Spanky: worse than a murderer/molester

“causing church division is worse than murder or child molestation”
Roderick "Spanky" Meredith

Dear old Spanky. In depositions to the Scarborough case, the Presiding Evangelist (semi-retired) of the Living Church of God came out with the above wee gem (read Elizabeth Scarborough's account in full over at Gary's blog.)

Mrs Scarborough is restrained in her comment: "Ironic since he’s formed two churches through division himself ..."

Yes Spanky, tell us again how you simply had to cause division by incorporating the Global Church of God? How you actively encouraged WCG members to join up and transfer their tithes. How did that work? Did the angel Moroni appear to you perhaps? Where's the authorization for such a radical departure from your own "loyalty" teaching over long decades? And who placed you, other than you yourself - the self-crowned pretender - in charge?

To restate the problem, how did the necessary transfer of power, legitimacy, authority and tithes come about to make your inflated claims even slightly credible?

It all happened in your head.

How convenient.

Then again, when concerned office holders in your new GCG church - the one you thought should be your personal fiefdom - sought to reign your ego in and establish some much needed checks and balances, what did you do?

Cause division. Ruin reputations. Cause financial loss for many good, decent people. All because you were obsessed with your own delusions of entitlement and authority.

In fact, you scuppered the ship and established another more compliant entity to serve your needs, the Living Church of God, and stacked it with spineless yes-men. To hell with the collateral damage.

Spanky, your middle name could be "division".

God didn't raise up the Global Church of God - you did. You did it by deliberately, strategically, preying on confused and vulnerable brethren. You could have, if your conscience (do you have one of those Spanky?) so required fallen in with an already existing group like the UCG. But no, you were far too important to play second fiddle to anybody else.

God didn't raise up the Living Church of God - you did to satiate your own ego and sense of self importance and destiny as the "leading minister". Division? You're a past master.

And that makes you - according to none other than you yourself - worse than a murderer or child molester.

In this case I'm not going to argue with you.

Drought's broken

Long time, no posts.

Without going into self-indulgent details I've had other priorities in recent weeks with little energy left to invest in blogging. Happily, things now seem to be moving out from under the cloud cover, so I'm about to at least attempt to make up for lost time.

One of the silver linings has been that, in the absence of other grist for the mill, the previous post (26 July) has attracted a lot of really thoughtful comments. Back in the day, conversations like these all too often ended in folk yelling at each other. The truth is, I suspect, we're all trying to make some sense of past commitments and decisions. At the risk of sounding trite, maybe the journey really is more important than the destination.

I apologize in advance for the tone of the posting on Rod Meredith ("Spanky") which will soon be uploaded. Not much makes me angry these days... so much water under the bridge... but this spiritually diseased old man, the wannabe Emperor Palpatine of the Churches of God, is the exception that proves the rule. The man seems to reach new depths in unreflective shallowness every time he opens his mouth. If you're wondering what sparked this observation, check out Elizabeth Scarborough's letter over on the Banned blog.

The Fasting Strategy

Gary has a great post up about the LCG's recently announced "church-wide fast" for July 30. In LCG, when the going gets tough the Presiding Evangelist announces a fast and the chorus of yes-men shout amens and hosannas.

It's a long-standing strategy in LCG, the most fast-obsessed COG sect I know of. There was, for example, the March 2007 fast. Here's a comment from the AW archives:

Saturday March 28 is also, apparently, a designated fast for members of the Living Church of God. Exactly why isn't immediately apparent. Guru Rod Meredith calls these things with little reason, other than perhaps whether he's feeling a bit depressed. Rod is on the wane, mind and body are letting him down - alas, the fate of all who are fortunate and blessed enough to live a life to their three-score and ten and beyond. What to do? Let's call on the brethren to share the misery! That'll show God that we're good people and deserve a break!

The whole concept is infantile. What's more, it's introverted. It does nothing for anybody outside the ghetto. I suppose it does help shore up the sense of identity, specialness and separateness from the wicked world - and those in deviant Laodicean pseudo-COGs. But then, is that a good thing?

