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

* * *

25
Tkach's Big Heresy
Part 4

In 1995, Jo Tkach, 'pontiff' of the Worldwide Church of God, sprung a massive heresy upon his faithful followers. Armstrong would have turned in his grave to hear the new leader of the WCG pronounce the Sabbaths no longer binding under the New Covenant! Here is the real truth!

The double-talk of Joseph Tkach is astonishing! In one breath he says: "the physical keeping of the Sabbath is not part of our new covenant obligation" (PGR, 5-1-95, p 2), and a few minutes later he contradicts himself by saying: "We are a committed Sabbath-keeping fellowship that encourages Sabbath observance" (PGR, 5-1-95, p 5). What a joke! Who's he kidding? Only the blind and foolish!

How can he say that he is encouraging Sabbath observance while he asserts the Sabbath is no longer a relevant command for Christians under the New Covenant? It's easy _ just lie!

Tkach's words are a pretense. He says things for effect. He wants to calm his readership. He doesn't want to lose members if he can help it, while he leads the church into a new era of liberalism.

He maintains that he has taken nothing away from the sanctity of the Sabbath, when he has totally demolished it! To cite only one example of his deceit:

...the Sabbath is the shadow, and... Christ is the reality to which it pointed. Now that the reality, Christ, has come, the shadow, as a binding law, is no longer in force (PGR, 5-1-95, p 3).

By using modern religious jargon, he convinces the gullible and ignorant that he knows what he is talking about. They have learned (or been brain- washed) to trust church leaders, so when he gives a laudable-sounding treatise, they don't perceive the inconsistencies in his teaching, the flagrant violations of rules of scriptural interpretation, and the contradictions in his aberrant reasoning. They accept him, so they accept what he says. If they have doubts - and many DO, as a result of his confusing rhetoric - they shove the doubts to the back of their minds, preferring to question their own ability to perceive the truth. They willingly accept his version or explanation as truth, even though they cannot understand it properly.

This is the cult mentality, and it has prevailed in Worldwide for as long as I can remember, and it still prevails, despite leadership assertions to the contrary.

Brain-washing is not a nice term to use. It is crude. Mental conditioning sounds better. But there is little difference. A man can influence your mind - often without you realising it - through his clever reasoning and subtle suggestions. He can condition your mind to accept what he says. The longer he can do it without effective opposition, the more successful he is. It's why the WCG slams "dissidents" so hard.

In the WCG, mental conditioning is achieved by using Bible passages in such a way as to back up the authority of the speaker. (It should be that the speaker's authority is second and the Bible takes precedence. In the WCG it's the other way around.) The Bible is used dishonestly. Over time, the recipient has accepted the viewpoint of the teacher, relinquishing his own privilege to freedom of expression and, in severe cases, relinquishing even his own ability to think for himself.

I have seen this myself, having been a WCG member for many years.

So, when Tkach wrote and preached his thesis on New Covenant theology, he made sure he used every technique in the book to pulverise the minds of his listeners so they would be receptive to his new- found 'truth'. He didn't want to preside over the dismantling of the WCG, but this new heresy was more important to him than the preservation of the status quo.

Perhaps he sensed that there would be great acclaim coming his way for his radical 'step forward'! Certainly he got acclaim! It came from outside the WCG, from many other quarters of Christendom.

Tkach - WCG's Messiah!

Dan Wooding, author of 33 books and commentator on UPI Radio Network in Washington DC, wrote:

It's been an incredible pilgrimage for Joseph Tkach Jr., Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God in Pasadena, California. Since the death of his father in 1995, he has followed in the footsteps of his father in courageously leading the church from what some considered to be a cult, out of the "fog" of legalism to a new-found freedom in Christ (Direction magazine, July 1997, p 24).

Direction magazine, where the WCG leadership were given highest praise, is the official written arm of the Elim Pentecostal Churches in the UK, and is a respected voice in the Pentecostal sector of the Church.

