Francis Schaeffer, one of the most influential Christian apologists of the 20th century, was not merely a scholar—he was a shepherd of souls. His method of “taking the roof off” involved showing individuals the inconsistencies in their worldview and pointing them to the reality of the triune God of Scripture. He understood that people lived in contradiction to their own professed beliefs and that only Christianity could account for truth, meaning, and moral reality in a coherent, livable way.
While Schaeffer spent much of his time confronting secular humanism, he also spoke boldly against distortions of the Christian gospel—particularly those that blurred or denied the nature of God and the work of Christ. One such distortion is Armstrongism, a system of doctrine promoted by Herbert W. Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God, which continues in various splinter groups like United Church of God, Restored Church of God, Living Church of God, and Philadelphia Church of God today.
What follows is a fictional but theologically grounded dialogue between Schaeffer and an Armstrongite—an older, sincere, but misguided adherent of this system. It is a Schaefferian effort to expose the structural flaws of Armstrongism, not with malice, but with truth and compassion.
A Fictional Dialogue: Francis Schaeffer Meets an Armstrongite
Setting: A crisp alpine afternoon. Two men, Francis Schaeffer and an unnamed Armstrongite, sit in a library discussing the Bible and theology.
Schaeffer: I’m grateful for this conversation. Not many are willing to sit and think deeply about truth. Let me begin here—how do you understand who God is?
Armstrongite: We believe in God the Father and the Word—who became Jesus Christ. Both are eternal, separate Beings. They’re united in purpose, but they are not one in essence. There is no Trinity—just two eternal divine Beings. The Holy Spirit isn’t a person; it’s the power or mind of God.
Schaeffer (softly): That sounds like bi-theism—two Gods working in perfect unity, but not sharing the same being?
Armstrongite: That’s a fair description, yes. It’s not polytheism because there’s a hierarchy and complete unity of purpose. And eventually, those in the Church—true Christians—will be born into that God Family and become divine themselves.
Schaeffer: That is a profound departure from biblical monotheism. The God of the Bible declares: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no God” (Isa. 45:5). Not “one of a kind,” but the only one. The Christian faith affirms that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God in three Persons, coequal and coeternal, sharing one divine essence.
What you’ve described is not Trinitarianism, or even Binitarianism—which implies shared essence between two Persons—but bi-theism. That’s a very different god altogether.
The Incarnation and Christ’s Divinity
Schaeffer: What about the incarnation? Was Jesus still God during His earthly life?
Armstrongite: No. We believe that Christ divested Himself of His divinity and became fully human. He lived a sinless life, was crucified, and was later restored to divinity at the resurrection.
Schaeffer (shaking his head): That view is called Kenoticism, and it’s dangerous. Scripture affirms that Jesus remained fully God and fully man during His time on earth. Paul says of Christ: “Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself…”—not of His divinity—but by taking on the form of a servant (Phil. 2:6–7).
Colossians 2:9 is explicit: “In Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” If Christ were not God during His life and death, then His sacrifice could not pay for our sins. Only God can bear infinite wrath.
The Law, Sabbaths, and Festivals
Schaeffer: Let’s move to how you see salvation. You’ve said that you follow God’s laws. What do you mean by that?
Armstrongite: We don’t believe in keeping all the Mosaic Law—just the parts still binding on Christians today. That includes the weekly Sabbath, the annual festivals, and the clean/unclean food laws. These weren’t nailed to the cross—they remain commandments. But we reject other parts, like animal sacrifices or Levitical rituals.
Schaeffer: So, it’s a selective application based on what Armstrong considered perpetually binding?
Armstrongite: Exactly. We don’t believe in salvation by works—but works are necessary as proof of faith. You can’t just believe and do nothing. That’s the problem with evangelicalism. It’s all about “just believe,” no obedience. That’s easy-believism.
