COG Prophet Claims: The U.S. Debt has been caused by abortions and that bad weather is because of Homosexuals

God's most well informed and greatest Church of God leader ever is back talking about sex again today.  After quoting a long letter from Norm Edwards, the doubly blessed prophet Bob Thiel makes this claim:

I would also add that I believe abortion is a factor in USA debt and the increased acceptance of pornography and the homosexual agenda is a factor in difficult weather.  This is consistent with many biblical prophecies

Using this logic we will soon see the country of Ireland sink into the ocean because the heavily Catholic country voted in gay marriage on Friday.

Bob League and Rod McNair's Love Letter To "Wayward" LCG Members

 

Click to enlarge this great letter of Christian "Love"

I received the above "love" letter that Bob League and Rod McNair send out to all those people who need Jesus Christ's love the most during challenging times.  Both League and McNair make me proud to be a Christian considering how much love drips from their hearts.  They are just like Jesus Christ!

Commentary below was with the letter:

Note how the work "mark" is always in all caps as if to really drive home the point and how it's for the "protection of our members" (translation "to keep your unhappiness with our tyranny and doctrinal changes from spreading to others").

It's also somewhat amusing that the marked are not "allowed on church premises" as if they would want to be in the first place.

Then there's the line about contacting a minister if you want to counsel, which we all know didn't turn out too well for the Scarboough's based on the hand written letter from Mr. League essentially saying, "we know you want to counsel, but we don't want to talk to you, so please proceed to take a long walk off a short pier".

It's also of note that it says "based on biblical instruction". There is no such biblical instruction. "Mark" means to "take note of", not to shun and cast off to Satan like LCG interprets it. Taking note is not a tool to be used to rule with and to cast fear into the hearts of others who might disagree or have the nerve to think for themselves.

Christ sat with sinners. Ate with sinners. Admonished people to let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Preached that those that are well have no need of a doctor. Preached to forgive 7 times 70. Preached about love, mercy and forgiveness over and over again. But Meredith prefers to crush any and all who even annoy him in the slightest.

Such a Godly man. No wonder he is third in all the universe!

Is the Living Church of God Out To Destroy Families?

For many years now Rod Meredith and crew have been claiming the LCG is God's best true family on earth.  No Church of God is more unified or loyal as the LCG family.   Or......so it seems.

A reader (LCG member) writes:

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.

COG Leader Says Atheists Are Caused By Fornicating Evangelicals, Bad Church History and War

Why is it that so many leaders in Armstrongism say the stupidest things about subjects they know nothing about?

Do you know why atheists exist?  A certain COG leader has the answer and like any good Church of God leader it involves sex:

Now, actually one of the reasons that there are evolutionary atheists is, believe it or not, in the 19th century various male “intellectual” were looking for excuses to not have to abide by biblical standards of sexual morality. And back then, some of them even admitted that is why they embraced the concept that life randomly evolved without a creator God.

I would also add hypocrisy to the list. The fact that evangelicals, for one example, are more likely to be involved with fornication than the general public, despite biblical admonitions against it, turns people off.

Did all the fornicating Church of God members cause thousands of atheists to be formed?  Did GTA's fornication and adultery cause more atheists?  Did the sexual escapades of various evangelists lead to more atheists?

This highly "enlightened" leader also blames war:

War is another factor. Many non-believers point to religions such as Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism as major causes of war, which turns many people off to the idea that there is a truly loving God. But of course, all scholars realize that early Christians would not participate in carnal warfare. And in my opinion, this is still true of faithful Christians today.

Did the fact that the Church of God not represent the God they claimed to follow lead to the formation of more atheists?

There are also scholars, for example, like Bart Ehrman, who started out as Protestant but when they learned more about church history, realized that Protestantism simply did not fit with much of the Bible nor church history. And while he may be more of an agnostic than an atheist, the fact that most of what is considered by the world to be Christianity, is not Christianity, and this turns many off of religion (though it does not necessarily make them atheists).

