"Let Justice be done, though the heavens fall!"

Joseph W. Tkach -- Saint?

or Religious MONSTER?

In these last days, we hear much about religious scandals,

cover-ups, the sins of religious leaders such as Jim Baker

of the PTL Club, and Jimmy Swaggart and his connections

with prostitutes. But many people today consider charismatic

Joseph W. Tkach of the Worldwide Church of God to be

above reproach, a "saint." A careful, cautious study of his

past, however, puts the lie to that fairytale. Beware those who

seek to steal not only your pocketbook but your soul!

William F. Dankenbring

Is Joseph W. Tkach for "real"?

Four years in a row, while I was yet a member of the Worldwide Church of God, in good standing, I was called on the carpet ostensibly for crossing over the line insofar as promotion of my books, published by Triumph Publishing Company, my own company, was concerned. In 1982 I was reprimanded by Tkach and Ellis LaRavia (no longer apparently part of the Worldwide Ministry, I believe he is now on a "sabbatical") who played the "good cop, bad cop" routine on me for my sending out a letter to my own mailing list, asking people to pray for the success of my new book of that time, Beyond Star Wars, which was printed in a mass market paperback edition by Tyndale House Publishers. This, apparently, to them was a "no-no," but their demagogic tactics disturbed me no end. When they saw I wouldn't give in to them, they let the matter drop, admitting I had a right to publish my books.

A Shocking Accusation

A year later in the April 1983 Pastor General's Report, a publication sent to WCG ministers, somebody wrote an article blasting my books and publishing company, with scathing disapproval and denunciation. The article was either written or approved by Tkach. The index of Worldwide Church of God publications listed it and credited it to Tkach. However, Tkach sent an emissary to inform me that he did not write it; he claimed that Herbert Armstrong wrote it, and therefore Tkach was compelled to approve it. Regardless of who wrote it, however, it was libelous and blasphemous. The article declared:

"Question: Several ministers have asked about Mr. William Dankenbring's

advertisement for his books which have been distributed to members through

mailings, at Feast sites, etc. Are the books endorsed by the Church? Does

the Church approve of them or recommend them? Is Mr. Dankenbring still a

member of the Church?

"Answer: Mr. Dankenbring is classified as a member of God's Church. But

that does not imply that his privately-sold writings have the approval or

endorsement of the Church.

"Human nature seems to want to use God, or God's Church, for personal gain

or profit. The moneychangers used God's temple as a place of business to sell

at a profit to God's people. In blazing anger, Jesus drove them out. Jesus said,

'Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise'

(John 2:16). We, the members, are God's house, builded into a HOLY TEMPLE

(Eph.2:20-21).

"In II Peter 2:3 God warns, 'And through covetousness shall they with feigned

words make merchandise of you.' Yes, SELLING FOR PROFIT their words

in writing to the members of God's Church.

"Perhaps the selling of doves and things for sacrifice was not in itself wrong, but

exploiting God's HOUSE as a place or means of selling to God's people was.

"The membership of God's Church has been exploited for private gain a number

of times by those no longer members.

"God has commissioned HIS CHURCH -- not private members on their own --

to feed the flock. The Church publishes much literature -- magazines, booklets,

books, reprint articles besides the personal ministry, to feed the flock -- AND

WE DO NOT CHARGE A PRICE OR MAKE MERCHANDISE OF OUR

MEMBERS IN SO FREELY GIVING GOD'S TRUTH! [Editor: Is that right?

I seem to recall books by Herbert Armstrong and Stanley Rader having price tags,

as well as Ambassador College Envoys which were very exorbitant in cost!]

"Although Mr. Dankenbring is a graduate of Ambassador College and has studied

under Mr. Armstrong and our ministers, he has stated in writing, 'I appreciate him

(Mr. Armstrong) very much, although I have disagreed with him from time to time

on some relatively "small" or "little" things.' [Editor: Notice how the writer here

uses Mr. Armstrong's name; it is for this reason that I doubt Mr. Herbert Armstrong

wrote this piece at all, but rather Joseph Tkach or more likely Mike Feazell or one

of his other flunky "ghost writers"!] But what the writer might consider 'small' or

'little' disagreements might in God's eyes be vitally important disagreements.

"God's Church therefore does not endorse nor give approval to Mr. Dankenbring's

books, nor those of others than the Church's own publications or those definitely

approved."

