UCG: The Union Is Dissolved!

Can UCG President Dennis Luker keep the United at peace, or do the following "irreconcilable differences" split up United for good? Over 110 have already publicly signed on to the following grievances:

An Open Letter to the President of the United Church of God, Dennis Luker

Dear President Luker,

This open letter is being sent to you as the chief executive officer of the United Church of God (UCG) from current pastors, former pastors and otherwise employed elders in good standing of the General Conference of Elders of the United Church of God, an International Association. We write with deep concern over the conduct of the current administration and the Council of Elders, a concern shared by numerous non salaried elders, many of whom would readily add their names to this letter.

We have supported the governmental system agreed upon in 1995 and this letter is a confirmation of working within that system. Our deepest hope is the complete healing and the effective continuation of the UCG.

The biblically mandated responsibilities of pastors and elders compel us to state our concerns, as do those duties specified in our governing documents, which do not permit us to allow the present situation to continue. As our Constitution states, “God has established the office of elder to provide care and oversight to the congregations. Thus, the General Conference of Elders is responsible to God to ensure that His people are served and their needs attended to”(Article 3.2.2.3). We consider resolving these concerns to be the greatest need God’s people under our care face at this time.

No one doubts that the UCG is in a dire crisis. We believe that the steps necessary to resolve the crisis are in your hands and those of the Council. Over the last year there have been repeated attempts to bring genuine concerns to both you and the Council. We believe that those concerns have not been addressed in a way that is appropriate for the established leadership of the UCG—or any Church of God.

Your letter of November 4, 2010 attacks the ministry in general and contains a number of misleading and false accusations. Among them are attempts to link ministers and members who have sincere disagreements with the administration to a handful of people posting extreme or ungodly views on Internet sites. Less than two decades ago, most of us were accused of being divisive, rebellious and satanic in our previous association, and it deeply grieves us to find ourselves in a similar toxic environment in the UCG.

While there have been some improper comments made on Web sites, none of us have made or encouraged them and we do not condone them. And we will not join you or the Council in condemning ministers or members who respectfully ask questions, challenge wrong behavior or who simply post factual material.

Both Scripture and our historical origins have taught us that Christianity is a matter of individual conscience, conviction and action. Members have rightly been encouraged to think for themselves and that is exactly what many are doing (Philippians 2:12; 1 John 4:1). Those who have spoken out responsibly should not be accused of causing division. Nor should they be charged with unthinkingly following sowers of discord, when their conclusions are often based upon what they have witnessed personally.

At the heart of our immediate concern is a pattern of wrongly equating loyalty to God’s government with submission to human organizational authority and then labeling as disloyal or rebellious any who express concerns over leadership’s decisions and methods. Recent home office documents, letters and recorded sermons have repeatedly contained negative accusations about supposed plots to sabotage our governing documents, to start a new church and that there is a spirit of rebellion in our ministers. This barrage of accusation and inaccuracy is disheartening the members; it is wearing down the church and it is causing increasing frustration among the ministry and the membership.

Unknown to many members, the administration has engaged in punitive action against certain pastors, accusing them of disloyalty to Christ, when what they have done—conscientiously and respectfully—is voice disagreement with doctrinal statements that they deemed unsound. Or, they expressed concern over administrative decisions that these ministers believed to be outside the bounds of our governing documents or Christ-like management. This pattern of punitive behavior does not follow the biblical or organizational standards. Men have been accused of and/or punished for “disloyal behavior” on the word of a single witness or on mere rumor. In contrast, Scripture is explicit: “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses” (1 Timothy 5:19). Punishments have been administered at the highest level—suspension followed quickly by decredentialing, instead of our traditional and biblically mandated pastoral attitude of working with someone to address the issues at hand in an effort to resolve them and to retain every minister if at all possible.

This has rapidly accelerated to include several resignations by church pastors who felt they could no longer in good conscience work for the church. Others have been terminated by the administration, greatly increasing an environment of tension and uncertainty for the ministry and the membership.

Undoubtedly, the most damaging administrative action that was taken in plain view of the membership (as opposed to Council actions taken in executive session) was the wholesale removal of the Latin American members and ministers—approximately 10 percent of our entire church! The ensuing stream of paperwork from the home office has not mitigated the alarm or the bewilderment caused by the removal of loyal people from church membership for no justifiable biblical reason and by the severance—without warning—of the financial support that the UCG had promised to some of our poorest members in that part of the world. We should all imagine ourselves in their shoes.

