Why Has Rod Meredith Refused To Admit He Made A Mistake?

I never make mistakes.  

I thought I did once, but I was mistaken.

Living Church of God is reeling today at the number of ministers and members that were served subpoenas for upcoming testimony in the lawsuit that the Scarborough's brought against Rod Meredith and the church.  The number of those served papers is said to be around 250 people.  You can quickly see why LCG is in such a turmoil today.  That is a huge number of people that can spill the beans on the way the Living Church of God works.

Some are deeply offended that the Scarborough’s filed this suit.  “Church members are not supposed to sue church members”, is the claim being thrown around.  This is LCG's attempt to divert peoples thinking away from the actually abuse that Meredith and his ministers dumped on the Scarborough’s and members that Saturday during the sermon where he demonized the Scarborough’s.

One comment made here says this:

Matthew 18 says ...and if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. 

The Scarborough's took it to the church in the letter they sent all of us. But our leaders wouldn't yield and make peace. So the Bible now gives them permission to treat Mr. Meredith and Mr. McNair as heathens.

It's that simple. LCG leadership had a year to behave as the Christians they claim to be but instead of "manning-up" they continued in their lie. Instead of showing the love and mercy of Christ, they decided remain stubborn and prideful carnal, ungodly men.

 I have never been so disappointed.

Living Church of God is now paying the price for the bullheadedness and arrogance that permeates the upper levels of the LCG hierarchy.  Meredith, Ames, Weston and others have always felt that were unaccountable to the membership and could say anything they wanted. That has come back to bite them big time.  Apparently the public marking of the Scarborough’s was particular vicious and extended.

I was at church the day the Scarborough's were marked. It was the most vicious attack I have ever been witness to. The entire day was focused on defaming these people.

I'm sure that is why they are deposing so many people.

250 people won't lie for LCG even if a few decide to.

Witness testimony plus an un-edited copy of services that day will be pretty damning to LCG's defense.

Add to that witnesses that testify to how the Scarborough's helped them over the years or showed generosity toward them to show that they were good people and it seems like a no-brainer (and I'm not a lawyer).

The question many are asking is how many of the deposed will actually lie in order to keep Meredith and the church in a good light.  If the LCG hierarchy is counting on a large swath of members defending them, they are going to be in for a shock.   By constantly spreading around the myth that convert church members would never sue other members, they are counting on people never delving into the topic.  Plus, when the ministry says it is a sin to go against the leader it instills another level of fear into the members minds.  

Rod Meredith teaches that Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, and since Jesus hasn't removed Meredith, He must approve of what Meredith is doing. Therefore, to go against Meredith is rebellion against Jesus Himself. This makes the leader infallible! Any man could say this, could he not? Meredith is very good at manipulating people into following him. Without that manipulation, propaganda, and brainwashing, I wonder just how small his following would be.

Throughout all of this the arrogance of the ministry has been at play here as one writer here wrote:

LCG ministry absolutely believe they are above being corrected. I know this first hand. I was once smugly asked by a minister in LCG if it was my job to correct the ministry. In their minds they are too right to ever be wrong.

When Meredith was sued the last time he was represented by the Worldwide Church of God with unlimited funds and a large team of lawyers.  All he had to do is sit there and let the church pay for everything, though while this was going he was plotting with others to form a church he could run after he left WCG. He had no problem in letting the church spend their money to defend him while he was setting himself up to take millions in tithe money.  Ethics have never been a strong point for Meredith. 

Now he will let his own church defend him with a large stable of lawyers at his beckon call. Millions will be spent in tithe money but he doesn't care.  His arrogance reigns supreme and is more important that admitting he made a mistake. Ethic's be damned.

PCG Drops Tens of Thousands of Dollars in Tithe Money and Over 6,000 Man Hours to Produce Song of Songs Sex Oratorio

From a PCG source:

A recently posted Philadelphia Church of God news item describes the latest amateur musical presentation of the PCG under Ryan Malone. The brief three paragraph article accompanied by a ten-minute video describes how Ryan and company put together this latest "masterpiece".

Naturally in the article we learn that the plum roles were of course reserved for quintessential self-promoter Ryan and his wife Paula.  However we also learn the very telling fact that this performance took around 6,000 man-hours to produce!  That's right, 6,000 man-hours, roughly the equivalent of three full-time workers engaged over the course of a year.

