To Whom It May Concern

The following is a sermon by Mr. Ed Flowers, who is an Associate Pastor in the Church of God. It is a message relevant to all people associated with the Church of God in the Laodicean Era.

Sermon: I Will Work A Work In Your Days – Mr. Flowers

Other Important Articles

A Message to Philadelphian Christians in the Laodicean Era

When Herbert W. Armstrong died in January 1986, the Philadelphia era of God’s Church came to a close and the “time of the end” began.  We can say this because of what we read in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  

Mr. Herbert Armstrong was called and trained by God to fulfill the commission of the Philadelphia era, which was to make a proclamation to the world of Christ’s coming kingdom.  This commission as described in Revelation 3 is the work of the sixth era.  In Revelation 3 and verse 8, Christ states, “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it . . .”

Almost the same phrase was used by the apostle Paul in II Corinthians 2:12, again in the context of Christ’s gospel, which was the good news of His coming kingdom (Matt. 4:23).  “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord.”  Likewise, Mr. Herbert Armstrong proceeded through the open door provided for the Philadelphia era to take the gospel to the world.

The kingdom of God gospel was a message that only Herbert Armstrong proclaimed throughout the twentieth century.  This was a unique work, because no other professing Christian organization believed in the Second Coming of Christ to establish on earth His millennial kingdom, which was the message Christ brought.  Instead others preached a gospel about Christ Himself, rather than the good news of His coming kingdom.

With the commission of the Philadelphia era completed, the Church entered into the final Laodicean era.  This is the era of the end-time.

The word “era” means “a period typified by some special feature” (The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary).  The special feature of the Philadelphia era was, of course, the gospel going out to this society as a proclamation.  However, this is not the only feature of the Philadelphia era.  There are other positive features regarding the people of this era.

Turning again to Revelation 3, we find in verse 8 that they are described as keeping Christ’s Word, and not denying His name.  They do not deny Christ’s name: everything that He is, represents, and stands for.  Mr. Herbert Armstrong was used by God to introduce those God called during the Philadelphia era, to the real Jesus, whose message was orientated to His coming kingdom.

When Philadelphians are commended for keeping Christ’s Word (His teaching or doctrine), the English word “keep” does not convey the full meaning of the Greek.  The Greek word is tereo and it means “to watch over, give heed to, to observe, preserve, guard, and protect.”  Not only are they to keep Christ’s Word, but in verse 11 of Revelation, they are commanded to “hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”  This crown is a crown of victory for overcoming Satan and qualifying to rule with Christ in His kingdom.  

What Philadelphian Christians have to hold fast to is that which God gave them through Mr. Herbert Armstrong.  That body of doctrine is what they have to guard, and protect, and hold fast to.

This is very important when we consider what happened to the Worldwide Church of God after Mr. Herbert W.  Armstrong’s death.  The new leadership took the Church back into the false Christianity of this society, an event which was prophesied in II Thessalonians 2.

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.  Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first . . . (II Thes. 2.:1-3a).

The result of this falling away, led to a scattering of those who left the Worldwide Church of God into a myriad of groups, which have mostly rejected, or lost sight of, many of the teachings God provided for them through Mr. Herbert Armstrong.  Such a time is prophesied in Amos 8:11-12,

`Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord God, `That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.’

In a famine, food is scarce and difficult to find.  Here the food referred to is “the words of the Lord!”  Some people think this prophecy pertains to the time of the tribulation, but this cannot be; since, for almost the entire tribulation period, the two witnesses will not only be speaking God’s Words, but also backing them up with powerful signs and miracles (see Rev. 11).  Returning to Amos 8:11, let us consider the word “hearing”.  The Hebrew word is shama, which means, to hear and obey, to understand what is heard, to give heed to, to obey, to pay attention and to be aware of something that happened (Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible).  This puts a different complexion on the famine of hearing.

Now we understand it to be a famine of hearing and obeying.  It also has the connotation of a lack of understanding of what is heard; or an inability of perceiving a message communicated and a lack of understanding of what has happened.  This pretty well typifies the condition of most people associated with God’s Church since Mr. Herbert Armstrong died.  A diminishing obedience to the truth they first received and a lack of respect for the man God used to bring it to them has resulted in an inability to grasp the new understanding of end-time chronology, God has given His Church since January 1986.

The phrase “the word of the Lord” in verse 12, is a technical expression for prophetic revelation.  So once again, because of disobedience, such people in the last era will lack prophetic understanding.  Today, this has led to either a fear of delving into prophecy or a lack of interest in it.  In verse 11, the Hebrew word translated “land” can also be translated earth and God’s people are scattered all over planet earth today.  

It is interesting that it is God who sends this end-time famine of hearing and obeying His Word.  Why would God do this?  As noted, after the death of Mr. Herbert  W. Armstrong, the man God raised up to proclaim the Kingdom Gospel to the world, the ministry and brethren largely rejected him.  Others changed the form of government established in the Church, while others refused to accept that Mr. Herbert Armstrong completed the commission he alone had been trained to accomplish.

In general there has been a move into Protestantism, where the gospel is construed as a tool to save millions in this age.

For these reasons, God has sent this spiritual famine on the majority who have failed to honor and respect His servant.  These people are in a blind condition, unaware that they are now in the final era of God’s Church, an era that greatly displeases Him.

Only those who have held fast to the truth and hold Mr. Herbert Armstrong in proper regard will continue to grow in Biblical understanding in the final era of the Church.  The importance of holding fast to the truth and the positive result for so doing are highlighted in I John 2:24-25,

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us eternal life.

So let me emphasize, only those who hold fast to what they initially received from Mr. Herbert Armstrong, fully recognizing that he was a man sent from God, can be considered Philadelphian Christians.  This along with other important qualities, to be covered later, will ensure their physical protection during the coming tribulation. Remember that Philadelphian Christians are warned to let no one take their victory crowns (Rev. 3:11).  Since there will only be 144,000 saints in the first resurrection, those foolish enough to give up their crowns will need to be replaced.

As we look at the visible remnant of God’s Church today, seventeen years after Mr. Herbert Armstrong completed his commission, we are confronted with the following reality.  The visible Church in the Laodicean era, the last era, is composed of Christians, those with a Laodicean attitude, who displease Christ; those with a Philadelphian attitude, who hold fast in the final era, who please Him; and the unconverted.

In what kind of condition are Laodicean Christians today?  In Revelation 3, we are told that their spiritual condition is so disgusting that Christ is at the point of vomiting them out of His mouth.  What have they done to anger Him so greatly?  The answer is in Revelation 3.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, `I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’-and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent (Rev. 3:15-19).

They think they are spiritually rich, yet in Christ’s view they are spiritually poor, wretched, blind and naked.  To be spiritually naked is tantamount to being virtually unconverted.  The mind, almost devoid of God’s Spirit, cannot be obedient!

For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life (II Cor. 5:1-4).

The clothing of the Christian is righteousness and spirituality.  Note how the bride of Christ is described in Revelation 19:7-8. “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Christ demands unity within the body of His Church; but sadly that is not what we find today.  To the contrary, the various scattered and divided groups which have cropped up over the last seventeen years, ostensibly in support of Mr. Armstrong, refuse to unite to finish the work they claim he did not complete.  Initially the leaders of these groups used Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s name as a way to gather support for themselves, while at the same time watering down, undermining or discarding much of what he taught for some fifty-two years.

The irony is that their “riches” or superiority over false Christianity derive from what Mr. Herbert  W. Armstrong taught them.  Yet they show him no respect, nor Jesus Christ who sent him, when they, both, water down doctrine and say he did not complete his commission of taking the true gospel to the world.

These are some of the reasons Laodicean Christians are scattered today and why they will have to endure the tribulation to secure their eternal lives and a position in Christ’s government on earth.  Along with the scattering into various groups has come the inevitable cooling of God’s love between ministers and laity.  This too is a fulfillment of prophecy.  “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12).  Lawlessness, or a hatred of government in God’s Church is prevalent in this last era.  The apostle Paul in his last letter (II Timothy) prophesied about the end time divisions in God’s Church.  “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:” (II Tim. 3:1); “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (II Tim 4:3-4).  Such fables would include, the nature of God and the Trinity.

The Bible gives other clear examples of why God allows His people to be scattered. For example in Nehemiah 1:7-8, Nehemiah reminds the Jews of what Moses told them and all Israel.  Namely that they would be scattered among the nations if they did not keep God’s commandments and statutes.

We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.  Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations’ (Neh. 1:7-8).

In verse 9, Nehemiah tells the Jews that the solution to their scattered condition is to repent and get back to diligently keeping the commandments.  This is the way to spiritual and physical unity; and is just as true today as it was then.  “But if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.”  That place is Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Another reason scattering takes place is found in Luke 1:50-51.  Here a contrast is made between those who fear or greatly respect God, and those who are full of pride in respect to their thoughts and ideas apart from God.  They are proud of their human reasoning.  Such are scattered from God, rather than united to and with Him.

Today, Laodicean Christians regard themselves as rich, yet clearly they are in a scattered condition.  Through human reasoning they think they can discard much of what God brought to the Church through Mr. Herbert Armstrong, without incurring the Almighty’s wrath!  They are too blind to see that Christ is about to vomit them out of His mouth into the soon-coming tribulation.  Yet, in reality, He is!  Indeed in verse 20 of Revelation 3, Christ describes Himself standing outside the Laodicean congregation knocking at the door, asking if anyone hears His voice.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”  This is a startling contrast with what is found in Revelation 1:12-13, where Christ is depicted as standing in the midst of the seven church eras.  Laodiceans, by their attitude of self-complacency and unwarranted pride, have caused Christ to move away-from inside to outside the door.  By way of contrast, Philadelphian Christians are not scattered even though living in the Laodicean era.

Under Mr. Herbert Armstrong, in the Philadelphia era, there was one organized body, not many groups in conflict with one another.  There was one leader, not many and one headquarters, and that headquarters was in the United States of America.  This is the Philadelphia model, as Christ inspired Mr. Herbert  W. Armstrong to set it up.  This is still the model for the Philadelphia Church living in the Laodicean era.

Since Philadelphian Christians recognize Herbert W. Armstrong as the man called and trained by Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, to fulfill the gospel commission; they know He finished that aspect of the work.  As a consequence they also know the goal now is to prepare the bride for Christ’s Second Coming.

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, `Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  Then he said to me, `Write: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”’ And he said to me, `These are the true sayings of God’ (Rev. 19:6-9).

What does that preparation involve?  It must involve deeper unity through adherence to the truth once delivered, an increasing outgoing, outflowing concern for one another and growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  That knowledge includes a greater understanding of the chronological order of end-time prophetic events.  After all, Christ told His disciples that once they received the Holy Spirit it would guide them into all truth (Jn. 16:13).  This applies throughout the Church eras and continues in the final era of the Church.  Christians must always grow in grace and truth (Jn 17:20; II Pet 3:18).  What God’s Church, Worldwide knows today was unknown to any other era or prophet of old, proving the point.

When Mr. Herbert Armstrong died in 1986, prophetic understanding did not and should not have come to a halt (Dan 12:9-10; Amos 3:7).  The faithful Philadelphian remnant living into the last era should continue to grow in prophetic understanding.  Why?  Because the Bible says the Philadelphian remnant please God through their faithfulness.  They have been faithful to what they initially received, recognizing where it came from and who brought it to them.

 Understanding prophecy and seeing prophesied events fall into place, both motivates and encourages God’s faithful servants, which is especially necessary considering the times they are living in.  Prophecy gives a time line of events for God’s faithful to watch as the return of Christ approaches.  Such servants are told to watch and be more fervent as they see that day approaching (Heb 10:25b; Matt. 24:37-51; I Cor. 16:13-14, 16; Rev. 3:3).

Faithfulness is an essential quality required by God in Christians.  Those who rise to meet Christ at His return, to rule with Him, are so described in Revelation 17:14.

By being faithful to the “Armstrong legacy”, Philadelphians are counted as faithful to Christ and God the Father.  We find this principle in John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” and John 14:21, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Today, for all the reasons given above, Philadelphian and Laodicean Christians cannot unite.  As Mr. Herbert Armstrong often stated, “We were not called merely for salvation, but to qualify to rule and teach under Christ in the Kingdom.”  Christ selects His governmental team based on specific qualities, and no one can force their way into it.  Laodicean Christians qualify to rule with Christ and secure their eternal lives by giving up their physical lives in the tribulation (Rev. 6:9, 11; 12:17).  Whereas, Philadelphians are promised protection during that terrible three and one-half years (Rev. 3:10; 12:14).  They must prove worthy before the tribulation (Lk. 21:36).  Nevertheless, both will be unified at Christ’s return.  Both will have fulfilled their calling and qualified to rule with Christ in His Kingdom
Since only Philadelphian Christians are pleasing God at this time, by holding fast faithfully, Satan’s goal is to create disunity in their ranks.  As of now, he has the Laodiceans where he wants them and thus directs his main efforts toward Philadelphians.  Only by being close to God in prayer, study, fasting and service to others can he be withstood.

Consider therefore the apostle Peter’s advice in I Peter 5:6-11.  Note that this is addressed specifically to the elders of the Church (v.1).  Satan knows that if he can destroy them, he can more easily vanquish the brethren.  This is why it is important for Philadelphians to pray for their elders and appreciate them for the work they do.  This contributes to the unity God and Christ demand.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.  But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Along the same lines, pay heed to what Paul says in his letter to the Philippians.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God.  For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Phil. 1:27-2:4).

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain (Phil. 2:12-16).

Mr. Herbert Armstrong was prescient when he said that government would be a problem in the Laodicean era.  This has proved to be so, with some groups operating without any ministers and others conforming to a form of democracy.

God’s government is from the top down and is the form of government established in the Church by Mr. Herbert  W. Armstrong.  That is still God’s form of government and if accepted and adhered to by Philadelphians will also play a major factor in obtaining and securing unity as Christ demands.  Probably the greatest problem associated with government in the Church today is that only a tiny minority of people in the last era are willing to be subject to ministerial authority.  Most refuse to submit when what they wish to do is in conflict with Biblically based directives from God’s ministers.  Such people will never, unless they repent, rule in Christ’s government.  A sign of a Philadelphian Christian is his willingness to submit to God’s government in the Church.

Let’s conclude this study with Christ’s Words in John 17.

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the worldThey were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. . . . I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. . . . I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. . . . I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me (Jn. 17:6, 9-11, 15-17, 20-21).

Philadelphians must fight for that unity as they hold fast in the lackluster Laodicean era.

Philadelphian Reactions and Traits
With the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God, Philadelphian Christians know they do not need to look for a new Church.  They understand that, through baptism and the laying on of hands, they are already in the True Church of God and what they need is a true minister or ministers who refuse to teach false doctrine and who honor and respect Mr. Armstrong as the man God called and trained to take the announcement of Christ’s millennial kingdom on earth to the world.

Philadelphians also recognize that outside of his specific commission, Mr. Herbert Armstrong, to a degree, speculated on some aspects of end-time chronology.

Philadelphians also recognize, because of their proper respect for God’s apostle, that Christ, the Head of the Church of God, will add to their understanding of end-time chronology.

Since the true gospel has gone to all the world and been rejected, Philadelphians know they are now living in the end times and that the main thrust of God’s work is to prepare the bride for Christ’s soon coming.

Preparation of the bride involves an active effort to produce greater unity through the power of God’s spirit, to engender more of God’s love in the ministry and brethren.  Mr. Herbert Armstrong defined this type of love as “an outgoing, outflowing, concern for others.”

Philadelphians understand that unity is also based on correct doctrine, which includes having God’s government.  God’s government is from the top down.  It is not a democracy. Having God’s form of government and being subject to it produces unity and insures we all speak the same thing (I Cor. 1:10).

Philadelphians recognize that their ministry is human and therefore subject to error.  They also comprehend that Christ, as Head of the Church, will correct and redirect His ministry for the good of His people.  Sometimes patience is required here, because Christ may not act immediately and may be using the situation to test everyone to see if they are prepared to wait without slipping into rebellion.  

Philadelphian Christians will always go directly  to anyone (ministers included) they believe has wronged them, rather than talk about the perceived problem to others (Matt. 18:15-17).

A Philadelphian, minister or lay member, must be able to admit when he is wrong.
Philadelphians grasp that Christ is so upset with Laodiceans that He will vomit them into the tribulation, so Philadelphians do not want to be like Laodiceans anyway.

Philadelphia means “brotherly love.”  Therefore, Philadelphians will be eager and enthusiastic and deeply concerned for one another, quick to forgive, and always ready to support, and encourage others.  

Philadelphians living in the Laodicean era are the link between Mr. Herbert Armstrong and the two witnesses.  Philadelphians understand that the great work ahead is that of the two witnesses.

Philadelphians will reject ministers who have accepted or taught false doctrine.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb 10:22-25).

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:  `For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.  Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’  But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (Heb 10:35-39).

Be encouraged.  Hold fast to the end.  He that endures in the truth to the end shall be saved!

The Laodiceans' Way

To Whom It May Concern:

There is a way that seemeth right unto a Laodicean!  But the end thereof is the way of death in the tribulation!

Have you met a Laodicean recently?  Probably not.  You don’t find any volunteers for that designation do you?

Since this is the last era of God’s Church, there ought to be a lot of Laodiceans in existence, don’t you think?  Of course, the Bible describes them as blind, blind to themselves, in Revelation 3:17.  They think they are spiritually “rich, and increased with goods,” but in God’s sight they are spiritually “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” — in other words, sinful and unaware.

Christ counsels them to buy of Him gold tried in the fire of the tribulation, that they may be truly rich.  Indeed, He rebukes and chastens those He loves, so . . . repent is Christ’s message.  But alas, since we cannot find any Laodiceans this appears impossible!

What a conundrum!

Well, what about you?  Are you just a little afraid that you might be a Laodicean?  Are you concerned that in reality you are not yet spiritually mature?  Do you have doubts?  Do you feel uncertain?

If so, there is hope for you because in fact Laodiceans don’t think this way.  Real Laodiceans would never admit to such possibilities.  Arrogance is the hallmark of this mindset.

Oh yes, there is a way that seems right to the Laodiceans now; but later, in the tribulation they will repent, and at the cost of their lives gain their crowns of victory.  This is good news, but the lesson is a hard one.  Philadelphian Christians who repent now will, in contrast, be protected and nourished by Christ throughout the entire three and one-half years of the tribulation.

You have a choice, but time is running out fast.  ACT NOW!  Don’t rely on the false security of being associated with a large group.

The majority is generally wrong!

Herbert W. Armstrong, Fallible or Infallible?

For several years I have said the key to coming out of the mass confusion that grips God’s people today is to understand who Herbert W. Armstrong was.  His legitimacy as a bona fide servant of God has a bearing on our own legitimacy as Christians, since it is irrefutable that God called us through the writings and sermons of this man.

Today it seems, Mr. Armstrong is viewed either as too flawed and therefore lacking in Godly inspiration, or conversely as infallible and incapable of error.

Neither of these views is correct.  Mr. Armstrong was a true servant of God, but like everyone of God’s servants, he was fallible and he did make mistakes!

The Bible frequently recounts the sins and weaknesses of its heroes and their doctrinal misapprehensions at certain points in their lives.  Should we consider the apostle Paul as no servant of God, as uninspired, because he thought and taught that Christ would return in his lifetime?  Peter was similarly confused on this point.  How should we view Peter who was openly criticized by Paul for being hypocritical in his dealings with the Gentiles when Jews of the Pharisee sect were present? Peter was wrong, yet Christ promised that after His Second Coming, Peter would rule one of the tribes of Israel.  Consider David.  He will rule over all twelve tribes in the millennium, and although described as a man after God’s own heart, he had some serious lapses involving adultery and murder.  Obviously, both Peter and David repented of their sins and are to rule with Christ.  Nevertheless, while human, both at times displayed serious short comings.

Why is it that we can read and believe these Biblical accounts of indiscretions perpetrated by well-known servants of God, but can’t accept such possibilities in people we have come in contact with, such as Herbert Armstrong? Isn’t this unrealistic?

Perhaps those who regard Mr. Armstrong as flawed use this as an excuse to turn their backs on teachings they at one time should have proved to be Biblical, but now find inconvenient!  Tithing is an example of this, so is refusing to be shepherded by an ordained ministry.  Remember, Paul a minister of Jesus Christ said, “Prove all things” and “Follow me as I follow Christ.”

Conversely, those who unrealistically view Mr. Armstrong as infallible ignore the Biblical reality that “there is none righteous, no, not one!” Even after conversion we all sin.  “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I Jn. 1:8-9).  Perhaps their viewpoint is based on insecurity?  Are they afraid that if they admit Mr. Armstrong made mistakes, they won’t be able to rely on anything he said?  Such doubts and fears essentially mean that rather than actually proving the doctrines for themselves, they instead put their reliance on Mr. Armstrong, even though he frequently said, “Don’t believe me, believe your Bible.

So how should we regard Herbert Armstrong?  When I first came in contact with God’s Church, back in the winter of 1966, I thought Sunday was the correct Christian day of worship.  I believed that I’d either go to heaven or hell when I died.  I was told that God’s law no longer applied to Christians.  I didn’t know about the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, or the other holy days.  I didn’t know why I was born.  I didn’t understand the importance of tithing, or what the true gospel of Jesus Christ was.  I had no idea that Christ’s government was to be established on this earth, and was to last one thousand years.  I was totally ignorant of these things and so were most of you!  I didn’t know I was called to qualify for rulership with Christ.  Did you?

We all learned these truths through the teaching of Herbert W. Armstrong, so God had to reveal them to him first.  Certainly no other minister on this planet was teaching them.  On this foundation of truth, Mr. Armstrong was able to take (in the latter part of the twentieth century) the good news of Christ’s coming kingdom to the whole world.

This was the work of the Philadelphia era of God’s Church.  This was the commission God gave to Mr. Armstrong and he completed his commission.  According to Matthew 24:14, only after the True Gospel has gone to the world can the end come.

Friends, the Philadelphia era is now over and we are living in the final lukewarm Laodicean era, the era to which Christ comes.  He is knocking at the door.  Are you ready?  The confused won’t be.  They will be taken by surprise when the tribulation strikes.  You need to ask yourself, “Do I realize the time I’m living in?”  Do I really understand time is running out fast?  Am I ready?

I have absolutely no problem admitting that Mr. Armstrong was a man who made mistakes.  In my view, this in no way diminishes him as a true servant of God.  Why?  Because he did not make mistakes that undermined the specific commission God gave to him.  Lost truths were restored; the true gospel was correctly defined and was proclaimed throughout the entire world as a witness, not as an agent for converting the world as some seem to be saying today!

Mr. Armstrong made the usual interpersonal errors that all human beings make, for which he had to repent.  He also made mistakes when he projected beyond what God had revealed specifically for the Philadelphia era; for example, when he stated just before his death that the 144,000 of Revelation 7 were the members of the “. . . Worldwide Church of God and their unbaptized children.”  God only reveals knowledge to His servants on a need to know basis.  Today we understand that the 144,000 pictured in Revelation 7, are a repentant remnant of physical Israel and the 144,000 of Revelation 14, are the entire Firstfruits, called over the last six thousand years to rule with Christ.  (For a fuller explanation of these two diverse groups please write to the address below).

You see, to properly appraise Herbert W. Armstrong, you have to view him within the confines of his commission.  A commission he successfully completed.  When evaluating Mr. Armstrong we must ask, did he fulfill what God says in the Bible was required of the leader of the Philadelphia era?  I believe the answer is yes.  What do you think?

Those who regard him as uninspired and those who view him as infallible are living in a time warp (c. 1986).  Neither faction can grow beyond what Mr. Armstrong taught up to his death in that year.  Sadly, many have already lost or turned their backs on what they were supposed to have proved from their Bibles.

Mr. Armstrong has been dead since 1986, and as should be expected, those few who have honored him as God’s servant, have grown in understanding of end-time events.  This is critically important today.  Christians must know the era and times they are living in.

Those who would debase Herbert Armstrong, slandering the dead, must bear the consequences of diminishing a true servant of Jesus Christ!  Remember, what Christ said in John 12:26, “. . . if any man serve me, him will my father honor.”  It would be very foolish to dishonor those God honors, don’t you think? Have you truly evaluated who Mr. Armstrong was, and based on your evaluation, are you prepared to stand before the judgment seat of Christ?

Robert J. Elliott

The Holy Spirit, Person or Power?

“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath [Spirit] of his mouth” (Ps. 33:6).

In the early 1990’s the Worldwide Church of God, under the direction of Joseph Tkach, Sr. accepted and adopted the Trinity doctrine of mainstream Christianity.  This teaching regards God as one, yet composed of three equal personages, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

However, the Roman Catholic Church which first officially propagated the Trinity in 325 A.D., describes it as “an unexplained mystery”; yet, any true doctrine of God should be clear and unambiguous, for God is not the author of confusion.

By way of contrast, God’s Church, Worldwide teaches that, at present, there are only two personages in the Godhead, the Father and the Son, and that the Son, by His own admission, is subordinate to the Father, “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I” (Jn. 14:28).  

What then is the Holy Spirit?  It is not a separate person, but rather it is the power of God, through which Christ created and sustains the entire universe.  “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen 1:2-3); “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (Jn. 1:1-3).  The Holy Spirit also enters repentant human beings, enabling them to develop godly righteous character, so that at Christ’s second coming they will be transformed into spirit beings, born into God’s family.

God’s Church, following the biblically inspired teaching of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, understands that God is involved in reproducing Himself through human beings, into a spiritual family of billions.  This is a far cry from the restrictive doctrine of the Trinity – with a Godhead of only three.

Rather than go into the convoluted development of the Trinity, with its origins in Greek and early pagan philosophy, the purpose of this study is restricted to the question of whether by biblical definition, the Holy Spirit is a person or a power.

In Psalms 51, a Psalm where King David expresses his repentance over his adultery with Bathseba, and the murder of her husband, Uriah, he pleads with God, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Ps. 51:10-12).

In this passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit is likened to something which is given, that can be renewed or taken
away, not a person, but rather a gift.  “The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45, NIV).

Jesus, prior to His resurrection and ascent into heaven, told His disciples “ . . . behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued [provide or endow] with power from on high” (Lk. 24:49).

The coming of that power from heaven is described in Acts 2.  Prior to this in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, Christ tells His disciples, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: . . .”  In chapter 2 of Acts, verse 4, we find that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and later in the chapter the prophet Joel is quoted as saying, “in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh . . . .”  So we see that the Holy Spirit is power from on high.

When the assembled crowd asked Peter what they needed to do to be saved he told them, “Repent, and be baptized . . . and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy [Spirit]” (Acts 2:38).

Nowhere in the above scriptures is the Holy Spirit likened to a personality.  To the contrary, it is described as being poured out, people are filled with it and it is a gift which can be taken away.

Why then, in the gospel of John particularly, is the Holy Spirit referred to as him instead of it?  In this case it is basically a matter of grammatical usage, which creates the problem.  As with many languages, Greek designates nouns as masculine, feminine, or neuter.  Whichever gender the noun in a sentence is, the pronoun must agree.  For example, in John 14:16, Christ states, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” the next verse identifies “the Comforter” as “the Spirit of truth.”

So why is the pronoun he used in verse 16?  Because the word “Comforter” is of masculine gender in the Greek and as noted, the pronoun must agree.

By way of contrast in Romans 8:16, the verse states “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”  “Itself,” is used because the noun “Spirit” is neuter in the Greek.  In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Spirit was generally given the masculine gender.  Did the Spirit change gender between the Testaments?  So as you can see, grammatical usage is not evidence as to whether the Holy Spirit is the power of God or is the third person of the Trinity.

However, if the Holy Spirit is a person of equal value with the Father and the Son, we should expect to see “Him” given equal billing in the introductions of the epistles of Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude.  This is not what we find.  To the contrary the Holy Spirit is universally left out of these introductions.  Let’s take a look at some examples.

“To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7).

“Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 1:3).

II Corinthians opens the same way, as does Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians.  In I Timothy, Paul begins, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.”

II Timothy has a similar beginning, which again makes no mention of the Holy Spirit.  However, in verses six and seven of chapter one Paul admonishes Timothy to “stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  If the Holy Spirit were God, it would not need to be stirred up.

Let’s be clear about what this gift of God is, which comes into men through the laying on of hands by God’s true ministry!  For an explanation we can turn to Acts 8, which details God’s work growing rapidly and spreading from Jerusalem to Samaria.  Let’s pick up the story in verse 14.

Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:  Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:  (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)  Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.  And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money (Acts 8:14-18).

Those who repent of their sins and are baptized receive the Holy Spirit when a true minister of God lays hands on them.  Here the Spirit is described as “falling upon them.  Again, this terminology speaks to an object, as opposed to a person.

Perhaps one of the best examples in the Bible which proves the Holy Spirit is not a person is found in Numbers chapter 11.  In this chapter God decides to provide Moses with seventy assistants to help him govern Israel. Let’s pick up the account in verse 16 of Numbers 11.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.  And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone (Num 11:16-17).

And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.  But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.  And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.   And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.  And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them! (Num. 11:25-29).

These verses show clearly that the Holy Spirit is not God, but that it belongs to Him and is sent forth from Him to empower men to think and act like God.  The Holy Spirit is His instrument.  It is not part of a trinity.  In I Sam. 10:6, the spirit is described as “the spirit of the Lord”, denoting ownership not equality.

When the prophet Elijah was about to pass on his mantle of responsibility to Elisha, Elisha asked for “a double portion of your spirit” (II Ki. 2:9b, NIV).  Once again the Holy Spirit is likened to something which can be distributed, rather than a person.  Please also note Isaiah 32:15a, where, consistent with many New Testament passages, the Spirit is described as being “poured upon us from on high.”  Finally in the introduction to Peter’s second epistle, the apostle clearly differentiates between God the Father and Christ as persons and the Holy Spirit as their power.  “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (II Pet. 1:2-3).

Now let’s return to how the introductions of the epistles are worded.  Philemon’s introduction is the same as the rest of Paul’s epistles.  James begins his letter to the twelve tribes, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In I Peter, the apostle mentions that God’s elect is sanctified through the Spirit.  Sanctified through the Spirit means set apart for a holy purpose by God’s Spirit.  This again shows the Holy Spirit as a power rather than as a person.  In II Peter, Peter states that God’s divine power has given Christians “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (II Pet. 1:3).

Let’s also look at John’s writings including his epistles and the book of Revelation.  In John’s first epistle we are told that “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (I Jn. 1:3).  II John begins “Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love” (II Jn. 1:3). If the Trinity is a true teaching of God, then to blatantly ignore the Holy Spirit in all these letters is a great insult.  

Likewise in the book of Revelation, chapter 21, John beheld in vision New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God (v. 10).  Verse 22 continues, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God almighty and the lamb are its temple . . .”  Once again there is no mention of the Holy Spirit, which one would expect, if the Holy Spirit were the third person of the Godhead.  The same applies to Revelation 22:3.  “The throne of God and of the lamb will be in the city.”

So from Genesis to Revelation, there is no evidence of the Holy Spirit being a personage.  To the contrary the biblical evidence all points to the Holy Spirit being the means through which God and Christ project their power in all its various forms.

Thus, in the near future, when Christ brings the remnant of Israel back to their homeland, He makes the following promise to them.  

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:25-26).

In the next verse He describes the Spirit as “my spirit.”  The Holy Spirit, as noted, belongs to God and Christ.  As a power it is sent out to change the hearts of repentant men and women, to enable them to obey God and keep His Commandments.  “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them” (Ezek. 36:27).  In I Corinthians 2, Paul explains how this is accomplished.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but [without] the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of Godthat we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (I Cor. 2:11-14).

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (I Cor. 2:9-10).

It is the Holy Spirit linked to our human spirit which enables each of us to develop a godly, converted mind, like that of Christ.  It is the human spirit which makes us different from the animals.  But it is the Holy Spirit which gives us the ability to think and act with God’s perspective.  Mr. Armstrong came to understand this truth between 1968 and 1972.

It is the combination of Holy Spirit with human spirit which makes us Christians.  The human spirit is not a person, and neither is the Holy Spirit.

However, there are certain scriptures which could lead you to think otherwise.  Let’s take a look at some of these to see whether they actually prove the Holy Spirit is a person or if they are simply figures of speech; a form of shorthand, used by the apostles when they wrote their epistles.

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.  As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.  And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.  So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-4).

Here is another example from I Timothy.  “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;” (I Tim. 4:1).

These and other scriptures throughout the New Testament state, “the Holy Spirit said or spoke”; however, we have shown that God’s Spirit enters repentant human beings as a power to enable them to understand spiritual concepts.  God’s Spirit guides God’s servants to think, speak, and act in ways pleasing to Him.  That is exactly what we find expressed in II Peter 1:21, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”  The Holy Spirit speaks through men of God.  This is clearly seen in the following scriptures: Hebrews 3:7; 4:7 and Acts 1:16.

In Hebrews 3:7, which is a direct quote from the latter part of Psalm 95:7, it states that “the Holy Spirit says”.  However, in Hebrews 4:7, it states that God spoke these words through David, who was both a king and a prophet (Acts 2:29-30), “Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

So who actually did the speaking?  The answer is clear and unequivocal from Acts 1:16.  “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David . . . .”  Clearly the meaning is that God’s servants speak under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  So when the Bible states the Holy Spirit spoke, this is simply a biblical form of shorthand, as mentioned earlier; the writers understood that the words came by the mouth of human beings, under the inspiration of God, through the motivation of His Spirit.

Another example of this is to be found in Acts 21:4, where certain disciples advise Paul not to go to Jerusalem.  “And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.”

Now let’s turn to the I John 4:1.  “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”  Here Christians are commanded to test whether a prophet is motivated by God’s Spirit or some other spirit, such as the spirit of this world, which is influenced by Satan.  How are Christians to do this?  By comparing what these men say and do when compared to the biblical standard as exemplified in Jesus Christ.  Remember, “ye shall know them by their fruits!”  It is God’s Holy Spirit which inspires the words of His ministry.  The spirit is not a person and it does not speak out as such.  To the contrary, the Bible speaks of it being fanned into flame, the possibility of it being quenched, or put out, or of it being supplied, poured out, or filling believers, etc.

Matthew 1:20 (NKJ) states “But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, `Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her [Mary] is of the Holy Spirit.’”  If the Holy Spirit is a person, then he should be properly described as the father of Jesus.  But this is clearly not the case, as Christ describes God as His Father, not the Holy Spirit.  Once more we see the Holy Spirit as an agency or power of God, that He sends out to accomplish His will.  In John’s gospel we are told that Christ was the Creator of the universe, but He accomplished this by the power of His Holy Spirit.

For a final scripture, let’s consider Romans 8:9a, the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of God, and in verse 9b, as the Spirit of Christ.  They own the Holy Spirit.  It is not a separateor even an equal member of the Godhead.  Now note verse 10, “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”  By combining what we see in verse 9 with verse 10, we learn that Christ lives His life in us through the power of His Spirit.  Christ is in the third heaven, and we are on the earth, yet through the Holy Spirit He projects Himself into our minds, so that we can learn to live pleasing God, in this society as He did some 2,000 years ago.  This is how it is possible for us to overcome, Satan, self, and society.

We don’t pray to the Holy Spirit, but rather, by Christ’s authority we pray to the Father, to supply us with more of their Spirit, so that we may have the ability to please Them by being more like Them.  The Holy Spirit is not a person.  It is a power.

Please take the time to carefully read all of Romans 8 and 9, be confident that the Holy Spirit is not a person, it is a power.  Also, take note of the following scriptures from the New International Version.

Acts 11:28     “One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.  (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)”

Acts 28:25     “They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made his final statement: `The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet;’”

Eph. 5:18     “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”

Phil. 1:19     “For I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”

Phil. 3:3     “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.”

I Thess. 5:19     “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”

I Jn. 3:24     “those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.  And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

Mk. 12:36     “David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: `The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’”

Acts 6:3     “Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  We will turn this responsibility over to them . . . .”

