New Moon 1/3/32/120

 

Dear Friends,

Straight and Narrow is the Path which Leads to Life

Matthew 7:12-20 So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.13 Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit.18 A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.

It is easy to find someone or a pastor that will teach any doctrine you and I want to hear. It is hoped that the personal experience of a brethren in the quest for the true Lampstand of God, which must faithfully teach the truth and nothing but the truth, will help at least someone, a fellow human, in his or her quest for the same.

"....there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  (Lk. 15:10)

There are people that will tell you that it is OK to do anything that you want or desire to do. The Seventh Day Adventist pastor who came to my old house 40 years ago, on every Saturday-Sabbath, teaching me the Scriptures, told me that Christ was not born on December 25th. However, come Xmas season, the Seventh Day Adventist Church would send me a little envelope asking for a Xmas donation.

There is an excuse, an alibi, to do anything but what God wants us to do; and every one of our excuses will usually lead us straight to the wide, easy and open path of life which leads to death. Wide is the path that will lead us to self-destruction, but the path that leads us to eternal life is a very narrow and straight path requiring lots of self-control, determination, and a desire and will to do things God's way. The Garden of Eden was closed following the decision (the wide and easy path or road) made by our original ancestors or great-grandparents, Adam and Eve, in following the way of Satan. It was an open and wide path – the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. Adam and Eve believed the lies that Satan told them; they disobeyed and were removed from the Garden of Eden and they died, as they were told they surely would. It was passed down to us all as mortal. We now have knowledge of good and evil, like the elohim, but we have no immortality except through the resurrection of the dead. See The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143).

Genesis 3:22-24: And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%203

The Garden of Eden was closed 6000 years ago, as per the scriptures and recorded history, and an angel (malak or messenger) of God was placed there with a flaming sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:24). Read also the Timeline and study the papers at http://www.logon.org/ or http://www.ccg.org/

Mankind as a whole does not see the “Right Narrow Path,” because it is hidden by Satan (Iblis).
He continues to lead us, the descendants of Adam and Eve, into wrong, broad and worldly ways; his time is up soon. The god of this world, after the closure of Garden of Eden, is now Satan the Adversary.

Witness what the human race under the rule of Satan the Adversary has achieved – the turmoil and miseries –and eventually we all will face death in our own time-frame as allocated. http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p143.html

People either choose, forget, and/or are not diligent enough or ignorant of the fact that by allowing and opening our mind to the wide and open path of satanic deception, to SIN, is the way to destruction and death.  Deception leads to disobedience and/or transgression of God's Commandments, which is SIN.

God knows all our sins: "... for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known" (Mat. 10:26).

SIN is transgression of the Law (1Jn. 3:4). See What is Sin? (No. CB26) and The Relationship between Salvation by Grace and the Law (No. 82).

What are the wages of our sin? “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

The sacred holy scriptures are the Old Testament. Both the New Testament and the Quran are commentaries on the Scriptures. The gospels are a record of Christ and the teachings of the Scriptures. Christ tells us in Matthew 7:13-14: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The great archangel Gabriel told prophet Mohammad: "Ih'dina Sirathwal musthakim" which means: "Show us the straight path”. This is stated in verse 5 of the first Surah (chapter) of the Qur’an. Like the Bible, the Qur’an speaks of a Right Narrow Path to get into the Kingdom of God or Heaven. God, through the great archangel Gabriel, gives a warning to mankind: "Lo! they who deny our revelations and scorn them, for them the gates of Heaven will not be opened nor will they enter the garden until the camel goeth through the needle's eye" (Surah 7:40). Qur’an Surah 7:10-17 says: "God created Adam out of mud, fashioned him and told the angels to fall and prostrate before the man. Iblis (Lucifer) did not obey. God degraded him. Still he asked God to reprieve till the day when the human beings are raised from the dead. It was granted. Then Iblis said to God that he will lurk in ambush of man on God's Right Path. Again he said that he will go upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right hands and from their left hands for God would not find most of them beholden".

http://www.wright-house.com/religions/islam/Quran/7-heights.phphttp://www.jannah.org/qurantrans/quran7.html

Yes, those who live their lives for Satan the Devil and the demons here will not be allowed into the Kingdom of God. God sets the standard. It is God's rule, not yours or mine (2Tim. 3:15-17).

There are only two roads, or paths which mankind chooses. You and I, we are walking down the path of destruction (as decided upon by our original ancestors Adam and Eve), or we are walking down the path of life. We simply cannot walk down both paths at the same time. 

"We cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. We cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. So, shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? When we are eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ, we are eating and drinking the cup of the Holy Spirit and the Law of God. We cannot combine that with anything else. We cannot be part of the demonic system. It is the Exodus and the Passover that places us within God’s structure and gives us eternal life. There is only one bread – the body of Christ – making us all one body in partaking of this one bread. There is only one cup, the cup of the Lord. We had the first Exodus to take us out of Egypt and establish the nation of Israel so that we could establish a place in which God could reveal His Plan through the prophets” (1Cor. 10:21-22) Significance of the Bread and Wine (No. 100)

Reflect upon what we did in the First Month. We participated in the sanctification and fast for the simple and ignorant, we kept the Lord's Supper with the true and correct Body of Christ (through our diligent discernment), the Death of the Lamb memorial service with an offering, the Passover/Night to be much remembered, the Wave Sheaf Service and the full days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We are to put away sins and go and sin no more.

