The Hornet Promise: Classical Armstrongism and its Confusing Native American Policy

 

Quanah Parker, Comanche War Chief

The Hornet Promise

Classical Armstrongism and its Confusing Native American Policy

By Huckleberry

Back a few decades ago, my wife and I were eating in a restaurant with a WCG couple in a large city in the American Southwest.  He was a long-standing deacon and prominent in the congregation.  We were just beginning to eat when he went off on a tirade about Hispanics and Native Americans living in the State.  The summation was that those people did not belong in the United States and this land was not theirs.  It was Israel’s land and they should have been driven out.  His wife, fork in hand, said in an emphatic voice, “God said to wipe them out!”  My heart sank for three reasons.  First, I am of Native American descent.   Second, the couple knew I was of Native American descent.  Three, I had heard this view expressed many times before but it always surprised me.  You don’t often hear someone blatantly advocate genocide when you were expecting to enjoy a little “Christian” fellowship in a leisurely setting.  The deacon later became an avid Trump follower.  And this little tawdry piece of WCG history furnishes the backdrop to this essay. 

Misidentification of Native Americans as Canaanites

For those who are still trying to hawk Herman Hoeh’s ideas, their nemesis is the science of genetics.  I will not go into detail but, in general, genetics demonstrates that Herman Hoeh was dramatically wrong about the identity of races of people and their migrations.  Hoeh asserted that Native Americans are descendants of Canaan and this was a nice fit with British-Israelism.   Native Americans became the inhabitants of the land that “Israel” was to inherit, North America, and their role in “Israel’s” national destiny was described in the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 7:1-5). 

But scientists now know that Native Americans are a combination of early Eurasians (who looked like Europeans) and East Asians.  And these two groups of people mixed before that invaded North America from Beringia.   They also know that there is genetic continuity between the Canaanites and the later Phoenicians and finally the modern-day Lebanese.  Hoeh had Native Americans and many other peoples profoundly misidentified.   For more on this, see:

https://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-patriarch-canaan-classical.html

A Patchwork Dogma 

 It is difficult to say what the Armstrongist dogma on the Native Americans actually is.  Publications issued from the Armstrongist press are at odds with what is believed in the Pulpit and in the Pews.  And WCG leadership seems to have made no effort to reconcile the Press, the Pulpit and the Pews.  Perhaps, no effort was made to achieve consistency because it just was not an important topic.  Or maybe the Press had a public profile to be careful about and the Pulpit and Pews did not so they followed separate courses. 

The Armstrongist Press published a very empathetic article about Native Americans in the February 1973 issue of the Plain Truth Magazine.  It offered Armstrongist solutions to social problems but it was positively inclined to Native Americans.  The July-August 1973 issue of the Plain Truth Magazine condemned genocide as a great evil and cited the decimation of the Native Americans in support of this view.   Garner Ted Armstrong, in a personal letter to me, stated that he had never heard his Dad say anything negative about Native Americans.  Herbert W. Armstrong was of Quaker background and it is worth mentioning that the Quaker colonists always had a special interest in helping Native Americans and fared well with Native American tribes while other early American colonists, such as the Scots-Irish, did not.  Later, President Grant turned over the operation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Quakers in certain territories.  Finally, at a Friday evening Bible Study back in the Seventies in the Field House at Big Sandy, Ronald Dart received a question from the audience.  Someone asked if Native Americans should have been exterminated.  Dart promptly answered, no, that if God had wanted that he would have sent a prophet to the President in Washington, D.C. and would have informed the President of that. 

By contrast, in the ministry and laity of the WCG, one found a different disposition towards Native Americans.  I have many anecdotes like the one that begins this essay.  I will add one more.  I was at a Bible Study in the WCG congregation in a large Midwestern city.  A Pastor and a Local Church Elder were giving the study on stage in a large auditorium.  The LCE went through an explanation of how God wanted the Canaanites to be destroyed so the Israelites would not follow after their gods.  This he then applied to Native Americans and further explained that they should have been exterminated by European settlers of North America so that people would not adopt Native American religions.  He made some reference to totem poles.  This struck me as being very unusual because European settlers brought their religious package with them and there is no history of Europeans adopting Native American religions.  Native American religions typically died a swift death after the European contact. But the really odd aspect of this is that the Pastor did not correct the LCE regarding this outlandish view.  So, the audience received a message of necessary genocide with tacit acceptance from the Armstrongist Pulpit. 

Overall, the idea of exterminating Native Americans was never published, that I can find, by the WCG Headquarters Press.  But it was fairly widely believed in the Pulpit and the Pews.  It is difficult to believe that Headquarters did not know about this unless there was rigorous control of information flowing from the local areas back to headquarters. 