Acts 10:38     “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

Acts 10:45     “The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.”

Rm. 15:13     “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Heb. 10:15-17     “The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this, First he says: `This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.  I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’  Then he adds: `Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’”

Hebrews 10:15-17 is a quote from Jeremiah 31:33-34, which illustrates the “shorthand” mentioned earlier, where the Lord God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah.  “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: `This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you” (Jer. 30:1-2).  Jeremiah wrote under the inspiration of God’s Spirit.

Dan. 7:13-14     “`In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.’”

Final Prophecy

To Whom It May Concern:

In the interest of accuracy regarding God’s Word, I must take issue with the advertisement in the September 30, 2004 edition of The Journal on page 13, headed, “Final Prophecy.”

The author states, “There is an end-time prophecy which was delivered by the Prophet Isaiah over 2700 years ago, which will soon come to pass.”  He goes on, “It’s revealed in (Isaiah 3:6).  This scripture spells out in great detail who will win the office of the United States Presidency for the term of 2005/2009.”

The author uses Isaiah 3:6 to predict that not only will President George W. Bush be re-elected, also in his last four years in office, the United States will come to “utter ruin” and Mr. Bush will ask his brother Jeb, Governor of Florida, to take responsibility for the devastated country.  His brother will refuse!

He explains this part of the prophecy, using the “Revised King James Version” as follows: – “`When a man [43rd President George W. Bush] shall take hold of his brother [Governor John `Jeb’ Bush of Florida] of the house of his father [41st Former President George Herbert Walker Bush], saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand.’”

The problem with the author’s entire scenario is that Isaiah 3:6-7 is not directed toward the United States of America, modern Israel, but rather it is directed at Judah and Jerusalem.  Please take note of verse one of chapter 3.  “For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.”  Note also verse 8, which immediately follows the verses the author quoted. “For Jerusalem is ruined [overthrown], and Judah is fallen: . . .”

Finally consider the major thrust of the book of Isaiah, as stated in chapter 1, verse 1.  “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem . . . .”

Certainly Isaiah does reference prophecies regarding Israel in the end times, as well as Judah, but clearly, Isaiah 3 is directed specifically to Judah and Jerusalem.

Now please consider what the author says about himself in the advertisement.  “Being a servant of GOD, I will relate to you what GOD has revealed to me concerning one of the many end-time prophecies.”  Clearly God did not reveal this information to the author.  To do so, God would have had to dislocate His own scriptures to satisfy the author, and God is not going to do that.

I understand that those who associate themselves with the author may consider him a true prophet of God, who will lead them into God’s Kingdom.  If this is the case, they would do well to put their trust in God, not in a man and to do as Mr. Armstrong often stated, check it out in your Bible.

Sincerely,
Robert J. Elliott

Who was Herbert W. Armstrong?

Was Herbert W. Armstrong the Final Elijah?

Dear Teachers in Training:

There are still those who honor Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong today, yet who remain unconvinced he was the prophesied end-time Elijah.  Clearly, the Bible says such a man is to come, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5).  But was Mr. Herbert  W. Armstrong the final Elijah, or should we look for another?  Verse 6 of Malachi 4 defines the commission of the end-time Elijah as follows: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”  The word curse here can be translated utter destruction.  Christ makes reference to such destruction in Matthew 24, and in so doing helps to explain the relationship between the fathers and children of Malachi 4.  Please take note of Matthew 24:21-22, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”  The “elect” here, of course, refers to the Christians whom God says He will protect throughout this terrible time because of their faithfulness (Rev. 3:10, Rev 17:14).  The children of Malachi 4:6 include these elect Christians.  The fathers are the righteous fathers of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but would also include those who have proved faithful to God in Old Testament times, such as Noah, David, and Daniel.

Since the fathers, in their time, repented and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, as will have end-time Christians, they will be united with the rest of the 144,000, mentioned in Revelation 14:1, 4, as the Firstfruits of God.  Through resurrection and change to spirit, their hearts will be turned to each other.  All must accept Christ as their personal Savior (Acts 4:12).  Thus, all are united in Christ.

Now there was to be a type of Elijah, who was to precede the First Coming of Jesus.  Christ declared that man to be John the Baptist.  In Matthew 17, Christ’s disciples wanted to know why the scribes said, “that Elias [Elijah] must come first.”

11And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.  12But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.  Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.  13Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist (Matt. 17:11-13).

Now, please take careful note of verse 11.  This verse is not talking about John, but rather about the end-time Elijah, since the verse is in the future tense.  Verse 12 makes it clear that John is already dead.  Coming back to verse 11, we see that it is the end-time Elijah who is to restore “all things.”  This in turn means that the truth which John and Jesus understood would in the future to be perverted, watered down, or partially lost, and thus would be in need of restoration:

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars . . . Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.  Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.  If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee (Rev: 3:1a, 2-3).

This was exactly the condition Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong found God’s Church in during the early part of the twentieth century.  He was, under God’s inspiration, the Restorer of Lost Truths!

Now what is a key ingredient necessary for restoration?  It is given in Revelation 3:3, but is also mentioned specifically in respect to the Elijah commission in Matthew 3:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepareye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Matt. 3:1-3). [see also Isa. 40:3].

Repentance for breaking God’s law and His gracious pardon make it possible for humans to gain eternal life and to rule in that kingdom.

 Ongoing repentance makes it possible for the Christian to be prepared.

In connection with turning the heart of the fathers to the children, note what Christ says to the Jewish religious leadership which refused to repent.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham (Matt. 3:7-9).

The Pharisees and Sadducees regarded themselves as Abraham’s children, and physically they were, but their refusal to repent nullified them from being spiritual children of faithful Abraham.  That honor is reserved for faithful Christians.

Brethren, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, and Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong alone, restored from the Bible what was necessary to gain salvation.  We are the beneficiaries of his faithfulness and hard work in the face of great opposition over many years.

Even though the great falling away of II Thessalonians 2 has happened, as prophesied, those who have held fast faithfully still retain those restored truths.  We still have them, therefore we don’t need another restorer to come.  Elijah has come, and his name was Herbert W. Armstrong!

Clearly, without repentance we cannot please God.  If we don’t please God, He will not bless us with understanding.  Without repentance we cannot even begin to make the changes that God requires.  Without it as a first step, there is no hope of restoration.  But, how can anyone repent of sin if they cannot define what sin is?  Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong took the Bible and showed us that sin is the breaking of God’s law.  No Protestant television-evangelist was prepared to do that, since they teach that God’s law is done away with.  Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong truly was a voice crying out in a religious wilderness.

We wouldn’t be keeping the Sabbath, the holy days, the Passover, the law, or tithing if we had not come to realize that God wanted us to keep them, so He could bless us.  Yet to keep them we had to turn 180° away from the ways of Satan’s society; and that is what repentance means – to turn around and go in the opposite direction.

God grants repentance, but He also works through men.  Although He opened our minds to see what He requires of us, He used Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to provide the information through sermons, Bible studies, booklets, and various articles, all based on God’s word.

Some feel that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong could not be the final Elijah, since He has been dead now for over fifteen years, and Malachi 3:1 says once Elijah has prepared the way, the Lord will come “suddenly” to His temple.  This verse in no way talks about a time-span, but rather the fact that Christ’s coming will be sudden or unexpected.  In Luke 21:35, Christ says, “For as a snare shall it [that day] come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”  He is referring to all humanity, including Laodicean Christians.  Paul, in I Thessalonians 5:2, says that the day of the Lord will come upon most people as “a thief in the night,” sudden and unexpected!

Malachi 4:5 states that the end-time Elijah will come before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord,” but again, it doesn’t say how long before.  God commissioned Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to restore lost truths so that he could complete his assignment of taking the good news of the coming kingdom to the world as a witness.  Once that was completed, God allowed Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to die, in order to test the Church.

Since January 16, 1986, we have entered the end times.  In this final period, we have already experienced the Church of God falling away from the truth (except for a small Philadelphian remnant).  This falling away from the truth has led to a famine of God’s word and the rise of Laodiceanism.  All of this has taken over fifteen years.  The coming of the two witnesses and the tribulation begin to loom large in the near future.

Again, there are those who think that perhaps one of the two witnesses could be the end-time Elijah, but this is not true either.  Although bringing fire down from heaven, as the two witnesses will do, is an Elijah-like act, it isn’t consistent with the commission of the end-time Elijah to call for repentance and restoration of the truth, before the terrible time of God’s wrath upon the earth and mankind.  In that regard, the two witnesses are God’s instruments during the three and one-half years of the tribulation.

The condition of the Church today should not surprise us.  It was prophesied!  Two groups of Christians exist today, defined in Revelation 3 as Philadelphians and Laodiceans.  Philadelphians are promised protection during the tribulation, because they hold fast to the truths restored by the end-time Elijah.

 Laodicean Christians must endure the tribulation for two reasons:

1)Failing to recognize who Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was, and
2)   Letting go of much that God used him to restore.

We still preserve and defend those restored truths brethren, and we know who Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was.  As a result, we continue to grow in grace and knowledge because we hold fast the great and precious promises God has given us through His end-time Elijah, Herbert W. Armstrong.


In Christ’s service,

Robert J. Elliott

Increasing Unity in the Body

Beloved Brethren:

The Feast this year was, in spite of all the trauma which surrounded it, a wonderful success.  Everyone left on a high.  Highs, however, can quickly turn into lows for God’s people, if we lose our focus.  With the wonderful experience of the Feast behind us, we have to return to our respective homes to once again confront Satan’s society on a daily basis.

How can we prevent a let down?  First, reflect on the Feast and what made it such a success and extend the benefits into your daily routine through to Sabbath services to the Spring Holy Days and on to the Feast of Tabernacles in 2005.  Make it a goal to build on the lessons learned at the Feast this year and become more of a united family than ever.

At the same time, better understand your enemy, the Devil.  Realize his goals.  Consider what Satan does not want God’s people to achieve.

He does not want Christians to know where they are in the chronology of end-time prophecy; thus, alert and watching.  To help prevent this, annually study Mr. Armstrong’s two-volume autobiography.  You might want to start this year in Volume Two, from 1968 on, to gain a full grasp of the extent and power of God’s gospel work over its last eighteen years.  This will provide a stark contrast to what others are attempting to do today.  Mystery of the Ages should also be read annually, along with the Revelation workbook.  This will be a yearly reminder of our origins, our position in prophecy right now and what will shortly come to pass.  Remember the work of God goes on and you are that work!

The Body of Christ, His Church, is composed of individuals with whom God is working, through His Spirit.  As each individual becomes more Christ-like, the body as a whole becomes more harmonious and unified.  Each of us, then, is individually responsible for the unity God and Christ demand.  When that unity is lacking, it is because of Satan’s influence upon one or more of us; thus it is vital that we think about what we are about to say or do.  Evaluate our thoughts and actions from the perspective of whether they will uplift and increase unity in the body or diminish it.

Be discreet!  Never give away personal and private information about someone to others without permission and proper discretion.  This can cause terrible offense and a brother offended is harder to win back than a strongly defended city.  Disclosing personal information can be like a drug high, because it feeds the self-image’s need to feel important and of worth.  However, Satan can use this weakness, for it is a weakness, to create bitterness and division.  So let’s all guard our tongues lest we give Satan an advantage.

Satan does not want us to know our specific commission.  What is that commission?  Quite simply to love one another as love is expressed multiple times in John’s epistles.  This is a mutual leadership responsibility which we cannot accomplish unless Christ is actively living His life in us.  So welcome Him in and then His love will enable us to truly achieve unity, for Christ is at peace with Himself.  This has to be our focus.

Satan wants us to be distracted, unfocused and unsure.  But we know the goal and with God’s support we will not allow ourselves to become distracted.

Satan does not want us to be wholehearted, fired up, or enthusiastic about Christ’s soon coming Kingdom and our part in it.  He wants us to think we are unsuitable for a position of rulership.  He hopes to use rulership, as exhibited in this society to turn us off.  God on the other hand created the family to school us in His form of rulership or government.  The husband is the loving head of this government; his wife as his supporter and adviser.  The children are those being ruled, or better stated served, and taught to serve others in a godly way.  This is the crux of God’s government!  The family and the Church, made up of many families, is God’s workshop for developing service based on God’s love.  This is the environment God has created to prepare us for a position in Christ’s millennial government.  Remember, when that day comes we will be Spirit beings, literally Spirit-born Sons of God.  We will not be the limited human beings we are today.  So when we actually take our positions under Christ, we will be prepared for the job.

Consider, then, if God demands unity, Satan seeks to promote division, mistrust, factions, bickering and confusion.  It will take each and every one of us working hard to prevent such an outcome.  But this is how God and Christ are judging us.  We must pray for more of God’s Spirit so that we have the desire and power to resist Satan and to keep moving forward in the right direction.

Satan hates government, order and discipline.  Instead he is the author of confusion.  Following God’s government is a major key to maintaining and fostering unity.  Always understand your place, don’t go beyond your responsibility.  If in doubt check it out with those at a higher level, such as the ministry, or those they have appointed to special tasks.  Mr. Little mentioned on the Last Great Day that in some cases this did not always happen this Feast.  When instructions are ignored or violated, the consequences can negatively impact all of us and perhaps jeopardize our relationship with our festival hosts.

So again, think before you act!

Mr. Armstrong used to talk a great deal about the two trees representing the way of give and the way of get.  You, brethren, exhibited the way of give at this year’s Feast and subsequently reaped the benefits.  That’s the great lesson to never lose sight of.  Since you exhibited the way of give at the Feast, you know how to do it; but it will not be easy to keep doing it.  It will take concentration and effort; for it is not natural to us, whereas selfishness is.

Remember why God called you.  He saw in you the potential, when teamed up with His Holy Spirit, to qualify to rule with Christ.  He wants you to succeed and if God is for you, who, including Satan, can thwart God’s will?  The Devil of course will attempt to discourage and undermine your confidence, because he knows that God’s Church, Worldwide is aware of the time it is living in and what God requires of it.  But Satan is a big loser, and James tells us that if we resist him and work to overcome our natural selves, he will flee from us.

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. . . . . Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up (Jas. 4:5-8, 10).

Let’s continue to cast out our false self-image and replace it with Christ.  Then we will continue to grow spiritually as our capacity to genuinely love one another increases.  Remember Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20.  “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Keep holding fast and moving along in greater unity and the Kingdom will come upon us all the sooner.

. . . In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (II Pet. 3:10b-12).

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you (II Pet. 3:14-15).

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen (II Pet. 3:17-18).


In Christ’s service,

Robert J. Elliott Pastor

Do You Take Herbert W. Armstrong at His Word?

To Whom It May Concern:

They say they support Herbert W. Armstrong, but they refuse to take him at his word.  In his last book Mystery of the Ages he wrote, “The true gospel has been restored and has now gone in power into every nation on the face of the earth.

The true gospel, for the first time in 1900 years, has finally been proclaimed and published into all nations of the earth.”

In spite of these clear statements, the spokesperson for one breakaway group from the WCG said the following about those of us who have taken Mr. Herbert Armstrong at his word.  “Do they think Herbert W. Armstrong really thought we should not get the gospel out?”  Obviously yes, since he confirmed in his last book that this aspect of the work had been accomplished by him.  So, in Mr. Armstrong’s thinking, what remained to be accomplished?

As far back as May 1982, Mr. Herbert Armstrong wrote in the Good News, “I have had to ask myself what has Christ been doing with my life since I was brought back in August, 1977? . . . My efforts as Christ’s apostle since the heart failure have been almost wholly devoted to preparing God’s Church.  The spiritual temple to which Christ will come…”

The living Christ as Head of His Church had been using His chosen apostle to turn His Church around – to set it back on God’s track!!!

But I want to leave this thought with you now

As we come to God’s Feast of First fruits (Pentecost), let us bear forcibly in mind, we in God’s Church must be made ready–for Christ is coming soon.  We are not yet ready to be instantly changed and caught up to meet our Lord as He comes in the clouds!

The Church wasn’t ready in 1977, 1982, or 1986 and it still isn’t today.

Leaders who tell you the gospel must still go to the nations are deluding you right into the tribulation.  They have the wrong perspective, because they have forgotten who Mr. Armstrong was.  Wake Up!  That door was shut with the death of Herbert Armstrong in January 1986 (Rev. 3:7-8).

The focus today, as he said, must be on preparing the Church of God for Christ’s return!

Are you willing to take God’s apostle, your Father in Christ, at his word?

Are you ready?

Are you prepared for Christ’s return?

Do you know what to do?


Time is Short!

Has The Gospel Gone To The World?

To Whom It May Concern:

Has the true gospel of the coming kingdom gone in power to this rotten world?
Yes!

Who delivered the proclamation?Herbert W. Armstrong!

Is the work over then? No!

The work won’t be over until Christ has selected the final cut for His soon-coming government (Rev. 14:1, 4).What do these people have to prove?

They must prove to be faithful (Rev 17:14).Faithful to what?

To the faith first delivered to them (Rev. 3:10-11)Whom did God use to deliver the truth to them?

Herbert W. Armstrong!  There was no one else!

The Philadelphian era of God’s Church was provided an open door to proclaim the gospel (Rev. 3:8).After the door was shut by Christ, the Head of the Church, they were commanded to Hold Fast (Rev. 3:7, 11).Hold fast to what?

What they were first given by Herbert W. Armstrong (Rev. 3:11). Why?

So that their crowns of victory would not be given to others!

All honest people know that God used Mr. Armstrong for over half a century, to restore lost truths to the Church, and then on that foundation to take the true gospel to the world (Rev. 3:8).Matthew 24:14 clearly shows, only after this has been accomplished, can the end come.

Why did God command Philadelphia Christians to hold fast after the gospel proclamation had been made?

Because He knew the proclamation would be followed by a falling away from the truth first delivered (II Thes. 2:1-8), that would result in a famine of the word (Amos 8:11-12), and the scattering of the Church into various groupings during the final Laodicean era of the Church.

Under God’s inspiration, Jude, John, Peter, and Paul all warned Christians against letting go of the teaching they received when first called.  For example, consider John’s words in I John 2:24-25, “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.  If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.  And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.”

Friends, it is so important to hold on to what we initially received, that Jude said we must contend earnestly or fight to retain it (Jude 3.  See also II Pet. 2:21; II Tim 1:13-14; II Tim 4:2-8).  So how about you?  Are you holding fast to the faith once delivered?  What about the ministry and the organization you are now associated with?  Has the form of government been changed to democracy?  Are they proclaiming the gospel to grow the size of the congregation, or to save the world now?  Have the ministers taught the Trinity, the nature of God, and born again at baptism?  Is truth mixed with error, are they, and are you, slowly turning Protestant?

Is that holding fast to the faith once delivered?  Is that fighting to retain it?

When Christ returns, it won’t be enough to say you were just following your leaders!  You know what happens when the blind follow the blind!

The work for God’s people today is clearly then, to fight for the faith once delivered to them, to acknowledge and honor the deliverer, Herbert W. Armstrong.  To faithfully hold fast and endure in the truth to the end, so that Christ can say, well done, good and faithful servant (Matt. 25:21, 23).

Repentance Unto Salvation In the End Times

Before explaining what real repentance is, it is necessary to grasp why it is so important!

Simply put, no one can become a Christian, by biblical definition, without it.  Now that is significant and all the more so when we realize that we are now living in the final era of God’s Church and also the last days of a dispensation in which Satan’s influence has pre-dominated on earth for six-thousand-years.  The steps to repentance never vary.  But now there is an urgency associated with living in the last era.


God has allowed Satan almost unfettered access to mankind since Adam and Eve rejected His way of living in favor of Satan’s some six millennia ago.
If Adam and Eve had responded to God’s way of giving, instead of Satan’s way of getting, eternal life, represented in the garden of Eden by the tree of life, would have been theirs.

And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:8-9).

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2:16-17).

Satan, however, convinced them that they were already immortal.  “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5).  Satan was actually telling them that as Gods, as Elohim, they could decide for themselves what is good and what is evil.  They would pursue the way of get; the selfish way!  God knew and Satan knew that this would set in motion a chain of events in which every man would do that which was right in his own eyes.  Chaos would ensue.  The selfishness of man, stirred up by Satan, would, through thousands of years of competition, violence and perversion, lead to Christ’s prediction in Matthew 24:21-22.  “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened [curtailed], there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”  This is the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Satan wants man to utterly destroy himself.  Why?  Because Satan is jealous of man and angry at God for demoting him and for planning to raise mortal man to the God-level as part of His spirit-born family.

God, in contrast, has given man six thousand years to prove that Satan’s selfish way does not work.  It does not bring peace and harmony, but instead strife, sickness, disease, and violence, as typified by the pre-flood world, our world today and everything in-between.

So deeply entrenched is Satan’s influence on man that the Gentile nations will fight bitterly to prevent Christ from returning to earth to establish His government (Rev. 16, 19; Zech. 14).  Subsequently the earth’s population will be greatly reduced.  As stated in Isaiah 13:12, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.”

Protestant denominations are desperately trying to get people saved, because they believe this is their last and only chance.  Billy Graham crusades have been on-going for decades, and yet when he completes his conventions, local church attendance is basically unaffected, although thousands have “given their hearts to the Lord.”  “Churchianity” is divided and over half the earth’s population is Moslem, Hindu, or atheist.  It would seem that Satan has triumphed brilliantly and God has failed miserably.

So is God failing?  Of course not!  God never fails!  He simply has a plan which few men have their minds opened to comprehend.  This leads us back to repentance again.  Those of us in God’s Church understand God’s plan because God called Herbert W. Armstrong and opened his mind to grasp it.  He in turn explained it to us.  Now this is where repentance and understanding come together.

Since mankind has collectively turned his back on God, the only way possible for any human being to understand God or His plan is for God to call him to such an understanding.  But how can this be accomplished and for what purpose?  Unlike the Protestant view that God is trying to get everyone saved now; in truth, God has called a few men and women during the first six thousand years since the creation of Adam and Eve, and has offered them salvation and rulership in Christ’s millennial government.  Today we understand that government is to be composed of 144,000 individuals described as firstfruits in Revelation 14.  “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (v. 1).  “These are they which were not defiled with women [false churches]; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (v. 4).  The latter part of verse 3 says, “the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.” And the latter part of verse 4 states that they “were redeemed from among men . . . .”  The Greek word translated “redeemed” in these verses means bought or purchased.  As noted, they were bought or purchased from the earth and out of all humanity to be the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

Now what was the purchase price?  The life blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.  As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power [authority] to lay it down, and I have power [authority] to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father (Jn 10:14-18).

So Christ paid the purchase price for those being called in this present evil age.  But what did His life blood actually buy?  We find the answer in I John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”  We have to be cleansed from all sin; for the wages of sin is death.  Without Christ’s voluntary sacrifice we would be sitting, as it were, on death row with no chance of redemption.  To achieve our deliverance, our Creator had to live a totally perfect, sinless life in order to satisfy the Father that the debt of our sins was paid in full.  None of us could have done this for ourselves, much less for all humanity.  Then again are we worth it?  Christ obviously felt so.  Remember, He was the member of the God family who did the creating of the perfect physical creation.  “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).  Yet the creation of man, although physically perfect, was incomplete.  It would only be spiritually perfected through Christ’s sacrifice, which reconnected those called to God; they, because of God’s favor, would steadfastly progress empowered by the Holy Spirit to eternal life in the first resurrection.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;  and, having made peace through the blood of his cross [stake], by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Col. 1:18-20).

Note: In respect to verses 20 and 21, relative to the word “reconcile”, apokatallasô, Bullinger in the Companion Bible, points out that,
In each case the force of apo prefixed to katallassô suggests and emphasizes the perfection of the reconnection.  So that on God’s side all is complete.  Here again the graciousness of God is manifest.  Who MADE PEACE by virtue of the blood of Christ, and thus gave access by means of Him `by one spirit unto the father’, to those who were far off and to those who were nigh.

Colossians chapter 1 continues:

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached [proclaimed] to [in] every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister (Col. 1:21-23).

Christ’s determination to enable those called unto perfection was achieved at the utmost cost.  The burden of living a totally sinless life seems an impossible task when viewed from our perspective.  In addition, He had to die a perfect death which involved the horrible Roman form of scourging.  This literally flayed the flesh from the back and sides to expose the underlying bone structure.  This indeed was prophesied in Psalms 22:14-18.

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels [within me].  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.  For dogs [enemies–implied] have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.  I may tell [count] all my bones: they look and stare upon me.  They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

Frequently this form of scourging led to death, even before the victim was nailed to the stake.  Christ was able to endure it, because it too was for our benefit.  It was an act of supreme love!  He paid the penalty for our physical sins that have led to sickness and disease as well as the consequences of accidents such as broken bones.  His death consummated on the stake by the thrust of a Roman spear, paid the price of our spiritual sins.

Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of [by] God, and afflicted [humbled].  But he was wounded [pierced] for our transgressions [rebellion], he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of [which procured] our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression [rebellion] of my people was he stricken.  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul [Him] an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. . . . Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul [Himself] unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isa 53:1-10, 12).

“As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (Isa 52:14).

We all grew up in this society without any real appreciation of our Lord’s sacrifice.  It was all academic, just an ancient story which did not affect us to any degree.  Our minds were closed, we felt nothing.  It was all too remote and of little interest to us.  Yet God and Christ endured it and also our lack of appreciation for it, even our ignorance about it, because They want to make us a part of Their family and to share Their eternal existence with us.  Of ourselves we can never be worthy of Their loving sacrifice.

For when we were yet without strength [weak or impotent], in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that [because], while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified [set forth as righteous] by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Rom. 5:6-12).

This is only possible when we thankfully accept Christ’s sacrifice for us.  As verse 11 says, “through the Lord Jesus Christ . . . we have now received the atonement.”  Reconciliation would be a better word here, because reconciliation is the end product of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and this better conveys the meaning of the Greek.

Only when we accept Christ’s sacrifice for us can we be reconciled to the Father.  But why do some have an opportunity in this dispensation and others, the majority, have to wait for their opportunity at a later date?  Quite simply because God and Christ are concentrating on bringing 144,000 individuals over a six-thousand-year period to be trained to rule in Christ’s government.  If they do not want us for that specific purpose, there can be no genuine calling.  Remember John 6:44,  “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  Such people are described as the elect, (eklektos in the Greek) which signifies those picked out or chosen.  This is the word used in I Peter 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”  Here we see that the Father has preplanned who He will call for governmental training and that such are sanctified or set apart for holy use through God’s Spirit after having accepted Christ’s atoning blood on their behalf.

The Bible tells us that God wants all men to be saved, but only 144,000 for Christ’s government.  Is this unfair?  Not at all!  Obviously, Christ has the right to select those who will make up His government.  However, they must contend with the ever-present Satan to qualify for their positions, whereas the rest of mankind will not.  

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. . . . And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are [were cast], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rev. 20:1-3, 10).

In chapter 5 of his first epistle, Peter conveys to the Church elders how formidable an opponent Satan is and the need to steadfastly resist him.  “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:” (v.1); “Be sober [alert], be vigilant [watchful]; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (v. 8-9); “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (v. 6); “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect [spiritually mature], stablish, strengthen, settle you.  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (vs.10-11).

With all this in mind, how can we be sure God is calling or has called us?  Initially, He begins to help us gain a steadily increasing understanding of the scriptures.  I remember being motivated to read our family Bible about six months before my first contact with the Worldwide Church of God.  I read through the entire book and could not understand it.  In fact there were portions I took issue with!

Six months later, as I listened to Mr. Armstrong on the radio and received literature from the Church, understanding began to develop rapidly.  It was exciting to understand God’s plan for humanity and the incredible potential in human beings which most are blind to now.  How many people actually know why they were born; that there is one true Church and it can be identified; that we have been called to become God and to rule with Christ throughout eternity and that one day we will never ever have to contend with sin?

However, along with these exciting revelations came the understanding that to progress one has to repent of one’s sins.  But how is sin defined?  The Bible has its own definition in I John 3:4, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”  God’s great spiritual law, the Ten Commandments, defines sin.  

So there it was, plain and simple!  Yet I didn’t think I had seriously broken any of them.  I didn’t curse or swear; I hadn’t committed adultery; I was truthful most of the time; I honored my father and mother; I didn’t steal or bow down to images; I didn’t think I coveted.  I certainly was not guilty of murder; and it wasn’t my fault that there were no churches keeping a Seventh-day Sabbath, that I knew of, in my little part of the world!

Overall, I certainly did not see myself as an evil person; and how did I deduce that?  By comparing myself to such obviously perverted people as Hitler and Stalin, mass murderers, and serial rapists.  Anyone can make themselves look good by such comparisons and that is what I did.

When I went to Ambassador College, Bricket Wood, England in 1968, I was almost totally blind to my true spiritual condition.  Yet, I knew that I needed to repent, to be baptized and to receive God’s Holy Spirit, through the laying on of hands by His true ministry (Acts 8:14-18).

I knew I wasn’t ready and that point was driven home by a comment I heard Mr. Armstrong make numerous times.  He said that he was a useless hunk of junk not fit to be thrown in the garbage.  When I heard that I said to myself, “This man is God’s apostle.  If he views himself this way, there must be something I am not seeing about myself!”  Thus began two years of frequent fasting, for two and one-half days at a time and praying on my belly for God to open my mind and show me what I was really like inside.

Looking back it seems ridiculous that it took so long, but gradually God opened my eyes to see how inherently selfish I was — and still am.  How that even the good things I did had a selfish motive behind them — a desire to be liked, or well thought of.  It is possible to do good, but from the wrong motivation.

Then came the realization that now that I was beginning to see myself as God saw me.  Anything I thought righteous about myself was rubbish compared to the righteousness of Christ.  Now, at last, I was making the correct comparison.  It was my evil nature (which is what I am) that was responsible for Christ’s death.  I was guilty as charged.  Now I wondered what could I do about it?  Sincere appreciation surely demanded I become more Christ-like!

In considering repentance, it is important to look deeper than one’s specific sins.  It is our self-centered nature that spawns the evil thoughts, the lusts, and the angry words that we need to repent of.  The sins are the effect; but our nature is the cause.  Unless the cause is attended to, the effects continue unabated.  It is this nature that Jeremiah is referring to in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked [incurable]: who can know it?”  Tied to this is John’s statement in Revelation 12:9, that Satan has deceived the whole world.  Consequently one has to come to the following conclusions: (a) when people are deceived they don’t know they are deceived.  As a result (b) they cannot grasp just how evil they are.

 Saddam Hussein, an absolute monster, does not think of himself as evil.  Neither did Mao, or Stalin, or Hitler.  Neither do most of the mass murderers here in the United States who have been interviewed about their crimes.  All have their excuses, but none see themselves as intrinsically evil.  Most people believe that, although there is evil in the world, human nature at its core, is essentially good.  They certainly don’t regard themselves as evil; because, just as I did, they can always find someone to compare themselves with, who can make them look relatively good.  Thus (c) it requires a miracle from God to open their minds to see the cesspool that they really are!  What we are in our unconverted state can be summed up as: replicas of Satan himself!

The Ten Commandments define sin.  However, their spiritual extension makes them impossible for us to keep perfectly.  That would require mind control twenty-four hours a day.  In Matthew 5, Christ lays it on the line.  “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (vs. 27-28).  Here the sin is in the mind, before any action has been taken.  To remain sinless would indeed require perfect mind control every moment.

So what can we do?  After repentance, having received the Holy Spirit, we must continue to go to God in prayer asking for forgiveness and the spiritual power to overcome and Christ will take our prayer to the Father and intercede for us with the Father.  Because of Christ, we will be forgiven and the sin forgotten.  God has the capability to forget as He Himself points out in Jeremiah 31, just as He will do for His people Israel and Judah after His Second Coming;  “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (v. 34b).  For the growing Christian, repentance is always ongoing, because the carnal nature is always there.  It will remain until we are changed to spirit.  Repenting, and asking God for more of His Holy spirit, is our means to override and overcome our carnal nature and diminish its negative effect.

Again, how is it that people are so blind to their sinfulness?  For the majority, those whom God is not calling, generation after generation have grown up in a blinded society.  A world blinded by Satan, the prince of the power of the air, who beams his moods, attitudes and thoughts into their minds from infancy.

 Thus, this society is like a vast insane asylum in which the inmates, blinded to their own madness, regard those who visit them as the strange ones.  Indeed that is how the world looks on those individuals God has called out of it to obey Him.

People remain blinded to themselves, because they classify sins and evils into specific categories.  Everybody tells little white lies, but comparatively few in society become mass murderers.  Those who cheat a little on their wives can compare themselves favorably with the Hollywood movie stars in that regard.  So, as noted earlier, it is always possible to find behavior worse than our own, and so we can feel OK about ourselves.  As Mr. Armstrong often said, “Human nature likes to look good, but not to do good.”

On the other hand, God does not categorize sins the way people do.  To God a sin is a sin and the wages of sin is death.  Death is what we get paid for sinning!

Although most people remain blinded to their sinfulness, I do know of some outside God’s Church who are not totally deceived.  I’m referring to those who have gone through the twelve-step program set up by Alcoholics Anonymous.  The two men who set up that program had great insight into the carnality of human nature.  For those individuals preparing for baptism or Passover, I would recommend reading A.A.’s twelve steps, because those sincerely involved in that program have to confront the reality of their actual condition, admit it and go to those they have hurt by their destructive behavior and apologize and strive to make amends.  This takes courage.  

The effort they make and the lengths they are prepared to go to try to rectify the damage they have done to others is, I feel, an object lesson for Christians confronting their own sinfulness.  They have to overcome one day at a time and so do Christians.  They may be addicted to alcohol, but the truly repentant Christian must realize he is addicted to sinning.  Both require honesty to overcome.  There can be no repentance until sin is identified and confronted.
However, even with the knowledge gained in the A.A. program about certain aspects of human nature and going to those harmed to make amends; progress towards genuine conversion is simply impossible, unless God has decided to call an individual to train for Christ’s government.

This is key and has taken on a greater emphasis now that we are actually living in the end times, than it would have say twenty-five years ago.  Now we know that there are only 144,000 places in His government, selected over a six-thousand-year period and that the time to qualify is almost up.

So let me emphasize once more, being called in this dispensation to rule with Christ has everything to do with a decision made in heaven.  Both Jeremiah and John the Baptist were selected before they were born, but the vast majority are not being called in this age.  Once that decision in heaven is made, the individuals being called now will be made aware, at an appropriate time, of their sinfulness and the succeeding steps they must take to qualify for the positions God has prepared for them.

In Matthew 25:46, it says, “the righteous [shall go] into life eternal.”  Eternal life is a necessity for those who qualify to rule with Christ.  Yet, the Bible makes clear that we cannot make ourselves righteous.  Paul states in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  Verse 24 provides the solution:  “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins.  The word “freely” here comes from the Greek dorean which means a gift.  

Christ’s sacrifice is a gift, to us from a gracious God, which, when we accept it, enables us to be made just or righteous in the Father’s sight.  At this beginning point and throughout our lives as Christians, Christ goes before the Father to speak on our behalf if we confess our sins after having slipped and fallen spiritually, as we too often do.  For His Son’s sake, the Father extends His forgiveness to us.

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [an act of mercy] through faith in [by] his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Rom. 3:25-26).

Christ’s necessary support for imperfect Christians is depicted in Leviticus 23.

Here in verses 10 and 11, the first sheaf of the barley harvest is waved by the priest for acceptance.  This first of the firstfruits represents the unleavened Christ.  In verse 11, we note that it is offered to God on the morrow after the weekly Sabbath during the feast of Unleavened Bread.  Today we would call this Sunday morning.  This was the very day and time that Christ ascended to heaven to be accepted by the Father, after His resurrection on Saturday evening at sunset.  Fifty days later, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon His disciples at the feast of Pentecost.  In Leviticus 23, we see this depicted in verses 16 and 17. “Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.  

Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.”  It is important to note that on Pentecost two wave loaves baked with leaven were offered.  The leavening represents sin; the loaves therefore represent imperfect Christians being offered up for acceptance to God.  Now note verse 18, “And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the Lord”; and verse 20, “And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.”  This was a burnt offering, meaning everything was consumed in the altar fire.  This symbolized God’s satisfaction with the offering, and as verse 20 states, “they shall be holy to the Lord” because of their connection to the wave sheaf.  Christ the wave sheaf, is the first of the first fruits.  “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (I Cor. 15:20).  “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (I Cor. 15:23).

Today, Christ is our mediator with God.  He paid the penalty and He intercedes for us with the Father.  “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (I Tim. 2:5-6).  There is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved (Acts 4:12).

Almost everything is done for us through a series of gifts: (1) The gift of Christ’s sacrifice which paid the price for our sins.  This should be received with thankfulness and sorrow in recognition of how unworthy we are for Christ’s suffering and God’s forgiveness (II Cor. 7:9-10); (2) The gift of repentance through which the sacrifice is thankfully accepted.  God actually gives us the clarity, the desire and the ability to repent.  Paul says in Romans that God leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4).  In Acts 11:18, Peter states, “. . . Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted [given] repentance unto life.”  Now how is it possible for the first step to take effect in the minds of such people who initially were cut off and hostile to God?  Christ gives the answer in John 14:17, where He says God’s Spirit of truth dwells with us before it enters into us after baptism, through the laying on of hands.  

It opens our minds to gain understanding of the scriptures and begins to soften our hostility towards God.  It guides us towards appreciation and thankfulness.  
Again, what specifically does it mean to repent?  It involves God opening our minds to the awareness that we are sinful and that our sinfulness is the cause of Christ’s death.  This in turn leads to sorrow, as we individually recognize our responsibility for what happened to Him.  Now that we can see sin for the evil that it is, there comes a desire to turn away from it, to fight it and overcome it because it is so hideous.  The Greek verb translated “repent” is metanoeo and it means to change one’s mind, always for the better and morally.  The related noun metanoia involves a real change of attitude towards sin itself, not merely the consequences of it, but the inherent cause, our carnal nature.

Remember, our nature is what we are!  So repentance should affect our entire way of living and not merely a single act.  Repentance involves a complete about-face, turning away from the way we were when God called us.  Repentance is indeed the first step to eternal life and eternal life is necessary to be able to rule in Christ’s government.  (3) After genuine repentance comes another essential gift; the gift of God’s Holy Spirit which is the down payment on eternal life to those God calls.  This is made clear by Peter in Acts 2:38-39.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost [Spirit].  For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
It is through the Holy Spirit that we can develop the character of Christ.  It gives us the power to clearly see and overcome our evil nature, and to become more like our Savior.

Then what is left for the Christian to do?  The Christian is told to hold fast.  As Christ said in Matthew 24:13, “he that shall endure unto the [very] end, the same shall be saved.”  Those who do so are described in Revelation 17:14, as having been called, chosen and faithful.  God calls, Christ chooses, but it is the responsibility of the Christian to remain ever faithful to the truth and to mature spiritually.  Only the faithful will rule with Christ.  Faithful, however does not imply perfection, although spiritual maturity is the goal.  Only God and Christ are spiritually perfect or mature.  Christians do slip and fall, but they must not give up or give in.  For Christ’s sake the Father is always willing to forgive us upon genuine repentance.  Repentance involves a turning from sin and a turning to God and it has to be, as noted, a continuing process in the Christian’s life.  Other than Christ, it is impossible for any human being to live a perfect life.  Christians, therefore, are not perfect, but they are forgiven, when they repent.

Brethren, God is so good to us!  He has made it very difficult for us to fail.  Our great danger lies in allowing our feelings of weakness and inadequacy to get us down to the point that we give up.  That is what Satan will play on.  Our best defense is staying close to God in daily prayer and Bible study, which along with outgoing concern for others, creates unity in the Church, and helps stir up God’s Spirit within us.  This is how the Christian can maintain a positive attitude, because then God will be working in Him and His Spirit is a spirit of power, the power to overcome and mature.  In the process of replacing our human nature with God’s nature, we become more and more Christ-like.
Remember, repentance is a must, initially and must continue throughout the Christian’s life.  Without it we cannot grow.  To refuse to do it is to become a willful sinner.  Willful sinning unrepented of, inevitably leads to the unpardonable sin and eternal death.  Never be too proud to repent!  It ensures that God’s Holy Spirit will always be within us and that spirit is our downpayment on eternal life (Eph. 1:13-14).

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption [sonship], whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creature [creation] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. . . . For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption [sonship], to wit, the redemption of our body. . . . Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. . . . For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  What shall we then say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:11-19, 22-23, 26, 29-35, 37-39).

To recap, please remember, one cannot be good enough to repent and be baptized or to be saved.  We must realize that God leads us to see how evil we are and how much Christ’s sacrifice is necessary to cleanse us from sin.  It is Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit that makes us just in God’s sight.
If we could be good enough of ourselves to satisfy God’s standards of righteousness, then it would not have been necessary for Christ to die in our stead.  We can never attain Christ’s level of righteousness, and that is why He has to act as our mediator with the Father.  Mediatormesites in the Greek, is a go-between, one who mediates between two parties with a view to producing peace.

However, as W. E. Vine notes in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,

. . . more than mere “mediatorship” is in view, for the salvation of men necessitated that the Mediator should Himself possess the nature and attributes of Him towards whom He acts, and should likewise participate in the nature of those for whom He acts (sin apart); only by being possessed both of deity and humanity could He comprehend the claims of the one and the needs of the other; further, the claims and the needs could be met only by One who, Himself being proved sinless, would offer Himself an expiatory [to atone for, or to make amends for] sacrifice on behalf of men (emphasis ours).

Jesus Christ, we are advised, “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).  Part of real repentance is gratefully appreciating how much love it required on God the Father’s part to give His only begotten Son, while we were yet sinners.  Only an amazing out-going concern for His creation would prompt the junior member of the Godhead to jeopardize His glory and eternal position to become human and as a human be tempted in all points and yet sin not.  That is what He put at risk in confronting the arch-demon, Satan the devil.  Had Christ failed, there would be no hope for mankind, but only the wages of sin-eternal death!

Repentance involves acknowledging that we have no goodness in or of ourselves that can satisfy God, or induce Him to remove the death penalty hanging over us.  “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isa. 64:6).  Repentance also involves sorrow that our sins were the cause of Christ’s death.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Rom. 5:6-12).

Brethren, we are absolutely helpless!  Only with Christ’s intervention are we given hope!  His sacrifice paid the price for our past sins (Rom. 3:25), and His continuing intervention with the Father for us insures forgiveness for any sins we repent of.  Hopefully this brings deeper meaning to Christ’s words in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls [your own selves].  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We should be in absolutely no doubt of God’s love for His human creation, for us, since as Paul states in I Timothy 2:4, He “will have [wants] all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge [an understanding] of the truth.”  Further, in Romans 14:9, he points out, “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived [lived again], that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Finally in this regard, remember, once again,

. . . If God be for us, who can be against us?  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give [forgive] us all things?  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Rom 8:31b-34).

Indeed we have so much to be thankful for.  The atoning sacrifice has been made on our behalf. Yet, to appreciate the wonderful blessing bestowed upon us, we must ask our Father in heaven to give us the ability to be thankful in a more profound way, so that our repentance can be genuine.  This involves both understanding and emotion, engendered through mediation, prayer, study and fasting.  For further information on this topic, please read Mr. Armstrong’s booklet All About Water Baptism.

Once again, only God can give us repentance.  It is not something we can “work up” on our own, apart from Him.  Beyond that, God has given us every gift necessary to make our calling and election sure.  Stay on the road of repentance unto salvation in these end times!

Hold Fast!

Learn From The Children

Dear Brethren:

We have often been told if we are to enter the Kingdom of God, we must become like little children.  Recently I was reminded of this when my four-year old granddaughter Kilah, came to stay overnight.  Actually she comes to stay overnight quite frequently.  Kilah has developed a very close relationship with my wife, Micki.  She really loves her “Nanna” and it shows when they are together.

The other evening, I was watching Kilah snuggling into her Nanna’s side, on the sofa, but it was the expression on her face that really grabbed my attention.  It was one of complete trust and contentment–total security.

I thought to myself, “that is exactly the relationship God and Christ want us to have with Them.”  Sadly, that is not what we have learned as we grew up in this society.  Our experience has more likely been that of suspicion, fear, and resentment, so that trust, even in God’s Church, is elusive at the best of times.  If this is the case, and I believe it is, then what are we doing in God’s Church to develop the child-like trust which is essential among the brethren, and between the ministry and the brethren?  Yes, why, particularly in America, do people join church organizations?  Perhaps to get to heaven or to avoid going to hell!  Possibly, simply, to feel good about themselves?  The important thing is to show up at Church every, or most, Sundays.  Much is external show.  How true is this of those of us who consider ourselves part of God’s True Church?  Is our religion mostly external, doing what is expected, but not really changing internally?  How long can we put off making internal changes, rooting out those insidious self-images, so that Christ can come and live His life in us?  We need to develop Godly relationships that mirror the trust and contentment of a little child.

Do we too think that by showing up at services every Sabbath and Holy Day, and by partaking of the Passover every year, we will automatically be in the place of safety throughout the tribulation?  Will simply showing up guarantee your entrance into God’s Kingdom?  No, external observances will not cut it!  We have to change internally.  Again, we have to develop child-like trust in our loving Father.

I know that many of us have gone through some despicable experiences growing up which have made trust in other human beings an almost impossible task; yet, the Word of God demands that we love one another and that love is the proof of our love for God.

In I Corinthians 13, Paul stated that of hope, faith, and love, love is the most important, or greatest.  Why is that?  Because hope and faith gain their power from God’s love.  Thus we trust Him and hope in Him.  After all, He allowed His only Son to be sacrificed for us.  

Kilah knows that her Nanna really loves her and Micki would indeed risk her own life to defend her.  This is the genesis of the trust in their relationship.

Christ has already proved His love for us.  He gave up His life when we were still unrepentant sinners.  Indeed, He has opened the way for us to live a life filled with hope, faith and love.  To understand this is to know where our trust needs to come from and how God intends us to live.  But love and the subsequent trust can not be worked up by human effort.  We have to ask God for that confidence to love and trust Him.  He knows we live in Satan’s society.
 Thankfully Christ is at God’s right hand ready to intervene for us, because He lived in Satan’s society and was tempted and tested in every way that we are.  Christ gave up His divinity and lived life as a human with the inherent weaknesses and desires of the flesh.  He clearly understands the pressure we have to contend with on a daily basis.  “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Unlike us, Christ managed to remain sinless because He had the Holy Spirit without measure.  We have to continually ask for more of that Spirit, which not only gives us the power to change, but implants the nature of Christ, enabling us to develop the trust which carried Him through His trials.

Kilah often comes up and expresses her love for her grandparents; but when she misbehaves, we tell her that we are disappointed in her.  This generally brings an improved attitude.  She simply does not want to disappoint us.

When is the last time we adults expressed our love for God and Christ?  Undoubtedly we often ask Them for this or that for ourselves or for others, but do we tell Them, with the openness of an innocent little child, we love Them?  Are we concerned about disappointing Them?  After all, as Mr. Armstrong explained many years ago, God’s plan is to have billions of children; children rescued from the bondage of this society.  In this regard, consider Paul’s words in Romans 8:15 (NKJ), “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, `Abba, Father.’”  The word “adoption” should be translated “sonship” and “Abba” is a term of endearment, the equivalent of the English word “Daddy.”

Only through God’s Spirit can we rid ourselves of the bondage of this society.  Much of that bondage is the self-images we so reluctantly give up.  It is the self-image we developed to mask the painful experiences we endured growing-up.  The same experiences that ruptured our childhood innocence and trust.

So “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find” (Matt. 7:7).  Now is the time to be renewed by God’s Spirit, to learn to trust Him as our Daddy.  His Spirit can wash away all those painful experiences, which have warped us emotionally over the years, so that we can become as trusting as little children.  Take the time to study and observe our little ones.  They can teach us much that God wants us to learn.So ask and believe.  Hold fast and move forward with trust and confidence.


Sincerely,
In Christ’s service,
Robert J. Elliott
Pastor



As you meditate on this letter, please consider the following verses from Romans 8, which illustrate the love of God and Christ for us and the marvelous future they have planned for us.

18.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

32.  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

34.  . . . It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

16-17.  The Spirit Himself [Itself] bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, . . . that we may also be glorified together.

35.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

38-39.  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And directly from Christ himself:  
`Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light’ (Matt. 11:28-30).

It Is Time To WAKE UP!

Herbert W. Armstrong, stayed alert!
Today the Church of God is asleep or indifferent.
WAKE UP!

Yes, it is time to wake up!

Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to remind us to keep our eyes on the Middle East with special reference to Israel and the city of Jerusalem.

Virtually every day Jerusalem is on the front pages of the world’s largest newspapers and nightly television news brings the slaughter there into our living rooms.  Yet the Church of God slumbers on, unaware of how close to the end-time tribulation we are!

In Revelation 11, we find God’s two witnesses headquartered at a temple in Jerusalem throughout this coming tribulation.  Yet no temple stands there now.  However, in the Companion Bible, a note on verses 1 and 2 of Revelation 11 states, “All these particulars refer to an actual Temple.  The church of God knows nothing of an altar here, of a naos [sanctuary], of a court of the Gentiles.  All point to the Temple yet to be built in the holy city, i.e. Jerusalem [emphasis mine].”

Brethren, events must soon transpire to make this a reality.  Already in Israel plans are moving ahead rapidly to bring this to pass.  Recently Gershon Salomon, Chairman of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, advised me that polls taken in Israel, show that more than 80% support it.  Today, most of the Israeli nation supports the rebuilding of the temple and the campaign of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement for this.

For some time now a local stone mason has been cutting out the stones using a laser.  Priests and Levites are being trained for their duties; their clothing and many metal articles used in the sacrificial system are nearing completion.

The world war on terror, another local war, or political changes in the near future could accelerate the desire of the Jews for a third temple, a house for God among His people once again.  Already the Israeli parliament is largely controlled by the ultra-orthodox religious parties.

In Daniel 8 and 9, a sanctuary and sacrificial system is mentioned in connection with Jerusalem in the tribulation period.  Also note Daniel 12:11, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”

Christ mentions this abomination in Matthew 24:15-21.  Its setting up signals the beginning of the tribulation, and it is to be placed in the court of a temple not yet built, but which will be standing when the tribulation suddenly descends on modern Israel.

Still the Church of God slumbers on!

It seems that when Mr. Herbert Armstrong died, much of the oxygen in God’s Church was expelled.

How about you, are you alive and alert to the times you are living in?

Are you prepared?

Most of the Church won’t be, only a few will!

Like the Marines, God is still looking for a few good men and women in this end-time era.

If you want help and encouragement to get ready and more information about the temple and the 1290 days of Revelation 12, please write for our introductory packet and our workbook, The Revelation of the End Times.

Continuing The Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong

Continuing the Legacy of Herbert W. Armstrong,“
Preparing the Bride”

The events of September 11, 2001, have brought into sharper focus another critical element of end-time prophecy that God’s people should watch.

The September 11 assault on America was not the beginning of the tribulation.  Instead it created the environment which will propel Europe into the Middle East and bring to pass a prophecy in Daniel 11.

In Daniel 11:36, the king of the North, the first beast of Revelation 13, or leader of the final resurrection of the Roman Empire “will do as he pleases.  He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods.  He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place.”“

At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships.  He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood.  He will also invade the Beautiful Land [Palestine]” (Dan 11:40-41a).

But who is this king of the South, who will engage him in battle?  Anciently the kingdom of the south was Egypt.  To this day Egypt considers herself the leader of the Arab nations.  However Egypt is ruled by secular leaders.  The Arabs have been looking for a religious leader to unite them against Roman Catholic Europe since the Mahdi of the Sudan, Mohammed Ahmed, captured Khartoum in 1885 and killed the British general Charles “Chinese” Gordon.

The Arab word “Mahdi” means “he who is guided aright,” and is their title for a coming Messiah who will establish the reign of justice on earth.  Could Osama bin Laden or one of his followers become the Mahdi who unites the Islamic nations into an empire?

The United States and British led campaign against bin Laden and the Taliban could well create the unity that in the past the Arab and Muslim nations have failed to achieve for themselves.

What if a more formidable biochemical pestilence than anthrax strikes the United States, and the economy collapses and we are unable to fund our military?  Today, this country is officially in a recession and the government is borrowing heavily to stop the downward spiral into a depression and to provide funds for counter-terrorism.

What happens if the United States cannot control Israel?  Israel feels it must protect itself against Arab terrorists.  However, the United States condemns them for attacking those responsible for the suicide bombings and assassinations.  Yet this is what the United States advocates against Bin Laden and those responsible for September 11.  Israel is feeling vulnerable, which makes her very dangerous.  In Isaiah 9:21, we see Manasseh and Ephraim, the United States and Great Britain against Judah, the Israelis!

Returning to Daniel 11, we find the king of the South attacking the king of the North and then in retaliation, the king of the North attacks Egypt (Dan 11:42-43), and surrounds Jerusalem.  What is missing?  There is absolutely no mention of the United States or Great Britain in this scenario, of the coming Great Tribulation.

Do you wonder why?  What is going to happen between today and that day?  A day when the United States no longer exists as a nation!  Remember the war in Afghanistan is just the beginning of a wider world war against terrorism.  

What will the unintended consequences be?  A war against terror might include most Arab nations.  This in turn may very well jeopardize the flow of oil to Germany and the European Union.  Who will they blame for that?  Can Israel remain on the sidelines?  We have entered a very dangerous new phase in world events.

The Church of God must prepare herself now (Rev 19:7)!

Hold Fast To The Truths Restored By Herbert W. Armstrong

Dear Brethren:

As the New Year rapidly approaches, what should our focus be?  Although God’s people, in general, are in terrible disarray, we in God’s Church, Worldwide have much to be thankful for.  We are still fighting the good fight that will bring us successfully into Christ’s millennial kingdom.

We can thank God that He selected Herbert Armstrong as His end-time Elijah to restore what the Church of God had so quickly lost during and after the first century A.D., and now is losing again.

People today dispute just how many truths were restored through Mr. Herbert W Armstrong, but Christ states that the end-time Elijah would “restore all things.”  Why restore?  Because through the ages the Church had either lost sight of, or forgotten key truths necessary for salvation.  That’s why restoration was necessary and we are the beneficiaries.

In 1966 when God first brought me into contact with His Church, no Catholic priest, Protestant minister, radio or television evangelist would define what sin is.  They told people to repent of their sins, but they never gave a biblical definition of what sin is.  That was until Mr. Herbert Armstrong came along and provided the scriptural evidence, that sin is the transgression of God’s law (I Jn. 3:4).

The others knew of I John 3:4, but refused to cite it because it flew in the face of their own doctrine, that God’s law was no longer in effect.  Without going into the details of this fallacy, Christ’s own words on this subject should be sufficient.  As recounted in Matthew 19, someone asked Christ, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (NKJ).  Christ told him, “If you want to enter into life keep the commandments” (NKJ).  He then proceeded to list some of the Ten Commandments for good measure, so that no one would be confused about which commandments He had in mind.

Yes, we are saved by grace; but to enter a state of grace or forgiveness, we must admit that we are sinners and responsible for Christ’s death.  His death paid the penalty for our sins, but sins are defined as the breaking of God’s Ten Commandments.  If we have truly repented, then we should live our lives in accordance with God’s great law of love.  The fact that we cannot live by that law perfectly, as Christ did, is no excuse to stop trying.  When we miss the mark, when we break His law and sin, we have the blessing of going to our loving God to ask forgiveness, which because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, He is all too willing to do.

So brethren, we have no reason to fail.

Since we have this wonderful understanding, our task is to hold fast to it and never give up.

This should be our focus in the New Year, as we approach Passover.  Satan wants to discourage us.  He wants to use our human weaknesses against us and we have plenty of them.  Yet God knows us too and He has promised NOT to give up on us if we stay in the race.  Paul puts it so beautifully in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He [God] who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (NKJ).  In I Corinthians 10:13 he adds, “There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able [to bear]; but will with the temptation [trial] also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Do you believe these words brethren?  God is faithful.  He won’t let us down, as long as we don’t give up.  This is what we need to pray and meditate on.  If we believe God, take Him at His word, we in turn will also prove faithful.  You must be faithful to God, to Christ, to the truth, to your ministry and to each other.

God puts great stock in faithfulness in human beings.  Perhaps because so few manage to be trustworthy!  He does not appreciate those who give up or give in.  He inspired Paul to say in Hebrews 10:39, “But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul [oneself]” (NKJ).

The Christian life is not easy, because we know exactly what sin is.  We know its definition.  We can’t plead ignorance.  We also know that God chastises every son (or daughter) He loves.  Just always remember that His correction is in love, but it could come from any quarter, or through any person: a minister, a wife, a husband, a child, a fellow worker, from inside or outside the Church of God.  If you want to benefit from correction, be humble, because we all need it to grow.

Think about it, we begin as Satan’s children, but end up as God’s.  That is a big gulf to cross and obviously requires much overcoming and change.  Develop a mind prepared to receive correction.  It takes humility to admit that we are wrong and this is a stepping stone to repentance and growing more Christlike.  Satan will never admit he is wrong and so is incapable of repentance.  He is no longer our example to follow as he was in our past ignorance.  Yes, Christianity is a narrow, difficult, but rewarding road to travel, and God promises a bright future of eternal proportions to those who refuse to turn back.

The key is never give up.  Sadly too many already have.  Tens of thousands have gone back into the world, or they are blind to the times they are living in, so that the tribulation will take them unawares.  Therefore, let us think of trials and correction as spurs under the saddle to keep us awake.  Mr. Herbert Armstrong, all his life, was beset with trials, yet he never gave up and he held fast to the end.  He is a fine example for us.  Remember those who rule with Christ were first called, then chosen, and subsequently proved themselves faithful to their calling.  Be one of them!


Hold Fast!

Robert J. Elliott
Pastor

End-Time Understanding

Hold Fast Letter


Dear Brethren:

When God’s Church, Worldwide began operations on Passover 1995, we did not start out to be different.  That was not our intention.  We were simply meeting together determined to hold fast to the Biblical doctrines presented to us by Herbert W. Armstrong, a man we had proved to be a true servant of God.

At that time we assumed that this was the majority opinion shared with the ministry and brethren of the Worldwide Church of God.  It was not long before we were disabused and shown the fallacy of our theory.  The truth was that most had little or no respect for Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong.  That situation has not changed.  Indeed, the number, who support Mr. Herbert Armstrong has diminished rather than grown over the succeeding years.

Obviously we expected the ministers and brethren, who approved of the doctrinal changes made by the Tkachs, to be anti-Armstrong, but were initially taken aback by the attitudes of those who broke away from the Tkach administration to form organizations, supposedly in support of what Mr. Herbert Armstrong had taught.

Very soon it became clear that the leadership of these groups were dismantling or undermining much of what Mr. Herbert Armstrong had come to understand from God’s Word.

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong had stated more than once that government would be a problem in the Laodicean era of the Church.  This, by the way, shows that he understood he was living in the Philadelphia era.

In the spring of 1995, the largest breakaway group adopted a democratic form of government.  A number of ministers in this organization, including some of the leadership, had either accepted, or taught, the Trinity, the nature of God, born again at baptism and the acceptance of the cross as a Christian symbol; all this before leaving the Worldwide Church of God.

None that I know of have recanted and apologized.  Instead they remain in positions of authority with their new group.  If Mr. Herbert Armstrong were alive, they would be removed from the ministry and the Church.

The fact that we, God’s Church, Worldwide, had not changed any of these doctrines made us different.  Because of our loyalty to these truths, we were accused of worshipping Mr. Herbert Armstrong.  When in truth, we simply recognized who he was and what his commission had been.  I say, had been, because we understand that God had trained him for the commission of taking the gospel of the Kingdom to the world and that he completed that commission.

This also set us at variance with other groups.  They still feel the gospel commission is incomplete and that they have to finish it.  Ironically, even if this were true, they are rivals and cannot unite to do what they say yet remains to be done.

We believe that Mr. Herbert Armstrong completed his God-given commission.  Most importantly we realize that the gospel commission could not have been undertaken unless the doctrines of God’s Church were correct.  The fact that these doctrines are being undermined shows that God cannot and will not bless any so-called gospel work by these groups.

This also has created a difference between us and them.  The gospel commission was given to the Philadelphia era of the church.  With the completion of that responsibility, the Church entered the final Laodicean era in which no gospel work is done.  The last work of God’s Church before Christ’s return will be that of the two witnesses.

Now because so many refuse to admit Mr. Herbert Armstrong accomplished his commission, they have put themselves into a time warp, by which they think they are still in the sixth and not the seventh era.  We know we are in the final era and that the goal for us is to prepare for Christ’s Second Coming.  Part of that preparation is actually knowing that this is the final era and that time is short.  It also means that we have, as noted, proved and held fast to two very important facts:

(a) God called and trained Herbert W. Armstrong to take the good news of Christ’s coming kingdom to the world, and
(b) He did it!  He finished it!

Our recognition of the above has allowed us to be further blessed by our Father in Heaven.  One quality that pleases Him greatly is faithfulness.  This is said of the saints who return with Christ to subdue the nations. “…and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14b).  Being faithful Christians allows God the Father to bless us.  In this instance, the blessing is a clearer understanding of end-time chronology.  This is part of being prepared for events leading up to and through the tribulation and day of the Lord.

Such information is vital for Philadelphian Christians to grasp in these end times.  It is also a source of great encouragement, that God is still working with faithful Christians seventeen years after the death of Mr. Herbert Armstrong.

Our understanding of end-time chronology has also made a difference between us and other groups.  Satan showed his cleverness soon after Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong died, when through the Tkach administration, he persuaded ministers to avoid prophetic subjects!  Typically Satan mixes some truth with error.  It was said that the Church had made some mistakes – that Mr. Herbert Armstrong had set times and dates which proved to be incorrect.

In fact, Mr. Herbert Armstrong, with his natural enthusiasm to finish “the work,” was wary about predicting events with exactitude.  He couched his remarks with phrases indicating the possibility rather than certainty of any such events happening at a particular time.

Yet the Church was in error in respect to end-time chronology, specifically with regard to the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days of Daniel 12.  By placing the thirty days of 1290 plus the forty-five days of 1335 prior to the beginning of the 1260 days, the Church left no room for the day of the Lord, which follows the 1260 days of the tribulation.  By this reckoning, the millennium would begin at Christ’s Second Coming.  The argument for placing the thirty days, plus forty-five days ahead of the start of the tribulation was based upon the theory that the Church would require a total of seventy-five days to get to a place of safety, which it was thought then would be Petra in Jordan.  

Today we understand that the Church will be taken almost instantaneously to a place of safety (Lk. 17:34-37; Matt. 24:17-21, 36-41).  With that misunderstanding corrected, we can now see that there are 1260 days of tribulation followed by thirty days for Christ to subdue the nations and a further forty-five days to prepare Jerusalem and the Messianic temple for the commencement of the millennium on the 1335th day, the Feast of Pentecost.
The Church further compounded this error, in respect to end-time chronology, by pushing the three and one-half years for the tribulation back to two and one-half years, to make room for one year to include the day of the Lord, yet the Bible clearly gives a full three and one-half years for the tribulation and today we know the day of the Lord lasts thirty days.

God’s Church, Worldwide has understood this revised chronology since 1995.  This also made us different.  Apart from this Church group, I know of no other which has this understanding.  A fear of being unable to get prophecy right has frozen most ministers in the incorrect understanding the Church had in 1986.

In properly assessing Mr. Herbert Armstrong and his work, God’s Church, Worldwide came to the following conclusions.

1. He completed the commission he was called to do, which involved restoring lost doctrine to God’s Church, and on that foundation he took the true gospel as an announcement to the world.

2. With the completion of that commission, we officially entered the end times (Mt. 24:14).

3. Beyond his commission, Mr. Herbert Armstrong explained end-time chronology based on a good overview, but speculated about the details.  In fact he stated that his commission was not to be an expert on chronology.  

This should not surprise us since this information could not be understood until the Church entered the end times, which did not begin until Mr. Herbert Armstrong died in January 1986.  He did have a good overview of end-time prophecy, but not the important details.

A Church’s true wealth is its doctrine, not its tithes or offerings.  If the doctrine is incorrect, people in this age will be led to disaster, otherwise known as the great tribulation. A reading of the latter part of Revelation 3 shows that the majority of Christians living in the final era are blind and unconcerned, lacking in an awareness of their imminent danger.  This seems hard to fathom when the world is transfixed with the Israeli/Palestinian imbroglio, 250,000 U.S.
troops in Iraq, and a United States of Europe coming on the scene in 2004.

How soon people forget!  Time and again Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong emphasized and warned us about the Middle East being the focus of world attention and a United States of Europe which would bring on the tribulation.  These things are happening before our eyes and most Christians seem unaware!

Now the stage is set for the tribulation to begin and most Christians are asleep, which shows how little Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s words sank in.  In this, God’s Church, Worldwide should be different.  We cannot afford to forget the warnings of God’s apostle.  With time getting ever shorter, we must strive to fulfill Christ’s command to love one another and grow in the unity, which identifies us as God’s Church.  I can think of nothing more pleasing in God’s sight and this too should make us different.


Sincerely,
In Christ’s service.

Robert J. Elliott

To The Final Era of God's Church

CHRIST HAS SAID THAT WE, OF THIS ERA, CONSIDER OURSELVES RICH, WHEN IN REALITY, WE ARE SPIRITUALLY DEFICIENT OR POOR.  In His view we are blind, naked, miserable, and wretched (Rev. 3:17).  Is that how we see ourselves, or is it only people in the other groups who fit Christ’s description?

Friends, Christ is now addressing all Christians in this era.  He is talking to all of us.  He is talking to you!

Consider then; do we feel secure in our various groupings, yet look down on those outside our specific affiliation-our brethren, who not long ago shared fellowship with us in the Worldwide Church of God?  Are they now the enemy?  Are they poor in our eyes, and does their poverty make us feel rich?  Self-righteousness is hateful to Christ, who is the Head of God’s Church.  What He desires is compassion and unity.  If He does not find these qualities now, they will be provided by refining in the fire of great tribulation (Rev. 3:18).  With this in mind, let’s consider Paul’s words in Philippians 2, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others”  (Phil. 2:1-4 NKJ).  Will we heed His message in time to avoid the onrushing tribulation?

This is not the time to be in doubt.  A United States of Europe is rising and the Middle East is the focus of world attention, while modern Israel including the United States, Great Britain, and the Israelis incur international hostility.  Jerusalem remains an insoluble problem.  IT IS ALL HAPPENING THE WAY MR. HERBERT ARMSTRONG SAID IT WOULD, AND IT IS ALL IN YOUR BIBLE!  Are you aware of the danger and of the times you are living in?  You should not be in doubt.  Instead, this is the time to really understand.  Sadly, far too many are in a blind condition today, incapable or unwilling to understand.

Soon there will be a need for divine protection and there is such a promise in Revelation 3:10-11, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [trial], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”  If we wish to escape the tribulation, we must have an outgoing, outflowing concern for others in the household of faith, our brethren, in the scattered Church of God.  Jesus said “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

THE CHURCH
MUST get back on the doctrinal track that Christ used Mr. Herbert Armstrong to restore and sift out, beyond that, what has proven to be speculation.  Only then can we advance in growth over what we understood in January 1986.

It has been over seventeen years since Mr. Herbert Armstrong died and the Church should still be growing!  Daniel 12 reveals, in conjunction with Matthew 24, that end time chronology can only be understood after the gospel has been proclaimed to the world.  

Mr. Herbert Armstrong completed that commission!
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SINCE MR. HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG DIED?

Do you know how long the tribulation will last?  2 ½ years or 3 ½ years?  Do you know when it will begin?  

Does the day of the Lord last a year? a day? or a month?  

Will the Church need 75 days to escape and reach a place of safety?  Is there such a place and is it Petra?  If not, where?

Are you aware of the danger and of the times you are living in?

Are we concerned or self-satisfyingly complacent in whatever Church group we find ourselves in today?

Are we following men, looking to them for our security?  Where is God in the picture?

Are you confident you have the correct answers to these vital questions?  
Time is running out fast!  Are we worthy?  Are we awake?  Are we getting ready?

Recent Church History After Herbert W. Armstrong

Dear Brethren in Training for Christ’s Government:


What is God’s Church, Worldwide?

This letter is to acquaint you with the origins of God’s Church Worldwide and its purpose today.

This is given in the context of the confusion wrought on the people of God after the spiritual melt down of the Worldwide Church of God, after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong in January 1986.

Just before Mr. Herbert Armstrong died, he chose Joseph Tkach, Sr. to succeed him as Pastor General of God’s Church.  Since, as Mr. Herbert Armstrong stated in his last book, Mystery of the Ages, he had completed his commission of taking the true gospel of Christ’s coming kingdom to the nations, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong instructed Mr. Joseph Tkach to prepare the Church for Christ’s imminent return.   Mr. Tkach started out on the right track by reminding God’s people that “we are family.”  Later, with the introduction of the Trinity doctrine, he was to deny that indeed God (Elohim) is a family.  Changes to Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s healing booklet and the introduction of false doctrine in the form of the nature of God, being born again at baptism, and the Trinity, soon had God’s people heading back into the world, instead of coming out of it as commanded (II Cor. 6:16-18).  The door was closing on the Philadelphia era and the transition into the final Laodicean era had begun.

From 1989 to 1995, various ministers broke away from the Worldwide Church of God, to establish their own organizations, with the intent supposedly of holding fast to the doctrines Mr. Herbert Armstrong had established in the Church for over fifty years.  As time passed, in fact, these groups have succeeded in distancing themselves from many of his teachings.  They refuse to accept his word that the taking of the gospel to the world as a witness and warning is complete.  Today their concept of taking the gospel to the world more closely resembles the Protestant view of saving humanity.  Many have repudiated government from the top down in the Church, to some form of democracy, or no government administered by ministers.  Most show little or no respect for Mr. Herbert Armstrong personally and are not prepared to admit that he was the Elijah sent before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, who would restore all things.  

Few people today realize that we are now in the final era, the lukewarm Laodicean era of the true Church.  An era of people so vile in Christ’s view, that He states in Revelation 3, He is about to vomit them out of His mouth into the terrible tribulation.  The majority are mistaken in viewing the era we now live in as the Philadelphia era, with an open door to take the gospel to the world.  This is most dangerous, because it puts those who believe this in a time warp unprepared and without any sense of urgency.  The reality is that time is short and instead of examining themselves for any vestiges of Laodiceanism, they complacently think that the Worldwide Church of God is now the Laodicean Church.  The Worldwide Church of God is wrongly named today, for it is nothing more than a tiny Protestant denomination.  God is not in it and Christ is not head of it!  However, Laodiceanism is alive and well among those who think they stand because they believe they are still “doing the work.”  As a result of this delusion, most are not examining themselves with the intent of routing out Laodiceanism which Christ hates.  Soon their leaders will have to bear much of the responsibility for this.  They have forgotten, or perhaps never took seriously Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong’s warning that there was too much Protestantism in the Church.

By contrast, God’s Church, Worldwide, as an organization, clearly understands that we are in the final era and are actively fighting against lukewarm self-satisfaction and any vestiges of Protestantism.  We know time is short, that we have much to overcome, that to please Christ we must be more united as a godly family and that we have much yet to learn from the scriptures.  In God’s Church, Worldwide there is a sense of urgency which is of great importance, since, as noted, time is growing short to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ, Jesus.

This organization began in a much different way than others we have investigated.  Let’s look at out history as it developed from my transfer to Pasadena in the spring of 1986.  In that year I was sent from Canada to revive the Plain Truth newsstand program.  While waiting for a visa, I conceived a new approach to magazine distribution, which later was given the name, the Plain Truth Blitz Program.  I felt the Church could utilize its newsstand resources more effectively by focusing on five or six major cities at a time and saturating each of them for a six-month period and then rotating the stands and magazines into another group of cities, rather than spreading them in small numbers across the entire United States as we had been doing.

