Restoration

Refresh Yourself With Rivers of Living Water

Home

Online Audio

Daily Webcasts

Sermons, Services and Bible Studies

Library

Bookstore

Discussion and News Lists

Bible Study Resources

Success Resources at Destiny Central

How You Can Help

Links

rcg@destiny-worldwide.net

The Plain Truth About Church Government

By -- M. John Allen

For years, God’s people in the Worldwide Church of God, and now, many of its offshoots, have labored under a false concept of Church government. The fruits of this false doctrine have been evil, leading directly -- and inevitably -- to the present wholesale apostasy now underway and to years of abuse of power. It’s time to learn the truth on this subject, before even more irreparable damage is done in people’s lives!

For years we have been taught that “God’s Government is from the top down.” Those in Christ’s ministry are responsible only to those above them and to Jesus Christ. God’s people need to show patience, in prayer, and God will take care of the problems.

But, have the FACTS and the FRUITS supported this position? Let’s see. Is the model of the ancient Kingdom of Israel the true model to be used by God’s Church for government, as most claim? Was the Apostolic Church run this way?

Did Mr. Armstrong really -- Fully -- Put the Church Back on God’s Track in the Late ‘70’s and Early ‘80’s?

At the same time God was using Mr. Armstrong to restore once lost truth to His church, He also allowed Mr. Armstrong to make mistakes, like any other human being. Only God is perfect and infallible, while humans are weak and prone to make mistakes. I only wish that the church Mr. Armstrong founded would abandon one of the greatest false doctrines of all ages, and thus be able to look at the truth of God without the blinders of the heinous apostasy that created the greatest apostate church of all times!

The organization that sprang from the early church quickly changed to a different kind of church from the one the apostles founded. Within a very short time, the false gospel about the person of Christ supplanted the Gospel Christ preached about the Kingdom of God, and a false doctrine about church government also arose.

Over time, this false doctrine changed the Church of God into the Catholic Church! As the gospel of men about Christ gained ascendancy, along with permissive lawlessness, the true Christians were forced underground. Finally, by the time of Emperor Constantine, the apostasy was in complete control, and true Christians were accused of “Judaizing,” and declared anathema from Christ, which was tantamount to a death sentence.

The two pivotal issues at this time were the Passover/Easter controversy and the Sabbath/Sunday controversy. These are also two of the pivotal issues, along with the true Gospel, that differentiate those who follow the example of Christ and the apostles from those who follow men and human tradition. One is true, the other is false. Yet, as Mr. Armstrong was so fond of saying, “for every cause there is an effect.” Just what, then was the root cause of all of this apostasy -- and could God’s churches be repeating this mistake today?”

The Foundational False Doctrine Revealed!

It is indeed ironic that the very man God used to restore much truth to God’s Church in this century should fall into the same doctrinal error that gave rise to the great apostate church and its daughters. Perhaps this is a test from God, to see which people are truly being led by the Spirit of God, and which are being led by men.

Many Old Testament passages are used to “prove” what form the organization, or government within the Church should take. Many of the Old Testament scriptures so used are twisted and misapplied. One of the pivotal incidents happens right at Mt. Sinai in the wilderness.

The original name for the false doctrine I am discussing is the Primacy of Peter doctrine. This doctrine simply states that Christ established His Church, putting Peter in charge as the chief apostle. All other apostles, ministers, and members are, according to this doctrine, obliged to do what this “Peter” tells them to do. Everyone is to do what the one above them tells them to do, without question. Even if the one above them is wrong, according to this doctrine, the person will be blessed anyway for following government and authority, which is really the Government of God on this earth.

Further, the Church, since it is the only place where God’s Government functions today, is, in fact, either the Kingdom of God in totality or in embryo. Rebellion against this government is, therefore, rebellion against God. Since God is testing us to see if we can follow His Government for all eternity, we must follow it now where it leads or be lost forever.

That is a brief summation of this heinous doctrine. Let us look, now, at the fruits borne by this doctrine. This doctrine has allowed a man, in the person of the Pope, to declare himself infallible. This has allowed several churches to, in effect, call themselves infallible. Using this reasoning, the Roman Catholic Church openly proclaims that it, not the Bible, is the source of authority for the change of the Sabbath to Sunday, and of the elimination of the New Testament Passover that Christ established, and the substitution of Easter, which the Bible does not command -- among numerous other doctrines!

In fact, the Catholic Church states that its traditions, along with the pronouncements of the Pope, hold equal weight with the Bible. This doctrine has changed what was once a church of God into a great apostate church -- and the same thing has happened today to the church founded by Herbert W. Armstrong! Because this doctrine is so evil, so Satanic, and so subtle that it warps, twists, and perverts every church that accepts it, changing it into an organization of men rather than the spiritual organism of Christ’s Body.

Many in the Worldwide Church of God and many of its spin offs will not believe that the above is true, but I am going to give a few quotes from the church’s founder, Herbert W. Armstrong. And it should be noted that despite all of the current changes and “liberalizations,” the church has not renounced this doctrine! If it is like the Catholic Church, it never will, because once man is given such sweeping power, he becomes corrupted and cannot give it up, no matter what the cost -- and the costs are always dire indeed where this doctrine is concerned. This doctrine cuts off individual church members from a proper relationship with the Creator God, putting a man, or men, between them and God!

Here, then, are some quotes from Mr. Armstrong stating this doctrine in the Worldwide Church and many of its spinoffs:

“But, if you have proved this is, indeed, God’s true Church for this present time, then you MUST BELIEVE that if and when I make a mistake, the LIVING CHRIST will correct me! Indeed HE HAS DONE SO!” [The Good News, April, 1979, “Personal,” p. 23.] Then, incredible as that may sound to someone from outside that church, Mr. Armstrong went on to say this on page 24: “If I make a mistake, it is CHRIST’S responsibility to set me straight! But DO YOU BELIEVE CHRIST IS STILL ALIVE AND WILL DO IT?

“Now suppose a member thinks he or she has found error in our doctrines. How must you proceed? ...Take it to your local minister or write to headquarters. What must a local pastor do? Send it to headquarters. If it is felt to be a valid truth, it will be brought to me personally, and the LIVING CHRIST will make it clear to my mind!

“I have said through the years, over the air and in print and before audiences, ‘Don’t believe me because I say it -- look in your own Bible and believe what you find there!’ But I do not -- or, at least, SHOULD NOT HAVE ever said that to our own brethren!” To paraphrase the above, God could lead a person to the Truth before conversion, and was supposed to check everything in his or her own Bible, but, once they made the decision to join the WCG they were no longer capable or expected to think for themselves! How utterly ridiculous and absurd!

