Worldwide Church of God

[Guest Anonymous]

What do yall know about Worldwide Church of God and what are yalls thoughts and opinions on it?

 

I have a cousin who married into a family from that church, but no one in my family knows a whole lot about it. I know once a year they take a trip (I think it is referred to as the Feast) somewhere? I know they have gone to Branson before and this year they are going to Galveston. One of her FB friends posted about considering St. Edward's Island in Canada. We used to think the Duggars had something to do with that denomination because of the connections to Big Sandy...because there are not a whole lot of reasons to go to Big Sandy, TX. My cousin has three kids and she does homeschool. I don't know what materials she uses, but my mom is a public elementary school teacher and she said they aren't ATI, but they are religious and not good.

 

A few years ago my (Southern Baptist) pastor did a Sunday night series on different cults that seem like Christianity...I was too young to remember it, but my mom says that WCG was included in it.

 

Any info?

[homeschoolmomma1]

you should watch this movie- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMGJERAGMT4&feature=player_embedded#at=35 I believe this movie is the same Worldwide church of God

It is called Called to be Free

[NotAFundieGrrrl]

My best friend grew up in this church, growing up in West Texas. She had family who went to Ambassador College, in California, and also at Big Sandy, but it is a now-defunct institution--and I believe ATI has acquired at least some of their land in Texas. In the same vein, the church had a few major splits (mostly over who was in charge) in the late 80s/early 90s, and has now really splintered into several factions, headquartered all over the country. Some of her family (still in Texas) count themselves as members of one of the splinter groups (not sure which), and really miss the church as it used to be.

From what I understand from my bff, the church was an Old Testament-embracing church. She likens it to a very conservative Pentecostal church--not sure what that means, exactly, but she always had a horror when we passed a Pentecostal church on the bus in college. Heaving tithing, Sabbath was Saturday, no pork was consumed, birthdays and holidays were not celebrated, although every year, they did have a church-wide gathering (Galveston, Corpus Christi, among other places) called Feast of the Tabernacles, and would often travel long distances on weekends to attend church gatherings and services (and of course, every year they attended the Feast week.

She and her siblings were never homeschooled, but were not allowed to participate in any holiday-themed activities--they would be dismissed early on Christmas and Halloween party days. Her mother has always been very big on buying used, saving the difference, organic, healthy foods and some of the other stuff you see pop up in some of our fundies' lives. And, her parents were very "spare the rod, spoil the child"-minded, but I don't know if that necessarily extended to other members of the church. They're nice people (and did let my friend go off to school in the heathen Pacific Northwest, so that's one mark in their favor), but quite conservative. Then again, it's Texas, so that's not a big shock. (Sigh...and I live here now...)

In candid moments, my best friend has referred to herself as a former cult member, and she said that there are many others out there who feel the same. One of her sisters married someone from Ambassador College, although they've since tempered much of their fervor for the church and evangelical Christianity in general. Another sister attended Ambassador, did a mission in Jordan (where church members thought that they would be transplanted to await the Rapture--yeah, that's...interesting...), and has been married forever, popped out 6 kids (all Old Testament names, thankssooomuch), probably isn't done yet with the kids, and homeschools them all in a tiny little house. Oh, and on instructions from her husband, has shunned my best friend (her youngest sister) for the last 3 years because has made "worldly choices" (like--gasp!--graduate school and progressive politics, and oh, the horror, getting her navel pierced!).

Lovely.

So, that's my basic, basic knowledge of the WCOG. If you have other questions, I'll try to answer them. I would definitely consider the shunning sister a fundie, but, to the best of my knowledge, no blog! :(

[mirele]

The WWCOG has recently changed its name to Grace Communion International. It went through a boatload of doctrinal changes to rid itself of its weird doctrines and align itself closer to evangelical Protestantism beginning in the late 80s. Members opposed to the changes (e.g., Saturday sabbath, emphasis on celebrating feasts, etc.) hived off into smaller groups with their own emphases. Other members apparently took off for more "mainstream" evangelical Protestant denominations like the Southern Baptists.

I keep an eye on the WWCOG because it is an example of what can go wrong when you try to conform your church to the doctrinal expectations of outsiders (in this case, evangelical Protestant critics). I know that there are some people who would like to see the Mormon Church jettison its distinctives to make it more palatable to other Christian groups, but if that happens, I would suspect the same thing would happen as did to the WWCOG--splintering off or going to more mainstream churches.

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm trying to see if I can find out the name of the church my cousin goes to on facebook...

I know my cousin sometimes does diet things like raw, but when she does that I think it is because of her own health issues and she doesn't feed the kids that way. I'm pretty sure they eat mostly organic. They don't eat pork. Saturday Sabbath is a BFD.

I found what some of the homeschool programs she uses are :/ Sonlight history & language and Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers for Science. Sounds horrendous.

[Brainsample]

I'm trying to see if I can find out the name of the church my cousin goes to on facebook...

I know my cousin sometimes does diet things like raw, but when she does that I think it is because of her own health issues and she doesn't feed the kids that way. I'm pretty sure they eat mostly organic. They don't eat pork. Saturday Sabbath is a BFD.

