Beware of Armstrongism

sparkman · Jan 22, 2016

Here's a good description of many of the issues related to British Israelism that Herbert Armstrong taught.

Basically he stole his materials from a book called "Judas' scepter and Joseph's birthright" by J. H. Allen, 1902,1917 AD. Like many of his doctrines that he obtained from other sources, he declared them as "new truth" that God revealed to him. His theological system was largely a patchwork quilt of discredited and heretical beliefs obtained from others. If you were not part of his organization, you were deemed as part of Satan's religious system and unsaved.

Anglo/British Israelism Herbert W. Armstrong REFUTED!

There are some on this forum who still believe in Armstrongism, and others who are not Armstrongites who hold to British Israelism, probably largely using the same reasoning as Herbert Armstrong stole his materials from a pre-existing source.

DaTK · Jan 22, 2016

first time I've heard of this.

sparkman · Apr 14, 2017

Here's another post where john832 makes the claim that Armstrongites will become God in the resurrection, just like God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Beware of Armstrongites on this forum. You can read the posts above and see that there are at least two of them. I used to be an Armstrongite myself, when I was a young man, age 22-32.

Armstrong's doctrine SOUNDS reasonable, but it is nonsense when one reads Scripture in context. For instance, Armstrongites do not realize that believers are ADOPTED sons of God (not literal sons of God), that even angels were called sons of God, that Christians will have resurrection bodies like Jesus Christ, and that being "born again" is talking about regeneration, and not being "born into the God family" like they claim. They also fail to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is a glorified human as well as being YHVH (God), and resurrected humans will be like Jesus in terms of being a glorified human, but NOT in being YHVH.

Basically, they believe that salvation is like human reproduction..that God impregnates the Christian with his spirit at the baptism and laying on of hands ceremony, and that the person becomes a spiritual fetus, and that being born again comes when the person dies and is resurrected as a God being, with the same attributes as Jesus Christ and God the Father.

john832 said:

Here's a quote by Herbert Armstrong where he teaches his nonsense doctrine:

So, the Kingdom of God is simply the begotten and finally born family of God. There was the Word and the Word was with God. They are going to produce a family. They were the beginning of a family of two great personages. And out of matter — nothing but plain matter — but with a spirit put into that matter and finally the Spirit of God to join with that spirit in man, God is going to reproduce Himself; out of such worthless things as you and me. Yes, you and I are pretty worthless in and of ourselves, but do you realize how great we can be? We are the very ones God has called to become His sons, to be born of Him and to become very God ourselves. Oh, how wonderful that is, and that's something that no church understands, no church believes, no church teaches it.

The Kingdom of God is the family of God. The Kingdom of God is not the government of God. The Kingdom of God is the family of God, but ruling in the government of God, and ruling with the government of God.

Now the annual festivals explain and God has given it to only to His church and nobody else and no church but this church observes them. He gave them to ancient Israel, the Jews observe them to some extent today, not fully, and they have no conception of the meaning. Only God's church understands the meaning, but the annual festivals picture to us every year repeatedly, year after year, the master plan of God for working out that purpose. Now the church is His instrument for working out that purpose. The annual festivals are the master plan for working it out in and with the church; you see that brethren? I try to make this just crystal clear so you can understand it. So the annual festivals are so very, very important.

Now, so far, I want you to stop and think and realize, no religion on earth knows the things I've just said. You have some friends who are Baptist? They don't know that, you have friends who are Roman Catholic; they have no idea about these things. Some are Lutherans, they don't know anything about these things, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, no they don't know anything about it. Now maybe we're just wild crack pots. If so the whole Bible is worse than a book of fiction. It's the craziest thing ever written, because this is the plain truth that is just so plain anyone ought to be able to understand it if he would be willing in his mind. But they are not willing.

It makes me think of the time up in Eugene when I was trying to get the permission to use the baptistry of the Baptist church to baptize some people, we didn't have a baptistery. We had a little church out at the end of West Eighth Avenue and we had used it, but there was a new minister in the church. We had used the baptistry before, but I had to go to a different minister this time because they changed ministers.
And he said, "Well, just a minute Mr Armstrong, let me go up to the office a minute." Their office was upstairs in the church he went upstairs he came back and he said, "I should say not, Mr Armstrong. We can't let you use our baptistry." "Well," I said, "Ok but would it be alright if I ask you why?" "Well" he says, "Let me just ask you a question, Mr Armstrong, what day of the week do you keep?" "Well," I said very innocently I said, "The same day Jesus did, what day do you keep?" He got angry and said, "I don't want to argue with you, Mr Armstrong." "Well," I said, "I didn't mean to argue. I just thought Jesus set us an example and we should follow what He did." He wanted me to get out of there. Well I think we went out to the river that time. And nobody owned the river and told us we couldn't use it.

Beware of Armstrongism. It is taught by groups like United Church of God, Living Church of God, Restored Church of God, and Philadelphia Church of God..along with a bunch of other "Church of God" Sabbathkeeper groups.

sparkman · May 3, 2017

[h=1]Eighteen "Truths" Restored by Herbert Armstrong[/h][TABLE]
[TR]
[TH="align: center"]Armstrong’s
"18 Truths"[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]Kernel of Truth[/TH]
[TH="align: center"]Armstrong’s Mistake[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 1) The government of God. When Christ comes, He will restore God’s government to the whole earth. So you can be sure the one to come in the spirit and power of Elijah would restore God’s government in his church. When Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong came among the Oregon Conference era of the Church of God (Seventh Day), the church had the right name, the law, the Sabbath and the tithing system. But they also had a government of men, with a biannual conference, voting just like they do in the world.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]Wherever Christ is, the kingdom is present.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Jesus taught that John the Baptist fulfilled Malachi’s prophecy (Matthew 11:14 (link is external); 17:12 (link is external)). Herbert Armstrong identified himself as the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy.
Congregationalism is a legitimate form of church government.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 2) The Gospel of the kingdom of God has been restored after 1,900 years. The Church of God (Seventh Day) did not have a clear understanding of the gospel – they emphasized what they called a "third angel’s message."
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The church should preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Herbert Armstrong believed the kingdom of God to be only in the future. He believed the message of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to be a substitute, or false gospel.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 3) The purpose of God, that we are to be born of God and become God. God is reproducing himself, and no other church on earth knows that or preaches it. As a counterfeit, they talk about being already born again.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]God calls people to be his children.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]There is only one God. Humans are not becoming God. "Born again" is a Bible teaching.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 4) Who and what is God? God is neither one person or the Trinity. God is a family into which we may be born and also become God.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]God is creating a spiritual family.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Testimony of Scripture is that God is one and reveals himself in three distinct personalities. As Matthew 28:19 (link is external) teaches, we are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our heritage is not to become God, but rather, glorified children of God.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 5) What is man? Do we have an immortal soul? Or are we just an animal? What happens at death? The dead are unconscious and they don’t know anything. The Church of God (Seventh Day) people understood some of what happens at death, but not fully.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]Man is not just an animal.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Whether deceased humans are unconscious or not until Christ returns is not of primary doctrinal importance. It is a mistake to allow a secondary issue to cause division.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 6) The human spirit in man. What makes the difference between a human mind and an animal brain is that there is a human spirit with a human brain. That spirit is not the conscious part of the man. Arid it needs to be united with the Spirit of God.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]God created humans superior to animals and salvation extends only to humanity.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Scripture speaks of the soul and the body (Matthew 10:28 (link is external)), as well as the spirit in man.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 7) The church is only the firstfruits, and not the end of God’s plan of salvation. God isn’t trying to save the whole world yet. It starts with us, and we’re being taught and trained so that we, under Christ, will be teachers and rulers when Christ comes to rule in the Millennium, when he starts to save the rest of the world.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The church is composed of a harvest of the people of God.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Raising premillennial dispensationalism to the level of primary doctrine causes division in the body of Christ.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 8) The church is not yet the kingdom of God, but we are the embryo that will become the kingdom of God. The WCG is the one and only true church!
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The church is not yet all that it will be.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]The Bible does not call the church an embryo. The saints are already in the kingdom (Colossians 1:13 (link is external)). There is no one corporate organization on earth that is "the one and only true church."
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 9) Only those whom God the Father calls and draws to him can be converted now. No other church knows that or believes it. Only those God chooses and calls now can come in and become part of the firstfruits. Satan has deceived the whole world, and the church is called out of that world.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]John 6:44 (link is external): "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]All Christian churches teach John 6:44 (link is external). It was an error to teach that the WCG was the