You probably watched the actor Charlton Heston play the role Moses in the film, The Ten Commandments. In that “movie”, there is a scene from the Bible record where the streets are dark and quiet as the angel of death moves down the streets killing all first born males in homes that do not have the blood of a lamb sprinkled on the doorposts. That was the original Passover Feast “Holyday” of the Lord for the Israelites and the strangers among them. The death angel did not inquire who lived there or about good deeds or bad deeds. He just looked for the blood of the lamb. Those with the blood of a lamb covering the doorposts were passed over and allowed to live. Households with no blood covering suffered death.

Exodus 12:11-15 says: It is the LORD'S Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel."http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p101.html

"...The concept of the body of salvation, as we saw was in John 6:58. The bread, which came down from heaven not such as the fathers ate and died, but he who eats this bread will live forever. We saw that manna was the prototype and the bread was from heaven, and that Christ clearly said that the breaking and taking of the bread was his body. The blood being the necessary blood sacrifice, but also there are a lot of other symbolisms in the concept of blood and using the wine. The concept of Christ’s covenant being with blood can only be once, as the Spirit is not flesh and bone. Christ could only have sacrificed once and for all. We cannot have two sacrifices. Messiah could not die more than once. He had to come down as flesh, and then he became Spirit. Spirit is not flesh and blood, so there could be no sacrifice other than once.  
There was no blood sacrifice in the spiritual realm. Therefore, the entire rebellion in the Host had to have, of necessity, one person become a man and die. There had to be a blood sacrifice equivalent to redeem the Host. Yet no spirit could do that. No spirit could redeem the Host through sacrifice. One of them had to become flesh in order to die, and Satan wasn’t prepared to do that. Christ was, and that is the difference. That is the Cain and Abel analogy where Abel’s sacrifice was more acceptable than Cain’s sacrifice. There was no sacrificing in the fallen Host. Our leadership is one of self- sacrifice, of laying down our life for our brothers. In order to redeem everyone to God we have to be prepared to lay down our own lives, as Christ our Master did...." http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p100.html

In the Scriptures, Jesus declared : "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (Jn. 14:6).

Matthew 7:13 Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?

A question to ask: “Which path has the most followers?”
The Lord said that the many are in the broad wide path, which is leading to destruction; while only few are found in the straight and narrow path.

Another question: "Why do so few choose the narrow and straight path?"
Yes, “Why do so few walk on the straight and narrow path?”

The question and story is 6000 years old and the answer is found written in the scriptures, painfully written down and preserved for the human race. Think about that. Selah.

Most so-called Christians think that when they die they go to heaven if they are “good” but teach that Christ did away with the law, and they do not keep the Commandments of God. They do not read the Bible and know nothing of the plan of God and the two Resurrections of the dead. They do not enter the Kingdom of God themselves and, by their teachings, prevent those who would do so from entering. Anyone that says that when they die they go to heaven shows thereby they are not Christians but Gnostic impostors.

Now that there is an angel guarding the way to the Tree of Life, is there a way, a path, or a road to go back or return to the Garden of Eden condition?

The great angel of Old Testament, our master and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Priest-Messiah and our coming King-Messiah, tells us to enter through the narrow gate which only a few are able to find.

Jesus declared: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (Jn. 14:6).  Jesus also said: "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able" (Lk. 13:24).

There are many examples of those who had the faith and courage enough to accept the challenges and the problems they had to face. In Hebrews chapter 11, we read of a number of those who choose to enter the narrow way, the difficult way. In verse 7, Noah was given the most difficult task of building the ark yet, by faith, he moved with godly fear and obeyed. He went contrary to the majority. He lived a righteous life and followed God's commands. How often during those 100 years must Noah have wondered, "It is worth the effort to stand alone, to continue to build in the face of ridicule and sneers." Yes Noah, whatever it takes to serve the Lord will be worth the effort. 

Many have departed from the straight and narrow path due to deception, very often willingly. Many think that they are smarter than Adam and Eve.

There are many false preachers and false prophets in the world disguised as preachers of the gospel. Listen to Peter, "But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their lascivious doings: by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you" (2Pet. 2:1-3). 

Yes, the way of the truth, the straight and narrow path, shall be evil spoken of. Instead they take the broad, wide and easy path. They preach and turn grace into licence for disobedience, doing away with the Law.

Paul warns us about false apostles and deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ (2Cor. 11:13). There are plenty, including many well-known preachers, who claim there are many ways to heaven and that the gate is wide and broad. Many are being deceived. Remember, it is the narrow and straight road that leads to life.

John said, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God'
because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1Jn. 4:1).

