The Painful Truth Blog

Should The Churches of God Support The State of Israel?

Copyright © 2012 by Gun Lap

Introduction

Herbert Armstrong taught his followers that Christians are not to become involved in the politics of this world. He did not even allow his church members to vote.

The COGs say that when they write about political events and wars, they are writing about events fulfilling prophecy. Writing about these events is one thing, but losing balance and objectivity is another matter. So is taking sides in politics, as some churches are doing. That is not being a good Christian in the COG tradition, and it’s not even good journalism.

Yes some churches of God openly take sides on the Israeli-Palestinian land issue. Vastly out-gunned Palestinians are portrayed as land-poachers while Jews in tanks are portrayed as heroes defending their God-given land.

Not only are some supposedly inspired church leaders taking sides, but they seem to have forgotten who owns that land!

According to British-Israelism, God gave the land of Palestine to the tribe of Joseph, not to the Jews. The Jews therefore, have no right to that land at all. This is something that some Church of God leaders do not seem to understand, even though their founder, Herbert W. Armstrong, at least at one time, made it very clear.

Here is what Armstrong wrote about who rightfully owns Palestine, in his 1955 Plain Truth article Palestine Sputters all over United Nations.

The Jews think they are birthright Israel, and believe this land belongs by God’s birthright to them. And “silly dove” Ephraim (Hos 7:11), not realizing that she is really the birthright tribe of the House of Israel–the nation that God decreed should obtain Palestine December 9, 1917–blindly tried to build a national home for the Jews in this land, and at the same time blundered into a contradictory pledge to establish it as a home for the Arabs! (The Plain Truth, Nov-Dec 1955, page 5, here).

Later in the same article, he reiterates his point:

What a muddle! The Arabs believe Palestine should be theirs because they are descended from Ishmael. The Turks want it because they come from Esau. The Jews want it because they come from Jacob, but through Judah. Yet it belongs to none of them by divine right! It belongs to Great Britain and America, into whose hands God placed it, but who have been so valiantly trying to maintain it for Jew and Arab. (The Plain Truth, Nov-Dec 1955, page 7, here).

In other words, the Jews have no more right to the land than the Arabs! According to Armstrong, the land “belongs to none of them [Arab, Turk or Jew] by divine right!”

That Warm And Fuzzy Feeling (Mostly One-Sided)

Some COG writers, those from the PCG in particular, seem to be losing their composure on this issue, getting indignant and almost hysterical in their condemnation of Palestinians, while getting “warm and fuzzy” in their support for Israel.

Instead of supporting Israel, perhaps the COGs should be outraged that Judah has occupied (in a sense, stolen) Joseph’s land. If the Arabs were taking land from the U.K. or the U.S.A., invading Oklahoma for example, probably all these churches would condemn them as land-poachers. So why do some churches think it is a light thing for the Jews to do it? If anything, stealing land from a brother could be even worse.

Some “ministers of God” think the Jews really should have the land. Herbert Armstrong, at least in 1955, was thinking more logically on this issue than some of his followers do today. They seem to have forgotten what he said and seem to have become swept up in the emotions and political discourse coming from the news media.

Thou Shalt Not Kill

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is politics. Churches and their members are not supposed to be involved in politics. But it’s not just politics. Let’s not forget that it is a WAR. There are tanks, guns, and rocket launchers involved. Planes are dropping bombs. People are dying. Civilians are dying. Children are dying.

Much of what goes on in “Journalism” today is politics, as “Journalists” attempt to influence public opinion, rather than merely report events. It is clear that some COGs often write and report in the same spirit, trying to persuade their readers that the players on one side in a conflict are, to a large extent, the good guys, and those on the other side are pretty much the bad guys.

In the PCG’s booklet, A Warm Friend of Israel (subtitled, “Herbert W. Armstrong, The Ambassador Without Portfolio”) we read that “Though he met with the greats of the world from Asia to Africa to Europe and beyond, Herbert W. Armstrong’s greatest affection was for one tiny, new country at the heart of the world. He loved Israel, and Israel loved him back. (p. 7, here)

If such statements are true, it seems that Armstrong also lost his political neutrality somewhere along the way.

