The United Church of God - Page 1

Worldwide Church of God ministers left and started the United Church of God

Notes:

1. Brief history of the United Church of God

   After Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. (JWT, Sr.) openly changed the teachings of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in January 1995, the ministers who still believed some of the old teachings formed the United Church of God, an International Association (UCGIA, or just UCG for short) on May 1, 1995. It is currently the largest WCG splinter group, with about 18,000 people, 350 congregations, and more than 400 elders worldwide. The United Church of God has a free magazine called the Good News, a radio program called the Good News Radio Program, and a Web site on the Internet's World Wide Web at http://www.ucg.org.

   
   

   United Church of God P.O. Box 541027 Cincinnati, Ohio  45254-1027 U.S.A. E-mail:  info@ucg.org

   United Church of God Home Office

   
   
   
   

   David Hulme First President 1995 - 1998

   
   

   Leslie McCullough Second President 1998 - 2002

   
   

   Roy Holladay Third President 2002 - 2005

   
   

   Clyde Kilough Fourth President 2005 - present

   
   

2. United Church of God Literature

   The United Church of God (UCG) is attempting to produce a collection of booklets (now numbering over 20 titles) that prove its teachings from the Bible, rather than having to say it believes something just because Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) said it. Interestingly, the literature that the UCG produces for the public almost never mentions the name Herbert W. Armstrong. The UCG is producing some of the more sensible literature around compared to some of the stuff that is out there. In keeping with its plan to be transparent in all it does, the UCG has posted its literature on its Web site where everyone can read it online or request a hard copy. The UCG's Web site has a Literature Library section at http://www.ucg.org/litlibrary/index.htm that has booklets and reprint articles, the Bible Study Course, past and present issues of the Good News magazine, the United News Newsletter, etc.

   Some of the literature produced by the United Church of God (Click on a picture to read the booklet or magazine.)
   

3. Ambassador Bible Center

   To pass along to the next generation the understanding they had been given of God's Word and His plan, the United Church of God (UCG) established a "systematic and intensive biblical instruction program," which began January 10, 2000, named the Ambassador Bible Center (ABC). This program lasts eight months. More information about it is available at http://www.ucg.org/abc/index.htm.

4. UCG government catches up with David Hulme

   The United Church of God (UCG) was started by elders who wanted a church government where one man could not take over, change doctrine, and disfellowship all opposition, as had happened in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) after Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) died in early 1986 and Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. (JWT, Sr.) took over. When David Hulme, the first president of the United Church of God, seemed to be moving toward one-man rule, the board disapproved and voted him out of office in January 1998. In April 1998, David Hulme and his supporters left the UCG and started the Church of God, an International Community (COGIC), which claims to have had over 2500 people at its Feast sites around the world. The COGM has a Web site at http://www.Church-of-God.org. The UCG put about half of its paid ministry on half pay for a while to get through the crisis.

   One of the leaders in the United Church of God has said that the UCG is not necessarily against the idea of one-man rule, and pointed out that they had followed Herbert W. Armstrong in the past. He explained that, looking at the fruits, there just didn't appear to be one man that God had chosen for them to follow at this time. Some other people in the UCG simply say "Never again!" to the idea of one-man rule. They want accountability.

5. Ungovernable social clubs split from UCG to feed "vibrant" ministers

   A number of the United Church of God's (UCG's) local congregations were run by local boards, not by the corporate ministry. The United Church of God, led by Leslie L. McCullough and the board, essentially told a number of these congregations to follow corporate policy or leave, and a lot of them left or split (Big Sandy, Birmingham, Bloomington (Ill), Boston, Detroit, Lansing, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Toledo, Waco). The congregations that broke away from the United Church of God like to imagine that they got the "vibrant" ministers, while the United Church of God got the dry, dull ones. Nevertheless, it is the United Church of God that is producing a magazine and doing a worldwide work. The breakaway groups are now just localized social clubs that no longer have either the imagination or the resources to do much more than feed their "vibrant" ministers.

6. Beware of women in pants with men's haircuts

   Considering what goes on in some of the other Worldwide Church of God (WCG) splinter groups, the United Church of God (UCG) is probably still one of the better WCG splinter groups around. It is not only the largest, but also the most open and honest of the "big three" splinter groups. Of course, this is not to say that it is totally honest. That would be asking for too much these days. Hopefully, it won't split into little pieces and have the name United come back to haunt it. The UCG gives people the freedom to have all the truth of God that they want, without being forced to listen to all the wild new theories of all the self-appointed prophets who are springing up like weeds on the formerly well organized Church of God (COG) landscape. Hopefully, the freedom in the UCG won't be misused and abused by too many people and just lead to a church full of guys who dress like slobs, and women who wear pants to church and have men's haircuts.

