Healing, Believing, and True Faith, Pt. 3

Ronald Weinland

November 11, 2023

Today is Part 3 of the series entitled Healing, Believing, and True Faith.

We’ve been going through the book of James in order to receive a better grasp of the context because the verses that we referred to earlier in the very beginning and last Sabbath as well, the beginning, in James 5:14, in through that area there about healing, it was, the comments have been made that the reality is you just can’t take those out of context and just read about healing in those two verses.

Because there have been a lot of misconceptions come out of that in times past and a lot of different ideas that aren’t really sound in some cases or as balanced. And the reality is you have to go back to the beginning and have the entire context of James in the back of your mind so that you can understand more clearly what’s being said by the time you get to chapter five and what’s being covered there. And hopefully, that’s becoming clearer. So, that’s why we’re going through this.

So, anyway, hopefully, we’re coming to see more deeply the context that leads up to James 5 that we’ll probably get into today.

So again, this is not really that easy in one respect because repetition sometimes and just making sure we have the context in our mind is wise as we go along here. So, even going back here and just reminding of the last two sections we went through, Part 1 and Part 2 I’m going to do a little faster today, not covering nearly as much as I did last Sabbath in a catch-up. But it’s important to have this review to make sure as we go into Part 3 here that we have a good grasp of the context.

So, just some highlights, James 1:2—My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials and testing. And there has to be a distinction made here, a couple things. First of all, it is to the Church. It’s written “brethren” over and over again through the scriptures here because we’re going to get into some areas here that we covered a little bit last Sabbath as well that sound like it’s talking to the world or whatever. And it’s not. It’s not about the world, it’s about the Church and the terminology that God inspired James to use so that we can get how serious and how important it is to grasp these things.

So anyway, also this thing about “various trials and testing,” a distinction needs to be made in the fact that there are things that God works and allows in our lives that are for our good where we can grow more, where we can go through various things and give us opportunities for growth that help mold and fashion us. They’re good for us.

But the kind of testing it’s talking about it’s not talking about that. It’s like God allowing the Apostasy. There are reasons for that, obviously. We’ve gone through a lot of those in times past. And knowing the kind of destruction that was going to take place within the Church and the like, but obviously, that was a trial and a test to everyone to go through that. But it’s our choices to events and things that happen in our lives, in the world, or whatever it might be, that can be exceedingly good for us in the sense of being molded and fashioned into what God is desiring to do in our lives from the very beginning of our calling. We’re called for a purpose and there are, in most cases here, we’re looking at situations here where it’s a matter of working with various ones to have them molded and fashioned to fit into a place within the Temple.

It’s not just a roll of the dice and “Oh, this… We’ll do this here and work with them in this way.” There’s a design by everything that God does. And so it is here. So, there are a lot of things that happen to us in life but how we react to those and the choices we make determines an outcome that reveals the kind of test or trial that it was, and this is made clear by what he says.

Verse 5—If anyone lacks wisdom… So, right away we’re confronted with this – because it brings it up again a little bit later. We’re smart, we’re growing in a little bit of wisdom, at least if we can acknowledge, yes, every one of us lacks wisdom, every one of us needs – if we understand what wisdom is and that it’s not a matter of mankind’s wisdom. Because what’s that worth? It’s the wisdom that comes from God. It has to do with the mind of God.

That’s why I love the Proverbs in that respect because it talks about wisdom, the need for wisdom, the desire for wisdom, and the reality is it’s talking about the mind of God, the being of God, the Word, Logos that is used more so in the New Testament. It comes from God. So again, it’s the mind and the thinking of God. And what an incredible thing that we can begin to have that developed and grow within us.

So, If anyone lacks wisdom let them ask of God, because that’s where it comes from. So, we should ask of God, we should understand we need help in all things in life. Every day we need God’s help and so we should understand that we’re lacking, and we need help. And that kind of builds up then too, if we grasp it, in James 5. It’s a matter of looking to God as a way we think day in and day out.

And so here it just drives the point home. …let them ask of God who gives to everyone liberally. In other words, when God’s called us we’re sanctified, we’re baptized, we have the impregnation of God’s spirit in us, God wants to give us more and more and more. And that takes time. He can’t do it all at once because we have to grow. There are things we have to grow in in order to receive more. It’s a process.

Who gives to everyone liberally without reproach, without blame. In other words, God doesn’t hold anything against us as we repent and seek to continue to grow and change, and overcome. God desires to give us more and we can do so going before God knowing He doesn’t hold anything against us like human beings tend to do.

It’s hard for human beings to forgive. In God’s Church too often it’s hard for people to forgive others. And so, we can go before God our Father and know that it’s…especially if we’ve repented.

So again here, “without reproach,” or “without blame.” There is nothing held against us. …and it shall be given them. But let them ask in faith without any doubting, if you will. It says “wavering” but “doubting or questioning.” And so, James builds this up as to what this doubting and this questioning is, and it has to do with wrong thinking, candidly, if we’re questioning various things that God has given to us or that’s given to us through the Church and so forth. And faith comes from applying the things God has given us the ability to believe. There’s a lot in this book.

Verse 14—But everyone is tempted/tested when they are drawn away of their own lust and enticed. So, whatever comes our way through time and chance or by design from God whereby we can grow. Even the Apostasy, how are we going to react to it? How do we react to various things? Something new is introduced to the Church, perhaps about Pentecost, the right day for keeping Pentecost, so how does the Church respond?

This is an opportunity to grow, to have things in a better focus as to God’s plan when we come to grasp some of the things about the timing and the like and the timing that leads up to… We can just go on and on, from the Wave Sheaf to the Wave Loaves, and the importance of the accuracy of these things and how God is so minute in all of His design.

So, how we respond to it, like what happened when we came to a point in time in PKG that God revealed to us that Christ is not going to return on Feast of Trumpets, he’s going to return on Pentecost. So, here is an opportunity to grow more, to be molded and fashioned, and it’s God’s timing to give that truth to the Church but how do people respond to it? Well, every one of those cases, and we can just go on and on and on, of things that are there to help mold and fashion us, to help us to become stronger and closer to God. But so often because of our nature – questioning, doubting, as it says, using human reasoning as to what is…

You know, it should be simple to us after a time, after we’ve proven various things. As it should have been for Herbert Armstrong, that by the time all those people who had been called, everyone, all the ministry, should listen closely to what he had to say when he talked about giving a year to go over everything concerning Pentecost, as to what day it is, because there are some things out there to be looked into.

And there were those who were impatient and so they reacted to it in a way – God gave as an opportunity to learn and draw closer to Him and be given more, to be molded and fashioned in turn, and yet because of this sick mind when it comes down to our deciding things for ourselves and deciding what’s better, rather than having the conviction believing that God gave an apostle to give truth to the Church as He did throughout that period of time when He started working with Mr. Armstrong all the way up to the time then that Pentecost came along, and thousands of people left.

Intellects. Intellectual in their own minds, relying on their own wisdom, their own studies, and determined Herbert Armstrong was wrong. The attitude should have been, “Okay, we’ll wait a year and then we’ll see. Then we’ll know.” Because we’ve already proven this is where God is working. And if we don’t really believe that you know what? It’s going to come out, isn’t it? If we don’t really believe the truths to that point in time as it was back in 1984, if we don’t believe those things then we’re not living by faith.

So, it’s because of our own lusts, different desires. We want a different outcome. We are more intellectual. We know what’s best for us. Not in the Church you don’t. There is no need for a Church if you already can figure these things out on your own, if you’re so smart. And some have left for that very reason and said, even of recent time, “Don’t need the Church. Got it all figured out how I’m going to work this out, the studying I’m going to do and the other things. It’s all there. Going to work it all out.” You’ve forgotten from the time you were baptized to now how truth came to you, how you know what you know? Their own lust and enticed.

Verse 19—Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Because that’s what happens. People start questioning things and doubting things. There was a lot of anger over the thing about Pentecost, and there was a whole lot more over make-up. Isn't that crazy? There was a lot over Pentecost, but a whole lot more over make-up. More people got mad at each other, judgmental, sides were drawn. Oh, people got ugly, ugly, ugly—Mind-boggling!—in God’s church.

