In March 1997, I had a very realistic dream. I saw an old Victorian house. It had ancient rusty guttering and down-pipes, and beside the down-pipes on the outside walls were copper central heating pipes [it’s the height of ineptitude to have heating pipes OUTSIDE the building!] lagged with the old fibre lagging that is pretty useless to retain heat. Inside the house was a huge, highly inefficient wood-burning boiler. This thing was in a utility room near the back door, but most of the heat was wasted and lost.

The house was generally run-down and needed extensive renovation, as were the gardens. They were large and sprawling. It was quite obvious that to sort this place out would take a lot of work. In fact, it would be easier to demolish the house and start again!

In this dream, for some reason, we were put in a position of contemplating buying this house, taking it on to do all the work involved in restoring it. For a while I entertained that proposal and seriously considered the proposition. But then, after a while, I realised the whole idea was a waste of time and effort. It just wasn't worth it and I gave up the notion.

Meaning of the Dream

The dream depicts the present spiritual state of the Worldwide Church of God, and our involvement with those people.

Another Earlier Dream

It’s not the first dream I have had depicting the WCG as an old, run-down house. Several years before, I was given another similar dream, revealing their run-down and apostate spiritual condition.

Since then, the volume of dreams I and my wife began to receive increased so dramatically that I realised I should write them all down noting the dates on which we received them.

The previous similar dream was of an old mansion that needed a face-lift. Two WCG ministers (I will not mention their names; that is an irrelevant detail to the overall meaning of what God is conveying) approached me and asked me to give them a quotation (since I was a builder) for cladding the entire frontage of the mansion in stone.

I considered the prospect and gave them a quote of £200. After having done so, however, I had misgivings about the job. I began to think again and realised that I had grossly underestimated the cost of the work. The realistic price should have been about three or four times as much!

However, my biggest concern was not that I had under-priced the job, but that it was not the right thing to do at all!

The mansion was an old Victorian building, and the sort of random cladding they had suggested putting on the front was totally out of place with the old character of the building. I didn’t want the job! The whole thing just wasn’t right. It was a hypocritical sham to try to cover things up and make it look modern on the outside. Inside it was different!

And that is the situation in the WCG. Spiritually, things are a farce! The whole set-up is a gross sham. It’s a hypocritical pretence.

The changes that the church makes to cover up all the blemishes on its frontage are not true, nor in keeping with what is inside. Church leaders want to impress others and make the church look good on the outside, but it hasn’t changed its basic core problems of illicit spiritual autocracy, hollow teachings, psychological abuse, and (in some instances) emotional abuse.

Confirmation From Others

Of course, some ‘loyal’ WCG supporters will try and dismiss this as just my imagination running wild. They would prefer not to see their church humiliated. But, I’m sorry, I don’t have any choice over what God wants to say to me. He chooses to say much in dreams and visions. The allegoric ‘language’ is highly expressive. Others have put it in their own words, and the number of these who are prepared to do so is increasing daily.

Mark Tabladillo presents some of the two-sided comment about the WCG on his web page. Here is one letter out of several which are reminders that the WCG is not really transformed as it claims.

WCG Resignation Letter

August 2, 1997

To the Pastor,

For the past twenty-five years, it has been a privilege to be a part of the Worldwide Church of God in Indianapolis. It is with sadness that I write this letter about what I see to be the current state of our church – the church and congregation that I grew up in. [When my wife and I were thrown out of the Church in 1990, these were our exact sentiments, but we have no regrets now – Editor.]

It is disheartening to see the distress that has descended on the church today. I have never seen our congregation this unfriendly, unhappy, unenergized and disorganized. I feel like I am starving spiritually. I don't look forward to worship services anymore because they make me feel further from God. Most of the people in the congregation just don't seem to have time to be friendly. [The leadership have quenched the love of God by smothering the Holy Spirit. Human control will eventually kill any church. Remember Jesus’ words in Matt 24:12. When lawlessness abounds, the love of many waxes cold.]

Katherine and I can usually count on one hand the number of people who actually talk to us at services. We have always striven to represent and reflect Jesus Christ and show the love and sensitivity of Christ to those we come in contact with. We want to be a part of a church that is actually making a positive difference, whether it is in the lives of its members or reaching out to others. These are two things we have trouble finding here.

During recent years, I have greatly appreciated the church's focus on Jesus Christ [that’s a sham – its only words], the meaning of the New Covenant, emphasis on personal evangelism and the importance of not condemning others. It has been distressing to me, however, to see such a controlling approach taken by those in church leadership in Pasadena. They keep mixing Christian freedom with doctrinal dogmatism. One week they explain something a certain way, and the next week they contradict themselves and we are expected to follow.

Mr. Tkach is a nice man in many ways [false ministers know how to behave to get the results and following they seek], and he has shown courage by making sweeping doctrinal changes [or has he done this because he is grossly deceived and used by the devil? Alexander the Great had great courage, too!]; however, the changes were mostly stylistic and have not solved the main problems that the church has always had. [AMEN!! You hit the nail squarely on the head!] I see no purpose for the Worldwide Church of God in its current form; it seems to have no position or direction of its own. It seems to be relying on other Christians to lead it to truth instead of looking directly to God. [How can it rely on God when He has left?] There are other churches that have been doing what WCG is now doing for a lot longer, and they are probably a lot better at it.

I sent you an e-mail message almost six months ago asking you some questions about Mr. Tkach's January tithing letter. You acknowledged verbally that you had received it, but I have still not received a reply. [Hirelings don’t know what to do or say.] This is also somewhat disheartening and makes me feel ignored and somewhat unimportant.

We do not plan to cut ourselves off from members of the Worldwide Church of God, whom we have known for years, in some cases decades, and whom we love very, very much. However, I no longer feel that it is healthy spiritually or emotionally for our young family to remain an official part of this congregation. My prayers are with you and your efforts to follow Christ. I await the unity He will bring at His return. I want to thank you again for your friendship, prayers and support during the time you have been our pastor. As you know, we support you and pray that God will help you lead this congregation to His glory.

Chris Rowland
[Comments in square brackets by the Editor, MBH.]

Confirmation of what the above dreams convey is provided in a series of articles, both here, and at the Articles for the Benefit of Members and Ex-Members of the WCG section of the web site.