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

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37
Why Do You Still Attend WCG Meetings?

Are you still clinging on in Worldwide, not knowing where to go or what to do? Are you still giving allegiance to the corrupt mother church - and thereby giving honour to the devil!?

I received a letter recently from a member of the Worldwide Church of God in response to the mailings I had sent him. The letter was quite revealing. Because it may reflect the attitude of many others in the church at this time, I mention it here.

This man wrote:

Please find enclosed cheque as a defrayment of the expenses you have incurred over the years in forwarding tapes, both video and audio, and various leaflets, booklets and information regarding the WCG. [He only sent about a quarter, if that, of what we had spent on his behalf. Worldwiders don't generally appreciate the mammoth expenses we have borne on their behalf! Nevertheless, I give him his due; he has done more than most, and shown his gratitude through his willingness to reciprocate financially.]

Whatever H W Armstrong's faults and failings as a human being, through him many have been brought into contact with God through the Plain Truth etc. [True.] It then becomes the responsibility of the individual through the help of the Holy Spirit to develop a relationship with God.

As far as I am concerned the WCG is a 'label' which identifies a group in which people may refer to as being their 'home church'..... I attend to enjoy friendships which have been made over the years.

...I listen to Premier London Radio and UCB and enjoy John McArthur, Charles Stanley, Chuck Smith, Chuck Swindoll and Derek Prince. They have spent many years in the Word of God and I'm sure that many greatly benefit from their knowledge. However, between them there are different aspects of understanding [and some misunderstanding!] and interpretation. I appreciate the insights which they enjoy sharing with their listeners. Nonetheless I realise that no preacher, teacher, healer, whatever, provides the passport into the Kingdom of God.

Our passport into the Kingdom of God is the acknowledgement of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that He sacrificed Himself as payment for our sins, that He has been resurrected to eternal life and is our Mediator in our individual relationships with our Father, thanks to His grace. [Amen!]

I am not a 'religious' person... My confidence and expectation is in God, not man, however 'great' he may be in his own or others' eyes.

As far as HWA is concerned.... I am not interested in the past, it is the future which concerns me.

Relative to WCG, I have criticised them myself in the past. Not for the theology but for what I considered to be a lack of love...

It appears to me that you feel you have a divine instruction to attack the WCG. In the time since the passing of HWA, the theology has turned 180 degrees!

It seems to me that no matter what the WCG puts forward and whatever changes they make, they would receive no approval from you... [what would it] take for the WCG to meet with your approval....?

This letter expresses concerns and opinions that are probably widespread in WCG minds. Because it may well be representative of the current WCG approach in the UK, I have reproduced it here.

This is my reply which I sent to our friend:

8th March 1998

Thank you for your letter of ... and for your cheque. I'm not sure whether you want a reply or whether your comments were merely meant to be rhetorical, but since you are unclear as to what my motives and purposes are, I thought I should reply.

I am providing our home address, so if you feel inclined to pay us a visit, you are most welcome.

You are not the first one to have expressed the sentiments that the WCG lacks love. While we were members in the Dunstable area, Ron Parkinson and his wife said precisely the same thing to the local elder there. In fact, they said more, because he went on to state that he had felt more love in the local Baptist church than in the WCG! It's probably true. People don't make up allegations like that. They are expressing their first-hand experience.

The outcome of their declaration, which was very similar to yours, was that the presiding elder Harry Sullivan paid them a visit. Instead of apologising and asking what could be done to rectify the lack, he went as a policeman to 'put them right' in their 'wrong appraisal'. He grilled them to find what was the 'root' of their 'bad attitude'. Sadly, the outcome was that the already bad relationship deteriorated further and irreconcilable differences developed between them and the church. The situation made them bitter and resentful. Then, Sullivan lied to the members of the Dunstable WCG (from the pulpit) that the Parkinsons wanted nothing further to do with the church and that they didn't want fellowship with the members. His statement was untrue. They DID want fellowship. [They stated so to us.] It was that lack of true, loving fellowship which had driven them to declare their disillusionment with the church. But Sullivan lied to cover up for his and WCG failings and to polarise minds so no members had contact with this elderly couple to find out the real truth.

Ron Parkinson and his wife confided in us about all this. They used to come and visit us at week-ends and we shared company and tried to encourage them, but the bitterness went too deep and their relationship with us even turned sour in the end. They went to attend the local Baptist church and cut off contact with us.

