A New World

Ron Weinland

May 26, 2012

Although I do prefer an audience this is a pre-recorded sermon today, and before I begin the sermon I thought I’d mention that Laura and I returned back on Sunday from the U.K. And as always, visiting different areas around the world throughout the United States and Canada, overseas and different places, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Europe there, it’s always been a pleasure to be able to go to the different areas, because we try to make it around about once every six months in most of the larger groups, maybe once a year in some of the other locations.  That’s what we’ve tried to do in the last few years and it’s been a real joy being able to do that.  I’ve said this many times, but just to be able to see that people are drawing closer together and becoming more of a family, because that’s what this is all about; it’s been a real joy.  And this week has been a little strange; I think it’s been strange for a lot of you and I’ll probably mention some of that in the sermon.

As a matter of faith and belief, God has led us to this time; I believe this is to be my last sermon in this physical life.  By faith I believe and I know that those of you who are of the same mind also believe that Jesus Christ is returning to earth on May 27th.  We’re there!  We’re at the end of 6,000 years of human history.  That’s what we believe.  We are hours away from Christ returning in the atmosphere of this earth. That is our belief, it is our faith.  And candidly, faith is not faith once it happens, once it has taken place; once it’s there you no longer have to live by faith.  Faith is believing what God says, it’s believing how God has worked with you in your life, that God is working with you and leading, guiding and directing you, first of all as a matter of His law, His way of life that He gives to us, and we understand that, we see those things that begin to take place in our life and we understand that something unique and different is happening to us, things that we can see and grasp that others around us can’t.  And it becomes a very personal thing, a very personal relationship as we see God work with us.  And then it becomes more mature as time goes along.

There have been a lot of people throughout time though, and especially within the Church, who have exercised faith in the sense of how they live their life.  They believe the truth, they believe the Sabbath, the Holy Days, tithing and all those things and they make those adjustments in their life in order to honour God, in order to please God, in order to live by God’s way of life.  And they begin that relationship, they begin to change, they begin to change their relationships with other people – because that’s living by faith because we understand that God desires that we live by His law which is not just a physical thing but a spiritual thing in how we think.  And so we enter into a battle.  Our whole life is one of a battle, battling against our own human nature, battling against evil spirit world, and battling against the attitude and spirit of mankind because mankind is selfish and there are those battles that are constantly out there.  And we live as the whole world does, in the sense of fighting battles, but we do it in a different plane because we know the truth, we see the truth, we understand the source of the battles, we understand those things that come from within and God’s great desire in His plan for the mind to change, for the mind to be transformed, to become in unity and oneness with Him.

And so we live by faith, we follow wherever God leads us, we make changes whenever we’re shown those things, led, guided and directed to understand greater things that God gives because one of the things we’ve come to understand in a great way is that God’s truth is progressive in revelation from the beginning of time.  And I marvel at that, I marvel at what people have been given through time; His law, His way of life, because that’s where it begins, it begins with how you live your life. And that’s the heart and core of it all in the first place, which if we have time today I’m going to conclude in some of those areas about how we live our lives.  Because that’s what it’s all about!  Its how we think toward one another, it’s about thinking toward one another and living toward one another the way God says to do it, in spirit – which is a matter of attitude.

And so again, as I said, to me it’s a dumbfounding thing to look back, to think back through time and to see what was given to people, to see what was given of Abraham.  The greatest thing given to him, in one respect, was that he was to leave - to leave his land, to leave his relatives, for their family to leave their families and go to another part of the world to begin, if you will, to focus on a phase of God’s plan.  A very meager beginning in many respects because the next great phase of His plan was through Isaac that was going to continue on.  And those things that would come through his family line, that God had chosen Abraham and Sarah to work through, a husband and a wife, a man and a woman, to begin working with family, and to lead through that family to the greatest Family, Elohim.

Awesome, awesome things that God has done, but it was progressive.  They didn’t have a lot in the sense of knowledge and understanding.  They hadn’t received the things that had been given to Moses; that was later on.  They didn’t receive all the things that God gave through Moses and the experiences of Israel and what would happen there and the lessons there.  And so, very progressive, a little bit at a time growing greater and greater through time.  And so God chose individuals - not very many in the first 4,000 years - to work with, to mould and fashion to become a part of the major part of the Temple in the sense of the construction, to establish the foundations, to establish the pillars, to establish those things that would hold it up, to establish His government that would reign and rule with Jesus Christ, and then to build upon that more and more and more.

And then we come to the time of Christ, 4,000 years had passed, and here the Son of God came to this earth, died as a Passover.  Nothing happening in the way that those who considered themselves religious, the way of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the things they believed out of scripture, because of the human mind and the things that they had done and went off course in through time.  And here Jesus Christ came along and gave something so much greater, the spirit of the law, that there is more, that there is more than just the living by physical laws and do’s and don’ts and those things that materialize themselves then in sin, or in obedience.  They begin in the mind.  And He began to reveal those things.  And then the Church was established and we go on through time through the different eras, people believing and following God.

Now there have been momentous times when things went beyond the law in the sense of faith, of things that people were to do, different wars.  You can go back to Hebrews 11 and read about some of those things, things that Noah had to do; by faith they built an ark.  So it went beyond just obedience to the law, it went beyond just obedience to God’s way of life and living a way of life because they wanted to, because they desired to, because they chose it.  And so Noah, he began to build!  What an incredible story!

And then you have these different momentous times in history, things that Moses was to do, that he did by faith, things that Miriam and Aaron did by faith.  And those things progressed through time – but I’ll come back to that.

But we ought to be in awe of what God has brought us to.  To live by faith, to believe what we have believed, to bring us up to this moment in time without evidence.  We have the truth, we believe that God is working with us – that’s why we believe, that’s why we live by faith – but physical things happening around us?  God has given us as a matter of encouragement, in the sense of seeing certain things accomplished and fulfilled that keep us focused, that help us to continue on as we watch by faith the news, to see things that are happening, to see things that are being fulfilled.  But some of the more momentous things that are going to happen, we haven’t seen those... we haven’t seen those.  We live by faith and we live it until it’s fulfilled.

That’s why it says in Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, in other words, the evidence, the confidence, the ground, the foundation... well, I guess the substance really when it talks about that, it uses the word ‘evidence’ here in a moment; the evidence of things not seen. So it’s the substance, it’s the foundation, the ground, the confidence that’s there, of things hoped for, of things we look forward to.  We look forward to the return of Jesus Christ.  We have great hope in a new world, in a new age, in a new time – great hope!  We see this world.  God has blessed us to see how evil this world really is, and with His spirit we see that in a greater way, we truly do, and we grow in that and we long for, we yearn for as we see the injustice in life, as we see the tragedy and the trauma of life, as we see how the minds of people glorify things that aren’t to be glorified – war, killing, fighting, destroying life, drugs, all the things that are out there that destroy life, and those who are behind it, and those who wink an eye, as in governments.

And so we see these things, we see the injustices of things through any kind of situation in any country of the world where man judges and determines things and establishes laws.  The best that man can do, perhaps, in different cases, but it’s so lacking when you look at God’s way of life, God’s truth, God’s way of life that’s coming to this earth in a very powerful way to establish things in righteousness.

And so again, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Because once they’re seen it’s no longer faith, it’s there.  So it’s an incredible thing, it truly is.  Continuing on in the flow of the sermon…

We live in one of the most unique times of all human history.  This time, what you have been living, will be written about for others to read.  Sometimes that’s difficult for us to grasp, that we live things, we experience things, we go through things in life and we don’t realize sometimes the magnitude of it all, how awesomely important it is in God’s plan.

So as I was saying, we live in one of the most unique times of all human history, and it’s hard for us to grasp that because we’re living it; it doesn’t seem that incredible.  This time, what you have been living will be written about for others to read just as so many other stories contained in the word of God about His people and the lives they lived in faith.  And so we are blessed in what we’re given to live and what God has given us to see and to understand.

You are living an experience that is so awesomely unique to this time and to us. But you live it day by day and sometimes you don’t grasp the magnitude of what it truly is, what is being lived, how awesome this is throughout history.  If you look back through time and how God has worked with mankind and what He’s done to us now, with us now, what He’s brought us to, it truly is awesome...it truly is.  And as we’re closing out this age I cannot help but think of all those who have walked in faith before us. You just can’t help it.  As I mentioned, going back and looking at different ones who have gone before, their stories, so often are so riveting and so inspiring...they truly are.  You can go back and read them at different phases of time. I think especially about Holy Days because I was thinking about the period of time of Moses and coming out of Egypt.  And how many times do we read things out of that area of scripture about that incredible story?  And so often new things that are added to it in the sense of things we haven’t seen, lessons to be learned that are contained there, that are written in those pages, of things that sometimes don’t hit us at first.  And every year, year by year, it’s always inspiring and riveting, these stories.

