Sermon – Tucson (March 2, 1981)

by Herbert W Armstrong

Well greetings all you holy, righteous people! I say that because I was certainly shocked to hear the sermonette last Sabbath in the main auditorium in Pasadena when God’s apostle was referred to as “the holy, righteous apostle.” The reason I say that is to explain to you that I’m sure it was not meant in sarcasm, or ridicule, or criticism, or anything of the kind; because you may not know or realize (yet we should all know) that God’s people, even in the Old Testament (evil as they were, disobedient as they were) were referred to as a holy, righteous congregation. In the New Testament, the Church is referred to as holy and righteous. And so it doesn’t mean holy and righteous in the same sense as we regard God as being holy and righteous. And I’m sure that’s the way it was intended. So I just wanted to say that so you all understand, so that no one will take it in a wrong manner – because as God is holy and righteous, I’m sure we all fall very far short (all of us, the speaker included, and all the audience and myself), we all do.

But general conditions in the world recently fulfilling biblical prophecy have been speeding up. They’ve been accelerating, and they indicate that the time is coming when God’s Work for this time is nearing its completion. We may be further along and further towards the completion of this great Work; and there is a great Work for so small a people as we are, that may be nearer finished than we think, or than we realize. We are coming in now on the home stretch, and we started a program in the Work this year of speeding it up.

Now just in the last week or ten days the largest and the most powerful, the leading television stations in Chicago, in Denver (Colorado), and in Kansas City have been added; and the program will now go out on those television stations. We have WOR, a very powerful station in New York City; and they have television stations over the country. But the television coverage, the radio coverage, has been quite low. Now we are beginning to speed it up, and I am having to ask our brethren everywhere to dig a little deeper. I haven’t been asking our brethren for the past more than two years. I certainly haven’t been high-pressuring our brethren for special offerings, or contributions, or anything of the kind; and yet we have operated on a balanced budget, and I think we need to thank God for that.

Now I have said before that when we please God in the way we conduct ourselves in the Church and in the Work, God blesses the Work; and the Work speeds up, and it goes ahead, and it increases. This Work did please God, and it did grow from its beginning back in 1933 until … Well, for 35 years we grew at the rate of 30% increase every year over the year before. Now that’s a very great increase for a continued steady increase. I don’t mean precisely 30% every year, I’m sure you understand that. Some years it might have been 26-27%, other years 34-35%; but it averaged 30%. It was close to that, right on for 35 years.

Then I was away, and I was not in charge at Pasadena. I had to delegate, and the Work began to go the other way. The doctrines, the teaching of the Church, began to be watered down. The broadcast had been built up until we were purchasing more wattage of radio power than any other program on earth; and, of course, we were on radio in those days. Now back in 1955 I went on television, but it only lasted for six months because I found it took up all of my time; and some time had to be devoted to other things that were the Work, so that that only lasted for six months and then we went on radio daily. We went on the big powerhouse radio stations all over the United States. We were the biggest radio program on earth. But after some 10-12 years, our radio program was really the tail end and the bottom of what was regarded as religious programs on the air. Of course, now television is the main thing. I thought it was in 1955, but I found at that time radio was not yet dead.

Anyway, the last two years I have been working as hard as I could to get us all back on God’s track; and brethren, I tell you, we have been making good, good improvement. I don’t think we are all the way back on God’s track. I don’t think, brethren, that we are praying hard enough. I don’t think we are spending enough time with our Bibles. I don’t think that we are CLOSE enough to GOD, and we need to get a lot closer to Him than we are; and, if we do, you will find that this Work will speed up faster than ever.

I have been saying that we have to sort of tighten up our belts. We have to begin to cut down our living standards, because the whole nation of the United States is going to have to cut down its living standards. There are reasons why that’s going to happen to everybody in this country. And we need to put extra money now into the Work of God in order that we will be reaching more and more people, and that will in time bring in more and more co-workers to help us with the financial load.

But it’s like compiling. We’re going to have to put some money in it now in order to cover the additional cost of new and additional television stations; of getting the Plain Truth out on newsstands more and more; of purchasing large space in newspapers and magazines (like the Reader’s Digest and the TV Guide) that have 20, 30, 40 million (something like that) circulation. That many copies going out. Each copy may be read by two or three people, or sometimes more, and that means reaching millions and millions of additional people. Now, out of those millions, God is going to cause some to begin contributing; and He is going to bring others into the Church. God will add to the Church such as HE is choosing to be saved, and that is going to come right along. So the channeling of reserves for this year has already started.

The time has come now, my brethren, when we need to have a clear update on WHAT and WHY is the Church. What is the Church and what is its work, and also why is the Church and this Work for this time now as compared to the first century when it first started? Now Jesus said, as you find recorded in Matthew 16 verse 18, He said, ” I will build My Church .”

Now why did He want to build a Church? You know most people just take a church for granted. I’ve known of churches and I’ve seen churches, and you know most people think of a church as a building with a slight sloping roof, a steeple pointing up to heaven, and a cross on its facade. And they think that people go to the church. Actually, in the Bible, it’s the Church that goes to the building to meet. So the world has it all wrong. But actually people know why Jesus started the Church and why He needed the Church. They just didn’t know the real one. Just like I myself, I’ve seen churches ever since I was a little boy; but it never occurred to me to wonder why there should be one, and I wonder if He ever remembered that or ever thought about it.

Well, let’s begin at the very beginning. Now once again (I have mentioned this before.), if I asked you where is the beginning of everything in the Bible, the farthest back in history, you would say Genesis 1:1. Would you? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” No, that’s not the beginning; because God didn’t create the earth and the heavens (which are spoken of in Genesis 1) at that time. He created those later. But the beginning is in John 1 and beginning with verse 1, in the New Testament.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Now the Word is a person just called a personage. In the Greek, in which that was originally written, He {1} is called the Logos, a personage. But the personage means Word. Logos means Word or Spokesman. That is, the Spokesman. He (the Spokesman) was with God, and the Spokesman was also God. Now there are two people. There’s the Spokesman and God. The Spokesman is God, and He’s with God. So there we are.

