Roderick C. Meredith (June 21, 1930 – May 18, 2017) stood as one of the most enduring and polarizing figures in the world of Armstrongism—the distinctive doctrinal system forged by Herbert W. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). Ordained as one of Armstrong’s very first evangelists in December 1952, Meredith climbed quickly through the ranks. He served as director of Church Administration (overseeing all Ministerial Services), taught freshman Bible at Ambassador College, and acted as deputy chancellor of its campuses. Even after Armstrong’s death in 1986 and the sweeping doctrinal changes introduced by Joseph W. Tkach Sr. in the 1990s, Meredith refused to bend. He departed to launch the Global Church of God (GCG) in 1992–93, and when that arrangement soured, he founded the Living Church of God (LCG) in 1998, where he ruled as Presiding Evangelist until his death from cancer. LCG soldiers on today with congregations scattered across the globe.
Meredith remained fiercely loyal to classic Armstrongist teachings throughout his long career. These included British Israelism (the conviction that modern Anglo-Saxon nations are the literal descendants of the lost tribes of Israel), mandatory Sabbath and Old Testament holy day observance, a three-tiered tithing system, rejection of the Trinity as pagan, and an intense focus on end-time prophecy centered on the imminent downfall of the United States and Britain. To mainstream Christians, many of these ideas appeared decidedly aberrant. To Meredith and his followers, they represented the restored “original Christianity.” He never wavered, even as the parent church evolved. His writings and sermons in both GCG and LCG continued to hammer home the same distinctive package: strict law-keeping as essential to salvation for the “elect,” national punishment for the Israelite nations, and the urgent need to flee the coming Great Tribulation.
Critics, including many former ministers and members who served under him, often described Meredith as competitive, authoritarian, and strikingly insensitive. His background as a Golden Gloves boxer and track athlete seemed to leave a permanent imprint. While heading Ministerial Services in the 1960s and 1970s, he earned a reputation as a harsh taskmaster who “rubbed people the wrong way” with impressive regularity. During the turbulent Garner Ted Armstrong years, Meredith’s directives in the Pastor’s Report showed little room for nuance: ministers were told to disfellowship anyone attending GTA’s meetings. Former associates accused him of harboring an “unbridled lust for power.” Even Herbert Armstrong eventually weighed in, noting that Meredith was “so righteous he was unrighteous.” That competitive spirit, it appeared, translated rather seamlessly from the ring into church politics.
The tensions boiled over dramatically in early 1980. Armstrong removed Meredith from his high-profile headquarters role and exiled him to Hawaii to work on his attitude. In a remarkably candid letter dated March 14, 1980, sent from Tucson, Armstrong laid out his grievances in detail. He accused Meredith of operating on the worldly “GET” principle instead of the godly “GIVE” principle:
Rod, WHY have so many who have worked [with you] said that you rub the fur the wrong way? You are DOCTRINALLY correct… But… you do overlook the SPIRIT from the heart… the SPIRIT of COMPETITION is still there!… You were a harsh task-master over the ministers… That has been your life-style!
Armstrong referenced Meredith’s athletic past, his push for greater control, and the inside joke among leaders that he saw himself as “second Vice President.” He called for genuine repentance and hoped Meredith could rejoin the “team.” Meredith was eventually recalled to Pasadena, but the episode revealed just how deep the fractures ran at the top of the organization.
One of the most damaging personal controversies involved Leona McNair, the former wife of evangelist Raymond McNair. In the June 25, 1979, issue of the Pastor’s Report, Meredith publicly declared that Leona had refused to act as a wife for over two years, had deserted her husband, turned the children against him, and even cursed him to his face. These statements were issued amid the McNairs’ messy divorce. Leona sued the WCG, Meredith, and Raymond McNair for libel, testifying that the claims were false and that Meredith had once subjected her to a brutal four-hour interrogation that left her physically ill.
In 1984 a jury awarded her $1.26 million specifically against Meredith for libel. After prolonged appeals, the WCG settled in 1992 for $750,000. The costly payout stood as a painful public reminder of how internal theological disputes could descend into personal destruction—with the church footing the bill for Meredith’s words.
