Cartwight’s Journal Out: David Barrett, Bob Thiel, and More.

The latest issue (#152, print date March 13, 2013) of The Journal was sent out electronically yesterday.

One of the lead articles by Dixon Cartwright has the following:

David V. Barrett, a British author who has written much about religions, Christian and otherwise, has a new book out. It’s The Fragmentation of a Sect, a hardback published by Oxford University Press in January 2013. It’s based on Dr. Barrett’s doctoral dissertation in the sociology department at the London School of Economics. The sect of Dr. Barrett’s title is the Worldwide Church of God. The fragmentation is the WCG’s offshoots.

Although I have not read the book, I have been familiar with it for some time as David Barrett asked me questions throughout the years about various aspects of COG/WCG history.

Leader of new church believes he’s a prophet

By Dixon Cartwright

The leader of a new Church of God thinks he may be a prophet. The fledgling church, which is part of the founder’s 17-year personal ministry, came into existence on Dec. 28, 2012, when Bob Thiel, Ph.D., announced the founding of the Continuing Church of God.

For many years Dr. Thiel, of Arroyo Grande, Calif., held membership in and actively promoted the Living Church of God, begun by Roderick Meredith and associates in 1998 and headquartered in Charlotte, N.C.

Dr. Thiel recently left the LCG after differences of opinion and approach with that ministry. He said he concluded that the “LCG had insufficient love of the truth and no longer held the Philadelphia mantle.”

I basically left LCG because I felt it had insufficient integrity and “love of the truth” to be the organization that God could possibly use to lead what I have referred to as the “final phase of the work” (see Why Bob Thiel Left the Living Church of God and The Final Phase of the Work). More of Dixon Cartwright’s report is available at the following: Journal Report on Continuing Church of God Leader Bob Thiel.

This edition of The Journal also had information on a Big Sandy reunion (that took place in October 2012), letters to the editor, advertisements, various doctrines, personal items, FOT reports, and one on soul-sleep. An article related to the latter would be Did Early Christians Believe that Humans Possessed Immortality?

There were also other COG reports. Here are some from its back page:

New COG magazine

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif.— The new Continuing Church of God has a new magazine, Bible News Prophecy, announced church founder Robert Thiel. A PDF version of the January- March 2013 issue is available at ccog.org.

“The Continuing Church of God is serious about fulfilling Matthew 24:14 and 28:19-20,” Dr. Thiel said.

“Bible News Prophecy magazine is one more way that we plan to use to fulfill the great commission.”

AC Big Sandy reunion

LACEYS SPRING, Ala.—Tom Williams announces a major Ambassador College reunion for the Dallas, Texas, area Sept. 5-8, 2013. The gathering, which Mr. Williams says as many as 300 people may attend, will focus on fo rm er students who were on the Big Sandy campus from 1965 through 1977, including the classes of 1978, ’79 and ’80. If you were a student during those years, register online at ambassadorbigsandyalumni.com. To attend the reunion as a guest write Mr. Williams at twilliams@tv24.tv.

AC Bricket Wood reunion

A committee of former students of Ambassador College, Bricket Wood, England, is making plans for an AC reunion May 18-22, 2014, in the Bricket W ood area. The U.K. campus was the sec- ond of the three Ambassador Colleges: AC Pasadena, Calif. (1947-90), Bricket Wood (1960- 74) and Big Sandy, Texas (1964- 77 and 1981-97). The last surviving of the three, by then having become the accredited Ambassador Univer- sity, was the Texas campus, which closed for good in 1997. The committee planning the Bricket Wood event: Annette (Weatherley) and Richard Fo r kun; Bob Howell; Colin Lauchlan; Jill (Pilkington) Gully; Jill (Smith) Berg; Linda (Moll) Smith; Merrie (McCann) Elliott; and Tricia (Kingsmore) Hayward. F or more information, see bricketwoodreunion.info. Write Mrs. Forkun at annette@ bricketwoodreunion.info.

Ron Weinland incarcerated

COVINGTON, Ky.—Long-time Church of God member and elder Ronald Weinland was sentenced to 3 1 ⁄ 2 y ears in prison on Nov. 14, 2012, for failing to pay taxes on income he earned while running a ministry from his home in Union, Ky.

According to published reports, a judge ordered Mr. Weinland to pay $245,000 in back taxes and a $7,000 fine. He w as reportedly convicted of income-tax evasion for failing to pay taxes on $4.4 million in income from 2004 through 2007.

Mr. Weinland’s ministry is the Church of God Preparing for the Kingdom of God. He has predicted that Jesus will return on May 19, 2013.

Ronald Weinland has been covered here for years and has had other false prediction dates (more can be found in the article Concerns About Ronald Weinland’s Church of God-Preparing for the Kingdom of God); see also: CGPFKG’s Ronald Weinland writes from prison about “horrifying time of judgment” which he expects will occur in 2013.

The Journal is available by paid subscription (though Dixon Cartwright says some subscriptions are free to those who cannot afford it) and often tends to take a non-Philadelphian era view of certain church matters.