The Virtue of Truth, Pt. 5

Ron Weinland

April 16, 2016

Well, greetings to everyone here. It's great to see such a good size group here in Columbia, MO area. And it's great to be back on the road again. There's a song like that, isn't there? Yeah, it's been a little while since we've been down here, since I've been down here – about at least four years. I know that for sure. So it's great to be back here again. People really haven't changed all that much, so that's good too. You might feel like it as a whole, but…

I thought I'd make a couple of announcements here:

First of all, I gave a tentative schedule for the Holy Days and how we'd work that as far as sermons and the type that would be given there. Not the type but the process we'd go through. I'm going to simplify all that. I'm going to try to record, prerecord, another sermon for the spring Holy Days. That way whether you're in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, or the U.S. and Canada we'll all hear the same thing on the same day. So that simplifies things a lot. So this next week I'm going to try to get one pre-recorded so that that's totally taken care of and not so confusing to everyone.

I'll also, next week, be announcing more about Passover and how we're going to take care of that, which I've already announced in part.

One last thing I thought I'd announce too, and that is some have asked about my health and the like. And as I've mentioned, in one way I'm really not too concerned because I know that I'm going to have whatever I need for as long as I need it. I have no doubts about that whatsoever. I did go in for a consultation this past week. They looked over some tests that I'd had done back in November that map out all the arteries and all that's going on around the heart so they can see everything, blockages and the like, and one of the first things they told me, basically, and this particular doctor that I was talking to, they do robotic surgery. It's called da Vinci. And you actually don't have to crack the chest open anymore. You can have robotic surgery. This woman here has done several hundred. I think 6 or 700 of these surgeries herself. But anyway, it's amazing what they can do anymore. And they've been doing that for ten plus years in the Cincinnati area.

So I wanted to have that done rather than my chest cracked open again, because I had that done eleven years ago and it takes quite a long time to recover from that. And the first thing she basically said was, "You're not a good candidate for this." So, I thought, wow, that's not really what I wanted to hear. But she basically explained that the risk really wasn't worth it for the benefit, and how she explained it. Because she said the heart is in very good condition. There are a lot of veins crossing over the major arteries in that area and she said the heart is being well taken care of by those. There are a couple blockages still, but there are a lot of veins that are actually bypassing and taking care of itself. So that's why she said the risk really wasn't worth… the benefit really wasn't worth taking the kind of risk that was involved there.

And so what they're going to do, or planning on doing is setting up a time that I can have another test (because this was six months ago), to see what is going on now, because she said that there is a possibility and an easier way of opening up those areas. Because it's not that easy to open up one that's 100% blocked, let alone the 85. And they said they can actually go in in a reverse direction through some of those other veins, come in the reverse side to open up those particular arteries. And I said, "Well, they never told me that at the other hospital." And she said, "Well, they can't do it." She said, "There are very few in the United States that know how to do that procedure and we have two on our team here that do this in the Cincinnati area.”

So if something has to be done, it can be done that way much easier. And so it may be, though, that I don't have to have anything done, if the new test, which will now be almost a year since I had the heart attack, may well be that it's bypassing itself well enough with all the other veins and that would be the choice. If I have a choice in all of this. Because that would make it a lot easier. But I can tell in the last two months that I have a lot more strength. I'm able to walk faster now. The only thing holding me back is a bad knee. But it's actually the back of the knee, a ligament that I messed up. But as a whole I'm walking at a fast pace again and my wife is having a harder time keeping up with me at that pace on occasion. So I feel great! I really do. I'm doing well, so I really appreciate everyone's prayers on that. But again, I know that I'll have exactly what I need when I need it and that's the way it works.

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So with that we're going to continue today with the sermon series, The Virtue of Truth, with this being Part 5.

Last Sabbath we ended with truth number 33 and we're going to jump right into truth number 34 today. And I hope that we're (and I know we are), we're getting the sense that we need to be zealous towards what God has given to us, because it's His Word, it's His mind, it's His being, and He's blessed us to see things of His being, of His mind. The Word, the Word that was made flesh 2,000 years ago in His son. And that mind that we're able to have by God, by God the Father and Jesus Christ living and dwelling within us, that's an awesome thing. And God has gone through a lot to be able to share His mind with us, with the Church. He's going through a lot to be able to share His mind, His being, His way, His thinking with all of mankind in time, with all those who will receive it. Because the reality is that there are going to be a lot who don't, just as in the angelic realm. And we don't know the outcome of all that, but everyone has an opportunity in life to make choices. Some don't realize how important those choices are.

But just as the last book has brought out, just like in the time of Noah, the mind can become so distorted through time. And the longer people experience that distortion the worse the mind can become, that it can come to a point where it can't be changed because they will not make a choice or a decision to do what is right. They don't want what is right. They don't want what God has to offer. The mind can become so perverted, so distorted that it can't be saved. Because it's a matter of a choice even then. So whether people have that opportunity at a particular point in time – because some won't, because some have already ruined their mind, distorted their mind through time, especially around the time of the flood, as we brought out. And in this end-time as well the same kind of thing is happening again, but at an accelerated pace because of technology. And people are destroying their own minds.

People are destroying their own minds through taking of drugs! It's so strong in the world today, and especially in the western world, and especially in this country, that they're even bringing it up now, talking about it as far as the politics is concerned, presidential politics and discussing something that should have been discussed and gone into a long time ago. Because it should have been stopped a long time ago! But once you've destroyed your mind, the precious gift that God has given to you, in the way you think and how you deal with things in life, it's pretty tough, isn't it? It's a very precious thing, the mind, the way of thinking, the ability to think that God has given to human beings. Because there is a spirit essence in the mind. And how we deal with that, how we work with that determines so much. It's so important. So we still have a lot to learn in that particular area.

And as we go through some of these truths, as I think about this one here, number 34, when we come to various truths like 32, 33, when we get to there, now we're talking about 34, some of these things have an overlapping effect. But a lot of these are discussed in a matter of how they were revealed, in large part, how God began to reveal them to the Church, how He began to give us understanding, and even in particular time periods. And we may go through some of this as a matter of history and it may not strike us as being that important, but these things are important. These things are to be treasured that God has given to us, the ability to "see" them, and that's why we're reviewing them after so long a time, going through all of them so that we can be reminded of how important the truth is, the Word, the mind that God is blessing us to partake of – His mind, His thinking – as we are blessed to go through a process of the transforming of how we think.

So again here, number 34. Rather long. Some are rather short. You can make a whole sermon out of any of them, any one by themselves. But this is a rather long one because of some of the things that have happened in our history.

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

And so we're unique; and especially those who have been awakened since the time of the Apostasy. To have one's mind opened, to be able to become a part of a remnant, to be able to be a witness of what happened in a scattered Church is awesome! To be able to see the things we see, to understand the things that we understand, let alone to be drawn in, to be called in by God later on at some point after the Apostasy when your mind was opened and God began to call you and draw you, but to have been a part of that by the time the Apostasy came, and then to have an opportunity to have your mind opened up to what was taking place. Because very few have been able to "see" what was taking place that was fulfilling prophecy, things that God said would come to pass. And so it is a witness. We don't have that many people, when you look at the numbers, who experienced the Apostasy, who are now a part of the remnant. Because most – far more have been called to be given that opportunity who have gone by the wayside, far more than those who remained and continued to fight the fight, who continue to forge forward and desire mightily to see the return of Jesus Christ. To understand that we are in a countdown and we have been for a long time, though we never fully understood all of the things in the countdown, we can clearly see that things are being fulfilled in a very systematic way. And that's inspiring. That's exciting. It gives us strength. It gives us encouragement.

Just as every one of these truths, when you put them all together, they're so… they're powerful. They truly are! They are your strength! They are your strength and your life, in that respect. To be able to have all this, to be able to "see" all of this, that's why it's so important periodically to go back and review them, even if it's just one at a time at different times in a year, whatever it is, and that you're in prayer before your God thanking Him for the ability to see what you see. Because you're a rare person. You're a rare person to be able to see these things. You're a rare person to be able to have the first 21, to be able to see those clearly, because the Body that was scattered and that has tried to, in their own way, hold on to those things is not doing very well at it. Truly.