Funding for the Latin American work and ministry was cut off on July 1, 2010. Yet most of the Latin American elders remained members of the GCE until November 30, 2010 when the Council decredentialed them. This adds to what we ministers and many of our lay members can only describe as inconsistent and bizarre.

Lengthy and differing explanations from the home office for these actions have left us unconvinced that the church leadership action was fair, decent, gracious—or even legitimate, whether according to biblical standards or the UCG Rules of Association.

What is seen as a conspicuously offensive error has only been compounded by the administration sending representatives throughout Latin America to convince members and elders to “join United” when they believed they already were part of the UCG. The glaringly obvious conflict of interest in your choice for the primary administrative representative in this matter is evident to thousands of UCG members, and seems to indicate a callous disregard for the clearly expressed objections of the Latin American brethren and ministry.

When 166 pastors and elders appealed to the leadership to bring the Latin American members and ministers back into our fold, the president and chairman of the COE acknowledged receipt of the appeal and said they would get back to the senders soon. That gave hope to the entire church (especially to the UCG in Latin America), only to have their trust dashed when the appeal was answered with a letter—not to the 166 ministers, but rather to the entire church membership. The response falsely accused the signers of being part of a rebellious conspiracy, a political caucus and an attempt to undermine our governing system. In contrast, many ministers and members understood the appeal for what it was: a sincere request for reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The fact that no serious attempt at reconciliation has ever been made adds to the disillusionment.

The so-called “white papers” on the doctrines of fasting and Sabbath observance generated great concern about our doctrinal purity and integrity, without which the UCG cannot truly remain part of the Church of God. Valid questions from members and ministers alike have been met with ridicule, unproven and unreasonable assertions that “one or two people” are stirring everyone up and with repeated statements that questions about the papers are not worth answering. This demonstrates that the administration does not perceive the serious doctrinal errors within the papers. It further illustrates a troubling lack of respect for discerning pastors and members who have been dismayed by these papers.

The question currently in the minds of a growing number of elders and members is, “What do we do now?” You have said you are willing to talk. But in reality, the present administration and the Council have rebuffed or ignored specific requests to talk from individual ministers; from all of the 10 U.S. regional pastors at the time (including you, Mr. Luker), as well as several requests from approximately a dozen men, serving in the previous administration as well as on the Council of Elders.

The workable—and what we believe is biblical—pathway to proper functioning as a church has repeatedly been proposed to you and the Council privately and publicly. That is, an open (not executive session) face-to-face meeting between current and past leaders of the organization for the purpose of identifying and removing the obstructions that impede the function of the United Church of God.

Sad to say, every such proposal submitted to the Council has either been significantly altered, ignored or rebuffed, publicly or privately. Even you, Mr. Luker, proposed such a meeting to the Council, only to be denied. On the other hand, the method the administration and Council has chosen to deal with the situations previously mentioned is one of confrontation, seeking to impose control with no attempt to resolve the underlying issues.

If you and the Council deny the viability of meeting to discuss openly the issues that have divided the ministry and the current leadership, then we are left with no other conclusion than that you and the Council of Elders have already decided that our differences are irreconcilable.

Is that your conclusion? If so, what would you have us do?

Respectfully submitted this 4th of December, 2010,

Signed by:

1. Dan Anderson
2. Dave Baker
3. Neil Becker
4. Andre van Belkum
5. James (Bud) Beymer
6. Gary Black
7. Mike Blackwell
8. Dempsey Bruton III
9. Andy Burnett
10. Arnold Burns
11. Todd Carey
12. Jeff Caudle
13. Jim Chapman
14. Tom Clark
15. Martin Cole
16. Dave DeHart
17. Roy Demarest
18. Thomas Diaz
19. Glenn Doig
20. Behrman Doucet
21. Osmonde Douglas
22. Kevin Epps
23. Cory Erickson
24. Don Erickson
25. Dave Evans
26. Eric Evans
27. George Evans
28. Steve Ferenchiak
29. Herchial Fisher
30. John Foster
31. Jim Franks
32. Alonzo Gjesvold
33. Bruce Gore
34. Larry Greider
35. Jim Haeffele
36. Arnold Hampton
37. Mark Hampton
38. Mike Hanisko
39. Charles Haughee
40. Alton Head
41. Don Henson
42. Bernard Hongerloot
43. Doug Horchak
44. Jim Hudson
45. Michael Isaac
46. David Jackson
47. Bill Jahns
48. Bill Johnson
49. David Johnson
50. Doug Johnson
51. Ron Kelley
52. Clyde Kilough
53. Dick King
54. Morgen Kriedemann
55. William Kubon
56. Dennis Kuhns
57. Larry Lambert
58. Ralph Levy
59. Tony Levy
60. Scott Lord
61. Paul Luecke
62. John Lusk
63. Mike Machin
64. Cecil Maranville
65. Kingsley Mather
66. David McCarble
67. Gary McConnaughey
68. Tom McCrady
69. Melton McNeely
70. George Meeker
71. Joel Meeker
72. Chris Moen
73. Dave Myers
74. Larry Neff
75. Leroy Neff
76. David Pavlik
77. John Pentlin
78. Bob Peoples
79. John Perry
80. Frank Pierce
81. Richard Pinelli
82. Maurice Ledet
83. Richard Rand
84. David Register
85. Phillip Sandilands
86. Floyd Satterwhite
87. Greg Sargent
88. John Seiver
89. Tom Seltzer
90. Jim Servidio
91. Donald Shaw
92. David Smith
93. Neville Smith
94. Jim Springer
95. Blaney Sproul
96. Paul Suckling
97. Greg Swartz
98. Britton Taylor
99. Richard Thompson
100. Dave Treybig
101. Ken Treybig
102. John Trotter
103. Art Verschoor
104. Tim Waddle
105. Don Waterhouse
106. Lyle Welty
107. David West
108. Roger West
109. Jack Willoughby
110. Mark Winner

UCG: Gone With The Wind

Abigail Cartwright reports on the latest in the civil war at UCG Current Crisis with the following audio dispatch (click the play button):


"This Question and Answer session was held at ABC on December 8th, 2010. The current CoE10 answered questions surrounding the current church government and the crisis in the church."

Giese Resigns; More UCG Turmoil

Steve comments, "I heard that the UCG HQ has sent someone out to California to see Ken Giese. Anyone heard anything about it?"

Mr. Giese has just announced his resignation November 4, 2010 from UCG, with a self-imposed "gag order" in effect: 

Dear Brethren and Friends,

Today, Thursday, November 4, 2010, I officially tendered my resignation as an employee of the United Church of God. I can no longer in good conscience support the current administration or the overall direction of the council majority. Since much of my concern has to do with administrative and employee issues, I prefer that the details of my departure remain confidential so as not to cause further trauma, stress and embarrassment to the individuals involved, their family members or our local congregations (Reno, NV and Sacramento, CA), which have already been through several years of trial and adversity. My wife and I, as well as the members of these congregations, would appreciate your prayers as we face the challenges that lie ahead. I respectfully request that you avoid rumors or public speculation about my resignation, these two congregations or other individuals involved. It will serve no good purpose. Please exercise patience and restraint as we all try to deal with these trying and turbulent times. Should it become necessary for me to provide additional information about my situation, I will do so. Thank you for your care, your concern and your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ken and Kathy Giese

---

November 3, 2010

Dear Brethren,

I am writing to offer you a brief update on the events of last weekend. In a meeting with Messrs. Luker and Kubik on Sunday evening, October 31st, they informed us that, from their perspective, the Reno and Sacramento congregations were divided over my perceived lack of support for the Council of Elders. Consequently, they offered to transfer us out of the area. After praying and fasting about this situation, my wife and I regret to inform you that I have resigned from employment with the United Church of God, effective immediately. I simply can no longer in good conscience remain a part of this organization.

Although our future plans are uncertain, we will remain here for the time being. We have appreciated the many friendships we have formed over the past two years and have counted it a privilege to serve the brethren in this beautiful part of the country.

We are both deeply saddened by the events unfolding in the United Church of God. May God guide you and sustain you in these difficult and challenging times.

With deep love and respect,

Ken and Kathy Giese

ken_giese@surewest.net

.....

AR wishes Ken Giese well in his future endeavors.  

UCG Crisis Continues; Ministry Flushed

Abigail Cartwright has produced a shocking  list of ministry separated from the UCG at UCG Current Crisis (for the complete list, click over):

All Regional Pastors removed to be replaced by Ministerial Team October 2010.  These Regional Pastors were: Bruce Gore, Todd Carey, Greg Sargent, Jim Haeffle, Jim Servidio, Larry Grieder, Lyle Welty, Larry Neff and Mike Hanisko. Denny Luker was an RP when he was made president; he was not replaced.   

