Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders

Friday, May 22, 2015

Rod Meredith Struggles To Maintain Control of Members and Ministers in the Living Church of God




When a person reads thorough the letters and articles written by Rod Meredith and others on the Living Church of God (LCG) website you will quickly see that things are not as unified in the LCG as they want you to believe.  Almost every single article and exportation from Meredith, Winnail and others has to continually harp upon "unity."

In Meredith's latest letter to the membership he dwells longingly upon the "glory days" of the distant past.  As most people approaching the end of their lives this is a typical mind process.  However, with Meredith, this has been going on for decades.  In the glory days of yore, people were more faithful, more loyal, more diligent, and more willing to follow government.  Today, no so much so.

Meredith looks back upon the old Church of God's ability to focus upon a common goal, something that not one single splinter Church of God has been able to accomplish since. Meredith believes that the early days of the COG consisted of one big happy unified and loyal group.

Back then, there were no dormitories at Ambassador College. In eating our meals, we had to basically “fend for ourselves” to survive. And, because of a financial crisis, Mr. Armstrong was almost forced to close the entire college. In fact, he did at one point put the faculty on half-time salary so they were only able to teach three days a week.

Yet, those who stayed were faithful enough that the Work grew and prospered because of a few key factors:

  • Most of us were loyal and unified because we were able to see the “Big Picture.”
  • We “hung in there”...
  • We were inspired...
Meredith is certainly correct in the idea that the church seemed more unified and goal oriented back then.  Now it seems to be a different story in the Living Church of God, something that Meredith CANNOT seem to correct.

Notice the following comment by Meredith and how he admits that the LCG is NOT entirely behind him 100%.  Meredith feels that there is a certain percentage that is not unified or as zealous as he wants them to be.  They have NOT caught his vision.  People are not as tied to his "tradition" as he wants them to be.  It is more important to Meredith that people carry out "that" tradition than it is to follow Jesus Christ.  Its still all about the rules

We in the present Work of the Living Church of God have dedicated ourselves to carry on in that same tradition. And Christ has certainly blessed us with a great deal of unity and zeal because of having that same spirit. I hope that all of you dear brethren will “catch the vision” and realize how we must carry on even if something happens to me, to Mr. Ames or to any one of us as we grow older in this present physical life. For in carrying out that tradition, our real life is at stake—our coming eternal life in the Kingdom or Family of God and the kind of reward we will receive is definitely based on how well we serve God in our human lives right now (Luke 19:11–19).
Meredith then talks about "unity" again.  He knows, as does every one else, that the LCG is NOT unified.  It is going to blow up after his death just like the Worldwide Church of God did.  There is NOT a "bond of peace" in the LCG.  There is also growing disappointment in the "government" of the LCG considering how abusive, controlling and wasteful some of its ministers have been lately. Nepotism and corruption seem to reign supreme in Charlotte.

LCG members continue to be "tossed to and fro" and are carried away by the "cunning and plotting of this blog and other sites.  That is what he is really getting at there.There are big bad meanies out there in the world attempting to  open the eyes of LCG members and that does not sit well with the Charlotte empire.

In His inspired Word, the Eternal God commands us to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:3–6). Then, as Christ inspired Paul, the apostle tells us that Christ Himself “gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:11–14).
Its all about government folks!  Though that is Herbert Armstrong's version of what he thought Paul did.  You would think after 80 some years of that epic failure in "government" in the COG  that Meredith and others would wake up tot he fact that it has failed miserably to keep the church unified and the members inspired.
It is important to focus on the fact that we in the Living Church of God have been following that same pattern of Church government God inspired the Apostle Paul to outline. Some try to pretend that the inspired form of Church government is “not important.” But it is vitally important that we learn to teach and practice the same form of Church government we certainly will be teaching and administering in Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom!
Then Meredith has to talk about "unity" again.  Notice how "great deal," "vast," and "overwhelmingly" are used to give the impression that there is 100% unity in the LCG.  Apparently from what is written there is a  percentage of ministers that are NOT giving themselves over to the work.  Unity is not a reality, it is only a "sense of reality."

