Two Phases of Education of the First Generation of Israel in the Millennium

The first generation of Israel in the millennium will need to be educated to live the right way of life.  This will be necessary for them to be fully converted and serve as the model nation to set an example for all other nations in the earth to follow.

The education of Israel will occur in two stages.  One prepares for the other.

In the millennium they will be taught directly by Christ and the resurrected saints made immortal spirit beings.  They will be taught to keep the weekly sabbath.  At sabbath services they will learn God's law.  They will hear sermons expounding on and teaching the two great commandments, the ten commandments, and the statutes and judgments.  They will be taught the true gospel.  They will learn about the kingdom of God.  They will be taught the steps for their conversion and the great opportunity they have ahead of them if they repent and turn to God.  They will learn many things, the same things a prospective member will learn today coming into the Church of God and preparing for baptism.

But that is not phase one.  That will be phase two.  Phase one will come earlier and will teach them things in preparation for phase two.  Phase one will help make them teachable so they can quickly and readily learn in phase two.  What they learn in phase one will prepare them for repentance leading to conversion.  Phase one will increase the chances that they will choose to repent and be saved.  It is a necessary preparation that will increase their chances for salvation.

Phase one of Israel's education does not take place during the millennium.  It happens before the millennium.  It happens now, today, and will continue to happen from now through the great tribulation and the Day of the Lord, right to the time of Christ's return.

What will they learn in phase one?

They will learn that God can be trusted.  They will learn that God is fair and just.  They will learn that He means what He says.  They will learn something about God's holy, righteous character.  Not everything, yet.  But at least the point that God is fair.  "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?" (Ezekiel 18:25).  "The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD" (Ezekiel 6:7).

They will learn something about themselves also.  They will learn that they are not as smart as they thought they were.  They will learn, some of them, that they are not righteous as they thought.  They will be humbled.  "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations" (Ezekiel 36:31).  "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11).

They will have heard the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning preached to them now and in the years just ahead.

Who will preach that to them?  The Church of God.  Us.  Now.  Before the great tribulation and the two witnesses.

Will they believe our message?  No.  Most will not.  Not in this time of peace.

Among the whole population of all the tribes of Israel, all the nations like the United States, Great Britain, etc., will be many millions of religious people.  There will be many Catholics and Protestants that think that they are Christian.  They think they are righteous.  They think they are serving God by keeping Sunday, by keeping Christmas and Easter, by praying to Mary, by bowing down before images of Christ, by believing in the trinity and an immortal soul, etc.

Will they believe us, the majority of them, when we tell them the Holy Spirit is the mind and power of God that flows from God the Father and Jesus Christ, but is not a person?  No.  Will they believe us when we tell them that they should keep the seventh day sabbath and the annual holy days?  No.  Will they believe us when we tell them they should stop bowing down to images and using them as an aid to worship?  No.

Why not?  We can prove what we teach with the Bible.  Why won't they believe the truth?

Because they will choose their traditions over "new truth" from the Bible.  They will reject the Bible, the word of God in print, and they will reject Jesus Christ, the Word of God in person (John 1:1-5, 10-14, Revelation 19:13).  They will not accept new knowledge from the Bible.  They will not let the Bible correct their mistakes in doctrine.  They will not accept changes to their doctrines and traditions.  They will believe their own leaders, ministers, and churches more than they believe the Bible.  They will say, we will believe our teachers in our church because we know they have God's Holy Spirit.

They will be like some in the Church of God today who reject correction or new knowledge from the Bible, choosing to "hold fast" as they call it to the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong and the long held traditions and teachings of the Church of God.

We will also warn them that the punishments of God will come upon them if they don't repent and believe God, believe the Bible.  They won't believe that either.

Then, after a period of time, the great tribulation will come upon them and the two witnesses will begin their special work.  Then they will learn.

They will learn that God's word, the Bible, is true.  They will learn that God means what He says.  They will learn that God was fair to warn them before punishing.  

They will be humbled.  They will acknowledge their foolishness.  They will not say, "God was not fair.  He never warned me that Christmas and Easter are wrong.  I never had a chance."