Financial questions also swirled around Meredith. Critics alleged that third tithe funds—collected every third year supposedly for widows, orphans, and the needy—were sometimes repurposed for headquarters luxuries. According to former insiders, it was “widely known” in Pasadena that Meredith had used such funds to remodel his home on Waverly Drive, complete with expensive draperies. While local pastors struggled to help genuinely needy members with limited resources, headquarters seemed to enjoy a noticeably higher standard of living. As with many such stories in Armstrongism, direct proof remains anecdotal, yet the pattern of complaints proved remarkably consistent.
Meredith also displayed a particular fixation on homosexuality, returning to the topic with striking frequency in articles and sermons across decades. One of the earliest and most notorious examples was his December 1961 Plain Truth article, “The Shocking TRUTH about ‘QUEER’ Men!” In it, Meredith sounded the alarm that America and Britain needed to face the “revolting” problem of effeminate and homosexual men in their midst. He cited the book The Sixth Man by Jess Stearn, claiming one in every six American males was already “tainted with homosexuality,” with the proportion rising, and warned that many such men were married with families and responsible jobs. The piece painted a dire picture of moral collapse, urged readers to promote “real manhood” through vigorous exercise and proper posture (because, apparently, slouching led to queerness), and framed homosexuality as a preventable societal threat that could be countered by tough, masculine living. To modern eyes, the article reads like a time capsule of 1950s–60s anxieties wrapped in biblical condemnation—equal parts fear-mongering, pseudoscience, and unintentional comedy, especially given later revelations that figures like J. Edgar Hoover (whom Meredith held up as a manly ideal) led a rather different private life. Meredith revisited similar themes in later works, such as his 2008 Tomorrow’s World article “The Plain Truth About Homosexuality!,” where he warned of activists plotting to “sodomize your sons,” promoted dubious health statistics like “Gay Bowel Syndrome,” dismissed any biological basis for orientation, and equated homosexuality with alcoholism, addiction, and child molestation.
Critics and former insiders have long speculated that Meredith’s hyper-focus on the topic—and his relentless promotion of rugged, athletic masculinity—stemmed from personal insecurities. Herbert Armstrong himself reportedly once slammed Meredith as the “most effeminate man on campus” during his early days at Ambassador College. Whether or not the exact words were spoken, the perception lingered among some who knew him in those years. Many observers have suggested this criticism, combined with Meredith’s athletic background and competitive nature, drove him to overcompensate by constantly proving his own “real manhood.” The result was a decades-long crusade against anything perceived as effeminate or homosexual, which struck detractors as less about balanced biblical teaching and more about the author working through his own image issues. The irony was not lost on those who watched a man so obsessed with “queerness” while leading a movement already famous for authoritarian excess and prophetic disappointment.
Meredith’s prophetic track record, meanwhile, displayed a certain stubborn consistency—mostly in its failure to materialize. From his earliest Plain Truth articles in the late 1950s, he warned of horrifying disease epidemics, trade embargoes by “brown and oriental races,” societal collapse by 1969, and the final attack by the Beast power possibly as early as spring 1972. He lent his voice to the famous “1975 in Prophecy” push, though he later tried to soften his association with the most specific dates. In GCG and LCG he continued sounding the alarm about the Great Tribulation being just a few years away. Remarkably, none of these tightly scheduled calamities ever arrived on cue. The “next few years” stretched on decade after decade, yet the message remained unchanged: disaster is right around the corner.
After the Worldwide Church of God paid his attorney fees and the financial judgement against him from Leona McNair winning her lawsuit, Meredith in deep gratitude to the WCG for defending him, immediately jumped ship to the Global Church of God. His relationship with the Global Church of God however proved predictably stormy. After helping build GCG into a thriving “restoration” of Armstrongism, Meredith clashed with the board over governance. He insisted on supreme authority as the Presiding Evangelist. On November 25, 1998, the board removed him. Within weeks he and his supporters launched the Living Church of God, taking roughly 80 percent of the membership with them. The split followed the classic Armstrongist pattern: charismatic leader versus institutional board, with doctrine and control as the battlegrounds. Meredith framed it as a necessary stand for pure truth and “government from the top down, as in the days of Mr. Armstrong.”
When Roderick Meredith finally passed away in May 2017 after more than sixty-four years “in the Work,” he left behind a decidedly mixed legacy. To his devoted followers, he remained a towering figure of doctrinal purity and unwavering conviction—the man who refused to compromise as the parent church drifted away. To his critics, he exemplified the darker side of Armstrongism: a gifted but flawed leader whose authoritarian style, personal vendettas, financial controversies, and repeated prophetic misfires left a trail of broken lives and disillusioned members in his wake.