Man’s Laws

The COGs place great emphasis on obedience to man’s law, but do the Jews respect man’s law? Not according to Amnesty International which says the Israelis are bulldozing Palestinian homes in defiance of international law:

For years, the Israeli authorities have pursued a policy of discriminatory house demolition, on the one hand allowing scores of Israeli settlements to be built on occupied Palestinian land, in breach of international law, while simultaneously confiscating Palestinian lands, refusing building permits for Palestinians and destroying their homes. The land vacated has often been used to build illegal Israeli settlements. International law forbids occupying powers from settling their own citizens in the territories they occupy. (March 11, 2008, Palestinian Homes Demolished Without Warning, www.amnesty.org, here).

Is the PCG just as critical of Israel every time a Palestinian house is bulldozed (as shown in the photo) as they would be if a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a house owned by Jewish settlers? All I can remember from my days in the PCG is that we were very pro-Israel, and that the Palestinians were always the bad guys for whom we had little sympathy. I hope other COGs are better, and, to some degree they probably are, since Gerald and Stephen Flurry seem to be going off the deep-end. But I would still be surprised if any COG exists which is not at least somewhat biased in favour of Israel. They have all inherited a lot of Armstrong’s views. Despite what he wrote in 1955, later in his life Armstrong seems to have been pretty cozy with the politicians in the state of Israel.

Despite the source, let’s see what the PCG says about Armstrong’s (alleged?) special friendship with the Jewish state.

Mr. Armstrong believed in the glorious future of Jerusalem. He flew to the new nation of Israel more frequently than anywhere else; during one four-year period, he returned about 50 times. (A Warm Friend of Israel, page 5, here).

From that description, we might think Armstrong cared more about the biblically illegitimate (according to British-Israelism) nation of Israel than he did about biblically legitimate nations such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, or other “nations of Israel.” How many times did he visit those nations?

The PCG booklet continues:

The first official to welcome Mr. Armstrong into “a partnership with Israel” was a signer of the 1948 Declaration of Independence, Tourism Minister Moshe Kol. From that initial partnership at the Knesset in 1968 to his death in 1986, Mr. Armstrong met with President Zalman Shazar, Prime Minister Golda Meir, President Ephraim Katzir, Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, President Yitzhak Navon, President Chaim Herzog and Prime Minister Shimon Peres. (page 5).

Consider the list of names of Jewish leaders that we just read. How many of them have presided over the illegal destruction of Palestinian homes in the Israeli occupied territories?

The PCG booklet states that “… following his first meeting in the Knesset in 1968, Mr. Armstrong was welcomed by every prime minister and president of Israel for the rest of his life.” (p. 17).

So it sounds like, from 1968 on, HWA was cosy with all the Jewish leaders (criminals?) who were breaking international law by settling Jews in Arab lands (Jacob’s land from the BI perspective). The settlers began moving in soon after the 1967 war.

Note that, according to the PCG, Herbert Armstrong had a “partnership” (p. 5) with a nation of this world–Israel. The bible tells us not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers or to get involved in the politics of this world. Yet, for some reason, the PCG has no problem with Armstrong’s very warm and friendly “partnership” with Israel.

And, if the PCG booklet is accurate, neither did Armstrong.

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (New American Standard Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:14).

Instead of kissing up to Jewish leaders, Armstrong should have been blasting them. Jesus called the Jewish religious leaders of his time snakes (Matthew 3:7; 23:33). Are today’s political leaders much better?

“Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to my people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.” (New American Standard Bible, Isaiah 58:1). Though it says “Jacob” here, would God want his messenger to cry aloud against the sins of Jacob and at the same time, partner up with Judah, as if Judah is so much better than Jacob?

Terror

Note that Menachem Begin is on the PCG’s list of Armstrong’s Israeli friends. Begin was head of the Zionist terrorist group that carried out the attack at the British headquarters in Jerusalem which killed 91 people. That is what our “brother” the Jew who was a big friend of Armstrong did to us.

The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out on 22 July 1946 by the militant terrorist right-wing Zionist underground organization the Irgun on the British administrative headquarters for Palestine, which was housed in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. 91 people of various nationalities were killed and 46 were injured. (Wikipedia article King David Hotel Bombing, taken from Wikipedia on Nov 14, 2012).

Page 7 of the PCG booklet shows a picture of Herbert Armstrong and Menachem Begin in a big hug. The photo caption reads “Prime Minister Menachem Begin warmly welcomes Mr. Armstrong in 1980 during one of his many trips to Israel.”