So going on with what it says here:

That witness is to both the Church (because it's about God's calling into His Church through time and especially of this end-time) and the world (in how the world has responded to God in the past 6,000 years).

So we are blessed to be part of a witness. But a great deal of that is or concerns the Church, the Church that was scattered, those who at one time were in fellowship together in one body.

The vast majority of the Church that was scattered, including those offered to become part of God's remnant Church, has not repented of the Laodicea condition.

That's an important condition to understand, because it has everything to do with why we're going through this series right now. Because that spirit and that attitude and that mind, you have to fight against that. You have to recognize it and you have to fight against it. Because it's very much the norm of the human mind and the way we think as human beings, especially when we've been given as much as what we have. The more you've been given, the easier it is to have this kind of a spirit, to develop this kind of thinking. So again here, in reading what it says:

The vast majority of the Church that was scattered, including those offered to become part of God's remnant Church, has not repented of the Laodicea condition, and they remain prideful and lukewarm.

They don't understand that. They can't "see" that. When you fall asleep spiritually, you don't know that you're lukewarm. You don't know that you're filled with pride. You can't "see" it. Because that's a spiritual condition. The fact that you can "see" it, the fact that you can see a little bit of it that can creep into your life and to be able to fight against it, that's an awesome blessing!

God clearly revealed He would not accept a lukewarm attitude toward His calling and declared that such would be vomited out of the Church [which as it shows here in parenthesis means] (to be cut off from God and the power of His spirit in their life).

How descriptive! How incredibly descriptive! I don't know, this may be not the most pleasant thing to think about. I think about when you vomit. You ever had that experience? I think most people have. I remember the worst that I ever had in my life is when at an airport outside Tel Aviv in Israel, and we'd been on a flight. And I must have had something on that flight going there, as we were going to go to Jerusalem (but the airport's outside of Tel Aviv) and I got outside, and when it hit, it was like a fire hose, just…. It was powerful. And not a pleasant thing. Not a nice thing to talk about necessarily. But everything came out that I had inside of me. Everything that was possible to come out, came out. And I felt so much better afterwards. It was like finally it's out of your system, the poisons that were there, whatever it was, gave me instant relief. I still had a little drowsiness because there's that which can actually affect balance and everything else, dizziness, things that can go along with a sudden sickness like that.

How descriptive when you think about what God said about Laodicea. It's like vomit. It can't be a… It's like a sickness that has to be separated, has to be separated from you. And God made it very clear He was going to do this to the entirety of a Church, that the entirety of a Church was going to be vomited out. What a descriptive thing to describe something that reveals being totally separated from God! Totally separated from God! Not… I could go into this more, but I'm not going to. It's pretty descriptive when God uses such an example to show that something has to be separated from Himself. And that's how He described Laodicea. And this ought to be sobering to all of us then to realize that God will not allow a lukewarm condition to exist in a relationship with Him. That if anyone, though not being in a period of Laodicea, ever has that kind of condition come upon them – because, you see, it's happened since Laodicea as well, where people have gone to sleep again, been lukewarm again, been prideful again, been rich and increased with goods again, thinking…. Anyway.

God doesn't accept that, and He will separate it from the body. It will be separated. Because as we talked about last Sabbath, we're either hot or we're cold, and there is no in between. The in between is just as bad as the cold! And in some ways, actually worse, because with it goes a great deal of deceit and hypocrisy and lying. And God hates lying. Read what it says in Proverbs about lying. God hates it. It's very destructive. It's the opposite of truth, the opposite of what is true and truth and life and how we relate to others in fellowship and conversation. God desires us to worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so what comes out of our mouth should be the truth, which reflects then (if we're filled with God's spirit) God's spirit in our life. Not just in the truths that God has given to us, but as to how we live in everything we do. That everything that comes out of us should be what is true – no deceit, no hypocrisy, no lying.

So again, incredible lessons just by reviewing something like this, just by going through this one truth alone that God has given to us. Going on:

Yet in the midst of the destruction from this end-time Apostasy, God promised to awaken ten percent of a third…

Now, we already talked about this in part because you can't help but talk about certain truths that we've already discussed without thinking about some of these things that tie in together. Because they all overlap. Everything— that so many of the truths that were given to us after the Apostasy tie in powerfully together. And each one reveals a little bit more about the will, the mind, the desire of God for His people and what He wants us to see and understand by what we experience in life so that we can become more convicted of His way of life, of His truth, of His being in us and a desire for that.

So again, reading this:

… God promised to awaken ten percent of a third as a witness of what God was doing, and as a witness of what the scattered Church would do during Laodicea and the time of His final witness.

Ezekiel 5 aptly pictures what happened to God's Church after the Apostasy. "A third part of you shall die with the pestilence and with famine in the midst of you… [Spiritual. There is a physical "type" of this that is to happen, but the primary thing that this is about, first and foremost, is about God's Church.] So he says, "A third part of you shall die with the pestilence and with famine in the midst of you, and a third part around you will fall by the sword, and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them" (Ez. 5:12).

And so we learned. We learned very quickly early on that just because someone is drawn as a remnant, doesn't mean you have it made! On the contrary! You still have a lot of battles to fight. You do till the end. Going on:

The first third that died of pestilence and famine is about those who simply quit and gave up completely. These were diseased and famished spiritually and died (went into full spiritual sleep). The next third that fell by the sword are those who turned from the truth, from the word of God, and thereby were spiritually destroyed by the two-edged sword of God's word that judged them and cut them off from any further access to His spirit. These too went immediately into complete spiritual sleep.

We can look back at our history and those numbers cry out! They scream as to what happened to us as a Body. But who looked at those things? Who, when they heard about this very thing, were really moved by that, to recognize what happened to the Church and what we went through. Going on:

The final third was scattered and eventually formed into over 600 different groups and organizations. Yet these were not shocked into repentance after the Apostasy and the same sword went among them as they drifted spiritually into a deeper unrepentant Laodicea attitude. These too fell into complete spiritual sleep.

All three groups went back into the spiritual captivity of Egypt and became enslaved in spiritual bondage once again.

You know, God's desire for those who were scattered was that they be able to repent. Candidly, God's desire is that people be able to come to repentance regardless, but He knew full well their condition, knew full well the condition of the Church and the choices that people would make, things that were prophesied a long, long time ago that would eventually happen if He let it go to a certain point. And He let it go to that point so that we could learn from it.

Because what we're witnessing and what we've been going through since the Apostasy, it's going to carry some of the greatest spiritual lessons for the Millennium and the Great White Throne that have ever been revealed. That's awesome! When you come to understand how incredible that is and what that means to its depth, it's very moving, it truly is. It is awesome because it gets down to some of the most important things on a spiritual plane that human beings can ever come to "see" and come to understand, of why God has done things the way He has, why He allowed a Church, His Body, His Church, His people to go through what we have gone through and what we have experienced since Mr. Armstrong died. It's not a small thing. And it carries with it some of the greatest of lessons.

I can't help when I think about this to think about hearing, and when I would hear Mr. Armstrong discuss, as he so often would, would go back to the beginning. He would go back and talk about the various phases of God's purpose and plan, going back to the angelic realm and what happened with one archangel who turned against Him. And with all the angelic realm that followed that archangel. And then going on into and talking about what happened with Adam and Eve, when they were given truth and understanding of their creation and their Creator. Not on a great plane like we have today, but just understanding their existence and how they were brought together, how they were made, that He did it – incredible! And their rebellion. And then to talk about certain things that happened in the Church. But he never was able to go to the one we have now because it didn't happen during his time: An Apostasy of God's own people who had His spirit, who were begotten of His holy spirit, who in some cases had lived a life of being transformed for 20-30-40-50 years in God's Church, who rebelled, in essence, against their Creator. Incredible! And that carries with it some of the most awesome spiritual lessons that can ever be learned. Going on…. (That's a sermon and a sermon series in itself.)

All three groups went back into the spiritual captivity of Egypt and became enslaved in spiritual bondage once again. Yet in the midst of this captivity, God promised a remnant protection from the captivity that had quickly engulfed the Church. Although this small group was promised protection and that they could survive the captivity of the others, they were to be thrust into trials and tested to see who could remain as part of the remnant to the return of Jesus Christ.

