In this Issue
From the Publisher
Herbert W Armstrong letters and other items from the 1920s & 30s etc (part 2)
Remembering Aleksandar Veljic (Sasha)
The 1934 Motion to join the breakaway group based at Salem, West Virginia
Old Church of God Microfilms Found! (part 3): Advocates for Holy Day observance in the Church of God early 20th Century
Old Church of God Microfilms Found! (part 4): The ‘Lost’ Tribes Doctrine in the Church of God early 20th Century
Abraham Cauffman Long - Church of God pioneer
David Paul Ziegler
Elder Arvin Stith
History of WCG Ministerial Conferences
HWA letter why he was baptised by a Sunday minister
List of our Websites and Blogs
How to Navigate the Friends of the Sabbath site
From the Publisher
Dear friends and supporters,
The scoops just keep on coming!
Given the pouring in of information and because I get these ‘bees in my bonnet’ as the saying goes (to add information to the website that pops into my mind such as that dealing with Long, Ziegler and Stith below), I thought it best to issue a newsletter now, soon after the previous edition, rather than waiting for it to become too large later on.
The historical information that adds to our body of knowledge and related histories keeps on coming in and building up the website. The time spent on all of this, research, website, writing, updating articles etc is immense - it akin to a full-time job without pay.
Of great interest to all of us are the Herbert W Armstrong letters from the 1920/30s and the old Church of God (Seventh Day) periodicals from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Poring through and analysing them is a tedious, but necessary task. Updates on all of that is below.
Your prayers for continued successes in recovering our missing history is requested and appreciated. So please help spread the word and encourage others to join over 690 subscribers to this newsletter.
Finally, I plan to write two more books on the history of the Church, given the huge amount I have already written and huge amount of information gathered and saved. All unique.
The first will be The Early Ministry of Herbert W Armstrong 1926-1950; the other will be Handbook of Church of God History. I can’t let decades of work and research disappear; nor let others take what I have done and assemble it all as if it were their own research.
Sincerely,
Craig M White
Publisher
PS: Check ‘What’s New’ regularly for updates and new uploads. Remember, you can view past editions of this newsletter (vol. 1 no. 1 to vol. 2 no. 2) here and vol. 2 no. 6 onward here.
Herbert W Armstrong letters and other items from the 1920s & 30s etc (part 2)
In the previous edition I announce that many letters to and from Mr Armstrong 1920s-50s have become available and I was analysing them. It took decades to be able to obtain them, but it was all worthwhile!
Extracts from these can now be found in the paper Lists and Charts of the Early Years of the Ministry of Herbert W Armstrong.
Remembering Aleksandar Veljic (Sasha)
It was both a shock and very sad to learn of the death of Sasha. The following was posted on his page on Facebook:
Aleksandar (Sasha) Veljić—historian, researcher, translator, writer, elder, son, brother and above all, friend—died March 20, 2024, at age 53 in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, after suffering a series of strokes.
Sasha was born January 15, 1971, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to parents Miroslav and Spomenka Marija Veljić, and is the first of five siblings.
Sasha is preceded in death by his father in 2020. He is survived by his mother, Spomenka Marija Veljić; brother Igor Veljić, married to Ljubica Veljić, and their two sons Luka Veljić and Nemanja Veljić; sister Tijana Veljić; brother Milivoje Veljić; and brother Vojislav Veljić, married to Vanja Veljić, and their daughter Manja Veljić.
He and I had been in contact for well over a decade but only met him in 2022 and we continued to keep in contact. I organised a gathering of members from 5 or so groups for a dinner one evening where he and members of his group fellowshipped. We were all united in spirit without the slightest issue. God’s spirit is unifying, but the spirit of Satan is divisive and scatters the flock.
He wrote to me on 31 Dec 2023 with the following kind words:
Hi Craig,
Just to say thank you for all the great service you have been providing to the Body of Christ. The Hope of Israel Worldwide Church of God has the highest regard for you. If we will ever be in a position to contribute to your great work, we will certainly stand ready to do so. I am waiting for your book on the Millennium, so we will order a copy for our library in Serbia.
Also, thank you for the legacy of Bob Boraker. I initially attended Watford, England congregation where I met him, his wife Margaret and his daughter, son in law and his grandchildren. I never knew that of his involvement in Letter Answering Department, but I do remember him as a very decent and kind person.
