Here at As Bereans Did, we are frequently asked the question: what's wrong with keeping the law? What's the danger in teaching your children that they must keep the Sabbath and Holy Days? Weren't these things given to man for good? What's the big deal?
We see a very basic warning on this matter in Titus 3:9:
“But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.”
Why would debates about the law and genealogies be useless? Isn't this what God wants us to follow; what He expects from us? The Churches of God largely differentiate themselves from “deceived” Christianity by two of these things listed in Titus 3 - that Christians should “keep” the law, and that modern Israel populates the United States and Western Europe. What's the harm in this?
Unfortunately, we recently learned about a heart-breaking situation that demonstrates why strivings over the law can be so destructive. We take no joy in reporting this situation. Rather, we hope that bringing to light issues and consequences like these can help prevent future tragedies in the Armstrongist community.
Once upon a time, a kind, loving couple who desired to serve God raised their children diligently in the Worldwide Church of God. In 1995, they left for one of the larger, more moderate splinter groups, and the whole family stayed there for years. Their children grew up. One child stayed in the same group as the parents. Another decided that the lukewarm splinter they attended was not zealous enough for God's law. He and his wife took their young children with them to the Philadelphia Church of God and cut off all contact with their COG family.
Fast forward several years. It is reported that, in their desire to obey their church leaders, the younger PCG couple kicked one of their children out of the house because he had a girlfriend and wasn't spending enough time reading his Bible. Disfellowshipped from PCG, that child moved in with his COG grandparents, whom he hadn't seen in years. He took his own life during the Days of Unleavened Bread, at the age of 21. Not surprisingly, PCG is telling its membership that the young man was mentally ill. Later reports included details that muddy the picture of whether mental illness or PCG's no-contact policy is to blame for his suicide. Some who knew him say they doubt PCG's story. At the very least, the no-contact policy no doubt exacerbated the pain for someone with few emotional and spiritual supports.
Since the young man was cut off from most friends and family, we'll never get a 100 percent accurate picture of what happened. But we've seen enough similarly tragic stories in COG groups to connect the dots fairly well. In 2014, 30-year-old Janet Privratsky committed suicide after PCG's no-contact policy cut her off from her family. Last year, 27-year-old David Ekama – a member of the United Church of God – took his own life. We have personal knowledge of another UCG teen who ran away and left his parents a suicide note after being pressured by tent-mates at UCG summer camp around the time of the UCG-COGWA split. What were they pressuring him to do? Leave UCG for a more conservative splinter that kept the law and Sabbath closer to the way WCG founder Herbert W Armstrong taught. Thankfully, his story had a happier ending. But the pattern is clear.
What's the danger in teaching that keeping the law, or aspects of it, is a condition for salvation? Well, when you teach your children that they are responsible for maintaining their right standing with God, they will believe you. Don't tell me your church doesn't teach this. I've documented that UCG does, and if the supposedly lukewarm UCG does it, the rest do, too. And when they hear from the pulpit, week after week, that being in the wrong church means they are not a true Christian, chances are good that they will believe that, too.
So anyway, some kids are fine with pat answers to questions about moderate COGs' cherry-picked way of keeping the law. Some are satisfied with a simple: “because the minister says it's ok.” But others will see through the cognitive dissonance and wonder:
Many COG youth are becoming more lax about defining God's true church, but this isn't taught from the pulpit. Most COGs still hint, if not state, that you must attend God's favored splinter group to make it into the Kingdom. Chances are good your kids have absorbed this harmful teaching, whether or not you reinforce it at home. And if you have, don't be surprised when they eventually choose another splinter and turn from you. After all, didn't Jesus come to set son against father, mother against daughter, and mother-in-law against daughter in law? Whoever gives up family for His sake will be rewarded in the Kingdom. (Please read here to learn more about PCG's twisted interpretation of these scriptures.)
