Chapter 4: Worldwide Church of God, The Way, Unification Church

IN THIS CHAPTER, you will discover:

• Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God.

• The history and doctrine of The Way International.

• The Unification Church and its founder, Sun Myung Moon.

• The history and doctrine of the Hare Krishnas and the Baha’is.



AS A RESULT, you will be able to:

• Understand the fallacies of Armstrongism.

• Recognize a modern reintroduction of the Arian heresy.

• Refute Sun Myung Moon’s messianic claims.

• Characterize cults derived from Hinduism and Islam.

Reading: Another Gospel, pp. 191-216, 394-95.

Key Scripture: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Col. 2:16-17).

Key Words: Annihilationism, British-Israelism.

The Worldwide Church of God is another institutionalized or established cult. It claims to be the one true church established by the “prophet for this age,” who “restored” the gospel lost since apostolic days. Founder Herbert W. Armstrong, the authoritarian voice of the church until his death in 1986, culled his doctrines from Seventh-day Adventism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and his own scriptural revelations. Predictably, church doctrine involves much millennial speculation and date-setting. Orthodox doctrines concerning the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and salvation are rejected or perverted.

The Worldwide Church of God is a modern renewal of the legalistic heresy of the first-century Judaizers. Armstrong insisted that the entire ceremonial law must be kept to the letter, including Jewish feast days, Old Testament kosher laws, and Sabbath (Saturday) worship. He considered Sunday worship to be the “mark of the beast” spoken of in Revelation 14:9-11. According to him, this mark was passed from the Catholic Church to the denominations of Protestantism. Except for his church, present-day Christianity is an apostate fiction begun by Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:9-24).

Due to the success of its television program “The World Tomorrow” and the wide distribution of its magazine “The Plain Truth,” the World-wide Church of God has high visibility. Curiously, it is difficult to identify the church as anything other than a patriotic, Bible-believing Christian organization with an eye on current events. Their doctrines are not likely to be discussed on the air because the church is a very secretive organization. Also, Armstrong saw the church’s role in the world as one of proclamation and witness rather than conversion.

The Worldwide Church of God believes in “one God, the Creator, who is Spirit, of supreme Mind, Power, and Authority; that God is a Family consisting of more than one personage” (p. 394). At our resurrection when we are “born again,” we too shall become God (not “gods”). At present there are two distinct persons in the God-family–God the Father and Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is not a person, but the “perfect holy attitude of mind which is shared by both Father and Son” (p. 212). Though Jesus is now God, he was not so eternally. According to church doctrine, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and, as God, literally and completely became flesh. He kept the law perfectly throughout his life as an example for us to do the same. As mortal flesh, Jesus ceased to exist after his death–a view called annihilationism. Afterward, God raised him from the dead in an immortal body. At that moment Jesus was “born again” as a divine son of God. He is the only person to have been “saved” or “born again” so far.

The Holy Spirit is received upon conversion and baptism. But this “spiritual conception” does not insure the “birth” of resurrection any more than physical conception guarantees physical birth. The death of Christ removes the death penalty of Adam and makes it possible to communicate with God. Only those who keep the law, grow in stature spiritually, and endure until the end will be saved and become immortal at Christ’s second coming. Armstrong was fond of underscoring that only “those who obey the law . . . will be declared righteous” (Rom. 2:13).

Armstrong embraced British-Israelism. According to this bogus theory, the Anglo-Saxon populations of England and America are descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel and are the inheritors of Israel’s prophetic promises. By substituting the United States for Israel in biblical prophecy, Armstrong erroneously calculated a number of dates for the second coming of Christ. Armstrong taught that at the time of the Great Tribulation, the “true church” (his) will be raptured to Petra. Many who undergo torment during the Tribulation will remember Armstrong’s message and turn to God. Church evangelization consists of publishing its “gospel” so it can benefit those who remain during the coming Tribulation.

The Worldwide Church of God has had its share of scandal. Armstrong’s son, Garner Ted, was ousted from the church and “The World Tomorrow” telecasts after two decades of adultery (purportedly prophesied in Malachi 2:14). Armstrong himself received heavy criticism for misappropriating millions from the church to finance his opulent lifestyle. This was particularly outrageous considering the oppressive “triple tithe” required of all church members. Armstrong’s divorce and subsequent remarriage to a divorcee also caused consternation, since church members themselves were forbidden to remarry after divorce and even encouraged to leave second marriages.

Since Armstrong’s death in 1986, the Worldwide Church of God seems to be rethinking its doctrinal positions. Meanwhile, church followers live in fear of losing their salvation by missing a church feast or failing to meet their tithing obligations. We can only pray that the church’s new leaders will repudiate Armstrong’s distortions of Scripture and teach their followers that “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4).

Key Concepts:

1. Armstrong began studying the Scriptures after his wife zealously started to study the doctrines of ____________________________________. [193]

2. The church’s television program is called “The World Tomorrow” while its magazine is named __________________________. [198]

3. For those who become church members (“coworkers”), __________ tithes are compulsory. [202-3]

4. The theory that the British and Americans are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel is called ___________________________________. [207]

5. According to Armstrong, those who are “born again” at the resurrection become ______. [211-212]

6. The church believes that the ____________________ is the “perfect holy attitude of mind which is shared by both Father and Son.” [212]


Life Application: Paul taught that the indwelling presence of Christ really frees us to fulfill the law as “faith expresses itself through love” (Gal. 5:6). Describe a time when you felt helpless and discovered Christ’s power within you. Recall that He is there:

When you need to love someone difficult to love.
When you have failed and are discouraged.
When you need to forgive someone who has wronged you. When you have to make a difficult moral decision.

Reading: Another Gospel, pp. 217-30, 395-96.

Key Scripture: “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them” (2 Peter 2:1).

Key Word: Sabellianism.

“Jesus Christ Is Not God”: So read the proclamation posted by Victor Paul Wierwille upon a United Church of Christ door on Reformation Sunday, 1977. Wierwille’s flamboyant imitation of Martin Luther was not atypical. He was provocative and sarcastic in his criticism of Christianity’s central doctrine and its defenders. This spirit of rebellion endeared him to the counter-culture youth who swelled the ranks of The Way during the late 60s and 70s. But Wierwille was persuasive in other ways as well. His evangelical heritage found expression in frequent appeals to “rightly divide the Word.” And his experiential focus on “power for abundant living” attracted those who were disillusioned with drugs, sex, or lifeless religious orthodoxy. For these reasons, The Way International has been one of the most seductive and dangerous Christian counterfeits to appear in this century.

In 1958 Victor Paul Wierwille resigned his Evangelical and Reformed Church pastorate because of growing differences with the denomination and personal frustration about how to live “the abundant life.” He burned his theological library and sought a direct revelation from God. According to Wierwille, God answered. He spoke to Wierwille in an audible voice and said that “he would teach me the Word as it had not been known since the first century if I would teach it to others” (p. 226). Based on this revelation, Wierwille created the “Power For Abundant Living” (PFAL) course. In 1968 he began spreading the message of The Way across the country via motorcycle. As the momentum of the Jesus Movement crested, Wierwille found himself with a vast and receptive audience. An international movement was born that taught as its central tenet the creaturehood rather than the deity of Christ–a renewal of Arianism. It also revived the third-century heresy of Sabellianism, which stressed the primacy of God the Father over the Son and Spirit.

The Way is efficiently structured into different organizational levels. Lowest on the management spectrum are the “Twig” leaders. These crafty missionaries befriend potential Way members and invite them to Bible studies. After discussing Scripture, the student is introduced to the PFAL courses (for a fee). At the climax of the PFAL training, Wierwille (via tape) gives the student step-by-step instructions on how to speak in tongues. Wierwille believed speaking in tongues was an indispensable manifestation of the Holy Spirit for all born-again believers. However, he also taught that there was nothing supernatural about it, but that it was a mechanical process that was easily duplicated.

Wierwille adopted a scornful, superior attitude toward orthodox theologians. Neither his personal life nor his scholarship stands up to close scrutiny. Most of Wierwille’s essential doctrines did not originate with him nor are they from the first century, as God allegedly told him. His claim to bring a “restored” gospel is refuted by the overwhelming biblical evidence for the deity of Christ. His Ph.D. was obtained from a degree mill, and his claimed facility with ancient languages is academically unsubstantiated. His theories about the virgin conception and the four thieves crucified with Jesus are simply attempts to generate doubt about whether orthodoxy “rightly divides” the Word.

Since his death in 1985, evidence of anti-Semitism, plagiarism, diversions of funds, and sexual immorality by Wierwille has surfaced. The Way has splintered into three factions, resulting in a crisis of leadership. Wierwille’s doctrines survive him, however, and continue to bear damaging fruit.

The most objectionable doctrine of The Way is its denial of Christ’s deity. According to Wierwille, Jesus and the Father are not “co-eternal, without beginning or end, and co-equal.” He evades the implications of verses such as John 1:1 by saying Jesus was “with God and was God” in the “foreknowledge” of God only (p. 223). The issue of Christ’s divinity is a serious one for several reasons.

• If Jesus was the Son of God but not God the Son, our knowledge of God is lost. In John 14:8-9 Philip asks, “Show us the Father.” Christ replies: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father as well.” Our knowledge of what God is like rests on our revelation of God in Christ.

• If Jesus was the Son of God but not God the Son, our salvation is lost. Only God can take away the burden of sin. If Christ was not truly Immanuel (“God with us”– Matt. 1:23), our sins remain.

• If Jesus was the Son of God but not God the Son, the gospel that we have believed is a lie. It is God in whom we have faith when we believe on Christ, or we are deceived.

Key Concepts:

1. In 1953 Wierwille began teaching his ________________________________________ course, which was to become the foundation of The Way International. [218]

2. The title of Wierwille’s most famous book is ____________________________________. [222]

3. According to Wierwille’s interpretation of John 1:1, Jesus preexisted only in the Father’s ____________________________ . [223]

4. Wierwille’s theology of the Holy Spirit is similar to the third-century heresy of _______________________________. [225]

5. Wierwille’s challenges to traditional scholarship are designed to generate ______________ about historic orthodoxy. [227]

6. “WOW” stands for _________________________________, the international missionary outreach of The Way. [228-29]

7. The Nicene Creed was formulated in the fourth century to refute the doctrine of ______________________, an error repeated by the Way. [399]

Life Application: How would you affirm the deity of Christ to someone who denies that He is God? Since Jesus is God the Son, how does this affect your knowledge of God? Your personal salvation? Your belief in the gospel? How might Jesus use His power as God to change a situation in your life today?

Reading: Another Gospel, pp. 245-66.

Key Scripture: “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:26-27).

Key Words: Syncretism, Indemnity, Pikarume.

The Unification Church is very different from the cults we have studied thus far, because it was birthed not in America but in Korea. Enroth classifies it as an eclectic-syncretistic cult (p. 21). Japan occupied Korea during World War II, depriving Koreans of political and religious freedom. Following the war, many Korean messianic movements were spawned. These movements stressed not only a renewed hope for spiritual salvation, but also a this-worldly hope for prosperity and human perfection. Some spoke of Korea as God’s new elect–a “third Israel” from which another messiah called the “Lord of the Second Advent” would emerge.

Sun Myung Moon was born in 1920 in North Korea. He was exposed to Presbyterian and Pentecostal Christianity in his youth. He testifies that Christ appeared to him in a vision at the age of sixteen and begged him to fulfill the mission that Christ had failed to complete. In the years that followed, Moon went through periods of trial and discipline. As a result, he supposedly became the absolute victor of heaven and earth. “The whole spirit world bowed down to him. . . . Satan totally surrendered to him on that day, for he had elevated himself to the position of God’s true son.” Through him “the weapon to subjugate Satan then became available to all mankind” (p. 247).

The Divine Principle is Moon’s primary written revelation and the key to the Unification Church’s understanding of the Bible. The doctrines contained there are a syncretism (combination) of Christianity, Buddhism, Korean messianic speculation, and nineteenth-century liberal theology. According to Moon’s book, there were two falls in Eden. The first was a spiritual, “vertical” fall that occurred because Eve had sexual intercourse with the spirit-being Lucifer. The second was a physical, “horizontal” fall that occurred when Eve polluted Adam by subsequently having sexual intercourse with him. In this manner the infection of original sin was acquired and passed on to the entire human race.

Moon teaches that God’s sovereignty was stripped from him through the fall. The Messiah’s task is to rescue God and liberate suffering humanity by restoring its original lineage as children of God. Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus attempted to accomplish this task–and failed. John the Baptist destroyed Jesus’ credibility with the Jews, and so Jesus was crucified and his body invaded by Satan. This happened before he could perform the true messianic function of finding a perfect mate and propagating God’s perfect family on earth.

According to Moon, the cross is the symbol of the defeat of Christianity. While Christ accomplished the spiritual salvation of humanity by suffering and atoning for sin (a process called indemnity), humanity remains physically unredeemed. Jesus was not God, but a perfect man–the “second Adam.” He was not infected by original sin, and was therefore capable of acting as a “True Father.” But to produce a pure (redeemed) race, a “True Father” must unite with a “True Mother.” It remains for the “Lord of the Second Advent”–the “third Adam”–to fulfill this condition.

Is Moon this “Lord?” According to his two million followers (and Jesus, Buddha, and others who have reportedly bowed before him)–yes. The garbled message of the Bible and the beliefs of orthodox Christianity are about to be superseded. God will abandon Christians who refuse to acknowledge Moon “just as He abandoned the Jewish people who refused Jesus” (p. 256).

What kind of salvation does Moon offer? Through his own indemnity, some of which was endured in communist prison camps, Moon perfected himself enough to assume the role of the “True Father.” Early in his career he purportedly dispensed salvation “horizontally” in a way entirely consistent with his theology–by having sexual intercourse with his female initiates. This rite, called pikarume (the “cleansing of the blood”), was said to purify the initiate from the original sin inherited from Eve. According to the church, Mary similarly found favor with God by having intercourse with Zacharias the priest before conceiving Jesus.

Not surprisingly, this form of salvation is no longer practiced by Moon. Salvation now comes through devotion to the “True Parents” and by participating in mass marriages arranged by Moon. Although Moon’s three previous marriages failed, he claims to have finally found the “True Mother” in eighteen-year-old Hak Ja Han. She became the “Mother of the Universe” at the “Marriage of the Lamb” in 1960. On Sunday mornings faithful Church Family members bow three times before a picture of the “True Parents” and direct prayers to Moon.

Questionable Unification Church practices include participation in spiritism and the occult and dangerous and deceptive recruitment techniques. It is also involved in politics and publishing. But most critical are its theological errors. Moon’s Christ is not the Christ of the New Testament (Col. 2:9-10). His contention that the cross is a symbol of defeat is a blasphemous negation of the sovereignty and love of God (Matt. 20:28; Luke 24:25-27). Christ was not the “second Adam,” but the last and final Adam (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). His atoning death on the cross was predestined from eternity (Eph. 3:8-11). The one sacrifice that He accomplished “has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14). If the cross is a symbol of defeat, it is only so for Satan (Col. 2:15).

Key Concepts:

1. At the age of sixteen, _________ appeared to Moon and begged him to fulfill the mission he had failed to complete. [246]

2. In the ritual of ______________, female initiates reportedly achieved salvation through sexual intercourse with Moon. [249]

3. The practice of personal penance and atonement for sin is called ___________________. [252-53]

4. According to Moon, Jesus was executed and therefore failed to redeem humanity because he was betrayed by_________________________ . [253]

5. The church teaches two falls, a ____________________ fall and a ________________ fall, which must be reversed through two redemptions. [253-54]

6. The Unification Church doctrine of the end times is a version of _____________________________________. [255]

7. Moon feels that his dead son Heung Jin Nim speaks through a Zimbabwean by the process of ______________________. [262]

8. Two former members successfully sued the church, claiming they were deceptively recruited as a result of “ _________________________.” [265]

Life Application: Moon’s faulty concept of the “True Parents” should remind us of our true relationship with Abba, our Father-God. Through His Spirit we actually become God’s adopted children and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:15-17). 

