Post-WCG Life and Theology ARCHIVES

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"TITHING PAYS OFF!!!"

Mysteriously, three are one
Over the last several months there have appeared in The Journal several items (articles and advertisements) denying the divinity of the Lord Yeshua (hereinafter in this letter referred to as the Son).
This is an understandable, even inevitable, development given the COG milieu that teaches that God is a family of two: Father and Son.
Indeed, if God is a family of two, then there are two Gods. But the Bible says there is only one God. So only the Father or only the Son can be God, but not both.
The groups responsible for the advertisements and articles I referred to have opted to strip divinity from the Son, the junior (to their way of thinking) in the family.
The COGs' attempt at reconciling these apparently contradictory biblical doctrines includes the teaching that there is one God family. But, if this is so, then it is both Father and Son together who are God, for it is the two of them collectively who are a family.
But, then, if that is true the Father as an individual is not God for He does not constitute the family by Himself. And the same thing can be said of the Son, just as one ship is not the fleet; rather, all the ships collectively are the one fleet.
But this is not what the Bible says. The Bible says the Father is God, the Son is God, and--I also add--the Holy Spirit is God.
The Bible also says there is one God.
Numerous scriptures attest to the truth of the last two sentences. So how do we reconcile these apparent contradictions? Certainly not by the COG doctrine of God being a family, as demonstrated in the first paragraph.
It is the mainstream Christian belief in a triune God, the Trinity, three persons in one God, that reconciles these seemingly conflicting biblical verses that assign personalities to three different beings and reveals these beings as talking to and interacting with one another. But the Bible simultaneously calls them one God.
Arguments in The Journal based on COG God-is-a-family doctrine defending the divinity of the Son have approached the ludicrous (God was one, then became two when the Son was conceived and will be millions in the future).
The Bible says there is only one God, and in the future there will still be only one God (Isaiah 43:10).
Anticipating COG objections: Is it not even more ludicrous to say that one is three and three are one, which is what the Trinity doctrine says?
My reply: Three in one and one in three are indeed incomprehensible, even ludicrous, to our finite minds. But this is what the Bible says when it says that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and there is only one God.
Indeed, God is incomprehensible to the finite human mind (Job 9:10; 11:7-9; Psalm 139:6; 145:3; Isaiah 40:28; Ephesians 3:19; Philippians 4:7; Romans 11:33-34).
The Trinity is God. That is why the Trinity is incomprehensible. But we do not reject the Trinity just because it is incomprehensible. We just have to take it on faith because the Bible says so--just as we take on faith the virgin birth, the resurrection of men four days and three days dead, etc.
Besides, three in one and one in three are not so absurd if we rid ourselves of the popular misconception that mathematical rules are absolute truths. Consider the following from Eric Temple Bell, a highly regarded modern historian of mathematics:
"At this point, it is pertinent to ask 'How do we know that a particular set of postulates, say those of elementary algebra (or arithmetic), will never lead to a contradiction?' The answer to this disposes, once and for all, all of the hoary myth of absolute truth for the conclusions of pure mathematicians. We do not know, except in comparatively trivial instances, that a particular set of postulates is self-consistent and that it will never lead to contradiction."
This mathematician is saying that in "comparatively trivial instances," like the addition of apples or mangoes, the rules of maths apply so that 1 plus 1 equals 2.
But in complex matters (like the nature of God) the rules of mathematics may not apply, so that 1 plus 1 plus 1 may equal 1, as in the case of the Trinity.

Maximo Sarmiento
Croydon, Australia

This was a survey published in the WN in March 1999. Here is a copy of the survey:
Results of worship preferences survey
By Ron Kelly
PASADENA--We have compiled the results of the member worship survey that was distributed last November. A total of 15,440 adult members completed the survey. Your participation helps us more accurately plan for festival seasons and other worship opportunities during the year.
We would like to discuss a few principles about this survey. Some members thought the survey was given to manipulate change in our worship activities. Others thought it was an attempt to maintain traditions. Neither of those is true.
Purpose of the survey
The purpose was to help us understand what festivals members would like to see the denomination sponsor. A survey is a snapshot of how individuals feel at a given moment in time. The same survey one year later would probably produce different results. This survey, then, indicates how 15,440 people responded to questions in November 1998.
One question we asked may have seemed odd. We asked if members would be interested in a large church conference in the summer.
In our long-range planning, we hope to have a summer ministerial conference where we gather all our ministers from around the world. We have not had such a conference since 1979.
We thought that hundreds (perhaps thousands) of our members would enjoy coming together to join in the conference and to have a week of worship, conferences, workshops and seminars.
