AN OPEN LETTER

To the true and faithful members of God’s Church

– Worldwide   

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

 

By the time that most of you will have read this letter God’s Passover will be at hand.  It is possible that you will already be hearing sermons intended to remind us of the supreme sacrifice Jesus Christ paid for all humanity – the whole world – including you and me (John 3:16). 

The question I ask each of you -- if you are hearing such sermons, are you hearing them as the Bible really teaches, and the way that was taught by God’s late apostle?

More than any other time of the year all of us must be conscientiously thinking about ALL the Scriptures that bear on the horrible price Jesus Christ paid for us and made known by the Passover.

Brothers and sisters, we should realize we are not all that far away from the return of Jesus Christ back to this earth! It is becoming increasingly important, more than ever, that we fully understand that even before that time, it will have been determined by the way we live our lives, based on the true teachings and laws of God, as to whether we will then become members of His Family, or will have been rejected! (I Peter 4:17; Matthew 25:10-13).

The apostle Paul wrote that we have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling while holding fast the word of life (Philippians 2:12, 16).  No one, a Church leader, husband, wife, or anyone else can do this for us! We must each individually struggle very hard if we are to be found acceptable by Christ (Luke 13:24 ).  

Passover is the crossroads of time that we come to when we have to really look inside ourselves – looking deeply into our hearts and minds -- judging ourselves, and then with determination make the necessary corrections in our lives, lest God has to do it for us (I Corinthians 11:31-32).

If we choose to ignore and walk away from the correction that a loving Father gives us, then terrible things are in store for us! (Hebrews 12:3-17, 25-29)

Brethren, God is working with any number of you at this time, just as He did with all of us, to draw you out and away from false leaders within the various Churches of God who have you in their deceptive net! 

It is His desire for you to be among other faithful members worldwide who are joining hands in helping to reach out to others. When this work of preparing the Church is completed, it will result in those who do stand up for God’s truth, to be among the selected number who will be counted worthy to escape the Great Tribulation that is fast coming on the whole world, and then to stand before Him at His coming Revelation 3:10-13; Luke 21:36).

These are not idle words! I receive letters from members who tell me they are aware of the lying, and have witnessed the hypocrisy, along with seeing the changes in the teachings God restored within His Church through His late apostle! These erroneous teachings are fed to the flock by these leaders who claim to have added understanding over and above God’s late apostle and the Elijah to come!

They tell me that the members have been brainwashed, just as they were, and live in fear that has been instilled within them through intimidation, and are afraid to leave lest they remove themselves from the “true” Church, and the “work” that is to go to the world.

I personally know of at least four corporate Churches who claim that singular distinction! Which one is right?  Is anyone of them right?  God tells you and me that we are responsible for coming up with the answer ourselves based on the teachings of the Bible (II Timothy 3:16 -17; Revelation 2:2).

And if you have really proved that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was God’s apostle, then it behooves you to use the last book he wrote, The Mystery of the Ages  alongside your Bible to enable you to discern the differences in the teachings of these false leaders and Scripture! When you see the unrepentant wrong, then God’s intention is for you to LEAVE, NOW!

One of the traps most of us have fallen into was to connect with a group who indicated they are going to follow completely the teachings God used Mr. Armstrong to restore within His Church; and over some time they begin to think more highly of themselves than they ought, and begin to shape the Church in their own image by making changes in those teachings. 

God knows and will judge them unless they repent for what they are doing to His people!

One very grave error in their teaching is in the Passover service itself, and because of it, any number of you will be involved in a Passover service that is wrong and could result in sickness or even physical death!  (I Corinthians 11:27-30). This erroneous Passover service was changed after 1986 and continues to be used today.

Though there may be others, but I know personally that leaders of two of the larger Churches teach there is no such thing as physical sin! In doing so, they bypass the symbolic meaning of the piece of bread.  This is very serious!

It is essential that we understand the symbolical meaning of the bread, as well as the wine, if we are to properly observe the Passover, as the Bible teaches, for they picture both the horrible and excruciating painful scourging of the body of Jesus Christ, and His death by crucifixion.

This horrible beating that took place before the crucifixion is pictured by the symbolism of the little piece of bread we partake of during the Passover service. And regardless of the erroneous teaching to the contrary, it pictures the forgiveness of our physical sins (Isaiah 50:6; 52:14; Matthew 27:26; I Corinthians 11:24 -30).

