Articles
for the Benefit of Members and Ex-Members of the WCG
* * *
31
The Deviousness and Deceit of the WCG
Worldwiders are, generally, abysmally unaware of the accuracy and
poignancy of Jesus' warnings to them about deception!
Jesus said: Take heed that no one deceives you... (Matt 24:4, NKJV).
While this warning was
directed to His disciples, it was not meant for them alone. Those words have
been recorded because they are relevant for all time, especially for us, on
whom the end of the age descends! Satan is a master craftsman. He is a
master at craft!
The deceit and deviousness of
those whom he uses as his stooges is striking! Unsuspecting and well-
meaning people whose motive in life is dedicated to doing what is right, are
easily fooled!
The example of Herbert
Armstrong proves that. He was a deceiver of the first order! I have
explained in previous articles [see footnote 1] how he deceived the minds of
his followers in such a way that they looked to HIM. He diverted their
attention away from Christ and caused them to listen to, heed, adore, and
follow HWA! It all happened so subtly! No one in the Worldwide Church of God
was really aware of the subtlety of this transfer of loyalties and of the
depth of his guile until drastic things happened which opened their eyes.
The late Joseph Tkach was
equally devious. He lied to the church to bolster his self-image, so that he
could get the people to follow him, just like his predecessor. He put on a
good front. He seemed a very nice man. You would think very highly of him
from meeting him. But his private life was far from exemplary. He had an
adulterous relationship with his secretary, and the several lies which he
palmed off on the church members were never withdrawn. He was happy for the
people in his spiritual domain to believe lies!
He introduced new teachings
into the church with an alacrity that has amazed the evangelical sector of
Christendom. WHY he did this has been explained by Jacob I Myers in Tkach's
Big Heresy. Tkach did not tell you, as a WCG member, the real reasons
for these changes. He wouldn't want you to know - even if he understood his
own psychology! Probably he himself could not see what was really motivating
him! A deceived man does not know he is deceived. When he is in tune with
the devil because of unrepented sin in his life, the devil uses him as his
instrument. This is what happened to HWA, to Jo Tkach, and is still
continuing with the present church leader, Jo Tkach junior!
In the context of the WCG, it
is why Jesus warned: Beware that no man deceives you!
Leaders can be the biggest deceivers! Paul expanded this caveat to the
elders at Ephesus:
For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God [1 - see
below]. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [2 & 3], to shepherd the church of
God [3] which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this that after my
departing savage wolves will come in among you [4], not sparing the
flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse
things, to draw away the disciples after themselves [5] (Acts 20:27-30,
NKJV).
It is easy for the devil to
get your mind. He knows how to do it, and he can do it wholesale through
church organisations. He simply gets the leaders hooked in some way, and
then he has managed, with the minimum of fuss and effort, to get most of the
people deluded as well!
Analysing WCG Deceit
Take a closer look at that
text from Acts again. The number in square brackets in the text above refers
to the part of the text immediately preceding it. Several weaknesses in the
church are revealed here:
- 1. Paul dared to preach
the WHOLE counsel of God, but not all will do that. It is more expedient
for church leaders to tone down the truth and only preach or emphasise
part of it. This leads to apostasy. It is what is taking place wholesale
now in the WCG. Yet, the leaders call the heresies "new
truth"! They are old lies!!
- 2. It is the Holy Spirit
which makes men ministers, not a decision from a hierarchy with the
subsequent laying on of hands for "higher ministerial
approval". That is all a sham. Ordination should be from God, not
from men.
- 3. The ministers are
supposed to be overseers NOT overlords! (Matt 20:25,26.) They should be
shepherds, watching over their flocks in love and genuine spiritual
care.
The real meaning of the term
"minister" has become lost in the WCG. Service for the spiritual
well-being of members has been substituted with lordship of ministers OVER
members. When a servant serves, he is not above those whom he serves. This
concept is entirely lost in the WCG, where a Babylonian concept of
hierarchic autocracy is in place. God tells you to COME OUT of everything
that is contaminated by the Babylonian Mother of Harlots (Rev 18:4).
- 4. Savage wolves have
taken over the flock, and devour it. Physically, nothing seems wrong.
You can't see a devouring wolf. His devastation is created in your mind
- in the spiritual dimension. And because it is shrouded by deception,
the devouring nature of his work is unseen to those who fall prey to
him.
