DIVIDING FROM "UNITED"
by Richard Burkard
Sometimes bloggers can be direct and combative. I'm not sure if Toronto's Felix Taylor is the latter, but he certainly qualifies as the former. In the summer of 2007, he posted an open letter to me on his blog about "Life After WCG." In fact, he put my name on the title and declared: "It is time to go again!" - a reference to one of the first articles we posted here in 2000.
Felix probably never knew it, but I had been pondering the same thing for several months. It struck me during the 2006 Feast of Tabernacles how United Church of God ministers at Jekyll Island, Georgia seemed so biblically accurate and sound in their messages - while the UCG Pastor in my home area often seemed otherwise. So as I drove home from that festival, I decided to keep a one-year Feast-to-Feast scorecard on my Pastor. How true was he to the Word of God, after all?
The pastor started well, in the last weeks of 2006 - but then I noticed a sad trend emerge. He'd be on target one week, then misspeak and err the next. By the time Felix posted his challenge in mid-2007, I reviewed my notes one Saturday evening and found the pastor only "winning" with 50 percent of his sermons. (We'll explain how we define winning below.) A 50-50 count came with ten messages left before the 2007 Feast of Tabernacles, so I started a UCG version of NASCAR's "Chase for the Cup." If the pastor had a winning record in the last ten sermons leading to the Feast, I would recommit to UCG for another year. If not, I would reluctantly explore other church organizations.
I prayed for God's guidance in the matter, and prayed frequently for the pastor to be accurate and truthful with his messages. I wanted him to win - but alas, he did not. In the final ten sermons, his record was 3-5 with two services missed. Even a 4-4 record would have persuaded me to stay, giving the pastor the benefit of the doubt.
So what went wrong, after I spent seven years in UCG? Some of the pastor's misstatements actually reflect United Church of God doctrine, while other errors were made completely on his own. This article will try to sort it all out, and explain why I developed a "seven-year itch" of sorts to search for other church groups closer to Biblical truth. You may find there are lessons for members of other denominations as well - whether or not "Church of God" is in its name.
Our Scoring System
For many years I've carried an "invisible buzzer" with me when I hear a religious message -- whether in a church service, watching on television or listening to radio. I press the buzzer when the speaker makes a Biblical or factual error, without making a correction or indicating the comment was a joke. Since I live in Georgia, I applied the "two-strikes you're-out" standard used for years in criminal cases. Two strikes or more in a message equals a loss; anything less is a win.
(But we should note there are times when a comment can merit only a "half-strike" - for instance, if something is stated as proven and settled Biblical theology when in fact it is disputed.)
Church of God ministers (not merely in United, of course) have claimed for decades they speak under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, based on II Peter 1:21. On top of that, they've noted the declaration in Titus 1:2 that God "cannot lie." So based on their own Scriptural references, any mistake in a COG message should be grounds to disqualify the speaker - because either God's a liar (sorry, Satan; I refuse to accept that!), or the minister was really not "moved by the Holy Ghost" (KJV) with his words.
But any COG member who dares to connect those two verses publicly around brethren risks trouble. Some quietly might look on you as naive; others might run to the very pastor who's made an error and claim you're sowing discord and dissent. It seems to me a lot came down to how good a sense of humor the minister had, and whether he was human and humble enough to realize he's not perfect.
Get the Facts
Looking back over our "sacred year" of notes, we found several cases where the local pastor simply misspoke facts -- and it could be proven with some checking after the service. For example, he indicated the U.S. is the only country which keeps a Thanksgiving Day. Yet Canada celebrates one on the second Monday of October. Other slips ranged from who sang popular songs to which side of the U.S. Congress someone is in (House or Senate).
But there were many other cases where the minister made Biblical slip-ups - and this was a minister with decades of preaching experience in the Church of God. The errors were scattered throughout Scripture, and probably would go over the head of most "casual Christians" who attend church each weekend. How many of these would you have noted?
* "Anger is of the flesh." Then why does God freely admit He can become angry? (See Ex. 22:24, 32:10 and Lev. 26:28 for examples.)
* God punished "strange fire" from the sons of Eli. The pastor actually hesitated a moment in his sermon, before saying this - but the other option he was considering out loud actually was correct. Nadab and Abihu were Aaron's sons (Lev. 10:1-2).
* "The annual Sabbaths were in force from creation." There's no Scriptural evidence for days such as Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets before Leviticus 23, so this statement seems to be more faith-based than Bible-based.
