Wednesday, July 27, 2016

LCG Fast: Will It Actually "...clean us up and scrub us out, spiritually..."



Rod Meredith has a letter out, Cry Out and Seek God, that attempts to justify his church-wide fast for the end of this month.  After citing numerous Old Testament men who claim they fasted in order to get right with their God, Meredith has this to say.
Brethren, I have now been full time in the Work of the ministry since my graduation from Ambassador College back on June 4, 1952. After all those decades of experience and “seeing” how God has worked and is working, I tell you urgently: we now are at a time when we need to seek God just as those servants of God did in the past. We are stricken with a kind of a “malaise” that makes us lukewarm and has no doubt kept God from pouring out His Spirit upon us with a power to heal the sick, discern spirits and cast out demons which we ought to have! We need to fully realize this!
Each of us needs to beg Godon our knees—to collectively clean us up and scrub us out, spiritually, so that we may be worthy of the gifts of His Spirit just as the early New Testament Church was. Brethren, we are not asking for something “unusual.” For it is exactly what God did do with the early Church to show His power and help the world understand where He was working, so they would respond and more people would be added to the Church. He worked with them in a powerful way so His Work could grow in power at that time.
Once more it is all the membership's fault.  Meredith and no one at the Charlotte HQ is taking any responsibility for the sorry state of the LCG right now.  Meredith cannot take any responsibility because he is the most loyal man the Church has ever had in it's midst since he graduated. For 64 years now Meredith has been the most sinless leader that God has ever used.  If God has been using him for sooooooo long, and he is sooooooo sinless, then why is the church in suuuuuuuuuuch a mess now?  Why did he run off at the mouth and is now getting sued for it?

Meredith lays the blame at the membership's feet and attempts to guilt them into fasting.  If they do NOT, then the LCG ministry will NEVER witness to the world, bring in new members who will give more money for a final push. That is what it boils down to.

LCG members are physically backed up, reminiscent of HWA blaming members for Loma Armstrong's blocked colon, and need to scrub themselves clean because THEY are dirty.  Not the leadership mind you; for they are righteously clean. They are after all, Levites.

If the membership clean themselves out, scrub themselves up, and get out of their "spiritual malaise" then Rod and crew can go around healing the sick and casting out demons.  It's the members fault they cannot do that now.  You can be guaranteed that no member will be allowed to go around healing the sick and casting out demons.  If they can't even gather together for Bible Study in their own homes how will they be allowed to heal the sick and cast our demons?
Also, as many of us ought to carefully read and meditate on, even before the Spirit-led New Testament Church actually began, Jesus appointed “seventy others also” to go out across Israel and preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons. Nothing indicates these were converted men—since the Holy Spirit was not even given until the Day of Pentecost. Obviously, they were not the twelve apostles, as they were called “seventy others,” and no mention is given of the apostles. Jesus commanded these men to go out and preach the Truth, “And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” (Luke 10:9). Later, we find, “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven’” (vv. 17–20). So they were also able to “cast out demons” in the name of Jesus Christ.
Then Meredith warns LCG members to not doubt or ridicule him or the church, because if they do, they could be struck down just like Ananias and Sepphira.  Meredith just cannot stand rebellion, just as long it is not he himself who is doing it, then its ok.
As the original Church of God—under the apostles’ faithful leadership—began to do the Work, notice how God reacted after He was forced to strike down Ananias and Sapphira for their obvious cynicism and rebellion against His leadership: “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:11–14). Notice that it was after God began to intervene with “signs and wonders” that great numbers were added to the body of Christ, “multitudes of both men and women.”
Like Dave Pack, Meredith assumes "multitudes of men and women" will soon be added to his church.  He should learn from Dave Pack's epic failure.  It WON'T happen!