I realize that the normal person not ever associated with that church, will find the above hard to believe. But that is the infallibility doctrine as stated in the Worldwide Church of God and many of its spinoffs. It is only one step from the above statements to saying that whatever pronouncement you make must be followed, whether the Bible says to or not. This is also the understanding of Church Government extant in the Roman Catholic Church!

This hideous doctrine destroys every church that it touches, giving human reasoning full reign, and the church leaders the right to abuse their power without restraint from the brethren. Christ said that His people were not to be rulers like the gentiles, and yet, a gentile style of government has been instituted. [Contrary to popular belief, the Jewish synagogue of Jesus’ day was fairly collegial. It wasn’t as collegial as the early church, but it was close to if not outrightly democratic. If Christ had thought this was the wrong idea, He had plenty of opportunities to address this issue.]

The Roman Catholic Church used the Roman Government as its model for church government (stamping them as the image of the beast, as the Roman Government was the government of the Beast that then was). The WCG claims to model their church government after the New Testament, using the Primacy of Peter doctrine to say that there was one chief apostle then who made all of the rules, and so there is today. Unfortunately, they go even further and say that there can only be on apostle today (I do not believe this is the current teaching, but perhaps it is still extant in some of the spinoffs) -- thus elevating their church leader to a position close to that of being a pope. They simply don’t have all the pomp, circumstance, and idolatry surrounding that office yet. Unless they abandon this false doctrine, such is only a matter of time, because it is the inevitable result of this false doctrine!

After so many people have left (well over 50%), the WCG is still telling people to be loyal to the church, follow the church leadership as it makes doctrinal changes, etc. They have even went so far as to say that those who don’t “understand” the changes simply aren’t being led by God’s Spirit, or they would “see the new truth.” Members are told that even if they don’t see the new doctrines, they must humbly pray about it, asking for God to show them the truth (the implication is that the church leadership can’t be wrong -- only members or other individuals can be wrong -- which raises the leadership to the level of infallibility; only the leadership is “qualified” to really understand doctrine).

Those who dare to openly question the changes, or those ministers who refuse to teach the changes, or who would dare to speak on certain “forbidden subjects” no longer accepted by the hierarchy, are disfellowshipped on the spot without question. How is that for a humble, meek, Christlike attitude? It sounds more like the rule of a gentile king to me than a minister of Jesus Christ!

I know of one incident where a longtime minister, with over 25 years of loyal service to the church, called up the son of the then “apostle” (in other words, Joe Tkach, Jr., who at this time had been put in charge of all United States ministers even though he himself had only been a full time minister for a short time) and asked to resign from the ministry because he could not teach the new doctrines in good conscience. He said that he would like to simply become a lay member and would keep quiet. Rather than accept this long time servant’s dignified exit, the “instant” leader of the ministry, the son of the “instant apostle” (I use the word “instant” here in two senses: 1. is the pun, where something is instant because you add water, the other, 2. denotes someone who was suddenly elevated or took an office or title without first proving themselves by their fruits; by the same token, a man cannot appoint another man as an apostle, only Christ can do that) disfellowshipped him instead. When his wife called back a few minutes later to protest this scandalous injustice, she was put out as well. From this recent (1993) example it is quite clear that the one sitting in “Peter’s seat” intends to stay right there, and will brook no resistance.

Rather than follow men wherever they lead us, Paul tells us in I Thes. 5:21: “But though we or an anger from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” [KJV] there is not direction here to follow church leaders NO MATTER WHAT. And the Bible most certainly doesn’t tell us that there is one man who can make all doctrinal decisions facing your life. We are to each prove from the Bible ourselves whether something be so.

Let’s look, now, at the roots of this doctrine. The scripture that appears to give this doctrine credibility is Mtt. 16:18-19: “And I say to you that you are Peter [translated from the word petros, which means pebble], and on this [Christ probably first pointed to Peter when he said pebble, and to Himself when He says rock, because Christ was the rock of ages in the Old Testament! See Deut. 32:18; II Sam. 22:2; Ps. 31:3; 94:22; Is. 17:10; and I Cor. 10:4] and on this rock [the word here is petra, which means crag or cliff] I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades [the grave] shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.”

This “binding and loosing” by “Peter” is the basis that both churches use to justify a ministerial dictatorship. We shall soon see what Christ really meant by these words.

Turn now to a similar account in Mtt. 18:15-20. At first it won’t seem to be the same, but the wording is almost identical by the time you get down to verse 18. Starting with verse 15: “Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. [Here we have a personal dispute between two church brothers. The ideal situation is to resolve it between the two brothers, but, if it can’t be settled this way, this passage shows how to go about solving the problem, with increasing degrees of resistance from the brother who is wronging the other.] And if he refused to hear them, tell it to the church [right here the WCG makes another unbiblical blunder: the Greek word for “church” is eklesia, which simply means a group, or assembly of people. When in the context of the church, it simply means, throughout the New Testament, the body of believers. This is unfortunate for those who hold the Petrine concept, because they must twist the word church, and make it mean “ministry.” Such an application is nowhere found in the New Testament. In fact, careful reading of the Book of Acts will show that in most cases, all of the brethren were assembled in one place and at one time to discuss major changes. Everyone was allowed to give his input, unencumbered by fear of retribution. In fact, there is even one case where Paul openly rebuked Peter, the so called chief apostle, for hypocrisy. Unlike what happens in the WCG today, Paul was not disfellowshipped, along with the character assassination campaign that goes along with it. Instead, Peter humbly admitted later that he was wrong!

Thus, it can be concluded that disputes between brethren of a very severe nature should somehow be handled by the church as a whole.] But if he refused even to hear the church, let him be to you as a heathen and a tax collector [notice that Christ does not necessarily say to even “put him out,” or excommunicate him]. Assuredly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. [This is exactly the same “binding and loosing” wording used in Mtt. 16, on which the Petrine doctrine rests. Based on an understanding of the proper context, then, this simply means that the church has the power to bind and loose a determination as to which brother is right, and which one is wrong in a personal dispute. This says nothing about fixing doctrine in the church. Secondly, this also does not say anything about the ministry taking this decision alone, unilaterally, as this passage talks about the church as a whole, with all of its members. This is further supported in the following verse.] Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” This final verse shows that this “eklesia,” or church, will be wherever two or three are gathered together in His name. This most certainly DOES NOT imply a gigantic hierarchical structure.

