WHAT IS A LIBERAL?
By Herbert W. Armstrong
GOD SAYS to His Church,
through the apostle Paul, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that all speak the same thing, and that there he no
divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment" (1 Corinthians 1:10).
This passage continues saying the church at
Satan has been striking at God's Church
and Work from within and from without! And as in the Ephesian church, there
Paul said "...of your own selves shall men arrive, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts
My son, Garner Ted, fell under the
influence of certain liberals, with whom he surrounded himself. He had had some
liberal leanings prior to that. There were those around him bent on changing
the doctrines of God's Church, watering down God's TRUTH.
I am learning now that my son was swayed
under this liberal and secular-oriented influence. Because of his position of
executive vice president, and because he assumed authority beyond that
delegated to him, those who were sound in the doctrines Christ had put into
God's Church, who had been taught directly by me in earlier days of the
college, were demoted, shanghaied away from headquarters.
Gradually, subtly, systematically, while I
was in other parts of the world carrying Christ's Gospel message, doctrines
were being watered down, the college was being made secular. God and Christ
were being cast out and a conspiracy was in progress to get rid of Christ's
chosen apostle, unless he accommodated the conspirators by dying.
Church teachings were being changed. The
most resultful booklet of all, The United States and
This group of liberals assumed the
authority of setting Church doctrine. The one who primarily wrote the
Systematic Theology Project later wrote, "My only goal in coordinating the
project was to bring doctrinal consistency, stability and unity to the ministry"
- that is, unity in watered-down doctrines that older loyal ministers did not
and never would accept! That was not unity it was DIVISION!
But What Do We Mean - 'LIBERAL'?
Let's understand what defines a liberal
and God's Word about it.
What is the basic difference between Old
Testament teaching and that of the New Testament? The same BASIC SPIRITUAL LAW
was given to both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church. But there
was still a great difference. Notice how the apostle Paul defined this
difference.
"[God] Who also hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (II Corinthians 3:6).
It's the same basic SPIRITUAL law. But
without the Holy Spirit, the people of Old Testament
Years ago God showed me, by an incident,
what He means by the spirit of the law. My elder daughter, Beverly, was in
school, possibly the seventh or eighth grade or high school - I don't remember
the year. She was an avid and a rapid reader. One day her teacher sent me a
note, saying
The very next evening I noticed
"Is that another fiction book'?"
I asked.
"Yes, Daddy." she replied.
"Didn't I tell you to stop reading these fiction books?"
"Yes, Daddy, but you said to stop bringing the books from the school
library, and I obeyed you. I didn't bring the book from the school library, I
borrowed it from Helen."
She obeyed the strict letter of the law,
but certainly not the spirit or obvious intent.
Jesus gave some examples of the spirit of
the law, He said: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
Thou shalt not kill...But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment..." (Matthew
5:21-22).
Speaking of the Old Testament observance
of the law, Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already
in his heart" (Matthew
The SPIRIT Of
The Law
The spiritual law of God is a general
principle, which, in its spirit, covers EVERY act. God intends for us today to
apply the principle to every act. It is summed up in Ecclesiastes 12:13:
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
The law of God is a way or LIFE. It is
all-encompassing, in PRINCIPLE - that is, according to its spirit. It is an
attitude.
It may be summed up in ONE word: LOVE.
That one word is a principle of life. It is the way of OUTFLOWING love toward
God and man. It is the way of GIVE, instead of GET.
It is then magnified into the two great
laws - love toward GOD and love toward neighbour. In turn this is magnified
into 10 general principles - the first four of the Ten Commandments express the
principle of love toward God, the last six the principle of love toward man.
We are commanded to love God more than
self - with all our hearts. We are told to love neighbour as, or equal to,
ourselves.
A Principle - Not Every Specific Detail
In the Bible God does not write down every
specific detail of the PRINCIPLE or SPIRIT of His Law! He expects us, with His
Holy Spirit, to apply the principle to every circumstance, act or question.
The whole duty of man is keeping God's law
IN THE SPIRIT - far more than the specific detailed letter. It is the ATTITUDE
or the principle of the law. The law does not list every detail included in the
duty of man.
Reduced to its simplest overall
denominator, the whole law is the one word, LOVE.
How does God's Church receive its
doctrines, beliefs and teachings? Direct from God, through the channels of
Jesus Christ as Head of the Church, and from Him through the apostles! NEVER by
any others! NEVER by a group of ministers appointing themselves as a Doctrinal
Committee! So it was in the first century.
