In this Issue
From the Publisher
Remembering Robin Jones
Herbert W Armstrong letters and other items from the 1920s & 30s etc
The original name of the WCG!
Old Church of God Microfilms Found! (part 2)
Mrs Loma D Armstrong
Did the Church of God observe the Passover pre-20th Century?
Mrs Bobby Fisher
History of the WCG’s Council of Elders
History of the WCG’s Ministerial Conferences
1930s tract by HWA
The Messenger of Truth publication
Early Church of God articles about the Beast
Another Article Published
List of our Websites and Blogs
How to Navigate the Friends of the Sabbath site
From the Publisher
Dear friends and supporters,
The past few weeks has seen an enormous step forward in locating and preserving documentation and periodicals that represent our history and roots. These items fill in the gaps in the history of the Church of God since the 1800s and thereby we have a fuller and more detailed history. Hopefully all of this also helps in eschewing misinformation and ‘urban myths.’
Early members:
Further information has been provided about the early members of the Radio/Worldwide Church of God which you can read about here.
Appreciation shown:
Gratefully, many messages of appreciation for these efforts have been received recently and a few are provided below:
“… the website is an excellent resource, writing is top notch, and the efforts to preserve church history are a service to us all. Keep up the good work!” (M.A & M.A. 3 June 2024)
“Thank you for your diligence and faithfulness, Craig! Without you, much of the COG history would be lost.” (T.R. 2 June 2024)
“As we say in the States: you are hitting it out of the park, continually.” (S.B. 17 May 2024)
“Thank you, Craig. Your work is priceless and appreciated.” (J.L. 8 May 2024)
“I just wanted to say a quick thank you for sharing your research notes on Passover observance. I really appreciate the effort you put into assembling all that information. I found your notes to be both insightful and informative. It's great to see such a comprehensive collection of records on the topic.” (V.K. 2 May 2024)
“Thanks for the many, many hours and days you have put into this amazing record of God's church.” (R.B. 29 April 2024)
Old letters:
Around 1978 Richard Nickels sent me some items including the following letters listed below. But they were all combined into a single document and one was too small to read. So I separated them out and included titles. This took some time but well worth it:
Bobby to Richard Nickels re a 1942 HWA ltr; Bobby & Merlin to Marvin, Sept 1942; HWA to Marvin 28 Nov 1938; Marvin to Bobby, Sept 1942. These can be found here.
Soon I shall be uploaded other items to that area of the website of items discovered recently, per a previous e-mail that was sent to the mailing list.
In the previous newsletter I stated: “Finally, this edition contains many juicy bits of information including the good news that the lost microfilms of Church of God (Seventh Day) (CG7) literature has been found after so many years and prayers!” These have been received and you can read all about this below.
With all this new data, I have a number of articles and papers to update and reference, which will take some time to accomplish.
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. 3 onward here.
Sincerely,
Craig M White
Publisher
PS: We now have over 670 subscribers and I invite you to let others know that they can subscribe for free. Let’s try and reach 1,000 subscribers within a couple of years.
Thanks for reading Church of God and Sabbatarian News, Views and History! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support this project.
Remembering Robin Jones
I received sad news in late May. Another pioneer had died:
>Mr. Robin George Jones died in Great Britain, Bricket Wood, on Tuesday evening, May 21, 2024.
He had planned to compile information on the early years of the Work in Britain for you. As Mr. Jones wrote to me: "Easier said than done!" God did not provide him the time to complete that goal but has allowed him to rest until the resurrection. At least you have the message Mr. Jones gave to the West Coast Church of God congregation in your possession. It probably was the final message of that type he gave.
I'm really so sad. In so many ways it feels like another abandonment of that very dynamic Armstrong era. I guess the early New Testament Church felt the same way as the "greats" ceased to be.<
Due to his important role in the Work in England, a page on the website has been dedicated to him.
I first wrote to him on 11 March 2024 and received several e-mails. On 12 March I wrote again after having his sermon on the History of the Work in Europe transcribed from video/audio to text: >I think that it is important to preserve the information contained in your presentation in text form. A friend was able to do so and I have attached it for your records.< This transcription using OpenAI Whisper (v20231117), IT support provided by Rom Valencia and requested by myself (attached). You can view the sermon here.