Meredith's world has been falling apart at the seams for decades.  Now it is on the verge of utter collapse and its time for him to cry out.  Of course that cant be done because the members are not doing enough or giving enough for that to happen.  They have no yielded themselves
Do you begin to realize the “signs of the times” in which we are living? Will you then join me in crying out to God so that we in this Work may be given the power of God’s Spirit as never before?
Brethren, I hope that all of you will. For, to the extent that you yield yourself to God and beseech God to send Jesus to live His life within you (Galatians 2:20), you will be part of the body that is going to do a powerful Work before the end of this age and you will be rewarded forever—as we all know—because you have been willing to “turn to God” at a critical time in human history.
How can Meredith and the LCG invite Jesus to "live his life within them" when they ignore him?  Giving him lip service on Passover and a few times a year is not letting Jesus live within them. 

It's interesting that Meredith next quotes Galatians 2:20, but very conveniently leaves out Galatians 2:19, 21.
Galatians 2:20-21The Message (MSG)
19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. 
Law keeping and peer pleasing religions is all that Armstrongism has been over the decades.  The church abandoned grace and is now paying the price.

The LCG fast will NOT accomplish a single thing other than making a large group of people hungry.

24 comments:

Steve D said...

For him to be quoting from Galatians is ridiculous. This is one book that he probably understands the least. The ignorance and arrogance of RCM is appalling. I am embarrassed to say that I was once a member of the WCG and a graduate of AC. Thankfully, I was only involved for four years.

Anonymous said...

notice how God reacted after He was forced to strike down Ananias and Sapphira for their obvious cynicism and rebellion against His leadership

Doesn't Meredith realize that some of the most cynical rebels are his very own ministers?

How many pastors do their best to avoid playing Meredith's tiresome and repetitive DVD's to their congregations?

How many HQ ministers talk honestly about Meredith to their little circles of friends, while putting on their very best brown-nosing faces every time they face the bitter, angry, senile old coot?

How many HQ employees are coming to this site to post news of LCG's latest troubles that Meredith won't share with the membership?

John 10:27 says "My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Why are fewer and fewer sheep sending money to Meredith? If Meredith was representing the Shepherd, he wouldn't be living in such fear and watching his income dry up. Shepherds don't abuse the sheep under their care.

Byker Bob said...

Clearly, he is attempting to set the tone for some sort of positive synergy. As in the past, he seems to desire the gifts of the Spirit, which largely faded away late in the latter half of the first century.

Can these things even come to a church that is steeped in Armstrongism, and still encumbered by HWA's management style? Well, so far, the history doesn't look all that encouraging. The bird flaps its wings, but somehow, like an ostrich, never seems to be able to take flight.

A collective is composed of individuals, each with his or own attitudes and thought processes. Who knows if the majority even desire the type of synergy Meredith is seeking? You can't command a unity of minds, just as you cannot command a person to be happy. Fasting is the only technique they know and could apply to acheive the desired unity. Most likely, the majority will participate just because they were told to. If it were going to work this time, it certainly would have worked in the past.

BB

Anonymous said...

Rod begs his lukewarm (Rod'Stewart word)followers: "Each of us needs to beg God—on our knees—to collectively clean us up and scrub us out, spiritually, so that we may be worthy of the gifts of His Spirit just as the early New Testament Church was."

Why lift up voices on high to beg? Does God really want to hear it?

"Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high." Isaiah 58:4

What have all of the previous fasts done by the living group accomplished?

Rod's voice on high will not be heard and will accomplish nothing.

Rod and his followers would accomplish more by attempting to fulfill verses 6-7 of Isaiah 58, but Rod and his leading men take the easy way out and strive to do what God has no interest inot.

Rod is all about self. Make oneself worthy? Never happen! Even Doug Winnail still does not grasp that.

How long will it be before another such vain letter by Rod be sent out? Why didn't his last fast accomplish anything Rod desires?

I agree with the author's conclusion to this post:

"...The LCG fast will NOT accomplish a single thing other than making a large group of people hungry."

John

Anonymous said...