Then there was the August 2007 fast... hardly time to recover from March. Again, a comment from the archives:

Poor old Rod. Every time something goes wrong, guess whose fault it is? Yes, you brethren have been getting Laodicean! Notice that the Grand High Poobah doesn't include himself in the backsliding. My question would be whether the saintly Presiding Evangelist will himself be fasting on the 4th. Obviously he doesn't seem to think he needs to, and longtime observers will remember Herbert Armstrong's reputation for drinking coffee on the Day of Atonement, which he shrugged off with a "well, I always said there was no nutritional value in cup of coffee!"

How many fasts has Rod called since then? Most of us have given up counting. Is this one any different. Read Gary's piece and the answer is pretty apparent.

Rod however should fast. He's the one who rattled his tonsils irresponsibly on the Scarborough affair, pulling his church into the legal quicksand. He's the one who consistently ignores the sage advice in James 3:1-12. Somebody should frame that passage and place it in a prominent place in Rod's office where he can be constantly reminded of it.

Happy Birthday Rod

Break out the bubbles and blow up the balloons, today is not only the Summer Solstice (or Winter Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere - mulled wine anyone?) it's also Roderick C. Meredith's birthday. Born this day in 1930, Rod is now a Methuselah-like 86 years old. Sadly, Rod doesn't approve of birthdays (tough luck if you're a kid growing up under his authoritarian administration) so it's highly doubtful he'll be blowing out any candles or pinning any tails on donkeys (though the LCG ministry certainly has a lot of braying asses available).

A trivia question for this auspicious occasion. What does the formibable 'C' in Rod's name stand for? Charles? Christopher? Crispian? Anyone able to help out? It's unlikely to be the same as Packatollah Dave's: full name David Crowl Pack.

Crowl? Does that rhyme with growl, yowl and foul?

Two Gerrys carry the baton

Squished planet, squished beliefs... like sheep to the slaughter indeed!

UPDATED. If you enjoy BBC comedy, you'll know about "the two Ronnies". If you enjoy COG soap operas you'll be delighted to learn that there are now "two Gerrys".

Gary Leonard is the first off the block to release the contents of a member letter announcing Gerry Weston's ascendancy to the status of leader in the Living Church of God. This April 6 member-only letter went forth over the signature of the current Presiding Evangelist, Roderick Meredith. Once again, Gary's sources have proved invaluable. Excepts:

One of the main reasons I wanted to write all of you members directly is that I want all of you to be fully aware and “on board” about the coming transfer of Mr. Gerald Weston here to Headquarters to become President and COO of this Work. I will remain as the Presiding Evangelist and human “head” of the Church as long as God gives me strength. But Mr. Weston will be in charge of running the physical day to day operations... Mr. Weston has pastored churches all over the United States, pastored and served as Regional Pastor of the Kansas City area for 13 years, pastored the churches and directed the whole Work in Canada for 13 years, and is now effectively running the churches and Work in Britain, Europe and the Middle East.

In all these years, he has been tried and tested and has been constantly loyal to the Truth, to God’s leadership in this Work and to all the things that matter. I have talked to literally scores of ministers and brethren from all over and not one has ever raised a big “issue” with Mr. Weston!

So it is after much prayer and Bible study and “multitude of counsel” that I have decided to select him and appoint him—in the name of Jesus Christ—as the next administrative leader over the Work here. I hope all of you will join me in being totally loyal to Mr. Weston in helping him, in supporting him and praying for him that God will guide and use him in every way.

For more, click across to Gary's Banned blog at the link above.

Some thoughts. This was certainly not unexpected. Now it's out in the open, though, we can expect a good deal of realignment behind the scenes.

Meredith has not appointed Weston as a new Presiding Evangelist, he's determined to hang on as spiritual leader as long as he can. Technically this is then an administrative appointment, whatever that means in practical terms. It could be an uncomfortable marriage with Meredith still capable of pulling rank (remember the Global fiasco?) though his capacity for this is unclear. Potential for friction at the very least.

In a separate post, Gary indicates that Meredith's health is poor. He has apparently been hospitalized recently and now uses a wheelchair.

