HOW TO BE A PHARISEE

ARMINIAN MAGAZINE | SPRING, 1994 | VICTOR REASONER

[The Grammarian]

I would agree with that. Would you agree that the goal of Christians should be to allow themselves to be perfected as far as it's possible by God during their physical lifetime?

I would indeed.

[Big Bopper]

However I'm curious...do you disagree that if the ten commandments could be kept perfectly that the result would be perfect love toward God and toward your neighbor?

No one can keep the 10 commandments perfectly,period! Anyone that tells you that they can is ignorant, and the 10 commandments are part of the law of Moses. But then again, I know of and where you are coming from in your postings.

Out of curiosity, please let me know which of the following claims I post below are not correct.Your church teaches anglo-Israelism, whereby you claim that the white people of the United States, Canada are really the lost tribes of Israel.(2)Herbert W. Armstrong was a prophet from God who teaches the "true gospel", the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Even though the Bible itself addresses the gospel as that, it also calls the gospel-the gospel of Christ,the gospel of grace, etc.(#3)You have too "qualify" too enter into the Kingdom of God by keeping the commandments perfectly. When this is challenged, the next defense is too say,'God looks upon the heart..."(4)Birthdays, Christmas,Easter are all pagan days and no one should worship God on those days.(But, then what about Moonsday, Wodensday, Thorsday, Saturns day, and the worst of all, Suns day?)The days of the week are all pagan.(5)Do you have too be screened first before you can attend services?(6)What is the difference between Rod Merediths church, Gerald Flurrys group and yours? All of them claim they are the true church and each of their leaders are the handpicked of God,

Incidentally, I know your church president rather well, and despite R.H. being a nice guy, he is one of the biggest legalists I have ever met.Thank You in advance for your time and response.

[DouglasKC]

Hello! I'm glad to answer your questions as far as it's possible. The first thing you need to know is that United is similar to WorldWide only in the sense that some doctrine is the same. An attempt was made to remove as much "opinion" as possible from doctrine and to have doctrine developed solely from sound biblical teachings. :

1. Your church teaches anglo-Israelism, whereby you claim that the white people of the United States, Canada are really the lost tribes of Israel.

Kind of, except it's not "white" people which of course gives it a racial overtone. I believe the theory is that what we call the "western" nations were originally started by the some of the lost 10 tribes of Israel, Manessah and Ephraim to be exact. It's a huge subject and one that's not exclusive to United Church of God. In fact, there is a freeper called LostTribe who has quite an extensive list of links tracing the Lost Tribes...I don't believe he is affialiated with any Church of God. There is also a booklet available on line that explores this topic.

(2)Herbert W. Armstrong was a prophet from God who teaches the "true gospel", the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Even though the Bible itself addresses the gospel as that, it also calls the gospel-the gospel of Christ,the gospel of grace, etc.

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Do I believe Armstrong was a prophet of God? I honestly don't know. I haven't done any kind of deep study into any prophecies he's done. I do know that some say he predicted that Christ would come in 1975. If he did "predict" that then he was obviously wrong. As far as the name of the church, I'm not sure what the church teaching is, but we don't teach that the only members of the church of God are members of the United Church of God.

(#3)You have too "qualify" too enter into the Kingdom of God by keeping the commandments perfectly. When this is challenged, the next defense is too say,'God looks upon the heart..."

Incorrect as far as the assumption goes. It's understood by everyone I have talked to and the literature available that nobody can keep the 10 commandments perfectly (except Christ). Our salvation is dependent on God's grace through his son, Jesus Christ. There is a belief that growing in God's love and understanding will cause one to naturally start following the 10 commandments, but only because they are written in the heart of believers and become part of our conscience, not because we're "trying" to follow them.

(4)Birthdays, Christmas,Easter are all pagan days and no one should worship God on those days.(But, then what about Moonsday, Wodensday, Thorsday, Saturns day, and the worst of all, Suns day?)The days of the week are all pagan.

