Does Mystery of the Ages Say Too Much?

As we approach the 40th anniversary of the death of Herbert W. Armstrong, I often think about why the Church of God and all of its scattered fellowships, since the death of Mr. Armstrong and the apostasy, have never had the kind of success that Mr. Armstrong had in preaching the gospel to the world and giving a warning about the great tribulation to come upon our peoples if we don't repent.

As the years go by and I get older, my memory fades, but as I recall we had a Plain Truth circulation of over seven million and one of the largest religious broadcasts on TV near the end of Mr. Armstrong's life.  Although we never reached everyone in the nations that have come from the scattered tribes of Israel, or even a majority, we were well on our way.  The work was growing rapidly.

Today, none of the COG fellowships, not even the best of them, comes anywhere close, and our national populations are larger than they were in Mr. Armstrong's day.  Most or many of the people that heard Mr. Armstrong's messages are gone and a new generation has replaced them.  Most people alive today in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, etc. have never heard our message of the true gospel and the warning of God's punishment to come if they don't repent.  Most people alive today were not born or were in childhood when the work was cut short by the apostasy.

Yet the need for the gospel and the warning, especially I think the warning, is greater now than it has ever been.

A warning is needed.  When people go through the tribulation, they need to be able to remember that God was fair to warn them first, especially those who do not know that the things they practice, like pagan holidays and using images in worship, are wrong.  And the Bible makes clear that it is God's way to warn before punishing.  He does this in love and wisdom, to give the wicked time to repent, and He commands us to deliver His warning to the people (Proverbs 24:11-12, Ezekiel 3:17-21, Ezekiel 33:1-9, Isaiah 58:1).

But we are not doing it.  We try, but so far no one has succeeded, except on a very small scale, totally inadequate for the requirements of the task.

Why?

I wonder about that.

Part of it, no doubt, is because the Church as a whole is Laodicean, not Philadelphian, and the open door is only for Philadelphians (Revelation 3:7-13).  Yet, there must be some Philadelphians even if they are scattered.  Why is not a wide-open door open to a small group of them?

I have said many times before that the Church needs to teach its members to believe the Bible more than the Church because believing the Bible more than their churches is what we ask the public to do.  I still believe that is important.  Until we do that, we will not succeed.

But something else, something in addition to the above, has recently occurred to me.  I am researching this, and what follows must be considered speculative.  I invite readers who are on fire for the gospel and the warning to also research this.  I have an open mind.  I could be wrong, but I am trying to research it, and I may publish what I learn in a few months.

I invite discussion and ideas on this.  I am not at all sure that I am right, and I am looking for answers.

The title of this post asks the question, does Mystery of the Ages say too much?  But I don't just mean only that one book.  I use it to represent the whole body of truth and doctrine that Mr. Armstrong and the Church of God has taught.

Perhaps some things should be taught to the whole general public on the Internet, in the magazine, in books and booklets offered to everyone which they can receive just by sending in a request card, yet other things only taught to the Church and to those who begin to respond with tithes, offerings, one-time donations, requests for visits, questions or comments sent in by mail, email, or telephone call, etc.  Perhaps some subjects should only be taught in literature or DVDs offered to those who start to respond with more than a routine request or renewal of a magazine subscription or routine response to a radio or TV broadcast - something that shows more than routine interest.

Our example is Jesus Christ.  When we are perfectly trained, we will be like Him (Luke 6:40).  How did He preach the gospel?

When Mr. Armstrong discovered the truth, even as he discovered more new knowledge as God revealed it to him through the Bible, he shared the vast majority of it with the public on radio and TV, in the magazines, and in books and booklets offered in the magazines or on radio or TV.  He followed the example of how Paul taught his congregations, declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27).

Yet, most people are not called.  "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).  Most people are deceived by Satan, for Satan deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

Mr. Armstrong certainly knew this, and it was one of his major teachings.

But he proclaimed the truth to the public, even knowing most would not "get it".  He trusted that God would allow those who are not called to be blinded and those who are being called to be able to understand and believe.  And so it has been.  Most people have not responded to our message, but some have, and some of those have come into the Church.

