Surviving “Perilous Times”

Article Seven -
Epilogue – What Mr. Armstrong Taught About Critical Doctrines

BY DAVID C. PACK

This special Epilogue has been prepared for those who understand that Mr. Armstrong taught the full truth, and who wish to refamiliarize themselves with basic, indisputable statements that he made on crucial matters facing God’s people today.

The following topical sections are statements from Mr. Armstrong (or, in one section, his successor, with others). They pertain to some of the Bible’s most crucial doctrines—and, make no mistake, they are doctrines that Mr. Armstrong taught! These quotes were assembled for those who want his words, without explanation from me or others, to guide their thinking. They show the ringing clarity of what he consistently taught on a variety of central truths so many have forgotten. All pertain to elements of the Splinter Explanation Packet (SEP).

Do not miscalculate. If you neglect to study and act upon these vital doctrines, you risk losing all that is at stake for every Christian! Only The Restored Church of God teaches all of these, and every other truth God restored to His Church. If, through honest examination, you find that you still believe what the whole Church once believed, you will be left with one option—act on our SEP!

Truth Only Comes Through Apostles

“The word apostle means ‘one sent forth.’

“The New Testament Church of God received all its teachings, practices, customs, from the apostles, with Peter chief over all the others.

“Yet the apostles were the teachers, who instilled in the Church the beliefs, teachings, practices and customs of the Church. And all members of the Church were required by God to believe and speak the same thing!

“there was no doctrinal board! The teachings of the Church did not come from a council of ministers and/or lay members, who voted on what to believe.

“Right here, mark well this point: god put his truth into his church through christ and through the apostles!

“note this! The Church of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets…

“I have shown you…that Peter was leader of the apostles—and that the Church received its teachings and doctrines from the apostles!

“So now let it be made official—by Christ’s present-day apostle—that this binding and loosing plainly, clearly was given to Christ’s chief apostle—not to lower-rank ministers ordained by his authority—not by the church as a body—but by the apostle!

“jesus christ is the living head of this Church! he built it through His apostle. And He, christ, still rules supreme in the one and only area on earth where the government of god is being administered today!”

“How Christ Gives the Church its Beliefs,” GN, Nov. 20, 1978

“Now from where does the Church receive the doctrines and teachings they must all speak? think on this! The Church, as Christ organized it, received its beliefs and teachings and even its customs from THE APOSTLES! And the apostles had been taught by christ.

“But the various individuals did not decide for themselves what to say, believe or speak—nor did they individually receive the truths from Christ. But God taught the apostles, and He holds the apostles responsible for the doctrines given to the Church, that there be no divisions. We must all speak the same thing, but God holds the apostle responsible that what they all speak and believe is the right thing!

“But there was no ‘Doctrinal Committee’ nor group of other ministers or lay members who voted on doctrine and practice. Christ gave all that to His Church through his apostles!”

“Is God’s Church Composed of MANY SEPARATE ‘GROUPS’?”, GN, Dec. 18, 1978

“God says we in His Church must all believe and speak the same thing—we must be agreed on what is truth and right and good as opposed to what is evil and sin.

“But HOW? How does Jesus Christ put his doctrines into His Church? How did He in A.D. 31? How in A.D. 1933?

“Only by His chosen apostles.

“Our teaching and doctrines must come from god! Through christ! And through His apostle!

“God has always, in dealing with humans, worked through one man at a time—one who believed God! Some in ancient Israel challenged this one-man leadership. Some, likewise, have challenged it today!

“First, Moses’ own brother and sister challenged his one-man leadership…‘And the anger of the Eternal was kindled against them’ [Num. 12:9].

“Yet, though our members and ministers all know this, some are not afraid to speak contemptuously, in hostility, or defamingly against Christ’s apostle today! They need not fear ME! For I will not turn on them or strike them.

“Why, then, do they not fear God? It must be one of two things. Either they do not really comprehend this teaching…or they do not believe that God has chosen me as His apostle and human leader today. [Editor’s note: As the one chosen to be the human leader of the Church today, you now know why I do not fret when attacked.]

“The church is GOD’S Church. The head of the Church, under god, is Jesus Christ. Under Christ, on the human level, is His chosen apostle, through whom He has raised up and built this spiritual TEMPLE to which the reigning christ shall soon come in glory (Eph. 2:20-1).

“All doctrines in the Church as it began, A.D. 31, were put in by the apostles. All doctrines in the present Philadelphia era were put into the Church by Jesus Christ through His chosen apostle.”

“And Now Christ Sets Church Back on Track Doctrinally!”, WN, Feb. 19, 1979

“God says to His Church, through the apostle Paul, ‘Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment’ (I Cor. 1:10).”

“This passage continues saying the church at Corinth, precisely like today’s Church of God, was following various and differing men with differing doctrines.”

“What happened in those churches…has happened to us today. Those guilty of causing division are fighting God and shall be judged by Him!”

“This group of liberals assumed the authority of setting Church doctrine [with the goal of unity in mind]…that is, unity in watered-down doctrines that older loyal ministers did not and never would accept! That was not unity—it was DIVISION!”

“Church teachings were being changed. The most resultful booklet of all, The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy, was attacked…the same with a number of other basic and important booklets written by Christ’s apostle.

“How does God’s Church receive its doctrines, beliefs and teachings? Direct from God, through the channels of Jesus Christ as head of the Church, and from Him through the apostles! never by any others! never by a group of ministers appointing themselves as a Doctrinal Committee! So it was in the first century.

“How did the Worldwide Church of God receive its doctrines, beliefs and teachings? Exclusively through Christ’s apostle!

“But every doctrine, belief and teaching in the Worldwide Church of God has come from christ through his chosen apostle!”

“What Is a Liberal?”, WN, Feb. 19, 1979

“The living Jesus Christ founded the one true Church of God, A.D. 31. The same living Jesus Christ started the Philadelphia era of God’s Church through me, as His chosen apostle, August 1933.

“God commands in His word that we all ‘speak the same thing.’ That ‘same thing’ He put into His Church through His apostle.”

“Watering Down—Or Slowly Building Solidly Up?”, WN, June 11, 1979

How God Governs His Church

“I did not know it as a young man, late teens, 20s and into my 30s, but God was guiding my life from birth…Jesus Christ, through His written Word, opened my mind to the prime basic truths He wanted me to have in starting me out as His servant…God’s time had come! His time for one, of whom John the Baptist was type and forerunner, to prepare the way for Christ’s second coming…I did not seek these basic foundations of truth of my own volition! Jesus Christ revealed them…He was preparing one called and chosen by God, even against that one’s will, for an important service in restoring the law and government of God to earth—even in the comparatively small Worldwide Church of God. He was preparing one whom He conquered and brought to repentance and faith, for this great end-time commission!”

“The History…of the Worldwide Church of God,” GN, Apr. 1980

“Jesus said the Elijah shall yet come and restore all things. [The original] Elijah did not restore what was taken away…The GOVERNMENT of God was taken away. It was to be restored…God raised me up to restore it. God raised me up to restore the government of God. But it is only restored so far in the Church. I have no authority from God, no ability, to restore the GOVERNMENT of God any further than just over you brethren in the Church. But that has been done. That has been done, brethren. You go back and read Malachi 3:1-5 and Malachi 4. [And] where Jesus said, ‘Elijah truly shall come’—even after John the Baptist was put in prison, he was yet to come. He [the Elijah] was to restore. John the Baptist didn’t restore. You’d better realize what this Church is and what you are behind when you say you are behind me 100 percent.”

Sermon, Oct. 2, 1982

“First, Moses’ own brother and sister challenged his one-man leadership…‘And the anger of the Eternal was kindled against them’ [Num. 12:9]

“And Now Christ Sets Church Back on Track Doctrinally!”, WN, Feb. 19, 1979

“…Matt. 17…The disciples asked Jesus, Well how did they [the scribes] say then that Elijah is going to come? Now John the Baptist had already come. And Jesus said, Elijah truly shall come and restore all things. But, he said, I say unto you Elijah is come already, and they did with him what they pleased, and they beheaded him and killed him. And John the Baptist was already killed when he said that, but he said Elijah shall come. What has been restored? The gospel of the kingdom of God has been restored. The GOVERNMENT of God has been restored in this Church! And something has been restored brethren! And Christ is coming to restore everything and world GOVERNMENT, not just the Church, but the whole world! And we are to reign and rule with him.”

Sermon, F.O.T., Sept. 21, 1983

“There was an Elijah to come and to restore things in the Church. THAT HAS HAPPENED and what has been restored is the GOVERNMENT OF GOD—and many of the truths, at least 17 or 18 principal, vital doctrines of truth, have been added to about the three that had survived in the Sardis era of the Church.”

Final Sermon, Trumpets, Sept. 16, 1985

“But to go on with the things that have been restored…The GOVERNMENT of God has been restored to the Church, and the GOVERNMENT of God has been placed in the Church. You read that in Ephesians 4 and I Corinthians 12. Christ is the head of the Church and under Christ in the administration of the GOVERNMENT are an apostle or apostles, then evangelists, then pastors, then all are called elders, all ministers all the way up clear down to the lowest. So then there are teachers and elders both speaking elders and preaching elders, deacons and deaconesses. And the Church is restored in that form of GOVERNMENT. The Sardis Church even didn’t have the right form of GOVERNMENT.”

Sermon, Dec. 17, 1983

“Jesus QUALIFIED to restore God’s government—to set up the KINGDOM OF GOD, ruling over the earth, administering the GOVERNMENT OF GOD. Jesus’ Gospel Message was the GOOD NEWS that he would (at his second coming) RESTORE the government of God through the KINGDOM OF GOD. That was the true GOSPEL! That Gospel was suppressed within 22 years (Gal. 1:6-7), and was not proclaimed to the world until THIS CHURCH began proclaiming it—within the United States beginning 1934, and going worldwide beginning 1953—precisely a century of time cycles after it had been suppressed!

