What It Mean to You??
The Lone Ranger &
Tonto are camping in the desert, set up their tent, and fall asleep.
Some hours later, The
Lone Ranger wakes his faithful friend and says, "Tonto, look up at the sky
& tell me what you see."
Tonto replies, "Me
see millions of stars."
"What does that
tell you Tonto?" asks The Lone Ranger.
Tonto ponders for a
minute, then answers, "Astronomically
speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially
billions of planets. Astrologically,
it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Chronologically, it appears to be approximately a quarter past
three. Theologically, it is evident that the Lord is all-powerful & we
are small & insignificant. Meteorologically
it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
What it tell you, Kemo
Sabi?"
The Lone Ranger is
silent for a moment, then speaks: "Tonto, you fool, Someone has stolen our
tent."
I am always amazed at
some of the forwards I receive. How
people come up with some of the things they do is beyond my imagination?
The Lone Ranger and Tonto parable cited above underscores a paradox
within the various branches of the Church of God today.
Actually, the inherent wisdom expressed by this parable underscores a
problem that has existed for decades.
Yes, just as Tonto
failed to see the obvious, the majority of people in the Church of God lack the
discernment to see the obvious. They
have been without an important “Gift of
the Spirit” for so long that they no longer relate to this gift except in
an abstract way. Most can no longer
relate to this gift in any tangible way, since they have never seen its fruits.
To illustrate this
point let me ask, are you in the church
of the unhealed? Sad as it is
to face; the simple truth is that the mainline splinter groups coming out of the
Worldwide Church of God continue to foster an atmosphere, which has existed for
decades. The gift of healing is gone from the Congregations of God.
Yet, most of the laity lack the discernment to see that a protective
hedge of God has been removed. A
vital, absolutely necessary gift is absent that demonstrates who are the true
people of God. This gift is one of three special gifts that Jesus Christ
identified as signs, part of the fruit that distinguishes who is really aligned
with the will of God. These special
signs are given in the Book of Mark, chapter 16, apparently on Monday night,
just after the sun went down and the beginning of what we call Monday started.
It could possibly be a set of scriptures relating another meeting between
the time Jesus first appeared to the Disciples and his final ascension, but I
personally do not think so.
Mark 16:15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my
name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new
tongues;
18 They shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover.
The only prominent
figure in the Churches of God that actually addresses this issue that I know of
is Dr. Roderick Meredith. Of course
he wants the Gift of Healing restored to his organization so everyone will finally
recognize that his leadership is the one Christ has actually sanctioned.
Most other leaders just do not talk about this gift.
It is really quite embarrassing to them because they realize what the
implications of the absence of this spiritual gift really mean.
The common argument for
the absence of healing, as taught in the Bible, is real cute, but just a product
of human reasoning. Like a lot of
doctrines floating around the various organizations, it has no biblical basis.
The reasoning goes something like this.
It is not God’s time yet to manifest this gift right now.
Be patient, He will show the gift when the time is right.
The apostate leaders rationalize that since the church is mature, the
gift is not needed to help bolster faith and other admirable qualities.
Unfortunately, no such biblical doctrine exists.
What is actually the case is that the church, just like the parable of
the fig tree, is not producing fruit. The
church has been overrun by Satan and his demons, and is quite corrupt.
The church reached a point of not bearing real spiritual fruit way back
in the 70s when they discarded many doctrines.
The church continued to do a great warning work long after it quit
bearing fruit. Just like the fig tree, the church was given time to repent,
but did not, so it had to be brought down and scattered.
Part of these apostate
ministers’ rational comes from an analysis of scripture showing very little
healing in the later stages of the book of Acts and other epistles.
Really! This system of logic
conveniently ignores the fact that the Bible is only a very brief documentation
of the human experience. There is a
massive Library of Congress that has untold millions of pages just showing how
the laws of the land should work. Can
you imagine the Bible and how large it would need to be to cover 6000 years of
human history?
The reality is that
only a very few examples of healing and other miraculous events are actually
recorded. The ones chosen are
specifically chosen. It is plainly
explained that not all of the works and miracles of Jesus and His Disciples are
written down. Many ministers try to
reason that healing
is not a big thing and we do not need to worry about it.
It is just so embarrassing for leaders not authorized by Jesus Christ who
lack this important and necessary gift of the spirit.
I wonder how long the
apostate, self-appointed leaders will take to stop making Jesus Christ out as a
liar? The scriptures are just so
plain on this. The scriptures say
these signs will follow.
Mark 16: 17
And these signs shall follow them that
believe; In my
name shall
they cast out devils; they
shall speak with new
tongues;
18 They
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick,
and they shall recover.
These scriptures do not
say these signs will follow the Disciples
of Christ until the late 60s in the true church (after it has been raised up
for a special commission after centuries of dormancy) and then faith must be
exercised to understand the absence of this gift until Christ returns.
I was brought into a version of truth that taught, “Don’t’
Believe Me……Believe Your Bible!” How
about you? Is the Bible really a
complete book? Does the Christ you
believe in teach you to submit to the Pharisees?
What do you do if you detect something that needs changing?
Are you like the people Paul addressed when he told them, “You may well
put up with it (apostate leaders)?” Do
you maintain the Status Quo and avoid making any waves?
Do you live by every word of God or just practice highly selective
religion? Or, maybe you just play
politics and try to work within a very corrupt system?
Dr. Meredith is correct
in realizing that Healing is a necessary gift.
The scriptures are just so plain. How
many times does scripture have to say something to be valid anyway?
If you listen to Dr. Meredith’s messages on this topic over the last
two years, it becomes evident that he knows exactly when this gift was removed.
It was in the very late 60s, just after Mrs. Armstrong died.
