|
Museltof's Testimony |
|
From a
tiny child I believed in God. I cannot remember a time when I did not believe
that God was there, but as a tiny child - of course - I knew nothing about
Jesus. |
|
The
earliest event which could be called a 'religious experience' occurred when I
was about 4 years old. It was a warm summer's day and I was playing in the
garden. All of a sudden I heard this sound which - to me - seemed incredibly
beautiful. The sound went on and on. I decided to lay
on the daisy-covered grass just to listen. Then one of my sisters came along
(they were all older than myself), I asked what that incredible sound was.
"Why, its church bells ringing", I was told. |
|
Oh, there
was one other unusual occasion; I was with my parents and the sister closest
to my age, Wendy, and we had gone to Battersea Funfair in |
|
I heard a
bit more about Jesus specifically at school assembly. Every Friday morning
the assembly was a Christian service. The old-fashioned 'wireless' was put on
for the broadcast service which we were all required to listen to. I detested
school all my life but I loved the Friday service. Those broadcasts told one
all about Jesus, although my understanding of the rudiments of the gospel at
that time was poor. I loved the radio service and the hymns which we sang to
it. In fact, my dislike for school life in general was so strong that I just
wished those Christian assemblies could have lasted and lasted! And yet, it
was more than that; I found the experience of being taught about Jesus to be
deeply moving - but I did not know why. |
|
Since this
is a testimony of discovering the glorious grace of Christ and not an
autobiography, there is obviously much which I now have to leave out. But I
grew into a rather shy and moody teenager who absolutely loved reading, and listening to jazz. My interest in the Bible
was sparked both by a school friend who was a Jehovah's Witness and by the
Plain Truth magazine which was sent out free of charge by the Worldwide
Church of God sect/cult. (Which, from now on, I will call
the 'WCG'). No, I am not going to debate here whether they were/are a
sect or a cult. At the time I discovered this magazine I was 15 years old.
This magazine was talking about the reality of a God who must be obeyed and
so was my JW friend. I was also learning to play the trumpet at the time, but
I recall looking at my trumpet one day and thinking, 'I am never going to be
a trumpet player, I am going to grow up preaching and warning about the end
of the world to come' - but I thought there was little time; that Christ
could return so soon I might not even have time to eventually get married,
which I really longed to do. (No, there was no particular girl but constant
painful crushes on almost every pretty girl I saw!). |
|
But my
approach to the Bible became dictated by these early influences, although the
JW I knew had far less affect upon me than the Plain Truth (so-called)
magazine. I was riveted by this free mag. I just never knew that religion
could be that exciting as I read of some of the really way-out (and often
quite zany) ways which this publication said that Bible prophecy would be
fulfilled. Oh yes, and this would all happen "within the next few
years". Within a few years the WCG's self-styled 'apostle', Herbert W.
Armstrong, was saying that war would break out in |
|
I married
in 1977, still not having done anything about my interest in, and enthusiasm
for, the teachings of that religious mag. I had a very deep belief in God and
was quite knowledgeable about the Torah (the 5 books of Moses) having studied
the WCG's 'Bible Correspondence Course' (which appeared to spend about 80% of
its time in the Old Testament, especially the books of Moses). Soon my new
wife would say, We should be going to church - do you know of a church to go
to? Well the rest (as they say) is history. We contacted local
representatives of the WCG and were eventually invited to services. |
|
This was
now spring, 1981. I was baptized by immersion at that time. The WCG may have
had a problem with the Trinity, but I can honestly say that their minister
baptized me, 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit' and I
knew that this was a lifelong commitment to walk with Jesus Christ. So,
although we were now attending the WCG (and would do so until January, 1994),
I realised that my baptismal commitment was between myself and God, looking beyond
any particular group of worshippers. Apparently some WCG people did not
understand that, but I did. Therefore I have never felt the need to be 're-baptized'. Tina (my wife) was not baptized until
around 1989. The WCG so-called 'apostle', Herbert W. Armstrong, died around
1986. (Somebody will surely soon let me know if I have that date wrong). When
Armstrong died, there was real excitement among a few that God's apostle now
having been taken from the world, the time had
arrived to go to 'The Place of Safety'. We had been taught that we would
spend the three and a half year 'Great Tribulation' in a desert location
probably around |
|
Armstrong
was not a genuinely righteous man who walked with God but who erred in
certain areas (as some WCG people like to say), he was a false prophet who
picked the bits out of the Bible he liked and ignored the rest and would
easily fall into the category of people who distort the message of the gospel
a la Galatians, Chapter One (Read it!). There are current and former WCG
people out there who will not be able to move on until they accept that
Armstrong was a false prophet who perverted the Word of God. Am I saying that
he was wholly evil? Of course not, he was like all of us; a mixture of many
things. Yet, sincere or not, biblically, he was a deceiver. I continue to be
alarmed that some current WCG people still cannot accept this, which is
precisely why they have not moved forward in Bible understanding as much as
they should have done by now. There are too many out there who are still
trying to hold this sort of tension between many of the things which
Armstrong taught, and "the new teachings" .
