The Virtue of Truth, Pt. 6

Ron Weinland

May 7, 2016

Today we're going to continue from where we left off last Sabbath in the current sermon series entitled, The Virtue of Truth, and this is Part 6.

And again, to remind everyone again and again and again why we're going through this, it is so that indeed we are excited, inspired, moved, motivated by the things that God has given to us and that we don't ever allow a spirit of complacency, a spirit of laxness, if you will, an approach like that that is somewhat Laodicea in nature to ever take hold of us. And to realize those things are kind of a natural thing, especially when we've been given so much. It's easy. It's easier when we have so much, when God has given us so much to begin to take some things for granted. And God's truth as well. And we don't want that to happen. You can't allow that to happen.

I think of Mr. Armstrong, regardless of what period of time you look at one of the things that stands out in my mind, probably more than anything else in that respect was he always had a sense of urgency. It didn't matter what period of time he was in he had a sense of urgency. He knew we lived in the end of an age, not knowing exactly when that would be. We didn't know. I've made comments how that every car we ever purchased we thought, "That's going to be the last one!" We've had a lot of cars, and we're still moving forward. But we know that we live in the end of an age. We have all that history of the past nearly 2,000 years now, and God gave to Mr. Armstrong to understand some very basic things, that indeed we are in the end of an age at a time when man can destroy himself.

And that is one of the most important things to grasp and comprehend. There would be a time of technology, a time of an ability of mankind to literally destroy himself if God didn't intervene and stop it. And we see things happening in the world now in a greater way just in a physical sense, in a physical way, to recognize and to understand that time is pushing in, it's closing in. Even if we didn't grasp or believe some of the things we do as far as timing is concerned.

And as I've mentioned, regardless we have a responsibility. If we see something, if God gives to us something and we focus on a particular period of time like we did and we're doing again, that we'd be amiss if we didn't do it regardless of what happens. Regardless of what comes to pass we are moving forward with that kind of desire, zeal, and sense of urgency, just as God gave to Mr. Armstrong. And we need to have a sense of urgency and we need to have an appreciation and a gratitude and thankfulness for everything that God gave and never allow a lukewarm spirit to enter in, but to understand how blessed we are. And only by reviewing these things sometimes can we really come to grasp that or to think about that and meditate upon that and to realize where we really stand. We can take a look at ourselves in a mirror spiritually, and get a sense of where we are. Because if we're not excited by God's truth as we go through them something's wrong with us! Just like the Holy Days; I can't help but get excited. Just like I pre-recorded that second sermon, Part 2 that will be on the weekly Sabbath, but still concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Passover period, the two sermons that go hand in hand and that Part 2 that will be on the Sabbath following the seventh day of Unleavened Bread. Couldn't help but be excited, even by myself. When you're by yourself it's a little bit harder if you don't have an audience, but I've gotten to the point now where, you know, God's word is exciting regardless and there is that extra measure of something that stirs me up more when I see a group of people and I'm able to talk to you like this and give a sermon. It's easier. But nevertheless, you can't help but be excited by God's plan. And if we're not, something's wrong with us! If we don't get stirred up every Holy Day, if we're not inspired more than we are even during the weekly Sabbath's, something's wrong with us. And the same thing is true about the truths that God has given to us. Every one of them that we look at, if we're not stirred up by it, we need to ask ourselves why. Do we really grasp what went into it? Do we really grasp? Because even today as we go through some of this, you can't help but realize, you can't help but think about the reality that, yes, I see this and I know this, but I need to understand some history involved here too as to what God did and how He revealed it, because others can't see it. They might seem exceedingly simple and easy to us, but it's isn't to a scattered Church, to a Church that was scattered. They don't grasp. They don't see. Matter of fact, they think some of these things are so far out there that to them that's just out there. It's weird. And yet they're so clear, so simple to us. But they should also excite us and inspire us to grasp how blessed we are as God's people.

I don't care if you're looking at God's truth or just your own life and what you have been blessed to receive. What you have in this life, what we have in this age compared to what people had in times past a hundred years ago, two hundred years, three hundred years ago, we are exceedingly blessed. Technology that God has given to mankind, we are exceedingly blessed. You don't have to go out and chop up wood or look for something to cook with, because a lot of things that went into meal preparation took up a lot of time in a day let alone other things you had to do. Just the preparation of things, the gathering in of things, the storage of things, the grinding of things, whatever it might be. You know, you don't have to worry about grinding up wheat, corn, or whatever it might be today. It's all done for you! Prepackaged! Go down to the supermarket and there it is, and you can use your time in other ways. Incredible! A lot of lessons to be learned from that.

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

Well, that's simple to you. That's plain to you, as a whole. Those of you who are new, that's a clear and easy thing. But it isn't for the Church that was scattered. It isn't for those who were alive during Mr. Armstrong's time in Philadelphia or those who have lived on since that time, or came in from that time in a period of Laodicea when Mr. Armstrong was no longer around. It's not simple to them because it wasn't given to them to understand. They still think there's a great multitude. When you go back there in Revelation and read some of those things the 144,000 has been believed to be that which has to come out of the Church at the end-time! All 144,000! And that goes back to how large we were as a Church during Philadelphia and why some of those beliefs were there and thinking that surely everyone who is called and is baptized, the 96,000 that were baptized into God's Church before the Apostasy, that those plus the rest that you need to have 144,000 would be called at the end of an age and they are the 144,000. They make up and constitute the 144,000.

What an awesome thing that you grasp and comprehend, no, many are called – many, many, many, many are called, but a few are chosen. And that's the way it's been for 2,000 years. There are far, far vast larger numbers of people who've been called and given an opportunity to see certain things in life, but because of human choices, but because of choices of family (usually), because one is called and another isn't, or a couple are called and other family members and relatives aren't called, the pull that can have on the human mind. And people can't make that choice and judgment that, "I'm going to do what God has placed before me! God is first!" That's always our choice from the time you're called from then on. God is first in life. And if we can't make that choice in human life, then we can't proceed and go on with all the other things that God wants to give to us. Awesome to understand this. Many are called and few – how blessed are you? How blessed? Do we grasp how blessed we are? A part of a remnant even? Very few!

I know I... I don't want to give that away. It's mentioned in one of the sermons that are pre-recorded. I'll try to save that. I'll probably forget it and you'll have to go back and listen to it in the pre-recorded sermon, catch it. Anyway, going on in what it says here:

The Philadelphia era taught that there would be 144,000 from Philadelphia who would be resurrected at Christ’s return, along with an innumerable multitude who would come out of Laodicea during the 3 1/2 years of great tribulation.

When you read in Revelation about this innumerable multitude it didn't hit the mind that no, this is still talking about the same... if you read through the context of everything, still talking about the same group of people. It's talking about the 144,000. And it can't be counted because it does cover a period of 6,000 years, and you can't know that number. Only God Almighty knows that number that He has sealed and that are reserved and are ready for a time in His government, that have been prepared in His government. An innumerable multitude, and there are others things that go with that as well. Anyway...