The Hornet Promise:  Armstrongism Misses the Mark

The Pulpit and the Pews were also burdened by a misinterpretation of scripture on this topic.  The ministry and the laity, in my experience, always seem to resort to the argument that the early European settlers of North America did not exterminate the Native Americans as God intended and this was a part of their national sin for which God would punish them.  This was a nicely parallel to the Old Testament scenario of the settling of the Promised Land by ancient Israel.  And this view clearly emphasizes the need for a violent genocide.  And it seems to justify how Native Americans were actually treated by the early European settlers.  The idea being that the Native Americans got treated badly but they really should have been totally exterminated so they got off easy.  I heard a similar explanation to this in Spokesman Club.  But this approach does not agree with the Biblical scenario. 

God did not originally intend for the Israelites to fight against the Canaanites.  And he did not intend for the Canaanites to be exterminated.  This is pointed out in the Jewish Study Bible in the gloss for Deut. 7:2. The gloss refers the reader to Exodus 23.  Exodus 23: 27-29 (ESV) states the Hornet Promise:

“I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.” 

But something happened between the time of the Hornet Promise and the entry into Palestine:

“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’  Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God (Deut 1: 29-32, ESV”

The outcome is that the Israelites are in the Book of Joshua full participants in the conquest.  God instructs all the men of the Trans-Jordan tribes to cross to assist.  When they descend on Jericho, the Priests and the people form the invading host.   The Hornet Promise was that Israel would just be observing.  Now, after their unfaithfulness, they must shed blood.  The violence is a punishment not a tool of righteousness. 

The focus of the Armstrongist Pulpit and Pews is on the fact that the Israelites did not wipe out the Canaanites and thereby sinned.  The focus should be on the fact that the Israelites did not trust in God so that they would not have to fight at all.  The call for genocide from some quarters should have been a call, instead, for trust so that genocide could be avoided.  The Armstrongist who espoused these ideas did not go back far enough in the chain of cause and effect.  They stopped short of God’s original intent.  And this cloaked the real issue of trust in God and made it look like the destruction of the Native Americans was a justified and maybe even a patriotic action in American History (the connection to patriotism was also something I heard is Spokesman Club).

Overall, it is difficult to say what the actual Armstrongist dogma on Native Americans actually was.  If we had a time machine we could go back and conduct some interviews so we could establish what people actually had in their hearts beyond what writing has come down to us.  I would characterize the dogma as being inconsistent. 

The Scope of the Advocacy of Genocide

I have heard many WCG members speak favorably about the extermination of Native Americans.  I have no idea what percentage of Armstrongists held this view.  I heard it often enough to believe it was common.  Moreover, this essay draws upon views circulating during the period of Classical Armstrongism.  I have no idea what the various small denominations derived from the old WCG currently believe on this topic.  In the Classical Armstrongism period, I never actually understood if proponents of genocide actually knew what they were saying.  To be sure, they did not see a role for the WCG in such a campaign.  They saw it as something that European settlers should have done.  The WCG understood that the ministration of death had been vacated.  But if someone believes in their heart that the ethics of the Old Testament requires and approves genocide and this is a guideline even yet for the modern people of “Israel”, is that not in some way horrifically corrupting?  Does it not evoke hatred when Jesus said if you hate someone you have murdered them and this is not to be for Christians?  I used to comfort myself by thinking that people in the WCG who blithely advocated genocide just did not understand what they were saying.  But, in the last analysis, I do not know how far in the direction of “holy” violence some of these people would go.  When Armstrongists delve into politics, it is surprising how extremist some will become.

Summary Argument

Native Americans are not genetically Canaanites.  The people of Lebanon have genetic continuity with the ancient Canaanites and they are also, incidentally, very closely related to the Jews.  God promised an evacuation of the Promised Land that would involve using hornets to chase the Canaanites out.  But because Israel lacked trust in God, Israelites eventually were required to have a role in the blood-letting and the killing of men, women and children.  Likely, the Canaanites were a contributive cause by stubbornly hanging onto the land.  They actually had many overseas colonies and could have relocated over time.  God did not want them to leave suddenly anyway.  The decrees given by God to Israel governing the expulsion of the Canaanites should not be applied to Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, Maoris, South African Blacks or Laplanders (none of these people are Canaanites) in order to concoct a gratifying fit with British-Israelism.  Moreover, anyone who is a Christian should focus on the problem of lack of trust on the part of the Israelites as the object lesson of the conquest of Canaan, rather than some latter-day, unloving, un-Christian and callous invocation of genocide. 

            

RCG News Flash – June 8, 2023 I Am Elijah The Prophet...

 

RCG News Flash – June 8, 2023

 

 

Elijah the Prophet has reemerged from his “maybe, maybe not” tomb this week.

