Notes and a video

• Read Aggie’s account and J’s account with the upheaval going on in the United Church of God. It’s President Clyde Kilough has resigned but the Chairman of the Board will take on the UCG’s presidential duties. I have been firm in my opinions on the UCG’s compromise on the essentials of historic faith and I am still firm. There are many people whom I know in the Living Church of God and the United Church of God that are very sincere in their belief and I do highly value them. Yes, there are those in the splinters who are like the late Heath Ledger’s version of The Joker and have dealt with such toxic personalities but I am not talking about them. There are some in the UCG and other like groups who are honest, decent, God-fearing folk who I think that the establishment has used them to no end. I can only pray that they recognize that “enough is enough”. Refusing to tithe to the headquarters is only a bandaid solution. A mass exodus to freedom (wherever it may take them in their faith). Frankly, I wish ministries like Doug Ward, John Valade and Pam Dewey will finally take root after a mass exodus in the UCG or the LCG for that matter. These people mentioned were never ordained in any XCG ministry, are pretty sane minded people who are not prone to fanatical wild-eyed private interpretations of scripture and were never in it for the money (all more the reason).
• For those wondering about the condition of former WCG evangelist Ron Dart, this is from Pam Dewey about approximately an hour ago from the Facebook site called Praying for Ron Dart.

Current info at the caringbridge site: They began to give him Vitamin K to speed up the clotting time, and it appears that the bleeding has either stopped or is very slow. He has a blood clot where he has been bleeding, that will need to be absorbed by his body. The doctors believe he will be okay, but it will take a… while for his body to absorb the clot.

For those who don’t know what happened to Mr. Dart, the Facebook site explains,

Ron Dart suffered a fall on Thursday night, 8 April. He hit his head and lost a lot of blood, but was checked by doctors and returned home. A CT scan at that time showed no bleeding on the brain and he was coherent and lucid.

However, during the day on Friday, he had growing problems with his speech and he returned to the doctor. He was then transported by ambulance to ETMC where is currently in the Neuro ICU.

I will admit that back on my previous blog in 2006, I  was “gloating” that Christian radio stations were taking his Born To Win program off the air getting on the “evangelical” bandwagon. I remain firm on my then concerns about Ron Dart’s teachings but I could have taken a more “humble” approach than I did in 2006. I must give him credit for a splendid essay on the Christian Woman in which he rightly criticizes the sex-negative early Church Fathers and their misogynistic worldview on women.  Also FYI Again rightfully told me and others of the dangers of equating all XCGs on the same footing. Yes, as scripture states 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.” As Gavin Rumney once stated that we have arrogantly assumed knowledge of things. God can and will correct errors whether moral or doctrinal of EVERYBODY (that includes me). I join in the chorus of the prayers for many to restore Ron Dart to health and let God lead him in the way that he should go.

• A fellow Canadian by the name of Rand Zacharias who is a former WCG member now his autobiography about his time in the Church  for all to see here.
• Here’s tip to PasedenaGuy 10 who found this inspiring video from Adrew Rieu in which he performs the “Hallelujah” chorus! Enjoy!

 

The Boy Is Back In Town and The Girl is Doin’ Fine!

Believe it or not J, of Shadows of WCG IS BACK and LOUDER than ever! Hallelujiah!!!  J’s blog is actually titled, Shadows of WCG: The Next Generation and he is steaming full speed ahead pulling no punches about the news about Joe Jr.’s  proposed eventual name change for the WCG into Grace Communion International:

As long as Joseph Tkach, Junior, remains as the President, he continues a legacy directly from Herbert Armstrong himself. There are no broken chains.

The name change means nothing. This is what has to happen.

First, Joseph Tkach Junior must step down. Joe, it is time to go.

Second, after Joe has resigned from office, the Board of Directors must enact prudent and respectable bylaws with sound doctrine on term limits and bylaws on financial accountability.

Third, the Board of Directors must appoint a president removed from the past Worldwide Church of God – cutting all ties from the denominational historical garbage that permeates their fellowship.

Joe, It’s Time to Go.

It’s time to leave your denomination and cut all ties to Herbert Armstrong and his form of Government. It’s time to do the right thing. It’s time to go.

Take your pension, take your salary, and leave. It’s time to go.

Name changes mean nothing. Put your words into action…

Joe, your term as President should be over. You know it, and I know it.

Joe, It’s Time to Go.

