Grace Communion International (
GCI), formerly the
Worldwide Church of God (
WCG), is a Sabbatarian
evangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
Christian denominationA Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and another are...
based in
Glendora, CaliforniaGlendora is a municipality in Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2006, the population of Glendora was estimated at 51,608....
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Since April 3, 2009, it has used the new name Grace Communion International in the US. The GCI claims 42,000 members in 900 congregations in about 90 countries as of April 2009 and is a member of the
National Association of EvangelicalsThe National Association of Evangelicals is an agency dedicated to coordinating cooperative ministry for evangelical denominations of Protestant Christians in the United States and is part of the larger World Evangelical Alliance ....
.
Founded in 1934 by
Herbert W. ArmstrongHerbert W. Armstrong founded the Radio Church of God in the late 1930s, as well as Ambassador College in 1946, and was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, originally taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from...
as a
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
ministry named
Radio Church of God, the WCG under Armstrong had a significant, and often controversial, influence on 20th century religious broadcasting and publishing in the United States and Europe, especially in the field of interpreting biblical
end-timeEschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what are believed to be the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world...
prophecies. Within a few years after Armstrong's death in 1986, the succeeding church administration, led first by Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. and then his son, Joseph Tkach, Jr., reformed the denomination's doctrines and teachings to be compatible with mainstream Christianity. As a result, the WCG experienced
schism- Religion :* Schism, a division or a split* A specific schism in Christianity:** East–West Schism, a split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the eleventh century...
s when some members and ministers formed churches that conformed to most, if not all, of Armstrong's teachings.
Radio Church of God
The Worldwide Church of God is rooted in the teachings of Armstrong, which some say stem from his earlier involvement in the
AdventistThe term Adventist generally refers to someone who believes in the Second Advent of Jesus in the tradition of the Millerites.The Adventist family of churches are regarded today as conservative Protestants....
movement of
William MillerWilliam Miller was an American Baptist preacher whose followers have been termed Millerites. He is credited with the beginning of the Advent movement of the 1830s and 1840s in North America. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations including Seventh-day Adventists...
and
followersThe Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in roughly the year 1843.-Origins:...
though Armstrong himself disputed this. He claimed that his teachings were the true teachings of the Bible, which he said had been replaced over the centuries by tradition through the seminaries and mistranslation. In 1927, Armstrong was baptized into a church of this movement, the Church of God. Armstrong was ordained by the Oregon Conference of the Church of God (Seventh-Day) in 1931 and began serving a congregation in
Eugene, OregonEugene is the second largest city in the U.S. State of Oregon and the county seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 50 miles east of the Oregon Coast...
.
On January 7, 1934, the Radio Church of God radio program began broadcasting on
KOREKore is an energy drink distributed by GNC in 250 mL cans.-Ingredients:Water, Sugar, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Citrate, Glucuronolactone, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caffeine, Sodium Benzoate, Inositol, Caramel Color, Potassium Sorbate, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine...
in Eugene with Armstrong as host. It was essentially a condensed church service on the air, with hymn singing featured along with Armstrong's message, and was the launching point for what would become the church. Armstrong taught
British IsraelismBritish Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent are also the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and it is often accompanied by the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
(that the British and American people were descended from the
Lost TribesThe phrase Ten Lost Tribes of Israel refers to the ancient Tribes of Israel that disappeared from the Biblical account after the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed, enslaved and exiled by ancient Assyria...
of Israel and that God was not a
TrinityThe Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Each of the persons is understood as having the one...
but a family, Father and Son. This family did not include the Holy Spirit as it was believed by Armstrong to be the essence of God, not a separate person.
In 1933, the Church of God (Seventh-Day) split, and Armstrong sided with the faction that located its headquarters in
Salem, West VirginiaSalem is a city in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,006 at the 2000 census. It is located at the junction of U.S. Route 50 and West Virginia Route 23; the North Bend Rail Trail passes through the city...
