Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Living Church of God Appoints Rod McNair and Bob League to Begin Pogrom Against Dissident Ministers and Members




In my last post I had an article about a sermonette from Rod McNair reinforcing the rules of disfellowshiment that LCG uses against members and ministers.  That post stirred up a strong reaction form many LCG members who lashed out that it was all a lie because LCG is the most unified COG in this dispensation. It is filled with more brotherly love than any other COG out there because it has true doctrine and government.

That facade is now crashing down around them.  Various Elders and ministers of the LCG are under the microscope of Rod McNair and Bob League.

James Malm is reporting:

Rod Meredith has now appointed an inquisition to cleanse LCG of any who are not in full agreement with everything he says.   “I’ve asked Mr McNair and Mr League – they’ve been working as a team to get all the information on many of these things – and I’m working with them and other leaders … We’re trying to keep God’s church clean.”  That is, they are now purging LCG, due to the extensive divisions in that organization, which until now Meredith has lied about.
Malm is correct in the fact that Meredith, McNair and others have deliberately lied to members as they tried to present the facade of extreme unity.  Any thinking person could have seen through that facade if they actually used their brains instead of swallowing every word from Charlotte as the gospel truth.  Countless articles, letters, sermons, sermonnettes and messages of encouragement in the LCG News have repeatedly in the last year made comments about the importance of keeping unity in the church.

Malm continues:

Rod Meredith then lies in an effort to defame those who do not follow him as their idol.  Roderick Meredith says, “We found that some of these people we’ve had to put out (of the church) … they often lie and lie, and they’ll twist and turn, and turn things around …”  which is exactly what Rod does.

For some time there have been more than a dozen elders and a large number of brethren who have been very unhappy with changes in LCG teachings and with the heavy handed obey Rod or else, exalting Rod Meredith above the Word of God.  It appears that Rod now knows who they are or he would not have announced the League/McNair team.  It is easiest to gather such information in secret before announcing what is being done.
How swift with be the naysayers hopping on here denying that there is still no problem in the LCG with unity?

Meredith and others in the Living Church of God have a rich history of causing division and destroying unity.  He went on numerous witch hunts while over Church Administration in Pasadena before he was exiled to Hawaii for insubordination. He caused another division when he turned his back on the Worldwide Church of God and started the apostate Global Church of God.  Then after Raymond and Eve McNair came crawling to him on their knees with trembling lips begging his forgiveness he then took Global Church of God's money and started the Living Church of God.  McNair and those few who remained in Global never recovered financially from Meredith's despicable act.

Hundreds and hundreds of destroyed lives have been left in Meredith's wake over the decades.  When will these people ever wake up?

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Malm getting nailed on that misquote is still not setting well!

Anonymous said...

From my recollections, Bob League is an excellent choice to head the Gestapo against critically and independently thinking folk.

Anonymous said...

Malm is just grasping at straws and trying to make something out of NOTHING. There's no purge going on with any ministers or members. Issues Meredith is referring to are local to Charlotte. McNair/League address local issues in the Charlotte congregation.

Byker Bob said...

This fits perfectly with something I have been saying for years. Just as communism has been tried many times in many settings, and has always corrupted and hardened its leaders, the so-called restored truths of Armstrongism have always done the same. The teachings produce the very type of leadership which we are witnessing. Sometimes some of the groups are able to suppress certain behavioral manifestations, but ultimately it once again ends up bubbling up to the top. It's kind of like Pharisaic legalism always producing self-righteousness and judgmentalism.

Uncle Roddy is succumbing to the same type of behavior that Flurry and Pack learned from HWA, and have been practicing for years. How could he not? Somehow, you just can't give a leopard a tint and dye job and have it stay permanent.

The good news is that, via this purge, bunches of people are going to have the conundrums and cognitive dissonance of Armstrongism resolved for them.

BB

DennisCDiehl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

League is the perfect gestapo agent if this is true. LCGers had better beware!

Anonymous said...

I will never forget the last ministerial conference in Global. What an absolute cluster. And then what does Roddy tell the sheeple? It was the most uplifting, unifying, harmonious conference yet. Then? He steals the money and everything falls apart. How much longer can this man get away with so much crap? Sorry Dennis I can't quite share your view.

