New Moon 1/2/29/120
This is the New Moon of the Second Month. We have finished the Passover and are now well on the way on the Omer Count of Pentecost. The Passover went well in all nations, in Canada and the US sites, in Australia and in Asia and the Philippines and in Africa and Europe. We were given peace.
From 1 Abib we commenced the Sanctification of the Temple (No. 241) and we cleansed the Temple of God, which temple we are, in preparation for the Passover. On 7 Abib we were in a position to sanctify the Simple and the Erroneous (see Sanctification of the Simple and the Erroneous (No. 291)) and prepare for the Passover.
We were informed on 1 Abib that the 21 days of the Sanctification process in Abib from this year was mirrored on a year for a day basis to the end of this age. The earth and all its peoples will be sanctified for the Millennium under Christ.
This topic was delivered at the Feast and the paper The Sanctification of the Nations is being issued now.
On this month the Children of Israel were well on the way into the Wilderness and they were to face their most serious tests. God made the crossing of the Red Sea possible when all seemed hopeless and the congregation of Israel was at its weakest and most vulnerable (see the paper The Passover (No. 98) and also Moses and the Gods of Egypt (No. 105) and Pentecost at Sinai (No. 115)).
The Church also experiences its trials and tests. Some people are unable to stand alone against the trials and the tests of the faith. God tests all of us like He did Abraham. If we cannot stand for the faith alone we cannot lead others through the trials we are to face.
It is important that you read the paper Samson and the Judges (No. 73). In that paper the timeframe of the seven-year cycles is examined and what is happening is explained. It is important that you understand that those who are called but not chosen can be brought in and taken over the seven years and dealt with and then removed either at the end of their seven years or at the end of the cycle, or during the sequence, depending on their danger or use to the work, or their degree of repentance. Sometimes they lose sight of the faith and stop working at the end of the seven years of their sequence, but they sit on until the end of the cycle for events to take them out. However, their record of production and activity makes it evident that they are not working for the faith in diligence through the Holy Spirit.
“The elect are given the mysteries, as they are ready and it is necessary to reveal the plan of salvation. The Gentiles long to understand the mysteries and resort to violence when they cannot understand or control the process. That is why they seek to destroy the bride when they are thwarted.” (page 13 of 23)
The demons also long to look into the mysteries and to control what we do and say. They are powerless over the plan of God and they hate that fact and they hate us for it. Their spirit of hate and animosity and false accusation is not of us. It is a vexation to the spirit and that is why it is not allowed to be present at the Passover. It must be invited in to enter among us. This Passover we were spared much of its influence and animosity.
We were required to cleanse the Temple and to cleanse ourselves spiritually of the problems we faced. Many aspects of sin were exposed and dealt with by God in the Church this year. The most significant aspects were to do with the questions of obedience and also false witness under the Ninth Commandment. We had never seen this aspect and that of the other Commandments addressed so seriously and decisively before in the Church.
At the feast, the epistle of James to the tribes that were scattered abroad was examined. It would do well for us all to read that epistle and study the concepts of the faith and the sin of Respect of Persons and the aspect of false witness and gossip. The tongue is a two edged sword. As the apostle Jacob, or James says: “Faith without works is dead.” By our works we will show you our faith.
We cleanse ourselves for the feast spiritually but many are not cleansed physically as well. And some times the physical reflects the spiritual elements. God is not dealing with the world at present although He soon will do so. God is concerned with us in the Church and with preparing us for the kingdom.
Often there are many of us that are weak and some in the Churches of God take the Passover unworthily. Some are unfit and have to take the Second Passover.
The Feast of the Passover is a sanctuary for the Church of God. It is meant to be kept as such and people are not to pollute it either by spiritual sickness and sin or by physical sickness. Leave your animosity and contention at home and be reconciled to your brother. Remove the old leaven of malice and wickedness and prepare for the leaven of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Prepare yourselves spiritually and physically.
The rules of quarantine apply in all cases. If you are sick with a contagious disease or illness, or your family is sick, do not bring them into contact with the brethren. Stay at home or in your rooms, both you and your family. Some of our aged people are fragile, and they are susceptible to illness, and may well die from things that a younger person can shrug off.
Isaiah 57:1-2 shows that the righteous shall die and pass away before the troubles or evil to come but that does not mean they can be exposed to disease from failure to quarantine.
Show you love the brethren by protecting them. We were told by one of our young officers that he learned some valuable lessons regarding quarantine over this feast. We should all remember to protect one another and we all know it is very hard with young children, but do your best and God will do the rest.
