Church of God and Saints of Christ

The Church of God and Saints of Christ

Review of Web Site

A reader recently asked me about "The Church of God and Saints of Christ" and gave me the URL for their Web site (www.churchofgod1896.org). This group considers themselves a lost tribe of Israel and are called Black Jews. The founder is Prophet William S. Crowdy. Following are some comments on quotes from their Web site.

The home page makes the following claim:
As you visit this site you will see that one of the most unusual feature of The Church of God and Saints of Christ, is its combination of Jewish and Christian elements. History will tell you that The Church of God & Saints of Christ is the first religious organization with this unique synthesis. The religion teaches the observances of The Passover and the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord. It also recognizes Christ as the Son of God and as the Messiah. The Church of God and Saints of Christ embraces both the Old and the New Testaments.

Despite the claim, such an idea is not "unique" to this group. The worldwide Church of God also believes in keeping the Sabbath and Jewish festivals. And, of course, Seventh-day Adventists believe in keeping the Sabbath.

That said, IF they make such observances "optional" i.e. an appropriate or good thing to do but not necessary for salvation then I have little problems with it. But if they make them a requirement that must be kept, well Paul had a thing or two to say about that (Rom 14:5,6; Col 2:16).

Similar is the attitude towards baptism and foot-washing:
Baptism by immersion in water demonstrating the burial of the old life of sin, and rebirth into a new spiritual life - Galatians 3:26-27; II John 3:5; Romans 6:4. Footwashing is a part of the necessary invitation for acceptance into the church, the body of Christ - St. John 13:5-17; Ephesians 6:11-18.

Again, if baptism and footwashing are presented as appropriate or good ideas for the Christian to engage in, fine. But if, as the above would seem to indicate, they are made into requirements for salvation, then there is a problem. And note, the passages referenced about baptism refers to baptism with the Spirit, not water baptism, and the Ephesians passage has nothing to do with foot-washing whatsoever. Jesus' washing of the disciples feet was to show we are to serve others. It was not the institution of an ordinance that needs to be followed.

Most disturbing was this claim:
Prophet William Saunders Crowdy is a divinely inspired prophet. Some of his writings were copyrighted December 16, 1902, in the office of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Anytime a group claims their founder was a "prophet" there are problems. Inevitably, the founder's writings take precedent over the Bible. The Bible is provides all that is needed for our salvation and spiritual life (2Tim 3:16).

Now, there are some good points about the goals of this group, especially in regards to "social" issues. Such as their "Program for individual development" -

Go into business for yourself, tithe 10% of your income.
Be the Landlord not the tenant.
Eat the best (that is affordable to you).
Wear the best (that is affordable to you).
Be involved serving and helping others to help themselves.
Reach your highest potential by developing your greatest goal.
Open and maintain your own schools.
Stay out of riots and confusion.
Stay out of debts and pay your honest debts.
Seek peace and honesty.

I would guess it is in these factors that gives this group its appeal some people. But the apparent legalism and the claim of modern-day revelation causes me some concern.

Follow-Up

In the following e-mail exchanges, the e-mailer's comments are in black and enclosed in "greater than" and "lesser than" signs. My comments are in red.

>Subject: Let me tell you something sir

First of all, you have no right to criticize my religion. <

Saying this as nicely as I can, have you ever heard of the First Amendment? It guarantees the freedom of speech and of the press. So yes I do have the "right" to express my views on whatever subject I want.

Furthermore, the Bible says that error should be rebuked, and public error should be rebuked publicly (Gal 1:14). So if someone is promoting what I believe is error publicly on the 'Net, then it is my "right" even responsibility to rebuke it. If someone thinks I am wrong, then they can rebuke me. And others can decide who is right for themselves.

> Just because YOU don't agree with it does not mean that it is wrong.<

True, I am not infallible, and I make no claim to be so. But when I critique another viewpoint I try to be as objective as possible and to support what I have to say with Scripture. The reader can decide if my ideas and use of Scripture is correct.

> Then to tell other people not to look into our church is also wrong. <

People ask me all the time what my opinion of a particular church, denomination, or religion is. They do so because they have come to respect my opinions through the reading of my Web site. I try to investigate matters as best as I am able and to provide my opinion. But it is just that, my opinion. The reader needs to look at what I have to say, compare it with Scripture, and decide for themselves if a particular church is "right" for them.