So, in other words, it's a matter of continuing on until it's complete, until it's finished. And that scripture we've read before, but here is what it says. It's quoting here Ezekiel 5:3. It says, "You shall also take a few in number and bind them in you wings." Again, we understand it's talking about protection that God would give, speaking of this few in number, this remnant.

There was special protection and intervention from God for each person who was offered to become part of this remnant.

And yet, when you're even offered that you still have choices to make. And that's what it all comes down to. It comes down to individual choices when we're given an opportunity – just like when you're called. When you're called (I think this goes on and talks about some of this, but you just can't help talking about it), when you're called into the Church, when you're called and drawn by God there's a process that begins in your life. Your mind is opened up to see things you have never been able to see. And you have choices to make, when God does that. And where we go and how our lives progress depends upon those decisions, those choices that each person makes. Because most never come along. Many have been called. In the last 2,000 years since the Church began many, many, many more have been called, drawn, given an opportunity to see things, who have said no. Some at the very beginning before they ever came to a point of baptism – large numbers – and some later on. Going on:

The timing for each person given the opportunity to survive the captivity was not the same. People were drawn out at different times from one of the three forms of captivity that had come upon the Church. The Church began to refer to this process as being awakened from spiritual sleep. Not everyone who received God's awakening responded in truth and in spirit. This is very much like when God first calls a person and offers the awesome opportunity to become part of His Church. Most do not receive it and still others reject it in time, even after they declare they have accepted it.

Then it goes on here quoting Ezekiel 5:4: "Then take of them again (those offered protection to survive the captivity and be part of the remnant), and cast them into the midst of the fire (to be tried and tested). That's what that means, to be thrown in "the midst of the fire means" it's not going to be a cake walk. It's not going to be easy from that point forward. To be thrown in the fire is not a pleasant thing. It's going to be hard. And it's been hard! It's been hard since the Apostasy! No way to try to polish that up and make it look better than what it is. That reality is it hasn't been easy. And those who have stuck to it have continued to fight the fight, they've had to fight some hard battles. Just like we can use the analogy as God does for us talking about physical warfare, we fight a spiritual one. Far more important than a physical one. And it isn't easy. And there's a lot of suffering along the way. There is a lot of heartache along the way. Because a lot of times it involves fellowship with others. It involves those who don't choose or make a decision that you really desire with all your being that they would make. But no one can control other’s lives. You can try to influence them in a positive light, in a positive way, but everyone has to make their own choices, because it's a matter of their conviction to God. And if they're not there yet, in time God has a plan, that for nearly all of those that have been given those opportunities and have had those opportunities, there'll be a time for them. But what they give up in the meantime, the opportunities, the things that God is going to offer them for standing fast, for holding fast, can't even begin to grasp or imagine. Can't even begin to grasp or imagine what God has planned for you and the opportunities you're going to have. Can't be compared, in other words. Can't compare it.

"Then take of them again (those offered protection to survive the captivity and be a part of the remnant), and cast them into the midst of the fire (to be tried and tested) and burn them in the fire, and therefore shall a fire (trials and testing) come forth into all the House of Israel (the remaining remnant of the Church)" (Ez. 5:4).

God is going to be certain about all those with whom He works. And people are prepared at different times for different things. We are unique in what God is preparing us for in construction. If you've ever been a part of construction from the beginning to an end in the building of a house, whatever it might be, there are many phases of construction. There truly are. And a lot of planning can go into every single phase. And some of the most exciting, for me anyway, I don't know about others, is that which you are able to use to make the entire structure or the building beautiful, to beautify it, to make it stand out. A lot of times there are things within the framing of a house you never see again, and you hope you never have to see it again. Sometimes you have to, to fix certain things, termites get in there. But anyway, there are certain things that hold everything else us up, and it all needs, just like a body, we need every part of our body to function well. You hurt one part of it, the whole body just focuses on that one part that's in pain. Sometimes that's all you can think about is that one little part. Smash your finger with a hammer, whatever it might be, the tip, you know, your fingernail blackens or comes off or whatever, and that's where our mind goes. That's where we focus. What an awesome thing God has given at the end of an age that people go through unique trials like we have, because there is no one else that's gone through what you're going through. There is no one else that's gone through anything close in the same manner. And that has to do with construction and being molded and prepared to fit into a specific area of a structure. And one day we're going to come to grasp just how incredibly awesome and what that has meant for everyone. But continuing on here:

God offered protection and survival from captivity to a tithe (ten percent) of a third of all who went into captivity.

You know, when I go through this I think we can read through something like this, we can read these truths on the site and the 57 Truths, and especially if we have no past in the Apostasy but we're drawn at some other time, and how it's just that's just the way it is. We know nothing else of what it was like before. We hear stories of things that have happened. And so we all have a different perspective of what we're able to see. But sometimes by going through some of this, because it may seem so clear in our minds, we don't know what it took to get here. You don't know, necessarily, what many people (or at least a few, speaking of a remnant) went through for these things to be revealed. And those who have been around for some time have gone through a lot. And each step, oftentimes, when a truth came along, it was a big step. What do we do? Do we "see" it? Do we receive it? Do we embrace it? Are we excited by what God is showing us? Or do we resist it? Because some truths that have come along we have tended to resist at times, perhaps. Some have, some haven't, different ones. It depends on what truth it was. And the farther we go along in some of these things these things become more and more so. But let's continue on here. I'll just continue reading.

It amazes me when I go through some of this stuff and read it. It's just like some of the examples we even talked about here recently.

Once put to the test, all did not hold fast to what God offered them.

And so talking, again, here, "God offered protection and survival from captivity to a tithe (ten percent of a third) of all who went into captivity."

Once put to the test, all did not hold fast to what God offered them. [Choices.] Although the Church did not understand it through this period of time, we knew that the Church was holding near a count equal to a tithe of the tithe in number…

And I'm dumbfounded by that. We've, God has always held us, as a whole, as an average through time, until the second book came out and larger numbers began to be drawn in, but before that, especially when we're talking about a remnant and you're looking at the remnant, a tithe of the tithe. For a long time that held true.

So we knew that the Church was holding near a count equal to a tithe of the tithe in number (ten percent of the ten percent of a third). So what happened to all the other 90 percent who were given opportunity to be a remnant?

And again, I know we've discussed some of these things, but it's well worth repeating and discussing again and having deeply embedded in our minds.

That which happened to them is exactly what happened in one of the accounts of Christ's life when he granted healing to ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19).

All ten lepers were diseased, infirmed, and ostracized by the world. They were very much held captive to their conditions in life. Only one who was a stranger (not of Judah but of Samaria) a Samaritan, had the humility of mind, with a spirit of gratitude, to return in worship and thankfulness for the healing Christ offered him. Even in their oppressed state, the other nine were filled with pride…

What an incredible analogy and an example of something to understand even what has happened with those that God has called to be a part of a remnant.

Even in their oppressed state, the other nine were filled with pride and void of any sign of thanksgiving for what God had offered them.

There is hardly a week goes by that there isn't some kind of a conversation of some who have been with us in the past. And even some, because of visiting in this area here, different things pop up again. You think of different people again. You think of different situations when we, at one time, were together more. We can go all the way back before the Apostasy. I think of the song, an awesome song that we used to sing, that, "We walked to God's house side by side, and counsel blended sweet." The way it was in God's Church during Philadelphia, as a whole. And I think of the Feast of Tabernacles when there in the Piney Woods coming out of the Big Sandy area, and anyone that was ever in that area, at least 5,000 plus people camping in the Piney Woods, what they called the Piney Woods. 33 streets, I think there were, all the way down there at Big Sandy in the Pines they had there in East Texas. And then even at times there was a place across the lake where there were several hundred more because they set up, in time, another area across Lake Loma, on the other side where people camped out during the Feast of Tabernacles. And others, of course, would stay out at the various motels, hotels in the area. But a lot of people.

