Issue XXIII - October 4 2002
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In this issue: Grand Junction - Feast or Fiasco? Flurry cult dumps television. British PT on the rocks. Firefighter hoses down WCG. Dennis Pelley's plea to backsliders... and more. |
Emergency Appeal for British
PT: The current issue of the British Plain
Truth has a 4 page A4 flier headed EMERGENCY APPEAL --
no, not for the starving millions in wherever, but for
donations to keep the magazine going. The UK version is
still distributed free - but perhaps not for much
longer.
The accompanying letter states:
Now sadly, we are faced with a major financial challenge. Our chief sponsor [the WCG] has been forced immediately to considerably reduce its financial support by some 60%. As a result, we've had to make some cost saving decisions straight away, including - sadly - cutting the number of issues from six to five a year...
Even with these drastic measures, if we are to keep on publishing The Plain Truth we will need additional funds... Please, if you want to see the Plain Truth magazine continue, this is the time to help us.
Although he has since moved back to the US (see AW5), the letter is signed by John Halford.
Earlier this year an issue of the British Worldwide News was fulsome in its praise of the British PT and its success.
A Very Flurry Feast: The Flurry cult seems to have abandoned its attempt to warn the world with Gerry's golden voice. Cult members were told at Feast services that PCG is getting out of television, with the exception of a single "super channel." It seems Gerry's ratings are in freefall (oh dear, how sad, never mind.) The money saved will supposedly go to finance the cult's glorious quest to win their court case to republish HWA's Mystery of the Ages.
Grand Junction Part 1 - Comment from “da TOP”: In the last AW we led with a story about rumbling discontent over arrangements for the WCG's Grand Junction festival site. Among those voicing discontent was retired WCG evangelist “Doctor” Herman Hoeh. Hoeh's comments were apparently made after Atonement services in Reseda (which, according to a posting on JLF, "is one of the few places left in CA where you can have services for the WCG traditional days on the exact date. People from other congregations wanting the exact dates go there.") And earlier we'd run a Dateline Pasadena report indicating that the top brass were intending to remove this last vestige of the Tabernacles tradition.
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Once again, the issue is legitimacy. A church has the right to exercise control over church functions. But members also have the right to have representation in the decision making structures... These people cannot be voted out (they were never voted in) nor endorsed (for that would create the possibility of non-endorsement.) |
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Herman Hoeh |
Grand Junction, Colorado attendees were to be “challenged” with the Tkach version of the Gospel. Only hard-line New Covenant advocates would be on the speaking schedule. And the very expression “Feast of Tabernacles” was to be expunged from the WCG lexicon.
Sound like something out of Central Europe during the Cold War? In many ways the current WCG acts much like the Communist regimes of the past. The real decisions are made at the top with little or no regard to the needs and concerns of the lowly members. One could argue that the WCG is actually worse: after all, the Soviet block countries DID allow limited elections that gave theoretical endorsement to their regimes. Joe won’t even allow that.
An AW reader forwarded our item to Pastor General Joe Tkach, who responded.
"Actually, I found this one to be humorous.
"In this case, the festival in Colorado has become the one place where some of our members and many ex-members can gather and feel like they are experiencing old times. This is the only site where they are actually holding a festival according to the Hebrew calendar [MD comment: who are “they”. This is a WCG festival site, controlled from Pasadena. “They” are simply exercising the right of choice.] I was advised that last year there were as many as a third of the people from the splinter groups (especially the United group) who were in attendance in Colorado [MD comment: any other church would see this as a tremendous opportunity to witness, not a threat.] "There is a group of dissidents who in some cases still attend with us. They have become known as the "Wallenites" and the name comes from one of our ex-pastors, Ron Wallen. He wrote and taught a group of people his own version of prophecy. He prophesied my death on two previous occasions. Ironically, they turned out to be false prophecies and he died recently. His wife and another former initiate of his now lead the group. Many of them were planning to attend the festival in Colorado and I am not surprised to see that they would experience some unrest knowing that the preaching schedule was loaded with people who will be preaching the gospel.
"This is one that I will have to share with Greg, Gerald and the others because I believe that they will find it to be good laugh."
We’re glad Joe got a belly laugh - like the playground bully who snatches a smaller kid’s lunch and then taunts him. But we note that:
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He confirms that the speaking schedule was to be loaded with his honchos.
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He does nothing to disconfirm that he is about to put the boot into the observance as it has been held at Grand Junction.
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There is an edge of contempt in his reply, but little or no trace of pastoral concern.
We also note that he has picked up a very large pasting brush indeed in his attempt to label all dissenters as either UCG members or “Wallenites” (who are a very small group.) Once again, the issue is legitimacy. A church has the right to exercise control over church functions. But members also have the right to have representation in the decision making structures. In the absence of any form of mandate, the cult continues to be run by an unrepresentative group. These people cannot be voted out (they were never voted in) nor endorsed (for that would create the possibility of non-endorsement.)
These issues were addressed in our first MD editorial, The Apostolic Chair. It seems nothing has changed.
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Grand Junction Part 2 - "Best Feast Never": This report from an AW reader.
These comments, from a different perspective, were posted on Likeminds.
