Worldwide Church of God ...Herbert W. Armstrong's teachings on Catholic Church

[brb2]

Taken from his Plain Truth magazine …

“Protestantism will be absorbed into the ‘mother [Catholic] church’ — and totally abolished” … Oct. 1961 prediction.

“The final – albeit short-lived — triumph of Catholicism is recorded in literally dozens of Bible prophecies. Right now – whether we want to believe it or not — the stage is being set for the greatest revolution in religion the world has witnessed … The mighty problem of achieving unity is two-fold. First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East … Second, it involves restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism which developed from 1517 onward.” Nov. 1963 prediction.

 

[jimmy]

Taken from his Plain Truth magazine …

“Protestantism will be absorbed into the ‘mother [Catholic] church’ — and totally abolished” … Oct. 1961 prediction.

“The final – albeit short-lived — triumph of Catholicism is recorded in literally dozens of Bible prophecies. Right now – whether we want to believe it or not — the stage is being set for the greatest revolution in religion the world has witnessed … The mighty problem of achieving unity is two-fold. First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East … Second, it involves restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism which developed from 1517 onward.” Nov. 1963 prediction.

Was he saying this as a negative thing? Is the Catholic Church the whore of Babylon to him? Or is this unification a good thing?

 

[Byzantine_Wolf]

Either way, it only takes one false prophesy to reveal a false prophet.

 

[MJE]

I have a friend who belongs to this WW Church of God. No Christmas. No Sunday worship but Sat. from Friday @ sundown til Sat sundow. I remember a family member saying, about 30 yrs ago, “I have not heard about HW Armstrong since he use to sell vacuum cleaners in Ilinois”.
I can not believe this group is growing. Is it?

 

[brb2]

I can not believe this group is growing. Is it?

It’s now called the Philadelphia Church of God … they still follow the tenents/prophesy of Herbert W [died in 1986]. Their magazine is now called THE PHILADELPHIA TRUMPET … a free subscription, and an interesting read.

 

[Mattapoisett64]

I also think Armstrong taught beliefs involving America and Great Britain as explicitly being in Bible prophecy, as well as the “Lost Tribes of Israel” as having migrated to North America. His son, Garner Ted Armstrong, used to have a radio show years ago, before being booted out of Dad’s movement. I don’t think he thought that the supposed Catholic Church’s absorption of Protestantism was a good thing, but he was much more careful of his language than the rabid “whore-of-Babylon” types.

 

[Harpazo]

Taken from his Plain Truth magazine …

“Protestantism will be absorbed into the ‘mother [Catholic] church’ — and totally abolished” … Oct. 1961 prediction.

“The final – albeit short-lived — triumph of Catholicism is recorded in literally dozens of Bible prophecies. Right now – whether we want to believe it or not — the stage is being set for the greatest revolution in religion the world has witnessed … The mighty problem of achieving unity is two-fold. First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East … Second, it involves restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism which developed from 1517 onward.” Nov. 1963 prediction.

That’s interesting. I was born and raised in the WWCG until age 8 when my family became Methodist. Didn’t the WWCG stem from the same movement as the SDAs and Mormons? I know that for a while the WWCG was considered pseudo-Christian and recently adopted belief in the Holy Trinity (maybe 15-20 years ago?). For a while other Protestants did not consider them Christians.

In Christ,
Andrew

 

[losh14]

Didn’t the WWCG stem from the same movement as the SDAs and Mormons? I know that for a while the WWCG was considered pseudo-Christian and recently adopted belief in the Holy Trinity (maybe 15-20 years ago?). For a while other Protestants did not consider them Christians.

The anti-Catholic eschatology, rejection of any resemblance of ritual, and chronic tendency to prophesy all seem to draw from Restorationism, which when combined with Nativism looks a lot like classic SDA (think National Sunday Law) and Jehovah’s Witness. I gather modern SDAs are a little more easy-going, which could be why certain extreme groups spring off them.