During the 60s the presence of this important gift of healing gradually
evaporated from the congregations. All
of us in the laity who recognize this phenomenon are not just having a demonic
inspired illusion. It is well known
that Mr. Armstrong actually realized that this gift had been removed from him. He did not quit trying to accomplish the commission he had
been raised up to perform but he
did recognize this gift of the spirit was gone.
The question then
becomes, as I write to all of you in our close study group and immediate family,
what specifically has been changed over the decades?
That is a fair question, so I will proceed to describe specific changes
and analyze these changes, as I understand them.
I will not be able to make nearly as many identifiable changes in
doctrine that some people I know can. Rather,
for the purposes of this paper I will identify a few specific changes that I
feel have been instrumental in causing the spiritual Gift of Healing to be
removed from the main body of the church.
These changes include:
the
changes in scheduling the appointed times;
the
change in God’s Government to a brutish government;
the
change to submitting to the Pharisees;
the
need to practice Apostolic Christianity;
the
need to keep the entire Spring Feast;
the
need to observe Wavesheaf Sunday;
the
doctrine of the Resurrection being on Sunday rather than the Sabbath;
changing
when the church kept The Feast of Weeks to Sunday;
the
change to keeping The Feast of Tabernacles in several places;
the
need to dumb-down church history so as to keep young people in the dark;
the
relaxing the dress codes in formality of worship;
the
use of Trumpets in worship services;
what
you would expect from a True Prophet of God;
the
doctrine of restitution and its ban;
a
change to understand that the genealogy of Christ contains gentile blood.
Part
1:
Before getting into the
main areas of interest in this paper as to what was changed and how those
changes affected the ability of the church to retain the Gift of Healing, I want
to plant a few seeds (hopefully good seeds) in your minds to think about.
First, Mr. Armstrong
was a professional advertising executive by training. He is often criticized for his” catch phrases” that
caught the attention of his followers. But
critics trying to establish his faults tend to forget that most of us caught
onto his most famous catch phrase, “Don’t
Believe Me, Believe Your Bible.”
Yes, the Word of God and its revelation, the accuracy with which he
presented the truth to us, is what really caught on, at least before the 70s.
In no way can any previous church leader in the last 1000 years compare.
It is very difficult to trace important church leaders like Peter Waldo
and others, but one thing is certain, no other leader ever accomplished anything
remotely close to the amount of doctrinal truth Mr. Armstrong returned to this
era of the church. No other leader
ever presided over a work that grew like the tiny grain of mustard seed into a
worldwide work which was know everywhere. I
know! I came into that work and the
version
of truth it presented early in the history of the Laodicean Era of the
church. One thing was notably
missing; the spiritual Gift of Healing as described in the New Testament.
This always bothered me because I quickly became aware of the paradox
that early on, in the 40s, 50s, and early 60s that this gift was definitely
present. After Mrs. Armstrong’s
death a series of massive doctrinal changes occurred and a study shows that this
important gift of healing soon disappeared after her death.
The doctrinal changes in the late 80s and early 90s by no means marked
the beginning of apostasy and the disintegration process, which the church has
been going through for decades.
By education, I was
trained in Mechanical Engineering. One
of the things we learned was to identify and isolate structural problems.
The church most certainly has a lot of structural problems.
It continues to be scattered to the ends of the earth.
The church has actually been in a mode of scattering and disintegration
since 1969. I have actually heard
ministers claim that doctrinal questions must be put down because the system is
not broken. They claim and believe
that things are going just peachy and that the present doctrinal system has
worked great for about thirty years. This
is a massive distortion of understanding on their part. The church has been disintegrating since at least 1969 and
very rapidly since 1986. The
process has been a continual acceleration toward nonexistence. Later in this study, we will see exactly how this was
prophesied to happen and when it would happen.
For over thirty years the gift of miraculous healing taught in the Bible
has just been absent from the visible church.
It was never a large manifestation in the church before 1969 but it
definitely was there and to a degree that was both noticeable and verifiable.
Most prominent leaders know exactly when this gift of the spirit
disappeared. They just fail to, or
refuse to face the facts, and understand that the lack of fruit in this area is
indicative of real doctrinal problems. These
leaders simply refuse to acknowledge that they have led the church into apostasy
and created the corruption of doctrine that made it necessary for God to remove
this special Gift of the Spirit.
We have all heard Mr.
Armstrong and other ministers relate how a veil came over the history of the
true church in the first century and when that veil was finally lifted, a church
emerged quite different from the one of the first century.
This would have been the only true church era when true Apostolic
Christianity existed. Likewise,
when we examine the entire panorama of the history of the modern church Mr. and
Mrs. Armstrong was instrumental in leading, we discover that after 1969 an
entirely different church emerges. Its doctrines and spiritual gifts are distinctly different.
It seems to be proclaiming the same gospel and the same Christ as before,
but close examination reveals that it does not.
Just because ministers say it is the same, does not make it a fact.
The doctrines were changed after 1969, so the deity proclaimed is
different. This organization has a
form of godliness but has lost some important qualities.
Yes, as hard as it
seems to believe the original version of Christ and what he believed had been
changed due to new understanding of truth.
The Christ that led the church before 1969 lied to its leaders about
certain doctrines, or so these leaders of the New,
Enlightened Church of God and scholars would have us believe.
At best, this approach shows sloppiness and imprecision in handling the
Word of God. At this time a large
scattering of brethren occurred. Many
just would not accept the change in Pentecost and other doctrines. As we move along the timeline
of modern church history, into the time following the death of Mr. Armstrong,
another change is made. A different
gospel is proclaimed and another Christ is presented. A massive scattering occurs because many people refuse to
accept these doctrines and a number of splinter groups appear, all with a
self-appointed leader. It is
important to note here that Mr. Armstrong never anointed or laid hands on any
leader. I have come to believe that
he was much sharper than most believed, even in his old age.