The Wikipedia article elaborates on the Jewish terrorist attack:

The hotel was the site of the central offices of the British Mandatory authorities of Palestine, principally the Secretariat of the Government of Palestine and the Headquarters of the British Forces in Palestine and Transjordan. The attack, which initially had the approval of the Haganah (the principal Jewish paramilitary group in Palestine) and was conceived of as a response to Operation Agatha (in which widespread raids, including one on the Jewish Agency, had been carried out), was the deadliest directed at the British during the Mandate era (1920 to 1948). The explosion caused more casualties than any subsequent bombing carried out in the Arab-Israeli conflict. (Wikipedia article King David Hotel Bombing, Nov 14, 2012).

The article on Menachem Begin, says:

Menachem Begin … was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944, against the British mandatory government, which was opposed by the Jewish Agency. As head of the Irgun, he targeted the British in Palestine. (Wikipedia article Menachem Begin, Nov 14, 2012).

So, Herbert Armstrong’s good friend was the head of a terrorist group. I don’t remember hearing any COG ever mention that, yet some COGs rail against Arab terrorism today. Arab terrorists today are merely using the same tactics of warfare that the Jews used before the Jews were the official government in Palestine. But are the Jews really the official government? Not according to British-Israelism! So, does that mean they are still terrorists? They have nuclear weapons. Does that make them nuclear-armed terrorists?

Should Herbert Armstrong really have been such a good friend to Israel? What about the Churches of God today? Should they support Israel? Should their members really support those churches if they do?

Why did the PCG write this booklet in the first place? Are they hoping to snuggle up to Jewish leaders?

The WCG used to say our mission was to “tell MY people [Jacob and the Jews, not the Arabs] their sins” (Isa 58:1). If these churches are who they claim they are, they have a special mandate to expose the Jews (and the other tribes), rather than turn a blind eye to killing or to get cosy with politicians who order those killings.

If a church is hysterically, or even marginally, taking sides in a war, does that church have blood on its hands?

And if a church member financially supports church publications which adamantly or even marginally favor one side in a war, does that member have blood on his hands?

I guess that would include me because I used to think the same way. I was a victim of biased propaganda and often one-sided reporting from the media and the PCG. The reality is that Israeli treatment of Palestinians has often been positively brutal. Only a person filled with pro-Jewish bias, such as that arising from religious zeal, could support such brutal oppression and repeated defiance of international law.

Lobby Groups

In the U.S.A. the campaign finance laws are such that politicians on both sides are bought and paid for by special interest groups. Because of the wealth and political power of pro-Israel lobby groups in the U.S.A., both parties in the U.S.A. have turned a blind eye to Israeli crimes. These lobby groups are a big reason the US has been Israel’s biggest supporter. To a large degree the news media let the parties and the lobby groups get away with it. One reason they do that is because the media all support the two-party system and both parties are guilty. To expose one party would be to expose both parties. The media, both left and right (and they all seem to have a favorite party) will not so severely discredit their favorite party or the undemocratic two-party system. The news pundits and their employers are among the well-off elites that benefit from the current system.

Probably the most influential lobby group in the U.S.A. is the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Summary

Some COGs have lost sight of their own ideals. They are getting involved in politics (writing to influence public opinion), writing slanted articles on wars, and forgetting what they are supposed to believe about who has a right to the land. If the bible is true, God will hold those church leaders and the members accountable, and anyone else who supports Israel, or any other warring nation or people.

Note on AIPAC.

From the Wikipedia article American Israel Public Affairs Committee

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee … is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States. … Describing itself as “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby”, AIPAC is a mass-membership, American organization whose members include Democrats, Republicans, and independents. The New York Times calls it “the most important organization affecting America’s relationship with Israel.” It has been described as one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, DC. Its critics have stated it acts as an agent of the Israeli government with a “stranglehold” on the United States Congress with its power and influence. (Nov 14, 2012).

Due to their wealth, AIPAC enjoys enormous power over U.S. foreign policy, even though they have been found guilty of spying on the U.S..

In 2005, a Pentagon analyst pled guilty to charges of passing US government secrets to two AIPAC staffers in what is known as the AIPAC espionage scandal. (same article)

Disclaimer: Wikipedia is usually accurate on purely technical matters, but must be viewed with suspicion on all other matters. I quote it here because it is an easy source for readers to check and because other sources basically corroborate the above position.

Note on Zionism.

Zionism is defined as “a worldwide Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the state of Israel” (dictionary.com, emphasis mine). Zionism today is the fight for the preservation of that Jewish state, which is biblically illegitimate in the eyes of British-Israelism. But those who question the “right” of Israel to Palestine are often tarred with the derogatory label “anti-semite”. To question the “right” of Israel to displace Palestinians is to be attacked as a hater and persecutor of Jews. This kind of talk is really just intimidation used to prevent public debate.