In relation to this same point, about the church deciding personal disputes, Christ said in Jn 20:23: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” The Greek word translated sin means merely “falling short of the mark.” Therefore, in translating anything into English, we have to hope that the translators understood what it meant. In this case, they probably should have used the word “transgression,” which is a sin against one’s brother. This certainly does not mean that the church has the right to retain and forgive spiritual sins, as that is only God’s prerogative.

In Acts 15:7 we see Peter rising up to give his argument in a dispute over doctrine. Then, we have James giving what appears to be the final judgment [read verses 13-22]. This and a few other scriptures from the New Testament are the only clues given as to the kind of church government we should have. It looks as though God gives us, the church, broad discretion in this matter, just as long as we don’t go into the heresy of the Petrine doctrine!

This whole issue may seem very small to many, even some of those suffering under an oppressive church government. But this issue is very important, because without a proper understanding of this issue, we can’t have any proper idea of how the Kingdom of God will function! An understanding of God’s way of governing his cartoons will give us an insight into how to build Godly character. This problem of controlling personalities is not new. God has encountered power crazed maniacs throughout history.

If you will remember how God death with the first man and woman in a personal, direct way, you will see that God always intended to deal directly with man. It was man who cut himself off from God, not the other way around.

If you will remember what happened at Mt. Sinai when the Ten Commandments were given, you will remember that God wanted to speak directly to the people, but they were too afraid [Ex. 20:18-19]. They told Moses to have God speak to him, and then they would listen to him. God grants man his wish in such situations. He will never force man in this age to have unwanted contact with Him.

Israel in the wilderness is called “the church in the wilderness.” [Acts 7:38] Therefore, many of the things that happened to them are for our instruction. However, it must always be remembered that this was a physical nation only. They were not offered salvation. God is Holy. Carnal man is unholy. The two do not mix. For this reason, then, God set up a priesthood under Aaron, with the Levites performing functions of the Tabernacle. Only the High priest could go into the Holy of Holies to meet God -- And then only once per year on the Day of Atonement. We in God’s New Testament church are all part of God’s priesthood, and have access to God’s Throne every day! We can enter the Holy of Holies any time because the veil of the Temple was torn at the time of Christ’s death. It is important to bear in mind THESE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES when one looks at some of the things that happened to those people because we could otherwise be drawn to some hasty conclusions. Whereas in the Old Testament there was a rigid priestly hierarchy with closely defined duties, that is not the case today! God’s New Testament church is not like this “church in the wilderness” because we, unlike those people, have DIRECT ACCESS TO GOD! It must be remembered, though, that this separation between man and God was MAN’S DOING, NOT GOD’S. Man had separated himself from God, so God was honoring man’s original request through Adam, the founder of this present evil world. Many of the things instituted under Moses, then, were simply a way for the Holy God to deal with an unholy, carnal people separated from God. It must be remembered that those people were not then called to salvation.

Those who espouse the Petrine doctrine seize on the Old Testament examples of Moses and the priesthood to justify their rigid, hierarchical structure -- but these models are not appropriate for today, as we shall soon see.

One of the first incidents given by the Petrine advocates to support their position is the situation where Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ brother and sister, chastised him for marrying an Ethiopian woman (somebody outside his race, which was forbidden in Old Testament times). The account of this fills the entire twelfth chapter of Numbers.

There were two things that Aaron and Miriam did wrong: 1. they spoke against Moses concerning this matter -- they JUDGED him, and 2. they were presumptuous by saying “Has the Eternal indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” [vs. 2]

Let’s first deal with issue #1. God considers judging others to be a very serious offense. The main reason people judge others is because they have a smug feeling of spiritual superiority very common among Pharisees and hypocrites. Judging another person reeks of the most disgusting human VANITY, and God HATES VANITY, because that leads to pride, which was Satan’s biggest sin separating him from God. This feeling of spiritual superiority and SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS blinds the person so afflicted from seeing themselves as they really are. No matter how “good” we might think ourselves to be, if we stop comparing ourselves to others and compare ourselves only to Christ, as we should, then the bubble of human pride and vanity will burst, and we see just how wretched we are compared to the divine standard.

To get a crystal clear picture of this, let’s read what Christ Himself said about this behavior: “Judge not, that you be not judged. for with what judgment you judge you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye....Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.” [Mtt. 7:1-3,5]

We would do well to remember this passage every time we are tempted to open our mouths and criticize others. We should first look at SELF compared to God before we dare to say a word. And, if we do open our mouth, then we should also remember that the same standard (“measure”) that we use on others will be used on us as

Paul gives an even stronger rebuke in Romans 14:4: “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.”

No matter what sin we may think we see in another, it is none of our business. We as individuals are responsible ONLY TO GOD, NOT TO SOME MAN, OR GROUP OF MEN, as certain religious hypocrites would have us believe. Those who judge another because they think they are a “dirty rotten sinner” had better watch out for their own selves! They have no idea how far that person has already come in God’s eyes -- only He knows if they are overcoming, not men. This self righteous hypocritical vanity is exactly what Miriam and Aaron were guilty of in this incident. They had the gall to judge the servant of God, and therefore they judged GOD! The same thing that happened to them would have happened to Moses were he guilty of the same presumptuous, judgmental behavior! God strictly forbids us to judge His servants, which are His people.

Miriam and Aaron were also great servants of God. They were right in that Moses had broken the law against interracial marriage, but they were dead wrong in chastising him for it. If God could accept his wife, and him, then who were they to do any differently?

The second way in which Miriam and Aaron were wrong was that they questioned the authority of what Moses said God told him to say. Moses had a special relationship with God. God had originally wanted to communicate with the people directly, but at the request of the people, God spoke almost exclusively to Moses at this time. In verses 6-8 of Numbers 12, God mentions the manner in which He communicates with other prophets: in a vision or a dream, usually, but, God spoke with Moses face to face. So, God was telling them that He spoke plainly with Moses, so it was presumptuous of them to claim to have the same contact with God when they knew that they did not.

Let me explain something right here. Moses was given both civil and religious authority over these people. Both authorities had been given by God -- however, it was only in the civil area that God had given him the power to use his own discretion!

En Exodus 18, starting with verse 18, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, gives advice to Moses on how to handle the civil governance of Israel. Apparently, God had not Himself given directions in this area, but left it up to Moses to decide how to govern the congregation of Israel! At first, Moses decided all of the civil matters (“disputes among brethren,” as Matthew 18 renders it) himself. But, unfortunately, there were so many problems to be decided that there were long lines waiting for an audience with Moses. Jethro pointed out that this procedure was wearing both him and the people out.