But one of the most awesome sites to me was when they would go up to what we would call "the tabernacle" building. It was a huge metal constructed building that would hold 15,000 people, and people walking up that main street because there were 33 different streets in these Piney Woods and then a big kind of avenue, street area, a little wider (about a regular size of a highway, maybe a little bit wider) and all these people walking up through there. No vehicles, just walking out of the different streets coming together and walking up there to hear Feast sermons at the Feast of Tabernacles.

And when I think of that particular song I think of that, those who walked side by side talking to one another, counsel blended sweet, and then of that which happened some time later on when some of the very ones you were close to and you shared time with and fellowship with and talked about sermons, talked about God's way of life, and they chose a different course. They chose to go in a different direction. They oftentimes, attitude and spirit would change with that and turned against you and were no longer a friend but made themselves an enemy. Came to a point oftentimes where they would hate you. Literally hate you because you continued on and they hated everything you represented, which was God's way of life. And those kinds of things have cut deep, deep, deep in people's lives, but you continue to go forward.

And so thinking again here, even on this particular trip here about some who aren't with us, and some of these scriptures that jump out at you and what can happen if you're not continually thankful for what God has given to you. And how on earth can you be in a group of people when you believe one of the incredible truths that was given during 2005? That is one of the most powerful, most incredible truths that God gave to the Church, as a matter of restoring truth to the Church, since it began to be taken away by a great church, a church that became great in the world in numbers and the Nicene Council back in 325 A.D. when they began to introduce the teaching of the trinity.

And yet one part of that trinity has permeated the world – as of what is called Christianity today, traditional Christianity, that this being…. That's why in the Old Testament, in the Old King James Bible, not in the Old Testament, but in the Old King James Bible when you read the old English, God's spirit is referred to as "the holy ghost." Because to them it was like a being. There were these three beings – one being was the holy ghost, one being was God the Father, and one being was Jesus Christ. And the concept is that they're all one God but they're all three separate. This great mystery, they call it, that nobody can understand. Anyway, but they're all three separate, they're all three separate beings. Confusing. Talk about what Satan has done to confuse the world and they lap it up. Over a billion people believe in that. Well, more than that, almost 2 billion people, you know, have this concept that Jesus Christ has eternally existed along with God the Father.

What an awesome, awesome truth that God restored to the Church, to let us understand that Jesus Christ had a beginning. He never existed for all eternity. He had a beginning. And all those scriptures that in the Old Testament that should cry out so powerfully, when God, Yahweh Elohim declares, "There is no other." "There is no other God; there is only Me." And yet people try to put two other God beings into a God Family. They don't even call it that. But anyway, how blessed are you to know what you know? And how could anyone who has known that and received that, and accepted that truth go back to believing what they believed in the past before it was given to them? It blows the mind.

And so I think of this when we go through and talk about the ten lepers and the one who turned back and was thankful to God, thankful to Jesus Christ for what he was given. And so I think of the one percent – one in ten, I should say – who has continued on, a tithe of the tithe. And that's been over a long period of time. Anyway, going on:

Laodicea was filled with the spirit of pride and ingratitude for everything that God had offered to them. They could not see the depth of true riches God had given them and instead they took to themselves these riches.

And oftentimes with that the ability or the mind that says they can change, they can change various things and believe whatever they want to believe or they can discard certain things that God has given. Anyway, going on:

"Because you say [and we've read this before, Revelation 3:17, but it shows the attitude and spirit] …Because you say I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, miserable, poor, and naked, I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire so that you may be rich and dressed with white…

And that's why, that's why the remnant had to go through… God's desire was to throw the remnant into a fire again. Because it's through the fire that you can grow! But so many don't understand that. It's through the hardships. If you don't have hardships, if you don't have some hard, difficult things to do in your life, if there aren't difficult decisions you have to make on a continuing basis… Because every time you're being tried and tested, is God number one? Is God always first in your life? And you can grow in that environment. Because if you're not being tried in those things, if you're not being put to the test and tried in those things, you know what happens? Laodicea. That's what happens. So the trial and the testing is good. The fire is good. By nature we don't want to go through hardship. We don't want to have hard things happen to us. We don't want to have fellowship interrupted. We don't want to experience the difficult decisions that are there. But that's what's good for us. Do you understand why? Do you understand what it does to your mind? Do you understand why being forced into that, pushed to that point, that it can produce great fruit, that God can use that to help you to grow more, to become stronger? That's what He does! He can help you to become stronger through that process. If you don't have that, where is the growth? Where is the development? It's easy to become stagnant then and begin coasting and begin to straddle the fence post. Or the different analogies, things that… become lukewarm.

"…I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire so that you may be rich." We should desire to be rich with what God has for us, to be dressed in white raiment. And that has to do with making right choices and decisions because it's a matter of righteousness, it's a matter of choosing God's way, God's truth, and not our own way. Those are the choices we make constantly in our life when it comes to a matter of whether or not we're dressed in white, God's righteousness, because it comes from God. It's not us. It's because we're in unity and agreement with God, because we repent of the wrong! We're willing to repent of the wrong, of being in error. Going on:

So who were these of the larger number of people, the nine in ten who rejected God's offer to be in His remnant Church to the end? It is exactly like what has happened when God first offers a calling. People in the Church never get to know them because they quickly reject what God offers.

I remember back in the late '80's, early-'80's, mid-'80's. I didn't become a pastor in a Church area until, what was it, about 1986-87, in through there we were sent to an area to pastor Churches up in Pennsylvania. And at that time we were still going through a process of a lot of growth, in the time of '84-'85-'86 in things Mr. Armstrong was doing. And that continued on '87-'88, in through there. And the number of visit requests that continued to come into the Church, into the ministry as we were sent out in different areas. And we'd go out and visit people and their minds were opened up. And so many of them couldn't make that step, couldn't take the step even though their minds were opened up, requested a visit, had a desire to be baptized, but there were certain things they couldn't say no to in their life. Family – a big one. Or certain other things in their life they didn't want to give up. Didn't want to take that step. The job, because they couldn't go in and tell their boss, "I can't work on the Sabbath any longer. I'll not work on the Sabbath." Whatever it might be, so many things like that that happened. But people in the Church never got to know them, didn't get to know the ones who were being called.

It's the same thing with what happened here at the end and what happened with those being given an opportunity to be a part of remnant. A lot of them you never got to know. A lot of them Laura and I visited in different areas.

There is also a large number who do make some contact with God's Church (the ministry), but never follow through with acceptance of God's offer. [Just mentioned that, talked about that.] Then there is a third group, who do accept the offer and enter into fellowship, but in variable periods of time they have turned away.

So the Church has not known all whom God awakened who rejected His offer to escape captivity. The vast majority quickly rejected what God had placed before them because their pride was far too great so that they might humble themselves to become part (the remnant) of what they could see through their narrow vision of such a small and widely ridiculed group.

Isn't that an incredible thing? "You're too small to be God's remnant Church." Or they wouldn't even think that way. But, "You're too small." And sometimes didn't like the ones whom God had called to lead, guide, and direct it. And I think of sometimes even amongst ourselves we have to be very careful of what we think about those whom God has called. It's about relationships. And the period we're getting ready to go through right now, having to do with the Passover and the taking of the Passover, that should be the farthest thing from our mind. On the contrary! Our mind should always be, "I love whom God has drawn and God has called." There is much to be learned from that because God calls a wide variety of people for great purpose, a wide variety of people with many different backgrounds and many different trials and things that they're coming out of in their lives, and how we look upon them. We can never do or be of a mindset what so much of the scattered Church (especially in those 600 groups) has done toward God's remnant Church. See? And that's to look down upon them because, "They can't be of God. God couldn't be working with them." And we have to be careful, don't we, of how we think about one another? On the contrary! That's why it's so important. Our thinking towards others in the Body has everything to do with our thinking toward God. It's about how we see God and how we think about God. See, it's easy to say, "I love God and I love Jesus Christ." But if we don't love everyone whom He's called, we don't love Him. Because they go hand in hand. They truly do. Mightily so. (I'm not sure of the spot here. Here we go…)

These are those who would not exercise humility and accept God's government and guidance through the new remnant organization, so they rejected it.

