Article by Virginia Education
In addition, to Mystery of the Ages Armstrong wrote several books and a number of pamphlets, Bible lessons and letters. These writings are used to supplement the Bible in that they provide interpretation and inspiration for the church.
Herbert W. Armstrong was born in Des Moines, Iowa on July
31, 1892. He was raised in a Quaker family. Between the
ages of 12 and 16, he worked in many jobs and was often
complimented for his ability to work well. These
compliments caused him to realize that he had great
abilities and they ignited a flame of ambition within
him. This time of new ambition for accomplishment and
self-improvement would be influential throughout
Armstrong's life. At the age of 18, he began looking for
a vocation. In accordance with his uncle's advice that
only those who have no ambition need formal schooling,
Herbert W. dropped out of high school in his sophomore
year. He went to work in the advertising office of a
small newspaper in Des Moines. Over the next few years,
he worked with many different newspapers and sold ads
independently until 1915 when he went to Chicago and
opened his own advertising business. After having some
business success, he returned to Iowa in 1917 to visit
family; while there he met and fell in love with Loma
Dillon. They wed on his twenty-fifth birthday and during
the next three years they had two
children.
In the first few days after they were married, Loma
Armstrong would have a dream that would deliver "the
unrecognized call of God" to Herbert Armstrong. At this
time, he had not been much involved in the church even
though he and his wife had gone to church a few times. In
this dream, Christ descended among three white angels
from the sky and embraced Herbert and Loma. He then told
her that Christ would be coming to earth and that she and
Herbert were to prepare the world for his coming.
Armstrong's wife shared the dream with him the next
morning, but it was not until years later that he
realized that it was a call from
God.
By 1922, Armstrong's business in Chicago had
disintegrated. In 1924, he moved his family from the
mid-west to Salem, Oregon where he advertised for a
hardware, jewelry, department and furniture stores. He
found his greatest financial success in advertising for
the local laundry, but in 1926, the laundry advertising
business was swept from
him
It was in this same year of business failure that
"religious controversy" would strike his home. Loma had
become friends with a bible student in Oregon who had
convinced her that Saturday was the correct day to
worship. When confronted with the "news" that they had
been worshipping on the wrong day, Armstrong was shocked
and humiliated by what he considered his wife's
"religious
fanaticism."
Armstrong vowed to prove to his wife that they were to
worship on Sunday, and thus, he delved into deep Bible
study. While studying the Bible, he was confronted with
even more opposition to his religious beliefs. Doubts of
the Bible's validity were planted in his mind from his
sister-in-law who was a believer in evolution. As a
result, he included the study of evolution in his quest
for knowledge of the true religion. In Armstrong's words:
"And so it was in the fall of 1926--crushed in spirit
from business reverses not of my making--humiliated by
what I regarded as wifely religious fanaticism, that I
entered into an in-depth study of the Bible for the first
time in my life
The more Armstrong studied, the more convinced he became
that evolutionary evidence was not based on scientific
data. Armstrong looked at scientific "evidence" and
studied the Bible's account of special creation and found
that "there was no proof" of evolutionary theory and that
it had all been conjecture and
supposition.
As he continued in his original quest, to prove his wife
wrong, he found that he had been incorrect. He asserted
that Jesus had been crucified on Wednesday, not Friday as
is generally assumed, and he was in the tomb for three
full days and nights (this would become one of the
central beliefs in what would later became know as
"Armstrongism"). In his autobiography, he insists that,
although he didn't realize it at the time, this was the
changing point in his life. After realizing that he had
been wrong for so many years in his religious worship,
after having intensely studied most of the Bible, and
after having become bewildered and frustrated with his
realizations, Armstrong found himself trying to reconcile
with God and find the way he was supposed to
live.
His surrender to God led him to great joy and he began to
see everything with a new and different light than
before. It was a new light that gave him a new positive,
spiritual outlook. In the year following his religious
awakening, Armstrong was baptized and had begun to seek
out the "true church " of God. Only those churches that
worshipped on Sunday would be
considered.