Did the hundreds and hundreds of schisms in the Church of God cause more atheists? Did the lies of Dave Pack, Rod Meredith, Gerald Flurry, and Vic Kubik cause  more atheists?

All of this amazing information comes from our very own "doubly blessed" apostle and prophet Bob Thiel.  Long may he reign! 

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.

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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

Mark Armstrong Disturbed By Upcoming Jade Helm Exercises

Mark Armstrong, the son of undead Garner Ted, and leader of the Intercontinental Church of God is very disturbed by the upcoming Jade Helm exercises in the West.  He is not alone as conservative and liberal groups alike see a police state forming.  None are more concerned about this though than those in Church of God groups.  To them it is a forerunner of the round-up of Sabbath keepers so they can be shipped off to concentration camps and a police state where true believers will not be able to buy food because they refuse the mark of the beast.

Mark writes:

Closer to home, we have for the first time in our history U.S. “unconventional warfare” exercises about to kick off around urban areas and on private land in Texas!  (It will be with landowner permission or payment; there is no Federal land in Texas.)  Probably no other state in the Union can top Texas for its participation in and support of the U.S. military.  But you’d be hard-pressed to find another state as incensed by Federal mandates, from obamacare to the influx of illegal aliens to queer matrimony and on and on.  It is in this environment that so-called “Jade-Helm 15” unconventional military exercises are coming, not only to Texas but also Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.  But reaction in Texas is getting all the media attention.

Fraught with uncertainty and mixed emotions, Texans firmly support the U.S. military but are beyond suspicious about the intentions of the current administration.  They also realize that the U.S. military has borne the brunt of outlandish social experimentation; queers being queer in the barracks, often promoted to positions of command; lesbians commanding units of men; military bases hosting “queer matrimony ceremonies”; chaplains forbidden to use or quote from the Bible; and morale as low as anybody has ever seen.  The rules of engagement in the Middle East have hurt morale as well as the fact that the administration always makes excuses for acts of terror, and refuses to acknowledge that Islam drives terrorist fanaticism.

The idea that the “Jade Helm 15” exercises are intended to intimidate civilians, or are practice for the institution of martial law have been roundly ridiculed by nearly all respected media outlets and most politicians as well.  But the current administration’s thinly veiled contempt for patriots, for “those who cling to their guns and Bibles” has not gone unnoticed.  Surely those military conscripts and members of Special Forces are incensed at the suspicion that they would ever act against the interests of American citizens.  But then they take orders from a civilian administration that acts against the interests of citizens all the time, sometimes in contravention of law (in the case of transporting,  establishing and supporting millions of illegal aliens); in coddling and excusing some of the worst actors on earth (the Iranian ayatollah, the Castro regime to name a couple).  So what are we supposed to conclude?

I conclude that the military men and women are sincere patriots who want to keep their oath to defend the Constitution, and that their Commander in Chief exhibits no such inclination.

God's Most Favorite Evangelist Says His Third Book Will Not Be Published Until The Millenium

God's most highly favored apostle and the Church of God's most highly favored felon has written another missive detailing his creature he calls "Jesus Christ" claiming "it" will return to earth on Pentecost 2019.  This man knows for a fact that"it" will return on that, though every previous incarnation of this "thing" has failed to appear.  Come Pentecost 2019 we will be here mocking Ron Weinerdude Weinland yet again.

As his witless witness #2 wife and Chief Apostle and his money laundering daughter Laura are gallivanting around Europe on the tithe-payers die, Ron has to settle on writing his letter from behind prison bars with Bubba by his side.

We are living in a period that is working to magnify and glorify God’s incredible greatness – more than any other single period in mankind’s history. Indeed, this is very much about the 7th Thunder growing in greater power and intensity the closer we draw to Pentecost of 2019.

God has been revealing some of the most profound and intricate work contained in the time of the Apostasy to Christ’s literal coming, which shows the magnitude and power of His greatness to bring to pass all that He predetermined so very long ago.

