Denis Michael Rohan - "The Lion King" - Forty Years On

Denis Rohan, an Australian shearer and follower of Herbert Armstrong's Radio Church of God, entered the history books forty years ago when he attempted to burn down the Al Aqsa mosque. ABC Radio has brought together a variety of television clips from 1969, and supporting materials (including a PDF of the October issue of The Plain Truth from that year) to accompany a 50 minute anniversary documentary. For one brief, fleeting moment, Rohan became the face of Armstrongism: a development that brought on passionate rejection from the church. Rohan himself, who was deported back to Australia in the mid-70s, last reportedly attended a WCG service just four years ago.

You can access the ABC web page through Australian blogger Vridar's latest entry, or directly. For those with an academic bent, Scott Lupo's paper on The Wonderful World Tomorrow is well worth reading.

Willie on Tap

Oh joy! Willie Dankenbring is now recording his prophetic shtick on YouTube!

- Is Barack Obama the Coming Antichrist?
- How about those kinky Nephilim?

Willie has the inside word on these issues and more on his very own "Overcoming the World" channel. Click across to appreciate the tasteful and understated page design. Relish in the deep scholarship. Hear the technical guy grunt in agreement off camera at critical moments.

Oh hey, what is that thing around Willie's shoulders? (a) A clerical stole, or (b) a bath towel? Either way, nice sartorial touch!

Quick, someone hold me down before I reach for the check book...

Remove this cult's tax exempt status!

Just listen to the screams from certain quarters when religious organizations are perceived as meddling in the political arena. So why is the Flurry cult getting a free ride? Why are donations to PCG, which fund this blatant play on political partisanship, tax exempt?

'umbled be I

Over on Otagosh, my other less known blog, I recently took a sideswipe at Dr Jim West's disdain for inclusive biblical language. I wouldn't write that here, full-well knowing that 94.2% of readers (including the godless atheists - and you know who you are) would reach for a KJV, NKJV or (ick!) NIV if forced to source a proof text, whether for weal or woe. For some reason, unknown to me, Jim (who manages to be both a Southern Baptist pastor and a biblical minimalist at the same time) is one of the five people in the world who actually reads my alternate blog. This is a huge compliment in that Jim's blog (unlike Otagosh) is read widely. Very widely. In fact - as Jim never tires in reminding his readers - his is the leading biblioblog in the world, with a current Alexa ranking of 113,476.

So to find that Jim West is now quoting a section of that Otagosh posting in his sidebar as an endorsement is 'umbling in the extreme; to play Joe the plumber to West's McCain! I, being but a mere mortal, can only wallow in the reflected glory of it all.

Record Month

Hard to say why, perhaps something to do with UCG's administrative travail, but AW had a very good month in August with a twelve month record: close to 19,000 visits. Which makes it all the harder to pull the plug at the end of the year. "Snarky but authentic" is the way you might describe the tone of this blog, but the question is whether it (or I) have reached a "used by date" for that approach. Hopefully there will be some ideas to share at the end of September.

You're Precluded

... which is, I think, a better title for Mike Feazell's little fireside chats than "You're Included." Included would mean member empowerment, a voice in church decision-making, a vote on who sits in the presidential chair. Theologically it would mean a commitment to the priesthood of all believers, and releasing the death grip the current leadership has over the organization it supposedly serves. It would mean accountability downward, to the people who make up the church, in the spirit of Jesus' example.

But, there I go again; rambling. Mike, if you're out there, the blue coffee mugs with the white logo are cool, so I guess that makes it all right after all.

And now, at last, the new Web address has been released: www.graceci.org. At the moment it just points to dowdy, grimy old wcg.org, but ultimately I guess this will be the new, clean, no-bad-associations URL.

But back to telegenic VP Mike, who has launched another monthly online chat show to supplement You're Prec... I mean You're Included. This one is entitled A Word from Our Sponsor. There's a "kewl" introductory graphicy thingy (though notice that Mike is still styled WCG VP, not GCI veep!), and then you can sit back and enjoy a full thirteen-minute Mike monologue. Oh hey, that's without even mentioning unelected, nepotism-beneficiary PG Joe's wonderful weekly Speaking of Life videos. What an awesome blessing. Outstanding!

Out for a Duck

Ronald Weinland is like a bad smell that just won't go away. Long after he bit off his own toes in a classic "foot in mouth" maneuver, he's still entertaining the easily deluded with his feint and jab sermons. We are now 37 sabbaths into the Trib (see DW's latest entry.)

The miracle is that anyone is still paying attention. Whack these folk over the bonce with a bit of four-by-two and it's unlikely it'd even register. Even so, Ronnie ain't takin' no chances. According to Jack, Ronnie is warning the tithe slaves to stay away from the wicked Web. DW gets specific: FaceBook is causing the Witless One concern. Ronnie assures the fickle faithful that there won't be any FaceBook in his magical millennium! If Ronnie can't control it, it's got to go.

It's amazing how Ronnie talks down to his followers. He rambles, digresses and wanders off topic as if under the illusion that every stray thought will come as a precious drop of living waters to the dum-dums in the pews. How could any sane person sit there and take it? What horrible life-circumstances would lead anyone to submit to a self-professed prophet who "goes out for a duck" (a reference for all those who follow the gentlemanly sport of cricket) every time he steps up to swing the prophetic bat?

Frankly, Weinland is a sideshow. The tragedy is that he makes many of the other COGlets look practically balanced in comparison. Witness the field-day Bob Thiel has in pointing out the obvious inconsistencies. With Weinland as the whipping boy, it's easy to pretend that Thiel's cult-of-choice, LCG, is pure as the newly driven snow. Weinland is a gift for blokes like Flurry and Pack: a wonderful distraction from scrutiny of their affairs.

No matter. I'm sure Ronnie is good for another year or so of feint and jab, but eventually it might pay to undergo a makeover in order to continue extracting those tithes.

Hmm. A touch of Stan Rader maybe? How 'bout this?

A Tempest blows up for PCG

This bulletin from Living Armstrongism:

I have just got an email from Tempest Sixt Car Hire.

They have assured me that the PCG magazines are being removed. PCG's publications will no longer be distributed via that particular avenue.

My thanks go to the company for choosing to act in such a decisive manner.

Well done people! We did it. My thanks go out to all those who have participated in this needed protest. Your effort is greatly appreciated. Be proud with what you have done.

This is a great lesson in the power of speaking up and getting information out where it is needed, one small step at a time.

Basil's Beauty

A Wolvertoon comes to life!

Flurry Alert

Time to quit grousing and get in behind the work! No, not that "Work," but a PCG-focused initiative being promoted on the Living Armstrongism blog. The entry there explains itself, please do click across. My own inclination would be to do a Readers' Digest on the example letter: short is often more effective; but the strategy is sound. Unless the company is owned by a PCG member, this kind of feedback has a good chance of being effective. We can all grumble and trade horror stories, but here's a chance to get in there and raise a little righteous hell.

Kudos to Redfox712