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WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
WORLD HEADQUARTERS
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG
PRESIDENT and PASTOR
December 28, 1972
Dear Inner Family of Co-Workers
in the very Work of the Living God:
The most hectic, traumatic year in the 39-year history of
this most important Work on earth in our time, has come and gone.
And WHAT A YEAR it was! There is a living devil, named
Satan. He HATES this Work. He is the most subtle, crafty, and
powerful being on earth -- the prince of the power of the air, the
god of this world. This year he pulled out all stops in a fiendish
effort to DESTROY this very Work of GOD.
He attacked us, falsely accused and maligned us worldwide.
He took every advantage of the fact too many of us had grown
spiritually careless, lax in prayer and Bible study, injecting
doubts, discouragement, even criticism in some of us.
But the living Jesus Christ is MORE POWERFUL THAN HE. And
Christ, the very HEAD of this Great Work, said He would never leave
nor forsake us! He stirred enough of us to active, intensive,
believing and prevailing PRAYER! And HE DELIVERED US!
The GREAT TURNING POINT came in late September. Thousands
of us came, as it were, to our senses -- realized we had been
drifting into a state of spiritual lethargy -- REPENTED, went to
our knees in FASTING AND PRAYER.
And the final result?
Thousands of you dear Co-Workers came to realize that God's
Work depends more on our earnest prayers for its survival and
growth and spiritual HARVEST, than on physical effort, and
financial sacrifice, important as these latter are. The final
RESULT? Undoubtedly the GREATEST YEAR OF ACCOMPLISHMENT SO FAR --
AND THE GREATEST SPIRITUAL HARVEST!
Forty-six years ago, the living Christ impressed deeply in
my mind these words of His: "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,
and His righteousness; and all these (material needs) shall be
added unto you." After having had an unusually successful business
career, I was in real poverty at the time. But I took Christ up
on it. Instead of seeking to GET money and financial means, I
dedicated my life to His GIVING WAY, as His servant, and seeking
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (far different from SELF-righteousness). God
didn't add monetary success right away. He let me remain in
virtual poverty 28 years.
But I had found HAPPINESS. And I was GIVING, for the good