Transformed by Truth

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not the whole truth
Review: I found the book interesting, as I had been in the organization while the changes (which I mostly disagree with) were going on. If Mr. Tkach and his company want to embrace "historic Christianity"-the Sunday keeping, pagan holiday keeping, religion of the Popes, the Inquisition, and Martin "the Jews should be expelled and their synagogues burned" Luther, as opposed to the apostolic Christianity of Polycarp, John the Apostle, and the Quartodecimans, then that is their right. But why not be honest and leave a church that they feel has no basis for being, instead of changing it (Mr. Tkach did address this but his answer was not satisfying as to what is their reason for existing now). By the way, when these changes were being made, Herbert Armstrong and evangelists sympathetic to him (such as Rod Meredith) were accused of promoting "the bondage of an impossible salvation by works" (Worldwide News 1/26/93). This is either an intentional lie (I don't believe it is) or a sorry misunderstanding of Armstrong's teachings; if Mr. Tkach does not believe one can teach that although works do NOT save us they are still necessary, he should read the epistle of James (or call James an "epistle of straw" like Luther did). Armstrong, while believing works were necessary, NEVER said that we are saved by them, and no one has ever produced a quote of his saying that we are saved by works. One final point: when the church started making changes, the leadership said that they weren't changes but clarifications. The leadership would then ridicule those who said that other big changes (such as celebrating Easter and Christmas, and doing away with the necessity of keeping the Law and the Sabbath) were on the way. Well guess what-all these changes did occur; Mr. Tkach and company could have at least been honest about the changes and not falsely accused Mr. Armstrong of Legalism.

Rating:
Summary: A STORY WORTH TELLING...
Review: I have personally met Joseph Tkach, Jr. I have looked into his eyes and seen the Spirit of God working there. In his book "Transformed by Truth", Tkach summarizes the road to Christianity taken by the Worldwide Church of God. A road with its starting point in founder, Herbert W. Armstrong and its radical fork under the leadership of Joseph Tkach Sr. and Jr. From a Christian standpoint, it is encouraging and exciting to see the revival that changed the Worldwide Church of God from the inside out.

Tkach did a valiant effort trying to summarize in one book the Worldwide Church of God story to both its current members as well as those outside its denomination -- each with preconceived notions and theories of the church, its history and current viewpoints, some accurate and some not.

As a Worldwide Church of God member, I lived through many of the times that Tkach speaks of ! I saw and personally experienced the tragedies that many WCG members experienced - tragedies of broken lives, spit families, hurt feelings, and doctrinal error that humans and human leaders unintentionally inflict upon themselves and their followers in the name of trying to follow God. Tkach touches on, but does not extensively dwell on, this historical & emotional aspect of WCG, choosing to focus on the latter part of its history and the events leading to and through the fork in the road as God led the church to make the transition from what many of you will call "Cult to Christian".

In any work that is so dramatically emotional as a religious change of the magnitude the Worldwide Church of God has undertaken, it is easy to find fault and criticize. Whatever your denomination or affiliation, I encourage Christians worldwide to read this book and take it at its face value as a testimony of what God can do in your life. Many current and former members of the WCG sacrificed their hearts and lives in many ways so this story could be told.

"Transformed by Truth", a story worth the telling and the hearing....

Rating:
Summary: Avoid
Review: I have to highly recommend that you give this book a pass. There is a reason that it only costs $1.90.

Rating:
Summary: Filled with myths and omissions
Review: In order to fully understand this title additional reading isrequired. Many unauthorized changes have occured in the last few yearsthat cannot be properly understood unless we have the whole story. For the missing side of this story, the title: "Malachis's Message to God's Church today" is offered gratis. This subject is too important not do ones own research. The Revelation is freely available (as it always has been), to those who value the truth.

Rating:
Summary: This book should be read by all Christian Leaders.
Review: It took a lot of guts for Joe Tkach to lay it all on the line in this book. He travels through the church's cultic past and he painfully details how error after error made by the WCG finally proved to be non-biblical and had to be repented of and corrected. He even deals directly and gracefully with the personal errors of Herbert W. Armstrong. Every church leader by reading this book can learn how important it is to stick to the Bible and Jesus Christ and not on their own wisdom for guiding those whom God is calling out of this life to be His sheep.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid
Review: The Worldwide Church of God has gone from one heresy to another. There is no truth coming out of that "church," or rather, CULT. It never was a fundamentalist church. It's still a cult no matter what kind of spin Tkach and his gang put on it.

If they really wanted to be transformed by truth Pope Joey Jr. over in Pasadena would have picked up a King James Bible and let it instruct him. They have a habit of using whatever Bible version (usually one of the corrupt versions--not King James) supports their doctrine.

I was in that cult for a few years. Thankfully I am in a Bible-believing independent Baptist church now.

I'm not afraid to say that Armstrong was a heretic, so was Joe Sr., and so is Joe Jr.

Rating:
Summary: Transformed, They Goofed
Review: This book is a good chronicle of many of the changes in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), however, it's approach is deconstructionist in nature.

Those involved in the transformation of the WCG deconstructed the church and sent literally tens of thousands spinning out of the church into splinter groups, support networks, other Sunday keeping groups, all the way to the isolated.

This is a good work if you want a compare and contrast of teachings and beliefs of what many call a cult and what is considered mainstream.

The legacy left by those who supported this book is one of dismal failure. Lives were not transformed for the better and Christian love was left somewhere in the lurch.

The Sabbath keeping legacy does precede the SDA/Sabbatarian Adventists contrary to the chart that Tkach has in his book. Sabbath keepers can clearly be linked all the way back to 1525 in Germany/Moravia, through the Seventh Day Baptists, who called themselves 'church of God.' Even Ellen G. White mentions that the person who wrote about the Sabbath in early Adventism was himself a freewill Seventh Day Baptist.

There were many things non-cultish about the WCG, people were well travelled, educated, employed. They understood world events. They could tell you who world leaders were and the issues at hand. Yes, as with any other group of people, there were extremes.

The transformation written of here is from only one perspective, as expected. Yet the full truth of the happenings behind the scenes are for another venue.

Rating:
Summary: An honest and compelling story
Review: Tkach has laid it all on the line in this book. I am sure that it was not an easy book to write, as he was involved in much of what this church was about, both before its "conversion" and after. The charts were especially helpful, as it helped me to better understand where this church's roots lay. In some places the book bogged down a bit, as some of the details seemed to be somewhat redundant. But it did not diminish the powerful story as told by the church's current leader. I am sorry to see that it is now out of print--can it be that this story is not well received by the general Christian population?