Jethro then gave his suggestion to set over the people captains of 1,000, captains of 100, captains of 50, and captains of 10. Cases were to be decided at these various levels, depending on the complexity, and only the most difficult cases were to reach Moses. This seemed good to Moses, so he implemented the plan.

Some church leaders look at this example, and they go too far with it. They fail to notice that this whole system was set up at the suggestion of one man, Jethro, who talked another man, Moses, into accepting it. God simply allowed them to do it, because He does not legislate during this age of man how men will govern themselves civilly, by and large (except for the time of the Judges, as will soon be seen, although even that was not forced on the people).

As far as the religious duties, God Himself established a flawed system because the people were flawed -- they were carnal, unconverted people with whom God did not intend to have direct contact. However, when we reach the New Testament, we are under a new dispensation, and things are put back closer to what God had intended from the beginning. But, one must note that the New Testament gives hints only as to how God’s church is to be structured. Since God is not personally leading anyone like He did Moses, or some of the early apostles, the civil administration of the church is in our discretion, just as the civil administration of Israel was in Moses’ discretion as to exact details. God simply cautions us that we should be wise in how we set things up. Jethro gave Moses wise counsel then, so we should think long and hard about what we do now.

As far as theological, or religious matters, this is something God reserves for Himself. He is not currently speaking through any prophets, but is speaking through His Word in print, the Bible. We are cautioned to neither add to nor subtract from that Word. Therefore, if we cannot prove something out of the Bible, we should not say anything about the issue. God condemns Pharisees who develop elaborate extrapolations from the Bible, creating a burdensome yoke of do’s and don’ts for the people that they themselves would not lift a finger to bear. Thus, we should think twice before attempting to make up doctrines that can’t be proven from the Bible - - Because such doctrines are almost always proven false.

As we shall see later in our discussion of the New Testament church, the function of the ministry is evangelical and consultatory to God’s people. They are not appointed as policemen, but as helpers, guiding the people under their charge with love in the right direction of life. Whether people listen is a matter between them and God alone. Ministers are not appointed over people in some vast hierarchy -- rather, like Christ, they are the humble servants of all. There have been those throughout history who have abused some so called authority that they thought they had over people. Using the Primacy of Peter heresy, they have justified bossing people around, bullying them, and threatening them with damnation if they did not obey even the smallest suggestion from the ministry. This is how gentile rulers rule -- not how Christ or His ministry rules. We will return to this subject shortly, after blowing the remaining underpinnings from underneath the heinous Petrine doctrine.

I would now like you to pause for a few minutes and read Numbers 16 and 17. We will see the same type of thing repeated as happened when Aaron and Miriam confronted Moses in chapter 12.

In chapter 16, Korah and 250 leaders of the congregation (no doubt these were many of the captains that Moses had earlier appointed over civil matters only) came to Moses and accused him of “lording it over” them. In another passage later on, after God’s judgment came down on Korah, they accused Moses of setting himself up as a “prince” over them. They further went on to claim that the entire congregation of Israel was holy. Moreover, they claimed that God could speak to them just as much as He spoke to Moses.

One of the accusations was the same raised by Miriam and Aaron, namely, that God spoke equally and dealt equally with all His “holy” people. As discussed earlier, this simply was not the case. Not one line of the Bible had yet been written. Moses was used to write the first five books of the Bible. Unlike most other prophets and servants of God, God spoke face to face with Moses, instead of in dreams or visions. The member of the Godhead that spoke to Moses was the Word, Logos, or Spokesman of the God Family. The Word is the very word of God, and He was giving His instructions DIRECTLY, PERSONALLY, TO MOSES. It must also be remembered that it was the people who had made the request that God not speak directly to them, as He had done at Mt. Sinai, but that He speak through Moses. This meant that the people asked for SEPARATION FROM GOD, WHICH HE GRANTED. Therefore, it shows lack of memory and presumption to accuse Moses of taking things upon himself when it was at the people’s request first, and God simply granted them their wish! It must also be remembered that Israel was not a holy nation, or people -- but simply a carnal nation God was working with to forward His purpose and plan.

From this analysis, we can see that Korah’s assertions were false for at least the two reasons cited above. God had called Moses and spoken with him face to face. Therefore, for Korah and these other civil leaders of Israel to elevate themselves to a spiritual plane of having direct contact with God like Moses had is ridiculous and untrue. They should have known better, as Moses was the one who went up on Mt. Sinai to commune with God. Also, after the people turned down direct contact with God, at their request, God set up a system of priests and Levites to represent the people before God. Korah was a Levite, but this status was not a priestly function. This rigid caste system was established by God for the duration of His dealing with the carnal nation Israel. It must be noted, though, that the New Testament re-established the High Priesthood of Melchizadeck, and, with the rending of the Temple veil from top to bottom, gave Christians direct access to God as a nation of priests [I Pet. 2:5,9; we as Christians are a holy nation, Korah’s claim to the same status was UNTRUE]. This was not so in the Old Testament where God dealt directly with only a few.

It is, therefore, incorrect for some to draw too many analogies between the Old Testament Priesthood and the New Testament Church administration. It is like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. Many of the Biblical examples cited to justify a rigid, priestlike structure in the New Testament church, as well as comparing a church leader to Moses, are mostly inappropriate attempts to support a dictatorship under the Primacy of Peter doctrine.

Korah and the elders of Israel with him also judged Moses as having impure motives, by saying that he was making himself out to be a prince over them. We have already discussed what God thinks about one person judging another.

One other example that the Petrine apologists use to “keep people in their place” is the example of Uzzah in II Sam. 6:6-7: “And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Eternal was roused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error [margin says irreverence, there is also an indication that there might have been some carelessness involved here, such as perhaps letting the oxen go to fast; finally, the regulations concerning the ark mention the ark being carried on POLES by four MEN, not on a cart by an ox, so this might be a situation where Uzzah was not following directions in two respects: both concerning the mode of transport AND the fact that it was not to be touched]; and he died there by the ark of God.”

Some Petrine apologists claim that this is saying God struck Uzzah because he was not the designated person to transport the ark, for which there is not evidence. Some try to claim that the fact that God struck Uzzah shows that we should not put forth our hand against God’s government on earth today, namely, His Church, and that for a lay member, for example, to do the job of a mister would be inappropriate, or for a minister to do the job of an evangelist, etc., because God would not be pleased that they weren’t “staying in their place” just like Uzzah didn’t stay in his place here. Some claim that a certain minister who has been disfellowshipped from “God’s church” is acting in the role of Uzzah, trying to keep the church, symbolized by the ark, from falling to the ground or into a ditch of error. Such assertions have no basis in fact, and are wild extrapolations on this story as sighted above.

