Truths Following Repentance – Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

September 10, 2011

Last Sabbath we began a new sermon series entitled Truths Following Repentance.  We are addressing these truths in a different way than we have in times past when we’ve gone through all of these before and have sermons on the website.  This time we’re not going into them in the same way in the sense of focussing a great deal on each truth as we have before.  We’re still focusing upon them, but more in the context of how God brought these to us as far as the Church is concerned, why God worked with Mr. Armstrong the way He did during Philadelphia following Sardis, what the condition was for the Church at that time, and those things then for over 50+ years that God gave to Mr. Armstrong, the 18 Truths that are so powerful and foundational for the Church, and then the portion that we’ve gone into concerning that period of time that followed the apostasy.  The truths that followed the apostasy was a process because the Church didn’t really understand what would take place in time in the Church in what we understood would come – a great falling away, an apostasy.

And so God began to reveal those things to us to give us deeper understanding of things that were prophetic, that were taking place, that we were experiencing, that we were living through that actually gave us a great deal more understanding of things that God was doing with His Church, and especially toward the end-time and helped us to understand things in a far greater way.

And today now, in this particular sermon here, ‘Truths Following Repentance’, because all twelve of those truths God gave to us following Philadelphia, after the apostasy, had to do with things that each one of us who was a part of the Church...we came to understand that we were guilty of things that took place because of the apostasy.  We had fallen asleep. We had become lukewarm. We understood that we were the stones of the temple that had fallen down.  We were the ones that had to be spewed out of God’s mouth and separated from God – because it’s a matter of God living and dwelling within us, and the reality being that when we came to the apostasy God could no longer dwell within us because of sin, and He won’t tolerate, He won’t allow (in that respect) a lukewarm spirit!  We have to be on fire!  We have to be zealous for God’s way of life, and just coasting along doesn’t get it.  We can’t grow that way!  And God’s spirit, when He dwells within us, demands a response from us; one where we respond and we seek to grow because God wants us to grow.  That’s the only way He can mould and fashion the mind; through the power of His spirit dwelling within us we begin to grow.

Last Sabbath we covered truth number 13 in order for the period of Laodicea.  We covered 12 that had to do specifically with the apostasy, now these are following it.  And this is an awesome thing when you understand how God works and how God has been working with us.  But last Sabbath, again, we covered truth number 13 given during Laodicea after the apostasy, after repentance – because we had to repent so that God could once again begin to live and dwell within us in order to help the Church to grow.  And that’s a part of a process in our life anyway.  We have to repent so that God will continue working in us, so that He’ll continue to mould and fashion us.  It is sin that brings us to a point, if we don’t repent, that He can’t work in us, He will not be in us, He will not dwell in us and we won’t be in Him.  The reason, hence, He spewed us out of His mouth, making it very clear we were not a part of Him until we came to repentance.

And so God brought us to repentance through those twelve truths so that He could begin to dwell within us once again, so He could begin working in the Church again, so He could begin moulding and fashioning us one again and re-establishing the Church to continue on to the end.

And so again, last Sabbath we covered truth number 13 which states:

34 (13) Of all who have been scattered, God is awakening a remnant out of it [out of the scattering] as a witness of this end-time.

That’s something I make comment about from time to time.  We are all a witness of what happened, especially those who lived through into Laodicea, through into the apostasy, and all that had that experience were witness of powerful truths of what can happen if you don’t live this way of life, if you don’t yield yourself to God, if you begin falling asleep, if you begin becoming lukewarm and drifting.  God won’t dwell in you.

And so we’re witness of a massive apostasy within the Church.  We were witness of those things that took place with the man of sin and so forth, and then witness as people came along, as people were drawn back, living this, becoming a part of a remnant.  And those of you called since that time who are new, you’re not a part of a remnant.  You weren’t part of a scattering. You’re new.  Most of you, the vast majority of you, God is preparing you to live on into a new age.  There may be some in that mix, I don’t know, that’s in God’s power, of individuals who have been baptized since 1994 who possibly, potentially, God may have a purpose for them, they may be prepared at some point in time there for being a part of the resurrection - that’s in God’s hands – when Jesus Christ returns.  And you will want that and you will be ready for that if that’s the case, because He will have moulded and fashioned you and prepared you for that.

But as a whole, the vast majority, especially in the last three and four years, are being prepared to live into a new age.  And so you’re witness of other things that have been taking place at the end-time, but you’re still witnesses of what’s happening at the end-time, all the prophecies that will come to pass, all the things that have taken place in the Church, all the things that have taken place in the world, you’re witness of those things.

But again, truth number 13 is talking of those who were scattered. God is awakening a remnant.  He wasn’t going to allow His Church to die – God made that very clear from the very beginning: the Church would never die out, the Church would always exist, there would always be those in the Body of Christ.  And so there came a point where God spewed it out of His mouth, but it didn’t die out, and He quickly brought some to repentance immediately after the apostasy, but we had to begin seeing what we had done; and we repented and God began to dwell in us and re-establish, if you will, the Church for another phase of the work.  PKG – Preparing for the Kingdom of God, the last preparation that had to take place in preparing for Jesus Christ’s return.

Number 14 that we covered last Sabbath states:

35 (14) We understand that Jesus Christ is “continually coming” in the flesh of those who are in the Church of God.

That’s why God separated the Church; He wasn’t going to continue to come into our lives anymore, and we could not dwell in Him and He wasn’t going to dwell in us.  We were separated when He spewed us out of His mouth until we repented.  And so we have come to understand in a very powerful way that when it talks about Jesus Christ’s purpose for dying, the reason He died was indeed so we could be forgiven of sin, but also so that God could dwell in us continually.  Continually!  Just like the umbilical cord to a baby in the womb of a mother, that blood that has to flow.  We too need the flow of God’s spirit into our lives or we begin to wither, we can die, literally, and definitely fall asleep, which can be a long period of time – but even die depending on our choices.

36 (15) No one goes to heaven, not even the 144,000.

Now, all these truths here weren’t specifically about the apostasy like the first twelve were that brought us to repentance.  Because God began to dwell in us again, He began to strengthen the Church and then He began to give us life again in a very powerful way by revealing more to us, to give us (candidly), encouragement.  To give us encouragement now to go forward, to give us the ability to see that we’re now seeing things that we never saw before, to reveal to us, to help these things become solidified in a very powerful way within the Church.  One here now is:

36 (15) No one goes to heaven, not even the 144,000.