I’ve mentioned now my son, and I could say he’s a person. I’m a person; and there are two of us, and we have the same name. We are both Armstrong. Now then; ”In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word [also] was God.”

John 1:2-3 The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.

Now over in Ephesians the 3rd chapter you’ll read that God created “all things by Jesus Christ.” Now notice in verse 14 right here in John 1:

John 1:14 The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us [became Jesus Christ],(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

In other words then Jesus (prior to his human birth) was the Word, and He was with God, and He was God; and He has ALWAYS existed. Now you read elsewhere in the Bible that He is “without father, without mother,without beginning of days, without end of life” – Eternal (the eternally existing One), the same as God. He has always existed. There never was a time when the Word (who became Jesus Christ) and the One we call God the Father did not exist. But the Father directed what He should do and created all things BY Jesus Christ. He spoke, and the Holy Spirit was the power that went out from Them and did what He had commanded and what He asked.

Now then, that is the farthest back in time sequence that we have anything in the Bible. But there were just the Two. Now there was no matter, so far as I understand; and I don’t find anything in the revelation of God – His Word (which I have right here on the desk in front of me)… I don’t find anything indicating there was any material substance, any matter, any earth, or any other kind of material place like the earth that existed prior to the time of this earth necessarily.

Now God is Creator. He created all things by Jesus Christ. But what does God create? Jesus said He had not spoken of Himself. He only spoke what the Father, who sent Him, told Him to speak when He was a human being here on earth. And so, in creating, God the Father is the Mastermind who said what will be done; and Christ is the One who speaks; and the Holy Spirit responds, and it is done. That is the way They create.

But what are They creating? What is Their purpose? I am reminded how Winston Churchill said (before the United States Congress during World War II) that there is a purpose being worked out here below. I have repeated that I guess hundreds of times, but it is so true; and God is working out a purpose here below.

Now what is God’s main purpose? What was it from the beginning when there were just the two of Them? They hadn’t created anything. What were they going to create? What is God creating? What is His overall purpose? His overall purpose is to create righteous and holy character. Now I talked about you holy, righteous people. Well, I am no more holy and righteous than you are, nor you than I am. But God has a purpose in making us that way; and God’s purpose is to create holy and righteous character, such as He Himself has.

Now God IS that kind of character. God IS perfect, holy, and righteous character; and God’s purpose is to create that kind of character in other created beings. Now to do that, first He must create such beings – other beings that are living and that have mind power, that can think – because character … Let me explain what character is. Character is the ability of a separately created entity to come to the full knowledge of the right from the wrong – of what is righteousness and what is evil (or sin, or unrighteousness); and to choose the right even though he may have the desire to go the wrong way. He may be tempted to go the wrong way; but to resist the wrong, to choose the right, and have the will to do the right, and to live that way, and to proceed that way in his life.

Now God did not create people first. He didn’t even create this earth first (and most people don’t know that). God created angels first, and angels are spirit beings. God is composed of spirit. God and the Word are both spirit, and they created angels out of spirit. Secondly They created man, much later. Now I explain that now because in God’s created plan, and the way God creates, there is nearly always the principal of duality, a first and the second. So God created angels first, and later He created man.

In the angels: God had one super archangel that He placed on this earth, on the throne of the earth. After He had created angels, then He created the earth. God created the heavens and the earth (I don’t know how much after). I don’t know when He created the heavens and the earth. I was noticing a television program the other night where they had some scientists talking. They also had some minister, someone who was defending the Bible, talking about evolution. Some of you have seen that in the last few days. It’s been on television and on television news; and it was assumed that the earth began, was all created, in six days as explained in the 1st chapter of Genesis.

Well, that is not true; because in the 38th chapter of Job we find that the angels were there and already created and shouting for joy when the earth was created (in Job 38). So angels were created first, beyond any doubt whatsoever. Now then, I want you to notice that on the earth … And angels were to inhabit the earth, and they inhabited this earth before man; and so we read in II Peter the 2nd chapter and verse 4:

II Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned …

You know, God didn’t even spare His own Son. He died for us, because we have sinned. “But God spared not the angels that sinned.” Can you imagine angels sinning? Oh yes, they did.

II Peter 2:4 … and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto [the] judgment.

So angels are going to be judged, and we’re going to judge angels. I wonder how many of you know that. So there is a judgment coming of angels yet. But God had created a throne on this earth to rule the whole earth. When He put angels on the earth, He had a government; and on that throne, to rule that government, God put a super archangel who is a Cherub (greater than the ordinary angels). He had been on the very throne of God where one of his wings, with another archangel, had covered the very throne of God. So he was trained at the very throne of the whole universe, on God’s throne in heaven, in God’s government.

This archangel was put on this earth to administer the government of God over those angels. Now whether it was all of the angels or only a third, I don’t know; but it was a third of them that sinned with him. The angels sinned. Now they’re going to come to judgment. However, the archangel was named Lucifer. You will read of him in the 14th chapter of Isaiah and the 28th chapter of Ezekiel. We’ve gone into that many times, and I’ll just pass over it by mentioning it in this message this afternoon. This Lucifer was a super angel, and he had complete training.

But now character is something that God cannot create AUTOMATICALLY Himself by fiat. Character is something that has to be developed, and has to be built with the consent and with the will of the separate entity that has been created and who has an independent mind. He must have free moral agency and independent mind, to make independent free choice. God will not make that choice. But it is the one who can come to see the right (and God will make the right and the true way clear to him), who will choose that right way, decide to go that way against any pull or desire to go the wrong way. That is character.