Reading: Another Gospel, pp. 267-98.

Key Scripture: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: To An Unknown God. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you” (Acts 17:22-23).

Key Words: Guru, Yoga, Mantra, Reincarnation, Karma, Bhagavad-Gita, Imam Madhi, Bab.

Hare Krishna and Baha’i are unique among the cults in our study, because they are rooted in world religions other than Christianity. As such, they reflect not only the philosophy of their individual founders, but also the religious vision of an entire culture that developed over many years. They therefore tend to have more depth and sophistication than more recent homegrown movements like Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is one reason alternative religions incorporating Eastern philosophy have steadily gained influence and popularity in the West. In fact, the New Age movement can be understood, in part, as the inevitable result of the meeting and blending of Eastern and Western worldviews.

Hare Krishna

The International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), better known as Hare Krishna, was started by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1965. This Hindu guru (spiritual teacher) transplanted a form of devotional yoga (method of attaining union with God) to America. The central goal of Hare Krishna is to attain “god intoxication” or Krishna consciousness through the chanting of a mantra (mystic phrase), made up of the holy names of Krishna and Rama.

Hare Krishna is conservative and fundamentalist by Indian standards. The vast pantheon of Hindu gods–including the Hindu trinity Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva–are typically viewed as the reflections of the one Godhead, Brahman, in Indian philosophy. Krishna and Rama are considered incarnations of Vishnu. But for the yoga lineage represented by Prabhupada, Krishna alone is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is “eternal, all-knowing, omnipresent, all-powerful and all-attractive . . . the sustaining energy of all life, nature and the cosmic situation” (p. 397). This sounds close to Western monotheism. Indeed, Prabhupada even said that Krishna and Christ are identical, and that Christ’s name may be substituted for Krishna’s in chanting.

But beneath this superficial syncretism, serious difficulties remain. Although Prabhupada’s “Godhead” is said to be “unlike the material world,” the concept of a deity who “emanates” and “reabsorbs” the universe periodically leaves the relationship between Creator and creation indistinct. The worship ritual of waking, dressing, bathing, feeding, and putting to bed divine images is difficult to reconcile with biblical prohibitions against idolatry (Ex. 20:4-5; Isa. 44:9-20). The rigid asceticism and near celibacy demanded by Prabupada is reminiscent of dualism. And the Hindu theory of reincarnation clashes with the biblical view of judgment (Heb. 9:27). Reincarnation teaches that one’s rebirth in future lives, either in human or nonhuman form, is related to the law of karma. Karma is decided by the ratio of good and bad actions that a person commits. Salvation is earned by accumulating good karma. Reincarnation is thus a form of works-righteousness contrary to the biblical teaching of salvation through grace.

The relationship between Krishna and Christ is even more problematic. In actuality, Prabhupada did not equate Christ with Krishna, but taught that Krishna was Jesus’ father and that Jesus was a devotee of Krishna. Yet Krishna never even existed historically. He is a composite, fictitious character from the Bhagavad-gita, part of a huge Hindu literary epic. In the Bhagavad-gita Krishna is a mythical tribal hero-god who voices the religious speculation of first-century Hinduism. Though the Bhagavad-gita contains elevated religious ideas, it is preposterous to compare a fictional character with Jesus Christ. The historical evidence of Jesus’ existence is beyond serious question, and His character remains unique and life-changing across the centuries. Beyond that, His empty tomb stands as a testimony to His divine preeminence and authority.

ISKCON has been the hub of violent controversy, especially since Prabhupada’s death. Its devotees are notoriously persistent in their fund-raising efforts, and have been known to use deceit (or “divine deception”) to gather money. Women and the family are disparaged in the movement. Current ISKCON leaders have been connected with cases of drug-running, stockpiling arms, assault, sexual abuse, and theft. It is mainly in their foreign missionary programs that ISKCON has managed to maintain a positive public profile.


Baha’i

The Baha’i faith is rooted in Islam, but unlike its parent faith, Baha’i is syncretistic. It opposes war, although it too has known the bloody internal conflicts typical of Islam. To understand the origin of Baha’i, we must understand something of Islam. The two main divisions in Islam are the Sunnis, who recognized no successor to Muhammad, and the Shi’ites, who accepted Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law, as his successor. Ali’s descendants were considered divinely appointed leaders (Imam) by the Shi’ites. They were regarded as prime candidates for assassination by the Sunnis. The twelfth and last Imam remained a recluse and communicated to his followers through a spokesman called a Bab. Communication from the last Imam ceased in a.d. 941. Soon after, a messianic expectation arose that predicted the return of the Imam Madhi (“Expected One”) at the time of the end. In 1844 a Persian wool merchant, Mirza Ali Muhammad, claimed to be the new Bab. The resulting controversy led to bloodshed between the Persian government and the followers of the Bab, and finally to the Bab’s execution.

The Bab taught that he was but a channel of grace from another great person still behind the veil of glory. Thirteen years after the Bab’s death Mirza-Husayn Ali, one of his followers, announced that he was the Promised One foretold by the Bab. He took the name “Baha’u’llah”–“Glory of God.” Influenced probably by Christian theology regarding the Incarnation, Baha’u’llah cast himself and the former Bab in roles even more exalted than that of the prophet Muhammad. He claimed to be Jesus Christ returned and the Comforter promised by Christ (John 16:13), as well as the manifestation of God the Father. The Baha’i scriptures state that he was God. Baha’u’llah spent much of the remainder of his life in prison where he dictated over one hundred books. After his death in 1892 the Baha’i faith spread through the efforts of Baha’u’llah’s son and grandson and the curiosity of Westerners.

The problem with Baha’i for both Muslims and Christians is its claim regarding Baha’u’llah. Baha’u’llah identified himself as a “channel of wondrous Grace that would transcend all previous outpourings, in which all previous forms of religion would become merged, as rivers merge in the ocean” (p. 286). Baha’is accept an order of progressively perfect Manifestations of God that include Christ and Muhammad, but culminate with Baha’u’llah. For a Muslim to suggest that Muhammad was not the final “Seal of the Prophets” was a death sentence, and, as a result, Baha’is have been brutally persecuted as recently as Khomeini’s regime.

Baha’i is a highly ethical faith espousing such principles as the oneness of the human race, the unity of all religions, and justice with universal peace. Christians can applaud the ethical goals of Baha’i, but we cannot allow Christ or Christianity to be assigned a lower position than Baha’u’llah and Baha’i. As with Krishna, when the character, claims, and accomplishments of Baha’u’llah and Jesus Christ are examined closely, Baha’u’llah pales in comparison. Baha’i preachs a false religious syncretism, which is really a thinly veiled declaration of its own religious superiority. We cannot sacrifice the Christian belief in the full sufficiency of Christ’s atoning sacrifice to such deceptive claims (Heb. 9:26).

Key Concepts:

1. Which world religion did Hare Krishna spring from? _____________ [267] Baha’i? ___________ [285]

2. True or False. Swami Prabhupada attended a prestigious Christian school in Calcutta. [269]

3. The mystic prayer syllables chanted by yogis are called ____________. [274]

4. The doctrine that a person may return as a dog or cat in a future life is called __________________________. [275]

5. The Hindu law of __________ attributes one’s status in a future life to good or evil works done in this life. [275]

6. Krishna is a mythical literary character who appears in the Hindu scripture called the ______________________________. [276]

7. The ________________ Muslims felt that a series of divinely appointed leaders succeeded Muhammad. [286]

8. Baha’u’llah means “ ________________ of God.” [288]

9. Baha’i is a highly ______________ religion that seeks the equality of men and women as well as universal education and peace. [294]


Further Study: Read “Basic Beliefs International Society for Krishna Consciousness” and “Basic Facts of the Baha’i Faith” in AG, pp. 397-98.

Life Application: As you read through the ethical teachings of Baha’i on pages 294-96, list several that you find “noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy” (Phil. 4:8). How could you use these as conversation starters with a Baha’i? What answer would you give regarding the difference between Jesus and Baha’u’llah?