Buried in the letter from Elizabeth Scarborough that was posted on the weekend was the following information that came out in court proceedings and was made by Rod Meredith:
I’m sure the hours and hours of deposition transcripts would make salacious and eye-opening reading for many. At one point, Rod Meredith said that if it were up to him we would NEVER be allowed to attend ANY church of God again. It gave me goosebumps! And he thinks that’s a converted attitude?! Praise God that decision is not his. Meredith also said that “causing church division is worse than murder or child molestation”. Ironic since he’s formed two churches through division himself and we never caused or urged a single person to leave LCG. He used this as his defense as to why McNair called the pastor of our new church and attempted to get us kicked out of that church too. Apparently, it wasn’t enough for them to kick us out of LCG. They’d prefer that we not be able to attend ANY church EVER. So very Christian of them.
What absolute vindictive arrogance for Meredith to
wish he welded that much power. No Church of God minister has ever had
that power, not even Herbert Armstrong.
Rod Meredith has always been a vindictive man.
In the mid to late 70's when he battled and succeeded in having Garner
Ted removed from the church, Meredith lashed out at all of the people close to
GTA. From secretaries to friends, the broad swipe of Meredith's vindictiveness
hit. Instead of talking to each of these people on where their loyalties
lay, he sent out scores of disfellowshipment letters. No one was allowed
to contest the letters or ask questions. They were immediately fired, disfellowshipped
and publicly marked.
Meredith's next public display of his vindictive
nature happened in Tucson, AR when he stood on the stage in front of the ministry
of the Worldwide Church of God at its ministerial conference and proceeded to
smear the name and reputation of Leona McNair. He lied on that stage and
thought he got away with it. She sued him and won because he could not
keep his mouth shut.
Once that lawsuit had been paid for and represented
by WCG attorneys, Meredith quickly jumped ship with Raymond McNair to start the
Global Church of God. Both of these men, in their arrogance, deliberately
brought division into the church. They did all in their power to try and
woo as many members away from WCG as they could, along with their money. Meredith
knew he were ready to get fired and by starting a new church it was guaranteed
income.
Once ensconced in Global, Meredith's arrogance and vindictive
nature kept rearing its ugly head. Eventually the leadership of Global
got sick of how nasty the man was and voted him out. McNair, the ever
loyal but buffoonish lap poodle, decided he would would run the church to
smooth things out. Meredith felt
betrayed by McNair and quickly lashed out while in collusion with other
elders and deacons (including a pedophile) and started Living Church of God,
taking most of Global's money with them. This action was deliberate and
meant to humiliate Raymond McNair, which it did.
Raymond McNair and his wife Eve eventually did
something that many consider to be a most appalling spectacle. Knowing how
vindictive Meredith was, and how he had claimed to place the McNair's eternal salivation
at risk, they actually went into his presence and got on their knees in front
of him to beg forgiveness! The McNair’s begged forgiveness from Rod with
"trembling lips." No member in ANY Church of God ever needs to do such
an appalling thing in front of ANY minister! These men are not God and do
not represent God in any capacity at that moment, no matter how much they claim
to.
Meredith's arrogance also shines forth yet again
with the comment that "causing church division
is worse than murder or child molestation,” never mind the fact that he has personally
caused church division for 60 some years now and has started two separate churches.
Having seven of his church members murdered
and seeing children molested by church pedophiles is not as bad in his eyes as
someone who causes division. Rod
Meredith helped created Terry Ratzmann and covered up for a know pedophile who
help started LCG.
How sick can this man get?
18 comments:
Ah, they all put the scare on people. I saw (iirc) a 1960's Good News sometime within the last year in which HWA editorialized that disagreeing with him was blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
My suggestion to the general readership is that if your minister drops firebombs like this on the congregation and its members, you are in the wrong church! Paul said (my paraphrase) that he would gladly give up his own salvation if it meant that his brother Jews would listen to the gospel and be saved.
