| My husband had taken a new job
in the Midwest after six years in the Church
in a different state. This job required further training, so we did a
fair amount of travel the first year of his new employment. We were
meeting people in our new congregation, and learning the ins and outs of
how this church functioned. My husband was sent to Atlanta, Georgia on a
business trip, and I accompanied him. We, of course, contacted
Headquarters to find the nearest WCG local congregation. It was located
in Snellville. It was spring, and the dogwoods were in full bloom.
Seemed like every street was named "Peach" something or other.
We arrived very early at the
Snellville location, and were greeted at the door. We noticed a tall
African American gentlemen, who was helping with the set up of the hall.
We were puzzled as to why we were being led over to this gentlemen.
"This is Mr. Earl Williams, our pastor," and we shook hands while
we were introduced. I know I had an astonished look on my face (I had
hoped he didn't think I was prejudiced). I couldn't believe that a minister
was helping to set up for Sabbath services. My husband and I helped with
hall setup for years, and we never had ever seen a minister stoop to
that level! Little did I know the hotbed that we had walked into. This
was May of 1991.
Services started and Mr.
Williams got up to preach. He spoke of the Law and how Jesus fulfilled
the Law by His perfect sacrifice on the Cross. He
turned to the Scripture that showed how the old covenant was made only
to that present generation of ancient Israel, and not with people today.
He spoke of the better Covenant, with our Lord Jesus. He
told us that the Holy Days, Sabbath, and ceremonial laws were all
fulfilled by Christ when he was nailed to the cross. He explained how Jesus was the fulfillment of all the
O.T. prophecies. He showed us in Romans where any day of the year can be kept
Holy to the Lord, and that the Feast days were no longer required. He
read the Scripture about how Jesus made all things clean. The Law was a
substitute until the Reality would come. He exhorted us to seek Jesus,
the Reality, and that salvation was found in Him and not the Law. All we
had to do was accept Him as our personal Savior
in order to be saved. I was stumped. I had never heard anything like
this before. I remember being told these things as a child while
attending Baptist churches, so I knew it was in the Bible, and I knew he
wasn't lying. But I still was not putting two and two together. We were
invited to dinner by a woman whose sister attended our congregation in the Midwest. They spoke highly of Mr. Williams. They
said that their church had grown so large that they had to split the
congregation and move part of it to another location. So the Snellville
church was a fairly new church.
We returned from that trip, and
I thought nothing more of Mr. Williams' sermon. Shortly afterwards, I
discovered that I was pregnant with our first child. We decided to go to
Corpus Christi that year for the Feast. We had met a few friends from
our old church area that were going to meet us there. When we heard that
Mr. Williams was the guest speaker at the Feast, I was overjoyed. I
wanted to hear more, even though I wasn't sure why. I knew that I had
liked him as a person. He seemed genuinely interested in the members
and did not treat them with disdain.
When he finally got up to
speak, he pretty much gave the same sermon that we
had heard back in Snellville. When he got through, you could have heard
a pin drop. My girlfriend had come up to me afterwards and said, "I
don't think I liked what he said." I still did not understand the
significance of what was going on. It wasn't until the last day of the
Feast that he got up and went more in-depth. He was pleading with us to
trust Jesus as our personal Savior and that only through Him could we
find salvation--not in Days, or keeping the Law. I think that's when
something finally began to click. If that was all I had to do,
then WHY had I been spending all these years doing everything but
that? So I went up on stage to confront him. "It's too easy!!"
I said, "Just trust Jesus?? That's it?" "Yes," he
said, "It's that simple." I remember tears welling up in my
eyes (maybe because I was six months pregnant at the time) and I felt
pricked to my heart. What had I been doing all these years if that's all
there was to it??? He
looked at me with serious, pleading eyes, and said, "Pray for the
Holy Spirit to open your eyes and lead you into all truth, and I will
pray for you that He will," and he headed off the stage.
