Rod Meredith Says To Be Wary of Non-Ordained Self-Appointed Wannabe's Who Have No Experience

The Living Church of God has an article up accompanying a photo of the current Council of Elders.  It also contains a letter from the Presiding Evangelist (i.e. ordained) Roderick C Meredith.  In the article he talks about the on the current Council of Elders and the qualities they bring to it.

 
Here are a few highlights.


Rod Meredith talks about the current men on the council and how they all get along so fabulously unlike the grumbling cry babies that jumped ship to Dave Packs cult or started their own splinter group.

The atmosphere of the Council is, consistently, extremely warm, loving and dedicated. Council members have commented that they can virtually “feel” the love and warmth among the members of the Council, and their dedication to the Work of God.

I can just feel the sunshine and lollipops right now!  I am so warm and fuzzy that I need some pink cotton candy right now!


No other Church of God on earth, including that non-ordained self appointed prophet, has as many dedicated and loyal men who trained at the feet of Herbert Armstrong than LCG has. Even the church raiding apostle in Wadsworth doesn't have as many loyal men in it.  Meredith also wants the membership to know that he has no "yes men" on the Council.  Not a single man on the Council ever expresses a dissenting voice in any decisions. They are united as one, unlike the non-ordained self-appointed upstart, who brought dissension and division into the Body of Christ.

The main purpose of the Council of Elders is to advise the Presiding Evangelist on doctrines, practices and important programs of the Church and Work of God. We have much hearty discussion on all of these issues. And we certainly do not encourage “yes men” in any way. Although we do have open and frank discussions, the underlying dedication and obvious guidance of God’s Spirit gives us an unusual unity of mind—for which we are very thankful. We want to fulfill the inspired comments of the Apostle Paul about God’s purpose for the entire ministry: “And He 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, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–15).

Meredith wants the membership to know that the LCG is far better equipped for the ministry of God than Dave Pack or the non-ordained self-appointed prophet's mini group.  LCG's men are men of distinction who trained with or worked with Herbert Armstrong, unlike the non-ordained self-appointed prophet Thiel.  LCG's men have thousands of hours of experience of sitting at the feet of Herbert Armstrong and learning from him while the non-ordained self-appointed prophet never even attended God's College!

Unlike the non-ordained prophet who is interpreting things along his own line of mythology, the LCG is not changing anything that HWA instituted, despite the warnings of the non-ordained self-appointed critic/prophet Thiel.

In the Living Church of God, we are doing all we can to strengthen our brethren, and help them understand “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Frankly, we are far better equipped to do this because most of the older ministers and those who worked directly with Mr. Herbert Armstrong came with us near the beginning of this Work! Men like Messrs. Dibar Apartian, Raymond McNair, Syd Hegvold, Carl McNair, Richard Ames—and others—were older, experienced ministers who worked with Mr. Armstrong or, as in Mr. Ames’ case, were even placed on the World Tomorrow telecast directly by Mr. Armstrong. We have had, collectively, thousands of hours of experience in meetings with Mr. Armstrong and the other leaders in God’s Work over a period of decades. We knew Mr. Armstrong, and we knew what he wanted for the Work. We deeply respect what Christ did through Mr. Armstrong and do not in any way intend to change—and will not change—any of the basic truths Christ revealed through him, such as the Sabbath, Holy Days, etc. Sadly, there are some former Worldwide members and ministers who, in order to advance their own particular agendas, have tried to portray a “different” Mr. Armstrong than the real one. We are grateful to have had a Council that has included a significant number of men who directly knew better than these self-appointed critics!

Then Meredith gets to the meat of his article. It is he, and only he, who is qualified to be leading such a ministry.  Unlike the non-ordained and self-appointed prophet Thiel, he never appointed himself to a higher office.  

No one has more experience in teaching Bible classes as he has.  Something that the non-ordained prophet has never accomplished.  

