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

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KINDERGARTEN at the WCG!

The ministry of the Worldwide Church of God is not feeding members spiritually. It is playing clever games with the minds of God's people. Here is what GOD says about this travesty.

There is an equal threat to the children of God - the body of Christ - today. Satan is out to destroy the Church. He has come down with great fury (Rev 12:12). We are about to enter the fiercest time of persecution the Church has ever known! (Rev 12:13.)

You need to prepare! You need to prepare for war - spiritual warfare!

Because of what is taking place, God is giving us dreams to help prepare the Church. (I will describe some of those later in this article.) Prophets are often given this sort of revelation (Num 12:6). It is nothing new. It is not a strange thing. It is to be expected. God does nothing without revealing His purpose to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).

If you want to know what is going on, spiritually speaking; if you want to understand what is happening and why, listen to God's prophets! They are a gift to the Church - to those who will listen.

The trouble is, too many of God's children are playing kindergarten and are oblivious to those whom God is using as prophetic voices. They are asleep, just as the parable conveys (Matt 25:5).

If you believe God's prophets and accept their messages from God you can benefit (2 Chr 20:20) and be prepared for what is to come. Part of the prophet's reward - if you accept him as a prophet and believe his message from God - is to understand the spirituality of his message (Matt 10:40,41). That is to help you spiritually.

Jesus was a prophet, of course, as well as being the firstborn Son of God. Those who accepted Him as a prophet benefited from His message. Those who didn't, lost out. Things are no different today. Prophets are still around because the Church has not yet been perfected (Eph 4:11-13).

Grasping What's Going On

So, do you want to know what is ahead? Do you want to understand why the confusion and division in the Church? If you find all this bewildering, the prophets can tell you what you need to know to prepare you and help you to understand.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge in the WCG in the last few years. Many changes have taken place. Some are for the better, some are for worse.

Change - if it is based on the Word of God - is good. If it is contrary to true biblical teaching, it is not.

The changes espoused by the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in recent years do not all comply with pure biblical doctrine. In fact, some are diabolically opposed to it!

You know, the devil is a very cunning artificer. He will claim good motives. He always presents plausible reasons and laudable sounding suggestions. But whether such notions are true depends upon what the Bible really says. So his most cunning ploy is to make things sound right according to the Bible, by twisting and distorting what the Bible actually says. That gets God's people really mixed up. Only those who are solidly grounded in the Word of God can discern between truth and error.

This is one of the problems in the WCG at the moment. Many people who think they know the Bible, don't! The result is that many have been deceived. Thousands are confused. Not knowing what is right or wrong, it is easier to do nothing. So many who ought to be leaving this apostate church to follow Jesus in truth, are sitting like little children in kindergarten, doing nothing to oppose the demonic onslaught within.

The only way to grasp what is going on, and to cut between truth and error is to use the Sword of God correctly. If you are inexperienced and unable to do that, then the only other safe option is to heed the words of a prophet of God until you can come to understand for yourself.

But that poses another huge problem for those in this predicament in the WCG - they have been conditioned not to accept prophets. Hence, the reason so many are becoming more and more deceived and confused.

God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33). The devil is.

Confusion has invaded the WCG. Several doctrinal changes have occurred which have caused many to leave. And among those who remain there are many confused minds who are not so sure as they once were about what is right and what is wrong. There has been a lot of blurring of boundaries, a lot of greying of what was once white. People are not so sure any more where they stand.

Why? Why all this confusion? The answer is simple: Satan has invaded the church wholesale!!

Do you know what his most effective technique is? It's to get control of people's minds through the leadership. If he can dupe church leaders, there is every chance he can dupe the majority of the membership too. He can maximise his impact.

And if he can sway minds against the ones God uses as His prophetic voices, he can double his money!

For any who have not grasped why the WCG has gone through the mill in the last seven years or so, here is the reason: the devil has got hold of the minds of WCG leaders. He has got them fooled about true biblical doctrine. In their delusion, they are eagerly palming off their new-found 'understandings' to their loyal membership. The result is bedlam.

Called To Serve As A Prophet

Many in the WCG may wonder why my wife and I receive such a cold or hostile response from Worldwide leaders. They assume we must have done something terribly wrong; that we must be spiritually derelict. This is what the leadership want members to believe. They have thrown mud, and the mud has stuck.