This proposal was adopted and ran very successfully for two years in the United States and other countries around the world, at which point it was canceled by Joseph Tkach, Sr.  The Blitz Program, which concluded in 1988, was the last effort to take the gospel forcefully around the world, as the door was closing on the Philadelphia era of God’s Church.  From 1988 to 1990 I was the associate pastor in the Imperial Schools morning congregation, in Pasadena.  Both the pastor and I could see the direction the Church was going in, but both of us determined to stick to what we had been taught by Mr. Herbert Armstrong and had proved from the Bible no matter what.  Obviously this did not endear us to the new administration, as they departed from the teachings of the Bible.  We also recognized that it was probably only a matter of time before we were moved or fired.  As of 1989 the Church was clearly off the track.  The door was now tightly shut!

In 1990, I was transferred to Orlando, Florida.  I found the Orlando Church in chaos, but soon became aware that the administration in Pasadena would not allow me to deal with the serious breaches of God’s law in a proper manner.
In 1993 after great difficulty in securing an appointment with Mr. Joseph Tkach, Sr. in Pasadena, I laid out my concerns regarding the congregations across Florida, and pleaded with him to do something to stop the rot there and elsewhere.  He heard me out, but no action was taken to rectify the situation.  Shortly thereafter I was moved to Big Sandy, Texas.  In 1995, just prior to Passover I was fired and almost immediately disfellowshipped.

By this time I had returned to Orlando and was looking for a way to support my family.  My resume was a little dated and there did not appear to be any jobs for fifty-year-old ex-pastors!  Yet, as I think back on it I didn’t panic.  I knew with certainty that God had called me and put me into His ministry, so why should I be worried?  He had always provided and if I remained faithful He would continue to provide.

As a result, my wife and I started up a house cleaning service to support ourselves and our twin daughters who were in university at the time.  To get the necessary training for this, we cleaned homes for free over a six month period, at which point my severance ran out and we began to charge for our services.  God did provide and the bills got paid.

As this venture began, Passover was almost upon us.  A group of about twenty-four members from the Orlando congregation came to me on a Saturday afternoon and asked me to conduct the Passover service for them.  They said they recognized me as a true minister of God, that the Worldwide Church of God was no longer God’s Church and would I pastor them.  I said I would and that is how God’s Church, Worldwide began.

Prior to this, I had contact with numerous ministers, disgruntled with the Worldwide Church of God, who were thinking of joining one or another of the breakaway groups.  I counseled them against this, because it was already clear to me that rather than truly following Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, the leaders of these groups had their own agendas.

I believe they started their own works, I don’t believe Christ raised any of them up, for the various reasons given above and because they do not truly honor Mr. Herbert Armstrong (Jn. 12:26).  I advised my friends in the ministry not to join them, but to stay where they were, and continue to teach the truth and God’s people would gravitate to them.  None followed that advice.  Throughout the years I had waited in vain for the Evangelists, the top echelon of ministers, to confront Mr. Joseph Tkach about the false doctrines.  Sadly, some liked the changes, while the majority remained silent.

Brethren, when viewing the entire situation, it is critical to remember that God raised up Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and that Mr. Armstrong passed on the mantle of responsibility to Mr. Joseph Tkach; therefore there could be no justification for rebellion or for breaking away and starting up a rival organization.

The only proper thing to do was to follow the example of David with Saul.  As is stated in I Samuel 18:14, “David behaved himself wisely in all his doings.”  He would not raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed and he would not foment any rebellion against constituted authority.  This left only one avenue for me to follow: hold fast to the truth, teach it, preserve it, protect it, and grow in it until cast out of the organization.

When I was indeed cast out, I had to remind myself that I had been ordained through Mr. Herbert Armstrong with the responsibility of pastoring God’s people.  As it turned out, cleaning homes and pastoring people turned out to be very compatible until church responsibilities began to grow larger, at which point the home cleaning service was discontinued.  Meanwhile we incorporated as a Church body.

Initially, this was not my intention.  It only became a consideration when God’s people required a place to send their tithes.  By now we were meeting every Sabbath and observing all the Holy Days together.  Incorporation seemed to be the best way to carry on Church activities in the United States.

Originally, we incorporated with the name, God’s Church of Orlando, because we were a) God’s Church, and b) meeting in Orlando.  Later, as we developed contacts worldwide, the name changed accordingly.  

Some have mistakenly thought re-baptism was a necessary requirement to meet with God’s Church, Worldwide.  If your baptism was in the Worldwide Church of God, and a minister of God in that organization laid hands upon you, then God granted you His Holy Spirit, which makes you a member, not of any corporate entity, but of the spiritual body of Christ, His true Church.  As always, the key to a valid baptism is genuine repentance, which is necessary so God can grant His Holy Spirit.  Remember the true Church is a spiritual entity, not a corporate body!

Because we honor and respect Mr. Herbert Armstrong, we have been accused of worshipping the man.  Obviously this is ridiculous, but what is our view of Herbert W. Armstrong?

First, we recognize him as our father in Christ.  We all came into God’s Church as the result of the work God did through him.  We believe that Mr. Herbert Armstrong alone was called by God, and specifically trained by Christ, to restore truths the Church had lost, forgotten, or neglected. There had to be a solid foundation of doctrinal truth to support the gospel message.  It was on the basis of this restoration that it was possible to take the true gospel of Christ’s coming kingdom to the world. The completion of that task ushered us into the end times, according to Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (NKJ).

Daniel the prophet was told that the prophecies given to him would only be understood completely in the end times, “And he said, `Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.’” (Dan. 12:9).  Officially, the end times began after the death of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and since then, God has given God’s Church, Worldwide much understanding held from the Church before January 1986.  This is in accord with what the scriptures point out: but why has it happened to this organization?  I believe because we have honored Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and because we were not afraid to continue to seek clarity in respect to end-time chronology.  It had become fashionable in the Tkach administration to discount the value of prophecy or in the ability of the Church to get it right.  This attitude is still prevalent among many ministers who left the Worldwide Church of God and are now with other groups.  Sadly, others have made up their own prophecy with the idea of inserting themselves into Biblical prophecies to the point that one individual has taken to calling himself a prophet, and one of his booklets as being “the little book” of Revelation 10!  This man has a following of some six thousand people who used to be in the Worldwide Church of God.  What a tragic situation!

Since we see Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong as the Elijah who came to restore truth to the Church, do we consider him infallible? Not at all.  No man is infallible.  Peter, Paul, James and John thought and taught that Christ would return during the first century in their life times.  This was incorrect; and similarly, Mr. Herbert Armstrong made mistakes when he speculated beyond his specific commission.  He said of himself that he was not called as an authority on end-time chronology.  This in no way diminishes our respect for Mr. Herbert Armstrong.

For those who have only recently come in contact with us and wish to research what we have come to understand since 1995, please access our Bible studies posted on our web site (www.gcww.org) and prove them for yourself from your Bible.

So what is the main purpose of God’s Church, Worldwide today?  Apart from holding fast to the truth first delivered to us by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, we will continue to study for more understanding of the scriptures, relative to the time we are now living in.  We are here to help other Christians who are striving to be Philadelphian in a Laodicean age and who are still eager to learn and grow.  We feel it is critical to emphasize as much as lies in our power to do so, that this is the last era of God’s Church and that those who are serious about preparing to rule with Christ must know this for a fact; otherwise, they simply cannot get prepared.  This is the spur that energizes us towards greater unity more godly love, more family involvement, more repentance, more concern for our brethren, more respect for God and Christ, their government and law.  Overall more purpose in our daily lives, more Bible study, more prayer, meditation and fasting more appreciation for Sabbath services and Holy Days.  A blessing for those who are alert now is special protection throughout the soon coming tribulation:

Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown (Rev. 3:10-11).

One way or another, the Bride of Christ; His Church, will have made herself ready:

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying.  `Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.’  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.  And he saith unto me, `Write, “Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb”’ (Rev. 19:6-9).

Our goal is to help God’s people to prepare themselves and to be ready, before the tribulation suddenly descends on this society.  Don’t let anything or anyone divert you from your duty to attain that goal.  Christ requires us to be faithful to our calling.


In Christ’s service,
Hold Fast!

Robert J. Elliott
Pastor

Prepare To Teach The Remnant

HOLD FAST LETTER

Dear Brethren and Teachers in Training:


Greetings from Florida.

As you know, we have been called by God and chosen by Christ to make ourselves ready to teach the remnant of mankind who survive the Tribulation and day of the Lord.  They must learn from us God’s way of doing things.

However, before we can be allowed to instruct others in Christ’s millennial kingdom, we must prove now that we, ourselves, will take instruction.  The Church is a workshop or training center set up by God to help prepare us.  To become a good teacher we must first prove teachable.  To become an effective teacher, it is critical to understand how the Church is structured and how that structure facilitates effective teaching.

Based on God’s pattern, the government in the Church of God is from the top down: Christ is the Head of the Church, then the pastor is under Him.  Below the pastor are the elders, followed by the deacons and the laity.  The structure is intended to avoid confusion and to help create cohesion and unity.  In any given situation, it is important to know who is in charge.  The pastor is the person in charge, but he can then delegate certain responsibilities to others.  This was the structure that Moses was advised by his father-in-law to adopt to avoid wearing himself out.     

In the World Tomorrow, we will be helping men and women to make wise decisions.  In this letter, I would like to give some pointers to help us make wise decisions using the ministers of God to positive effect in the Church environment now.  In any area of human endeavor, the pastor, although not an expert, can give an overall biblical perspective and then point the inquirer to those who have a more technical understanding.

A Christian by biblical definition is imbued with God’s Holy Spirit.  God’s true ministers have that same Spirit.  It is a Spirit of love, wisdom, sound judgment and unity.  When making decisions in an important area of our lives, using sound judgment and wisdom are important to insure they are right decisions.  Right decisions will lead to unity and a loving conclusion, rather than division and bitterness.

Mr. Armstrong taught trainee ministers to look for a teachable attitude in those they visited for the first time.  He pointed out that this was a sign, that although the people were not yet converted, God’s Spirit was beginning to work with them.  This should be even more true of those who are baptized.  Remember, our natural carnal nature is absolutely deceitful and selfish.  Whereas, godly love is an outgoing, outflowing concern for others.  Yet, that old nature is always there, under the surface, struggling to come to the top.  A Christian caught off guard will quickly find himself overpowered by it and in a fight for spiritual survival.

In regard to making decisions, the ministry are here to provide counseling before the decision is made.  Let’s say someone wants to start a business of his own.  Should he just start it or should he get ministerial advice first?  The answer should be obvious.  But how can the pastor help, since he may have no experience in this specific field or profession the individual wishes to get into.  The pastor does know the personality, character and background of the individual.  He has seen how he handles church assignments and how he interacts with other members, with his spouse and family.  These and many other factors will enable the pastor to either encourage him or steer him away from starting his own business.  Should he proceed, he must provide a business plan etc.  Many factors have to be considered carefully to ensure a successful endeavor.  It might be wiser for him to stay where he is, rather than getting in over his head and ending in debt.  This is a good example of getting ministerial counseling before committing to a course of action, so a disaster can be avoided.

The most important decision a man or woman will ever make is to commit oneself totally to God.  The process involves repentance from our sinful ways and our sinful nature.  This leads to baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and the laying on of hands by God’s ministers for receiving the Holy Spirit.  The fact that God uses His ministers, for the laying on of hands, is to teach the brethren that God has given His ministers authority and that it is to them brethren should go before making critical or important decisions.

Baptism is a case in point.  When someone goes to a minister regarding baptism, he is essentially asking the minister to help him decide if he is ready to take this most important step.  The minister as a result of counseling may say “yes,” or “no.”  He may send him back to study more in areas where he lacks understanding.  He may have to go through numerous counseling sessions before the minister feels he is ready.  For example, if he has not gotten to the point where he sees how intrinsically evil his nature is, how can he truly repent of it?  Without genuine repentance, God will not give His Holy Spirit.  Without that Spirit, by biblical definition, one is not a Christian.  People do not get baptized first and then ask for counseling!  A minister’s input is essential.  However, today the question must be asked, is the man a true minister of God?  For God to give the gift of the Holy Spirit, the man laying on hands must be God’s minister.  Is he Philadelphian?  Is he Laodicean?  Is he converted?  These are questions we never thought we would have to ask.

The second most important decision Christians will make involves entering into marriage.  Marriage is a gift from God, and Christians should want God to bless it and be in it since it is called “holy matrimony.”

Here again counseling with God’s ministry is a must before a firm commitment or engagement is made.  Marriage, like Christianity, is a life long commitment.  In society 50% of marriages end in divorce.  Yet, people don’t get married with the intent to fail.  They intend to be happy.  How many more couples stay married but are miserable?  Why the unhappiness and failure in marriages today?  Predominantly because God is not directly involved, but there are more mundane factors that play a large part.  Lack of adequate finances is listed as a major component on the failure list, as well as insufficient time to really get to know one another.  These points are also true for people associated with God’s Church.  Premarital sex may not be looked upon by this world as a component of why marriages are unhappy, but the Church of God realizes its effect.  Since it breaks God’s law, it clearly puts a halt to God giving His blessing to the union.  Even when repented of, there will still be a penalty to pay in the marriage in the area of sex.  Yes, in the very area in which God’s law was violated.

The sex act itself is only part of the problem.  The foreplay leading to the sex act also crosses the line in breaking the spirit of God’s law.  As an example, consider the following scenario:

Boy meets girl.  Both are attracted to each other.  Soon boy takes girl’s hand; girl does not resist this advance.  Girl is telling boy he is accepted, which boy takes as a signal to move forward.  But move forward into what?  A deeper yet still innocent relationship?  Usually the situation progresses to boy taking girl in his arms and kissing her.  Girl responds, and within just a few seconds, boy is fully sexually aroused.  Even if everything stops at this point, God’s law has already been broken.  Where things should have stopped is when the boy took the girl’s hand.  Right then she should have said, “What are your intentions?”
By not doing so, she could be encouraging him in order to get a commitment!  Such a scenario is very human, but it certainly does not display spiritual maturity.  The more spiritual maturity men and women have the more successful their marriages will be.

By the same token, a young Christian man is supposed to be a leader.  He should be very careful to avoid any advance that could lead to the possibility of overstepping the line sexually and thus breaking God’s law.  Remember God’s law is first broken in the mind.  It is also true that men are generally more quickly sexually aroused than women.  This too is important for a young woman to understand.

Holding hands and kissing may seem to some people just minor infractions, but they can and frequently do lead to pain and hurt when, as often happens, couples breakup.  Why?  Because a spoken or non-spoken commitment has been broken.  To hold hands is, in a sense, to take possession, and kissing further solidifies that possession.  When either partner backs out, the other will feel hurt.  Sinning leads to pain.  True love leads to joy.

God does not want people to enter into lifelong agreements, such as marriage, on largely emotional grounds.  Mr. Armstrong, in the first volume of his autobiography, talks extensively on how he went about selecting a lady to marry for life.  Physical attraction needed to be there, but many other qualities were more important to him, and this was years before he was called into God’s Church.  I encourage everyone to read about this episode of his life.
Before people associated with God’s Church commit to marriage, they should want the input of God’s ministry.  It is not a case of the ministry insisting on who someone should marry, rather it should be a case of God’s people coming to their ministry to ask advice about the wisdom of proceeding before a firm commitment is made.

As pointed out previously, finances are a factor to be considered seriously.  How about spiritual maturity and character?  Has there been a pattern of sexually crossing the line?  Is emotion driving everything?  What about the family background on each side?  People don’t just marry one another.  They marry their in-laws and spouse’s family too.  What about the man and woman’s personality?  Is he easy going?  Is she hard driving?  Is he a leader, a follower or just out of the way?  Who will wear the pants?  These and many other questions should be looked at before a final decision is made.

The Church encourages young people to take a compatibility test before making a firm commitment.  The test takes all the emotion out of the situation and really is a good guide to see how compatible people are.  It highlights areas that need to be worked on and raises points that may not have been considered.

Over the past 30 years, I have been approached by many couples seeking to be married.  Let me give you two examples of the approaches taken, and see which you think is the wiser of the two.

     (1)  A man called me to say that he had begun to date a young lady and that both of them liked one another a lot, but they wanted the pastor’s input.  Before the situation went any further.  I talked to them, and asked them if they had decided to get married?  They said they had thought about it, but it was such a big step that before they committed to an engagement they needed the advice of God’s ministry.  They also said they would be willing to abide by that advice.     

(2)  A man told me he and a lady had decided to get married.  Would I now counsel them?  I explained to him, that he had put me at a great disadvantage because the two of them had made a commitment without input, and that if I disagreed with their decision they would just get mad at me.  Thankfully that didn’t happen, and they came to accept that for various reasons the marriage should be postponed.  Sadly, in other similar cases, some people have not accepted the ministry’s counsel and instead have gotten angry and bitter.
It is all so unnecessary, especially if you follow the first example.  When people are teachable, they can be helped.  When they really understand that God’s ministers love them and want the very best for them, they seek their input and are glad to accept it.  It is all a matter of attitude.


When people are emotional, they don’t make wise decisions.  Determined to do what seems right in their own eyes, they resist any interference with their plans.  This is very human, but does it demonstrate spiritual maturity?
People with good teachable attitudes, in most every case, will get married with a minister’s input and blessing.  The wedding date may be delayed for sound reasons or it may not.  It all depends on the circumstances and what is the wisest and best course of action to take to insure optimum success.

On rare occasions, a minister might conclude that only an unmitigated disaster would result if certain people got married.  Years ago I watched as a minister decided he would marry a couple who had serious emotional problems.  He thought they would help one another.  My view was that they might physically hurt one another.  He married them and some time later a local elder dropped by their home to find it in a shambles with blood everywhere.  They had almost killed each other.

As I have explained in various sermons over the years, God’s ministers are placed over His Church as a tool for God’s people to use.  Don’t use a hammer in place of a screwdriver and expect effective results.  A tool should be used correctly in the job for which it was originally designed.  

Don’t misuse your ministerial tool, and it will prove helpful to you.  Learn to be guided by God’s Spirit and your decisions will be blessed, because you brought His ministry into them at the proper time.  That at least has been my experience.

The alternative is to have your own way.  But again, my experience has been that when people push and strive to have their own way, when they get it, it doesn’t please them.

Brethren, it is absolutely essential that you understand the tremendous opportunity God is offering you; an eternal relationship with Him and Jesus Christ as part of the 144,000 firstfruits of Revelation 14.  Remember, you have a great adversary, Satan the Devil, ready and waiting to destroy you.  He doesn’t want you to become a son of God.  He wants you exterminated!  He hates you!  He is determined to get you to destroy yourself by committing spiritual suicide.  Most people don’t know he is attacking them until it is too late.  The apostle Paul was not ignorant of Satan’s devices.  How about you?

God requires unity in His Family, so Satan incites division.  In the context of this letter, he can begin to create it when people make unwise decisions because they are hell-bent on having their way.  Human nature is Satan’s nature; it is selfish; it does not like to be thwarted.  So when God’s minister objects to the wisdom of any given decision, the defensive mechanisms spring into action.  These sometimes include playing one minister against another.  This is done by only providing selective pieces of information, which leads to confusion.  I remember many times when on counseling and anointing duty at the Feast of Tabernacles, people would come for advice on some situation going on in their local area.  I would always ask them what their local pastor had said on the subject.  Usually it turned out that they didn’t want to follow his advice and were hoping that I would agree with them.  Selective information leads to division.  If you really comprehend that Satan is real and powerful and vicious, you will understand what I am telling you in this letter.  He hates you.  He is determined to destroy you and he will use your own nature to do it.  Not only will he destroy you, but many associated with you.  Bitterness is a spreading cancer.  As Paul said in Hebrews 12:15, “looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (NKJ, emphasis ours).

Is it not amazing, brethren, that the same ministers of God you thank for holding fast to the truth in today’s Church chaos suddenly become ogres when they contest the wisdom of your decisions.  Sadly, that is a reality.  If it has not happened to you yet, it is only because you have not yet been confronted by a minister who gets in the way of your plans.  This letter is written as a testimony, so that should such a test come upon you, you will know how to succeed.

Since human nature is evil but wishes to appear good, in any conflict it must make the other party look bad.  Misinformation, incomplete information, lack of communication, and fear of authority (the authority of course being the minister) lead to confusion; for which the minister can be blamed, thus making the other party look good.  Remember this is written in the context of thirty years of experience with people associated with God’s Church.

I have been amazed to hear what I was supposed to have advised someone about a certain situation.  Of course, before accepting the story, no one confirmed the accuracy of the report with me.  Many times the pastor is not called for any clarification of what he supposedly said.

Brethren, do we really know what we are?  Do we comprehend just how powerful and evil our nature is?  A wise woman told me she knew what others were like because she knew herself.

As I write this letter, I think of the many letters Mr. Armstrong wrote to the Church and how few responded.

Satan seeks every opportunity to attack God’s Church, and the Church is you.  Can you respond with prayer, fasting and deep repentance for you own sake and those around you in the body of Christ?

It is an honor to be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  Those invited will have proved themselves responsible and wise before God.  He knows our every doing; however, Satan knows too.

Having come so far, should we fall now?  Satan cannot defeat a humble, teachable attitude in a Christian willing to be guided by those he or she has proved to be the ministers of God.


Let’s complete the good work begun in us.  Hold fast.
In Christian love,

Robert J. Elliott

Faith and Healing I

Bible Study 10 –  Part 1 of 3


A detailed study of the Bible indicates that miracles, including healings occur more frequently in certain eras of the Bible than in others.

Often miracles coincide with the beginning of a new phase of God’s plan: for example when Moses was preparing to lead Israel out of Egypt and when the New Testament Church began in 31 A.D.  (Frequently miracles and healings happened to those who were unconverted.)

By way of contrast, during the time of the Judges, when Israel was steeped in idolatry, we find the following in I Samuel 3:1 “. . . In those days a word from the Lord was rare, and a vision was infrequent” (New Berkeley Version).  The New International Version has it this way, “. . . In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions” [emphasis ours throughout].

Also, later in the first century A.D. instantaneous healings became rare and we read of people having to endure sickness (II Cor. 12:7-9; Gal. 4:13-15; Phil. 2:25-30; II Tim. 4:20; I Tim. 5:23).

This does not mean that God stopped performing miracles or healings, but they became less frequent as true believers became scattered and few, while false Christianity came into bloom.

This is the situation we find ourselves in today in the final era of God’s Church.
Clearly the spirit of Laodiceanism is displeasing to God (Rev. 3:16), but we are not Laodicean brethren, we are a remnant of the Philadelphia era, the era which took the true gospel into the world under the leadership of God’s chosen apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong.

Because of that it is important that we approach our God in a Philadelphian manner for healing.  What exactly do I mean by that?  Mr. Armstrong, who headed up the Philadelphia era, once remarked that what made him unique in his time was that he simply took God at His word.  As a result he expected God to do exactly what He said He would do. Thus, Mr. Armstrong was able to step forward boldly in faith because of his absolute trust that God would follow through on what He promised.

This is a key to answered prayer.  Note Paul’s words in Hebrews 4:14-16:
Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, who has passed through the heavens, let us hold firmly to our confession.  For ours is not a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who was in every respect tested as we are, yet without committing any sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with assurance, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need (New Berkeley Version).
Yes, we must boldly approach our God without a trace of doubt that not only will He hear our petitions but will answer them in the way that is best for us!

In regard to healing, what does God say of Himself?  In Exodus 15:26, He describes Himself to the Israelites as YHVH-Ropheka, which means “the Lord that heals you.”  This is one of God’s titles.  Ropheka comes from rapha, which means, to cause to heal, to repair, to thoroughly make whole or cure.  The derivative of rapha relates to mending something through stitching, such as a garment or an open wound.  This is the word most frequently translated “heal” or “healing” in the Old Testament.  We see it used in Psalms 103:3, where God is described as the One who heals all our diseases.

Moving to the New Testament, we find that the sacrifice of Christ involved more than the payment for our sins.  The terrible scourging He endured paid the penalty for the sins which cause our sicknesses and diseases. These have their genesis in the breaking of God’s laws, physical and spiritual, now and throughout the generations all the way back to Adam and Eve.  This is the essence of what we read in I Peter 2:24, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Just as we depend on the death of Christ to pay for our sins and so enable us to be reconciled to God the Father, we can also be assured that His scourged body gives absolute proof that it is God’s desire to heal us when we are sick.  We must have absolute confidence in this and confidence simply means faith or trust that God will come through for us.  He is a God of His word!

In Hebrews 11:6, we are told “Without faith [trust] it is impossible to please him . . .”  The latter part of the verse explains why.  “ . . . for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  You see faith at its core stems from our conviction that God actually exists in a concrete way as the powerful Creator of the universe and at the same time as our loving Father Whose desire is to make us well when we are sick.  So is He real to us or not?  Do we really believe in His power and desire to heal us?  Christ’s torture was real and through it He clearly demonstrated His love and concern for us.  We have to believe and boldly and courageously come before the throne of grace, in a repentant attitude claiming God’s promise to heal.

Yes, God has a responsibility to follow through on what He has promised and on what He alone can deliver, yet we too have a responsibility which we read of in James 5.

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him (Jas. 5:14-15).

Again we see faith involved.  It is the prayer of faith, of those who absolutely trust in God that moves Him to act.

The Greek word translated faith is pistis and it means the living, divinely implanted principle.  Because this kind of faith for healing comes from God Himself.  So now we see that not only does God heal as a result of faith, but that He Himself provides it.  Where does that leave us?

What then is expected of us?  Two things!  First ask for faith, and second step out on it.  As James said, “faith without works is dead . . . “ so we have to exercise it, put it into action.  The work that God did through Mr. Herbert Armstrong could not have been accomplished unless Mr. Armstrong’s trust or reliance on God had been accompanied by action on Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s part.  He proved his faith or trust by his action.  Most times that meant stepping out into the unknown.

How so?  Well, look how faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  The J. B. Phillips translation puts it this way, “Now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see.”

When we are sick, all we know, feel,  or see is that we are sick, that we are experiencing pain.  Exercising godly faith means that notwithstanding our physical condition, we are, in our minds, already healed.  This is relaxed faith and it must also be steadfast, because God does not set any specific time limit on when He will actually remove the physical evidence of our illness.  

I remember Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong saying that once you are anointed and prayed over, it is unwise to set your mind on the physical symptoms of the affliction.  He said to keep your eyes and your mind on Christ.  Why?  Because if the symptoms don’t disappear within your desired time frame, you might lose heart and give up saying, “I guess God just isn’t going to heal me” (See Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Volume 1).    This of course is the very attitude that bars God from acting for us, since again, without faith it is impossible to please Him.  It is necessary to trust implicitly in our loving God.

And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem he has only to ask God–who gives generously to all men without making them feel guilty–and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him.  But he must ask in sincere faith without secret doubts.  For the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one moment and driven back the next.  That sort of man cannot hope to receive anything from the Lord, and the life of a man of divided loyalty will reveal instability at every turn. (Jas. 1:5-8, Phillips).

During Christ’s ministry, as well as healing the sick, He cast out many demons.  An example in Mark 9 is pertinent to this study, because it involves faith.  A man brought his son to Jesus because his son  was possessed with a demon that threw the child violently into the water and into the fire.  The father asked Jesus, “`. . . if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.’  Jesus said unto him, `If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth’” (Mk. 9:22-23).  The word “believe” is pisteuo and it means to have faith (pistis) in.  The answer of the father was touching but honest.  “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, `Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief‘”(v. 24).  This man did not have the Holy Spirit and he knew he lacked of himself what was necessary to have his son restored, yet he had discovered where to get the help.  Yes, Jesus Christ is our Mediator with God.  We pray to the Father in Christ’s name or by His authority . . . and in this case we need to ask the Father for more of that living faith, trust, or confidence, in an invisible God to provide for us in every way.

Remember, everything we see or understand by the physical senses was originally created out of spirit, invisible spirit.  Nevertheless, the concept of faith is foreign to us.  We want to see or feel the evidence first so that we can be reassured.  We don’t buy houses or cars on faith do we?  No, we want to see them, look them over, or test-drive them before we buy them.  With faith we simply have to trust God to provide for our needs without any physical evidence being provided beforehand.  It is a bit like a wartime crossing of a raging river by a ford on a pitch-black night.  The top of the ford is two feet below the surface of the water and we can’t see it.  All we know is that it exists and that the enemy is closing in on us quickly.  We must cross or be killed.  We have to step out in faith or die!

Back in the 1940’s and 50’s, Mr. Armstrong frequently agreed to buy radio time on important stations when the Church did not have sufficient funds to cover the obligation.  He knew God expected him to go through the doors that were being opened to him to proclaim the gospel and God did supply the exact amount of money required, often down to the penny.

Such events helped to bolster his faith in God to supply what was needed.  But without him boldly accepting the risk and trusting God, nothing would have happened, nothing would have been achieved.

When God’s ministers come to anoint the sick and lay hands on them for healing, they must also be bold in making their request to God to follow through on what He has promised.  The sick person has fulfilled his obligation to call for the elders, so all that remains is for God to keep His word.  He does so on the basis of faith and therefore the minister must be confident in his request to God on behalf of the sick.  This is an aspect of leadership that supports the faith of the recipient of the anointing.

Mr. Herbert Armstrong learned this lesson back in 1927 from a man he invited to come and ask God to heal Mrs. Armstrong when her doctor gave her just twenty-four hours to live.  The account is found in Volume 1 of Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, pages 326-330.  Mrs. Armstrong was miraculously healed.  Let me now quote Mr. Armstrong’s account of this incident.


The Meaning of FAITH.

We knelt in prayer beside her bed.  As he anointed my wife with oil from a vial he carried, he uttered a quiet, positive, very earnest and believing prayer which was utterly different from any prayer I had ever heard.  

This man actually dared to talk directly to God, and to tell God what He had PROMISED to do!  He quoted the promises of God to heal.  He applied them to my wife.  He literally held God to what he had promised!  It was not because we, as mortal humans, deserved what he asked, but through the merits of Jesus Christ, and according to God’s great mercy.  

He merely claimed God’s PROMISE to heal.  He asked God to heal her completely, from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet.  `You have promised,’ he said to God, `and you have given us the right to hold you to your promise to heal by the power of your mighty Holy Spirit.  I hold you to that promise!  We expect to have an answer!’  Never had I heard anyone talk like that to God!  

It was not a long prayer–perhaps a minute or two.  But as he spoke I knew that as sure as there is a God in heaven, my wife had to be healed!  Any other result would have made God out a liar.  Any other result would have nullified the authority of the Scriptures.  Complete assurance seized me–and also my wife.  We simply knew that she was released from everything that had gripped her–she was freed from the sickness–she was healed! To have doubted would have been to doubt God–to doubt the Bible.  It simply never occurred to us to doubt.  We believed!  We knew!

We had learned a new lesson in the meaning of faith.  Faith is not only the evidence of that which we do not see or feel–it is not only the ASSURANCE of what we hope for–it is definite knowing that God will DO whatever He has promised.  Faith is BASED on God’s written PROMISES.  The Bible is filled with thousands of God’s promises.  They are there for us to claim.  They are SURE.  God can’t lie.  

If there is any one attribute to God’s character that is more outstanding than any other, it is God’s faithfulness–the fact that HIS WORD IS GOOD!  Think how hopeless we would be if God’s word were not good!  And if a man’s word is not to be trusted, all his other good points go for naught–he is utterly lacking in right character.


This man had read the scriptures which confirmed that God is our Healer, then he had simply demanded that God fulfill His promise to heal.  As Mr. Armstrong said, the impact on him and his wife was “complete assurance . . . . We simply knew that she was released from everything that had gripped her – she was freed from the sickness – she was healed!”  There was absolutely no doubts in their minds.  This is what is required for healing.

In Mark 5, we find two examples of healings by Jesus.  Both involve people who did not have God’s spirit dwelling in them, but who recognized the authority and power of Jesus of Nazareth.  One was Jairus the president of a synagogue whose little daughter was dying and the other was a woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years.


The following account is from the Phillips translation,

Then came a man called Jairus, one of the synagogue presidents, And when he saw Jesus, he knelt before him, pleading desperately for his help.  `My little girl is dying,’ he said.  `Will you come and put your hands on her–then she will get better and live.’  Jesus went off with him, followed by a large crowd jostling at his elbow.  Among them was a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years and who had gone through a great deal at the hands of many doctors, spending all her money in the process.  She had derived no benefit from them but, on the contrary, was getting worse. This woman had heard about Jesus and came up behind him under cover of the crowd, and touched his cloak, `For if I can only touch his clothes,’ she kept saying, `I shall be all right.’  The hemorrhage was stopped immediately, and she knew in herself that she was cured of her trouble.  At once Jesus knew intuitively that power had gone out of him, and he turned round in the middle of the crowd and said, `who touched my clothes?’  His disciples replied, `You can see this crowd jostling you. How can you ask, “Who touched me?”’  But he looked all round at their faces to see who had done so.  Then the woman, scared and shaking all over because she knew that she was the one to whom this thing had happened, came and flung herself before him and told him the whole story.  But he said to her, `Daughter, it is your faith that has healed you.  Go home in peace, and be free from your trouble.’  While he was still speaking, messengers arrived from the synagogue president’s house, saying, `Your daughter is dead–there is no need to bother the master further.’  But when Jesus heard this message, he said to the president of the synagogue, `Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!’  Then he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John, James’s brother.  They arrived at the president’s house and Jesus noticed the hubbub and all the weeping and wailing, and as he went in, he said to the people in the house, `Why are you making such a noise with your crying?  The child is not dead; she is fast asleep.’  They greeted this with a scornful laugh.  But Jesus turned them all out, and taking only the father and mother and his own companions with him, went into the room where the child was. Then he took the little girl’s hand and said to her in Aramaic, `Little girl, I tell you to get up!’  At once she jumped to her feet and walked round the room, for she was twelve years old.  This sight sent the others nearly out of their minds with joy (Mk. 5:22-42).

There are a number of factors to look at in these accounts of healing by Jesus.  In the case of the woman, Christ confirmed that she was made whole, restored or healed as a result of faith.  He also explains how healing is accomplished.  He said that power [virtue (AV)] had gone out of Him to heal her.  The Greek word used here is dunamis from which we get the English words dynamite and dynamo.  This invisible dynamic power removes all trace of disease or sickness, purifies the blood, seals up open wounds and restores crushed bones.  It is the same power that Christ used to create the entire universe and which holds it together.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit and it is at our disposal if only we would believe.  Christ attests to its power and strength in even the smallest amounts.  In Matthew 17, we find a man’s son possessed by a demon which Christ’s disciples were unable to cast out.  Let’s note Christ’s words beginning in verse 17:

Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.  And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.  Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (Matt. 17:17-20).


Jesus said it was lack of faith on the part of His disciples that stopped the demon from being removed.  Then in verse 21, He gives two keys to strengthening faith, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”  Brethren, we too must ask on a daily basis for more of God’s faith which is necessary for the release of His healing power.

Returning to the account of the healing of Jairus’ daughter in Mark 5, you will note that in verse 35, Jairus is told that his daughter is dead!  Christ’s reaction to this news in verse 36 is “Now don’t be afraid, just go on believing!”  Forget the physical evidence, simply keep trusting in Me the Creator, to restore her to life.  This would have become even more important to bear in mind as they came to Jairus’ house and heard the mourners weeping and wailing.  We have to be careful that unbelievers don’t distract us to the point that we take our eyes off God who heals us and Christ whose scourging made it possible.

Healing is a wonderful gift from God for His physical children.  How different is the spiritual from the physical?  The spirit lives for ever.  The physical is subject to decay and aging.  God first made us physical to live in a world He knew would be dominated by Satan the Devil.  Satan’s influence would inevitably lead to spiritual and physical transgressions of God’s law, and the result would be sin and sickness.

