Dear Joe:
Our library finally got a copy of your book in so
I started reading it the other day and surprisingly, I found it a pretty
easy read and was able to finish it in one day. Although I am one of the
"40,000 people" who "sit at home, confused, frustrated, and not knowing
what to do or what to believe", I do feel the need to comment on some of
it, since you seemed to have left out some pretty important points.
I must say that I enjoyed the story about your first meeting with James
Kennedy.1 It brought
to mind flashbacks of Basil Wolverton's drawings for the Bible Story Book
Series2, where I could
see this stern judge sitting at his desk with robe and gavel, and then in
the next picture he is looking surprised, and then jumping out of his
chair and hurdling over his desk because of his wild excitement that the 4
of you answered the questions he had asked correctly!!! Praise God and
Hallelujah, you are no longer a cult!3
I felt the same thing about Lorri
McGregor's list of about 30 questions and those she posed to you at
lunch. It's kind of like a game of Bingo. You sit there marking all the
numbers and then finally the right one comes along and you scream BINGO!
and she says "Call the NAE, Let's get these people a membership!!!"4
It's too bad that instead of listening to the 4 of you for a few hours
that they couldn't have come and spent some time in the individual
congregations when this was all happening and listened to the various
ministers and what was being said. Maybe they wouldn't have been so eager
to give such a clean bill of health.
I got a kick out of the title of Chapter 2
- Christmas Eve Sermon, 1994. It kind of makes it sound like the
church embraced Christmas, when, in fact, it couldn't have been more
against it, and just a couple months before, in a sermon, your dad had
stated emphatically that the church would not celebrate it. I do have a
problem with how you present that sermon, though. Yes, your dad was
talking about grace, but this sermon, along with others we would get over
the months, was so full of double talk5
that it was plain that your dad really didn't get the picture, or if he
did, he certainly didn't know how to present it. He did tell us that we
didn't have to adhere to the law of tithing, BUT, if we loved God we would
give MORE than 10%. He did say that if a man had to work on the Sabbath to
support his family that he could do so UNTIL he found another job where he
wouldn't have to. He told the people in Big Sandy when he gave this sermon
that it was OK to play golf on the Sabbath but later said it was not OK.
He said that we didn't have to keep the Holy Days because they didn't mean
what we taught they meant, but we would continue to do so and that we
wouldn't keep Christmas or Easter but we were not to condemn others
outside the wcg [Worldwide Church of God] for doing so.6
Things like this continued on until people couldn't take it any longer and
this is where the real problem was. Either we could or we couldn't but
this back and forth dribble was driving people crazy.
Changes were happening, but they came with a price of guilt if we did
them. And because of this, most people were NOT convinced that they were
for real! Even when your dad mentioned that there were other Christians in
the world, in his own words to me in one of several lengthy telephone
conversations I had with him, he said that it was possible, but he
certainly wasn't endorsing any other churches and felt that those people
would eventually be coming to the wcg. You paint a very wonderful picture
with words like, "he (your dad) cleared away the fog that was clouding our
view of Jesus Christ", and "We continued coming out of a theological sleep
into the refreshing light of a clear focus on the gospel of grace and our
relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ", when, in fact, the fog was
worse than ever. Ministers didn't have a clue of grace, and certainly no
idea of how to teach it. Maybe the focus was clear to you and your
buddies, but to the whole church, it was very unclear.
But besides all of the above, I truly wonder how you can present such an
honest and sincere account of the churches [sic] changes without
mentioning or giving credit to the one person who really brought this all
out, Earl Williams. Your father wasn't the one who
led the church into grace. Earl did. I guess you forgot the chapter titled
"The Feast of Tabernacles Sermon, 1994", where Earl talked about grace and
the law. It was from this incident that the avalanche started. Earl is the
one who understood grace and was able to bring it out so clearly that
hundreds, if not thousands, of people were able to understand and see what
was happening. He didn't need double talk and half truths or guilt to get
the message out. It was Earl who put the truth of grace into a beginning
by showing us what we believed, why it was wrong and what we needed to
believe. He was our sanity in a time of confusion and turmoil.7
I talked with your dad many times about this and asked him why he just
couldn't come out and tell people the truth. He said they wouldn't
understand. I told him I understood and I was just a lowly member. He also
said that if it weren't for Earl bringing this out that it would have been
maybe another 5 years before it came out. If things would have been done
the way Earl handled it in his sermons that we listened to, I feel the
transition would have been smooth and successful. Instead, we were
forbidden to even listen to his tapes or to pass them to other members.
