NOW THAT WE'RE IN CHARGE.... NO MORE DISSENT!
As Dave Pack is busy recuperating from the inexplicable failure of all COG splinter groups to meekly coalesce under him last fall, the current story of the day seems to be the meltdown of another group of another Dave, i.e. David Hulme.
It's an interesting exercise in group herding psychology to read dissenting ministers' arguments vs. establishment-supporting ministers' arguments.
Bemused and amused, I found a sermon by a supporting minister, Eric Keefer, to be particularly interesting, not simply because of the at-the-door-brain-checking aspect ("obey authority!") but yet more so because of the blinding hypocrisy of some of the arguments. The sermon audio is here (sermon given on Dec. 28, 2013): http://pabco7.com/~pabco/20131228KeeferE.mp3
All the background one needs is to recall the general history of COGic. Hulme (with followers) left WCG sometime in the 1990s, forming UCG, and the sometime later left UCG to form their current group. In other words, COGic exists because they were willing to rebel against "God-appointed authority", not once, but twice. But now we see what happens when the rebellion becomes the establishment.
Things get unbelievable at around the 25 minute mark. After reading from (you've got to be kidding me!!!) HWA's Mystery of the Ages (which should immediately on-the-spot destroy any speaker's credibility), Mr. Keefer sets forth his argument as to why dissenters are wrong to speak up.
[Transcripted]:
"If Mr. Hulme has disqualified himself by leading us away from God, that would be one thing, but he has not... This is a matter of some deciding they know better, and God has not put them in a position to make those kinds of decisions, and ... they're rebelling against those decisions. I don't think God's arm is too short to put whoever he wills in that place to make those decisions. I just don't believe that God said "Oops I made a mistake, put David Hulme there, I should have never done that, but now I'm stuck with him so now I've got to create a rebellion to overthrow him". That's not the way God works, brethren. If God has a problem with Mr. Hulme, God will take care of it. If God wants us to change our approach, he certainly could have placed one of these ministers in his spot, but guess what? That didn't happen. He would have certainly done it without appealing to what amounts to be a public rebellion. God does not work that way.
However, if you still have questions and doubts, that's ok. I completely understand why you might not be as confident as I am. But my advice to you, as it always has been, is to remain calm and wait on God. Let God fix it, if there's a problem, let God fix it. Let God deal with it. If there's something hidden it will be revealed in time..."
Yeah.... right. God always fixes leadership problems in COG, doesn't he? :-) Double smiley :-) No, make that a triple :-)
Mr. Keefer, do you have any idea how bizarre and hypocritical those words sound?
That is of course why half the church had to leave into various splinters against the "God-appointed" Joe Tkach (appointed personallyby HWA, for Pete's sake! How much more validity do these HWA-acolytes want?)
So, Mr. Keefer (and Hulme supporters), this implies that you took exactly the wrong course of action, whereas the proper response should have been "C'mon now, if God has a problem with Joe Tkach, God will take care of it! Remain calm and wait on God". After all his arm is longer than Joe Tkach's arm. Or was God simply no match for the mighty Tkach?
We all know that the WCG splinter ministers/members were patient and relied on HWA's God to set things straight, don't we?
Keefer later argues that differences in how the gospel is to be preached (i.e. minister and member dissatisfaction about Vision magazine) should not be grounds for dissent. Yet when COGic formed from UCG, that was one of the stated reasons for the defection, at least according to http://theshininglight.info/?p=14233:
"David Hulme, used two doctrinal issues (bettergovernanceand being more proactive in proclaiming the gospel) as his justification for leaving UCG and starting his own organization."
So, instead, shouldn't you have submitted to the authority that UCG's God had supposedly established? Why didn't Hulme & Co. take a more humble approach and realize that "that's not the way God works"? and if he had a problem with it, "He would have certainly done it without appealing to what amounts to be a public rebellion."
Well, I understand it's all different when you're the one being rebelled against, but it's the blatant hypocrisy that is so dazzling.
Of course, this is all very, very human-like behavior and simply accentuates the fact that all of this drama has nothing to do with some God and His Work(TM), but simply humans and their contrived beliefs and power-plays.
Michael