I will let you know the details of my coming to Australia if I would be able to come. We are very small part of the body of Christ, so we don't really have much income. Yet, the voice of the true Gospel is being broadcast every day and every night over Internet through our radio Hope of Israel Worldwide.
Sasha was considering visiting Australia around March this year, but switched to visit members in the USA.
I attended the memorial service for him online, but was so sick that I could hardly talk and left the service early. Such a shame.
He will always be remembered in a positive light! And missed by many, his flock and myself :(
The 1934 Motion to join the breakaway group based at Salem, West Virginia
“The following is a report of the meeting for the congregations under Mr Armstrong to move to the Church of God (Seventh Day) based in Salem, West Virginia. Late 1933 they had left the main group based in Stanberry, Missouri (relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1950).
The following from: G Hobbs letter to Herbert Armstrong, 31 Jan 1934, p. 1. All of letter (3 pages) concerns this.
At a meeting in the home of S. A. Oberg this morning the following motion was carried
Moved by S. A. Oberg that the Church of God in the State of Or. Accept the Constitution of the organisation with headquarters at Salem West Virginia in its entire 40 points. Seconded by Brother Hobbs. Unanimously adopted or carried.
This helps to fill in some of the missing history of what actually occurred during the crucial period of 1933/34.
Old Church of God Microfilms Found! (part 3): Advocates for Holy Day observance in the Church of God early 20th Century
In comparing what I already had on the site with these new scans, there are a number I did not have, which is good news for researchers. As of today, The Hope of Israel and Voice of the Truth have been uploaded with the rest following in due course. It is interesting to see the articles (and debates) over the crucifixion day, Passover day, Pentecost, born again, Atonement, Three Angels messages etc.
As I mentioned in the previous edition, for decades I have been wanting to see the articles listed below by G.W. Sarber and K.R.Gilstrap, but only read about. They are now online here.
(1915). “Dividing the Word of Truth,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 25 April, p. 361;
(1915). “The Passover,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 24 Aug, p. 620;
(1915). “The Passover,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 27 Sept, pp. 685-86;
(1916). Annual Feasts to be Observed,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 1 Aug, p. 553;
(1916); Annual Feasts to be Observed,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 8 Aug, pp. 564-65.
Another is K.R. Gilstrap, (1907). “Letter Department, From Sister Katie R. Gilstrap,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 9 April, p. 251.
Also, ‘The Book of the Law’ series (1913) by Greenberry Rupert. While he does not openly advocate keeping the Feast Days in this series, he does hint at it by saying that all the laws are still to be observed. And we do know that he advocated observing them in other articles and tracts.
These articles do not contain much detail and we would not agree with everything in them, but they are important in tracing the doctrinal development of the Church of God and how these subjects were being discussed. Though these are short items, and not long or indepth. They are merely discussing ideas and were on a learning curve.
Old Church of God Microfilms Found! (part 4): The ‘Lost’ Tribes Doctrine in the Church of God early 20th Century
‘The Final Gathering of the Children of Israel’ by Meritt Dickinson, advocating the knowledge that the ‘lost’ tribes ended up in the British Isles is another I had been seeking. In an e-mail to me in 2008, Wayne Cole wrote:
On the maternal side of my family, one of my mother's uncles was a Sabbath keeping minister in the early 1900s. His name was Merritt Dickenson.
You can read the e-mail here.
Of interest is that some Church of God people believed in the Edomite connection to Turkey (similar to that of the British-Israel World Federation):
“The key to the solution of the present situation is the identity of the ten lost tribes, and of Esau, Edom and Turkey.”
Above quoted from Loretta Reynolds, “The Gathering of Israel,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 15 Dec 1914, pp. 37-38.
Another is A.D. Rust, “The Great Egyptian Pyramid,” The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom, 1 April 1919, pp. 229-31.
Abraham Cauffman Long - Church of God pioneer
Over three years ago I assembled information on CG7 pioneer, William Cauffman Long. I thought that because his brother, Abraham, was so important in the history of the Church, he should be included on my website.
After all, he was first President of the General Conference of the Church of God in 1884; was publisher and editor of the Advent and Sabbath Advocate (15 Nov 1887 - 5 June 1888); and pastor of the Marion, Iowa congregation for some time.
Information on him can be found here.
