Joseph W. Tkach - Christmas Eve Sermon

Christmas Eve Sermon

The doctrinal changes in the church occurred gradually, but by 1994, most of the concepts of Armstrongism had been largely modified or discontinued. However, the major bombshell was dropped during what is now called the Christmas Eve Sermon. Tapes of Tkach's sermon (dated January 7, 1995) were delivered to local congregations for viewing. In this sermon, he publicly declared that the Worldwide Church of God was a New Covenant church and, therefore, not bound by the terms of the Old Covenant. Christian theology defines the Old Covenant as the Mosaic Law embodied in the Torah. Hence, by making this statement, Tkach officially dropped all doctrines based on Mosaic Law (i.e., the keeping of the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and the dietary laws), making observance of such practices an individual choice. He also dropped the requirement of tithing, declaring that giving as taught in the New Testament was voluntary. The last change had a significant and rather immediate impact on church finances.

These and other major changes brought about major defections among ministers and members, which in turn contributed to a further drop in church revenue. In order to bring the finances in order, major changes in the church infrastructure were implemented. The World Tomorrow, which had seen record numbers of viewers in the early years of the Tkach administration, was stopped. The Plain Truth publication runs were reduced. Staff at the church headquarters were laid off. The famous, church-subsidized Ambassador Auditorium concert series was cancelled and offers were sought for the purchase of the Ambassador College Pasadena campus.