“Have WE, through this Work, RESTORED anything? Indeed we have! We have RESTORED the TRUE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST—through us JESUS CHRIST has already begun RESTORING the KNOWLEDGE of what had been taken away—the GOVERNMENT OF GOD. Through us the living Christ has been preparing for his SECOND COMING for the PURPOSE of RESTORING ALL THINGS!

“NONE OTHER has RESTORED the knowledge of the fact GOD’S GOVERNMENT was established on earth, and then DESTROYED and taken away by the Cherub Lucifer (Satan) and his demons.

“Jesus did NOT restore God’s government at his first coming. Instead, he proclaimed the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of it. He was crucified for the SINS of the world, he overcame Satan, he qualified to establish and rule God’s Kingdom, THEN HE ASCENDED TO HEAVEN.”

Co-worker letter, Aug. 24, 1982

[Editor’s Note: What follows is a single, long quote from Mr. Armstrong’s benchmark May 1974 Member letter of thirty pages. This single letter, carrying extensive proof, set the standard for what the entire Church understood and believed, when confronted with the greatest rebellion that had occurred in the Philadelphian era to that point.]

“Today some in the Church of God do not UNDERSTAND just what the Church of God really IS! Some have become confused as to whether there is ORGANIZATION or government in it—and I mean in GOD’S OWN CHURCH! And God HAS ONLY ONE CHURCH! (I Cor. 12:12, 13.) But we of ‘the wise’ shall understand! That understanding shall be made PLAIN in this letter.”

“Many times I have told you, dear Brethren, that when God first called me, beginning in the autumn of 1926, that the living Christ brought me into His truth a step at a time. YOU have not had to learn the truth so slowly—Christ used me to do it for you. And one of the very last truths He opened to me was that of church organization and government!”

“Brethren, I have felt it necessary that you should know and understand these things, so you may realize WHY I did not yet fully understand the truth regarding church government and organization, in February, 1939—MORE THAN 35 YEARS AGO—when I wrote an article on church organization.” [Editor’s Note: Many now love to quote this article to advance their own agendas.]

“There had been much confusion and argument among the ‘Sardis’ brethren about church organization. When the new so called ‘Bible Form of Church Organization’ was introduced at Salem, naturally the Stanberry people argued against it. I think we all became confused on the question. It’s like being too close to one tree to see the forest…In both of those—Stanberry and Salem—the people voted—government from the bottom like these dissenters today.”

“We published an article revealing new truth about church organization in The GOOD NEWS, November, 1952, and again in August, 1953, ‘GOVERNMENT in Our Church,’ and in November, 1953, ‘JUDGING and DISCIPLINE in God’s Church.’ As God revealed truth, His Church accepted it. And long since, we came into the FULL TRUTH on church organization and government.”

“Notice, now, the FORM, or PRINCIPLE of God’s government in ancient Israel: It’s given in Exodus 18:13-29.”

“Here is government FROM THE TOP (GOD) on down. Here is God’s own PYRAMID principle of government in ancient Israel.

“At that time the whole NATION—with church and state united—occupied one concise area. The form of organization could be administered by ONE MAN under God, at the top. It was Government from GOD. Under the Eternal God in authority was Moses. Under Moses a NUMBER of rulers, each over THOUSANDS (it could have been several thousands under each ruler). Under each ruler of a thousand, rulers over hundreds. Under each ruler of a hundred, rulers of fifties, and under each of them rulers of tens.

“It was RULE FROM THE TOP DOWN—that is, FROM GOD—it was the GOVERNMENT OF GOD! God chose Moses. Moses chose rulers of thousands, and so on down.”

“In the days of Samuel, the people of Israel rejected GOD as their real Ruler, ruling through such humans as HE chose, as at that time, God was ruling through Samuel. They demanded a MAN to be their king. God gave them Saul, who rebelled against God. Then God gave them David, a man after His own heart. Still it was government FROM THE TOP DOWN!

“That is God’s PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT. It’s the SAME TODAY in His Church! He says, ‘I CHANGE NOT!’ (Mal. 3:6.)”

“As we progress through the Bible on the question of GOVERNMENT, the PRINCIPLE of government, from the TOP DOWN, is consistent. But the application, or details of STRUCTURE differs, and varies to adapt to the time, conditions and facilities. The revolters from God’s Work confuse structural form with PRINCIPLE of government, which is ALWAYS from the TOP (GOD) down. They are NOT THE SAME.

“In the Old Testament, God chose ONE (Moses, Samuel, Saul, David, etc.) at a time, UNDER GOD, because Israel was ONE nation in ONE location or area. ONE at the top of the human level, under God, with others under him, was all that was required to administer the PRINCIPLE of government FROM THE TOP DOWN.

“But in the first century of the Gospel Work in the New Testament, God was sending the Gospel into MANY COUNTRIES, over wide areas. So He organized His Work into TWO principal divisions, or areas—ISRAEL and GENTILES. They were widely separated geographically. Communication was virtually nil, except by personal contact. Transportation was by foot, horse or muleback, or by camel or elephant, or sailboat. If Peter were the sole human head under Christ, it might take him weeks to communicate with the man next under him in Rome, if he were in Jerusalem. So God worked directly with TWO in separated areas.”

“With such communication and transportation facilities available today, Christ requires only ONE, once again, directly under him. Several times I have questioned whether Christ would ordain one or several more apostles, but always on counseling with evangelists, their response has been a decisive and absolute ‘NO.’”

“…the GOVERNMENT OF GOD [is] organized from the TOP DOWN.”

“Now let’s look into New Testament teaching to see how this is POSITIVELY REVEALED.

“I quoted from Galatians 2:7-8 about how Paul was assigned by Christ to head THE WORK to the Gentiles.

“Now notice Titus 1:4-5 and 2:15—Paul wrote to Titus (UNDER PAUL), ‘To Titus, mine own son after the common faith (even as those under me in THE WORK today, are MY own sons, directly or indirectly, in the Lord), …from God the Father (first in rank) and the Lord Jesus Christ (second in rank) our Savior. For this cause left I (next in rank—to Gentiles—under Christ) thee (under Paul’s authority in the Work) in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders (under Titus who is under Paul, who is under Christ) in every city as I had appointed thee.’

“No authority in the Church? What did God MEAN when He says in His Word, ‘OBEY them that have the RULE over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account (as I know I shall) that they may do it with JOY, and not with grief: for that (causing those over you grief) is unprofitable for YOU. Pray for us (THOSE OF US GOD HAS SET IN AUTHORITY TODAY) for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things, willing to live honestly’ (Heb. 13:17-18).

“No government in God’s Church? Then WHY did God inspire this to the Thessalonians? ‘And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are OVER YOU in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves’ (I Thes. 5:12-13).

“One of the things SATAN works overtime in injecting into any mind that will let it enter, is RESENTMENT OF AUTHORITY. GOD’S authority is administered in LOVE—and actually as one SERVING those under His authority for THEIR GOOD and out of loving CONCERN for them. That is the way I try to use what authority God has delegated to me, and I try to teach those under me to use it in the same manner—as a servant, not one lording it over those under him—as JESUS gave us an example. Satan DESPISES government, except as HE himself harshly and in hate employs it.

“But what does God say about DESPISING GOVERNMENT?

“‘But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and DESPISE GOVERNMENT. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption’ (II Peter 2:10-12).

“Brethren, THAT’S GOD’S WORD, not mine!

“Now notice I Corinthians 12: In this chapter God is showing that in THE WORK of the Church—proclaiming the Gospel to the world, and feeding the flock, there are different ADMINISTRATIONS, different OPERATIONS, in the Church, and for these, God has given various spiritual GIFTS, or empowerments, by His Holy Spirit.”

“So in the Church, God has set differences of ADMINISTRATIONS. For example, we have today the Division of Church Administration (CAD), or, Executive Administration over ministers and churches. There is the Educational Administration, or Executive direction over the Colleges and Imperial Schools. There is Publishing Administration, Broadcast Administration over radio and TV, etc. This of necessity requires organization. The exact pattern or STRUCTURE may vary according to conditions, needs, etc., but the PRINCIPLE of the organization MUST BE THAT OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT, from the TOP, God, then Christ, on down, as CHRIST has directed and chosen.”

“The very fact that God has endowed different members in His Church with additional spiritual gifts, added to their own natural talents and abilities, in itself shows emphatically that there is definite ORGANIZATION in His Church, and that the ORGANIZATION must flow from a chain of authority, according to the PRINCIPLE which GOD (our legislative branch), has set—that is, AUTHORITY FROM THE TOP DOWN. That is the PRINCIPLE. The OPERATIONS refers to functioning according to the practical application of the PRINCIPLE of government given us by GOD.

“The ADMINISTRATIONS in the Church refers to executive performance and managerial responsibilities, NOT to policy-making. In other words, adapting the method of functioning, according to the PRINCIPLE which GOD (the Policy Maker and Law Giver), not we, has laid down.”

“Now WHAT is this chapter (I Corinthians 12) showing? That the Church is ONE—and ONE ONLY—and has many members. That there are different Administrations and different operations (verses 5-6). That there are different spiritual GIFTS (but ONE SPIRIT—verses 4, 7-11). Christ is the Head of the Church, called ‘the Body of Christ,’ having many members for many functions. To show many functions, it is compared to the human body (verses 12-26). Then, we read of the respective offices in rank (verses 27-30).”

“So, as to RANK of offices of executive administration, and operational functions, ‘And GOD hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues (languages)’ (I Cor. 12:28).”