In 1928, he began preaching at the small Church of God in
Missouri and in 1931, he was ordained "as a minister of
Christ 's Gospel." Armstrong moved to Eugene, Oregon in
1933, to establish his own religious following after
butting heads with various church members and ministers
over his differing theories of church doctrine. It was
there that he initiated The World
Tomorrow , a religious radio show
that is said to have once been the most widely
broadcasted religious program in existence. It began as a
simple religious program that would condense an entire
church sermon into one half an hour and expanded to later
become the Radio Church of
God.
In addition to using his radio broadcasts to widen his
audience base, Armstrong also used print and television
media (television did not come into play until the late
1940s, after the end of WWII). Realizing that in order to
be successful, he must have a follow-up
to The World
Tomorrow , Armstrong set out to
publish a magazine he had been dreaming up since 1927
called The Plain
Truth . He used his prior magazine
experience to publish a magazine that would "bring to the
world God's truth-making it
PLAIN!"
The role of Armstrong in the
Church. As the founder
of the movement, Armstrong alone headed the Worldwide
Church for over 50 years. As the movement grew in size,
the number of individuals required to keep the movement
growing increased. Thus, Armstrong had to bring in
outside help. The most prominent of those that he brought
in (and the expected successor to Herbert W.) was Garner
Ted Armstrong. Garner Ted was Herbert's youngest
child.
"A few years after my father began serving [as Pastor General], he appointed people such as Michael Feazell, Greg Albrecht and me to various positions. We soon found ourselves having to answer various questions and challenges regarding Herbert W. Armstrong's former teaching....Some of the questions that came were new, unique in that we hadn't seen such challenge before. As we would independently do our individual research to answer certain questions, we all found that the things Herbert W. Armstrong was teaching were in error, both historically and biblically."
29
Joseph Tkach, Sr., the denominational leader, was also
having problems believeing in Herbert W.'s insistance
that they were the only true Christians when he was
witnessing people giving their lives for missionary work.
This coupled with the "errors" found by his son and other
administrators opened up Tkach, Sr. to thinking that
Armstrongism could indeed be
wrong.
The goal was to make changes slowly and to explain them
thoroughly for all to understand, "but that ended up
being an impossible
dream."
Move Toward Orthodoxy Splits Worldwide Church of God
One of the first major Armstrong doctrines to be
invalidated was that establishing going to doctors as a
sin. The Church had formerly taught that going to the
doctor was a very sinful thing. Christ was said to have
given his blood for spiritual sin and his body for
physical sin; thus, to go to a doctor was to be
unfaithful to God and similar to asking Satan for his
help. The administrators announcement that the church
would no longer support those who kept their children
from doctors, rattled the church. According Tkach, Jr.,
about 5% of the members did not agree with the change but
very few left the
church.
The next major doctrinal change, and the one that would
cause some of the greatest confusion and the beginning of
the mass exodus from the church, was the acceptance of
the Trinity. Armstrong had taught that believers were not
born again until the resurrection and the only road to
redemption was to attend WCG, the "true church." When the
church leaders re-examined that belief in the light of
scripture they came to reject the teaching that human
beings were meant to become gods. This, in turn, led them
to revise their doctrine of the nature of God. This in
turn led them to accept as true the Trinity of the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In addition to accepting the
Trinity, the church now also believes in salvation by
grace through faith. Further the traditional disciplines
of tithing and participating in WCG festivals that were
once said to be essentional for salvation, are now
considered to be optional, but helpful,
processes.
The shifts in doctrinal change sparked a mass exodus from
the church. In the time since the beginning of the
doctrinal changes over 30 new splinter
groups have formed. Approximately
50% of its member left the church between Herbert
Armstrong's death in 1986 and the acceptance of the
Trinity by the church in 1995. Estimates say that about
one-third of the people who left the church no longer
attend any church service, but many others have joined
one of the two major splits from the
WCG.
The first of these splinters is the Global Church of God
in Glendora, California. The church was created by
Roderick C. Meredith. Meredith was one of the original
Armstrong lieutenents. His church was established in late
1992 after he was forced out of the Worldwide Church
leadership after 40 years of ministry. In 1993, his
church boasted over 2000
members.