How much worse is it now? "You're following who? Look where…. Look where he's been." Basically, in their minds, that proves it. And it would to a normal carnal human mind. Doesn't that prove it? Think, yep. They don't ever think about what happened to Paul and Peter and so many others. Because all but one, that we know of for sure (that was John we believe died a natural normal death, of old age), all the rest not only were imprisoned, most of them killed in hideous ways, especially Peter. He suffered the worst. Going on…. Sometimes we don't realize… Well, don't even go there. But anyway, going on:

Their rejection resulted in a captivity to spiritual Assyria. They rejected what God had offered them, as they would not accept the government of His new remnant Church and chose instead a government more to their liking and comfort.

And I think of the different, 600 different groups. And you think, what a diversity. What a… Incredible the differences that are there, that exist.

Others whom the remnant Church has not known…

Now, you know what? This is a long one. It's a long one. And if we're not careful it can almost seem to be – I don't know. I hope it doesn't seem to be boring in any fashion or form. Because God's Church went through a lot to understand this, to grasp what had happened. There were many, many years I wondered, because I believed what God said. I believed the thirds already in Ezekiel 5. I knew they were true because we saw the evidence of it. But the remnant? The 10 percent? It was never there within the remnant body that we had, 3,000 people at one time within the Body. Because that's what that would mean. Because nearly 30,000 had to be in the various scattered groups – the one that scattered, that left and just gave up totally, 30 some thousand that were divided up, in time, in 600 different groups. Another 30,000 plus, 31-32,000, whatever it was specifically, of baptized members in the Church at the time of the Apostasy, those who gave up, those who went back into Protestantism and what they were called out of, and then those who went into different groups. And to see that there were 3,000? We never saw that. So there were times I wondered. But I believed God. I believe what God said in Ezekiel. And those of us who continued on and believe those things, God in time revealed it. Because I've had some acknowledge to me in recent time even that they had some battles with that and wondered about that. Well, I wondered too.

But you know what? You may not always have all the answers, but you keep going forward. And you know that in time God will show you what you need to know. There are some things we don't grasp and we don't know. And in time God will reveal it, in His time. And there may be some trying and some testing along the way. But in His time He will give it. And that's exactly how God has worked since the Apostasy, very powerfully so (and did before that as well, but especially since the Apostasy). In time God will show it. Because I wondered for a long time, speculated about what… Where are these 3,000? At what point in time? And God let us see a little bit at a time and we learned as we went along. A lot came and a lot went, and a lot of others were given the opportunity and never came along at all. And that's where the 3,000 were. Anyway.

Well, as normal, I lost my spot again. But I, reading too much of this here, but… "Since the Apostasy…" I'll just pick it up here:

Since the apostasy, there also has been a large number who did come into fellowship with the remnant Church and at some later point they turned from God. They have come and they have gone. Most of these have made themselves enemies of the suffering and the death of Jesus Christ.

What a horrible thing to turn against God twice, to turn against Jesus Christ twice. Once of being of a lukewarm spirit and falling asleep spiritually. And the second time after being called to be awakened out of that spiritual sleep, to do it a second time, that's not a small thing to God, not a small thing.

Let's continue on here with number 35. I guess I've said the rest of this already.

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

I think of two great truths of all these that God revealed at different times, began to give. And that first one was, while being at Ambassador College, concerning Jesus Christ didn't eternally exist. And I put that away for what, nearly thirty some years before God… It was right at almost exactly thirty years. And put it aside knowing that in God and His time, and if there were things I didn't know then I'd be shown that later on as well. But there are some things if you don't see, you don't know, especially in this particular case here, but God had a purpose in it and why He was doing that. Another one was when first went in the ministry and this aspect of what this means. Because the Church has never understood this, what it means. I've talked to ministers. I think of one driving down the highway with in Colorado discussing some of this. And one time talking about it in Pennsylvania. And this scripture here, what it's talking about. Let me go on with this. This is over in… You can read these in 2 John 7. We will turn over there in a minute. You can turn over if you want now, but 2 John: 7. There is no chapters.

This has only been partially understood by the Church. Some scriptures refer to Christ “coming” in the flesh. Much of the Church has taken this physically, meaning that he first came to mankind while in the flesh, as a man.

And yet that's what all traditional Christianity believes as well, so what makes us different? They believe he came and lived in human flesh. But that isn't what these verses are about.

Other expressions about Jesus Christ “coming” are taken as though this is speaking of a time when he will return to this Earth. [And yet these verses we're going to look at have nothing to do with that timing of when He is going to return to this earth.] Yet the literal Greek concerning this word is neither about a “past tense” existence, nor of a “future tense” return. The closest expression in English is that of being “present progressive,” meaning that Jesus Christ is “continually coming” into our lives…

Now, this is one of the most exciting ones to me in so many ways, of the truths that God has revealed to us in the end-time, because it reveals some of the most awesome things of God's desire and His will of why Jesus Christ died, of why he gave his life, so that He can live in us. So that God the Father and Jesus Christ could live in us, because God will not dwell in sin. So we have to be able to be forgiven of sin for Jesus Christ and God the Father to dwell in us, for His spirit to continually be coming into our life. Because that's the only thing that keeps you on track! If you don't have Jesus Christ and God the Father continually coming into your life you will lose what you have! I have mentioned this many a time, and it's worth repeating over and over and over again. I talked to a lot of ministers after the Apostasy (a lot of ministers) on the phone. And I think of different ones with whom I talked, that on one day they were talking one way and the next day I did not know them! They were not the same person I had known for many years before that point in time. They believed something totally foreign and totally different – just in one day! Most cases having talked to Joe Jr. for several hours and continually giving in to and listening to some of the things that they should never have listened to and should have taken a stand and said, "No! I don't believe that. That is not what Mr. Armstrong believed. That is not what God called me…. That's what God… What you're believing now is what God called me out of. This is what I continue in. This is what I believe." But instead, listened to the reasoning.

It's a dangerous thing. It's been a dangerous thing in God's Church when people begin to listen to someone say things that they know are not true. When they begin to listen to someone chatter and speak about things, different ideas and different beliefs. And everyone who has been called to be a part of remnant, who have left, they've all engaged in that kind of thing. Every one of them have either talked and/or listened (and generally both) to different ideas. And if you entertain those things that are different from what you have always believed and what God called you to God will begin to take His spirit away. And when He takes His spirit away one day you can think one way, one day you can talk about the Sabbath and the importance of keeping the Holy Days, as some of these ministers did who had been out there for several decades (in some cases, two and three decades) teaching and preaching to Churches, and the next day believing they'd been done away with. The next day having a conviction that those things were never required by God.

I tell you, that's a startling thing to witness. That's a startling thing to see happen, to recognize. But I tell you what, it drives home the point the only way that you can see the truth and the only way you can ever hold on to the truth is by God's spirit, God the Father and Jesus Christ, their spirit coming into your mind. Otherwise you can't do it. If their spirit is taken away from you today, tomorrow you cannot believe the same things that you believe. Awesome! And that should be a deep conviction every person has. That we have witnessed those things over and over and over again, and that we're deeply convicted of the importance. See, what that does to you, it helps you to be sobered to the importance of repentance of sin. Because if you don't repent of certain sin, you become weaker and weaker and weaker. And you don't want God to make a separation of a time when His spirit is taken away from you, when He will no longer dwell within you. Because then what do you have?

You think you can hold onto knowledge? You think you can hold on to the knowledge of 57 truths that God gives to you? You'd be lucky if you can hold on to clean and unclean meats! Very physical! That you'd keep a conviction about something like that. And yet sometimes people can and sometimes they can keep a certain conviction about other things in the world, but to hold on to what is true and to be convicted of it? You can't do it on your own! You can't do it just because you have the knowledge of it. Awesome to understand that!

