Articles for the Benefit of Members and Ex-Members of the WCG

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The Demonic Subjugation of Worldwiders
Members of the Church of God are held in demonic subjugation!

Imagine you are walking down the road one day and you happen to meet a friend. In fact, this person is not just an acquaintance, he's more than that. He's a close brother in the faith - someone with whom you have spent much time. He has been in your home on many occasions enjoying your food, your company, and also sharing truth. You have given him happy moments and fond memories.

Because this friend meant so much to you, you have loved him as only a true friend could. When he was down, you encouraged him, you tried to edify him, and when he was in physical need, you even helped him out financially or with physical assistance in whatever way you could. You really showed him love!

Suddenly, out of the blue, you meet him on the street. What would you expect his reaction to be?

"Why, he would be glad to see you! He would give you a big smile, shake your hand, slap your back, and stop for a chat. He would be friendly and you would feel his warmth for you."

Indeed, that is what you would expect. But what if his reaction was totally different? What if he was sullen, withdrawn, evasive, not pleased to see you and avoided stopping to talk? You would know something was definitely wrong! Something must have come between you to destroy the former beautiful relationship you enjoyed.

But what?

Every beautiful, pure and perfect gift comes from above from the Father of lights. He doesn't turn (Jas 1:17). He is always the same - giving, loving, sharing, caring. So, this divisive 'thing' is not from God.

People turn. They are fickle, unreliable. They are like a reed blown by the wind. They can smile one day and leer at you the next. Why?

The answer is simple: they have given place to a demonic spirit.

Giving Place to the Devil

I relate the above incident because it is not purely hypothetical. It happened to me and my wife.

We were part of the Worldwide Church of God, a 'mother' organisation to the several Churches of God which often pride themselves on their brotherly kindness and love they claim to possess for others. The WCG claims it has relinquished its cultic past, when it exclusively avoided close contact with 'outsiders' and even tolerated a two-tier system of 'friendship' - one standard for those inside "the Church" and another for those not so 'blessed'.

It justified this on the grounds that it was the "only true Church". It arrogantly assumed it comprised the totality of the body of Christ. Some of its daughter churches have perpetuated this arrogance even more.

While we were members of this church, we were treated with apparent fondness and respect. But one day all this suddenly changed. A total U-turn occurred and we were regarded as enemies!

We did not change. At that time, we were just as supportive of the organisation as we had been 20 years earlier, when we came into the church because it then championed causes with which we concurred. We were astonished at how radically others had changed towards us! And in so short a space of time!

The reason for their dramatic turnaround was due to statements - some made from the pulpit, some in private - about us by ministers of the church. They thought they found grounds to dismiss us from their company, but gave no reasons for their unilateral action, and gave us no recourse to rectify the matter. We were thrust out with hostility, and that hostility was then transferred to the members from the ministry. Members adopted the same stand as those they followed. They became aloof, cold, unconcerned, close-minded, disparaging, belittling, insensitive, deprecatory.

Of course, such behaviour was justified with the usual rationalisations from the church hierarchy which never accepted blame. That was always excused in some way or pinned on the helpless member. He was made the scapegoat. Thus, the church was able to continue in its unchallenged pursuit of its aims, one of which is total subjugation of members.

I do not mean physically. Such subjugation is very subtle. Communist regimes may think they can subjugate their peoples by physical force. But hard-line spiritual regimes have to use more discreet means. Their manipulation and control is psychological. It is demonic, make no mistake about that!

The modus operandi of the WCG purposed to bring members of the church into spiritual enslavement to their masters. The ministry, instead of being shepherds, became overlords. And any who seemed to step out of line with their concept of right conduct were ostracised. This is what happened to my wife and me.

We were thrown out of the church because the minister took exception to some of our personal views on peripheral issues - ones on which the church actually made no official pronouncement, so we were entitled (even by their own petty rules) to hold individual beliefs. [More details are explained in An Open Letter to the Worldwide Church of God.]

However, the minister made a big to-do about our holding these views. Effectively, he said we had no right to hold such opinions and tried to coerce us into dropping them. We refused, so he cunningly engineered circumstances to get rid of us. We found ourselves thrust out of the company of the Worldwide Church of God, without recourse, and our characters slanderously assassinated.

Despite loudly protesting our innocence for years, our protests were consistently ignored. The 'louder' I protested the more I was castigated and regarded by all within the church as the 'troublemaker'. I was even hated for vehemently objecting to the WCG minister's one-sided abuse of spiritual privileges – privileges which we ought to have been granted automatically, because they are conferred by Christ to His own.

