November 30 Journal Out

The latest issue (print date November 30, 2009) of The Journal just came out.

This issue has articles about UCM’s Ray Wooten, CG7-Denver’s president on leave (covered earlier at COGwriter, see CG7 President on a Sabbatical Due to Health), Tom Roberts efforts, some insightful comments from Wesley White, and some personal stories.

Here is some information from the article on Ray Wooten:

Ray Wooten, a familiar name to many longtime Church of God members, made several startling statements in an interview… he declared that none of the COGs are God’s church. Furthermore, he says, they’re no more God’s church than are Methodists, Baptists and Catholics. He said something else that could startle Church of God members: He doesn’t believe the Sabbath Commandment is the Test Commandment. Not only that, Mr. Wooten thinks he’s located the Ark of the Covenant…

Mr. Wooten, at age 75, has, with his wife, operated United Christian Ministries since 1995, first in Alabama
and now in Roanoke, Ind. He’s no stranger to controversy, having helped found the United Church of God in 1995 and left that organization because he believed it quickly departed from the founding principles he thought it was advocating in favor of more of a centralized, controlled ministry than he was comfortable with.

Obviously, now that he has apparently declared against the COGs, he has crossed the line, which is sad.

The Journal mentioned that CG7-Meridian’s Tom Roberts is trying to explain to some non COG groups how come certain COG doctrines were held by people they consider Christians, and that they should re-look at them. That is something that I too am trying to do.

Wesley White, who attends an “independent” COG fellowship, made a few comments about independents:

It’s hard to deny that too many independent COGs are not:

* Promoting the gospel of Jesus’ coming Kingdom.
* Feeding the flock. (Many think they are feeding the flock but are instead wasting precious sermon time on nonbiblical issues.)
*Doing enough good works in helping the poor.
In short, many of our people are too inwardly focused.

For nearly 14 years I have been trying to tell “independents” the same thing. All need to realize that Laodicea is made up of two words which basically mean “rule of the people”–Laodiceans do not have the type of work that Jesus is pleased with and have normally rejected proper church governance. The Journal is essentially a publication that leans towards independents.

While The Journal is available only by paid subscription (though some subscriptions are free to those who cannot afford it), you can view the pdf. of its front and back page is available at: www.thejournal.org/issues/issue137/jf113009.pdf

Some articles on topics of related interest may include:

Independent Members of the COG: Herbert W. Armstrong Comments, Plus Questions and Answers What did Herbert W. Armstrong teach about being independent of the organized Church? Should independents who claim to accept Herbert W. Armstrong’s teachings be part of LCG?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?