We came home from the Feast,
and I pushed that experience aside. We were
being kept busy with the "Paradigm Shift" program. Our pastor
had given a
sermon about women being forbidden to wear pants at Sabbath services.
The
very next Sabbath, he had to announce that this prohibition had been
lifted
and women could, indeed, wear pants. I know he felt very foolish.
After all, he quoted Scripture to "prove" that women shouldn't dress like
men, etc. It's funny how none of us questioned how "God's
Church" could make mistakes. Other small changes kept coming our
way. I was busy with a new baby to pay too close attention to the rising
discontent in the members.
We attended the Feast the
following year in Lexington, Kentucky (1992). I remember going out to lunch
with a young man who had grown up in the Church. More restrictions had
been lifted, and we were excited by all the changes. But he was more
reflective and seemed dismayed. He was always such a cheerful fellow,
and I asked him if he was okay. I'm sure he didn't feel that he should
voice his concerns, but I think he was feeling that his life had been a
lie all those years. He had sacrificed much, and now he was asking,
"For what?"
After that feast, we returned
and shortly discovered that our pastor had decided to leave and start
his own church. It came as quite a shock to me since I thought that he
was in full agreement with Headquarters. The minister was an older man,
close to retirement, and I'm sure all the changes were more than he
could take. He had spent his whole life teaching things that were no
longer considered, "True." Little did I know that these were
only the "small" changes. The big ones were yet to come.
Another minister had arrived
and took his place. Small changes continued under his leadership, but we
were assured that we were only going through paradigm shifts. (WCG
told us a
paradigm1 is a belief that one's personal view is correct, only to
discover that it wasn't. The example they gave us was about a man who
was driving his car and had to swerve to keep from being hit by a woman
coming in the opposite direction. He hears her yell, "Pig!!!"
and he gets mad and yells a nasty name back, only to crash into a large
pig in the middle of the road hidden by a blind curve.) The members
continued to hear how they should "follow God's Apostle" and
not rebel against His Government. We were told that if
Herbert W. Armstrong
were alive, he would endorse all these changes, even if he
didn't agree with them!!!! He would follow Mr. Tkach just because he was the
Pastor General and he would submit to God's Government. When
Rod Meredith
(originally with Global Church of God; today founder of Living Church of
God) and Gerald Flurry (Philadelphia
Church of God) broke away, the minister would read quotes from the book of
Jude to us. (I later found out that the PGR [Pastor General's Report]
instructed them to do so). I was not going to be guilty of rebelling
against "God's Government." I was going to be loyal to the end. I had decided that I
would not fall away by leaving with false ministers who would rebel against
"God's Apostle."
Then the big one finally hit.
(I recently had another baby and was completely oblivious to all of
this). We had walked into Sabbath services and there was much commotion
and excitement going on. I heard, "Today we're going to see the
showdown in Georgia." "Georgia?" I said, "Why
Georgia??" "Because Mr. Tkach is going down there to put Mr.
Williams in his place! You just wait and see!" "Mr. Williams?
Earl Williams?" I said, "Why?" "Because he's been
preaching grace and he's caused a major split in the Church."
Another person said, "Haven't you heard? There's going to be some
big changes made. We just got back from Texas and everything they
believe there is completely different from what we believe in our church
here."
So the January
7th video was played. Much to our surprise, no such showdown
happened. Mr. Williams wasn't even mentioned! JWT covered several points
in this sermon:
1. If a person was unemployed,
he could find a job and work on the Sabbath.
But once he started working, he should try to get the Sabbath time off
as soon as possible. This would not be considered "breaking the
Sabbath," since it was an "ox in the ditch"
situation.
2. Other Christians could be
found in other denominations (but he did not say that "other
churches were Christian"), so we should not say that God doesn't
work with other people.
3. We could eat unclean meats because what comes out of a man is what
makes
him unclean. "If 'other Christians' (outside of Worldwide)
wanted to eat unclean meats, then God bless them, but I wouldn't eat
those things," said JWT. [So if the Pastor General won't eat
unclean foods, neither will we since he sets the example].