This event was simply a matter of carelessness and irreverence for the Holy things of God. As stated above, the people were not to come into contact with the holy things then, because they themselves were not holy, or set apart by God. One could not touch the ark for the same reason that an Israelite could not set foot on Mt. Sinai -- because God was there right then. The ark symbolized and represented a “portable throne” of God on earth. It was therefore holy, and the “unholy” could not come into contact with the holy. As cited above from II Pet., the entire New Testament church is a holy nation and a holy priesthood. Therefore, these examples, where the unholy comes into contact with the holy with deadly results do not apply.

As far as using the Old Testament to say that the New Testament church “has to” be so patterned after the Old Testament pattern, there has also been much misunderstanding. Some have pointed to the kingship of Israel as an ideal government example, trying to put their “apostle” on the level of a king. Such reasoning is faulty. First, it must be pointed out that the kingship of Israel was not the way God intended to organize the government of His people, thus, to use this analogy to justify modern day activities is false.

As the nation started out, God, not some man, was their King. If one wants to look at God’s government in operation on earth, it would make more sense to look at the JUDGES rather than the KINGS. God sent a series of judges to “get His people back on the track.” As soon as the judge died, though the carnal nation Israel went back into paganism again. This went on and on over hundreds of years.

There was much chaos involved in this system, because the judges apparently exercised very little civil authority. This would fit in with God’s concept of free moral agency, though, where He gives us the CHOICE OF RIGHT OR WRONG, BUT WE MUST CHOOSE, AND LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. Carnal Israel handled this freedom very badly, though, as would any people without the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit (and, incidentally, as time has shown, many people with it). I think that this is the point God is trying to make. As a summary to the Book of Judges, it simply says: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” [Judges 21:25] As experience proves, converted people have a hard enough time keeping themselves under control, with carnal people a huge problem can result.

Instead of seeking God, asking Him for His solution to the problem, and for His Divine help in implementing the solution, carnal Israel came to the wrong solution from the wrong source. Rather than looking to THEIR KING IN HEAVEN, they looked to the nations around them, and saw that they had HUMAN KINGS who kept things in order. They thought this would be a nice change from having this faraway God as King. One couldn’t even see Him, anyway. At least you could see a human king. He would do something tangible, something real.

Samuel, the last of the judges, was very upset at this demand of the people. He thought the people were insulting him personally, as well as God. Let’s see some of Samuel’s words concerning this event. Please note that at every turn, the nation Israel got further away from what God wanted, yet He still let them have their way, and carried out His plan with this new twist downward in mind. God’s purpose will not fail. He can take whatever curves humanity throws, and make them come out His way in the end. The only thing is that it would be better for man to go God’s way in the beginning, rather than having to learn the hard way that His way is best.

“Now Samuel said to Israel: ‘Indeed I have heeded your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you....Witness against me before the Eternal and before his anointed [Saul had just been anointed king]: Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes [the wicked sons of Eli had taken bribes]? I will restore it to you. [I want you to keep these words in mind and contrast that with the atrocities he predicts for the new king. The new kings will steal, take the young men and maidens away from their parents, be unjust and arbitrary, and take bribes. This is a great contrast of the benefits of God’s form of government with the defects of man’s. But the people didn’t care.]

“‘And when you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, “No, but a king shall reign over us,” when the Eternal your God was your King.’

“Then Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not fear. you have done all this wickedness [the setting up of the kingship of Israel is called by God WICKEDNESS -- so how can a true church of God use such a model to justify it’s form of government?]; yet do not turn aside from following the Eternal, but serve the Eternal with all your heart.’” [I Sam. 12:1,3,12,20]

Since the judges were God’s inspired form of rule, and since the judges ruled with a “light” hand, giving the people maximum freedom to exercise their free moral agency, then if we are to look to any part of the Old Testament for a pattern for church government today, wouldn’t it make sense to look to the judges rather than the “wicked ”kingly dynasty? It seems that for those looking for any excuse to lord it over people, they will go to any lengths to twist, wrest, and misapply God’s Word.

Looking at the record of the kingship, it was even worse, spiritually, than the record of the judges. While it is true that in between judges Israel slid into idolatry, at least most of the judges were true to God, pointing the people towards His ways while they were alive. It was not so with the kingly dynasties. The very first king, Saul, went bad. He was followed by the righteous David, but then Solomon his son had a long period of straying from God.

After Solomon, the kingdom was split into the northern ten tribes of Israel, and the southern tribe of Judah. Not ONE of the kings of Israel followed God, and only a very FEW of the kings of Judah did! So, from God’s point of view, the record of the kings was spiritually much worse than the period of the judges. This shows the truth of the old saying that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” With very few exceptions, whether it be in an earthly kingdom, or in a church, this saying proves true. As a pattern for church government, then, the kingdom of Israel certainly is not the right pattern.

Now that we have seen what God’s will IS NOT, let’s turn to the New Testament for guidance. Unfortunately, the evidence for what God intends is very sparse in this respect, leading one to the conclusion that by and large God leaves it up to those in His Church -- THE MEMBERS -- to decide how the business of the church is to be handled. We are, though, supposed to be WISE in how we set this up, for it is the VERY WORK OF GOD, and not a matter to be taken lightly.

Matthew 27:51 shows the veil of the Temple being rent from top to bottom, showing that a new age, the church age, has begun in which the rules are changed: God is ready to deal directly with individuals once again, and the door to salvation is now open to those He is calling now.

God does not expect His people to be on “power trips” and to lord it over each other. The disciples got into occasional disputes into who was the greatest among them, and Christ did not approve of such discussions. He tried every time this happened to drive home the pint that he that is the greatest should be the servant of all: “But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Ye it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’” [Mtt. 20:25-28]

How different this idea of service -- even to the point of becoming a SLAVE TO OTHERS -- is from so many churches today. Sad to say, even a church that in many ways can qualify as a church of God can fail on this point. My own personal experience in a church that claimed to be God’s church today, and presumed to think of themselves as the “only ones” shows how we must forever keep these words of Christ in mind. A New Testament minister, if he is anything, is the servant and slave of his people. Servant does not mean to RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, excommunicating people for just disagreeing with you -- especially when he can’t point to the place in the Bible from where he gets his so called command of God.

