The one thing uppermost on Satan's mind right now is to destroy God's Church, which he is swaying more and more toward secularism - interest in material and physical things - going consistently a little more toward the world of Satan and his ways.
First of all, you need to know that
you live in a world cut off completely from God. Even though I have said
it before, let me put it in a brief nutshell. Let me restate the
roots.
Once the GOVERNMENT OF GOD ruled on this earth. God put angels here
to inhabit the earth before the creation of man. Under their king
Lucifer, super archangel, the most powerful being God can create next to
God Himself, they rejected God's government, turned to the opposite way
of life.
God's government is based on the law and principle of love-the way
of GIVING. It is giving to God a return of His love which He gives
us-giving to God obedience to His law of love and way of life; giving to
God reverence, worship, adoration. Lucifer chose and turned his angels
to the opposite way of GETTING-the way of self-love-the way of vanity,
lust and greed, jealousy and envy, competition and strife, resentment
toward others, and over any authority over one. (Especially the way of
rebellion against God and His truth.)
Where Man Went Wrong
This brought on the earth chaos,
decay, waste, emptiness and darkness. Psalms 104:30 says God then
RENEWED the face of the earth (Genesis 1), in six days creating man
after God's own kind (Gen. 1:26). God created man mortal- male and
female-out of the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). God offered the first
man and woman, from whom the human race has sprung, eternal life in the
Kingdom of God, actually being born as one of God's own children in the
God FAMILY (symbolized by the tree of life)-or (Adam had to make a
choice) rejection of God and His government, and taking to himself the
knowledge of good and evil deciding for him-self right from wrong. God
is the source of basic knowledge. Man rejected this knowledge.
Adam rebelled-rejected God's GOVERNMENT and God's WAY OF LIFE,
choosing to go his own way, decide for himself, create his own
knowledge. In other words, follow the course of the sinning angels (II
Pet. 2:4). Whereupon God sentenced Adam and his family-all mankind in
general-to 6,000 years of being totally cut off from God's government,
God's religion, God's basic knowledge, God's ways that produce peace and
happiness and give eternal life.
God said, in effect: You have decided! Go! Form your own ideas of
government, form your own religions and kinds of worship, form your own
type of education and production of knowledge, form your own way of
living-form your own society and civilization, wholly cut off from me.
For 6,000 years, that is.
Yet God reserved the right to INTERVENE in specific cases, or in
specific individuals, as He deemed necessary to His purpose!
Is God Trying to Save the World Now?
God did intervene in the cases of
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham-the nation Israel. He communicated to them
His way. He intervened in sending Christ with the MESSAGE to be
announced of the coming restoration of the government of God after the
6,000 years of man's rule. Christ announced that man may be, if and when
called by God, forgiven, reconciled (relationship and access to God
established), and can receive God's Spirit (the impregnation of
GOD-life) and be born into the God family by a resurrection from the
dead. But a first death was pronounced on all children of Adam because
of Adam's sin (I Cor. 15:22; Heb. 9:27) and a SECOND death as penalty IF
man rejects God's salvation when and after God calls him.
But He has not been calling THE WORLD for the 6,000 years.
Adam and Eve did not believe what God said. They rejected Him.
Jesus preached His good news message to countless thousands, yet only
120 believed what He said (Acts 1:15). Jesus taught His good news
message to His apostles. They went forth and proclaimed it, but by about
A.D. 59 it was suppressed.
Christ raised up His Church on Pentecost, A.D. 31. He called it
the little flock. It was, compared to the world's total population,
only a little or tiny flock. Jesus did not come on a soul-saving
crusade.
Remember, the world as a whole was cut off from God. God was not
yet trying to get the world saved. Only those FEW God specially
called-just the few in whom God intervened' in this world's
civilization-those He deemed important to His purpose.
What of all the others? They were as yet not being judged-not lost.
Their time is yet to come.
The only ones called to salvation or any personal contact with God
for the first 1900 some years were Abel, Enoch and Noah. Then God
intervened to specially call Abraham. Abraham did not seek God; it was
God who chose, intervened, and called Abraham. Notice it! Now the Lord
had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I
will make of thee a great nation... (Gen. 12:1- 2). That nation was to
be Israel, known as GOD'S NATION, to be separate from this world's
society which is cut off from God. Abraham did not call on God. God
called Abraham for a special mission. Also his sons, Isaac, Jacob
(Israel), and Joseph.
