The Death of CGI’s Bronson James

Late last week, the Church of God International announced the death of longtime Pastor, Bronson James. In their In Memory of Bronson T. James, they noted that “Bronson, 76, was a long-time servant of God's people. He was one of the pioneers of the Church of God International ministry. He pastored churches, served for decades on the CGI's Ministerial Council and Board of Directors, and was instrumental in the creation and production of the Armor of God television program. He was hired by the CGI in 1988 to manage the Letter Answering Department, and he continued working at the home office, taking on various other responsibilities, until he moved to Detroit, MI, in circa 2002.”

After leaving the Worldwide Church of God, I had the opportunity to meet Pastor James and listen to him speak and sing in 1986. I was immediately impressed with both his sincerity, warmth, independent spirit, and oratorical abilities. Over the years that followed, I became aware of the fact that Bronson was adamantly opposed to the preaching of Anglo-Israelism, and that he had made his opposition to that doctrine very plain to both my father and Bill Watson. Moreover, as one of the few African American ministers in the church at that time, his open opposition to the teaching of Anglo-Israelism was a source of some difficulty and embarrassment for many of the White Anglo-Saxon ministers within CGI. To his credit, Bronson continued to extend the hand of fellowship to his deceived brethren in the ministry, but he steadfastly refused to preach it to his own congregation or endorse it when others chose to preach it to their congregations.

In September of last year, I wrote privately to Bronson expressing my own strong distaste for the teaching of Anglo-Israelism. I said: “I am of the opinion that this belief has been completely discredited by science, history, linguistics, and Scripture. Moreover, I believe that the underlying premise of the teaching has proven to be racist, and that its disqualification necessarily renders any prophetic interpretation which depends on it to be invalid.” And, although we both understood that correspondence to be confidential at the time, I don’t feel the same need to protect that communication that I felt while he was still living. Indeed, I think that it is more important to make very clear that Pastor James did NOT support the teaching of this pernicious doctrine!

It didn’t take Bronson very long to respond to me. He wrote: “Thanks for reaching out to me! To keep my response short and to the point: I'm in agreement with you<r> correct perspective on the issues you presented. I have confronted Bill on his point of view going back 20 years or more. British/Israelism is totally un Biblical. I don't teach it or all<ow> it taught in the Detroit congregation. I try to respond to a growing number of Believers in the Body of Christ who see the error of that teaching. I eventually see a split materializing in this matter. But those who hold fast to the Truth of the Bible will not be drawn into this untruth. Thank you for expressing your difference even with your own father on this matter. Be strong in the Truth you know!”

Pastor Bronson James was a voice of sanity and reason within CGI, and he will be sorely missed. Nevertheless, I believe it does a disservice to the man and his memory to gloss over or dismiss his determined opposition to the messaging associated with the teaching of Anglo-Israelism. The TRUTH is that Pastor Bronson James believed that British-Israelism was “totally unbiblical” and should NOT be taught from the pulpit!