From Armstrongism to Hebrew Roots: The Untold Story of a Religious Family Tree

From Armstrongism to Hebrew Roots: 

The Untold Story of a Religious Family Tree

The modern Hebrew Roots movement is often described as having emerged from Armstrongism. There is considerable truth in that description, but the actual history is more fascinating than a simple "Armstrongism became Hebrew Roots" explanation suggests.

Hebrew Roots did not spring from a single founder, denomination, or moment in history. Instead, it developed through the convergence of several religious traditions: the Sabbatarian Church of God movement, Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God, the Sacred Name movement, Messianic Judaism, and a growing interest among Christians in returning to what they regarded as the Hebrew and biblical foundations of the faith.

The dramatic doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God after the death of Herbert Armstrong in 1986 provided an especially important catalyst. Thousands of former members suddenly found themselves outside the church in which they had learned to observe the seventh-day Sabbath and biblical festivals. Some joined other Church of God organizations. Others encountered Sacred Name groups, Messianic Judaism, and eventually the emerging Hebrew Roots movement.

The story of the House of Yahweh in Texas provides an intriguing window into this larger history. Although the House of Yahweh should not simply be classified as a Hebrew Roots organization, its history demonstrates how closely the Armstrongite, Sabbatarian, Sacred Name, and Torah-observant worlds could overlap.

Armstrongism: Preparing the Ground

To understand the rise of Hebrew Roots, it is necessary to understand what made Armstrongism so unusual within twentieth-century American Christianity. Herbert W. Armstrong's Radio Church of God, later renamed the Worldwide Church of God, developed a distinctive theology that challenged many conventional Christian practices.

Armstrong taught his followers to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, rather than Sunday. His churches celebrated the biblical annual festivals-including Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day. The church also rejected Christmas and Easter as non-biblical traditions and maintained Old Testament dietary distinctions. For many Americans raised in conventional Protestant or Catholic Christianity, these teachings were startling.

Armstrongism essentially asked a question that would later become central to Hebrew Roots:

What if Christianity had moved away from many of the practices found in the Bible?

That question became fundamental to Armstrong's restorationist theology.

Armstrong taught that God had restored biblical truths that had been lost or obscured by traditional Christianity. His followers therefore came to see themselves not merely as another Protestant denomination but as participants in a restoration of original Christianity.

This provided fertile ground for what would later become Hebrew Roots.

The Questions Were Already Being Asked

By the time the Hebrew Roots movement began gaining visibility, former Armstrongites were already accustomed to asking questions such as:

• Why does Christianity worship on Sunday?
• Why aren't Christians keeping the biblical Holy Days?
• Why did Christmas and Easter replace the biblical festivals?
• Did Jesus and the apostles keep the Sabbath?
• Are the Old Testament dietary laws still relevant?
• What did the earliest followers of Jesus actually believe?
• How much of Christianity came from the Hebrew Scriptures?
• Did later Christianity lose something important from its biblical foundation?

These were not new questions. Armstrongism had already placed them at the center of religious discussion for thousands of its members.

That is one reason the later emergence of Hebrew Roots found such a receptive audience among some former Worldwide Church of God members.

• They didn't have to be convinced that the Sabbath mattered
• They were already keeping it
• They didn't have to be persuaded that the biblical festivals were important
• They had already spent years celebrating them

The question simply shifted from "What did Armstrong teach?" to "What does the Bible actually teach, and what was the faith of the earliest believers?" That distinction would become enormously important.

Armstrongism Wasn't the Whole Story

It would be a mistake to portray Hebrew Roots as simply a renamed version of Armstrongism.

Another important stream was already developing independently: the Sacred Name movement. Sacred Name groups placed particular emphasis on restoring what they believed was the proper Hebrew name of God, generally rendered Yahweh, and frequently used a Hebrew form of Jesus' name such as Yahshua. Many Sacred Name groups also observed the Sabbath and biblical festivals and maintained various elements of Old Testament law. In other words, there were already Christians outside Armstrongism who were pursuing many of the same biblical practices.