The following individuals while removed/resigned or asked to resign continue to be employed as paid elders
Mr. Johnson - May 2010 - not reconfirmed as Corporate Secretary
Mr. Horchak - May 2010 - position on the Ministerial Services team was eliminated when Vic Kubik came in as interim operations manager.
Mr. Thompson - May 2010 - position on the Ministerial Services team was eliminated when Vic Kubik came in as interim operations manager.
Mr. Register - May 2010 - resigned as Director of Educational Services, his position on the Ministerial Services team was eliminated when Vic Kubik
Mr. Kilough - April 2010 - asked to resign as President
Mr. Franks - April 2010 - asked to resign as Operations Manger of Ministerial services 
Mr. Salyer - April 2010 - resigned as Operations Manager of Media 
Mr. Kilough - July 2009 - resigned from CoE
Mr. Thompson - July 2009 - resigned from CoE
Mr. Foster - July 2009 - removed as Council Reporter 

NO2HWA, a longtime Pasadena insider, has some interesting thoughts on how UCG got started at the 360/380/390 apartments on campus, "They knew their jobs, their free cars, their homes, their standard of living, paid feast travel, their $10,000.00 +  year-end bonuses, etc was about to change...".   Read it all at Banned By HWA!

Next up, a letter from Victor Kubik on the latest crisis:


Dear fellow ministers and employees,

We are sad to inform you that we have relieved Larry Salyer of his ministerial duties. He was suspended after he held meetings in the congregations he pastors after services in which he openly criticized the leadership of the Church. This is unacceptable conduct by a minister and the action is what has always been taken against anyone who openly speaks to our brethren in such a manner.

Roy Holladay, regional pastor, was sent to Texarkana, Texas and Ruston, Louisiana to speak to the congregations and let the brethren know of Larry Salyer's suspension. Roy Holladay mistakenly announced, though, that Larry Salyer's ministerial credentials were removed. While Ministerial Services can relieve someone of their duties, it is only the Council of Elders that can remove credentials. Roy realized he made a mistake in wording and apologized to Larry Salyer. He also contacted the elders in both congregations and asked them to notify the brethren of this error.

We have wanted to keep this personnel matter just between the parties involved, but write to you because news of this has spread through the Internet. Larry Salyer wrote an open letter that he encouraged be freely shared with all. Because of this we are letting you know the basic facts of this unfortunate situation.

Victor Kubik

Ministerial Services

...---...

But, AR asks, according to the Law, was this process fair? HQ had judged Larry Salyer guilty even before Roy Holladay arrived in Texarkana, tied his neck in a noose, and had him swinging from a tree, all before departing for Chattanooga!

Larry Salyer's Last Letter

Hello Fellow Elders, (oops! maybe not)

In the midst of great confusion in the United Church of God and especially in the small congregations of Texarkana, Texas and Ruston, Louisiana, it seems appropriate to share the latest events of which I am a witness and a participant. Let me give you a little history before you try to make sense of the message copied below.

On Sabbath, October 9, I chose to bring the brethren up to date on what is going on in the Church. Actually, I had committed to them before the Feast that I would discuss the latest information coming out of the Home Office when we got home from the Feast. (I was only able to be with them on Atonement after the papers came out, due to medical issues with Judy).

The format was the same in each area. First, we had a regular service in which I gave a sermon on the role of shepherds in God's flock, both in Israel and in the Church. I also explaied how shepherds must deal with "wolves" or lions or bears as David did (I Samuel 17:34-37 are instructive here). After the closing prayer, I invited anyone who wanted to stay for a briefing on the papers and events in the Church. Virtually all stayed. I gave a brief overview of the past several months of conflict and friction in the Church. I then summarized the errors in the two papers and stated unequivocally that they were wrong. I cautioned the brethren to be very alert to any doctrinal drift and not just assume everything that comes out is legitimate. I explained the failure of the unknown authors of these papers to pass them by the doctrine committee. In closing, I mentioned that my saying these things openly, as a shepherd must according to Scripture, would not be well received at the Home Office and that if I were not here next Sabbath they could guess why.