"one and only true church of God" and anyone outside the WCG was part of the "world" and therefore deceived.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 10) The resurrection to judgment, the Great White Throne Judgment. God has a plan to save those who have not had an opportunity for salvation and who are now dead in their graves. They have not had the Holy Spirit. Their time is coming. But our time comes first, and we have to fight the devil, and they won’t. In the judgment, they’ll be found guilty and condemned to death. They’ll have their first chance to know that Christ came and paid the death penalty for them. They’ll be allowed to accept that payment, and they’ll have 100 years to prove they want to live differently
than they did in their first life.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]Everyone will stand before the judgment seat of God.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Several evangelicals believe that those who did not hear the gospel in this life will be confronted with it at the final judgment, and those appointed for salvation will believe and accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. Herbert Armstrong assumed such people would need another lifetime to "prove" faith by obedience. The mention of "100 years" comes from Isaiah 65:20 (link is external), which Mr. Armstrong connected with Revelation 20:5 (link is external), 11-12 (link is external) as descriptive of a second physical life for humans who never heard the gospel in their first life. There is no proof that these verses should be connected.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 11) The Millennium. The kingdom of God will rule nations on earth, and Christ and the saints will rule and bring prosperity to the entire earth. The Church of God (Seventh Day) understood the time duration, but, because they did not adequately grasp the full meaning of the gospel of the kingdom of God, they knew little in the 1930s of what the Millennium would be like.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]Revelation 20 speaks of a 1,000-year reign of the saints with Jesus.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]By equating the millennial reign of the saints with the kingdom of God, Herbert Armstrong’s gospel became a message focusing only on the future. Neither Jesus nor the apostles preached a "millennial gospel."
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 12) The Holy Spirit coming into us only begets us. It opens our minds so we can understand the coded book, the Bible. Eye has not seen nor ear heard the things God has in store for us, described briefly in the Bible. God does reveal them to his church by his Spirit that resides in us. Without that Spirit, we cannot understand the Bible.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The Holy Spirit opens our minds so we can understand the truth of God in the Bible.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]This truth has been part of Christianity for centuries. It did not need to be "restored" by the "end-time Elijah."
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 13) We are only begotten now, not born again. We are heirs, not yet inheritors. The Holy Spirit begets us as children of God, but we are not yet born.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The Holy Spirit begets us as children of God and Christians are to grow. Christians will be glorified and made immortal at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:52-54 (link is external); 1 John 3:2 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Herbert Armstrong misunderstood the English translation as well as the Greek original. The Bible describes Christians as children of God, already born again (1 Peter 1:3 (link is external), 23 (link is external); James 1:18 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 14) The identity of modern Israel. What are America’s roots, our national identity? We are Manasseh, one of the lost 10 tribes of Israel. Numerous other groups have some knowledge of this truth, but no major denomination does. The Church of God (Seventh Day) officially rejected this truth.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]America owes its blessings to God.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]There is no proof in either the Bible or history that Americans are descendants of the northern 10 tribes of Israel. The New Testament witness is that all 12 tribes of Israel were represented in Judea and usually referred to collectively as "Jews" (Matthew 10:6 (link is external); Acts 4:10 (link is external); 5:21 (link is external); 13:24 (link is external); 26:7 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 15) Prophecy can be understood only if you know that we are Israelites, and what prophecies apply to us and which do not.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]Many prophecies applied to the people of Israel.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Anglo-Israelism leads to misunderstanding the Bible.
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 16) The annual festivals, the feast days. What other church knows about them or keeps them? Where did you hear it from? God revealed it to Mr. Armstrong.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The old covenant festivals served as shadows of Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:16-17 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]The annual festivals were commanded for ancient Israel. God did not command anyone else to keep them, either before or after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:13 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 17) The authority of the sacred calendar, preserved by the Jews. Before Mr. Armstrong revealed this to the Church of God (Seventh Day), they were confused as to when the year should begin.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The Jews calculate the Jewish calendar and the dates of the annual Jewish festivals.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]The Jewish calendar has no authority over Christians because the old covenant is obsolete (Hebrews 8:13 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 36%"] 18) Second and third tithe. What other church knows these points? The second tithe is for God’s feast days. Other churches do not keep these feasts, so they have no reason to have second tithe. Third tithe is for the needy, primarily within God’s church.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 28%"]The New Testament teaches sacrificial generosity (Luke 12:33-34 (link is external); 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 (link is external), 12 (link is external); 1 Corinthians 9:3-15). Tithing is an appropriate form of worship, devotion and stewardship.
[/TD]
[TD="width: 35%"]Commands for the second and third tithe are found only in Deuteronomy. They were part of a covenant now declared obsolete (Hebrews 8:13 (link is external)).
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Joseph Tkach

