Division is the New Unity

The COGWA Winter Family Weekend was a blast from a fellowship perspective. I even ran into old friends I haven't seen in over 20 years. This happens because so many of us have been playing musical chairs in the splinters since the 90's. I would never dismiss anyone's experience and criticism of the church but for my own experience, the average member in these churches is a God-fearing Christian that is just trying to do what they believe is pleasing to God and usually has a genuine affection toward others. I have never had a major conflict with anyone in the churches of God, including the ministers (save one, years ago). Many are just nice people that are fun to be around and party with, including the ministers. (Again, my own experience)

The theme at the WFW was "Unity" and I definitely felt unified with the brethren as I talked with old friends and made new acquaintances.  There was a general sense among all the brethren I spoke to that all the competing churches of God are generally the same. (This would not include the personality cults like Pack and Flurry) But this was, as I expected, not going to be the message of unity that would come from COGWA HQ.

[WARNING: What follows is going to come across as very harsh and cynical but only because I believe the churches of God  need a heavy dose of horribly tasting medicine and a prescription for a cure. Major "trigger warning" for those who love the church as I do but are still incapable of dealing with cognitive dissonance and facing reality.]

I have spent years in LCG being told at Feasts, winter weekends and must-plays from HQ that "We are NOT all the same!" All this did was prompt me to study and determine if this was actually true. I found most of the claims that made us different to be petty and the ones made that were seemingly important, I sometimes determined LCG to be the splinter in error. That being said, the cry for unity and all speaking the same thing from the ministry has always been a subjective cluster-

How much unity does it take to qualify to be unity until it's not and then there must be division for the sake of unity? If you ask the average member, it seems the bar is set much lower than those who claim to have the rule over them. The ministry would argue that such a low standard is set by lukewarm sheep. Maybe the standard is set too high by graceless shepherds concerned more about self-preservation.

In the very first seminar I sat in on, David Johnson made a not-so-veiled attack on 3 LCG teachings. The message was, don't go looking at LCG because:

1. They have an inordinate emphasis on the Ezekiel warning.
2. Dick Ames has a personalized version of the wedding supper. (Johnson tries to relate this to the rapture)
3. Doug Winnail thinks the "falling away" may be a general and global rejection of Western Civilization rooted in Christian ethics.

After this, came the usual threats and warnings of being deceived, even by "brethren" and family members (very unifying). He even concluded with a classic "Ames" tactic by shaming people who are not consuming organizational literature and webcast productions.

Regardless of one's position on those three points, what do they have to do with the gospel and the need for salvation?

Next up was a seminar by Joel Meeker who set up the classic straw man argument "proving" church government using Hebrews 10:25. He goes on to say that you must have a pastor and that we are commanded to attend holy convocations and have no choice. I haven't found any commanded assemblies in the New Covenant, Joel.

Joel then creates a list of "duties" for church administration and a list of "duties" for the members. He said the church is an organization and the organization organizes (brilliant). The church supports doctrine and protects us dummies from tricky men. When people leave the organization, it is always over "quarky" doctrine (I see what you did there, Joel). The church instructs, strengthens, comforts, encourages, protects, anoints and even provides physical needs because sheep faithfully tithe. Wow Joel! I guess when you put it that way, where would we be without you?

The duties of the sheep are to pray, study, fast, repent, think (how did that get in there) meditate, plan, and discern. This is where he took the time to flatter everyone in COGWA because they had the "spiritual discernment" to recognize UCG had "called good, evil and evil, good" and went with the holy men of COGWA who enacted division. He finished this list by warning us that everyone gets hurt by the church at some point but it is the duty of sheep to suck it up, persevere, watch your attitude and avoid a root of bitterness.

He concludes by attacking "those who would say that we [churches of god organizations] are all the same" using a real doozy of a straw-man argument. He goes to Revelation 2-3, points out they are all church of God and asks, does that mean you would not care which one you were in...that any one would do...are they all the same? (well played, Joel...well played) This obviously implies that the church really is an organization that we would call COGWA  and to go sniffing around anywhere else would be spiritual suicide. Yep...unity be the theme.

Next up, the captain of the ship, Jim Franks. Let's see. The smack-down was already put on LCG and UCG. Who would be next?

Franks starts by asking what one body means and what does unity look like. Ever the masters of double-speak, he humbly claims not to know. And then, I kid you not, he  references a class offered at their Foundation Institute that explains all the doctrinal differences between all the churches of God!

Jim Franks mentions that he read a new book on the history of the Worldwide Church of God. He didn't give the title but based on the sermon, I would guess he was referencing "The Fragmentation of a Sect: Schism in The Worldwide Church of God" written by David V. Barrett, PhD in Sociology. This caused him to wax nostalgically about the good ole days like when, for example, in 1967, the whole church was unified in praying God would heal Loma Armstrong (and then she died a week later). He said the church always had issues through the 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's but "it was still one body!"