So we have a great deal of unity. The vast majority of our ministers and members all “speak the same thing.” And we are overwhelmingly involved in “giving ourselves” to “do the Work”! Brethren, I am extremely grateful to report to you in the name of Christ that we do have a greater sense of unity and harmony in this present Work than at any other time I can remember in the 63 years of my full-time service!

After praising Richard Ames and Gerald Weston as being "tested by fire" in their loyalty tot he work, Meredith moves on to the ministry of the LCG.  In his very first sentence he acknowledges that the ministry is NOT unified under his leadership.  Loyalty seems to be an issue even with the ministry of the LCG.  Everyone knows that there is presently plotting and scheming going on in the background on what to do after Meredith dies.  He even compares some of his more popular ministers to Lucifer, which certainly is NOT a sure way to gain unity or loyalty from the ranks!  Lucifer was not loyal to God and some LCG ministers are not loyal to Rod.

Dear brethren, please be sure to pray fervently for all of our faithful ministers—many of whom are doing a tremendous work. These men are worthy of your full support and loyalty. For Christ wants in His Church and Kingdom those who are absolutely loyal. Sometimes different ones come along with more technical knowledge or more of a “scintillating” personality. But God has been down that road before. For He had a magnificently beautiful cherub named “Lucifer” who had all kinds of ability and influence, but who “turned aside.” Lucifer was not loyal to His Creator. We must not be like that. Rather, we must do what we can to continue the wonderful spirit of unity, brotherly love and service which is already extant in the Living Church of God. This will require a spirit of deep humility from all of us, and the willingness to humble ourselves to work together as a team. Christ Himself warned: “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
You can read the rest of the article here:  The "Fruits" of the True Church

18 comments:

  1. Its is fun to watch how LCG hops on here immediately after I post something about the Living Church of God. Withing 30 seconds of posting, "Charlotte" flags popped up.

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  2. Didnt you post these same excerpts a week or so ago?

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  3. I don't think so, this is the May/June letter. Every letter he write s now is all about unity and loyalty.

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  4. I see that is a duplicate. Will leave it since there are lots of new LCG members hitting us up each week.

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  5. The Impostle Paul spoke his entire career the same way until "soon", "at hand" and "far spent" turned into "bye bye now..." as will all COG heads of state eventually learn n experience.

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  6. "...our coming eternal life in the Kingdom or Family of God and the kind of reward we will receive is definitely based on how well we serve God in our human lives right now."

    ...said no savior, ever.

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  7. If loyalty and unity are so important, why did Mr. Meredith leave the "true" church, the WCG. After all HWA picked his heir. Talk about treason.

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  8. Rod Meredith wants us to "catch the vision" and have some "big picture," as he wrote: "...Yet, those who stayed were faithful enough that the Work grew and prospered because of a few key factors: Most of us were loyal and unified because we were able to see the “Big Picture.” We “hung in there”... We were inspired..."

    I suggest Rod never did catch the vision, or big picture, but he certainly does have some vision/picture of something all relative to SELF, himself.

    Rod never had the WCG vision/big picture b/c he did not "hang in there," but had to have been inspired by another god so that he left WCG and left his ministerial credentials behind. He is no longer a minister. He does not serve WCG. He started manmade "Global" and it blew up, so hang on to what?

    And Rod, as does Winnail et al, does lie to us when things like the following, written by Rod, are said:

    "...But it is vitally important that we learn to teach and practice the same form of Church government we certainly will be teaching and administering in Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom!..."

    Nobody wants the government practiced by the Living group to continue on and be over us in the future. Even when the United Ass. was formed, a bunch of ministers there also left their Pasadena ministerial credentials behind, and set themselves up, while knowing that the doctrines they professed to preserve were virtually identical to Global's, but many of them said they did not want to "come under the Rod:" Rod Meredith. Doug Winnail eventually left the United Ass. and did come under the Rod. Is he today enjoying that?