. In 1937, the Church of God (Seventh-Day) revoked Armstrong's ministerial credentials, but he continued broadcasting. Armstrong moved to
Pasadena, CaliforniaPasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States; and is a satellite city of Los Angeles. Famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and the Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home of many leading scientific and cultural institutions, including the...
, and he incorporated his church first on March 3, 1946 as the Radio Church of God. He prophesied that the
apocalypseApocalypse is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to refer to the end of the world, which may be a shortening of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end...
would begin in 1936 (later postponed to 1943, then 1972, then indefinitely).
His message has been described by some critics as an eclectic mixture of cultic doctrine, Jewish observances and Seventh-day Adventism. The church strictly observed Saturday Sabbath, annual festivals described in
LeviticusLeviticus or Vayikra is the third book of the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament, and the third of five books of the Jewish Torah or Pentateuch....
and strongly advocated the
cleanKashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit"...
meats of Leviticus 11. Members were asked to give up to 10 percent of their incomes to the church as a
titheA tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a voluntary contribution or as a tax or levy, usually to support a religious organization. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes could be paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
, while also being told that another 10 percent was to be saved for annual festival observances, and every third year an additional 10 percent had to be sent to the church. Dating outside the church was strongly frowned upon, there was a dress code for members while attending services, and the church believed that God did not intend certain things to be meant for human consumption. Those who refused to follow the church's guidelines were excommunicated. Members were influenced by church teachings not to wear make-up nor celebrate birthdays and were taught that the Bible warned believers not to celebrate traditionally accepted holidays such as
ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
,
EasterEaster is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion...
and
HalloweenHalloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Gaelic pagan festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. It is largely a secular celebration but some have expressed strong feelings about perceived religious overtones...
.
A major component of Armstrong's theology was British Israelism—the view that America and Britain are the descendants of ancient Israel. Armstrong rejected as nonbiblical the traditional Christian views of
heavenHeaven may refer to the physical heavens, the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English...
,
hellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
, eternal punishment and salvation. Armstrong also taught that members of the church would actually become members of the God family themselves after the resurrection.
In 1947,
Ambassador CollegeAmbassador College was a four-year, liberal arts college established in 1947 in Pasadena, California by radio evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong, leader of what was then the Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God...
was founded in Pasadena by the church, and the campus served as the church's headquarters. It was here that Armstrong met
Stanley RaderStanley R. Rader , was an attorney, accountant, author and, later in life, an ordained minister in the Worldwide Church of God, then a Sabbatarian organization, which was founded by Herbert W. Armstrong. -Biography:...
in 1956. Rader stated that he was employed to sort the church's accounts, which he claimed had become disorganized. Armstrong reportedly was so impressed with Rader's work that, under his encouragement and patronage, Rader furthered his education by going to law school. Rader then graduated as valedictorian of his 1963 law school class at the University of Southern California Law School. Rader continued this relationship as special legal and financial advisor to Ambassador College and the Worldwide Church of God, working for them in a full-time capacity by 1969.
Armstrong had a son whom he was grooming to take over as head of the church upon the elder Armstrong's retirement or death,
Garner Ted ArmstrongGarner Ted Armstrong was an American evangelist and the son of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, at the time a Sabbatarian organization that taught strict observance of a seventh-day sabbath, holy days typically associated with the Jewish faith, and other observances...
. The younger Armstrong began to guest host the radio and then the television version of
The World Tomorrow. As the elder Armstrong reviewed audience ratings and incoming donations from
The World Tomorrow program, Garner Ted proved an increasingly obvious choice to become the public voice of the church.
The late 1960s saw the beginnings of change within the church. The broadcast of
The World Tomorrow on
Radio LuxembourgRadio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
on January 7, 1953, led Herbert Armstrong to view his ministry in the context of a prophetic interpretation that set the date of Christ's return at 1975, with the Great Tribulation beginning in 1972. This interpretation produced by Armstrong and Ambassador College graduate Herman L. Hoeh would be consummated with the publication of the 1956 booklet
1975 in Prophecy!1975 in Prophecy! is a digest-size booklet warning of an upcoming nuclear war and subsequent enslavement of mankind, leading to the return of Jesus Christ as a benign dictator. It was written by Herbert W. Armstrong and illustrated by Basil Wolverton of Mad magazine fame, published in 1956 by the...
