The words “moderate,
enlightened and liberal” do not describe the Church of God International
By
Lonnie C. Hendrix
Among
Armstrongites, the CGI has enjoyed a reputation for being more moderate and
enlightened in its approach to many of the Worldwide Church of God teachings. I
guess such a reputation would have some validity if we were comparing them to
the groups led by Flurry, Pack, Thiel and Meredith. However, if we take a
closer look at what they preach and publish, we can see that the initial impression
gives way to more of the same old stuff.
For example,
The International News has been
running a series by Bill Watson entitled “Is a Caliphate in the Making.” In
Part One, Mr. Watson writes that the United States and its allies: “refuse
to call these Islamic radicals for what they are. Instead, they opt to “shade”
it in gray, obfuscating the direct terminology for more politically correct
terms that insinuate criminals, lone wolfs, illegal immigrants, gang members,
etc.—actually preferring in some cases to categorize obvious terrorist attacks
as crimes, or ‘work place violence.’ The result of this kind of abstruseness
does nothing for properly characterizing the real dangers, risks, and potential
chaos; the destruction, death, and jeopardy these Islamic radicals pose to the
open and free lifestyles of Western Civilization—most throughout North America
and Europe just DON’T GET IT!”
In other
words, the deceived and ignorant folks who are running the Western Democracies
simply refuse “to call a spade a spade.” Never mind that ISIS, al Qaeda and
Boko Haram would like nothing better than to turn the war against terror into a
fight between the West and Middle East – between Islam and Christianity. What
Mr. Watson (and many others in the Armstrong Church of God culture) fails to
understand is that language matters. If we concede to them the language and
begin speaking in terms of a war against Islam or Muslims, we have handed them
exactly what they wanted – they win. Fortunately, the leaders of the Western world
understand that these terrorists must be marginalized and separated from the
majority of the Muslim world. To win this war and defeat this evil, these folks
must be recognized by everyone (including the vast majority of people in the
Middle East) as aberrant abominations who don’t have any allies in the world at
large.
In Part Two
of the same series, Mr. Watson writes: “Many
today don’t accept the biblical connection of the United States and the British
Commonwealth nations being the result of migrations from the ancient cultures
of the “Lost Ten Tribes” of Israel, and consequent recipients of God’s
Abrahamic birthright blessings of physical wealth and affluence.” That sure
sounds like British Israelism to me! This teaching many not appear in the CGI statement
of their beliefs, but it sure looks like it appears here in one of their chief
publications by one of their leading ministers.
Need more
proof? Look at their series on “The Chronicles of the Early New Testament
Church.” Although it is a slick production, it is basically a rehash of the
same old dribble about the grand conspiracy to change the day of worship from
the Sabbath to Sunday and introduce a surfeit of counterfeit holy days (for
which there is not a shred of objective historical evidence). Consider these
other recently featured discussions and articles on their web page: “Passover? Lord’s Supper? Seder? 14th
or 15th?” “Exploring the Pagan Roots of Easter” “What Choice Do I
Have?” (a negative message about homosexuality).
Same old
stuff wrapped in a prettier package!
