Change at the Worldwide Church of God

On May 7, 1997, the World- ered about him a small group of men was made president—and continued wide Church of God (WWCG) was who were as willing as he was to the same modernist stance, on down voted into membership by the Na- make changes. to the present time. tional Association of Evangel- One by one, they discarded ear- Yes, 1995 was indeed the bomb- icals. Eighteen months earlier, lier teachings. At first, they worked shell year for WWCG. Large numbers their leader, Joseph Tkach, Sr., slowly. Articles hinting at changes of believers forsook the denomina- the successor of Herbert W. began to appear. New pastors were tion. Church headquarters went into Armstrong, had publicly repudi- appointed, who had been trained by a crisis mode, but refused to reverse ated the necessity of Sabbath- teachers willing to follow different itself. Leaders refused to turn back. keeping and obedience to the Law paths than those blazed by Arm- They adamantly pressed forward in of God. strong. their objective. But what was it? The There are lessons here for Books by Armstrong began go- people in the pews who were leaving those in our own denomination, ing out of print. His picture came could not understand what was hap- in view of the fact that our own down from where it had hung in pening. However, lax members who denomination is, in books and WWCG churches and schools. had hankered more for the world publications, openly repudiating Leaders, teachers, and pastors loved it. Now they could obtain di- the Bible Sabbath and obedience were discovering the books of out- vorces more easily and still retain to God’s law as being involved in side theologians. Pluralism was in; their church membership. They the plan by which we are saved. historic beliefs were old-fashioned. could get a job on the Bible Sabbath In just nine years, from 1986 to and not be kicked out. People were When Herbert W. Armstrong died 1995, the denomination had been free to live without being hampered in 1986 at the age of 92, Plain Truth nearly remodeled into a new image. by any Biblical rules. They were editor, Greg Albrecht, recalls stand- But, with each step away from the saved by grace! ing by his grave at the funeral, won- historic beliefs, members left and Like many in our own denomi- dering what would happen to the formed independent groups. Some nation, the more worldly WWCG church. united in larger splinter groups. members loved the opportunities for “He is dead now,” Albrecht said, All this sounds so much like what loose living, they no longer had to “and that began a giant upheaval in we are going through. bother with enabling grace; they only my worldview.” Then came the final blow: Tkach, wanted forgiving grace. So powerful had been Arm- Sr., came out openly in the Plain Sin as you like, they were told. strong’s influence, that, for a short Truth and denied the necessity of Heaven is your home. You were saved time after his death, some of his fol- Sabbathkeeping as having anything on the cross by Christ, and all you lowers kept vigil by his gravestone, to do with salvation. need to do is verbally accept it. You expecting to see angels come down, He wrote that Christians were do not even need to pay tithe any- resurrect him, and escort him to now living under “the new covenant,” more. heaven. and no longer needed to obey the law Does all this sound familiar? It Joseph Tkach, Sr. had been of God. ought to. Our denomination has been handpicked, by Armstrong, to take When Joseph Tkach, Sr., died in following a parallel course for a far over the leadership. He quickly gath- 1995, his son, Joseph Tkach, Jr., longer time than the Tkachs. 2 Waymarks When those faithful to historic determined today to take us out into when that time comes. positions were told they need no ecumenical Protestantism and We can be thankful that Ellen longer obey God’s law, pay tithe, or Pentecostalism, as were the Tkachs White’s books are all out-of-copy- keep the Bible Sabbath, droves left and their associates. right, and anyone can now print the church. Finally, on May 7, 1997, the WWCG them. Gerald Flurry, of Edmond, Today much of the 30-acre Pasa- was voted into membership by the Oklahoma, pastor of an offshoot dena church headquarters is empty. National Association of Evangelicals. WWCG church which remains with A security guard and receptionist are This was an astounding event, com- Armstrong’s earlier positions, has re- the only people visible on the mas- ing only eleven years after the death printed Armstrong’s 1985 book, Mystery of the Ages. sive first floor of the administration of Herbert W. Armstrong, who once But, in Febru- hall. Other buildings are shuttered, castigated the Catholic Church as the ary of this year, the WWCG filed a and the great reflecting pools outside Babylonian whore of Revelation, copyright lawsuit to forbid Flurry Ambassador Auditorium are dry. whose daughters were the Protestant from distributing it! They do not want All three universities are closed, churches. the public to learn or accept the his- the television programs have been