God could not create that kind of character in these angels. So he put His government over them. The right way of character is the way of God’s government; and every government is based on the foundation of a constitution, or a law. Now the law of God, which is love (an outpouring LOVE), was the basis of that. But these angels sinned; and they sinned evidently, according to the Bible, because Lucifer (their leader) led them into that sin. That Lucifer became Satan the devil, and those angels who followed him (a third of all of the angels) became demons. Now it may have been all of the angels on earth. Maybe only a third of them were placed on earth. But apparently a third of them sinned; and apparently two thirds are holy and righteous angels today, because they are called “all of the holy angels” that will come with Christ when He comes at His Second Coming.

Now, Lucifer became Satan. He was on the throne on this earth. And according to God’s type of government, he must remain on that throne unti l a successor comes to occupy it and to RESTORE the government of God, because this archangel Lucifer destroyed the government of God. He rebelled against the government of God; and so, from that time on, practically the whole theme and God’s purpose is the restoration of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, which was taken away from this earth by this Lucifer. Apparently he’s been judged.

Now, as a result of the sin of the angels, chaos came to this earth. It simply became waste and empty. And now I’d like to turn back to Psalm 104 and verse 30. Here’s something very few people have noticed and very few people seem to understand, and it says now in Psalm 104:30–

Psalm 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit [That is, God sends forth His Spirit.], they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.

God renewed the face of the earth. It had become decayed. Now that means (before Genesis 1 and verse 2) that the earth had been decayed. And decay is the result of something that occupies a long time, a period of time. So the earth had been created long before the time of Adam and the creation of man. Very few people know that. God has revealed these things to His Church today, that are not generally known. Now I’d like to go back to Genesis 1 again. Now we come to verse 2. Verse 1 in Genesis “In the beginning God” and the word for “God” is “Elohim,” which is uniplural (like the word “family” or the word “team” or “church”), more than one person, a number of people. It could be two, it could be thousands or more; but one church, one family, one whatever.

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning God [which is uniplural] created the heaven(s) [It should be plural and is in all other translations.] and the earth. (2)And the earth was[The word ‘was’ – the Hebrew word is translated ‘became’ and to be that way it had to become that way. Anyway, ” The earth became … ”] without form, and void …

In the Hebrew language in which Moses wrote this, ’without form and void’ is the Hebrew words ‘tohu’ and ‘bohu.’ Now those words mean ‘became waste and empty.’ That is a better translation than the one given here in the King James. (To become waste and empty, as a result of the sin of the angels.) Now God is going to renew the face of the earth, but look at the condition of it in the latter half of the 2nd verse:

Genesis 1:2 … a nd darkness was upon the face of the deep. [It was all ocean.] And the Spirit of God moved upon … the waters.

Now “Thou sendest forth thy spirit,” and then He renews “the face of the earth.” (Psalms 104:30),

It was all in darkness. God is light. But this Lucifer was filled with darkness, and rebellion, and sin; and so darkness had come on the whole earth and everything evil. And now God said … This is the One who spoke – the Word spoke, and it was done by the Holy Spirit. He said:

Genesis 1:3 Let there be light and there was light.

Now the light came, and then on the 5th day God renewed the surface of the earth. It was renewed for man, and so we read about man. And now in verse 26:

Genesis 1:26 God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …

He’d made animals – cattle after the cattle kind, dogs after the dog kind, and so on. Now God said, “Let us…” Not “Me.” There’s more than one person. That was God the Father and the Word. [John 1:1] “Let Us make man after Our kind.” Man was made to become God. God put man on the earth in order that God now … the greatest feat of creation that God had EVER undertaken – to reproduce Himself through you and me. We can and must, if we are ever going to avoid the final Lake of Fire, we must become holy and righteous. We must receive God’s character. We must be filled so God can reproduce Himself into very God beings, or God persons, with His holiness and His righteousness.

We were made to have that contact with God. Man was created with a spirit; but he needed another spirit, the Spirit of God. Adam was given that chance. There were the Two Trees. You know the story. I won’t go into that just now; but Adam did not take the Tree of Life, which God offered him. Adam did not have Life. He had a chemical existence, a temporary chemical existence. God offered him the Tree of Life. That was immortal Life, the Holy Spirit that would impregnate him with the very Life of God – immortal, self-containing, self-existent Life. He didn’t get that kind of Life. Instead he took the knowledge of good and evil to himself, instead of believing God and letting God tell him what is good and what is evil.

He rejected God because God had told him what is good and evil, and he took to himself the knowledge of good and evil contrary to what God had told him. He sinned. He rebelled against God, just as Lucifer had done; and Lucifer is now Satan. Lucifer was still on that throne, and Lucifer got to Adam (and has been getting to you and me). He’s still on that throne today. Lucifer has always been on that throne. Adam could have replaced him and restored the government of God. Adam didn’t.

So there again is the duality. He was just the first Adam. It took a second Adam, Jesus Christ, to come. But before I pass on: After Adam made the wrong decision, he made that for his family. His family is the human family. You and I, every human being who ever lived, has been born from Adam and Eve. They are our ancestors, Adam and Eve. He made that decision for all of us! Now notice in the 3rd chapter of Genesis, beginning in verse 22:

Genesis 3:22, 24 … God said … now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life … and live forever:

(24) [Then God] … drove [him out of the garden of Eden] … and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword [that pointed] … every way to keep the way of the tree of life. [Lest he go back and gain immortal Life in sin.]

To have eternal Life, immortal Life, while you are sinning would only bring on misery, unhappiness, pain and sorrow and suffering; and God is not going to give you immortal Life that way. He gave us a temporary existence. The result of that is you are dying every minute you live. Now Adam only lived 930 years, and he died. That’s a long time for us. We don’t live that long today. Some live 70 years today and some very few live to 100; but some die in the first hour of their birth, as little infants. And so it is a temporary chemical existence.

We don’t have Life! That is (why in Ephesians the 2nd chapter and the 1st verse) Paul said: you … ”were dead in trespasses and sins.” We are in the process of being dead every minute we live, unless we receive Life through the Holy Spirit of God. Do we understand that? You don’t hear that preached much in the world today. My brethren, let us understand it. We MUST have the Holy Spirit of God. But now God shut OFF the way to the Tree of Life, which is the Holy Spirit; and it was shut off from the world.

