Rod Meredith Is Tired of Competitive, Bickering, and Accusatory Brethren

One of the most effective tricks of Armstrognism was to instill fear in its members.  That fear kept the membership obedient and submissive. Fear of losing ones salvation or being persecuted for ones beliefs was the favorite control mechanism of the Church of God.  Rod Meredith's god has always been eternally pissed and angry at everyone.  From regular church members to the pagan heathens in lost corners of the world.  His god has been ready to SPANK everyone into submission.

In his January/February editorial, Rod's god is ready to wreck havoc upon an unsuspecting world, BUT before it does so the Living Church of God will face INTENSE persecution of its FORCEFUL message. 

Brethren, with the entire panorama of prophetic events surging ahead more than ever, I deeply feel that I should once again give you “proper warning” about what to expect in the years ahead. We often emphasize the blessings and the opportunitieswe will surely have in God’s Work—and, later on, in Tomorrow’s World. Our reward will be awesome. However, it is very clear in the New Testament that many true Christians will be persecuted—even before the formal Tribulation begins. So it is imperative that you understand this, pray about this, and are not “shocked” or disillusioned if the world begins to savagely turn on us at some point before the end of our ministry!

While LCG members are not being persecuted for their faith, fake Christians are dying around the world.  Meredith and other COG ministers (Thiel) love to smear Christians as "professed" or "so-called."  These people apparently are too stupid to know that they are not real Christians like LCG members are.   Rod somehow thanks that the LCG will soon be restricted and banned around the world for their message.  Its laughable to think that such a thing will happen to them considering the cesspool the LCG leadership is currently swimming in.  They have not set any example to the world other than what NOT to do in a church.  Instead of being persecuted they are being laughed at and set forth as an example as to how not to treat ones members.

Even apart from the true Church, professing Christians around the world are suffering increased persecution. News reports tell us of more and more horrifying instances of their being tortured, killed, raped or even sold into slavery in many non-Christian lands.
And now there is a movement in many European countries to crack down on virtually all religious groups that are not in the “mainstream.” These groups include Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and others. Clearly, as the Living Church of God gains worldwide recognition and prominence for doing the Work of God, we too will be restricted—maybe banned!—and eventually persecuted in many nations around the world. 

The Living Church of God has been facing lots of criticism over the last few years as abusive ministers are placed in positions of authority where they treat members like dirt, with the full blessing of LCG HQ.  (Just look at Rod McNair's track record and what he has done.) Yet, Meredith places that criticism into the category of "persecution."  Members have never had the right in the Church of God to have the ability to ask for justice.  Mistreatment by the minister was always turned around to be a "test" to see if the members were worthy.  That's why the ministry has always gotten away with its grievous abuse of members.  It was Satan the accuser at work, never sick and degenerate men who who should never have been ordained.

Truly, we all will need to “stand tall” against the storms of criticism, hatred and persecution that Satan will hurl at us, both from within and from without. For Satan will attempt to “break” us. He and his untold legions of demon spirits (Ephesians 6:11–12) will try to divide us, pitting brother against brother, even in God’s Church! He will attempt to discourage us profoundly, through repeated attacks, accusations and persecution. Eventually, after his “frontal assault” on God fails, Satan will “come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:12). 

Will you be ready? The time for us to be bickering, competing and accusing one another must quickly come to a close, brethren! For we have a far greater enemy in the “prince of darkness” than many of us may fully realize. And we will need all the love, encouragement and support of our brethren that we can possibly have during the trials ahead. 

Sadly the persecution of the brethren has come from within, not from Satan or the world who is upset with their message. The persecution is coming from men who do not follow Jesus or even know anything about him.  When ones own leaders cannot talk about Jesus, his message, what he accomplished, grace, justification or any other new covenant teachings, what more can one expect?   When the message is about the law, death and doom, how can grace ever shine forth?  Reading through  any missive by Rod Meredith, particularly his editorial, you can see how graceless the man truly is and what what he preaches.

Is God Punishing the LCG Leadership With Strokes?

Bob Thiel had a comment up today about another leader in the Living Church of God who has had a stroke.  This is apparently the third leader to suffer a stroke.  You can see from Thiel's comment below that he feels his god is punishing the LCG leadership.  Thiel has been bragging over the past few days  that his "work" is the ONLY Church of God group growing and actually preaching the gospel. Theil feels that LCG is rife with sin.

Bruce Tyler is the third high-level LCG leader that comes to mind being hit by a type of stroke. LCG's Presiding Evangelist Roderick C. Meredith and his assistant, his son Jim, are the other two. Bruce Tyler

Rod Meredith and entire LCG ministry to sell homes and give the millions in dollars in income they have been sitting on back to the Work.

