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A House Divided
July 30, 2011

As a first-century apostolic Christian and one who is familiar with the many assorted flavors of the church of God, it is sad to see discord among the brethren. In some ways the discord we see among the brethren today is not unlike the civil unrest that was seen in the Balkan region of Europe when Yugoslavia broke apart, or the unrest seen in Iraq, when the regime of Saddam Hussein was toppled. Strong men kept people in check in these countries, and the people had no opportunity to exercise free moral agency, self-determination, and even basic choice-making. When the strong men went away, there was a vacuum of these skills in the countries and civil unrest was the result. Many, but not all, who consider themselves first-century apostolic Christians, have a legacy from the former Worldwide Church of God, as do I. Several decades ago and prior to my involvement, that organization believed it was important to tightly control the lives of its members. It was not uncommon for members to thenreceive counseling on issues unrelated to spiritual matters that was directly tied to salvation. If a member was counseled to buy a white car, buying any other color car was typically viewed as disobedience to God, God's authority, and God's government on earth. By the time I became involved with organization, during the final ten years of its existence, those in authority longed for the days when they could tell the general membership what to do. The founder's death came on a cold January day in 1986, and within ten years the organization was radically different and very splintered. Because the strong man died, a leadership vacuum existed, and the second tier players began to jockey for position, even before death of the strong man. This I personally know as I was a student at the headquarters branch of the college of the organization.

I recall one individual, a second-tier player, who would later go on to found his own organization. This individual solicited the consent of college students to support reasons why he should succeed the strong man even before the strong man's death. Even back then with less life experiences I knew how wrong it was for this second-tier player to assert this right and to attempt to find support among of all people, college students. The culture of the organization told us to say nothing back then as a college student was not expected to challenge an evangelist. On the one hand we were taught not to believe the words of an individual, rather we should believe the Bible. On the other hand we were taught not to challenge the authority of the organization, and to accept what the organization taught. The strong man created a double-standard. I do not believe this was done intentionally; this was result. As a consequence, while members were taught to think for themselves, members were not taught how to think for themselves, and were not well-versed in how to handle various spiritual viewpoints.

After the death of the founder, I found myself in the position to be an assistant to the personal chef of the successor. At the time I relished in the superior meal plan I had access to. I was eating tenderloin of New Zealand lamb on a routine basis and drinking champagne that would be found in the royal palaces of Europe. In addition to the culinary treats at lunch, I was privy to the lunch time conversations of the successor and his immediate staff. There are those who will claim the successor purposed from the onset to destroy the organization developed by the founder, but I was there and recall the gist of those conversations. The original discussions that eventually would lead to all the changes was to simplify the teachings of the organization so members could more easily explain doctrine, and so others could more easily understand the teachings of the church. The successor was seen as an outsider by many of the second-tier players, and because many of these second tier players were jockeying for position as the founder's life was ebbing, the founder choose to sidestep the second-tier players. The second-tier players found themselves in a position requiring obedience to an organizational structure they felt had been stolen from them. The successor and his staff reviewed the teachings of the church and began to make changes. Those first changes dealt with those that were designed to increase the exercise of free-moral agency, self-determination and choice-making. All of this became lost in the ever expanding quest to simplify the teachings of the organization so that many more could understand the teachings. In an attempt to simplify teachings, the main fault of the successor was overlooking the importance of a passage from the Gospel according to John.

John 6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

A difference between modern Christianity and first-century apostolic Christianity is the calling of those to the faith. Modern Christians teach that this calling is open to all and first-century apostolic Christians believe that the calling is only to those whom God calls, and that this calling is a limited number at this time, and that most will have their calling at a later time. Overlooking this verse allowed for the changes to set in. As subsequent and significant doctrinal changes were made giving consideration to the new found freedom of choice-making, free moral agency, and self-determination, it was only a matter of time before the organization imploded. When various members began to depart the organization and to create new organizations, these new organizations have found themselves in the dubious position of implosion, schisms, and splits. There are many reasons why these exist. Some are directed by prideful ministers. Most are the result of members who do not understand what free moral-agency, self-determination, and choice-making mean. As special education teacher and transition specialist, I am well-versed in what these mean, and share these thoughts on how lack of understanding has caused the current problem of our house divided.

Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Lack of understanding does create an impediment to vision regarding the subject matter. For instance, if one does not understand budgeting, a clear vision of a budget is not formed, and the positive results of following as disciplined budget are not likely. Similarly, when free moral-agency, self-determination, and choice-making are not understood, a clear vision of these are not formed. As a consequence, there are many who while assert for themselves free moral-agency, self-determination, and choice-making, deny these other like-minded individuals, and do so for whatever reason. The reason behind the action is important to understand only to the degree one wishes to correct the current situation, and the process to begin understanding reasons for these behaviors begins by forming a hypothesis in an attempt to understand the function of the behavior. Perhaps one reason why some individuals assert free moral-agency, self-determination, and choice-making for themselves while not tolerating this in others is spiritual insecurity. Perhaps it is fear. Perhaps it is something else altogether. If we choose to understand why this phenomena exists and desire to make change, we must look within ourselves and be led by the Holy Spirit to make change. We must move beyond the concept that a non-profit corporation is the church, and we must remember that the church is the people, whose interests on earth may be collectively served by a non-profit corporation or even multiple non-profit corporations. To claim that a person must be a member of a particular non-profit corporation to be saved is anti-Christ, and is anti-Christ as much as the beast and false prophet of Revelation are anti-Christ. We must move beyond this false concept that membership in a particular non-profit corporation is required for salvation as this teaching divides the house of God. Jesus taught during his earthly ministry what happens to a house divided.

Mark 3:25
And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

There should be no misunderstanding as to why the various non-profit corporations are seeing a loss in membership. These organizations have divided themselves against each other and have made themselves anti-Christ. I implore these non-profit corporations who hold fast to the idea that membership in their non-profit corporation is required for salvation, to abandon this false, anti-Christ concept. The Book of Acts shows that it is possible for there to be differences of opinion and thought. Peter and Paul had their differences, and the bible shows there are diversities of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and diversities of ministries.

1 Corinthinians 12:1-14
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

Spiritually, we are one body; legally we may be many non-profit corporations. I have no problem with non-profit corporations provided they recognize they legally and financially represent the interests of its members and spiritually are part of the spiritual body of Christ.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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