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Living Church of God Member's Nastiness Comes Out On Facebook

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A reader here sent me some screen shots of a Living Church of God Facebook page.  They included the following:



It's a good expose' of the underbelly as you put it. LCG tries in vain to present themselves as caring for the world, but in reality are quick to blow off anyone whom they feel is not being called. Did you notice how many "likes" the guy's post received? The woman that Michael unfriended, named publicly, and slandered is in no position to take legal recourse. She's incredibly loving and generous and has dedicated her life to helping hungry African children, on location. She's like a Mother Theresa and I won't tell who she is because she doesn't deserve attention in this context, thus I hid her name.

I can guarantee you that Michael and those who high-fived him have NEVER dedicated their lives to helping the less fortunate, fed the hungry, made lunches for the local prostitutes on Thanksgiving Day or traveled to Africa to fed the hungry kids there.  All they do is sit in their nice warm and well furnished American homes using their high tech devices while drinking their Starbucks sitting next to their wide margin Moffitt translation Bibles with a Mystery of the Ages sitting on TOP of the Bible.

Double click to enlarge to read comments from members of the church of brotherly love:






Gerald Flurry and the King of the East

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Gerald Flurry and the King of the East
By
Miller Jones/Lonnie C. Hendrix

From time to time, I force myself to check in on what the various WCG splinter groups are doing. I recently subjected myself to an installment of Gerald Flurry’s Key of David program, and I must say that I was impressed by “that prophet’s” ability to warp and twist prophetic Scripture. The program focused on events in the Middle East, specifically Lebanon, and explored how events there would lead to the fulfillment of prophecies in Psalm 83 and Daniel (Chapters 11 and 12).

However, a more general word about Flurry’s interpretations of prophecy is appropriate before I explore the problems with this particular utterance. Mr. Flurry frequently makes the mistake of applying specific prophecies to himself, his Philadelphia Church of God or groups that he doesn’t like. He is also fond of transferring the identities of ancient peoples and nations to modern nations – especially with regard to the United States and Britain as Israel (which many folks, including yours truly, have debunked here and elsewhere). Finally, “that prophet” has a propensity for seeing almost every prophetic utterance in the Bible as applying to the “end time.” Unfortunately, these predispositions have led Mr. Flurry (not unlike Mr. Herbert Armstrong before him) to make some erroneous predictions about what the future holds.

In this latest example of his prophetic malpractice, Flurry pointed to Lebanon as being the catalyst for a future confrontation between the King of the North and the King of the South. He went on to identify Germany and her allies as constituting the modern manifestation of the King of the North, and Iran and her surrogates as the King of the South (Daniel 11). Based on this dubious interpretation, Mr. Flurry went on to predict that Germany and her allies would eventually triumph over the Iranian led forces.

Never mind that history and most biblical scholars have linked the King of the North with the Seleucid kings of Syria, and that those same sources have equated the King of the South with the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt. Never mind that these designations also make sense when one looks at their respective geographical locations relative the Holy Land (Egypt is South of Jerusalem and Syria is North of there). Iran, on the other hand, is due EAST of Jerusalem (it would be more appropriate to tag Iran as the King of the East). To be fair, Germany is located to the northwest of the Holy Land. So I guess it wouldn’t be too big of a stretch to ignore the western drift of this kingdom – we shouldn’t be too picky!

Even more interesting is Flurry’s justification for these designations. In his booklet entitled “The King of the South,” Flurry writes that “In 65 B.C., Syria was swallowed up by the ROMAN EMPIRE, and became a Roman province. The Roman emperor now controlled Judaea, and therefore the king of the north, here referred to, is, at this time, the emperor of the ROMAN EMPIRE.” Mr. Flurry conveniently failed to mention that Ptolemaic Egypt also became a part of the Roman Empire in 31 BC. So, according to this line of reasoning, shouldn’t we conclude that the Roman emperor also became the King of the South?

Hmmm, I have a prediction of my own to make:  Those folks who choose to swallow Gerald Flurry’s interpretations of Bible prophecy are going to be disappointed in the near future. His offerings may titillate a few of the aging and uniformed former adherents of Armstrongism, but I don’t think that they will get much attention from serious students of the Bible.

Living Church of God Using Death of Camp Worker As Fund Raising Tool

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Reeling from the tragic death of Morgan Montgomery at the LCG run summer camp the church has been in spin doctor mode from the get go.  It quickly flew out LCG big-wigs to "comfort" the grief stricken youth.  LCG told the press that they were sending in "counselors" to help the youth to come to grips with what had happened.  That may have look well and good to the gullible public, but those counselors were nothing more than ministers of the church.  Men who have had NO certified training in dealing with grief.

Now the Living Church of God is using Morgan's tragic death as a fund-raising tool to suck more money out of church members.  Perhaps the LCG brass can take all of that money that Lil'Jimmy is using to redecorate the Home Office and use that as scholarship money. It's quit obvious WHERE LCG's priorities really are.

