Norbert Link's Response to Open Letter from Council
Dear Brethren:
As the Secretary of the Global Church of God, who is also the custodian of the corporate records, I hereby state as follows:
Many of you have undoubtedly received a copy of Dr. Meredith's recent undated letter to "all ministers and hosts," and of the recent undated "open letter from the Council of Elders," which was published under the names of Roderick C. Meredith, Carl McNair, Richard Ames, Dibar Apartian, Charles Bryce, and John Ogwyn. In these two publications, many statements are made which are factually incorrect.
An accurate statement of facts will be published in a forthcoming document, and will be sent to you, upon your request. At this point, I would just like to focus on a few misrepresentations. For instance, we read about a "power struggle" and political maneuvering of a "small cadre of three men...thwart[ing] the will of the majority of the active members of the Council of Elders." Dear brethren, Dr. Meredith NEVER had the majority of the Council of Elders supporting his viewpoints in question, his repeated assertions to the contrary notwithstanding.
In the Council Meeting on November 12, 1998, he asked for a recess and requested of "his" men to join him in another room to discuss strategy. He left the Board room with FOUR men (Messrs. Carl McNair, Charles Bryce, John Ogwyn and, of course, Richard Ames), leaving SEVEN men behind (Messrs. Raymond McNair, J. Edwin Pope, Larry R. Salyer, Colin Adair, Dibar Apartian, George Meeker, and, on the phone hook- up, Jean Carion. I was also left behind, although not a Council Member at that time. Further, due to Dr. Meredith's political maneuvering, Dave Pack had been excused from the Council Meeting.
However, on December 3, 1998, Mr. Pack was reinstated by all the Council Members, and his temporary suspension, without any finding of guilt, was declared to be null and void from its inception. It is not surprising that the board, would reinstate one who they had originally manuevered to be put back on the Council a few months back, would reinstate Mr. Pack again.
Counting Mr. Pack, Dr. Meredith was facing a majority of EIGHT men "against" him and his four men. Even WITHOUT Mr. Pack, we find SEVEN men on the one hand, and Dr. Meredith and four men on the other hand).
At the time of the Board Meeting, as of November 24, 1998, when the Board formalized Dr. Meredith's decision to leave the Global Church of God, Mr. Adair had died, but Mr. Apartian was still not "on Dr. Meredith's side." I have written Mr. Apartian a personal letter expressing my utter surprise about his decision to join Dr. Meredith, after all his recent statements to me and others that he would "never go with Rod."
When the Board accepted Dr. Meredith's conduct as resignation from the Church, Mr. Apartian told us later that he AGREED with the decision, but he felt that it should have been made by the Council, rather than the Board. Mr. Apartian's understanding of the Bylaws is wrong, which clearly state that the Board, rather than the Council, has to make those decisions (the Bylaws said this from their very inception, and were authorized and signed by Dr. Meredith).
Nevertheless, we called for a Council Meeting, which was held on December 3, 1998. Although Messrs. Apartian, Ogwyn, Bryce and Ames were given notice of the meeting, and although Mr. Ogwyn had informed me that he would attend, none of these gentlemen showed up. Instead, they are informing us now that they have given their new church the name, "Living Church of God," and that all of these gentlemen are now Council Members of THAT church. As stated, at the time of the Board Meeting, as of November 24, Dr. Meredith did not have the majority of the Council, either. Mr. Apartian had not, at that time, become "one of Dr. Meredith's men."
And although Mr. Pack had been suspended from the Council (without ANY finding of guilt!), please recall that the Council later vacated that suspension, declaring it null and void, with the consequence that Mr. Pack was never legally or legitimately suspended. Having said that, what do we see ? We see Dr. Meredith with his "four men," on the one hand, and we see the MAJORITY of the Council on the other hand, namely SIX men.
And when the Board recognized Dr. Meredith's abandonment of Global as a resignation, I had been appointed as a Board and a Council Member, and Mr. Carl McNair had been removed from both offices. So we see a MAJORITY of SEVEN Council Members, "against" a small minority of THREE men.
And finally, on December 3, 1998, the ten-member Council of the Global Church of God unanimously concurred with the action of the Board on November 24.
Please, brethren, get the facts and study them. May GOD help you to understand. Let me also bring up here a personal matter. A great deal of innuendo has been made by the fact that I am a "lawyer." What is de-emphasized is, that I am a minister of Jesus Christ, who happens to also be a lawyer. And yet, Dr. Meredith does not mind consulting behind my back with Mr. Helge, a lawyer, who is also still the In- house legal counsel of the Worldwide Church of God. He does not mind having "a lawyer" draw up the documents for his new Church. And both these lawyers, I would presume, are NOT ministers of Jesus Christ. I have been a baptized member of the Church of God since 1974. I quit my job as a practicing attorney in Germany and came to the USA in 1981, with my wife and a nine-month old child, to serve the Work in Pasadena. I resigned from the WCG in 1996 and joined Global, because I could not stand the doctrinal changes any longer, and because I was told, Global wanted to do a Work in Germany. (Later Mr. Carl McNair told me, however, that he did not think, Global should do a Work in Germany - he felt, God had given Germany to United. Further, Dr. Meredith told me that Mr. Carl McNair even believed that the Work was over). I was not fired from WCG, nor did I leave because I was offered a retirement. It was MY choice, AGAINST Mr. Helge's wishes who wanted me to stay. I believe, as MANY have told me, that GOD brought me to Global. How could I just WALK AWAY from that calling, as some have suggested, I should have done ?
Also, the Board appointed me as a Board Member to fill a vacancy caused by Mr. Adair's death, as well as Mr. Carl McNair's removal. Mr. Apartian had been asked to become a Board Member, but he declined.
I accepted the appointment, for the Work's sake, knowing full well what kind of accusations I might receive from some (As a matter of fact, Dr. Meredith already suggested that much in the Board Meeting).
But I want you, dear brethren, to understand something. Although the word "lawyer" has become quite a negative term in the Church, who is our Advocate or Defense Attorney ? You guessed it - Jesus Christ. Please read I John 2: 1. And the scriptures speak about a few lawyers in very positive terms. See Tits 3: 13, for example. When Jesus spoke negatively about or to lawyers, he addressed unconverted people. He did the same in regard to unconverted ministers. Why did we not read, "The next decision was to fill Mr. McNair's place by the appointment of Norbert Link, the MINISTER." ? No, it had to be, "the lawyer," playing on emotions.
But one had better be careful. As I said, the greatest lawyer or advocate is Jesus Christ!
Norbert Link