But we live our life and we don’t sometimes think they’re that inspiring or that riveting.  Ah, they are.  And what will be written, what will be shown, what will be given...  So we read about people like Enoch, Noah, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua, on and on it goes, like the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Daniel, and on and on it goes.  Then we come to the life story and teaching of Jesus Christ and the disciples who became apostles to the Church at such a young age.  There is also Paul’s story and others we have not known in the various eras of God’s Church.  We don’t have their history.

But this time now is unique in another way.  Not just unique examples of people living by faith, but the numbers of people who at one time are living by a faith that has matured mightily through all time to this time.  Think about it.  You look at the different individuals – I’ve mentioned them, but what an incredible time to live to a moment as we’re addressing, the coming of the King of kings, the establishment finally of that story that runs throughout the Bible, of the coming of the Messiah to become the Messiah, indeed, the reigning King, the one who has been anointed to be King finally coming to this earth, the most momentous time of human history to this point in time, the most exciting thing that has been looked forward to by those who have followed God, their desire, their hope - and we’re living it.  We’re living it!  It’s something we get to see, it’s something we get to experience.  And not only that, it’s not only just one or two or a few of us living by this faith, we’re all around the world, large.... not large in the sense of mankind, but large in the sense of what’s written in the Bible.

Because before this, in what we would call momentous times, there have been one or two or a handful at any great moment of time, of those individuals that God is moulding and fashioning.  Because when you look at the Israelites and they came through the Red Sea, that wasn’t a spiritual thing for them. It was for Moses and Miriam and Aaron, and some of them, and Joshua and Caleb as time went along, as God chose to work with them in a very special way through time, but that was a spiritual matter for them.  Just a few here and there through time.  But now we come to this time and so many people that we’ve had the blessing of getting to know, because we’ve had the opportunity of continually going around the world visiting all of you, and that’s an awesome opportunity, an awesome blessing indeed, and to grasp and to understand that great calling that God has given us at the end of this age, to be a part of something so awesome truly is awesome.

So, what I am saying is just, again, just look at the uniqueness of such a monumental time in history where not just a single person, or even a few are living by faith as they anticipate a greater fulfillment in God’s plan.  Worldwide, as I said, everywhere we’re located as the Church of God – PKG; many are living by faith that is so unprecedented in time.  All that the prophets have foretold, all that Jesus Christ Himself foretold, all that is written in the book of Revelation about the coming of the Messiah at the end of man’s age is now before us and we’re living it right up to the end, right up to the edge, right up to the end until it’s fulfilled.  Faith.

It gives a very powerful definition and a very powerful example of faith that’s going to be used in the future, that God and His Son brought so many to a point of living by faith in a world that has no love for God, in a world that doesn’t want God, in a world that loathes His message.  Doesn’t matter where you look, this world gets so worked up sometimes about the truth, to where they hate it, and they hate those who teach it, they hate those who live it.  They don’t fully understand why.  Because there’s a spirit world out there that stirs those things up.  But even the natural mind of human beings, as a whole, don’t want God’s way.  It’s a threat.  It’s something they don’t like.  It’s something that they condemn.  It’s something that is so foreign to their thinking, that God could be this way.

So, again, no one has ever lived in such a time, especially in a world of such technology, with communication, travel, and ease of life – so changed from past centuries and now so enhanced.  But in the midst of all this God has brought the Church to be so very much at one.  That’s what it’s all about, to be at one.  So, not a few people living by faith to be brought up to a moment in time – Noah... and his family did what their father desired to do but theirs was not a spiritual life, theirs was not a spiritual conviction toward God.  It was because of Noah and his character and personality that his family did what they did.  One person.  One person...awesome!

It’s often been like that through scripture, one person at a different moment in time.  And then a few, and then we come to the time of Christ as God moulded and fashioned and prepared the Church, and the disciples that were there and those who were made ready to begin the Church once the holy spirit was poured out, all those who were baptized at that particular time...  but after the incredible event had taken place...after the awesome event of Jesus Christ fulfilling the Passover had taken place.

And now this is one of the most momentous times for such a body of people – many – many who believe the same thing, who’ve been brought to one by the power of God, by the maturity that God has given through time because more and more of His truth has been given.  We’re able to and blessed to see more and more just because it’s a part of God’s progressive revelation, because we’re getting ready for the Millennium to be established, because we’re at that doorstep of such incredible doors being opened up to be given to mankind the greatest of knowledge; and the ability to see to all mankind.  And so the maturing process escalating mightily toward the end here and is going to escalate even more as we go forward once Jesus Christ is upon this earth.   What an awesome thing!

And so again, in the midst of all this God has brought the Church to be very much at one, in one faith and belief, of that which is so very unbelievable for mankind, and sometimes, maybe often, we have those nagging thoughts that cross through our mind...but we believe that the time of Jesus Christ’s return is now.  But sometimes...and you look around the world and it does seem unbelievable, as you look around and you see various things, because you can’t see what’s going on in the minds of people or something that’s coming that will spark a war.  You can’t see that!  And so what happens?  Well, the world goes on as normal, as a whole, and yet everything has been prepared for this period of time.  All the troubles in the Middle East, all the troubles that are taking place – Syria, things we’ve seen in Egypt, things in Israel, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Mediterranean, Russia, China...on and on it goes.  The sabre rattling that’s out there right now, unimaginable that man can be building up to a great world war...  But it’s going to happen differently.

So, since 2008 the world has fortified the fallen walls of government and the economic system of the world and what they deal with in their various nations.  They’ve done so; they’ve fortified it with weak mortar.  Weak mortar and lies, just as God said, just like what happened in the Church and the way they have built, to plug up the gaps and the holes and where the walls have fallen down.  And so, very flimsy building construction.  And that’s why the whole economic system...  If nothing happened, in time it would implode upon itself.  It couldn’t endure much longer.  A war would erupt for that reason alone and candidly that’s a lot of it that’s happening anyway.  That’s why it’s happening.  But it’s still going to crumble and be brought down; that’s what’s going to take place.

So many people so hate God and His truth – we know this because of the world’s reaction to us who are the light of God’s truth to this world.  Isn’t that an incredible thing?  We’re the light of God’s truth to this world; we’re a part of that light, and yet how is it received.  How have you been treated because of what you believe?

The only way for man to change in his fight against God is for God to intervene and take control of government, the economies, all teachings, the judicial systems, entertainment, communication, etcetera, etcetera...  And some of the greatest news associated with the coming of the Messiah as you think about these things, as you think about what’s coming, not only a change in everything, in every aspect of society in the world, things that need to be changed, things that need to be addressed, the technology that’s out there and the use of technology and what’s on the internet.  Those things that need to be changed quickly, speedily here!

Some of the greatest news associated with the coming of the Messiah is that Satan and his host of demons will finally be removed from the presence of mankind; no longer able to broadcast to the minds of mankind, no longer able to deceive the minds of people.

We have walked in great faith around Jericho and only God can bring down the walls to destroy Babylon.  This, we believe, has come.  This is where we are.  This is an incredible week.  I’ve heard different ones talk about some of the things...I think about some of the things that have gone through my mind – so many of us sharing the same emotions, trials, and faith to the very end.

Tomorrow... I can’t grasp this, as I’m pre-recording this and writing this down, I’ve written this down, some of these things, these thoughts, thinking about when you’re going to be hearing this on the Sabbath; and I think, tomorrow, from the Sabbath, I believe I’ll be in Jerusalem.  I don’t have to get on a plane to do it.  I can’t comprehend that.  And people mock and ridicule something so far out in human thinking but we believe it because of what God tells us that’s in His power to accomplish and to do when He resurrects 144,000 wherever they are, wherever they’ve been throughout the world, where they died, where they live.  So tomorrow I believe I’ll be in Jerusalem and Laura will be in Jerusalem, and then many of you who have shared in this experience of the apostasy will be in Jerusalem.  For all others I believe God has great things planned for you.

This sermon today, getting a long time to get to this point, but this sermon today is entitled, A New World.  This sermon will be somewhat of a heart to heart as it already has been.  It’s kind of a heart to heart message as we wrap up this age and excitedly enter a new world, a new age for mankind and for God’s Family.

What have we experienced this week?  Have you still experienced the attacks of an evil spirit world?  Have you experienced attacks and evil from people in this world?  Yeah, still out there isn’t it.  And for those of you considering the possibility of becoming part of the 144,000, have you had some strange and unusual emotions and feelings, thoughts about what such a change means to your life.  We’ve had all kinds of things go through our minds – and only two of us that have a certainty, only because it’s written as far as 144,000 is concerned, but I know that there are many of you that have experienced the apostasy and the things that took place and have been here faithfully together, at one, and are going to be there.  Others perhaps as a part of God’s purpose to be those of greater maturity who are going to be able to live into a new age.

And so we’ve gone through it, you have gone through it – don’t minimize it.  That’s what’s so incredible about walking by faith!  It doesn’t mean that we do it without human emotion in the sense of thoughts that go through our mind, of things that come into the mind of something different.