In her memory, the Church has set up a special fund, The Morgan Montgomery Memorial Youth Fund to provide scholarships and transportation for Church youth around the world to participate in the Church’s youth camps, in addition to providing other important services to Church youth.
Donations should be sent to “Morgan Montgomery Memorial Youth Fund” at Living Church of God, P.O. Box 3810, Charlotte, NC 28227. Or you can donate online by clicking the button below. Be sure to designate that the donation is for the Morgan Montgomery Memorial Youth Fund”.

The love and generosity of God’s people is greatly appreciated!Morgan Montgomery Memorial Youth Fund

LCG Members Raise Money To Take Body Of Teen Camper Home

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Living Church of God has another black eye in its handling of the death of a summer camper at their church run summer camp.  Several LCG members have contacted me about this.  They are disgusted that members had to do something that the church should have done.

Apparently LCG members had to set up a YouCaring page to help raise money to send Morgan Montgomery's body home to Australia.  While Rod Meredith and the LCG are using her death as a fund raising tool, they apparently cannot scrape enough money together to give to the family to handle this situation.

In Memory of Morgan Montgomery


Rod Meredith: Oops! My Bad! I Have Had To Set The Reset Button...AGAIN...

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Rod Meredith is back with is latest co-worker letter where he lets qll of his members know that they don't have a clue as to what he writes.  Rod is disappointed that after spending 63 years of spouting utter nonsense that no one pays any attention to him any more.  Perhaps the reason is that some many now consider him a hypocrite and a liar. Rod needs to pay more attention to what he wrote in the second paragraph on how Jesus calls him a hypocrite because he does not know to discern the end times.

“It’s happening! It’s happening right now before our very eyes. Most people do not even have a clue. But many of you subscribers to Tomorrow’s World do understand. For all around us, we see the ‘signs’ that the end of this lawless age of mankind is very near.”
In Jesus’ day, He reproached the religious leaders of His time for their ignorance of the “signs” all around them. They understood the signs of the weather, but not the meaning of the prophetic happenings all around them. So the real Jesus Christ of the Bible reprimanded these religious leaders with these words:  “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:1-3).
“My friends, all around us we see the prophetic events unfolding which I have been preaching and writing about for about 63 years.”

“We constantly explain how you can escape the coming Great Tribulation and how all of us can have a tremendous part in warning our fellow human beings and helping them also escape the coming Holocaust.”

For sixty three years now every single thing that Rod Meredith has prophesied has failed to come to pass.  One lie after another.  One end time concentration camp story after another.  Famine, disease and pestilence should have killed us all of by now.  Concentration camps and the invading Germanic hoards should have been occupying the Pasadena campus instead of the heathen charismatics.

Meredith was one of the major proponents in the early 70's that we would be fleeing to Petra in 1972 and the man no COG member seems to know would be retuning in 1975.  We have all seen how well THAT story has worked out.  Never one to be silenced, Meredith has been spouting on decades later about how wicked and evil everyone is around a him.

His own members are starting to grumble at all of his failures.  The want and demand that something happen soon, but it never does.  Meredith just goes on with more egg on his face.  However, Meredith recently had to address the grumbling LCG members and lectured them on how "the lord delays his coming."

The grumblers are the aging members who have had to sit and listen to this nonsense for decades.  The new members could care less.   Meredith needs to see death and destruction litter the ground around him, then he will know his god is true.  Meredith is going to die before anything he has ever dreamed of comes to pass.

Never fear though, because his god feels that the LCG is not ready and the members have been slacking off too much, more time has been granted.

Brethren, this same passage of scripture also tells us to “watch” for certain events to occur: “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (vv. 33–34). Many of these prophesied events have not yet happened. Certainly, it appears that they may be coming very close. But the reality is that they have not yet happened. Mr. Herbert Armstrong, Ted, Herman Hoeh and I all “hoped” that Christ would come very soon. We prayed. We worked hard to do the Work. But our Father in heaven—in His infinite wisdom and mercy—has allowed human beings on this earth to have several more decades of time than we expected to do their own thing, and write the lessons of human suffering. But finally, He will intervene when humanity truly is on the verge of cosmocide and many thinking people finally realize that “all is lost” without God’s intervention in human affairs.
However, we older members in God’s Church should not give up at the last minute. And we should encourage our young people to see the “Big Picture.” After all, we have been able to go ahead with our lives for these decades.
“At least a few thousand of you older brethren who are reading this letter have had to be patient through the trials and tests of life, of human issues in the Church, and with the realization that Christ has not come back as quickly as we had hoped.”
Meredith's predictions have been an absolute failure just like Herbert's, Hoeh, Martin, Dorothy and Kuhn. Meredith is very deceptive in his writing below.  He makes it look like he has had recent conversation with these men which therefore means that we still might have 20-30 years left from this date before anything happens.  That 20-30 years was tied in to the 1975 failed prophecy and is itself another failed prediction.
“Because I have been one of the pioneer students of Ambassador College and of the ministry of this Work under Herbert W. Armstrong, I have been able to know and converse for many hours with nearly all of the leading men who studied prophecy in detail in the early years. I have also read some articles and books on prophecy and biblical chronology by outsiders. Every one of the leading men that I talked to in this Work—including Dr. Herman Hoeh, Dr. Ernest Martin, Dr. Charles Dorothy, Dr. Robert Kuhn and others—have acknowledged that they came to realize during their study of biblical chronology that we could ‘easily’ be 20 or 30 years off in either direction! Therefore, it should be easy to realize that Christ may not come until about 2030AD! 
Now it looks like Meredith has to eat some bitter crow.  He is letting the younger members know that they will have time to get married, have careers, have kids and accomplish a lot in life before his end times comes.

