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Subj: RE: Another Armstrong SpHnter Group on Inspiration Network Dear James: ~~~~~~~ From: Rushtyping@aol.com [mailto:Rushtyping@aol.com] Dear Mr. Roos: I was encouraged to see that Inspiration Network cancelled the Church of God International’s program Armor of God. I am writing to inform you that Inspiration Network is now
airing another Herbert W. Armstrong splmter group, Dr. Meredith still teaches and believes the major teachings of Mr. Armstrong. Dr. Meredith’s official statement of fundamental beliefs states: “Our doctrines, practices, policies, and traditions have their roots in the Worldwide Church of God under the leadership of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong” (p. 1). This certainly should cause alarm to those who are familiar with Armstrongite doctrine. My concern is that by airing programs of organizations, when examined more closely are actually unorthodox, people are deceived. This deception is enhanced when programs to promote their ministry are placed among well- known evangelical ministers and ministries. PLEASE, for Jesus’ sake, do something about stopping this heresy from making further inroads when young, weak and/or immature Christians are influenced by it. It has no place m any Christian ministry. I will be sending documentation for your viewing. Sincerely in Christ, James Kieferdorf Tuesday, April 04, 2006 America Online: Rushtyping ~~~~~~~~~~ Subj: RE: Clarification of email, and the doctrines of the
LCOG, ie Tomorrow’s World
James:
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 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 wcbsite? 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 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 Page 2 of5 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 pract1ces, 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.comlrcm26.htm) I ask you, John, how could Dr. Meredith make such statements when Herbert W. Armstrong demed 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 1NSP inaccurate and misleading information. Mi. 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 Chnstianity, but are in line with Annstrongism. 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 doctrme. (Did 3. The denial that Jesus was God during his life and ministry
on earth. Mr. Winnail told me that Jesus was Page 3 of 5 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! Mr. Winnail confirmed this is the teaching of the LCOG. 4. The LCOG denies the eternal sonship of Christ. 5. The denial that the Holy Spirit is God. “The Holy Spirit is only an impersonal force, the power of God.” In sermons and articles, Dr. Meredith has clearly shown that HE doesn’t believe in the Trinity doctrine and that the God Family presently only composes two members -- God the Father and Jesus Christ and that the Holy Spirit is the power and mind of God. RCM does not teach that the Holy Spirit is God.” (Did Roderick C. Meredith Really Make 26 Doctrinal Changes? #2, THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD. www.cogwritercomlrcm26.htrn) 6. Man’s destiny is to become spirit beings, and spiritual members in the God Family. 7. Jesus rose in a spirit body, he’s not physical nor flesh and bone presently m heaven. 8. Jesus was born again at His Resurrection. 9. The denial of the immortality of the soul. 10. The denial that Christians go into the presence of the Lord at death. 11. The denial of a conscious eternal hell. 12. The teaching of annihilationism. (The Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups teach this same doctrine.) 13. Borderline unjversalism. Pv[r. Winnail informed me that the LCOG teaches that a relatively few people will be cast into the lake of fire and then annihilated. 14. You are not born again, nor saved now. The salvation offered by the LCOG to its followers is a process and cannot actually be received in this life. No one has eternal life now except Jesus Christ. He is the only one who has been born again. This is certainly strange teaching in light of the host of scriptural portions which insist that one does have ETERNAL LIFE the very moment he or she places his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It is said that when John Wesley was asked why he preached so often on the subject “Ye must be born again” that he answered, “Because ye must be born again.” Wesley’s definition of the new birth, however, would never satisfy the LCOG, or any of the many Armstrong Splinter Groups, because their teachings are that you cannot be “born again.” 15. The LCOG teaches you are born again, i.e. new birth, at
the resurrectionlreturn of Christ, when you are changed from
flesh to spirit, human to divine, at which time you become a
member of the GOD-FAMILY, THE 16. Christians will not be resurrected with a body of flesh and bone. Page 4 of 5 17. The LCOG teaches Anglo-Israelism. 18. The Rapture is a false hope for end times Christians. 19. True Christians worship on Saturday, ANNIHILATIONISM in the lake of fire for those who dont! As with the Church of God International, and other Armstrong groups, the LCOG attacks Christians who worship on Sunday. In their pamphlet, “Which Day is the Christian Sabbath?” the following is stated: “Here is an absolutely vital subject that is far more important than most people even begin to realize. It has everything to do with whether or not you really ‘know’ the true-God, the Creator, In fact, it directly affects your inheriting everlasting life in His soon-coming kingdom.’ (p. 1). “Will you exercise the faith and the COURAGE to obey God who gives you breath? Or will you follow the deceptions of this world under Satan’s powerful influence? Know that the God of the Bible commands you to observe His Holy Sabbath, and the ultimate penalty for disobeying God’s law is DEATH in the lake of fire ...“ (p. 25). This pamphlet calls Sunday worship pagan, the diabolical transfer, and Satan deceptive influence. Others like, “Satan’s counterfeit Christianity” can also be read on Tomorrow’s World website. 20. No birthdays, Christmas, Easter, i.e., these are pagan. “I do not observe birthdays and I have never had a birthday party for myself or any of my six children nor my wife oi anyone else for over 51 years” (Roderick C. Meredith, Faith for Healing, AVE 123, 3/31/01). 21. Attacks on the Christian church “for we will now show you, in this booklet, what is undoubtedly the major deception that SATAN has palmed off on mainstream Christianity ...“ (Who or What is the Antichrist?) 22. In restoring apostolic Christianity, Dr. Meredith writes “Can you fmd a church that strives to live by the teachings of true apostolic Christianity? Can you prove for yourself what God’s truth really is? This booklet will give you the all important answers to those questions!” and Meredith’s “answers” are all designed to make the reader conclude that what you, John, recognize as Christianity is really a false religion fostered on the world by SATAN and that true Christianity is to be found in the teachings of the Living Church of God. 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 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, somethj~gjnust 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 [only 4 pages to this letter ] Monday, April 17, 2006 America Online: Rushtyping |
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