. This interpretative vision of his ministry consumed Herbert Armstrong. It also apparently had an impact on many others, including
Michael Dennis RohanDenis Michael Rohan is an Australian citizen who gained worldwide infamy on August 21, 1969, when he attempted to set fire to the Al-Aqsa mosque, located atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Rohan was arrested for the arson attack on August 23, 1969...
, who cited Armstrong's work when questioned on the attempted destruction of the
Al-Aqsa MosqueAl-Aqsa Mosque , also known as al-Aqsa, is an Islamic holy place in the Old City of Jerusalem...
in
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
in 1967.
Worldwide Church of God
On January 5, 1968, the corporate name of the church was changed to Worldwide Church of God.
In 1970, the first of many groups to splinter from the Worldwide Church of God were founded. Carl O'Beirn of
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
led what may be the first group, the Church of God (O'Beirn), away from the Worldwide Church of God. Others followed that year, including John Kerley's Top of the Line ministry; the Restoration Church of God; the Church of God (Boise City) in
Boise City, OklahomaBoise City is a city in and the county seat of Cimarron County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,483 at the 2000 census.'Boise' is pronounced to rhyme with 'voice' ....
; Marvin Faulhaber's Sabbatarian group also known as Church of God (Sabbatarian); and the Fountain of Life Fellowship of James and Virginia Porter.
Ambassador International Cultural Foundation
During the sixties "Armstrong had sought to put into stronger action what he termed God’s 'way of give'". To Armstrong and his students, this was generally said to include "the way of character, generosity, cultural enrichment, true education: of beautifying the environment and caring for fellow man." He began undertaking humanitarian projects, selecting underprivileged pockets around the world, which eventually led to the creation of the church-run Ambassador International Cultural Foundation (AICF) in 1975. The Foundation’s efforts reached into several countries, providing staffing and funds to fight illiteracy, create schools for the disabled, set up mobile schools, and provide funding and staffing for several archaeological digs at biblically significant sites. The auditorium he built for the church hosted, at highly subsidized ticket prices, hundreds of performances by noted artists such as
Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well-known for his televised concerts and media...
,
Vladimir HorowitzVladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was an Russian-American classical pianist and minor composer. His technique, use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were and remain legendary...
,
Bing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American popular singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half a century from 1926 until his death....
,
Marcel MarceauMarcel Marceau was a French mime artist and actor.-Early years:Marcel Marceau was born in Strasbourg, France, to Anne Werzberg and Charles Mangel. When he was four, the family moved to Lille, but later returned to Strasbourg. When France entered World War II, Marceau, 16, fled with his family to...
, and
Bob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG was an American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO tours entertaining American military personnel...
.
Quest is a defunct periodical that was published monthly by AICF from July 1977 to September 1981. It began life under the working name of
Human Potential and was a project directed by Stanley Rader. It was conceived as the secular publication of AICF funded by the church. The publishers hired a professional staff unrelated to the church to create a high quality glossy publication devoted to the
humanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines which study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences....
, travel and the
artsaRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is most famous for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
. The original concept name and design of
Human Potential began in the aftermath of the failed prophecies of the Armstrong as outlined in
1975 in Prophecy!, written by Armstrong and illustrated by
Basil WolvertonBasil Wolverton was an American cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer-artist and professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", whose many publishers included Marvel Comics and Mad.His unique, humorously grotesque drawings have elicited a...
.
It was because AICF, through its activities such as this publication, seemed to represent the exact opposite of the views and values of its ultimate sponsor that the Worldwide Church was increasingly involved in splits and divisions among its ranks. These defections created dramatic losses in income for the church which in turn undermined the sponsored activities of AICF. Due to falling funds the church began to cut back on its funding of AICF, and because the publication, which was also supported by paid commercial advertising and a subscription price, never became a profitable enterprise its assets were eventually sold off to other interests.
