Living Church of God: Eighteen Year Member Asks...Where Is Your Love?

From a reader here:

Rod Meredith and company love to brag about LCR and claim that it is the "Only TRUE Church" - the only true remaining Philadelphia church on earth today carrying out "God's only true Work" (they always capitalize "work" as if their efforts are elevated to the stature of a God-being). Their proclamation is based on three basic ideas:

1.) The idea that they have an "open door" to preach the gospel - judging themselves to be the only true church preaching the only true gospel. Of course, these days, all of these "churches" claim to be "preaching (their version) the gospel" - so what makes LCR so special? The ultimate point of all of LCR's messages these days is to point lay members to themselves, and not to God. Furthermore, RCM and Co. think nothing of compromising scripture (creating "upgrades" - which is a stupid descriptor, btw) for political expedience. This is hardly the Gospel of God.

2.) LCR is the only organization with their interpretation of "God's" form of so-called "top-down" government with "no voting or politics." Anyone with half a brain cell can see that this organization is completely corrupted by politics - from every corner and cranny of the organization. One window into the political rancor existing in this organization observes the acceptable standard of conduct, and evidences that standard is directly related to one's relationship with RCM. After 18 years of attendance, I've observed the following:

RCM & Family (By Blood or Marriage) - Anything Goes.

Close Friends of RCM or Family Member - Almost Anything Goes Based on Loyalty to RCM.

"Leading Ministers" or Just Plain Old "Ministers" - Anything Goes Based on Loyalty to RCM.

Family Members and Close Friends of "Leading Ministers" or Just Plain Old "Ministers" - Almost Anything Goes Based on Loyalty of Related Minister to RCM.  

Suck-Ups and Wannabe's - Conduct Judged Case-by-Case Based on Individual Loyalty to RCM and Local Church Government.

Average Lay Person - You Suck and You're Stupid, But We Need Your Money & Someone to Blame. Your Attendance is Permitted Based on Your Loyalty to RCM.

Any Individual Who Refuses to Play Politics - You Suck, We Hate You, Please Drop Dead.

...You read it yourself - RCM thinks "murder" and "child molestation" are less evil than causing church division. It isn't too far of a leap to assume that he would allow a "loyal" person to get away with just about anything.

3.) The idea that that LCR members "love" each other. However, "loveability" is entirely based on a person's rank in the organization, their relationship to RCM or someone in "church government", their monetary worth, and their attendance record. As soon as someone falls out of favor, they are seemingly shunned by the entire organization, and are no longer worthy or deserving of love, or basic humanity. "Falling out of favor" is utterly subjective, and could either be based on serious issues, or entirely baseless (as evidenced by the Scarborough case).

How can anyone think this is a true church of God?

What Are Rod McNair's Qualifications To Judge Members?

The one thing that struck me about Elizabeth Scarborough's letter was her comment about the excuses Rod McNair and Rod Meredith used to disfellowship and mark them.  Talk about a bunch of petty reasons!

Rod McNair has no qualifications, no real leadership skills, no real theological training or any other skill necessary for leadership.  What "qualified him several years ago was nothing more than having a couple of "famous" relatives in the Church of God. Because he has no real skills he has turned into one of the most abusive and despised "ministers” in the church. He is right up there with Cal Culpepper.

The lack of leadership skills and a sound theological education has led him to make rather absurd accusations against the Scarborough's which are downright silly and trite.

It is hard to imagine a minister being so intrusive that they have to grill someone over a party that celebrated a trip to Greece.  Those pagan Grecians are still disrupting society centuries later, well at least in LCG. It's no like they were having a Saturday Night Live toga party.

The silver lining in all this is that after over 20 hours of depositions, we now know why Rod McNair and Rod Meredith decided to mark us, which is something we have struggled to understand for nearly 2 years now. Rod McNair testified, under oath, that we were marked for the following reasons: 1. we had a Greek-themed party in 2009 (after returning from a trip to Greece) that looked like a “toga party”

Next McNair gets all pissy over an Andrew Sisters song.  A song that HWA listened to and never complained about!  Leave it to a wet behind the ears and immature so-called minister to determine a 1945 song is satanic. That is essential what McNair believes.

