LCG FailsTo Be Good Stewards of God's Money

(From an LCG source)

2015 has come and gone and the pencil pushers in Charlotte are trying to figure out how they can spin their collapsing infrastructure in the impending financial audit which will be revealed to LCG membership several months from now. Each year LCG reminds us that, “it should be noted that, while the law requires us to follow GAAP and GAAS regulations, the law does not require us to submit to an outside independent audit each year. We voluntarily undergo an annual audit as a means to ensure ourselves, and to demonstrate to Church members and potential donors, that we are striving to remain good stewards of our financial information and controls” (source Living Church News). The 2014 audit showed significant losses for LCG and the 2015 audit promises to be just as bloody as this ACOG slowly bleeds to death in its own failures.

LCG insiders have revealed that the church is presently in major financial trouble.  Rod Meredith recently wrote an editorial in which he shamed church members who dare to “sit on hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of money, property and other resources they very rarely touch [that could be used] to help do the Work of the living God at the very end of this age” (See more at: Rod Meredith is not happy LCG members are sitting on money).  

Unfortunately for Rod, his editorial did more to upset than to inspire as many in his church are in disagreement with the fact that Rod Meredith, Richard Ames and the newly anointed Gerald Weston sit on hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity in their own homes and bank accounts while suggesting that the hard working tithe payers GIVE EVEN MORE.

Many members are also disillusioned by the excessive expenditures Lil’ Jimmy indulges himself with at the tithe payers expense; like his 5 week all-expense paid vacation to Hawaii to “set up” the same feast site they have already had for a number of years or his trip to Israel or a dozen other places that the poor church members paid for him to enjoy 5 star hotel rooms and extravagant meals.

Many LCG members are also grumbling about the ridiculous amount of tithe payer money that is being directed to Living University. A majority of LCG brethren feel that their tithes and offerings should be used to “preach the gospel of the soon coming Kingdom of God as a witness”. The accompanying LCG finance chart shows just how much money they put into LU in 2014. The 2015 graph will show an even greater excess as Meredith sanctioned funds toward the purchase of additional LU commercial real estate to house class rooms and townhouses to serve as dormitories for their on-campus students. LCG has also decided to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2015 seeking accreditation which members feel is unnecessary and an improper use of tithe money.

In 2014 Wyatt Ceceilka convinced LCG to spend $133,405 for television studio editing upgrades to replace aging AVID editing equipment with updated software and media storage which they required to meet new standards for HD television which he then decided he didn’t like in 2015 as he  petitioned RCM for even more money to change systems once again. Over-spending Wyatt also sanctioned purchases including an upgrade of the Tomorrow’s World Web site for $45,400 (did anyone even notice?).

Lil’ Jimmy is neck and neck with Doug Winnail and his Living University (which is killing the church) in the category of wasted tithe payer money. Jim authorized $51,929 to finish a remodeling project in the Charlotte LCG Headquarters building which was in good shape to begin with.

Add to this the increasing number of people leaving LCG all together and the increasing number of members who have decided to stay in LCG but withhold their tithes after beginning to question if LCG is God’s true church after witnessing the ministerial abuse many of their friends have suffered at the hands of men, like Rod McNair, who truly believe they can act however they like no matter how ungodly their behavior is since they are “servants of Christ” (at least in their own minds). Still others are withholding their tithes while they wait and see what direction the church takes after old Spanky steps down next August and Gerald Weston takes over.

The late Dibar Apartian told many people over the last year or two of his life that LCG was “no longer God’s church”. He was in the nucleus and ahead of the curve in his knowledge of how utterly corrupt and ungodly Meredith and his men were. The knowledge of LCG’s rotten core has slowly begun to spread throughout its membership. Sure some die-hards will go down with the ship in blind obedience but many will get out before it is too late.

It seems inevitable that irresponsible overspending,  ministerial abuse of the brethren and the vanity and pride that it wrapped up in their attempts to make LU like Ambassador College will bring LCG to its knees in the coming year.