David Briggs, of the Associate toric beliefs of the denomination. discontinued, and the monthly cir- Press, said it this way: Similar persecution could come culation of Plain Truth magazine, “How great a change is this? You to Advent believers. Spirit of Proph- which once was free to 8 million, is can’t compare it to the Mormons’ ecy books have already been burned now a paid 125,000. decision to give up polygamy to as- in some areas. Annual income has dropped from similate with American culture. In- We live in momentous times. $200 million to $50 million, and stead, it would be more like the Mor- Read the Bible and Spirit of Proph- membership has plunged almost in mons suddenly becoming Baptists!” ecy as though your eternal life de- half. (Associated Press release, June 22, pended on it. For it does. Dixon Cartwright, publisher of 1997.) Only a small stone marker, The Journal, an independent publi- Eighteen months earlier, their tucked in a nondescript corner of the cation which keeps close tabs on the leader, Joseph Tkach, Sr., had pub- Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, various Churches of God, says that licly repudiated the necessity of California, denotes the burial place three major breakaway denomina- Sabbathkeeping and obedience to the of the writer/speaker who used ra- tions have formed (one is called the Law of God. —Only eighteen months dio and television to build an inter- Global Church of God), and the num- to make a complete changeover! national church, complete with three ber of informal splinter groups Just think how fast changes will universities and a magnificent 50- throughout the world numbers over be made when the National Sunday acre headquarters in California. a thousand. Law is enacted, and you—and our But other men came in afterward; Sound familiar? We may be look- leaders—could share prison cells for and, in eleven years, they effectively ing at our own future. There are lead- keeping the Bible Sabbath! Changes abolished all that he had done. ers in our denomination who are as will be made in the blink of an eye

Herbert Armstrong’s teachings are far differ- a “flash depression.” On his 25th birthday, he married ent than ours. His came from human reasoning; Loma Dillon, his third cousin. Moving to Oregon when ours came from the God of heaven. he was 30, he began advertising for laundries. By 1926, But there were similarities, just as the mem- he was making $1,000 a month; but then that failed, bers of the Worldwide Church of God were led away when the advertising was assigned to a national ad by modernists from obedience, by faith in Christ, firm. to the Ten Commandments; so our people can be That same year, his wife told him she found that led away also. the Bible said people should keep the commandments Yet it would be of interest to know more about of God. This was a startlingly new thought to Herbert. the background of Armstrong’s denomination. The very idea that his wife would have such “reli- Here is a brief, and surprising, overview: gious fanaticism” and keep the Bible Sabbath was in- tolerable to him. His words describe him as a man Herbert W. Armstrong was born, in 1894, into a who was proud and very sure of his astute abilities: Quaker family in Des Moines, Iowa. By the age of 16, “I thought I could not tolerate such humiliation by his own account, he “was burning with desire to go . . Why, what would my friends say? What would somewhere in life—to become a success!” When he be- former business acquaintances think!”—H.W.A., Au- came 18, he began a three-year stint as advertising tobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Vol. 1, 1967, and promotional man, writing copy for the Merchants 282. Trade Journal in Des Moines, Iowa (1912-1915). Mov- “ ‘I will give you just one more chance, before we ing to Chicago, his advertising career ended in 1920 in separate and get a divorce,’ I said. ‘I don’t know just Change at the Worldwide Church of God 3 where it is, but I know all these churches can’t be rope. Because he taught Anglo-Israelism, he became wrong! I know it’s in the Bible that we are to keep popular wherever people of English descent lived Sunday! I’ll give you this one more chance, before throughout the world. you break up our home. I won’t tolerate fanaticism! I’ll make you this proposition: I have an analytical Armstrong developed a taste for private jet planes mind. I’ve been trained in research into business and meetings with world leaders. He considered him- problems, getting the facts and analyzing them. Now self a senior statesman, and would fly to faraway places I’ll make a complete and thorough research into the and visit with the heads of nations. They were glad to Bible. I’ll find where the Bible commands us to ob- visit with him for a few hours, since he brought them serve Sunday. I’ll prove it to you out of the Bible! expensive gifts (such as Steuben-cut glassware), as well Will you give up this fanaticism when I prove it?’ ”— as giving them funds to help the poor in their nation. Op. cit., 284. Whether or not the money ever reached the poor was After convincing himself of the Bible Sabbath, in not always known. 