God hates to see His children suffer.  So through Christ’s sacrifice man can be reconciled to God and his physical ailments removed.  In both cases faith is required for reconciliation and for healing.

The experiences we go through, the illnesses we have to cope with, are for a special purpose.  That purpose is to enable us to draw ever closer to our Father in heaven and our elder Brother . . . and there is a reason behind this too.  Do you know what that reason is?

It relates directly to why God called us and Christ chose us.  Revelation 17:14 tells us that when Christ returns from heaven to rule this earth he will bring with Him those “called, chosen and faithful.”

Faithful simply means full of faith.  That is what we are here to develop in every aspect of our lives, including healing.

You see, the greatest test of our faith is believing that when the seventh trumpet sounds we will be changed from the temporal to the eternal and will rise in the air to meet Christ and ever be with Him!

None of us has perfect faith.  Sometimes we are weak, too often we falter but God promises never to desert us if we get back up and stay in the fight.

Let us be able to say what Paul said in II Timothy 4:6-8:

For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.


Hold fast brethren, never give up, for God says, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Faith and Healing II

Bible Study 10 –  Part 2 of 3


When God created Adam and Eve, He created them out of the dust of the earth.  He created them out of physical matter, not spirit.

As such, He did not intend that they live forever in a physical body.  His great gift to human beings, who would obey Him by keeping His law of love, was eternal life in a spirit-composed body.  The down payment on eternal life is the Holy Spirit, which God puts into the minds of those who are willing to obey Him.  This spirit enables physical human beings to think as God thinks, with an outgoing, outflowing concern for others and imparts the power to become more and more like God in thought, word, and deed.

Adam and Eve rejected this wonderful opportunity and instead decided to follow the example of Satan the devil in disobedience and rebellion against God and His way of life.

The result of this rebellion was that Adam and Eve, and their descendants voluntarily cut themselves off from God.  Now their minds were antagonistic towards God and His way of life.  From that point, man’s nature became intrinsically evil.  This led to the transgression of God’s laws and commandments, which in turn made mankind sick in mind and body.  This was the physical repercussion.

The transgression of God’s commandments, His will, is sin (I Jn. 3:4).  Thousands of years of sinning against God has weakened the human body.  The breaking down of the body has resulted in sickness and disease.

The coming of Jesus Christ was intended to rectify this situation, as we see in I Peter 2:24 (NKJV), Christ “. . . Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed.”  Verse 25 continues, “For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  How pertinent, since it was Jesus, the Messiah, who in fact did the creating of Adam and Eve!

Christ died on the stake to pay man’s penalty for rebelling against God and His way of life.  Only the sinless Creator’s death could pay the penalty for the sins of all humans.  In addition, because He created man as a physical being, Christ in His love and mercy allowed Himself to be scourged, slapped, and insulted so that our physical bodies could be healed from sickness and disease “. . . by [His] stripes you were healed.”

When we repent, God forgives us because He knows we have seen how evil our nature is and we understand and appreciate that our loving Creator died to pay the penalty for us.  The penalty being eternal death.  Yet there are physical penalties to be paid in this life for a nature antagonistic to God.  They come in the form of sickness and disease.  Even though He created us out of physical material, God wants us to enjoy an abundant physical life, hail and healthy.  As Christ said in John 10:10,  “. . . I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This is just another example of God’s love for us. Because of His scourging we have the opportunity to be made physically whole. Christ’s torturous beating, not His death, paid these penalties.

In the Bible study Faith and Healing (Bible Study 10a) I emphasized the fact that God alone is our healer and that a prerequisite for healing (for a Church member) is faith.

God deals somewhat differently with Church members than He does with the rest of society.  With us His goal is to develop holy righteous character.  Character cannot be created instantaneously; it takes time.  Consequently, if God feels an affliction is necessary for us to learn a lesson in character development, He may not heal us immediately.  This is what happened in the case of Job.  In Paul’s case he explains in II Corinthians 12:7-9, why he was not healed,

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.  And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (NKJV [writer’s emphasis throughout]).


It is interesting to note that both Job’s and Paul’s afflictions were caused by Satan, so any doctor examining them would not have been able to detect the influence of an evil spirit.  Job was traumatized with boils from head to foot (Job 2:7), all that could have been seen was the physical evidence, boils.

Another example of demonic influence that appeared to the human eye as a deformity of the spine is found in Luke 13:10-16.  In this example a woman had been bent over, unable to straighten up for eighteen years.  Christ “. . . laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.”  In verse 16, Christ said specifically that she had been bound by Satan!  In this case she did not ask to be healed and faith is not mentioned.  Christ simply used His power to heal her and to underline to the people the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who regarded healing on the Sabbath as work.

Do these examples mean that all who are sick, are sick because Satan or his demons are directly involved?  I don’t believe so at least in regard to always being directly involved.  Indirectly yes, in as much as Satan is the author of sin and sin leads to sickness.  Christ allowed Himself to be scourged, so that those who believe in Him could be healed of sickness, as we see in I Peter 2:24,  “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness– by whose stripes you were healed” (NKJV).  Remember, sin is defined as the breaking of God’s law.

Another factor that supports that contention that sickness is not always due to Satan’s direct influence, is the inclusion in the Bible of God’s dietary laws.
When God engineered the human body, He designed it to operate on specific fuel sources.  Just as diesel fuel will ruin a gasoline engine and vice-versa, so pork and shellfish will have a detrimental effect on the human body.  A medical doctor, who subscribed to God’s dietary laws said that human beings ingesting swine’s flesh was the equivalent of putting high-octane aircraft fuel into a Model T Ford!

Thousands of years of ignoring the dietary laws have left this last generation in a very weakened and degenerate state.

Another major cause of illness is stress.  At its core, stress is caused by the incessant breaking of God’s decalogue.  People cannot relax.  They push and strive for material goals, often climbing over the backs of others to reach the top of the ladder, while fighting off those who want to topple them from their perch and they become stressed out.  If, or when, they reach the top, they find that the physical objects they strove so hard for bring no lasting happiness!

Deep down I believe men know that God exists, but since they want to control their own destinies, they don’t really want to find out about Him or His requirements, since intuitively they perceive they would have to change their ways.  People hate change, so they, as it were, push God off into a corner and go on searching for happiness through the five physical senses.  The resultant stress changes the chemistry in their bodies, which even impacts negatively on their digestive system retarding the nutritional value of what they eat.

The breaking of the seventh and tenth commandments has led to millions of men and women being infected with sexually transmitted diseases, which are often passed on to the next generation in the womb.

This is the society out of which God’s people are called.  We are all battlingthe sins of the fathers, plus the sins we ourselves committed in ignorance before God called us.

So we are degenerate, and because we are degenerate we have a high probability of becoming sick or diseased within the three-score and ten years allotted to us in this world.  Yet to put things in perspective, it is always important to remember the purpose for God calling us is to give us the gift of eternal life.  Do we have faith in that?  Yes we need God’s faith for physical healing, but God did not call us to live forever in a physical body.  All of our tests and trials are intended to prepare us to be confident at the time of death.  Confident that we will awake and rise to meet Christ with a new, perfect, imperishable body, never subject to sickness or disease.

In the meantime remember that this is God’s goal for us.  To reach this goal we are to grow in love and in unity.  Many times those in our midst who are sick help us to achieve that very goal.  Our concern for them, our sympathy and empathy for the physical and emotional stress they are undergoing draws us closer together and creates an increasingly close-knit family, that God approves of and in fact demands.

Debilitating sickness certainly helps us to focus on God and our relationship with Him.  A serious illness gives us an opportunity to reflect on how fleeting the human existence is and how grateful to God we should be for His gift of eternal life and how much we need His forgiveness.

Of course, not all sickness comes upon us to teach us a specific lesson.  Lessons of course can be learned, but we may be sick simply because our immune system has become too weak.  King David in his last years suffered from poor circulation, probably caused by overtaxing his body during numerous military campaigns in extreme weather conditions.

Since only God can heal in a miraculous way by forgiving physical sin and removing its penalty, is there any place for the modern medical fraternity?  What can doctors do?  Is it a sin to use the services of a doctor?  What about non-medical doctors, such as herbalists?

First, understand, in respect to medical doctors, they can often deal with the effects of a disease.  For example with cancer they provide three options: surgery to cut out the tumors; radiation to burn out the cancerous areas; and chemotherapy to stop the growth of cancer, and hopefully to reduce the size of the tumors.  Even if they are successful in getting rid of the signs of cancer they have neither healed nor cured.  They have simply removed the effects, not the cause.  The cause is sin and only God can forgive sin.  These methods of treatment also stress the body, especially when an operation is involved.  Often the body is weakened as a result, which allows the cancer to spread faster.  Even when a doctor sets a broken bone, he does not heal it.  The bone heals itself, because God designed it to do so.

Non-medical doctors will try to strengthen the body using special diets, including herbs.  Their job is made more difficult as much of the nutritional value of food has been diminished because the soil does not get a sabbatical rest and the plants are sprayed with various chemicals.  In addition the processing of products to make them ready for the supermarkets depletes much of the food’s nutrients.

Nevertheless, the herbal/dietary approach to strengthening the body, so it can throw off sickness, seems sensible.  Yet here again we are dealing with effects not cause.  If it were possible to strengthen the body, the effects of sickness would in time disappear, but the cause of sickness would remain.  The cause is six thousand years of breaking God’s laws both spiritual and physical.  The wages, or what one gets paid for sinning, is death.  From the moment we are born, we are on the road to physical death.  Sin just speeds up the journey.  On the other hand eternal life is a gift from God (Rom. 6:23).

The connection of sin with sickness seems to have been understood by the people of Christ’s time.  In John 9, Christ and his disciples passed a man who was blind from birth, that is, he was born blind.  The disciples asked Jesus, “. . . who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (Jn. 9:2, NKJV).  The word sinned is hamartano and it means to wander from the law of God.  The disciples wanted to know if some specific breaking of God’s law by the man or his parents caused him to be born blind.  Not in this case said Jesus, “. . . but that the works of God should be revealed in him” (Jn. 9:3, NKJV).

The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Obviously then like all humans, both the man and his parents had sinned.  But his blindness was not attributable to any specific breaking of the law, but was allowed to demonstrate God’s power.  Note verse 32, “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind” (NKJV).

In John 5, we find another example of healing, this time of a lame man.  In this situation after he had been healed, Christ warned him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (Jn. 5:14, NKJV).  Again the word sin is hamartano.  In this case it is referring to the specific violation of God’s law that caused this man to become lame thirty-eight years previously.  The account does not specify what the violation was, but since he was lame, it could have been caused by a violent altercation.

Our third example in this connection is to be found in James 5:15, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins [hamartia (noun)], he will be forgiven” (NKJV).  If is followed here by the subjunctive mood expressing a hypothetical but possible condition, contingent on circumstances which the future will show.  We might put it this way and “since he has probably committed sins, he will be forgiven.”  But what kind of sins?  It doesn’t say, but the Greek word is the most comprehensive term for moral wrong.  The word translated sick here in verse 15, is kamno, which relates to illness caused by overwork accompanied by weariness of mind.

A different word for sick is used in verse 14.  Here the word astheneo is used and it means weak and feeble.

Putting it all together then, sickness in the form of weakness or feebleness can result from overwork and the accompanying weariness of mind.  But where does sin enter the equation?  Not putting God first, being too busy to pray and study perhaps?  No longer being God centered?  Is that sin?  Yes!  Whatever becomes more important than God in our lives becomes idolatry and leads to a moral decline.

Sin causes sickness, sometimes in very specific ways, but also and perhaps more often in unspecific ways.  In general, as noted earlier, it has been with the human family since Eve and Adam decided to experiment with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Sickness and sin entered our world hand in hand.  Thus it would seem that a repentant attitude should accompany requests for healing.  Remember every time we call to be anointed, we remind our Father in heaven what His Son had to endure so that we could be healed.  Coming in a humble, thankful, and appreciative manner, recognizing how great God’s love is for us, can only make a positive impact upon both God and Christ.

The minister’s duty is to pray with positive conviction over the sick, remembering that God has promised to heal and that God is as good as His word.  James describes the nature of a successful prayer in the latter part of verse 16 of James 5 “. . . The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (NKJV).

Both the sick and the elder coming to anoint the sick must be wholehearted and calmly confident that God will follow through on His promises.  “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. . . . ” (II Chron. 16:9, NIV).    This verse was given in the context of King Asa of Judah’s decision not to seek God when he became diseased in his feet.

Asa had turned away from putting his trust in God and had entered into a mutual assistance pact with Syria against Israel, even though God had directly assisted him earlier in defeating a huge host of Ethiopians.

Now note what Asa did when he was afflicted in his feet, “And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.  So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign” (II Chron. 16:12-13, NKJV).  Now the problem here was not with the doctors, but with Asa.  Remember doctors cannot heal, only God can do that.  Doctors in ancient times fell into the same categories we find today in the medical profession and in the herbalist/holistic field with various charlatans thrown in for good measure, again, just like today.

It is not a sin to use a doctor, but it might be dangerous to your health to help get rid of the effects of say cancer.  It would be sin to believe and trust them to heal the cause of your sickness, only God can do that.

In the case of King Hezekiah, we have an interesting example of God healing the king, and of Isaiah giving directions to remove the effects of the illness.

In II Kings 20, God told Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah that he was going to die.  Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance in verse 3 is a good example of how to get positive results from God.  “‘Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly”  (NKJV).  Almost immediately God healed him.  Now note verse 7, “Then Isaiah said, ‘Take a lump of figs.’ So they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered” (NKJV).  Probably the lump of figs was intended to draw out the poison that was the visible effect of his sickness.  The poultice did not heal him.  God did that by removing the cause.

I believe we in God’s Church have over-reacted in a negative way against the entire medical profession, because we thought we had to make a choice between them and God.  This is not the case, as I hope this study shows.
Doctors are like mechanics, in that some are better than others.  The same goes for chiropractors, herbalists, iridologists, and others.  Since medical doctors can only treat the effects of sickness basically in three ways, surgery, drugs, or radiation, you have to decide if that is the course you want to take to remove the visible effects of your illness.  Again, the medical profession often has problems making accurate diagnosis, which of itself is obviously very dangerous.  Going the natural route, so to speak, can also be dangerous if the diagnosis is faulty and the source and quality of the products is suspect.

I know from personal experience that God at times works through medical doctors.  In the late 1980’s, I was called to anoint a young man whose heart valves were leaking.  He had been born with the problem and had undergone a number of operations through the years to resolve the situation.  Now he was undergoing another surgical procedure.  The surgeon and his team had been working on the young man from early morning.  When I arrived it was about 6:00 p.m..  I duly anointed the young man on the operating table and then went home.  Next morning I returned to the hospital to find him up and alert.  The valves were no longer leaking.  While I was at the hospital, the chief surgeon asked me to come into his office.  He expressed gratitude for the anointing, which he said was accompanied by a surge of energy that pervaded his entire team.  He also mentioned that a novel idea had come into his mind to stop the bleeding.  He attributed it all to God!  Of course, God could have healed the young man at home, but I was called to anoint him at the hospital where surgeons had been operating on him for twelve hours.  God gave the doctors the energy and means to stop the bleeding in this repair surgery, but it was God who healed.  It was God who dealt with the cause and restored the body’s ability to knit together and restore itself.  It is worth remembering that Luke was described as the beloved physician (Col. 4:14) and that this team of doctors was dedicated to saving this young man’s life.  There is nothing intrinsically evil about the medical profession, but they have their limitations.  God has no limitations.

Remember, Jesus Christ was the member of the God family who actually created mankind.  Later He died for us, so that we would have the opportunity to be reconciled to the Father, which in turn opened the way for eternal life.  In addition, His broken body was substituted for our broken bodies, broken as a result of sin and sinning.  In Their mercy They have made it part of Their plan to restore to physical health those who love them and put their trust in Them, so that even as physical creatures we can enjoy the bodies They engineered.

In our thankfulness, let us try to do all we can to maintain our bodies through the best possible diet and appropriate exercise for which our bodies were designed.  Just remember the real goal is eternal life.  This should be our main focus and that involves Christ living His life in us (Col. 3:4).  Salvation is God’s rescue of the entire person.  Healing is His complete repair of that person and is part of His covenant or agreement with those who obey Him.
Note I: Excerpts from William L. Coleman’s, Today’s Handbook of Bible Times & Customs, pages 63-69:

The Practice of Medicine: – The medical community in Palestine included highly trained physicians, as well as magicians and charlatans.  Thus a patient in need of help could receive anything from first-class assistance to a magic potion or absolute poison.  This explains why doctors receive mixed reviews in the New Testament [nothing has changed it seems!]

Local Doctors: – Some people appreciated doctors and paid them respect.  Others considered physicians the worst crooks in creation.

Medical Fees: – Writers in the Talmud expressed mixed feelings about fees.  On one hand they condemned the profession for charging outlandishly; on the other hand they warned against using a doctor who charged too little.

Medical Schools: – Extensive training was available . . . the most famous medical school of the time was in Alexandria, Egypt . . . Doctors at the school offered specialized instruction for various diseases . . . many of their remedies are practical and useful even today . . . including treatment for ten possible injuries to the brain, etc.  Broken bones were set and a special adhesive plaster cast was applied.  Skeletons show evidence of well-healed fractures.  Castor oil was prescribed as a laxative and many herbs were recommended to cure ailments.  Egyptian knowledge though unsophisticated in light of modern western medicine, was advanced for its time.  It laid the foundations of our modern medical methods.

Note I: A license was required to practice medicine in Palestine . . . In Israel, Rabbis often doubled as Physicians.  This practice had its roots in the Old Testament use of priests as physicians.  A medical practitioner was expected to be in the temple to care for the priests during this era.  Many specialists resided in and around Jerusalem during the time of Christ.  We know there were general physicians, mental therapists, dentists, gynecologists and obstetricians.  There were also many occultists who claimed to heal.

Note II: The Hebrew word for physician is raphah and it essentially means healer.  The Hebrew word is derived from a root that means to darn, mend, repair, and pacify; to stick together.

Note III: When God designed the physical human body He created it perfectly . . . yet, being physical it was not intended to last forever. God also understood that man would follow Satan into a sinful existence that would result in the body being stressed in ways that would prematurely lead to its decline into sickness and disease.  The fact that we as the human race have survived for six thousand years attests to the marvelous ability God displayed in engineering His creation.  Let’s do all we can to care for the physical house that God has given us to contain His Holy Spirit.

Note IV: The following are the seven laws of radiant health, as listed by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong:
Proper diet
Sufficient sleep
Exercise
Fresh air and sunshine
Cleanliness and proper elimination
Right thinking
Avoidance of bodily injury

Faith and Healing III

Bible Study 10 –  Part 3 of 3


Academically we understand that God heals, but what kind of mindset or mentality do we need to take advantage of this great blessing?

As noted in earlier Bible Studies in this series on healing, we are conditioned to respond to what our five physical senses convey to us.  Yet as Habakkuk 2:4 says, ” . . . the just shall live by faith” and faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 as “. . . the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  This means that to live by faith we must have absolute, childlike confidence in God our loving Father to supply every need without any physical assurance beforehand.  In fact, God expects us to know without any doubt that what He has promised we can expect before there is any physical evidence to prove it.

Christ, to His disciples on a number of occasions, used little children as examples of the mentality required for entering the Kingdom of God.  Do we have this childlike trust to feel totally confident that God will heal us and beyond that give us eternal life in His kingdom?  Do we absolutely believe what Christ said in Luke 12:32 (NKJ),  “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom“?  Earlier in the chapter He told them not to worry or be anxious about the basic requirements of life, such as food and clothing (v. 22).  Since we have been called to be God’s children and He owns the universe, He is more than capable and very willing to provide for us, if only we would show Him a childlike trust.  This extends to being healed of a deadly disease where the same kind of undoubting trust is required.

Take the example of Peter when he saw Christ walking on the Sea of Galilee.  This account is in Matthew 14, “And Peter . . . said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’  So He said, ‘Come.’  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”  Now look what happened next.  “But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?‘ ” (Matt. 14:28-31 NKJ).

Doubt destroys faith and as a result Peter began to sink into the water.  He took his eyes off Christ and allowed the physical conditions around him and his human reasoning to push aside his confidence in the Son of God.  Yes, fear, worry and doubt destroy faith, without which it is impossible to please God.  However “perfect love casts out fear” (I Jn. 4:18).  In fact there is no fear in love (v. 18).  Verse 19 of I John 4 adds this thought, “We love Him (God) because He first loved us.”

A little child understands intuitively that his parents love him.  This is what his trust or faith in them is based upon.  Since God loves us and has proved it by allowing His Son to be sacrificed for us, we should have absolutely no doubt about His genuine concern for us.  He sees our suffering and He can easily put a stop to it, if only we would trust Him.  Too often however, like Peter, we become afraid because of the physical evidence before our eyes and we panic.

God wants us to look beyond the physical realities, to block out our human reasoning as to why we may not be worthy of being healed or the seeming impossibility of being cured because of our declining condition.  God wants us to grasp His strong, outstretched hand, which although invisible, is always there to steady us.  Our trust in God is the proof of our love for Him.  God wants us to love Him!  We are family, brethren, His Family!  The fact is that fear destroys faith by replacing it with worry and doubts.  If we get into such a condition, we tie God’s hands, making it impossible for Him to intervene on our behalf until our attitude changes.

When I was a student at Ambassador College in 1968, I was suffering with severe pains in my knees.  Specialists had done all kinds of tests and could find no cause for the pain, which was making it difficult to walk or operate an automobile.  During a Bible study a minister covered the topic of healing, a subject with which I was unfamiliar.  The study included the command to go and be anointed for sickness, disease or injury.  Christ had allowed His body to be severely scourged, so that our bodies could be healed.  The next day I was anointed and woke up the following morning with the pain completely removed.  I simply followed the command to be anointed.  I took my mind off the pain and the next day I woke up healed.  Why did God heal me?  I was not baptized; just newly arrived at college, having spent two years keeping the Sabbath alone without ever being invited to services.  I didn’t know much; you might say I was a green recruit, but I did believe what I saw presented in the Bible, so that when I went to be anointed it was without doubts.  It didn’t occur to me to wonder whether situations or circumstances would somehow negate God’s promise to heal.  I just followed orders and God responded positively, so that perhaps in the future my experience might be of encouragement to others.

In the military when an officer gives a command, he doesn’t wonder if it is going to be carried out.  Once he gives it he knows it is as good as done.  This too is faith.  It was just this kind of faith that greatly impressed Christ when He was called to heal a Roman officer’s servant.  The account is found in Luke 7.  The centurion had sent certain Jews to ask for Jesus’ help; however, he told them it was not necessary for Jesus to come all the way to his house.  We pick up the account in the middle of verse 6,

Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes; and to another, “Come,” and he comes; and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’  When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, ‘I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!’  And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick  (Lk. 7:6-10 NKJ).

Another example of great faith is to be found in Matthew 15.  Once again it involves a Gentile, a Canaanite woman from the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon.  In this case the woman’s daughter was demon possessed.  An interesting aspect of this account is that Christ tested the quality of the woman’s faith.  When she called out to Him that her daughter was demon possessed “. . . He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she cries out after us'” (Matt. 15:23).  Just imagine how difficult that was to deal with?  But the test was not over!  

But He [Christ] answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”  But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs [a term used by the Jews to describe the Gentiles].”  And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour (Matt. 15:24-28 NKJ).

In evaluating this incident, let’s note several factors which led to the positive result.  First the woman’s great love for her daughter meant that she was prepared to endure any humiliation. Second, she absolutely knew that Jesus was God’s Son and that He had the necessary power to release her daughter from the demon.  Third, she displayed a high degree of humility when Christ used a derogatory term “little dogs” to describe her and her people.

The woman displayed four qualities that are very pleasing in God’s sight: love faith, humility, and patient perseverance or endurance.  God promises to heal, but He doesn’t promise when.  This woman was unflinchingly single-minded.  She tuned out every distraction.  She displayed unwavering trust, and she kept her focus on Christ.

Look at what James has to say in this regard at the beginning of his epistle,

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (Jas. 1:2-8 NKJ).

In Psalm 119:113, David is inspired to say “I hates the double-minded.”  Hate is a very strong word and in the Hebrew it can have the same intensity as the English.  However, it can also mean cold and indifferent, or to show less favor.  
James 1, verses 6 and 8 define the double-minded man as wavering and unstable.  The Greek word translated wavering is diakrino and it can also mean to doubt.  According to Vine’s “this verb suggests, not so much weakness of faith, as lack of it.”  This is the cause of his instability or unsettled condition.  Such a person is unreliable.  In the Greek diakrinomenos is an individual who does not stand firm on the promise of  God, but moves restlessly like a wave of the sea.

As noted in the Spirit-filled Life Bible, “being anxious and afraid is actually sin!  When you know that your heavenly Father is taking care of your business, you can allow the peace of God to fill your life.  God’s peace is not dependent on outward  circumstances.  It is supernatural peace that comes from the confidence of knowing that God is in control.”

Consider Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Verse 8 tells us what to focus our minds on, “. . . whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy– meditate on these things” (NKJ).

We must always remember that God alone is our source of security in this life.  He and He alone!  We must learn to depend on Him for everything as an active participant in our lives, until it becomes second nature.  In this case our “second nature” is God’s nature, which we receive through His Holy Spirit.  We need to continuously stir that spirit up by daily communication with God.
We have seen how faith can be undermined.  Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God with all the Father’s power at His disposal did not display His healing power in a negative environment.  When He went to His hometown of Nazareth, those He grew up with were jealous of His fame and filled with resentment as He taught in their synagogue.  As Christ pointed out “a prophet is not without honor, save in His own country, and in His own house” (Matt. 13:57, KJV).  Underlying their negative was the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt.  The result is recounted in Matthew 13:58 (NKJ), “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”  Unbelief is translated from the Greek word apistia, which can also be stated as, lack of faith.

It is important for us in God’s Church to remember why God called us.  In a word He called us to be leaders.  Good leaders conduct themselves in a positive, uplifting and confident way.  In a sense then the Church should be regarded as an Officers Training Corps.  Would you want to go to war led by fearful, doubtful, negative officers.  I don’t believe so!  Your ministers have the responsibility to help you grow into competent officers who will graduate into rulership positions in Christ’s millennial government.

The army of God must be faithful, positive and completely committed to the cause.  When Christ was confronted with negative people in a crisis situation, He expelled them because their attitude would undermine the confidence of others.  In the military this is known as “causing alarm and despondency in the ranks.”  In time of war men would be shot for this crime.

In Matthew 9, we find an excellent example of the type of attitude that pleases God and brings positive results.  Beginning in verse 18, we are told a ruler came and worshipped Christ, “saying, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live.'”  It is important to notice that the ruler worshipped Christ, meaning that he acknowledged His power.  He, a ruler, humbled himself before Christ.  Yes his attitude was humble, but also trusting and confident.  Remember he was asking that his daughter be brought back to life.  She was beyond being sick, she was dead!  Let’s take up the rest of the account beginning in verse 23, “When Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, ‘Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.’ And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose” (Matt. 9:23-25 NKJ).

A parallel account in Luke 8 provides more details.  The ruler’s name was Jairus and he was the president of the synagogue.  The little girl was his only daughter and was about twelve years of age.  In Luke’s account she was not dead but dying when Jairus first appealed to Christ to save her.  In Matthew’s report she was dead which means that someone informed Jairus that she had died.  Yet Jairus did not give up.  He knew that the Son of God had power to raise the dead, so he kept on believing even though the messenger said “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher” (Lk. 8:49 NKJ).

This negative comment was only the beginning as we read in Matthew’s account.  In verse 50 of Luke 8, Jesus immediately countered by saying “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.”   When they got to Jairus’ house as we noted previously, the mourners ridiculed Christ for saying the little girl was only sleeping, so Jesus “put them all outside.”  The only ones He allowed in the room with Him were three leading disciples, Peter, James, and John, and the mother and father of the girl.  All negative influences were excluded.

Brethren, God called us to be leaders.  When a brother or sister in the Church is sick, it becomes a test of leadership for us.  Who wants to be led by officers who are doubtful, fearful, and lacking in inspiration?  When someone is very ill he or she will not be uplifted by downcast, doubtful worriers surrounding his or her bed.  Certainly we can sympathize with the physical discomfort they are enduring, but we must also give them cheer by our strong faith in their imminent healing.  We must be unwavering, looking beyond the physical evidence to God’s great love and power to heal and His willingness to do so.  This is godly leadership!  It must be shown in word, facial expression, and body language.  Everything must be cheerful and positive.

We must expect a miracle to have a miracle.  Let’s not hedge our bets or come up with reasons why God might not heal in certain situations.  Do we just pay lip service to God’s desire and power to heal?  Is our religion only academic?  Do our up and down emotions dominate us?  If so, we need to repent and ask God to forgive us for being doubters.  If faith is replaced by human reasoning, then we should expect no positive answers from God, no healings and no miracles.

Let’s remember what Christ said to His disciples in Matthew 17:20 (NKJ), “. . . if you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you.”  He went on to tell them that they must pray and fast for more faith.  So must we.
World conditions confirm that we are close to the conclusion of the end times and therefore close to receiving our victory crowns.  In the relatively short time available to us, let’s ask God to help us develop a spiritual mindset that can move mountains.

One final thought, I Corinthians 13 tells us love is greater than faith.  But let me add, that great faith is founded on great love and both are highlighted by unbound hope.  Combined they provide a fruitful ground for healing.


Hold Fast Brethren!



Note:    In I Corinthians 12, among the various gifts mentioned is the gifts of healing.  The word gift comes from the Greek charisma which Vine’s defines as “. . . a gift of grace, a gift involving grace [charison the part of God as donor, . . . (b) of His endowments upon believers by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the Churches.”  Christ’s disciples were given the gift of healing before they were converted (Matt. 10:1).

This gift as with others, seems to have been bestowed on certain individuals in the Church early in the first century in conjunction with the proclamation of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire.  Miracles and healings were used to highlight God’s work in progress.  By 60 A.D. we no longer hear of such gifts of healing.

However, later in the first century James’ instruction is given for the healing of Church members by God through anointing and the laying on of hands by Church elders.

In this latter situation faith was definitely involved and absolutely necessary, since without it, it is impossible to please God.  God does not give positive answers when He is not pleased.  The giving of the gift of healing to certain individuals seems to have been replaced by the instructions given in James 5.  In fact Paul writes of various members or elders who remained sick for periods of time, perhaps lending support to the theory that the specific gift of healing was given to gain the attention of people throughout the Roman Empire to the proclamation of the true gospel.  This situation will be paralleled by the work of God’s two witnesses during the tribulation.

Sermon: People – By Mr. Flowers

The following is a sermon by Ed Flowers given on Atonement 2006.  It is a message relevant to all people associated with the Church of God in the Laodicean Era.

Mr. Flowers is an associate pastor in the Church of God.

The President Is Sent Herbert W. Armstrong's Book

The Honorable President
George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500-0004



Dear Mr. President,


Greetings from Florida.  In the wake of the disaster, which struck the United States last Tuesday, September 11, I know that you and your advisors are planning a response against those who perpetrated this action.

I believe that the book included herewith, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, by Herbert W. Armstrong, will be of inestimable value to you as you make preparations to retaliate.

The events that are unfolding now were prophesied to happen in God’s word the Bible.  It would seem incredible indeed if the two superpowers of the 19th and 20th centuries were not included in Biblical prophecy.  In fact they are and Mr. Armstrong’s book reveals the Biblical identity of the United States and Great Britain, who their enemies will be in the end times and what will happen to our peoples, if they refuse to change their ways.

Mr. Armstrong, who died in January 1986, was known worldwide as an ambassador for world peace.  He was the confidant of many world leaders and prior to the Camp David peace talks was the only civilian who could fly directly between Cairo and Jerusalem.

Mr. Armstrong stood before a great number of China’s leadership and the ambassadors of many nations to advise them that at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ their governments would be superseded by that of Christ’s.

Mr. President, times have indeed changed.  You have a crushing weight of responsibility on your shoulders.  It will take tremendous political courage and will on the part of the entire government of the United States to do what is necessary to please God and thereby avert the disasters, which are prophesied to overtake the Anglo-Saxon nations, including the United States.  Our ways are not pleasing in God’s sight!

Mr. Armstrong cried out on radio, TV, and the written word for over fifty years, warning our peoples of the consequences of ignoring what God required of us, as revealed in the Bible.

A day of national fasting and prayer will only be effective if accompanied by a genuine change of heart for having broken God’s laws and commandments with impunity for so long.

In that regard, the leadership must lead.  Our success absolutely depends on God’s backing.  God’s support comes as a result of obedience to Him, as stipulated by His Ten Commandments.  If we obey those commandments our enemies would melt away.  God would fill their hearts with fear of us.  If we refuse to obey our God, they will become bolder and bolder.

We are now standing at the crossroads.  I pray, Mr. President, that you will take the road that leads your people away from disaster, a disaster, which the Bible says will eventually engulf the entire world.

May God be your guide in everything you do.


Sincerely in Christ’s service,

Robert J. Elliott
Pastor, God’s Church, Worldwide

The Place of Safety

Brethren, we live in an end-time society which absolutely refuses to humble itself and turn to God in heartfelt repentance.  Many of us live in the United States of America.  This country, the leading nation in modern Israel, has been incredibly blessed with material wealth and military power because of a promise God made to His faithful servant, and our forebear, Abraham.  In the future these blessings will be taken completely away.

Because the nations of the world and most importantly modern Israel have turned their backs on God’s laws and commandments, He is going to bring upon them a devastating tribulation.  A tribulation so terrible that Christ said it would destroy humanity entirely if He did not return to put a stop to it (Matt. 24:21-22).

Yet God has also promised to be gracious and merciful to those in His Church who will remain faithful to Him and His word in these soon-coming days of death and destruction.  “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.  Behold, I come quickly:  hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown”(Rev. 3:10-11).

The same sentiment is expressed by Jude in the third verse of his letter, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Bible Study 6, The Flight of the Church of God, explained how and when God would deliver faithful Christians.  This present study is devoted to proving where God has chosen to place them during the three and one-half years of soon-coming tribulation.

When God acts, He tends to go against the conventional wisdom of human kind.  For example, in a hurricane where is the most tranquil place?  The eye of the storm!  In the tribulation where is the eye of the storm?

It is a place that men would not naturally think of as a place of safety.  Daniel 12 confirms that God’s true servants will be afforded protection:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered [escape without trouble or difficulty], every one that shall be found written in the book  (Dan 12:1).

But where is this place of deliverance?  Before going into this in-depth we need to be reminded that not all Christians are going to be blessed with physical protection during this most terrible of times.  As noted in Bible Study 6, some Christians are left behind because of lukewarm attitudes (Rev.3:15-19; Rev. 12:17).  They must suffer and die in the tribulation to build the character necessary to enter God’s kingdom, to rule with Christ.  A careful reading of Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 13:7, coupled with Revelation 3:14-19, shows those who must endure the tribulation give up their physical lives because of a lackluster attitude towards God and His word.

Those Christians who do receive protection, are encouraged in Revelation 3:10-11, to hold fast to what they were given; the inference being that those who must endure the tribulation will have let slipthe truths they received when God called them, ormixed them with the doctrines of  “mainstream Christianity.”

In Revelation 12, which is an inset chapter on the history and future of the church through the tribulation period, evidence is found of God’s promise to take a portion of His Church, symbolized as a woman, to a place out of the reach of Satan.  What does it mean to be out of Satan’s reach?  The story of Job makes clear that God has the power to restrict Satan’s activities.  In respect to this portion of the Church, Satan won’t be allowed to attack or hurt them since God puts them out of his reach.

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the serpent” (Rev. 12:14).  The serpent is defined in verse 9 as Satan the devil, and the time period in the wilderness is three and one-half years.

God uses Satan as His instrument to chastise some of His people, Israel, throughout the three and one-half years of the tribulation, but He promises to miraculously protect faithful Christians by keeping them away from (Grk. apo) Satan’s grasp.

