What some out there who don't know the Worldwide Church of God may be unaware of is that an important teaching of the church was that the name "Church of God" is critical; it is an identifier of the real church. Groups who are not called "Church of God" aren't the real church. Conversely, groups that are called "Church of God" are also not the real church unless they practice what Herbert Armstrong taught. But I want to concentrate on the name in this post.
In my studies (if you're exiting an xCOG, you know what I mean about studies) I came across a little known fact. Once upon a time, long long ago, Ignatius in his letter to Smyrna called the Church of God (and they did sometimes call themselves "Church of God" as a general descriptor) the "Catholic Church". Catholic means 'universal' (this was also a general descriptor). In the mind of a person in that place and time, 'universal' basically meant 'the whole world'. This is evident by Ignatius' statement "...wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
What I mean by 'general descriptor' is that neither "Church of God" nor "Catholic" were agreed upon proper names. They were pretty much as generic as the term "Christian", or "Church at Corinth", etc. No one at that time had agreed upon proper names.
Given that info we can conclude, more or less literally, the Catholic Church is the original "Worldwide Church of God"!!!
No wonder Herbert Armstrong liked their hierarchy so much.
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