Armstrongism: A Failed Work of Men
Herbert and Garner Ted Armstrong are long dead, and the Worldwide Church of God which they built no longer exists! There isn’t anything left of the Ambassador College which they founded and operated. The defeat and captivity of the United States, Armageddon and the establishment of God’s Kingdom failed to materialize in their lifetimes. Herbert Armstrong’s designated successor changed or eliminated many of his most cherished doctrines. Moreover, NONE of the men who have set about the task of perpetuating his teachings has remained completely faithful to Armstrong’s teachings, and NONE of them have been able to establish an effective outreach to the world. So, what is the legacy of Armstrongism? Was it a work of men OR a work of God?
We read in Matthew’s account of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount that Jesus told his disciples to: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20, ESV) Did Herbert Armstrong’s prophecies come to pass? What are the fruits of Armstrongism? Did the tree that he planted bear good or bad fruit? Wasn’t that tree cut down and destroyed?
In the book of Acts, we are informed that the apostles were arrested for preaching about Jesus and brought before the Jewish Council. In that account, we read that one of the leading Pharisees named Gamaliel addressed the assembly and warned them about the ramifications of what they were doing. He said: “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So, in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God! (Acts 5:35-39, ESV) In other words, whether this Jesus movement was of men or of God would soon become clear to everyone! It would either collapse under its own weight, or it would thrive because of God’s blessing!
Now, we all know that the Armstrongs are dead, and that the Worldwide Church of God no longer exists. What does that tell you? Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear? Everything that we have observed tells me that Armstrongism produced the fruit of failed prophecies, strife, division, hatred, and ruined lives. Likewise, everything that we’ve observed informs me that Armstrongism was a work of men – that it was NOT a work of God! After all, Christ once told Peter that he would build his Church, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18, ESV) Did the “gates of hell” prevail against the Armstrongs and the organization which they founded? If so, then maybe it’s time to reevaluate your commitment to those teachings and the groups which seek to perpetuate them? OR Will you be the only one left standing when they turn the lights out at your former meeting place for the last time? The verdict has been in on Armstrongism for three decades – what about YOU?
Lonnie Hendrix
NONE of the men who have set about the task of perpetuating his teachings has remained completely faithful to Armstrong’s teachings
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that even Herbert W. Armstrong wasn't completely faithful to Herbert W. Armstrong's teachings. Just go back and look at church publications from 1937, 1957, and 1977 and you will see various old teachings dropped without comment and other new teachings added on.
HWA has been dead for 40 years. Since even HWA couldn't manage to keep teaching the same thing for 40 years, it should be no surprise that his successors have made their own changes over the last 40 years.
So true! Good point!
DeleteArmstrongism was basically one of the failed Judaizing movements that has popped up periodically since 33 AD. It was doomed to fail from its very begining, because it had no way of giving eternal life to its followers. It could only give them a social club where they could larp as Jews, and accomplish nothing with their lives that was worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteGod's Holy Days are getting nearer and nearer.
ReplyDeleteHerbert Armstrong is a man denied being allowed to rest in piece on this blog. He is denied awaiting the judgment of Jesus Christ like all mankind.
It forever reminds me of the Catholic Pope who centuries ago, was so bitter towards the previous Pope, he had him dug up, placed in fresh Papal robes and proceeded to shout and insult his corpse for several days.
That behaviour didn't help that Pope and it certainly doesn't help the blog authors on here.
You give very poor counsel. Your view seems to be that “judgment must be left to God alone” and therefore believers should never make judgments. You say it is not our place.
DeleteScripture does not support that. The Bible draws a sharp distinction between condemnation (God’s role alone) and discernment / evaluation / judging behaviour (the believer’s responsibility).
In John 7:24 Jesus said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment.” He does not say “do not judge.” He says judge rightly, meaning believers must evaluate truth, behaviour, and doctrine.
And Paul is even more explicit: 1 Corinthians 5:12–13
“Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.”
This alone shows your position is not biblical. Believers are commanded to judge within the church.