But the world as a whole was cut off from all access to God. It was
building its own governments, its own religions, its own knowledge and
systems of education-going its own ways!
Four hundred and thirty years after Abraham, God raised up Moses in
a special way for a SPECIAL MISSION-to lead the children of Israel,
descended from Abraham, then slaves in Egypt, numbering probably two or
three million (perhaps even more, for there were 600,000 men, besides
women and children- and they had many children!).
God did not offer spiritual salvation to Israel. He offered them,
in return for obedience to His government, only physical, material,
national rewards and greatness. The only ones converted or CALLED for
salvation between Moses and Christ were Moses and the prophets sent to
Israel and Judah. They, and they ONLY, were given the Holy Spirit, and
that only so they could perform the WORK God called them to do in God's
own nations, Israel and Judah. All these years God was not trying to
save the world spiritually. The world was totally cut off from God!
Moses was further used in writing the first five books of the Bible, as
God was making available His revelation of basic KNOWLEDGE.
The Good News Announcement
Then came Jesus Christ as the
Messenger of the Covenant (Mal. 3:1 and Mark 1:1, 14-15). He brought an
announcement-a message from God-the good news announcement of the coming
Kingdom of God! But He did not come on a soul- saving crusade. As
stated before, of the thousands who heard Him announce the coming
Kingdom of God, only 120 BELIEVED what He said (Acts 1:15). They formed
the beginning of the Church of God when they received the Holy Spirit on
the Day of Pentecost, A.D. 31. That same day God added to them about
three thous and whom He had specially called (Acts 2:41). Then, after
that, the Lord ADDED to the church daily such as should be [at the
resurrection] saved (verse 47). The apostles did not get these people
saved-but God added such as He CALLED to be saved.
Thus the Church of God started. It started in a world cut off from
God-and comparatively very small. Jesus called it the little flock
(Luke 12:32). For a short time it grew to a few thous and members God had
called and added. Then, in a short time, the persecution set in (Acts
8:1) and the Church was diminished in size.
True Church Goes Underground
The true gospel of the Kingdom of God
was suppressed by the false church raised up by Simon the sorcerer (Acts
8) in A.D. 33. In reality it was the remnant of the Babylonian Mystery
Religion, which appropriated the name Christian and deceived the whole
world (Rev. 17:2, 5) By A.D. 59 even the churches had turned to another
gospel (Gal. 1:6-7). The true gospel was suppressed!
The little flock-the true Church of God-virtually went
underground. The gospel had to be taught secretly. Thous ands of true
Christians were tortured and martyred-put to death by the fast-growing
false Babylonish church.
Ever since then only a comparative few have been called by God to
repentance, belief and spiritual salvation.
Let me make that plain!
In Ephesians 1, Paul addresses his inspired letter to the saints
which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful IN Christ Jesus (verse I). He
is writing to saints in Christ-not to the world. When Paul here uses the
pronoun us, he means those saints and includes himself.
He says: According as he (God] hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love: Having PREDESTINATED US unto the SONSHIP [as it should
read] of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will (verses 4- 5).
Predestinated-why? To be lost? No! To become God's sons-His own
children. The rest of the world, remember, is cut off from God-has no
access to Him.
He continues: In whom also we (not the world) have obtained an
INHERITANCE, being PREDESTINATED according to the purpose of him who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be
to the praise of his glory, who FIRST trusted in Christ (verses 11-12).
Notice what that says: We were predestinated to be the FIRST to
trust in Christ-to receive SALVATION. We were specially CALLED,
chosen-while the rest of the world is cut off from God and Christ.
After the second coming of Christ-after He establishes the Kingdom
of God and the whole world comes under Christ's rule at the end of this
DAY OF MAN (this 6,000 years when the world as a whole is cut off from
Christ)-then EVERYBODY will be called to salvation (Matt. 25:31-40).
But today only the precious predestinated FEW! Jesus plainly said:
No man can come to .me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
him... (John 6:44).
