The first fallacy above is the idea that Herbert Armstrong is directly under God the Father. Next you will notice that in the chain of command HWA is right there beside
The next fallacy is that men ordained through Herbert Armstrong received a higher degree of consciousness than the lay members possess. These men possess all scriptural and doctrinal knowledge that the LCG deems fit for its members. These men are far more enlightened than any of the lowly LCG members. That's part of the reason LCG has instituted a new policy that LCG members are not allowed to congregate together to study the Bible on their own. One of the elite ministers has to be present to give the OFFICIAL version of things.
Then you have the big tithers in the LCG. These are the ones that get by with all kinds of indiscretions and never are punished. The regular members always are at the bottom of the heap are held to a higher standard and pay the consequences quit severely at times.
This is also what has led to McNair and Meredith telling members that they are NOT to question the ministry on anything. God works with them personally and they are incapable of making a mistake. Even if what they tell you is 100% wrong, God will bless you if you do what they say. Its all about submission.
That threat of submission also intimidates members into sending in more money to LCG HQ. LCG members are reporting lots of sermons lately on money. Income in the LCG has dropped and they are scrambling to keep the money flow coming in. Certain lifestyles need to be maintained! Lil'Jimmy needs to decorate his office again. Brethren there ARE priorities!
The cash cow for the LCG and other Church of God's is the Festival season. With Trumpet's, Atonement and the Feast, money freely flows into the coffers. They foolishly make people believe they are required to give offerings and turn over a tithe of the tithe to LCG at this time of year. If you are an LCG member reading this it would be in your best interest to keep that tithe of the tithe for use by your OWN family and have the best feast possible and enjoy it to the fullest, because if Meredith dies in the next year the LCG is going to be ripped apart by division and you will never experience another Feast like this one. Besides, why are your giving a tithe of the tithe to the LCG ministry when they are all getting $4-6,000.00 in ministerial benefits to travel to and from Feast sites, stay in expensive hotels or condo's and enjoy the finest wines and delicacies while you and your family are eating at Hardee's. You are paying for Lil'Jimmy's trips to Hawaii and Rod McNair's trips. Why?
It's Satan brethren! Satan is attacking the church! Satan is causing the drop in income! Satan is casing members to leave! Satan gets far more air time in the Living Church of God than
21 comments:
HWA used Eph 4:11 to prove that their was a hierarchy from top to bottom. First (on top) Apostles, then prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. I suggest that no "ranking" in intended here. Rather more like a time line. First to go out would be the apostles (one who is sent) then evangelists to do the preaching, then, once a church is established, shepherd (elders) teachers to nurture them. No one is above the other, but rather all are standing side by side, equals but with different duties. Does this make a bit more sense?
At no time have any of the ministry in the COG's walked side by side. It is a definite hierarchy with lords and masters ruling over those under them. No one ever walked side by side with HWA. HWA was above all others, even though he was not an apostle or even a real Christian minister. False prophets and preachers of deception, as all COG ministers are, are not agents of God. They do not carry God's word forth to anyone nor give any hope to this under them. Even their fake kingdom or planet to come are frauds that no real Christian wants anything to do with.
The higher you go in the hierarchy of the sects of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong Mafia, the more likely it is that you will encounter yet another psychopath.
Psychopath. Psychopath.
Think of a psychopath as a demon on steroids.
You mention LCG's organizational charts in your last paragraph. Please publish their genuine organizational chart as LCG produces it. Instead you fabricate your own spurious chart and then go on to produce a posting which is a crock of #^*%@. You accuse others of dishonesty but you regularly lie and deceive here yourself. Who is pleased with your work; God or Satan.
Priam...
The chart above is from a person with ties to LCG who has witnessed first hand how the hierarchy works. There is not one thing on that chart above that is a lie. Anyone with any longtime ties to the COG know this is how the church has always operated.
"Who is pleased with your work; God or Satan."
LOL.
Who is pleased with your work, Superman or Lex Luthor?
The one person who I expected to see on it who isn't, is Rod Meredith. Obviously no one walks side-by-side with him either. Who is next under him? Dick Aames and the old guard, or Lil' Jimmy? Nobody knows yet. That's what's gonna tear the Loving, er, I mean, Living Church of god apart. Squabbling over titles, positions, and control of the money. It's weird. It's almost like they think their treasure is on earth or something. Oh, wait...
One of the things asserted by Enlightenment philosophers was the idea that all men were of equal moral worth. I feel like this has permeated much deeper into "the world" than it has into the COGs. They're always lagging 50 years or so behind "the world." Although at this point it might be closer to 70 years behind. Why is that "the world," the "evil" outgroup, is always the ones trailblazing, setting the example, and leading the way, and never the COGs? It's weird. It's almost like their god doesn't exist or something. Oh, wait...
Wow Priam. Clearly this organizational chart is tongue in cheek. Do you really presume that LCG's chain of command officially lists "yes men" and "big tithers"?
It's not a crock of shit or a mistruth. It's a joke and it's funny because it's so true.
This chart does actually represent reality in Meredith-land.
Simmer down.
a decade and a half ago i posted the following Scripture, regarding how the individual lay member has potential and worth, on the lcg website's contact us page:
"If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?" 1 Corinthians 6:4-5
later i found a sermon where they made brief mention of the Scripture, then basically discounted it...
later i also referenced 1 Corinthians 12, especially verses 13 and 26...
on another occasion i mentioned 1 Corinthians 13 and one of their top ministers discounted it as a secondary concept in the broader scheme of "preaching the gospel"; i countered that the best way to preach the gospel was by living example...
yet another time i posted on their fb page questioning why they were critical of the current leader of the roman church's popularity when the key to his success, his motives not withstanding, was that he makes the ordinary person feel validated and he reaches out to the poor, something lcg has long had a serious problem doing...
i posted many other such things about how a church should be more inclusive in its message towards minority groups and the poor, and how lcg has a bias in their marketing towards a white audience...
all of my posts were eventually were deleted and i have since been blocked from posting on the lcg facebook page...
