Herbert W. Armstrong, Pt. 7

Ron Weinland

July 30, 2016

Well hopefully this is coming through well. Usually with an air conditioner in the room the sound of the machine seems to come through on the mic really well. Anyway, one of those things. More so on the recording, but hopefully it will be okay. I don't know why it does that but it seems like the sound of that kind of equipment it picks up a lot more than normal.

So, anyway, great to be here in the Indianapolis area today. I guess I could name a few states here – Illinois, obviously, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Hawaii. Long trip from over there. Did I miss anyone? That's pretty much it. I think I forgot to do this last week when we had some down from Canada, down visiting in the area there in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was great to be there as well. Been a long time since we were able to be up there. Been a long time since I've been over to Indianapolis, specifically. I've spent a lot of time in Indiana, but....

Today is Part 7 of the sermon series entitled Herbert W. Armstrong. And this will be the last of this particular series. If there is anything remaining it will be in another series. But we have to cut this off. I don't like real long series or sermon series, as a whole, but some are essential, some are needful. I'm not as fond of them. I do like them, in one respect, because I know where I'm going for a long period of time. But it's harder for some of the things as far as the internet is concerned and putting a long series out there. But, anyway, it doesn't matter for us, we're accustomed to that. That's good.

Going on here I am going to review some of the points covered in last Sabbath's sermon and we really need to get... And the reason for that is because we really need to get what is being said. There are going to be things repeated, and that's good, because it helps to reinforce those things that we need. As a matter of fact, next week's sermon, a new series, I'm going to repeat some things we're covering today because we're going to expound upon them. And that's why I'm going to repeat a few things here again today covered in the last sermon, because, again, it's a matter of reinforcing these things in our thinking, in our mind, and review, in that respect, is very good for doing that.

So we're going to go back to Haggai 2 as a reminder of what we covered. I think it's interesting that Laura and I were talking last Sabbath... Last Sabbath we were in Minneapolis/St. Paul! I was thinking we were in Cincinnati! I'll tell you what, I should have had more Starbucks today. I am sorry. I just remember as we were driving home and we were talking about this. So at some point we were driving... and I don't know where we were, right now, but we were discussing the sermon that I gave last Sabbath. And, anyway, she brought up some things that I thought were interesting and I wanted to go back and go into this a little bit more and even add a little bit more to it, because at that point in time some more things started coming. And that's why we're reviewing some of this as well.

So we're building upon this. A lot of this, obviously, we all need it. We all need to be made stronger in what God is giving us, but it's good for me as well, because there are certain things here I have to be comfortable with. And I hope we understand it as we go through this.

I look back to the very first book that was written and I think of how hard it was to put on there "a prophet." That was exceedingly hard because of all the things we had done in Worldwide. We had no prophets. There was no such thing. Didn't recognize the need for it. I didn't know where things were going at that time, but I understood there were certain things that God was doing, and I knew, very strongly so, that it was to be put in the book. But I even had to qualify it because I wasn't comfortable with it. I still had to qualify it at that point in time. And that's the way it is with a lot of the things we go through, because I knew a lot of the messages, of things out there with the scattered group they're going to hear, "Oh, you're a prophet!" and they're going to turn off immediately. Because we're not accustomed to that. We hadn't been accustomed to that in Worldwide. It wasn't a part of our thinking. And so to do something like that, that you're given charge to do, is very, very hard to do. There are a lot of things we're given at times that are very hard to do. Sometimes people are asked to speak when they've never spoken before, before a large group. That's not an easy thing to do, but you do it. There are a lot of things in life that we're given, especially in God's Church, that we're asked to do at times. And this way of life is not easy.

You find out with your family right away when you're called into God's Church and you make that commitment, this is not easy. And there are things you have to change in your thinking, about how you address things with family, and so forth. And you learn a lot through that process. You come to learn even more so the most important thing to do is to put God first. Because that tries us. Is God first? Are we going to step out in faith, that God's going to give to us what we need at any moment in time? So we're ever learning. It's an awesome process we go through.

So, again, now that I know where I was last week, we'll continue on. This is terrible! Anyway, Haggai 2:4. What happened in a whole week that I thought I gained a whole week? It says, Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Eternal; and be strong, O Joshua. After having gone through this, there is more here than what I really understood in the beginning of this series and reading through some of these things that I had gone through several times already. But I think of what we've gone through in the Church. I remember times talking about things about Joshua and so forth and having had a lot really, a lot of sermons on the subject matter, of things in Joshua's life and understanding how we are strong. It's a matter of something that God gives to us. It doesn't come from within.

Matter of fact, I'm going to read something a little bit later here where I'd mentioned this a long time back (if I can get this in the sermon today), but someone was pulled away by psychology. Thought they ought to take psychology. Said they'd learned more from psychology than they had in God's Church, of how to address things in your life. I think I'd made comment about that in part. And so it came up to a point of suspending them because they weren't of the same mind and because there were things they needed to look at in their life and repent of. And there was a lot missing, very obviously, by some of the comments that were made.

But again, it goes to the point here that we have to understand where our strength comes from. You can't work it up. You don't get it out of psychology books. You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps type of mentality and thinking. It's something that comes from God because you rely on God because you look to God and you realize He is the source of your strength, of your life, of the power you have in your life that's good. We have plenty that we do that's bad, of things we do.

So again here, Be strong, O Joshua...and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Eternal, and work. So we addressed that. No need to go back and discuss all of that. But again, important to understand we have work to do. And it's about God's work. It's about our part in God's work; what we do as a matter of our calling, as how we respond to God, as it goes on to say, for I am with you, says the Eternal of hosts. According, so it's not just an automatic thing that God is with us because we do nothing on our part. We have to do our part as well. God will be with us according to certain things in our life, if we respond in certain ways in our life. So it's not a blanket thing that God is with us no matter what in what we do and how we live.

But anyway, According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. So again, it goes back to that agreement in the very beginning that we made with God. We belong to Him – which we all do anyway. Everything belongs to God. But it's a matter of our will. It's a matter of what we surrender to God. It's not my will anymore. That's why I love what Jesus Christ said when he talked about it wasn't a matter of sacrifices and offerings, and so forth, but it was a matter of why he came "to do Your will, O God." It wasn't about Christ's will. It was about God the Father's will. And Christ set that example for us, that that's what it's about. When we begin our journey, when we're called and we begin to have that sacrifice in our life (of Jesus Christ, of being able to be forgiven of our sin) it's a matter then of surrendering our will. It's not about our way and getting our way in things in life. It's about doing things God's way! Because our way isn't right! Everything about us as human beings and the way we see things amounts to nothing. It's a matter of how God says it is. This is the way it is, walk you in it! And then we have choices to make – next Sabbath's sermon.

According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt; so My spirit remain among you; do not fear! Nothing to fear when we live God's way of life, when we surrender to God, when we yield to God, when we look to God, when we seek the power of God to be in our life and putting God first.

Then going on to Zechariah 4. And so there are words that are used here, "Zerubbabel," "Joshua." They can be repeated over and over again, have been in many respects within the Church of God through different times, because there are "types." There are, sometimes, matter of duality. There are things that we're going to be reading here in a moment that do have to do with duality and also types as well that God uses to teach us as His people in any specific moment in time. But there are certain things that are very much about us, more than anything else, when they have to do with the end-time.

Zechariah 4:1—And the angel that talked with me came again and awakened me, as a man that is awakened out of his sleep. I am awesomely encouraged by that because I know what it's talking about, and it's about a very specific period of time. It's about the end-time. But it's not just about any moment in time, it's about a very specific period and about a very specific occasion, if you will. And it is about what happened to God's Church once we were spewed out of His mouth, once we were separated from Him and we'd fallen asleep spiritually. And God had to awaken us. No one could come back, no one can be a part – once they've been a part they can't come back again until God awakens them. And that's God's doing. It's all... It's very akin to a calling except it's way beyond that, because what is so unique and so awesome about an awakening, when God does that, if we respond – because there's still choices there. And a lot of people who are awakened didn't make the right choices. We have had hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of people since the Apostasy – I believe over 2,000, and very likely close to 2,500 or so who were awakened, who didn't make the right choices, who did not value in the way they should have what God had given to them or was offering to them.