He wrote to me 14 March with information on the early history of the Work in the UK which is incorporated into the website here.
In 1966 an article appeared that mentioned him 5 times and I have found further information about him in Envoys based on information provided by Rolfe, his son (there was a mention of him on page 1 of the Worldwide News, 20 May 1983). Articles about his wife after her death are at the website and there was mention of her in this CGI newspaper.
My condolences and thoughts are with his family, friends and congregation at this very sad time.
This is why it is so important to get in touch with ‘old timers’ or their families while we can – to preserve the memories; fill in missing gaps in our history; and find the materials listed here (and anything else).
Herbert W Armstrong letters and other items from the 1920s & 30s etc
Due to the diligent work and persistence of a Church of God member, I am now in the possession of over 200 pages of rare and very important letters and documents, many dating from the 1920s and 1930s.
In my quest to preserve and make available the history of the Church of God, several years ago I found out about dozens of boxes of WCG literature. Then a year or more ago I got ‘a bee in my bonnet’ and sought out anyone who could assist in going on my behalf and look in the boxes I nominated for items of possible interest.
A contact came to the rescue and a time was booked with the institution but they cancelled at the last minute due to a function late last year. But he persisted and re-booked and on the 3rd attempt was able to drive a fair distance and took 285 photographs of letters and papers. So quite a lot of time was devoted to this cause for the benefit of all of us. The transfer from the Apple platform to the Windows one and then conversion from Apple’s HEIC format to JPEG of all the files took a while to sort out, but I am happy to say, all 285 files were converted and printed out!
It took me some time to analyse the files and to see which are new to me and it was simply fantastic to find that the overwhelming majority were not in my archives! It was impossible for him to photograph every page and the number photographed far exceeded my expectations.
Many items on the www.friendsofsabbath.org website have taken years to find or to be released, so the above is not an unusual process at all and is due, in part, to the scattering of the files and information all over the place. Much was destroyed and also many items lost or thrown out by people who should have known better. No doubt others are in bottom drawers or attics. Here is a list of the items I am still seeking.
To be able to make sense of these valuable and unique files – critical to filling in missing parts of our history and to understanding what went on in the Church (eg debates over the holy days in the 1930s) - I had to print them all out and sort them out viz:
1. sorted into folders (eg 1920s, 1930s etc)
2. separated out the few items I already have
3. placed in a separate folder items that are not to be uploaded
4. trimmed parts around the photographs so that only the photos are contained in the files and not background
5. staple those files that belonged together into a single document.
I had to emulate the above electronically, but typing a name into each file was time-consuming but I got into a rhythm and had this in a couple of days. The next step was to analyse these documents and where needed, refer to them in my articles on the history of the Feast of Tabernacles etc.
The reader will find the information uploaded to the website enlightening and others in appropriate sections of the website. More will be uploaded in due course.
And don’t forget to keep an eye out for the items I seek here.
Some of these items have been added to the website which you can find here including:
• Detailed Statement of Activities, History, Operations c1956
• Bible Study Quarterly-The Kingdom (1930s)
• Church of God Expositor-Conversion (1930s)
• Tithing article draft (1930s)
• What's wrong with the world today-HWA (c1934)
• HWA letters to Basil Wolverton in the 1940s and 1950s
The original name of the WCG!
Amongst the items above is one of great interest: the item ‘Detailed Statement of Activities, History, Operations.’ By way of background, some years ago I discovered on an Oregon government website that the Radio Church of God (name changed to Worldwide Church of God in 1968) was an unincorporated voluntary association until registered in March 1946. See information here.
According to the aforementioned ‘Detailed Statement of Activities, History, Operations’ document:
“In 1935 the Board of the Eugene Church purchased the present property of that Church.
Meanwhile the national Church (Stanberry, Mo.,) had split, about half its membership now affiliated with a new national headquarters at Salem, West Virginia. Most of our Oregon members affiliated with the Salem, W. Virginia branch. At the annual camp meeting of the Oregon Conference in the summer of 1935 a group of members near Jefferson, Oregon, were organized, under leadership and ministry of Herbert W. Armstrong, and with authorization of the Board and national leaders from Salem, West Virginia, into a local Church. During these years, and prior to August, 1937, under the ministry of Mr. Armstrong, churches had been raised up in Cottage Grove, and Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. In October, 1937, the Oregon churches severed relationship with the Salem, West Virginia organization, adopting the name, CHURCHES OF GOD IN OREGON, although all business activities were carried on under the name of “RADIO CHURCH OF GOD.”
