credit will be drawn upon only as needed and will be repaid when the Pasadena property sale has been completed. This means that member donations will not be used for these three expense funds, but will rather only fund the operations of the church including funding all of our local congregations (by far the largest expense of the denomination), maintaining our international headquarters, our international missions, district supervision, youth activities, regional conferences, etc.
On the whole, this is very good news. However, there are still important decisions that need to be made. A primary requirement for the above-mentioned funding program is that the Worldwide Church of God must present and maintain a balanced budget for 2004. In other words, the expenses for operating the church side of the expense ledger cannot exceed the income received by the church.
Those of you who regularly read this monthly WN financial update know that for the past several years we have spent considerably more than income. We have been able to maintain an appropriate reserve level because we had properties, equipment and furnishing to sell. Next year, we will not have these options and will balance our expense budget to match projected income. Even though we now can plan a balanced budget, it will be necessary, in order to achieve that balance, to carefully evaluate our expenses.
Our department managers have been hard at work preparing budgets to present to the church board of directors later this month or early next month. In order to achieve a balanced budget we are planning to: (1) Slightly reduce the number of Regional Conferences and reduce the number of days for each conference; (2) Two District Superintendents reaching their retirement years will be enrolled in the Discretionary Assistance program and will not be replaced, thus district boundaries will be restructured; (3) Selected church areas, for example two congregations in the same city, might be combined into one (this will only impact a very few congregations); (4) New church circuits will be created allowing some of our pastors to serve two or more congregations in a circuit; (5) We will not be able to maintain the level of financial contributions to international missions, however we will be able to fund our five Mission Development programs; (6) A few employees who have reached a normal retirement age might be enrolled in the Discretionary Assistance Program and, if so, will not be replaced; (7) A small number of pastors are evaluating transferring to other careers and being replaced by either a bivocational pastor or a nearby pastor joining the congregation in a circuit; (8) A few pastors who serve congregations or circuits that are not able to financially meet their expenses will seek part-time employment outside of the ministry as serve as what we call “dual-career” pastors, meaning the church will continue to pay a portion of their salaries plus their fringe benefits allowing them to work part time in another job to supplement their wages.
These budget-reduction plans minimize staff reductions that are so often necessary when corporations downsize. Of course there may be a few reductions in staff as we complete our plans, but the major savings are a result of the points mentioned above.
Meantime an AW correspondent notes that WCG income appears to have sunk below UCG's (see today's mailbag). In a spirit of helpfulness we'd like to suggest the following additional measures Ron could implement:
(9) All WCG executives to take a 10% salary cut with the exception of Messrs Tkach, Albrecht and Schnippert who, to set an example of Christian sacrifice, should take a 12.5% cut; (10) Pastor General Tkach introduces cuts in executive travel, and restricts his own offshore adventures to 3 per year; (11) No bonuses for WCG executives this year.
Can you see any of these things happening?
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UCG income overtakes WCG: I just noticed that the UCG has surpassed the WCG in income. The UCG is at $18.4 million and rising while the WCG is at $16.8 million and falling. This is a remarkable achievement for the UCG management team and a major embarrassment for the highly paid WCG Board. MD: Another good reason for Joe to vote himself a hefty salary cut and can Bernie's bonuses. Beware of imitations: (1) I am amazed to read the news item about Bret Miller registering the name Ambassador Watch. How pathetic can they get? I wonder who else they have tried to copy? I had heard some time ago that they went to Texas and other states to register the name of GTA's church years ago. So I guess I should not be surprised at the deceit!
(2) Yesterday I
wrote an article about the other Ambassador
Watch but did not post it until this
morning. I was surprised that you mentioned it
at the same time as it has been around for a
while (it has been listed in many Google.com
searches). MD: Bob is referring to the Ken Story site (ambassador-watch.com) which is different from the ambassadorwatch.com/net/org/info domains registered by WCG.
CGI's
Jamaican FOT: With all the
excitement being generated about approximately
3%, 4% and 7% growth in Feast attendance I
thought I would drop you a line about our
"cool" Jamaican Church of God, International
(CGI) site which had an over 25% (I am being
conservative) verifiable growth in Feast
attendance over last year. PCG's Philadelphian love: Reading the letter regarding the PGC's Feast reminded me of a couple of incidents I heard about at their feast. First, the wife of one of their member who's in the WCG attended with the family in order to keep the peace. She was basically deserted, had to eat by herself, and no one would speak to her because she wasn't part of their church. The second incident involved a woman who was on some sort of medication. She wasn't allowed to attend services because she didn't have the faith to be healed. I guess the motels at this site wouldn't rent to the PCG so the people had to stay about 30 miles away.
Justifiable
grievances: I note that yet
another apologist for the WCG has come forth
with a paper to make that despicable
organization comfortable while that apologist
bashes the suffering cast-offs. This time
another choosing to hide behind a pseudonym has
written without thought. I speak of one
"Aristophanes." MD: Living in the tension between personal responsibility and the need to hold abusers and manipulators to account is never simple. I'll take "a bob each way" and agree with both of you! It's only fair to note that the individual using the pen name Aristophanes has good reasons for doing so and is anything but an apologist for Herb or the WCG. |
14 November. BRET SPENDS DONOR DOLLARS ON AW NAME. Mail: The blame game, being nice to Satan, PCG FOT, UCG mail.
Who has registered the name ambassadorwatch.com? Well, it isn't us!
Registrant:
Worldwide Church of God
300 West Green Street
Pasadena, California 91123
United StatesRegistered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: AMBASSADORWATCH.COM
Created on: 04-Sep-02
Expires on: 04-Sep-04
Last Updated on: 12-Jun-03Administrative Contact:
Miller, Bret webmaster@wcg.org
Worldwide Church of God
300 West Green Street
Pasadena, California 91123
United States
626-304-6000 Fax -- 626-356-0493
Technical Contact:
Miller, Bret webmaster@wcg.org
Worldwide Church of God
300 West Green Street
Pasadena, California 91123
United States
626-304-6000 Fax -- 626-356-0493
WCG has also registered ambassadorwatch.net, ambassadorwatch.org and ambassadorwatch.info. Wow guys, we're - um - flattered. We didn't realize you were such big fans!
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Freud fraud? Without in any way diminishing the awful experiences that Sharon Mooney went through, which clearly and understandably had a serious effect on her, I think it's worth drawing attention to the last sentences of her letter:
And that's the
key to it. Unfortunately, this is what all too
many counselors and therapists do. It's
professional laziness on their part. Their way
of helping someone to deal with their (genuine)
trauma is to persuade them that none of it is
their responsibility -- to shift all of the
blame onto someone else. This has become one of
the characteristics of late-20th/early-21st
century America, and it is rapidly spreading
from America to other countries: the Blame
Culture. Everything bad that happens to you is
someone else's fault. The much-discredited
Sigmund Freud was largely responsible for
starting all this off, but it's now become big
business. If you're now 35, or 48, or 62, and
your life is a mess, it's because your mother
smacked you for wetting the bed when you were 4
-- or because you read a booklet by Herbert W
Armstrong.
