Unavailable! The Worldwide News
– Prior to September 1995
January 10, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 1, Personal from Joseph W. Tkach, "Understanding the Covenants":
Note from ESN: What WCG printed in this issue (it covered their entire paper) did not give the unedited version of this blame-filled, shouting sermon given by Tkach, Sr. For excerpts from this three hour sermon, read our article: Video Sermon by Joseph Tkach, Sr. to Worldwide Church of God, January 1995.
January 24, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 2, Personal from Joseph W. Tkach: "New light on the Sabbath, Holy Days, unclean meats":
[The Sabbath]:
"But the physical keeping of the Sabbath is not part of our new covenant obligation (Galatians 4:1-31)." (p. 1, 5)
"The old covenant is not applicable to Christians." (p. 5)
"Does this mean that we should stop keeping the Sabbath? No, it doesn't. We will continue to keep the Sabbath. To set aside the Sabbath every week to assemble together and to devote to congregational worship is appropriate and fitting." (p. 5)
"But to say that the Sabbath is a binding command on Christians in the New Testament, and to forbid employment as a requirement for membership, is to misunderstand and misapply the Scriptures. (On the other hand, to play golf or go to sports stadiums instead of assembling for worship is wrong.) (p. 5)
"The Sabbath does not appear in any of the 'sin lists' in the New Testament. Nor does it appear in any of the commands or lists of virtues in the New Testament." (p. 8)
"We therefore, keep the Sabbath voluntarily, recognizing it as a biblical pattern for worship." (p. 5)
"But just because we suffered in the past with certain misunderstandings doesn't mean Christ would forgive me for just continuing to bind that on everyone else. That would be wrong." (p. 5)
"We will continue to assemble on the Sabbath and on the Holy Days. And we will continue to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." (p. 5)
[Comment: By 1998 the WCG was calling the Feasts "optional" and by 2005, they were already phasing them out, only having "special worship festivals during the summer and fall of the year" by certain local congregations. In 2006 their "worship calendar" included Roman Catholic / Lutheran observances such as Maundy Thursday (also known as "Holy Thursday"), First Sunday of Advent and Last Sunday of Advent. They have also referred to Pentecost as "Whitsunday." However, some WCG congregations overseas (i.e., Philippine congregations) still observe a "festival" or "grand celebration" either immediately before or after the Feast of Tabernacles. (Worldwide Church of God Philippine Update, October 6, 2007)]
"The Sabbath and the Holy Days become holy time for us as we devote them to God, but they are not holy time in the sense that the old covenant is still in force." (p. 5)
[Comment: Can you see the many contradictions?]
[Annual Festivals]:
""Yes, we will [continue to observe them]. These are major highlights of our pattern of worship and have rich mean for us." (p. 8) [This was in answer to a question about whether members would continue to observe the annual Festivals.]
"We are, and will remain, a Holy Day-observing church." (p. 5)
"But we will do it in the understanding that observance of the annual Festivals is not a requirement for salvation." (p. 8)
"The Bible has to be our guide in these things, not our tradition." (p. 8)
"You seem quite upset that we choose to meet on the Sabbath because it is our tradition. You state, 'Something so important as the day of worship should have a biblical basis!' However, I would like to point out that your statement is an assumption, without a biblical basis. … Since the Bible doesn't command us to change, we have continued our tradition (Worldwide News, January 16, 1996, Personal from the Editor, "Christ is the foundation of our faith" from HQ letter sent to WCG member.)
"What about saving second tithe? Members are certainly free to save a tenth of their income for expenses at the Feast of Tabernacles, and many, if not most, will continue to do so." (p. 8)
"But it is only necessary to save enough to keep the Feast. Second tithe is not commanded and not a matter of obedience or sin under the new covenant." (p. 8)
"In order to help with the costs of operating the Festival sites, we still ask that members contribute a portion of their Festival savings to the Festival Fund (formerly called the tithe of the tithe)." (p. 8)
[Third Tithe]:
"I cannot stress enough the need for the Assistance Fund for the purpose of helping the needy in the Church." (p. 8)
[Comment: Third tithe fund was also called the Assistance Fund.]
"However, the three-tithing system is not part of the new covenant." (p. 8)
"Nevertheless, the admonition for Christians to help those in need is every bit as great." (p. 8)
[Unclean Meat]:
Voluntarily abstaining from unclean meat, when not used as a spiritual yardstick, can help us remember that we are made spiritually clean through faith in Jesus Christ and that we are called out of the world to serve him." (p. 8)
"But there is no scriptural requirement for Christians to abstain from unclean meat." (p. 8)
[Spoken by Tkach, Sr. in his January 1995 Video Sermon to members]:
"Am I encouraging anyone to eating unclean foods now? I couldn't even if Christ came down and told me like Peter. And I don't think any of you would either. I look at that lobster. I never had a lobster even before I was converted. I had certain standards as far as my rearing was concerned. Who the heck could eat a lobster??? And if they're happy, God bless them."