Scandal and conflict
As 1972 approached it became clear that the events predicted by Herbert Armstrong would not come to pass. While the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
was an idea in the making, the nations of Europe were far from united, as the union itself was still another 20 years in the future. The Worldwide Church of God, however, experienced several scandals which could arguably be said to have brought Armstrong's second 19-year period to a close.
Garner Ted Armstrong began to lose favor with his father. The younger Armstrong was discontented with prophecies attached to a certain date and wished to cease preaching the message that associated the US and Britain with the Ten Lost Tribes. Garner Ted also spoke of greatly expanding the church's media ministry on the model of the
Church of Christ, ScientistThe Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which offered a unique interpretation of Christian faith. Christian Science teaches that the reality of God denies the reality of...
with its widely read Christian Science Monitor.
In a report in the May 15, 1972, edition of
TIMETime is an American newsmagazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong. As of 2009, Time no longer publishes a Canadian advertiser edition...
magazine, Herbert Armstrong was reported to have said that Garner Ted was "in the bonds of Satan." The elder Armstrong did not elaborate, but it was speculated that Herbert had to come to grips publicly with Garner Ted's alleged continuing problems with
gamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
and
adulteryAdultery is referred to as extramarital sex, philandery, or infidelity, but does not include fornication. The term "adultery" for many people carries a moral or religious association, while the term "extramarital sex" is morally or judgmentally neutral....
with Ambassador College coeds. Garner Ted Armstrong was soon relieved of his star role within the church.
While Garner Ted Armstrong was being removed, Stanley Rader had been orchestrating the church's involvement in a number of corporations which Rader established. Critics saw Rader's moves as an attempt to seize control of the church. Rader characterized his involvement as that of an adviser and claimed that his advice was opening doors for Armstrong that a strict theological role would not have allowed for. Herbert Armstrong approved of the establishment of the AICF, which Rader set up ostensibly to give the elder Armstrong a role as the "Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio".
As the church was experiencing internal crises, its external, public face was also crumbling. Church followers had anticipated the removal of church faithful to
PetraPetra is an archaeological site in the Arabah, Ma'an Governorate, Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Hor in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah , the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture...
, Jordan, to await the prophesied
apocalypseApocalypse is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to refer to the end of the world, which may be a shortening of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end...
. By 1972, it was evident that this was not going to occur. When combined with Garner Ted Armstrong's very public removal from the church, this failure of prophecy caused many within the church to lose confidence and withdraw. The church hastened to restore public confidence and returned Garner Ted as host of
The World Tomorrow a mere four months after his ouster.
Despite the scandals of 1972, the church continued to grow in the 1970s with Herbert Armstrong still at the helm. In 1975, Armstrong baptized Stanley Rader, who until then had been a practicing
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in spite of his association with the church. Some felt that, under Rader's influence, Armstrong began to de-emphasize the
ChristologicalChristology is a field of study within Christian theology which is concerned with the nature of Jesus the Christ, particularly with how the divine and human are related in his person. Christology is generally less concerned with the details of Jesus' life than with how the human and divine...
aspects of church doctrine, instead preaching a message of peace, brotherly love, and "giving and not getting".
Others say that this approach was to announce the coming
Kingdom of GodThe Kingdom of God or Reign of God is a foundational concept in the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam....
and mankind's duty to that end. The church began to teach of humanity's being guided by a "Great Unseen Hand from Someplace".
After being left a widower by the death of his wife, Loma, eleven years earlier, Armstrong married Ramona Martin, a woman nearly fifty years younger, in 1977 and moved to
Tucson, ArizonaTucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States, located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. As of July 1, 2006, a Census Bureau estimate puts the city's population at 541,811, with a metropolitan area population at...