But true freedom was denied (and still is!). And members unwittingly fell into an evil spiritual pit. The poor souls who fell into the pit of condemnation which WCG ministers dug for their members could not see how they were being spiritually disenfranchised. They had surrendered their spiritual rights to an élitist regime which could usurp power for evil ends.

Members relinquished their personal freedoms in order to comply with the 'superior judgement' of 'the Church', not realising they were the Church!! They had given away their spiritual rights to men who illicitly ruled over them, just as Jeremiah prophesied (Jer 5:31). It never dawned on them that they were being dragged into subjugation to demonic attitudes and responses by their leaders! The trap was so subtle.

Most failed to recognise that they should have sought out the 'lost sheep' if that is what they regarded us as. Or that they should not have been treating us like enemies, even if we were guilty of some misdemeanour worthy of disfellowship (2 Thes 3:15). They assumed we had fallen, when the situation was the reverse! And now we try to wake up a somnolent church to its blindness. It is easier raising the dead!!

God's Children are Tested

I am not bitter for our mistreatment. Everything which God allows He does so for a purpose. I have faith in Him. I know He had an ulterior reason in allowing our unfair treatment, just as He permitted Joseph to be victimised by his brothers (Gen 37). People are being tested. Attitudes and motives are being tried in the fiery crucible. There are things to learn from every situation.

What WCG folks need to learn from what occurred is that demons exert terrific sway in the Church. They affect many who claim to be Christians. Whether they are, of course, is dependent upon the fruits manifested in their lives.

So many nominal Christians are blithely ignorant of the spirits to which they give allegiance. I am talking about evil spirits, not the Holy Spirit.

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey? (Rom 6:16a.)

True Christians are subject to the lead of the Holy Spirit. Christ is their Head, not men. In churches, a very subtle but damaging transference of loyalties has taken place. Members follow the men who lead them, not Christ. They are deceived. They think they give Him homage by giving respect and honour to a hierarchic structure of church rulership, but they are sorely deluded. Their worship is compromised.

There comes a time in everyone's spiritual development when they have to face severing their loyalties to men in order to obey the higher command of God (Acts 5:29). This is why Jesus predicted that all true believers who determined to take an unequivocal stand for justice and truth could be thrown out of their 'synagogue' or 'church' (Jn 16:1,2). Isaiah prophesied likewise (Is 66:5).

When this occurs, what spirit takes over in the minds of brothers and sisters who follow errant church leaders? When they follow the lead of their mentors in ostracising another brother who has not done wrong, what spirit are they submitting to? An evil spirit!

What spirit takes over when they become hostile to former friends? An evil spirit!

When a brother or sister is cast out of fellowship, those who support this stand must:

• 1) Back it up with sound biblical reasons. Gross moral misconduct was the reason given in 1 Corinthians 5 for the expulsion of the believer in Corinth who had fallen into incest.

• 2) Find legitimate and overwhelming approval within the group for the action. There was a majority consensus behind this recommendation of Paul, and when the church met together to enforce this decision, it was not done without the confirmation of the Spirit (1 Cor 5;4,5).

None of this biblical procedure was followed in our personal case, nor in many other similar instances of spiritual abuse which have gone under the misnomer "disfellowship". This mistreatment is more than disfellowship. It is spiritual 'pin-down'!

That is now history and I am not exhuming old corpses to recriminate unnecessarily. I forgive all my accusers. But they have the responsibility of repenting before God and, where possible, making amends. My purpose for writing is to disclose the fact that such abuse still has not been dealt with properly. The Church needs to be warned of the evil spirits still in power!

Apologies should be proffered those who were abused. If abusers cannot sincerely bring themselves to apologise and seek the reconciliation of their brothers and sisters whom they unfairly victimised, then they are NOT true brothers in the faith. They are impostors. The New Testament is replete with warnings about such people. Nor is the Old Testament silent:

If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God (Ps 55:13,14).

You have a responsibility not to give allegiance to such men. If you do, you are siding with the devil. And you will unwittingly fall under the influence of demonic powers. For this reason many are sick and some have fallen asleep! It has happened before. It stems from not recognising the body of the Lord (1 Cor 11:29,30).

Which spirit do you submit to?

Malcolm B Heap

Further Reading

The subject of correct authority in the Church is comprehensively covered in the book God's Church - Whose Authority? available for £3.00 from Midnight Ministries, PO Box 29, Aylesbury, HP17 8TL, England.