Instead, they will remember that they were warned by the Church of God.  God, through us, gave them a warning.  They will remember that they had time to study and repent, but they didn't use it.

They will be able to acknowledge their responsibility for scorning or neglecting the warning.  They will be able to say, "This is my fault. God gave me a chance but I didn't take it.  I should have listened.  I wish I had listened."

What an important step that will be!  They will learn that God is fair.  They will learn that God, in His love, wisdom, and power, gave them fair warning before punishing them.  He did that by leading and inspiring faithful members and ministers in the Church of God to be willing to learn new things from God's word and to believe God more than the Church, and thus qualify to say to the public, without hypocrisy, don't believe us, believe God, and then actually do the work of warning with zeal and with power.

That knowledge, that God is righteous and is fair and can be trusted, will be part of the education of phase one.  And it will help prepare them for the beginning of the millennium when phase two of their education will begin.

All this requires that we do the work of preaching the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning to the hundreds of millions of people in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and many other nations that make up all the tribes of Israel.  We need to go all out to get that message out with power.

To succeed we need God's help.  We cannot do it by our human power alone.  And if we want God's help, we should make sure we practice what we preach to the world.  We have to say to ourselves as we say to outsiders, don't believe me, don't believe any man or church or tradition, believe God, believe what you see in the Bible.

And just as we teach the public to learn new knowledge from the Bible and let the Bible correct their mistakes in doctrine, so we must practice that ourselves.  We must be willing to learn new knowledge from the Bible and let the Bible correct our mistakes in doctrine.

And just as we preach to the public that they should believe what they see in the Bible more than their churches and ministers and leaders, so must we believe what we see in the Bible more than we believe our leaders and ministers.

If we do that, if we practice what we preach, God can bless us and use us to teach our nations important lessons about God's fairness and righteousness in preparation for their further education in the millennium.

Three Doctrinal Errors - What Do They Have in Common?

I have noticed three doctrinal errors some Church of God members have held in the last few years.  Recently I have noticed something those errors have in common.  This may explain a situation in which some may hold all three errors.  There may be a reason for that because they relate to each other as I will describe.

I have posted on these errors before, so I will not go into details.  But I will list them and you can look at past posts to get the scriptures and the reasons why they are errors.



Doctrinal Error Number One:  Refusal to Acknowledge Spiritual Healing


The first is the error of refusing to acknowledge the need for spiritual healing or refusing to acknowledge the role that Christ paid in paying the penalty for our spiritual sins so we can be spiritually healed.  Those who hold to this error think that the beating Christ took only paid the penalty of our physical sins - broken laws of health - and only enables us to be physically healed.  They think that the scripture that says, by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5), only applies to physical healing and not spiritual healing.  

But the context and other passages, as well as the logic of physical healing, indicate that spiritual healing is also included.  Christ was beaten and suffered to pay the penalties for both our physical sins and our spiritual sins.  

Death is not the only penalty for spiritual sin.  Suffering is also a penalty for spiritual sin.  Death is one penalty, and Christ paid the death penalty by His shed blood so we can be given eternal life.  But we need spiritual healing of our character also.  If God gave us eternal life without healing our sinful character, we would live forever in misery.  The beating Christ endured and His broken body pays the penalty for all suffering brought on by sin, both the physical suffering brought on by broken laws of health and all suffering brought on by spiritual sin.



Doctrinal Error Number Two:  We Should Only Believe What Mr. Armstrong Taught


Doctrinal error two is believing in and practicing a way of life, a way of believing church tradition and leaders more than God, more than believing what God says through His word, the Bible.  That way of life is opposite of the way of life practiced by Loma Armstrong first, then Mr. Armstrong, then thousands of radio listeners who heard Mr. Armstrong say, don't believe me, don't believe any man or church, believe God, believe your Bible.  This error is manifested by some if they say they will not correct Mr. Armstrong's errors or learn new knowledge to add to what he taught.  Yet in taking this position, they are going in the opposite direction of Mr. Armstrong himself.  

Jesus said that a disciple will be perfectly trained when he is like his teacher.  "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40).  So we will be perfectly trained by Mr. Armstrong when we are like him.