This destructive “One True Church” teaching is especially dangerous in the most oppressive cults like PCG, which tend to reject members when they are no longer able to control them. This is when our children find themselves in the true depths of despair. We've taught them that their salvation is dependent upon their record of obedience. We've taught them their salvation depends upon being in the right church. Many have cut themselves off from family and friends outside the cult to be obedient to their ministers. Now, this church chews them up, spits them out and tells them they can't come back. Cut off, they are now unable to obey what they believe they must do in order to “make it.”
Life is volatile enough for teens and young adults. Let's not force them into corners from which they see no escape. Let's not isolate them so that are easy pickings for the prowling devil. I'm not saying all COG children are at risk for suicide, or that mainstream Christian families never experience this kind of tragedy. But let's not set children up for failure. We don't know whether disfellowshipment, the no-contact policy or mental illness was the straw that broke the camel's back for this young man. But fellowship and support in a healthy church or regular contact with friends and family could have short-circuited whatever caused his feedback loop of darkness and might have prevented this tragedy.
When we teach our children that salvation is dependent upon their works, especially works from the Sinai Covenant, we shouldn't be surprised when they see the problem with watered-down keeping of the law. We shouldn't be surprised when they go to greater lengths than we ever expected, and that their decisions affect future generations. If we teach them that these are matters of sin and righteousness, of salvation, then many may see “because the Church says so” as an irresponsible answer with eternal consequences. Those kids are smart. And they are right.
If “not one jot or tittle” means what the COGs teach it means, then it really means not ONE jot or tittle. There is no sliding scale for righteousness; no bell curve; no, “at least I keep the Sabbath unlike these deceived Protestants.” Either EVERY jot and tittle matters for salvation, or salvation is by grace through faith. Either we maintain our salvation through our track record of obedience, repentance and change, or there is a different standard. If our grace is maintained through our human works, then we are as good as dead now. This is a burden man simply can't bear. Over the years, a number of COG youth have recognized this fact and, tragically, turned the theoretical into a reality.
Thankfully, Scripture tells us that at least some of those “jots and tittles” have changed. Which ones? Well for starters, the laws regarding both circumcision and the tribal requirement for priesthood. Those have changed, indisputably. indisputable. So it stands to reason that others may have, too. And Scripture also tells us we are not as good as dead, but that we have already passed from death to life (1 John 3:14).
If you have serious doubts about your Church of God group but are putting off dealing with them, don't. I know, it's inconvenient, it's awkward, and it can get messy. Besides, you might say, I know the difference between the truth and error coming from the pulpit. Do you? And does the rest of your family there, beside you? You've taught them to listen to the minister, to respect him. What happens when he chooses the radical opinion of a minister instead of yours? Just because you and the rest of your family are in a sane, moderate group right now doesn't mean that they always will be. If God has been telling you to get out, and you've been hanging out on the fence, be obedient. Get out!
And despite what your minister as told you, “getting out” doesn't mean leaving God. Teach your children about God. It's the most important thing you can do. Teach them Scripture. Teach them to take God's word seriously. Teach them to obey His commands – not the ones Jesus gave to Israel in the Sinai Covenant, but the ones He and His apostles gave to participants in the New Covenant. Teach them about grace. Teach them about God's love. Teach them that Jesus died for them; teach them to live for Him. Teach them about their responsibility to obey, to live as bondservants of the one who purchased them with His blood. Teach them to listen for God's prompting, to cooperate with Him, to let Him work with and through them. Teach them to live a life that brings honor and glory to His name. But also teach them the parable of the prodigal son – of a God whose arms are always open to us. And then follow that parable yourself.
What's the danger in teaching obedience to the law as a condition for salvation? This is the danger. Our hearts, our sympathies and our prayers go out to the friends and family of this young man. There are more people praying for you than you will ever know, and we are here to listen if you need us.
We see a very basic warning on this matter in Titus 3:9:
“But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.”
Why would debates about the law and genealogies be useless? Isn't this what God wants us to follow; what He expects from us? The Churches of God largely differentiate themselves from “deceived” Christianity by two of these things listed in Titus 3 - that Christians should “keep” the law, and that modern Israel populates the United States and Western Europe. What's the harm in this?
