WELCOME!
Hello, welcome to Post-WCG life and theolgy. For those who don't know what WCG stands for, it stands for the Worldwide Church of God, which was a fundamentalist sect founded by Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986) . Many theologians and religious experts in the field of Christian apologetics had long dismissed this group as a cult. The reasons are this, the Worldwide Church of God considered itself God's One True Church, and the rest of Christiandom whether Protestant or Catholic is pagan and will be roooted up. It denied the historic Christian view on the nature of God which believes that there is one God existing personally in three ways as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Instead, the WCG believed that mankind was to become God as God is God. Though the WCG said it believed in grace, they denied the historic Christian teaching that one is saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. One had to "qualify for the kingdom of God". If one did not keep the seventh day Sabbath, the Holy Days laid out in Leviticus 23, observed biblical kosher, triple tithed, one was NOT a Christian. Forget about ones faith about Jesus Christ. You gotta observe!!!
Starting in the 1990's, Herbert Armstrong's handpicked successor, Joseph W. Tkach Sr. (1927-1995) was coming to the conclusion that many teachings of his predecessor were not biblically correct or in some cases false. In 1995, Joe Sr. introduced New Covenant Theology in the Worldwide Church of God which caused the greatest upheaval in the denomination's 60 year history. This particular theology had polarized the membership like no other. Many liked it, symbolizing their "emancipation" from the harsh, legalistic, judgemental "Old Testament" to the glorious, loving and forgiving "New Testament"as they saw it, while others on the opposite ultra-conservative side of the spectrum thought this theology was compromising "The GREAT LAW OF GOD!"
Where do I fit in all of this? Since I was 1 1/2 in 1971, I began attending services with my mom. When my parents split up, I started regularly attending services in 1981. I was a decidated and devoted member of the church's youth program called YOU (Youth Opportunities United). At age 27 in 1997, I was baptised as a member of that year, only to make a tough decision which would inevitably lead to my permanent departure from the denomination a year later by the end of 1998.
I enjoyed the Holy Day services the church provided, enjoyed a time while I can say "buzz off!" to wicked hustle, bustle and busy-ness that is aggressively (and mindlessly) celebrated by nearly everybody today -- only to find that the church leadership was manipulatively plotting to phase them out-- and replace them by days that had a Greco-Roman origin which are universally accepted and celebrated, as opposed to our own liturgical calendar which was of Hebraic origin, not well accepted by some in the evangelical Christian community (especially those of a Calvinistic slant), automatically concluding that it is a form of Judaizing, not admiting that one has received grace. Nothing can be further from the truth.
I was firmly hoping in spite of the upheaval in the church, that the WCG would evolve into a healthy denomination. Sadly to this day, this has not occured. It is orthodox and its theology, cultic in practice. I would propose that the Worldwide Church of God today has "systematic" cultism. If the church leadership under Joseph Tkach Jr. makes positive changes in the area of its governance, the WCG will have "systematic cultism" for a long, long, time.
On this blog, I will tell about my life after the Worldwide Church of God and my theology, neither which at the present moment are in a neat package but I am eternally grateful that I have a sense of sanity and normalcy which was essentially non-existent in Worldwide. I do consider myself a believer, my late internet friend Jesse Ancona (1957-2003) brilliantly coined this term of being a " Christian with a Judaic perspective". I have a strong interest in the Jewish roots and Hebraic heritage of the Christian faith. Some may think because of this, I am an Armstrongite which I consider a personal insult and a false, quick-to-rush assessment. I subscribe firmly to historic Christian faith that Herbert Armstrong so passionately denied. While the historic Worldwide Church of God had a veneer of the relics of Judaism, it was by far a fundamentalist cult that even had relics of Roman Catholicism (the one true church and church government from the top down) and paganism (the God Family doctrine which will contain billions of gods). I am very pro-gospel, meaning that I beleve the gospel is about Jesus Christ, who is the CENTER of the Kingdom of God. My leanings theological can be summed up as moderate Arminian or an eternal security Arminian but when it comes to the sovreignity of God, you will find me pretty Calvinistic leaning.
I hope I can offer you the reader some interesting perspectives and stimulating thinking when you read this blog. Sit back and enjoy. Again, may I say, "welcome".
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