A Sugested Name for COGaWA: Cogawa

I don't know what you do but whenever I read something with an acronym for one of the COG groups, (WCG, UCG, RCG, GCG, PCG, LCG, etc, etc,) I read it to myself using a word to make these horribly impersonal acronyms more like a name instead of those coldly impersonal line of letters.

WCG is Worldwide. UCG is United. RCG is Restored. PCG is Philadelphia, GCG is Global, LCG is Living, and so forth.

But what to do with COGaWA?

Worldwide? I already use that word for WCG.

So I called it New Worldwide in my head at first.

But now I have an idea for giving COGaWA a proper name.

We should call it:

Cogawa

(pronounced Ko-gah-wah) O" as in "cove". Stress may be placed first or second syllable.

A meaningless name for a badly named church.

Maybe we should even spell it Kogawa.

Lets make the acronym a name to be pronounced as though it was a word.

There. Problem solved. It is now Cogawa.

PCG's Hilliker's Polemic Against UCG

Joel Hilliker also wrote a column discussing the UCG schism, To Our Family in the United Church of God.

I found it rather boring. [Addition: Though I'm sure not everyone will feel that way.] It's mainly saying, Look at all these prophetic events that are happening right now [which HWA did not foresee, having predicted Christ to arrive in 1975, then by 2005] and all you Laodiceans can do is bicker and argue among yourselves. (Well then, why bicker with them?)

The reason this is happening, he seems to say, is because you use the wrong form of Government, he says, completely ignoring the fact that many other COGs operate in the same form of government which HWA's WCG operated in, and yet they have not had the same membership growth.

Let me state again, the idea that "fruits" do not just mean membership growth as HWA and his imitators so crudely teach.

Also Hilliker makes no mention of the fact that PCG has forced members to have no contact with Laodiceans, namely those who belong to WCG or any other offshoots.

At least the other COGs are mainly bickering, as far as I can tell, but PCG has chosen to shatter families by this draconian no contact policy just to enhance the leadership's authority and intimidate members from speaking out against them so that they can never leave.

In other words it's just your typical hypocritical PCG polemic against other the other COGs.

January 16 Remembered

It is now 25 years since the man who created the COGs, Herbert W. Armstrong, died.

Let it be remembered that he told us that Jesus Christ would return by 2005 in his last book, Mystery of the Ages, but we are still here.

Let it also be stated that I am persuaded that he would have been astounded at what happened to WCG and the rest of the COGs since his death.

I would like to share this blog from Shadows of WCG's J: Would Anyone Have Believed It?

“PROPHECY DELIVERY DATE: APRIL 1981″

What is will be no more. What you have will be gone. What was is not to be. Your leader, Herbert Armstrong, has five years. He will select an individual who will tear down everything you know and cherish. Your treasures, your grounds, your possessions, they will disappear. Your college, your precious Ambassador College, will exist no longer. Your beautiful auditorium will be sold to those you have despised and cursed. Your grounds will be sold off and scattered, just as your people will scatter to all four corners of the earth. Your gigantic conventions will dwindle to near nothing. You will never be able to replicate what was. What is will be no more. You will have nothing.

You will be given a leader who will dismantle all that was. Your congregations of tens of hundreds will be reduced to tens, and tens of tens. Your plain truth will stop. Your television broadcasts will stop. Your magazines, brochures, they will stop. Some will attempt to revive what was but their attempts shall never come close to what was. They will be working in vain, and though they beat the vines with sweat and tears, they shall not yield fruit. There shall never be the growth that was, never again. What was is to be no more.

You can read the rest at the link.

Let it also be noted that one particular COG, "That Prophet" and "Apostle" Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God, has taken January 16 as a day of prophetic importance. Hence I am reposted this blog entry: January 16:

A peculiar belief within PCG is that January 16th, the day Herbert W. Armstrong died, will be marked by important events. This belief is generally absent from the rest of Armstrongism.

