Dankenbring on Meredith

I am indebted to KScribe for showing me that William Dankenbring has written information concerning Roderick C. Meredith.

KScribe through his website has introduced to me the intriguing testimony of William Dankenbring, the leader of Triumph Prophetic Ministries, concerning Roderick Meredith. I wish I had run into his info earlier as this information would have enhanced my biographical sketch of Roderick C. Meredith. I emphasize here that these are William Dankenbring's words and I do not have any special inside information but am simply relating what he has said about Meredith.

Now I wish to say before we begin that I am not endorsing Dankenbring's organization. Although he has altered many ideas of Armstrongism, such as identifying the USA as Ephraim instead of Britain, he continues to hold onto many ideas of Armstrongism that has been proven to be severely flawed, such as British-Israelism. The Anglo-Saxons are not Israelites. Like other COG splinter leaders he has made some questionable predictions. Ambassador Watch presents one of them here, although his identity is named in the next post.

Now onto the main topic:

William Dankenbring's notes on Roderick Meredith may be seen in the following articles:

Who are You?: The True Story Behind Triumph Ministries contains a fascinating and tragic account of William Dankenbring's relations with Roderick Meredith.

But in a long, hour and one half long telephone conversation, back in 1993, with a man who was helping organize the Global Church of God down in Florida, Meredith lambasted me for most of the entire conversation, dredging up things from many years ago -- things I had never given any thought to at all. To the gentleman on the phone, Rod Meredith unloaded a truckload of accusations and incriminating rhetoric, accusing me of plagiarizing ideas from ministers in the 1970s, and running back to my office to write articles using their material!...

Rod Meredith was told by this man, 'You really need to get together with Mr. Dankenbring...." Meredith replied: "I will NEVER get together with that man! "

When I heard of this, I couldn't believe it. My mind was reeling -- whatever had I done to offend this individual long ago? [He then speculates that Meredith was long jealous of him.]...

The fact is, I published the book The Incredible History of God's True Church, by Ivor Fletcher's which spoke highly of Rod Meredith's pioneer years in the Worldwide Church of God, then known as the Radio Church of God, especially his stint in England where he established the European office.

As has been noted elsewhere on this blog the positive comment that book made about Meredith concerning his meetings in Britain is used in LCG's Church history booklet as part of LCG's cult of personality:

[LCG's] church history booklet God's Church Through the Ages cites Ivor Fletcher's citation of a flattering advertisement for Meredith's speaking engagements in Britain in 1960 in Chapter 14 of his COG book. There Meredith is portrayed by HWA as "fully consecrated, utterly sincere and in earnest, stirringly dynamic."

And in another place:

If Meredith has the right to lead ["God's Church"] why does he have to resort to quoting obscure announcements of some evangelistic campaign? He is simply trying to make it appear that HWA greatly respected him to make himself appear legitimate to his Armstrongite followers. This is also used to obscure and dilute any negative information about Roderick C. Meredith the potential recruit may come across.

"Wherever the Carcass Lies, There Will the Vultures Gather" contains more information on Roderick Meredith.

The Church, perhaps seeing a repetition of fate, and even a greater cost, decided this time to settle out of court, and in December of 1992 the Church settled for $750,000. Meredith, at this point, no longer needed the legal umbrella of the Worldwide Church of God to fight this case. Is this one major reason why he waited until December 1992 to leave and to begin his own "Global Church of God"?

Had I been aware of this article I would have made mention of this possible link between the court case and Meredith's departure from WCG in my Biographical Sketch.

Also corroborating with AR54, February 1994 which reported this:

A number of Meredith's Pasadena-area associates have been put out for agreeing with Dankenbring's Holy Days position and for "Judaizing" (this includes the use of such Hebrew theological terms as Torah, Tenach, or Mischna - terms Meredith does not want used in GCG).

Dankenbring also mentions this, using this incident as polemical ammunition to discredit Meredith.

Meredith's true distaste for the things of God, and His Law, [meaning Dankenbring's own positions] is revealed in the fact that on the Day of Atonement he blasted the Jews, and shouted that anyone who goes to a Jewish synagogue is committing idolatry just as bad as attending a Catholic Church! Furthermore, his elders have let it be known that the words "Torah," "Mishnah," and "Talmud," and similar words, are not to be used around the Global Church of God -- as "some members are offended."

Crisis in the Worldwide Church of God contains this intriguing snippet of information:

The year of the massive defection was 1974. This was the year when Ted returned to power, and began to consolidate his position in the Church by removing from high office all those whom he did not consider to be "loyal" to him, personally. Rod Meredith was shipped off to England, to get him out of the way;

An Overview and Time-Line of My Life and Ministry contains this heart to heart moment from HWA:

During this conversation, which was mostly one-sided, he then gave me a real, deep insight into his own heart. He said that NONE of the ministers of the church, including Garner Ted Armstrong, Albert Portune, Rod Meredith, Herman Hoeh, or the other evangelists, HAD ANY WISDOM! He then confessed, “I lack wisdom, too. God never gave me wisdom.” I sat there astonished.

Also found in that article was this account of the following encounter Dankenbring had with Meredith:

He stared at me, and even though I had been a top student in his Bible class, he didn’t know or even seem to care to know me, personally. He stared or glared down upon me, and pointed out that at that time he was the “third most important man in the Universe – after Herbert Armstrong, and Garner Ted Armstrong.”

Leona McNair also testified in court that Meredith said a very similar thing to her during a counseling session in 1960, as may be seen in AR#29, October 1984:

She needed to obey his dictates because he (Meredith) was "God's number three man on earth" and would very likely remain in authority over her for all eternity!

Had I been aware of these two testimonies I would have made mention of this in my Biographical Sketch.

So this is what Dankenbring has to say about Meredith. Although we do need to take into consideration that he does have an organization to run it and therefore it is too his benefit to discredit rival Armstrongite splinter groups, still is not a pretty picture.