Obviously many would have contributed their time freely behind the scenes, however it would be safe to assume that the final cost of this production would have literally run into the tens of thousands, if not much, much more.  All this to put together a musical essentially preformed and attended solely by the Edmond PCG elite and their families.

No doubt the man-hour figure was quoted to impress, but what it unwittingly reveals is the extent to which music has to all intents and purposes taken over in the PCG.  It also reveals how casually member's tithes and offerings are being spent, especially when it comes to music and dancing. This kind of activity should be for organisations with oodles of cash, not aging churches currently experiencing a 25% drop in income.

The article can be found here: Armstrong Choral Union Presents Song of Songs

I wonder if Gerald Flurry ever thinks about what he is now doing with the church’s tithes and offerings in relation to what he originally wrote back in 1989 in Malachi's Message?

Page 123 “Will a Man Rob God?”

Here is a quote by David Hulme, from the Worldwide News, August 14, 1989: “The Ambassador Foundation, through the PRESENTATION OF A GRANT by Chairman Joseph W. Tkach, took a significant step forward in promoting international understanding here [London] July 18.  “Mr. Tkach established the foundation’s involvement in REBUILDING THE GLOBE THEATER, where many of William Shakespeare’s plays were first presented. 

“Far from being merely a performing arts facility, the new Globe Theater complex will include a cultural center and FACILITIES FOR LITERARY SCHOLARS TO STUDY SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS” (emphasis mine). 

WCG leaders say they can’t afford to print Mystery of the Ages, BUT THEY CAN AFFORD TO PAY “LITERARY SCHOLARS TO STUDY SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS”?! The decision to help fund the Globe Theater was made shortly after it was decided the WCG couldn’t afford to continue THE MAJOR WORK OF GOD’S “ELIJAH”! God holds them accountable FOR SUCH TWISTED PRIORITIES!......I believe we can begin to get a feel for why God spews the Laodiceans out of His mouth with extreme disgust!"

How long are rank and file PCG members going to put up with this crap?  Clearly the leadership of the church have nothing but contempt for them.

2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year in terms of the PCG's long-term stability.

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BREAKING: Living Church of God Depositions To Start This Week In Scarborough Lawsuit

Just in from LCG source:

Depositions were the hottest rumor on LCG streets this Sabbath. It seems that quite a few members and ministers have received subpoenas to be deposed  by the Scarborough's attorney in the next two weeks. I can't confirm exactly how many LCG members have received the call so far but based on the chatter this Sabbath, it's a lot. I was also told that it's not just people in the Charlotte congregation. I spoke to several women in the Charlotte LCG congregation who were either called themselves or who's husband's had been called for depositions later this week.

There are a range of emotions amongst LCG members. Some are angry that the Scarborough's are "dragging them into this mess". Some are angry that LCG won't "do the right thing". People talk in hushed voices so they don't get in trouble from the ever-present LCG spies. One person I spoke to bluntly stated that they were "glad to be given the opportunity to finally tell the truth" and seemed resigned to the fact that telling the truth might get them kicked out of church.

Mr. Ames likes to ask congregants for a show of hands during sermons so that he can come up with an estimated percentage. From my surveying since learning of this lawsuit, I would say that the majority in LCG sympathize with the Scarborough's and think they were treated unfairly/ slandered but those same people don't agree with filing a lawsuit to resolve the situation. I have thought about this myself many times. It's a difficult situation because I think I would want to defend myself against false accusations too but I'm not sure suing a brother is the right thing to do either. The best thing would have been for all parties involved to act like Christians and talk out their problems.

Knowing that such a large majority of brethren privately sympathize with the Scarborough's, it will be curious to see if they choose to tell the truth in the depositions (which will surely hang LCG) or if they will choose to lie to protect LCG. LCG feels like it's on the brink of destruction regardless of the outcome of this case but the case isn't helping. Among the LCG people that I have spoken to about this lawsuit almost ALL have a hard time understanding how Mr. Meredith could let the situation go this far; costing the church so much money and bad publicity. It seems the Scarborough's made repeated attempts to make peace prior to filing this suit but LCG has refused them (at least according to facebook posts I've seen - so take that for what it's worth). Everyone knows that Mr. Meredith and Mr. McNair are prideful men but it's hard for us to understand how they can allow their pride to cause so much damage to the church that so many people love.

There are more important things LCG could be doing with their time and our money. What a total disappointment.