I personally believe he knew exactly where the church was in prophecy and
knew all too well how it was being overrun by demonic powers.
He wanted Christ to identify the right leader, not him.
This would of course require the right leader to be able to lay hands
upon the sick and they recover. No
such thing ever occurred and still does not.
Today we have many
versions of Churches of God, all claiming to be the real church and doing the
true work. The only problem is they
present a different gospel than Worldwide did, even in the early 80s, and once
again new doctrinal understanding now presents another new deity.
Doctrine is important. It is
actually the real basis for the weightier matters of the law that some seek.
If you do not have the right doctrine, you will not have the correct
spiritual gifts, and will actually follow a different Christ.
This is not to say that new people in the faith have total understanding.
I did not, but we are supposed to grow in knowledge.
It is a lifetime endeavor and it does require diligently seeking God.
We have leaders today
trying to impress it upon people that many things are not “A Matter of Salvation.”
Doesn’t that sound just great? This
new revelation puts a whole new understanding on the following scripture.
Matthew 22
13 Then said the king
to the servants, Bind him hand and
foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness,
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
14 For
many are called, but few are chosen.
15 Then went the
Pharisees, and took counsel how they
might entangle him in his talk.
Yes, just as the
ancient Pharisees took counsel to entangle
Jesus, so have the modern Pharisees done exactly the same thing.
This is why they needed to change doctrines and change to a New Christ, one who was not so picky about matters pertaining to
matters of salvation. This is
nothing more than a new twist to an original and foundational set of scriptures
Mr. Armstrong continually taught about.
Genesis
3
1 Now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the
field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the
woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden?
2 And the woman said
unto the serpent, We may eat of the
fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of
the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall
not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said
unto the woman, Ye shall not surely
die:
5 For
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil.
6 And when the
woman(church) saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,
and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
I find that in many
ways the New Christ and gospel presented today is adequately described in
Jeremiah 10. This change in deity
has happened so systematically, and slowly, that most people have become used to
(desensitized) and comfortable with this Christ. Most church members have at least become comfortable enough
to not do anything about it.
Jeremiah 10:
1 Hear ye the word
which the LORD speaketh unto you, O
house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the LORD,
Learn not the way of the heathen,
and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen
are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of
the people are vain: for one cutteth a
tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the
workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with
silver and with gold; they fasten it with
nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5
They (Different
Christs) are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they
must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be
not afraid
of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to
do good.
6 Forasmuch as there
is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou
art great, and thy name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear
thee, O King of nations? for to thee
doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of
the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto
thee.
8 But they are
altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a
doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into
plates is brought from Tarshish, and
gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the
hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they
are all the work of cunning men.
10 But
the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and
an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and
the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall ye say
unto them, The gods that have not
made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from
the earth, and from under these heavens.
12 He hath made the
earth by his power, he hath
established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out
the heavens by his discretion.
13 When he uttereth
his voice, there is a multitude of
waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to
ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with
rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
14 Every man is
brutish in his knowledge: every founder is
confounded by the graven image:
for his molten image is
falsehood, and there is no
breath in them.
15 They
are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of
their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of
Jacob is not like them: for he is the
former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance:
The LORD of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up thy wares
out of the land, O inhabitant of the
fortress.
18 For thus saith the
LORD, Behold, I will sling out the
inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them,
that they may find it so.
19 Woe is me for my
hurt! my wound is grievous; but I
said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tabernacle is
spoiled, and all my cords are broken:
my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there
is
none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my
curtains.
21
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not
sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all
their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise
of the bruit is come, and a great
commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of
Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
23 O LORD, I know that
the way of man is not in himself: it
is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
24 O LORD, correct me,
but with judgment; not in thine
anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out thy fury
upon the heathen that know thee not,
and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they
have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him,
and have made his habitation desolate.
Please note the verses
in bold print, especially Jeremiah !0: 20-21.
This is just one of many scriptures showing how God scatters his people
away from false ministers. God
scatters people for several reasons. One
reason is to scatter His people for their protection so they can be led back to
Him. Just as verses 5 and 6 above
show, the New Christ has problems.
One of these problems is that he cannot heal the sick when his ministers
and elders lay hands upon the sick. The
true God is the one who can
heal the sick and will heal the sick.
That is why healing is such an important sign.
It is designed to help people know when they are out of touch with the
true God. The doctrine of healing is real, and has been absent for a
long time. Mr. Armstrong dwelled on
the ability and importance of healing and how God was the great healer almost as
much as the Two Trees. It seems
there has always been a constant battle by Satan and his demons to discredit and
sideline the doctrine of the Gift of Healing. Naturally, once this knowledge is put away, it is impossible
to identify the true Christ and where he is working. Don’t believe me, believe your Bible. This is why phony ministers today try to make people believe
God has placed this doctrine on hold and will manifest this gift at a later
time. They will tell you that you
are mature spiritually and do not need to see this gift to develop faith.
Just keep on paying and praying, everything is right on track.
Really??
Just as Tonto failed to
see that the protective tent had been
removed, so does the people of God in their various congregations fail to
perceive the times we live in. God
does not stretch out a protective tent
and set up certain protective curtains
about the church in many cases today. One
of these protective curtains is the
Gift of Healing. God has definitely
scattered His flock away from brutish ministers and continues to do so, or so
says the Bible. These verses and
others do not say God has scattered the flock away from the Laity
and World. Yes, God
definitely intervenes in individual cases, but the identifying signs to any one
group, showing where He is working and places His greatest approval has been
removed for several decades.
