For many decades there were several books that the Worldwide Church of God used and considered "sacred" to the legacy of Armstrongism. They were, Hislop's Two Babylons, Foxes Book of Martyrs and The History of the True Religion.
The History of the True Religion, by A.N. Dugger and C.O Dodd was a mainstay in the church because it reportedly told the story of HWA's contemporaries of the Church of God in Salem, Oregon of which Herbert Armstrong was part of and ordained in.
The latest issue of the The Journal of the Churches of God has an article up by Horst Obermeit about a new book by the Church of God Seventh Day.
Obermeit says:
Mr. Coulter’s factual reporting from the church’s Colorado archives gives a much better understanding of the history behind the beginning of the Radio Church of God (which was renamed the Worldwide Church of God in 1968 and Grace Communion International in 2009).
The RCG/WCG/GCI began with Herbert W. Armstrong’s membership and ministry in the CG7. Mr. Coulter states in his introduction that the archived records show that Andrew Dugger’s and C.O. Dodd’s book A History of the True Church made little use of the church’s historical archives.
Rather, the Dugger-and-Dodd book, says Mr. Coulter, is a counterfeit history of the church that has been soundly rejected by the General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day) as its genuine history
Then Obermeit mentions something from the book that will send many in the Church of God in to raging fits of denial:
Then Obermiet mentions how the book has this to say about Herbert Armstrong:Mr. Coulter shows that the Churches of God are not a continuation of an apostolic beginning. They do not have their origins in earlier Sabbath-keeping Christians in Western Europe.He states that the claim by various COGs of an apostolic succession is “pure fantasy!”He further states: “The Church of God (Seventh Day) had a definite beginning here in the United States. It is strictly an American institution. All of the earliest pioneers of the Church became Adventist through William Miller’s Adventist movement of the 1830s-1840s.“None of the earliest founders of the Church practiced Sabbath keeping at the time of their conversion to Christianity, nor practiced an annual communion service.
Imagine that, the Churches of God do not have ties tot the Waldenses that so many of them falsely claim today. The Churches of God are an American invention just like the LDS church is and is not carrying on any apostolic succession.The chapter titled “Herbert W. Armstrong’s Relationship to the Church of God” gives evidence that Mr. Armstrong was less than honest about his relationship with the Church of God (Seventh Day).It also points out flaws in Mr. Armstrong’s “egotistical claim of being God’s man of the hour,” as Mr. Coulter puts it.
Imagine that HWA was less than honest... the house of cards continues to fall down!
This book is definitely being added to my COG collection of books!