Many in
LCG have watched in confusion over the years at the overt inequity with which
their ministers rule and discipline members of their congregations. For
example, some members have participated in "private Bible studies"
(aka unsanctioned Bible discussion without an LCG minister present) and get
away with it, with no more than a slap on the wrist, whilst others get
disfellowshipped for the very same offense. A couple of years ago in
Charlotte there was a rash of members engaged in adultery. Many were disfellowshipped
without a second chance in spite of their shameless pleadings. Others got
to remain employed at HQ's and are still active members of the
congregation to this day. Some members can read the Book of Enoch but others
have lost their HQ's jobs for the very same "crime". Some get
suspended for getting caught smoking cigarettes or for refusing to cut their
hair into a "proper men's style" while others are actively using
street drugs such as marijuana and methamphetamine and get to remain in church
week after week. Some are permitted to divorce and remarry for the very
same reasons that others are not. Sometimes LCG ministers will marry two people
viewed as "unequally yoked" (different races, big age
differences or an unbelieving partner) but others are told "no"
forcing them to get married in shame at the Justice of the Peace. Some offenses
are covered up such as trips to rehab and child molestation while other,
seemingly less grievous offenses, are spread through congregations by whispering
campaigns initiated from ministers who wish to diminish the reputations of
those they are rumoring about (usually to rationalize their own unfair
treatment of these people).
How does
LCG ministry justify this kind of blatant favoritism and unfairness? Well,
according to the top men at LCG headquarters, it is because they are Christ's
apostles on Earth and as such, they are able to look into the heart of a man to
assess real (verses fake?) repentance.
We have
heard Rod Meredith use the claim that he is "3rd in all the universe"
to command his ignorant followers into submission and obedience. Now he is
using his self proclaimed Christ-like powers to judge the hearts of men and women
who have the misfortune to end up in his self-serving, tired little cult.
You see,
it isn't enough to say you're "sorry".
Apologizing after one is caught doesn't really count in their estimation. Only
"God's ministers" are able to really look into the offenders heart to
determine if true repentance is found.
In true
Amstrongism form, LCG ministers simply do not understand that God is the only
Being in all the universe who is able to assess repentance. God the Father is
the only One who can give mercy or take it away. LCG puts themselves in
God's place time and time again. They really don't get it. How many of Rod Meredith's
victims have given up on God all together because of the harsh and hateful
treatment they received in what they thought was God's church? What will
Judgment Day be like for a man with such uneven scales and a heart full of
arrogant pride and self righteousness? Surely RCM, Rod McNair and others in
power at LCG have read that Jesus sat with tax collectors and sinners. Surely
they have read "judge not, lest ye be judged" and "let he who is
without sin cast the first stone". James 2:13 says, "blessed are
the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" and Matthew 5:7 warns that
men who don't show mercy "shall have judgment without
mercy". It is vexing to see that they sincerely feel these scriptures
don't apply to them.
It
should, however, go without saying that when LCG ministry makes a mistake, the
members should remain focused on the "big picture" and remember
that ministers are still human and deserve mercy; even if they are
unwilling to afford it to others.
Justice
dictates that the same crimes should have the same punishments. Justice doled
out by ministers in LCG is more often than not perverted and corrupt. LCG
is rotten to the core.
"All
that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men to do
nothing." (quote by Edmund Burke)
From a guest contributor with ties to LCG.
From a guest contributor with ties to LCG.
We can look at the facts. We can look at the behavior. The objective conclusion that we can draw from all this is that LCG is a cult. Actually, all of Armstrongism is a cult. It is the most simple explanation, and, according to Occam's Razor, most likely the correct one.
ReplyDeleteIt is unclear how extreme conditions are going to have to get before people accept the truth and realize that they are following a psychopath / sociopath and finally -- finally -- leave.
And after departure from the cult, most will wonder how they ever tolerated the cult environment as long as they did, as they feel the welcome powerful relief from abandoning a dysfunctional system troubling them.
It's a cult.
Get over it.
