United Church of God is going through a period of great strife and division. It is splitting apart, piece by piece. Leon Walker, Larry Roybal, and many ministers and members in Latin America have been fired by UCG. Canadian pastor Graemme Marshall has resigned. Larry Salyer has been suspended. Jack Hendren has organized a new Church of God called "Church of God - South Texas". Ken Giese has resigned. And this may just be the beginning. I would not be surprised if about a hundred or more ministers leave UCG before Passover.
The majority on the Council of Elders, the chairman Melvin Rhodes, and the president Dennis Luker, as well as influential leaders such as Roy Holladay and Victor Kubik, have been put into power by the ballot of the ministry, yet since coming into power they have managed to give the appearance (and maybe the reality) of intensifying the division, whether by design or incompetence. As a result, there may be a general shift of opinion by many moderate ministers against them, and those in power may fear for their jobs if they do not get rid of many opposition voters as possible before the next election. Thus, while in the past they may have been motivated by a desire to advance their agenda, now they may be motivated by fear.
But United Church of God is only reaping what it has sown.
For years United Church of God has caused division in the whole Church of God, the entire body of Christ, not just in their own organization.
They have done this by overturning Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong's doctrine on government without biblical justification. Many of them claimed they were coming out of Worldwide because they wanted to retain their beliefs. But evidently they only wanted to retain some of the beliefs they had practiced and taught under Mr. Armstrong. Government was not one of them. They tossed that doctrine into the round file. Joseph Tkach trashed Mr. Armstrong's teaching on the identity of modern Israel, the Sabbath, the holy days, tithing, clean and unclean meats, the nature of God, and many other major doctrines, but not government. UCG trashed Mr. Armstrong's doctrine on government, picking up where Mr. Tkach left off. UCG finished what Mr. Tkach left undone.
By doing this they helped to divide and scatter the whole Church of God just as surely as Mr. Tkach divided and scattered the Church by changing the other doctrines. United Church of God and its ministers have excluded members of God's Church from their fellowship who cannot, with a clear conscience towards God, accept and support the overturning of the Church's doctrine on government.
UCG has never shown from the Bible that such a change in doctrine is justified. Their doctrinal study papers, "Godly Governance" and "Balloting in the Church", were written long after UCG was organized, and they miss the mark by a wide margin. In my opinion, they were written, not to find the truth, but to justify and promote the decision UCG ministers had made years before, and they do this with false arguments and twisted reasoning. They do not justify overturning Mr. Armstrong's doctrine.
I have just reviewed UCG's study paper, "Balloting in the Church". I think it is as biased and flawed as the doctrinal paper "Godly Governance", maybe more so. It contains many errors and much flawed reasoning, which I plan to talk about in future posts. Its main strategy seems to be to blur the distinction between ruling with authority and giving counsel by expressing opinion. It paints UCG governance as "giving counsel" or "expressing opinion", then uses Bible examples to show that it is not wrong to express an opinion. But balloting in UCG is not the sharing of opinion or the expressing of views. It is not an opinion poll to give counsel to those who make decisions. It is collective authority. When balloting results are empowered with legally binding authority, the ballot process becomes a means for the majority to force its will on those who disagree.
Many UCG ministers are finding out that balloting-box government is a means for the majority to force its will. But they should have understood that before, and maybe some of them did. It is not safety in a multitude of counsel.
Ballot-box governance is taking to oneself the prerogative of joining with others to make a decision that will be binding on those who may disagree. In other words, it is using FORCE to try to impose one's choice on others. It is rule by the majority over the minority.
If a ballot is taken, if the results carry no authority but only express the opinion of the voters, then it is nothing more than counsel, advice, and opinion, and the decision makers can follow it or not follow it. But if the results of the ballot carry authority, it is not counsel, it is decision making and it is binding. That difference must be kept in mind when reading UCG documents about balloting because those documents tend to blur that distinction.
There is no indication of God setting up and blessing a system of balloting to make binding decisions anywhere in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation, not in Acts 1, not in Acts 6, not in Acts 15, not anywhere. Ballot-box governance is one of Satan's inventions, and in the Church it is a form of rebellion against God. It is a choice of an organization to rule itself rather than to submit to God's rule. Mr. Armstrong's teaching on this subject was correct. He got this doctrine from the Bible, just as he got the doctrines about the Sabbath, the holy days, the identity of lost tribes of Israel, God's plan and purpose to reproduce Himself, and many other doctrines from the Bible.
Balloting puts those in authority who are least qualified (those lower down in the hierarchy) to make decisions about who the leaders will be rather than those who are best qualified (those higher in the hierarchy).
UCG governance divides and scatters the whole Church of God because many members respect the judgment of Mr. Armstrong about government, which was based on the Bible, and cannot support UCG governance nor be part of that system. Thus that unbiblical system EXCLUDES those who choose to live by every word of God in the matter of governance. It separates members and ministers in UCG from members and ministers outside of UCG who obey the Bible.
Members who respect and agree with Mr. Armstrong's teachings and want to live by every word of God in the Bible are often faced with a choice: violate their conscience in order to fellowship with and support United Church of God and its system of governance, which they believe to be wrong, or remain loyal to God and be separated from members, friends, family members, and ministers in a local UCG congregation. By forcing members to make that choice, the United Church of God ministry may be causing some of them to sin (Romans 14:22-23, Matthew 18:6-7).
How can members trust ministers who place themselves under the authority of the voting of men rather than Jesus Christ?