What has happened within the past twenty years is that people have disfellowshipped and marked so many people, and even one another, to the point that it has lost its meaning. There is always another splinter, and there is independent worship at home (assuming for the sake of argumentation that Armstrongism were correct theology, which it is not). It isn't wrong to firmly state your position to your minister as you are leaving, but it would be bad to cuss him out, threaten him, or flip him off. Those things can be sorely tempting, though.
Rebellion is neither rebellion, nor sinful, when you are rebelling against something or someone so damagingly in error. There's another word for that: correction. And correction is a Godly process. Remaining loyal to evil is not.
BB
Rod Meredith has been known for crazy statements like this in the past, but as he ages his mind is getting ever more erratic.
"How sick can this man get?"
Well, he doesn't have a lot of time left...
Looks like hearsay and to me. But I'm not surprised. This blog and it's "sources" spout nothing but hearsay and rumor. Whatev's.
I can only imagine what the minister of the Scarborough's new church was thinking when Rod McNair called him to tattle tale on them for having a toga party and singing Rum and CocaCola. I'm sure he thought Rod was crazy!
I'm guessing that pastors of non-lcg churches are secretly cheering on this whole situation in hopes that it will drive Armstrongites out of LCG and into whatever splinter they are involved in.
Many of the pastors and members in ACOGs outside of LCG (and some who chose to keep their heads in the sand within LCG) know that Rod Meredith is NOT a man of God. He has proven this decade after decade by his treatment of people who are supposed to be his brothers and sisters in Christ. He is a bad dude and has left a wake of injured sheep in his tyrannical path.
There's a very simple reason Rod Meredith so hates division. It threatens his financial base, and everything in Worldwide and in the splits is about money. Keep the suckers tithing and never let them realize that they are committing a scriptural crime by tithing. Even if there was a temple in Jerusalem and functioning Levitical priesthood, I as a gentile wouldn't be tithing to it.
Roderick Meredith: What else would you expect of a Gentile?
The members of the LCG have been brainwashed into thinking, "Just because RCM acts like a total asshole, doesn't mean he's really a total asshole!"
I sincerely hope the Scarborough's release those deposition transcripts.
Funny thing is, from what I know about the brainwashed, mind-numb RCM zombies over at LCG, even if they see it in print in RCM's own words they will either say it's not true or make some excuse for it.
My guess is that the aren't releasing the depos until they decide on whether or not they are going to appeal.
If they decide not to appeal, I hope they will release them in their entirety.
Rod Meredith and company love to brag about LCR and claim that it is the "Only TRUE Church" - the only true remaining Philadelphia church on earth today carrying out "God's only true Work" (they always capitalize "work" as if their efforts are elevated to the stature of a God-being). Their proclamation is based on three basic ideas:
1.) The idea that they have an "open door" to preach the gospel - judging themselves to be the only true church preaching the only true gospel. Of course, these days, all of these "churches" claim to be "preaching (their version) the gospel" - so what makes LCR so special? The ultimate point of all of LCR's messages these days is to point lay members to themselves, and not to God. Furthermore, RCM and Co. think nothing of compromising scripture (creating "upgrades" - which is a stupid descriptor, btw) for political expedience. This is hardly the Gospel of God.
2.) LCR is the only organization with their interpretation of "God's" form of so-called "top-down" government with "no voting or politics." Anyone with half a brain cell can see that this organization is completely corrupted by politics - from every corner and cranny of the organization. One window into the political rancor existing in this organization observes the acceptable standard of conduct, and evidences that standard is directly related to one's relationship with RCM. After 18 years of attendance, I've observed the following:
RCM & Family (By Blood or Marriage) - Anything Goes.
Close Friends of RCM or Family Member - Almost Anything Goes Based on Loyalty to RCM.
"Leading Ministers" or Just Plain Old "Ministers" - Anything Goes Based on Loyalty to RCM.
Family Members and Close Friends of "Leading Ministers" or Just Plain Old "Ministers" - Almost Anything Goes Based on Loyalty of Related Minister to RCM.
Suck-Ups and Wannabe's - Conduct Judged Case-by-Case Based on Individual Loyalty to RCM and Local Church Government.
