History on the Global Church of God Split

Some will be familiar with this, but here is a website chronicling the split in the Global Church of God.

The author appears to be COG, hence there are a lot of old WCG recruitment writings, but he has a lot of resources about the GCG split.

Highlight for me: an email from Aaron Dean confirming that the 1980 letter from HWA to Meredith is indeed authentic, and a list of contradicting statements Meredith made during the split.

Witness Lee: Are We Divine Now?

There are many religions out there that teach that mankind is somehow divine in nature. Some also claim to be Christian. Here is one more that seems to teach this.

This is from Witness Lee, founder of Living Stream Ministry, which possess teachings contrary to mainstream Christianity. Here he seems to teach that we somehow possess the divine nature now.

I am not suggesting a direct connection with HWA, I am simply giving out an example of a religion that think we are God-like in nature now.

"Christ is of two natures, the human and the divine, and we are the same: we are of the human nature, but covered with the divine. He is the God-man, and we are the God-men. He is the ark made of wood covered with gold, and we are the boards made of wood covered with gold. In number we are different, but in nature we are exactly the same." Witness Lee, The All-Inclusive Christ, (Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 5th ed. 1989), p. 103. (Source)

HWA: The Philadelphian Messenger

The traditional COG understanding of the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 is that they are prophecies predicting the conditions of seven church eras stretching from Apostolic times to our time, supposedly just before the Second Coming.

However an alternative interpretation was presented by HWA in his last book, Mystery of the Ages. The messages in Revelation 2 and 3 are addressed to "angels" of those seven churches. Usually these messages are understood to be referring to the church era as a whole. Yet HWA claimed that the "angel of Philadelphia" was also a description of himself.

"Of the Philadelphia era of God's true Church we read: "To the angel of the church...." This word angel translated from the Greek aggelos means messenger or agent. This is not necessarily always referring to a spirit angel but can refer as well to a human agent....it may also apply to the human messenger or agent God has raised up to lead this era of his Church [HWA]." (Mystery of the Ages, Chapter 6, under the heading 'Restoration of God's Truth to Church.' This is discussed in this critical review, under the heading 'Philadelphian Era.')

Where did he get this idea? Did he devise it himself? That seems unlikely because as far as I can tell every idea he taught came from somewhere else (except maybe Second and Third Tithes). Is there some other source which we can find from which he gained this idea?

There is.

On the grave of Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the members of which would later be named Jehovah's Witnesses, it is declared that Russell was "The Laodicean Messenger."

While HWA was only willing to identify the Philadelphian messenger (himself), the Watchtower Society went even further than HWA and claimed to identify each of the seven messengers. They were Paul, John, Arius, Waldo, Wycliffe, Luther and Russell. Notice what is related here.

"While [Russell] implies that there were precursors to his work (who of course had a very different theology than Russell accepted [very similar to HWA's "church history" doctrine]), it was only in The Finished Mystery (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 7) published after his death that a direct line is sketched from Paul and John through Arius, Waldo, Wycliff, and Luther to Russell." (Gene Edson Ahlstrom, The Church in the Thought of Charles Taze Russell, under the heading 'Sectarianism and Church History.')

So this is where HWA got the idea that the "angels" of the seven churches were actually individuals and allowed himself to call himself The Philadelphian Messenger. It is simply another idea stolen from the Watchtower.

A Russell Quote Reminescent of HWA

While reaching this article noting concerns about the Watchtower Society's 1993 book, Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, I came across this quote from their founder, the false prophet of the 1914 "End of this System of Things" that never was, Charles Taze Russell.

"Many are the inquiries relative to the truths presented in MILLENNIAL DAWN and ZION'S WATCH TOWER...Were they the results of visions? Did God in any supernatural way grant the solution of these hitherto mysteries of his plan? Are the writers more than ordinary beings?...No, the truths I present, as God's mouthpiece, were not revealed in visions or dreams nor by God's audible voice, nor all at once, but gradually, especially since 1870, and particularly since 1880." [July 15, 1906, Watch Tower, p. 229, as quoted in Jehovah's Witnesses: Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, p. 622, as quoted in Alan Feuerbacher's article.]

This quote reminds me how HWA claimed not to have received any supernatural visions and how he claimed that "the truth" did not emerge all at once. "I had to learn one doctrine, and one truth, at a time." (Chapter 23 of the Autobiography of HWA.)

Also just like C. T. Russell HWA claimed to be the only one through whom God was presently working with.