Note on the term “condemn”

Some COG members might object to my use of the term “condemn.” On a number of occasions I have heard COG ministers (e.g. Dennis Leap) and members insist that they never “condemn” anyone. They speak as if “condemn” always means to condemn one to eternal damnation, and only God can do that. If you look up “condemn” in a dictionary you see that one definition is simply to criticize harsly. Some COGs do that constantly.

Note on the Party System

I call the two party system undemocratic because politicians (“representatives”) are supposed to represent the people who voted them in, not the party bosses who set policy for the party. All political parties are undemocratic. Anyone who believes in democracy should probably vote for a independent candidate who is not a member of any party.

Note on David Ben-Ariel.

David Hoover, once a member of Gerald Flurry’s Philadelphia Church of God, was a staunch supporter of Israel and Jerusalem (under Jewish control). He changed his last name to Ben-Ariel. Mr. Ben-Ariel, before he passed away, was a fairly prolific COG blogger. He often described himself as a Christian Zionist. Zionism is the term for the supposed “right” of the Jews to a homeland in Palestine.

The “blurb” for his book Beyond Babylon on Amazon.com (Nov 14, 2012) reads as follows:

Mr. Ben-Ariel clearly has a God-given love for the Jews and the nation of Israel. His Israeli lawyer has stated that David’s “future is linked with that of the Jews,” and Gershon Salomon, chairman of the Temple Mount Faithful says, “God has some special task” for him. His sacred bond with the land and people of Israel has been strengthened over the years by his service as a volunteer on eight kibbutzim (collective farms) throughout the Holy Land, including during Operation Desert Storm.

Note that David had a love “for the Jews and the nation of Israel.” I interpret “nation of Israel” here to mean the nation in the Middle East, not “modern Israel.” Why did David love the nation of Israel if Armstrong essentially said that the nation of Israel had no right to exist in the eyes of God? It seems to me that David had forgotten, or never read, what Armstrong said in the 1955 Plain Truth that I quote in this article.

Regarding his change of name, Ben-Ariel wrote,

… Isaiah 29:1 … reveals that Ariel is a nickname for Jerusalem! I now understand why God the Father had chosen Ariel for me. Anyone who knows me knows that Jerusalem is always on my mind (Jer. 51:50), especially after my first visit there to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in 1980. God has shown me that He’s stirred me up and given me a burning desire for Jerusalem and Israel (Isa. 62:1, 6-7). I finally realized that God was calling me a “son [Ben] of Jerusalem [Ariel].” (Article Source: here)

It seems likely that the eccentric Zionist Mr. Ben-Ariel was suffering from the negative effects of his former close association with the eccentric Zionist Gerald Flurry, and was still partly under Flurry’s spell. Both men thought that God was using them for a special purpose and both were hysterical supporters of Israel.

Link HERE to Gun Laps Website

Copyright © 2011, Gun Lap

If the Churches of God (COGs) are so wrong, why did I become a Worldwide Church of God (WCG) member in the first place? The answer, if we wish to analyze it from every angle, is somewhat complex, but it all comes down to one bottom line, one fundamental reason: I was tricked by dishonest literature.

I first heard about the Church of God in the early 1980s. One of the first booklets I read, which left quite an impression on my young mind, was Are We Living in The Last Days? What I didn’t realize is that the booklet contains a lot of deception, including what appears to be a bald-faced lie in which the Worldwide Church of God denied setting erroneous dates for the return of Christ. The booklet said:

For centuries a wily and crafty adversary of God (Satan the devil) has sent his false prophets to delude man into expecting the imminent return of the Messiah. Always there has been a letdown. Christ did not show up when these misguided self-appointed “prophets” said He would. Consequently, people have become doubtful that Christ really will ever return. This is exactly what Satan the Devil has desired! Because when God’s true servants stand up to announce the imminency of Christ’s return, a “once bitten, twice shy” public will not believe it! They’ve been “had” too many times! (Are We Living in The Last Days? p. 42, Ambassador College, 1971, 1973).

By calling themselves “God’s true servants” and calling those who set erroneous dates, “false prophets” of Satan, they imply that they have never set false dates. But the WCG did set false dates. So were they lying? Looked at another way, it amounts to an admission that they are false prophets of Satan, not the true servants of God. But they said they were true servants, and they can’t be both true and false.