The second group which has received a large degree of the support that has left WCG is the Philadephia Church of God. The PCG was named for the church of Phildelphia in the book of Revelation and it now claims that it is the true church.
More on the Philadelphia Church of God
After Armstrongs's death in 1986, the changes in the
church came relatively quickly and thoroughly. As
doctrinal changes occurred and Herbert W.'s works began
to slowly be withdrawn from circulation, questions began
to mount. Initially, the new leaders of the WCG (Tkach,
Sr., Tkach, Jr., and their associates) allayed suspicions
of change by telling questioners that works were being
pulled for financial reasons and minor errors. Months
later, as more works began to be discontinued and altered
so as to water down the message of Herbert Armstrong, the
elder members became distressed. People slowly began to
drift away from the church. Those who were leaving
alleged that the Worldwide Church of God had "strayed
from its original God-given calling and [had] become
merely another church
denomination."
A turning point in the conflict occured when the church
sought to discontinue Armstrong's
book Mystery of the
Ages , because of "doctrinal
errors." Many who saw Armstrong's doctrine as life law,
and this book as his crowning achievement, became
disillusioned. Gerald Flurry, a minister of the WCG,
began writing Malachi's
Message , a book that revealed why
the WCG had turned away from its founding traditions
established by Herbert W.
Armstrong.
According to associates of the PCG, once Tkach, Jr. found
out about Malachi's
Message , he summoned both Gerald
Flurry and John Amos to the WCG headquarters in Pasadena,
CA. At this December 7 meeting, Flurry and Amos were told
by Tkach, Jr. that the Mystery of
the Ages "was riddled with error."
Both were fired and excommunicated from the church. Nine
days later, on December 16, 1989, Flurry and Amos held
the first official service of
the Philadelphia
Church of
God .
The rationale for Flurry and Amos' Philadelphia Church of God developed from the reading of the biblical book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. The two chapters describe the messages sent to the seven churches in Asia; Chapter Two deals with the first four of the churches. Chapter three of the book of Revalation talks about the church of Philadelphia in verses 7-13. These six verses describe the sixth of the seven letters sent in the book of Revelation. The sixth letter is sent to Philadelphia:
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens..."The Key of David is a symbol of authority (and a principle part of the PCG belief system).The door is an open door of opportunity. In the Bible, an open door signifies the preaching of a message. The designated verses go on to say that although the church of Philadelphia is feeble it will be sustained during the coming persecution. It warns that He is coming soon and that the church must hold on to what it has. If it survives, it will become a permanent and steadfast part of God's temple. Thus, the church takes the name the Philadelphia Church of God because it is believed to be the sole true church whose members will be spared when the end time comes.
In addition, the Key of David vision played a large roll in the founding of the PCG.
I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut and no one shall open.(Isaiah 22:22)
According to the Armstrongists,
In other words, the key of David vision involves a
message for all mankind. One man was delivered this
message and he was used to "raise up a work to deliver
the message" but one man could not do it alone. Those
beneath Armstrong were also responsible for spreading the
message. When Armstrong died in 1986, and the WCG's new
leaders began to change the doctrines, Armstrongists felt
that the leaders were attempting to close the door and
let the message die with the messenger. Jesus Christ ("He
that is holy, he that is true") is thought by the church
to be eternal, so his message must be eternal. Thus,
Flurry and Amos founded the church in an effort to
continue passing on the message of the "true
church."
The beliefs of the Philadelphia Church of God (and other
splinter groups from the WCG) can be categorized as
"Armstrongism." Armstrongism is defined as those beliefs
and doctrines established by Herbert W. Armstrong in his
founding and guiding of the Worldwide Church of God.
Armstrongites practicing beliefs include rejecting the
Trinity and the full diety of Jesus. In addition,
Armstrong taught British Israelism and believed that men
would become Gods.
The Philadelphia Church of God believes the Bible is "the
full word of God, inspired by God." All doctrines upheld
by the Church are provable by the texts from the Holy
Bible. The Church sees itself as being responsible for
teaching the laws of God to anyone interested in
learning, but because they believe that only God can make
a person a member of the church, they do not attempt to
convert new
members.
