Here is a taste of how perverse the teachings of Armstrongism are and how it distorts people’s thinking.
Samuel Kitchen claims that Christians who have a deep relationship with God will automatically be drawn to Herbert Armstrong’s words and into the New Worldwide Church of God:
If no one knew of the Worldwide Church of God and never knew of Herbert W. Armstrong, if they grew in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and continued to build a stronger and deeper relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, they would eventually come into the identity of the Worldwide Church of God! They themselves would be walking and talking examples, and through their deep spiritual relationship with God they would automatically take on the identity of the Worldwide Church of God, even if they never knew of the WCG or Herbert Armstrong!
If someone were a follower of Jesus Christ, they would not be drawn to the reincarnated Worldwide Church of God. It ceased to exist and does not exist, no matter how much wishful thinking tries to will it back into being.
According to Samuel, you are doomed to the Lake of Fire if you ever step outside of the WCG—where all splinter groups now reside—because that sin of leaving has totally separated them from God.
If we take even a tiny step away from Jesus Christ and what He has restored to this Church in the Philadelphia era through His apostle, we step outside of the Church. Then Christ changes roles and begins to work with us to bring us to repentance! He is no longer able to work through us effectively, because of the sin that separates us from God!
Kitchen’s statement is a classic example of Armstrongist ecclesiology taken to its illogical extreme. It makes organizational identity the automatic, inevitable fruit of a genuine relationship with God. In other words, true spirituality must eventually lead you to Herbert W. Armstrong’s doctrines, the restored “Philadelphia-era” church structure, and the specific group that claims to be its continuation.
This is not a minor side issue. It turns a human-led organization (or its modern splinter) into the exclusive visible expression of the true Church on earth. It elevates Armstrong to the status of a latter-day apostle whose “restored truths” become the litmus test of whether someone is truly “in Christ.” If you have the Holy Spirit, Kitchen insists, you will eventually embrace the Sabbath, Holy Days, clean/unclean meats, British-Israelism, tithing, and submission to the “government of God” as defined by the WCG tradition—even if you started with nothing but a Bible and a sincere walk with Jesus.
This is spiritual totalism: the idea that all roads that truly lead to God must eventually merge onto the Armstrong highway. Anything else is labeled rebellion, sin, and separation from God.
The New Covenant directly refutes this claim with crystal clarity.
Jesus Himself said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
He never said,
No one comes to the Father except through me and the Worldwide Church of God or any Philadelphia-era church organization.
The apostle Paul warned the Galatians in the strongest possible language against any “different gospel” that adds anything to simple faith in Christ:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel… If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:6-9)
Paul did not say,
As long as you keep the Holy Days, don't eat pork and shrimp, and stay in the one true organization, you’re fine.
He said the moment anyone adds any requirement—whether circumcision in his day or Sabbath-keeping, dietary laws, tithing, or organizational loyalty in ours—they have fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4).
By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:13)
The old system—with its temple, priesthood, sacrifices, feast days, and strict physical requirements—has been fulfilled and superseded in Christ. The true Church is not an organization with a headquarters, a human apostle, or a required set of rituals. The true Church is the body of all who are born again by the Spirit of God, regardless of denominational label (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 2:19-22).
Jesus is the Head of the Church (Colossians 1:18), not Armstrong. Not Bob Thiel. Not David Pack, Not Gerald Flurry. Not any successor. Not any splinter group. The moment any man or group claims to be the only channel through which Christ works, they have usurped Christ’s place.
The Holy Spirit does not lead sincere believers into Armstrongism or back into the law. The Holy Spirit leads sincere believers into Christ—into freedom, not bondage; into grace, not law-keeping as a means of salvation or favor with God.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)
Samuel Kitchen’s teaching is the very opposite of the New Covenant gospel. It is a sophisticated form of spiritual blackmail: “Stay in our group or you are cut off from God and headed for the Lake of Fire.” That is not the voice of the Good Shepherd. That is the voice of the hireling who scatters the sheep.