The glory, the honor, the power is God Almighty's. And that's a truth, a powerful truth to understand and to embrace with all of your being and to ever be that much more thankful to God that He dwells in you. To thank Him regularly. "Thank You! I know what I am." I know what I am. And we must all know who we are, each one of us, our frailties of and by ourselves as physical human beings, and that it's only God and Jesus Christ that make us different. It's their mind. It's their mind in your mind that can help you, that gives you the ability to be different, to think different, and to hold on to that which is true and right. So how thankful are we? Like the one in nine of the lepers, to God on a regular, constantly, continuing basis, "Thank You for what I see. Thank You for what I can continue to see, because You continue to dwell in me as I continue to repent." And I do repent day by day by day. There is not a one of us perfect as a human being, and every one of us has to repent. They might become more refined things as they go along, but there is still that spirit element in the mind that is not right with God, that spirit element of the mind that is filled with selfishness, "lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life," that control human life, the human mind. And only God can take away that control. Only God's spirit can help to minimize that control more and more in your life as your mind is able to be transformed. Awesome truths that God has given to us. This one here is a most incredible truth.

So again: "Other expressions about Jesus Christ “coming” are taken as though this is speaking of a time when he will return to this Earth. Yet the literal Greek concerning this," again, as I mentioned here talking about the particular tense here, that it's best understood as "present progressive," "meaning that Jesus Christ is “continually coming” into our lives (in our flesh)… Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh, our flesh. That's what it's about. It's not that he came as a fleshly human being. He's coming into fleshly human beings – us – materialistic, carnal human beings, physical in makeup. And it's about his coming, abiding, dwelling in us.

Let's notice some of those verses. 2 John :7—For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ, and it is "is coming" in the flesh. What does that mean? It's nothing you have to say. It's not by what you say. This is not what it's talking about. This is spiritual, totally. And it's talking about here who do not confess by their life – their life does not reflect it. It's not, in that respect, it's not a good English word, really, in how we look at this because of how it's been misused. But their life does not reflect, does not confess the reality of the truth that Jesus Christ is coming in their flesh.

So "many deceivers." To be a deceiver, to be one filled with hypocrisy or whatever it might be, their life doesn't reflect that Jesus Christ is coming. And that's all it’s talking about. That's what it's talking about, that he's not coming into their life. And so someone who's given an opportunity to see what is true and they begin turning from that truth and because of certain sin in their life, whatever it might be, begin to cut off the flow of God's spirit, their life will begin to reflect that Jesus Christ is not coming into their life. That's what it's talking about. "Many deceivers." Where did they come from? Well, the world is all deceived, but this is talking about people who have had opportunity for the truth, to come into God's Church, to be a part of fellowship with God's Church. This isn't talking to the world. John was not talking to the world. John was talking to the Church. Things written throughout the New Testament, they're not written to the world because the world can't receive the truth of God. We can, once we're called.

So again here, For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is coming (is what it is) in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. And who understands what an antichrist is? There are people in the scattered Church who still believe that there is an antichrist, that it's going to be the pope. How blind is that? That the pope is going to be an antichrist. You think, "He's never known the truth. He can't turn against Christ because he's never truly seen him and known him." Only someone in God's Church can turn against the truth, can turn against Jesus Christ, can betray Jesus Christ. You can't betray him if you don't know him.

1 John 4. Sometimes we're so far removed from these it's hard to remember how we used to think, what we used to believe in some of these areas that are very physical in nature about a man of sin, a son of perdition. The pope could never finish it, fulfill that. Incredible. But we couldn't see that. You can see that now but there was a time when no one could see that.

1 John 4:2—Hereby know you the spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh, it's that word, it's that Greek word, is coming in the flesh is of God. It's simply saying what we've been talking about all along. Your ability to reflect God's way of life, your ability to speak the truth, your ability to talk about it with others, your ability to have the truth in your mind can only happen in one way. It's by Jesus Christ coming into your life, by the fact that he's dwelling within you. And so hereby know you the spirit of God. You know, it doesn't take very long for you when you… You know, what an amazing thing. You can travel anywhere in the world with God's Church and you're of the same mind. You don't have to know someone, but when you start talking to them it's like you've known them all your life. There is something unique and different there, isn't there? It's always been that way. Incredible. Different languages, different people, but we think the same way because it has to do with the same mind. Your ability to see the same things, to be in agreement with the same truths, it's an incredible experience in life. That wherever you go in God's Church – not any divisions, not different ideas and beliefs. You believe the same thing. And God has been reinforcing that powerfully over the year more and more and more. And that reflects, that confesses, if you will, that your life confesses that Jesus Christ is in you, because you can't do it on your own. You can't have that ability to talk about the truth, to see the truth, to be able to converse with someone else in God's Church about it unless your mind….

That's why it's pretty easy to know when someone is being drawn and being called. You know why? Because they can talk about the same things you talk about. They may not be baptized yet but as they're coming along there is that perception. "How do you see this? How do you know this?" Well, we know how they know it. If they're able to talk to you about those things, maybe not as much as what you do, but if they're able to discuss some of those things on the same plane and of the same mind, you know where it's coming from. And if that's not there that's pretty clear too. The more experience you have with those things the more they're able to be seen, the more quickly they can be seen.

John 14. No one in Philadelphia saw these things. No one during Laodicea could see these things. Do you know what you have? Do you know what God has given you, the ability to see and the understanding that is given to you that stirs you up even more, that helps you to have a deeper conviction of what is true? Do we grasp sometimes then the depth of what we have? Because it leads into other areas of our life that illuminate. Isn't that an awesome thing too! The Word of God, the truth of God, it's light. That's why it talks about that. The Word that was made flesh is life to us and it's light, it illuminates. Powerful! And the more of that you have the brighter the illumination of things you can see. And only God can give that. Only God's spirit can ensure that and allow it to continue on in your life because He continues on in your life.

[John 14] Verse 3. I love chapter 14! I love this chapter! I love it when we go through it on Passover night. These are some of the most inspiring, some of the most exciting, some of the most stirring, some of the most important things ever revealed to mankind, let alone to the Church, of things that some understood from the beginning, that they grasped, that they understood, that God revealed, as an example, here to John, of things that were lost through time and never understood, and of things that we can grasp again and build upon in ways that they weren't even able to build upon. Because they… Well, anyway, we don't have time to go through all that.

But verse 1—Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. Jesus Christ's words on the night of the day he was going to be betrayed. And he was betrayed in that night as Judas came up to him and kissed him and revealed who he was to those who came to take him away – the Judas kiss, a betrayal. And it was on this night that Jesus Christ talked about these things. And He said, "Let not your heart be troubled." Well, it wasn't for right then and there, it was for what was coming. Because he knew what was coming. And they were troubled. They were troubled! When the one whom they believed at that moment in time was going to be the one that God was going to use as the Messiah, the one who was going to be able to take over reign of government, for the Jews especially if you will, and to take away the Roman rule at that particular time – because that's what they believed. They believed that the government that was over them at that time, the Roman rule that was over them was going to be done away with by the Messiah. That was what their hope was, that a coming Messiah would reign and rule and that the power of the Roman government wouldn't exist over them any longer. They really, that's what they believed. That's what the story is about the Messiah throughout the Old Testament in scriptures and so forth. They looked for a Messiah, which is the same word, "Christ," the one anointed, the Anointed One, anointed by God to be King of kings to rule the earth, to rule over the governments of the earth. That's what the word is about. Same word, different language.

So he says, "Don't let your heart be troubled," because he knew what they were getting ready to go through and he knew what he was getting ready to go through, that he was going to be beaten beyond recognition, that flesh was going to be ripped off of his body, that you wouldn't even be able to recognize him for who he was. We can't grasp that. We've never had to go through that kind of suffering, to where when you pray that you, it's so real in your mind because of all that's in the Old Testament, that Word that was in his mind, that was alive in his mind in ways we can't even grasp (we can grasp a little bit, but we don't grasp the depth of it), that it was so powerful and so real in his mind he knew what he was getting ready to go through. He knew! It was so real to him that when he prayed to God that blood came out in his perspiration, it was such a strain in his body, in his mind.

I can't grasp that. Okay? The most I've ever strained at all was when I had my last heart attack. I found out what a “10” was when they ask you, "On a scale of 0-10, how do you feel?" I passed 10. I told them, give me something else or just shoot me and put me out of my misery. You know, that's what I felt like on a physical plane. I learned. But that was nothing. That was nothing because there is something about the human mind that'll oftentimes, and you go through something that is happening to your body, that God has created something there that almost as though you get to a point where the pain isn't… you can deal with it. You might think, "Shoot me. I don't care." Anyway. But there's something that happens. But to think that you can think about it, to think that it can be in your mind and be such a stress in your thinking? We've never experienced that kind of… I don't know if you call it, if you call it stress or what, that could cause you to be so intent in what you're thinking and what you're praying about that perspiration begins to come out of some of your pores, and blood in that? I can't comprehend that.