Do I, personally, think it will be that long? No! But I have “hoped” that it would be sooner for many decades. So I want you to realize—as you plan your life, and as you young people plan your lives—that there may be enough time for you to have a career, and to marry, have children and accomplish a number of wonderful things before our Savior returns as King of kings.

Meredith then exhibits once again how little he knows about the Jesus dude he claims to follow.  Apparently the things Jesus did for salvation history (that the majority of Christians believe) are meaningless drivel and LCG members need to get busy doing SOMETHING to ensure their salvation is assured.
“We must never be involved in ‘murmuring’ and ‘disputing’ and complaining about the fact that Almighty God is giving human beings more time to write the lessons of human suffering and for His own children to ‘work out’ our own salvation before Christ returns.”

Work, work, work and no time for play.

Philadelphia Church of God: Another Horror Story Of A Life Abused

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I have received the following from a young person who grew up in the Philadelphia Church of God and suffered horrendously under its authoritarian hand.

It is unedited




My whole life from birth destroyed.

I was born into the PCG, it's all I've known from the beginning of my life up to the age of 14 (I left).
I'm going to explain my story in pieces as there is so many events that has destroyed my childhood and teen life. I'm an adult now.

* my parents were married for 12 years and my mother had left my father and 4 of her children, she is now a drug addict and has had nightmares from the church. My father was abusive to her though I don't recall any events of that because I was only a baby when she left. He has confessed to mentally abusing her. She is completely ruined and believes we are better off without her.

*when I was about 7 years old me and other girls from my congregation went to a church get together we all wore shorts. I had a big of weight on then, and we all wore the same length shorts. The minister had said to my father that it was inappropriate and they were to short, but didn't complain about the other girls, I remember driving home in the car with him and my father said I shouldn't have let you leave the house dressed like that they were right. -my point is my sister and I were always picked on and treated differently.

* when I was young my father unintentionally sexually assaulted me I believe he woke up and realized what he had done, as he hauled away quickly. At that time I felt it wasn't right but because of my age I didn't understand that action. Later on in my life I confronted him and he went to counselling and told them I had been lying the ministers believe him and called me trouble and that he should cut me off, they told my other family the same, because no one believed me and I was taken by social services I told them all I was lying because I wanted to go home, that was just another mistake because I didn't get to go home and my father brought the documents to the ministers trying to say I told you she was lying, it was slapped in my face so many times that I wanted to get a police detector test but I know it wouldn't do any good they still won't believe it, my brother doesn't believe me because I'm not in the church and my dad still is to this day.

*another situation is when my dad married another woman he was working Crazy shifts and my step mom was always home, she was like a mother to me she treated us as her own. But this night changed it all, my brother who was a teen at the time tried to do something to my step mom he snuck in her room and my dad was on her side, but when he went to ministers it all changed its kind of ironic looking back now. He was suspended for marrying an outsider and was told it would never work, but anyways he went to counselling and they told him to support my brother because he is a teen with raging hormones, I was young and confused by the whole situation she treated us differently and had nightmares every night causing her to leave her home, dad listened to the ministers and I recall him calling her a drama queen and telling her to get over it.

*my dad has cut me off and gave me an ultimatum either I join the church again, or we will never have a father daughter relationship. He is blinded and I knew the degennaro family and I cried when I learned about her death, I mentioned it to my dad he visited that congregation and didn't mention anything about her, until I learned from this site he said they were disfellowshipped and the De gennaros were mad with flurry and made up lies, this broke my heart I cried knowing the family and they are good souls, they would never make that up. But because Mr.flurry said so its that way. I felt so hurt and angry learning about her death, it has shaken my faith as I believed this deceiving church all this time and I feel I don't know what to believe anymore, my dad said Satan played with my emotions. And by reading Maria & Dan's letter to you guys that I was talking to the devil. My father told me that people on the Milton congregation said Janet was happily married and she had a heart failure now she was in Chicago how does anyone who can't even voice their opinion or feelings be happy? How do they know how Janet felt, well I know what Janet felt and they are blinded I can't even tell my father how I know how she felt. After learning about her death I gave my father a nasty letter and told him I'll cut him off on my own because they would make him anyways. They are messed up people and I wish people would read everyone's pain caused by this church and get out before it hurts your family too.