1927 he asked a Baptist preacher to baptize him “into Armstrong started these “ambassador” trips, at the Christ.” The next year, he joined a Missouri offshoot suggestion of Stanley Rader, one of his associates. of the Adventist Church, which he abandoned awhile Gradually, more and more money was siphoned into later after quarreling with them over a leadership po- these activities. Millions of dollars in church funds were sition. (More on this later, when we discuss doctrine.) diverted to this and to his celebrity concerts at an im- Armstrong began writing and preaching. In June mense hall he constructed in Pasadena. The denomi- 1931 in Eugene, Oregon, he held his first evangelistic nation was nearing bankruptcy. This led to a lawsuit campaign. filed in California by certain members in 1978, which, Still living in Eugene, he founded Plain Truth maga- in 1980, placed the church in receivership. zine in February 1934. At first, it was a mimeographed He also sponsored archaeological digs in various bulletin. The previous month, he started a radio broad- Near Eastern countries. One of these was his well-pub- cast. Originally called the Radio Church of God, it was licized funding of Israeli excavations around, and un- later to be renamed The World Tomorrow. derneath, the site of the second Temple in Jerusalem. The movement grew slowly until 1946, when No analysis would be complete without mention- Armstrong launched an intense radio and traveling ing Garner Ted Armstrong. Handsome and articulate, campaign to increase membership. Touring around, as a child he wanted to be a nightclub performer. After he baptized listeners into his church. high school, he joined the navy; but, in 1923, he re- Herbert Armstrong had great confidence in his turned home to Dad. Four years later, at 27, Herbert ability to devise new, correct interpretations of reli- had made his son a regular speaker on the radio. gion. It was only matched by his self-confidence in pro- But, from 1960 onward, Garner was increasingly moting whatever he believed in. According to Herbert, involved in adultery and Los Vegas gambling. Repeat- He was God’s gift to mankind: edly, the father censured or expelled him. Each time “Jesus chose Paul, who was highly educated, for he took him back in. In 1973, Armstrong named Gar- spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles. He later raised ner his successor. Regarding his known adultery, the up Peter Waldo, a successful businessman, to keep father said, “Ted is divinely called” and “above the His truth alive during the Middle Ages. In these last Scripture” (H.W.A., quoted in W.C. Martin, “Father, Son, days . . Jesus chose a man amply trained in the adver- and Mammon,” Atlantic Monthly, March 1980, 60). tising ad business fields to shoulder the mission— The final break came in 1978, when Garner tried HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG.”—H.W.A., quoted in Paul to seize control of the organization while his father N. Benware, Ambassadors of Armstrongism: An was ill. Herbert kicked him out for good. Analysis of the History and Teachings of the World- Armstrong had always strictly forbidden divorce. wide Church of God, 1975, 25 [emphasis Arm- But then, in 1977, he decided to divorce his wife and strong’s]. marry a divorcée 45 years younger than himself. In Additional quotations could be given, showing the 1982, he divorced his second wife. Finalized in 1984, strong element of egotism in the man! he died less than two years later at the age of 93. Armstrong specialized in radio. He later added on What were Herbert Armstrong’s teachings? television. By the early 1980s, he sponsored more ra- He started out well, for the Bible taught him that dio broacasts and television programs on more sta- mankind should obey God’s holy law, by faith in Christ. tions than any other minor denomination in the world; Unfortunately, Herbert was not satisfied to remain with in fact, more than its five top competitors combined. the “plain truth,” as given in God’s Word. Gradually, Radio Luxembourg and other stations beamed he wandered off into various novelties. Armstrong’s messages all over Europe and behind the For a time, Armstrong united with B.F. Snook and Iron Curtain. W.H. Brinkerhoff’s organization. These were two apos- Over the years, Armstrong gained quite a follow- tate Seventh-day Adventist ministers who started the ing in the United States, Canada, England, and in Eu- infamous “Marian Party” in 1886. This is a well-known 4 Waymarks offshoot in our own history. Hating Ellen White’s writ- ish Isles! (Howard Rand, the man who published in ings, the two started a splinter group in Iowa. In 1889, the early 1980s that Sabbathkeepers should be killed, they centered their work in Stanbury, Missouri, and also espoused that error.) Imagining that they were called their company the Church of God (Adventist). more likely to be saved, those of English descent (in- What a group to become involved with! Armstrong cluding many Americans) have been flattered by this joined these Spirit of Prophecy