For days the opened editorial or Personal page of The Good News (GN) Magazine, issue of July-August 1988, atop my steel filing cabinet stared me in the face. But I hadn’t read it — not until today, as I write. And what a pleasant and refreshing surprise it was! [To access this issue, see this link: https://www.herbert-armstrong.org, click ENTER HERE, select “Good News (1951-1989),” then 1980-1989, and scroll down to the issue of 1988 Jul-Aug, page 1.]
Joseph W. Tkach (JWT), who took over as Pastor General (PG) of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and publisher/editor of the GN Magazine, the official publication of the WCG for its members and co-workers, wrote the Personal, titled “Do You Know the Lord?” This was written some two and a half years after the death, in January 1986, of Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA), who had appointed JWT to succeed him after he was gone.
After reading the said Personal, I got the impression that Mr. JWT pretty much echoed faithfully what Mr. HWA had taught all his time as the first PG of the WCG and publisher of The Plain Truth (PT) Magazine. Mr. Armstrong strongly felt that, as the humble and unassuming “widows’ elder,” JWT would faithfully follow in his footsteps, teaching the same doctrines he had taught for decades. So much was HWA’s trust in JWT that, months before his death, HWA made a strong and frightening statement in his sermon on the Feast of Trumpets (Sept. 16, 1985) that was heard via delayed tape recording in all the WCG congregations worldwide. Mr. Armstrong said:
If I were not here, it would be another who would be Pastor General. And if that should happen, if you want to get into God’s Kingdom you will follow that Pastor General; and you will remain united, and you will remain one. And your eternity depends on that, every one of you. Don’t you forget it!
[See: https://www.herbert-armstrong.org, click ENTER HERE, select “Sermons & Bible Studies,” look on the leftmost column, and scroll down to 1985 Feasts, then to Trumpets, Side 2. HWA’s parting admonition can be heard beginning at 28:39 on the timer.]
Fast forward to 1995 and onward
What do we see?
Mr. JWT, after consulting his son Joe, Jr. and a cadre of evangelists and other WCG big-wheels, and supposedly having asked the guidance of the Holy Spirit, made a pivotal and seminal decision for the WCG. This illustrious bunch declared with one voice that all the legacy of teachings that HWA left behind was so erroneous and defective that “It can’t be fixed!” “It has to be dismantled brick by brick – demolished!” They dismissed HWA as an autocratic “cult” leader who was a “heretic” and a “false prophet!” They described WCG members as having been “so blind,” “so theologically ignorant” as to have believed HWA! [To see a video of this religious “caucus,” Google search “Called to Be Free” and click on the entries until you find one that works. My apologies for the clumsy way of accessing the video; I had tried giving the URL, but for some reason, it wouldn’t open.]
The “New Covenant/Old Covenant” or, simply the “Changes” that Mr. JWT proclaimed in his sermon (originally given on December 17, 1994, thus known as his “Christmas Eve Sermon”) was later viewed and heard in almost all WCG congregations worldwide on January 10, 1995. The sermon was also published in The Worldwide News (WN), the official bi-weekly newspaper for WCG members; however, this issue has been removed from the WCG Archives. The “Changes” sent the brethren on a tail spin! Those loyal to HWA felt offended and angry, and sought to remain in “the faith once delivered.” Many gladly accepted the new teachings as “liberating,” while others were confused and didn’t know what to do or whom to believe. [To read a transcript or excerpts of that sermon and some members’ reaction to it, see: https://exitsupportnetwork.com, “The Day Joseph Tkach, Sr. Gave His New Covenant Sermon.” If this doesn’t work, Google search “Joseph W. Tkach – New Covenant Sermon,” and click on the entry that works.]
The WCG has since been renamed “Grace Communion International” (GCI), and has been warmly and lovingly embraced by evangelicals as one of their own; whereas before, they denounced WCG as a dangerous heretical “cult.” The GCI is now a member of WEF (World Evangelical Fellowship) and the PCEC (Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches). In this regard, Jesus’ statement in John 15:18-21 is worth pondering: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of this world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him [God the Father] who sent Me.”
