Trust in God, Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

June 16, 2018

Today will be Part 2 of a series entitled Trust in God.

As we continue in this series it’s important that some of what was stated at the beginning of Part 1 be repeated here; and I’m going to repeat some of that. In God’s Church He teaches about proper balance and how to trust in Him and yet do for ourselves where we can. That’s where balance comes in and all the different things and aspects of life. It’s something we’re ever searching for, ever seeking to have, but all should have a great desire to grow in balance. Because, candidly, when God first calls us we’re very unbalanced, exceedingly unbalanced if we really grasp it in so many things in our lives and God begins to teach us soundness of mind, things that are spoken of in different terms, in similar terms in the book of Proverbs.

So it’s a desire that we have to have a soundness of mind, and really, it’s coming into a unity with God, with the mind of God, to become more at one with God in thinking and how we live life. But living this human life there’s a process of fleeing, getting away from those things of carnal human nature and a desire to live more at one with God, and that’s where balance comes from. That’s where soundness comes from. Ever since I’ve been in the Church, since 1969, I’ve seen a lot of growth in that particular area.

I think of the process where Mr. Armstrong came along in the 30’s, God called him to restore truth in the Church. After the first hundred years, and even less, some of that began to be lost, and large part of that is because the original disciples, including Paul then who was called later to be an apostle to the gentiles, they went through a lot and in time all of them were, basically, put to death except one that we know of. We feel that John, who was put on the Isle of Patmos in his 90’s, went back and then wrote the book of Revelation.

After his time then the Church entered a different period of time and as time went along it became more and more difficult, especially if we go back to the period of 325 A.D. and what began then, and then all through that long, long period of Thyatira.

Then, finally, the printing press came along and Sardis came on the scene and some of the things that began to happen then. And because of the printing press, basically, and the ability of other groups who disagreed with that one great church that was established by the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, other churches began to spring up calling themselves Christian. They still accepted and continued on with the basic doctrines of the Catholic Church but not liking its government and some of the other things that the Catholic Church did they began to spring up.

Slowly but surely because of that kind of pressure, if you will, upon God’s people, because now it wasn’t just one group, it wasn’t just one church, now there were others; and that had an impact upon the Church in a very negative way, on people who were scattered, on people that God worked with.

So as time went along and we came into a period of technology that began on the earth more and more, more and more truth began to go by the wayside. And finally God desired, determined to restore it once again, and so He called Mr. Armstrong.

Though a lot of truth was restored to the Church it has taken decades, it took decades in the Worldwide Church of God. Really, first, it was called the Radio Church of God. We don’t think about anything like that today. It sounds kind of strange to us. But back then that was awesome, to have radio, to have an ability to preach and have a message go out to the world, literally, and then those scriptures that Mr. Armstrong understood in Matthew about what his job was, what his function was and all of a sudden radio stations around the world began to carry that message. So it was exciting to the Church! It was exciting to Mr. Armstrong. It was exciting to people to be able to have that kind of technology. People don’t really listen to radio very much anymore. It’s kind of going by the wayside, obviously. So there are places that still try to hang on. But more and more people are drifting away from that.

But at that time that was awesome! So the Church adopted the name The Radio Church of God for a time depicting a tool that God had given to send out an incredible message in the world, the gospel going out into the world once again.

But decades went by and then the Worldwide Church was formed, but decades of change, of growth, of truth being revealed in the Church. Most of the major things toward the very beginning, candidly, but what didn’t change quickly was this soundness of mind and balance. That took time, and it’s taken a lot of time. And even by the time of Mr. Armstrong’s death there were areas where we needed more balance and soundness of mind. Even today with all that God has given us we still need greater soundness and balance of mind – and soundness of mind, unity with God. So, the more we grow and the more God gives to us the more this can take place.

That has a great deal to do in our lives of trusting in God, in all the aspects of things we’re covering that God’s truly first in our life and that we’re looking to Him for that soundness and guidance and direction as He teaches us these things.

Again, I’m going to read this again: In God’s Church He teaches us about proper balance and how to trust in Him and yet do for ourselves where we can. God teaches us soundness in such things and He warns us of real danger when it’s potentially before us, and of knowing when we are to more fully place our trust in Him and to flee from placing trust anywhere else.

That takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of growth. So how much of our lives, again, repeating what was stated earlier on the first, in Part 1, how much of our lives do we really, truly place in God’s hands, His care, indeed as a matter of trust? There are so many areas in life in which we should think about that trust and help that can more fully come from God as we focus more fully upon Him being very much a part of our daily life.

Again, repeating what was stated: This can have great impact in family life, in health, issues of health, protection, finances, safety, etc... But I’m going to add a little bit more here as well that I didn’t mention that first time ...even in doctrine, in what we’re given by God to believe. Really, a lot of that says so much because so many people have gotten tangled up in different ideas through time. We haven’t had as much of that in the remnant Church, though in the beginning we had a lot. But since it’s become more fully established in the last seven years especially, there hasn’t been as much of that kind of thing take place. But it can pop up at anytime so we always have to be on guard.

Anyway, there is a great deal said about the subject of trust in scripture, especially in the Psalms over and over again. It’s about keeping our eyes on God for guidance, again, direction, soundness of mind, correction – even correction, something we should want in our lives; but human nature tends to fight against that – help, strength, and so forth. It’s about going to God and seeking God’s guidance first in order to live right and a desire to live right, then making right choices and in making right decisions. That is about trust.

It’s easy to listen to those words. It’s easy to think about those words, but to put in into practice in what it really means, it isn’t that easy. We really have to focus upon such things.

Let’s turn over to Psalm 18. Again, so much in the Psalms said about this, but I love the way David expresses these things over and over again in different ways, in different context.

Psalm 18:1—I will love you, O Eternal, my strength. Now, the more that that is true in our life the stronger that love will be and the more we acknowledge and truly believe that He is our strength. And how is He our strength? Because we understand that as a matter of trust as to whether or not we’re truly relying upon Him and looking to Him for strength in life, for that kind of help in life. So it’s an attitude of mind and the way we look to God, and it’s about a love toward God.

The Eternal is my rock, “Selah.” Just like “Petra” in the Greek. You know, there was a time in God’s Church where Petra, a place in the nation of Jordan, was looked upon as a place of protection because it had been in history and times back. So, when things about protection in the end-time were looked upon it was thought, it was believed at that point in time, that there would be a period of time (3½ years) where God would take His people and protect them from that great tribulation.

At that time we didn’t understand that all people who are called and have been called over the last 6,000 years, it says in scripture very clearly they all must go through great tribulation. It’s a part of a process to change and to grow and to conquer and overcome, but we didn’t have that yet. So this change, these adjustments in life and growing in balance and soundness of mind, a lot of it comes only once we come to a point in time of seeing greater truth, more truth. And until we have that truth, well, we’re not going to have as much balance and soundness of mind.

I remember back – some of you know that period of time, because that’s where we were with the present truth. I remember all kinds of speculation, some not too balanced, some not too sound. For if that was going to happen, if that was going to take place, how are we going to get there? So people speculated about some of those things, how we’re going to get there, and some of it got pretty far out...some of it got pretty far out. But to think that there are going to be at least 144,000 plus – 144,000 was basically the idea at that time – in a place called Petra in the nation of Jordan?

Well, later on God showed us, made it clear to us, He is our Petra, He is our Rock, He is the one who protects us. And to me that was an awesome thing, to come to that point in time where we weren’t looking to a physical location that somehow we’re going to be protected and the rest of the world is going to suffer hideously so. It’s not a whole lot different than a rapture where people are going to be taken away, supposedly, and they’re going to be looking down upon people suffering during great tribulation.

Well, I’m thankful that God reveals, no, we’re going to share in some of those things indeed, but our strength, our protection comes from God. That’s where we place our trust. So many of us in the Body are going to learn to exercise that in ways we have never had to before in our lives. God will protect and God will intervene in awesome ways in people’s lives. But it is a matter of trust and reliance and looking to God.

So it says here, again, The Eternal is my Rock, “my Selah,” “my Petra,” my fortress, my deliverer. A lot of different expressions here used to show the kind of desire that God has to His people, to protect, to fortify around us, to protect things around us as well, to give us protection, a hedge, all those things that are spoken of in scripture over and over. “My deliverer.” There are times we need delivered. There are times we’re delivered in different ways. God gives us the strength oftentimes to go through various things, and once we go through it He has delivered us. He gives us the strength and the peace of mind that can only come from God to go through some of the kinds of things in life that we do. That gives us, that in itself is a greater soundness of mind and balance, if we grasp that.

