About Me

My name is Darren.

“COG” is short for the “Church of God” movement — a tradition not yet 100 years old. It was spawned by Herbert W. Armstrong, whose ministry began around 1934. He is the founder of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).

I was born into the WCG, and at age 19 — during the early stages of “the changes” in WCG doctrine — I joined the Church of God International (CGI), founded by Armstrong’s son, Garner Ted Armstrong.

Now I’m a Tradition-minded Catholic. My conversion story is published here (Catholic Answers Magazine).

I don’t resent my upbringing in Armstrongism (as it is more aptly called). My background provides a unique perspective that helps me to better understand and appreciate the truths of “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Yet I wish I had known someone in my young adult years who could both (1) understand the COG doctrines and relate to its culture, and (2) offer reasonable and charitable critiques while explaining Catholicism in terms I could understand.

In this blog I offer my thoughts in a way that might have been helpful if presented to me years ago, when I was a young, devout COGer facing the world ahead of me.

To see a listing of blog post titles from this blog, replace the URL of this site with https://tiny.write.as/thecogcatholic/.

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