I think of, and Laura’s mentioned to me oftentimes here, about John the Baptist. What happened to him?  After all that he’d seen, after all he was told, after all that he’d experienced, and when the trial became so great and he was in prison he sent the message to Christ, “Are You the one or should we look for another?”  So to have such things come into the mind when you’re going through something so difficult is very normal.  That’s why I’ve addressed, that’s why I’ve talked about, how foolish it would be if we didn’t think about different things.  We live by faith, we go forward, we still go forward.  We believe this! I believe this with all my being!  It seems very unreal.  It seems very impossible.  But everything about God has always been that way with mankind; it’s impossible with man but not with God.

And so we live by faith, we walk by faith, we believe this...but yet we deal with our human mind as well, we deal with a human mind as Paul talked about, even when battling sin; we rejoice in the inner man and the truth that God has given to us in the mind and what God’s given to us but we find so often the weaknesses that are still there.  We have this battle that takes place, it’s just normal, it’s just natural.

And so thoughts have gone through your mind...and some have been broadcast to you to think about such things, “Yeah, what if it doesn’t happen...?  What are you going to do?  What does this mean for family?  What does this mean with how you’re treated?  What does this mean about finances and so many other things?  What are you going to do?”  That’s why I’ve mentioned over and over again, we walk in this way of life.  We know where God’s been working, we’ve seen so much, we have so many experiences.  And the reality is we come back to the truth, as I have mentioned before.

Whatever God does God is righteous, God is just.  I think of Job.  He says, ‘God gives and God takes away,’ but it’s always for a purpose.  Just like with Job’s life, to bring him to a kind of conviction... well, to actually bring him to a point of conversion that is an awesome story of a major conversion in his life.  But we go through some things sometimes in part of our conversion to help us to have it in a deeper way, something moulded and fashioned within us that’s needful in God’s Temple.  It’s a part of the structure; it’s a part of the building.  And so I know that if time were to go on that we have...that I have...that we all have things to address.  But if we yield ourselves to the process something greater will be made within us, something more will be given to us because we follow God...because we believe He’s leading, guiding and directing us, no matter what the world says, no matter what the world does.

And for my life I know it’d be a royal nightmare, but I don’t believe those things.  I believe that I’ll be in Jerusalem tomorrow and I believe that many of you will be.  But the thoughts go through your mind nevertheless and sometimes they’re not comfortable.  I can’t imagine different things about some of you who have family, of mixed emotion, of being there.  God’s going to take care of everyone – especially within the Church, especially within the Body no matter what happens.  Some who are resurrected and if there are family members there, they’re going to be... God’s going to take care of it all and we just don’t know how yet.  And it’ll be exciting to everyone to be a part of it!  There won’t be that separation.

You know, sometimes people think, well, they’re never going to see each other again.  No!  We have the ability, once in the God Family, to get around quite quickly, and perhaps to talk even more often than what we even do now!  It’s just we’re in one spot of the world and we can be in another in a moment, in the blink of an eye.  And so there are things we don’t grasp and don’t understand.

You’re not going to be without anyone, any of you who are younger – you’re not going to be without at all – and really what happens in your life is going to become a whole lot more exciting!  Who else is experiencing that that you know?  Young people you’re growing up with?  And by this time then you’re going to be unique in the sense of people looking to you and thinking, “You mean you lived this?  You mean, your parents...your mom and dad, your grandma, your granddad, your aunt, your uncle, your whatever... your brother, your sister...?”  You’re going to have some incredible stories.  And you have to be a little careful too that it doesn’t go to your head and you begin to think of yourself as being more important...  always be of a humble spirit no matter what age you are.

So, different things that have gone through people’s minds; what if you are part of the 144,000...what if you’re not.  And I’ve enjoyed hearing some people come to the conclusion of what everyone has to come to – whatever it is so be it.  God knows what’s best and what’ll make us the most fulfilled in life, and whatever He’s moulding and fashioning in us.

So I think about some of the things going through this week.   I think about walking through the airport when we came back from Europe... strange feelings.  I kind of felt like I was walking life in reverse.  I don’t know how to explain that fully but walking through there thinking, “All that we’ve done, all the travelling we’ve done and now I’m reversing, I’m coming out of it.  I’m not going to be walking through there anymore.  I won’t need to walk through there anymore.”  And some of the different things; no more trips, at least not in the sense of all the work that goes into planning hotels and flights and schedules and all those things.  I can’t imagine that!  No longer wearing the clothes that we have in the closet...and so we’re still washing; Laura is washing right now, then ironing.  Still going to do those things up to the very end.  Somebody will get them, somebody will have some use for them but we’re not going to need them anymore.  No longer driving our car – we don’t need to.  No longer having to battle with this world, my own human nature, or an evil spirit world – no longer having to battle with these things.  No longer sitting in front of my computer writing or preparing sermons.  No longer having to have some frustrations working with the sound system – all those things that take place.  That’ll be somebody else’s job.

And for those of you considering the possibility, again then, of becoming part of the 144,000, or the possibility of living physically on into the Millennium those thoughts and considerations are difficult and leave an uncertainty, an uneasiness sometimes in thinking, in thought, in mind.

Any way you look at it this time is not easy to live; what we have been living through has not been easy to live.  So much of faith is about just that, yet that’s where we are, we have been living it and we’re going to live it right up to the moment in time, whatever it is, that things begin to take place.  And it’s nearly over. No matter what happens God has great plans for each and every one of us.

It would be good to remind ourselves of some basic truths.  I think of Isaiah 64; just going to read a few things here that oftentimes are read in and around the Feast of Tabernacles, times, things we focus upon.  But again here, understanding a story written in a kind of a context of Israel, of a physical people, and yet that which is here is about that which is spiritual and that which leads to that which is spiritual and being in God’s Family and God’s plan for the Millennium and God’s plan for the Great White Throne and those things that are stated there.

Isaiah 64:1 - Oh that You would tear through the heavens, that You would come down, that the mountains might flow down in Your presence... How many times I think about sometimes we just... if things would just happen, if God would just do certain things.  And sometimes we’ve gone through that, if something would happen that would just shake people into reality, if they could just see, if their eyes could just be opened, and sometimes we’ve longed for that.  And sometimes that can be good and that can be bad.  We learn through that process because it’s a matter of the human mind, what do we really desire, what do we see?  And I’ve come to learn a lot about that as well, about God’s mercy and about God’s patience and a desire not to see human suffering but to know that in time it has to come to that, of what man does to himself, of what man must experience in this world, in this age, but God does that in a unique and in an awesome way, He truly does.

Verse 2 goes on to say, And when the melting fire burns, the fire causes the waters to boil, to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! So there are times that we have desired to see nations tremble, to see things happen in such a way that people are brought to a point of humility rather than pride, and that they be able to begin to see God and acknowledge God.  But we don’t experience that; we haven’t experienced much of that in the Church have we?  The world just mocks and makes fun of, ridicules this way of life and don’t really pay any attention to it whatsoever because it’s just too far out, it’s just too unbelievable.

Verse 3 – And as when You did mighty things which we’ve not looked for, things when God did intervene at times and it wasn’t being looked for but it was a part of God’s plan, it was time to intervene, great things that God has done.  It says, You came down, the mountains flowed down at your presence. In other words, whenever God does something, whenever God has done something through times past, whenever He does it in the future He does it with great power. He does it! Because it comes to pass, whatever He said it comes to pass.  And anything that’s in front of it that would hold it back, it’s like it’s melted out of the way.  There’s no obstacle, in other words, before God.

Verse 4 - For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, People just don’t acknowledge God, and that’s the way it’s always been! O God, as it goes on to say...neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, in other words, what God gives to see and to believe and that which comes from God; but the world, man can’t see it, man can’t see what God is doing. When it’s told to him of certain things God is doing, because they can’t see it they ridicule it, it’s just unbelievable, because there are so many things in the human mind.  We can’t grasp, mankind can’t grasp the things of God.  We’ve talked about the universe – they can’t even begin to grasp.  They’d rather believe in evolution than the fact that God created what’s here, because it’s just too far out for man to think that a creation could happen, that God is so powerful that God could do such a thing.  It just doesn’t make sense!

Going on...  You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, in other words there’s that which God will receive, there is that which God will listen to and work with human beings when people rejoice in the truth, in God’s way of life.  It means something is happening in their life, those who seek to live a right way, to work righteousness, those that remember You in Your ways: and we realize, we come to understand that we can’t do that unless God calls us and works with us.  ...but behold, You are angered; for we have sinned and continue to do so, yet we shall be saved. In other words, there’s a way about us always, especially with Israel and the way they were, and yet God had a plan to work out through them and with them and it wasn’t a spiritual one in the sense of the 144,000; but even when God’s worked with the 144,000 there is still sin there.  Just like Paul talked about, we still have sin, we still have those things to fight and when we do those things it’s not something that’s pleasing to God, obviously, especially depending on how far, how bad it is, and yet we’re able to repent, and especially when we’ve been called we will be saved, and for Israel, and especially those things that are written about here that are very much about Israel. Their time of salvation is coming; they’re going to be able to be saved out of that.