C. T. Russell and HWA's Examples of Humbleness

C. T. Russell, the founder of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the followers of which would later become known as Jehovah's Witnesses, the false prophet of the 1914 end of Man's World which did not happen, who based this false prophecy on the erroneous belief that Jerusalem fell in 606 BC, this man wrote a series of six books entitled Studies in the Scriptures. A seventh volume was released after his death.

The False Prophet Russell once stated that these books were essentially the Bible in an arranged form.

"If the six volumes of SCRIPTURE STUDIES are practically the Bible topically arranged, with Bible proof-texts given, we might not improperly name the volumes -- the Bible in an arranged form. That is to say, they are not merely comments on the bible, but they are practically the Bible itself."

Shortly after this Russell made his infamous comment that those who studied the Bible alone would leave, but those who studied Studies in the Scriptures would remain among his followers.

"Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the SCRIPTURE STUDIES aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years -- if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the SCRIPTURE STUDIES with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures." (C. T. Russell, Watch Tower, September 15, 1910, pp. 298-9. Courtesy of Alan Feuerbacher, Notes on the Proclaimers Book.)

These are quite similar to statements HWA, the false prophet of the 1975 Advent which did not happen, made upon the publication of Mystery of the Ages.

"Since last December I have been working diligently on the largest and most important book of my life. In real fact I feel I myself did not write it. Rather, I believe God used me in writing it. I candidly feel it may be the most important book since the Bible. It is named "Mystery of the Ages". Actually it might be called a synopsis of the Bible in the most plain and understandable language. ... This new book "Mystery of the Ages" unveils all these mysteries. It puts the many different parts of the "jigsaw puzzle" together. It is, in fact, a synopsis of the entire Bible." (Herbert W. Armstrong, September 12, 1985, Co-Worker Letter, Chapter 84 of HWA's Autobiography.)

Such similar behavior is uncanny, and exposes the fact that these false prophets are of the same nature.

The Unjust Nature of the Interracial Marriage Ban

In the last post I discussed HWA's ban on interracial marriage and how it was based on faulty understandings of Scriptures. I was never really comfortable with it, but I was convinced HWA worked with God, and I thought there was so much more to this religion than that, and it did not effect anything I did, so I just passively accepted it.

However I did not then realize just how utterly unjust this belief is, as some writers on this question revealed.

Many states of the United States of America used to have anti-miscegenation laws forbidding interracial marriage. These laws were overturned following the 1967 Supreme Court decision in the case Loving vs. Virginia. The couple in question was convicted of breaking this anti-miscegenation law in trial in 1959. The judge used arguments very similar to what HWA would later use in banning interracial marriage, as may be seen here. This shows both were drawing on common erroneous beliefs to perpetuate this oppression.

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." (Judge Leon Bazile.)

Some analysts have concluded that this restriction on marriage choice was an even worst violation of liberty towards African Americans than the infamous segregation of public schools imposed upon them.

"In 1958, the political theorist Hannah Arendt, an emigre from Nazi Germany, wrote in an essay in response to the Little Rock Crisis, the Civil Rights struggle for the racial integration of public schools which took place in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, that anti-miscegenation laws were an even deeper injustice than the racial segregation of public schools. The free choice of a spouse, she argued in Reflections on Little Rock, was "an elementary human right": "Even political rights, like the right to vote, and nearly all other rights enumerated in the Constitution, are secondary to the inalienable human rights to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence; and to this category the right to home and marriage unquestionably belongs."" (Wikipedia: Anti-miscegenation laws)

Gunnar Myrdal also ranked this ban on interracial marriage as among the most fundamental and severe injustices inflicted upon African Americans.

"In his essay, Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem (1948), Myrdal ranked the social areas where restrictions were imposed by Southern whites on the freedom of African-Americans through racial segregation from the least to the most important: jobs, courts and police, politics, basic public facilities, "social equality" including dancing and handshaking, and most importantly, marriage. This ranking was indeed reflective of the way in which the barriers against desegregation fell.... the bans on interracial marriage were the last to go, in 1967." (Ibid.)

He had no right to take things out of context to produce this oppressive doctrine. Like the Pharisees Jesus condemned HWA added burden upon burden upon his deceived followers. Why do those in the COGs continue to support a man who placed such heavy unnecessary burdens on his followers and who decided to perpetuate such an unjust institution?

Thoughts on HWA's Interracial Marriage Ban

After being spurred on by seeing the Dateline report on the Robidoux cult I soon found a copy of HWA's anti-Christmas booklet, The Plain Truth about Christmas. It absolutely dazzled me with its Hyslopian (and false) vision of the evil Nimrod who started Christmas. I wanted to find out more.

