The Living Church of God - Page 1

Roderick C. Meredith started the Living Church of God so he could be the leader

Notes:

1. Brief history of Roderick Meredith and his Living Church of God

   On January 2, 1993, Roderick C. Meredith (RCM), an evangelist from the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), officially started the Global Church of God (GCG). In November 1998, it split, with about 20% of the people remaining in the Global Church of God and about 80% following RCM to form a new church called the Living Church of God (LCG), which currently has about 6,000 people. Roderick C. Meredith's new Living Church of God has a magazine called Tomorrow's World, a television program called Tomorrow's World, and a Web site at http://www.livingcog.org.

   Roderick C. Meredith

   
   

2. Living Church of God literature

   The Living Church of God (LCG) has posted some of its literature on its Web site in a Literature section at http://www.livingcog.org/literature.shtml that has booklets and past and present issues of the LCG's Tomorrow's World magazine.

   Some of the literature produced by the Living Church of God (Click on a picture to read the booklet.)
   

   The Living Church of God also has a Web site for Member Resources at http://www.cogl.org where people can listen to sermons, see a Holy Day Calendar, and read the Living Church News and Roderick C. Meredith's letters.

3. Global Church of God splinter groups

   In November 1998, the Global Church of God (GCG) split, with about 20% of the people remaining in the Global Church of God and about 80% following Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) to form a new church called the Living Church of God (LCG).

   When David C. Pack was fired from the Global Church of God, he started the Restored Church of God (RCOG) in the Spring of 1999. You can learn more about it at the Restored Church of God Web page.

   Someone from the Living Church of God went to court against the Global Church of God to get back more quickly some money he had lent it, and basically bankrupted it. With the GCG now defunct, the GCG people then resurfaced in October 1999 as the Church of God, A Christian Fellowship (CGCF), which had a Web site at http://www.cgcf.org.

   Those who didn't like the idea of the old GCG board members ruling in the CGCF went with Harold Smith and formed the Church of God Fellowship (CGF), which has a Web site at http://www.cgfnw.org.

   Around June 2001, some people who didn't like the way the Church of God, A Christian Fellowship was talking about joining the United Church of God (UCG) left the CGCF and started a group called the Church of the Eternal God (CEG), with a Web site at http://www.eternalgod.org.

   After coming, and going, and coming, and going, until one wondered whether he was coming or going, Raymond F. McNair started his own group, called the Church of God - 21st Century (COG21), with a Web site at http://www.cog21.org.

   A Living Church of God booklet, called God's Church Through the Ages, said that,

   "Forty weeks after Dr. Meredith announced the formation of the Living Church of God, the GCG entered into bankruptcy proceedings. Since then, the splinter groups forming from the bankrupt organization have continued to scatter and divide. The ten men who, after ousting Dr. Meredith, sat on the reconstituted GCG Council of Elders in December 1998 are scattered, as of the writing of this booklet, among seven different Church of God organizations."

4. Brian Hoselton's Global Split Page

   For more information about the Living Church of God (LCG) - Global Church of God (GCG) - Church of God, A Christian Fellowship (CGCF) - Restored Church of God (RCOG) church splits, check out the Global Split Page at http://www.hoselton.net/religion/global/split.

5. RCM and GCG part because of differences on governance

   There is an article about the Global Church of God (GCG) - Living Church of God (LCG) split in the November 1998 issue of The Journal, called Roderick C. Meredith and Global Church of God part because of differences on governance. The article can be read online at http://www.thejournal.org/articles/issue22/global.html.

6. Norman Edwards comments on the Global splintering

   Norman S. Edwards, who worked for the Global Church of God (GCG) for a while, wrote a summary of the Living Church of God (LCG) - Global Church of God (GCG) - Church of God, A Christian Fellowship (CGCF) - Restored Church of God (RCOG) church splinters. This article was in the January/February 2000 issue of his Servants' News newsletter, and can be read online at http://www.servantsnews.com/sn0001/contwcg2.htm.

   Norman Edwards wrote in the January/February 2000 issue of Servants' News that,

   "My first confirmation of the brewing split in the GCG was Mr. Meredith's article denying rumors of a split in the August 31, 1998 issue of The Journal, News of the Churches of God....From experience in the WCG, I learned that proclamations of "unity at headquarters" would often come just before a reshuffling of positions or a split. Also, sermons against gossip would be given when a leader had actually done something wrong."

7. Roderick Meredith exiled to Hawaii by Herbert Armstrong

   Apparently, Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) has always had a lust for power. When Rod Meredith was in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), he was exiled to Hawaii for about six months around 1979-1980 by Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA). A copy of the March 14, 1980 letter that HWA wrote to RCM can be read on the Internet at http://www.hoselton.net/religion/global/split/hwa.htm. Those who want to understand what is happening need to read this letter. When the WCG openly changed its teachings in January 1995, many of the ministers remembered what the WCG was like in earlier years when RCM was in charge of the ministry, and didn't like it. So, they formed the United Church of God (UCG) in May 1995 rather than go with RCM and his Global Church of God (GCG) which had been formed in December 1992.