Because as I mentioned last Sabbath, it began to be taught in many of the scattered groups and much of the ministry that even after the resurrection some had different ideas of when it’d take place.  They had ideas about 1335 and 1290, that when Jesus Christ returned there would be 45 days – 1335 to 1290 - there’d be a period of 45 days that all who would be resurrected who were dead would go to heaven and have to be taught what their job was...and it’s going to take 45 days to do that.  Some began to teach it’s 1290 to 1260, it’s going to take 30 days. Some felt it was 75 days – they added both together - that they’re going to go off to heaven, those that are of the 144,000, and they’re going to have to learn and then be brought back.  Some were teaching that the resurrection would be on Pentecost of those who were dead, not alive, a part of the 144,000, that they would be resurrected then, go with Jesus Christ, go back to heaven and come back on Trumpets.  They’d have all that period of time to learn, because it takes a while to learn when you’re in the God Family.  I say that facetiously – God can give you anything and everything He wants immediately, instantaneously.  That’s why God helped us to come to understand no one... He made it very clear – no one ever went to heaven except Jesus Christ.  That’s why God made very powerfully, very clearly at Pentecost in 31 AD, when Peter told the Jews even David is dead and buried.  Of all people, a prophet, the king of Israel at that (going back in time), the one who was the prophet, who wrote the Psalms, a man after God’s own heart – he was still dead and buried, he had not gone to heaven; and making it very clear that the one being spoken of was the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and God showing that His intent was that no one goes to heaven.  That’s not what it’s about.  So anyway, God gave this truth, solidified it.

And then we covered number 16, one more truth last Sabbath:

37 (16) The remnant of God’s Church in Laodicea has been given the greatest proof ever of Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilling all the symbolism contained in the entire Passover day of Abib [or Nisan] the 14th.

None of it goes into the 15th like many in the Church began to teach. Like I mentioned last Sabbath, an evangelist in God’s Church, going way back – we really don’t know how long, but definitely in the 80’s when Mr. Armstrong was still alive, was teaching Ambassador College students, a large portion of whom would become ministers in time, teaching them that it was a 14th/15th observance that the Israelites, going back in time, they changed the Passover, they began to observe it into the 15th.  And that’s not true.  Jesus Christ fulfilled everything on the 14th.

The next one, number 17:

38 (17) The 144,000 are all those who have been called and tried by God over the past 6,000 years who will be in the first resurrection at Christ’s return.

Those of you who are new, sometimes when you read through some of these it’s like reading the book of Acts.  Anybody, when their called, can read the book of Acts and they realize this is the history, this is the truth, what they were teaching was just the way it was, it was truth.  For us it wasn’t that way for some of these things.  We had to come to learn. Because what the Church believed before the apostasy was that there would be two groups of people, one that would come out of Philadelphia who would make up 144,000.  There would have to be 144,000+ baptized people, because not everyone baptized, it was understood, would be prepared or readied: and there’d be 144,000 who would be resurrected at Christ’s return.  Then out of Laodicea, that next period, both eras going side by side in time, that out of that group there would be an innumerable multitude, a large number of people that no one could really count (don’t know what the number is)...that’s what we believed.  We believed that they...because they would have to go through the great tribulation.  The 144,000 wouldn’t have to go through the tribulation that we believed would last a full 3½ years of suffering on this earth.  The thought was that they would go to a place called Petra in Jordan, because of some things in the Old Testament; God later showing us, as one of the truths later on, is that Petra is not about a place of safety, a safe location for the end-time, it’s about God Almighty.  He is Petra for the Church, for His people.  He is the rock.  It says it over and over and over again in the Old Testament.

But we didn’t understand those things, God hadn’t given us these truths yet.  He hadn’t given us this truth to understand.  When the apostasy took place a third of the Church went back to Protestantism, a third of the Church just quit because they were so disillusioned, another third was scattered.  So out of that 96,000 who were baptized (a long way from 144,000), out of the 96,000 who were baptized around 31-32,000 are out there scattered all over the place not knowing where to go, not knowing what to do, but wanting to hold onto the Sabbath and the Holy Days.  So now what happens?  All of a sudden we understand, because of what we’ve experienced, there aren’t going to be 144,000 that come out of that period of time because of what has now happened, the apostasy that’s taken place. So what is the truth?  And God led us to the truth and He led us to understand that the 144,000 has to do with people over the last 6,000 years with whom God has been working.  But we couldn’t understand that until we’d experienced this.

And so a lot of what we’ve gone through is because of what we’ve experienced.  We experience certain things and God teaches us, as we’ll find out as we continue on even through the Feast this year, even more.

I want to read what’s on the website here about this, which I’ve explained some of this but I want to read it...

The Philadelphia era taught that there would be 144,000 from Philadelphia who would be resurrected at Christ’s return, along with an innumerable multitude who would come out of Laodicea during the final 3 1/2 years of great tribulation. This is false. In order to enter into the God family one must be tried and tested over many years and not just for a mere 3 1/2 years or less.

Because the idea was those who came out of Laodicea are only going to have that period of time, at some period they would repent and then they would be resurrected.  It takes a lot longer to grow, to conquer, and to overcome – a lot longer than 3½ years.

Those who live through the tribulation will be a continuation of people making up the Church on into the Millennium. The innumerable multitude mentioned in Revelation 7 is the same 144,000 who have been sealed and then resurrected at the time of Christ's return. All have gone through great tribulation to become part of the God Family.

That’s what it says.  Everyone has to go through great tribulation, it’s a part of our life, it’s not easy.  He didn’t call us to an easy way of life.  When you’re baptized your trials really begin, because it’s a matter of the spirit of the mind and you begin to see things that you could never see before and you begin to battle with things you never could see before, and therefore hence you weren’t battling them, you just were the way you were.  We’re not to stay the way we are now, we’re to change, and that’s through a process of repentance.

Going on here in what it says, speaking of those who become a part of the God Family:

They are called innumerable [speaking of that innumerable multitude], simply because from a physical vantage point no human could count such a gathering of people, and only God knows the number of those whom He has worked with over the past 6,000 who have been moulded and prepared to be in His Family and in His government. (Rev 14:1, Rev 7:1)

Number 18...

39 (18) Herbert W. Armstrong was a "type" of the [a] prophesied "Elijah to come,"...

And there’s more coming on this later.  God’s continually showing us more that we haven’t fully understood. So there’s even more coming on this later on and probably not at all what you think it might be.

39 (18) Herbert W. Armstrong was a "type" of the prophesied "Elijah to come," as he restored all truth essential to salvation to the Church of God during the Philadelphia Era. Very few in the Church that was scattered teach this today. Mr. Armstrong described himself as a voice crying out in the wilderness and stated in Mystery of the Ages that he had fulfilled the prophecies of the Elijah to Come.

And John the Baptist did; there are prophesies he fulfilled and there are prophecies that Mr. Armstrong fulfilled and there are prophecies still being fulfilled – it isn’t over with.

