Dennis On: "If I HAD to Choose A Church"

If I HAD to Choose a Church

I miss church.  Well not the formal church or the sit for two hours church.  I don't miss the one man show church or the "we only," church.  But I do miss church.  Maybe I more miss the coherent and intelligent discussion of all things theological or being in a place where one can teach and be taught what the Bible really means, who actually said it and why.  I'd like an open minded church .  In all my days growing up in the Presbyterian Church not once was there any controversy over what the Bible meant or where you went to church.  Not one person got turned over to Satan, wished well and hoped they repented.  No secret groups wanting this or that taught or not taught lurked at church picnics or in the parking lot.  You never lost your good friends to new truths or the shenanigans of others messing with your life. 

But it would have to be a church where people are allowed to think and believe as they wish. After all, beliefs are not necessarily truths.  There are some things I'd have to be able to believe until it either seemed totally true over time or not as true, just leave me alone.  There would have to be room for discussion and disagreement with no ill will towards others intended.  I suppose the members and ministers would have to be willing to be challenged , questioned and even ill informed until shown otherwise.  I'd have to work on being that myself.  But turning you over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh  would have to be out of bounds.

So, what would be an ideal church for me.  I can't speak for you of course. 

On the plus side, if I had to go with a group, it would be a Sabbatarian one.  If you're going to use the Bible then it doesn't take an Einstein to see that the founding fathers of the church, which I am pretty sure Gospel Jesus never intended to start in his story, would be Jewish Christians who saw Jesus as an extension of Judaism and cleaning it up a bit .  I can go with clean and unclean meats but have never heard much of a real reason why one kind is physically better than the other.  Holy days pointing to this or that possibility seem much more logical from a Biblical perspective than Solstices and Equinoxes pointing to the actual origins of Christ-mas and East-er, but I also think Solstices and Equinoxes are kinda cool since they are the origins of the Pauline/Gentile/What you got today Sunday church practices.   One the other hand, I'd have to recognize that the Sabbath did not originate with the Hebrews or any God "resting" (do God's rest?) on the Seventh Day.  It is a Hebrew spin on a Sumerian tale where the God's first rested after they drown the worker bee humans who made too much noise.  Long story.

It would need to be a group that was heavy on Gospel Jesus, ignoring the failed prophecy of Revelation Jesus and totally unconnected the Pauline Christ.  Gotta pick one. Can't have all three.  Gospel Jesus would never have recognized Pauline Christ and Peter, James and whole rioting cities evidently did not either. In short , the perspective of the Apostle Paul on the real meaning , as if he knew, born of hallucinations in the mind of a man that never once met or quotes Jesus would have to go. 

Christ or Paul?, the Rev. V.A. Holmes-Gore wrote: 

"Let the reader contrast the true Christian standard with that of Paul and he will see the terrible betrayal of all that the Master taught....For the surest way to betray a great Teacher is to misrepresent his message....That is what Paul and his followers did, and because the Church has followed Paul in his error it has failed lamentably to redeem the world....The teachings given by the blessed Master Christ, which the disciples John and Peter and James, the brother of the Master, tried in vain to defend and preserve intact were as utterly opposed to the Pauline Gospel as the light is opposed to the darkness."

 Ernest Renan, in his book Saint Paul, wrote:

 "True Christianity, which will last forever, comes from the gospel words of Christ not from the epistles of Paul. The writings of Paul have been a danger and a hidden rock. the causes of the principal defects of Christian theology."

Rudolf Bultman, one of the most respected theologians of this century, wrote in his Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul:

 "It is most obvious that Paul does not appeal to the words of the Lord in support of his....views. when the essentially Pauline conceptions are considered, it is clear that Paul is not dependent on Jesus. 

Jesus' teaching is -- to all intents and purposes -- irrelevant for Paul."

Those Incredible Christians, Dr. High Schonfield reports:

 "It was not only the teaching and activities of Paul which made him obnoxious to the Christian leaders: but their awareness that he set his revelations above their authority and claimed an intimacy with the mind of Jesus, greater than that of those who had companied with him on earth and had been chosen by him....It was an abomination, especially as his ideas were so contrary to what they knew of Jesus, that he should pose as the embodiment of the Messiah 's will....Paul was seen as the demon-driven enemy of the Messiah....For the legitimate Church, Paul was a dangerous and disruptive influence, bent on enlisting a large following among the Gentiles in order to provide himself with a numerical superiority with the support of which he could set at defiance the Elders at Jerusalem. Paul had been the enemy from the beginning. and because he failed in his former open hostility he had craftily insinuated himself into the fold to destroy it from within."