Unfortunately, we recently learned about a heart-breaking situation that demonstrates why strivings over the law can be so destructive. We take no joy in reporting this situation. Rather, we hope that bringing to light issues and consequences like these can help prevent future tragedies in the Armstrongist community.
Once upon a time, a kind, loving couple who desired to serve God raised their children diligently in the Worldwide Church of God. In 1995, they left for one of the larger, more moderate splinter groups, and the whole family stayed there for years. Their children grew up. One child stayed in the same group as the parents. Another decided that the lukewarm splinter they attended was not zealous enough for God's law. He and his wife took their young children with them to the Philadelphia Church of God and cut off all contact with their COG family.
Fast forward several years. It is reported that, in their desire to obey their church leaders, the younger PCG couple kicked one of their children out of the house because he had a girlfriend and wasn't spending enough time reading his Bible. Disfellowshipped from PCG, that child moved in with his COG grandparents, whom he hadn't seen in years. He took his own life during the Days of Unleavened Bread, at the age of 21. Not surprisingly, PCG is telling its membership that the young man was mentally ill. Later reports included details that muddy the picture of whether mental illness or PCG's no-contact policy is to blame for his suicide. Some who knew him say they doubt PCG's story. At the very least, the no-contact policy no doubt exacerbated the pain for someone with few emotional and spiritual supports.
Since the young man was cut off from most friends and family, we'll never get a 100 percent accurate picture of what happened. But we've seen enough similarly tragic stories in COG groups to connect the dots fairly well. In 2014, 30-year-old Janet Privratsky committed suicide after PCG's no-contact policy cut her off from her family. Last year, 27-year-old David Ekama – a member of the United Church of God – took his own life. We have personal knowledge of another UCG teen who ran away and left his parents a suicide note after being pressured by tent-mates at UCG summer camp around the time of the UCG-COGWA split. What were they pressuring him to do? Leave UCG for a more conservative splinter that kept the law and Sabbath closer to the way WCG founder Herbert W Armstrong taught. Thankfully, his story had a happier ending. But the pattern is clear.
What's the danger in teaching that keeping the law, or aspects of it, is a condition for salvation? Well, when you teach your children that they are responsible for maintaining their right standing with God, they will believe you. Don't tell me your church doesn't teach this. I've documented that UCG does, and if the supposedly lukewarm UCG does it, the rest do, too. And when they hear from the pulpit, week after week, that being in the wrong church means they are not a true Christian, chances are good that they will believe that, too.
So anyway, some kids are fine with pat answers to questions about moderate COGs' cherry-picked way of keeping the law. Some are satisfied with a simple: “because the minister says it's ok.” But others will see through the cognitive dissonance and wonder:
- Why is it wrong for Dad to work on the Sabbath but not wrong to pay a waitress to work for me on Saturday?
- If keeping the Holy Days matters, then don't we have to keep them on the right day? Don't we determine Holy Days the way God told us in the Bible – according to the visual confirmation of the New Moon?
- If pig meat is unclean, then why is it all right roast marshmallows made from pig bones at the church campout?
Many COG youth are becoming more lax about defining God's true church, but this isn't taught from the pulpit. Most COGs still hint, if not state, that you must attend God's favored splinter group to make it into the Kingdom. Chances are good your kids have absorbed this harmful teaching, whether or not you reinforce it at home. And if you have, don't be surprised when they eventually choose another splinter and turn from you. After all, didn't Jesus come to set son against father, mother against daughter, and mother-in-law against daughter in law? Whoever gives up family for His sake will be rewarded in the Kingdom. (Please read here to learn more about PCG's twisted interpretation of these scriptures.)