I had one experience where I handed a written Bible study to a minister of this church. In actuality, this Bible study was on some of the same verses from Matthew 18 quoted earlier showing what one brother should do if he had a dispute with another. People in this church are used to running to the minister immediately when they have a problem with someone else, rather than following CHRIST’S PROCEDURE. I was simply appealing for him, as a pastor in God’s church, to address this subject from the pulpit, or show me where I was wrong. He read the article, and then said to me some of the most asinine things I have every heard!

Rather than addressing the clear Biblical issues, he simply told me that I had no business even suggesting that he do something, or that maybe my article should be considered for publication by the church. he told me that I had no right to do anything like this, and that to do “write ups” like this was “dangerous” because I, in my low position, could not possibly have the right perspective.

He then further commented that studying the Bible without the church’s literature at hand was also dangerous, because even the Bible could lead people astray. He told me that God had appointed the men in the editorial department to guide the church in the way it should go. He said if I stuck to that I would be fine. He further stated that if God wanted me to do any writing, He would have put me in the church’s editorial department. He had not, so I should just run along and mind my own business. End of interview.

I realized at the time the stupidity, narrow mindedness, and asininity of these statements, but I believed at that time, as Herbert Armstrong had wrongly taught from the Petrine doctrine, that I would be blessed by God for just shutting up and accepting these flagrantly wrong statements. The doctrine asserts that our main test on earth today is whether we submit to authority. As I have no come to see, this is totally wrong, and this should have woken me up to this false doctrine then, but it was not God’s time.

This doctrine sounds so righteous, saying that God’s people should be meek and humble, like lambs and simply accept what their leaders tell them today -- unfortunately, this approach is TOTALLY UNBIBLICAL, and led to the Catholic church. It is leading the Worldwide Church into grievous errors RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, and only the REJECTION of this Satanic doctrine can bring God’s people back from the brink of destruction. The Bible warns us, as we shall soon see, that we are each INDIVIDUALLY responsible for checking on what the leadership tells us. If it is true according to the Word of God, we accept it. If it is false, we must reject it. We each stand and fall before God individually. Obeying some government is not the test of this human life -- in fact, UNQUESTIONING OBEDIENCE to those “over” us is exactly the OPPOSITE of what we are to learn. We must learn to follow God, no matter what.

Acts 5:29 tell us to “obey God rather than men.” Romans 3:4 says to “let God be true, and every man a liar.” Thus, when we see man going astray from God’s truth once delivered, even if it has been a church God has used for many years, and when this sin is continual and willful, twisting, wresting, and distorting scripture to come out to say what some MAN or men want it to say, then we must take note and follow God rather than man. We must withdraw from such men and their organizations so as not to let them pervert our minds with their false reasoning, and then let God work through us to do His will.

It seems like every time God does things through a human organization, that organization eventually goes astray. If it goes far enough astray, God must abandon it and raise up another organization to do His will. God’s Word, God’s Gospel Message -- WILL BE PROCLAIMED NO MATTER WHAT MAN DOES! Even if He has to start over and rebuild His Church from scratch, that is what He will do!

God inspired the gospel message to be summarized in a book by Herbert Armstrong, The Incredible Human Potential. In the last years of his life, Herbert Armstrong proclaimed this same message ALMOST EVERY TIME HE GOT UP TO SPEAK to the church. He said we weren’t getting it -- and we weren’t! In fact, he himself, because of personal problems that led him into the Primacy of Peter false doctrine, DID NOT HIMSELF TOTALLY “GET IT!”

Because of his false concept of government, and his emphasis on that concept, he was blinded from seeing what the character building process is REALLY ALL ABOUT. We are being shaped and molded by God so that like Him, if we were left to our own devices, with no restraint whatsoever, WE WOULD ALWAYS CHOOSE THE RIGHT WAY OF LIFE -- not because we have to, but because we want to! He also wants us to understand that His way of give is the only way in the universe that works.

Naturally, there is no human alive who could ever measure up to this standard, but God wants His way so ingrained in us that when we are changed into immortal spirit GOD BEINGS, we WILL FOLLOW THE RIGHT WAY OF LIFE ONCE WE HAVE THE STRENGTH.

Part of this way of give is to understand that he who would be greatest must be the slave of all, and not to lord it over, usurping to one’s self the power, authority, and prerogatives reserved only to God almighty. On this measurement, among others, the Worldwide Church and most of its offshoots fall grossly short of what God would have us be.

This is, I am certain, the point that God was trying to make to His servant. God overlooked the personal and doctrinal problems of Mr. Armstrong for years because he was at least proclaiming the gospel message to the world. But, finally, when he failed to grasp this point after over four years of study and two books on the subject, God evidently decided it was time to start with someone else.

Unfortunately, while Mr. Armstrong’s successor relaxed many of the oppressive practices of the church, and preached the much needed message to them of Christian love so lacking in that organization, he went into the ditch of spiritualizing away many Biblical principles plainly outlined in the pages of the Bible. He became deceived, thinking that one needed some kind of Bible scholar, filled with the world’s false educational ideas, practices, and vanity, to discover Biblical truth. He allowed this scholar to twist the plain meaning of certain scriptures, wresting them through human reasoning into a shape God never intended, with a meaning 180 degrees from what God meant them to say.

And, just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump over time, so to has the apostasy in the Worldwide Church spread and grown from that one scholar, until now they have faculty members from a worldly university “instructing” the new church leadership under Joe Tkach, Jr. What an abomination! They have exchanged wholesale God’s truth for the lies of this world that the people in God’s church had learned were not true! And the leadership won’t pay attention to God, either, even when He makes it plain He does not approve. Exactly 40 weeks before his sudden death, Joe Sr. said that he believed God had inspired and was inspiring the changes. He said that if God didn’t agree, He could strike him down. exactly 40 weeks later he was dead! But did the church leadership and the brethren pay attention? No! They still go down the same path! In fact, I was kicked off of all discussion groups even among former members for suggesting that such a connection existed and that God had struck Joe down! Well, GOD DID STRIKE HIM DOWN, AND THE PRESENT MEMBERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP HAD BETTER TAKE INSTRUCTION AND WARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE, LEST IT IS REPEATED!