My personal words to J, “It’s good to see you back in town to kick ass!!!” I remember Gavin Rumney and myself contacting eachother on the internet back in 2005 and I was verifying from a Worldwide News article back in 1997 that Joe Jr. only wanted to be in office for 10 years.  Joe Jr. was pastor general in 2005, September of that year marked 10 years. It was time for him to go then! In my books he has been and always has been a polarizing figure for the WCG.

Here’s J’s new blogsite .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I want to meet AggieAtheist so I can give her the Obama fist bump and say, “Right on Sista (in President Obama’s voice, of course!) !” This prolific bloggist who had a blog about the historic WCG’s “Purple Hymnal” and a blog called  “Weinland Watch” is now in charged of I Survived Armstrongism, in which Russell Miller decided to step down and form an offshoot blog called Holy Mighty Atheist. Read one of his posts called “Republican Church of God” and I say the brotha speaks the truth!!! It will get James Pate jumping up and down  but I digress. Aggie who knows how to get around and is also in her full speed attack against the forces of darkness of Armstrongism. Eat your heart out General Patton.  Aggie is slapping the faces of ten yellowbellies and good for her! She is in NO WAY giving Joe Jr. and his proposed name change a break in any way! She has a post linked to the Ironwolf message board where someone shares their experiences with some jerky (to say the least) authoritarian ministers in the historic WCG. It’s not pretty but these things did happen only to prove the rotten fruit  did exist and for someone to deny that is in a dangerous dreamworld. Aggie’s linking up with other sites against the darkness of Armstrongism. She has linked sites of online books like Daughter of Bablyon (actually I should put it on my blogroll),Flying Free (actually you have to pay for this download but that’s okay) and Dreaming in Arabic writting by Jennifer Armstrong (a pleasant  lady whom I know  personally growing up in the Y.O.U.) which discusses a little bit of her WCG upbringing, her trip to Jordan as an Ambassador College student and a little bit of Middle East history. So far, I have enjoyed Aggie’s takeover and I hope she can keep it exciting and more importantly, keep people well informed. Great job Aggie, as KC and Sunshine Band would say, “Keep It Coming Love,keep it coming, love! Keep it coming, love!
Don’t stop it now, don’t stop it, no, don’t stop it now, don’t stop!”

J has moved on to WordPress too!

 

It has been over a year and a half that I have moved this blog to wordpress. I believe I have still done the right thing. WordPress.com has it’s nice gadgets. J, of Shadows of WCG on the other hand has immediately decided to end Shadows of WCG as we know it on Blogger.com, with the exception to let it run on cyberspace for archival purposes. As J, moves to WordPress, he is starting something different. According to him it is more “journalistic” in its approach to discussing the splinters of Armstrongism. The name of this new site is called Everything COG at http://everythingcog.wordpress.com/. As I have wished that Shadows will last for decades (and probably will as archives), I hope this everything you need to know about the XCGs will be around for a long time too. If J, wants me to do some book reviews on let`s say The Armstrong Empire or Armstrongisms 300 Errors Exposed By 1300 Verses, I will gladly do it. I also thank him for praising my blogsite saying ,

Felix Taylor’s well written and honest blog on musings of life after the Church of God experience. Honest and to the point, Felix brings a refreshing viewpoint from Canada.

With other links to blogs, J has a left-right spectrum. You are left if you are anti-XCG and orthodox in Christianity, right if you are pro-XCG. I guess for myself, I guess I am probably the radical centrist of bloggers. I am definately anti-Armstrongist, pro-orthodox in my Christianity but the only Church of God I like to see around succeeding is the Church of God (Seventh Day) and I am supportive of Armstrongist Refuseniks (read my post October 2007) being somewhat hopeful that they at some pont can embrace orthodoxy but at the same time retain some of their distinctives that do not compromise Christian essentials. As always I wish J, the very best in his new project.

