Another day and another Church of God splinter cult is having problems. Who could have ever guessed?
This time around it is Darryl Henson's group, A Congregation of God - A Free Church based in the Arizona strip close to Colorado City (the polygamous RLDS city).
Several years ago he claimed that he had a dream where his god told him to buy land close to Zion National Park and set up a community of Sabbatarian believers. He bought a large plot of land and let COG members who were his followers move onto the land.
It should not surprise any of us that whenever 2 or more COG members gather together disunity and division is bound to happen. Sure enough, Henson is now dealing with issues with his residents. Residents are leaving his cult and refusing to move off his land.
Church unity is such a fun thing!
I made the decision to buy the land for God's express purpose of preparing a place as He had instructed in the dream. We are a Free Church, not a worldly 501c3 corporation, which is overseen by corporate law and the state, even to the point of closing some churches who teach against abortion or homosexuality, etc. The State has no jurisdiction over a Free Church. So we have no board of directors and board of deacons who hire and fire ministers. I was commissioned directly of God to prepare a place near Zion. As the one given the direction, He also placed me in charge of the operation and I formed A Congregation of God, A Free Church to fulfill His purposes on the piece of land He provided.
I was deeply committed to preserve it in a way that outsiders could not buy lots and move in on us. The Fair Housing Act has a clause that states churches can discriminate in this manner. Additionally, I determined that it should not be sold as it was a gift from God for His purposes. The church and the land were inextricably bound together to accomplish what God instructed me to do.
On the day of closing the purchase, Dec. 7, 2002, I wrote a letter to all members in Utah and around the country offering anyone who desired, a lease on one acre each if they wished to move out and join the project. The letter mentioned a lease several times, not once hinting at a purchase option, which I had not intention at all of offering so as to prevent future sales of lots to non-members. I prepared a lease that was specifically designed with that in mind. The lease was for 49 years with the intent of giving security, but also preserving the land intact for God's use. No offer of eventual ownership was made as people understood why it should be that way.
None of use expected (expect) this age to continue that long in any case.
Immanuel the Christ personally directed me via dream, vision and scriptural instruction to find a place for Him to use. He led and directed me to form A Congregation of God, A Free Church as a continuing part of the original church He founded while on earth with the apostles as its directors. I was duly ordained into His ministry by Herbert Armstrong in apostolic succession. Therefore as founder under Christ, pastor and signatory from its beginning, I declare that the original intent for purchasing this piece of land in Cane Beds, AZ to prepare for the gathering of Christ's remnant was to keep it sacrosanct from the infringement of the world at large, reserved for God's own remnant. The original intent of the lease I wrote was to prevent subdivision and sale of any portion of the land. Those present in the church at the time, read, accepted and signed the lease, most of them in late January 2003. Others signed and accepted later. All have lived under the lease, most have complied with its financial stipulations and accepted it as their security for a 49 year period, short of their violating its terms.
Some, in recent months, have lost confidence in me as pastor of ACOG and left its fellowship, not attending and withdrawing any verifiable financial support of the church, such as tithes, other than the lease stipulations. Now, after adhering to the lease all these years, they suddenly “remember” that they were promised ownership at the beginning. Most of those protesting for ownership were not even here at the beginning. How would they know what was originally promised? They also read, accepted, signed and lived by the lease, but now are lobbying for ownership and subdivision which was never offered and appears on no documents in any form.
I do not wish to air our dirty laundry in public beyond this, but feel a statement which will be posted on our website, is now necessary to establish original intent, as evidenced by letter and lease documents, that this hierarchical church, governed solely by God through His ordained ministry and not “majority opinion” intends to preserve the land purchased for God's purposes to be retained for those purposes. A subdivision with potential sale of land, has never been a part of those purposes. The church and its purpose cannot be separated from the land and its purpose. They are one and the same. Of course, since the land is in the name of the church, some are trying to take over the church to obtain the land.
There is no example in the bible, anywhere, of the nation of Israel or the New Testament church having a matter resolved by a majority vote of its members. All decisions have always been made by the patriarch in charge or the ministry in terms of the New Testament, first apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
Paul states clearly in the book of Hebrews that the members were to OBEY them that had rulership/oversight/governance over them. The ministry.
The history of ACOG is not finished so I will stop here. But be warned that any who seek to take over God's land and His church may be found to be fighting against God Himself as indicated in Jer. 11 concerning a rebellion at Anatoth. I am truly frightened for any who might dare go there. This is not about Darryl Henson, a human and a sinner. It is about Almighty God in heaven and The Lord of Hosts and their purpose for this land.