When I was new to “the truth” I was eager to learn as much as I could, so I wrote in for booklet after booklet and reprint after reprint. Often I received a disappointing reply in the mail stating that the literature I requested was no longer in print. Booklets like 1975 in Prophecy were no longer available. This puzzled me at first, but I soon learned that liberal ministers were being blamed for cutting down on publishing during the liberal 1970s. However, the liberals were gone by the early 80s, so I should have asked myself why it was taking years just to reprint existing literature. Getting booklets, reprint articles, and the old Correspondence Course back in print could have been easily done in a matter of days or weeks, not years.

Now that this old literature is on the Internet, I can finally read it. Now it becomes obvious why the WCG did not want people to read it. They were the ones doing the date setting!

Here is one example of date setting, from The Proof of the Bible by Herbert Armstrong, dated 1958.

Here is a book—The Holy Bible—that dares to write out the future history of this world in advance—that dares to prophesy what is actually going to happen within 15 or 20 years to specific nations, including Russia, the British Commonwealth, China, the United States, Italy, Turkey, Ethiopia, and many others—most of the major nations of this world.

Near the end of the booklet, he reiterates the same time frame.

We are just coming now to the grand smash climax of this whole age when there are far more prophecies—far more world-shaking events—to happen in the next 15 or 20 years than ever happened before in the history of the world!

1958 plus 20 years brings us to 1978. No COG can tell us what bible prophecies for each of these nations were supposedly fulfilled by 1978. Yet many of them still claim Armstrong was a true servant of God and few will admit he prophesied falsely.

Armstrong’s booklet, 1975 in Prophecy, written in 1956, states:

This time the Germans are coming back from defeat faster and more effectively than they did after World War I. The comeback they are making is phenomenal—faster than any other European nation—faster than we think! (p. 7, original emphasis)

Since it took the Germans 21 years to come back from defeat after World War I (WWI), we can add 21 years to the end of WWII, which was 1945, and that brings us to 1966. So wasn’t Armstrong saying that the Germans would be back before 1966? Were they back by 1966? No, not even close. It is now long past that and still the U.S.A. could handily whip the Germans. The USA has nuclear weapons and Germany does not. The USA has the most powerful military in the world by far.

Quoting again from 1975 in Prophecy, notice how Armstrong was preaching, way back in 1956, how near the end was.

Today the stage is all set! At a certain moment, the new LEADER of this European combine will appear suddenly in the public eye. He’s already behind the scenes–in action! But the world does not recognize him! He still works under cover (p. 9).

Armstrong had no evidence to support that statement other than his own interpretation of bible prophecy. But he goes on:

We shall not have to wait much longer to know! IT’S LATER THAN YOU THINK! (p. 10).

Your immediate future … you have now read YOUR FATE [most of the people who read this in 1956 have since died of old age!] and I say to you on authority of God Almighty that it is absolutely SURE! (p. 31)

I started attending the Worldwide Church of God in the early 1980s, and by then it should have been clear that they had messed up with false dates. Many of the long-time members must have known, but did not want to talk about it, so I was unaware of the false date setting until about the time I finally left the Churches of God, almost 30 years later! The missed dates were almost TOTALLY IGNORED by everyone, but when the subject did come up, excuses were made. We were led to believe that these dates were mere speculations, never intended to be taken literally, that critics had taken words out of context to persecute the church, defame God’s work, etc. This was simply untrue, and some of these ministers and long-time members must have known it was untrue. Most or all of the literature containing false dates seems to have been withdrawn or updated to cover up the mistakes. And if anyone tried to tell me that Herbert Armstrong had set false dates I probably would not have believed it (unless they brought the proof to me in print!) because I had been led to believe otherwise! Are We Living in The Last Days said it was Satan’s ministers who set premature dates. And, I probably reasoned, if the church had really set false dates, what were all these long-time members still doing there!?

Are We Living in The Last Days? and other prophecy made quite an impression on me, but nothing had impressed me more than The United States and Britain in Prophecy. It is hard to overstate the importance of that book. It taught the doctrine of British-Israelism which was considered the key to proving the bible and a key to proving the WCG was the true church, since no other church taught this doctrine, which was considered to be vital.

The next example of deception I’d like to mention is a bald-faced lie by Herbert Armstrong himself. This lie is exposed on the Armstrong Plagiarism Research web site. After plagiarizing the old doctrine of British-Israelism (nearly word-for-word in at least several places) from John H. Allen, Armstrong claimed that the doctrine was unknown to the world until God revealed it to him.