In the end, Meredith was the near-perfect embodiment of Armstrongism itself—its strengths and its fatal flaws wrapped in one stubborn, competitive package. He possessed an unshakable belief in a dramatic prophetic narrative that gave thousands a sense of urgent purpose and elite status. Yet that same system, built on hierarchical control, fear-driven urgency, and an almost allergic reaction to accountability, repeatedly exposed its weaknesses through power struggles, costly scandals, and prophecies that always seemed to be “just a few years away.”
Decades after his most dramatic predictions failed to materialize, the Living Church of God and similar splinter groups still echo his voice, warning of imminent catastrophe while collecting tithes and urging members to prepare. Whether history will remember Roderick Meredith as a faithful restorer of “the truth once delivered” or as a cautionary tale of what happens when rigid certainty collides with reality, one thing is certain: the urgent deadlines keep changing, but the message—and the pattern—remains remarkably consistent.
Silent Pilgrim
It was impossible to hear Rod Meredith talk about "rolling around on the ground with Jimmy like two little bear cubs" and not detect a weird homoerotic subtext, whether or not Rod recognized it himself. Jimmy was Rod's beloved childhood friend and wrestling partner, and it was Jimmy's tragic death that threw Rod into the emotional and spiritual crisis that led him to Ambassador College. Rod had a strained relationship with his father, but he loved Jimmy dearly and couldn't bear the loss, which left him especially vulnerable to HWA's influence. Throughout the rest of Rod's life he kept close to a number of closeted homosexuals, but it isn't clear whether he did so to beef up his own sense of (relative) masculinity or because he quietly craved the presence and attention of queer men.
ReplyDeleteWasn't he somewhat crusty at the Alum Creek Reservoir incident?
ReplyDeleteRCM lived a few houses down and across the street from the home of GTA on Waverly Drive. I imagine him driving by and thinking, "GTA, the playboy son of HWA, isn't morally qualified to be next in line to HWA." RCM probably believed that he was the one who deserved to be next in the line of succession. In first-year Bible class in Pasadena, I remember RCM mentioning how he was number three in line. He was very rank conscious. I wonder how much of his time was spent protecting his position, watching his back, etc. rather than actually doing the "work of God"?
ReplyDeleteWhat would have happened to RCM if GTA did take over the leadership of the WCG? I think he would have been transferred to Bricket Wood or forced out altogether. Wasn't Bricket Wood used as a place of internal exile for those who displeased HWA? And during my four years in the WCG with two of them at AC, I believed that the people in higher positions of authority were more spiritually mature and godly than the rest of us.
No, Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 4:55:28 AM
ReplyDeleteThe place of exile and "eternal damnation" happened to be Hawai.....where the Lake of Fire is.
I believe in Bricket Wood the American Red Necks like RCM picked up the British Layered Class system.....this is where HWA started to implement more of that in WCG culture than his original "Rebellious American Type religion" where very democratically just anyone without the proper credentials like a thousand year of bogus religious studies at a Universityu can be appointed as people leader for God
nck
There was a change at AC that took me by surprise. To my knowledge, nobody in our entering class mocked any of the ministers. The following year, there was a group of Freshman students who hung out together, and began repeating some of Dr. Meredith's more outrageous daily classroom cliches, and doing little skits in the student center and dorms. That opened the flood gates, From that point forward, he was seen as being pretty mock-worthy with his daily rants about the whores and queers in Hollywood, and attacks on masturbation (in Bible Class, of all places!). When I first signed on to some of the forums and blogs, in early Y2K, that seemed to be pretty much his legacy. I wasn't around during the loving "banishment to Hawaii" which HWA dealt him, but that certainly further tarnished his rep. He was held accountable for the libelous remarks about Mrs. McNair, and then stiffed the WCG with the bill and started his own little branch of Armstrongism, having missed the train and bulk of the original power structure when UCG was pulling out of the station.
ReplyDeleteAll things considered, he was just part of the whole. Turns out there was a rather severe credibility gap, and some very flawed behavior amongst a high percentage of the ministry. It is difficult to work out how there could even be a remnant, following 1975, the exposure via the receivership era, and the behavioral problems with the founders and top ministry. It's all so cartoonish even today, yet still has its followers.