Such a conference would require months of planning. If our budget could afford such an activity, the earliest we could plan it would be in mid-2000, and that might be complicated as we proceed through the Pasadena property sale. So 2001 could be more realistic.
More than one third expressed an interest, but we suspect more would want to attend if it became a reality.
Further, the survey was designed to allow expression of preferences. That does not mean a member would not be willing to do something that would benefit the group as a whole.
For example, you will see in the survey results that 45 percent of our members prefer to take the Lord's Supper only once a year on the eve of Nisan 14.
But we find when a congregation has a special worship service at which members can participate in the Lord's Supper that many more than 45 percent may participate.
Some may prefer to celebrate the resurrected Lord on Easter Sunday, while others prefer to have that service on the nearest Saturday. In some congregations, the minister and members will agree on one day or the other. And in other congregations services will be offered on both days to meet the worship desires of members.
Opportunity for discussion
This should demonstrate that the survey is not meant to manipulate or mandate, but to provide opportunity for discussion and planning. As members expressed preferences, it is important to realize the rights of others to feel differently than us. Our preferences should not be a source of division, but an allowance to celebrate with joy as we choose.
Please do no use this survey as a "club" to argue your preferences, as its purpose is to inform, not to persuade or motivate.
Each of us should rejoice that members want to celebrate the meaning and significance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Survey results
Attended the full eight-day festival in one of eight festival locations in 1998:
All eight days 40% Attended a mini-site 9% Held on one or more days in a local church 17% Did not attend at all 34%
Plan to attend an eight-day site in 1999
All eight days 50% Will attend an eight-day site on a weekend 10% Will attend a mini-site or in a local church 30% Will not attend at all 10%
Number of adults and children who said they were willing to commit to the following sites:
Saratoga Springs, New York 1,100 Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 3,400 Hot Springs, Arkansas 1,800 Seaside, Oregon 1,050 Palm Springs, California 1,300 Davenport, Iowa 900 China group tour 120 Mediterranean cruise 175 International travel 1,200
Responding to the question about celebrating traditional festivals
33% Expressed a desire to meet on the exact Hebrew calendar day 13% Were desirous of celebrating on the beginning evening 40% Expressed a desire to have a celebration on the nearest weekly worship service 14% Have no desire to celebrate the WCG traditional festivals
Responding to the question about celebrating the Lord's Supper:
45% Expressed a desire to celebrate only once a year on Nisan 14 36% Expressed a desire to celebrate more than once a year, but for special occasions 16% Expressed a desire to celebrate monthly in the local church 3% Expressed a desire to celebrate weekly
Responding to the question about celebration services for the birth of Christ:
59% Desired to have a service during the Christmas season 19% Desired to have a service-- but not in December, rather at another time 22% Had no desire to have a service during the Christmas season
Responding to the question about celebration services for the resurrection of Jesus
27% Desired to have a service on Easter Sunday 64% Preferred to have a service for the resurrection during the days of Unleavened Bread 9% Had no desire to have a specific resurrection service
Regarding weekly worship services:
60% Prefer to have weekly worship services on Saturday 10% Prefer to have weekly worship services on Sunday 30% Are willing to have weekly worship services on the day that best suits the majority of members in the local church
When asked if members feel Saturday worship services are a barrier to evangelism and growth:
62% think they are not 17% think they are 21% have no opinion
When asked if there is an interest in a large summer worship conference:
37% said yes 24% said no 39% had mixed feelings
When asked if members were satisfied with the Worldwide Church of God as a denomination:
69% said yes 9% said no 22% had mixed feelings

For your consideration, a former minister had this to say about the Winnipeg, Canada situation. ........................................................
The report from Winnipeg is tragic but not unexpected. I am an ex-lay pastor who was removed from the WCG ministry in my area because of my refusal to participate in this kind of process. I attend regularly (Sunday) at an evangelical mainstream church where I now serve in several leadership roles.
The totalitarian nature of the WCG indicates that Alan Redmond felt he had the support if not the encouragement from his superiors to force this change in Winnipeg, Canada. If the Canadian WCG administration really believes that congregations have the Christian freedom to choose their worship then Gary Moore the national director for Canada would reverse this decision and reprimand Alan Redmond for acting in such a manner.
Pastor Redmond’s action of phoning members instead of doing a congregational survey makes his decision especially suspect. It gives the appearance that he knew the congregation as a whole would reject a move to Sunday. He was aware that the previous year’s survey was overwhelmingly 87% in favour of Saturday. Therefore he did his own secret poll which he says showed that 71% supported his decision.
