The Meredith Family Business

From Painful Truth Blog

From a reader here with links to the Living Church of God:

In a recent article put out by LCG Rod Meredith appoints Dick Ames to be the successor to his throne. Even if Ames is the "face" they push as the new church leader, on paper and in truth it will be Jim Meredith. The Meredith's look at LCG as a 10 Million dollar a year "family business".  They have said as much openly in the presence of many over they years. Of course I realize that Ames is Meredith's brother in-law (the nepotism in that organization is profound) but the money and power will be left to the son, Jim.
 
Unfortunately Jim has a proficiency for bankrupting business. That's how he ended up suckling off of his daddy's tit in the 1st place. His poor management and extravagant expenditures caused his California business to go belly-up so he was forced to come to Charlotte because he was broke. His daddy tried to make the move as comfortable as possible for him by putting him in charge of the Feast of Tabernacles so that he could travel the world, stay in fancy hotels and eat gourmet meals with the company credit card (I wonder how the tithing member who makes $300 a week feels about Jim spending $300 a night to stay at 4 and 5 star hotels with their tithe money). Jim dislikes Charlotte so much (cool people live in California after all) that he uses any excuse possible to leave town. His daddy also gave him a cushy executive office right next to his.  Exactly where one would assume the 2nd in command would sit.
 
At least LCG is wise enough to know that (most) of the members would be outraged if they thought Jim was taking over so they peddle the rouse that Ames will be in control (although, so many of the members now blindly follow anything Rod Meredith he says regardless of its insanity).
 
When Rod Meredith dies and LCG implodes Jim will take the money and run (probably to Hawaii) where he will retire comfortably with his wife).  I would venture to guess that legal paperwork is already in place to turn the bank accounts over to Jim as soon as the old man dies. Ironically, Jim is spending so much money on travel expenses and Feast sites that there may not be that much left in the end!

Is Dave Pack The Most Benevolent Man On Earth Today? Only Flaccid Critics Think Otherwise!

A reader here from Dave Pack's personality cult has objected to my postings and to your comments.

Apparently we are ignorant of the fact that Davey is the most benevolent caring COG leader to live in this dispensation. No one is more merciful or caring than Davey.  Davey has the utmost concern for the spiritual welfare of his church members so how dare we think differently!

How dare we criticize members as scared little walking Stepford citizens! Every single member is allowed to think, believe and do what they want without Davey ever stopping them. Everyone is free to question. Everyone is free to think what they want and interpret Dave's teachings as to how best they fit their lives.  Everyone cashes out their retirement accounts because they love their benevolent leader soooooooooooooo much.

Apparently we all need Viagra since we are all so flaccid.  That might be a hard thing to do since Davey has bought it all in order to keep up with his younger bride.  Declining age is certainly a bitch!

I'm sure the moderator will filter this one out! "No need to share an alternate viewpoint" on this blog of critics.  

I have worked at RCG HQ in the past and I can personally state that Mr. Pack is one of the most genuine, caring and concerned people I have ever met. He repeatedly tells the staff "not just clean - but squeaky clean" in all aspects of the Work.

Mr. Pack is very concerned with the spiritual well being of not only RCG members - but of all of God's people spread around the world (in the splinters and slivers).

There is a saying in the vernacular "walk the talk" and I have personally witnessed this in Mr. Pack in all my time in RCG.

All RCG members are independent persons - free to operate at our own will. Through the guidance of God's Holy Spirit and His living Word - we govern our own lives - upholding God's Commands, Holy Days and doctrines.

The trite and infantile comments on this blog are a testimony to the depravity of those who participate. In one moment the bloggers are criticizing what is termed as "Armstrongism" and in the very next sentence they use WCG doctrine to adjudicate their criticism.

You boys really need to grow up and get a spine. One day soon God will show you how flaccid you are.

Rod Meredith Disfellowships Members Over A Book He Recommended For His "University" Students to Read

Rod Meredith is now telling his Living Church of God members what they can read and not read.  More importantly though is the fact that LCG members are NOT to think about the books they read nor discuss them with other church members WITHOUT a minister present.  Dumb sheep are certainly the most complacent.