Those who practice this error are making an idol out of Herbert W. Armstrong.  They will deny that, perhaps not realizing that faith is part of worship, and if we have greater faith in the writings of Mr. Armstrong than God's word, the Bible, we are giving Mr. Armstrong faith that belongs only to God.  We are putting our loyalty to Mr. Armstrong's teachings in place of our loyalty to God, and by putting him in place of God we are making an idol out of him.  We are rejecting God's word, the Bible, when we do not allow God to correct our doctrinal errors or teach us new things.  We become like the Pharisees who rejected God's word in favor of their traditions.  They were not willing to accept correction from Christ and learn new things from Him.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).



Doctrinal Error Number Three:  Teaching That the True Gospel Is Not About Jesus Christ


Those who say that Jesus Christ is not part of the true gospel are in error.  Do they think that it is not good news but rather bad news that we can be saved from our sins and enter the kingdom of God - a kingdom whose king is Jesus Christ - because of the sacrifice of Christ?  

Without the sacrifice of Christ no one could be forgiven and enter the kingdom of God.  How would that be good news?  It is the sacrifice of Christ and salvation through Christ that enables us to enter the kingdom of God that makes the news about the coming kingdom good news.



What Do These Doctrinal Errors Have in Common?


Is there a common denominator for all these errors?  Yes.  There is something they all have in common.

All involve rejection of Jesus Christ.

Error one, rejection of spiritual healing, rejects Christ's role in enduring physical suffering in being scourged and beaten, which is represented by the broken bread we eat at Passover.  This error rejects the sacrifice of Christ so we can have our evil nature replaced by God's nature.  Christ suffered so we can be healed spiritually.  Those who hold to that error reject the tremendous sacrifice Christ made by suffering so we can be healed of those things that cause us suffering.  That is not just a rejection of doctrine, but a rejection of Christ and His sacrifice.

Error two, rejection of the Bible as a guide to doctrine superior to the writings of Mr. Armstrong, is also a rejection of Christ.  When we refuse to learn new doctrine from the Bible or to correct our doctrinal errors from the Bible, we are rejecting God's word, the Bible.  Mr. Armstrong taught that the Bible is the word of God in print and Christ is the Word of God in person (John 1:1-14, Revelation 19:13), the same word.  When we reject the Bible, we reject Christ.

The third error in some ways is the most obvious.  Rejecting Christ as being part of the good news of the kingdom of God is a rejection of Christ.  It is a rejection of Christ as the king of the kingdom of God.  It is a rejection of salvation made possible by Christ so we can enter the kingdom of God.

Not everyone who holds one or two of these doctrinal errors holds to all three.  But I think, if anyone holds to all three, that may be a powerful witness that that person is rejecting Jesus Christ Himself.  And if anyone rejects Christ, he rejects the Father also.

"He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16).

It is as if someone is saying, in regard to Christ, I will not have that Man rule over me (Luke 19:14).

In the mouth of two or three witnesses, the truth is established (Deuteronomy 17:6, Deuteronomy 19:15).  Some who hold all three doctrinal errors have a three-fold witness against them that they are rejecting Christ.

Can we expect Christ to give such men an open door for preaching the gospel?

If we reject Christ's word, we reject Christ and the Father who sent Him.  And such men do not have Christ as their head if they are not willing to follow where Christ leads.  

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

Can We Be Too Close to Falsehood?

"Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous" (Exodus 23:7-8).

God's law prohibits lying, and God Himself cannot lie (Exodus 20:16, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18, Colossians 3:9).

But the above passage I quoted tells us not to go near a false matter.  That goes a bit further than not lying.

Some members stay with an organization that they know is preaching falsehood, thinking, "I am not personally lying, so it is not my responsibility".

Maybe.

There has to be a balance here.  We are commanded to attend services if possible, and in this Laodicean era you will be hard pressed to find anywhere a perfect Church of God fellowship that never teaches anything false, much less in your area.  I don't say you should leave an organization over small errors or mistakes.

But if it is teaching falsely on important matters, you may want to review your options in light of the above passage.