Let’s turn over to Matthew 17, because up the road we’re going to revisit some of this, talk about it in a little more detail; but today, even now as a part of a process in reviewing some of these truths there are those things that God is giving us to be grounded in and to grow in later on as other sermons follow this one today.

Matthew 17:1 - And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into an high mountain apart from the others, And was transformed before them; the word is used, some call it ‘transfiguration, transfigured, transformed’ – basically means the same thing.  They saw something that people just don’t see, something that God helped them to see.  How do you describe it?  3-D; not real, in the sense that it wasn’t really these individuals, but there was that which they saw.  And by the conversation and by what was being said, whether through introduction or whatever, they knew who these individuals were; because they’d never met them.  They’d never met Moses.  They never met Elijah.  So something had to be said in conversation, something was taking place here that isn’t stated so that they knew who these were.  And so they were transformed before them.

...and His face was shining as the sun, and His clothing was white as the light. And, behold, this word here, ‘to be transformed’ is a part of the same one that’s used in Romans 12 where it talks about we’re to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that word, ‘metamorphoo’ like a cocoon to a butterfly, a complete change in life of something that changes from something to something else.  And so this is what they’re seeing.  Not that it’s happening.  It wasn’t taking place.  Moses and Elijah were not there, but this is what they’re seeing. It’s like we might watch something on TV.  We turn it on and we see something.  Here is something that’s right there as real as life in what they’re seeing in their mind.  That’s what was taking place.  It wasn’t real.  Okay?  It wasn’t physically happening.

So it says they were transfigured or transformed before them; and going on here...And behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him/Christ.  Not real!  The Protestant world reads this and different ones read this and they think this is a real event that’s taking place, that somehow they were resurrected or they were up in heaven and they were brought...(that’s what most people think), that they were brought back and here they are, they appeared before them.  Didn’t happen.  They’re dead. They’re buried. They’re dust centuries ago, still out there.  Nothing!  It’s not them; it’s just something they saw.  It was like a vision.

Then Peter responded, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it’s been good for us to be here with You, that we’ve seen this thing.  It doesn’t tell what the conversation was; but again, it was like we have seen this and it’s good that we were here.  ...if you will allow us, let us make three dwelling places here; one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Don’t know what they were thinking fully.  It says ‘tabernacle’ in some places; all it is is a dwelling place, that’s what it’s talking about.  And while he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them:  so all of a sudden they see something else now, this bright cloud, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.  Powerful!  They had an incredible experience of something that stayed with them the rest of their life, of something that took place here, of something they witnessed, a conversation that took place that is not recorded here; we don’t know what was said.

And yet they were very moved then by this and it says, and when the disciples heard this, they fell on their face, and were deeply afraid. You know, that would tend to happen, something you’re not accustomed to.  All of a sudden you hear this tremendous voice and you know that the only one that could be saying this is God, and you fall to your face on the ground.  That would be your tendency, and if you didn’t I’ll guarantee you that’s where you would end up...anyway, another story.

Verse 7 - And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and don’t be afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no one except Jesus only. And so now they saw Him as they did before, the transfiguration, the transformation, the vision, whatever it was before them that was real in their mind wasn’t there anymore, it was gone.  Whether it was something that was literally in front of them that was manifested in front of them for a moment in time here or whether it was something that God gave in the mind, I don’t know. We don’t know how it works.  I don’t know what/how God does this, but after this happened and when they opened up their eyes all of a sudden everything was back to normal and Jesus Christ was there.

Verse 9 - And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, He told them directly, says it right here; Tell the vision to no one, don’t tell anyone what you have seen.  So again, however this vision took place, whether it was something literally manifested in front of them, whether it was something in the mind, we don’t know, but it was something they believed as true as day, as me seeing you, that they saw in their mind.  Okay?  ...what they believed through their eyes.  And so He says, Tell this vision to no one until the Son of man has been risen again from the dead. They didn’t even know what that meant.  What do you mean?  Jesus told them over and over again what was going to happen to Him in certain words, but they didn’t grasp it.  They did not understand.  They didn’t grasp until He was put to death that He was going to die.  They didn’t get it, because God didn’t give it to them.  He said it over and over again in different context about three days and three nights, about different things about the Son of man, but they couldn’t put it together that He’s talking about what’s going to happen to Him, that He is the Passover.  They didn’t know that yet!  They didn’t fully grasp that.  They believed He was the Messiah from the beginning, the one whom God said would come in all the prophecies out there, but they didn’t know the whole story yet. They didn’t start understanding a lot of that story until after the resurrection and then frankly not even until the Day of Pentecost, and then more came to them.  Powerful with what God did.

Verse 10 - And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then... because their mind didn’t go to asking, “Well, what do you mean the Son of man...until He’s risen from the dead?” They went to something else, because they had been taught that Elijah, that the scribes...and so they’re asking here, “The scribes say this about Elijah, so what is true here?”  This is what they wanted answered.  I’d like to have known a little bit about the other but that’s only because I know the whole story.  At that time it didn’t cross their mind.  It’s an awesome thing; when you can’t see something spiritual you can’t see it.  Later on you can ask yourself, “Why didn’t I see that?”  But the reality is that God is showing you why you can’t.  Until He gives it to you, you can’t see it.  That which is spiritual, that has spiritual meaning, depth, importance, truth that God gives, you can’t see them until God gives them to you, and then all of a sudden it’s as clear as clear can be.

I was dumbfounded, the first great experience I had at that in a profound way was Pentecost.  I was convicted it was to be kept on a Monday.  I could go in there and talk about those scriptures to others and say, “See, it’s so clear!  We’re supposed to keep Pentecost on Monday.”  And then as soon as Mr. Armstrong gave the sermon it was so clear that it’s on Sunday; and then the thought in the mind was, “How on earth could I have ever believed otherwise?”  But the reality is you’re blind until God lets you see, and so it was here.  And so there’s just that which didn’t even come into their mind because they were totally blind to it.  They didn’t ask questions about, “What do You mean the Son of man, when He’s risen from the dead?  What are You talking about?”  But this, they were asking about because they’d just had an experience here of seeing Moses, Elijah, and Jesus Christ talk, have a conversation, and so they said, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come? ...before the Messiah ...before the Messiah was established.  Well, the Messiah – Jesus Christ didn’t come to be the Messiah when He came the first time, He came to be the Passover Lamb; that’s what He came to fulfill.  He’s coming now, indeed, to be the Messiah, to be the ruler, the Christ, that means one who’s anointed to rule, to reign in God’s Kingdom.

