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The vast harvest Jesus Christ is reaping right now through
this -- HIS WORK -- just immediately prior to His COMING to RULE
and save this whole world -- is not just "happening" in a vague,
unplanned sort of way. This is GOD'S WORK -- the living CHRIST
heads, guides, directs and blesses it -- but He uses us. He uses
YOU AND ME as His instruments. He works THROUGH US! And there has
to be definite planning, in which He guides and leads us. There
have to be definite REASONS for the growth and success of this
great World-Wide WORK.
I have explained before -- when God started me in His service,
I attempted co-operative activity with a small church group 38
years ago, who seemed to follow closer to the BIBLE TRUTH than
anyone I could find. But their ministers rebelled against GROWING
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, or in
GROWING in spiritual character in their lives -- individually and
collectively. They refused to correct errors or publicly confess
them, even when they admitted privately to me they were preaching
untruths. They were spiritually dead (described in Rev. 3:1-6).
During those early years, God abundantly blessed my efforts --
and totally withheld blessings from them. I preached in country
school houses, and in hired halls if the rental charges were low
enough. Always there were conversions -- people accepting the TRUE
Gospel, repenting of sins, and being baptized, accepting Jesus
Christ as personal Saviour. But through those years I could not
find record of even one single true conversion by the combined work
of those other ministers.
I came to realize I was trying to do what Jesus NEVER would
have done. Suppose He had tried to join with, and work with the
Pharisees, the Sadducees and the hypocritical Scribes of the days
of His earthly Ministry. JESUS DIDN'T DO THAT! He called young
men -- fishermen, taxcollectors -- took them into HIS OWN PRIVATE
SCHOOL -- so to speak -- taught them the TRUE Gospel God had sent
Him to proclaim, trained them for carrying on GOD'S WORK!
The living Christ made it plain to me that He is our example
-- that if I was to be used as His instrument, I must follow in His
steps. A COLLEGE to train young people was necessary. While only
men may be ministers who preach, we live in a modern complex world
where technical facilities are available for use today -- many of
which require the help of trained women. There were, too, other
reasons why the college had to be Co-ED -- with girls as well as
men.
God led me to Pasadena. The first acquisition of property
came in late 1946. The college, accompanied with severe "birth
pangs," opened October 8, 1947.
Up to that time the Work was small -- limited to only
fruit-bearing work of ONE MAN. True, there were a handful of
Co-Workers with me -- enough to barely support the active full-time
work of one single minister. But after the first students were
graduated, beginning 1951 and 1952, the Work of God began to
expand. God had sent to Ambassador College young men HE had called
and chosen. Not every student was a God-called minister, of