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Thursday, 26 December 2013

Discern - another online COG flagship

The Good News, Tomorrow's World, Vision, The Philadelphia Trumpet... flagships of their respective Church of God (COG) bodies. If it's one thing the splintered sects of Armstrongism have traditionally done well, it's publish nice looking magazines. Content? Well, that's not so hot, but layout and design are invariably impressive.

But magazine evangelism isn't what it used to be back in the days of The Plain Truth. Glossy publications of all sorts now saturate the marketplace, and the cost effectiveness of churning out and posting them - especially without charging a subscription - is increasingly prohibitive. Even subscription-based periodicals in mainline churches are having a hard time.

Grace Communion International has ceased cutting down trees to produce its PT replacement, Christian Odyssey. CO is now a download-only publication. This could be a brilliant, forward thinking strategy, or it could just be cheap. Now the schismatic UCG breakaway, CoGWA (love those acronyms!) has launched its own online-only faux-glossy: Discern. Forgive me if I'm somewhat restrained in my excitement.

Clyde attempts a disarming smile
The CoGWA lads aren't keen to make access to Discern open slather though. If you want to look at a copy on your laptop or tablet you're going to have to "subscribe", which means hand over your email address first. Considering the level of paranoia in the COG diaspora, this probably isn't the smartest strategy possible.

A friendly reader forwarded their first PDF issue of Discern. It's a nice looking little number, as expected. Clyde Kilough gets credit as editor but, and I mean this kindly Clyde, your page 3 photograph is more Lex Luthor than Clark Kent.

If you're feeling bold enough to try subscribing you can sign up here. Who knows, there has to be somebody out there suffering deprivation from David Treybig and Ralph Levy's journalistic genius...


For anyone who really wants to know, CoGWA stands for Church of God, a Worldwide Association. Now, take an aspirin and lie down till similar urges go away completely.
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous `27 December 2013 at 12:47

    These magazines are all the same. There is hardly a need for a new one. They are really pretty much interchangeable. But, of course, the Armstrongite model is to have a flagship magazine. It is interesting that Deborah Armstrong mentioned in her interview with Troy Fitzgerald writing scripts for the broadcast. There was pretty much a template. The topic would be some alarming current event that she would research followed by an editorial supplied by a minister with "theological" content. Armstrongism is methodical and broadcasts and publications are reduced to boilerplate. But it is a formula that works for those who are susceptible.

    I thought it was interesting how Deborah described her experience within the Armstrongite organization. She had extraordinary opportunities including international travel and significant media work for the organization. This is really high class stuff. This kind of opportunity is way beyond the reach of the typical AC student or graduate. My guess is that even though she found the organization to be oppressive, her experiences were modest by comparison to what others experienced.

    -- Neo

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  2. Corky28 December 2013 at 10:25

    The CoGs should all just become 'virtual' churches. You know, today, with a wireless router on your computer and a receiver on your TV, a church service can be watched on your big screen right from headquarters. Just think, no local ministers needed, no buildings to rent, people not having to spend money on church clothes etc. Ooo ooo, the money that could be saved...the head man could afford another jet with that.

    Yessiree, the wave of the future - go wireless today and save money tomorrow... Need fellowship? Simple, there's a device for that - a headset, complete with earphones and microphone that hooks up directly to your computer USB ports - or, hey, go whole hog with a camcorder thingie where you can have whole group conversations. Of course, you can't shake hands or hug your brother's wife but hey, you have to give up something for the sake of progress...

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    1. Gavin R28 December 2013 at 21:07

      LOL. I think you've just described Albrecht's PTM.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous `28 December 2013 at 16:54

    Deborah made a very perceptive comment when she noted that atheistic fundamentalism and religious fundamentalism were in principle and operation the same.

    -- Neo

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    Replies
    1. The Skeptic2 January 2014 at 15:33

      Are you saying unbelief is the same thing as belief?

      Hardly.

      Delete
  4. Byker Bob28 December 2013 at 17:42

    Corky, that would be a cool thing to wish for a good church. A virtual ACOG, though is non sequitur. If you remove the ministry, who is going to do all of the heavy enforcement work, like berating the Laodeceans and disfellowshipping the parents who refuse to blanket train their children?

    BB

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    1. Corky29 December 2013 at 12:27

      Yeah, that enforcement work would have to be done by the Inquisitors, no doubt about that...but, they surely could arrange house-calls from headquarters, right? I mean, they used to...you know, back in the day when searching for your bread crumbs...I'm sure there would be some unpaid deacons who would volunteer for the Inquisition work. Oh yeah, we can do this...the Christadelphians do it all the time for members who are hundreds or thousands of miles from the nearest meeting hall. Ha, they even do a virtual "breaking of bread" every Sunday morning for those folks...of course, they have to supply their own bread and wine.

      Delete