4. The Holy Days are not required for salvation, but we observe them
because
of our tradition. [Nothing changed here].
5. Tithing is no longer required for salvation. But now we were free to
give 10, 20, 30 even 40%! This shows where our hearts really are. We
should want to give more than what was required in the O.T. tithing
system. [This made us feel more guilty].
When the video was over, the
young man who was in Lexington with us, said,
"Anyone want to go out for some pepperoni pizza?" People
turned and gave
him dirty looks. I still did not understand what the big deal was. I didn't think anything had changed, only we were expected to tithe more.
The other changes I comprehended as lifting a few restrictions to
accommodate those in dire circumstances.
Our pastor was trying to follow
Pasadena's orders. He dutifully tried to read the Pastor General's
Report to the congregation. It seemed that he didn't take time to read
it the night before because he kept stumbling over it, and pausing to
reread it, as if to make sure what he had just said was right. His facial
expression was clearly disturbed by what he was reading. He wasn't our
pastor for very long either. He had some deacons and elders go through
the congregation to determine who was "for" or
"against" the changes. I was oblivious to all of this until I
noticed a mother sitting by herself. I went over and said hi and asked
if she was okay. She seemed reticent, but sensed that I had no agenda.
She finally said, "Doesn't it bother you?" It caught me
completely off-guard. "What?" I questioned. She said,
"Haven't you noticed? The congregation is divided in half. The one
group over there is against the changes. The other group over there is
for the changes. Nobody speaks to me anymore, and I don't want to speak
to
anyone. People that have known each other for over 20 years aren't
speaking
to each other!" Then she asked me how I felt about the changes. I
was for them, but I couldn't understand why people were so upset over
them. I was afraid of the "rebellion of Korah" (Numbers 16), so this was the side I had
taken. I figured that I would wait until the dust settled before making
any concrete decisions. When this pastor left, he took half the
congregation with him. We were shell-shocked to lose two pastors in such
a short time.
In the meantime, we had
received a new pastor. We had also moved into an
old, dilapidated school building. This pastor continued to pass out
papers about "God in Three Persons" which explained that God
was a "Hypostasis." I remember studying the papers, but not understanding them.
I finally ran into a family that had been members for 28 years and were
leaving the church. He told me that he had been listening to Earl
Williams' tapes.2 I was surprised that he
knew Mr. Williams and I knew nothing about it. I asked if he could get
the tapes for me and he said he could. I knew Mr. Williams was credible4
and I wanted to hear what he had to say. That evening he brought over a
small box of tapes, and told me about another long time family that was
involved with distributing the tapes underground. He said that he wasted
26 years in WCG and never knew Jesus. He told me that the
WCG was a cult,3 and that I needed to get out.
I knew he was telling the truth, but I was really scared! I was afraid of losing my
salvation, but he assured me that salvation was found in Christ alone.
Mr. Williams was very careful
not to use any disparaging terms against Headquarters. He plainly showed
from Scripture that we were wrong in our beliefs. The O.T. was only a
foreshadow of the coming Messiah. Either we believed the Messiah had
come, or we didn't. That's why some of the Jews keep the O.T. laws--they don't
believe Jesus was the Messiah. I realized that I was guilty of this. Mr.
Williams also referenced several post-cult books by Ken Blue5, David
Johnson6,
and Janis Hutchinson. I had
never heard anything like this preached by the Headquarters' leaders. I
went to the library and checked out these books and started reading. It was
all starting to fit but I was still so confused. Then I had a
frightening thought. If the Holy Spirit were merely a power source, then
I had nothing to lose by not acknowledging it. But if the Holy
Spirit were indeed a Divine Personage, then I had a lot to lose for
rejecting Him. I had to find out.
I remembered what Mr. Williams
said to me at the Feast in Corpus Christi.