 

Pastor General David C. Pack of The Restored Church of God returned to being Elijah the Prophet during “The Greatest Unending Story! (Part 447)” on June 6, 2023. 

Around this time last year, he was waffling about whether he was or was not Elijah. Back then, he was “telling, not foretelling.” He “demystified the office of prophet.” At one point, he had already been Elijah. But then, he would not be Elijah until much later. So much for “Elijah is just an office.”

 

In this brief clip, he starts out by saying what his commission is NOT, but then does a full reversal in the same breath because he realized has HAS been setting dates.

 

Two voices come out of the same mouth. There is a struggle for control between his ear. The man is a sitting house divided. David C. Pack is not a stable human being.

 

An article is forthcoming.

Marc Cebrian

See: exrcg.org

United Church of God Claims To Be The “faith once for all delivered to the saints.”

 

UCG had this up on their June 1, message from Rick Shabi:

The New Testament Church, headed by Jesus Christ, had its “beginning” on Pentecost in A.D. 31, when God poured out His Holy Spirit on the 120 who were gathered together in “one place and one accord” in obedience to Him. 

 

The corporate entity of the United Church of God, an International Association, had its beginning on the day of Pentecost more than a quarter century ago, as heresy infected the Worldwide Church of God and that organization departed from God and His truth. 

 

The United Church of God continued in the truth and the “faith once for all delivered to the saints.” We are not a new Church that began in 1995, we are the continuation of the Church that was founded by Christ, still led by Him as its Head, and striving to fulfill the commission He gave in Matthew 28:19-20. Together, we are all part of His Church and His work.

How can it be that every single one of the splinter groups claims that THEY and THEY ALONE are the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” and yet none of them get along with each other or even hold the same teachings and doctrines? UCG is about as far from 1st-century Christianity as Bob Thiel and Gerald Flurry are.

If they are the "continuation of the church that was founded by Christ", where does that leave RCG, COGWA, PCG, COG7, and the rest of the splinters? Christ would be appalled at what the present state of UCG and what the rest of the COG's currently look like and act.

The Need For A Physical Library Of WCG Materials So That HWA's Teachings Can Be Handed Over To The Proper Church Leaders When Everyone Arrives In Petra

 

I was going to copy some excerpts of a post recently by Samuel Kitchen regarding HWA's passing on the line of succession to Joeseph Tkach and the subsequent changes in the church. Aaron Dean figures prominently in this as Aaron claims that HE was to be HWA's successor but turned it down. 

Sadly, Aaron completed his apostasy from the one true church when he started taking a paycheck from the United Church of God. At that point, it became the duty of the Kitchen family to preserve HWA's writings and church literature pre-1986. Up until now, it has been all online. Samuel is looking now to gather all of the physical books. articles, booklets, and materials the church published from the early 1930s to January 1986. He wants this physical library to be located close to Petra so that once all of the hundreds of splinter groups arrive there before the start of the great tribulation, he can turn over these "truth's to the ministry gathered there.

Seriously, I kid you not...

Hundreds of splinter group leaders all vying for the position to be in charge. Right in the middle of the mix will be the Great Bwana Bob Thiel the Overseer of Africa and 100 Caucasians claiming that he and he alone was appointed by God to be the one true leader in Petra. 

What an absolute shitfest this will be!

Aaron Dean, was on the list for evaluation Mr. Armstrong had for the next Pastor General.

It had been the men of the ministry, the elders of the Church, who had pushed for a successor to be chosen. This actually mirrored the behavior exhibited by the elders of Israel who demanded a SUCCESSOR to the prophet Samuel. They wanted instead, a King, like the other nations around them.

They saw how the sons of Samuel departed from God, and they saw he was up there in his years too. So they demanded Samuel pick a man who would be King.

So, God told Samuel to do it. Give to them what they wanted, but warn THEM of the consequences.

I think Mr. Armstrong did that with the ministry. He gave them ample warning and teaching, to equip them against the apostasy. But they wanted a successor anyways.

So Mr. Armstrong chose leaders of the ministry who had proven to him loyal and faithful men of God and added them to the Advisory Council of Elders.

Aaron Dean said Mr. Armstrong went through those men watching them to see who would be the one God wanted to succeed. Like Samuel examining the line of the sons of Jesse. God led Samuel to each man, telling Samuel to not look at the outward appearance.

Aaron Dean said Mr. Armstrong went through the Advisory Council of Elders and came to the conclusion that they would not be the man God would use! Aaron Dean was examined, and Mr. Armstrong(according to Aaron Dean) said he was to be the next Pastor General. Aaron Dean claimed to have talked him out of the decision.

Joseph TKACH Sr was added to the list during this time, and so Mr. Armstrong went on to the next person to be examined. Joseph TKACH Sr.

He was made deputy pastor general, and during his evaluation Mr. Armstrong died.