sparkman · May 3, 2017

Above is a good chart of what Armstrongites believe. This list reflects the peculiar teachings of Herbert Armstrong.

Note that he claimed Armstrongites would become "very God", same as God the Father and Jesus Christ, in the resurrection. Additionally, he claimed that Christianity was a counterfeit of the true faith, and the "true faith" was Armstrongism.

preacher4truth · May 3, 2017

sparkman said:

Thanks for sharing. The latter seems like an admixture of Mormonism/Armstrongism.

sparkman · May 3, 2017

preacher4truth said:

Yes, some called Armstrong a "seed picker"..someone who gets his ideas from various places and puts them together to form his own syncretic religion.

Seventh Day Adventism - Sabbath
Mormonism - God family
Jehovah's Witnesses - denial of the bodily resurrection
Charles Finney - Pelagian view of man's nature that denied original sin
Word of Faith - healing doctrine that claimed the atonement of Jesus paid for "physical sin" and that healing was promised in this life conditional upon enough faith

I believe the phrase "seed picker" related to philosophers who would hang around the marketplace on Areopagus to hear every weird idea there.

Rockrz · May 3, 2017

Nor should you.

It's good that you have shared detailed information on "Armstrongism"

I thought it was just guys that liked to arm wrestle, but I see now there's much more to it than just that.

And yet Jesus and His Apostles warned of false teaching and false teachers... maybe they need to get help to???

The Lord can deliver you from that... Jesus Christ IS our rest, He IS out Sabbath.

He's just pointing out that the Lord never taught that we should celebrate christmas or easter... the dark one injected that into the mix, not the Lord.

Nothing in the New Covenant tells us to observe these so-called holidays.

You are rather late in deed to the party... the group with all the answers is Jesus Christ and His Apostles as Jesus continued teaching thru the Apostles after He went back to the Father.

The Lord wrote a Book... you should check it out!

preacher4truth · May 3, 2017

Rockrz said:

Bro Rockrz, I wish you'd include who it is you're quoting from in threads so we don't have to go back and search out who it is in the original.

preacher4truth · May 3, 2017

sparkman said:

Looks like he picked several erroneous systems of false beliefs to choose from. As far as JW's I think they believe that Christ only raised in a spiritual body which is of course false.

Rockrz · May 4, 2017

I always include the part of the original post that I'm replying to so it's right there in my post.

Rondonmon · May 4, 2017

sparkman said:

Hi All,

On more than one occasion, I've encountered Armstrongites on this forum. Some of them have made derogatory remarks about my posts, and identified themselves as such.