Schaeffer (gently but firmly): That’s a serious charge. But I must correct you. Biblical Christianity does not teach easy-believism. We teach that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, but true faith always results in fruit. The obedience flows from salvation—not toward it. It is a matter of root before fruit.
Paul makes this clear: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28), and yet he also says that we are created in Christ for good works (Eph. 2:10). Good works do not save, but the saved do good works.
What Armstrongism teaches is not fruit-bearing grace. It’s a conditional justification, where Christ’s atonement is not sufficient without obedience to selected laws. That’s not the gospel. That’s Galatian heresy.
Is the Law Still Binding?
Schaeffer: And why keep these particular laws—Sabbath, feasts, dietary laws?
Armstrongite: Because we believe these were given to Israel forever. The Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, were never abolished. Jesus kept them. Paul kept them. The early Church did too. God’s law doesn’t change.
Schaeffer: But that overlooks the unfolding of redemptive history. Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law (Matt. 5:17), not merely to keep it. He fulfilled it in Himself—its symbols, shadows, and ceremonies.
Paul is emphatic: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” (Col. 2:16). Why? Because these things are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ (v. 17).
You say you’re not under the whole Law—but James 2:10 says, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” You can’t slice the Law up like a salad bar.
And after AD 70, the Law can no longer be kept anyway. With no Temple, no Levitical priesthood, and no sacrifices, the Law’s structural elements have collapsed. God’s judgment on the Temple made it clear: the Old Covenant has passed. Christ is the new and living way.
British Israelism and Shifting Identity
Schaeffer: Tell me about the ethnic connection. Why do Armstrongites believe they must follow the Law when most Christians don’t?
Armstrongite: We believe we’re modern Israel—especially white Western nations like the U.S. and Britain. We’re the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes. That’s why the Law still applies to us.
Schaeffer: Then your theology rests on British Israelism, not Christ. It substitutes ethnicity for covenant. Scripture teaches that Christ is the true Israel (Matt. 2:15; John 15:1). All who are in Him—Jew or Gentile—are heirs of the promise (Gal. 3:28–29). You are spiritual Israel only in Christ, not by bloodline or geography.
God’s promise was never about perpetuating a nation, but redeeming a people for Himself from every tribe and tongue.
The Judgment to Come
Schaeffer: And how do you view judgment?
Armstrongite: Only the Church is being judged now. Everyone else will be judged later—after the Millennium. They’ll have a second chance to accept the truth, once Satan is removed.
Schaeffer: But Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” There is no second probation. There is no later dispensation of truth. Today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).
Paul told the Athenians at Mars’ Hill that God commands all men everywhere to repent now (Acts 17:30).
This idea of a future time period called the Judgment, related to Armstrong’s understanding of the Second Resurrection, delays the urgency of the gospel and removes the exclusivity of Christ’s finished work.
The Gospel: Not Easy, But Free
Armstrongite: But your gospel sounds too easy. Just believe, and that’s it?
Schaeffer (with clarity and compassion): No—believing in Christ is not easy. It is a death to self. A total surrender. But it is free, not earned. It is not transactional; it is transformational.
Grace is not opposed to effort—it is opposed to earning. We don’t strive to be saved. We strive because we are saved.
You are carrying a burden Christ already bore. He said: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). You are invited not to work harder, but to trust more deeply—in the perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of the Son of God.
Final Reflections: Only the Real Gospel Saves
Armstrongism, despite its moral rigor and religious sincerity, is a false gospel. It distorts the nature of God by reducing Him to a growing pantheon. It undermines the incarnation by denying the full deity of Christ. It perverts salvation by mixing grace with law, turning the Good News into a probationary contract. And it redefines identity—not in Christ—but in a speculative racial mythology.
Francis Schaeffer would have said what Scripture says: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The gospel is not law plus grace. It is Christ alone—sufficient, supreme, and saving. Anything added to that is another gospel, and Paul declares: “Let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8).
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
rob@basedchristianity.org
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