Exclusive...New Blog Site: Rod Meredith Crimes

I received this from the owner of a new blog that is documenting the "inappropriate behavior" of Roderick C Meredith down though the decades.

The purpose of this paper is to document the inappropriate and even criminal behavior of Roderick C. Meredith and the succession of church corporations he has founded (primarily Global Church of God [GCG] and Living Church of God [LCG], but stretching back into Worldwide Church of God [WCG] days as his behavior was problematic at that time as well).  The impetus to collect this evidence came from the discovery of the Scarborough defamation lawsuit against LCG and Mr. Meredith.  Subsequent investigation revealed a pattern of troublesome behavior, for which I wanted to verify and collect clear evidence.  The evidence shows behavior reported by several people across a diversity of circumstances and time which completely invalidate any ministerial or leadership credentials Mr. Meredith might claim, barring complete repentance (i.e. a clear change in behavior and disposition). 

Documenting the crimes and inappropriate behavior of Rod Meredith would be daunting task considering the path of destruction he has left in his wake over the decades.

The blog states:

Though there seem to many problematic behaviors demonstrated by Mr. Meredith, this narrative will primarily revolve around the lawsuits for defamation and slander directed at Mr. Meredith, and the very public dispute between Mr. Meredith and the board of directors at GCG that launched LCG.

The blog covers:

First lawsuit -- McNair v. Worldwide Church of God (WCG) 

Meredith v. GCG Dispute 

and the 

Current lawsuit -- Scarborough v. Living Church of God (LCG) 

Follow the blog here:  RCM Crimes

Wes White (Church of God International) On Critical Blogs and Web Sites

Gavin posted this on his blog today.  This is a Church of God International web cast with Wes White.
Go to minute 17:00 and listen to his comments about the dissident blogs and web sites.

The views of Wes compared to Rod Meredith's rant about this blog several months ago is light years apart in understanding.   What Meredith did was actually drive more LCG members to this site than we had ever had, where they found they had a voice that could be heard.

Wes is correct in his view that if the Internet had been around in the early years of the church we would not have had the abuse that we went through.

Sacred Names Group Trying To Attract COG Members

Those entrenched in Armstrongism always seem to be attracted to every aberrant group that appears on the horizon.  Many in the church jumped off into various sacred names groups over the years when all of the changes started hitting the fan.  This one seems to be the most aggressive in trying to recruit COG members.

This group feels it is so important that it is now suffering persecution from various COG's that are telling members to stay away from it.

A sleeping giant has awakened. The Name of our Heavenly Father Yahweh is under ramped-up attacks from various WWCG “Worldwide Church of God” breakaway groups. Because of its unquestionable proof and rock-solid, historical fact, their members in large numbers are questioning why their leaders refuse to honor and teach the personal Name of their Creator Yahweh.

Unquestionable "proof?"    There is no proof that people are to call God by some sacred magical name.

They claim that Herbert Armstrong used the name Yahweh in the early years of the church.

Herbert Armstrong himself used the Name Yahweh for about six months in his early Radio Church of God (before it became the Worldwide Church of God) broadcasts, according to an elderly former member.

If HWA had used pink toilet paper in his bathroom many would think they too need to use pink toilet paper.   Do any of these groups ever have an original idea in their heads?

They claim that nervous COG leaders are doing all they can to discredit them.

In attempts to stop the bleeding, nervous leaders are amping up their efforts to discount their Creator’s Name Yahweh.  Regardless, His revealed Name is going out in power and in unprecedented ways. Any attempts to squelch it will prove futile, according  to Yahweh Himself.

As one ex-COG member noted:

There is absolutely nothing new in this latest splinter except the demand of calling deity by a certain name, which is just silly. The rest is textbook Armstrongism. 

Yahweh's Restoration Ministry 

New Book: “The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult”

The title of Jerald Walker’s new memoir “The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult” (Beacon) sounds like it was ripped from the front page of a supermarket tabloid. Yet this was his life growing up in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s.

