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Monday 16 March 2009

UCG - fiddling with the World Wide Web

There's no doubt that UCG has an effective Internet presence, so much so that it runs rings around the doddery old fossils operating out of Charlotte, NC. But why rest on their laurels?

Enter GN Internet guru Aaron Booth, who dredges up a veritable fusillade of explosive ideas for the common herd to implement - all designed to further ratchet up the church's online impact.

Oh those UCG strategists... is there no end to their fiendish cleverness?

Brilliant! But I wonder if Aaron is familiar with the concept of "a two-edged sword"?

18 comments:

Corky said...

If you think that the CoGs have a big presence on the World Wide Web. Type "Christadelphian" into your search engine and you will find a group that is 10 times smaller than the WCG ever was but has thousands of times more Internet presence than all the CoGs put together.

Go ahead, try it.

Anonymous said...

It's just not right to expose anyone to that UCG injustice.

It's just not right to share that UCG abuse with others.

Most UCG people don't even teach that church stuff to their own children, so why should they try to entangle others in it?

Anonymous said...

UCG is a closed all male hierarchy; a model of patriarchal leadership right out of the Old Testament.

Classic social engineering.

It is a great deal for the chosen men. You have no say and you have no vote.

You pay and the all male leadership spends your money and tell you how you must live.

Despite the buzz, such a system will not succeed within our democracy.

Anonymous said...

Look at their list of congregations, it's a pathetic demographic. Truly this is still a HICK religion that was started by a high school dropout in Des Moines.

You'll first notice an unhealthy bias to the Bible Belt - in fact the entire "Moron Crescent" starting in the Carolinas, dipping down through Texas, then the SW and up into Idaho. Very little penetration into areas of learning and sophistication - no congregation in Boston !

Then Internationally they list Australia first. And where in this land of crude convict colonials do you guess they have their HQ and most congregations? not in the more populous southern states, but in the Hillbilly backward state of Queensland! Figures.

Look at the names of their leaders and ministers: all old bonehead "conservative" ex HWA bootlickers who now want to take their message of British Israelism and the Christ Myth (unsupported by evidence or scholarship) to the world.

Anonymous said...

Our UCG minister has asked the congregation,at the behest of the Home office, to click often on the UCG web sites to give the appearance of interest in the web site, so that it has a higher profile.

This seems to be a deception.

It seems UCG will find any excuse to avoid proclaiming the gospel on television. UGC brass want the false internet numbers to give them the excuse that television is not needed.

If the ministers would ask the congregation, they will quickly find that the stupid sheep did not fall for this trick either.

Anonymous said...

"Some videos have more views than others—some have 20,000 views—but we want to see each video have half a million views."

The reason why some "have 20,000" is that the UCG has at best 20,000 and their affiliated family in tow. The UCG has not grown in numbers and is not expected to grow.

The internet will do little for them. Instead, it will more quickly expose the hidden doctrines and horrible realities lurking behind the UCG's slick internet trap from the gullible to the unwary.

Anonymous said...

...to click often...

Click fraud. Do they have pay-per-click ads on Google? If they do, better tell the brethren not to click on them!

I once had the tought of a COG ministry asking their congregations to send the opposition bad checks and sink them with bounce fees. But would a non-profit be exempt, or for a bank everyone pays? It may have been a joke, but I remember John Halford saying the church didn't want "widows mites" because they cost more to process than the net gain.

larry said...

Tkach's $wiss Banker said,
"You'll first notice an unhealthy bias to the Bible Belt - in fact the entire "Moron Crescent" starting in the Carolinas, dipping down through Texas, then the SW and up into Idaho. Very little penetration into areas of learning and sophistication - no congregation in Boston !"

Wow! You have such a low opinion of the wisest people in America. These were the same folks who were smart enough not to vote for a smooth-talking con artist from Chicago for President.

Another funny thing, the "Moron Crescent" as you call it, appears to be the only area of the country not in much of a recession. It has functioning governments (ie not broke) and a functioning economy. People from the so-called "sophisticated" areas are moving to the "crescent of jobs" to find work. You might be one soon. Who knows?

Oh, and why would anyone want to live in Boston, anyway?

Anonymous said...

The responses I get over at YouTube are mostly young kids from the Armstrong cults. Hateful bunch really! It seems some take the Armstrong religion seriously to the point of threatening you.

Yes video is big with the kids, videos like on this page

Here a kid asks "RevKscribe wye do you hate HWA so much did he ruin your life or somthing?" (No, but HWA is now a source of entertainment!)

