(A picture of Herbert and Loma Armstrong taken about 1965 and now believed to be in the public domain)
Museltof Countercult
and Apologetics UK are often involved in counselling former
(and present) members of the Worldwide Church of God
sect/cult (usually referred to as the 'WCG').
Yet despite the fact that my wife and I are former members of
this small, but surprisingly influential, group I have written
very little about them, except for My Testimony
which comes up on just about any search for information on the
WCG.
I have also written The Move Away From
Legalism, of course, but the intention there is broader than
just the WCG alone. It is to encourage all who may have come
under the influence of the sects and cults to understand what the
gospel message is all about, and to help them understand that
legalism effectively masks that message. (By the way, if
you have never read 'The Move Away From Legalism' and would like
to, it is also available Here).
But I have now decided to also write this article and although it
concentrates on the difficulty of rooting Armstrongism out of
former WCG people, there is no doubt that many of the principles
will apply to people who have left other sects and cults and who
are now struggling to come to a fuller understanding of all that
the genuine Christian Faith means and entails.
But first of all let me yet again make it clear that I intend to
maintain my practise of being very conservative in my criticisms
of Herbert W. Armstrong, even while recognising that he was -
without doubt - a false prophet who led sincere people astray. I
cannot identify with some of the hate-filled and malicious
anti-Armstrongist material which is so extensive on the
'net'.
Several times over the last few years I have come into contact
with ex-WCG and even current WCG people who tell me that they
have long since left Armstrongism with all of its errors. Yet
when we start chatting, all too often I am finding Armstrongist
influences lying only just beneath the surface which have not
been satisfactorily dealt with. Frequently after a few minutes
conversation these people will say things like, 'Of course, Mr
Armstrong always used to say...' Even now this always
surprises me! I will often retort by saying, 'I thought you
said that Armstrong and Armstrongism are now firmly behind
you...'
It just makes me realise that if a person has been heavily
influenced by a cult or sect for, perhaps, many years, those
influences cannot be overcome in a short space of time!
Perhaps it was easier for me; when I came to see that
Armstrongism was flawed right the way through, I determined to
cleanse myself from it thoroughly as an influence. I determined
to move ahead in biblical knowledge with an acceptance that -
theologically speaking - Armstrong was wholly unreliable as a
source of biblical understanding. Yet many who have emerged from
his teachings still feel that much of what he said was biblically
reliable. Perhaps I was fortunate here - I was about to start a
theology degree and this gave me access to literally hundreds of
books written by men of faith who have studied the books of the
Bible in astonishing detail in their original languages (of
course, I also gained access to much distorted theology but, by
this time, the Holy Spirit had granted me a truly clear and
transparent discernment of just what the gospel is all about). I
studied both Hebrew and Greek. I can't claim to have become any
kind of Hebrew expert because I only studied it for a year, but
my comprehension of Common Greek (the language of the New
Testament), appeared to develop rapidly, surprising not only
myself but a few of my fellow students. Of course, all the praise
goes to our Lord for this because I recall - years earlier -
praying for a fuller understanding of New Testament Greek, even
while not knowing how I would be able to attain that.
But the majority of those who came to see that Armstrongism was a
fraudulent representation of the Holy Bible just did not enjoy
such access to materials which could have helped them so much.
Indeed, in the case of those who remained within the WCG,
they were restricted to the WCG's own gradual overturning of
Armstrongist influence. This was necessarily slow and patchy.
Also The Worldwide News (The WCG's internal newspaper)
often did not point members to very helpful books/study
materials, even when the WCG leadership sensibly started to
reject the worst excesses of Armstrongism. Moreover, articles
written by WCG ministers were necessarily written by men whose
former Armstrongist indoctrination meant that their Bible
knowledge was not of the order which they had been led to
believe.
Mr Armstrong was a highly confident and rather brash individual;
he believed that his Bible knowledge was second to none, while -
in truth - it probably verged on the woeful. Armstrong passed on
this same over- confidence to the ministers whom he
trained. So while they too were only expert in the narrow areas
which Armstrongism continually focused upon, most of them (not
entirely all) had a certain swaggering over-confidence in their
biblical moorings!
Indeed, all the sects and cults (and Jehovah's Witnesses are a
particularly good example of this) focus adherents on quite a
narrow band of scriptural 'knowledge' while being quite prepared
to ignore other areas of biblical knowledge which never captured
their founder's enthusiasm and interest.