Walker, a writing professor at Emerson College, is one of seven children. Both his parents lost their sight in childhood accidents and Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God gave them hope that their sight might be restored and that they had been chosen for a better afterlife. Struggling to make ends meet, his parents sent tithes to Armstrong even when they needed the money for heat and food.

After “60 Minutes” aired an exposé of Armstrong and his lavish lifestyle, Walker and some of his siblings left the church. His parents did, too — for a while.

Walker will speak about the book at 7 p.m. Friday at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge. 

“World in Flames” is Beacon Press’s first title to be simultaneously released as an audiobook. Boston Globe

Amazon Books has this:

When The World in Flames begins, in 1970, Jerry Walker is six years old. His consciousness revolves around being a member of a church whose beliefs he finds not only confusing but terrifying. Composed of a hodgepodge of requirements and restrictions (including a prohibition against doctors and hospitals), the underpinning tenet of Herbert W. Armstrong’s Worldwide Church of God was that its members were divinely chosen and all others would soon perish in rivers of flames.

The substantial membership was ruled by fear, intimidation, and threats. Anyone who dared leave the church would endure hardship for the remainder of this life and eternal suffering in the next. The next life, according to Armstrong, would arrive in 1975, three years after the start of the Great Tribulation. Jerry would be eleven years old.

Jerry’s parents were particularly vulnerable to the promise of relief from the world’s hardships. When they joined the church, in 1960, they were living in a two-room apartment in a dangerous Chicago housing project with the first four of their seven children, and, most significantly, they both were blind, having lost their sight to childhood accidents. They took comfort in the belief that they had been chosen for a special afterlife, even if it meant following a religion with a white supremacist ideology and dutifully sending tithes to Armstrong, whose church boasted more than 100,000 members and more than $80 million in annual revenues at its height.

When the prophecy of the 1972 Great Tribulation does not materialize, Jerry is considerably less disappointed than relieved. When the 1975 end-time prophecy also fails, he finally begins to question his faith and imagine the possibility of choosing a destiny of his own.  A World In Flames

UCG's Subtle Brainwashing of it's Youth

It has taken 20 years for UCG to get where it is today.   Most of its members were already WCG members when they jumped ship, so they have been indoctrinated for many more years than this 20.  So with a minimum 30-40 years now they have heard all of the teachings of Armstrongism, yet they still lack the wherewithal to truly explain what they believe, especially to their children. Its no wonder they are struggling to remain relevant.  Decades  of booklets, articles, tv programs, and sermons have told them what to believe, yet they have never experienced it for themselves. That's what happens when law trumps grace and mercy.  Rules and regulations are more important that freedom.

One key subject was discussion of the Christian living theme. For the coming year it will be “Building Your Relationship With God.” Each day a sub-theme will delve deeper into the main topic. Our camps are not activity camps to just have a lot of fun. Camps have a carefully crafted plan to educate our young people throughout the day about spiritual values that we hold true and dear. We start by speaking of the Zone that all are to live within while at camp and beyond. From morning till night the camp theme is impressed on campers from prayers, compass checks, Christian living discussions, assemblies, storytelling and almost any other opportunity in communication.

We spoke about the Mission Statement of the Church, which includes the important component of making disciples. Are we making our children disciples of God the Father and Jesus Christ? Are they students and followers as a result of our teaching and example? Are we doing the best we can in making them students and learners of the spiritual values that we hold true?5When we went over last year’s exit surveys from campers, staff and parents, we noted that one area that needed attention was to give our youth a stronger ability to explain God’s Word. What could we do better? How can we instill more confidence in our campers to expound God’s Word? Update from President September 15

The COG Need For A Hyper-Masculine Jesus vs His Female Followers

Why is it so important to some COG leaders that Jesus MUST be a hyper-masculine man?  Apparently it's more important for him to be a "man's man" that it is to follow any of his teachings.

