The Church of God News has an interesting post up about Rod Meredith's recent series of articles that Living Church of God has been publishing as the most earth-shattering series on church history that has ever been written. When any COG ever makes claims like that, the red flags should go up immediately.
Over the decades the Worldwide Church of God published several series on church history by Meredith, Blackwell and others. So the things Meredith has written are not something new that he pulled out of his hat over the last couple years of his life, as LCG is implying.
Gerald Weston wrote on April 12th 2018:
“Dr. Meredith’s article series on the Protestant Reformation is being put together in booklet form. We believe this is an important statement by Dr. Meredith and the Church regarding Christianity, showing the difference between the true Christianity of Christ and the Apostles and the counterfeit Christianity of Revelation 17.”
The editorial of the March-April 2017 issue stated:
“Roderick C. Meredith, the Editor in Chief of the Tomorrow’s World Magazine and Presiding Evangelist of the Living Church of God, is uniquely qualified to write this series. His ministry spans almost 65 years, from the earliest years of Herbert W. Armstrong’s worldwide work to today’s multi-media continuation of that Work of reaching the world with the Gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. Dr. Meredith has long been an expert concerning the history and significance of the Protestant Reformation, and this series collects his research on this highly misunderstood subject. It will explain the truth about the Reformation—a truth that will make you see the last 500 years of the religion called Christianity in an astonishingly different light.
We hope you will enjoy this brand-new series!”
Gerald Weston and his editorial staff knew that Roderick Meredith had not collected “his research on this highly misunderstood subject” during “his ministry (spanning) almost 65 years.” He had written The Plain Truth about the Protestant Reformation in 1956, when he was a student at Ambassador College. His thesis was written in ‘Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in Theology’.
The first article in this “brand-new series” comprised chapters1-3 of this thesis. It was almost word for word, with some slight (or should that be ‘sleight’?) amendments by the editors, e.g. “thesis” changed to “series”; “the following chapters” to “this series of articles”; and “the present work” to “this series”.Yep, honesty and integrity are the highest qualities of the current LCG regime.
If any COG member wanted to read about the history of the church there are countless books available that make mincemeat of the COG biased version that Meredith is presenting. Like most any COG "scholar" who writes about COG history, they seek to find events in Church history that they feel best corresponds to the "official" COG version they wish to present. The more anti-catholic it is, the better.
ReplyDelete"Dr. Meredith has long been an expert .. on this highly misunderstood subject"
Uh-oh, do I sense a conspiracy-theory is coming!?
"The gates of hell shall not prevail against it". To me that means that the members of the ekklesia will be resurrected from the dead. Death and the grave won't win. God will It doesn't mean that there's some traceable visible lineage to be found at all times throughout history That sounds more like the Catholic Church I think it's a waste of time to conjecture about who in history was cog when the info is so sparse. Why not focus on the here and now and being good loving kind and compassionate and honest people who also keep the commandments and the holy days. It's time to face up too to the aftermath of the abuse in the cult we were in and not gloss over what has happened. Honesty is such a freeing thing. Why not embrace it.
ReplyDeleteWeston has the nerve to call RCM's old thesis "brand-new"?
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't he tell the truth and write something like, "Dr. Meredith wrote this material 60 years ago, but it is as fresh and important today as it was back then, so we want to share it widely with our readers rather than have it remain locked away in a dusty academic archive"? Or, "At a time when our Presiding Evangelist is too ill to write new articles, we want to share with you one of the most important series of articles he ever wrote"? There are many ways GEW could have promoted the series truthfully.
Even when RCM re-released his 50-year-old "Ten Commandments" booklet a few years ago, I don't remember him lying and pretending it was "brand new." Why would GEW feel the need to tell such an obvious and easily disprovable lie?
It appears that GEW learned well from his mentor the art of deception, but in this case he has even surpassed RCM as a liar.
I would absolutely LOVE for someone to present their "series" to an actual Bible Scholar and Church History Scholar with an ACTUAL Th.D, and I would LOVE to see it picked apart piece by piece by piece.
ReplyDeleteRegurgitating Meredith's old thesis does nothing but reinforce the mindsets of the old guard - the hardcore Armstrong/Meredith apologists.
This would be an excellent piece for an accredited Bible College or Scholar to take and literally dismantle to shreds.
A few years ago I came across a copy of RCM's thesis. For a Masters thesis, I had expected more than what appeared to be a short history of the Reformation.
ReplyDeleteI feel the English Reformation (reprinted in the March/April TW) was covered more thoroughly by some BBC documentaries about the 400th anniversary of the KJV.
If Rod was a expert on the significance of the Protestant Reformation and had a doctorate in theology, then why were his sermons so repetitive and Micky Mousish in intellectual content. It doesn't add up. He definitely wasn't a book person.
ReplyDeleteI would absolutely LOVE for someone to present their "series" to an actual Bible Scholar and Church History Scholar with an ACTUAL Th.D, and I would LOVE to see it picked apart piece by piece by piece.
ReplyDeleteBitter Bwana Bob has an accredited Th.D., doesn't he? Maybe a Th.D. doesn't really count for that much. I would suggest giving it to UNC professor Bart Ehrman for a good shredding, but his response might give LCG publicity and attract a few more unstable people into their ranks.
Can we be sure that this history was put together without any confirmation bias? Was it ever broadly submitted for peer review outside of the Armstrong faith? It was written as a thesis for a masters degree at a college whose parent organization taught and believed what was in this dissertation before Uncle Roddy ever wrote it. Therefore, it’s simply an exercise in apologetics. Either that, or it’s one long-winded proof-text.
ReplyDeleteBB
Rod was an "expert" ?!?! PMSL!!!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of LCG editorial staff...
ReplyDeleteNobody ever reported the scoop on the exit of long-time editor and Richard Ames BFF, Bill Bowmer.
Did he quit or get fired?
Why?
Does he still attend with LCG?
Inquiring minds wanna know why a man who lived and breathed LCG editorial is MIA.
Write for my free new booklet---
ReplyDelete"The History of the History of the History of the Church of God"
Yes, what did happen to Bill Bowmer? And Tom Baca?
ReplyDelete