. While Armstrong administered church business through Stanley Rader from his Arizona retreat, the church continued to be headquartered in Pasadena.
With Garner Ted Armstrong resuming his role within the church, the rivalry between the younger Armstrong and Stanley Rader intensified. The adultery problems that reportedly drove Garner Ted from the church before had reportedly continued unabated. In 1978, Garner Ted Armstrong was disfellowshipped a final time. Garner Ted moved to
Tyler, TexasTyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas in the United States. The city is named for President John Tyler in recognition of his support for Texas's admission to the United States...
, and there founded a splinter group, the
Church of God InternationalThe Church of God, International is a seventh-day Sabbatarian Christian church currently headquartered in Tyler, Texas, USA, which was founded by former members of the Worldwide Church of God....
.
Receivership crisis
Garner Ted Armstrong blamed Stanley Rader for his two-time ouster from his father's church. Garner Ted and other former and discontented members of the Worldwide Church of God prompted the State of California to investigate charges of
malfeasanceThe expressions misfeasance and nonfeasance, and occasionally malfeasance, are used in English law with reference to the discharge of public obligations existing by common law, custom or statute.-Definition and relevant rules of law:...
by Rader and others involved with the AICF. By 1979,
California Attorney GeneralThe California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
George DeukmejianCourken George Deukmejian, Jr. is an American politician from California who as a Republican served as the thirty-fifth Governor of California and as California Attorney General .-Early life:...
had brought civil charges against the church, and the church was placed into an investigative financial
receivershipReceivership is used to denote a situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver. In law, a receiver is a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." Various types of receiver...
for one year.
The group of dissidents also gained the attention of
Mike WallaceMyron Leon "Mike" Wallace is an American journalist. Wallace has been a correspondent for CBS' 60 Minutes since its debut in 1968...
who investigated the church in a report for
60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American investigative television newsmagazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by long time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life,...
. Using documentary evidence obtained, Wallace brought to light lavish secret expenditures, conflict of interest insider deals, posh homes and lifestyles in the higher ranks, and the heavy involvement of Stanley Rader in financial manipulation.
Wallace invited Rader to appear on
60 Minutes on April 15 1979. Wallace showed Rader a secret tape recording in which Herbert Armstrong had alleged Rader was attempting to take over the church after Armstrong's death, reasoning that the donated tithe money might be quite a "magnet" to some evangelists. Rader abruptly ended the interview.
Rader, with the approval of Herbert Armstrong, was spending millions to fend off any financial audit or examination of the church's income and expenditures by litigating the issue all the way to the United States Supreme Court, several times, unsuccessfully. Having lost in the courts, Rader lobbied the California legislature to force the California Attorney General to drop the charges against the church and him. Under Rader's lobbying, the
California State LegislatureThe California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...
passed legislation known as the Petris bill, signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, which changed the applicable law of California so that the Attorney General had no authority over churches in such circumstances.
Rader and Armstrong, then, were relieved of any further concern about civil liability or any outside exposure of their own internal financial dealings as the directors of a California religious corporation. In trying to defend his fight against the investigation, Rader wrote the 1980 self-exculpatory polemic "Against the Gates of Hell: The Threat to Religious Freedom in America" arguing that his legal fight with the Attorney General was more about religious freedoms rather than about abuse of public trust or fraudulent misappropriation of tithe funds.
The church received a minor vindication of its position when, in denying a request for fees by the dissidents' attorney, Hillel Chodos, the Second Court of Appeals over turned the decision on procedural grounds and added as dicta, "We are of the opinion that the underlying action [i.e., the State-imposed receivership] and its attendant provisional remedy of receivership were from the inception constitutionally infirm and predestined to failure."