Just because one claims to speak truth is no proof that he or she is speaking truth. The only way that we can determine truth is by opening the book we call the Bible and comparing everything that is taught by that book. If someone tells you, "you do not need book chapter and verse for all that we do," rest assured he is a false teacher. Ask your pastor or preacher, “Where is the Scripture for all things that you do”. If he or she says that they do not have scripture for it, you had better think carefully before you accept it.

Adam and Eve should have kept the faith. They could have checked with the correct spokesman and mediator for God, Jesus Christ. But they chose to listen and believed that old serpent Satan, the devil. You and I have the scriptures to check for the true teachings of the original faith once delivered to the saints.

The many have turned away from the narrow and straight way because they do not choose to stay on that way. It is possible to turn away from the narrow and straight way. Just because one enters the narrow way does not guarantee that they will remain therein. It is common knowledge that when we take our eyes off the road ahead of us, our car, inadvertently, follows the path of our eyes. The idea that "one cannot fall away from the grace of God" is a false notion or doctrine.

The apostle Peter has warned and we better take heed: "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them"(2Pet. 2:20-21).

It is the few who enter into eternal life in the First Resurrection through the narrow gate: "He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved" (Mat. 10:22).

Permit me to share with you a personal experience. Before I was first called into the body of Christ, which is the Church of God which is the Temple of God, which Temple we are, I was evaluating the churches with which I came into contact. First was the Catholic Church. I took up their correspondence courses and attended one service in a Catholic Church, which was next to our old house. That was about forty years ago (now the whole land gave way to and became a highway – i.e. a road path and roadtoll. 

I also completed all the three levels of the Seventh Day Adventist Church’s Bible correspondence courses. Then, a pastor from the Seventh Day Adventist Church came to my old house on every Saturday for two years teaching me the Scriptures. After the two years, the pastor asked me whether I was ready for baptism. I asked the pastor why the Seventh Day Adventist Church consistently sent me an envelope for a Xmas donation for the past years, whenever December 25th approached. I asked why they would do that given the fact that Xmas was not a commanded Feast of the Lord, and Christ was not born on December 25th? The pastor replied that Adventists wouldn't, and do not, celebrate Xmas. He taught me scriptures, and Matthew 15:6-9 states clearly: "... you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophecy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honour me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." 

The Seventh Day Adventists knew better. They knew that Xmas was a pagan festival and they taught me that it was contrary to the Law of God (Jer. 10:1-4). If Xmas is a pagan festival and not a commanded Feast of the Lord, you don't and won't celebrate Xmas and you don't ask for donations on Xmas. Yes, I could only see that the people claiming to be preachers and ministers are in direct breach of Matthew 15:6-9 and the Law of God. So I was not convinced and I told the pastor that I was not ready. Why should I be baptised by a pastor of a church that acted contrary to the command of God? Did they even have the anointed authority to baptise me? I doubted that they did.  

I also attended a Baptist Church (invited by a classmate) that spoke in tongues. I was not convinced that they were preaching according to the Scriptures; they were so emotional, with some fellows crying and some on the floor wriggling like a snake or drunkard. My classmate told me that this was part of their tongue-speaking and that the “Holy Spirit” was entering into them. In my mind, I thought that this could not be a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, which confers a sound mind. During that same period when I was doing the Bible Studies with the Seventh Day Adventist pastor, my classmate brought The Plain Truth and Good News Magazine to the classroom and I picked them up from him. I then wrote in and subscribed.

Their messages made more sense than all those I had studied and I told myself that these Worldwide Church of God's ministers and people seemed to be faithfully keeping the commandments of God in accordance with the scriptures, and they appeared to be more holy. Over the years, I learned then that there were some “bad hats” among them. In fact, there are also too many who have allowed deception to control their mind instead of following the plain scriptures, the Word of God, which say that: "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom. 7:12).

Like the Psalmist, Paul internalizes God's commandments: "For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self," (Rom 7:22). The apostle strongly denounces the idea that Christians, through faith, "overthrow the law," declaring instead that "we uphold the law" (Rom. 3:31). King David declares that God's word, as expressed in His law, "is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path... all his righteous laws are eternal" (Ps. 119:105, 160).

Commit our way to the Lord and He will establish our thoughts. My sheep hear my voice. If we commit our way to the Lord, we would know and understand that WCG had the lampstand then, and they were the Church of God which followed the Law of God – until they started to attack God's Law by introducing the Trinity in a very subtle way through the teachings of false ministers, and they continued in their attack on God's Commandments. Prior to their attack on God's Law, they were not perfect but at least they prayed to God the Father in the name of Christ and strived and preached the Law, although they did not have full understanding on many biblical doctrines, as we see from some examples below.