“Notice now! GOD says—the Holy WORD OF GOD says: ‘And GOD set some in the church, first, apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers…’ That’s what GOD says. But [a] leader of the theology of the dissenters from God’s Church says, ‘BUT I THINK it is far better to call these titles, rather than ranks.’ He THINKS his way around the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, and the AUTHORITY which CHRIST has delegated.”

“GOD SAYS, first, secondly, thirdly. But HE THINKS his way around GOD’S WORD! Brethren, GOD’S Church dares not handle the Word of God so carelessly, so deceptively.”

“In the world of the unconverted, those in authority do exercise lordship over those under them. Christ said it should NOT be so with us. But He did not in so saying abolish all authority or rulership. He PUT RULERSHIP in His Church. He DELEGATED authority. What He was teaching His future apostles, is that we in GOD’S GOVERNMENT should NOT bear rule IN THE SAME HARSH AND UNLOVING MANNER as the unconverted in the world.

“Let’s get this point CLEAR. It’s basic. Misunderstanding at this point has caused some to leave God’s Church, and perhaps even God’s salvation and gift of eternal life!

“Notice what Jesus taught… [in] Mark 10:42: ‘…ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them…but so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,…’ But no one can say Jesus had no authority.

“Years ago, seeing this, and not considering the many, MANY Scriptures charging some in the Church with authority, rulership, saying to ‘rebuke’ the unruly, etc., I took the above scriptures to mean there is no authority in the Church. I did not want to exercise authority. I was still NEW in God’s truth (this was over 40 years ago). So, in the early days of the parent Church of the Philadelphia era, at Eugene, Oregon, I allowed ‘wolves in sheeps’ clothing’ to come in and sow the seeds of discord among brethren. It resulted in splitting the church in two—possibly turning half my flock onto the way that leads into a lake of fire! God had His own way of REBUKING ME SOUNDLY, making me see this in its true light. Jesus here is talking about THE MANNER in which the authority Christ delegates is used. He is NOT saying there is NO AUTHORITY.”

“…in the same speech where Jesus taught against ‘lording it over’ those under one’s authority [Luke 22], He delegated to them authority of KINGSHIP, sitting on twelve thrones.

“I have had to correct some under me in God’s Work on this very point—the manner in which authority was used. Those of us in God’s Church are not YET perfect. We must OVERCOME and GROW in grace. But the remedy is not to take all authority which Christ has delegated OUT of the Church, but to learn to administer it IN THE MANNER Christ has taught.”

“The parallel instruction on the RANK of authority in the Church is Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 11: ‘And he (Christ) gave some,…’ The RSV translates it more clearly: ‘And His gifts were that some should be apostles,’ etc. Continue, ‘some prophets, and some evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for THE WORK of the ministry (proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world), for the edifying of the body of Christ…’”

Brethren Letter, May 2, 1974

One Organized True Church and Body of Christ—and Why!

“…the one and only true Church is not an organization of men, but a spiritual organism. Yet that fact does not preclude organization.”

“This spiritual organism is the ‘Body of Christ’ existing for the purpose of carrying on the Work of God.”

“If every individual in it goes out alone, independently, trying to carry out the divine Commission in whatever way he sees fit, we shall have confusion, a house divided against itself.”

“Christ has, indeed, organized His Church, so fitly joined together as a physical building put together with the precision of every part of the most expert craftsmen.”

“Just What Is the Church,” Reprint, 1970

“What about the ‘loner’ Christian who says, ‘I will serve Christ in my own way’? What about the one who leaves God’s Church to have his own private relation with Christ—to get his own salvation—without giving his part of the Church’s effort to send the true gospel into all the world?

“Or, what about the one who follows a man because of that man’s personality, charisma or attractiveness, or some other group?

“Stop and think!

“Is Christ going to marry a number of differing groups, not in complete harmony with each other—yet all ‘professing Christ’?

“Jesus said, ‘He that is not with me [and since He is the Head of God’s one and only Church, He plainly meant with Him where He is working—in God’s one Church] is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad’ (Matthew 12:30).

“Jesus Christ is going to marry the one and only true Church—not a number of scattered groups or scattered individuals.

“…The one who tries to get his salvation apart from the one Church Christ is going to marry is on the ‘get’ way. Those loyally in the Church are giving of their prayers, loyalty, encouragement and support…in giving the good news to the world—its only hope!”

“7 Proofs of God’s True Church,” PT, Sept. 1979

“The Word of God clearly teaches us that there is but the one Spirit, and the one Body. (I Cor. 12:12-13, 20).”

“That one body of Christ, carrying on his work, must function as a unit. It must work in harmony and unity, with teamwork, for God is not the author of confusion. There must be no pulling off in different directions by different men in that one Body. There must be no competition, or division. And any who knowingly promotes, or encourages anyone in promoting, such disharmony, competition, and division, becomes the enemy of God, and is serving the devil and not God!”

“In order that this oneness—this unity of purpose and action—this harmony and co-operative teamwork, be maintained and preserved in God’s work, God has ordained government in His Church. And He has empowered His Church with divine authority.”

“That government in God’s Church is government from God, thru Christ, thru apostles, thru evangelists, thru pastors, thru other elders, in that order!”

“Must God’s Ministers Be Ordained by the Hand of Man?”, GN, Oct. 1962

“Until about 1969 we in God’s Church did all ‘speak the same thing.’

“By 1978 many…ministers were speaking different things! God had withdrawn…His blessing and power that for 35 years caused the Work of His Church to grow at the approximate rate of 30 percent every year over the preceding year!”

“What caused God to withdraw His blessing and power?”

“Precisely the same thing that choked the growth of the Church of God at Corinth from a.d. 56, 25 years after the Church was founded at Jerusalem. They were following different leaders, speaking different things, watering down the sacred and precious truths of Christ!”

“Christ’s apostle wrote to the Corinthian church, in a.d. 56, ‘Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment’ (I Corinthians 1:10).”

“They were starting to follow different leaders teaching different doctrines. The Church was becoming divided! And a church divided against itself cannot stand!”

“It is only common sense to realize that if everyone teaches what he, personally, believes, or if we follow different leaders each speaking his own thing, we have only confusion!”

“But the self-minded among us, even…in the ministry, do not understand!”

“And Now Christ Sets Church Back on Track Doctrinally,” GN, Apr. 1979

“I want you, brethren, to think about and understand what happened to God’s Church in the 1970s lest history repeat itself! I want you to see the ‘fruits’ of rebelling against God’s way and God’s government.”

“After all, the basic issue all along was that of God’s government in the Church. One who followed one liberal who, as the apostle Paul predicted, sought to draw away followers after himself (Acts 20:30) said, ‘We are liberated from that church government and now have a loosely knit organization, and that’s the way we like it.’”

“The Church is ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord’ (Ephesians 2:20-21). Note, the Church is organized and fitly framed together, not organized with competing and differing branches.”

“Notice Ephesians 4, there is only one organized church ‘fitly joined together and compacted’ (verse 16)—compacted as if welded together into one well-organized body. And how did He organize this body? How was it governed? ‘And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith…(Ephesians 4:11-13). It is not DISunity or some other type of organization and government. Paul also said ‘that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment’ (I Corinthians 1:10).”

“To make clear one of the reasons—if not the primary reason—for the conflict caused by the liberal element, I quote from a Western newspaper. In an interview with a former minister, who had sought to draw away a following of members after himself, it was stated concerning this split-off church that they have ‘a completely different administrative structure.’

“Most…dissension of the past in the Church has been over…government. The dissenters believe in a very liberal government—the way of Satan and his world.”

“We who remain in the one and only true Church grieve over the loss of those who are so far failing in their final exams.”

“Recent History of the Philadelphia Era of the WCG,” WN, June 24, 1985

“God has ONLY ONE CHURCH on earth, which He directs in the doing of His Work—not TWO churches—not MANY denominations and sects, and ‘groups.’ ‘But now are they many members, YET BUT ONE BODY’(I Cor. 12:20—see also v. 12, 13). ‘For by one Spirit are we all (not part of us) baptized into ONE body.’” [Editor’s Note: Mr. Armstrong never equated this passage with any allowance whatever for multiple groups or organizations that Christ is directing within His body—as do so many now, and in the exact same way as his successor did, which is seen among his quotes in another section here.]

Brethren Letter, May 2, 1974

“Can one who does not know of the true organized Body doing God’s Work, and therefore is outside of it, be a member of the true Church which Christ built? The answer is yes—for it is possible for one to have truly repented, believed, and received God’s Spirit—and be following that Spirit as far as he sees and understands—who does not know of the organized Work Christ is using today. But surely God’s Spirit in him would lead one, in due time, into his part in the organized Body the living Christ is directing.”

“The answer is yes—I have known of a few. But in every case, either they came into the organized spiritual organism Christ is using in the real Work of God—or, when their eyes were opened to further light and truth, they rejected it and lost the Spirit of God. And this was amply demonstrated by the fruits.”

“Just What Is the Church?”, p. 4

“Incidentally, the TRUE Church that Christ established is not denominational!”

“If You Had Lived in the Time of Christ,” GN, Oct.-Nov. 1983

“Brethren, do we not find ourselves taking for granted that the churches in what is called ‘Christianity’ are also God’s churches—that we are just another of the many denominations, the only difference being that we hold to some different doctrines?”

“That is simply not true! We in God’s Church are not just one of all these churches.”

“I have mentioned how the early Church grew and multiplied in those God added to the Church. But soon the persecution came. Soon the false preachers came, with the different gospel—a different spirit. They came fomenting a spirit of criticism—of doubt! They came saying Jesus’ true apostles were preaching wrong doctrines.”

“Why Did God Put You in His Church?”, GN, May 1974

“In an effort to mislead and draw away God’s people and tithes, the misleading idea is now being circulated that this man (not Church) also preaches the Gospel. So, why not divide your tithe, sending half to the man and half to God’s church—or else send it alternately to each”

“1) The tithe is god’s tithe, not yours, and is to be sent to god’s church, where Christ, alive and well, is actively working, directing and blessing.