I know it is almost incomprehensible to think of a Christian faith without Paul, but the evidence of Paul as the author of current gentile Christianity verses the understanding the real (or imagined) disciples of Jesus had, and no they could not have been all that oblivious to Jesus meanings.  They are said to have spent one year (Matthew, Mark, Luke) or three (John) with Jesus and Paul is said to have had a two minute vision only he understood in his head...you choose.   Two minutes is being generous.  Paulianity is what we have today.  I am not sure it was what was intended.  Long story but you know how I feel about Paul the Mythmaker and his not so accurate use of the Old Testament to fuel his views.  The ultimate one man show I suppose I detest so much.

I'd have to find a church that believed in good science well done not "falsely so called."  That's what an insecure Christian says about science when the science actually disturbs their world view.  The universe really is 14 billion years old and earth is less than nothing in it .  Quantum physics really can inform of the nature of reality and how time and space mingle.  Maybe it is a hologram or perhaps Branes and parallel Universes are real and just out of reach, but the church can't be ignorant of these things.  They would have to know or at least be very much less rigid on the fact of evolution and what the word "theory" really means to a scientist as opposed to a fundamentalist.  The fact is that over the last 2000 years, the "Church" has always had to yield to good science well done and not the other way around of good theology well done.  Actually the two can never meet. 

They would have to lean heavily towards the understanding that humans too evolved over the last 2.5 million years and more and that modern humans are about 160,000 years old so far.  Neanderthals were successful, but not us, for about 250,000 years and others before them for 500,000 years.  And while dinos "died out" , I'd like folk to at least admit 200,000,000 years ain't bad.

click to enlarge

It would need to be a group that understood the difference between mythology and historical facts.  Adam and Eve would have to go and replaced with an understanding of the real intent and meaning of Genesis 1-3. I will spare you for now as I know most of you are tired of hearing it!  You might not think this all that important until you think of the misery inflicted on the masses (by the Apostle Paul and Gentile Church Fathers ) over  your stinking rotten selves due to "Original Sin" and then you might be able to free yourself from the idea that all humans are rotten and hell bound,  no matter, especially women who caused it all and therefore should shut up in church.  They would have to understand that even human Jesus would not have known Adam and Eve were not real people in real time or maybe even Moses or Abraham.  It would be a unique church for sure.  Most intelligent Rabbi's today in Judaism would admit these characters occupy a less than sure place in Jewish history. 

We'd have to understand stories like the sojourn in Egypt and the Exodus are not literally true and never could be in a dozen different ways and for hundreds of reasons.  Great metaphor maybe, but not history.  An understanding of who actually wrote the Pentateuch and why would help.  The battle between Scribes and Prophets in the OT would also be up for grabs along with "just what the heck do you mean prophecy fulfilled?"

It would be nice to chat in church or study about why the Gospels really have no harmony.  Who wrote what and why they aren't really eyewitness accounts.  Midrash, and not a form of Shingles , would have to come up a few times to explain how Matthew came up with his birth of Jesus story and Luke , who never read it, came up with his.  I like the study of why he used four loose women in the OT in his genealogy of Jesus before getting to Mary, but that's getting picky now.  "We weren't  born of fornication," and all.  A great study on why have a genealogy  in the first place when Jesus real and literal father was God would be fun. 

Finally for now, perhaps at least a tip of the hat to astro-theology as to the ultimate origins of both Sun Worship and Son Worship.  Hot topic for literalists I know but you just can't get away from it. 

Jesus being the central sun having 12 disciples who surround him and with whom he spends one year not unlike the real sun that travels in one year through the 12 signs of the zodiac seems not so far fetched to me.  It's the story of all dying godmen plain and simple.  It's a great story and an amazing tribute to the human need to know what it is all about .  The fact that the Gospel story of Jesus exactly matches the story of the Sun through the one year , one month in each sign, can't be a coincidence.  Or it is the greatest coincidence in history. As above so below and all that...   Understanding that "lo, I am with you , even unto the end of the age (not world) and Aries the Lamb (Jesus) dying and the Sun now moving into Pices the Fish (Christian Church symbol the last 2000 years) is not a coincidence.  This is an amazing story with rich detail from the Bible to support it, but alas, few care and the rest are afraid of it.    "Our God is a consuming fire....."....The Sun.

