Rod McNair Attempts to Quell Dissension by Telling Members the Rules of Engagement for Disfellowshipment

For months now various LCG members and others are reporting how disunified the Living Church of God currently is.  Turmoils seems to boil in Charlotte and elsewhere.  As the LCG moves closer to the day that Rod Meredith dies, it is having to deal with dissension emerging from the ministerial ranks and the members.  Many fear that Meredith's son will be pointed as successor.

Right before the Feast of Tabernacles 2014, Rod McNair preached a sermonette where he discusses those who cause division and how the church is to deal with them.  He lists four categories of those who disagree with the church.  This information is so serious that the LCG sent this sermonette out on tape and COMMANDED all the church areas play it along with a sermon by Rod Meredith..

He starts out though reinforcing the rule that the ministers have been placed OVER the members.  They are there to ensure an atmosphere of unity.  He tells LCG members that the ministry is also there to help stop them from being deceived.  I had to laugh at that one since most of the ministry of the LCG is deceiving the members day in and day out with aberrant doctrines and other silly rules.

Authority of the ministry has a great responsibility and that includes disassociating people from fellowship....but members should always remember it is done in love......

Then he says, 'When a flyswatter will do - don't bring a sledge hammer."  This too is laughable considering the heavy handedness of Meredith and others that have disfellowshipping hundreds and hundreds of people over the decades.  Very few times was it done in "love."  Most of the time is was for revenge.  Meredith was particularly good at the revenge part in the late 70's when GTA got kicked out.  Meredith went on a scorched earth policy kicking out all kinds of people who had the slightest association with GTA.  I saw the letters that he sent to those people.  They were shocked at the vehement attitude he exhibited.

The categories the LCG uses to disassociate people are:

• Those who drop out and leave, whether it be to another COG or just stop attending.  McNair claims, "...we do not force people to stay in the church."    He claims that if LCG members happen to meet these people in the store they are not to hide from them but are to look at them as they do anyone else in the world.    This is all laughable again since the LCG and most other COG preach insistently that those who leave the church have the holy spirit taken from them.  So when an LCG member sees these people in the store they immediately think what sorry creatures they are for turning their backs on God.  The commendation is ingrained.

• Those who are suspended.  If a person has done wrong or continues to do wrong they are suspended for period of time.  It usually is for a couple of months so a person feels apart from the body.  The person is not announced from the pulpit and members are not told to stay away from the person.  The individual is told to keep away from members.  Those close to the person may be told to not associate with them for a period of times though. 

• Those disfellowshipped.  They are not to return because of issues that can harm the church.  he reason is not announced from the pulpit.  Only close associates will be told to stay away from them.  LCG members are not to hide from them if they see them in the store.  Members are not to meet socially with them or to take part in any social media they are on.  This comment stands out above every thing else McNair presents.  Social media has wreaked havoc on the Churches of God over the last several decades.  Many like Pack, Cox and Flurry see social media as dangerous and tell members to not read the Internet or participate in Facebook groups and other social media so that they be not corrupted.  Social media right now is keeping the dissension in the LCG alive and flourishing.

• Marked members.  Those who cause deliberate division and who go against church doctrine or teachings.  These people are sicked out and publicly marked in order to protect the church.  Personal details are not supposed to be mentioned because "love covers a multitude of sin."  Excuse me while I recover from laughing.  There have been very few times this has ever been done on "love" towards the individual or families.  It is almost always a weapon used to punish an individual or a family.  It is deliberately done to embarrass them and to be a warning to other church members that they too can share the same fate.  It has always been used in the Church of God as a tool of fear and intimidation.

Tough times are ahead for the Living Church of God as it tries to deal with the grumbling ministers and members.  The more they kick out the less money will be coming in.  That seems to be the most important factor in constantly talking about unity in the church.  As much as they desire it, they will never have unity.

You can listen to Rod McNair's COMMANDED sermonette here:  

The other commanded sermon is by Rod Meredith and was on GOVERNMENT.  It can be listened to here.

A sermonette on the authority ministers have in kicking people out and then a  sermon by Meredith on proper government.  Fear is definitely in the air in Charlotte as these two recordings are being used as a weapon of intimidation and fear.  Tough times are ahead for the LCG members.

