Discovering the Plain Truth: How the Worldwide Church of God Encountered the Gospel of Grace

by Larry Nichols, George Mather

-- The first book to tell the story of how the WCOG came to embrace orthodox Christian doctrine.
-- An exciting, readable story of an unprecedented event in the history of the church, drawn from personal interviews with WCOG leaders.
-- Summarizes the unorthodox beliefs and practices of the WCOG under its founder, Herbert W. Armstrong, and traces the history of the WCOG's transformation.
-- Describes how transformations in the WCOG have been received by the wider Christian community.
-- Points out lessons that other churches can learn from the experience of the WCOG and its leaders.

For Almost Half A Century The Plain Truth magazine and The World Tomorrow radio and television broadcasts of the Worldwide Church of God promoted a number of inventive religious beliefs. Then, following the death of founder Herbert W. Armstrong in 1986, dramatic changes began to occur in the church. Armstrong's successor, Joseph Tkach Sr., and other church leaders began to see that their church's doctrines did not always match up with what the Bible actually teaches.

For decades the Worldwide Church of God had been known for its adherence to many Old Testament sabbath-keeping laws, speculation about the "Ten Lost" tribes of Israel, unorthodox views on the Trinity and strict lifestyle requirements. Now they started to discover new covenant Christianity and its gospel of salvation by grace through faith.

How did this transformation take place? Who were the key movers and shapers of these changes? What obstacles did they face? How have these changes been received by the rest of the Christian community? What challenges yet remain? And what lessons can all of us learn from this extraordinaryepisode in church history? Here is the amazing and unprecedented story of how an entire religious body turned away from its unorthodox and fringe beliefs and embraced historic Christianity.

141 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

Reviews

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

whodathunkit? An entire sect--often characterized as a cult--wanders in to Biblical orthodoxy.