This means the historical picture is less like a straight line and more like a series of streams flowing toward one another.

One stream:

Sabbatarian Christianity → Armstrongism → Worldwide Church of God → post-Armstrong splintering

Another:

Sacred Name movement → Yahweh/Yahshua emphasis → Torah observance

Another:

Messianic Judaism → Jewish context of Jesus and the apostles → Torah-observant Christianity

Eventually these streams began overlapping. And that convergence helped produce the modern Hebrew Roots movement.

The Earthquake: Armstrong's Death and the Transformation of the Worldwide Church of God

The most important event in this story was the death of Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986.

Armstrong had spent decades building the Worldwide Church of God around a distinctive theological system. After his death, however, the church began undergoing major doctrinal changes. Under Joseph W. Tkach and later his son, the Worldwide Church of God increasingly abandoned many of Armstrong's distinctive teachings.

• British-Israelism was rejected.
• The church changed its teachings about the nature of God and salvation.
• The Sabbath and annual Holy Days were no longer required.
• Tithing doctrines changed.
• The church increasingly embraced mainstream evangelical Christianity.

For many members, this was not a minor theological adjustment. It was a revolution.

People who had spent decades believing that Saturday was the biblical Sabbath were suddenly being told that Christians were not obligated to keep it. People who had celebrated the biblical festivals were told that they were not requirements for Christians. The old doctrinal structure was collapsing. And thousands of people left.

The Armstrongite Diaspora

The result was one of the most remarkable episodes of fragmentation in modern American religious history.

Former Worldwide Church of God members scattered in numerous directions. Some joined or established organizations that attempted to preserve Armstrong's teachings. Among the resulting groups were organizations such as the United Church of God, Living Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, Church of the Great God, and numerous smaller independent congregations.

But not everyone remained within the traditional Church of God world. Some former members began exploring other approaches to the Bible.

They encountered:

• Messianic Judaism.
• Sacred Name ministries.
• Torah-observant Christians.
• Independent Sabbath-keeping congregations.
• Hebrew Roots teachers and publications.

For someone who had spent years studying the Sabbath and Holy Days, these movements could seem remarkably familiar. But they offered something different.

Instead of saying, "This is what Herbert Armstrong taught," they asked: What did the Hebrew Scriptures actually say? What did Jesus and the apostles actually practice?

The birth of modern Hebrew Roots

The Hebrew Roots movement began emerging as a recognizable phenomenon during the late 1980s and 1990s. This period is important because it was precisely when the old Armstrongite world was breaking apart.

Former Worldwide Church of God members encountered other Torah-observant Christians. Some encountered Sacred Name groups. Others encountered Messianic Jewish congregations. Still others independently began studying Hebrew, Jewish background, the biblical festivals and the Torah.

The result was a movement that did not have a single founder. Instead, it consisted of networks of teachers, congregations, magazines, ministries and independent Bible-study groups.

One important development was the work of Dean and Susan Wheelock, who obtained a federal trademark for the term "Hebrew Roots" in 1994 and later published Hebrew Roots magazine. Other teachers, including Batya Wootten, were developing related ideas concerning the identity and restoration of Israel during the same period.

Some participants came from Armstrongite backgrounds. Others came from Messianic Judaism. Some came from Sacred Name organizations. Others came from evangelical churches and independently discovered Torah observance.

The movement therefore became a convergence point.

• One person might arrive because of the Sabbath.
• Another because of the biblical festivals.
• Another because of the Hebrew names of God.
• Another because of an interest in the Jewish background of Jesus.
• Another because of dissatisfaction with traditional Christian holidays.
• They could arrive at the same conference from completely different religious backgrounds.

What Armstrongism Contributed

Armstrongism's influence on this developing movement was particularly significant in several areas.