Because when God awakens someone, once they've been asleep, the opportunities to jump ahead, the opportunities to grow are far beyond that when you're first called because when you're first called you don't know anything. You just know a few things. You know things about the Sabbath, perhaps the Holy Days, certain things about God that you've just been, come to a point of conviction. But, boy, when you've been in God's Church for 10-15-20-30-40 years and then you drift asleep spiritually and you have experienced certain things since that time and you can't see things that are spiritual, no matter how simple they are – simple, simple, little things about an Apostasy that should be so clear to God's people.

Simple little things about 144,000, that it can't be an organization at the end if Jesus Christ is going to return in the next 50 years, or whatever it is. I hope we understand what I'm saying. Because that would mean that some organization's going to take a long, long time, as a whole (though God can give growth very fast if He chose – but He doesn't, He's not working that way), it would take a long time for any of those organizations that believe in such a thing to get to the point where they have 144,000 adults who are baptized and in good standing with God. And not only that, we used to believe there are different groups, Philadelphia and Laodicean! Anyway, such a simple thing; 144,000. It is to us, but it's not to those who are asleep. Things about the temple and the stones being cast down. Why is it so hard to understand an Apostasy took place?

And yet if you're blind you can't see it. If you're asleep God has to wake you up. But what an awesome thing when He does! What an awesome thing when God finally at some point chooses to open up your mind again just like He did when he called you. Because you couldn't come into His Church until He opened your mind. You can't see the truth until He opens your mind. You can't give this to your relatives until He opens their mind! You can't give it to people. And so much more the things we've gone through and gone into since the Apostasy.

So ...awakened as out of his sleep. And [he] said to me, What do you see? And I said, I have looked and behold, a candlestick of gold, in one respect, again here, understanding, talking about that which is there, the Church over the past 2,000 years, representative of that, as Mr. Armstrong pointed out about the candlesticks. ...with a bowl on top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and the seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof. So again here, seven eras of God's Church. Seven periods of time that God gave for His Church to live through, as a whole, to be molded and fashioned. Out of those seven eras would come the remaining, and the majority of the 144,000. So there were some in the previous 4,000 years, but the majority would be coming out of that final seven periods of God's Church.

Verse 3—And two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on the left thereof. And again, I'm going to read it again, Revelation 11:4; just going to read it quickly here where it speaks of two witnesses who are clothed in sackcloth. Then in verse 4 it says, These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing, or "made to stand" before the God of the earth. That's awesome to understand what God is talking about at the end of an age, and something that God's Church, including myself, have to be comfortable with. Because it's true. Because it's what God is doing at the end of an age. And we have to understand that.

"And the two olive trees by it... upon the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left thereof." So I answered and spoke to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying... And I think about how long it takes us sometime to learn certain things, to come to see certain things. What are these? When God awakened, did the awakening, I didn't know where we were going. I didn't know what was happening exactly. I didn't know that we were going to have to come into, become a single organization. In the beginning I thought surely somewhere out here God is going to show where we're supposed to go, so we split up one year after having left a particular organization and realizing God isn't here. So where is God? And so we split up at a Feast – was it '97? – and went to a lot of different Feast sites, and thought we'd come back and then different ones would talk about what they were hearing first hand by being a witness of what was being done. Went out and came back, and realized God isn't there! Matter of fact, God made it very clear in certain places, "Stay away, as far away as you can! You can't build bridges. You can't compromise with God's word."

So it wasn't a small thing when God revealed that to us. It didn't take too many days into it to be deeply convicted this isn't the way we're to go. So what are we to do? I'll be real candid with you. In the beginning I did not, I fought being a single organization. I believed with all my being we have to be with someone else out here. God's government has to be somewhere! God's Church exists! Where is it? We were God's Church, so where is it? It's not going to die out. Little did I know what God was doing and why God was doing it. And it has a lot to do with the very scriptures we're reading. Incredible! A time of small things to glorify God. An opportunity to be a time of small things to glorify God and to reveal, very powerfully so, it's God who does it. God the Father and Jesus Christ who accomplish it. We're just blessed to be a part, to serve, to be where we are, to do what we're able to do until God does far, far greater on this earth. Awesome, what we're blessed to experience!

And yet hundreds have come and gone. Hundreds have come and gone. And people are still coming and going! People are still coming and going! And they're the ones to whom I'm speaking, not to the whole Body. See? Now, there are things all of us have to receive and we receive in some of these sermons we've been going through, okay? And we hear some of these things and we realize, as with every sermon, "There's meat in here for me." Every sermon that's given, "There's meat in there for me!" Every one of us, there are things of correction that God gives us because He loves us. There are things of stirring us up, moving and motivating us to be focused on things that are coming because we want to be a part of God's work. We want to be sure that we're putting God first in our life. And we need to examine ourselves constantly! And so we learn, more than anything else, the things being spoken are to people out here who are still playing games, who are still being weeded out, who are still being measured.

Because that's a large part of the commission that God has given to me at this end-time. It's becoming clearer and clearer in this final end-time. Okay? Because you know what the message is still about more than anything else? God's Church! It's about God's Church. Always has been. See? Always has been. That's why the Seals were never understood. The first several Seals were always thought to be about physical things that would happen to the world. No, they were not. They were about us! They were about God's Church! They were about what was going to take place in the Church of God. Because that's God's primary focus, first and foremost, His people. His people! The rest is going to be taken care of as time goes along, in God's time, and they'll have opportunity to become a part of His Church. But this is our time. It's the most important part of life, the time you have the impregnation of God's spirit, the transition between human selfishness and God – the exact opposite. Awesome to understand!

So I answered and spoke to the angel, again here, verse 4, that talked with me, saying, What are these things? And the angel talked with me said, Do you not know what these things are? And I said, No, my lord. How many times myself, in essence, telling God, "I don't know." Someone was talking about a Red Sea before services here. It's a good place to be. Been at the Red Sea as far as God's Church is concerned over and over and over and over again, because God has to lead us. He has to show us where He's taking us, where He's leading us. And there are times we don't know. There are times God lets us believe certain things as well to a certain point in time. Just like He did Mr. Armstrong, over reading through some of these things that he had to say here that gave him focus as a "type" of something being done but not the fullness of it yet. I don't know about you, but I find these things dumbfounding and awesomely exciting! I truly do! Awesomely exciting! We're living things at the end of an age that are very much about us. So many things written in scripture are about the very end – the very end – and we're there at the very end and we are the ones who get to experience it in a very powerful way.

And so I said, No, my lord. And then he answered and spoke to me saying, This is the word of the Eternal unto Zerubbabel. A "type." Has meaning. Saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Eternal of hosts. One of the most important things in life to learn, that we have opportunity to live this way of life, to be a part of something, whether it's small or larger, to be a part of something, but it's done by God's spirit. It's not done by us. Any time anyone begins to be lifted up with pride, begins to be lifted up in their own thinking about who they are, God can't use them. God cannot use them because it's a work against His spirit! God's spirit doesn't work that way. God's spirit will work in humility. God's spirit NEVER works in pride! It goes against it because they are contrary one to another, as much as love and hate are contrary to each other. One or the other. It's either moving toward one or the other. There is no middle ground... no middle ground.

So, "This is the word of the Eternal unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT, says the Eternal of hosts." So he went on to say, again, Mr. Armstrong (just repeating some of this stuff), "THIS BUILDING IS BEING BUILT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD!" We understand that. God's spirit, the Church, and so forth – and I'll add to that, which is what he meant as well, what he was talking about in this particular Bible Study, that this work is built by God. God does the work. We're blessed to be a part of it but God's doing it. Okay? It's by His power. It's by what He moves and by what He prepares and by what He gives to us to do what we need to do as well. It's accomplished by God's spirit.