In a shaken voice, he described what it was like being bullied by the Tkach administration that was changing everything. When he told them he did not understand the new teachings, they told him to just preach it first and you will come to believe it later. He compared his firing to being put on a cattle train headed for Auschwitz! Is this the response you would expect from a man that fears God more than losing his paycheck? I have actually lost jobs or lost job opportunities because of the Sabbath and never once felt I was on my way to Auschwitz. It truly amazes me to see it on display, how earth-shattering it was for (some) ministers to face financial difficulty but make light of it when brethren have routinely lived it, often expressing great faith in going through it (even if misplaced). Who did you think you were, Elijah on the run for his life?! Maybe you felt like you were in a cattle train headed for Auschwitz because that is how the top down-hierarchical structure with a narcissist pope you thrived in, operated for decades.

He goes on to argue that in order for the church to be unified, it must be unified in doctrine, purpose and behavior. But his main emphasis was almost exclusively on doctrine as he took time to attack Tkach and the changes they made and attributing the reason for the changes was because the new WCG did not value truth. I thought, you may not have agreed with the changes but you cannot  say the changes were because they did not value truth. What is truth? They certainly no longer valued Herbert Armstrong's truth, to be sure.

It is clear that to Jim Franks, unity is everyone in one corporate entity and he lays all the blame for all the splinters at the feet of Joe Tkach. But as I pointed out in my post, "Who Causes Division" David Barrett says all splits in WCG to the present various  churches of God could only be caused and were caused by the ministry. On pages 208-209:

"But in a family of churches where top-down authority has always been the norm...members were expected to follow their ministers."

"...it is primarily ministers who have actively left one church to join or to found another, and in many cases they took their members with them."

"...it is a feature of established sects that schism comes only from the divisions among the influential elite within each movement; no other person is sufficiently influential to cause division..."

"Schism must thus be from the ministerial ranks, and in particular from those at the center of the organization; the laity are too receptive and docile (accustomed to obedience) to initiate schisms, and have no opportunity to preach heresy, or to challenge organizational arrangement." 

Take note: Barrett says division in the churches of God come particularly from those at the "center [HQ] of the organizations" and the "influential elite." Preaching unity to the laity, and  most of the field ministers, is preaching to the choir. We get it better than you! Unity is a message that must be preached TO these HQ administrations, not BY these HQ administrations. “Divisions” in Jude 19 is APODIORIZO: which means, false teachers that cause division.

It's funny but, agree with him or not, at least Joe Tkach had fundamental change as reason for blowing up the cult. What are the  reasons that Jim Franks, Gerald Weston and Victor Kubik have for continuing to promote division? What fundamental, irreconcilable differences exist between them?

Then, just like Johnson, in a spirit of unity, he laid out 3 differences between COGWA and COG7D that justifies being divided:

1. They reject British-Israelism
2. They reject the annual holy days
3. They believe it is "the" day of salvation instead of "a"

Again, I will let you decide if this is of any salvational consequence.

I want to conclude with some things Mark Winner said in his seminar because I believe it gets to the root problem with the churches of God. Mark says in order for us to be unified, we must be less interested in our own ideas and more interested in God's ideas. I have been around long enough to know that "God's ideas" is code for what HQ determines is God's ideas.

He went on to actually say at a Winter Family Weekend where unity was the theme, that "focusing on what we have more in common takes us away from what God would have us to know." Really, Mark? Focusing on what unifies us separates us from God?

The one thing I heard all week that rang most true is when Mark said "unity and arrogance cannot coexist." Well, God bless you, Mark! That is exactly why division will always be unity in the eyes of those beholden to a corporate business model.

Peter told the brethren to grow in the "grace and knowledge" of Jesus Christ. Because the Adventist Movement has been Gnostic from it's inception, it has  an inordinate focus on knowledge (and foreknowledge) and has fallen flat on it's face concerning grace. Paul said if he had all knowledge and prophecy but had not love, he had nothing. Grace is the key ingredient needed for true unity because grace understands that everyone is not in the same place concerning knowledge at any given time. Each person is a unique library of knowledge and understanding unto themselves that grows daily.  Knowledge "puffs up" in and by itself but grace allows people to be where they and others are in the learning process without judgment and condemnation. Grace is what enables us to work out our own salvation, individually. Grace is what makes way for us to dwell peaceably with all men and enjoy one another in a spirit of unity, despite which splinter we attend. And maybe most importantly, grace is what enables us to actually learn from someone else and God forbid, even change our minds.

Knowledge, even "right" knowledge, without grace can be a stumbling block for those looking to embrace that knowledge and can cause offence. You know what Jesus said about being offensive.