Verse 6 - We are all as an unclean thing, unclean, human beings, the way we are; God has to save us from what we are.  I so look forward to that, no longer having these battles, being saved from what I am, being saved from the thinking there that is based on ‘lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life’.  I so look forward to not being in this physical form any longer.  And so we see this part about us, as we’ve talked about in times past, as Paul said and as it’s said to the Laodicean Church, to learn the lesson, as Paul said, ‘O wretched man that I am...’ what we are apart from God, without God’s help...and that we just thank God that He has patience with us and continues to work with us and through us in our lives.

...and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; as man lives, because we do things from selfish motivation.  But only when it’s done properly, once we’re called, and once we have God’s spirit, and once we’re led by God’s spirit, judgment, if it’s made by God, it’s a matter of God’s spirit, being at one with God - but so often we still aren’t able to do that.  We grow in that but so often we still battle against that which is not fully right in our lives obviously.

... and we all do fade as a leaf; we’re here and we’re gone, a short time; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. We all have so much sin.  Thank God He’s forgiven it, because when we repent He forgives us.

And there is none who calls upon Your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You: By ourselves, of ourselves as human beings, it’s only because He draws us and calls us and stirs us up by His spirit. He works in us to do these things.  Everything is done and accomplished by God, not by us.  That’s why I think in times past the things that happened in Worldwide and people that got lifted up with a self-importance and we began to look at ourselves too often, as how rich we were, how good we were doing, not realizing...no, God’s doing it all, we’re just blessed to share in the process and to yield ourselves to that process so we can be saved.

And there is none, as it says, who calls upon Your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You: for You have hid your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. Again, talking about Israel and the way of human beings, and until God calls us... we realize something else begins to change and to be different there.  And we also realize spiritually that if we sin and when we sin that God does hide His face from us, He will not be there until we repent.  Big mistake that so many people have made in their lives, not to understand the importance of repenting and repenting quickly because of sin.

But now, O Eternal, You are our Father; this is what we’re brought to, the Great God, You are our Father; we are the clay, You are the potter; and we all are the work of Your hand. God works with us from the moment.... before we’re called, as we’re being drawn, as we’re being called, it’s what God’s doing in our lives to bring us to change.  And we don’t always respond to that. Sometimes people get to a point, because we have free choice, that people just say, “No.” And they won’t yield to that process.  But as long as you yield to the process, continue to repent, God continues to work with us.

But the reason we’re going through this particular verse here is because of what I’ve mentioned here about whether someone’s a part of the 144,000 or not a part of the 144,000 or what takes place and what doesn’t take place – to understand that God is the master potter, He’s the one who moulds and fashions.  We are the clay and we’re blessed to yield ourselves to a process when we’re in His hands.  Where else would you want to be but in His hands, and wherever and whatever He moulds and fashions in us, and we yield ourselves to that process, there we will be the most fulfilled.  And in that there won’t be disappointments or discouragement; on the contrary, there will be excitement for what yet lies ahead.  That’s spiritual.  But we still have sometimes the physical part that nags.  So, You are the potter, we all are the work of Your hand.

Verse 9 – So do not be too angry with us, O Eternal, neither remember the iniquity for ever:  and God doesn’t – that’s what all this comes to. It reveals God’s plan and His purpose of salvation, but its perception sometimes that human beings have.

Behold, see, we beseech You, we are all Your people. Your holy Cities are a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. We look about us and we see what we’ve been through in the Church since the apostasy and certainly those things very powerfully have come true and have passed.  We’re almost to the end of it now.  I so look forward to what I’ve written about in the posting, 63,000 potentially out of the past.  That is so awesome, so far beyond any expectation or any ability to see what was otherwise stated would be.  And coming to understand those scriptures even more deeply then in Ezekiel, that the beginning of it was about what started and yet how it ends just glorifies God because it reveals a mercy and a patience that is so awesome that we really have a difficult time grasping it.  But we’ve been able to live through this period of time to learn it, because it’s through experience you learn.

You know, sometimes there are things you just can’t give to others.  I think of meetings we’ve had with elders and the ministers and different ones and some of the lectures, if you will, that we’ve gone through, and I realize that there are different ones at different levels and how they receive it, and I realize that the truth is there but the ability to grasp it isn’t there at the beginning unless someone’s had the experience.  And so we go through different experience and as we experience then we grow to when we know, and then it’s a part of us, it’s in us.  But until we experience different things, and sometimes those experiences we experience the mistakes, the things that help us to ...because that knowledge is there and then we can make changes because we begin to understand it, we begin to see it more, or we have certain experiences that help us to see it without mistakes.  And so we have all of this as a combination of things, but until we experience it...

I think of what we have experienced since the apostasy, things about Jerusalem, Zion, what’s out there, what’s taken place.  There is so much!  I can’t even go through it all of those things that have helped to mould and fashion the thinking in the mind, and the greatest of it all is to come to see the mercy, the patience, the love of God in a greater way than I’ve ever known it.  And I value that because I realize that’s what’s needed in the Millennium to exercise God’s government, to live God’s government, to exercise it toward others, to do that in a better way.  We’ve been moulded and fashioned into those things, to be able to do it far better, more Godlike, as God – because we’re at one with God.

Verse 11 - Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praise You, is burned up with fire: I think of what’s happened to the Church, and I’m thankful that God has a plan.  See, through here it talks about how we’ll be saved.  That’s the end. If we’ll just yield ourselves to it we will be saved, we will come through it all no matter what we experience in life, no matter what we go through.

So it says is burned with fire and all of our valuable things are laid waste. What is it talking about?  Well, physically to Israel, that was one thing, a physical thing, but for us the truth.  I think about the feeling I had in the first sermon I gave after the apostasy.  I don’t believe I did any more sermons...  As it began to take place I had one but then they brought in other speakers, but I think of when we first organized as a small group of people when we finally left the organization and had a desire to continue on as ‘the Church’, but I think of the feelings there when you realize that everything, things that we’ve had, that the Sabbath, the Holy Days, the things we valued that have been destroyed, but we wanted to hold onto them and we made certain changes so that we could, and God had great mercy upon us.

Isaiah 65:17 – so the story continues on about things with Israel and so forth, and yet there are certain things in here about spiritual Israel and what God is doing in His plan. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: not a physical place!  Sometimes people begin to think...well, anyway, we don’t need to go there.  But spiritually, a new heavens and a new earth; it’s an expression that’s being used here about what God is bringing to mankind and what God is bringing mankind to, to be in His Family.

...and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. All the hard things, all the difficult things that we live through in life, once they’re past, once we’ve been moulded and fashioned they’re gone, they’re behind, the suffering, the things that we have to experience in this human life in order to get to where we’re going.  It’s not easy. ...it’s not easy.  I look back and it’s not easy and I’m so thankful for all of you who get to live into a new age now.  You don’t have to struggle in this world anymore because God’s creating a new heaven and a new earth.  That’s what’s taking place. We’re at that moment in time!

It says some of those things won’t even come to mind anymore because our lives are going to be so full in what we’re doing and what we’re living and looking forward and all the evil, all the bad things... they’re back there as a memory somewhere.

But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; in whole, in its completeness, in what God is doing in each of us, to rejoice, to be glad.  I’m glad.  I know I’m going to do a lot of rejoicing when this change comes and I’m so thankful for a new world, I’m so thankful for people around the world being freed from bondage, from slavery.

So He says, Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, times when we can rejoice and no longer have the attacks that are out here, no longer having the mocking and the ridicule of living this way of life, no longer being torn down by family members and by co-workers and others in the sense of jobs out here in the world and people who work at the same place, or neighbours, or whatever, because they look down upon you for what you believe and what you live...none of that anymore.  I’m so grateful for that, a time to rejoice when rejoicing is going to be so powerful and so abundant.

And it goes on to say, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem; in Jerusalem, in what He’s making, because He’s brought us to a point where we can rejoice, and it’s going to begin here very shortly now.  We’ve got a lot of clean-up to do; we’ve got a lot of work to do.  Everybody’s going to have a lot of work to do no matter where you are or what you’re doing and getting this world set right and re-establishing and establishing things God’s way.

It says, And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. So more and more that’s where we’re heading.  It’s progressive – doesn’t happen immediately.  There is going to be some sorrow.  There is going to be some sorrow we’re going to have to deal with in people’s lives as we come out of what man has done to himself and we have the blessing of leading people toward joy, towards rejoicing, towards being healed, and more and more as we go forward through the Millennium less and less crying, less and less weeping, less and less sorrow, less and less hurt.  And then the Great White Throne, in a very powerful way, but all of it leading to a time where finally progressing forward more and more and more.  I know that one day we’re going to look back and think, “Boy, that thousand years... it went fast!”

Isaiah 66:1 - Thus says the Eternal, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house you build unto Me? ...and where is the place of My rest?  And we are the place of God’s rest.  Rest – no slavery, no bondage, no sin.  As we come out of sin God rests in us, He dwells in us, He lives in us to bring us to ‘the’ rest, to a time where indeed ‘Jerusalem’ has been accomplished and fulfilled.  And so we move forward to those things but we’ve gone through a lot to get here.