7. Godless people attend UCG meetings but ignore the UCG literature

   This comment is one that it is unfortunate to have to include, but to tell the whole plain truth requires it. While the United Church of God (UCG) might have produced some good literature, not everyone who shows up at the UCG bothers to read it. Some people don't seem to have learned anything in all the years that they have been around the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and its splinter groups, yet feel that they know everything. Godless, unrepentant people can, and do, show up at the Worldwide Church of God and all its splinter groups, including the United Church of God. It is important for people who really do want to follow God to make sure that they really do follow God, and that they don't listen to some bad actor in their local congregation who wants to waste their time.

   The bad actors everywhere can be identified by the way they don't obey the Bible in matters of morality and decency. For example, one guy who attends UCG meetings married some Glombowski woman from the WCG. [Definition: The term Glombowski denotes a godless person who continually insults and slanders innocent church members, and tries to stir up other wicked people against them for no reason. See also Jezebel, Judas, etc.] Whenever the guy opens his mouth on a matter, he tends to say the opposite of what Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) had taught. His wife grew up in the Worldwide Church of God, and still attends there, though she also likes to go to the activities of other churches, and shows up at the UCG. Kristina still gets her thrills by slandering other church members and trying to cause division in the church. Yet, her UCG husband never tells her to "be sociable" by OBEYING the good laws of God, such as the one that says, "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16). Rather, he suggests that people in the UCG should "be sociable" by DISOBEYING the laws of God. He says he once ate pork to "be sociable." He became "violently ill," but says he would do it again to "be sociable." He whines that other people in the UCG should be willing to eat pork to "be sociable." The UCG has produced a booklet on the topic of clean and unclean meats, but he doesn't seem to have time to read it. He suffers from poor health, and resents it when even WCG members express the opinion that he just wants to be sick. The UCG also has a booklet about the ten commandments, but his wife isn't likely to read it either. Of course, to truly "be sociable" means to obey God's good laws, not to break them and slander other people all the time for no reason. Also, someone who is truly trying to "be sociable" won't always be trying to get other church members to put things in their mouths that God said should be detestable to them. Unbelievers who can't even act civilized should not be trying to lecture others about how to "be sociable."

   The history of Glombowskis in the Worldwide Church of God and its splinter groups is the history of the evil that resulted from one noisy old man's inadequate job of child rearing. The old man's habit of criticizing and complaining produced godless brats like Wilhelm who would openly insult and bad-mouth innocent adult members in the WCG for no reason at all, openly calling them "stupid," "retarded," "loser," "drain on society," etc. week after week and month after month, as if people went to the WCG to put up with Glombowskis. This was surprising and disappointing behavior for those who had thought that WCG people knew how to raise their children properly. Even his father, to his credit, later correctly described Wilhelm as "godless." Wilhelm could also correctly be described as "stupid," a "drain person," etc.--all the things that he called other people.

   Another one of the godless Glombowski brats, Kristina, would go up to two people who were talking and tell one of them not to talk to the other person because the other person was "antisocial." Or she would walk up to two people who were talking in the WCG and slither all over one of them while totally ignoring the other one. More than one person noticed her weird behavior. Then, she would spread stories about how the person was a "real weirdo." When Glombowskis lie, immoral people listen to them, and unfortunate incidents occur. Inspired by Glombowskis, one college age artsie-fartsie type suddenly called a sincere person in the WCG an "impostor." This totally surprised the person, since he did not even know Adrian, and Adrian did not know him. When he asked what was wrong, Adrian refused to answer and just hurried away. Later, it did not totally surprise the formerly surprised person to hear that Adrian had been up half the night taking advantage of one of two WCG girls who were sharing an apartment. Dwight, the son of a WCG elder, was once influenced to suddenly grab the man's necktie and pull it to the side so that it was crooked. Dwight did this while an Usher in the WCG, and told the guy, "There, now its straight," and walked away. It was not surprising to later hear that this guy, who would say that something crooked was straight, had gone to the Caribbean to fornicate. Even fat old slobwomen in the UCG make rude remarks to people they don't even know, based on things they have been told by liars. Nobody should ever think that anyone goes to any church to be constantly harassed and slandered by anything as antisocial as Satan's Glombowskis or the other immoral people that they stir up with their senseless, chronic lying. Once young but perverted even though they had grown up in the WCG, they have now reached middle age with their warped minds still bent on causing division.