DennisCDiehl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

So you admit there are problems in Charlotte? How many times have we heard that there was NOTHING going on in Charlotte and that HQ was as unified as ever? Our minister tells us this sory regularly every month. More members know this stuff is going on than you think. We have been slow to see the light but my family is on its way out of LCG. It's taken is years of hard knocks and being treated like worthless sinful vermin to wake up. It's going to be hard losing friends because we know they will completely shun us when we finally leave. That is going to be the hardest on our children.

DennisCDiehl said...

(I removed my own comments as unnecessary and a violation of my need to leave it all go) :)

Unknown said...

Sing along time...

Sing to the tune of "Blowin In The Wind"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI

"Blowin' In The Wind"

How many COGS must a man attend...
Before you call him a man?

How many COGS must go off of the rails...
Before the Sheep take a stand?

Yes, how many times must the markings fly
Before we're all forever banned?

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes this site sounds hysterical. And I don't mean comical.

Anonymous said...

Meredith is a pathological liar who will do almost anything to advance his family at the expense of LCG members.

LCG is small enough, and has been around long enough, that pretty much everybody in LCG (except for a few newbies) is well aware of this.

Members stay for as long as they can be with their friends, or for as long as LCG is the most convenient church option available. They don't stay because they think Meredith is a great man, or even a good man. They stay in spite of him, if they like their local minister and have friends they enjoy.

When Meredith's sons cross a line and abuse people, or do something so incompetent that members or ministers are hurt, the victims usually leave quietly. As long as they leave quietly, they can usually keep their friendships with LCG members. It's only when they become "crusaders" upon leaving, and start making waves, that Meredith and his henchmen take notice and wave threats of disfellowship.

Critics are mistaken when they assume LCG will fall apart after Meredith's death. What will happen is that the many sincere ministers trained by Carl McNair and Doug Winnail will step up and act with the integrity that was impossible while they were under the thumb of Meredith. In doing so, they will "rally the troops" and maybe even attract some disgruntled UCGers and members of other fellowships.

The loss of a few Meredith-worshippers will be more than offset by the gain of new members who agree with HWA's famous 1980 letter to Meredith, which stated that Meredith's conduct and character REPELLED people rather than ATTRACTED them.

Redfox712 said...

Let's also not forget that Meredith knew long before it became public knowledge that Garner Ted Armstrong was conducting numerous adulterous trysts. But he went along with the cover up and did nothing to stop Garner Ted Armstrong's most objectionable behavior. He just stayed in WCG laying in wait for the opportunity to be Number 1.

Anonymous said...

Spanky's delusional world came crashing down when HWA exiled him for his arrogance. Then Meredith stuck around because Leona McNair sued his sorry ass for defamation. Spanky let the church pay all his attorneys fees. He lost and the church had to pay out for his big flapping vindictive pie hole.

Byker Bob said...

The psychology of all of this is fascinating. You would not have suspected from his own sermons that GTA had a problem managing his libido. I really don't recall him dwelling on sex sins to the extent that RCM seemed preoccupied with them. Back in the day, Rod Meredith could not teach a class or preach a sermon without mentioning masturbation, homosexuality, or adultery and fornication.

We never knew why. There was always speculation amongst the braver students that Meredith might have been attacking behavioral patterns that were a personal problem for him. But, if he knew of GTA's problems, that might have been an element as well. As #3, this could have been his way of attacking #2.

Now, if this is true, since Rod, to my recollections, never attacked incest, he either might not have known of HWA's brand of sexual problem, or overlooked it in his quest to become #2.

But, it gets even more complicated when one considers the Suzanne Black affidavit in which Rod was accused of pimping for Herb. And then there were some Filipinas who suddenly and mysteriously appeared in Pasadena.

Poor Rod! The things an innocent young boy from Joplin Missouri can get caught up in! How do you untangle the web and still maintain your personal integrity?

BB

Anonymous said...

BOB LEAGUE IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for the job of LCG Inquisition Grandmaster.


All these Armgstronite cultic oppressions and suppressions and presence of psychotic and aberrant ministers were minor occurrences in the Philippines during the WCG days. I wouldn't last more than 30 years if there are aberrant ministers in the Philippine WCG.