So sometimes when we think of deliverance we think of not having to go through difficult things. That’s not what that’s about at all. Deliverance can mean going through some very difficult things, but God is there for us. He’s there for us. There is that trust and there is that relationship and you placed your life in God’s hands, so much so that it comes to the point in time where whatever the purpose it is that God has for you, you trust in that. Whatever it is you’re in His hands, even if it means death.

I’ll just tell you, there are a lot of people who have gone before us that that’s what it came down to. A lot of people, especially in the early Church, they died for what they believed. They were put to death for what they believed. God had purpose in those things and things that were taught and things that were strengthened in them to come to that point in time in life and you remain firm and loving God and know that your life is in His hands. If there’s a purpose, so be it.

...my God, my strength, another word that’s used as a type of rock, or a cliff, used to convey strength. That’s how it’s used in the Hebrew language. It’s just another expression of strength. So there are many words in the Hebrew language that are very similar but just driving that point home over and over again God is our strength.

I remember visiting the place of Corinth when I think of this particular word here, because that’s similar to what it is. Corinth in Greece, south of Athens a ways, not that far down, just a couple of hours, I think, out of the city. When we visited that it’s on the side of a hill – well, it’s a big hill. It almost looks like a volcano and the tops been taken off of it; a small volcano with the top taken off, that’s kind of the shape of it. In other words, the sides of it are extremely steep and rocky. But down on the side is Corinth, and they could see from there clear out over the plains so that any army that was coming at them, they could see it.

If you want to talk about a fortification, that was a fortification. Incredible to see how they had to think in those times (candidly, over hundreds of years) for protection in various principalities and places on the earth as people gathered together. You had an incredible view over the entire area that was just flat below there, but up above you, if an army was coming at you that they could see; you could go up to the top of this thing and it was fortified with rock. They had built rock over the centuries all the way around, a fortification. Any army that tried to come up against them you’d think they don’t have a chance. They’re not going to make it up that because it was steep. It was hard to walk up there let alone to think that people are going to battle and come up against that.

So, again, that’s what I think of when I read about this cliff, this huge rock, this massive area here of protection, of defense as well.

...my strength, in whom I will trust. So we look to God in that regard for different thoughts and ideas of strength and help. ...my shield, the horn of my salvation, my high tower, “my stronghold,” all these things. Because God’s desire for us is so great to give us help, to give us strength, to give us fortification, to give us protection, and if we go through various things to deliver us, knowing, again, it’s a matter of trust. Our life is in God’s hands. That has to do with what we believe individually.

I will call upon the Eternal. So when these things are needed, when they’re before us, indeed that’s what we will do, we will call upon the Eternal God, who is to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. God’s process, God’s desire is to save us, whatever we go through, whatever that means, whatever that takes, in His way. I stress that because His way isn’t always our way. We have different ideas what it means to be saved from something. We want it a certain way. And the reality is if you go through this life—the ultimate in all this—if you go through this life and whatever that last thing is that happens in your life (especially for those who have gone before us even more so) and you come to the point of death and a matter of being saved from your enemies? Well, the Millennium is a little bit different because Satan is not going to be around, demons aren’t going to be around. But for all who have gone before us, think about them and their thoughts especially. The reality was that even to the point of death they’re going to be saved from their enemies because God’s purpose is to bring us into Elohim. That’s the ultimate of being saved.

So it doesn’t mean immediate deliverance always.  Sometimes we go through things because that’s how we can grow and that’s how we can even learn to trust in God even more so, to place our trust and confidence and boldness in Him. That doesn’t just happen by thinking about it. It happens through time. It happens through experience. The more you experience things and continue to trust the more you can grow in this kind of a mindset – soundness of mind, balance.

There is a being, Satan the devil, the adversary of God, the original son of perdition who hates God’s Church. So we mentioned that in Part 1. He has a desire; he is stirred up like you would not believe. Thankfully he’s taking a lot of that out on this world. Thankfully he’s been given to take a lot of that out on this world because he’s very much a part, in the forefront of bringing things to a head, of nations that are going to do some of the things they are, just like in Asia, just like in the European Union, and on and on it goes. Things that are happening within this nation, things are very stirred up right now. This isn’t normal. This isn’t normal; there is a being at the forefront.

I hope we can understand that and maybe even see some of that by how people are responding and reacting in the world in ways that they really haven’t in times past. There has always been politics. There have always been shenanigans going on. But right now things are really stirred up, powerfully so, because we’re getting closer and closer. That being and those who follow him know that they have but a short time. But you, all of us, are very much on that radar. It’s just that he’s lost power that he had before because of what we’ve come through. Nevertheless, you have to be on guard and keep on your toes because otherwise if there is a lapse in going in a particular direction he is there. He wants to destroy whatever he can. So it should be a very sobering thing, really, especially know that we have such a short time.

So again, he hates God’s Church and seeks to take you away from God. That’s his great desire. We have to be ever alert, spiritually on guard against him and the demon world. We have to be of a steadfast mind or a mindset that’s on guard as to his devices and his deceit, and that’s why we’re going through some of the things in this sermon. Because these are the things that Satan uses oftentimes to come at us, to get us off track.

The drama in life? I hope we’re learning to hate drama because it’s drama that takes you away. It takes your mind off of God every time. If you get deeply involved in drama in your life and you begin to feed on it – because that’s just the way the world is – and if you become a part of that? I know too many in God’s Church who get wrapped up in a lot of drama. I’ll tell you what it does. All the time, not part of the time, but if you get caught up in drama it’s pulling you away from where your focus should be. It’s distracting you from a relationship with your God whether you want to believe that or not, and I see it. I see it in God’s Church too much, too often. Some who just don’t think they have drama have too much drama.

We need to look at those kinds of things because that’s what we’re talking about here. It’s about placing our trust in God and what God’s telling us, and taking those things to heart, and repenting of or seeking to get away from those things that would pull our eyes off or take our eyes off of God. That’s a powerful tool that Satan uses. He loves that. If he can get you wrapped up in drama, boy, and sometimes you can’t get out of it either. That’s what’s sad.

So we have to be alert, on guard against some of his devices and deceit that come along because he’s going to continue to come after us until he can’t. I think what an awesome thing that God’s not going to let him be around for 1,100 years. That’s such an incredible blessing to mankind, to this earth.

2 Timothy 2:19. It says, Nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure. Now, it’s a word that just means “steady.” Sure and steady ...having this seal. Now, what an awesome thing to know what it’s saying here. What is that seal?

The Lord knows those who are His. Now, I love that. That’s beautiful. So if we realize that, if we know He’s called us, if we know that we see and understand the truths that He’s given to us, we understand the 50 Truths that God has given to us (and, candidly, more), but if we understand those things and how God has built upon some of the truths that we have, that we’ve been given, it’s an awesome thing.

To understand He knows us, He loves us, He wants us to succeed. That’s why He called us. He didn’t call us to fail. He called us to save us out of this sick, sick, evil world. He called us to give us the blessing and the benefit of the transformation of our mind and then it’s just a matter of our choosing, “I want to yield myself to that. I don’t want this! I don’t want what carnal, human nature does in life, in this world, and I want to be able to continue to fight against it. I’m thankful He knows those who are His.” It’s a seal. It’s described as a seal. It’s absolute. In other words, this is absolute. If we can just trust in that, because we see our calling, because we grasp that the only way to know and understand the truth is because God has to give that to you. You’re in God’s hands. Who would want to be anywhere else, any place else?

And let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. That’s what we’ve been called to, to fight and to continue in that fight.

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth. So it’s giving a contrast here. “In every great house.” So it’s showing here that though God has called people and that seal is there, He knows those who are His, nevertheless, we have choices to make. I think especially in times past where so much of this has taken place, where there were vessels of wood and earth, not of gold and silver.

This distinction is made for a purpose, as it goes on to say, and some to honor, in other words, it’s just means, an expression here that means “of value,” “of greater value,””greater price.” Like something made from gold and silver, you tend to look upon it and work with it in a different way, or think about it in a different way. Again here, giving the intent of receiving more honor, that’s why this is used this way, and some to dishonor.