Part
2:
In engineering, it used
to be that a building under design underwent many revisions.
The needs of those using the building as well as building codes and
considerations, like fault lines and hurricanes were important.
In the confusion of designing a building, and hashing, and rehashing
data, needs, and safety considerations, something would always get lost in the
shuffle. For this reason, toward
the end, an outside consulting firm was always contracted to examine the final
design proposals and make recommendations on large design projects.
This procedure was based on the assumption that a new, outside
perspective would often see flaws that those intimately involved would overlook.
The engineers involved in original design all had their own agendas and
perspectives. In the counsel of many there is wisdom and this applies to
structural design as well as theological problems.
I believe that when
questions arose concerning doctrine and legitimate attempts were made to clarify
doctrine, a number of things got lost in the shuffle.
First, theological doctrine is
not approached like designing a building. God
reveals doctrine and understanding to his apostles and prophets.
Ordinary Disciples can receive revelation.
Our minds have to be opened to see truth when it is presented.
The church is likened to a building and the human body in several
inspired scriptures, but only Christ; the revelator is the source of knowledge.
Scholars are not the source of biblical knowledge.
Beliefs
are driving forces. The beliefs of
the Islamic world, Judaism, Catholicism and other mystery religions have a
strong tendency to solve the problems of heretics by annihilation.
This is not New Testament theology but does demonstrate how strong
beliefs can drive people, even if those belief systems are wrong or flawed in
some ways. Such is the case I have
discovered with modern doctrines in the many branches of the church.
Everyone is convinced that his understanding is absolutely correct.
You do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand someone is wrong.
Many beliefs of the
Churches of God have evolved over the last 45 years. These beliefs were developed over a long period of time in
the heat of spiritual battle, church politics and a lot of competition for the
favor of the laity. Tithes and
offerings are important and people, even in the Churches of God, still vote with
their paychecks.
Consider the state of
the church in 1969-70, just before a series of massive doctrinal changes.
I have often heard that period referred to as “Camelot.”
Yes, this was a time of prosperity.
The real zenith of the broadcast work of the church was not reached until
the late 80s. For the most part
everything in 1970 and 1986 looked real good.
But, there was a problem beneath the surface.
Spiritual decay had set in back even before 1969.
Consider this scripture
relating the real sin of Sodom, I have not found many people who know this, but
the real sin of Sodom was laid long before rampant sexual immortality.
Sexual immorality was only the end result of something started long
before in Sodom. Notice that
chapter 16 of the Book of Ezekiel presents a haunting parallel to the conditions
in Sodom. This book is for the end
time and definitely pertains to the church.
Do you believe that your group is exempt?
You need to read Revelation 3: and note the parallels in the description
concerning Laodiceans. Laodiceans
think they know everything and have all the answers.
We are all Laodiceans in this era.
Ezekiel
16:
48 As I live, saith
the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not
done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and
thy daughters.
49 Behold, this was
the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,
fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness
was in her and in
her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the
poor and needy.
50 And they were
haughty, and committed abomination
before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
One
of the main problems for wooden buildings in many parts of the world and even
the Southern United States is termite infestation. The termites generally invade a building without even being
recognized at first. Soon the
structure of the building is weakened. Usually
no remedy exists except to bring the building down and start over.
Yes,
just as termites can destroy a building, Spiritual
Termites have destroyed the foundation of the Church of God.
There is no cure except to bring the structure down and scatter the
flock. But, something had to happen
to let the termites have access to the foundation. And, just as the scriptures from the Book of Ezekiel cited
above show, whatever happened to Sodom happened a long time before her final
state of depravity. Likewise, what
happened in the Church of God that allowed the foundation to be attacked,
happened before 1969. Strengthening
the hand of the poor and needy always figures into God’s equation for his work
somehow. I am unable to find
anything in the work of the church from the 70s on, which could remotely be
called a legitimate attempt to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Rather, the norm was to focus on a warning message and develop real
estate projects.
But
how, you ask could Satan possibly undermine the entire structure?
The Gift of Healing was present in the 60s, was it not?
Yes, it definitely was. The
gospel was being preached and extending into remote areas of the world, was it
not? Yes, it was. Didn’t
the new understanding the scholars presented help bring the church to a new
threshold of understanding and contact with God? Yes, it most certainly brought the church to a new threshold
but that threshold lacked the Gift of
Healing. Therefore, it goes without
saying a new contact with God had been established.
It was just not a good contact.
There
has to be a point that can be identified from the history of the Worldwide
Church of God or Radio Church of God where a basic flaw in thinking
affected doctrine and became a basis for the domino effect that has caused the
collapse of the entire structure. Just
like when termites successfully breach a protective barrier to undermine the
wood structure of a building, there had to be one point where Satan infiltrated
the thinking patterns of the ministry or Mr. Armstrong.
Before
looking into the one point where all of this deception probably began, we need
to consider some basic questions and definitions.
Part
3:
Questions
Question:
Can an apostle be deceived?
Answer:
Yes, at least according to your Bible.
Paul thought so and emphasized this twice in the first chapter of
Galatians. HWA claimed to have been
trained in the same manner as Paul was, but he most certainly did not go to
Arabia and the mountain of God to be trained in person by Jesus Christ.
If Paul thought he was susceptible to being deceived, Mr. Armstrong most
certainly was.
Galatians
1:
6 I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not
another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before,
so say I now again, if any man preach
any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let
him be accursed.
10 For do I now
persuade men, or God? or do I seek to
please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the
servant of Christ.
11
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached of me is not after man.
Question:
Can an Apostle be a hypocrite?
Answer:
Absolutely, and he can still keep his office. We are all subject to the attitudes broadcast by Satan.
It is important to remember the church is corrupt in this age.