The books that Earl recommended, like
Classic Christianity, flooded
our minds with truth that we had never seen before. When I asked your dad
if he had read it, he said it was on his desk but he didn't need to read
books because God would reveal what he needed him to know. Earl was used
by the Holy Spirit to set hundreds free from the prison we had lived in
for over 30 years, yet you and your father and others accused him of
overstepping your dad's authority. I ask you this: With all the excitement
you seem to now have for the wonderful truth of grace and your eagerness
to preach it, how could you possibly accuse Earl of doing something wrong
when he, too, felt driven by the Holy Spirit to talk about it to those who
had been imprisoned for so long in the clutches of the law??? Why are you
so anxious to flood the offices of so-called Christian leaders, that you
once denounced as pagan heathens, in search of their acceptance with your
wonderful new beliefs and to be on radio programs to tell the world of
your new direction when you wouldn't support Earl in his enthusiasm to
bring the real gospel to wcg members?
You take a chapter to ask how we could
have believed what we did and you excitedly use Hank's term "cognitive
dissonance" - a term that shows how people can embrace two opposing ideas.
You both think it's a wonderful foundation for a new book. Yet, I could
give you a simpler term for it where dozens of books now exist on the
topic. It's called "BRAINWASHING". You briefly mentioned the STP project
back in the 70's but really didn't tell that there
were ministers who saw that the wcg was wrong and tried to bring grace to
the picture but they were disfellowshipped and labeled as "in the bonds of
Satan" and worse.
I truly feel that some people did see problems with the contradictory
teachings, but to DARE question ANYTHING set you up for labeling as being
in a bad attitude, having a lack of faith or even getting you
disfellowshipped. We clearly saw the stupidity in the 2nd tithing rules
imposed where Malachi said we could take and use this money for whatsoever
our hearts desired, and yet followed the list of do's and don't that HQ
told us we could do with that money, including sending in whatever we had
left to them. We did this for years until we finally decided to do what we
wanted to do with it. We questioned why we kept some of the OC laws but
not all of them or where collections were taken up on the FIRST day of the
week, which shows Christians were meeting on SUNDAY, but to question any
of this was our eternal life - that's why we didn't do it!!! You certainly
remember that Herbert told us over and over again, "Don't believe ME and
what I SAY, but GO and PROVE it for YOURSELF", yet you better come up with
his same conclusions or the conclusions of the ministers, or you were
history.
You mention in your book that many people
thought the changes were part of a con game that you all were involved
in. My opinion is that, as you say, God started answering all the prayers
of people over the years who saw us for what we really were, and wanted to
do something about it. But when He saw that it was going to take you
around 5 or 10 years to complete the assignment, He chose to work with
someone who would work with Him, and that's when Earl stepped up. I
believe that God's purpose was to destroy the empire - not to save and
build it back up.
In the first few paragraphs of your Introduction, you state, "Those who
would not continue on the journey that God was taking us on have left". It
sounds like you still believe there is something great about the wcg.
Because we were taught that we were a chosen, special group of people,
better than everyone else, I feel it's essential that the central focus -
HQ/Leadership - be eliminated so that people have only Jesus to look to
for their leader and that people realize that none of us are any greater
or better or more special than another. To a group of people who lived and
breathed by every word of Armstrong's or Tkach's or the minister's
command, it's essential to take that position out of the equation. It's
Jesus plus no one, but as long as you or a successor continues in your
position, along with the governmental line, it will never be that way.
I still can't get over how convenient it is to use scripture when trying
to get a point across to make the bad wcg look good. How many times was it
done in the Personnel columns or co-worker letters by saying "Sure wcg
made mistakes, BUT so did the apostles", or "so and so, etc". In
your chapter From Eternity to Here, you
bring up Paul and how skeptical Christians were of him after his
conversion and that it took years for him to be believed, and it may take
years for you to be believed, also. However, the big difference that I see
in this flawed example is that Paul wasn't claiming to be a Christian
while persecuting them, and that when God, who specifically called him,
unlike Armstrong or your dad or you, decided to use Paul, it didn't take
YEARS or meetings behind closed doors for Paul to change. As you say, he
started preaching that Jesus was the Son of God, immediately. I can
totally see where Christians would be skeptical of Paul when this
happened, but to compare this to the wcg is like comparing apples to
oranges. It sounds good, but it's not the same thing.
Instead of thinking that there's some great plan that God has in mind for
the wcg, why not just accept and give thanks that God has shown wonderful
mercy in getting people out of a cult that He had nothing to do with
getting us into, and since the leadership is still confused and has no
real credentials from true seminary schools to preach the gospel, disband
the wcg, liquidate the assets and give the money to really worthwhile
organizations, get a real job, and if certain churches want to still
remain together, let them support themselves?? Oh, but wait, you answered
that in your book when you said you didn't believe that He rescued you
just to have you disband because you have things to learn as a group and
may teach to others.