“2) God has only one Church, and that Church has a few hundred local congregations worldwide, all a part—and an integral working part—of the one spiritual organism, the Worldwide Church of God…Jesus Christ does not head, guide and work in any competing man or church. Christ is not divided! Christ’s Body is led on earth, under him, by His chosen apostle whom he appointed and used in building His Church in our time. God’s true church is performing the function of the Church—carrying Christ’s Gospel message to all the world.

“3) The man who wants half of God’s tithe does not speak the same thing.”

“No, brethren, he does not preach the same Gospel. He was attempting to water down God’s true doctrines and oppose its doctrines and its apostle and to become the self-appointed head of God’s Church.

“That’s why he was disfellowshipped from God’s Church. He was not speaking the same thing. god’s church cannot speak with an uncertain sound!

“4) This man is not a Church of God. A man can incorporate himself, under man’s law, using the name of a Church—and he came as close to the name “Worldwide Church of God” as possible, to deceive and mislead brethren into thinking he is the same church. Any “Tom, Dick or Harry” can incorporate himself, with the signatures of a couple other men as “directors” in the name of a church. but that does not make him a church!”

“…stating clearly which is God’s Church. It is:

“1) Where God’s truth is. Not with one disfellowshipped for trying to water down that truth.

“2) Where God’s true Work is going out to the whole world.

“3) Where Christ’s chosen apostle is.

“God’s tithe is to be paid to God’s Church, where christ is working. Jesus Christ does not work in two “churches,” one competing against and trying to draw members from the other. Christ is not divided!

“God does not have two churches—only the one Church that Jesus Christ founded in A.D. 31…”

“CHRIST IS THE LIVING HEAD OF ONLY ONE CHURCH—NOT TWO,” GN, Dec. 18, 1978

“There are many individual and separate ‘Groups’ differing in belief and organization, yet supposing they are a PART of the BODY OF CHRIST. Are they?” [Editor’s Note: This was the deck/promo to the following article.]

“Some have left God’s Church saying, ‘I have not left Christ—I’ve only left that organization. I worship Christ in my own way.’”

“Will these ‘loner’ individual ‘Christians,’ or these many little isolated ‘groups’ constitute part of the wife made ready?”

“The very eternal life and death question right now is: ‘Just what is the wife that has made herself ready? Is it one united, organized, compacted, Spiritual organism—all speaking the same thing—all joined to the one Vine and bearing fruit—all in the organized Church built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Jesus Christ the chief cornerstone, having grown into a building—a Holy temple, in the Lord, fitly framed together and compacted in that which every joint supplieth? or, will it be a conglomeration of disunited ‘groups’ and denominations and a number of isolated individual ‘christians,’ who have followed Christ in their own way?”

“And again, Jesus said, ‘He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad’ (Matthew 12:30).

“Again, ‘He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth’ (Luke 11:23). Those not with Christ, WHERE HE LEADS in his church, are scattering and against Him.

“But consider further:

“Body of Christ is United

“Jesus Christ is going to marry god’s church—called the body of christ. Now is that Body united, organized on a united and firm foundation, or an assortment of ‘loner’ individuals and various ‘groups’?

“The only purpose of the Church is to carry on the work which christ started! It is now the body in which the Holy Spirit is working. And God set in the Church, to organize it, apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers.

“The church is the body of christ. And Jesus pictured Himself as the vine, and we of His Church are the branches on that vine. Notice it—study it—in John 15. Jesus is not several separated vines—He is one vine! The members of the body of christ are the BRANCHES!—but not separated, isolated branches. all are joined to the one vine—the body of christ.

“Separated ‘Christians,’ or ‘groups’ are branches broken off from the vine—the body of christ!

“The Father is the Husbandman—the Vinedresser. Every branch of this grapevine (the Church) that does not bear fruit for the Kingdom, the Father prunes it—cuts it off—that the organized, united vine may bear more fruit.

“When there are some in the Church who cause division or sow the seeds of discord, God says, ‘…mark them…and avoid them’ (Romans 16:17; see also II Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15). The Church will bear more fruit when the dissidents, those who obey not the Work, those who cause division and discord, are pruned off!”

“Apostles Held Responsible

“But there was no ‘Doctrinal Committee’ nor group of other ministers or lay members who voted on doctrine and practice. Christ gave all that to His Church through his apostles!”

“Is God’s Church Composed of MANY SEPARATE ‘GROUPS’?”, GN, Dec. 18, 1978

How the Apostates Altered the True Church Doctrine—and Conditioned Most Brethren and Ministers to Accept It

“As you know, in my speaking and writing I have often commented that we cannot limit where and with whom God works when it comes to other Christian churches.”

“…the true Church of God is not limited to any corporate entity nor any human organization.”

“The true Church of God consists of converted people, all people who have the Holy Spirit. That is a point Mr. Armstrong frequently stressed. As he explained, it is not…the incorporated organization that constitutes the Church of God. It is the people in whom God dwells by his Spirit that makes up the Church, the Body of Christ.”

“Therefore, we should understand that we do not form all there is of the true Church of God.”

“God has called us to lead people to him, not to ourselves.”

“We preach the gospel so people will come to Christ, not so they will come to us.”

“God works where he pleases, and all converted people everywhere make up the true Church of God.”

“It is not correct to say that any particular church organization, including ours, is, of and by itself, the true Church.”

Joseph W. Tkach, Letter to Ministry, PGR, Apr. 26,1994

“There is no question that we are God’s true Church. The point I have made is that we are not all there is to God’s true Church. There is a monumental difference in those two statements.”

“There is only one Church of God, not many. That one Church is made up of every person who has the Holy Spirit, regardless of where they are, when they lived, or what organization they belong to.”

[Editor’s Note: Even Mr. Tkach saw the “monumental difference” between Mr. Armstrong’s teaching and his view. It was statements like this one, and the statement above, where so many learned what they now believe.]

Joseph W. Tkach, letter to WCG field minister, Spring 1994

“People who decide to leave the Church because they have not come to understand changes in the doctrine should not be treated as enemies.”

“If they choose to go someplace where they can be with people who believe as they do on their points of difference, that is up to them, and that does not make them our enemies.”

“Mr. Armstrong set the example in that way decades ago when he continued to have a friendly relationship with the Church of God (Seventh Day).

“There were instances when our members even attended congregations of that church when there was not one of our congregations available.”

“If their motivation is selfish, that is, if they are seeking status and recognition, regardless of where they decide to attend they will still have to deal with that selfishness before they can have a positive relationship with God—before their increased level of service will be meaningful.”

“Personal from Joseph W. Tkach,” WN, Nov. 17, 1992

Question: “That sounds very, very noble and everything, but [Herbert Armstrong] had a sense of divine call…I had the understanding that he understood the WCG…as a special organization in an exclusive way…”

Snyder: “Well, he certainly wrote along those lines. But I would say that the current position of the Church is that we are not an exclusive body by any means…”

Interview with Michael Snyder, WMUZ radio, Detroit, Michigan, Dec. 17, 1991

“Another thing that I’m being accused of, that I no longer believe this is the true Church of God. I believe it with all my heart. You are my witnesses. And I’ll add another factor in, too. We cannot limit where God chooses to work.”

Joseph W. Tkach, “A Point of Light,” sermon, June 12, 1993

“The Bible…does not support any believer’s attempts to become exclusive (Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14).”

Joseph Tkach Jr., “Church Administration,” PGR, Jan. 11, 1994

“I believe that Mr. Hulme stated in the letter you enclosed, that any person who has the Holy Spirit is a child of God and therefore part of the Body of Christ, including all converted persons in all denominations, and that the membership of the Worldwide Church of God does not comprise the entirety of the Body of Christ. On the other side of the coin, I believe there are people in the Worldwide Church of God, as well as in all other denominations, who are not, ‘born from above’ as evidenced by their obvious lack of commitment to Jesus Christ.”

D. Register, WCG Field Pastor (currently Director of Education of the largest splinter, including its college) Letter to P. Arnn of The Watchman’s Expositor, Nov. 12, 1993

“We believe that the Church (the spiritual Body of Christ) includes all persons who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, regardless of what denomination they may fellowship with currently.”

“Faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes a person a Christian, not the denomination he fellowships with. We have always acknowledged that there are truly converted Christians who do not recognize the Sabbath.”

David G. Hunsberger, WCG PCD, Mar. 1, 1994

“God has commissioned us to lead people to Jesus Christ, not to ourselves.”

Joseph W. Tkach, PGR, Jan. 11, 1994

“The point is, God is bringing his people to Jesus Christ, not to any particular human organization. The criterion for salvation is faith in Jesus Christ, not membership in a particular denomination.”

“What makes any church a valid church? Faith in Jesus Christ. God does not give us special favor for being different or for being unique. He saved us, just like everybody else, by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Joseph W. Tkach, Letter to Member, Feb. 9, 1994

“It is obvious, from the fruits, that some Sunday-keeping Christians have the Holy Spirit.”

Joseph W. Tkach, letter to WCG field minister, Apr. 12, 1994

How Mr. Armstrong Saw Laodicea

“This group of liberals…[wanted] unity in watered-down doctrines that older loyal ministers did not and never would accept! THAT WAS NOT UNITY—IT WAS DIVISION!

“That is the WAY of the LIBERAL—who wants to water down the truth of God and go as far into this world—which means as far in Satan’s way—as possible and still get into God’s Kingdom.”

“What Is a Liberal?”, GN, March 1979

“The parables show that the convert who does not grow in Spirit and character development will lose out. He represents one who ‘received Christ’ and considered that he was already ‘born again’ but did not think he needed to overcome, grow spiritually, or develop spiritual character. He thought he was ‘already saved.’ He said he didn’t believe in salvation by ‘works.’ What he didn’t realize is that while salvation is a free gift, we are rewarded according to our works (Matt. 16:27). But by doing nothing, he lost not only the reward, but he lost out on the free gift of eternal life.

