Church of God (7th Day)

This is one of the Christian congregations or movements that hold observation of Sabbath rest and worship on the Seventh day of the week (Saturday).

The Church of God 7th day claim to the lineage of Churches of God that originated at the Biblical accounted Pentecost day. Millions of faithfuls seek for Yahoshea Meshiyach and his movement through the sect.

History Of The Movement

The Church of God 7th Day initially hold its origin to the serial lineage of 12th century anti-Romanian Movements of Coterelli, Albigeneses, Waldenses, Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh Day Christians, Cottrellites that presently composed as the Church of God (Seventh Day).

The group holds that during the 12th century encounter, the non- conformist groups to the Roman Catholic Church commenced fervent restorational activities that were driven by the decree issued by Pope Leo condemning killing of the dissenters by the state authority or through church influence.

This decree was continued by the Third Lateral Council in 1179 under Pope Alexander III that recommended for economic blackmail as better option towards containing of the excesses of the dissenters.

The Third Lateran Council condemned the Albingenese and Waldenses. As the economic blackmail and shunning did not weaken the dissenting groups, the Roman Catholic Order resorted to killings as prescribed in the infamous inquisition that began in 1233 in Southern France.

The Church of God claim that the massacre of the Catharis and other dissenter groups that it referred as the Church of God made some of the Albigenes families to scatter to various parts of Europe.

The church holds that one of the Albigenses family called the Cottrels migrated to England. Some of the Cottrels moved to Rhode Island and settled. The Cottrel family members were future Sabbath keepers in America and were identified with the Seventh Day Baptists which they later abandoned for sake of creedal difference on the immortality of soul adopted by the Baptist (Seventh Day).

After abandoning the Seventh Day Baptists, the Cottrel family were identified as the Seventh Day Christians who were at times referred as the Cottrellites.

The Cottrellites made converts of Sabbath keeping Christians that existed to 1860 when the group adopted the name Church of God as prescribed by Roswell F. Cottrel.  The name was favoured against the – “Seventh Day Adventists” that was argued by some members.

Initially, the name of the movement was known as the Church of God (Adventist) (CGA) but was later changed to the Church of God (Seventh Day).

The official history of the group hold that it commenced in 1858 when Gilbert Grammer began his ministration in Michigan which gave rise to what is presently known as the Church of God (Seventh Day).

Spread And Influence

As the movement was founded by Advent believers at Michigan, the group began to spread to Eastern and Central U.S. through the efforts of its publication called the “Hope of Israel”. The journal spread the practices of the group through its invitation of peoples to its conferences and camp meetings.

The First General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day) was convened in 1884 and the body was incorporated in Missonri in 1899.

The journal – The Hope of Israel later changed to the “Bible Advocate” and it remains active toward dissemination of information relating to practices of the group. Interestingly, the group moved along the history and existence of the Seventh Day Adventists until when Ellen White was imposed on the body as a prophetess and her teachings as inspired. This heralded some members that were not comfortable to the development to form the Church of God (Seventh Day).

Doctrines And Practices

The Church of God (Seventh Day) believe that the Bible is the dependable and authoritative word of Yahweh. It claim that no other written book is of such divine origin or is of more necessary to Christian faith and practices.

The group hold to many doctrines of the Adventists and Sabbath Churches and strongly differs to the mainstreams Christianity through its observation of Sabbath rest on the 7th day (Saturday).

The group hold that mankind are sinners by birth and by choice, and that salvation is the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. The group holds its mission to includes the proclamation of the gospel, introduce others to messiah, teach them to obey His word, and nurture spiritual growth in all believers.

The group hold to two ordinances that include the adult baptism by emersion and the Lord's Super that include foot washing like some other Christians. The church believe that the Saviour that it address as Jesus Christ will return from heaven at the end of the age. The dead ones shall raise from their sleeps in grave and all humans shall be judged according to their works. The righteous will be changed to immortality and to live with the saviour while the wicked ones shall be completely consumed in the lake of fire. There shall be a new heaven and earth which will be the home of the redeemed peoples.

With exception of the memorial last supper festival, the group do not place regard on other biblical festivals as it hold that such holy days were part of the Levitical laws of the Old Testament and were intimately linked to its system of animal sacrifices.

The body holds that the annual festivals were not creation ordinances nor included among the Ten Commandments but belong to ceremonial laws. The annual holy days were observed according to an ancient Hebrew Calendar that is impossible to decipher from the scriptures.