So, again, this is where choices come in. It goes on to say, If a man purge himself from these... Of what? Things of dishonor. That’s the context here. Because we have a choice to make. We are to be like gold and silver, and when we go through trials and that dross, you know, the trials, the fiery trials heats up our life, it brings things to the surface and then we have choices to make because whenever that happens in our life we have a choice to make because the dross is going to come up. We’re going to see things that aren’t pretty. God brings things to the surface so that we can see it. Then how we address it, that’s what’s important. You can’t do that with the other, with the wood, with earthen vessels, and so that’s why this analogy is given. There are places in Corinthians that talk about some of this and it talks about those things that are set and those things that can burn up. Gold and silver, it can get hot and burn, but what it does is a blessing because it brings the bad things to the surface so that we can get rid of them.

If a man purge himself/if a person purge them self from these, things of dishonour, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, set apart. Because that’s God’s desire, to continue to work with us, set apart for holy use and purpose, for God’s purpose, for God’s use. That’s why we should want our lives in God’s hands and ever what He wants to do with us in transforming us, that’s where the riches of life are, they truly are, though we may not be able to grasp it and see it at the time. ...and meet/useful for the master’s use. In other words, to fit into whatever God’s doing with our life, for His use because eventually that’s what it’s all going to come down to, His use and His family in Elohim. He is the one who builds it. He’s the one who constructs it all. We should want to be a part of that, to be in that. ...and prepared or made ready, it says here, unto every good work.

Verse 22—Flee also youthful lust, but follow righteousness. So again, there are choices we have to make in life. Follow righteousness – in other words, that’s what we should want in our life, to be in that battle. ...faith, charity, in other words, godly love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. So again, all these things mean so much. “Out of a pure heart”; can’t be hypocritical. You know, there’s got to be that desire that’s genuine and pure inside of us that we really desire God and want his way of life.

Now, the reason for picking part of this here is because of what it says next. But foolish and unlearned questions... It’s like saying “speculation, conjecture; to postulate without real knowledge or proof.” There are a lot of things that fit into this category, have fit into this category through time. Speculation. Petra. So people would have these conversations sometimes rather than just being satisfied that, well, God has a place and that’s the present truth, and I’ll rest in that, that God’s going to protect us. Then later on God reveals, “No, it’s not a place over in Jordan, I’m going to do it in your life.” But people got caught up in how we’re going to get there. Where are the airplanes going to be? How big are they going to be? How? Where are we going to do this? Or maybe like the Red Sea, God will just open up the Pacific for those in the United States and we’ll just drive across. I heard that. I think, “Where are you going to get your gas?” “Oh, God’s going to provide that.” Well, why can’t He do the rest then? If He can do that then He could do a lot more than that.

Anyway, I’m sorry, but that one there really was far out. But I heard it early on in the Church, and many other things. Those things aren’t healthy. They’re a little weird. They’re a little strange. They’re unsound. I knew they were when I heard them. I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” God’s more powerful. God’s all powerful. If God wants us there He’ll get us there and we just have to wait until He reveals what that is.

So, again, “unlearned questions,” again, speculation, conjecture. That can be about so many things, so many things that were given. Like right now, who’s a part of the 144,000; it’s not a part of your thinking! It shouldn’t be there. That’s unbalanced. That’s unsound to worry about those things, to think on those things. If we trust that our life is in God’s hands let God take care of it. If it’s to be there, so be it. If it’s to be the opportunity to live on into a Millennium, what an awesome thing, and then be resurrected at the end of the thousand years, we’re still so exceedingly blessed! But sometimes the human mind, it goes off on tangents and begins to think about things that aren’t healthy spiritually. On and on it goes. I could give sermon after sermon just on this thing alone, about conjecture and speculation about things.

Anyway, going on ...knowing that they bring forth strife. So many of them bring about arguments, contentions, debate. I’ve seen that happen over and over again in the Church, contentions and debate, something that people have no knowledge of. I think of when Mr. Armstrong was building the auditorium and some of the things that I heard, that conjecture and people thinking about different things, different arguments that came up about why he shouldn’t be doing that maybe right now and blah, blah, blah.

Going on: And the servant of the Lord must not strive, must not be quarrelsome, be argumentative, fight, but be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient, in other words, forbearing. So in all this, in all this it’s a matter of recognizing something greater. The reason we don’t do these kinds of things, the reason we want to be of a sound mind, the reason we don’t want to push our own thoughts and ideas that may not be sound, the reason we don’t want to do that is because we don’t want to hurt the Body, because it’s about love. It’s about relationships, and we want to avoid anything that can cause someone to be hurt through disagreement and get to the point of quarrelling or be argumentative or whatever it might be. God doesn’t want that in our lives, to be a part of our lives.

Again here, it’s about relationships. It’s about relationships within the Body. I’ve seen so many things in the context of what we’re going through here, where so many people have been hurt.

...in meekness instructing, in other words, if it comes to a point in time where you know – not think – because I’ve known a lot of people in the Church who think someone else is doing something wrong or they think this or they have this feeling. And unless you know absolutely that there is sin involved there are times just to back away or go ask counselling, counsel about it. But so often it’s a matter of backing away and understanding there are certain things that are our responsibility and there are certain things that are not. But if it’s sin then indeed we have to consider those things and think about those things and then sometimes do something about it.

So in this section here it says, in meekness instructing (correcting) those who are in opposition. If someone says something that is so diabolically opposite, different from what we believe... Again, I don’t believe those things are happening within the Body. If it does then we have a responsibility. But in times past they happened a lot. So you have to be on guard because they can pop up again in the short time we have left in front of us.

So if you have knowledge of something what does God tell us to do when there is something, a conflict, there’s something that we know is a matter of sin? You’re supposed to go to your brother alone. That’s what you’re supposed to do first. A lot of times in God’s Church what’s happened is people won’t go to somebody else because it’s like, “Well, that’s not really my job and that’s for the ministry,” and then by the time the ministry might find out about it they’re so deep and so far into something that to reverse the course is near to impossible. Whereas early on, God says, because of doing it the right way one on one, of people who we’re close to in a local congregation, wherever that might be, and we go to them and say, “Hey, this isn’t right and I even hate to talk about it. I’m not trying to be judgmental, but this is a judgment that God’s given in His Church and this is what you’ve said,” or done, or whatever it is. So it’s a spirit of meekness, a willingness to learn, too, because you may be dead wrong. You may not understand it fully. And then again, maybe you do.

...those who are in opposition. So if something is said that you know is doctrinally off track, doctrinally in the wrong direction, you have a responsibility before God to try to nip it in the bud. How many people have I ever known in God’s Church who just wouldn’t do that? Tons. Lots. Lots and lots and lots because it’s a hard thing to do. But it’s the right thing to do.

...in meekness instructing or correcting. Well, I can give another example I guess that’s not too far from (I think it was) this region. The earth is flat. Good time to go to a brother alone and say, “That’s way out there and that’s just wrong. Church doesn’t teach that at all. It’s opposite of what the Church teaches. I know somebody that’s been all the way around it so, hey, it wasn’t flat and the plane went all the way around.” Because I’ve done that; went all the way around the world. I’ve proven it to myself... I didn’t have to prove it to myself. But if we love someone and don’t want someone to be hurt or to want others to be hurt, because there may not be any helping someone who believes that, but what about others that get caught up in different ideas and conversations?

...in meekness instructing (correcting) those who are in opposition, opposition to the truth, opposition to this way of life, if perchance God will grant them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. That’s what it’s about. It’s about coming into unity with the truth and where someone is in opposition to it then we have a responsibility before God. ...and that they may, say’s here recover themselves, but it’s a Greek word that just means “to awake or recover your senses.” Recover one’s senses? ...out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. He’s a powerful being and so often in this life we tend to underestimate that power. That’s why it’s so dangerous; if we start getting off track we make ourselves opened up to him powerfully so.

Anyway, there are numerous things that fit into such snares that have taken many people out of God’s Church. Such things have included conspiracy theories (a lot of them), supposed revelation of truth, in other words, “new truth” (a lot of them), a lot of ideas about truth or new truth that people think they understand, and new insight into scripture, ideas about health and healing, etcetera.

So let’s go back and look at some of those things that are cunningly clever in a very deceptive way that can given an appearance of something true and even intellectual that are deeply false and spiritually dangerous. That’s why we’ve gone into this. It’s about learning to truly trust in God and what God feeds and gives to His Church because we want to come into unity with that. That is where the soundness and the balance of mind comes from, what God gives to us in truth in His Church. Anything in opposition to that is very unsound, lacks the soundness of mind and proper balance.