Dan Wooding concluded his report:

The Worldwide Church of God now has 700 congregations with about 75,000 members worldwide. The World Tomorrow is certainly looking different these days for the Worldwide Church of God. For they have gone from the fringe to the fold. Who says the age of miracles is over? (Direction magazine, July 1997, p 25.)

Wooding fails to see that The World Tomorrow telecast has ceased, and WCG evangelical outreach is now virtually nil! That's rigor mortis, not a miracle!

Why The Radical Changes?

Dan Wooding quoted some of the WCG leaders' words:

The present Pastor General said that his father began to struggle with the fact that Herbert W Armstrong had taught that they were the "only true church". His father felt that the Body of Christ has to be much larger than just their denomination. Said Joseph Tkach Jr., "He'd read articles about missionaries giving their lives and he'd say, 'How can we say that we are the only true Christians? They have put their lives on the line for the Gospel'." (Direction magazine, July 1997, p 25.)

This realisation was one of the initial factors which started the ball rolling, leading to the assimilation of widespread heresies from other churches.

The majority of WCG members are unaware of what was going on behind the scenes during the early nineties which paved the way for the sudden shift in WCG teaching in late 1994 and early 1995.

In 1991, former WCG member Malcolm Heap wrote a paper on Church Government that was expanded into a sizeable booklet with the title God's Church - Whose Authority? This was published and first distributed in 1992. All the offices of the WCG around the world, including HQ, received this.

Also in 1992, Malcolm Heap wrote and published several other challenging publications. Among these were six in a series on Understanding The Mind of God. First was Understanding The Mind of God - A Message to Worldwiders. A short while later, another came off the 'press', Understanding The Mind of God - A Message to Law-Keepers. Then, Understanding The Mind of God - A Message to Philadelphians, and Understanding The Mind of God - A Message to Sabbatarians.¹

The latter contained incontrovertible evidence of the guidance and miraculous support of God in the many missionary activities of other Christians around the globe. Particularly striking are the graphic accounts of Christians in China in the 1980's who have been imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and martyred for their witness for Christ. The miracles which God did to sustain them and promote their witness makes the WCG look like kindergarten! (which it is, I'm sorry to say!) This testimony was contained in A Message To Sabbatarians. None of these believers had any under- standing about the Sabbaths.

Heap's information destabilised the WCG hierarchy. Tkach's mind was sent reeling! He couldn't deny the evidence Heap presented, but it didn't fit the WCG concept that God only used Sabbath-keepers.

Why was God using these Chinese believers so mightily? What was the secret behind their power from God? Was the Sabbath really important, after all?

About the same time, or shortly before, Malcolm and Helena Heap spent œ1,000 on various other Christian books to educate the WCG leaders. These books included:

• When the Spirit Comes by Colin Urquhart.
• In Christ Jesus by Colin Urquhart.
• Faith for the Future by Colin Urquhart.
• And They Shall Prophesy by Clifford Hill.
• Some Said it Thundered by David Pytches.

Malcolm and Helena bought 50 of each, and sent them to ministers they knew in Worldwide, and all the WCG offices around the world. Although they received only one reply - which was totally close- minded and hostile - the lack of response was indicative of the embarrassment some must have felt after reading what the books contained. They certainly raised many questions for Worldwiders!

No wonder Tkach reported:

We were getting questions that we had never addressed, challenges that we had never received before (Direction magazine, July 1997, p 25.)

The books which Malcolm and Helena Heap distributed (and there are many other books like them in Christian bookshops about the experiences of other Spirit-led believers) shed light on how God works. It is not a matter of what you believe that God considers so important, but of what you DO with what you believe - how you respond to God and to others.

But to an unbelieving, unconverted mind, to the mind of a church leader who is faced with the prospect of trying to explain all this to his congregations and maintain control, it is too much. The carnal mind cannot understand the things of God. They are too strange.