So, God says “Be quick to hear.” Don’t be so quick to speak up and show your own opinion about things, what you think. Because really, what we think when it comes to God giving His truth, doesn’t really matter. We have choices to make. We can think yes or no, am I going to do it because I’ve already proven this is God’s Church and how God teaches me and leads me and guides me or not? Because that’s the choice. There is no questioning about it, really. Awesome.

Verse 21—Therefore, lay apart/put off all that is filthy. So, it goes on into in that respect, words that are used about filthy conduct, bad behaviour, wrong choices, wrong judgment. Put off everything that’s filthy in your life, an overflow of wickedness. So, God shows that there is that which – and James is addressing here then – there is that which people had needed to deal with. Because by this time they were experiencing antiChrist’s, people who weren’t of the same mind.

And so, there is strong correction in what James was giving here. Therefore, put off all that’s filthy and the overflow of wickedness of evil, as the word is translated so often, and receive with meekness… And it goes right back to what I mentioned a moment ago, what is meekness? Again, we need to have these things so deeply embedded in our minds. It’s a teachable spirit.

So, if people know how God has taught them, how God has worked with them, they’re going to be willing to listen. Wait a year until Herbert Armstrong, God’s apostle, gives the result. Is it Sunday or is it Monday, and why? Because he will. That should have been pretty simple, and it was for a lot of people, those who were doing the right thing. Because they didn’t forget how they were called. They knew who he was and had respect toward that and fear to do something different.

But a lot of them weren’t. There were a lot of ministers who went two different directions. Some left because he didn’t make his decision quick enough. So, they left. Big huff. Big huff. Angry, upset, slanderous. And then others because, “Well, he came to the wrong conclusion because we still know that it’s still on Monday.” So there were, I think evangelists, weren’t there? Two evangelists that left over that? Think, who do you think you are? You were called, you were baptized into God’s Church, you learned everything you learned through an apostle. What is wrong with you? That should have been the question.

Anyway, amazing what’s happened to us over time.

Then we went to James 2:8. Again, all these things fit together and lead up to what we’re going to. James 2:8—If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. Because this is what it all comes down to. It’s how we live, and especially in how we think toward one another. It’s about relationships. It’s about God’s Family. And we have to be of the same mind with God to be in His Family, and that Family lives a certain way.

And so, we have to start learning to live that within the family of the Church once we’re impregnated with God’s spirit and we’re begotten. And we have choices to make all through our life until our end comes – we die or our change, whatever takes place.

Verse 17—Even so, faith if it does not have works is dead by itself. So, it brings up this thing again here. It comes down to what do we really believe? Because whatever people believe that’s what they’re living. And if they believe the truth and are striving to live by the truth it’s true faith. Otherwise, it’s faith in something else.

The world lives by certain faith. Traditional Christianity, they have a certain faith they live by. It's not God, toward God. Because they believe certain things. They believe in it’s okay to say that there is a bunny that runs around laying eggs all over the place and you can go out and take your kids out there and have a great time. And all these lights and trees now that we see this time of year, and it’s just getting earlier and earlier in the stores. And that’s what they believe. They believe it’s okay. That’s their faith. But it has nothing to to with God in scripture and what is true.

But when it comes to the Church we have choices to make, and it goes down to whether it’s true faith because we believe what God has given to us and we strive to live by it.

James 3, then, going on, verse 3—My brethren, don’t become many teachers/instructors. Because what happens? This is all in context because this is what happens. So, it’s like what we’ve already covered here, “be quick to listen, slow to speak,” look at self; don’t start thinking in a wrong way. So, anyway, questioning, if you will. Because when people start questioning this is what happens because individuals become more convicted they are right, and you need to be able to agree with them because they’re right when it goes contrary to what the Church has actually given or giving or God’s ministry is giving.

And so, it says, “Don’t become many teachers,” because this is what people do. Have you ever noticed that any time? Look back in the history of the Church and think of people who have left. Now, sometimes it’s because of various sins they’ve gotten caught up in, but if they’re around for a while and it has to do with disagreements they have with doctrine or certain things that have been given by the Church then what do they oftentimes do? They start talking about it. Teachers. They know better. They have the answers. They're not in agreement with what’s being given.

That’s happened a lot throughout Philadelphia, then Laodicea was a free-for-all, and then get down to PKG and all the things that have been taking place. It’s happened a lot. As small as we’ve been throughout this entire period and all the people who have come and gone, it’s mind-boggling. Truly is. Mind-boggling!

So, Don’t become many teachers, knowing that such shall receive greater judgment. Especially if you really grasp and comprehend what’s being said. Because to make yourself a teacher and God didn’t do it, there’s incredible condemnation there. And the judgment? It’s death. That’s what it is. And that’s what James covers here throughout scripture, throughout his book here even.

For in many things we all stumble. We all have problems and battles, and that’s a great enough focus right here. This is what we have to work on rather than working on others, rather than trying to lead others in a certain direction because we raise our self up in self-importance. All people who have done these things, that’s what they’ve done. They’ve raised themselves up in self-importance, that they know certain things that the ministry or the Church doesn’t get, they don’t grasp it, and they want to take others with them because they’re the teacher.

I have seen that so much it just kind of makes me kind of sick inside. And so have you if you think back and think about some of those instances. You know it’s true.

If anyone does not stumble in word they are perfect, able to bridle the whole body. (Verse 5)—Even so, the tongue is a small member and boasts great things. So, it really starts getting down to the nitty gritty about all that takes place here and eventually, this is where it ends up, what comes out of this when it’s open, see.

I think of that period of time I had my mouth wired shut for ten weeks when my jaw was broken before I was baptized, before I came in the Church. But it was a part of my calling. I had to go through it so I would shut up and start listening – what it’s talking about here. And so, you think of these kinds of things that we sometimes have to go through. We have to learn the hard way.

But sometimes it’d be better to have your jaw broken and your mouth wired shut than to lead people astray. It’d be far better. What a blessing that would be rather than individuals coming to a point where they have to come to address themselves and repent because of what they’re bringing on themselves. Anyway, another story.

So, that’s what it’s pointing out here, how dangerous it is. That reality is we know and understand it comes from up here, but it comes out here. This is where the sin comes from so often. It’s in what we say. It reflects what we really believe.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles? Even the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. This is primarily where it comes from. That’s why earlier, James in other terms, you would say, “Shut your mouth.” “Keep your mouth shut at certain times.” It’s wiser. …than to begin questioning and hurting others.

Reminds me of that song at the Feast. I’ll never remember the words of it, about “Shut up, shut up, shut up.” Anyway, whatever it was. What was the expression? “Shut your mouth? Be quiet?” “Shut up, shut up,” okay, see, it’s a great song. There are times we need to listen to it, the mind, to say that.

The tongue in this way is set among our members, in other words, part of the Body, that it defiles, “stains” or “pollutes” as the word means, the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature. It even sets on the fire of gehenna. That’s what the word is, “hell,” gehenna, meaning “sets on the fire of judgment,” because if you don’t repent this is where you’re going, this is what’s… I think of all the Feast sermons that were given to build up to that just to drive the point home our lives are a matter of being under judgment. From the moment we are baptized, from that point on, judgment, as we’re told, is upon the house of God. And that’s not to be taken lightly. And yet in times past it really has been, not as seriously as it should be looked upon.

Verse 8—But no one can subdue the tongue; it’s an unruly evil. So, God is saying that not a one of us can control this contraption without God’s help. That’s what it boils down to. We have to have God’s help to change this so that what comes out here changes, so that it becomes better and better and better. Because this is where we show what’s inside. It’ll come out. It just comes out and it’s ugly, ugly, ugly so often. But when God is there, when our minds are filled with God’s spirit, and we’re striving to correct and change certain things then we’ll work on that and strive to do better.

It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. With it, we bless God our Father. See, we go through the motions of whatever it might be, prayer, times when we had maybe song services before and afterwards in services, at that particular time in the Church. You know, people would sing praises to God and then when they’re going home curse out someone, you know, get in an argument, get in a fight. Doesn’t take too long. It doesn’t take too long. But as long as one is in services they don’t generally get into that. But get them off by themselves, couples, whatever it might be, people who have had… Things can start.

Like at a Feast of Tabernacles sometimes, things can start. Doesn’t take long. You’re downstairs listening, you know, and then get off into a room, and things can happen. Every year something happens. This year was much better but still happening.