Remember, in the last days faithful Christians are those who Hold Fast to the truths delivered by God’s servant, Herbert W. Armstrong.  Those who must endure tribulation, to build holy righteous character, are those who have forgotten who Mr. Armstrong was, thus dishonoring God’s servant (Jn. 12:26), and as a consequence have mixed truth with error.  This kind of backsliding has happened in past eras of the Church.  Please read Revelation 2:14-23 and Revelation 3:2-3, and note one common characteristic of these Christians is a lack of awareness of the spiritual and physical danger they are in.

So we see that the Bible does indeed confirm the existence of a place of safety for some of God’s people, but again, where will it be?  It is referred to as a wilderness in Revelation 12:14.  Mr. Herbert Armstrong thought Petra in Jordan might well be that place.  He was not absolutely certain however and he did not want the Worldwide Church of God to get too focused on a place of escape.  He wanted God’s people to have their minds wholeheartedly on supporting him in completing the gospel commission.  When Mr. Armstrong did think about Petra, it was in terms of 144,000 Worldwide Church of God members and their children going to that location.

Anciently, Petra was a stopping place for Israel on their wilderness trek from Egypt.  Two and one-half to three million Israelites camped in that location for some time, and in later years it was populated by the Edomites, the Nabataeans, the Arabs, and the Romans.  Today, although still very much a rocky desert wilderness, Petra has become the kingdom of Jordan’s chief tourist attraction and a number of luxury hotels have been built in the area.

Could Petra be a place of safety for God’s people during the tribulation?  Yes, it could be, but not for 144,000 Worldwide Church of God members and their children, since that organization largely disintegrated after Mr. Armstrong’s death in January 1986.  Further, not many of the people who broke away from the Worldwide Church of God still believe in any place of safety.  Those who still do appear to be relying on the Jordanian government to provide them with access to the site.

In Revelation 7 we find a group of 144,000 physical Israelites, who have turned to God during the tribulation.

We are told they are sealed for protection.  Compare Revelation 7:3, 4 with Revelation 9:3, 4.  This sealing for protection is during the last few months of the tribulation and Petra could well be the place God provides for them.  (See Isaiah 16:1-5, and note the Hebrew word for Petra is Sela).  

In the last six months of the tribulation its severity is intensified culminating in the Third World War between the East and the West.  Apart from the vast destruction done to the earth itself, there is great chaos among the nations  (Isa. 15).  Christ said if He did not return at this time no flesh would be saved alive.  That is why these Israelites, who have turned to God, need protection.  See our workbook The Revelation of the End Times for more information.

Coming back to the situation with the Church, the Bible, as we have already noted in Revelation 12:14, states that faithful Christians are flown into the wilderness where they are nourished away from Satan’s reach.  Petra certainly fits the description of a wilderness, but is it the place for the Church or does the Bible provide us with other possibilities?

First, we need to understand that although Satan holds sway over mankind, God continues to perform His purpose throughout the tribulation period.  In Revelation 11, we read of the work of God’s two witnesses. These men are thorns in the sides of the nations that refuse to obey God.  God gives them the capability to torment the nations by cutting off the rain necessary for food production, and the authority to burn up those who would attempt to hurt or kill them. They can also call down plagues and turn water into blood as often as they wish.  The impact upon the world by these two servants of God will be colossal.  In verse 3 of Revelation 11, we are told that the destruction they evoke will last for three and one-half years.  Since they are God’s servants, a component of their work will be to advise the nations that the disasters coming upon them are a result of their refusal to repent of breaking God’s laws and commandments. From Revelation 11, we also discover where the two witnesses are headquartered while fulfilling their commission.  In verse 8 we find that after their work is complete, God allows them to be martyred in Jerusalem, “where also our Lord was crucified.”

Also in Revelation 11:1-2, a temple is mentioned in which people are worshipping God.  However, verse 2 states that the outer court of that temple and the city are to be trodden underfoot by the Gentile nations for forty-two months, which is also three and one-half years.  This cannot be spiritualized away, since other scriptures plainly state that Jerusalem will be under the control of the Gentiles for three and one-half years.  For example, consider Christ’s words in Luke 21, “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled . . . And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22, 24).


From the above verses, in Revelation and Luke, we can glean the following:

1.  There will be a physical temple in Jerusalem.  In this connection see also Daniel 8:11-14, which is an end-time prophecy.
2.  A certain number of God’s people will be worshipping in that temple.  Note:  This temple which is to be built in Jerusalem, prior to the commencement of the tribulation, will likely be on the scale of Solomon’s temple and therefore not a large building.  This would indicate that the group of people worshipping there will be relatively small, certainly not 144,000.
3.  God’s two witnesses will be in that temple and it will be their headquarters.
4.  The Gentiles will occupy the outer court of the temple and the city itself for the three and one-half years of the tribulation.
5.  The two witnesses’ work is also for three and one-half years.  However, since they are put to death three and one-half days before the end of the tribulation, their ministry will begin three and one-half days before the tribulation commences.
6.  The resurrection occurs three and one-half days after the two witnesses are put to death. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. . . . And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither.  And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them (Rev. 11:8-9, 11-12).


Since the two witnesses will be in the temple at Jerusalem for almost the entire period of the tribulation, is it possible that those mentioned in Revelation 11:1 are the Christians promised divine protection by God?  Could the inner court of the temple, and the temple itself be where God will protect faithful Christians as He has promised?  The condition of God’s Church since the death of Mr. Herbert Armstrong in January 1986 indicates that only a small remnant have remained faithful to what they were originally taught.  This situation is further evidence that a very small number of Church brethren will be protected in Jerusalem and that a much larger group will have to be refined through the tribulation.  

That the temple was considered a place of refuge by those who proved faithful to God is brought out in a number of Psalms.  The temple was God’s earthly home.

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.  For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.  Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord (Ps. 27:4-6, NIV).

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.  In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues (Ps. 31:19-20, NIV).

But you might say, “Jerusalem is not a wilderness area; it’s a city with a large population!”  That is true today, but what will it be like during the tribulation?  In this regard consider the advice Christ gave in Luke 21, and Matthew 24, to the residents of the city as He looked forward to the end-time tribulation period, “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.  Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto” (Lk. 21:20-22).

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in [within] the holy place, (who so readeth, let him understand).  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: . . . But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (Mt. 24:15-16, 20-21).

Christ is warning the people to get out of Jerusalem before it is surrounded by the Gentile military and before the abomination that causes desolations set up in the holy place.  Note, this last point adds substance to the concept that a temple will be constructed in Jerusalem sometime between today and the coming of the tribulation.  Jerusalem will be largely depopulated and desolate during the tribulation; but can it be described as a wilderness?  What does the Greek word translated wilderness actually mean?  The Greek word is the adjective eremos.  The noun is eremia and as noted in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, “It does not always denote a barren region, void of vegetation.”  The adjective eremos denotes: (a) with reference to persons, “deserted,” desolate, deprived of friends and kindred, or of a woman deserted by a husband (see Gal. 4:27); (b) also of a city, as Jerusalem, Matt. 23:38.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.  For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matt. 23:37-39).The last line of this passage shows its end-time context.  In verse 38, Christ refers to Jerusalem as desolate.  The word used is eremos, a wilderness.  Jerusalem will be almost devoid of its Jewish population at the end of the tribulation.  The reference to a house in verse 38 is undoubtedly in respect to the temple, God’s house, which may be emptied of worshippers (Rev. 11:1) after the two witnesses are killed.  This appears likely because only after the two witnesses are killed will the Beast enter into the holy place to have himself proclaimed God (II Thes. 2:3-4, 8-9; Rev. 13:4-8, 11-13).  At this point Christians in the temple complex would likely be taken into custody until Christ’s return three and one-half days later.

In verse 37, the words hen, and chickens are not good translations from the Greek.  Hen is ornis, meaning a female bird, and chickens is better translated brood.  It could refer to a female eagle and her young.  Wings is pterux the same word used in Revelation 12:4, and is equivalent to the Hebrew word kanaph used in Exodus 19: 4; Ruth 2:12; and Psalms 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 91:4.  These words convey God’s desire to protect those who obey Him.  Christ wept over Jerusalem because the people refused to be obedient and thereby would not benefit from His desire to protect them during the end-time tribulation.  In contrast faithful Christians are protected.  Still, the question remains, where will they be protected?  Could the place be Jerusalem?  Might Jerusalem be described as the eye of the storm during the tribulation?  

In fact, there are places in the Old Testament where Jerusalem and Zion are described as a wilderness.  The Hebrew word midbar is equivalent to the Greek words eromos and eremia.  Interestingly, in some instances the Hebrew word is used to describe an area desolated by violence.  This would certainly apply to Jerusalem during the tribulation.  To be specific, look at Isaiah 64:10-11, “Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.  Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire:  and all our pleasant things are laid waste.”  Once again, during the tribulation, Jerusalem will become a wilderness deserted by its population and occupied by the Gentiles.

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.  Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.  For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.  But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days!  For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.  And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Lk. 21:20-24).

Let us now turn our attention to finding passages in the Bible that describe Jerusalem as a safe location for some of God’s people during the tribulation.  

To begin, please note Joel 2:1, which gives us the time setting of this chapter.  “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.”

The entire chapter of Joel 2 covers the end of the tribulation, the day of the Lord, and the beginning of the millennium. Please read all of the chapter before continuing this study.

Now let’s concentrate on Joel 2:32, which refers to the tribulation period.  Here we are told that, “. . . in Mount Zion [the temple mount] and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance . . .:  Who will be delivered?  “. . . whosoever shall callupon the name of the Lord shall be delivered . . .”  The New Berkeley Version of the Bible adds more clarity to this verse in regard to who will benefit from God’s protection during the tribulation.  “But everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord said.  And those who are saved will be those whom the Lord has called.”

Comparing the verses in Matthew 24 and Revelation 17, we find many are called, but few are chosen to rule with Christ, because the chosen will have to prove themselves faithful (Rev. 17:14).  But those God calls and who do prove faithful, enduring to the end, will be given special protection throughout the tribulation.  “But he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved [rescued or delivered]”  (Matt. 24:13).

Obadiah also deals with the same time period as Joel 2.  Obadiah 15 says, “For the day of the Lord is near . . .” meaning the focus is on the tribulation period which immediately precedes it.  Now consider verse 17, “But upon Mount  Zion shall be deliverance . . .”  The New Berkeley Version puts it this way,  “But in Mount Zion there will be escape, and it shall be a sanctuary . . .”
It is important to realize that Christians do require deliverance and physical protection, because they are vulnerable until their change to spirit at Christ’s Second Coming (Matt. 24:21-22).

Another scripture that addresses Christians during the tribulation is to be found in Isaiah 52:9-12:9

Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.  10The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.  11Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.  12For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
Verse 10 of this chapter gives the time setting for this passage as close to Christ’s Second Coming.  Verse 9 describes Jerusalem in a derelict statewaste and greatly depopulated.  Verse 11, which is quoted in II Corinthians 6:17, relative to Christians, underlines the importance of separating from the ways of this society.  
Verse 12 points out that those who do please God will not have to escape in haste.  Indeed the inference is that God will miraculously take care of faithful Christians, which agrees with Revelation 12:14, “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into they wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”


In Psalm 31 we find that David also looked to God to provide him with protection in time of need: In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.  Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: Be thou my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me.  For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.  Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength (Ps. 31:1-4).

The word trust in verse 1 is chacah and it means to take shelter in or to flee to refuge; but as we saw in Isaiah 52, faithful Christians have no need to flee.  Rather they are to be sheltered by God who is their rock of defense in time of trouble (vs. 2-3).  The word trust is also found in Psalm 91:1-12:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.  Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.  Though shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.  A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.  Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

In verse 1 a secret place of the Most High is mentioned.  The Hebrew is cetherelyown and it means a hiding place where God conceals His servants.  Also in verse 1, the Almighty is El Shadday, the God of Grace who supplies the needs of His people, just as he promises to nourish faithful Christians in Revelation 12:14.  Indeed, as it says in verse 4 of Psalm 91, His truth shall protect them.  Under His wings shall they trust or take shelter.  Because God used Mr. Armstrong, we have been given the truth which ensures us of His protection.   Verses 7 and 8 show God’s people under His protection but surrounded by violence and destruction.  This is just how Jerusalem will be in the tribulation period when the nations are fighting against God’s two witnesses.  For almost three and one-half years the two witnesses will be in control of the temple in Jerusalem.  And for that period, no one can hurt them or those under their protection.
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. . . . And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed (Rev. 11:3, 5).

For another passage in this connection, please note Isa. 26:19-20:Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:  for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.  Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
This passage of scripture gives a time setting just prior to the resurrection, when in the last few days of the tribulation one-third of the earth’s population is destroyed  (Rev. 9:18).  Jerusalem is at the center of this terrible destruction.
One final scripture that connects faithful Christians to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the tribulation is Isaiah 4:3-4:And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.  When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
The last line of verse 3, “everyone that is written among the living in Jerusalem,” is translated in the New Berkeley Version as follows, “Everyone registered for eternal life in Jerusalem.”  The only people registered for eternal life in Jerusalem before Christ returns are Christians who have proved faithful to the end, who have endured to the end.

To be in Jerusalem throughout the tribulation with God’s two witnesses is indeed to be in the eye of the storm.  In fact, Jerusalem is the last place people would expect to be; since apart from the inner court of the temple it is the headquarters of the Beast and the False Prophet.  Nevertheless, God will utilize it as the place of protection and preparation for the remnant of His firstfruits, the final cut of the redeemed who make up the 144,000 members of Christ’s government (Rev. 14:1, 4).  God demonstrates His great might by showing He is able to protect His faithful followers in the most dangerous place on earth, Jerusalem.


Additional notes for consideration:
1.  Matthew 24:24-26 is set in the tribulation period and as we saw in II Thessalonians 2:8-10, the son of perdition, who is also the first Beast of Revelation 13, will show signs and wonders in the temple at Jerusalem after the two witnesses are killed (Rev. 13:11-14).  The reference to a desert in verse 26 of Matthew 24, is to be taken in the general usage of the word; a desolate wilderness area, such as Petra.  We make this distinction here because Christ is advising people who live in towns and villages not to seek for him in a wilderness-like, uninhabited area during the tribulation.

Further, Christ’s focus in Matthew 24 is on Jerusalem, Judea and the temple.  It is to this area that He will come to gather the saints (His government) together.  He begins His address to His disciples at the temple and continues His discourse on the Mount of Olives, due east of the city.  In this regard note Acts 1:9-12, and Zech, 14:1-4.  
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?  This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.  Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey (Acts 1:9-12).
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.  For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south (Zech. 14:1-4).
Against all human logic, the evidence in God’s Word points to Jerusalem being the place of refuge for faithful Christians, specifically the inner court of the temple and the holy place.

2.  The Church of God is described as God’s spiritual temple in II Corinthians 6:16; in Revelation 3:12, faithful Philadelphia Era Christians are told they will be pillars in God’s temple.  Jerusalem will be the location for God’s temple both temporal and spiritual throughout the millennium.  Therefore it is not really surprising that God would protect the spiritual temple in the location of the physical temple.  Jerusalem is the apple of His eye and we are to pray continually for its peace.

3.  One last thought on this topic relates to why God is going to protect faithful Christians during the tribulation.  Obviously they will need protection because they will still be mortal, but God’s purpose as expressed in Revelation 12:14 is that of nourishment.  The Greek word is trepho and it means to rear and feed, to make grow (Lk. 4:16).  God puts His people in this location for a final three and one-half years to prepare them more thoroughly to rule with Christ (Rev. 19:7).  



Where better to prepare a kingdom of priests, than at God’s temple in Jerusalem.  Given God’s viewpoint it would be better to regard the location as a place of preparation for rulership rather than a place of safety or protection.

Related Studies:
Jude 3, and Revelation 3:11 express the sentiment to “hold fast” to the faith that was once delivered.  Find similar scriptures, in the writings of John, Peter and Paul.  Prove what doctrines were “once delivered unto the saints.”  Consider through whom you received the truth about these doctrines.

Do a word study on the Greek words, 
eremos and eremia (wilderness), and their Hebrew equivalent, midbar.

Study all the references to the “day of the Lord”, the “Lord’s day”, and “in that day.”

Do a word study on “branch” as it refers to Jesus Christ.

Look up the word trust, chacah, and mark your Bible with its full Hebrew meaning as illustrated in this study.

Do a study on Mount Seir/Petra as a possible place of safety for the 144,000 of Revelation 7.

Other related topics are covered in Bible Study 4, Revelation 12; Bible Study 6, The Flight Of The Church Of God, How God Supernaturally Protects Philadelphian Christians During The Tribulation; March 2001 Hold Fast Letter, Was Herbert W. Armstrong the Final Elijah?; and the workbook, The Revelation of The End Times, The Plan Of God And The Chronology Of The Last Days.  Please contact us if you would like to receive a copy.

The Vanishing Church

Dear Teachers in Training:

Jesus Christ said His Church would never die out.  He also described it as a little flock.  Throughout most of its history, since its official inception in 31 AD, the Church has been all but invisible.  Obviously, the Church was well known in the 1st Century, but apostasy led to its scattering. Over the succeeding 1800 years, the Church came only briefly into historical view until God called Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to restore all the doctrines that were first established by Jesus Christ.

On the basis of this restoration, the gospel was taken into the entire world during the 20th century.  This was predicted by Christ in Matthew 24:14 and the surety of its completion described in Revelation 3:7-13.

Since the death of Mr. Armstrong in January 1986, the Church has entered into its final evolution prior to the tribulation and Christ’s return to establish His Kingdom here on earth.

Again, as described in Revelation 3:14-20, this last era has succumbed to apostasy to such an extent that Christ states He is now about to spit them out of His mouth.

Meaning He will allow them to suffer in the soon coming tribulation.  This is to purge and cleanse them.  I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent(Rev. 3:18-19).

This apostasy is referred to in II Thessalonians 2:1-3. This is the time we are living in now.  Ironically, Satan has so deluded many people in God’s Church that they are blind to the apostasy surrounding them.  The various groups that have emerged from the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God are almost entirely absorbed with themselves, while each proclaims itself as the legitimate successor to Mr. Armstrong.  This shows the extent of their blindness, since Christ is not divided; yet each group contends that it alone is God’s Church and the others are not.  Even a cursory glance at their teachings clearly shows that none of them is faithfully following the doctrines Christ reestablished in His Church through Herbert W. Armstrong.  Some groups have gone to a form of democratic government, others follow men who have taught or believe in some form of the pagan Trinity doctrine.  The Trinity doctrine is idolatry; not just some philosophical side issue, as some have claimed.  Others have no problem wearing crosses, which are the sun images condemned in God’s word.  Yet others subscribe to “The Nature of God” doctrine which distorts what God is really like and which helps underpin the Trinity concept.  Some believe that Christians are born again at baptism instead of through a resurrection, as Christ was, or through a change to spirit at His return.  “Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3-4).  “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).  Others contend that God has a family rather than, as the Bible shows and Mr. Armstrong taught, that God (Elohim) is a family (Rom. 8:29, I Cor. 15:20, 23, 35-44).

Mr. Armstrong also taught that the true gospel of the coming Kingdom was to go forth to the world as a witness, not as a tool to bring people to conversion, as some teach.  The apostasy began with the introduction of false worldly doctrines and graduated to the undermining of the true teachings found in God’s holy Word.

The attitude of most of the laity in these various groups shows that they have forgotten why God called them.  They were called to qualify to rule with Christ (Rev. 2:26; 3:21; 5:10; 17:14).  They were called to become leaders.  Christ expects all those He calls to become leaders, not just the ministry.  Leaders must first be able to clearly distinguish between truth and errorevaluate the situation properly and take the right course of action.  “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15).  In Revelation 2, the people of the Ephesian era were commended for being able to distinguish between true and false apostles.

Some 30 years ago, the government of Canada developed an interesting statistic that in my personal experience has proven to be accurate.  They found that in society, there were only 2% natural leaders, 8% with leadership potential and 90% who were simply followers.  These statistics applied across the board from the Boy Scouts to the local police department.  Go watch little children play and you will soon notice the ones who think up the games and organize the rest to play according to their rules.  This is the 2%.  Then there are those willing to help and support them.  That’s the 8%.  The rest are happy to allow themselves to be organized.  That’s the 90%.  I found this statistic to be true of every church congregation I served in and it used to frustrate me because I knew Christ called people to become leaders.

Too many people are blind-sided today because they assume that their ministers are converted.  This is unrealistic, given that tens of thousands of former W.C.G. people and numerous ministers have faded back into society, the Bibles many warnings about false ministers in the end times and the doctrinal aberrations listed above (II Pet. 2:1-3; II Tim. 3:1-7).

Each of us, ministers and laity, has a responsibility to prove all things and hold fast to what is good (I Thes. 5:21)!

Brethren, is the Church vanishing before our eyes or is Christ simply using this situation to separate the converted from the unconverted, and the self-satisfied Laodicean Christians from the stalwart Philadelphians, who are still holding fast to the doctrines they initially received through God’s apostle Herbert W. Armstrong? (Rev. 3:11; Jude 3; I Jn. 2:24; II Tim. 3:14; II Pet. 2:21-22).  It is plain that God had to let Mr. Armstrong die in order to prove His people!  Consider what has happened since his death in January 1986.  Approximately 160,000 people attended the Feast of Tabernacles in 1985 of whom some 90,000 were baptized.  That’s about 56% of the total 160,000.  Today about 30,000 still attend the four main breakaway groups, plus a myriad of tiny entities.  This means some 130,000 men, women, and children have fallen by the wayside over the last 16 years. Now it is obvious that many of these were not called, but did support Mr. Armstrong with their tithes and offerings to take the gospel to the world.

Using the same percentages we applied to the W.C.G. back in 1986 relative to the non-baptized verses the baptized, 56% of 30,000 is only 16,800.

This group of approximately 16,800 true Christians represents the pool from which the final cut to complete the 144,000 of Revelation 14 will be selected.  It is important to remember that the 144,000 are the firstfruits who have proved faithful from the time of Abel to Christ’s Second Coming.  Not a large group, considering they have been selected over a 6,000 year period.

The question is, how many of the 16,800 mentioned above are Laodiceans and how many are Philadelphians?  For the reasons discussed previously, the Laodiceans certainly make up the majority.

So of the 16,800, how many will prove to be Philadelphian and as a result escape the soon coming tribulation?  In 1986 for example, there were a total of 2,400 people attending the Worldwide Church of God in the Chicago area.  Today all groups combined in that city number only 400. That is just one-sixth.   One-sixth appears realistic with regard to many other locations across the United States and Canada where cities, which at one time had large congregations, but today are but a handful.  One sixth of the 90,000 baptized people attending in 1985 comes to 15,000, which is pretty close to the 16,800 ball park figure we arrived at earlier.  But again, how many of those will prove to be Philadelphians?

In the story of Gideon in Judges 7, God used three hundred men, less than 1% of Israel’s army to win a great victory over the Midianites.  Christ points out numerous times that many are called but few chosen (to rule with Christ).  The following statistics are designed to show just how small the numbers are today as Christ fills the last slots in His millennial government of 144,000.  

By applying the statistics regarding leadership to the 15,000 – 17,000 baptized people left in the various breakaways from the W.C.G., we should get an idea of approximately how many Philadelphians exist today around the world in various groups or at home!

                Out of 15,000     Out of 17,000
2% =                 300                      340
8% =               1200                    1360
TOTAL =         1500                    1700

Using 15,000 as a typical number, are we looking at 300 Philadelphians, 1,200 Laodiceans and 13,500 who are just hangers on?  Or will it be a total of 1,500 Philadelphians and the Laodiceans, with the hangers on being found in the remaining 13,500?  I don’t know for sure, but one thing is certain, the total pool of 15,000 – 17,000 people is very small in itself.  Look how these percentages would impact on the 400 still associated with the church in Chicago.  2% of 400 = 8,  8% = 32 and 10% = 40.

Consider also that Philadelphians are to be protected during the tribulation in a small temple yet to be built by the Jews in Jerusalem. (Rev. 11:1; Dan. 12:11, Dan. 8:11-14).  Philadelphians are proving themselves leaders now by holding fast.  Laodiceans must prove their leadership potential in the great tribulation because they are blind and self-satisfied now.

Every day that passes finds more and more people vanishing into strange sects or mainstream Christianity, thereby reducing the total number of people who could possibly be part of the true Church of God.  It helps us to realize that the group of people we can help to get ready for Christ’s return is not a large number and only God knows where they are.

How do we prove to Christ that we can be made worthy to rule with and under Him?  By understanding who Mr. Armstrong was and holding fast to what he taught us and continuing to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ and His plan.  That is also how people should be able to distinguish a Philadelphian work from the others out there.  Prophecy did not stop unfolding in 1986.  If people want to prove where Christ is leading today, study our literature, compare it with what else is available, and get to know us and observe our fruit, then help us to help others.

Brethren, continue to hold fast and pray that God will use us to guide and encourage others seeking support and direction.  The finish line is close and we must not slacken now.

Keep pushing ahead for we shall reap if we faint not.  No, my friends, the Church is not vanishing, it’s just coming into focus and its Philadelphian element must be proactive now.


Sincerely in Christ’s service,

Robert J. Elliott



PS.  The question has been raised, are people lost who are simply called to support the gospel work done by Mr. Armstrong?  Paul was inspired to say that God wants all men to be saved — to experience eternal life,  “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:4).  Only those few who refuse to be subject to God’s authority will have to suffer the second death.  What we must understand, however, is that not all are called to be part of the 144,000 firstfruits who will rule with Christ throughout the millennium and on into eternity.  Since we are told that of the increase of God’s government there will be no end, it would appear that as it expands throughout the universe positions of service will continue to open up.

It is also conceivable that those called to support Mr. Armstrong, but not to be part of the millennial government of Christ, will respond positively to God’s two witnesses during the tribulation and be spared either with the 144,00 physical Israelites or the great multitude of Gentiles mentioned in Revelation 7.  God is just, fair and merciful and He will not forget their service if they in turn respond to His servants during the tribulation.

PPS.  Is God’s Church, Worldwide the Philadelphian element today?  The G.C.W. is simply a corporate entity created to carry on church business in the United States.  True Christians are baptized into a spiritual body, the body of Christ.  Philadelphian Christians are scattered everywhere, including in the G.C.W.  However the work of God’s Church, Worldwide is Philadelphian and scattered Philadelphians will recognize this when exposed to it.  Hold Fast!

What Herbert W. Armstrong Said About The Future EU

For many years, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong warned God’s Church and the world that a great alliance of nations would emerge out of Europe to confront and rival the United States of America.

The following article shows how correct Mr. Herbert Armstrong was.  Europe is coming together and there is a desire among many European leaders to regain the preeminence Europe enjoyed before the rise of the U.S. following World War II.

Jesus Christ said that eventually this would lead to a tribulation so terrible that only through His direct intervention would humanity survive.

Coupled with the decayed condition of God’s Church at the beginning of the 21st century, this disaster cannot be far off.

Do not allow that day to take you unawares.

This is an article from The New Republic, May 21, 2001.
*The highlighted parts are thought to have particular interest to the fulfillment of prophecy.

TRB FROM WASHINGTON
Union Due
by Andrew Sullivan

Post date 05.10.01 | Issue date 05.21.01

There is a classic issue of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, whose cover photograph portrays two elderly Brits fast asleep, jaws agape, in a couple of deck chairs in a park. The headline? “EUROPE: THE GREAT DEBATE BEGINS.”

Well, the truth is, it has just begun. On April 29 the increasingly confident German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, released a blueprint for the future of the European Union. It is, I think, the most important document hardly anyone in Washington has heard of. It’s important because it ends any doubt about the new Germany’s commitment to a federal European state, modeled closely on Germany’s own constitution. Not only will the new European Union have a single currency by next year; if Schroeder’s proposals are implemented, it will soon have a single government and a real parliament. Or, put another way: By the end of Bush’s term, the United States could well be the second-largest economic and political power in the world, playing second fiddle to a European behemoth powered by Germany, handled by France, with Britain as a mere province within. The United States will have lost its most critical ally and gained its most formidable competitor since the Soviet Union.
And you thought China was a problem.


The current EU–an intricate bureaucratic structure created over 50 years of incremental growth–has only one truly democratic institution: the European Parliament. The Parliament doesn’t have much power, though. The ruling body, for all intents and purposes, is the Council of Ministers, a rotating group of elected politicians from different member countries who meet on an ad hoc basis. Then there’s the bureaucracy: the European Commission. Schroeder wants to beef up the Parliament and give it direct control over the EU budget, now handled by the European Commission and the Council of Ministers. He’d enlarge the Council of Ministers into a Senate, to balance the Parliament, which would become a lower House. Then he’d have the Parliament directly elect the head of the Commission, and turn it into a de facto European government. Member states would retain many powers–as many powers are retained by the various Länder in federal Germany. Sure, the Commission’s budget would remain tiny compared with most member countries; but there’s no mistaking the direction of it all. The architecture of a new European federal state would be in place. All that would be needed is some defining event or person to bring it fully to life. Think Bismarck, with focus groups.

Ominously, the French seem enthusiastic about the endeavor. On Wednesday, President Chirac gave a speech in which he rhetorically asked, “Is it not the moment to grace the European Union with a constitution?” (When one gets to be president of France, most of one’s questions become rhetorical.) Even the Brits are warming up. The British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, was just elected president of the Party of European Socialists and happily signed a declaration calling for “a new definition of the role of national Parliaments in the building of Europe, while strengthening the European Parliament.” Sounds like Schroeder’s scheme to me.

To the worries of nationalists across Europe–in places as far afield as France, Denmark, and Britain–the EU elites have a pretty good response. A colloquial rendition might be: What did you expect? The logic of the European Union has been pretty clear since the Treaty of Rome in 1957. From mere economic cooperation to a single market and then a single currency, from treaties by sovereign countries to a single parliament and pooled executive, from wholly sovereign nations to a European Court of Human Rights that overrules national Supreme Courts month after month, the EU is to a single European state what acorns are to oak trees. It’s only a matter of time. Or, as a German European commissioner said on German television this week, “The British think that [the Schroeder proposal] is a German federalist concept intended to give the European Union a federal organization. But what is the EU Council other than a federalist instrument?” Exactly.

What does this have to do with American foreign policy? Quite a lot. We saw an illustration of the mischief a united European bloc can wreak when the Europeans conspired last week to boot the United States off the U.N. Human Rights Commission. The enormous power of a single entity comprising a population and a GNP greater than the United States’ will make future embarrassments even more likely. And Washington will find it increasingly difficult to play one European power against another. Take America’s reliable military fig leaf, Britain. In the Gulf war, the Balkans, and the United Nations, Britain has been the indispensable nation, to coin a phrase, when the United States needs a patina of multilateralism to cover its intervention abroad. What happens when that fig leaf has to ask permission from Brussels, Berlin, and Paris before it can shield America’s privates?

But the military question is in some ways the least worrisome. The EU is a military mess. If Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell expect the EU to shoulder the military burdens of the United States, they’ve obviously forgotten Bosnia. But the EU is still a diplomatic power–able to tilt decisively against the United States in tense situations in the Middle East or China. And if the euro stabilizes, the EU may also have a medium-term shot at a global currency to rival the dollar. Once that happens, the enormous benefits the United States accrues from having the dollar as the world currency could disappear. During the Kyoto kerfuffle, European columnists talked of withdrawing support for American foreign debt in retaliation. One day the EU may be organized enough to make those words count.

I’m not saying the EU is all bad. Postwar economic and political cooperation–pioneered by the Marshall Plan and the Treaty of Rome–was vital to Western Europe’s democratic revival and success in the cold war. But the cold war is over, and the most telling feature of the current EU is its undemocratic structure. Schroeder wants to rectify this, but even a stronger European Parliament, without an extant European nation, cannot replace the true democracy of national assemblies. In all likelihood, Schroeder’s plan would give a democratic sheen to what has been a profoundly autocratic, post-national exercise. Most Germans, for example, opposed trading in their marks for euros. But they had no real choice and no referendum. Almost half the French population opposed it as well, but it was rammed through. The Brits will vote on the euro within two years, but they know the long-term die is cast. They can’t afford to leave the EU altogether; and as long as they’re in it, the federalist momentum will slowly eat them alive. If Tony Blair gets his way, the United Kingdom will shortly be better described as the Appended Province. I can’t see much good in this for the United States, although some may differ. But, whatever your view, it’s time we took notice of what is actually going on–if only to begin, however cautiously, to expect the worst.

ANDREW SULLIVAN is a senior editor at TNR.


Link to the Article
https://newrepublic.com/article/97097/union-due

Signs of The End Times

To Whom It May Concern:

The signs of the end times are all around us: worldwide epidemics from AIDS to foot and mouth disease; floods; famines and droughts; wars; and magnum earthquakes in diverse places.

We have the discernible weakness of the United States of America, coupled with the emergence of a mighty German-led United States of Europe.

There is the escalating Arab-Israeli conflict, with its focus on Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

These are the beginning sorrows or birth pains Christ said would suddenly bring on the terrible tribulation of the last days.

The true gospel has gone to the world and been rejected.

The subsequent falling away from God’s truth by His Church is a reality, as is the famine of the word and the scattering of His people.

Can you see this or are you blind?

Are you acutely aware of the times you’re living in?

Are you ready for what’s coming?

Do you know what to look for next?

If Mr. Armstrong were alive, what would he tell you to do?

Is It Important To Understand Prophecy Today?

Hold Fast Letter


Brethren:

How important is it to understand prophecy today?  Some might consider this a stupid question, while others may indeed wonder why understanding prophecy is necessary in the overall context of developing holy, righteous character.  What is more important?

Well, the two are not mutually exclusive.  Someone in God’s Church committed to developing godly character should, for that very reason, include an expectation of comprehending of prophecy.  Prophecy is a declaration of that which cannot be known by natural means.  You see, the natural, physical mind cannot understand God’s Word.  God has to open the minds of those He calls to prophetic understanding and its application to the times they are living in.  It stands to reason that He is more inclined to do so for those who are serious about overcoming their carnality.

For example, in respect to prophecy, it is critical to know which church era we are in now.  Most don’t; because they fail to discern that this is the final era.  As a result they exhibit no sense of urgency.  This means that they are, and will be, unprepared for the momentous events rapidly bearing down on this society in the form of a new dark age.  Those with a grasp of end-time prophecy should be urging themselves on in preparation for Christ’s coming–making sure that their priorities are right and actively praying, studying and fasting to build more spiritual muscle in the time available.

A large portion of scripture consists of prophecy and it requires God-given insight to be able to make sense of it.  A good example of this is found in Luke 24, where the risen Christ enlightens His disciples on the prophecies related to His death.

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.  Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (Lk. 24:44-46).

Spiritual blindness is a hallmark of most Christians living in the final era of God’s Church.  Christ castigates them for being lackluster, which undoubtedly contributes to their naked or sinful condition.  Consequently, it is apparent that such people will not only be unable to understand end-time prophecy; they won’t even be interested in the topic.

Those, who are enthused by recent prophetic revelation and have searched the scriptures to prove it biblically sound and have found it so, should rejoice, because it had to be revealed to them by Christ!  Now that is exciting!

Do you remember what He told His disciples in John 15:15?  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. “Add to this His words in Jn 16:13, in which He promises to provide the Holy Spirit (power from above), which will shew [tell or report] you things to come.”  Prophecy is the future revealed ahead of time by God to His servants for a specific purpose.  When the prophet Daniel was trying to grasp the significance of the 1260, 1290, and the 1335 days, he was told “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan 12:9).  This information and its understanding were not pertinent to Daniel’s time.
 