Joseph Tkach Senior told the attendees and tithe-payers that nothing would be changed; the Sabbaths, the Feasts of the Lord God and laws of God would be kept. However, he and his ministry effectively aborted the straight and narrow path and decided to declare themselves as part of the majority mainstream, going to the wide and easy path seeking the acceptance of men. He said the church would be judged and he was judged and he died within 40 weeks after his Atlanta speech doing away with the Law. It was a sermon that attacked God's Commandments. (Measuring the Temple (No. 137)

“Herbert Armstrong and his ministry, as well as the so-called prophets of the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, proclaimed the coming of the Messiah in the period 1972-1975. The fact that the Two Witnesses had not taken their place in Jerusalem did not deter them as they had declared themselves as the witnesses promised by Revelation 11:3-13 (see the paper The Witnesses (including the Two Witnesses) (No. 135)). They did not at all resemble those prophets of God but that did not deter any of them. What they had in fact done was to declare their own periods of repentance. The period of forty years, months, weeks or days is an acknowledged period in which God allows individuals, groups, or nations to reflect on their positions and to repent and to come to a position of understanding and compliance with God’s Law and His Plan of Salvation for the individual, or group of people involved.”  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p290.html

“….there are a series of sequences set up to occur for the different purposes of the plan of God within the last or 120th jubilee before the millennial reign of the Messiah. Instead of the Messiah coming in 1975, or the witnesses in 1972, or any combination of those events, the churches were being warned and prepared to get themselves ready for the Messiah and told to repent of their sins and cleanse themselves to be ready as brides of Christ. That they did not do as a body and so the only one capable of being broken down to the Philadelphia system had to be broken down and destroyed. The final fragment of the Sardis system was formed, calling itself the Living Church of God as revealed in prophecy in Revelation 3:1. It retained all the errors of Sardis as it was reorganised by its Sardis ministry.”  Forty Years for Repentance (No. 290)

http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p290.html  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p137.html

http://www.logon.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2008/S_05_03_08.htm

Joseph Tkach Senior, of WCG, gave a speech in Atlanta, on December 17th, 1994, the real intention of which was to do away with God's Law. “The real issue between God and priesthood is the fact that they have set up a false system, which does not honour God. This is the triune system which seeks to assert equality with the Father to other entities, specifically to Messiah, and from this to reduce the impact of the Law of God “
This is explained in the paper Measuring the Temple (No. 137).

“His Atlanta speech is recorded here as a witness against those who did away with the Law of God. The speech is available at WCG's own website here: The New Covenant and the Sabbath
In a sermon given by Joseph W. Tkach Sr. in Atlanta, Georgia, December 17, 1994, He said: “… The old covenant gave us condemnation; the new covenant gives us ...”www.wcg.org/lit/law/newcovsabb.htm   

Well, just what did it give us?

Joseph Tkach Snr. died on September 23, 1995. Joseph Tkach was condemned. He died 40 weeks to the day and hour (adjusted for the time difference in the US) from the time he gave the sermon doing away with the Law. That is the period of repentance. He did not repent and God killed him, and very painfully.”

http://www.logon.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2008/S_05_03_08.htm
http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2003/S_08_09_03b.htm
See the paper Forty Years for Repentance (No. 290).

What was the significance and lesson learned?

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

What do you see and understand brethren? It is a prophecy being fulfilled. There has never been a Church of God for the last 2000 years which has a name that says “lives” or “living” and is dead. Revelation 3:1-2 states: “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”

When a minister forgets the Law of God and starts to speak against it, he is no longer a priest to our God Eloah; and his children will be forgotten. That is scripture and scripture cannot be broken. These antimonians will be removed and rejected.

Romans 1:32 (KJV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them.20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2008/S_04_19_08.htm
“Philadelphia and Beyond - The next church in succession in Revelation 3 was Philadelphia. Most outside of the Sardis era of the Church of God, who believe in Church eras, believe that this was what was once known as the Radio Church of God, and for most, the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) under Herbert W. Armstrong. A major portion of the remnant of this era became the old Global Church of God and then the current Living Church of God (LCG). As the beginning of this article has pointed out, LCG is clearly binitarian (as was quoted in the beginning of this article) as was the Radio Church of God and the old WCG. In the letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, Jesus states, "you have not denied my name" (Revelation 3:8). And while this also has something to do with governance, this may also be distinguishing the fact that the true portion of the Philadelphia church never denies Jesus' deity (perhaps, unlike some who might be part of other eras). The last church in succession in Revelation 3 is Laodicea. This is to be the predominate (sic) church at the time of the end. While its major branches, splinters, and independents are binitarian, it may be possible that it may contain some confused unitarians, though this may be doubtful (see Acts 4:12).  His discussion of the era system of the seven churches of Revelation adopts Armstrong’s claim to be the Philadelphia Church of God and the Church of God (7th Day) was Sardis. He conveniently overlooks the serious facts of Christ’s condemnation of the marker Church of the Sardis era that has the name of being Living yet is dead. It is a fact that his own church, the Living Church of God, is the only church in history to adopt that name and Christ specifically mentions them as being Sardis and being dead.” (B. Theil)

