August 28, 2009

“He Who FAINTS in the day of adversity his strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10).

Dear Brethren,

While considering what to write that would be helpful to all of us as members of God’s Church in these close-at-hand stressful times, I looked back at some of my previous writings and chose one that we should seriously consider in view of what each one of us will experience in one way or another before very much longer.

This writing was lengthy, and because of it, and other things I need to add to it, it will be in a two or – three part series. The living examples that I have used in it are accurate and true for I personally was involved with each one at the time.

An elder who was with us at the time became very upset and indignant upon reading what I had written regarding what the members experienced for he felt I should not have done so because of creating fear in himself as well as others.

Unless he has grown he will also be tested, as well as seeing what others will experience in his corporate Church, and I seriously wonder if he can handle it, or be able to help others who will come to be in similar circumstances.

Very possibly he will flee from the flock he pastors just as virtually all of the other leaders will flee from their corporate Churches when the ravenous wolf comes (John 10:11-13). And from what I am now hearing the wolf is very close at hand.

Just before He was crucified Jesus Christ said to His disciples:

“These things I have spoken to you, that YOU SHOULD NOT BE MADE TO STUMBLE. They will put you OUT of the synagogues [Corporate Churches of God - some of us have already experienced this]; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you, because they have NOT known the Father or Me. But these things I have told you, THAT WHEN THE TIME COMES, you may remember that I told you of them. . . .” (John 16:1-3).

Sadly, members have experienced the fullness of Satan’s wrath on them from the very beginning of God’ true Church. And this will continue even into the time of the martyrdom of the saints before and into the Great Tribulation (Revelation 6:9-11).

The FEAR of Members

It is realized that members do not want to think or hear about such things anymore than they felt Mr. Armstrong should not have had the gruesome pictures of Mr. Basil Wolverton in the Plain Truth Magazine that spoke of the defeat of this country and then slavery of the people who survive the bombings.

One family in our local Church became very upset with me sometime ago after I used an article in a sermon that was written by Dr. Lyn Torrance in which he related the experiences of his sufferings along with others as prisoners of the Japanese in World War II.

Dr. Torrance shared those to try and help all of us do all we can now to have such a close relationship with God so that we won’t have to suffer the same in the Great Tribulation.

This member told me that he did not want his children to hear of such things. Sometime later they chose to leave us.

To try and wake us up to reality, Mr. Armstrong gave a sermon some little time before he died that was entitled: “The Unthinkable will Happen!” (It can be read in our Philadelphia Remnant Magazine, July-August, 2009, publication),

Brethren, these things are for real!

After viewing and reading of what is now taking place in this country, I would be very depressed and terribly frightened, if it were not for knowing and understanding the future that our Father and Jesus Christ have promised us just beyond these short-lived problems.

Politically Correct Speaking

From the internet: Friday December 19, 2008: National Review offered Weyrich appropriate editorial tribute.  I [Terry Mattingly] recall that in 1999 Paul Weyrich write a memorable article that shocked me at the time.   I was reminded of it today when Christianity Today provided a link to it on its website.  Weyrich said back in 1999 that the cultural war had been lost.

The culture is becoming an ever-wider sewer. We are caught up in a cultural collapse of historic proportions, a collapse so great that it simply overwhelms politics. . .

The ideology of Political Correctness, which openly calls for the destruction of our traditional culture, has so gripped the body politic, has so gripped our institutions, that it is even affecting the church. It has completely taken over the academic community. It is now pervasive in the entertainment industry, and it threatens to control every aspect of our lives.

Based on what is now being reported on Fox News and others on the internet, it would appear this country is headed for very rigid control with political correctness.

If so, no one will be permitted to preach or write against sin, as defined in the Holy Bible (I John 3:4), for it will be considered to be harassment. Anything to be said or written will have to be politically correct—otherwise there will be threats, fines, and jail time.

This has already been experienced in a few areas; our days are numbered!

The Work of God

As long as God sees fit to use us in the OPEN DOOR that is set before us, we must be willing to stand up to be counted even though the chips are down – standing in the gap – that others are unwilling to do.

This is our life, our calling, selection, and commission, regardless of the cost that Jesus Christ has clearly made known to us in many Scriptures.

Though the following commission was given to His disciples at that time, it applies to all His people right down to the end time, and the Two Witnesses:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. . . . Whatever I tell you in darkness, speak in the light, and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops (today: websites). And DO NOT FEAR those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. But rather FEAR HIM who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. . . . And who does NOT take his cross and follow AFTER Me is NOT worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life FOR MY SAKE will find it.” (Matthew 10:16, 22, 33, 38-39).

It is with all of this in mind that I am re-sending the following to all of you. Hopefully, this will GET OUR FOCUS where it should be and strengthen us sufficiently in mind and spirit to meet, face, and overcome, whatever obstacles we may find in our ongoing path toward our meeting Christ in this earth’s atmosphere as Spirit Beings – never, ever, to experience again the tragic problems of human life.

What I have written so far will serve as a preface to the Pastoral Writing that I will begin using in my next Pastor’s Comments.

PASTOR’S COMMENTS 2-13-04

In my writing this time it seems God has guided me through His Holy Spirit to write about a related area to the end-time prophetic events of which little thought is devoted. Yet it has and will affect the whole Church of God. It is even more important to all of us than knowing whether it is time for the Church to flee, or whatever else we might be looking for to take place on the world scene.

How Are We Being Viewed By God —

The question should be asked of ourselves, as to what value will be the place of safety or the coming of Christ, be to you or to me if we find ourselves to be unacceptable to Him due to failure to survive the coming crucial times?

