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

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11
Satan is Coming...!

By various means, leaders of the Worldwide Church of God, are fostering satanic attitudes in their subjects. Read here of some of the frightening legacy they are promoting.

My elder daughter, Tonya, politely answers the phone. At the other end, the voice of a young girl slowly and deliberately states: "Satan is coming..."

Tonya puts the receiver down before the caller has time to finish her malevolent speel. Perhaps the next words were "...for you!", or "...to get you!", or "... to destroy you!" Whatever the full sentence, we don't know. But that is really immaterial. From the caller's manner it was clear this was not a friendly call! Those three words were enough for Tonya to know it was meant to intimidate or upset, and why should she allow herself to be subjected to satanic intimidation?

The caller was right, of course. Satan IS coming. Her words were the very embodiment of their meaning.

It's strange why people who claim to represent Christ, to live by His principles, to be protecting His Work on earth, many times actually do the opposite. Without realising what they are doing, they revert to destroying the true Work of God, denying the true Christ, and repudiating the very standards which Jesus upheld.

It's the result of deception. With a big "D", it's very much the name of the game in the Church at the moment. It's to be seen all around.

Outbursts of charismania from Toronto to Pensacola. Apparitions of the virgin Mary from the former Yugoslavia to South America. Schisms and infighting in many Christian groups throughout the world. The WCG is only one arena of conflict. The devil is doing his dastardly work, and doing it well!

The trouble is, a deceived person doesn't know he or she is deceived. They are convinced in their error. Their lack of the presence of God in their lives leaves the door ajar for a false spirit to enter. It blinds them to the folly and evil of their actions. Black becomes white and white becomes black.

It's why Jesus was crucified. The mob was stirred up by religious leaders guided by Satan. Not knowing or overlooking what was really taking place, their political protectiveness came first. It over-rode their spiritual discernment and prudence.

Truth was chucked out the window and caution thrown to the wind. The end result was a monumental catastrophe! They killed their Saviour - innocent of any crime - to protect their self-interests.

A similar debacle is taking place right now in the Worldwide Church of God. It is defiance of the God of heaven for the sake of organisational expedience. And the idiots who have conspired against His holy One not only think they can get away with it, they are deluded into believing they are doing the right thing! What folly!!

History repeats itself all the time. Human nature has not changed. Unconverted religious leaders have the same weaknesses today that they had in AD 30. It is nothing to the ambitious and stubborn to sacrifice a few innocent lambs on the altar of convenience.

A former friend in the WCG, who was then a minister, confided in me how he approached the WCG minister who framed my wife and me to get us falsely accused and cast out of the church back in 1990. He approached him to see how the situation could be amicably resolved. He had a good heart.

The response he received, however, was callous and uncompromising. "They've cooked their goose" was the unmerciful reply.

The date was late 1992 or early 1993, by which time God had moved me through various divine acts and circumstances to begin this present ministry. I certainly did not intend starting a Christian ministry. It was the furthest thing from my mind! I was thrust into this position, and only because I know from the miraculous support that it is of God, am I content to do it. Otherwise I would have stuck to building contracting.

That hard-hearted WCG minister wielded his power without an ounce of compassion. I had "cooked my goose" as he put it, because I had started a ministry, and that - by traditional WCG standards - is intolerable. That was - and still is - considered by the ruling junta, and by many members, as being an act of aggression. It smacks of defiance against the organisation that Armstrong claimed was the only true Church.

Under his leadership, the Worldwide considered itself unchallengeable in many ways. It regarded itself as the exclusive descendant of the early NT Church. It regarded its top leadership as above scrutiny, and its structure as divinely ordained and led. No one in the church had any right to contest any ministry decisions. Those who foolishly did, found themselves under close surveillance or out on their ears!

It is claimed that this radical psychology has now changed, that the WCG is a benign structure with benevolent leadership, and that the church has reformed its despotic and exclusivist past.

While some cosmetic changes have occurred to give that impression, the radical transformation that needs to take place has not yet occurred. The reformation that must occur is a reform that can only occur from the heart. And the heart of the organisation is still cultic in its operation. Members are still in the iron grip of a leadership which exercises total controls. Ministers have forgotten that the meaning of their office is service. Their true pastoral role has been replaced by a rule of worldly, and even dictatorial, autocracy. [See end of article for book which fully explains about this subject.]