But if it is a small matter, stay unless a better option opens up.

Jesus Christ attended Sabbath services regularly (Luke 4:16), yet those services were largely based on the false teachings of the Pharisees.  This must have been frustrating for Jesus to hear false teachings in the synagogues every Sabbath and sit there.  Yet he did it for the sake of attending services on the Sabbath.

Likewise, to obey God and keep the Sabbath, we may have to sit and endure what we know are errors preached by the ministry.

Up to a point.

Philadelphians are those who go out.  The message to the Philadelphians hints at this.  Christ reassures Philadelphians that they will go out no more, in the kingdom of God.  Why would Christ emphasize this reassurance to Philadelphians unless Philadelphians, in this life, have often had to suffer "going out" of an organization?

"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name" (Revelation 3:12).

Some may be staying in a false organization in hopes of promotion.  Maybe they can be ordained as a minister.  If that happens, they then can do more for God's work when and if they eventually leave.  But that promotion may never come, and in the meantime, the clock is ticking to end-time events.  Someone might become a leader of the fellowship they attend.  But that is not sure.  Also, if the whole organization has been compromised for years, if ministers have been selected and ordained and promoted to positions of power based on their loyalty to men rather than to God, what kind of organization would a new leader inherit?  How do you replace long-time compromised ministers with faithful ministers in the short time we have left to do a work?  Decades of unfaithfulness would have to be cleaned up and rooted out, and that would take a long time.  Starting a new group from scratch now rather than later might be a better option. You can start clean.

Christ preached that new wine should be put into new wineskins.  He did not try to reform the Pharisees but to replace them with the Church.

"No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved" (Matthew 9:16-17).

There are many factors to consider, and prayers are often needed for God's will to be made known.

Calling Evil Good and Good Evil

One of the sins God rebukes the people of Judah for is the sin of calling evil good and good evil.  "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20).

We can see this in the world all the time.  Sexual perversion is called good. Teaching about the Bible is called evil and is called hate speech.  Abortion is called, "health care".  Right child discipline is called, "abuse".  There are many such examples.

But this can happen in the Church of God also.

I heard a sermon by a Church of God minister in which he listed learning "new truth" as a sinful compromise along with things like working on the Sabbath, watching our own entertainment on the Sabbath, neglecting attending Sabbath services, being too busy to pray, study, and fast, etc.

What did he mean by "new truth"?  He meant new knowledge.  Specifically, the context indicates he was talking about new doctrinal knowledge from the Bible.  Someone can rightly say that truth doesn't change, and that is technically correct, but our knowledge changes.  Our knowledge can be incorrect.  There can be mistakes in our knowledge.  Knowledge can be incomplete.  As the apostle Paul said, we know only in part (1 Corinthians 13:9).  So when we correct our mistakes or add to our knowledge from the Bible, we are learning new knowledge.  We are learning things we did not know before.  And that is not a sin.  It is good when we let God teach us new things from the Bible.  Calling it sin and comparing it with Sabbath breaking or neglecting prayer, Bible study, and fasting is calling good evil.

Think about it.  If it is a sin to learn new things from the Bible and from God who inspired the Bible and talks to us through the Bible, was it a sin for Loma Armstrong to learn about the Sabbath from the Bible?  Was it a sin for Mr. Armstrong to learn about the Sabbath and the holy days from the Bible?  Was it a sin for Mr. Armstrong to learn about the identity of the lost tribes of Israel from the Bible?  Was it a sin for thousands of radio listeners who heard Mr. Armstrong say, don't believe me, believe your Bible, to look up the scriptures and learn that their old traditional beliefs were wrong and turn to God and let God teach them new things from the Bible?  We would not be here if they had not done that.  Do we call that sin?  Do we call good evil?

Church of God Seventh Day was not willing to learn the new knowledge from the Bible that Mr. Armstrong and Loma Armstrong were learning and teaching.  So God could not use Church of God Seventh Day to do a great work.  He used Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong and the radio listeners who were willing to learn new knowledge.

I cannot imagine Mr. Armstrong calling the learning of new knowledge from the Bible "sin" or "evil".

