Herbert W Armstrong

Tithing in the Old Testament is an interesting study. What becomes immediately clear is that it never applied to wages, trade income, craftsmanship, fishing, commercial profit, or any other form of monetary earnings. Money certainly existed, and the monetary economy was substantial - merchants, traders, craftsmen, builders, fishermen, and labourers, including agricultural labourers and many others too numerous to list, formed a significant and essential part of Israel’s society - yet none of these were ever tithed. Towns, fortified cities, royal centres, and trade hubs had significant numbers of non‑agricultural workers. Even rural villages had essential trades (smiths, carpenters, potters, weavers, builders, transport workers, fishermen, merchants). The Bible itself depicts frequent monetary transactions, which presuppose a functioning monetary economy. The biblical tithe was restricted solely to agricultural increase and herds and flocks from the land of Israel, as laid out in Leviti...

The United Church of God, headquartered in the USA, teaches that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force rather than a divine Person - a belief inherited from the Armstrong parent church. Their website lists several reasons for this claim. The question is whether any of these reasons make biblical sense. In the document linked below, I examine each of their arguments to determine whether they have any scriptural warrant. In reading their material, one is struck by the insistence that the Holy Spirit must be an “it”- a non‑person, an impersonal force rather than a divine agent. The claim is repeated with such confidence that one might initially assume it rests on solid biblical foundations. In reality, closer inspection shows that it rests on selective readings and misunderstandings of Paul’s literary conventions, particularly his greeting formula, along with other arguments discussed below. Readers may consider the evidence and decide for themselves whether UCG claims have any merit. A ...

Herbert W. Armstrong taught that the Worldwide Church of God was the sole continuation of the apostolic church, uniquely preserved while all other Christian bodies fell into early apostasy. He claimed that God raised him up to restore truths lost for nearly two millennia, including Sabbath‑keeping, Old Testament Holy Days, hierarchical church government, and his distinctive prophetic system. Armstrong also asserted that the early church possessed a correct understanding of Israel’s identity—an understanding he believed had been lost and recovered through his ministry. A central part of his narrative was the idea of a continuous remnant of Sabbath‑keepers stretching from the apostles through various medieval dissenting groups and finally into the Church of God (Seventh Day), culminating in his own organisation I show in the linked Post in Quora just how inadequate these claims really are.  See here.    It is titled:  Herbert W. Armstrong said in his booklet ''A True H...

Jesus and the apostles observed the sabbath, the annual festivals, and other customs of the Mosaic Law because they lived within the Jewish world and Jesus was born under the Law (Gal 4:4). Some submit that believers today must do the same. Scripture certainly records how Jesus and the apostles did things on the weekly sabbath, as well as annual holydays.  These passages may reasonably be described as things Jesus and the apostles did as Jews living under the Mosaic system. But the real question is not what they did - it is what they commanded . Many discussions focus on whether sabbath‑keeping or festival observance occurred in the New Testament; my concern is whether Jesus ever required His followers to replicate those practices. In my view, the evidence shows that He did not. Please follow this link to my Post in Quora wherein I examine this subject. 

Certain groups, including the Armstrong churches (of which there are many), vehemently argue that birthdays should not be observed. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are among them. The arguments run along familiar lines: traditional Judaism did not emphasise birthdays; early Christians (mostly Jewish) did not mark them; birthday customs supposedly stem from pagan feasts; and Roman birthday celebrations were associated with astrology and household gods - the last being the most frequently repeated. These claims don’t in fact have merit. Some writers cite two Old Testament passages where pagan kings held birthday feasts, inferring that any birthday celebration is permanently tainted. Curiously, they do not mention other passages which undermine their argument. Following is a link to a Post I have in Quora that examined whether any of the claims truly carry merit. The reader may consider the evidence and reach their own conclusion. See the Quora link here . 

Armstrong, his Worldwide Church of God, and the many offshoots that exist today insist on a Wednesday crucifixion. The view often imagines a kind of conspiracy by those who hold to a Friday crucifixion, as though the traditional understanding were not only mistaken but deliberately deceptive. A Wednesday crucifixion is also held by some outside Armstrongism. It is not a commonly accepted view, but it is worth examining. Personally, I do not regard it as a matter of special importance; however, because the claim is made so forcefully - and because it accuses the Friday view of implied intentional error - it deserves careful comment. Central to the Wednesday theory is the counting method derived from Matthew 12:40, where Jesus refers to Jonah being “ three days and three nights in the whale’s belly .” Advocates insist this must mean a literal seventy‑two hours from crucifixion to resurrection. Matthew 12:40 is therefore the pivotal text for the Wednesday position, and in this study I exa...