The COG APOLOGY REVISED”

 

A STATEMENT OF EXPANDED CLARIFICATION

 

Originally Distributed June, 2009

Revised November, 2009

Updated December 2012 & January 2013

 

(Revisions are indicated in bold type. The purpose was to get the original message across without being as confrontational or potentially offensive. A July 2009 ministers' meeting reached an agreement that this letter should be revised, and this is my attempt.  -PAM)

 

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To ALL of our Church Children, Young and Old:

 

As a member and minister of the Church of God (Evening Light Saints), I would like to make a statement of clarification. For several generations, some of our church members may have offended many of our children, friends, and acquaintances, causing some of them to stumble spiritually, and for this, I want you to know that this was never our intention. Below are several areas in which I believe we have need of some clarification:

 

 

If any of us have taught anything in error, it is because in most cases we ourselves didn't know any better at the time. Now that we do, some of us believe it is our duty to set the record straight. As we have learned better, the church has changed in many respects, but we have never officially told you anything. Many of us are especially concerned that some of what was done may have caused some of our children to turn away, not only from the church, but away from God Himself. Thus, some of this may have had extremely serious and eternal side effects. And it is time that someone dealt with it responsibly. 

 

 

None of us would ever want any of our church children to die and go to hell, never knowing God simply because someone in the church had confused, hurt, or disillusioned them. If indeed someone in the church has played any part in discouraging or hindering anyone, it is the duty of some of us in the church to remove those hindrances if at all possible. Therefore, we offer this statement of clarification. 

 

 

Down through the years, some of our members may have emphasized many doctrines that might be or have been Church of God doctrines, but that sometimes had little to do with God Himself. Some of them are impossible to support by the Bible, when it is interpreted correctly. Some of these doctrines may have had good intentions originally, but are in need of objective re-evaluation in their application. For a few examples: 

 

• Modesty is directly taught by the Bible, but our teaching that Christians must wear only long sleeves is not directly supported by the Bible. In other words, we run into legalism if we get too specific in our teaching, because modesty always has an element of relativity mixed in, depending on time, place, culture, climate, occasion, and other considerations. For example, our sister churches of God in India, with whom we enjoy full fellowship, actually permit their sisters to wear their native dress (sari), which exposes some of their arms and midriffs. That does not appear to be immodest in their culture. Therefore, we must leave some of this to individual convictions from the Holy Spirit.

 

• Regarding our teaching of divine healing, some of us may have taught that when you get sick it is wrong to go to the hospital or clinic, or to take medicine or have any kind of medical procedures performed. Some may have even taught or promoted the expectation that women should have only home births. But in reality, the Bible does not directly forbid either hospitals, doctors, or medicine. ALL of the scriptures we have used to forbid medical assistance were misinterpreted and misapplied. Supernatural healing comes "according to your faith (Matthew 9:29), and "He that is weak in the faith we are to receive (Romans 14:1).  In fact, D. S. Warner himself, the founder of the Church of God movement, once wrote, "If a sincere child of God does use medicines through weakness of faith, do not reprove or rebuke such as if a sin had been committed, but labor to increase their faith¦ (Gospel Trumpet, October 24, 1895).  Many of our pastors now refuse to pressure their members in this area. That is a wise course of action. We should have admitted that if we, the church and its leaders, cannot heal someone, then we should have stepped back and let them save their lives however they wanted. Instead, we have been very complicit and downright guilty of causing generations of people to suffer and die unscripturally, unnecessarily, and most of all, so tragically, and for this, we leaders need to apologize. For more on this see "A Balanced Theology of Divine Healing."

 

• Some of us may have taught regarding hair that if you're an African-American woman, don't straighten your hair; if you're a woman of any race, don't cut your hair. But the Bible does not forbid any woman to straighten or cut/trim her hair. It only comments on a woman being "uncovered, "shorn, or "shaven, i.e., "to have the hair cut close or entirely shaved as with a razor (Greek ˜keiro' or ˜xurao', Vincent Word Studies). Besides, this was primarily culturally-based: Some ethnicities don't have long hair.