World Cut Off From God
Again get this: understand it! The
world as a whole is cut off from all access to God. God has not been
trying to save the world. God sentenced this world to 6,000 years of
going its own way-forming man's own governments, his own religions-all
false-his own knowledge and systems of education-his own society going
the way of get rather than of love. Instead of trying to save this
sinning world, God sentenced it to sowing its own ways, and reaping what
it sows-to prove once and for all that ONLY God's way of love is good
for us.
Just look at the result today! Soon, if God does not step in and
intervene, and take over the rule, man will destroy himself. For the
first time in history the weapons of mass destruction are available that
can erase all life, including all humanity, from this earth.
Just before man brings that about, God will intervene once again,
stopping it by. His supernatural power, and send Christ to rule with the
Kingdom of God over all nations.
Then Satan will be put away at last (Rev. 20:1-4). Christ on His
throne will go out to save all who are willing (Matt. 25:31). After a
thous and years of Christ's rule will come the Great White Throne
Judgment-the resurrection back to mortal physical life of all since Adam
(except those God had intervened to call). That will be many billions.
God is NOT trying to save them NOW-He will THEN.
Finally, at last, everyone will have been called and had his chance
for salvation and eternal life!
A Divine Master Plan
The Holy Days picture God's MASTER PLAN. The Day of Pentecost is called the Feast of Firstfruits-just the small FIRST harvest for God's Kingdom-including us, now. The Feast of Trumpets pictures the coming of Christ to rule. The Day of Atonement pictures putting Satan away so we may be at one with Christ. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the millennium-the Kingdom of God ruling-the thous and years when all then living will be called, and saved if they are willing. The final day of the fall Feast pictures the Great White Throne Judgment, when the billions sentenced to be cut off from God will be resurrected mortal, and then called, drawn to Christ and saved if they are willing.
Back to the Beginning
But I have gotten a little ahead of
myself.
It is necessary that we go back once again to the beginning. When
Satan got to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he did not say, Reject God's
government, and come under my government. No, he was too subtle for
that! He said, in effect: God lied to you. You won't surely die if you
take to yourself the production of the knowledge of what is good and
what is evil. Rule your own life. God knows that when you eat this
forbidden fruit, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as
gods [a correct translation would be, You shall be God], knowing good
and evil.
Notice, too, that God did not sentence mankind to 6,000 years of
Satan's rule. God allowed man to be deceived by Satan. God allowed man
to THINK he was forming his own governments, his own religions,
producing his own knowledge and education. But God knew how Satan would
deceive all mankind (Rev. 12:9), blinding man's eyes from the truth, and
swaying him by broadcasting ATTITUDES through the air. Conditions in the
world, with man ruling himself, unknowingly swayed by Satan, have grown
worse and worse.
The true Church remained pretty much underground until it shrank to
the level that the GREAT CHURCH (of Revelation 17) didn't bother any
longer to try to stamp it out. It was in such a world that this
Philadelphia era of God's Church was born. We had now come to the very
living generation that shall witness the end of this age, and the coming
of Christ, and setting up of the Kingdom of God.
In other words, it is in this living generation when the great
event that Christ announced over 1900 years ago will actually happen!
This is the living generation that shall live in two worlds-the end of
this present evil world, and the beginning of the world tomorrow ruled
by the Kingdom of God! The time had come for this tremendous gospel
announcement to go out to the very world that will live to see it
happen!
Preparation for God's Work
In a sense there is a parallel in my
own life. I have lived in two different centuries. I lived in the end
(the last eight years) of the nineteenth century, and, so far,
seventy-eight years in this twentieth century. God has, in a number of
cases, prepared in advance those He calls to a very special mission. In
the Old Testament, God prepared Moses by having him brought up in the
king's palace by the king's daughter, as a prince. In the New Testament
He prepared the apostle Paul by having him educated by the great teacher
of that time, Gamaliel Of course these men were living the way of this
world during the pre-training period.
The same was true in my case. I will cover just very briefly the
high spots of that early training, before I was converted and called and
THE GREAT COMMISSION conferred on me.
At age sixteen, on my first summer vacation job away from home in
another town, my employer aroused ambition in me. He instilled great
self-confidence. He assured me I was destined to be a great success, but
I would have to work hard to achieve it. But I had no GOAL in life-the
first law of success.