Ok, I know there is not place such as this.  Maybe a Unitarian Church but they are off in the summer.   Perhaps the more liberal Episcopal Church would do .  I attended a Catholic Mass in a large church a couple years ago and Sun symbols were everywhere so maybe that would work. 

I actually do miss church.  I miss lives to live and friends to get to know.  I miss helping when help is needed and older people who need encouragement in the last days of their lives.  I miss meaning but I don't miss meanings that don't mean what they are said to mean.  I'm crazy like that.  I don't miss most ministers.  I miss teaching but the path this whole experience has lead to leaves few who want to learn "that bullshit" as I have been told  lol.   I know it is hard to give up the Sunday School idea of the Bible, Jesus and his friends.  I still have my perfect attendance pins and bars for years of Sunday School! 

For now I will be content with:

Desiderata

 

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, 

and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,

 even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. 

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; 

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment 

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. 

But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

 Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, 

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,

 in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, 

it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

© Max Ehrmann 1927 

....but I still miss church.

denniscdiehl@AOL.com

Glynn Washington Feliz Navidad

Church of God the Eternal: Night to be Much Observed A REQUIRED Memorial and You WILL Die If You Don't Keep It!

The  Church of God the Eternal has a word of warning to those COG members and lapsed members who do not keep every jot and tittle of the organizational rules and dogmas.  God is going to get you for that!

We also have kept the Night to Be Much Observed. It is a perpetual memorial that we are commanded to observe (Exodus 13:9), and in doing so, God says that it shall be a sign. Strong's Concordance describes that sign as "a distinguishing mark." Surely it was a sign of obedience so that when the death angel passed over the children of Israel, they were protected. Every other family in Egypt suffered loss of life. So in our day, those called who continue not to participate in God's appointed places under that same sign of obedience likewise will suffer loss of life. However, this time it is their opportunity for spiritual life at stake.

As a called out Church of God member you were predestined to join the group and are required to keep all the days commanded.  By doing so you get to be a god where you can rule with that rod of iron with vengeance!

After the Passover, God immediately initiated their journey out of sin. And for those that God had made choice to bring out, it was a night to be much observed. So also for us, for whom God did predestinate to be called in our time to have the opportunity to become one of the future Sons of God, it was a night to be much observed.

Those lovely words are courtesy of David Brandenburg.

Ron Weinland's Says Jesus Is NOT Coming Back Sunday and Blames Others for the Implosion of His Cult

Poor Ron Weinland.  Being sent to prison for a prophetic 3 1/2 years by a worldly judge who saw through the putrid lies of Ron, Laura, Jeremy and Audra.

Ron has been lying for the last decade about Jesus return at various times. Other lies involve various moments in prophetic timeline that he thinks are happening or have happened. Every single one of those predictions have been a lie also.

Ron predicted that Jesus was retuning this weekend, anytime between Sunset Saturday night to sundown on Sunday night.  He has been laughed at and mocked for the predictions.

Today, the imprisoned felon had one of his cult  members post his latest letter from jail where he admits Jesus is not returning.  He lied to his members, again.  Why will they remain loyal to this buffoon?

Weinerdude writes:

May 13, 2013

Over the past few posts, God has been preparing us for this one. There are things we have been given that have helped us to focus upon where God is leading us and to give us better understanding of what and why we have experienced such a strong spiritual assault (far, far greater than the norm) over a five month period of time. This knowledge has also opened a door so that we can more clearly see that God is giving us more understanding in regards to the Thunders and Trumpets of Revelation.

Yep, that's right brethren.  God has revealed to me that my timing is off, again.

It is not an easy process for us to learn in such a manner (through suffering), but there is great purpose in how and why God reveals these things to us in the manner He does. 

It's not been easy brethren to be made out to be a jackass every time I open my mouth. We all have suffered for it but be encouraged, God has given me knew knowledge!

God is using this time to temp Satan to commit more crimes so that god can use Satan's foibles against him. Satan is our accuser and the more he accuses us the more he will have to pay later.

Another purpose for God revealing things to us as He does is because of what He is working out in order to bring Satan and the demons to a time of great judgment upon them, and because of the spiritual wars that are part of this process that include strategies and timing that are critical in great wars.