And there is not one person that suffered like that except him, because it was in his mind. It was so powerful and so real in his mind. There's never been a human being to experience something like that. But he did for every one of us so that – incredible – so we could be forgiven of our sin, so that God the Father will then dwell in us. Because He won't dwell in sin. So Jesus Christ willingly gave of his life as our Passover to fulfill the scriptures about the need of a Passover so that we could be forgiven of our sins so that God the Father and Jesus Christ can do exactly what we're talking about here.

"Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me." And so we come to learn to believe in Jesus Christ and what God has done through him and what it means that he's our Passover and soon coming King, that he is our Passover, that God's entire plan begins right there with the Passover. How awesome is that? "Believe also in me." And so we do. And we pray to God the Father. We open services by praying to God the Father through Jesus Christ. Incredible. What we're given in the Church comes from God the Father, has been given to Jesus Christ, given to His Church, to the ministry, to me, whatever – just call it what it is. That's how God works in life. That's how He works in the Body. He says, "Believe in me."

In my Father's house… We never knew what this meant! We can take something like this and think, "Well, I've always understood that." How did you know it? How do you…? Do you grasp? Do you know that the Church has not known this, and that what you have is an awesome, precious truth in this area alone? In my Father's house are many mansions, in the Old King James, it says. You know what used to be taught in this, because it's all that could be seen? It had to do with God's government. It had to do with the time when you're changed to spirit being that there are many mansions, and you know, once you have accomplished being in Elohim, that's what it's about. It's about what you're going to receive as your great… as a reward of rulership. It's not about that at all! It's not about rulership. It's not about power. That too comes from a Protestant world. And it's just the reality is that God never revealed that part. Is that anybody's fault? Mr. Armstrong's fault because he didn't know it, because he didn't see it? Not at all. It's God's choice and timing of when He reveals His truth to His people, all for a purpose and all for a plan. Doesn't take away from anything, from what we don't know. That's why I love the expression we use now about "the present truth." Because what we know now is different from what we knew five years ago, is much different from what we knew ten years ago. In different levels, in different areas of our life, always growing. Present truth. And you're judged by the present truth, by what you know at any specific moment in time.

"In my Father's house are many mansions." Not about mansions at all. This word is used in two places in this chapter, in the scripture, period, and it's in this chapter. Two places. In my Father's house are many places of abode. And what is "my Father's house?" We never understood what it was. It's about the tabernacle. It's about the temple. "My Father's house." In the temple of God. In the Church of God. It goes beyond the Church of God because it goes into the Family of God. In my Father's house, because it begins there in the Church, are many places of abode, dwelling places. It begins in our physical, carnal lives, of God's spirit living and dwelling in us. Many places to abide. Every one of us sitting in this room, every one listening today of the same mind: "In my Father's house are many places to dwell." That's what it's talking about, for Him to dwell, for God the Father and Jesus Christ, God's spirit to dwell.

In my Father's house are many places of abode. If it were not so, I would have told you. And so he's telling them what they needed to know, what they needed to understand, why it is he was getting ready to die, why it is he was getting ready to suffer and go through the things… "Don't let your heart be troubled." Why? Well, because you don't know what's coming. "Your hearts going to be troubled, but don't let it be troubled, because it all has a purpose." And that's what he was explaining on the Passover night.

I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you… What do you mean, "a place for you?" In the Body of Christ. In the Temple of God. In the Church of God. "I go to prepare a place for you," which leads to being a part of being Elohim when God the Father and Jesus Christ are going to dwell in us for all time. All time. Always. Never a point of being cut off. Never at a point of sin and not experiencing, not having God the Father or Jesus Christ and the power of God's spirit living and dwelling with us, but for all time. It's guaranteed once you're a part of Elohim. But until that time we have sin. And there are times that God's spirit begins, the flow of God's spirit begins to be cut off. Sometimes fully cut off because of sin. That's why we have to get on our knees and pray through our Passover to be forgiven of sin, so that they'll continue to dwell in us. "I go and prepare a place for you." They had no idea what he was talking about! They still didn't grasp; they didn't know until later on, the three days and three nights and what was going to take place there. And yet he told them. Those who mocked him when he was up there on the pole, "You, who could destroy this temple and in three days rebuild it?" They mocked him, made fun of him, laughed at him. That's what they were doing, ridiculing him and what he taught and what he said. "Look at you now! Come down! If you're the son of God come down! Do 'this.' Do 'that.' You were able to save others, you can't even save yourself?!" Incredible what he went through, the mockery. Incredible what we go through, the mockery. It has to be that way. Has to be that way. We must all come to learn and understand things about him and what he went through for us. And we do that because we experience, on a lesser plane, the very same things, what it means to be betrayed, what it means to have various things happen to you in life and so forth. What it means to be low. He told them that night, "The world has hated me; it's going to hate you." That's how you know God's Church. And if it doesn't hate you, you should have a problem, truly. Then you would have a problem.

And if I go and prepare a place for you I am coming again. That's what it's talking about, continual present progressive. Awesome! He's not talking… You know what we thought or what was thought in the Church and what was taught? That he's going to come again as King of kings. That's not what it's talking about at all! That's not what it means at all! We didn't understand. "If I go and prepare a place for you…" How? By dying. By becoming your Passover. By becoming the Passover so that you could have your sins forgiven. "I am preparing a place for you in the body, in the Church of God." In the Body. That's why it's called the Body of Christ. That's why we're called the Body of Christ, the Church of God. "I am coming again," present progressive, "into your life on a continuing basis." How does he do that? By his spirit – day in and day out. And beware if that ever gets cut off. Beware of sin, because that will cut off the flow, that life living within us. He died, he suffered so that we could have his life and that of his Father dwelling within us. And it's sin that cuts that off.

I am coming again and receive you unto myself. That's what happens. We're received to him, before him, and to his Father. …that where I am, there you may be also. Not in literal location. We tend to think physically. It's not talking about literal location physically. "That where I am, you may be also." Incredible. He is the head of the Body, the Church, and we can be there. We can be in different parts of the world. We can be listening at different parts across the United States and Canada at the same time and be with them in presence, in a special kind of fellowship that we're able to have. What an awesome thing that we're able to have from Sabbath to Sabbath.

Seemed like there was another verse here I wanted to mention, and it's verse 18. Going on down here, yes. Even these, incredible! Talking about, And I will pray the Father, and he will give you, speaking of verse 16, another comforter. And it's, again, that it may abide with you forever. It's talking about the spirit, God's spirit. It's referring to that, "it." It's a power, not a being.

Even the spirit of truth; which the world cannot receive, because it sees it not, neither knows it. But you know it, for it dwells with you, and shall be in you. Awesome things he revealed on that particular night. I will not leave you comfortless. I am coming to you. Awesome! Not without comfort. We have comfort. And what gives us the comfort is that of the power of the holy spirit that enables us to see the truth, to see, to see spiritually in the mind the Word of God, the mind of God, the being of God, the way God thinks. And the more truth that God gives to us, the more we come to understand how He thinks. A very humbling thing, to be able to partake of the very mind of God. Truly is.

Well, again here, we can take these things for granted. Because we haven't always known them. You may have always known them. It may be the only thing you've ever known. But understand, we have never always known them as a Church, as a Body. How awesome, how precious is that truth that God has given to us?

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

Now, the reason this is stated that way is because there's been a concept and the idea and the teaching in different groups that the 144,000 would go to heaven for thirty days. There is the concept and teaching that it'd be forty-five days. I think of different ones who have come out with that belief, those beliefs. After the Apostasy, even, different ones who had these ideas. And yet the scriptures are very firm about the very fact that that's not God's purpose. God's purpose is not that Elohim go to heaven. God created the universe for a purpose and there is much to be done in this universe that we don't grasp and we don't understand. And we have a lot of work to do right here on earth before we even go beyond that. Before we ever go beyond this little orb in the universe we have 1,100 years ahead of us of things to be accomplished – focal point of God's great plan of bringing many into Elohim, into His Family. And then what lies beyond that? Maybe Jesus Christ will begin to tell us some of that during the thousand years. I don't know. He may not. May not be God's purpose to begin telling us those things. I don't know. I don't know because He hasn't said. Or the Hundred-years? We don't know until God gives it. Obviously there are going to be a lot of things that are going to be given to us.