With it, we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse. It’s a word akin to meaning “speaking against.” …speaking against those made in the similitude, the likeness of God. Really, it’s more accurate “being made” because it’s about one another within the Church. It’s not about the world. This is about the Church, it’s about brethren, it’s about our relationships with one another, how we think, how we talk, and so forth. And so, in this case here, others who…were being molded and fashioned to a likeness. We’re going to become Elohim, to be born into that Family.

And so, in order to go through that, to comprehend then when we say one thing toward God or we think one thing toward God and then we get into something that’s done wrong, we speak against someone else, it’s like we don’t get it then. We’ve sinned. Whenever that happens there is sin. And these are ugly sins.

James 3:13—Who is wise? See, here we go again. Who is wise and understanding among you? So, do we recognize our need every day to go before God and ask for help in these things? Let them show from out of good conduct their works in the meekness of wisdom. Knowing that “meekness of wisdom,” that says in itself that we have to be of a teachable spirit because the wisdom is from God, and we want to do it God’s way not our way.

That’s what we’re being told here in very simple terms. But not seen this way, simply so often, when individuals read it because it’s easy to glaze over these things and pass right over it not understanding this is what it's telling us.

“Who is wise?” Well, we have no wisdom except from what comes from God. And then we can only have wisdom or be wise when we’re living it, applying it, because this is how we’re supposed to live. So, if we’re really wise we’re applying what comes from God, the wisdom that comes from God. And in time we’re going to grow in understanding of those things more deeply as well.

But if you have bitter envy…? That’s what it says, because where do disputes come from? Where does disagreement come from? Where do quarrels come from? Where does questioning come from? All these things.

But if you have bitter envying and self-seeking? Bitter envying. Sometimes envy is a matter of disagreeing with someone else, perhaps God’s apostle, perhaps someone else in the ministry, whatever it might be, perhaps something that’s been said by the ministry, by God’s apostle, if you will, just to make it clear, and still having our own opinions about a certain thing. And people can turn bitter.

Oh, have I experienced a lot of bitterness from people in times past. It’s a horrible thing because when people get to a point where they disagree more and more and more they become more and more bitter inside and in time it starts coming out, maybe toward some others, things are said. Bitter envying – there’s a bitterness there and it has to do with envy that they can’t even grasp inside themselves because they’re so far away from God. That’s horribly dangerous.

…and self-seeking in your hearts, it says. So, it’s not looking to God, it’s not seeking God, it’s self-seeking because we want our way. That’s where questioning and doubt comes from.

Do not boast and lie against the truth. If this exists in someone’s life. But you know, by this time when something like this happens so often it’s too late. Just like most everyone, most everyone… Thankfully, there are those who respond to a suspension or disfellowshipment and then at some point, they address it and repent. Awesome! Beautiful!

But so often when it gets to this point they’re gone because it’s so hard to turn this around. But it takes a lot of humility to acknowledge one’s own faults and mistakes when it gets to this point, to say, “I am wrong.” That takes a great deal of humility and desire to do something God’s way.

So, but if you have bitter envying and self-seeking in your hearts do not boast and lie against the truth. So, what is true? What you believe and think that’s different from what you’re being taught and told and shown or…? Anyway, going on.

This kind of wisdom, in other words, it’s from self, it’s selfishness, it’s not from God, this kind of wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly, sensual, demonic. That’s powerful because it’s letting us know wisdom comes from God and if we’re looking to God and praying to God and we know we need God’s help in order to think right then our prayers are going to be invested in that and we’re going to cry out to God day by day asking for help to change and grow and be right toward others in our behavior and right in the world as well, strive to do that.

And to realize that if we don’t and we’re relying on our own judgment, our own standards? Think, what does that mean, our own standards compared to what God tells us is right and think…? But that’s how far the mind can go sometimes.

So, it says, makes it clear here, that kind of wisdom, if it’s not from God, if it’s not because of something we’ve been given to believe that is absolutely true, and it can’t then be true faith if you live by what you think that’s in disagreement with the Church, with the teachings.

…that does not descend from above but is earthly... It’s just carnality, our natural reliance on ourselves not on God.

…sensual, and then the last here, demonic. Because it drives the point home. Evil. All that is bad, all that has to do with drama is not of God, it’s demonic. The source isn’t God. The source is a spirit world that fights against God. We were made like that, to fight against God. “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” But in the Church, we understand that and we strive to change and repent of that in our thinking, in our minds, and we recognize the battle and we cry out to God to help us to see it better, more clearly all the time.

Verse 16—For where envying and self-seeking exist confusion and every evil thing are there. Boy, if we just really see that and grasp that and live according to that.

But wisdom that’s from above is first pure. Shouldn’t have to even be said but it does because of our carnality. So, it comes from God, it’s pure, just, righteous if you will. Everything is… It’s excellent! It’s the only way to live, to choose to live.

So, it is first pure, nothing bad in it at all, that’s what this is, then peaceable, because this is what it’s going to produce. If we live God’s way we’re going to be able to have results that lead to peace. Where is peace needed? Relationships. It’s where they’re needed, in relationships.

…gentle. It’s how we respond to things. That’s a hard thing for the human mind. It’s a hard thing for me to live like that, day by day to strive to be gentle. Sometimes I think of what we heard at the Feast about, what’s the term, hangry. If you’re not eating right or you didn’t get enough sleep there are times you… We have the expression, “What side of the bed did you get up on?” It’s like we’re just carnal human beings and we have weaknesses, and if we’re not careful…?

I can drive down the highway just for a little while and I can get perturbed pretty fast sometimes, and I have a battle up here. And the crazier people are in the traffic the more a battle that’s going to be. And I don’t do it perfectly. I have a fight. So, sometimes in that case I’m far from being gentle and there’s a battle going on. That’s toward things in the world.

Now, if we were all on the highway together and we knew it? You know, it used to be when you’d go to the Feast of Tabernacles there were these stickers on the bumpers, and you would look out for them. And you know what, as a whole, if you were coming up behind them, flying up behind them, and you saw a sticker and you were really going over the speed limit, 15-20 mph, “Someone in the Church. They’re going to the Feast!”

And you don’t want to go flying by with a sticker, especially if you have a minister sticker on there, because they have a different color. And they go flying by it’s like, “I wonder who he was! He’s sure living right, isn’t he? Brother!” And then they’re tempted to start driving faster.

Do I follow the speed limit all the time? No. And that’s my choice. And if I get pulled over I know the penalty, I’m going to have to pay up some money. So, we all have choices in life to make and how we make them, and so forth. I have a… I shouldn’t go into this. Driving! Ugh!

I tend to try to do things fast. I mean, in most things. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s like quick, quick, quick, quick, get it done. Working on a particular project – quick, quick, quick, get it done. Setting up things here, I want to get it done. Don’t bother me until it’s done. And most people in the Church know that. “Don’t bother him right now until this is done.” Because in my mind the whole Church is waiting, that this has to be set up right. And if it’s not, in my mind, I have a lot of pressure because I want it to work right because everybody out there is depending on it.

And when it comes to driving I tend to be the same way except for selfish reasons. Somebody is in the car up front there? I’m just repeating some of my sins of this past week, battles. And someone is … long, long line and you realize… This one light we have in one area is so long before the traffic…

One section you come into you don’t have the light very long, and the thing you really want to see are people who are on a cell phone or texting or something who’s just lollygagging along and not realizing there are a lot of people back here who would like to make it through the same light, so get on the ball! Those are my battles. What are yours? Even in things like that, we have battles in life because of the way we think and how we function. And we all have different natures, and we have to deal with that nature we have.

My plate is full with this. So, if we understand “my” plate is full we should be more merciful to others, be more on guard toward others. But we tend to judge others and find fault if we’re not careful. And this is really the main thing we have to work on. Self.

…peaceable. I think about that. Gentle. Are we always? I know I’m not. I have to fight.

…willing to yield. Traffic? Now, see, you can put it in practical things like that and it takes on a different light, what’s inside of you, how do you think? If you can see your carnality is driving you can learn a lot from it, a willingness to yield.

So, in traffic what does that mean? Well, sometimes someone is trying to get in and you know what they’re going to do and they’re pulling up there and they’re trying to get up ahead and you kind of close the ranks. You get caught in the… You can get caught into carnality so easy. I probably do that…uh, every day. I probably, if I drive very much, I probably do that every day and have to catch myself. What am I getting caught up in?