BB
In 1995, taking notes faithfully as I listened to an RCM sermon, I heard him say that Jesus Christ would return in "5 to 15" years.
ReplyDeleteIn 2010, I left the Living Church of God with a clear conscience, having proved that RCM was not a teacher of truth.
I have never understood why people don't hold these men accountable for their words. RCM was small potatoes as a false teacher compared to Dave Pack, yet Pack still has groupies clinging to his every false word. Sad.
So the apostle Paul was also a false teacher. I can prove it because he declared the following, and it stands as testimony.
Delete1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep.
Jesus never came in Paul's life...in Armstrong's life, in Meredith's life, and we don't know if he will come in ours, but hope will continue. It has always been this way...since ancient times.
Hebrews 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
Hi Gary, this is a complicated topic.
ReplyDeleteActually, Rod Meredith was a doctrinally very sound man, but like each of us, he had plenty of flaws and areas for improvement.
What cannot be denied is his faith and the works he did.
From Moses to today, there has always been controversy surrounding how we want to be treated. Korah provoked a great rebellion, and in that sense, if we look at it as this article suggests, we should also question God... How did He view his offering to Cain, causing poor Cain to kill his brother? The harsh way He treated the poor Pharaoh, ignorant and lacking the spirit to understand.
Then, He didn't allow even His own earthly spokesman, Moses, to see the Promised Land.
The perspective of this article makes us see the God of the Bible in this way: How can a God of love reward David, who will be King in the future, when he blatantly profaned, committed adultery, and murdered Bathsheba's husband? Poor people of Sodom, there were innocent children there who died tragically without knowing why they were dying.
If we go further back, there was the cruelty of Noah's flood, where millions of animals died—innocent animals—and people who didn't even know Noah or the message at that time.
This article and what I've said is what Satan wants us to think. None of us are perfect. Some of us may be very correct in our dealings with others, but we lack doctrine, like the author of this article. That's why, for those who believe, we must accompany our actions with faith.
Meredith was a man of action and showed his faith by persevering until the last minute of his life...and yes...perhaps what they say in this article is right, but there is still much to say about Meredith, much more to say about what he did for the church, for his brothers and sisters.
This article is a work in progress. How do you explain that someone so bad was followed by 80% of those who were with him at Global? Because the dismissal was an absolute failure; they kept the sheath, but lost the sword.
Well Gary, it's great to hear from you again, greetings!
Why are comments about RCM's poor handling of Alum Creek Reservoir accident censored out here? Why is that story "banned" by Banned?
ReplyDeleteOne thing I will give credit to RCM and LCG, they made the move from San Diego to Charlotte back in 2003 which was a better investment financially considering the timing. As we are seeing companies like In-N-Out , and Starbucks also starting to move their headquarter locations to the southeast (Tenn.) where taxes aren't that high. And this is under his leadership.
ReplyDeleteNow his persona was likened to HWA in more ways than one. He always tried to let LCG members know that he kept trying to tell HWA there would be more time on 1975 prophecy. He always took pride in being one of the five members that was ordained by HWA, what was he like 21 at the time? I guess that would be impossible today in a splinter.
Cowboy
Hey, you forgot to mention RCM's trips to the adult bookstore to do 'ahem' research on sexual deviancy. I guess he was trying to compete with HWA in the missing dimension in sex field!
ReplyDeleteSo the apostle Paul was also a false teacher. I can prove it
ReplyDeleteThis seems to ignore that Paul repeatedly says he expects he may die:
Philippians 1:20–23 — he may “depart and be with Christ.”
2 Corinthians 5:1–8 — he speaks of being “absent from the body.”
1 Corinthians 6:14 — he includes himself among those who will be raised.
2 Timothy 4:6 — “the time of my departure has come.”
Paul was not a false teacher because he never predicted Christ would return in his lifetime
Come on 3:12, you've never had an outer body experience!
DeleteTo compliment him.
ReplyDeleteHis article on Franco Spain in a time before Social Media whilst the PT was a mass circulation magazine freely distributed among the conservative middle class that was the backbone of the American Empire and military complex was excellent and in my opinion would no doubt have drawn the attention of the CIA.
Masterpiece of travel journalism in post war Europe.
Yes of course HWA later visited Francos successor who supported democracy and the American foreign policy project of European unification and common market versus communism with even more skilled follow up.
Nck