THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD
The Church of God consists of all those who have responded to the Father's
call in repentance and been given His spirit. Repentance means to turn
away from sin, which is the transgression of the law 1 Joh 3:4 and to obey all
God's commandments. For God's spirit is given ONLY to those who OBEY Him
Acts 5:32. Collectively they are like a body, a body of believers 1 Cor 12.
While we are all different we are all part of the same body, much as a hand or
foot is a part of the same body. We are all at different levels of
intelligence, ability and understanding. God's spirit leads us into all
understanding Joh 16:13. Unity is achieved as we follow His spirit into
the Truth. Unity CANNOT be legislated, it MUST come through knowledge of
the truth of God. Our part is to obey God in all things and to willingly FOLLOW
where His spirit leads us. We are to pray Thy will be done Mat 6:10.
Our prayer should reflect our honest desire and intentions, therefore we should
always be ready to do His will ourselves, doing whatever we are sure He wants
done as expressed in His word.
There is ONE BODY and ONE CHURCH OF GOD, but there are many parts. Today
there are many corporate organizations calling themselves the Church of God.
While there are probably some repentant followers of Christ and the Father in
these organizations, no corporation constitutes the True Church of God.
The True Church of God consists ONLY of those repentant persons who follow the
Lamb withersoever He goeth Rev 14:4.
Sadly there are many groups who claim to be the one True Church, resisting each
other. Their leaders and many of their followers have become infected with
the rotting cancer of self-importance, or to use a more biblical phrase; the
leaven of self righteousness. These men have forgotten that we ought to
follow God and not men Acts 5:29. They expend their energies competing
with one another for followers, so wrapped up in themselves that they can no
longer hear God's spirit, trying to lead them. Like little children
fighting each other inside a burning house, they cannot discern the danger of
the times.
Why is there no unity? Because we have allowed satan to distract us
into a certain selfish concern for OUR work, OUR church, OUR flock, OUR leader,
OUR doctrine and we have lost sight of OUR GOD. We are very
comfortable resting on past teachings and are no longer willing to
make the effort to seek God's truth. We are no longer willing
to follow the spirit of God, as it tries to lead us into ALL TRUTH.
Yes, there is a certain appearance of Godliness. We appeal to God and we
claim to worship and obey Him, but our actions speak much louder than our words
to HIM. Truly we draw close to Him with our words, but our hearts are
far from Him Is 29:13-14.
Why has God allowed us to fall into such a state? Almighty God is a GREAT
KING ruling over an awesome kingdom! He is the ALMIGHTY ONE WHO INHABITS
ETERNITY Is 57:13. He has power to give abilities and talents, so our
weaknesses in that area are of no concern to Him. In His kingdom are
many offices and responsibilities which He is waiting to confer upon His people.
He has already had to deal with a destructive rebellion and He doesn't want to
have another. God's PRINCIPLE CONCERN is to develop in His people the
virtue of LOYALTY! Loyalty to Him! The events happening amongst His
people are taking place to build LOYALTY and to test His people to discern WHO
is LOYAL to Him and who is not. Which of His people are just going through
the motions out of a hope for reward or a fear of punishment. Who is
following Him and who is following human leaders? This is WHY He allowed a
human leader to say that His commandments were no longer of any effect. TO
TEST HIS PEOPLE. Who then, said; great, I don't have to do that
anymore and who was faithful to GOD? This was the reason for recent events in
the WCG.
Now comes the second step. Who is just being loyal to the teachings of a
man and who is willing to follow Almighty God? The question remains the
same, but at a different level. Before it was a clear question; will you
keep the commandments or not? This was like a High School exam. Now
comes the University level test. All these leaders CLAIM to obey God but
in reality they regard the teachings of a man as having greater authority than
the Word of God. The question is; Will we be willing to stand on the Word
of God, the Holy Scripture written by the original apostles and prophets sent by
Jesus Christ Eph 2:20 or are we just standing on the words of some man? We
MUST NOT stand on the words of some man, any man, even a good man. It is
our LOYALTY to the GREAT KING that is being questioned. When we stand
before Him and He asks us why we did not obey Him in some point, will we answer,
we obeyed the one we thought was your minister instead? That is the answer
that ALL religious people will give. Brethren, they ALL think they are
obeying God by obeying those they think are His servants. I am certain
that the angels in obeying their minister Lucifer thought that they were doing
well even as they were led astray. Herbert Armstrong said "don't
believe me, believe the bible." That is perhaps the one saying of his
that people do NOT keep! For they believe his words as if they were
the bible and will not accept anything contrary to his thoughts, even if it is
found in the bible. Brethren we MUST be LOYAL TO GOD in spite of what ANY
man says, especially including myself. GOD'S WORD IS THE STANDARD BY WHICH
WE SHALL BE JUDGED, Not my words and not brother Herbert's words.
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