If there are any decisions or teachings in God's Church that you have come to disagree with, should you flee or start your own church? What is the "fruit"—the actual result—of those who do? What does it lead to, in nearly every case?
Dear brethren, in my 58 years in God's true Church, I have seen dozens of individuals who have become upset about something, disagreed with something or thought they have seen "new light" on some religious idea, then left the Church of God to go off on their own. In many cases, these people—mainly ambitious men who want to be "in charge"—will not only leave the established Body of Christ, but will go out and "recruit" others to try to start their own church!
How does the Eternal God look on this type of behavior? Is the Bible clear about His divine attitude toward those who, in effect, rebel against a good and decent true Church of God that is doing God's Work and is teaching the Truth— however imperfectly?
I write "however imperfectly" because none of us is totally perfect. I do not mean to use this as an excuse for any kind of doctrinal error or wholesale apostasy such as took place in our former association! But, again, what is almost always the result of such rebellion?
The Eternal God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to establish the Church. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). The Apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is the active Head of God's Church. For God, "put all things under His feet and gave Him [Christ] to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:22–23). Paul also instructs us to be "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling" (Ephesians 4:3–4).
So Scripture constantly encourages unity—not an attitude of divisiveness. It was Satan the Devil who first fostered the attitude of divisiveness when he said, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13–14).
Throughout the Bible, God clearly indicates that He does not appreciate those who have an attitude that causes division. He does not countenance rebellion against constituted authority, and does not support those who try to hinder in any way those human servants whom He is actually using to preach His Truth and do His Work.
Even though the sons of God's servant Samuel were indulging in dishonest, illegal and ungodly behavior, the elders of Israel were shown to be wrong when they used Samuel's faults as an excuse to rebel against God (1 Samuel 8:7). For, in spite of being old and a little slow to act on these problems, Samuel absolutely was God's true servant, teaching the Truth and doing God's Work at that time. So God condemned those who rebelled against His true servant— and our nations have suffered terribly ever since, when God removed His direct government from Israel clear down to our time!
More Recent Rebels
Most of you realize that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong did not "appoint himself" into the ministry. Rather, he was ordained by the established, historical Church of God. He tried to cooperate with that Church for years, but finally felt he had no choice but to leave because they would not grow in grace and in knowledge and would not even accept key doctrines such as God's Holy Days and the identity of modern Israel, along with other important points. Yet, even after separating from them, he tried to cooperate for many years, holding campaigns with and for them, and trying not to cause any huge division.
In my case, most of you know that I personally tried to cooperate with the Worldwide Church of God for a few years after Mr. Armstrong's death, and allowed myself to be put in a kind of "internal exile" while waiting on God to show me clearly what to do. Finally, after the God Is… booklet came out and other major doctrines were being changed, God showed me that I had to leave, rather than go along with the greatest apostasy in the modern history of God's Church!
I was not trying to rush off and "start my own church." In fact, my wife wanted me to leave one year earlier and I resisted, telling her, "Honey, I have always taught loyalty and unity. So I'm not going to leave until I am absolutely sure that these men have totally rejected God's way!"
Like Mr. Armstrong, I had already been ordained by a leading minister in the historical Church of God. Mr. Armstrong had ordained me himself, in front of the entire Headquarters congregation, on December 20, 1952. Like Mr. Armstrong, I did not go off and "appoint myself." For God is very stern about the matter of anyone trying to "appoint" himself as a minister of Jesus Christ, or giving himself some "big title" that does not come directly from God.
God inspired Paul to give us this instruction regarding the ministry, which certainly applies today just as it did in Paul's day, "And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was" (Hebrews 5:4). So those who break away and ordain themselves, or "appoint" themselves as so-called apostles or prophets, are not obeying or honoring the living Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ said, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12).
It is vital that each of you brethren carefully think through whether you should follow some disgruntled member, deacon or elder who decides to rebel against the established Church that is preaching God's word and is, in fact, doing God's Work. Every Bible example of this kind of behavior shows that God Himself regards it as a form of rebellion!