With the WCG/GCI having now turned a full 180 degrees from what it used to be, I ask seriously: Did Mr. Tkach really know the Lord as he wrote in his 1988 GN Personal? I hope he pondered that well, before his death in 1995. If indeed JWT was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write that Personal, how could he have suddenly turned away from what he had written? I heard a story, attributed to WCG evangelist Dean Blackwell, a close friend of JWT, who heard the latter’s death-bed “confession” about what he has done with HWA/WCG: “I have been a fool!” Is it possible that JWT could have repented of his crucial decision as so much “foolishness” to destroy HWA’s teachings? I certainly hope so! Sadly, though, it seems that his successor, his son Joe Jr., is bent on perpetuating his dad’s “folly!”
Relevantly, Paul wrote: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). And “Because the foolishness of God [Christ crucified as the power of God, Verse 22] is wiser than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
And to those who may have felt confused by Mr. HWA’s charge about keeping unity in following Mr. JWT in order to get into God’s kingdom and not lose one’s eternal reward, let me assure you this. Mr. Armstrong, although used mightily by God, was only human. Unlike Christ, who knows what’s inside the heart of every man (Acts 1:24; John 2:24-25), HWA could not see what was really in JWT’s heart when he appointed him as his successor. If Mr. Armstrong were suddenly alive again today, he would be horrified at what his successor has done to his legacy! That voids his charge to the WCG brethren about staying loyal to JWT and his son Joe Jr.!
The more important question we should ask ourselves is: “Does the Lord Know Us?” Or, to be more personal: “Does the Lord Know Me?” Jesus made this sobering statement about His soon return to earth: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say in that day [of Christ’s return], ‘Lord. Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:21-23). [See “I Never Knew You!”]
What “spirit” moved them?
I had to wrestle with JWT and company’s claim to have been led by the Holy Spirit in their decision to junk just about all of HWA’s teachings. I also sincerely asked the guidance of the Holy Spirit when I started to read WCG literature, with the aim to prove with my Bible that HWA’s teachings were wrong! Quite the opposite to the conclusion of JWT and company, I was led to believe and accept that HWA indeed taught the plain truth of God’s Word, and I became baptized as a WCG member.
Mr. HWA recounts in his Autobiography [ go back to the Armstrong Library, select “Books & Booklets” and scroll down to the booklet titled “The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong”] how he was challenged to prove his wife Loma wrong in believing that the seventh-day Sabbath is still required of Christians today. He thought that she had taken up with some shameful fanaticism! He studied all the relevant literature he could get his hands on and checked every claim with the plain Bible testimony, asking God for His Holy Spirit to guide him into all truth (John 16:13). HWA humbly admitted that he had to “eat crow” about his wife’s challenge — admit that she was right after all, and he was wrong! He went on to prove or disprove other teachings such as evolution, the relevance and meaning of Bible prophecy, Christian living, etc.
It cannot be that the Holy Spirit that guided HWA to teach as he had taught was the same Spirit that guided JWT and company to teach the very opposite! God is not — and never can be — divided against Himself (Matthew 12:25)! His kingdom will stand forever (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15)!
Interestingly, 1 Kings 22:1-28 records the story about how the kings of Judah and Israel (who, like Ahab, were Baal-worshipers) sought the word of the prophets as to the outcome of the wars they were to engage in. As it turned out, those prophets had a “lying spirit” (demonic) which God allowed to go out in the mouths of those false prophets. The result: disaster for the king and the people!
Is it quite possible that some kind of “lying spirit” was behind the “Changes” that have brought disaster to the brethren who followed in JWT’s lead? I believe so! [See: “The “De-liberation of the Worldwide Church of God,” “Protestants and Sunday-keeping,” and “Protestants and Roman Holy Days.”] Has God allowed this in order to test and purify His people during these end-times (Daniel 12:7 -10; Acts 20:28-31; Jude 4-5; 2 Peter 2:1-3, 10-22)?
My prayer is that you, dear readers, will “abide in the truth” (Colossians 3:16), and be saved!
Pedro R. Meléndez, Jr.
17052024/15062024