So, Tkach reasoned that if these Christians were being guided by God - which they clearly were, and ARE - why does God not require them to keep the Sabbaths, and what importance does God really place on Sabbath-keeping? These were the questions which must have taunted him during 1992, 1993 and 1994, as Midnight Ministries pumped out endless articles and booklets to try and re-educate the minds of those blinkered by WCG psychology.

Tkach couldn't bring himself to admit that Malcolm and Helena Heap might be right. Even though they had put forward an adequate explanation of why God works with other Christians in A Message To Worldwiders and A Message To Sabbatarians, it would be too embarrassing to concede to their explanation.

After all, they were former WCG members who had been thrown out of the church in 1990 for their supposedly "deep spiritual problems". Surely their motives for writing all this "negative stuff" about the WCG must be to get their own back at the church for black-listing them?! That must be their motivation because Heap sided with the "slander" in Ambassador Report about Armstrong's incestuous relationship with his daughter Dorothy, and sent hundreds of articles - unsolicited - to church members to tell them about the WCG leader's past sins. AND - to cap it off - he even published Tkach's lies which Tkach Senior. had told the church to put himself in a good light and bolster his image to the church membership.

On top of all that, Heap has made outlandish claims. He asserts that his group received a prophecy from God to go to a BMW garage and tell them that God wanted to give them a BMW car for their ministry work. They were also told by God to give them a copy of their booklet God's Great Genius and tell them to reform their ways - to take notice of Him. If they didn't, their car dealership would end. Not surprisingly, the garage proprietors laughed it all off! But, amazingly, 13 months later the dealership went into receivership. Another firm which tried to start up on the same site also had to relocate! So, was Heap truly receiving from God?

Tkach couldn't afford to acknowledge such a claim. It would totally undermine his position and influence as head of the church. And anyway, Heap has made other outrageous claims. He has prophesied the raising of the dead. Who has ever heard of such ridiculous things?! Heap must be a "nutter"!

So, as for Heap's explanations about why non- Sabbath-keeping Christians are being used by God, surely, he could not be right!? Tkach could not accept Heap's explanation. So, he drew conclusions of his own, guided by human rationalism - which is really an extension of the devil's mind. Without the Holy Spirit to give him insight - having rejected that which the Spirit gave to the Heaps - he drew up a charter of faith by which he could "explain" the reason God works with Christians who don't keep the Sabbath.

"Sabbath-keeping just isn't necessary!" That was his conclusion. But how could he put this across to the membership? He knew they wouldn't buy it straight out! He had to carefully consider how to present this new "truth" to them.

He devoured evangelical writings to find out what they taught about the Sabbath. He imbibed their commonly held interpretations of Hebrews 4 about our "rest" in Christ fulfilling the Sabbath command. He soaked up their terminology and learned the jargon.

Now, he had the tools to do the job. He could present this material. And in December 1994 and January 1995, out it came, replete with new-sounding spirituality. His patter enchanted many. Some were bewitched, but others were aghast! Division was the inevitable result.

Breakaway churches soon formed. They could not tolerate this departure from "Armstrong-ism". Global Church of God, and United Church of God, were two of the off-shoots who took several thousand members with them, and individuals continue to leave the parent church in dribs and drabs as they begin to see through Tkach's facade of pseudo-spirituality.

WCG's Deception

Greg Albrecht commented:

We struggle with our role. We wonder what we could have done better. But there is no textbook written giving step by step biblically-based instruction about coming out of cultic teaching into the historic, orthodox Christian faith (Direction magazine, July 1997, p 25.)

He shouldn't have to look far to see what they should have done better! When Malcolm Heap wrote numerous letters to the WCG hierarchy to obtain a fair hearing, to get an official inquiry mounted as to the merits of the Heaps' dismissal from the church, he was totally stone-walled. He was ignored!