If his results are valid then there is nothing to fear from holding an open survey subject to public scrutiny. After all what does it matter if the Sunday move is delayed a few weeks in order for the congregation to discuss and decide in a manner similar to last year. Such a process would give confidence in the subsequent decision.
Surely his phone poll’s 71% in support of the move is an accurate reflection of the congregation’s will. If it isn’t accurate than surely a survey is even more necessary to avoid alienating 87% of the congregation assuming that last years results are still a valid representation.
In examining the WCG it can be difficult to focus on what has gone so drastically wrong after the “historic doctrinal changes”. The official acceptance of orthodox Christian doctrine coupled with the WCG’s ministry’s affirmations of being Christ centred should have led to stabilization if not growth but it didn’t. Why?
After all the WCG that attracted me in the early 70’s was a loving community in which I found people who really cared for each other. They loved God with all of their being so much so that they endured decades of abuse and doctrinal changes. Surely, a more gracious and Christ centred church should have generated results opposite to what we have been witnessing over these past 9 years.
Pastor General Tkach would like to blame the doctrinal changes and no doubt Alan Redmond will do the same as his church continues to accelerate its spiral downward. Personally I find that this excuse after 9 years is wearing quite thin especially since it was never true in the first place other than for the 30,000 lost to UCG, GCG and PCG.
In 1998, the Pastor General announced that 40,000 had left and gone no where. Given the continued exodus since that time that 40,000 is no doubt much, much higher perhaps as high as 60,000 by this time. The Pastor General told the EMNR Board in 1998, that these people refuse to attend any Christian church. So rather than leading people to Christ we see massive numbers of people turned off of God.
There is a book called Hitler’s Cross by Erwin Lutzor that speaks to a similar situation that occurred among the Jewish people after the Holocaust:
“WHERE WAS THE CHURCH?
Today many Jews are atheists because of the Holocaust. If there was a God, they reason, He would not have stood by without stopping the brutal injustice. Unfortunately, the church did not, for the most part, come to the aid of those who were ostracized or sent to the death camps. In fact, some joined in the persecutions.” ( Hitler’s Cross, pg. 99)
I believe there are strong parallels between how the WCG has treated its members and these ex-members’ rejection of organized Christianity if not God Himself. They look at the unloving conduct of a ministry that inflicts actions that cause emotional abuse upon its long time members and wonder where is God in this?
Consider the children who broke into tears after witnessing their father or mother’s tears as reported from Winnipeg. How will these children remember their church experience?
Yet there is an even greater sin at work in all this. The same kind of sin that existed under Hitler’s cross. A sin that paralysed the European church and vast numbers of individual Christians as graphically recounted by a German Christian of the Nazi era in Lutzor’s book:
“I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because, what could anyone do to stop it?
A railroad track ran behind our small church and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars!
Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us.
We knew the time the train was coming and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.
Years have passed and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene.” (Hitler’s Cross, pgs. 99,100)
Regret is one of the worst emotional experiences a Christian can have. Our choices carry with them eternal consequences.
Germany, the heart of the Reformation, failed its test when it allowed the dictator Hitler to assume God’s place. They allowed him to determine right and wrong. He was permitted to be their conscience. Lutzor puts it this way:
“Unfortunately, only a few German Christians saw the Jews as their brothers and sisters; only a few saw them as Christ; only a few stood against ...” (ibid, pg. 100)
I find two faults at work in the continued destruction of these little ones in Christ.
The first is that of the Pastor General and his administration for allowing personal baggage to drag them into this sin against the Lord. Regardless of their intention they have allowed the central doctrine of Armstrongism’s absolute and unaccountable Pastor General as God’s voice on earth to stand. It’s corrupting influence is cancerous to them and the WCG. Armstrong’s doctrine must be destroyed.
Second, I find fault with the people of every rank and especially the members of the WCG. How can people come before the Lord of love singing praise choruses and putting on dramas about God’s love & grace while Jesus is marked for elimination from their fellowship because He looks Jewish.
How often under Armstrong did we watch WCG ministers expel those who stood up for the truth? How often did we listen to the WCG slander against those who saw Christ in Christmas? Will we now listen to slander against those who see Jesus in the festivals?
You know that these people who are upset and crying in your fellowship have always believed that Jesus is the head of the church, they accepted Him as their personal Lord and Saviour at baptism. They received the gift of the Holy Spirit and they are crying in our fellowship and we do nothing but sing and even worse allow others to berate them.
