Recent Church History We have seen that Christians do not participate in politics—in the democratic, political process of either this world’s governments or its churches. But this does not mean that men will not periodically attempt, sometimes successfully, to bring democracy, voting and other elements of Satan’s forms of government into God’s own Church. Satan will never give up trying to overthrow the government of God within the true Church. Several brief quotes are included here to help understand how Mr. Armstrong, in the 1970s, dealt with a time of subtle rebellion in the Worldwide Church of God. He had been traveling around the world, visiting many kings, presidents and prime ministers, approximately 300 days out of every year. In his absence, a group of liberal ministers rose up and sought to water down the doctrines of God within His Church. Similar efforts have occurred over the 2,000-year history of God’s Church. One of the false doctrines these leaders tried to bring into the Church was that voting, either in worldly elections or within the Church, was nothing more than a personal preference that each individual must decide for himself. When this plan came to Mr. Armstrong’s attention, he dealt with it swiftly, emphatically and based on the Word of God. Here is what he wrote: “[The liberal]wants to be free to vote, at least in local elections. “The argument was made to me that our Church people actually outnumbered others living in Big Sandy, Tex., BUT (what a big word is ‘BUT’) you see, if they did not vote, the minority would vote to incorporate the Ambassador College campus into the town of Big Sandy, and we’d have to pay big taxes. It never seemed to occur to the liberal mind that CHRIST will solve our problems, and we do not have to go contrary to HIS ATTITUDE!” “What Is a Liberal?” Good News magazine, March 1979 “This means the local churches would be precisely like the Baptist churches in organizational structure and government. That concept is TOTALLY UNSCRIPTURAL. God’s Church is now established GOD’S WAY—the BIBLE WAY, under the biblical pattern, with Jesus Christ the living Head, under God the Father, and next under Christ those on earth He Himself has called and chosen, and through whom He has raised up this Church, and USED IT TO CARRY ON HIS WORK FOR THIS END-TIME as covered in the prophecy for OUR TIME in Matthew 24:14. GOD’S Church is organized the BIBLE WAY as directed in the Bible—through those HE has chosen and set in the various offices to get HIS WORK done. “Those now advocating this Scriptural HERESY want to abolish all authority which Christ as our Head SET in His Church. Their contentions would lead to VOTING—the ‘democratic way’—the very OPPOSITE of God’s Way. They want to be ‘LIBERAL,’ and soon this liberality would lead into general and widespread SIN. They would become just a few more churches OF THIS WORLD—Satan’s world. “Some ministers, [are] getting confused between this world’s politics in the American ‘democratic’ system, and THE WAYS OF GOD… “These dissenting ministers want to desert God’s authority and ASSUME IT THEMSELVES. In other words they want ‘DEMOCRACY’, VOTING which is TOTALLY un-scriptural. They want to be part of THIS world—Satan’s world.” Letter to Brethren, Feb. 25, 1974 The next quote is included to demonstrate that voting was never practiced in God’s Church when ministers came together to counsel, discuss and make decisions: “In every instance where God’s ministers in this Philadelphia era of the Church have come together to make a ruling, our minds have been put in complete accord. There is no voting. “We ministers know that we serve a dynamic, living, all-powerful supernatural GOD! We fear to disobey, or to fail to be submissive. We know well what would happen to us if we should ever permit self-will to sway us in any decision.” “Christ Did Put Authority and RULE In His Church,” Good News, Jan. 195
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:47:11 +0000
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