Cartwright’s Journal: CG7 Strife, Bricket Wood Reunion, UCM Dissolution, and Why Separate COGs?

The latest issue (#164, print date June 30, 2014) of The Journal was sent out electronically and just received.

Its lead articles had to do with CG7, a Bricket Wood Reunion, and UCM.

Here is some CG7 information put together by Edward Malone from The Journal:

Church of God (Seventh Day) local pastor and International Ministerial Congress executive director William “Bill” Hicks re- signed from the General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day), based in Denver, Colo., on or about June 10, 2014. Mr. Hicks’ resignation came during a disciplinary process the denomination’s Ministerial License and Credentials Committee had initiated be- cause he allegedly posted “inflammatory and defamatory E-mails” concerning leaders of the church. …

Mr. Hicks said the real reason he resigned was that he refused to remain silent about the denomination’s plans to wrestle autonomy away from the local churches.

“I could only keep charges against me at bay IF I refused to speak out again on what has happened to myself and others in the press toward a ‘new’ constitution and bylaws for the growing bureaucratic, wasteful, and unjust General Conference administration that, if passed, will affect the local churches and members,” he wrote. “My ‘whistle-blowing’ cost me the work I loved as director of missions, but in the General Conference, the person who has been ‘violated’ cannot lash out as a result of the ‘violation’ or they will have to answer for crying out!”

Chairman Whaid Rose politely declines THE JOURNAL contacted Church of God (Seventh Day) General Conference chairman Whaid Rose by telephone the morning of June 24, 2014. When this writer asked Mr. Rose about Mr. Hicks’ allegations against and resignation from the Church of God (Seventh Day), Mr. Rose denied the allegations but politely declined to elaborate on the record concerning them or to comment about Mr. Hicks’ resignation.

FWIW, I am currently reading the new book, The Journey: A History of the Church of God (Seventh Day) by its Robert Coulter. Let me simply state that CG7 has history of governmental issues.

Related to Bricket Wood, Linda Mol Smith reported:

A jolly good time was had by all at the reunion of the Ambassador College Bricket Wood family

WATFORD, England…just over 200 … gathered to recollect and reconnect at Bricket Wood Reunion 2014, which met May 18-22 at the Hilton hotel in Watford. The event was the culmination of three years of planning, beginning with the Bricket Wood reunion in San Diego, Calif., in May 2011.

Bricket Wood was one of three campuses of the old Ambassador College.

Here is what was reported about the dissolution of UCM:

ROANOKE, IND.—The board of directors of United Christian Ministries has “reached the difficult decision” to dissolve the “corporate entity.” Ray Wooten, founder with his wife, Peggy, of UCM, died Feb. 9, 2014. In the wake of Mr. Wooten’s death the UCM board held several formal and informal meetings to discuss the ministry’s future, wrote Alan Boyer, president and chair- man of the board, in a letter to UCM supporters. Mr. Boyer, Mr. Wooten’s son-in-law, said all planned events sponsored by UCM have been canceled, including the 2014 Feast of Tabernacles observance scheduled for Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

This is not a surprise. UCM was an early breakaway group from the United Church of God and the last few years it seemed to have run its course, and with the death of Ray Wooten, I had questioned its continued existence.

There was a death announcement on the back page of The Journal:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—The Church of God Knoxville has managed to keep its doors open in spite of the sudden death of its sole elder and overseer, Dr. Bruce E. Horne. “I feel lost,” explained Dr. Horne’s widow, Janet Grant Horne. “But the only thing I know to do is carry on.” Unexpected death Dr. Horne’s May 22, 2014, death understandably left the newly organized congregation in a disturbed state of confusion and uncertainty. Church services for the May 24 Sabbath were canceled, and the church’s Web site announced that the congregation had indefinitely if not permanently dispensed with its weekly gatherings. After further consideration and prayer, the brethren of the small group braced themselves and resumed Sabbath services on May 31. …

Shepherd’s Voice magazine writer and itinerant Church of God speaker Edward Malone of San Augustine, Texas, visited Knoxville and conducted services and delivered sermons on the weekly Sabbath and the Day of Pentecost (June 7-8).

The Journal continued to list some Feast of Tabernacles’ sites for 2014. For information on those affiliated with the Continuing Church of God check out Feast of Tabernacles’ Sites for 2014.

In the interior of The Journal, there was an article by Trisha Svehla titled Diversity? Why can’t we all just get along? It mentioned that there are many COG groups and she made her comments about that. Here is one:

It’s our intolerance separates us.

Actually, that is not the true cause. The true cause is that Jesus foretold that there would be a least four attitudes around at the time of the end within the Church of God: that of Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (and even multiple attitudes within each of those four). And that is what we see today. Many no longer believe in “Church eras” and fail to see that multiple Laodicean groups, to cite one example, were essentially prophesied to exist now.

The reality is that most who were once in the old Worldwide Church of God did not truly accept the doctrines taught as of the time of the death of Herbert W. Armstrong and did not have the same view towards the mission of the Philadelphia era and did not value the truth enough, thus this is why there are many groups. Personal vanity and other sins are also a major factor. Some value social contact more, some value convenience of local congregations, some value contact with certain ministers, some want control, some do not want to tithe, some just want to be on their own. But the reality is that most, as Herbert Armstrong said, DID NOT GET IT. And that is the case today. An article of possibly related interest would be: Unity: Which COG for You? Now, that does not mean that individuals in different COGs cannot get along, but the reality is that COG history is full of splits and difficulties, and that was prophesied. Information on COG history can be found in the free pdf booklet: Continuing History of the Church of God.

The COG needs people to wake up and be Philadelphian. If those within it will do so and rely on the Bible above personal preferences that they tend to have, such Philadelphian organizational unity can be attained. And such unity, to some degree, will happen prior to the start of the Great Tribulation (cf. Zephaniah 2:1-3; Revelation 3:7-14). Those who will not properly ‘gather together’ will not receive the type of protection that is promised to the Philadelphians (see also There is a Place of Safety for the Philadelphians. Why it May Be Petra).

Also in The Journal there were the usual letters to the editor and other advertisements, various comments, and opinion articles.

The Journal itself is available by paid subscription (though Dixon Cartwright says some subscriptions are free to those who cannot afford it) and often tends to take a non-Philadelphian era view of certain church matters.