It makes the word “awesome” seem so very puny and small because what God is doing goes so very far beyond such a weak description that words cannot convey it.

We have been given a great deal already concerning the unfathomable scale for the mathematical probabilities of so many events and timing to occur as they have been since the 17th of December in 1994 (the day of the Apostasy) to Pentecost of 2019 that it truly staggers the mind to try to grasp it all. As an exercise of your own, it would be good that you review some of these events and their timing that has been covered in previous posts. This time, try to look upon such events in the context of what was covered in the first part of this post concerning the events and their precise timing surrounding Christ’s first coming that God orchestrated. This should be done in the context of seeking to recognize God’s active work, and now also that of Christ’s, with such precision to fulfill all the events throughout this complete period that in reality amounts to bringing to fulfillment all that is contained in the Seven Seals of Revelation.

Weinerdude Weinland then concludes with the following concerning a book he claims he was led by his god to write.   It was to be a compilation of missives from his prison cell.  If Dingy Ron is trying to emulate Paul and the letters he wrote from prison he is in for a big shock!

Third Book
Some time ago, I commented on the potential of writing a third book. Since there are quite a few who make mention of this in anticipation of it being published, this will serve as an update.

It now seems that such a book is not intended for this age, especially since it became clear to me that much of the content was to come from posts I have written while being here in prison. It now seems more likely that such a publication could well be a compilation of such written information that would be more beneficial to those in the Millennium.

Living Church of God Still in "Banned" Crisis Mode

Living Church of God absolutely despises this site. You know things are bad when Rod Meredith specifically mentioned this site in a sermon.  He exhorted members to not to read this site and to believe everything that comes out of his mouth and the LCG ministers as the real truth.  What happened instead was a dramatic increase in LCG members checking out the site.  It seems like every few days now some LCG minister or leader says or does something incredibly stupid.  The difference between now and the past is that LCG members are getting sick of it and reporting on it to this site and others.  The Living Church of God is in an "accountability" crisis mode.

I am nearly certain that annon is cut from the LCG cloth. Likely a minister. They have no clue how to deal with this site or how to start working on damage control. They monitor it constantly and are in Banned crisis mode. They try to pretend their members don't look at this site but all one has to do is to look at the map to see that many of their members look at this site - ALOT

Most LCG members and ministers alike know the stories coming out are true. All HQ can do is to keep preaching on the importance of obedience to God's ministry and about how important it is to keep looking at the big picture and not getting tripped up on the little things (like watching ministry falsely accuse brethren or abuse power in other ways or using tithes eg gir fancy trips to Hawaii or 100 other things). They have to keep reminding us that we might not understand why they do the things they do, but it's not for us to understand. It's our jobs to trust that they are led by Christ and to follow what they say if we want to make it as first fruits.

"Have you ever seen all the little kooks running wild all over the COG scene today?"

A reader calls all of us here "yellow."

“Like i said before, the color I see is yellow all over this site.”

 The Urban Dictionary has this definition for "yellow bellied":

1. adj. meaning "cowardly, wuss-like"
2. A slightly archaic emphasizer for an insult, right up there with "godforsaken" and variations of the word "freakin' "

Used to call someone a coward in ADDITION to another insult.

Jim: That Fred is a jerk!

Bob: He doesn't deserve to be a jerk. He's a yellow-bellied bastard! 

A reader here responded with this:

I agree with you that one should not forsake God or the Bible or the laws of God.

However, the situation on the church scene these days is pretty bad. After all, according to HWA's church eras theory, we are now in the Laodicean era, the era that needs to, and fully deserves to, go into a Great Tribulation.

Have you ever seen anyone like Gerald Flurry, who uses HWA's name and photograph all the time to attract followers while always perverting in the most satanic way the major things that HWA had taught? If you really want to see yellow-bellied cowards, look at the people in the PCG, afraid that a little old drunken runt will kick them out and cut off all contact between them and their fake PCG friends and even their own crazy PCG family members. It was pointed out years ago that the PCG turns men into cowards. One could ask great philosophical questions like, Just how many demons can you fit into a little runt? The answer: Too many.