Unfortunately, I could go on and on, but I'll just state that you painted
a very wonderful picture of what has happened. Certainly you mentioned the
negative things that transpired, such as the
splinter groups, loss of friends and family, loss of income, hate
letters that you have received, etc. But I think the reality is much
greater than that. For the many thousands who are disillusioned by the
lies they believed, resulting in family separations - some permanent
because of the death of a loved one while they were estranged - or the
money they squandered so that a few could live in splendor, or the years
of abuse they endured at the hands of "God-inspired ministers", or the
families who were destroyed because of forced divorce by church leaders,
or the thousands of kids whose lives were taken from them because they
couldn't have anything to do with the "world" or school friends, or those
who committed suicide, even recently, because of what their lives had been
like, or the hundreds who were shunned and disfellowshipped, or the
ministers who tore apart the members and then each other, I feel they see
it a little differently.
I truly wonder how excited to continue on your journey you would be if you
found that journey taking you to the city slums to preach your message,
living in a small apartment in the city like the ones most HQ personnel or
members lived in, back to a low 5 figure income instead of the 6 figures
you now enjoy, a house or apartment payment every month instead of your
free home, a real job you had to go to daily with only 2 weeks vacation
that you had to use for the Feast of Tabernacles, no savings in the bank
because you were giving every extra dime to the church because of the
constant ramblings of give, give, give, give, so you can "lay treasure up
for yourself in heaven", or no retirement fund because you don't need it.
etc. I can see why you want the church to continue. Not only is your
standard of living the same, now you are getting radio and tv coverage,
writing a book, and endorsements from other leaders. You and your friends
are still enjoying the good life and travelling all over the country to
share the "truth". As you continue to tell the members to sacrifice and
give, exactly where is your sacrificing and how much do you give
financially?
In closing, I applaud every person who has been able to walk away from the
wcg and either attend another Christian church or attend none at all. It
shows that they have totally left a life of guilt, fear, and intimidation
and replaced it with the freedom to live as they feel best. My hope is
that God finishes the job He's started with dismantling the wcg and all it
symbolizes.
Sincerely,
Sharon Griffith - A happy, healthy, sane and proud member of the 40,000+
club
Hard Copy: H. Hanegraaff
Note by ESN:
This letter was sent to Tkach Jr. in
approximately 1997. No reply was ever received.
Be sure and read:
How I Know Every
Word in Open Letter to Joseph Tkach Jr. is True (October 27, 2007
email to ESN)
Footnotes by ESN:
1 On
4-30-96 and 5-1-96 Joseph W. Tkach Jr. was interviewed on D. James Kennedy's
Christian radio program Truths that Transform. In that interview, Tkach Jr.
stated that Herbert W. Armstrong was a "very sincere
Christian who was dedicated to Christ." (Tapes with ESN) [Note:
D. James Kennedy died 9-5-07 at the age of 76.] In the Worldwide News,
March 7, 1995, p. 3, Joseph W. Tkach stated that they believe Herbert
Armstrong
"was a minister of Jesus Christ." For more quotes see:
Has WCG whitewashed Herbert W.
Armstrong? from the Q&A's.
Herbert
W. Armstrong stated, "Christ is not the gospel. Believing on Christ is
not believing the gospel." (Voice
clip of HWA giving a Bible Study and marking Buck Taylor; heard on tape 2,
pt. 2 of "My
Story" by C. Wayne Cole, 5-19-79)
2 For more about Basil
Wolverton, read this part
on our site.
3 A mind-manipulating
group.
4 The National Association of
Evangelicals (NAE) accepted the Worldwide
Church of God into full membership in 1997 and Joseph Tkach is
listed on the NAE board of member list.
5
Video Sermon by Joseph W. Tkach to Worldwide Church of God Members,
January 1995 (Transcript
shows the manner in which the new changes
were first delivered to the members: with confusion, double messages, shouting
and blaming. Also known as "The Christmas Eve Sermon.")
6 These double messages
have been covered in many places on the ESN site. One place is
Kelly Marshall's 1995 Letter to
author Janis Hutchinson.
7 Read
The Earl Williams Factor for more details.
The Earl Williams
Factor
(Reveals how Williams was preaching grace way before Tkach Sr. supposedly received his "truth about the New Covenant
from God.")
Lamb With Wolf-Like Jaws! (An amazing letter exposing the deceit, abuse and hypocrisy of the
Worldwide Church of God. Written during the new doctrinal changes; mailed
to ESN, David Covington, counter-cult apologetic ministries and local members.)
I Tried to Speak Out
About the WCG Duplicity and Paternalism
(2006 letter to ESN)
Abused by Worldwide Church of God When I Decided To Leave
Their Fellowship (2007
testimony)
Back to Research
Information on Worldwide Church of God
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