COG Alexa Rankings (October 2013)

I loved Gavin Rumney's old Alexa lists. Here is another list to see how popular the websites of the various COGs compare to each other.

For comparison here are other Alexa lists from June and July and August.

I have chosen not to check the rankings of quite so many COGs as before. It is too burdensome to look at so many splinter groups.

UCG: 56,226
RCG (Pack): 110,874
The Trumpet (PCG): 149,238
Grace Communion International (Tkach's WCG): 150,941
COGWriter (Thiel): 170,727
Tomorrow's World (LCG): 383,704
LCG: 374,184 (See below. LCG still seems to have more web activity than Bob Thiel.)
COGWA: 381,818
Life, Hope and Truth (COGWA): 444,240
Real Truth (RCG): 584,486
PCG: 612,013
Continuing COG (Thiel): 634,117
Vision (Hulme): 1,052,990
Plain Truth Ministries (Albrecht): 1,435,137
Triumph Prophetic Ministries (Dankenbring): 1,690,715
Shining Light (Malm): 2,049,385
COG International: 2,209,458
CCG (Wade Cox): 2,460,918
Intercontinental COG: 2,677,031
The-End.com (Weinland): 4,485,229
Cogl.org (LCG): 5,419,663
RonaldWeinland.com: 10,925,350
COG-PKG (Weinland): 24,224,507

UCG remains unassailably ascendant. A COG that decided to change their method of government to a somewhat more democratic way, as Bob Thiel often liked to say, continues to be the main COG. Despite the constant scheming, criticism and plotting against them by Flurry, Pack, Thiel, Malm and others, UCG remains ascendant. King of the COG world.

Dave Pack was wrong. The COGs are still very much active. He predicted they would be destroyed by August 30, 2013. RCG is still well behind UCG, LCG, COGWA and PCG in terms of members. We know there has been no great migration to RCG. Dave Pack would certainly tell us at great length if such was the case. Also RCG's web site has remained static.

Here is the recent timeline of Alexa rankings for Dave Pack's websites:

RCG:
June         87,220
July          105,715
August     115,494
(August 30, 2013, Pack's prophesied reunification does not happen.)
October  110,874

There was certainly no great expansion within RCG as Pack insisted would happen by August 30, 2013. 

The decline for Real Truth's web site is particularly noticeable.

Real Truth:
June        448,357
July         435,144
August    456,355
(August 30, 2013, Pack's prophesied reunification does not happen.)
October  584,486

These figures indicate that in the build up to Pack's falsely prophesied reunification due August 30, 2013, there was an increase in web activity but after the prophetic failure activity has gone down on Real Truth's website, while RCG has remained stable but certainly shows no indication of any great reunification happening.

Ronald Weinland's imprisonment for tax evasion has been a disaster for his cult group. Hardly anyone is reading his stuff. Most dramatically RonaldWeinland.com fell from 2,571,463 in August to 10,925,350 at present.

LCG's websites have gone down. Tomorrow's World is down from 221,574 in August to 383,704 now. LCG is down from 289,043 in August to 374,184 at present.

LCG in all probability still has more web activity then Bob Thiel, despite what the list seems to show. If you add Tomorrow's World and LCG's websites together there is probably still more web activity for Meredith's cult then Thiel's. I do not know how one could combine the statistics for those two websites together and then compare them to Thiel's websites, but it seems most likely that more people are still reading LCG's writings then those of Thiel. There is no evidence of any great massive membership growth within Bob Thiel's little personality cult.

James Malm's blog has gone down from 1,217,186 in August to 2,049,385 today. Perhaps some followers of his are starting to realize that Malm is not worth their attention and moving on elsewhere.

PCG's Trumpet has come down from 108,171 in August to 149,238, falling behind RCG. A far cry from the supposed destruction PCG was supposed to face by August 30, 2013.

Web statistics do not tell everything. For instance the most viewed website for any political party in Britain is a certain far right, racist party that is not even present in Parliament. Just because people are reading your stuff it does not necessarily mean they are going to join or pay tithes.

COG Alexa Rankings (August 2013): Dave Pack is Down, so is Weinland

Here is the latest Alexa rankings for various COG websites.

UCG: 53,212
Philadelphia Trumpet (PCG): 108,171
RCG: 115,494
CGI/WCG (Tkach): 180,125
Tomorrow's World (LCG): 221,574
Cogwriter.com (Bob Thiel): 254,811
LCG: 289,043
CGG: 297,561
Real Truth (RCG): 456,355
Cogwa: 459,539
PCG: 474,649
Life, Hope and Truth (Cogwa): 568,546
COG-AIC (Hulme): 961,873
CCOG (Bob Thiel): 988,725
Herbert-Armstrong.org (Don Tiger): 1,184,914
Shining Light (James Malm): 1,217,186
CGI: 1,262,806
Plain Truth Ministries: 1,387,565
Triumph Prophetic Ministries: 1,596,464
CBCG (Fred Coulter): 1,721,171
Banned by HWA: 1,909,673
Cogl.org (LCG): 2,369,667
RonaldWeinland.com (Weinland): 2,571,463
COG Faithful Flock: 2,589,573
Hold Fast to All Things: 2,886,795
COG Seventh Day: 3,331,291
The Journal: 3,438,877
Intercontinental COG: 3,083,017
CEM (Ron Dart): 3,112,823
Kubik.org (UCG): 3,614,706
TheEnd.com (Weinland): 3,706,064
Foundation Institute (Cogwa): 4,866,520
COG the Eternal: 6,148,762
COG-PKG (Weinland): 6,529,070
Faithful COG in Laodicea: 11,640,910
CGOM: 12,156,111
Biblical Truth (Weinland): 19,721,535
COGAIC.org (Hulme): 22,313,502

Dave Pack's websites have dropped their Alexa ranking since last month. Both RCG.org and the RealTruth.com have stayed in their previous positions and have actually dropped in Alexa ranking.