After Tkcach "dissolved" WCG belief system and Meredith established GCG for those who want to remain faithful to Armstrong teachings, Bob League came to be the "Regional Director" in GCG-Philippines and we finally learned and discovered what the Americans were talking about aberrant idiotic psychotic lunatic paranoid WCG ministers during these WCG days. Thanks to Bob League, we understand the ministerial abuses you are talking about. In GCG, he started his paranoid accusations of loyal members of all sorts of disentions, creating followers and divisions which of course exist only in his mind. He simply came to the Philippines to divide and create more hurts than be a comfort for all the hurts we received. It was time to leave GCG rather than wait to be disfellowshipped and marked and be thrown in the Lake of Fire. It was also time to question Armstrongite teachings whether Biblical or not.


We have been under Spain and Catholicism for 398 years and we knew the yoke of religious bigotry and abuses epitomized by Bob League, all in the name of God and using hellfire, Lake of Fire, and rain of fire as weapon to intimidate and create fear in the hearts of what he thought are ignorant populace. Maybe in his heart and mind, Filipinos are just one level if not equal level to monkeys. We could discern his very low regards for the Filipinos, even if you happen to be a millionaire Filipino and of good standing and reputation in the church of God. (Or maybe he is just envious that the millionaire couple use their money to buy and influence loyalty?) But God blesses each human being irrespective of color with a magnificent mind; and only those who are Biblical illiterates in GCG (who eventually moved to LCG) and the sycophants will remain with this Inquisition Grandmaster Bob League and his fake Church of God. I greatly thank Bob League personally for opening my eyes (suddenly as if a trance was removed) that nothing, no organization, no self-proclaimed so-called minister of God - stands between an individual and God. For me personally, no churchanity. No church on this planet can bring salvation to any individual. Salvation is a personal matter between the person and God.


Bob League has very poor judgment and certainly incompetent to be a minister. He simply lacks judgment or maybe he simply considers Filipinos as lower than human beings and incapable of independent thinking. He is arrogant, paranoid, and everything else of what a true Christian is not. Christ said by their fruits you shall know them. If you happen to know Bob League, you know what and exactly who Christ is talking about.

chuckles said...

Once again Malm tries so hard as he self righteously puts down others as he gossips, judges and criticizes others instead of trying to do what he claims he came to do. It's always the same thing with Malm, over and over again. He has caused more division by gossiping against other so called COG sites or leaders just so he can get a following, and will study their sites to find any fault he can see to pick away at. Malm claims only he has all the truth, funny, didn't Armstrong do the same thing at one time. Again I must quit reading his material, at least then I know that the harmful thoughts and frustration his criticizing and gossip brings will disappear, he talks and acts like others are too stupid to see through RCM and others, and all just to point to himself and tell others how right only he himself is.

Anonymous said...

The thing to remember about Meredith and Leona McNair is that, although Meredith was a named defendant, WCG paid all of his costs, including the final settlement, which was paid in December of 1992. When did Meredith have his first GCG service? The last Sabbath of December, 1992. Meredith had spent 3 years and 3 months doing nothing while Tkach changed everything. No teaching, no writing, no preaching, no pastoring. Rod just sat there watching the church get destroyed. He had been trained for 40 years just for such a time, and when the people needed him the most, he was nowhere to be found. Just sitting and collecting a big fat paycheck and getting his legal costs covered, watching Tkach consolidate his power and change everything. By December 1992, it was too late to do anything. When it comes to money or faith in God, Meredith made his choice.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that Bob League's successor in the Philippines was Rod McNair.

EX-PCG said...

Mr. Meredith is the main reason I have never attended GCG or LCG. It's possible that after he dies...LCG will be better without his flip-flopping ways.

His staying with WCG (as long as he did), is the reason so many went with Flurry in the early 90's. I know...I was one of them. There weren't hundreds of choices back then. And no Internet to find another COG.

Flurry was clever enough to know what to say, to keep you from going with GCG. Now, he is even worse than Mr. M.
We sure can't look to men!!!

Anonymous said...

Really, Anon 10:45?

"...watching the church get destroyed."

Who are you people? Are you even remotely acquainted with having your heads above sand?

Anonymous said...

This just in: The Seven Habits of Chronically Unhappy People.

It just seems to fit....

Anonymous said...

All that anger,
All that rage,
It's really hard,
That war to wage.

Pharisees all,
With nits obsessed,
Demanding obedience,
Of the depressed.

You'd better toe
That line we set,
Or you'll be out,
No PoS will you get.

Give us your tithes,
For our gun lap,
Even though our cult
Is so much crap.