This is false. In order to enter into the God family one must be tried and tested over many years and not just a mere 3 1/2 years or less.

What an awesome truth just to understand that. There are people out there, because of what they believed in the past, have not been able to go on to another level of understanding that God has offered His people. And I've used this example many a time. First time that it began to hit me and God began to show it, was back in Houston, Texas. A young man of 19 had just been baptized; two weeks later he was killed in an automobile wreck. And the belief, basically, of everyone was, well, he'll be there. He'll be there in the first resurrection. Not any way on earth would he be able to do that. Had not grown spiritually. Had not matured spiritually. Had not been tried and tested to how much we have to be tried and tested as human beings in order for God to say, "Now I know you!" Two weeks time? Two years time? Impossible! It takes time for this mind to be transformed. It takes time to be tried and tested.

So how great a truth is it when you come to understand, no, it's your whole life, whatever that is going to be, that you're going to have a struggle. And you've got to desire and want God's way of life with all of your being and fight for it your entire life. And through that process of being able to go through that, being transformed, in time you'll be able to be there.

So anyway, might seem like little things, but these are not little things. We've gone through a lot in God's Church to get where we are, for God to reveal certain things to us through time. Knowledge, understanding, growth doesn't come over a short period of time. It doesn't come in two weeks. It doesn't come in two years. And rarely does it come in twenty years, living this way of life. So, "Those," going on here reading this:

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

See, that's... it's easy to read things into scripture because it talked about those would go through great tribulation, and the thought was, well, it's a great physical tribulation. We didn't even know about a spiritual tribulation that was coming for the Church. But because all that... well, that's who it has to be about. It has to be about those at the end-time and those are the ones that go through... No! Everyone who has ever been called, that's what scripture talks about, has to go through great tribulation, trial, and hardship of change and growth and struggle. Doesn't happen overnight. Doesn't happen in a few years. It happens in many years.

So, "All have gone through great tribulation to become part of the God Family." I am moved by these things. I am dumbfounded by these things. Truly am! Because to grasp and understand these things helps us to better understand our lives in the context of a calling that God has given to us and the marvel of what it means for God to bring us from point “A” to point “B” in His family. To be totally carnal, selfish human beings, selfishly motivated, to understand that we're ruled by, we're in captivity to "lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." Human beings are in captivity to that by our very selfish nature that's inward, and not God's nature that is outward and loving and caring and giving and sacrificing in order to give. Ours isn't that way. And so for that transformation to take place over a long period of time, what an awesome thing! It's not a small, simple thing. The struggle that's been going on for long over 6,000 years.... Because this goes back to the angelic realm as well and the things that had to happen there in order to bring us to an ability to grasp and understand things of why God made us physical in the first place, why He's made us temporary human beings with only a spirit essence, not a spirit composition. That understanding in itself is awesome, brethren. The things you see, do we thank God for giving us the ability to see these things? Because they didn't understand these things in Philadelphia. They didn't understand these things during Laodicea. They weren't there. What have you been given? Awesome!

And for anyone to throw it away, especially after being awakened and to go right back into that swill, in the sense of captivity where they were, incredible! Because some leave it all and go right back out in the world. Some just go back and join some other organization that's close to them, but not really close. Give me a break! Can that happen to you? If you don't love God's truth, if you don't love what God has given to you, if you're not thankful to everything that God has given to you, absolutely. Because we have to ask ourselves, how much do we love God? How much is God really first in our life in everything we think and do? Is our life fully motivated and geared towards God? Everything that we do should be geared toward God.

So again, going back and reading this:

All have gone through great tribulation to become part of the God Family. They are called innumerable simply because from a physical vantage point no human could count such a gathering of people, and only God knows the number of those whom He has worked with over the past 6,000 years who have been molded and prepared to be in His Family and in His government. (Rev 14:1, Rev 7:1)

39 (18) Herbert W. Armstrong was a "type" of the prophesied "Elijah to come," as he restored all truth essential to salvation to the Church of God during the Philadelphia Era.

Incredible what God did to him, through him to give to the Church, to raise up a body of that size to work with worldwide, to teach some great lessons that are going to be used throughout the Millennium. That's the primary reason those things happen. It's for later on. It's for later on. Because the vast majority of those raised up at that time aren't going to be in the first resurrection. That's for later on. And the lessons to be learned from that are for later on.

Very few in the Church that was scattered teach this today. Mr. Armstrong described himself as a voice crying in the wilderness and stated in Mystery of the Ages that he had fulfilled the prophecies of the Elijah to Come.

For him. And he had. For what had been given to him at that time, for that particular time period – fulfilled.

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

And the Church, obviously. When it talks like that, it speaks of that and talking about the Elijah to come and during that period of time and what God gave to him and through him to the Church to strengthen the Church, to raise up the Church to the point that it was. But again, Matthew 24:14 was about his commission. But the Church, to understand that, the Church was raised up to support that commission. Do we understand that? Do we understand what took place back then? "And the gospel of the Kingdom shall go into all the world..."

Let's read it, Matthew 24. Because Mr. Armstrong understood very powerfully so that this was his commission, that this is what he was to do, that he was to accomplish this. Matthew 24:14—And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations; and then the end will come. And so the degree that God wanted it to indeed go into all the world, it went. No less and no more. Exactly as God intended it to be. And Mr. Armstrong knew that that was His commission. He fulfilled it.

Again, it doesn't say it all here, but why is that so important? Because a scattered Church doesn't believe that! The motivation that every organization as a whole had, and the larger organizations had, was to continue to go forward to accomplish something that they believe he did not do. Better yet, that God did not do through him. If they had understood and grasped indeed the importance of Mr. Armstrong and the commission that had been given to Him and what God was doing, then they would understand and those ministers would never say, "Well, he was a great teacher and I learned a lot of good things from him." Everything they learned came through him! Everything! They didn't know diddly-squat except for what God gave through Mr. Armstrong. And to have the nerve to stand up before God's people and to say after the Apostasy, "Well, he was a ... " They didn't even want to mention his name, let alone that they were a part of the church, of the Worldwide Church of God. You know what they used to say? "Our former affiliation." They couldn't say Worldwide Church of God, that I was a part of that organization and Mr. Armstrong was the one that God raised up to lead it. They couldn't say it! Why? Pride. Sick, perverted, ugly, filthy pride. That's why. That's the primary thing. They were going to go on and do something that he never did and they didn't want to be associated with all those... Well, anyway. I get kind of sick when I think about some of those things and what happened with the Apostasy, relive some of that, what we went through. That's why these truths are so important.