Did Mr Herbert Armstrong and WCG travel on the straight and narrow path?
Mr. Herbert Armstrong introduced and allowed into WCG SEVEN annual offering-collections on the seven Feasts of the Lord when the Bible clearly stipulates THREE offerings only under God's Sacred Calendar. And he also introduced the Hillel-based errors into the Churches of God in the Twentieth Century. Refer to the Letter to the Churches of God re the New Moons and the Hillel Calendar (No. 124B)  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p124b.html

http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2008/NM_03_08_08.htm

"It is also clear that the Church is expected to be keeping the Sabbaths from the time of Christ until his return, and those who teach otherwise are without excuse and will be counted least in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the same way, any person purporting to be a minister of God who teaches against the Sabbaths, New Moons and Holy Days is condemned by God, and the same penalties apply. God and Christ expect obedience of us now. God established a vineyard and left it to His tenants. They disobeyed Him, and when he sent his son to collect what should have been his they killed him and set about abusing each other. The Church is expected to be the loyal servants tending the vineyard in obedience until the very end. The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the whole House of Israel and Judah, his special plant (Isa. 5:7). We of the Church of God are the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, being spiritual Israel...  It is a disgrace that the people of God are not able to keep the Feasts, New Moons and Sabbaths according to the correct Temple calendar. It is a public rebuke and condemnation of the ministry of the Churches of God that such is the case in these Last Days and the ministry will be punished for it. They speak for hire (Mic. 3:11) and God will rebuke them. They are blind guides and those who follow them will fall into a ditch, and indeed have already done so. The whining self-justification of the ministry that argues that the New Moons do not have to be kept condemns them as being rebuked of God and outside of His grace. Their idolatry in not understanding the Nature of God goes hand in hand with their sin. This is Eternal Life that you know the One True God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (Jn. 17:3) (emphasis added).

Letter to the Churches of God re the New Moons and the Hillel Calendar (No. 124B) 

http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2009/S_03_28_09.htm

Refer also the Sabbath Message of 12 March 2005 at

http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2005/S_03_12_05.htm 

There are also the failed prophecies issued by Mr Herbert Armstrong: Quote No 1 from our CCG paper on False Prophecy (No. 269)  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p269.html "Genocide: The concept of genocide was advocated by Armstrong and the RCG in 1940. This demonic idea was “in the air” being spread by the prince of the power of the air, and it was taken up by those claiming to be prophets of God. In 1940 Armstrong said: "God has decreed that Joseph-Great Britain and the United States-are to utterly consume and annihilate the Turks from off the earth!" (Herbert Armstrong, The Plain Truth, Nov.-Dec. 1940, p. 7) That would have helped a neutral Turkey to trust in their position. Fortunately, Turkey did not pay attention to his raving nonsense, if they even knew of his existence..."

WCG did not and does not understand the Sanctification for the Simple and Erroneous; WCG did not and does not understand the Wave Sheaf or the New moons. WCG walks on the wide and broad path. So, the fact that the demonic concept of genocide was advocated by Armstrong and RCG in 1940 would be nothing surprising.

What the Bible requires us to do we do at CCG; we are required by the command of God to keep the Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous (No. 291). We keep it. "This day we fast for the Simple and Erroneous – those people who are they that are not clever enough to see through the wiles of this world and Satan’s deceptions. Also we fast for and sanctify those who err either through the information they are given or the wrong deductions and actions they themselves make."

http://www.ccg.org/_domain/ccg.org/Sabbath/2008/Sa_03_14_08.htm

Quote from our CCG paper Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous (No. 291). "We observe 7 Abib, the Sanctification for and of the Simple and the Erroneous (Ezek. 45:20). On this day we fast. Why do we do this? Why do we fast? Was not Christ's Sacrifice enough for the process for all time? Are we trying to do something that was done by Christ and usurp Christ's prerogative? Ezekiel 45:20  And so you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who has sinned unintentionally or in ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.(cf. also Heb. 5:1-2.)  The answer is that we do this because it was part of the sanctification process of the Temple system commanded by God, and that which Christ undertook to do when he prepared for the Passover. He undertook this cleansing and sanctification of the Temple. This was symbolised, physically, by the fact that he drove the moneychangers from the Temple. This process led up to the setting aside of the lamb on the Tenth day of Abib, ready for its slaughter on the Fourteenth day of Abib and its consuming in the Night of Watching on the Fifteenth day of Abib"  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p291.html 

Quote No 2 from our paper on False Prophecy (No. 269)  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p269.html 

"In 1974 Herbert Armstrong claimed that:

* After Nixon's resignation, the United States will never again lead the world or be effective in war.

* The US will prove unwilling and unable to go to war to protect world oil supplies from Persian Gulf. 

There have been two wars in the Persian Gulf and Iraq and there is no sign of an end to the conflict. It is escalating and pressure is mounting now on the US. Armstrong and his ministry saw none of this...."