*my father became a cold hearted person because of that church I was a teen pregnant in a abusive relationship and I had no family but him he turned his back and said you put yourself in there you get yourself out. And that he treated my mom like that, he's just young he will get over it

The Dodo, Science, Gerald Flurry and The Serious Curmudgeon

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In my side column I have links to various interesting sites.  Some are are COG related and others are there to help some give serious thought to use their ability to look at things from a different viewpoint; something that Armstrongism has always frowned upon.  It doesn't mean you have to believe or agree with any of it, but at least use your mind to look at different points of view.  Use what is useful and move on if its not. Stop checking your brain at the closest stack of COG booklets or the web sites of Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry and Rod Meredith, to name a few.

Speaking of Gerald Flurry.....There is a great blog entry on The Serious Curmudgeon today (August 15, 2015) about Gerald Flurry and his "reasoning" concerning scientific thought and evolution.

Did you know that Flurry claims that science began with original sin?  Inquisitive minds apparently are the result of Eve beguiling Adam with that big old apple called thought processes.  To think is the result of Adam and Eve sinning in the garden.  That thinking process is what created science which then led to evolution.

The Serious Curmudgeon quotes Gerald Flurry in The Futility of Science:

Believe it or not, the problem with science is actually revealed in the biblical story of the garden of Eden! In the garden, Adam and Eve rejected the tree of life and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a consequence, God expelled them and cut them off from the tree of life [scripture reference]. From that point, God allowed humankind to devise their own systems of science, religion and education — apart from His direction.
The pursuit of science is a continuation of original sin! Moving along:
As Herbert W. Armstrong wrote: “With the emergence of ‘modern science’ around the beginning of the 19th century, scientists assured the world that man had progressed to the point where he then could dispense with the superstitious crutch of religion and belief in God” (Plain Truth, March 1980).
If Armstrong wrote it, then it must be The Truth.

In a previous article on August 11, 2015, The Serious Curmudgeon looks at how Gerald Flurry claims that The Dodo Disproves Evolution.

We present to you, dear reader, some excerpts from The Dodo’s Posthumous Message to Mankind, which appears in The Trumpet, a publication of the Philadelphia Church of God, which has some relationship with Herbert W. Armstrong. The bold font was added by us:
In 1681, the last dodo bird on the planet breathed its last breath. But that was not the final chapter of the bird’s story. Some 300 years later, botanists on Mauritius — the island where the dodo had lived — noticed that a certain species of tree was rapidly dying off. Tambalacoque trees had historically grown in abundance on Mauritius, but by the 1970s only 13 remained. And all of those remaining were thought to be around 300 years old. Even though they were producing fruit containing seeds each year, none of the seeds were sprouting into saplings. This meant that no new Tambalacoque trees had sprouted since the late 1600s.
Aha, a mystery! When the dodo went extinct, the Tambalacoque trees stopped reproducing. Why?
For the rest of this delight entry read it here.

It has always amazed me how Church of God leaders can spout such utter nonsense when not a single one of them have EVER studied science or evolution, let a alone read books on the subjects.  This should be really no surprise to anyone since not a single one of these men even have a REAL theological education.  Their viewpoint on evolution comes from the writings of Herbert Armstrong and the silly rants of Rod Meredith, Garner Ted, Dean Blackwell, Hermann Hoeh and loudmouth Gerald Waterhouse.  Science was NEVER a major class at Ambassador College which encouraged students to think and study outside the boundaries of COG thought processes.

They could not do that with theology so why would they with science? 

You Know You Grew Up In The Church of God Continues On....


Living Church of God's Rod McNair Caught Lying Once Again

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More from Charlotte

Living Church of God's Rod McNair imagines himself as a great theologian and preacher.  As a preacher we all know that when a Church of God minister speaks something from the pulpit that they NEVER say anything that is not true.  As God's chosen mouthpieces that is an absolute impossibility...at least in the Living Church of God culture.  When LCG ministers speak, especially Rod McNair, it is to let members know how benevolent they are towards the members. Being the benevolent loving leader that he is, he wants all LCG members to know that they CAN disagree with those in authority in the LCG without ANYONE disciplining them for doing so!  Who knew?  Is that really true?  Living Church of God members know this is blatantly NOT true!  Just look at the trail of destruction, McNair, League and Meredith have left in their wake over the last year or so.

Below is a clip from a recent sermon of McNair where he says that members can disagree with those in authority in the LCG without fear of discipline. Really????  Many Living Church of God members know this is NOT true!  Just look at the recent purge of LCG members who disagreed with the new "upgrades" in the church and for the church's stance on British Israelism.  The repercussions to that were swift and vicious. They were supportive of the church on big issues. Just not willing to swallow all Winnail and Ames "new understandings" and other non-Biblical teachings.




