Any Good Doctrine in
the Herbert W. Armstrong Era?
| Did HWA have some good basic Christian
doctrine (albeit only
twisted a little), or could it have been "doctrines of devils?"
Worldwide Church of God
wants others to
believe they have always been a "Christian denomination (i. e.,
church)"1
and always had "some" good doctrine from the very beginning. Here are the
myths and half-truths that they would like others
(especially those who have joined their organization since
Herbert W. Armstrong's death in
1986) to
believe their founder taught.
Included is: Doctrines of Devils - did Herbert Armstrong teach them?
(1) We taught that Jesus Christ was the Son of God: The truth: HWA did not believe that Jesus was the eternal Son of God;2 he taught that He was the second member of the "God family"; the "Word" in eternity past. He taught that Jesus was not perfect, could have sinned and been lost forever, and needed to be born-again, since he inherited a sin nature.3 (2) We taught that Jesus was coming back again: The truth: HWA taught a Jesus who was coming back to "restore (enforce) the government of God"4 (e.g., the Mosaic Law) which was a Kingdom on earth only for those who accepted HWA's doctrine and became a member of his "one true church." (3) We
taught that Jesus
died on the cross for our sins: (4) We believed in Jesus' virgin birth: The truth: HWA did not believe that Jesus was fully God and fully man in His incarnation, but that as a human man He had to strive day and night not to sin, and that it was possible that He "could have sinned." (see #1 above) This is a false Jesus. The Word of God reveals that Jesus had no sin in Him (II Corinthians 5:21) and therefore He could not have sinned. (5) We taught that God was the Creator of everything: The
truth:
HWA taught that the "Word" (whom he said was the second
member of the "God family") created everything and that Christ
was "the God of the Old Testament." HWA denied the omniscience
of God the Father, believing those in the WCG would "counsel and
advise God" when they "became God" in a so-called "God family." He denied God's
omnipresence and taught that He was not everywhere, only His "power"
was. HWA said that God the Father was
not the same essence as God the Son. This is not the true God
of the Bible. The truth: HWA taught that Christ's resurrection was not physical; i.e., He was not resurrected with the same body, but a different body than that placed in the grave.6 The body that was placed in the grave simply "disappeared." (See Luke 24:38-40 and John 20:25-27). This is a false Jesus. (7) We believed that the sacrificial laws were done away with: The truth: HWA knew it would be impossible to get his members to offer sacrifices today. However, he deceptively taught that whenever the word "law" was mentioned in the book of Galatians it was referring to the "sacrificial laws," not the entire Mosaic Law. This was a lie. You cannot pick and choose from the old covenant laws. (Galatians 3:10) (8) We believed in the repentance for sins: The truth: HWA taught that repentance meant to beat ourselves down; to see our entire human nature as "filthy, rotten garbage; selfish and worthless." He taught repentance would result in going "God's Way" (i. e., keeping the Law) which meant to obey all of HWA's teachings, lest one never obtain eternal salvation. This is not the meaning of repentance. The Greek word metanoia, which is translated repentance in our English Bibles, means "a change of mind." (9) We believed in the fellowship of believers: The truth: Members had no true Biblical, Christ-centered fellowship with each other, because fellowship in the WCG meant to "serve the organization." (See: The Truth Behind WCG's "Love Your Neighbor") Members were taught to spy on one another and to report to the minister those who weren't submissive to the "government of God" (headquarters). Bible-based cults will say, "Jesus is the Son of God," but the real truth of what they believe departs radically from those few words. In examining Herbert W. Armstrong's belief system it can be seen that he did not teach the true Jesus/God of the Bible, neither did he teach the true gospel. (Read: ESN's two critical reviews of HWA's book, Mystery of the Ages.)
"Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" ~ I Timothy 4:1
Can we know if Herbert W. Armstrong was influenced by the forces of darkness and indeed taught doctrines of devils (i. e., doctrines of demons)? This can be easily seen when one studies the doctrines of other Bible-based cults. There was a man named Johannes Greber who was deeply involved with the occult. He was the translator of the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation Bible. He openly states that he accomplished this through his wife who was a medium. By using his wife and contacting a demon in the spirit world (which is totally unscriptural) he came up with a "doctrinal statement." Although these are doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses, one can clearly see that many are what Herbert Armstrong taught as truth. When we understand that HWA plagiarized doctrines from the JW's (among others), this should come as no surprise. (See chapter three of ESN's critical review of Mystery of the Ages for proof of this.) Following are direct quotes from the demon that Johannes Greber contacted:7
While HWA did not teach every one of the above, we can spot the ones he copied from JW's. Herbert Armstrong and the Trinity: When members started exiting Worldwide Church of God in 1995 because of the new changes, they were very unclear about the Trinity due to HWA's teaching. In the 1996 Plain Truth Joseph W. Tkach Jr. says, "Gone is our long-held view of God as a family of multiple spirit beings into which humans may be born, replaced by a biblically accurate view of one God who exists eternally in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Notice that he avoided the word "Trinity." Many members were left in the dark about what he was talking about, and the WCG leadership never went into depth about the Holy Spirit being a Divine Being because they didn't want to have to confess that they had committed utter blasphemy in their view of God, nor did they want to deal with the enormity of it. WCG headquarters, instead, started talking about "hypostasies," which was entirely confusing to the members. They only spent two Sabbaths discussing what they called the "nature of God." On one headquarters' tape Dr. Stavrinides8 chastised members for being ignorant of Greek and stated that he had always understood that God was three beings in one. That's laughable considering how he never wrote any articles in all the decades he was in the WCG about this (as he says) "important" issue. If he knew the proper Greek all along, then why didn't he refute HWA's teachings about the Trinity being "pagan"? HWA was openly adamant about this. Even more interesting is that no member ever heard from this Greek "Dr." since that sermon! HWA's teaching on the denial of the Trinity is very similar to what Jehovah's Witnesses taught. Read: The History of the Trinity: What the Watchtower Doesn't Want You to Know. If you need help in untwisting HWA's demonic doctrines, one place is Kevin Quick's website (former Jehovah's Witness), as he has an excellent book "Reasoning with Jehovah's Witnesses" that can be downloaded for free. Kevin Quick's testimony is incredible. When he was a Jehovah's Witness, he did an intense Bible study to try to prove Christians wrong. The result? Kevin proved them right and he accepted Jesus as his personal Savior. His notes are very helpful because he first gives the JW's belief, or beliefs, then he asks questions concerning it and next quotes 10 or more scriptures for the answer. For instance, he clearly shows through Scripture the deity of Christ, which HWA and all cultic groups will deny. (See footnote #3 below which shows HWA taught the heretical belief that Jesus had "sinful flesh" and was not the eternal Son of God.)
Investigate every anti-Trinitarian quote from HWA and you will find that every quote is a misquote, which left out pertinent information that supported the Trinity. (For evidence that I John 5:7 is a part of Scripture, see The Epistle of 1st John - a Brief Commentary.) When you challenge the teachings that have been ingrained into your mind by HWA's twisted logic and just read the Scriptures, it all becomes quite clear. I hope you will no longer doubt the deity of Jesus, nor the personage of the Holy Spirit.9 I feel that as long as a person does not acknowledge this, he can never fully understand God. All religious cults deny the deity of Jesus, so that should tell you something right there. We have only covered a sample of what Herbert Armstrong taught. For much more information on HWA's doctrines and how he perverted the Scriptures, see our list of Books that are helpful in refuting Armstrong's doctrinal errors.
By
D. W. and
Lindsey Footnotes: 1 "Worldwide Church of God Fact Sheet" and "Information About the Worldwide Church of God," 2000-2004 states, "The Worldwide Church of God, a Christian ministry established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1933..." Also in other publications; i. e., "WCG considers denominational name change" by Joseph Tkach, October 2005 WCG Today. [Note: In May 2006 WCG Today was changed to Together.] Also see: Has WCG whitewashed Herbert W. Armstrong? (Q&A) 2 "Jesus Christ became perfect...He developed the perfection of spiritual character which enabled Him to become our Savior and elder brother. (The Ambassador College Correspondence Course, Lesson 9, p. 10 (1972). 3 "Yes, Jesus had sinful flesh." ("Millions Do Not Know What Christ Really Was!" by Herbert W. Armstrong, The Plain Truth, November 1963, pp. 11f.); "He was not the 'Son' of God until He was born of the virgin Mary." (The Plain Truth, July/August, 1955, p. 4). Also in: Why Were You Born? by Herbert W. Armstrong, p. 14; What Do You Mean...Born Again? by Herbert W. Armstrong; Who--What--What Jesus before His Human Birth? by Garner Ted Armstrong. 4 "What is the True Gospel" by Herbert W. Armstrong, 1972. Also, see quotes from the booklet, The Wonderful World Tomorrow - What it Will be Like. 5 "Do You Have an Immortal Soul" by Garner Ted Armstrong, p. 3, 1957, 1971) 6 Ibid. 7 List taken from Questions for Jehovah's Witnesses, For Those Who Love the Truth" by William and Joan Cetnar. 8 Read about this in a letter to Janis Hutchinson by Kelly Marshall. Kyriacos Stavrinides (also known as Dr. K. J. Stavrinides) had no real degree in theology and rambled a lot when explaining the Trinity to members. 9 HWA didn't believe in the personage of the Holy Spirit, yet while teaching that we must "develop character," he overlooked that sanctification is by the Holy Spirit. (See I Pet. 1:2, II Thessalonians 2:13) Read: Is the Holy Spirit Only the Power of God? (lists many Scriptures and also covers Jesus' two natures) Is Worldwide Church of God Still Holding on to Some of Herbert W. Armstrong's Doctrines? Mystery of the Ages (a critical review) (Chapter by chapter in-depth review; reveals not only Herbert W. Armstrong's twisted and unscriptural gospel, but shows his recruitment strategies, outright lies, deceptions, contradictions and plagiarisms from other groups.) My Position in Christ ((accepted and secure forever) Back to Questioning Herbert W. Armstrong (was he who he said he was?)
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