The real test of a relationship with God is not whether you end up in the “New Worldwide Church of God.” The real test is whether you love Jesus, trust His finished work on the cross, and walk by the Spirit. Millions of Christians around the world have done exactly that for two thousand years without ever hearing of Herbert W. Armstrong—and they are safe in the arms of the Savior.
You do not need to “come into the identity of the Worldwide Church of God” to be a true Christian.
You only need to come to Christ.
And He has already promised: “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). No organization required. No apostle’s approval required. No splinter group membership required.
That is the glorious freedom of the New Covenant.
Silent Pilgrim
12 comments:
Scripture tells us……by their fruits you will know them.
And what fruit did Armstrongism produce?
Division division and yet more division. Shrinking congregations, families split apart, an obsession with BI and all its mythology as gospel truth etc etc etc.
Could it be Samuel, that with the mass exodus from the Armstrong movement God is leading His people away from this caustic environment into real liberty in Christ and away from demonstrably false doctrine? Cheers.
Since NO ONE on this entire earth follows Christ perfectly, it should be quite obvious that NO ONE will ever return to the Worldwide Church of God's latest reincarnation .
According to Samuel, you are doomed to the Lake of Fire if you ever step outside of the WCG—
“Test all things” is the instruction in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 v 21.
“Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits” (1 John 4:1).
These commands apply to all Christians, and the Holy Spirit is given to individuals not an organization. .
John 16:13 — the Spirit guides believers into truth
1 John 2:27 — the anointing teaches you
Romans 8:9 — the Spirit dwells in you
The believer follows the teachings of the Spirit, not the rantings of a mad and vain man who thought he was something.
I've carefully watched too many people who were seeking God, seeking Jesus Christ, and surrendering with all their hearts to God NOT be led to Armstrongism. They did become exemplary Christians, Revelation 3:20 was very much fulfilled in their lives, but Armstrongism was not part of all that. This is yet another thing that we were lied to about by HWA and his lackeys. And, apparently that lie is still being perpetuated today!
The biggest Sabbath-keeping "Church of God" group in the world doesn't mention Herbert Armstrong online at all.
Most people here probably haven't heard of it, either. WATV.org is based in South Korea and has a few U.S. congregations.
It's been around for decades. So why hasn't it embraced HWA or WCG?
And not forgetting: Romans 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
Herb and his ministers hid that God directly leads every individual Christian. They lusted Christ's responsibilities, so they usurped his role. While I attended services, at least every fourth sermon was on obedience, yet it wasn't obedience to God but rather obedience to the ministry.
At WWCG baptism it was stated you are not being baptized into any church. Was that phrase post 1986 or was it always apart of the WWCG ceremony?
OF COURSE it doesn't mention HWA. The folks at WATV.org don't just idolize a leader the way WCG did; they actually believe that one of their currently living leaders is God the Mother, and that her predecessor as leader was the returned Jesus Christ. They are even cultier than PCG and RCG.
Exactly. And, the behavior of the COG leadership would not be tolerated in most churches.
Freaky group.
The carnal mind is enmity towards God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Seems I read that in the Bible.
Some things from our forums and blogs over the past 25 years stick with me, Dan. A lady who was one of the regular participants had mentioned that when Dean Blackwell baptized her, he told her that she was not being baptized into any church, but into Jesus Christ, It struck me as very unusual at the time I originally read it. If I recall how she interpreted that, it was that her baptism therefore transcended a church. It rendered being disfellowshipped by a church meaningless. She had grown beyond Armstrongism in her understanding, and yet knew that her relationship with God was still intact.
I took it as a candid admission, a truthful statement by Dean Blackwell, who was a very powerful figure in the WCG's history. I don't believe it was always part of the WCG counselling or baptismal liturgy, but couldn't put a date on it.
Post a Comment