I have a hard time believing Mr. Armstrong chose TKACH.

In any case, the decision made was automatic and TKACH Sr was made Pastor General.

The only man on the list of evaluation left alive is Aaron Dean.

Also, right after his death in May, a dummy corporation in Colorado was resurrected from suspension. In 1983 Mr. Armstrong found that people had incorporated in various states using his name, in order to set up the decision to choose a successor on his death. He ordered Ralph Helge to shut them down! They were. Except for this Colorado corporation sole.

Ralph Helge, in May 1986 resurrected it back to life and used that corporation sole until 1991 when a name change was made.

This corporation sole said the Advisory Council of Elders was in control of the corporate affairs.

Aaron Dean was removed from the Advisory Council of Elders prior to this in 1986.

He told me in private email, that perhaps the Colorado corporation was used to reinstate the contract with Stanley Rader.

So, without Aaron Dean we would not have had Joseph TKACH Sr in position of Pastor General.

He is also the author of the January 10,1986 letter of Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong could not speak or walk, but squeezed his hand in acknowledgement. It was Aaron Dean who said "the greatest work lies ahead". Not Mr. Armstrong.

This was used to justify the creation of new organizations afterwards. Because people thought they had to do a greater work, so they set out to incorporate.

Now Mr. Armstrong made Aaron Dean promise he would stand up and speak up against deception and heresy, a warning work. He also said to correct the ministry of they were to depart any.

In 2010 he became a paid employee of the UCG.

The same year, my family started to warn brethren of the departures these COG group organizations have done, and emphasized the revival and return to what had been originally taught by Mr Armstrong.

The warning to the Laodiceans is what has been happening. It is the Philadelphia era and we have people in Laodicean condition trying to do a work of their own.

So while Aaron Dean is involved with the UCG house, we have been involved with the WCG house, to keep all materials and publications linked to the WCG, and not with some other church or work.

That is why the battle with copyrights etc. We aren't stealing it but preserving it as it was produced.

In Zechariah 6 we have a household, Josiah-Hen the son of Zephaniah.

The job of God's servant was to enter into that house, to provide crowns to Joshua the High Priest(pictured in Zechariah 3).

He was unable to do God's Work, chained by Satan. But God cleans him up and puts him over HIS HOUSE.

That is what we look forward to, when the ministry gets cleaned up so they can do their job properly.

In this case, the assistant to Zerubbabel was Joshua.

The assistant to Mr. Armstrong is Aaron Dean.

But God used a source outside of the priesthood (Zerubbabel was of the house of Josiah-Hen the son of Zephaniah).

Ezra explains that in chapter 5 I believe and Zechariah 6 shows it is in that house .

The job was to preserve, and through Joshua the temple would be finished.

Now in Revelation 11, two witnesses are two candlesticks and Laodicea is the finish of the church age.

In Zechariah 4 there is one candlestick, with two anointed ones feeding the bowl the golden oil.

So if we was to apply Zechariah 6, with church eras in Revelation 11, the finishing of the Temple is by the assistant of Zerubbabel!!! Aaron Dean could be that man.

Since he did pass the "counting of lots", as David did.

He's just in the state of Zechariah 3. Picked for a job, but unable to do that job as he is now.

The job of warning ended with 2010 when Aaron Dean officially received wages from UCG. That seems to be when we picked up and began warning the Church membership from outside of these groups(Rev 3:14-21).

We are simply preserving what is needed to hand over to the ministry. Christ is working to clean up the ministry, and that's all.

When we announced in Jerusalem last year, that the Worldwide Church of God was meeting in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles and Holy Days, we put a big ole target on our backs. Satan wanted to find out what was happening and he attacked. God brought us to Petra and our small congregation kept the Fall Holy Days there.

God says in Revelation 12, that two wings of an eagle were given to the woman so that she may FLY into "her place". I think God was showing me, that His name was in Petra!

That's why I want to focus on establishing a physical rather than digital Worldwide Church of God library. Locked to a location! So no matter what, whoever ends up in the area around Petra, there is a collection of Church publications ready to be used in college work!

Today the Church of God is scattered Worldwide! But all of us are going to go to Jerusalem and go to ONE LOCATION. There won't be a need for internet. There won't be a need for computers.

God's Church will fly to Her Place. The name of God is placed where God places it! See Malachi 3:16.

Last year when we went to Jerusalem, no other COG organization(at least that we could find) had a feast site in the middle east! We was the only one in Petra!

I think that's significant. I think my attention has been tuned into this location. So pray for me. But also pray for Mr. Aaron Dean and all the ministry.

The book of Malachi is a warning to the ministry from departure from Christ's apostle. They will pay heed brethren. The ministry wasn't raised up for nothing! Give them respect, but most of all give God your prayers for them. They need it.