"McNair2" LCG says they don't kick people out for a time period "not so long that could discourage them beyond being able to recover themselves." Really?  Some of the recent purged victims were told specifically that no one from LCG would even talk to them till a year had passed.  Most COG members would agree that one year is excessive, but not McNair.  Even his boss, Rod Meredith, whined and moaned about being exiled to Hawaii for a year by HWA.  He felt that was way too long, yet he does the exact same thing to his own members.  The only difference with Meredith is that he was restored to power again as a minister, while those he disciplines are rarely restored to anything other than being a money making machine for the church.   One's position and credibility is destroyed but those dollars sure look good!





The following clip is of McNair stating that the LCG does NOT disfellowship anyone if they have voluntarily left the church.  Those in Charlotte know this is not true! One member from the Charlotte congregations was disfellowshipped AFTER he had left LCG on his own.  McNair publicly stated that the reason they did this was specifically because the person had disassociated themselves from the church.  When McNair, Meredith, Ames and others do this they are using this as a tool of control over LCG members who have doubts and questions.  Fear is a great tool in preventing members from leaving and being publicly humiliated. Plus the threatened of losing ones salvation by being kicked out of the "true church" is a mighty weapon of control.



The "McNair3" clip below shows once again how McNair and the LCG lie through their teeth.  He says that the ministry of the LCG "strives" to NOT make comments that would impeded a wayward members journey back into their congregation.  Really dude?  Really? Character assassination is the modus-operandi in LCG. The ministers share with their wives who in turn share with the other ladies who in turn share with their husbands and before you know it LCG members in other congregations have some altered version of the original story. LCG wants to villainize ex-members. It's often the only way they can justify their harsh treatment of people who in many cases aren't deserving of the punishments inflicted.



The clip below warns LCG members to "withdraw from brothers who don't walk according to the tradition that he received from Jesus Christ."  Many LCG members have been struck by how many of the recent LCG members who were disfellowshipped by the church have remained LOYAL to standard Church of God beliefs.  McNair wants to use this verse to admonish loyal LCG members to stay away from those severed from the body but if they are still believers how does that work out? Maybe McNair should re-write the scripture or perhaps not use it at all since it really didn't apply to the majority of purge victims who are still keeping the commandments and the holy days.



This last clip is of McNair stating that before anyone is "marked" by the church that they receive counseling beforehand. Well over 200 members in the Charlotte congregation know this is not true at all!  In fact this has never been true in the Church of God culture whether it was in Pasadena or Charlotte. I have seen the letters that Meredith sent out to disfellowshipped members in Pasadena and from Charlotte.  No counseling was ever involved.  It was a cold, clinical letter that was devoid of any love or compassion.



Rod Meredith and the Living Church of God had a great opportunity when they jumped ship from the Worldwide Church of God to start anew and do things "right."  Power, narcissism and ego remained the dominate factors of the church hierarchy that carried over.  That is why the Living Church of God has been incapable of growing in significant numbers or even maintaining its present members.  They carried over the abuse and fear tactics that Meredith and others used while in WCG and terrorize LCG members with it to this day.

What new things and truth do they have to offer anyone?  What love does the LCG offer to their  members?  Is being lied to from the pulpit love?  Is being publicly humiliated in front of Charlotte members or local congregations showing love?

If the Living Church of God is supposedly a foretaste of the soon coming Kingdom of God then people should really think twice about being part of the LCG.

Things You Never Heard Herbert Armstrong Mention About His Name

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Below is an interesting comment left on The Sensuous Curmudgeon blog in relation to the story about Gerald Flurry's "Dodo Bird" anti-evolution nonsense.

It is in regards to Herbert Armstrong and the legacy of the name "Armstrong."  This is certainly something that was NEVER mentioned in the comical snow job and totally untrustworthy autobiography of Herbert Armstrong.

I should start collecting stories about how sects like Armstrong’s schism.

That surname is alone enough to ring alarm bells. Sure it was the name of the first man who walked on the moon, but it descends from one of the foremost of the English-Scots border “riding clans”. These are the people who invented the words “blackmail” and “gang” (meaning a group of criminals) and spent centuries enthusiastically practicing the arts of demanding the former and applying the latter.

Troublemakers supreme, some of them were transplanted, with difficulty, to North America, often via a stint in Northern Ireland as official headkickers, where they added anti-popery to their cultural values. Their peculiar mixture of downright belligerance, virulent Calvinism, alcoholism, clannishness and contempt for learning flavours American right-wing politics and evangelical religion to this day.

Their saving grace is that they’re no better at tolerating one another than they are at tolerating anyone else. Possibly less so. The practical result is that their gangs, including their sects, invariably schism, sometimes into less versus more crazy, sometimes into crazy versus other crazy, depending usually on rivalries that break out around the deathbed of the old chieftain. That’s what happened to Herbert Armstrong’s gang, it seems.

