Ups and downs

Thanks to the Australian correspondent who snapped this picture while driving near Bunbury, WA last week. He wonders whether this might be the start of an LCG franchise. Anyone living nearby might like to drop in and check whether they're selling ham sandwiches.

The new livingcog Yahoo group seems to be off with a hiss and a roar, signing up 28 members since it was announced just yesterday. In case it wasn't apparent in the previous posting, this is a privately operated board, not one bearing the Meredith imprimatur. The $64 question: will Bob mention it on COGwriter?

Today's Alexa stats reveal some interesting changes of fortune for several COG websites. The Pack RCG site - still ranked at the top of our unofficial list - seems to have finally peaked (fingers crossed.) It's the first reversal for RCG in months, now down to 65,000. While it may yet climb further, it now seems doubtful Dave will ever crash through the 60,000 barrier.

On the other hand, another Dave will be feeling relieved. Hulme's faltering flagship, Vision, has moved up to 624,000, now number 17 on the AW list - possibly due to an ad campaign on Google. This turkey can be expected to fly higher.

The two main news sources, AW and COGwriter, continue to climb. While Bob continues in 11th place, his actual Alexa ranking has continued to improve and stands at 281,000. AW moves from 9th position to 7, and is now ranked in the top quarter million sites on the Web at 221,000 - just a hairs-breath ahead of the Flurry Trumpet. Here's the list.

01 RCG (Pack) 65,850
02 UCG 104,081
03 Real Truth (Pack) 107,202
04 Born to Win (Dart) 145,130
05 The Good News (UCG) 174,575
06 WCG (Tkach) 176,081
07 AW Blog 221,063
08 The Trumpet (Flurry) 221,084
09 Bible Study (Ruth) 245,590
10 Reluctant Messenger (Boston) 279,011
11 COGwriter (Thiel) 281,118
12 Tomorrow's World (Meredith) 312,213
13 Beyond Today (UCG) 363,957
14 CBCG (Coulter) 503,635
15 Logon (Cox) 506,229
16 Key of David (Flurry) 516,308
17 Vision (Hulme) 624,029
18 Intercontinental (Armstrong) 639,781
19 LCG (Meredith) 721,548
20 GTAEA (Armstrong) 775,625
21 The Journal 808,725
22 CGG (Ritenbaugh) 960,627
23 ASK (Sielaff) 980,256

No other COG-related sites (which we're aware of) made it into the top million on the Internet.

A Voice for LCG members

A new, independent LCG discussion group has been launched on Yahoo.

The new forum is moderated by an LCG member, partly as a result of animated discussion recently on AW.

The new LivingCOG group is available at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/livingcog. The moderator states that it is:

"The ONLY forum created by a member of Living Church of God (LCG) due to recent administrative contention as a space where everyone is encouraged (sui generis) to freely express their opinions and concerns (both good and bad) about doctrine and other developments within LCG and related organizations with brethren and elders alike. Posts will usually be of a serious nature so it is asked that you be kind to others and respect all opinions. Everyone is welcome here. A prior background with LCG, UCG, WCG, PCG, etc. may be helpful."

It sounds like a great opportunity for LCG members to express a view and have it listened to. Anonymous postings will be permitted using pen names.

Plagiarism, Flurry and Fraulein Kraus

Bob Thiel has recently quoted extensively from Stephen Flurry's book on the matter of Herbert Armstrong's plagiarism. It seems the Stephen just doesn't accept it, and Bob is quick to agree.

"While it is true that Mr. Armstrong read Judah’s Scepter and Joseph’s Birthright, along with other books about the “Anglo-Israel” theory, he did not copy those works. Joe Jr. made that dishonest claim without any supportive evidence whatsoever, simply because he dislikes Mr. Armstrong and doesn’t agree with the book that more than 6 million people requested." (Flurry Jr.)

"PCG's Stephen Flurry, anti-COG critics notwithstanding, is correct that the books are not the same... The PLAIN TRUTH is that HWA came to a variety of different conclusions than J. Allen did, the books are not the same, and I do not believe that HWA plagiarized it." (Bob)

No supportive evidence whatsoever? Hogwash.

Here, for the edification of Stephen, are a few choice examples out of hundreds of possibilities. I've double checked the quotes - the details are at the bottom if anyone wants them. In fact, you might want to see if you can identify who wrote which.

1a. Remember that the term "Jew" is merely a nickname for "Judah." Hence, it applies to only to the one nation, or House of Judah only - never to the House of Israel.

1b. The name Jew is derived from, or rather is a corruption of, the name Judah.... Hence it is that the names Jew and Jews are applied only to the people who composed the kingdom of Judah.