In effect UCG pastors have abandoned part of God's flock (John 10:11-16). They have abandoned the sheep who are most faithful to Mr. Armstrong's doctrines that he taught correctly from the Bible. UCG pastors often refuse to serve those members unless those members first agree to support UCG's wrong form of governance. They have disobeyed and betrayed the instructions God the Father gave through Jesus Christ when He told Peter, "Feed My sheep" (John 21:15-17).
They have abandoned part of Christ's flock, refusing to serve them, and they share in the responsibility for dividing and scattering the Church of God and its members.
And now they are reaping what they have sown (Galatians 6:7). God is bringing on them some of the hardship and suffering they have brought on others. God is allowing strife and division to scatter the ministers in United Church of God as those ministers have also scattered others.
More to come...
Here are links to related sections in Preaching the Gospel:
A Brief History of the Scattering of the Church, Chapter 5
The Cause of the Church's Scattered Condition, and the Solution, Chapter 5
Government in the Church, Chapter 5
Following the Bible -- Pattern of Government, Chapter 6
Church Government, Chapter 7
How Is the Church Organized?, Chapter 7
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6 comments:
What can I say other than, "Wow!"? You definitely need to quit reading Malm's blog, because his methodology of "logic" is rubbing off on you.
I'm going to make a point, and I hope don't take this as mocking. However, maybe it will shock you (and some others) back into reality.
Try this on for size:
"UCG's stance on makeup divides and scatters the whole Church of God because many members respect the judgment of Mr. Armstrong about makeup, which was based on the Bible, and cannot support UCG's makeup doctrine nor be part of that system. Thus that unbiblical teaching EXCLUDES those who choose to live by every word of God in the matter of makeup. It separates members and ministers in UCG from members and ministers outside of UCG who obey the Bible.
"Members who respect and agree with Mr. Armstrong's teachings and want to live by every word of God in the Bible are often faced with a choice: violate their conscience in order to fellowship with and support United Church of God and its teaching on makeup, which they believe to be wrong, or remain loyal to God and be separated from members, friends, family members, and ministers in a local UCG congregation. By forcing members to make that choice, the United Church of God ministry may be causing some of them to sin (Romans 14:22-23, Matthew 18:6-7)."
Or, take any other subject upon which reasonable people might disagree and run it through the same filter.
I think it's time to update my "Words and Phrases Not Found In the Bible" to include:
One-man rule
Top-down hierarchy
Thou shalt not ballot
Preeminent apostle
Thou shalt have one to lord it over the brethren
The Church is God's government
In fact, there are only a couple of passages that even mention "preeminence", and one of those is 3Jn 1:9.
It is far too easy to misapply events and circumstances and try to stuff them into our vain imaginary boxes of how things are (cf Jer 44:16-18).
No one can seem to reply to the fact that if a top-down government is "God's government", then why do most evil dictators in this world choose that form of governance?
But, of course, we have COG examples as well. After all, if that really is all that matters, then PCG and COG-PKG must be very happy and blessed organizations. Little do their followers know that their leaders are leading them to despair and ruin.
How long will the COGs deceive themselves? When will they stop concentrating on unimportant BS like government and makeup and truly seek out righteousness? When will they stop playing church and actually start practicing the things Jesus taught?
"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."
Makeup is not as major a doctrine as Church government. Also, a woman in UCG can quietly avoid using makeup if she doesn't agree with UCG's teaching. But a member of UCG cannot avoid supporting a system of ballot-box governance with tithes and offerings paid to the corporate authority based on voting. There is a vast difference of scale between the makeup issue and government.
Now, instead of makeup, try a major doctrine, like which day is the Sabbath, or, is God a trinity, or do we have immortal souls? Would false teaching in those areas divide the Church? It would and it has. Government is as important an issue as any of those.
Government is important because the leaders of UCG have rejected the administrative rule of Jesus Christ over the organization and instead have substituted the collective rule of the ministry over themselves.
No top-down government is not always God's government. But it is when God is at the top of the hierarchy.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. So you want the righteous to be in authority, right? Who do you trust to pick out who the righteous are and put them in authority? 500 ministers? Well, that is what you have in UCG. Are the people rejoicing?
One more thing. You use makeup as an example. Can makeup divide the Church? Yes, to a lesser degree than government, but it can contribute to dividing the Church IF a fellowship overturns Mr. Armstrong's judgment without showing the brethren, from the Bible, that the judgment should be overturned. Before Mr. Armstrong's teaching on makeup is changed, a fellowship should publish a paper or an article thoroughly going through that subject in the Bible and showing that Mr. Armstrong was wrong. If they can't do that, then it shouldn't be changed.
Before Mr. Armstrong's teaching on makeup is changed, you would have to know what his teaching on makeup was!
I.e. originally there was no particular policy on makeup, then it was banned, then it was ok, then it was banned again, and then of course under Tkach, it was ok again.
Exacly which teaching of HWA would you need to show wrong - no policy, ban or ok?
I am referring to Mr. Armstrong's teaching in the final years of his life, that makeup was banned.
I find this post to be most interesting and perhaps useful to the thinking person, however, there are those who seem to be on top of current things who still have missed a lot. My audio on "Doctrines of Demons" might be helpful. John said;
"No one can seem to reply to the fact that if a top-down government is "God's government", then why do most evil dictators in this world choose that form of governance?" To that I have a very simple reply; Satan the devil is the best counterfietor the world has ever known--of course his government is top down government! anything going contrary to true doctrines are doctrines of the devil or demons. I am very surprised that so many have never realized that the very first change in WCG was Government--from Godly to Satans--both top down-- but one striving (imperfectly, yes, being human driven) to go God's way, and the other turned selfish, then totally away from God.
I have downloaded the article from LCG and will read it. I thank the author for this post.
The editor
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