Hello All: YOU ALL HAVE TO READ THIS!!! For those of you who think JWs are unique in their teachings and beliefs, here is something I received from and email sometime ago. You will notice "Remarks" by someone who has the initials of "RF". I do not know who "RF" is, but I do not believe that it is the same "RF" we all know and love. I found that the term District Apostle to be similar to District Overseer. New Apostolics have about 15,000,000 members worldwide today ... and are growing ... want to join? Just Kidding! - Amazing
Here is a reprint of the excerpt Dr. Stamos' Essay
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"Why I Am Not A New Apostolic". An essay by David N. Stamos.
[The following are excerpts from an essay written in the late 1980's by a former member of the New Apostolic Church. (Remark RF)]
"... I offer my own autobiographical piece concerning my break from my inherited church, a church I'm sure few readers will have heard of, and fewer still actually know of, the New Apostolic Church. Since the church is so little known to the general reading public I feel it is incumbent upon me to provide some prefatory remarks on the nature and constitution of this church. The New Apostolic Church is one of the many sects that may be grouped under the general heading of Protestantism, although New Apostolics will never acknowledge this. It is a worldwide church, established in over a hundred countries, and is centered in Germany. Its total world membership is between one and two million."
[Again, please bear in mind that this was written in the late 1980's. Of course the membership nowadays is around 9.5 million and the church is now centered in Africa. (Remark RF)]
"... New Apostolics are extermely millenarian. They firmly believe we live in the end time and that Christ's glorious return is imminent. The only thing holding back this event is that the last soul comprising the elect 144,000 firstlings has not yet been found and sealed with the Holy Spirit. When that happens the firstlings, also known as the Bride of Christ (who, incidentally, will be taken only from the ranks of the New Apostolics), will be resurrected into heaven for the wedding feast while the horror that is Armageddon will commence on earth for three years, resulting in the death of approximately one-third the world's population. New Apostolics not virtuous enough to have made it as firstlings will be saved the horrors of Armageddon by being divinely transported into a safe place in a desert.
After Armageddon, during the Thousand Years of Peace, the 144,000 firstlings will rule the world as a theocracy of kings and priests. The firstlings, incidentally, will not all come from living New Apostolics. Many will come from the ranks of departed New Apostolics. Indeed some souls may become New Apostolic while in the realm of the departed. The most interesting (and, now that I think about it, laughable) example is that of Abraham Lincoln.
During a service for the departed ones, maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, a sister had a vision in which she saw Abraham Lincoln being sealed by an apostle. The vision was quickly authenticated an it became widely accepted throughout the church that Abraham Lincoln is now a fellow New Apostolic."
[Well, if you ever are depressed and need a good laugh, you know now that you can find it on this page. (Remark RF)]
"Into this church I was born. And into this church I invested the first twenty-six years of my life. My mother's side was completely New Apostolic, my father's side non-practicing Greek Orthodox. My father allowed my mother to raise me and my older sister with the beliefs and practices of the church. On Sundays my mother would take us to church in the morning and again in the afternoon. My father would spend the day trapshooting and drinking beer."
"Though I toed the line as a youth, there was predominantly one area in which I deviated. At the age of sixteen I got into bodybuilding, which I have continued with much dedication up to the present day. Naturally the church frowned upon it, but my original purpose was not to enter competition or any self-glorification. Early as a child I had contracted chronic asthma
which persisted throughout my youth. When I was fifteen I had heard that working out with weights was very beneficial in reducing or even eliminating asthma. And so I shortly afterward got into it, my original motivation receding into the background as the years went on, as I increasingly learned of the many benefits to be derived from bodybuilding."
