Tkach Sr.'s Expulsion of Roderick C. Meredith from WCG

The following is from GenuineTruth.com, a web site started up by some ex-LCG members who seemed to leave LCG because they feel Meredith has placed too much emphasis on Jesus. Although I cannot be very sympathetic with their doctrinal reason for leaving LCG I do sympathize with their disillusionment with Roderick C. Meredith. They continue to preach the doctrines of Armstrongism.

But one thing that intrigued me about their website is that it contains Joseph Tkach Sr.'s announcement of Roderick C. Meredith being cast out of WCG. For historical interest I am posting this here.

Dear Brethren,

In light of the fact that a former minister has decided to start his own church, and has sent a letter to many · members of the Worldwide Church of God, I thought it best to briefly restate the Church's position on the overall concepts this newly formed church is espousing.

The Global Church of God, founded by Roderick C. Meredith, has been formed on the premise that the Worldwide Church of God has no business changing or revising any teaching of Herbert W. Armstrong.

Dr. Meredith, choosing to ignore the great, fundamental issues of the New Testament, has focused his attention on every point on which he feels he can disagree with us. Basically, he disagrees with every change the Church has made since the death of Mr. Armstrong.

Dr. Meredith still argues with the biblical fact that the New Testament phrase "born again" refers to conversion.

Also, he cannot grasp the fact that God has called His people to be citizens of His Kingdom.

Further he deceives his readers by inaccurately representing what we teach about Jesus; victory over sin, about the Holy Spirit, about eternal life and about the gospel.

He misrepresents our teaching about divine healing. He misrepresents our teaching about the.  Ten Commandments and obedience to God.

In addition, Dr. Meredith clings to the false idea that human beings will someday be God in exactly the same way God himself is God, differing only in authority.

He also clings to the error that Ezekiel 33:1-7 is a commission to the Church, something taught neither by Jesus nor the apostles. 

In late 1985, Mr. Armstrong told me that Dr. Meredith deeply desired to be pastor general, and warned me that just as Dr. Meredith had been a continual thorn in Mr. Armstrong's side, so he would be a continual problem to me. Mr. Armstrong had himself suspended Dr. Meredith from attending services for about eight months in 1979-80. We have worked patiently and respectfully with Dr. Meredith for the past three years with no positive response on his part.

Well, now Dr. Meredith has his wish. He has proclaimed himself pastor general of his own church.

We certainly do not bear any ill will toward Dr. Meredith, nor toward anyone else who starts a church.

We do, however, need to avoid being deceived by false teaching, and we should take care not to be led astray by emotional or sentimental arguments based on a false loyalty to past teachings.

Our loyalty is to God and his Word first and foremost. Tradition is valuable and important, but it must be shaped by the Bible, not vice versa.

We should pray that God would open Dr. Meredith's mind to the truth and lead him to repentance, so that he will someday be useful in the gospel.

We should also pray for those innocent ones who may be deceived by this tragic effort to turn people's hearts away from the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Ask for understanding

Let's be clear about one thing: We will not change the course Jesus Christ has placed us on simply because some people refuse to read the Bible honestly, refuse to believe the truth and refuse to understand the gospel, which is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

It grieves me, though, that some few may be deceived by any person's clever arguments designed to get a following for himself.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if you don't understand something, please ask. If you are confused, I recommend that you study what we have actually written and preached, not what someone with his own agenda tells you we teach.

Again I state, as I have continually, that God leads us to be committed to teaching what the Bible teaches, regardless of tradition - our own or anyone else's.

God leads his Church through his Spirit. The Father draws us to himself through his Son (John 6:44, 14:6).

The closer we move toward Jesus Christ the better, because it is only through him that we can be reconciled to the Father (2 Corinthians 5: 18-20).

Loyalty to traditions

Some people, sad to say, are more loyal to traditional teachings and explanations than they are to the Word of God.

In their deep longing for personal prestige and power, they are willing to prey on those God has been calling to freedom in his Son, wanting to take them back into the bondage of an impossible salvation by works.

While they falsely accuse us of teaching disobedience to God, they deny the grace of God by refusing to acknowledge the Bible truth: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10).

They try to convince those who follow them that their obedience will bring them God's salvation, falling into the trap Paul warns them against: boasting of their supposed spiritual superiority.

In their spiritual vanity, they fail to understand that God creates his people in Christ Jesus for good works, and that our good works belong to God and bring glory to him and not to ourselves.

They fail to understand that God commands us to walk humbly before him (Micah 6:8) and that God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5), to those who know their need for him (Luke 18:14).

These are people who set themselves up as the spiritual standard for others, yet cannot see that their own "righteousness" is as filthy rags before God. They believe they can somehow merit God's favor by their "goodness," while they discredit us for proclaiming that salvation is by God's grace toward us for the sake of his Son, whose blood covers our sins (1 Peter 1:18-19).

They believe they obtained the Holy Spirit by their obedience, when Paul condemned such empty, self-righteous reasoning (Galatians 3:2-5). They seek to establish their own righteousness by obedience to the law, making faith in the only One who can save them of no effect.

In so doing, these people miss the true righteousness in the Holy Spirit that comes through faith in Jesus Christ-God's own work in us of spiritual transformation of the inner person, cleansing the heart and mind of the corruption of sinfulness, and producing the fruit of the Spirit.

Instead, they settle for their own religiosity, their outward show of righteousness through their personal efforts at lawkeeping, which results not in the deep recognition of their total dependence on the mercy of God, but rather in their feelings of spiritual superiority over all who do not agree with them and follow them.

God's calling is for eternity

We have a long way to go as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In fact, we are called to a whole lifetime of total commitment to all the things of Christ.

God does not call his people to just "hang on" for a few short years. Nor does he call us just to save us from whatever war, persecution or other tragedy the future might hold.

God has called us to be faithful until death, regardless of whether that comes in times of peace and plenty or in times of suffering and trial.

God's. calling is to enter his kingdom for all eternity. The gospel he has given us is the gospel of eternal salvation in his eternal kingdom; it is not a gospel of saving our physical lives or of getting delivered from persecution.

God will choose to deliver from physical suffering whom he wills, according to his transcendent purpose in our lives - and he hears the cries of his saints.

He often delivers us out of our troubles, but in faith we know that he knows best, and, like Jesus, we want his will, not our own, to be done.

Bu the gospel has to do with our eternal inheritance, and that is something those who "loved not their lives unto death" will receive when Jesus returns (Revelation 12:11, King James Version).

The deliverance God gives us through faith in his Son is deliverance from the bondage of sin, and from sin's result: death. God will rescue those who are his at Jesus' return, changing their mortality into immortality, and they will live forever with him as his glorified children.

Dear brethren, God has blessed us beyond measure, showing us where we have gone off on tangents, where we put our priorities on physical things that took our minds off the great spiritual reality of salvation in his Son.

Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, God has brought us back to his Word, and we should pray daily that we will never cease to follow his lead. Pray for one another, and pray for me, that God will guide me and give me courage in his Spirit. My prayers are continually with you.