I wish more people would read Mr. Armstrong's autobiography.

No one should make an idol out of Mr. Armstrong.  You do that when you believe him and his writings more than what you see in the Bible for yourself. That is wrong.

But if you are going to make an idol out of him, at least get to know the idol you are worshipping.  Don't worship what you don't know.  Worship what you know.  Mr. Armstrong put the effort into writing his autobiography because he wanted you to read it.

Learn about Mr. Armstrong before you worship him.  Then decide who you will worship.

You will learn the way of life he lived. He was always willing to learn new truth from the Bible, even when that new truth was contrary to Church of God doctrine and traditions.  

You may say, but he was an apostle and that makes it different.

But he was not an apostle before he was baptized.  He was not an apostle before he was ordained a minister.  He did not think of himself as an apostle for many years.  Yet, he was already practicing the way of life of believing the Bible more than the Church and being willing to learn new truth that the Church of God did not have and did not agree with.

But even if you want to insist that he was an apostle before he was baptized and when he learned that we are required to keep the holy days, contrary to Church of God teachings and practice, Loma Armstrong was never an apostle and she started doing this before Mr. Armstrong and showed him the way.

And thousands of radio listeners did it after Mr. Armstrong told them, don't believe me, don't believe any minister or church, believe the Bible, believe God.

Christ said we would know false prophets by their fruits.  "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matthew 7:15-20).  

What were the fruits of the willingness of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong to learn new knowledge compared with the fruits of those who rejected new knowledge in favor of their traditions?  Doesn't the bad fruit of rejecting new knowledge from the Bible show that that approach is a bad tree?  Doesn't the good fruit of Church of God growth and the conversion and salvation of thousands who were willing to learn new knowledge from the Bible show that that approach is a good tree?  Yet the COG minister I mentioned listed it as a sin.

And what about those today in the world who hear our message, who hear us preach the true gospel?  Is is sin for them to check the Bible and learn new things and learn where their traditional beliefs they grew up in are wrong?

Yet, some in the Church, being part of a fellowship that tries to preach the gospel to the world, in effect asking the public to learn new things from the Bible, allow a minister to call learning new knowledge evil, calling good evil.

And some in the Church of God make an idol of Mr. Armstrong, telling members to believe Mr. Armstrong more than what they see in their own Bibles, and they call that good.  They call idolatry good, calling evil good.

I cannot imagine God blessing such people with success in preaching the gospel to the world when to their own members they teach that learning something new from the Bible is evil, a sin like Sabbath-breaking, while they try to teach new things to the public.

When we reject new knowledge from the Bible, when we tell God not to teach us any new doctrine or to correct any doctrinal mistakes we might have, we are rejecting the Bible and the God who inspired it. Mr. Armstrong correctly taught us that the Bible is the word of God in print and Christ is the Word of God in person, the same word.  When we reject the Bible we reject Christ.

When we reject new knowledge from the Bible we make ourselves like thousands of listeners who reject our message because they are not willing to let the Bible show them where they are wrong in their doctrines.  And as God rejects them until they repent, so He will reject us until we repent.

If we refuse to let Christ correct us in doctrine with the Bible, we may give Him no choice but to correct us with punishment.

We can ignore the Bible, we can ignore and reject new truth and correction, but we cannot ignore trials and punishments designed to bring us to repentance.  "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent" (Revelation 3:19).

God will speak to us one way or another.

God promises us priesthood in the millennium, but not if we reject new knowledge.  "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).

No wonder Christ pictures Himself as outside of the Laodicean Church, knocking to come in.  "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).

Those who refuse to learn new knowledge from the Bible or correct mistakes in Church doctrine are excluding Christ from the Church.  Christ has to knock to ask to come in.

David, a man after God's heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22), and possibly other writers of Psalms, often asked God to teach him (Psalm 25:4-5, Psalm 27:11, Psalm 86:11, Psalm 119:12, Psalm 119:26, Psalm 119:33, Psalm 119:64-68, Psalm 119:108, Psalm 119:124, Psalm 119:135, Psalm 143:10).

