Grace Communion International
When any sincere truth-seeker discovers he has been taught a lie for the truth, it is extremely upsetting. Sincere believers conduct their lives and make decisions based on what they believe will honor Yahuwah. To discover one has actually been dishonoring the One you love when, all along, you believed you had been honoring Him is utterly devastating. The very foundations of your belief system feel destroyed and one can feel cast adrift and rudderless. Perhaps no other denomination has faced this dilemma, as a group, to the extent experienced by the Worldwide Church of God.
Reevaluation of their core beliefs has led, over the last couple of decades, to the setting aside of most of their earlier beliefs and the acceptance of many beliefs they used to reject as error. This culminated in 2009 with a denominational change of name to Grace Communion International (GCI). Yahuwah values intellectual honesty. Christians today are urged to emulate the example of the Bereans who, “Received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11) Yahuwah’s invitation, “Come now, let us reason together,” (Isaiah 1:18) is a pledge that He will provide all the evidence necessary to convince the sincere-of-heart who are willing to be led.
Sadly, in their desire to lay aside the errors of the past, GCI has also laid aside many of the truths they previously held. Following is a brief list of some of the errors now held by GCI:
- Christians are very quick to label any group that rejects the doctrine of a triune godhead as a “cult.” Thus, a great deal of pressure is brought to bear to accept this belief in order to escape such a pejorative label. The doctrine of a three-in-one godhead, however, comes from paganism. A Trinity is not supported by Scripture which declares: “Hear, O Israel: Yahuwah our Eloah is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
- GCI has
become largely dispensational, claiming that under the “new covenant” the
Old Testament requirements are no longer binding, thus denying:
1. The perpetuity of the fourth commandment;
2. The binding nature of all of Yahuwah’s holidays, referred to in Scripture as “holy convocations.”The Word of Yah, however, declares: “I am Yahuwah; I change not.” (Malachi 3:6) Therefore, the idea that His divine law has somehow been changed is false. If Yahuwah’s law could be changed, Yahushua need not have died. All the early Christians continued to worship on the seventh-day Sabbath [lunar Sabbath] by the ancient calendar of Creation. The change to worship on Sunday was an act of the Roman Catholic Church. Furthermore, the apostolic Christians all continued to observe the annual feasts of Yahuwah – not because they were all Jewish (they were not) but because they understood the eternal nature of the divine law. While some GCI churches continue to worship on Saturday, most have switched to observance of Sunday, although both are incorrect as they are calculated by the pagan/papal calendar. Scripture reveals a glimpse into the future when, on the earth made new, all the redeemed will worship on the true seventh-day Sabbath calculated off of the New Moons: “And it shall come to pass, that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Yahuwah.” (Isaiah 66:23)
- GCI teaches that some who are initially “lost” will be given a second chance to be saved after death. Rather than a “second chance,” Scripture teaches: “The times of this ignorance Eloah winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17:30) No second chances are promised, either after death or at the Second Coming. Rather, Yahushua promises/warns: “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with Me to give to every man according as his work shall be.” (Revelation 22:12)
Yahuwah invites the truth-lovers of GCI to return to Him with words of warmest love: “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” (Jeremiah 3:22)
