Philadelphians Are Not to Hold Fast to a List of Doctrines

Christ tells Philadelphia to hold fast to what they have.  "Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown" (Revelation 3:11).   There is something Philadelphians have that they are to hold fast to.  But what?

What is it that Philadelphians are to hold fast to?

Some say a list of doctrines.  But Mr. Armstrong was a Philadelphian before those doctrines were finished.  What did he hold fast to?  Mr. Armstrong had the open door promised to Philadelphia long before he had all of his 18 restored truths that people claim we are to hold fast to.  How could he hold fast to doctrines that he was still in the process of learning?  How could he hold fast to some doctrines he himself did not yet have?  Yet, it is to him and other Philadelphians that Christ says, "See, I have set before you an open door" (Revelation 3:8) and also, "Hold fast what you have" (Revelation 3:11).  Both statements are in the same message.  But when did that message apply to Mr. Armstrong?

Mr. Armstrong was given an open door in 1934.  So this message applied to him as of that time.  So as of 1934, Christ says to Mr. Armstrong, "Hold fast what you have".

But what did Mr. Armstrong have in 1934 that he was to hold fast to?

It could not be a list of restored doctrines.  He had a few restored doctrines at that time, such as the identity of the lost tribes of Israel and the truth that the Church of God was to keep the holy days.  But other truths, such as God reproducing Himself in mankind, he did not have at that time.  He was yet to restore much truth years after he was given an open door for preaching the gospel in 1934.  He was years in the process of restoring truth long after he was first given the open door and while that door remained open.

Yet in the same message in which Christ said He had given an open door to Mr. Armstrong, He told Mr. Armstrong to hold fast to what he had.  I repeat the question - what was Mr. Armstrong to hold fast to in 1934?

Not only were doctrines to be restored incomplete in 1934, if Mr. Armstrong thought this passage meant he was to hold fast to the doctrines he had - not changing anything in other words - it could have inhibited him from learning new knowledge and restoring the doctrines that remained to be restored.

What was Christ telling Mr. Armstrong to hold fast to when Christ spoke to Mr. Armstrong through the Bible in 1934, 1938, 1940, 1945?  Did Christ speak to Mr. Armstrong through the verses of Revelation 3:7-13 from 1934 to 1945 and shortly later?  Yes, if Mr. Armstrong was a Philadelphian during those years.  Was he?

Yes, because he had the open door promised to Philadelphia.

So during those early years of the Philadelphia era of God's Church, Christ, through the Bible, told Mr. Armstrong to hold fast to what he had.  "Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown" (Revelation 3:11).

In other words, the command to hold fast does not seem to come later than the promised open door.  They are part of the same message, so I would expect they would apply at the same time.  It is probably because of something Mr. Armstrong had, which he was told to hold fast to, that Christ gave him an open door.

So Mr. Armstrong had something, something Christ valued, and because of it Christ gave Mr. Armstrong an open door.  Christ then, in the message to Philadelphia, tells Mr. Armstrong that He has given him the open door and tells him to hold fast to what he had.

And the same thing applied to those coming into the Church during the Philadelphian years - true Philadelphians - who came into the Church in the latter 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s, etc., who, together with Mr. Armstrong as part of the Philadelphia era of the Church, had an open door for preaching the gospel.  They came into the Church and had an open door during the years when the restored truths were in the process of being restored.  So it could not have been a list of doctrines they were to hold fast to because those doctrines were not yet complete.  

What Mr. Armstrong, as a Philadelphian with an open door, had that he was to hold fast to, and his Philadelphian supporters with him, was the same thing that Philadelphians have today that they are to hold fast to.

What was that?

It could not have been a list of restored doctrines or even the whole body of doctrine that he taught, which was not complete before the 1950s.  It was something they had from the time the Philadelphian work started with an open door from 1934 on.

What Mr. Armstrong had, what he held fast to, what Philadelphians have today that they are to hold fast to, is a WAY OF LIFE.

Not a list of doctrines.  A way of life.

A way of life that caused those doctrines to be discovered.

What is more important to God, a list of true doctrines or a way of life that produced those true doctrines?