The church is the people. It is not just Pasadena. It is not just Dr. Tkach. It is not just Pastor Alan Redmond.
The church is that person who is in tears and upset. It is you, I and them because of Christ in us.

I found Dr. Tkach’s latest (July 2003 WN) Personal very disturbing on many levels but one in particular deals with what I experienced and saw when I was still in WCG. I feel this article may be taking the church further down a very dangerous road, that of Christian anti-Semitism.
Discrimination is a recognised evil by both society in general and the WCG. Dr. Tkach encouraged/funded the creation of the Office of Reconciliation Ministries (ORM). ORM is supposedly dedicated to improving relations between groups who have experienced the sin of prejudice because of ethnic origin, gender or culture. The existence of ORM actually underscores the cognitive dissonance of the WCG when it comes to this matter.

Discrimination/prejudice can take many forms in which those who have power engage in negative behaviours against those who are powerless and different. These negative actions can include perpetuating false stereotypes, demeaning others, creating a hostile environment, and denial of justice/equality. Race discrimination is prejudice based on ethnic origin. Gender discrimination based on gender and cultural discrimination based on culture.
Anti-Semitism is prejudice based on both Jewish origin and culture. Christian anti-Semitism adds the misuse of the New Testament to justify demeaning the Jewish people in order to exalt Christian beliefs. It includes slandering Jewish spirituality, practices, and beliefs as being anti-God. As an example, Jewish people have often been pictured as opponents of the gospel in terms of blindness, infidelity, and legalism. This view of the Jewish people justified almost 2,000 years of violence and prejudice at the hands of Christians.
It has led to a saying among the Jewish people:
How odd of God To choose the Jew, But not so odd As those who choose The Jewish God And hate the Jew.
Now please do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am not saying that the WCG is acting directly against the Jewish people. Rather it is going out of its way to stigmatize members who prefer their WCG traditions by saying they are acting like Jews as if appearing Jewish is a sin. It is not a great leap to imply that if appearing Jewish is a sin then wouldn’t it follow that being Jewish is a greater sin and being a Hassidic Jew a greater sin still?
Consider what the senior WCG leadership gave at a 1998 Ministerial Conference as one of the reasons for wanting to get rid of the WCG festivals:
"1 - The continued observance of OT Holydays was having a negative impact on new members understanding of the NT covenant. Some of them were even leaving the church and had become Hassidic Jews complete with beards, hats, and yarmulkes." (Summary of Regional Pastor Alan Barr’s July 11, 1998 Sermon in Kennesaw, GA)
Their reason for advocating that the festivals need to be eliminated is because they are “negative” and oppose the understanding of the gospel. This negativity is evidenced in how they are not just turning some of the “new members” into “Jews” but that they are being turned into “Hassidic Jews.” That such a negative view is implied in the first place let alone in WCG ministerial training is disquieting to say the least.
It is common knowledge that Dr. Tkach is in a war against his own members because they are resisting his efforts to make them adopt his worship preferences. As has been pointed out he is in a dilemma because he had confessed:
“What would happen if we abolished all Saturday services and the annual festivals? We would be compromising the very principals of the gospel, of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, upon which we stand.
Many people would see it, and rightly so, as hypocrisy.” WN Personal Mar. 1999.
He has the power to abolish the days by executive order but he doesn’t dare. So rather than using the power of executive order he uses the powers of ownership and of employer-employee authority to instruct his employees to make the congregations choose to change their days as quickly as possible.
Specifically, the Pastors must superficially give congregations a choice. If the congregation chooses “wrong” then they must be “educated” to make the “right choice” next time, and so on and so on… When will worship cease to be an issue, when the remaining members make the “right choice” of choosing what the Pastor General has already determined.
Hence we have a situation similar to that from the mini-series Roots where as Pastor Ron Stoddart pointed out on his Pastor’s Desk earlier this year:
In the television series Roots there is a scene in which the slave traders are trying to break the spirit of the young black man named Kunta Kinte, whom they have captured and brought to America from his African homeland. They have tied him to a tree, and with whips they are attempting to beat into him a new and submissive identity, "Your name is Toby," they say. The young man resists, and the whips fall. "Your name is Toby." More resistance, and the whips fall again and again. Finally the punishment is too severe, and the young man hangs his head in defeat and speaks his slave name, "Toby."…
Pastor Stoddart of course wasn’t comparing Kunta’s treatment to the treatment of the WCG members, but I believe he fails to see the obvious comparison this example creates as he goes on:
“This emphasis will mean we won't revolve around the Exodus events. It means we will base our calendars on the Jesus events. This includes the time He was fastened to a tree as in the above illustration.