Restorationism was an attempt in the late 19th century to get back to what was understood by the movement as first-century Christianity. There’s a modern movement among Catholics to approach the same but we go through the writings of the Early Fathers. I have no idea where the Restorationists got their ideas because they generally took only from Scripture (often only KJV) and filled in the rest. There’s a Facebook group I’m actually following that tries to bring Early Fathers in support of a primitive baptist theology - except the guy has to take only snippets to do it. Interesting.

Anyway, glad you asked. Fringe always make an interesting topic.

 

[brb2]

I also think Armstrong taught beliefs involving America and Great Britain as explicitly being in Bible prophecy,

.

Yes he did.

Currently their church teaches ///// “there’s a long-held tradition in traditional Catholic circles that England is ‘Mary’s dowry’. The tradition holds that the Godhead gave England to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a gift in all perpetuity as the mother of the church. Based on that tradition, the Vatican has sought to reclaim the dowry since King Henry 7 severed the relationship between the church in England and the Church of Rome in 1536. Already in the UK more Catholics than Anglicans attend church services regularly. If many Anglican congregations were to switch, then Catholicism would become by far the most dominant religion in Britain.”

 

[Javl]

Armstrong taught the doctrine of Ango-Israelism. That is that the inhbitants of all of England are in reality one of the lost tribes of Israel. Angol-Saxsons are Isaac’s ( Sax )
sons ( Sons ). A more readily and quite thoroughly researched treatise on the subject of the WWCG can be found in the book “The Kingdom of The Cults” by Dr. Walter Martin. It is available at any Christian bookstore.

PAX DOMINI

Shalom Aleichem

 

[losh14]

Armstrong taught the doctrine of Ango-Israelism. That is that the inhbitants of all of England are in reality one of the lost tribes of Israel. Angol-Saxsons are Isaac’s ( Sax )
sons ( Sons ).

No kidding. I did some paleographic research (old books, in this case 1520) in undergrad and came across one tome written in Castilian that explained the Chinese as descendants of Shem because their writing was as indecipherable as that of the Hebrews.

Funny the ideas people get when they have no training in a field of study. Consider Hal Lindsay’s argument that Gog and Magog refer to modern Russia - an idea that I’d think is shaped more by the anti-Communism of his upbringing than by anything tangible.

 

[BrianH]

the Worldwide Church of God is now the Grace Communion International. They changed the name and repudiated almost all of Armstrong’s teachings.

 

[Javl]

No kidding. I did some paleographic research (old books, in this case 1520) in undergrad and came across one tome written in Castilian that explained the Chinese as descendants of Shem because their writing was as indecipherable as that of the Hebrews.

Funny the ideas people get when they have no training in a field of study. Consider Hal Lindsay’s argument that Gog and Magog refer to modern Russia - an idea that I’d think is shaped more by the anti-Communism of his upbringing than by anything tangible.

Yep, I agree. But the best part is that Armstrong claims to have done research on the subject and that is the conclusion that he came to. He never did believe that there were never any lost tribes of Israel.

PAX DOMINI

Shalom Aleichem

 

[losh14]

the Worldwide Church of God is now the Grace Communion International. They changed the name and repudiated almost all of Armstrong’s teachings.

The wiki article (sorry, it’s quick to look up) said this name change happened in April this year but that the theological changes were intentional following Armstrong’s death in 1986 and intended to bring the church in line with mainstream evangelicalism.

This is very interesting indeed - something similar happened with the ICOC following the break with Kip McKean’s teachings.

I wonder if there’s some kind of a Hegelian dialectic that occurs with new churches - there’s a great deal of zeal and excitement, followed by an energetic formulation or reformulation of doctrine, followed by a crisis, followed by reforms that bring it similar to other churches. In other words, do we see a gradual convergence among churches? One example would be the joint declaration on Grace signed a few years ago by Catholic, Lutheran and other groups.