On Thursday evening I returned home to find a message from Denny and Vic asking me to call. When I returned the call Friday morning, I got Denny only. Just let me add that during that phone call Denny said, (very nearly verbatim quote here) "Larry, you have put me in an awkward position. I have to suspend you from ministerial duties until you have talked with Roy Holladay. Roy will come back and write up a report." He indicated that after that it would be determined what comes next.

For the record I will add here, that I said to Denny ( a long time friend and fellow evangelist in WCG), "Denny, you said I had put you in an awkward position. Let me state here, as one evangelist to another, that I believe you and Roy and others have put me in an awkward position. As a shepherd, I have a responsibility to my flock to help them discern truth and error."

At that point Denny expressed again that he would have to suspend me until I had talked to Roy. The rest is below.

This information is free to be shared if you think it will be helpful to anyone. I have a limited number of private addresses and do not want to use corporate email. Please see message below from me to Council, President and MS team.

Larry Salyer, October 17, 2010

Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 2:11 AM

To: dennis_luker@ucg.org; melvin_rhodes@ucg.org; bill_eddington@ucg.org; aaron_dean@ucg.org; darris_mcneely@ucg.org; jim_franks@ucg.org; scott_ashley@ucg.org; david_baker@ucg.org; robin_webber@ucg.org; mike_blackwell@ucg.org; david_treybig@ucg.org; bob_berendt@ucg.org; mario_seiglie@ucg.org

Cc: roy_holladay@ucg.org; victor_kubik@ucg.org; gary_anition@ucg.org

Subject: De-credentialing process

Hello,

The phone call this evening caught me completely by surprise for a couple of reasons. First, as I am familiar with the process for approving or removing elder credentials, it seems unlikely to me that such a process could have been followed within the past week, the ostensible reason for such action being statements I made to my congregations last Sabbath. Further, nothing has yet been communicated to me about my credentials as an elder in UCG.

Second, in a phone conversation on Friday morning, President Denny Luker had asked me to confirm or deny accusations that I had addressed the congregations about the Sabbath and Fasting papers and said that I did not agree with them. I said I most certainly had and I believed it was my pastoral duty to the flock to do so. Denny immediately suspended me "from ministerial duties" He instructed me not to attend services on the Sabbath of October 16. He informed me that Roy Holladay would be coming to the area to speak in both churches. I asked him to review that prohibition as I thought it important to the congregation that I be there to hear what was said and to be able to follow up later if I were allowed to continue to pastor. Mr. Luker said he would seek counsel on that and call me back, which he did, saying it was unanimous among the MS team that I should not be at services. Mr. Luker in no way indicated that I was being removed, but repeated that I was being suspended. He said that he and Roy would like for me to meet with Roy and talk. I agreed to do so. He said he hoped I would not make a bunch of calls and stir up trouble. I assured him I would not.

On Friday, I sent an email to all three elders telling them that I would not be there, but that Mr. Holladay would take the sermons. I said nothing about suspension. I spoke to one other member by phone, who asked who would be speaking on the Sabbath. I mentioned that Roy Holladay would be there. Later Roy called me and asked if I could drive to Ruston to meet with him on Sunday morning. I agreed, as he had a long drive to Chattanooga ahead of him.

So what about the phone call? A member called me and gave me a summary of the service. He said that it was announced that my "credentials had been removed." Incredulous, I said, you mean he said I was suspended. He said no, Mr. Holladay said your credentials had been removed. This was confirmed in another call a little later. Still, I did not believe it and so called the sound person who dubs the CDs. I was allowed to listen to that portion of the announcements (sermonette time) and sure enough Roy said, and repeated in response to a question, that my credentials had been removed and that I was no longer the pastor. Later, I received a call from the other congregation. I asked if the same announcement had been made. The answer was an unequivocal "Yes."

A couple of questions: When did the COE meet and remove my credentials? If they did not, does the MS team or president now have that authority? If so how and when did they get it? Is it appropriate, prior to a planned meeting on Sunday morning to announce to the members on the Sabbath that my credentials have been removed? Did Roy know what he was talking about? Did he know before he made the appointment with me? Will MS and the Council posture that this was just another misstep? Will they try to retract it after the damage is done? Is somebody lying about the process, or making it up on the fly?

Finally, what is the value in driving 230 miles round trip to meet with a man who has come here in a professional capacity and conducted Church business in such an embarrassing manner?


