Another issue that the Living Church of God is having is a hard time dealing with is "favoritism." The LCG HQ is filled with nepotism, backbiting and backstabbing in order for people to move up and/or be seen as important.
LCG members are waiting for the church to erupt when Meredith dies. The various camps are already forming. If Lil'Jimmy is anointed by Ames to lead the LCG there will be a major split. People will split even if Ames maintains control for a while. Others see upcoming doctrinal changes and are ready to head off to other groups. Its only a matter of time till LCG is as impotent as the United Church of God, Restored Church of God and the Philadelphia Church of God.1. Hospitality. Hospitality is not just a suggestion—it is one of the attributes that qualifies one to be in the ministry (Titus 1:8). Pastors do not have to have a palace to be hospitable. There is a unifying effect in breaking bread with one another, no matter how humble the circumstances. This had a powerful effect on the brethren in the early days of the apostolic Church. Acts 2:46-47 says, “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart… And the Lord added to the Church daily those who were being saved.” Be sure to be sensitive to your wife’s input and desires in making plans to host brethren at your house—since she will be doing much of the work of the hosting!
Caution: Showing special hospitality only to those you are close to tears down morale, unity, and erodes the overall health of a congregation. Favoritism will erode love and warmth in a family (Genesis 37:4) and it can destroy your effectiveness in a congregation. Especially as a Pastor, it’s important to show equal interest and attention to all the brethren you serve (Luke 14:13). It is a way of showing interest in the lives of all of your brethren and coming to know even those considered the “least important” (Matthew 25:40). LCG Pastoral Manual pg. 2-6
20 comments:
You have got to be kidding!!!
Mr. Ames will not lead the church... it will be Tom, Don and Bill. They have lunch with Mr. Ames everyday. And they plan to be in charge when Mr. Meredith dies.
For you that don't know Tom Turner, Don Davis, and Bill Bowmer. They all have the same problem...
i think it highly unlikely that jimbo, who, ironically is a victim, in terms of small business ownership, of the policies of the very president whom dr. meredith (naively) praised, will ever become leader of lcg because if he did there would simply be an exodus, a la global or that tkach brand wwcg.
on another subject: frankly the anti cog's have been predicting the demise of lcg for as long as i can recall: i wouldn't hold my breathe on it...
The problem in all of the splinters is that there is an unscratchable itch. The old timers have idealized the old WCG in retrospect. They've forgotten that the same sorts of activities catalogued in this post existed under HWA. The only truly unifying factor was that HWA and his demonstrations of anger always got him his way. There was nepotism back then, and also, doctrines like Pentecost, cosmetics, divorce and remarriage, mixed materials clothing, and medicine were changed. Ministers' kids acted out, and were later ordained, there was financial mismanagement, and heavy handed exercise of authority was the order of the day. So, basically, everyone seems to want to get back to something that never existed in the first place, and they are willing to splinter-surf or start their own splinters to do it.
Bummer for them.
BB
With the potential of some future splits in LCG maybe we could start a list of possible names for these new splinters. There is some great creativity on this blog. It's the least we could do. Right ?
Favoritism was and is the way to go if you want to advance. I saw it in WW and see it in living. I for one sit back and watch because I've seen it before. Then they ordain someone and members whisper " you got to be kidding, right? Then move on and we are stuck with it.
It's hard to warn the new people, they don't search the scriptures daily to see if it is true. They will be shocked and broken heartened when they shall know them by their fruits.
But God knows their heart.
Does anyone know the status of Mike Meredith? I knew him about 30 years ago and thought highly of him. Just curious since he is not mentioned in the nepotism comments in any of the articles on this blog.
As the COG continues to disintegrate, and as LCG most likely will after RCM dies, the need for new names for groups will be needed.
Of course the new groups will pick names even more grandiose than those before, to be something like "The SUPERNOVA Church of God" or the like, but the reality is that the groups will be smaller and more compact.
So I have come up with a few names that would actually be more precise and accurate for the future groups as they become more granular...
The Smidgen Church of God
The Fragment Church of God
The Crumb Church of God
The Snippet Church of God
The Speck Church of God
The Mite Church of God
The Molecule Church of God
The Particle Church of God
The Pinch Church of God
The Scrap Church of God
BABSOTCOG
Barely Alive But Still Only True Church of God
On a more serious note, what about the living room church of god from people like Ronald Dart. Could this be the most safe form of COGism? or the lamest? I still have sympathy for the good-natured and well-meaning people caught in all the crossfire.