So, how do we do in the rest of our life? Well, it’s what you have to measure, especially within the Church.

…willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits. You have to say, not always. Got battles. Got to repent of various things. Got to fight them. But if we can see those things then the desire here is within a family, within God’s Family is to see them even more so and understand there is far greater judgment in this than there is out there driving down the road in things we think toward each other, in things we do toward each other, and things we say. We have to be so careful and on guard because that’s far greater and far more important.

…without partiality, without hypocrisy. Now, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. “By those who make.” It takes work. You have to fight self to accomplish this. Beyond that, you have to ask God for help, sometimes right on the spot to ask God for His help.

James 4:1. So, it goes on to say, because this is primarily about relationships within the Church, From where are wars, battling, wars. Calling it what it is on a spiritual plane. …and fighting, “strife; striving; fights” as the word means, and fighting among you? What a horrible thing that this can happen in God’s Church. And it does. Sad. Horrible when it does.

Do they not come from your own lusts? It’s a word that means “personal pleasure,” or what pleases you, and so one’s own lusts can be a matter of having one’s own way because of the way we are in order for us to think everything is okay. And if we’re not that way then there is some other things we’re trying to accomplish and want out of a situation, and generally always boils down to our way.

…that makes war in your members. Especially this one here, what is said.

You lust, desire, in other words, crave for self one’s own way. We want that so much as human beings it’s horrible.

You lust and do not have. You kill and desire to have. So, call a spade a spade. When we’re wrong toward one another, when we treat someone wrong within the Body, within the Church God’s saying this is what we’re guilty of, a murderous spirit. Who wants that? But He calls it what it is, that can hurt others.

You fight, quarrel, or strive together and make war, yet you do not have because of not asking. In other words, the point being because of not looking to God, of not seeking wisdom from God, of not crying out and asking God for the help to change and grow, and so forth.

You ask and do not receive because you ask badly. Awesome how this is stated. …or evilly. It’s a word but not used very much. But badly out of evil motivation is really what it’s all about. It’s the wrong motivation that starts up here. …so that you may consume it upon your own lusts, your own personal desire, what pleases you. It’s not about helping someone else, it’s about what makes us pleased in getting our own way.

You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? In other words, if we do just like the world then how we treat one another, how we talk, what we say, how we think, how we judge, then we’re missing the mark on a spiritual plane.

Whoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture says in vain, The spirit that dwells in us lusts (longs for, yearns) to envy? It’s about self. It’s about us getting our way, how we think something should be, whatever it is. All disputes are in that vein, someone disagrees with someone else because they’ve judged a situation and there is a disagreement, and whew, wow.

Verse 6—But He gives more grace, therefore He says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So, that’s our answer, we have to humble ourselves as to acknowledge what we are, to acknowledge that we’re lacking. Every one of us is lacking. Every one of us needs God’s help every day. We do! And we have to see that. And that, then, should drive us to that relationship with God that we have to have, asking for help, asking for His spirit.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. That’s what the process is. Not just doing it our way and being in disagreement or not even thinking about an issue. This leads up to healing as well. This leads up to asking for anointing as well. Are we looking to God in our life? Is God first? Because if we can’t do it in something really physical like that what are we doing the rest of the time?

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God; resist the devil. Because that’s the mind we’re fighting, a mind that is selfish, his kind of mind. And he and the demonic world like to broadcast and magnify things of wrong thinking anyway, and sometimes if we’re not careful and we’re going off on a tangent, and if we begin to sin they’re there to stir it up even more.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Well, how do you do that? Draw near to God. That’s what it says, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Because we need help. We need His holy spirit in our life every day. And so, the stronger we are on a spiritual plane the more we’re striving to think right and live right toward others, the more we’re repenting when we know that we’ve said or done something wrong, our action is wrong toward someone else in the Body. First and foremost, within the Church.

“Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you.” What a beautiful thing.

Cleanse your hands, you sinner… So constantly repenting of things in our life. If we really see ourselves we are constantly repenting, and that’s good.

…purify your hearts you double-minded. “Purify your hearts.” Takes God’s spirit to purify this mind. Takes God’s spirit to get rid of the double-mindedness, things of questioning and doubt and so forth as to what we’re supposed to be living. Because if we ignore it we’re ignoring God, we’re not putting God first.

So, we have choices to make day in and day out, especially if we’re in an environment where we’re around others in God’s Church. Or if it’s just the Sabbath, so be it. Or if it’s at other times, whatever, but this is a primary area we’re tested in above all others because if we can’t see it here we definitely don’t see it outside.

Be afflicted and mourn and weep. What a beautiful thing, because that’s associated with fasting. There are times we just have to cry out to God in a deeper way even and just ask for help to change on a continuing basis.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy… There are times for that, to look… That means we look soberly at ourselves, and we realize “I’ve got problems.” Just to acknowledge it and admit it. Because I’ve known so often people, they don’t look at themselves. So many who have left, they didn’t get into that routine and realize they were needed, they needed God. They became too self-sufficient, judged things because deceiving the mind to believe this is in agreement with God. “God agrees with me.” That’s really dangerous when that happens.

Let your joy be turned to heaviness. So there are times that it’s not a pleasant thing to look at our nature and admit what we are, acknowledge what we are. We’re a mess. I marvel at God’s patience and mercy. I really do. I marvel and I’m so thankful we have the blessing of repentance and forgiveness, and He continues to give us help. Because if that wasn’t that way we couldn’t make it. But He wants us to make it. But we have to do those things.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD and He will lift you up. Admit what you are, acknowledge what you are. Sometimes when people can’t even admit they’re sick or that they need help in that instance, or that they should do something that they’re commanded to do and they won’t do that part, how are they going to do other things the right way?

James 4:11—Do not speak evil of one another. This is so much of what this is all about. It’s what comes out of here, the tongue. It’s about the Body. It’s about the Church. He’s talking to brethren—not talking to the world—over and over again here.

Do not speak evil. In other words, it has to do with a word that, a Greek word for “slander; to speak against; to speak evil of” as it is here, to speak against someone else. You have to be so careful.

Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. Whoever speaks evil of their brother and judges their brother… Because to do that means you’re judging something. You’ve judged something in your mind different from what God says we should do. So, either we believe God and do it God’s way or we just continue to live our life our merry old way like the world does. And we’ve already read what that says.

So, therefore, whoever speaks evil of their brother and judges their brother, because that’s what they’re doing, speaks evil of the law. Powerful what James was given to write here.

…and judges the law. But the most horrible thing in all this is if a person is living that way on a regular basis they can’t begin to see that. “Oh, I don’t judge the law! Far from it!” Don’t realize if you’re judging, saying something against someone else you’re judging, God is saying you’re judging, you’ve made yourself a judge of the law because the law says don’t do it. Over and over again, “Love your brother as yourself,” or whatever, the royal law. Yes, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself you do well.”

And our neighbor, it’s not the neighbor in our neighborhood, okay, it’s referring to the Church, those who are closest to us, those we’re nearest to, those we have contact with. They’re our neighbor on a spiritual plane.

Today we’re all neighbors in that context here. Next week we’ll be somewhere else, and they’ll be our neighbors down there. So, here you have this that God has given.

So, again here, if we can just grasp these things and realize how short or how much we fall from some of this and cry out to God for help, that’s what He wants. We have to humble ourselves to go before God and to ask for the help to change that we need.

So, not to speak evil of one another. If we do we’re judging the law. So, If you judge the law, as it says, you’re not a doer of the law but a judge. So, that’s the whole point. If we’re doing something God says not to do then we’re judging the law, don’t even grasp how horrible that is, what God says. So, we don’t really believe God, we’re doing something different that we think is okay and alright, and so, we’re ignoring the fact that we’re sinning and need to repent of it.

…but a judge. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. And so again, it leads down this course here again of eternal life or everlasting life or death, because it’s about judgment, it’s about what we’re called to when we’re in the Church and God’s spirit is growing within us, and our desire to be a part of His Family and our willingness to fight that battle. And if we don’t do that, you know, people lose sight of the fact we either do it God’s way and it leads to being saved, being in God’s Family, or it leads to something else.