“Christ’s answer to such, when He returns with the Kingdom of God, is, ‘Thou wicked and slothful servant’…He failed utterly in God’s real purpose—reproducing in us the holy, righteous character that we may receive from God.

“Many have been deceived into a false ‘salvation.’”

The Incredible Human Potential (1978), p. 85

“It is now clearly evident that God brought me back for a vital purpose by CPR from death by heart failure. Had I remained dead, the Church of God would have been virtually destroyed by the liberal element that had crept in…I want you, brethren, to think about and understand what happened to God’s Church in the 70’s lest history repeat itself! I want you to see the ‘fruits’ of rebelling against God’s way and God’s government.”

“Recent History of the Philadelphian Era,” WN, June 24, 1985

“Now back to Revelation 12:17: Satan shall be full of wrath against the remnant—the last remaining generation of the Church—the ‘Laodicean’ Church, and will terribly persecute her. But Matthew 25 shows that though that final generation of the Church shall be lukewarm—not less emotional, but more ‘liberal,’ more secular and less spiritual—less strictly biblical—yet half of them shall be saved at Christ’s coming, though half shall be spewed out of Christ’s mouth (Revelation 3:16).”

“Personal,” PT, Aug. 1980

“We are getting frighteningly close to the end of this age.”

“This Church was drifting into a Laodicean condition.”

“The Laodicean church will be characterized by spiritual lukewarmness—half of its membership (Matt. 25:1-13) will be shut out of the Kingdom of God.”

“But, the bad news, as it appears today, my dear brethren, is that we, undoubtedly of the Philadelphia era—my son’s ridicule notwithstanding—are in serious danger of becoming also the Laodicean era. I am personally much concerned about that. If you are not concerned, then indeed we are in mortal DANGER.”

“What God Never Did—Never Will—Allow…,” GN, Aug. 1979

“The…Court…has now removed the Receiver, but the lawsuit is not over.”

“We need to ask seriously, WHY is God allowing [this trial]? I can answer that. Our people of this ‘Philadelphia’ era were becoming lukewarm, drifting little by little into the ways of this world. Even some ministers were ‘watering down’ the truths and doctrines a loving Christ had put in His Church.”

“We need a real EXPLOSION to wake us up!”

Brethren Letter, Feb. 24, 1979

“…when my son…came to take over more authority than had been delegated to him, surrounding himself with a group of liberals, who led him, and misled him into watering down God’s doctrines—under their false influence a Laodicean lukewarmness and indifference, losing the love of God’s truth, found root in the Church.”

“Christ Sets Church on Track,” GN, Apr. 1979

“The Church was being turned upside down. It seemed to be a matter of going as far as possible in the ways and beliefs of this world’s ‘Christianity’ as influenced by Satan—which amounts to going as far as possible into Satan’s ways and away from God’s ways!”

“The harm that was done as a result of this attitude to God’s Church is INCALCULABLE! It harmed, in a way I think my son did not realize, thousands of members of the Church of the living God. It led to lukewarmness, a more careless attitude toward real or strict obedience to the ways of God.”

“Reports About Garner Ted False,” WN, Mar. 6, 1981

“Instead of wholeheartedly OBEYING Christ through HIS WORD, THE BIBLE, there was creeping in, during years when I was in other parts of the world up to 300 out of the 365 days in the year, a LIBERAL spirit of SATAN.”

“Those leaders to whom I had delegated the responsibility of ADMINISTERING the POLICIES and DOCTRINES Christ had set in God’s Church through His apostle, went way BEYOND the authority given them. They started CHANGING POLICIES and watering down God’s TRUTH, changing DOCTRINES, compromising—seeing HOW CLOSE they could go—and lead the Brethren in going—to the ways of SATAN! They wanted to be more LIBERAL—more like THIS WORLD OF SATAN.”

“…there still remains among a FEW of us a tendency to LET DOWN—to lose our zeal—and even to become LUKEWARM.”

Brethren Letter, Sept. 15, 1980

“While we are in this place of safety three and a half years, the two witnesses shall be preaching to the whole world, protected from Satan. But Satan in his mad wrath will then make war with the REMNANT Church. This has to be the Laodicean era of the Church (Revelation 12:17).”

“Finally, what of the Laodicean era of God’s Church? Remember, it, too, is GOD’S Church—having the commandments of God and Testimony or Word of Jesus (Rev. 12:17).”

“But that era of the Church is pictured in Matthew 25. Matthew 24 shows the sign Jesus gave prior to His coming to end the present world order, and the Great Tribulation, Day of the Lord and Second Coming.”

“Matthew 25 shows the time just before Christ shall return. It pictures the Laodicean Church as 10 virgins who took their lamps (their Bibles) and went forth to meet Christ at His coming. But five of them—half of the Church—took their lamps (Bibles) but without oil to light the lamps (having the Holy Spirit to enlighten their minds to UNDERSTAND the Bible). Some translations render this into English indicating they were losing the Holy Spirit, because of negligence, lack of prayer, fellowship with the brethren and with God and Christ and being overcome with materialistic and worldly interest. Are some of us like that, even now?”

“While they—the backsliding half of the Church—were trying to get back closer to God, the coming of Christ shall take place, and the door into God’s Kingdom will be SHUT in their faces! WHAT A TERRIBLE AND AWFUL TRAGEDY! It could happen to you or me.”

Co-worker Letter, Jan. 20, 1981

“Of the ‘Philadelphia’ Church, Christ says, ‘I know that you have but little power.’ It is probably the weakest in numerical and physical strength and power—the smallest in membership, of any of the Churches from the time of the Apostles until the Second Coming. It has but few ministers.”

“But some of those in the Church today will grow weary with well-doing. They will brag about being the true Church—thinking they are spiritually rich, when they are, in fact, almost spiritually destitute. Because they are indifferent to the real work of God, lukewarm, lacking in zeal, Christ will spew them out of His mouth. They cannot be used in His work. They shall lose the very salvation they boast of having unless they repent! God help you to never drift into the Laodicean church!”

“Must God’s Ministers Be Ordained By the Hand of Man?”, GN, Oct. 1962

“Jesus Christ, the Head of God’s Church, has been moving swiftly to RE-AWAKEN and set His Church back on the track, during the past five months.”

“We are shaking off the Laodicean lukewarmness that was beginning to drug us to sleep.”

“We’re OFF TO AN INSPIRED, AROUSED NEW START! Let’s now INCREASE our dedication and deep devotion. GOD’S WORK is FAR FROM FINISHED!”

Brethren Letter, Oct. 23, 1978

“‘A house divided CANNOT STAND,’ says Jesus. My son has made God’s Church DIVIDED! Up until ten years ago, WE WERE NOT DIVIDED!”

“Again God says to us, ‘Except GOD build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’ GOD through the living JESUS CHRIST built God’s Church of OUR time, as surely as the time of the first original Apostles. The Work GREW AND GREW with God’s blessing for the thirty-five years up to 1969—SINCE THEN GOD’S BLESSING HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN. We had been tending to forget GOD, letting Laodicean lukewarmness leaven us. CHRIST SAYS NOW, AWAKE! Rise up from this stupor that has drugged us! RALLY BEHIND CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLE! LET’S GET ON WITH GETTING THE JOB DONE.”

Brethren Letter, June 28, 1978

“When we face a serious or alarming situation, there is…a tendency toward LETTING DOWN IN PRAYER—in BIBLE STUDY, and consequently in that zeal and willingness to sacrifice for GOD’S WORK.”

“Do you suppose Satan does not know all this? He knows! He will do all in his power to get you discouraged to get you to find some fault—to let down in prayer and Bible study—to lose your inspired zeal for God’s Work!”

“I KNOW that most of us have not, yet, come back to that full WHOLEHEARTED energetic ZEAL for GETTING ON WITH THIS WORK that we MUST have to finish it!”

“Looking at present FACTS, and TRENDS, that might seem impossible! But this is THE WORK OF GOD—A WORK OF FAITH—and existing facts, trends, circumstances, HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH FAITH. The living Christ has resources, and ways WE KNOW NOTHING OF!”

“And whereas, it is incumbent on us…to CONFESS and deplore…our SINS in allowing worldly interests and pleasures to start drawing us away from our God, and our zeal for HIS WORK, I call on all Brethren to CONFESS this lukewarmness…and to PRAY, with all FERVENCY and CONTRITION, for God’s pardon for these offenses, and for a permanent BLESSING on HIS WORK henceforth, continuously to its final completion.”

“Brethren, many if not most of us have let other interests creep into our minds and hearts till we do not have ANYWHERE NEAR the ZEAL for the GREATEST WORK ON EARTH, that the football players have for a football game.”

“WHY can football players get themselves ‘UP’ in almost fanatical ZEAL, motivated by HATE, when we are indifferent, ‘DOWN,’ and lukewarm about the MOST IMPORTANT AND GLORIOUS CALLING OF ALL TIME?”

“…Christ is doing his part—opening new doors. Only one thing has been wrong!—and we must face it!—too many of us have been growing lukewarm…”

“We may think, because we keep [God’s] Sabbath, that we have no wicked ways or sins to turn from. But laxity…can be sin.”

Brethren Letter, Nov. 2, 1972

“Brethren, do we think we are so superior to those of the first, second and third centuries that Satan could not have tried to pervert God’s TRUTH today?

“God has restored original TRUTH! HOW PRECIOUS IS IT TO YOU?—or do you trample it underfoot as swine would trample into the mud the most precious diamonds, rubies and precious stones, and go for the slop?