All right, now we come to the 2nd Adam. The 2nd Adam was Jesus Christ; and we come over here to John the 6th{2} chapter and verse 44, where Jesus said this. Now remember: man had been shut off from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said:

John 6:44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw(s) him …

Except the Father draw him, NOBODY could come to Christ. People think EVERYBODY can come to Christ if only they will. “Whoever will” may come. You know, that’s in the Bible; but that’s over in the last chapter in your Bible (in Revelation) and that’s after the Millennium. That’s not in this world today. That is not true now. It is not true now. It will be true at that time.

So the 2nd Adam had come, and a lot of people don’t understand why Jesus came. Now you will find that, back in Isaiah the 9th chapter and the 6th verse, it talks about Jesus being born. He lived to be born because (This was a prophecy long before His birth.) it said that He would be born as an infant, that the government would be on His shoulder, and He was going to reign on the throne of His father David. He would be a son of David, and He would reign on the throne of David forever and forever.

He was born to be a King. He was born to rule and to reign, to come to be a King to replace Lucifer who had been on the throne of the earth. Now do you see? The world doesn’t see that my brethren. They don’t understand these things. They think you are living in an immortal soul already. They think that you’re just going to heaven, if you are good in your own sight; and, if you are bad in your sight and you do what you think is wrong, you’ll go to hell. Well, nobody does what he thinks is wrong. So he thinks he is doing good. He thinks he’s going to go to heaven. Well, nobody is going to go to heaven.

Now there’s another prophecy, and that was in … that other prophecy was in Isaiah 7:14 where Christ was to be born as Immanuel, which means “God with us.” And in Matthew the 1st chapter that is explained that He was to be born to save His people from their sins. So He came as a Saviour, and He came as a King. He came to save us from sin so we could receive eternal Life and receive the Spirit of God. And He came to qualify to sit on that throne that Satan is on, and that Lucifer had rejected, and restore the government of God. And He came as a Ruler over government. Let’s understand that, my brethren. Very few understand it. The churches of this world don’t understand that at all. He came as a King to restore the government, which Lucifer had taken away, over this earth. And Lucifer is now Satan.

All right, now a prophecy for the people. I gave you some prophecies of Christ. There is a prophecy for the people of the world, and that is in Joel the 2nd chapter and verse 28.

Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh …

Now God had held His Spirit back, remember; and had angels at the Garden of Eden so people couldn’t get in. And Jesus said no man could come to Him unless the Father draws him. God reserved the right to call and draw a few. Otherwise people are not now being judged. There is a judgment day coming for all others. But judgment is on the Church, and is on you and me. We’re being judged right now as to whether we shall have eternal Life or whether we are going to sin and receive the punishment of the 2nd death in hell fire.

Now, “it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon ALL flesh.” That is not now! Only those that God calls can come to Christ now. But there will come a time when He is going to pour out His Spirit upon ALL flesh. Now, that also is a duality and happens twice. I want to go into that.

It happened on the day of Pentecost – after Christ was crucified, after He had been resurrected, and after He had ascended to heaven. Ten days after He had ascended to heaven came the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came for those God had called. It was only 120. Jesus Christ had preached to thousands upon thousands. Twice there were 5,000 men (not counting women and children) and different groups of 5,000. And He preached to thousands at other times, just a few here and a few there many times.

But of all those multiple thousands who heard Jesus Himself, how many do you think really believed what He said? Only 120! Some believed ON Him, but they didn’t believe what He said. You know, you have to AGREE with God to walk with Him. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed {3}. That’s in Amos, I think the 3rd chapter in about verse 3 (something like that); and you have to agree with Him to walk with Him.

All right. So on Pentecost 31 AD, after Jesus’ ministry, there was “a type;” and Peter said:

Acts 2:16-17 This was that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, (17) [That He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh].

But even then it was only those God was calling. That was “a type” of the Millennium, when He will pour out His Spirit on EVERY human being then living on the face of the earth; but that has not come yet. There’s a duality principle there.

Now I want you to notice that Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Mark the 1st chapter. I’ve gone into that so many times, and I think we should all know that; but at “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ … ” (Mark the very 1st chapter, Mark’s gospel.) They call it gospel; it’s just his biography really, of Jesus.

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Then it talks of John the Baptist preparing the way for Him, and about Jesus being baptized, and then Jesus being tempted of the Devil and overcoming Satan. Then coming down to verse 14: After Jesus had qualified by overcoming Satan; He qualified now to restore the government of God. He had CONQUERED Satan. He had CONQUERED the Lucifer who sat on that throne and STILL sits on that throne on this earth. He’s after you and after me; and he hates us, my brethren. He hates us above all the people on this earth! And he’s been antagonizing me a great deal the last few months, and it is really Satan who is doing it through people who don’t know what they are doing.

Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel [What gospel? “The gospel … ”] of the kingdom of God. (15) And saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

HOW is it fulfilled? Jesus had just overcome Satan and that temptation. You read of that in Matthew the 4th chapter beginning with verse 1. It’s quite a long description (there in Matthew’s gospel) about how He overcame Satan. “The time is fulfilled … the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Someone had qualified now to RESTORE the government of God and set up the Kingdom of God. Now the government of God and the Kingdom of God are two different things. There’s a duality. The Kingdom of God is the BORN Family of God. We can be born into that Family. But the Kingdom of God is a government, and that Family will rule the government over the whole earth.

Now then, “the time is fulfilled … the Kingdom of God is at hand.” And then he said:

Mark 1:15 … repent ye and believe the gospel.

Repent and believe. Very few people believe what God says, and very few people repent.

Then, on the day of Pentecost, Peter said to the people that now the Holy Spirit was coming as a first type for those that God would call. “For all,” not yet; but for all that God was calling. He said: ” repent and be baptized,” which means believe in Christ. That’s what it represented.