So I prayed and asked God to help me to understand what in the world was
going on. I asked for forgiveness for relying on days for my salvation,
instead of believing in Him. I felt such sorrow for completely missing
the mark, and for rejecting the Holy Spirit. I asked the Holy Spirit's
forgiveness and asked Him to lead me into all truth. I did not want to
believe that the WCG was a cult--it's the same feeling one gets when
discovering that a spouse had been unfaithful--but I had to know the
truth no matter how painful it was going to be. At that moment, I felt
something like a blindness lifted from my eyes, and I could finally
clearly see that the WCG was not "God's True Church." I was so convicted
by this, that I immediately stopped attending services. I could no longer be a part
of a lie. It was painful, but I felt amazing peace over it.
It was a long journey, but one
that would have never been started had Mr.
Williams kept silent. Through this one man, thousands of us escaped the
death grip of the WCG.
By Kelly Marshall
Exit & Support Network™
January 21, 2003
Last updated December 2005
P.S. The group of us that
exited my WCG congregation had all listened to Earl Williams' tapes
and none of us went into an Armstrong splinter group.
P.S. P.S.
If Joseph W. Tkach agreed with Earl Williams about grace, then WHY
isn't it ever mentioned in WCG's books and pamphlets today?? Seems strange,
don't you think?
However, Tkach Sr. is alleged to have told David Hulme that
"significant further changes" were in store, but that he
intended to "keep them under wraps for at least five years, lest
they set off a fire-storm within the organization."7
Read
how David Hulme said Joseph W. Tkach Sr. told him Earl was getting in front of him
and that couldn't go on.
Open Letter to Joseph
Tkach
Jr. (Forthright letter which boldly confronts
Tkach with the double messages,
half-truths and guilt placed on members during the changes; mentions Earl
Williams)
UPDATE:
Worldwide Church of God is
now considering a name change. Read: Worldwide
Church of God is Changing Their Name.
The author's
purpose in writing this article is listed as follows:
- To show that grace had been
preached by Williams at least since 1991 because I heard it with my own
ears and saw it with my own eyes.
- To show that Williams did not
"censor" information. He told people to read books outside of the
WCG's booklist; i.e.,
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by Johnson and Van Vonderen,
etc., not books written by
Ruth Tucker, Mike Feazell
and Joe Jr. These outside authors helped me to understand what a
religious cult was and how they functioned.
- Once I learned that we are
under grace and not Law, then I had to question why God's True
Church didn't get it right the first time, since after all, God was
revealing all Truth to "his Apostle" and "his Church." Earl Williams was
clear at explaining this grace and our close fellowship with Jesus
Christ. The WCG would tell us, "You don't have to tithe under the
New Covenant, but if you don't, then this shows where your heart really
is" and other such nonsense. [1995 Video Sermon to
the members] They still wanted to glue the old onto the new.
They still won't come clean about Armstrong and who he really was. A
False Prophet cannot
be a founder of a "True Church."
- I am giving a personal account
of how Earl Williams had affected me personally. I also am aware
that when ministers leave the WCG, somebody will always get hurt (we had
lost two ministers in rapid succession, and even though I was not close
to either one of them, it was still very painful for
me). I do not know Earl Williams' personal motives, but I feel
that I would still be in the WCG today had he not spoken up.
- And lastly, the whole incident
raised a big question with me.
IF
JWT was a "New Covenant Christian," then why didn't he go to Atlanta and
embrace his "New Covenant Christian brother" since they were in
agreement doctrinally??? When Paul rebuked Peter for his hypocrisy, they
still ironed things out openly. Peter, the one who stood
corrected, didn't put Paul out of the church. They spoke about each
other with respect and wanted
to be seen as unified leaders under Christ. But JWT did not say,
"Earl, you were right. Thanks for setting me straight on the
understanding of grace in the church. Since we are in agreement,
let's work on putting the church back together as brothers in Christ."
Was Atlanta a "Test Area"?