Eventually I realized this booklet was on an unofficial web page that contained many of HWA's writings. I saw that HWA's last book was a book that was highly spoken of, namely, Mystery of the Ages.

When I read it it said many things. (If you want to truly understand it you need to read this review.) But one thing that surprised me was how it condemned interracial marriage. I was somewhat put off by it, but I believed HWA so I just accepted what he said.

I did not realize at the time that other groups, racist in nature, also share this belief, and also how this doctrine is not supported in the Bible.

Consider how this doctrine is also taught among the extremist Identity movement. Similar to HWA Identity believes that White Americans are descended from the allegedly lost Ten Tribes of Israel. This extremist movement also forbids interracial marriage. Their approach to this topic is somewhat different as they follow the racist doctrine that only Whites are descended from Adam, while the other races are descended from "inferior" "pre-Adamites."

"Because Identity teachers hold that the other races are of a different creation, they consider interracial marriage a sin. Identity teachers insist that interracial marriage was the cause of God's judgment on the people of Noah's time." (Viola Larson, Christian Research Institute (CRI), Identity, p. 2.)

This is eerily similar to what HWA wrote in Mystery of the Ages as part of his rationale for this ban on interracial marriage, as may be seen here.

"Marrying, to be evil, had to be as in Genesis 6:2, when men "took them wives of all which they chose." There was rampant and universal interracial marriage--so exceedingly universal that Noah, only, was unblemished or perfect in his generations--his ancestry. He was of the original white strain....God originally set the bounds of national borders, intending nations to be SEPARATED to prevent interracial marriage." (Chapter 4, "End of the Antediluvian World.")

Interracial marriage was held to be a cause of the Great Flood. Also a verse in the Song of Moses was cited, and interpreted as saying God wanted the races to be separated.

But a) the assertion that interracial marriage was the cause for the Great Flood is not Biblically supportable, and b) the verse in the Song of Moses was referring to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. That verse is not a decree for all time that interracial marriage is forbidden. These points may be seen here.

However he is wrong to suggest that the Bible bans interracial marriage.

HWA has plucked out one or two lines from the Song of Moses, which was made for Israel, and used it improperly justify his peculiar belief in the racial segregation of marriage.

He also cited Ezra, in which some of the Jews were ordered to put away their Canaanite wives. However, as is shown here, this measure was taken to prevent the Israelites from falling into idolatry, not to maintain some imaginary racial purity as HWA imagined. Racial purity does not exist anywhere in the whole wide world. We all have mixed ancestry.

Furthermore interracial marriage did occur early in the ancestry of the Israelite nation. Judah married a Canaanite, the daughter of Shuah (Genesis 38:2). Simeon had a son with a Canaanite. "The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman" (Genesis 46:10). So HWA's confused assertion that Israel was of pure or nearly pure racial stock is not true. Clearly there was intermarriage.

This does not dilute or lessen the identity of the Jewish people in any way, unlike what some anti-Semites, including Identity, would have us believe. It is the same as an African American with some White ancestry. Such mixed ancestry, which we all ultimately have, does not in any way compromise one's ethnic identity.

The ideal of racial purity is an anachronistic concept that HWA read into the Bible. He had no right or legitimate claim to ban interracial marriage.

Furthermore those commands were given to Israel, not the church. The Anglo-Saxons and Celts are not descended from ancient Israel. So any attempt to say we should follow that law today is a complete misuse of those laws.

Despite my disquiet at this particular doctrine it did not change my belief that God worked through HWA. Because I never joined any COG it never really affected me. However, for personal reasons, I was never a huge fan of this belief. But there was so much else to this religion I thought this did not really matter. I thought God was worked through HWA so I accepted it. It did not cause me to make any sacrifices, it did not have a significant impact on my life. So I was blind to the evil and impropriety of this doctrine.

[Update: August 1, 2013. More on this topic can be read at this post: The Unjust Nature of the Interracial Marriage Ban.]

Thoughts about the Sabbath Doctrine

In the first issue of Tomorrow's World that I received in the mail was one article that convinced me that Christians are now required to observe the Sabbath. It mentioned that Jesus observed the Sabbath, therefore it argued that I should observe it as well. I was totally convinced on this matter. This moment made me trust them.

It never occurred to me to ask the following question: "11. If we must follow the example of Jesus in all things like keeping the Sabbath, then why do Sabbatarians not follow the example of Jesus in circumcision, animal sacrifices and keeping Passover?"