So these are some of the difficulties/hindrances which the good,
sincere folk of the WCG have had to cope with.
Okay, so what are the typical marks which cult/sect membership
tends to leave on people and which those of us who regularly
counsel these people should be aware of?
Also, how can we help in these areas?
1. I think that one of the most typical marks which those
who leave the sects and cults tend to carry is the tendency to
continue to be somewhat secretive and exclusivist and to feel
that, whilst their particular cult founder may have been in
error, there really is 'secret knowledge' out there
somewhere......if only they can find it.
One former member came to accept many of Armstrongism's failures,
but, within a year, thrust himself into the probably worse
excesses of 'New Ageism' - it just seemed as though the gospel of
Jesus Christ, as outlined in the New Testament, was not exciting
enough for him! He was looking for further intrigues and further
conspiracy theories. How very sad.
Another former member came to reject his previous dubious
"understanding" and appeared ready to accept the biblical Christ
(rather than the Armstrongist one), but then amazed me by saying
he intended joining the Seventh Day Adventists! I
persuaded him that this was an unwise move and he accepted this
but later became very confused by the Word-Faith movement
with its horrendous flaws. Make no mistake that 'Word-Faith' is
possibly the first cult to have successfully infiltrated
Christian congregations. ('Word-Faith' is that wholly perverted
message which emphasizes 'positive confession' and preaches the
'health, wealth and prosperity' gospel).
I was recently trying to explain to a very sincere current WCG
member who believes that his Armstrongist influence is now behind
him, that it might now also be reasonable to challenge
Armstrong's literalist view of the millenium. While it is
perfectly permissible for the Christian to hold to
pre-millenialism (and many thousands of American
dispensationalist believers do), there is a big world out there
and it is certainly not wrong (and is frequently very helpful) to
consider how other Bible-believing Christians consider certain
Scriptures in those areas which do not affect one's faith. But
the man withdrew and felt that Mr Armstrong was (in his opinion)
certainly right in this area. But he added a very revealing
comment, saying something like, 'This is secret knowledge
hidden from many, perhaps even from you!' At a stroke, he was
betraying the long-term influence of groups such as the
WCG.
In truth, Bible-believing Christians do not hold to the belief
that there is 'secret knowledge' which give some believers an
advantage in their relationship with God. This whole concept came
from the Gnostics who - even before the apostle Paul had
concluded his ministry - started to assert that there was secret
'higher knowledge' available for some believers.
But the Bible makes it clear that God has revealed to all
believers everything which they need to know at the present time!
We should point these Scriptures out to these people.
Deuteronomy 29:29 says,
'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those
things which are revealed belong to us and to our children
forever...'
Sure, there are undoubtedly things God has not told us and
probably cannot at present, but if He does reveal something, He
makes it clear. With specific regard to the revelation of the
gospel, we should consider some verses in John 17:
'I have manifested Your Name to the men who You have given Me
out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they
have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which
You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the
words which You have given Me; and they have received
them...'
(John 17:6-8).
Let us just remind ourselves that these were men who believed
that Jesus was the Christ and accepted the gospel message. The
reader may wish to look up 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 as a reminder of
what that message entailed. There is no further 'secret
knowledge' beyond the gospel in this present age:
'...all things that I heard from My Father I have made known
to you'
(John 15:15)
If anybody tells you they have additional knowledge granted to
them by God, beyond what the gospel clearly states - then
that knowledge did not come to them from God!
Again, a few are always looking out for additional "signs and
wonders" and wonder whether any particular preacher manifests
them. But what did Jesus say about this?
'...an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and
no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the
great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth'
(Matthew 12:39-40)
The proclamation of the gospel is our sign! And this is the sign
of this age of the Church. If 90% of the adult population of the
world have heard of Jesus, and heard of the message of the
gospel, then they are aware of the only sign they can expect to
receive! Indeed, after defining the message of the gospel in Acts
26:22-23, Paul could even tell King Agrippa - right back in the
first century - that he had no excuse for being ignorant of the
gospel (Acts 26:26). So if people like Joseph Smith, Ellen G.
White or Herbert W. Armstrong say they have an additional
revelation or that the sign itself is insufficient knowledge to
save, we may say quite confidently that such people are false
teachers and do not come from God.
