What is WRONG with Rod Meredith?

 For decades now every single sermon, article, TV broadcast, magazine article and booklet has turned to comments about sex.  Through out his years of lecturing at various Ambassador College's around the world's class sessions have been filled with sex. Students coming in for counseling sessions ended up getting grilled on their sexual practices.  Baptism sessions turned into discussions of masturbation.  Sex has been center most in his mind for decades now.  Nothing pushes him over the edge more than gays and lesbians.  For the last couple of decades that is what he has brought up every time he opens his mouth.  Not only do his regular members have to sit and listen to this malarkey, but so do his co-workers.

On February 18 he sent out a letter to his co-workers and members. Instead of writing a letter filled with grace filled, Jesus oriented messages and exhortations, it was another sex obsessed end of the world manifesto's.

It has rampaging Muslims and violent Mexicans. corrupt governments, brats, and queers.

But we have turned away from that God! We are spitting in the face of the God of the Bible in many, many ways. In an Op/Ed piece in this Sunday’s New York Times (February 14, 2016), I could not help but note a piece about the problems of “same-sex” couples. 

As a box inserted in the article states:  “Some married same-sexers want to be called wives, or husbands or partners; some ‘hersbands’ or ‘wusbands.’ Ask them.” Early in the article a man “who married his ‘husband’ in California in 2008” states:  “‘Secretly, for years, I kept referring to him as my partner if he wasn’t in the room,’ Mr. Valenzuela said. ‘There’s something deeply heteronormative about ‘husband’ that feels like a betrayal of my very queer identity. Like, if I say it, people will picture him wearing a cardigan reading the newspaper by the fireplace. I do say ‘husband’ more now, but a tiny part of me cringes with shame when I do.’” 

What a shame for this man to—as he himself says—betray his own “very queer identity!”

My friends, the Jesus Christ of your Bible is coming back to this earth soon! Then, this “queer” fellow quoted above will want to vomit when he finally realizes Who he has actually “betrayed” and his real “identity,” a male human being created in the image of God! We who are “called” now to understand and who fulfill our calling as true Christians will have the challenge and the opportunity to teach, to train and to genuinely help such confused and deluded human beings who will finally understand and want to fulfill their real purpose in life as potential sons of God!

What makes Meredith think that he and the members of the LCG are gong to be used in a capacity to "train" individuals in his "kingdom" to come.  People would be seriously deluded if they thought the they wanted to be found in his "kingdom."  Who would want to be in a world where they would ruled over by these "god's"?

Meredith then says this:

Brethren, when we read the constant reports in the news about how corrupt governments all over the earth are crashing and hurting their peoples in the process, it is obvious that Almighty God will soon intervene! For the true God tells us in His Word:  “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). So, Jesus Christ is coming soon (Revelation 11:15). That is truly the only hope for this corrupt generation!

How can LCG brethren be encouraged to be saved from corrupt governments when their own church is abysmally corrupt?  This corruption will soon be made manifest in court documents as the operations of the church are brought under the microscope for all the world to see.  Meredith's mental facilities will also be channeled.  If this case proceeds without a settlement LCG is in for some serious trouble.  The church really needs to be thinking about removing the man from office.

As the Church of God ages out and it's various splinter group leaders sink into old age, senility and consumed by Alzheimer's, the churches have a serious decision to make.  Bring in young leadership and reinvent itself or dissolve.

As a start, PLEASE shut up about sex!

Why the Two Witnesses Will NOT Come From A Church of God

With the recent release of imprisoned Church of God felon Ron Weinland who claims he and his wife are the two witnesses of Revelation, and the other false prophets of Armstrongism, Yisrayl Hawkins, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, James Malm, and Dave Pack,  who have made outlandish unfounded claims about themselves, I thought it was appropriate today that the following article popped up in my news feed today.  Every single one of these men have self appointed themselves to their so-called prophetic positions.  God has had nothing to do with it, and certainly has nothing to do with any of them as spiritual leaders, regardless of how much they pontificate.

The Two Witnesses of Revelation - They're Everywhere, They're Everywhere

In my 26-year experience as a Pastor, I had managed to meet 23 of the Two Witnesses of Revelation. I am tempted to say 11 pairs and one who thought he was both, but that's not how it really was. Every one of these was a lone male, sometimes a pastor, sometimes a member, often times a lone religious renegade that no church would claim. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the Two Witnesses, these are the two final humans, but some say they will be the literally resurrected Moses and Elijah, Moses and Aaron, or Amos and Andy depending,, who will tell all of us on the earth why the end has come. 

As the Bible says, "This Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached to all the world, and then shall the INCOME, oops sorry, end come." The competition among those Pastors and Apostles that are hoping to win the title and at times behave more like competing to be Larry, Moe and Curly, but that would be Three Witnesses, will probably be more astounding than any Two Witnesses of Revelation. The description is found here in Revelation 11. 

