Dr. Roderick C. Meredith Has Died

LCG has announced that Presiding Evangelist of Living Church of God, Roderick C. Meredith, has died of cancer Thursday night, May 18, 2017.

Here is a link to that announcement:
http://www.lcg.org/memoriam_rmeredith.shtml

Mr. Gerald Weston has previously been named as successor to Dr. Meredith, and will become the new Presiding Evangelist and Chairman of the Board. He has already been serving as President of Living Church of God and will continue in that office also.

Mr. Weston now becomes the highest human authority in Living Church of God, as Dr. Meredith was.

Dr. Meredith has been a strong leader in LCG. He knew and worked closely with Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong since the earliest years of Ambassador College. He also knew and worked with Mr. Armstrong's two sons, Mr. Dick Armstrong and Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong, and also Dr. Herman Hoeh. Those three men, along with Dr. Meredith, seemed to be pillars in the Church, working under Mr. Herbert Armstrong's supervision and direction, starting during the 1950s.

Dr. Meredith held a variety of positions in Radio Church of God, later renamed Worldwide Church of God. He wrote many of the articles for the Plain Truth magazine. He wrote the original Ten Commandments booklet. He taught Bible classes at Ambassador College. He did baptizing tours. He supervised congregations.

After the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, Worldwide began to reverse the doctrines that Mr. Armstrong had taught. Dr. Meredith was forced to leave, and of those ministers who left Worldwide and started new groups, Dr. Meredith was, as far as I know, the first to start broadcasting the true gospel in a program oriented towards the public, not just members of the Church of God still in Worldwide.

He raised up the Global Church of God. After several years of growth both in the Church and in the work of preaching the gospel to the world, certain men on the Global board of directors, apparently led by Mr. Larry Salyer and Mr. Raymond McNair, using the power and authority of the board, overthrew Dr. Meredith's authority and fired him from his position, even though Dr. Meredith started Global in the first place.

This was in November 1998.

About 75-80% of the ministers and members of Global remained loyal to Dr. Meredith, and Dr. Meredith was able to reorganize with a new corporation and Church name, as Living Church of God. In the United States, Global later went bankrupt, as I recall.

But Living Church of God grew both in members and in doing God's work of preaching the gospel.

Larry Salyer first went with United Church of God (UCG), and later went with Church of God a Worldwide Association (COGWA).

Dr. Meredith has been a strong force in Living Church of God for preaching the gospel and practicing top-down governance as taught in the Bible. One of his strengths has executive leadership and management. He knows how to run an organization. God has blessed LCG under Dr. Meredith's leadership.

Dr. Meredith has often said that he is not perfect, and that is true of him and all the top leaders of the various Church of God fellowships that have existed since the breakup of Worldwide. Yet, in my opinion, he has been the most effective of all the top leaders of groups in preaching the gospel to the world, of giving the Ezekiel warning to Israel, and of growing the Church and the whole work of God.

He has also remained faithful to the overall body of doctrine that Mr. Armstrong taught, such as the doctrines Mr. Armstrong named in a sermon before his death as having been restored to the Church through the work of Mr. Armstrong, which later became known as the eighteen doctrines.

I know that since the time Dr. Meredith first started out reviving the work of God after leaving Worldwide, many outside of Global and Living expected him to proclaim himself as an apostle. But while others have claimed higher offices than evangelist, claiming the office of prophet or apostle, Dr. Meredith never did. In this he was wise.

To me, titles claimed are less important than results achieved and fruits shown. If a man has the authority over certain things, he has the authority, regardless of the title by which he is known among men.

Some men who claim to be prophets or apostles may be only evangelists, and a man who only claims to be an evangelist may be counted by God as an apostle. It is God who judges these things, not man.

I will miss Dr. Meredith.

Now the full authority and responsibility for directing and supervising Living Church of God, under Jesus Christ, falls upon the shoulders of Mr. Gerald Weston.

I believe that Dr. Meredith made a wise choice, with the advice and counsel of many top leaders in LCG, in naming Mr. Weston to succeed him. Only God knows the hearts of men, and Mr. Weston's character and fruits will only become fully known by the results of his leadership of LCG over time. But Mr. Weston seems well qualified in ability and experience to direct and manage LCG under Jesus Christ. He has a balance of experience in both pastoring and supervising the pastoring of congregations and in preaching the gospel through TV.

I desire and pray that God will protect, bless, inspire, and empower Mr. Weston to do God's work according to God's will.