The church believes that Jesus Christ is the head of the
Church and that sin will separate you from God. You must
obey God's law perfectly; there is no middle ground, you
either obey God or you don't on a particular issue.
Everyone should always be looking for new ways to please
God. We should not be disheartened when we fail. We
should rejoice in our trials because it is through these
trials that we are learning to become and build the
character of God within ourselves before the end time.
The church is responsible for telling when the second
coming will occur.
Malachi's
Message. The prophet
Malachi said "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye
seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he
shall come, saith the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 3:1) This
verse has two applications. First, it refers to John the
Baptist who prepared the way for Jesus' human ministry
before the coming of Christ. Second, it foretells the
second coming of Christ as "the King of kings and Lord of
lords to RULE over ALL NATIONS!" Malachi's prophesy
refers to a human messenger that will prepare the world
for this second
coming.
It is believed that when Jesus came the first time
(approx. 2000 years ago), he came to "announce the FUTURE
kingdom of God." The second time he comes will be here to
establish that kingdom. Herbert Armstrong was the Elijah
that was sent to prepare the world for this second
coming. In his death, the Philadelphia Church of God has
sought to carry on his message to continue
preparations.
British
Isrealism. In its
simplest form, British Israelism (in the Armstrongian
view) is the belief that the true identity of the "ten
lost tribes" (modern Isreal) can be traced back to
Britain and its colonies (America). The tribes spoken of
in British-Israelism are described in Genesis
49:1-30.
Armstrong and his followers interpret these verses as
saying that when Israel was divided into two nations in
the Biblical era, the southern nation became the kingdom
of Judah and the northern became the kingdom of Israel.
The two tribes in the southern kingdom took on the name
of "Jews" (derived from the word "Judah"). The other ten
tribes were in the northern kingdom and in 721 BC,
Israel's kingdom was conquered and the Israelites were
driven out; thus they became the "ten lost
tribes."
These lost tribes were composed of Anglo-Saxons, God's
chosen race. In this race one can find the direct
descendents of Kind David and the heirs to the throne of
King David. According to Armstrong, "The fact is, [the
British and Americans] are mentioned more often [in the
Bible] than any other race," but they are not recognized
because they are referred to by their ancient name of
Israel.
God as a
Family. God is a Family
and a Kingdom; it is not a Trinity. Armstrongism says
that the Holy Spirit is a "heresy." Thus, the Trinity of
the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit is false. The
doctrine of the Trinity limits God to three people and
this is not what Armstrongism says the Bible intended.
Presently the Kingdom only contains two spirits: God the
Father and Christ the Son. God the Father is the
possessor of Heaven and Earth and the Father of Jesus
Christ. The other spirit is the creator of Heaven and
Earth and is the God of the Old Testament; it is the one
that became Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the first to
be born into the God Family. Jesus became part of the
family when he was resurrected; it was then that he "was
BORN a divine Son of
God."
Whereas most traditional Christian faiths believe that
one is born again at Baptism and they are forever saved,
Armstrongites believe that you are not born again until
Christ returns to earth. Armstrong taught that the term
"born again" meant "changed in spirit." According to his
teachings, Christians are only "begotten" sons now and
they have not been born again. Like Jesus, the true
believers will be born again--changed into spirit--at the
resurrection of Christ. Thus, man becomes God when he is
born again; he does not become "godlike" as other faiths
believe.
The Kingdom of God is the government of God. "When the
time comes in God's plan when all humans who will qualify
for that Kingdom have qualified and have been 'born
again' into that family, then the Kingdom will comprise
only spirit beings who are literal children of
God."
Salvation. The
Philadelphia Church of God believes in salvation by
works. Salvation by works refers to the belief that
eternal life must be earned through human effort,
religious ritual, financial donations, obedience to
church doctrines. Whereas salvation by faith believers
insist that people are saved by thier faith in Christ's
blood, the Armstrongists believe that Jesus alone, of all
humans is the only one who has been saved. While Baptism
is essential to becoming a true Christian, it does not
gaurantee your salvation. "One who is born of God is
merely begotten spiritually. He is not yet really born.
Only those who develop spiritually shall finally be given
immortality."
