I wish I'd said that

(In the context of "bit players" who are suddenly thrust into the limelight...)

"... the spotlight is drawn to characters who in the normal course of events would barely rate a mention in their own autobiographies."

Bevan Rapson writing in the politics column of North & South, August issue

LCG apologises (sort of) for offensive cover

The May-June issue of Tomorrow's World, published by Roderick Meredith's Living Church of God, raised more than a few eyebrows. Fighters for ISIL (ISIS) were pictured with prisoners in a context that implied imminent execution.

Apocalyptic sects like LCG have exploited bad news for decades in an attempt to shoehorn current world events into their fantasy scenario, the return of Jesus Christ "very soon" to solve all our problems. In short it's about the "True Believer and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Age" (with apologies to Judith Viorst.)

This time they scored a stronger reaction than they anticipated, leading to a statement of regret in the current issue.

Editor’s Note:  A number of readers have commented on the cover of our May-June 2015 issue. Some ... objected to it, for a variety of reasons. Some told us that the cover showed a staged provocation by antiAmerican terrorists, which because it was staged should not have been publicized.  Others took for granted that the cover showed an authentic event, but said they did not want the Tomorrow’s World magazine to make them think about the gruesome events that likely followed in the moments after the cover image.

Well, the first question relates to whether the photograph was staged or authentic. The attribution on page 31 reads "Cover: News Pictures / Polaris/Newscom". Whether "staged" or not, the picture indeed seems authentic. Real terrorists, real prisoners. How many of these victims do you think are still alive today? Now comes the justification.

One cannot read Scripture carefully and avoid the unpleasant subject of beheadings; Revelation 20:4 indicates that some Christians will be beheaded for their testimony, and Scripture documents the beheadings of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:51) and John the Baptist (Matthew 14:10). 

Ancient literature is full of inhuman acts with little sense of outrage (unless, of course, it's happening to the group suffering the violence). There was no modern sense of human rights or dignity of the individual. This seems a poor justification. The statement concludes:

Even so, the purpose of this magazine is not to shock readers for shock’s sake. Rather, we strive to analyze world events plainly and honestly in light of Bible prophecy. As such, we certainly regret any upset or offense our May-June 2015 cover may have caused some readers.

Which just goes to show that movements like LCG really do have to take public opinion into account, especially when readers and viewers might react by cutting off financial support in response to an ill-judged decision. Tomorrow's World is not a news magazine. It's purpose is not to report but to exploit; to promote it's fear-ridden eschatology.

And this time it took a major pratfall.

Journal - 174th issue

The June 30 edition of The Journal: News of the Churches of God is now out and downloadable.

For those not so familiar with the publication, it is an independent newspaper that covers news and opinions of those who have past and present associations with the former Worldwide Church of God and derivative bodies.

So what's covered this time. Here's my selection.

A further reprise by the editor of events in the 1990s that saw the WCG attempt to move into the evangelical mainstream aided by a motley bunch that included Hank Hanegraaff.

Ian Boyne promoting the work of his Church of God International operation in Jamaica. The Jamaican CGI seems to revolve around the larger-than-life Mr Boyne, who has a prominent media profile on the island nation, and has recently brought across members of a non-holy day keeping COG to the cause. Boyne, according to his own press release, has been hitting the books, and even cites this writer in the process.

I have critically examined the doctrines of justification by faith, Calvinism, Molinism, replacement theology and heaven-going, drawing on the latest scholarship, including the work of N. T. Wright ...

I myself continue to read widely in theology and philosophy and to keep abreast of what our critics are saying on the anti-Church of God (anti-"Armstrongism") blogs.

As a pastor, I listen keenly to prolific critics of our movement like Byker Bob and Gavin Rumney, both of which I find particularly perceptive and insightful.

I think I'm flattered, even if my days as a "prolific critic" largely expired when I pulled the plug on Ambassador Watch. As for Bob, he is indeed a perceptive and insightful commentator, and moreover preserves a sense of fairness and balance which are, alas, all too rare in most COG discourse - whether pro or anti.