You know, if you lived it, it's more important to you. If you're learning it, it still should be very important to you. If you never experienced it, it still should be very important to you, to have some of that history in there to realize what happened to so many people in God's Church. That's why it's important. Because of the process that God went through and the suffering that people went through to get us where we are today. There's been a lot of suffering. There's been a lot of suffering in God's Church for those who remain faithful. It's not easy. It was never meant to be easy. And you can't become what God intends for you to become later on, for wherever He's going to place you, wherever He is working to place you in a Body, in a Temple. Amazing! There's a lot you have to go through to get there. We are exceedingly blessed. Truly! How much do we cherish that? How much do we grasp that and the sacrifices?

I think about... I've learned a lot more about what Mr. Armstrong went through later on in life by looking back and listening to some of the sermons and things that were written. Matter of fact there's one article I started to read this last week that I've referred to at times. And anyway, it was that time when he made comment about how that it was a Bible study and he was commenting, "Where are the ministers?" "Where are all the ministers?" They don't need to be fed anymore. They don't need to be at a Bible study. I mean, it's not a commanded assembly, is it? I mean, it's by choice. But they weren't there, and finally, if you remember the story, he found one minister that was toward the back. And there was one minister there – and I don't think it says in that article but I... maybe this happened more than once because I distinctly remember him saying at one time in a recording that I heard, "and you don't count!" Anyway, I don't want to get into that one. But because it wasn't about him. It was about, "Where are all those others? Where are the evangelists?" Of those who should be setting an example for the rest of the Church, that you need what God is going to give through His apostle to the Church in that Bible study. Anyway, we were headed like a freight train. He talked about "getting the Church back on the right track," and worked to accomplish that, but some of it was like a locomotive out of control for some people in their lives and what they were doing.

So, if we grasp the history, these truths mean a lot more to us. A lot of sacrifice. So when I go back and I think about Mr. Armstrong and what he went through, when I heard him preach, you know who he was talking to more than anybody else? It wasn't the Church. It was the ministry in the Church. Because if they're not doing their job and feeding the flock in their areas, in the areas they've been given responsibility for, if they're not sacrificing and giving and doing what they need to do and upholding Mr. Armstrong, upholding headquarters, upholding the truths that God has given, if they're not doing that – whew! And that's exactly what took place. And so he spoke very strong at times and it was toward the ministry. Anyway, incredible what we've gone through.

41 (20) Antichrist...

I've already mentioned... You know, some of these you can't help but talk about the truths of God and talk about some of these stories and things that have happened to us as a Church without mentioning some of these things. I've already mentioned some of this so we'll go through some of these rapidly. But:

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

What an awesome truth that God gave to us! No longer blinded to something foolish and ridiculous, that somehow a Pope could become antichrist or that he could, some of the things that he could do to... Anyway, there are things given in these different scriptures, whether it be in 2 Thessalonians 2 about the "man of sin," the "son of perdition," can't be him anyway. These things are in a context of those who know the truth. And we understand there are no religious leaders in the world like that who have ever understood the truth of God, who have ever been called into God's Church. So again, lessons, things we learn to help us to be sharper, to understand, to grow in understanding of what things truly mean, of what the spiritual intent, of what it means to be an antichrist. Because that applies to everybody. That applies to every individual ever baptized, that they never, never want to be in that category to work against what Christ is working to accomplish within His Body. And yet it's happened over and over again.

Someone was just put out again last Sabbath, last week here, you know, going out in left field in things that if I told you about them you'd have to scratch your head a little bit. How on earth could you believe something so far out as that? That's so far away from, even on a physical plane let alone spiritually. You always have to fight, be on guard, fight for this way of life and to be thankful that the Church continues to grow on a spiritual plane with greater understanding. You have to fight for it.

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

What an incredible truth! You know, a continual refining of things that from the time of what happened in 325 A.D., and all the false doctrines of the trinity and all the other false things that are out there and still the Church working to get rid of those things. You know, one of the big things when people are called into God's Church they have to get rid of in many cases, depending on your background, but if you've had a Protestant background, whew, man, oh man, oh man is that a battle to get rid of the Protestantism that has been a part of your life. And some people, I can just tell you as a fact, some people never grasp that, or it takes a long many, many years to grasp the power that that has in a wrong way upon the human mind. And they don't realize sometimes if they've had a Protestant background, that a lot of their battles are still Protestant in nature. Because they will tend to take what's written in this book in a Protestant fashion. And the truths that God has they will still tend to think in a Protestant fashion, as to how they are to be spoken of or talked about or whatever. I hate Protestantism. I hate what it's done! I hate what it does to the human mind. Because it's fake! It's a lie! It's not genuine! You don't have to make up something if you're genuine and true before God. You don't have to act anything out. It is what it is. The truth is the truth! How awesome is that? And to have all the garbage removed out of your mind, it takes time.

I didn't even go to church as I was growing up. Maybe went on Easter. I don't know if I ever went around Christmas time or not. I don't think I did. It wasn't a part of our lives. And main reason I ever went was because some of my friends went, talked to me about it, and then when I went off to college went a few times with a few because they wanted to go to certain Bible study or whatever. And that didn't go over well. I didn't want anything to do with religion, period. But you know what? Even at that I still had difficulty in the very beginning. I wanted an image out of my mind because I knew it was wrong, and that was of Jesus Christ with long hair up there on a cross looking effeminate. And I knew he was not effeminate. He was a strong individual, a carpenter. And carpenters back in those days aren't like carpenters even today. They were much stronger as a whole because of how they had to do things and what they had to do and so forth. Not like today. They're still, as a whole fairly strong. You have to be to do some of the things you do. But anyway, much stronger in that particular day and age. And to have him up there looking effeminate and weak? What a picture! What a sick, perverted picture!

I remember for the first year or so just having a desire to have that out of my mind. I didn't... when I thought about Christ I didn't want to see him in that light. But still that sick, sick image of things I had seen in the past. They were there. But I know it was wrong. How much more if you've been raised in that, if you've been reared in that, if you have learned those things? I'll tell you what, they've done a number on your mind and you want to fight against those things.  You want to ask God to clean those things out of your mind and out of your being because you don't want to bring any of that into God's Church. And yet it can tend to happen and it's not genuine, it's not true. And it takes time to get rid of some of that. Understand your battles. Ask God to help you to grasp your battles and to seek to be clean, to be clear of things of the past that are wrong.

And so look at what the Church has gone through to go through these truths that we're talking about today, to get to where we are. A lot of suffering. A lot of time. A lot of agony. Going through the Apostasy (which a lot of these truths came out of the Apostasy), was not an easy thing for God's people! It was excruciatingly painful – old and young alike. Even those who weren't baptized, those who were young and not yet baptized lost all their friends, in many cases. Where do you go then when you're a teenager and what you were accustomed to around the environment around God's Church is taken away from you? And not only that, then speaking evil of you and bad of you – what do you do? You have to make choices. And people did.