Evolution. Armstrongism
does not support the theory of evolution. One of the
reasons the Philadelphia Church of God refutes the idea
of evolution is that in Armstrongs taught that many of
the dating methods for fossils have been proven wrong.
Herbert Armstrong, in his search for the creation of man,
found that there is a circular reasoning that arises in
the dating of fossils. Geologists estimate when a certain
fossil speciman might have been alive and the date of the
strata are determined from this. Since scientists assumed
that the theory of evolution was correct, everything else
was a supposition that would allow dating of other strata
and fossils to be made in reference to things that had
been found previously. Thus, there was no "proof" of
evolution, but a number of assumptions that allowed
scientists to make other assumptions. Also, less than 1%
of the fossils found came from vertebrates which would
mean that the other over 99% (which includes vegetation
and marine life) would have had to have turned into a
large population of
homo-sapiens.
Sabbatarianism. Armstrong
asserted that Jesus rose from the dead on Saturday rather
than Sunday, as generally believed. The sacred day of
worship is to be observed on Saturday, and requires that
individuals must devote their extra time to religious
studies and prayer. Anything that is usually thought of
as a liesure activity is not permitted in this time of
sacred worship.
Personal Life
Choices. The church has
very strict rules in terms of marriage and sex and other
personal life choices. Armstrong taught his followers
that divorce was wrong. Any member of the church who was
divorced was pressured into getting back together with
their former spouses. In couples where at least one
person is on their second marriage, couples are told to
break up and advised move far apart to resist the urge to
get back together. Interracial marriages are
forbidden.
Church members are also not allowed to visit doctors;
they are only allowed to pray. Armstrong taught that
healing was a product of keeping God's commandments and
having faith. In Armstrong's
words: Healing is actually the
forgiveness of the transgressed phsyical laws just as
salvation comes through forgivenesss of transgressed
spiritual laws. It is the forgiveness of physical sin.
God forgives the physical sin because Jesus paid the
penalty we are suffering in our stead. He was beaten with
stripes before He was nailed to the
cross.
The dietary laws of the group are also quite strict.
Dietary regulations are said by Armstrong to be made by
God for the health of mankind. The church has published
lists of clean
and unclean foods . The rules of
what is "clean" and "unclean" are found in the Bible in
Leviticus and
Deuteronomy.
Religious
Observances. PCG members
observe 7 holy days annually: Passover, Unleavened Bread,
Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles and
the Last Great Day.
Tithes and
Offerings. The Armstrong
ministries (WCG and PCG) have often been attractive
because they do not appeal to outsiders in any of their
programs for money. All donations are strictly voluntary,
until one becomes an official member. After becoming a
member, individuals are required to donate two tithes
each year. All tithes are equal to one tenth of the net
salary of the member. The first tithe goes to the
church's headquarters and it is used to finance things
such as the church administration and educational
resources. The second tithe is used to pay for church
festivals and activities that are focused on keeping the
family strong and celebrating the faith. Every third year
there is an additional ten percent tithe that goes to
charity.
The Church teaches that God is a Family and a Kingdom;
God is the father of Jesus Christ. There is no divine
Trinity, and no man is the head of the Church. The head
of the Church is Jesus Christ. The Church also believes
that God is reproducing himself and that man was created
to literally become God. The Holy Spirit is a gift from
God, which leads to salvation after true repentance. In
addition, sin will separate you from God and Christ, but
one should rejoice in his trials because it it through
these trials that God builds His character in
us.
During the Armstrongian years of the Worldwide Church of
God, the organization was labeled as a cult and its
leaders were labeled as con men and brainwashers. Its
practices were belittled and denounced by those outside
of the church. Herbert W. Armstrong was said to be the
false prophet that Jesus had warned would come as a wolf
in sheep's clothing. "Armstrong fulfilled Christ's words
as he hid his false doctrines behind a Christian image
and Christian
terminology."