You cannot do it. You need to go back to basics. Stand back; What is the
primary message of the Holy Bible? What did Jesus teach? Does the message of
the gospel which is to be taken to the world have anything to do with obscure
verses in Leviticus or Deuteronomy? Of course not! If it did, only Jews would
have any chance of salvation, but salvation - through Christ - was now freely
offered to all! He was the inaugurator of the long promised New Covenant! For
any wanting in-depth teaching on exactly where the Adventist-type cults &
sects go wrong, please refer to my article, The Move
Away From Legalism. Well, I could go on, but must not. We now need to move
on. |
|
In April, 1991,
I was appointed as a 'sermonette man'. In other words, I became a lay
preacher within the WCG. This was now quite an invigorating time. Armstrong
had died, and the new leader of the WCG was Mr Joseph W. Tkach, an American
of Russian extraction. This man proved to be amazingly honest and forthright
and - without question - the Holy Spirit worked through this humble human
vessel in bringing the message of Christ and the gospel to those living in
the dark deception of a cult! Obviously, he was hated by the 'old guard'
ministers, and splinter groups started to break off who wanted to keep the
real kosher Armstrongism going! |
|
It might
seem very odd to some that such a group as we were should have suddenly developed
an 'evangelical wing' but we did and, in our local area, I was immediately
part of it. The minister who appointed me to preach was - at least to a
degree - 'reformist', but our local minister was hard-line 'old guard' and
this obviously led to a few problems. But even before Armstrong had died, I
was beginning to have serious doubts about some of his claims. A few of us
were very uncomfortable with his lavish lifestyle (he even had a personal jet
aircraft!), and while he still lived (as far as I can recall), I started to
reject his prosperity and success teaching which he upheld in a booklet
called, 'The Seven Laws of Success' . The booklet was so unchristian and
inherently flawed that it was an embarrassment. I remember being so happy
that the booklet quietly disappeared from circulation soon after Armstrong's
death. |
|
Joseph
Tkach, Armstrong's successor, valiantly set about turning over the very deep
errors which had been part of our WCG existence. My own understanding was
also moving on at about the same pace and in the same direction, especially
when I started preaching. I strove to be meticulous in my speaking
preparation, and my much deeper study of the Bible at this time was starting
to uncover all sorts of areas where the WCG had clearly been wrong. I hate to
say it, but many of the Armstrongist legalists now started to show their true
colours. Tkach even received death threats at this time. These people were
not interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ, only in perpetuating
Armstrongism. The most vital problem of many within such groups as the WCG is
that they all tend to uphold 'justification by works' (though they will
rarely admit it). They preach a works-based salvation. But the New Testament
clearly upholds Justification by Faith Alone. This is especially clear
through the writings of Paul, especially in the Book of Romans. Romans has (correctly) been called the most heavily
doctrinal book in the whole Bible. We should have been paying particular
attention to such books! But, in fact, only about five verses were ever
quoted out of this book by Armstrong and he kept quoting them simply because
they appeared - on the surface - to back up his extremism. Of course, if one
is prepared to twist the Scriptures, pulling them totally out of context, it
is easy to abuse the Scriptures. |
|
The
correct understanding of justification; that Christ's righteousness has to be
imputed to us, and that we can never earn entry into God's kingdom, came as a
wonderfully joyful revelation to me. I now knew that my salvation was a gift
from God and that my 'membership' of the WCG had little or nothing to do with
it! Neither did such matters as whether or not I observed the seventh day
Sabbath! After all, the Sabbath is not one of the few things mentioned in
Acts 15, where the early Church made a decision about which laws would be
relevant for Gentiles to be made aware of! And, as Paul clearly showed, those
who wanted to be justified by law had better make sure that they keep the
whole law! - of course, none have ever succeeded in
that. The law was only ever intended as a teacher in order to show us how
evil we are and how much we need Christ! |
|
In
contrast to that, the WCG legalism was intrusive, pervasive and
all-encompassing, yet it was also selective. Armstrong certainly loved
tithing and this is not surprising since tithing enabled him to live in
absolute luxury and abundance even while so many WCG members were living in a
financially precarious world! Yet - amazingly - he always upheld the story
that he lived very humbly and simply! Armstrong also loved the Leviticus
holydays and - most of all - the 7th day Sabbath, also the Leviticus 11
'unclean meats' chapter. Yet he appeared disinterested in many other laws!
Most of all, he loved his interpretation of the Scriptures - especially
prophecy. Armstrong was also enthusiastic about his British-Israelitism (that
is, the teaching that the British people are descended from one or more of
the twelve tribes of |
|
Amazingly,
it was British-Israelitism which many found difficult to leave behind when
the post-Armstrong WCG started to admit that the theory was flawed. So what kind
of appraisal of Herbert W. Armstrong would I come up with? Well, in many ways
he was indeed a sincere man. I believe (though thousands would disagree with
me) that he really and truly thought that he was the only religious leader
upon this earth that God was using. Yet one of his own favourite lines was,
'You can be sincere, but sincerely deceived' . The
irony is; how much this applied to him! Armstrong was really a gifted
advertising man and salesman - this was his forte! As the saying goes, 'He
could sell you a dead monkey, then make you so
grateful that he had allowed you to buy it off him!' He was one of the most
persuasive of men and a man of infectious enthusiasm. Yet tragically, it is
easy for individuals who are so gifted in those particular areas to deceive
others! Ideally, Armstrong should never have been allowed anywhere near the
Holy Bible! And yet, his own views were one thing which he might well have
been entitled to, but his cardinal error was in influencing thousands of
people to accept his great errors in understanding as (literally) Gospel
Truth!' |
|
Yes,
undoubtedly God allowed those of us who left the WCG and who are now
Christians, to travel down this particular path to true Christianity.