This destructive “One True Church” teaching is especially dangerous in the most oppressive cults like PCG, which tend to reject members when they are no longer able to control them. This is when our children find themselves in the true depths of despair. We've taught them that their salvation is dependent upon their record of obedience. We've taught them their salvation depends upon being in the right church. Many have cut themselves off from family and friends outside the cult to be obedient to their ministers. Now, this church chews them up, spits them out and tells them they can't come back. Cut off, they are now unable to obey what they believe they must do in order to “make it.”
Life is volatile enough for teens and young adults. Let's not force them into corners from which they see no escape. Let's not isolate them so that are easy pickings for the prowling devil. I'm not saying all COG children are at risk for suicide, or that mainstream Christian families never experience this kind of tragedy. But let's not set children up for failure. We don't know whether disfellowshipment, the no-contact policy or mental illness was the straw that broke the camel's back for this young man. But fellowship and support in a healthy church or regular contact with friends and family could have short-circuited whatever caused his feedback loop of darkness and might have prevented this tragedy.
When we teach our children that salvation is dependent upon their works, especially works from the Sinai Covenant, we shouldn't be surprised when they see the problem with watered-down keeping of the law. We shouldn't be surprised when they go to greater lengths than we ever expected, and that their decisions affect future generations. If we teach them that these are matters of sin and righteousness, of salvation, then many may see “because the Church says so” as an irresponsible answer with eternal consequences. Those kids are smart. And they are right.
If “not one jot or tittle” means what the COGs teach it means, then it really means not ONE jot or tittle. There is no sliding scale for righteousness; no bell curve; no, “at least I keep the Sabbath unlike these deceived Protestants.” Either EVERY jot and tittle matters for salvation, or salvation is by grace through faith. Either we maintain our salvation through our track record of obedience, repentance and change, or there is a different standard. If our grace is maintained through our human works, then we are as good as dead now. This is a burden man simply can't bear. Over the years, a number of COG youth have recognized this fact and, tragically, turned the theoretical into a reality.
Thankfully, Scripture tells us that at least some of those “jots and tittles” have changed. Which ones? Well for starters, the laws regarding both circumcision and the tribal requirement for priesthood. Those have changed, indisputably. indisputable. So it stands to reason that others may have, too. And Scripture also tells us we are not as good as dead, but that we have already passed from death to life (1 John 3:14).
If you have serious doubts about your Church of God group but are putting off dealing with them, don't. I know, it's inconvenient, it's awkward, and it can get messy. Besides, you might say, I know the difference between the truth and error coming from the pulpit. Do you? And does the rest of your family there, beside you? You've taught them to listen to the minister, to respect him. What happens when he chooses the radical opinion of a minister instead of yours? Just because you and the rest of your family are in a sane, moderate group right now doesn't mean that they always will be. If God has been telling you to get out, and you've been hanging out on the fence, be obedient. Get out!
And despite what your minister as told you, “getting out” doesn't mean leaving God. Teach your children about God. It's the most important thing you can do. Teach them Scripture. Teach them to take God's word seriously. Teach them to obey His commands – not the ones Jesus gave to Israel in the Sinai Covenant, but the ones He and His apostles gave to participants in the New Covenant. Teach them about grace. Teach them about God's love. Teach them that Jesus died for them; teach them to live for Him. Teach them about their responsibility to obey, to live as bondservants of the one who purchased them with His blood. Teach them to listen for God's prompting, to cooperate with Him, to let Him work with and through them. Teach them to live a life that brings honor and glory to His name. But also teach them the parable of the prodigal son – of a God whose arms are always open to us. And then follow that parable yourself.
What's the danger in teaching obedience to the law as a condition for salvation? This is the danger. Our hearts, our sympathies and our prayers go out to the friends and family of this young man. There are more people praying for you than you will ever know, and we are here to listen if you need us.
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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
************
It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
************
And what of those people who support the PCG?
ReplyDeleteAre they not responsible for this death is some small way? They support this evil and make it possible for the organization to exist.
And in your opinion, what is the biblical fate of those who follow and support false prophets? Some no doubt do fear God. I would say they are the ones that have been hoodwinked. Many of the others well realize that the corporate church is corrupt but they let fear rule the day and control their actions. Actions like voting with their feet. These cowards should face the judgement of their God.
