| by Tawanda Ray (Hamilton, Alabama) |
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| I received your 111-page document today and read it before the evening was out. I must say, I was not the least bit surprised. Their actions were status quo as Herbert Armstrong trained them well. What is ironic, however, is that there are quite a few “ministers” out there who adhere to the hierarchy mentality (and are now affiliated with the split-off groups) who rejected authority over them and left WCG way before HWA died. They “rebelled against their superiors but preach against it to those “under” them. And they do view themselves as “the church”. I remember Joe Tkach Sr. saying something that epitomizes their attitude. I think he was speaking of Rod Meredith when he stated, “the church holds no ill will toward him and neither should you”! Huh?? I can see by your letters that you have been through the mill in trying to live in peace as a married couple and fellowship with your church group. I am sorry for all the troubles you have been through but at least one good thing has come from it. You now see what a sorry, Godless and idolatrous system that is the cherished hierarchy. And now, you are there for others who have been rejected by the organizations and who need a place to fellowship. You gave some examples of “ministerial” abuses. I’ll add a few that I am personally acquainted with. My husband tithed to WCG for many years before he finally started attending. Before he became a member, he fell out of a tree and cracked his back. (He was a logger and was trying to tie off a tree to throw it so it wouldn’t fall on a fence when cut.) We had some insurance which took care of the hospital bill but no money-no savings-for such an emergency. I had no job (the church frowned on women with small children working outside the home and I certainly didn’t want to make “the church” frown!). So–l went to our “minister” for help. I thought maybe he’d help us with the 3rd tithe fund–at least for food and gas to get to church. At that time, I was still very much in “church” mentality and held deep awe and respect for the men who claimed to represent God. This man turned me down and told me to go to the welfare for aid. Dutifully, I obeyed. They also turned me down. I didn’t know what we’d do or how we’d make it. We didn’t have family who was in any position to help us. This so-called preacher never turned one finger to help us in any way or even to inquire as to our state. I take that back. He did pay for a back brace for my husband-and later, on one Sabbath, informed me that I was to tell my husband to pay it back. I never told him! I was so hurt, that “the church” would not help us even to keep us from going hungry. This same man watched and “counseled” a family, our friends, who were going through a 3rd tithe year and was nearly in financial ruin. They struggled to pay 3 tithes (and generous offerings), while barely putting food on their table. If it had not been for the brethren who brought them food and money, I don’t know what would have become of them. They could not even attend “church” every Sabbath, for lack of gas money. Yet, this man never offered aid or comfort. Some servant! This man also informed me that I should put my aged father in the nursing home. I had timidly approached him to counsel me concerning problems I was having with my Dad. He had had a stroke and we brought him into our home to live with us, in our small mobile home. So dutifully, I sought to place my Dad in a nursing home because God had spoken; I have regretted that action ever since. (He lived about a year afterwards.) I also asked him if I could use our 3rd tithe to build my Dad a small one room “house” in our back yard so we could have some privacy and I still could care for him. He flatly said NO! (This was prior to our counseling session during which he informed me I needed to put him in the nursing home.) Another time and another “minister”, I sought help and encouragement due to one of my health exams disclosing a mass in my breast. I was sick at heart and terrified. Again, we had no money and no insurance (could the fact that HWA’s “church” demanded every dime we could gather together, have something to do with our consistent poverty?). Again, foolish naive person such as I was, I expected some encouragement, at least a prayer! After explaining our situation, I asked him his advice. Know what he said? “You’re between a rock and a hard place”. (Oh yeah, be warmed and filled, go in peace–and don’t forget to send in your tithes). He did not offer to go pray with me (later I asked for anointing), nor did he offer any aid or 3rd tithe assistance to go get checked out. These men were well served by us! Yet, when we needed help, they turned a deaf ear. If we were in financial need it was because we were doing something wrong, for God was not blessing us and they couldn’t relieve us because God was chastising us, and they sure didn’t want to hinder God! “Be warmed and filled, go in peace…” Perhaps they never read that section of scripture-huh! Then there was the vulnerable trauma of my Dad dying. I called this same “minister” to inform him that my Dad had passed away. He was also a member of WCG and we assumed the “minister” would officiate the funeral. Know what his reaction was? It was, “inconvenient” because the Y.O.U. family weekend was to occur that weekend. So, while he and everyone else went off to enjoy their fun-filled weekend, I buried my Dad. If it had been someone of prominence in the congregation, it