Thursday, November 7, 2013

New Church of God Splinter Personality Cult: The Church of God Messenger



I missed this one in August.  A reader sent this to me again the other day.

Rod Reynolds, one of Rod Meredith's law enforcers, started his own splinter group because he thought the  Living Church of God was filled with sinful error.  So here we go again, ANOTHER COG "minister" who thinks they have the ONLY truth and the ONLY correct way of keeping the law.

In a typical COG fashion, he took his family members with him so they could form the new "church."  Here is another minister that never worked an honest days work in his life, so he has to now fund himself with money from family members and a small group of church hoppers.

They and they alone are the ONLY ones keeping the "original" Christianity of the apostles.  How many times have we heard this same bullshit over the years?
On August 10, 2013 a group of seven persons, all members of my family, agreed to formally establish a new Church organization called Messenger Church of God. Our aim in the Messenger Church of God is to follow Jesus Christ in practicing and teaching the original Christianity of Jesus and the apostles of the New Testament. Being human, I do not doubt that we will make our share of mistakes. But I intend to be open to admitting errors when they are exposed, and correcting them. As a Church it is our aim to grow toward the perfection God wants us to be growing into (Matthew 5:48; Ephesians 4:13-15).

Oh, and the new "work" is a "grain of mustard seed" because it is so small.  Been there, heard that.....

Though be prepared, this will so be the biggest church of God ever!  Dave Pack beware!

Here is part of their founding principles:  Messenger Church of God Established

We hereby covenant together to establish on August 10, 2013 a church fellowship named Messenger Church of God.

We acknowledge that the true Church of God is a spiritual body made up of those whose names are registered in heaven (Hebrews 12:23), and is not identical with any human organization of men. We thus make no claim to be the only Church fellowship representing Christ on the earth, but we have come together to fellowship with one another in the Father and Jesus Christ, endeavoring to faithfully follow the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:3-7).

We recognize Jesus Christ as the head of the Church, its chief apostle, and sovereign ruler (Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 3:1). Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). Each member of the Church has direct access to God’s throne through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16; 10:19-22). Each member is being judged individually by Jesus Christ, and each will give account of himself as an individual to God (Romans 2:6; 14:11-12).

The Church will be governed in accordance with Biblical principles, understanding that the ministry, while entitled to respect and cooperation in the legitimate discharge of their duties, is required to be faithful to God and his word. Authority in the ministry is not absolute but is limited by God’s word to those actions which are in accord with God’s word and which edify the body of Christ. Failing that, members are under no obligation to continue in fellowship with them (Hebrews 13:7, 18; Deuteronomy 13:1-4, 18:20-22; Isaiah 8:20; Jeremiah 23:28, 32; Acts 5:29).
It will be interesting to see how long this lasts.  Once members start being rebellious and not heeding the ministers commands, heads will roll.  That has been the track record for every single group that has expressed this same sentiment.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sometimes wonder how many of these types of leaders actually believe that they have "the truth". You would think a normal person would see a pattern emerging (it's only happened hundreds of times) like this post suggests and see how many have had this same idea before and failed. Are they so arrogant that they feel they are different, or do they just want the power and money?

Anonymous said...

Arrogance is the word of the day, and it's not just for Armstrongites. It's also for mainstream Christians in a big way.

Head Usher said...

I'll bet this guy is sincere, since he's just leaving with his family, and prepared to sacrifice in the power and money department, at least in the short term. There are lots of these family splinter groups, with the patriarch serving as the head honcho. Most of them keep to themselves, so you never hear about them. This guy's obviously convinced he needs to conduct a "worldwide" gospel campaign. This kind of thing is going to keep happening until the big COGs are no bigger than these small-fry splinters, and at that point, Armstrongism will have cooled off so that it matches the temperature of the cosmic background radiation.

Anonymous said...

Usually I wouldn't support it, but this time it's time to shoot the Messenger.

James said...

Anon wrote:
"You would think a normal person would see a pattern emerging"

It is a pathology not a pattern. An illness if you will.

Unknown said...

This is funny as hell. Is this a joke? hahahaha!

Byker Bob said...

Cookie, meet cutter.

You know, when we think of Native Americans, we think of spiritual exercises such as running with your spirit animal. And, it conjures up the image of Armstrongite ministers running with wolves.

I've got a new concept to introduce. It's called running with your spirit element. In the case of the Armstrong movement, the spirit element must be mercury. Every time there is a little pressure, a new ball separates from some of the larger ones.

BB

Anonymous said...

As usual none of these offshoots mention John 13:34, which is the True Measure of the Followers of Christ, although thiel did mention the concept of love in his creed.

Yet, I suspect he's not sincere about it, though, but only made token mention of it because I read him the riot act several years ago about virtually never mentioning love or the Love of Christ in any of his many articles.

Anonymous said...

Will there be a college and mail processing center? You can't be the True Church unless you have a college and mail processing center.

Anonymous said...

I know Rod Reynolds and he is as honest and hard working as as they come. He retired from working a number of years ago (yes retired from a real job) and until he was hired full time by LCG in mid 2000's he was an unpaid local elder. Money doesn't motivate him and he doesn't compromise his beliefs.
No, I am not a member of his church. I am however a good judge of his character having known him for about 8 years. You may not like what he believes or agree with anything the CoG's teach but not all members, ministers etc. are deceived, stupid, self-serving, insert insult here.

Yes the CoG's have had their share of self seeking deceived individuals and foibles that everyone can have a good laugh at. But I pity you for having nothing better to do than to make fun of others. Time will bear all things out, as for me I am betting that it is you that will be on the wrong side of history.