I would like to warn the rest of the users about this destructive and false belief system. I was an Armstrongite so I know their doctrinal position well. I'd also like to beg those who are caught up in this to re-examine their position critically and ask themselves if it really reflects sound doctrine.

Herbert Armstrong was the origin of these false teachings. He derived his doctrine from a mixture of Seventh Day Adventism, Mormons, and Jehovahs Witness theology. From the Seventh Day Adventists, he obtained his teachings on Saturday Sabbath observance. From the Mormons, he obtained his teaching that man is a God being in embryonic form. From the Jehovah's Witnesses, he obtained his teaching of the spirit resurrection, which denies the bodily resurrection and teaches a "spirit resurrection" instead. A more complete listing of his teachings will be included below.

Organizations which came from Armstrongism and teach elements of his heresy include The Philadelphia Church of God (Gerald Flurry), The Restored Church of God (David Pack), Living Church of God (Roderick Meredith), Intercontinental Church of God (Garner Ted Armstrong), United Church of God, Church of God's Faithful (Robert G. Ardis), Independent Church of God (Ronald Dart), Church of God, An International Community (David Hulme), Christian Biblical Church of God (Fred Coulter), The Church of God - PKG (Ron Weinland), House of Yahweh (Yisrayl Hawkins), God's Church, Worldwide (David Moore), Church of God - A Faithful Flock (Alton Billingsley), and Church of God - A Worldwide Organization.

I was a member of Worldwide Church of God for about 10 years under these false teachings. I want to describe the process of accepting these "truths" so you are aware of the danger.

First, you become indoctrinated into the idea that the Seventh Day Sabbath, annual festivals, and clean/unclean meat laws apply to you as a seeker or believer. Unfortunately, due to the ambiguity of traditional Christianity on this subject, younger or less experienced Christians fall for this idea easily. Many within traditional Christianity itself teaches that the Ten Commandments as a whole apply to everyone. They think the day switched from Saturday to Sunday, but they still think that the Sabbath still applies to everyone due to their assertion that it is a moral absolute, rather than a sign of the Old Covenant. They also fail to teach that the Old Covenant applied to ancient Israel and not New Covenant Christians. There is much ambiguity on this topic, and this ambiguity has created an opportunity for Armstrongism to develop.

Second, you become indoctrinated into the idea that the whole world, including Orthodox Christianity, is deceived by Satan, including orthodox Christianity. Because of your new-found knowledge, you and your group alone possess 'the truth'. Orthodox Christianity is viewed as a bunch of unconverted, bumbling idiots who know nothing. They are non-Sabbathkeepers who are still in their sins, and have nothing to teach you. Therefore, you reject any source that could correct your errant belief system. The fact that you know 'the truth' appeals to your sinful nature, as the essence of sin is pride. Most Armstrongites are totally absorbed into intellectual pride and superiority. This increases your enslavery to this false belief system.

Third, you accept doctrines that are even more aberrant because you give great credibility to the source who convinced you of Sabbathkeeping. You are totally ensnared into many false beliefs that you would not have accepted if you had seen the whole picture at the beginning.

Other elements of Herbert Armstrong's teachings include the following:

British - American Israelitism - the claim that Western Europeans and Americans are physical descendants of the "lost ten tribes of Israel". This doctrine was used to strengthen the argument requiring Sabbathkeeping for most individuals who were a part of the church, since they were largely white people of Western European descent. It also created a situation where most of the prophecies in the Bible applied to white people of European descent. Prophecy was a big part of Worldwide Church of God theology.
God Family Doctrine - the claim that God is a "family" into which converted human beings would be born into, with the full nature and powers of God. Christians were considered to be literal sons of God in this sense, to be born into the Kingdom at the resurrection as a full-fledged God being. Speculation was that they would have their own planet and be worshipped like a God by other human beings at some point. This doctrine denied the fact that Christians have eternal life now. The focus tended to be on the 'not yet' Scriptures of the 'already but not yet' status of believers.
Apostolic Authority - Herbert Armstrong claimed to be God's apostle or sole authority on Earth. He restored true Christianity to mankind after a 1900 year void in spiritual knowledge, much like Joseph Smith claimed as the founder of the Mormon church. He also claimed to be a prophet by calling himself the Elijah to Come. He prophecied the return of Jesus Christ in 1975, which obviously failed to come true, clearly identifying himself as a false prophet. Unfortunately I did not know the details of this until I was already indoctrinated, and his prophecy was misrepresented to me as a speculation rather than a prophecy.
View of the Bible - The Bible was written in a coded manner that required putting verses together from different places in the Bible to arrive at sound doctrine. The hermeneutic used to justify this was Isaiah 28:10. If he simply read down to verse 13, he would see that the result of this verse wasn't a good one. The classical error that Herbert Armstrong was engaging in was "collapsing the context"....connecting two unrelated verses in different contexts to create a doctrine.
Rejection of Orthodox Christianity - Cults must create suspicion about traditional Christianity and Church History in order to make their erroneous assertions by nature. Herbert Armstrong was no different. Besides portraying other Christians as antinomians which are unconcerned with obedience, he characterized them as blind leaders of the blind.
Trinity Doctrine - He rejected well-founded Christian doctrines such as the Trinity as being of pagan origin. The biblical basis for the Trinity doctrine is solid, and I would encourage anyone who doubts this to read Forgotten Trinity by James White.
Conspiracy Theories involving Church History - In addition, in order to assert the Sabbathkeeping doctrine, suspicion was created by a distortion of the history of the migration from Saturday observance to Sunday observance. The Emperor Constantine is often blamed for this switch, along with the Roman Catholic church. The reality is that the switch occurred long before that, around 90 AD or earlier, when Christians were no longer welcome in the synagogue due to anti-Christian resistance from the Jews. Christians would often go to the synagogue to hear the Scriptures read on Saturday, and meet by themselves on Sunday to discuss these Scriptures from a Christian standpoint. It was a natural thing for them to begin meeting themselves on Sunday, as they were not parties to the Old Covenant anyways.
Legalism - Besides adherence to the Saturday Sabbath, Armstrong taught that Christians needed to observe the festivals of Leviticus 23, clean and unclean meat laws, and a system of tithing which allocated about 23% of one's gross income to devotional purposes. This created a serious bind financially amongst the membership. The funny thing is that the pastors did not tithe, so they subjected others to burdens that they themselves did not bear. This reminds me of the Pharisees and Christ's statement in Matthew 23:4. In addition, the Church was inconsistent in its assertions. For example, they claimed that Colossians 2:16-7 was teaching Sabbathkeeping rather than refuting it, but there are problems with that view. One problem is that it's ignoring the context of the rest of the verses around it and the context of the book itself. The other problem is that they did not observe New Moons which were commanded by the same verse.
Rejection of holidays with pagan origin - Christmas and Easter were rejected as pagan. I know this is an issue with many different Christians outside of Armstrongism, so I have some level of sympathy for anyone who holds this position. However, for me, Christmas simply means getting together with family for fellowship and there is nothing pagan about it. In addition, Easter simply means going to church, and inviting an unsaved friend to attend, as the message is about salvation generally on Easter. If God is going to throw me in hell for that, so be it. I don't hunt easter eggs or do anything with bunnies anyways. This reminds me of another thing about Armstrongism...when the Church had Pentecost calculated wrongly, and were observing it on the wrong day, the Church strongly insisted that God was merciful and would overlook such mistakes, but somehow their doctrinal intolerance did not extend to others outside of their circle..hmmmmm. Sounds like a double standard. Legalists want God to be merciful to them, but not to others.
Virtual Universalism - Armstrongism teaches that not all are called now, but only a select few individuals, church members, who will be priests and kings in the Millenial reign of Jesus Christ. This is a very dangerous doctrinal position. It implies that today is not the day of salvation, and is a disincentive for evangelizing. In their view, these chosen individuals (again, appealing to human vanity of Armstrongites) are going to guide others into following God in a subsequent resurrection that occurs after the Millennium. A few will reject salvation and be destroyed in the lake of fire, but the majority of mankind will accept salvation during this 100-year period following the Millennium. They call this period of time 'the judgment'. The Bible refutes this idea by stating that the vast majority are on the path of destruction.
Annihilationism Annihilationism is the doctrinal position that denies eternal torment for those who are lost, but specifies that punishment will be temporary. I am not going to get into this point too much. Suffice it to say that I think both positions, eternal torment and annihilationism, have some reasonable basis in the Scripture and I neither deny or affirm either one of them. Some Christians consider annihilationism to be a damnable heresy but I do not put it on this level. John Stott, a famous theologian who is well respected in evangelical circles, was an annihilationist.
Soul Sleep - This is the position that the dead are not conscious until the resurrection, either to eternal life or eternal death. This is another doctrinal position that I hold no position on. Scriptures seem to indicate either position, and Martin Luther held the position of soul sleep from my understanding.
Spirit Resurrection Herbert Armstrong held the position that Christ did not have a resurrection body but that he manifested a physical body at the resurrection. The bodily resurrection is a fundamental doctrine of Christianity. Scripture uses the phrase 'spiritual body' to describe the resurrection body..the Greek word is pneumatikos. Spiritual does not mean composed of spirit, though. It is a glorified physical body which has been changed to be incorruptible and to have different characteristics than the body we currently have. Armstrong denied the bodily resurrection of Christ. If his view was correct, the physical corpse of Christ should have been in the tomb, and we all know that's a primary evidence that he was resurrected. In fact, there is no need for a resurrection unless it involves the physical body. This is a position that he seems to have obtained from Jehovah's Witnesses theology.

