James Russell, Elder
Dear Brethren and Co-workers;
Greetings! Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread are rapidly approaching and a decision to keep the right
days is dependant upon your study of “Proving All Things.” Our eternal life depends upon it! God’s word advises
us “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesying” (1 Thess. 5:19-20). Are these verses just spiritual sounding?
Or are they instructions for us today?
This year Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread are going to be kept one to three days late for some. It
will depend on which traditional calendar you are believing, the Hebrew Calendar, that postpones Gods’ Holy Days
or the one that counts time from the mean (middle) conjunction of the sun, moon and earth! Both are going to miss
the appointed time for God’s, set apart, Holy time. God recognized early on, postponements would have to be
spoken about as polluting His Church when He said through Jeremiah “ For the children of Judah have done evil
in My sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute
it”(Jer 7:30).
The Apostle Paul urgently admonished the Corinthians to avoid idolatry. He warned them not to give the
least degree of sanction to a form of worship that honors any other being than the one true God. God must come first
at all times, and His service must have consideration always. Notice Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 10, “The cup
of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that
one bread. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table,
and of the table of devils” (1 Cor. 10:16-17,21).
The question arises, from which table will you be taking the Lord’s Passover from? This cup of demons
is a symbol of heathens seeking to oppose and thwart the Lord’s true Passover. There can be no compromising
between God and Satan, between truth and error, or between righteousness and sin!
Every person called, is called upon to choose who they will serve. “For if we sin wilfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an
unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:26-29).
Would it disturb or bother you to see all the first born in your family die? Making a right choice could save
you and those in your family from death as it did our forefathers living in Egypt. “And the LORD spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night,[at midnight] and will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see
the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt;
for there was not a house where there was not one dead” (Exo. 12:1,12-13,29-30).
That is a frightening picture. The believer in doing what he was instructed to do, was saved by the “Blood
of the lamb, slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). We are no different than our forefathers. We are
to obey the instructions given in the word of God. Our goal should always be to follow the Living Words of Jesus
The Christ!
Too many professing Christians insist on playing Russian roulette with God’s written laws and ways. This
is done by practicing syncretism, believing half what our Messiah said and practiced, and believing half of what the
Pharisees and scribes said and practiced.
Challenge!! Try and find in the Bible where God gave the Pharisees or scribes (who never received God’s
Holy Spirit) permission to postpone God’s annual Holy Day Sabbaths for a preparation day or to not have back to
back Sabbaths. One better, where does it say you cannot have the Last day of God’s Feast of Tabernacles fall on
a weekly Sabbath?
Isaiah was admonished by the inspired Word to, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and
shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1).
This is the same warning the Apostle Paul gave in the book of Acts. “For I have not shunned to declare unto
you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit
hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. Therefore watch,
and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now,
brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an
inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:27-28).
The Apostle Paul set the example of a watchman before the Ephesian Church for three years sanctifying them
with truth. We are not sanctified by the number of members in a specific group, we are not sanctified by the dollars
we accumulate. If that is the way of measuring God’s chosen, then the Catholic Church has already won!
No Brethren, Christ said, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).
Church of God, In Truth
P.O. Box 1120 Kimberling City, MO 65686
Tel: 417-338-0033 Fax: 417-338-0031
James Russell, Elder Tel: 417-338-0033 E-mail: cogit@flash.net
Pete Fleming, Elder Tel: 830-885-5502 E-mail: pmf06@gvtc.com
Spanish
Martin Martinez, Deacon. Tel: 787-786-5856 E-mail: marty@ucsint.com
Phillippines
Romeo Samudio, Rep. Tel: 090-8536-4415 E-mail: romesamudio@yahoo.com