Did you notice in Joel's list of duties, the brethren are not to be easily offended and to suck it up but there was nothing about the administration having a duty to not be offensive? Christ has a stern warning for those who cause offence in Matthew 18.

In Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus provided the model necessary for the proper functioning of the church that would organically suppress the always-present effects of arrogance, greed and abuse. WCG, LCG, UCG and COGWA have all chosen to directly disobey Christ and establish organizations He specifically warned them against establishing.

The context of Jude is a stern warning to be on the lookout for false teachers and leaders that cause division for they (Verse 11)  “have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit…” Add money to the mix and we now have a very toxic soup of arrogance, greed and abuse that largely goes unchecked every time you leave human power unchecked.

Again, I ask, what fundamental, irreconcilable differences exist between LCG, UCG, COGWA and even COG7D? In the business world, competitors often come from within an existing business where they learned the business. The competitor goes across the street and establishes a competing business that is fundamentally the same but with the "belief" that they are a little better or they have improved the product or service. There is no fundamental difference in the product or service, only the belief by the competition that they can perform the same service or produce the same product better or cheaper to increase profit margins. Every corporate entity is filled with a certain number of employees that believe they are better suited to lead and run the company. So they begin the climb of the corporate ladder or strike out across the street to compete.

And of course, the other driving factor to compete is the realization that the guy at the top is taking the largest cut, making money off the labor of those under him. There is nothing wrong with this per se, but is this something God would want as motivation in the "body of Christ?"

Businesses incorporate several methods to try and keep their best employees from becoming the competition or leaving to work for the competition. One of them are team building retreats. This is where the business throws a team-building party complete with seminars designed to propagandize and fun events to whip up endorphins in hopes that it will unify the help amongst themselves and with HQ while widening the gulf between the competition. By the time the retreat is over, it is hoped that those capable of competing are too happy to put in the work to compete and that they are convinced that the existing competition is inferior and not worthy of their effort.

Every business exists to get a certain percentage of your income in their pocket. Can you think of a business more lucrative than one that is able to siphon upwards of 30% or more from each customer's total income with no money-back guarantees, no product-performance expectations and the backing of a god who will rain down punishment on anyone who puts their hands to their corporate plow-share only to turn back? A business that is protected by the government, pays no taxes and is not required to make a profit, show a return on investment or present any positive fruits to justify existing?

 The unbiblical structure of the organizations and the unbiblical collection of tithes is supported by a false unity rooted in the arrogance of special knowledge. A ministry dependent on money will always market division as unity to protect the corporate entity. The church is not a business to be owned and controlled by wolves on Wall Street but that is what Herbert created; his own Information Marketing business cloaked in his own personalized Bible-speak. That cannot and never will fulfill the definition of the "body of Christ."

So the COGWA business retreat was fantastic. I got an endorphin fix from the fellowship. The adult beverages flowed late into every night, including the sabbath. As far as the seminars go, I have no clue how successful they are on the brethren. What I hope is only few brethren are making their decisions on which COG to attend based on petty doctrinal differences.  It is more probable those decisions are (nowadays) locally oriented and being based on where family members are, where friends are, where kids are so that our kids have friends. Who is providing more opportunities for the kids and who is throwing the best parties. I think this is blow-back from years of forcing brethren to live in a continuous state of urgency, never allowing people to be apart of life "out there." Never allowing us to take root in our communities, build church halls and actually have opportunities to love our neighbors.

Future seminars, sermons and feast messages will try to convince us making corporate decisions based on that kind of criteria is Laodicean or worse, showing ones self to be a "tare among the wheat." Whatever. The messages were disappointing as expected. I just didn't expect them to be that so blatantly bad! But I wonder. Does this show how "puffed up" and obnoxiously confident they are in the "unity" they have manufactured or does it expose just how fearful they are of the statistics showing the movement is continuing to dwindle with deaths out-pacing births, with no new prospects and the next generation saying, "I'm out"?

Either way, I expect the ante to continue to rise. More corporate retreats will be implemented with bigger and better bells and whistles. More camps, more dances, more adult beverages. Maybe a Hezekiah-type declaration to keep the Feast for two weeks! We are witnessing a church of God "Cold War" to see who will out-spend the competition to sop up the remaining tithe-payers of a dying movement. The winner will be the corporate entity that gives back the most dollars they whored for.

My advice: The failing business model of post-Herb splinters don't need a "prophet" (sorry, Bob). They need "The Profit" Marcus Lemonis, who rescues small businesses on CNBC because you are definitely not the body of Christ. That distinction is reserved for those spirit-led individuals that exemplify fruits of the Holy Spirit, always precluding organization. Dr. Meredith used to yell, "You can't put God in a box!" It's true! And yet, WCG and all the splinters have been trying to lay the body of Christ to rest in corporate coffins for decades. Hello?


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