From a reader here:
- Mr. Weston,
Here's an idea for LCG's Tomorrow's World Now webcasts that I'm sure will increase the number of viewers that watch this show. Why not have Mainstream Christian Theologians/Apologists come on your show so you and your LCG Ministers can debate them on doctrines like the nature of the Godhead ("Is God a family or a Trinity?"), the deity of Jesus Christ ("Did Jesus give up His deity when He became a Man?), the Personhood of the Holy Spirit ("Is the Holy Spirit a Person or a force?"), and human deification ("Can humans become God?"). I know of several Mainstream Christian Apologist there in Charlotte, NC that would definitely come on your show. Unfortunately, I know you all won't do that because deep down inside, all LCG ministers know that you will be exposed on your own show as being false teachers that teach a false gospel and worship a false god, and not the One True God of the Holy Bible.
Good way to discredit these hacks which don't know shit from apple butter when it comes to theology!
ReplyDeleteAnd how many Mainstream Christian Theologians would want someone from Living or any other Christian group on their telecast debating? Where's it going to end up? No one one will budge. Let's watch a Mormon debate a Catholic. Exciting?
ReplyDeleteI don't think most LCG ministurds (or those of Armstrongist splinterdom in general) would be well equipped for such a venture. Most of what would be said to them would probably be beyond their experience.
ReplyDeleteThatd said, are LCGs webcasts livestreamed? I didnt think they were. Theyre just putting tape to stream.
Hi RSK, LCG live streams a show called "Tomorrows World Now" on YouTube every Thursday at 3:00 pm EST.
DeleteI watched some eps out of curiosity. They clearly put some effort into their set and lighting, but the production is weak. Multiple no-no's were committed in framing, shot selection and key positioning. Better than Bob Thiel and the rest of the "random screaming person in a room" vids on youtube, but that's not really an accomplishment - anybody with a secondhand textbook can do better than those guys. Shot count is way too low, talent is listless, and whoever is running audio (if anyone) was not paying attention at multiple points. Thought LCG had better resources and aspirations than that. And the sad part? I dont think fixing all of the above would really cost them any money unless they just wont staff that group. Maybe they've just got an incompetent producer or a presenter with too much power and no imagination
DeleteDebating is foreign to ACOG ministers. Theirs is the "if I want your opinion, I'II tell you what it is."
ReplyDeleteThey feign the aura of "we have all the answers and are always right," but they couldn't debate their way out of a wet paper bag.
I’m also thinking that a COglodyte minister wouldn’t engage in such a program unless it were rigged in his favor. These guys don’t believe in letting something happen and allowing everyone to make up their own minds about the results. They are all about control. They want a program they could use for purposes of hype.
ReplyDeleteOn youtube there are some old archives of the John Ankerberg-GTA discussions. It didn’t go well for GTA, although he did make his points. I’d love to see a program juxtaposing Gerald Weston and Bishop T.D. Jakes.
BB
like GTA on John Ankerberg's show?
ReplyDeleteI think you can still find them on youtube.
I've been in LCG for a long time. In the beginning I was 100% enthusiastic and fully invested in the work. After the split there was an air of wanting to be better, to do better and to genuinely SERVE the brethren but it didn't take long before the same ego-driven attitudes of the leading men started to taint the waters. It progressively got worse as the years went by. I stuck it out for the last years of Dr. Meredith's life even though, at times, it was grueling. The constant begging for money and emphasis on negativity in his letters prompted me to stop even opening them. The tedium and boring repetition of the magazine articles and the telecasts was just as predictable and BORING as the letters so I stopped watching and reading them. The frequent "next 3-5 years" failed prophecies were disheartening at first but then they just became cliche and made Mr. Meredith look foolish.
ReplyDeleteWhen Rod McNair came to Charlotte the slow, downward path of LCG seemed to really accelerate. The back-biting and lies grew ten fold. The spying on my fellow brethren and the unfair (seemingly cruel) punishments that were doled out with regularity were even more discouraging and upsetting than the lameness of the work (there's a reason for the very limited growth). I watched the ministers of my church do horrible things to good people with no explanation or remorse but I still believed in keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days so I didn't know what to do. I convinced my self that it was a trial by God to check my faithfulness and loyalty, so I stayed but my heart wasn't the same. I was so disappointed in LCG.
The sermons on submitting to the ministry and the ruling with fear instead of love (example: If you don't obey the ministry you won't be a pillar in the kingdom because God won't know that he can rely on you. Or, if you don't blindly obey the ministry, you might be disobeying orders that are preliminary to instructions on how to flee to the place of safety) were so repetitive that I could have easily given them myself because I heard them week after week, over and over again. I started doing my own Bible studies to for spiritual fulfillment because we certainly weren't getting it at church. I still looked forward to Sabbath services because of the fellowship.