Mocking the guy in
red: I would like to reply, with
my opinion about Mr. Stump's comments about
mocking Satan. MD: Or maybe it just shows that you have a sense of humor? Flurry FOT: I spoke with a [PCG] member who told me there was nothing exciting about the Feast. This person stated that Gerry went on & on about the court case 'victory' like it was news... that Habakkuk was all about that case, blah, blah, blah. The person also added that the only way to stay awake was to read the Bible. My question is...."why does anyone stay to feed the beast?" Oh, and BTW, the end is near! Jan
Unwanted UCG
mail: Just wanted to
highlight something that can be done by those
who continue to receive unwanted UCG mailings
in the US. The website
www.junkbusters.com contains instructions
regarding the USPS Form 1500 (called a
prohibitory order) which allows the receiver of
junk mail to block unwanted mail from a
particular sender. If they continue to send
they could be prosecuted. |
12 November. LCG FOT STATS, JAMAICAN COOL! Mail: Herb loves Claude, neo-Nazis, Arnie again, FOT cross-pollination... and a lot more.
LCG - massaging the numbers? You can, they say, prove anything with statistics. We're still confused over UCG's figures. And now here's Charles Bryce's encouraging report to the LCG faithful.
... the final attendance figures are now in for the Feast of Tabernacles 2003. We had a 2.92% increase in total Feast attendance around the world this year over last, in the Living Church of God. Even more encouraging is the 7.24% increase at the US Feast sites.
I'm sure somebody will correct us if we're wrong, but if the US increase was over 7% but the total increase (presumably including the US) was under 3%, doesn't that mean that there must have been a slump in attendance outside the US to drag the statistics down that far?
COG7 abroad: It seems an effort is underway to introduce the Church of God (Seventh Day) into South Africa. A local website has information in three languages (English, Afrikaans and Xhosa). According to the site:
After a presence at the International Ministerial Conference in August 2002, the Church is being established in South Africa, from the West Rand in the greater Johannesburg area.
And on a related note, why not sample a very cool COG7 musical item from Clifford Henry, a member of the Jamaica Conference (Windows Media Player required). This guy is good! Maybe he could team up with Richard Burkard for the next Philadelphia Foundation season! (see Richard's letter in today's mailbag). Can't you just see Gerry loosening his tie and swinging his hips to the rhythm!
Finally, if you've had your fill of the standard-issue uptight Anglo media ministers in expensive suits pontificating on COG programs cloned from the World Tomorrow of yesteryear, then have a listen to this brief clip from the Jamaican COG7 radio show Answers from the Word!
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Herb's advertising guru: Under the tag "Perverted Genius" the writer wondered where HWA got his advertising expertise. HWA, by his own and eager admission, was an avid student of marketing great Claude Hopkins (among others), who arguably changed advertising in America forever in the early part of the 20th century (see http://www.oldmastersofmarketing.com/claude-hopkins.php). In his 1980 "Plain Truth Editorial Policy" written in Tucson and privately distributed to Plain Truth writers and editors as part of the obscene WCG Cultural Revolution of "Getting Back on Track," HWA openly spoke of Hopkins' influence on him, especially Hopkins' book "Scientific Advertising" (which is now available for free on the Web: http://www.2h.com/Scientific_Advertising/sciadv01.shtml). Many late 20th century advertising greats (including David Ogilvy) strongly recommended that any future and present ad copywriter read the book, even though it was published many decades before television, radio and, of course, the Internet. HWA gave his personal copy of Scientific Advertising to Dexter Faulker before HWA's death. The book's margins were heavily annotated in HWA's personal handwriting about how Hopkins' principles could be applied to the "Work." (Faulkner included a number of HWA's direct comments from the margins in Faulkner's Worldwide News tribute column immediately following HWA's death in 1986.) Interestingly enough, and to be fair to HWA, many of Armstrong's personal comments lamented how advertising encouraged greed and unfair profit-taking through targeted and heavy-handed promotion. Ironically, as any reader of Hopkins' material and history will find, Hopkins is credited with the origin and application of market research and market surveys, which makes one wonder where HWA got that idea.
Long-time
nuisance: Detailed information was
not available when I wrote expressing concern
for the apparent discrepancy in UCG feast
stats. A quick look at the date my letter was
posted and the date the United News was made
available online would show this, which Brian
failed to mention. Past UCG information has
shown that the first day of the feast and
sometimes the weekly Sabbath most often reflect
the highest attendance figures. This year the
first and last day fell on the weekly Sabbath.
I felt that this is why Roy only mentioned
these days in his letter, as they were most
likely to reflect the highest attendance days
as well. Seig Herb! To the rude, insensitive person who wrote [about your link my article]:
Thanks to Joseph Tkach I left the church, and never went back... due to his reformation of Armstrong's doctrines, I was one of those fools that believed he was wrong and Armstrong was right -- instead of joining Flurry's group, I struck out on my own. AND THANK GOD I LEFT THE WCG. Too bad I didn't have the sense to leave it years earlier. But we were taught well, that those people who did, had crossed "the point of no return" and had committed the unpardonable sin. Surely Hell, the eternal death, awaited them all!
Where did I get my exposure to Nazism? Why would anyone care to research those people? Except the man himself in Pasadena. Haunting fears implanted in the mind since childhood --- consuming my fears of 'when are the Nazis coming'? When O' Lord? When? When I saw the Berlin Wall break down in 1989, I thought to myself "Surely O' my God, Herbert Armstrong has to be God's one true Apostle, and his prophecy has been fulfilled!" I was braver than most, and confronted my fears. That's how I got tangled up with those people.
Sharon abandoned nobody. Sharon made sure her baby back in America had medical coverage and a steady income provided to the sister taking care of the child temporarily, my sister was sent funds from Germany to help on her costs... would you have been happier had I brought her to Germany, a stranger in a strange land, and then myself and my daughter are shipped home in a pine box... would that make you happy and say "Well, haha, at least she didn't abandon her child... praise the Lord." Get off your hypocritical, self-righteous, high-horse and quit judging other people. I guess you'd say those people who willingly drank the cyanide under Jim Jones influence, were merely "thirsty". Letting my daughter stay with her aunt, is not abandonment. It was cleared through the U.S. Government for my sister to have temporary Guardianship. This is nothing unusual at all in this. Of course since you want to see Armstrong in a perfect light, I expect this kind of exaggeration to be made. That's right --- bad single mothers! dirty, dirty, why back in the good ole' days --- they simply took women like that out and stoned them -- fornication and adultery and unwed mothers --- I listened well to the sermons of the WCG, "her sin is in her skirts"... women are a filthy wicked seed in the earth. Abandoned my child... KMA.
