Back in 2013 the Living Church of God was in a disfellowshipping tantrum and was kicking out members and employees that Rod Meredith deemed unworthy to be in his presence.
A reader here in 2013 had this to say about the endless disfellowshipments going on in the various COG's:
- Mini-lesson on ostracism: historically social ostracism has been the traditional way to protect the tribe from individuals who are deemed as dangerous by the leaders. It probably reached it's most sophisticated height as a cultural mechanism during the period of Athenian democracy of circa 500 B.C. The group psychology of ostracism has been defined as “any behavior in which a group or individual excludes and ignores another group or individual.”
Think about this definition carefully, and you'll see that it pretty much describes the history of the modern-day COG's - except that the procedure is just referred to by a different term, disfellowshipment.
Those who have been under Rod Meredith's heavy hands over the decades have shared endless stories over the decades about how nasty and vindictive the man could be. One would have thought after his humiliating exile to Hawaii by Herbert Armstrong and his equally humiliating defeat in court after slandering Leona McNair and having the Worldwide Church of God pay all his legal fees, that he would have humbled himself. But no. His nastiness carried over into breaking apart the Global Church of God after they got sick of his abuse and carried over when he lined up with other dissenters to form the Living Church of God. There his nastiness had a full reign as he was FINALLY in charge after so many decades of being sidelined and patted on the head as he was sent to field churches.
LCG members thought that finally after all the turmoil from the split from WCG to the break up of Global that peace had settled on the church. It did not last long. The heavy-handedness and authoritarian control of Rod Meredith and the nepotism displayed through his family members brought about more dissension.
One of the people Meredith disfellowshipped was Tom Bacca from that worked in LCG's television department.
Bacca sent out a letter in 2013 preempting Meredith's soon coming "marking" from the pulpit. Bacca wrote:
I know many of you will hear about me being declared an "enemy of the Church" which is NOT true... I've already been declared an "enemy of the Catholic Church" by my family many years ago... yet, I am actually an enemy of nobody except the evil one!
I LOVE God's people, I do discuss biblical topics and issues, and if something is not 100 % according to God's word—I will say so... how horrible of me! I know LOTS of things that I could say, but I do NOT make it a habit of giving specifics about those things that I know... I just don't! I will NOT attack anyone, nor have I personally attacked anymore publicly already—I have been attacked myself though, by MANY for YEARS, and could have filed slander lawsuits against individuals... I never did, and I never will either—God says that we should NOT take our brethren to court, and that is why I forgave and forgot those incidents... even though I had many witnesses that would have testified in MY favor!
I do understand if many of you, not knowing ALL the details or facts, do decide to unfriend me or block me—I will not be upset with any of you... I love you all, and I know that you will probably do as you're instructed. PLEASE do as you feel is best, that is what God would want you to do. I will be vindicated in time, I will trust in the God of Israel, He is my shield... so, I have total peace in this matter.
Again, I love you all brethren... see you down the road :)
In Christian faith and love,
Thomas Baca IIOne of the big myths that the church tried to pawn off on members over the decades was that when a member is kicked out of the church and disfellowshipped they would never have God's favor again and would live a life of misery and dejection.
Tom Bacca has bucked that trend and has done extremely well for him and his family AND for those around him in the "world".
A reader here sent this:
- I know Thomas Baca II very well, he has spent the last several years volunteering to help individuals and families suffering from homelessness and many other issues and teaching them about God. He served in Michigan for about 2 years and then continued helping people in Asia. He is a giving and loving man. I have seen him serve others with my own eyes. He is honest and kind....He drove people in need of help during Michigan snowstorms during midnight and 3 am to get to their jobs on farms and at dairys. He consuled people wanting to commit suicide and helped them start their lives again. He gave money and care to elderly and widows. He helped people in other countries too. So much to say also but my English is not good enough. Follow link to see video Thomas made to also help a Michigan shelter.
16 comments:
Looks like Thomas put his talents to a lot better place
Amazing! Real Christians practicing their faith, unlike the hypocritical men in charge of various COG's. The focus is upon others instead of upon their own selves and the titles they seek to be known by. This is why Bob Thiel, Gerald Weston, Dave Pack, and Gerald Flurry will never amount to anything. These men are not Christians nor do they practice true grace-filled Christianity.
“I feel SO sorry for you, now that you have lost your chance to enter the kingdom”, was a comment I got from a former RCG sister after I was kicked out last year. When I explained to her that I felt better than ever, had a new job and was also helping out at the local shelter on Saturdays (something that was an obvious NO when I was still an RCG member), she looked at me in horror. In her mind it was absolutely impossible that a disfellowshipped member was doing fine and/or even had fun or did something useful for the local community.
The RCG is not a church. Dave Pack makes the members feel miserable, guilty and fearful all the time. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I got kicked out. I’m still thankful for that happening!
As I recall when I was in the WCG for four years and spent two of them at AC in Pasadena, the leadership never encouraged people to identify and use their gifts as we see in this posting. To have a ministry within the church would be taking attention, dollars and influence away from the top leaderships. Some pastors in all churches feel threatened when members get involved in ministries. They want to be the sole "minister". Eph 4:11 says that their job is to equip the saints for service. Pastors are NOT to minister TO the church but WITH the church members. But it takes a pastor who is secure in his role to allow others be be actively involved. There is such a waste of talent when a pastor doesn't unleash the laity to do ministry. Educated, accomplished, talented and gifted people in their civilian occupations are told to sit down, shut up, don't think and if you are lucky, we will allow you to set up folding chairs before services and even take them down afterwards.
