Here is an excerpt from the 377 page LCG Pastor's manual amalgamated by Rod McNair. This is from the "Pastoral Ethics" section:
A Pastor Must Be Self-Controlled—Not Quick To Get Angry
“…A bishop then must be… not violent…but gentle, not quarrelsome…” (1 Timothy 3:2-3)
Pastors sometimes have to deal with frustrating and exasperating situations. A Pastor must have the character—and LOVE for others—to control his own spirit, even in the midst of difficult situations, and even with people who are irrational or belligerent. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he said:
2 Timothy 2:24-26 “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
When a problem arises, imagine that you are arriving at the scene of a fire. The fire is the problem you are facing. Imagine that you have two buckets in your hands—one is filled with water, and the other is filled with gasoline. Which one you use upon arriving at the scene has a lot to do with the outcome of the situation. Can you defuse the situation by using a calm but firm hand? Or do you react with anger in kind, further exacerbating an already bad situation?
A Pastor must exhibit emotional control to successfully function in his capacity. He must be able to bear insult without retaliation. Jesus set that example. He did not lash out or take revenge on those who ridiculed Him. As Peter wrote:
1 Peter 2:21-25 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
This does not mean that a Pastor must not defend the members or the office of the ministry or must not occasionally act with decisive action. But he must keep his own personal feelings out of it, as much as possible, with God’s help. He must not fall into a “siege mentality” where he begins to see everyone as either for him or against him. He must strive to minimize controversy and polarization wherever possible. He must deal squarely and decisively on the facts, based on sound biblical principles, with all due patience and long-suffering and without personal antagonism or anger.
This takes careful self-examination of motives and intentions. It takes deep reflection to examine one’s own personal motives—and the humility to admit to oneself when one is acting on pride Proverbs 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” Proverbs 14:29 “He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly.” Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” pg 1-4, 1-5
Every single thing that is highlighted above is exactly what the LCG is NOT doing at this present moment. Rod Meredith and others have lashed out in anger at the Scarborough's and other members that see major issues breaking the church apart. They retaliate by publicly embarrassing and maligning church members characters and motives on a regular basis.
Rod Meredith and other LCG leaders have always used "personal feelings" when lashing out at certain people. Meredith is well know for carrying long held grudges against others.
The LCG and most other COG's have always employed the "siege mentality" when issues arise. The wagons are circled and disfellowshipments and markings fly like bullets. Its like they massacre as swiftly and as many as possible right off the bat so that the members cower in fear. Just look at the Church of God history from the time Herbert Armstrong started the church to this very day. From the time Armstrong stabbed the Church of God 7th Day in the back and apostatized, to this very day where we have 700 some splinter groups that are constantly circling the wagons to preserve their life styles and personal interpretations.
"...with all due patience and long-suffering and without personal antagonism or anger." What a glorious fantasy! Will we ever see that day happen in the Church of God movement?
14 comments:
I have been a long time LCG member and have stood by watching all of this happen over the years. I knew it was wrong and did nothing. I thought God would correct it all in the end. I now realize that God is not part of this church and never has been. I recoil every time I see you mention that the church does not talk about Jesus or anything he taught. I want to call you a liar, but I cannot. It is true, we have ignored Jesus and the new covenant in order to place the law as our standard. I have spent the last two weeks going back through all the articles on this blog and in checking out the Exit and Support site. It has been an eye opening experience for me and my wife. We are leaving the LCG and taking a break from all church. I am disgusted beyond reason that I have stood by and done nothing all these years. That is now changing.
Dear Anonymous, Wonderful news! You are truly on to the best times of your life now, no fear, no more financial burden to LCG! It's good to take a break from any organized religion, you will find out that you may never need it agsin. Rely on your own judgement, listen to your own still small voice. It's liberation time, and you will see that God will love you and never leave you, no matter what! Peace!
"Every single thing that is highlighted above is exactly what the LCG is NOT doing at this present moment. Rod Meredith and others have lashed out in anger at the Scarborough's and other members that see major issues breaking the church apart. They retaliate by publicly embarrassing and maligning church members characters and motives on a regular basis."
To me this is good news. The more and smaller pieces LCG breaks into, and the sooner it does so, the better. The closer each individual piece gets to the critical mass threshold, the sooner Armstrongism will vanish, never to be remembered except as a deviant blip in the history of protestantism.
Can't wait till there are 1400 splinter groups, then 700 again, then 300, then 100...
When will United spectacularly fail to live up to its moniker again?
HWA didn't stab COG7 and apostatize, as you say. You are overdoing yourself by speaking such nonsense. He left COG7 because they wouldn't accept the holydays. WCG didn't grow to such heights if he was in apostasy. That is a blasphemy. Be careful what you. You'll be ashamed when you see HWA in the kingdom and you are left out. If you don't know what the good fruits are, and what being under grace means, go study your Bible. Your soul and my soul depend on it.
Herb certainly did stab the COG7 in the back! He threw a fit when they rejected his holy day malarkey. He left to form his own group taking members with him.
What makes you think that WCG grew to the heights it did because Herb's god blessed it? The Church of Scientology is a cult that has grown substantially over the decades and owns more property than Herb ever did and has more members. In your way of thinking Scientology has grown because your god is blessing it.
You god must be a petty little thing if it is going to keep someone out of its kingdom just because a person rejects Herb. Herb is nothing but a blip on the grand scheme of things and totally irrelevant to one’s salvation.