So the tendency towards holding any concept of certain
teachers/teachings having 'secret knowledge' is unbiblical; God
has clearly revealed the knowledge which leads to Eternal
Life - it comes through faith in Jesus!
2. Another major problem which tends to be manifested in those
emerging from the cults and sects is very much associated with
the tendency to continue looking for 'secret knowledge' which we
have already considered:
This is the failure to fully appreciate that the New Testament
is adamant that Justification is by Faith Alone!
Justification by Faith Alone is what marks the Christian Gospel
out as being so different to all other religions - this is what
the gospel is saying, i.e., that the Christ has now come and died
for our sins, and that we can now be restored to God since He has
taken the entirety of our sins on His shoulders! We could never
'earn' God's favour by any amount of our own works or any amount
of law-keeping. In other words, we could never have 'reached up'
to God, but God sent His Son to 'reach down' to us! This is
revealed by so many Scriptures that it seems superfluous to quote
any here.
All other religions - and all perversions of the Christian gospel
- will uphold Justification by Works. Indeed even certain
legalistic and ritualistic areas of 'Christianity' will tend to
encourage this approach by what they do, even though they will
reject it in their creeds and confessions.
But why do false religions love this false teaching? It is very
simple. Satan does not want us to truly appreciate the uniqueness
of Jesus Christ! The moment we add to the gospel message
(as Paul is at such pains to point out in Galatians), we
have a different "gospel message" (which of course is no gospel
at all).
Think how many verses in books such as Romans and Galatians Paul
is hammering away at this point as he confronted the judaizers
who wanted to bring the early Christians back under reliance on
the law.
The Christian now walks in The Law of Christ (Galatians
6:2) - this is not any written code which we have to regularly
check in case we contravene it; the Holy Spirit Himself guides us
in the way of this spiritual law as we walk with Christ. Christ
outlined the principles of the Law of Christ in the Sermon on the
Mount (Matthew 5-7). It goes without saying that things like
adultery, lust and murder continue to be wrong - indeed more
so for those who have the Holy Spirit. So any concept of
antinomianism (that is, that we can now do as we like) is
firmly ruled out. If we start to do just as we like, without
reference to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are walking as
though under what Paul called 'The law of sin and death' -
this is all beautifully explained in Romans 8:
'There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,
God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
on account of sin ('to be a sin offering' NIV): He
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit'
(Romans 8:1-4)
There is not a cult or a sect out there which does not teach
Justification by Works! And Justification by Works is rightly
considered an age-old Christian heresy because it renders the
gospel virtually meaningless. The particular form of 'works' will
vary according to the group, of course. Herbert W. Armstrong said
that the gospel traditionally preached by the churches (he meant
the biblical gospel) could not save. One also had
to keep the Levitical Holydays - albeit in some sort of
'Christian way'. He taught that one had to accept the whole gamut
of Armstrongism, including the legalistic "need" to put even the
tiniest bit of flour leaven out of one's homes before the Days of
Unleavened Bread commenced! He also taught that refusing to obey
him (Herbert W. Armstrong, that is) was tantamount to rebellion
against God Himself! Indeed most all the cult founders have
taught this.
We could go on and on; Joseph Smith taught that his particular
"revelation from God" of Mormonism had to be understood and
obeyed, likewise with Russell, the founder of the Watchtower
Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). But the insistence on the
necessity to accept and live by these additional works
as part of the gospel revelation very plainly amounts to
the teaching of Justification by Works.
With love and patience, we need to point out to those emerging
from these various groups how absolutely intrinsic
Justification by Faith alone is to the gospel of Jesus Christ -
indeed, as we have seen, without that...there is simply no
gospel!!
The gospel stands or falls on the principle of Justification by
Faith Alone.
Robin A. Brace
2004.
© This article is Copyright Robin A.
Brace 2004. If you want it on your own website please do the
honourable thing and come to us for permission first. It is
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you. We really regret having to use copyright warnings but
unfortunately a few unscrupulous people have already stolen our
material word for word and claimed it as their
own.
Museltof
Countercult and Apologetics
(Large Apologetics and Countercult sections, including more on
the WCG)
Other Helpful Pages:
ARMSTRONGISM
The Move
Away From Legalism
My Personal
Testimony
UK Apologetics
Witness
to the Word
UK Christian Websites