Ministers don't have the power to take the holy spirit from a member, or deny them salvation. They secretly wish that they have that power, but they don't.
Being booted out of a ACOG cult doesn't mean loss of ones salvation.
The biggest blessing any COG member can receive is the day they are disfellowshipped from the church. Life becomes more beautiful, fun. and amazing. No ones salvation is ever at stake when they are kicked out.
SInce it is a blessing to be disfellowshipped from a cult, I am going to do all of you a blessing!
YOU ARE ALL NOW OFFICIALLY DISFELLOWSHIPPED AND MARKED!
Tonto.. You forgot to say ‘By the power God gave me!’
At least TRY to act like a genuine COG cult leader.
Amen to that!
As I recall Tom has a rough time in the few years shortly after leaving LCG, congratulations on building value for yourself and your fellow man Tom. I know for me, things got better, family relationships closer, God got bigger and more powerful and everything was generally more joyful when I got out.
Back in the early '50's, Herman Hoeh and Rod Meredith are largely credited with convincing HWA to adopt a hierarchical government. Herman Hoeh wrote an article that used the KJV of Ephesians 4:11-12 to show that the purpose of the saints is to support the work of the ministry ("for the work of the ministry"). But when examined more closely this passage actually shows that the ministry is to support the work of the saints (NIV: "to equip the people for works of service").
Of course it doesn't 803.
The video on this post is one of the BEST I've ever seen. Why? Because it resoundingly came across as honest and REAL. Getting to the heart of the matter about what really matters in Christianity.
I know nothing about this gentleman, but I wish them all the best in this work.
Hello everyone, this is Thomas Baca II. Just happened to checkout the website this morning, Thailand time, and saw this article--wow, I'm shocked that somebody remembered me and wrote this lol. Yes, so much to say about all my experiences in LCG and some of the other COG groups afterwards--definitely some things I regret and definitely some things I don't. I can honestly say that I'm so much happier now than back then--I have an amazing wife and we just had a little girl, about 3 months ago--been praying for a daughter for years, so this has been a real blessing. I can also honestly say that I've been studying into the truth of God far more over these past years than ever before--recently receiving an honorary doctorate degree. I love helping people and sharing the things I've learned along the way. Of course the more I learn, the more that I realize how much I don't know... being humbled daily is a good thing. I've also had the pleasure of getting to meet, and know, many wonderful servants of God--all around the world. Actually, a few of those individuals were also "marked" and treated very poorly by certain COG groups; however, they're some of the most faithful, godly servants you'll ever meet... they truly SERVE others and have an empathy within them that is precious, and they do it all in secret and without blowing the trumpet as they say. I've learned a lot from older and wise individuals who, by their conduct and character, truly put the many hypocritical church "leaders" to shame! May all the sincere readers on this website; as well as, those who operate and manage it, be blessed in every way they need for spiritual growth and strength during the dark years just ahead... for after the darkness comes the Light.
Such an encouraging thing to see! This is the real type of leadership that people need to support and emulate. Good job Thomas Baca II! Enjoyed watching the video, it was very well done. Isn't it interesting that real leaders serve others without fanfare, meanwhile the vast majority of leader wannabes try to make themselves the focus and spend a lot of their time trying to convince everyone that they are God's true leader or a prophet etc. TB2 is a real leader, unlike the pompous false church leaders all over the place. I met Tom Baca II in Panama City Beach, and we had a nice chat. He is a very warm and special person, in my opinion, and it's great to see that he's doing well and truly being blessed.... take note church leaders, look to this man and see how it's done!
I know Thomas Baca, have known him for many years. It is wonderful to see him very happy these days, after he was unjustly treated by rod meredith and his clan of self righteous ministry in charlotte. In 2014 I lost my job in SC and was really struggling to keep my head above water, I asked 2 lcg ministers for help and they both not only didn't help me at all, but they made me feel like it was my fault for my situation because I must not have enough faith in God, or else God would deliver me from my serious financial situation. I felt embarrassed and crushed! It was not my fault, as the company I worked for shutdown after 23 years in business. It was clear that both of those lcg ministers just didn't want to help me and were just making excuses for being ungodly and unloving. So guess who actually helped me? Thomas Baca gave me money, no small amount by the way, which kept me afloat financially just long enough to get hired and back on my feet. I still work at the same company now. I know at the time Tom helped me, that he too was struggling and was having a very difficult time. So basically a struggling and non ordained person acted godly and in a truly loving manner, meanwhile 2 lcg ministers with plenty of resources and living in very nice and large houses didn't lift even a pinky to help me, even though I had been a long time lcg member in good standing for many years and always had paid tithes faithfully. I will never forget that experience! And by the way, when Tom gave me that money he told me that it was a gift, not a loan and that I never needed to repay him anything. I still get teary eyed remembering, as I write this. Thank you Thomas, you're a real brother and truly godly man, regardless of whatever mistakes you may have made, and to me you're a genuine servant of God. I no longer attend with lcg, and never will again. I saw enough during my years there to know that they're a bunch of phonies and self righteous hypocrites. Based on what I saw in charlotte, there should be a bunch of lcg ministers marked and disfellowshipped, not Thomas Baca. Thomas Baca II, God bless you and your beautiful wife and new baby girl.
Post a Comment