(two letters sent to ESN)
Tkach Sr. High-Fived Earl
Williams on the Stage / Atlanta a "test" area:
March 25, 2005
Letter to ESN
Pasadena was trying desperately to hold on to the members [at
the time the new changes were introduced in 1995], knowing that
they would have no reason to stay and continue giving THREE TITHES if
the law was done away and you could attend ANY Christian church. I
know that Pasadena did not think the whole scenario through because
the tapes of Earl Williams went out
like wild fire. Earl did not want them copied. You know how
ministers used to say that tapes could not be shared since it was
only for your area? Earl gave me one tape since my husband was not there
with me. It was the only one he gave permission for to be copied. We
thought that HQ would fire him and it would all be over, but it never
happened. In fact, when JWT Sr. came to
Atlanta, Georgia in January he gave the
same message and he high- fived Earl Williams on stage. I was told
this by
those who saw him do it. People were
shocked.
Earl went through a major transformation while in Atlanta and
I believe that Pasadena was using him. He told me in a phone
conversation that Pasadena bragged about using him. The
congregation that my family attended was told that Atlanta
was a "test" case on these new beliefs and if all went well
that it would be carried out all over the United States.
I talked to Earl a couple of times after this new stuff came
out. I was there for the first big sermon on Grace vs. the Law.
Once in a phone conversation, Earl told me about how the WCG
ministers would use racial slurs when speaking to him, or about
him, and how he won his legal battle against the WCG and had
proven this in court. Looking back I am glad that he stood up
for what was right and took on the WCG for the racial abuse he
endured. Also, I believe that he was saved and that he did have
a life-transforming experience coming out of those Armstrongism
beliefs and that he truly believed in what he was preaching
about grace. He may have been the only minister with the courage
to do the right thing. He had a very nice family.
Earl's original sermon was given in August of 1994. I must
have listened to his sermons on Grace vs. the Law hundreds of times
while copying them and it never sank in for me until two years ago
when I re-listened to one. Maybe it just was not
my time to understand. Maybe I had to join all of these other creepy
cults to be able to help others later on. --Former member of
several offshoots
More on Earl Williams and
Atlanta Being a "Test" Area:
March 25, 2005
Letter to ESN
I read the comment by David Hulme in
OIU 3,
Pt. 1 where he said in a letter to JWT, "by mid-December as
you said to me on April 13, Earl Williams was getting out in
front of you, and that could not go on. You then had
little choice but to agree with him openly in Atlanta on
December 17, 1994."
This is very interesting since I did not see JWT agreeing
openly to Earl Williams. If you read
the sermon transcript, you
will never see anything even remotely referencing EW. He never
once said, "I agree with Mr. Williams" and he (JWT) continued to
say that the Law was not done away with. So my guess is
that Hulme said that because he thought that any preaching of
grace was siding with EW. (EW and Hulme were at the same feast
site when EW gave his grace sermons. Hulme called up JWT and
asked if he could publicly denounce EW, but JWT said "no.") I
believe that the WCG was planning on making the changes, but
making them very, very slowly so members could not discern that
they were changing. (This could be what Hulme meant when he said
"the time being right.")
They wanted to keep all of us intact so they could continue
making money. But EW's tapes were going out and were causing a
rift. JWT couldn't disfellowship him, then turn around and make
the same doctrinal changes, because members would question.
JWT's sermon was an attempt to pacify both sides and
cause confusion so nobody really knew which side he was standing
on. Look how many duplicitous statements were made on that tape.
He was counting on members hearing what they wanted to hear, but
we weren't as dumb as what he had hoped.
At that time, EW's message wasn't so widespread. I think HQ
didn't count on members duplicating EW's tapes and sending them
out on a mass scale (I know that is what I did). That is why I
think JWT said that EW "preempted" him. I don't think he ever
dreamed that EW's message would catch on like wildfire. Maybe
they thought if he did preach this message that the members
would have thrown him out, but since that didn't happen, and
they embraced it, then that could have been a "green light" for
HQ to introduce their changes. I think it spiraled out of
their control and HQ was angry that their plans had been
foiled, and had to step up the pace in introducing the changes.