And I am more convicted than ever before that there are far too many in the past who became antiChrist. They’re not going to have a good end. Just as has been brought out in the Feast. And the more serious we understand that, that it is, the better off we are, the more, hopefully, that we’ll see ourselves.

And you know what, I mentioned this before, but there are reasons why we’re going through this now, why God is giving us this like He did at the Feast and leading up to the Feast and this now. It’s putting some of the finishing touches into our being because of where God is going to place us, where He is tending to place us within the Body that’s unique to us. One day we’ll understand that far more deeply.

There is one who is a lawgiver who is able to save and destroy. Who are you who judges another? So, candidly, the conclusion of what we’re supposed to see and do is in verse 17.

Therefore, whoever knows to do good and does not do it, to them it’s sin. So, if God has taught us what is right and what is good, He’s told us what is true, we have the choice then to accept what He’s given us to believe and live by it, which is what faith is, true faith. Because anything less than that is not true faith. We’re either living by the truth that God gives us or we’re not. And that’s really what it comes down to.

James 5. Incredible how this continuing to lead up to… And it all flows together anyway. You could look at other scriptures in other areas and see the same thing. This is what it’s building up to. Most of it through here has been building up to and talking about the primary thing is about the Church, relationships within the Church, how we live toward one another, how we think toward one another.

James 5:1—Come now, you who are rich. Generally, that’s way too late, but in some respects almost said with a little bit of sarcasm, if we understand it. If you’re self-reliant. Someone who is deeply self-reliant isn’t going to listen, just won’t listen. Reliant on self, will not look to God in spirit and in truth. It boils down to that.

“Come now, you who are rich.” So, if someone is rich in the sense that of their own thinking, their own mind, of how they think about themselves, that they’re okay, that they’re doing well, that they don’t need…and they don’t need to pray to God every day, they don’t need to look to God’s help to change, to conquer and overcome because they really don’t see themselves for what they really are.

If we really see ourselves for what we are we’re going to have fear not to be praying to God, not asking God for help, not asking God to forgive us through repentance. Is that your habit, your routine, because you really see what you are and you know what you are and you need help and you know you need help and you’re crying out to God to change, to conquer and overcome?

Come now, you who are rich, weep and howl for your misery is upon you. Because as people live that way and choose to live that way life doesn’t get better, it gets worse and worse in the sense of disobedience, in the sense of not listening to God, in the sense of what can happen to one’s own mind they can’t even see.

Your riches are corrupted. If we’re self-reliant on ourselves God’s saying, “You’re doing this on your own. Your riches, what you think you have, they’re corrupted.” And everyone as a whole who has ever come to the point of being disfellowshipped, this is what they do, this is where they are. They’re lifted up. That’s why it says over and over again about being humbled. Because this is about pride. This is about how strongly we think we’re doing well; we’re doing what’s right, we’re justified in things we do and things we say. That’s what we really think if we’re speaking things that are against what is true. We’re justified in our minds. We’re righteous.

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Spiritually, obviously not physical. God is saying “Clothed in white.” You know, when it talks about being “Clothed in white,” “White ramaint,” it uses those examples like “a white robe” because it reflects righteousness, because it comes from God, because of living God’s way of life, because we believe God and therefore, it’s attributed to us for righteousness. That’s what it’s talking about.

But if we’re not living right and doing those things and we’re relying on ourselves and how we think and how we judge and so forth says, what you’re wearing is moth-eaten. It’s got holes in it. You think you look good? You don’t. Your butt is showing. Okay? Had a lot of moths just took it right out and you’re being seen for what you really are.

Was that okay? Yes, it was okay because that’s how we should see it. It’s just eating holes in our garments to where everything is showing after a while. Nothing is left holding it together.

Your gold and silver are corroded. It’s not gold and silver. You think it’s gold and silver, relying on self. God’s saying, no, your gold and silver are corroded, and it’s not “corrosion” as it’s translated. And their poison is the word. And their poison shall be witness against you. So, in other words, if we rely on something different?

I mean, I think of the number of people who have gone away through time because of conspiracy theories. Black helicopters. “I saw two of them today. They’re out there! They’re closing in!” Crazy things. “The earth is flat.” “Man didn’t go to the moon. It was all done on a stage. Hollywood is great. They’re able to do these things now and so the government is able to do these things and make it look like we went there to fool the Russians and everybody else, and we’re ahead in the space race.”

And I think of all the different kinds of minds there. Because you won’t agree with someone, maybe about Covid, maybe about masks, whatever it was. If you don’t take a side and don’t believe what they have to tell you because they’re a teacher, and if you don’t listen to them something is wrong with you and you’re all screwed up.

But that’s their gold and their riches and God says, “Your gold and your riches they’re poison, and they witness against you because it didn’t come from Me. It's not wisdom that comes from above, it was your own.” And our wisdom stinks, it sucks. It’s no good. It’s full of holes. That’s what God is telling us over and over again in life. Shouldn’t be hard to acknowledge that, to admit that.

But when people get to this state? And this is what James has been dealing with, and so we go through something like this now and it helps to grow in better understanding of what God was saying all along here throughout the book of James leading up to chapter five here and the things we’re going to cover next Sabbath. And you think, wow, you go through this, it’s for our being able to mature more, to grow more and to be sobered into realizing “I need to strive to rely on God more, to cry out to God more, to pray more, to ask God for His holy spirit, to seek repentance more, and I don’t want to do this on my own. I don’t want to be lifted up with pride and I need help.”

Because the gold, the riches, they come from God. Not ours that we build up through doing something a different way.

So, it’s the word poison. More about poison than it is corrosion or rust. And there’s a reason for that. It’s translated more correctly in James 3:8 where it says, “But no one can tame/subdue the tongue. It’s an unruly evil,” not “full of deadly corrosion,” it’s “full of deadly poison.” That’s what it’s about. It’s about what we can poison our lives with spiritually if we’re not careful, by what comes out of this mouth. We have to be so careful.

Your gold and silver are corroded, their poison, again here, that witness against you. You have heaped together treasure for the last days. It’s that fire again, set on fire, gehenna, the fire of gehenna. It’s about judgment. It’s about what happens if we don’t repent and change. So, very sobering things being covered here.

Indeed, the wages of the laborers who have harvested your fields… Now, this, I’m translating this correctly as it should be because it’s kind of messed up. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who have harvested your fields, which was held back by fraud, cries out, and the cries of them who have harvested have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, or the Lord of the armies.

Incredible, what’s being said here. So, if one has their own treasure, that which they value, what they think is the gold and silver, which generally has to do with the way they see things because they’re so right, they’re so right. Even when it comes to anointing, won’t do it, too proud to do it because they’re not sick. But not able to go to services, not able to go to work, or whatever it might be. It’s like, what is wrong with you? Don’t you understand what you’re doing in your mind, that you’re not listening to God?

Have people been like that in the Church? Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Have there been people like that? Yes, incredible, just in that area alone, but it’s much broader than that if we can grasp it.

So, people having to do with Pentecost, Monday, they were so right. Their gold and their silver, what they considered to be valuable and from God because they deceived themselves into thinking they could make the decision that somehow they were greater than God’s apostle and somehow God is working with them to break off, and different evangelists and different ministers to go with them because now they have the truth and Herbert Armstrong’s gotten old and he can’t see it anymore. He made the wrong decision about Pentecost, so they went off and did their own thing.

Incredible, how far the mind will go. So, that’s their gold and silver. And where does it lead to? God says its garments are eaten up by moths. Your gold is poison. It’s not gold and it’s not silver from God spiritually.

Indeed you have heaped together treasure for the last days. So, there comes a time for judgment and people go too far. And that’s all that awaits them after a time. People who go so far that they turn against God.

You know, to really understand this for what it says, we’re given more understanding of this than ever before in God’s Church. I mean, this is awesome, and this is beautiful what God is doing and what He’s offering us. To comprehend, to understand such things as this, to comprehend what takes place as a matter of judgment that comes from God and how God’s spirit works? Incredible.

Indeed, the wages of the laborers who have harvested your fields. Well, who is that, and what’s that all about? It’s written in a certain way there because they didn’t really grasp and comprehend when they translated these things. They couldn’t have. They couldn’t understand the context.