At eighteen, after thorough self-analysis and analysis of various
professions, Occupations, etc., I set my life goal as the advertising
profession. It was the wrong goal, but God changed that in due time.
Nevertheless, it did PREPARE me for God's commission! I was successful.
I put myself in contact with successful men-the presidents and board
chairmen of the great industrial corporations of the middle west in
'the' United States, and of the great banks of Chicago and New York. In
my twenties, I was making the equivalent of (at today's dollar- value)
$150,000 a year!
I had spent three years with the largest trade journal in the
U.S.-the Merchants Trade Journal. I worked one year writing advertising
copy, two years as their idea man (travelling the eastern two-thirds
of the United States, looking for ideas and material for articles), and
finally writing articles for publication. Then a short time as assistant
secretary of the South Bend, Indiana, Chamber of Commerce; then seven
years as advertising representative- or publishers' representative with
an office in Chicago's loop.
I built a big-paying business by making surveys resulting in large-
space advertising from such companies as Goodyear Tire and Rubber, J. I.
Case Plow Works, Moline Plow Works, Emerson Brantingham, John Deere
Co., Dalton Adding Machine, and others. Every one of these giant
corporations went into receivership during the flash depression of 1920.
My business suddenly, by forces beyond my control, was swept away.
Shocking Challenges Spur Search for Truth
My family, with my wife's brother and
sister, migrated to Oregon in 1924. It was an 18-day trip over dirt and
gravel unpaved roads in a Model-T Ford.
In the autumn of 1926, I was hit by a dual CHALLENGE. My wife had
suddenly taken up with religious fanaticism, as it then seemed to me.
A sister-in-law challenged me on the theory of evolution, which she had
been taught in college. She called me downright ignorant because I did
not accept or believe the theory.
This dual CHALLENGE plunged me into the most intensive in-depth
study and research of my life-a virtual night-and-day study. I delved
into the writings of Darwin, LaMarck, Huxley, Haekel, Chamberlin, etc.,
etc., but primarily the Bible. I had quit attending church at eighteen,
and had never had any real religious interest.
I was shocked-actually stunned- when I read in the Bible, in Romans
6:23: The wages of sin is death... I had been taught from early
boyhood that what we got paid for sin was ETERNAL LIFE- though in
hellfire. Here I had been taught in Sunday school just the opposite of
what the Bible taught. But the last half of the sentence floored me just
as hard: ..... but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
WHAT? Eternal life a GIFT? I had been taught I already had eternal
life. I was an immortal soul.
You see, I had told my wife that I knew the Bible said, Thou shalt
keep Sunday. I didn't know where to find that in the Bible, I admitted.
But I knew it must be there, because, I said, all these churches get
their religion out of the Bible, and they all (but one I thought of as
fanatical) observe Sunday. All these churches can't be wrong, I argued.
In this study I obtained every book I could find that upheld Sunday
observance and condemned Saturday Sabbath-keeping. But I also obtained a
Seventh-day Adventist book explaining their doctrines, and also a book
called Bible Home Instructor (or something like that) published by the
Church of God, Stanberry, Missouri. It was one of their members,
neighbor to my parents' home in Salem, Oregon, who had convinced my wife
she ought to keep the Sabbath, Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
On carefully checking with the Bible, I found most denominations
had some Bible truth. I could see plainly from my own biblical study
they were totally contrary to the Bible in many other beliefs. As my
study continued, always relying on the BIBLE-which, incidentally, I had
PROVED to be the inspired WORD OF GOD-I discovered that this Church of
God had more biblical truth than any church I could find.
Simon's Apostasy
But as my own in-depth study
continued, I found much they lacked. I later discovered they were
described in Revelation 3 as the Sardis era of God's Church. I
discovered that after the great persecution which had set in about A.D.
33 Simon the sorcerer, leader of the Babylonian Mystery religion, was
refused an apostleship in God's Church. He, as I learned from other
sources, nevertheless represented himself as chief apostle, adopting the
name of Christ-or Christian. He proclaimed the biblical doctrine of
grace or forgiveness of sin through Christ's death, but turned it into
license to disobey (Jude 4).