For much of its revolutionary period, the WCG faced much
skepticism, suspicion and ridicule from other religious
groups (and anti-cult groups). After years of doctrinal
changes and guidance from non-WCG church members, the
WCG. s departure from its traditional Armstrongism
founding began to be recognized as legitimate by
traditional Evangelical groups. In 1997, the WCG was
officially inducted into the National Association of
Evangelicals. Whereas this acceptance of the Worldwide
Church of God into the NAE has lead to decreasing
tensions between the church and the religious public, it
has increased the tension between outsiders and members
of the PCG.
In condemning the works, teachings, and practices of
Herbert Armstrong, the WCG has effectively criticized all
WCG splinter groups. The WCG, along with non-WCG church
members have urged the Armstrongian churches to realize
the errors of their beliefs. Critics of Flurry and the
PCG are comparing the organization to the WCG and its
seemingly . miraculous. turnaround. Many anti- and
counter cult groups say that the WCG's recognition of
true Evangelical beliefs and the denunciation of
Armstrongism gives more proof to their claims that there
is something wrong with Armstrong. s
doctrines.
The Worldwide Church of God has become so outspoken
against the beliefs of Armstrong that it sued the
Philadelphia Church of God for the redistribution of
Herbert W. Armstrong. s Mystery of
the Ages . In January 1997, the
PCG began to reproduce (and freely
distribute) Mystery of the
Ages which the WCG had pulled from
circulation during the early years of its doctrinal
changes. In February 1997, the WCG filed suit against the
PCG to suppress the book under copyright laws; the PCG
said it had the privilege to distribute the book under
the right to . exercise its religious freedom.. In March
1997, Gerald Flurry ran advertisements in
the Los Angeles
Times criticizing the WCG. s
doctrinal changes and its efforts to . conceal. the
teachings of the . true church. in lieu of trying to .
persuade potential believers to adopt one of two
competing
approaches."
There have also been controversies in the Philadelphia
Church of God surrounding its founder, Gerald Flurry.
Opposition to Flurry has come from a number of places
including ex-church members, anti- and counter cult
groups and Christian groups. Flurry is said to display
"typical cult-leader arrogance" and create a seclusionary
atmosphere for his church members. Some define the PCG as
a radical cult that could potentially become dangerous to
its members due to its belief that the end time is not
far off. There are also rumors from ex-members that the
members of the PCG have made plans to leave the country
at some point in the future to prepare for the second
coming.
Flurry preaches that the PCG is the only "true church"
whose members will be saved at the second coming. He
exalts Herbert W. Armstrong as the Elijah of the second
coming, and claims that he (and his church) are
Armstrong's replacements. They are the only ones who
truly know Satan and are spoken to by God; thus, they are
the teachers of the world. Those who devoted their lives
to Armstrong and his doctrines now find that they can
devote themselves to Flurry and the Philadelphia Church
of God.
Ex-members of the PCG and many PCG opponents say that
Flurry uses his power to command absolute obedience of
the church members. Flurry hold the power of
disfellowhipping members from the "true church." By
possessing htis power, he is said to be able to convince
people that they must adhere to the doctrines of the
church or be expelled in which case they will not be
saved. As a result, those that jooin the church sometimes
end up impoverished and sacrificed due to the monetary
and spiritual demands placed upon them by the
church.
The PCG has also come under pressure from anti-cult and
counter-cult groups because of its medical practices.
Because Armstrongism states that one is not allowed to go
to doctors, members and some children have died for not
having seen adequate medical attention. The church
believes that if one goes to see a doctor, it is
comparable to going to the devil for help. Only God can
save the sick, and it is only if they deserved to be
saved. This is because physical illness is thought to be
a result of physical sin. . Drugs are denounced as
poison, vaccines described as compounded from pus and
filth.. Currently there is no evidence of pending
lawsuits, but opposing groups find this doctrine to be
uncivilized and dangerous. This is one of the first
Armstrongism doctrines denounced by the WCG; the WCG
continues to criticize the Philadelphia Church of God for
its adherence to
it.
Church History and
Government
This page is provided by The Trumpet, a publication of
the Philadelphia Church of God. It contains an
aphabetical list of links to articles written in the
Trumpet that provide information about different aspects
of the Church.
http://triumph.simplenet.com/christ.htm
The Key of David Television Program
Website
This is a link to the official homepage of the Key of
David, a television program hosted by Gerald Flurry.
