Bob League and Rod McNair's Love Letter To "Wayward" LCG Members

 

Click to enlarge this great letter of Christian "Love"

I received the above "love" letter that Bob League and Rod McNair send out to all those people who need Jesus Christ's love the most during challenging times.  Both League and McNair make me proud to be a Christian considering how much love drips from their hearts.  They are just like Jesus Christ!

Commentary below was with the letter:

Note how the work "mark" is always in all caps as if to really drive home the point and how it's for the "protection of our members" (translation "to keep your unhappiness with our tyranny and doctrinal changes from spreading to others").

It's also somewhat amusing that the marked are not "allowed on church premises" as if they would want to be in the first place.

Then there's the line about contacting a minister if you want to counsel, which we all know didn't turn out too well for the Scarboough's based on the hand written letter from Mr. League essentially saying, "we know you want to counsel, but we don't want to talk to you, so please proceed to take a long walk off a short pier".

It's also of note that it says "based on biblical instruction". There is no such biblical instruction. "Mark" means to "take note of", not to shun and cast off to Satan like LCG interprets it. Taking note is not a tool to be used to rule with and to cast fear into the hearts of others who might disagree or have the nerve to think for themselves.

Christ sat with sinners. Ate with sinners. Admonished people to let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Preached that those that are well have no need of a doctor. Preached to forgive 7 times 70. Preached about love, mercy and forgiveness over and over again. But Meredith prefers to crush any and all who even annoy him in the slightest.

Such a Godly man. No wonder he is third in all the universe!

Is the Living Church of God Out To Destroy Families?

For many years now Rod Meredith and crew have been claiming the LCG is God's best true family on earth.  No Church of God is more unified or loyal as the LCG family.   Or......so it seems.

A reader (LCG member) writes:

Last Sabbath Mr. Meredith had the sermon. I hate to say it but whenever they announce that he will be bringing the sermon I roll my eyes and slump down a little in my chair because I know every word that's about to be spoken. There's thousands of topics available in the entirety of the Bible. Why can't he every shake it change the topic? It is literally painful to listen to at this point. Even if he says the sermon is going to be about something different, it always comes back to the same old thing, just re-packaged under a different title. Same stories, same scriptures, same overall point. Obey and submit, keep the big picture yada yada yada.

I digress.

So last Sabbath he preached on "Family". Funny since this is an area of total ignorance on his behalf. He has been a total work-a-holic his entire life completely neglecting his own family. He now tells married couples to choose the church (LCG) over their spouses even if there are children involved thereby destroying family. He has ruined, God only knows how many families, through his D&R nightmare wherein he had happily married couples separate after years of marriage and children together. Presently he routinely separates wives from their husbands during Gestapo interrogation sessions (to weed out dissenters and "purify God's church")in an effort to turn their stories against each other and prey on the wife's (perceived) weakness. And worse of all, in my opinion, he has disfellowshipped and cut off so many of my spiritual brothers and sisters without trying to keep work through issues with them. Is that how we treat "family"? If a child doesn't agree with the parent, do you just drop them off at the closest bus stop and decide to never speak to them again? That is essentially what is looks like Mr. Meredith has done to so many of the people that I considered (and still consider) to be my "family". All this while knowing that if your last name is "Meredith" you can get away with ANYTHING because you are the top dog's family.

It's so hypocritical I can barely stand it.

The entire sermon, all I could think was I hope a bolt of lightening doesn't come down and strike him in front of all theses children.

Family forgive each other. Family work through differences or just practice unconditional love. Family stick together through thick and thin, not throwing its members away just because they don't always agree. Mr. Meredith has no idea what true family is.

COG Leader Says Atheists Are Caused By Fornicating Evangelicals, Bad Church History and War

Why is it that so many leaders in Armstrongism say the stupidest things about subjects they know nothing about?

Do you know why atheists exist?  A certain COG leader has the answer and like any good Church of God leader it involves sex:

Now, actually one of the reasons that there are evolutionary atheists is, believe it or not, in the 19th century various male “intellectual” were looking for excuses to not have to abide by biblical standards of sexual morality. And back then, some of them even admitted that is why they embraced the concept that life randomly evolved without a creator God.

I would also add hypocrisy to the list. The fact that evangelicals, for one example, are more likely to be involved with fornication than the general public, despite biblical admonitions against it, turns people off.

Did all the fornicating Church of God members cause thousands of atheists to be formed?  Did GTA's fornication and adultery cause more atheists?  Did the sexual escapades of various evangelists lead to more atheists?

This highly "enlightened" leader also blames war:

War is another factor. Many non-believers point to religions such as Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism as major causes of war, which turns many people off to the idea that there is a truly loving God. But of course, all scholars realize that early Christians would not participate in carnal warfare. And in my opinion, this is still true of faithful Christians today.

Did the fact that the Church of God not represent the God they claimed to follow lead to the formation of more atheists?

There are also scholars, for example, like Bart Ehrman, who started out as Protestant but when they learned more about church history, realized that Protestantism simply did not fit with much of the Bible nor church history. And while he may be more of an agnostic than an atheist, the fact that most of what is considered by the world to be Christianity, is not Christianity, and this turns many off of religion (though it does not necessarily make them atheists).

Did the hundreds and hundreds of schisms in the Church of God cause more atheists? Did the lies of Dave Pack, Rod Meredith, Gerald Flurry, and Vic Kubik cause  more atheists?

All of this amazing information comes from our very own "doubly blessed" apostle and prophet Bob Thiel.  Long may he reign! 

