Wednesday, January 05, 2005  

Printer-friendly Version E-mail Story

A hunger for doctrine now satisfied
July 19, 2004
By Jeff Robinson

David Bell has a desire to equip believers with such a thorough knowledge of biblical Christianity that even a subtle counterfeit is immediately evident to them. Photo by David Merrifield

Is it important for a Christian to study biblical doctrine or should all Christians merely love Jesus and leave theology to trained theologians?

Ask David Bell, who may be Exhibit A in the case for the doctrinal training of all Christians.

Bell is a doctoral student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but less than a decade ago he was a pastor in the Church of God International, which branched off from the Worldwide Church of God in 1978.

Founded by Herbert Armstrong in 1934, the Worldwide Church of God rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, denied the Holy Spirit as a member of the Godhead, and held that redeemed men will eventually join the “god class.”

While the Worldwide Church of God has undergone a dramatic doctrinal shift over the past decade, the majority of the Armstrongist movement, now composed of many smaller churches, continues with essentially the same doctrines espoused by Herbert Armstrong. These churches also hold unorthodox views on the new birth, the person of Christ and a number of other doctrines central to historic Christianity.

Bell, a native of Owensboro, Ky., was saved at age 10. During his college years at Western Kentucky University in the early-mid 1990s, he began to hunger for biblical doctrine. At WKU, his roommate introduced him to the Church of God International, an Armstrongist group founded by the late Garner Ted Armstrong, son of Herbert W. Armstrong.

By 1995 Bell became one of the youngest ministers the Church of God International had ever ordained.

Bell said he was susceptible to Armstrongism because the church in which he was raised did not teach much doctrine.

“I had a hunger for doctrine and for the Word of God, but those needs weren’t being met,” Bell said. “Garner Ted Armstrong is an extremely doctrinal, persuasive minister. He knew the Scriptures as well as anyone I have ever encountered. He may have misunderstood them at certain key points, but he knew them well. So, when I started listening to his sermons, I was hearing doctrinal meat.”

Once he began wrestling with Armstrongist teaching, Bell met with one of his former pastors to solicit his assistance in working through the issues biblically. His questions were anything but well-received.

“Instead of sitting down with me and helping me work through some of those issues, he just got angry, slammed his Bible shut and stormed off,” Bell said. “I thought, ‘Well, if he can’t answer those questions and Garner Ted can, there must be something to this (Armstrongism).”

For six years Bell remained a committed Armstrongist. But he began to question some of its major doctrines — doctrines that differed radically from those held by evangelicals.

As it turned out, this was the beginning of a slow process that would eventually lead him out of the aberrant religious body.

It wasn’t until the spring of 1998, after a series of sexual misconduct allegations were lodged against Garner Ted Armstrong, that Bell’s foray into Armstrongism came to an end.

The allegations turned the Church of God International on its head and struck Bell with sledgehammer force. Due in large part to the accusations, Bell eventually resigned the pastorate and began the journey back to Christian orthodoxy.

Bell began at Southern in the fall of 1998. It was a revolutionary experience and within one year, his view of theology underwent a profound metamorphosis. That first year, Bell studied Baptist and church history, theology and hermeneutics. Soon, Bell had fully embraced historic evangelical Christianity.

“By the end of my first full year at Southern Seminary, I had my theological world rocked,” he said. “I emerged from that a convinced evangelical.”

Bell’s pilgrimage through Armstrongism has infused him with a desire to equip believers with such a thorough knowledge of biblical Christianity that even a subtle counterfeit is immediately evident to them. When his doctoral work at Southern is complete, Bell hopes to pastor a church and teach at a seminary.

Bell put his love for doctrine to work last year when he was one of two students who assisted the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth in developing a new Gospel tract called “Experiencing God’s Grace,” which includes a full-orbed Gospel presentation.

“The main thing my experience taught me is we can’t be superficial in our evangelism, our teaching, or in our preaching,” Bell said.

 

© 2005, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary - All Rights Reserved
Home | Contact Us | Reprint Permission