Despite repeated denials by the upper echelon at the Living Church of God all things are not bright and beautiful or unified.
We are soon going to be witnessing ministers leaving Living Church of God because of the "liberal" policies of Rod Meredith. It will be interesting to see what these men claim are the "liberal" polices and beliefs that Meredith his been espousing. Meredith is not known for being a liberal.
It also seems that the recently defected ministers from David Hulme's personalty cult are not too happy in Living Church of God either. Will they soon defect elsewhere?
A reader here posted:
Rumor is that the three Hulme elders who defected to LCG are already reconsidering their decision, in light of the fact that several prominent LCG elders will soon be announcing their move to another Church of God group (not Thiel's group, and not RCG).
Since the death of Sheryl Meredith, a new wave of discontent has rocked LCG. For years, conservatives in LCG were told privately that Sheryl was the behind-the-scenes cause of many of Rod Meredith's liberal or nepotistic decisions. Now, with Sheryl out of the picture, people are realizing that the problem has been old Rod all along.
Rod is a liar.
Rod will lie to protect his family.
Rod will back other liars who defend him and make him look good.
Rod will soon have a much smaller church to give to his children.
Then, to add more fuel to the fire, James Malm had this encrypted message up today:
COG NEWS: I need to be as circumspect as I can here, but I do want to present some idea of what is happening so that people will not be taken by surprise. I do not want to upset anyone’s applecart so about all I can say is that there are various elders in discreet communications with certain COG Groups about changing their affiliation. I can also say that they will not be going to RCG and that this may take some weeks yet.
Things are not rosy in Charlotte and it will be interesting to see how the spin doctors rise up and deny that things are amiss in the Living Church of God. We will be regaled with words of encouragement about the great unified family that exists in the LCG. At no point in the history of the Church of God has the church been more unified.
Poor Jimmy Meredith may soon have to put in an application at Walmart.
OOOOH! Goody goody! Couldn't happen to a more deserving hypocrite. My behind still hurts from sitting through Rod's never ending "sermons" mainly based on overuse of the concordance. My hands would tire trying to flip to all those scriptures that supposedly supported what he wanted to say. He could come up with series of sevens about just about anything.
ReplyDeleteWould Meredith's death make it better or worse?
ReplyDeleteWe can hope for the worst.
Two dead false prophets upon which to build would be unbeatable.
Having a name it is Living, but it is dead.
Well that settles it...
ReplyDeleteIm going into the "Minister Agency" business, just like Scott Boras does for baseball players!
These Hulme guys aren't even in Living for 3 weeks and they are ready to jump again? Migrant workers stay in fields longer than some of these guys!
I will negotiate contracts for COG ministers for "X" numbers of years, and they will be exclusively retained and can't "jump teams". There can even be performance bonuses, just like the baseball players, for things like increasing tithes per year, or leading the league in disfellowshipments etc.
My fee will be a reasonable 3% of salary, and the Orgs will benefit too , due to exclusive rights to the contract.
Subject to , of course , passing the physical, and a battery of mental illness tests, drug screenings, etc.
An idea whose time has come!
Luv,
SUPER AGENT
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
Passover will makes for a good "Kickoff Time" for groups so as to appear divinely motivated. I predict that any schisms will occur then.
ReplyDeleteJoe Moeller
Cody, WY
If those ministers decided to get out of LCG I am happy for them. Knowing that they might decide to get out of Meredith's world of darkness makes me happy for them. Regardless of their motivation for this they are making a good decision.
ReplyDeleteAlso it amazes me that Sheryl Meredith's death has seemed to cause a lot of LCG members to reconsider giving their loyalty to Meredith. Before her death I never for a moment suspected her death would have this effect upon the LCG membership.
So some in LCG blamed her for the "liberal" positions of Meredith, and the nepotism? Look, those people were blaming the woman, or the leader's evil adviser.
It seems to me in many authoritarian societies the people within are so very reluctant to blame the leader and instead believe that any undesirable actions must have been committed by other people without his knowledge.