How did the Worldwide Church of God
receive its doctrines, beliefs and teachings? EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH CHRIST'S
APOSTLE! True, I have practiced the biblical principle that "in multitude
of counsel there is safety." On many occasions some top-level ministers
have contributed certain input that has helped me in setting doctrine. BUT
EVERY DOCTRINE, BELIEF AND TEACHING IN THE WORLDWIDE
Now, for example, we have a teaching that
smoking is a sin. How did the Church receive that belief? Let me tell you.
Fifty-two years ago, at the time of my conversion and baptism, I had to decide
that question. I had been smoking - believe it or not! But only lightly about
three cigarettes a day. But I had to decide whether it was right or wrong.
Now Adam and Eve took TO THEMSELVES the
knowledge of right and wrong. Only God can give us that knowledge. I knew that.
I had to decide at the time, for myself, but I knew I must look to Christ, the
Word of God, for the answer. Of course I knew the Bible contained no teaching
specifically on smoking tobacco. But I had learned the truth of II Corinthians
3:3 that sin is violation of the principle or intended meaning of the law.
So I asked myself: "Why do I smoke?
To love or honour God?" Answer, No! "To express love, or outgoing
concern, for the welfare of other people?" Again, No! I knew that some
found second-hand tobacco smoke objectionable. "For my own good - health
or otherwise" Again, No!
For although I did not know, or anybody
else 52 years ago, that smoking was a cause of lung cancer, I did know the
function of the lungs is filtering out impurities from the blood and expelling
the impurities through the breath. And I knew that inhaling smoke only clogged
up the lungs with added impurities and interfered with their normal
functioning. On every count I found smoking was CONTRARY to the PRINCIPLE of
God's LAW! Therefore I knew it was a sin, and I stopped smoking and have not
smoked for 52 years. Jesus Christ through me put into God's Church the teaching
that smoking is wrong - mild or not, nevertheless, it is SIN!
Now if I had decided that as some of our
ministers wanted to decide doctrine, I would have said, "The Bible does
not contain a specific LAW against smoking." That is the way of the LIBERAL
- who wants to water down the truth of God and go as far into this world which
means as far in Satan's way - as possible and still get into God's Kingdom.
The liberal is one who has a DIFFERENT
APPROACH to questions of human conduct than God, or those who have been
CONQUERED by God and are being led by God's Holy Spirit.
What Is God's Attitude?
What is God's Attitude? Does God really
want to sin, but, because He has power of resistance, He uses willpower and
does not ALLOW Himself to sin? Can you realize that sin is absolutely ABHORRENT
to God? GOD DOES NOT WANT TO SIN! He has no such desire! He HATES sin! He is
not tempted to sin!
God loves and desires righteousness and
holiness. That's what He loves, desires and does!
Listen, my children in the living Christ!
Do you really WANT to smoke - want to have birthday parties want to go along
with this world in its ways? Is that what you really want to do? Do you have to
use self-resistance, self-discipline and willpower to prevent going along in
this world's ways?
If so, you have not yet been really
conquered by the all-loving God. If so, you do not yet have the mind of Christ
or His attitude or approach to problems or questions! If so, you'd better begin
TREMBLING at the Word of God!
Or, do you really hunger and thirst for
God's righteousness and holiness? You can't have both attitudes! You have one
or the other! Which is it?
Are you like Mrs. Emma Smith, one of the
new converts in 1933 who formed the parent church of the Worldwide Church of
God? She came to me one day saying her father had died and his will left her
some money.
"How much of this do I have to
tithe?" she asked. "I don't want to tithe any more than I have to to still get in God's Kingdom."
The Doctrine Of
Balaam
She was, in principle and attitude, like
Balaam, mentioned as an evil man in Jude 11 and Revelation 2:14, The story
about Balaam is found in Numbers 22. Balaam was a liberal - only perhaps more
so. The Israelites under Moses had finally encamped on the east side of the
Balak, king of the Moabites, was afraid,
for the Israelites greatly outnumbered
The point is,
Balaam wanted the rewards of divination, which the messengers from
God said to Balaam, "...Thou shalt
not curse the people: for they are blessed" (Numbers
There is much more to the story, but the
point I want to show here is the ATTITUDE of wanting to go as far in the way of
evil as possible.
In Jude 11, God says, "Woe unto them!
for they...ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward..." And in
Revelation to the church at Pergamos, Jesus said, "But I have a few things
against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of
Balaam..." (Revelation 2:14).