Yup. Neo-Nazis, these people which Herbert Armstrong had the strongest fascination for... as we are all aware, neo-Nazis normally send out candy and flowers to their victims.
Let's see what
three nervous breakdowns will do to you.
*smile*
YES IT DOES.
Thank you for your understanding and open mind.
I'm glad you see the connection, because all
the professional counselors I spoke to
did.
Give
Gerry some free exposure! I
noticed the link on the MD site for people to
write to [the Canadian Brass] to complain about
Flurry's cult. Not only should they do that,
but they should also write to the various
churches in Edmond OK. and tell them what kind
of cult Flurry is leading. Tell them how Flurry
is preparing to pack his members off to Petra,
how he breaks up marriages and families, how he
[uses the] tithe money from members... Since
many of the people who may attend some of the
concerts in his so-called 'auditorium' are
professed Christians, I doubt very much that
they would be supporting such a dangerous cult
if they knew the lies that it is founded
upon. Any old Envoys? http://www.geocities.com/acenvoy/ENVOY.html Barbara MD: The creator of the site sent us this link without further comment. We wish her good luck with the project.
Shocked!
Did I read this correctly? The Canadian Brass
performed at PCG's John Amos Field House in
"white sneakers?" Richard Burkard MD: And if you accept, Richard, we'll all be sending you email! LOL.
The "L
word": I like the site: I keep
reading what people say about being a Laodicean
- have they forgotten that a Laodicean does not
know that they are a Laodicean?
Ex-COG7 member "whaids"
in: Jim Baldwin asks if Whaid Rose
of CG7 believes we are in the Kingdom of God
right now. As one who was in CG7 for five
years, I can say, "Yes, Rose believes this as
do some other CG7 ministers." In a
private conversation with me, Rose told
me he believes in going to heaven after we die.
BTW, he is also a Trinitarian. Further, the
chairman of the CG7 ministerial council (Melvin
Sweet) told me he "can't stand when anyone
preaches about the 1000-year rule of Jesus on
this earth." How many other CG7 ministers feel
this way? 20%? 50%? 80%? I have no idea. But I
believe that, as the old-line ministers die
out, many times they are replaced by younger
ones who believe a lot of Protestantism. One
must remember that for several years Summit
School of Theology (CG7's ministerial training
center) was run by two ministers (Steve
Kurtright and Jerry Griffin) who finally
'fessed up that they haven't believed CG7
doctrines for years. They admitted they had
been Sunday-keepers for some time. For years,
they taught a whole lot of Protestantism to the
younger guys who are now ministers.
Co-worker
Arnie? Yes, Arnold has a
connection with Ambassador College. As I
understand it, one of the members of the Santa
Monica church at the time was Ron Haddad (nor
sure about the spelling, emphasis on the first
syllable). Haddad ran a gym. So he evangelized
Arnold (Mister Olympia Tall Class) and his
friend Franco Colombu (Mister Olympia Short
Class), who became co-workers. In the 1974-75
school year, some of the students found this
out, and used their connections (i.e. Harry
Sneider) to get the two invited to give an
assembly to the students. Most assemblies were
Thursday afternoons, but this one was in the
evening. Columbu called himself the world's
strongest man, and demonstrated it by bending a
construction rod with his bare hands, and
blowing up a hot water bottle until it
exploded. Schwarzenegger had promised not to
take his shirt off, but did anyway, and gave a
short posing demonstration, which either
completely fascinated you or completely grossed
you out.
MD:
Schwarzenegger the co-worker? Now there's a
really disturbing thought! Gossip? I have to commend you for your efforts. I don't know how you get all the information you do, but many of us old time former WCG members access your site regularly to get the latest news. When a current member said the Bible condemns gossip, I ask where this was in the ten commandments...the word 'GOSSIP' that is. MD: This site doesn't set out to air "gossip". Unfortunately, because most COG publications are tightly controlled and "spin-loaded" we are forced to read-between-the-lines, listen to people's personal accounts, and ask questions church leaders would prefer us not to. Official church writers seem to have more in common with ancient cult prostitutes than real journalists - they'll print whatever they're paid to! And worse, they'll censor out anything that might run counter to the direction leaders want to go in. UCG number crunching: A last thought [on the numbers reported at UCG festival sites] is that where there are sites from other organizations, or independent groups also meeting nearby, there is more and more a certain amount of mixing across, particularly if you get a day when the service schedules are different. Last year In 2002 in the UK there was a very small independent site nearby (around 25 people) - one morning they did not have their own service, and around half of them attended with us. Likewise there was some mixing the other way. Had this other site been bigger, no doubt it would have been enough to affect the UCG highest total figure - in fact maybe it did, as I am fairly sure from memory that the attendance figure did rise during the week. Brian Crook MD: Interesting point, especially when considering highest attendance. One Aussie COGer attended five different venues, for example, and was presumably counted five times. Flurry FOT: Does any one know or care to state if there were any new revelations from "that profit" at the [PCG Feast] just past? Family connections that attended have not been forthcoming with what went on this year. I know that year before last, much was made of the WTC terrorist attack. Thanks for any info. |
10 November. LUCIFER AND THE TERMINATOR, LOST CHRISTIANITIES, BRASSED OFF. Mail: Dan Creed spills the beans, duffers, statistics - gotta love 'em, Herb's letters
The Journal out: The latest issue of The Journal (October 31) has been published. Front and back pages are available online in PDF format. Among the features is a 1970s photograph of California's governor-elect Schwarzenegger posing with Harry Sneider on the AC campus. We should have known that Arnie had to have a WCG connection of some sort...
In the same issue former Plain Truth editor Brian Knowles takes on a devil of a subject by trying to throw some critical light on the time-honored belief that Lucifer (Isaiah 14) is another name for Satan.
We may conclude, then, that Isaiah 14 tells us nothing about the origin and fall of Satan and that it does not identify Satan as Lucifer. The subject of the chapter is the king of Babylon, whom God is about to punish. The king will join other deceased world leaders in Sheol, the place of the dead.
And we conclude that there'll be some testy letters to The Journal in response!
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And for those who are willing to dig a little deeper into the early history of Christianity, we've also included Bart Ehrman's new book, Lost Christianities. Ehrman, a professor of religion at UNC Chapel Hill, is a respected scholar who doesn't mind upsetting a few apple-carts along the way. Considering that old-time WCG is something of a "lost Christianity" itself, maybe somebody should put a copy of this one under Joey's Xmas tree. |
New additions to MD booklist:
Two books have just been added to Cult culture: The Philadelphia Foundation, PCG's zombie clone of the AICF, has its own website: http://www.pfconcerts.org/. The November issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet provides the following information.