This belief is also continued in Raising the Ruins. From the end of Chapter 14 detailing the first mailing out of Malachi's Message to WCG members we read the following:

With me [Stephen Flurry] now added to the original group, 13 of us gathered at the Thompson home Wednesday night, January 10. We packaged 921 copies of Malachi’s Message, several hundred of which included the above letter....We delivered the bundles to the post office the next day, Thursday [January 11]. Many of those books from the first mailing landed in mailboxes on or just before [Tuesday] Jan. 16, 1990—four years, to the day, after Herbert W. Armstrong died.

The link this to January 16 here is quite week. There is nothing specific here that would cause one to pick January 16 as the important date unless one had already picked that date for another reason. The book is simply using a predefined belief that is artificially placed on events. The January 16 Myth.

In Chapter 23, part 2, under the heading 'Sealing the Deal', the date is again called upon in relation to the back room deals PCG was making with WCG to buy the books. (Again, PCG did not win the Court Case, it was an out of court deal with the man they say is the Son of Perdition.) 'On Thursday morning, January 16—17 years to the day after Herbert W. Armstrong’s death—the WCG agreed to sell us all the copyrights for $3 million.' The January 16 superstition again.

This belief comes from Gerald Flurry's Malachi's Message, which is [PCG teaches that it is] believed to be the Little Book of Revelation 10. Raising the Ruins omits to mention that Gerald Flurry himself referred to the date in the first edition of Malachi's Message. 'This message is being received by many people on the very day of the anniversary of HWA's death (January 16, 1986). We didn't plan it, but we are very happy it happened that way. You are going to see the date of HWA's death take on more significance as time goes on.' (p. 82). Maybe Flurry did not plan it that way but he certainly took advantage of that anniversary and instantly latched onto that date even before Malachi's Message was first published. This is evidence that Gerald Flurry tried to sanctify the mailing out of Malachi's Message by appealing to the memory of the date of HWA's passing. This does not prove that God attaches any significance to January 16.

The first sentence of that part has been changed in the modern version: 'Malachi’s Message was first received by many people on January 16, 1990, the very day of the anniversary of Mr. Armstrong’s death (January 16, 1986).' He then tries to use the 19 year time cycles to pinpoint January 16, 1991 as an important date. Gerald Flurry then identified the Gulf War as the prophesied event, ever so conveniently ignoring the fact that fighting actually began a day later on January 17. See also the March 16, 2004 letter here. Thus this prophecy is a failure and furthermore is a misrepresentation of the facts.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have this peculiar belief that Jerusalem fell in 607 BC but everyone else knows that it happened in 587/6 BC. It is the same with PCG, insisting that the Gulf War began on January 16, but everyone else knows it started a day later on January 17.

This is similar to what happened with the infamous Northridge Earthquake which occurred a day late to be useful to Gerald Flurry, on January 17, 1994.

It is very interesting to note, however, that in Chapter 13 of Raising the Ruins Stephen Flurry relates that Gerald Flurry wanted to 'reveal' Malachi's Message in January 1991 to coincide with the end of WCG's third 19-year time cycle.

But believing it was from God, he [Gerald Flurry] fully intended to deliver the message to church leaders in Pasadena—perhaps in January of 1991—the end of the work’s third 19-year time cycle. That was still a year and a half off, I thought.

This is evidence that from the beginning Gerald Flurry was determined to sanctify his work with some sort of chronological pattern, to give the appearance of having divine favor. Gerald Flurry completely disregardedthe fact that the time cycles was invented specifically to devise the infamous 1972-1975 prophecy of Christ's return. Gerald Flurry completely ignored the time cycle's previous failure in 1972. World War III, the nuclear Great Tribulation that would destroy all humanity unless Jesus Christ came back in 1975, was supposed to begin then. Maybe he has, ever so conveniently, forgotten about that.

However events soon spun out of control too quickly for this timeline to be fulfilled. By December 7, 1989 Gerald Flurry and his assistant John Amos were fired. Soon GF was well on his way to establishing his own church, the Philadelphia Church of God. He was unable to pull off his original timeline scenario, so he needed to quickly latch onto another event to sanctify his removal and/or the establishment of PCG in order to appear to have divine favor. He quickly latched onto January 16. Even before Malachi's Message got published he had already sanctified January 16 as an important day.