 

• Some of us may have taught that women must not wear pants. Once again, the Bible directly teaches modesty, and in some situations, pants are actually more modest and protective. Of course, they can be worn immodestly also. The only scripture that could possibly apply to pants is Deuteronomy 22:5, but careful study will show that this scripture is referring to a type of cultural or idolatrous transvestitism. Besides, according to Clarke's Commentary, both sexes wore nearly the same dress at that time in that culture. What is more, who decreed that pants is a style of clothing only for men? Some styles of pants are made for females, and as such, are no longer men's clothing.

 

• Some of us may have taught that if you don't read your Bible every day or come to church every service, you have sinned. However, the Bible doesn't't contain a commandment that strong, and besides, that would be quite legalistic. However, we do recognize that the need for frequent prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers is taught in the Bible and is absolutely essential to spiritual health.

 

• Some of us may have taught or given the understanding that if you ever do anything wrong, you have backslidden. The correct teaching should have been that, if you ever do anything wrong, you "have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1). So you should simply repent, straighten up whatever needs fixing, and keep moving forward.

 

• Some of us may have taught that it is wrong to play sports. But once again, we have no direct Bible forbidding sports, even "organized sports. Perhaps there may be many abuses involved with sports today, or perhaps participation may sometimes require several spiritual compromises, or perhaps the Christian "Church Fathers may have spoken against sports in their writings, but we can never go to the Bible and find a commandment against it. Instead, we find the Apostle Paul using the sports of racing and boxing as metaphors for the Christian life (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Still, moderation and the will of God for us as individuals should govern this and everything else we do in life.

 

• Some of us may have taught that it is wrong to drink coffee, tea, or Coke. What we should have taught is that caffeine is a stimulant that can harm the body if not used in moderation and that can become very addictive if care is not taken. Then we should have balanced this out by saying that many substances taken into our bodies”caffeine, nicotine, drugs, alcohol, and even sugar, salt, fats, and other widely-accepted substances”can be harmful and addictive. Many substances can violate the "sanctity of the body principle (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), the "anti-addiction  principle (1 Corinthians 6:12), and the "non-edification principle (1 Corinthians 10:23). Accordingly, some of these require moderation and others complete abstinence.

 

• Some of us may have taught that it is wrong to watch or even to own a TV or use the Internet. We should have made it much clearer that it is some (perhaps most) of the programming on TV, not the TV itself, that is objectionable for Christians. This is recognized not only by our church but by most other Christian groups as well, and even by completely secular entities like schools, sociologists, etc. The Internet itself is not wrong, but it is an indisputable fact that the Internet is quite often used for sinful purposes. But TV, the Internet, and all other media can also be used for good, edifying, productive purposes also, so our teaching should have reflected this fact.

 

Some of us may have emphasized these secondary doctrines as being essential to salvation or as the main purpose of the church, and when we did, that was wrong. If we made them a test of fellowship, meaning that if you didn't "measure up to our teachings about these issues we viewed you as not being quite right or even still unsaved, that too was wrong. Instead of being legalistic about these conscience matters and personal preferences, the wise thing to do would have been to give you the freedom to follow the convictions that the Holy Spirit revealed to you, treating all of our members with patience, love and full acceptance. We should have obeyed the standard of Christian unity that can be gleaned from the New Testament: "In essential doctrines, we maintain unity; in non-essential doctrines, we give liberty; in all things, we show love. 

We have all seen many other churches, for example, the Catholic Church, emphasize the church and its doctrines and traditions so much that it stands in the place of God. But no church is God, no matter how right it may think itself to be. We are sorry if we as a church have stood in your minds in the place of God. That is not the way we meant for things to have been at all. 

Some of us recognize that many of our teachings and practices have often caused many to feel judged, condemned, ostracized, rejected, and, most of all, unloved. They caused many to focus mostly on outward things like dress and religious practices, making it seem like those things were the chief reason for getting saved. We should have told you that the chief reason for getting saved is to have a relationship with God, your loving heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your Savior, and the Holy Spirit, your Life-Guide. It is all about a personal relationship, not a set of rules and rituals. After you get saved, God will clean up your life by personally teaching and convicting you at His time in His way.