LCG does NOT believe in leading by example.
They are much more "do as I say, not as I do" kind of people.
Godly ministers are meant to walk side-by-side with the brethren; not lord over them, ruling with fear, judging their hearts and scrutinizing every action.
Ministers should be helpers not dictators.
I was in LCG for years and I have never witnessed such a total lack of love and concern in my life. The only thing they care about is preserving their power and getting more MONEY.
Getting the boot in before atonement.. nice..you Americans are really something
You might all like to take a look around because while you go after the church of God groups it maybe that you are not seeing what's happening in the world..and you won't be scoffing for long unfortunately there really are greater things a foot than your beef with LCG..regardless of what is true and what is not..have you seen what the US government is doing..get a clue already its time to wake up..instead of chomping at the bit waiting for salacious gossip watch a bit of you tube..you should be freaking out..the rest of the world is seeing what you obviously are not and that's really sad.
"regardless of what is true and what is not.." see, that attitude is precisely why lcg can never have any significance as an organisation: if there is truth to the allegations of evil and all one can say in their defence is "well what about the evil that these other guys are doing?" is this not hypocrisy? and is it any wonder why God has not Given them more power?
and while they do not distinguish themselves from the rest of the world in their behavior, they will also pay the price the world pays, certainly on an individual case by case basis because Christ was speaking to His disciples when He Spoke in Luke 13:2-3...
are you implying that regardless of the wrongs that lcg does, as long as they are preaching the "gospel" no one should be critical of them?
where is such a justification found in the bible?
Actually I wasn't implying anything or defending anyone I was just stating the obvious
what is obvious is that they are guilty of James 2:10, they have rejected the wisdom of the Apostle Saul found in 1 Corinthians 9:12, they ignore the lessons against nepotism found in the book of Samuel and the rift that nepotism caused in the reletionship between Saul and barnabbas...
what is also obvious is how they are repeating many if not all the mistakes of the old wwcg, and they still reject the fact that those sins led to the ultimate demise of that organization...
You seem to have left out some letters, 2:04.
Surely, you meant to say, "...stating the oblivious."
Somebody once traced the isp of the main racist, conspiratorialist, anti-American doofburger that posts nonsense on the blogs, and then won't even indulge in any of the critical review and discussion process that follows. The isp was in some remote area of northern Canada. Probably one of Charles Scott's followers. Thing is, it's really difficult to form and maintain a neo-Nazi militia in Canada, because it is illegal to own a firearm for self-defense. Posting inflammatory stuff on blogs is probably the only radical thrill seeking stuff he can indulge in.
BB
Well of course the chart is true. But the truth, open, naked and raw often hurts and is hard to embrace fully at face value.
It is sort of like when your husband tells you that "your butt looks kinda big in that dress". We all like to pretend, minimalize and see the world thru rose colored glasses.
This subject has been a sore one for me. I used to be a part of a much smaller splinter group that practiced this hierarchical model. They still do today.
There are many reasons why this model is employed by men. Money, control, power, etc... We are human, and therefore carnal. This is why this model fits our nature perfectly. It is our adversary who capitalizes on it, deceiving those who would use it, and blinding those to whom it is employed. This is why thousands of our former brethren still sit where they do today. It does exactly as Satan intends. It takes the focus off of Christ, and puts it onto the man.
Let me put some food for thought out there. Revelation chapters 2 & 3 speak of 7 churches located in Asia Minor during that time period. Reading, we can see that each one of these churches had problems with doctrine. Seems to me this is the same kind of thing going on today is it not?
Now, let me point out a dichotomy. I have personally heard with my own ears, the "General Pastor" from the splinter group I left, state that Christ was only present in their group, and none other. Why? Because he claims to be the only one preaching "The Faith Once Delivered".
In the first chapter of the book of Revelations, Christ refers to the 7 churches as being candlesticks or lamp stands. Guess what verse 13 says? He says he, (Christ) stands in the "MIDST" of those 7 differing churches.
Think on that, and why we are so divided today.
and despite the fact that Christ stands in their midst, most of them have suffered punishment because of their wayward ways; even to this day we see this occuring and it cannot be denied, although there is much energy put into doing just that...
if these people would simply STOP MISTREATING ONE ANOTHER THERE WOULD BE NO REASON TO POINT OUT THE FACT THAT THEY ARE MISTREATING ONE ANOTHER!!!
what is the use of talking about being Christian and being Converted if the allegedly converted continue to engage in behavior that indicates that they are not?
...but i should at least give you props in that you pointed out Christ is in their midst, and submit to you this: indeed Christ is in the midst of each of these organizations in that He is within many individual lay people from these organizations, but clearly he is hardly amongst the leadership heirarchy given the way many of those people behave...
When Amos went to Israel to give them a piece of his mind, he didn't criticize their doctrinal beliefs or their rituals. He condemned them for their unethical, immoral behavior. God told them that they are an embarrassment to Him. The LCG leaders and members should be very careful to not display any stickers, jewelry, etc. that would give anyone the impression that they claim to be Christians. They are giving God a bad name. If they can't live an ethical and moral life, they should keep their religious affiliation a secret to others. Their arrogance and hypocrisy is what I find to be an embarrassment. I shutter to think that I was once part of WCG and spent two years at AC.
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