There was nothing important for January 16 in regards to Malachi's Message. It was sent in the mail on January 11. Even if WCG members received it on January 16 why is that day special and not January 13 or 14 or 15 or 17 or any other day in which WCG members received Malachi's Message? Why should not the printing be important, or the mailing of it? Because it would not fit the highly artificial pattern that Gerald Flurry devised.

And why is January 16 important? Is that not the 'pagan', 'papal', 'Satan inspired' Gragorian Calendar? Why not use the date on the Biblical Calendar as an important date? Why is it that the Gregorian Calendar is viewed as flawed and yet PCG uses that date in order to sanctify its founding and give the appearance of divine favor with no reference to what they acknowledged as God's Sacred Calendar? (Addition: As may be seen here January 16, 1986 was Shebat 6 and in the 1987-2010 period it falls on January 16 only once in 2005. In 1989 HWA's anniversary according to what 'That Prophet' Gerald Flurry acknowledge to be God's Sacred Calendar Shebat 6, the true anniversary of HWA's death, was February 1. That is 22 days, over three weeks, after MM was first posted. In 1991 it was on January 21, so the Gulf War started four days too early. In 1994 it was on January 18, so the earthquake was a day early. It never falls on January 17 either in that period. And also where is any of this in the Bible?)

If God does attach any significance to January 16 why does PCG need to pretend that the Gulf War started a day earlier than it actually did? Where in the Bible does it say that January 16 is important? This is simply an extra-biblical superstition. It is simply further evidence that PCG is simply the work of MEN and that God is not in PCG.

More on Raising the Ruins may be read here.

Ron Fraser: Ignoring Church Abuses Since 1968

PCG author Ron Fraser has written this article, Marriage—Soon Obsolete?

Here he reveals some details of how he joined WCG.

Well, I’m thankful that amid the search for the absolutes as a young seeker after truth crossing the threshold from teens into young adulthood, I came across one who preached the truth, no holds barred, and who challenged his listeners to prove he was right!

I took the challenge and proved it!

As a young married parent of two at the time, I read Herbert Armstrong’s booklet prophesying of a coming generation which would see marriage as largely obsolete. That was 42 years ago. [c. 1968.] Yesterday I read the headline that spoke of the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Now this article makes no mention of when he joined WCG. All it reveals is he was reading their writings around 1968. So it is impossible to know when he joined and became a participating member of WCG from this article.

It must be noted that Ron Fraser wrote this:

I know the negative statistics surrounding the families that are not embedded in the tradition of monogamous marriage. And I have, over the years, worked with people who have shattered their lives as a result.

Did Ron Fraser encounter the effects of HWA's abominable Divorce and Remarriage doctrine? Until 1974 HWA enforced a shocking policy that those who have remarried are living in adultery and must separate themselves. Only Heaven knows how many families were destroyed by this most monstrous policy. Did Mr. Fraser personally observe this happening?

In 1974 he changed this doctrine after others pointed out to him that his doctrine rested on a misunderstood word.

He was with PCG when Gerald Flurry changed the government in PCG letting a Prophet, which he claims to be, have administrative rule over the church, contrary to HWA's teaching on this matter.

But since Gerald Flurry pays him, of course, he does as he is told.

He was with PCG when they implemented the No Contact policy forbidding PCG members from having any contact with "Laodiceans" members of other COGs. As far as I am aware he implements this draconian policy.

But since Gerald Flurry pays him, of course, he does as he is told.

Gerald Flurry Changed the Government in PCG

Stephen Flurry has used the controversy in UCG as an opportunity to bad mouth LCG, as may be seen in his most recent column, Rod Meredith and Church Branches.

In these recent columns Stephen Flurry has focused his polemical retorts upon the two largest COG sects, UCG and LCG. He accuse UCG of changing the style of government. As for LCG he focuses on Meredith's attempts to implement collegial leadership during Global (1993-8).

Flurry's polemic ignores the fact that many COGs in fact practice one man leadership as practiced by old WCG.