Although the AICF’s humanitarian activities stretched from Bombay to Brussels, the Philippines to the Netherlands, Tokyo to Cairo—with projects in Jerusalem, Jordan, London, Nepal and Okinawa—its most notorious achievement was undoubtedly its concert series...
Notorious? Well, some people might agree with that assessment, but somehow we doubt that's what writer Ryan Malone actually meant. Gerry is obviously not paying his writers enough, Ryan needs to be able to afford a decent dictionary. The article continues:
In 1998, a small concert series began—in hopes that it would one day grow to be a grand series in Mr. Armstrong’s tradition — supporting the arts by giving monumental cultural experiences to the area.
Now, just five years later, the Philadelphia Foundation Concert Series (PFCS) is providing cultural excellence in central Oklahoma. In November 2000, the Foundation brought the world-famous Vienna Choir Boys to Edmond for a concert, with other acclaimed artists the following season — thus bringing the Foundation into the public eye for the first time since its inception...
In November 2002, the Choir Boys returned under the sponsorship of the Foundation—an event that also brought the Foundation and its new college home more into the limelight. The other event for that season, in March 2003, featured the internationally acclaimed Russian pianist Valery Kuleshov and German cellist Tess Remy-Schumacher.
Most recently, the Foundation launched its 2003-2004 season with the Edmond debut of the world’s most famous and beloved brass ensemble—the Canadian Brass. On the evening of September 14, the Edmond community was served with a spellbinding performance displaying the group’s versatile musical vocabulary, from George Frideric Handel to Jelly Roll Morton, from Giovanni Gabrieli to Glenn Miller. The ensemble — famous for its personality, charisma and white sneakers — charmed concertgoers with a brilliant array of selections, including a comic “brass” opera by musical comedian and composer Peter Schickele.
It was extremely special to us to have such a world-class group of artists performing for our series—especially as we aim to resurrect the legacy of a concert series unmatched in its own time. It was fitting that the group had also performed for the AICF’s series. Two of its members are still part of the original ensemble that began over 30 years ago; they remember well their performances at Ambassador.
Just as the Trumpet magazine sends a clear, bold message to the world—the Philadelphia Foundation, with its yet relatively small concert series, is aiming to do the same. Though the Foundation’s activities focus on the non-religious and avoid denominational language altogether, it still aims to champion God’s way of life—demonstrating that God’s way is that of serving, giving and sharing. Through the Philadelphia Foundation, we are able to practice this way as we share our beautiful campus grounds and some of the finest performers in music with the community around us.
Would the Canadian Brass and other classical artists still be happy to perform for Flurry if they knew something about the church behind his foundation? To email the Canadian Brass with any concerns you'd like to share, the address is admin@canbrass.com.
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Controversial book
launch: Dan Creed was a WCG
minister in the 80's. I had heard that the Dan
Creed, who was Ventura's mansion manager, was
the same one who had been a minister in the
WCG. I thought you might have sources that
could confirm or deny this information. A news report about the forthcoming book can be found at http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/7200938.htm The long and the short of sermons: If the UCG ministers are keeping themselves to 50 minute sermons, it could be considered progress, depending upon how far back the minister's tenure goes back in the church. I grew up in the Radio Church of God/WCG in Portland Oregon, and some pastors went an hour overtime nearly every week. Feast of Tabernacle services were twice a day, all eight days, and each service lasted a minimum of two hours. My guess is that these duffers think they are being progressive if they confine themselves to an hour. Kathy
UCG
stats AOK? It's
interesting, but somewhat worrying to see both
yourselves and your mailbag readers clamoring
to try to show wrongdoing in everything
published by the corporate COGs. MD: While I accept your explanation as quite credible, it does seem unusual that holy day attendance would be less than weekday services, especially considering that the first holy day this year was also a weekly Sabbath. Perverted genius: It is a well known and easily provable fact that HWA was a plagiarist. But what was the source for his monthly letters that he used to wring the last possible cent out of us true believers? Were these truly the product of his twisted mind? Or did he steal that idea too? After reading excerpts from letters going back to the 1930's (see www.topical-bible-studies.org/beware/hwa.htm) it is obvious that his letters were all based on a formula that resulted in what may be the most successful fund raising scheme in history. My question... is this: Did the idea and form of his monthly letters come from his own greedy mind, or did he plagiarize them too? Since he was basically an advertising man, my guess is that those letters were a product of his own perverted genius. But I don't know that and would be interested in seeing other fund raising letters of the 1930's for comparison if any are available. Now there are books and web sites devoted to religious fund raising. Were there any such books in the 1930's? Was Herbert truly original in something after all? JAG |
08 November. GAIN DRAIN, UCG AUDIT INFO. Mail: Millennium, Halloween, UCG junk mail, COG KOG, Laodicea-o-matic
UCG FOT-fall: Despite an earlier presidential encyclical that claimed just the opposite (see AW Nov. 1), UCG has conceded that attendance across the US and Canada dropped this year.
Around the world, attendance figures plus the tapes sent to shut-ins totaled 19,761, about 2.5 percent higher than last year. Attendance in the United States and Canada was actually down about 1.5 percent, but there were increases in some international transfer destinations... (United News, November)
Is this the start of a slide into oblivion? Maybe not, but judging from the rambling, downbeat, repetitive, backward-looking presentations made at some UCG festival sites this year, the trend is unlikely to be arrested in 2004. Where is the Biblical passage that says a minister has to drone on - with frequent self-indulgent relapses into irrelevant anecdotes and explanations of explanations - for 50 minutes plus?
UCG transparency shames WCG again: On a positive note, the United News has also published audited financial statements for the fiscal year July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003. The statements were audited by the Cincinnati-based independent certified public accounting firm Clark, Schaefer, Hackett & Co. The audit report of the firm is also provided.
Maybe somebody could point this out to the lads in Pasadena. Ron Kelly seems under the impression that it would be quite impossible to provide this level of information as-of-right to the good folk who attend WCG. And should you suggest that it be published openly for public scrutiny, in the way UCG and even LCG do, he seems to come over all wobbly.
Related MD link: Accountability in Action: the true story of one member's battle to prise the dollar details from the vice-like grip of Controller Kelly.