Another Church of God Pedophile Sentenced To Prison For Child Molestation

Stephen Gough appears in the Waitakere Distrct Court. Photo / Jason Oxenham

A former woodwork teacher repeatedly molested children 
aged between three and 16 
while reading passages from the bible 
and posing as a churchgoer.

Another Church of God member has been sent to prison for child molestation.  This time it was a man in New Zealand.  He was a former member of the Worldwide Church of God in Auckland and has recently been the spokesman for Fred Coulter's Christian Biblical Church of God.

Earlier today I received several emails concerning this case.  I checked on Gavin's site and he also had the story up.

The London Daily News carried this story:  He Used Children As Sexual Toys

The New Zealand Herald has this: Teacher Molested Children While Reading From Bible

Christian Today:  Teacher Scentenced To Prison For Molesting Chidlren While Reading The Bible

I am on a Facebook page that one of his children is on and this person has spoken how he molested his own children.  They described recently how they had been testifying in court to lock the bastard away.

Amazingly this guy only got three and half years in prison, though the authorizes are expecting more people to come forward and will review the case against him to add more time.

The London Daily News says:

A former woodwork teacher repeatedly molested children aged between three and 16 while reading passages from the bible and posing as a churchgoer.

79-year-old Stephen Gough admitted to nine acts of child sex abuse charges on Wednesday at Waitakere District Court in New Zealand.

He received three-and-a-half years behind bars for his disturbing crimes.

The judge said that Mr Gough carefully orchestrated his acts and used the children as 'sexual toys'. 

While the story does not say if he molested church members children, it is highly likely he did since he was also molesting his own children.  I wonder how many of the WCG members testified against the guy?

It was revealed that Gough would read passages from the bible to the innocent children while sexually abusing them, between 1976 and 1987.

The court also heard that Gough watched children showering by carving out a peep hole under a house.

His crimes only came to light after his victims came forward last year.

The New Zealand Herald says this:

A former Auckland teacher posed as a God-fearing churchgoer but behind closed doors molested children while reading passages from the bible, a court has heard.

Stephen Gough - who can be named for the first time after name suppression lapsed - was jailed for three and a half years at Waitakere District Court yesterday after admitting nine sex charges.

The 79-year-old man, who propped himself up in the dock with the aid of a walking stick, committed "persistent, relentless and repeated" offences against three girls and a boy between 1976 and 1987.

Sentencing Judge Kevin Glubb said Gough, a former intermediate school woodwork teacher was an active member of the church and gained people's confidence by his standing in the community.
"It's hard to imagine a more gross breach of trust," he said.

Some of the most shocking revelations which emerged in court were that Gough would molest victims, aged between 3 and 16, while reading the bible.

The court also heard how the offender made a peep hole under a house so he could watch children in the shower.

The Church of God has a very sad history of covering up for child molesters in its midst.  Ministers and church leaders covered up for many of the molesters over the decades.  Some were ministers themselves.  They got transferred to other areas where they did it all over again.

Gough has apparently been caught doing this before since court records state that he has been in three separate programs to deal with his sexual deviance.

The court heard that by 1993 Gough had completed three programmes addressing his deviant sexual urges and now considered himself to be "fully cured of the terrible addiction".

 Compounding this horrible issue is that parents knew he was molesting their children and they did NOTHING about it!  This too is a long held standard in Armstrongism.  Parents refused to believe that another church member could do such a thing.  They did not want the embarrassment of having to tell the story and they did not want to bring shame upon the church.  It was preferable for the children to suffer instead.  This is still going on today in the Philadelphia Church of God and other groups.

One of Gough's victims told the Herald his offending had ruined her life.

She said people around her knew what he was doing, but never intervened. She struggles with that daily.

"It was horrible. My mother knew this was going on, the neighbours knew, other relatives... no one ever did anything," she said.

She also believed there would be more victims and was pleased his name suppression had lapsed so his crimes could be "put out there finally".

"I have just about died five times in the last year. I've overdosed, I'm just so depressed, so pissed off with life - I'm just sick of it," she said.

"I hate him. He did this to me from when I was a little girl... I just want what he did acknowledged."

The victim said she was angry at Gough, whose "disgusting" offending had pushed her to drugs, alcohol and an eating disorder.

"I've been an alcohol and drug addict since forever. I had good jobs, I've been a good mum but what he did impacts on my life hugely."

She said his guilty plea was "a relief", but it didn't take her pain away.