So now Jesus Christ came for the purpose of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. He also came to proclaim that we could be born again. He came as a Saviour to save us from our sins, and that we could be born again. You read of that in the 3rd chapter of John, when the Pharisee Nicodemus reached Him at night to see Jesus. He didn’t want the other Pharisees to see him come. He said: “We (we Pharisees) know that You are a Man sent from God.” In other words, we know you are the Messiah. Yes, they knew Him; but they thought He was going to set up a Kingdom and destroy … [**tape skips at 37:53] … that they instituted as the person that they believed in Jesus.

On the day of Pentecost now there were the 120; and later that day thousands came in, and there were 3,000 baptized that same day. God began to pour out His Spirit on many that He was calling, and so the first century Church got started from that time on.

I would like to read a little something that I wrote, and I have had to read it, about the first century Church. What is the Worldwide Church of God? Well, it is first a Church – that is, its purpose is to carry the Great Commission to all the world – proclaiming the gospel to the world, the gospel of the Kingdom (No one else is doing that today.); and secondly the feeding of the flock (or the ministry to minister to the people). Now those are spiritual duties. The Church is not a secular organization. It is a spiritual organism. And that is the entire mission of the church.

Now the Church has certain supporting functions. In the first century, it had deacons and deaconesses. That’s all. That’s all the supporting functions it had, deacons and deaconesses. If they wanted to travel, they had to walk, or ride on a donkey (or a mule, or a horse, or something), or in a rowboat or a sailboat. They didn’t have any transportation. They didn’t have the kind of mechanized things that we have today at all.

Now even these (you find in Acts 6 and in verses 2 and 3) had to be fully converted people in those offices, filled with the Holy Spirit. But their operations were physical and not spiritual, but they were the supporting people that only supported the Church in its physical functions. And the functions of the Church are spiritual. Now then, after the day of Pentecost, the gospel started out. The Church did multiply there for a little while, and then persecution set in. Finally, (It wasn’t very long.) in about 53 AD … The Church had started in 31, and by 53 AD the gospel was suppressed and was not preached any longer. Turn to Galatians the 1st chapter verses 6 and 7.

Galatians 1:6-7 I marvel [That’s Paul to those Churches in Galatia]that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel [A different gospel]:(7) Which is not another [because it is the real gospel after all],but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

The gospel was suppressed. I could go into a lot of other scriptures about that; but, nevertheless, I think that suffices and that will explain it. The gospel was suppressed from that time. You might say quelled or suppressed until 1953, for exactly 1,900 years. That is one century of time cycles, one century of time cycles. And now we come to Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24 Matthew 24. They were in the temple at the time this prophecy begins. And they went out of the temple, and they departed from the temple, and Jesus’ disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. Now this is the outstanding prophecy in the New Testament.

Matthew 24:2-3 And Jesus said unto them, see ye not all these things? [Now what things is He talking about? Notice.] Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.

[The temple is going to be destroyed. Now that happened in 70 AD, in their lifetime, in 70 AD. And now later … ] (3) … he sat upon the Mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us when shall these things be? [That is, when the temple would be destroyed. That’s what He’d been talking about.] And[now they’re asking something else] what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of this world?

They knew He was coming as a great Ruler to rule the world. ”Tell us when these things shall be … and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world.” That is, the end of this age. Not the end of the earth or the end of people on it, but the end of this time and this age.

Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (5) For many shall come in my name saying,[that] I am Christ; and shall deceive [the]many .

[**tape garbled at 43:15] They had their own gospel. Not the gospel Christ brought, but they their own gospel about THE PERSON of Christ; and they just said …

[**tape garbled again at 43:28-44:07] … the Family of God. They had left all that out, in the gospel had not been preached for 1,900 years over this world. Now He said then further:

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars[and other things that were going to happen in the meantime.]

Now He was talking about things that began then and up to 70 AD. He didn’t come quite yet to what would be the sign of His coming, but in verse 14 He did. He said:

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and THEN SHALL THE END [of this world] come.

My brethren, that gospel was not preached into all the world until the first week in 1953. Now prior to that, 19 years earlier, it had begun in the United States, one time cycle earlier when it went on the air in Eugene, Oregon; and God used me to do it. And by 19 years we had covered the United States coast to coast. But it was 19 years from the time it started, and one hundred 19-year time cycles precisely, when the gospel went out on the most powerful radio station on earth , Radio Luxembourg in Europe. We were on a band at that time that reached all of Europe and Britain. Later we went on the one that reached England almost exclusively and late at night, but it reached them more powerfully and was a better channel for it. But it started going to the world after 100 time cycles.

Now that is the sign that we are getting nearer the time of Christ’s coming; and if we don’t realize it, my brethren, let me tell you Satan knows it! He knows he has but a short time right now. He knows that, and it behooves us that we know it. The time is short! And what we do in this world, and the fun we can have in this world, the good time and everything, doesn’t amount to anything. All that amounts to anything now, let me tell you, is getting into God’s Kingdom. This world is about over. It is a very unhappy world. It is a very bad world. Now let’s go on a little further. After this gospel of the Kingdom is proclaimed, a lot of other things begin to happen. We come to a climax down here in verses 21 and 22.

Matthew 24:21-22 For then [It hasn’t come yet, but that’s when the gospel of the Kingdom is going out. “then … ”]shall be great tribulation [That is, world trouble.] such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [There can only be one time like that.] (22) And except those days) be shortened, there should no flesh be saved[alive].

