Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees

Here are some excerpts from an article written by a former COG member.  Its food for thought for those sincerely seeking to follow their God.  From Biblesafety.com by Richard of Decatur - Beware the Leaven of the Pharisees

Over forty years ago, I got involved with an organization in which I was initially miss-lead by its literature and ministry concerning its top leadership.  The membership was "conditioned‟ to not read or listen to any negative information concerning the church or its leadership.  After ten years, I finally discovered irrefutable proof that its founder was perhaps one of the most ungodly men who ever walked this earth. Yet, nearly everyone in that organization, ministers and members alike were "brainwashed‟ into reverencing that evil man.  The shock I felt when I heard of the hypocrisy and ungodly behavior of the leadership of that whole organization literally made me sick then and even now as I remember what I learned was taking place at headquarters while I kept to a very tight budget and continually gave all I could to that organization. 

When I left that evil corrupt church organization,my faith was almost in shambles.  I honestly was not sure of which beliefs I had accepted while associated with that organization that were really of God and which ones were the false teaching of a man? Only as I learned that the top leader had plagiarized and stolen Biblical truths from others and other organizations and then claimed them as his own was I able to begin to sift through God‟s Word trying to hold on to those that I could independently justify apart from that organization.  No one needs to experience something like that.  Sad to say, I have seen that many people who eventually learned the terrible truth and left that organization had their faith and trust in God destroyed.  They were so damaged spiritually they could never recover. Truth is the faith of many was really in a man and an organization and not in God and His Word.

• The first thing we should learn from this scripture is to be wary of the leadership of religious organizations.  

 You want to get other‟s attention.  Make some comments about the leadership that might be possibly construed as not flattering or is downright negative.  It does not matter that the comment is absolutely the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  This is applicable to virtually all organizations.  Do this while a member of the armed forces and you could get yourself court-martialed.  Do this at work and you might be fired.  Do this in many religious church organizations and you will probably be excommunicated, marked,and kicked out. 

Let us further consider the last situation.  In addition to being kicked out of your church organization, you will find out that no one still in the organization will be allowed to have any further contact with you under penalty of having the same thing happen to him or her.  This creates a very difficult situation because often those still in the organization you were removed from had been for years your dearest and closest friends and some might even be family members.  Almost always, sad to say, these people will chose the organization and reject you.  Individuals in many church organizations are systematically brainwashed to think that membership in that organization is synonymous with salvation.  They fear the church leadership and are compelled to forsake those who leave rather than be subject to also being kicked out and losing their salvation.  This kind of teaching and behavior in church organizations is absolute proof they are not serving God and have become an abusive church and possibly a cult.

• Many religious leaders say they have compassion on others but they sorely lack actual works to that effect.  Some ride in limousines and expensive airplanes.  Others live in mansions full of luxurious amenities.  Many dine in elegant and expensive restaurants.  There are some religious leaders who have secretaries and outer offices full of an inner circle of elite who guard access to them almost as extensive as the President of the United States has.  Am I the only one that thinks something is seriously wrong when leaders of a religious organization have as their closest friends and advisers those who are not members of that organization?  How can the membership support leaders who generally keep themselves from direct contact with rank and file members of their own organization?    

If you see the leader of a religious organization when coming before groups of the church‟s membership,enter at the last moment and leave immediately after they speak amid an entourage of their inner circle, flags should start waving in your head, SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THIS ORGANIZATION!  When it becomes customary for everyone to stand and applaud religious leaders as they enter or leave pompously strutting not even feigning any signs of humility as they wave to the audience like nobility, alarms should be sounding, SUCH LEADERS ARE NOT OF GOD! Let me be clear, if you ever witness anything even remotely, like what I have just described, you are seeing the workings of a cult.  If you are a member of a church organization with any characteristics of this kind of leadership, GET OUT NOW!