Having watched so many men down through the years try to exalt themselves by practicing this kind of behavior, I have been fascinated to see how it has almost always worked out—to see that the "fruits" of such self-exaltation showed it to have been absolutely wrong! I recall one young "smart aleck," back in 1953, who began to accuse Mr. Armstrong of "Armstrong extravagance." This young man apparently thought he would tear the Church apart by his accusations, and he actually convinced two or three of the leading Ambassador College students to resign from their positions and to prepare to leave the college. One reason I was brought back down from Portland, Oregon was to help settle this situation. What happened to the leader of this rebellion? He went off and virtually disappeared—after managing to take only two or three people with him—and most of us never heard of him again!
Later, one teacher and a leading student at Ambassador College began to criticize Mr. Armstrong, charging that in one of his earlier booklets he had copied or paraphrased too much from other material. I looked into the charge carefully, and saw that it was at least partially accurate. So, I went to Mr. Armstrong about the matter, and he sincerely explained, "Rod, I have been as busy as a one-armed paper hanger, and I had to quickly put together a lot of material that I wrote during those years. If you want to help me look into it, we can straighten it out now."
So I got together with Mr. Armstrong, Dr. Herman Hoeh and these two men, and we went through the booklet in question—carefully removing any material that was not correct, and rewriting the rest of it so it did not directly copy anything from another book. Mr. Armstrong was all for this, and was glad that I could help in that instance.
But, did these two men—an associate professor and a leading student—try to cooperate and be loyal to Mr. Armstrong and to the Church as we worked to resolve the problem? Of course not! These men were looking for an excuse to leave! This was apparent from their attitude at the time, and in fact that is exactly what they did.
What happened to them?
Although I know their names and have asked about them over the decades since, I never heard from them or about them again! In a sense, they "disappeared." Where will they be when the Great Tribulation begins, and God is looking down from heaven to see who has been loyal to His Work and who is worthy to be taken to the promised "Place of Safety?"
The "Fruit" of Rebellion
Still later, a couple of elders back in the Midwest started to complain, becoming very upset and self-righteous because the Church was not using palm branches in observing the Feast of Tabernacles. Those elders came out to see Mr. Armstrong about this, and also met with me and with others. They were very adamant, pushy and self-righteous. Mr. Armstrong explained how we keep the genuine intent of Scripture in the way we observe the Feast of Tabernacles and other Holy Days, and that it is up to the "Body" of Christ to decide the exact details of how these matters are to be administered (Colossians 2:16–17, KJV). But, again, these two elders apparently had already made up their minds. So they left and tried to start a "church" on their own. What happened? Again, they simply disappeared into the mists of time, and essentially vanished from the scene—accomplishing nothing and in no way being used to do God's Work in preaching the Gospel and helping others!
More recently, we have seen a number of former Living Church of God elders rebel and try to "start something" on their own. Some simply wanted to "do their own thing." Others professed to be "upset" about some doctrine or decision. One way or another, each thought he was justified— even righteous—for leaving to do his own thing. But look at the fruits. In no case has God even remotely used any of these rebels to powerfully preach the Truth to the world, or to genuinely strengthen people and help them grow—loyally and humbly—"to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). In most cases, these men's little groups have fallen apart and come to nothing because of the selfish, divisive, bickering spirit that was in these rebels in the first place. Their spirit of rebellion attracts other rebels, who eventually rebel against those rebels, and they all drift apart, away from the Work that God is doing.
I realize that some disgruntled members have accused me of changing our teaching about the Gospel. Some have even rebelled and left the Church because of this accusation. Dear brethren, let me assure you that I still believe what I learned at the feet of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, and I strive to teach it faithfully. Yes, I am human, so certainly I sometimes misspeak or make some point unclearly, but this does not mean I have changed what I believe or teach. The Church has certainly "grown" in some small technical points, but not in any ways that contradict Mr. Armstrong's plain teachings about the Gospel or about so many other foundational matters of Church doctrine and practice.