...and where is the place of My rest?  For all these things has My hand made, and all those things have been, says the Eternal, but to this, its ‘person’, will I look, even to the person who is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at My word.  I was thinking about some things here before the sermon; about humility. It’s such a beautiful thing, it truly is.  Pride is such an ugly thing. I so loathe pride!  It’s just a hurtful, painful, ugly thing.  It’s a cancer, it’s a disease, it is what began at the very beginning in Satan, the cancer of the mind.  When anyone goes against God, lifts themselves up in pride...

This world is so filled with pride I have a difficult time seeing pride sometimes in the way it’s portrayed.  I think of a picture of one individual, that when he stands his head is always held up high, as though he’s always looking up in the sky with greatness and I think that just sums it up, what this world has become.  It’s always been that way but it’s gotten so much worse as we’ve gone forward. Soon to be humbled.  Soon to finally be humbled so that people can learn what is really valuable in life and what is true in life.

So, to understand, God’s called us to love us, to share a special relationship and special fellowship with Him, His Son, and with others who are called.  That’s why I talk about our joy, Laura and me, when we’re able to travel to different areas around the world and to see this, to experience this over and over and over again, the blessing of a special fellowship.  And then as you grow in that, as you grow in a bond with one another, the more you get rid of the prejudice of mind, the wrong thinking, as in the more you get rid of the moments of time of encounter with someone else that hasn’t gone well and you put those things behind, you forgive and you move forward, because you know that... you understand, because you grasp the battles that we go through and you learn mercy and patience and love and you live those things to others and realize the value and the beauty of those things, and the more that we can put away the sin from us, and the sin of others because we forgive, because we realize we don’t have a right to hold it against them in the first place and we have patience and mercy...beautiful things.

And so God desires more for our rejoicing and fullness of life, far beyond what we can imagine or conceive. He truly does.  Whatever you’ve ever desired for someone, whatever the greatest time in your life was of something you desired for someone - God’s desire toward us is so much more.  We really can’t grasp that.  And it’s a powerful, powerful thing!  What a beautiful thing, to be in the hands of God, to have that kind of desire toward each and every one of us, a process of saving us.

So, indeed incredible.  Again, a bit of a heart to heart here, just sharing some things of mind, of what we’ve been through, of where we are – one of the most momentous times of all human history.  It’s going to be written about and you don’t grasp the magnitude of how awesome it truly is and what awaits us and what’s in front of us.

At the last posting... really sums up what this work has been about, especially in this past 3½ years.  I’m going to take the time to read through that posting though most of you have read it.  I wrote it and I’ve read it a few times already by going through it and making sure it’s written the way...and seeing it’s...trying to make it clear and as it’s being edited by different ones out here to make it clearer and clearer.

But again, it contains much as it focuses upon a work that’s been done and a job that’s now complete. I look back and I think, “I’m so glad it’s over. I’m so glad the job has been done.”  It’s been a tough haul in so many ways.  The joy, the beauty of it is in you, in all of you who have yielded yourselves to this process, who have walked in faith.  That’s the reward, that’s the joy, that’s the happiness, that’s the excitement.  But all of us, we understand what it’s like because we don’t always have that in front of us because we have struggles in this world and struggles in families and struggles wherever it might be and battles and trials and things that are thrown at us and that are from a spirit world out there, an evil spirit world.  And so it hasn’t been easy but we keep focused on the beautiful part, the part that’s of God, and now to think that a major portion of the job is done and we look forward to the next job, because it becomes far more exciting and far more beautiful, it truly does.

So, I’m going to read through that posting, make some comments as we go along, because it sums up so many things that we have been through, those of us especially since the time of the apostasy and on; and what has happened within the Church and where we are.  So, let’s take the time to go through that.  Some of you haven’t had the opportunity to read it but most of you probably have by now.

So, we’re going to go through this latest posting, I’m going to read it, make some comments as we go through it because this is very meaningful, it’s what God’s brought us to.  This reflects the work that’s been done since the Church was re-established in Pentecost 1998.  It represents that which began to take place and a process that God led so many of us through up to this point in time and a work that’s now finished... not fully complete as far as God’s concerned until these events begin to take place that are spoken of in Revelation, but a work that for us is finished and completed, no more that we can do.  We have gone the distance and it’s been something else, it’s very reflective in that respect; this is kind of a reflective time looking back at everything that we have done, and then especially in the last 3½ years, 1260 days for Laura and myself and how God has been so merciful to us and things that have changed and knowledge that has been given in a greater way of always progressive, always so much more to learn, always being moulded and fashioned.

So, in this posting, it’s entitled....

GOD’S CHURCH REUNITED

May 23, 2012

After the apostasy (“falling away” – KJV) in God’s Church in December of 1994, the Church eventually became scattered into over 600 different organizations and smaller groups. In this “falling away” from the truth that God had restored in the Church through Herbert W. Armstrong during the Philadelphian Era, approximately one-third of the Church moved away from those teachings and adopted the teachings of traditional Christianity. Another third of the scattered Church simply gave up on the truth and religion of any kind.

What an incredible event!  Again, looking back, a time to reflect, a time to look back at what took place, of what we experienced, all the lessons that are there.  I think of all the lessons.  I guess my mind goes first of all to ‘News Watch’, of the things we went through as we grew, because it was a process that God led us through, and then ‘Time Is Running Out’ and ‘Time Has Run Out’.  All those things, those experiences through time that we went through to get to where we were going, to do a work, for God to do what He was doing through us, and all of it building up to a final 3½ years that would be a witness of it all, and of much more, frankly, but this is about the Church – it’s always been about the Church...always, always, always.

Because when we’re brought into the Church that’s where God works with us. And I’ve wondered about some of those things in times past, thinking of all the people, and realizing that they came to a time of being deceived, they came to a time of letting down, they came to a time of being lukewarm, but there were a lot of good times before that, there were a lot of times of things that were done well and yielding to God’s purpose and God’s plan and the fellowship and that which was ‘...council blended sweet and we walked side by side...’ and then things happened and the Church began to be weak and lukewarm and it was all a part of a purpose, allowed to happen showing our human nature and what we’re like.

But you know, God didn’t forget it. God didn’t forget the times of individuals and what they did to live this way of life and the sacrifice that went with it and the changes of the mind that took place.  Now there’s a lot to go through when called back, a lot that has to be addressed, but God’s desire is to bring us to repentance, is to bring us to salvation, is to bring us into His Family.  And yes, there were some amongst those that I believe have probably committed the unpardonable sin; I don’t doubt that.  There are those who just choose, they don’t want God, the mind doesn’t want God’s way of life.  But to see that there are so many still that God loves with a love, I’ll get to it in a moment here, but His love, it’s hard for us to comprehend the magnitude of it, the greatness of it.  You look at the universe, you might begin to get a clue, but we have that hard time sometimes grasping that in our own personal lives.

And so going on here...

This left approximately 32,000 baptized members who became dispersed among these 600+ splinter groups. Within these scattered groups of people, there are many who have held onto a similar hope that the Church might once again become one—reunited by God into His one true Church in a single organized body.

That’s something you hear about every once in a while, that someone expresses out there, that has expressed and even in times past we....   going on...

Although some groups have met with one another to discuss various kinds of cooperation, there has never been any real move toward any uniting into a single organization.

And we understand why.

As some of these scattered “baptized members” have come to understand, only God can really bring people together again because the leadership in these groups are fully void of any such ability or purpose.

The good news is that God is going to reunite His Church into a single organized body once again.

We’re there!  But what’s going to be added to it from the past, that’s to me the awesomely, awesomely, awesomely good news!

It will begin to happen in only a couple of days and the potential number of previously baptized members (before the apostasy in 1994) that God is going to grant this opportunity to is 63,000. This will include previously baptized members from some who became deceived and went the direction of “traditional Christianity,” and it will include even more who will come from those who simply gave up on the Church, and finally the largest percentage will include those who were dispersed into the 600+ splinter groups.

This is indeed very good news! It is good news that has only now been given in these last few weeks, and it all reveals the kind of love and mercy God has for His Church and those who were scattered through the apostasy.  [*emphasis added as read in sermon]

And there are people who just... they didn’t commit the unpardonable sin and they fulfilled something that was needful, to be able to be taught during the Millennium and the Great White Throne...another great step.  I think of Mr. Armstrong and so often he talked about government.  He went back to the very beginning with Satan and came up through time with the Israelites and the great lessons that are to be learned there, but this lesson here had not yet happened. This, the greatest of all, leads to some of the greatest of all because it shows what mankind can do even with God’s spirit and that’s a sobering thing and something everyone needs to come to grasp and comprehend.

And so someone had to live it, and the Laodicean era and all up to this period of time has had to experience these things in different ways and different manners and large numbers of people who once walked to God’s House side by side, in unity and oneness of belief and fellowship; became weak, but God didn’t forget.  God didn’t lose the times of fellowship that He had with all of those individuals, save those who chose to go against Him, who don’t want Him, those very, very few.  And so judgments are made, judgments about those who... well, let’s just go ahead and read some more of this....