The mentality of many members - probably the majority - is still one of "we are God's Church." In fact, that phrase "God's Church" still echoes around its cloisters. Church publications and letters repeat it as though it is a truism. It still is to many Worldwiders! And it evokes the same complacent smugness and pride which gave Worldwide members that feeling of security and ease for so long.

Pride is a fruit of the devil. It is his first bait. Once he can get you hooked on pride, he's got you good and proper! Exclusivism is merely a religious, organisational form of that arrogance. It assumes a superiority over other believers, and especially those who have left or been expelled from your fold.

When you are so right, and everyone else is so wrong, naturally it seems equally right to look down on those others outside your congregation or church. The deception can be so subtle and discreet! Yet it is so damaging.

Under such delusion a person thinks they are doing right when they are doing wrong, if their action is to "protect" their church. This is what the Pharisees did when they stirred up the ignorant masses to chant for Jesus' crucifixion. They were protecting their self-interests, which were to them an extension of their worship. Jesus had threatened their position of power over the people. He threatened their religion. So, He had to go. They didn't think twice to justify their actions. They were protecting their religion from a man they thought had no right to be challenging them as the custodians of the traditional faith.

So, they got him murdered by the state, all in the name of religion. "Nothing wrong with that! Jesus shouldn't have been such a stirrer."

The same type of treatment has been meted out to all prophets God has sent to awaken His people to their blindness (Matt 23:33-37). It continues today.

A prophet arises to speak out as the Spirit of God comes upon him and he is brandished a trouble-maker, a renegade, a "dissident". Of course he is a dissident. He dissents with the official party line which is errant. He will not side with corruption or apostasy. He will not tolerate compromise or heresy.

There is no sin in being a dissident. There is a heinous sin in NOT being one! But brain-washed "party members" can't see it that way. Loyal lemmings in the church carry on following their leaders, irrespective of the wisdom of their actions or the truth of their teachings. Psychologically conditioned minds are unable to think much differently.

Ironically, it was not this demonic trait which caused most evangelical critics to label the WCG as a cult. The target of outsiders' criticism was generally church doctrines, which deviated markedly from the 'norm'. So, to gain approbation in the evangelical community, it was not difficult for Satan to deceive WCG leaders into thinking they should change their teachings. And they did.

But the animal remains the same. The leopard still has its cruel nature.

A few years ago, when a large number of WCG ministers could not agree with the Tkach junta's doctrinal reversals, they presented Jo Tkach with their letters of resignation. Giving him more respect than he deserved, they honourably withdrew their support and were prepared to forfeit their jobs for their faith.

What do you think Tkach did? Did he honour them likewise? No, he notified all WCG members via the Worldwide News that these ministers were disfellowshipped and were not to be contacted by WCG members.

Why? It's obvious to anyone who understands cult psychology. Paint them black and you polarise the minds of your subjects to their rhetoric. You maximise loyalty to Tkach. You prevent them investigating why these men left and prevent them learning the truth. You nip curiosity in the bud, stemming any great membership flow away from the church.

Is that good? No. It is evil. But it is the sort of behaviour that church leaders don't think twice about.

How can it be justified? Very easily when you think the church comes first.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? (Jer 17:9.)

God can. God does. And He uses prophets from time to time to alert others to what is taking place, so His children have the choice of departing from the grip of deception. History declares the sorry story, however, that few choose the right option. It is only the minority who enter in at the restricted gate. Most choose the easier, broad way.

It leads to death. But that doesn't concern them while they blindly continue down the well-trodden path. The familiar route is always more reassuring than the uncharted or unknown.

So the WCG marches blindly on, most members following their wayward leaders, blithely ignorant of the dangers of such weak compromise. They think they are being loyal. They ignorantly assume they could not be displeasing God, and they justify their inaction by traditional excuses of waiting for God to intervene and depose the impostor in charge. All the while, his demonic dribble infuses heresy in the minds of his listeners while they dither about what to do. Like the transfixed hare before its captor, it's soon too late to act. He's deceived your mind!

You get familiar with his good points, so you overlook the bad. You close your ears to what might at first sound like heresy. After all, he just might be right?! You give him your trust. And he's got you! Another mug for Satan!

Oh, Satan's coming alright! He's here!

Malcolm B Heap

Further Reading

More about satanic inroads into the Church is covered in the booklet, Apostasy in God's Church. Write to the address below.

The truth about authority in the Church is explained in detail in God's Church -- Whose Authority? This book is available for £3.00 from Midnight Ministries, PO Box 29, Aylesbury, HP17 8TL, UK.