Editing Two by Twos (section)

=== Schism ===
William Irvine's progressive revelation continued to evolve over this time, and [[Eschatology|eschatological]] themes began to appear in sermons.{{sfn|New York Times|6 August 1909|p=4}}{{efn-ua|"As early as 1912, Irvine was exercising his charismatic imagination in ways that must have been unsettling to those in the movement with an interest in routinization.  In that year he told conventions that it might be possible to travel to the stars and act as saviours to them as Jesus acted for us.  He spoke of Christ's imminent return and referred to his movement as the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation."&nbsp;—''Benton Johnson'' {{harv|Johnson|1995|p=50}}.}} By 1914, he had begun to preach that the [[Dispensation Principle|Age of Grace]], during which his "Alpha Gospel" had been proclaimed, was coming to a close. As his message turned towards indicating a new era, which held no place for the ministry and hierarchy{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=50}} that had rapidly grown up around the "Alpha Gospel," resentment arose on the part of overseers who saw him as a threat to their positions.{{sfn|Parker|Parker|1982|p=62}}{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=50}}

Australian overseer John Hardie was the first to break with Irvine and excluded him from speaking at the South Australia convention in late 1913. As 1914 progressed, he was excluded from speaking in a growing number of regions, as more overseers broke away from him.{{sfn|Parker|Parker|1982|p=63}} Rumors circulated about Irvine's comfortable lifestyle and supposed weakness for women, though nothing concrete was ever exposed.{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=49}} It was put about that Irvine "had lost the Lord's anointing" in an effort to explain his ouster. He was [[Shunning|shunned]] and his name was no longer mentioned, making him a nonperson in the church he founded.{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=50}} There were many [[excommunication]]s of Irvine loyalists in various fields during the following years, and by 1919, the split was final, with Irvine moving to Jerusalem and transmitting his "[[William Irvine (Scottish evangelist)#Omega Message|Omega Message]]" to his core followers from there. Lacking any organizational means of making his case before the membership, Irvine's ouster occurred quietly.{{sfn|Wallis|1981|p=130}} Most members continued following the overseers, and few outside the leadership knew the details behind Irvine's disappearance from the scene, as no public mention of the split seems to have been made.{{sfn|Parker|Parker|1982|p=64}} Mention of Irvine's name was forbidden, and a new explanation of the group's history was introduced from which Irvine's role was erased.{{sfn|Kropp-Ehrig|2022|pp=201–207}}{{efn-ua|"The workers declared that Irvine 'had lost the Lord's anointing' and banned him from all assemblies. But they also had to devise a new source of authority for the movement's very special brand of Christianity. They did this by an ingenious falsification of their own history, in which Irvine's role was obliterated. And armed with this new history and the unity to enforce a ban on Irvine, the workers declared that the founder's name was not to be mentioned within the movement. He was excised from the shared memory of the organization he had founded."&nbsp;—''Johnson in Klass and Weisgrau'' {{harv|Johnson|1999|p=378}}.}}

Although the threat posed by Irvine to the church's organization had been dealt with, the prominent worker Edward Cooney refused to place his evangelistic efforts under the control of the overseers. Cooney himself adhered to the earlier, unfettered style of itinerant ministry, moving about wherever he felt he was needed.{{sfn|Johnson|1995|pp=51, 55}} He rejected the appointment of head workers to geographic regions and criticized their lifestyles.{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=51}} He also preached against the "Living Witness" doctrine (i.e., that [[salvation]] entails hearing the gospel preached directly by a worker and seeing the gospel made alive in the sacrificial lives of the ministry), the bank accounts controlled by the overseers, use of halls for meetings, conventions, the hierarchy that had developed, and the ministry and the registrations under official names.{{sfn|Wilson|1993}}{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=51}} For a time, his message urging a return to the original principles of Matthew 10 gained a following, even among some Australian overseers.{{sfn|Johnson|1995|pp=51, 52}}

A second division occurred in 1928 when Edward Cooney was expelled for criticizing the hierarchy and other elements that had arisen within the church, which he saw as serious deviations from the church's original message. The overseers seized upon a failed attempt at performing a [[faith healing]] as a pretext to excommunicate him.{{sfn|Johnson|1995|p=52}} Cooney's loyal supporters joined him, including some of the early workers, and they stayed faithful to what they perceived to be the original tenets.{{sfn|Roberts|1990|pp=145–154}} The term "[[Cooneyite]]" today chiefly refers to the group which separated (or were excommunicated) along with Cooney and who continue as an independent group. Prior to the [[Schism (religion)|schism]], onlookers had labeled the entire movement as "Cooneyites" due to Edward Cooney's prominence in the early growth of the church. There are areas where this older usage continues.{{sfn|Melton|2009|pp=554–555}}