The time of the end is defined for us by Christ in Matthew 24:14, where we are advised that the gospel of the Kingdom must first be proclaimed before the end of this age can or will come.  When Mr. Armstrong completed the gospel commission in January 1986, we entered the end time.  During the succeeding ten years the Worldwide Church of God disintegrated and numerous off-shoots surfaced ostensibly in support of Mr. Armstrong.  By 1997, God’s Church, Worldwide came to understand the chronology of the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days.  In doing so, previous misunderstandings the W.C.G. had in respect to the Church’s flight to a place of safety were corrected.  This was very important, because under the old belief it was assumed there would be seventy-five days in total to be warned to flee, to conclude one’s affairs and then to travel to the location, conceived to be Petra in Jordan.  You see, those who retain the old understanding will be taken completely by surprise, because there will be no seventy-five day warning!  In fact, the tribulation will descend with little warning on modern Israel, but God will spirit away faithful Christians to be protected throughout that three and one-half year period, on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

Brethren, in a time when most of the Church is slumbering with their eyes wide shut, it is comforting to know what we know.  But why do we know it?  Quite simply because we (a) recognized who Mr. Armstrong was, and (b) we have honored him for faithfully following through with the commission God gave him.  If any of you do not understand how significant and important our recognition of Mr. Armstrong has been, then perhaps you also undervalue Christ’s words in John 12:26, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour [value].”

Now think about it, why does God’s Church, Worldwide have this understanding when those groups who broke away from the W.C.G., supposedly in support of Mr. Armstrong, don’t?  The answer is obvious and recent history has proved it.  These other groups do not support Mr. Armstrong, and various of them didn’t even support him when he was alive and they occupied positions in the W.C.G..  That is why they are blind, and therefore only qualified to lead the blind!

We know what we know now because God has decided the time has finally come to reveal it.  We should be encouraged that He has honored us with that revelation.  Do you grasp this?  Are you getting it?  Consider brethren, we know that the tribulation will begin at the feast of Trumpets, and that the work of God’s two witnesses will commence three and one-half days earlier on a weekly Sabbath.  Three years later the trumpet plagues will break out, also around the festival of Trumpets, and six months later Christ will return to gather His 144,000 saints to present them to the Father.  As they await their audience with the Father in the third heaven, the seven last plagues are poured out upon the earth and the kingdom of the Beast.  As the final mighty earthquake convulses the planet, the marriage supper of the Lamb is concluded and the saints return with Christ to smash the forces of the Beast at Jerusalem.  With the Beast and the False Prophet thrown into the lake of fire, the following forty-five days are devoted to preparing Jerusalem for the commencement of the millennium on the feast of Pentecost.

We have been given a comprehensive, chronological outline of the last days of Satan’s age, plus an understanding of what has happened to God’s Church since Mr. Armstrong died.  In addition, we know when the tribulation will begin.  

Each feast of Trumpets brings us one year closer.  Each feast of Trumpets reminds us that the next one may be the one and should spur us on to get better prepared.  The rank society we live in is an increasing offense to God and much of His Church is in danger of passing from lukewarm to stone cold.  Since Christ said His Church will not die out and since Laodiceans must still be in existence to be reformed in the tribulation, its beginning cannot be far off.

The United States of America stands as the last bastion against total world chaos, but as this presidential political year will prove, it is increasingly divided against itself and thereby all the more weakened.  Add to this the clamorous denunciations, from across the nation, against God and all that He stands for and we can conclude that the sudden destruction predicted in God’s Word draws rapidly on.

Even though many associated with God’s Church today are not alert to the danger they are in, we have no excuse, for we have been amply warned.

Please don’t ever regard having an understanding of prophecy as a sign of superiority; but instead, see it as a sign of God’s mercy extended to us, because, in respect to Mr. Armstrong, we did only what should have been expected of us.  For that one act of faithfulness, God is prepared to spare us and protect our children throughout the entire tribulation.  However, to be profitable servants we must continue to hold fast in the faith and become leaders in creating the blessed unity God and Christ desire us to produce.
In his day, Herbert Armstrong was given a unique understanding of the scriptures which set him and the Worldwide Church of God apart in all Christendom.  Based on the foundation he laid, God’s Church, Worldwide has also been given a unique understanding of these end times to spur us on to develop the holy, righteous character that produces oneness and harmony.  This is very pleasing to our loving God and our personal Savior.

So going back to the initial question posed in this letter, “How important is it to understand prophecy today?” The answer is very!


Hold fast brethren.
In Christ’s service,

Robert J. ElliottPastor

Tsunami Disaster

Copy of e-mail sent to Hannity & Colmes by Mr. Elliott

———- Forwarded Message ———-
Fw: God’s involvement in the recent tsunami in the Indian Ocean


Dear Sean and Alan:

I listened and watched with interest to your program on Wednesday, January 5, 2005, in which you asked Franklin Graham why God allowed the tsunami that caused so much destruction around the shore line of the Indian Ocean. I didn’t think Mr. Graham’s answer was very satisfactory.

To understand God’s role, or lack thereof, in the tsunami disaster, it is important to go back to the beginning of God’s relationship with mankind. This takes us to Genesis chapters 1-3.  In Genesis 1:1 we are told that God created the heavens and the earth. But in verse 2 we find, “Now the earth was formless and empty . . .” (NIV).  The word “was” is better translated “BECAME” because in Isaiah 45:18, we discover the following, “For this is what the Lord says – he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; HE DID NOT CREATE IT TO BE EMPTY [as in Genesis 1:2], BUT FORMED IT TO BE INHABITED . . . .”

Thus there could be billions of years between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.  What we read about from Genesis 1:2, to the end of the chapter, is THE RECREATION OF THE EARTH TO MAKE IT ONCE AGAIN HABITABLE FOR MANKIND. But who was responsible for the destruction which necessitated a re-creation?

The Bible explains that the archangel Lucifer rebelled against God and tried to overthrow Him, causing massive destruction throughout the universe, including the earth (See Ezek. 28; Isa. 14; Rev. 12:7-9).  One result of this was the change of Lucifer’s name to Satan, which means adversary.

As you will see from Revelation 12:9, it is SATAN WHO “LEADS THE WHOLE WORLD ASTRAY” and he BEGAN WHEN THE POPULATION OF THE EARTH AS JUST TWO, ADAM AND EVE.

When Christ created Adam and Eve, for He indeed was the member of the Godhead who did the actual creating (Jn. 1:1-3), He taught them His law and gave them certain instructions to follow.  He placed them in a beautiful garden He had planted, called Eden. Of particular interest in the garden were two trees. One represented eternal life, which they had free access to and the other, which they were forbidden to partake of, was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said if they imbibed of the fruit of that tree they would die! Here God was referring to possible eternal death.  God knew that if mankind decided to go it alone, without His guidance, deciding for themselves what was good and what was evil, they would inevitably sin and, as Romans 6:23 states, “THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.”

What is the Biblical definition of sin?  The answer is found in I John 3:4, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: FOR SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW” (KJV). What law? GOD’S TEN COMMANDMENTS!  Verse 8 continues, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil [Satan] sinneth from the beginning” (KJV). So, indeed in Genesis 3, Satan enters the picture and tells Adam and Eve that God has lied to them about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They won’t die if they eat of its fruit.  They believe Satan, take of the fruit, and in essence, REBEL AGAINST GOD, just as Lucifer himself did!

The result? God put Adam and Eve out of His garden to fend for themselves.  They had decided to follow Satan and God had given them the free will to do so. Now through hard experience and apart from God, they and their children, and their children’s children, right down to today, would find that Satan’s way would not bring peace and happiness, but disaster, including natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.

So, in answer to your question, by and large, God has allowed mankind to go his own way, to experience for himself what his way brings, or rather what Satan’s way brings.  Mankind has experimented with various religions, forms of government and commerce, but all are influenced by Satan!

Does God want all men, i.e. the majority to be saved? Yes! Absolutely!  God has a plan, which involves a number of steps to this end; but that’s another story. God will prevail and Satan will lose, but in the meantime mankind will continue to suffer. And yes, Sean, you were correct when you postulated that the tsunami was part of Christ’s prophecy in Matthew 24.

One final point, Mr. Graham stated that God would not punish human beings with disasters. This does not comply with Biblical history or prophecy.  God was responsible for the Noachian flood (Gen. 6), and the destruction of billions of His creation, because of their violence and perversions.  Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, and the drowning of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. In the near future, the returning Christ will destroy the army of the nations in the vicinity of Jerusalem (see Rev. 19).  Just remember what God destroys He can later resurrect.

Now I find it strange, that men who on a daily basis break God’s laws with impunity and want nothing to do with Him and who have deliberately cut themselves off from Him, should expect Him to intervene for them in times of disaster.  Considering the level of disobedience to God throughout the world, He is remarkably kind, considerate, and patient.  Most of us work, eat, and have a roof over our heads and if this is not the case in some countries, it is because of the dictators who prey on their own people. Not God!

Until mankind repents and shows himself willing to keep His laws and commandments, world conditions will get worse, natural disasters will occur, and God will stand to the side until this world comes to the point of self-annihilation, at which point Christ will return to save man and the planet.  “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:21-22).

Was God in this case specifically responsible for the great tsunami? No!  Did He let it happen? Yes! Would it have happened if people were obedient to God? No! Is anyone enjoying the death and destruction? Yes! Satan the devil!

I hope this provides you with a rationale for what is going on in this society today!


In Christ’s service,
Sincerely,

Robert J. Elliott, Pastor

A New Dark Age Is About To Descend

Hold Fast Letter


Dear Brethren and Friends:


Thank you for your contribution to a marvelous Feast of Tabernacles. Such a Feast is only possible through the stirred up, abundance of God’s Holy Spirit. It sets the bar high for Tabernacles 2004.

After such a wonderful eight days, we must of necessity return to Satan’s dark world in which we need to soldier on until we all meet again next year.

Indeed, 2004 looks to be a momentous year, with a Presidential election in the United States looming large and the war on terror intensifying.

By its very nature, the struggle for the White House can do nothing but encourage the efforts of our enemies against this country. When unity is essential in the nation, we find the democratic hopefuls attacking President Bush for going to war in Iraq and for the way he is executing the war. The 2001 attack on the Twin Towers should have confirmed to the American people that we have entered a war with fanatics who wish to either convert us to Islam, or utterly destroy us.  But for many, especially those far away from New York, the strike on 9/11 was an isolated incident in the past.

Yet a similar attack, or one even larger would send the economy of the United States into a tailspin from which it might not recover.

Outside of the United States there is little real support for this war against these fanatics.  In fact, most countries are more than willing to appease them because of the large Muslim populations within their borders.  Hand in hand with this is an envy of the wealth, freedom and power of the United States, which makes them hope that the Americans will be brought down a peg or two. Communists, socialists and liberals hate this country and want to see it go down.

Within the United States itself, the mainstream media constantly hammers away at the Bush administration on its handling of the war.  Biased reporting, which frames the conflict constantly on negative terms, is designed to dishearten the public at home.

These factors combined, weaken the United States and strengthen her enemies.

How does this relate to Biblical prophecy? Quite simply, the Bible reveals that modern Israel (the United States and Great Britain) will suddenly be overcome by their enemies; that a United States of Europe will emerge to threaten the whole world and will attack the Middle East.

This scenario is described in some detail in Daniel 11.  Here Europe is led by the king of the North, also known as “the little horn”, “the Assyrian” or “the son of perdition.”  According to Daniel 11:40, he is provoked by the king of the South, the prince or leader of Egypt, “at the time of the end.”  We have been living in the time of the end since Mr. Armstrong died in January 1986.

In verse 42, it states “the land of Egypt shall not escape” and in verse 43, “He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt.”

Today, Egypt is the most powerful Arab nation in the Middle East. Over the last twenty-five years, Egypt has been quietly receiving over two billion dollars annually from the United States, much of which has gone into an extraordinary military, built upon state-of-the-art weaponry bought from America.

Recently the Israeli defense minister commented that Egypt’s armament build-up was much more than was required for its defense.

Egypt has, in modern times, considered itself the leading nation in the Arab world. Today it is the most powerful.  Should Muslim extremists take over Egypt, all that power would be directed against the United States and Israel.  Support for terrorists would then be increased exponentially.  Is this possible?  Certainly!  It was just such a fanatical Muslim group that gunned down Mr. Herbert Armstrong’s personal friend, President Anwar Sadat. President Mubarak is his successor.  An Arab world united and led by Egypt, with help from Europe, could well help undermine the United States and Great Britain.  However, once the United States is destroyed, these extremists would revert to attacks on Catholic Europe, the ancient enemy of Islam.  The “push” against Europe would bring on the last crusade, in which Islam and the Muslim nations would be destroyed, and the Europeans would control a line along the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf.  This would include Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Libya, the Sudan, and Ethiopia.  It might well include the rest of North Africa lying along the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Bible, along with recent history, shows that the United States should not trust “old Europe.”  The French, Germans, and Russians, we now know, helped supply Saddam Hussein with much of his conventional and non-conventional weapons.  

Saudi Arabia has provided financial support for the terrorists who flew planes into the Twin Towers, and most of the perpetrators were Saudis.

In Israel the vicious struggle between the Palestinians and Israelis over the sovereignty of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount continues apace and the more people talk of peace the less there is.

Peace can only come from victory and we will have to wait for Christ to bring that victory.

In the meantime, very dark days lie ahead. End-time events are speeding up and there is one sure way you can know that time has to be short. Namely, the terribly weak condition of God’s Church right now.

The Worldwide Church of God has become a full-fledged, but tiny, Protestant denomination and the leadership of the majority who broke away from it and established their own religious groups, are also drifting ever faster into Protestantism.

Christ promised His Church would not die out.  When the Church of God, Seventh Day rejected the revelation Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong presented them, they died.  They are now a Protestant denomination!

So how long can God wait before setting the tribulation on its course?

It has to happen before lukewarm Laodiceans become stone cold Protestants . . . and since nineteen-year time cycles play an important part in God’s plan, it is well to remember that Mr. Herbert Armstrong will have been dead nineteen years on January 16, 2005.

In January 2005, the United States will either have a new President, or George Bush will be starting out on his second term.

Brethren, it is time for increased prayer, study, and fasting. As Winston Churchill said at the beginning of World War II, “the lights are going out all over Europe.  A new dark age is about to descend.”  So it is today, but on a worldwide scale. Let’s be sure our lights continue to shine in darkness.


Hold Fast.
In Christian service,

Robert J. Elliott


Lux lucet in tenebris
A light shines in darkness
Motto of the fourth era, Thyatira.

Rulership With Christ

Hold Fast Letter


Dear Brethren:

Let me remind you that Satan the devil will do everything in his power to deny you a position in Christ’s government.

For those who were specifically called to rule with Christ, to fail to qualify is to loose out on the opportunity for eternal life as well as ruling with Christ.

What is the connection between ruling with Christ and eternal life?  Simply this: He is eternal, and thus, we require eternal life to be with Him and to rule under Him.  If we fail to qualify in this life to rule with Him, He has no reason to provide us with this marvelous gift.

This is why we must focus our attention on our specific calling: rulership with Christ.  That means, in the Church setting today, we have to prove faithful and supportive of the ministerial-led government in God’s Church.

Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong said that the first resurrection is a better resurrection because those in it will have overcome Satan, as Christ had overcome him.  Remember, throughout the millennium Satan will be banished.  Those living then won’t have to contend with him.

Qualifying to rule with Christ in a governmental setting is connected to overcoming Satan because it was in this area that Satan failed.

Not only did he fail, but he persuaded one-third of the angels to follow him into failure.  Satan became bitter in the face of God’s authority and in the words of the apostle Paul “many [became] defiled” (Heb. 12:15).Satan worked on their minds constantly undermining God.  I’m sure he began by subtly suggesting in some way that God was unfair to him and by extension to them.  It doesn’t appear that any of those angels went to God for guidance, probably because Satan warned them that God would vent His anger on them, or that He was too smooth-tongued for them to prevail in any discussion or argument with Him.

What a disaster!  Now one-third of the angels are demons, with dark twisted minds-tools of Satan to destroy mankind.

Satan’s goal is to do to us what he did to one-third of the angels!  He knows our destiny is to become God [Elohim], and his bitter anger is driven by envy and jealousy.  As the spirit of the power of the air, he beams, into the minds of unsuspecting human beings, his moods, attitudes and spirit of rebellion.  This rebellious spirit is prevalent throughout human society.  In the Church it can lead to disintegration.  So it is important that Christians become aware of the fact, that Satan is actively involved, on a daily basis, to undermine the Church, which is working hard to fulfill God’s will.

In God’s Church, it is the responsibility of His ministry to discipline the membership where necessary.  This can involve minor matters of human error all the way to removal from the congregation.  “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb. 12:6).

As much as possible discussions between the ministry and the brethren are kept confidential, only including those who need to participate, to try to protect the privacy of all involved.  To do otherwise leads to gossip, speculation and an ever-widening circle of partially informed people tempted into taking sides.
In God’s Church there is no taking of sides.  One third of the angels took Satan’s side against God!  They never went to God.  They simply took Satan’s word.  Now look where they are.
Since all of us grew up in Satan’s world, under his influence, our natural reactions are his.  Remember he once owned us.

Now in the Church, God’s Holy Spirit should prevail over Satan’s influence, but that depends of course on whether God’s Spirit is being utilized when certain events take place.
Understand brethren, you are under the direction of God’s ministry and you need to work with us, so that all things can be done decently and in order.  Satan is the author of confusion, so don’t be part of any confusion.  If in doubt, check it out with the Pastor immediately, and no one else!

When people are in a rebellious attitude, because they didn’t get their way, they begin to run down the ministers involved, especially the Pastor.  They want the people they talk to to take their side against the ministry.  Again, it starts off subtly.  They give the impression of poor innocents who are misunderstood.  Indeed, they give the appearance of “angels of light.”  “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (II Cor. 11:14-15).  They will attempt to convey the situation as a personal problem between them and the minister, or even a minister and his family, instead of as an act of utter rebellion.

How can you tell if it is a personal problem between one family and another?  In a personal situation both sides will be running the other down.

In a minister-member situation, involving rebellion, only the bitter, lay person will be running down the minister.  The minister will not be attacking, or belittling, or taking things out of context, or spreading rumor and gossip around.  That’s how you can tell the difference!

But why do such situations gain traction in God’s Church?  Three reasons:
1.     Not enough of God’s Spirit is in evidence.
2.    In Satan’s world, people always tend to support the little guy (lay member) and we naturally have negative feelings towards those in authority (the boss, the Pastor).  We must learn to resist the natural and the carnal if we wish to be able to say with the apostle Paul that “we are not ignorant of [Satan’s] devices” (II Cor. 2:11).
3.   Curiosity.  People want to know.  But as “curiosity killed the cat,” so curiosity can destroy us if we get into situations beyond our depth.

Remember, a bitter person wants to gain our sympathy, by making us feel sorry for them.  Then, they gradually undermine our confidence in God’s ministry, until we come over to their side, the side of the fallen angels.
People in a bitter attitude seem instinctively to know who to latch on to in the congregation.  In my thirty years experience in God’s Church, every congregation has those in it who think that there is a special inside group around the pastor . . . and that they are on the outside.  This bothers them, so they are susceptible to giving an ear to those intent on division.

In the past there was a lot of politics in the Worldwide Church of God.  There were Church congregations with special inside groups around the pastor, but not here in God’s Church, Worldwide.
We use people for service, according to their abilities and attitudes.  If anyone has a talent that they feel would be useful to the Church, we welcome their input.

As people get older they cannot always keep up with what they did when they were younger.  This opens up an opportunity for someone else to serve in that capacity.  Further, since the Church is headquartered in Florida, most of the organization is made up of local members.  Again, those intent on division also look for the kind, the innocent and those they deem popular who always think the best, but are often naive and unsuspecting.  The curious, who love to talk, are another mark.  Take it as a compliment if you are never approached by those interested in division, or you are the last to “hear the latest.”

In God’s government, authority is from the top down.  The government is arranged in this way to help create and sustain unity.  Harmony is achieved when everyone understands their role.
Satan’s goal is to cut the head off from the body.  The ministry are assigned by Christ to lead the congregation, so Satan will always try to put a barrier of mistrust between the ministry and the brethren, to cut off communication, so that he has a free hand to pick off the members one by one.

God’s Holy Spirit unites us with God and Christ.  It also unites the ministry and brethren, so that complete unity can be made possible.

The ministry are in the Church to help the laity qualify to rule with Christ.  We are on your side.  We want you to be part of Christ’s 144,000 first fruits, His millennial government.  Your responsibility, now, is to support God’s ministry and this is a major key in reaching your goal.

The Feast of Tabernacles will soon be upon us.  This year there will be many new brethren joining us.  Will they find what they are looking for?  They have proved the doctrine to be correct, and they are very excited to meet all of us.  So what will they find?  A flock at peace, unified and exemplifying Godly, out-flowing love for one another and them?

Yes, I know they will.  Let me conclude with part of a letter I recently wrote.  “Personally, when I go to the Feast, I want to congregate with a band of comrades who are wholeheartedly committed to the cause; brethren with a common set of beliefs who are united in doctrine and love.”  I’m sure those are your sentiments too.  From Feast to Feast there is an opportunity to learn and to grow.  Each year we are proving to Christ whether we are guarding our crowns or letting them slip.  Time is short.  Don’t give Satan a victory.


Hold Fast, brethren.
Sincerely,

Robert J. Elliott

When Should God's People Observe The Passover?

Since Mr. Herbert Armstrong died in January 1986, various offshoots of the crumbling Worldwide Church of God have disputed on which day the Passover should be observed.  Under Mr. Armstrong’s direction, the Worldwide Church of God kept the Passover after sunset on the first part of the fourteenth of Nisan.  Nisan, or Abib, is the first month of the Jewish calendar.  Remember, God designated days to begin at sunset in the evening, not at midnight as is the norm today.  So under God’s calendar, days begin in the evening and end in the evening.

With respect to the Passover observance, numerous former W.C.G. members keep the Passover on the fifteenth of Nisan and others at the end of the fourteenth.  God’s Church, Worldwide continues to keep Passover on the first part of the fourteenth day.  The Jewish community however, observes it on the fifteenth.  So which view is correct, the beginning of the fourteenth, the end of the fourteenth or on the fifteenth?

We will use three sources in discussing this subject; the Bible, the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, and the Encyclopedia Judaica.  The encyclopedias will explain how the Jews have come to observe the fifteenth of Nisan as their Passover.

In Exodus 12:6 the Israelites were instructed to kill the Passover lambs “in the evening” or as the Hebrew states, between the two evenings.  This phrase points out that the evening was actually a period of time with a start and a finish.  The complete setting of the sun was the start of the time period and complete darkness was the end.  Between the two evenings is the period we call twilight.  So before the first evening it was yet daylight and after the second evening it was night.  

It was in this period of time, between sunset and complete darkness that the lambs were to be killed.  Sunset on the thirteenth brought that day to an end, and began the fourteenth.  From sunset to dark the lambs were killed and the blood was then placed on the doors.  Later the roasted flesh was eaten.  Verse10 states, “And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.”  In verse 11 the Israelites are commanded to eat it in haste, but the word “haste” is a poor translation.  The Hebrew word is chippazown and means, in fear or trepidation, obviously because later that night the death angel was to pass over the Israelites, who had smeared the Lamb’s blood on their door posts, and kill the first born of the unprotected Egyptians (Ex. 12:13).  Sure enough, at midnight, “the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt . . .” (Ex. 12:29).

If the Passover had been held at the end of the fourteenth, the death angel would have passed over the Israelites and through the Egyptians on the fifteenth of Nisan.  However, Leviticus 23:5 clearly states that the Passover, which refers to the mission of the death angel, was on the fourteenth.  This means that the killing of the lambs, hours earlier during twilight, was also on the fourteenth.

To support this, Deuteronomy 16:1 states that Israel left Egypt by night.  This night could not have been the same night when the Passover was observed because the Israelites were commanded to stay in their homes until the morning (Ex. 12:22).  They were then to spoil the Egyptians and gather together their livestock in preparation for departing Egypt.  This occurred during the daylight portion of the fourteenth.  In Numbers 33:3, Israel is shown leaving Egypt on the day after the Passover.  The day after the Passover is the fifteenth, and the fifteenth is described in Leviticus 23:6 as the “feast of Unleavened Bread.”  

Verse 5 of Leviticus 23 refers to the Passover as follows, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even [between the evenings] is the Lord’s Passover” (see also Numbers 28:16-17).  The scriptures make it clear that the original Passover was kept on the first part of the fourteenth.  Why then do the Jews today observe it on the fifteenth, the following evening?  In an article on the Passover, the Encyclopedia Judaica, 3rd printing has this to say.

The Feast of the Passover consists of two parts: the Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread; originally both parts existed separately, but at the beginning of the exile [Babylonian] they were combined.  Passover was originally not a pilgrimage feast, but a domestic ceremony consisting of the slaughtering and eating of the paschal animal.

When the Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread became one festival instead of two, the Jews killed the lambs just before sunset at the end of the fourteenth.  As a consequence, the roasted flesh was eaten at the beginning of the fifteenth, contrary to God’s original instructions.  In New Testament times, the combining of the two events is clearly evident in Luke’s account, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover” (Lk 22:1).  The Feast of Unleavened Bread wasn’t the Passover, it was simply called the Passover and the Jews, since the exile, as noted, had been celebrating Passover on the fifteenth of Nisan.  In fact, by the time of Christ, they were describing the fourteenth as the preparation day.  Jesus, our Passover, was impaled on the stake during the daylight portion of the fourteenth.  The Jews wanted His body taken down and buried before the first day of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath, or high day, which began that evening (Lk 23:45, 50-53).

It is interesting to note that in Leviticus 23, the festivals are described as “the feasts of the Lord” (v. 2).  God says they are “My feasts”, but by Christ’s day for example, the Passover was described as “the Jews’ Passover” (Jn. 2:13, 6:4, 7:2; 19:42).  The Passover they kept was not God’s because it was celebrated on the wrong day.

Jesus changed the symbols of the Passover during its observance on the first part of the fourteenth.  Christ and His disciples obediently observed the Passover festival which God commanded as a memorial which included partaking of the lamb as Luke 22:7 conveys.  “Then came [near] the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed.”  In this case the word Passover refers to the lamb which was sacrificed and then eaten.  “And he sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat” (Lk. 22:8, see also verses 11, 15-16).  As an example for His New Testament Church, Christ put the emphasis on the bread and wine as symbols of His broken body and blood.  Rather than shedding the blood of the lamb and eating its roasted body, Christ, who became the true Passover Lamb (I Cor. 5:7), instructed His disciples how to keep the New Testament Passover in remembrance of Him after His death.  From that point on the lamb would no longer be a part of the Christian Passover.

As noted above, many of the Jews in Christ’s day were killing the Passover lambs at the end of the fourteenth, but actually eating the meal on the fifteenth, which is the first high day of Unleavened Bread.  Their actions bring out the confusion created by melding Passover and Unleavened Bread into one feast instead of two.  Passover pictures deliverance not haste.  Remember haste is a poor translation of the Hebrew, which actually refers to the trepidation they experienced when the death angel passed over Egypt.  These Jews were attempting to keep the Passover with an understanding that pertained to the first day of Unleavened Bread.  Israel did leave Egypt quickly, on the fifteenth, which symbolized coming out of sin.  Of course no one can come out of sin unless they first accept the sacrifice of Christ in payment for their past sins and as their means of reconciliation to God.  Because the Jews have lost sight of the true meaning of Passover, they have been unable to accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth as their Savior.

Remember, the lamb symbolized Christ; He was the Passover.  So rather than using the flesh and blood of the lamb as the symbols of His flesh and blood, He used the bread and wine of the Passover feast, as we do today.  Later, on the fourteenth, as the Lamb of God, His blood would be shed in payment for the sins of mankind.  Prior to that His body would be broken for the healing of our physical sins, symbolized by the crushing and tearing of the unleavened bread.

Now consider Paul’s words in I Corinthians 11:

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.  After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament [covenant] in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come (I Cor. 11:23-26).

Obeying this scripture, which clearly places the last supper at the beginning of the fourteenth, and following the example set in the keeping of the first Passover, God’s Church, Worldwide observes the Passover service soon after sunset on the first part of the fourteenth.  (Note: Later that night Christ was betrayed, taken into custody and by the following morning He was in the hands of the Romans to be scourged and impaled on the stake.  All this happened later on the fourteenth day.)

Now, were Christ and His disciples the only Jews to observe the Passover on the first part of the fourteenth?  Not according to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 8, page 406.  In an article entitled “Pascal Lamb”, it explains, “the Pharisees and Sadducees had a dispute as to the time when the slaughtering [of the lambs] should take place; the former held it should be in the last three hours before sunset [at the end of the fourteenth day], the latter between sunset and nightfall [and thus at the beginning of the fourteenth day].”  This confirms that in Christ’s time some people in Jerusalem correctly kept the Passover at the beginning of the fourteenth, while others kept it at the end of that same day.  The fact that some kept it on the first part of the fourteenth appears to be supported by the instructions Christ gave His disciples preparatory to gathering together with them to keep His last supper.

And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may eat.  And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?  And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.  And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?  And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.  And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.  And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.  And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer:  For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God (Lk 22:8-16).

If the Jews and others have become confused as to when to observe the Passover, the Bible is clear, as is the example of Christ.  It is to be kept on the first part of the fourteenth of Nisan, which was the custom of Herbert W. Armstrong and, as stated, is the custom of God’s Church, Worldwide today.

Now some have asked: why the Passover is a feast, but not a holy day?  The holy days were, as noted earlier, pilgrimage festivals in which all males were commanded to travel to observe them “where God placed His name.”  The Passover, by way of contrast, was initially a domestic ceremony observed at home.  This continued to be the case throughout Israel’s time in the wilderness where they were in close proximity to the portable tabernacle.  Later in the promised land when Solomon built the temple, the males in Israel were commanded to journey up to Jerusalem to keep the feasts.  Since it took a number of days to get there, from say Dan in the north or Beersheba in the south, it would have been impossible to keep the Passover for example on the fourteenth and still get to Jerusalem on time for the first day of Unleavened Bread on the fifteenth.  This resulted in the nation keeping both the Passover and days of Unleavened Bread at Jerusalem, which may have contributed to the later blurring of the distinction between the two festivals and also blurring why the Passover is regarded as a feast, but not a commanded assembly as are the holy days.  As we have it, there are seven feasts or festivals and seven holy days.  The feasts are 1) Passover; 2) Unleavened Bread; 3) Pentecost; 4) Trumpets; 5) Atonement; 6) Tabernacles; and 7) the Last Great Day.  The holy days are 1) First Day of Unleavened Bread; 2) Last Day of Unleavened Bread; 3) Pentecost; 4) Trumpets 5) Atonement; 6) First Day of Tabernacles; and 7) the Last Great Day

For us in God’s Church, what is most important is that we follow Christ’s example as to when we observe the Passover.  Since He was the God who commanded ancient Israel when to keep it, it should not surprise us that He was consistent with His own instructions.  In God’s Church, only those who have accepted Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, partake of the bread and wine.  Thus the service is restricted to those who have repented, been baptized, and have had hands laid on them for receipt of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-18).


Hold Fast!



Note:  Christ died at 3:00 p.m. on the fourteenth (Mk. 15:34, 37), which is the hour when the evening sacrifice was carried out.

Historical Note: As Christianity rapidly spread across the Roman Empire, it was infiltrated by people of Gentile origin, who brought in elements of their pagan religious beliefs, which began to fuse with true Christian doctrines.  This led to the separation of genuine believers from those who came to accept corrupt teaching.  The former were persecuted and scattered and the latter developed into the greatly visible and powerful false “Christian” church, which by the fourth century had become the state religion of the Roman Empire.

A good example of this fusion of truth and error and the resulting confusion is the story of the Christian Passover.  In the second century, the Passover was already being called Easter, but was still observed by many on the fourteenth of Nisan.  By the fourth century, Passover was still called Easter, but the date was changed so that it would never fall on Nisan 14, the true Christian Passover date.

The Roman Emperor Constantine essentially forced this change of date because the bishops of the eastern part of the Roman Empire were at odds with those in the West on when to observe Easter.  The bishops of the East wanted to retain the fourteenth, whereas those of the western empire wanted to move away from the “Jewish” date.

Constantine, realizing that a united church was essential for the stability of the empire, brought the controversy regarding the fourteenth to an end at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D.  He exerted sufficient pressure on the church leaders to ensure a unanimous agreement that Easter be kept on a Sunday throughout the empire and that “none hereafter should follow the blindness of the Jews.”  In effect the Catholic Church at Nicaea decreed that it would not follow the example set by Christ.

From the perspective of our study, the Quartodeciman Controversy, which was the dispute over the fourteenth, is evidence that from the time of Christ to the Council of Nicaea the fourteenth was the correct day to observe the Jewish and Christian Passover and not the fifteenth.

It is interesting to observe that although the Council of Nicaea fixed Easter on a Sunday, the Irish Celtic Church, which spread into Scotland two hundred years after Nicaea, still celebrated Easter on the fourteenth of Nisan. This indicates that the church in Ireland was raised by followers of Christ who understood His original teaching, or at least by missionaries from the eastern Roman Empire, and not the west.

In fact, the Roman Catholic Church did not penetrate into Scotland until the eleventh century.  This occurred when Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots, married the Saxon Princess Margaret.  She was a fervent Roman Catholic and introduced the great Roman monastic orders into Scotland.

Once again the two churches disagreed over the date of Easter.  Leaders from both churches could not reach an agreement, and in time this led to the persecution of the Celtic Church in Scotland, and the supremacy of the Roman Church until the Reformation.  However, vestiges of the old Celtic Church survived in remote parts of the Scottish Highlands and islands into the eighteenth century, as did a vague memory of the fourteenth day, as attested to by various historians.

Additional Reading:  The Plain Truth about Easter and Pagan Holidays or God’s Holy Days, Which?, by Herbert W. Armstrong.

Was Herbert W. Armstrong The Final Elijah?

Hold Fast Letter


Dear Teachers in Training:

There are still those who honor Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong today, yet who remain unconvinced he was the prophesied end-time Elijah.  Clearly, the Bible says such a man is to come, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5).  But was Mr. Herbert  W. Armstrong the final Elijah, or should we look for another?  Verse 6 of Malachi 4 defines the commission of the end-time Elijah as follows: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”  The word curse here can be translated utter destruction.  Christ makes reference to such destruction in Matthew 24, and in so doing helps to explain the relationship between the fathers and children of Malachi 4.  Please take note of Matthew 24:21-22, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”  The “elect” here, of course, refers to the Christians whom God says He will protect throughout this terrible time because of their faithfulness (Rev. 3:10, Rev 17:14).  The children of Malachi 4:6 include these elect Christians.  The fathers are the righteous fathers of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but would also include those who have proved faithful to God in Old Testament times, such as Noah, David, and Daniel.

Since the fathers, in their time, repented and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, as will have end-time Christians, they will be united with the rest of the 144,000, mentioned in Revelation 14:1, 4, as the Firstfruits of God.  Through resurrection and change to spirit, their hearts will be turned to each other.  All must accept Christ as their personal Savior (Acts 4:12).  Thus, all are united in Christ.

Now there was to be a type of Elijah, who was to precede the First Coming of Jesus.  Christ declared that man to be John the Baptist.  In Matthew 17, Christ’s disciples wanted to know why the scribes said, “that Elias [Elijah] must come first.”

11And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.  12But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.  Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.  13Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist (Matt. 17:11-13).

Now, please take careful note of verse 11.  This verse is not talking about John, but rather about the end-time Elijah, since the verse is in the future tense.  Verse 12 makes it clear that John is already dead.  Coming back to verse 11, we see that it is the end-time Elijah who is to restore “all things.”  This in turn means that the truth which John and Jesus understood would in the future to be perverted, watered down, or partially lost, and thus would be in need of restoration:

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars . . . Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.  Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent.  If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee (Rev: 3:1a, 2-3).

This was exactly the condition Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong found God’s Church in during the early part of the twentieth century.  He was, under God’s inspiration, the Restorer of Lost Truths!