Some of us may have given you the message, either by our words or our actions or both, that our church was the only church that is right. If so, then we were wrong for making you feel like you couldn't be saved unless you went through our church. There is no way in the world that the "great multitude in heaven, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, could possibly come from our church alone. None of us ever intended to make your friends and our visitors”and perhaps even you yourself”feel like strangers that could never quite fit in unless they did everything just like we did. It was never our intention to be exclusive, because Jesus Christ never was. 

In fact, it was wrong for us to ever believe and perpetuate the doctrine of "Remnant Theology," that our church is the last of a remnant of true believers, that only we are right and all other religious people are false and need to be saved, that if a person "is not one of us," then they are to be discounted or ignored, etc. The truth is, if we are all believers, then we are already on the same side. We already are in full fellowship. There are only two sides, God's and Satan's, and everybody is on one side or the other. There is no neutrality or in-betweenness. Every blood-washed believer is on our side, regardless to whether or not we agree on every point of doctrine, and we have no justification not to fully accept them. We sin when we reject our fellow believers. See "He That Is Not Against Me." 

It is good to recognize that our way of doing church is not the only acceptable way to do church. Although it is fine and enjoyable to most of us, our worship style”a cappella singing, praying on our knees, our order of service, etc.”is not commanded by the New Testament. In fact, some of our associated Churches of God in Germany use musical instruments in their worship services, and they enjoy full fellowship with us. This proves that our prohibition against using instruments is not an absolute truth, essential to salvation, but a relative teaching. Indeed, Ephesians 5:19 (Amplified) instructs the church to "Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices and instruments and making melody with all your heart to the Lord, where the Greek words for psalms ("psalmos) and melody ("psallo) both mean "accompanied by musical instruments. See also Colossians 3:16 with the same words. There is no "right way or more "Christian way to worship God, because the Bible never describes such in detail. There will be far more Christians in heaven who never heard of our church and traditions than those who did. We should not have allowed ourselves to get stuck here on worship styles.

It is good to honor the past”past revelations, past great men, past moves of God, past glory, past doctrines and traditions. But it would be a mistake to think that we are still anointed just because of what God gave us in the past. Our church cannot be based on a mostly historical foundation, but must be based on the direction of the Holy Spirit today. I am sure that most of us would agree with the scriptural principles that continued anointing comes only from following the Holy Spirit each moment in the present, and concentrating, not on maintaining a church or a religious history, but on building the Kingdom by obeying the Great Commission. 

It is better to spend more effort to evangelize and win our neighborhoods for Christ than to spend such a great portion of our efforts concentrating on teachings that are often not really essential to getting to heaven. It was not our intention to allow so many of our churches to grow stagnant and to suffer such extensive attrition. Many of us now recognize that the church must do more to provide you with opportunities to get involved in the spiritually reinvigorating Ministry of Jesus Christ, putting your gifts to work in the harvesting of souls. More of us now want to develop and equip you, offering you more than the chance to pour all of your spiritual energies into maintaining an inward focus, and instead to begin focusing outwardly on winning souls. We are sorry if you felt that your opportunities were being limited.

Some of us may have preached the doctrine of Christian perfection in such a way that it gave the message: "We're perfect; we're free from sin; we never sin; and if you do, then you're not really sanctified and perhaps not even saved, and perhaps backslidden. This could have been quite misleading or inconsistent, because many times you observed lots of humanness and carnality”sin”in almost all of our members. Perhaps we could have taught you something more balanced and truthful: We are "free from sin, but only in the sense that God does not charge us. We are "free from sin in the sense that we believe that we can obtain deliverance from and maintain victory over our weaknesses and shortcomings by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are "free from sin in the sense that we have no unconfessed wrong-doing in our lives.