But this great apostasy isn’t even the worst thing, though. The church has failed to abandon the Petrine doctrine, using it instead to banish true Christians from the church, ruling over the people like an oppressive gentile prince, at the same time they preach peace and love in Christ! What an AFFRONT to our Savior! Longtime church members have been thrown out for the “sin” of refusing to aposticisze God’s truth, when the so called “new understanding” could not be demonstrated from the Bible. This reminds me of the behavior of Diotrophes in III Jn. 9-12. Diotrophes “loved to have the preeminence,” [now, according to the final issue of In Transition, the fact has come to light that Joe Tkach Sr. was “miffed” that Herbert Armstrong didn’t appoint him as an apostle! It is also reported that he asked former Armstrong aide Aaron Dean to lie about it and say that he had been, and when Dean refused, he lost one of his positions. This is not the behavior of a true servant of Jesus Christ. When the disciples played the game of “who’s the greatest” at the Lord’s Supper, Christ was horrified, so He knelt down and washed their feet like a common house servant. So much for human ego.], or rulership over the church. He threw church members out for holding fast to what the apostle John told them to do. He even stopped John’s letters from reaching the church. The true Christians in that church were forced to meet in another member’s home. John promised to come and straighten this mess out in person, despite his advanced age. As to whether this actually happened, we don’t know for sure.

But, it must be noted that the true Christians were thrown out of the church, forced to form a NEW ORGANIZATION because the apostate minister had USURPED AUTHORITY NEVER GIVEN TO HIM BY GOD, saying that e alone set doctrine, and that if someone didn’t like it, they could leave, and, further, that if they didn’t leave, he would throw them out! How familiar this sad story sounds to me today, after having went through just this experience!

God allowed Herbert Armstrong to go very far in laying the foundation of His restored truth. He allowed him to proclaim a part of the Gospel Message to the world as a witness for many long years for the first time since the apostles. But, the restoration of God’s knowledge was NOT YET COMPLETE. God had much more to show, much more to do. But, before He could go any further, God had to make sure that this false concept of government was eliminated. This false concept was dangerous because it turned people into obedient, mindless robots -- something Mr. Armstrong had himself said God was not doing.

I listened to Mr. Armstrong’s sermons in person over a period of about five years. In fact, I was privileged to hear the very last sermon he gave, which was on the Day of Atonement, 1985. Even though sick and weak, Mr. Armstrong felt that it was his duty to personally teach God’s people as much as he was able. And indeed, that was true. But, he just simply would not throw out this Primacy of Peter doctrine. I believe it was more of blindness than defiant disregard for God’s wishes. But, for whatever reason, with this baggage of this false doctrine, God could not let things go on. The church still refuses to admit this grievous error, or to see that it is almost totally devoid of the Godly love and concern that God said would be a hallmark for His church throughout history. What truth that church does still have is now being watered down or tossed out by human reasoning, causing that church to resemble the world more and more each and every month.

I have felt for some time that God was getting ready to do something big. I have felt that His Gospel has not been preached for some time now. The grim realities of this end time world are fast approaching, and nobody is warning this nation or the world of the impending Great Tribulation! [NOTE: since this phrase was written, I have come to understand that there are a couple of works preaching a warning message, but the efforts are very weak compared to the power of the message going out at the death of Mr. Armstrong. And now, the biggest church to come out of WCG has so misspent the money God gave them that only 4% or so of their budget is used to preach the Gospel, which is the reason for the organization’s existence in the first place!]

I have known for some months that either the Great Tribulation would now soon start, perhaps in a matter of months, or that God would start once more His final warning and witness before the onset of the night! I have also noted a degeneracy in the brethren, with people who once had a great love and zeal for God’s Truth now duped into accepting whatever church leaders pass down from on high through the strong deception of the Petrine doctrine, giving the church and its leaders the status of being virtually infallable

When the time comes that the leaders of a church and its members can no longer see where the living Jesus Christ is leading, then He simply starts all over from scratch. Such is what now appears to be happening. Very soon, now, it will become obvious that God has shifted His work to another Church -- one that RESPONDS READILY to the lead of Jesus Christ!

Since we are now living on the very BRINK OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION, I believe that this new Church of God, The Restoration Church of God, WILL GROW AS FAST, WHEN IT IS GOD’S TIME, AS THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH DID AFTER 31 AD At that time, in order to get the work of the Church started quickly from ground zero, God called thousands and converted them in one day, the very first day of the church! That first spurt of growth and zeal lasted only two years, from AD 31-33, at which time the church in Jerusalem was scattered by persecution. The church still grew rapidly after that, but it never recovered the fire of the initial blast.

But how will this occur? In the early years, God used the new door of radio to allow Herbert Armstrong to do a great work that would have been previously impossible in one man’s lifetime, especially starting from nothing. This new door, plus the later one of television, allowed much to be accomplished in a scant 40 years or so.

However, compared to the newest, most exciting medium the world has ever seen -- the internet -- all else will soon pale into insignificance. The Web, only one section of this vast network, is growing EXPONENTIALLY on a worldwide basis. While most people are asleep to the new reality, with every passing day the old mediums of the post office, the printing press, radio, and television become more and more outdated. Someday soon, television, radio, and all publications will be delivered through the web, probably piped into the home through the local cable company or an upgraded phone network. Imagine having the web and other computer resources of the internet brought into your home without you having to purchase a computer! This is not science fiction, but is already being experimented with!

The internet has the potential to shatter all previous paradigms of society. This will greatly empower each and every individual, and will start, and already has started, to diminish the power of the big corporations. Someday soon what used to cost tens of thousands of dollars, even millions, to do will now cost virtually pennies!

That is why The Restoration Church of God has made a commitment to the internet. We have decided to make all of our material available at first EXCLUSIVELY via the net. We will soon have a web site and ftp. In fact, most of you reading this article will have retrieved it electronically. God can use this network to perhaps build in forty months what took Herbert Armstrong 40 years to build! With God’s help, a great miracle can occur, and people can have services piped into their homes each and every week via the web, so that they can participate LIVE rather than via stale video or audio tape. Also, ministers from anywhere in the world will be able to give sermons to the combined church as long as they have the appropriate computer equipment.

Yes, God has provided the medium to get out His message in this end time, so watch our web page for up and coming information, and add your name to our email list. The most exciting moments in church history are just now ahead of us!

Having said all of this, it is now time to finish our discussion on the Primacy of Peter doctrine and contrast it with what the Bible says about government in God’s church. If we can understand this issue properly, it will help keep us from being deceived as the treacherous very end of this age draws near. Deception will only now grow worse and worse as man slides into total moral depravity under Satan’s influence.

We have seen above, then, that the main underpinnings claimed for this doctrine from the Old Testament wilt under the cold hard facts of the Bible. Proper understanding of these scriptures totally obliterates this man made theory. Let’s understand, now, what the New Testament says about church government.