Zechariah 4:7— "Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel..." This is where my wife was talking to me and discussing some things and thinking, "What is a mountain?" Well, we know it's governments and so forth, and there are "types" here as well, but specifically for our time? I think about what happened to God's Church. Awesome! "Where are you? What are you, O great mountain?" I think of prophecies that talk about certain things that happen at the end of an age when God's Church was scattered and the examples of drowning, the examples of a flood, and so forth, and those who, basically, searched out various hills and various mountains. Talking about the scattering of the Church and the various factions of government within that Church that splintered out in different areas. And just like I asked before, "Where do we go? Where is the Church?" "Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain..."And so God had a purpose for what was going to take place, to something that had become great, thought it was great, looked to itself as being great. Read Laodicea and what it says to Laodicea. Look at what the words have to say – lifted up with pride, rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. Basically it's about what happened to God's Church – "and you're going to become a plain." You're going to be flattened out. There's not going to be... There was nothing of God's government left. There was nothing left of any administration of God's government left. It was all scattered. And that's why I love the examples of "by a flood." People were washed up in different areas scattered all over the place after the Apostasy took place, because God had a purpose for what He was doing at the end of an age. And that's what He's explaining here.

"...and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting's, saying, Grace, grace unto it." Okay, it's a "type." It's a lot about Jesus Christ. It's about his coming. It's about the end of an age. It's about what he's going to... how he's being established, about how his government is going to be established firmly and powerfully, the Church again, once again, and God's government over all the earth. And it's about our work. We're the ones that have to be ready. We're the ones that are alive when He returns. We're the ones that are to be spiritually alert and at-one with God more than any other time as far as the strength we have of spirit in our lives, as far as the things we grasp and see.

God has given us more to see and understand since the Apostasy – it's mind boggling what we've been given – that you can't contain it. You can't know it all. You can't grasp it all! You can go back and read it and you can go back to the 57 Truths, but I'm telling you there are things that are in there and things that have been written in posts since that time, we can't contain it all, brethren. There is so much there to be built upon. There is so much that's already there that we don't fully grasp yet. That's awesome!

[Verse 9] "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house." And so he was talking about how the house is referring to the Church of God. It's about the Church, and so forth. And we understand this has a lot more history in it. That's why there are different types that have gone on through time, and even the accomplishment of some of these things as a type. But the great fulfillment of it is really at the end. And so it's about, again, God's work and the power of His spirit and what He's doing in the Church and what He's doing at the end of an age as well. "His hands shall also finish it..." And so, again here, I'm going to save some of this for even next Sabbath and discuss it a little bit more. There's a lot here, brethren, there truly is, that needs to be deeply implanted in our thinking. Has a great deal to do with understand with where we're going. So Mr. Armstrong said, "I have taken great courage in reading that, more than once. Maybe you can understand why." Because he saw himself doing a work and a "type" of something, but he didn't know it all yet at this point in time by what God was.... He understood the present truth, just like we do at any moment in time. The present truth, that's all we can know and that's all we can understand.

Smiling a little bit because I got an email this past week from someone that I asked to send an email to me, about something that was written in Time is Running Out... Or was it Time Has Run Out? ...Has Run Out. And made some comments in there about... I'll maybe bring it up in another sermon. But made some comments in there that were understood for the present truth for that moment in time. Little did I know that's where we were going as a Church. Those were things we were going to fulfill and be a part of that we didn't grasp and comprehend because we weren't there yet. It's like saying to God, "I don't know what these are." I don't know what these are. Just like it says here about Zerubbabel and him in these comments that are being made here. "No, lord, I don't know what these are. What does this mean?" How can you know unless God shows you? And when it's God's time, you know what? He'll show you. He'll show you where you are and what you have to do and what you need.

Verse 10— Who has despised the day of small things? And that's where we are. This is about us. It's not about Worldwide. That was still "small things." But now we understand "the day of small things." Used to have huge departments that would work to get out a book, if you will, huge departments that were involved in organizing and putting together a book. And now you can do it on a computer at home. You can do it in your laptop and send it to a publisher or a company that, you know, mass produce them, and give it to them according to their specs and they'll print it for you. Incredible, the days we live in now. If Mr. Armstrong had had those tools in his day so much more would have been done. But it wasn't God's purpose to do that much more. But he had to work hard to do what was done at that time, very hard. I don't work that hard. I don't work near as hard as Mr. Armstrong did. I don't apply myself near as hard as Mr. Armstrong did. Not even in his eighties, okay? I know that. I understand that. I live in a lazier age. I've got a computer. Incredible what we can do today.

Who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet... Awesome! Never have looked up that word until after our discussion. Knew a bit about what it meant, but I know more now. ...and shall see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Eternal, which run to and fro over the whole earth. So again, it's with them. It's a part but there's more meaning involved here.

"Plummet"; unique word in Hebrew here that's translated into one English word. It's made up of two words. The first word comes from a root meaning "to build," but the word means, as a whole, "stone" or "hewn stone." But it's used in the context of something that is hewn, cut to fit. Okay? Basically it's used in building. But again here, that's what it's about, it's about that stone very specifically, used in Hebrew for a stone, but it's about building. What are we? Do we grasp who we are and what we are and what God's putting together? And I think about the stones of the temple and what God said would happen to it, and yet what's happening in our lives and what we're a part of.

Then the second word comes from a root that means "to separate or to divide," and is used "to describe tin or dross."  Same thing, basically. "To separate." To build and to separate. Awesome, the plummet that's used to help build and to separate. Brethren, we are living through a time of that in the Church of God. As small as we are we're being made smaller. We've gone through a period of time... I'll save that for next Sabbath.

We need to see where we are and what's going on. As small as we are, to think that we're becoming smaller at this point? Because we have over the last 3½ years. We've become smaller, not larger. God hasn't been calling large numbers into the Church. Almost every area I've gone into I meet one or two or so that are new, as a whole. Only one area that I've gone into that there wasn't someone new that I hadn't known before. That's been exciting, showing that God still calls at a time that you would think would be the worst time for someone having their mind opened up to the truth. "Oh, where is the teacher?" "Where is the apostle?" Interesting. Tough time. And that's not so easy to explain to your relatives or friends, or whatever, because it will come up in their lives. For so many of them it came up over and over and over again – that made them stronger, more convicted.

Then I made the comment that Mr. Armstrong stopped there and he didn't go on. Now, I find that inspiring, for me, personally, for what I'm doing, because I recognize what's being said beyond this. As I mentioned before, as much as Mr. Armstrong stopping at Matthew 24:14 because the rest of the verses weren't for him. They weren't about his job. They weren't about his commission. They weren't about things he would be seeing accomplished and fulfilled through time.

Verse 11—Then I asked and said to him, What are these two olive trees—upon the right side of the candlestick, and on the left side? And I asked again and said to him, What are these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the gold and oil out on themselves? And he answered and said, Do you not know what these are? And I haven't even understood some of these things. It's just that same question, "No, lord, I don't know what these are." Or saying to the angel, "I don't know what these are. What are they? Explain to me. Help me to see. Help me to understand." We go through things we don't grasp until God gives it to us. I find that exciting!

Then he answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.  And he said, These are the two anointed ones..." Who knew? Who knew where we were going back in 1997 and 1998 and 1999 and 2000 and 2001 and 2002, and '03, and '04, and then in '05 to barely come to grasp and understand there's a job of a prophet here of interpreting certain things in prophecy. But still didn't know what God was doing with us. Still didn't grasp what was ahead of us. Didn't know anything about two witnesses. These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

And then toward the end of the sermon last Sabbath we began covering what Mr. Armstrong was talking about in Malachi. So there's still a lot more here. Maybe we can touch on some of that next week. But again, planting it in your mind to think about it, to pray about it. And just as much as what was being said here over and over again, "What are these?" There is still more to learn here, brethren. It's exciting! It's inspiring!

Malachi 3:1. Because, brethren, I'm just going to say very briefly so, that there are two periods of time that God intended that two people live in during that period of time for a very specific purpose, to be a witness of certain things during Philadelphia, a certain witness of things during Laodicea and they had to come out of and be a part of both eras. And that's some of the stuff that's being covered here. Awesome! Think about it.

"Malachi 3:1" So this is where we left off and started just barely touching upon these verses last Sabbath. And I do want to get through this and probably won't read all the stories and things that Mr. Armstrong had to talk about, but, anyway. "The Eternal," it says, "...shall suddenly come to his temple, which" he said "is the Church. And that Church, by the power of God and with the holy spirit in it, it will be made immortal. And its glory will be greater than the glory of Solomon's temple." And he said, "But no human physical temple ever was, or will be." I'm still in awe of this when you read through it, because we lived through it... or some of us lived through that period of time in 1978 when that was becoming the present truth. Because before that we didn't grasp and understand that the temple of, spoken of over and over again, and especially in prophecy and the things that were discussed was about God's Church. And this is just here being revealed to the Church.

