Third Tithe: The Church of God Con Game

The demand in the Churches of God over tithing has created huge nightmares for members and a steady stream of income for the leaders in charge.  Most of these men have never worked an honest day of sweat-producing,  callous forming work in their lives, so having someone else support them is always the best choice.  Can you imagine Gerald Flurry, Gerald Weston, Bob Thiel, James Malm and others ever seen sweating?  Apostles NEVER sweat!

The church has always hit back at those that claim it demands three tithes from its members and is always quick to point out that a second tithe is for the members themselves to travel to various sites for annual fall celebrations.  But this quick to remind members that the church demands that members tithe upon that money and then expects them to give any remaining money leftover to the church.

And then there is the most misused and fraudulent tithe the church demanded, third tithe, money that was supposed to go to the fatherless, widows and needy. If you combined all 400 some of the COG's still in existence, you would be hard pressed to count on two hands how many orphans the church has ever helped in 80 some years!  It is only slightly better for the widows.  The church was very reluctant to help widows in the church and when they did the women had to go through lots of hoops and major ass-kissing in order to get a mere pittance.  Stories of how widows in the church were never helped by the church have been circulating on Facebook and elsewhere over the past few months.  The cold-hearted callousness of ministers and church leaders in making up excuses as to why they would not help are appalling to read.

When I say 3rd tithe was misused, it is not an accident.  Ambassador Reports and others have long reported stories about how ministers and church leaders dipped into 3rd tithe to remodel their homes and for other expenses.  When I came to Pasadena it was widely known that Rod Meredith had dipped into the 3rd tithe fund when he wanted his home on Waverly Drive remodeled.

In “Twisted Teachings on Tithing” AR wrote:  “The purpose of the third tithe fund is to help the fatherless, the widows, and the needy—at least that's what members have been told.  It's sad to say, but the third tithe fund [in 1976] would be many millions of dollars larger than it presently is if the Armstrongs hadn't secretly authorized using its funds to buy jet fuel, to furnish and redecorate high-ranking ministers' homes, and to pay ministers' salaries.  Somehow using this third tithe ‘poor fund’ for these things—when there's not enough money to help the needy church widows—seems like a ‘Robin Hood in reverse’—robbing the poor to give to the rich (AR #2, p. 17).  

Holly Ruiz, who was married for 18 years to Enrique Ruiz, director of the Mexico City office of the Worldwide Church of God, told Mary Jones the following about third tithe in “Southern Exposure”: “RUIZ:  I remember one time when Enrique wanted to buy $1,000 worth of dining room furniture, he asked Garner Ted for the money.  Well, Ted told him to simply take it out of Third Tithe funds. [Editor: WCG members were led to believe that the Third Tithe Fund was used solely to help widows, orphans, & the poor.]“JONES:  Was the whole house furnished with Third Tithe funds?“RUIZ:  I believe so.”  (AR #2, p. 32)

In “Fleecing the Flock” John Trechak wrote that he had a large stack of approved and signed Ambassador College purchase orders (PO’s) from one of AR’s sources showing money spent totally from third tithe (AR #2, p. 61).  Here are a few samples:

Date	P. O. #	Recipient	Description	Amount
1969	20904	D. Apartian	Furniture, carpets	$22,000
1/29/69	18634	Ron Dart	Appliances, drapery	$5,000
1/29/69	20123	Ron Dart	All furnishings	$40,000

The article further reported that on two occasions in 1974 a tape recorder caught Garner Ted Armstrong actually admitting to fellow ministers that third tithe funds were being used for purposes other than the sustenance of the widows and orphans of the church.  Notice his words:  "...it is true that massive segments of third tithe as it built up in the balances of this work were used both for ministerial homes and for ministerial salaries."  (Garner Ted Armstrong, ministerial conference, Jan. 3, 1974.)  "But you know it [third tithe] is still being used for your salaries.  It's still being used for church homes." (Garner Ted Armstrong, ministerial conference, May 7, 1974.)  (See AR #2, p. 61.)

Third tithe funds were used for the jets, but who authorized it?  According to one Ted Armstrong statement, it was Albert J. Portune.  According to Albert J. Portune, it was Herbert W. Armstrong.  In February 1974 evangelist David Antion commented on this at a meeting in Richmond, Virginia:  “About that time Al [Portune] had a conscience problem and he just went to Mr. [Herbert] Armstrong and said, ‘Do we have to use third tithe?  That doesn't look good.  It's bad.  It's not right to use the third tithe fund to fly jets and pay for all that fuel.'" (See “Fleecing the Flock,” AR #2, p. 61.)  

Yet when reading this, certain church members still claim the church is the most ethical church ever to exist on earth since the original 1st century Christians came into existence.  They stumble all over themselves trying to claim the actions of the  men in charge were not that bad and that they were practicing "1st century Christianity." 

There were lots of members who caught on to the abuse of 3rd tithe and started giving it directly to widows and needy they knew that were in need.

The Church of God has always revolved around money and devised countless ways to bilk members out of hard-earned money:

1st tithe
2nd tithe
3rd tithe
Tithe of the tithe
Excess 2nd tithe
Holy day offerings
Special offerings from member letters
Special offerings from co-worker letters
Building fund

First fruit offerings
(I am sure there are others I have forgotten)

It is no wonder modern-day crooks in the COG, like Thiel, Malm, Pack, Flurry, Weinland, Weston, Kubik, Franks and others, still, demand of their followers that they tithe. Their little man-made organizations would dissolve. Plus, they fail to let their followers that tithing is NOT a new covenant demand. But since when has ever following the new covenant ever been a high priority!

As the bigger Churches of God continue to be bloated by more and more people on payroll, less and less money is going into proclaiming their "gospel witness" to the world.  There is, after all, one priority on the mind of all of the top COG leaders, and it is this: