The Church of God started in a Tennessee millhouse on Aug. 19, 1886, when former Baptist minister Richard Green Spurling and his father formed a Christian Union with the intention to follow the New Testament, with each member having the freedom to interpret the scripture individually.
Charles, there was a third article on News Max about the COG. 7 monumental things in it’s history, or something like that. Here is point 2.
2. A.J. Tomlinson joined the Holiness Church in 1903 as the Church of God’s first general overseer. During his 40 years of leadership, according to Time, Tomlinson instituted a form of church government with an inclusive International General Assembly (1907), established a world evangelization effort starting in the Bahamas (1909), inaugurated the Church of God Evangel (1910), and helped create the movement’s first Bible School (1918).
Reading this, and I am assuming it is accurate, it would seem to me that Mr. Tomlinson was the found of COG, the INSTITUTION, and from his direction, has the institute has grown into what it is today, complete with all of man’s traditions and directions that are not necessarily Biblical.
As I understand it, the BODY of the MESSIAH is not an INSTITUTION.
Your comments please?
R G Spurling fell into obscurity and he did not enthusiastically follow Tomlinson in the 1923 schism. He had differing ideas about the Church.
He remained at his Turtletown farm
The author of this article, Ken Mandel, lists 5 things that led to the development of the CoG denomination. Having been in the CoG as a child since the mid 1950s, studying at the CoG college and being in the greater Cleveland, TN area for some years, it seems to me that there are a few errors with Mandel’s article. R G Spurling, Sr. was already an Ordained Minister with a local Baptist Church. He encountered differences with the Baptist church when he was led into the Holiness Movement, which at the time was prevalent in that general area. So Mandel’s statement # 1 is incorrect I believe because he states that Spurling “became dissatisfied with customs and beliefs he felt were problematic and restrictive to its members.” I really do not think that was the situation at all. The issue at hand was the fact that Spurling began preaching the Holiness message of Sanctification as a second, definite work of grace, instead of sanctification being a part of salvation and one not able to experience sanctification until glorification (meaning upon one’s death). This was and is the same position the Assemblies of God hold to, and of course, resulted in Spurling’s ejection from the Baptist denomination and his resignation. So the writer is incorrect in his statement that the separation occurred due “to problematic and restrictive to its members.” Furthermore, Spurling was an Ordained minister and not just a Licensed minister. Spurling ordained his son, R G Spurling, Jr. So again, Jr was not a licensed minister, but an Ordained minister. And then Point # 2. Spurling was not associated with the Latter Rain Movement. I am unsure as to how Mr. Mandel surmises such a statement relating it to Spurling. I tend to think that he has A J Tomlinson confused with R G Spurling. And Spurling definitely did not “denounce the established Baptist views because he believed them to be too exclusive.” He was charged and he left because of his views on the doctrine of holiness and entire sanctification. Therefore, the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) denomination was started as a Holiness Church at Camp Creek, and not from the Baptist organization as some have stated. So I contend that the first sentence in Mandel’s 2nd point is totally untrue. His third point (# 3) is totally false. He is crediting Spurling with Tomlinson’s statement. What Mandel quotes is Tomlinson’s statement and not Spurling’s. And once again, the date that he cites is false. Mandel’s Point 4 – False Again. There were no organizers from the Camp Creek Church to formalize the Shearer Schoolhouse Revival. Instead, it was simply 3 holiness men who came to that area to hold a revival. They were basically 3 lay preachers who were not the best of preachers. But they were sincere and were promoting the Entire Sanctification doctrine that was sweeping across the nation at the time. Mandel’s statement, “All who opposed were persecuted . . .” is again incorrect. No, it is the opposite that is true. Those who opposed the revival, in particular the Baptist and others who opposed the holiness message, were the ones who fought against and incited riots against the Shearer Schoolhouse. The 3 lay preachers were the ones who were persecuted. Buildings were set on fire, and great opposition arose against the holiness message. The believers at Shearer School house in Camp Creek did in fact began receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And lastly, Point #5. There are a couple of issues that need to be corrected here. First of all, there was no INTERNATIONAL General Assembly. It was just a few people from 2 or 3 churches. There were no members dispatched around the world, and there were not regional and international ministries. And there was no support, financial or otherwise as Mr. Mandel lists. I do not know where Mandel gets such information, all of which is false. I must say that Mandel did not do his due diligence in preparation for this article. The reality is the fact that Tomlinson did the best he knew. He was a great church leader and organizer. However, the most important thing was, which Mandel does not mention, is the fact that Tomlinson relied heavily upon the Holy Ghost, inasmuch there were signs and wonders and tremendous healings and miracles, even fire literally appeared. The fact is, that Tomlinson had those on the field to support General Headquarters. He had the churches to send all of their tithe to Headquarters, where he determined to divide it to all the ministers and churches. This later changed, but the fact is, it was a bottom up church organization during its early formation years, and continues to somewhat remain that even to the present time. The Church of God Elders impeached Tomlinson in the 1920s when they declared he had misappropriated certain funds; however, it is quite obvious that many Elders who had a taste of power did not wish to relinquish it, but yet desired to maintain such positions and removed the power of Tomlinson. It was a bad time for the Church of God inasmuch as the Church of God divided into two separate organizations and whose legal problems and ill feelings continued from the 1920s through the mid 1950s upon which time the legal court (Judge) resolved it. Initially, the two Church of Gods were known as Tomlinson’s Church of God and the Elders Church of God. However, in the 1950s, the two groups became known as the Church of God of Prophecy and The Church of God (Cleveland, TN). I would like to say to NEWSMAX, before publishing an article such as Ken Mandel has posted, the facts should be examined and be truthful. Mandel appears to have a very general concept of Church of God Origins; however, he fails in his specifics. He misquotes individuals, and appears to fail in his total understanding of the origin of the Church of God. I would suggest that he should have read Charles W. Conn’s book, “LIKE A MIGHTY ARMY” prior to his writing this article that is full of errors, most of which I have tried to bring to light. God bless you all.
Great article. A.J. Tomlinson was a great leader and was falsely accused of many things. I would love to see the two churches merge back togerher.
[…] The Church of God started in a Tennessee millhouse on… […]
All #ourCOG News 5.0
Comments