> I do not know what your background is as far as religion is concerned, but you sir, are NOT a true Christian in my opinion.<

If you had took the time to read more than one page out of the over 500 pages on my Web site, you would have a very good idea of what my religious background is. I detail it very well in various places on my site.

Also if you had read more of my site you would note that I NEVER take it upon myself to decide if someone is a Christian, and thus by implication "saved" or not. I leave all such decisions up to the only One capable of making such a decision. Most of all, I never say that someone is or is not a Christian based on what church they belong to and whether they agree or disagree with me on various doctrinal views. What puzzles me is why you feel you are qualified to determine my salvation status based on reading one very short article on my Web site.

> To criticize a religion you know NOTHING about, only what you have read on their website, then to suggest others to stay away is not a godly thing.<

The purpose of a church putting up a Web site is so that people can get to know something about the religion. So I read through the pages on the Web site and based my evaluation on that. Granted, it would also be helpful to visit a church and talk to members personally for further info. I have done so for many of the groups I discuss on my site. Unfortunately, there is not a Church of God and Saints of Christ church in my area (that I am aware of), and even if there was, with my health problems as there are now I wouldn't be able to visit it anyway.

Be that as it may, I based my evaluation of your group on what your group presented on its site. If I misunderstood anything, then point it out. But I did quote directly from the site and included a link to the site so that anyone who was interested could go to the site and read more themselves.

> To go around and criticize others religion, in my opinion, is not only ungodly but it causes people to be filled with rage. As far as I'm concerned, you are nothing but Satan, and We will not allow you to come into our lives and cause pandemonium!!!

So Satan, get behind ME!!!

Sincerely,
A member of the Church of God and Saints of Christ<

No comment needed to such rantings.

>Also I would like to add, before you make any assumptions about anyone's religion, experience it for yourself.<

I evaluate a group based on what it teaches in comparison to the Word of God, not by my "experiences."

> Also make sure you know what you are talking about before you put something on the Internet <

I do try to be as accurate as I can in evaluating a group. That is why I quote from literature published by the group in evaluating it, such as its official Web site.

> because (1) We do not call our selves Black Jews <

You may not, but others do. Hence why I used that term. However, I should have indicated that was the case.

> and (2) we have been around for over 100 years, which I'm pretty sure is longer than the Seven Day Adventist have been around.<

The SDA church has been around since the mid-1800's [it was founded in 1863].

> Besides we're NOT the same thing as them.<

I never said you were. I simply mentioned the SDA to indicate your group was not the only one that believed in keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.

> Please be accurate with your information before you TRY and slander anyone's church and/or belief.
10/12/1999<

I do try to be accurate. And other than not being clear that "Black Jews" is not a term you use for yourselves, you have not pointed out anything I said that was inaccurate. So my apologies if I offended you, but I don't see anything in my short evaluation that should have. I wouldn't be offended to find a site that disagreed with what I believe.

God bless,
Gary Zeolla

>Gary,

I took a look at [the above] comments. Ugly stuff.

Not to criticize, but I do think this comment of his deserved an answer, "To go around and criticize others religion, in my opinion, is not only ungodly but it causes people to be filled with rage. As far as I'm concerned, you are nothing but Satan, and We will not allow you to come into our lives and cause pandemonium!!!"

This man's statements betray a fundamental ignorance of the Bible. Jesus, being God, was obviously "godly." Jesus had nothing but criticism for the religion of the Pharisees, Saduccees, et cetera. In fact, the Bible only uses the word "religion" in a positive sense in one single verse, James 1:27. Every other reference containing the word "religion" in the whole Bible implies a negative connotation.

If it makes you feel any better, it's been my experience that when someone flies off the handle like that, it's because they are pretty sure you're right but still don't want to change.

Reese Currie

10/19/1999<

All very good points. I just didn't feel like responding to a paragraph that called me "Satan."

> There are 2 organizations called Church of God and Saints of Christ. One regards themselves as Christians, their web site being www.churchofgod1896.org (this one you reviewed); the other group regards themselves as Jewish, their web site being http://www.cogasoc.org/

Church of God and Saints of Christ was started by William S. Crowdy in the latest of 1800's. At some point there was a split.

Ivan
11/14/00<

Thanks for the info.

For further discussions on this group, see Church of God and Saints of Christ - Comments .

The above article was posted on this Web site January 15, 1999.

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