Now what is a key ingredient necessary for restoration?  It is given in Revelation 3:3, but is also mentioned specifically in respect to the Elijah commission in Matthew 3:

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepareye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Matt. 3:1-3). [see also Isa. 40:3].

Repentance for breaking God’s law and His gracious pardon make it possible for humans to gain eternal life and to rule in that kingdom.  Ongoing repentance makes it possible for the Christian to be prepared.

In connection with turning the heart of the fathers to the children, note what Christ says to the Jewish religious leadership which refused to repent.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham (Matt. 3:7-9).

The Pharisees and Sadducees regarded themselves as Abraham’s children, and physically they were, but their refusal to repent nullified them from being spiritual children of faithful Abraham.  That honor is reserved for faithful Christians.

Brethren, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, and Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong alone, restored from the Bible what was necessary to gain salvation.  We are the beneficiaries of his faithfulness and hard work in the face of great opposition over many years.

Even though the great falling away of II Thessalonians 2 has happened, as prophesied, those who have held fast faithfully still retain those restored truths.  We still have them, therefore we don’t need another restorer to come.  Elijah has come, and his name was Herbert W. Armstrong!

Clearly, without repentance we cannot please God.  If we don’t please God, He will not bless us with understanding.  Without repentance we cannot even begin to make the changes that God requires.  Without it as a first step, there is no hope of restoration.  But, how can anyone repent of sin if they cannot define what sin is?  Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong took the Bible and showed us that sin is the breaking of God’s law.  No Protestant television-evangelist was prepared to do that, since they teach that God’s law is done away with.  Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong truly was a voice crying out in a religious wilderness.

We wouldn’t be keeping the Sabbath, the holy days, the Passover, the law, or tithing if we had not come to realize that God wanted us to keep them, so He could bless us.  Yet to keep them we had to turn 180° away from the ways of Satan’s society; and that is what repentance means – to turn around and go in the opposite direction.

God grants repentance, but He also works through men.  Although He opened our minds to see what He requires of us, He used Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to provide the information through sermons, Bible studies, booklets, and various articles, all based on God’s word.

Some feel that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong could not be the final Elijah, since He has been dead now for over fifteen years, and Malachi 3:1 says once Elijah has prepared the way, the Lord will come “suddenly” to His temple.  This verse in no way talks about a time-span, but rather the fact that Christ’s coming will be sudden or unexpected.  In Luke 21:35, Christ says, “For as a snare shall it [that day] come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”  He is referring to all humanity, including Laodicean Christians.  Paul, in I Thessalonians 5:2, says that the day of the Lord will come upon most people as “a thief in the night,” sudden and unexpected!

Malachi 4:5 states that the end-time Elijah will come before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord,” but again, it doesn’t say how long before.  God commissioned Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to restore lost truths so that he could complete his assignment of taking the good news of the coming kingdom to the world as a witness.  Once that was completed, God allowed Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong to die, in order to test the Church.

Since January 16, 1986, we have entered the end times.  In this final period, we have already experienced the Church of God falling away from the truth (except for a small Philadelphian remnant).  This falling away from the truth has led to a famine of God’s word and the rise of Laodiceanism.  All of this has taken over fifteen years.  The coming of the two witnesses and the tribulation begin to loom large in the near future.

Again, there are those who think that perhaps one of the two witnesses could be the end-time Elijah, but this is not true either.  Although bringing fire down from heaven, as the two witnesses will do, is an Elijah-like act, it isn’t consistent with the commission of the end-time Elijah to call for repentance and restoration of the truth, before the terrible time of God’s wrath upon the earth and mankind.  In that regard, the two witnesses are God’s instruments during the three and one-half years of the tribulation.

The condition of the Church today should not surprise us.  It was prophesied!  Two groups of Christians exist today, defined in Revelation 3 as Philadelphians and Laodiceans.  Philadelphians are promised protection during the tribulation, because they hold fast to the truths restored by the end-time Elijah.  Laodicean Christians must endure the tribulation for two reasons:

1) Failing to recognize who Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was, and
2)   Letting go of much that God used him to restore.


We still preserve and defend those restored truths brethren, and we know who Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was.  As a result, we continue to grow in grace and knowledge because we hold fast the great and precious promises God has given us through His end-time Elijah, Herbert W. Armstrong.


In Christ’s service,


Robert J. Elliott

Feast of Tabernacles 2001

Dear Brethren:

Do we regard ourselves as very ordinary people living in an extraordinary time?  If we don’t, we are!  We have the distinction of living at the end of one age and on the cusp of another.  The old world, under Satan’s influence for six thousand years, is about to be swept away in a cataclysm so terrible that Christ said there has been nothing like it before, nor ever to come.  The world in Matthew 24:21 is kosmos and it means the world as re-created, ordered and arranged by Christ in only six days, almost six thousand years ago.

What could be more terrible than the Noachian flood, which destroyed through drowning the entire world population bar four men and four women?  Yet in the near future, the surface of this planet will be largely burned up and as Isaiah 24:6 tells us, “few men left.”  In the Hebrew language there are four words translated “man” in English.  Here the word enosh is used and in regard to mankind it frequently has a negative connotation.  It means physically frail and morally depraved and reprehensible.  It is because of such men, under Satan’s influence, that the birth of Christ’s new age will be very painful.  Why?  Because as Christ points out in various places throughout Revelation 16, they utterly refuse to repent and acknowledge God.

Yet Christ has promised faithful Christians they will be rescued and physically protected from this disaster, which will undoubtedly reduce the earth’s population from billions to just a few millions.

In a time when terrified men, women, and children will be crying out for mercy and deliverance and not finding either, because they won’t repent, why is it that certain faithful Christians will receive both?  What is so important in God’s sight about faithfulness and what exactly is this faithfulness related to?

One noteworthy fact about faithfulness is to be found in the book of Proverbs.  In chapter 20, and the latter part of verse 6, we are told, “But a faithful man who can find?”  The latter part of the verse is set in contrast to the former, which in the New Berkeley Version reads as follows, “many a man proclaims his own steadfast loves.”  Put together in the NIV we read, “Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?”  In this context faithfulness is connected to unfailing love.  But love for whom?  From a Christian perspective, first and foremost a love for God the Father and Christ His Son.  How is this love manifest?  In the desire and attempt at total obedience!  We learn about God’s love through His law, in especially the Ten Commandments, which show us how to live happy and productive lives.  They display God’s concern for His created children; Christ’s sacrifice underlines that love.  Why?  Because no human can keep God’s law perfectly.  Through faith in His sacrifice, the penalty due to God for our sinfulness is paid.  In this way the death penalty for breaking God’s law is removed from us.  So God has every right to expect steadfast love from us.  Yet there is another important fact that we must never lose sight of, God works through men!  He uses men to deliver His truth to those He is calling.  Herbert W. Armstrong was such a man!

I vividly remember the profession of love and the standing ovations he used to receive annually at the Feast of Tabernacles until his death in January 1986.  At his death there was much outpouring of grief, but today few honor the memory of this man; the man God used to reveal himself to us.  If Mr. Armstrong was not such a man, who in all the twentieth century was?  The answer is obvious, no one!  Yet except for a very small number of Philadelphian Christians, it is almost as though Mr. Armstrong never existed!  This is very displeasing to both God and Christ.  Compare John 5:23 (NIV) with John 12:26 (NIV), “. . . He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”  “. . . My Father will honor the one who serves Me.”

God the Father will only accept honor to Himself that extends to Christ and the faithful servants He chooses to carry out specific commissions. This creates and contributes to the unity that God demands within His family.
Many of you probably wonder when you hear that your destiny is to rule with Christ, just what you can do now to prepare for such a responsibility?  Possibly you cannot conceive of what such a position involves?  Don’t worry, when you are spirit, very God, you will have the power and means to understand and successfully carry out your duties.
What you need to be concerned about is learning what God requires of you now, so you will have qualified by the time Christ returns.  For Philadelphian Christians that means qualifying before the tribulation begins three and one-half years in advance of Christ’s return.
What do we need to develop and prove now to qualify?  The short answer is given in the latter part of Revelation 17:14 (NIV), which tells us “. . . And with Him [Christ]” as He returns to establish His millennial government, “will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.”  The word faithful means trustworthy and reliable.

But faithful to what?  To the truths God opened our minds to understand via His Spirit, through the work He gave Mr. Armstrong to do.  This includes recognizing that Herbert Armstrong, just like Peter, Paul, or John, was a man selected by Christ, to prepare the way for His Second Coming by taking the true gospel of the millennial kingdom to this evil society.  The fact that this simple declaration of facts was ignored by the world and now today by most of the Church only magnifies its importance as a means of shedding light on who are the true Philadelphian Christians at this point in time.

It is their faithful adherence to these truths which sets them apart for protection during the tribulation.  However, it is not fear of the terrible tribulation which motivates them, but rather their love of the truth, their deep respect for the man God used to bring that truth to them, and most of all their desire to never let their loving savior down (I Pet. 2:17; Jn. 15:12, 17).  In II Thessalonians 2:10 (NIV), Paul says that people perish “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved [delivered or rescued]” which is exactly what is to happen to Laodicean-minded Christians in the soon coming tribulation.  It is in this terrible ordeal that their love of the truth is rekindled.
Everywhere today the truth we received is being undermined and ridiculed.  Only a tiny few are even keeping this Feast of Tabernacles and fewer still keep it honoring Mr. Armstrong, who revealed its importance to them.  I know it is hard to be a minority, excluded by former brothers and often alone physically, but remember Christ said in reality we are never alone!  He and the Father are always with us.  They will never forsake us if we never forsake Them.

On their behalf I want to thank you for being at Their Feast to honor Them and the memory of Their faithful servant, Herbert W. Armstrong.
Hold fast to the end and we will all rise to meet our elder Brother, Christ as He returns to gather His government together.  When that day comes we will have proved to be more than ordinary people; we will have proved extraordinary.


In Christ’s service,


Robert J. Elliott

Make-Up

Please write for the bible study that covers this topic.

The Unpardonable Sin

Sermon, by Mr. Shane Harper

Well brethren, today I’d like to talk about a subject that’s been on my mind for a while.  And just a couple of weeks ago Mr. Bickell had mentioned some topics that perhaps the men could talk about.  Ironically enough I had two topics in mind and he mentioned this one, so perhaps it was meant to be.  It’s a very important topic so we want to begin by reviewing some scriptures that should be considered with great caution and humility.  The scriptures we want to look at should be considered and viewed with great caution and humility; scriptures concerning the subject of the unpardonable sin, and that’s what we want to talk about today, the unpardonable sin; because these scriptures cause some to feel uncomfortable, perhaps fearful, some may avoid the topic with an out of sight, out of mind viewpoint.  There are a few scriptures in the Bible that maybe some don’t want to look at, or they just read over quickly, maybe their stomach sinks to their feet when they read it.  Is that the way it should be?  Or maybe the discomfort or fear is due to a misunderstanding of the scriptures in question.  

So what we want to do is begin by turning to Hebrews 10:26-31For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.  Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now if you would turn back a couple of chapters to Hebrews 6:4-8For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.  For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
And one more, if you would please turn to Mark 3:28-29, this is Christ speaking:  “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; “but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.

Brethren, it is clear that these scriptures reveal that there is something that a man can do which forces God to withhold His mercy, there is something that a man can do which forces God to withhold His mercy.  But what is it?

Certainly we all have had that feeling deep down inside at one time or another, that we have disappointed God to the point that He is no longer interested in working with us.  I’m sure every one of us has felt that way at one point or another.  You ask the question, why do you even consider working with me at this point?  I’ve been a waste of time to you!  So perhaps things like the unpardonable sin come to mind.  We think that perhaps we’re at the end of a rope and there’s nothing left to do but wrap it around our necks and kick the chair away.  Every day we stumble and fall and fail to do what is right.  We always seem to be missing the mark at ever turn.  In the Christian struggle, which is made up of peaks and valleys, we often appear to be in the valleys looking up at the peaks, which look as if they are beyond reach; we can’t even see the top of the peaks, much less find ourselves standing on them!

Are these scriptures ultimately the destiny of some of us if we stumble?  Do you think that it is God’s will to drive fear into us to “scare us into getting with the program?”  Is that God’s intention?  And is that what motivates us to stay on the straight and narrow?  Is that how God intended His elect to go about their physical lives?  To be afraid and always worried that He is waiting to either punish us or slam the door on us when we make a mistake?

Before we answer these question lets turn to Matthew 12:22-32, and I want to read yet another example.  

Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”  But when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  “And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?  “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.  “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  “Or else how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.  “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.  “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

In my Bible the heading of this section is “The Unpardonable Sin.”  We understand there is no forgiveness for such an act under certain conditions, yet we sin again and again and again, and more often than not brethren, we sin knowing what we are doing is wrong!  What does it mean?  

First notice this, Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  All have sinned!  Now with that in mind, look at what is said in I John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  So we read in Romans that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and here in I John 1:8-10 it says:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Now look at chapter 2:1, “My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. . .”  That is you try to avoid sin, that you overcome sin.  However, notice, “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

So brethren, what the Bible is telling us here, what God is telling us here is that we all sin and miss the mark.  To say that we don’t is a lie and calls God a liar.  The key word here is confessing our sins, and we’ll look more into that a little later.  But there’s not a day that goes by without us doing something we know is wrong, and if I was to ask for a show of hands I’m sure everybody would raise their hands.  We all want to do the right thing but we end up falling flat on our faces, because we all do things that we know are wrong of which God would not approve.  And we all fall short because of our own actions, because of the things we choose to do.  Is this the unpardonable sin?  Or could it become the unpardonable sin?  Not necessarily.

Let’s look at an example of one of the servants of God who sinned and knew that what he was doing was wrong.  Romans 7:14-15, this is Paul speaking:“ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”  In other words, Paul, the things he hates, he acknowledging that’s what he does!  

“If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Rom. 7:16-17).  So Paul understood that there was sin in him, it was his nature.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:18-24).

So Paul is explaining here, “I know that I’m doing wrong!”  Personally, I find myself nodding my head in agreement every time I read these scriptures.  I relate with the inner conflict Paul is talking about here, and I’m sure you do as well.  Paul knowingly sinned time after time.  He knew what he was doing was wrong, yet he did it anyway; and keep in mind, this was written some twenty years after his conversion!

Notice too what Paul says in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” But now notice what Paul says in verse 16, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”  And that is key to understand.

Listen how this is translated in the Amplified version, beginning in verse 17:For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.
Now up to verse 16, in the Amplified Version, “But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).”

So there’s advice from Paul, even though he understood that he sinned time and time again, he was aware of how to fix the problem; and that takes us back to Romans 7:25 where he answers the question he asked in verses 24-25, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Understand, Paul doesn’t stop with his sinful nature, he doesn’t just sin time and time again and just decide to tell us about it then go on his merry way; he knows there’s an answer, a way of escape from the way of life that leads to death.  He speaks of this in Galatians 6:7-8, where he tells us, “Do not be deceived, . . . for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

Paul made many mistakes in his life, yet he understood and was determined to continue to fight against himself because he recognized and called upon the source to help him make it through and overcome.  Although it is clear Paul struggled mightily, he didn’t commit the unpardonable sin because he had an attitude of submission, seeking something better than himself, that being the Creator of the universe.

To submit, which is what Paul did, is to offer oneself of one’s free will, to offer for consideration, examination, decision, etc. So Paul submitted himself to God, to be considered by God, to be examined by God, and for God to ultimately make a decision.  Submission is the act of yielding or surrendering, humble obedience with meekness.  Let’s turn to Philippians 3:7-8, and I’m going to read again from the Amplified Version of the Bible: “But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.” So all the things that Paul had gained for himself, he had come to consider as “one combined loss for Christ’s sake.
”Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly].  For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One) (Phil. 3:8).Remember Paul’s words in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”  To be led means you have to be willing to follow.  Paul believed that God’s law was holy, just and good (Rom. 7:12); he was also aware that the carnal mind was hostile toward that law (Rom. 8:7).  So Paul understood these things, and brethren, that’s the difference.  He didn’t live in sin, though he sinned daily and recognized it and knew that he was sinning.  

Let’s turn back to Romans 7, and we will read verses 14-15, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.”

So we read where Paul said he was carnal, sold under sin.  He said that what he wanted to do he did not practice, but what he hated to do that he did.  Let’s again look at the Amplified Bible translation here.
We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.  For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered].  I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns] (Rom. 7:14-15).The Moffat translation says, “I do not act as I desire to act, on the contrary I do what I detest.”  Remember, Paul was not talking about his former life before Christ began working with him; he was speaking in the present tense.  This was Paul’s struggle with sin, and he hated these failures when fighting his nature.  Yet he said, “the evil that I would not, that I do!”  Paul sinned knowingly, consciously; his mind gave in and for the moment consented to his human nature.  Paul was a man, brethren, to think that he was anything greater than that is a form of idolatry.  We always look at some of these men of the Bible as being so great that they never had any failures; well I was reading an article by Mr. Armstrong where he was talking about the ministry, and that we need to pray for the ministry because there’s so much pressure on them.  But some people put the ministry on a pedestal as though they don’t do any wrong!  Mr. Armstrong said that’s idolatry.  So what’s written here in Romans 7, is God showing us that Paul was a man; he had all the struggles that we have.  

But here’s what we need to understand, notice verse 19: “For the good that I will to do . . .”  The Moffat says, “the evil which I would not;” the Amplified version says, “the good deeds that I desire to do;” the Philips says, “the good that I set out to do.”  Paul’s attitude, intention and desire was to do the right thing.  What he was telling us here is there are times when he was overpowered therefore his mind yielded to the pulls of the flesh.  Paul hated it and looked to Christ to give him the strength to counter his weakness and help him to resist his nature.   Paul genuinely looked to Christ for help.  Did Paul commit the unpardonable sin?  The answer can be found in Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  There is no condemnation for those who are seeking Christ.  The Living Bible says, “. . .  there is now no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus.”  And the Philips version says there is no condemnation hanging over the heads of those.  This means there is no condemnation on those who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh but after the dictates of the Spirit, and that’s what Paul did.  

Notice John 3:18a, this is Christ speaking, He says: “He who believes in Him is not condemned;”  Now we know that believing encompasses everything, not just believing that He existed at one time, but believing what He said and following what He said.  Christ says here the believer is not condemned, and yet we know that all have sinned and fallen short.  You see there is not a contradiction in the Bible.  Christ said you are not condemned if you believe Me and do as I say; yet all have sinned and have fallen short and to say that you don’t sin is to make God a liar!

Let’s go up to verse 16, and again I’m going to read from the Amplified Version of the Bible. For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) [that’s a promise] but have eternal (everlasting) life.  For God did not send [His] Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.  He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation – he incurs no damnation] . . . (Jn. 3:16-18).
So Christ is saying, this individual is not judged in that way.  Remember Paul said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man, he had God’s Holy Spirit and it helped him to first understand the struggle, and second enabled him to resist and want to overcome.  Paul had the right attitude, not one of rebellion, but one of repentance.  He was a slave to sin looking for a way out; seeking power from on high that could help him escape from the bondage of sin that held him captive.  That was the mindset of Paul.  It’s a great study!

Let’s look at another example, that of King David.

Did David commit the unpardonable sin?  He knowingly allowed himself to be caught up in passion and lust with Bathsheba that overpowered his better judgment.  He continued this mindset trying to cover up his sin by having her husband, Uriah, killed.  Here is a perfect example of what we read in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; . . .”

David and trusted and believed in God dearly, yet this happened. Why? How?  The answer is that the drives and pull of human nature and the deceit of human reasoning set a trap that David knowingly fell into.  David knew it was wrong yet he did it anyway.  

Think about it brethren, he was the one responsible for seeing that God’s laws were enforced in the land!  Did he commit the unpardonable sin?  First there is no indication that David deliberately hardened his heart towards God.  Now he knew what he was doing was wrong, but there was no indication in the Bible that he hardened his heart towards God.  There’s no indication that he wanted nothing more to do with his Creator.  What is clear is this, after he realized the full impact of his mistakes, he was crushed to the heart with guilt and begged for mercy and forgiveness.  David displayed a heart of repentance so impressive in fact that God saw to it that it would be on record for all to see.  

Psalms 51:1-4 “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.”  He says blot out my rebellion for what I have done!  “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.”  Cleanse me from missing the mark, the mark that at one time I was heading towards.  “For I acknowledge my transgressions, . . .”; and that’s key, brethren, to understand.  “. . . And my sin is ever before me.”  Just like Paul said, it’s right there.  “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight . . .”

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness, That the bones which You have broken may rejoice.  Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me (Ps. 51:7-11).

Do you pray like that when you sin?  David understood that if we neglect to stay close to God it won’t take long for us to wander off the path.  Notice what he wrote in Psalm 119:10.  You see he was a living example of wandering off the path until Nathan came around and straightened him up.  “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!”

Wander came to mean to step aside either in ignorance or willfully.  Remember that word we read in Hebrews 10, he who “willfully” sins, or sins willfully.  This word “wander” means to step aside in ignorance or willfully.  God tells Christians in II Timothy 1:6 to stir up the spirit of God which is in them.  The words “stir up” are in the context of rekindling embers, fanning the flame and keeping it burning.  Stir up that inner fire within you, that being God’s Spirit.  Cross reference that with I Timothy 4:14 that uses the words do not neglect the gift that is in you.  This means the fire of God’s Spirit in you can go out.
 
So brethren, what we need to look at here is this: What is the unpardonable sin?  Because it does exist.

Now I would like to read Mr. Armstrong’s writing on the subject.  He says, “The converted Christian can lose the presence of God’s Spirit by CONTINUED NEGLECT.”  So here’s number one brethren, neglect.  
Neglect of prayer, neglect of Bible study, neglect of spiritual fellowship with God’s people. Or, by continuing too close a friendship with unconverted people — letting participation with them in material interests, pleasures, sports, entertainments, cause NEGLECT of spiritual interests. Don’t misunderstand. A certain amount of diversion can be healthy. And you cannot avoid all contact with unconverted people. But never let it DOMINATE in your interest and heart.     To the Colossians, God says through Paul: “Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). That is, instead of seeking an interest in television shows, or popular materialistic interests, actively seek more knowledge of Christ — more of the UNDERSTANDING that comes from GOD, in the Bible. Make this your MAIN interest. Never let occasional diversion compete with it as your overall interest.     The passage continues: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (verse 2). Make the SPIRITUAL things your dominant all-absorbing BIG interest — until you LOVE the receiving of new spiritual knowledge, and set your affection on it. Digging out new spiritual TRUTH in the Bible is the most exciting interest there can be in life. It’s not dry, dull, uninteresting, boring. It’s exciting, thrilling — and also profitable and uplifting!
Mr. Armstrong’s letter also adds:
Now is this God-given righteousness required for salvation?     Notice this illustration of Jesus, in the 15th chapter of John.     Jesus says “I am the Vine, and my Father is the Husband man” — that is, the owner and cultivator of the vineyard (John 15:1). Next verse: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit He taketh away.” Further, “He that abideth in me, and I in him” (Christ abiding, or dwelling IN YOU through the Holy Spirit) “the same bringeth forth much fruit … If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (verses 5, 6).     In other words, the fruit of God’s righteousness MUST be produced in the Christian life. And what is “righteousness”? God says, “All thy Commandments are righteousness” (Psalm 119:172). This does not necessarily mean God will cut you off immediately, the first day or week or month you might let go by without producing active and positive fruit. There is, however, a limit somewhere along life’s way where, unless you are definitely growing spiritually, that God’s Spirit will no longer “dwell in you,” and if you let that time come, you shall, like a dead grape branch, be ultimately cast into the final “gehenna fire.”     But be sure of this: It is a DANGEROUS thing for a truly converted Christian to grow lukewarm and careless, and become a “passive” Christian. Perhaps most have temporary lapses in spiritual progress. But as soon as you “wake up” to such a lapse, repent immediately and seek God with your whole heart, for a CLOSER, more active spiritual walk with Him.. . . it is important you realize that God’s Spirit will not remain dormant within you. You can’t put a cork over it and bottle it up.
So brethren, neglect of proper Bible study, prayer, fasting, meditation and service to one another can cause God’s Spirit to diminish in power to the point that it will run dry!  
Notice Hebrews 2:1-3,

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.

Notice those words brethren, “lest we drift away,” and “how shall we escape if we neglect.”

Brethren, there’s another way that can bring about the unpardonable sin, another way that can prove fatal, and that is when we rebel against what we’ve been given, or just give up.  By deliberate choice one decides he or she no longer wants to be led by God.  So we have neglect and you can add to that rebellion or just giving up.

Let me read what Mr. Armstrong says about this particular possibility.  He says that rebellion or giving up “may come from wrong reasoning; from wrong desire thought out to a final fixed, permanent decision as to [a] WAY OF LIFE; or, from allowing resentment in [one’s] heart toward either God or some person who may have wronged [them].”  Remember, Mr. Elliott has mentioned to us that our problems here won’t be in doctrine so much as they will be in personalities.  That’s what could kill you!  We don’t have time for that!  Mr. Armstrong points it out here that you could become resentful because someone may have wronged you.  He says, “To allow resentment to embitter [you, to the point where you come] to change [your] whole life course, turning from God.”  He says,     I cannot put too much emphasis on guarding against harboring resentment. It is spiritual POISON — deadly spiritual poison. If ever you begin to feel resentment against some injustice, go PRAY, asking God to remove it QUICKLY. Do not let it well up inside you — never harbor it. If you do, you will become as “hooked” with it as a dope addict becomes “hooked” with heroin! It is that serious!     God warns you, “Follow PEACE with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Heb. 12:14-15). Your bitterness may not harm the other fellow — but it may destroy YOU!
Well brethren, this brings us back then full circle to the scriptures that pertain to the subject called the unpardonable sin.  Lets go back now and look at them with the understanding we now have.  Lets go back to Hebrews 10.  So brethren, we understand that neglect and that resentment or giving up could prove fatal.  I’m going to read Hebrews 10:26 again, “For if we sin willfully,” this word means deliberately, denoting voluntary action.  This term carries the idea of deliberate intention, that is habitual rather than an isolated act.  The context is that of actions opposed to or not the same as sins committed inconsiderately and from ignorance or from weakness.  Please understand the context here is that of actions opposed to or not the same as sins committed inconsiderately and from ignorance or from weakness.  Did you notice that, our Creator is telling us that missing the mark here is not from sins we commit either by a mistake or by not knowing or even by sins committed by weakness?  This refers to sins committed by one whose mindset is no longer interested in God’s gift; because notice it says, “after [they] have received the knowledge of the truth.”  God tells us that there no longer remains a sacrifice for that type of sin, for turning away from the sacrifice leaves the Christian with no saving alternative.  After we have received the knowledge of the truth, if we turn from that, we have no saving alternative, but that attitude does bring about “a certain fearful expectation of judgment.”  The word means a decision or tribunal for or against.  It is derived from the Greek word from which we get the English word crisis.  God says a “fiery indignation” is sure and “will devour” all “adversaries” or those who oppose or believe contrary.  In other words, those with an unrepentant attitude towards God’s way of life.  It is this unrepentant attitude that causes the sin to go unpardoned.  

Now lets go to Hebrews 6:4, “For it is impossible” this is the same Greek word used in the Bible when talking about our inability to please God, without faith it’s impossible to please God, it’s the same word.  It’s also the same word used to make it clear that it is impossible for God to lie.  So we’re talking a pretty extreme word here.  The word means absolutely unable.  “For it is impossible for those [notice] who were once enlightened”  and we just read about that in chapter 10, after receiving the knowledge of the truth; well here is different terminology talking about the same thing.  “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened,”  this means those who were made to see spiritually with saving knowledge, those who “have tasted the heavenly gift”  that is who have experienced God’s goodness or “have become partakers” or sharers of God’s Spirit, “and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away” slip away, fall aside, deviate or fall away, that’s what that word means, slip away, fall aside, deviate or fall away.  Notice it doesn’t mean if you slip or fall down, and that happens to us every day.  We slip and fall down every day.  This refers to those who slip away from the path.  The gift of repentance is impossible for this type of person because they have rejected the gift of repentance and also the sacrifice of Christ and have put him to an open shame, thus making a mockery of God’s plan.  The fact that king David, who we looked at earlier, repented, proves that he did not commit the unpardonable sin.  To repeat, the fact that he repented proves that he did not commit the unpardonable sin.  When one is guilty of willful sin he can never again come to repentance because he has willed, that is he has set his will, or hardened his heart, not to repent.  We read here in verse 6, that it is impossible again for them to find repentance or gain repentance, O.K., yet we know that David repented.  So David did not commit the unpardonable sin.  For this type of individual it is impossible for that person to repent, at a certain point.  Repentance comes as a result of God’s Spirit at work in one’s life, one who hardens their heart rejects God’s influence and refuses to respond. By choice, then, the person refuses to respond, but David responded.  

Now quickly, Mark 3:28-29, that we looked at earlier, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.”

What does this mean?  Well understand that the Pharisees and Scribes were making accusations against Christ, you can read that in verse 22, “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, `He has Beelzebub,’ ‘ and, `By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.’”

And we read about this account in Matthew.  Now brethren, understand what’s happening here in Mark, and what we read in Matthew, pertaining to the same story; is this a case of God not showing mercy?  Or does the answer lie in the attitude of the Pharisees?  These men were accusing Christ of being Satan-possessed in an attempt to discredit Him in the eyes of the people.  They were rejecting the very work of the Almighty!  They knew their accusations were a lie.  Remember in John 3:2, Nicodemus once confided with Christ, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God.”  He said we know You are, “for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”  And now here they are later saying, it’s through Satan that He’s doing these things!  In verse 29 the word “blasphemy” means to vilify or speak impiously, it is an intentional indignity offered of God or sacred things; slanderous speech that causes injury to another’s good name or divine majesty.  The Pharisees knew that what they were doing was wrong.  They could not deny the reality of what the Holy Spirit had done through Christ so they attributed to Satan a work they knew was of God!  What does Mr. Armstrong say concerning this?  Lets read it, “To say a thing like this in ignorance of the true facts, or impulsively in emotional anger without thinking, would be different.”  O.K. he’s talking about what the Pharisees and scribes were saying to Christ here.  “To say a thing like this in ignorance of the true facts, or impulsively in emotional anger without thinking, would be different. But these religious leaders knew their accusation was false! Their blasphemy was deliberate, premeditated, intentional.”  The Amplified Bible puts these scriptures this way,

Truly and solemnly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever abusive and blasphemous things they utter; But whoever speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit can never get forgiveness, but is guilty of and is in the grasp of an everlasting trespass (Mk. 3:28-29).“Whoever speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents. . . is in the grasp of an everlasting trespass.”  To speak against God’s Spirit is to speak against God’s agent of forgiveness.  This would automatically cut one off from God because one has rejected and severed himself, placing himself beyond God’s influence and apart from the only method by which God deals with man, and that is through His Holy Spirit; it is the very mind of God in action and thought; and through it whatever God wills is carried out.  

You see brethren, Satan has led man to believe that God is the cause and the reason for all the world’s ills, “why does God allow these things to happen?” “why does He do this to us?”  “Why doesn’t He help us?”  Satan has also led us to believe that God is a harsh God, more apt to punish than to forgive.  We always hear about the God of the Old Testament, that mean old God of the Old Testament; that’s why people don’t want to read the Old Testament today!  But you need to understand, we all need to understand that God never refuses to forgive a repentant sinner.  He never refuses to forgive a repentant sinner!  It is an unrepentant attitude that causes God to hold back His mercy, therefore it is the person who is to blame!

You see brethren, you read these scriptures about the unpardonable sin, and people get scared, they get nervous.  Why?  Because you think that God’s just going to pound you with His hammer?  He’s just going to slam it down on you?  That’s not the God that we worship!  We worship a God of love!  But that’s what Satan has done, he wants us to fear God in the negative fear, not in positive respect, but in negative fear.  Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way,”  this is repentance defined brethren, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”  That’s what He’s sitting up there waiting to do.  

But, understand, shall we go on sinning?  Certainly not for to be carnally minded is death because it is hostile to God and cannot remain.  God has made that clear.  There will not be any sinners in the kingdom of God.  And God has already had to deal with spiritual beings who have rejected His laws and authority; He’s not going to let that happen again!  

Shall we go on sinning?  No.  There are definite conditions we all must meet before God will forgive sin, but many times we focus our attention on the act, rather than the attitude.  Understand that God does not forgive based upon the seriousness of the offence; we sometimes lose sight believing that the attitude of one having committed the sin becomes secondary in importance.  Don’t misunderstand, to God all acts of sin are bad and have to be overcome, but it is the attitude of you the sinner that will ultimately decide your fate.  Your fate will ultimately be decided by your attitude.  Nehemiah 9:17 says that God is “ready to pardon;”  He’s ready to pardon!  It is a reflection of His character and His tremendous love for us.  

Lets turn to Psalms 103:10-12, this is the God we worship, brethren:  “He has not dealt with us according to our sin, . . .”  If that were the case, brethren, there would be nobody on this planet!  “. . . Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

That is the result of repentance; that’s what happens, it’s the law of cause and effect.  We repent of our sins, and then these scriptures take place.  “As far as east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”  Write in your notes Isaiah 43:25, where God points out that He not only forgives our sins but He forgets them.  You see, in God’s mind the sin isn’t the most important thing, it’s the attitude!  If you repent of the sin, God forgets about it.  But if your attitude remains unrepentant there’s nothing He can do for you except ultimately put you out of your misery.  Remember He has the power to forget.

But we have to keep fighting, wide is the gate, and broad is the path that leads to death and many walk in it, but straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few fight to stay on that track.  We have to strive to enter the straight gate; we’re going to fall down on the path, but God will help us again and again and again and again if we keep our eyes focused on the goal.  Would God be any less forgiving than He expects us to be?  

If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive.  Confession of sin does not give us license to sin, nor is it necessary to list every individual sin when asking for forgiveness, or we’d praying for hours on end!  Forgive me for this, forgive me for that, you know, start with “a” and go to “z”.  What it means by if we confess our sins that God is faithful and just to forgive it is the recognition and acknowledgment that we are all sinners and that we do sin and are in need of God’s power to overcome and survive.  That’s just an acknowledgment that you make to God the Father and Jesus Christ that “I need help! And I’m sorry that I do the things that I do.”

Understand, brethren, that God’s Spirit will never push nor force us, but it will lead us if we display an attitude that is submissive to it.  So does this mean that once you have come to the knowledge of the truth, and you sin, even though you know better-in other words, you go ahead and do it anyway– is this willful sinning?  Again, not necessarily.  I’ll let Mr. Armstrong once again answer the question.  He says:
if, through former HABIT, or being overcome by temptation of the PULL of the flesh — of his human nature — or other cause, [the Christian] encounters an INCIDENT of committing a sin, for which he is afterward truly sorry — and for which he REPENTS — all the while his INNER Spirit-begotten MIND still in the ATTITUDE of DESIRING to continue on GOD’S WAY, then he has an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ our High Priest — to FORGIVE that sin.     THAT IS NOT AN UNPARDONABLE SIN!     Even though, in that incident, under temptation or neglect of prayer and Bible study, he does yield KNOWINGLY, his mind, for the time being, ASSENTING to the deed. This is doing it, for the moment, WILLINGLY, but it is NOT willful sin.
He does it willingly, but it is not willful sin.  He says as long as one, in his heart, has the real desire to walk God’s way with Him, is deeply sorry and repents when he commits the occasional sin, and is seeking to overcome sin and to make God’s way his habitual way of life, he will stumble on occasion, but if he confesses it and repents, he will be forgiven. If he is diligent in his Christian way of life, his occasional stumbling will become less and less, he will be making progress, overcoming, growing spiritually and in righteous godly character.

So brethren, what Mr. Armstrong is saying is if we are fighting the good fight, we need not fear for our God understands that we need His help, and He is ever ready to pardon our mistakes.  God looks on the heart, the attitude and the intent.  It is only the defiant ones that need dread and fear our God.

To the faithful Christian there is no room for fear, as it says in Isaiah, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.”

SH