HOUSTON, Texas—In his article on seven church eras (The Journal, Feb. 28), Robert Thiel recalls Herbert Armstrong’s teaching that the Church of God (Seventh Day)—CG7, below—fits the description of the Sardis church in Revelation 3:1-6: "essentially dead."

We in the CG7 might answer the charge by debating the point on which Dr. Thiel based it, namely that the CG7 is "moving toward Christmas observance" (The Journal, Dec. 24, 2004).

It will be more fruitful, however, to recognize that the writers of both articles use different criteria from the ones we use for determining the life in a church. Their analysis turned on whether the church "holds fast" to secondary doctrinal points, as taught by Mr. Armstrong. Our evaluation refers more to gospel criteria, like the description of a living church in verses beginning with 1 Peter 2:4.

The CG7 is a Bible-based, Christ-centered, Sabbath-observing group of believers. We have not grown large since our founding in the 1800s, but there are signs of life.

In the U.S.A. and Canada, for example, we serve 200 congregations and 10,000-plus attendees.