But is that what Christ did?  This is important because He is our example (Matthew 10:24-25, John 13:15-16, 1 Peter 2:21).

Did Jesus teach everything to the crowds, trusting that God the Father would move and work with and inspire those God was calling to Christ to understand and letting the rest be blinded by Satan?

No, not exactly.  There is certainly an element of that, but Christ did more.

Jesus knew what the Father was doing, and He actively participated to help the process.  He deliberately hid from the crowds those things that the Father did not want the crowds to know and understand.  He did this with parables.  He did not just teach the crowds everything clearly in plain language so they could understand the "plain truth", leaving it to the Father to let them be blinded by Satan.  Jesus said He only said what the Father commanded Him to say (John 8:28, John 12:49-50), and that includes consideration of who He was speaking to.  

He didn't tell everyone everything.

Ask anyone in the Church, why did Jesus speak in parables?  The answer you are likely to receive is, to hide the meaning.  That is something we clearly know, and that is right (Matthew 13:10-17).

But that does not mean that hiding the meaning was the purpose of every parable.  It depends on the parable and the audience.  In some cases, parables actually did make the meaning clear.

Did Jesus sometimes speak in a parable to make His meaning clear (as the world thinks He did)?  Yes.  Here are a couple of examples.

One asked Him about how to have eternal life and about the commandments (Luke 10:25).  Jesus answered him affirming that He should love his neighbor.  The man then asked Him, who is my neighbor?  Jesus then gave the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:26-35).

Did the man understand the parable?  Did Christ give it to make the meaning of loving one's neighbor clear?

The answer comes when Christ asked the man, which one in the parable was neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?  The man answered, the one who showed mercy on him.  Was that correct?  Yes.  Jesus said, go and do likewise (Luke 10:36-37).  

It is obvious that this parable was given to make the meaning clear, and it succeeded - the man understood.

Another example is when Jesus told the Pharisees the parable of the vineyard and its owner.  They became offended because they understood the parable, that it was against them (Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-19).  This parable was not given to hide the meaning from the Pharisees but to make it clear, at least to some extent.  They probably didn't understand it fully in its depth, but they understood it enough to know it applied to them, and they were offended.  Yet Christ gave it to warn them.

You can do a Bible study on the parables of Christ and look for a pattern on what kinds of parables - what subject matters in other words - were given to hide the meaning and what were given to make the meaning clear.

What I think I have found so far (I am still researching this), and what you may find in your own research, is that Jesus made things clear regarding right and wrong - how people should obey God's law and commandments - but he hid the meaning when it came to the secrets of the kingdom of God.  

He taught the crowds what they needed to do to repent.  He taught them the coming kingdom of God.  But He did not teach them the secrets of God's plan and how He is working things out - the secrets of the kingdom of God.  He hid those things by teaching in parables that the crowds could not understand.

But to His disciples, not just the twelve but I think all His disciples - those who responded to His message and wanted to follow Him (many became the 120 on Pentecost, see Acts 1:15), He explained everything, explaining the parables and making the meaning clear (Mark 4:33-34).

He taught right and wrong, the need to repent, and the good news of the coming kingdom of God to the crowds, but to His disciples He explained everything including the secrets of the kingdom of God - apparently the details of God's plan.

Maybe that is what we should do.

Mr. Armstrong thought that, because the end of this age was near, it was God's time to reveal everything to those willing to listen.  

But the end of the age was not so near in Mr. Armstrong's time as he thought.

Mr. Armstrong thought what He was doing was preparing the world with a warning and the good news.  But God knew better.  What Mr. Armstrong was really doing, from God's point of view, was building the Church only, but Mr. Armstrong did not know that.

But the time for warning the world has come to us today.  Probably most of the people we preach to from now on will live into the great tribulation.

I suggest that one reason God has not yet given us the open door is that we explain too many things to the general public before they begin to respond.  It is not God's will that everybody knows every secret of His plan at this time.  After they begin to respond, it is different.  We can offer them everything.  But not initially.

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces" (Matthew 7:6).

To do this requires a change in literature and broadcasts.  We have to do Bible studies, research, etc. on the criteria for evaluating doctrines - what kinds of things should we teach to everyone and what should we teach only to those who begin to respond.  