The section I would like to quote from on the Armstrong Plagiarism Research site is rather lengthy and contains quotes within it, so I’ll use a different color of text to demarcate that quote from the rest of this article.

Did Armstrong actually claim God revealed it [the doctrine of British-Israelism, which states that the "lost ten tribes" are the USA and the UK] to him?

Some say Armstrong was not trying to pass his book [The United States and Britain in Prophecy] off as revelation from God to him personally. They say he was just writing about the subject.

However, he claimed he was Elijah prophesied to come and restore “all things” (lost doctrines) to the church. He also said Anglo-Israelism [also known as British-Israelism] was one of the truths he restored.

Also, please note the following statements from The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

Armstrong said he was doing the work of God:

God has said, IN YOUR BIBLE, that He would get the warning to His people Ephraim-BRITAIN. [1980, p. 225, last chapter, section God Said It!...].

Some day, people will wake up to realize this is the Work of God! [1980, p. 226].

This book has given the WARNING from God and His Word. [1980, p. 228].

By God’s direction and authority, I have laid the truth before you! (1980, p. 229, last chapter, section You Can Escape …).

He said he was the servant of God who had the secret of the lost ten tribes:

Yet the best minds in the world are in total ignorance of the unprecedented cataclysm that is about to strike. And why have these prophecies not been understood or believed? Because the vital KEY that unlocks prophecy to our understanding had been lost. That key is the identity of the United States and the British peoples in biblical prophecy.

That key has been found! We present it to those whose unprejudiced eyes are willing to see.

The events prophesied to strike the American and British peoples in the next few years are SURE!

God says: “Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). … [1980, p. xii, Introduction, section, Best Minds -- Total Ignorance]

Consider this last quote. Aside from the fact that Armstrong was off in his timing, since more than a “few years” have passed since he wrote this, he again implies that God is using him (and his church) to do the work of getting this message out. In other words, he says he is the servant of God leading this effort. And by calling this doctrine the lost vital key, and then quoting Amos 3:7 about God revealing his “secret” to his servants, he creates the impression that this secret was revealed to him. He quoted Amos 3:7 again later (1980, p. 225, last chapter, section God Said It!…).

In the next excerpt Armstrong excludes the possibility that Allen could have known about the lost ten tribes. Although he does not mention Allen by name, he excludes Allen in two different ways.

First, Armstrong seems to deny the existence of any Anglo-Israelite literature prior to 1950 by asserting that prophecy was sealed until “the latter half of the twentieth century” (page eight) which would be from 1950 to 2000. According to the Wikipedia article J.H. Allen, Allen died in 1930. Clearly, Allen couldn’t have known about Anglo-Israelism if it was not revealed until 20 or more years after he died.

Of course, Allen did know about these prophecies, so it is simply untrue that the prophecies could not be known until after 1950. If Armstrong did read Allen’s book, he should have known that wasn’t true.

(The Jewish Encyclopedia traces the theory of Anglo-Israelism back to 1822. See here.)

The second way that Armstrong excludes Allen, is that he asserts that only those who keep the ten commandments (which would of course include the seventh-day Sabbath) can understand these prophecies. Wikipedia says Allen was a Methodist minister who was associated with the Church of God (Holiness). I don’t know what that church taught in Allen’s day, but if Allen was not a Sabbath-keeper and part of what Armstrong called the true church, this would also exclude Allen as a possible recipient of revelation from God.

Once again, if Armstrong did read Allen’s book, he should have know that those outside “the true church” could indeed understand these prophecies. (Which implies that revelation was given to someone outside the true church, or Anglo-Israelism is not revelation.)

Even if Allen were a part of the true church, Armstrong taught that truth was lost until the Philadelphia era, which did not begin until about 1930. Allen wrote in 1902 which was during the end of what Armstrong called the Sardis era when the true church had become virtually dead and was receiving no revelation from God.

Here is the excerpt:

The plain truth is, these prophecies were written for our people of our time, and for no previous people or time. They pertain to world conditions of today, and could not have been understood until today.

One of the very pivotal books of prophecy is the book of Daniel. …

At the very close of his book, Daniel wrote: “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end … and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Dan. 12:8-10).

So the prophecies of Daniel were CLOSED, sealed, locked up until now! But today we are living in “the time of the end.” Today the “wise” do understand! But who are “the wise”? Only those who fear and obey God–and who have the master key to unlock the locked-up prophecies. God says: “The fear of the Eternal is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments” (Ps. 111:10). And even most professing “Christians” [like J.H. Allen?] refuse utterly to do that. No wonder they [people like Allen?] can’t understand.