But all this was a cunning conspiracy on the part of Satan to discredit us before God steps in to release His children from their imposed spiritual and psychological bondage. Seven years ago I knew little about prophets and about the prophetic office, other than what I read in the Bible. Since that time, He has given us a 'crash' course of training. In June 1992, a visiting prophet from the USA prophesied to me 'out of the blue' in a meeting of about 200 in the Midlands, and spelled out what God had in store. [This prophecy is related in An Introduction to Spiritual Gifts, Part 2, contained in Awake! Awake! of Nov/Dec 1997.]

I cannot remember whether it was shortly before or after this, but God spoke to me one morning as I awoke and put two words in my mind, and repeated them over and over. I knew it was not me thinking this. It was as if a voice was speaking in my head, but I knew it wasn't. There was no audible sound, yet the words were there as clear as if a voice was speaking them. It was what Paul called a 'word of knowledge' (1 Cor 12:8) - a supernaturally implanted thought.

What God said was simply: Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah 22!

It took me several months before I finally realised what He was telling me. One day as I read that passage again, He spoke to me through verse 3, almost as loudly as before. The words that 'fell out' of the page were these:

Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed... (Jer 22:3, NIV).

Former friends must wonder why I send thousands of articles, booklets, audio tapes and videos to certain ones in the WCG at my expense. Why spend all my savings, give up a lucrative job, and go repeatedly into debt to give away thousands of these items to people who habitually bin the stuff without hardly a glance?

I certainly don't do it for fun! Nor do I do it to gain something for myself. I gain hostility and further rejection for my efforts. Thanks is last on the list.

It is not a rewarding job being a prophet. Before God 'sent' me He spoke to me as I was weeding in the garden one day. He simply reminded me of Isaiah 53:3:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not (NIV).

Jesus suffered for doing the will of God. All the prophets were rejected for doing the will of God. God warned me I would be rejected for doing His will, too. But I will do what God tells me. If it costs me my life, so be it. There is no other way.

The Blood of Sacrifice

Deliverance of God's people costs lives. From the time of Israel in Egypt, to their final deliverance from end-time Babylon (Jer 51), the price of freedom is always counted in blood. Money is replaceable. Blood is not. Jesus spilled His blood to buy us freedom from sin. It's not too much for Him to ask us to spill our financial life-blood. So I give it.

If you bin our materials without looking at them, without praying about why they came to you, what will you say to your Lord and Master when you meet Him in the last day?

Do you despise the blood of His Covenant? Do you despise the 'blood' of our sacrifice for you?

The New Covenant is a covenant ratified with blood - not just any blood! It is the sacred blood of God Himself! He died in ignominy to give you life.

He cannot give you life if you persist in following men rather than Him. He cannot give you life if you persist in preferring sin to righteousness. David was regarded a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) because he loved God's law (Ps 119:113). He will receive his crown of life. But will you?

Not if you willingly follow your church leaders as they desecrate the Word of God and lead you deeper into compromise and sin. We are not to live in sin any longer (Rom 6:1,2).

New Covenant Heresy!

The New Covenant is not a covenant of license to sin, but of license to be forgiven sins. Sin is wrong. And forgiveness is only transferable to those who repent of sinning, who want 'out' of it, who detest it in their hearts, and who want to receive God's forgiveness for having committed sin in the past.

The New Covenant is not a cop-out. It is a complete opt out. You opt out of sin and opt in on God's righteousness. What is His righteousness? It begins with God's law (Ps 119:172). Sin is breaking that law (1 Jn 3:4, KJV). From that foundation the righteousness of God goes on to encompass a whole lifestyle of living in the spirit of His law.

There is not one command of the law of God that is antiquated or done away today. Even the sacrificial laws are still applicable today, although not according to the specifics of demanding the lives of animals for sin. God now demands our lives (Rom 12:1) to show our worthiness to receive the forgiveness He provided through His Son's sacrifice on the cross.

Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace (Rom 6:11-14, NKJV).

Grace does not give you license to sin. It gives you freedom FROM sinning, if you accept the power of God's Spirit and let Jesus live in you.

