New Moon 1/3/34/120

Dear Friends,

This New Moon we proceed to the Feast of Weeks on the Sabbath and the First day of the week on 4 and 5 June under the pagan calendar. It is at this feast that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Body of Christ who were doing as they were told waiting at Jerusalem. They were there in spite of persecution obediently waiting for they knew not what precisely.

From that Pentecost the church was under attack and it has been under attack for almost two millennia since.  In the Pentecost messages of 2009 and 2010 we were reminded of the growth in Africa and the problems that we faced in the development there.

It is important that we study the following papers this year.  The most important one in relation to the church in the last days is the paper The Pillars of Philadelphia (No. 283). The Church of God in the last days is to be dealt with and there are two major Church of God systems destroyed in the last days. The Sardis system and the Laodicean system are removed from the First Resurrection (see the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143)).

The main section dealing with the church and the shepherds is in the paper Ezekiel 34 and the Shepherds of Israel (No. 108b). God is specifically dealing with the church in accordance with His prophecies of the last days.

This paper was issued some time ago and it explained what God was to do with the ministry of the Churches of God and of our people.

Over the centuries the brethren have been used and exploited by the so-called ministry. In the last two centuries many have been lied to and taught false doctrine concerning the nature of God and the Calendar. Most were the false ministry of the Sun Cults and the Triune God; however, there were a number of them in the Churches of God and they exploited the brethren.

In the last two centuries a false system was set up in the Sabbatarian system from Europe and the US that corrupted the Churches of God and misused the brethren. The travelling circuses of the US religious system permeated the Churches of God and ruined its doctrines and introduced the false calendar of the Rabbinical Jews. The Hillel Calendar is not the calendar of the Temple period although many so-called ministers of the Churches of God try to claim that the Hillel system was in use in the Temple period and many more try to claim that there was no Temple Calendar, which makes Christ a sinner.

God says that He will tear the sheep out of the hands of the shepherd (Ezek. 34:10). That is the sequence of the last days and the task with which we have been entrusted. The Church of the Philadelphians is the Church of Brotherly Love and it is that system that will accomplish the works of Ezekiel 34.

A number of people think that I am too critical of the leaders of the Churches of God over the twentieth century because I expose the false doctrines and false teachings of those such as Herbert Armstrong.

I am required to do that in the Holy Spirit and if I did not do that God would raise up the stones to cry out in our place. CCG is doing the work of the last days and we had better believe it.

Over this period of the Omer Count to Pentecost God has brought to the surface some serious deficiencies and sins of the ministry and exposed their desire to make merchandise of the sheep. Many people, and especially in Africa, wish to make money out of the brethren. They use the Western system to make travelling circuses of the brethren and to obtain money from Western churches so they are paid for what they do on the Sabbath and the brethren are exploited.

CCG is operated in accordance with Bible prophecy and for that reason has no paid ministry. No church that pays its ministry can be part of that system of the last days where God restores His sheep as we see in Ezekiel 34. Read the paper referenced above. The text is clear but the paper explains it.

Ezekiel 34
[1] The word of the LORD came to me: [2] "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? [3] You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. [4] The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. [5] So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the wild beasts. [6] My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. [7] "Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: [8] As I live, says the Lord GOD, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; [9] therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: [10] Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. [11] "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. [12] As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. [13] And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. [14] I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. [15] I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. [16] I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice. [17] "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats. [18] Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet? [19] And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? [20] "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. [21] Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, [22] I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. [23] And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. [24] And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. [25] "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. [26] And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. [27] And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. [28] They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. [29] And I will provide for them prosperous plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. [30] And they shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. [31] And you are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD."

Our task is to help the brethren and to assist them to be fed both physically and spiritually. God will provide for us prosperous plantations so that we are no more consumed with hunger in the land and our people no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. All will know that God is with us and that the people of God are the house of Israel. There are two elements to the house of Israel. There is the physical house of Israel and the gentile converts who are the Body of Christ.

CCG is dedicated to the protection and feeding of God’s flock. The brethren are not to be made merchandise of so that a “Shepherd” can live in indolence. We lost a number of so-called pastors or coordinators last week because they wish to be paid and live off their brethren. Others have asked for it also. Get this straight. The system in the last days is the church of Brotherly Love. We will all go through difficult times and we are to help one another survive. God has said He will tear the sheep out of the hands of the shepherds and Scripture cannot be broken.

If we wish to hold the lampstand of the last days we will implement God’s prophecies and directions or God will raise others to take our place.

Paul is quite clear: “if you do not work you do not eat” (2Thes. 3:10). The Church of God is not a US money making machine. When Elmer Gantry said “if you want to get rich in the US start your own religion”, he was not speaking of the Philadelphian system of the last days. The world he knew is now dead or dying.

We have to prepare for the end. I have appointed Bizimana Bosco the Development officer for Africa. He will commence developmental projects and we have asked for some aid grants for seed and fertilizer. We are appointing a team of officers to deal with the projects throughout Africa. We have started a program for a “hoe in every house.” The hoes cost 5000 UGS or $2:50. We have given out 700 already in Uganda and we are starting the program in the Congo.

We have much to do. There is a documentation program to complete and as I have said before only documented areas will be provided assistance.

God is about to deal with the world. This is a Sixth year and the double harvest for the people of God. However, God has commenced to deal with the nations and the Time of Jacob’s trouble is about to commence. Look at what is about to happen to the US and to Europe and the droughts and shortages that will occur. Why? Because the word of God is cast to the ground and God is about to deal with the world.

Satan wishes to destroy us and we have to be prepared and assist one another. Christ will be sent to save us and that is because if he were not sent there would be no flesh saved alive. 

God is about to sort the CCG out and refine us with Fuller's soap. We will be refined and all corruption will be removed from us. Pentecost is a watershed and this was one of the toughest build-ups we have had to date. Normally we are sanctified from 1 Abib to 7 Abib and we are cleaned out by 7 Abib and the count to Pentecost is a developing process. However, this Sanctification period was not followed properly and the church was polluted by insincere people and they will now be dealt with and removed.

God is not mocked. Of the four churches in the last days one, the Thyatiran, has no further burden placed on it. The Sardis is dead and takes no part in the First Resurrection except for individuals taken out of it. The Laodicean is spewed out of God’s mouth and also takes no part in the First Resurrection except for individuals. The last is the Philadelphian that is formed from the others and does the work of the last days and restores the doctrines of the Church of God and prepares the way for the witnesses (see the paper The Witnesses (including the Two Witnesses) (No. 135))

Wade Cox
Coordinator General