And so, verse 11 - And Jesus answered and said to them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things. It’s powerful!  And there’s more God’s going to give on this.  Not today.  But we’re reviewing it now so we can think about it, have it in our mind and be fresh in our thinking, to understand what they went through and why they asked these questions and what was taking place and why this was a part of the world at that time and what Jesus Christ’s answer was.

It’s interesting to note after delving more into some of these words that it’s truly saying more and understanding that.  The word ‘and’ here, where it says ‘shall come and restore’ – and -’ restore all things’ – ‘and’ is better translated here as ‘also’ or ‘to also’. And the word ‘restore’ here is not just a single event of restoration but a process.  There’s so many things as we grow and we come to understand - like God dwelling in us - in times past we always looked at scriptures that talked about, in John 14, 1 John, 2 John, in through there, about (depending on how it was phrased) Jesus Christ coming in the flesh.  Some of it we thought was in the future.  In one place it talks about those who deny Jesus Christ came in the flesh.  Some thought it had to do with an event that took place past tense when He lived on this earth, and we learned (one of the truths we just discussed last Sabbath that I mentioned a moment ago), is that He continually comes.  It’s a process of Him dwelling in us – not a past tense, not a future tense, but a continuation.  And so is this word and process here having to do with something that’s restored.  It isn’t a single event.  It isn’t a single prophetic event.  It’s a continuation; it’s a process.  This is truly better translated as: Elijah truly shall first come also restoring all things.  And so as they’re looking to the coming of the Messiah, but not understanding the process through which it was done.  They didn’t grasp these things and only through time God gives it at different times what we’re to see and what we’re to understand.

But again here, it’s about a process, and that’s why He went on to say that Elijah truly has already come, because John the Baptist was to fulfill a part, part of the restoration was to happen in John the Baptist,  part of it was to happen in Mr. Armstrong, and it continues on.  So again, He said, Elijah truly shall come first and restore all things.

Verse 12 – But I say to you that Elijah has already come, and they didn’t know him, they didn’t know who it was, but have done unto him whatsoever they wanted. Speaking of what they did to John.  Likewise also shall the Son of man suffer of them. In other words, those whom God has called, we suffer at the hands of those in the world.  They make it harder on you.  Your employers don’t embrace, aren’t excited about when you’re wanting to take off for the Feast of Tabernacles.  They’re not excited about when you want to take off for the Sabbath.  They’re not excited when you tell them you don’t want to have anything to do with their Christmas party.  They’re not excited.  Matter of fact, sometimes you just kind of begin to bug some people, you get under their skin.  Some people begin to take it out on you mightily. Some people who are the closest to you when you’re first called begin to take it out on you – mates, children, parents, grandparents, whatever it might be.  It’s not easy.  And so we go through a lot, we truly do, and those who went before us went through a lot also.  John the Baptist obviously went through a lot; he had his head cut off.  Jesus Christ was beaten to where you couldn’t even recognize His body afterwards.  If you stood Him out there somewhere people who knew Him wouldn’t recognize Him because of the beating He took, and then put Him on a stake, a pole, impaled Him on it.

And so He was speaking prophetically of those things that would come to pass.  Likewise the Son of man shall suffer of them.

Verse 13 - Then the disciples understood that He spoke unto them of John the Baptist.  Elijah truly has already come, but he’s still to come.  Again, a process, just like Jesus Christ coming into our lives.  It’s a process and this prophecy being fulfilled about the Elijah to come isn’t a onetime event, it’s an ongoing process that God’s going to work out in His time, in His way.

Let’s turn over to Luke 1:5 - There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: now this is talking about the priesthood serving in the temple. The course has to do with a small segment of time that priests were to serve. When their course or period of time was over another priest would then fulfill the job.  And so they had this rotation because they had so many that were a part of service, if you will, of the Levitical system they didn’t serve all year round, they served in courses or at specific stages of time.  And so this is talking about when it was Zacharias’ time to serve in the temple during this course of what was called the course of Abia: they all had different names associated with them.  It says, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

Verse 6 - And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. So as far as their lives were concerned, individuals that were striving to live a right way of life, obedient to those things that they understood in the Old Testament and especially the 10 Commandments and how they lived their life.

Verse 7 - And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. In other words, beyond years, kind of like what Abraham and Sarah were, beyond years to give birth, to have children; and so they were deep into the years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, during his duties in the time period that was given to him, According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. So this is talking about his portion because there were many Levites serving, and this was his specific role and duty during this period of time to serve.

And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. Outside at the time when the incense were given there; and they were out there praying.  And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.  And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. You’d be troubled too.  What is this?  He’d never seen anything like this before.  Few people have had such experiences in 6,000 years, so obviously it would trouble you.

Verse 13 - But the angel said to him, Fear not, Zacharias: for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.  And you shall have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. Now, it isn’t talking about the fact that when he was born Elisabeth and Zacharias and others were...they were joyous, but this isn’t what it’s talking about.  It’s talking about something greater, of those who would look back in time, of those who would understand the significance of his birth.  That’s what it’s about, that he lived, that he fulfilled what he did.  He fulfilled a great purpose that God was going to call him to and work with him to accomplish; and this is what it’s talking about.  This is the kind of language that’s being used, ‘to rejoice in his birth’; not speaking at the time it took place.  It’s a spiritual matter not a physical one.

Verse 15 - For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, this is why people are going to rejoice; he’s going to be great in the sight of God for what God is going to do in and through him; and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the holy spirit, so he was going to have a specific job to do, very possibly a part of a vow that he would take, that he would have before God and those things he would accomplish in service to God because of what it says about him and how he is going to fulfill this.  And it says, And he shall be filled with the holy spirit even from his mother's womb.  In other words there were those things that God was going to begin doing with him as a child; not that he was born as Christ was, but God’s spirit was going to be working with him from his youngest of age in time there, moulding and fashioning his life, things that would take place in his life, in his very mind and how he thought, how he responded to things.  God would be there working, moulding, and fashioning him in a very unique way to do a very unique job.  That’s what it’s talking about here.

And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. That was the whole point of so much of his job.  He taught repentance.  He taught the need to turn to God, the need to look to the Messiah that’s coming, and people began to believe that they lived at a certain time.  People were moved by his message – because God was in it!  People can preach and do various things in life but unless God’s a part of it it doesn’t mean anything.  God was in this because there was something that God was doing.  He was moving people.  It’s somewhat like what we have talked about, or what’s been mentioned in the book, that in time people would begin to talk more about  “something wrong”, “the end-time”, “maybe something is going on in the world...maybe we are...” and you go back 4-5 years, you didn’t see that kind of thing in society as a whole, but now you hear it every once in a while.  Some of you have heard those things.  Maybe not here in Europe, I don’t know how they talk here in Europe, but in the States every once in a while you hear something like that.  Did anybody hear anything like that in conversation?  Yeah.