    Rod mentioned "...Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom...", but where is it? Soon? What a joke!

    Scriptures tell us that Jesus Christ will be at the Father's right hand until all enemies are subdued and overcome. We know that at the end of the MMMillennium, the 1,000 years Satan is in some bottomless pit, Satan is released......war will occur worldwide, deaths will continue......until Satan is totally overcome/subdued! So what is so "soon" about that.

    Rod and the xcogs continue to tell us the same lie.

    Well, Rod Meredith will soon die and he will not see "Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom" like he is telling us, because if he truly had caught the vision, and really had the big picture, he would know that that Kingdom will come, but it is anything but "soon!"

    John


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  9. It's a cult.

    What do you expect?

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  10. Most of the old timers see the current ACOG leaders as being temporary substitutes for HWA. Their primary loyalties are to HWA, even moreso than to Jesus.

    Unity in the "glory" days wasn't of the Spirit. It was something that was enforced on the church through HWA's absolutely horrible temper.

    LCG is a microcosm of the movement at large. Basically, it is all falling apart. Some parts faster than others. It had a shelf-life that ran out in 1975 when the end that it was built upon failed to materialize.

    BB

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  11. Anon wrote:
    "If loyalty and unity are so important, why did Mr. Meredith leave the "true" church"

    A very good point, of course.

    In addition a disinterested party might note that, for an organization that's mixed up and problematic from the beginning, it's hard to see how the breakup of unity would be undesirable anyway.

    That is, the more it falls apart the better.

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  12. I just find it sad that every time someone has a different idea or is thinking differently, they start to paint that person as "Lucifer."

    I remember that jackass Gerald Weston repeating in his sermons over and over again about the "deep thinker" as a way to stifle conversations about various things.

    Seriously, if he ever comes to power, I fear for the members of LCG.

    Meredith and his unity line is getting old and tiresome just as he is.

    The funny thing is that if they admit to their fallacy and mistakes, they might actually have more credibility with the members as they will probably excuse it as them being human and God will forgive them for their mistakes

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  13. Rod Meredith reminded us of the reward we/he may expect as he wrote: "...our coming eternal life in the Kingdom or Family of God and the kind of reward we will receive is definitely based on how well we serve God in our human lives right now (Luke 19:11–19 )..."

    This is another area where Rod Meredith is all concerned about SELF. He thinks he will earn his salvation and earn his eternal life.

    What happened to the Passover we observed not too long ago? Didn't the shed blood of Jesus Christ count for something? Wasn't our eternal life based upon what God the Father did through His Son, who came to save the world and not condemn it?

    Even James Malm, another individual who set himSELF up, is now seeking mammon for books he has written that are full of flawed reasoning. Where was God's inspiration for James Malm when he titled his books? It wasn't there, as he recently found out....and what does James Malm think about salvation? It's very similar to Rod Meredith - you earn it by your works, what you do. How do we know that?

    Here is James own words in something he recently wrote: "...Our salvation does not depend on whether we cover our heads, but our salvation IS dependent on our obedience, humility and teachableness before God..."

    Really? Salvation depends upon our obedience? Our humility? Our teachableness? That is true in James Malm's mind.

    I suggest that neither Rod Meredith, nor James Malm, have ever one day in their entire lives perfectly observed one Sabbath day for one straight 24-hour period = all 1440 minutes!

    Why can't professing ministers (those hirelings who left their ministerial credentials behind in Pasadena ad abandoned the WCG sheep when they fled that pasture) like Rod Meredith, Doug Winnail, Jim Franks just simply believe the following verses:

    John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

    :17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

    Notice Jesus Christ was not send to condemn the world, but these people would invent a "third resurrection" so many human beings can be burned up; there will be no 3rd resurrection if the Bible is to be believed!