These tools of the devil come
as angels of light (2 Cor 11:13-15). They appear OK. In
fact, they even appear good! You naturally believe them and are inclined to
follow them! You would even obey their injunctions not to listen to those
who are trying to warn you about them. They will label them
"dissidents" and paint the ones God is using in a negative light.
All this is happening right
now in the WCG! Jesus' words are very up to date!
- 5. Finally, there is the
aspect of these deceivers having the effect of buying you. They draw
away your mind in favour of them. They draw away your loyalty to Christ,
and cause you to replace it with an inferior substitute - a human
loyalty to a man - in this case, to Joseph Tkach!
Drawing Away Your Mind
"Drawing away disciples
after themselves" is a major problem in the church. It was what was
emphasised time and again in WCG circles. "Submit to Church
authority" was the WCG swan-song which kept the people in line. It
maintained "law and order". But the WCG became like a police
state, where members lost the freedom to think for themselves. They became
subservient to their masters, their overlords, who determined what they were
to believe, how they were to behave, and what spiritual direction they were
to take. Many members feared to "transgress" the authority of
their "ministerial" overlords!
Effectively, members were
following and obeying men, not God! Through clever psychology, coercion,
fear and deceit, members were induced into this human subservience, and
robbed of true spirituality which comes from following the lead of the
Spirit directly (Rom 8:14).
None of this is sanctioned by
Jesus, who meant ministers to be shepherds leading the sheep up front as
spiritual examples, not by driving them with coercion from behind. This
beautiful true shepherding analogy is lost on most today because farming
techniques are so different in the west.
If you are in the WCG you
probably think I am overstating it by contending that all this is the result
of devious and deceitful church leaders.
If so, let me ask you
something. Do you think it is right to follow a man who lies? Do you think
it is right to follow a man who allows another minister to sleep with his
wife in return for favours of promotion? Do you think it is pleasing to God
for you to give such men your unfailing trust and loyalty? And, do you think
they deserve to have your tithe while they are doing Satan's work?
If you answer "yes"
to any of those questions, you are mindless or seriously deluded!
All those heinous sins - and
more - have been perpetrated by Joseph Tkach in his bid to gain domination
and leadership of the WCG. No wonder he is dead!
As for his son, the present
Joseph Tkach, he has no right to assume headship over the WCG. If the office
of head over a church were scriptural - which it is not, because Jesus is
meant to be Head (Eph 1:22) - nepotism is nowhere sanctioned in the Bible.
Ministers such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
should be appointed by God, not by other men. You can tell when a man is
appointed by God. His works declare the authenticity of his appointment (2
Cor 12:12; Matt 7:15).
Just in case I am not making
myself plain - JOSEPH TKACH HAS NO DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE OVER THE WORLDWIDE
CHURCH OF GOD!
The means he uses to retain
his position are riddled with deviousness and deceit. It is unavoidable for
him. It's the way the machine operates. Armstrong set it in motion, and the
'animal' has not been tamed.
I mentioned in The
Deceitfulness of HWA that he plagiarised the works of others, took the
information he wanted for his own devious ends, and gave no credit to his
source.
The WCG leadership has done
the same with our material - the parts it wants to use.
I once received a letter from
a lady in California, close the church's HQ. She asked me some loaded
questions about tithing at a time when the WCG was in a state of flux and
felt a great need to modify its teaching. I suspected that this person was
not writing for their own benefit, but was a 'plant'. She had been put up to
it by someone in WCG HQ.
My son Richard received a
word from the Lord at that time, telling me to answer the letter as fully as
possible, as if it was a genuine inquiry. So I did.
My letter answered the
various specific questions about tithing that were posed. It contained some
concepts and phraseology which were new to the WCG. The letter was not
short. It took some hours to write. I received no acknowledgement or reply.
Some weeks later a new WCG
publication about tithing and /or giving came off the press. In places it
contained remarkable similarities to what I had written! I was not fooled!
We know the WCG mentality.
This is not slander. It is
fact. HWA began this trend. His successor perpetuated it, and Jo Tkach
junior is merely following in the footsteps of his mentors. You should not
follow deceivers!
Malcolm B Heap,
February 1998
1 The deceit of Herbert W Armstrong is revealed in The
Deceitfulness of H W Armstrong and in The Corrupt Leaders of the
Worldwide Church of God, available for £2.00 from the above address.
* * *
|