What You Should Know About United Church of God-AIA

http://www.exitsupportnetwork.com/artcls/ucg.htm ^ | 2009 | Cult watch

[Cronos]

United Church of God, An International Association, is one of the major breakoffs from the Worldwide Church of God. It was founded in 1995, within six weeks of the WCG changes, by Bob Dick and David Hulme in Arcadia, CA. In December 2007 UCG-AIA announced that their headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio would be moved to property near the town of Denton, Texas that they purchased for $1.6 million dollars.1 Clyde Kilough (former Ambassador College graduate) was the new President of UCG in 2009; however, in April 2010 he was asked by the UCG Council to resign and Roy Holladay became the acting President. Then in June 2010 Dennis Luker (former minister in WCG) became the new president. (UPDATE: Dennis Luker died March 14, 2013 of cancer.)

(Note: UCG-AIA is not the same as United Church of God, Birmingham,2 which was founded in 1995 by Ray Wooten; however, when the initials "UCG" are used in this article they refer to UCG-AIA.)

United Church of God teaches that they are the "continuation of the one and only true church of God" (tracing their origins to "the church that Jesus founded in the early first century" and following "the same teachings, doctrines and practices established then.").3 What they actually follow are the teachings, doctrines and practices of Herbert W. Armstrong who founded the Worldwide Church of God in 1934e. They believe they are "God's true church" evidenced by their "obedience to God's Laws" and being a "small flock." Members are admonished to "find out where God is working" and to "finish the Work of God" (which members are to support through their tithes and offerings).

While they say they are "a continuation of that body Jesus Christ founded," have a "distinct identity" but "do not claim that all Christians are among our fellowship,"4 they believe those in "counterfeit" Christianity (who UCG says are teaching a "false gospel") "remain blinded to the real meaning of sin, repentance and conversion" but "God's special people" "understand the Scriptures" and "strive" to obey God's Law.5

They affirm they are "committed to understanding and practicing New Testament Christianity"6 when, in fact, it is nothing but old covenant theology given to the nation Israel (along with scriptures redefined by Herbert Armstrong). By not understanding the New Covenant (including the book of Galatians), they are in essence denying Christ's finished work for them on the cross.

Members are not to observe Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc., calling them "pagan" (similar to the Jehovah's Witnesses' teachings, which is one group that HWA plagiarized from). However, birthdays are an exception.

United Church of God believes God is a "family" composed of only Father and Son, and members in "God's Church" who "endure to the end" will, in the first resurrection, become part of this "God family" (a doctrine HWA copied from the Mormons). At that time, they will rule with Christ as spirit beings ("kings and priests") in the Kingdom ("Government") of God on earth in order to teach mankind "God's way of life" which is to bring worldwide peace

They believe in a second resurrection to mortal life for "all those who died and never had a chance to receive an opportunity for salvation" and a third resurrection for those who have "willfully rejected the truth."8 These last ones are to be thrown in the Lake of Fire and cease to exist (annihilation). They do not believe man has an immortal soul that lives on after death; neither do they believe anyone goes to heaven or hell after dying, but that everyone "sleeps" in the grave until their time to come up in the resurrections. (This, again, is identical to Jehovah's Witnesses' and other religious cults' teaching.

[Cronos]

fyi

[kosciusko51]

And for some reason, they seem to be proselytizing heavily on the FR forums as of late. Sometimes I wish there was an ignore feature on FR...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Put your hands on the radio...

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Ironically, this recent attack on the Doctrine of the Trinity by this cultish group proves the necessity of having an authority and Tradition with which one may properly interpret scripture, "which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." - 2 Peter 3:16

One need only read the attempts of non-Catholics to "prove" the doctrine of the Trinity from a literal interpretation of scripture to see how that comes up short.

[Salvation]

Ignoring a poster?

markomalley found something that you could do that with.

Don’t remember what the program is, since I never used it and that posted has gone away or died.

[FourtySeven]

My thoughts too.

Also, it strikes me as amazing that we are assured all the time that non-Catholic Christians belong to an “invisible church” that allegedly enjoys as much if not more unity in doctrine as the Catholic. But apparently even the dogma of the Trinity is debatable in this “invisible church” (not to even mention water baptism).

[BipolarBob]

Like most churches, they have some Truth and some non-truths mixed in. No better or worse than most out there.

[caww]

Interesting how cults and false religions “borrow” from one another..if intentional or not. Similarities might be because the beliefs or doctrines do keep the membership in line...and the idea is retain the membership and control of.

[Tax-chick]

I have an Ignore feature in my brain.

[Zionist Conspirator]

I have and aunt and some cousins who are British Israelites. They started out with Armstrong but last I heard were affiliated with the "Church of God--Philadelphia."

Interestingly, Bobby Fischer was an Armstrongite at one time before becoming a raving loony.

The notion that the historical church is the result of a great apostasy and needs restoring is the common defining doctrine of all Protestants, from Luther to Joseph Smith to Russell to Stone-Campbell to these groups.

[Wurlitzer]

Big government, churches, unions, organizations, business all try to garner more power than their numbers deserve.

Whenever I hear the “ONLY TRUE xyz” I know they have reached the point where power is more important than the people.

[Lee N. Field]

What You Should Know About United Church of God-AIA

Armstrong-ite spin off. Antitrinitarian. Do I need to know more than that?

[RBStealth]

Not a very strong article about UCG, doesnt even mention that they are not trinitarian. Which would be the largest heretical doctrine of theirs that needs to be talked about.

[Colofornian]

From the article: United Church of God, An International Association, is one of the major breakoffs from the Worldwide Church of God. It FOUNDED IN 1995...United Church of God teaches that they are the "continuation of the one and ONLY true church of God"

This tells you right away the lack of integrity of this "church"...founded in 1995...yet somehow a "continuation" of the true church of Jesus' incarnational days.

The UCG cult...
...denies the personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit (like the Jehovah's Witnesses);
...Claims there are two divine beings -- one Almighty (God the Father) and one less-than-almighty --Jesus Christ (like the Jehovah's Witnesses);
...doesn't believe in eternal hell -- but rather annihilation for some (like Jehovah's Witnesses & 7th-day Adventists);
...Sets aside Saturday as the Sabbath (like 7th-day Adventists);
...emphasizes a works-based salvation (like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons & other cults)
...teaches that they are the "one and only true church" (like the Mormons do in Doctrine & Covenants 1:30)
...teaches that God the Father and God the Son are not one beyond purpose, belief, direction, faith, spirit and attitude (similar to the Mormons, who teach that God the Father & God the Son are one in purpose & will).

[markomalley]

It’s called a “killfile” — a script you can use with the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox.

See these threads that have more on it (search within the thread for “killfile”:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2143294/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2489741/posts?page=102#102

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1856020/posts

[kosciusko51]

Thanks. I’ll have to look into it.

[Alex Murphy]

The notion that the historical church is the result of a great apostasy and needs restoring is the common defining doctrine of all Protestants, from Luther to Joseph Smith to Russell to Stone-Campbell to these groups.

Try again, Z-C.

[MarkBsnr]

The notion that the historical church is the result of a great apostasy and needs restoring is the common defining doctrine of all Protestants, from Luther to Joseph Smith to Russell to Stone-Campbell to these groups.

[MarkBsnr]

When I was growing up, we used to refer to him as The Turtle, and pranked each other by sending each other's name and address in to receive WWCOG literature. But only if we were really angry at the guy whose address we sent in...