The doctrines are the good fruits of that way of life, but it is the way of life that produced those good fruits that we are to hold fast to if we want to be Philadelphian and have an open door for preaching the gospel to the world and the Ezekiel warning to Israel.

For evidence, you can look at those COGs today that try to hold fast only to a list of doctrines and see if they have a wide-open door for preaching the gospel to the world as Mr. Armstrong had.  They do not.  Holding fast to a list of doctrines does not make anyone a Philadelphian.  It won't give us an open door.

Do not Laodiceans have the same doctrines?  For the most part, not in every case, but generally they have the same overall body of doctrine from Mr. Armstrong that Philadelphians have.  They have more truth today than Mr. Armstrong had in 1934.  So that cannot be the thing that Philadelphians have, that makes them unique, that they are commanded to hold fast to.

It is a way of life that makes a Philadelphian.  It is a way of life that produces true doctrines.  The true doctrines, true doctrinal knowledge, and true doctrinal learning are the fruits or the evidence of a Philadelphian way of life, but it is not that way of life itself.  There are plenty of COG members today, and ministers, that hold fast to Mr. Armstrong's doctrines but not his way of life.  They are not Philadelphian.  They do not have the open door Mr. Armstrong had.

Those who hold fast to a detailed list of doctrines, thinking that  makes them Philadelphian, but rejecting the Philadelphian way of life, are like the Pharisees who practiced a list of do's and dont's, thinking that made them righteous in God's sight, but rejecting the way of life of loving God and loving their neighbors that God taught.

What is that way of life that Mr. Armstrong practiced?  It is a way of life that many who would like to claim the title of Philadelphian do not practice.  They do not hold fast to that way of life.

They have abandoned it.

They have not abandoned the doctrines that have come from that way of life.  But they have not held fast to the way of life that produced those doctrines.  They have abandoned the way of life that Mr. Armstrong practiced.

They use Mr. Armstrong's name, but they do not practice the way of life that Mr. Armstrong practiced, the way of life that made him a Philadelphian, the way of life he had that he held fast to in obedience to the command of Christ to Philadelphians.  They are like traditional so-called Christians who call Christ "Lord" and use His name but do not do what He said or live as He lived.

What is that way of life?

Just what I have been saying in my past posts in this blog.  The way of life is the way of practicing what we preach to the public.  It is the way of striving to obey God's commandments, of learning new knowledge from the Bible, and of believing God and what we see in the Bible for ourselves more than any man, minister, leadership, Church fellowship, or Church tradition.  It is the way of putting God first.

This is what Mr. Armstrong did.

There is irony here.  For the very mental act of committing to believing, unconditionally, any list of doctrines Mr. Armstrong taught or any other COG leader has taught, makes one NOT a Philadelphian and disqualifies him or her from the promised open door.

Our commitment must be to God's word, the Bible, not to a list of doctrines and not to any COG leader or ministry or tradition.  

Mr. Armstrong himself changed his own doctrines when he saw in the Bible that he was wrong.

I, personally, do not know of any major doctrine Mr. Armstrong taught that is wrong according to the Bible or according to history, facts, and true logic.  Small details, maybe.  But major doctrines, no.  I do not question or doubt any of the doctrines identified in any list of eighteen restored doctrines of Mr. Armstrong.  I see evidence for myself, in the Bible, that these doctrines are true.

But what if sometime in the future I notice something in the Bible that contradicts one of those major doctrines, something I never noticed or understood before?

My commitment is to God's word.  I would believe the Bible even if I had to give up my belief in one of the eighteen major restored points of doctrine that Mr. Armstrong gave us.  This is what Mr. Armstrong himself would do.  That is the way of life he practiced.

I do not expect that to happen.  I think Mr. Armstrong's major doctrines are correct.  I don't think I will have to make that choice.  But I am willing to give up any point of doctrine to believe what God says to us directly in His word, the Bible.

And I am willing to learn new things from God I never knew before in addition to the truths Mr. Armstrong restored personally.

That is what Philadelphians are to hold fast to if they are to have an open door.