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to desire- to literally crave–
UNDERSTANDJNG! Solomon de–
sired wisdom and God gave him
wisdom above al! who ever lived.
What , then, is the necessary
prerequisite to receiving UNDER–
STANDING? "A good understand–
ing have all they that do his
commandments" (Psalm 111:1
O).
The one
test commandment
is the
fourth- keeping God's Sabbath.
My conversion resulted from a
struggle to resist that command–
ment! But when a merciful God
conquered me-brought me to
surrender to Him
on that point,
He revealed also the necessity of
observing His ANNUAL Sabbaths
and festivals. These picture the
seven major spi ritual steps in the
great Master Plan. Through this
and other revealed knowledge of
the Holy Bible, God gave me
UNOERSTANDING of the working
out of His great PURPOSE! And
also the necessary part of H is
CHURCH in fu lfillment of that
glorious purpose!
After Adam's rebellion, with
Salan st ill on earth's throne, only
God could have known how grad–
uaJiy, cautiously, a step at a time,
must be the procedure.
Such righteous men as Abe!,
Enoch a nd Noah undoubtedly
were used to play sorne part in the
ultimate creation of the KING–
DOM OF Goo. But the Eterna!
began laying the actual founda–
tion of that ultimate Goo fAMJLY
through the patriarch Abraham.
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph formed
part of that prefoundation.
Then through Moses, God
raised up the nation Israel–
God's first Congregat ion or
Church. That Old Covenan t
Church was given God's Govern–
ment, but NOT His Holy Spirit!
lsraelites were not begotten to
become future Goo BEINGS. Yet
ancient Israel fu lfilled a necessary
part in God's supreme program.
Nevertheless, during those
years, God continued lo call and
prepare individual PROPHETS to
become part of the FOUNDATION
for His CHURCH.
January
1981
And
WHAT,
then, was to be
the
CHURCH?
As pictured by
the third of God's annual Holy
Days (festivals) it was to provide
the FIRST ACTUAL HARVEST of
mortal humans being translated
into Spirit-composed Goo Be–
INGS! However, the CHURCH is
the BEGOTTEN (not yet boro)
c hildren of Goo. But the
CHURCH shaJI be the firstBORN
harvest (Christ being the forego–
ing Pioneer) at Christ's coming in
POWER and GLORY!
Through the years from Abra–
ham until Christ, God had called
out of Satan's world begotten and
prepared PROPHETS, as the pre–
liminary co-foundation of God's
CHURCH! Jesus Himself is the
main Foundation.
During Jesus' 3
~
year ea.rthly
ministry, He called out, chose and
trained, to begin with, the second
co-foundation, His original 12
apostles.
During His human earth ly
ministry, Jesus announced pub–
licly the future KINGDOM OF
Goo. He taught and trained His
apostles as He proceeded.
But He DIO NOT CALL lO sa)va–
tion the public to whom He
preached. He spoke to them fre–
quently in parables. And WHY in
parables? To cloud, to hide from
them the meani ng (Matthew
13:10-16) which was given to His
chosen apostles to understand .
By the end of His earthly min–
istry, Jesus had completed prepa–
rations for founding His Church.
He had finished the Work He, as
a human had come to do. Then
He gave His life on the cross. He
took on Himself our human guilt
for our sins.
U nderstand, however, Christ
did NOT take on Himself Satan's
primary share in all human sins.
Satan will continue to pay his
own penalty throughout all eter–
nity!
The FOUNDATION for t he
Church of God had been laid.
Christ Himself is the Head and
ch ief cornerstone- the mai n
foundation . His apostles, with the
prophets, formed the remainder
of the foundation.
The apostles were chafing at
the bit tO GET STARTED--tO go
forth proclaiming t he Gospel
Message. But God has wisely
used restraint , with patience, tak–
ing a proper step at a time. So
Jesus cautioned His apostles to
WAIT! "Tarry ye," He com–
manded (Luke 24:49), "in the
city of Jerusalem,
UNTIL
ye be
endued with power from on
high."
Ten days later carne the annual
Day of Pentecost, originally
named the Feast of First Fruits
(Numbers 28:26).
On that day the Holy Spirit
carne! On that day THE CHURCH
WAS FOUNOEO!
That day symbolized the very
firstfru its for God's Kingdom.
God's feast days picture God's
spiritual harvest. The very fi rst
portian of God's spi ritual harvest
of humans finally to be boro of
God-made Goo BEINGS-is
THE CHURCH! That's why even
those who shall be boro into the
Kingdom of God at Christ ' s
return starting with ancient
prophets are part of the CHURCH
OF Goo. Even prophets of Old
Testament times are part of the
FOUNOATION OF THE CHURCH
(Ephesians 2: 19-21).
All- prophets, apostles and
Church brethren in whom resides
the Holy Spirit-shall be resur–
rected andfor changed to immor–
tality at Christ's coming in GLO–
RY and POWER!
Thus the WHOLE CHURCH con–
stitutes the very
F/
RST
of all
humans who shall be finally BORN
AGAIN into the Kingdom of Goo.
They shaJI be Goo BEINGS!
How DECEIVED (Revelation
12:9) have been all those who
think they already have been
"boro again." The reader should
request our free booklet
Just
What Do You Mean-Born
Again?
Now befare proceeding fur–
ther, UNDERSTAND WHY only the
minute FEW have so far been
called to salvation-wHY the
world as a whole has been CUT
OFF from God- wHY the world
has not been yet j udged-WHY
neither "saved" nor "lost"!
The fi rst Adam fell before
Satan-cut himself and the world
off from God. Satan was still ON
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