Flurry's program discusses the Bible prophecy, tenants of
Armstrongism and world events in relation to the Bible.
This site also has links to obtain a brief biography of
Gerald Flurry and Herbert W. Armstrong as well as other
links (inlcuding literature
requests). http://www.keyofdavid.com
Worldwide Church of
God
This is a direct link to the official WCG webpage. This
page has several links that have information about the
church's history, beliefs, publications, pastors and the
programs that it sponsors.
http://www.wcg.org/
The Plain Truth
Ministries
This is the official site of the Plain Truth Ministries.
This site provides a great deal of information about the
Plain Truth Ministries and the Plain Truth Magazine that
was started by Herbert W. Armstrong in 1933. This site is
a large compilation of links to resources that the Plain
Truth Ministries offers such as advice, subscription
information and information about the programs of the
ministry.
http://www.ptm.org/
Articles of Herbert W.
Armstrong
This site provides downloadable copies of many of Herbert
W.'s early writings. Some of the articles included on the
site are "Divorce and Remarriage," "Why Should We Have
Churches," "Which Day is the Sabbath of the New
Testament," and "The Sabbath a Perpetual
Covenant."
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~davhill/hwa.htm
Herbert W. Armstrong Library
Online
This wonderful resource allows viewers to download (for
free) 7 books, 55 booklets, 90 Bible lessons, and over
600 letters written by Herbert W. Armstrong. The books
include Mystery of the
Ages , both volumes of Herbert W.
Armstrong's Aubiography and his other major works. The
entire library can be dowloaded or users can download a
specific item or all of one type of item (books,
pamphlets, etc.)
http://www.hwaonline.org/hwaonline/
Armstrongism
This site provides quotes from Armstrong's literature
such as The Plain
Truth . These quotes are used to
explain the central doctrines of Armstrongism. Quotes are
used to define the church's stance on God, Jesus Christ,
the Holy Spirit, Sin, Salvation, Redemption, and
Retribution.
http://members.xoom.com/x_odus/CULTS/ARMSTRNG.HTML
The Lost Tribes of Herbert W.
Armstrong
This article gives information and a summary of
Armstrongism's interpretation of British-Israelism. The
article gives a fairly thorough description of Herbert
Armstrong's reasoning behind his version of
British-Isrealism.
http://www.catholic.com/answers/tracts/losttrib.htm
The BIBLE Versus Errors of
"Armstrongism"
This site is a comparative list of Bible doctrine and the
doctrines of Armstrongism on topics such as God, Jesus,
Sin, and Redemption. The article insists that
Armstrongism is faulty in all of its doctrines about the
major religious issues.
http://www.menorah.org/armstrog.html
The Graveyard Church of
God
This site contains a number of links to splinters from
the Worldwide Church including the Philadephia Church of
God official webpage. There are also links containing
information about Herbert W. and Loma Armstrong and the
prophecies of the Worldwide Church of God. The website
also has a set of links which will allow access to
electronic copies some of Herbert W.'s
literature.
http://www.herbertwarmstrong.com/links.htm
A Look at the Philadelphia Church of
God
This article was written by members of MacGregor
Ministries, a Christian Outreach to those trapped in cult
groups. The article refutes some of the major doctrines
of the PCG such as salvation by
works.
http://www.macgregorministries.org/cult_groups/philadelphians.html
Apologetics Index of the Worldwide Church
of God
This source provides a great deal of information about
the WCG. It provides links to extensive and broad
overviews of the church's history and change in theology.
In addition, the site also contains links to other parts
of the Apologetics site that explain certain terms of
Armstrongism such as British
Isrealism.
http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/w01.html
Christian Research
Institute
The Christian Research Institute is a counter cult
"para-church" which provides information about
Christianity. This site also provides information about
cults. The site has many links which are helpful in
researching Christian relgions and cults. In addition,
the site also provides electronic copies of articles for
the Christian Research Journal.
http://www.equip.org
Created
by April
Seabrook
For Soc 452: Sociology of Religious
Behavior
University of Virginia
Spring Term, 2000
Last modified: 05/29/01