So again, it’s something that they had a sense of, and especially if you understand now what’s taking place because God’s going to do something greater than He did in the time of John the Baptist.  It’s what He’s doing with people.  He’s getting ready to call all kinds of people all over the world into a new age, and God does the calling, whether it be a few, a handful, whether it be three thousand and some that were baptized in one day on the Day of Pentecost.  He prepared them before that period of time to come to a certain point in their lives so that they were moved on a specific day and desired to be baptized, when they were drawn and had more understanding and the power of the holy spirit in their minds and their being, something they hadn’t experienced, and they came to deep repentance and wanted baptism.

So whether it be three thousand or three, or three million, or thirty million, or three hundred million, whatever it is God has the power to do that, to work through that many at the same time.  Something that we can’t comprehend.  And many of the children shall he turn to the Lord their God; in other words he’s going to be instrumental because of what he says, because of the time of what God’s going to do in moving people to come to Him and desiring to be baptized – because they were brought to a baptism of repentance.  They were motivated and moved.  They wanted to be baptized by John or those working with him; later many of them baptized by Jesus Christ’s own disciples that were following Him, not by Christ Himself.  It says they actually baptized more than John as time went along, before Christ died.  Awesome things were taking place in the world because God was moving people.  Not to bring all of them into the Church, but preparing them for a moment in time, for a response and a reaction and how society would be and the difference there about the way it was with certain ones in Jerusalem while others were moved by things that began to take place...because it was about Jesus Christ.  It was about preparing them for Christ and His first coming and what would take place and why people were so moved when Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem and why people started crying out.  They cried about the one who was from King David, in essence, ‘Hosanna in the highest’; those scriptures we’ve read in times past, they began to put palms and branches before Christ and the donkey as they were coming into Jerusalem.  They were moved by that, and so many of these individuals were moved by that, were individuals that John had worked with, or that Christ’s disciples had baptized even.  Not all of them to come into the Church but to be there to do these things to glorify His Son, to glorify Him, to a point.

Verse 16 - And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and the power of Elijah, meaning that God was going to pour out great power upon him through the message that was there, and people would be moved by that message because God would be working in them to respond to what was being said.  It’s what we do but in a far greater way in the Church.  Something is said, we’re able to hear it, we’re moved by it.  God does that!  No human being does that!  It’s not because of the way it’s said.  It’s not because of how great an orator an individual is.  It’s not by how great one speaks.  Paul talks in that context in Corinthians.  He says, “I didn’t come to you with great speech and great wisdom of man,” in other words, “great intellect.”  He says, “by by the power that you could experience yourself of the holy spirit, because it’s God’s spirit working in you.” ...and that’s what was happening in them.  It was God’s spirit working in them because it’s what God does.  We’re just blessed to be a part of it. That’s why no one should ever be lifted up with haughtiness and pride in anything they do in service to God and being in God’s Church.  No one should ever be lifted up in thinking they’re important, because we’re only to the degree that God is working in our lives and it’s not a matter of something we take with pride or haughtiness, but a matter of thankfulness to be a part of something so awesome!  And yet many have gone the wrong way because of that.  Some to this day still struggle with things like that because it’s human nature, and that’s why you have to catch yourself quickly and repent of those things quickly and never take it to yourself, but to be thankful that you’re a part of what God is doing, whatever that might be, to have opportunity to serve in the capacity you’re able to serve.  And there’s far greater service coming.

You don’t even begin to comprehend where you’re headed right now.  You’ve been told, but you can’t grasp it until you’re there.  There are things that I know that are coming that I can’t comprehend yet, but I believe them.  See?  But once you experience them it’s going to be a whole different story.

Verse 17 – He should go before Him in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.  A process, the first phase of a process.  Right now it’s about the Messiah, indeed, who must die as our Passover.  They didn’t understand all that, but they were moved, they were brought to repentance, they were there in the streets, they were crying out to God.  God said if they didn’t He would raise up stones to cry out.  It was going to be done because this is His Son!  Powerful what was being said here.

And so again here, understand that this is talking about a process that’s going to be fulfilled in time; and so nearly 2,000 years passed and God raised up another individual to continue the process, Mr. Armstrong.  And that process is still going on.

Number 19 in order here:

40 (19) Matthew 24:14 was completely fulfilled through Herbert W. Armstrong alone.

Powerful truth! Something the Church needed at this point in time, when this came along.  The apostasy had taken place, before the apostasy took place they’d burned his books, they didn’t want him mentioned.  I remember the largest organization out of the scattering, when it came about didn’t even want to use the words that we were all part of the Worldwide Church of God. They couldn’t say it. You know what they said instead? They talked about ‘our former affiliation’. They couldn’t use the words because of what had taken place and so instead; ‘our former affiliation’.  And it got to the point where ministers told individuals who spoke in Sabbath services, who gave sermonettes - sermonettes would precede a longer sermon at that time, there’d be an individual that would get up for 10-15 minutes and give what was called a sermonette, then there’d be a song in between, then a minister would get up and give the full sermon – and individuals in sermonettes were told, “Don’t use Mr. Armstrong’s name.  Don’t talk about Mr. Armstrong.”  People in prayers were instructed, “Don’t use Mr. Armstrong’s name.”  If they used Mr. Armstrong’s name they were taken aside and told, “In your prayers, don’t use Mr. Armstrong’s name.”  Now there was one other organization out there that did use his name; they went too far.

So in time there are things that God had to reveal to us, to give to us, to help us to understand the fullness of certain things and this is something the Church really needed to come to grips with, to understand that indeed there is that which God did in a very powerful way, or the Church wouldn’t even be there.  None of us would be here today if God hadn’t done what He did through Mr. Armstrong.  Truly!  And so there would be those in the scattering that began, that would get up and talk about all the great things, that there were great things they learned from Mr. Armstrong but...or whatever.  Sad.  No, we’re all here because of what God did through him; not to worship him, but to be thankful and to acknowledge what is true, and here is the truth.  Because you see, what began to happen in the scattered groups is that people wanted to continue doing in order to be what they believed to be was God’s work, and to be proof that they were God’s and God’s work they had to continue doing exactly the same thing Mr. Armstrong did.  That’s what they thought.  They thought they had to continue doing that – even if they didn’t use his name.