J’s Forum’s closed but not his blog

As Byker Bob first mentioned on WCG Alumni after midnight  or so (my time EST), that J’s Shadows of WCG’s forum is closed.  A lot thoughts and emotions have gone through my head, one of disappointment but I do understand the reason(s) why he did it. One of the main factors is that he is going through the stresses of new employment at his current job after dealing with the stresses of unemployment from his other job so message board definately gets last priority on the list.  The other factor is that somehow, the message board was getting non-responsive after when it was first promoted it was fully active.  I really thought this particular message board was going to overshadow Mark Tabladillo’s board. That was not meant to be. I enjoyed hearing the stories (regardless whether it was the good, the bad or the ugly) from a younger audience and those who grew up in the historic WCG or their respective splinter group.  The word fascinating is simply an understatement. Actually, I could relate to them a heck of a lot better than those who were older than I am especially those who were so-called “first generation” former WCGers who I felt just couldn’t understand my issues and concerns effectively. This is also the place where I met a few special people that I share a special bond with. Thankfully, on the message board site my personal messages are still there as well as the gallery of our pictures of ourselves, church activities, literature, etc.  Frankly, I would tell J in the words of MC Hammer, “You can’t touch this!”  As I throw this in the mix, I want to make something clear too. I am hoping for myself to at least take a month-long break from this blog and concentrate on my other blog The Way I See It Anyway which is more secular in it’s approach and deals with current affairs (need to focus on Obamamania and the Socialist Silly Hall at Toronto—my Torontonian viewers will understand what I am talking about), physically fit women whom I admire greatly and some good ol’ music videos (I love the ’80’s!).  A nice little break from all the seriousness and sometimes tension that can arise here. I  hope to see new posts from J on the blog, but I must be realistic and expect him to do this later on as of the new committments that I mentioned that he must overtake. I sincerely wish J the peace that passes all understanding, his adjustment to his new job and the stresses that he is coping with will eventually subside. Take care of yourself J (and try to have some fun in between)!

J does it again…more satire against Armstrongism!

Can’t get enough of satire against the religious stupidity in the cult of Armstrongism? Get your full dose on J’s sister blog COG Humor and get a bellyfull of laughs against the religious stupidity that you once had to reckon with. Go to http://coghumor.blogspot.com/ receive a good dose of medicine for the soul! And yes, J, I am hoping this site will last for decades to come, tormenting the leaders of the XCG who cannot handle satire (and never will)!

Intelligent quote of the day

“So all atheists; all Sabbath breakers; all celebrators of Easter and Xmas; all despisers of the Holy Scriptures, by equating it with pagan writings, and haters of HWA will not be in God’s kingdom!”

Theres 99.999% of the world right there. Nice that you have shown a mass judgement to the entire world. Who put you in the place of God, Tom? Did God say HWA haters wouldn’t be in the Kingdom, or did you? Who gave you the right to make that judgement?

If Tom would look at 1 Corinthians 6, he would see that the Bible is clear about who will not inherit the Kingdom of God: Lets see. Immoral, idolaters, adulterers, theives, greedy people, drunks, slanderers, swindlers, to name a few. What you dont find here is emphasis on celebrators of easter, christmas, and “haters” of a man named Herbert Armstrong.

If Tom was God, his way of judging people’s entrance into the Kingdom is clear. “Did you keep Christmas? Did you Keep Easter? Did you accept HWA? Do you hate Herbert Armstrong? DO YOU?” Seriously, does one REALLY think that is God’s standard for admittance into his kingdom? That’s spiritually immature thinking. Tom is thinking like a pharisee, and doesn’t even recognize that he is thinking, acting, and speaking like a pharisee – in fact a pharisee of pharisees – focusing on the standards of traditions and law keeping, days, and the physical instead of focusing on the matters of the spiritual – which, if one does a good exegesis of the bible, and especially the book of John, was what Jesus was trying to do – get them to quit thinking in the manner of the physical, including traditions and days, and start looking at the reality of the spiritual, now that Christ had come.

Tom, I’m glad you don’t sit on the throne of God casting judgement on the world. With you in charge, no one would stand, and you would condemn without a second thought based on observances on days and seasons and years. But I don’t have to worry about that – in my belief and worldview, Christ is on the throne and will be the one casting judgement, not you. Thank God for that.

—J of Shadows of WCG comments in Gavin’s Ambassador Watch blog about a hard-core, ultra-conservative Armstrongite’s view on God standards of righteousness and thanks that God alone will be the rightful judge, not a hardline XCGer.

Intelligent quote of the day

What has happened to American Religion?

It’s obvious that american religion – especially Christian Churches – are corporations. When did the Church become a Business, instead of the Church being the People first?

Churches seem to care more about the BUSINESS then the PEOPLE.
Christian music is a Corporate Business.
Christian bookstores are Corporate Businesses.
Christian radio is Corporate Business.
Christian evangelism is Corporate Business.

It seems to be all about the money for so many.

J, of Shadows of WCG discussing on his message board that consumerism and corporatism has corrupted American evangelical Christianity

Take a look at J’s website’s new look!

 I like it! I am also very, very, very glad that he is back blogging (as well as he and a few friends are managing a message board at the same time). I hope he knows that I also have moved to WordPress and will link up my new site.  I still hope he his blog is for decades to come. I have now put his site on my blogroll.