From a  reader:

As part of the Gestapo-like LCG purity purge, Meredith has now started telling his members what they can and can not read.
 
 In the last few months several members have been suspended while others have been disfellowshipped over a little thing called the Book of Enoch. According to sources, no one in LCG had ever heard of the Book of Enoch until it was listed as recommended reading in a Living University course. Once people started reading it, they began discussing it. People in the Living Church of God are not allowed to have open discussions among themselves according to Meredith because they aren't strong-minded enough to discern right from wrong without the spiritual guidance of one of his ministers present. Hence the rule against private Bible studies (what kind of church tells it's members NOT to get together to study the Bible?). So instead of educating, counseling, or doing anything else that might have been Christian and adult-like behavior, Meredith labels these horrible book-readers as causing "church division" (his favorite label for people he can't actually come up with a good reason to kick out) and accuses them of spreading heresy. In true Meredith form, the punishments for this book reading crime have not been the same across the board. If your parents are ministers or if you own your own business and send in big offerings, your sins are forgiven. If not, you're squashed like a bug.
 
Maybe at the next LCG campout members can all bring books to throw on the fire like the Nazi's did. How fun!

Skirt Lengths, Carob and Bob League's Fascination With Donkey Sex

Bob League, the right hand henchman of Rod Meredith recently died.  On various Facebook groups the legacy of League has been talked about by people who suffered under his role as their minister.  While LCG members slobber and heap praises upon him, a darker side is revealed by these ex-members.  The story related below (by permission) is about one of Bob Leagues sermons on sex and life in the church growing up as a child.

I was born into the Armstrong Cult during the Summer of Love.  I spent what was, in retrospect, the relatively innocent period of the 1970's Petra-fied (insiders will get it) by the apocalyptic visions of HWA and his minions.

Many of the cultural oddities inflicted on my family and friends came down from on high (dictation of hair --and skirt-- length and style, carob good - chocolate bad, instructions on how a woman was to bend over to retrieve dropped items without overly exciting the men, prohibitions on everything from rock music to makeup) were minor lifestyle irritants relayed to us on a weekly basis by a minister who delighted in controlling and dictating the everyday details of our lives. We realized that most of these things were coming straight down from on high at the whim of headquarters. God was leading Mr. Armstrong (snigger), and with a very firm hand, Mr. Armstrong made it clear to us that he was leading "his ministers," who would in turn lead us lesser sheeple. To defy or question the judgment of the minister therefore was to defy and question God.

I don't know why I therefore thought that Bob League's infamous Donkey Sex sermon was an exception to this rule. A ministerial aberration. The Donkey Sex sermon wasn't his first sermon on sexual deviance, and it certainly wouldn't be his last. I confess to being somewhat surprised to later learn that similar sermons alerting the membership to the very real and present danger of bestiality had been a relatively widespread WCG phenomenon. I should have known. One ex-member suggested that perhaps this sermon had been prompted by someone at HQ who attended a certain...ahem..."donkey show" in Tijuana. Now there's something that bears contemplating.

I can't have been more than four or five when I first learned --from the pulpit -- about the improper usage of donkeys by the vile, sinful female sex. I know I was that young because I was still relegated (for the duration of a weekly 2-hour sermon) to a blanket on the cold concrete floor of a drafty high school auditorium, along with the rest of my generation. I remember staring at the green, orange and white pattern of my baby quilt and thinking to myself that young though I may be, I did not think what our minister was describing was suitable subject matter for the mixed company represented by our 700+ congregation of young and old.

With the benefit of age and wisdom, I actually have to chuckle when I think of the horrified squirming of  a captive audience of elderly men and women as they listened to the painfully graphic descriptions of what not to do with a donkey. Is it funny? I don't know. I just know if you don't laugh, you'll cry.

Armstrongism has always had a deep fascination with sex.  Like in most cults, sex prohibitions played a major role in keeping the members in check.  Herbert Armstrong, reacting to the free love hippies and the frigidness of Loma, lashed out at the membership with "God Speaks Out on the New Morality." Reaching into the bedroom to control members sex lives apparently did not bother any ministers or evangelists.