As I have written elsewhere, a young (19) family member was born and raised in the Worldwide Church of God and one or more splinters. He committed suicide and I, as a mental health professional, has tried to understand what might have caused this. A mental health theory (which I believe has some substance) states that "cut-off" emotional and/or physical leads to more chronic anxiety and thus to more symptoms of various types, even suicide. While "cutting off" from difficult relationships makes people more comfortable in the short term, more problems can arise in the long term. As has been stated, cutting a young adult off from all or most of the family and other supports could play a major role in feelings of despair, depression, low self-worth and ultimately suicide. Due to constant moving, home-schooling and that abbomonable church, my young family member had NO support system, except his parents. When trouble arose and it was nearly time for him to become independent, he shot himself in the head. I was never allowed to send him a valentine, an Easter Bunny, a Christmas or Birthday gift or card and neither could anyone else in the family. I feel so bad for the pain he endured.
ReplyDeleteGloria Grade Olson, LSCSW
Topeka, Kansas
Thanks to both of you for reading.
ReplyDeleteOpinionated, I don't know about their biblical fate. I can't say I have studied enough to take a conclusive position. Maybe that's my subconscious way of avoiding it, since too many people I care about have done exactly that. It's above my pay grade for sure, and I'm thankful for that.
Gloria, I'm so sorry for your loss. Having only been through it from the opposite point of view, I can't begin to imagine what seeing that tragedy unfold from the outside. It sounds like you are trying to learn from the experience rather than grow bitter; I'm encouraged by that.
Please help me I was disfelowshipped from RCG for disagreeing with tithing and I have no one to talk too about it that understands
ReplyDeleteAnon May 11,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. You are very brave to speak out, both at PCG and here. We most certainly understand and will talk with you about whatever you need. Please send us an email. God bless!
xHWA: escapingarmstrong@gmail.com
Martha: marthacog@gmail.com
Thoughtfully written, Martha. I was raised in WCG and then was in a few splinter groups which are in my experienced opinion worse, because as insane as WCG and HWA were, it was big and you could fly under the radar much of the time if you had differences. In the small groups you now have mentally unstable men who twist HWA's legacy to their own interpretation and application, and the result is so often merciless, with nowhere to hide. HWA took a lot of his structural approach from Adolf Hitler, right down to the deacon and deaconess arm bands. I am 60 years old and could write volumes. Many of us as teens were terrified of not making it to the place of safety and some of us at times openly discussed that we planned to commit suicide if we were left behind. Watching all of this now for over 50 years, I am horrified to see the viciousness it is breaking down into, like a diseased, rabid wild beast that will not die, but becomes more violent with each passing event. I appreciate your blog, just recently discovered it doing research. Other than the traumatizing literature and occasional accidental Key of David viewing, I have no experience with PCG, but have friends who were chewed up and spit out of it for reasons the normally intelligent would never believe. No experience with RCG either. The ones I have been involved with were horrible experiences in the end, and a few years ago I realized none of these men or their organizations even remotely resemble Jesus Christ, so how could they possibly represent Him? It isn't easy starting over in your 50's, losing most friends and being despised, left for dead by Pharisaical ministers and their devotees, but freedom grows, and the light of Jesus Christ leads, and I wish I could tell everyone who makes the break, at any age, that there are tough things to get through but there are better days to come. I still work through a lot of stuff, what a great, even if at times tragic, education. I am thankful to realize it's all a cult and I only have to look to Jesus Christ for salvation.
ReplyDeleteMay 11, 2016 at 9:46 AM
ReplyDelete"But fellowship and support in a healthy church or regular contact with friends and family could have short-circuited whatever caused his feedback loop of darkness and might have prevented this tragedy."
This may be way too cute, but I'm gonna share it with you anyway. I love the symbolism.
Remember they turned their backs to you.
God hasn't. Take solace in that.