* When a sinner has sinned, "he knows it." King Saul didn't seem to know it, when Samuel rebuked him (I Sam. 13:11-14) - and King David may not have known it (or at least was in denial about it), when he ordered the death of Uriah (II Sam. 11-12).
* God the Father is "not a person." Yet consider what Job said, from the KJV: "Will ye speak wickedly for God? And talk deceitfully for him? Will you accept his person? Will ye contend for God?" (Job 13:7-8) The Hebrew word for "person" actually means "face," but it's translated as "person" several times in the Old Testament to apply to humans. And in the 1993 "nature of God" changes by WCG, it was explained that the Father is a hypostasis in Greek - which can be translated as a person.
* False Christianity believes Christians "fly away" after they die. Yet that phrase from a famous gospel song is found in Psalm 90:10: "The length of our days is 70 years.... they quickly pass, and we fly away." (Asked about this after a service, the pastor admitted he does NOT understand what that phrase means. It's noteworthy that the UCG Bible Reading Program ignores it completely.)
* David wrote Psalm 119. The Old Testament title doesn't say that - and the UCG "Bible Reading Program" admits the author is unknown.
* The offering mentioned in Amos 4:4-5 was "fueled by sin," because it included leavened bread. But my reference Bible traces this offering back to Leviticus 7:11-14, where it's described as a fellowship offering of thankfulness.
* Jonah was dead three days, inside the great fish (Jnh. 1:17). By the pastor's own admission this is speculative, considering Jonah prayed to God "from inside the fish" (2:1).
* Christmas is "totally based on lies." Admittedly a lot of pagan customs have come to overwhelm the day (check our web site's separate article on that), but the birth of Jesus at some point and time was not a lie, if you believe the Bible.
* Jesus told healed individuals to "tell no man" of the miracles they had received. Sometimes Jesus DID give that instruction (Mt. 8:4 and 9:30, for instance) - but sometimes He told a healed person just the opposite (Mk. 5:19; Lk. 8:39).
* John 18:36 proves the Kingdom of God is not on earth now. But consider the context of the verse - as Jesus talks about not being arrested by the Jews. "Now my kingdom is from another place," He continues. Could that refer to something coming after the resurrection, when the Holy Spirit falls on the apostles?
* "Only Jesus was nailed to the cross." That's not what the apostle Paul wrote. "He forgave us all out sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations.... he took it away, nailing it to the cross." (Col. 2:13-14) Exactly how those verses are interpreted, of course, is a key Church of God dividing point.
* "God cranks out Christians slowly." So why was the machinery seemingly on warp-speed in the book of Acts, when about 3,000 people were added to the list of believers on one Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2:41) - and about 2,000 more were added days later (4:4)?
* Peter and Paul were the only New Testament disciples to write books. How quickly some forget Jude and John.
* The book of I John was a "gospel." You might find the gospel message there, but it's not considered one of the "four gospels" commonly understood to begin the New Testament.
* II John 7 applies to the modern-day Worldwide Church of God -- the church that "God left." That's a spiritually emotional appeal, from someone who felt abandoned and misled by the successors to Herbert Armstrong. But what does the verse say? "Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world." Does WCG refuse to acknowledge this?
* "You can't throw sin in the lake of fire." Why can't God do it, if the wages of sin can be? "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:14)
Is That Your Final Answer?
Then there are examples where the pastor repeatedly made the same statement, as if it was final and settled from the Bible. Listeners are left to conclude the statements are part of standard UCG doctrine - when in fact the statements are open to question:
* The Biblical definition of righteousness is found in Psalm 119:172 - "all thy commandments are righteousness." It indeed is a definition, but it's not the only definition. We have a separate article about this elsewhere on the web site.
* The Biblical definition of truth is found in John 17:17 - "your word is truth." The pastor applies that to the Bible, overlooking Jesus's other statement in 14:6 that "I am the way and the truth and the life."
* The Biblical definition of sin is found in I John 3:4 - "sin is the transgression of the law." This is another example of a definition, but not the only one. A word study of "sin" makes this clear. For instance, Samuel tells the nation of Israel he would "sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you" (I Sam. 12:23). Where is this specifically found in the Torah?
* The Biblical definition of love is found in I John 5:3 - "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments...." How a minister can claim this while ignoring the "love chapter" points of I Corinthians 13 is beyond my grasp.
* The Holy Spirit is an "it," not a "person" in the same way that God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are persons. Yet the King James, New American Standard, New International and Contemporary English Versions all call the Spirit a "he" in John 16:13. We have a separate article posted on this issue as well.