“Yes, Satan has tried to WATER DOWN true doctrine—to turn God’s Church to false truths. Apparently it is unhappily true that some willingly fall by the wayside and shall not…enter…the KINGDOM OF GOD!”

“How Satan Injects False Doctrines,” GN, Aug. 1979

“…Jesus Christ…has been moving dynamically to set God’s Church and Work back on track…My son demoted the men highest and oldest in service—such as Dr. Roderick C. Meredith…Mr. Raymond McNair… Dibar Apartian…He demoted and removed to minor positions the top-ranking ministers, senior in years of service—THOSE MEN HE KNEW WOULD BE LOYAL TO THE CHURCH UNDER GOD’S APOSTLE…We had been tending to forget God, letting Laodicean lukewarmness leaven us.”

Co-worker Letter, June 28, 1978

“Laodicean is the dominant Church attitude at the end…At the end, the Laodicean condition of luke-warmness dominates in the churches.”

Radio broadcast, Early 1960s

Doctrinal Compromise

“The thing is, whoever is the Apostle, whoever is guiding and putting the truth into the Church must be honest with the Word of God! Now, if you ever find me dishonest with the Word of God you reject me as God’s Apostle.”

Bible Study on II Cor. 2 given in Tucson, Arizona, Dec. 6, 1980

“[Of] all the religions and all the more than 250 denominations and sects in ‘Christianity,’ NOT ONE, except the Worldwide Church of God, knows WHO and WHAT God is…what, and why, MAN IS…the TRUTH about the nation Israel…the TRUE GOSPEL Christ proclaimed…what happens in the hereafter…what salvation really is!

“Doesn’t it, then, become abundantly apparent that we must all know precisely what God has prepared for those who love Him—and that we speak these amazing TRUTHS as they are—all speaking the same thing?

“This is SO IMPORTANT to GOD that He had the apostle John, in the 90s, A.D., write…‘If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine…receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed’ (II Jn. 10).”

Personal, GN, April 1979

“It is the duty of Christ’s true ministers (and how scarce today), to protect the begotten but yet unborn saints from false doctrines, from false ministers.”

MYSTERY OF THE AGES (1985), p. 262

“Are some of us trying to be more kind, merciful and considerate even than GOD? Are we actually disobeying God in our soft, fence-straddling approach toward certain others?”

“‘Now we COMMAND YOU, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly,’ and, ‘if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him…’ (II Thessalonians 3:6, 14).

“God is far more strict in all such matters within the Church than we have sometimes been inclined to be.”

“Can We Fellowship (with) the Disfellowshipped?”, WN, 1980

“In Romans 16:17 it speaks of marking ‘them which cause DIVISIONS and OFFENCES CONTRARY TO THE DOCTRINE WHICH YE HAVE LEARNED [AND AVOIDING THEM].’

“II Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15…is a COMMAND. And if we try to be MORE KIND—MORE RIGHTEOUS—than God and DISOBEY THAT COMMAND, we convict ourselves of disobedience to God’s COMMAND!”

“Which Family Comes First?”, GN, April 1980

“But it is still true that two can’t walk together except they be agreed. I am agreed with God and with Christ the Head of the Church. I shall never water down the TRUTH He has revealed to me, nor in any manner compromise with it. We are ALL OF US going to have to AGREE with God and with Christ HIS Son, if we are to walk together with them, into God’s Kingdom.”

“Reports About Garner Ted False,” WN, Mar. 6, 1981

“Forty-three years ago, the living Christ committed to me His great commission.”

“But during these 43 years, I have frequently been pressured to compromise—‘just a little’—with God’s truth.”

“He entrusted me with this precious truth.”

“But honestly, now, what do you think?”

“Wouldn’t it be all right to compromise, ‘just a little,’ on some ‘unimportant minor point’? Especially on some ostensibly unimportant point where we appear ‘crazy’ to the world.”

“Nevertheless, if we begin to compromise with God’s truth, even in smallest, slightest manner, we have allowed Satan to get a foot into the door of the Church, and soon he will push open the door (he is stronger than we) and take over the whole Church.”

“A little leaven leavens the whole lump!…I have been charged with the commission of keeping God’s word. Keeping it inviolate—no compromise! I have never compromised with God’s truth—regardless of the cost or the circumstances. I never shall!”

“Just as Israel is little in population and financial means among the nations, so God’s Church is little in numbers and popularity among churches or religious organizations. But israel stands strong and alone among this world’s nations in determination to not yield one inch to the outrageous methods and demands of terrorists!”

“Satan is the chief of terrorists. He hates God’s holy, sacred Word.”

“I will change whenever proved wrong. I will accept new truth as often as proved to be new truth to me or to the Church. But I will not compromise with the truth! I never have!”

“I won’t compromise—not even ‘just a little.’”

“Personal,” GN, Dec. 1976

“Why are the different branches of ‘Christianity’ talking about union? WHY is it possible for them to make overtures toward compromise?”

“And anyway, is it not right that they should all get together? Why should Christianity be divided?”

“The Vatican Second Ecumenical Council is making many overtures toward both Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox church. They are even taking a conciliatory attitude toward Jews. Recently Pope Paul VI assured the non-Catholic Christian world of his purpose to clear away every obstacle blocking ‘Christian unity.’”

“The big question is WHY is such compromise possible?”

“Can you imagine Jesus Christ beginning to compromise and get together with the Pharisees?”

“Did all the hundreds of differing and disagreeing sects and denominations calling themselves ‘Christian’ receive their varying faiths from the same source? Quite obviously not!”

“Now we ought to begin to see the answer to the question, how can these differing religious groups compromise and get together? Their beliefs, their customs, are the inventions of humans. In actual fact, they did not receive their beliefs from the true and living God—or from His Word, the Bible. Their religions are of human origin. Therefore humans feel at liberty to alter or change their own beliefs and ways.”

“We ought to understand, therefore, how those who, like the Roman Catholic Church, reject the Bible as the supreme authority—setting themselves, as a church, ahead of it as supreme authority…we ought now to understand how they can compromise and get together.”

“Since [the one and only true Church] is ruled and guided by the living God, whose written Word means what it says, it cannot and will not compromise or unite with the churches of this world.”

“Personal,” PT, Dec. 1964

Government and God’s Work—and How His Church Will Drive On to Finish It

“This is most URGENT and IMPORTANT.”

“I have said before that Satan was attacking the Work of the living GOD, and that he would attack again. Now suddenly he is pulling out ALL STOPS in an effort to DESTROY God’s Work.”

“Satan HATES God’s Church. He hates and seeks every way to DESTROY God’s great WORK—proclaiming the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD in all the world as a witness to all nations.

“Brethren, GOD’S WORK is the REASON for the very GROWTH OF, and EXISTENCE of God’s Church!”

“It seems incredible—unbelievable!!—but some of these ministers have allowed themselves to be blinded to the ONE BIG MISSION of God’s Church—to the TRUTH—to the FACTS, and to start denouncing in scathing and bitter tones, the very WORK, and chosen Ministers, of God.”

“They began by ‘questioning’ this, that, and the other doctrine, finally exposing their REAL intent and purpose, questioning the doctrine of TITHING, and saying the tithes ought not to go for the GOSPEL WORK from Headquarters, but the tithes should stay in the local churches where, of course, it could go into their own pockets.”

“Brethren, this letter is going to have to be long. I want you to have ALL the facts—because the very life of GOD’S WORK is now being attacked with diabolical intent to DESTROY THE WORK!”

“It is of VITAL importance that you read my letter on WHY God put you in His Church NOW, instead of later when He will offer salvation to the whole world.”

“The REAL ISSUE is whether the COMMISSION the living Christ has been carrying out through me and HIS CHURCH, of which HE is the living Head, should be carried on—or whether it should be abandoned, and your local churches become autonomous—self-governed by the local ministers, independent of any Headquarters where GOD’S WORK is directed and carried on. This means the local churches would be precisely like the Baptist churches in organizational structure and government. That concept is TOTALLY UNSCRIPTURAL. God’s Church is now established GOD’S WAY—the BIBLE WAY, under the biblical pattern, which Jesus Christ the living Head, under God the Father, and next under Christ those on earth He Himself has called and chosen, and through whom He raised up this Church, and USED IT TO CARRY ON HIS WORK FOR THIS ENDTIME as covered in the prophecy for OUR TIME in Matthew 24:14. GOD’S Church is organized the BIBLE WAY as directed in the Bible—through those HE has chosen and set in the various offices to get HIS WORK done.”

“Those now advocating this Scriptural HERESY want to abolish all authority which Christ as our Head SET in His Church. Their contentions would lead to VOTING—the ‘democratic way’—the very OPPOSITE of God’s Way. They want to be ‘LIBERAL,’ and soon this liberality would lead into general and widespread SIN. They would become just a few more churches OF THIS WORLD—Satan’s world.”

“Yes, SATAN is the real author of this rebellion against God’s WORK.”

“Some ministers [are] getting confused between this world’s politics in the American ‘democratic’ system, and THE WAYS OF GOD….”

“These dissenting ministers want to desert God’s authority and ASSUME IT THEMSELVES. In other words they want ‘DEMOCRACY’, VOTING which is TOTALLY un-scriptural. They want to be part of THIS world—Satan’s world. They want to be autonomous in government—INDEPENDENT of God’s HEADQUARTERS.”

“This would DESTROY THE GREAT WORK OF GOD! This would put an END to the GREAT COMMISSION for our time—PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM IN ALL THE WORLD FOR A WITNESS UNTO ALL NATIONS, as we are now doing.”

“Why, dear Brethren, THAT is the VERY REASON for the Church.”

“Suppose we have local churches, all INDEPENDENT. We just ABOLISH THE WORK! Each local church, in time, could build its own local church building—BUT THE GOSPEL WOULD STOP GOING TO THE WORLD!”