A Contradiction for the Scattered Church

The word “contradiction” describes a unique condition expressed in one manner or another by the vast majority of baptized people who were scattered after the “falling away.” Although the Church experienced the kind of dispersion (scattering) referenced above, very few seem willing to acknowledge that the Church experienced the Biblical “falling away” from the truth that is described in II Thessalonians. Yet the evidence that nearly two-thirds of the scattered Church no longer holds onto the foundational truths of God’s Church, reveals that there was a very great “falling away” from the truth of God—indeed an apostasy!

I can’t tell you how much this means to me when I read this, and I know it does to all of you in varying degrees, but this is monumental, this is incredible, this has been what it’s been all about!  This is about a Church that refuses to acknowledge the truth.  Mr. Armstrong led the Church in truth, and as more truth came along he revealed those things, he gave those things, he explained those things.  I think of the greatest being that of Pentecost, and then some of the things that took place in the early 80’s adding to, continually adding to and making the picture clearer and clearer, and then ‘Mystery of the Ages’ coming out in the 80’s there – an awesome, powerful book – toward the end of his life.  And yet in the midst of it all what was coming to pass in the future, leading up to that point in time, a lukewarm Church and an apostasy that would happen in that Church, in that Body.  And yet this is monumental, something so simple and so basic that’s hard for the mind to comprehend but it still brings you back to understanding it’s a spiritual matter.  And when you’re spiritually weak there are things that are staring you in the face you cannot see until certain things happen in your life, in this case, repentance, because it’s a spiritual matter.  Because God requires repentance, and when repentance comes then He can grant His spirit to show, to reveal, to give more.

The reality that the remaining third, who have desired to hold onto some form of the foundational truths, cannot agree on those truths, and are all scattered into over 600 different bodies of people, reinforces the truth of the effects of an apostasy.

This has been the message from the beginning!  This has been the message in ‘News Watch’ from the beginning; this has been the message in ‘Time Is Running Out’ and ‘Time Has Run Out’.  It’s been the message to God’s scattered Church – one not received.

The denial of such devastation upon God’s Church being the result of an apostasy is to compound the contradiction that exists in so many people’s lives.

Though a very few will acknowledge an apostasy occurred, these same “few” cannot grasp the contradiction in their lives to deny that the apostasy was the very sign of Christ’s return to this earth at this end-time. God stated through Paul that Christ’s return could not and would not take place until this event happened in His Church. To acknowledge that Christ’s return is now at hand and that an apostasy did occur would mean that the rest of the story in II Thessalonians 2 would need to be acknowledged. It is about the “man of sin” who is also referred to as the “son of perdition.”

There was one who betrayed Jesus Christ and was referred to as the “son of perdition” at the time of Christ’s quick trial and sentence of death at his first coming. God revealed through Paul that at the time of the apostasy there would be another man who would betray Jesus Christ—one who was “set” in authority in His Church. These basic truths have been published for the scattered Church from the beginning by this organization of the Church of God – PKG. [Preparing for the Kingdom of God] Acceptance of this basic message from God in II Thessalonians 2 is necessary for anyone who was baptized before the “falling away” in order for them to progress forward in understanding of “how” and “why” this apostasy occurred and what it portends.

This is so basic, and thankfully 63,000 are going to be brought face to face with that reality.  But what a time to get there!  And what a powerful way to awaken and shake people to the core of their being.  God is so mighty!  God is so powerful!  And the way He works things out is so awesome, so incredible.

Some scattered people can acknowledge portions of these events but seem unwilling or unable to “hear” the whole matter. Many still hold to a belief that the “man of sin” referred to in these verses is about the Pope. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as the Pope has never known the truth and he has no power or affect upon God’s Church.

Again, so basic, so simple, but so hard when your mind is clouded and God’s spirit is not flowing through your mind anymore.  When you’re cut off there are things you no longer can see that are so simple and basic.  Lessons to be learned, things to never be forgotten.

Having said all this, as it has been said so many times before over the past 14 years, we have now come to the end and Jesus Christ is now going to return on May 27th. This event will catch the whole world off guard—even the Church that was scattered. But it will afford a great opportunity to 63,000 baptized people who were scattered after the apostasy to once again be reunited as God’s Church into a single organized body and to be given opportunity to live on into the new millennial age of Christ’s rule on earth.

The very fact that people have not received the “sign” of Christ’s coming being the events of II Thessalonians 2 [and this is, of course, to the Church] is the very reason they have not received what was to follow just before the return of Jesus Christ. It is the story contained in Revelation about God sending His two end-time witnesses (and prophets) who would lead His Church up to the very moment of Christ’s coming. We are NOW there! The job of God’s two witnesses is nearly complete.

And I’m glad it’s ending in a different way than what we thought before.  Thankfully we’ve already gone past that moment in time.  But what an incredible thing here, all of this in Revelation that should have been so simple to perceive, to see this is what has to happen next.  If an apostasy, if it can be acknowledged that 2 Thessalonians was fulfilled, to understand that Christ’s coming is so near...that the thing to look for would be two witnesses.

And I think of times past; I remember there was a time when the Church wondered and looked for two witnesses.  There was a time when it was believed that it would very likely be Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and his son, Garner Ted Armstrong. And then when Garner Ted was no longer around, at times, because he was put out of the Church, I think of things that happened later on and people began to wonder, “Well, who might the two witnesses be then?  Mr. Armstrong and who else?  Who else might be it?”  So sometimes people speculated and speculation is not a healthy thing, but that thought there at least that was in the Church – “There are two witnesses who have to come.” ...and looking for the end-time.  Anyway, continuing on.

Christ’s coming is at hand, and it is just as God said it would be: “But as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the coming of the Son of man.  For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they did not know until the flood came, and took them all away. So shall it also be in the coming of the Son of man” (Mat. 24:37-39).

Now, this means a whole lot more to us than ever before.  We used to read this and not grasp that it means what it says in a very powerful way: it’s going to happen quickly, and those things that happen, when they happen, it’s not there until it’s there!  And it’s going to be just like that!  So this means much more to us now and encourages and strengthens our faith.

It will be the same right up until nuclear weapons begin to be used on the earth. An automatic response of nations will spark immediate retaliation to real or imagined enemies. Such events will be so rapid and have the potential of being so devastating that God must quickly intervene by stopping it as He sends His Son back to this earth to become King of kings.

Man’s governments must be brought to an end before mankind annihilates himself.

And so that adds to our faith, our belief, because we see where the world is, we see what the world is talking about, we see what nations are saying, we see the build up for war.

God’s timing is perfect at the end of 6,000 years of man’s self-rule. Man cannot govern himself without destroying himself. That is God’s recorded message to mankind through all the prophets—that only His Son, the Messiah (Christ), can govern mankind in righteousness and true justice for all people. Thank God the millennial reign of Jesus Christ has now come.

Thank God that the resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire is so short lived. That system is perfectly described in the Book of Daniel as iron mixed with clay. It is strong in phases of its construction and power, but not held together by anything that fully binds it as one. This describes ten nations who form the nucleus of the European Union today. Yet this union will only experience power together for one hour. It arises quickly as one and is brought to an end as quickly as it arose:

So, a lot of things come together at the end.

“And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (Rev. 17:12).

They didn’t receive a kingdom, but they share power for one hour fulfilling it all, fulfilling what God said.

Yes, events during the end-time have materialized in ways that have not been fully clear to God’s Church through time—even to now, but the events are sure and prophecies certain. But all is happening in a manner that God only reveals when it is His time to do so.

And so the question asked in the heading here....

Why 63,000?

Although we are now ready to enter the Millennium and the world must experience one more quick and very painful war of horrific destruction, the story contained throughout the pages of the New Testament is about His Church—and it still is. When God individually “calls” and brings anyone into the special and personal relationship of fellowship in His Church, with Him and His Son and others who have been called, He enters into a “spiritual” relationship of Godly love experienced in and with each and every person called.

It’s a beautiful thing.

That relationship is far more important and of far greater value than the “physical” kind of relationship that existed with the nation of Israel. The “spiritual” relationship with “spiritual Israel”—His Church—is one that leads into His Family—into everlasting life with God. Though God loves all His creation, all of mankind, His timing and purpose in them does not fully begin until they are “called” into a relationship with Him—“called” into His Church where that relationship can blossom and grow.

However, the Church became lukewarm at the end of this age of mankind, and it was spewed out of God’s mouth—separated from His “spiritual” presence and from a “spiritual relationship” with Him. That is simply a “fact!” It is a “fact” that potentially 63,000 previously baptized members will have to address very quickly now, once they come face to face with the reality of Christ’s coming on this Pentecost, for these scattered baptized members do not “see” nor believe that Christ’s coming is imminent for this world.

What an awesome thing, where we are.  What an awesome thing how God has worked everything out!

After being separated from God’s “spiritual” presence and from a “continuing” spiritual relationship with Him, the scattered Church grew weaker and weaker after the apostasy in 1994. It could not accept the truths contained in II Thessalonians 2...