Similarly, the apostle Paul had been a Pharisee. Yet, I am sure that while he
later recognised that God chose this route for him, he was not exactly proud
of his past. Neither, to be perfectly frank, are my wife and I exactly proud
of our own route to Christ. Yet it is a fact, and we don't attempt to hide
it. |
|
My wife
and I finally left the WCG in January, 1994. The very last thing which we
ever did was to arrange a children's party in our local congregation. This
had to be held after sunset on a Saturday evening in order to comply with
'sabbath regulations', and this was several years after Armstrong's demise.
Legalism continued to pervade large areas of the WCG then and apparently this
is still the case especially in certain congregations. The next summer,
however, I did attend three more services after being assured that 'the WCG
was now entirely changed for the better' (but I found this claim to be wholly
incorrect, although there was certainly now a great deal of confusion within
the group, which had not previously been the case). On the first of these
final three occasions of attending (seeing myself as a kind of 'observer' of
whether this group would ever really change), the 'sermon' was given by a
minister about to be fired for wanting to stay with Armstrongist teachings.
He boasted quite brazenly about how he had got the WCG to pay a first-class
air fare for his recent visit to the States. Upon hearing this, my wife and I
agreed there and then that we would never contribute another penny to this
organisation! In fact, this man had caused havoc and the WCG had been warned
about what he was doing, but had chosen to ignore it. |
|
On the
second occasion, it was just myself from my family attending (my wife never
attended the WCG again), I heard a sermon from a man
who preached just as though Armstrong was still around. The message was full
of theological flaws (not unusual for the WCG). I only ever attended the WCG
once more after that, but this was just in order to speak to the
congregation's new minister, whom I will call 'TL'. That day while at home,
my wife had earnestly prayed that the Lord should reveal to me whether there
was any future for us in the WCG - after all, we were now conservative
evangelicals and would only hang around if the WCG were now fully committed
to reform. Well, my wife's prayer was richly answered! After a long
after-service talk with the new minister, it was absolutely clear that we
would leave. He told me of a decision made by the WCG's British office at
Borehamwood that they would go for a 'half-way' approach somewhere between
what Armstrong had taught (this was now about eight years after Armstrong's
death!) and the Christian approach! - I could hardly believe what I heard,
but Tina's prayer was clearly answered! We never returned, neither did we
ever regret our decision, even for one moment. |
|
The
prevarication of the WCG at that time proved to be a serious error for the
organisation. There was a need to own up to the whole truth about Armstrong
and his teachings, but - instead of this - a vacuum was created in which
congregations could believe almost whatever they wanted to. One hears that
this remains the situation in many congregations - yet this is far from the
picture of a wholly evangelical group which is usually presented these days
to mainstream Christians. If the organisation had been more decisive, they
could have held on to scores of us who could have been of great assistance in
bringing real biblical truth to its people. In adopting a 'middle ground'
approach only the indecisive and unsure could be satisfied! Another major
error was in continuing to allow so many leading ministers who were so
strongly associated with Armstrongism to remain in leading positions in the
organisation. This has spoken volumes to those evangelicals whom the WCG like
to think are now wholly supportive of them! |
|
In the
autumn of 1995 I commenced my theology degree at |
|
So, what
of the present 'reformed' WCG? First of all, I take real joy when any from
such a group as the WCG truly find Christ and are able to ditch the legalism.
I know this applies to a group of people in the WCG, perhaps even a sizeable
group. However, I am afraid that there are still huge questions from its past
which the WCG organisation has never really satisfactorily addressed. At
museltof christian ministries, we have to counsel with many who believe that
their lives were ruined by their involvement in this group. They have been
left confused, angry and bitter at the way they were treated. Sure, I
encourage these people to seek the Lord's help in helping them to forgive.
But the road is hard for many of them. It is also interesting what a large
group of former WCG people are now outright atheists! Some of these things
are the legacy of the old-style WCG! The situation is made harder by the
WCG's apparently ongoing cult-like approach of completely writing off any
people who leave their organisation. My wife and I - through the grace of
Christ - have been able to put our experiences completely behind us, unfortunately many others cannot do so quite so
easily. We should pray for these people. |
|
So let us
all glory in the glorious grace of God the Father who so magnificently and so
generously drew us to His Son in whom alone is salvation for our souls! |
|
|
|
Robin A.
Brace |
|
|
|
2002 |
|
|
|
Robin's
Site: http://www.ourchurch.com/ |