* Jesus is NOT interested in "being your buddy." Yet He called the disciples "friends" in John 15:15, after Jesus passed on all that He learned from the Father. (Asked to explain the difference between a friend and a buddy, the Pastor explained there's no "buddy relationship" in terms of gaining special treatment from Jesus simply for knowing Him or stating His name.)
* The apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. The King James Version title puts his name on it, but many commentaries admit the actual author is unknown - and The New Bible Commentary: Revised says different names were offered as far back as the time of Tertullian.
* People cannot worship on "any day" they wish -- only on the seventh-day Sabbath. Show a Church of God minister the verse where women worshiped Jesus after His resurrection (Mt. 28:9), and that statement is likely to change on the spot. You can examine our separate study on this topic as well.
Bending the Rules
"God loves rules," my UCG pastor said once during a sermon. That thinking may explain why Churches of God in general sing about the law of God more than the Savior - and why some ministers have felt compelled to add rule upon rule, governing how members should worship and live. But this same pastor allowed himself and his congregation to go against those rules several times, during our year of review - even going against rules clearly stated in the Bible.
* Women were allowed to speak out during services on several occasions, from their seats. As controversial as this might be, Paul wrote "it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." (I Cor. 14:35; NASB uses "improper")
* The pastor spoke euphemisms at least twice during sermons. Longtime COG members know that's every bit as wrong as cursing -- or so ministers taught for decades.
* The pastor spoke several times against the TV game show Deal or No Deal, indicating it was based on wrong motives of greed. Yet during the winter, he allowed the congregation to stage a Deal or No Deal game night - and never explained why that was acceptable.
The Great Disappointments
While our focus in considering the United Church of God has been at the local level, UCG has been disappointing in several areas over the last few years. Put them all together, and they don't make the denomination look good:
* Practically every Church of God claims to have a "more sure word of prophecy" (II Pet. 1:19, KJV). Yet practically all of them were blind-sided by the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
I woke up late that morning and initially thought to myself, "Europe did it. They united during the night and launched the attack!" It had happened, I thought, as some COG ministers had promised for years - "so fast it will make your head spin!" But it quickly became clear that it was not the long-warned attack from the European Colossus. UCG never has apologized for missing this major event in U.S. history, or explained how it could have been wrong. (And for the record, Jesus didn't return in the fall of 2005.)
* The "Good News Bible Reading Program" began in February 2002, promising to take readers through the entire Bible "in less than three years." As I write this, it's five-and-a-half years later - and the program hasn't had new daily readings for several months, still one book short of finishing the Old Testament. Readings from the New Testament have yet to start, even though some Home Office workers have said those readings are "mostly written already."
This situation might be called an ironic reflection on the thinking of COG's in general - sometimes so focused with Old Testament prophecies and laws that the New Testament can be overlooked.
* UCG has come across many times as a denomination which is more fearful than faithful. Perhaps that's because some members are still internally shaken by the changes thrust on them by the Worldwide Church of God during the 1990's.
Example: the 2004 Feast of Tabernacles included a Friday night Bible study at several locations. I attended a U.S. site which promised "a study for everybody," with three age groups - but the site happened to be attached to the city's main arena, which that night featured a rock concert. I showed up in faith, presuming the studies would go on as planned. Instead, I found signs on the door saying they had been canceled.
The next day, I was around a group of brethren who seemed to justify the decision by putting down the Sabbath-breaking singer. "Where was our faith, though?" I dared to ask - likening the situation to David facing Goliath. If it's really God's Feast, could not He intervene somehow so the Bible studies could go on? Not if the Feast organizers didn't allow Him to do so.
* UCG tried to launch a program on teaching "Christ-Centered Servant Leadership," beginning at the Home Office. But after a short time, it was revised to be called "Godly Leadership." I'm not sure if the phrase "Christ-Centered" was considered too Protestant, or if church leaders decided the emphasis should be on God the Father above Jesus the Son (yes, we have an article on that topic, too).
* The 2006 Feast of Tabernacles featured a renewed emphasis on dressing properly for services. The Feast site I attended at Jekyll Island had a United News article posted in the foyer explaining the dress code. The Ten Commandments and the UCG Statement of Beliefs, which you might think would be more important for a church, were not posted - even though many UCG ministers have complained about the Ten Commandments monument being removed from the Alabama Judicial Building.