This Babylonian Mystery religion, now masquerading as
Christianity, suppressed the gospel Christ had taught. Jesus brought
the announcement of the Kingdom of God. Simon's false church claimed
their church was the Kingdom, already set up. He proclaimed a DIFFERENT
Jesus as well as a DIFFERENT gospel. He proclaimed a Christ who DID AWAY
with His Father's commandments thus doing away with the basic
constitution and law of the Kingdom of God. He taught, and his false
church later (A. D. 321) made official, the Trinity doctrine, saying
the Holy Spirit of God is a GHOST-a third spirit PERSON- thereby doing
away with the fact that we can be begotten by God's Spirit and enter the
Kingdom at the time of the resurrection.
Solving a Jigsaw Puzzle
As stated before, the true Church
virtually went underground. The true Church did continue through EVERY
GENERATION to now. But when I first came among them, in 1926-27, they
had lost most of the true gospel! Little by little God revealed His true
gospel, in all its fullness, to me.
But first God had to completely disillusion my mind of all I had
been taught in Sunday school prior to age eighteen. God caused me to
come to His work with a mind swept clean of all these false teachings-
free to reject error and accept TRUTH! I know of no other worldwide
religious leader since the original apostles, and Paul, all of whom were
taught by Christ IN PERSON, who ever came to God's teachings in this
manner!
I found the Sardis-era Church of' God retained only a smattering of
the full true gospel. They understood Christ is coming to REIGN, and He
will reign 1,000 years, and ON EARTH! (Seventh-day Adventists say in
heaven.) But they had lost all knowledge that we could be BORN OF GOD,
entering His Kingdom which is HIS FAMILY as HIS BORN CHILDREN. They had
no conception of what the Kingdom of God is or would be like. Some
believed in a pre-millennial coming of Christ, some in a post-millennial
coming.
The had the truth about the Sabbath, but not the annual Sabbaths.
They had the truth about NOT going to heaven, and that the earth is the
inheritance of the saved. They had the truth about the state of the
dead-that the dead are unconscious and know nothing-that the next
consciousness after death will take place at the resurrection. They knew
the hellfire commonly preached is error, and that usually the word
hell is translated from the Hebrew sheol and Greek. hades, meaning
simply the grave. (In some cases hell is translated from the Greek
gehenna, meaning fire that BURNS up what is burned in it.)
They believed in water baptism by immersion. They believed-one of
their most emphasized points- Jesus was three days and three nights in
the grave (crucified Wednesday, resurrected Saturday evening, and
already gone while it was yet dark at sunrise Sunday). Thus they did
away with Easter, and they did not observe Christmas, since it was a
pagan holiday and Jesus was not born at or near December 25. They
believed in the law of God and knew sin was the transgression of God's
law.
Let me say here that the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle. You find
its truths here a little-there a little. It does not start out with
Genesis 1:1 and go straight through with ALL of God's revealed KNOWLEDGE
and TRUTH in direct sequence. In fact, the REAL beginning is not Genesis
1:1, but John 1:1. Much had happened between John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1,
filled in from other places in both Old and New Testaments.
Truth Revealed Slowly
But God was revealing His truth to me.
At first I had to learn a doctrine at a time. In other words, if the
whole truth were a jigsaw puzzle of 1OO pieces, I found the Church of
God of the Sardis era, even Though God's Church, had lost about 75 of
the pieces, though some were among the important pieces. But it was
impossible to fit them together so as to produce the WHOLE and FULL
PICTURE, plain and clear.
God was inspiring me to fill in the gaps.
With what they had-which God made clear to my mind were TRUE
doctrines-the picture was all distorted. It did not show why humans were
put on earth. It did not show what was God's purpose that caused Him to
decide to create humanity in His likeness, and put them on earth. There
plainly was a devil called Satan, but where did he come from? Did God
create a devil to torment us? One of their prominent ministers, because
they had no answer to this, preached that no such thing as a devil
exists.
Why is the human mind so superior to the animal brain, when there
is virtually no difference qualitatively and quantitatively? They had
none of these truths. Where was the United States identified in
prophecy? They did not know this, and therefore had prophecies of the
beast and those of Daniel and Revelation all in error-even as the
Adventists. They did not understand that God is not trying to save the
whole world now-or why. It was my understanding that they looked on this
world as God's world, and God was trying desperately to save it, but the
devil was winning the battle.