• The second aspect of the warning against the „leaven of Herod‟ relates to heredity.  Often we see the spouse and children of leaders treated with the same regard as the leader.  Usually we are speaking of men and their sons but this can also be characteristic of women and daughters who are leaders.  It is common practice in many leadership roles that a son automatically inherits the throne, title, or ownership.  While there is usually some kind of preparation as the son is "trained‟ as heir apparent to assume the leadership role, often it is not sufficient.  

In business, this inheritance often results in the total collapse and bankruptcy of the business as the heirs run the company "into the ground.‟  From the Bible we find the kings of Israel and Judah generally brought the nations to destruction and slavery. This scenario repeats itself so often it makes one think that there should be some kind of law that actually prevents this from happening.  The heir must be able and prove they have been prepared and are of the same kind of ability to rule as their father.  Of course, we are talking about good leaders, no one would want lousy leaders to be followed in kind by lousy heirs. 

Rod Meredith Disgusted By Traditional Christian Hymns

Songs of Praise at the Royal Albert Hall. 

Living Armstrongism has posted an entry about a sermon that Rod Meredith preached in 1953.  Meredith was fresh out of the "college" headquartered in Pasadena at that time. The sermon shows that Meredith's arrogant dismissive disdain for anything outside of the Church of God was formed at an early age and is retained to this day.

Many of the traditional Christian hymns that have been passed down over the last several centuries are magnificent pieces of music praising God in ways that hymns in the Purple Hymnal never did.  Armstrongism prefers hymns that sing about a vengeful god ready to squash and kill all those who are outside the Church of God.  Armstrongism sings it hymns to a god who is a god of war, violence, pestilence, and death. These hymns are usually the ones that are sung the most and with gusto.  Anything that smacks of grace or love from God towards creation or humanity are rarely sung.  If a hymn that is in the LCG hymnal is "protestant" based you can be guarantee many words have been changed to fit Meredith's theology.

Below is summary notes take by the blog owner on the things Meredith said in his sermon.

Condemning Non-Armstrongite Hymns

Now Meredith begins to discuss hymns. Meredith talks about how disgusted he is by the hymns of the other churches because they contain ideas that contradict what HWA has said, (or as he puts it in Armstrongite jargon "lies".) 

You (the Radio COG lay members) were finishing "Praise Him" which he approved of. Must "not let paganism come into this church". Thankful and congratulates Dwight Armstrong for writing the Bible Hymnal. (13-14 minutes.)

The more he listens to other hymns the more thankful he is that Dwight Armstrong has made the hymns in question. Other hymns have been edited.

Onward Christian Soldiers speaks of a cross. This has been changed to a sword. Nothing loving about the cross. Despicable cross. Not to be "worshiped" in any form.

Singing Hymn 33. Have to watch it regarding what is sung. Meaningless poetic language. Draw me to the cross. Offended that it talks about Christ bleeding. Not the Christ preached in the Bible. (17 minutes.)

Talks of how Protestants believe in "Little Lord Jesus", in mocking tone.

Christ did not have long hair. Protestants have pagan pictures -- idols -- of Jesus. With effeminate features. Portrayed as "sickly individual." He was a "he man". Not a sissy. Not a sissy. (He uses that phrase twice very quickly.)

HWA is preaching the word of God. Soundly. Sober.

Not just telling about the person of Christ.

LCG Lied About 2013 Income Claiming It Was Up 5% When It Was Really Down 9.1%

From the current issue of Living Church News:

Estates and Accounting

In the last couple of years, God’s Work has been particularly blessed by the estate donations it has received.  Those who can make such donations are indeed leaving a lasting legacy that can do great good for those whom God calls and to whom He wants to send a message of witness.  So we are very grateful for these donations as they come. Of course, this brings some accounting challenges, as those of you familiar with generally accepted accounting principles will recognize. For instance, our auditors last year required that some estate donations that were made in 2013, but not yet received in full until 2014 or even 2015, would be booked as “income” for 2013, because they were considered to be “receivables.” As a result (as you may remember from the article accompanying the 2013 audit, published in the September-October 2014 Living Church News, p. 20), this had the effect of “overstating’’ our 2013 income. Also, some estate receipts in 2013 were held over so the funds could be spread out for additional TV stations in 2014 and 2015. This had the effect of increasing our stated 2014 expenses and creating an operating deficit for that year.  So, even though we were blessed in 2014 with about a 5 percent real increase in regular income over 2013, the auditors’ statement for 2014 will show a paper decrease in income of about 9.1 percent in total income, largely because of these generous estate donations. The good news is that the reported income decrease and operating deficit will be due largely to established accounting rules.