Joe Tkach claims he did not write that article but that Herbert Armstrong did. However, the fact that the article refers to "Mr. Armstrong" in the second person puts the lie to that statement. Also, the phraseology of the article has always struck me as "second rate" imitation Armstrong. He wouldn't write that way. Thirdly, he saw my full page book advertisements at the Feast in Big Sandy, and never criticized or condemned them, and when Don Ward announced from the pulpit that they were not officially sanctioned by the Church, Herbert Armstrong even questioned why he made such an announcement. Later when I talked to Bob Fahey, then HWA's chief assistant, about my books and such, he discussed it with HWA, and there was no negative reaction. Fahey told him I was like a "sheep bleating in the wilderness," and sought to bring us together. Therefore, the above quoted article is totally inconsistent and out-of-character to have been written by Herbert Armstrong! If it had his authority, it surely would have carried his by-line, but was anonymous!

Somebody obviously did not like what I was writing, and used this means to pummel me in the stomach and turn Church people everywhere against my books! It seemed strange at that time that prior to this article suddenly appearing, NOBODY in the

Church had talked to me negatively about my books or their contents, and I had been praised by several ministers for them, and some ministers even used them for the basis of sermons and Bible studies! The fact is, evangelist Raymond F. McNair even published his book Ascent To Greatness through my company!

Also, strangely, two or three months before this article appeared, I had just sent a couple of my books to the attention of Stanley Rader, and his office had written me a short but nice letter appreciating them.

At the same time, I had sent several copies of my books to the attention of Herbert Armstrong, with a short supportive cover-letter, in which I tried to tell Mr. Armstrong I was loyally back of him 100% in his efforts to get the Church "back on the track." I did write the little sentence admitting to not agreeing with him in every little thing, but I went on to say -- in the rest of the sentence, for some reason not quoted honestly in the PGR article -- that we were all growing together in grace and knowledge, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man" (Eph.4:13).

I was merely being honest and straight-forward, for there were a few items I would have liked to talk to Mr. Armstrong about -- since he had flip-flopped on the subject of whether physical life of any kind existed on earth prior to Adam and Eve's creation, as evidenced in his books The Incredible Human Potential and Mystery of the Ages. However, I never got a chance to talk with him about these things -- I was literally "blown out of the water" by this nasty, scurrilous diatribe printed in the Pastor General's Report, with no "by-line" to show who the insidious author really was.

Whether or not he wrote it, I immediately telephoned Joe Tkach and sought to make an appointment to talk to him and Ellis LaRavia about the matter. He did not return my first phone call. The second call I got him personally, and he agreed to have a meeting to discuss the matter -- but he seemed reluctant somehow. He never called me back to set up the meeting, and I decided to commit the problem into God's hands and leave it there.

The "Annual Visits"

A year later I was called to task once again for publishing and promoting books. This time, though, Joe actually seemed to approve of the book I had published, The Incredible History of God's True Church. After we finished our discussion, he and Ellis both seemed to be impressed by my "good attitude," and Joe even asked me to begin writing articles for The Plain Truth again, which he promised to show to Herbert Armstrong so they could be published. In the following months, despite having turned in 5-6 articles, I heard nothing in response, however,

and it appeared that Joe Tkach had merely been leading me on -- he was not interested in my articles after all.

The following year, when I wrote to book stores and gift shops in Festival areas to have them display my books, including Ivor Fletcher's book on Church History, my own books on Overcoming Satan, Last Days of Planet Earth, and Paul Syltie's book Millennial Agriculture: The New Eden, I quickly got a phone call from Tkach's office asking me to come and see him. This time he and Selmer Hegvold were in the office, and Tkach immediately got down to business and read me a memo he was threatening to send to ALL festival sites, accusing me of preaching things contrary to Church doctrine!

The kid gloves were off! He obviously meant business! However, the whole idea I felt was totally absurd. This was patently ridiculous, and I thought he was being ridiculous, but I went along with the game, humoring him. I pointed out that he knew very well where I stood on the subject of Satan's Fate I had even written a book about it several years before, with the very title Satan's Fate -- and the Church had known it for years, and nobody had every said anything to me about it. It seemed ridiculous to bring that up as some "point of controversy," in order to blast me publicly and to blacken my reputation. I then pointed out to him that since the Church had told the various gift shops that they did not want them selling my books, in most Feast sites my books would not be present at all, and my books would only be represented in a few places, at a few sites. It seemed ludicrous -- like shooting a yellow canary with a huge cannon -- for them to send such a memo to all festival sites! Joe apparently thought better of his plan, and the memo never went out.