And I also marvel of the kind of prophetic type of thing, if you will, that was actually there because no, the ministry, the evangelists weren't there in the auditorium when Mr. Armstrong gave this. They're the very ones who never got it. They're the very ones who over the next several years, all the way up till 1986 and Mr. Armstrong died. And he gave a lot of sermons and wrote a lot more about this, about the temple being the Church, and yet why isn't that remembered to this day? Why do people not understand, then, what happened to God's Church and what happened to the temple and the abomination of desolation.

I do want to read something here that I got a little sloppy with as far as some of my writing was concerned, and my speech, as far as what I was saying, and I want to clarify it. And I thought this was really, to me, exciting when things like this happen. But someone had sent in – I'm not going to mention who here, but in one of the translators in translating into one of the other languages asked the question here. There's a sentence I said in the 4th paragraph where I made a statement here, "It's absurd to believe that a second temple could be erected in Jerusalem where the first one had been." Now, they brought out a really good point here, because sometimes we can tend to – I did – got a little lazy with how I was explaining things. And we have to be very specific especially in something going out like this is going out. And so I really deeply appreciated this when it came back, but it also reveals something else in here which, to me, is exciting because there are certain things that come up at times that God is revealing to help us to grasp that we didn't realize were right in front of us all the time.

But anyway, there's another sentence in the same section, which I didn't clarify it, which I'll... Anyway, talking about the same thing here again about this second temple. But anyway, the question was, "It seems to me that Ron meant 'third temple' in those cases," in both those cases of the examples that this individual gives here. So again here, the person's asking, "Could you clarify this." Because they were having to translate it in another language and they weren't understanding why are you saying "a second temple," when this would seem like you're talking about a third temple, of what people are saying out here. You understand what I'm saying? Okay.

So, they went on to say, "I thought the first (or Solomon's Temple) was destroyed by the Babylonians. Then it was rebuilt after the exile, the second temple. And then," it goes on to say here, "and then the second temple was destroyed again by the Romans. So my thought was if the first two temples were destroyed, then, if anything would be built today on the Temple Mount it would be the third temple." That's correct. That's absolutely right. Got a little sloppy when I say second. That's not, obviously, correct. It's far more correct to say a third temple. Now, that opens up a whole other door that everybody should understand out there and don't understand. Isn't that amazing? Because if they would just acknowledge that, a first, a second, so what do you mean a third in prophecy? Because it doesn't talk about that. So it just magnifies what Mr. Armstrong said in this whole Bible Study that he was giving.

So I went back to them and made the comment here that this is the way to write this particular sentence, "It's absurd to believe that a third temple could be erected in Jerusalem where the first and second have been." That's the correct way of saying it, okay? So, anyway, I deeply appreciated that, but it opens up a whole other door here about these prophecies, of things Mr. Armstrong is talking about, and this very section here about Solomon's Temple, and if even on a physical plane. But, you know, we can't see what we can't see until God gives it, and this is just another proof of it, of things out here that are being said. People wouldn't think that an altar has to be erected or that a temple has to be built again because that's not what it was talking about. It's talking about a spiritual temple and this just drives the point home even that much more. I hope you understand what I'm saying here.

So, anyway, again here, let me read this, "Malachi 3:1— The Eternal…shall suddenly come to his temple," as he said, "which is the Church." And he made the comment here, "And that Church, by the power of God and with the holy spirit in it, it will be made immortal. And its glory will be greater than the glory of Solomon's temple. But no human physical temple ever was, or will be." You know, powerful what he said, what he revealed back then, what God gave to him in 1978. Awesome!

"Malachi 3:2, goes on to say, "But who may abide the day of his coming?" It's talking about the coming of Christ," Mr. Armstrong said. "And who shall stand when He appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap." So again, a lot of this is about the Church. It's about what we have to go through in our lives, about what God's people have had to go through from the beginning of time, those that have to make certain changes in their life and yield themselves to God and God's spirit working in them. But this is far greater than that because it's talking about what's going to take place with all the world. "And he shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver." And then Mr. Armstrong said, "Now, Jesus didn't do any of these things when he came the first time; not a one of those things. ...and shall purify the sons of Levi." Awesome!

Now, we understand (if we understand), again, what Jesus Christ has been doing for the past 2,000 years and understanding that a new government's going to be established. But see, these things are still going on. And candidly, what happens at the very end, that's exactly what Jesus Christ is doing still – "purifying the sons of Levi." This is on a spiritual plane. And we can look, first of all, at the ministry in the Church and God "purifies the sons of Levi," in that respect, but I also made comment soon after I came back and began preaching once again, that it's about all of us. It's about all of us. Because we all have an incredible calling. And we're the ones spoken of in scripture, "the priests," on a spiritual plane, "of God." That's what the calling that God has given to us in very powerful way, spiritually, of what we're to be learning. And so again, it's not just about a ministry, it's about the entirety of God's Church and being refined and what we must go through and the change that has to take place in us and in everybody that becomes a part of the Body of Christ – and more than that, becomes a part of Elohim.

So Mr. Armstrong said again here, "He didn't do that when he came before. ...and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Eternal an offering in righteousness." Again, the only time that can be done is when someone is called into God's Church, forgiven of their sins, and begins to live a totally different way of life and can offer up to God what's sweet smelling to God, pleasant to God.

[Verse 4] "Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Eternal as in the days of old, and as in the former days." So again here, even more so because it goes even beyond this, obviously. We realize that when this is accomplished, and speaking of 144,000 and a part of Elohim, and this is a very powerful thing, of those who are going to serve. And so even more so about them. But the process begins in the Church. "And I will come near unto you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness, against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers." So again, this is speaking of those still while we're in... Before Elohim becomes a reality we all have to go through a process. And there is a refining that has to take place, "like a refiner's fire," as it talks about here. The gold is heated up, the dross come to the top and has to be separated. And what remains is what you want, it's what God wants. It's what God is working for.

Mr. Armstrong went on to say, "Jesus didn't come doing that when he came the first time. But when he comes to RULE WITH A ROD OF IRON over all the nations, that's when he's going to do this." So again here, the greater fulfillment of these things and the transition that's going to take place in this world. "This is talking about his second coming. Now it talks about a messenger coming before Christ. But Christ's coming is…the only coming described here," in this case, "is the second coming. Do you think if he had John the Baptist preparing the way before the first coming of Christ, he wouldn't have someone preparing the way before his second coming..." And Mr. Armstrong believed at that time, the present truth was that he would be there all the way to the end. That was his hope. And that's what he believed at this moment in time, that he was going to see it through. His hands had started it, for what was started and what was being built in Philadelphia, but didn't know that, no, Laodicea is going to come later and your job will end at the end of Philadelphia. So we live by the present truth and that's all we can live by. But it gave him courage just as so many times different ones throughout the seven Church eras, it doesn't matter where it is, different leaders of God and the Church itself, fully, obviously, read certain things and are moved and motivated by it no matter what the time is.

So again here, "before his second coming," and Mr. Armstrong said, "when he is coming in glory, in the power and the spirit of God Almighty in all the supernatural power to rule the whole world, and to take over the thrones of every nation on earth? [Malachi 3:5] And I will come near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers ...and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless, and that turns aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, says the Eternal of hosts. For I am the Eternal, I change not." You know who that message is first and foremost to? Every one of us! It isn't just about the world. It isn't just about the system of this world. That's going to be changed! That's going to be destroyed! It's going to be put down, as a whole. People are going to be brought to a point of humility to where they are able to be brought under one government in one Church. That in itself is going to be a beautiful thing.