For example, we have to teach the good news that Christ will return to rule the earth and bring happiness and justice - that is part of the gospel.  We have to preach salvation through Christ - that is also the gospel.  We have to deliver a warning message - God commands that in Ezekiel and elsewhere (Proverbs 24:11-12, Ezekiel 3:17-21, Ezekiel 33:1-9).  We have to cry aloud and tell people their sins (Isaiah 58:1).

But maybe we shouldn't teach the white throne judgment, that people are not being judged for what they do now until a general resurrection ("you can do anything you want now and still be saved later").  Maybe we shouldn't teach everyone that God is only calling a few now.  Maybe we shouldn't teach everyone every secret of God's plan until they show some response to the first body of doctrine.

It's not a matter of what we teach but the order in which we teach things and to whom we teach them.

Once we build a list of criteria from the Bible we can apply that list to a list of every doctrine we believe and teach and determine what should be taught to everyone in the general public and what should only be taught to the Church and those who begin to respond to our message.

We then prepare two bodies of literature, TV messages, and videos.  One will contain necessary knowledge for the public, and the other more complete teaching will be offered to everyone who shows more than routine interest.  The first body of teaching will be offered freely to everyone in the public, the second body of teaching to those from the public who begin to respond in some meaningful way.

Is this really God's will for those to go through an open door?  Or am I crazy?

I may be wrong.  And if I am wrong, I am willing to admit it.  But right now, I just don't know one way or the other.  This idea seems somewhat radical even to me, yet the scriptures I found seem to back it.  I hesitate to even publish this post, but the Bible support is too great to ignore this possibility.  So I want to bring it to the attention of others who can also explore it.  I want to open discussion on this.  In a multitude of counselors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 24:6).

I want to get the opinion of others.  I offer this to my readers in a spirit of "iron sharpens iron".  Let's talk about this.

There is a way to test this.

Someone, some fellowship, should try it.  Do the research, prepare lists of doctrines for the two kinds of literature, publish something just for the first body of doctrine for the public leaving out the secrets of God's plan, and see if God blesses the effort.

Then we will be following the example of Christ who hid the secrets of the kingdom from the crowds.

Mystery of the Ages has been an excellent vehicle for teaching the Church of God, but not so successful in preaching the gospel to the world.  Maybe it says too much for that second purpose.  God did not give it wide distribution in the world.

But to test this idea requires that any fellowship that does this be qualified for the open door in other ways also.  You cannot expect God under any circumstances to bless a fellowship with an open door if that fellowship does not practice a Philadelphia-level of faithfulness.  A fellowship that tries this must be Philadelphian in character right straight down the line.

Specifically, I think to receive a wide-open door for preaching the gospel and the Ezekiel warning as Mr. Armstrong had, a fellowship must be led through hierarchical governance from the top down with one leader reporting to Christ - not elected by the voting or balloting of men.  It must have a leader and ministers and members who are striving with all their being to obey God's commandments and put sin out of their lives.  They must have zeal for the gospel and the warning message - on fire for the work.  And they must teach their members to believe the Bible more than COG leaders, ministers, traditions, and their own opinions.  Along with that point, to maintain unity, members must be taught not to contradict the ministry in conversation with other members.  You can't have members believing their churches contrary to what they see with their own eyes in God's word, but neither can you have members promoting their own pet theories with the membership.  We must not make idols out of our leaders, ministers, and traditions.  We must let God correct us and teach us new things from His word, even while we respect the authority God has given the ministry.

I don't even know if there is any COG fellowship today that does all these things.  No wonder we are failing.

But if there is such a fellowship, or if such a group arises in the future, if some leaders step out on these principles to revive the work of God and others gather to them, then what I have described in this post is something they can try.  God will make it known if He blesses it or not.

All the literature we have produced is still useful for the Church membership and for all who show more than routine interest.  But a new group of literature can be developed that only teaches the things God wants the world to know at this time even before they begin to respond.

If a fellowship is new, it can try offering the total package to the whole public first, as Mr. Armstrong did, and see if that works.  Then, they can try to offer only that part the public should know without the secrets of the kingdom of God, reserving that for those who respond.  See which approach God blesses more.

To the future.