Sub-orbital loopiness?

On a different note altogether there's the Connections section which features an ad written by Pallant Ramsundar. He claims to have solved "the mystery of Joshua's long day and Hezekiah's sundial going back ten degrees". The "abstract" states:

An orbital sub-loop of the earth can produce Joshua's Long Day without any deleterious effects to earth's environment. Such an event will be hardly noticeable to earth's inhabitants except for the increased length of the day to some, and the night to others.

And yes, be still my beating heart, there's a cool diagram! (Credible? Well, I believe the last time Earth entered a sub-orbital loop was as recently as the late 1970s when I heard Gerald Waterhouse preach. I'm sure time passed a lot more slowly than usual on that occasion.) In any case Ramsundar has some kind of doctorate and is "a graduate of the University of Cambridge in Rapid Manufacturing". Rapid Manufacturing? He has also authored something called The Harmonized Gospel Apocalyptic Version and has "a Church of God background". Hmm.

Then there's a full page ad complete with an amazing headline. Here's the PDF screenshot. Note the harmonious use of colour.

Pretty classy, huh. This subtle and considered piece of advertising copy comes from the Omak, Washington Obedient Church of God. Dyspepsia in print. It ends:

Burn in hell with your ratchet jaw sinister as a disobedient BRAT. For all "UN"believers of God's Bible Words go to the Lake of Fire. This is Life and Death. Do "NOT" ignore God's 7 Bible Commands. Tell your minister to OBEY.

So, there you have it. Just thought you'd like to know.

Pope Francis v. Tkach, Meredith and the Wannabes

It's something Otagosh (and before that The Missing Dimension and Ambassador Watch) has been consistently advocating since day 1.

Accountability for church leaders - and in particular the one man "gummint of god" model used in the post-Armstrong Churches of God.

As recently as January this issue was reprised in a post called Groundhog Day in Grace Communion International.

Who would have thought that a Bishop of Rome would have clued in before the various Pastors General, Presiding Evangelists, and other impressively self-titled sole-leaders in the scrapping COGs.

"The Roman Catholic Church should not have "leaders for life" in its ranks, otherwise it would risk being like a country under dictatorship, Pope Francis said on Friday." 

"'There should be a time limit to positions (in the Church), which in reality are positions of service," he said in an address that was in part prepared and in part extemporaneous.' 

'"It is convenient that all (positions) in the Church should have a time limit. There are no leaders for life in the Church. This occurs in some countries where a dictatorship exists."'
(Reuters)

And there was more.

'The Pope has issued a strong warning against those tempted by personal charisma to be authoritarian leaders in the Church, describing such leaders as "servants of the devil" ... He warned against the temptation for leaders to believe themselves essential to all tasks and described such leaders as "peacocks"... Such people would be drawn by this temptation into considering themselves irreplaceable, and would draw power and domination over others to themselves.' 

"He compared such abuse of leadership in the church to dictatorships. 

"He asked the crowd present: "Who is the only irreplaceable in the Church?" They responded en mass: "The Holy Spirit!" He repeated the chant: "And who is the one Lord?" They replied: "Jesus!"'

(Christian Today Australia) 

Would you hear that from Rod Meredith?

Meredith is just such a "peacock" (albeit an arthritic one), and so is Joe Tkach who has promised much but delivered next to nothing in meaningful systemic reform (check out the post linked above if you're in any doubt). That's without mentioning the countless wannabes who reign in pocket-handkerchief-sized splinters.

It also applies to countless fundamentalist, Pentecostal and evangelical sects that are seen as "mainstream", from Hillsong's Brian Houston to Franklin Graham.

After statements like these it's hard to imagine that Catholicism can easily return to the old ways. Francis seems to have shut that door and turned the key in the lock.

Those involved in fellowships like GCI and LCG can hardly applaud - even if they're not distracted by the inane prophetic sideshows that portray Catholicism as evil - while they allow their own papal pretenders to rule unchecked over them.