We should be willing to let the Bible teach us new knowledge and correct our mistakes.  Jesus Christ endorsed the principle of learning new things.  The Pharisees were not willing to learn or go beyond their traditions.  And the Church of God Seventh Day was not willing to learn the new things that Mr. Armstrong was learning and teaching.

Those who say, we will not learn any new doctrinal knowledge, are like the Pharisees or like the Church of God Seventh Day.  How can God use them?

"Then He spoke a parable to them:  'No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better" ' " (Luke 5:36-39).

"Then He said to them, 'Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old' " (Matthew 13:52).

Those who reject correction and new knowledge from the Bible are rejecting Christ and are rejected Mr. Armstrong who practiced the way of life of learning new knowledge from the Bible and being corrected by the Bible.

Mr. Armstrong said that it is harder to unlearn error than to learn new knowledge.  Let us be willing to let God both teach us new knowledge from the Bible and correct us when we are wrong in doctrine.

The Danger of Lying to Someone in the Church

Most of us are familiar with the story early in Acts of Ananias and Sapphira who died because they lied to Peter.

"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.' Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last....Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, 'Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?' She said, 'Yes, for so much.' Then Peter said to her, 'How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.' Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last...." (Acts 5:1-10).

I have heard this passage referred to by a minister who said that this demonstrated how serious a sin it is in God's sight to lie to a minister.  But is that what this passage says?  Certainly it is a serious sin to lie to a minister.  But if that is all we get out of this, I think we are missing something.

What did Peter say?  He did not say, you have lied to an apostle.  He did not say, you have lied to a minister.  He did not emphasize those aspects of the sin.  He said, you have lied to the Holy Spirit.  Why did Ananias lie to the Holy Spirit?  Because he lied to Peter who had the Holy Spirit dwelling in him.  That is what Peter emphasized.  He lied to someone having the Holy Spirit, and in doing so, he lied to the Holy Spirit and he lied to God.

So according to the way Peter worded it, the seriousness of the sin did not necessarily come from lying to an apostle or to a minister but lying to someone with the Holy Spirit, in other words, lying to a converted Church member.

So it can be potentially just as serious for a minister to lie to a member, or many members if he lies to a whole congregation or Church fellowship, as it is for a member to lie to a minister.

How serious?  God killed Ananias and Sapphira because of their lie.  God killed them because they lied to a converted Church member, someone with the Holy Spirit, and by so doing they were lying to God.  They lied to Peter.

No doubt this sin was made more serious because Peter was an apostle, but that is not the aspect that God emphasizes.

God shows the seriousness of the sin by the example he made of Ananias and Sapphira.  God killed them.

Any minister can make a mistake.  An honest mistake is not a lie.  But it is very serious, and dangerous, for a minister or Church leader to deliberately and knowingly twist scriptures from their intended meaning or tell a lie to his Church fellowship, to a congregation, or to a Church member.  When he is doing this, he is lying to God.  When he lies to converted Christians who have the Holy Spirit in them, he is lying to the Holy Spirit and he is lying to God.  He is committing the same sin as Ananias and Sapphira.

God gives us this passage as an example, to warn us.  This is a warning to ministers and members alike.  If you lie to a converted Church member, you are lying to the Holy Spirit and you are lying to God.

"Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds" (Colossians 3:9).

"You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).

God is reproducing Himself in us, and we are to become like God in character.  And God cannot lie (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18).

I have previously written that if we lie to anyone, not just a Church member, God can bring our ways on our own heads by taking the truth away from us and allowing Satan to deceive us.  We can go into the great tribulation as a result and only wake up when it is too late.

But it is especially serious to lie to other members in the Church of God.

Let us practice the way of truth.  Let us not lie.  Let us put on the character of Christ and God the Father who cannot lie.

Is There Too Much Emphasis on Getting the Bride Ready?

We have all read the scripture that says, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7).  And we are often encouraged to make the changes in our lives we need to make so we can be saved.

It is good to place a certain amount of emphasis on these things.

But making ourselves ready and getting into the kingdom of God - being personally saved - can be overemphasized.