1. The Sabbath: Armstrong had already convinced hundreds of thousands of people that the seventh-day Sabbath was still relevant to Christians. For former members, Sabbath observance wasn't a new discovery.

2. The biblical festivals: The Worldwide Church of God had taught an annual cycle of biblical festivals for decades. Former members already knew the significance of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day.

3. Biblical dietary laws: Armstrongites were familiar with the distinction between clean and unclean animals described in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

4. Rejection of Christmas and Easter: Armstrong's followers had long been taught that these traditional Christian holidays were not commanded in Scripture.

5. Restorationism: Perhaps most importantly, Armstrongism provided a framework for believing that mainstream Christianity had lost important biblical truths.

This restorationist mindset became one of the bridges into Hebrew Roots. But Hebrew Roots went beyond Armstrong.

The emerging Hebrew Roots movement also departed from Armstrong's theological system in important ways. One major difference was the growing emphasis on Hebrew language and Jewish historical context. Many Hebrew Roots teachers became interested in the Judaism of the Second Temple period, the Hebrew language, Jewish interpretations of Scripture, and the cultural world in which Jesus and the apostles lived. This could lead to conclusions quite different from those taught by Armstrong.

The movement also contained considerable diversity concerning prophecy, salvation, the nature of God, Israel, the law, and the identity of the modern Jewish people.

Some participants retained ideas inherited from Armstrongism. Others rejected them.

Some adopted Sacred Name theology. Others did not.

Some identified closely with Messianic Judaism. Others deliberately distinguished themselves from it.

Consequently, Hebrew Roots cannot accurately be reduced to Armstrongism with Hebrew terminology added. It was a new synthesis.

Enter the House of Yahweh

One of the most fascinating organizations to examine in this history is the House of Yahweh in Texas. The House of Yahweh is generally better understood as part of the Sacred Name/Sabbatarian tradition rather than simply as a Hebrew Roots organization. Its history, however, reveals just how interconnected these religious worlds could become.

The movement associated with Yisrayl Hawkins developed in Texas and placed extraordinary emphasis on the biblical name Yahweh, Torah observance, the Sabbath, the annual Holy Days, and biblical prophecy.

The organization's history traces its development through the Hawkins brothers and their religious work. And there is an important Armstrongite connection.

Yisrayl Hawkins and the Worldwide Church of God

Before becoming associated with the House of Yahweh, Yisrayl Hawkins had a connection with the Worldwide Church of God in Abilene, Texas. Accounts of his early history describe him as having participated in the local WCG congregation, including serving as a song leader.

His religious path subsequently intersected with that of his brother, J. G. Hawkins, who had developed an interest in the Hebrew name of God. That connection is historically significant.

It demonstrates that the relationship between Armstrongism and Sacred Name religion wasn't merely an abstract similarity in doctrine.

There were actual people moving through these communities. They carried ideas with them. They maintained some teachings while abandoning others. They encountered new teachers and new interpretations. This is precisely how religious movements evolve.

The Sacred Name Becomes Central

The Hawkins movement placed far greater emphasis on the name Yahweh than Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God had. The organization also uses Yahshua in referring to the Messiah.

This Sacred Name emphasis distinguishes the House of Yahweh from most traditional Armstrongite organizations. Armstrong himself generally used the conventional English terminology of his era rather than making the restoration of Hebrew names the central issue.

The House of Yahweh therefore illustrates something important: A person could leave the Armstrongite world without abandoning Sabbath and Torah observance, while simultaneously adopting an entirely different theological framework. That is precisely the sort of religious cross-pollination that eventually characterized the wider Hebrew Roots environment.

The Two Witnesses

Another distinctive feature of the House of Yahweh is its interpretation of the Two Witnesses described in Revelation 11. The Hawkins tradition developed a strong prophetic identification involving the leadership of the movement and the biblical Two Witnesses. This represents another point of contact with the broader Armstrongite environment.

Armstrongism had always been deeply interested in biblical prophecy. World events were frequently interpreted through prophetic passages. The identity of Israel, end-time events, the return of Christ, and the coming Kingdom of God were central themes.

