Bob Thiel and Armstrongists seem to have an endless supply of things to condemn as pagan. Halloween? Pagan! All Saints' Day? Pagan! All Souls' Day? Pagan! Apparently, if something is practiced by Catholics, Protestants, or Christians outside Bob's little religious universe, it must be investigated for demonic contamination.
In his latest article attacking All Souls' Day, Bob trots out Catholic encyclopedias, historical references, and descriptions of Mexican Día de los Muertos traditions to establish that these observances are supposedly unbiblical and pagan. He spends considerable time discussing purgatory, prayers for the dead, and beliefs about deceased relatives returning to visit their families.
Some of his historical observations are legitimate. The Catholic doctrine of purgatory is not accepted by all Christians, and there is certainly no New Testament commandment requiring Christians to celebrate All Souls' Day. But Bob makes his usual Armstrongist leap: because some practices associated with these observances are questionable, remembering deceased Christians and honoring their lives must also be pagan.
That is Armstrongist theological nonsense.
Remembering the dead is not the same thing as worshipping the dead. Remembering a deceased parent, placing flowers on a grave, honoring Christian martyrs, or celebrating the faithfulness of believers who preceded us does not constitute communicating with spirits or embracing purgatory. Bob conveniently lumps entirely different activities together because doing so makes his argument sound more convincing.
Unfortunately for Bob, the New Testament presents a much broader understanding of the Christian community than his narrow Armstrongist theology allows.
Hebrews 12:1 speaks of a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, immediately following Hebrews 11, which recounts the faithfulness of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and countless others. Their testimony remains an encouragement to Christians living today. Hebrews 11:39-40 even connects those faithful believers of previous generations with those who would follow them.
Imagine that! Christians can actually appreciate faithful believers who lived centuries before Herbert W. Armstrong appeared on the scene.
Romans 14:7-9 makes the point even more clearly. Paul explains that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ is Lord of both the living and the dead. The New Covenant does not divide God's people into an approved collection of living Armstrongists and a suspicious assortment of deceased Christians who happened to belong to other traditions.
Ephesians 2:19-22 describes believers as fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household. Christianity is a continuing community of faith, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as its cornerstone.
There is no mention of Herbert Armstrong, British-Israelism, or membership in one of today's competing Church of God splinter organizations as requirements for belonging to that household.
The New Testament also encourages remembrance. Hebrews 13:7 tells believers to remember those who taught them God's word and to consider the outcome of their lives. Paul remembers Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice in 2 Timothy 1:5, recognizing the faith passed down through generations. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul comforts grieving Christians with the hope of resurrection. He does not tell them that remembering deceased believers is pagan. He points them toward Christ.
That is the distinction Bob continually misses. Christians do not remember the faithful because they believe those individuals have become gods or that they can return to earth on a particular November evening. We remember because their lives mattered, their faithfulness influenced others, and their testimony remains part of the history of Christianity.
Nor does remembering deceased Christians require accepting purgatory. A Protestant can reject purgatory while honoring Christian martyrs. A Christian can reject prayers intended to shorten someone's supposed stay in purgatory while remembering deceased family members. These are entirely different theological questions.
Bob also conveniently overlooks Romans 14:5-6, where Paul explains that Christians may regard particular days differently and that each should be fully persuaded in his own mind. Colossians 2:16 likewise warns against allowing others to judge believers concerning festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths.
Does this mean every holiday is automatically Christian? Of course not. Does it mean Christians must celebrate Halloween, All Saints' Day, or All Souls' Day? Certainly not. It means that Christians have freedom of conscience and that religious leaders should be careful about inventing prohibitions and presenting them as commandments of God.
A Christian may observe All Saints' Day as an occasion to remember faithful believers. Another may ignore it. Someone else may celebrate Halloween as a secular community event. None of these choices automatically makes someone a pagan.
And here is another delicious irony. Armstrongism constantly condemns the traditions of other Christians while maintaining an elaborate collection of its own inherited teachings and practices. British-Israelism, Herbert Armstrong's restoration claims, prophetic interpretations, church eras, and the authority of successive splinter-group leaders are hardly direct commandments of the New Testament.
Yet Bob is apparently the appointed inspector of everybody else's religious traditions.
Why does Armstrongism continually celebrate Herbert W. Armstrong's legacy? Why are his photographs displayed, his writings preserved, his sermons circulated, and his teachings treated as authoritative decades after his death? Is remembering Herbert Armstrong pagan? Obviously not. Remembering someone and treating that person as an infallible authority are two entirely different things.
Christians can remember Herbert Armstrong without accepting his theology. They can remember Catholic saints without accepting every Catholic doctrine. They can honor Protestant reformers without agreeing with everything they taught. That is called exercising discernment rather than surrendering one's brain to an institutional leader.
The greatest weakness in Bob's article is his inability to recognize that Christianity is considerably larger than Armstrongism. Revelation 7:9 describes a great multitude from every nation, kindred, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb. That is the New Covenant vision of God's people, not a tiny collection of Armstrongist splinter organizations competing over who possesses the most accurate prophetic interpretation.
The Christian faith is about Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, grace, love, and the hope of eternal life. First Corinthians 15:20-22 reminds us that Christ is risen and that resurrection is the foundation of Christian hope.
Those who have gone before us are not erased from the story simply because their earthly lives have ended. Their faithfulness encourages those still running the race. We remember them with gratitude, mourn their absence, and place our hope in Christ.
So, Crackpot Bob, by all means reject purgatory if that is your conviction. Decline to celebrate Halloween if you wish. Ignore All Souls' Day if it doesn't appeal to you.
But stop confusing your personal religious preferences with commandments of the New Covenant.
The saints who have gone before us do not need your permission to be remembered. Their testimony belongs to Christian history, not to an Armstrongist historical revision committee.
Christianity existed long before Herbert Armstrong appeared, and it will continue long after the latest Armstrongist splinter leader has disappeared into the footnotes of religious history.
Perhaps Bob should spend less time hunting for paganism in everybody else's religious calendar and a little more time discovering the communion of saints. It has been part of the Christian story all along.
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