So the reason this is brought up and as a truth listed here is because of different ideas that people have had, that still this concept, an idea of some going to heaven is there. And it shouldn't be there. Jesus Christ made it very clear that's not God's purpose and God's intent for us. It's about him coming here. And His son being sent here, and things that go beyond that, we don't fully know. But we understand that because of something very physical that God created there is purpose in this universe of life, of why it's here. The angelic realm itself rejoicing mightily when God created something that was on a physical plane, that the spirit world, it's just not the same. What an incredible thing! I don't understand all that, and neither do you. One day we will more and more. So again:

36 (15) No one goes to heaven, not even the 144,000. Of all who have ever lived and died, only Jesus Christ has ever gone to heaven.

God makes that abundantly clear. Jesus Christ makes that abundantly clear in what he said, "No man has ascended to heaven." One of the big things that Peter talked about on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. was what David had… It was about David. He made it very clear David's not in heaven. Of all people, and the way the Jews thought, surely David would be in heaven. He was a prophet. That's what Peter talks about there, you know. He was a prophet of God and foretold, God gave to him things about Christ. But it wasn't about David. And he said and David wasn't in heaven, it was about Jesus Christ. It was about the Messiah. Incredible, some of the things that are there that you can't see until God's spirit is there. You just can't. People can't see these things. So again:

….Satan has deceived many religions…

I think of all the things he has deceived in the world. You look at all the different religions and all the different ideas. And I'm not just talking about what happened in Judaism as well, and began to happen in the times Christ, Christ's time. [I'm getting dyslexic here. This is dangerous. Anyway. I'm seeing this with a little bit of humor because I have one that I've known for forty years very closely that has some dyslexia. I've told her here recently that I think it's starting to catch. It may not be something that you're born with. It may be something that you catch.] Incredible! You think of the different religions out here and the different ideas that some teach about a… and you think, where does this come from? And why keep pushing this and what happens after death? Why did Satan and the demonic world push these different things? It's amazing. And there are reasons why they did, but not this sermon.

Even many in the Church of God scattering believe that the 144,000 will go to heaven for training before Jesus Christ returns.

I thought I'd mention here that next paragraph has been changed because there are some things, obviously, that we understand prophetically that are changed, that have changed in this third book that has come out, things that are different now than what they would have been with 2012, that are different with 2019. So the next paragraph reads:

The resurrection of the 144,000 begins on the prophetic day [we have new understanding of what that means now]… on the prophetic day [and it says now, or will say if it's not on there today says] (see truth #47), is completed when Christ once again stands on the Mount of Olives on Pentecost of 2019.

The sea of glass mentioned on the occasion of this resurrection (Rev. 15:2) is the location in the upper atmosphere of the “heavens” above the earth where this great event takes place. Even the people on earth can see this spectacle in the heavens (as a great light) which they do not understand, for God says that people will see the coming of Jesus Christ on that day. [That's "prophetic day."] That sea of glass is not to be confused with the sea of glass (spiritual creation) that exists before God in the spiritual heaven of His very throne (Rev. 4:6).

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

Again, I hate to rush through some of this like we're doing, in some regard, and some may feel like we're going on too long, I don't know. Hopefully not. But only one paragraph outlining some of this and this is awesomely important because of what's happened within the scattered Church, to understand all the things that have rumbled through the Church about a 14th/15th Passover. I'll just read this first.

Ever since the 1970’s there have been ministers throughout the Church teaching that Christ fulfilled some of the aspects of Passover on the 15th day of Abib and not on the 14th (which was when the Israelites observed Passover). Mr. Armstrong taught that this teaching of the 15th was false….

It's in the booklet. What was that, God's Holy Days or Pagan Holidays, something like that? Whatever the title of that was. But there's a section in there that's specifically titled 14th and 15th. He discusses this and he gives three basic scriptures to zero in on the fact that everything happened in the 14th. None of it happened in the 15th concerning the Passover. Jesus Christ fulfilled it in that day. And even as you read that in Leviticus 23 it's very strong, very specific that it happens in that day. It doesn't say in the 13th and in the 15th, "in the fourteenth day of the first month."

So, again, you may think, why… why…  I think about, why is this so important? Why do you keep…? Why did you go these things? I think of when God was showing us right after the Apostasy about the 14th/15th, and I've said it many a time, and I'll say it many a time more. I will never get tired of saying it, in that respect, of what was happening at that time and some wondering and even asking outwardly, "Why are you making such a big deal about the 14th/15th? And if something isn't right on line with what God has given to us, if it varies to the right hand or to the left and it's in error and it's wrong and it's false and it leads people astray and it causes people to go into disobedience and to, in respect, take away from the meaning of everything that Jesus Christ went through, what a hideous thing. It's awesomely important because it has everything to do with what Jesus Christ went through, why he went through it, what the Passover is all about, why Jesus Christ did what he did. And to minimize that or to take away from that, it's sick. It's perverted. And everyone who has gone down that road has cut, in every situation, in every case like that, instantly – instantly cut themselves off from God, and God hasn't looked kindly upon those things. And those individuals have been judged very strongly, very powerfully so in what they're going to experience. Many of them will be among the 7,000 named.

I don't know if you know that, remember that sermon back there in Revelation, when I talked about some of that, about the 63,000, the 7,000, and so forth. But the 7,000, the words that are used in the Greek language speaks of those individuals in the context, in the sense of they are specifically named by name as to who they are that fit into that category. What an incredible thing to have said about a group that's condemned, in that respect, for things that they did as far as an example of shame is concerned. Will they have opportunity later on? Not in the thousand years. Not beyond. They are going to die. But will they have opportunity in the future? Well, those who haven't committed the unpardonable sin will have opportunity in the Great White Throne. Those who have will not be resurrected then, and there will be some who will not be resurrected then. They have already been judged. I'll just read it again:

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

You know what we used to do? Basically, we ended the full meaning of the Passover that evening and we never really went into it and grasped the full meaning of what Christ fulfilled and what it means, of what took place during the rest of the day of the 14th. Truly. We didn't understand it or didn't grasp it or didn't teach it to the degree of what God has revealed now.

Ever since the 1970’s there have been ministers throughout the Church teaching that Christ fulfilled some of the aspects of Passover on the 15th day of Abib and not on the 14th … Mr. Armstrong taught that this teaching of the 15th was false, [as I mentioned there, in the book], yet it continues today. Along with fulfilling…

There are groups out here who still teach 14th/15th Passover.

Along with fulfilling the symbolism of the Passover lamb, Christ also fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover sacrifices…

Something that we really haven't grasped to the fullest extent.

…also fulfilled the symbolism of the Passover sacrifices performed by the Levitical priesthood on the afternoon of Passover, before the beginning of the 15th.

A lot of people don't understand what took place on the Holy Days and what took place on the preparation day for the first annual Holy Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. There was a lot of work went into a lot of sacrifices of animals that were killed and prepared to be offered up at sundown. Anyway… So a lot were killed before that and prepared for the sacrifices later on. That has confused people as to what the meaning of the Passover is and they can't separate the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the sacrifices that were offered up later with what was fulfilled before that period of time. Anyway, going on:

This daylight portion of the 14th, which contains great meaning for what Christ fulfilled, has not been fully understood. All of what Jesus Christ fulfilled took place “between the two evenings,” on the night of the 14th and in the day of the 14th, and not on any part of the 15th.

Again, I can't give in a short amount of time here how awesomely important this is and what this means to God's people and what it means to God's Church. But again, it's an awesome truth. And we shouldn't treat it lightly. We should be in awe of what God has revealed to us. We can begin to take these things for granted and think we've always known them or we've always understood them. And we haven't. So how awesome is it that you grasp and see and understand this to be a truth that God has given.

Let's stop there today.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1