"I've shared this with some of the ministry: Would it not be better for me to only be Pastor General for 10 years, and give it the best 10 years of my life? I'm in my prime, my health and my energy level, give it the best for 10 years and then I'd be happy to go pastor a church somewhere, and then let someone else do it for their 10 best years... I think there's wisdom in this approach."I don't have a date for the article. It presumably appeared in the Worldwide News some time after the Dear Leader ascended on his father's coat tails.
Here we are now in 2015, the 20th year of Joey's mandate-free reign. So much for wisdom.
And even now do we know what process will be followed when Joey finally steps down? Another appointed PG? Appointed by Joey?
In case you missed it, here's what Joe Jr. wrote in his book Transformed by Truth in 1997.
"Our denominational governance is yet another major change we are in the process of making. The hierarchy of church structure is being modified to feature a board vested with authority both to appoint and to remove the president/pastor general. We also plan to limit the length of the pastor general’s term to a specified number of years. Until now, the office of pastor general has been a lifetime appointment made by the previous pastor general."Yeah, right! The road to hell is paved, it seems, with Joey's good intentions. Too bad he won't act on them.
Does the man know no shame?
Grace Communion International's board is a dummy board.
ReplyDeleteThe “Bylaws of the Worldwide Church of God, a California Nonprofit Religious Corporation.” state that the “‘Corporate Governance’ shall mean the pastor general. They further reveal that ecclesiastical decisions “shall be within the sole and subjective discretion of the Corporate Governance”; that the pastor general has sole authority over the contents of the bylaws; that the pastor general has sole authority over the selection of the Advisory Council of Elders (the members of the corporation) and the Board of Directors; and that the pastor general can remove any member of the corporation (Advisory Council of Elders) and anyone—or even everyone—from the Board of Directors without cause or notice.
"The ecclesiastical policies are determined by the Advisory Council of Elders. Members of the Advisory Council are appointed by the President. The President, who also holds the title of Pastor General, is chief executive and ecclesiastical officer of the denomination. A Doctrinal Advisory Team may report to the Advisory Council on the church's official doctrinal statements, epistemology, or apologetics. The President may pocket veto doctrinal positions he determines to be heretical. However, the President is also a member of the Doctrinal Advisory Team, and so he is aware of and involved in the activities of that committee. Historically, Presidents, as chairmen of the board of directors, have appointed their own successor. This and the President's power to appoint and remove members of the Advisory Council have remained areas of concern even among those who applaud the church's doctrinal changes."
Personally, I'm glad that the WCG made those doctrinal changes, although I remain skeptical of the alleged sincerity of the motives as well as the accuracy of the described events behind them.
ReplyDeleteThe church's abolishment of tithing in this age is good. But things like Joe Jr saying, "...10% should be a minimal guideline for giving...you’re no longer restricted to giving only 10%! You can give 10, 20, 30 and even 40% now!", is telling of the org he runs.
Did - as Joseph W. Tkach Sr. claims - HWA make a deathbed statement with a long list of changes he wanted made (so very long that Tkach worried he might not remember them all)? According to the Tkach Sr. story, he then asked to record the conversation, and HWA said 'yes, you can record this', but at the last minute as Tkach had gotten his recorder and was about to turn on his recorder , HWA changed his mind and said that the changes were for the Chosen Ones to believe on faith. This reminds me of the Mormon history story about Joseph Smith and the seer stones, and how people had to just accept the story by faith if they were indeed God's people.
And what about the "Mystery of the Ages" book?
Joseph W. Tkach Sr. claims that HWA told him it was "riddled with errors", yet Tkach continued to sell it for many years, making money for his church in doing so.
In the Tkach years, I have found no record of evidence of righting any errors in that book. Nearly a half million dollars were pumped into promoting a book whose author Tkach claimed was "riddled with errors".
That book continued to be praised in WCG officialdom, until somewhere along the line, the "mystery" began to deepen, when Joseph Tkach Jr's instructions to the ministry (appearing in the PGR of January 31, 1989) said: "Please do not tell prospective members to request copies of the Mystery of the Ages, because we do not have any in stock."
Later, the church sold the copyrights for much of HWA's literature (including Mystery of the Ages) for millions of dollars to Gerald Flurry's Philadelphia Church of God in March 2003. It's hard for me to fathom why a defective product would be sold to an org where it could obviously be used to hoodwink even more people, unless the seller was severely lacking scruples.
Go figure.
He looks Jewish.
ReplyDeleteYou need to create a firewall between him and your wallet.
ReplyDeleteAnd he needs to seek a more honest profession, like Used Car sales.