 

[yellowbird]

the Worldwide Church of God is now the Grace Communion International. They changed the name and repudiated almost all of Armstrong’s teachings.

I think the church splintered into several different groups. I have a friend who grew up in the WWCG. Her parents were both very active, as were all of her five sibblings. She married a fellow church member and they moved. The branch my friend & her husband attended adopted all of the new beliefs like the Trinity but her family’s branch kept with the old. It created a big rift in the family and now her own parents no longer even go to church.

For me, it’s one more example of why God established a Church and gave it His authority. Otherwise who’s to say who is right and who is wrong… it all becomes a matter of personal interpretation & opinion.

 

[mission10]

yes the this church has splintered into many, many off shoots. Here is a website that keeps an update on many of the splinters. ambassadorwatch.blogspot.com/

For me, I am trying to understand where Mr. Armstrong believed he was leading the only “true church”. I see a big gap in time from when he formed his church.

My husband was raised in this church from an infant until the age of 18. His whole family attends United Church of God - the biggest splinter group when Worldwide Church of God split. I believe this occured in 1995. I am hoping that this website will help me to defend my faith when i am questioned or hear something that doesn’t make sense.

 

[cbmilne33]

Yes I do agree with some of you who have noticed the so-called civil war that has made the Worldwide Church of God into about 400 odd splits who hate each others guts even when some of them are still of the Herbert W.Armstrongite tradition.I am a former YOU(Youth Opportunities United)member of the chapter of the Hamilton,Waikato,New Zealand Worldwide Church of God.My blogsite in that area is sabbatarianwatch.blogspot.com
It seems that by choosing the Joseph Tkaches Senior and Junior as his successors who destroyed his teachings that HWA has effectively admitted he was a gutless fraud who did not state that when he was alive.

 

[Jon_Hus]

Buried deep in the bowels of post #8 is a point that I have been trying to make unsucessfully:

. There’s a modern movement among Catholics to approach the same but we go through the writings of the Early Fathers. I have no idea where the Restorationists got their ideas because they generally took only from Scripture (often only KJV) and filled in the rest. There’s a Facebook group I’m actually following that tries to bring Early Fathers in support of a primitive baptist theology - except the guy has to take only snippets to do it. Interesting.

Anyway, glad you asked. Fringe always make an interesting topic.

The ANF and especally the ECF as a whole are useful to get a picture of the faith at a particular time and location. Using them to prove a doctrine that is either not mentioned in the Bible or seemingly against what the Bible teaches is risky. Why you ask? Because as the poster above corectly observes, even the RCC uses snippets to make a point but more importaint, the ECF are not in agreement with each other. It is easy to prove or disprove anything by appealing to the ECF. This is why I find it amusing when posters use the references to the ECF from the CCC to prove their doctrine.

Have a nice day,
Jon

 

[LilyM]

I seem to recall that Armstrong (or the WWCG) actually predicted the end of the world sometime in the late 70s or 80s … can anyone with better knowledge confirm if this was the case?

 

[brb3]

I seem to recall that Armstrong (or the WWCG) actually predicted the end of the world sometime in the late 70s or 80s … can anyone with better knowledge confirm if this was the case?

Yes. H.W. Armstrong taught he was the new Elijah, come to usher in 2nd Coming of Christ. When he died at age 91, in 1986, within a short time the WCG was splintered into 7-8 major schismatic groups.

Currently the PCG [Philadelphia Chuch of God], claims they alone are the only true continuation of H.W. Armstrong. For a while the son, Garner Ted ran the WCG while the father was still alive. He was involved in repeated sexual scandals … and finally excommunicated [unchurched] by the father. For 15 years, G. Ted ran one of the schismatic churches until he died in approx 2003.

Gerald Flurry now heads the PCG, and is back doing TV spots on Sundays to raise money and membership. They now teach that ONLY the PCG is valid, all the others [esp. the WCG] is errant, and the Laodicean church. Recently, the WCG changed its name, and goes by another moniker. It seems to be in severe decline.