But again here, it’s like you’ve been cheating others. And it’s not understanding here about this is about the Church and how we treat others and how if we’re not careful we can… If we take to ourselves we’re robbing what God’s working to accomplish. We’re robbing. People have robbed themselves of what they could otherwise have and receive from God. Awesome! Let alone others who they might affect, infect, and poison that’s in their speech and actions that can hurt others sometimes and pull down others. Which has happened so often in God’s Church.

So, it’s about what God is doing in our life, and if we understand the process… See, I can see this as a minister, “And the wages of the laborers who have harvested your fields.” It’s like saying “All of you who were called by God to be a part of something incredible and great, and you became lifted up and you began to turn away, and your gold and that which was precious to you is poisonous, is not worth anything. But you were called for a purpose to be able to produce fruit that could be harvested, that you could grow and become stronger in God’s way of life.”

And so, who are the laborers out there that, in essence, are to work in the part of the harvest? Well, it’s everybody in the Church, candidly, as to how we live toward each other. We’re all to be living God’s way of life and we all share then in that together. We truly do. But even more so if we can grasp it, even within the ministry then there’s that harvest.

The desire is to see everyone come through, which we all should have then, and learn from that and grow in that toward one another, to want to see everyone succeed and grow and change and receive what is true. But that’s not always the case because you can’t force it upon anyone. But you don’t want to be guilty of having hurt them.

So you want to be a part of striving to live what is right toward each other, obviously, because you want to see everyone succeed, so you guard your lips, your mouth, I should say, the tongue, and what comes out of it because you don’t want to hurt someone, you don’t want to cause someone to stumble or become offended by anything, so you strive to be on guard more. And we do, amongst ourselves, more than… That’s the way it should be. We should be careful and not want to cause hurt and pain or anything of that, so hopefully, we’re using this a lot before this opens up.

And anyway, this is a part of the process. So, this is a part of what’s being told here, “Indeed the wages of the laborers who have harvested your fields was held back by fraud.” Who caused the fraud? Well, it’s about those who don’t live this way of life. That’s what it’s talking about here. If you don’t do what is right, if you won’t humble yourself, if you don’t look to God if you have your own riches that don’t come from God, your own wisdom that’s sensual and of the earth like mankind has and it doesn’t come from God, then this is what happens when you’re called to change, to grow, to be a part of a great harvest.

Because that’s what God is doing, gives the examples of the spring harvest and then later a fall harvest. And the early harvest having to do with the first 144,000. Then the later harvest later on much greater. And then those who labor in it, which we all are laborers together, which it talks about in scripture.

But it even becomes more pointed when it has to do with the ministry because we become defrauded. And candidly, you all become defrauded because what we should have received out of it from others was the good. I think of all the people who have left, all the people who became antiChrist, and I think of how that rips at you, how sometimes it just rips. I think of this past week having to address a couple of things and it’s like just ripping things out of you that hurt and it causes a lot of stress because I’m physical.

And it causes a lot of heartache because I don’t like to have to say certain things. I don’t like to have to write certain things, and to have to write it and say it in a way that if there is any way to reach someone I want to be able to do that. In some cases, knowing that’s not going to happen. In some cases, to see it happening and to know that it can yet happen.

And so, I become robbed. You become robbed when someone goes in a different tangent and leaves what could have otherwise been there as far as the fruit is concerned that we should all share in together. And so I become a little irritated and upset when I see individuals who aren’t living this way of life, throwing themselves into it, saying that God is first, striving to have a fellowship, to be together as God’s people, because that’s what we need, and we need each other.

We are a family! And of all times, by this time we ought to be able to understand that and grasp that. And if we don’t, then… And if something pulls back on that I have battles with that and become irritated at that because I see the poison and the danger of it and I don’t want to see others in God’s Church poisoned.

Had to address again some of that last week. One just telling them not to come back because you’re, in essence, just poison and it just hurts other people to have to go through this over and over again because your bitterness is so great, your anger is so deep. And others to let them know, no, this is about the Church, and it hurts the Church when someone has to be put away, put aside. It hurts. And it should hurt us. I don’t like to see that. Of all the people who have come and gone, when they’ve gone, I don’t know about you, but I hurt, and I feel robbed. And you’ve been robbed. Do you understand what it’s talking about then?

And God has been robbed. What a horrible thing to turn against God, to turn against Christ, and yet so many, the majority have become antiChrist. And they don’t understand that. They don’t believe that. They’re justified in what they’ve done.

But what an awesome thing you’re given the blessing to see all this right now because it’s for the future. You keep fighting the fight, you keep doing what’s needed, growing, and using the opportunities for growth and self-examination and drawing closer to God. But to see what you see, being taught, and trained in what you’re being trained in is unique to you. Think God has a plan in that? Better believe it. Awesome! We just have different places in the Body that God’s molding and fashioning us. But to me, this is exciting and great when we can see it, when you can see what God is doing. Awesome!

Well, I think we’ll stop there. You know what? I can’t stop there. Well, I can with the sermon, but I think it’s important because there are different ones out here who don’t have the ability to receive some of these things. And there has to be a reason too why God wants us to understand and be focused upon the fact that there are all kinds of Thunders going on.

There are rumblings of Thunders that are going on, that are building up more and more. And if we can see that, to understand we live in an incredible time right now, we really do. And how close? I don’t know. That’s in God’s hands. But it can be exceedingly close, and we just have to be ready and prepared for it because Thunder can get a lot louder. Could shake this earth before this is over with, before the first event of the First Trumpet, if you will.

So, I’m going to go through some things in the news. Small things, but they’re a part of rumbling with all the other things in here. Because these don’t always happen like this but they’re just happening more and more often.

I think of some of the things about Earthquakes.

“Earthquakes,” it said, “beset an Italian town as supervolcano rumbles”[1] You know, it gets people worried. A lot of earthquakes, little earthquakes are going on and all of a sudden it’s rumbling more and more, and they’re in a bad spot. And I can’t imagine why people live in certain places. Visited some of that in Italy and it’s like, “I don’t think I’d want to live here knowing what’s underneath here.” I mean, yeah, it could be a long time off before something happens but, uh… Anyway.

Another one here: “Blue Lagoon in Iceland temporarily closes after 1,400 earthquakes recorded in 24 hours”[2] Now, they’re obviously very small but to have that many at one time? So they took action, because they realized this is not a good sign. Anyway, here is part of the article, “Iceland shut the famous Blue Lagoon, a popular tourist spot known for its geothermal spa, after experiencing a surge in seismic activity. The Icelandic Meteorological Office reported 1,400 earthquakes within a 24-hour period from Wednesday into Thursday, adding to the thousands reported in preceding days.”

So, yeah, it’s some more rumbling, but it’s going to go on with everything else I’m going to go through here and read.

Weather: “El Nino drought: Panama Canal cuts ship numbers further”[3] “The Panama Canal will make more cuts to the number of ships using the waterway due to the worst drought in over 70 years, authorities say.” So, have there been droughts before? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And all these things, earthquakes? Yes, yes, yes, yes. But we’re talking about things that are in the news more often now increasingly so. And that’s what the example is to us.

“It is expected to increase the cost of shipping goods around the world. Starting from 3 November, booking slots will be cut to 25 per day from an already reduced 31 per day, the ACP said. That number will be further reduced over the next three months to 18 slots per day from the start of February 2024.”

Then another one here: “Hurricane Otis produced 205 mph gust, among strongest ever measured”[4] In that area anyway. What was that, what is that resort time there? Acapulco. Yeah, it came in toward there from the Pacific. Powerful. Been around 80 and 90 mph but I cannot understand 125 let alone 205. I don’t want to be in it.

Another one here. I think of things having to do with the Destruction from Weather, and so forth, and Death, and the like and different Thunders. But here it says, “Arab Spring 2.0? Gro Intelligence's Head Warns Global Food Crisis 'Much Worse Than 2008'”[5] It’s amazing to me how some of the things having to do with the economy, they keep going back to 2008. More and more it’s coming out more and more, always talking about the fact that 2008 was an incredibly important time to God’s purpose and God’s plan; it’s being used as a measuring stick for other things. Even this.

“… She pointed out, "While wheat futures are down double digits year on year - it's up double digits year on year in Egypt because the price of importing wheat has gone up just due to the decimation of the Egyptian pound."” So, it’s talking about different economies and so forth and this is happening because of inflation.

