The BIBLE-Word of
God
-Versus-
Errors of "Armstrongism"
---GOD---CHRIST---HOLY
SPIRIT---
---SIN---REDEMPTION---SALVATION---RETRIBUTION---
"They received the WORD with all readiness of mind,
and searched the SCRIPTURES daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11
G O D
The Bible
PERSONALITY OF THE GODHEAD ... in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1: 1
He is
God; there is none else beside him (Deuteronomy 4:35). God is a Spirit; and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus (I Timothy 2:5).
- Go
. . . and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Jesus was
baptized; the Spirit descended; the Father spoke (Matthew 3:16-17).
Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may
not understand one another's speech (Genesis 11:7). From the time that
it was, there am I; and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, has sent me
(Isaiah 48:16).
Armstrongism
- God
is a Family, a Kingdom, not a limited trinity (The Plain Truth, Aug.
1958, p. 17).
- The
doctrine of the Trinity is false, pagan (The Missing Dimension in Sex,
37).
- God
is a family: God is reproducing Himself and man was created to literally
become God (What It Means to Be Equal with God, p. 43).
- At
the present time there are only two beings in the God Family, 1) God the
Father, Father of Jesus Christ, 2) God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
One who became Jesus Christ, God the Son
("The God Family" in Tomorrow's World, May 1971).
- You
can become God ("God's Power" in TW, Nov. 197 1, p. 12).
- But
quantitatively, man will never equal God the Father, just as surely as
God the Creator (Jesus Christ) will Himself never quantitatively equal
God the Father (WMEG, p. 44).
- YAHWEH
was the God of Israel. They (Israel) did not know God the Father
("Is Jesus God?" in PT, Sept. 1958).
J E S U S
C H R I S T
The Bible
o In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1). When, as His
mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with child of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1: 18).
o Behold,
the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel
(Isaiah 7:14).
o God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the nations, believed on in the world, received up into glory (I Timothy
3:16).
o And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth (John
1: 14).
o No
man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of
the Father, he has declared him (John 1:18).
o And
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of'
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).
o And
if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain (I Corinthians 15:17). Wherefore,
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).
o This
same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into
Heaven (Acts 1: 11; cf. John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Armstrongism
o BEFORE
Jesus was conceived by Mary, He was not the Son of God ("Just What Do
You Mean-Born Again?" p.43 in TW, Oct. 1971, p. 43).
o God
the Creator (Jesus Christ) Himself will never quantitatively equal God the
Father (WMEG, p. 45).
o Jesus
Christ was born a Son of God by a resurrection from the dead ... and as a
born son of God, Christ is God! God Almighty His Father is God. They are two
separate and individual persons (Why Were You Born? pp. 21-22).
o God
the Father did not cause Jesus Christ to get back into the body which had
died. Jesus Christ was dead ... and the resurrection body was no longer
human. It was Christ resurrected, immortal, once again changed (PT, Apr.
1963, pp. 10, 40).
o Christ's
body disappeared. Christ was raised as a divine spirit being (If You Die, Will
You Live Again? P. 6).).
H O L Y
S P I R I T
The Bible
§
When the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, he shall
testify of me (John 15:26).
§
When he is come, he will reprove
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).
§
When he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth (John 16:13).
§
The Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit,
he shall teach you all things (John 14:26).
§
His spirit that dwells in you
(Romans 8:11).
§
Be filled with the Spirit
(Ephesians 5:18; see also I Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 3:16).
§
But you are not in the flesh but in
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9; see also vv. 14,
16).
Armstrongism
§
The Father and the Son are in
definite locations with respect to each other . . . spirit proceeds from them
and fills the entire universe Spirit is God's life (How You Can Be Imbued
with the Power of God, p. 5).
§
Theologians have blindly accepted
the false doctrine that the Holy Spirit is a third person-the heresy of the
trinity. This limits God to Three Persons! (Just What Do You Mean-Born Again?
pp. 17, 19).
§
God's Spirit dwelling in you is
God's own divine love (What Do You Mean-Unpardonable Sin? P. 9).
§
Whenever we become members of
God's begotten family, we receive a portion, a seed or germ, of the Father's
Holy Spirit (HYIPG, p. 4). Notice that the Holy Spirit, the germ by which we
are begotten, comes from the Father (Ibid., p. 3).
S I N
The Bible
§
There is none righteous, no, not
one (Romans 3: 1 0).
§
For all have sinned, and come
short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
§
If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar, and his word is not in us ( I
John 1: 10).
§
If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ( I
John 1:8).
§
Whosoever commits sin transgresses
also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4).
§
All unrighteousness is sin, and
there is a sin not unto death ( I John 5:1 7)
§
Whatever is not of faith is sin
(Romans 14:23).
§
Therefore, to him that knows to do
good, and does it not, to him it is sin (James
4:17).