2. In 2011 I sang the Andrew’s Sisters 1945 hit “Rum & Coca-Cola” at Spokesman Club ladies night and McNair believes the song promotes prostitution (they asked me to sing that night and pre-approved the song but I still got in trouble for it)

One of the dumbest and controlling things the church does is to try and control every aspect of the member lives when it comes to Bible inquiry.  A person must never read any book outside the pre-approved lectionary that the COG leaders deem worthy.  Those books and articles are all penned by church leaders who claim to posses some kind of inspired knowledge (which they do not have.) Reading the Book of Enoch is not a faith destroyer as many of the cult leaders assume.  While it has been essentially discounted by many, it still is of interest to others.  There is nothing earth shattering about a group of friends sitting around and discussing a book.

3. In 2014 I invited two couples, close friends (or so I thought at the time but apparently I was wrong) to my home for a bbq to show them unconditional love because they had been suspended from church and were feeling discouraged. They had been suspended for reading the Book of Enoch and having private Bible studies which we were NEVER a part of but we loved them and wanted to support them because they were very discouraged and upset. We ALL expressed concern over the behavior of HQ’s ministry that night but these couples were Rod McNair’s friends so they got off unscathed while “speaking negatively of ministry” and “causing church division” was added to McNair’s file against me when he found out about our conversations. 

McNair has to have known that Bob Thiel has denied over and over again that Patrick was NOT the source of the Apartian information.  McNair was so filled with vengeance that he had to resort to anything he could find in order to smear the Scarborough's.

The interesting thing below is that an LCG minister testified under oath that the comments about Apartian were true!

And then lastly, 4. They blamed Patrick for being the source of information posted on cogwriter.com about Mr. Apartian. Bob Thiel emailed LCG, called LCG and posted on his blog that we were NOT his source (we subsequently found out WHO the source actually was) but LCG continued to pin this accusation on Patrick because they literally had NOTHING else to justify marking him. One LCG minister even testified under oath that the information posted on cogwriter was TRUE and that Mr. Apartian had actually made those statements to a handful of people in his last year of life. So they marked Patrick for TRUE information that he didn’t give Thiel!

McNair sounds like a petulant spoiled brat that has to stamp his feet and have a hissy-fit in order to cover up his insecurities. Being mean and nasty does not make you a leader.

Even though LCG may be celebrating that they "won" the lawsuit, the fact of the matter is they lost!  Big time.  It may look good in paper, but communally they lost in the eyes of the membership. People now know how truly debased they are in their treatment of members.  Grace and love are not qualities they possess.  Why should they when everything they believe is based upon Hebrew laws instead of following Jesus.

Dale Schurter and David C Pack: The Love Story That Wasn't

Back in January of 2012 Dave Pack started tooting his horn that the Restored Church of God had just recruited the most superfantabulous man ever in the Church of God.  Pack revealed that Dale Schurter had left the apostate United Church of God and had now come over to the one true religion.

Schurter has had somewhat a mythical status in the church over the decades, particularly those tied in to the Big Sandy area.  Schurter and many church members imagined him to be the world's foremost authority on agricultural issues.  That was one of the reasons Dave Pack worked overtime to recruit him to come over to the the dark side.

Dave had visions of starting his own experimental farm on the Wadsworth compound and Schurter was the man to do it. Schurter was going to restore "true" agricultural practices and teach RCG members so they could teach the residents of their world's how to grow their own food.

Schurter made it official in 2012 that he was jumping ship and wrote a glowing love letter to Pack and the RCG.  Also keep in mind that Schurter was on the UCG payroll while he was checking out Dave and crew. He had really good teachers in that department.

In the early years, Mona and I had the honor to know Mr. and Mrs. Herbert W. Armstrong personally, and over the years spent many hours with them….especially with Mr. Armstrong, on numerous occasions. We learned much directly from him one-on-one about the way of God and His purpose for all of us, in addition to the many ways we all learned from God and Jesus Christ through him --- directly or indirectly. This brings responsibility, hence the length of this letter.

Mona and I now know that the Truth which was lost during the buildup and final volcanic eruption of the apostasy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, following the death of Mr. Armstrong, has definitely been found and restored to God’s Church….including the all-important Government of God headed by Jesus Christ.

When we were led to the Restored Church of God, and did due diligence in our research, we confirmed to our satisfaction that the works and fruits of this organization were of God. Christ is the Head of this Church. We saw Christ at work through one He had called and appointed to finish the work --- to fulfill the prophecy of Revelation 10:11, which we should all know, “You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This prophecy was on Mr. Armstrong’s mind, especially in his latter years. 

