A Church of God member wrote recently:
The WWCG became the Laodicean Church. With out putting HWA on a pedestal, when you look at the Bible, God used HWA to restore many truths that went against the grain of mainstream Christianity. He was criticized because he didn’t initially preach Christ. However none can come to Christ lest God the Father calls. But the true Gospel begins with the Gospel of coming the Kingdom of God. Just the way John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles proclaimed it. Depending on how each person responds, God the Father calls those with a broken contrite heart to Christ to have their sins cleansed. But that is not where the Gospel ends. That is where mainstream Christianity ends-with a dead Christ hanging on a cross. The sacrifice of Christ is not enough. Christ said if a house is cleaned and swept and remains empty we come to a worse spiritual state. We are cleansed by Christ’s blood but we are saved by His life-Romans 5:10. The resurrected Christ imparts His Spirit to our cleansed spirit and begins transforming us-Romans 8:9. Christ fulfilling the Wave Sheaf Offering presents us to God the Father and then we also receive the Holy Spirit of God the Father joined to our cleansed spirit-Matthew 20:10. Fulfilling John 17:21. That is the full, complete Gospel.
Ah, the Armstrongite classic: "We didn't preach Christ at first because reasons... but look, we restored ALL the truths mainstream Christianity missed for 1,900 years!" This comment is textbook legalism dressed up as "deeper truth," and it perfectly illustrates why starting with anything but Christ as the blazing center leads to the fractured, authoritarian, prophecy-obsessed mess Armstrongism became.1. "HWA didn't initially preach Christ... but none can come to Christ lest the Father calls"Brilliant strategy! Don't lead with the actual Person the entire Bible revolves around. Instead, start with British-Israelism, end-times flow charts, "God's Law" (your selective version of it), and radio broadcasts hammering Saturday Sabbath and holy days. Christ can be an afterthought once the Father does the heavy lifting.
How exactly are people supposed to respond to the Father's call if no one is proclaiming the One they're supposed to come to? Romans 10:14-15 has some awkward questions for this approach: "How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?... As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"
Apparently, those beautiful feet were too busy restoring "truths that went against the grain" to mention the Grain of Wheat, who actually died and rose. That's why Armstrongism is such a mess today — dozens of splinter groups all claiming to be the "true" continuation, still arguing over who keeps the law purest, still waiting for the same failed prophetic timelines. When your foundation isn't Christ the Rock (1 Corinthians 3:11), but a man's "restored package," it predictably crumbles into legalistic factions.2. "The true Gospel begins with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God... mainstream Christianity ends with a dead Christ hanging on a cross"Yes, because nothing screams "we have the full gospel" like accusing billions of Christians of worshipping a dead guy on a stake (God forbid if you call it a cross) while you have unlocked the real message: a future government you qualify for by keeping the right holy days. Newsflash from the actual New Testament: The gospel is about Christ. Mark 1:1 calls it "the gospel of Jesus Christ." Paul defines it as the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
The Kingdom of God is real and glorious — but it's His Kingdom, brought by the crucified and risen King. Jesus didn't say "Preach the Kingdom... and oh yeah, me too if there's time." He is the Kingdom in person.
The apostles didn't tiptoe around the cross to get to the future government; they led with "Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).
Calling mainstream Christianity "ending with a dead Christ" is peak projection. We celebrate the empty tomb every single day! The living Lord is at the right hand of the Father right now. The comment's version reduces Christ to a ticket-taker for the coming Kingdom while you work on your law-keeping résumé.3. "The sacrifice of Christ is not enough... We are cleansed by Christ’s blood, but we are saved by His life... Wave Sheaf Offering... full complete Gospel"Here it is — the heart of the error. The cross is just the beginning of your spiritual house-cleaning. Now you have to keep it occupied with... what? Your obedience to Old Covenant shadows? Hebrews 10:10-14 laughs at this: "And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." One offering. Done. Perfected forever. Not "start with the blood, then add Sabbath-keeping and holy day observance to finish the job." Romans 5:10 ("saved by his life") doesn't mean "the cross got you in the door, now keep the law to stay saved." It means the living, risen Christ continues the work He began — interceding, giving His Spirit, keeping you. The New Covenant doesn't pit the death against the resurrection; both are His finished work applied to us. The Wave Sheaf Offering typology is cute. Christ fulfilled it perfectly as the firstfruits. We don't need to reenact the shadow to "present ourselves." That's the whole point of the New Covenant replacing the Old (Hebrews 8–10). The comment turns fulfillment into "now you do your part by keeping the feasts."4. It always boils down to enforcing the law over grace, justification, and sanctificationThis is the core rot. The comment admits the cross cleanses but insists it's "not enough." We still need the "resurrected Christ" plus (implied) law-keeping to complete the deal. New Covenant reality check:
- Justification is by faith in Christ apart from works of the law (Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16).
- Sanctification is the Spirit writing God's law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10) and producing fruit — not external observance of shadows (Colossians 2:16-17).
- Adding Sabbath, holy days, or tithing as requirements for ongoing favor puts you back under the tutor that was meant to lead to Christ (Galatians 3:24-25). Paul is brutal in Galatians 5: "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace."
The comment tries to sound profound by saying "mainstream ends with the cross, but we have the full picture." In reality, it diminishes the cross, subordinates Christ to a coming government + law checklist, and justifies starting a "restoration" ministry without leading with the Restorer Himself. That's why it produces spiritual pride ("we have the truth others missed"), division (endless splinters), and a focus on external observances rather than the indwelling Christ who is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). The New Covenant doesn't say "Christ's blood gets you started — now keep the law to finish." It says Christ finished it. Preach Him — crucified, risen, reigning, and coming again. Everything else flows from there. Anything else is just rearranging Old Covenant furniture in a house Christ already tore down and rebuilt in Himself.
Silent Pilgrim
