Chapter 11: Reaching out to the splinter groups.

The leadership change from Armstrong to Joseph W Tkach Snr was smooth and orderly. It seemed that for a while at least, all would continue as before in WCG after Armstrong’s passing. It didn’t take Tkach long though to start to question a few and later many of WCG’s views.

As the years passed, more and more of the doctrines which were central to the former cult were brought into question and changed. Some ministers under Tkach were supportive and even carried out further research on the teachings of the group in order to strive for greater Biblical accuracy. Such men presented their findings to Tkach Snr without fear of being fired as they would have been under Armstrong if they disagreed with him.

Tkach felt that he couldn’t just standby while members of WCG labored under old and heavy cultic views that could be proven wrong. Tkach had spent time many years earlier in the U.S. military and had the guts to take on a challenge. He felt strongly that the Church should continue to exist but that it should be reformed from a fringe-dwelling cult to a main-stream Christian religion. 

Unfortunately though, many ministers under Tkach’s authority didn’t agree with him at all. These men had the view that Armstrong’s teachings were the only ones that should be held to and that Tkach was deserting the faith once delivered. As a result, a large number of such men left the parent group over a period of about 10 years and set up their own organizations.

They poached large numbers of WCG members off with them and these groups disagreed strongly with WCG as it was and also couldn’t agree with each other either. Oh where was the Christianity here? At one time, well over 100 different groups existed and some break-aways broke from the break-aways, are you confused now? I don’t blame you if you are!

I would like to address the leaders of such splinter groups here if I may. Why oh why are you stuck in the past? Why is it that you can’t seem to see the results of Armstrong’s teachings when such are so obvious for all to examine? The accounts here in this book are absolutely true and these are from the grass-roots, showing the life damaging consequences of that former cult leader’s views in action. Why are so many of you desperate to repeat the mistakes made and now acknowledged by Worldwide?

Are you so totally blinded by your own attempts to cling to your power over others and to the cash dragged out of your hard-working members that you have lost any normal human empathy and compassion? Do you somehow think that it will be different this time? If so, you are deluded and more importantly, the people who are members of your cults will be hurt as I was in WCG.

Children growing up in your groups are going to suffer the same sort of abuses detailed here and do you really think that’s what God wants? Further generations of people with wrecked lives will come out of your organizations and I can guarantee it, how? Because Armstrong was just another cult leader and if you follow him then that’s what you all are as well.

I only hope that one day all of you will stop hiding from the obvious truth and eventually that you can apologize for your cultic abuses as WCG has tried to do – the sooner the better.

If I may address those people who are caught-up as members of your splinter groups by your very successful fear-dependant deception? Let me say this, please, please take some time to research what actually happened in Worldwide. Not just here in this book but also have a look at Wikipedia as it’s all there for your information.

Oh yes that’s right, the cult won’t allow you to do that will it? Well that’s because it’s just that, yet another nasty fear-filled so-called Bible-based Christian cult scared of what you will really find out about it and about Armstrong as well.

Have a real good look at the results of prolonged exposure to the belief system created by Herbert Armstrong. See the years of fear and the millions of dollars dragged out of the pockets of WCG’s members. If you are in a group which is trying to hang on to Armstrong’s teachings then it’s happening to you as well.

If WCG was the only true Church as we were taught many hundreds of times then why did it have to change so much? Could you really still believe that all other Churches are set up by Satan as Armstrong taught? Can’t you see how totally cultic that is?

Will your children thank you for bashing them regularly as parents were taught to do under Armstrong when they grow up? Do you think that they might run away from you as fast as they can when they reach adulthood as they did after leaving WCG in many cases? That’s highly likely because there’s nothing new about Armstrong’s views. They are old news and have been tried before only to be found severely at fault.

Please see Armstrong as he was, that is yet another cult leader with a message of fear, racism and domination. As a person with 31 years of experience of Armstrong’s cultic belief system, I plead with you to get out of any organization using such views while you still can.

Church is something you are supposed to enjoy and benefit from, not something you should fear. Look at the past and learn from it, don’t repeat it.