But the “contempt for learning” characteristic still applies, and we see it in full grotesque flower here.  August 12 comment.


Belligerent towards others, clannish, high rates of alcoholism in the church, and anti-intellectualism is  a perfect description on how the Churches of God operate.  Troublemakers reigned supreme in the COG.  Just look at how the church produced over 700 splinter groups in its 80 years of existence.  It took Christianity centuries to do that, yet God's most perfect church accomplished it in under 80 years.

Look at how intolerant the present day Churches of God are with each other.  Flurry despises Pack and Meredith, Meredith hates anyone outside his group.  Pack hates them all and claims that his god is going to strike down thee of the larger groups leaders.  Almost all of the hierarchy of the larger Church of God's operate like thugs terrorizing members with threats and intimidation.   Pack, Flurry and Meredith are each on the verge of imploding as small groups schism off.

Herbert Armstrong's death sure stirred up mess!

UCG: With Income Above Normal, Home Office Takes Money From "Charity" For Poor Africans To Build Play Set For Privileged HQ Chidlren

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While the privileged UCG elite in Cincinnati get a new playset 
the refugees and poor in Africa have to make do.


The latest quarterly report of the UCG Council of Elders is out.  It is the usual rainbow, lollipops and cotton candy report that the Council sets froth to the gullible brethren.  No Church of God has ever had the amazing growth, best TV responses, Internet ministry or above normal income as the UCG consistently claims.

It includes the following glowing report:

Peter Eddington thanked God for His blessings and went through some statistics:
  • United News circulation is the highest it’s been since Aug. 2010.
  • Coworker count is now the highest it’s ever been (43 percent higher than a year ago).
  • Our donor list now includes 8,306 people. That’s a 90 percent increase over the same time last year.
  • Combined with our coworkers, we now have more of our readers and viewers contributing to the work of the Church than the total number of members in the U.S. and abroad.
  • Pieces of mail containing donations for June 2015 were 7,033—the highest since December (8,233)—and the second highest in UCG’s history.
  • U.S. Good News subscribers are the highest they’ve been since November of 2013. The additional advertising is bringing very good results.
  • The Church’s Beyond Today YouTube channel has had 4.2 million views, has 10,120 subscribers, and hosts 1,425 videos (the most watched program being “The Next Superpower” with 195,000 views). www.youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV.

But it also included this, which has irritated a LOT of UCG members in the Cincinnati area and around the country.

Home Office Grounds: A new playset for children was put up on our grounds. It was largely financed by LifeNets.

UCG members are asking WHY it is that UCG had to take money from Vic Kubik's "charity", that is supposed to be helping the poor and destitute in Africa and elsewhere, to install a play set that UCG SHOULD have done on their own.  With income coming in at more than they expected this year, members are wondering why a thousand or so dollars could not have been spent on this playset.  A playset that only the children of the privileged  UCG employees and some few members will get to use.  God forbid of the unwashed children of the Cincinnati area played on it!

This also has led to more grumbling from UCG members as to why Vic Kubik is running his "charity" LifeNets while being President of the UCG.  Many see this as a deep conflict of interest especially when UCG tries to guilt trip members into donating to Vic's pet cause.  A cause that gives the impression to the world that it is a charity for ALL in need, but in reality it is geared towards UCG members in poor countries and some non-aligned sabbatarian groups in Eastern Europe.  A few good works do go towards those outside the small sabbatarian world, but its main focus is inward.  Many UCG members feel that he needs to resign from either LifeNets or the presidency position.

Apparently a play set for the privileged elite at HQ was more important than clean drinking water or life saving mosquito nets for the disenfranchised in Africa.  Jesus must be pleased. Privilege does have it rewards!


Gerald Flurry and Philadelphia Church of God Profiting Off Of Another Members Death

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I received  this last night.  This is another sad tragedy that could possibly have been eliminated if the Philadelphia Church of God did not have its abusive polices in place that prohibit medical assistance.

Notice the appalling request in the second paragraph.




Jeff Visconti a loyal PCG member from New Jersey died on August 4, 2015 from complications arising from an untreated brain tumor. Mr. Visconti was a fervent supporter of the so called apostle Gerald Flurry and his ban on PCG members seeking medical treatment when sick. Jeff Visconti is survived by his now fatherless two year old boy Zachary and his grieving widow Lucie. 

Even more disgusting and outrageous is the obituary which appeared in the local paper. Donations were solicited - but NOT for his two year old son or widow. ALL donations are to be sent to PCG headquarters in Edmond OK and NOT the the Visconti family. Flurry is now profiting from the untimely death of poor dumb sheep that blindly follow him.

Jeff Visconti's Sister Shares About Philadelphia Church of God Service For Her Brother

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It should be no surprise to anyone here that Cal Culpepper had his dirty hands in the situation.