All that anger,
All that rage,
You should leave
And turn the page.

old EXPCG hag said...

I'm pulling a Connie...

"Yee-Haw!", Can't They All Just Get Along, as in...

"Get Along Little Doggies"

Oh, little doggies
It's your misfortune and not (mine)
Whoop-ee-ti-yi-o get along little doggies
You know that (hell) will be your new home

(A bunch o') drunk(s) and hard-(heart-eds)
That old Jack-(ass) is a hard card to play
Get along, get along, get along little doggies
Get along little doggies and be on your way

Whoop-ee-ti-yi-o get along little doggies
It's your misfortune and not (mine)
Whoop-ee-ti-yi-o get along little doggies
You know that (hell) will be your new home

Some boys have bit this old cow trail for pleasure
But that's where they get it most awfully wrong
I wish I could tell you the troubles they give us
As we go rolling these doggies along

Whoop-ee-ti-yi-o get along little doggies
It's your misfortune and not mine
Whoop-ee-ti-yi-o get along little doggies
You know that (hell) will be your new home..."Yee-Haw!!"

PS...and (hell) just means a hole in the ground and they used the word (ass) in the Bible, so I'm really not cursing, I hope you all very aware!

Anonymous said...

"Sometimes this site sounds hysterical. And I don't mean comical."

When I read the above comment, a few thoughts came to mind.

There are often serious topics addressed here, dealt with in a serious fashion.

But sometimes, it's a good approach to deal with HWA's legacy with humor. Doing so can be good for the soul, and facilitate healing.

Even Martha Stewart would agree that photoshopping a picture of Herbie's face onto a donkey's ass "is a good thing"!

And, I disagree with the commenter who wrote that "Malm is just grasping at straws and trying to make something out of NOTHING."

There's something coming down the pike with Rod nearing his death. Among the ministers under him, there's sure to be some grasping at straws, jockeying and positioning themselves favorably for positions of power, anticipating Rod's death.

Living is in no-way, no-how immune to the impending splitting and power-grabbing that's on it's immediate horizon, no matter what some Living COG members would rather believe.

Anonymous said...

Another reference to Meredith and the Leona McNair case. I have read so much about this, but still don't know exactly what he said. It must have been bad to get such a settlement. My curiosity is overcoming me. I have searched around on various sites, but although there are descriptions of the court case etc., there is no mention of what was said.
Can anyone direct me to where I may find this info?

NO2HWA said...

Here are two sites that have the words Rod Meredith said about Leona McNair:

http://livingarmstrongism.blogspot.com/2013/07/roderick-c-merediths-750000-libel.html

http://hwarmstrong.com/ar/AR29.html



Anonymous said...

There's also this:
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10392181441010235815&q=roderick+meredith&hl=en&as_sdt=2006

Redfox712 said...

Rod McNair made a false prophecy. Back in 2000 he wrote an article bemoaning that relations between the US and the Philippines were deteriorating and he presented this as a sign of America's power getting broken for her alleged sins.

Recently America signed a ten year treaty with the Philippines that allows their military more flexibility to operate there. Relations between the two countries are improving. So clearly God is not with Rod McNair.

Redfox712 said...

Thanks for the link No2HWA. It is much appreciated.

I will say that Meredith's libel was a terrible thing and surely must be regarded as one of his worst blunders. It is shocking that he treated a woman in such a shameful and hideous manner with no regard for the truth or her mental well being.

Byker Bob said...

We need to remember that Meredith claims never to have committed a major sin since his baptism. Armstrong always heavily weighted the "spirit" of the law when lecturing on the topic of sin. This libeling of Leona, allowing WCG to pick up the tab for the resulting lawsuit, and the subsequent start up of Global would certainly seem to constitute the breaking of the spirit of something.

Let's put it this way. The lawsuit settlement probably cancelled out all of Rod's tithes and offerings that he contributed to Armstrongism throughout his life, and then some. That is a huge debt incurred for a few brief moments of unbridled tongue wagging. What a crappy example to set! You have to wonder if this ever even registered with him or caused the remotest twinge of guilt.

BB

Anonymous said...

The thing is, though, is that this issue isn't simply a matter of one man (Rod Meredith) lying about one woman (Leona McNair).

