More:
The UCG is actually very concerned with demonstrating who God’s real disciples are:
“Millions of people claim to be Christian—followers of Jesus Christ. Yet their beliefs, practices and lifestyles differ greatly. Jesus said His true followers are “called, chosen and faithful.” How can we discern who His true disciples are?”
Salvation, according to the UCG, is through a “conversion’ process, and not all those who claim to be Christian, according to them, are actually Christian. They have wrong “religious beliefs” and “assumptions”:
“His warning [Christ’s warning, see link] should cause all of us to carefully consider our religious beliefs and assumptions. Why? Because many who claim to be His followers, who claim to have done great deeds in His name, will be rejected by Him. He will tell them, “I never knew you” (verse 23). How, then, can we distinguish the authentic disciples of Christ, who really are doing the will of the Father, from those who call Jesus “Lord” but neglect or refuse to do God’s will?”
Note carefully, those who “neglect or refuse to do God’s will”. This refers, again, to living God’s ‘way of life.’ They go on:
“Jesus warned that “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14). Should we be surprised? Most people simply ignore Jesus’ words when they don’t agree with them. Nevertheless, Jesus tells those who wish to be His true disciples that they must “enter by the narrow gate;”... Even if one becomes a disciple of Christ, he is still in danger of being swept back into the clutches of Satan, the archenemy of all who would be godly.”
http://www.ucg.org/booklet/transforming-your-life-process-conversion/who-are-gods-true-followers/
Salvation is actually quiet a difficult thing, according to the UCG, and even once a person is converted, they can still be swept back into the “clutches of Satan”
So, WHO are the authentic disciples of Christ who have entered in by the “narrow” way, and what IS that narrow way? The UCG tries to suck you into their religion quite slowly throughout the whole booklet, but here it is in a nutshell:
Christ’s true disciples are those who, according to the UCG, have true heart rending “repentance,” devote themselves to following all the commandments of God, and who begin the “conversion” process (conversion is life-long) through “baptism,” and the “laying on of hands” in order to receive the Holy Spirit:
From the article titled “Is the laying on of hands necessary to receive the Holy Spirit?”
“The Bible gives us a clear answer. Paul came upon some believers in Ephesus who had been baptized by no less than John the Baptist. Yet they had not received the Holy Spirit for two reasons. One is that they did not have the laying on of hands. The other was that they apparently did not fully understand the Christian way of life, the covenant into which one enters through baptism.”
Note, again, the “Christian way of life”. Until John’s disciples could be indoctrinated into still maintaining the Mosaic dietary and feast days, and in living in obedience to the UCG of the 1st century. It goes on:
“What did their baptism by John accomplish? Undoubtedly, it helped prepare them for conversion, for he preached repentance. And it likely strengthened their resolve to obey God. But the baptism didn’t bring about their conversion or result in their receiving the Holy Spirit. Clearly, many factors have to be in order for that to take place, including knowledge of sin (the transgression of God’s law, 1 John 3:4), an awareness of the need for forgiveness, true repentance (turning from sin to obedience) and a clear understanding of the obligations of Christianity. In addition, the baptism should, under normal circumstances, be done by a minister of God’s true Church, followed by the laying on of hands and prayer to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Note that these are “obligations”, and that this, under “normal circumstances,” should be done by a “minister of God’s true church” UCG Inc., “followed by the laying on of hands” to receive the Holy Spirit.
http://www.ucg.org/bible-faq/laying-hands-necessary-receive-holy-spirit
Those who do NOT have the Holy Spirit (which is received, again, through the laying on of hands) are not part of ‘God’s family,’ and cannot become God personages in the next life:
“Receiving God’s Spirit is essential to conversion. The apostle Paul makes it clear that you must receive the Holy Spirit to become a part of God’s family and Church: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9). Why are those without God’s Spirit not the people of God? Because, as Paul explains, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (verse 14).”