Even Peter was not exempt from this problem and he is cast as the lead apostle. It should come
as no surprise that Mr. Armstrong could be subject to the same errors as Peter.
It is quite well documented that after his wife died, he did in fact
compromise many things he once taught. Does
that period of error cancel him as an apostle if he ever really was one?
Not according to the biblical example of Peter.
Yet I know of only two organizations that regard him as the end time
apostle. These organizations are
the Philadelphia Church of God and Church of the Great God.
All other organizations simply do not address this issue and it was once
a fundamental, doctrinal cornerstone. In
essence, their silence on this most important issue describes their real
beliefs.
Galatians
2:
11 But when Peter was
come to Antioch, I withstood him to
the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that
certain came from James, he did eat with
the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and
separated himself, fearing them which were of the
circumcision.
13 And the other Jews
dissembled likewise with him;
insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their
dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that
they walked not uprightly according
to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If
thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not
as do the Jews, why compellest
thou the Gentiles to live as do
the Jews?
Question:
Does the fact that Mr. Armstrong allowed certain doctrines to be changed
make those changes valid and immutable.
Answer:
Absolutely not! The only one
who can set doctrine is God. Men
cannot change scripture by misplaced application of church authority.
By the way, the scriptures do not say evangelists,
wanna-be leaders, ministers and others can change doctrine and make it binding.
It does not matter how many of them there are.
They have no such authority. Biblical
teaching altered by an apostle or prophet because of peer
pressure by human ordained evangelists and ministers has no value in God’s
eyes where proper doctrine is concerned. See
Rich Nickel’s great article, What
do you mean “You?”
Galatians
2:
19 Now therefore ye
are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of
God;
20 And are built upon
the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth
unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are
builded together for an habitation of
God through the Spirit.
Galatians
3:
4 Whereby, when ye
read, ye may understand my
knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
5 Which in other ages
was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and
prophets by the Spirit;
6 That the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs, and of the same
body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Please note apostles and prophets are through whom the foundation is
laid, not evangelists. Also, please
note in Galatians, chapter 3 that spiritual knowledge, the mystery of Christ is
not revealed by holy evangelists or other
scholars. The Mystery of Christ
is revealed by the Holy Spirit through holy
apostles and prophets. It
goes without saying that deceived evangelists and scholars have no power to bind
doctrine. It goes without saying
that evangelists can take too much upon themselves and present a totally different Christ from what they should be presenting to the
true church. Once these deceived
leaders equate themselves, see themselves as
equals with the apostles and prophets, then havoc will follow.
These self-appointed leaders will deliberately manipulate truth, just
like all of us have, given the right circumstances.
I believe this is exactly what is going on today.
Jeremiah, Chapter 10, would be one scripture showing this.
Question:
Can a prophet be deceived?
Answer:
Absolutely. In 1 Kings,
chapter 13 is the well-known story of a prophet who was deceived. He
bought into a lie. Mr. Armstrong
was quite plain about having never received a vision.
Chapter 13 in the Book of 1Kings, relates the deception of a prophet who
actually received visions from the Lord.
I
Kings 13:
10 And the man of God
said unto the king, If thou wilt give
me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat
bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it
charged me by the word of the LORD, saying,
Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way
that thou camest.
10 So he went another
way, and returned not by the way
that he came to Bethel.
11 Now there dwelt an
old prophet in Bethel; and his sons
came and told him all the works that the man of God had done
that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the
king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father
said unto them, What way went he? For
his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came
from Judah.
13 And he said unto
his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they
saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14 And went after the
man of God, and found him sitting
under an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God
that camest from Judah? And he said, I am.
15 Then he said unto
him, Come home with me, and eat
bread.
16 And he said, I may
not return with thee, nor go in with
thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this
place:
17 For it was said to
me by the word of the LORD, Thou
shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go
by the way that thou camest.
18 He said unto him, I
am a prophet also as thou art; and an
angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring
him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread
and drink water. But he lied
unto him.
19 So he went back
with him, and did eat bread in his house,
and drank water.
20 And it came to
pass, as they sat at the table, that the
word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him
back:
21 And he cried unto
the man of God that came from Judah,
saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast
disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the
commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee,
22 But camest back,
and hast eaten bread and drunk water
in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no
bread, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto
the sepulchre of thy fathers.
23 And it came to
pass, after he had eaten bread, and after
he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the
prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he was
gone, a lion met him by the way, and
slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass
stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass.
Please note that people will lie about visions and messages from God.
Here is an example of a point of weakness in an established prophet’s
life. He was willing to let his
guard down and disobey God on the word of another claiming to be a prophet and
giving a message which contained no truth.
Earlier this same day, this same prophet had not succumbed to temptation
through the mouth of King Jeroboam. He
was open to being deceived from within,
by one who pretended to be a servant of the true God.
Likewise, we can look back and see how Mr. Armstrong was deceived
from within, the place he would least suspect a lying spirit.
This is especially evident when we get to the early 70s.
We can also see how he was deceived by his own logic systems, way before
the 70s. This is why church history
is so important. We quickly
recognize how the world is dumbing-down history by cannot apply the same
observations to the church and how its history has been dumbed-down. Our young people do not stand a chance of sorting out the
errors, lies, etc.
Part 4:
Definitions
Liberal:
A Liberal is generally though to be someone who is generous.
Mr. Armstrong defined a liberal as one who needs a “thus
saith the Lord” before he will do anything.
What he meant by this is that a Liberal is one who is generous to
himself. The Liberal actually gives himself license to do as he
pleases. The liberal will hide
behind this ploy when he wants to do something other than what the Bible
indicates through principles that he should do.
