This is off topic for this blog, but it is put here for referencing. It is adapted from correspondence with a current Armstrongist:
“Armstrongism,” for want of a better term, teaches that the “True Church” is defined in a lineage of ordinations (sometimes termed “apostolic succession”). Christ ordained the original apostles, who ordained people, who ordained people, yada-yada-yada, who ordained people, and at least one of those people personally ordained by the laying on of hands Herbert Armstrong. All of these people will have followed “true” Christianity, which means they were seventh-day Sabbatarian. They will not have descended from the supposed Simon Magus counterfeit religion, and at no point will there be a non-Sabbatarian in this lineage.
This was the explanation given by Andrew Dugger, Jr and CO Dodd in their 1930s book “A History of the True Religion” (originally titled, “A History of the True Church”). Armstrong endorsed this, certainly by sometime in the 1950s. You can locate an article he wrote roughly titled (paraphrasing from memory), “Must a minister be ordained by the hands of man?” It was originally published in 1954, and re-published in 1960 and 1979 (and perhaps other times). The idea is that to be a “true” Christian minister, one must have been ordained by the literal action of a minister in that succession.
This is not my opinion. This is the teaching of your faith tradition. If you found a minister of a small congregation somewhere meeting on Saturdays and perhaps teaching a few doctrines traditionally associated with your faith tradition (Armstrongism), that would not necessarily mean that church is a “true Church of God” (or “branch of the church,” the terminology preferred by some like the late Roderick Meredith). The minister would had to have been ordained in that discussed lineage. He couldn’t have been, say, ordained as a Presbyterian minister, looked at the Decalogue, and said, “Oh, wait! We should be observing the seventh day, not Sunday!” and then led his congregation to do so. Likewise, lay members of your faith tradition meeting without a minister could not say, “Hey, Sam! You’re doing the job of a minister. We think God wants you to be a minister,” then all lay hands on you and declare you ordained, and have it be legitimate (in the eyes of your religion). You wouldn’t have ministerial authority, and your “congregation” would simply be a gathering of individual adherents to your faith.
The Armstrongist ministry has long and strongly drawn a direct parallel between itself and the Levitical priesthood. The reference to “Levites” in the Deuteronomy 14:28-29 discussion of “third tithe” was used to justify the use of the assistance fund to pay for home renovations of ministers. I even recall a minister saying that it could be used to directly augment ministerial salaries because of this. Much of the authority and prestige of the Armstrongist ministry comes from drawing such parallels. I recall a minister after the 1995 event even saying that they could call themselves “priests” because of this if they so chose. Armstrong himself took it so far as to even roll it over into a theory that many of his ministers were descended literally – genetically – from the Levitical line.
It is this claim of lineage that gives the ministry of your faith tradition their binding authority. Thus, it is core to the claim of Herbert Armstrong being an “apostle,” “the Elijah,” etc. If that lineage does not in fact exist, then the claim of his authority is false.
I suggest you look into the work of Craig White in Australia. He sought to demonstrate the lineage of WCG going back here in North America. He dug very deeply into the history, but admitted the linkages were lacking (though he refuses to acknowledge the consequences). The truth is you cannot trace this lineage, which is central to your religion according to Armstrong.
Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 include a reference to a number of families claiming Levitical dissent at the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but whose names are not listed in a registry of such descendants. This results in them being declared “unclean” and set aside from the functions and privileges of the priesthood (until objective verification could be had). Putting this in jurisprudential terms, this is a “precedent,” an event which sets out how situation is like this ought to be handled. The “burden of proof” lies with the people claiming the succession exists. It does not lie with somebody challenging it. Ergo, following the parallel laid out by the ministry of your faith tradition, it is on them or their supporters to show the lineage exists. And if that cannot be done – and up to now it has not been done – they are to be considered set aside, and their doctrinal and spiritual authority disregarded.
Think about it. If a woman from your past claimed her child was the result of a union between the two of you, you would not simply accept her claim. You would demand affirmative proof that the child was yours. How much more important than the genealogy of a single individual, is being sure that the doctrinal authority you believe you are bound to is the correct one?
Today we have DNA tests to determine physical paternity. But unfortunately, there is no spiritual DNA test that can track ministerial ordinations. People have to rely on verifiable documentation for that. And unfortunately for your religion, the Armstrong faith tradition cannot even determine what elder(s) ordained Armstrong himself, let alone who ordained him/them, etc., back to the original apostles.
Church of God (Seventh Day) history shows that the early ministers of that denomination held ordinations from mainstream non-Sabbatarian protestant churches. Contrary to the impressions given by people like Herman Hoeh, there is no (known) ordinational linkages between them and any sort of Sabbatarian line. They were simply ministers who became involved in the Millerite/Adventist movement and adopted seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The same can be said of the lay members. They were not “rebaptized” upon this change in their practice. The whole claim of such a lineage preceding the formation of what became CG7 did not exist until the 1920s. Dugger himself claimed in a 1926 article that his “first light” on the idea came from an event in 1922. History simply does not bear the claim out, and in fact points against the claim.
And thus, based on the Ezra 2/Nehemiah 7 precedent, your religion’s claim of exclusively being “true Christianity” and the teachings of your ministry — INCLUDING THAT OF HERBERT ARMSTRONG — ought to be disregarded as authoritative. This does not mean that you or they are or were wrong about any other given point of biblical doctrine. It’s simply means that you are not bound before God to believe them, and thus are free to study doctrinal questions and arrive at different conclusions. You are not bound to Herbert Armstrong, WCG, or their legacy.
In a very real sense, I personally do not care what days you rest for worship. I do not care what you believe about the state of the dead. I do not care whether you doctrinally allow makeup or interracial marriage. What I do care about is that people are feeling held to a faith tradition – that is, Armstrongism – which bases its doctrinal authority over adherents on a fundamentally flawed and false premise. And thus, I will confront its adherents with the historical reality and the scriptural precedent laid out here.
I was an Armstrongist, as you are now. [Edit: PERSONAL INFORMATION REDACTED] I do know what you believe. I understand your take on John 6:44. I understand how powerful it is believing that you have been given a special opening to knowledge. But I will put this to you: Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it.”
What I present to you is not my opinion or my specific doctrinal conclusions. It is historical fact and scriptural precedent. It is my hope that you will look into this matter and consider it objectively. A deceived man does not know he is deceived. No matter how deeply you intuitively believe something, it can still be wrong. If you look at this objectively, you will understand.