"Two months ago I tried to take my life... it was pretty bad, they thought I was going to die this time.
It's pretty hard. He has totally and completely ruined my life, I'm a complete mess. I drink to forget... I've been to rehab four times, I got sectioned last year because of my drinking. I'm so f***ing angry."
She said Gough had apologised to her, but his words meant nothing.

"It wasn't just the sexual abuse, he had me living in terror. I will never get over that.

If you would like to speak to police about Stephen Gough, please call Detective Sergeant Murray Free at the Waitakere police on 09 477 5021.

PCG Makes It Offical That They Dumped 4.5 Million In Tithe Money On Edstone House UK

Just as Jesus supposedly walked the hills of England, so thinks the PCG that Shakespeare might have walked the hallowed grounds of Edstone - as if any PCG student or member would read the pagan Shakespeare's possessed writings!

The Philadelphia Church of God has now made it official that they bought the property in England in order to establish another Herbert W Armstrong "college."  Rumors have been swirling around for a while now abort the PCG looking into buying property in the UK.

The PCG cult had hoped to buy the former Bricket Wood campus of Ambassador College.  That fell through when local zoning ordinances stopped the current developer from building condo's and restricted the sale of the mansion and other buildings.

The PCG was not happy that word had slipped out that they were negotiating with millions of dollars of tithe money for this property.  Now they have admitted that they have bought a new property that we previously reported about here:

Gerald Flurry Cult Buying Edstone Hall in England In Order To Start Another "college"

Gerald Flurry's Edstone House UK Financial Boondoggle

The PCG News has this to say today about how their god has been working behind the scenes on making this property available to them.  Just like the printing press and jet airplanes, this house apparently was built in 1939 to be specifically bought by Gerald Flurry in the end times.

EDMOND—The Philadelphia Church of God officially purchased a new campus in England on November 12. United Kingdom/Europe Regional Director Brad Macdonald received the keys today from a Sotheby’s real estate agent, marking the official closing of the deal and opening of a new chapter for the Church’s work in Britain and Europe.

The estate will serve as a new location for the Church’s regional office in England. A handful of students from Herbert W. Armstrong College will also travel to England to support the Church’s work in the region.

Edstone Hall, a 24,000-square-foot mansion in the Warwickshire countryside, contains more than 30 rooms. Built in 1939 in the art deco style, the building has an oak double-door entrance into a stained glass vestibule, stone mullion windows, stone fireplaces, balconies, a 5,500-square-foot Georgian cellar, a Cotswold stone roof and a detached garage. The 22-acre campus sits among the meadows about 4 miles north of Stratford-upon-Avon.

The parkland surrounding the hall includes meadows, pastures and woodland including mature oak and beech trees, as well as walking paths, gardens and a cedar of Lebanon; it also overlooks a large pond. The property also includes planning permissions for a 10,000-square-foot additional building, and an indoor swimming pool and a leisure complex.

“I believe God has long been preparing Edstone for His Church,” Mr. Macdonald said. “Edstone is ideal for the pcg—a perfect combination of majesty and functionality. It’s dignified and impressive, yet practical and sensible.”

It will be interesting to see how the neighborhood react to having an American cult in their midst that is going to be staffed by the elite of the Edmond compound.

Assistant dean of students Eric Burns announced on October 29 that 11 Herbert W. Armstrong College students and graduates from Edmond—Christopher Eames, Jessie Hester, Samuel Livingston, Kiall Lorenz, Brooke Davis, Victoria Lancaster, Nick Irwin, Emmanuel Michels, Kaitlin Eames, Anya Trietsch, Paris Turgeon—will transfer to Edstone to serve in the pcg office for the spring semester.

UK office staff and contractors are currently renovating Edstone Hall, updating fixtures and appliances, and installing new flooring, partition walls, paint and a computer network. pcg chief operations officer Andrew Locher said the technology should increase website performance, create a secure connection to the Church’s headquarters campus, and facilitate broadcast production.
Meanwhile, the Church’s regional office operations will move from a 900-square-foot facility in the Northampton town center to approximately 5,000 square feet in Edstone Hall devoted to office space.

PCG members will soon be able to look forward to mass appeals for more offerings and financial donations towards the upkeep of this financial boondoggle.  As the PCG shrinks in membership money is also starting to shrink.  How long will it be till either Edmond or Edstone is closed down and sold to the Catholic Church or Scientology?

You can read the propaganda piece here: PCG Gains New Campus In Britian