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Has Ron Lohr turned over a new leaf? He
states he is now a "recovering legalist" and
he calls his ministry Recovering Legalists Ministries. (RLM)
Brief History on Lohr
Recovering Legalists
Ministries
Lohr's Resources and Links
A Recovering Legalist?
Lohr emails ESN
Survivors Speak Out

Brief History on Lohr:
After
being a pastor for 28 years in a Bible-based cult1 (Herbert
W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God),
Ronald Lohr resigned
in 1997. He had just been ordained as a pastor in the Tulsa, Oklahoma
congregation.2
For awhile Lohr was editor of the Good News Grapevine (now defunct), an apparent propaganda publication, which reached WCG members
via the Internet. David Covington (a WCG pastor who resigned in May
1996) mentions the Good News Grapevine (GNG), Lohr, and some of the GNG's slanderous statements against him,
in his June 1996 Letter to Greg R.
Albrecht.
Around 1999, Lohr
wrote that he was now the Executive Director of
Recovering Legalists, a ministry of Fellowship Christian
Church, 6816 28th West Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma, with Warren R. Pellom as Pastor. Lohr
said that he was an assistant
pastor part time at this church. However, "Fellowship Christian
Church" was not listed for Churches in Tulsa, Oklahoma and
neither could the directory
assistance operator find any listing for it in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In our quest to find
out where Lohr's
"Fellowship Christian Church" was located, we discovered there
was a "Warren R. Pellom" listed at the same address in Tulsa
and with the same phone number given for this "Fellowship Christian Church." An aerial view of the address shows this to be a residence located in
the midst of the Page Belcher Golf Course in Tulsa.
In 1997, Lohr started a
company he called "Golden Rule International" (marketing preventive health care products)
and said distributorships were
being "set up in Oklahoma and around the United States and
eventually internationally." (We were not able to
find a listing in the phone directories or on the Internet for "Golden
Rule International.")
Then in 1999, Lohr
began a new career as a sign consultant for
churches and businesses. He stated that he had been
full time in the business world and was also serving part time as
assistant pastor of "Fellowship Christian Church"
(Pastor Pellom being his pastor). His appeal was that, if possible,
others should make a donation to the Recovering Legalists
Ministries of "Fellowship Christian Church" at the address
above. Lohr stated, "I can assure you that Pastor Pellom and
the church elders are receipting each gift and are being good and
faithful stewards with the funds." (There
was no mention of donations being tax-deductible, nor end of year tax
receipts to be issued.)
In August 2001, Ron Lohr (Austin, Texas) gave a book review on Amazon
and other book listings (for an Olympic Trainer book)
where he signed as
"Signtronix, District Manager, President of
Golden Rule Resources, Inc." However,
an article on the internet, showed that a class action suit was filed against Golden Rule Resources
(a mining company) and related persons
February 23, 1998,
alleging Federal Securities Law Violations by "issuing materially false
and misleading statements relating to Golden Rule's business
operations." On October 1, 2000 Golden Rule Resources, Inc. (of
which Glen Harper was chairman of the board and president) was
dissolved and is now known as CDG Investments Inc. So which company was it
that Lohr was actually President of? Golden Rule Resources, or Golden Rule
International? It appears that it was Golden Rule International (the one
that we could find no listing for).
Recovering
Legalists Ministries:
RLM's
theme of "recovering legalists" has been attracting those who were former members of
Worldwide Church of God. Lohr even admitted that he "maintains friends" inside WCG and has
gone back as a "guest."
In 2005, Lohr stated that Recovering
Legalists Ministries accepted donations and checks should be
made payable to Recovering
Legalists Ministries,
815 Moccasin Trail, La Grange, Texas 78945. (No longer in Tulsa,
Oklahoma and no mention of "Fellowship Christian Church.") Lohr did not state if RLM was a member of
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability3, nor did he offer a
financial statement for the year.
As usual, the directory
assistance operator found no listing for "Recovering
Legalists Ministries" in La Grange, Texas, nor was it listed for the entire state of
Texas.