“The TITHES, of course, would not come to Headquarters to be used in the WORK! Where would they GO? To each local minister? What will the minister do with the money?”

“What they REALLY advocate and will try to draw some of YOU into, is simply THIS: DESTROY THE WORK OF GOD! Let the flock spend ALL its tithes on themselves, or, let the local minister spend it all on HIMSELF, any way HE wishes to allocate it!”

“SURELY, dear Brethren, God’s dear sheep are not stupid enough to be ‘taken in’ by disloyal, greedy, SELF-serving, rebellious local ministers who are rebelling against GOD…”

“Brethren, I ask you to FOLLOW THE LORD JESUS CHRIST—follow HIS CHURCH, not some split-off by rebellious, bitter, greedy MEN!”

“This thing is of SATAN, and that’s where I really place the guilt, rather than on these deceived men now allowing Satan to turn them the wrong way. Let’s PRAY for them, that their eyes may be opened.”

Brethren Letter, Feb. 25, 1974

“Too many of us have been getting our eyes OFF the main GOAL—OF God’s PURPOSE for us in our time, NOW. In order to DESTROY GOD’S WORK—to get our eyes off it—false ‘ISSUES’ have been raised—QUESTIONS designed to cause DOUBTS in your minds, to destroy FAITH—have been raised. Subtle, clever, deceptive methods have been used to detract us from and cause us to neglect God’s REAL PURPOSE for us today! We must immediately get back to THAT PURPOSE!”

“Jesus came as a Messenger bringing from God the most important Message ever announced to mankind. This Message was NEWS—the GOOD NEWS that the KINGDOM OF GOD would be restored to the earth, and already, even then, was AT HAND for those who would accept it and its KING, Jesus.”

“And since the CHURCH OF GOD is to BECOME the KINGDOM OF GOD, it is now, 1) a spiritual organism, in which each begotten child of God has a personal contact, through Christ, in prayer and in fellowship, with the Father of the Family of which each of us is a begotten child. And in order to carry out the Divine Great Commission, 2) an ORGANIZATION, organized with the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, to carry on what we customarily refer to as the WORK OF GOD.”

“So in the Church, God has set differences of ADMINISTRATIONS. For example, we have today the Division of Church Administration (CAD), or, Executive Administration over minister and churches. There is the Educational Administration, or Executive direction over the Colleges and Imperial Schools. There is Publishing Administration, Broadcast Administration over radio and TV, etc. This of necessity requires organization. The exact pattern or STRUCTURE may vary according to conditions, needs, etc., but the PRINCIPLE of the organization MUST BE THAT OF GOD’S GOVERNMENT, for the TOP, God, then Christ, on down, as CHRIST has directed and chosen.”

“The parallel instruction on the RANK of authority in the Church is in Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 11: ‘And he (Christ) gave some,…’ The RSV translates it more clearly: ‘And His gifts were that some should be apostles,’ etc. Continue, ‘some prophets, and some evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for THE WORK of the ministry (proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world), for the edifying of the body of Christ…’”

“Therefore the CHURCH is both the spiritual organism composed of the begotten (not yet born) children of God, and the organization or organized government of God on earth carrying on the WORK OF GOD—the Great Commission: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel,’—‘Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations;’—‘And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations,’ just before THE END of this age.”

“Without organization, the Church could never fulfill its Great Commission—its VERY PURPOSE FOR BEING, at the present time.”

“The Commission is: ‘Go ye INTO ALL THE WORLD’—‘Go ye, and teach ALL NATIONS;’—‘for a witness unto ALL NATIONS.’ No other body, church, or group is doing that! As to whether you can RUN AWAY from your part in that Commission, having been a part of it, and still hear Christ say to you, when He comes: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant,’ YOU answer. I shall not be your judge—you shall answer to the living CHRIST. I do know that I would be AFRAID to run from what God has called me to do, and then expect Him to bless me for it! And I will say, that the living Christ DOES NOT set up additional churches, on disloyalty, rebellion, false accusation, and character assassination.”

“WHY has God called you and me NOW, while we still have to fight and resist the cunning of Satan, AHEAD OF TIME—instead of WHEN CHRIST SHALL HAVE COME, AND PUT SATAN AWAY, AND SET HIS HAND TO CALL EVERY LIVING PERSON? The answer is, TO GET THIS JOB DONE!”

“So I ask you, dear Brethren—and my children in the Lord—to remain LOYAL TO CHRIST IN HIS WORK…”

Brethren Letter, May 2, 1974

“Ambassador College is not ‘the WORK.’ It is an instrumentality USED in ‘the Work’ to train personnel for positions in ‘the WORK.’”

“And God has given us ‘the WORK’ to do as the VERY MEANS BY WHICH we may grow spiritually, so we may enter His Kingdom at Christ’s coming. In 47 years I have observed that ONLY those whose hearts are fully IN THE WORK continue to overcome and grow SPIRITUALLY, and ENDURE.”

Brethren Letter, Nov. 18, 1974

“The purpose when founding Ambassador College was not to be in the ‘college business’ but to help me fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION. Always the work of the GREAT COMMISSION must remain foremost!”

“I repeat, ‘WE ARE NOT IN THE COLLEGE BUSINESS!’ The only reason for the continued existence of Ambassador College is to support and contribute to the work of THE GREAT COMMISSION. If it ever loses sight of this fact God will let it fail.”

Brethren Letter, April 17, 1978

“It’s hard to realize how this Work—in which you and I are privileged to be Coworkers—has grown to such worldwide POWER and SCOPE! It is exerting tremendous IMPACT on more than 150 MILLION PEOPLE around the world.”

“…and I want you to REALIZE THIS SOBERLY—once that unseen Hand from Someplace…had miraculously OPENED THESE DOORS, if I had not walked through them in faith, ANOTHER WOULD HAVE BEEN RAISED UP WHO WOULD WALK THROUGH THEM—AND WE—this ENTIRE CHURCH, including YOU and ME—would have been REJECTED BY THE LIVING CHRIST WHO IS THE HEAD OF THIS CHURCH!”

“…if I don’t walk through these doors, God will reject me and send someone who is willing to go!”

“Brethren, read this carefully: The ‘WORK’ is NOT the fellowship of your own local church—it is NOT a local SOCIAL CLUB—it is GETTING GOD’S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD—to those in India, the Philippines, in Africa, in South America!

“The PURPOSE of your local church is ITS PART in the WORK—WORLDWIDE. That’s the only reason YOU have been called now, instead of later. If The PLAIN TRUTH has to die, the WORK will die—and IF it does, it will be only because you members have already died SPIRITUALLY! You ALL—you in the Church as a whole—NEED A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING! Some of you have been criticizing instead of helping and PRAYING.”

“I know there is too much tendency to get your whole interest in your local church. But your local church IS NOT THE WORK!”

“God’s CHURCH for this age is called Christ’s ‘BODY.’ Why? As Jesus said He, Himself, divine though He was as well as human, could do NOTHING of Himself. It was the dynamic POWER of God’s HOLY SPIRIT in Him. He came, among other things, to START the Work of God—the WORK FOR THIS AGE. When He went to heaven, the SAME HOLY SPIRIT entered into the COLLECTIVE BODY of His disciples. That begat them as God’s children. Now, with the SAME POWER working in them THEY—THE CHURCH—BECAME THE COLLECTIVE BODY TO CARRY ON THAT WORK, directed by the living CHRIST from Heaven!”

“THAT is the real PURPOSE of the CHURCH, NOW! We are commissioned to get God’s Message to the world. THAT is WHY God called YOU, now, instead of later…”

Brethren Letter, April 12, 1971

“I am now in my 94th year. God may grant that I continue in this very limited manner to direct the work for some time, but the occasional heart pains that I have endured have made me feel the necessity of letting our coworkers know of the condition as it is.

“Remember, this is the work of the living Creator God.

“I thank God that He has organized this present work of his so thoroughly that regardless of the outcome of my present illness, the work will continue right on to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ…Christ is the Living Head of this work, and He will continue guiding those He has chosen right up to his Second Coming, which grows daily nearer at hand.”

Brethren Letter, Dec. 23, 1985

“This is my first letter to you in 1986, and could very well be my last. It may be that the Work God has given me to do is complete, but not the Work of God’s Church, which will be faithfully doing God’s Work till Christ, the True Head of this Church, returns.

“Remember, brethren, this is not the work of Herbert W. Armstrong…or any man. It is the Work of the Living Creator, God…The greatest work lies yet ahead.”

Last Co-worker Letter, Jan. 10, 1986

“Brethren, if we are to continue to grow—and to grow spiritually as well as in numbers—we must remember that the purpose of the Church is, first, to go into all the world and preach Christ’s gospel. The first commission to the Church is just that. Anyone who looks on that Great commission of Christ as ‘Armstrong’s private work’ is just not a member of god’s Church. Anyone who does not have his whole heart in that work is not a member of god’s true church, and has no right whatsoever to attend or fellowship in any of its local congregations.”

“Why Local Assemblies?”, GN, March 1954

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message that Christ proclaimed. That message was the Good News or the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. That is the message He preached, the restoration of the Government of God by the coming Kingdom of God.

“The apostolic Church from A.D. 31 proclaimed it.

“Today we carry on God’s Work in a world multiplied vastly larger in population, a mechanized, mechanical, complex world with instrumentalities to work with that were never dreamed of in the first century.

“If anything happened to me I would expect the Church to continue right on and the local churches and the local church ministry.”

“Congress of Leading Ministers,” WN, March 6, 1981

“We CANNOT AFFORD TO BECOME LUKEWARM! We cannot afford to let our minds drift from the intense NEED for this very special mission of this particular time in world history, so shortly before Christ’s coming and HIS KINGDOM!

“Now about the Work itself.