Thank you NO2HWA! This is exactly why I stopped going to LCG and started thinking for myself. It's been a year plus a little since my last service and just the lack of negative pressure in my life is reason enough alone to not ever even think twice about stepping foot near a LCG service again. It was hard to walk away from longtime friends (no family in LCG thankfully) but my peace of mind is worth it. I don't need to live my life walking on eggshells anymore and I do not believe for a second that LCG has any type of a grasp what true Christianity is.
ReplyDeleteDon't you realize, using LCG own rules, the elderly Mr. Meredith is demon possessed.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete“A couple of years ago in Charlotte there was a rash of members engaged in adultery. Many were disfellowshipped without a second chance in spite of their shameless pleadings. Others got to remain employed at HQ's and are still active members of the congregation to this day.”
Ha! That's nothing! Those LCG sinners are such whiners.
In filthy Flurry's PCG cult some people get in trouble and get disfellowshipped for not going along with all the numerous old PCG sex perverts.
Two, points, king David fled into the wilderness to protect his life from Saul. Fleeing an abusive church could be in the same category. Perhaps not for all, since I noticed that ministers often left the 'little fish' alone.
ReplyDeleteMy other point is that the real reason many are disfellowshiped is that they are potential leaders, and can perceive the evils in the church. Totalitarian governments do this all the time. In the book 1984, Big Brother would kill anyone whose head stood out or was talented. Much like Stalins purges.
I was a church member, the brainwashing pressure was too great. In certain areas, you can never fully mature. Thank God I escaped the gulag.
I well remember reading some COG website that asserted that two ministers in North America who had switched from one COG group to LCG were sexual predators. I cannot have been the only one to have seen that website. I wish I knew which website this was. I have not been able to find it. I hope someone remembers what this website was.
ReplyDelete***
On other matters I noticed that a certain article by PCG's Dennis Leap is very similar to a booklet by Joel Hilliker condemning gays. Is this plagiarism? Judge for yourself.
Thank you to the anonymous person that writes these posts. They have been a great help to me and my family as we painfully leave our LCG family behind. We know they will turn their backs on us, but that's the price we know we have to pay in order to follow Christ. Grace truly is found outside the boundary of the Churches of God. It's a true freedom that is hard to explain, but excitingly wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWow! If I didn't know any better, this post could be written by the PCG and its hypocrisy and gross perversion!
ReplyDeleteSince leaving PCG almost two years ago, I can't find anything out about family or friends that are still in it. Does anyone have access to the Philadelphia News where we can find out about births, marriages or deaths? Would love it if we could find out how many others have left and possibly get in contact with each other for support!
Thanks so much for this site!
And of course the main question that this situation would prompt would be "Do ACOG ministers have the Holy Spirit?"
ReplyDeleteI came to my own conclusions many years ago, but it is something all of the members need to work out.
BB
5:45, your comment that the reason many people are disfellowshipped is that they are potential leaders is one of the more insightful ones I've read on this blog in a long time.
ReplyDeleteDuring my years in WCG/AC positions, I saw this phenomenon rear its head many times. Not always to the extreme of disfellowshipping, but certainly in the removal and demotion of a number of qualified and well-meaning people from their positions.
The insecurity of the people in charge was legendary, no doubt exacerbated by HWA's mindless, self-serving autocracy. "Leaders" were reduced to the tactics of kissing the behinds of those above them on the corporate ladder, and holding down or even removing those beneath them. It's a prescription for disaster in any organization, so the eventual results of such pettiness were predictable.
SING ALONG TIME! (sing to the Wizard of Oz tune "IF I ONLY HAD A HEART") ...
ReplyDeleteWhen Rod is such an empty kettle...
He should be on his mettle ...
And yet I'm torn apart...
Just because I'm presumin'...
That he could be something human...
If he only had a heart...
He'd be tender, He'd be gentle...
And awfully sentimental...
Regarding love an art...
He'd be friends with the Scarborough's...
He'd stop shooting all those arrows...
If He only had a heart!!
9:50 said, "...as we painfully leave our LCG family behind. We know they will turn their backs on us"
ReplyDeleteA rational, reasonably intelligent person would see red flags and hear alarm bells in an organization of people that turns their backs on you once you cease being a member of the group.
The truth is, the men in power foster this turning away as a means to control the masses. If one can leave and maintain relationships, it makes the decision to leave a whole lot easier. I'm sure many in LCG WANT to leave but they lack the courage to walk away from all their friends and family which is essentially what leaving would result in.
