Living Church of God: We Will Soon Be Banned! (Though not by this Banned...)

An LCG member contacted me about the constant fear mongering that Rod Meredith fills all of his sermons and articles with lately.  Members are getting sick of hearing it.  

Some of the things they pointed out are:

According to Rod Meredith, terrible times lie ahead for Living Church of God members.  Intense persecution and suffering is shortly around the corner. This persecution will be like none other in history and because LCG is the ONLY true church the earth those 7,000 people will soon be made to suffer.  Fear seems to permeate every one of Rod Meredith's articles now.

Rod Meredith writes:

It is obvious that mankind cannot solve the problems of human nature—vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. It seems the U.S. is destined to continue as the most visible target for cowardly terrorist attacks since it is now, almost by default, the enforcer of whatever world peace and stability there is. But what about spiritual Israel (cf. Galatians 6:16)—the true Church of God? Will we somehow escape all the madness and be “whisked off to safety” with nary a scratch or a bruise? 

No, indeed! 

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.

Clearly, since the Living Church of God has NOT gained worldwide recognition and prominence, I wonder where this intense persecution is coming from?  For the last 60 some years it has been living in Rod Meredith's head, that is for sure.

Even though LCG now is on Apple TV, Roku and other streaming sites where it sits along side numerous other religious group streaming sites, it is still is a minor blip on the radar screen. People who stream movies and sports are not sitting there streaming Living Church of God videos. Fact.

Even as much as Rod Meredith hates this blog and warns his members to steer clear, nothing presented here is persecution, even though he counts it as persecution.

Although Christ’s zealous and faithful servants will be taken to a Place of Safety at the very end of this age (Luke 21:36; Revelation 12:14), Scripture makes it quite clear that we all will have trials, tests and at least some degree of real persecution before this deliverance. For God inspired the Apostle Paul to warn us, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12–13).

The only people I see suffering REAL persecution are the REAL Christians in the middle east being killed for their beliefs.

12 Christians Brutally Executed By ISIS Refused to Renounce Name of Christ, Died Praying, Reciting Lord's Prayer 
Syria's beleaguered Christians 

Christians almost completely destroyed by ISIS fanatics in Syria, says Aleppo Archbishop

For a church that faces so much persecution it sure seems to finds time to dump more hard earned tithe money into its little so-called "university" for dorms, redecorating offices and buying expensive furniture to please Lil Jimmy's exquisite tastes. Since intense persecution is rapidly approaching I would think LCG would be funneling money into accounts where it could help its persecuted brethren around the world.  But no, sadly it's not.

UCG Meeting To Determine What It Is They Actually Are Supposed to Be Doing

UCG Council of Elders

A person would think that after 20 some years of claiming to be the only true church doing the work of God on the earth that the United Church of God knew exactly what it was they were supposed to be doing.   Apparently not.

UCG will be meeting in Cincinnati this coming week to examine their mission statement, which apparently not too many of them pay much attention to.

Robin Webber writes

The Council of Elders (CoE) of the United Church of God meets in Cincinnati from Feb. 29 to March 3. We are called together once again to ascertain and oversee how we might diligently fulfill the mission statement of the United Church of God “to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, make disciples in all nations, and care for those disciples.” As followers of the Son of God we are to humbly yet boldly follow in His footsteps when He said, “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). He went on to further say in John 9:4“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.”

Ever since UCG was started in back room shenanigans in the SOG Apartments in Pasadena, it has been trying to find its identity.  Even though we live in the 21st century and have new ways of communication and media, UCG still tries to emulate it's mother church.  The Worldwide Church of God's model was based upon Herbert Armstrong's early 20th century advertising techniques and how the church operated on the financial economic excess of the 1980's.  The WCG was truly an American made sect who failed to adjust to the peoples they tried to convert around the world.  Whether you were in Oklahoma,  France, South Africa, or South America, church members dressed, acted and did exactly the same things that the mother church in Pasadena did.

Flash forward to 2016 and look at UCG today.  It cannot relate to the citizens in it's own city, state or country.  It's magazines no longer draw members or coworkers in. It has had a string of epic failures in personal appearance campaigns, outrageously expensive billboard campaigns and public "Bible studies."

UCG is out of touch with the concerns of the people around them and of the world.  It cannot relate to African Americans or Latin Americans who make up a broad swath of American society today.  UCG  is still a white man's church that is run by American white men who promote subtle racist beliefs though Anglo Israelism specialness  It's no wonder that in 2016 they have to continually meet to determine just what it is they are supposed to be doing.

Where is the humility in the UCG power structure?  Where are the serving servants who get down other knees and wash the feet of the homeless or immigrants that does their landscaping?  Where are the humble men in the UCG?  These are men who are going to be god's one day, don't forget!