So again, this brings us back to what occurred recently that led into this particular sermon concerning chemtrails. I think I’m saying it right. There are what’s called contrails across the sky when jets go across the sky that people do understand and comprehend, but then there are chemtrails that people believe that those are lasting up there longer and that the government or someone is spewing out certain kinds of things for all kinds of reasons. Because this is a belief that goes around the world depending on where you live as to how you look upon some of these things and what’s actually taught about chemtrails.

But it’s this idea that things are being pumped out, maybe to control the atmosphere, maybe to control weather, all kinds of things, or maybe some are a matter of just psychological warfare, different kinds of things. All kinds of ideas about what these things are, and the reality is, no, they’re just trails that follow jets when there at a certain altitude and depending on the conditions of the atmosphere at that time.

Then some have gotten into situations where they believe that if they create certain patterns, especially a triangle, look out! Run for cover! Because this is like, almost like voodoo or something. It affects the mind and soundness of mind. You think, why get that? If it is there, if the government was doing it, and if those did have some special meaning and there really was power in it then your only hope is trusting in God, because I can guarantee it’s just not going to get solved in this age, if the government’s really doing that. And the government is not doing it.

But anyway, where is our trust? There are all kinds of things out here that you can’t control. I don’t care how you try to live, you can strive to do the best you can, and sometimes even finances prevent you from doing more. We rely on God. We trust in God to protect us, to give us the help we need. That’s where our trust is. God has the power to protect you from danger, from harm. I drive down the highway and I see these things in the sky. I don’t go nuts because I realize it’s a bunch of hooey. Okay? And on and on it goes.

I knew someone fairly close to me and to my wife at least at a point in time who went off on a tangent and started believing those things and others. I’ll tell you what, in time they just kind of lost their mind. You know, a person can mess around with certain things and if there is a being behind it, especially for people in God’s Church, horrible things can happen, truly, because they have a lot of power and they can steer you away from the truth and from God’s Church.

Again, this brings us back to some of what occurred recently that led to this, again, sermon about chemtrails and the use of pyramid shaped devices as well as the postulation or belief in what’s called scalar waves or scalar energy.

So I’m going to go back to this because this helps to show how some of these things are and where they come from. We have to be on guard and be careful.

Do you remember the pyramid shaped device called the P.E. BAL, or the pyramid energy balancer? As I said, I like to call it the P.E. Baal, and how they reduced such devices into pendants. So they actually started making them smaller and smaller and even more powerful, and so they sell them online. You can get these things on Amazon.... I mean, don’t get them on Amazon, don’t even look them up. But anyway, they’re out there and you can buy them, different priced things. So they had these pendants that added the ability to accomplish even more than what the pyramid did. These pendants, obviously, were on sale, and as it was stated, but were the same technology and protection as what they called the Mighty P.E. BAL but included the addition of scalar waves.

Now, this is something that there is the idea that you can have certain elements or certain things that have this power, anyway, as it said here, they have to be in the Solfeggio Frequencies. Now, you can’t measure them. How they think they can measure these Solfeggio Frequencies is such a bunch of stupidity. They acknowledge they can’t measure scalar waves. I’m going to go in and read some of this as to why. So to even say they’re in the Solfeggio Frequencies, it just gives this idea that, boy, this sounds very intellectual; it sounds very scholarly. It sounds very scientific. There is no science in it whatsoever when it’s all said and done, but it’s dangerous to God’s people. It’s dangerous to people in the world who get caught up in it and they become more unsound. In many cases there is a being who plays games with them.

But anyway, this thing with scalar waves can give your health a greater boost, so they claim. So we’re going to take a little bit of a history look at scalar waves because there’s a point I want to make in all this. That so many of these things that happen there is a being who is deceitful, who is cunning, who likes to play games with the human mind and lead people into believing things that take them farther and farther away from soundness of mind and true balance that can only come from God.

So many of these people, groups, or companies who promote such items or products as pendants or pyramid shaped devices generally promote the need for body, mind, and/or life balancing that can be achieved by magnifying one’s environment with these scalar waves.

Before looking at this I’m going to read what I have here just as I have it. Before looking a little at this history of scalar waves it’d be good first to consider the terminology of “body, mind, and/or life balancing,” those kinds of terms that sometimes come out. These kinds of expressions are often a warning in themselves. Here is what one group says about such thinking and history, this thing of body, mind, and life balancing. Because this is not something that’s new; this goes back hundreds and hundreds of years.

“The caduceus, the western symbol of health and healing, has its origins in ancient Greece.” So this is something written as a matter of history. “This well known medical symbol depicts two snakes curled around the staff of the Greek god Hermes. Each snake represents one of the two essential aspects of medicine.” Now, they think it came from the Greeks. Oooh, are they missing out on that one. It goes back hundreds of years before that. We already know the history of that one. The pole and the serpents on it? But this is the one that became attached to even more so as far as if you want to call it paganism or whatever, this pole and the mysticism, the ideas about the god Hermes.

I’m just going to read it like it is.  Some of these things are just really out there. “The outer aspect is our biology. The inner aspect is our consciousness.” Wow! I want to wrap my mind around that one. Let me think about that for a while – the inner and outer aspects. “...mental and spiritual life.” People who get into this kind of stuff they’re messing around. Spiritual life is about a relationship with God, and yet I have known people in the Church to get involved in this kind of stuff, things of the mind and things that are spiritual, supposedly, and it’s not God’s spirit. So we ever have to be on our toes because we’re not through this yet.

It goes on to say, “The medicine Buddha is an eastern symbol of health and healing. It is stated that if one meditates on this one will eventually attain enlightenment.” Have you ever heard such things? You talk about “attaining enlightenment.” Don’t you want to be enlightened or balanced? That’s what it means, this balance. It’s like we’re out of balance, that’s why we’re sick, or whatever. Well, yeah, something is wrong in your body, but some of the things they come up with are really out there.

“But in the meantime,” speaking of this balance, “one will experience an increase in healing power both for one’s self and others and a decrease in physical and mental illness and suffering.” Bunch of gobbly goop here. It goes on to say that, “The wise figure of the Buddha is in a sitting position holding a branch of the aurora plant in his right hand which symbolizes all external therapeutic approaches to healing. In his left hand he holds a bowl containing the elixir of wisdom, the inner force of healing.” See, this is something mankind has always delved in, tried to delve into and try to use different ideas with people, because people want to be healthy.

“These ancient symbols arising from the human psyche across time and diverse cultures are identical in meaning.” So in other word’s it’s making a point here that these ideas, they go across time and culture. Yes, they do, hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years, and cultures. They’re out there. They’ve been out there for a long time. “They offer a universal wisdom gained by the great healers and sages of the past. It is said that a harmonious and balanced interplay of body, mind, and spirit...” That’s why I’m pointing these things out, because if you hear those terms that’s a red light in itself. Be careful. Again, “It is said that a harmonious and balanced interplay of body, mind, and spirit, the inner and outer aspects of life, is the basis of a far reaching well being. There are times when the inner and outer aspects...” Just the terminology, just the way they’re saying it is enough to make me want to put my finger in my throat.

“There are time when the inner and outer aspects of health and healing join together in balance and union.” Well, he’s just talking about different things. Everybody wants to be healthy. If you get sick, yeah, I want to have things in my body get back into proper balance because something does get out of balance, but they take it to an extreme and has this mystical kind of meaning involved in it and different ideas that go along with it.

So anyway, going back, “Consider these people, groups, or companies who promote such ideas or products as pendants or pyramid shaped devices generally,” again, “promote the need for body, mind, and/or life balancing.” They use these terms, “that can be achieved by magnifying one’s environment with scalar waves. These same people promote or push the connection to a person considered of great intellectual and/or scholarly status. In this case the man Nikola Tesla.”

Now, we know the name Tesla. That’s why we have AC electricity. He’s the one. He’s the one behind it all, Nicola Tesla. So surely a man of that kind of intellect, when he talks about some of the things he does and he comes up with the idea of scalar waves he must be on to something. There was something that was kind of lost and some are finding it now and he never was given the recognition he should have been given and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, just go a little further... “Nicola Tesla was a Serbian American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist,” and something that people don’t think a lot about when they get wrapped up in some of these things, “and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current electricity supply system.” So again, “These people who promote this theory,” because it is a theory, again this premise, this supposition, this postulation that’s there, “of scalar waves often have something like this that they state.” That is what is stated from one such group so I’m going to read some of this.