“Few understand just what IS the Church. There are so many churches in the world. People just take churches for granted. But more than 1,953 years ago, Jesus Christ said, ‘I will build My Church.’ Few know WHY He built it—for what PURPOSE. The purpose, primarily, was dual:

1) to proclaim to the world the Gospel Message God sent to mankind by Jesus as God’s Messenger (Mal 3:1) of the coming Kingdom of God,

2) to call and prepare a chosen people…

“I have NEVER SAID I expect to live until Christ comes.”

Co-worker Letter, March 19, 1981

“Brethren, this world is being destroyed for lack of knowledge of and from GOD, as we read in Hosea 4:6. Through my personal visits, and the PLAIN TRUTH magazine, on TV and radio and through other literature, we are proclaiming that knowledge in POWER and AUTHORITY. Some listen. It is God’s last witness against those who do not. BUT WE MUST DRIVE RIGHT ON UNTIL CHRIST COMES!”

Co-worker Letter, Nov. 18, 1984

“I ask you, brethren, in Jesus’ name, to put whatever you are able into God’s Work in this crisis hour before the…Tribulation that will cut off our work just prior to the soon-coming of Christ and the World Tomorrow.”

Co-worker Letter, Nov. 25, 1985

“Our labors in GOD’S WORK will be ended soon after the resurrection of the impending United States of Europe!”

Co-worker Letter, Aug. 14, 1978

“Brethren, time is running out on us. When this great European power emerges, our great Work will be just about over. The day shall have arrived when ‘no man can work,’ as Jesus said (John 9:4).

“NOTHING ELSE MATTERS NOW. We must sacrifice and devote our all that is reasonably possible to GOD’S WORK in these closing days.”

Co-worker Letter, July 16, 1982

“…brethren and co-workers, the prophesied Great Tribulation (nuclear World War III) will start soon after the European unification. That means OUR WORK OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE FINISHED! We have not now much more time. Soon shall come a FAMINE of hearing the Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11).

“God says, work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work—in the Work of God!

“Nothing else is important in our lives, now, but this all-important Work of God.”

Co-worker Letter, Nov. 22, 1982

“We draw daily nearer to the end of this age. Time is growing shorter daily. The Bible warns us the time is just ahead when NO MAN CAN WORK—in the Lord’s Work. We must sacrifice now as never before for this Work that we may FINISH the Work that Christ has called us to do.”

Co-worker Letter, Oct. 23, 1980

“Unless we fulfill God’s special purpose for our calling now, we might never go into His Kingdom. This fact must not be taken carelessly!

“How many of us become unmindful of God’s purpose and assume we were called and put into God’s Church only to get our personal salvation and to enjoy the fellowship and social life of our local church?

“Brethren, do we not find ourselves taking for granted that the churches in what is called ‘Christianity’ are also God’s churches—that we are just another of the many denominations, the only difference being that we hold to some different doctrines?

“That is simply not true! We in God’s Church are not just one of all these churches. They are of this world. They do not have, or know, or proclaim, Christ’s gospel—the message God sent to the world by Christ, as the Messenger.

“When [Christ] returns [Luke 19:11-24], He will demand of each of us to show how we have used the gift of His Holy Spirit—how much we have contributed to His Work—the purpose for which He put us in His Church now!…Those who prove disloyal or drop out of the Work—the only purpose for which you were called now—will find themselves in the position of the one described in verses 20 and 24. They will lose the very salvation they were trying to get!

“You are each admonished to ‘make your calling and election SURE’!”

“Why Did God Put You In His Church?”, GN, May 1974

“The Work of God was originally started by ONE man—Jesus Christ. But on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 31, the same Holy Spirit that had carried on God’s Work through his individual body entered into and empowered his apostles, and the entire COLLECTIVE BODY, which on and from that day constituted God’s Church.

“But, after proclaiming that gospel MESSAGE to the world of that day—after the Church had grown and multiplied in number and power, the headquarters Church at Jerusalem fled in the face of advancing Roman armies shortly before A.D. 70, became scattered, and under persecution—and because of discouragement because Christ had not yet returned in power and glory—the Church WENT TO SLEEP ON THE JOB of proclaiming Christ’s true gospel message!

“We are in a spiritual WAR—on the firing line with CHRIST as our general—firing spiritual bombs of GOD’S TRUTH—the message of Christ’s own GOSPEL—to make this whole world CONSCIOUS of the GOOD NEWS of Christ’s soon coming and his KINGDOM, to rule the happy, peaceful WORLD TOMORROW! There can be no letting down—no slacking—no quitting in this war!

“What would happen in a war if an army, by a sudden burst of effort, surged forward to win a single battle, then laid down their arms and decided to take it easy or go on furlough? They would then LOSE THE WAR! Christ said it is only he who endures to the end who shall be saved! LET US CARRY ON, more determined than ever—more dedicated and devoted to Christ’s great mission than ever! We must not win a partial battle, and then lose our war. LET US NOW PLUNGE ON HARDER THAN EVER TO FINAL VICTORY!”

Co-worker Letter, Oct. 25, 1985

How Mr. Armstrong Defined the “Government of God” And What Could Destroy and Nullify It

“[Repentance] means unconditional SURRENDER to the GOVERNMENT of God—to yield to let God RULE in your life, according to HIS LAWS—IT MEANS TO LIVE BY EVERY WORD IN THE BIBLE (Matt. 4:4).”

“Why Churches Are Divided,” PT, March 1982

“God says we are to judge by the fruits. The ‘fruits’ of the rebel leaders and ‘liberals’ should now be clear to all. After…35 years of steady growth in all facets of the Work of God’s Church, the rate of growth began to slow, then ceased entirely in some areas, and, finally, even decreases began to be experienced in the number of prospective members, number of co-workers, amount of income for the Work, etc.—all under the “leadership” of the liberal element. These are well-documented facts that cannot be denied.”

“Recent History of the Philadelphian Era,” WN, June 24, 1985

“It is revealed in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, that God placed the archangel Lucifer, a cherub, on a throne on the earth…God intended him to rule the earth by administering the government of God over the earth. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels.

“But these angels sinned. Sin is the transgression of God’s law (I John 3:4). And God’s law is the basis of God’s government. So we know these angels…sinned—rebelled against the government of God.

“Satan’s rebel rule was not a government based upon the principle of love…but based on self-centeredness…the spirit of…destruction, on darkness and error, instead of light and truth…

“IF, IN THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD ON EARTH TODAY, THE ‘ROTTEN APPLES’ ARE NOT THROWN OUT EARLY ENOUGH, THEY WOULD DESTROY THE WHOLE GOVERNMENT.”

MYSTERY OF THE AGES (1985), pp. 73, 81, 86

How Mr. Armstrong Understood the Separation of True Christians in Times of Great Apostasy

“[Christ] said, ‘I will come unto you quickly and will remove your candlestick out of its place.’ Jesus removed it. He took out the true Church—the light-giving candlestick—from the unrepentant local congregations where they had assembled. Now congregations carried on, visible organization of the church carried on, but the true Christians were finally removed. They were persecuted and they were cast out. So the real Church, the real candlestick, it was these people that did follow the true gospel and the Word of Christ, they were cast out. So that’s what Jesus meant here when he said, ‘I will come unto you quickly and will remove your candlestick out of its place.’ Jesus took it away. That’s Revelation 2:5. After He had told them that He knew their labor, their patience, how they cannot bear them that are evil, and all that kind of thing, ‘nevertheless,’ He said, ‘I have somewhat against you, because you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto you quickly and will remove your candlestick out of its place except you repent.’ Well, now, the majority that had been in the Church fell away and they didn’t repent. And the real candlestick—those that remained true and faithful—the real Church was taken out—those individuals that were persecuted and taken out of the political and the visible organization.”

Radio broadcast circa 1970

070212

The Restored Church of God

This item was printed from www.thercg.org.

Surviving “Perilous Times”

Article Seven -
Epilogue – What Mr. Armstrong Taught About Critical Doctrines

BY DAVID C. PACK

This special Epilogue has been prepared for those who understand that Mr. Armstrong taught the full truth, and who wish to refamiliarize themselves with basic, indisputable statements that he made on crucial matters facing God’s people today.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Truth Only Comes Through Apostles

World To Come on The True Church

How God Governs His Church

One Organized True Church and Body of Christ—and Why!

“Body of Christ is United

“Apostles Held Responsible

How the Apostates Altered the True Church Doctrine—and Conditioned Most Brethren and Ministers to Accept It

How Mr. Armstrong Saw Laodicea

Doctrinal Compromise

Government and God’s Work—and How His Church Will Drive On to Finish It

How Mr. Armstrong Defined the “Government of God” And What Could Destroy and Nullify It

How Mr. Armstrong Understood the Separation of True Christians in Times of Great Apostasy

The Restored Church of God

MENU

Surviving “Perilous Times”

Article Seven - Epilogue – What Mr. Armstrong Taught About Critical Doctrines

BY DAVID C. PACK

This special Epilogue has been prepared for those who understand that Mr. Armstrong taught the full truth, and who wish to refamiliarize themselves with basic, indisputable statements that he made on crucial matters facing God’s people today.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Truth Only Comes Through Apostles

World To Come on The True Church

How God Governs His Church

One Organized True Church and Body of Christ—and Why!

“Body of Christ is United

“Apostles Held Responsible

How the Apostates Altered the True Church Doctrine—and Conditioned Most Brethren and Ministers to Accept It

How Mr. Armstrong Saw Laodicea

Doctrinal Compromise

Government and God’s Work—and How His Church Will Drive On to Finish It

How Mr. Armstrong Defined the “Government of God” And What Could Destroy and Nullify It

How Mr. Armstrong Understood the Separation of True Christians in Times of Great Apostasy

The Restored Church of God

MENU

Article Seven -
Epilogue – What Mr. Armstrong Taught About Critical Doctrines