There are many verses - too many to list here. The Bible forbids hypocritical or condemnatory judgment (Matthew 7:1–5), but it commands: judging doctrine; judging behaviour; judging sin; judging teachers; judging good vs evil.
Your defence of Armstrong is not biblical, and you need to reevaluate your position.
God’s Holy Days approaching has nothing to do with whether Armstrong’s teachings are biblically correct. If you mean it as a prophetic flourish, urgency does not replace sound doctrine. Armstrong has foregone any claim to prophetic enlightenment and in this area as well your defence is misplaced. It's time to wake up,
I like to think that God had a hand in the empire of Armstrong being destroyed because of its excesses, lies. twisting of scripture and damage it caused. His elevation to an apostle being one of many falsehoods.
ReplyDeleteMiller Jones wrote, “Likewise, everything that we’ve observed informs me that Armstrongism was a work of men – that it was NOT a work of God!”
ReplyDeleteI have puzzled over what forces sustain Armstrongism. Why does it just go on and on? The crowd of followers is dwindling and scattered but it just carries on. There are two principles I believe to be at work. The first is explained by the psychological theory of cognitive dissonance. It says simply that people rationalize the decisions they have made. They accumulate data and belief that weighs on the side they have decided to believe in. I spoke with a friend shortly after the Global Church of God arrived on the scene years ago. She became a member. There were like seven people in the entire state she lived in who were members of that denomination. A rational person might conclude that maybe this apocalypse might be a message about the validity of Armstrongism. But, instead, she was proud of the fact that there were so few people left. It meant that her status was more exclusive. She had acquired importance. She was now a part of the tiny inner circle of true believers. I believe that the people who persist in the Armstrongist denominations have all been through a similar process of rationalization. They have removed the cognitive dissonance from their thinking, and this permits them to persist.
One might then say, “Why have some walked out on Armstrongism and others have not? Shouldn’t anyone be able to sit down and think with reason about this and make the right decision? If it is all a matter of human reason, why have Armstrongists scattered in so many different directions, including becoming orthodox Christians?” I believe we must give due consideration to Election. According to Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians, those who are Christians during this Age were elect from before the foundation of the Cosmos. The people who are driving the Armstrongist movement, across its many, many, denominations are principally non-Elect. They are not going respond to Christianity. They will find a means of offsetting the rationality that you have described in your essay. They cannot be disparaged. Its not their fault. The Bible was not written for them. God chose some and not others.
This is why I do not write to convert Armstrongists to Christianity. I do not believe it is possible. I think we discussed this before. Who is a Christian is a matter of the choice of God. I write for people who are Elect and experienced a tour of duty with Armstrongism for whatever reasons God had in mind and are now, happily, no longer associated with Armstrongism. Like me, these exiters must evaluate what message there is in being snared by a cult and then being delivered.
I appreciate what you have written. Directly on target.
Scout
Scout,
DeleteI believe ego sustains continued involvement in Armstrongism. "My judgment couldn't be that bad," and "I've invested so much of my life in this enterprise - that would all be time wasted." As for becoming a Christian, I believe that everyone (including Armstrongists) can repent, accept Christ's sacrifice, be baptized, and receive God's Holy Spirit. Thanks for your support.
Amongst it's leadership in the splinter groups remains a remnant of individuals that went through Ambassador College who are of a certain age now. They hold on to the threads the strongest. Plus, they may say"I have nowhere else to go" like Richard Gere in Officer and a Gentleman. As the years go on....
DeleteWe should note that Herbert W. Armstrong's opinions of prophecy, the downfall of the USA, the Apocalypse precipitated by the rise of the Beast and the False Prophet, the Tribulation, Place of Safety and return of Jesus Christ were collectively his Hook", the vehicle by which he disrupted peoples' mind sets and coerced them into his church. He became the Elvis of evangelists, building a stupendous base of wealth and power for himself along the way.
