THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF KEITH MALCOLM HUNT
Before saying goodbye to Florida, I will share with you a few more interesting happenings, over the time spent there.
I became quite friendly with a minister around Daytona Beach area.
He was about 5 foot 5 inches tall and of slight build. I was with him one Sabbath when he was baptizing a person much larger than himself. He had the person go backwards under the water, which is I would say, the way all church ministers who baptize with full immersion, do it. I said to him afterwards, “You know there is no instruction in God’s word that says we must have the person being baptized fall backwards under the water; for people who are very large, it is not good to do it that way. I personally have the person I’m baptizing simpley bend their knees and go under the water.”
When I was with him a few weeks later, and he again was baptizing a person, he had them bend their knees and go under the water.
For my next interesting story I will have to back-track some. The so-called “apostle” leader of the Radio Church of God died in January 1986. He gave the baton to a minister that was not known but by only a few. The “new” guy did some changes to policy within a few months, actually changes that I thought were needed for a long time. Changes like the church should get involved in local helpful serving the community, such as “food banks” etc.
But as 4 and 5 years went by there appeared in the Radio Church of God inner magazine [to members only], a long and full article which “did away” with the weekly 7th day Sabbath. Of course this caused a huge tidal way within the organization of ministers and the general congregations. I sat down to answer the arguments of this new leader, which naturally ended up to be a small book, way more than just a counter-article. This was a serious theological subject, and though I had read and answered many people on this subject of the 7th day weekly Sabbath over my lifetime, this new leader had some unique arguments as to the belief the weekly Sabbath was now, today, in the Christian era “done away with.”
You will find my answer to all his arguments on my website under “Sabbath and Feasts of God” section.
Concerning the Sabbath; I had come into contact with a 7th day Sabbath group over Ft. Lauderdale way, above Miami. They were a group from Jamaica. Very British in many ways, as Britain ruled Jamaica for a long time. I learned from them that many streets had British names, but more importantly the educational system was British. All school children had uniforms as a dress code; so it did not matter if the child came from a rich or poor family. In school they all were the same. Most, well I would say all, Jamaicans in the USA are well educated. And hard workers. And they overall do not like the blacks of the USA, they stick to themselves as Jamaicans, and dread the day their children have to go to USA schools.
Now many of the ladies are nurses, or work in the retirement social housing sections of towns. When it comes to the weekly Sabbath, they are most adamant that they will not work from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. And they all have work! This is in contrast to Seventh Day Adventists, who do work on the Sabbath. Now I will say I was pleasantly surprised way back in the 1980s in Oshawa, Ontario, when the now late SDA Dr. Samuele Bacciocchi came to town and in an open forum was asked about doctors and nurses working on the Sabbath day, his answer was, “They should only be on call, and if called in to work, should give the money earned on the Sabbath to charity.”
Well these ladies from Jamaica, they were not about to work on the Sabbath for hospitals or Nursing Homes. And as stated, none of them were out of work.
There is quite the difference in attitude between the black Jamaicans and the general blacks of the USA. I was once in the Jamaican church one Sabbath for the whole day, yes those Jamaicans love the Sabbath day and rejoice in it all day. In the afternoon there was a “sharing” time. Could be anything you wanted to share. Their pianist was as black skinned as coal. He gets up and shares this with us all.
“You all know I work for a construction company and I’ve worked along-side this white man for a long time. One day another white man joins us. In time the two white guys are talking about the blacks of America getting into trouble with the law. Then the new white guy finally says to the white fellow I work with, ‘O we better stop talking about the problems blacks have with the law, our man working with us is black.’ The white fellow I work with says, ‘O no he’s not black he’s Jamaican!’”
Well there was quite the laughing at that…..I mean the fellow relating this to us was as black as coal.
The new leadership of the Radio Church of God, wanted to “kick-out” one of the top men, who was close to the so-called “apostle” who had now died. They did do it, he was banished from the membership. Cults do such things, at their whim, for whatever is their reasoning. The guy kicked out was Rod Meredith. He was one of the first half dozen or so to hook up with the “apostle” when the “apostle” was founding a College in Pasadena, California.
So Meredith had no choice but to leave the old organization he had been part of for decades. I wrote to Meredith and told him he now had a chance to “do things right”—— build something based on Bible truths concerning “church government.” He did a few things that gave me hope he would indeed go the correct way, it maybe lasted for about two years, but his organization broke into two fractions that eventually split down the middle and each went their separate ways, and doing things the way the “apostle” ended up doing— being a cult unto themselves.