Quote No 3 from our CCG Paper on False Prophecy (No. 269)  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p269.htm "1977 -- Herbert Armstrong had not given up making false statements, even though he had been wrong on every single occasion he made a prophecy. For an unexplained reason, and perhaps he did not know the reason himself, he used the year 1927 as a reference point. It was the previous Jubilee year from the year in which he was speaking, and which was itself a Jubilee year. He could have made some sense of that fact but did not do so. Instead he said: "During this generation-within 60 to 90 years or less-from 1927-Christ will come again...." (HWA, Co-worker letter, Jan 20, 1977, p.4). This was the only prophecy Herbert Armstrong ever uttered that had a chance of becoming true, but at the latter ninety years and not the sixty years which was the earlier period. If he had understood the Jubilee timings and system he would have made much more of this potential period, which was in fact the approximate end of the age. If the six thousand-year period symbolised by the six working days of the week has any validity, and the 4004 BCE date of the Bible Chronology is correct, then Satan’s period of rule ends in 2027 CE. That year is 6,000 years from 3974/3 BCE, which marked the cursing of the Earth and the beginning of the time-frame in the first year of the cycle in 3973 BCE. The time by which it is cut short is the time from which Messiah is sent to the Earth to save those who eagerly await him. This simple understanding was not even comprehended by Armstrong, Hoeh, Meredith or any of the other WCG ministry, or the Church of God (Seventh Day), or the RCG/WCG offshoots; nor by the Adventists, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is the most basic and critical of all the prophetic tables of reference and it was never used or correctly calculated. God’s Calendar is fundamental to understanding all Bible Prophecy. To understand it, we have to keep it properly, and we have to keep the Astronomical New Moons (or Conjunctions) as its basis."

Quote No 4 from our CCG Paper on False Prophecy:-"It has even been claimed by some Witnesses that Loma Armstrong was a Witness herself, and that Herbert Armstrong was inspired and part of the 144,000. This assertion has allegedly been repudiated, at least recently .It is thus not too difficult to see the tangled web of prophecy that has evolved from the exposure of these opportunists to the Mysteries of God within the Churches of God. The toleration of Trinitarianism and Binitarianism/Ditheism in the Churches of God has led some Protestants to claim that their Unitarianism was either non-existent, or derived from their own views, which is demonstrably false. Adventism itself was solidly Unitarian throughout the 19th century, and for the majority of the 20th century. The opportunism of these people harmed the Church of God and its doctrines regarding the Nature of God. The people of the organisations who hold them up to be inspired prophets of God are to be dismissed. More importantly, the second test is applied also to everyone who purports to speak for them, and that is the basic and most important test of all: “Do they speak according to the Law and the Testimony?” And the answer must be “NO!” They do not keep the Calendar of the Bible and the Temple of God. Many mentioned herein do not even keep the Laws of God at all. They knock on one’s door and when cornered admit that the Laws of God are done away. They do not even keep the basic Ten Commandments, let alone the New Moons, and Sabbaths, and Holy Days. Much of false prophecy has been the deliberate insertion of “white ants” in the system. Some of the people who would undermine or exploit it would enter the branches to use and corrupt the doctrines. To this day, CCG has people come in purporting to want to be part of the Church and then spend their time trying to gather information on and attack our people, our doctrines and history. When they find there is not much to attack, they make it up. Sometimes it is to cover their own particular corrupt activities or weaknesses. “

Some of the more unbalanced individuals allege all sorts of things that on investigation are figments of their own warped imaginations. Each allegation is independently investigated, as our Constitution requires, no matter whom it is against.  Reformed alcoholics, or “wowsers”, allege alcoholism, when their definition of an alcoholic is anyone who drinks at all. At best, they seem to think that an alcoholic is someone who drinks more than they do. Some people see conspiracy theories. Some see Freemasonry everywhere. Sometimes it is Masonic people who try to undermine us for many reasons down to simple monetary gain. Some people even claim to be ex-Masons, when they are not, for whatever reason. Sometimes the unbalanced allege mental problems in others. Sometimes the people attacking us are ex-Churches of God, or Catholics, or Baptists, or Adventists, or Animal Liberationists or whoever. The thing they usually have in common is that they seem to want to attack someone, and at that time it happens to be the Churches of God we represent. Often people want to put their particular twist on doctrine and that is usually how the false prophecies intrude into the Mysteries of God.
 
Many of these people are businessmen like Charles Taze Russell and F. B Rutherford, and to a lesser extent Herbert Armstrong, who saw opportunities to milk a gullible public who were not dedicated enough to follow the Bible teachings fully and correctly. To be fair, it is important to note that each of us starts out in a world that has corrupted the Bible and when the Bible is studied it is found to be far different to what is taught by the so-called Christian religions. That is the story of most of the members of the Churches of God. We come to the truth out of a desire to know the truth, and that is where these false teachers are most culpable. They intrude on the capacity of the elect to reach the truth from their own self-interest.

The only thing of which we can be sure is that each person called into the Body of Christ is a sinner, and in need of baptism and the Holy Spirit. All of us have sinned. Some of the brethren have committed crimes and some of those have been tried and sentenced. It is matter of doctrine that we are not to idolise men and organisations. The success of the Body of Christ depends on the faithfulness of each person in it to the truth and the Mysteries of God." (False Prophecy (No. 269)  http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p269.html

The false prophecies are also a public record now at Wikipedia under the Notes Item 86 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_W._Armstrong#cite_note-85  "The Painful Truth: Ambassador Report: A Treasury of Famous Prophecies." http://www.hwarmstrong.com/ar/Prophecies.html. 