It is said by such leaders, “Sin is sin -- there is no difference in sin!”  To make this claim one has to believe there are no differences in the Spiritual laws of God and the physical or natural laws! To make the point: Is it a spiritual or physical transgression when people mistakenly eat toadstools instead of mushrooms and die as the result? This took place in our area not so long ago! 

Mr. Armstrong wrote in his booklet, The Plain Truth About Healing, Page 44:

“… His beaten body paid in our stead the PENALTY we are suffering when the physical laws in the human body have been transgressed and have brought on the PENALTY of sickness, disease or whatevcr – sometimes the first death. To say there is no such thing as physical sin, as has been said by self-professing intellectuals, is NOT intellectual – it is rank STUPIDITY, IGNORANCE, or WILLFUL PERVERSION OF PLAIN SIMPLE TRUTH.”  

Do NOT believe the deceptive lie that Mr. Armstrong changed his mind regarding this subject or any of the other doctrinal teachings before he died!  It can easily be proved he did not!  And even of he had – the Scriptures are still there, and God does not change!

Please consider the following Scriptures that make this subject very plain:

“Surely He has borne our grief (Greek: sicknesses), and carried our sorrows (Greek: pains, grief, affliction, sorrow); … smitten by God, and afflicted. … He was bruised (beaten) for our iniquities (physical sins); the chastisement for our peace (welfare) was upon Him, AND BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

To make certain that we understand what is written here, Scripture records the following:

“And when evening had come, they brought to Him (Christ) many who were demon-possessed.  And He cast out the spirits with a word. And HEALED all who were sick, THAT IT MIGHT BE FULFILLED which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND BORE OUR SICKNESSES’” (Matthew 8:16 -17).

To emphasize the fact that this needs to be thoroughly understood, and must be an essential part of the Passover service, the apostle Paul wrote the following:

“… the Lord Jesus on the same night He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He BROKE it and said, ‘Take eat; this is My body which was BROKEN FOR YOU; do this IN REMEMBRANCE of Me. … Therefore whoever EATS this bread OR drinks this cup of the Lord IN AN UNWORTHY MANNER will be guilty of the BODY and BLOOD of the Lord. … For he who EATS and DRINKS in an unworthy manner eats and drinks JUDGMENT to himself, NOT DISCERNING THE LORD’S BODY. FOR THIS REASON MANY ARE WEAK AND SICK AMONG YOU, AND MANY SLEEP!’” (I Corinthians 11:23-24, 27-30)

These Scriptures clearly reveal that Christ’s body was broken for the forgiveness of our physical sins.  And when we are sick we are then to call upon the elders of the Church and ask them to pray and ask for the application of Christ’s broken body to be applied to us that we might be forgiven and be healed. Once these are fulfilled the healing is sure to come, either now, or in the resurrection, for God does not lie (James 5:14 -15).

Brothers and sisters, are we really converted?  Do we know when we pray to God that there is that knowing, a very deep realization that God’s presence is there with us? If so, then we should also realize we have to fully follow in His footsteps in all of the true teachings if our relationship with Him is to continue.

We are in great need of having that first love for God rekindled up into real flame!

Preparing for the Passover is a great place to begin for it pictures the forgiveness of our sins, both our physical and spiritual.

How many more Passovers will there be before God removes His elect from the horrors to befall Israel and the world, and to also be counted worthy to stand before Him at His coming back to earth?

You and I must be making the right changes now in order to prepare ourselves to partake of this coming Passover as God as so foreordained, with fullness of teaching, a good heart, and hold to it year-round from one Passover to another.

In so doing we can insure our chances of being included in that number as worthy, as opposed to those who will not be due to their carelessness shown by their sleeping through it all. Our love for Jesus Christ must grow and be shown by continuing to fully and faithfully believe those restored teachings in God’s Church, that also includes the correct Passover service (John 14:15; Matthew 4:4).

Brethren, let all of us with love and great concern pray for one another.  I, along with others, will be praying earnestly that you will make the right decision by being where you will hear the true Scriptural teaching of the Passover symbols, with the right attitude, preparation, and understanding.

Don Billingsley

P. O. Box 8819 , Modesto , CA 95357 (209) 772-0737. www.cog-ff.com