If you are part of God’s family, after death, you will have a “future beyond compare” where you will share the “full nature of God”:
“Above these in the spirit realm is the angelic kingdom. And above all is the God Kingdom. God intends to raise man from the human kingdom, over the angelic kingdom, to the God Kingdom—the Kingdom of God. Indeed, in an ultimate sense, the Kingdom of God is synonymous with the ruling family of God, all members of which will share the full nature of God.”
http://www.ucg.org/booklet/what-your-destiny/life-gods-family/
Again, you will become a “divine spirit being” like the Father:
“Now what could that mean? Well let’s tear it apart. If you’re filled up to all the fullness of God and your family’s last name is now God, in other words you are named a part of God’s family, well that can only mean that you can become a literal son or daughter of God, a full fledged member of His family, a divine spirit being like God in His eternal family.”
More:
“Your Bible shows that people were created according to the God kind, to be a part of God’s spiritual family. Now this may seem astonishing to you, that God is in fact reproducing spiritual children after His kind through humanity.”
http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/doctrinal-beliefs/family-destiny
God is REPRODUCING after the “God kind,” to produce new divine children who will inherit not only all that he has, but “all that he is”! And it’s just one toll free number away!:
“Request your booklet, What is Your Destiny, it will help you understand the incredible truth about your future and as always all of our publications are provided free of charge as an educational service in the public interest. Your copy is waiting for you so click or call toll free 1-888-886-8632 or go online to BeyondToday.tv download it” (Same link as above)
Particularly the following two UCG teachings:
"Indeed, in an ultimate sense, the Kingdom of God is synonymous with the ruling family of God, all members of which will share THE FULL NATURE OF GOD." http://www.ucg.org/booklet/what-your-destiny/life-gods-family/
AND:
“Now what could that mean? Well let’s tear it apart. If you’re filled up TO ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD...you can BECOME a literal son or daughter of God, a full fledged member of His family, a DIVINE SPIRIT BEING like God in His eternal family.” http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/doctrinal-beliefs/family-destiny
What does this tell us about United Church of God teachings?
In light of this..."9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form..." (Colossians 2)... there goes Jesus' uniqueness...You, too, can be 100% like Jesus Christ having the "FULL NATURE of God" and "ALL THE FULLNESS of God"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Despite all the assurances by God of no other divine beings in Isaiah 43, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 45, and other verses, you too can become a "DIVINE spirit being like God"!!!!!
No wonder DouglasKC has shown so much affinity with the Mormons on Lds threads all this time!!!
"...you can BECOME a literal son or daughter of God..."
Douglas wrote in post #497:
So it's clear that we are sons of God in one sense, but we are to become sons of God in another sense."
So the UCGites are right up the same kind of dilemma the MORMONS are on this...
On the one hand, the Mormons preach we are ALL LITERAL spirit children from some pre-existence...On the other hand, even the Book of Mormon (book of Mosiah) preaches in two places that we are to BECOME children of God...and the Bible says this same thing in John 1:12 plus Paul's present-tense "adoption" verses in Romans 8 and Ephesians.
How can we be "adopted" if we ALREADY are "literal" children of the Father? (Quite problematic in Mormonism; and DouglasKC just tries to skirt right around a similar UCG prob)
UCG's "version" of this is dilemma is that they like to cite the "we'll become" literal children of God (so they simply futurize what the Mormons do in retro)...
And yet here's all these Biblical verses that say we have ALREADY become adopted children...
What's the "becoming children" if we ALREADY ARE, Douglas?
In addition to Greetings_Puny_Humans posts on this thread -- look for all of them -- here is a decent additional United Church of God backgrounder posted Sunday:
The True Church: One Organization, or Many? [Armstrong splinter group -- UCG -- sized up]
This piece makes this mention: "How telling it is that more thousands by far left the WCG to join the United Church of God than did those who entered all the rest of the splinters and slivers combined! Staying too long in Worldwide took a terrible toll on these thousands who seemed not to know any toll was even exacted upon them..."
WCG = Worldwide Church of God, which was run by self-appointed "apostle" Herbert W. Armstrong.
Post-Armstrong's death, at least half of this group changed their doctrines and went Christian mainstream.
They are now umbrella'd under a new name: Grace Communion Intl...Here was a post of that process: lobal Lessons From the Worldwide Church of God [Grace Communion Intl traces u-turn as sect]