I think, how sick this world is! The other day watching part of the RNC and the beginning of it and they had someone come out giving a Sikh prayer. Not a "Sick prayer." I guess it was a Sikh...I guess they even pronounced it that way. But you think, not even going through any motions anymore as far as Traditional Christianity is concerned, let's go to something that's totally off the wall in belief and ideas that broke away from Hinduism and has its own beliefs and ideas, things about reincarnation and so forth. And have them get up before the government and open up a convention of people who believe in this government. Sad where this world is today compared to what it was twenty years ago or thirty years ago or fifty years ago. Where God is being put farther and farther in the background and people doing more and more of their own thing. I'll tell you, that wasn't a small thing in God's eyes. We understand about Traditional Christianity, how far off the wall it is, but to turn farther away from those things to something like that is not a small thing before God. God's not in the picture anymore. That's why all favor and everything has been taken away. It's not there anymore; hasn't been for several years now.

And so, anyway, these things are for us. This is how God works and this is how God works within the Church as well. Those who dabble in other ideas, those who are not totally convicted this is where it is, this is where the truth is, this is where there are 57 Truths that God has established in the Church. Either we believe it or we don't. And we still have some who don't believe it, some who are not convicted of it. I'll tell you what, God will work it out because we're headed toward a time of the return of Jesus Christ and we are to be made ready. Our name, "Preparing for the Kingdom of God." This is truer now for us in our lives than it ever has been. And it doesn't matter how small we are. Doesn't matter how small we are, that's what God's going to do. And so that's why I made comment here we need to throw ourselves into what God is doing, like Mr. Armstrong said. The words that he spoke are for us. The words that he spoke weren't for him and his period. They were, in one respect, almost as it were, prophetic for us today. And that's why we've been going through that Bible Study and discussing some of these things, because it's for us! It's where we are now, where the Church kind of felt it was at that time, where God's apostle thought that it might be at that moment in time. But now we're there. This is where we are. It means more to us now. And so that's why I have repeated what he said when he said, "Get behind this thing!" Because this is where we are! We're either in it, we're convicted of it, we're behind it. And if we're not don't let the door hit you on the way out. And some may think I'm feeling a little sensitive about this and too hard on people. That's coming from God Almighty, that we're going to be at one in the Body more than ever before or we're going to be out. God doesn't tolerate those things, especially now more than ever before, brethren. And so if there, which I believe there are only a few, but those few, examine yourself, look more deeply in yourself and repent and get with it or get out of here. I don't apologize for that at all. Because I have a job to do! A job that I understand today more than I understood last week when I was in Minneapolis. Anyway... Whew! I think my heart must have quit for a little while there – there was no blood to my brain, I know that. So, anyway.

So again here, and God will be, "a swift witness against the sorcerers." You know, we dabble in other things... Psychology? You know, I still have a hard time believing such things happen, but they do, because sometimes people hide things and people think they know. And something comes along and someone leaves and they say, "Well, why were they put out?" It wasn't for something small. If someone is asked not to be back, it's serious. It's not going to be a small thing, it's going to be a very serious thing, see? The desire above everything else is that everyone make it, that everyone be together, that everyone be of the same mind, but we're at a point in time where this measuring of the temple, it's not over with. It went through the ministry big times, but it's not over with.

"...and those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, the fatherless," take advantage of others, treat others in a bad way without love, without care, without concern, hostile to others, defending self, trying to put up an air that we're a certain way and we're really not. It's not going to be tolerated. It's not going to be allowed. You know why? Because God's not going to allow it. God's going to bring it to the surface – dross. We live at a time that dross is coming to the surface. That's why trials haven't let up. That's why trials are still out there. In some cases trials are going to be intensified, hardships are going to be intensified in some cases. It's not a small thing. You know why? I think of certain things that have happened in the past in people's lives - it doesn't matter who we are – you're going to come again to a moment in time where you're going to be tried again. You're going to be tried again, except the next time around things around you may be a lot harder – to bring something out into the open. Because that's what God does. He's going to bring things out in the open so they can be dealt with. And if they weren't dealt with the first time, and maybe God gave us a great deal of grace and mercy, the next time around we're going to be dried deeply in a particular area of our life to see what comes out.

I've said... Right there I gave several sermons if only we could learn it. If only we could "see" it. And we can only see it to the depth that we're yielding ourselves to God and really striving to change and grow and draw closer to God right now. This is a time to draw closer to God, much closer. And every one of us can do better. I can do better. You can do better. And some can't, and they're going to leave. They're going to be gone. It's just the way it is.

So God says there are certain thing He's not going to allow continue on. "Sorcerers," those that dabble in other things, do things that been advised it's not wise to do. Now, not going to get by with it anymore.

Anyway, so it's why it uses this kind of language, and it has to do with how we treat each other, how we think toward each other. How kind are we to one another? How hospitable are we to one another? How truly thankful are we inside to see and be around one another in God's Church?

Anyway, Mr. Armstrong went on to say, "But some people think He's changed!" Speaking of God. "Some people say, "This is OLD TESTAMENT STUFF! This doesn't apply to us, today." The only people that could have read this were a little contingent of a part of the tribe of Judah." So, anyway, he's explaining some of these things, and again, talking about what's being revealed.

Going on here, [Malachi 3:5]…that turns aside the stranger from his right, and fear Me not, says the Eternal," The last part of that here, emphasising it, "of hosts. [Verse 6] For I am the Eternal, I change not." And Mr. Armstrong said, "Some people think He does change." It's amazing what people, what we as human beings will take as a prerogative to ourselves as we have license or freedom to do certain things within the truth that God has given to us. And really, we don't, save for that freedom that God has given us. "This is the way, walk you in it." This is the truth, receive it or don't. The desire is, God's desire is that we receive it.

"Therefore," it says, "you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances…" You know, so the problem has always been the same as human beings. We, especially in God's Church – I emphasis again, many, many, many, many people have been called. Many people have been awakened since the Apostasy. Many! Not a few! Far more than are around today! Many more have had their eyes opened, had opportunity to be awakened out of spiritual sleep and have not received what God has given to them. Many have received what God gave to them and then turned, went back to some of the swill that they came out of, that they were awakened from. Some of the blindness. Chose it because of pride, because of haughtiness, whatever the reasons are. Many have been called into God's Church in the past 2,000 years – few... few... And there are reasons for that. Because this isn't easy.

And so we're challenged. Is this our life? Did we really mean it at baptism? Because God will bring it out of us one way or another. Did we really mean what we said? He'll help us to come face to face with that in stronger ways throughout our lives. "Did you really mean "my life," or your life is Mine?" God speaking to us. And we give it all without reservation, no matter what it is, "No matter what comes along, so be it, God." Like Job said, God gives and God takes away, Blessed be God." Blessed be God Almighty, whatever we go through for a purpose. When God's working with us it's all for a purpose. If we yield ourselves to the purpose you know what'll happen? We'll grow, and we're going to receive things above and beyond what our minds could ever begin to conceive of.

Anyway, going on. Mr. Armstrong said, "THIS IS TALKING ABOUT US TODAY!" And he says this in capital letters, or it's in capital letters so I know how he said it on stage. It wasn't as mild as what I just said it. He went on to say, "It's talking of this coming just before the second coming of Christ!" He pinpoints it, just before he comes. That's where we are, just before he comes, even more so. Now, anybody at any time can receive instruction here from Malachi, and has through time, see, and the Church has over the past 2,000 years. But this is even more so for us right now because it's pinpointed the period it's talking about. All these things in the minor  prophets, as a whole, it's about the end-time. It's about this time that we're in right now.

Mr. Armstrong said, "THIS IS A PROPHECY! It's not a case of some old ancient history. We need to see what the prophecy's are all about. [Verse 7] Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, says the Eternal of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return?" And he said, "Yeah, we don't know where we've gotten away from God. Well, let me tell you, we have in more ways than one in this Church!"

But he comes to this one thing, [verse 8] "Will a man rob God?" Blows my mind! Blows my mind that we would do one of the most basic things, one thing that that Church never lost even in Sardis. Everything belongs to God and He blesses us to live off of everything that is His. And He says a certain amount back to him for us! It's still ours because it's for the Church to give to us that which is above and beyond that which we have in the other 90%. And in that 90% another 10%, you know, so we're down to 80 that God says you live on. "And the other 10, to come before Me on the Holy Days, on the High Days, you use to splurge, you use to do more than what you could otherwise do at other times of the year." You save it so that you can go before your God and have a festival before God – physically and spiritually as much as possible! Awesome! Awesome what God gives to us, the Great God of the universe.