would have been different. Are these cases isolated? Far from it. How many abuses have been inflicted upon women due to the teachings of the male dominated hierarchy of H.W.A. I have sat through sermons over a 24 year period that were designed to squash all women and basically perpetuate male dominance over them, keeping them in pure bondage. Their lifeline is control. Their system is satanic. There has been no good fruits in this system and I challenge anyone to prove to me there has been. Look at the state of affairs within the churches. They all quote scripture touting unity and lack of confusion. Yet, it has been the so-called ministry that has created all this disunity and confusion. It is the leadership that lays claim that they are the ones that God is working through. Well, if that be the case, then we must admit that surely God Himself is disorganized, disunified and in confusion. And He can’t really make up His mind to what is truth. (Give me a break!) I feel sorry for the congregation of United who has treated you the way they have. Some hard lessons await them in their dealings with their “priesthood”. Their actions reek of self-righteousness. I have had some dealings with that mentality as well. I was attacked via letter by a person who felt I had really overstepped my bounds when I expressed excitement to her about something I and 3 other friends (independents) were going to do. Here’s the scene. A friend, a spiritual sister, was in the hospital dying of cancer. We wanted to go see her, anoint her with oil and pray for her. This person wrote me several pages in a letter in an all-out accusing assault on my heart and intent. My sin? I expressed excitement over what we, as independents, were about to do and I made the comment that we all need to really learn to care for one another and do this more. I reckon I came across to her in such a way as to make her think I was expressing “look at me-I’m the example”. She took great exception to my enthusiasm and informed me that it was misguided and even quoted scripture to back up her accusations. The story of what we did even went so far out as to reach the ears of Fred Coulter. Oh boy did he lambaste us. His take on our actions? We were being presumptuous–trying to fulfill a role that belongs to a “minister”. How dare we! He even brought us up in one of his taped sermons and sent it out to all his listeners. We were labeled self-righteous, demanding females who were walking on very dangerous ground by usurping authority given only to “ministers”. (gag!) He had the whole story wrong and thought we were a “band of six women” who marched into the hospital and loudly demanded that God heal this sick woman. He didn’t even have the facts right. We were actually 3 women and 1 man. The man was the son of the woman who lambasted me and one of the women was his wife. The other woman was the sick woman’s best friend. (An ex-friend of the angry woman.) I wrote Fred with this knowledge and challenged him to correct himself and apologize on tape and send it out. We got one (tape) with his “apology” so I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and am assuming he sent it to everyone. Talk about jumping to conclusions. Such a ruckus over an innocent act. Why? It was construed to be something of a rebellious, usurping of the “ministers” authority. It was construed as an act of self-righteousness. They viewed our going over there to anoint our friend with oil and pray for her as an act of sacrilege. It was ok to visit her and even pray for her. The “sin” was daring to place oil on her and lay our hands on her in conjunction with asking for healing. Coming from a hierarchical/ministerial system in which only an elite few have proper credentials from God to perform certain duties, I can understand why they would view our act as sacrilegious. In the 24 years that I was a part of WCG/Global/United, I have had very little positive interaction with the men who desire to be masters of our spirit lives. Since leaving it all behind, I am sickened when I hear of tales like yours or when I read about the attitudes of superiority of these little minded men. I had to chuckle when I read Paul Luecke’s letter to you, Laura, dated Nov. 17, 1999 (numbered 27 points), in which he made the bold statement “God places a very high emphasis on unity in His Church”. (# point 26) Undoubtedly, he does not understand what constitutes the spirit body of Christ and he does not view the hundreds of groups and independents other than United as being the “ekklesia”. If they view the leadership so highly, then they should have obeyed their superiors and stayed in Worldwide! My hope is this. I hope this little group of dominators will one day look around and all their worshipful followers are gone. All their income is gone, and they actually have to get out and work for a living. He who does not work should not eat. If we were to see a wolf in the sheep pen, would we not cry out? Some would not, but would say “hey, no wolf is perfect, throw him another lamb chop. After all, these sheep are not perfect either”. ———————————————————————————————————————————————- EDITOR’S NOTE: She is referring to a document titled: “Why Were We Disfellowshipped By The United Church of God an International Association?”–by Darwin & Laura Lee–It is 111 pages long. ———————————————————————————————————————————————- (This article has been updated and re-printed from “The Church of God Messenger” July/August 2001—Issue No. 4.) |
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