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And the answer is... I read the article by Neil Earle linked on AW entitled “Why Not the Lion and the Lamb?” The simple question remains, “Why do we not hear anything about the Millennium, the 1000 year reign of Christ, at our festivals? Why is Isaiah’s picture of the lion, the lamb and the little child no longer on our church seal? Can you answer this?" Apparently Earle can’t. Ask a WCG minister a simple question; get a short dissertation quoting various scholarly interpretations but in the end receive no real answer to the simple question. Gee, what is this world coming to? It use to be you could go to “God’s ministers” with any question on any aspect of life (as long as it didn’t question Armstrong‘s and the minister’s divine authority, lavish lifestyles of the Church executives, etc.) and get an answer. It may have not been the right answer, but at least you got an answer. Perhaps the non-answer is the answer. After reading Earle’s lukewarm article, it’s easy to see why the Worldwide Church of God is dying a slow corporate death. Richard Dahms Cold and un-Christian? This is to Keith Stump: I read your articles for years. By your own admission, you once also believed that Halloween is not appropriate for Christians to observe (correct me if I'm wrong). Now you don't see anything wrong with it. Well, neither do I, and for pretty much the same reasons you stated. However... It seems awfully condescending of you to now ridicule and otherwise belittle those very people who once read your articles and now still believe them. I don't recall whether you personally ever wrote anti-Halloween articles, but whether you did or not, you were part of that establishment that fiercely condemned the holiday as being satanic. For you to now belittle those believers who have not followed you "into the light" is pretty cold and - well - un-Christian. Don't you think? Unless... If you have publicly apologized for your role in misleading tens of thousands of Armstrong's followers, and made that apology available to the people you now ridicule, then I withdraw my critique. Have you done that? If not, have you been fitted yet with millstone jewelry? If the answer to both questions is no, then that's just plain silly!
John
Bowers MD: This site has a reputation for "straight talk". Was the Halloween piece "ridicule"? I didn't read it that way. Keith's contributions on MD are both pertinent and provocative (even when either you or I might disagree with him, as I did over the military service issue). Provocative writing always upsets somebody, but for others it's a shot to the system that kick-starts the thinking processes. UCG's mailing list: It's interesting to read others' experience in trying to get off UCG's mailing list. After two attempts, I've given up. I like Floyd's idea of returning it to "Sender" but he didn't say if that got him off their list. DP The Kingdom of God: I was wondering about that letter by Whaid Rose moaning about Bob Thiel "having nothing better to do in the kingdom of God than to put down other churches." That sounds as if Mr. Rose believes the KOG exists now. Is that a doctrine of the COG7? Jim Baldwin MD: You'll have to put that question to someone from COG7, but, as I'm sure you know, most theologians outside COGdom understand the expression to mean not just some future eschatological event, but also a reality that breaks into the present ("For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." Luke 17:21 NASB. cf. English Standard Version). Both strands can be proof-texted from the New Testament.
Laodicea-o-matic labeler: (1) Being just a mere substandard Christian, without LCG affiliation (and due to my affiliation with churches other than LCG), I guess that I am probably marked by Mr. Thiel's Laodicean Labeling Machine. In order to find out what my fate (as a Laodicean) was, I went to Revelation to check out what my sentence was (sobbing with despair and fright), and also perhaps to find some sort of way out of my ignorance and into the loving, warm, gentle, Philadelphian glow of the LCG. To my surprise, I found absolute Irony. Rev 3:17 "Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked..." Obviously, Christ was not referring to actual material wealth... he was referring to the Laodicean's spiritual state. Christ condemned self righteous religious leaders who were assured in themselves that they were the apple of God's eye due to their doctrine, tradition, and exclusivism. Their attitude toward others bought them a one way ticket to damnation, regardless of any outward works. The New Pharisees are the same. They truly do feel that they are spiritually rich and bursting with the Holy Spirit due to doctrine, imagined tradition, and exclusivism, and like the Original Pharisees, they have absolutely no idea of their actual spiritual state. Hmm... according to my Nutty Professor calculations, the chance of a person being an actual Laodicean is proportional to claiming that one is a Philadelphian! Paul Ray (2) Thiel in his latest expression of self-pity claims his critics sidestep his points. Actually this is what Thiel does constantly. Here is one question for Thiel: lets see if he has the courage and honesty to answer it. In order to have an accurate picture of what is happening to a church one needs to have a demographic profile of its members. A church filled with 70 year olds and with no children in its midst is going to die regardless of whether it has the correct doctrines or not. Therefore, Bob please place on your website a brief demographic description of the membership of the Living Church of God. How many teenagers attend weekly services? How many young adults? How many couples with young children? What is the median age of your membership? Let the facts speak for themselves. Dr. Richard F. Griffiths MD: We look forward to Bob's response/riposte on his website. However, here on MD this topic is now closed. Blame it on Herb: Per the link you posted regarding the ex-WCG and neo Nazi connection, let me see if I understand this correctly: The "victim", grows up and leaves the WCG...begins writing to neo-Nazi's in prison...decides to abandon her child and move to Germany...marries a neo-Nazi ex-con...finds out the neo-Nazi isn't terribly honest and is having an affair with "Bianca"...asking herself where she went wrong she moves back to the US...gets some hate mail including a mail bomb...gets harassing phone calls...and has to take drugs to settle down...all of which can be blamed on Herbert Armstrong!? Well that just about clears up everything.By the way, after viewing your web site...I typed this email during which I broke my finger...went to my neighbor's house to borrow the first aid kit...caught my neighbor's wife having an affair with the mailman and was winged in the cross fire between her gun wielding husband and the new lover....broke my ribs when the drunk paramedic drove the ambulance off a cliff...and am now in counseling because I shake every time I see a keyboard...you'll be hearing from my lawyers. N MD: The link was posted because it was relevant to the shared WCG history most readers have. The title "astonishing stories" was chosen for good reason. As you may know, MD also provides links to fringe groups like COG-FF and COG-EIM. Obviously no endorsement is implied there either... ;-) |
07 November. NO WIN FOR COG7 PRESIDENT, 18 REASONS TO THANK HERB. Mail: How to Bend the figures, thrifty Bernie.
COG7 leader blasts LCG apologist: Church of God (Seventh Day) president Whaid Rose has expressed frustration with what some have seen as myopic anti-COG7 remarks by LCG apologist Bob Thiel. In a letter to an MD correspondent, Rose wrote:
Thank you for your letter of concern about Bob Thiel's critical comments about our church. He has corresponded with me in the past and his comments were of such that I chose not to continue our dialogue.
It is unfortunate that people such as Bob Thiel can find nothing better to do in the kingdom of God than to put down other churches. Frankly, any attempts to talk with them is a "no win" situation. Therefore, I feel no need to provide a rebuttal. I have asked our missions director, Bill Hicks, to correspond with you on this matter. Perhaps it will prove helpful.
In Christ,
Whaid Rose
Bob, whose recent labeling of Journal writers as "Laodicean Sadducees" drew criticism, has since made similar unflattering references to COG7 on his COGwriter site (they, of course, are pigeonholed as "Sardis"). If the strategy is to somehow make LCG look better by ripping into more benign COG individuals and groups, we'd have to say it isn't working. And Lord knows there's more than enough stinky garbage in LCG's not-so-"Philadelphian" backyard to clean up without bothering about either The Journal or COG7.
