Sabbath 18/5/28/120
Dear Friends,
It is a function of the Christian faith that each person is guided by truth.
Truth is a hallmark of the genuine Christian (see the paper Truth
(No. 168)). Each of us strives to live honestly and each strives to be genuine
and above board in our dealings with each other. Yet the world seems to be deteriorating
in its attitudes to truth and in its dealings with each other.
One of the often distressing things we see is the constant and often blatant disregard for truth that is emerging and affecting our society at all levels.
Our politicians are increasingly dishonest and the administration that supports them not only lies to them but also they both lie to the parliament or congress and they think that is acceptable in the interest of “security,” whatever that means to them.
Business lies in advertising and thinks that is not only acceptable but also they put pressure on governments to diminish the legislation that controls truth in advertising. Indeed, nations like the US put pressure on trading partners to diminish the requirements of truth in advertising legislation, particularly in ingredient disclosure.
Businessmen engage in corrupt practice and think it is acceptable. When they are caught they think themselves hard done by when prosecuted, yet a common thief would be imprisoned for long sentences for far less serious monetary offences and not question the fact that they were guilty of a serious offence.
Sometimes people commit suicide when they are caught and sentenced
over white-collar crime, and somehow people are persuaded that they should feel
as though they were forced into that situation by the courts that dealt with
them. Often the courts hand out harsher sentences to the blue-collar criminals
and pander to the white-collar criminals as though their offence is a lesser
one.
Recently a number of Australian organisations dealing with the Post and sorting
agencies were going to put cameras above the sorting floors. The employees threatened
strike action on an ongoing basis. They simply do not want accountability. No
one seems to want accountability.
We have to face the fact that criminal activity is becoming endemic in our society. In a while the society will start to completely break down through this criminal activity. The recent Russian experience and its organised crime is an example of what happens when truth is cast to the ground and ethics embrace convenience and moral relativity.
Why is it happening and why does it seem inevitable? The answer lies in the basic ethical principles of the society. The indoctrination of the society is failing and our teaching systems are inculcating improper ethics in our children. They are becoming more violent and more acquisitive and they are not satisfied with what they have.
More importantly, the economic system is more and more geared
through the banks to enslave our young, and our society and the family in particular
is being destroyed because of it. Children are being badly educated and the
fabric of the family is disintegrating.
Our education system is not training people in sound reason and ethics.
For years the Church has dealt with the normal problems evident in human society. People commit sins of all sorts. Over the centuries people have wronged one another, and committed sexual and other sins, and the Church has been able to address the issues and pick them up and dust them off and start again. There has never been a problem of addressing the matter in the context of right and wrong, and usually the truth and facts of a matter are the things to be determined and sorted.
One of the major problems that the Church has had difficulty with is deliberate treachery and deceit. Usually no society that operates in that fashion can survive. When it embarks on that course it often causes untold stress and damage before it collapses, but it does collapse. The Soviet Union and the untold horrors of its gulag system are classic examples. However, generally the people thought that it was a horrendous system and most were too frightened to say anything about it. The Church has often been persecuted over the centuries by systems equally as horrific. The Inquisition was such an example. The theology that backed that dreadful and evil system is still in place and, if it could, it would do the same thing again. One of the blessings of the worldly and carnal systems now in place is that they rightly view this religious predecessor with suspicion and horror.
All of these systems were able to achieve power and oppress the Church because of their mishandling of the truth and their misuse of propaganda.
The Church has always been attacked and penetrated simply because it opposed the theology of the ruling systems of power. It was seen as a deliberate threat to the power of the religious establishment.
The first time the Church was attacked, it was by the pagan system using the Gnostics. Gnosticism had developed three different systems, or like a parasite had attached itself to those three systems and manipulated them. As one subsided, the Gnostics were able to adapt the more successful and to change its doctrines by deceit and by infiltration. In that way, they took over Christianity and also altered paganism and Judaism, which they had also infiltrated and changed.
The practices and theology of Christianity were altered and new doctrines were issued that made it acceptable to the masses that espoused these other religious systems. The Roman establishment used religion as a political force to unify the state, and the army was comprised of a specific religious system, firstly based on the triune system and then that system was adapted to the sun cults and Mithraism. We have had to fight the lies of this system for millennia (see the papers Catholicism Frequently Asked Questions (No. 8) and FAQ Bible Study Comparative Religion (No. 60)).
The Church has always had a different and biblical theology waxing and waning in its understanding like the moon that determines its Calendar. The theology of the Church has been examined in the papers The Original Doctrines of the Christian Faith (No. 88) and Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127).
The problems we have faced over the years in doctrinal fluctuation is examined in the paper Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath Keeping Churches of God (No. 170).
In all these problems the truth has been the key problem. Our enemies have slandered and libelled us. Because they controlled the media, they were able to print what they wanted and thus accuse us without redress.
The Church was bartered and much maligned but it survived. Betrayal came from those who penetrated us to destroy us.
We were accustomed to such attacks, and they occurred because
it was fashionable and the system rewarded those who attacked us.