RCM certainly won't quote this scripture in such a letter, but it's more appropriate:

Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
"You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.
"The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. (Ezekiel 34:2-4)

Unknown said...

Steve D. Unlike you I stayed way to long-30 years I am sorry to say. I guess the church Herbert founded never measured up because healed the sick or cast out demons. And Rod has never healed the sick even though he has been sinless for over 60 years.

Unknown said...

Rod keeps repeating over and over and over how his Christians need to cry out, beg God, beseech God to hear them. Wouldn't it be refreshing if he would teach them about Jesus. We don't have to cry out beseech God beg God. We just have to be forgiven by the blood of Jesus pardoned and covered by the Grace of the the lamb of God. Not very complicated

Anonymous said...

Rod says 'yield yourself to God.' This is code for 'yield yourself to your lording minister.' The wording itself implies being passive rather than putting out assertive effort to obey the ten commandments. Another example of torturing the bible to create a paradise for the ministers and their boot lickers.

Anonymous said...

And to think that I always thought God killed Arabia's and Sapphire for lying to Him. Now I learn that He struck them down because of rebellion against His (ie, Rods) leadership. Resist Rod and God will struck you down.
Doesn't the bible say not to add to Gods word?

Anonymous said...

I learned the mechanics of fasting while a fool for Herbert. Still a Christian today, when I fast I do it in the manner learned, which was valid (as so few things were).

Fasting, as I understand it (now), is to bring a focus into your thought and being whereby you can be GUIDED to God's will.

However, fasting was often done by Herbert-worshippers to impress God with the MERE FACT that you were doing it. There was/is always the idea there that you are seeking an ANSWER, but clearly many people fasted with the answer they wanted already in mind, already decided on. The fast was done to MAKE GOD DO as you desired. How many times did I hear, "Well, I FASTED about it," implying "I'm sure that what I WANT to do I can," or "What I want to HAPPEN will."

This way of thinking is at work here. How do they MAKE GOD provide more money for more magazines [which 14 non-LCG people might read] and broadcast time [that 6 non-LCG people tune in for], which is what God wants . . . right, Rod? Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

I think the best comment I can make is to share what I wrote on Facebook this morning:

Religion will never unite the world. It's totally impossible because the underlying purpose of religion is separation and division for the benefit of those in power who invented the religion and it's subsequent divisions.
I just enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and homemade hashbrowns which I first microwaved and then browned in bacon fat and topped the hashbrowns with grated cheese. Right there is something that would horrify any observant Jew on several levels. I consumed an "unclean meat" and contaminated the potatoes with its fat and then added a milk product to the unclean meat meal. Horrors!!!! I even had a mug of milk to top it off, but I don't expect what I ate to ruin my health.
I'm very familiar with that scenario. Fifty years ago, I was embroiled in a good part of it. Then I learned a few things. One of them being a comment by a Jewish rabbi that the purpose of many of those restrictions and prohibitions was the creation of "holiness" to keep people isolated and set apart from the people around them. Oh, they'd let them in if they became proselytes and also cut themselves off from their families and fellow tribesmen. That would increase their numbers and their power and wealth.
The old cult I was in followed that program to a tee, picking and choosing which nonsensical strictures they chose to hold onto. But, in the end, it is an exercise in futility. That cult has split into hundreds of mini-cults, each choosing its own set of rules and requirements to set themselves apart from the others and then claim to be "god's true church."
That vying for power and control -- and, let's be honest, money -- permeates every major religion. The resulting division and strife fills the pages of history with endless bloodshed and atrocities. Anyone who thinks he can "jihad" his way into ultimate control is living in a fantasy.
And, politics is another side of the same coin. That's why our founders tried so hard to separate the two, mostly to no avail. Allen C. Dexter

DennisCDiehl said...

The story of Annanis n Sapphira is actually a slam by Luke against Peter sending the message not to follow peter. You can't really kill people in church without some asking questions

Stephen said...