Another writes " HWA was AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!?" Check out his favorites list. Future minister no doubt.

Some kids are point blank that they support Herbert and the UCG. The posts are all over my pages at YouTube. I should make a "favorites" list!

This 19 year-old writes "nice that it was 06:06:06
but if it was real... I'll think i'll follow voltaire in his lines. But for now... i don't give a crap about this stuff. (tho i'm interested in mysterious mathers) cause men has always had a dark side (don't we all??) tho the difference in what's good/bad is just a point of vieuw.. If someone killed a terrorist, was that good?? or a bad thing?? Tho the terrorist believes he's doing gods work.. strange.. and still we believesrry just a wrong side end of a tired brain XD)"

I must say that their parents are NOT making sure that the kids are getting a decent education. One of the things they do have in common is an inability to spell correctly!

Anonymous said...

In my current state of mind, I hate to trash other Christians, and I am sure that there are some sincere members of UCG who are pursuing a direct personal relationship with God.

On the other hand, any groups or leaders spawned by Herbert W. Armstrong have been unwittingly corrupted by him. We've seen this demonstrated repeatedly, even in cases where the ministry has taken a more mainstream doctrinal approach. We have to remember the origins of these churches. You might as well call them the "Advertising Churches of God", because manipulative sales hyperbole has always been used in advancing their cause.

They don't so much "preach the gospel" as they do "market" a product. It's a corporate thing as opposed to a simple sharing of a message of transformation of the heart, and loses its purity along the way, resembling the commercialism and Phariseeism which Jesus found so objectionable during His earthly life and ministry.

Those skilled in theatre and film making have done a wonderful job of portraying scenarios involving what Jesus might be doing if He walked the earth today. Somehow, I just can't see Him getting all caught up in building multimillion dollar edifices or being overly concerned with how many hits He got from His website. There is a much more sincere and personal level of relating to others and helping them. Those schooled in the Armstrong movement have always managed to miss the entire concept of spiritual guidance because they are primarily concerned with what happens from the top down, as opposed to what God does from the bottom up, one individual at a time.

BB

Anonymous said...

"Somehow, I just can't see Him getting all caught up in building multimillion dollar edifices or being overly concerned with how many hits He got from His website."

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com.

Anonymous said...

When will these COGs die already...

Anonymous said...

When will these COGs die already...

Eventually. But slowly and by natural attrition.

There could be a chain reaction at LCG when Spanky splits.

Anonymous said...

From Tkach Swiss Banker: "Look at their list of congregations, it's a pathetic demographic. Truly this is still a HICK religion that was started by a high school dropout in Des Moines...."

I am glad that an open minded liberal thinker can be so kind to others who are well below his station. He berates everybody in this post as living in moronville.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:59, that is what is known as a subliminal testimonial! You can tell an awful lot about the effectiveness of different solutions to Armstrongism by how happy, secure, and fulfilled the individual proponents have become, and by how they regard their fellow human beings. In a sense, our posts provide regular testimonial as to our healing, or lack thereof.

Over a period of years, I've formed some helpful criteria in determining what solutions work, and what ones do not. I'm not at all implying that TSB exhibits all of these characteristics, but his contempt which you noted has prompted me to share the following observation: If, over a period of years, someone's posts indicate extreme anger, contain filthy language, and are filled with contempt for others (regardless of their beliefs or philosophies), you can know that their chosen "solution" is largely ineffective. My advice to anyone who once attended WCG would be to take frequent introspection. If anger is not abating, and somehow one cannot successfully mainstream into normal social interaction, one may want to change one's line of thinking, and to seek out a more healing solution. Pragmatism is a very valuable tool in the healing process.

BB

Corky said...

Byker Bob said...
Pragmatism is a very valuable tool in the healing process.

Yeah Bob, take the pragmatic practical road to social interaction and turn the other cheek to religion and see if it slaps you upside the head again.

Nope, as for me, I won't be going that route. I get along with my friends, family and neighbors by leaving them to their own devices without taking part in them.

To heal from something is not to do more of the same. If you burn your hand do you stick it back in the fire?

Even Wiley Coyote knew not to try the same thing twice. Christians, OTOH, think they can make a system work that hasn't worked in 2,000 years of trying.

A half inch wrench will not fit a three quarter inch bolt, no matter how many time you try it.

Anonymous said...

When will these COGs die already...

Any thought on which will be the last COG standing?

Anonymous said...

"Any thought on which will be the last COG standing?"

My money's on the mothership. Junior's young yet, he's still got plenty of years to fleece the sheeple.