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Also, just as the Apostle Paul foretold, speaking at
Miletus to the elders (ministers) of the Church at Ephesus, "For
I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter
in among you, not sparing the flock, also of your own selves
(ministers in God's Church), shall men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30). This
happened then. It has happened NOW!
Many times I have told you, dear Brethren, that when God
first called me, beginning in the autumn of 1926, that the living
Christ brought me into His truth a step at a time. YOU have not
had to learn the truth so slowly -- Christ used me to do it for
you. And one of the very last truths He opened to me was that
of CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT! There was a reason for
this.
For some years I worked in cooperation with the Church
of God we have come to regard as the "Sardis era" (Rev. 3:1-5).
When I first came in contact with them, starting 1926-27, their
headquarters was at Stanberry, Missouri. They operated under a
General Conference type of organization. Early in my acquaintance
with them, their head man had refused to correct admitted error,
or to accept an important and admitted truth. Partly for this
reason I never joined them -- never became one of their members.
I had learned in my earliest study of the Bible that GOD'S Church
would be keeping the Commandments, including the Sabbath, would
be kept in the name of GOD, and have Biblical TRUTH. Several
religious organizations had the name Church of GOD. But this
seemed to be the only one keeping the Sabbath. While they
certainly did not have all Biblical truth, they did, beyond
question, have more than any church I knew, and less error. So
I did continue to fellowship with them. I finally preached my
first sermon, probably midsummer, 1928, in an old former country
store building at Dever, near Jefferson, in Oregon.
In the autumn of 1930 -- probably late autumn -- the
members in the Willamette Valley of Oregon split, and one group
incorporated as the "Oregon Conference of The Church of God." I
was ordained by this Conference in June, 1931. I was employed by
them as a minister, holding six-nights-a-week evangelistic meetings
on a salary of $20 per week. But the salary was dropped at the end
of November, when their treasury went dry. This was in the depth
of the Great Depression. In February, 1933, there was enough money
in their treasury to pay me $3 per week, with farmer members
supplying vegetables, etc.
I want to give you a brief synopsis of my association with
the "Sardis" church for two reasons: 1) So you may understand why
I was not led to the full understanding about church organization
and government until after the founding of Ambassador College, and
2) because defecting ministers have been giving out the FALSE idea
that they are now doing only what I did then. That claim is 100%
FALSE.
At some time between December, 1931, and the summer of
1933, a big split had occurred in the whole Church. The President