Herbert W Armstrong: 30 years later and the Church of God is a complete mess

Thirty years ago Herbert Armstrong died.  Thirty years later the Churches of God are one complete mess with hundreds of different leaders, with hundreds of different opinions and revelations, and countless prophets and apostles, yet none them are doing a "work" that has had any impact whatsoever. This country and the world at large have no idea who or what the Church of God is.

Dave Pack has lied for four years now that three Church of God leaders would be struck dead by his god and tens of thousands of their members would suddenly jump ship to the Restored Church of God with all of their money.

Gerald Flurry has never had an original concept seep through his alcohol drenched brain.  Building a mini-me Ambassador campus has done nothing except drain money from his dwindling coffers.

Rod Meredith's health is rapidly declining as corruption rips his headquarters apart because he refuses to do anything about abusive ministers that are treating members like dirt.

Ron Weinland is resting in a half way house after his 3 year stint in prison for tax fraud. His jailhouse prophecies have been an absolute failure leading hundreds of dissatisfied members to leave his cult as he and his nutty wife claim to the two witnesses.

United Church of God has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in tithe money to fund worthless campaigns that have produced no results.  Thousands of members split off a few years ago to form another splinter group.  The men now in charge in UCG were Tkach yes-men when the changes came down and disfellowshipped hundreds and hundreds of members while they plotted to start a new church to keep their pay checks coming in.

COGWA split off from UCG claiming to carry on the torch of the true faith.  The same abusive ministers in charge at COGWA were the same abusive ministers in United where they were the same abusive ministers who disfellowshipped hundreds of members in the Worldwide Church of God as they pretended to be "new covenant" while still not the payroll.

Thirty years later and the church is one of the most screwed up messes  the world has ever seen. Liars, abusers, false prophets, pedophiles, and rapists have had free reign with almost no accountability.  Tens of thousands of members have left over the last three decades for greener pastures and freedom.

The worship of Herbert Armstrong exceeds anything the Church of God has ever done with Jesus.  Just look at Rod Meredith's latest comment about HWA.  HWA is the source of knowledge while Jesus gets zero credit for anything in his entire article.

So let us all remember the one whom God used to teach all of us about the Sabbath, about the Holy Days—about the entire purpose of human existence—Herbert W. Armstrong. -

With such a misguided focus how can the Church of God last much longer?

Satan (YouTube) Attacks Bob Thiel! YouTube Deletes One Of His Heretical Videos

Satan is on the warpath and he is NOT happy with Bob Thiel.  Satan was sooooooooo incensed by one of his sermons that he influence dYouTube into deleting one of his videos.

Brethren, the FAMINE OF THE WORD is here!  Bob's holy message is being censored!  Oh the tragedy!

Hi ContinuingCoG,
The YouTube community flagged one or more of your videos as inappropriate. After reviewing the content, we’ve determined that the videos violate our Community Guidelines. As a result, we removed the following videos from YouTube:
Are we saved by faith? Or are we saved by works?Please note that this removal has not resulted in a strike.
- The YouTube Team

Thiel then reacts with holy indignation and outrage!  Thiel is blaming those  nasty "so called Christians" for having his video deleted.

This email and the related removal are outrageous.  Because YouTube did not count this censorship as a ‘strike,’ so far, we have not found a way to appeal this. Nor did they tell us what they considered wrong–all we got was the above. 

The sermon that YouTube censored was by Steve Dupuie and was given at the Feast of Tabernacles in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in in 2015. He sent me his notes before and after the sermon, and I see nothing in it that warranted it being pulled by YouTube. 

It appears to have been pulled because someone (likely from a Protestant faith) claimed that doctrinal differences were offensive.

Prophet/Apostle/Chief Overseer/Thiel then says he has been preaching this would be happening to his message, though he wasn't expecting it this soon.

I have been warning for some time that since the Bible tells of a coming ‘famine of the word’ (Amos 8:11-12), that we should expect YouTube censorship to be part of this.

Anticipating more persecution from YouTube, Thiel is setting about backing up all of his videos and trying to move them to other platforms.

