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From: John Roos <JRoos@insp.com> Thank you for this information. We will use this, as well as our review of other materials in making our decision. Just for the record, I never said that “all is well” with this programmer. As you noted below, I was quoting what they had told us. I also told you that we have an obligation to listen to their point of view. John -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rushtyping@aol.com [mailto:Rushtyping@aol.com]
I was disappointed in your reply to my email of April 4, 2006, in which you seem to think all is well with the Living Church of God's program Tomorrow's World. You state "For the record we have discussed this matter with the people at Tomorrow's World. They admit that they came out of the World Associated with Herbert W. Armstrong but say that they have REJECTED many of his teachings, and are trying to move on."
Please allow me as a Christian brother to inform you of the TRUE facts concerning the LCOG.
John, has anyone there at INSP really taken the time to read the LCOG website? What about Tomorrow's World? If anyone has, they will read the many attacks and denials of the orthodox Christian faith. Have you checked these sites out for yourself, John?
Your statement, "They admit that they came out of the World Associated with Herbert W. Armstrong." The FACTS are that it was not because the LCOG rejected Armstrong, but after Armstrong died the Worldwide Church of God adopted evangelical beliefs in the 1990s. Dr. Roderick Meredith wanting to stay true to Herbert W. Armstrong doctrines left to form a church that would continue in Armstrong's teachings. I ask why were you not informed of this?
Dr. Meredith says the following in his January 16, 2005 member letter concerning Mr. Armstrong.
"Dear Brothers and Co-Workers with Christ,
"Greetings from Charlotte, NC today, January 16, 2005, is the nineteenth anniversary of the death of Herbert W. Armstrong. As most of you know, he is the one who taught thousands of us about the fundamental truths of the Bible, so although we must not adulate or any way worship him we in this work do honor what the Living Christ did through him. We pay this honor by teaching the same fundamental truths of the Bible, by going through the open 'doors' of television, radio, the printing press and now the Internet and, as God makes it possible, by 'thundering' the message of the soon-coming Kingdom of God (Matt. 24:14) to a very confused and divided world."
Dr. Meredith claims that "Herbert W. Armstrong was an apostle and the greatest minister, perhaps, in the past 1800 years. ... Our policy and practice in the Living Church of God is to honor Herbert W. Armstrong as a teacher, minister, and as an apostle ... Mr. Armstrong certainly did do the greatest work in radio, television, and all that ... We feel he did an Elijah-like work ... We are to follow him as he followed Christ ... I feel that the Living Church of God is carrying on the teachings and practices, that is religious not personal practices, of Herbert Armstrong more than any group on earth ... He could have been the Elijah to come, but I don't think we should be dogmatic and appoint him." (Roderick C. Meredith, The Elijah Question, VTE 131, May 19, 2001, www.cogwriter.com/rcm26.htm)
I ask you, John, how could Dr. Meredith make such statements when Herbert W. Armstrong denied major doctrines of Christianity, attacked Christian churches (for example, by calling the Protestant churches the daughters of the great whore and the churches of Satan.) Mr. Armstrong taught heretical doctrines that the blessed truth of the Trinity was denied, that the person and work of Christ are falsely presented, a denial of the personality of the Holy Spirit, representing the blessed comforter as merely a power, an impersonal force, the strange "God Family" teaching, the denial of the physical, fleshly bodily resurrection of our Lord, that being born again is denied as something for this life, no heaven for Christians and other orthodox doctrines.
Because Herbert W. Armstrong's work was not a Christian work it does not merit the statements by Dr. Meredith!
Their statement "Tomorrow's World has REJECTED many of Armstrong's teachings" is INACCURATE. Have you checked this for accuracy? There must be some misunderstanding somewhere. Knowing this not to be accurate, I called Mr. Scott Winnail, a minister with the LCOG at their national headquarters in Charlotte, NC for clarification.
I asked him if in fact Tomorrow's World REJECTS many of Armstrong's teaching. His answer was "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
He disagreed with the statements in your email. He informed me that the LCOG still teaches Armstrong doctrines. Someone at Tomorrow's World, or whoever, must be giving INSP inaccurate and misleading information.
Mr. Winnail assured me that I am correct in my understanding of the LCOG's doctrines I have listed below.
Here is a list of some of the LOCG's doctrines/teachings, that differ from historic orthodox Christianity, but are in line with Armstrongism.
1. Unorthodox view of God The following can be read on the Living Church of God website "Questions and Answers.
Question: "When God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness,' in Genesis 1:26, didn't He simply mean that we would be like Him in having minds with which to reason and make moral determinations?"
Answer: No, that is not all He meant. God also meant that human beings have the same general form and shape that He does. Many will argue against this, but the Bible is quite clear on this point.
2. The denial and attack on the blessed Trinity. Under false religion, the LCOG has this to say in "Is God really a Trinity?"
"The most universally acknowledged teaching about the nature of God in professing Christianity is the doctrine of the Trinity. As shocking as it may seem this doctrine is not found in the Bible" (p. 1).
In sermons and articles Dr. Meredith has clearly shown that he doesn't believe in the Trinity doctrine. (Did Roderick C. Meredith Really Make 26 Doctrinal Changes #2, www.cogwriter.com /rcm26.htm). As you can see Dr. Meredith and the LCOG want nothing to do with one of the fundamentals of Christianity, the Blessed Trinity.
3. The denial that Jesus was God during his life and ministry on earth. Mr. Winnail told me that Jesus was ONLY human, that He emptied himself of His deity, and became God again sometime after the Resurrection. To make sure I understood his statement correctly, I read him the following quotes from Dr. Meredith taken from Dr. Robert L. Sumner's excellent book Armstrongism the "Worldwide Church of God" examined in the Searching Light of Scripture, pp. 105-106.
"Although Jesus was equal with God, and had been very God, He 'emptied Himself' as the original Greek should be translated, 'and took upon him the form of a SERVANT, and was made in the likeness of men.' Even though Jesus had shared the GLORY of God, even though it was His voice that had said: 'Let there be light,' when God reformed the earth at the time of Adam, Jesus was more than willing to give that up in order to SERVE the lowly human beings He Himself had helped to create (Eph. 3:9)."
Note the past tense: "had been very God"! Armstrong's teaching, unlike that of historical Christianity, does not claim that Christ merely emptied Himself of the outward manifestation of deity, but that He emptied Himself of that very deity!
John, I think what I have presented adequately shows the true nature of the LCOG.
Inspiration Network's mission statement states: "INSP exists to provide BIBLICALLY based programs." Neither the LCOG nor Tomorrow's World are BIBLICALLY based!
One final observation. Having the LCOG's program on INSP Network is equivalent to giving acceptance to a program by the Jehovah's Witnesses.
As you can see, John, beyond any question of doubt the LCOG's teachings are contrary to that taught in the word of God. Their doctrines are wrong on salvation, the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, their denial of the Blessed Trinity, and other orthodox doctrines, hence the LCOG does not represent TRUE historic orthodox Christianity.
Because the LCOG is not a Christian work, it does not merit the support or interest of Christian believers, and certainly does not belong on INSP Network, or any other Christian TV or radio station.
There is a relationship of trust between Christian broadcasters and their public. It is one thing for "cults" to get airtime with secular stations, but people expect Christian broadcasters to limit their programming to a standard of the basic tenets of Christianity. Therefore, when they see a program such as Tomorrow's World on Inspiration Network, they are even more vulnerable to being hooked into the organization behind it because they have their guard down.
John, something must be done quickly. I hope to hear soon that you have removed Tomorrow's World from your programming schedule.
Very respectfully in Christ,
James Kieferdorf |
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