Dear Friend:
Once more the roaring lion of deception stalks true believers in the Church of God, looking for those unprepared for its assault. A damnable heresy has entered like a cancer into groups such as the United Church of God AIA, Global Church of God, Church of God International and independent or non-aligned fellowships. It is one of the most destructive and divisive doctrines discovered in all my studies of the 100+ groups that trace their history back to the Worldwide Church of God. It is a doctrine that if willfully and unrepentantly carried to the grave would cost the eternal salvation of the person seduced by its smooth arguments. Your forceful refuting of these lies will halt or prevent brethren from spiritually stumbling and leaving your church or fellowship . . . The chief proponent of these doctrines is Commonwealth Publishing, founded by former Worldwide Church of God member and employee Darrell Conder. Kirk Gearhart and others aid Mr. Conder in the promulgating of these beliefs. . . .
What can you do to educate and inoculate church members from these poisonous doctrines of the devil? Here are some materials available to combat these beliefs:
Darrell Conder—A Modern Day Anti-Christ—two tapes by Carl Franklin.
Christian Biblical Church of God,
PO Box 1442, Hollister, CA. 95024, USA
The Reliability of the New Testament—
two tapes by Vance Stinson.
Church of God, International,
PO Box 2530, Tyler, TX. 75710, USA
How Do We Know Whether Christianity is True? and A Quick Look at Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament by Eric Snow
Copies of papers are on the Internet Web site at
http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/main.html or are available by writing
Barnabas Ministries
PO Box 310208,
Detroit, MI. 48231, USA
. . . I urge you, in Christ's name, NOT to wait or dismiss this threat but to act NOW, before seeing the backs of brethren leave your fellowship due to these cunning doctrines! It is up to you to inoculate your fellowship against such beliefs. As Christians, we are additionally responsible to recover brethren from the fire of false doctrine if they fall victim to these spiritual attacks. May God bless your efforts in this endeavor.
In Christian service,
Alan Ruth
Barnabas Ministries
. . . The latest controversy to hit many of the Armstrongite spinoffs, one that appears to have many Armstrongite ministers in a panic, concerns the controversial writings of Darrell W. Conder, a professional genealogist who had once been a personal assistant to Pastor General Joseph Tkach Sr. About two years ago, Conder published a book titled Mystery Babylon The Mother of Harlots in which he put forward the idea that many of the customs of the Catholic Church and Christianity in general derive from ancient customs of the pagan mystery religions. Like others who have written on the subject, Conder's views were somewhat similar to those found in The Two Babylons by Hislop. As such, Conder's views were not acceptable in the new WCG and it was about the time that his book appeared that he and WCG parted company. Nevertheless, those views were very much acceptable in the Armstrongite offshoots. And so, two years ago, Conder's first big book got good reviews in the pulpits of UCG, GCG, and other Armstrongite churches and Conder developed something of a network of enthusiastic readers.... As it turns out, Conder's ideas are having a dramatic impact on many in the Armstrongite groups. So much so that some Armstrongite ministers, while usually sidestepping any mention of Conder's name, are finding themselves increasingly having to do battle with Conder's ideas. [Conder critic Eric V. Snow writes]:
"I believe Conder's [new] book is the most thorough going trash imaginable, but refuting it isn't as easy as you may think. Dealing with his arguments on the messianic texts is particularly a challenge—more than you may think a priori ... This guy is real poison, and advocates repudiating Jesus as our Savior, and the New Testament as the Word of God. He wishes to return to some type of Judaism, to the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Eric Snow has written a paper titled Is Christianity a Fraud?—A Preliminary Assessment of the Conder Thesis, which is available at www.giveshare.org
There is an effort by Satan to discredit the writings in the New Testament, and it is meeting with some success. This is occurring more in the independent groups than in the organized groups. A former member of the Worldwide Church of God named Darrell Conder has written a book entitled "Mystery Babylon and the Lost Ten Tribes in the End Times", and he and his associates have a web site where they continuously put out Satan's propaganda. It seems that many who read this book have fallen prey to Satan and lost their belief in the only name under heaven by which we may be saved ... There are other books written by other men who discredit the authenticity of the New Testament ... They do this without a shred of truth. Conder uses the IDEAS of "Higher Critics" and Jews, so his ideas are not new ... Why would a believer start reading and studying books and literature put out by men such as Darrell Conder? Because of their carnal natures seeking to get back in control. Instead of reading and seeking confirmation of the scriptures in order to strengthen their faith, they turn to those who are tools of Satan, the "Higher Critics."
[Anderson's entire article may be found at: www.search-the-scriptures.org.]
"Conder's return: If any name is calculated to stir up controversy among COG members, Darrell Conder's must come near the top of the list. From the nice people who support independent congregations and reject hierarchical government, to the hard-line Herbophiles who stoutly defend the total integrity of their dead Apostle against all comers, Darrell Conder hits a raw nerve. Separating from WCG a number of years back, he at first supported several derivative groups before striking out with a provocative book that got him disfellowshipped from not just one but several COG bodies simultaneously—no mean feat! ... While Conder seems to have kept a low profile over the last several years as he further refined and developed his ideas, he now seems ready to rejoin the fray, and attempts to answer his critics, including Pam Dewey and Eric Snow ... "