Because of that, before this censorship, I asked Bill Wedekind to back-up every sermon and sermonette we had on YouTube, and last month he did.  So, we have copies of everything, including the video sermon that YouTube censored. 

I have spoken to Bill Wedekind, Steve Dupuie, and two of our sons about how to proceed.  At this moment, because YouTube is free, YouTube is available in multiple formats, and YouTube sometimes helps us get viewers, we plan to remain on YouTube. However, we are continuing to look into alternatives in case YouTube ultimately pulls us completely off. 

YouTube has NOT threatened to remove us. But since we have what they would consider to be more ‘controversial’ videos up than the one that Steve Dupuie was in, it remains a concern that some day we may be forced to abandon YouTube.

Life is so tough in COGland.  No church on earth has ever been more persecuted.

A video was pulled and the world becomes a horrible place.

Christians are being slaughtered in Iraq and Syria and Thiel calls them all frauds and fakes.  Only true Church of God members blood is worthwhile.

The end times is here brethren.  The end times is here.

Ron Weinland's Words Come Back To Bite Him

The Only True COG Prophet and Apostle Says His Family Is A Foretaste Of The God Family

Ron Weinland, the recently paroled felon, is declaring to the world the he is the apostle and prophet to the Church of God and the world.  Life caged up with Big Bubba for the last 3 1/2 years has left Weinland with lots of time to write and plan his miraculous ministry once his ankle bracelet is off and he has left the half way house.  During his prison sentence he has begun to write another book.  His previous two were epic failure sin prophecy with absolutely nothing he wrote came to pass.  Weinland is right up there next to Dave Pack in prophetic failures.

It one of his latest entries to his blog, he declares to the world that he is a prophet and an apostle. Apparently we should be paying attention to him and what he is preaching.

He writes:

So yes, I am both an apostle and a prophet of God and of Jesus Christ to the Church of God, and to the world, in this final period of the end-time. I am the last apostle in this age of mankind’s self-rule. 

Yet even more, I am the counterpart of John who wrote the Book of Revelation. He was the only other apostle whom God also made a prophet. John wrote the book, but did not understand the revelation it contained. It was not for his time, but for the end-time that would lead up to the return of Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God that will reign over all mankind for 1,100 years. Nearly all of the Book of Revelation is about those things that would occur in the end-time which lead to the Kingdom of God being established on earth for 1,100 years. 

Just as John was imprisoned and placed on the Isle of Patmos and then given the contents for the Book of Revelation that he wrote, I too am currently in prison and writing this book. 

The government of the United States has convicted me of willfully and purposefully evading paying taxes. It doesn’t really matter what I say about it, as people believe what they choose. I have stated some about this on the book website. There is no purpose in trying to unravel all that has been twisted and misrepresented concerning what is true. God will do that soon enough.

Why is it that some many of the dingbats of Armstrongism have to declare themselves to be prophets, apostles, Elijah's, John's, and a myriad of other biblical characters?  Every single one of them, from Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Bob Thiel, and others have been proven to be liars and false prophets.  Weinland contuse this rather pathetic line of mentally disturbed men who al claim allegiance to the Church of God.

Weiland takes his prophetic nonsense one strep further the other COG apostles an prophets.  He has named his crazy, diamond hoarding wife to be an apostle and one of the two witless witnesses.

Revelation 11 is a prophecy about two prophets of God who will finish His work that leads directly to the coming of Jesus Christ. The primary work of these two people will be conducted within a very specific timeframe. It is the 7th and last period of 1,260 days that are contained in the complete count to Christ’s coming. These two prophets are also given the title of God’s two end-time witnesses. I am one and my wife, Laura, is the other.

Weiland still believes the myth that his god is reproducing himself to make one big happy family.  Ron and his wife are the epitome of what a REAL apostolic family should be like, thus the are the perfect example of what the family of God will be  like.

Family is going to learn to be structured and live 

the way God intended from the beginning. True husband and wife teams are going to become the norm as they learn to work and share life together the way God has always intended. The woman is not servant to the man! That struggle is about to end, and thank God for that! 