The Final Meeting

A year later, we had another one of our "annual meetings," and I asked Joe what he thought of the research paper I had sent to him on Daniel's 2300 day prophecy, which differed from Herman Hoeh's old interpretation. I had sent copies of the paper to about twenty different headquarters ministers, and only one had even responded, Leroy Neff, and he said he found it "very interesting," but sadly said he had no time to study into it further. When I asked Tkach about it, he merely said he discussed it with Dr. Hoeh over the phone.

I had already presented Hoeh with a copy, as well as had him over for dinner at our home, where I had presented the "newly discovered truth" to him. At that time, he seemed to be impressed with it, and did not deny it at all. When I pointed out that Adam Clarke's Commentary even had it right, except it was one year off, he exclaimed, while he picked his teeth with a toothpick, "I read that." I asked him whether he meant he had read it back in the 50's, and he nodded but said nothing else. So I offered, "Well, back then it had no significance

and we didn't know then that the 2300 years would be up in 1967, the year of the Six Day War."

After all these meetings with Joseph Tkach, I came away with the impression that this man was cagey, street-wise, smart in a political sense, and very cunning and crafty. No wonder he had wormed his way in to the very top, impressing Stanley Rader, with whom he was ordained as an evangelist during the Church's Receivership Crisis. However, I came away with the distinct notion that this was not a man who could be trusted -- not at all. He was a consummate liar, shifty, covered up his tracks well, and was a master of flattery. When he took over the Church after the death of Herbert Armstrong in January 1986, I had grave misgivings and doubts about the future of the Church -- but I decided to give him a chance, to see how he would operate. I was not long in finding out.

Disfellowshipped without a Hearing!

A year after Herbert Armstrong's death, Tkach sent two ministers to my home to inform me I had been "suspended" from Church for having written a new Triumph Publishing catalog, advertising a new booklet "Daniel's 2300 Day Prophecy Revealed for the Very First Time!" and for having written a Church member in Australia a letter informing him I thought the Church was then composed of a mixture of Laodiceans and Philadelphians, and that I had grave doubts about where the Church was headed, but that time would tell.

The next week the ministers returned to my home to inform me that I had not only been suspended, but "disfellowshipped" as well. The third week, Jim Reier, the lead minister, called me on the telephone, informing me that I was going to be "marked" that very weekend and that it would be better if my wife stayed home that day so that she would not be too embarrassed.

After much prayer and fasting, I decided that the time had come to follow the example of Herbert Armstrong, when he left the Church of God Seventh Day back in the early 1930's. The time had come to put my trust completely in the hands of God, and to serve Him totally, independently, and to trust HIM with the outcome in pure, shining, unadulterated FAITH!

In the five years since that time God has blessed my efforts, and my wife's, and those associated with us in Triumph Prophetic Ministries. In the intervening years, Joseph Tkach has proven his true colors -- and they are black with a very wide white stripe! The Church of God, since he took over the helm, has plunged over the cliff of out-and-out apostasy, with a speed and violence that is breath-taking. Doctrines are being shifted and changed right and left, so that most members don't know what the Church teaches any more, and are afraid to ask their local minister lest they be looked upon as some sort

of "dissident"!

I have categorized the massive sea-changes in doctrine that have overwhelmed the Worldwide Church of God in other articles. Suffice it to say that Joseph Tkach has virtually undermined and disgorged every vital doctrine taught by Herbert W. Armstrong, especially those in his most important book he ever wrote, The Mystery of the Ages. Tkach has destroyed the doctrine of the God Family, the doctrine of Christ's humanity, the doctrine of when we are Born Again, altered significantly the doctrine of the Kingdom of God, claiming now that the Church is the Kingdom, and abolished all real understanding of Biblical prophecy, claiming "prophecies fail" and cannot be trusted. He has really messed with the minds of God's people, leaving them in grave spiritual jeopardy and peril. The major doctrine upon which Jesus Christ built the Church through Herbert Armstrong, the identity of the United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, has been jettisoned and thrown overboard, with only the final "taps" waiting to be sounded for its interment.

A man who is so changeable when it comes to Church doctrines, what is he like in his personal life and habits? Is he the saint that so many seem to think? How does his winsome smile play in Peoria? What kind of character does he have?