The two Gerrys. Flurry and Weston. Let the soap opera continue.

1963 (Part 2)

Rod Meredith's references to Garner Ted Armstrong in Inside Story are intriguing.

"Later, God struck down Mr. Armstrong's two sons, Richard David and Garner Ted, and brought them to repentance and conversion. This is more significant than it may seem, because for many years it looked as if they might never be converted - but only continue to regard this as "Dad's religion."

Naughty boys.

"Garner Ted Armstrong surrendered to God and was changed by Him so completely that it amazed those of us here that had known him."

A somewhat back-handed compliment, and not entirely truthful (see chapter 6 of Marion McNair's book or the feature articles in the 1977 magazine edition of Ambassador Report). Ted was way off the rails, but now Rod generously deigns to give him the seal of approval. The passage smacks of a pat on the head by someone who regards himself as Ted's superior. The truth seems to be that while GTA was increasingly the voice of The World Tomorrow, had his by-line appear regularly in church publications with the nice office and the title of executive vice president, he was largely frozen out of the decision-making process, a situation that lasted from 1958 through till 1971. Rod - with the smaller office and less exalted title - was the more influential of the two by far.

Whatever else you can say about Rod, he was always ambitious. It's not hard to imagine that he was flummoxed at being pushed aside in the line of authority - on paper at least - by the upstart sons. Could there be some kind of subtext in Rod's encomium to Ted? Consider Rod's choice of words when describing GTA's office. "The decor of the room exhibits definitely masculine tones" (caption no. 2) and "Certain decorative features of his office reflect a definite masculine personality." (p.26, emphasis in original).

What is that all about? Nobody else is so described in the booklet.

"Mr. Ted Armstrong - as many of you may know - has an unusually wide range of interests and abilities in various sports and outdoor activities. When time permits, he is an excellent hunter, fisherman, and plays a fair amount of basketball, handball, golf and other sports." (p.27)

Which is all true. But no mention of Ted's skill in painting or his undoubted musical talent. Rod seems to be stressing Ted's macho nature, the masculine sportsman. It's almost as though Rod is trying to be reassuring. What's going on here? Given his predilections as a casonova, this hardly seems the buildup he needs.

To be continued.

1963 (Part 1)

I'm old enough to remember 1963, sort of. I was still in single digits back then and had never heard of Herbert Armstrong. It turns out that an out-of-town uncle was a PT subscriber at the time. He must have been one of the first in New Zealand. But of that I was blissfully ignorant, more interested in comics than much of anything else.

In 1963 the church put together a booklet for PT subscribers. You could call it a brag book. It was largely written by Rod Meredith and rejoiced in the title The Inside Story of the World Tomorrow Broadcast. It wasn't much of an "inside story" but it was pretty effective as PR by early nineteen sixties standards. I knew about the publication, but it had long since been withdrawn by the time I became interested. Reading it now is a bit like stepping into a time machine and peering back beyond the crises that exploded in the 1970s and defined my own experience. 1963 predates both the recently demolished Hall of Administration and the Ambassador Auditorium, the "peaceable kingdom" church seal had only just been adopted, Loma was in the land of the living and the Pasadena campus was still a comparatively small operation.

Meredith was, of course, just a young man, and Herb was at the height of his powers. The good and the great at "HQ" included such luminaries as Benjamin Rea, C. Paul Meredith (Rod's uncle), Raymond Cole, Jack Elliot, Charles Dorothy, Jon Hill, Al Portune, James Gott (husband of Beverly, Herb's daughter), Charles Hunting and Wayne Cole. Raised, praised and subsequently erased from institutional memory. The elder Meredith was always referred to as "Dr.", which looked impressive as a PT by-line, but in fact, his qualification was (I'm sure someone will correct me if I misremember) as a veterinarian.

Somebody decided that this booklet would be lavishly illustrated with photographs. Black and white of course, after all, this is 1963. There's "the majestic Italian Gardens", Ambassador Hall, the "elegant faculty dining room" and suchlike. Even a shot of some rather pokey "prayer booths". But what really caught my eye were the offices of Herb and Ted.

