Are Bob Rodzaj and Peter Nathan "Hirelings of the Most Shamelss Kind?"

Qualities that the Church of God discarded decades ago.

Do any of the ministers in the Church of God have any integrity?  For the last twenty some years were have seen hundreds and hundreds of them jump ship from one group to another.  Very few seem to be able to stop and take stock of what is going on and  say, "What the hell am I doing?  I am a better man than this. This is bullshit" and walk away from it all.  They just jump from one group to the next expecting there to be money and open arms waiting for them.  Integrity never seems to follow them.


A reader here writes:

Bob Rodzaj has given outstanding sermons outlining the kind of loving government the Church needs to practice... and now he is going into the autocratic LCG, where Meredith's cruelty and arbitrary nepotistic rule go far beyond any excesses David Hulme has ever been accused of.

Peter Nathan just last month was telling COGaic brethren that there isn't any existing Church of God group practicing proper government. And now he is supporting LCG's form of government, which again makes Hulme's rule look benevolent by comparison. Just ask the COGaic members who came to COGaic from Global and Living.

Either these ministers have been deceived by Rod Meredith and his henchmen, or else they are hirelings of the most shameless kind.

A warning to these men: Meredith's pattern is to flatter new recruits by promising them great access or freedom or authority, or simply by making them feel like they are his special trusted advisors. But once you are in, just another slave on the payroll, the view changes from inside the prison. If you have any common sense left, please step away before you are trapped!

Dennis Muses on: McArmstrong's Navy

How Many Times Can a Man Jump Ship and Still Be Considered a Sailor?

Ministers on the USS Armstrong are not the smartest sailors in the Navy from what I can tell.  They probably need to just lighten up a bit and get their own comedy show.  Well actually they already have their own comedy shows but they seem to have a hard time trying to figure out what episode and what cast they want to be in.  It always confused me as a kid when I watched "The Three Stooges" because every once in awhile Curly would not be the original Curly.  There was some other guy that kinda looked like Curly but I knew it wasn't the original.  Then along comes Shemp and really confused me.  Who's Shemp?  Where did he come from and Why is he now one of the "Three Stooges."  As I got older I figured that the original Curly must have had some personal problems and the show had to go on when they manifested on the set, but I don't know.  Anyway...that's another show.

Captain Herbert W Tkachaflurryweinapackstrong

How many ships can a Church of God minister jump and still be considered a sailor?  I don't know.  I was only on two ships in my life.  One I did jump, ok I admit it.  As a kid, the USS Presbyterian did not seem to work for me as I studied how ships should be constructed and how to read the Ship Log and Training Manuals.   I jumped to a much better ship that proved to be the absolute wrong jump to make.  At least I can comfort myself in the fact that in a parallel universe, I jumped to the USS Penn State or USS Cornell and became Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson Diehl.  I guess I fell off the second one or got so sick on the ride I just realized I was no sailor.  It made me seasick and Captain Bligh concerned me at times.  There were three of them as well . Sailors were always getting hung from yardarms or made to walk planks. Some were severely beaten as a lesson to the other of us sailors.  While I did not have to deal with the Captains all that much, the times I did were not all that inspiring and often wondered how they got the job.  It was the Second Lieutenants that I marveled at at times and often.  It was quite a cruise.  Towards the end of the cruise, you had to take a head count of the crew every week to see who was still there and who had jumped ship.

...it's a bitter trip to  Dave's candy shop. Where obedience pays... on the gloomy shores of Gyrate Bay

One only jumps ship for one of two reasons.  Either one wants to get out of the Navy and off the ship and go home, or they like being a sailor, want to stay in the Navy but just not on that ship.  The pay and perks of sailing are pretty good.  Most of the time you are just doing rather mundane things to keep the ship afloat the purpose of that particular ship functional.  You can always get others to swab decks and the tax payers take care of most of the bills.  Every April, around the Spring Holy Days, they have to send it in.  They have to pull big triggers but the IRS has the right to say these things and the authority to do it.  Captain Dave Pack must have worked for them at one time before jumping many ships and then just building his own ship more to his liking.   I think it's called "The Good Ship Lollygag"  or something like that.  

Working on the USS Philadelphia is no fun.  It's just an experiment anyway and after finding missing sailors and others embedded in the deck like some time warp or something, not to mention it being mysteriously transported from California and then showing up in Oklahoma...well, it's mystery. It may also just be an urban legend or even a hoax.

Why on earth would I jump this ship?

Not many seem to jump the USS United.  It's kind of a cruise ship and just seems to wander around the nicer areas of the sea offering entertainment with the occasional bout of E-Coli when the food inspectors mess up.  It seems to happen more than it should but that's why they call it the USS United.  Lots of sailors seem to jump ship to get on the USS United.  It's just an easier ship to work on evidently and it has many Captains depending .  If you don't like this one, just wait a couple years. 