Joseph Tkach Senior spoke falsely when he told the attendees and tithe-payers that nothing would be changed, the Sabbaths, the Feasts of the Lord God and laws of God would be kept. He lied and spoke against the law of God and was killed for it.

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Don't ever lose knowledge of that statement and prophecy.
After WCG's choice of acceptance for the wide, open and easy path instead of the straight and narrow path, we once asked a pastor of WCG whether we could hang up a wooden portrait of Jesus (a gift given to us by one Dr friend) on our home wall; he told us that it would be okay. He said it was a portrait of art. We were quite brainwashed to go along with WCG's wide and easy path and we hung the portrait on our wall on the basis of the assurance provided by our "pastor". Yes, that is rubbish, as the Law on graven images is clear in Exodus 20:4 but we breached God's Law on graven image/idol and we relied upon the advice of a pastor. Upon realisation of our sin, we repented and took out the portrait and put it upside down as a wooden walk-path in the garden; the wood subsequently deteriorated and was disposed of. We had dinner on one occasion with the pastor and his wife and we discussed the doctrinal changes regarding the Law of God. After the dinner, the same pastor's wife told my wife to tell me not to be so stressed. She confided in my wife that they had themselves came to the cross-road of "choosing between God and the Church".

That was a startling and astonishing revelation and confession! If WCG represented God, there would be nothing to choose from between God and the Church. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to discern that fact. So this minister and the wife knew better. They decided to go along the wide and easy path of a church which turned its back against God's Commandments, and preaching heresy also – e.g. the Trinity which is in itself a breach of the First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no other god besides me" (Ex. 20:3). God is ONE and NOT three in one or one in three.

The pastor continued to preach their new doctrines (which included their triune god) contrary to the scriptures, until retirement; the wide and easy path. We have prayed for their repentance and for the repentance of all other simple and/or ignorant. Will these ministers, and all others, including the fallen Host, repent and walk on the straight and narrow path which leads to life eternal?

And we were once the sheep to these ministers, listening and learning from them. As sheep, we looked upon the pastors to help us out in our spiritual needs. None ever bothered to come to our home to go through the scriptures to establish and confirm whether their so-called new covenant doctrines were biblical or the corruption of the original faith that it was. When we requested that an open dialogue be conducted, our request was sarcastically replied to the following effect: if there was a quorum for attendance? Yes, even if my wife and I were the only ones present, it would constitute a quorum for the dialogue. Such behaviour was compared to the pastor's eagerness to come all the way from his home to see us at our office and asked us whether we would be interested to invest in some unproven investment, which we declined.

There was another minister who sent me one of the worst sites preaching the doing away of God's Ten Commandments. I told him that I had read that site earlier and that they were preaching lies. I asked that minister to tell me, which of God's Ten Commandments was bad for him and me. He replied and told me that all of God's Ten Commandments were good. Then I asked him why would you then say the Commandments were abolished; he kept quiet and decided not to have any further discussion.

Why would the Churches of God go into the preaching of antinomians doing away with God's Law? For those who speak against the Law and Testimony there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20). Adverse results will follow for those who preach against the righteousness of God, which is mirrored in His Commandments as they proceed from His nature: "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them" (2 Pet. 2:20-21).

God’s Word is clear: "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (Rom. 7:12).

What amazes me the most is when these pastors, claiming to preach the truth, fall short on God's Commandments and His glory, they don't repent. One would have thought that the solution is simple: REPENT! When we breach a Law of God, we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness; Christ says: GO and SIN NO MORE. We all fall short during times of weakness and we ask for forgiveness. But no, instead of repenting they go further by even teaching and preaching to others that we are under grace and not under the Law.

Study your Bible and read these papers if you are still lost walking in the wide and easy open path which will lead to destruction and death. If the Commandments were abolished then there would be no SIN at all because SIN by definition is TRANSGRESSION of the LAW (1Jn. 3:4). The Relationship between Salvation by Grace and the Law (No. 82); Know Ye Not? (No. 84); The Old and the New Leaven (No. 106a); Love and the Structure of the Law (No. 200); Distinction in the Law (No. 96) 

Had Lucifer been obedient to God and His holy, perfect and righteous Commandments, Lucifer would have an obligation to teach the whole and full TRUTH to Adam and Eve. But Lucifer didn't; he told some truth but mixed it with lies to Adam and Eve – and our ancestors died for their sins, which was transgression of the Law.

The test is: "If they speak not in accordance with the Law and Testimony, there is no light in them" (Isa 8:20).

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”

Proverbs 16:25 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

Job 38:1-4 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding,"

Job 40:1-4 Then the LORD said to Job, "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it. Then Job answered the LORD and said, Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth."

The Straight and Narrow Path
We have seen that the straight and narrow path is the way to salvation from Matthew 7:13-15.

http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p151.html

Church Groups

“There were thus five Church groups extant over the centuries within the nations that were acceptable to God. They are known by the names of the Churches in Revelation 2-3. These are the Ephesian, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatiran, and Philadelphian. The later eras of Sardis and Laodicea failed as Churches and only individuals make it into the Kingdom of God.