These two fundamental scriptures keep us in alignment with our purpose for meeting, and reminds all of us of the spiritual fervency needed now more than ever as we plainly see the ever-encroaching darkness of this age of man that confronts God’s desire for all humanity. What is “our Father’s business”? What has He granted us to understand by His grace? How does Scripture inform us what to believe and therefore what to do whether as members of a council or individual members within the Body of Christ? What spiritual principles guide the Council of Elders as we strive to determine with God’s guidance: 1) How to share precious spiritual truth and understanding both to the world and those in our midst, 2) How to best utilize the gifts and talents of the precious resource of our membership and ministry throughout the world, and 3) How to wisely utilize the faithful donations of our members and coworkers to this end to bear spiritual fruit?

Ah yes, the world is coming to an end and we have a message of hope to bring to the world, but first we need to tell you about all the death, doom and gloom that will befall you if you ignore us.

How has scripture informed the United Church of God when it ignores or puts Jesus on the back room as an inconvenient awkward relative they want to keep out of sight?  Much like that they do with their beliefs on their website, conveniently hidden from view.

After a list of things that UCG claim to believe in (but doesn't practice), Webber has this this comment:

This is “our Father’s business” and what we will discuss in preparing Strategic and Operation Plans and Budget touching on all these spiritual needs for the GCE’s consideration in May. These guiding principles touch all that we will do and decide next week in regards to reviewing doctrines and teachings and wisely placing them under the light of Scripture; producing and promoting evangelistic tools such as the Beyond Today magazine and program, our Internet home page, and public appearance programs so that God’s ageless truths and values might become personally relevant to today’s audience; assuring that our congregations on all six inhabitable continents have pastoral care; and focusing on the needs of our youth to learn God’s ways and to create and maintain meaningful bonding programs for them that will stitch the Church together in the years to come. 

Twenty years down the line and a few years after a major church break off, UCG is reviewing doctrines to change.  One must not forget that all of these men in charge UCG were the very same men who disfellowhippeed and rebuked WCG members during the doctrinal changes when members disagreed.  These very same men were enforcers of Tkach's reforms until it was obvious that the gravy train they were on was going to be soon be brought to an end.  Money was too important to them.  They could not step out in faith from the very first as they planned a new church, but instead had to connive and plan for months and moths while still on WCG payroll.  Even today these very same men, after one epic church failure after another, still stay in power as UCG dwindles slowly down, refusing to do what is right.

Browsing through their magazines, web site and booklets a person has to look really hard to find anything specifically on Jesus Christ.  That inconvenient dude is usually only invoked in the last few paragraphs of any article as an afterthought...IF...he is mentioned at all.  Its only Hebrew scripture  heroes and prophets who get the headline articles.  Its Hebrew scripture personalities that make the magazines articles and web site stories.  Jesus be damned when Abraham, Issac and David can be invoked!

Perhaps the UCG leadership should focus entirely upon on Jesus for week and see what they might discover.

You can read UCG's "mission" here:  Robin Webber Letter

Leviticus

Greg Nice Admits Philadelphia Church of God Doesn't Play Nice...God Told Them Not To

Ever since Gerald Flurry dreamed up his "no contact" policy as a method of controlling Philadelphia Church of God members he has had to be on the defensive.  As he struggles to find scripture to back up his insane rants he also has to deal with the backlash from PCG members and ex members.

Since so many find Flurry's excuses to be  highly offensive  he has has to turn to one of his abettor's to do his dirty work.  That lackey ended up being Greg Nice who ultimately proves there is nothing nice about the guy at all!

Nice wrote the following article in July of 2010.  The PCG has reposted this in order to keep the grumbling members under control.  Must We Avoid Them?

Nice gets right to the point in the very first paragraph.  This should leave no doubt in any PCG members mind that Gerald's god is directly behind this teaching.

Some of God’s people outside and perhaps even inside the Philadelphia Church of God think that the pcg has established a policy regarding cutting off fellowship with members who leave the faith—those the Bible describes as Laodicean—even their own family members. Not having fellowship with Laodiceans is not a policy established by the pcg. What the pcg does is teach and obey the doctrine established by God. Because this is a doctrine of God, it is therefore a policy of the Church; that is, the Church follows God’s commands about restricting fellowship with people He has called and impregnated with His Holy Spirit and who then choose to walk contrary to their covenant with God.

The doctrines of the Church of God come directly from the Word of God. Not having fellowship with those who turn away from God is directly commanded from one end of the Bible to the other. The doctrine predates mankind and will continue into the Kingdom of God.

Why would any PCG member ever doubt Flurry again after reading this?  The very first two paragraphs are laden with fear tactics meant to enslave and subdue.