The liberal will hide behind this principle when he wants authority or to
justify his own interpretations of scripture. This principle manifests itself quickly when we study the
opinions of leading evangelists concerning New Moons. It is not hard to see how this crutch is used.
I will write more on this later.
Evangelist:
An evangelist is a biblical church ranking.
Mr. Armstrong always used this title in an administrative way concerning
government rank. A lot of leading
evangelists left the church in the 70s. It
is just a title and does not really bind or imply rank.
The evangelists were used to manage the business of the headquarters at
the Worldwide Church of God. Never,
were they given authority matching Mr. Armstrong’s.
Many evangelists coveted that authority but they never got it.
Most of these men were very talented, just as most leaders in large
corporations are talented in speaking skills and management techniques.
Even in the biblical usage, evangelists never are used to set and bind
doctrine. No evangelist or any
other leader was ever anointed to take Mr. Armstrong’s place in the biblical
style of passing authority.
Prophet:
This term usually refers to one who has contact with, and experiences visions
from God. He brings messages of
immediate and future importance. I
realize the term can also be used to mean one who preaches, but for the purposes
of this study I will limit its usage to one who brings a prophetic message.
One current leader in a splinter group claims to be a prophet. We
will see if the Bible exposes him for an authentic or phony manifestation of
this important Gift of the Spirit. Prophets
were used to bind doctrine and be part of the foundation of the true church.
Generalize:
From the book of common usage (Webster’s) generalize
is described as an act of reducing to general laws; making universal in
application; to draw general conclusions from particular instances; or to
speak vaguely. This is a damnable tactic usually used by apostate ministers when they are
cornered on doctrine. Examples
would include describing the oracles of god and how to approach the use of
prophetic statements. On one hand,
apostate ministers will say God’s Word is complete and on the other they will
readily modify it. John Ritenbaugh
aptly describes God’s Word as saying what it means and meaning what it says.
I agree.
Oracles of God:
This is a highly controversial phrase, which is battered by both sides of the
proponents of calendar issues. It
depends upon the context and usage. If
the word oracles are translated from the Greek root logos, I find no biblical examples where the entire Word
of God is not the subject. Calendars
and other things are simply a product of one’s imagination and trying to make
them part of this Greek root is futile. If
the translation satisfies the Greek root logion, it is another story, however. In the cases at issue, trying to force calendars into logion
and its use by Paul seems quite futile too.
The usage more properly seems to refer to the elementary precepts of Christ
listed in Hebrew 5:12 and Hebrews 6:1-2. Indeed,
it seems that Romans 3: 1-2 is a proper and typically Pauline introduction to
these same elementary precepts covered in the rest of the Book of Romans.
These specific doctrinal issues in the Book of Romans mirror the
elementary precepts of Christ in Hebrews 5:12.
If the context of these scriptures is not taken into consideration, then
making calendars and other things fit into the definition of logion is a
possibility, although remote. God’s
religion is not a mystery religion to his called out ones.
Jewish Calendar:
This is the sacred calendar of the Jewish Religion.
Most, but not all Jewish sects adhere to the authority of this
mathematical model. It is
not the Sacred Calendar of God or The Calendar God Gave Moses. It
was fully developed, in its final form, in the 10th century.
This mathematical model is recognized in the Encyclopedia Judaica as
being modeled after the Meton Cycle.
Hebrew Calendar:
This is another name for the Jewish Calendar.
The Ambassador College Calendar Class and the Jews used this terminology
when referring to the Jewish Calendar. This
is simply a play on words. The
obvious intent is to establish authority for this method of calculation in
antiquity. Heber was a patriarch,
so the implication is that he used the method of scheduling holy days that the
Jewish Calendar does. This is not
substantiated in history or the Talmud.
Gregorian Calendar:
The Gregorian Calendar is the modern calendar we use in the United States today.
Sometimes this calendar is called the Roman Calendar.
The important thing is that this calendar system arranges the months of
the year so that the equinox, both vernal and hebactal, always fall within a
very narrow window of time each year. This
calendar model is not a lunar calendar. All
major mystery religions focus on the equinox periods or solstice periods when
arranging their religious worship systems.
The Bible also schedules God’s holy days with consideration of the
equinox periods.
Molad:
This is a term used in the Jewish Calendar that refers to a theoretical place in
astronomy that replaces the actual conjunction between the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
It has no basis in reality and is an expression of a mean average.
Conjunction:
This is a precise astronomical point where the Sun, Moon, and Earth all have
their center lines in line. This
alignment is highly predictable now, in the past, and into the future.
It is a mathematical point in space that is precisely defined and always
has been. The only other precise
astronomical point is when the real
Full Moon occurs. The Full Moon is
defined as a point 180 degrees from the invisible conjunction (new birth of the
moon) along the same line where all three astronomical bodies have their
centerlines aligned. The invisible
conjunction always occurs during the dark phase of the moon, but is not the dark
phase itself. The dark phase can
vary over several days.
Mystery Religions:
These systems always have pockets of scholars and leaders who supposedly have
secret knowledge. These systems also are heavily polluted with concepts of
astrology (not astronomy). The
Bible account strongly condemns the use of astrology and its use by God’s
people. The most notable of the
mystery religions using the Zodiac and other pagan customs would be: The
Universal Church, Judaism, Islam, New Age theology, Earth Science believers,
Wiicca affiliations, Hinduism, and other eastern religious systems.
Bavel or Babylonia:
Bavel is a term used to identify a geographic region in ancient writings.
It comprises Jordan, Iraq, and most of modern Syria. Babylonia is a modern term denoting the same region.
Diaspora:
Some people think this term refers to the Israelites dispersed abroad to the
North and East of Palestine by the Assyrians, but it does not.