8. David Pack gets "marked"

   Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) doesn't seem to care very much about how people get treated in the churches that he starts. Rod Meredith just has his organizations pump out more sermons and articles telling victims to forgive, forget about it, and continue to hand over their money. Some ministers can go too far, though, by causing trouble for Rod Meredith himself. In August 2000, David C. Pack got "marked" and declared an "enemy of the Church" after starting his own church, called the Restored Church of God, in the Spring of 1999. The notice of marking that was to be read in all LCG congregations can be read at http://web.raex.com/~shep/bill/packmarked.html.

9. Man-made promises in God's name

   Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) has accused the United Church of God (UCG) of having a dry, dull approach to preaching the gospel. Rod prefers a more lively approach for the Living Church of God (LCG). In his August 25, 2000 letter to "Brethren and Co-Workers," Presiding Evangelist Roderick C. Meredith tried to frighten more money out of his followers with that old, old line about how "God is beginning to intervene NOW in normal weather patterns." In case the stick wasn't enough, he offered a carrot too. He said that if you will support his splinter group with all your heart, "the Creator will richly reward and bless you even beyond your wildest dreams. And that is the TRUTH" (emphasis his). Some leaders (like RCM, for example) don't hesitate to make a lot of promises in God's name that they aren't going to be around to deliver on, and that they won't be able to deliver on even if they are around, and that God won't feel obligated to deliver on, even though someone made the promises in His name. Sadly, many people who have already tried the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and its splinter groups have come away from the experience feeling that they have been cursed even beyond their wildest nightmares.

   In a December 8, 2000 letter, Roderick Meredith told his followers to "Learn to give generously and cheerfully" (emphasis his). Leaders like Rod Meredith, who have been GETTING the money all their lives, continue to tell the little people how great it is for them to continue GIVING it.

10. Members expected to have the faith that RCM didn't have

    In his May 25, 2001 letter to the "Brethren and Co-workers" of the Living Church of God (LCG), Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) wrote:

    "Recently, our ministers and elders all over the world began to seek God more fervently in prayer and FASTING. We are drawing closer to God, beseeching God to 'confirm the Word through the accompanying SIGNS' (Mark 16:17-20). Among those signs are the power to heal the sick and to cast out demons" (emphasis his).

    After the usual request for money, RCM wrote:

    "Don't be afraid to go 'all out' for God if you want Him to go all out for you! And let us know if you want to ask for HEALING from the great God who made all of us" (emphasis his).

    All this talk of faith and miracles might not bode well for members of Roderick C. Meredith's new Living Church of God. In David Robinson's 1980 book called Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, an interesting little story is told about Rod Meredith and how much faith he had when he was in charge of the ministry. In the spring of 1970, while he was the superintendent of all U.S. ministers in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), Roderick Meredith had a detached retina in one of his eyes. Rod got a doctor to repair the eye. This happened at a time when many members feared being disfellowshipped for resorting to doctors and medicine. One man from California who had the same problem with one of his eyes, and had not gone to the doctor because of the WCG's teachings against doctors and medicine, lost his eye. Years later, many were still upset about RCM requiring one thing from the little people and doing another himself. As Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) said in his March 14, 1980 letter to Roderick Meredith, "You, yourself, find it difficult and perhaps impossible to TAKE what you dished out" (emphasis his).

    In his continuing quest for more power, Roderick C. Meredith now wants God to give his ministers and elders in the Living Church of God the power to "cast out demons." Before He gives them any such power, God might like them first to learn how to use properly the power that they already have. Perhaps they should learn to use it to cast out some of the perverted old men who have crept into the LCG, rather than casting out their victims.

11. Correction, or injustice and abuse?

    Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) is disappointed that not everyone is willing to put up with the sort of "correction" they receive from the "ministry" in Rod's churches. In the July-August 2001 issue of the Living Church News magazine, Rod said that such people "are self-willed, that they will NOT submit to God's government and His Church" (emphasis his), and complained that people who "have felt their 'feelings' were hurt because of some correction or misunderstanding with the ministry or other brethren" will often go join, or start, another group.