When god permits this trials upon us it is because it is god sharpening us like iron.  We are being groomed to be teacher sin the the world tomorrow to all the loser COGers and humanity.

There is yet another great purpose God is working out in how he is revealing truth to us. The example of our experiences through such suffering will benefit those who live in the Millennium and in the Great White Throne time period because they will be taught this lesson and be able to learn through it. As a result of our experiences, people living during those periods of time will be given clearer insight into God’s transforming power that works in human life. They will be given a better understanding of the process that works to produce a strong and mature faith in one’s life and they will be given greater help in their conversion process apart from the kind of trying through fire that those in Satan’s age of influence over mankind have had to endure.

"In light of that brethren, I am sorely distressed that more and more of you are leaving the church because you  think I am a failure.  That is Satan working against me and you."

Satan and the demonic world have had an open door to torment and harass God’s Church in their pursuit to separate all whom they could from God. 

Then like the Mormons salvation in Weinlands cult is progressive.  You go through all kinds of hoops to get to it, IF you even can.

We are very blessed to be experiencing (living) this heightened progressive phase of His creative power at work that has been constructed (built) to be what it is today and where it is at this point that is concluding 6,000 years of God’s building process (progressive process).

The longer Weinerdude is in prison and the more prophecies he utters that fail, he more people that are leaving.

People are also questioning Ron's decision to ordain some people. Ron says the ordinations were another test by God to weed out the chaff.  This guy just gets crazier by the moment!

This kind of jealousy just in ordinations alone and the accompanying personal misjudgment by such people is something I have witnessed throughout my years in Worldwide. I’m not speaking of a few times I’ve witnessed this, but of dozens upon multiple dozens of times. In thinking of some who recently have harbored such jealousy over another person who was raised to a senior elder, they judged that I had been in error for allowing such a thing and that I really didn’t know this person and their past as I should have. Wow! It is amazing when people lift up themselves and cease to see the magnitude and evil of their own sins and unrighteous judgment of others whom God had long forgiven, just as He had done concerning their own sins. At some point in the future, this matter of God having so many in the Church to be ordained will likely be addressed further, although we were already told why   and that will yet come to pass. However, there has also been another purpose in timing with the number of people ordained. It was for the very reason (at this stage of the end-time) to try and test the Church in a powerful way. There were other ways of testing as well, but this one tends to bring unrepented dross to the surface quickly.

With Ron being in prison he cannot stop the flow of people and money out of his cult.  No one listens to Laura, Audra or Jeremy or the other dingbats he placed in charge.

This reminds me of Ezekiel who was given much prophesy concerning the future captivity of Israel. The people mocked him and considered him a false prophet because their human reasoning was centered on what they could “see” in that Israel was already in captivity. Everyone is tried and tested often as to their oneness and unity with God. Some will seek to hold to what God has placed before them, for they see the great value and treasure it is, and have chosen to always fight for it until God’s will and purpose in them is completed.

My own focus and maturity over this subject, of people choosing to leave, has grown even more as we have come to this moment in time. It has often been stated that there will be those who turn from God all the way up to Christ’s coming, and I have come to greater peace in this process as well, although it does carry certain regret (of the wrong choices of others) and sorrow for those who turn away, but I know that God will still visit them at some future time and give opportunity then of repentance that they have failed to choose now.

Then Weinerdude finally admits Jesus is NOT returning on May 19th:

It is my hope that all will choose to continue moving forward once May 19th has come and gone and Christ has not yet returned. That is the thrust of this post, for I believe God is showing us we have much to do before Christ returns and that this world has much to suffer before that day. Christ will return on a Pentecost, and we will move from Pentecost to Pentecost looking and waiting for his coming. Be patient, for all will become clearer as we move forward.

This news may be deeply disappointing, as it is for me, for I hate this world and the ways of spiritual Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon.  

Rod Meredith Says Jesus Was Filled With Surging, Pulsating, Sexual Lusts and Desires; Had A Sex Drive That Was "Bigger Than Any Man's In This Room!" All Because of Real Wheat Germ

Here are some excerpts sent to me from a reader on here who got them from Rod Meredith's sermon preached on March 2, 2013.  The older Meredith gets the more delusional he is.  Can he truly believe that the ministry of the LCG is the MOST PURE ministry the COG has ever had - especially those that are stationed in Charlotte?  I know some of those guys and they are anything but pure!  Even sinless Rod is not pure!