If Lohr is working with "a variety of churches" as he
stated, why is there no listing of his RLM? (An aerial photo of the La Grange address shows it
to be in a heavily wooded area with hardly any homes around.)
By 2007 Lohr had shortened his Recovering Legalists
Ministries website to three pages and since 2002 now gives the address as "1475
Sawdust Road, Suite 8102, Spring, Texas,
77380." No phone number is given. (Wikipedia says Spring,
Texas is: "a census-designated
place [CDP] and
unincorporated community located within the extraterritorial
jurisdiction of Houston.")
In doing a search on the internet for
this address, it comes up as Woodridge Park Apartments, appearing to
be some type of condominium complex. Features we saw advertised at these
condos or apartments
were: "The best amenities and a
variety of floor plans"; "resort-style pool, fitness
center/sports court, conference center/theater, fireplace," etc.
Strangely, there is no listing of Ron Lohr at this complex, but his
phone# comes up in Houston, Texas, the city where the Presbyterian
Church he is now attending is located (see email below). There is a
Ronald D. Lohr listed at Zabasearch.com (recorded in 2006) as living at 1475
Sawdust Road (no phone number), but when you click on the name, it
directs you to "Lohr Structural Fasteners, Inc. on Wilson Rd. in Humble,
Texas. However, Lohr signed his name "Ronald
A.
Lohr" on a book review of God 101 at Amazon in March 2004
(which stated he was in Houston, Texas), and right below his name he gives the
website URL for his Recovering Legalist Ministries.
Lohr's Resources and Links:
While Lohr states that his "primary career"
today is "sign
designer in promotional sales for Signtronix," he is still offering
books and tapes at
"no cost" from his RLM website. Let's take a look at some of
these resources.
One
resource Lohr links to from his website is a liberal theologian and author ("The
Chaplain") who states that
the book of Revelation is "blasphemy and heretical," an
"hallucination" and
that it contradicts Jesus' gospel.
This Chaplain has a "God-101"
book which details a "God is your buddy" belief system.
There wasn't anything mentioned regarding how the Holy Spirit draws people to Christ
and will enable a believer to live for Him. Neither was anything said
about the terrible price Christ paid for the sins of the world. Instead,
the gospel is that Jesus "did what is necessary" to bridge the gap, faith is a "relationship" (i.
e., "hanging out" with Jesus), and those in
Jesus' church are there because of a "connection to God," which was made
when people "met God" (discovered Him) and "felt Him in their heart."
Doesn't Robert Schuller teach similar ideas?
Oddly
enough, we found no mention through Lohr's Recovering Legalists
Ministries' website, which talked about the shed blood of Christ on the
cross of Calvary or
how one can have all their sins forgiven and receive
eternal life. However, here is how "The Chaplain" explains it. He tells people to go to a private
place, close their eyes, and tell Jesus they know He wants them to be
with Him always, and then to ask Him where they can "meet Him." He says
there will soon be a scene or memory in your mind and you are to look
around "for Jesus." Jesus won't speak, but will give a "message" to show
you he has always been your "traveling companion." When the
scene fades, the person is to keep asking Him for more, until no more scenes appear. The
next step, he says, is his God-10l book. Is
this New Age thought?
Also listed on Lohr's
website is
"The Reverend," a woman who is an
"ordained minister and counselor/chaplain" that "assists in personal
counseling" and points people to a "face to face" relationship with
Jesus Christ. One must wonder if this "face to face" relationship she
points one to will be anything like what the Chaplain describes.
Lohr also links from his RLM to a Calvary church
which endorses spiritual formation (i. e., contemplative spirituality
and the emerging church). The church
emphasizes spiritual disciplines and appears to expect a high level of
commitment from those who join (becoming a member involves "5
steps."). One of their visions is "extending the Kingdom on earth" and
they "demonstrate Kingdom principles." They have intercessory
missionaries whose primary focus is "changing the spiritual atmosphere
over cities through intercessory worship" and the pastor offers
"resources, sermons, and equipping lessons on spiritual formation." (To
understand more about spiritual formation and why it is considered dangerous, see
our article, Last Wake-Up Call to
Joseph Tkach Jr. Goes Unheeded and
Lighthouse
Trails Research Project). [Note: Richard J.