He is not the only one. It has been (and still is) WCG policy to repudiate and ignore those the church leaders brand as "dissidents", regardless of the truth of their claims or the merits of their grievances. There are many former WCG folks who raised questions that ministers could not answer, and who were cast out of the church for being "troublesome". Faults which really lay in some WCG ministers and doctrines were blamed on these poor souls. Their reputations were sullied, when all they were doing was voicing genuine questions in their search for understanding and truth.

If Albrecht really wants to know how WCG despots could have done better, he could start by seeking out those "lost sheep", offering them an apology and restoring their reputations which the church in their "official" presumptuousness destroyed.

As for his next statement:

...about coming out of cultic teaching into the historic, orthodox Christian faith...

...that should send shock-waves through alert, spiritually-minded individuals!

When did a whole denomination, which has not known God fully, which has been chained by cultic psychology, ever go upwards spiritually? The trend which Bible prophecy relates (particularly in Revelation 2 and 3) is a downward trend. It is never upward in organisational terms!

Organisations do not reform. Individuals do. Organisations deteriorate, decay and die. Only individuals regenerate as they are personally led by the Holy Spirit.

Organisations cannot move upward spiritually because they are led by men, not by God. Only as people within those groups heed the voice of the Spirit, and the witness of the prophets can they reform (the majority rarely do). And WCG leaders listen to neither. They are led by demons!

Here is what Jesus says to the WCG at this time:

These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy (Rev 3:1-4, NKJV).

The revolution in the WCG is not an upward move, but downward. Those who hail it as a great step forward are deceived - terribly deceived! It is the biggest step backwards the church has experienced. Cult psychology and behaviour has not ended. It has merely been given a face-lift. Cosmetic surgery has been performed, that's all. The heart has not changed. If anything, it is more deceitful than ever!

The WCG has swapped its stiff formal suits for more acceptable informal evangelical clothing.

God says that only a few have not defiled their garments. The majority accept the heresies WCG leaders promote. Tkach effectively says that you don't need to put on garments of righteousness. They are there automatically by "faith in Christ". All you need, he claims, is this magical faith.

That is not true faith. It is a counterfeit. True faith is evidenced by a willingness to obey every word of God, especially the ten commandments. Throw out the need for obedience to the ten commandments which formed the bedrock foundation teaching of the O C, and you throw out Christ who gave them to Israel!

It is true you are not under the O C now, if you let Christ's Spirit live in you. You are under the New. But...

• O C believers kept the law as best they could in the letter.
• N C believers keep it according to their understanding in both the letter and the spirit.
• Those who do not concede a need to keep either are rank unbelievers.
• And those in the church who claim there is no need to keep particular aspects of either are heretics, to one degree or another.

WCG leaders have fallen into Satan's pit. They are in the last category.

The dictionary may define the word heretic as "one who holds an unorthodox opinion". But when was the majority right? When were orthodox Christian views ever correct? The visible "Christian" Church, which exerted its hierarchic influence over the lives and beliefs of its subjects, was never biblically correct.

Going back further, Jesus, all the prophets, and Jesus' first disciples were all regarded as dissidents or heretics by the majority who were deceived. White is usually made to look black and black to look white. Satan is allowed to have his way in the Church at this time.

The WCG "Miracle"

Greg Albrecht continued:

Some of our people are worried and they will say, 'Oh my, it's a shame that we've lost so many thousands of members.' The flip side of that is that it's a miracle that so many thousands of people have come to Christ in our fellowship (Direction magazine, July 1997, p 25.)

Albrecht wrongly believes that those members have only "come to Christ" since Tkach introduced his big heresy in January 1995! And he lauds it a miracle.

It's not a miracle! It's a travesty! It demonstrates just how controlled WCG minds really are by their leaders. The majority will swallow what the leaders say. Since they have not been given freedom to think for themselves and have been conditioned to trust church leadership, it's no wonder the majority are still sitting in the WCG like mute lemmings, approving heretical landslides as if they were earth-shaking revelations! Others who suspect something is wrong but can't quite put their finger on what it is, are silently tolerant. The moral dearth and leadership vacuum give them no hope, so they resign themselves to compliance.

