Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God, The [Paperback]

J. Michael Feazell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003

A Compelling Story of Grace and Liberty We believe in the life-changing influence of grace and truth. Rarely, however, do we see it demonstrated with such explosive power as in the case of the Worldwide Church of God. Told by one of its top leaders, here is the remarkable inside story of what happened when a well-known cult grappled with the truths of the New Testament. The Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God is far more than the fascinating account of a church's journey from darkness to light and from bondage to grace. It is a blazing testimony to the gospel's matchless power---a power able to transform hearts and lives that seem beyond reach...and fully capable of changing us.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

We believe in the life-changing influence of grace and truth. Rarely, however, do we see it demonstrated with such explosive power as in the case of the Worldwide Church of God. Told by one of its top leaders, here is the remarkable inside story of what happened when a well-known cult grappled with the truths of the New Testament. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

J. Michael Feazell (D Min, Azusa Pacific University) is executive editor of 'The Plain Truth' magazine and senior advisor to the president of Grace Communion International in Pasadena, California.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310250110
• ISBN-13: 978-0310250111
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,818,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J. Michael Feazell (D Min, Azusa Pacific University) is executive editor of "The Plain Truth" magazine and senior advisor to the president of Grace Communion International in Pasadena, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading but reader, beware., February 20, 2002

By 

Damon J. Casale (Seffner, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God, The (Hardcover)

The very first thing I would like to say about this book is that I will not fault Mr. Feazell his opinion. On the other hand, it's just that -- an opinion. At certain points in the book, his opinion is much closer to reality than at other points.

To give two opposing examples, Mr. Feazell states on page 98, "I will go so far as to say that Sabbatarianism prevents anyone who believes in it from coming fully to the freedom of the gospel." His reasoning for this is that, based on his experience, everyone who keeps the seventh-day Sabbath believes that Sabbath-keeping is a salvation issue. Fortunately, there ARE Sabbatarians who do not believe that way. One of the largest of such groups is called "Messianic Judaism," which believes that God has called Israelites and Gentiles to different roles. (See Acts 21:17-25, Rom. 3:1-2, 1 Cor. 7:18 and Col. 2:16-17 in particular.) It's true that most if not all of the membership of the WCG felt that way however, and in that, I agree with Mr. Feazell.

On the other hand, Feazell states that Armstrong's understanding of biblical healing came from an experience he had in his early years. He then proceeded to base his entire doctrine on healing on that one experience. Just from my own reading of the bible, there were three examples of Jesus healing blindness in the bible, and He did it in three DIFFERENT ways. If each of the people who had been healed by Jesus had gone and started their own denominations based on their one experience, we might have seen something similar to what happened with Herbert Armstrong and the WCG. Yes, the understanding of biblical healing was a legitimate problem that the WCG had.

Mr. Feazell was unfortunately not smart enough to understand what the WCG was all about. I do not mean to criticize him -- I'm simply stating it as a fact. Most people, whether within our outside the WCG, never understood it. I'll give one simple example to illustrate my point. There was a great amount of criticism, by both members and non-members, of the "opulent lifestyle" of Mr. Armstrong. Unfortunately, what they didn't grasp is that he believed the Kingdom of God to be an earthly kingdom that would be established at some point in the future, in which all of the riches of this world could not compare. If one could not learn to appreciate physical blessings and learn to be responsible with wealth here and now, it would be all the more difficult in the Kingdom. Whether Armstrong was correct in his understanding of the Kingdom or not (and I happen to agree with him), HARDLY ANYONE UNDERSTOOD THIS PREMISE. Although the finances of WCG weren't "squeaky clean" and the wealth WAS abused by some in the ministry, the accumulation of wealth by the WCG wasn't entirely wrong. In the exact same way, if one goes to some of the towns of western Europe where the houses are plain and simple, the town church is often highly extravagant and ornate. The townspeople contributed, over generations, to creating a beautiful place to worship which they felt glorified God.

The final problem with Mr. Feazell's analysis -- and, frankly, most of Christianity -- is that they have a great deal of trouble grasping the principle that there can be more than one right way to interpret the bible. To give a simple example, the Worldwide Church of God was well-known for preaching that we are NOT "born again now," but that this spiritual birth takes place when Jesus Christ returns and our bodies are changed from flesh to spirit. A proper reading of John 3:8 supports this interpretation. However, 1 Peter 1:3 and other, similar verses make it clear that being "born again" is something that happens during this lifetime. BOTH INTERPRETATIONS ARE CORRECT. (By the way, the doctrine that the Kingdom of God exists now and the doctrine that it is yet in the future is another example of two correct interpretations.) If Christianity -- including the WCG splits that still believe and practice a majority of the old WCG doctrines -- would realize that a lot of their doctrinal differences are the result of having different but equally correct interpretations, there would be a lot more peace and unity within the body of Christ.