My wife and I have been a team in God’s Church for right at 40 years now, and I am thankful to say this is just barely the beginning. We have served in God’s Church together within the ministry for 34 years. We have been exceedingly blessed and now God has given both of us a work to fulfill together as a team. It is our commission and one that God and Christ will fulfill through us that will lead up to Christ’s literal return, and finally, the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

I know for a fact that God is not using one of the most corrupt families of Armstreongism to be the example of what the God family will be like.  If this were true then humanity is seriously screwed!  

Bob Thiel Struggles to Prove He Is A Prophet After Doug Winnail Deflates His Bubble Again

Doug Winnail of the Living Church of God has taken another broad swipe at the outrageous claims of Bob Thiel.  This is just the latest in a series of smackdowns by Rod Meredith and the Living Church off God to discredit Bob Thiel.

As usual, Thiel takes it personally and lets his bitterness shine forth.  It must really be frustrating  for Bob to have imagined himself all these years as Rod Meredith's confident and spiritual advisor and  then to have Meredith turn his back on him and mock him.

Thiel writes:

12/13/15 a.m. LCG had the following announcement read in services yesterday from its Dr. Douglas Winnail:

Some of the strongest condemnations delivered by the Hebrew prophets were against the leaders of Israel who “cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness” and “who try to make My people forget My nameby their dreams” (Jeremiah 23:13, 26-27, 32; see also Isaiah 3:12; 9:16).

Normally, I would have not mentioned something like this, but coming relatively close after the recommended CCOG sermon Dreams, COGs, and One Man Rule, perhaps it should be commented upon. 

Thiel is under the impression that his nightmares have spiritual significance.  Following in the footsteps of Herbert Armstrong, who started his version of the Church of God movement based upon the nightmares of Loma, Thiel bases his entire movement upon his own nightmares and the "double blessing" he received.

Thiel tries uses the Bible to back up his claim of being an "old man" who dreams dreams:

The Bible teaches the following: 

17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. 18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:17-18) 

Is the Bible true? 

Of course it is. 

Why ask that? 

Because that verse says that in the latter days, old men would have dreams--this means dreams for God. And that some with God's Spirit would prophesy. 

No leader currently in the Living Church of God has claimed that prophetic dreams happened to them. The same is true for all the leaders in groups once part of the old GCG, except the Continuing Church of God. 

I had two dreams. I was about 50 at the time of the first one, which essentially makes me an ‘old man’ per Numbers 8:25; cf. John 8:57. And about 52 at the time of the second one.

Having dreams can lead to people mocking you, especially when you make these dreams public claiming that God told you to do something.  Thiel knows he is routinely mocked by LCG members and hierarchy and by others. He has this to say:

Some people want to discount dreams, but notice what God taught:

6 “Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream. (Numbers 12:6)

While it seemed to me that from my dreams God was calling me to be a prophet, I was not sure at first that the message was from God. Lest that seem unusual, Jeremiah the prophet sometimes wondered as well--he, like I, realized the message was from God when the message was confirmed (see Jeremiah 32:6-8). Also the Apostle Peter at least once had a vision that he did not understand (Acts 10:9-17) until later as well (Acts 11:5-17). 

Thiel then claims that all of the upper brass at Living Church of God were beginning to realize that he was prophet as early as 2008.

On October 3, 2008, Dr. Meredith (Presiding Evangelist of the Living Church of God) called me and said to me, “God may consider you to be a prophet.” Notice that this came from a long-time evangelist and did not first come out from me. It was Dr. Meredith who first brought up the topic about Bob Thiel being a prophet. In January 2009, Dr. Meredith told me over the telephone that if he (Dr. Meredith) was raised to the office of apostle, he was considering ordaining me (Bob Thiel) as a prophet. On February 4, 2009, Dr. Meredith told me over the telephone, “You have an in-depth understanding {of prophetic matters}—you could be a prophet.” In the Summer of 2009, Dibar Apartian told me, in quite a positive tone, that Dr. Meredith had been stating in top level meetings that Bob Thiel may be a prophet. Because of Dibar Apartian's statements, later that Summer or perhaps early Fall, I asked Dr. Douglas Winnail, if he was part of top LCG level discussions stating that Bob Thiel may be a prophet. He said yes.

