Does the fact that you have a group of old men at the top of your hierarchy who trained at the feet of Herbert Armstrong make you a legitimate true church? Rod Meredith thinks it does when it comes to the men in charge at his problem wracked group.
Having old men in charge, without bringing in new blood with new ideas and ways of looking at things and then doing it differently, is bad business practice. That is what the COG's are, businesses. Its all about money. The members have heard the same doctrines for decades. They have heard the same shouting and bellowing from the pulpit. Nothing new is discussed. Nothing revitalized is brought forth. 21st century ideas and research are not used. It's just the view points of old men rehashing the worn out words from the 1960's, 70's and 80's. None have been to a seminary outside of Armstrongism. None have dared to critically look at the book the claim to follow. None have dared to question the teachings of their idol they bow down to.
In an effort to stop defections to Dave Pack's cult and to non-ordained self-appointed prophet Thiel's cult, they toss out the fact that they have so many old men in charge. You are supposed to be impressed by these guys because the snort-nosed upstarts like Dave Pack and Thiel have never trained with HWA.
In the Living Church of God, we are doing all we can to strengthen our brethren, and help them understand “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Frankly, we are far better equipped to do this because most of the older ministers and those who worked directly with Mr. Herbert Armstrong came with us near the beginning of this Work! Men like Messrs. Dibar Apartian, Raymond McNair, Syd Hegvold, Carl McNair, Richard Ames—and others—were older, experienced ministers who worked with Mr. Armstrong or, as in Mr. Ames’ case, were even placed on the World Tomorrow telecast directly by Mr. Armstrong. We have had, collectively, thousands of hours of experience in meetings with Mr. Armstrong and the other leaders in God’s Work over a period of decades. We knew Mr. Armstrong, and we knew what he wanted for the Work. We deeply respect what Christ did through Mr. Armstrong and do not in any way intend to change—and will not change—any of the basic truths Christ revealed through him, such as the Sabbath, Holy Days, etc. Sadly, there are some former Worldwide members and ministers who, in order to advance their own particular agendas, have tried to portray a “different” Mr. Armstrong than the real one.Sitting for thousands of hours in meetings does not make one a leader. Worshiping the words of HWA does not make you a leader either.
We are grateful to have had a Council that has included a significant number of men who directly knew better than these self-appointed critics!
Take that you snot-nosed buffoons at Continuing Church of God and Restored Church of God!