Dennis on Dave Pack's 'Clarion Call' - Send It In!

Send It In!

All churches require money to operate their ministries.  All churches have come to realize that just depending on "give as you are able"  or  deciding for oneself what they can afford to give does not work well when you want to build things and put your ideas out "to all the world."  Around here the radio ministers make no bones about the Christian obligation to tithe so get over it and "send it in!"

But then there are those types of ministers, apostles and prophet types who take it to the outer limits of demanding members supply church "needs."  This is not a discussion on tithing.  The argument is endless and you can't win because no one wants to be made to feel they are robbing the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of income or faithless in believing that if they tithe, that God will open the windows of heaven and give most of it back if not more...just try it.  This is a brief caution to the hundreds of you who read this site secretly and quietly because you have to if you are ever to get another perspective and the financial and spiritual abuse by your Church leaders.

Among the "send it in" ministers who take the prize for pushing members to the brink and over at times is Dave Pack, Apostle and many other glorious titled founder of the Restored Church of God.  Dave coined the "send it in" concept and is well known for his insane demands for retirements, homes, estates and any spare cash you may have just sitting doing nothing in the bank.  If you wish to hear him directly commanding it, find a copy of "A Clarion Call" and be inspired or enraged depending on your orientation.  (Exposés of "Clarion Call" can be found here and here.)

Dave is just a good example of influence of ministry over member gone nuts.  I'm not so sure you can actually call it a ministry as the demands undo the meaning of the concept of servant to all.  In these kinds of cases, the members are the ministry and the minister is the beneficiary.  Flurry and countless others do this all the time and not just in the COG's.  It is a tendency in ministers to make demands of members which are beyond reason.  I have often wondered just how brain dead a member has to be to give in to this approach by his church pastor, but that is not the topic here. 

So to the point.  Some simple concepts and rules the member should adopt in their giving, NO MATTER HOW THREATENING YOUR PASTOR GETS TO SEND IT IN.

Your hard earned monies are yours

Your retirement is yours

Your home is yours

Your bank account is yours

Your belongings are yours

Your time is yours

Your mind is yours

Your family comes FIRST

Your needs come FIRST

Your children come FIRST

I realize the Bible tells you differently in places and ministers can quote "God" to you all day guilting you out of your own mind and common sense if you allow it.  Please remember, even if don't understand this.  Human Priests in the OT wrote the OT and every rule in the OT that the masses must obey.  If you do not understand this Bible fact, do your homework.  It will easy your mind that you are not really offending a Deity that also says He owns the cattle on a thousand hills , which if He really needed money, He could sell since they belong to Him.

Please also note that the concept of "and they all shared their stuff in common," in the book of Acts was a very short lived and failed experiment in early Church history.  Once more wealthy people came into the Church, all bets were off and the ministry was forced to abandon that idealistic view.  The first successful businessman who came into the church with the "all share" view in vogue who said "screw that," probably changed the policy as the ministry would not want to lose his contributions.  Voting with your feet or funds has always caused ministers to discover new truth and ways to keep you in your seats if an idea of his goes wrong.

So here are the real rules if you wish to keep your own integrity in tack along with your mind and resources.

Never give what you do not have

Never give beyond that which you are able thinking it will come back to you. It won't

Never give up your home to a church cause

Never give up your property to a church cause

Never Will your home, property and stuff to any church...EVER!

Never allow your personal finances to become the business of the Church or the leadership of that Church

Never dip into your retirement for a current Church need or want...EVER!

Never be afraid to undo what you said you'd do...no matter what you think the Ananias and Sapphira tale was all about.  It is not what you think is about.

Never put yourself in a place of need by giving to someone who has everything already

Never send in diamonds, physical gold or silver to your church.  It will be kept by the ministry and the rings will end up on the hands of their kid's fiancé.

Never break these rules or you will live to regret it.

And a few "always" rules.

Always feel free to repeal what you said you'd give under duress of sermons filled with proof-texting and too long in your seat hearing about it.  You won't be struck dead.

Always check out the size, quality and location of your pastor’s home

Always demand to know the real salary the guru gives to himself or family members

Always use the phrase "I'll take that under consideration," when you are being commanded to do something by your minister.

Always defend your family and partner before you defend the Pastor or Church

Always allow for anything the Pastor says to be taken with a grain of salt.  Petra, "God says," "I am..."  "You aren't..." come to mind.

Always pay attention to the spinning in your head and the pain in your stomach.  Your stomach is telling you the truth. Your head is lying to you.