Every since Rod Meredith wrote his latest letter to the Living Church of God membership,  complaining about how they are sitting on millions of dollars sin income, he has taken a lot of flack for it.  Always the one to set the right example and do what is right, Rod Meredith has decided to sell his own home and give the money back to the church.  His shining example has so impressed the cold hearted ministry of the LCG that they too have decided to sell their homes and give 100% of the proceeds back to the church.  The gospel message is so important to them that they want to set the right example and put the millions of dollars in income they have been setting on back into the work. Feeding the poor, taking care of the widows, orphans and the disinherited is now the focus of the Living Church of God.  Now we will see it grow as never before! The Kingdom of God will truly break forth in our lifetime!

He knows he has a short time to get the church for the soon coming Kingdom. He sees thousands of dollars sitting idle and he needs that money to get the church ready. So here is his plan. He knows you have to lead by example. He is going to ask all the top ministers to put their homes up for sale he also will put his home on the market Can you imagine the impact this will have on the brethren once the top ministers donate the proceeds from their homes and donate their savings then the brethren will want to follow their example. Now those ministers will rent apartments. With this new money Dr Meredith can begin to follow Jesus's words. Feed the hungry, look after the homeless, and visit the sick. Ministers will roll up their sleeves and work the soup lines at the homeless shelter owned by LCG. 

In our dreams....

Rod Meredith is not happy that LCG members are "sitting on millions of dollars worth of money and property" instead of giving it to the church.

Rod Meredith has sent another missive to his flock.  (See: Personal  Pray for our Financial Growth!) 

It starts out with his usual doom and gloom.  Persecution and suffering are soon to fall upon the Living Church of God because it has such a "forceful" message" to preach...say what?

The problem Dear brethren is that you are not sending in enough money to make us a "forceful" work the preaches truth without any reservations or hindrances.  Silly brethren!  Its all YOUR fault once again.  Its not that the message that Meredith and crew are preaching is not relevant, but its because you are not sending in money!  For shame!

Like any good Church of God splinter group, Meredith cannot write without comparing himself to Herbert Armstrong.  Lets face it Rod, 30 years after HWA's death and you STILL cannot even come close to matching what HWA accomplished.  However, Meredith is delusion if he actually things the church had an income increase of 30% every single year for 35 years.  

Brethren, as the end of this age approaches, and as the power of our Work increases, there will undoubtedly be great persecution in the years just ahead. Each of us needs to beseech God to grant us—and all of our brethren—the faith and the courage to keep going and growing! We need to encourage one another in this and help each one to “buckle up” for the rough ride ahead! Again, as I have reminded you over the years, always keep your mind on the “Big Picture” of God’s great Plan and how He always tries and tests each one of us before we are made full sons in His soon-coming Kingdom. One special prayer that I would ask all of you to join me in praying is this: let us all together beseech God to grant us in this Work at least half of the financial increase that He gave Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong for about 35 years! For, as Mr. Armstrong explained many times, God gave the Work under his direction about 30 percent increase year by year for about 35 years.

Thirty years after HWA's death and Meredith cannot come up with something new.  His message can't be reimagined for the 21st century.  He still looks back with warm fuzzies at days gone by.  The Living Church of God will NEVER accomplish what HWA did or the COG did decades ago. Meredith's message and that of the Living Church of God does NOT shake the world and never will.  Knowing he is impotent in doing such a work, Meredith declares that the LCG needs to settle for half of what HWA accomplished.  In order for that 15% increase to happen the members need to give more money.  However, Meredith says he can't make members give that much money, so he scares them by stating that God is watching them to see what they give.

Perhaps none of us have the tremendous personalities and magnetism that the Armstrongs had. But God Almighty is still alive, He is working through us right now, and—as these terrible end-time events approach—we really need to shake the world with the knowledge of His Kingdom far more than we have ever done. Remember, brethren, we are only “beginning to fight.” We have not yet finished! So again, since Jesus told us: “ask and you shall receive,” we can with faith ask God to give us at least one-half of the financial increase He gave His Church all those years when Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong were still alive and doing the Work. That would be a 15 percent financial increase of this Work year by year. I hope all of you will sincerely and zealously do your part. But I am not going to “press you” on that. For that is up to you and between you and God as you “walk with Him” in the fear of God. But I feel that God would want us to cry out and ask Him for the blessing that I have already indicated. Then, we could go on far more television stations, greatly increase our impact over the Internet—which is certainly the “wave of the future”—increase our personal appearance campaigns and “grow” the Work in every possible way. 

Being the most sinless and ever humble Church of God leader to ever to follow Herbert Armstrong, Meredith claims asking for money has always been hard for him.  Though he glosses over how he freely took money from a few people to help start Global and then Living after he apostatized a second time to start LCG.

When I first began this present Work back in 1992, I was a little embarrassed to ask for money. For all those years I was helping Mr. Armstrong—even as Second Vice President for about twelve years—I did not have the responsibility to directly ask for money. Mr. Armstrong did. So he wrote truly powerful and stirring co-worker letters in those days. If you read some of the old co-worker letters today, as many of you brethren have kept some of them, they were almost “hair-raising” in the power they had! It might be offensive to some of our newer brethren in our more liberal, worldly society today. But because this world so desperately needs what we have to give, I urge you to join me along with our top ministers in beseeching God to grant us at least 15 percent increase in our financial resources year by year and therefore enable us to really get going far beyond what we have yet done so this world will have a powerful “witness” of the Plan of God, of the reality of the soon-coming Government of God over this earth, and a genuine understanding of the true Jesus Christ of the Bible. May God inspire all of you to get involved in this way!