2a. But the great bulk of Israelites are not the Jews, just as the great bulk of Americans are not Californians, and yet all Californians are Americans.
2b. Jews are Israelites, just as Californians are Americans. But most Israelites are not Jews, just as most Americans are not Californians.

3a. That Dan's leap landed him in Ireland is evident, for in that island we find to this day Dans-Lough, Dan-Sower, Dan-Monism, Dun-dalke, Dun-drum, Don-egal Bay and Don-egal City, with Dun-glow and Lon-don-derry just north of them.

3b. And in Ireland we find they left these "waymarks": "Dans-Laugh," "Dan-Sower," "Dun-dalke," "Dun-drum," "Don-egal Bay," "Don-egal City," "Dun-glow," "Lon-don-derry,"...

I remember reading a passage from Allen to a fellow church member way back in the 70s. The reaction? "That sounds just like Mr Armstrong!" Anyone being honest with the two books would, in my opinion, come to the same conclusion.

But True Believers care little for the facts I guess. No, Mr Armstrong did NOT plagiarise; no Mr Armstrong was NOT an alcoholic, no Mr Armstrong did NOT have sex with his own daughter: reminiscent of German housekeeper Gretchen Kraus in the 80s TV series Benson calling out "I can't HEAR you!"

When your beloved idol is showing the cracks it's often easier to apply another layer of whitewash and pretend otherwise.




Answers: (1) Armstrong 1967 p.80, (2) Allen 1902 p.66, (3) Allen 1902 p.71, (4) Armstrong 1967 p.82, (5) Allen 1902 p.266-267, (6) Armstrong 1967 p.117-118.

Peddling the Gospel

It's a peculiar thing, but the Churches of God are, despite their reduced circumstances, one of the more visible presences on the World Wide Web.

The proof of that assertion is in those irritating Google ads that tie in website content with whatever wares a retailer has to peddle. It doesn't have to be a specifically COG association either; chances are that if the keyword is Bible, prophecy, Sabbath or something similar, Google will deliver a smorgasbord of the usual suspects.

Example: the current AW poll results are surrounded by Google ads. I'm not knocking it, because it means the service is free (or alternatively, the COG advertisers shell out for it, which is a satisfying thought.) But even when the text of the poll has nothing particularly COGish about it, Papa Pack turns up to the party, usually just across from UCG. And, horror of horrors, Hulme seems to have finally “caught on” in a bid to attract traffic to his Vision website, and even Ron Weinland is promoting his brand of soon-coming doom.

So what? Well, I don't notice the Mormons using this strategy, or the Jehovah's Witnesses, or the SDAs. Maybe they're just not as desperate. On the other hand, maybe Pack and friends have hit on a really successful way of marketing the One True Gospel!

Yeah, right.

Meanwhile Don Billingsley has a new magazine for his faithful flock (who, as you can see, feature on the cover.) Something to put on the coffee table alongside The Good News, Vision, Tomorrow's World, The Real Truth, The Philadelphia Trumpet, The... oh, you get the idea. The new entrant is called The Philadelphia Remnant. Nifty title huh! Now to pick up a few subscribers maybe someone could suggest he spend some of the generous tithe money on those cool little Google ads...

A Snake in the Grass

Every so often a troublesome fellow comes along who turns the barrel of certitudes upside down, dumps them all over the carpet and then stands there smirking while everyone else is rendered speechless.

Such a troublesome spirit is Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Satan: A Biography.

Kelly enters the fray from UCLA. Not a theologian, but a professor of English with a passion for Medieval history. As we all know, non-theologians are dangerous creatures with a nasty habit of thinking outside of the square.

Now let's pause for a quick true or false quiz:

1. Satan is also known as Lucifer (T / F)
2. Satan first appears in Genesis as the serpent who tricks Eve (T / F)
3. Satan fell – he was cast out of heaven for leading a rebellion against God long ago (T / F)
4. Revelation speaks of a coming Anti-Christ (T / F)

If you said true to any of the above, Kelly has news for you. In a closely argued book which isn't without a sense of humor, the author sets out to put the record straight, and the gasps from the cheap seats are quite audible.

Now, just to be clear, we're not talking about some Biblicist text-banger who has discovered a “new truth.” This is a serious historical account of how we came to believe what we do about Satan. And according to Kelly, most of the things we think we know about the devil are creations of the Church Fathers, especially Justin Martyr, Origen and Tertullian. And that includes a lot of detail that Herbert Armstrong taught. Kelly doesn't mention Armstrong, but anyone who has read the literature will see that, for example, much of that “new truth” in his booklet “Did God Create a Devil?” was lifted directly from impeccably Catholic sources. Kelly argues that these views were then read back into the Bible, or “retro-fitted.” Put another way, it doesn't really say what most of us assume it does... and he proceeds to make a strong case.