February 7, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 3, Personal from Joseph W. Tkach: "Our agreement with God":
"When we were baptized, we made an agreement with God. We accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, and we agreed to obey him in everything he commanded. … We would have to make sacrifices for our Lord and Master. … It was not just a one-time sacrifice, but a lifetime commitment. Our allegiance is given entirely to God." (p. 1)
[Comment: How many at their baptism were told they were "accepting Christ as their personal Savior?" Weren't potential members asked if they had repented of their rotten, human nature that was "in rebellion to God's Law"? Wasn't their "allegiance, lifetime commitment, and sacrifices" to be given to the WCG government?]
"Some people…worry about the past, as if previous sacrifices were all for nothing. And I say, absolutely not!" (p. 1)
[Comment: Try telling that to those who gave up their retirement, pension, college education, jobs, families, friends, health, etc. for the WCG.]
[Church Employees]:
"I would like to guarantee incomes and jobs for all our employees, but I simply cannot. Nor can I maintain the doctrinal status quo simply for the sake of mammon." (p. 5)
"To keep our income up, it might be temporarily useful to continue teaching our old doctrines—but it would be unethical for me to teach traditions as requirements when the Bible does not require those traditions in the form we have become accustomed to." (p. 5)
[Those who were leaving WCG]:
"How sad that these people [who leave WCG] are looking to humans and not to Christ!" (p. 5)
"There will always be critics and skeptics, and there will always be people who leave. That's because some people have been among us for the wrong reasons." (p. 5)
"Some people psychologically want a religion of rules and rigor." (p. 5)
"Some people want religion for selfish reasons—to save their skins from coming tribulation, to get power and glory for themselves in the world to come, to feel wiser or better than other folks in this life, etc." (p. 5)
"Some of our doctrines appealed to these human desires, and it is no surprise that some people drop out when the personal appeal is gone. Of course, God will add others to take their place…" (p. 5)
[Comment: The above statements do not, in the least, admit to the fact that people were deceived into believing they were obeying God, and fear was used to keep them staying and obeying this "religion of rules and rigor." The "place of safety," becoming a member in the "God family," and "ruling in the Kingdom" was held out as the reward if they did. Furthermore, HWA taught members to look to him as Christ's Apostle who spoke for God.]
"It's not easy to admit that we were wrong, and it's even hard to admit it when we vigorously defend as true what we now see was not." (p. 5)
[Comment: Tkach does not admit that it was THEY--the leaders at Headquarters-- (not "we"--the members) who were wrong. Blame (used in religious cults) is being placed on the members here for only believing what they were taught.]
"But we cannot bury our heads in the sand—we must let the truth change us and direct our lives." (p. 5)
[Comment: Before joining, members were told they had "the truth" but now that "truth" is being changed 180 degrees.]
"We were wrong before, so isn't it possible that we are wrong again?" (p. 5)
[Comment: This makes no sense when you realize that members were made to believe that HWA had "God's truth" and the other churches were "counterfeit Christianity." Why would the truth bounce back and forth?]
[Tithing]:
"I am thankful for the continuing faithfulness of many members. Some are giving more than ever…" (p. 5)
"These doctrinal changes are upsetting, in part, because of our failure to help our members focus on the true foundation. And I am partly to blame for that, and Christ now holds me accountable for helping correct it whether everybody likes it or not. The only viable option is to go forward!" (p. 5)
"I would like to do more work with less money, but I don't always know how." (p. 5)
[Sabbath-keeping Groups]:
"The reason that Sabbath-keeping groups are prone to schisms is that some people put more emphasis on their own interpretation of the Sabbath than they do on love for one another." (p. 5)
[Comment: More blame is placed on the members in this sentence, since they were taught by HQ to "keep the Sabbath," or else end up in the Lake of Fire.]
[Continue On]:
"Christianity is a costly faith. It demands all that we have." (p. 5)
"The Sabbath will always be important to us…" (p. 5)
"We do not want anyone to be less zealous than they were before." (p. 8)
"I will close with Hebrews 13:16-21:" 'Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. … Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. …' " (p. 8)
[Comment: In other words continue to kept the Sabbath, tithe, observe all the Holy Days, and do not leave the WCG--but if headquarters tells you something different, then obey because they represent the government of God!]