But the idea that we live so perfectly that we have never done anything wrong and have never had to repent or apologize for any of our weaknesses and shortcomings since the day we got "saved and sanctified is somewhat misleading. In "sanctification we receive the power of the Holy Spirit and begin an ongoing, life-long, cleansing process, not a finished perfected work, which depends on our daily submission to God as we allow Him to crucify our self-life. We must fight frequent battles against our character weaknesses and personality flaws. Thus, along the way, as we grow closer to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13), we may commit many sins and errors for which we repent or apologize. We sin whenever we lose one of those frequent battles against our character weaknesses and personality flaws. There is nothing else to call it. And if we claim that we never lose any of those battles, then we have a Christian perfection that is curiously better than both the Apostle Paul's and Peter's (see Acts 15:39; 23:2; Galatians 2:11-13). Absolutely none of us has ever lived like Jesus or an angel, or lived without occasional repentance. If something we have said or done were not sin, we wouldn't ever have to repent or apologize”but we all have done so, since we got saved. 

We can make this discussion even simpler: When we claim to be cleansed and "free from sin are we also claiming to be cleansed and "free from self? The answer, of course, is no, because we all still have our human self-life”the flesh”to deal with as long as we are alive. But what happens when we lose a battle with self? We do, say, or think something "selfish that is un-Christ-like. We repent for it, we ask God to give us victory over it next time, but in any case, it is sin. For this reason, our claim of "free from sin requires a more balanced and responsible use of wording and qualification, lest it become rather misleading.   

But doing something wrong or selfish doesn't mean that we have backslidden as many people have been taught or somehow come to believe. We get saved by deliberately making a choice with our own free-will to believe in Jesus Christ; we backslide by deliberately making a choice to reject Him. We don't accidentally slide in, and we don't accidentally slide out, or lose it all, against our wills. And if we ever get into God's heaven, it won't be because we have lived such perfect, sinless lives that we deserve it. No human being is quite that worthy. The truth is that God constantly overlooks our sin and selfishness and continually has patience with our many human shortcomings only because of Jesus' blood. And in the end, we get into His holy heaven by the GRACE OF GOD ALONE.

Indeed, it would be very wise for us”and every other church”to emphasize a healthier concept and message of God's grace in this matter. God loves and accepts us, not because He has made us clean and we have spent lots of our own efforts faithfully following the rules so that we can remain clean and holy, but simply because He is a loving, forgiving God. When we don't emphasize God's grace, we run the risk of building a religion based on religious performance, of judging each other by how closely we each follow the rules, of becoming legalistic, exclusive, and unloving, and of causing others to believe that we ourselves are living such perfect, faultless, "sinless lives that we sort of earn our way into heaven. When others see that we are expecting to merit heaven based on our own holiness and good works, they just know that they could never live it, so many of them just give up trying to be saved at all. 

Some of us may have unbiblically messed with your marriages and your relationships. Perhaps, unfortunately, you've been divorced and remarried. Some of us may have simply written you off as a hopeless, "un-savable case. Others of us may have advised you to break up your current relationship (kids and all) and try to re-kindle your original relationship, which was probably a preposterous and utter impossibility. But we didn't have Bible to support our position, so if some of us confused you, we apologize on their behalf. Now we say to you, just find God and let Him sort out your marriages and relationships. He reserves the right to do this Himself, because He never left the church with iron-clad instructions on what to tell people who have multiple marriages. God alone is your judge, so you answer to Him. 

What many”perhaps most”of us didn't know was that our Church of God founder, D. S. Warner himself, had already scripturally dealt with the complexities of the marriage relationship in the above manner. This is quoted from his booklet, Marriage and Divorce, (here, here, and purchase here) written in 1895: "But if we turn to the Word for directions what to say to those who have more than one living companion, we find no clear command given as to what they shall do. If, therefore, we stop where the Word stops, no person on earth is authorized to positively say all must separate, nor yet can we give them license to live together. Here then we must leave each case in God's hands. Secret things belong to him. And where he has laid down no positive command for us to enjoin, He must have reserved the prerogative to Himself, to convict each individual by his Spirit of their duty. Let it be understood then that we disclaim all authority to say to men and women in such case you must, or you must not separate. Such must get their orders from God direct. And this is advice that many of us should have followed but did not.