"... All along we were taught, for instance, that 'we are in this world but not of this world,' that we are a different species from the rest of this world, that only New Apostolics are children of God, the rest are children of Satan. We were taught, moreover, to despise and devalue the things of this world, and that the meaning of life is afterlife. Indeed we were given a tremendously inflated and false sense of importance. Perhaps the most laughable example of this is that we were taught that a sub-deacon, the lowest rung on the hierarchical ladder, has a more important office than the Catholic pope, because the pope does not belong to the true church and we do. It has been eight years now since I alone tore myself away from this church. And is has been a constant fight ever since to purge from myself the vestiges of this psychology, the feeling of distance from my fellow man and the residual instinct that I am a superior creature compared to the rest of mankind."
"But this is all with hindsight. At the time, when I was still a believing part of the church, I was unaware of the harm that was being done to me. I truly believed and was happy, in spite of all the sacrifices I had to endure. Moreover I was becoming an integral part of the particular congregation to which I belonged. At sixteen I was made the assistant-organist; at eighteen the organist and assistant choir leader. I was also made a sub-deacon at roughly the same time. Often during Wednesday night services and Sunday afternoon services I would be called upon to serve five minutes behind the altar."
"In looking back now, however, I can honestly say the only thing I miss is playing the organ. I loved being organist. I loved playing services, weddings, and funerals. I loved it and I loved the compliments. I especially remember an apostle telling me once that what I did was more important than preaching. I put everything I had into it and they adored it. Indeed the only reason I did not pursue music as a career was because I deeply feared that such a pursuit might destroy my love for it, and I didn't want to lose that love. I especially loved before and after the services.
People would come in an hour early just to hear me practice Bach or Mendelssohn or Rheinberger. And before the service I would play the most elegant and appropriate pieces and arrangements, sometimes my own extemporizations. And when the service was over I would end with a flourish piece, usually Bach. The zenith of this career was when, at the age of twenty, I was first permitted to play an organ solo in the Christmas concert on the massive pipe organ in the central cathedral in Kitchener. I played Bach's most famous piece, his 'Toccata' from Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. I'll never forget the feeling I had as I played the last chord, having just played the piece flawlessly, and having blown everyone's mind, including the district apostle. I'll also never forget accidentally hitting the lowest note on the keyboard during the opening prayer in a district service. And indeed I'll never forget the last time I played the organ in church. I knew it would be my last time and I played Bach's 'St. Anne Fugue'."
"In September 1977 I began undergraduate studies at York University in Toronto. Because I was late with a correspondence math course to complete my grade 13, I was late in applying and then registering at York. When I finally did register, most of the courses I wanted were filled up. So my advisor suggested I take a literary course on the classical world. He said, "You're Greek; you might like it.' I hemmed and hawed a bit. I wasn't interested in the subject and didn't like a lot of reading. Nevertheless I gave in and took the course. And I loved it! The first philosopher we took was Plato, reading his Apology. I immediately fell in love with psychology and Plato and was very active in the seminars. And, interestingly, I naturally tried to harmonize Platonic teachings with my church's teachings. I saw no inherent contradictions."
"It was in one of these subsequent philosophy courses that I came across a book that was to spark a profound change in my life. One of the required texts was Walter Kaufmann's Critique of Religion and Philosophy. While reading this book I came across a passage wherein Kaufmann mentions Albert Schweitzer's thesis that in the Gospels Jesus predicts that the end-time including his glorious Return will occur before the end of the generation around him. And when I read that I was stunned! It totally contradicted one of my church's most central teachings. Indeed I had never heard or read anything like it before. And yet I couldn't dismiss it offhand. Its connection with Albert Schweitzer made this difficult, since I had already
grown to tremendously respect the man for his work on Bach and for his
humanitarian work."
"It was not after I had finished my B.A., however, during a long stint of unemployment, that I began my research into the matter. For the first time in my life I actually read the New Testament. Hitherto, as with most Christians, I had relied on what was taught in church. And I couldn't have been more shocked! Not only did Kaufmann's book prove correct, not only did Schweitzer's thesis seem clearly vindicated, but I discovered so many more problems connected with the New Testament, not only internal contradictions but also major external ones, contradictions between what my church had always taught me and what was taught in the Bible. And here my church was teaching as it always had, not only that the Bible is God's
true and holy Word, but also that only the New Apostolic Church is truly based on the Bible!"
"Why I waited six months before I quit the church was a matter of timing. For one thing I wanted to give God, if He existed, a chance to get me off the wrong track, even to push Him into giving me a miracle. Second, I wanted to wait until my mother had her holidays; I knew that my apostasy would be very traumatic for her.
My final church service was Sunday afternoon, July 31, 1983. I knew it would be my last. I had planned it that way. Also, two days previously, on Friday, I had mailed out eight copies of a
letter I wrote to the clergy. In this three-page, tightly knit letter I outlined all the problems I had with church teaching and why I was leaving. I cited many Bible contradictions. I pointed out the major discrepancy concerning the Second Coming of Christ. I pointed out Jesus' teachings on money and material possessions and how these contradicted most New Apostolics, especially our leader for North America, District Apostle Michael Kraus, a
millionaire many times over, the founder and president of Kraus Carpet Mills.
These I pointed out and many more. And I challenged them, since they supposedly had a monopoly on truth, being official bearers of the Holy Spirit, to answer my questions. And I told them that if they could answer my questions to my satisfaction, in writing, then I would return to the fold, and if not, then they would never see me again.
These eight letters I mailed to a good cross-section of the clergy, all of whom knew me, some very well. The list included Michael Kraus, the top man in North America, two apostles, one bishop, one evangelist, two priests, and a fellow sub-deacon who was my best friend. Of these eight letters I received only three replies, one from an apostle, one from a priest, and one from the sub-deacon, my best friend. Each of these letters ignored my arguments and only tried to make me feel foolish and stupid. 'Woe to those on the wrong side of the fence,' wrote one. To the first two I replied that this was not good enough, that I wanted answers to my questions, and in writing. The third letter was followed up by a personal visit, in which we stayed up all night discussing these issues, but to no avail. Filled with the Holy Spirit, my friend, with tears in his eyes, in the end could not answer my questions. Finally, to my two replies to the apostle and the priest, only one replied, the apostle. He said he could see that they've lost me to the world's philosophies but that their door would be always open to me (until the end-time, of course)."
[The essay by Mr. Stamos is published in:
Babinski, Edward T. - Leaving the fold: testimonies of former fundamentalists.
ISBN 0-87975-907-0
Published 1995 by Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Drive
Amherst, NY 14228-2197
USA
This book contains some thirty essays by persons who managed to throw
off their fundamentalist beliefs and wrestled themselves FREE.
Mr. Stamos' essay takes 10 pages (337-347) in this book. (Remark RF)]
The following is from an ex member of the New Apostolic Church (NAC) / Neuapostolische Kirche (NAK):
The New Apostolic Church had it's beginnings in the early 1800's. In 1830 there were "prophetic gits" in scotland. A 15 year old girl named Margaret MacDonald had a pre-tribulation vision and spoke in tongues. This was recognized by the famous Edward Irving (ie. Irvingites) who started his own church, the Catholic Apostolic Church, (circa 1830). The CAC believed in the "second sending" of Apostles. The problem was that they literally believed in 12 apostles with no provision for succession. The New Apostolic Church was originally named "The General Christian Mission" and they were formed in 1860 when they appointed additional apostles in Germany without approval of the CAC which resulted in a schism. They number around 15,000,000 adherents worldwide and are headed by the Chief Apostle (Stammapostel) Richard Fehr in Switzerland. They have survived and are in every state and just about every country.
They no longer practice speaking in tongues but they still believe in visions and miracles (although to a limited and varied extent). Their main thrust today is "obeying" vs. "believing". Their main beliefs are:
-Salvation is only attainable via dispensation via laying on of hands of a living Apostle (of Jesus).
-They are awaiting the 144,000 to be fulfilled, like the JWs.
-Other beliefs are found on www.nak.org
They are famous for psychological manipulation and require strict obedience of faith in order to receive "Blessings" from the Apostles or Administration Brothers. In other words, members worship men who in turn worship Jesus.