“Over a hundred years ago Nicola Tesla called the powerful non-Hertzien energy,” in other words, an energy without frequencies, “scalar.” Now, that one there I got to stop you right there because if it’s without frequencies (and they kind of speak with forked tongue here), because they talk about these other kind of frequencies that we talked about, the Solfeggio Frequencies, and, see, the point being is there is something there that can’t be measured and yet they claim it’s there. Well, what’s your evidence? What is your evidence it can come out of this pendant? What is your evidence it can come out of some other object? What is your evidence? How can you know it? That can get dangerous because you can really get into a mess on a spiritual plane with that because there are beings out there who have power to deceive. They have power to deceive on a physical plane, even a manipulation of things in how they work with the mind...if one gives themselves to such a thing.

So, they say, “Over a hundred years ago Nikola Tesla called the powerful non-Hertzian energy (without frequencies) Scalar. A new era of science was born.” I love the way they....I don’t love it. I hate it. But you think, “These people are cunning.” I mean, they have a cunning background there. I think, “Where does all this cunning come from?” I think of the Catholic Church and how they got their start and the idea of the Trinity.

“A new era of science was born. In the 1920’s Einstein referenced these scalar energies.” Then it’s got to be real. If he referenced these scalar energies than doesn’t it have to be? This is what they’re saying. People fall for such things.

I’ve known of people because of certain evangelists in God’s Church who said that certain doctrines were different than what Mr. Armstrong gave to the Church, that God gave him to give to the Church, and began to tell others so, that because it’s Dr. Hoeh, or some other evangelist, it certainly must be true! And hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of ministers followed those kinds of ideas and went off course.

Where did they come from? I know where they came from. They came from a very deceitful being who worked with individuals, even evangelists, to take them off course, and they began to teach false things. Sad.

I think of that same individual who would sit at his desk and brag about having individuals come into him he knew were possessed and desired to have a conversation with them because he felt that he was of such a mind, of such intellect, that he could converse with them and trick them into finding out certain things from them.

Even a long time ago when I heard those things I thought, “You have got to be kidding me! You’ve got to be kidding me!” Because, you see, there are people in this world who are possessed. There used to be more that were more obvious. They would want to come around God’s Church. They came around Ambassador College. They came around Ambassador College in Bricket Wood when I was there. I remember one person came out to the gates, tried to get in, and he had a message for Mr. Armstrong, that he should have this airship, and he had certain things he needed to accomplish and do, but he needed to hear his message. I’m not going to tell you all the other things, but really out there, weird, very obvious demonic possession had taken place. He wasn’t of a sound mind. He wasn’t of his own mind.

I don’t say these things to cause, to want people to fear them, because there is nothing to fear in them. What should have happened in the case of the other individual was to say, “No, get him off the campus. Don’t let some beings into our presence. Don’t allow them to come in and around the college,” because if you invite them in it’s a big mistake. Instead, you rebuke them. Instead, you say no to them. You don’t give them ground. You don’t give them place. There is nothing to fear in them whatsoever if you do that, if you obey God in doing that. But if you play games with them, they will play games with you, see. That’s where the danger is. People have done that. People can do that in different kinds of areas of life. I’ve seen it over and over and over and over again in God’s Church.

So, going on, “In the 1920’s Einstein referenced these scalar waves...” They don’t say what he referenced and they don’t want to bring out those kinds of things, but just because he said something about scalar waves and Nikola Tesla, well, this means he believed in it and acknowledged the same sort of things. That’s not what happened at all. “...and yet nearly a hundred years later their application is still undervalued and underused.”

“There are some factors that should be considered when looking at what Nikola Tesla theorized and believed. It is stated about him that he was the man who harnessed lightning. A true genius he envisioned new technologies far before their time and claimed to have had contact with extra-terrestrial beings.” Do you think he had contact with extra-terrestrial beings? Wouldn’t that say something about his very mind? Why would one want to listen to things he had to say that has to do with anything that might be considered spiritual or along such lines?

“Nikola Tesla was obsessed with the number three.” This is just history. This is history reporting about him. “He was obsessed with the number three and was very interested in numerology to the point he had to circle a building three times before entering it. You could say that he was a very superstitious man. He had calculated nodal points around the planet and they were probably linked to the number three, six, and nine. Tesla claimed that these numbers were extremely important.”

“Nikola Tesla used ancient Sanskrit terminology in his descriptions of natural phenomena. As early as 1891 Tesla described the universe as a kinetic system filled with energy which could be harnessed at any location. His concepts during the following years were generally influenced by the teachings of the Swami,” from India, a Swami, “Vivekananda who was the first of a succession of eastern yogi’s who brought Vedic philosophy and religion to the west. After meeting the swami and after continued study of the eastern view of the mechanisms driving the material world Tesla began using the Sanskrit words ‘akasha,’” was the first one that he started using a lot, “which is a term for either space, or either in traditional Indian Cosmology depending on their religion. The term has also been adopted in western occultism and spiritualism in the 19th century. Then he used the word or the Sanskrit terminology here ‘prana.’ In Hindu philosophy, including yoga, Indian medicine, and martial arts ‘prana,’ (it’s a word meaning ‘life force’) comprises all cosmic energies that permeate the universe on all levels. Though prana is often referred to as life force or life energy it also includes energies present in inanimate objects.”

So where do you think he got some of these ideas then? It becomes quite obvious where some of this scalar energy stuff comes from.

So in going back a little it says here, “Tesla began using the Sanskrit words ‘akasha’ and ‘prana’ and the concept of a luminiferous ether to describe the source, existence, and construction of matter. He came up with a theory of scalar energies or scalar waves.”

He’s starting to delve into and what they try to do is something that there are certain beings that know and understand and yet try to lead people away, that there’s another dimension out there and there is other power out there and there is. It’s called spirit, the spirit world. They try to make this something that people can tap into.

So going on here, “People who promote these ideas of Tesla’s theories state that scalar waves (also referred to as Tesla waves or longitudinal waves) are capable of penetrating any solid object including Faraday cages.” So if you have something that can penetrate that, man, that’s great isn’t it?

Anyway, “A transmitter can be placed in a box of thick metal and a receiver outside of the box will still receive the scalar wave.” I hate to spend much time on this, but I’ll tell you that such statements like that are so stupid because it’s so deceitful and scientifically untrue in what they’re talking about here because they acknowledge that they can’t even measure them so how in the world can they know where they can set something?

“Scalar waves are capable of passing through the earth from one side to the other with no loss of field strength. Travelling faster than the speed of light super-luminal scalar waves are not electro-magnetic but composed of pure zero point energy.” Now, doesn’t that sound really intellectual? Zero-point energy and it can travel through anything and it’s far faster than the speed of light, yet they can’t measure them. They acknowledge they can’t measure it. “They also have the potential to be used as a power source. They state that scalar waves can be used for communication,” but no one is, “for energy,” but no one is, “and of course for other applications like protection, balancing, and healing through rock, crystal, pyramids, pendants, and other shaped devices.”

So, the reason I’ve gone through all this is to show you how deceitful some things can be and how any one of us in God’s Church—not any one of us—but how people can get caught up in certain things and have a soundness, the sense of intellectualism entered, or whatever. You’ve got to be on your toes to be sound mind, to not go off on any tangents of any kind, and to understand that there is a spirit world out here, very powerful spirit world, just like these scalar waves. The only thing that travels faster than the speed of light that could pass through anything at any time is the power of God that sustains the universe. Amazing yet they try to have people focus on other things. There are beings out there that want to get your mind away from what is true and what’s right about God’s creation.

Let’s turn over to Psalm 5. In some ways I’ve wasted a lot of time on this, but in other ways this went from some different areas from within God’s Church, communicated, and should never have happened. Things can happen. Be on guard. Be on your toes because things are really stirred up right now. Because everything comes back to fully placing our trust in God, that He gives us what we need, that He gives us the truths we need. There are times to just go and ask for guidance and direction if we have some confusion about certain matters of life.

Psalm 5:1—Give ear to my words, O Eternal, consider my meditation. Listen to the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for unto You will I pray. I think of the time when God made it clear to us that the King of Kings is first and foremost not Joshua the Christ, and yet within the Church for so often we have had that concept that the King of kings, that he is the King of kings. Not yet.  Not yet. He hasn’t come back yet as the King of kings over this earth. But the Old Testament speaks of who is the King of Kings and it’s God Almighty. He is the Lord of Lords. He gives certain titles to His Son to carry out, functions to carry out, to bring this world, to bring mankind into unity and oneness and harmony with God Almighty, and yet Davie very clearly here talking about God. “You are my King and my God; for unto You will I pray.” First and foremost it’s God Almighty.