Government, government, sex, government, death, mayhem, tribulation, destruction, 5 to 10 years, homosexuals, government.I sit and wonder, "the Bible is SO full of things to preach about, why is this all my church ever talks about???"
It was plain to see that Dr. Meredith wouldn't be around for too much longer so I told myself to stick it out until he died. Maybe things would be better under a new evangelist, right? Maybe a man who cared more about God than his own agenda and politics would get the position and LCG would be renewed. Maybe Dr. Meredith's replacement would fire the vain, tyrannical boot-lickers that had risen to the top and become the cancer that was killing the whole operation. Maybe.
I was actually very pleased when Gerald Weston was announced as Dr. Meredith's successor. I knew him socially and he seemed like a guy that wouldn't respond well to corruption. He obviously wasn't warm or overtly loving and kind but he seemed steady, fair and honest. I had hoped that he would weed out the bad seeds at LCG headquarters and get the ship back on track.
Gerald Weston has all but doubled-down on everything that was ruining LCG under Dr. Meredith. The McNairs seem to be able to tell him what to do and when to do it without limitation. Instead of breathing new life into the church, the downward spiral has again been sped up.
Am I the only one who sees this? I'm scared to talk to my LCG friends about it because you can't trust people not to turn you in. I don't know what to do. I had really hoped Mr. Weston would fix things. With no fix in sight, I am left feeling so discouraged.
Sincerely,
Sickened In Charlotte
Since so many of the entities use their own literature, books, including all the books that aren’t in the regular Bible, and their own people as resources, it would be like having 2 chickens squawking at the same rooster.
ReplyDeleteBoth think he is their lone benefactor and personal right to be in the chicken yard and just think the opposite chicken was just annoying and a lot of nonsensical noise.
I imagine working on HWA/GTAs program had to be a nightmare because of the limits of the talent. I never saw GTAs version as I was too young, but the program with HWA was quite limited in its scope and was carried mostly by his speaking style. But at least it was usually put together cleanly. The later revised versions with Hulme/Albert/Ames featured a little more flexibility and better use of B-roll footage.pp
ReplyDeleteFrom what little Ive seen of LCGs work, theyve tried to expand beyond "single talent in a chair yakking", but they handle it clumsily and dont cut through shots fast enough to make it engaging. Maybe if I make them a proposal itll start a bidding war between LCG and Thiel. :)
RSK,
DeleteI believe there is a telecast with GTA speaking that is from the 70's on the internet somewhere. To me, his speaking style was hard to follow.
I will have to look that up. Dont believe I ever ever seen one. Ive heard excerpts of his radio work, but no television.
DeleteI knew on one level, but didn't make the connection to the boring factor, that the whole purpose of the telecast and the magazine sent to the public is to bring in more members/donors. It is the bait and once they are hooked, the telecast and public facing magazines have served their purpose.
ReplyDeleteWhere the leaders are going wrong is assuming that once people are caught and reeled in, the bait is still interesting. Unless there is something perceived as progressively better, people are going to be dissatisfied. It a been there, done that with a side order of perceived stagnation.
People are promised "meat" and keep getting "milk". Then being blamed for not being ready for "meat". How often have people been infantalized by church leaders because it suited the purposes of those same leaders? They cannot provide any real path to spiritual maturity so they have to keep their followers in a childlike state.
WRT RSK's comment, you may be surprised if you go back and watch the LCG telecasts from 8-10 years or so ago. From what I can see, LCG has in many ways gone backwards in the quality of its telecast, in terms of industry standards and capabilities, in direct proportion to the degree that LCG leadership has given authority to incompetent political employees instead of those who know how to recognize and achieve technical and professional excellence.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even more sobering for LCG's media is that, by now, incompetent employees have trained other incompetent employees. Even Gerald Weston wanted to see LCG telecasts look as professional as other religious programs, his staff have neither the training nor the professional awareness to create such improved programs. Weston would basically need to fire a dozen or more badly trained staff, bring in outside professionals to impart proper training, and then trust that the training could be used without running into Charlotte's many political obstacles. We all know that won't happen.
While not familiar with LCGs inner workings, I have seen that phenomenon before on multiple occasions with various networks and production houses. I accept it when it is due to budget constraints. That's not always able to be addressed. Its when I see people seriously missing the basics of holding an audience, that gets me a bit steamed. You could get away with that when the consumer had only 3-4 channels to choose from, but now? Hundreds, even thousands of options at any given moment. You cant afford to be sloppy.
Delete