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Are You a Member of a
Splinter Group?
MP3
I had a communication the other day with a well-meaning individual who,
in passing, referred to the groups leaving the apostasy of the Worldwide
Church of God as splinter groups. Is this so? Is the ICG a splinter
group? Are you a member of a splinter group?
Our first clue is the fact “splinter group” is a man-made term. It has
been applied and now misapplied in the Body of Christ. Let us begin by
looking at the dictionary definition of the term.
Splinter Group:
A group, such as a religious sect or political
faction that has broken away from a parent group. The key
phrase here is “broken away”. This phrase denotes a group, that of its
own choice and volition, leaves an organization to begin another one.
Is this what happened with the ICG and the CGI before it? Absolutely
not.
The Church of God, International (CGI), in obedience to God, left the
Worldwide Church of God as it went apostasy [knowingly
preaching false doctrines]. Garner Ted Armstrong and those
with him did not “break away” by personal choice with declared reasoning
and/or justification. They simply obeyed God to flee the apostasy.
Decades later, the CGI, itself went into apostasy. It was the worst
kind of apostasy, to wit, the attempted ousting of the leader without
biblical justification. Again, rather than fighting the injustice, Mr.
Armstrong obeyed God and quietly left the apostasy.
Take a look at the meaning of the word “splinter”
Splinter:
To crack or split into two or more fragments by means of or as a result
of force, a blow, or strain: break, fracture, rift, rive, shatter,
shiver, smash, sunder.
Are these the words God would want applied to
the Church of God? When God points out the apostasy to His firstfruits,
who is receiving the blow, the fracture and the shattering? Who is
being torn asunder? Clearly it is the church succumbing to the apostasy
and those staying in it. Those coming out of the apostasy continue as
before, preaching the gospel and feeding the flock in the ways of the
Salvation Process. Nothing has changed other than geographical location
and the prefix or suffix they put to the name, “Church of God.”
In my
Menu-driven Bible study, menu item 17, I ask the question, “Can
a Firstfruit Leave a Church Organization? Other than
one rare exception, there are only two justified reasons I see for
leaving a Church of God:
1) apostasy of that organization
2) the death of the firstfruit.
So what of all these groups that sprung from
other groups that sprung from still other groups? I once saw a graphic
of the family tree of the Churches of God and some lines go out nineteen
steps from the original group. What can we conclude of this nineteenth
group? Are they justified before God? Are we saying the eighteen
groups they sprung from are apostate and no longer true churches of
God? Are we to believe that all nineteen are justified and all true
churches of God? How does that work, spiritually speaking?
What one finds with a minimum of investigation is that these succeeding
church groups are borne out of envy, hate, lust, greed and jealously.
Its leader breaks away because he envies or hates the current leader.
Often he has a desire to be the leader, himself, and gather a following
to himself to teach his own set of foreign doctrines, doctrinal twigs
and/or idea babies. Often, to accomplish this, he must first demonize
the group he is leaving as a means of establishing justification and to
persuade those around him to follow him to the new and “perfect”
organization. See my piece, “How
Churches are Scattered.” Not that long ago, a minister called me
concerned that just such a breakaway group was forming. I encouraged
the minister to have plenty of copies of this piece at his next Sabbath
meeting. The next day, the minister reported to me that on at least
three separate occasions, during services, the stack of copies was
mysteriously covered up in an attempt to keep them from those present.
Does this sound like the act of someone justified in forming a new
group?
I can tell you right now, under the authority of Jesus Christ, that God
would never establish a true Church of God on a foundation of hate,
envy, lust and greed. This is not the work of God, but of Satan. Satan
is the one causing the splits and fragments in the church. He is the
one producing the force, the blow and strain. He is the author of the
lies, hate and envy that result in the rifts, shattering and the tearing
asunder of some local congregations. THIS IS THE DEFINITION OF A
“SPLINTER GROUP”
Notice what your Bible says about this situation:
Let no man deceive you by any
means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
–2 Thess 2:3
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy;
having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
–1 Timothy 4:12
This know also, that in the last days
perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false
accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from
such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and
lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
–2 Timothy 3:1-7
For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
–2 Timothy 4:3-4
All these scriptures were inspired by God through the mind of Paul, the
foremost expert on apostasy and splinter groups. Who is being described
in these scriptures? When they depart the faith, do they just return to
the world, as if nothing ever happened, never to be heard of again? Not
so. They are following doctrines of devils, speaking lies, having only
a form
of godliness, heaping to themselves [false]
teachers and ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of
the truth. In other words, they are forming church groups. These
groups are splinter groups and by definition are not true churches of
God.
God’s firstfruits are NOT members of splinter groups. They are, as the
Bible clearly states, members of the Church of Almighty God.
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