RCG.org was 105,715 last month, now it is 115,494.

RealTruth.com was 435,144 last month, now it is 456,355.

One would think that if the COGs were about to be reunified under the rule of Dave Pack there would be a surge of activity. However, as everyone outside of Pack's information bubble expected, this has not happened. 

Also notable is how Ronald Weinland's websites have plummeted since last month.

TheEnd.com was 830,376 last month, now it is 3,706,064.

RonaldWeinland.com was 1,047,506 last month, now it is 2,571,463.

COG-PKG.org was 2,137,763 last month, now it is 6,529,070.

It would appear many have been drifting away from him now that he is less able to control them. I wish these brave and courageous defectors well. 

COG Alexa Rankings (July 2013)

Here a new list of COG rankings.

UCG: 50,164
Philadelphia Trumpet (PCG): 89,076
RCG: 105,715
CGI/WCG (Tkach): 167,879
Tomorrow's World (LCG): 183,671
CGG: 263,048
Cogwriter.com (Bob Thiel): 309,685
LCG: 345,168
Real Truth (RCG): 435,144
PCG: 476,471
Life, Hope and Truth (Cogawa): 757,846
Cogawa: 762,263
TheEnd.com (Weinland): 830,376
COG-AIC (Hulme): 996,700
Shining Light (James Malm): 1,013,677
RonaldWeinland.com (Weinland): 1,047,506
CGI: 1,068,661
Herbert-Armstrong.org (Don Tiger): 1,087,933
Triumph Prophetic Ministries: 1,386,422
CBCG (Fred Coulter): 1,388,785
Hold Fast to All Things: 1,400,159
CEG: 1,558,095
Plain Truth Ministries: 1,585,894
COG Seventh Day: 1,762,403
Cogl.org (LCG): 1,903,097
COG-PKG (Weinland): 2,137,763
CCOG (Bob Thiel): 2,204,916
The Journal: 2,447,386
COG the Eternal: 3,062,178
Intercontinental COG: 3,213,028
CEM (Ron Dart): 3,255,385
COG Faithful Flock: 3,515,584
Enduring COG: 3,940,206
Kubik.org (UCG): 4,713,665
Foundation Institute (Cogawa): 6,057,422
FOI (Cogawa): 11,673,264
COGAIC.org (Hulme): 13,585,983
Faithful COG: 15,480,038
Biblical Truth (Weinland): 18,706,077
CGOM: 24,003,573

Compared with last month there's no sign of any great burst of activity in Dave Pack's RCG in anticipation of the reunification Pack has declared will happen August 30, 2013. Actually it has gone down from 87,220 to 105,715.

Also LCG.org has now overtaken Dave Pack's Real Truth website.

There's no sign anything astounding will happen at RCG on August 30, 2013.

The unordained, self appointed false prophet Bob Thiel has fallen behind John Ritenbaugh's Church of the Great God.

Sliding Scale of COG Authoritarianism

There are over 700 Armstrongite splinter groups out there devoted to spreading and maintaining the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong in one way or another. Most are very small, many containing only one congregation.

Some are terribly authoritarian and oppressive towards their lowly members. Others less so.

As far I can tell the major COGs are arranged like this on the scale of authoritarianism.

Those at the top are less inclined to force members to obey every edict the ministers devise. Those lower in the scale are worse and appear to be increasingly damaging to anyone unfortunate enough to be involved in them.

UCG (Kubik)

Cogawa (Franks)

LCG (Meredith)

 

RCG (Pack)

PCG (Flurry)

House of Yahweh (Hawkins)

COG-PKG (Weinland) would be somewhere below LCG.

I am under the impression that Cogawa is somewhat more legalistic than UCG. However I must say I know little about Cogawa. It is hard for me to be sure in this matter.

COG Members Have the Power, But Will Not Use It

Silenced had a very good post discussing why UCG and COGWA divided and are simply not going to reunite, despite the yearning of many lay members.

In this article are these enlightening words revealing that members in fact have the power over the ministers, but, alas, for various reasons the members simply do not try to exercise their power over the ministers.

Secondly, you do have some power in this situation, but you refuse to use it. If you want your leaders to listen, withhold your tithes. But the very idea of doing this is so vile and unheard of to the average COG member, this will never happen. They seem to forget that church members have withheld tithes many times in COG history, the WCG split and recent UCG/COGWA schism being predominant examples. There’s confusion among youth who don’t understand the difference between withholding a tithe until a later date and not tithing at all. They’ve been brainwashed into believing that not forwarding a monthly tithe check to the Home Office is a horrific sin against God. Such is the resounding success of the COG’s systemic, cultural and institutional indoctrination. But the reality is, the members do have the power. The moment they withhold their money, these men would suddenly be all ears and scramble to find a solution. If you want reunification, you have to be willing to take an action on your own. But we’re confident that because this would work, you would never, ever try it.