The movement disagrees with the Christmas festival of the mainstream Christianity because it hold that the saviour whom it address as Jesus Christ was born in early or mid-autumn and not on December 25th.It hold that the Christmas feast was calculated from the idolatrous pagan festivals that predate the birth and ministry of Yahoshea Meshiyach. It hold that Christmas feast was not celebrated among the early followers of Yahoshea till 400Ad as accounted in church history.

Biblical Prophesies

As an Adventist movement, the Church of God (Seventh Day) incorporate the biblical prophesies and its speculative calculations reading in its religious practices.

Through the movements publications, the biblical prophesies especially with regards to the book of Daniel are often explained to represent activities of the divinity as regards to the earth and its system of things.

Over a century, the publication of the movement often dive into investigation on issues relating to the biblical prophecies of the beast, little horn of Daniel, Babylon mystery, about the mark of 666, great tribulation, the end time, olivet discource, world events aligning with scriptural prophesies, prophetic interpretations, the return of Yahoshea Meshiyach, Judgement Day. Hell-fire and heaven, cage of the satan and his hosts, resurrection of saints, new heaven and new earth etc.

Schism And Splits

The group remained undivided till 1933 when its members in United States of America desired for a “Bible Organization” of the Church of God. The idea included to transfer its headquarter to Yerusalem.  The choice for the organization was at Salem-West Virginia in 1933.

The discussions or debates polarized members into two factors as one group led by Andrew N. Dugger prescribed for clean meats, no tobacco and Passover on Nissan 14th while another group of the movement led by Burt F. Marrs who were known as the independents argued for a pro-pork and tobacco and felt that Passover is to be taken on Nissan 15th.

This noted difference brought division in the group from 1933 to 1949 when one of the groups operated at Stanberry Missouri and the other at Salem-West Virginia. The merger of both groups was voted on August 1949.

Later the “Back to the Salem” movement broke into three sections. The true Salem people took Salem as their headquarters, Dugger and his group went to Yerusalem while Olson and Groshans stood for the Church at Caldwell Idaho. Differences emerged on issues of annual Last Supper feast and other doctrines among the factions.

One of the major splits in the group was led by Herbert W. Armstrong who became a minister in the church as well as a writer in the Bible Advocate publication. He was a well publicized member of the group but was excommunicated due to doctrines differences.

The expulsion of Armstrong was because he started teaching of the British-Israeli theory that made an alternative history regarding the nations of Western Europe and North America as the literal descendants of the “Lost Ten Tribes of Israyah”.

Again, he held to the mandatory keeping of all feast days in the Leviticus 23. As those points were not official practices of the Church of God (Seventh Day), he was disfellowshiped.

Armstrong left the group and found his own movement that he mutually called the Radio Church of God and later the Worldwide Church of God that focused on British Israelism and observation of Hebrew festivals.

Observation And Summary

As earlier observed, the Church of God (Seventh-Day) is a Christian denomination that included the Sabbath observation on the 7th day (Saturday) in its religious tradition.

Though it shared little differences with the Seventh-day Adventists and the Seventh-Day Baptists, it is in the group of such bodies that hold to Adventists ideologies as well as Sabbath day rest culture.

The group has often claimed to have been the true church that is rooted on the apostolic movement of the first century Ad. But all of its practices prove it as one of the daughters of the Catholicism that it often condemns.

Reasons for this summary are easily fetched as it addresses the creator in the manner of other Christian groups and equally adopt the Bible as its final authority on religious issues.

The group do not place regard upon the holy names of the Grand Creator – Yahweh or that of his begotten son Yahoshea Meshiyach. It regards the biblical Holy Spirit to represent the promised comforter. The group though observed Sabbath day rest as appropriated in the Holy Scriptures but has no regard for other holy days that were part of divine revelations to the chosen nation or people.

The group like other Adventist groups is known for raising of false alarms on biblical predictions with regards to the earthily system of things. As one of the Christian groups that hold strongly on the Bible presentations, it holds firmly to the purported accounts of the existence of Satan and its hosts.

These heresies and other numerous ones it observes along the mainstream Christianity prove it out as one of the daughters of Catholicism and unworthy to serve as the way of Yahoshea Meshiyach.

By this summary, all converts that follow up in the conferences, camp meetings and associated works with the ministry as aimed to please Yahweh and Yahoshea are deceived into another wing of Catholicism that it refers as the Harlot Church.

Those who have ears should hear of this divine witness.