The Robert Skaggs Testimony

I recently had the pleasure of talking with a Robert Skaggs, longtime member of the Church of God in the Chicago, Illinois area. He has been out of the Church for several years, but was a member back in the early Chicago days, the early 1960s, when Dean Blackwell was district superintendent and when Joseph Tkach was first ordained as a local elder. Tkach and another member, Martin Fillipello, were summoned to Chicago one Sabbath and both ordained the same day.

According to Mr. Skaggs, who was also a leading member, Dean Blackwell was a very sensuous minister, and participated in sexual relations with a number of women in the Church, with or without their husband's knowledge. He had a special office in his basement, where trysts were held.

Blackwell also saw to it that leading Church women would clean his home 2-3 times per week, and cook special meals when out-of-town guests would arrive. Several women wound up in his arms or bed, as the situation dictated, including the wives of Mr. Fillipello and Mr. Tkach, according to Skaggs. Said Mr. Skaggs, the way to quick ordination in Chicago was to give your wife to Mr. Blackwell! Skaggs himself refused to let his wife go over to the Blackwell residence, and told her, "Let Mrs. Blackwell do her own cleaning!"

Mr. Skaggs related to me how one time he saw Mr. Blackwell put his hand on Mrs. Elaine Tkach's buttocks and give her a fondling pat. He has no doubt that Mrs. Tkach was one of Dean Blackwell's lovers.

The Fillipello Affair

However, according to Mr. Skaggs, when Martin Fillipello found out what his wife had been doing with Blackwell, he went crazy. A leading Church woman one day took some food over to the Blackwells, hearing that Dean Blackwell was sick in bed. So she tip-toed into the bedroom, and to her chagrin and shocked surprise, she saw Mrs. Fillipello in BED with Dean Blackwell, both of them naked as jaybirds. She hurriedly retreated. A few days later, after Sabbath services, she was invited for dinner with the Skaggs. While there, she told Mr. Skaggs what she had seen -- it was too much for her to keep to herself. Skaggs, smelling the scent of scandal and corruption in the Church, immediately telephoned Pasadena and spoke with evangelist Roderick C. Meredith. Meredith acted surprised on the phone, but promised to get to the bottom of the problem.

The next thing Skaggs knew, he had been summarily suspended from Church, disfellowshipped, and was informed that HE needed to repent! In fact, in order to get back in the Church, a year or so later, he had to submit to the embarrassment of being re-baptized, although he had done nothing wrong!

Menwhile, what about Fillipello? As I said, he virtually lost his mind over the sexual debauchery involving his very own wife. He took his new lease car, supplied by the Church, and his new credit card given to him as a minister, and took off -- no one knew where. All the Church could do was follow the receipts of the credit card which Fillipello used prodigiously as he snaked his way to Las Vegas. Finally they caught up with him, but pressed no charges. In fact, Fillipello was reinstated in the ministry with a minimum of fuss. Apparently by this time he had overcome his sense of loss and shock, and was willing to keep quiet about the "Blackwell affair."

Immorality Unlimited

Did Joseph Tkach "buy" his way into the ministry by "selling" his wife's sexual services to evangelist Dean Blackwell? John Trechack of Ambassador Report fame, interviewed Robert Skaggs, and wrote up the story as follows:

"However, almost all the WCG oldtimers I talked to were

convinced that there was a connection between Elaine's condition

and a sexual relationship she allegedly had with evangelist Dean

Blackwell, her husband's superior in Chicago during the early '60s.

"The Tkach administration now wants the Blackwell affair down-

played as having been merely verbal overtures by Blackwell. With

only one exception, however, all the WCG oldtimers I talked to said

their understanding was that the Blackwell affair was out and out

adultery -- at the very least. . . . When I suggested to former WCG

pastor Al Carrozzo that Blackwell's romantic relationship with Elaine

Tkach was now being portrayed as only verbal, he replied, 'That's

not the way Joe talked about it years ago. He believed Dean Black-

well had gone to bed with his wife.'"

Al Carrozzo is the minister who blew the whistle on the sexual scandal of Garner Ted Armstrong, in the early '70s, who was sleeping with innumerable co-eds, baby sitters, stewardesses, and young Ambassador College girls mesmerized by his allure, glamour, and boyish good looks and the trappings of power and spiritual "authority." Says John Trechak:

"Carrozzo is known for his frankness. He is a man that does not

mince words. His understanding of the Blackwell affair with Elaine

Tkach, however, is very mild compared to what some others have said.