Now some, as I mentioned, used his name, too much so, to the point of imbalance.  And yet as this talks about here in Matthew 24, they had to come to understand something, because they believed that they were continuing on doing the work Mr. Armstrong was doing.  Other groups out there felt like that the Church, in order to continue on properly, had to do a work like Mr. Armstrong.  They had to have a magazine.  What did we call it?  ‘The Good News’ – the reason I mention that is because we had ‘The Good News’ a long time ago.  And I can’t even remember what another was called, ‘Tomorrow’s World’?  ...and so we can’t call it ‘Tomorrow’s World’, we have to call it ‘The World Tomorrow’.  And so another organization comes out with a name turned around, ‘Tomorrow’s World’, not ‘The World Tomorrow’.  So all those books existed and the magazines existed in the past.  ‘The Plain Truth’ – I don’t think anybody took that name, so they called their magazine something else – but people had to have a magazine.  So there was this mad rush to have new literature saying basically much of the same thing that Mr. Armstrong had taught to the Church, but they didn’t want to use Mr. Armstrong’s literature but a few did.  There was all kinds of things that took place out here, but the problem was nobody understood this – Matthew 24:14.

Let’s just read it.  Because they believed that their identity, or proof, that they were the Church of God, was either a very close tie-in with Mr. Armstrong and a continuation of what he was doing, saying exactly and doing things exactly the same way, and therefore that proves that we’re the Church.  Or they’re going to come up with some of the same kinds of things: a telecast, a broadcast, a magazine, literature...but not with Mr. Armstrong in it at all.  So there were all kinds of things going on out there, but people didn’t grasp Matthew 24:14.

Matthew 24:14 - And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; then shall the end come.  And people didn’t understand what that was about, so those who felt that they had to continue on doing the same kind of works in order to be proven, or to be shown that they are God’s Church wanted to copy what Worldwide was doing long before the apostasy, (especially Mr. Armstrong, what he was doing), not understanding that when Mr. Armstrong finished doing what he was doing this job was over.  It was complete.  He fulfilled verse 14.  God was finished going into all the world with Mr. Armstrong.  Mr. Armstrong went to world leaders, no one else has gone to world leaders like that because that wasn’t God’s purpose at that time.  Instead, what was God’s purpose after Mr. Armstrong died?  What was God’s purpose?  What was already taking place?  What did God prophecy would come to pass?  Laodicea.

Laodicea would be a mindset of people who would follow a time when the Church had experienced so many riches, so much truth, powerful truths, and begin to get to a point where they felt that there was nothing more to learn, began to be rich and increase with goods and had need of nothing more.  People wouldn’t even go before Mr. Armstrong; his own students who are now evangelists wouldn’t even go and listen to Mr. Armstrong speak because they didn’t need that old man telling them anything else.  They already knew what the truth was.  Amazing what took place.

And so after he died a work had finished, a work was completed, and so Mr. Armstrong fulfilled this.  It was preached in all the world to the exact degree that God intended it to.  Eight million plus Plain Truths going out every month all over the world.  Awesome!  Huge!  Huge subscription rate as far as any magazine in the world’s concerned.  I think there was only one other one that even beat it and that was ‘Reader’s Digest’ that actually went out to more people in the world.  ‘The Plain Truth’ in several languages going out all over the world, and the telecast – powerful – being heard all over the world.  The radio broadcast and the TV telecast – powerful - all over the world, more than any other group out here that you would call (in the United States especially) evangelical or some of their great organizations and all the TV that they were on.  They weren’t doing what Mr. Armstrong was doing and they weren’t going into all the world, even talking to world leaders and so forth like God was doing through Mr. Armstrong.  And so the Church, in many ways, failed to grasp that when Mr. Armstrong died that God was finished with Mr. Armstrong and with the work He was doing at that time and He was going to allow something else to come to pass – Laodicea.  The Church would get weaker because of our human nature.  The Church would begin to let down.  There would be those who would become jealous of Mr. Armstrong and want to get rid of his name, want to burn his books, want to get rid of, stamp out ‘Mystery of the Ages’ so that people wouldn’t read it, so that people wouldn’t be referring to it.  Amazing!

And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.  Because we as a Church did not grasp that the 1st Seal would be opened when the apostasy took place.  We had always believed in times past that the 1st Seal, when it was opened, was a matter of war in the world, that it was the beginning of the last 3½ years.  Little did we know it was about the Church, that the first four Seals were totally about the Church and the apostasy that would take place.  And the things mentioned there in Matthew 24 all the way through here and also just like the next verse – let’s read it – he never read this verse.  He read verse 14 because he said that was what his commission was, to preach the gospel into all the world and then the end would come.  And it did.  Things began to happen as soon as he died; began to deteriorate in the Church until we finally came to the apostasy at the end of 1994, and then we had a great scattering, a great falling away in the Church.

Verse 15 - When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,  see, up to that point in time, and even all the way up to the apostasy it was basically believed by so many in the Church that the abomination of desolation was about something that had to happen in Jerusalem, physical, like Antiochus Epiphanies, in 70 AD I believe it was, who was a part of offering swine upon the altar in Jerusalem...that something like this had to be repeated again, that someone had to come along.... I’ve already talked about that in some of these past sermons here.  The abomination of desolation is what was going to happen in the Church; of someone who would stand up in the Church and do what he did.  That was the abomination that destroyed – desolation – destroyed the Church of God basically at that time.  We were at a point of being destroyed except that God brought, began to bring people back to repentance right away after the scattering took place.

When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, it’s not a physical place.  The holy place is the Church, and it was about the man of sin, the son of perdition... (whoso reads, let him understand): and so again, it was a matter of coming to understand that when this was fulfilled it was accomplished in Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Armstrong alone and no one else was going to fulfill this and continue on with anything that Mr. Armstrong did because God was going to do something different after that; and He did.  He allowed the apostasy, and after that He prepared a Body (His Church) to prepare for His Son’s coming the next time as indeed the Messiah.

And so, as it says here on the website concerning this truth:

Many of the organizations in the Church that was scattered have rejected this truth, as many of them believe they themselves are to continue preaching the gospel into all the world. They do not acknowledge [understand] that Herbert Armstrong fulfilled this prophecy that is about the Church.

Number 20 – another truth.

41 (20) Antichrist is not about the Pope or any other single individual “in the world,” but it is only about any in the Church who work against Christ and God's purpose in their lives.

And the reason this truth is stated this way is because in the Church there was that belief by many ministers that this is about the pope; the antichrist is about an individual.  That’s a Protestant teaching.  It’s a Protestant teaching that comes from the Protestant world, of different ideas they have like the 666 that has to be written on somebody’s hand and across your forehead with a bunch of numbers behind it.  You’d have a lot more room if you just leave off the 666 and just put on the tattoo’s of different numbers, but no, that 666 has got to be there... they don’t understand what those scriptures are about in Revelation.  We do.  God has given that to us, we’re blessed us to see, to be able to understand that.  So again, reading what’s on the site:

As the true context of 1 John 2 reveals, there have been “many” antichrists through the ages of the Church. It also makes it evident that such people have been part of the true Church of God, but have left the truth and have worked against Jesus Christ’s purpose of “living in” those in the Church, through the power of the holy spirit, in order to complete God’s work in them. Antichrist simply means “against Christ.” The “world” has never been called to the truth and have not been given the opportunity of God’s spirit dwelling “in” them.