No, it is a matter of Herbert Armstrong's church doctrines and whether or not church leaders are above the "law" they themselves preach. The answer, demonstrated by this precedent which was, in fact, 180° contrary to long established "D&R" doctrine, is a resounding "YES" church leaders DO feel they are above the "law" they seek to bind on others, and what's more, also feel fully justified in telling any number of lies, and in spending millions of dollars to defend those lies in order to make it seem like none of this is so, when of course it is so.

Rod Meredith was the reichsfĂĽhrer of the ministry acting in an official capacity, voicing the party line, reinforcing the corporate lie that ministers do not sin, and therefore, Raymond McNair was above reproach and Leona therefore, should get 100% of the blame. Raymond, was, after all, fully justified in divorcing Leona since, according to the party line, she had "deserted" her husband, right? Rod Meredith has continued to tell this lie that he himself has never committed any "major" sin since baptism (as though the modifier "major" actually had any meaning). And besides, the fact that Leona was not by her husband's side playing the role of "good wife," made it seem that Raymond was incompetent to rule his own household, an intolerable position for an ambitious man in a chauvinistic cult.

What Leona had actually deserted was the cult her husband was mixed up in. That was her actual "crime." She was being honest and authentic, and in cult environments, that is the worst sin of them all. Such honesty was intolerable to her husband, because it made him and the corporation as a whole look bad. It made Herbert Armstrong and his teachings look bad. It destroyed the appearance of "gleichaltung." It broke that "perfect image" that makes it possible for everyone to continue to deny the obvious--the obvious fact that this "way of life" doesn't work at all because it is all predicated on acts of staggering imagination.

The lies that Rod Meredith told were not his own, they were the lies of the corporation. They were the lies of Herbert Armstrong. He was doing Herbert's bidding. Does Meredith deserve blame for being the willing accomplice to Herbert's foul tactics? Certainly, but let's not lose sight of the fact that Herbert was behind the scenes orchestrating everything and calling all the shots. This solution to the "Leona problem" was Herbert's solution more than it was Raymond's or Roderick's.

The bottom line was that Herbert felt that he was above the doctrines that he made and sold to others. Herbert was the "god" here. And if he wanted to solve the "Leona problem" by simply granting an exemption from his own rules, then by golly that was what he was going to do. He had been leading a life of exemption from rules at least since he started fucking Dorothy. Since when had justifying exemptions ever been a problem before? Rod Meredith's real problem was the fact that he was content to become an instrument of Herbert's evil, and ever since the crimes against Leona were paid for, he's become content to be a creator and purveyor of his own evil (but that's another, longer story).

R.L. said...

These leadership issues keep coming up in LCG.

For proof, go to the LCG website and do a search for "Acts 15." I did today - and found an article with a government spat from 1998.

Anonymous said...

I just happened upon this post and I'm freaking out! It is ALL TRUE. RCM has re-instated the old WCG visiting ministers program so he can "check in" with members who may be less than fully supportive of him as the Supreme Ruler. League and McNair, his henchmen, have been instructed to "weed out" dissenters. There method is typically to isolate the woman because they know they are more likely to get them to crack/dish info on their husbands or other members. They ask for lists of the names of friends that might need "to be counselled" aka possible trouble makers that also need to be interrogated. If they can't find a legitimate issue with someone they want out of LCG they will just make something up. Meredith has NO PROBLEM lying about members if it serves his purpose. Anyone who questions him knows they will be next on the chopping block so people just remain silent to stay out of RCM's crosshairs. In the last year, 24 people that I know of have left the Charlotte congregation alone largely in part to these Gestapo tactics and absolute tyranny against anyone who dares question or have a critical/independent thought. Absolutely nothing has changed since Leona McNair. RCM uses his position and his microphone to destroy those who don't bow down to him.

The more RCM feels he is losing control, the tighter he clamps down. Practically every sermon is about obeying and submitting. Not to God, but to church authority. They demand blind obedience. Mr. League even went so far as to say that if he were to call a member in the middle of the night and ask them to drive circles around the block for 4 hours, they should obey without asking questions.

The League/ McNair team also monitors members private Facebook pages and ask members to remove posts or pictures that they don't like for whatever reason.

They are so blinded by their power and agenda that they can't see all the members taking note of the false allegations they make about long-time members, the late night interrogations and the exodus of LCG members. It is widely talked about in whispers after services and at Friday night get-togethers. There is a storm brewing and they are completely oblivious!