Basic HTML Version
living expenses still more and increase still further our own
pledge.
Do you see what this MEANS? lt means that LESS THAN ONE-
THIRTEENTH OF OUR FIVE THOUSAND MEMBERS HAVE MADE ANY PLEDGE AT
ALL! Twelve out of thirteen of you have made none whatsoever!
BRETHREN! When an average of $3 per adult member per month
would build that Tabernacle, and we can only muster about one-third
of that, CAN WE SAY OUR HEARTS ARE IN THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD? I
say SHAME ON US! I wonder what GOD thinks of us! What will be our
excuse, when we face Christ in the JUDGMENT? Can God look down on
us today, and say: "This is my beloved Church, in whom I am well
pleased!"??? As one embittered and angry enemy of God's Church and
His Law says of us--I wonder, are we in GRACE, or in DISgrace?
True, I know that some FEW of you could not possibly by
sacrifice or stretching your offerings to the limit contribute even
$3 per month additional for the Tabernacle. Some FEW, that is!
But that is not true of 12 out of every 13 of us! That is not true
of more than 1 out of each 13! And now, since only 381 of us have
pledged $6,000 per month, SURELY eleven out of twelve of the rest
of you could manage to tighten your belts a little more--just as
381 of us have done, and pledge AT LEAST $3 per month! And I am
convinced that there are many more of you who ARE ABLE, if you'll
permit God to make your hearts willing, to contribute amounts like
the 381 already have pledged. Here's a sample of the way the
amounts pledged run: From one, $5 per month; from the next pledge
opened and counted, $10.83; then $10; $50; $20; $75; $2; $50; $5;
$5; $15; $100; $10; $5; $10; $200; $10; $10; $6 per month, etc.,
etc. Those were taken in order, just as their letters were opened
and counted. Not all averaged that large, however--there were some
of $1. The average was $16 per month. But if 381 of us can do
that much, I am convinced that MOST of the rest of us can do just
as well, on the average--IF OUR HEARTS ARE WILLING!
Some of you sent in a special offering for the Tabernacle, but
seemed to feel unwilling to make a PLEDGE. Brethren, do you
realize that I, as your Pastor, and President of the corporation
that is The Church of God, must sign a contract--which is the same
as a pledge--to pay many THOUSANDS of dollars every month, before
the construction company will even start to erect the Tabernacle?
We have to do business with the world in the conduct of God's work,
and that's the way business is done. Should YOU, then, not hold up
my hands, and stand back of me in this, and make YOUR pledge, too,
that the business office of the Church may be ABLE to make these
monthly payments? I made it plain that any pledge you make is
CONDITIONED ON YOUR CONTINUED ABILITY! If you are thrown out of
work--if for any reason your income stops or is so reduced you are
no longer ABLE to contribute the pledged amount, then YOUR
OBLIGATION CEASES. Brethren, THERE IS NO RIGHT REASON IN GOD'S
SIGHT WHY YOU SHOULD NOT BACK ME UP--there is no right reason to
DELAY this Tabernacle!
So now I'm going to tell you what I have done. The decision
had to be made last week. So I called the representative of the
construction company we are dealing with on long distance