So again, because it’s the context there of working against Christ; it’s about God’s spirit dwelling in us.

If someone “works against” this purpose then they become antichrist

Working against Christ’s purpose.

Not allowing God and Christ to dwell in us, due to the refusal to repent of sin, is to deny why Christ died for us as our Passover, so that the Father and Son can dwell in us.

Let’s go ahead and turn over to 2 John verse 6 where it talks about this.  How some ever got some of these ideas it’s hard to say.  There is reference to a prophet in the end-time, a great false prophet at the end-time and it does have to do with the Catholic church, but this doesn’t go along with that.  This is about God’s Church and those who work against God’s spirit and God’s purpose.

2 John :6 - And this is love, [agape, God’s love] that we walk after His commandments. You live by those things that are contained there; the law is spiritual. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. For many deceivers have entered into the world, who do not confess, and it’s that word ‘homologous’ that we’ve talked about in times past, to be of the same mind, to be of the same Word, Logos, the word used concerning Christ, concerning God, the Logos, the revelatory thought of God that was made flesh.  And the homologous then is to be of the same mind, to be of one mind, to be of unity of mind.  That’s what it’s talking about.  And so it says there are those...that’s what the word ‘confess’ here means.  So how do you do that?  It’s by what you live, it’s by what you say, it’s by how you conduct yourself in life.  If your life doesn’t reflect these beliefs, this truth that you’re at one with the Church you’re going to be doing other things.  You’re going to be living other things, you’re not going to be living this way of life, and so it’ll be showing something different.

And the only ones who can live this way of life are God’s people who’ve been given opportunity to live it through the power of the holy spirit.  The only ones who can be homologous, if you will, are those called to God’s Church.  The world can’t!  They can’t become one with God, of the same mind with God, to be of unity of mind with God; on the contrary, it’s only about God’s Church, and John was speaking to God’s Church.  So many deceivers have entered into the world, in other words ‘they’ve come out of the world...’ is really a better way of quoting some of this, ‘...into the Church’ – it’s what he’s showing here.  ...who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. ‘Is coming’ – present progressive - it’s not something past tense, it’s something that’s continually happening in their life.  And so that’s what reflects whether someone’s really of the same mind and whether Jesus Christ is really living in someone.

We can talk to someone who’s being drawn in the Church and as a whole very quickly on we can tell if God’s drawing them.  You know how?  When someone is brand new to the Church they begin changing their lives, they begin repenting, they begin doing what you did, they begin keeping the Sabbath.  They begin making it very clear they’re going to obey this way of life.  They want to keep the Holy Days, they talk... you begin talking about turning away from Christmas and Easter and Sunday, and having been deceived, and they begin talking about the plan of God in the same way we do.  And people in the world can’t do that unless God’s drawing them.  They can to a measure with physical knowledge, but not very far.  And so someone of the same mind, there’s a bonding that comes quickly in the sense of God’s spirit that you can tell is in someone’s life, because they see and are able to discuss and talk about the same things on the same plane – homologous - even being drawn; it’s God’s spirit that has to bring someone into that mindset.

...who do not confess that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh.  Only when this happens, when God the Father and Jesus Christ is living within us, and even as we’re being drawn the process starts but it becomes solidified in the Church once you’re baptised.  It says, This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Someone who has the opportunity, but doesn’t yield to it; someone who works against the purpose of Christ’s death, someone who works against God’s spirit living and dwelling within them.

Let’s turn over to 1 John 2, another place where this is used.  This isn’t talking about the pope!  Insanity, really!  Sometimes I look back and wonder how in the world some of this ever came along, that it could be believed by some that this is talking about a pope, but anyway.

1 John 2:18 - Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, so for the last 2,000 years, in this context, it is the last of times.  We tend to think of sometimes just the end-time, what happens at the very end.  Mr. Armstrong talked about being at the end-time.  He was!  The Philadelphia era that started back in the 1930’s, early 1930’s, that hasn’t been that long ago if you look at 6,000 years.  It is at the end-time!  And what was going to happen in the Church was definitely about the end-time, and Laodicea that began coming together even before Mr. Armstrong died, and prophecies that had to do with attitudes and the way of thinking and things that were going to begin happening in the world, happened in Mr. Armstrong’s time.  It was the beginning of the end-times.  But oftentimes you’ll find in the New Testament it talks about the end-times, or as it says here, ‘the last times’, because the last 2,000 years of 6,000 years is the latter part of that.  That’s from God’s view!  That’s from His purpose and His plan and what He does.  So it’s a long way from the first 4,000 years up to the time of Christ and all the things that took place on the earth.  It’s the latter part that leads to the end, to His second coming.

Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; so even there, how could someone say that this is the pope?  And yet there are people out there scattered today who think it’s still about the pope, and yet it’s a plural here, that there are many antichrists whereby we know it’s the last time.  So even in John’s time there were things happening in the Church, he knew the dangers involved here of what fit into certain prophetic things that God said would take place, Jesus Christ who said we’re always to be alert and on guard and never to fall asleep, and there are things that John saw and wanted answers for and God gave.

Verse 19 - They went out from us, they were a part of the same Body, they left.  They went out from us, but they were not of us; so whatever happened at some point, whether they never were – that’s the way John talked here - for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: well, I’ve seen so many come and go.  Some who I know are going to be resurrected and I know were baptized and I know received the impregnation of God’s holy spirit – thousands... hundreds I know personally, and maybe even more, individuals who are not a part of us anymore.  Well, there are individuals who are going to be awakened out of sleep just like I was, just like some of you were, and in the future once they’re resurrected and given physical life again – some are going to receive this in a short time.  Been looking forward to this for a long time, seems like, but it’ll happen.