So if we grasp that a lot of what we're going through in this sermon has come through much sacrifice on the part of many people, the fact of what you're getting ready to keep here in a few days, the Passover service, came with awesome sacrifice, incredible sacrifice. And we have to seek to grasp that. We truly do. Because by doing so then we can come to a deeper appreciation of what we've been given! Because if we don't grasp the sacrifice, of what others have gone before and done and how valuable then these thing are and what it took to get these things to us, then we're going to miss the mark in many things. And you don't want to do that. That's why it's important to be exceedingly thankful to God for everything you grasp, for everything you see, for everything you know. Because these are not small things to diminish in value over time or to become complacent about. But on the contrary, to be excited about, to be inspired about, to be moved and motivated by – just as much as when we go through the Holy Days and talk about them – these things here should pop out at us and think, we should see a lot of this history and understand the things we went through to bring us to this time. That shows the sacrifice. Helps to reveal the value of what's there.

If you sacrifice more for certain things in life, if you fight for certain... doesn't that show the value? This way of life, the fact the more you suffer, the more you apply yourself, the more you go through in life, doesn't that help to elevate the value of what it is you're fighting for? Do we grasp that and see that? And so it is the history of things, the things that Mr. Armstrong... I am exceedingly thankful that he was the kind of man that he was, that God chose and molded and fashioned an individual like that to do what he did. Because there were a lot of years, in many ways, he was by himself though the church was nearly 150,000 people. After Loma died, after we went into the early seventies, got into the last seventies, he had the heart attack, I cannot... Well, I can. But to think about what it would be like to be by yourself? Now, he knew he wasn't by himself, but he was fighting against a wave that was taking place through the ministry that was fighting against Him, which was actually fighting against Jesus Christ. People becoming antichrist in the ministry of the Church! Fighting against Christ. Fighting against what Christ was seeking to accomplish and do in his body, in His Church. And it came to the point in time where it was so weak and it so bad, you know, God had to just separate it from Himself. That period of time in Laodicea then, the Apostasy came and God just vomited out of His mouth.

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

What an awesome thing to understand! The glory, the honor, the majesty, the beauty, the awesomeness to understand. Because the other took away from that. And not only that it took away from Christ as well! It took away from understanding what God did to him, gave to him, placed in his mind, the Word of God made flesh. That is so awesome to understand! Not that he'd already had it for all eternity anyway, all that knowledge, all that insight. He didn't need God the Father if that was the case, did he? He already had it all! But to understand that he was a physical human being, that His father was God Almighty and that He put a mind within him, and ability with him, His Word in him. It's never happened to anyone else. Cannot happen, will not happen as a part of God's plan. But to happen to one like that? What an awesome thing to understand, the mind of God, the Word of God made flesh. That magnifies God's plan far more, doesn't it? But to have the other belief? To hold on to something else? That is one of the most awesome truths – well, it is – that God has given to this end-time age since Mr. Armstrong's life, since he died. That truth there alone is one of the most incredible, most awesome things that God has given to us. To be able to see that, grasp that, understand that, to have a deeper appreciation of what God did in a son, through a son, His plan in and through a son that He'd predetermined before He ever began with the creation in the first place? It gives far greater importance and meaning to the entire plan when you see it for what it is.

I can't even put it into words how awesome that is. I fall short because I can't do it. I can only go so far. But to see some of those things on a spiritual plane? To appreciate them? Awesome! Truly awesome!

Number 43. I have a goal today, and that's to get through these. Okay, number 43, because a lot of these kind of cross over each other and you can't help but talk about some of them as we have. Anyway,

43 (22) The remnant God is awakening will consist of 10% of a third of those in the Worldwide Church of God, before the Apostasy began.

Now, this truth here. Sometimes I think, why is that different than the other? Well, that's good exercise to go through, especially when you talk about #34, which this talks about here. Again, something that God said, going on here, that He revealed to the Church. Going on in what it says here:

Yet as covered in Truth #34, not all accepted and received God's awakening from captivity. The prophecy of Ezekiel 5 tells of both the scattering of the physical nations of Israel (in the Day of the Eternal) and spiritual Israel (which has already occurred).

Now, this is something... This, actually, to understand this truth is to see what God has all, finally, at this point in time, began, has started, if you will, to reveal to the Church about how some things can change and how some things in prophecy can apply to one area in a very unique fashion that don't apply exactly the same in another. And actually, as so many truths do, one truth leads to another. God just... It's like God's just opening up more and more for us to see. But you can't see certain things until certain things. It's like building a structure, a building, a literal, physical building. There are certain things you can't see until you get a foundation, until you get certain structure in place, and then higher up, whatever it might be, and there are things you can't see until you get there. And then we're ready. And that's the way it is with this one here as well. There's just a continual building process. Which, again, should be inspiring and exciting, of things we've gone through, especially for those of you who've been around the whole time that all these things have come about and how each one came along, and when they came and what they revealed that just built upon what we were already given – a little bit more, a little bit more. Anyway, going on:

This and other prophecies speak of a tithe (ten percent) of a third of both physical and spiritual Israel that will survive as a remnant.

Dropping on down, we've already talked about many of these other things. Toward the end here:

The story and purpose concerning what God offers the physical scattered nations of Israel is different in the application of 10 percent and the third that is prophesied about them.

See, sometimes we want everything in a nice, neat, little package, especially when it comes to thing that are prophetic. And yet one thing that God is showing us and revealing to us more and more, God has made incredible leeway, because He's the one that has to interpret them anyway. He's the one that has to reveal what they mean in the first place. And what do we do as physical human beings? We go through and try to interpret them, what they mean. That's what all the Protestant world has done. When you go out and read about all the things it says in the book of Revelation they want to understand and they're interpreting what it means, that's what human beings do. And even we in the Church, that's our desire. We want to know. Like Daniel wanted to know what does this mean. And sometimes, if we're not careful, we can start to speculate and speculation turns into belief, and after a while we're out in left field somewhere. Anyway, we have to be careful because there is a way that God works to reveal things to us. And we have to wait on his time to do it.

So again, just like that day, the day that we talked about that we realize has changed from a literal 24-hour period at the end to a 50-day period. God is the one that has to tell what it means. So things change. Things can change. God can give whatever meaning He desires to an outline to fulfill and accomplish His purpose and His will, and it will fit. It will fit perfectly. But His hands aren't tied. And a lot of it changes, again, because of what God has been revealing, because of choices and decisions we make as human beings. Anyway, going on:

That which happens to physical Israel will occur in the final cycle of the end-time, and it will be in that time that God promises that a remnant will be saved. This concerns how many will be able to be saved physically in order to live on into the Millennium, however, that final number depends upon them and their response to God. That final number will be between a third of all Israel to a minimum of 10 percent of that third.

