A former Worldwide Church of God (WCG) minister says the sect’s founder, the late Herbert W. Armstrong, will come back to life this month. Martin C. Filippello, who left the WCG to launch the Church of God Philadelphia Era, says Armstrong will be resurrected as a precursor to the Tribulation.
As leader of the WCG, Armstrong propagated a number of teachings that deviated from orthodox Christianity. He denied the Trinity, the soul, hell, and the Holy Spirit as a personal being; imposed Jewish ritualistic and dietary requirements; and taught that the WCG is the one true church. Armstrong died in 1986 at age 93.
In an open letter published in a Pasadena, California, newspaper, Filippello accused the WCG’S current leadership of adultery and doctrinal error. The open letter proclaims Filippello to be a latter-day Elijah sent to purify “God’s Church” in preparation for the denouement of the (divine plan for mankind.
“Beginning April 1st, 1988,” the letter states, “no rain will fall on the United States, England, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.” Further, it states, by July 1989, one-third of the people of these nations “will die from famine, pestilence and disease epidemics.…”
According to Filippello, he and Armstrong are the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11 and Zechariah 4. Filippello labeled Joseph W. Tkach, who succeeded Armstrong as head of the WCG, as the “son of perdition” mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2. He complains that Tkach has relaxed the church’s divorce doctrine and exempted ministers from two of the three tithes exacted of members, creating a double standard. Tkach has also reversed Armstrong’s longstanding proscription against medical science.
Undeterred by the attacks of Filippello and other detractors, the WCG has prospered in the two years since its founder died. Annual income has increased to $163 million (from $140 million in 1985), and membership has grown by 7,000 to 87,000. Three spokesmen have replaced Armstrong on “The World Tomorrow” telecast, which airs on 341 stations and five cable networks, including 16 stations outside North America.
However, the former Radio Church of God, which once beamed its message over 400 outlets, has reduced its radio programs to three stations in the United States and Canada. And circulation of the WCG’S free-subscription magazine, The Plain Truth, has dropped by 1 million to 7 million.
By Joseph M. Hopkins.