It's all stupid: We've totally debunked Herbert Armstrong's teachings, obliterated British Israelism (which Dixon Cartwright has said he does not believe), shown church history to be fabricated (the Waldensians never kept the Sabbath, let alone the holydays). Beyond that, Herbert Armstrong's prognostications in Jesus' Name have been shown to be embarrassingly stupid and totally failed. None of the Armstrongist churches should even exist -- they are useless social groups based on lies and delusions.
So now if it is that the leaders of these worthless groups show favoritism and nepotism, no one should be surprised considering the fact that these are at best narcissistic sociopaths taking advantage of the blood money they collect as hirelings of a dead false prophet.
To stay with any of the groups is utterly stupid and they are populated with nutty people who just can't stand to be away from one another.
It's a hobby and an expensive one.
We'd all be fine with it if they would just admit that is what it is and demonstrate that they are willingly to be public about being kooks.
As a LCG member, I have never seen more favoritism in my life as I have in the 10 years I have been in LCG. This is a joke. I've only met one minister that didn't play favorites and I believe that is only because he was fresh out of the ministerial training program.
Who would ever know that the waste materials that Herbert W. Armstrong excreted at my parents via the radio waves in the 1950s would last as a constant influence in their lives all of these decades? And that of others.
I'm just glad that I personally set boundaries for him and it, allowing one big strike (1975) before declaring him "out". By this point in time, the percentage of error by which their end times are now off is much greater than the openly acknowledged percentage of error for the radio carbon dating which they mocked, and the theory of British Israelism has become far more obviously dubious than the theory of evolution.
So, yes. The ACOGs are ridiculous. This should at the very least cause members to not take the so-called authority, or even their membership in a specific splinter quite so seriously. It is all a load.
BB
I knew I could count on you Connie. I think I see some song lyrics there also.
Favoritism and nepotism rule in LCG. Ames, McNair's, Meredith's their are all related. Who can blame them? I'd want to keep millions of dollars in my family too.
Advancement in LCG has zero to do with knowledge or Christian character and everything to do with how big of an ass-kisser you are. "Yes-men" who fawn over the leadership (not the brethren) are the one's to get ordained or promoted. If you don't ask questions, think Meredith is infallible and are willing to look the other way when they commit shady acts of tyranny against members... you might be just the man they are looking for!
The "unconverted" people I work with in "the world" have more Christian character than do the men at LCG headquarters.
Regarding Mike Meredith...He was in a LCG leadership role in Florida (of course, he is a Meredith and daddy gives them all jobs) until he couldn't keep his penis in his pants. After several adulterous incidents, daddy had no choice but to relieve him of his power. It was done very quietly. Nothing was really said. It looked like a mutual decision instead of a punishment.
I saw him a few years ago at a restaurant in Florida at the Feast with his brothers. I don't recall ever seeing him at services though. I don't know if it's his choice not to attend or if he isn't allowed to attend. Either way, I'm sure his life has vastly improved now that he is out of LCG.
Favoritism is rampant at LCG. Just in the last couple of months two elders wives in the Ashville, NC congregation had issues with each other. The "main man elder" went to headquarters to ask if he could form a new congregation in Sylva, NC. Guess what, as of March there is a Asheville, NC congregation and a Sylva, NC congregation. This "main man" is a very long time member and threatened to leave if he couldn't start a new group. He and his family are very large supporters of "the work". It would have been a huge loss of revenue. My question is where is the brotherly love for one another? Why aren't they living what they preach? What about going to your brother if you have an issue, and then before the church if it can't br resovled? How can Dr. Winnail approve of this type of action instead of resovling the issues between the women? This is just the tip of the iceberg at LCG. This is information from the horses mouth as they say.
LCG believes that Matthew 18 DOES NOT APPLY TO THE MINISTRY. Although they aren't anbe to prove it from the Bible.
Matthew 18 is perfect, Godly advice for conflict resolution. Meredith, Ames, Winnail, McNair and many, many others refused to follow these clearly outlined Biblical instructions.
Gods way works. Meredith's doesn't.
Now that Lil Jimmy's daughter is married, do you think he and Sue will have enough room in their lil tar paper shack? Jim's ego does take a lot of space after all. I hope they won't be too uncomfortable.
To Connie Schmidt - I love how you think!
Richard
You know it talks about in the Bible that Gods church would be persecuted in the ending time. This us what your comments show me.
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