What is man's real potential? Aside from being resurrected
immortal, which they believed for the saved-then what? What was the real
purpose in putting humanity on earth, after all? If the saved are
resurrected, where do we go on from there? What shall we be doing for
all eternity? Will we get bored with nothing to do?
Filling in the Gaps
Little by little, God revealed to me
more and more TRUTHS-additional pieces of God's revealed KNOWLEDGE that
filled in the gaps-answered all the questions.
Why is the human brain able to invent such intricate mechanisms, to
fly to the moon and back, and yet be utterly helpless to solve man's
problems-to live at peace with his neighbor? They could answer, vaguely,
Because man is unwilling to keep God's commandments. And that's
true-but why? Why is he unwilling? There is so much more that needs to
be known than the limited truths they possessed.
God revealed to me the truth about Israel and Judah-the divided
kingdoms, and the Birthright promise to Ephraim and the Sceptre promise
to Judah. They understood none of this, and, though their editor and
leader wrote me that this was a truth revealed from God to me, he filed
it away and the Church (Sardis) never got it!
The truth of how God is reproducing Himself was revealed to me.
God's master plan could never be understood by them, since they rejected
the annual Sabbaths and festivals that reveal and picture the master
plan.
Restoring Basic Knowledge
To sum it all up, God raised me up and
used me in RESTORING the basic knowledge that had been lost through the
generations since the churches turned to ANOTHER GOSPEL (Gal. 1:6-7) in
the very first century.
God led me not only to recognize and accept what truth the Church of
the Sardis era retained, but to restore what God's Church through the
many generations had lost-and, in addition, I think, to reveal through
me additional vital knowledge from God's Word, possibly not even
understood by the apostle Paul.
Daniel foretold that in OUR TIME-this time of the end-just at the
very END of this 6,000-year day of man, with mankind generally cut off
from God, that knowledge shall be increased. Undoubtedly he referred
to God's revealed knowledge - but it is significant that even in man's
world, cut off from God, technological, scientific, and physical
knowledge has greatly increased. In the decade of the '60s the world's
fund of knowledge doubled - though man's troubles and evils also
doubled.
God's Ultimate Purpose
God has graciously opened my mind (not
for my benefit, but for His church) to much I believe to be NEW
KNOWLEDGE. God has blessed His Church with stupendous knowledge which I
believe no man-not even in God's Church-ever understood before! How
wonderful! What a blessing! How we should shout for joy!
Do we really realize this? Do we appreciate it? Do we delight in
it? Or are we like the sow which would trample in the mud precious
diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, on her way to eat slop?
Do we recognize the true values?
Finally, God has revealed to me His ultimate grand and awesome
purpose-what is man's real potential-what we will be doing through all
eternity. Never bored. Always joyfully accomplishing new stupendous and
super-wonderful achievements. Always looking forward to still greater
designs; always looking back on great accomplishments, on and on
throughout the whole vast endless universe!
How wonderful! God has revealed His wonderful, awesome truth to His
Church, the Worldwide Church of God-God's Church for this time.
But now a few words about the rise and establishment of today's era
of God's Church.
Fellowship With the Sardis Era
During my initial in-depth study of
the Bible, I came to know of the Sardis era (Rev. 3:1-6). It was a
member of it that had shown my wife the truth about the Sabbath
question. They were a small group meeting in a country schoolhouse south
of Salem, Oregon.
My wife and I began fellowshipping with these sincere and humble
people of God at the time of my conversion and baptism, spring of 1927.
We carried on this fellowship for several years, but we never joined
them or became a member of the Sardis era of the Church of God.
These brethren urged me repeatedly to preach, but the last thing on
earth I wanted to do was to be a preacher.
However, I continued my interest and study in the Bible, and
continued to be thrilled as I received more and more understanding of
the Bible. Finally, along in November (I think it was), I had discovered
a special Sabbath covenant, established forever in Exodus 31:12-17. This
was my first discovery of new truth on the Sabbath question. I was
excited about it, and the desire to share this knowledge with these
brethren outweighed my reluctance to preach.