Average Lay Person - You Suck and You're Stupid, But We Need Your Money & Someone to Blame. Your Attendance is Permitted Based on Your Loyalty to RCM.
Any Individual Who Refuses to Play Politics - You Suck, We Hate You, Please Drop Dead.
...You read it yourself - RCM thinks "murder" and "child molestation" are less evil than causing church division. It isn't too far of a leap to assume that he would allow a "loyal" person to get away with just about anything.
3.) The idea that that LCR members "love" each other. However, "loveability" is entirely based on a person's rank in the organization, their relationship to RCM or someone in "church government", their monetary worth, and their attendance record. As soon as someone falls out of favor, they are seemingly shunned by the entire organization, and are no longer worthy or deserving of love, or basic humanity. "Falling out of favor" is utterly subjective, and could either be based on serious issues, or entirely baseless (as evidenced by the Scarborough case).
How can anyone think this is a true church of God?
1. How will Rod and the LCG be able to brag about this great victory if they never told the church about the issue? "Oh, by the way, we just dodged a bullet that could have destroyed the church, so, way to pray and fast brethren even if you didn't know why."
2. I still am not clear on what the Scarboroughs were seeking from the courts in the first place...an apology from Meredith and McNair? Apparently not money (other than lawyers fees) and not a reinstatement of their church membership. So, what did they hope to get if they won - what specific remedy were they seeking? If they were seeking a cash settlement, please tell me how much they asked for.
It is hard to defeat a church in court, as the courts want to stay out of religious business as much as possible most of the time. No way is a court going to tell the LCG to remove the disfellowshipped marks and reinstate as members in good standing.
I have a personal letter from a minister in one of these splinter groups, in which he stated to me, that his words to us, were the same to God as his 10 commandments. He was fixin to boot us, but we left before he could do it. The funny thing was, myself and my family hadn't said two words to anyone, and he was giving multiple sermons on us, letters, backroom wisperings, etc... He was purposely causing division, and accusing us of it at the same time. This was to make us go away, because he had been found to be changing teaching ever so slightly. Here a twist, there a twist. What I have seen in general with these groups, is that a large part of the ministry is culpuble and guilty before God by causing most of the division. Destroying families and friends. One day, there will be answers that will have to be given. I hope they are ready.
Well, as we know, Meredith's main problem is that he doesn't believe in or teach trade.
BB
From what I know about RCM, if you were a murderer or a child molester who was loyal to him and a big tither, you'd be fine by him.
Glenn the Scarborough's seemed rich to me. They have a nice house, fancy clothes and a mercedez. I think they wanted their reputation restored.
The members of the LCG have been brainwashed into thinking, "Just because RCM acts like a total asshole, doesn't mean he's really a total asshole!"
Yep. Remember that old story about the 2 guys being chased by a bear, and the one guy stops to put on his running shoes and says, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you!" All RCM has to show is that all the other COG leaders are worse than he is, and he can them be as ass-holic as he wants. That is why he has spent years dissing the other leaders and the other churches, over and over and over and over. Causing division in the COG. He seeks to separate LCG from the rest of the COG. He preaches division, seeks division, teaches division.
It seems the Scarborough's got themselves in trouble for not being completely "loyal" to RCM.
My comment: Good for them! That's the 1st step in the right direction. Loyalty to a man or an organization is a pitfall.
There is only One you need to loyal to. You don't need an organization of men to act ass your intercessor.
It seems the Scarborough's got themselves in trouble for not being completely "loyal" to RCM.
The truth is that the Scarboroughs are such decent people and so well-liked that they became a potential threat to the LCG regime. As opinion leaders, they might some day influence people in a way RCM wouldn't like. When they didn't regularly express their unyielding adoration for all things LCG, they had to be expunged, just on the faint possibility that they might lean to a doctrine that RCM didn't like. Remember, Dr. Meredith never acts on faith in Jesus Christ as Head of the church; he has to take things into his own hands. As a result, he is the most politically-based leader in the COG. Anyone that might threaten his place and his power must be dealt with.
LCG Expositor
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