And yet I'm dumbfounded at individuals that wonder why, and even write so sometimes about how they're not blessed and how things aren't going well for them. And I think, "Well, do you suppose because you haven't been tithing and giving offerings to God that that has something to do with your not being blessed?!" Duh! That's so simple! If one can't do that and understand that God will not only not bless you but He will see to it that you don't have blessings in your life and you're going to have some hard times. Not that we don't have hard times to live in life anyway, but you want to rob from God, steal from God Almighty? I mean, I don't understand a mind begotten of God's spirit that could conscientiously not give to God what is God's. If that's your life GET OUT!

Had to send another letter here recently to someone saying, "I know after having talked to you and having visited with you, and you're living over there and you're doing this now and you're on your own and this is what you're living on? Something doesn't jive." Sorry! Not that we go through and look. Not that we're searching out individuals. But we're so small we just know when something isn't right. And sure enough. I'm very thankful that individual's turned around, starting to give God's what is God's. And there are some others who I know who aren't. I know it. I know it still exists. I know it still happens and it blows my mind. And I wouldn't want to be in those shoes for anything. I think of all times, look where we are! We're just a short time away from the return of Jesus Christ. And we would do that to Him? We would do that to our Father? Something is sadly lacking in our brain to do something like that.

And that's not talking about other things in our life, but that's a start. That's a big start if that's a problem anywhere. See? And individuals who don't think they have to send an offering in to God on the Holy Days? How often are we to give an offering to God above and beyond anything having to do with tithes? And it shows what's in our heart. It shows what's in our heart and what's in our mind when we do that. Truly does. Mightily so! I don't know anyone who couldn't change something in their  life – I don't care how bad off they are – that couldn't save back a dollar, a dollar to God! It's not about the money. It's not about the amount of money. It's about the obedience. It's about the desire of the heart and the mind to honor and to love God Almighty who gave us what we have! And so, sorry, I get a little upset when I think about something like this because I think of how foreign this should be to the human mind: to STEAL from God Almighty!

I remember visiting an elder one time. Sat down in his home and had all this huge TV on the wall and these speakers – speakers I wouldn't buy for my home, and yet he had them – but he couldn't afford to give a dollar to God on the Holy Days. Said, "Sorry, you're not in this anymore. You haven't been for a long time, have you? You've been an elder in God's Church! Shame on you," in essence, "Shame on you!" Basically, in every respect that's what was said. Wasn't a pleasant thing. Blows my mind. To lie to God. To lie to the ministry. To lie to the Church. Live a false life. Sick! Sick. Sick. Sick. Think God takes things like that lightly? And yet they happen.

I do not hesitate to deal with such matters. As a matter of fact, from this point forward I'll be far more zealous in it than ever before in my life within God's Church because I know where we are and we're either 100% a part of this and behind it and we're learning to love one another... Because this goes beyond tithing! This has to do with how we treat one another. This has to do with example we set in our communities, with the example we set around others. And if we're not in control of ourselves and yielding to God's spirit in our lives, who are we? What are we? And so if the shoe fits, wear it. And where you can grow and do a little bit better, strive to do better. I'm striving to do better. It's my life. It should be your life. And we should grasp where we are.

So, what Mr. Armstrong said? For today! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! It was written for us today. The things written in the prophets, most all of it written for today. And what he wrote specifically? Was for us. Inspired by God to do that Bible Study. I'm just telling you. It was for us. It wasn't for Philadelphia, though they were to glean from those things that he said and hopefully yield to the things and get behind this thing at that time. Which the vast majority of the Church did at that time. It got back on the right track because it was going off track – screwed up, screwed up bad. Ambassador College was sick and perverted by that time. The teachers and instructors and what they were teaching was way off base. Liberalism had come in. You think, "You're in the world, not in God's Church!" And that's what it became like. And the kinds of things going on? Disgusting! Not God's spirit. Not God's people. Amazing! Amazing what we have lived through, brethren.

So we have to be sharp. Do you really want this way of life? Because you've got to fight for it. From here on out more than ever before. I'm crying out (from in here) in the only way I know how, to plead with God's people to do more in spirit and truth before God, to get a hold of certain things in your life if you're not living it fully in your life. See? I don't want to get into next week's sermon already; have to wait.

So again here, Mr. Armstrong said, "THIS IS NOT OLD TESTAMENT STUFF! THIS IS FOR US TODAY! AND IF YOU THINK IT ISN'T, AND YOU THINK STEALING IS ALL RIGHT, and you're withholding your TITHE, God have mercy on your miserable soul," Mr. Armstrong's words, "is all I can say! THIS IS A PROPHECY! IT'S FOR NOW! And GOD SAYS, "I CHANGE NOT." You think He's changed today? Jesus said you tithe with mint and anise, and so on. "This ought you to have done." And why did he say, "You ought?" Because it is commanded, and to withhold it is stealing from God! God doesn't want THIEVES in His Church."

"They say, "There's no law." And the ministers have tried to come out... And I'M GOING TO CHANGE ALL THAT." He knew things were already going on. He knew things were going on with the ministry already, and even to those who should have been the closest to him. "AND ANY MINISTER THAT DOESN'T WANT TO GO ALONG WITH IT CAN JUST GET OUT OF THE CHURCH, AND OFF OUR PAYROLL! Now, those are pretty strong words, and I mean every word of what I say." Powerful! He didn't mince around. He didn't mince words. He told the truth. He told it like it is. And by that time the ministry was in baaaaad shape, because that's what led to the Apostasy, because it was already in baaaaad shape and people thought they could do things different than what God had given through their apostle. Awesome, to learn those lessons. He said, "I would rather have one or two faithful ministers with me than four or five hundred that have gone the way of Baal!" He already... By God's inspiration he already knew what was going on, though I don't know that he knew fully what was going on at that point in time, where everybody was as a whole. As a whole, by that moment in time in 1978 the evangelist's – every evangelist was gone spiritually, had betrayed Mr. Armstrong, had betrayed the Church. Every evangelist in God's Church! Played the game for the next, what, 7 years, 7½ years, whatever it was. Played the game, put on a face, gave a measure of support, but this wasn't there – the heart, the mind, the spirit was not in unity and oneness. It was just awaiting their time. Sad.

Anyway, it's one thing I look to in God's Church. It's the spirit. It's the spirit of where a person is. It's not how well they do something. It's not about their education, how well they are able to do certain things in life at all, what they are doing in life at all. It's what's in here. It's what's in the mind. It's what comes out of the individual.

I think of an individual not too long ago here in the ministry that someone found fault with because their writing wasn't up to par – their par. And I understood and grasped that there are certain education in that particular field, that they didn't have the same as maybe many others did have in the ministry, and didn't have capital letters in certain areas, just kind of wrote like young people do today, just write without punctuation and with capital letters and got the point. And I understood the spirit of what was being said every time and respected highly, because I know where the heart is. I know where the individual is. I know where they are spiritually. But yet we can find fault sometimes with others because they're not what we think they should be by a certain standard we might have for them.

And I think of what Mr. Armstrong said here, "I would rather have one or two faithful ministers with me than four or five hundred that have gone the way of Baal." In other words, that are going the wrong way, that are not there for the right purpose, not serving for the right reasons, or whatever it might be. And I understood where he was coming from.

So even within God's Church, all of us, we need to understand what we're doing, where we are. We need to see ourselves in a spiritual mirror and understand how God judges us and how God works with us. It's of the spirit, see. It's of the spirit. Cause I can see what He did with someone who was in dumb-dumb English at Ambassador College. And anybody can find fault, and I don't care, with things that have been written or how they've been written or whatever. I could care less because I know the spirit of God and I know it comes from God and I know the message that's there. And those who have God's spirit, you know what? They'll receive that message to the degree that they're yielding to God. That's how God works.

So it's not a matter of how smart we are in certain areas of our life. God doesn't have to use the greatest orators and greatest speakers to preach the truth. Because I know what I am and I know I have great faults when it comes to public speaking. I do. But I don't care. I wish I had more ability and so forth, but I don't. Okay? And so basically you're stuck with me. But I also know God's spirit and that's what we receive. If we receive that which comes from God through the power of His holy spirit and it's God that's glorified, that's what counts. It's not us as individuals. It's not about us. We just have an opportunity as family to share in this, and we should love one another without exception, without measuring and trying to put people in this spot or this category or whatever it might be. I hate that kind of stuff. I hate those kinds of things with all my being. You know, we are a family and we should treat each other not as a physical human family but as God's Family. Because, you see, they're night and day. Because physical families, as a whole, aren't living right in this world around us and that's not our example.

