Cartwright’s Journal Out: CGI, Banned, LU, and CEM VP

The latest issue (says #188, print date September 30 2016) of The Journal: News of the Churches of God was sent out electronically and just received.

There was information on CGI’s Ian Boyne dealing with the Banned website, information about LU, and CEM.

Here is information related to CGI’s Ian Boyne dealing with the Banned website:

By Lonnie Hendrix

LOSTANT, Ill.—In March 2016 the conversations at the blogs known as Banned by HWA (armstrongismlibrary.blog- spot.com) and Ambassador Watch (ambassadorwatch.blog- spot.com) were joined by Ian Boyne, pastor of Jamaica congregations in Jamaica of the Church of God International (cgijamaica.org).

Gary Leonard and Gavin Rumney regularly post articles of interest to current and former members of the Armstrong Church of God culture, and those folks comment in droves on the material and each other’s comments.

Withering anti-Armstrongism

It is rare, however, that anyone in the ministry of the various groups that make up that culture directly participates in the forums. Indeed, the criticism of both the doctrine and governance of the Armstrong Churches of God can be withering. Nevertheless, Mr. Boyne, a CGI pastor, bravely joined the fray and managed to hold his own with critics and supporters. Moreover, in the course of those discussions Mr. Boyne revealed interesting insights into his own belief system and why he continues to support many of Herbert Armstrong’s doctrines and teachings.

Is BI racist?

At Ambassador Watch (Gavin Rumney, who blogs from New Zealand), Pastor Boyne joined interesting conversations about whether British Israelism (BI) is inherently racist in nature or not. The posts that generated the discussions were “The Plain Truth on Race, 1964” and “BI and the Demonization of Germany.”

Mr. Boyne said: “I am a black man (Jamaican) and, while I don’t see the evidence for BI, I don’t think my organization, CGI, is racist be- cause I have some leading ministers teaching this.”

I have had dealings with Ian Boyne (mainly positive), Gavin Rumney, and Gary Leonard. The latter two run anti-COG websites. Here is a link to an article about the latter two: Banned by HWA and Ambassador Watch. As far as British Israelism is concerned, here is a link to an article Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel.

The Journal had the following related to Living University of the Living Church of God:

As Living University, based in Charlotte, N.C., celebrates its 10th-anniversary year, the school is offering seven under- graduate-certificate options. Living University operates as a subsidiary of the Living Church of God, the church founded in 1998 by Roderick Meredith.

Certificate options

The chief executive officer of the university, Michael Germano, lists the certificate options as biblical Christianity, biblical studies, Christian leadership, Christian family studies, New Testament studies and Old Testament studies. Students may also pursue diplomas (as opposed to certificates), Dr. Germano said, in biblical studies or Christian family studies. Degree programs lead to associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in theology. “Living University seeks to serve the people of God in the 21st century utilizing state-of-the-art online instructional-delivery methods,” Dr. Germano said.

Dr. Michael Germano and I have long tended to get along well. And throughout the years we have discussed aspects of education and trying to improve it. But there are some limits where he is that have complicated matters.

(For information on church history, consider studying the free online booklet Continuing History of the Church of God. For some information on prophetic matters, consider the article The Laodicean Church Era.)

This particular edition of The Journal also had what appears to be a full page paid advertisement for Living University. This seems to be a first for LU or LCG.

There was also this item on the back page of The Journal:

WHITEHOUSE, Texas—Al- lie Dart, who with her husband, Ronald Dart, founded Christian Educational Ministries (CEM) in 1995, announced that their organization has hired a vice president to help Mrs. Dart with the operation. She and her husband, who died in January 2016, …

Good news

Mrs. Dart made the announcement in a CEM newsletter dated Sept. 20, 2016. “There is more good news,” wrote Mrs. Dart. “After much praying and searching, God has provided the young man we’ve been looking for to fill the vice-presidential position for ministerial services and organization.” The letter announced that David Havir III, 35, of Lindale, Texas, will fill that responsibility.

CEM had greater reach a decade or so ago than now.

In other COG-related news, my wife Joyce and I arrived in Belgrade, Serbia late Friday afternoon. We plan to conduct Sabbath services here. This is the first time we have ever been to Serbia and there are members of the Continuing Church of God who live in Serbia (see also the article Serbians ask to become part of the Continuing Church of God).

As far as The Journal goes, it also had the usual letters to the editor and other advertisements, various comments, and opinion articles. The advertisements mainly seem to be from possibly Laodicean groups and/or individuals (not all seem to be COG) who seem to think that the ads are somehow doing the work of God. More of the real work that the COGs should be doing are in the article The Final Phase of the Work.

The Journal itself is available by paid subscription (though Dixon Cartwright says some subscriptions are free to those who cannot afford it). It tends to have a non-Philadelphian approach to many matters.