The basic purpose of preparing this post is to warn others on the forum that they should be careful about accepting unorthodox doctrines blindly. Also, realize that underneath the argument which seems reasonable, like a tasty worm seems to a fish, may be a hook that will ensnare you.

A secondary purpose is to beg those who are holding such views to examine them critically. If you are under Armstrongism, you are in the snare of the devil. You might be saved, but you are in the snare of the devil when it comes to doctrinal issues. I suspect most aren't saved at all.

II Timothy 2: [SUP]23 [/SUP]Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. [SUP]24 [/SUP]And the Lord's servant[SUP][e][/SUP] must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [SUP]25 [/SUP]correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [SUP]26 [/SUP]and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Armstrongism is all about foolish, ignorant controversies. That's its foundation. Herbert Armstrong was a contentious, quarrelsome man who denied sound doctrine. Instead of focusing on Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith, he focused on legalistic nonsense and speculative doctrines and prophecies. Ask yourself if your message is on Jesus Christ and him crucified, or is it on legalistic nonsense and speculative doctrines and prophecies. What was the apostle Paul focused on? Some secret gospel or Jesus Christ? Read Scriptures below.

I can provide guidance on refuting elements of this belief system if anyone wants it.

Robert

I Corinthians 15 Now I would remind you, brothers,[SUP][a][/SUP] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [SUP]2 [/SUP]and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
[SUP]3 [/SUP]For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [SUP]4 [/SUP]that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [SUP]5 [/SUP]and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [SUP]6 [/SUP]Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. [SUP]7 [/SUP]Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [SUP]8 [/SUP]Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

You sir are 100 percent correct. I read some of that stuff in the 70's and 80's and knew in my spirit it was not of God. These different off branches is how they have grown their membership. If they stop growing, they just do a metamorphosis and change their name to something similar.

Also, "Tomorrows World" is affiliated with the "Living Church of God" so be aware of them, I think they have the biggest voice, a huge radio show and a newsletter.

Rockrz · May 4, 2017

Nothing like a new sweater

Search

Beware of Armstrongism

sparkman

Guest

DaTK

Guest

sparkman

Banned

sparkman

Banned

sparkman

Banned

preacher4truth

Senior Member

sparkman

Banned

Rockrz

Banned

preacher4truth

Senior Member

preacher4truth

Senior Member

Rockrz

Banned

Rondonmon

Senior Member

Rockrz

Banned