Hi again B____,

Thanks for sending me The Bible study course of The United Churches of God. This church is the largest splinter group of the church I came out of back in 1973. I spent ten years under the law of Moses while in this man- made organization of Herbert and Ted Armstrong. I am a personal friend with Dick Thompson and am acquainted with most of the members of their 12 member ruling council..

Now let’s compare the doctrines of this corporation with the doctrines of God’s Word:

UCGAIA doctrine:

Mankind’s wrong choices are the cause of most of the suffering we see in the world.” Quoted directly from their on- line Bible course.

God’s Word:

Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil [ having made not one decision], that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works [ men’s choices], but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

This corporation of men, as with all of orthodox Christianity, places the salvation of mankind in the hands “of him that willeth, and of him that runneth, instead of “of Him that sheweth mercy … or hardeneth.” This is the church in which I spent 10 years. I hate to see you and others sucked into this deception. They are totally unaware that it is God who creates evil for His own purpose of saving mankind and maturing mankind into the sons He desires.

Isa 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Joseph’s brothers were not the authors of the idea of selling him into Egypt as this false doctrine of “free” will claims:

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you [ Joseph’s brothers] that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Think about it; Joseph’s brothers certainly thought it was their idea to sell Joseph into slavery. But what is the Truth? “It was not you…” Your ministers quote “Choose you this day…” as if the choice God was exhorting Israel to make was totally beyond God’s sovereign influence. That is as great a lie as saying that because God asked Adam “where are you” that God had no clue where Adam and Eve were, when the Truth of God’s Word is that God was so sure of what Adam and Eve would choose that he had made provision for their sin “before the world began.”

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called [ us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Now here are but a couple of verses that completely give the lie to this false doctrine of “free” uninfluenced, uncaused will of mankind. This is the Truth:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. [ But what about man’s free will?]
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. [ What happened to mankind’s free will?]
Amo 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? [ UCG would argue: “Mankind’s wrong choices are the cause of most of the suffering we see in the world.”]

The chances of God’s own people choosing to serve God are as likely as a leopard changing his spots or an Ethiopian changing the color of his skin:

Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye [ God’s called people] also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

Here is the Truth of man’s “free” will:

Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct hissteps.
Pro 20:24 Man’s goings [ are] of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

But hey, this is mere scripture. How can this possibly be superior to the words of the council of elders of the UCG?

I strongly encourage you to read After The Counsel of His Own Will on the site. It is chock full of scriptures of which Mr. Bob Dick and Dick Thompson and all the other elders of this church are totally unaware. I challenge you to read that paper. I challenge you to present it to Dick, and tell him it is from his former classmate Mike Vinson. I challenge you to take even one verse I quote in that paper and prove it to be scripturally unsound.

Back when I was in the WCOG we actually taught that the ministers deserved the best grain in the field. Not only did they deserve it, but we saw to it that they got it. Where is the New Testament scripture for that doctrine? I am very familiar with the scripture:

Mar 10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
Mar 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

What those who point to this scripture to justify fleecing the flock fail to admit is that, as with all the words of Christ, this is a spiritual statement. Here is what Christ means by mother, sister and brother:

Mat 12:48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
Mat 12:49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
Mat 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

The ‘houses and lands’ are also spiritual as the example of Paul and Christ proves:

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words [‘homes and lands’] that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

This organization is an organization of men teaching the doctrine of tithing to support the lifestyles of its ministry. Pay attention, and you will note that the ministers drive much later model cars than do their tithe- paying parishioners. Neither Christ nor Paul ever did such a thing.

Luk 9:57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Luk 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Act 20:33 I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.
Act 20:34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

Does any minister in any church anywhere in orthodox Christianity, or for that matter any corporation of unorthodox Christianity, identify with either of these verses of scripture? I think not!

May God give you the courage to place His word above all the words of all men:

Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;

Mike