That word ‘alive’ should be there, and is in other translations. It is not talking about spiritual salvation, but people being left ALIVE. In other words, it is a time when human life could be erased from off of this earth; and that’s never happened until the last few years of this generation. It never happened until the hydrogen bomb; even with the odd atom bomb would they destroy certain cities of well over 100 or 200 thousands. We couldn’t destroy great cities of several millions. But ONE HYDROGEN BOMB HAS MORE POWER than ALL of the bombs exploded in World War II on both sides, all combined: ONE hydrogen bomb. And there are enough hydrogen bombs to destroy all human life off this earth FIFTY TIMES OVER. All we would need is one. That’s all we would need. Now then, it goes on to say:

Matthew 24:22 And except those days should be shortened … no flesh would be saved [alive] …

GOD WILL NOT INTERVENE UNTIL ALL OF HUMANITY would be destroyed, but then He says:

Matthew 24:22 … for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

”For the elect’s sake.” If you read on just a bit, it talks about the signs in the sun and the moon and the Day of the Lord coming; and then the coming of Christ is described further in that same chapter. Well, we’re getting close to the time; and this prophecy in the 24th chapter of Matthew covers all of that.

Now look at the Church and the Work in the Church today. I’d like to go on reading from what I have, some of it. Today we live in a far different world. Now after{4} a century of time cycles, we’re living and getting the gospel to the world for the first time in more than 1,900 years; and THIS IS THE WORK, AND YOU ARE PART OF IT. IT IS GETTING THAT GOSPEL OUT for the first time just as Jesus said it would happen. Brethren, can we WAKE UP? Can we REALIZE what we’re doing, and what is going on, and how GOOD it is in God’s sight? We need to realize it.

Today we live in a far different world than the first apostles did, back in Jesus’ time. Multiplied population (many, many, many times over more people on earth), modern transportation, modern communications. I could talk anywhere in the world just in a few minutes time by telephone. I can get on an airplane and go to any part of the world, half way around the world the same day. If I was going west and I started in the morning, I would get there before evening at least.

And today we have modern transportation, modern communication facilities. We have sophisticated technological instruments, the facilities in printing and in the publishing services to get the gospel out through print and by publishing, and by television, and by radio, and the many ways that are open to us today. They didn’t have anything like that in the first century. Facilities management, legal services they weren’t bothered about legal services in those days. Today we are in a complicated, mechanized world. Accounting and data processing functions, these are not spiritual. They are physical functions, and there is a great deal of that today.

We have those facilities to be used, but they are not spiritual. They are NOT THE WORK. They are only support functions OF the Work, and that’s one thing that I am trying to bring out now. The WORK is SPIRITUAL! And THE WORK NEEDS SUPPORTING SERVICES. But, my brethren, everyone here in the supporting services (just like the deacons and deaconesses in the New Testament) should be filled with the Holy Spirit of God; and we just don’t have people that have that critical kind of expertise to do those things that have been filled with the Spirit of God necessarily; some one way, some the other. But some are in the Church and some are out.

Now then, the gospel of the Kingdom is going out and preparing the way today for Christ and for the 2nd Coming of Christ. We’re preparing the way; and I would like to show you a few prophecies about that, and what is going on today. Back in Malachi the 3rd chapter, I want you to notice now the first 5 verses of Malachi 3.

Malachi 3:1 Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me [That’s Christ speaking. He’s the Word.];and the Lord whom ye seek [who is Christ] shall suddenly come to his temple …

What temple, my brethren, is He coming to? We used to worry about that. We used to wonder: Are the Jews going to knock down the Dome of the Rock that the Arabs have there and build a new Jewish temple? No, they’re not. They’re not doing it. It isn’t going to be done. What temple is Christ going to come to the 2nd time? (All right, I’ll bring that out a little later.)

Malachi 3:1 The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant [Christ is coming as the Messenger of the covenant.] whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the [Eternal] of hosts.

Now, you will read how John the Baptist fulfilled that. But again there is a DUALITY. That was all about His 1st Coming. But John the Baptist was a type of someone that has to prepare the way for the 2nd Coming. Let’s read on, I want you to notice. What coming is he talking about here? The very next verse says, right on.

Malachi 3:2-4 But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; (3) And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the [Eternal] an offering in righteousness (4) Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the [Eternal] as in the days of old, and as in former {5} years [And so on.]

Well, none of that happened at Christ’s 1st Coming. That is what He is going to do when He comes again, to rule. So it is talking about a messenger preparing the way for THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, and John the Baptist was a forerunner; and it is to happen again. Christ is coming a second time. He came the first time. He is coming a second time. Again, the first coming was “a type” of the second. At the first coming, John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River. And he was crying out preparing the way for a PHYSICAL Jesus, BORN AS A HUMAN BEING to come to His people JUDAH, a physical people and coming to a TEMPLE built of stone, and wood, and gold, and silver, and so on.

He came to announce that someday, 1,900 years or more on, He would set up the Kingdom of God. And He was coming for the Kingdom of God and to change and PROCLAIM the GOOD NEWS of the Kingdom of God. And that was the purpose of His coming, and to call people to be born again into and be CHILDREN of God in the FAMILY of God. And the Family of God IS the Kingdom of God, the born Family of God that will then rule all nations of the world.

But now there must be a messenger preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ. A voice crying out (not in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River) in the SPIRITUAL wilderness of religious confusion [**tape garbled at 55:28] in the world today: And preparing a way before the SPIRITUAL Christ in POWER and GLORY, who is coming to His SPIRITUAL temple. I’m going to show you what that is in a moment.

He is not coming to a physical people, but to a SPIRITUAL people. And He is coming not to a temple made in stone and wood, gold and silver; but made out of spirit because the Church is going to rise UP and meet Him. It will be “the dead in Christ” will rise first and “we which are alive and remain” will be caught up to meet Him in the air; and we will be changed and will become GOD BEINGS in the FAMILY OF GOD. And we will then constitute the Kingdom of God, the Family of God. Christ is coming to RULE all nations; and we’re going to rule with Him, as you read in the latter part about the, well, the Laodicean Church and the Philadelphia Church; or it’s one of the other Churches. Anyway, it’s Revelation 2:26.