Being under grace is not something that the COG teaches. It rejects it and prefers keeping the law and its countless rules and regulations that not a single one of you are able to keep properly.
I don't know if Herbert Armstrong stabbed COG7D in the back. What I do know is HWA labeled the Church of God 7th Day as the Sardis era Church from the Book of Revelation. From everything I have researched about the parent Church organization from which HWA splintered away, they are anything but a "dead church". They seem more alive than WCG/GCI and any ACOG splinter today!
Richard
Oh my Anon2:20, you really outdo yourself!
"WCG didn't grow to such heights if he was in apostasy."
Argumentum ad populum...
"That is a blasphemy. Be careful what you [say]."
Blasphemy, you say? You said it, not me. But please, tell me more about how you don't worship a man...
"You'll be ashamed when you see HWA in the kingdom and you are left out."
In the kingdom, you say? Along with how many other pedophiles? If merely criticizing your god, HWA, is enough to keep me out of "the kingdom," maybe I should shut up and start raping my daughter instead. I'll get into the kingdom that way for sure...
"If you don't know what the good fruits are, and what being under grace means, go study your Bible. Your soul and my soul depend on it."
If raping one's own daughter constitutes good fruit, then you're right, I haven't got a clue what "the good fruits" are. As for grace, I think ol' Herbie forgot to teach that. If he ever did, I must have missed that day...
If either you or I have a "soul" (which brain research has something to say about, btw) I am sure those souls don't depend upon anything Herbie said (or forgot to say.) And the bible is patently a bunch of rambling and contradictory middle eastern marlarkey—a relic from mankind's uncivilized and barbaric past—not a moral guide received from on high. If there is such a volume, we'll have to keep searching for it.
If Rod McNair wrote this, I'm shocked that his hand didn't spontaneously burst into flames. He personifies NONE of these character traits.
Annon 10:04
I have been exactly where you are right now. I watched LCG change and watched the ministers rule through fear with iron fists.
Leaving is a difficult decision.
What I can tell you is that while it may be challenging at first, ultimately you will be monumentally more happy. You will find through prayer and study that our Savior is the way of peace, love and grace. You will realize one day that you were dying just a little bit every time you sat through another one of Meredith's sermons. You will be filled with joy, contentment and peace. You never really realize how toxic an environment is until you breathe fresh air.
The ACoG ministers have no control over it because its biology: They just can't turn of the Anger / Warrior Genes they've inherited.
Do they do the DNA test before these men enter the ministry to insure that they DO have the Anger / Warrior Genes?
It seems like a requirement some how.
Congratulations, Anonymous 10:04 AM.
No doubt this must have been a hard act for you to do. But it is clear you are doing this for good and proper motives, namely to resist and refuse to condone acts that are not right.
I wish you and your wife well on your journey.
This stupid theory of church eras has a history of really bad fruits. Name calling, shunning, persecution of people who hold to basically the same doctrines, fear, and elitism are a few. I can't think of a single good thing that adopting it as a doctrine has caused.
Some anus doesn't realize that the holy days were fulfilled by Jesus and tries to shove them down the throat of a church that does realize it. The anus doesn't listen to the wisdom of those in authority over him, storms off and starts his own church, brands the church he splinters from as Sardis or dead, lives like royalty off his dumb sheeps' tithes, wusses out and doesn't preach the gospel when he's in front of the world leaders he clearly envies, dies, and the part of his church that sticks to his original doctrines gets spewed from the mouth of God in little splinters while all of the man's British Israelism infected prophecies continually fail. Sounds like someone got their capital G's mixed up. That's not the blueprint from God, it's the one from Gamaliel!
BB
There is only one qualification to become a minister in the church of God: Loyalty . . . not to the Word of God, but to the top leader.
Anonymous 6:03 PM encourages Anonymous 10:04 with these words:
"What I can tell you is that while it may be challenging at first, ultimately you will be monumentally more happy. You will find through prayer and study that our Savior is the way of peace, love and grace. You will realize one day that you were dying just a little bit every time you sat through another one of Meredith's sermons. You will be filled with joy, contentment and peace. You never really realize how toxic an environment is until you breathe fresh air."
Very good, 6:03. I would caution you, though, not to oversell post-LCG life. The ecstasy of feeling freshly liberated is something to treasure, but it can't be sustained throughout life. No doubt 10:04 will eventually settle to his/her baseline mood.
At work I used to jokingly claim that my baseline mood was worse than it really was. When friends asked me how I was, I would say, "Wretched." They would offer sympathy, and I would smile and say, "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Just the human condition." Also, a poet I taught with said, "I've found the secret to happiness. Lower your standards."
Everybody is different, but almost all of us who have left Armstrongism behind feel better about ourselves and the world now. For example, when my life hits a rough spot, I can look back to my two semesters at Ambassador College (one feature of which was Meredith's Church History class) and say honestly, "Well, at least I'm happier now than I was then."
Your final sentence, 6:03, reminds me of the old joke explaining why hitting yourself in the head with a hammer is worth doing: it feels so good when you stop.
I must say, if praying is what 10:04 needs, he/she should continue to do that, as you advise. But we should recommend it as an option, not an assignment. Some people find it helpful to take a break from all religious activity for a while. Some never feel the need to come back, and some come back with fresh enthusiasm to a version of faith that better fits their needs.
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