The typical COG storyline is, the ministry is pure and agents of God and the people are sinful grumbling worms filled with sins that need to be corrected.  Rod says his ministers are pure while the members are disrespectful, full of murmurings and are judgmental.  Can the poor sheeeple EVER do anything right?

Notice all the catchwords and phrases that are directed towards the murmuring rebellious lay members.

00:19:30

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: (Hebrews 3:7 )"Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me….” Remember how often I like to go through Mr. Armstrong used to read back through those passages sometimes. Sometimes he had two and one half hours to give a sermon, I’m not exaggerating – the regular service was three hours. So he spoke straight through for two and a half hours sometimes, and had time read, and read, and read. And he’d read how they would disobey Moses, and they’d to kill Moses. They tried to stone Aaron and Moses; they got mad every time they got corrected. They were bitter, carnal, rebellious. The murmurings, the murmurings, ‘Well, we don’t agree with Moses, well Aaron and Moses are taking too much on themselves, we have our human reasonings.’ Blah, blah, blah - they went on and on - the murmurings of the children of Israel – God never liked that. And yet we have that sometimes in our church. That same human nature stirred up by the same Satan the devil to turn those against human beings that are human, and yet that God is using to do his work.

The state of rebellion in the Living Church of God is apparently running rather deep right now.  That probably is what has lead to the drop in income.  When people question, are grumpy or pissed off the money does not flow freely.   rod wants all of you rebellious miscreants to LEAVE the LCG NOW!  Do it on your own before a minister has to do it for you!

I would say this, and I don’t want to brag by my part - I may be the weakest one. But we have, and I’ve been as I said in the church sixty three and one half years and watched, somehow got to know very closely – thousands of hours personally, with Herbert Armstrong, Garner Ted Armstrong, Dick Armstrong, and Herman Hoeh, and many of the other leaders; Raymond McNair whom I lived with for a while – went on baptizing tours with, and of course I got to know terribly well Raymond Cole, Burk McNair, and nearly all the other older leaders. And taught, and trained, and baptized some of them like Dean Blackwell, and Dave Albert who was later on the television, and others like that. I got to know them very, very well. And I think right now, sincerely, and I mean this (leaving myself out), I think sincerely that we have probably the most dedicated, and clean, and pure ministry, certainly here at headquarters, and as far as I can tell around the world, that I have ever seen. I really mean that. I could give you examples, but I don’t want to tell you bad things about the past, but we have that. But in the church brethren, some of them have fallen short, and some of this stuff that’s coming out now even here has been building up for years – attitudes, and murmuring, and judging, and profound disrespect for the ministry. And sometimes the ministry was not right there where they were, working with them and guiding them as much as we should have been, but they got off track, and really sorry about that because if it keeps on more marriages will be broke up, more people will be gone from the church, more people will be gone from their jobs right here. It’s serious brethren! We need to pray about that and ask God to help these human beings, and work with them, and teach them, and train them, and fashion and mold them as only God can do. But we do have a very dedicated ministry to do that. So he says, “Do not harden your hearts.” Don’t do that, don’t (say), “Here’s what I want! And we’re gonna have our attitude, and we’re not gonna change!” That attitude will not stay in God’s church. And if any of you have that attitude, you just should leave yourself – if that’s your attitude you don’t belong in God’s church. I’ll just be honest with you, we might lose some of you, I’m sorry about that, I love you. My dad used to say when I was a rebellious teenager I went through a bad *spill* – I’m sure none of you went through a bad spell – but I had a bad spell when I was a teenager, and I remember my father’d say, he said, ‘Rod,’ he said, ‘Rod, that attitude,’ he said, ‘you can stay, but that bad attitude’s got to go.’ I remember him saying that, ‘you can stay but that attitude has got to go.’ And that’s the way it is among us here; that attitude has got to go, otherwise you have got to go. And I hope you can understand what we’re saying. You’re not to have that rebellious, self-willed attitude that they had ‘in the day of trial… where your fathers tested me and proved me, and saw my works forty years. Therefore I was angry….’ You say, ‘Oh Jesus was so wonderful he would never get angry.’ Yes he was, Jesus was the God of the Old Testament, and he was angry ‘with that generation, and said, “they will always go astray in their heart, they have not known my ways.” So I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”’ And the rest he was talking about was dual of course; the Sabbath, but primarily going into the Promised Land. ‘Beware, brethren….’ Get this, verse 12. ‘Beware… lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief….’