Only in God's Church do we begin to learn what a family is supposed to be like and we learn how to treat one another, and husbands and wives are to learn how to begin to treat one another so that by what they do their children see it from an early age on up. And so that by the time their children get older they have seen an example of something that has molded their minds and they haven't seen a bunch of hypocrisy! See! Because if they see hypocrisy they will live hypocrisy! Unless God have mercy upon them and help them to see themselves and they come to repent of that in themselves. Okay? It's the way it works as a whole.

And so in the Church we have a right life we're to live toward one another. Because, you see...  I keep wanting to get into next weeks sermon. I'm sorry, It's very much a part of my mind right now. I have no patience for a husband and wife who come together and have all this drama in their life. And some find fault with me for saying that. As a matter of fact, I'm just going to read to you something that someone... I wanted to read this today from an individual who went the way of psychology, that was not disfellowshipped in the beginning but given an opportunity to repent and change their life, instead given a couple of months to look at their life separated.

So we have had a distinction within God's Church. There's disfellowshipment where you're totally cut off from God's Church and God's people, and there's a matter of that being suspended for a period of time, for a month or two months time, whatever it is, to have opportunity to repent, to get your life in order and then to come back and talk to us if that's what it looks like you want to do. And so opportunity of suspension is a matter of God's grace and God's mercy. It's a lot different from just total outright disfellowship and the Church being told they're disfellowshipped. So, suspended you have some time to repent and change. And I've had several people I've had to deal with since I've been out who have been suspended, and several who have been disfellowshipped. And it's not over with yet.

So this individual writes back, "When I first read the response to my letter I felt overwhelmed with sadness and pain. Not for myself, but for God's people." Whew! " I did not understand the reaction because I did according to what is given in the sermons. I learned to know myself, intentions and thinking." Think, where did the sermons come from? Anyway. "But God gave me the understanding of this." Psychology and what you can do with it and how you can come to know yourself and see yourself and to understand why you think the way you do, instead of God telling you through a sermon that your thinking is a matter of obedience or disobedience and certain things are going to happen in your life if you don't obey God, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Going on. "This will also be given to you if you're willing to listen." Reflects someone in God's Church who has God's spirit, that has the audacity to come back and say, not just to God's ministry but to God's apostle? Blows my mind! But I know where it's coming from. "I have seen many of God's people suffering and in need of sound advice and guidance, which you cannot give because you do not possess it; and in  your own words you do not care about all the drama."

I can't help... I have to laugh a little bit because I can't help but think about some who get all over Trump and they... See, I hear the same, some of the same things he says, then I hear different ones get on to him and they say what he said in a different way, just a little bit different way. And yet I know, as a whole, most of the time I know exactly what he's saying without having to explain himself. Now, sometimes.... And I hate to get myself in this one, because people be, "Oh, you're a Trump man!" Well, you know what, it's about time someone stood up and said something about being politically correct and that it's a bunch of garbage and stupidity and etcetera, etcetera. But, sadly, nobody can change this world and nobody can change this government, and that's where we are in time. But God's allowing us to see some of it.

What's happening right now is not by chance. It's by design. Because God Almighty is in control. Okay? Sometimes we have to be careful how we judge certain things that are going on around us, not understanding God's involvement and why God is doing certain things and bringing certain things out in the open so that we can recognize them. So that when certain things happen that maybe, just maybe more will have the ability to listen to what He's saying. Mercy. Grace. God's doing, by God's design. Be careful of what you criticize and how you criticize it. Because I know this has happened in God's Church. Okay? Sometimes we can unwittingly be criticizing what God is doing and why God is allowing certain things, and even moving certain things to happen in certain ways. Awesome!

Anyway, it says, "And you do not care about all the drama." Oh, yes I do. I just don't have patience for some of it anymore. I will explain that more in the next series that we go into. But some people read into that, maybe, different things about what I'm saying when I talk about drama. Does that mean I don't care about people and what they're going through and the fact that they share certain stories and so forth of why they are going through what they're going through and they're looking for guidance and direction? You know, somebody is asking for help and guidance and direction in how to do something, God's there. But if somebody wants me to come in and referee between all the things of drama going on in their lives and they're going to want to tell their side and then the other ones is going to come and tell their side and they're going back to this side and I've got to be.... I'm not a judge. God didn't make me a judge in those matters. God told me to tell them what to do. Obey God! Treat each other properly. Love each other in the way you're supposed to. In most cases that'll solve things, you know, if you know what that means to love, to love one another the way God says to love. And there won't be the drama. Will you have hardships in your life? Yes. Will you go through things together? Yes. But it won't be that and conflict because you're disobeying God because you're treating each other shabbily and in a wrong way and lying to each other and whatever else is going on sometimes, and speaking to teach other in tones and terms and so forth that you shouldn't be doing as God's people.

So, yeah, I don't want to hear about that drama. Just go repent. If you're doing that kind of thing I'm going to tell you what to do. Go repent. I can't change you. I can't change your life. I can't make it right for you. You've got choices to make. If you can't live together, go do something else. Get your life right with God! Go repent somewhere else. If you can't do it together, if there are too many problems in your life in those areas of life and you can't dwell together in peace, then by all means, if you want to, you know, separate for a time. God doesn't say how long you have to be separated. And get your own life squared away and then maybe you can come back and be the kind of mate you need to be in the first place – maybe. See? But it's always, and sometimes, it's the other person. It's their fault. If they hadn't of done 'this,' if they hadn't of done 'that'. Oh, next week's sermon! Next week's sermon! Drama. Drama. Drama. I hope we understand when I talk about that. Does that mean I don't care and don't love God's people? I know we know the answer to that already.

Anyway, going on with what this person said, "In your own words you don't care about all the drama. You are not even trying to hide your distain for God's people. You openly mock and make fun with us and pull us down. You even started to lie about people and things. Is this the image you want to present to the world about God's Church? Is this the example we should follow? I do believe God is very merciful, forgiving, and understanding – something you do not possess. Yet, I hope you are willing to accept that you are asleep, because that is the reason why you do not understand me." I know when people disobey God. I know why and what happens when that takes place. And I'll just call it what it is. Anyway, this individual said, "And I am very confident of this."

I had one person recently tell me, and I may be paraphrasing it, and they may have been joking, but it wasn't the time to joke in that particular email. And basically told me to, "Take a deep breath and," what was it? "Take a deep breath and step back a few paces," or something like that, "and," basically," listen to what I have to say." Okay! Not a joking matter. And even if... and if it wasn't... Anyway.

I hope you understand where I'm coming from. And I'm calling a spade a spade, and on a spiritual plane in God's Church... Well, I don't want to go there. Brethren, we need to put God first. All of us. We all need growth. I need more growth. You know, this way of life isn't without more growth. If we're not growing at a constant pace something is wrong with us. That means change! Do you know you can't grow without change? That means you're changing something in your life. And so if we're growing we're changing, something is being altered in our thinking and our behavior. Because everything comes from our thinking. All of our behavior, all of our actions in life come with the way we're thinking. And so if we're drawing closer to God something is changing in our life and we're doing better. We're learning how to do things in a better way. We're learning how to speak to people or think about people in a better way than what we were before, because we learn to catch ourselves more quickly when things aren't done right. And that takes continual examination of ourselves before God.

And so, again, I know that's what we desire and that's what we want. But some, some are way beyond that point of a need to address major things in their life. I'm not talking about little things when I talk about tithing, when I talk about someone not getting along with others, and speaking harshly to others. There's no place for that in God's people for God's people to speak harshly and in bad tones, angrily at others. That's to be repented of quickly! Shouldn't be named amongst us. Shouldn't be in our lives. And if it is then we need to get rid of the hypocrisy and the lying, because it lies against God's spirit. God's spirit doesn't work that way. We either yield to God's spirit and we learn to love one another or we're not doing that and we're lying to God's spirit and lying to God and lying to others. And God does not care for lies. And it doesn't take very long to find that in scripture and how God deals with that.