Because I’ll tell you what, in God’s Church there are those who began to have a lack of balance between God Almighty and Jesus Christ, just like what happened in the Protestant world, and beginning to place more emphasis on one than the other. God Almighty, He is almighty and number one above all. There should be no confusion about God’s family and how it’s established.

You will hear my voice in the morning, O Eternal. Just like in prayer, we pray to God Almighty. That’s how we pray, in the name of His Son, our Passover, our High Priest Joshua the Christ. We pray in His name, but our communication and our prayers, even as Christ showed us and gave us the example, are to our Father, God Almighty. Some people in God’s Church have gotten confused about some of those kinds of things.

You will hear my voice in the morning, O Eternal; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto You, and look up. So it’s talking about a close relationship with God.

For You are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell (abide) with You. So, we understand that. We can’t have sin in our life. We are to learn early on sin cuts you off from the flow of God’s spirit in your life. So if we’re not genuine and honest with God and to God, even in prayer, because prayer should reflect everything – our honesty, our genuineness to God; He knows everything about us. He knows what we’re doing day in and day out. He knows what’s in the mind. He knows what we’re thinking. God knows those things. He’s the one who can transform our thinking. He knows the mind and He knows every action of our life, every thought of our being. He’s all powerful. We come to a point in time where we have a desire for Him to help us to have soundness of mind and balance, to be transformed, to be changed, and to get rid of as much of the carnality in life as we can because in that we know we’ll have greater peace, greater happiness in life. That’s where real happiness comes from, being sound and balanced in a relationship with God Almighty.

So again here, You’re not a God who has pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil abide (dwell) with you. That’s why God got rid of Laodicea, spewed it out of His mouth because He wasn’t going to have sin or that lukewarm spirit. He wasn’t even going to work with that. We’ve got to desire and want and cry out for God’s way of life.

The foolish shall not stand in Your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak lies, in other words, deception and falsehood. I think of all those. I can’t help but think about those evangelists who have taught things that were wrong in God’s Church, who taught things that were diametrically different from what God had given to His apostle, to the very one that so many of these sat in classrooms that he taught. It’s amazing what took place and what’s taken place in God’s Church. The point being if it can happen to them it can happen to anyone, see, because these individuals were taught, individually so, by God’s apostle, in classrooms for a long period of time, three and four years. Incredible. Yet they began to teach something different as time went along. Some began to teach things different about healing, one in particular, another evangelist, things about medicine, things about doctors that were not balanced, that were not sound. Mr. Armstrong didn’t teach those things.

But see, we got so large Mr. Armstrong couldn’t know what everyone was teaching out here. He entrusted people to go out and teach what they had learned at college, but they weren’t. Some of things of what they learned, like from Dr. Hoeh, those who were in his classes went out and taught a 14th/15th Passover; many of them went out and taught a 14th/15th Passover. Some didn’t, but many who had him did. This is how things happened in God’s Church.

So, sometimes we think that these things can’t affect us or can’t reach out to us or touch us. Yes, they can. You have to be on your toes continually, especially now.

In large part this is a sermon of a forewarning of what’s coming. We are not through this. I’ll be real candid with you; you haven’t seen anything yet as far as a demonic world is concerned. Many of you have never experienced it, but it’s out there and it’s nothing to meddle with. It’s nothing to take lightly. It’s out there. Okay? The power that it will use is going to become greater and greater. You have to be on guard.

There’s nothing to fear if we look to God, if our trust is in God, if we do the things we’re told and we’re seeking to be on guard for that very reason, to be close to God, to recognize that there is power that exists that wants to take us away from God; then there is nothing to fear, nothing to be afraid of. They’re just distorted beings, twisted minds, sick minds. You just don’t give them place. Just like sin. We don’t want to give it place in our life because that’s what will take us away from soundness, unity, balance with God, soundness of mind with God. God won’t dwell with that. That’s where the danger lies.

The foolish shall not stand in Your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity and you will destroy those who speak lies, or deception and falsehood. The Eternal abhors the man of blood and deceit. So we should hate deception. We should hate things that aren’t in unity and oneness with the Church. We should not want those things around us.

Verse 7—But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy. What an awesome thing to understand God’s a merciful God. We all make mistakes. We all have things that happen in our life that we get, whatever it might be, stress of a time or whatever it might be of the moment, and we live in a world that’s filled with stress today, and if we’re not careful those things catch us off guard and we get caught up in stress and then we can take it out on others or say things or do things as a result of that.

That’s just a beginning of a minor area of life, because there are bigger areas that want to pull you into drama and get you caught up into all kinds of family things or things on the job or the drama of life. I ache inside when I see that happening in God’s Church because I see it happening. We have such a short time in front of us and we should run from drama. It should be in our rear view mirror just as fast as we can go. Don’t let it get a hold of you.

But as for me I’ll come into Your house and the multitude of Your mercy. So whenever we do something that is in error, wrong, or whatever it might be, and we give into our carnal human nature we just go before God and say, “Father, forgive me. Help me. Deliver me.” That’s what God desires to do. But it’s that consistent approach to thinking toward God that we need to do. That’s a matter of placing your trust in God not in yourself. If you try to fight this on your own you’re not going to succeed and come through this.

I say this because I know there are going to be people who still don’t make it through this. We don’t have a lot of time left. My desire, always has been, that people stay steadfast in God’s Church, that we stay in unity, strive to stay in unity and oneness with God and not get carried off by sin, whatever that might be, but it’s still going to happen. Every year there are people who go by the wayside and it hurts.

...and in Your fear will I worship toward Your holy temple. What’s that saying? It’s saying your desire should be, in essence, to fear not being close to God. We should be fearful of what can happen to us in life if we don’t stay close to God, if we’re not fighting for this way of life.

Lead me, O Eternal, in Your righteousness because of my enemies. We have to be aware that we have enemies; we have things that want to pull on us. It can be the drama within your own family. It tugs at you and wants to pull you away. It wants to get you wrapped up in it, so engrossed in it that it starts to consume your life and your thinking and your sleep, in your waking hours. In other words, when you’re trying to go to sleep because you can’t because of the drama that’s going on and the stress that this calls in life. On and on it goes. ...and make Your way straight before my face.

Verse 9—For there is no faithfulness. It’s a word that literally means “to be firm as in soundness.” That’s what it means. ...in the mouth of any of them; their inward part is very wickedness; and their throat is an open sepulchre, an open tomb, as it is, grave; they flatter, in other words, “to divide” as the word means here, or “take possession as in property.”

Awesome what it’s saying here. They flatter. I think of a being out there who comes at people in God’s Church. He uses a lot of flattery. He uses things that can appeal to the mind to pull people toward him, to lead them in a different direction. That’s why this word is incredible here, “to divide,” because that being wants to divide. He wants to cause division.

We’ve had a lot of peace over all for quite a long time in the Church. Going back to the last time we had a giant rumble was 2013, end of 2012, in through that period of time.

A word that means, “to take possession, as in property.” That’s what they desire to do, those beings. ...with their tongue/with their words.

Verse 10—Pronounce them guilty, O God, let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against You. We apply this to the Church. Again, we can look at things in the past and recognize things that we’ve gone through, and those that have led people astray; like I mentioned last week, some who got into a Bible study in Cincinnati area, invited people over to a Bible study. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t invited. As a matter of fact, some of it was about me. Warning! Warning! You know, you think that should have said something right then and there, “Where is this coming from? What are you studying into?” See, that’s not too long ago – 2012, 2013. Think a person can’t get offended by something that happens and all of a sudden start thinking in different ways than what they should? It’s been a lifelong thing that’s happened in God’s Church ever since I’ve been around.

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in God. It’s about God. Let them ever shout for joy, because You cover (protect) them. God will take care of us if we look to God to protect us, to keep us from danger, to keep us from harm. Again, the reason we’re going into some of this is because of what’s coming, okay? Because God is letting us know that there are going to be more things coming our direction. It’s not over with. You need to be close to God. That is your strength. He is your strength because things are going to get stirred up here before it’s all said and done in the environment around us.

Let them also who love Your name be filled with joy in You. That’s what carries those who are faithful through all these things, because their joy, their confidence has already become established or it’s becoming more established. Your trust is in God. All these other things out there are not going to be a distraction to you because you are set in your mind, “No matter what comes I know where God is. I know what God is doing.” Awesome! But that kind of a mind, that kind of thinking comes from God, because you have to fight for it because it’s spiritual.