O yes, before Meredith’s organization broke into two, and ministers were “coming over” into his new organization, I had met this elderly couple. They told me they had been a part of the Radio Church of God, and one of the ministers going over to Meredith’s group was Raymond McNair. Yes I remember him from way back in the 1960s. Now this elderly couple knew he had a book collection of about 2,000 books—— I could hardly believe someone had that many books. The elderly couple knew it would be a huge job to pack up that many books, and they would be willing to help him. Somehow I had McNair’s phone number, I said I would call him and ask him to let them help him [he was moving from Florida to Meredith’s group out California way].
So I called—— McNair’s wife answered; I told her about the elderly couple and they wanting to help him pack. His answer through his wife was—— “I don’t have anything to do with anyone not belonging to Rod Meredith’s church.”
Again how the mind of Cults work!
I’m glad to say, these attitudes have died with the men who had them, they and their attitudes are now 6 feet under as of 2021.
The elderly couple had a son in a certain business, which he did from one of those rental bay compartments; they are different sizes for whatever your needs are. They wanted me to meet their son. I was at the bay meeting him, and seeing what kind of business he was into. Shorty after another young man came by and I was told he once worked for this son. I was talking to him about various things, he mentioned he worked for the City of Ft. Lauderdale. I asked him if he had any trouble entering the USA [he was by sight and sound from South America, but forget now which country], he answered no, as he came under the back seat of his brother’s car through the Canadian border. I then asked how on earth did he get a job working for the City of Ft. Lauderdale. His answer—— “The city has certain jobs that Americans will not take, and also, way too many Americans are not dependable, so the men at city hall decided to look for men who would work and be dependable, with no questions asked.”
There you are—— party how America does things, no matter what the Feds say; of course we’ve heard this from governors of States where Americans will not take the jobs of picking the fruits, or whatever is the harvest.
Canada has the same type of problems, but the Feds are open to allowing them a working visa.
I told you I had put out a magazine called The Truth of the Matter—— I published it for 7 years— 1983 to 1990. I had of course copies of each publication over those years, which amounted to about 6 publications a year. One day I get a letter from the College in Texas, that belonged to the Radio Church of God. They had by now done away with the weekly Sabbath day and all the Feasts of God, and were continuing to march back into Protestantism. Somehow they got wind of my magazine, which answered their arguments of their Protestantism theology. They wanted to have a copy of each magazine for their library. They would pay me whatever amount I would charge them. I suppose they wanted my studies so their students could read the other side of the coin, as to what they were now teaching. I was surprised to say the least, but okay if they wanted all my editions of The Truth of the Matter I wrote back and told them, it would be $200. Within a few weeks I received a check for $200. I copied all the editions and mailed them out to that College.
The College there in Texas was closed, well sold actually, within a few more years, and I have no idea whatever happened to my magazines I sent them; most likely in the burning barrel.
During the last year in Florida, a group of ministers in the Radio Church of God, secretly got together and planned their exist from the now Protestant Radio Church of God. They knew approximately how many “church members” would follow them; it would be in the thousands [it turned out to be about 15,000]. They had the day and month all planned to resign from the Radio Church of God. It was going to be at a set day in 1995. That I will come back to later.
It was also during the last year in Florida, that a theological study came my way. It was to do with counting to Pentecost, when the Feast of Un-leavened Bread started on a Sunday and the last day of that feast would end on the next weekly Sabbath.
We had stated for many years that the rule was you count from the weekly Sabbath that fell during the Unleavened Bread feast. Now the question was what if the weekly Sabbath is the last day of the Unleavened Bread feast. This does not happen but once or twice in a 19 year time cycle. The year 1994 was one of those years.
I figured it was pretty simple, you do not change the rule—— so you count from the day after the weekly Sabbath, which for 1994 would be the Sabbath at the end of the Unleavened Bread feast.
But the problem was most did not want to keep the rule, they figured the counting must start within the feast of Unleavened Bread. But nothing in God’s word says that it must be so.
I was then telling my readers that the Pentecost feast would be such and such a date—— making my date one week later than the majority were going to observe.