So it appears these potential defectors will not go to Bob Thiel. Of course they would not do so. These ministers actually went to a (probably unaccredited) school and did a lot of work to become ordained. Thiel just claimed to be magically ordained when he was simply being blessed by a minister.
I wondered how that was going to work out. They left David Hulme because he was too autocratic, and.....they join up with Rod Meredith???
ReplyDeleteAlso in regards to what accusations these apparent defectors may use against Meredith it may be instructive to recall what happened when several LCG ministers resigned back in 2005-6.
ReplyDeleteThey rubbished Meredith for allowing makeup and accused him of denying that HWA was the end time Elijah. (As though calling HWA an Apostle, the font of the Philadelphia era, Ambassador for World Peace, etc, were not enough.) That time the dissension was largely incited by Pack. But it appears Pack has nothing to do with this current unrest.
These comings and goings become so high profile amongst the splinters! It is almost like a celebrity endorsement when a long term AC-educated pastor or evangelist leaves one splinter and joins the next. It's indicative of the "as yet unwritten chapters of Acts" mentality as opposed to focussing on Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's see who gets the endorsement this time. There will probably be more "era" nonsense tied up in this, as people wait for a breakaway carrier of the end time gospel to emerge from amongst the splinters to capture international attention, even though their own teaching indicates that the next time this happens, it's going be the Laodicean church.
No matter what else happens, two critical ingredients remain MIA from Armstrongism: 1). A powerful speaker of HWA or GTA caliber, and 2). The financial wherewithal to get that person on the media. Actually, if #1 emerged, he would generate #2. What they are sorely lacking is the Elvis or Beatles of Armstrongism for this generation, and, their own hyperbole notwithstanding, none of them seems to even be capable of a video that goes viral on youtube!
Reality is, these defections and endorsements are of little more than personal interest so long as the movement continues to produce tepid broadcast personalities, false prophets who lie, defraud, and disgrace themselves, jailbirds, arm flailers whose videocams pick up low level noises from their attempted suppression of intestinal gas, and people whose idea of a powerful gospel involves preaching from a rocking chair in their Levis. Sorry guys. No other descriptive but pathetic does the job.
BB
No comment.
ReplyDelete"Reality is, these defections and endorsements are of little more than personal interest so long as the movement continues to produce tepid broadcast personalities, false prophets who lie, defraud, and disgrace themselves, jailbirds, arm flailers whose videocams pick up low level noises from their attempted suppression of intestinal gas, and people whose idea of a powerful gospel involves preaching from a rocking chair in their Levis. Sorry guys. No other descriptive but pathetic does the job."
ReplyDeleteThat's a good description of what's on Christian TV!
Does anyone know the status of Mike Meredith? I knew him about 30 years ago. He seemed to be a decent guy then. Just curious.
ReplyDeleteJames Malm saying he needs to be circumspect. LOL. That's like a papparazzi telling the Lohan he's trying to be circumspect by stalking her everywhere and getting in her face with a flash unit. Every so often Malm used to say that he didn't dish but 1/10 of all the goss— um, I mean, NEWS his "secret sources" used to feed him. Bullshit. He publishes every snippet of gossip he gets his grubby, stubby, fat little fingers on, but says "there's a lot more where that came from, folks, so stick around!" James Malm is 50% self-righteous fake pharisee ministurd, 50% The COG Enquirer and 100% ego trip. Circumspect. LOL.
ReplyDelete"I wondered how that was going to work out. They left David Hulme because he was too autocratic, and.....they join up with Rod Meredith???"
ReplyDeleteYes, Anon, that was my FIRST THOUGHT too, when I heard some of them joined up with Meredith. The pay can't be that good, so I figured it must be pure (although not unadulterated) desperation.
Yeah Joe, why jump ship when you can stay in UCG with your friends and eat their cookies. That's what it's all about. The true meaning of life: a social club with good cookies.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we worry about what is on Christian TV? They arent the ones who screwed us. Herby did!
ReplyDeleteWhy do we worry about what is on Christian TV?
ReplyDeleteI doubt anyone really does "worry about" it, but recognizing similarities between Herb's and others' sleazy sales tactics can be noteworthy.