Which is what our work has been all about all along, trying to reach out to those scattered, trying to bring them to that reasoning, to looking at, to addressing this truth.

It could not accept the truths contained in II Thessalonians 2, and as the scattered body became weaker it began to lose basic spiritual thinking and insight. Before Herbert W. Armstrong died and the Philadelphia Era of God’s Church ended, he spoke many times of the Church being the “spiritual” temple. He explained how the Jews were not qualified to rebuild a physical temple and how the temple being spoken of in scripture was actually about God’s Church.

It is understandable how the Jews in Christ’s day did not understand the concept of a “spiritual temple,” as they mocked him concerning what they did not understand about the temple being rebuilt in three days. Jesus spoke of his resurrection—of his spiritual life and his spiritual temple. Today, the vast majority of those scattered “look” for a physical temple or at least an altar to be built in the temple region of Jerusalem. People have simply slid backward, farther and farther from spiritual insight and understanding. That which is spiritual is foggy or not seen at all, and now those truly spiritual things have only physical meaning to most.

See, that’s the danger of becoming lukewarm.  That’s the danger of coasting.  That’s the danger of letting up.  That’s the danger of not hungering and thirsting after God’s word and God’s way of life.  That’s the danger of falling asleep, of where it can lead.

But God has a plan to reawaken and rekindle His life “in” previously baptized members. As God’s words have not been received from God’s own end-time prophet, He [God] is going to bring all living baptized members to a day of shock and reality that will finally provide the most powerful moment of truth. The reality of nuclear devastation striking the earth along with another very “personal” and shocking event will awaken most to reality, fear, and repentance.

The final event that is coming upon God’s Church that was scattered is one they all will come to personally experience and cannot deny—for all other warnings, pleas, and admonitions have been denied and ignored. [Speaking of the past through this work.] Nuclear war cannot be denied! Neither can the death of 7,000 previously baptized members be ignored (denied) which will consist mostly of those in leadership and especially those in the ministry. God has made it clear that such people are not going to be allowed to live on into the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, but they must await the final hundred years to be resurrected and then repent of their part in the devastation and direct involvement in the weakening of God’s own Church.

This matter of 7,000 dying is the story that follows the job God gave to his two end-time witnesses. His own witnesses to His own Church have been rejected, mocked, and ridiculed. This response of God’s own scattered people is in reality a response to God and not to two people who are easily looked down upon in physical expectation and stature.

As “spiritual” understanding of God’s temple (His Church) is not perceived any longer by God’s scattered Church, neither do people grasp the meaning of “spiritual” Jerusalem being the same kind of reference to God’s own Church.

The answer to “why 63,000” is because that is what God says it can be! More information concerning the 63,000 scattered members who can potentially be reunited after Christ’s coming is covered in the most recent sermon series entitled, “God’s Infinite Mercy.”

But as a synopsis, I will cover the basic meaning of what God reveals as the finish of His work through His two end-time witnesses. Not only has the Church that was scattered failed to recognize the sign of Christ’s coming to the Church contained in the events of II Thessalonians 2, but God’s two witnesses have not been recognized and their job is nearly over. That is the timing where we come into the story contained in the Book of Revelation about God’s two witnesses.

How incredible, what we’ve been blessed to live, the experience, the moulding and fashioning, what’s happened with our mind being transformed, the moulding and fashioning that God has done.  It’s an awesome thing, it truly is.  What an awesome blessing of being in the hands of God, being moulded and fashioned, the mind... because it’s the mind, it’s about the mind.  It’s what’s contained there.  We don’t take the body with us; it’s what’s in the mind, the spirit, the being of who we are, each one of us individually, unique as we are, of becoming of one mind with God, all moulded and fashioned to serve and be a part of the Body in different places.  It’s a beautiful, beautiful, awesome, awesome thing just to understand, to be content, to be at peace, to love where we are, knowing it’s because that’s where God has placed us.  And we rejoice in that and look forward to what He’s moulding and fashioning and constructing, indeed.

Revelation 11 states that God’s two witnesses die in the streets of Jerusalem. This is not a literal physical death in a literal physical location as has been believed. It is about an attitude and spirit of God’s scattered Church toward His own two witnesses for the time of their work—3½ years. Jerusalem is about the scattered Church and streets concern the “ways” of all the 600+ scattered groups that make up this “spiritual” condition of Jerusalem at the end.

Which we understand is one of Egypt and one of Sodom, as God describes it, as we’ve gone through those stories.  What an incredible thing that God has brought us right up to this time of the very end of this work, to bring us to this point to see these things, to see what He’s going to do next.  And so here are the scriptures....

“After three and one-half days [prophetic 3½ years] the Spirit of life from God entered into them [not physical life, but spirit life as the two witnesses are changed from mortal to immortal at Christ’s return], and they stood upon their feet [were made to “stand” in God—in His truth—in the sight of others once God shows all the scattered body irrefutable proof of their “standing” with Him through this resurrection] and great fear fell upon them who saw them” (Rev. 11:11). This is not talking about the world, but it is talking about the scattered Jerusalem who is struck with fear when they are brought face to face with this reality and truth of the resurrection of God’s two witnesses to immortal life as part of the 144,000.

“And they [God’s two witnesses] heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, ‘Come up here.’ And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them” (Rev. 11:12). These two witnesses are not received by the scattered body as being brothers spiritually, nor as sent from God, but spiritually they are received as enemies to their belief and understanding of God’s will.

“And the same hour [when they are resurrected to spiritual life] there was a great earthquake [Gk – “shaking.” Used prophetically of a shaking of God’s people], and the tenth part of the city [Jerusalem—the scattered Church, not physical Jerusalem] fell, and in the earthquake [shaking] there were 7,000 ‘individually named’ [Gk. word omitted from KJV]...

As we’ve talked about before, that word for ‘named’, ‘individually named’ in this case because there are 7,000, in other words, each one of them.

...there were 7,000 ‘individually named’ [Gk. word omitted from KJV] people who were slain, and the remainder [Gk. – ‘the others’, ‘the rest’] were made afraid [brought to fear], and gave glory to the God of heaven” (Rev. 11:13-14).

So they finally come to repentance.

This describes a scattered Church that God awakens through the reality of what they must now face. A nuclear war has erupted and Jesus Christ is returning in the atmosphere of this earth. God’s two witnesses are changed from mortal to immortal. Then 7,000 “named” (literally named by God and not random) individuals die, which includes first and foremost the ministry and other leading and well known people in the scattered groups. It also includes those who push themselves forward as “teachers” or individuals who are in the “know” about matters in God’s Church, especially in their attacks against God’s witnesses.

The 7,000 who die are the ten percent of the city that fell. There remains 63,000 who can now come to an awakening where they can now truly “give glory to the God of heaven,” after accepting His truth given through His two witnesses.

What an incredible thing!  What an incredible lesson!  Sermons are going to be given now after this that I can see coming that have to do with these very sins here.  Incredible indeed!

At this point, our job is done. Our work has come to an end as God’s witnesses. This is the final posting for this site and it is the final admonition to God’s scattered people. The Church is about to be reunited—just not in a manner that anyone scattered can conceive. The end-time is nearly over and the long awaited millennial reign of Jesus Christ is now nearly here.

And then I put on here...

Final Sermon

As a final posting I am also informing all readers that a final pre-recorded sermon will be posted on the Church site that can be used this Sabbath. [...which is what you’re listening to] It is recommended for those who want to use that sermon....

Well, I don’t really need to go through this, it pretty much says it all as to when you should listen to it because of different times and because of what we understand regarding the timing in Jerusalem.  But the last two sentences here.

As it was written in the last words of the first book, The Prophesied End-Time, I will end this final post with what was stated in that last sentence.

As it says in the next to the last verse of God’s word, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Well, we have truly been blessed to live something awesomely awesome, I’ll tell you.  It’s just absolutely incredible what God has given us to experience.

And finally, after reading this post, as we close out this final age of mankind in this final sermon at this end-time, let’s focus on what this life is fully about.

I’ve talked about being in God’s hands and what it means that we share what we share as we yield ourselves to the process and how awesome that is.  I’m going to read to you something to help to drive the point home.  I’m going to read to you something I wrote several years ago, well before Laura and I knew what our final job, our work was to be as God’s two end-time witnesses.

I don’t know exactly when this was written and I hope I can make it through this well because it says so much as to our sentiment, to my sentiment that was written at the time it was given.  I don’t know exactly when I wrote this; it might have been around 2000, 2001, somewhere in there, long before we had any idea where we were headed.  We were still doing a work that God had given to us, writing the ‘News Watch’ and ‘Time Is Running Out’ and ‘Time Has Run Out’, and I believe this was before the first book was even being written.  I’m not real sure; it might have been started to be written when I wrote this.  But this is a letter I wrote to Audra and Jeremy and it’s self-explanatory.  It’s kind of like a will in the sense of something you might write if something happens to you, and at that time there we wanted to be prepared, as some people sit down and write a will, sometimes they do those things, they’ll...   again, this is ... I would probably be better off to read what I wrote here in my notes.