REVELATION 11:3 "And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. 5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. (NKJV) 

While I personally feel that the chance of any two human beings being taken seriously in this role is about nil, it is none-the-less a very big part of the prophetic hopes of many literalists, especially those in what have become the remaining splinters of the now defunct Worldwide Church of God. It still exists, but it just doesn't know it has become irrelevant and uninfluential in the world of theology and religion. Tis more like a glorified Sunday School than a Church, but I spare you. The Two Witnesses would never come from the Worldwide Church of God because yelling, "woe unto you, we don't know the answer to that either, be warmed and filled..." etc, is just not a credible message these days and certainly not scary enough. The kind Jesus of the Gospels gets lost somewhere between John and Revelation as well. Angry books make angry churches.
However, even if there were ever such a modern day thing as the Two Witnesses, here is why it would not work. No two human males in the entire Church of God menagerie of splits, splinters, slivers and dust mites could ever get along long enough to come up with the same coherent message. Frankly, they would smite each other before they ever smote you and I. 

The Book of Revelation, which probably is not near as up to date for today as most think, nor written with the events of today in mind as many are taught requires the Two Witnesses to get along and agree with each other for a time of 1260 days or about three and half years. No way! I have yet to meet any two of the Church of God ministers, especially the Lone Rangers of "My Church is the one true church," mentality to be able to agree on anything or get along for much more than a few hours, if that. This is way short of the time these two men will have to live, eat and agree together on the next day's rants against the people. Let me illustrate what I mean. 

Ronald Weinland was a minister in the WCG, then a minister in the United Church of God (UCG), but a number of years ago declared himself a prophet--(even though I prefer the idea that Churches be NON-PROPHET) he did that many years after the Philadelphia Church of God's Gerald Flurry did the same. Both of these minister types were Worldwide Church of God pastors before the crash. Both went on to start their own one man shows. In an email inquiry of Mr. Weinland, by Dr. Robert Thiel of the Living Church of God, as to whether or not he claims to be one of the Two Witnesses, Mr. Weinland replies: 

"Yes I do make the claim. I am one of the witnesses. The subject is already covered in sermons on our website and will be covered far more thoroughly in a new book that will be out before next Feast of Tabernacles. 

So we have that settled. We have the first of the Two Witnesses, even though he was never on my original list of 23. So now we have 24. Hey nice! That's the same number of Elders around the throne of the Son, or the hours in the day around the SUN, whatever you like!" 

Next enter David C. Pack, founder and sole authority in the Restored Church of God, also a sliver offshoot of Christianity. While Mr. Pack has never said that that he is one of the Two Witnesses, he has said in sermons that they will come out of the Restored Church of God, come UNDER his supervision as Witnesses are not higher than Apostles, of which he is one, and that HE will train them for their 3.5 year assault on the world. 

Pretty cool stuff to spend your life planning I think! 

At any rate, Dr. Thiel goes on to note: 

"There is a rumor going around, which I never posted, that Ronald Weinland claims that David Pack is the other of the two witnesses. This is not true. When I asked him, I received the following response: 'No I haven't said such a thing about Dave. We are not going in the same direction.' 

I did post the above response so that those interested in the truth would realize that the rumor was false. I do have a concern that now that this rumor is out and now that Ronald Weinland claims to be one of the two witnesses, that it would not surprise me if one who has taken titles to himself (Gerald Flurry comes to mind) may decide they need to claim to be one of the two witnesses." 

So now we have problems. There are my 23 of the Two Witnesses, Gerald Flurry of the Philidelphia Church of God...maybe in time, Ron Weinland for sure and the two, yet to be announced in the Restored Church of God under Dave Pack. Let's see, 23+1+1+2=27 Two Witnesses. And these are just the ones I know of. Perhaps there is significance in 3×3x3 Witnesses, but I don't know what it might be so forget that. 

Ok, but here is the problem even bigger than too many of them. 

"5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. 6 These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. (NKJV) 

Of course people are going to want to harm these guys. At least if they are
the ones mentioned. And with that much firepower, well they say way too much
now in Church that can't be backed up with reality, so someone is going to get burned. Letting them smite us all "as often as they desire," is just going way overboard on God's part. I think some of the smitting could degenerate into a bad case of "oh yeah...blam," "oh yeah...bash," "Oh yeah...crunch." A Way too human a way of getting everyone's attention. Personally I think, with the bad record churches and men have for being false prophets and witnesses and just plain looney, I would prefer that God just call a weekend seminar, serve nice food, and personally explain to all of us just what seems to be the problem. I respond better to that kind of thing rather than having people I don't trust in the least think they can smite me at will for not believing them personally. I still feel that when we speak to God, it can be called prayer, but when God speaks to us, we might need medication and not a following... But the real problem and the real reason we don't have to worry about the Two Witnesses coming out of the Church of God movements that have sprung from the demise of the Worldwide Church of God is best summed up in the observation by Mr. Weinland himself. 