Rod Meredith has ranted for decades about how Jesus was a "man's man."  Rod's "jesus" was a  buff, hard working, carpenter who liked to sweat manly sweat.

Surprisingly the quote below is NOT from Meredith, it's from the hyperventalating scaremongers at ItstimeCOG.  

Chris was a MAN'S MAN, not some weak whining milk sop.  

He was a carpenter, a tradesman, a physically strong healthy man who said what He meant and meant what He said.   

The kind of guy that would sit with anyone and have a chat and share some wine over a good meal or have a few beer with the guys.  

There are places in the bible that describe Him doing that very thing.  

His first recorded miracle was when He made some wine at a wedding, so obviously he wasn't and isn't against the use of alcohol but all things in moderation.

This "man's man" that Meredith and others claim to follow was also the very man that all the MEN that were present at the crucifixion turned their back upon.  Who was there for Jesus?  The women!

The men didn’t get it. They betrayed, abandoned and hung him on a cross. Yet while he was there, who stayed with him? The women. They got it. They stayed at the cross. They returned to the tomb, and as a result, were the first to see the risen Christ. The crucifixion and resurrection stories do not have a “masculine feel.” Indeed, the whole life of Christ is decidedly opposed to the masculine norms of his day.

Well, Luke 8:1-3 adds even more depth to the women’s support:

Soon afterward, Jesus traveled through the cities and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. The Twelve were with him, along with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Among them were Mary Magdalene (from whom seven demons had been thrown out), Joanna (the wife of Herod’s servant Chuza), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

The women didn’t just support Jesus at the cross. They essentially bankrolled his and his disciples’ ministry. Whatever shape Christianity has, it wouldn’t have had any at all if not for the support provided by Christ’s faithful female disciples. From the Disoriented, Reoriented blog

Here we have the women supporting Jesus while the men cowered on the sidelines, just as most of the men leading various COG's today ignore the man.  Malm, Thiel, Meredith and others worship the law and elevate it to a higher level than any thing Jesus ever said or did. They all find Jesus embarrassing.

SaveSave

James Malm and Bob Thiel: Sabbath Breakers

The Feast of Tabernacles In The Church of God...A Time of Disunity or Millennial Harmony?

In the Church of God the Feast of tabernacles always attempted to portray a foretaste of the Kingdom of God where everyone dwells in harmony.  Tens of thousands would gather at the larger sites with 8 days of sermons and fun.  There was unity unparalleled, as false as it was.

Now let's flash forward to 2016 and you will see how broken up and divided the Church of God has now become.   Look below at Branson Missouri.  Look at how many DIFFERENT Church of God's that will be meeting there.  Each one proclaiming that they and they alone are keeping the Feast right.  Some will publicly tell their members to NOT associate with any of the other COG's present.

It truly is a sad state of affairs in the church.  If they cannot get along now, how in the world will they all dwell peacefully together in Petra when the call comes out to flee there?

Missouri has the following Feast sites in its borders.

Missouri—Branson: UCG, http://feast.ucg.org. 

Branson: CGWA, http://feast.cogwa.org. 

Branson: ICG, http://intercontinentalcog.org. 

Branson: Oct. 15-22, International Congregation of Yahweh, www. feastgoer.org/metamorph_spring/ branson16.html. 

Branson: CGMI, http://thecogmi.org. 

Branson: Sept. 14-21, Church of God in Truth, http://postponements.com. 

Eminence: Oct. 15-22, Congregation of Yahweh (Missouri), http://yahschosen.org. 

Greenville: Sept. 17-24, Yahweh’s Restoration Ministry, http://yrm. org/FOT2016. 

Lake of the Ozarks: Feast of the Nations, http://sukkot- fotn.org. 

Osage Beach: LCG, https://fot2016.lcg.org. 

Steelville: Sept. 17-24, EliYah, http://praiseyah.com.