Though who wish to learn more on this issue would do well to read this critique of HWA's Which Day is the Christian Sabbath? written by William Hohmann. This argues that the Sabbath commandment was only made for a people living in a specific area (the Holy Land). Outside of this area it is impossible to know which day is the Sabbath.

"This holy time of the Sabbath was in relation to the nation of (and therefore the location of) Israel. In order to make the Sabbath work for other locations, a problem arises as to which day you determine is the Sabbath based upon which direction you travel from Israel. If you travel east to America, then the Sabbath would be on what Americans call Friday. If one lives in the Arctic or Antarctic, then there are times there is no sunrise or sunset for very long periods of time." (Hohmann, Chapter 2.)

Today we determine what day it is based on our position relative to the International Date Line. HWA, unlike many other "man-made" institutions, chose to accept the Date Line. As Gavin Rumney has pointed out this line has underwent some changes recently. Thus Seventh Day Adventists in Tonga observe both Saturday and Sunday. Furthermore the Date Line has also been altered in 1910 and temporarily in 1921, before HWA became got involved in religion.

Knowing how often the "authority of men" is viewed negatively within the COGs it is not surprising that some Sabbatarians have come to assert that because the Date Line was "set up by men" everyone east of Jerusalem is keeping the Sabbath on the wrong day.

Here is how one former member described it: "More and more people who are Sabbath keepers now believe that everyone between the International Date Line and Jerusalem are keeping the Sabbath on the wrong day because the dateline was established by man, not God, and that God counts time from Jerusalem westward." (See fifth comment.)

Mr. Hohmann in his critique cited above argues that God foresaw that this practice would be abolished before any Sabbath keeper wandered too far away, or into the polar circles. Wherever the Sabbath exists, on the other side of the world it is not holy time at all. In the polar circles such concepts become meaningless.

Because of these matters I am persuaded that it is not now necessary to legalistically observe the Sabbath as those in the COGs do.

On another matter if the Holydays are a part of the Law of God which is to observed today why is it that this church has in fact changed the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles?

All of these issues were unknown to me at the time I was persuaded into adopting Sabbatarianism. I would not have listened to them had I understood the true nature of the COGs and the flawed nature of their doctrines, including that of the Sabbath.

My Encounter with a Christian Advent Church

One time as mentioned in a previous post, while I still believed HWA, I went visiting some churches in my area. I was completely convinced that HWA spoke the truth, so I was not afraid of having my faith challenged. Indeed I would not have my beliefs changed while there.

But one day I went into a church which I did not know. After the service I looked at some of their writings, and I was most surprised to find that they believed in soul sleep and the mortal soul.

This was a Christian Advent Church. Similar to the COGs it is descended from the Millerite movement of the 1830s-1840s. Many of them later formed the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The COGs sprang from an offshoot of the that church. Others accepted some of the distinctive Adventist doctrines, yet continued to observe Sunday. It was from such people that this Christian Advent Church emerged from. The Jehovah's Witnesses also derive from a non-Sabbatarian branch of the Adventist movement. Hence all these churches' similarities.

At the time this did not change my beliefs at all. But it did surprise me that these people should share such doctrinal commonalities. I do recall reading of a nineteenth century minister who taught soul sleep being cited in LCG's "Church History" booklet, but it was still quite a shock to me to see doctrines that I thought were so distinctive being taught by this church I had never heard of.

I did not then realize that HWA simply stole practically all his doctrines from other sources, one of which was the Adventist movement.

How I Came to Read the Truth about HWA (Addition)

I have made an addition to the previous blog just after I discussed Bible.ca. Here is that addition.

I did not read this site's argument that the distinction made in Armstrongism between the "Law of God" (The Ten Commandments) which is said to be eternal and the "Law of Moses" which is said to be temporary and ceremonial, is false. You can read that article here.

Nor did I read Question 10: "How could Adam, Noah and Abraham keep the Sabbath, when Deuteronomy 5:2-4 says that the 10 commandment covenant...was "not made with any of the fathers of Israel who lived before Moses.""

Or Question 11: "If we must follow the example of Jesus in all things like keeping the Sabbath, then why do Sabbatarians not follow the example of Jesus in circumcision, animal sacrifices and keeping Passover?" I wish I kept this in mind when LCG persuaded me to become a Sabbatarian. Although this web site is mainly focused on Seventh Day Adventism much of that material is just as applicable to Armstrongism.

Perhaps here would be a good place to say I have added two articles concerning RCG's Dave Pack in the links section. I have also been able to link back to a good article detailing how HWA actually discovered British-Israelism.