What the leadership of the WCG are doing is eroding the true foundation of righteousness by subtly teaching confusing things about this New Covenant. They intimate that parts of the Decalogue are no longer binding upon us as Christians today. They disparagingly call these aspects 'Old Covenant theology'.

Jesus lived this so-called Old Covenant theology and He didn't indicate that it should be disbanded (Matt 5:17-19). In fact, He indicated the tone of such righteousness should be INCREASED!

WCG leaders are teaching heresy that the New Covenant has less requirement upon you than the Old. They are saying that the Sabbaths are not legitimate commands for New Covenant believers.

Rubbish! Those are lies and statements inspired by the devil. If you want to believe the devil, go ahead and believe Jo Tkach's recent heresies about the New Covenant. Jesus said differently, and you should accept what Jesus said, not what Jo Tkach or his cronies say.

If you want to enter life, obey the commandments (Matt 19:17 NIV).

That is what Jesus said! Jo Tkach says, "Well, it doesn't really matter if you disobey the fourth commandment today. That is now kept in the spirit by doing what you think is OK. Of course, we still meet together on the Sabbath because that is church custom, but forget about keeping it from a biblical point of view. The Bible comes second to church tradition." That is what he is saying, in effect.

It's very subtle. That's why most Worldwiders fail to grasp the significance. They trust Jo Tkach. They have learned to trust their leaders. And the devil is having a hey day messing up their minds as a result.

As I said, traditions are first, Bible truth is second. "We make the Bible fit our teaching, not the other way around." This is current WCG theology. "We go along with majority viewpoints and twist and distort the Bible passages to fit our views. That way we ought to get the best of both worlds. We'll have the approbation of the broader evangelical community, be able to attract more church members as a result, and have God's blessing also. It couldn't be better!"

It couldn't be worse!!

Do you know that the gematria of tradition in Greek is 666? [Gematria are numeric values of words. The numeric value of the N.T. Greek for tradition is 666. More about gematria is contained in the booklet God's Great Genius, available for £2.00 from the address at the end.]

If you follow church tradition and not what God tells you in the Bible, you are accepting one aspect of the mark of the Beast (Rev 13:16-18). His number identifies aspects of satanic compromise which God wants you to avoid.

If you follow men in their deceptions and foolish blindness, you will end up losing out on what God wishes for you. He commands you to come out of the drunkenness of Babylonish customs (Rev 18:4), not just sit in church and tolerate them because it is easier to do that.

Where Are The True Leaders?

Where are the men of renown? Where are the true leaders? Where are those who are willing to take a stand against religious corruption and heresy?

Why are so few prepared to oppose the opposition? There is a leadership vacuum in the WCG, but there need not be a moral vacuum. All it takes is for the little people to take a stand for justice and truth.

The Church IS the people. They constitute the ekklesia. It is not the leadership. The leaders often constitute the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9; 3:9). They can be prone to make expedient decisions, not ones based on biblical justice and truth. They want members, not leavers. More members equals more income and more power. Less members equals less income and less power. So deceitful and self-motivated church leaders will not think twice about effecting decisions which are morally unjustifiable, but which are organisationally very justifiable!

In such circumstances, the worst thing members can do is sit passively and let the leaders get on with their perverse schemes of watering down truth.

"All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

All it takes for heresy to prevail in the Church of God is for true Christians to do nothing about it. What are you going to do about it? Are you going to do your spiritual duty and stand up against it, or will you sit idly by while evil makes its insidious inroads ever deeper into the minds of the gullible?

If you don't know what your biblical responsibility is in this regard, let me remind you:

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather EXPOSE them (Eph 5:11).

Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression... (Is 58:1, NKJV).

The problem is, this is occurring instead:-

No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies... (Is 59:4). They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; he who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out (v 5 NKJV).

Too many immature children in the WCG are naively eating these eggs of poison vipers.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Prov 14:12, paraphrased).

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual [worldly] persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit (Jude 17-19, NKJV).

Which spirit do you think Jo Tkach represents? Liars who foist heretical deceptions upon their listeners are not from God, but are of the evil one. God spoke to me one day about Joseph Tkach. What He told me confirmed my suspicions. It will shock many trusting people.

