In the early days of Armstrongism the Church of God had a "love/hate" relationship with blacks in the church.
While many of the COG's had black members in attendance at weekly services, when it came time for the Feast they were relegated to Big Sandy. Nothing like sending church members deep into the South where the Clan was still very active!
For many years in the church few blacks were ordained. Yes there were one or two black evangelists, but they were definitely in the minority in the church.
This issue had and still has its roots deeply entrenched in the British-Israelism malarkey that the church promoted. British-Israelism created a lot of racist attitudes in the church.
Race issues have always been a huge issue in the Church of God over the decades, yet there have always been a group of COGers that claim there never was an issue. Here are a few quotes from Raymond McNair's ministerial notes. The points below are still upheld by many in the COG.
A quote from page 5 of McNair's notes, from Jan. 17, 1972 -- apparently, HWA giving "Pastoral Instruction":
In the Millennium God will cause the Coloured peoples to return to their heritage - in Africa. Blacks in the US are guests here."This is modern Israel. We do not know any Bible example where Blacks were put over Whites - over Israel. Israel were to have a King of their own people.In the US Blacks are the best-off financially of any Blacks in the world.
ht to a reader for this
One of the more embarrassing real-world results of the pseudo-history of British-Israelism. Though frankly, I'm not sure how many educated members in the COG's buy into this nonsense anymore. Serious readers of history and those familiar with the methodology of establishing historical facts certainly don't, though they may keep their views to themselves lest they be asked to go to another "spiritual home."
ReplyDeleteYou'd be surprised what Dr. Hoeh thought about US&BC in his latter years, even though in his earlier years he was one of the prime pushers of such folklore.
As a black man myself, I can attest to the awkwardness the old "British-Israelism" teaching sometimes created when white members would carry on about what tribe they might belong to and so on. Awkward, yes, though I never concerned myself much about it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is a matter of record that WCG held some questionable policies over the years regarding interracial relations (dancing, socializing, marriage, etc), and some of the various notes and reports on black AC students or prospective deacons/elders/etc are unsettling to read even now.
I am white and was once chastized at a WCG dnce for dancing with a black boy. We were about 10 years old and not so much "dancing" as being obnoxious and trying to bump into other dancers. Because that is what 10-year-olds do. Anyway, some bumpkin (no one ordained at least) grabbed me by the wrist, did not reprimand me for trying to knock people over, but for dancing with a "colored boy", dragged me away and said he was telling my parents. Still raises my blood pressure 25 years later. He was good enough for me to play with after church but dancing, if you could call it that, was a problem? Now that's a real Christian for you.
DeleteWhat about us Krauts? Do we have to go back to Germany too?
ReplyDeleteOR... is it ok for a WHITE German, non-Israelite to be in charge of Israelites?
Where in the world will the poor Native Americans who are in the church going to go in the Millennium?
Using this reasoning, then WHY did any African, Indian, German or Filipino brethren allow white Israelite ministers to be over THEM??
Once you start asking some logical questions here, this whole policy and scheme falls apart.
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
No, we Germans will eventually defect to the beast power. We germans are thugs at heart and really put the "ass" in "Assyrian".
DeleteThere are a lot of cogers out there that still cling to everything imaginable about British Israelism. There was an online campaign to collect money to publish posthumously Raymond McNairs book on the subject. Craig White down in Australia has published lots of junk on the subject. Well junk is not the appropriate word, bullshit is more like it. LCG, PCG, and RCG still slobber all over it. Its still out there. Without it, Armstrongism is dead.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could find some of the articles which came out in the aftermath of the mapping of the human genome. One of them was so shocking, that I thought that it singlehandedly could kill off Armstrongism. In their research for majority Dna heritage amongst the U.S. Citizenry, Scientists identified German Dna as the leader by a landslide! If I recall correctly, nothing else even came close.
ReplyDeleteAnd, the band played on.....
BB
Joe Moeller wrote: "Once you start asking some logical questions here, this whole policy and scheme falls apart."
ReplyDeleteThough, it must be said, Joe, your beloved UCG still holds to the basics of the pseudo-history. Right? So who are you to find fault with a teaching still taught by the UCG?
Opps, maybe time to put a copy of "I Believe" on the turntable!
http://www.ucg.org/booklet/united-states-and-britain-bible-prophecy/britain-and-united-states-inherit-josephs-birthrig-1/
When Tkach Jr first started publically saying "our understanding of USBIP is reduced to SO WHAT" or "British-Israelism was the central plank in our theology", I admit that at first I didn't quite see what he meant. My first reaction was "That's not a central anything!"
ReplyDeleteIt was years later when re-reading Bible "prophecies" I had been familiar with and various bits of WCG literature from the HWA era that I realized how it worked. "British-Israelism", as the old WCG practiced it, enabled their writers and speakers to take Biblical lines like "this is the time of Jacob's trouble" and suddenly apply them to the modern day with Biblical authority, when the Bible itself gave little or no clear grounds to do so.
Its interesting now to go back and reread US&BC now, especially the older editions, where HWA spends the first chapter saying "SURELY our great, powerful Western nations must be mentioned in the Bible! Surely!" Once the reader buys into this rather questionable viewpoint, suddenly you can re-cast all sorts of Bible verses to mean all-new things.
That, I'd expect, is why Armstrong insisted it was the "master key".
The COGs have never been out in front when it comes to not treating other people like crap. Racism and civil rights issues are no exception. HWA was FORCED to accept black students at AC by the US federal government.