Update and "Thank You" from the Business Office

LCG Business Office

 A reader here writes:

Ok, wait, I'm confused. So you lied about how much tithe money you brought in in 2013 to make the numbers look good and to profess your all so important "growth" thereby "proving" that LCG is being blessed as God's one and only true church so the deficit that you are running in for 2014 isn't really as bad as it looks because 2013 wasn't really as great as you said it was? And then you "held receipts" so you could spread out TV stations in 2014 and 2015? And the takeaway is supposed to be the income is down 9.1 percent  on paper but it's really up 5 percent?! Sounds like deception to me but what do I know.

As usual, it's likely that a large number of sleeping sheep won't even question this insanity because if headquarters says it, it must be real.

Rod McNair Lashes Out At Discontented LCG Members Blaming Them For Their Bad Attitudes

One of the biggest tools of intimidation that the Church of God has always used against is members is "stop whining" scenarios.  Discontented members where not allowed to voice their frustrations.  Doing so was direct rebellion against God.  That method of spiritual terrorism was used particularly well by Rod Meredith.  I see that it still used to this day.

April 08, 2015  LCG Weekly Update

God Is Faithful: One of the striking themes of the Exodus story is the extreme negativity of the Israelites.  They complained when they were in Egypt (Exodus 3:7).  They complained when they were coming out of Egypt (Exodus 14:11).  They complained when they had no bread (Exodus 16:3).  They complained when they were given bread (Numbers 11:6).  They complained against the authority of Moses, and tried to incite a revolution (Numbers 16:3).  Others complained when God struck down those who had rebelled (Numbers 16:41).  And they even complained when God told them to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 13).

Were they especially bad sinners?  Of course not.  The Apostle Paul shows that a spirit of negativity is a trap for all human beings—even those with God’s Spirit!  And thus, he wrote to the Corinthian church: “Nor let us... complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.  Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:9-11).

Paul then continued his instruction with one of the most encouraging passages in all of Scripture:  “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

As these Days of Unleavened Bread draw to a close, it is good to remember God’s care and love for us.  He does not condemn us for having difficulty with an obstacle.  He knows what we’re going through!  And because He is faithful, He will always help us when we cry out to Him and seek His strength, mercy and deliverance.  That is one of the enduring lessons of the Exodus.
 
Have an inspiring Sabbath,
Rod McNair

  From a reader here:
 

MY OBSERVATION:

Me thinks Rod McNair protesteth too much. It's interesting that in addition to all the sermons on obeying and submitting (to LCG government) McNair is now chastising the unhappy LCG members even in the weekly update which is read as an update from headquarters in congregations worldwide each Sabbath. Notice how he tries to scare them about complaining against the authority of Moses and those that tried to incite a revolution. It's sickening that he would even try to draw a parallel between the corrupt, completely absent of humility, tyrannical LCG authority, himself included, and Moses. Translation: "You stupid sheeple need to sit down and shut up. Quit complaining about the fact that we are changing church doctrine, ruling unjustly, spending millions of dollars on university expansion and prying into your private lives. We have been given this authority over you by God Almighty and we can rule however we see fit. To question us is to show a lack of faith for which you will be punished".

Interesting how he completely leaves out the part  where God punishes Moses for not following His instruction and for exalting himself before the Israelites in Numbers 20:8-12
 

“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

 
McNair must is either stupid or counting on the fact that his audience isn't all that familiar with scripture. Either way, it made for an entertaining read.