Before he was preaching grace, I think EW's said he started
listening to Christian radio, which got him thinking and
questioning (something none of us dared do). I think that he did
say that he went to HQ to tell them about the teachings on
grace that he had discovered while reading the Bible and
listening to Christian radio, and they didn't have a problem
with it. (Of course, they wouldn't since they were gong to
slowly introduce these teaching to us). So when EW talked to
Feazell & Co it may have been considered a "test" by them. EW
brought the grace message, they heard it and knew they (HQ)
were going to adopt it, so they gave EW their blessing and
really were waiting and watching to see if the whole thing was
going to flop in EW's face. If it flopped, then they would know
to be more careful introducing it. If it succeeded, then
they knew members were accepting (obedient) enough to accept
what the higher-ups were telling them. I think they completely
underestimated the impact that the gospel message was going to
make. EW didn't pussyfoot on his message. He didn't say, "We're
going to keep these days as our tradition." He said, "These days
are obsolete, part of the Old Covenant. We must let go of days
and grab hold of Christ." He was very clear about the Law being
obsolete, whereas HQ tried to make us believe that it wasn't. I do not see a lot of "agreement" between the two
parties. It seems that if they (EW and WCG HQ) had conspired
together, then there would have been some kind of doctrinal
agreements, but there aren't any. --Former WCG member
NOTE:
It is further known that WCG leaders such as Joseph W. Tkach Sr., Joseph
W. Tkach Jr., Roderick
Meredith, Greg Albrecht and others at headquarters had
understood the truth about tithing not being mandated, plus many other
doctrines since the 1970's. (Read: Worldwide Church of God History
(tape transcription)) This shows how all the changes were not
"new revelation from God." Request the 1976 Richard
Plache Tapes to hear about this and the terrible exploitation of
members. Also read: Robert Gerringer 1975 Letter
to Charles Hunting. Much of this information has been exposed on
other websites, but anytime anyone reveals these things, WCG simply
labels it a "lie" or says it was "in the past and things have
changed." In addition, because of Williams' sermons
on grace, Tkach Sr.'s plan to change things "gradually over a
period of several years" came to a halt and headquarters had to speed up
the changes since so many members were starting to ask a lot of
questions.
David Covington speaks of
Earl Williams
"I am thankful for Earl Williams' ministry and regret that
I did not take more of a stand at the time when he was being blamed for
the church's problems--blamed by those who would eventually go with United
[COG] because of his message of grace, and blamed by those who would stay with
WCG because of his 'preempting the pastor general' and 'having a
government problem.' I believed the administration was fostering this
approach and wrote [a January 19, 1995 letter to Joseph Tkach, Sr.] to
entreat the WCG to utilize Mr. Williams instead of attacking him."
(Excerpted from "Tribute to Courageous Ministers - Pastor Earl Williams'
Significant Role 1, 1997," David Covington's website [no longer online])
In this same article, Covington says he backed out of sending the letter to Earl because
it seemed to him that "loyalty to WCG church government, not to the gospel
of Jesus or the good of the membership, was and is the standard operating
procedure."
ESN's Open Response to Worldwide Church of God Regarding David
Covington
Thoughts
Concerning Worldwide Church of God
and David Covington at PFO Conference
(correspondence
from former WCG member)
What About Earl
Williams and Robert Brinsmead?
It has been noted that Earl Williams was
distributing photocopies of Robert Brinsmead's Sabbath material in 1993 in
an effort to teach the New Covenant to his congregation.
Who is Robert Brinsmead?
Brinsmead was a theologian who left the Seventh-day Adventist church in the 1960's due to
disagreements. His past literature (he published Verdict in the
70's and 80's) and tapes on why Christians didn't need to
observe the Sabbath looked/sounded very well written. In fact, the WCG leaders were
sending copies of his articles to
the entire WCG ministry around the time of the changes. But those that got caught up in his material
noticed that Brinsmead was also "growing" in his
understanding. In fact, he grew so much that he later came to the radical
conclusion that we
"no
longer need the Bible because Christ is the Word." Brinsmead, age
65, later went on to denounce the virgin birth of Christ and His blood
atonement.