The Church of God is thus not an organised structure. It is not a world organisation which has material wealth. Its servants are not of this world. There are differences of gifts but the same spirit, many ministries or administrations but the same Lord, and many operations but the same God operating all things in all (1Cor. 12:5,6).

The Time of the Gentiles is a significant time in the history of the Church. There is a duality to this sequence (see the paper The Fall of Egypt: the Prophecy of Pharaoh's Broken Arms (No. 36)).

From the period 605-525 BCE we emerge seven times later at 1996. The Times of the Gentiles or nations is finishing and now the time of the union of the world system under the final empire of the Beast has come.

The periods are significant. It was 1,000 years from David’s entry to Jerusalem to the birth of Messiah. It was a further 2,000 years to 1996-97. This period begins the ‘period of the wars of the planet’. This period lasts 30 years.

Our job is to do the work of the Last Days. Our purpose is to be called out and prepare for and do the job Satan and the demons should have done. Our job is to prepare to teach and lead in the Millennium. At the Second Resurrection we have the responsibility for helping the entire planet under judgment. We will also judge the demons (1Cor. 6:2-3). They will probably repent, given our example and intercession. Satan will probably repent. God does not want any flesh to perish (2Pet. 3:9). However, all flesh shall perish together and return to dust (Job 34:15). Thus, there is a planned end of the physical creation.

The demons will be reduced to flesh in the Second Resurrection. This is the meaning of Ezekiel 28:8-10,19.

Ezekiel 28:8-10  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. 9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. 10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. (KJV)

Some see the promise of the First Resurrection and seek baptism, then find difficulties. We are one family, but only in obedience to God.

Remember the time when Mary and Christ’s brothers and sisters came to see Christ at the house. He made the point then as to who constituted his family.

“Matthew 12:46-50 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. 47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (KJV)”

One of his brothers, James, became Bishop of Jerusalem, and was martyred in 63 CE (cf. the papers The Sign of Jonah and the History of the Reconstruction of the Temple (No. 13)) and The Virgin Mariam and the Family of Jesus Christ (No. 232)). God knows His Church and gives them to Christ.

God’s omniscience is understood as the knowledge of all true propositions.

God predestines the elect through this omniscience. The question then arises: “Do people know if they are predestined?” This is the most dangerous doctrine in the Bible. Calvin understood at first, but apparently not later. The Germans developed the doctrine into Antinomianism. They reasoned thus: "If I'm predestined, I can do anything". Once saved always saved.

This doctrine of Antinomianism is anti-God because it is anti-Law (corrected). We know that God's Law proceeds from His nature, being perfect, holy and righteous. "The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12).  all his righteous laws are eternal" (Psalm 119:160). "

We can't understand the Bible if we don't obey. The correlation between what we say and do allows progression to the next level of understanding. Few are chosen to be called. The elect are taken two of a family, one of a city (Jer. 3:14). We are now in the last phases of the Last Days.

We will have only three-and-a-half years after the Two Witnesses arrive in Jerusalem. We must then work furiously over that last 1,260 days. Christ will not be in Petra and nor will the elect be in Petra. From Matthew 10:23-28, we will be under persecution. From 10:23, we will not have finished fleeing through the cities of Israel before Christ returns. This is an ongoing process.

The Two Witnesses finish the job. They speak according to the Law and the Testimony. The difference is that they will cause affliction and plagues in concert with what they say.

The final work will be done by the power of the Spirit. It will not be done by money and physical resources.

Our obligation is to continue the work with all our might until the Messiah comes. The elect who obey the Commandments and the Testimony of Jesus Christ, regardless of the persecution they face, are the elect of the First Resurrection.

God perfects the elect by their trials so that they are refined as gold is refined. We proceed by faith.”

Examine the gate you have entered into and see whether it is a narrow and straight road which you are traveling on. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God' because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1Jn. 4:1).

The only way that we can determine truth is by opening the Bible and comparing everything that
is taught by that book. You and I have the scriptures to check for the true teachings of the original faith once delivered to the saints.

“The people of God are those who obey the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. The General Multitude are those who keep those two elements and are given the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb (Rev. 15:3). The Song of Moses is found in Deuteronomy 32. God will hide His face from Israel to see what its end will be, for they are unfaithful and perverse (Deut. 32:20). They have both Songs because these two elements, the Commandments of God and the Testimony of Messiah, are necessary to inclusion in the elect”

The punishment for eliminating the Sabbaths and Festivals of God and doing away with the Lord’s Supper and removing the accepted names of the Churches of God is death. This year we were fascinated by one church that had changed its name and held all three ceremonies of the Passover season on the one morning service, disregarding Christ’s instructions completely. They no longer make any pretence about being one of the Churches of God

Their destination is the Second Resurrection. Make sure that yours is the First Resurrection.

Wong W. K.
Coordinator for Malaysia: and

Wade Cox
Coordinator General