Tribulation Ahead for LCG

Gary is reporting that tough realities are striking home for the Living Church of God. Leading minister Bruce Tyler recently suffered a major stroke and died. Rod King, a former Tomorrow's World presenter, is said to be afflicted with stage 4 cancer. Rod Meredith struggles on, at least part-time wheelchair bound. There are rumblings about the appointment of Gerry Weston as the heir apparent, a man not known either for pastoral skills or empathy. Not surprisingly there are rumours of defections.

The reality is that the old guard is passing on, men who thought (and loudly proclaimed) that we would all live over into "the world tomorrow". The tragedy is that this line is still being pushed in pulpits, broadcast and print media. Nobody has said, hey, push the pause button, we've obviously got something horribly wrong here.

Which leads me to ponder Melvin Rhodes' latest blog column. Mel is prominent among those who try to discern the "signs of the times". He manfully attempts to join the dots, trawling through news trends and consequently finding exactly what he expects to find. The fact that he is affiliated with UCG rather than LCG is no big issue; on this both groups sing the same tune.

And yet, Mel's latest post is well worth the read. I suspect he intended it as a lightweight piece, but in reality, it has far greater depth than most of his output. He observes his three-year-old grandson digging dirt in the driveway with the unmistakable affection of any grandfather and ties it together in a good-humoured fashion with the state of the roads in Michigan. He concludes:

Perhaps, 15 years from now, when he graduates from High School, Leeson can work for the Transportation Department and help fix the roads.   I’m convinced those potholes will still be there.

Even Mel, the doomsayer, suspects at some level that the end of the age isn't all that close and that his grandchildren will grow up in the world we have today. And yet, what are the chances that his next contribution will return to the usual watch-world-news prediction-addiction?

Meanwhile, LCG tumbles toward the abyss. It's tempting to give a cheer, but we're talking about the lives of real people, and most of us know the negative impact of such events first-hand. The danger is, if LCG crashes and burns, the vultures will swiftly arrive to pick over the remains.