For You, Eternal, will bless the righteous; with favour You will compass (crown) him as with a shield, in other words, with armor. So no one has anything to fear, truly, nothing to fear. The fear is that we not be close to God. The fear is that we would stray away from God. The fear is that we’d go off on some tangent, whatever that might be in life, something that would distract us, whatever it might be. We have to constantly be fighting for this way of life.

We don’t have a lot of time. And I think... I’m literally a little dumbfounded to think that things can still happen until this is over with unless you fight with all your being and place your trust in God, cry out to Him day in and day out, develop a better relationship in prayer with God, whatever that means for you, to ask God to help reveal to you any area of your life where you’re not putting Him first, where you’re not trusting in Him fully.

I’m trying to figure out how far I’m going to go today here because we’re definitely having another sermon after this. There is one area that we really need to zero in on even more so.

Again, it goes back to having a real trust and reliance on God to lead, guide, and direct us, to know that God gives us what we need when we need it. As I said in the beginning here, even warning, because I’ll tell you it’s been in this sermon while I’ve been giving it today, that God’s made it very clear that there is more coming from that being and that demonic world. There are some scriptures that talk about those things that I’ve wondered about in time that I’m not wondering about right now anymore at all. It’s why you have to be close to God, to fear going off on any tangent, any direction out here whatsoever, to fight against carnality, to fight against “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” to fight against those things with all your being.

You know, when you’re in a race it’s the last part that can be the hardest up here. Your body is crying out to you to quit. Your body is crying out to you this is too hard, this is too difficult. We’re getting ready to go into a time of life that’s hard and we need to be close to God.

So there are many things that have taken place in God’s Church over time in the last couple of years especially that I’m going to go through and discuss some of them, just on the side here, just to show you a part of a history of things that took place that have led many out of God’s Church. I’m not talking about a few, I’m talking about many. Just a little tangent here and there that people have gone off on.

It seems small, but I think of just this thinking here alone; some people have got upset about things about birthdays, whether a person should be able to observe a birthday or recognize a birthday of someone. We were not balanced in that. There was a feeling, because of Christmas, and because of it being observed that it was about Christ’s birthday that, therefore, it kind of went along that God didn’t intend for any birthdays to be recognized. Now, that’s not true. You know, God led us to greater balance in time. What mother or father is not going to remember the birth of their own child? That’s a beautiful thing. I’ve talked about this many years ago. It’s a beautiful thing. Now, we don’t throw wild parties, you know, like some of the world does sometimes, but, you know, to recognize it, to do something special, nothing wrong with that. But we weren’t balanced in that and you think, well, that’s not a big deal, is it? It was to some. It has been to some where people get in arguments or debate about it and so forth.

How about the matter of wearing of makeup? I think of all things, you’ve got to be kidding me. I mean, if we listen to that now, some of you who have never been through any of that, to think that God’s Church went through a difficult time about people wearing makeup? There are a lot of people who eventually left God’s Church because of that, because of the doctrine. There are a lot of people who rebelled against God’s Church because of that, and because of that they were cut off from God and eventually left anyway or lost what they had or what they thought they had. Makeup, a woman wearing makeup, because we went through a time when women didn’t.

We went through a period of time where in society if you go back to the 20’s and 30’s and 40’s and in that period of time, that there was certain thoughts, especially in religious communities in the world more than the Church itself, but they had a tremendous impact upon God’s Church, of the way other people thought. I mean, look at other doctrines that still had impact on the Church when you think about the Trinity and so forth.

There were things that still had impact and affected how people thought. So makeup was one of them. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it, but this went back and forth a few times. Do you know what was most important, which I was thankful that God gives that soundness of mind and balance? If Mr. Armstrong determines it because it’s a decision within the Church, because you really can’t go to any scripture, then it is administrative decision and it was bound in heaven. Jezebel, it makes it clear she wore makeup so don’t wear makeup because she wore makeup. That’s not a reason not to wear makeup. It doesn’t say don’t wear makeup. It doesn’t say a woman can’t wear makeup. But we weren’t sound and balanced in some of those things and God let us go through that for a reason. It was to try His Church.

Just like with Pentecost, just like with every change that’s ever come along, God has allowed us to go along and believe certain things, to a certain point in time, until He reveals more truth, and in that one there I think it was changed three times. And you know, Mr. Armstrong made an administrative decision. Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. To me that was the only way to look at it because there weren’t really any scriptures even though some ministers tried to use scriptures about it. And when Mr. Armstrong came to a point where he said it was okay, there were others, it was still sin to them. You know, that was wrong.

I hope you understand that. Because it’s not a matter of doctrine, it’s a matter of something that’s bound by the Church for the sake of the Church to have unity and oneness. There are things that God has given in time that aren’t a matter of something great or something that’s so important as far as a relationship with Him that it’s not that big a thing, so you have to make decisions about things that are happening in the world that are administered by the Church. Things of moderation, what should we do at any moment in time because of the world. We’re to be moderate as compared to the world. We’re not to be ultra-conservative and look weird and be weird and act weird because there are people who do that. There are people in religions who do that. There are people who wear certain kind of clothing because, you know, to them it’s sin to have a shiny car so they go out and they have a dull paint put on their car. No matter what age it is it has to have a dull finish to it. There are some who can’t wear zippers. There are different ideas about what sin is and so they get stuck at a certain point in time. So there are all these different things, like colors. All these things, if you have too much, that’s flashy, that’s vanity.

Well, it doesn’t matter what you have at any moment in time, it doesn’t take care of this thing of vanity. It’s in the mind. So if that’s what everyone else is wearing around you you can have vanity about what you’re still wearing.

So the human mind is a marvel of how we think. So the desire is indeed to have a soundness and a balance from God. He just shows us the simplicity of moderation and of certain things that are established within the Church that some speak of as customs within the Church. I can’t remember if it was Peter or Paul that spoke of some of those things. It’s the custom of the Church, certain things. In other words, it’s not something you’re going to find in scripture that’s do or don’t. It’s something that they’re doing at that time. It doesn’t mean it can’t change later on because of something that changes in the world, because moderation of things can change. And so on and on it goes.

But I’ll tell you what, for those of you who lived through that period of time having to do with makeup you know what I’m talking about when you saw different people have conflict and battles in God’s Church. There were people who judged people harshly when Mr. Armstrong said it was okay and individuals went out and put some makeup on. Others looked upon them, “That’s sin.” Some ministers out here in their own congregations who didn’t agree with Mr. Armstrong, still considered them, “Oh, you couldn’t wait could you?” It causes division and it causes wrong relationships. But God allowed these things to try the Body as to whether we’re in unity and oneness with Him and how we understand how truth or how guidance and direction comes to us and what we’re supposed to do when it comes.

There are some things that indeed have always been established in the Church as a matter of a choice and a decision just so we have balance, just so we have, I should say, unity, because somebody has to make a decision. It’s like in a family. Families can rear their children differently, but each family, husband and wife, have to agree if they’re going to have, really, a successful family, they have to agree to certain rules or whatever it might be within that family as to what can or cannot be done and how certain things should or should not be done, and children have to learn to live within that. Another family may have other boundaries that are different. There’s nothing wrong with that. But somebody has to make those choices.

So it has been in God’s Church. There are some things that have been established from that. So the desire is to be in unity and oneness with God and how He teaches us, and to trust in that process. That’s why I love the scriptures that talk about whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven and if someone goes against it – God has allowed that to be in God’s Church. Not concerning the Sabbath. Not concerning a change in holy days. Not concerning change in His law, but in those things where there are questions about how we’re to live our lives and this was one of them.

I lived through this. My wife has lived through that. Some of you have lived through some of this and seen the contention and the judging and the attitudes and the relationships, and I think especially of ministers who didn’t go along or weren’t in unity with Mr. Armstrong and wanted to hold on to something they thought, “Well, no this is right. You should not be wearing it.” They caused trouble in their congregations. They caused divisiveness and hurt and suffering within their congregations because they knew full well what Mr. Armstrong said, and yet their minister in their area that they’re working under and working with taught differently. It was horrible, in some cases, of what took place. In time, not a few, but many left. In time when it got changed back then, no more makeup, whew, whiplash, and people who were doing it then it was hard. Then it went back to none again. We went through a time of struggling in our growth for balance, for soundness of mind and how to deal with various things.