Foster (co-founder of Renovaré and whose books WCG has promoted) is
Professor of spiritual formation at Azusa.]
This
gives an idea as to some of Lohr's Recovering Legalists Ministries
"resources and links."
A
Recovering Legalist?
Since alcoholism is considered an addiction and "toxic
faith" is considered a religious addiction, does that mean that the
label "recovering legalist" parallels "recovering
alcoholic" and consequently Lohr dare not take one
"drink" of a legalistic doctrine lest he fall back into
legalism again? Does he phone a fellow "recovering
legalist" when there is an overpowering compulsion to
"swallow" legalism again? Does
Ron Lohr believe that former WCG members have accepted the label that he is now a "recovering
legalist"? Has he ever stated, "I'm a recovering cult leader"?
"Recovering Legalist" appears to be a clever new word that the WCG
"history
revisionists" have picked up on and have used to their advantage. (See:
Myths in Transformed by Truth.)
The Worldwide
Church of God declares that they were only "former
legalists" that imbibed "legalism." On the contrary, the WCG went
far beyond legalism. They destroyed countless innocent lives. (See:
Stories and Testimonies by former members.)
Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of
Worldwide Church of God, and his ministers used various
mind control methods on the members in order to control and exploit
them. People
were ruled by controlling, manipulative (and in many cases abusive and hypocritical) cult ministers, not "legalists." Has Lohr ever considered that WCG members and former members need "recovery
from cults," not "recovery from legalism"?
Some exiters
have questioned if Ron Lohr ever faced up to the pain and sorrow he
caused others while he was a "minister" in the Worldwide Church of God?
In other words, did he repent of past abusive cult behavior and
personally apologize?
Many who
became ministers in the WCG came from abusive and controlling families.
Then they turned around and were abusive and controlling with those
under them who feared to speak up to "the authority." While it
is evident that some ministers in WCG were themselves victims, this does not
relieve them of taking responsibility for what they did to others.
Lohr emails ESN:
Ron Lohr emailed ESN on July 15, 2007 with the
subject of "Greetings from Ron Lohr." He informed us that he
has been a 4 year member of the City of Refuge Evangelical Presbyterian Church (an
inter-racial church with a black pastor) in Houston, Texas4
, where he said he "gives an occasional sermon and teaches a Sunday
school class." We noticed that he was listed on the church's sermon
archives as being a pastor who gave a February 25, 2007 sermon on "Alcohol
Deception and the Bible." Ironically, he is not listed on the church's
staff or leadership.
Lohr told us he believes "in the basics of the
Westminster Confession." (One former member, who had read the
long version of the Westminster Confession stated that it contained
"convoluted reasoning" due to its excessive explanations, forcing
preconceived beliefs into Scripture.)
Let's look at some of
Lohr's words in his email and see
if
he sidesteps the issues. He says,
"There were many
painful memories of the AC and WCG experience and I have tried to
emphasize the positive (Philippians 4:8) by not asking, 'Why?' but
'What can I do with the experience?'"
First of all,
Philippians 4:8 is not saying that we "emphasize the positive" by not asking
"why," but is saying to
think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of a good
report. And who is all of these things? The Lord Jesus Christ.
Lohr's statement to
emphasize (or focus on) "the positive" is what the WCG ministers have told members and former
members, and it is their
way of avoiding the "whys" that they don't want to deal with, and
instead telling them to "move on."
Lohr adds,
"Surely God didn't
play a practical joke on me in 1964 when I gave my life to Him only to
end up 3 months later at AC"."
One source told us
that Lohr (as WCG pastor) used to tell the story about when he first
heard Herbert W. Armstrong, how he was attracted to the Lion and the Lamb
logo (that was used to represent the "World Tomorrow"), and how the lion
didn't eat the lamb, etc. and he was so taken in by the message that he
hitchhiked out to California where Ambassador College (AC) was.
So did God play a
"practical joke" on Lohr, or was it HWA?