I am Jeff's sister and a former PCG member and former victim of Cal Culpepper. My brother and his wife cut me off four years ago because of PCG orders to do so. Cal Culpepper also marked me, which means absolutely nothing, except that PCGers will not have contact with me.

The decision to not be operated on was Jeff's. However, Cal Culpepper did tell him that his brain tumor was for the benefit of the congregation because they needed more faith, and also the answer to what he (Culpepper) had prayed about for the congregation. My brother told me that almost five years ago, before I was cut off. That did make him feel better about what he was going through. He also fully expected to be healed one day. He did speak to a family member at different times about "when he gets well"

The request to send donations to PCG was Lucie's idea. I was told that by a family member who was there when she wrote it up.

Yes, a PCG minister did the service. He spoke a few nice things about Jeff, but Cal Culpepper does not allow real memorial services where people can get up and speak about the deceased. Those things are PCG controlled. There were many PCG members at the memorial and most were scared to be around me, even though I have known many of them for years, including a friend of 30 years who was my maid of honor when I got married. Most looked like mind controlled zombies and scared to talk to me, but not all. There were a few who acted normal and were loving. Greg Nice did the service and he was nice to me. I was glad Cal Culpepper was not there because I don't want to see him or be in the same room with him after all he has done to me and many others.

Philadelphia Church of God's Immoral and Dangerous Teachings On Medicine

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I wonder how many more need to die in the Philadelphia Church of God under Gerald Flurry's perverse teachings before people finally wake up?

This is from the Exit and Support web site:

July 23, 2015

ESN, Many thanks to you for the good work you're doing! This concerns the PCG teaching on health and healing. Our family is dealing with loved ones in the PCG who are resisting medical treatment for some very serious conditions. They have placed blind trust in PCG leadership believing that if they can repent more, have more faith, and increase allegiance to PCG health guidelines then their diseases will be healed. In the meantime, their children are torn between what they've been taught, watching their loved one turn a blind eye to reality, and the realization that it could cost them their life. It's frightening to say the least. When pressed about these beliefs, they espouse the teaching almost verbatim from articles such as "Principles of Healthy Living" by Stephen Flurry.

The subtle deception in this article is frightening.

It's immoral and dangerous to teach someone that it's their lack of faith or sinfulness that causes their illness. They are left to live in a constant state of guilt and striving, all towards a goal that is unachievable. It's wholly unbiblical to teach that God promises us perfect health if we live according to the guidelines in this article.

This is how deception works--mix error with enough truth to make acceptance palatable. It's this type of deception that binds people physically and spiritually to error, encourages misplaced loyalties, and results in a lifetime of regret once they realize their error.

Sincerity of belief does not make something true. Unfaltering faith in something that's untrue will not result in the promises made by folks who wrongly attribute them to God. We can positively affect our health by making wise life choices. But we cannot rid our lives of disease and physical ailment by striving to comply with a set of guidelines falsely promoted as God's panacea.

We're praying and working diligently to see the eyes of our family opened and for their physical protection in the meantime. --Impacted by loved ones in PCG.

Jim Staley: Sabbatarian Minister Sentenced To 7 Years In Prison For Fraud

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In May I posted an article and video about Jim Staley, a sabbatarian minister that many COG members follow, had been found guilty of fraud.

That article is here:  Jim Staley, Sabbatarian Church leader Found Guilty of Bilking 3.4 Million Dollars From Elderly Investors

The latest is he has been sent to prison:

Pastor at 'Passion for Truth' church  sentenced to prison for swindling the elderly.

Jim Staley, 40, was sentenced Wednesday to 7 years in prison and ordered to repay elderly investors $3.3 million. He pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud and profited $570,000 in the scam of elderly people who trusted him because of his Christian faith and family values. Some of them were suffering from dementia.
The article quotes one member who said this:

“The dishonesty was a big problem for me,” Josh Ernst told the paper. “I started to see a pattern — he used the same sorts of excuses, blamed other people, and nothing was ever his fault or his responsibility. That happened one too many times.”

Armstrongism has always been filled with this same kind of corruption.  In Pasadena gold and silver investment scams went on all the time.  Church members believed the other members and ministers and gave them hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in money.  Even single one of them lost their life savings.  The prevailing thought was,  if it was a church member why would they lie?   Why would our minister lie to us? 

It wasn't only men who led these con games.  There was one woman in Pasadena that took hundreds of thousands of dollars from  members.  She got away with the con game.  Her own children refused to do anything about her when confronted.  They were beneficiaries of her money so why would they. Widows suffered greatly because of this women and led one to an early grave.

You can read more about Staley and his Sabbatarian movement here and here.



John Oliver On How American Churches Operate

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While this is geared towards the fraudulent prosperity gospel preachers deceiving people today, this is also applicable to various Church of God ministers and leaders.  Dave Pack, Gerald Flurry, Rod Meredith, Vic Kubik,  Wade Cox, David Hulme, Jim Franks, Bob Thiel, James Malm and all the other COG leaders operate with the same money making agendas.  

