20th Anniversary of The Painful Truth

The Painful Truth

It is hard to believe it has been 20 some years since Ed Mentell, Sr. started The Painful Truth website to document the abuses in the Church of God.  The PT is the "granddaddy" of all of the sites critical of Armstrongism and the Church of God.  From the days of the WCG upheavals in 1996 to the present day upheavals that STILL occupy the church, the PT has been there holding leaders accountable.

Of the many subjects the site covers, one of the more popular has been, You might have grown up in the Worldwide Church of God if...

The PT also has the complete series of Ambassador Reports which were published in Pasadena and covered the shenanigans of church and Ambassador College leaders for many years.

You can still read Herbert Armstrong's letter to Rod Meredith here.

HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG 
Tucson, March 14, 1980
President and Pastor 

Dear Rod: 

Your letters of February 1 and March 7 show, I am sorry to say, that either you still cannot understand WHY the living Head of God's Church, Jesus Christ, had you sent to Hawaii, or you are unwilling to see or admit--and I prefer to believe the former. There is no point in telling you this letter is written in LOVE for YOU -- for you ought to know that without my saying it. But out of love for you, and DESIRE to see you back as PART OF GOD'S TEAM, working in full co-operation and right attitude with the rest of us; I shall take time and space to make it clear once for all this time. I have tried to hold the mirror up for you to see yourself as others see you. But still you don't see in that mirror the same YOU that others see--or are unwilling--I hope not the latter. But now I must be SURE!

I shall speak plainly, candidly. If this letter hurts, I quote from a letter the Apostle Paul sent to brethren at Corinth: ''For though I made you angry with a letter, I do not repent ... for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance, for ye were made sorry after a godly, manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorry worketh repentance to salvation ... but the sorrow of the world worketh death.'' (11 Cor. 7:8-10)....

John Kiesz (Church of God 7 Day) wrote a letter about his early days with Herbert Armstrong.  You can read that here,  John Kiesz Recalls Herbert W Armstrong’s Early Ministry.

The Painful Truth also has kept the HWA incest story at the forefront of the Church of God movement.  Various COG cult leaders, like Bob Thiel, have tried to disprove the story and have always failed.

There is also The Painful Truth Blog which carries more up to date events and allows readers to comment.

Stop by and check out the checkered history of the Church of God movement.  It is not a pretty story which is at times disturbing, appalling and unbelievable, yet it is a story we have all experienced and of which much more are still trapped in.

Long may it continue to disturb the sensibilities of the Church of God!

Roderick C Meredith Dies

Offical LCG Statment

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, Presiding Evangelist of the Living Church of God.  He had been suffering from cancer and died peacefully late Thursday night, May 18, 2017.  He would have been 87 years old in June and took his 67th Passover this year.  He is survived by his 6 children, 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Dr. Meredith was one of the first evangelists ordained by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong in 1952 and spent 64 years in the Work that Christ began through Mr. Armstrong.  He was active in the Work until recent months. The Living Church of God, which Dr. Meredith raised up, has more than 350 congregations in 55 countries worldwide. He is succeeded as Presiding Evangelist by Mr. Gerald E. Weston.

Even after the partial paralysis of a stroke in 2008, Dr. Meredith pushed himself to continue to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world and to shepherd the flock. His greatest wish was for the Work in which he labored for so long to go forward in unity and power under Jesus Christ.  We look forward to seeing him again in the resurrection at Christ’s return.

The funeral is scheduled for Sunday, May 28 with Mr. Richard F. Ames presiding. An additional announcement will be made with details.

The family requests that donations be made to the Living Church of God in lieu of sending flowers.

Prayers are requested for God’s comfort and peace for his beloved family.

I get all excited Saturday morning knowing I get to preach

Ever so humble Dave Pack:

You know, you better understand why, when we’re going to wade in…Can I just tell you, brethren. I’ve been trained to do it. That’s why God raised up a shepherd. Mr. Armstrong’s background was a little different. I’m a shepherd…I’d still love to be one. I love my calling. And believe me, I wasn’t complaining earlier about my difficult schedule. I get up every Sabbath morning, and I’m almost like a kid in a candy shop. I can’t wait to distribute this marvelous knowledge, so everybody else can know what God is showing me, and we can all know it together. Oh, I love it! So there’s no complaint there. But I do hope you’ll understand—I’m trained for this. I led the way alone the last time.

Dave cannot wait to get up every Saturday so he can dispense his superfantabulous knowledge to his little minions.

Yes, Bob Thiel, Dave was trained to do this mighty work, YOU were not!  You self-appointed yourself.  Dave is the rightful heir to the church, YOU are not. Besides, Dave was created for this very day, YOU were not.  It must be so humiliating to know Dave is so superfantabulous and YOU are not.

Dave Pack: The WCG Would Have Killed Me If They Could Have

The Church of God Chief Narcissist is making another outlandish claim about his superfantabulous self. Has there ever been a man born on earth who is as awesome as Dave is?  How long will it be till he declares he was immaculately conceived?

Dave claims he is the ONLY man to stand up to the WCG and the Tkach's over the doctrinal changes.   Dave thinks that the Tkach's and others were so incensed by his actions that they wanted to kill him, instead, they threw him out on his ass and marked him.

The way the Catholics come in…And I’ll take you in a moment to this; it will help you understand the fraud…it opens kind of like this—“if you like your doctor, you can keep him…If you like your Sabbath, you can keep it…If you like your policy, you can keep it…If you like your Holy Days, you can keep it…and the prices will go down.” I watched this system, and brethren, I want to say something that I hope, I hope shocks you. I watched this system. I have actually already…I am the only man on Earth, who, by himself, already went up against this system. That’s why I wrote There Came a Falling Away.

I know what they would have done to me if they could. They would have killed me, but they threw me out—marked me all over the world. It’s the same system—people who came in God’s Name—who, eventually many other people realized weren’t of God at all. But I went up against it, and I dealt with it. I called leaders—by myself. That’s why I was the first man fired. And I saw how they would come in and “bait and switch.” “We’re not going to get rid of the Law, Sabbath and Holy Days.” I kept saying, “Yes they are!”

Never fear though, Dave escaped with his life so that his god could use him to bring 15,000 people out of the WCG.

I even escaped before it really got bad, you know? And helped a lot of other people escape. So in a way, and I’m not trying to brag, I was just…all I was…I used to tell people, “Don’t make me a villain or a hero. I’m neither one. I’m just a guy who signed a contract in the blood of Jesus Christ, and I’m not going to break it. If a lot of people are with me…great! If it’s only a few…not great, but that’s okay. I don’t care. I didn’t sign on for whether there were a lot or a few.” And I said that over and over and over and over and over and over again. I’m not a hero and I’m not a villain. I’m just a guy who’s going to keep his word, since it was signed in my Savior’s blood. You think the same way but I just want you to know—been there and done that.

Super Dave!

So you might ask…It might be inspiring to you…You’ll know a little bit more about me…if I’ve waded into the first perilous—dangerous—furious time—by myself…do you think I won’t do it the next time? Don’t kid yourself. That’s why I wrote all the books about how to get out. I was assassinated…Believe me, they would have killed me, if they could. You’ve got to understand the system. There’s nothing new under the sun.

So…I went up against the system and escaped. So I hope, in a way, that inspires you. I’m not trying to go…hey, pat me on the back here. I’m going to show you how all of you…what escape looks like…when all of you, individually, know that you did. I’m going to tell you exactly what happens. That’s next week. But I thought you might find it encouraging that I…It could be said, I know whereof I speak.