Many of our churches may not have always maintained an atmosphere of love in the church, where everyone could feel safe no matter what kind of problems they had. "All shall know that you are My disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35). However, in many congregations, an unsafe atmosphere of intrigue, politics, gossip, confusion, group pressure, "holier-than-thou-ism, and even fanaticism, sometimes prevailed. But in such cases, almost all sides and all parties involved share the blame, especially seeing that it has always been very easy, even during New Testament times, for Christians to pick on each other instead of loving each another.

However, in many areas, we were not wrong and do not need to clarify our positions. We were not wrong in teaching that you must be born again in order to be saved and go to heaven. That is biblical (John 3:3), and it comes through belief and repentance: Asking God to forgive you for your sins and believing in Jesus Christ that He does just that. We were not wrong in saying that you must receive the Holy Spirit and allow Him to live the Christ-life through your life. We were not wrong in holding that the ultimate goal of salvation is for every believer to become an intimate disciple of Christ, and that practical holiness is required and selfishness is forbidden. We were not wrong in teaching that being a true disciple of Jesus Christ would radically affect every area of your life. Some of us may have gone too far in our good-meaning attempts to describe in detail what you should wear, where you should go, what you could or could not do, how you could or could not act, etc. But many of us now recognize that that is the right, authority, and duty of the Holy Spirit, not ours.

Some of us may have gone too far in taking away your liberty to live your own relationship before God, according to the Holy Spirit convictions you received from Him. If we did so, we failed to let you "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). God is your Master; how could any of us harshly judge anyone else, because, as Paul told us Christians, "Who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own Master he stands or falls. If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help (Romans 14:4 NKJV/The Message). 

So now we want you to meet God Himself for yourself, even if you never become part of our church again. That is, COME BACK TO GOD IF YOU NEVER COME BACK TO THE CHURCH! We recognize that rebellion against the Church of God is not necessarily rebellion against God. So this is what we want to say to you now from the depths of our heart: 

No matter what message you may have received from us over the years, God Himself is the most loving Being in the universe, and He wants to have a close, personal relationship with you, the object of His love. It's not about the do's and don'ts. It's not about which church is right. It's about finding the peace, love, security, and significance that only a living relationship with a loving God can bring to you. We beg you, in spite of whatever you might think about us as your childhood church, PLEASE discover this living relationship with God as soon as possible. PLEASE do not dislike God just because you might dislike us, the church. For all of our shortcomings, we ask your forgiveness and pray that you don't blame God for our failures. Even if you don't want to give us another chance, PLEASE GIVE GOD ANOTHER CHANCE! God Himself has truly never done you any wrong. He truly loves you more than you love yourself. You CAN be saved without doing it "our way.

Many of us believe that this statement of clarification was due you. Maybe you have already discovered for yourself what we have written here to be true, but we just wanted you to know our feelings. We are trying to get to heaven ourselves, and do not want to cause anyone else to stumble and miss heaven because of us. "We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:21), and don't let your memories of us stand in your way. Don't leave this world not knowing God because of any negative experiences in the church. 

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I recognize that not everyone will agree with this statement of clarification. But I believe that God has encouraged me to take personal responsibility because, to me, somebody has needed to do this for years and generations. To those church leaders/members who feel that this is a great mistake, or who have a problem with who is initiating this, or who "disagree with the way it was done, I am truly sorry. But I still believe, with conscience toward God, that this must be done. We have all seen too many of our "church children eternally lost for us to neglect this matter any longer. And we still have no proper forum where issues like this can be discussed, resolved, and acted on, although we hope to see such forums in the future. 

So the fact remains that somebody must take responsibility for the "Lost Coins that our church may have lost”confused, disillusioned, misled, offended, rejected, hurt, seduced, caused to stumble, and turned away from God. Jesus, in Luke 15:8-10, instructs us to (1) "Light a candle, i.e., hold up Christ the Truth, not church history and traditions; (2) "Sweep the house, i.e., clean the camp of sin, selfishness, politics, deadness, unloving behavior, and everything else negative and offensive; and then (3) "Search diligently for the lost coins, i.e., make every effort necessary to win our lost associates back to God. We cannot afford for any more people to die or go to hell because their experiences in our church have played a role in keeping them from coming to God.