It refers to the Jews to the east of Palestine, across the Jordan River. After the captivity, the vast majority of the nation of Judah
never came back from this region. This
region was not that far from Jerusalem. It
was to the Jews in these regions that the messengers and signal fires were sent
that marked the sanctification of the New Moons when observation was used to
schedule the calendar.
Nepotism:
This is a term describing an organization that only hires family members to
important positions. While this trait is common in family businesses, the record
of successful religious organizations employing this technique is poor.
Even Moses did not ascend his son to a high position.
Nepotism usually involves keeping a religious organization under the
control of a ruling family. Prominent
examples in the modern Churches of God would be: The Philadelphia Church of God,
Living Church of God, Restored Church of God, and Church of the Great God.
Pentecost:
This is actually a slang term applied to a special festival and holy day in Leviticus
23. We should always keep our Bible
terminology pure. The word
Pentecost is indeed a biblical term, but it is used in connection with showing
how to count. The Greek word it
comes from means literally, five counts of ten or count 50, as Mr. Armstrong used to teach.
It does not mean “fiftieth”
in the sense modern COG ministers try to teach it.
They simply are teaching what others taught them with no real study of
the issues. The Greek word
translated Pentecost denotes a “fiftieth”
day, but there is a verbal process involved in most European languages and the
Hebrew language, which is understood to come by a process of counting. Hence, when the Book of Acts refers to Pentecost as “having
fully come,” it simply means that “five
counts of ten” were complete. That
count was completed inclusively, when the “fiftieth
day” (Sunday) was over. Then, the holy day was observed.
It is just so important to use correct, biblical terminology and not slip
into the careless habit over time of using slang language.
The correct, biblical name for this festival is The
Feast of Weeks (see Exodus 34:22).
Part 5:
How Doctrine Was and Is Changed
If one seriously studies the mystery religions of the world, it
becomes obvious that the Universal Church actually has guidelines and procedural
techniques developed to retrain heretics. These precepts actually operate on well know psychological
principles. It is not the purpose
of this study to examine in detail these techniques, but I will comment on a few
current techniques used in the Churches of God.
Toward the end of the path to heresy and actual apostasy that Joseph
Tkach Sr. led the Worldwide Church of God down in the late 80s, a number of us
and certain ministers actually wondered if these apostate leaders had taken
their lessons out of Universal texts. The
first step in leading a person or persons into practicing apostasy is to have a
detailed plan of attack. The
tenants of successfully changing a person into a heretic involve slowly
desensitizing him or outright fear.
These principles of leading people into apostasy are actually more
fine-tuned within the ministry of the Churches of God than any other religions I
am aware of. This is because there
is a never-ending need for ministers to tear off sheep to support themselves and
their families. They are the only
ones actually practicing this art, so it is natural for them to be good at it.
Changing Translations:
Now here is a real red
flag.
Silver -tongued ministers always need to change translations or
retranslate to a better version. It
never fails. They will actually misread a translation or give an elaborate
sounding reason why something needs to be translated differently.
Sheep in the COG congregations are real suckers for this one.
The sheep are generally sincere in wanting to be right with God and
understand the Bible. This actually
sets them up for this sucker play.
In actual fact, very few Bible verses really need to be translated
better. Real professionals who
actually understand language have translated these verses already and they have
standards accepted to translate the meaning in one language to another.
The best known example of this technique being used to upset an entire
church would be the 1974 change in when to observe Pentecost.
Rending a better translation is valid, but one needs to wake right up
when he hears or identifies this technique.
More than likely, you are being set up for a fall.
I know of no ministers or leading evangelists who actually speak Greek or
Modern Hebrew fluently. Does is not
seem strange that unless they can actually speak these languages, that they are
qualified to render new translations? There
are lexicons and other Bible helps that aid in this, but generally speaking it
is a good idea to be alert when exposed to this technique.
Just stick with a good literal translation.
Attacking a Position:
The best known COG ministers I know of that effectively use this technique would
be Frank Nelte and Richard Ames. Richard
Ames was a professor of speech at Ambassador College and one of the nifty little
techniques taught to ministers was the attack speech.
Now this technique is properly used when your opponent has the best
argument. It is designed to
discredit and cast doubt. Trial
lawyers use this technique all the time. The
difference is that in a real courtroom, a judge will shut them down when they go
outside the rules. In the Churches
of God, the poor laity does not have a real judge to protect them from a
continual and professional assault. Unless
they really know the topic, they will be put down and castigated ruthlessly.
This technique never addresses specifics, but tries without fail to
enter the topic of discussion into a state of generalities.
Generalization of Gods Word is
very risky business. You could lead
a” little one astray.” The
principles of attack are always used against Mr. Herbert Armstrong when
discrediting his teachings. In
reality, this technique cannot make error and outright lies into “TRUTH.”
This causes offense and destruction of the laity.
Just not teaching a doctrine:
This is probably the most damnable and
deceitful technique to be used upon sincere and trusting laity.
What happens with this technique is for leading ministers and
organizations to pretend to take a doctrinal position, but in reality not
actively teach the position. All mention of the doctrine in minimized.
The most current example of this technique would be the doctrine that The
Resurrection Was Not on Sunday.
New Understanding:
Here is a good one and an old standby. It
just seems that people have a need to think God’s Way of Life is a mystery or
that there is a conspiracy theory that holds water.
People have a curiosity and need to have inside information.
They need to be” in the know”
and have information and knowledge others do not. If you are one of these people, you are a candidate to be
effectively drawn off track from God’s Truth.
This is not a terribly creative approach, but apparently it does not have
to be. Satan has been getting
God’s People off track with the same tactics for centuries.
Does
someone speak with authority, and you believe it without Bible support.