And don’t forget, the specific key that unlocks these closed doors of prophecy is the definite knowledge of the true identity of the American and British nations as they are mentioned in these prophecies.

Stop a moment and think. If the prophecies Daniel wrote could not be understood by him; if they were “closed up and sealed till the time of the end” — till the latter half of the twentieth century [after 1950] — as the angel said and as Daniel wrote, then they were closed to the ancient Israelites of that day; they contained no message for Daniel’s time [or for anyone prior to 1950]. (1980 edition, pp. 7-8).

So, to recap, we have the following:

(1) Armstrong said that this doctrine was the lost key, i.e. a secret unknown to the world at large.

(2) Armstrong said that God reveals his secrets to his servants.

(3) He taught many times that ministers outside the WCG (which Armstrong founded) were the ministers of Satan, not the servants of God. Obviously, God would not reveal anything to a minister of Satan. Logically, this would include J.H. Allen who was a minister outside Armstrong’s Church of God circle.

(4) Armstrong said he was God’s servant and that he (and his organization which he totally controlled) alone were doing the work of God and that he had laid this information before the reader.

(5) He said the prophecies were closed, which implies they had to be revealed (opened up) with the key, which he had.

(6) He said the prophecies were closed until 1950 (or later), which is after Allen died.

(7) Nowhere in the book does he mention Allen.

And so, we ask: Did Armstrong take credit for the work of others, conceal his sources, and deliberately create the impression that God revealed this “secret knowledge” to him personally?

The evidence, which is covered in detail on the other site that we referred to, makes it clear that Armstrong plagiarized from J.H. Allen’s book which was written in 1917. So I don’t see how we can escape the conclusion that Armstrong lied when he said this doctrine was not known until God revealed it to him after 1950. He must have known that was not true if he copied it from Allen. If he was not above lying, perhaps he was directing people under him to lie also, such as the unnamed person who wrote Are We Living in The Last Days?

The subject of false Worldwide Church of God prophecy, both date setting and erroneous predictions, has been covered in detail elsewhere, so I need not list more examples here. But the reader, if he still has any doubts, is encouraged to research it further.

If I had known the truth of these matters, I never would have gone to the WCG in the first place. The way they got me into their church was by covering up their past failed prophecies and by lying to conceal the fact that Armstrong got British-Israelism and other doctrines from other men, rather than from God as he claimed.

It was fraud that tricked me into attending the WCG, forking over my money for many years, and worse yet, wasting the best years of my life. By not telling the truth, and the whole truth, about Herbert Armstrong’s past mistakes, COGs are still perpetuating the same frauds.

I was well intended but gullible. I guess I just couldn’t believe someone would have the audacity to tell such bald-faced lies. I also didn’t believe someone could put them in print and get away with it. I assumed that surely, if they did that, someone would expose those lies, and they would have to retract them. I thought, surely, their own church members would notice those lies, and leave the church. Well, many did leave the church (I wasn’t putting two and two together properly) but many more stayed, so why did all these people stay if their church was telling obvious lies? I never met the ones that left before I got there, so they never had a chance to warn me, and the ones that stayed seemed like decent honest people. They became my friends. They would not mislead me, right? Well, they did. Not so much by lying, but more by what they wouldn’t talk about. Everyone was afraid to talk much about the decade of the 70s that had just passed. They didn’t want to cause some new person like me to “fall away from the truth” and they didn’t want to get in trouble with the ministry for doing so. This conspiracy of silence, this keeping people, especially new people, in the dark to avoid “causing offense” still exists in the COGs.

It still amazes me how they distort so much, in print, and use that deception to ruin people’s lives, rob them of over 10% of their gross income, and apparently never get sued. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion is one thing, but outright fraud is another.

Suppressing the truth is also a great sin, so one has to wonder how these ministers, who know they are covering things up, can justify such deception in the name of God. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18, NKJV).

There is much more that could be said to warn prospective members; this article is just the tip of the iceberg, so keep researching and keep reading the material on sites like this one. When I first discovered “the truth” (or so I thought) in the early 1980s the Web did not exist. There were a few books exposing “Armstrongism” but I didn’t even know those books existed, except for one of them, which I think had only one chapter on the subject. I took a quick look at that chapter, but it did not impress me because it was written by a traditional Christian who didn’t like Armstrong’s unorthodox views on the Trinity, etc, without being able to properly retute them. I sure wish we had the Web in those days. By time the Web really got going it was about 1993 and by then I was “hooked” on the COGs so my mind was closed and I wasn’t even looking for a second point of view.