...---...


Perhaps Dennis Luker will order a high-priced California legal opinion to try to legally justify these embarrassing actions.

Too Many UCG Chiefs, Not Enough Indians

From: Ministerial Services [mailto:ministerial_services@ucg.org]

Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 3:28 PM

To: Regional Pastors

Cc: vic_kubik@ucg.org; dennis_luker@ucg.org

Subject: Change in the Regional Pastor Structure

To the Regional Pastors --

We want to write to you about a change in the management of the RP structure.

The Regional Pastor structure for the ministry of the United Church of God in the United States has been extant for the past 15 years. Origins of this structure go back to 1993 when, after many years of no mid-management in the field, 14 Regional Pastors were appointed by Church Administration. They did not have line function. They were put in place to help Church Administration better serve the pastors in the field.

When the United Church of God started, 12 of the 14 Regional Pastors came over to the United Church of God and the entire structure was carried over as well. The 12 were later reduced to the 10 we have today.

In the Worldwide Church of God there were nearly 300 full-time pastors along with 700 local church elders. Each RP had an average of 21 full-time men and 70 local church elders to serve. In the United Church of God with about 90 pastors, each RP oversees an average of only nine pastors.

When United began in 1995, not only was the Regional Pastor system put in place, but a Ministerial Services team was added. It was recognized that this was perhaps too much structure, but we hoped that the Church would “grow into” this structure.

But, today, 15 years later, we have not grown. In fact, we have fewer full-time pastors than we did in the beginning , yet we have continued with this top-heavy structure. It served a much-needed function in its first years by helping write some of the Ministerial Services policies that are now more or less complete and available to the ministry on disk or in the notebook binder.

With the recent change of Presidency and Ministerial Services Operation Manager, it is a good time to reevaluate the Regional Pastor structure. We do not need ten RPs plus a ministerial team to oversee an experienced ministry totaling about 90 full-time pastors and 300 local church elders.

We believe that it is the right time to restructure the management levels within Ministerial Services.

We have decided to discontinue the regional pastor structure as it currently stands. A newly appointed ministerial team will function as regional pastors and perform many of the duties that the former RPs carried out. They will be actively involved in most aspects of current RP duties. Policies that related to the regional pastors will not be changed; they will be fulfilled by the Ministerial Services team who will now act as the new Regional Pastors.

Since United has experienced a downturn in revenue, this leaner management will afford savings as well. We thank all of you for your ministerial support functions over the years. This change will be effective Friday, October 15.

In Christ’s service,

Victor Kubik

Ministerial Services

Dennis Luker

President

The Plain Truth About Worldwide Jets, Jewelry, Gifts, Clothes, And Cars

Now in their 20s, their lawsuits claim that when Long showered them with "cars, clothes, jewelry and electronics," flew them across the world in private jets and booked them into luxury hotels, all the while pushing them into a sexual relationship.
"The allegations are that sexual things started to happen at 17 and 18 years old," their attorney said. Even though 17 is above the age of consent in Georgia, they claim that the pastor violated his "fiduciary duty as [their] spiritual advisor" and demand a trial by jury. 

Long's attorney, Craig Gillen, countered the men's claims, writing in a statement that  "Long adamantly denies the allegations."  Robinson v. Long

UCG Breaking The Law?

Keeping the weekly Sabbath and holy feast days deeply affected everyone in the WCG in one way or another. HWA, in his infallible style, perfectly laid down which Levitical laws, exactly when and precisely how his sabbath and triple-tithing festivals should be kept. Armstrong transformed the symbolism of these old covenant Levitical laws and festivals into differing heretical interpretations of new covenant  doctrines. The egotistical, headstrong, high school dropout, 20th-century apocaholic false prophet was proven erroneous or incontrovertibly wrong, innumerable times. Armstrong was finally forced by the abundant facts staring him in the face to admit he was doctrinally, biblically, or morally wrong, and he made major changes to his cult's sect's doctrines in many key areas.  

When pulled out of public schools by Armstrong for observing holy days, school children could be adversely affected; due to isolating sabbath restrictions, they could not participate in sports, band, and many other key developmental activities in school. That's not exactly a trivial matter. Also, those in the COG were severely handicapped in their limited choices for getting any higher education. Other than choosing God's college restoring true values, all other "pagan" higher education was viewed to be of highly dubious value.  Other occupational fields generally were denied, either because it was not permitted by Armstrong or the government (such as military and defense related jobs). Those lucky enough to be employed in the professions were very, very few and far between in the church. Of the permissible jobs remaining, the need to be off every Friday night and Saturday without exception, and of course the absolute need to be off during the festivals severely affected every member's employment choices at every point in their lives.  