Meredith wants Thiel and others to know that he is the ONLY ONE in the entire COG that had been a Deputy Chancellor of all three colleges, a second Vice President of the WCG and Ambassador College for many years.  He has written hundreds and hundreds of articles over the years, unlike the non-ordained Thiel.  Because Jesus Christ has used him over  the decades he as the ability to bring stability to the church, instead of running to-and-fro like the non-ordained prophet is doing. 

 

Then best of all, the ORDAINED leader of the LCG wants the non-ordained prophet of the Continuing Ed Church of God  to remember that he is NOT ordained.  Since Meredith is ordained he carries on a mantle that the non-ordained prophet cannot carry.  In other words, the non-ordained self-appointed prophet is an impotent little man compared to this mighty, masculine, ordained man.

God’s inspired word tells us: “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:7–8). Brethren, I have never tried to “appoint myself” as an apostle or to any other high office. But many of you realize that even throughout the extended Church of God fellowships around the world—there is no one who has had the depth of experience I have had as one who has spoken the word of God to you. In spite of my human weaknesses, Christ has used me to teach more Bible classes than any other human being in this age. I am the only one who has been Deputy Chancellor of all three colleges, and was Second Vice President of the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College for many years. I have written literally hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of evangelistic campaigns all over the world. The living Christ has used me as a human instrument to do these things. Although I seldom mention this in such detail, I do want you to realize that Christ is in charge of our lives and has guided me—as He has guided all of us—in this way, so that I can bring this kind of experience of stability to the Church, which I have sincerely tried to do now for more than 20 years of the Global/Living Church of God Work. As most of you know, my entire ministry goes back more than 60 years—as I was ordained an evangelist by Mr. Armstrong on December 20, 1952.

Then in another direct slam against the non-ordained self-appointed prophet Thiel, Meredith says this:

 God’s word also tells us, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17). Certainly, this inspired warning should give pause to any of those who are tempted to become “self-appointed critics” and constantly look for the “loose brick” as they eagerly seek to find any, any fault they can criticize.  We must not let ourselves become confused or distracted by those who try to position themselves as “superior” to the ones Christ is actually using to do His Work.

There you have it LCG members!  Do not let yourselves be confused by non-ordained self-appointed upstarts who do not have any experience!

Dennis Says: "You In Your Small Corner...And I In Mine"

You In Your Small Corner...And I In Mine

I really enjoyed the responses to the Grain of Sand article.  It is not that we can all agree on the deep things of science, quantum physics and cosmology, but it  is that many with a COG background have grown up to know that these things are there to be studied , observed and understood even if it also ends up being opinion.  It is informed opinion!  Being informed about anything besides Bible reading is not one of the COGs greatest strong points. 

As a pastor, I cringed, even back when, to hear someone say, "Well Eve...."  or "Adam said...", along with most pronouncements  from "God" when it was really an author of Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel who "said."  Church of God pastors, much less laity, know virtually nothing outside of their very small world of "God said..."  If they do, they are terribly quiet about it.  They don't know about anything such as "action at a distance," parallel universes, string theory, Brane theory, the bi-cameral mind, or the information over the last 20 years about human origins that has demolished "A Whale of a Tale" or "A Theory for the Birds."    That modern birds are most likely the descendents of the dinosaur , feathers preceded flight for other reasons than flying or that modern whales have the remnants of pelvis and hind limbs eludes them.  All quite wonderful stuff actually.  It matters little if the universe is plasma based, full of dark matter that explains the push apart of space and time or holographic in nature.  It is that one knows the possibilities in an age where excellent knowledge, and I hesitate to say this....is increased!

I like the idea of parallel universes that other flat universes like our own may be just out of reach.  I like the idea that perhaps when they touch at times, they produce a new universe in the resulting explosion and big bang as we might say.  Can I prove it.  Hell no!  Physicists can't and I'm no physicist. 

But the possibility exists which is all that matters.  The math seems to work until it doesn't. 

The point is that the COGs have yet to put aside childish things which include everything from real human origins versus why the story of an Adam and Eve is told, to the false perspective that all the New Testament characters loved and all believed the same one thing.  They did not and if you now where to look, within the text of the NT is the sarcasm and face punches that each deliver to the other to send the message of "follow me, not him," much as we see today.  Truly nothing new under that sun.

