As the Philadelphia Era grew at 30% a year for 30 years or more, the Church had to be organized as the Government of God, that is from the TOP down and NOT like a democracy from the bottom up.

And yet, within the government structure c o m p e t i t i o n began to grow for the positions to which promising or outstanding people were noticed and were raised too.

Deacons and Deaconesses, Preaching Elders, full-time College trained and paid Ministers/Pastors, Evangelists, Heads of the Ministry, who were normally Evangelist’s, but not on one occasion, and Members of the Council of Elders, who were Evangelists and then the Leader of the Church Era who was over the entire Church for more than 50 years in the case of the Philadelphia Era, accepting the rank of Apostle in the years before his death in order to defeat a very large Evangelists rebellion.

Constant Competition Crept In

So, what was it which caused the competition in these men struggling to become converted, as some began seeking power of authority in the church? It was the fact that EACH of these positions were viewed to be A STEP UP THE CORPORATE LADDER! In other words, we had and have a church government which is structured BOTH as CHURCH and CORPORATE government!

Deacons & Deaconesses were to be chosen by the members of the churches. The membership was to be asked who here has been serving your needs faithfully. And if those men and women met the rest of the scriptural requirements, then they were to be given those positions and NOT the cut above the average member by schooling or in business, or those who set out to please the ministry as was sometimes the case.

Elders and Preaching Elders Most but not all elders gave sermonettes and split sermons. They had first been chosen from amongst the Graduates of Spokesman Club and eventually raised to the rank of Preaching Elder. These were the lower positions in a sense, this would be seen as being on the lower rungs of the LADDER and some of these men competed for these positions although we were not supposed to notice.

Shooting Stars…

We called them ‘Shooting Stars’ in the Spokesman Clubs. Those with a competitive spirit would give great speeches and be promoted to Sermonette Men, some were ordained Preaching Elders. And when the next Corporate rebellion came along, an EVANGELIST or a group of popular ministers would lead them OUT! Christ’s way of ridding His body of these.

Pastor Ranked Ministers

These were the Pasadena, Big Sandy or Bricket Wood trained men who were ordained to the Ministry and served full time on a salary, the second generation of these had a necessary new car provided, monthly expenses paid, Feast expenses including Air Fares and Hotel costs paid. Then a few months after the Feast a paid vacation every year, earlier in the year the all-expenses-paid Ministerial Conference, husbands and wives being flown in from around the world.

All of this is still going on today costing MILLIONS every year and HUNDREDS of MILLIONS over the years which should NOW be spent on MEDIA to pay to reach the American and British Peoples and the World!

Evangelists

And if some of the men who were in that structure will remember the time came when everyone at the top was actually paid at CORPORATE wage scale. The Field Evangelists on $60,000 a year before the year 2000 and the Headquarter Evangelists on $110,000 back then and-wait for it-plus BONUSES according to Mr. Raymond McNair! This was the gravy train as Mr. Carl McNair called it.

All of this costs MILLIONS way too much! And all of this was the cause of the competition to GET HIRED and get ahead! Yes, it was from the top down BUT it was also VERY MUCH built with paid positions as a C O R P E R A T E BODY.

The Bible Example

You men in the ministry who are still drawing annual incomes from one of these larger Splinter Groups can find the scriptures on how the original Apostles were paid and didn’t take money from some churches but found a job as the august Apostle Paul did-as a tentmaker.

Another example of how the original ministry drew money from the church for their personal needs was that EACH TOOK WHAT THEY NEEDED. If a minister was unmarried for example then he took less. If married with children he needed and took more and no doubt many Ministers took a part-time job.

Within Judaism Rabbis are required to learn a trade, working with your hands with TOIL and SWEAT seems to keep MEN HUMBLE! A BUSINESS MANS SUIT of clothes and a BRIEFCASE seems to PUFF MEN UP!

The McNair’s Were Asked To Find Jobs

I remember Raymond McNair telling the story of when he and one of his brothers showed up at Pasadena and asked Mr. Armstrong if he needed help, he asked them “Can you both find jobs?” They said they would. And that is how two of the McNair’s came to Pasadena. Where is that character in the ministry today?

I’ve noticed that when these larger Church groups split, the first thing to be announced is ‘all of the paid ministry will be retained’ one of which had THIRTY paid ministers and THERE WENT THAT GROUPS ABILITY to pay to do any kind of ‘WARNING WORK.’

In the Jerusalem Church and in the early Philadelphia Era of God’s Church the Ministry expense was not a HUGE DRAIN on ALMOST ALL of GODS TITHE as we see today with 90% going to pay the MINISTRY and HEADQUARTERS and CHURCH EXPENSES and NOTHING LEFT to do a real expanding WORK!

WITH ONLY A TOKEN GESTURE OF A WORK BEING DONE, this shown to the membership as much greater than it really is in order to BLINDLY KEEP ON TITHING!

WHEN IN ACTUAL FACT ONLY TEN PERCENT IF THAT, OF ALL OF GODS HOLY TITHE MONEY IS BEING SPENT to WARN OUR NATIONS OF IMMINENT DESTRUCTION!

HOW WILL ANY ONE OF YOU STAND BEFORE CHRIST AND ADMIT YOU WERE PROUD TO BE A PART OF THIS???

Apostles, PROPHETS, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers. Ephesians 4:11

We have been told there have been NO PROPHETS in the Philadelphia Era but here they are mentioned BEFORE Evangelists! Bear in mind that there is NO ordination to the position of a Prophet.

So, does the order in which these are listed denote RANK, then if so do we need to place Prophets OVER Evangelists and the Ministry?

P L E A S E do not ordain any more ‘Evangelists’ in this Church Era, they have done enough real DAMAGE already fighting over the lead positions and splitting churches to get control! And this WILL continue happening IF THIS SITUATION IS NOT SORTED OUT.

No Annual Financial Reports Being Posted

Months after this was written to the churches, STILL NO ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORTS ARE BEING DISPLAYED.

Each Church Member should be asking WHY NOT POST THESE?

The answer is obvious. They do not want you to see that PRACTICALLY NO MORE THAN F I V E to S E V E N PERCENT OF THE MILLIONS WHICH YOU ARE FAITHFULLY TITHING IS BEING SPENT TO REACH THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH PEOPLE!

BRIAN