Being the most humble Church of God leader ever, I wonder if Meredith will actually put on sack cloth and ashes as he suggests below.  We know this will never happen.  Its too easy to sit in a warm home or a mahogany paneled office and pretend to be humble and beg.

Dear brethren, some of you may wonder why I am coming on so strong at this time. But I hope that many of you—as I did—have taken the sermons and the wonderful experience we had at the Feast home and had the time to think and pray about how close we ought to be to God, about what we really ought to be doing and how this world so desperately needs the full Truth. Down through history, as you know, many of God’s leading servants went through periods when they cried out to God for special help and blessings. Remember the time when Daniel came to realize the tremendous need for God to intervene as he began to fully realize that the 70 years of desolation of Jerusalem were almost over: “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments’” (Daniel 9:3–4). He described his concern for “all Israel”—both near and far—who had been driven to countries all over because of their unfaithfulness to God and their spiritual weakness (v. 7). 

Next Meredith gets to the meat of the matter.  He is NOT happy that the LCG membership is SITTING on "hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of money, property and other resources."

Many of you older brethren realize that something similar has happened to the Church of God today! After Mr. Armstrong’s death, God’s Church came apart in many ways. We have been truly scattered into many different groups and denominations. The power and effectiveness of the Work has been shattered beyond belief. All of the little groups that have clung to at least part of the Truth are literally unknown to 99 percent (or more!) of the world’s population! Most of you realize this. If you go around your neighborhood you find virtually no one who has heard of the Living Church of God or any of the other groups that are trying to do God’s Work today. This needs to change! So I hope all of us can begin to fast and to pray fervently and ask God to help us stir ourselves to do our part far more zealously and begin to serve our Creator with zeal and to give of our physical substance sacrificially as we are able. Some of our brethren are already doing this. But I am fully aware that many of our brethren—often fine brethren who mean well and who are already giving a little bit of their substance—are nevertheless sitting on hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of money, property and other resources they very rarely touch to help do the Work of the living God at the very end of this age.
Think of it! 

As usual it is the members fault that the money is not flowing in.  Silly brethren!

Church, brethren were often filled with such zeal and such fervency that they were willing to open their hearts and their wallets to a degree far beyondwhat most of us are willing to do today. God’s Word tells us: “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus,having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 4:32–37). God does not ask us to “have all things in common” as did these first-century Christians, but we can still be moved and inspired today by their great zeal. 

Meredith wants his membership to join him in this "crusade." For some reason the god of Armstrongism sure needs the blood of the unbelievers spilled onto ground in order for the faithful to be found righteous.  Onward Christian soldiers marching off to war.  Kill the infidel so God's kingdom be manifest and we can rule worlds.  The problem for LCG is that God's kingdom of brotherly love cannot happen because there is no love in the LCG.  Again, this the members fault.  LCG members just CAN'T get along for some reason. 

Once again, I am asking—as your pastor and friend—that you will “join me” in this crusade to ask God fervently for this financial increase, and that each one of you will try to do your part as best as you are able. I hope all of you can see the “signs” of the soon-coming end of this age. We all know what this means. We know that it means that we have just so much time to get out Christ’s message so that people all over the world will know that our God is real, and that He is now beginning to intervene with increasing power to set up His Kingdom on this earth. So, I pray we will all “get going” as never before. May God guide you, inspire you and bless you as you walk with Him. Let us all pray for one another that we can keep the zest of the Feast of Tabernacles going and growing in our personal lives day by day. I love you. I thank you so much for the love and the joy and the encouragement that you have continued to give, and I hope that you will join me in this crusade to ask God to give us even greater power than ever before—even in the financial part of the Work. Then we will be able, in this commercial society in which we live, to reach out even more powerfully than ever before. May God be with you.

Meredith loves to point out that growing "personal problems and growing sin within the church" led to the Worldwide Church of God's downfall. For some reason he cannot see that the very same thing is happening to his group.  Personal problems and sin in the LCG HQ and ministry is what is hampering his "work."  As one reader here wrote to me about this said, "For some reason he cannot connect that same scenario to the reasons his works is suffering financially."

This inside source says, "The truth of this money begging is not to  expand to the Internet and more TV stations, but it is to cover the huge debt they have already accrued."

This source goes on to say, "Word on the street is that they are ultimately phasing out TV all together but they haven't officially made that announcement yet so RCM feels he can still use it in his ridiculous plea for cash.

If God were going to bless LCG, would RCM really have to shamelessly beg, plead and psychologically manipulate members to give more? "