Church of God ministers regularly pried into the sex lives of members and youth of the church.  Top COG leaders in Pasadena. Big Sandy and Bricket Wood probed deeply into the sexual habits of students with some of these men sitting there getting sexually aroused by what they were hearing.

Rod Meredith wrote countless articles on how much he hated homosexuals and on how to be a REAL man.  To this day he cannot stop talking about gays and their white socks and pink shirts.  Wimpy prissy men revolted him.   He much preferred macho, sweaty, muscle bulging, vein popping masculine, men. 

Many COG leaders and ministers were walking philandering sex machines, ready to find new victims.  Garner Ted was famously associated with bedding over 200 coeds during his years in Pasadena.  Many of those women went on to be wives of evangelists,ministers and regional directors. The church went out of its way in prohibiting members from having any forms of illicit sex while they were breeding like rabbits hopping from one sex partner to the next.

It should come as no shock to see that this silliness carried on into the "ministry" of Bob League.

Restored Church of God Employees and Ministers Call RCG Compound "North Korea"

Restored Church of God 

Employees and Members 

Doing Morning Exercises

I asked the person who sent me the document to define the "common" comment on the pdf.  I had a feeling I knew what he meant but wanted to make sure.  Dave Pack has always considered EVERYTHING that the members owned, held in retirement accounts, checking accounts, savings accounts and property investments to be HIS or whatever he is currently envisioning himself as god to be.

"Common" is now used to got as much money as possible under the umbrella that if you have any extra money, houses, ira´s, any other money.  This is from where the disciples held everything in common with each other, they sold their houses, they sold their property, lands, and held everything together in common help those in need  assist the poor and needy. Now it's used to get as much money to build the headquarters building and pay the staff there.

The problem with Davey and crew is that this money is NOT held in common and is NOT used to help the widows, poor, hungry and homeless in the church.  It is used ONLY to fund Davey's pet projects at his cult compound and to fund the salaries of his yes men.  The widows, orphans and poor in the church continue to suffer will Davey lives in his gated oasis of luxury.

Watching Davey's videos and sermons one can get a glimpse of the people that work or attend in Wadsworth.  Many look to be straight out of the village of Stepford.  There is no look of joy on most of their faces.  That could be because young male employees are encourage to turn their backs on their mother/parents, to disassociate with former friends and family members who were part of the COG, and the utter fear many have of offending the Dear Leader and losing their jobs.  That fear is quit evident in the following:

It is not uncommon for people even at headquarters once they leave and come into the field to articulate how its a North Korea type attitude with blinders on everyone singing and stating the same message.

Davey has always bragged on how he has the most superfantabulous Church of God to exist in human history. It is the largest, doing the biggest work, has the worlds most incredible web site and the most fabulous landscaped grounds to ever exist in Ohio.  Davey's world is crashing down around him with the rapid decline in membership and money.

RCG, at its highest about 2 years ago to 3000 members currently has less than 1500 members. this information was ascertained buy a minister who was also just disfellowshiped and  marked and a church member who was at headquarters who left to live in the field because of the stresses of being at headquarters.

Like the Worldwide Church of God, Living Church of God and Global Church of God in which Davey was part of over the years, he continues the tradition of manipulating numbers in order to impress the gullible membership.

The email concludes with the following comment.

Members who are in the field are not given that information, in fact there is a constant drumbeat of North Korea attitude. The joke is how are you doing today everyone is expected to say "I'm fine thank you" if any other answer is giving you are [reprimanded] because we are told quote "everyone has issues we don't need to tell anyone our personal issues except the minister."  In fact about a year ago Mr Pack gave a sermon that explains why we are to give that response and he gloated about how he was raised with proper etiquette and how church members need to follow in his steps. But if you happen to tell your minister you are then reprimanded and are questioned if you are paying your tithes and or do you have any other sins that need to be taken care of.

Davey certainly is creating a Korean gulag or his version of Stepford.  Happy faces are perpetually painted on and no one has problems that one discusses with others for mutual support.  That is VERBOTEN!