USS Restored and Captain Pack and Crew attack the USS COGdom

(Don't  jump ship...No one would pick you up)

The USS Restored is a ship of a different color....mostly green.  Or at least lots of green is always on order and there is never quite enough of it to finish restoring it.  It's a very small ship and reminds me of the concept of mice that roar.  This is the ship Captain Bligh ended up on after he was set adrift in a small lifeboat when abusing the crew of the USS Worldwide Bounty.  When younger, he was on the USS Global for a time as well as the USS Still Living but he didn't really jump them.  He was thrown off them.  The USS Restored is only about 25 feet long, has a very small crew of conscripted zombies from Haiti and a huge Captain's Quarters and observation deck or at least that is in the offing if space for one can be found.  Captain Bligh still believes he is spoken of in the Naval Training Manual specifically and after the sudden death of three well known Captains and ship sinkings, the surviving crews and lieutenants will climb on board the USS Restored.  The problem is there isn't much for them to do on it and the requirements and credentials as well as swearing on one's mother's grave they were on the wrong ships to begin with are quite high.  It would be a poop deck slug fest if all these crews, helps, painters, gunnery Sargent's and sails men and former Captains showed up at once.  Cardboard extensions have been added to make the USS Restored look bigger at sea but they don't hold up in the salt water and hot air.

"Go ye therefore into all the world and make 'em chuckle"

And no...you're not really the One True Ship

Some ships, like the USS Thiel are so small the don't even have crews.  Just a Captain over not much sailing around and acting bigger than it really is.  Definately a ship of a different color with Captain Thiel at its head for sure.   Captain Thiel keeps saying he is Captain of the one true ship but we all know there are many ships at sea and all do different things for different reasons.  One True Ship?  Meh.....and pffffffft.

"Permission to come on board sir!"

"Why?"

The USS Living takes in a few Ship Jumpers from time to time.  The jump is pretty easy.  No great distances to climb nor railings to get over.  It's not a fast ship and somewhat dead in the water with flooded engine and looks a bit like a toy but it's fun and a new Captain and Crew is waiting to come on board.  

There are a couple of unmaintained lifeboats and dingys hanging off parts of or washed up from the now sunken USS Armstrong but not worth mentioning.  

Crew leaving the USS BoundtoBeSunk

But back to the original question.  How many times can a sailor jump ship and still be considered a good and trustable seaman?   I'd personally find it difficult to believe the sailor when he was on board my ship telling me just how much he loves it and me and won't ever do it again...he promises.  I'm not sure I'd believe him when he called roll call and reminded me I served on the finest and only true ship in the ocean. 

Your view?

BREAKING NEWS: Steve Elliot, Peter Nathan Jump Ship To Join Living Church of God

In late 2013 David Hulme's little group had a major split with a large number of members breaking off to form the Church of God – A Family Community or The Father's Call.  These men all thought they were all unified under Brian Orchard when they had their first church conference around the first of the year.  They at least pretended to put on a unified front.  Brian Orchard admits below that they were not unified. Like all good things in Armstrongism, it did not last.  Power plays are never pretty and those who jump first tend to get burned the fastest

Steve Elliot, Peter Nathan and Ted Budge have now defected to other Church of God's

Letter - February 25, 2014

Dear Brethren,

Many are already aware that Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Elliott and Mr. & Mrs. Bob Rodzaj are joining the Nathans in moving to Living Church of God. Mr. and Mrs. Ted Budge have opted to return to the United Church of God. This is a difficult development and admittedly it disappoints my expectations.

That acknowledged, a change of plans is an opportunity to seek God’s will rather than our own. We prayed and fasted as a group, and here we are. Let’s trust that God will reveal His purpose.

It is apparent that the ministry came away from our January conference with two different mind sets. We thought we were of the one mind as we agreed on a purpose and goals statement but it is now clear that we were processing different meanings to the words and statements released. I don’t believe any of this was intentional – we just did not recognize the different understandings that existed. I am trying with my limited abilities to provide a clear path forward and to reassure those of you who do not want to join other existing organizations. What we set out to do is not dead. But we clearly have much work to do to reconcile ourselves to God and to be unified in our understanding of His will.

The following paragraph translates to:  "Please don't be hasty and jump ship too and take your money with you!  How will be be able to pay for our lifestyle if you do?  We are God's most loyal men even through we worked diligently (to get our paychecks) for Joseph Tkach Sr disfellowshipping hundreds and hundreds of WCG members before we had the balls to do anything about it."

Certainly, let’s not vilify anyone for the decisions they prayerfully come to. Please do not feel under pressure to make hasty decisions about your future or feel critical about others having interaction with other COG groups. Loyalty is to Christ, who is head of the Church, and no other. We are instructed to leave all to follow Him.

I do not plan to join any of the existing COG groups in the foreseeable future. The other remaining members of the interim advisory board (Steve Andrews, Cliff Veal, Marshall Stiver and Bill Hutchison) assure me they feel the same way. As such, we intend to continue with the support of our other fine elders. The ministers who are leaving us have decided not to attend the conference this coming Sunday. They felt their presence would not be helpful to us at this time and I respect their decision. Accordingly, we will focus on who we are and where we are going. We will review our goals and purposes as developed during the January conference and from there look at ways we can move forward with some organized effort in shepherding the flock and preaching the gospel.

Please don’t be over burdened by these challenges. God will care for us. In many respects, these outcomes may ultimately facilitate bridges between God’s scattered people. We need to be the people God wants us to be and let Him use us to implement His will.

Warm Regards,
Brian Orchard