This can be overemphasized at the expense of doing God's work for the benefit of others, especially getting the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning out to all the nations of Israel before the great tribulation begins so that the people know that God was fair to warn them while they had time to repent - to warn them about things they are doing that they do not know are wrong.  To properly repent and turn to God and have faith in God and accept Jesus Christ as personal savior, the people need to trust God.  That trust, and the salvation that results, is made more difficult if people are plunged into the punishment of the great tribulation for doing things God never warned them about - things they think are right because God never sent them a message telling them they are wrong.  They will feel they never had a chance to escape the punishment and that God is unfair.  This will make their repentance and salvation more difficult, and thus, less likely.  Millions may go into the lake of fire as a result.

This situation is not the same as in the first century.  Our time is unique.  The existing generation is part of this age of man when Satan deceives the whole world, yet will live into the millennium.  In that millennium, salvation will be opened to all.  Satan will be put away.  All will be called to salvation.

That means that the messages we preach to the public will be heard by millions WHO WILL BE CALLED.  They may have limited understanding and belief now, but that will change in their lifetimes.  After Christ returns, Satan is put away, and these people are called to salvation, many will be able to remember what we told them.  Our message to them now will be part of their calling and preparation for conversion in the millennium.  That has never been true before.

We are instructing the first generation of the millennium.

Should our primary focus be on helping these people be saved by getting a message out to them or on saving ourselves?

One focus is inward and the other is outward.

"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:35).

Notice Christ said, for the gospel's sake.  That sounds like an emphasis on the outgoing work of helping to save others through the message of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning, not an emphasis on the inward-focused work of getting ourselves ready so we can be saved.

I want to paint a hypothetical scenario to help illustrate this, and I will ask, what would you do?

Imagine that you are attending a Church of God fellowship you regard as spiritually strong and faithful.  You respect the leader.  He is a good speaker, he shows love towards the membership, and he is honest with the scriptures.

Now imagine that the work of preaching the gospel is being done, not only by your own fellowship, but by many Church of God fellowships.  It seems that Christ has opened the doors and the gospel is going out with ever-increasing power to millions, like it did when Mr. Armstrong was alive.  Every week that goes by thousands more people hear the truth for the first time, and many are responding.  All the tithes you and others pay, all your offerings, all your prayers for the work, seem to be producing good fruit week by week.

You are working and have an income and are joyful to be helping to get the message out.

But even while the work of the Church is doing great, conditions in the world are horrible.  The United States is terribly weak and on the edge of collapse.  Europe has become militarily the strongest power in the world.  Conflict between America and Europe is near the breaking point and war can break out at any time.  We are in a severe drought and food shortages are beginning.  It seems obvious that the tribulation is almost upon us.

More than that, it is the time of the year for fleeing.  It is the spring.  We cannot know the year but we can estimate the time of year when the tribulation will begin.

Everyone in the Church of God is anticipating a call to flee to a place of safety very soon.

Then one day, your pastor, the leader of the fellowship you attend, the man you greatly respect, has a special announcement.  He says that God has told him it is time to flee, the great tribulation will soon begin this year.  Maybe he had a dream or a vision.  Maybe God communicated with him some other way.  But the command goes out - we are fleeing now.

Everyone in your group is getting ready to flee.  Things are getting organized.  But all the other COG fellowships are not fleeing.

You know something about the place of safety.  There will be no Internet.  There will be no post office.  You cannot work from home in the place of safety.  You cannot contribute to the preaching of the gospel and the Ezekiel warning.  Going to the place of safety means the end of your being able to send money or help get the message out.  One or more other COG fellowships is not going to the place of safety and they are still doing the work.

And while the work has been increasing, there are still millions yet to reach who have not heard our message.

Any fulfillment of prophecies that directly tie in with fleeing, such as the abomination of desolation, is not 100% clear.  Maybe those prophecies have been fulfilled or maybe not, depending on how you interpret events. But the leader of your fellowship is clear.  The time to flee is now.

The two witnesses have not been made known yet.  Maybe there are a couple of individuals who seem like they would be the ones.  They will be given miraculous power at the very beginning of the great tribulation, after the Church has fled to a place of safety.