Never one to preach a sermon without talking about sex, Rod starts in on his favorite subject. I guess the LCG is filled with adulterous members.

Interesting how that’s worded isn’t it? An evil heart of unbelief. If you don’t believe your very Creator, God calls that an evil heart. That attitude will not take you into the kingdom. Somewhere along the line I have had to get over the attitude which I’ve had at times when I was first coming into the church, ‘well Mr. Armstrong was just making noise, and he’s yelling at us, or he corrected me, or he’s corrected the church too hard,’ and realized, no he’s the human, but God was using him, and building the Church of God through him as an instrument. And I had to look beyond him to God, and not have an evil heart of unbelief, that’s what God calls it ‘in departing from the living God.’ Don’t ever depart from the living God, ‘but exhort one another daily.’ It doesn’t say pick at each other, don’t do that, but you can rightly exhort or encourage, and say, ‘Look John, or *Jin*’ or tell your wife Joann, or your husband Joe, ‘please let’s, let’s get with it. This is the Church of God, let’s get clear in or clear out.’ Don’t hang around on the fringe all the time picking, and picking away at the very work we’re part of. Be loyal, be right in the center of God’s will. ‘Exhort one another today, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.’ Sin is very deceitful. ‘Well I see this other woman over here, and my wife’s getting kind of old and fat, so I just, God won’t mind, you know.’ Or, ‘my husband is not terribly romantic,’ or something, ‘so I’m just going to look over in this other direction, and God won’t care.’ YES HE WILL CARE! God says thou shall not commit adultery, and God said that if you look at and turn over in your mind attitudes of sex with another person besides your mate which you’re bound to by God in Heaven, that is the spirit of adultery – that’s what it is – and you will not go in God’s kingdom with that attitude. So don’t let that happen to you, the deceitfulness of sin is very clever. ‘For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.’ So we’re to hold that confidence in Christ; ‘his way is right, he’s alive, he’s there, he’s the same yesterday, today, and forever, he will never leave me nor forsake me, and he will never change, and I’ve got to serve him and obey him and serve him to the end of my life.’ So we’re to have that attitude to the end.

00:28:13

You look to Christ, you obey the Ten Commandments, you do what you’re told in a right way within God’s church, based on the Bible. You show God that you are loyal, you show God that you’re responsive; he wants to have you be responsive to him – Christ wants you to be responsive to him. He’s going to be your boss, he’s going to be the king over the kingdom, he will be your Savior, your High Priest, and your living head, and your leader throughout all eternity. And if you won’t respond to him now through his human church, how can he possible believe that you would respond to him later on in his kingdom? You will say, ‘Well yes, but. Well I disagree with this. This is my opinion, my opinion, my opinion.’  I don’t think Christ is interested in my opinion or your opinion. If I’m God’s servant and doing what he said, and you have to figure that out – does Christ have a true church, does he have true ministers, and do we really understand what’s in here (Bible) – you need to prove that to yourself, and I hope all of you will. But then it’s not just my opinion, what I’m reading here, it’s God’s opinion, and you’ve got to really have a humble attitude, that teachable attitude, and say ‘yes Lord,’ not ‘yes Lord’ to me, but ‘yes Lord’ to Christ. Not ‘yes Lord’ to Dr. Winnail, or Mr. Ames, or anyone else, but ‘yes Lord’ to Christ. So that’s the attitude all of us need to have, and be sure that we respond to that.

00:31:55

(Hebrews 4:15) ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,’ Christ is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, he’s been there, he’s been a teenager, he’s felt the pulls of sex, and the desire to hit back, the desire to get even, the desire to have fun-fun, just like all the other kids. Don’t think that he didn’t have any of that surging in his body, or in his mind, he did, he had these same problems to fight as we do. ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are….’ ALL points, ‘yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’

Rod then takes another swipe at his BFF Bob Thiel.  Rod loves him so, but poor Bob is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO misguided.

00:33:58

I noticed in the Church of God today – we love them all, but some are weaker than others – we’ve had some fellas out there who have appointed themselves as prophets or apostles, no one else appointed them that, they just appointed themselves that (snickers) and of course if you read this whole chapter (Hebrews 5), frankly they’re in trouble (smiling) – there’s nothing in the Bible that indicates that they should have that office at all. ‘And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.’ And no man should appoint himself, you know, a minister, and no man should certainly try to take various offices like the High Priest. Christ was set there by the God who spoke that to him, the Creator.