While all this was going on I somehow found [cannot remember now how] a writing or study on this by a man called John Ritenbaugh. It was a very detailed study, all arguments answered; he agreed with me. I read some of his other writings over 3 or 4 months and found them to be very fine. He had left the Radio Church of God in 1992. And most of those he had pastored over some years also left with him. He had I think 8 or 9 Elders in his organization called The Church of the Great God.
I was impressed enough to say to John I’d like to attend the Feast of Tabernacles, in San Antonio, Texas, that fall of 1994.
And to my pleasant surprise I was sent one thousand dollars.
It was hot that fall in that part of Texas, but it is a dry heat. One lady said, “O it is so hot” and I replied, “No you don’t know heat until you’ve lived in Florida.”
The people at the Feast were very nice; the Elders were all pleasant, but a few I discovered had a leaning towards the idea that Jesus was going to return by the end of this century, or at least the Great Tribulation would come by the end of this century, and we all know then there is only about 42 months before Jesus will return. I carefully tried to mention that such an idea was not going to happen.
Meeting John Ritenbaugh was more than interesting. We was medium height and of slender build, like myself; he was in private a quiet, if not a shy kind of person. But when he got up to preach behind that pulpit, it was like he did a 180 degree turn. It was not that he became more dynamic, it would have been nice to say that’s what happened, but it was not, it was a 180 degree turn in a worse way; his whole mental mind and his voice behind it, became more of a cult leader. I was shocked and sad that it was so. It was the “apostle” of the Radio Church of God showing up again.
In private he just withered back into his shell, was not talkative, and was just not a relaxed, easy-to-get-along-with guy. Him and I did not socialize much at all during that Feast. He did not put himself out to even give a hint of wanting to socialize.
My wife and I went up the "tower" they have in San Antonio, it was about 5 pm. You can see the down-town of the city; I looked and I looked and finally said to my wife, "Where are all the people, at this time of the day you'd think the town would be bustling with people, but I see very few."
We had not yet gone down-town; as soon as we came down from the tower we headed to down-town, and O what a surprise---San Antonio has a canal system; everyone was down one flight of stairs, and eating and drinking at the pubs and restaurants by the canal. You could get guided tours on a canal boat, and so we did. It was a very interesting tour, with the guide on the boat telling us all about each building and some history of the city.
Yet it was a fine Feast of Tabernacles, socializing in many ways, and I soon got to know those that had the shadow of the “apostle” hanging over them, and just kept away from talking to them. Not many were in that attitude of mind, just a few who could not let go of the dead "apostle."
Over the next years every Elder but John’s son had left him. He is still alive as I write and is of 2021 88 years old.
The Feast of Tabernacles was now over for 1994; my wife and I headed back to Florida, to decide if it was possible to stay there, yet I think deep down we knew the chances were slim, and the roof of our income home up in New Brunswick needed to be re-shingled.
We were on the Interstate that goes above New Orleans. We decided to take the opportunity to go and visit this famous city, famous in my mind for the jazz and musicians playing on the streets.
It was not long before we found that right at that time the ladies, equivalent to the “barbershop quartets” were in town competing against each other, a national competition. And some of them were singing on the street corners or just inside some building; they were practicing for the evenings competition. And of course there were a few jazz bands playing outside in the down town, but not near as many as I thought would be playing, that was disappointing.
We walked to the river, took a look at some of the work barges going about their days activities. We never took notice of realizing the city could be easily flooded if a fierce storm ever came their way [which it did some years later - the storm called Katrina in 2005].
We then made our way to the lower end of down -town. We did not know where we were going, except it was the heart of the city. Then we started to walk north up the main street of the town. It was getting to be sunset, and I said to my wife that we’d better get back to the car, which we knew was to the east.
I said, “Well let’s go this way, on this street heading east.” And so we did.
I had no idea what street we were on. All I knew was it went east. Now the sun was just about fully down. And all of a sudden it seemed, the street was alive with people, and dim lights, redish, bluish, purplish—— then ladies, young, in their 20s, outside doors, all made up with lipstick and the works; they muttered something, but could not make out the words. I then started to look to their left and right and behind them. I was shocked beyond belief, these were night-clubs with live sex on stage. I had heard there were such places in some Europe cities, but I had no idea there were such places in America.
Years later when Katrina blew New Orleans off the map, I had to wonder if God had had enough of sex city.
I was not impressed with New Orleans in any way, there was not even very many playing jazz in the streets.
I was glad to get back to the car and pull out to head for our home in Florida.
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