18 Truths: There's a lot of ballyhoo about Herbert Armstrong's alleged 18 Restored Truths. Here's a new take on the issue by Scott Murphey which, let's face it, is a darn-site more honest than most of the others...
I have done my share of Herb-bashing over the years, but here are 18 Truths I have discovered about the WCG that were not so bad after all :
1. The Absence of Hell. The idea that a loving God would eternally torment someone for some bad choices made during a short tenure on earth is really stupid.
2. The Purpose of Man is to Become God. It sounds a lot more appealing than traditional Christian worldview of remaining a second-tier citizen for eternity. Why not go for the big prize?
3. Having Multiple Gods. Having two (Jesus and God) gods spreads things around a little and makes it more interesting than the mainstream three-in-one approach. That way you can have Jesus the sensitive guy and God the father, the "big cry baby" dude of the Old Testament who smites and smotes. When you pray, you can play one against the other, plus you get a Luke Skywalker "feel the force" Holy Spirit power thing to boot. One is simply a bore.
4. Being the Elect. While thinking you were one of the chosen ones had its definite downside, the good part was you left the people "of the world" the hell alone. No trying to convert them or convince them.
5. The Feast. Having a lot of cash to blow all at once gave blue-collar believers a good time without the debt, and a chance to travel. Too bad the weeklong party was interrupted by going to 16 or more two-hour services.
6. Avoiding Seafood. Forget OT laws, eating a lobster is just plain gross.
7. Nice Architecture. Having nicely designed and maintained surroundings at HQ made rednecks and widows broke, but proud. As urban planning that blended new construction with the historic fabric, the campus got an A+. The fatally flawed size of the auditorium is offset by the world-class acoustics, but the 60s modern Student Center was my favorite new building on campus. The downside was that the closest most of the sheep got was a four-color offset Envoy on the family coffee table.
8. Lunch on Holydays. After giving up a load of cash in the offering, you got to go out to a nice restaurant.
9. My Wife. Sharing a painful WCG past brings us closer. I would have never of met her otherwise.
10. Avoiding Christmas. Not having to get stuff you do not need or want and pretending to be thankful for it was a plus. If I want something, I will just buy it.
11. Cheating on Atonement. Sneaking food or water titillated the senses and made a wonderful little guilty pleasure.
12. Cognitive Dissonance. Relying on church teachings when confronted with the evidence that what you believed was not true was very reassuring. While this is not really a positive attribute, it's really, really important that there are 18 truths listed here.
13. Being on Security. Sitting in the parking lot during services meant you were not inside listening to the sermon.
14. Not Voting. I vote now only because it's a civic duty. It was actually nice not being allowed to vote because it avoided the pain of having to evaluate the crappy options and pick one.
15. No Military Service. Another way to shirk civic duty and maintain a clean conscience.
16. Knowing. Unlike most of the worldly people I knew, I actually knew what I believed and why, although now I know I did not know what I thought I knew, but it was comforting at the time.
17. Eating Matzos. I actually like the egg and onion ones and would have never had tried them otherwise.
18. Being Involved with the Church for 35 Years. If I hadn't, I feel sure I would have been a run-of-the-mill Protestant instead of the freethinking, humanistic Fideist I am today. Thanks Herb.
Scott Murphey
Astonishing stories uncovered by DP: Dateline Pasadena has tracked down an amazing "testimony" by a former WCG member. You can find it at http://www.fundamentalists-anonymous.org/latest_of_2003/testimonial_to_armstrong.html.
And while you're at it, did you know that Herbert Armstrong's motive was "money and the easy life, both of which he desired with greed and avarice", that he was a "Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge" and contracted syphilis while holidaying in Europe? Sound credible? Well, maybe there's a curse that goes with the name. Check out the details of a murderer who shared Herb's moniker at http://www.gloucesterasylums.co.uk/barnwood/armstrong.shtml. The gentleman in question was hanged in 1922. Hmm. No wonder our Herb added a W to his name!
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UCG stats: After several attempts to be removed from UCG's mailing list failed, I began writing "REFUSED" on the literature and sending it back. Having your name removed from their membership list is another experience indeed. Even the local minister seemed to be at a loss as to how to get this done. When we started attending UCG, they boasted a membership just under 20,000. After several other groups were reported to be joining UCG, it appeared that they were well on their way to being the largest of the COG groups. However, those numbers given during announcements were obviously inflated, since the numbers given now are significantly lower. You must look for stats on weekly Sabbath attendance. The numbers given at the feast are misleading. For example, the broadcasts from Bend, OR gave evidence that 25-30% of those attending were not members of UCG. It's heartbreaking to see the bewildered look on the faces of so many dear friends when you expose the deception of those at UCG headquarters (oops, I mean home office). Floyd Comments on Big Bear Bernie: The campus employees will probably never forget the day Bernie told his hard luck story. He was too frugal to pay high gas prices at Big Bear before heading down for work one day, and tried to gain sympathy by saying he had to push his vehicle into the gas station in town because he had run out of gas. This was at a time people were complaining about not getting raises and bonuses or cost of living increases. Bernie was trying to come across as a struggling employee like everyone else. He has two SUV's, one small one and one midsize. He does not have the humungous Ford Expedition. He's usually at work Tuesday through Thursday, as those are the Executive hours for all upper management. He also gets to stay in corporate owned church housing in a nicely furnished apartment on campus. Rent free, with free maid service. The public facade of environmental concern never matched what actually happened on campus. Waste of electricity, gas, water, food, etc was appalling. Pasadena used to have huge trash hauling trucks that went to the Glendale Dump daily in the 60/70's. Members would have been appalled at what was thrown out. Big Bear is certainly a 'white' paradise. Both Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear have been popular resort hangouts for the rich and famous for over 70 years. Lake Arrowhead is surrounded by multi-million-dollar homes. Hotels are very expensive to stay in. Big Bear is a more down to earth community, but most certainly Caucasian, with Hispanics and Blacks there usually only as workers and domestics. |
06 November. MORE FEAZELLOTRY, SPITTING ON AN ICON, DIGGING UP DUGGER. Mail: Commuting with Bernie, UCG members-for-life, approaching insanity.
New Sabbath booklet: Remember the "good ol' days" when WCG promoted Which Day is the Christian Sabbath? and openly plagiarized the COG7 booklet Has Time Been Lost? Now WCG turns the clock back, kind of, with a new Sabbath booklet. This one's called The Christian Sabbath: Divine Rest in Jesus Christ. If it sounds like something Samuele Bacchiocchi might have written, don't be fooled. This is a revision of the earlier publication: Finding Peace in Christ (or, more accurately in WCG's case: Finding Christ in Pieces) by that well-known non-WCG member Mike Feazell.
