A Case of Mistaken Identity

A Case of Mistaken Identity

An interesting case of mistaken identity occurred 30 years ago on January 19, 1986 as we stood in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California awaiting the beginning of the funeral service for Mr. Armstrong.  Reuben Cerda, a member of the Long Beach congregation arrived a little late and had the fortune of being good looking, well dressed and driving a Cadillac.  In the last minute rush, he was mistakenly assumed to be a dignitary and was directed to the best parking spaces and escorted to one of the best seat near the casket.

He was not wealthy or an important public figure but a common member like those of us that were standing far from the center of the action.  We found it amusing that others could be fooled so easily.

Now, thirty years later, it is becoming much clearer that the mistaking of Reuben Cerda as being a dignitary was symbolic of a much larger case of mistaken identity that had occurred for most of the 4,700 people attending that service that day (and for the approximately 80,000 other WCG members that were not present that day).  We had mistakenly believed that Mr. Armstrong was what he had claimed for himself - God’s end-time apostle, the leader of the “one-true church”.

Mr. Armstrong claimed

·     He was the first to preach the true Gospel in 1800 years (how would he know?)

·     He learned from no man and he restored 18 truths (but it is clear that he borrowed most of   his teachings from other men’s writings)

·     WCG was the one, true church (but God is not limited to working within any of man’s corporate entities)

·     The church had been more accurate in foretelling prophetic events than all others (yet there are over 200 documented failures that HWA and WCG minister made)

·     WCG could trace its’ “Church of God” roots back through the ages (yet there “proof” was inaccurate)

·     Identity of Israel was the key to prophecy (yet it failed to yield accurate prophecies)

·     Doctors and modern medicine were bad (yet he had a personal doctor)

·     The WCG was God’s government on earth and HWA was God’s sole specially trained end-time Apostle (and yet we are still here 30-years beyond his death)

·     HWA completed his work in 1972;  1975 would be the end (and afterwards when this was clearly wrong he stated his claims were speculative, not definite – when, in fact he had been very specific and had spoken on the “authority of Jesus Christ”)

·     The church would not compromise 1/100% of the Truth (and yet it did repeatedly)

·    The WCG was doing the greatest work on earth (yet it has amounted to almost nothing by this point in time, except for 100’s of splinter groups and 1,000’s of split families).

·                   ·     HWA’s relationship with Ramona was God’s will (and yet he divorced her)

·                   ·     In 1979, the State of California’s investigation into fraud was “the most MONSTROUS 

                  conspiracy and attack Satan ever launched against God's Work!”  

(                 (when of course, it wasn’t)               

            

In his autobiography, HWA had indicated that he had wanted to be wealthy and important.  Through the RCG and WCG, it appears that he achieved his personal goals but at the expense of others.  And, was he God’s end-time Apostle?  If he had been, then we wouldn’t be here reflecting on his life.

-Ex WCG member

Rod Meredith's Legacy Summed Up In One Paragraph

A comment from LCG Fails to be good stewards of God's money.

The thing to remember about Meredith and Leona McNair is that, although Meredith was a named defendant, WCG paid all of his costs, including the final settlement, which was paid in December of 1992. When did Meredith have his first GCG service? The last Sabbath of December, 1992. Meredith had spent 3 years and 3 months doing nothing while Tkach changed everything. No teaching, no writing, no preaching, no pastoring. Rod just sat there watching the church get destroyed. He had been trained for 40 years just for such a time, and when the people needed him the most, he was nowhere to be found. Just sitting and collecting a big fat paycheck and getting his legal costs covered, watching Tkach consolidate his power and change everything. By December 1992, it was too late to do anything. When it comes to money or faith in God, Meredith made his choice. 

LCG FailsTo Be Good Stewards of God's Money

(From an LCG source)

2015 has come and gone and the pencil pushers in Charlotte are trying to figure out how they can spin their collapsing infrastructure in the impending financial audit which will be revealed to LCG membership several months from now. Each year LCG reminds us that, “it should be noted that, while the law requires us to follow GAAP and GAAS regulations, the law does not require us to submit to an outside independent audit each year. We voluntarily undergo an annual audit as a means to ensure ourselves, and to demonstrate to Church members and potential donors, that we are striving to remain good stewards of our financial information and controls” (source Living Church News). The 2014 audit showed significant losses for LCG and the 2015 audit promises to be just as bloody as this ACOG slowly bleeds to death in its own failures.

LCG insiders have revealed that the church is presently in major financial trouble.  Rod Meredith recently wrote an editorial in which he shamed church members who dare to “sit on hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of money, property and other resources they very rarely touch [that could be used] to help do the Work of the living God at the very end of this age” (See more at: Rod Meredith is not happy LCG members are sitting on money).  

Unfortunately for Rod, his editorial did more to upset than to inspire as many in his church are in disagreement with the fact that Rod Meredith, Richard Ames and the newly anointed Gerald Weston sit on hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity in their own homes and bank accounts while suggesting that the hard working tithe payers GIVE EVEN MORE.

Many members are also disillusioned by the excessive expenditures Lil’ Jimmy indulges himself with at the tithe payers expense; like his 5 week all-expense paid vacation to Hawaii to “set up” the same feast site they have already had for a number of years or his trip to Israel or a dozen other places that the poor church members paid for him to enjoy 5 star hotel rooms and extravagant meals.

Many LCG members are also grumbling about the ridiculous amount of tithe payer money that is being directed to Living University. A majority of LCG brethren feel that their tithes and offerings should be used to “preach the gospel of the soon coming Kingdom of God as a witness”. The accompanying LCG finance chart shows just how much money they put into LU in 2014. The 2015 graph will show an even greater excess as Meredith sanctioned funds toward the purchase of additional LU commercial real estate to house class rooms and townhouses to serve as dormitories for their on-campus students. LCG has also decided to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2015 seeking accreditation which members feel is unnecessary and an improper use of tithe money.

In 2014 Wyatt Ceceilka convinced LCG to spend $133,405 for television studio editing upgrades to replace aging AVID editing equipment with updated software and media storage which they required to meet new standards for HD television which he then decided he didn’t like in 2015 as he  petitioned RCM for even more money to change systems once again. Over-spending Wyatt also sanctioned purchases including an upgrade of the Tomorrow’s World Web site for $45,400 (did anyone even notice?).

Lil’ Jimmy is neck and neck with Doug Winnail and his Living University (which is killing the church) in the category of wasted tithe payer money. Jim authorized $51,929 to finish a remodeling project in the Charlotte LCG Headquarters building which was in good shape to begin with.

Add to this the increasing number of people leaving LCG all together and the increasing number of members who have decided to stay in LCG but withhold their tithes after beginning to question if LCG is God’s true church after witnessing the ministerial abuse many of their friends have suffered at the hands of men, like Rod McNair, who truly believe they can act however they like no matter how ungodly their behavior is since they are “servants of Christ” (at least in their own minds). Still others are withholding their tithes while they wait and see what direction the church takes after old Spanky steps down next August and Gerald Weston takes over.

The late Dibar Apartian told many people over the last year or two of his life that LCG was “no longer God’s church”. He was in the nucleus and ahead of the curve in his knowledge of how utterly corrupt and ungodly Meredith and his men were. The knowledge of LCG’s rotten core has slowly begun to spread throughout its membership. Sure some die-hards will go down with the ship in blind obedience but many will get out before it is too late.

It seems inevitable that irresponsible overspending,  ministerial abuse of the brethren and the vanity and pride that it wrapped up in their attempts to make LU like Ambassador College will bring LCG to its knees in the coming year.