When Joseph Tkach opens his mouth, it's the devil speaking!

I'm sorry if that treads on toes, but I didn't say it. I am only repeating what the God of all the earth said to me. He cares for you and He doesn't want you falling into the pit such subtly clever deceivers are digging for you. There are many of them. Joseph Tkach is not alone. He has many admirers.

Whom do you want to admire? God, who loves righteousness? Or Satan, who loves rebellion?

It's your choice. You must choose. There is no middle ground in this contest.

Who are you going to follow? Who is going to formulate your beliefs and convictions?

It takes a man to deceive you. It takes God to release you.

If you want release, you've got to do something. You can't just sit in church, carrying on as if nothing has changed. Plenty has changed!! Satan has taken over!

If you have any leadership qualities in you, now's the time to mobilise them. You have a duty to those who are being deluded by the WCG's cunning deceivers, to rescue them from the fire. Jude wrote:

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith [I will have something to say about that in the next article], praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire... (Jude 20-23, NKJV).

You need to pull them out of the fire which will engulf them if they continue to believe these heresies.

So, stand up and be counted. Don't fear men. Don't fear the reprisals of the ministry. The ministry have either abrogated their responsibility to protect the flock, or are too dumb themselves to perceive the pernicious nature of these 'new' WCG heresies and have themselves become pawns.

Is Tkach Fit To Lead?

Certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 4, NKJV).

Joseph Tkach has turned the grace of God into lewdness by his so-called New Covenant theological appraisal. It is not true New Covenant theology. It is old licentiousness. It is liberalism, a complete spectrum shift from legalism which the WCG was guilty of before. The pendulum has swung to the other extreme. Neither end is correct. The truth lies in between, in an obedience made perfect by the Spirit.

Jude 4 talks about these ungodly men who cause this division. Do you know that for a man to be considered an elder in Paul's day, a divorcee such as Joseph Tkach would be unfit to be an elder? An elder was to be a husband to one wife (unless she had died, of course) and be blameless (Titus 1:6). He must hold fast to the faithful word as he has been taught and be capable of sound exegesis (Titus 1:9). Tkach is not capable of that. He is a biblical illiterate!

For example, he said in the July 1997 WWN that "even under the old covenant God did not require His people to attend worship services on the Sabbath".

God did! Read it for yourself in Leviticus 23:3.

Tkach promotes many flagrant heresies. Other false teachings are very subtle. But it seems that the majority are lulled to sleep by his nice sounding rhetoric, or are too unspiritual to discern his errors.

Warning Dreams

This situation was illustrated by a dream my wife had some months ago in which God depicted His people in the WCG as infants. They were still in kindergarten. When the time for worship services arrived, the minister took them to a little play area where they sat down to while away the time doing childish, useless things. This depicts the present state of the WCG spiritually. You'd be better off at home with others of like mind, learning together as you let the Holy Spirit lead you, than to allow these twerps to mislead you.

In another dream, the childishness of members was illustrated even more disparagingly. God depicted them as a fat, slovenly baby which didn't put out the effort it ought to have done, but expected everything to be done for it. It slobbered all over the place when it was feeding time. And it had to be carried everywhere.

Instead of being on solids, it was still on milk, though it was twice the size of other babies its own age.

Apart from members' spiritual immaturity, another thing God is saying is that the WCG is like Sodom, overfed and unconcerned (Ezek 16:49, NIV). Horrible!

They did not help the poor and needy (ibid.).

Are you helping them? Or are you doing nothing to withstand the fatal delusions being foisted onto the spiritually poor and needy? If the latter is the case, then by default you are an accomplice in evil.

We have received other warning dreams about the lascivious spiritual state of the WCG and its errant leadership. I will explain more in further articles. For now, I will close with this admonition:

God provided apostles, prophets [whom the WCG reject], evangelists, pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service [not to play and slobber in 'church'] so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith [which WCG leaders have thrown out] and become mature... Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful schemes... (Eph 4:11-14, paraphrased).

Malcolm B. Heap

Further Reading

The prophecy mentioned in this article is recounted in An Introduction To The Spiritual Gifts, Part 2.

About the number 666: More about gematria is explained in the booklet God's Great Genius available from the address below for £2.00.