Christ is now purging out of His Church
those that "hold the doctrine of Balaam!" Balaam was a liberal.
The liberal is going also in the way of
Satan.
Satan's Evil Attitude
"...there was a day when the sons of
God came to present themselves before the Eternal, and Satan came also among
them,.." The Eternal asked Satan if he had
considered God's servant Job, "...that there is none like him in the
earth, a perfect and an upright man..." (Job 1:6-8).
Satan argued that Job served God in
SELF-interest, for God had given him all his material wealth. But if God would
allow Satan to take all his possessions from him, Satan said Job would curse
God.
The Eternal answered, "...Behold, all
that he hath is in thy power: only upon himself put not forth thine hand''
(verse 12).
Satan destroyed all Job's wealth and even
his sons and daughters. But Satan caused other humans to do his evil. Yet Job
maintained his own righteousness and refused to curse God.
Satan tried again. Satan argued that a man
would give all he had for his own life. But he contended that if God would
allow him to do evil to Job's person, Job would curse God. God allowed this,
but said, "save his life."
Did you ever have a boil? I did - just
once, many, many years ago. I shall never forget it. The pain was nearly
unbearable. And that was only one boil. Job was covered with boils from head to
foot! But still he did not curse God. In the end God spoke to Job. Job's one
great sin was one Satan could not ascertain. It was SELF-righteousness, When
God spoke, opening Job's eyes to his self-righteousness, Job repented deeply,
and God restored to him two-fold for all He had allowed Satan to destroy.
The point I want to make here is, Satan
CANNOT go farther than God allows - but Satan wanted to inflict as much evil
and destruction and harm as possible.
It is Satan's ATTITUDE that is his prime
evil. He does not hunger and thirst for God's righteousness, He harbours only
the deep-rooted desire to do EVIL - TO GO CONTRARY TO GOD'S LAW OF LOVE AND
RIGHTEOUSNESS. He wanted to go as far as he could in the evil way contrary to
GOD'S WAY. That was in his heart.
The Liberal Attitude
The liberal among us today wants to GET!
He wants to get into God's Kingdom, but he wants to go along with this world's
ways as far as God will allow and still let him make it into the Kingdom!
The liberal has deceived himself! I do not
believe the liberal realizes his own attitude. He really wants to get into the
He doesn't want to tithe, unless he can
see beyond any of his arguments there is a specific LAW compelling him to
tithe. He wants to be free to vote, at least in local elections.
The argument was made to me that our
Church people actually outnumbered others living in Big Sandy, Texas, but (what
a big word "but" is) you see, if they did not vote, the minority
would vote to incorporate the Ambassador College campus into the town of Big
Sandy, and we'd have to pay big taxes. It never seemed to occur to the liberal
mind that Christ will solve our problems, and we do not have to go contrary to
His Attitude!
Like Mrs. Emma Smith, who was too new as a
child in Christ and had not grown sufficiently as yet in His grace and
knowledge - like Balaam - like Satan - the liberal wants to see how close he
can come to the precipice without falling and losing his eternal life. Like
Mother Eve, they use HUMAN REASON to justify straying partly away from the
SPIRIT of God's Law. They want to keep the law in the strict letter, but not in
the spirit!
In his heart, the liberal would like to
"go along" at least part way with this world.
What Is The Mind Of Christ?
But God says, "Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
What is the mind of Christ? What is His
attitude - His approach to viewing and deciding all activities? Does He, as I
asked before, really WANT TO sin, to think and act contrary to His law, but
because of His super power, restrain Himself?
We know He has never sinned. But why? Is
He sinless because He has such supernatural power to restrain Himself? A
THOUSAND TIMES, NO! The living Christ has never sinned because He does not want
so sin! What is HIS MIND, that should be also in us? It is a mind that HATES
sin, that loves righteousness. It's a matter of ATTITUDE! The liberal is not
hungering and thirsting after righteousness! He wants to ease off a little on
God's law. He wants to do only as much as he has to, to receive the reward of
eternal life. He has not yet fully gotten rid of the GET attitude, and come
into the GIVE attitude.
It is Satan who deceives and puts into
many human minds the desire to go as far into this world as he thinks God will
allow and into its ways of VANITY and INTELLECTUALISM (carnal, secular) -
vanity of mind.
Having the ATTITUDE of the "SPIRIT OF
THE LAW" is the attitude of the mind of Christ!