In the final analysis, the WCG's migration from cult to "mainstream" status could have been handled much more effectively than it was. On pages 115-117, Mr. Feazell explains the reasoning as to why the church leadership tried its best to hide the process of change from the laity, citing the cult mentality of the laity as THE barrier to effective change. To that, I say two things: first, no lie is of the Truth -- and they LIED to the laity in telling them that nothing was being changed -- and secondly, if the cult mentality is the problem, then change the cult mentality BEFORE changing any doctrines!

In my opinion, the changes that took place in the WCG constitute the biggest religious disaster in years. There are still hundreds of splits from the WCG that hold nearly the same doctrines as before the changes. They have not been healed or bound up, so to speak (quoting Isaiah 61:1-2). Everyone seems to be focusing instead on the "miracle" of the mainstreaming of the "stump" of the eviscerated tree.

The leadership of the WCG did not have the tools to make effective change, either. Because the entire organization was infected with an attitude of negativity and judgmentalism, THAT needed to be cured first, and the leadership just didn't know how to do that. Trust should have been won first, rather than changing doctrines. Secondly, the same goes for the WCG leadership as what I said concerning Mr. Feazell. They just weren't smart enough to discern between what WAS true and correct -- even though it was almost unique to the WCG -- what teachings had to be modified, and what had to go. Again, I'm not criticizing them, I'm just stating the facts.

There are lessons to be learned from what happened with the WCG -- both in what went right and what went wrong. This is where I feel that this book has its greatest strength, although the reader must beware that the author himself makes mistakes in determining what went right or wrong. If one were to approach another "cult" organization with a similar agenda, then one had better beware of making the same mistakes and ultimately leaving the walking wounded in the wake of the "miracle" of doctrinal healing.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Informative, but not very cohesive, August 28, 2007

By 

S. Stacy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God, The (Paperback)

Unlike his friend and co-worker, Joseph Tkach (Jr), Mike Feazell provides a relatively in-depth examination of WCG doctrinal changes during the early 1990s. The book seems poorly organized and rather disjointed, even contradictory at times - Feazell jumps from topic to topic with little of a detectable outline (perhaps he produced a majority of the book by combining previous articles he had written), and often adopts an irritatingly defensive tone, but it does provide ample "food for thought" on many points, as opposed to Tkach's rather glossy, plastic narrative. There's less here for an outside observer, though; the book seems to be more directed at current and former WCG members.

25 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "Liberated, or Hijacked!", July 8, 2004

By 

Wisdom's Child "The G Man" (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God, The (Hardcover)

The title of this book is very misleading! The Worldwide Church of God did not need to be liberated from anything. Those who were its members at the time of the death of Herbert Armstrong were content with its basic doctrines. It was a growing and thriving church, with its mission of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world as a witness. It was not a cult; it did not twist anyone's arm to join it. In fact, it was content to remain relatively small in overall numbers. Members were free to come and go as they pleased, and if they did not agree with its doctrines that differed from "mainstream Christianity," (such as keeping the 7th day Sabbath, and observing "Jewish" Holy days such as Passover, the Day of Atomement, etc. instead of Easter, Christmas, etc.) then the WCG would recommend that they not attend its services!
But with the death of Armstrong in 1986, the leadership of the WCG fell into the hands of Joseph Tkach, his son, and others like Mike Feazell. At first they deceived the membership by pretending to remain loyal to the original doctrines of the Church. Then, near the end of his life, Joseph Tkach began to make wholesale changes. These changes escalated under the pastorship of his son, Joe Tkach, Jr., who succeeded him. The Destruction, not the Liberation of the WCG was now in full gear. The membership of the WCG saw the sad mismanagement of Tkach and Feazell, and began to leave in droves. The WCG owned two beautiful and first rate college campuses, one in east Texas, and the other in Pasadena, CA. These campuses, along with many other assets the WCG owned, have now been sold off and the proceeds pocketed by the elite group (ie Tkach and Feazell, et al) who now control the remanant of the WCG. Herbert Armstrong was a man of vision who was instrumental in building a worldwide Work. The current church leadership is merely a bunch of little, greedy men who have built nothing! They did not liberate the WCG, but hijacked it and plundered its wealth for their own personal gain. I wonder Who will liberate it from them!!!