Rod Meredith Struggles To Maintain Control of Members and Ministers in the Living Church of God

When a person reads thorough the letters and articles written by Rod Meredith and others on the Living Church of God (LCG) website you will quickly see that things are not as unified in the LCG as they want you to believe.  Almost every single article and exportation from Meredith, Winnail and others has to continually harp upon "unity."

In Meredith's latest letter to the membership he dwells longingly upon the "glory days" of the distant past.  As most people approaching the end of their lives this is a typical mind process.  However, with Meredith, this has been going on for decades.  In the glory days of yore, people were more faithful, more loyal, more diligent, and more willing to follow government.  Today, no so much so.

Meredith looks back upon the old Church of God's ability to focus upon a common goal, something that not one single splinter Church of God has been able to accomplish since. Meredith believes that the early days of the COG consisted of one big happy unified and loyal group.

Back then, there were no dormitories at Ambassador College. In eating our meals, we had to basically “fend for ourselves” to survive. And, because of a financial crisis, Mr. Armstrong was almost forced to close the entire college. In fact, he did at one point put the faculty on half-time salary so they were only able to teach three days a week.

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Yet, those who stayed were faithful enough that the Work grew and prospered because of a few key factors:

• Most of us were loyal and unified because we were able to see the “Big Picture.”

• We “hung in there”...

• We were inspired...

Meredith is certainly correct in the idea that the church seemed more unified and goal oriented back then.  Now it seems to be a different story in the Living Church of God, something that Meredith CANNOT seem to correct.

Notice the following comment by Meredith and how he admits that the LCG is NOT entirely behind him 100%.  Meredith feels that there is a certain percentage that is not unified or as zealous as he wants them to be.  They have NOT caught his vision.  People are not as tied to his "tradition" as he wants them to be.  It is more important to Meredith that people carry out "that" tradition than it is to follow Jesus Christ.  Its still all about the rules

We in the present Work of the Living Church of God have dedicated ourselves to carry on in that same tradition. And Christ has certainly blessed us with a great deal of unity and zeal because of having that same spirit. I hope that all of you dear brethren will “catch the vision” and realize how we must carry on even if something happens to me, to Mr. Ames or to any one of us as we grow older in this present physical life. For in carrying out that tradition, our real life is at stake—our coming eternal life in the Kingdom or Family of God and the kind of reward we will receive is definitely based on how well we serve God in our human lives right now (Luke 19:11–19).

Meredith then talks about "unity" again.  He knows, as does every one else, that the LCG is NOT unified.  It is going to blow up after his death just like the Worldwide Church of God did.  There is NOT a "bond of peace" in the LCG.  There is also growing disappointment in the "government" of the LCG considering how abusive, controlling and wasteful some of its ministers have been lately. Nepotism and corruption seem to reign supreme in Charlotte.

LCG members continue to be "tossed to and fro" and are carried away by the "cunning and plotting of this blog and other sites.  That is what he is really getting at there.There are big bad meanies out there in the world attempting to  open the eyes of LCG members and that does not sit well with the Charlotte empire.

In His inspired Word, the Eternal God commands us to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:3–6). Then, as Christ inspired Paul, the apostle tells us that Christ Himself “gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:11–14).

Its all about government folks!  Though that is Herbert Armstrong's version of what he thought Paul did.  You would think after 80 some years of that epic failure in "government" in the COG  that Meredith and others would wake up tot he fact that it has failed miserably to keep the church unified and the members inspired.

It is important to focus on the fact that we in the Living Church of God have been following that same pattern of Church government God inspired the Apostle Paul to outline. Some try to pretend that the inspired form of Church government is “not important.” But it is vitally important that we learn to teach and practice the same form of Church government we certainly will be teaching and administering in Christ’s soon-coming Kingdom!

Then Meredith has to talk about "unity" again.  Notice how "great deal," "vast," and "overwhelmingly" are used to give the impression that there is 100% unity in the LCG.  Apparently from what is written there is a  percentage of ministers that are NOT giving themselves over to the work.  Unity is not a reality, it is only a "sense of reality."

So we have a great deal of unity. The vast majority of our ministers and members all “speak the same thing.” And we are overwhelmingly involved in “giving ourselves” to “do the Work”! Brethren, I am extremely grateful to report to you in the name of Christ that we do have a greater sense of unity and harmony in this present Work than at any other time I can remember in the 63 years of my full-time service!

After praising Richard Ames and Gerald Weston as being "tested by fire" in their loyalty tot he work, Meredith moves on to the ministry of the LCG.  In his very first sentence he acknowledges that the ministry is NOT unified under his leadership.  Loyalty seems to be an issue even with the ministry of the LCG.  Everyone knows that there is presently plotting and scheming going on in the background on what to do after Meredith dies.  He even compares some of his more popular ministers to Lucifer, which certainly is NOT a sure way to gain unity or loyalty from the ranks!  Lucifer was not loyal to God and some LCG ministers are not loyal to Rod.

Dear brethren, please be sure to pray fervently for all of our faithful ministers—many of whom are doing a tremendous work. These men are worthy of your full support and loyalty. For Christ wants in His Church and Kingdom those who are absolutely loyal. Sometimes different ones come along with more technical knowledge or more of a “scintillating” personality. But God has been down that road before. For He had a magnificently beautiful cherub named “Lucifer” who had all kinds of ability and influence, but who “turned aside.” Lucifer was not loyal to His Creator. We must not be like that. Rather, we must do what we can to continue the wonderful spirit of unity, brotherly love and service which is already extant in the Living Church of God. This will require a spirit of deep humility from all of us, and the willingness to humble ourselves to work together as a team. Christ Himself warned: “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).

You can read the rest of the article here:  The "Fruits" of the True Church