February 21, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 4, "Tithing":
"There is a good precedent for tithing before Sinai, but no proof that it was required. And without proof, we cannot bind requirements on God's people." (p. 5)
"We can point to Abraham's good example, but we cannot make it a requirement when the Bible does not authorize us to." (p. 5)
"However, there continues to be a financial need within the new covenant, and there continues to be a financial obligation on the part of all Christians." (p. 5)
"The new covenant makes astonishing demands on us—it demands all that we have…" (p. 5)
"Wealth is often an enemy of faith. It can 'choke' people and cause them to be spiritually unfruitful. … He [Jesus] warned us about the dangers of greed and warned about the danger of storing up wealth for self without being 'rich toward God' …" (p. 5, 6)
[Comment: Why doesn't Tkach bring up the subject of the greed of Herbert Armstrong? Read: Herbert W. Armstrong: The Rich Apostle.]
"When the wealthy give banquets, they should invite the poor and the handicapped." (p. 6)
[Comment: Did HWA? Did any of the WCG leaders do so when they entertained and/or were being entertained in the finest of surroundings?]
"Money competes for our allegiance…" (p. 6)
[Comment: Wasn't our "allegiance" always to the WCG government?]
"If disciples of Jesus Christ can give, but do not, they are falling short." (p. 6) [emp ours]
March 7, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 5, Personal from Joseph W. Tkach: "Headquarters role: help members and congregations rise to potential":
"The Church must instruct and train members for active service in God's army." (p. 1)
"Until very recently, our members have not been called on to enter into the work of the gospel. Therefore, they need preparation and training. They need education and instruction." (p. 1)
"Therefore, another one of our primary goals is to set up a system by which members can raise funds locally to buy or build local church buildings." (p. 10)
"As we prepare to set up such a program, I must stress that it is important that building fund donations not replace the much-needed contributions for the general work of the Church. Our financial priorities include ministers' salaries, general church administration, youth programs, members assistance programs (formerly called third tithe assistance), The Plain Truth, The Worldwide News and other publications and support for Ambassador University. These must be paid for my members' faithful contributions to Church headquarters. I want to encourage you not to diminish your regular donations in order to contribute to the local building fund." (p. 10)
"God has seen fit to give us a financial crisis, and that crisis is going to affect many of our faithful employees in a very personal way." (p. 10)
"Becoming prepared to effectively share the gospel message" by Joseph Tkach, Jr., p. 1:
"Further, some people want to believe that Mr. Armstrong did, indeed, receive new and special instruction or new truth directly from God, even though he said he did not." (p. 3)
"This does not disparage Mr. Armstrong. We believe that he was a minister of Jesus Christ. ... Mr. Armstrong was devoted to Christ in spite of his errors, and placed the Bible above his own ideas." (p. 3)
"Mr. Armstrong disclaimed special revelation, as well. He never claimed infallibility when it came to preaching and teaching. He only claimed to understand what the revelation of Scripture teaches us. ... This is no disrespect to him. He was always willing to make a change when he could see the error. Of course, while he was still alive, neither he nor any of us saw these errors." (p. 4)
[Comment: Read: History of the WCG and Robert Gerringer Letter to learn about what happened in the 70's to know whether or not it is true that neither HWA, nor any of them, "saw these errors."]
[The Local Church Building Program]:
"As most of you are aware, finances at this time are tight and we will only be able to fund a limited church building program for the foreseeable future." (p. 4)
"We know we have a lot to learn about constructing and owning church buildings. In order to avoid creating future problems for ourselves, we need to go slowly, see what works and what doesn't, and gain some experience before trying to implement the goals of this program on a churchwide scale. (p. 4)
"...it [the decline in income] is happening at a time when we are trying to acquire our own church buildings and establish a retirement program for Church employees." (p. 4)
[Comment: Did church members ever get their own buildings? See August 9, 1994 WN comments.]
[Those who are leaving WCG]:
"God also prunes the vine." (p. 4)
[Comment: Readers are made to associate the WCG with being the "vine," but it is Christ, not WCG, that is the Vine. Leaving WCG does not mean one has left the true Vine.
"Sadly, there are those who are led away to follow false teachers who have desired to have preeminence. These false teachers...do violence to the Scriptures by refusing to repent from heresy and misinterpretation." (p. 4)[Comment: While this refers to the leaders of the splinter groups at that time, doesn't this apply foremost to Herbert Armstrong and the WCG?]
[Rumors]:
"Endless rumors are not a hallmark of Christ working in us." (p. 9) "For example, it is not true that we plan to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. ... It is not true that we promote the celebration of Christmas or Easter." (p. 9)
"Generally speaking, people will be healthier if they do not allow themselves to be merchandised by rumors. ... Some ministers and members misunderstand the doctrinal corrections as taking away from their devotion to honor God on the Sabbath. Such is not the case." (p. 9)
[Comment: Isn't this information control? Read how Joseph Tkach, Jr. was denying "rumors" in a sermon back in April 1993.]
