"There is God, Christ, Herbert Armstrong,
Garner Ted Armstrong , Myself and a few other leading Evangelists..."
Roderick C Meredith
Harmony of the Gospels Class
1968
That's the first time in my WCG experience I
ever heard the concept of ministerial "rank" spelled out with names
affixed. I understood the God...Christ...part, but after that I recall as
a young 18 year old, still basically Presbyterian kid, thinking politely,
"WTF...? Who does this guy think he is...?"
It was all downhill after that. Even back then I knew the Bible said
things like, "he that is greatest among you, let him be your
servant," "pride comes before a fall," and concepts like
that.
I had heard often in the Presbyterian Church
growing up:
Do nothing from
rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than
yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the
interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ
Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men. ...
James 4:6
But he gives more
grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble.”
Whoever exalts
himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
If my people who
are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and heal their land.
If I must boast,
I will boast of the things that show my weakness
For by grace you
have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
He also told this
parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated
others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee
and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus:
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes
of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even
lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to
me, a sinner!’ ...
Likewise, you who
are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with
humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the
humble.”
With all humility
and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Humble yourselves
before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
He has told you,
O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Pride goes before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall
He
also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple
to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing
by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice
a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far
off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,
‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ...
Something
seemed lacking in the WCG Hierarchy and now even worse in the Splinters and
Slivers that remain.
I
never in my youth heard my minister indicate he was of any particular rank or in
any kind of pecking order in the church. I certainly never heard
statements such as...
"And yes brethren...I am an
Apostle"
"I am 'That Prophet'"
"I am a Prophet"
"I am the Two Witnesses"
("I are the Two Witnesses"?)
He's the Elijah to come
He was the Elijah to go
I am Joshua the High Priest
I am BSC (bat shit crazy)
and so on...
Of
course, as time went by I learned there were Apostles, Evangelists, Pastor
Ranks, Preaching Elders, Elders, Deacons, Deaconesses , Husbands, Wives,
Children and Small Animals.
I
myself was "raised" from mere graduate to "Elder" at
23. A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...Anyway... At 24 I became a Preaching
Elder because I was preaching I guess and already had two churches. When
I left college, I was told that after the manpower meetings concerning me,
"the sky is the limit for you.." Somehow that troubled me and
struck me as a strange comment for ministry. I did not grow up with the
sky being the limit for ministry. See the above scriptures. I think
that mean in time I could be awesome of rank and power but rank and power were
not my concepts and never were. At any rate, Pastor Rank could not be far
away after rising so quickly but somehow, not being in the inner circle and
perhaps that being obvious after just two short years out of college, I never
got raised in rank again! I was not a Pastor while I pastored 13
congregations over 26 years. I was merely a preaching elder. By any
measure in the ranks of ministry in WCG, I was a flop.
I
even tried to get a summer off once from all the drama in church by teaching
swimming, canoeing, lifesaving, first aid etc which I had some great
credentials in. I had taught as a camp counselor for the Salvation
Army camp and even a camp week for unwed mothers for three years when a kid.
But...no banana. They gave the job to a guy who could not actually swim
and had no credentials that I could tell, but was better connected. I
learned something from that episode too.
When
I hear the Apostle Pack use phrases like "lesser ranked ministers,"
it awakens a bit of snark in me yet again. With Joshua C Pack it is all
about numbers and rank of course. He grew quite concerned when he
realized he might have a problem if an evangelist came into RCG and he was
merely a Pastor Rank Minister. Who ordained him that! The sky was
the limit for me not him! lol. I repent of my part in Dave's
returning to the ministry after he was terminated shortly after he was
hired, when my Regional Director in Chicago asked me what I thought the
Director doing so. The Regional Director was close friends with Shirley
Pack's father and seemed some kind of favor. Anyway,...Solution to
the Evangelist fear? "And yes brethren, I am an Apostle."
Problem solved. He also had to figure out where in the pecking order the
Two Witnesses lay since they would spring out of RCG. We can't have them
being of greater rank so I suspect they might be evangelists at best. Of
course there is plenty of time for Joshua C Pack to declare himself both of the
Two Witnesses with the appropriate length sermon.
Others
along the way who were a bit more realistic and practical noted that rank was
just another name for a smell. This I found to be a more satisfying
outlook and quite accurate.
In
the actual New Testament, the men who seemed to have no rank such as
..oh...Jesus and the 12 disciples seemed to do the best. Now of course
they did get into who was the greatest and such, but that was just theatre and
stage setting for Jesus to teach. I can imagine the endless "well
excuse me!" the brothers James and John got when mom asked the favor of her
boys getting to sit on the right hand and on the left of Jesus in the
Kingdom. Oh mom! Besides, those positions are saved for
Herbert Armstrong and Joshua C Pack.
I
finally have figured out why God the Father has gotten little done on earth
here since Jesus ascended back to the throne. Jesus is sitting on God's
right hand! He can't get up!....sorry :) Of course , according to
The Surprising God Blog and Ted Johnston, Jesus would be sitting next to
himself on his own hand..but I spare you. I have no clue where the Holy
Spirit sits, but possibly on God's left hand or on his own left hand too next
to himself and himself. Holy Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva Batman! That
rank thing gets confusing even at the Throne.
But
seriously...Once men, and it's always men take on offices and ranks, it's all
downhill from there in the world of religion. Paul had a great time
bouncing between being the least of the Apostles when he felt humble and the
greatest when he felt threatened. He was both the smartest pencil in the
box and the most arrogantly humble. He was all things to all men and also
not a man pleaser. His ranks messed him up big time I think. Men of
other rank meant nothing to him , were considered reputed pillars who added
NOTHING to his message. Kinda like the Apostle Joshua C Pack and Flurry
among others.
George Armstrong
Custer--Some high ranking bite off a bit more than they can chew
and
make all the wrong kind of history.
The
"And yes brethren...I am..." baloney in the COGs will prove to be its
downfall. These men of renoun will come and go. Their lofty titles
and ranks among men of lesser rank will not save them or coerce any Jesus into
coming back so Haggai or Zechariah can be proven to have
predicted types of future nutcases in religion. They have not and
only the blind deaf and dumb who need to believe the untrue and unbelievable
will fall for that to their harm.
La la la la..we're going with what the Apostle
tells us
The
concept of rank, be it Apostles, Prophets, Priests, Witnesses or ultimate
fulfillments of characters out of the Biblical past like Elijah, Joshua or John
the Baptist is just ridiculous. That is that God again "trying"
to get things going again when actually it is not so in reality.
In my
view, titles, rank and position are for weak minded and insecure humans.
"I am an Apostle" does not carry the real weight or maturity of
"I am an average human being," "I have my shortcomings and
strengths just like everyone else," or "I am willing to sit down
before the truth as a little child and let it take me wherever it actually
goes." The rank conscious tend to sit down before truth, twist it up
a bit, make it conform to their inaccurate view of themselves and shove it down
everyone else's throats. It ultimately does not work and does not take
those who accept such foolishness on a genuine journey of self exploration and
learning.
“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own
wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the
wisest might err.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
“The greatest lesson in life is to know that
even fools are right sometimes.”
― Winston Churchill
“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks
at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to
teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the
literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?”
― Carl Sagan
“In the course of my life, I have often had
to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome
diet.”
― Winston Churchill
To believe you are magnificent. And gradually
to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.”
― Czesław Miłosz
contact Dennis at
DennisCDiehl@aol.com