With today's high double-digit unemployment in many areas, finding and keeping suitable employment is not just an academic issue for many Worldwiders, with the sole exception of perhaps the ministry. There's slim pickings indeed leftover for survival after taxes, three tithes, and buying thousands more in Dom Perignon for The Apostle. Take, for example, two former UCG schoolteachers who operate a day care business in Chile. Should they stay open for business during the Sabbath and Holy Days?

 “Through the years, we didn’t discuss the issue of the Holy Days while Mr. Mario Seiglie was our pastor, and neither with Saul Langarica for the first six years of his tenure and we just rested and regularly attended all the Sabbaths and Holy Days. We thought it was a private matter on how we resolved this issue. It must also be stated that we were never suspended for this matter. It was never mentioned as a reason for the suspensions. The subject was broached in 2009 and 2010 by Mr. Langarica, but no decision was made about the matter." 

The UCG's answer to this problem? Luker and Rhodes' Take On How To Observe The Sabbath

Teenage Wasteland

Growing through adolescence into adulthood is not an easy experience for most teenagers. For Church of God teenagers, it's even harder. Much harder. Going through absolute hell might not be too strong a description for many of them. Observing COG doctrines, repeated absences for cult church holy days, explaining the controlling COG Talmud to your peers in the public school system can create a world of conflict, angst, embarrassment, and difficulty for you all on it's own. 


Hopeless, hapless UCG teens told to expect the imminent collapse of the US, brutal German captivity, and the great Tribulation to begin shortly thereafter, can forget about participating in sports, band, or most anything else important to higher education in high school. They can scratch through the calendar days for thrilling Friday night football games, anything having the remotest thing to do with Christmas, dating anyone outside God's true cult church, senior prom on the Sabbath, and preparing for many future jobs and professional occupations.


Your triple-tithing baptized parents, and the ministry in good standing, it is said, receive the Holy Spirit. God is calling them. They get to become God "as God is God". Try dealing with this mindset, while having the one true cult church on earth dictate every aspect of your personal life twenty-four hours a day. The ultra-authoritarian, dogmatic, robotic COG mindset doesn't develop or tolerate true critical scholarship, accreditation, peer-reviewed independent thought or freedom of action. Just think of your developing adolescent sized, fantastic, neuroplastic human brain. Now, next slide up- see your incredible brain shrinking, shriveling up while on UCG. Get the picture? If it's not your parents, it's the arrogant, inept ministry controlling what you do with all of your time, talent and money. Or not do, such as stone-age throwback, AC troglodyte David Pack, prohibiting blogging, censoring COG use of the Internet.   


UCG's Ryan Shallenberger and Micah Gunn in this song lament a cold and broken UCG, wondering about the next crisis arriving on their horizon. It's Simon and Garfunkle revisited, with some Bob Dylan thrown in for good measure.  Way to go, guys. Make an album!

The End Of The World And The Profits of Doom

When a naive minister in a doomsday cult becomes a father for the first time, his wife implores him to seek a transfer from England, where their American religion is based, back home to Australia. Upon their return, the wife’s sister dies during pregnancy and the couple soon suffer another tragedy when they lose premature twin babies: all three deaths a direct result of the cult’s rejection of modern medical practice.

In an effort to escape the fear, guilt and anger he increasingly feels, the minister continues preaching about the End Time while struggling with the harsh discipline his church believe is the best way to raise children. After two prophecies for the end of the world fail, the minister’s misgivings drive him to question the core of his spiritual beliefs. However, his wife responds to her grief and confusion by committing deeper to the ever-changing cult dogma.

Eventually the troubled minister can no longer ignore the widespread rumours of sexual and financial corruption in church leadership, and, in a desperate effort to learn the truth, moves his family to church headquarters in California. Enlightened by what he uncovers the minister confronts the cult founder and resigns, ignoring threats of personal retaliation.

Finally, the ex-minister returns to Australia once again, where his long suffering estranged mother is patiently awaiting a long dreamed for reconciliation; still unsure if she will ever get to meet her daughter-in-law, the grandchildren she had been forbidden to see and the son she hasn’t seen since he left home to join the cult.