    Why can't these people teach the following to us?

    "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Cor 5:19

    None of them believe that verse! They lack understanding of "Christ our Passover sacrificed for us," so they continue to impose their Fear Religion upon us and threaten us with a lose of eternal life if we don't follow the dictates of what is in their minds....

    John

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  14. "Sometimes different ones come along with more technical knowledge or more of a “scintillating” personality. But God has been down that road before. For He had a magnificently beautiful cherub named “Lucifer” who had all kinds of ability and influence, but who “turned aside.” Lucifer was not loyal to His Creator. We must not be like that."

    Is it me or is Meredith AGAIN putting himself on the same level of authority, demanding the same obedience, as the Almighty God???

    It almost seems as though he is saying "Lucifer wasn't loyal to his Creator is akin to those who turn aside from Living being disloyal to the almighty RCM".

    If that isn't the parallel he is drawing then forgive me; but it seems like that's what he is trying to say.

    Meredith suffers from an ego-maniacal God complex.

    Ironic since he is actually one of the least Godly men I have ever known.

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  15. This exemplifies the repeated message used in LCG to brainwash the members.

    "If you aren't 100% unified with us and if you don't submit to OUR authority fully and without question, your VERY SALVATION IS AT RISK!!!"

    LCG members literally believe that the will suffer the tribulation if they don't obey Meredith.

    How does Meredith rule his sheep?

    FEAR, FEAR AND UH LET ME THINK... FEAR

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  16. Last Sabbath Mr. Meredith had the sermon. I hate to say it but whenever they announce that he will be bringing the sermon I roll my eyes and slump down a little in my chair because I know every word that's about to be spoken. There's thousands of topics available in the entirety of the Bible. Why can't he every shake it change the topic? It is literally painful to listen to at this point. Even if he says the sermon is going to be about something different, it always comes back to the same old thing, just re-packaged under a different title. Same stories, same scriptures, same overall point. Obey and submit, keep the big picture yada yada yada.

    I digress.

    So last Sabbath he preached on "Family". Funny since this is an area of total ignorance on his behalf. He has been a total work-a-holic his entire life completely neglecting his own family. He now tells married couples to choose the church (LCG) over their spouses even if there are children involved thereby destroying family. He has ruined, God only knows how many families, through his D&R nightmare wherein he had happily married couples separate after years of marriage and children together. Presently he routinely separates wives from their husbands during Gestapo interrogation sessions (to weed out dissenters and "purify God's church")in an effort to turn their stories against each other and prey on the wife's (perceived) weakness. And worse of all, in my opinion, he has disfellowshipped and cut off so many of my spiritual brothers and sisters without trying to keep work through issues with them. Is that how we treat "family"? If a child doesn't agree with the parent, do you just drop them off at the closest bus stop and decide to never speak to them again? That is essentially what is looks like Mr. Meredith has done to so many of the people that I considered (and still consider) to be my "family". All this while knowing that if your last name is "Meredith" you can get away with ANYTHING because you are the top dog's family.

    It's so hypocritical I can barely stand it.

    The entire sermon, all I could think was I hope a bolt of lightening doesn't come down and strike him in front of all theses children.

    Family forgive each other. Family work through differences or just practice unconditional love. Family stick together through thick and thin, not throwing its members away just because they don't always agree. Mr. Meredith has no idea what true family is.

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  17. It is ironic that the very days that the idiot Rod Meredith "dwells longingly upon the "glory days" of the distant past" - the Worldwide Church of God at its peak - are also the very days when his boss Herbert W. Armstrong blamed the Church for not being ready when the return of Christ and the wonderful world of tomorrow didn't happen as predicted.

    So the question to the idiot Rod Meredith - which is it - if the Church wasn't ready for the return of Christ in 1975, is the Church ready now?

    Richard

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  18. Jesus isn't returning right now because he just can't bring himself to deal with Armstrongist leaders.

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