People now seem to think that the Church will not be attacked, and they are
taken in by those who seek to destroy it. They often express surprise and are
taken in by false statements made by our adversaries.
The Church must always be on its guard against those who would destroy it.
One of the simple ways we can protect ourselves is by going about our business according to our established procedures and legally correct methods. Be correct with one another, and do not lie or malign one another or permit it, and it cannot occur in the Church
There are a number of guidelines we can all use when dealing with one another. Do not make railing accusations and use this checklist.
Often, the most exercise we get is jumping to conclusions. We have seen our
brethren make what are really railing accusations without foundation. They make
them merely because they think that might be what is happening. Just remember,
if you make a false accusation against a brother or sister and you can’t prove
it, you might find yourself before the court of the Church or worse, before
the civil courts, and you might be very badly mauled. You may end up out of
the Church for a spell or you may end up bankrupt.
Sometimes our opinions are better left unsaid. We might think that Mrs X’s outfit
is atrocious but we can be assured that she will not thank anyone for telling
her. Mind your own business. Worse still, do not assume the worst of others
because you think along certain lines.
Often people make accusations against other people because that is what they think or do, and mentally they twist or misplace the problem.
Some people simply lie to hurt others for another agenda. Sometimes, the false statements are because of mental problems. I once knew a person who was picked up walking naked in one of our capital cities. He was taken and treated for the particular mental disorder that he had, and once he was on his medication he was able to see that what he was doing was irrational and contrary to law. Until he was stabilised he was convinced that what he was doing was perfectly rational. He was unable to perceive rationally until he was stable.
On the other hand, I know a minister who, many years ago, placed a woman outside of the denomination as being demon possessed. This decision caused the husband and children untold distress and hardship. She was tested and was found to have had a chemical imbalance that caused her clinical condition. I later informed the minister of that fact and he was shocked at there being a clinical diagnosis. He should have asked that she be tested before he made the silly judgment that he made.
In all cases we have to act and to make judgments in view of the facts we
have. We should make sure we have all the facts and we should strive never to
hurt anyone. We should not conceal the truth to get someone seen in a worse
light than they should be.
When we deal with people and supply a product, it should be under full disclosure
and the product withheld if there is a danger or problem. If we know something
is wrong, we should disclose the fact. If that principle had been followed there
would be no tobacco industry scandals, and no asbestos scandals, and no soy
product dangers. If you have a problem or defective product, then fix it. If
you are making railing accusations against someone and you have been informed
they are untrue and contrary to law, then retract them and shut up about it.
We will always have the less mentally stable among us who have problems with perceptions. We should treat them in love and concern but firmly correct their behaviour.
Many people are misguided by their erroneous perceptions. Some religious leaders make comments that incite others or that are contrary to law. Recently a Muslim cleric made a public statement that said that women who dress inappropriately invite rape. Now to him, inappropriate dress was anything above the ankles. The Bible and the Koran have nothing to say about dress length but they have a lot to say about fornication and rape. This man simply had not read the Bible and his view of the Koran was completely erroneous. In the end, that sort of view will polarise the society and cause intervention in religious affairs. It was said of old, that in the days of the Khans, a virgin could walk from one end of the empire to the other with a plate of gold on her head and be unmolested. Literally true or not, it is a far cry from the situation today and is the total opposite of what this cleric is saying.
Some Muslim clerics make deliberate false statements such as: Any warrior martyr who dies in jihad goes immediately to heaven and is waited on by seventy virgins.
Now this claim is absolute drivel contradicted by the words
of the Bible and the Koran alike. The Bible literally specifies the process
of the resurrection and the early Church stated unequivocally that anyone, who
says they are Christian and that when they die they go to heaven are not to
be believed. They are not Christians. Neither can they be of Islam, as Islam
is a continuation of the faith given to Abraham, and Isaac, and Moses, and Aaron,
and the prophets, and to Christ, and the Church (cf. Surah: Those Who Set The
Ranks).
The clerics in the Vatican are no better as they claimed when John Paul II died
recently that he was in heaven, when the Bible states categorically that he
cannot be so.
Similarly, the Saudi Arabians have changed their calendar so that the first day of the week is the Sabbath or Saturday. That is so that the Juma’ah or Friday is then the Seventh Day of the week and the conflict with the law of God is concealed from the uneducated masses. This claim is arrant nonsense but is what we have come to expect of the clerics of both Islam and mainstream Christianity (see also the papers The Juma’ah: Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285); The Sabbath in the Qur’an (No. 274) and Hebrew and Islamic Calendar Reconciled (No. 53)).
Without truth there is no reconciliation possible. War will be inevitable. Recently we saw four young men, born and raised in England, deliberately blow themselves up in crowded transport to inflict casualties on their fellow countrymen because some irresponsible or insane cleric told them it was a holy thing to do. That will cause a serious conflict and a lessening of religious freedom in the not too distant future.
We must all defend the truth and protect the faith and the brethren from false and malicious statements and ensure that we are not undermined. Preach the gospel with care and concern and with diligence. Protect each of us.
Make no railing accusation against anyone and harm no one. Be true to yourselves and true to your brethren and accuse no one without just cause.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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