Have you ever seen anyone like David Pack, who uses HWA's name all the time to justify his reign of terror and plunder? If you really want to see yellow-bellied cowards, look at the poor, deceived, robbed, plundered, and emasculated victims of raging Dave Pack of lies. Can you even read fast enough to keep up with his major doctrinal changes as he deletes his old booklets so he can come up with totally different ideas? Have you ever gone looking for precision of doctrine but just found even more craziness than usual? If you have not done this yet, and think you want to, be sure to check out David Pack.

Have you ever seen anyone like Ronald Weinland, who writes works of fiction to get people's money? If you really want to see yellow-bellied cowards, look at those people who are mentally and physically trapped in this fantasy world and actually fear mere fiction books written by a mere writer of fiction like Ronald the clown. Imagine fearing someone who is currently in prison for his tax evasion, when sharing some of the money with “good” accountants and “good” lawyers could have enabled him to carry on his plundering without going to jail.

Have you ever seen all the little kooks running wild all over the COG scene today? If you really want to see yellow-bellied cowards, look at anyone who is stupid enough to follow the numerous kooks like Bob Thiel, or James Malm, or Eric King, or any of the other little nobodies out there who make up whatever they want to off the top of their head and expect others to believe it and support it, even though they always contradict what HWA had taught, and often do not even attempt to hide their disagreement.

When Is It OK To Criticize Your Pastor Or Church Leader?

We have all been reading the various comments on this blog lately as people react to the horrendous news coming out of the four biggest Church of God's: Living Church of God, United Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God and Restored Church of God.  Despite the stories of abuse directly from leaders of these various groups, some people willingly whitewash these stories and describe them all as "tests" that God is using to test their mettle.

Many of these people have witnessed this abuse for decades as they have jumped from one group to another seeking to find the "true" spiritual leader they long for.  They have witnessed horrible things happen yet will not say anything negative about the leader.  It is preferable to be blind, deaf and dumb to these things than it is to take a stand for what is right.

The common comment thrown out by the hyper-righteous is, "We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling."  In other words you are not responsible for the abusive minister because it might just be a test to see how well you follow the power structure of the church.  God's government is from the top down and it all might be a test to see how well you submit.

¹² Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12

The church has always thrown this around more as a threat than an idea of comfort.  The Message Bible says this:

Rejoicing Together

^12-13 What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.

Pleasure is NOT something that most COG members have been told to experience.  It's one long list of "do and don't" with the "don't" list being 100 times larger than the "do" list.  Pleasure is not experienced when a minister tells a parent to kick their daughter to the curb, or abandon their disabled child at the mall so the government can take care of "it."  Pleasure is not watching a loved one die of a horrible and painful death because the leader of the church said not to use doctors.  Pleasure is not watching family members and friends shot to death in church because of a certain leaders sermon.

The other scripture that various COG's love to throw out is James 4:11 as an attempt quell any criticism.

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

Most COG members feel that they cannot "judge" or hold accountable abusive church leaders.  "God will handle it all in the end, I must endure and run the race" is the favorite belief of many COG members.  Is that really being truthful?  Covering up abusive pastors and leaders by sweeping it all under the rug with the "god will handle it excuse" is why so many have died at the hands of COG leaders.

One of the lessons from the Bible is that all men and women are fallible. Therefore, all people, especially leaders, need some form of accountability. Although pastors are called to lead their congregations, they are under the authority of God’s Word. When they act in a manner contrary to Scripture they need to be confronted, and improper behavior needs to be corrected. In 2 Samuel 22, the prophet Nathan confronted King David about his sin. In Galatians 2, Paul confronted Peter, the leader of the Apostles, for not acting in line with the truth. “Paul declared by this action that the truth always outranks position or title in the church. Truth and its authority are not rooted in personality or office. It is derived from the word of God and the truth it proclaims.”{8} Blue continues: “Paul taught that the body of Christ is a nonhierarchical living organism.”{9}  Abusive Churches: Leaving Them Behind

When will COG members ever hold their leaders accountable?