In Meredith's case he focus on Meredith's attempt while in Global (1993-8) to have collegial government. He knows that after LCG was created Meredith reverted to one man rule but for the purposes of his argument this is de-emphasized and Flurry questions why this man chose to change things during that time to delegitimize him.

Let's see what he has to say:

When Rod Meredith left the Worldwide Church of God to start a new church in 1993, he clearly called into question the way Herbert W. Armstrong had governed the Worldwide Church of God.

Just like Gerald Flurry!

• 1) HWA taught from 1953 onwards until the day he died that Prophets cannot hold administrative power over church members.

PCG changed that and allowed a Prophet to rule over them.

This clearly contradicts HWA's teaching on this matter.

PCG has deceptively deleted these words which HWA wrote in Mystery of the Ages (Chapter 6):

No prophets are mentioned as having either administrative, executive or preaching functions in the New Testament Church.

If you view MOA from a non-PCG source you will find this statement. You will not find this statement in PCG's copies of Mystery of the Ages because they deleted it.

Therefore PCG has changed the form of government under HWA.

(I am aware that recently Gerald Flurry has declared himself an Apostle. This does not change the fact that until then PCG was ruled by a Prophet in clear contradiction to HWA's teaching.)

• 2: Gerald Flurry has called for "abnormal government" to be implemented within PCG in 2003.

On November 1, 2003 Gerald Flurry made a sermon in which he commented that PCG was entering a time of crisis because Satan is now on the earth. (PCG teaches that Satan was cast down to the Earth upon HWA's death in 1986.) He speculated that because of this time of crisis before the Great Tribulation it will be necessary to change create an "abnormal government" within PCG.

“REVELATION, 11, VERSE ONE IS ABNORMAL”

(Sniffs, voice changes) “Not that you’re abnormal! but this is abnormal administration of God’s Government.”

“Instead of setting up abnormal machinery to meet the highly abnormal need, the normal standards were not good enough at such a critical time. So they had to change the way they administered the Government. And so we enter into this time, brethren, and let me tell you, it’s getting to be pretty, pretty, fiercely bad. We enter into this time and Jesus Christ is showing me that there really is a change in the administration of our Government. There really is a change in that.

Satan has been cast down. Now that’s a different situation. I mean that’s like Hitler attacking, only it’s worse.And so we have that to contend with. And it’s, as I said, in the last hour, and no more delay, so Mr Armstrong’s structure of Government really will not work ... to get this job done.

Gerald Flurry knows how dangerous this rhetoric can be among people who has been (falsely) taught that PCG is the true church because they (alledgedly) have the same form of government as old WCG. So he tries to deceptively hide the fact that he is changing the government by pretending he isn't.

“It’s different brethren, but again, you see, it’s the same government, the same law that Mr Armstrong had!” And so I submit to it, you submit to it, but we do have to administer it in a different way.

This is merely deceptive doublespeak. Wikipedia offers these helpful words in discussing this concept.

Doublespeak (sometimes called doubletalk) is language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. ... It may also be deployed as...reversal of meaning (for example, naming a state of war "peace"). In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth, producing a communication bypass.

That is what Gerald Flurry is doing.

All of this, (having a Prophet wield administrative power over the church contrary to HWA's teaching, Gerald Flurry's call for "abnormal government" in 2003,) is deliberately ignored by Stephen Flurry to pretend that PCG preserves the same form of government, when they do not.

Let us continue with Stephen Flurry's column.

[Meredith] wrote in Church Government and Church Unity that the subject of church government had been seriously misunderstood during the days of Mr. Armstrong’s leadership.

How is this any different from your father, and employer, saying in the sermon cited above that

we’re in a fierce, fierce battle, just before the Great Tribulation and we’re going to have to do things differently; we already are doing them differently ... you are, I am, we ALL are and WE LIKE IT THAT WAY ...

I know Gerald Flurry claimed that this different way is "the way Christ leads us.” but that's just deceptive doubletalk.

Most of Stephen Flurry's column is devoted to discussing Meredith's booklet, Church Government and Church Unity, and Flurry insists that HWA always believed that there was one man in charge in the church.