Does Joe still find the situation humorous? Won't it be interesting to see the spin HQ gives to this in the next WN! |
Former Pastor’s Testimony: The following comments come from another former WCG pastor. The full letter is in this week’s mailbag.
I was very encouraged by Joe Tkach, Sr when he said if it isn't in the Bible, we are not going to teach it. He was sometimes a hard and merciless man, but his courage to change was outstanding. Joe Junior on the other hand has different strengths...
At least now WCG has a few ministers who are able to feed the sheep a healthier theology than that bigoted and uneducated rubbish of Armstrongism.
The reformation of WCG has been long and difficult. There is serious need to reform the church's polity, because in the long run, an autocratic, top-down, episcopal structure does not foster individual growth. For now, it is probably the only way to keep the church on track for theological reform. However, it must change in time or the church will stagnate even more. At the very minimum, pastors with an advanced degree in theology ought to be given greater freedom.
I left because I felt no freedom in WCG to use my spiritual gifts. I felt hemmed in on all sides by weak brethren who wanted to stay with Armstrongism, by a culture of weak and insipid evangelism, caused by years of oppression of individual talent and suppression of spiritual gifts. I also felt oppressed by a continuing culture of "control freaks." I could go on, but suffice to say, the reformation is barely half over. There is a long way to go for WCG to become what I believe is a healthy denomination.
I also left because I believed I was wasting my time waiting and waiting for HQ. There is work to do. The gospel is too important to sit in a waiting room for a money-hungry HQ to make changes which would give the gospel-work in each local congregation free course. It was in a bottleneck, and that bottleneck was Pasadena -- gumming up the works, holding up the show...
There is no guarantee that a tree with rotten roots will be resurrected, or even that God wants it to continue beyond a mission of turning some aging cult members towards Jesus.
I sometimes wonder when the next split will come. I sometimes wonder when WCG will finally die, or disintegrate into thousands of independent congregations...
If I was still a pastor in WCG, I would seriously consider discussing with my congregation whether or not they wanted to become independent. The gospel is too important to wait. I would seriously consider affiliation with a healthier denomination.
The repentance of the WCG has been like the Catholic Reformation, incomplete...
God bless WCG. God grant that WCG dies a good death, the death of those who are to be commended for great courage or at least that WCG would affiliate with another denomination where someone with a long history of grace and compassion is in charge. God grant that the WCG offshoots come to see the error of Armstrongism. God bless those who have been hurt by Armstrongism and have left Christianity for now. Grant them understanding of how great your grace is. God bless those who have moved on to a healthier part of the Church. Grant them ministries full of joy and grace.
Some
fascinating comments. We beg, however, to differ if the
writer is suggesting that there is some justification in
retaining an autocratic, paternalistic, top-down structure in
order to “keep the church on track” – shades of HWA’s
arrogance. Reform is long, long overdue, and while there are
always risks when power is surrendered, keeping people in
their “spiritual minority” has never been an acceptable
option.
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In Brief |
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Money matters: From Ron Kelly's report in the October WN.
In a pessimistic October member letter (full of allusions to depression) Joseph Tkach observes: As a fellowship we continue to face financial obstacles... Architect named for Ambassador Campus: In an October 2 press release the WCG has named a "master architect/planner" to design the residential development on the former Ambassador College campus . Full text available on the MD Yahoo Group. Mystery mystery: Jim Baldwin’s photo feature in the last AW attracted a lot of traffic. Jim also has a couple of recent items on Ed Mentell’s Painful Truth site: a 1994 article on Mystery of the Ages (did Herb really tell Joe Sr. it was riddled with errors?) and a fascinating personal account of his exit from the WCG. The Sunday Push: Another Joe-compliant pastor butters up the brethren, this time in the Loudon/Portland WCG. |
Friends in
Faith: Recently we mentioned Horst and
Irene Selent’s experience in the WCG Greenville SC
church. Horst has created an
online discussion board on delphiforums.
Message of the Week: The Western Australia WCG has the benefit of an innovative webmaster in John Klassek, creator of Message of the Week. Check out the brief (2 ½ minute) video which is available online at the WA regional website. The Plain Truth About Pericopes: Do you lose sleep at night wondering about pericopes? Could there be a nest of the critters under your house? Could a feral pericope be responsible for the clattering of trash can lids at 3 in the morning? Fear no more. Former PT editor Brian Knowles has come to the rescue with a brief but informative guide to pericopes. You'll even learn how to pronounce the word correctly (it's not "peri-cope").You may not need to call the fumigator after all! The “A” Word: The WCG began as an apocalyptic sect, and the majority of splinter groups happily continue that tradition. But as Jim Moyers points out, the roots of apocalyptic theology go a long way back. Moyers’ article, The Apocalyptic Background of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, might just as easily be titled “The Apocalyptic Background of the WCG.” The subtitle, Zoroaster to William Miller, says it all (yes folks, Willie Miller is our grandpappy too.) Those who naively assume the COGs have an untainted Biblical view of reality might be surprised by what they find here.
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Flashback: Those old enough to
remember the WCG booklet Hippies - Hypocrisy and
Happiness might get a buzz out of these comments,
posted on a site for Beatles
memorabilia.