Here is an expert from the same article dealing with abusive pastors:

Philip Keller gave us a stern warning in his book, Predators in Our Pulpits: “The greatest threat to the church today is not from without but from our own leadership within.”{5} Often an abusive church is built around the leader who practices some unhealthy forms of shepherding. Many such leaders come from churches that were abusive or have an unmet need for significance. Many may have begun with noble intentions, but their unresolved personal issues cause them to become dependent on their ministry to meet their needs. In his book, Healing Spiritual Abuse, Ken Blue does an outstanding job identifying unhealthy leadership. Here are a few characteristics of an abusive leader.

Abusive leaders use their position to demand loyalty and submission. Ken Blue states, “I have heard many pastors say to their congregations, ‘Because I am the pastor, you must follow me.’ Their demand was not based on truth or the God-directedness of their leadership but on their title. That is a false basis of authority . . . any appeal to authority based on position, title, degree or office is false. The only authority God recognizes and to which we should submit to is truth.” {6} Other leaders use titles such as “God’s man” or “the Lord’s anointed” so that others will treat them with special reverence and keep themselves above accountability that others in the congregation are held to. “If by appealing to position, unique claims or special anointings, leaders succeed in creating a hierarchy in the church, they can more easily control those beneath them. They can also defend themselves against any who might challenge them.”{7} 

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Instead of feeding and caring for the flock, these pastors feed off the flock and use them to meet their needs for significance. Ken Blue gives an example of a “pastor whose church has not grown numerically in twelve years. Frustrated by his manifest lack of success, he turned to the congregation to meet his need. He has laid on them a building program in hopes that a new, larger, more attractive facility will draw more people. The congregation has split over this issue. Many have left the church, and those who remain are saddled with the debt.”{10}

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True spiritual leaders are defined by Christ’s example. “Whoever wants to be great among you must become the servant of all” (Matt. 20:26). Christ-like leadership is servanthood.

True leaders gain the loyalty of the sheep because of the quality of their character and their attitude of servanthood. The members freely submit to Christ-like leadership and do not have to be coerced to follow. Good shepherds lighten the load of the sheep while false leaders add to the load on the sheep.

Narcissism is one of the biggest problem in the Church of God and always has been.  There was no bigger narcissist in the church than Herbert Armstrong.  Flurry, Pack, Kubik, Webber, Meredith and all the rest are full time narcissists trained by the greatest narcissist of them all.

Narcissism. The reason that many Christians have a problem with developing empathy skills is because they have a problem with narcissism. Narcissists are not necessarily bad people. Narcissism simply means that, for whatever reason, the person's only point of reference in life is himself. For the narcissist only his thoughts, his feelings, his perceptions are fully real. For him the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of others are less real. In the religious context, narcissists simply assume that what they think God thinks, and what they believe is Bible-based. They take it for granted that any idea that jumps into their heads is from the Holy Spirit and that they are only following the promptings of the Holy Spirit whenever they decide to do anything. The fact that other people may see their words as being less than holy, their motives as being less than pure, and their actions as being hurtful and injurious never occurs to them. When you believe that you are right and righteous, then all that you say and do is right and righteous. Any thought to the contrary never enters the picture.  Spiritual Abuse

Dichotomous Thinking. Abusive Christians in abusive church fellowships generally exhibit dichotomous (either-or) thinking patterns. With them everything is black/white, this/that, either/or, us/them, good/bad, etc. There are never any weeds among the wheat. When something is good it is all good; when something is bad it is all bad. Of course, dichotomous thinking Christians put themselves in the all-good camp, while others who may not agree with them on some minute detail of theology or Bible interpretation are in the all-bad camp.

