Dear Brethren,
My Editorial in this edition of the Living Church News is titled, “‘It Is Your Patriotic Duty to Vote.’” I can hear it now from the critics—Weston is leading the Church into politics! I find that thought quite amusing, because the article says something very different from what they will accuse me of. So, why give them ammunition?
A bit more than a decade ago, there was a young man running around proclaiming, “Mark my words, there will be no Living Church of God in six months.” But rather than admit that his prediction was grossly in error and dare to question his decision to leave our fellowship, he chose to continue following a man who led him away from doing the Work and into an unproductive end. Sadly, that leader died, and with him the organization he started.
Then there was the strongly proclaimed idea that Living University would be ordaining women as ministers. There was no question about it! It was going to happen! Yet L.U. was replaced by Living Education, and we have yet to ordain even one woman as a minister anywhere in the Living Church of God—nor will we ever do so. Where was the evidence for believing such nonsense? And where are those accusers now? Have they reassessed their decision to leave us as a result of something that was patently incorrect from the beginning? I think you know the answer.
Another young man, who was too young to understand what happened in the Worldwide Church of God, went about proclaiming, Weston is taking the Church the same direction as Tkach. That was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Church was dealing with something we had never faced before— having to deal with government and venue-imposed mandates regulating our meeting for services and Holy Days. We had to function as one cohesive Church with congregations all over the world, though regulations varied widely from place to place.
Sadly, there were some who were willing to divide God’s people over masks and a temporary cessation of in-person singing. Neither restriction lasted long in most jurisdictions. Today, it is the rare individual who chooses, of his or her own volition, to wear a mask at our services, and most of us have been singing hymns collectively for more than three years. Some who criticized us for temporarily holding services online are now so scattered that they only have online services available to them!
Anxiety and Fear
In Jonathan Haidt’s new book The Anxious Generation, he writes, “Anxiety is related to fear, but is not the same thing. The diagnostic manual of psychiatry (DSM-5-TR) defines fear as ‘the emotional response to real or perceived imminent threat, whereas anxiety is anticipation of future threat’” (pp. 26–27). Anxiety—the “anticipation of future threat”—is what we see in the examples I’ve noted. Haidt’s thesis explains how electronic media has damaged many adolescents, and it is interesting to see that an irrational fear of an anticipated future threat is the common thread linking the three very different examples above.
More recently, I have heard from more than one source that the Living Church of God is becoming exclusive, moving in an isolationist direction. The specific accusation varies—some say we are self-righteous and think we are better than others, while others make the absurd claim that we are, or soon will be, cutting brethren off from their family members. That is pure nonsense!
Yes, it is true that some members in our fellowship are self-righteous, and some may believe we are the only people of God. But that was never Dr. Meredith’s thinking, nor is it mine or that of the overwhelming majority of our ministry. At the same time, we recognize that there are differences—that the statement “we are all the same” is not accurate. If we were all the same, why did some choose to start their own organizations when they recognized that Dr. Meredith was already preaching the true Gospel, giving a warning to the world, and feeding the flock? And what about those who have broken off from us? No, dear brethren, it is delusional to think that we are all the same. We have great similarities, but we have different beliefs about what the Bible says about Church government and different ideas about the identity of nations, just to name a couple.
There are those who do not believe in the seven successive Church eras described in Revelation, even though this was longstanding doctrine in the Church prior to the breakup of WCG. We continue to recognize Church eras for many biblical reasons. The last two eras of the Church are very different, as one can see from reading Revelation 3—and their outcomes are different. Christ Jesus says to Philadelphia, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (v. 10). To Laodicea, He says, “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (v. 16).
Both Philadelphia and Laodicea were Church congregations in the first century AD, and they are eras with two different attitudes at the time of the end. As we know, the predominant attitudes of all seven churches could be found among people in each of the seven original congregations, and the same applies in each of the succeeding eras. However, specific attitudes dominate the different congregations and eras.
Why does this truth make some people uncomfortable? One prominent leader said that believing in eras promotes competition and judgmental attitudes between God’s people. Fair enough—some individuals will put down others as being Laodicean rather than Philadelphian. But if this is true about eras, is it not also true regarding the original congregations in Asia Minor? Yet no one denies that there were seven literal congregations to which the letters were sent. So, that argument is a red herring; it diverts attention from the truth that God inspired letters to seven congregations with seven different sets of strengths and weaknesses—congregations in Asia Minor that represent seven eras, or stages, through which the Church of God would pass from the first century to the time of Christ’s return.
Are Jesus Christ’s own inspired warnings through the Apostle John invalidated just because some self-righteous individuals, lacking wisdom and contrary to scriptural admonition, compare themselves among themselves (2 Corinthians 10:12)? There have always been people among the brethren who are self-righteous and even unconverted. Indeed, just as there were seven different attitudes in the seven congregations recorded in Revelation, so are there seven different attitudes that have dominated the Body of Christ over the last two millennia. (Please review our booklet God’s Church Through the Ages for further information on this subject.)
The Age of Misinformation
A popular quip tells us that the difference between a conspiracy theory and a “fact” in today’s world is about six months. In our deceit-filled world, this is too often the case. Yet it ignores the sobering truth that there are also many patently false conspiracy theories. As we saw in the examples I cited at the start of this article, even members of God’s Church are sometimes susceptible to conspiracy theories—and, if there is anything we have learned, someone once bitten by a conspiracy theory is almost never again persuaded by the truth of the matter. We live in what is often called the “Information Age”—but, more accurately, we might call it the Age of Misinformation. The Internet, though helpful in so many ways, is dangerously rife with deliberate fabrications. No truer words can be found than those found in Isaiah: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter” (59:14).
Our world is in deep trouble and is looking for a savior in all the wrong places. Friends, family members, and fellow workers often tell us that it is our patriotic duty to vote. Strong opinions prevail among those who came out of the Worldwide Church of God. To learn the biblical truth on the subject—the truth God’s Church has consistently taught—be sure to read my article on the next page.