That is the scenario.  Here is my question.

Will you go?  Will you obey the pastor of your fellowship and go to the place of safety as he tells you?  Or will you stay behind, risking going through the horrors of the tribulation if your pastor is right?

If you go, your contribution to getting the true gospel and the Ezekiel warning message out to those who have not heard it yet will come to an end.  Fewer people will hear the warning.  But if you stay, you could be buying a lot of suffering and martyrdom not only for you but for your family also.  And if you are weak, you may cave in under duress and torture and sin rather than die for the truth and end up losing your salvation.

And even at this late date, the message can make a difference to those who hear it.  Some may respond positively, even in a few days, even as the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah and escaped punishment (Jonah 3:1-10).  God may spare them from the worst of the suffering and bring them into the millennium.  The message can still make a difference.

Maybe your pastor is wrong.  Maybe his dream was not from God.  "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).  

You want to respect God's government.  You want to obey authority (Hebrews 13:7, 17).  But you don't want to stop helping others while there are still a lot of people to warn.

What would you do?

For myself, I cannot say for sure what I would do in the future.  I have free moral agency, but I cannot make tomorrow's decisions today.

But as I consider this scenario now, I am inclined to think I should stay and continue to contribute to the work while there is still work to do, while there is still the opportunity to help others be saved.  I think that is what God would want me to do.  Not to try to save myself.  To try to save thousands or millions of others.

Paul can be an example.  He said in a certain place that he might be willing to be accursed from Christ, to lose his salvation, for the sake of saving others.

"I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:1-3).

Yes, we should make ourselves ready.  But should that be our primary focus? Or should our first priority be doing God's work of getting the message out to help the salvation of millions?

What is your focus?

The Main Thing Is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

I have heard someone in the Church of God say, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing".

But what is the main thing?

Some will say, "The main thing is to make it into the kingdom of God".

I disagree.

Others may add to that, "and to help others in the Church of God, our brethren, also make it into the kingdom".

Again, I disagree.

If that is what you think, you and I are not on the same page.

"What can be more important than making it into the kingdom and helping the brethren make it into the kingdom?", you ask.

I will tell you.

This is what I think is, "the main thing".

The eternal salvation of millions of people is potentially at stake.  And God's glory and name and reputation for love and fairness for all eternity is at stake, and thus the quality of life in the kingdom forever is at stake.  That is what is more important.  

Here is the situation.

Millions of Americans, Canadians, Britons, and others are headed for the great tribulation without a warning.  They are going to be punished for things like Christmas, Easter, Sunday, etc. they don't know are wrong.  They don't know because no one has told them.  

Without that warning God will seem unfair, and it will be hard for the people to ever trust God and repent.  Many may not be able to do it and will go into the lake of fire and lose salvation forever, and the rest of us can struggle for eternity to understand how God could be fair in not giving a warning while there was time for the people to repent and escape.

That warning has not gone out, and there is not a single Church of God organization that is faithful to qualify to do it, as far as I know.  NOT ONE!  All are disqualified.  

That is why some ordained minister must raise up a new group and be faithful to qualify to get that message out to the millions.  That is, unless a leader of an existing Church of God fellowship repents and follows Christ in the basic principles needed to get the message out powerfully, but that does not appear likely.

This is a lot more important than unity.

If the Church of God won't do it (to our shame), I trust God that He will get that message out even if He has to use a Protestant minister or a Catholic priest to do it.

We have to get the true gospel message and the Ezekiel warning out to all in the nations of Israel.  And if necessary, some full-time minister or local elder, someone ordained as a minister who can baptize, lay on hands for the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and receive tithes, must raise up a new group to do it.

To me, this is the main thing.

If a COG minister who is best qualified and has the opportunity to do it does not want to do it because he thinks some so-called "unity" with Laodiceans is more important, then the job must fall to someone else.

The responsibility is on the shoulders of every minister including local elders in the whole Church of God, whether they realize it or not.

Doing God's essential work for the sake of His name and reputation and glory and for the sake of the salvation of millions is more important than peace and unity in the Church of God in this Laodicean era.

To me, that is the "main thing".