With abusive Christians there are no ambiguities, no unanswered questions, no gray areas, no doubts. Everything is sorted, classified, and properly labeled. They are right, others are wrong; they are spiritual, others are not; they truly believe the Scriptures, others do not; they are thoroughly committed to Jesus, others are not; etc., etc. To disagree with them is to disagree with God. They are, of course, the final judge and jury of what the Bible says, regardless of subject matter. They have the exact interpretation of any given particular Scripture text; any other nuance or shade of meaning is considered heresy. Dichotomous thinking Christians believe they have everything all figured out (when they do not) and that they have everything properly classified and labeled, which is often not the case. They have the definitive Bible-based answer for every question, even when they have not understood the question. Dichotomous thinking Christians have a one-size-fits-all hammer for every problem, even when what is needed for a particular problem is a screwdriver.

Does your COG have any of these things happening in it?  If it does, then the reality is it is an abusive group.

1. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are into power and control. Enroth writes, "The spiritual autocrat, the religious dictator, attempts to compel subordination; the true Christian leader can legitimately only elicit fellowership." Within a church context a legitimate leader promotes cooperation among church members, not dominate-submissive relationships. Legitimate church leaders have leadership rooted in trust. Enroth points out that legitimate Christian leaders lead with an entrusted authority.



2. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are into dichotomous thinking. With them everything is black-white, either-or, this-that, us-them. Dichotomous thinking is generally expressed in overt or implied terms such as "we the true followers of Jesus" versus those others "who are not as spiritual as we are." Of course, dichotomous abusive church leaders are the judge and jury on who is or who is not spiritual, who is or who is not fully walking with Jesus.



3. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are into legalistic perfectionism and perfectionist legalism. Again, legalisms are not about holiness; they are about power and control. Naturally, activities like fasting, keeping away from worldly amusements, attending numerous prayer meetings may in fact be spiritual and wholesome activities. However, when these activities are extreme, rigid, or excessive then we are talking about addiction, not spirituality.



4. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches have a tendency towards isolationism. Some of this isolationism may be more social than physical. Abusive groups will not mix with the impure or with the unholy. With them light has no fellowship with darkness, and they are very clear who is in the light and who is in the dark. Thus, they tend to isolate themselves from the world and even from other Christian groups.



5. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches are obsessed with discipline and even excommunication. In some abusive Christian circles, to question the church leader(s) means questioning God Himself. Abusive Christians are so certain that they are right and that they have the mind of Christ that they can be extremely punitive if they are not obeyed.



6. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches discourage church members' having contacts with people outside the fellowship, including family members. Obviously, church leaders that tell young people "Do not listen to your parents, listen only to us" should be suspected.



7. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches install surveillance systems (read "pastoral care") within their fellowships. Of course, for abusive church leaders a surveillance system is all about a spiritual concern regarding people's souls and how to best pastorally and brotherly look after the sheep of the flock. However, these surveillance systems go way beyond pastoral care. They are about power and control.



8. Abusive church leaders in abusive churches promote a Pied Piper mentality, especially among young people. For example, a youth leader who becomes a Pied Piper and has all the youth of the congregation running after him is a bad scene. A legitimate Christian youth leader should want the youngsters of the church fellowship to be forming positive and healthy relationships with a variety of people in the fellowship, not just with himself. There is no room for a personality cult in a legitimate non-abusing Christian fellowship. Spiritual Abuse

Church  of God members need to get over the fear that they are disobeying God by holding their leaders accountable. Non accountability lead to Rod Meredith preaching a sermon that led a member to shoot and kill LCG members.  Rod McNair claims that elderly are possessed by demons.  Gerald Flurry and Cal Culpepper's actions and words caused the suicide of a beautiful young woman.  Dave Pack has robbed his members blind financially, ripped marriages apart and turned sons against mothers.

How long must this go on?  How many more need to have their families ripped apart.  How many more need to abandon family members.  How many more need to die before anyone steps up and holds these men accountable?