Now then, I’d like to have you notice again … Well, let’s turn now for a moment back to Haggai the 2nd chapter. I want you to notice something here. This is a time, 70 years after Solomon’s temple had been destroyed, when the people were coming to build that first temple that Jesus came to the first time. Now let’s learn a little about THAT temple, and then we are going to learn something about the second temple. Here again is the duality, the first temple that Jesus came to and the second temple – the SPIRITUAL He’s coming to the second time.

Now then, a colony of Jews had been sent back from the Chaldean Empire, which had been succeeded by the Persian Empire. The King of Persia had sent them back there. And a man by the name of Zerubbabel was leader of that colony, and he was the governor, and also he was the one that was the builder of the second temple. That is, he directed it all. He directed those who did do it. Now we begin reading about that here in Haggai the 2nd chapter beginning with verse 3:

Haggai 2:3 Who is left among you that saw this house [That is, the temple of Solomon 70 years before. “saw this house”] in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

It had all been destroyed. There might have been some of the stones left at that time, but it was nothing. It had been totally destroyed. So then he said:

Haggai 2:4-6 Yet now be strong O Zerubbabel … [and then] O Joshua … [who was with him] the high priest … and work for I am with you … [That worked to build this physical temple. “I am with you”] saith the Lord of hosts: (5) According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt so my spirit remaineth among you; fear ye not. (6) For thus saith the [Eternal] of hosts; yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.

That is when. That is talking about the DAY OF THE LORD, when He is going to do that very thing. That hasn’t happened yet in our time, but it’s going to happen in just a very few years. Right now, we’re coming right down to that time. And then he continues, verse 7:

Haggai 2:7-9 And I will shake [the] … nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the [Eternal] of hosts. (8) The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. (9) The glory of this LATTER HOUSE [Now, he is talking about the END time now. It’s a prophecy for the end time, but he is using the house that Zerubbabel was building as a TYPE of the former house. Now notice it. “The glory of this latter house … ”] shall be greater than of the former [greater than Solomon’s temple].

Well, the temple that he built was not of glory as Solomon’s temple, not anywhere near. It was larger, but it was not as great, not as beautiful, not as fine, didn’t have as much gold and precious stones and things like that. So he is talking about a temple that will be more glorious even than Solomon’s temple. He is talking about a temple to which Christ will come. Zerubbabel was a type of someone who would build the temple to which Christ is coming to. And that has to be someone preparing the way for the Second Coming, proclaiming the good news of the KINGDOM of God just before and in the very generation where that Kingdom is going to be set up.

We’re at that time now, my brethren. We’re at that time; and it means raising up the Church, because you’ll find over here in Ephesians … Let me turn to that. Ephesians now. The 2nd chapter of Ephesians, and God says here (beginning with verse 19) to the Church at Ephesus:

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners [They’d been Gentiles. They were born Gentiles. They were not Jews.],but fellow citizens with the saints …

They are no more foreigners, but in the same “nation” as the saints. Now he is speaking of the Church as a nation. Notice, he speaks of the Church as many things here. First he speaks of it as a nation, and now it says:

Ephesians 2:19-21 … of the household of God [Now it’s a family … We’re to be the Family of God. Now go on:] (20) And are built upon the foundation[Now we are a building. “And the foundation … ”] of the apostles and prophets [That’s the foundation of the Church. That’s what it’s talking about. “Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets”], Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (21) in whom all the building [Now the Church is a building.] fitly framed together grow into a HOLY TEMPLE …

That’s the temple to which Christ is coming! Not a temple made of stone, or buildings; but a spiritual temple. Brethren, YOU are that temple. YOU ARE THAT TEMPLE, with me; and I hope I am part of it. That’s why God calls US holy and righteous. We are to become that! Maybe we are not as holy and righteous as we ought to be. Let’s spend a little more time in prayer. Let’s spend a little more time in Bible study. Let’s spend a little more time and come to the place of thinking more about the things of God than we’ve been doing. We’ve had our minds too much on the things of THIS WORLD, on the CARNAL things, on the things MONEY will buy. Let’s put a little more of the money into the Work of God and get it DONE. We don’t have much time left. We’re coming in on the home stretch right now.

Now then, there is a duality between Haggai 2 and Ephesians 2. Did you notice it? Haggai 2 was speaking of the first temple, which Zerubbabel built. Ephesians 2 is speaking of the second temple, which Christ is building through one He has called to do that.

Now I’d like to give you one little prophecy in the New Testament (in Revelation 3 and verses 7 and 8). This is the Philadelphia Church, and it is speaking of our Church today. (Verses 7 and 8.)

Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write …

Now there are some that think … The word “angel” merely means messenger. And in the Greek language the word is ”angelos”; and often it is used for human messengers. When it has to be human, the same was used. Also it means spirit angels, composed of spirit; and they were immortal and invisible. But the same word is used for humans who are messengers, and so this could be either.

Revelation 3:7-8 … w rite;these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth and no man openeth [That’s speaking of Christ.];(8) I know thy works [He says to this Church. And that’s speaking of you, you brethren. There are something like … I am speaking to more than 5,000 of you right now. “I know thy works … ”]; behold I have set before you an open door and no man can shut it; for thou has a LITTLE strength …

A better translation is ‘you have ONLY a little strength.’ We are very weak physically. Now speaking (over in Zechariah) about Zerubbabel in the Old Testament, it’s “not by power…”[Zechariah 4:6] He wasn’t such a strong man either, but he says: “by My Spirit, says the [Eternal].” It is by the power of the Spirit of God that this Work must move forward, not on human power.

Revelation 3:8 I know thy works; behold I have set before thee an open door … no man can shut it … you have but little strength and hast kept my word …

Has believed what He says; and kept His Word, and has not watered it down and has not compromised. And when I found it watered down, brethren, we got back onto the track. We’re almost back there, if not entirely; and we must get all the way back.

Revelation 3:8 … and hast not denied my name.