    The plain truth of the matter is that there have simply been some wicked people in the congregations of Roderick Meredith's churches. Also, many of the local rulers in the congregations of Roderick Meredith's churches simply didn't know right from wrong, and didn't even have enough sense to look into matters. The same was true of the leaders at the top of Rod Meredith's groups. This made it easy for the wicked people in the congregations to stir up and fool the arrogant and godless local rulers into casting out their victims. These victims of wicked members and godless rulers were then forced to go somewhere else. Not all offenses were just "imagined," and not every member just "left" on his own. Roderick C. Meredith would now like great crowds of new people to come and financially support his latest efforts with all their hearts. But, some people have already trusted Rod in the past, and such was their luck. It is as if he just utterly refuses to do things right. Then, old man Meredith actually complains in his sermons that with so many splinter groups around today, if his ministers put anyone out of his church they can just go join some other splinter group. They don't have to tolerate abuse or beg to be let back. This frustrates Rod. One might wonder, as did Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) in his March 14, 1980 letter to Roderick C. Meredith, "Rod, in a candor, HAVE YOU EVER REALLY REPENTED" (emphasis his)?

    Some people in Roderick C. Meredith's latest group, the Living Church of God (LCG), try to say that Rod doesn't have any personal scandals in his life. They just can't see that the injustice and abuse that Meredith expects people to put up with in his churches is scandalous!

    In the Old Testament of the Bible, it is recorded that Moses told the Israelites, "And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike" (Deuteronomy 1:16-17, NIV).

    So many of the so-called Churches of God (COGs) are full of evil because the uncalled, self-appointed leaders of these groups, and those they set up under themselves, don't even know the basics of justice. They are so arrogant and useless that they won't even listen to a matter--unless it is brought by the wicked. And, as one of the Proverbs says, "He who answers before listening--that is his folly and his shame" (Proverbs 18:13, NIV). Another Proverb cautions that, "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him" (Proverbs 18:17, NIV).

    Not everything that happens in the COG scene is approved by God. One Proverb says that, "Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent--the LORD detests them both" (Proverbs 17:15, NIV). So, then, why do so many leaders, and those they set up under themselves, judge so badly and pervert justice? Why are they so quick to listen to and believe the lying wicked, and immediately cast out their innocent victims without even giving them a hearing? The answer is found in another Proverb: "A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue" (Proverbs 17:4, NIV). There really is no excuse for the behavior of these leaders. The reason that they judge wrongly and pervert justice is simply because they are bad characters themselves. An upright man would not do as they do.

12. Canadian Regional Director brings bad company

    Roderick C. Meredith (RCM) had a man by the name of Laurie Nyhus running the Global Church of God (GCG) up in Canada. While Laurie was in the Global Church of God, his son married a United Church of God (UCG) girl. The girl's father, a United Church of God minister by the name of Melvin Rhodes, wrote some drivel in The Journal newspaper about how, "These two young people were made for each other; they click together so well." But, it didn't work out, and the marriage was quickly annulled. To see how wrong Melvin the minister was with his optimistic comments and predictions, check out his Journal article called Columnist offers toast to church's next generation at http://www.thejournal.org/articles/issue16/rhodes.html.

    Laurie Nyhus followed Roderick Meredith from the Global Church of God to the Living Church of God (LCG) after the Global split. There were problems there too, and Laurie Nyhus "resigned" from Rod Meredith's new Living Church of God effective June 10, 1999. A couple years of teaching at an Indian school showed Laurie Nyhus the disadvantages of having to work for a living while he applied for, and waited for, a position as a minister in the United Church of God. In the UCG, Laurie has been trying to impress people by telling stories about how his prayers have healed people. According to his stories, about one person out of every ten or twenty that he prays for gets healed. His daughter backs up his stories. Some of the other people that he claims to have healed do not.

    People not related to Laurie Nyhus have a different type of story to tell. In this story, Laurie's prayers don't heal people. Rather, his actions harm them. When Laurie joins a church, he takes with him an old buddy named Bruce Bird, who walks into congregations that other people have started and takes over. Then, Bruce brings in what seems to be his favorite dirty old man and casts out any of his victims. If anyone dares to say anything about what goes on, the arrogant Bruce rants, slanders, calls victims cowards, and shouts that his old friend has contacted the police about anyone who is talking. Properly investigating matters, and judging rightly, is not the Bird's style. Polluting churches with evil is. Bruce Bird is currently seeking power in the UCG, where his buddy Laurie Nyhus is seeking a paycheck. These political animals are never content to go anywhere to listen, and learn, and do good. They always go straight for the power and the money, even though they are totally unfit to have either. Bruce Bird proudly announces in church when his own unbelieving children marry completely outside of the church, and then kicks out of the church other people's children who do believe. Finally being rid of the likes of Bruce Bird might look to some people as though Rod Meredith's prayer for the ability to "cast out demons" has finally been partially answered. But, demons desire a dwelling place, and Bruce Bird and his favorite old pervert are now trying to establish themselves in the United Church of God. In fact, the May 2003 issue of the United News announced that Bruce had been "credentialed" by the UCG and was "serving" a UCG congregation in one city. "Serving Satan" would be a more accurate description. Ordinary members, as always, really do need to look out for themselves, no matter where they go. Wherever anyone is trying to teach the truth of God, Satan will try to slip in wicked characters like Bruce Bird to pollute it with evil.