Stanley Rader left his positions within the church in 1981. While Rader was able to legally, then politically, prevent the investigation of church finances, he could not prevent the collapse of AICF. A lawsuit had been filed against
Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. In a career of over four decades, Spielberg's films have touched on many themes and genres. Spielberg's early sci-fi and adventure films, sometimes centering on children, were seen as an archetype of modern...
and
George LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, director and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the epic sci-fi franchise Star Wars and joint creator of the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
alleging that the pair stole the plot for
Raiders of the Lost ArkRaiders of the Lost Ark is a action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford...
from AICF. When the lawsuit went nowhere, AICF collapsed. Meanwhile, the church was eager to sever its ties from AICF, as the Foundation had been producing works which were not in keeping with church doctrine. Rader parted church leadership amicably, and reportedly received a six figure financial package upon leaving his post.
Death of Armstrong and doctrinal reform
On January 16, 1986, Herbert Armstrong died in Pasadena, California. Shortly before his death, Armstrong named
Joseph W. Tkach Sr.Joseph W. Tkach was the appointed successor of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God. Tkach became President and Pastor General of the church upon the death of Armstrong in 1986...
to succeed him as leader of the church.
As early as 1988, Joseph W. Tkach Sr. began to make doctrinal changes. Doctrinal revisions were made quietly and slowly at first, but then openly and radically in January 1995. They were presented as "new understandings" of Christmas and Easter, Babylon and the harlot, Anglo-Israelism, Saturday Sabbath, and other doctrines.
In general, Tkach Sr. directed the church theology towards mainstream
evangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
Christian belief. It was extremely difficult for many members of the church to understand and accept the doctrinal changes. This caused much disillusionment among the membership and another rise of splinter groups. During the tenure of the Joseph Tkach Sr., the church dropped in membership by about 50 percent. His son, Joseph Tkach Jr., succeeded him after his death in 1995. Under Tkach Jr.'s administration, the church issued an apology for past errors in doctrine.
Eventually all of Herbert Armstrong's writings were withdrawn from print by the Worldwide Church of God. In the 2004 video production
Called To Be Free, Greg Albrecht, former dean of WCG's Ambassador College, declared Herbert Armstrong to be both a
false prophetIn religion, the term false prophet is a label given to a person who is viewed as illegitimately claiming charismatic authority within a religious group. The individual may be seen as one who falsely claims the gift of prophecy, or who uses that gift for demagogy or evil ends...
and a
hereticA heretic is a person who committed heresy.Heretic m*Heretic , a 1994 game by Raven Software*Heretic II, a 1998 sequel to the aforementioned gameIn literature:* Heretic, an autobiography of Peter Cameron...
. While the WCG leadership has apologized over false teachings, no overt move has been made towards publicly admitting the past doctrines of the church were in accord with the beliefs of the brethren.
Name change of 2009
On April 16, 2009, the Worldwide Church of God announced the official change of name to Grace Communion International.
Beliefs and practices
Under Armstrong's leadership, the Worldwide Church of God was considered by many to be theologically a
cultCult may popularly refer to a religious group with relatively few adherents whose beliefs or practices are regarded by others as strange or sinister.The term "cult" was originally used to denote a system of ritual practices...
with unorthodox and, to most Christians, heretical teachings. The WCG rejected the doctrine of the
TrinityThe Christian doctrine of the Trinity teaches the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons, or in the Greek hypostases, but one being. Each of the persons is understood as having the one...
, regarding it as a pagan concept absorbed into mainstream Christianity. Critics also claimed that the WCG did not proclaim
salvationIn religion, salvation is the concept that God or other Higher Power, as part of Divine Providence, "saves" humanity from spiritual death or eternal damnation by providing for them an eternal life...
by grace through faith alone, but rather required works as part of salvation. The late
Walter MartinWalter Ralston Martin , was an American Evangelical minister, author, and Christian apologist who founded the Christian Research Institute in 1960 as a para-church ministry specializing as a clearing-house of information in both general Christian apologetics and in countercult...
, in his classic
The Kingdom of the Cults, devoted 34 pages to the group, claiming that Armstrong borrowed freely from Seventh-day Adventist,
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenarian Christian denomination. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism; they report convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual Memorial attendance of over 17 million...
and
Mormon