You think this may not be a big deal, but if it causes people to leave, if it was something that revealed rebellions within individuals. Ministers who didn’t support Mr. Armstrong were in absolute rebellion to the Church and not a one of them is around today. On and on and on it goes. That’s why God says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. If we can’t learn that, what it means to be in unity and oneness with God, with His Church because we trust in His Church and how He leads and guides and directs us and works with us because we’ve proven those things to ourselves, we’ve got big problems.

I think of something that came up last week in an email. I haven’t had a chance to answer it. It was forwarded to me. But it’s about wedding rings. We need to get rid of this concept, this idea, of wedding rings. Well, this is nothing new that it’s come around. It comes around every once in a while. You know, just because gentiles or pagans did something and misused something or say something about a particular thing doesn’t mean that we’re misusing it or that it’s something that has to stop. I wear a wedding ring, okay? It doesn’t have the pagan meanings that some feel that it has but it has meaning to me in a relationship with my wife.

So it’s kind of like this thing of hearts. There were people who felt it was wrong to have hearts and you shouldn’t wear a heart for a necklace. I’ve known of people to criticize others for wearing a heart, because, I mean, after all, it’s a pagan symbol. The pagans used it for a symbol. There’s cupid, you know, and the arrow, and the arrow that goes through a heart and it has this meaning. Give me a break!

Today it’s used in a unique way, again, about relationships. I think of the rainbow and how there are groups that misuse that. There is nothing wrong with it of and by itself. Sad what mankind can do. And on and on it goes with different kinds of things. But if it’s associated with pagans? I think of people who talked about paisley, paisley ties, you shouldn’t wear paisley ties because pagans used the paisley type of designs. And you think, give me a break.

So again, I think if it was proven going way back that people had MyPillow. I love MyPillow. We travel with MyPillow; got it from Minnesota. Best pillow we’ve ever had. Anyway, don’t mean to have a plug there, but hey. You can roll him up and put him in a suitcase (we found this out) and you can take him out and fluff him out and it’s great. Because sometimes you get headaches, sometimes your back gets out of whack because you get different kinds of pillows in different places, so we’ve learned to travel with them. But the point being if going back, maybe let’s just go back 3,000 years, somebody found out that pagans were using MyPillow; they actually came up with it first. It’d be like saying you can’t have MyPillow because the pagans used it. Anyway, I’m sorry.

But the point being is that was the thinking there sometimes. Just because pagans had certain things or used certain things it’s like its wrong if we do. There are words (we call it etymology), that change through time and there are symbols that change through time. If something was wrong with it – now we’re not going to use the serpent on the pole, I can tell you that one, but on and on it goes. We know where that comes from. We know how that was abused and misused.

But there are some things that are innocent. They have different meaning today. Anyone that wears a heart in a necklace, there is nothing wrong with it, but there was a time when there were those who would criticize that in the Church or condemn someone for doing it.

I think of people who had trouble with holidays, distinguishing a balance in holidays. I think most came to understand that Thanksgiving observance was okay because it’s not religious. It’s not based in a religion in the sense of it’s a religious thing that’s been passed down for hundreds and hundreds of years. It’s something that a country does. Canada has theirs. So it’s a time, basically, that you may get off work and you may be able to have a special meal together. If that’s your choice, there’s nothing wrong with that. But some people could find fault with such things as that.

Then there are things like New Years. It’s like it would be wrong to recognize we’re in a new year. And if you happen to be out or you wait up past 12:00 and watch some of the fireworks go off that somehow you’re sinning. No, they’re fireworks. And yes, it’s a calendar we have and we recognize we’re going from one year to another. Now, we don’t sit around singing “Auld Lang Syne,” and some of the things that go along with it and blah, blah, blah. We have soundness in mind and balance in it, but there are people who felt that there were those things that were sin. We don’t party like the world; there is soundness and balance of mind.

Anyway, I’ll go on, because I could go on and on about some of these kinds of things. But we do not observe things like Halloween. We do not observe, though it has a heart in it, things like Valentine’s Day because of the history that that’s steeped in and some of those kinds of things, though they’re not specifically today steeped in a religious observance. Though we understand that Halloween is a little out there. It is as far as religion is concerned, but not something observed by churches. It’s spiritual. It’s spirit. Weird stuff.

I’m trying to get through different notes here that I had on some of this.

Such guidance and in so many matters like the things we’ve been focusing upon in this subject matter that’s, again, we’re focusing on learning to more fully trust in God. It’s to understand how God works with us, to understand how God teaches us, and once something has been given by the Church to have trust in it, if we’ve proven to ourselves God’s Church, where God’s Church is, where God is working, then certain things are given to give us balance and so forth.

It might be in matters of dress. We have, we do, we have had ministers talk to different individuals about certain kinds of dress at times, because we have a standard within God’s Church. There have been things said about shirts. I’ll tell you what; it has been difficult for some men to not wear a tie when the temperature is up in the 80’s or 90’s. You need to come down to Arizona, let me tell you, and walk in and out of this stuff out here. It’s hot! I’ve tried to set part of an example in some of those things to help people to realize, especially if you go way back into Worldwide, to have the mind where you think you don’t have to wear a tie in Sabbath services has been hard for some. But the reality is if it’s hot out there like that you don’t have to.

Now, if you choose to because you know that you’re not going to be very long outside or travelling long distances and whatever and you want to, then that’s perfectly fine. Me, every chance I got not to wear it, I’ll take it. I should say I probably could do that more often, but anyway, because there’s a certain standard even that I want to have out there on the videos on the YouTube and so forth.

So there’s balance and it’s difficult to learn that sometimes. There’s balance when it comes to how women dress. There are styles today that have that which drops way down and it’s not good, it’s not healthy. It’s not proper, and maybe how high dresses or shorts are. I see shorts are getting shorter and shorter now again. We go through all these styles and so forth. But you know, we need to have a dignity about ourselves and about an example we’re striving to set. So there’s balance in those kinds of things too. But every once in a while, as a standard for God’s Church, we may have a minister go and talk to someone, say something to someone because something isn’t conducive to Sabbath services and coming before God and honoring God, especially there.

These things have to do with trust, because it’s a desire to have unity and oneness with God, which means that we are the recipients then of soundness of mind and balance. God teaches us balance through these things. He teaches us what’s healthy through these things, what’s spiritually health in our thinking sometimes in love to others. A lot of it has to do just with that, a love toward others and how we exercise that.

Let’s turn over to Proverbs 3:1. It says, My son, forget not My law; but let your heart keep My commandments: for length of days, and years of life, and peace they shall add to you. God’s way of life, God’s truth and those things that are given through His Church, the more in unity we are with such things the more peace of mind God says we can have. It even affects our health. Now, that doesn’t mean if we get sick that something is wrong in that particular area, but the reality is that these things, the more peace, the more at peace we are the less drama we have because we are in unity with God and keeping our eyes focused on God and our reliance and trust is upon Him. Indeed, they can add health to our lives; they truly do, as far as to how you feel, how you think.

Do not let mercy and truth forsake you. God wants us to keep truth close to us, truth that comes through His Church, to embrace those things. And mercy – that means how you think toward others and how you treat others.

You know, I think about this from time to time, what an awesome thing it is to learn to have mercy toward others. The way you learn it is because you understand the kind of mercy that God has had on you. Powerful, truly is. So if we receive the mercy of God in our lives and we know it, if we’re not merciful to others in dealing with other and working with others then we’ve got some things to address.

Fasten them about your neck; write them upon the table of your heart, the truth, the way of life, the way to live. ...then so shall you find favor and good understanding... I love this word here because it means good success. It’s about success. ...you will find favor and good understanding (good success) in the sight of God and man.

I think of a time when we use to have Ambassador Clubs in college, and then we called it Spokesman’s Club. It’s the same thing, really, Spokesman’s club in the church areas. I think of the training that people received when they went through some of those things and the ability to do what that club environment gave as far as learning how to speak and talk about topics in front of a group of people and being able to give speeches of different kinds. I think back about how that helped people in their jobs to where they had greater success. It’s just about God’s way of life. The more that way of life is embedded within us, because that gave people opportunity to grow in those things with a greater, stronger relationship in the way things work in our lives and so forth, because those things sharpened. It was iron sharpening iron. I marvel at how people excelled in their jobs and were blessed in their jobs and were able to do things in their jobs that they could receive no other way. It helped them to grow. It helped them to be able to receive greater blessings from God.

Trust in the Eternal with all your heart; and do not lean to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

I’m going to stop there today because I’m going to get into another area here that I don’t want to until next Sabbath. Next Sabbath we’ll have the final portion of this about trusting in God.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1