For instance, at least one WCG evangelist has described the Blackwell-

Elaine trysts as 'wife swapping.' When I first became aware of this

accusation I assumed the evangelist was confusing Dean Blackwell

with Blackwell's brother Lowell, who was put out of the WCG ministry

years ago because of alleged wife swapping. That sordid business was

actually detailed in a turgid open letter written to the entire WCG ministry

by church administrator Roderick C. Meredith in the early '70s. But a

similar accusation against Tkach has now come from other sources, as

well.

One of these sources is the very same Robert Skaggs with whom I talked a few weeks ago. Trechak continues:

"In March, I was contacted by Indiana businessman Robert Skaggs, who

had been a WCG member in the Midwest during the early '60s. He had

then been involved with the WCG's visiting program and had been very

close to both Tkach and Blackwell. Skaggs claimed that when he knew

him, Tkach was not genuinely interested in religious truth, but was

possessed by a lust for power. Skaggs told me that in his quest for power

Tkach stooped so low as to allow evangelist Blackwell, then his superior,

to sleep with Elaine, his wife. In return for this favor, says Skaggs,

Blackwell had Tkach ordained into the WCG ministry.

"When I was told this, I pointedly asked Mr. Skaggs, 'Are you saying

that Joe Tkach was ordained in return for participating in some kind of

wife-sharing arrangement?' His answer: 'Absolutely!' Skaggs went on

to state that Blackwell had at least one other man ordained for the same

reason."

Trechak goes on in his amazing and candid report, saying that evangelist Dean Blackwell had a "reputation" among the ministry of the Worldwide Church of God as a sort of "ladies' man." He seemed to especially have a way of consoling "widows" in the Church. Because of his moral trangressions, he was at times brought into Pasadena for "R and R" -- repentance and recovery.

Writes John Trechak:

"As shocking as they are, Mr. Skagg's accusations regarding Blackwell

are in step with Blackwell's reputation among many former colleagues.

Former church administrator Gary Arvidson told me, 'Yes, Dean Black-

well had something of a reputation. Without going into details, let's just

say that he was known as someone who really know how to bring relief

to the widows.' Another former WCG minister recalled how Blackwell

repeatedly had to be brought into headquarters for periods of moral

rehabilitation. Some such periods culminated in pulpit pronouncements

by Blackwell (somewhat akin to those of Jimmy Swaggart) that he had

finally repented and learned his lesson" (Ambassador Report, 'Joseph. W.

Tkach -- God's New Rep on Planet Earth,' III, December 1989).

Former WCG minister David Robinson, who wrote Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, a fascinating expose of the Armstrong empire and failings, sexual "warts" and entanglements, including the shocking account of decade-long incest, told John Trechak that in the fall of 1971 WCG minister Don Wineinger confessed to him how he had obtained a quick raise in ministerial rank to that of preaching elder by threatening to expose Blackwell's transgressions and his double lifestyle. Faced with this threat, Blackwell quickly raised him up a notch in rank -- within mere days. Years later, Don Wineinger and his wife were having severe marital problems. One day in 1978, while consulting a divorce attorney, Wineinger committed suicide in after murdering his wife.

In my own recent conversation with Mr. Skaggs, he told me how one evening when he lived in Kentucky, and the Blackwell group was staying overnight in his home, he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. In so doing he had to pass through the living room, where he saw Dean Blackwell at midnight standing and hugging the girl who was Jack Pyle's fiance! Jack Pyle was later to become a minister in the Church. Sleeping, supposedly, not twenty feet away on the sofa, was Mrs. Blackwell, either impervious or not caring about the whole thing!

I asked Mr. Skaggs about whether Joe Tkach was guilty of the same kind of sexual sins and excesses as Dean Blackwell appeared to be. He said that he was sure the answer was yes. He was positive. According to Skaggs, Blackwell chose men around him to help him who were "birds of a feather," who were just like him. "Birds of a feather flock together," he said.

"Servicing the Widows"

As if to corroborate this intriguing story and candid revelation of serious sexual hanky panky among the leaders of the Chicago Church in the early '60s, I recently received a letter from a woman in Chicago, a long-time Church member, who wrote to me just a few weeks ago. She declared:

"Dear Mr. Dankenbring:

"I feel that I must come forward and speak to you frankly. I have

been reading letters from others who suffered at the hands of the

ministers in the Worldwide Church of God. Now I tell you what

happened with me.

"I have been a widow for many years. A long time ago, after my man

died, Joe Tkach came to visit me. He wasn't nobody important then.

