Worldwide Church of God: There Must Be Total Apostasy

Rick Branch

The articles on our site concerning the Worldwide Church of God are to inform readers about the history of that organization and the doctrines taught by its founder. Numerous splinter groups still practice Armstrongism. The Worldwide Church of God is a Christian denomination and a member of the National Association of Evangelicals and Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR).

It is interesting to find the Worldwide Church of God claiming the same historical position as that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Way International and even the Jehovah's Witnesses.

What is this position that four of the largest cults in America share? That the first century Church, the original church founded by Jesus and lead by the Apostles, ceased to be at a given point in time.

If the church ceased to be an organization on the earth, then it necessarily follows that if it is on earth today it must have been restored as some particular point in the past. This is precisely what has happened, according to all four groups.

While each cult would date the restoration of the church as a different date, that date being the one which resulted in the founding of their specific organization, each would agree that a total apostasy occurred resulting in the need for a restoration of the Church on earth.

The Worldwide Church of God, founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, was organized on this very proposition.

In one of their booklets, printed in 1963 is stated, "Jesus came to START the very WORK OF GOD for this New Testament period - leading up to His second Coming.

"After He had called and taught and trained His original 12 Apostles, and had shed His life's blood for the sins of the world, and had been resurrected, He ascended to heaven.

"But He had foretold apostasy. He had foretold `wolves' coming in `sheep's clothing' to DECEIVE the world. He had said they would ENTER IN, professing to come in HIS NAME - claiming to be CHRISTIAN - yet deceiving the whole world. THAT HAPPENED!

"For 18-1/2 centuries that Gospel was not preached. The world was deceived into accepting a FALSE gospel. Today Christ has raised up HIS WORK....

"The World Tomorrow and The Plain Truth are CHRIST'S INSTRUMENTS which HE is powerfully using," (The Inside Story of the World Tomorrow Broadcast, pp. 9-10).

Hence, according to Armstrong, from approximately the time of the death of the Apostles until the early 1900's the True Christian church had ceased to exist on the earth.

What happened around the turn of the century? Herbert W. Armstrong rediscovers True Christianity, eventually organizing the Worldwide Church of God.

Lest some say that this is no longer the position of the Worldwide Church of God, for the booklet quoted above is nearly 30 years old, a more recent source will be provided.

In the March 1991 issue of The Plain Truth magazine is stated the following:

"As we probe more than 19 centuries of history, can we find where Jesus' true disciples were? Can we know what they believed? And who they are today?

"Strange to say, almost everyone for these past 19 centuries has been looking in the wrong place for the Church that Jesus built.

"A great gap lies between the practices of the apostolic Church Jesus founded and those of today's mainstream Christianity," (p. 8).

Again, the point is reiterated, the Church of the First century, founded by Jesus, ceased to exist shortly after the first century apostles died.

The Christian churches of today are not following true Christian doctrines and are thus apostate churches.

Since this is true, according to the Worldwide Church of God, a restoration was needed. That restoration is found in the Worldwide Church of God, which alone is God's true organization.

At this point there may be an astute Bible student who is asking the question what about the scriptural passage in which Jesus states, "...upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," (Matthew 16:18).

It is interesting that this passage, or at least a portion of this passage is quoted in the same Plain Truth article. However, the writer of the Plain Truth article is slightly less than completely truthful with the readers.

The Plain Truth writes, "What happened? How did Christianity become divided? Even more important, where is the Church that Jesus Christ founded? After all, Jesus prophesied, `I will build my church,'" (March 1991, p. 8).

The writer for the Worldwide Church of God failed to quote the remainder of the verse. He (or she) also failed to add the three dots, know as an ellipses, after the quote which denotes words have been left out. This is scholastic dishonesty.

The writer of the Plain Truth article knows that if the remainder of the Matthew 16:18 verse is quoted that this will undermine the very premise of the entire article.

For if Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His church, than there can be no total apostasy. If there is no total apostasy, then there is no need for a restoration.

If there is no need for a restoration then the church which Jesus founded is still on earth today. If the church is still on earth today then the argument about the "past 19 centuries" possessing no true church is erroneous.

Thus the Worldwide Church of God is not the restored church, as it claims, but is rather one of the "wolves in sheep's clothing" that Herbert W. Armstrong, himself, warned about.