As Seen on Twitter: “if not true, then false”.
“New truth”, how I hate the term! Some of you probably dislike it even more than I do. Frankly, even before the 90s, I could never understand how the “truth” could be “new”!
Bethel Church of God (BCG) apparently teaches a Monday Pentecost. In “The Doctrine Of Pentecost – How And Why It Was Changed!”, Paul Royer and Bryce Clark wrote:
The Truth of God is understood by means of the Holy Spirit. One must be led by the Spirit of God in order to comprehend spiritual things. Did the Holy Spirit lead the Church of God in the matter of Pentecost, or did it not? “New truth,” in the form of doctrinal changes, cannot contradict previous Truth. God’s Spirit is not contradictory. If the Truth about how to count Pentecost was revealed originally, then the “new truth” is false doctrine-heresy!
“New truth … cannot contradict previous Truth”? That’s not a logical statement by any stretch of the imagination.
Example: HWA believed Sunday was the proper day of worship until his wife confronted him about the seventh day Sabbath. This “new truth” contradicted the “old truth”, so by the “logic” above, HWA was guilty of heresy for rejecting Sunday as the day of worship!
It’s not just BCG, either, where I’ve seen use this type of argument. It is far too common in the COGs. It is downright illogical and silly to argue this way. You can argue that WCG had the truth and rejected it, or you can argue that WCG discovered the truth about Sunday Pentecost (or whatever else might be the topic at hand). However, don’t give me this “new truth”/”old truth” nonsense! Truth is not old or new. Truth simply is.
The Word of God is consistent and unchanging. Men are the ones who do the changing. Even the major denominations have changed their doctrines from time to time.
Yes, they can and do change because they either reject truth or they learn a truth that they didn’t understand before. Why? Because all humans are wrong.
Only God has perfect understanding. The sooner the COGs realize this, the sooner they’ll learn to get along with each other!
However, that would take humility.
Sad to say, I think many COG's need new truth. At least a newer definition of truth.
It's not only John 17:17 – "Thy word is truth."
It's also John 14:6 — "I am the way and the truth and the life."
Many a COG minister seems to quote the first statement of Jesus, while overlooking the second one.