It's cult inclusiveness at its finest.
When I was in LCG, many of my church friends criticized me for having too many non-church friends (they called them "worldly friends"). I always thought it was bizarre. So I wasn't supposed to develop personal relationships with the people I spend 40 hours a week working with? I wasn't supposed to bbq with my neighbors or maintain non-church friendships made prior to my joining LCG? How was I supposed to be a light to the world if I hid myself from the world? It never resonated with me.
After over 10 years in LCG it became glaringly obvious that my friends in "the world" in many cases were much more loyal and had more Christian character than those in LCG.
At the root, I believe it all stems back to the de-emphasis of Christ and the example of behavior He left for us to follow. The over-emphasis on the old covenant and the under-emphasis of the new breeds Pharasitical behavior.
It's hard to walk away but I thank God every day that I am no longer in that poisonous church. Every day I stayed, I died a little more. Now that I am free, I have a better relationship with the true God and I feel so much more connected to my Savior. Praise God from rescuing me!
Speaking of LCG double standards...
ReplyDeleteHow about the fact that some are disfellowshipped for getting pregnant before marriage (and in one case I know, also fired from HQs) while Meredith's own son and also his granddaughter get away with the very same offense?!? I'm not sure but I think the granddaughter let it happen twice with two different baby daddy's and yet she stayed in church!
To Anonymous 10:24am
ReplyDeleteYou Betcha... They were covering up for a Meredith's son running around on his wife long time ago. Half the congregation knew it, minister covers it up.
Nothing like Priviledge!
As an aside, more on the "Zika" virus Found Here
ReplyDeletecheers
ralph.f
Red flags, the minister has to interview you before you can attend. WHY? The meeting place is kept secret. WHY? Did Jesus interview the sinners before speaking?
ReplyDeleteAs long as you attend, you are on probation. Miss services or a holyday and see what happens. The eyes, ears or spies are watching your every move.
You never realise it, but you are being systematically controlled, you eventually lose your freedom. Once you step through the door, you lost your free speech.
If you really want to stay, act stupid, pretend you don't know anything. Then the leadership won't feel threatened, by you.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men to do nothing." (quote by Edmund Burke)"
ReplyDeleteThis is terrible advice. In a Nazi like environment, this means throwing oneself under a bus. This is a no no. Ones relationship to others, including a worthy cause, is trade. This is not a winning trade. Let kamikaze Edmund Burke and his supporters lead the way with their personal examples.
Cheers TheTradingGuy
Byker Bob,
ReplyDeleteIs 'THIS' another "boogey man"?
cheers
ralph.f
ReplyDelete“A couple of years ago in Charlotte there was a rash of members engaged in adultery. Many were disfellowshipped without a second chance in spite of their shameless pleadings. Others got to remain employed at HQ's and are still active members of the congregation to this day.”
Sexual immorality is a serious problem in all the larger COGs. Nothing new under the sun there, nor under the moon.
The mention of some of the adulterers in Roderick Meredith's LCG being expelled strikes one as very unusual behavior indeed in the COGs. It almost sounds like Roderick Meredith is doing at least something at least partly right at least some of the time. This is, admittedly, a little bit of a pleasant surprise.
In Gerald Flurry's PCG people get kicked out for not going along with all the numerous old sex perverts who are continually trying to “help” them. The old sex perverts in the PCG feel entitled to help themselves to the younger members. They believe they have a right to become quickly and openly angry if they do not get what they want. Having eyes bulging with lust, and mouths full of lies and slander, these old male and female sex maniacs, sex perverts, and predators play an important part in helping to make the PCG the satanic impostor cult that it is. Part of the problem, of course, is that the PCG does not have real ministers. When none of the WCG ministers went with the drunken Gerald Flurry's PCG, he set up all sorts of power hungry, but incompetent and immoral, petty tyrants as PCG “ministers.” Individuals in the PCG who politely try to shun sexual immorality are not tolerated. The PCG is not about obeying the laws of God at all, but rather all about the local, godless, perverted tyrants using their congregations for their own selfish and immoral purposes. Another part of the problem is that the PCG has a false leader, Gerald Flurry, who was busy pulling off the identity theft of the ages by calling himself “That Prophet” and anything else he could think of.