Kelly goes through every occasion where Satan or the devil (which he translates as a proper noun, Devil) appears in the Bible, and even takes the reader through a crash course on the influential books of Enoch, Jubilees and the Wisdom of Solomon. The Prince of Darkness emerges as an authorized agent of God, a kind of divine Tester, not a particularly nice one, but “just doing his job” as they say.

And who really is Lucifer if he isn't Satan? Well, maybe not who we think he is, and Kelly indulges in a fascinating bit of exegesis to demonstrate another possibility entirely.

This wide ranging book is a major broadside at traditional beliefs, and the surprise is just how traditional COG beliefs on this subject really are. It's sure to stir up a hornet's nest, or perhaps it would be more apt to say a devil of a fuss.

Meanwhile back in Holy Mother Church

A couple of items in the Nov/Dec issue of Together (the downsized WN) caught the sharp eyes of AW readers.

Ron Kelly, despite retirement, is the Big Enchilada (Group Tour Coordinator) for this year's Festival Cruises and Tours - the un-FOT aFlOaT. Pray for calm seas brethren, though for a truly Biblical experience wouldn't a reenactment of Acts 27:41 be fun!

And AW's most famous correspondent from pre-blog days, DP, notes that WCG has lost its "last founding member," Mrs Bobby Fisher. "Mr. Armstrong baptized Bobby while she was in her early teens, and she often spent time with the Armstrongs in their Eugene home. She said it was her responsibility to help spreading sawdust on the floor at the front of each meeting room or tent so people responding to the altar call would have a place to kneel. She said that in the early years, Mr. Armstrong would never preach without giving people a chance to come forward and make a commitment."

Yup, ol' Brother Herb dragged 'em up the sawdust trail in the early days. Somebody tell Gerry.

Piddling on the fence posts

There are two types of COGgers, inclusives and exclusives, open and closed. Which people identify with says a lot about whether they're caught up in a sectarian spirit or not.

Take Ken Westby. Ken was one of those who took the high road in the mid-70s and walked away from what was then a very successful religious operation and a comfortable ministerial lifestyle. Is Ken "open" or "closed"? Here's a quick quote:

"The Azusa Street Revival launched an amazing modern movement and I'm sure there are many sincere Christians included in it, but to suggest it is a modern display of the events and gifts of the Pentecost following Christ's resurrection is folly and has no basis in Scripture."

Ken seems to be stating two things. (1) He believes that there are genuine Christian people within the Pentecostal fold, and (2) Pentecostalism nonetheless isn't the same thing as the early church experienced. Fair enough, he's being gracious in his disagreement and leaving open the possibility that the Good Spirit works among these people too.

Now compare what another COG commentator has to say about Ken's comments.

"There are no sincere real Christians involved with the Azusa Street Revival--there are many sincere people who do not truly know Christ. And actually, that is a problem with ACD--ACD's [sic] denies the pre-existence of Christ and the accuracy of the New Testament (please see the article Binitarian View: One God, Two Beings Before the Beginning), hence I do not believe that ACD really is a COG."

Here's a typical exclusionist in full cry. Those boundary markers are really important, and they have nothing to do with the beatitudes or loving service to others. Nope, those boundaries are dogma. When you think "faith" means "doctrine" it's really important to patrol the perimeter, bark at those beyond and chase out any who are out of step. That is what makes a sect work. He does both things here: yaps at the Azusa-style Charismatics - they're definitely beyond the pale - then nips at Ken's heels to demonstrate that he has no right to be counted as a member of the inner circle, a brother or an equal.

How anyone can stay quite this staunch and rigid I'm not sure. The society in Jesus' day was, as far as we can tell, a very exclusionary one with lots of religious boundary markers. The Jesus portrayed in the Gospels doesn't seem to have given a hoot about them.

Most of us were drawn into the WCG (or a splinter) at a time when we saw the world in black and white terms. Good and evil, God and Satan, blessing and cursing, Sabbath or Sunday. Most of us are still not so good at recognising shades of grey. But life is a subtle thing, and the "heretical" Samaritan is the one who stops to help the stranger, the "heretical" Quakers are at the heart of the anti-slavery movement, and the "wicked liberals" have done more to establish a just society than all the Bible-waving evangelists added together. Which kind of makes you wonder whether the COGs, which have contributed so little to the betterment of our world, do anything but look utterly foolish when they utter their jeremiads on society's alleged ills. Faith is a lot more than assenting to some doctrine or other, and doctrinal correctness is a lot less than faith.