The House of Yahweh inherited the same kind of intense prophetic atmosphere, although its specific interpretations were different. n this respect, the two movements shared a common religious vocabulary while reaching different conclusions.

Why Texas Matters

The Texas connection is more than a geographical curiosity. Texas became an important center for several independent religious movements, and the Abilene area became particularly significant in the history of the House of Yahweh.

It is also an interesting example of how religious movements that might appear unrelated from the outside could occupy the same regional religious landscape.

A former Armstrongite in Texas could encounter:

• a Church of God congregation,
• a Sacred Name group,
• an independent Sabbath-keeping church,
• a Messianic congregation,
• or eventually a Hebrew Roots ministry.

The boundaries between these communities were not always as clear to individual believers as they appear in retrospect.

A Family Tree Rather Than a Straight Line

The easiest way to misunderstand this history is to imagine a straight line:

Armstrongism → Hebrew Roots

The actual history looks more like this:

Sabbatarian Christianity

↓

Church of God traditions

↓

Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God

↓

Post-1986 fragmentation

↙ ↓ ↘

Armstrongite churches - Messianic Judaism - Hebrew Roots

At the same time:

Sacred Name movement

↓

Yahweh/Yahshua + Torah + Sabbath + Holy Days

↓

House of Yahweh and related groups

And eventually these different streams began intersecting.

Why Former Armstrongites Were Particularly Receptive

There is a fascinating sociological element to the story.

Imagine someone who had spent twenty or thirty years as a member of the Worldwide Church of God.

They had been taught that:

• Sunday worship was wrong.
• Saturday was the Sabbath.
• Christmas and Easter were not biblical festivals.
• God's annual Holy Days were important.
• Biblical dietary laws still had significance.
• The Old Testament was essential to understanding the New Testament.
• Christianity had departed from the practices of the early church.

Then the church changes its theology. Suddenly, the person is confronted with the possibility that the institution they trusted had been wrong.

What happens next?

Some people follow the institution.

Others follow Armstrong.

Others follow the Bible as they understand it.

And still others begin asking an even more fundamental question:

What existed before all these modern denominations? That question can lead directly into Hebrew Roots.

The Search for the "Original" Faith

One of the strongest themes connecting Armstrongism and Hebrew Roots is the desire to recover what is perceived as the original faith of the apostles.

• Armstrong taught restoration.
• Hebrew Roots teachers frequently teach restoration.
• Sacred Name groups teach restoration.
• Messianic Jewish movements often emphasize recovering the Jewish context of the first-century faith.

The terminology differs, but the underlying impulse can be remarkably similar:

Something important was lost, and believers should recover it.

Where the movements differ is in what they believe was lost and how it should be restored.

For Armstrong, the restoration involved a broad system of doctrines concerning the Kingdom of God, biblical prophecy, God's plan for humanity, Israel, Sabbath and Holy Day observance, and numerous other teachings.

For Hebrew Roots adherents, the restoration is more often centered around Torah, the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish context of the Messiah, biblical festivals, Sabbath observance, and the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.

For Sacred Name groups, restoring the divine name can become a central component.

These aren't identical restoration projects. But they inhabit the same religious neighborhood.

The House of Yahweh as a Case Study

This is why the House of Yahweh deserves attention when examining the history of Hebrew Roots.

It illustrates three things simultaneously.

• First, Torah observance did not originate with Hebrew Roots. Sabbatarian and Sacred Name groups were practicing these things long before the modern Hebrew Roots movement acquired its present identity.
• Second, Armstrongism wasn't the only source of these ideas. The Sacred Name movement represents an independent stream with its own history.
• Third, the different movements interacted. People such as Yisrayl Hawkins demonstrate that an individual could move through the Armstrongite and Sacred Name worlds, absorbing elements of both.

That makes the House of Yahweh a fascinating case study in the cross-pollination of restorationist Christianity.