haters; but, after a teaching into accepting it. stormy experience, he separated from them in a dis- The largest of the groups promoting Anglo- pute over who would be leader. Israelism was Armstrong’s church. Armstrong main- Armstrong, ever the consummate promoter, worked tained that the Jews are racially different than Israel, with a Mr. Duggar, in leading off a sizeable number of those who are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons. Snook and Brinkerhoff followers into a new group, Here is an example of his foolish reasoning: which were called the Church of God (Seventh-day), “Elizabeth II actually sits on the throne of King Sometime later, because of Armstrong’s positions David of ISRAEL—and she is a direct descendant, on British Israelism, he separated once again, this time continuing David’s dynasty—the VERY THRONE on calling his church the World Church of God. Later still, which Christ shall sit after His return . . Elizabeth II he changed it to Worldwide Church of God. was crowned ‘Queen of thy people Israel’ . . The It is for such reasons that, in a series of articles in throne upon which she was crowned [i.e. the ‘Stone the Bulletin of the Ministerial Association of Seventh- of Scone,’ lodged in Westminster Abbey] is really day Adventist Ministers, George Burnside wrote that the stone which Jacob used for a pillow, which he took with him when he departed from Bethel, and “Mr. Armstrong is an offshoot of an offshoot of an off- which later came under the care of Jeremiah the shoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” (Burnside, Prophet, who took it with him to England, where it a well-known powerful Australian evangelist in the became the Coronation Stone for the British 1950s and 1960s, was hounded out of the Adventist (Davidic) dynasty.”—Plain Truth, June 1953. ministry in the 1980s for opposing the new theology. Scientific analysis reveals that the Stone of Scone He passed to his rest only a few years ago.) is “calcareous, a sandstone of a reddish or purplish It turns out that the neighbor lady, who initially color, with heterogeneous pebbles and of Scottish ori- revealed the great truth about the law of God to gin” (W.H. Smith, The Ten Tribes of Israel Never Lost, Armstrong’s wife, was a Seventh-day Adventist. Unfor- 91). tunately, Herbert afterward got in with the wrong Armstrong also taught that all the Jewish feast people, who turned him against the Spirit of Prophecy. days, new moons, and festivals must be kept—or one Yet Armstrong’s theology paralleled ours in a num- would be lost. He also taught that one did not receive ber of ways: the observance of the Seventh-day Sab- the new birth until the moment of resurrection from bath, abstinence from certain articles of food as un- the dead; at which time (if he was a faithful follower of clean, and his denunciation of eternal punishment. He Armstrong, and only Armstrong) he would become God also had a system of eschatology (last day events), yet in fullest essence of nature and ability. quite different from our own. He also taught a form of universalism: During the But, oh, what grotesque errors he came up with! coming millennial reign of Christ, the entire world Armstrong taught that the blood of Christ only would begin to be converted and everyone would ulti- wipes away past sins, but our obedience in our own mately be saved. strength to the law is what saves us. This, of course, is “As Lord of lords Christ will begin to convert and radically different than historic Adventism. save the entire world during His reign . . all peoples Like Jehovahs’ Witnesses, he did not believe that will then come to know God. Their blindness and Christ is eternally divine, that the Holy Spirit has ex- religious confusion will be removed and they will istence, or that Christ had a bodily resurrection. finally be converted. The resurrected saints will teach Like the Mormons, Armstrong taught that man can the people God’s way.”—Plain Truth, October 1959. eventually become fully God. Armstrong also taught that Christ was merely a “Do you really grasp it? The purpose of your be- human who happened to be the first one to achieve ing alive is that finally you be born into the King- full perfection (H.W.A., Why Were You Born? 15). dom of God, when you will actually be God, even as With such peculiar errors, a change surely was Jesus was and is God, and His Father, a different needed. Yet the correct doctrines (those that Armstrong Person, also is God! You are setting out on a train- first received, the Bible Sabbath and obedience to God’s ing to become creator—to become God!”—H.W.A., law) were thrown out also. Those were the teachings Why Were You Born? 22 [emphasis his]. he got from Adventists; not from his own speculations! Armstrong taught Anglo-Israelism (also known as British-Israelism). This theory, first taught by Richard Brothers (1757-1824), was the concept that the “lost tribes of Israel,” which were taken captive over 2,500 More WAYMARKS - from — PILGRIMS REST years ago by Assyria, managed to migrate to the Brit- HCR 77, BOX 38A - BEERSHEBA SPRINGS, TN 37305