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.