Incredible! Incredible what God says. So regardless of what happens God's going to see to it that there is a certain amount (minimal) that will come out and live into the millennial period. It may be just the minimum. We don't know yet. Like to see a whole lot more.

44 (23) The collapse of the United States...

Now, that word has recently been changed – changed that from the word "captivity" to "collapse," and reasons for that. But again:

The collapse of the United States will occur during the 5th Trumpet....

Also, if you go back and look at the truths as they are on the site now compared to what they were, the word "British Commonwealth" has been omitted. So it says now, "The collapse of the United States will occur during the 5th Trumpet." And the reason the British Commonwealth has been taken out of that now is because they have an opportunity to make some changes in their life. They have an opportunity to listen. Whether they will or whether they won't, time will tell as to what God brings them to when these things occur. But there are a lot of things changing. And going on here, let me read the rest of this. So again:

The collapse of the United States...

Not "captivity." It may still be full captivity in that respect, but it may be a collapse. It may... Things are different now of what God can do, possibly will do. But again, it depends on a lot of things in that. Especially that period of time is still very fluid and in great flux as to what can take place. And we have to wait and watch to see how these things transpire.

The collapse of the United States will occur during the 5th Trumpet of the Seventh Seal, and not during the 5th Seal as previously taught in the Worldwide Church of God.

So we came to a deeper understanding of what that meant, of what the Seals had to do with. And God revealed to us things about the Church that we didn't grasp and comprehend. But even for us now in some little things here and there to give us an understanding that still some of these things are changing in the sense because of prophecy, of things that can happen to the United States and things that can happen to Great Britain, whereas before they would have suffered right along with the United States.

45 (24) Not all baptized members, including many in the remnant, will be a part of the 144,000.

It's just a reality. We had God continually showing us and giving us understanding of things that were taking place in what we went through, and it helps to sober us all and understand that our desire is to press forward, to live God's way of life no matter what. And if that means living on into a millennial period and then being resurrected at the end as a part of God's Family into Elohim, after a thousand years, so be it! Things are not owed to us. They truly aren't. And sometimes we as human beings can begin to think that way. Our desire should be to live this way of life, to press forward, to fight for this way of life till there's not a breath left within us – whenever that is. Because you know what? It's going to come your way. It's going to come your way. Everyone is born and everyone dies. Everyone has their last breath. It's a process of life. Now, there is a unique exception to that and we don't know how many – whether it's two or three or five or a dozen – that don't have to suffer death. Unique as human beings. That in one moment they're changed from physical human beings to spirit. Incredible! Awesome! So who are they? I have no idea, and neither do you! See? Incredible! But it helps us to look at things in a sober fashion, and more sober fashion, doesn't it? To realize this is a way of life and we continue to press forward regardless of what happens in life. Everything is in God's hands and He'll take care of things in the best way and what is best for us as well.

Going on to number 46. We could spend some more time on some of these, but anyway:

46 (25) The Church of God- PKG is the only physical organization God is working with in this end-time.

Give a whole sermon on that one there, but I don't need to. We understand that. We know that. But in time there'll be others that come to see it and come to understand it. And it's a great truth.

47 (26) God has revealed the actual duration for the prophetic “day”...

Just mentioned that one. See, you can't help but talk about some of these things in the end here. Anyway:

... when the seven vials of the Seventh Trumpet (Seven Last Plagues) are poured out on the earth. That “prophetic day” consists of the “fifty days” that lead up to and are finally fulfilled by Christ’s coming on Pentecost of 2019.

We've already gone through these things here recently. So again, we've covered this quite thoroughly leading up to this particular sermon. But it's exciting what God has given to us. It's exciting to me of what's ahead and the ability and the means whereby God can work with a lot of people and nations even by what He has the ability to do over a longer period of time to work with human beings to bring them to repentance. Whereas before they were simply judged like in the days of Noah and the flood and the waters came and they died. And now certain things don't have to happen to where they have to die. Now they have an opportunity. Sadly, there are going to be so many who still won't choose.

48 (27) The two end-time witnesses ... have already been revealed.

Don't need to go into that one there. We in the Church, we understand that, we know that. But what an awesome thing because there are several tens of thousands of people out there who talked about, heard sermons given about things that would happen at the end-time, that there would be two witnesses. There was a lot of time in the Church, speculation. I remember coming in 1969 and people were speculating, well, definitely going to be Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and most likely Garner Ted. That was common. That was just common thought.

Because who else would be able to be placed in that position at the end-time? Because at that time the belief was that Philadelphia was going to continue on with Laodicea to the very end of Christ's coming because Laodicea is this group of people. There's going to be this vast multitude of people that are going to be awakened and toward the end and they've got a lot of problems – weak, lethargic, lukewarm. Incredible what we have gone through.

But a lot of talk about the two witnesses. And then when Mr. Armstrong had to correct his own son... Because, you see a lot of people have problems in dealing with, in the Church even, in family. And this existed then, of battles. It goes back in time if you look at the prophets and some of the sons and some of the children that grew up and the inability of a parent, whatever, to deal with, a high priest to deal with (like he should have), a king to deal with (like he should have) his own children so that the children knew exactly where they stood as to what choices and decisions they made as to what was going to happen in their life. That they have a responsibility themselves to do what is right. They have to make the choice. And if you don't, then certain things are going to take place, certain things are going to happen. Lessons to be learned from, things that have happened for nearly 6,000 years now.

God is first. God has to be first. God must be first above your own family. And so these things, no matter how they come about, people are going to be tried in. People have to be tried in these things. People have to be tried in family as to whether they're going to be pulled in a certain direction. Are you going to compromise with something about God and God's Church and God's way of life? Are you going to be pulled by a family member? Because this is the major area of life whereby people fall away from the truth of God. It is the major, number one thing whereby people are able to turn or do turn or make decisions to turn away from the truth, become less zealous toward God, become less zealous toward God's Church. Because certain things can happen in life whereby these things pull at people, and because of choices, decisions they have to make. God is first. There is no compromise with God. There is no compromise with the word of God. There is no compromise. There shouldn't be in our minds.

We know...we know, I know – just like my wife and I did when things happened in the Apostasy – it didn't matter what everybody else chose. It didn't matter. We knew and I knew – didn't matter. I had a hope of what she would choose. She had a hope for what I would choose. But there was a direction I was going, there was a direction she was going, and if we weren't going the same way we had our minds made up. We knew where we were going – God is first. What we learned that God gave through Mr. Armstrong – that's first. Going to hold on to it, going to grasp a hold of it with all of our being regardless of anyone else.