Armstrongism
§
In literally hundreds of places in
your New Testament, Jesus Christ and His inspired apostles teach absolute
obedience to all ten of the Ten Commandments (PT, Nov, 1959, p. 18).
§
We must repent of sin, repent of
transgressing God's law, which means turning from disobedience as a prior
condition to receiving God's free gift (The Inside Story of the World
Tomorrow,, p. 48).
§
Sickness is only the penalty of
physical transgression, and whenever one is sick, he is paying that penalty.
Healing is nothing more or less than the forgiveness of sin. God is the only
real physician! Scripture labels other modes of healing idolatry. Medicine
has a pagan origin (Does God Heal Today? P. 8).
R E D E M P T I O N
The Bible
§
We have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7).
§
You were not redeemed with
corruptible things . . . but with the precious blood of Christ (I Peter 1: 1
8-19).
§
Unto him that loves us, and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us a kingdom of priests unto
God and his Father (Revelation 1:5-6).
§
Without shedding of blood is no
remission (Hebrews 9:22).
§
Made peace through the blood of
his cross (Colossians 1:20).
§
This man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. . . . For by
one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified (Hebrews 10:
12, 14).
Armstrongism
§
The purpose of life in us is that
God is really creating His own kind, reproducing Himself. At the time of the
resurrection we shall be instantaneously changed from mortal into immortal.
We shall then be God! You will actually be God, even as Jesus was and is God,
and His Father, a different Person, also is God. You are setting out on a
training to become Creator, to become God (WWYB, pp. 21-22).
§
We . . . will generate eternal
life intrinsically within ourselves (MEG, P. 44). Furthermore, we will
counsel and advise our Creator-Father (Ibid., P. 45).
§
Physical human beings in
Tomorrow's World . . . will worship before the feet of God's present-day
human servants (Your Destiny- The God Family, p. 37).
S A L V A T I O N
The Bible
§
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall be saved, and your house (Acts 16:31).
§
But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the children of God,
even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12).
§
He that believes on him is not
condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the . . . only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).
§
He that believes on the Son has
everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life (John
3:36).
§
Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
§
For by grace are you saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God-not of works, lest
any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
§
Justified freely . . . through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).
§
Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes (Romans 10:4).
Armstrongism
§
Jesus alone, of all humans, has so
far been saved (WWYB, P. I 1).
§
The blood of Jesus Christ does not
finally save anyone. It saves merely from the death penalty (of sin) (All
About Water Baptism, pp. 1-3).
§
Baptism is an essential ordinance
for salvation. You must be baptized to become a true Christian ("This is
the Worldwide Church of God," in TW, Feb. 197 1, pp. 16-17).
§
Along with the physical act of
baptism is promised the Holy Spirit, through the laying on of hands (TW, Apr.
1971, pp. 41-42).
§
One who is born of God is merely
begotten spiritually. He is not yet really born. Only those who develop spiritually
shall finally be given immortality . . . at the second coming of Christ
(AAWB, p. 2).
§
When Jesus Christ returns to this
earth, He will, for the first time, set His hand to save the world. He will
offer salvation (to all people) (There Is a Real Hell Fire, P. 6).
§
A majority of those who die
without Christ will be resurrected and gain opportunity to believe during the
Millennium (Predestination-Does the Bible Teach It?).
R E T R I B U T I O
N
The Bible
§
The wages of sin is death (Romans
6:23).
§
Those who sleep in the dust . . .
shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame, and everlasting
contempt (Daniel 12:2).
§
And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).
§
And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. . . . And the dead were judged out of those things .
. .written in the books, according to their works
(Revelation 20:12).
§
The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven . . . in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel. . . ; who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
§
If your foot offend you, cut it
off; it is better for you to enter lame into life than, having two feet, to
be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched (Mark 9:45).
Armstrongism
§
When a human being dies, he is
DEAD, which means that his body, mind, and soul are all dead. He simply stops
being (Do You Have an Immortal Soul? p. 41).
§
The wicked will be resurrected at
the close of the Millennium, but only to be annihilated (Lazarus and the Rich
Man).
§
Rebellion against the Law of God
means eternal punishment and everlasting death. God will save no person He
does not rule (Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? pp. 35,58,
93, 94).
§
"Everlasting" means
"age-ending." The translation "everlasting" is
misleading, since the fire itself will not burn forever.
§
The concept of "hell" is
part and parcel of the folklore and mythology of the whole world . . . as a
place of punishment and torture of the wicked (TW, pp. 14, 18).
Quotations
are from standard writings and leading teachers of the sects. Intitials in parentheses are abbreviations of
aforementioned book and magazine titles. Scripture quotations are from the
New Scofield Reference Bible (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1967). Outline and statement summaries are a compilation
from various reference works and authors.
Please see suggested
readings.
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