There is no prohibition against birthdays in the United Church of God, in fact birthdays are routinely part of our announcements. Christmas and Easter are not celebrated because they were originally (and still are to most people) holidays that have their roots in paganism. We observe biblically mandated days instead. See Holy Days for an indepth look at those beliefs. There isn't any prohibition against worshipping on other days of weeks, in fact many Holy Days fall on these days. For example, Pentecost always falls on Sunday. The name of the day isn't important because the sequence of 7 days has existed since Genesis.

(5)Do you have too be screened first before you can attend services?

Not at all. I am fairly new. Most congregations rent facilities for worship so it's not always consistent where services are held. We rent the same church building regularly, but sometimes it's booked by someone else and we have to hold services elsewhere. That's happened 4 or 5 times in the 6 months I've been attending...so it's wise to call the pastor or talk to someone in your area about where exactly the services are. As far as screening, when I called to find out the church location, I was simply given the address and then showed up at the next service.

(6)What is the difference between Rod Merediths church, Gerald Flurrys group and yours? All of them claim they are the true church and each of their leaders are the handpicked of God,

United is run by a committee of 12 elders, usually pastors in good standing with the church and are elected by the general council of elders which is composed of the elders of every congregation. In turn, the 12 hold elections for President, every 2 years (I could be wrong about) but we just had one. Roy Holladay was just elected I think 2 or 3 weeks ago, before that it was Les McCullough. United's teaching is that not all members of the church of God are members of the United Church of God because they're not. Everyone will eventually be a member of the true church of God. Organizations such as the United Church of God exist to train and educate (disciple).

This page contains information about the current members of the board, biographies, the consitution of United, and the bylaws.

Incidentally, I know your church president rather well, and despite R.H. being a nice guy, he is one of the biggest legalists I have ever met.Thank You in advance for your time and response.

I have never met him so I can't judge on his character. I assume he's a fine man or wouldn't get the endorsement of the elders. As far as what's legalisic it or not, I've discovered that many have misconceptions about the term, but like I said I've never met him so you could be right.

I hope this answers some of your questions, feel free to follow up if you wish.

[Havoc]

The Bible makes perfectly clear what one needs to do in order to be saved. Your "faith only/nothing else matters" dogma is tiring and flies in the face of what the REST of the scriptures say on this subject.

Can be summed up in three places: Mark 16, John 10, Romans 8. Jesus and the apostles made it perfectly clear that believing and confessing is the only thing required to be born again other than repentance. But Jesus required that we be baptised in the spirit - note that little bit at the tail - end of Mark 16 where he says you must be born again and baptised, then follows by listing the gifts of the baptism of the holy spirit as signs that follow. Note that isn't sign's of water baptism. Then let's march over and look at John 10 where Jesus tells us that His sheep are the ones that hear and follow/obey him.. Then you look at Romans 8 to see that condemnation is still on those not following the Spirit and to see reinforcement that as many as do not have the spirit are considered none of His.

Pretty straight forward. Any questions :)

[Windsong]

"then follows by listing the gifts of the baptism of the holy spirit as signs that follow. Note that isn't sign's of water baptism"

So where are the non-baptized Christians? Why would Jesus be baptized if not to set the example we must follow? Being baptized and believing are two seperate things. My previous questions still stand: would the walls of Jericho have fell if they hadn't blown the trumpets? Would the blind man had been healed if he had not done the "work"?

[LostTribe]

>when I will make a new conveant with the house if Israel and the house of Judah ... Thus, bringing the 12 tribes back to one people (Zech 12-14, Rev.7)

Does this suggest to you that all 12 Tribes are alive today, and not just in small traces, but in relatively equal quantities such that this prophesy can be easily fulfilled?

[fortheDeclaration]

when I will make a new conveant with the house if Israel and the house of Judah ... Thus, bringing the 12 tribes back to one people (Zech 12-14, Rev.7) Does this suggest to you that all 12 Tribes are alive today, and not just in small traces, but in relatively equal quantities such that this prophesy can be easily fulfilled?

Yes, God knows who are part of which tribe and is in control of their 'quantity'.

[LostTribe]

>Yes, God knows who are part of which tribe and is in control of their 'quantity'.

In other words, there are no Lost Tribes of Israel, because they are not Lost?