Even in the supposedly more reasonable UCG splinter group there are old sex perverts. Like the old sex perverts in all the COGs, the old UCG sex perverts cannot keep their evil behavior to themselves. They always have to try to drag younger singles in the church into their perversions one way or another. Those who complain or even just say anything about what is going on get kicked out, including extended family members. The ineffective UCG ministers cannot do anything about the bad behavior in the UCG, so they try to hush it up and keep it quiet by getting rid of anyone who says anything about what is going on. Part of the problem, of course, is that the WCG ministers who went with the UCG were infected by a lot of Tkach type thinking that evil is good and that good is evil. That, plus some babbling about “servant leadership,” and the UCG ministers have become the servants of the unconverted and wicked people who like to show up at UCG meetings for their own evil purposes. Consequently, there is neither decency nor safety in the UCG. All the bland drivel in all the UCG magazines is utterly worthless and will not help at all. It is just a feeble and failed attempt to try to attract more victims who will be willing to put up with the unconverted perverts and weirdos that the UCG ministers welcome in and serve. Another part of the problem is that the UCG is currently led by paycheck collectors who have a history of expelling faithful church members in the WCG during the Tkach apostasy and refusing to apologize for it now since they were just doing their job.
Hi Byker Bob
ReplyDeleteps. I meant Frosty Wooldridge, not the other person.
cheers
ralph.f
Ralph, do you think a sane person would actually find Frosty credible?
ReplyDeleteBB
In LCG, you can be sure that if you are related to a minister or if you are a big tither, you will always be found to be "repentant" when rod meredith looks into your heart LOL
ReplyDeleteAs a member of LCG I can tell you that Mr. Meredith's two youngest boys are completely out of control! Yet, they remain in church unscathed. They will have sex with pretty much any woman who will let them.
ReplyDeleteAnd how many times did Mike Meredith commit adultery and get caught doing it before he "decided to leave the church"?
To answer the anonymous above, Meredith's granddaughter has four children by three different daddies, at least half of them conceived out of wedlock but nothing ever happened to her either.
And it's not just Meredith favoritism! Pretty much all minister's kids get to do whatever they want.
I remember a few years back when the daughter of the KC minister was allowed to have a church wedding to marry a Jew. Then, when it didn't work out she was permitted to have a divorce stating that they were unequally yoked!
It's really not front-page news! The same crime doesn't have the same punishment. It all depends on who you are or who you know in LCG.
Living Church of God ministers think that they can assess repentance because their delusions of grandeur or make them believe they can act as intercessor.
ReplyDeleteSome of us realize what blasphemy that is since there is only one Intercessor. But many are so obedient to church government that they don't realize how wrong it is.
The resounding attitude is that if a minister says it, even if we don't understand why or see any evidence to support it, it must be true because they are God's one and only true ministers.
Frosty the Snowman is credible.
ReplyDelete(At least to some children in a certain stage of their growth, around Christmas-time.)
Heck, even Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer seem credible.
(At least to recovering COGers in a certain stage of their growth.)
Ralph asks, Is 'THIS' another "boogey man"?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: Of course it is, Ralph. Strange that you'd even need to ask.
But, since you've said that you choose to believe in British Israelism (because evidence against it uses words that would require you to use a dictionary), maybe it's not so strange, after all.
Ha! This story made me grin from ear to ear, then go back to the beginning and read over it again! I would love to know where the stories come from. The details in this one, in particular, are so accurate. As I read it, I knew exactly who was being spoken of. The pot smokers, the meth amphetamine users, the adulterers, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere are many good people in LCG and when we see our ministers overlooking offenses like this while putting out others for the same or lesser crimes it takes a toll on us. Favoritism is hard to respect and it breeds a disrespect for the ministry who engage in it so blatantly.
I don't think that it will be ACOG doctrine that will bring down LCG like many on this blog site predict. I think it will be the corruption of LCG leadership that ultimately causes the church to implode. There lies, harshness, unforgiving spirit and lording over the brethren can only last for so long before the people result. I pray that God will intervene and save this work!