Elders Letter
Dear Scattered Brethren and Co-workers,
James Russell, Elder
Greetings to all. I pray you had a spiritual rewarding Pentecost. This event marked a day of giving praise; honor and worship towards our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. This Annual Holy Day sacrifice lead to our receiving the comforter (His Holy Spirit)! "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send it unto you....And when it is come, it will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness; and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on Me; Howbeit when it the Spirit of truth is come. it will guide you into all truth; for it shall not speak of itself but whatsoever it shall hear, that shall it speak; and it will shew you things to come" (John 16:7-9,13). Pentecost finished God’s third step in His plan for mans salvation.
We are now looking forward to the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles. My wife and I are looking forward to visiting with you at the Treehouse condos in Branson West, Missouri, for the start of God’s Feast of Tabernacles; on the evening of October the 10th. This will be a good opportunity to come out of this world and its ways for a week.
The age in which we live today is very frightful! Too many people have become calloused to what is going on in the world around them today. Jerusalem is surrounded by hostile armies and hostile countries that are being supported by, who? Russia and China. They are selling' weapons of destruction to armies that hate the United States and nations supported by the United States of America!
As Christians we are warned by the Word of Jesus Christ, "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with sufeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch you therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:34-36). Within this last verse, Christ speaks of a divine promise of protection for those who are awake! But those who are asleep, lethargic, sitting on a fence and are lukewarm, are told by Christ, He will spew them out of His mouth."
God’s called, God's chosen elect, should understand as the prophet Jeremiah did when God revealed to Jeremiah the destruction that was about to take place in Judea because of the sins of the Jews. King Nebuchadnezzar's army was preparing to overrun Jerusalem. Jeremiah in vision saw the people sound asleep. This vision distressed Jeremiah literally to the point of pain in his heart. "My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, 0 my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled" (Jer. 4:1920).
The Church of God, In Truth, knows how Jeremiah felt! We cannot keep silent at this end time, we are told “ All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt 24:8). Ignoring God's revealed truth produces a lethargic attitude and that is frightening. Through the "Prove All Things"magazine, we are trying to wake those who are asleep to the truth of God's Word before its too late!! Truth is what we are commanded to teach - not soft and smooth things!! Building a following after the self is not our goal. Waking up to the reality of God's word and His Truth from His written Word is our goal!
World events are about to erupt. All the up coming elections and the changing of major governments are taking place this year and the next. The New World Order players are being put into their strategic positions. Behind the scene forces are at work with plans, programs, and conspiracy movements to control mans every move.
God's people have to wake up before it's too late, and put their house in order. Groping around in darkness of confusion, ignorance and mis-understanding will not allow entrance into God's soon coming Kingdom. God's called, not yet chosen, have closed their ears from hearing God's truth. The church leaders have become steeped in deceptive false education and cannot be aroused from their slumber. They profess to do God's will - but will not accept God's Word as being His will! If you have read the "Prove All Things" for the past 18 years, it is evident that the Churches of God believe, "If Mr. Herbert Armstrong did not teach it, or if Ambassador College didn't teach it, it cannot be the truth!"
Example; take Genesis 1: 1-5. “In a beginning God created the heaven [Heavenly bodies ] and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness [ no light from the moon ]. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Most churches that believe in keeping the weekly seventh day for their Sabbath day; as Mr Armstrong did, count from Genesis 1:14 in the middle of God’s week when the Muslims pagan crescent moon is seen! How does that square up with God’s seven day count for a week? Gen 2:2-3. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made”. The Hebrew Calender begins their count from Gen 1:14! How is there found seven days between Wednesday [the forth day of a week] to the Sabbath [Saturday] the seventh day of the week?? Genesis 1 describes to us what the first day of the Week, Month and Year looked like. There was not visible crescent moon.
The Sabbath is a sign between God and His called out ones. "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you" (Exo. 31:13). God's annual Sabbaths, [Holy Days], are a sign also. "And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD'S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt" (Exo. 13:9).
Both of these Sabbaths are to be kept at their appointed time according to scripture, that is, God's Word. The Sabbath identifies those who truly are God's called out ones! Sabbath breaking was the prime reason for Judah's captivity. Sabbath keeping is so important to God that He punished both Israel and Judah, His chosen, for not following His statutes and His commandments. "Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanisded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee" (Deu. 28:45-48).
Now is not the time to be asleep or drowsy or lukewarm! WAKE UP, ask God to remove the strong delusion that has caused you to believe a lie! "Remember ye not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because: they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (II Thes. 2:5, 9-11). Gods called and chosen are set apart at this time because they obey and believe God and His word. "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (II Thess. 2:13).
Church of God, In truth: P.O Box 1120 Kimberling City; MO 65686. Tel 417-338-0033 Fax: 417-338-0031
Spanish: Martin Martinez, Deacon: Tel: 787-786-5856 E-Mail: marty@ucint.com
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