Basic HTML Version
Part Nine:
A
Voice Cries
Out
Amid Religious
Confusion
How could the world have become so mixed up? Out ofthis spiritual wilderness, a voice críes out in
clarity and power, with the reassuring truth of the world's only and sure hope!
Editor 's note: We are printing here.
serial/y, the new book by Herbert
W.
Armstrong with the same title as this
article. The book wi/1 appear later in
bookstores.
Chapter7
PartTwo:
WHATANDWHY
THECHURCH?
T
HE WESTERN WORLD
has taken the existence
of churches for granted.
WHY was the institution
of the church ever formed?
WHAT is its purpose? Such ques–
tions seem never to have occurred
to most.
In the average mind, a church
is a building with a steeple atop,
and a cross on its facade. Indeed
Webster defines it thus. People–
at least some-go to this building
January 1981
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
every Sunday morning to attend a
"worship service."
But to many- and probably
most-the church plays no part
in their lives. lndeed God plays
no part in their lives. God is not
consciously in their world. Just
people, material things and inter–
ests. Of course, far back in the
subconscious recesses of many
minds may lie dormant the sup–
position that God exists. But He
does not seem REAL to them.
Yet the CHURCH, too, does
exist. But WHY? WHAT is it ,
really? What PURPOSE does it
serve?
We have seen that there is,
indeed a PURPOSE being worked
out here below. Winston Church–
ill stated that before the United
States Congress. There is a REA–
SON for the presence of humanity
on the earth. And for the working
out of that PURPOSE there is a
MASTER PLAN. The CHURCH is an
important part of that plan.
Never lose sight of the setting
that led up to the raising up of the
Church. Keep in mind WHO and
WHAT God is-the Divine creat–
ing
Family,
now reproducing
Himself in man.
Pertinent to the purpose of the
Church is what happened upon
creation of that first man ,
Adam.
· Satan, the former cherub Luci–
fer , sitting on the throne of the
earth, had made the Government
of God inoperative. Yet, his rule
not Jessened, he remained still on
that throne!
The first human followed the
way of Satan, rejecting the Gov–
ernment of God for himself and
for his posterity. The whole world
was to spring from him. On cut–
ting himself off from God, the
· Eternal made Adam's decision
effective on Adam's human race
UNTIL the restoration of God's
Government over the earth. And
that meant a duration of 6,000
years- until the Second Coming
of Christ to restore that Govern–
ment. This severance from God
applied to all except the exceed–
ingly few God would specially
call to Him in preparation for the
7