ReplyDeleteHerbert equated the so-called restored truths and his church's obedience to all of them with God's trust in choosing to whom He would reveal true understanding of endtimes prophecy. And then, after he had built his base, the picture of the woman (church) grew a moustache, and the limousine in which she was riding suddenly had a blowout and ran out of gas! Theives stripped the vehicle of its most valuable parts and each attempted to build a new one with the parts he had salvaged. None could produce a running vehicle, but each held on, refusing to share his stolen parts, insisting that he was the only designated driver. Nobody even bothered to call "shotgun" because there was no interest in simply being a passenger. Gasoline, the impersonal power which propelled the original vehicle simply evaporated and joined the rest of the greenhouse gases, which then became a soon coming apocalypse all their own. After all, if God can raise up stones to do his work, He can also accomplish His work utilizing a gas motif!
As Peter Wolf of the Jay Geils Band once frantically rapped in the prequel to one of the band's best known songs, "Ya Know I musta! You know I musta! Oh, Baby I musta! I musta got lost somewhere down the line!"
Elvis of prophecy ?! Hilarious. Do you commentators even grasp the reality of clarity in what you write? More lines and gimics not always the better. Herbert Armstrong's life was the complete opposite of poor dominated Elvis's.
DeleteA person I knew back in 1995 always said he didn't like the fruit he seen after Joe sr. introduced the doctrinal changes. What he didn't realize was that the bad fruit he seen was always a part of Armstrongism and was there all along . Much of the bad fruit was swept under the rug or ignored. This man I think is still a member of the UCG. I hope he can see the bad fruit of the UCG or maybe they are just sweeping it under the rug as well!
ReplyDelete“It would either collapse under its own weight”
ReplyDeleteWhen you have an individual (HWA) create an organization, then has a son (one lives the longest being GTA), then he is kicked out by his father’s organization in 78’. Then the successor (JT) changes the teachings. Thus leading to an implosion and splinter groups. Well , this is the COLLAPSE UNDER ITS OWN WEIGHT. Like they say when one leaves a job. “ I left it better than I found it.” Not one minister in a splinter group can leave the job better than what they had in Worldwide. I mean this is the reality of the situation.
Tank
Agreed parts of Armstrongism are completely dead .....although many of his wierder thoughts like Christmas being very unChristian are mainstream now.
ReplyDeleteOk Armstrongism as a living tenet of principles is dead.
Yet many of the Works the Church supported in their embryonic phase when it was not certain they would survive (like the World Court, Worldwildlife Fund, bringing Japan to Kenya to establish their main education tool for their main export product and thousands of more works I will not mention since I have tried so for 20 years are still alive and kicking.
nck
Across: Catholicism; Orthodoxy; Anglicanism; Protestant denominations;
DeleteEvangelical churches , Christmas is universally treated as a celebration of the incarnation. It remains a central Christian feast , a major liturgical event
There is no mainstream movement declaring Christmas “unChristian.”
There are fringe groups (Armstrongism, some Hebrew Roots sects, a few ultra‑fundamentalist pockets including Jehovah Witnesses) who repeat Armstrong’s old talking points but they are not mainstream. Your claims are factually wrong. And the claim of these groups that Christmas is “pagan” reflects a very narrow Armstrong/Hislop reading of history. Serious scholarship does not support it, so you may want to broaden your research beyond that tradition.
Imagime if he had insisted that these "works," as you call them, be run in accordance with his normal church government paradigms, nck! Good thing the beneficiaries were permitted to use their own discretion in running them!
DeleteSpeakimg of wildlife, I thought it was hilarious when Vic Kubik gave a bunch of cows to church members in impoverished nations, and then when the split occurred, the people who got the cows went with the COGawa and took the cows with them.
Ya inow, as church members we weren't permitted to donate to United Fund, Red Cross, UNICEF, or any other charities. We were told to give all such donations to "God's" Church, and they would give to charities. If homeless people asked for a handout, you tell them to get a job, or you'd pray for them, or some other halfway excuse. I never heard of the church giving to any charities, and now you tell me that in your era, the era of arranged meetings between HWA and world class dignitaries, he actually gave to wildlife funds when according to his prophecies, everything around us was only going to be around for 3-5 more years? I mean, WTF?