An example of this would be statements, heretical statements by Dr. Hoeh
and Raymond F. McNair. If something
is dismissed outright as not even worthy of commenting on, you are probably in
the presence of a predator. In a
1961 article dealing with calendar issues, Dr. Hoeh emphatically wrote, “God
revealed His Sacred Calendar to the Jews. THEY
determine where the new moon is to be calculated from.
THEY determine mathematically when, in a nineteen-year cycle, the
thirteenth month is to be added. THEY
determine when a nineteen-year cycle begins..”
The only problem is that this statement lacks any biblical support. It is
just a statement in the mold that this is a well-known thing.
What happened to the principle of “Don’t Believe Me……Believe your
Bible.” What happened will be
shown in later sections.
Would
you just suck this information in as fact?
When you go to services do you just have a funnel in you ear attached to
your brain? A lot of people sucked
in a lot of misinformation during the 1974 doctrinal changes that pale the
heretical statement by Dr. Hoeh in the previous paragraph.
If you pride yourself in looking to the Bible for your beliefs, be
careful. You probably do not really look to the Bible as the final
authority and have inhaled some of these unsubstantiated statements, somewhere
in the last 35 years. You may just
be a Laodicean like everyone else.
When I first came into the truth, our pastor explained to a number of
us that we would encounter many forms of apostasy. He pointed out that you could make a case for almost anything
in the Bible, but there is only one way it all fits together right.
Boy was he on target! I have
seen a lot of ideas and arguments, and they are good.
I experienced many of the same flawed arguments before coming into
contact with God’s Church. These
arguments and human reasoning are really good.
You had better believe they are good, because they can get you pulled off
track before you know it.
Part 6:
Contending With the Apostle
It is widely known that one of the major doctrines of the Worldwide
Church of God was that Mr. Armstrong was Christ’s end time Apostle used to
raise up the Philadelphia Era of the Church of God and was the Elijah prophesied
to come prior to Christ’s second coming. I know that these are doctrines that have been totally
rejected by most splinter groups. The
evangelists in these organizations certainly did not treat Mr. Armstrong like an
Apostle after his wife died. They
really only run to him and use his name when they want money.
This is a major point in this study. Somehow, one must come to a decision how he will deal with
Mr. Armstrong in the scheme of church history.
Today, most just dismiss him as a leader who managed to get a few things
right. This is unfortunate because
it totally trashes biblical precepts of government and how revelation is given.
IF, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong
was indeed the Apostle Christ used, you have a real problem on your hands
rejecting him and his office. You
are really treading on thin ice. For
example, if he was not the Apostle, those who are steadfast in maintaining the
authority of the Jewish Calendar really have nothing to base their case upon.
The calendar issue is a major concern of many today.
It has always been an issue, even with the Jews.
But, that does not change anything.
Mr. Armstrong either was the Apostle or just a lucky old man who got in
on the religious bandwagon. Now he
apparently left everything to the church when he died and even had to
disfellowship his son in the late 70s, but still a lot of people look upon him
as a charlatan.
I find little respect for him within the ministry who was trained
under him. Then I find pockets of
great admiration and honor within pockets of the laity now scattered.
One way or another, a person has to decide how Mr. Armstrong fits into
the scheme of things. It affects how you will arrive at a particular doctrinal
perspective. It also affects how
you will view Jesus Christ. Depending
upon your perspective, Christ can become a liar, manipulator, and even play
games with people. He does not have
to emerge as all-powerful, logical, consistent, and dependable. My personal study shows no human without faults ever being
placed in an important office by Jesus Christ.
Abraham lied, Moses disobeyed, David murdered his friend and stole his
wife. Abraham and David messed
their families up worse than polio. Oddly,
non-of these men were disqualified, despite what was undoubtedly the wishes of a
lot of people.
Just because a minister claims he believes Mr. Armstrong was the
Elijah to come means nothing. It is
pretty well known among the Churches of God that only the Church of the Great
God and the Philadelphia Church of God believe and actively teach that Mr.
Armstrong was Christ’s end time apostle.
They (major organizations) both used to teach he was the Elijah to come
but the Church of the Great God is actually faltering on this belief right now.
Whether he was in fact the Apostle or Elijah to come is not the point
here. There are church
organizations that do not believe or teach he was either.
Two of the more prominent organizations touting this opinion are the
United Church of God and Living Church of God.
There is one minister who broke a group off from the Living Church of
God because of this issue. In one
paper he wrote, he made a real boo-boo. He
claimed to prove in this paper that Mr. Armstrong was the Elijah to come.
He also presented a doctrine that was his particular “New
Understanding.” He claimed that
Mr. Armstrong performed no mighty miracles (save for conversion), just like
Elisha performed no mighty miracles except one.
He went on to credit Elisha for only the miraculous healing of Hamman.
In one respect he was correct, God performs the miracles. But this borders on the absurdity of reasoning that if no
doctrine is explicitly commanded with a “thus saith the Lord” that it need
not be taught even though biblical principles indicate it should be taught.
Evidently this minister was completely oblivious to the fact that “Healing”
used to be part and parcel of the works performed in the Worldwide Church of God
and Radio Church of God. But the
real joke, and yes it is a huge joke, is for any minister to go before the
leadership of the Living Church of God with new understanding and claim Elisha
did no mighty miracles. Yes, God
performed the miracles, but I wager that Dr. Meredith, Raymond McNair and others
got a real laugh out of that one. Needless
to say, he did not change their minds concerning Mr., Armstrong not being the
Elijah to come or the validity of his new understanding.
Having said all of this let us move on to what I identify as the
primary spiritual termite, the change in thinking and doctrine that allowed Spiritual
Termites to infest the Philadelphia Era Tabernacle and undermine the
entire structure.