"'No I haven't said such a thing about Dave. We are not going in the same direction.'"
This is our salvation! The fact is that no two men in any of these groups can get along for even a minute is the key that unlocks the truth of Revelation on this topic! Mr. Weinland can't abide Mr. Pack. Mr. Pack won't credential Mr. Weinland or Mr. Flurry. Mr. Flurry can't stand Mr. Pack and doesn't know Mr. Weinland and my personal list of 23 all agree that no way are these new guys invited into the final contestants for the job! Can two walk together unless they be agreed? The answer is no, so in no way will any of these guys be the Two Witnesses for 3.5 seconds, much less years. 

Now Mr. Pack insists that he will select the Two Witnesses and train them out of his own Church. I doubt that because Mr. Pack so loves titles, "The Watcher", "End Time Apostle"' "Mr." etc, that I am sure he'll want to be, hmmm...both of the Two Witnesses himself. There is more control over what is said, less overhead and less dispute over who is the chief smiter, firebreather, plague giver, blood maker and drought causer. 

Somewhere and somehow, Mr. Pack will find a way to give a four to eight hour sermon on how the Greek word for "two" is really the word for "twoo" as in "true" and Witnesses is really supposed to be singular. It is the Twoo Witness, which of course, will be Mr. Pack. 

The good thing will be that if the others oppose this, he can incinerate them with the word of his mouth and plague 'em. Well maybe not in that order. Well anyway, won't happen in reality. 

So relax everyone! Since no two male ministers of the same group or Church of God, and certainly no two in opposing groups can get along long enough to remotely fulfill the 3.5 years the Two Witnesses of Revelation will have to work together, we are all safe! Any two from this bunch will plague, drought, smite and incinerate EACH OTHER long before the sun goes down on the first day of their prophecy!  Dennis Diehl 2006

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/348380

Living Church of God: Satan Is Cleverly Deceiving LCG Members By Trying to Divide Us From Within

Rod Meredith is back with a new post on LCG's web site talking about a recent Family Weekend that was such an outstanding success that Satan is now extremely pissed off and is attacking the church.  Satan is soooooooooo mad that he is resorting to little tricks in order to deceive LCG members.

The entire weekend was inspiring and brethren were very vocal about how much the outstanding seminars helped them, along with the special Bible Studies held on Friday night and Sabbath morning, and then the final sermon on Sabbath afternoon. So we have much to be thankful for, but we certainly need to ask God’s direct blessing on the “follow through” of this presentation so that people around the world may be moved to act on the Truth—not just hear about it and enjoy it.

However, brethren, a very real Satan the Devil is fully aware of what we have been doing. More than most humans, of course, Satan knows where God’s Work is being done in a powerful way and where the greatest impact is being felt in His Work around the world. I am sure that he was not pleased at what we were doing at the special weekend event. He is not pleased that we have been growing through our increasing impact on the Internet, our outstanding television programs, our large circulation of Tomorrow’s World magazine, etc. In his time, Satan will react and try to “bring us down” if he possibly can. He always tries to divide and conquer. We know that. So we should all be praying fervently for God’s protection and deliverance from his vengeful attacks against God’s people and God’s Work. 

The question that needs to be asked right now, is Satan really ticked off at LCG for the family weekend  or are the problems LCG now currently facing a result of the looming court trial hanging over Rod Meredith's head?  The church has always used Satan and other issues to divert attention away from controversies that the church brought upon itself.  Many think this is exactly what Meredith is deceitfully talking about here.

Rod Meredith wants all LCG members to believe he is the most humble and most sinless Church of God leader to ever have trained at Herbert Armstrong's feet.  It's always important when a Church of God leader writes an article or preaches a sermon to invoke Herbert Armstrong.  People are supposed to be impressed. The problem with Meredith is that Herbert Armstrong did not think Meredith was a good leader.  HWA rebuked him many times, even sending him to Hawaii for a year for his continual bad attitude.  When HWA was looking for a successor Meredith was deliberately overlooked because of his atrocious treatment of church members.

Meredith has never taken any responsibility for his abusive actions and mistreatment of members.  Instead he blames everything on Satan.  Satan is the one currently confusing members with the lawsuit. This lawsuit is happening because Satan is trying to divide the church.

Through the decades I served in God’s Work under Mr. Armstrong—and ever since, as well—I have often noticed how Satan is able to confuse people and somehow divide them if he possibly can. He will cause many to become upset about basically little things, and yet turn them aside from their part in God’s Work. Satan is extremely clever at this!

Who really is dividing the LCG right now?  Satan, troublemakers or abusers of the brethren from within the organization?

You can read his entire letter here: Personal: Overcome and Grow In Unity.  Its the usual rant where gays, Muslims, and rampant sexual immorality are his target.  For some reason he always glosses over the rampant sexual immorality going on right under his nose or has covered up the sexual improprieties of his children that are well known throughout the LCG.  Meredith needs to get off his sex bandwagon.  60 years of these endless rants prove there are deeper issues going on with the man than any of us have ever thought.