March 21, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 6, "Questions & Answers From the Pastor General's Report," p. 7:
[Sabbath]:
"We will probably always have strict Sabbath-keepers in our fellowship. ... It's good for people to discipline themselves, and it's good for them to give time to worshiping God and doing godly works of service. This can help keep them mindful of God." (p. 7)
"Most of our members are able to continue setting aside the Sabbath, but we hope they do it freely rather than thinking they'll go to the lake of fire if they don't or can't." (p. 7)
"We will have to explain why we worship on the Sabbath, and the honest answer is that we used to think that we absolutely had to. (p. 7)
"We receive blessings from keeping the Sabbath and festivals, just as we would receive blessings from keeping every Wednesday devoted to study, prayer and fasting." (p. 7)
April 25, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 8, "Why These Changes?" by Paul Kroll, p. 3:
"One understandable reaction has been: How could we have been so wrong when we thought we were so right? After all, we had proved these things to ourselves." (p. 3)
"Of course, we're not the only Christians who have been in such a perplexing situation. As it turns out, some of the same changes we've made; some of the same attitudes we've had toward Old Testament practices; some of the same concerns we've had about our self-identity--were experienced by the earliest apostolic church." (p. 3)
"The fact is, we are fighting the same general theological war as the apostolic church itself fought." (p. 3)
"We were, in effect, a Jewish Christian church!" (p. 5)
[Comment: The apostolic church was never a deceptive group that used "church" as a front. To compare it with WCG is ridiculous, to say the least. Wouldn't it be more truthful for Kroll to admit that WCG was, in effect, known as a Bible-based cult that exploited people?]
May 9, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 9, Personal from Joseph W. Tkach: "Holy Days rekindle individual, collective commitment to Christ":
"...these are trying times in God's Church. ... They are times of new learning and new understanding, and letting go of long and dearly held assumptions." (p. 6)
"If there was ever a difficult audience to reach, it was the corrupt hierarchy and the religious zealots of first-century Jerusalem." (p. 6)
May 23, 1995, The Worldwide News, VOL. XXIII, NO. 10, Study papers on the Sabbath: "Sabbath: Jesus' example is liberty," p. 9):
"We have always known that it is permissible to flee for your life on the Sabbath. The reason that it might be difficult to flee on the Sabbath, however, is because unbelievers are keeping the Sabbath, not because the fleeing people are." (p. 9)
[Comment: This is not what WCG taught members. Members were taught to pray that they "wouldn't" have to flee on the Sabbath.]
"In the Worldwide Church of God we meet on the seventh day of the week for several reasons:
"It is our tradition. ... there is no biblical reason why we have to change our day of worship even after discovering that our original reason was mistaken." (p. 11)
"Since our members have arranged their work schedules to avoid Saturday work, Saturdays are the day on which almost all of us can meet regularly." (p. 11)
[Comment: What about those who have always had a hard time holding down or obtaining a good paying job because they were required to take Saturday off?]
"Since we welcome Sabbath-keepers into our fellowship and do not demand that they change their custom, we meet on Saturday so they can worship with us." (p. 11)
"Because of these reasons, we will meet on the Sabbath for a long, long time." (p. 11)
"It is wrong to add requirements to God's law and makes things more difficult." (p. 12)
"Many people have refused medical treatment and have been healed ... " (p. 12)
[Comment: No mention of the thousands that refused medical treatment and died. Read: How Did Worldwide Church of God Instruct Ministers to Deal With "Health and Medical Problems"?]
"In times of sincere ignorance God may wink and help... In maters of health and employment sincere people have suffered for years and years because they thought they had to do something that was neither wise nor required." (p. 12)
"Many godly men and women have kept the Sabbath and inspired others to follow their example--people like Stephen Mumford, Ellen White and Herbert Armstrong." (p. 12)
[Comment: Why is HWA listed as a "godly man"? And why is Ellen White (a false teacher and co-founder of a group that is known as a religious cult) listed? WCG implied that their "church" could be traced back to Stephen Mumford, who was part of the "true Church of God." This has been documented as pure fabrication.]
"Those who neglect worship time stunt their spiritual growth." (p. 12)
"However, we have no biblical authority to mandate that everybody set aside the same time that we do." (p. 12)
"Those who remove themselves from the vine wither and die." (p. 13)
[Comment: Tkach is implying again that the "vine" is the Worldwide Church of God. However, Christ is the Vine, not WCG.]
"We must continue meeting together, and Christians should make reasonable efforts to meet weekly with the fellowship God has placed them in." (p. 13)[Comment: Translated in the members' minds, this meant: "Stay where God has placed you; do not leave the WCG." See Nov. 29, 1994 WN for quote.]
"Christians are free to keep the Sabbath to the degree they wish..." (p. 16)