Most of you brethren understand this, and you see the fruits of how this Church is powerfully preaching the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Sadly, a few have gone into rebellion because of alleged mistakes and "changes." But eventually these rebels always make their own mistakes, and some of their own people—who have become "picky" and lost sight of the "big picture"—accuse them of making "changes." Then, these rebels who were slow to forgive others always demand that people forgive them quickly for their mistakes! They should all read the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18.
Brethren, why do some leading men get it into their heads to try to exalt themselves and—in one way or another—rebel against those whom God has shown by the "fruits" that He is using to preach His Truth and do His Work? Is it the same spirit Satan had when he said, "I will be like the Most High"? Each of us needs to think very soberly about this matter.
For if any of you drift into that kind of attitude or behavior—if any of you brethren follow such a man in his rebellion against God's true servants— you are in terrible trouble with the God who gives us life and breath. Please understand that!
Certainly, if I or any one of our leaders should rebel against God's commandments and start to completely dismantle the basic truths that we have been preaching for the past 50 years, that is a different matter! But we in the Living Church of God have not ever done this, and after 58 years of loyal service, I am sure that I will not make that kind of mistake!
In His inspired word, God tells us, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He clearly shows that Jesus Christ was the "Rock" who followed ancient Israel in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4). He was the "God of Israel" who dealt with them during all those years, acting for God the Father. In all the ways He dealt with them, He was showing us the "mind of God," which is why the Bible tells us, "Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted" (v.6). God repeats the same thought again in verse 11, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." Paul then was inspired to write, "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (v. 12)!
Notice a vital Old Testament example of how we ought to "take heed." Moses and Aaron were very human, and no doubt made some human mistakes. But was this a good reason for a number of leading Israelites to try to overthrow them? Remember what happened: "And they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, 'You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?' So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face" (Numbers 16:2–4).
Certainly, Moses acted with confidence in dealing with situations around him. He sometimes had to correct powerfully these rebels and others. But what was God's opinion of him? "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). You see, brethren, God looks on the heart! He knew that Moses, in his heart, was so deeply surrendered to do God's will that He considered him the most humble man on the entire face of the earth!
However, those human "men of renown" could not see Moses' surrendered attitude. They were instead filled with their own lusts and their own desire for power. So they came up with various "excuses" to react against Moses and Aaron, and they tried to overthrow those human leaders whom God had chosen—and whom He was using to do His will.
What was the result?
"And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods" (Numbers 16:32)! Yet, amazingly, "on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, 'You have killed the people of the Lord'" (v. 41).
Wow! Israel's people were so out of touch with reality that they could not see there was no way Moses and Aaron could open the earth and swallow up all those rebels! They tried to blame it on the human leaders— refusing to acknowledge that it was the great God of Israel who was dealing with them because of their rebellion and their sins!
Brethren, the lesson for all of us today is that we are to seek the kind of peace and unity that God wants us to have within His true Church! We are to be "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). We should be very careful and very prayerful not to allow ourselves to begin to "murmur" against those God is using to do His Work and preach His Truth.
God's true ministers will be human. For we are not perfect yet, but we are trying. And we are growing in grace and knowledge—just as are all of God's true people. So each of us should overlook the human frailties in our brethren—including the ministry—and do all we can to build a sense of unity—a sense of "family"—and a deep sense of brotherly love within God's Church.
As God looks down from heaven, He is watching each of us to be absolutely sure if we will—as demonstrated by our "fruits"—continue to be loyal to Him and to His government throughout all eternity! God simply cannot afford to allow a bunch of potential "rebels" to be given eternal life and total power in His coming government. So He tells us in His word, "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (Jeremiah 17:10).
May God grant each of us a heart of sincere humility, of surrender to His Word and His government, and a spirit of love and unity so we can become full sons of God in His loving Family throughout all eternity! Be sure that you, personally, strive with all your heart to attain that awesome goal.