Lohr goes on to say:
"While pastoring I
never purposely hurt any young person or member."
Notice the words
"never purposely." If it wasn't "on purpose," then it evidently didn't
count. The "church" was wrong, but not Ronald Lohr. This has always been
the typical words of ministers of WCG and spouse abusers who enjoy the
power they have. In other words, "It was your fault, too. You caused me
to do it." But what they
most certainly did do was "hurt"; i.e., abuse others, and it left a detrimental
mark on people's lives (many who still struggle with it to this
day). If Lohr doesn't want to ask "why," then it allows him to not have
to own up to what he cannot fully see.
Lastly he says,
"When one is one of
'God's minister's in the one true church' one has to be very serious
about protecting the congregation and the sheep -- even from
themselves.
This is a very lofty
statement. Those who have studied
religious cults know it is common place for
their ministers to get rid of those who cause
trouble by not obeying "the government" (i. e., authority), or if
they pose any kind of threat to expose the group. But what about the young
people who were thrown out? How did Lohr "protect the sheep" by lording
it over them--even traumatizing certain ones--just
because they didn't tow the line and do everything he demanded?
He ended his email by
saying,
"An attitude of
repentance is an attutude
(sic) I'll never outgrow while in this life."
He mentions
"an attitude of repentance." Nothing in Lohr's email admitted he was wrong,
or
that he is sorry for any kind of abuse he
dished out while in WCG. Does he not see it? Or does he just not want to
admit that he was guilty of such?
Survivors
Speak Out:
ESN has had
exiters email us about their
dealings with Ron Lohr. To those who were never in WCG or any of its
abusive offshoots these things may seem "trivial" and
inconsequential. But to the ones on
the receiving end of it, the experience was very wounding, and in some cases
traumatizing, taking years to get over, and they were only able to begin
healing after they were listened to and validated. For these reasons, we
give these people a chance to air their grievances on our site.
One person who had painful dealings
with Lohr and his assistant recently sent us the following testimony:
My
Experience With Ron Lohr (July 2007 correspondence to ESN; also
covers
being propositioned by Lohr's assistant)
To read what other
exiters have written ESN about Ron Lohr, read:
My Thoughts on Ron Lohr's Email to
ESN (insightful article from former member)
What it Felt Like to Be Kicked Out
of the Worldwide Church of God (by child survivor who was
traumatized by being kicked out
by Ron Lohr)
Ron Lohr: What Would Be Genuine
Contrition? (July 28, 2007
letter from child survivor)
WCG Lingo (Ron Lohr is
mentioned in this June 28, 2004 letter to ESN)
The true God
and Savior (which was never taught in WCG) is
able and willing to
heal those survivors who have suffered at the hands of any minister in
the Worldwide Church of God.
By D. W.
Exit &
Support Network™
February 10, 2001
Last updated July 29, 2007
Footnotes:
1
The word "cult" is used in the context of a deceitful, abusive, mind-manipulating organization.
2
Worldwide News, January 21, 1997, p. 14.
3 It has
come to our attention that The Evangelical Council of Financial
Accountability (ECFA) "purports to work on behalf of the donor but
in reality exists for the spenders." Read:
The
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Con Artists!
4 The
Evangelical Presbyterian Church holds to reformed theology, supports the
charismatic renewal, and joined the NAE in 1982. This is similar to the
"new" WCG. [Note: The NAE has now accepted the NCC (National
Council of Churches) and WCC (World Council of Churches) members. The WCC is
known as apostate and radically liberal. See:
Letter to NAE
and other concerned Christians.]

OIU Newsletters (Looking behind the scenes at the real activities and associations
pertaining to the "transformation" of the WCG; shows how doctrine was
used as a massive propaganda tool.)
How to Recover After Exiting a Deceptive, Abusive Group
DISCLAIMER:
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concerning Ron Lohr and the Worldwide Church of God and is for educational and informational purposes only. We encourage our readers to use
discernment and research widely in order to make their own evaluation.
All research articles and letters are the
property of Exit & Support Network™.
No portion of this website may be used
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