Silence of the lamb: Also busy writing revisionist material is Neil Earle. If you still feel some fondness for the long-banished church seal (with the lion, lamb and child) then Neil is keen to help you see the light. His short article, Why not the Lion and the Lamb?, explains it all.
...we have to understand what it means to speak of visions. All nations and communities have them. They are exalted depictions of some ideal state that has never yet obtained on earth but are worth preserving for their beauty and call to try harder. The United States has "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," the British have the Arthur legend of the good knights of the Round table of Camelot and Canada has the myth of "the true North strong and free." One could also add the once touted slogan "the Mounties get their man." ...
Is that true, literally? ... To raise such questions is to see how futile it is to try to translate a national dream into a literal reality. The vision is designed to encourage, inspire and move people along.
So, if we understand Neil correctly, the symbolic language of Isaiah has as much relevance to Christians as the myth of Camelot. Whether that's true or not, we'd have to conclude that Glendora's pastor has little poetry in his soul. Oh well, thanks anyway Neil. But will your comments help anyone appreciate the replacement skeletal cross and globe logo?
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And speaking of Neil, here's a report from LA that arrived in the AW in-box tonight:
Making fun of AW's prose? Surely not! We'd like to offer Neil a chance to give his side of the story. If the earlier reports are inaccurate, lets hear about it! |
Bible Home Instructor: Before Herb there was Andy; i.e. Andrew Dugger, onetime leader of COG7, who led a splinter ministry in Israel for many years. While he is largely a forgotten figure today, there are still some scattered congregations where his influence lives on.
Dugger wrote a book (actually more of an extended tract) called The Bible Home Instructor. It has been saved for posterity largely through the efforts of Richard Nickels, who writes:
In its various editions, The Bible Home Instructor has probably advanced the cause of the Church of God (Seventh Day) more than any other effort. The first edition was published in 1920. It may have been an expansion of an earlier publication, "The Bible Student's Assistant," offered as early as 1871. Distribution of The Bible Home Instructor in the 1920s led to substantial growth in the Church of God. Andrew N. Dugger continued to publish the book until his death in 1975. (Editor's Note, Nickels edition)
A copy of the Instructor can be accessed online courtesy of a New York Duggerite group (be advised, this is proof texting taken to its logical extreme).
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Big Bear
Bernie: Under Looking at a map I see
that (Saint) Bernard Schnippert has the best part
of a 100-mile commute from his home in Big Bear
Lake to the Hall of Administration. Not only
that, but from what I hear, this is a grueling
rush-hour drive which includes, coincidentally,
passing through the city of San Bernardino! UCG member numbers: We were members of United for almost 2 years from the time they started. We have been away for 7 years now. We haven't been at one service or donated a penny to them since leaving, but we are still receiving their literature, we still get information about Feast, requests for tithe of the tithe, help for youth camps, with our member ID number. We are still considered members and have many friends that are also still members but have left also. This is how they hang on to their "members". They just don't let them go. I wonder how many have died and are still on their membership list? They still want to believe they are "number one." Path to oblivion: Rich’s comment about God dropping “a nuclear bomb on Roderick Meredith’s head and Bob Thiel and others would reinterpret it as evidence that God is pleased with them” illustrates a powerful tendency of the human mind to seek only positive confirmation for what one believes to be true. This phenomenon seems especially intense in religiously motivated minds (some of the more zealot COG’ers, the Catholic church during the middle ages, radical Islamic terrorists, for example). All cultures have narratives – comprehensive explanations of reality accepted as true by large numbers of those living within the context of a particular culture. The various COG’s have a narrative as well, and their zealous adherents interpret everything in the light of the parameters of this dogmatic little “box” because that’s what the inventors of the box (HWA and his loyal lieutenants, with a LOT of uncredited help from G. G. Rupert) said that's what they should do. Ultimately, however, reality does not conform itself to the sincere yet misguided ( i.e. WRONG) pronouncements of religious gurus, in spite of their claims of divine inspiration, or as much as their followers may WANT to believe such pronouncements to be true. It’s fairly easy to envision a future where the COG will become a completely irrelevant institution having no meaningful impact whatsoever because of it’s organizational arrogance – that is, it’s collective refusal to face well-documented facts (whether scientific, historical or organizational) because such facts cannot be made to fit into it’s faulty view of reality. Rather than openly admit to error and revise the “inspired” narrative to conform to legitimate facts and evidence, it traditionally shifts into denial mode (if it’s corporate history of the past 70 years be any reliable guide), usually hiding behind specially revealed insights from God, attacks from the devil or whatever. A continual pattern of denial, however, is a sign of approaching insanity, and a historically accurate indicator that an individual, group, culture or religion is on a sure path toward oblivion. Randy Martens |
04 November. UCG MATH, DON THE COMPASSIONATE. Mail: UCG FOT numbers, supplemental hymns, Petra, Rader, nuking Rod.
Creative accounting? Exactly how UCG's Roy Holladay calculated his increases in FOT attendance (AW Nov. 1) was called into question by a correspondent who took the trouble to check out last year's reported stats.
The November 2002 United News carried attendance figures for sites worldwide. US figures added to 11,568 - based on highest daily attendance figures. The highest figure reported this year - on the first holy day - was 11,489 (-79). The figure for the last holy day was 11,205 (-363). According to the Holladay letter attendance on both days was up on 2002.
So why the apparent discrepancy? We eagerly await final figures.
Billingsley the exegete: Oh joy! Journal readers are to be treated to yet another "open letter" from COG-FF minister Alton "Don" Billingsley. And - try to contain your excitement - you can read that open letter even before The Journal appears either online or in print: knock yourself out! Says Don:
I intend to address the three pastoral letters, written by the apostle John to all of you, in this letter. Though I am only a pastor, I feel the same love, concern and compassion for the true people of God as did John in this dire and terrible time that is upon all of us as God’s chosen people, just as it was upon them at the time of his writing.
...I have been told personally by one who was in a position to know, as Mr. Armstrong approached the very end of his life he had such grave concerns for God’s Church, that he cried several times, not knowing whom to name as his replacement... No man with the qualities he desired was to be found. Month by month he had a different name in his mind. When he finally had the name of the one God had chosen as a successor, he died.
A tearful Herb sobbing into his Harveys Bristol Cream with indecision and frustration? Just imagine! But cheer up, why not take a tithe-break and send a virtual glass of Apostle Herb's favorite tipple to that special COG minister in your life instead?
