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hand and my son Garner Ted and me on the other.
After prayer I was moved to write Ted about it. Although
the precise circumstances are different, I wrote to him my
paraphrase of King David's words to his son. I want to share that
paraphrase and portions of my very personal letter to him with you,
as follows (compare with I Chron. 28:4-5, 8-10):
"The Eternal God of Israel chose me, before all the people
of the earth, to be His servant in raising up the Philadelphia era
of His Church; and to preach and publish the gospel of the Living
Christ -- the gospel of the Kingdom of God -- in all the world for
a witness to all nations, as the only sign given by Jesus Christ
(in Matthew 24) that the end of the age and the coming of Christ in
POWER and GLORY is now VERY NEAR.
"And of my two sons God caused you, Garner Ted, to be born.
You were the only one of our four children that your mother and I
did not ourselves definitely plan. You were without power of
speech until after two years of age. But when I was anointing you
for healing of pneumonia, God put it in my mind to ask also for the
miracle of giving you the speaking voice that God later was to use
in proclaiming His gospel to MILLIONS worldwide.
"So, in due time, God also chose you, Garner Ted, for this
very supremely great Commission, that your voice, in addition to
mine, should proclaim His stupendous message in amplified power.
"Now, therefore, in the sight of all the Worldwide Church
of God, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the
commandments of the Eternal your God, that you may enter into and
inherit the Kingdom of God with eternal life.
"And you, Garner Ted my son, KNOW the God of your father,
and serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind; for the
Eternal searches the heart, and understands all the imaginations
of the thoughts. Guard the imaginations of your thoughts and keep
them set on the things of God.
"If you seek Him He will be found of you but if you forsake
Him He will cast you off forever.
"Take heed now, for the Eternal has chosen you. And I have
given you greater latitude and authority than ever before, in full
confidence you will keep yielded and close to God in prayer and
serve Him faithfully in carrying out the policies HE set through
me for His Work, His Church, and His College. (End of paraphrase.)
"Of course you are not to be King over Israel as was
Solomon. But it may be that what God has chosen you to do, and
prepared you for doing, will prove to be even more important in His
sight. God has given me already eleven more years of life than
King David. And although I hope He may give me several more years
of active oversight of His Church and its many worldwide
operations, if He should cut short those years He has chosen you to
succeed me, as He chose Solomon to succeed David. Not only has the
Living Christ, HEAD of God's Church and Work, revealed this to me,