And then there is the Sunshine state, as divided as ever.

Florida—Destin: Church of God Big Sandy, http://churchofgodbigsandy.com, David Havir III, (903) 714-3007.  

Fort Myers: CGWA, http://feast.cogwa.org. 

Fort Walton Beach: Common Faith Network, www.commonfaithnetwork.org, (513) 755-0040. 

Fort Walton Beach: CGI, http://cgi.org/feast-of-tabernacles. 

Fort Walton Beach: CGMI, http://thecogmi.org. 

Lantana: Christian Church of God, Neville Gilbert, jancgil@aol.com, (561) 547- 4952. 

Melrose: Community of YHVH, http://fallfeast.com. 

Panama City Beach: LCG, https://fot2016.lcg.org. 

Panama City Beach: UCG, http://feast.ucg.org. 

Panama City Beach: ICG, http://intercontinen- talcog.org. 

Panama City Beach: CGI, http://cgi.org/feast-of-tabernacles. 

St. Petersburg: COG in Miami, http://godschurch.org. 

  

Rod Meredith Says Time Is Short...For The One Millionth Time

For over 60 years now we have had the unfortunate pleasure of having to listen to Rod Meredith run off at the mouth that the world is coming to an end, that time is short, and that it is time to step up the game and preach a forceful message.  Like Bob Thiel, James Malm, Gerald Flurry and Dave Pack, its been one lie after another. Endless false prophecies and wildly absurd speculations.

Meredith knows that the old guard are quickly dying off and that his life is soon to come to an end while his kingdom still has not come.  As his life winds down he still feels the need to get a "forceful" message out to the world.  In other words, since time is short, it is the duty of the members to send in all the money they can so the greatest work ever can get its final message out.

Dave Pack his own version of an end time message that has failed for three years in a row now.  Bob Thiel has a bastardized Catholic/Mayan version.  James Malm, the professional Judaizer, pretends that the knows the date of the end, Gerald Flurry is ready to dig up the Ark of the Covenant so he can get his final word out.  Don Billingsley is so crazy that he has become the laughing stock of the church due to his absurd ads in The Journal. Which end time version is the correct one?

With literally thousands of failed prophecies uttered by Church of God leaders over the decades the church has lost all credibility, except in the eyes of a few die-hard believers.  Unfortunately we may soon see some of these die-hards do horrendous things in order to bring in the end times they fervently desire.  Or, they may suffer horrendous abuse at the hands of certain leaders.  Mass deaths and suicides may be on the horizon.

How many more lies will these men need to proclaim till people wake up?

Frankly, brethren, I deeply feel that the next two to three years of your life will see big changes—perhaps more than any we have seen in modern times. It looks like many massive changes are beginning to come together in our society—new leaders with drastically different ideas taking over the United States, big changes coming in Europe and a possible disintegration of the entire European Union, along with increasingly dangerous threats from China and the Far East. We need to realize that more and more reports are coming out almost every month about the threat of the Zika virus and a “new” virus against which there are apparently no defenses! So it is possible that the massive disease epidemics prophesied in the Bible are slowly beginning to develop. Also, bigger upsets and natural disasters than ever before will occur, including powerful storms, fires, earthquakes and other events of increasingly unprecedented magnitude.

All of this certainly indicates the need for us to “step up our game” and have a real impacton this terribly deceived world while we have the opportunity. It means each of us whom God has called needs to realize that our lives are short and we need to act to do God’s Work while we have the opportunity. As you know, many of our older ministers and brethren are dying. Each of us still living needs to truly go “all out” to seek God like never before, as the final years of this society close in upon us. Are you, personally, truly seeking God and His power? I know that most of us are sincere, and are attending Sabbath services and tithing regularly. But, in many of our personal habits and ways of life, are we just drifting rather than powerfully growing and “crying out” to God for all of us to have a much bigger impact on this sick world?