I am relating this incident because it illustrates what is a fundamentally wrong approach of certain men in positions of 'authority' in the church. When ministers act as overlords and will not accept any blame or humble themselves to receive correction when they are in the wrong, division is the inevitable result. It's no good blaming the upset on the member involved (as was the case with the Parkinsons, and also in our case). It doesn't help heal any wounds that have been caused by a failure to live by the lead of the Holy Spirit.

That is why I speak out in the way I do. I am not bitter or resentful in the way some falsely accuse me. I am consumed with the commission God has given me to alert members to the satanic behaviour and practices that must be changed within the WCG. I am not so naive as to think that the WCG will totally about-turn and reverse its abusive conduct which has oppressed members. That is a satanic approach that is a trait of men devoid of the Spirit of God. They are not true ministers. They are hirelings. So, it is inconceivable to expect a radical, Spirit-directed reformation on their part and a restoration of what they have destroyed within the WCG.

However, it is not right what you say about me - that "it seems to me that no matter what the WCG puts forward and whatever changes they may make, they would receive no approval from you." If they did what is right before God, they would have my wholehearted approval. I will give honour where honour is due. It is because the leadership is intransigent that I continue to berate them for their spiritual failure. If I didn't, I would be failing in my duty. Part of the purpose of prophets, as I'm sure you know, is to speak out against sin (Isaiah 58:1), especially sin that that is not noticed. It is a protective measure for God's children. If they are not alerted to such spiritual corruption when it is unseen, they will be spiritually corrupted by it.

It is your choice and prerogative, of course, whether to attend the WCG. But to attend for purely social reasons is not a valid reason. Are we to make friends with the devil when he holds the greater influence? Are we to condone sin and not speak out against it? Are we to give honour to dishonourable vessels (i.e. false ministers)? Robin Jones, by the way, is a false minister. He is devoid of the Holy Spirit. Are we to sit and listen to their compromising sermons which present a distortion of the Word of God, encourage doctrines of demons and create a vacuum of the Holy Spirit?

Those who quench the Spirit by their willful decision to honour Satan's ministers - which is what Robin Jones is doing for financial reward, by submitting to the leadership and teachings of heretic Tkach - are they honouring God or honouring the devil? Those who side with such men, who are doomed to perdition, pay the tragic price. That is in being spiritually deficient, and being held back spiritually. Bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33). Nowhere is that more significant than in the spiritual area. Decadent spiritual influences are pernicious and insidious. They are often so subtle that they go unnoticed. It is highly dangerous to follow friends for friendship's sake when they are siding with false ministers and knowingly compromising with false doctrines. Far better to get out and encourage your friends to get out, and come where there is real truth, real fellowship with others through the right Spirit and leave behind the demonic pit that the WCG has become!

Why not form a home fellowship with others you know who are like-minded? When you meet with others in your own home for fellowship on Sabbaths, and read the Bible together and pray together, you will be surprised at how much God will guide you all. We meet in our home each Sabbath with one or two others and every time there is a witness in the spirit. The Spirit of God is present. God makes His presence 'felt'. It's not dry, dead and meaningless like the meetings of the WCG.

You presented a challenge to me in your letter. I HAVE looked into my own heart and so has God, otherwise He would not be using me. Now I reciprocate by presenting this challenge to you. Are you prepared to step out in faith and follow Him, even if it means leaving family or friends behind? Are you prepared to follow His lead and boycott the meetings of Worldwide and encourage your friends to do the same? Those who give allegiance to the devil and his ministers do not receive a blessing from God. Those who give honour to God by taking a stand against the evil workers of darkness (Eph 5:11), they are the ones who experience His presence and find spiritual renewal.

So, I ask you, do you?

...tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols (Rev 2:20).

If you do, God has it against you and you need to come out (Rev 18:4) of that corrupt environment. If you don't feel able to start a home fellowship yet, come here and meet with us for a few weeks until you feel capable of doing that. It's really not that difficult when you know how. God leads those who will submit to His lead and they receive a wonderful blessing.

I hope this letter is helpful to you, as well as the enclosures. Do keep in touch. Thanks again for writing.

Sincerely, in His love,

Malcolm

I trust that this reply is enlightening to others of you still clinging on in Worldwide, not knowing where to go or what to do, but still giving allegiance to the corrupt mother church - and thereby giving honour to the devil!

Malcolm B Heap, 10 March 1998