The Restored Church of God is truly about our Father’s business. I am thankful to be a part of this very end time work --- and I urge you to take a very serious look. Investigate it as we have.

Like any good Church of God leader he knew he was going to receive flack for his apostasy from UCG.  He would be a martyr for the truth just like  any good COG leader. 

I must caution that you will probably experience a “blizzard” of lies and deception about Mr. Pack. Do not let this deter you. I have prepared myself for some of the same treatment. You all know me, and I have known Mr. Pack for almost 30 years. Think of how Mr. Armstrong was and still is being slandered and attacked. It could not be different with Mr. Pack --- and maybe with me! 

Mona and I remain available to serve you and all others, spiritually or physically, just as we have continued to serve others around the world over the years. However, from now on I will be a minister of the Restored Church of God, serving in the New York City area. I will also be serving as a “pastor at large”, freely communicating with anyone in UCG or individuals in other groups who wish to contact me.

I will regularly write on an important website/blog (www.rcgtruth.com) to keep you informed and updated. This will include more of my observations and thoughts. It will also contain exciting updates about God’s work, including reports from other ministers who have joined RCG, but also many other kinds of information. There is much more to say.  Dale Schurter Resignation/Propaganda letter

Dave Pack was so proud of Schurter that he started a web site that was going to be filled with the personal testimonies of the hundreds of defecting COG ministers.  Schurter was featured prominently. Dave wrote in 2012:

This website’s purpose is to highlight the unparalleled growth and fruits of The Restored Church of God (RCG), and to counter many years of falsehoods and misinformation regarding the Church and its leader. It will feature ongoing posts, including eyewitness accounts from a number of ministers who have left Worldwide Church of God (WCG) offshoots for RCG. Readers can look forward to information on the rapid expansion of the Church and Work, as well as its educational institution, Ambassador Center. Additional ministers who come with The Restored Church of God will also contribute. Answers to readers’ questions considered helpful to a broader audience will be posted.  Pack's Agenda for Schurter and Other Defecting Ministers

Now it is August 2016 and the web site is gone.  Gone because many of those defecting ministers have now left the Restored Church of God!   They became disgusted at the things they were witnessing and the convoluted quagmire Pack was preaching.

Two months after he joined up with Dave Pack and had completed his reeducation training, Schurter started making the claims he was being "intensely persecuted."

There also continues to be persecution for me, some quite intense. All who have regained spiritual sight will suffer persecution. As we participate in this end-time Work of proclaiming the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God, along with the trials we also experience joy. Both will continue to increase “as we see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).

My wife and I are so thankful to God for answering our prayers to be led to where He is truly working. We had become severed from the True Vine, but are now reattached. As some of you may know, I have studied and employed biblical agriculture for decades, and understand what happens when a branch is cut from a vine or tree. The environment in which it falls will determine how long it will remain alive and able to be reattached, grafted back into the vine before it completely withers and finally dies—then to be gathered and burned. Brethren, I was withering as a part of Laodicea, as “blindness and nakedness” crept into my life and work. I had taught against taking on a Laodicean attitude and lifestyle for decades. Yet I had drifted into it myself. What a sobering reality!  Dale Schurter resurfaces claiming intense persecution

Pack huffed and puffed for quit a while about Schurter.  Then POOF...he was no where to be found.  Apparently Satan was on the warpath and was really really pissed that Schurter was now in the the only true church.

COG members wondered and speculated as to the mysterious disappearance of Schurter.

Four years to the month that Schurter wrote his glowing praise of Dave and the RCG, Dave was publicly humiliating him in a sermon:

Mr. Schurter and his wife "moved "away and the next week in services we had a sermon about how the both of them were having signs of dementia, like in his sermons he was teaching things he learned in United and he would go over time In his sermons and then Mr Pack said he put goldfish in his pond on the campus on "accident" and ruined some trees, the whole thing was just strange. Dave Pack publicly shames  Dale Schurter and his wife

It has now been reported that Schurter and his wife have put out to pasture in the Dayton area.  No more farms, no more spiritual training, no more articles, no more reeducation camps, no more praise from Dave.  Just cast aside and forgotten about. 

It's a lonely world when you piss off the Chosen One.