Tkach
Begins Reforms. Under the
leadership of Joseph Tkach, Sr., a few WCG [Worldwide Church of God.]practices began changing even before
Herbert Armstrong’s death. Armstrong appointed Tkach as director of church
administration in l979, and Tkach soon began dismantling the authoritarian
structure in local congregations, recalls Mike Feazell, executive assistant to
the Pastor General. “To Herbert Armstrong’s credit, he appreciated that
[change], supported it and promoted it.”
Armstrong
appointed Tkach as his successor before his death, and Tkach chose his son,
Joseph Jr., as his successor in 1995. The elder Tkach died in September 1995 at
age 68 of complications from cancer.“There was in Mr. Tkach a strong desire to
teach the truth,” Feazell said. “As questions arose, he believed it was
important to honor those questions, and to answer them. There are things Herbert
Armstrong taught that were not biblical, and we had assumed they were.”
The
changing WCG also shelved Anglo-Israelism, withdrawing Armstrong’s book The
United States and Britain in Prophecy from circulation in 1991, Feazell said.WCG
leaders rejected previous teachings about medicine, keeping the Old Testament
law, Sabbatarianism, and tithing.Most dramatic of all, WCG leaders now believe
in the Trinity, teach salvation by grace, and acknowledge that Christians attend
other churches.