In actual fact, the New Testament says very little about church government, so this section will be brief. Let us first turn to Acts 6:1-6, and read this passage from the REV: “During this period, when disciples were growing in number, a grievance arose on the part of those who spoke Greek, against those who spoke the language of the Jews; they complained that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. The Twelve called the whole company of disciples [or the church as a whole] together and said, ‘It would not be fitting for us to neglect the word of God in order to assist in the distribution. Therefore, friends, pick seven men of good repute from your number, men full of the Spirit and of wisdom, and we will appoint them for this duty; then we can devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ This proposal proved acceptable to the whole company. They ELECTED Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, along with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch, who had been a covert to Judaism, and presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.”

First of all, let me be the first to point out that the word above rendered “elected” is rendered “selected” in other versions, but I think that this word “elected” just might be an exact fit as the original intent. However, it should be noted that the LAY MEMBERS SOMEHOW SELECTED THESE FIRST DEACONS, and that the apostles did not get up and simply read off a list of men they had already persecuted for this duty. It was a COLLEGIAL DECISION made by the WHOLE CHURCH, which is how the New Testament Church functioned.

Nowhere in the New Testament do we find ANY JUSTIFICATION for a dictatorship. This chapter of the Book of Acts also knocks in the head the idea that there are distinct, stratified offices in the church appointed by church leaders from the top down. Immediately after the portion of scripture just cited, Stephen goes out and does the work of an evangelist! He is so effective in this work that he is stoned for it, becoming the first martyr of the church.

Modern churches seem to have the idea that for one to become a minister of Jesus Christ one first has to go to a seminary or other college to learn religion. One is then “ordained” by the church to be given the “authority” to preach. Such authority is, of course, only good within the issuing denomination, but that is the way things are done today. In the WCG, a minister must be chosen by the ministry to join their exclusive “club.” If one is a “good boy” through years of toeing the line and political maneuvering, he is someday ordained to a pastor or evangelist rank in that church.

Such qualifications and selection processes are not necessarily the way God would have His ministers chosen, because Jesus Christ alone selects His ministry, just like He personally selects each and every member of His Church! One does not need some special degree or ordination of MEN to serve as a minister of Jesus Christ. Christ will, just as seen in the book of Acts, CHOOSE HIS OWN MINISTERS AS HE AND HE ALONE, SEES FIT!

Philip, another of the deacons chosen in this sixth chapter is also used to do the work of an evangelist. The Apostle Paul, a man who persecuted and murdered Christians before his conversion, was selected and ordained directly by Jesus Christ into His ministry as an Apostle. In fact, the church at first would not accept him, but finally they had to accept the decision of the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ.

Christ drafts His deacons, ministers, evangelists, apostles, and members of His church in general. Not one volunteers for the job they are called to do.

But how can we know when God has truly called someone into His ministry? The Bible says that by their fruits shall you know them. If the man’s ministry bears the fruit of the function he is performing, then one knows that one is so called. This man can either recognize the fact of the calling himself, or the church can be the first to recognize it, but, this much is plain: one knows whether the calling is true by the fruits borne!

The WCG has been blessed for years by having a college to train its ministry. Unfortunately, once something like this is institutionalized, the ability of Christ to make His wishes known can become much more difficult if men take to themselves the sole decision of who is called to Christ’s ministry. Then the role of the Head of the Church is negated entirely -- He is not welcome in his own church to make the decisions His way, and human politics, favoritism, and nepotism can grow like a heinous cancer within the church until the incestuous, SELF SERVING, SELF PERPETUATING PROFESSIONAL MINISTRY MAKES ALL OF ITS OWN CHOICES OF WHO IS GOING TO SERVE GOD, LEAVING CHRIST OUT OF THE PICTURE!

It is evident, then, that having the professional ministry make all of Christ’s staffing decisions for Him abrogates His role in the church. But, some will protest that to simply allow “anyone” to lay claim to a special calling can breed chaos and anarchy. This would be true if the membership of the church is not doing their job! If the membership, though, as well as the ministry is doing their job diligently, looking at the FRUITS of a man’s work before God, comparing it with the Holy Scriptures, the wolves in sheep’s clothing will be quickly identified and death with. [Mtt. 7:15-20]

Should the church, then, have no formal training programs for ministers? That is not what I am saying. A formal training program, even at the local church level, is vitally important to give those whom God has called the tools to work with in becoming what Christ would have them become. There is, then, a role for formal education and training -- but this must never preclude the possibility that God will specially call someone “out of nowhere” for a special calling or commission.

As far as what ministers are to be on the church’s payroll, if any, the church must decide what ministers it needs full time to help carry out the Great Commission. We have to trust Christ at all levels to inspire the administrators He has set within the church to recognize the fruits and evident callings of people. This must, though, never become an incestuous, rigid, caste system.

God has not so much set offices of rank within His church in the military sense. Nobody is really OVER anyone else in God’s eyes -- there are just different jobs, different callings, and different gifts. As covered earlier, we are not to rule as the gentiles rule, rather, he that would be greatest must be the slave of all.

A thorough study of the New Testament will reveal that God does not mandate a set form of government for His church. He wants to see if, given all of the facts from both the Bible and secular sources, we will be wise enough to make the MOST WISE CHOICES. There must be administration and order. The politics of party spirit engendered by pure democracy must be avoided, yet the pitfalls of dictatorship must not be fallen into either. It takes God’s own wisdom and understanding to strike a balance. We have striven to strike that balance in The Restoration Church of God, but it is not perfect. But nothing God does through human instruments ever is. He only asks that we do the best we can, and then He promises to help with the rest.

As to whether the entirety of God’s church is encompassed by one single organization, the Bible seems to indicate that that is not the case. Christ said that He is the true vine, and we all, individually, are directly branches of that vine. [Jn. 15:1-6] We bear fruit by abiding in Him, not an organization of men! The church is an aide, of course, and it has a commission to preach the gospel, but no one human organization can be said to be the only one.

In this article we have seen that the concept of church government held by HWA and the WCG and most of its “spinoffs,” based on the Primacy of Peter heresy, is very far -- in fact almost the DIRECT OPPOSITE OF -- away from God’s original intentions for the New Testament Church. We have seen the evil fruit of this doctrine, manifested in heresy and human protestations to infallibility, as exemplified both in the Roman catholic and the Worldwide churches. This doctrine is a roadmap to apostasy and separation from God. Also, this heinous doctrine leads to abuse of power and corruption in the ministry.

Finally, we have seen several New Testament examples of what type of government the New Testament church had at first, which was close to democratic and collegial. Based on this, God’s people need to pay attention, correct error, and move forward in the direction God would have us go.

**********************************************************

Copyright ©, 1994, 1997 by M. John Allen, all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute this article either electronically or in print as long as it is not sold for profit or has any alterations. All rights reserved.