Satan seems to be having a field day with LCG members.  Satan's mind games seem to be causing a lot of issues!

00:38:07

You need to cry out to God when you sense that Satan is messing with your mind, he’s stirring up resentments, and bitterness, and rebellion, and lust, and greed, and the desire for power, and to justify yourself, and to argue with the very ministers of Jesus Christ on this earth. And if I die next month or next year, I still tell you the same thing, it’s not about me it’s about God. It’s not about me, it’s about Jesus Christ that’s the *light* hand of God. Don’t be that way brethren, you won’t make it into God’s kingdom, have the fear of God in the right way, the AWE of God. That’s what God wants you to have.

Rod thinks they have things "basically" right. So if they are "basically" wrong then that is OK too.  Bad fruit basically might bring forth a little good.

00:50:30

‘And He [Christ] is the head of the body, the church….’ Who’s the head of the church, Rod Meredith? No. Richard Ames? No. The head of the church is Jesus Christ. And yet we human servants under him are being guided by him, and God shows that so many times in the Bible, and he will guide those in authority as long as they walk his ways. As long as you see the fruits, that the basic truth of God is preached, that the work of God is basically being done, and the government of God is basically being carried out, then you better sense that’s where Christ is working. If you find where those three things are done somewhere else you should go there. Think about it, you should go there. I don’t know of any other place, and if I were to die tomorrow it would still be that way because we have men like Mr. Ames, and Dr. Winnail, and Mr. Gerald Weston, and our other leaders here that are in the church; our leading men that are so dedicated and sound and solid that carry on this same work of God in the right way.

00:52:45

If Christ tells us to do something now, and we say, ‘yeah, well but,’ and we water it down, he knows that same attitude will be there later. He’s our High Priest, he’s the immediate head over the church to do that kind of thing. So he’s assigned by the Father to do that. So we can finally come to that attitude, you know, that we saw at the end of Luke chapter 22, ‘Not my will, but thine be done.’ That’s the attitude he wants in all of us.

 Rod seems to think that a lot of LCG members have their minds below their belts most of the  time. If that is so, I wonder where they got the example from?????????????????

Brethren have you come to that point? Think about it profoundly and be honest with yourself because you can’t, you can’t get saved by giving me the right answer – God knows your heart, and he sees what you mean by your heart and by your fruits – what do you actually do? So through Christ in you are you really overcoming the self? Are you overcoming your vanity, ’I’m important and I think I’m as good as anyone else, and my opinion is just as good as anyone.’ Well your opinion is just as good as mine, maybe better than mine on cooking or building houses, or all kinds of things, but if I’m the human leader under Christ, then God would say you ought to listen to me in spiritual things. You could figure that out. And if I’m gone you ought to listen to Mr. Ames, or Dr. Winnail, or Mr. Weston, or other leading ministers. Be honest about it, that’s what it obviously means. We’re your teachers, honor what Christ is doing through those offices – honor that, and show that by the way you react. So think about it. Are you already overcoming that human self-will and vanity; the desire for pleasure, ‘I want fun, and I want it how ever I can get it;’ the desire for liquor, you want to drink too much; the desire for SEX? Some people somehow get their minds down below their belts, ‘well I can reason this and that because my human drive is just too powerful.’ No it’s not too powerful, everybody has that. Christ had to control that; Christ was never married at all! And he probably had a lot more sex drive than any man in this ROOM! ‘Cause all the wheat germ was in the wheat back then (snickers) see what I mean. He had POWERFUL drive, but he controlled it, he focused on something bigger.

Damn!  All one needs is some original Palestinian wheat germ to become the best he-men ever!  Who needs Viagra!  Give us wheat germ!

So don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by your own LUST, and your vanity, jealousy, lust and greed – your self-will, ‘I want what I want’, and the spirit of REBELLION; ‘if they tell me this, I’m outta here.’ NO!! You shouldn’t be outta here no matter what. You say, ‘God’s will be done,’ if you disagree with something you come humbly and talk about it, and be willing to listen to those that God is using. And then do as Christ directs his church to teach, and if you find a better church you better go there, but you’re not going to find one at this point as far as I can tell. As I’ve said, that’s what I would want my own family to do, to stay where Christ is primarily working at this time.