Thiel is doing all he can to make people believe he is a prophet.  Next, he drags Gaylyn Bonjour back into the mix.

I prayed in November/December 2012 that on my next trip to Charlotte, NC, that God would, one way or the other, make the prophet matter clear to me. On the morning of December 15, 2011, upon arriving at the Charlotte HQ of LCG, I asked to meet with Gary Ehman as I wanted to get anointed for some non-debilitating matters as well as to ask him to pray that I be granted wisdom for my meetings with the HQ evangelists. But Gary Ehman was not in.  So instead, I asked to meet with Gaylyn Bonjour (with whom I never had any discussions prior about me possibly being some type of prophet). I asked Gaylyn Bonjour if he would do the anointing and pray that God would grant me wisdom for the meetings. He agreed. But while laying hands upon me, Gaylyn Bonjour also happened (it was not planned nor did I say anything to encourage this) to ask God to grant me a “double-portion” of His Holy Spirit and anointed me with oil. I asked him if he had ever prayed for a a double-portion anointing before, he said he had not, and that the only 'double-portion' he knew of was when Elisha received the double-portion and the mantle in 2 Kings 2. I then attended a meeting with the evangelists and did not then have time to discuss more of what this might mean with Gaylyn Bonjour. On Sunday 12/18/11 night at a family wedding reception, without discussing the matter, I stared at Gaylyn Bonjour for a few moments, without saying anything and then asked, “Do you have any idea of what you may have accidently done?”  Gaylyn Bonjour said, “Yes, I think so.”

Another proof Thiel drags out is the fact he is an old man who dreams.

Within two weeks of my leaving LCG, on January 7, 2013, Dr. Douglas Winnail sent me an email, which included the statement, "we made comments to you  that 'you may be a prophet.'" 

As far as I am aware, I the only COG leader who met the criteria of being an 'old man' who had a dream that was confirmed as well as a prayer answered about being given an anointing reminiscent of being a prophet. 

Thiel claims that ever since he left the Living Church of God it has sunk unto apostasy.

Since the time of my departure from LCG, it has promoted more and more doctrinal and prophetic errors as it refuses to believe the Bible and the power of God  

In spite of Winnail's smack down, Thiel trots out the following as proof he is a prophet.

Few will believe:

1. Dr, Meredith on more than one occasion stated that God may consider me to be a prophet.

1. That God speaks to His prophets in dreams (Number 12:6).

1. I had two dreams that were confirmed by subsequent events, thus confirming they were from God (Jeremiah 32:6-8; Acts 10:9-17, 11:5-17).

1. Dreams and prophets are required in the last days (Acts 2:17-18).

1. God answered my prayer (cf. Psalm 65:2)

1. God does not always get anointings done the way people think they should be (Genesis 27:25-37; 2 Kings 9:1-3).

1. Therefore my anointing was a real answer to prayer and God's intervention.

Fortunately, Thiel ranks right up there with the other false prophets of Armstrongism. His nonsense is just as appallingly bad as Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Gerald Waterhouse, Dean Blackwell, Herbert Armstrong and many others.

Living Church of God Members Must Forsake All

Living Church of God members are being encourage to forsake all, families, friends and money.  Naturally this does not apply to the ministry or LCG HQ folk.  Can you imagine Lil'Jimmy forsaking all? Gerald Weston? Or Rod McNair?

I feel sorry for LCG members, nothing they can do ever seems to please Rod Meredith.

Stop Playing Church!The time for “half-hearted” Christians who “play Church” is over! We must truly seek firstthe Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And we must want to be in God’s Kingdom so much that we can “taste” it. Therefore, we must be willing to totally surrender the self, lose (if need be) part or all of our families, friendships and physical possessions, and literally “forsake all” to gain eternal life in the glorified Family of God. As Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24–26). 

Let us daily give our lives to God as living sacrifices. And let us so walk with Him and with Christ in living faith that at the end of our physical lives—whenever or however that may be—we may say what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7–8: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

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? "