The "Loose Brick Theology" of Armstrongism

Here us an interesting excerpt from an article in the Baptist Press about a former Church of God International minister's journey out of Armstrongism. One of the first things he debunked was the British Israelism myth. After that the house of cards quickly fell.  This tends to be the path of many out of Armstrongism.  Once a person debunks the British Israelism myth, things start collapsing quickly.

Theology and doctrinal study by church members is not something many did.  If it wasn't printed in a booklet for them most never studied theology or doctrinal history.  The Correspondence Course was the end-all when it came to established belief. Theology classes at the various campuses were never taught be well rounded theologians, but by men trained at the feet of Rod Meredith, Herman Hoeh and others. We all know now that these men were theologically bankrupt.

Once in cult, student now sees importance of knowing theology

“Armstrongists have a ‘loose brick’ approach to theology,” Bell said. “They look at doctrine as a complete whole or as nothing at all. That’s why they refer to their system of belief as ‘The Truth.’ person any one doctrine falls then the whole system falls.”  

Bell had been a member of the movement for three years when he began to question its teachings. In 1995 he founded the Owensboro church but soon began to examine central Armstrongist teachings under the microscope of Scripture and history.  

For Bell, the first brick to crumble from the wall of Armstrongism was the sect’s doctrine of “Anglo-Israelism.” Influenced by a book called “Judah’s Scepter and Joseph’s Birthright” by J.H. Allen, Herbert Armstrong taught that Anglo-Saxons are direct descendants of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Armstrongists see this teaching as the key that unlocks a true understanding of biblical prophecy.  

Bell read “Judah’s Scepter” and was incredulous at his findings. 

“When I got finished with it, I thought, ‘There are some interesting ideas here, but this is historical fantasy,’” he said. “... I began to research it in more depth and quickly tossed it out.”  

Though spooked by this revelation, Bell nevertheless dismissed the doctrinal aberration as a peculiarity of Herbert Armstrong’s system of belief. 

The next doctrine to tumble down was the Trinity -- Armstrongists are strongly anti-Trinitarian. The final Armstrongist brick that Bell dislodged was the group’s teaching on God. Armstrongists believe that man eventually accomplishes ‘god-status,’ a qualitative equality with God. 

It didn’t take a seminary education for Bell to realize that was blasphemy. 

 “When I was first getting into the Armstrongist movement, I read a booklet that said the resurrection (of the dead at Christ’s return) would be the most momentous event in the history of the world because it would be the birth of gods,” Bell said. “When I read that, I said ... ‘that’s blasphemy.’”

Still, Bell decided to ignore the booklet because Garner Ted Armstrong had not written it. He remained in the movement. 

“I chose [to believe] that everything else I was hearing was so good, I was going to shove that aside,” he said. 

Under the leadership of Joseph Tkach, who succeeded Herbert Armstrong as leader of the Worldwide Church of God upon his death in 1986, the sect experienced a massive doctrinal shift in the mid-90s toward biblical orthodoxy.  

The group’s website trumpets this radical transformation as a “Damascus Road experience.” The Worldwide Church of God was admitted as a member of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1997.  

As an Armstrongist devotee, Bell saw the change as a great apostasy. Other true Armstrongists agreed and the Worldwide Church of God lost more than half its members and ministers because of the shift. True Armstrongists still hold fast to the teachings of Herbert Armstrong and have churches scattered about the country, Bell said.  

It wasn’t until the spring of 1998, after a series of sexual misconduct allegations were lodged against Garner Ted Armstrong, that Bell’s foray into Armstrongism came to an end.  

The allegations turned the Church of God International on its head and struck Bell with sledgehammer force. Due in large part to the accusations, Bell eventually resigned the pastorate and began the journey back to Christian orthodoxy.  

Bell enrolled at Southern in the fall of 1998. It was a revolutionary experience and within one year, his view of theology underwent a profound metamorphosis. 

That first year, Bell studied Baptist and church history, theology, and hermeneutics. Soon, he had embraced fully historic evangelical Christianity.  

“By the end of my first full year at Southern Seminary, I had my theological world rocked,” he said. “I emerged from that a convinced evangelical.”

UCG: Even though the ship is sinking, we love spending money to patch the holes.

Vic Kubik sent out a letter the other day discussing the latest from Cincinnati.

One telling thing he pointed out is their Beyond Today flagship magazine.  For some reason they have been dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into another failure.  No matter how much advertising they do, they cannot retain subscribers.  They have a 72% failure rate.

One very important benchmark is the reach and circulation of Beyond Today magazine. As 72% of readers do not renew their subscription, we need to constantly seek new subscribers. This costs money. We use everything from card decks and print advertising, to online keyword marketing to tell people about the gospel message. The more people that subscribe, the more who will ask for other literature and become engaged–even to the point of becoming donors and coworkers. Then some of these will eventually come to repentance and be baptized.

A reader here mentioned something I missed.  Its obvious from the above quote that the UCG is more concerned about number of subscribers first.  The more subscribers you have the more money that comes in.  Maybe a few will repent and be baptized, but its more important to have then numbers first.

Suely there is an editing error there.  I’m sure what he intended to say was first the reader will come to repentance, be baptized, then become a donor.  This unfortunate editing error will lead people to think  that their primary purpose is attracting donors not in bringing the plain truth about the good news to the attention of sinners.

What does UCG really have to offer? Thousands of members and 3/4 of the ministry felt that it had nothing to offer and left a few years ago.  UCG's income is not keeping pace with their expenditures and expectations.  Its still trying to be the WCG from the 1980's and it cant do it.  The glory days are gone in the Churches of God, never to return.

The January Beyond Today cover is prophetic, the handwriting truly is on the wall!

COGWA and Living Church of God, The Meeting That Wasn't A Meeting

It'd been a week since the love fest between administrators of COGWA popped into Charlotte for coffee and scones with Rod Meredith and crew. This was a meeting where absolutely nothing was implied other than brothers getting together for some warm chats, or at least that's the story LCG and COGWA want people to think.

Popping into town were Jim Franks, Clyde Kilough, Doug Horchak and Britton Taylor.  For a group of high ranking ministers from a competitive splinter group to pop in at Charlotte like this is unusual, especially when they bring along their church treasurer and financial operations manager, Britton Taylor. More went on here that some chit chat over coffee in Rod Meredith's office.  It is surprising that anyone actually believe this.

Jim Franks claims it was nothing but conversations around the table.  They spent time talking about the evil empire of the Tkach era that drove them all out.  They talked about doctrinal changes, that ripped the church apart, their common bonds in beliefs and their own churches.  It was just one big love fest!

Do conversations need church treasures in attendance?  Everyone knows that LCG and COGWA are both facing money issues, LCG more than COGWA though. Meredith knows that when he dies that the money will dry up.  No one will support his son,  Gerald Weston is too much of a dictator and will drive more away, many others cannot stand the thought of being under Richard Ames.

If LCG and COGWA actually do attempt to merge they are both going to be in for a huge shock.  COGWA members refuse to join up with the heretics in Charlotte.  LCG members  consider the COGWAites heretics.  Its one big unhappy dysfunctional family.  But then, that is the current face of the entire Church of God movement.  Never has there been so many unhappy disappointed people than at this point in COG history.

Storm clouds are brewing and a chill fills the air.