The doors have been opened. First there was the door of radio and television, the printing press. Then doors as you read in the 10th chapter of Revelation. But finally, after we thought the Work was all done, you must go now to many nations speaking many languages and to kings and to leaders of nations. And that has been done in the last 10 years, my brethren. God has opened those doors; and you, through me, have been walking through those doors; and the job is getting done.

Now I would like to show you a little bit of how God prepared one for this job. Back in 1926, after a successful business career, I was challenged; and I was challenged about the law of God as the foundation of the government of God. God used that very thing to challenge me {6}. I was challenged on the Sabbath; and that is in the law of God, and the one point of the law of God that is a test commandment– the one commandment the world will reject and is not willing to keep; and I didn’t want to keep it either.

You know, I found out I didn’t agree with God. I believed what I’d been brought up to believe. I thought we were immortal souls. I thought we’d go to heaven if we were good, and to hell if we were bad, and that we would live forever. I saw (in Romans 6:23) ”the wages of sin is death.” And I said, “Well that’s not what I’ve been taught. I’ve always believed the wages of sin is immortal life, but it’s in hell fire.” ” … but the gift of God is eternal life.” I said, “Why would it be a gift of God if I already have it?” If I already have immortal life – which I thought I had, but I apparently didn’t.

And I didn’t have God’s Spirit. I didn’t have the presence of immortal life within me at that time. So I found out a lot more. Now I came to the place where it finally came to a challenge. I proved the truth about God’s Sabbath, except one thing. I came to Colossians 2 and verse 16, and that stumped me. I thought “Well, that does away with the Sabbath.” Then I found out that it didn’t do away with the Sabbath at all, but it also included the ANNUAL HOLY DAYS. And I said, “Well then, if it doesn’t do away with the Sabbath, it doesn’t do away with the annual holy days.” And I found out that Jesus kept those days, and the apostles; and they were all ordained forever.

And so, when I was converted, my wife and I began to keep the annual holy days; and nobody else we knew of on earth was doing it. We knew of no one that would. I went to the Sardis Church, and they laughed me to scorn when I tried to show them the truth about observing the annual holy days and the festivals of God. (I didn’t understand altogether about the festivals yet, but I did about the annual holy days.)

Now I learned at that time about the resurrection of Christ after three days and three nights, and I learned that Easter … I began to learn about Christmas, and I learned that Easter did not celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Then I learned what is in “The United States and Britain in Prophecy{7}.” That was written way back there, more than 50 years ago when I wrote that. It still is fine. It’s all up-to-date. It’s been updated a little bit, but primarily that booklet “The United States and Britain in Prophecy” was written over 50 years ago. And I learned then about the gospel of the Kingdom, which was not taught and nobody seems to know about it today.

Then, in the book of Revelation, it led me to Daniel. I was going through the book of Revelation (especially Revelation 13 and Revelation 17) and going back to Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 that explains it. And in Daniel 2:44 I saw the truth of the Kingdom of God. Then I came to find out there were angels on earth and the government of God had been over them. I began to find that during … That was BEFORE I was converted even. God was giving me the truths that NO CHURCH ON EARTH has during those early days when He was preparing me for a conversion. And I was finding that I didn’t agree with God; and I had to begin, if I wanted to walk with Him, to agree with Him. Two can’t walk together except they be agreed.

Then I came to the prophecy in Luke 19, the parable of the pound, where Jesus is going to get a kingdom and to return; and I saw He was coming back to earth.

[**tape garbled at 1:10:56-1:11:14]

There is much basic knowledge and understanding that came before my baptism. God was preparing someone for this very job, and that is how YOU came to know these things. That’s how YOU’VE come to be keeping God’s holy days, and now we are planning a wonderful holy day for this coming Fall. We are just coming up very close to the Passover time now.

I began to agree with God, and I began to realize we had to agree with God if we’re going to walk with Him. Now brethren, in closing I want to read one passage. We have to agree with God, we have to believe what He says. Adam and Eve didn’t believe what God said. People heard Jesus and didn’t believe what He said. This is what He says – in the Bible! Do you believe it? Are you going to believe it, or are you going to water it down, or are we going to get RIGHT back to the truth once delivered? (The 66th chapter of Isaiah.)

Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus saith the [Eternal], the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? (2) For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the [Eternal]: but to THIS man will I look [Who is God going to look to? Who is He going to accept? “To this man will I look,”],even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS WORD? Do you TREMBLE at this Word? When the Church was not trembling at the Word of God (but watering it down, there for about 10 years), the Church didn’t grow. I hope that it will begin to grow again. As a matter of fact, in the past year much of the Church has grown 30% once again. In the United States, we have grown not up to 30 but we’re up to practically the 20% mark; and it looks like we’re on the 30% increase this year. If we would tighten our belts, if we would sacrifice, we’ve got to have our brethren put in more money. We’ve got to go on more television stations.

Brethren, I am trying to do four television programs a week, and four radio programs a week, besides keeping up with all of the writing and all of the preaching and everything else that I do. Last Sabbath I was preaching over in Big Sandy. We had over, let’s see, it was over 3,000 (over 3,000 people last week); and even more, to 5,000 of you today. Next Sabbath I am going to be speaking to a combined group in Denver, Colorado. Three weeks ago I was speaking to 2,800 up in Seattle; and I’m trying to plan now to go off to a group every two weeks and speak. I am putting on the pressure! If I can do it at my age, I think you can do your part; and I ask all of you to do your part.

I ask you to pray more, and PRAY FOR ME. I NEED IT. Believe me, Satan is trying to DESTROY me. He would love to destroy me. But he can’t do it if God doesn’t let him; and I need your prayers, and I need you to pray that I can keep praying because Satan makes it very tough sometimes. Brethren, we’ve got a great job to do. Let’s get in there and put our whole hearts and souls into it and do it. So thank you all, brethren; and I know I can count on you. I know we’ll count on one another; and we’ll go in the door, and it won’t be too long until we will. Thank you very much.