ReplyDeleteObviously, that means god didn't want black people at his college until 1964. After that, god changed his mind and wanted them. It was all god working things out in his infinite wisdom and revealing things to HWA all in his good time. Who can fathom the deep things of god?
It was probably like Peter and the vision of the animals from Acts 10. "But HWA said, Not so, Lord; not at your college, for I have never eaten at the student center with anyone that was common or unclean."
Either that or HWA was just another unreconstructed bigot.
I present. You decide.
I find it interesting that once I believed one big lie it was easy to accept so many smaller ones. For instance, "SURELY our great, powerful Western nations must be mentioned in the Bible! Surely!" Believe this and you find the U.S. as modern Israel. Believe that HWA was God's apostle, and you accept whatever he says. Believe that the WCG is God's ONLY true church and you reject all the writings of other groups. Perhaps this is how he screened prospective members. Get the ones who can not think critically and let them in, they will be easier to control.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 5:19 wrote: “Its interesting now to go back and reread US&BC now, especially the older editions, where HWA spends the first chapter saying "SURELY our great, powerful Western nations must be mentioned in the Bible! Surely!" Once the reader buys into this rather questionable viewpoint, suddenly you can re-cast all sorts of Bible verses to mean all-new things.”
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, HWA made these kinds of statements with absolute conviction and authority, as if he actually knew what he was talking about! I believe he deluded himself into thinking he DID know what he was talking about. But a critical thing to remember about HWA is that he was NOT a well-educated man. He didn’t even graduate from high school. He was a man of certain talents in salesmanship and persuasion skills, no doubt about that. He was ambitious. He was confident. He came across very effectively as a radio broadcaster. But such things, as useful as they may be, are no substitute for real, evidence-based knowledge, which he was sadly lacking in MANY areas, especially fields of knowledge he saw himself as an expert in. He was an absolute sucker for all kinds of pseudo-scholarship, from which he cobbled together “God’s Truth” and built a religious empire out of – and the rest is history. And we all at one time helped him build this empire of sand, which hasn’t stood the test of time or rigorous inquiry very well at all. Just look at the state of Armstongism today, and only 27 years after his death. It’s in a shambles, and yet intact enough to still be dangerous. Witness lunatics like Pack, Thiel, Weinland, Flurry, and no doubt many yet to arise in the future.
The fact that COGs are racists is something I only recently figured out. Yet another reason to call them synagogues of Satan.
ReplyDeleteDon't put me in a labeled box. But I'll put the Evangelicals, the Athiests and everyone else in labeled boxes!
ReplyDeletewell, of course HWA made those statements with conviction! Its part of the art of convincing people. First you lead them in with an agreement - some appealing statement that makes them automatically agree with you. The louder, bolder the statement, the more the potential to hook. Then you present your carefully arranged "evidence", all designed to surprise and delight the target. The fact that you were leading the witness from the get-go, or that the evidence was conveniently arranged by the advertiser alone, that's not supposed to be noticed. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:37, you never have precisely defined what you mean by "synagogues of Satan."
ReplyDeleteI actually remember one WCG pastor who had a bad habit of punctuating his sermons with "and that's the ticket... well, for you Gentile brethren, 'SHO NUFF!'"
ReplyDeleteAt some point HQ got wind of it and quietly asked him to stop doing that (I believe it was when Richard Ames was in town for a double-service day and heard the man say that). In true moronic fashion, the next Saturday's sermon was two hours of that pastor yelling at his congregation defensively. It was kind of pitiful to watch.
Good, blacks back to Africa, Asians back to Asia, all those of European origin back to Europe. That leaves America for American Indians. The Armstrongs will return to Scotland, except HWA. For duping a lot of innocent people whose only desire is to serve and please God, and milking them of multiple tithes so that he could leave in luxury and comfort, and for false using the name of Christ to live in comfort and luxury, he would go to where he teaches people like him will be going.
ReplyDeleteIf everyone has to go back to Europe what about the perfect Canadian COG members? Since there is no sin or guile to be found in them where are they to go?
ReplyDeletePerfect COG members will go to mental asylum. We all know only Christ is perfect, unless they all change their names to Perfecto.
ReplyDeleteIn one of Herbert Armstrong's sermons, I heard him say that the Bricket Wood campus was originally meant to be for "blacks only", but somehow those plans changed.
ReplyDeleteIf that had gone forward as originally envisioned, he wouldn't have had to later yell (and shake his jowls and pound the lectern) about the "abomination" of blacks dancing with whites at AC campus dances.
"If everyone has to go back to Europe what about the perfect Canadian COG members? Since there is no sin or guile to be found in them where are they to go?"
ReplyDeleteIn "The Kingdom", Velvet Delorey will be "THE BOSS OF EVERYONE THAT DISAGREED WITH HER ON ANY BLOG OR MESSAGE BOARD"!!!!!
Don't worry, Miss Velvet Delorey will exercise her usual open-mindedness and kindness toward one and all.
The political correctness of the world today--lying about racial differences and covering up unpopular scientific data--is more destructive than anything that ever came out of Armstrongism.
ReplyDeleteIf you say so. Armstrongism already did plenty of both.
ReplyDeleteTweet: As bad as we're told it is for blacks in America, very few of them are returning to their utopian homeland with its witchdoctors, warlords, dung huts, poverty and genocides.
ReplyDeleteWho said that blacks in America have a utopian homeland?
ReplyDeleteWhat utter nonsense.
(shrug) Norway has highest standard of living in the world. Don't see you running off to live there.
ReplyDelete