From Splinter Churches to the Internet

There was another factor that accelerated all of this: the Internet.

During the 1990s, former members of the Worldwide Church of God were already producing newsletters, magazines, books, cassette recordings, radio programs and independent ministries. Then the Internet transformed everything.

A person who previously might have known only one Sabbatarian congregation could suddenly discover hundreds.

A former WCG member could search for:

Sabbath.

Then:

Torah.

Then:

Hebrew Roots.

Then:

Yahweh.

Then:

Messianic Judaism.

Within hours, they could encounter ideas that would previously have taken years to discover.

This greatly accelerated the blending of religious traditions.

A Movement Without a Single Center

Today, "Hebrew Roots" can mean very different things depending upon whom one is talking about.

• Some adherents are relatively close to Messianic Judaism.
• Some emphasize Torah observance while maintaining conventional Christian terminology.
• Some insist upon the use of Hebrew names.
• Some reject traditional Christian holidays but do not use Sacred Name terminology.
• Some retain ideas inherited from the old Church of God movement.
• Others have little or no connection with Armstrongism whatsoever.

That diversity is one reason broad generalizations about Hebrew Roots can be misleading.

There is no single Hebrew Roots creed accepted by everyone who uses the term.

The Larger Historical Picture

The most accurate way to understand the emergence of Hebrew Roots is therefore not as the creation of a new denomination, but as a religious convergence.

Armstrongism contributed an established American tradition of Sabbath and Holy Day observance. The Sacred Name movement contributed its emphasis on Yahweh, Hebrew names and Torah. Messianic Judaism contributed an emphasis on the Jewish context of Jesus and the apostles.

The post-1986 collapse of the Worldwide Church of God created a huge population of people already familiar with many Torah-oriented practices. The Internet then allowed these previously separate communities to discover one another on an unprecedented scale.

Out of this mixture emerged the modern Hebrew Roots movement.

The Real Legacy of Armstrongism

Ironically, one of the most important consequences of Armstrong's ministry may have occurred after his death.

The Worldwide Church of God ultimately moved away from many of the doctrines that had defined Armstrong's ministry.

But the people who had learned those doctrines did not simply disappear. They carried them elsewhere. Some founded new churches. Some joined other organizations. Some became independent teachers. Some entered Messianic Judaism. Some became involved in Sacred Name groups. And some became part of the emerging Hebrew Roots movement.

In that sense, Armstrongism left behind not one successor but an entire religious family tree.

Conclusion: Following the Threads

The history of Hebrew Roots cannot be reduced to a single origin story.

It is neither accurate to say that Herbert W. Armstrong created Hebrew Roots nor accurate to ignore the enormous influence that Armstrongism had on the environment from which Hebrew Roots emerged.

A better historical description is this:

Armstrongism was one of the major streams that flowed into the modern Torah-observant Christian world, but it flowed alongside older Sabbatarian, Sacred Name, and Messianic Jewish streams.

The transformation of the Worldwide Church of God after Armstrong's death dramatically accelerated that process.

Thousands of people suddenly had to decide what they believed apart from the institution that had taught them.

• Some remained Armstrongite.
• Some went elsewhere.
• And some began digging deeper into the Hebrew roots of their faith.

The House of Yahweh in Texas provides a particularly intriguing example because it sits at the intersection of these worlds. Its history demonstrates that the Sacred Name tradition and Armstrongite Sabbatarianism were not isolated phenomena. People moved between them, ideas crossed their boundaries, and the resulting religious landscape became considerably more complicated than any simple denominational family tree can convey.

Perhaps the most useful way to visualize the history is not as a straight line, but as a series of rivers:

Sabbatarianism.

Armstrongism.

Sacred Name religion.

Messianic Judaism.

Torah observance.

Each developed its own course. Eventually, however, some of those streams converged. And from that convergence emerged one of the most distinctive religious movements of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries:

Hebrew Roots.

Silent Pilgrim