WHAT ABOUT ABUSE OF MEMBERS
BY WILLIAMS?
ESN founder L. S. Stuhlman talked
to Earl Williams several times on the phone during the time these new
changes in WCG were taking place. We saw no reason at that
time to question him. Another former member told us that they knew Mr.
Williams personally and that a close friend of theirs knew him very
well. Both of them believe that he was sincere. Others may have opinions or grievances with many things
Earl did, or didn't do, at the time of the changes. He undoubtedly made mistakes and handled things
at times in a wrong way which offended others. How much Earl abused other
members in his twenty-five career as a minister, we do not know, but if he
enforced all the rules of the church, then we are sure there was abuse.
However, we are confident of the fact that Earl has repented of his former
abusive ways. In fact, in his sermon Let
Go of Days, Take Hold of Christ, he said "I apologize for
teaching such things." He went on to say that God had to change him "from the inside
out" and "if I have wronged anyone,
intentionally or unintentionally, I hope they will forgive
me."
Earl Williams eventually disassociated
himself from the WCG in March 1995.
Footnotes:
1 In 1993 a "Paradigm"
sermon was sent out to the members. A video was played which was called "Discovering the Future."
"The
word paradigm describes the New Age idea of transition between two world
views. ... Do not ask questions, for questions and Biblical reasoning is
a solid block against this change." - Joseph Chambers, 1997. A
paradigm shift designates a change in thinking and in one's perception
of reality.
2 It
was reported that when some members tried to share these tapes by Earl
Williams, WCG
would suspend the person, saying they had a "government problem."
These tapes by Williams are now listed on the Tape
Catalog. If anyone has never heard them and
would like a copy, please email and tell which ones you want.
3
The word "cult" is used in the context of
a deceitful, abusive, mind-manipulating organization. (See:
Identifying Marks of an Exploitive, Abusive Group.) While WCG may not be labeled a "religious
cult" by the media today, we have given reasons in our
OIU newsletters and in our other
articles
why we do not endorse them, but rather expose them.
4
If
I hadn't seen and heard with my own eyes, I would never have known who
Earl Williams was, and I wouldn't have believed him. He would have been
like all
the other names of passing WCG ministers that people don't know today.
5
Unfortunately, Ken Blue, along with countless others, has been
influenced by John Wimber and the Third Wave Movement. For more info,
read:
John Wimber and the Vineyard.
6
David Johnson is co-author of
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse.
7
Reported
in New Times Los Angeles article, "Honey I Shrunk the Church"
Earl Williams and the
Worldwide Church of God (More on
the Earl Williams story and what happened; includes criticism Earl has
received)
Let
Go of Days, Take Hold of Christ (Transcript
of Earl Williams' sermon)
A personal letter from Earl Williams
to ESN is published in
OIU
3, Pt. 2.
An Open Letter
to Joseph Tkach Jr. (Forthright letter
which boldly confronts Tkach with the double messages, half-truths and guilt placed
on members during the changes; mentions Earl Williams)
Letter
Exposing Outright Lies, Abuses, and Sociopathic Behavior
(Tells the truth about what was really going on at the
time of the changes)
Letter
to author Janis Hutchinson from ESN (Vitally
important letter with much exposé
regarding WCG's history and reasons for the changes;
helpful in undoing the propaganda and misinformation)
Deception Surrounding Worldwide Church of God Changes (covers
how Tkach Sr. said the source
of the changes were HWA himself and that he "changed his mind" in regard
to what he previously taught)
Video Sermon by
Joseph Tkach Sr. to the Worldwide Church of God January 1995
(Note: ESN's transcript is different than the one WCG formerly posted on
their website, as they left out major statements by Tkach Sr.)
|