I have never been emotionally moved by the crossing of the Red sea even when I saw Charlton Heston in the movie. But I can't think of any Christian who is unmoved at the thought of crossing from death to life because Jesus died and rose again.
Jesus is Lord. When we are moved by His story, how can we not bow down in worship.
Have a great year. Pastor Ron”
Here again we see appearances of Christian anti-Semitism used for the express purpose of associating WCG traditionalists as being only Exodus focused as if they were looking to Moses (Charlton Heston) instead of “bowing down” to Jesus. Worse there is a strong implication that if the traditionalists/Jews are not bowing down to Jesus then they must be “bowing down” to Moses.
For the record, the Jews do not worship Moses and neither do the WCG traditionalists. True, the Jews do not acknowledge Jesus as God, but remember that the WCG traditionalists have always acknowledged (bowed down to) Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Therefore, Pastor Ron does a disservice to both the Jewish people and the WCG traditionalists with prejudicial stereotypes.
Why does Pastor Ron exhibit such behaviour? Simple he along with the rest of the WCG ministry has been taught/told to do this since at least as far back as 1998.
Consider as well that the paid ministry are the ones responsible for teaching the members. As society understands prejudice and discrimination is learned abusive behaviour.
The booklet “Finding Peace in Christ” is saturated with a tone of Christians worshipping in faith while others (the WCG traditionalist/the Jewish people) are pictured as being locked in a rigid system that concentrates on form and times instead of content and meaning:
"Christian worship is focused primarily on content and meaning rather than primarily on form or time." (Finding Peace in Christ, Pg. 60)
Even the chart at the back of the booklet completely ignores the WCG traditional meaning of the festivals. Worse in its efforts to stigmatize the festivals the booklet even misrepresents the Jewish views who see the festivals as revealing the past, present and future aspects of God‘s love for the world.
It is one thing for Christians and Jews to enter into debate/discussion about their faith differences. It is quite another when the WCG administration uses the term “Jewish” in a pejorative sense in order to accuse its own members of hindering the gospel and by easy extension as being opponents of the gospel.
This brings us again to the Pastor General’s latest contribution in all of this: “In light of Paul’s instruction, would Jesus have us distract people from the gospel with customs that mislead them about what it really means to follow Christ?…
Do we want the message of grace to be confused with laws that the gospel specifically sets aside as not for Christians? Do we want our customs to give the wrong impression about the gospel, rather than to commend Christ? …
We need to set aside the Jewish customs (unless you are in a Jewish culture)!…
But when we want to make the gospel attractive to a Gentile society, we need to eliminate customs that confuse the gospel with the old covenant law. That’s something worth thinking about."(Worldwide News July Personal “Something Worth Thinking About”)
Is what the Pastor General says true? I don‘t think so:
1. It should be obvious that WCG traditions are no more “Jewish” because of their origins than Christmas is “pagan” because of its origins. WCG traditions and Christmas are Christian because of their Christian meaning in the WCG culture;
2. Paul’s situation in the pagan Greco-Roman world is distinctly different than ours in a pluralistic 24/7 society that values variety;
3. WCG traditions must be somewhat attractive to “Gentiles” because for 7 years the majority of WCG “Gentiles” have known they don’t have to keep them but in the face of inordinate and unwarranted opposition they still continue to express their desire to keep them.
The organization Jews for Jesus (who are members of the World Evangelical Alliance) often put on a presentation entitled Christ in the Passover. Part of that presentation rehearses how the unleavened bread (matzo) represents Jesus in much the same way that the WCG did for decades. When I witnessed this presentation with a group of Evangelicals I was surprised at all of the “amen’s” and “hallelujahs” from the audience. Such a positive response would seem to indicate that WCG traditions may have some surprising advantages if given the chance.
As an example, it doesn’t take an evangelism genius to note that if someone asks why I am eating a matzo that they are asking because they notice something different. They wouldn’t have asked if I was eating a regular sandwich but because I’m eating a matzo they ask.
With their question I now have an invitation/chance to share the gospel where before I had no invitation. I can point to Jesus’ perfection/sinlessness, our need for repentance, how Jesus was pierced as the matzo is in order to pay for our sins, and how we need to make Jesus an intimate part of our lives. Is such a response a hindrance to the gospel or is it front line evangelism that recommends Jesus?
I have to worry about the future of the WCG, particularly when the Pastor General has gone from seeing Jesus in the symbolism of the matzo… to calling that symbol of Christ a Jewish custom that must be set aside.
Just something else worth thinking about...