God spends time dealing with us and our problems and gives us warning of what it is He wishes us to do or not to do, as the case may be.
Sometimes He speaks to us out of the body of the Church. Sometimes He speaks to us through brethren and sometimes through the mouths of babes. If the Holy Spirit is guiding us, we should be ever mindful of what it is that we do and say. We should be aware of what is being said to us and we should examine ourselves to see if what is being said is true.
This period is coming in to one of the worst times in the history of the Church. The period of the Measuring of the Temple has been in progress for years. The capacity to do the work is being reduced by the sins of men. The sheep tear at each other and muddy the waters for their brethren. We are not yet even at war. In the end Satan is attempting to wear out the saints of the Most High as foretold by the prophet Daniel. The great tribulation ahead of us will see the conversion of Judah and the protection of the Church and the First Resurrection of the Dead (Dan. 12:1 ff). The prophecy of Daniel has to do with the period of the last days and the time frames are concerning those days.
We are being prepared so that we can work to the end of our allotted time free from the interference of those who would destroy us.
It is our responsibility to encourage and protect our people. The children need the vision of the Kingdom of God to make sense out of it all. It is our encouragement that gives us all hope. The new ones among us need a stable environment in which to grow. Remember they have to be brought to the knowledge of the faith and to be made stewards of the mysteries of God.
There are still a number of matters that have to be spoken about over the next seven years. Remember that the angels long to look into the things that are revealed through the body of Christ of which we are members and stewards of the plan of God.
Our capacity to reach the nations is increasing. We have few resources but we will reach the nations. Spanish has just passed Indonesian/Malay as our second language with French a close fourth. As our Spanish language papers increase in number they will increase access. At present Spanish is now 40% of the English access rate and increasing weekly.
We will be implementing a new program now to accelerate our Spanish translations.
So also the access of the Indonesians and the Malaysians are increasing in real numbers, if not percentages. All nations are increasing now in their access.
Mexico and Peru, Indonesia and Malaysia are now in the top ten nations on a regular basis and Mexico is often, and sometimes Peru is, the second most prolific nation as far as access goes. The papers are being sent out among the nations now on an increasing basis and God’s word does not return void but will prosper in the thing to which it is sent, or, in other words, accomplish that which God has determined (cf. Isa. 55:11).
It was pleasing to see that the Significance of the Footwashing paper in Spanish, with other Passover papers, were the most predominant Spanish papers accessed and exceeded their English language versions. That tells us a lot about the direction of study in the Spanish-speaking people.
Each of us has a part to play and each of us will be asked to participate. If you are asked to play a part please do what you can to help, as we obviously think you are capable of performing the task.
The capacity for the elect to be called and converted depends on how well we can reduce the mysteries of God to writing and how widely we can make the word of God available.
To frustrate that end, Satan will do whatever he can to stop or corrupt the message being written and disseminated. He will do whatever he can to discredit us. Those who work to that end do his work.
Fortunately God has given us an open door called the Internet and we are able to reach all nations at reasonable expense.
God has taken steps to make sure we are able to stand and to deliver the message as clearly as possible. Those who would interfere with it are prevented from doing so. We are told that it is not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of Hosts (Zech. 4:6).
For those that are newly baptized you will find that things are made easy for you in the early stages of your baptism. Things appear as if by miracle and problems are solved. As you grow in the faith the solution of matters is left more to your own spiritual power. That does not mean that God is any the less concerned for your welfare but rather He is developing holy, righteous character in you on an ongoing basis.
In the same way he ensures that the Church has what it needs to do the job. It will not be done by sin but it will be done as God determines the need. In that way we are in the hands of God always, and He alone determines what we are able to do.
We have been allocated twenty-seven years to compile and complete this work. In the year 2012, at the end of that time, God will give us a new direction. Our capacity to work with one another now will determine what we are able to be entrusted with and to do in the times ahead. After that time, and from the First Resurrection, our tasks will magnify and our faults will be fully corrected. We have seven years left to do the work God has entrusted to us, and the last few years of that period are under great duress and difficulty. The period following 2012 is not ours to determine and they are in extreme difficulty. Do what you can now while the day is still with us and the night has not yet come. From 1 Abib 1987 the forty years of the last generation began. This generation will pass away in the wilderness but during that time it will see the Messiah come in power and glory and establish the Kingdom of God on Earth and we will rule it from Jerusalem.
Our meat is to do the will of He Who sent us and to finish His work (Jn. 4:34).
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
© Copyright 2006 Christian Churches of God, All Rights Reserved