(Thanks to Reg K. for drawing attention to these statements.)

I agree with Jim West - almost

Jim West is the Grumpy Old Man of bibliobloggers, no contest (and I say that as a qualified grump myself). He doesn't like so many things; emergent Christianity, N. T. Wright, accredited universities, Universalists, 'Pentebabblists', marriage equality, dissenters from an every-Sunday-pew-potato role, Texas... the list goes on and on.

And of course he's wright - oops, I mean right - about some of these things (on the above sample list I score him 3/8). More often than not these days, though, he simply seems to be venting like the bar flies who sit around at the pub pontifically grizzling about the sad state of life in general.

But today I found myself uttering an 'amen', sort of, to one of his latest posts.

It’s time to abandon it [the term evangelical] as an utterly meaningless Rorschach / Chameleon like word which only takes on the appearance of its surroundings.  It CERTAINLY no longer means what Luther meant when he called himself and other protesters ‘Evangelische’.  There are virtually no Evangelische among American ‘Evangelicals’ because rather than protesting against heresy and embracing the Gospel, they have abandoned the Gospel and embraced the world.

He had me all the way through to the word 'because', when he went all Southern Baptist.

I've commented before on the misuse of the word 'evangelical'  - rampant throughout the English-speaking world. It's a battle the ELCA (which does know what the word means) joined - without notable effect - when it included the word in it's name.

To see it now as the assumed sole possession of the fruitcake fringe is terribly sad.

Twittering and the Time Rich

Brendan O'Neill, writing in The Australian, lets rip with a somewhat loopy libertarian rant against those who would, as he sees it, curtail freedom of speech on Twitter. Frankly, I don't think he has much of a case to make. But toward the end of his broadside he did say something which is worth repeating.

The Twittermob phenomenon reveals what kind of people dominate the Twitterati. To be a super-frequent tweeter, you must be time-rich and hands-free. That excludes bus drivers, coalminers, nurses … normal people too busy to tweet every three minutes. The most active bits of Twitter are the domain of the cultural and media elites, celebs, think-tankers, people with oodles of time. 

Which is, despite the petty polemic, pretty much undeniable. You've got to wonder, though, if this bloke owns a mirror. Then again, he apparently delights in being, as The Guardian sagely observes, an "obnoxious intellectual wind-up merchant."

But, let's be honest, he does have a point. Twitter is an ideal vehicle for the time rich. Not that I'm anti-Twitter. In recent weeks, having become becoming a tad more (ahem) "time rich" - Glory Be! - I've finally got around to entering the 'twitterverse' myself. Not, I hasten to add, "every three minutes", and in all modesty it'd be an epic stretch of narcissistic self-delusion to consider myself part of any cultural and media elites, celebs, or think-tankers.

Unlike Brendan perhaps?

And yes, it was through a Twitter link that I discovered O'Neil's wee diatribe (thanks Ed).

Bit of irony there.

Bridge-building with an Emergent God?

John Shuck provides these six ideas that describe the "emergent God" thesis.

• God is an emergent reality.
• God did not exist before human beings existed.   
• God emerged from the human mind and cultural evolution. 
• New realities emerge from simpler components.  "No atom of my body is alive yet I am alive."
• God is the emergent reality of humankind's aspirations to be something more than we are.
• Thus God is real.  (As real as you and me, the economy and democracy). 

I've highlighted the propositions that I think are most provocative. These are not exactly new ideas, but they've certainly not had much of an airing in general debate. Of the six, numbers 2 and 3 wouldn't get a lot of argument from most atheists. The more monochrome among them (i.e. those more combative and uncompromising) may however bridle at this sort of redefinition, but in essence these ideas have the potential to form a kind of bridge that embraces spiritual values (on one bank of the river) with a thoroughly secular world-view (on the other bank). God is, according to this perspective, a human construct, but one that can direct us in positive directions.

The six points are drawn from a book by Nancy Ellen Abrams who has recently been interviewed on John's podcast Religion for Life. It's worth a listen.