“Menker said in Syria, food inflation is up 2,000%, 1,200% in Lebanon, and 700% in Argentina. She said the food crisis ‘is far from over for most people in the world.’” So, what happens? People die.

“Later in the interview, Man asked Menker: ‘Where are we headed now? Obviously, we look at the 2007-08 food crisis at that time. Are we getting closer to that scenario?’ Menker's response was apocalyptic: ‘Actually, I think we are much worse.’ She explained again, ‘Where food prices are in a lot of countries - if you take it in a local currency basis - food prices are significantly higher when compared to 2007-08.’”

So again, things are not getting better in that area as far as the economy is concerned, but it affects food and that’s not even talking about some of the weather conditions and the fact that war, Ukraine, and wheat. This world is in a mess.

Global Economic Upheaval: Another one here, “Is a Debt Crisis About to Unfold in the U.S.?”[6] “Bonds continue to break down in anticipation of the U.S. Treasury's Quarterly Refunding Announcement due out next week. We are now getting to the point at which a panic could hit bonds, which would trigger an aggressive drop in stocks.” So, it just goes on and on and on where everything is like it’s just teetering out here.

“US GDP Hides Weakness Behind Massive Debt”[7] “… Americans are living on borrowed time as real salaries remain in negative territory in the past five years and inflation eats savings away. This may last, but not much. … The United States is now in the worst year of growth, excluding public debt accumulation since the thirties.” A lot of people don’t even understand how bad these things really are in some of these things. And living off credit cards and things that are going on right now it’s just leading to a build-up.

And that’s what’s incredible about the Thunders. They’re all building up to where everything is going to happen all at once. It’s not going to be just one thing; it’s going to be everything happens all at once.

“Consumption financed by soaring credit card debt and economic growth disguised by enormous government spending and record public debt are not indicators of a strong economy but proof of a very worrying trend that may last another two quarters but will likely result in a much weaker economy in the next three years.”

Then another article here: “Peter Schiff: The US Isn't Japan...” So, a lot of people don’t even know Japan is having struggles, and referring even in times past. But that they’re having some pretty bad troubles. “…It’s Argentina!”[8] Which is even far worse.

“We owe the world. We owe the world a fortune. We depend on the world to buy our paper, to buy our Treasuries.” You know, you look at some of the stuff going on right now and some of these people protesting out there and they don’t even know what happened on October the 7th. You know, people are so dumb. It really is irritating. And when you talk about the economy and things that are going on in the world, most people don’t know about these things. Who really zero’s in on and studies any of these things or listens to what’s happening in the world? It gets frustrating.

“… It’s built on that whole foundation,” so again, talking about the money and the dollar and so forth, Treasuries. “We owe the world. We owe the world a fortune. We depend on the world to buy our paper, to buy our Treasuries. That’s our biggest export — our debt — our dollars and our debt. If we can’t export that anymore, the economy doesn’t function anymore. It’s built on that whole foundation, which is in the process of collapsing. So, you can’t draw some false comfort in the fact that Japan got away with it to 200% of GDP, or whatever it is, so we can too. We’re not Japan. We are worse. We’re Argentina.”

So, people look at and… See, I’m reading through some of this, and I understand, and I realize most people, let alone in God’s Church, understand the economy in the sense of what’s happening in the world. And that’s fine. But we need to understand this is a part of a Thunder right now and how bad things really are. And if you do know about these things it puts chills up and down your spine how sick some of this is and what’s going on out here. But people live in a, this world is in a La La Land. This country lives in a La La Land.

You know, when you get people who go out and protest and ready to get into fights and all kinds of resistance or whatever that might take place as time goes on here, and you realize they don’t even know what they’re doing. They don’t even understand what’s happening in another part of the world. And you think… Anyway, and it’s a lot of them college students, and you think, that just shows the future.

“The Argentinian central bank is also in a war against price inflation it can’t win.” So, he’s saying here we’re worse than Argentina, in that respect, as he goes on. ‘It recently raised its interest rate to 133%. And that’s still below the country’s inflation rate. Even though they have interest rates in the triple digits, it’s not going to work. It’s not going to stop inflation. The budget deficits are rising in Argentina. The national debt is rising. So, inflation is not going away. These rate hikes aren’t going to stop it because they can’t change the dynamic of government spending. We are in the same predicament.’”

“Some people will say you can’t compare the US and Argentina. Peter said, ‘Sure we can.’ The laws of physics work in America the same way they work in Argentina. Economics are laws. We have the same consequences. Peter noted that at one point, Argentina was one of the wealthiest nations in the world. So, Argentina wasn’t always broke. They are now. So, if it can happen to Argentina, it can happen to America if we’re doing the same exact thing that they did – running these big deficits, printing all of this money.”

And so, it’s just like a volcano. It’s just building up pressure until it all… This all explodes at one time, all the Thunders come together, and everything explodes at one time.

Another one here, “Stocks spooked…” And this is tied into, if we understand it then, the petro-dollar. This is what makes it worse, and because of what’s changing with the BRIC nations and what they’re doing.

“Stocks Spooked For 3rd Straight Month As WW3 Fears Spark Surge In USD, Gold, & Crypto (Not Oil)”[9]

Another one here: “Bank Of Japan Is Brewing A Storm In Global Markets”[10] I’d say 98% of the people in the United States don’t even know about Japan. Probably couldn’t find it on a map let alone to know what its…

The world today is a global economy, and you see these different areas crumbling. It just builds up to a big crumble before it’s done.

“S&P 500 Gains Haven’t Been This Lopsided Since 2008”[11] From Business Insider. Incredible.

“Central banks on record gold-buying binge – industry group”[12] It says, “The increased purchases of gold by emerging economies follow a global trend of central banks moving away from the US dollar as a reserve currency.” See, the more they do that the closer we are to the brink. “Trust in the greenback has been diminishing globally since Washington weaponized the currency in its sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict and froze billions of dollars of the country’s foreign reserves.”

Another one here: “PBoC In A Hurry To Buy Gold…” They’ve been buying it for a long time but they’re really buying more. “…Covertly Bought 593 Tonnes Of Gold YTD”[13] That’s a lot of gold.

“The PBoC is in a hurry to buy enormous amounts of gold, indicating it’s preparing for substantial changes in the dollar-centric international monetary system. Based on information from industry sources and my personal calculations, total gold purchases by the Chinese central bank (reported and unreported) in Q3 accounted for 179 tonnes. Year-to-date the PBoC bought 593 tonnes, which is 80% more than what it bought in the first three quarters last year. Its total estimated gold holdings are 5,220 tonnes, more than twice what’s officially disclosed at 2,192 tonnes.”

And I wonder how much we have. We don’t have a whole lot. Who gets to go down and see it? Hmmm. I wonder what’s going on. Anyway, crazy world.

Another article here: “"Things Will Get Very Nasty, Very Fast"”[14] “In the economy, if deflation now looms, things will still get very nasty, very fast given what it implies for employment and fiscal deficits…” You know, I don’t know how people sleep sometimes but they just keep believing in the system and they keep putting money into it. It’s insanity.

“… but if inflation lingers on that’s also the case, as we already see around us. In geopolitics, if regional war looms now, things will get very nasty, very fast, and so will inflation – Larry Fink and Jamie Dimon are both warning it would cause global recession, and that the present geopolitical moment looks as perilous as 1938; but if regional war is delayed, it could end up being even larger and nastier next time.”

“Just as we didn’t deal with our real economic problems post-2008, we are nowhere near dealing with our real geopolitical problems now. Both are now going to be vastly more expensive that if we had done so years earlier.” So again, these… I’m reading these things because these are Thunders and they’re happening on an increasing basis here. And if we’re aware of what’s going on in the news this should help us to understand where we are, what’s ahead, how close things can be, stir us up spiritually. Because that’s what it should do.

Some more here about things of War.

When I go through this, this is just over two weeks time here. There are tons of articles I’ve not even been reading or going to address.

Another one here: “Europe Facing Civil War?”[15] “Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger explained in an interview recently that Europe had made a serious mistake by creating within itself, through mass immigration, populations that reject all its norms, values, and a "constitutional basis". He deplored the fact that in 2023 in Berlin, almost 80 years after the Holocaust, people, with complete impunity, are shouting "Death to the Jews" in the streets.”