A Church also had been established in Goble, Oregon, and one at Eldreage, 12 miles north of Salem, and, in 1942, one in Everett, Washington, and one in Los Angeles. Having expanded beyond the bounds of Oregon, the name CHURCHES OF GOD IN OREGON seemed no longer appropriate.” (p. 2)
“We preferred to incorporate simply as “The CHURCH OF GOD,” but were advised this was impossible due to the fact there were already many other religious bodies incorporated under that name … since many of our members had come to consider that the Church they were a member of was “THE RADIO CHURCH OF GOD,” it was decided to incorporate the Church under that name.” (pp. 2-3)
“… in 1948, one of the purposes for which THE RADIO CHURCH OF GOD was formed was stated as: “to raise up churches.” At that time we had reduced to the three churches at Eugene, and Portland, Oregon, and Pasadena, California. Previously we had other churches as listed above… (p. 3)
“Although the Church had only one fully ordained minister, beside two non-preaching elders, on November 22, 1948, when the Commissioner of Internal Revenue notified the Church of approval of our non-profit tax exempt status, with three established churches, THE RADIO CHURCH OF GOD, as of now has in its full-time service 14 fully ordained ministers, and 13 established churches.” (p. 4)
Note:
1. that the official name of the Church itself was NOT ‘Radio Church of God’ but ‘Churches of God in Oregon’;
2. they split from the Church of God (Seventh Day) based in Salem, West Virginia in Oct 1937. Although HWA’s credentials were threatened for withdrawal during 1937, it was only mid-1938 as far as I can make out, that it was withdrawn over the Holy Days (and secondarily over the ‘lost tribes of Israel’ doctrine).
I shall release other information soon to show that the ‘Churches of God in Oregon’ formally split from the Church of God (Seventh Day) based in Stanberry, Missouri (now in Denver, Colorado) in Jan 1934, a few months after HWA had left and joined with the group led by Andrew Dugger, with head office based in Salem, West Virginia.
Old Church of God Microfilms Found! (part 2)
I now have these old CG7 periodicals referred to previously. Many I don’t have in my collection here and will be added in due course. In the meantime, I am going through them and analysing them for interesting information and subject matter.
Many thanks to John Lemley and Rose Difley who are involved with this project. It took prayers and a miracle for the microfilms to be found after so many, many years followed by several weeks to convert to PDF.
Initially, I was interested in the following items published in The Bible Advocate and now have them and will integrate information concerning them into existing articles of mine on Church of God history. I have sought these articles for decades!
• ‘The Final Gathering of the Children of Israel’ by Merritt Dickinson, advocating the knowledge that the ‘lost’ tribes ended up in the British Isles. 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.
• ‘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. Details about him here.
• G. W. Sarber’s articles on the Feast Days (1915, 1916) which I had read of but never seen.
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.
It is certainly interesting to read the views, debates and other information on the crucifixion day (Wed or Fri); prophecy; Divine healing; Passover on 14 or 15 Abib; the calendar; second coming of Christ; born again; meaning of Lazarus and the Rich Man; clean & unclean meats; angels & demons; tithing; Day of Atonement and much more. There are article by various noted elders and several that mention Gilstrap. He and his wife appear instrumental in introducing the Feast Days to the Church of God (see pages 5-6 of the article History of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Radio/Worldwide Church of God).
The following files from this collection have been uploaded:
The Little Preacher (1864-65); The Sabbath School Missionary (1907 & 1912); The Field Messenger (1921-22); Voice of the Truth (1867) - I already had the latter, but in JPEG format. The new additions are PDF. These are all in searchable PDF format and available here. More to be uploaded after I have had another look through them.
Mrs Loma D Armstrong
A new section in the website has been dedicated to Loma Armstrong.
If the reader has anything to add to this page, please send my way.