Alas that booklet is, as far as I know, not available on the Internet, so it is hard for me to talk about what Meredith said.

This must be said: HWA was a false prophet so, as far as I am concerned, there is no need to wonder what his views on government were, because God was not with him.

A Brief History Of Pakistan's Blasphemy Law

Just read this article, A, B and C of the Pakistan blasphemy law, from ASSIST News, detailing some of the historical reasons why this infamous law was adopted in Pakistan.

Alas, this law tends to be used to intimidate religious minorities within Pakistan.

Pack Also Goes Poaching For UCG Members

Stephen Flurry has recently been boasting how great PCG is.

Dave Pack has been doing exactly the same thing as may be seen in his article, RCG Fruits—Phenomenal Growth Continues!

Imitating HWA's twisting the Scriptures that "Fruits" means "Membership/Material growth" of the organization Pack asserts that his sect has grown more then any other COG. Like HWA before him and Stephen Flurry as seen earlier "Apostle" Pack assures us that this growth is a sign of divine favor.

None of that changes the fact that HWA was a false prophet who spread countless fear inducing prophecies which simply did not happen.

Let the reader remember these words of Scripture.

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath NOT SPOKEN, but the prophet hath spoken it PRESUMPTUOUSLY: thou shalt not be afraid of him.' (Deuteronomy 18:22, emphasis mine).

What is HWA's track record?

• He predicted Christ to return in 1936 (p. 3).

• He predicted that Mussolini then Hitler was the Beast.

• He preached for years, from 1953 onwards, that Jesus Christ would return in 1975. Nothing happened.

• In Mystery of the Ages he claimed Christ would return by 2005. (PCG altered that book after the court case so if you look up their version you won't see that prediction.)

It does not matter how much growth RCG or PCG or any of the other COG sects have when it can be shown by his false prophecies that Herbert W. Armstrong was a false prophet. From at least 1936 HWA spoke presumptuously on his own authority, not that of God, in regards to prophecy.

Claims of growth are meaningless.

PCG Members Are About 5500

LCG apologist Bob Theil has an intriguing article, PCG Statistics commenting on Stephen Flurry's column, which among other things confirms what PCG observers have long suspected since at least 2003: that PCG's membership stands at around 5000 and is thus the smaller than LCG and UCG.

Stephen Flurry's Deceptive Polemic Against UCG and LCG

Stephen Flurry has unleashed another column discussing the UCG split, Making Sense of the Church Split: Judge By the Fruits. (He means you are to choose his own: PCG.)

He takes this opportunity to spread cheap and deceptive propaganda to insist that PCG is the only true church.

He weaves mundane circumstances and insists that they reveal the hidden workings of the universe.

First he uses the old if-they-didn't-mention-us-it's-because-they-wish-we-didn't-exist rhetorical trick. Observe how he uses it.

After joining the United Church of God in 1995, one former minister of the Worldwide Church of God outlined four choices for disgruntled members of the wcg: 1) Stay with the Worldwide Church of God; 2) join the United Church; 3) go with Rod Meredith’s Global Church of God; or 4) wait on God to clearly reveal where to go. In his mind, the Philadelphia Church of God wasn’t even worthy of consideration!

Never mind all the other choices that were around at the time, such as joining Dankenbring, who was actually kicked out of WCG by Tkach even earlier than Flurry, the pre-1986 splits such as Garner Ted Armstrong's sect, or the pre-1974 splinter groups which retained the Monday Pentecost and that abominable Divorce and Remarriage doctrine.

There were in fact many other choices available to WCG members in 1995. Or even simply abandoning the heretical Armstrongite tradition altogether.

Suephen Flurry however focus his attention on Meredith in the Global era and UCG to deceptively insinuate that every other COG does not have the correct government when most COGs, as far as I can tell, still practice one man government as old WCG.

Stephen Flurry then complains that other COG ministers complained that PCG retained the same form of government as WCG. He brings that point out to make it appear as though only PCG had the courage to retain government precisely, when actually PCG have made changes, such as allowing a Prophet (Gerald Flurry) to hold administrative power over the church. This is contrary to what HWA always taught, that Prophets can have no administrative power over the church.