He drew a circle that shut me out -
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout
But love and I had the will to win
We drew a circle and drew him in.
Which seems a nobler thing to do than putting one's energies into patrolling the boundaries and piddling on the fence posts.

Study Bibles

As part of my drive to become the oldest person in history to acquire a recognised qualification in theology (maybe I exaggerate slightly) it's been necessary to acquire a decent Study Bible, one that supports the text with the kind of notes and information that provides context and throws light on some of the more obscure references. While I already had a variety of translations, nothing quite met those criteria.

I looked first at the Zondervan NIV Study Bible which is supposed to be the most popular. The notes on the dust-cover say it all, evangelical and conservative. If that's your poison, you could do a lot worse, but I got the feeling the contributors were looking through rose colored spectacles. Where does the scholarship end and the apologetics begin? I gave it a miss, along with the TNIV (gender-neutral text but same notes.)

In dithered for a while over the The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Although it uses the NRSV and has gone through three editions so far, it's showing its age a bit, and the notes are a little thin on the ground. It still has a great reputation, but I'm prepared to wait for a 4th edition that (hopefully) brings it up to speed with what the others offer.

In the end, in a classic case of overkill, I ended up going for three very different options.

The Jewish Study Bible. (Oxford, 2004)
That might seem an unusual choice, but it's definitely a fresh perspective, and why settle for something that will do no more than just tell you what you expected it to? The translation is JPS's Tanakh which is outstanding, and the supporting essays, maps and notes are excellent (just don't expect a New Testament.)

The Catholic Study Bible (2nd edition) (Oxford, 2006)
The translation used is the New American Bible, which is very readable, and it boasts some great contributors, including John J. Collins, Luke Timothy Johnson and Pheme Perkins. The Reading Guides provide a brilliant introduction to the individual books of the Bible.

The HarperCollins Study Bible. (HarperCollins, 2006)
This is the major competition to the New Oxford Annotated. Included are all the books in the Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox canons. Like the Oxford it also uses the NRSV (which happily is the required translation at the University of Otago), but from what I've seen it offers better value. The contributors come from a wide range of backgrounds, and the Society of Biblical Literature has lent its name to the project. It'll probably get the most use of the three, and is already my "default" choice.

That barely scratches the surface when it comes to what's available, but a lot of the Study Bibles on the shelves of Christian bookshops are, to put it gently, so heavenly-minded that they're of no earthly use. A good Study Bible serves to drive a few pitons into the rock face to help the reader make basic connections without having to drag out commentaries and handbooks every time, and doesn't hide the difficult texts behind a veil of comforting platitudes. And yes, you can pick up a KJV edition if you really want to (the one I thumbed through was endorsed by Jerry Falwell, so I put it back pretty quick!)

(This is the first post in an occasional series on "building a library.")

Enduring

There's a new kid on the COG block, all set to do business and receive your tithes. C'mon down Chuck Bryce and strut that COGwalk!

The new entity has been named the Enduring Church of God. No website yet, but we're assured there's one in the works. And you'll be as delirious as I am to learn that one of their first publishing projects will be a hymnal just like the old purple one!

Actually, Enduring is a great name. If there's one thing the brethren have to master in any COG it's enduring. Enduring slop for sermons, begging letters, bad music and some of the worst "counsel" imaginable from underqualified ministers. Yep, enduring sums it up.

But as to whether the ECG (not to be confused with other ECGs like the hilariously named Eternal Church of God) will endure very long as an institution, that's something else again.

BI Challenged

A former member of the Ambassador Big Sandy staff - and a person not entirely unknown for his comments here - has provided an interesting short article on some of the problems with British-Israel beliefs. A brief clip:

"The burden of proof is on the adherents of British-Israelism to demonstrate that there is ethnic separation between the people of the British Commonwealth and the people of the United States. The entire belief in British Israelism rests with its full weight on this simple and singular pillar."

The essay, appearing under the pen name Neotherm, appears over at Greg Doudna's site -- and it seems that there's more to follow! Stay tuned.

Then there's this...

"The legend of the ten lost tribes of ancient Israelites has caught the imagination of writers and poets during the centuries, finding them was the quest of many. It came partly true when..."

You also might want to check that article (which relates to the artwork above) and discover a credible lost tribe story that for some inexplicable reason the BI brigade don't usually bother to mention...