It says, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.  And so it’s that prophetic thing that there’ll always be those who make the wrong choices somewhere along the line, who don’t want this way of life, who will turn against it.  I’ve seen it every year that I’ve been in God’s Church.  It’s a warning I give year after year after year; that you can’t relax, you can’t begin to drift, you can’t become lukewarm.  You have to seek to be stirred up with God’s spirit, you have to seek to obey God, you have to seek to repent so that these things don’t happen.  We all have choices and when people come to a point where they’ll no longer repent and they make the wrong choices they will lose out for what God has to offer now.  Perhaps have that opportunity again as several thousand will, to be resurrected later on back to physical life and then be awakened spiritually and there’ll be some weeping and gnashing of teeth.  They’ll kick themselves, they’ll be upset with themselves mightily because of what they gave up, what they could have continued to do to be a part of, but they’re going to come to see then that they fell asleep.  And yet that’s a dangerous place to be too, because there are others, because they made wrong choices, who never wanted this way of life at all, who come to where they don’t want God, just like with what happened to Lucifer.  So the human mind is an awesome thing and you have to cry out to God constantly for help to love Him, to love His way of life, for the ability to repent, and not allow the mind to become distorted and twisted.  It says...that they might be manifest that they were not all of us.

Says, But you have an unction, says ‘an anointing’ from the Holy One, and you know all things. What does that mean?  Everything that God has given to you, whatever the present truth is, you have the ability to know because of God’s spirit.  That’s the anointing.  When hands were laid upon you after baptism and God gave you His holy spirit, an impregnation of His holy spirit, but it has to continually be fed and grow.

Number 21 during Laodicea, but number 42 in total:

42 (21) God the Father is Yahweh Elohim and He alone has eternally existed.

This was profound for God’s Church, to come to this point in 2005 in the Feast of Tabernacles where every sermon was geared toward God revealing Himself in a very powerful way to us, to be able to make a distinction between Him and His Son because that had to be set right for God’s Church and for the world, preparing for the Kingdom of God, to be able to understand what God was doing, to come to understand in a greater way what God was doing in and through His Son and the awesomeness and the power of that.  And we didn’t understand that before, we hadn’t come to that point yet.

Again, I think back on some of these things and some of them are profound for me and profound for others in the Church.  A lot of you weren’t here at that time in 2005 and you don’t know the transition of what took place.  To me it was one of the most moving, exciting things that I’ve ever experienced.  The reason being is because this was so profound for God’s Church because it was basically taught and believed that Jesus Christ has eternally existed.  That’s not a small thing.  Because the theme of the Bible is that there’s one God in the Old Testament, and this never quite fit in.  And we knew that there weren’t three gods in one and one God in three, like the three musketeers somehow spiritually, but we got rid of 1/3 of that but never came to understand the other two, that Jesus Christ indeed has not eternally existed.  And this was a big thing for God’s Church.  I knew going toward the Feast of Tabernacles, it began to come out around the Days of Unleavened Bread, a little bit here, a little bit there all the way to the Feast of Tabernacles, preparing for this point in time.  I wasn’t doing it, God was, giving a little bit along the way.  Some began to see a little bit along the way, where it was leading, where we were going.  But this wasn’t a small thing for God’s Church.  I don’t think, I don’t believe with all my being, there’s ever been a greater thing take place, in the sense of a change to truth, than this one here.

If you see something like the Trinity in the sense of the holy spirit not being a being, that isn’t hard to see.  When God gave that, when we see that we’re repulsed by the trinity, we’re repulsed by what the Catholic church did, we’re repulsed by Traditional Christianity that believes in a trinity, and we’re able to receive then what is true in that regard.  But when it came to Jesus Christ - that was hard - except it wasn’t for God’s spirit. And that’s what was so moving to me and gave me a confidence and a boldness to go forward in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to or have the kind of confidence and boldness that I do since that time, because I knew going to the Feast of Tabernacles, if someone didn’t receive it, if people didn’t receive it, that there would be those who would leave.  But I knew this was God’s Church and I knew God was giving this and I saw through the Feast the minds of individuals receive what was true and come into unity and oneness with excitement, clearly, just like Pentecost not being on a Monday but being on a Sunday, except this was far more, far greater in the sense of a change for God’s Church.

So again here, notice Isaiah 45.  God the Father is Yahweh Elohim and He alone has eternally existed.  There was that idea, belief, that Yahweh was Jesus Christ when spoken of in the Old Testament, but not so.  Yahweh is God Almighty.

And so as it says here on the site:

The teaching that Jesus Christ had always [eternally] existed is a holdover from the Protestant teaching of the Trinity. There is only one Almighty God who has eternal existence [has eternally existed].

Isaiah 45:5 - I am the Eternal, Yahweh; it’s the word Yahweh when it’s in big bold capital letters like that all the way across.  It’s the word Yahweh.  ...and there is none else, there is no, this word here, God, Elohim. Awesome!  He’s saying there is no God Family/there is no Family beside Me: He is the source of the Family of God.  He is the Family.  Without Him there is no Family, and so He’s letting people know in this context here that He is Yahweh Elohim; He is the Eternal God. ...though you have not known Me:  He said, ...I girded you though you have not known Me: in other words what He did with Israel and taking care of Israel, calling Israel, preparing Israel to become a nation.

Verse 6 - That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Eternal and there is none else.  There was no one else, and yet so very clear and such simple terms, but something that we didn’t see and couldn’t believe, or the Church didn’t.

Verse 18 - For thus says Yahweh, the Eternal that created the heavens; makes it clear who did it.  It wasn’t Jesus Christ, it was God Almighty: God, Elohim Himself.  And so it’s using this context back and forth over and over again, there was only One at this point in time and making it very clear there was only one in the God Family. God Himself, and again, the word ‘Himself’ – it’s kind of tough to use a word for a Family and one day we’re all going to be able to have words that better describe what is true than what we have today.  So sometimes translating into another language presents problems and difficulties because of some of the things...and an example here that God has said, that one day we are going to have words that describe everything perfectly.

God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He has established it, He created it not in tohu, in other words, the word here is ‘vain’, but ‘tohu’ – in confusion and without form.  In other words, when He first created it it was perfect, but it became, as it says in other scriptures here, it became in vain and confusion later on.  ...He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Eternal; and there is none else. In other words there is no one else, is what He’s saying.

Acts 2:32 – Such an inspiring thing that Peter was moved to say on the Day of Pentecost, 31 AD.  This Jesus, God Himself raised up, isn’t it amazing?  You look back and you think, “Well which God was it? Okay, God did it, so it must be the Eternal God, so...” anyway...   This Jesus, has God raised up whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, people read through the New Testament; people have always understood who God was here in the New Testament, the Eternal God.  There’s only some muddling in the Old Testament.

...by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father, all in the context of being God, the promise of the holy spirit, He has shed forth this which you see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he says himself, The Eternal/Yahweh said unto my Lord, David’s, in other words David’s Lord, speaking of a prophetic thing in the future because it’s speaking of Jesus Christ.  Yahweh said to Jesus Christ, is what it’s saying here, Sit You at My right hand until I make Your foes Your footstool.

Anyway, we’ve gone through those in the past; but such a powerful, powerful truth that has always been there.

~~~end

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