Herbert W Armstrong

Armstrong, his Worldwide Church of God, and the many offshoots in existence today, insist on a Wednesday crucifixion. The view seems to imagine a big conspiracy as being afoot by those who think Jesus was crucified on a Friday.  A Wednesday crucifixion idea is also held by others. It does not appear to be a commonly held belief, nevertheless it’s worthy of study. It is important to address the counting method associated with this Wednesday theory which requires there be a third night, based on Matthew chapter 12 verse 40 regarding Jonah being ‘’.. three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’’. This is worked out to be 72 hours precisely from the crucifixion to the resurrection. The verse 40 in Matthew 12 is pivotal to this Wednesday view , and I will examine whether its counting method is supported by the scriptures, and by custom.  All of the other verses concerning the timing of the cruci...

Herbert Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God promoted the idea that the cross is pagan.  I note that the Jehovah Witnesses have the same belief - they insist Jesus dies on a stake rather than a cross, and allege the cross is of pagan origin.   I would not at all be surprised if Armstrong took his idea from the Witnesses, he was after all a great copyist. Perhaps many in the Millerite movement held such belief.  The purpose of this pagan theory is, I believe, to denigrate and unsettle believers whilst promoting other pagan theories such as those concerning Christmas, Easter and Sunday worship.  I investigate whether these claims are true, and conclude they have no substance.  Please follow the link to my post in Quora.  See here.

 What scriptures suggest an intermediate state after death? There are some scriptures in both Old and New Testaments which suggest an intermediate state beyond death, by a plain reading of them. By that I mean a state whereby the spirit extends beyond death - and prior to the resurrection of the body which the bible teaches. My purpose is simply to list those scriptures. This may be of interest to some few readers - there may well be other scriptures I am unaware of and I will add edit notes if I find more. (Armstrong churches and others such as the Jehovah Witnesses teach that the spirit does not live on - there is nothing - described as 'soul sleep' by some. These organizations equate the living on of the soul with paganism, as they do with many other matters such as birthdays - Christmas, Easter, the cross, and so forth). Please see my commentary here in Quora.

The United Church of God is one of the branches of the Worldwide Church of God, founded by a Herbert W Armstrong in the 1930’s, in the USA.  UCG is the biggest offshoot.   Their full name is  "The United Church of God,  an International Association ". It was established in 1995 when certain Ministers of the Worldwide Church of God didn't like changes to the doctrines of Herbert Armstrong.  Each of the offshoots claim to be loyal to Armstrong doctrines, and to be the one true church - meaning of course there is now a big number of one true churches.  They have been described by another responder as:  '' 7th Day Sabbatarians, reject Christian holidays in favor of the seven Levitical Feasts and require legalistic observance of the Law of Moses as they interpret it ’.   I generally concur with that description.  They teach British Israelism, being a belief USA and UK are two of the ten tribes of ancient Israel.  They believe being ‘born...

  Do certain verses in Ecclesiastes support a view held by some that nothing happens after death? That it is all a big blank? I have observed how certain descendant organizations of the Millerite movement in the USA like to use verses extracted from Ecclesiastes in a desire to bolster their teaching it is all a big blank after death. Armstrong being one of that number.  They seem to vehemently oppose any other possibility. So desirous of the blank theory I've noted their embellishments by addition of a gigantic pagan conspiracy were one to suggest otherwise. I cite these verses below: 3: 21: " Who knoweth the spirit of man whether it goeth upward and the spirit of the beast whether it goeth downward to the earth?" [Ecc 9:5, 10 ESV] 5  For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. ... 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge ...

Herbert W Armstrong - Gospel preached. Armstrong claimed with much fan fare that only he preached the true gospel. Armstrong set out his gospel doctrine in many publications - booklets such as “ What is the true gospel ”; magazine articles; and radio and television broadcasts. This is all publicly available and the message was the same throughout his 52 year preaching career.   For example the  Plain Truth magazine  1979; and chapter 6 of a book titled ‘ A Voice Cries Out Amongst Religious Confusion’  - shown in this link;  ‘What & Why the Gospel’ ; In a publication titled: ‘ A true history of the true church’  Armstrong   said  his Radio - then later Worldwide Church of God  was the “ one true church” linked all the way back to the original apostles.  (The identifying sign for such claim said to be 'sabbath keeping', along with an alleged obedience of the rest of the ten  commandments).  He claimed, on many occasions,...