   The United Church of God produced a little brochure to promote its Good News magazine. The brochure had pictures of several past issues of the Good News magazine with such cover articles as: Bringing Up a Moral Child, Build a Marriage That Will Last!, and Right Values: A Beacon of Light in an Age of Confusion. These are all very important and necessary topics that need to be taught in the UCG. Anyone who thinks that the children, marriages, and values of the people who show up at the UCG are anything like the ideals that the Good News magazine teaches could be in for a RUDE surprise! If people really had solid marriages, and right values, and moral children, there wouldn't be so many UCG congregations that look like old folks homes, complete with divorced and remarried old folks who behave badly.

   One voyeuristic old woman in pants, with shorter and shorter haircuts all the time, became obsessed with taking videos of a younger, single guy. When Dorothy Kostyna knew that he didn't like it, she did it even more. Like Potiphar's wife, this filthy-minded, lying-mouthed old woman had her thoughts too much on some younger, single guy rather than on her current husband. When things did not go the way she wanted them to, she complained deceitfully to a UCG minister--in the spirit of Potiphar's wife--and got rid of, and excluded from the UCG, the guy that she pretended to have been trying to help and "include." Perhaps her divorced and remarried husband wasn't enough for her. His attendance was irregular. He usually showed up after the sermon was over, and always behaved disrespectfully to people there. He got away with this sort of behavior by flattering people, talking about how "tactful" he was when nobody rebuked him for his bad behavior, and by putting on a different act when the minister was around.

   Like so many women these days, Dorothy claimed that her previous husband was abusive, but her own manipulative and deceitful behavior showed clearly that something was wrong with her. Her current husband, Alex, was so tacky and tactless that he claimed to get along just fine now with his ex-wife. His idea of being "tactful" seemed to be to criticize the minister, and to complain about everything, when the minister was not around. Alex Kostyna liked to treat people disrespectfully and then get them kicked out of the UCG. Such a wicked character, who raised unbelieving children who got into drugs, should stop bragging that he knows how to "witness" to others.

   Perverse women like Dorothy know how to fool the UCG minister into doing her dirty work for her, and into thinking that she is just the nicest, sweetest, most caring woman around. In fact, any woman could probably fool the minister. The minister's own son ended up divorced and remarried after first marrying a woman who could fool people about what she was really like. While the minister can tell the story about how deceitful his own son's adulterous wife was, he can't seem to learn anything from it. The suggestion that he will not be innocent if he brings in all sorts of wicked people, and kicks out innocent people for them, just makes him angry. Nevertheless, the Bible still says, "Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent--the LORD detests them both" (Proverbs 17:15, NIV). The minister likes to pretend that he is showing "love" when he defiles the church with all sorts of evil, but the Bible clearly warns that, "Whoever says to the guilty, 'You are innocent'--peoples will curse him and nations denounce him" (Proverbs 24:24, NIV).

   The policy of the United Church of God is that anyone is free to attend UCG services as long as they come in peace. Of course, in actual practice those who really do come in peace are expected to try to keep the peace by putting up with those who do not come in peace. Apparently, the ministers can't even tell pedophiles that they cannot attend. Unbelievers who want to go to the UCG are welcomed even though they cannot be told anything. Believers who get tired of being insulted and slandered endlessly by unbelievers who show up, and simply want it to cease, can quickly be told to stay away. While it is good of the UCG to talk about developing a system of checks and balances, nobody should carelessly assume that the UCG's system actually works. If it did work, how could Herbert W. Armstrong's (HWA's) prophecy of a "Laodicean era" going into a "Great Tribulation" be fulfilled?

   For sure, the UCG literature is very smooth. But, what really goes on in the UCG is not so smooth. Many stories could be told about what really goes on in the so-called Churches of God (COGs), but the reader will be spared this. Suffice it to say, be careful.

8. UCG selects Roy Holladay as its new president

   On February 28, 2002, the Council of Elders selected Roy Holladay to be the next president of the United Church of God, an International Association (UCGIA). Roy Holladay will assume office at the beginning of the Council of Elders meetings on May 7th. The Council expressed its appreciation to the outgoing president, Leslie McCullough, for a job well done. Leslie McCullough will work with Roy Holladay on the transition process during the next two months.

9. Les and Marion McCullough’s Legacy

   The May 2002 issue of the United News has an article called Les and Marion McCullough’s Legacy. It lists the challenges and accomplishments of the United Church of God's (UCG's) retiring president, Leslie L. McCullough. The article can be read online at http://www.ucg.org/un/un0205/legacy.html. Leslie McCullough was the second president of the UCG. He left a much better legacy than the first president of the UCG, David Hulme. Hopefully, the third and current president of the UCG, Roy Holladay, will do well too.