Beliefs

Trinity

One of the mainstay doctrines of the Church involved the doctrine of the Trinity. Church members were to believe that the Trinity doctrine is absolutely “false”.

The Trinitarian concept was seen and viewed as historically innacurate, and the concept of the Holy Spirit was seen as a “power” or force, and not a member of the Godhead. The Godhead, in Armstrongism view, was God the Father and Jesus Christ. Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity was often ridiculed, mocked, and laughed at as an incorrect, and pagan-type doctrine that the church had zero business believing or teaching. Because of this doctrine, songs and hymns that referenced the trinity were removed from hymnals and never sung. Herbert Armstrong himself referred to the Trinity doctrine as “Poppycock”.

Baptism
Members must believe in water baptism and be baptized.

Water Baptism was a huge part of Armstrongism belief – in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even though the Holy Spirit was, in church theology, just a “force”. Water Baptism was total immersion and only granted to those deemed to be completely commited to the church. Ceremonies were conducted in seemingly innapropriate places such as horse troughs. This was decidedly NOT for children – this was for ONLY baptized adult members of the church. Children were not deemed old enough to understand what they were doing, in church doctrine, and had to wait until adulthood to “make it” to eligibility age to be baptized.

Born Again

Born again was not an accepted theology in the church. Born again was to happen later, members were only “begotten”. The comparison was to an embryo awaiting birth, and the church was only in embryo state. Due to this theology, the Law (in reality, only pick and choose portions of the Law) was still in effect, and Jesus was not yet ruler of the world, which was still in the bonds of darkness.

British Israelism

British Israelism was the concept that God's “Israel” are chosen people were “spiritual Israel” and comprised only of The United States and Britian, leaving other races in other regions as unchosen. This was the bedrock of many prophecies that later turned out to be incorrectly assumed and false. The entire theory has been genetically disproven.

The World Tomorrow – Millenium

Shortly after the return of Jesus Christ,the 1000 year literal millenium would begin. In this utopian period of time, all would keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, swords would turn to plowshares, lions would dwell with lambs, all animals would be tame, and for that period of time, the world would be at peace, and troubles would cease.

Salvation

Members believed that God did not come the first time to save the world. He died and was resurrected, but remained with God while the majority of the world remained under the rule of dark powers. Only a very few, the church taught, would be open to being saved and “judged now”. The rest would have to wait until the second resurrection, and, the church taught, those who rejected their calling now would only await the fire and brimstone of the Third Resurrection – total and complete eternal damnation.

Qualification

Members were to believe salvation was a conditional free gift which was dependant on keeping the Law and observing the Sabbath and Holy Days – and any other command – to the best of one's ability. The question if one “made it” or not was never closed, but always open, and members always feared falling short of “making it”. A few things that would make you “not make it” would be leaving the church, being dis-fellowshipped, disobedience, failure to follow the rules, or ministerial judgement.

The Gospel

Members believed in the unimportance of the person of Christ, and instead focused on the message of Christ, which, they were taught, was the Gospel of the Kingdom, or restoration of righteous government in the Church.

Infallibility

Members read the Bible as a book, with little knowledge of the differences between the Old and New Covenant, their purposes, or their context. In addition, the words of the Bible were infallible.

The Law

Members believed that only portions of the Law (the Handwriting of the Ordinances and the ritual sacrifices) ended with the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, but the rest of the Law did not, and was still in effect, which included the Sabbath and the Holy Days, minus the ordinances and sacrifices. Agricultural Tithing was converted to monetary tithing. Specific offerings were changed to monetary offerings. The purposes of the Festivals were converted from ceremonies for sacrfifice to ceremonies revealing the “master plan” of God through the Holy Days.

The Sabbath And Holy Days
The Sabbath and Holy Days were mandatory and were believed to continue in existence to this day, sans sacrifices and ritual observances. Members must as a condition believe and observe the Sabbath and the Holy Days, as previously described.

Personal Salvation

Members believed that God did not come to save the world, and that they themselves were not yet saved – but that they were to work out their own salvation, hoping to qualify to make it into the Kingdom of God. They believed they were the the first of many to be called, and as long as they did not mess up and “Fall away”, they had a chance to qualify to “make it” to the Kingdom – if they did everything right.

The Immortal Soul
Members believed that they did not have an immortal soul. They believed that they were wholly and completely mortal – and that at death they simply “slept” - unconcious – until they were resurrected at the First Resurrection. They believed the next thing they would know is the Resurrection at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Resurrection Timeframe
Members believed that Jesus Christ was not resurrected on Sunday – but was instead resurrected on the Sabbath. They used examples of holy day timeframes to “prove” their theory.

The End Times
Members believed that they lived in the very end-times of this generation that they considered without God and evil – with only “a few years” remaining in the present world. They believed that Jesus Christ would return, and would usher in the World Tomorrow well within their lifetimes.
The Concealing of the Gospel
Members believed that the true Gospel was concealed and was hidden, and had not been preached in 1900 years – and was only revived through whom they believed was the end-time Apostle, Herbert Armstrong.
Worldly Churches
Members believed that churches of the World – baptist, protestant, catholic, lutheran, methodist – what they called the “Babylon of religious confusion – were satanic and were evil and were to be avoided at every cost.
The Catholic Church
Members believed that the Catholic Church was satanic and was the great harlot spoken of in the great church of revelation. They believed Catholic steeples were phallic and that church bells represented other parts of the male anatomy.
The Second Coming

Members believed in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as definitely going to happen in their lifetime. A timeframe usually existed in as little as 3 to 4 years, to as many as a full 19 year time cycle. It was unheard of to believe that the world would exist in it's present form in this generation at that time.
The Place of Safety
Members believed in a literal “Place of Safety” they would flee to in case the Church told them to go as protection from the Great Tribulation.

