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Church of God of Prophecy

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located by Chris Kretowicz, 19 December 2002

According to the website at churchofgod.org this flag has been used since 1933.
Chris Kretowicz, 19 December 2002

The Church of God of Prophecy is a direct offshoot of the Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee. In the 1920s when A.J. Tomlinson, then the head of COG (Cleveland) was ousted from that role he and those who remained loyal to him became what is now COGOP.
Ned Smith, 7 November 2004

The church flag can be seen at the top of the homepage of their website http://worldwide.cogop.org .
Ron Lahav, 27 January 2005

According to the FAQ on the Church's website, "The flag of the Church of God of Prophecy came into use in 1933 as an ensign to 'be displayed because of the truth' (Psalm 60:4). Because the Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is 'the Truth' (John 14:6), the various designs and colors on the flag represent His character and work. Thus, the red represents His blood, the blue His truth, and the white His purity. The purple scepter, star, and crown all represent His royalty or kingship. As was stated when the flag was first introduced, its components 'all point to our Christ.' "

And also, according to the website of a local branch of the church: "The All Nations flag represents the holiness of Jesus Christ and the unity of all Christians that Jesus prayed for."
[All Nations flag is the official name of the flag. In fact the COGOP is sometimes known as "The All Nations Flag Church", so closely is it associated with its flag- (David Barrett "World Christian Encyclopedia", 1982)] The flag as shown on most Church of God of Prophecy websites appears to have a lighter shade of purple than appears above here. For example see:
http://www.ourchurch-graphics.com/member/c/ChristTab/Church_Flag.jpg
http://riverside.iglesia-dios.org/
http://cogop.by.ru/
http://www.stewartsigns.com/images/church-witness-117-large.jpg
http://www.stewartsigns.com/images/church-witness-194-large.jpg
Also, the church's official online store once had many images of the flag on various products, all having a very light purple, in its catalog. They don't seem to be there currently, but some can still be retrieved from the Google cache.

However there are some church sites which do use the dark purple in their images, for example http://www.marinatabernacle.org/ and photos seem to show the dark purple too, but that may be a result of lighting conditions, see for example http://riverside.iglesia-dios.org/images/gallery/112498_image29.htm http://asp2.wlv.ac.uk/hlss/Religion%20in%20Wolverhampton/Church%20of%20God%20of%20Prophecy%20virtual%20tour.htm

The COGOP has a flag pledge specifically for its denominational flag: "I pledge allegiance to our Church Flag, and to the doctrine for which it stands- one God, one Faith, one Mind, and one Church for all. Amen"
http://assembly.cogop.org/downloads/assemblyprogram.pdf [on page 6]

The COGOP had arisen from a split in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), and several groups later split off from the COGOP itself, and some devised flags of their own, based on the basic pattern of the All Nations Flag.

-The Church of God (Charleston, Tennessee) split from the COGOP in 1993, and within a year itself split into two branches. One uses a flag and logo very similar to that of the COGOP, but has the scepter, star and crown emblems in one ellipsoid instead of three circles. See http://www.thechurchofgod.org/history.shtml . There was at one time a news article online about this church losing a lawsuit to the Church of God of Prophecy over their design and they were ordered to cease. The article is no longer available, and the church is still using the design, so perhaps the decision was reversed on appeal, or the appeal is still ongoing.

The Church of God For All Nations has what it calls "the Banner of Truth", see http://www.thechurchofgodnations.org/ (and an offshoot of this offshoot, the People of Truth, has two of its own flags- the Flag of the Dominion and the Flag of the Sanctuary- but they are of a different pattern. See http://www.tpot.org/People/Common/flags.shtml for a succinct history of the succession of flags)
Ned Smith, 31 January 2005

I have since been able to relocate the article- it is at http://www.ministriestoday.com/online/articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=4502 and I have also found a transcript of the court case which shows why the design is still in use- contrary to my initial impression it was not the COGOP which was suing to stop use of the flag by the break-away group, it was actually the break-away group's unsuccessful attempt to register the COGOP's flag as its own, claiming they were the true successors to the the original church. The transcript is at http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/foia/ttab/2dissues/2000/94180.pdf
Ned Smith, 31 January 2005