Now, our desire is that others will choose the same thing. But lo and behold, what happened? Very few. Very few. And that rippled through families. That rippled through people's lives. And those things never stop. They never end. You have to know with all of your being. Your choices and your decisions must be motivated, must be moved by your conviction to this way of life. Because if they're not, you're going to go through that trial again and again and again and again and again and it becomes... And the more you compromise and give in the worse it becomes through time. Even with children. If they know where you stand and they know where they will stand if they make the wrong choice, "If you make that choice, you're not going to the Feast of Tabernacles. You can't be a part."

And that just reminds me. I'm going to make a comment. Because this has been this way since I've been in God's Church. You know, if young people aren't attending Sabbath services, if young people, teenagers, I don't care what age they are, if they're not coming together with parents at Sabbath services neither should they come to the Feast of Tabernacles! Why would we do that? What kind of a lie is that? Why do it? Shouldn't be done. So if there is any question in that this year, I don't want to have to step in and say that's not going to happen, because I will. Okay? And I've done it in past times, okay? Because God comes first. And no one has the opportunity, the ability to experience something, to be around God's people at that moment in time that is an important and exciting time and can be an exciting time for young people too because of where they might get to travel to or what they get to do for that period of time, and that's exciting. But you're not going to get that excitement if you don't want the rest of the package. Okay? That's just a simple... That's just the bottom line. I don't apologize for that one iota, not one bit. And I don't hesitate to let a parent know, "No, they're not coming to the Feast. That's not going to happen." You better... I hope that you have the ability to tell them, but if I have to, don't worry. I know where I stand and I hope you know where I stand in God's Church as the one God is using at the end-time here, okay, to lead and guide and direct His people, to help us seek to have a better fellowship together that we can strive in order to be able to receive the best that we can. Because I'll tell you what, the other always takes away from. It always takes away from and hurts a greater potential to have a better Feast. I hope we all understand that and grasp that. Okay? Truly.

So it's wise to pass those things along. It's wise for us to grasp and understand those things and why it has to be this way in God's Church. Anyway... You know, brethren, God is first. Is He first in your mind? Is He first in your life? Is He first in everything you seek to do? That doesn't mean you don't have battles. That doesn't mean you don't have things you're not trying to conquer and overcome. But you better be fighting them day in and day out. And whenever you slip you need to be repenting and acknowledging that God is right and I am wrong. Every time you sin. "I am wrong, and God, you are right. And thank you. And thank Jesus Christ, thanks to Jesus Christ for what he was willing to go through and what both of you have sacrificed for me to have what I have, the ability to be forgiven of my sins and be able to continue on in this battle, to press forward, to fight for this way of life."

That's why I don't give a flip about 2019, whether it happens or not. I hope that it does! I wish that it'd happened in 2012! I wouldn't have had to have those last three years that I had. But I had them. Thankfully they're like a distant memory. It's like a big fog. I have to really stop and think about certain things to remember it. I am so thankful God has blessed me that way. Awesome! People thought it could be a great adjustment when you come back. What adjustment? There's no adjustment! Life is back to normal. Now that we've been able to travel it's getting... It's the way it is. Life goes on. God's work goes on.

So yes, the two end-time witnesses have been revealed (#48).

49 (28) The Seven Thunders have been revealed and will happen precisely as foretold.

Awesome to understand that! Now, I hope we all grasp that there is a purpose and a reason. I think of what God gave to us although 2012 wasn't the time, but all the way up even in the last 3 ½ years things that have happened around the world, things that have continued to happen, of people talking about Thunders and recognizing things are going on out there, and we see a momentum building up. But I hope you grasp and understand that there's a purpose right now, we're in kind of a lull in the storm. Do we grasp that and why it must be that way right now and what is taking place and why God is allowing that and why it's necessary? Maybe I'll give a sermon on that. I don't know. Maybe not, too. I don't know. Because I don't know what I'm going to give until God gives it to me to give, and then I know.

But what an incredible thing to understand. You know what the main reason is? Well there are two great reasons. One is to let this world go deep into lethargy, go back to a level of pride that is so great that they're so dependent upon so that when things begin to happen the next time around it will have the power to shake them far more mightily than it does now, or that it would have a few years ago. A greater power to do so. And the other is all about the book...it's all about the book and the time we have.

That's why I feel very good about another Feast of Tabernacles beyond this one here, because I know how much time it takes to get it out. I know how much time it's going to take some of the different languages out there – the German, the Russian, the Swedish, the French, the Italian, and on and on it goes – of getting some of those things accomplished and get them done. Incredible! And to be able to get out there once again, to push it and to promote it. And it's not going to happen during real hard times, but real hard times are going to follow it, and once it's there will begin to happen.

So again, don't need to go into all those. You know them. You can review them on your own.

"The 50th Truth." Now that you've read that in the book as well, gone through, seeing and understanding in a deeper way why this was dealt with in the way that it was to me is awesome. A part of our history that is absolutely incredible. And you know what? You don't even grasp the depth of it and how awesome it is yet. You're going to grasp it more into the millennial period when you realize that then people are going to be talking about what happened to God's Church at the very end of an age and what God gave to them – this 50th Truth – at a particular moment in time and they're going to be excited about it in ways that sometimes maybe we aren't even excited to that depth of. But when you see this is what's being taught, when people are going to be able to focus in on and learn lessons from it, because they're going to be inspired by it. They're going to be inspired by what God did. They're going to be inspired by a remnant that God blessed to keep going forward, to keep fighting, though so small, puny in size and power; that God did it. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit," says God Almighty. God is the one who does it and He's making it very clear to the world He's doing it. It's not going to be done by a church of 16,000, 30,000, 95,000 or 150,000. Just by a few. Incredible.

"The 50th Truth." This truth concerns the revelation given by God of the actual timing that leads up to the return of Jesus Christ. The Church of God has long believed that Jesus would return as the King of kings on the Feast of Trumpets. That is not true!

Now, I want to make a comment here first of all that this is what many of the ministry were teaching. However, also as I pointed out several years ago, that's not what Mr. Armstrong said in the book about God's Holy Days that he wrote about it. He said that "possibly." It's like the question, "Could this possibly be the time?" But he didn't say it was. But many in the ministry did, including myself, because that's what I had been taught, that's what I came to believe. That's what God's Church, as a whole, came to believe, that this was the picture, the timing of Christ's coming. That's why it caused struggle and difficulty when it was addressed, when God revealed exactly what it was, that it was Pentecost. It was about Pentecost. So anyway:

God has reserved this revelation, for this very end-time, to be revealed just prior to the actual date that serves as an announcement for the coming of His Son to reign over all the earth.

God could have revealed this truth at any time, and it has always been solely within His own power and prerogative to do so whenever He chose. God had given the Church most of the understanding concerning the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets, but not all. God has now given the Church to understand some of those reasons why He has chosen to reveal this great truth just before Trumpets of 2008.