I found what some of the homeschool programs she uses are :/ Sonlight history & language and Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers for Science. Sounds horrendous.

That sounds more like Seventh Day Adventist which is very legalistic, but Walter Martin did not classify them as a cult in the theological sense.

The God Discussion show on blogtalkradio is hosted by a former WWCoG member who is now atheist.

[Kaylee]

They've changed a lot over the years and tried to go more mainstream, but most of what I know has to do with the beliefs of their founder, Herbert Armstrong, and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong, so maybe from the early 80s & before.

One big thing is that they taught British Israelism, that the lost tribes of Israel migrated to Britan & the US, and that much of Bible prophecy is set in these nations rather than the Middle East. This goes on to distinguish between Israel (who he considered to be the descendents of the Anglo-Saxons because Saxon sounded like "Isaac's Sons") and the Jews, who he said were from Judah , not Israel. He considered England the throne of David, where Christ will rule the earth from upon His return, and thought the Queen of England's throne was the stone Jacob used for a pillow at Bethel. The current incarnation of the WWCoG no longer teaches this, but most of the splinter groups are still big on it.

Going along with the Israel thing, they follow a lot of the Old Testament laws and practices, including the Saturday sunset-sunrise Sabbath, the Biblical feast days (Passover, Tabernacles, Trumpets, etc), and dietary laws (no pork or shellfish). They have a 3 part tithing system, where 10% goes to the church, an additional 10% to pay for the expenses of the feasts & festivals, and a third 10 % tithe twice each 7 years to pay for charity towards "widows and orphans" (which ended up buying planes and otherwise going to the lifestyle costs of church leaders).

Armstrong also taught that no real church had existed from the time of Christ until he founded his church and considered himself as the one who was to come "in the Spirit of Elijah" and found the one and only true church (the Bible teaches that John the Baptist was this one, not Armstrong, obviously).

He taught that being born again meant that believers would be born into the literal family of God, where they would be gods themselves and sit on a council helping advise God. They think the idea of the Godhead as the Father, Son (they consider the Holy Spirit an impersonal force, not a person of the Godhead) a temporary thing, and it will be expanded to include the other "Sons" who remain faithful to God, via the WWCoG, until death or the return of Christ.

There used to be some "survivor" boards in the internet for ex-members, which are probably still around. I did quite a bit of research on both WWCoG & Shepard's Chapel (not related, but some similar beliefs on Israel) several years ago, trying to figure out where certain beliefs came from and how they seemed to be carried over from many people in those groups into the Christian Identity movement (a more openly race-based "Whites are the true Israel" type of religious system).

[Jae]

Hello all. I'm new to posting here but have been reading for a very long time. Please be gentle. :)

This church, more than anything else, is probably the reason I read sites like FJ and am cautious about all man-made religion. It pushes all of my "beware" buttons and hits so close to home. My father was deeply involved in this church (or cult, as I firmly believe it is) for a very long time. It changed my father from a loving, fun-loving dad into a stranger. It tore our family apart.

He first got involved after listening to radio broadcasts by Herbert W. Armstrong back in the 1970's. Later, he subscribed to their free magazine - I think it was called "The World Tomorrow" or something similar. After that he started buying the books and the tapes and at some point sent in a card that indicated he would like to be contacted to learn more. Long, long story shorter - over time he became more and more involved in it. I was around 13 at the time he began going to their church services (always held in various movie theaters and gyms) and (to his credit) he never forced me to go. My mother went with him a few times and considered the whole thing hogwash and nonsense. They used to argue and fight something terrible about the WWCG beliefs. It was a horrible time for us. After years of this, my mother gave up and pretty much quit arguing with him, didn't fight about it - just let him go his way and she went her way with regard to religion.

Before he got so involved with the WWCG, our family attended a Free Will Baptist church and my dad ended up excommunicated, which, of course, humiliated my mom. But the FWB church embraced her - and me - and the rest of our family. They did not shun my dad or refuse to speak to him or anything like that. They just kicked him out of leadership and membership in the church.

Anyway, I could write a book on this subject. It still affects me to this day and I'm in my 50's. I think of the sweet, loving dad I had until he got involved with the WWCG. And then, I think of the hard, ugly stranger he became to me. I think of all the money he gave to that church - he would have given them every cent he had if my mother hadn't intervened. She stopped him from giving the church (cult) hundreds of acres of property (refused to sign the paperwork that was also in her name) that was basically our (their children's) inheritance. If not for her, he would honestly have given them everything he owned.

He worshiped Herbert W. Armstrong until the day he died. He would have told you he worshiped God but he didn't. He worshiped Armstrong. He practiced all of the things listed by other posters - no pork, Saturday Sabbath, no tobacco but alcohol was just fine and he drank plenty of it, the Old Testament stuff...on and on. I can barely stand to think of Armstrong or any of that ilk without feeling sick even today.

Sorry this was so long - especially for a first post. It just pushed all my buttons. If I knew anyone who was thinking of getting involved in this nightmare - I would do everything I could to talk them out of it.

[The Archivist]

Fascinating. Thank you and welcome, Jae.