It is said that there may have been a booklet or something published in the 1950s on Mrs Armstrong’s dreams. Anyone know about this? However, I do have the letter she wrote.
Also, while I had Loma's letter to Sadie 21 Nov 1927 (extracted from The Origin and History of the Church of God International, pp. 6-18) on the site, it was difficult to read. So I exported them to JPG, cut the pages down the middle so that they could be incorporated into a Word document and then converted them to PDF. They can be found here.
Did the Church of God observe the Passover pre-20th Century?
Questions arise as to whether the Sabbatarians and Churches of God observed the Passover over the last 200-300 years (by some or most members). This has led me to assemble notes and trust that it helps people seeking answers. Several years ago, this author had previously written and released Passover and Holy Day Observances since the First Century.
A recent query motivated me to assemble these notes on the Passover and I thought it high time to respond to Ralph Orr’s article “Has God’s Church always kept the Passover?” Reviews You Can Use, March-April 1993, pp. 31-32 (the old Worldwide Church of God’s periodical for pastors and elders).
In these notes, I demonstrate that there is more to it than Mr Orr suggests. Perhaps he did not have access to all the relevant information at the time of writing? What I would agree with is that we do not have all the records at hand or there aren’t any – because they are either lost or records were not kept. There are, however, some records including those gathered by researcher Richard Nickels (1947-2006) which Orr refers to in his article.
NB: I term this research notes because it is not an article or paper as such. It is, in reality, in the pre-paper stage.
Mrs Bobby Fisher
I am trying to find out more about Bobby Fisher who knew HWA back in the 1930s and 1940s (not to be confused with the 1960s chess champion).
It seems that she must have married a relative of Elmer and Margret Fisher? Information about them here.
Anyone have suggestions how to find out more about her? I have some letters from her here and she signs letters “Bobby and Merlin” – so I assume that Merlin was her husband?
There are too many Roberta and Merlin Fishers on the Findagrave site to know if they are listed therein and which often includes parents, spouses and siblings.
History of the WCG’s Council of Elders
A new article on History of the WCG’s Advisory Council of Elders is online here (includes some information by HWA written on why he set it up).
History of the WCG’s Ministerial Conferences
History of WCG Ministerial Conferences can be found here including 2 appendices containing notes from Ministerial Conferences recently found. Only the first pages are available and I seek the rest
1930s tract by HWA
What’s Wrong With The World Today? tract was found among the 1930s items referred to above. Has one person pointed out, it could have been written for today’s world. Timeless!
The Messenger of Truth publication
Readers may be aware that HWA wrote for this publication in 1931 – I first heard of it around 1978 when Richard Nickels sent some items to me. Do not confuse it with the periodical with the same name published in the 1850s.
Many, many years ago it was uploaded to the website here.
In addition to the extract from the Autobiography of HWA below, there is also a letter he wrote to his wife about it which you photographed! I thought readers would find this bit of historical information of interest:
“The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong,” The Plain Truth, vol. 24, no. 12, December 1959, page 11:
“As the meetings continued, Mr. Taylor proposed to get out “a paper.” I told him then of my vision of someday beginning publication of a magazine to be called “The PLAIN TRUTH.” As early as 1928 I had prepared “dummy” copies of this envisioned magazine. I had even had a professional letter-artist design a front cover.
But this was really Mr. Taylor’s magazine--or “paper,” as he called it. He accepted part of my plans, by incorporating the word “TRUTH” into its name. He named it ‘‘The Messenger of Truth.” Since I had had so many years’ experience in newspaper and magazine work, he delegated to me the work of designing the mast-head, and the make-up. It had to be a paper of very few pages. Lack of funds dictated that. I designed it as a small, 8-page magazine. Since we could not afford a special cover, the lead article began on the front cover …
"I might mention here that, so far as I know, only two issues of this “paper” of Mr. Taylor’s ever were published. As a publishing enterprise, it was a “dud.” He decided that the reason 50,000 or more subscriptions did not come in spontaneously as a result of the first issue was because it contained nothing about the Sabbath. This first issue came out about September 1, which I believe was after the close of our tent campaign. We prepared it during the last weeks of the campaign. I had left Eugene, and had no part in the second edition. It was devoted heavily to the Sabbath. The response was less than that from the first issue. When this did not bring in the subscription money, a few years later Mr. Taylor got out an issue of a “paper”—he may have still called it “The Messenger of Truth” devoted primarily to arguments against God’s Sabbath!"