I have learned that discussion with differing views is great, but arguing is fruitless.  Never in the history of this blog, and most others I expect , has just the right argument been offered for this or that view where others said, "you know...you are right."  Never happened far as I remember and never will.  Each wants their own view to  be the truth which is hangover from WCG days of wanting to know  "how did you come into the truth."  It would have been better asked, "how did you come into the present truth,"  but too late now. 

No one can be in their perspectives where they are not.  I can't be where some are because either I used to be there and moved on or never want to be there in the first place because it makes no sense to me.  Group think does not work in the pursuit of real truth and individuals, not organizations produce real truth, painfully and often after ridicule and scoffing have run their courses.  Being ahead of one's time never worked out well for the theologically or scientifically curious.  Hierarchy must demolish individuality quickly or it will cease to be organized.  Oh to have a church where what you study, believe or see for yourself is encouraged and not crushed.   The crush factor in the COGs is an art form by now.

Pot shots at others is a skill and need of the insecure.  Name calling or abusive challenges mean nothing in reality.  They speak little of the one who causes them and volumes about the one that inflicts them.  No one likes the feeling of being ill informed or outright wrong.  But as I have said in the past, I have never met anyone who belonged to the false church or believed the wrong things.  It is where one is when one is there. 

I think we hold our ground out of the utter insecurity of relinquishing it.  I had it all figured out and someone tells me I don't?  The way I see science matches how I see the Bible and you dare tell me they don't match and I am kidding myself?  You say I can't believe in both Adam and Eve and Genesis and science well done when I know I absolutely can?  How dare you tell me what I can't mix and match.

For example, I have never had a good answer from a fundamentalist as to why Jesus death was the most hideous and sacrificial of all deaths ever.  When one calmly looks at the story, it seems merely an weekend inconvenience for God the Father and Jesus.  God knew he would bring him back and Jesus seemed to know he would be coming back...in a mere three days and better than ever.  That is a far cry from the kind of death and sacrifice portrayed even in the Bible.  Every sacrifice in the OT stayed dead.  They didn't just seem to die.  They actually died and have not been seen or heard from since.  Jesus, if you read the news and history, did not die the most awful death "above all men."  General Crawford captured by the Wyandot's in Ohio trumps Jesus by a long shot.  A burning tire around your neck or being buried alive after digging your own grave in Nigeria or Somalia seems a bit more awful to me.  And I bet those men and women cried out to their God to be saved and heard nothing back.  No one to date has explained to me how Jesus death was the most amazing thing and that God "gave his only begotten son," and not add on , "for a mere three days getting him back better than ever."  Everyone I ever buried is still dead.  Shouldn't a real sacrifice stay dead to be a sacrifice? 

Part of the answer is that if the doctrine of Jesus kept Jesus dead, you have no way to make a religion out of that.  You would have no way to prove that dead was different from any other dead we all experience.  You must get a god resurrected and available if you are going to have a Church.  But in fact, it makes no sense to say that Jesus died the worst and most sacrificial of deaths.  He was gone three days and back better than ever.  Even as far as being crucified is concerned, he died in a mere six hours when that kind of death that tens of thousands experienced at the hands of Romans took days and only when your body fell off the cross and was eaten by dogs were you done with it.  Ministers are so used to exaggerating and emotionalizing Jesus death as presented contradictorily in scripture habitually.  They don't think it through.  Or maybe I'm nuts.  :)

At any rate, good on all you who have expanded your thinking to include science well done. Even if proven inadequate or wrong, real science has the habit of admitting or catching mistakes or wrong theories and moving on.  Religion thinks there are no mistakes or if they find one, kill the person who brought it to their attention and bury it in double talk.  (Read The Surprising God Log for excellent examples of this kind of doublespeak.  http://thesurprisinggodblog.gci.org/  )

The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.

Richard Dawkins

 denniscdiehl@AOL.com