It would be devastating and heartbreaking to find ourselves left behind to face unimaginable horrors knowing others have been accepted by God and in-route to a place of refuge.

It is so very easy to live our lives as if there will be no tomorrow – no final judgment made by Christ as to whether we will be found acceptable to Him (I Peter 4:17). Sad to say, it would appear that many are living their lives in just that manner! (Matthew 7:24-27)

Always it is easy for us to judge others in the areas of acceptance or rejection, but what about facing the question ourselves in the mirror of God’s teachings?

Rising To Meet Christ In The Air —

We could very well end up like the evangelist who spoke in a sermon years ago about a dream he had of himself that pictured the time of the coming of Jesus Christ. He said, “While looking at others who were ascending to meet Christ in the air I found myself still on the ground and I began flapping my arms up and down trying to join them and was unable to get off the ground!”

Could this be you or me? How so dreadfully sorrowful, and heartbreaking this would be for any of us!

We cannot take our promise of salvation for granted: God tells us that we have to work it out with fear and trembling while considering the dangers and difficulties (Philippians 2:12). When Jesus Christ spoke to us of enduring, He also meant to be faithfully enduring while having a right and close relationship with Him. (Luke 13:23-25)

It should be realized that before this is all over there will be virtually every kind of a test that will come along between here and there brought about by Satan to try and cause us to give up! Trials and tests that will bring about such intense pressure on us as to test us to the very innermost core of our very beings to turn away from God and reject His way of life, His commandments, and a few or all of the restored truths (I Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:8-12)!

Our Sticking Point? —

During the Feast of Tabernacles in Squaw Valley, California, possibly 1961 or 1962, Dr. Charles Dorothy, now deceased, gave a sermonette that was entitled, "What is your Sticking Point?" I have often thought about the title of this subject and really wondered what it would take for you or me to come to the point, of whatever it might be, to say, "This far, and no farther, I quit! I have had it! I am out of here!" -- meaning the Church of God.

A Related Area, Selling Out? —

In the mid-50s, I walked into part of the Administration Office of Ambassador College and I heard Mr. Bolivar O’Rear, deceased, non-member, but legal advisor for the College and Church at the time, saying to others in the room, “Every man has a price!” While looking at him, I replied, “I don’t.” He looked at me and insisted that everyone does including me!

This is the world he knew. He had worked for the IRS for years and apparently had seen much of what he was saying reflected in the tax forms submitted to the Internal Revenue Department.

When we look at the world around us and the Church itself we can see the truth of that which he spoke.

Sad to say many ministers and members have also had their price and have received their pay of 30 pieces of silver in one form of another, or yet will; unless they stand up to be counted!

Dishonesty and hypocrisy is still on-going through the use of human reason, desire for recognition, leadership, a following, salary (wages of Baalism), family, Church relationships, and friendship itself, instead of the fellowship we ought to have that comes through prayer and Bible study with God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)

It seems God permits every kind of a test that one can think of to come our way to pressure us to the breaking point to see whether or not we will let our very strong passions, feeling sorry for ourselves, disappointment, discouragement, depression, or ________ _________ ________ (you fill in the blank spaces) take control of our lives and rule over us instead of asking God for His Holy Spirit to help us to put down these feelings within us and remain faithful to the greatest blessing that could ever take place with anyone.

My Observations —

In my almost 46 years (now 51 years) as an ordained elder and pastor in God's Church I have witnessed any number of times such things taking place with one and another, and I still see them. Instead of saying to self, “This is just another test and something from which I should learn that is needed for the development of my character”, self says, “If this is the way it is— I do not want to be here anymore; I am leaving!”

Suicide —

Some have taken what they thought at the time was the only way out for them by committing suicide. During the five years I served in the Big Sandy, Texas area, I knew of seven people who did that very thing. It was also done here and there in other areas. These people felt they could no longer cope with the stress and strain of their problems.

In reality this did not solve anything for they will wake up in the resurrection and will have to deal with what they did by facing Christ with it.

Needless to say this was both shocking and heart-breaking for their families

A Corporate Church to Fit the Desires —

Others delude themselves into believing they are still within the Church by making a move from one corporate Church to another that is often headed by leaders who have removed their own selves from any real relationship with Jesus Christ; the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14).

At the same time it is necessary for the true members to remove themselves from the wrong places and find the one that is truly faithful to all of the true teachings God used His late apostle to restore within His Church. That would be a very wise and correct move realizing where we are in time.

Self-justification —

There are those who are in the process of being caught up in the same self deceptive net of Satan due to human reason just as did Adam who blamed Eve for eating from the wrong tree!

Satan continues to spin his deceptive web through his powers to get any and all of us to sympathize and justify ourselves for our wrong actions and then blame God for what we have done! “Self Pity!”

I once had a woman to tell me, “God is not fair!” This was said to me after I pointed out to her she would be sinning by moving in with a man without marriage.

Members have been giving up or selling out due to one reason or another, such as: ______________ __________________ ______________, You fill in the blank spaces.

Then there are the others who have endured real hard trials and remained faithful in spite of what Satan used leaders and even family members to do to them. They were being faithful to the love for God that all of us must continue to have for Him regardless of heavy trials even to beatings, prison, death, or whatever. (Luke 14:26-27)

To be continued

Next time I will plan on using the real-life examples of what some members have had to endure in order to remain faithful to God and Jesus Christ.

Until then, your brother and servant in Christ,

Don Billingsley

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