And little did we know that it was a whole lot more important than what we even grasped then back at that time. Because I've talked about how that much of the Church wouldn't have been around if that had been held off for several months and finally given to the Church at Trumpets, that truth. The last of it says here, concerning that particular truth:

The Feast of Trumpets has long been understood to be plural (a blowing of trumpets) and not the blowing of a singular trumpet, all of which announce the work to lead closer to the fulfillment of Christ’s return as King of kings. God has reserved the Feast of Trumpets of 2008 to be the day that is the time for the official announcement to His people that this long awaited final countdown for Jesus Christ’s coming is now at hand.

Absolutely. That's when those thing happened. That's when these things began to take place. And this also talks about, and explains that for the Church at the very beginning when the Apostasy began, those things we should have heard, should have seen. But as far as the things that took place later on and what God began to reveal during that period of time, the 1260-days, the 1290-days, the 1335-days, those were a part of the count. They were a part of a count that God had started or determined long ago, and those things held true, just what was revealed during that time period. I think some of that comes out here later or it's mentioned in this, but I want to jump forward.

There's a lot more…. "The Revelation of the Timing." Yes, it's all in there. You can read that on your own, the revelation of the timing, because to me it's awesome how God has revealed things, how He's helped us to understand and what we've gone through to grasp it.

Number 51 – says here concerning "Additional Truths Revealed": God continues to reveal truths to His end-time Church so that a restoration of all things can take place with the return of Jesus Christ.

51 (1) God has revealed the identity of the Elijah to come.

This is important because there's been a lot of confusion about this through a period of time. God gave Mr. Armstrong to come to understand that he was fulfilling certain things about the Elijah to come, certain prophecies that couldn't be denied, certain prophetic things that were accomplished there. We wrestled with things as time went along in some of this and God continued to fulfill and accomplish some of those things. So again, understood more. I want to read this as it's written here:

As part of this revelation God has made it clearer that John the Baptist was a “type” of the Elijah to come and that Herbert W. Armstrong was also a “type” of the Elijah to come. The final completeness of this role (as a “type”) is fulfilled by the spokesman of the two end-time witnesses. [Jumping on down here…] Over the past 2,000 years there have been three people who have fulfilled part (as a “type”) of the purpose of the “Elijah to come,” but Jesus Christ will fulfill this role in its completeness.

And that's what was never fully grasped and comprehended that God gave to us to understand. It is Jesus Christ who is to fulfill it in its completeness, powerfully so.

52 (2) God is restoring knowledge concerning the rightful place of women in the family. This involves the start of the greater removal of the curse laid upon woman from the beginning which was the result of sin.

Short and to the point, but there is a lot to be learned about this yet. There is a lot to be learned about this yet. There is a lot to be learned in human nature and this transition that is only starting within the Church. Isn't starting within the world, obviously, but even there there is struggle and there is learning taking place, grasping of things that God is beginning to reveal on a greater plane of why it's been this way and why this change must take place, begin to take place and what He's going to do throughout the Millennium. And it's going to be a toughie for this world. This world is going to be shocked anyway and a lot of things are going to be a toughie. No Christmas. No Easter. No Buddha, whatever it might be, things out here that people are going to have to change a lot in in this world. And anyway, incredible times in which we live, brethren. So much... so much.

53 (3) The ordination of women in the Church.

Now, if the scattered body didn't think that we were off base anywhere else, this one here, this one is definite. This is it. I feel sorry for them. I truly do. To be in that kind of captivity because they don't understand the previous truth of what God is doing and that there was a curse and what mankind was allowed to do and even how God allowed mankind to do it even during the time of the early Church. Things were allowed to continue on in a certain pattern, in a certain way in order to work with people, in order to begin to teach people, but a pattern was allowed to take place. And certain things because of the way society and the world was, God allowed. God allowed certain things. It wasn't God's desire that man ever have certain things in a specific way of life, but because of what they were living and the ability to work with them and the way the world was God allowed certain things to be a certain as the man was the head of the home. That's the way it was. God allowed that for a purpose and a reason. Not only allowed it, but it was what was best for the period of time in the world and the society over the past 6,000 years nearly.

Now we're at a point in time where that's all beginning to change, where God's beginning to show what's far more important. It's the spirit. It's God's spirit. It's how we govern our lives according to God's spirit and what is right before God. Not done by selfish motivation. Not done by/from selfishness. Because the reality is all government, including that, has been based on selfishness. That's how people function. That's how the world functions. Everybody knows what's best for everybody else, don't they? People running for office, don't they know what's best for you? Vote for me because I'm what's best for you! Anyway, sorry. Sick, sick, sick, sick. But that's just how human beings think.

The husband knows what's best for the family. He knows what's best for his wife. This is going to be this way because I know what's best! Duh, duh, duh! You got a lot to learn, man, whoever you are. And there are billions of them in the world. Sad. Kept in captivity for 6,000 year, cursed because people didn't accept God's way of life, because people didn't accept God as the authority, the power, the might, the Creator, the Sustainer, the giver of how to have full and rich and happy lives and how to have rich and happy marriages. And that's not the way to do it.

What horrible selfishness. And it exists as a whole in a lot of marriages in the world – and maybe a lot within the Church. But you know, it's supposed to begin to change in the Church isn't it? Even through time, even before we understood this that was supposed to change. But I saw lots of marriages where that just didn't happen. Where the husband didn't learn to love his wife as he should in a way that God commands him to love the wife. They'd read scriptures about what the woman was supposed to do, but somehow the verses that followed, that talked about how the man was to love the wife just didn't quite sink in. And so God was still teaching what was right in the midst of a structure that He's going to change in time. It all depends on where we are spiritually whether we get it or not and how we treat one another and how we think about one another and how much we really love one another.

So the ordination of women in the Church.

With the revelation of the 52nd Truth, God is continuing to reveal the rightful role of women with the 53rd truth by showing that God has and will continue to work with and through women to help prepare the path for the return of Jesus Christ and to fulfill a breaking of bonds for all humanity.

54 (4) There is an end to Satan’s existence.

I think of this question that first came up at a certain point in time where God began to reveal very powerfully so that this needed to be addressed. And I remember being in New Zealand when this first arose. And it was addressed, questions were asked, and then one of the people (well both) that asked it, that were being used by God to serve left. They wanted something else. They went with one group at one point in time and found out, "Ooo, it's not quite what I thought they were. But I left the truth for them." And found out that's not really what they were looking for. So whatever they did after that, I don't know. But I knew when they left and went with the direction they did, I knew they were in for quite a surprise because they didn't know the guy they were following. I did. The things people have to go through sometimes beating their head up against the wall, spiritually fighting against God.

What an awesome truth that God gave to us. "There is an end to Satan's existence." To understand what's going to happen, to understand that after all that time, of time we don't, we can't even begin to comprehend – getting close to 67 years and sometimes it's hard to comprehend that. We know things of history. We can go back and we think about things of history, but to go back millions, perhaps billions? I don't know. We don't know yet what all the time that has existed to bring us to where this phase of God's plan.