(It must be noted that the UCG congregation closest to Montgomery, Alabama never did anything to protest the removal of that monument several years ago. It simply griped about it from afar, during Sabbath services. I know, because that's the congregation I attended.)
Preliminary Conclusions
So am I whistling a happy tune as I walk away from UCG, and feeling as "Unshackled" as that radio religious drama? No, not at all. I write all this with a good measure of sadness, because I long for the United Church of God to be completely faithful to the Scriptures. And of course, we should wish this for all church groups. As a Local Elder in my congregation said during a sermonette in the middle of the ten-sermon challenge: "When you hear a half-truth, it should unsettle you."
But hold on, you may be saying - I'm looking for a perfect church, and there's no such thing. Perhaps so. And I pray that Jesus would quickly come, to make His church perfect once and for all. But if I don't consider the other options for worship (and the splits from WCG in the last several years have revealed there are several), I won't know if something better is out there - someplace where God wants me to be a better spiritual fit.
"Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer," Paul wrote in I Corinthians 7:5. While this was written as advice to married couples, it could apply to my decision for a "trial separation" from UCG. It's also tempting to consider myself a "prodigal son" (Lk 15:11-26) -- but I'm not going out after "riotous living." I still plan to keep the Sabbaths, along with other key points of God's Law.
Yet as I told my pastor in my last chat with him on the Last Great Day of 2007, I could wind up taking one long lap around that NASCAR track - and eventually returning to the United Church of God because there's nothing else better. I'm not ruling out that possibility. I'm simply letting God rule the decision-making process, as best I'm able.
The Search is On (NEW November 2008)
So what did our year of searching show us? That many cities have plenty of other options available for Sabbath-keepers. Some turned out better than UCG, while others did not....
+ The largest "mega-church" in my city has a Baptist background, and a Saturday 6:00 p.m. service. That's after sundown, for practically all of the weeks we're on standard time. And the pastor struck out in most of the other weeks, especially when he talked about going to heaven when you die (note Jhn. 3:13 and Acts 2:34, among other verses).
+ A non-denominational church with a similar Saturday 6:00 p.m. service also talked often about going to heaven. It also allowed women to speak during services, usually from their seats.
+ The major Seventh-Day Adventist church in my city has services every Sabbath morning. But I found other doctrinal issues where the SDA's seem to conflict with Bible statements.
+ The Messianic movement (called "Hebrew Roots" by many inside it) has attracted some people disaffected with COG's, who either disagree with a group's leadership or believe they've advanced to a deeper level of Bible knowledge. I attended a Feast of Tabernacles site where scattered local fellowships came together. They had some things in common, but clashed openly on other doctrinal points.
+ On the other hand, a former WCG Pastor has developed a ministry with everything from a children's school to an outreach in Africa. It offers telephone conference-call "Bible discussions" three times a week, including Sabbath mornings. The views there are wide-ranging at times, but at least callers are allowed to compare Scripture with Scripture to draw conclusions. The discussions are successful more often than not, by allowing for that divergence -- but worship services in the Pastor's home city (which we attended on some Holy Days) lack that, and often strike out.
+ The biggest surprise for me during the search was the denomination Herbert Armstrong once dismissed as "dead" and "Sardis-era." The Church of God Seventh Day turned out to be Biblically sound, and focused on practical points that really matter -- not chasing after prophetic revelations or playing self-justification games with other sects. Podcasts by a couple of congregations let you hear for yourself. Alas, the lack of a COG-7 congregation near my home forced me to settle for those.
One Lap Later
When the year of searching ended, we were confronted by Hebrews 10:25. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing...." Strong's Exhaustive Concordance indicates "meeting" means a Christian gathering for worship.
Can you really "meet for worship" through a podcast? That seems like a stretch of the definition. Can you do it through telephone conference calls? In a way, but some dispute it. A top UCG official declared at one 2007 Feast site it's not the same as face-to-face contact - yet UCG admits it uses Internet webcasts to present live weekly services to scattered brethren in South America.
I concluded my only real option for worshiping personally with other people was at the place where I started. I returned to the United Church of God service in my city, completing that lap around the race track. My personal disagreements with UCG teachings remain. But to borrow from golf, UCG is simply "closest to the pin" in the place where I live. If God moves me to a different location, things could be very different -- so I continue to listen to podcasts and conference calls, for balanced instruction from God's Word.
If you're searching for the right place to worship, may you let God be your guide. And be attuned to what the ministers of the various denominations and congregations say. Double-check the things they preach, and you could find they're giving clues to the right answer.
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