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Gain or drop? Under the "UCG makes minor gains" posting of Nov. 1; they claim that attendance at the feast was up from last year. Looking at the Nov. 2002 United News, it shows attendance in the U.S. at 11,568. Neither the first nor last day attendance for 2003 is above that figure. The link to the Nov. 2002 United News is http://www.ucg.org/un/un0211/feast.html. I suppose UCG had some new enlightenment on last year's figures to help show an increase this year. Notice I did not say that they changed the figures. We all know that any differences in UCG statements and teachings are never changes. Thomas New hymnal: United pleasantly surprised Festival Goers with a new "Supplemental Songbook" this year, starting at #87 and adding something like 80 more songs, including, but not restricted to, additional Dwight Armstrong songs, a number from Mark Graham and other UCG attendees, some traditional songs from Protestant songbooks, familiar religious melodies with new words, and familiar words with impossible to sing melodies. It seems to be the long term plan that all the songs will be combined into a new song book in a couple more years. Other Churches of God, such as the Truth on the Web folks, and the Living Church of God continue to use the WCG songbooks with either the red or blue cover.
Fear works
wonders: I don't know who wrote that
there were never any formal plans to flee to
Petra, or whatever, but that was the basis of
MANY a sermon in the late '60's and early
'70's. We even watched films on
Petra. There was almost a panicky feeling
in the cult around 72---it was getting too close
to the time to flee! ... there was high
expectation [at the Fall feast] that the command
from HWA could come at any moment. Maybe there
was no FORMAL planning, but there was a definite
"understanding." FEAR works wonders in
subjects. Stan the Man: Tonight, CBS Television had a special on it's 75th anniversary. They were showing clips from their historical files. One of the clips was of Stanley Rader getting mad at Mike Wallace during his interview concerning the court receivership back in the late 70's. When you look back on the legacy of Armstrongism it sadly has no legacy to be proud of. It seems to be nothing more than a comedy of errors and stupid events that have left no lasting imprint on humanity that is of any benefit.
The
Apple of God's Eye? The total
collapse of WCG shortly after HWA's death argues
against accepting Bob Thiel's latest contention
that HWA's WCG and the LCG are truly based on the
Bible. Christ clearly prophesied what would
happen to a church that fails to put into
practice his words: "The rain came down, the
streams rose and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell with a great crash." Has
any church other than WCG collapsed recently in
such a spectacular manner? |
01 November. UCG STATS, HALLOWEEN & HANUKKAH. Mail: Schmoozers, hungry puppies, angels on the wingtips
UCG makes minor gains: According to an October 31 letter from Roy Holladay, UCG attendance (and those all important offerings!) at US services over the recent festival season showed modest - though not significant - growth.
Feast of Trumpets: Attendance – 12,718 (4.1% increase). Offering – $644,695 (0.2% increase).
Day of Atonement: Attendance – 12,397 (0% increase). Offering – $627,451 (0.8% increase).
1st Day of Tabernacles: Attendance – 11,489 (0.6% increase). Offering – $536,986 (4.3% increase).
Last Great Day: Attendance – 11,205 (5.4% increase). Offering -- $638,053 (5.4% increase).
Jingle Bells: Now that the annual COG Halloween-debunking season is past, and the evil goblins have all scuttled back to feast on their ill-gotten M&Ms, it's time for a change of focus. The Xmas-bashing season is upon us.
First up to the plate is The Good News with an article entitled 4000 years of Christmas. And it's accompanied by another called The Feast of Hanukkah: Testimony to Bible Prophecy (a "testimony" that might come as a surprise to many Jewish people!) GN writer James Capó mercifully assures readers however that "it is not a festival commanded in the Bible or one that God expects Christians to observe". Whew!
But before leaving the Halloween brouhaha to die down for another year, here's a recent news item from the bowels of Mother Russia.
Halloween has been banned from schools in Moscow after Russian education chiefs ruled it was too pagan.
Officials caved in to Church demands and issued a blanket ban on all Halloween celebrations from carving pumpkin heads to dressing up.
The Moscow Education Department has ordered all schools in the capital to ban any Halloween celebrations, Izvestia newspaper reported.
In a letter sent to school heads and governors teachers were warned that: "The very fact that Halloween activities contain elements such as the cult of death, rejecting death, personification of death and evil spirits produces a destructive effect upon the psychological, moral and spiritual health of students."
A ban had earlier been called for by Russian Orthodox Church leaders who claimed the pagan festival was "satanic".
Holy Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom! Quick, someone grab an ikon and incense!
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Boundless
stupidity: (1) ".....or does
stupidity know no bounds"?
The administration
of the Tkach's has been baffling to me. You did
have to go to Imperial Schools to get in. They
will deny it, but few if any got into the
administration that was not from that good 'ol
boy network. They seemed to have NO one with a
religious experience different from their own. No
one to say, "Ummm, do you know what is so new to
you is so very old to most of the members?"
As to what causes
an inept administration to do what it does? I
found through my own experience that they
suffered from both deafness and blindness, but
still retained the incredible ability to speak
and spin...
(2) This is in
response to MAM’s inquiry as to why virtually
every decision Joe & Company make seems
intended to destroy whatever good will remains
within the Pasadena community toward the WCG. I
too have wondered the very same thing, racking my
brain to understand the frequent incompetence
that mark so many of the decisions made there in
the Hall of Administration (though by no means is
this a trend of recent vintage, as it’s been
happening now for decades if people are simply
willing to open their eyes and minds to the most
obvious of facts). Flying Air Waterhouse: (1) As to the former AC employee's "memories", I also recall those thrilling days of yesteryear. I was living in Detroit in the mid- and late '70's and distinctly remember a visit from Gerald Waterhouse where he entertained us yet again with one of his long-winded yarns about "two witnesses," "the place of final training" and the rest of the end-times mythology (frequently punctuated by "Get the point?") that made him such a popular "draw" whenever he visited a local church area. He seemed to get particular enjoyment speculating on how HWA was going to buy all of those "DC-10's" (not 747's as the former AC employee suggested) that had been grounded because a couple of them had engines that had fallen off in mid-air (or something like that). (Just as an aside: wanna bet if HWA had decided to fly the entire WCG to Petra he would have booked his top level lieutenants on certified El Al or Air Canada flights? As always, can't risk putting WCG's top people on unreliable aircraft! And of course, HWA had his own private jet plane (the AC-111 wasn't it?).
I also recall all
that Petra speculation pretty much ended after
the Jim Jones catastrophe. The Guyana thing
happened in November of 1979. Less than two
months later the @#$%^*! hit the fan at HQ when
the State of California came in with its lawsuit
against HWA and Stanley Rader. At that point the
only "fleeing" being planned was HWA's
hightailing out of Pasadena to a "place of
safety" (a.k.a. Tucson, Arizona) and out of the
reach of attorneys for the State of California
who would certainly have asked Armstrong a lot of
embarrassing questions he didn't want to
answer.
(2) I was a little
bit saddened to see the comments by the
"memories" author regarding the "plans" the
Church allegedly had or were supposedly making to
flee to Petra in the late 1970s and early
1980s. |
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