This is personal because it involved my deepest feelings to our children in the event of our untimely death, as when some people prepare a will.  So I prepared these words in case of such an eventuality in the past.  Because we didn’t know what was going to take place in those times, long before Laura and I knew about our job and so forth, and so even in 2005 when I had my heart attack, Laura and I talked about on the way to the hospital...not on the way to the hospital, but later on, right shortly after that, if I die in this, through this point here when I had to have my open heart surgery, God’s work is going to go on, the Church is going to go on.  And so anyway, this was well before that when this was written.  Again, a lot of times people sit down and write things that go along with the will.

I’m going to read this because it reflects or reveals the kind of desire that Laura and I would not only have for our own children but for all of you.  It actually reflects God’s desire for each of us.  If we can grasp how a parent can feel in writing such a thing, how much more God Almighty.  So here is what I wrote:

Audra and Jeremy;

We obviously have hope that neither of you have to read this letter.  I have never liked to write, so it will be short.

 I look at this and I think, yeah, and then I wrote two books!  Incredible how God leads us.  But that’s what I said at the time and I’ve stated this sentiment many of times.  I don’t like to write.  In times past especially, I’ve pretty much loathed it.  So it says...

I have never liked to write, so it will be short.

My heart is a little heavy right now just thinking that one day the two of you may have to read such a letter and take care of matters concerning our death and all the hassle that goes with messing around with estate matters.

Please know that we love both of you so very much.  You have both added a light to our life that I never knew was possible to such a depth in such a wonderful relationship between parents and children.

Yes, like any family we have had some minor matters of difficulty to address from time to time, but that’s all a part of life.  But far beyond any matters like that, the joy and richness we have experienced with both of you has been beyond words we could ever express.

Above all things hold to the truth that you have received. Seek to stay close to God and the truths He has blessed you to come to know and understand.  Remain faithful to Him, because it’s through that faithfulness and obedience to the truth that we will be reunited before too long when we’re both resurrected in the first resurrection, for I know that we will both be there and we want to see both of you at that time knowing that God has given you great favour for choosing His way of life and seeking His guidance, protection, and favour in those things that are about to come on this earth.

Again, above all things, no matter what anyone else does or says, remain faithful to those foundational truths that we have been blessed to share with you and teach you.  Remember the story of Daniel and his three friends.

We love you both so very much and look forward to seeing you when we are resurrected and can once again continue forward as a family in a new world where we hope that both of you will be continuing on as foundational members of the Church of God in a new age and new world.

Don’t let your hearts be heavy for God has a purpose in all this in preparing others and helping others to develop Godly character.  That will all depend on what others now do with what they have been taught through the ministry God has blessed me in delivering to them.

Be strong and of good courage in going forward into the most difficult time this world has ever experienced and we will see you on the other side of it all.

We’re very proud of the two of you for you have fought your battles in order to live this way of life.  Keep it up; we want to see you soon!

Our deepest love,

Dad and Mom

So again, going back and reading that I get a little choked up, but I think how blessed we are that that’s never had to be read, how blessed we are to be able to move forward like we are now and we’ve gone through this, and that very soon a resurrection is going to take place and there’s no time gap in-between and some are going to move on into a new age in a new world and others are going to be in a new world but in a different body.  It’s so surreal but very real indeed, we’re living it.

And the reason I went through this letter and shared it with all of you is because if we can grasp, indeed, the kind of love that exists between parents and their children, how so very, very, very much more does God love each one of us and wants to see us continue to forge forward, to live His way of life.  That’s it in a nutshell, what we can live, what we are to live, and that’s His great desire for us and His love so far excels anything that we have, to each and every one of us.  It’s a beautiful thing, truly is.

I’m going to conclude today here in a section of scripture in 1 John 4 because this is some of the admonition that was in that letter.  It’s what we live, it’s how we live, it’s understanding a sharing of a relationship that we’re able to share with God that is so, so incredibly beautiful, awesome indeed.

Let’s pick up here in 1 John 4 – again, some of my favorite portions of scripture to understand what God revealed and all these things that are contained here.  But here, specifically today, 1 John 4:4 – a scripture that I’ve read so often: You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world. Talking about God.  That’s our strength; that’s our life.  The victory is ours.  The conquering, the overcoming that’s ours by yielding ourselves to this process and how it’s accomplished, by God dwelling in us and we’re blessed to dwell in God, because greater is He that’s in us.

And we’re coming to a point in time now – how beautiful is this – that the other being won’t even be around anymore.  Satan and the demons, they won’t even be around mankind anymore.

Verse 5 - They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. So that’s the way the world is, it doesn’t want God’s way of life, and we have a fellowship with one another that’s unique because God’s in us.  And the rest of the world can’t be a part of that; they don’t like this, they don’t want it.

We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God does not hear us. That’s so basic!  That’s how we know where God is!  It’s because who hears us?  And much of it’s on the website and much that’s on the EMC for the ministry and how to deal with people, is there because of this truth, of how much time we spend in certain areas and where we don’t spend any time. Because unless God’s there there’s no purpose, you can talk until you’re blue in the face you’re not going to help anyone ...unless God is there.  And it’s learning that and detecting that quickly.  But we’re at such an awesome time now because the whole world is going to have this opportunity now to begin to hear God.

Hereby we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.  What is of God and what isn’t; this is very evident whether God’s in someone or not, whether you believe the same thing.

Beloved, let us love one another: I’m reading this because this is so important.  This is what it’s about.  This is what family/Family is about, to love one another, to forgive one another, to be patient with one another.  Sometimes, you know, we go through various things – I think of the last many weeks here and sometimes you can get tense, you get tied up because there’s just like there’s so much pressure, and if you’re not careful there are feelings you have and things you can say to others, the ones you love, because you’re on edge, because... well, anyway – because we’re very human. But to love one another is what it’s all about.

...for love/agape is of God; that’s the kind of love God wants us to share with each other, because physical selfish love isn’t what it’s all about.  It’s about giving, it’s about sacrificing for others, it’s about the forgiving.  That’s sacrificing.  It’s about patience.  That’s sacrificing for the human mind to have patience with others, to understand who they are, another person that something might rub you the wrong way, to have patience with that, to understand it’s a battle in your mind too, but to be patient with others...that we all have battles, we all have things to go through.

...for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born/begotten of God, and knows God. He who loves not does not know God; for God is love. So this is what it’s about – it’s about Family/family. It’s about His love.  It’s about what we share with one another.  This, we’re going to be able to share with the world now in a far greater way, but this is what it’s all about.  It’s not all about all the things we might or might not know prophetically.  It’s not about all the knowledge.  It’s why 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, is such a beautiful chapter, because it talks about some of these things, you know, that we know all mysteries, all knowledge, though we have all knowledge, what do we have if we don’t have this love in us.  It’s about this love that’s so important.

And then it goes on to say, In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, you know, willing to sacrifice.  Both have sacrificed; willing to sacrifice to give to us, that we might live through Him. The blessing of God living in us!

Then, it says going on here, verse 10 - Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, It comes from God!  He is the source!  And that’s what we want to live, that’s why we want Him to live in us and we in Him so that we can live this toward each other in a more perfect way.

So always remember it’s about your relationships; it’s about your relationships with one another, it’s about your ability to forgive, it’s about your ability to have patience, it’s about your ability to have mercy.  It’s about all these things, right judgment in thinking.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. To be willing to sacrifice to give to someone else – sacrifice your own selfishness, your own human nature, what you want out of it and just give.

No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, it’s a spiritual thing!  It’s about Him dwelling in us, about a mind that can think in a different way, in a way that’s in agreement with God and how to live toward others, to have enter into His rest, a right rest, to enter into Jerusalem, indeed.

If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us. This is how it’s accomplished.  Always in eagerness to repent of sin so that God can continue to dwell in you.  He will not dwell in sin.  And as He dwells in us then His love, His love is perfected in us.

Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His spirit. We understand how we receive it is by the power of His spirit.

And we have seen and do testify, in other words our life is witness of that, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Our lives reflect this truth as that life lives within us.  And that ought to give us great encouragement too, to see how we’re living and what’s in us and what God has given to us and understand His Son is coming very quickly now.

Whosoever shall confess, acknowledge by how they live, that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has toward us. And sometimes it’s hard for us to grasp, just like I read in that letter – that’s human and filled with God’s spirit, but even with that how much greater, SO much greater God’s love for each and every one of us.

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love; and he who dwells in love dwells in God and God in him.  This is such an awesomely beautiful verse.

Herein is our love made perfect, perfected, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in the world. How we live our lives.

Well, it’s been a pleasure; it’s been a long journey, mixed emotions, very thankful the opportunities of having been able to be your pastor on this earth, to serve in that capacity.  Awesome, awesome blessings that God gives each and every one of us to have fellowship with one another, to be of the same mind.

So, thank you, and I look forward to what we’re going to begin doing in the future here, because plan on visiting so many of you more often.

~~~end