Stephen Flurry omits the many other legitimate complains made against PCG: that Malachi's Message is plagiarized from Jules Dervaes' Letter to Laodicea, PCG's idolatrous reverence for Malachi's Message, the fact that prospective members were required to believe that HWA is the end time Elijah before being allowed to attend, a completely new requirement.

In reality many COGs continue to embrace the one man rule as practiced by old WCG, but PCG continues to lie and confuse their members on this subject.

Back then [circa 1995], it wasn’t so much where you went, you just needed to get out of the Worldwide Church of God. There were plenty of “branches” you could join. Any of them would work—as long as it wasn’t the Philadelphia Church of God. [This is simply a straw man Stephen Flurry made to make PCG look special.] We, after all, had that old authoritative government. It was much too harsh and austere, Laodicean ministers would tell prospective members if they inquired about the PCG.

Publicly, however—because we were never considered a viable option [by whom? Straw man again.]—these ministers simply ignored the work of the Philadelphia Church of God—even as it became more and more difficult to overlook.

Stephen Flurry then complains that the other COGs remained neutral during their "war" with WCG over HWA's copyrights.

He completely neglects to mention that

• HWA's writings were freely available for viewing on the Internet during the entire time of the court case. I can personally testify that I found and read Mystery of the Ages on the Internet about 2000-1 and it has remained online to this very day.

• Omits to mention that PCG has since made alterations to HWA's writings, including removing HWA's teaching that Prophets cannot hold administrative office over the church from Mystery of the Ages.

He then writes crowing over how COG members are requesting their HWA writings:

Now that the lawsuit is over and we own the literature, many brethren from other churches have contacted us for copies, since we offer it freely to anyone who makes a request. In private, some ministers from other groups have even encouraged their members to come to us for personal copies of Mr. Armstrong’s books.

Of course these books have been sanitized to fit PCG innovations in doctrine.

He then spends a lot of time bragging about how great and wonderful PCG is. Never mentions how he requires PCG members to have "no contact" with former members and "Laodiceans".

He makes this statement which I found quite disgusting:

Our total worldwide income in 2010 amounted to $20.6 million—a solid 5 percent increase over 2009....[Please note, as I understand it UCG had abolished third tithe.] The UCG had about 20,000 people attend its fall festival in September—roughly four times the amount we had at our sites. Yet its overall income for 2010 was only 16 percent more than the PCG’s—$23.9 million.

Our members are so much more profitable than yours! Stephen Flurry seems to be saying.

He thinks this is a good thing.

To me this demonstrates how viciously exploitative PCG has been towards their eternally suffering flock.

Stephen Flurry then turns his barbs on Meredith and accuse him of showing poor judgment in adopting a collegial form of government under Global, insinuating that he has lost divine favor. Flurry also manages to throw in a They-called-me-a-Nazi accusation at Meredith.

He then ends with this:

How, then, can you know if that man is humbly submitted to the government of God and is faithfully following Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church? You shall know, Jesus said, by their fruits.

The unsuspecting reader will not know that PCG's fruit include shattered families torn apart by the No Contact rule, and exploited members being used to empower the oppressive leadership in Edmond, while laboring under a web of deceptions all perfectly calculated to say, PCG is the one true church so give your three tithes.

The Original Bible Story

Most of us are familiar with Basil Wolverton's The Bible Story, a retelling of the events of the Old Testament, covered with a heavy dose of HWA's heretical teachings.

It debuted in the November 1958 Plain Truth and was serialized in the Plain Truth and later Tomorrow's World until April 1972. (Which happened to be the last issue of Tomorrow's World. If wonder if those events were connected?) Eventually it was compiled into six volumes.

I have just learned that from 1952-7, ending one year before Wolverton began his work, one Arthur Maxwell, a Seventh Day Adventist, wrote and published a series of 411 tales, compiled into ten volumes, entitled The Bible Story. Here is its official website advertising it. The title is exactly the same as Wolverton's work.

Also it should be remembered that Wolverton's work was also referred to as The Story of Man. Still I find this similarity remarkable.