Rod Meredith Says To Be Wary of Non-Ordained Self-Appointed Wannabe's Who Have No Experience

The atmosphere of the Council is, consistently, extremely warm, loving and dedicated. Council members have commented that they can virtually “feel” the love and warmth among the members of the Council, and their dedication to the Work of God.

The main purpose of the Council of Elders is to advise the Presiding Evangelist on doctrines, practices and important programs of the Church and Work of God. We have much hearty discussion on all of these issues. And we certainly do not encourage “yes men” in any way. Although we do have open and frank discussions, the underlying dedication and obvious guidance of God’s Spirit gives us an unusual unity of mind—for which we are very thankful. We want to fulfill the inspired comments of the Apostle Paul about God’s purpose for the entire ministry: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:11–15).

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. 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!

Then Meredith gets to the meat of his article. It is he, and only he, who is qualified to be leading such a ministry.  Unlike the non-ordained and self-appointed prophet Thiel, he never appointed himself to a higher office.  

No one has more experience in teaching Bible classes as he has.  Something that the non-ordained prophet has never accomplished.  

Meredith wants Thiel and others to know that he is the ONLY ONE in the entire COG that had been a Deputy Chancellor of all three colleges, a second Vice President of the WCG and Ambassador College for many years.  He has written hundreds and hundreds of articles over the years, unlike the non-ordained Thiel.  Because Jesus Christ has used him over  the decades he as the ability to bring stability to the church, instead of running to-and-fro like the non-ordained prophet is doing. 

 

Then best of all, theORDAINED leader of the LCG wants the non-ordained prophet of theContinuing Ed Church of God  to remember that he is NOT ordained.  Since Meredith is ordained he carries on a mantle that the non-ordained prophet cannot carry.  In other words, the non-ordained self-appointed prophet is an impotent little man compared to this mighty, masculine, ordained man.

God’s inspired word tells us: “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:7–8). Brethren, I have never tried to “appoint myself” as an apostle or to any other high office. But many of you realize that even throughout the extended Church of God fellowships around the world—there is no one who has had the depth of experience I have had as one who has spoken the word of God to you. In spite of my human weaknesses, Christ has used me to teach more Bible classes than any other human being in this age. I am the only one who has been Deputy Chancellor of all three colleges, and was Second Vice President of the Worldwide Church of God and Ambassador College for many years. I have written literally hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of evangelistic campaigns all over the world. The living Christ has used me as a human instrument to do these things. Although I seldom mention this in such detail, I do want you to realize that Christ is in charge of our lives and has guided me—as He has guided all of us—in this way, so that I can bring this kind of experience of stability to the Church, which I have sincerely tried to do now for more than 20 years of the Global/Living Church of God Work. As most of you know, my entire ministry goes back more than 60 years—as I was ordained an evangelist by Mr. Armstrong on December 20, 1952.

 God’s word also tells us, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17). Certainly, this inspired warning should give pause to any of those who are tempted to become “self-appointed critics” and constantly look for the “loose brick” as they eagerly seek to find any, any fault they can criticize.  We must not let ourselves become confused or distracted by those who try to position themselves as “superior” to the ones Christ is actually using to do His Work.