Die Meistersinger - Zweiter Teil

It's one of the assured results of the disintegration of Armstrongism: Humpty Dumpty can never be put together again. Yet Paul Kieffer reminds us that it ain't necessarily so. Extraordinary times bring forth extraordinary developments.

So lets do a little intemperate speculating...

Fact: Roderick C. "Spanky" Meredith isn't going to be around much longer. He is the center of gravity for his LCG sect, and when he "passes on" the rubber bands will snap and his sect will disintegrate under pressure.

Fact: Things are not good at the moment for the income of the COGs. In the wider Christian community things are very tight, and now is surely the time the COGs can boast of how tithing pays back the faithful tither. Except it doesn't. Income is down, and duplication of resources is inexpedient.

Fact: COG brethren are connected by ties of family across the artificial boundaries. Kieffer's forum posting is an excellent example. Hardliners like Bob Thiel may puff and pout, but many members would be delighted to see the paper walls come down.

A cynic might suggest that Kieffer is trying to position UCG to conduct a mop-up operation when LCG self-destructs. After all, a significant number of Global Church of God refugees - both ministers and members - came over to UCG after Spanky decided to take back his toys last time. But we shouldn't factor out a naive altruism either. Should we?

Could history be about to repeat itself? Maybe. The breakup and reunite script was played out decades ago in COG7, with minor splinters then splitting off in both directions. A united UCG/LCG is not an impossibility once the Presiding Egotist is safely planted under the turf. Even if only 70% of both memberships went with the merger, the gains would be huge.

The new magazine title: maybe The Good News of Tomorrow's World (UCG does the better job here.)

The new TV title: The Good News of Tomorrow's World (LCG has the glitzier studio and more lurid production.)

Who knows, maybe the rat-tag remnants of CGI might buy into the package too.

But what on earth would they call the newly united United church?

Within a Decade

What a complete plonker Gerry Flurry is!

That, of course, is merely a statement of my honestly held opinion. There are, it seems, a number of people who think that, to the contrary, he should be taken seriously.

Those folk need to take notice of the front cover of his latest Trumpet magazine.

"Major news sources ask Will Christ Ever Return? Yes, He will. And probably within a decade!"

Haven't we all heard that before?

The "major news sources" reference is to Newsmax, described on Wikipedia as "a propaganda and media organization of the American extreme right-wing..." I guess that passes as "major" for the like-minded house-writers cloned at PCG.

Weirdly enough, this same issue contains - along with the usual hateful political dilettantism and drivel - a story about Herb Armstrong's misplaced sense of apocalyptic expectation. As the tale goes, back in the 1920s a group of journos were shooting the breeze about "what would be the most astonishing and dramatic newspaper headline." One hack suggested "Second Coming of Christ Happened This Morning!"

Little did they know that the future End Time Sole Apostle was in their midst, who sagely then observed: "You men may live long enough to write that headline."

The last laugh was on the High and Herbaceous One: as Bonnie Prince Stephen drolly observes, "As it turns out, they didn't. Neither did Mr. Armstrong."

And the lesson is? Well, whatever it might be, it has clearly zinged straight past the Edmond heir-head.

Die Meistersinger von Bonn

(Erster tiel)


Paul Kieffer is highly regarded by his elder-colleagues in UCG, and has been elected as an international member of the COE (check out his profile.) Paul is also a keen contributor to the Elders' Forum, and not exactly stand-offish about putting radical ideas up for debate. Consider this example...

Paul Kieffer (Bonn, Germany)

This message may be shared.

I appreciated the positive comments made re: the Living Church of God's media efforts. My father-in-law John Burquist is an elder in LCG. On several occasions my wife Monica and I have attended LCG services as guests, accompanying Mr. Burquist. Other than one time when brief mention was made in the sermon on LCG's understanding of New Testament governance, everything I heard was pretty much identical to what UCG teaches. The atmosphere at services was -- well, like at UCG services. :-)

"Chicago Bill" Bradford mentioned the potential synergy effect between our two organizations.

This topic may be especially interesting in the non-English language areas where there is considerable duplication of effort in producing materal [sic] with basically the same message. Via my good contacts in LCG, some years ago I inquired informally about the possibility of "joint publishing" a booklet in German where UCG's and LCG's beliefs are practically identical. For various reasons the idea went nowhere.

Personally I prefer the proactive approach, rather than inertia. I take comments seriously relayed to me from a fellow elder about what some young people say who fellowship across organizational boundaries. "Wait till the older generation dies off, then we'll get this impasse resolved," is what some of those young people think.

The recently revised guidelines for accepting an invitation to speak outside UCG have no effect on the policy re: required approval for non-UCG speakers being invited to speak at UCG.

I don't know how it could be worded, but I think a revision of that policy to exempt or to "soften" the required highest level approval for an LCG elder to speak at UCG would be a very positive signal toward LCG (without UCG expecting any reciprocal action being taken by LCG in return).

Is UCG "big" enough to take this first small step for CoG mankind? :-)

I think we are.

This is the bold new step... or at least one of the bold new steps (yes Mildred, there are others) that the UCG's leading lights are tossing around.

Of course, after years of "reading between the lines" in order to make sense of the machinations of the lads in Pasadena, it is possible to be just a tad cynical about this particular suggestion...

(Zweiter tiel to follow)

UCG's new brooms

Things are changing in the United Church of God. Remember the brouhaha when Aaron Dean spoke to a non-UCG group? The "powers that be" censured him severely, only to then have their noses rubbed in it when Dean was elected to the Council of Elders. Now, with more new faces added to the governing body, changes are in the air. Here is the preamble to the new guidelines on speaking to outsiders.