Based on a true story...

In the last summer of the ‘Summer of Love’, I was born in a cottage on the edge of Manchester. My father was a newly ordained minister in The Worldwide Church of God and had moved to England, as my mum had done, to study at the church’s college. Before my first birthday we moved back to Australia where Dad continued to preach and prepare for The Great Tribulation. This so-called ‘End Time’ was to see the entire world destroyed in 1972 (the final year later amended to 1975), while only members of God’s chosen church would be safe, tucked away in Petra, Jordan - otherwise known to followers of cult leader, Herbert W. Armstrong as - ‘the place of safety’.

Benjamin Grant Mitchell

It's Dennis!

Graemme and Lynn Marshall of Ottawa, Canada complain in a lengthy letter here why they resigned from the disintegrating UCG ministry. They confess,

“In good faith and conscience before God we could not sit by and remain as if all is well and nothing has changed. We left WCG in ’95 and considered it was no longer God’s Church. We leave UCG similarly and await whatever might emerge as a new organization that not only is pledged to integrity, honesty, transparency, and accountability – but actually will do it.” 

Will others now  follow the example of the Marshalls, ballot with their feet, and leave the UCG? Time will tell. One can only hope some in the  WCG/GCI ministry also have enough personal integrity to resign, as 'employee' Tkach Jr. continues to hide his pay package from the membership, annual budget, financial statements, missing board, current church Association bylaws, and where the millions donated went. Honestly. 

A new International Ambassador Outreach (IAO) religious 'charitable' corporation (meaning charity for the COG) was created in Plano, TX with Leon Walker as one of five current directors. The IAO board photos and bios may be seen here. Walker presented a budget for $30,000 dollars to be sent to the Church in Mexico, which the IAO board approved. 

United Church of God Elder Arnold Mendez, Sr. of Corpus Christi, TX was suspended by UCG Ministerial Services as the crisis continues to impact the Church. To add insult to injury, the  UCG Council of Elders  axed his ministerial credentials on August 12, 2010. Apparently, Mr. Mendez wanted to freely exercise his 1st amendment rights, while a member of the UCG -a private, international church Association. Find out more about it here. 

UCG Titanic - Too Important To Fail? Part 2

Which one of the members of the United International Association under present consideration will become the next UCG President (or, more to the point, next Captain of the UCG Titanic)?

It's anybody's guess.

In the meantime, besides selecting his successor-in-interest, Roy Holliday has been busy with Leon Walker, reshuffuling some of the few folding deck chairs remaining, as the band plays from the approved music list.

Remember, first-class ministry cruise passengers are the first to board the lifeboats, before everyone else goes overboard.

Stay Calm...

-------

June 23, 2010

Changes in Latin American Regional Administration

We are very sorry to have to make the following announcement. With the authorization of the Council of Elders, Leon Walker is being replaced in his administrative and pastoral duties associated with the Church’s activities in the Latin American region.

Last week, Mr. Walker was requested to come to the home office for a meeting with the interim president and with the chairman of the Council ethics committee (who is also the Ministerial Services operation manager), to discuss certain e-mail communications between him and the Spanish-speaking ministers he oversees. Mr. Walker chose not to attend and instead left on a three-week trip to Latin America.

On June 20, Mr. Walker was directed to discontinue his trip and return to the home office in Cincinnati to review and respond to this information with the interim president and ethics committee chairman and members of the Council of Elders. The Council had directed me as interim president of the Church and chairman of the Council to seek resolution of these issues in the planned meetings.

On June 21, Mr. Walker replied stating that he refused to travel to the Church’s home office for the purpose of participating in these meetings. He was subsequently relieved of his duties. At this time, Mr. Walker remains an employee of the Church and, given his change in responsibilities, has been directed to return for review of his duties.

A new regional coordinator for the work of the Church in Latin American areas will be named shortly. Mario Seiglie, who served our brethren in Latin America for two decades and who now will shortly begin service on the Council of Elders, will be traveling to the Latin American region to meet with our ministers and members there.

It remains my fervent hope that we can all remember that “God has called us to peace” (1 Corinthians 7:15) and as recorded in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (New International Version).

Your continued prayers for true unity and peace are much appreciated.

Roy Holladay, Interim President and Chairman

http://realtimeunited.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/changes-in-latin-american-administration/