That’s amazing where we are. I mean, astounding what’s going on in the world around us right now.

Another one here, he’s in the news constantly. “Erdogan threatens to declare war on Israel and send military to Gaza in chilling warning”[16] I’m not even going to read what he had to say but, anyway, he’s… At some point probably will do it, try to do it. Because everyone is taking sides. Everyone is ready to go in part. They’ve all chosen who they’re with whether it be in South America, Africa, throughout Europe, throughout Asia. People already have sides chosen, what they’re going to do. Europe is the only one that hasn’t gotten to the point where we understand what’s going to happen in the first Trumpet. But they’re so, so close to it because of the changing dynamics of things I’m going through here.

“Pentagon announces new nuclear bomb 24 times more powerful than one dropped on Japan”[17] Now, don’t we all want to know that? Isn’t that great news to the world? Well, if you can’t have hypersonic weapons then at least have a bigger nuclear bomb that maybe will shake some people up to think twice before they attack. Then you think, they don’t care about that. They’ve got hypersonic weapons. The games that people play, all about war right now. I’m not going to read that one either.

“Germany Issues Ominous Warning About War in Europe”[18] “Speaking to German broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, Boris Pistorius, a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party, said nations like Germany would have to increase their armed forces capability to maintain peace in the region, and needed to change their mentality to one in which war was possible.”

“‘We have to get used to the idea that there could be a threat of war in Europe,’ Pistorius said. ‘And that means we have to become fit for war, we have to be defensive and prepare the Bundeswehr and society for this.’” Anyway, it’s amazing some of the things they’re doing right now in Germany.

“PM announces 2nd stage of war, with broad ground offensive; says ‘Never Again’ is now”[19] So again, that’s Israel. They said their “Never Again” is right now and the pressure being put on them. But Israel isn’t going to stop. They’re going to do what they’re going to do. But support for it is backing up. Who was it, yeah, France’s Macron is, if he had a wig, flipped his wig. But anyway, trying to change some of that, of the dynamics now, of backing away from things. And I’ll tell you, some of these people, problems they stir up in the world.

Another one here: “A Super-State Is Being Created Without Consent Of The People, Warns Polish MEP”[20] “‘The public is not supposed to notice that a putsch is about to take place, that the European Union as a community of sovereign states is being abolished and a superstate is being created without any consent of the people…’” I’m not going to go through all the articles having to do with this but there are several articles here about what Europe is doing right now within the union and the push for a military solidarity that has no say by the people. It’s what they’re deciding. And this has people up in arms. Poland is up in arms over it and it’s moving pretty fast. So, this is all leading up to the first Trumpet event.

“Erdogan's incendiary […..] remarks a 'real concern' for NATO allies as tension mounts”[21] Duh. What an incredible thing. He’s been this way pretty much forever. Never been in agreement primarily with Europe. I think the highest percentage rate where he’s been in agreement was sometime back when it was 8% or something like that in agreement. And now it’s less. I think in one of the articles here it talks about that.

Remember, in prophecy, it talks about his betrayal to Israel, which doesn’t mean the nation that’s Judah, but it has to do with Ephraim, Manasseh, Western Europe, and so forth. And he’s going to fulfill it.

Oh, there are so many articles, brethren. This just blows my mind when you go through here of one thing after another about war that’s building up over there and in different parts of the world. Iran, it’s just building up. And if we don’t see that?

I’m skipping a lot of things here. There is so much.

This is a wonderful article (tongue in cheek): “Russia’s Wagner Group Plans to Send Air Defenses to Hezbollah, U.S. Says”[22] From Wall Street Journal. “Wagner Group, the Russian paramilitary organization…” So, the main leaders are out of it but still the same group that Russia uses in different parts of the world. Who’s kidding who? And so, if they have this military equipment, where is it coming from? People play games and it’s nuts, just like before WWII. Same kind of garbage going on except this is worse.

Anyway, it talks about them, “…the Russian paramilitary organization plans to provide an air-defense system to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, U.S. officials say… The Russian SA-22 system they plan to send uses antiaircraft missiles and air-defense guns to intercept aircraft.”

“Israel Warns An Elite Iran-Backed Unit is Now in Lebanon to Join War”[23] You know, if this starts, brethren, you need to make everything is in place. If Hezbollah starts fighting, if things start coming across the northern borders of Israel the world is about to be in a big war. That’s how close we are.

So, if they do this, if this push begins it’s not going to stop there. It’s going to pull in all these different countries around the Middle East. “And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,” it’s never been surrounded like it is right now. Horrible, what’s going on. I mean, it fits perfect. And so, it’s sobering.

“Germany to deploy tank battalions to Russian border”[24] That makes Russia excited. I’m not going to read that one either. But they just keep pushing; the Germans are doing a lot right now.

I’m not even going to talk about Sudan and some of these other areas that are blowing up more and more.

One more: “Germany to make military 'the backbone' of Europe's defense”[25] “Germany plans to accelerate reforms of its military bureaucracy as part of an ongoing overhaul of the country's military, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius outlined in a document presented on Thursday in Berlin. The revamp of the military seeks to make the force more capable of defending Germany and its allies. ‘We must be the backbone of deterrence and collective defense in Europe. Our own population, as well as our partners in Europe, North America, and the world, expect us to face up to this responsibility,’ the new defense guidelines said.”

“The Bundeswehr, as Germany's army is known, ‘must be ready for war in all areas. This means that its personnel and equipment must be geared towards fulfilling its demanding missions,’ the document added. It went on to say that a well-equipped military capable of victory in high-intensity combat at any time ‘is the only way to ensure credible deterrence and peace.’”

The reason I’m reading this is because it has to do with the change of mind of the German people themselves and of their attitude toward war, and the fact that they’re going to be the primary ones that head up everything that happens here at the end, especially in the Fifth Trumpet. Don’t know what it is? Go look it up.

With that, we’ll have Part 4 next Sabbath.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swarm-quakes-besets-italian-town-supervolcano-rumbles-2023-10-27/

[2] https://m.economictimes.com/nri/visit/blue-lagoon-in-iceland-temporarily-closes-after-1400-earthquakes-recorded-in-24-hours/amp_articleshow/105142344.cms

[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67281776

[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/11/01/hurricane-otis-produced-205-mph-wind-gust-among-strongest-ever-measured/

[5] https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/arab-spring-20-gro-intelligences-head-warns-global-food-crisis-much-worse-2008

[6] https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2023-10-27/debt-crisis-about-unfold-us

[7] https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/us-gdp-hides-weakness-behind-massive-debt

[8] https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/peter-schiff-us-isnt-japan-its-argentina

[9] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-spooked-3rd-straight-month-ww3-fears-spark-surge-usd-gold-crypto-not-oil

[10] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bank-japan-brewing-storm-global-markets

[11] https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-analysis-sp500-gains-financial-crisis-2008-societe-generale-2023-11

[12] https://www.rt.com/business/586273-central-banks-record-gold-buying-binge/

[13] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pboc-hurry-buy-gold-covertly-bought-593-tonnes-gold-ytd

[14] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/things-will-get-very-nasty-very-fast

[15] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/europe-facing-civil-war

[16] https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1829092/Erdogan-Turkey-Israel-war-Gaza

[17] https://www.foxnews.com/us/pentagon-announces-new-nuclear-bomb-24-times-more-powerful-dropped-japan

[18] https://www.newsweek.com/germany-ominous-warning-war-europe-1839200

[19] https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-never-again-is-now-its-our-2nd-independence-war-humanitys-war-against-evil/

[20] https://www.zerohedge.com/political/super-state-being-created-without-consent-people-warns-polish-mep

[21] https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1829926/erdogan-nato-concern-hamas-israel-turkey

[22] https://www.wsj.com/world/russias-wagner-group-may-provide-air-defense-weapon-to-hezbollah-u-s-intel-says-37dc8f45

[23] https://www.newsweek.com/israel-warns-elite-iran-backed-unit-now-lebanon-join-war-1840453

[24] https://www.rt.com/news/586745-germany-tank-battalions-deployment-lithuania/

[25] https://www.dw.com/en/germany-vows-to-make-military-the-backbone-of-europes-defense/a-67361593