February, 1956

Much more could be said about Mr Armstrong's false prophecies and other COG errors than I can cover in this article.

To summarize this warning: there is a lot of information out there that can be used to decisively refute "Armstrongism." There is quite a bit on this site and even more on the sites we link to. People have sacrificed a lot of time writing up this information to help others. This effort has cost some of us tens of thousands of dollars in lost income. Don't neglect this information. Find it. Read it. Use it.

Copyright © 2011, Gun Lap

After an experience in an abusive group, the victim needs to understand how he got himself into that predicament in the first place. He needs to ask questions like: How did this happen to me? Whose fault was it? Answering those questions can help prevent being deceived again.

Well, there is a lot of blame to go around. According to the “buyer beware” principle, the victim is partly at fault for being too trusting and deceivable. But the main culprits are the liars who trapped him. We don’t put victims of other frauds (e.g. financial fraud) in jail even if they were naive. We only put the perpetrators in jail.

I put together a list of people, institutions, and organizations who share some of the blame. A few of the items on the list require a bit of explanation, which can be found in the footnotes.

In no particular order, here are some of those who deserve a share of the blame.

• All those ministers who lie (no shortage of those).
• All those ministers who are opinionated (there are a lot of those too!).
• Downright bullheaded ministers who have seen proofs they are wrong but refuse to accept them (there are a lot of those too!).
• Governments, IF they legally protect the “religious rights” of dishonest church leaders to lie and deceive, but not those of the abused church members to not be lied to and not be robbed of their time and money (see footnote 1).
• Schools and parents for not teaching children to recognize scams, deceivers and sociopaths.
• Schools and parents for not teaching children how to think more logically (what we get is mostly memory training).
• Parents for leaving education to inept and politically correct schools.
• Parents, if we grew up in a Church of God.
• A ruthless, crazy, global political system that offers no security and threatens the safety of everyone on earth (see footnote 2).
• Corrupt, predatory, sick societies that make people long for a better world (the blame here must be shared by everyone to one degree or another, but mostly by those who are the most corrupt and predatory).
• Corrupt mainstream churches that make people seek better alternatives.
• Mainstream churches with no inspiring vision, that make people seek better alternatives.
• Mainstream churches that cannot properly refute many claims made by leaders of unorthodox sects.
• The people who wrote the books of the bible, the scholars who defend it, and the preachers who promulgate it.
• The news media for scaring people with the idea that “runaway global warming” is producing abnormal weather that is only going to get worse (see footnote 3).
• The victim himself for being too trusting (gullible) and maybe too hasty, not doing enough research beforehand.
• Church members who knew there were serious problems and should have got out a lot sooner, but set a bad example by continuing to attend, and helped the churches to deceive others by continuing to support the churches financially.

Well, that’s my list. I hope I didn’t miss anything major.

In my view, most of the blame goes to those who knew, or should have known, that they are promulgating error but did little or nothing about it.

Footnotes:

1. Actually, certain religious frauds are already illegal. It might be possible to sue some of these churches in some jurisdictions. I don’t know if that is possible, but I wouldn’t rule it out. It’s been done before, e.g. the Church of Scientology has successfully been sued.

I’m not talking about making doctrinal errors illegal, just outright frauds, e.g. publishing altered versions of someone’s writings without informing the reader of the alterations or why they were made. If that’s not illegal, it should be.

By the way, if some church publishes material with the author’s name on it (e.g. Herbert Armstrong’s name) and they misquote the author by altering his words, is that not bearing false witness to what he said and stood for? How can a church can justify such actions? Yet it is our understanding that some of Herbert Armstrong’s works have been altered and republished without the readers being told about critical doctrinal changes that were made.

2. The insecure global system makes people seek safety in religion. It also makes people uncertain of the future, which makes prophecy seem attractive because prophecy claims to explain where world events are leading and the basic causes behind them.

3. After spending over 100 hours (estimated) researching “global warming” I’m now convinced most of what we hear is hype. Many religious people think weather is getting worse and that this is proof that the end is near, as prophesied by Jesus. Therefore I blame the media for unwittingly creating end-time hysteria. Their intent often seems to be to exaggerate what they think is a real phenomenon in order to “save the planet”, but the effect is to play into the hands of apocalyptic groups. Many of the increased costs from bad weather are just due to monetary inflation and increased populations in urban areas.