Church of God Thieves Still Living Well On Tithe Money

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Herbert Armstrong's Pasadena Mansion


Anonymoussenior citizen in the CofG said...
 
When I saw how the ministry of the church of God lived I was flabbergasted. Their homes were mini mansions really.

I was asked to help move our minister, free slave labor. His home had 6 bedrooms one of which he dedicated to his hobby.

I could barely buy groceries and had no car. I felt slapped in the face that my money went to buy all that.

I felt kicked in the face that Herbert Armstrong bought gold and silver and outrageous art on our backs.

It was awful that while we were encouraged to home school our kids no curriculum was provided even though the church had its own school for the elite's children. So my kids went to public school (got a good education anyway.)

I was told to be a stay at home mother and now have a 150 a month social security check to try to make do on.

And they are thieves stil today living very well on tithes meant only for the Levitical system that Jesus destroyed.

Every holy day is filled with begging for money for the 'work' which is pathetic at best.

No surprise at this guy at all. We have lived with these hirelings for years.
Paul, who worked for a living, would be aghast.

They get no more money from me. They cleaned me out years ago and now there is nothing more to give.

They should all be audited.

Living Church of God member says if you disagree with leadership you have to remain quiet

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A comment in the posting on Rod McNair confirms something that almost all of us know here.  We have all experienced this at one time or another.

McNair "wants all LCG members to know that they CAN disagree with those in authority in the LCG without ANYONE disciplining them for doing so".

I'm a member of LCG Charlotte and I can verify that this isn't true. If you disagree and you're smart, you keep it to yourself because if you don't you risk your membership. I've watched them systematically weed out anyone with the courage to be honest and open about disagreements. I can't imagine that anyone who's been in the Church for long believing that line. It might be what they're suppised to do but it's not what the ministry practices.

I stay for the fellowship. I agree with the overall message that LCG preaches but after watching how the leading men act over the years I can no longer believe that they truly have love and concern for the brethren.

Living Church of God Pays Armed Security For Sabbath Services

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Those wild and crazy folk in Charlotte are at it again!

The Big Boys in Charlotte have given orders to lock all doors to the congregational meeting area on Saturdays.  God forbid if you left you Bible in the car by mistake and have to run outside and retrieve it!  The only way you can get back in is to ring a doorbell and wait for an usher to come and verify who you are.  Then you might be let in, after a stern warning of course.

Things are even more serious in the Kansas City LCG church.  They have hired ARMED security guards now to patrol the area while services are going on.  Apparently it is OK to PAY outside contractors to do your dirty work on the Sabbath.

Putting one's faith in and relying on God's protection is NOT something that the Living Church of God seems willing to do.  It lets the LCG members and the world know that there is a COMPLETE lack of faith by the leadership of the church.  This seems rather odd considering that LCG considers itself to be the purest and most Godly Church of God in this dispensation.  Is Meredith and crew anticipating Satan to commit a major attack on the church?   The only trouble LCG has ever seen has come from within, not from the world around them.

It is understandable that many LCG members are outraged with these latest developments.

Rod McNair and the Living Church of God Sink To A New Disgusting Low: Orders A Member To Quit Helping The Elderly

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Bumped this back up because new comment below



Just when I think I have heard it all along comes this story that was in my "in box" a few minutes ago.  It is appalling beyond belief!  How sick can the Living Church of God get?




Rod McNair recently ordered one of his members to quit their job at a nursing home where they worked helping sickly senior citizens. His reason? Demons. It is his belief that demons often inhabit the elderly.LCG recommends that its members stay away from people with mental illness and now they have added to that, the elderly. Ironic since the average age of an LCG member is about 75 and its leader, Rod Meredith, is 85.  According to sources, this member obediently quit their job immediately after being told to. Most professionals understand the importance of giving a notice of resignation out of respect for the employer and to maintain ones reputation in the industry. But not McNair. This member was subsequently accused of being disobedient to God's ministry by not quitting quickly enough once McNair learned that the member worked a two week notice to wrap up their obligations to the company. The member has now been disfellowshipped.

This raises several questions. What kind of church tells a member to quit a job that entails helping the needy on a daily basis? The elderly are often forgotten or neglected in our society. Is that what Jesus would do?What kind of member obeys this insane request, likely to their own financial detriment? Is it Christian to avoid the sick? The mentally ill? Is it fair to treat the mentally ill as demon possessed? Even if this person was told to quit and didn't, would that really be grounds for disfellowshipment? Are LCG members outraged by this or are they onboard with this type of behavior?

Every time I hear another one of these stories coming out of Charlotte I am left wondering... what will it take to make people realize that this isn't what being led by Christ looks like. By their fruits they will be known... wake up sheeple.
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