David Paul Ziegler
He seems to have been an independent Church of God evangelist and associate to the famous Greenberry George Rupert. He advocated British-Israelism.
Particulars on him here.
Elder Arvin Stith
Details on elder Arvin Stith now added to the website. The local Meridian church was founded in 1923 by him and Mr Armstrong mentions him occasionally. See the information here.
Stith was probably one of the elders, along with members of the congregation, that laid hands upon him for Mr Armstrong’s ordination in 1931.
History of WCG Ministerial Conferences
I have now added this bit of information from around 1956 to my paper on these conferences:
“A ten-day ministerial conference is held each year during the latter half of January, when all ministers are called in to Pasadena headquarters …”
From Detailed Statement of activities, history, and method of operation of Radio Church of God, p. 4. This was published around 1956 and indicates that conferences probably commenced around 1953 or so.
I still seek information for the 1950s Ministerial Conferences. Should anyone have anything about those, please send to me.
HWA letter why he was baptised by a Sunday minister
In this letter written to Church leader, Andrew Dugger, Mr Armstrong says that he was NOT re-baptised by elder Stith. Alas, I only have page 1, but hope to obtain the missing pages in due course. God works in mysterious ways.
While I have collected quite a bit of information arguing for his rebaptism, there is not the slightest bit of proof for this at this time. In those days, his views on when to baptise someone (eg before overcoming smoking, not necessarily after) and unclean meats and other issues, put him on the outer. Yet he was still credentialed as an elder in 1931.
The following was written by Mr Armstrong and appeared in the Good News magazine in 1969:
But I was still puzzled about water baptism. My parents, and ancestors for 200 years and more, had been "Quakers." I had been brought up in that church, though I didn't know much about what they believed. I did know they did NOT believe in water baptism.
So I next studied that question diligently, in the Bible. I went to four preachers for help, but relied solely on the Bible for final decision. A Seventh-Day Adventist preacher seemed coldly legalistic, lacking spiritual warmth. A Church of God (seventh-day, Stanberry, Missouri) preacher didn't want to be bothered and was insulting. A Quaker minister was friendly, but had to admit, finally, that he himself questioned his church's doctrine on this point and only went along with it because other "holy men of God" (as he called them) in his church did. A Baptist minister had the best and clearest explanation, and was warm and friendly and, I felt, more spiritual in a sane and sensible way. So I asked him to baptize me, not into his church, but into Christ. For this I had to obtain permission from the rather august and dignified Board of the Church. On being baptized I knew God then and there gave me HIS HOLY SPIRIT! [emphasis mine]
(“Personal from the Editor,” Good News, August 1969, p. 4)
Should any solid evidence come to light that he was re-baptised, I shall surely let you know.
List of our Websites and Blogs
History Research Projects Foundation (a tax exempt foundation)
Friends of the Sabbath
Friends of the Sabbath (Facebook group)
Friends of the Sabbath Telegram channel
Origin of Nations
Origin of Nations news and information (Facebook group)
Lost Tribes (Facebook group)
Origin of Nations & World News Discussion Forum (e-mail group) [NB: click on the link and search for the forum]
HWA Library & Archives
HWA Library & WCG Archives (Facebook group)
HWA Library & WCG Archives (YouTube)
WCG & HWA News, Library, Archives Discussion Forum (e-mail group) [NB: click on the link and search for the forum]
My Articles & Papers
Globalresearchera1 (Academia site with select articles only)
World News
Global Newsa1 (X page - formerly Twitter)
GlobalNewsa1 Telegram channel (world news)
Bible Study, Church History and Other
Work of God through the Ages (Facebook page. Note: this page will be closed after the almost 700 members transfer to the new group referred to below)
Work of God through the Ages (Facebook group)
Global Bible News, Studies and Information Telegram channel (Bible history, archaeology news etc)
Sharing and Giving (currently inactive)
How to navigate the Friends of the Sabbath website
The website is vast with over 350 gigs of information, periodicals, articles, papers, photographs, audios and videos. The information has taken years to build (since the 1990s) and decades to collect the information (since the 1970s).
Due to its size, the huge number of categories and sub-categories, pages and sections it can be daunting to navigate or to find the relevant information the browser or researcher may be seeking.
So, what I recommend to everyone is to simply go to the Explore by Alphabetical Order section. In that you will find the most important areas to explore. Try it and see how you go - you never know what fascinating and helpful information you will come across!