His punishment is that of eternal death, never to have life again.

There really isn't any other answer. There really isn't any other... It's a part of God's entire plan and purpose and what He's doing. That's a part that has to complete it all. Because look at what's going to happen to mankind that doesn't receive God's way of life, or those that resist God's way of life. "Some have believed," going on and reading what it says here:

Some have believed that since angelic beings are composed of spirit that they cannot cease to exist and are, therefore, eternal beings.

We didn't understand. We didn't grasp as a Church. No, they're not eternal beings. They don't have eternal life inherent in them. That seems... That should... I mean I'm sure right now to everybody right here that seems really simple now. Obviously they don't. Only the Great Almighty Eternal God has eternally existed and they don't have that kind of life inherent in them. They were given life by who? By God Almighty, the Great Creator and Sustainer who can give life! He can give it and He can take it. We didn't understand that. Going on:

Angelic beings can cease to exist. The only angelic being who has been formally judged [the only one] who has been formally judged by God, through scripture, is the one who was created in the beginning as Lucifer, but who now carries the names of Satan, and the Devil.

There is a reason why this truth states this this way. Because it speaks of later on those who will be judging angelic beings. I don't know what all that means, but I know there are things in there we don't grasp yet and I know it's not all settled yet. Time will tell. We have much to learn.

55 (5) Angels were created and composed of spirit essence and given life by God (spirit life), yet they do not have self-sustaining eternal life inherent in themselves.

So you can't help, if you have one truth it leads you into the next. That's how God works. He reveals one thing to us and it leads to another. And I think of the Apostasy and how one truth led to another. Just like the temple – Matthew 24, Matthew 25, Revelation, the Church, Laodicea, all the things that happened. All the things that fit together through time that until one begins to be given then it leads into other things. And that's an exciting thing to realize that God just continues to build. That's what building is like, one thing leads to another, one truth leads to another. It reveals. In time we'll come to grasp more. The book is a result of, much that's written in there is a result of things that have been revealed through time. Some of it in the posts while I was away, that God continued to reveal more.

56 (6) God created both good and evil.

Now, it should seem like a simple thing to grasp, but people don't grasp that. The scattered body doesn't understand that, what that means, that when you read that scripture, what God says, it's absolutely true. But to understand it, to grasp it on a spiritual plane, to understand what it's saying, is awesome! It truly is. And there couldn't be any other way. He doesn't force evil, but He created it in the sense of making us the way we are as physical human beings, in the sense of creating the angelic realm in the way that He created it. I don't have to go back through those sermons and give those again. You know what I'm talking about. And because of that, evil was created. When Lucifer did what he did that was evil. His choices. He was created with the ability to choose, and God knew that it would happen. God knew what would happen to mankind when He made us physical as we are – evil would be created because of our choices, because of what we would do. The selfish, selfishly motivated, physical, carnal human beings.

57 (7) Through the power of the holy spirit, Almighty God will “dwell” IN His Family into everlasting life, and they will always dwell IN Him.

That is awesomely beautiful, and it's incredible. The last ones that we're going to have as a part of this age, part of this time before Christ returned. What an incredible one that God has given about what it means to be in His Family. It's an expansion of what we grasp in John 14, 15, and 16, and 1 John 1, 2 and so forth and what it means for God and Jesus Christ to dwell, to abide, to live in, to continue in us. And to understand as physical human beings whenever there's sin and we dwell in sin, until it's repented of we choke out the flow, quench God's spirit. Can quench it to the point of it not even continuing to flow into us anymore, or to be totally cut off, to be spewed out of God's mouth, from God's presence. But to understand that in Elohim that that which we experience as physical human beings, of a holy spirit in our minds – because we came to understand the angels do not have the holy spirit. They're given certain understanding and knowledge of things, but they don't have that kind of life that lives within them that comes from God the Father. They have spirit and they were given spirit minds, but not the holy spirit. What an awesome thing to understand that for God's Family it is to give us of that kind of mind that will always be there – a unity and a oneness we can't fully achieve in this physical life because of what we are, because of how we were made. But that's God's desire. And that's what it means to be in His Family, that we will always be in Him and He will always be in us. Awesomely beautiful!

So I'm going to read the rest of it, what it says here:

57 (7) Through the power of the holy spirit, Almighty God will “dwell” IN His Family into everlasting life, and they will always dwell IN Him.

To me that is so awesomely beautiful and incredible, to grasp and to imagine and to know and to have comfort in and hope in, joy in, truly.

This will be accomplished through the power of the holy spirit that emanates from God and it will never cease to be “coming into” the lives of all who are in the God Family. This will be a perpetual and continuing process into everlasting life.

Once begotten of God’s holy spirit, the flow of the holy spirit can be suppressed and completely removed (cut off) from a begotten person’s life.

God dwells (abides, lives) IN the life of a spirit begotten person (a person of the holy spirit) and they therefore dwell IN Him. Through the power of the holy spirit, the life (nature, truth, Word, way of life) of God begins to dwell in a begotten person’s life (in the spirit essence given to the human mind), helping to change the very way one thinks and lives, from that of selfishness and pride to that of outgoing concern and love toward others.

But as long as we're in this body, brethren, what do we have? We resist it. We fight it. That's our nature. Our nature resists God's spirit. And too many times we quench it, we squeeze it off, that flow, like an umbilical cord, squeezing off the flow that God desires to live in us. And it's all because of our nature that will always be there. We'll always have selfish human nature to fight, to contend with until finally we come to this point in time – fully at one with God. We can only strive to become at one with God now and we experience the height of that at different times in our life, or a heightened part of that at different times in our life, but we can't sustain it all the time. We can't have the same feeling and same experience all the time in our life because of our nature. But when we do, that's what we hold on to, that's what we strive never to forget and to ask God for more of, even within family. Because this is one thing that God is having us focus on more right now than ever before, is the importance of our relationships, especially as we enter this period of time, which will be in the sermons coming up.

...helping to change the very way one thinks and lives, from that of selfishness and pride to that of outgoing concern and love toward others.

This power however is suppressed and sometimes cut off because of sin, as God will not dwell in sin. Once given spirit life in a resurrection from death (or resurrection from physical life) to spirit life, this process of God dwelling in a “born” person’s life (no longer begotten), and they in Him, will never cease nor be interrupted, but will be perpetual and continuous into everlasting life.

Each person who is born into God’s Family has independent reasoning and thought, but each is perfectly united in purpose, will, and one way of life through the power of the holy spirit that will forever abide in them (which continuously emanates from God—who is the source). It is God “forever dwelling” in each person that makes the Family of God a reality in “one” perfectly united way.

How awesome is that?

Table of Contents

Chapter 1