Albrecht claims WCG members never came to Christ prior to these doctrinal changes. Yet, that radically contradicts the implications of their own "discovery" of how God was working with "outside" Christians all along! They found out in 1992 that God WAS working with various believers in all parts of the globe, irrespective of their doctrinal grasp. Each truly converted person had come to Christ based upon their heart's response to what they understood about Him. Why should it have been any different in Worldwide?

The truth is, it wasn't any different! Worldwiders who gave their lives to God, who committed them- selves wholeheartedly to Jesus Christ, accepting His blood for the remission of their sins, and who were baptized in outward recognition of that fact, HAD FOUND CHRIST! They did come to Him!

But Albrecht and Tkach don't recognise this fact. Why? Because they are still of the old school, the cult mind-set which can only appreciate things in terms of what a person believes, not why he believes it.

Academic appreciation is the only acceptable appraisal for a person who thinks organisationally. The only way to keep organisations together is to get people all to do and say the same thing. Maintaining uniformity is the best human method of control. So Albrecht's statement is a reflection of his motivation. It is not for true openness and freedom of thought and expression of WCG members. It is for all moving together and accepting what the leadership says.

But uniformity is not the same as unity. Uniformity is nice, but it is often skin deep. True unity is created by a bond in the Spirit. It can cross organisational divides (although it rarely does in a substantial way because of the different prejudices various believers prefer to retain). Tkach rejects the true Spirit.

Few Christians who give their allegiance to a church organisation stop to think about what they are really doing. They are not giving their loyalties to Christ, but to the ones who represent Him in leadership capacities. Some of them may be true, but some are undoubtedly false, because Jesus said so (Matt 24:4,5; 7:15-20), as did others (Acts 20:27-30; 2 Pet 2; Jude).

Most believers, to one degree or another, are happy to trust their ministers and accept what they say. But it is very dangerous to accept what church leaders say since so many men of the cloth are in it for less than true reasons. Jesus revealed the presence of wolves who destroy in the Church, who have climbed in over the wall, who haven't come through the gate - through Him (Jn 10). You can perceive these people only with spiritual discernment (a gift of the Spirit).

Most don't have this gift, but the prophets do. Hence the importance of not rejecting a true prophet's words. To test a prophet; if his predictions don't come true (Deut 18:22) he is false. If his predictions come true but he is leading you away from obedience to God (Deut 13:1-4), he is false. But if any of his predictions come true, take a second look. What are the personal fruits of his life? (Matt 7:15-20.) Is he a drunkard or a God-fearing man? Does he care for truth above all else, or seek a following for himself? Does he put his money where his mouth is? Is he self-sacrificing or self- serving? What fruits of the Spirit do you see in his life? What evidence is there of God's Spirit in his writing, his preaching and in his personal conduct? Don't look for perfection, but be objective. If you are, you will see there are prophets around whom God is using.

Listen to the prophets, they are a gift to the body of Christ (Eph 4:11), especially in times of deception.

The big deception foisted upon unsuspecting WCG members is that Christ has effectively annulled the law. Tkach has spiritualised away the Sabbath command. "You no longer have to keep it. It is fulfilled in Christ". Compounding this error, he says:

The Israelites were under the old covenant, before Christ came and fulfilled the law (PGR, 5-1-95, p 5).

A pernicious implication lies beneath that innocuous sounding statement. Jesus filled up the law to the full, as Matt 5:17 properly means in the Greek.² Tkach is implying the opposite - that Jesus has done it all for you! Don't believe deceivers, believe Jesus!

Jacob I Myers

¹ Booklets in the Understanding The Mind of God series are available from Midnight Ministries, PO Box 29, Aylesbury, HP17 8TL, UK, for £2.00 each.

² Did Jesus Fulfil The Law For Us? explains this more fully.