In a letter to his wife 23 Aug 1931, Mrs Loma Armstrong, Mr Armstrong wrote the following about the forthcoming publication:
“On this magazine, I naturally started to go right ahead on certain details of it, such as working out a tentative sketch for a cover design from Taylor’s own idea … I had a headline written for one article he had asked me to write, and it didn’t suite Mrs. Taylor … He gave me plainly to understand that this was his magazine … I thought this magazine was the Lord’s, but now it seems it is to be Taylor’s.” (p. 4)
“Taylor possibly proving to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, trying to devour the flock instead of feed them after all, or else getting power drunk and wrecking everything.” (p. 7)
Early Church of God articles about the Beast
The question has been raised concerning the belief of the end-time Beast in early Church of God literature. Below are some items and I shall add more to this list in due course.
Church of God (seventh day) evangelist, John Kiesz wrote that sometime during the eighteenth-century period, many sabbatarian folk began to believe in a future Holy Roman Empire as a fulfilment of prophecy:
“In checking with what some of our brethren predicted after the 1844 time-setting disappointment, they stressed that the Holy Roman Empire would be revived shortly before our Lord’s return.” (John Kiesz in “The Way it Looks from Here,” The Harvest Field Messenger, March-April 1990, p. 5)
In a subsequent letter to myself he wrote:
“In reference to what some of our brethren predicted after the great time-setting disappointment of 1844, they were looking for the fulfilment of the image of the Beast, the healing of the wounded Beast, the Mark of the Beast, his number of this name, and the great persecution. – The Hope of Israel, Vol. 1, No. 13, 1864 issue, predecessor of The Bible Advocate. Napoleon Bonaparte’s vast Empire over which he reigned from 1804 to 1815, was the Beast that went into the bottomless pit (Revelation 17:8). – The Hope of Israel, Vol. III, No. 19, February 23, 1869.”
Though many believed that the Roman system had been revived over the centuries, early Church of God literature talked in terms of the Roman Empire cooperating with the Woman of Revelation 17 instead of using the term Holy Roman Empire.
Here are a few early references:
Messenger of Truth:
2 Nov 1854 Article by Erastus Clark on “The Beast and His Image” – ie the RCC and mentions the Mark of the Beast (pp. 1-2).
30 Nov 1854 Letter from Sister Morrill re Erastus Clark’ sermon discussing who is the Two-Horned Beast (p. 4).
Hope of Israel:
24 Aug 1863 Article on Napoleon III indicating that he may be the Antichrist and be defeated by Christ (p. 3).
10 Dec 1863 Article “Napoleon’s Movements”: “It is clearly evident that Napoleon is laying plans to make America one of his tributaries” it states. The article goes on to mention the French occupation in Mexico “to secure forever the power of the latin race in this country, and therefore put ad end to Anglo-Saxon influence and progress” (p. 3).
2 Oct 1866 “The Seven Headed and Ten Horned Beast of Rev. xiii” discussed (p. 2).
23 Feb 1869 “The Napoleon Empire in Prophecy – The Empire “that was, and is not, and yet is” by Alexander Keith (pp. 146-47).
The Bible Advocate:
24 March 1914 “The Roman Beast” (pp. 274-75)
In the 1880s, Church of God leader, Abraham Cauffman Long, wrote a booklet on The Two Horned Beast of Revelation XIII.
Andrew Dugger and the Church of God in the early decades of the twentieth century also believed that there would be a final restoration of the Roman Empire. Refer to his books The Bible Home Instructor and Daniel and Revelation available on the website.
Over time these concepts were developed and fleshed out. Herbert Armstrong read widely and took the Church of God (Seventh Day) belief and understandings further and added more detail. Mr Armstrong showed that the final Beast power would be led by Germany and attack the Anglo-Keltic powers, something the others did not teach.
Another Article Published
Another article has been published by yours truly on a subject which might interest you:
“The Coming Emperor of Europe,” Twenty-First Century Watch, Second Quarter 2024, pp. 10-15.
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!