So again here, going on with what Mr. Armstrong said, "Is stealing a part of the law of God? "You shall not steal." Is this part of the law of God? It says, "'Will a man rob God? Yet, you have robbed Me." YOU'RE STEALING! And you ask, "How?" And he says, "How have you robbed Me?" And He answers, "In TITHES AND IN OFFERINGS! You are cursed with a curse." And he said, "And this Church has been cursed with a curse..." And that's something we need to grasp and understand. When anyone sins mightily against God and we're in fellowship with others we bring it into the Church, in the environment of the Church – and that's a curse. See, when a mind isn't right, like the mind that is able to talk to God's apostle in the tones and the way that it did and won't receive correction because they know they're right and they know that they can find help in the world, from worldly writers that wrote back in the 1800's and 1900's of how to live your life, rather than God who created us and made us and told us how to live more than 6,000... well, almost 6,000 years ago, beginning at that point in time and writing all the things He's written for us? Mindboggling! Astounding! Incredible! And it hurts the Church! And sometimes people don't realize that. We're always made better when we are cleansed individually and as a body. I hope you understand that.

Every time we've gone through things... I think of the time. I think of a real hard time we went through, because we did it together, when we came out of the Apostasy up in the Toledo and Detroit area and all the people that were together, and all the betrayals that started taking place in time. Some, quite a few of the leaders because they didn't want me travelling down to Cincinnati. They didn't want me going to Georgia. "You're our minister. We're paying for this!" No, you're not. God Almighty is with His tithes and offerings! And it isn't yours to decide how God's people are to be taken care of! So we had a parting of ways. But it's hard. But you know what? When those who weren't of the same mind went by the wayside the Church became better.

I think of some of the cleansing that took place at the beginning of the last cycle we went through, those who were out in the courtyard and not in the temple, those who were going through the motions but weren't in the Church. And some of them, when they were gone by the wayside, though sometimes it's painful to see people go and make the choices they make, you know what? The Church was made better afterwards. Every time those things have happened in God's Church the Church is made better. Why? Because when sin and the environment of sin is brought within the environment of the Church it hurts the Church. It hurts God's Church.

And we are to become stronger. And that's what God is telling us at this point in time. We are to be preparing ourselves for the return of His Son. So much has been planned and prepared for the return of His Son. 6,000 years and a lot more than that. Work. Work that God Almighty has done to come to this time that is so awesomely exciting to Him. And He wants to share that with as many as He can. And we're not very many. He's getting ready to share it with 144,000, but before that He's going to share it and continue to share it with us in the Church. Awesome! Awesome, the time we live in. We are so blessed! We don't grasp how blessed we are to live in this time, to be in God's Church at this time. What are you going to compare with that? What hardship? What rough time in your life are you going to compare with that? See? What are you going to compare with it? Is anything worthy of being compared to it?

Anyway, Mr. Armstrong asking more questions about some of that. This is going to be the last sermon today. I'm just telling you, this is the last. This is Part 7. So if you want to read the rest of this you can find it online. A lot of people in the Church know. This Bible Study he goes through some different stories, and so forth, of what he has to talk about here. But I'm going to read the rest of this in Malachi and a couple of comments he makes.

[Malachi 3:9] "You are cursed with a curse: you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring you all the tithes in the storehouse," and he says, "that is to God's Church and not to just any individual you want to."

I think of an individual I rode down here one time from... I rode down to Cincinnati with him, a well known minister in the Big... I said it. Some know him. Big Sandy area. We invited up to speak. It was right after the Apostasy had taken place, at some point in time there, and it was right after another group had, we'd determined we weren't going to be with them any longer. Anyway, he rode with me from Toledo down to Cincinnati and conducted both services that day as a guest speaker. Last time. Anyway, he had a conversation with me about one of his children, and thought it was such a good thing how he was using his second tithe – was it? First tithe... First tithe, how he was using his first tithe. That wasn't giving it to the Church, to basically him as the minister of the Church there, but was giving it, I think in a hospital, if I remember rightly. Thought that was such a good thing. Right then and there I knew it was done. Right then and there I knew, "You are gone." Right then and there God made it very clear to me, "You  have no association with him anymore. Look where the mind has gone. Look what they're teaching in the Church." And started asking certain things about second tithe. It wasn't even a matter of first – that was the individual who began to teach you basically have a tithe but you can use it in second tithe and you can use it in first tithe, or you can use it... that it's basically one tithe but you can use it in second if you want to go to the Feast or you can use it in first, or you can give it to the hospital, you can give it to some needy group out here, but it's your decision how to use that tithe. Think, "What has happened to your brain?! What has happened to you? What has happened to your mind? You had ability to see things in the beginning and your mind was opened up to certain things that were taking place and why they were starting to take place in the Church and what are you doing?" Choices. Choices. Choices. Next week's sermon.

So he said, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and PROVE ME now herewith, says the Eternal of hosts, if I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out upon you a blessing, and there shall not be room enough even to receive it." Well, we're all physical. We think physically. Most of the time that's where people stop. How much do we want until we're full and satisfied and thankful to God for what we have? But you see, the bigger picture in all this is not that which is physical – which God blesses us awesomely, awesomely.

I think of times past when we had third tithe year, before I became a minister. I wrote it out on paper and there was no way to do what we wanted to do and accomplish in that particular year, and yet God blessed us to get into a new home, our first home, and things that happened during that particular year, thought, put it on paper it's impossible. But it was possible and it all worked out. Wrote down all kinds of things that happened in that third tithe year on yellow tablet paper. I still remember it. I don't know what ever happened to it. Line after line after line. And sometimes that's what we have to do – focus on the things that we have that God has given to us and blessed us to be... physical things, not just spiritual.

But I think of the spiritual that God's given us in this end-time. Because, you see, when it's all said and done that's worth so much more than anything physical. And we mature in time and come to see that. We mature through time and we come to value that more and we see and understand that more, the physical is a means to that end, or to that fulfillment. And I think of what God has given to us since the Apostasy. And that's why I made some comments even earlier. You have far, far more than what you can know that we've already been given. Far, far more than what you can retain that we've already been given. Far, far more of some things that are going to be expounded upon – not before Christ returns, but after he returns. Awesome! Because I know what some of those things are.

So, anyway, Mr. Armstrong going through these things. Again, talking about the blessings and the things that the Church needed at certain times and how, basically, it was impossible but God made it possible. Trials that the Church has gone through over and over again through time. And God's always provided a way for a work to continue on, for something to be accomplished that otherwise seemed impossible.

Going on, I'll just read some of the verses here in Malachi because I'm going to wrap this up, because this is going to be the last section.

Verse 7— Okay, "Even though the days of your fathers... My ordinances." Again, he's talking about this is for us. Even from the days of your fathers  you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you. You know, that's an awesome thing about God, especially for us. We recognize that we turn from God – and every time we sin we turn away from God. Every time we sin we turn away from God. And God just says, "Return to Me and I'll return to you." We have that covenant with God. That's an awesome thing. He's blessed us with the blessing of repentance, that we can repent and look at ourselves in the mirror and be honest before God, honest with ourselves, and say, "I shouldn't have thought this." "I shouldn't have said this." "I shouldn't have done that." Whatever it might be in our life. And so much of it is a matter of what comes out of our mouth and is said to others, how we treat others, how we think about others, just within the body itself sometimes. And we just need to become more at-one with God, more in unity and harmony with Him.

Anyway, I'm going to stop with that one example there of tithing, because that magnifies even that much more so some of the most basic of things in our life. And if those things aren't right in our life, we're not going to be blessed. And for us, in this Body, we're going to be out. God's not going to allow those things. And that's going to ripple down through all the ways of God, as to how we're living and are we indeed turning to Him or returning to Him once we've sinned. Because what happens in life is, is that people can get used to sin or accustomed to sin or accustomed to a certain way of speaking to someone, or treating someone in a certain manner when it isn't right rather than repenting of it.

Anyway, we have a lot to examine in our life. And God will be merciful to us and help us. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to come through this period of time. He wants us to be a strong, strong... Isn't that what He said? "Be strong in the Eternal." And that's what God's offering us. Let's take Him up on it.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1