Most members believed that Petra, Jordan, was the Place of Safety, and 3.5 years before the Great Tribulation, the entire membership of the Church would flee to Petra for protection during the Great Tribulation – literally, at any time. How they would get there ranged in theory from large jumbo jets to other supernatural means. Children and Adults alike were told to be ready at any moment to leave everything for Petra.

Personal Standing With God

Members believed they were peculiarly special and supernaturally called out from the world, making up the very “elect” of God made up in the book of Revelation. They were called out to become kings and rulers in the new World Tomorrow which was, in just a few years, to come over the world with the return of Christ. They were to be the first born and pioneers of a whole new world, and involved in it's layout and rule. All others would “have their chance” later.

Kingdom Position

The prospect of one becoming a prince or a King was a very enticing draw for members of Armstrongism.

Members of Armstrongism had already rejected virtually everything that was associated with “the World”. This was perfect reasoning as to why things “were the way they were” in their lives – not only were they pioneers in a Brand New World that as to arrive, not only were they called out and chosen out of the billions of the world – they had been “Called out” and drawn to be a king. There is no way to convey how “big”, to an Armstrongism member, of a callinng that this was to be. They were important, and they were special – there was really no way around it. Future Kings – Forever and Ever.

There was a special video presentation that I well remember – of Herbert Armstrong, the Pastor General of the Church, having a formal dinner with senior students of Ambassador College in his private home on the college campus. Amidst hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of table-wear that was fit for kings and queens, Herbert Armstrong told the college seniors that that was what they were going to be – kings – forever. This was the “destiny” of the members of the Church – preparing, in the church, to be a king.

What they were going to be a King over, in church theology, was for God to decide. It may have been just a small village or town – maybe a city. The most blessed would become Kings over whole nations – continents even – maybe planets – as the mission of the church was to restore the entire Universe, physically, to its first glory. Think of a giant intergalactic real estate project to get an idea of the scope of what members believed would happen.

The idea of becoming a King was, actually, the exact opposite of what Jesus told people to become – a servant of all. The idea wasn't to enthrone Jesus – it was to enhance and enthrone self. The idea wasn't to rule with service – the idea was to learn to rule with a rod of iron. The idea of a King in Armstrongism wasn't the idea of a Christian King – the idea was to train to be a dictator, controlling and manipulating – and forcing people – to be happy and completely controlled by the ideas of Armstrongism. It started with the family, and members were told it would someday be, as previously discussed, much greater than it's humble beginnings. Pride, Ego, and Hubris were rapidly formed among members, because of their belief of their special identity as a future King, instead of a servant under grace from Jesus Christ.

Born Again

Members did not believe that they were born again. This was taught to be an utterly pagan doctrine.

Instead, they were taught that they were merely “begotten”. In other words, they were taught that flesh could never inherit the Kingdom of God, or even see it. So the process of salvation was compared to being an embryo – and when they entered the Kingdom tonly then would they be born again – not before. Therefore, there was always a chance that they wouldn't make it to be born again because they were simply just begotten – so they themselves had to qualify to “endure until the end”, and if they made it, only then would they make it into the Kingdom and be saved.
Ministerial Control

Members believed that ministers had the Spirit of God inside of them directly, and that they spoke from the mouth of Jesus.

It was common thinking that ministers could really do no wrong, even if they did do wrong. And if they did do wrong, they were right, because they were ministers of Jesus Christ, they thought, and could do no ill will. Therefore, blind obedience to ministers was a staple behavior of members of the church.

This behavior was well noticed by the ministry, and gave them extremely powerful control. Ministers basically became the god of their lives – controlling their behaviors and actions from the smallest details to the largest, in many cases. What job they went to, who they dated, who they married, the list could go on – all of these were asked of the minister as to what to do, in most cases. Many did not really understand how to make any decisions without the input of the minister telling them exactly what God wanted them to do. On their own, they would be lost.

If a member, in some cases, went against the minister, they would be seen as rebellious and unconverted, and would be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including disfellowshipment. Ministerial abuse was rampant – their power was often unchecked, and it was very common for superior ministers to always take the word of the minister over the member, so there was little in the way of checks and balances for the ministry.

Ghosts

The church did not believe in any evil spiritual being apart from demons. Therefore, they did not believe in ghosts.

The church explained away any biblical scripture that had to do with ghosts as not really meaning “ghosts”. They did not believe that the dead had an earthly after life. In the church's belief, when one died, they just died. There was no consciousness – there was just nothingness. Their body was in the grave, and no one went to Heaven. Therefore, ghosts, in church belief, were not ghosts, but demons masquerading as a departed human in deceipt.

Reincarnation

The Church vehemently rejected views on reincarnation, due to it's lack of belief in the immortal soul. This viewpoint was also supported, in their view, by scriptures that claimed that it is appointed once for a man to die, to be followed by judgement. Armstrongism followed a tight chronological timeframe, and reincarnation was viewed as demonic. The belief did not fit into their viewpoint of the way that God worked.

New Age/Karma/Buddhist Beliefs
The Church strongly dejected any “new age” beliefs or practices, and also strongly dejected principles of Karma, or any belief that was believed to have been rooted in Buddhist or Hindu-type religions.

Transubstantiation

Transubstantiation – the belief that the bread and the body of the Passover – or – Lord's Supper, turned into the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ – was not practiced or believed in the Church. Such a belief was seen to be strictly Catholic, and was not considered appropriate for the church.

Hell

Hell was not a belief of the church, and did not exist. Hell was simply “The Grave”. The church did not teach nor believe in eternal hellfire, or eternal punishment of souls that rejected Jesus Christ.