To be continued.

The Plain Truth on Race, 1964

Over at Living Armstrongism Redfox has an interesting post about current paranoia promotion in the Philadelphia Church of God over racial issues; PCG's False Prophecy of "Race War". Reading it I was reminded of the articles published in The Plain Truth in the 1960s. Perhaps the most disturbing example I've found comes from the pen of a certain Roderick C. Meredith, writing in the September 1964 issue.

The article, "CRISIS Flares into Bitter Racial REVOLT!" (emphasis in original) is anything but an objective, calming word on the subject. Meredith explicitly rejects the program of peaceful civil disobedience led by Martin Luther King, then under the sub-head "The Prophesied REVOLT of the Gentiles in Our Land" he makes some amazing statements after quoting Deuteronomy 28:43 [The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low]

"The Hebrew word here translated 'stranger' is clearly referring to the GENTILES or peoples of other races - who are living in the midst of modern-day Israel."

By "modern-day Israel" Meredith means the Anglo nations. By "Our Land" he means Anglo-Americans only. Where he went from there you can read for yourself in the clipping from that article.

Granted, this was the 1960s, these were less enlightened times and hindsight has 20/20 vision. Yet this same sabre-rattling logic seems to have been passed on like a virus into groups like the PCG. And what about the LCG and its ministry? Has the current Presiding Evangelist ever repudiated these statements?

Wouldn't it be interesting to sit down with Meredith now, all these years later, and ask "do you regret writing that? Is that the way you still understand those passages?" and maybe, just maybe, "would you like to offer an apology for what you wrote back then?"

There are many people who find it hard to accept that the Worldwide Church of God was ever racist in its teachings, or that BI was a fundamental part of that problem. That's not to say all members today share those views; many - perhaps most - absolutely don't.

Then again, some do, and that's a problem.

And honestly, can you separate out BI assumptions from Meredith's prejudices?

Rambling Rod - and Herb's reading problem

Herbert Armstrong died thirty years ago on January 16, 1986. On that anniversary this year Rod Meredith, now 85 years old, recorded a tribute honouring Armstrong. It is available on YouTube and runs for one and a quarter hours. Curiously, audience shots appear to have the wrong aspect ratio and have the feel of something filmed on a much earlier occasion then spliced in. One wonders why.

Rod appears frail, as you might expect, but the fire of his zealotry still burns bright. This last living lieutenant of Herb Armstrong seems to be reliving old battles.

Though the topic is 'honouring Herbert Armstrong', Rod not unexpectedly ranges far and wide, up hill and down dale. The key message is a much-repeated exhortation to stay with the 'truth' no matter what. Christ's return is probably, you'll be pleased to know, somewhere between eight and twenty years from now. Not that Rod will have to worry.

One intriguing comment, made in passing (beginning around 24:00), concerns the role Loma Armstrong played in assisting Herb with reading tasks. Rod states that Herbert was a slow reader and had Loma read him "whole sections of books". Rod confesses he is a slow reader too, and that Herb would "read slowly and mumble". Loma was the one who could skim read and then direct him to the important parts. This is decades before the failing eyesight of his latter years when he resorted to a large magnifying glass.

Was the early difficulty visual or what might today be called dyslexia? Richard Nickels recalled, "I wrote an article especially for HWA using an ORATOR giant type size so he could read it with his one weak eye." Perhaps it was both.

Rod gives no clues, and perhaps the distinction never occurred to him. Could it be that, for whatever reason, written position papers were simply a waste of time when trying to convince the End Time Apostle? Documents like the STP were irrelevant, it was really about who had his ear at the time. Rod gives an unintended example at around 43:00, the change from a Monday to a Sunday Pentecost.

Which gives one pause to wonder at the oft-told tale of all those hours spent all by himself at the Portland Public Library acquiring "the equivalent of a college-level education". It might also help explain his aversion to scholarship.

The blind leading the blind? Armstrong's visual impairment is rarely factored into accounts of his life. It was clearly a limitation on more than one level.

As for Rod's disinterest in reading, it explains a lot too.