UCG Crisis Triggers LCG Fast Now
Friday, January 28th, 2011
Roderick C. Meredith
LCG’s R.C. Meredith wrote the following:
Dear Brethren in God’s Church,
I am writing this letter at a time of great stress and confusion in the Church of God. Satan is attacking right now! We all know that Satan’s very name means “adversary,” or “enemy.” We know that Jesus directly described Satan as a “liar,” and as a “father of lies” (John 8:44).
Right now, Satan has thrown thousands of brethren in the United Church of God into division and confusion. Charges and counter-charges are being hurled back and forth between the different factions of their ministry. As a result, many brethren are trying to understand and to figure out “what to do.” Actually, since the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, whom God used powerfully to teach nearly all of us the Truth in the first place, Satan has done a masterful job of confusing and dividing God’s people. One news source estimated that there were over 300 different church groups, home churches and little “works” flowing from the major split up of God’s people since Mr. Armstrong’s death.
That is horrible!
For God’s Word tells us clearly that God’s true people—those who are actually guided by His Holy Spirit—should strive for unity. Paul was inspired to write, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:1-6). Paul pleaded with the brethren in Corinth that there be no divisions among them and that they would be of one mind (1 Corinthians 1:10).
Dear brethren, if we have that “one” Holy Spirit, we obviously should be fully in the “one” body and fully cooperating and carrying out Christ’s command, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The continuing dis-unity and even enmity among many of God’s people is a disgrace to God and a disgrace to everything we claim to stand for! Before the entire world out there, it makes a mockery of what the true Church of God should stand for. And it will deeply hurt all our sincere efforts to preach the Gospel on television, on the radio, via the Internet and in our printed literature and public campaigns. We certainly need to show more genuine Christianity to the world at large as this age comes to an end and we carry out Christ’s command to “preach the Gospel [unto] all the world.”
After counseling with our leading ministers here in Charlotte, and after much prayer, we are now calling for a Church-wide FAST on the Sabbath of January 29. Our purpose for this day of fasting and prayer is to “cry out” to God to bring many more of His scattered and faithful people together so we can really use our combined resources to finish the Work and genuinely prepare for the soon-coming Kingdom of God.
Thousands of us in the Living Church of God have dear friends and relatives in the United Church of God and other groups that are just “out there”—still divided and now becoming more divided by these present upheavals. May God help all of us to be willing to sincerely think through why we are divided and how we can get together to zealously and humbly do the Work which Christ has called us to accomplish.
Brethren, we all have our human vanities and weaknesses, and we have all made mistakes. About ten years ago, we also experienced a traumatic division in our Church that affected many people and families. Thinking back on this should help us pray more fervently that God would help those caught in similar circumstances. Please pray that God will help His people to understand that if we hope to serve with Jesus Christ in the soon-coming Government of God, we must learn and practice the very form of government that we will administer when Christ returns. From the description of Moses’ being inspired to appoint capable men, “men of truth” who fear God as “rulers” of thousands, hundreds and fifties, to the New Testament instruction of the Apostle Paul to the evangelist Titus to “appoint elders in every city as I commanded you” (Titus 1:5), we find not one exception to this God-inspired pattern of Government in the Bible.
Even though some in the past have terribly mis-used the God-inspired hierarchical Government described in Scripture, hundreds of us still living remember the many decades of unity and of “doing the Work together” which we enjoyed under the leadership of one man, Herbert W. Armstrong. So, as the old proverb says, “Do not throw the baby out with the bath water!” Let us pray fervently that our “separated brethren” in the United Church of God and other groups can come to understand this vital biblical Truth! Remember, for more than 50 years, God used Mr. Armstrong—the man God used to preach the full Truth of God to more people than any other man in modern times—to reveal the “fruits” of God’s form of government, with His true servant appointing servants under him, and they in turn appointing others down the line.
So let us really devote ourselves to this FAST and to show our love and concern for thousands who may be adversely affected by the continuing upheaval among God’s people. Ask God earnestly to protect them, to guide them and to keep them from being bitter or completely falling away from the true way of life revealed in the Bible. Ask God to help them each decide correctly where they should go in order to serve God and to genuinely be an active part of His Work on earth today.
May God have mercy on all of us and bring us ever more closely into the center of His will. And may He protect all of us from the attacks and the machinations of Satan the Devil—our common enemy. As we learn to more genuinely love one another and to sincerely cry out to God for the unity which He desires, we can be sure that God will hear and answer! For our God really is “the Father of mercies” (2 Corinthians 1:3).
With Christian love,
Roderick C. Meredith
P.S. Please remember to plan and to make every effort to join us in this Church-wide FAST on the Sabbath of January 29! Thank you, dear brethren, for your love and your loyalty.
As the above shows, Dr. Meredith called a fast for LCG members, which begins tonight at sunset.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