It is not wrong or disrespectful to question or challenge the church”any church. It is not wrong to objectively evaluate our doctrines in the light of God's Word. It is the only way to discover or re-affirm the truth, especially in a religious environment where literally everyone and every group is claiming to have or be the truth. Truth will always withstand close scrutiny. So you should even question everything that is written in this letter to see if it is sound. Pray about it, think for yourself, check it all out by the Bible, and even find a time to ask your current or former spiritual leaders about whatever you might question. Take this letter to church to discuss it. This letter is meant to help, not to hurt, to build up, not to destroy. Truth is all we seek. Truth will set us free.

I must say a few things to those current COG members and former associates who might still ask the question, "When did the Church of God do any of these awful things? I never saw any of this. It's still a great, loving body of holy people as far as I'm concerned. Why is this clarification even necessary? To such ones I write, Yes, the Church of God is indeed filled with many good, loving, sincere, and honest people of God, who have conscientiously lived the very best they could. This is why so many of us have remained in it for so long. 

But not everyone has seen only this good, loving side of the church. Many have received rejection, confusion, disillusionment, and worse, and it has greatly disturbed their entire lives. These people are the target audience of this statement. If, thankfully, you are not one of these, then this letter is not primarily written for you, and you can continue on your way as before. You are still free to practice what you believe to be God's will for you, which is all anyone can ask from their church. But please try to understand that those who carry a burden for "lost coins must deal with these issues in any effort to reach them. And please remember that scripturally, our first debt is to those we may have offended or discouraged: Even Jesus left the "Ninety-Nine for that one lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7; 17:1-2; and Matthew 5:23-24).

I would also suggest that the church begin rapidly moving from its undeniable emphasis on faithfully maintaining the past and begin to concentrate on following the Holy Spirit's desire to actively reach out in love to the lost and dying world around us in a relevant manner. That is our only New Testament reason for existence. Doing so will require the church to make several positive adjustments in its attitudes and practices, and its openness to God and others. Please understand that many of us leaders, with conscience toward God, believe we must teach from a biblical perspective only, not from a historical perspective. That is, if we don't have plain Bible to support a teaching, then we don't believe we have authority to teach it, even if the church has taught it for years. We are not just being contrary.

In response to the first version of this letter, several of our leaders have recommended and agreed to hold ministerial forums to study and re-evaluate our doctrinal issues and to begin dialog concerning our evangelistic techniques and emphasis. Considering events in July 2010, July 2011, and July 2012 (in Neosho, MO, and Guthrie, OK), this will probably never happen. [On those dates, most of us holding the balanced positions described in this document were disfellowshipped and eventually officially written out of the COG (ELS).]  However, the original hope was that we could move beyond the tensions arising over traditions and secondary doctrines and begin to more efficiently fulfill Jesus' Great Commission, our primary purpose, by infusing our ministry with new paradigms, new purposes, new methods, and a new openness to the Holy Spirit. This Great Commission covers all of the work of the church: Seeking the lost efficiently, assimilating them into the local fellowship of believers, discipling and developing them into mature Christians, and equipping them to do the work of Kingdom building. We should fulfill this primary responsibility even as we deal with our doctrinal issues: The world cannot wait.

Nothing written here should be used by anyone as an excuse to live sinfully or selfishly. We believe in liberty but not license. That is, we are free to do only God's will. As both Paul and Peter instructed, we cannot use our freedom to live selfishly by indulging our flesh (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16). And Christian liberty”freedom from legalism, external rules and rituals”is an extremely dangerous and hard-to-handle commodity if we are not fully filled with and closely following the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge that probably most Christians abuse their liberty, but that still does not give us the right to tell them they don't have such liberty.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. You can even disagree or ask us to prove something that we've written in this letter. We welcome your responses. For those of you who may still be struggling with these issues, we look forward to opportunities where we can meet and interact with you in more personal and localized settings. Meanwhile, please share this message with others, because all of our church children, young and old, need to hear it. It is posted on the Christian Challenge Ministries website at www.ChristianChallengeMinistries.org. Our email address is cchallenge@sbcglobal.net. Our phone number is 310-347-1189.

And God bless you. Written in love only,

Philip A. Matthews