"I'm ashamed to tell that he took advantage of me and I'm ashamed of

myself ever since. He offered me comfort but then was aggressive

with me and forced himself.

"I blame myself mostly, but also him because he should have known

better too than to take advantage of me in my weakest time after my

man died. People need to know the truth, that Joe Tkach is not the

saintly man he wants you to think he is.

"I have repented and try to live the best I can now. I think God has

forgiven me. I pray for Joe too, but still feel bad about the whole thing."

Tkach's Incredible LIES about His Background

Tkach's claim to have attended Illinois Institute of Technology was utterly bogus. That institution of higher learning has absolutely no record of him as a student of any kind, and the courses he claims to have taken -- "industrial management, industrial safety and human factors in industry" -- were never even offered at ITT! Officials there adamantly and emphatically insist there never was anybody named Joseph Tkach at that institute! The fact of the matter is, Joseph Tkach never even graduated from high school!

Tkach completely lied about his background, including the famous story about a wildcat strike by 2,000 people when he was supposedly once fired by Hupp Aviation for refusing to work on the Sabbath. Now officially called Aircraft Gears Corporation, that company never had more than a few hundred employees in its history and official records as well as old-time employees attest to the fact there never was any such strike at all!

What about Tkach's vaunted military service record? Didn't he single-handedly shoot down Japanese kamikaze airplanes in World War II, jump ship and escape to a beach by floating, going AWOL, just before the ship was blown up by the Japanese and sunk? Didn't he then turn himself into the local marine commandant, get tossed into the brig, and while there beat up on several Marines in the brig? Absolutely, utterly, completely UNTRUE -- every one of these claims is complete HOGWASH! The truth is, Joseph Tkach never saw any real

fighting action in World War II. The ship he was supposedly stationed on, the U.S.S. Austin, was a destroyer escort, and according to offical naval records never saw action at the places where the Japanese used kamikaze fighters! It wasn't in any famous World War II naval battles at all. It never saw a single kamikaze. Nor was it ever blown out of the water by the Japanese.

The whole tissue of stories about Joe Tkach's World War II exploits were manufactured out of whole cloth, merely in an attempt to bolster his self image and his public persona and profile among the Church brethren, to lend credence to his becoming "pastor general" of the Worldwide Church of God!

Is Tkach a Crook?

Judas Iscariot was a "thief," and was the treasurer for Jesus' small group of disciples. He held the bag, and was outraged when a woman anointed Jesus' feet with a pound of expensive ointment, asking why the ointment was not sold for the money it would bring. Wrote the apostle John, "This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein" (John 12:3-7).

Beginning in the early '60s, Tkach's superiors often put him in charge over the "poor fund" or "third tithe" accounts. Wrote John Trechak in Ambassador Report about Tkach's money managing activities:

"Earls Timmons, for a decade a confidant of Tkach, told me that

Tkach would often siphon off funds by making loans to needy

church members, then labeling the loans on the books as gifts paid

out, and finally pocketing the loans when they were repaid. I person-

ally recall how during the early seventies, a number of my WCG

friends, unemployed at the time, went to Tkach for assistance. In

each case they were granted a few hundred dollars. They were

startled, however, when Tkach informed them that the amount they

received was only a loan and that the loan had to be repaid to Tkach

personally in cash.

"I asked one former church secretary, who had known Tkach quite

well during the seventies, if she believed Tkach had siphoned off

funds meant for the poor during those years. She told me, 'Oh sure

he did. But so what? In those days a lot of the ministers were doing

the very same thing.'" (Ambassador Report, "Joseph W. Tkach -- God's

New Rep on Planet Earth, III, December 1989).

Stanley Rader, former attorney and adviser to Herbert W. Armstrong, whose name is very familiar to those in Worldwide Church of God circles, in a February 1, 1981 telex to Herbert Armstrong commented on Joe Tkach's "illegal fencing activities" which surfaced when the Church was preparing its civil rights case. Former WCG attorney and accountant Jack Kessler, in a letter he wrote to the WCG board of trustees, recounted many ethics violations among top executives of the Church. He made the following statement regarding Joe Tkach's helping himself to money from the "poor fund" or "third tithe" fund. Said Kessler:

"According to Mr. Robin Webber, Mr. Joseph Tkach apparently

felt justified in giving himself from a trust fund he controlled a little

advance of $5000.00 as a 'needy Church member' to take advantage

of a special investment in unregistered securities then illegally being

peddled (against advice of counsel) by the Dean brothers" (ibid.).