The United Church of God, an International Association (hereafter UCGIA), acknowledges that the Body of Christ is a spiritual organism transcending corporate boundaries. We do not claim that all Christians are among our fellowship, neither do we claim to be the only organization through which God may be working. UCGIA desires, therefore, to promote unity and cooperation and to share our beliefs and teachings within the broader Church of God community.

UCGIA also believes that a Christian teacher, in following the examples of Jesus Christ and the apostles, is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God with other individuals and religious organizations, whenever granted opportunity. This responsibility encompasses professing believers and non-believers.

But wait, are those storm clouds gathering on the horizon? There are some very unhappy campers, in particular those who championed the old ways. The new force is also pushing several items on their agenda that have the potential to be highly divisive. It seems the generational change is not going to go unchallenged.

Poor old Clyde Kilough!

PT testimony on growing up gay in WCG

James, the editor over at the Painful Truth site, advises that he is featuring a new article, an autobiographical account by a former "church brat" of what it was like growing up gay in the WCG of the 1980s. Following the account is an interview by the editor.

Wiener World

Everything you ever wanted (or perhaps never wanted) to know about Ronald Weinland: it's freshly updated (May) and available at http://ronaldweinland.info/. Goofy photos, links, an end-slime chronology (whoops, forgive the typo) and much more. I believe we have the indefatigable Mike over at Flavor Aid to thank for this. Doubtless the Mighty Witless (oops, another typo, silly me!) will feel flattered.

Norm churns out new SN

Way back when I first began writing about the various COG splinters, Norm Edwards was considered a shining example of decency and balance. That was before the Port Austin fiasco. Norm remains on the scene these days, bloodied but unbowed. And to prove it here's a link to the latest incarnation of his magazine, Servants' News (US circulation 760).

Good news: according to one of Norm's mates a vegan diet counts as fasting, though Norm backpedals in an adjoining column. Global Warming? No worries, Norm has read a book - all 95 pages of it! - on the subject from someone at Answers in Genesis, so that's settled. Polygamy is bad - maybe Norm is fighting some weird Mormon teaching that's infiltrated his independently minded supporters. And there's lots of PR about COG7's Spring Vale Academy.

Not as flaky as Dankenbring, but still pretty "off the wall." For those who think that remaining COG and going independent is the answer, Servants' News proves just how wrong they can be.

Speaking of Dankenbring, his 400 page exposition on BI is available for free download (the paper version could set you back $35, though I doubt it's sold more than a handful of copies.) Willie's BIversion has flip-flopped the Ephraim identity to the US, making the Brits Manasseh. The story of how the flip-flop version originated is told in Greg Doudna's Showdown at Big Sandy,(along with the most devestating rebuttal of the whole BI fantasy available in print.) I'm also not sure Willie did his case (such as it is) any favors by swallowing whole the Los Lunas inscription hoax (the subject of his prologue), but regardless of questionable content it's classic Willie: hit 'em with a gee-whiz teaser then wow them with a string of supposed "facts." Great fun as long as you don't take it seriously.

Ah... ze Frunch

"France's 1996 list of dangerous cults, for example, contains 172 groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Hare Krishnas, the Worldwide Church of God, the Unification Church..."

It's not true what they say about the French you know. Obviously they're a heck of a lot more perceptive than your typical pseudo-Israelite Anglo.

Anyway, the quote comes from TIME magazine. No word whether there's a more recent edition of the cult list. AW's advice? Quick Joe, fly across the ditch (you've gotta have frequent flyer points to burn) for a breakfast croissant, with garlic basted escargot, and give the French department responsible for these things a copy of your book while you're there, that'll sort things out. Quick, not a moment to spare!

On another subject entirely, here's a blog post about the Wolverton Bible, including a few nice examples of Basil's work.

Up the Amazon and Flying Free

At last. John Morgan's exceptional book - Flying Free: A Journey from Fundamentalism to Freedom- is now available on Amazon, and at a better price than elsewhere. This is a large quality paperback book, and I've raved about it before. A review of the first edition can be found here. A lot of rubbish has been published over the years by insiders and outsiders alike, much of it pushing the authors' personal agendas. Flying Free soars above the petty self-justifications and tithe-farming ploys to tell a genuine story of one man and his involvement in the WCG from childhood to freedom.

The nice people at Amazon even give you a chance to look inside and, dear lord, there's even a peek at the back cover endorsement by a certain Kiwi stirrer!

New Buzzy Book

Former Ambassador College teacher Sir Anthony Buzzard has moved on from his earlier treatment of the Trinity in a jointly authored volume with fellow Armstrong refugee Charles Hunting (currently unavailable on Amazon, but procurable from Atlanta Bible College), to a solo title of 400 pages called Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian.

The newer book appears to avoid some of the clangers that plagued the earlier tome. Buzzard is, of course, not arguing from a place of scholarly objectivity, but making a case for a biblical unitarianism. This is the perspective that is aired in the One God seminars organized by Ken Westby, and influential in unexpected corners of the WCG diaspora.

For a critical pro-trinitarian review of the book, click here. It appears however that the reviewer is every bit as one-eyed as the author he critiques. Provided you share the same assumptions Buzzard does - about the inspiration of the Bible and the factual status of the gospel accounts for example - he seems to make reasonable good sense.