00:56:12

(Ephesians 1:19-23) ‘and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.’

Brethren, you should not fret about problems in Charlotte. Jesus Christ will NEVER let us make a BIG mistake! Global wasn't a mistake, apparently.

Brethren, if I kick the bucket tomorrow, you had better damn well OBEY my son Jim!  Jesus Christ and I put him there.  If you disobey Jim you disobey Jesus Christ!!!!! 

Brethren, Christ is head of the church, of all aspects of it, he’s the head over ALL things in the church. He’s the head of the visiting program; he’s the head of Church Administration; he’s the head of the Business Department; he’s the head of the Living University; he’s the head of every aspect of the work, he’s the head of Editorial. He’s the head of everything we have in the work of God. And we have humans under him – they may make mistakes, but God will never let them make a mistake big enough to wreck the whole work. And if any of you ever have a problem with your supervisor, you’re to go to his supervisor, and he’s to come to Mr. Ames or me, or some of us at the top of the human organization, and we would cry out to God for wisdom, and you should react to the one that God puts there. As I said, if I’m gone tomorrow, you’d better, you better have that attitude whoever is put there, and show that depth of conversion to follow where Christ is working. Will you be led by your vanity to rebel against that? Christ, who is the head over all things to the church? That’s what this book tells you right here.

Rod can't stand the effeminate, wishy-washy, lovey-dovey, grace-filled, pulsating Jesus Christ of the New Covenant, so he has to trek into Hebrew scriptures to hid his Jesus Christ.

God, as you know brethren, says that the Old Testament was written for our admonition upon the ends of the world are come. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And Christ, of course, was the God of the Old Testament. 1 Corinthians 10:4, that Rock – the Rock that guided Ancient Israel – that Rock was Christ. so let’s turn to the High Priest back here, the leading priests and judges, and some instruction about that back here in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 17. He says here to us, and he’s talking here to Ancient Israel, but this is for our admonition too, the principle is exactly the same. Deuteronomy 17:8, ‘If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days,’ who would usually be a Levite as the whole scripture shows in most cases, ‘and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses….’ Now where did the Lord choose today, as many of us talked, and consulted, and fasted, and prayed, and we did for months before we moved here asking God to guide us. And for many reasons God brought us to Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the human headquarters of his human church at this time – that’s why we’re here. So the principle is this: we’re here, the leading ministers are here, and if you follow the principles of God’s Word, if you have some upset about something you don’t agree with in the church, or in your department if you’re working for us, or whatever it is, you’re to go to the leaders. First you go to, of course, Mr. Rod McNair, Mr. League, the ministers, and if they can’t help you with it – feel it needs to be brought on up, then Mr. Ames, Dr. Winnail and I could get in on it. And ‘they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment.

 "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you….’ That’s what God says. ‘"According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left…’ say, ‘Well, yes but.  Well, yes but. Here’s my [opinion],’ you don’t see any of that here do you? ’ Now the man who acts presumptuously…’ ‘Here’s what I think,’ or, ‘I’m gonna (do it) nobody’s gonna tell me anything.’ Frankly how long did that last in Ancient Israel? (smiles) Not very long. That’s why the dead bodies of those Israelites littered the whole desert as they came across, as is described elsewhere in the book of Hebrews, as well as back in Exodus. They rebelled, they rebelled, and only two men made it clear on over, who were they? Joshua and Caleb. The rest of them all died – that’s amazing when you, you read it most of you – all of them died of that generation. ‘Well, yes but, here’s the way I think of it.’ And they would argue. So God tells us this and he’s trying to get this through our thick heads. ‘Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.’ And brethren, of course we do not administer the death penalty, I hope all you brethren know that. Of course all you older brethren do, but it will be the same today eventually (smiling), but GOD will administer the death penalty if you argue, will not do what is said, and if you don’t repent of that somewhere along the line. Somewhere along the line you’re going to have to follow what God tells you, and what God’s leadership guides you to do, or you won’t be there. As I’ve said, I may not be here to argue with you in another year or two, I hope I will, I’m just being honest with you.

You’ve got to look to God and know that God is real. You’ve got to obey God, and fear God, and cry out to God for his help, and mean it just like Christ did who was heard because of his godly fear – that godly AWE that even the Son of God had! We need a little bit more of that in our democratic society, we’re so used to watering things down, ‘Here’s what I want,’ we want to do what WE want to do.

Apparently, it is all about size.....