Yes, the reason why Yahweh is just as absent from LCG as every other god has ever been from every other religious institution that has ever existed (at least so far as I can tell), is that aaaaall those lowly peons of LCG are just not measuring up. Yep, that's the reason why nobody ever gets the holy spirit (hey, that's what he said), nobody ever gets healed, nobody ever rises from the dead, and nobody ever exorcises any demons. That's the ticket!

Um-hmmmmmmm...

Anonymous said...

11.40 AM Allen, human beings are religious creatures. It is universal through out human history. It's religion that binds societies together. One example, the size of the Roman empire was way out of proportion to its army. It's emperor worship that bound the empire. The religion of today in the west, is variations of socialism. The left wing main stream media, has an easily discernible religious spirit. You can't escape religion.

Anonymous said...

12.45PM so Dennis, you have the ability to read the motives of people long dead.
I'II stick with the plain meaning thanks.

Anonymous said...

"Allen, human beings are religious creatures. It is universal through out human history. It's religion that binds societies together. One example, the size of the Roman empire was way out of proportion to its army. It's emperor worship that bound the empire. The religion of today in the west, is variations of socialism. The left wing main stream media, has an easily discernible religious spirit. You can't escape religion."

Well, Iceland has done a pretty good job of it, and several other progressive societies are predominantly nonreligious today.

Sweetblood777 said...

The two that were struck down was due to lying and deception. Characteristics that are part and parcel in the cog movement. Even now, Rod is using this shameful behavior to threaten his tithe salves to obey and submit to him. Treat the open wounds first by doing that which would give them courage to take those first steps. To knock them farther down with your evolution beliefs, will only turn them off, and make things worse. Once they can stand on their own two feet, allow them to go their own way without resorting to the same methods of fear belittlement that the abusers use.

The purpose of this site is to inform and help those that are trapped in this wicked system. It is not, as far as I know, not to turn believers against the Most High, even though some have allowed this poison to overcome them. We must stop blaming Yahweh for the wicked acts of wicked men. To those that have allowed this, I would advise that you give the Most High the room to carry out His plans, and the time to restore your trust in Him. What has occurred to you, has happened to thousands, and their sufferings as well as yours, will be fully understood when the time comes.

Don't give up. Eccl.2:20 - 26.

Anonymous said...

Having to cry out to, beg and beseech God always sounded a bit as if there wasn't really any God listening. Even as a kid, the idea of having to beg God to listen, bless, hear or do something seemed rather strange. The idea that a human being can not eat food for a day and impress a deity with his humiliation etc also seems lame and petty.

Who treats their own children this way? Well except COG parents doing what they are told by men who think they know best how to raise loving and obedient children....and don't have a clue.

I'd rather raise critically thinking children who looked for proof of the ideas others throw at them rather than have faith that they are being told the truth.

Ralph said...

on July 27, 2016 at 9:41 AM
Floyd 1944 wrote:-

"We just have to be forgiven by the blood of Jesus...."

"Have to be" - future tense. I understand that we have been-past tense-already forgiven. See:-

"Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
and
"Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;" (AKJ) bolding mine.

together with surrounding text.

cheers
ralph.f

Unknown said...

Ralph you are right I did not mean future tense. For those who have not accepted it would be future.

Mickey said...

When Hwa was nearing his end, the church was commanded to do the same. It may be that RCM is taking the same approach to convince God to to heal and cast out the "demons" of old age. I just find the whole thing a little pitiable.

Anonymous said...

The LCG fast will NOT accomplish a single thing other than making a large group of people hungry

Not necessarily so. Some of them could die.

Anonymous said...

"The LCG fast will NOT accomplish a single thing other than making a large group of people hungry."

"The LCG fast will NOT accomplish a single thing other than making a small group of people hungry."

There, fixed it for you.

Karen aka Trouper, Tripper, Jomo said...

Is this fast taking place at the 2016 camp in Ohio or did it happen in the past? Thanks!