Always be your authentic self before you allow a book, booklet, Church or its leadership to hijack your mind

Always stay on your own journey and not that of others unless you really chose wisely to do so and make them part of your journey not you giving up yours for theirs.

And finally...

No God will be angry with your if you adhere to the above

Only men will be angry with you if you adhere to the above

If you allow others to do your thinking for you...

If you allow others to filter your life through their eyes

If you are motivated by fear, guilt and shame in these matters...

I will be mad at you as will most of the people you love and who love you.

denniscdiehl@AOL.com 

Rod Meredith Says: The Pope is Resigning, the Gays are Marrying, and Here is Your Special Offering Envelope

Always one to take advantage of a news event, Rod Meredith sent out a letter on Valentines Day to fill the Church coffers with more money.  This Valentines Day letter included an envelope for members to send in their "tithe of the tithe." 

This "tithe" has to be one of the Church of God's most deceitful money making tactics it ever used.  Poor members who scrapped and went without in order to raise money for the Feast and other Church Holy Days had to tithe on the tithe that they had already saved.  This money was sent in to keep the ministry afloat with trips and travel and secondarily to help pay rent for rented meeting halls.  It went to ministers who did not have to tithe and did not save second tithe.  The COG has routinely given large amounts of tithe money to ministers so they can travel around the world on Feast Days. These amounts can be from $5-10,000.00 a shot.  All the while the poor church member who double tithed were lucky to be able to afford a Motel 6.

This ploy of sending in "tithe of the tithe" money obviously did not work because Meredith had send out a letter a week later calling a church wide fast for February 23rd. Another letter followed  a few days later. The church is suffering financially because the membership is still not sending in money as they are expected

Perhaps it is time that the leadership in Charlotte got off their high horses and lofty pedestals and got on their knees in front of their congregations and asked for forgiveness for the sins they have committed against the membership.  Perhaps it is time for these men to humble themselves before their God and truly become servants of men and women and actually serve the membership without any expectation of receiving money or accolades.  Perhaps then we will truly see who the real shepherds are in the Church of God.  Just think what an example this would be for the spiritually raped and devastated members in Philadelphia and Restored Church of God.  They would leave those dead churches so fast Meredith’s head would spin.  

Imagine a grace filled life where you did not have to worry about what  some Pope does or the gay couple down the street.  Imagine not have to live in fear for our salvation from one day to the next because some evangelist is constantly trying to scare the crap out of you. 

One can only dream………

February 14, 2013

Dear Brethren,

Greetings from Charlotte, NC! With the resignation of Pope Benedict, prophetic events will

probably move forward faster than ever! The "Arab Spring" has brought about a new situation in North Africa and the Middle East to prepare the way for the "King of the South" (Daniel 11 :40). The financial and political upheavals in Europe will soon begin to prepare the way for the coming Beast Power to arise. In America, Maryland has just become the eighth state to approve same-sex "marriage"! Additionally, more and more parts of our society- including the professing Christian ministry-are ignoring or even approving homosexual practices and other perverted behaviors which are anathema to God Almighty! The end of this present age is certainly drawing closer-and we can be encouraged as we see these things occur. For, indeed, it does need to get "darkest just before the dawn."

The Eternal God has said He would have a Church preaching His Truth to the very end. We in the Living Church of God-a vital part of the "little flock" (Luke 12:32) which Christ talked about-are having an increasing impact on the world through preaching God's message with increasing power over television, our publications, and now the Internet. The world desperately needs the message that we can give in a special way. We are doing the Work with "all of our hearts" as most of you know. So please carefully consider any way that you can "go above and beyond" in helping out Christ's Work at this time. As the Holy Days approach, we have the opportunity to show honor and worship to the great God we serve in the Holy Day offerings which He commands.

As we have mentioned before, March is normally the first month when we begin to contribute the tithe of our second tithe. This-tithe is used-to help defray the common expenses in-conducting the annual Holy Days. As the Spring Holy Days approach, we use this tithe of the tithe to rent halls to meet in and to send ministers out from Headquarters. If you are able to send in a tithe of your second tithe to help with these festival expenses, it will be greatly appreciated!

May the God who gives us life and breath lead you ever closer to Him. May all of us do our part with zeal in preparing for the coming Kingdom of God and giving our lives to the Creator as Jesus Christ gave His life for us at this very time of year.

With Christian love,

Roderick C. Meredith