Soon I was preaching more or less regularly before these people. I
found there was a division between them in the area surrounding
Jefferson, Oregon, and that there was another group of them besides the
one in which I was fellowshipping. The brethren I was fellowshipping
with split off from Stanberry, Missouri, so far as paying tithes was
concerned. They incorporated as the Oregon Conference of the Church of
God. By December of 1931 they wanted me to preach a ten-day evangelistic
meeting in a church in Harrisburg, Oregon, which these brethren rented
regularly. From my first sermon God blessed all my preaching and writing
with success.
In July 1933, Mr. Elmer Fisher, who lived six miles west of Eugene,
asked me to preach a six-weeks' campaign of evangelism at the Firbutte
one-room country school. This schoolhouse was in a sparsely settled
community. Considering the small population, my efforts were blessed
with unusual success. This campaign ended with several newly baptized
converts. I had presented the truth about the annual Holy Days and
Festivals to the Oregon Conference brethren, but they laughed me to
scorn (Matt. 9:24). Now, for the first time, I had newly converted
brethren who immediately accepted this truth. A small church of 19
members emerged as the parent church, later to become the Worldwide
Church of God.
I continued evangelistic meetings in many districts in and near
Eugene, Oregon. The church grew. It accepted all of the new truths God
was revealing to me in the Bible.
Philadelphia Era Born
Let me make it clear that I was never
a member of the church of the Sardis era. I did continue fellowshipping
with them and preaching before them until the work which started the
Philadelphia era of the Church consumed all my time. It was separately
incorporated, and thus the present Worldwide Church of God came into
being. This Church was born in August 1933. From that humble beginning I
have met with nothing but persecution and opposition, even as Christ was
when He appeared on earth.
It is a thankless job, because Satan is bound to destroy me if he
can. The one thing uppermost on Satan's mind right now is to destroy
God's Church, which he is swaying more and more toward secularism-
interest in material and physical things-going constantly a little more
toward the world of Satan and its ways. The one thing uppermost on
Satan's mind right now is to stop this message.
God is using me to take His message through the doors God is
opening to kings, presidents, emperors, prime ministers, leaders of
nations, and the people of those nations.
But the one thing uppermost on God's mind, right now, is to restore
the government of God to the earth and to have it announced to the
world. We have to rely on God, for He is stronger than Satan. That's why
I need your heartrending, urgent prayers-that God will restrain Satan,
and keep on protecting me miraculously - as He has done-from harm, keep
on opening doors, renewing my youth, giving me the strength, the
vitality, the energy and drive to keep on with His Work, knowing that
you are 100 percent behind me, praying your hearts out for me.
If you don't, I cannot carry on.
I have not meant to criticize or blame in any way the people of God
of the Sardis era. God allowed His persecuted little flock to diminish
both in size and in His revealed knowledge. God could have raised up out
of stones the one He wanted to do the Work. But He did call and choose
me, revealed His TRUTH through me for all His Church, and has used me,
and will still go on using me-if you are with me.
In Summary
Go back to the beginning of this
vitally important article.
I have shown you how this Church came to believe what it
does-truths no other people on earth know! Truths nobody else on earth
is proclaiming to the world!
I have shown you its ROOTS-its origin, its history, and its
prehistory.
The one and only place in the world where the government of God is
being administered is in the Worldwide Church of God. I have said to you
that the thing uppermost in God's mind is restoring the government of
God by and through the Kingdom of God on this earth. God has placed that
government in His Church. This is a government based on LOVE. Some don't
believe in it and are fighting it. I need you to be 100 percent back of
me in it.
Every day now we are one day closer to GLORY! Time is running out
on us. There are WONDERFUL THINGS ahead for us, but we must sacrifice,
be faithful, and ENDURE now!
I have shown you how this Church came to believe what it believes.
And how those precious beliefs were put into this Worldwide Church of
God, by Christ through me. I have shown you HOW it was FOUNDED. God says
His Church is founded on the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being
the chief cornerstone. Not only the original twelve apostles and Paul,
but He used His ONE apostle for this twentieth century in founding this
Philadelphia era of His Church.