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PASTOR'S REPORT, July 2, 1979
Page 3
Also, it was good to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Berg who just returned
a few days ago from their two-month sojourn in Hawaii. Mr. Berg reported
that the church out there has stabilized and that he even baptized two or
three new members--so God is already beginning to replace those lost because
of our former disloyal minister in the area.
Mr. Luker arrived back last night from a fine weekend visit to the
S.E.P. camp up in Orr, Minnesota. He said the weather is fine now and the
atmosphere of the camp is great. The campers are now enthusiastically
awaiting the visit of Mr. Herbert Armstrong who plans to fly up there and
speak to the campers this coming Sabbath.
A somber note from Britain: Mr. Frank Brown has asked all of us to
please� for Mrs. Arthur Suckling. It has just been discovered that she
has a virulent form of bone cancer. Obviously, she will not be with us
too many more years unl�God intervenes--which He has in so many, many
of these cases. So please PRAY FERVENTLY for Joyce Suckling and ask()Ur
Creator to hear the prayers�His servants and supernaturally intervene as
our Healer.
Now to more of an administrative problem: From now on, God's ministers
employed full-time by the Work should NOT take outside college courses un
less directly approved by Mr. Herbert Armstrong or me. We are paying all of
you men involved a salary for a full-time work and effort in the ministry.
It should be your whole life. And, if we sincerely want to ''rescue the
perishing" and build up God's people�ll over this world, the opportunities
and challenges of the ministry should be very fulfilling indeed!
There may be rare exceptions to the above rule in the future. Certainly,
scores of our men in recent years have been taking outside college courses
and even getting outside college degrees. Many of us, including myself had
a year or more at another college before even coming to Ambassador College
in the first place. We are not "afraid" of education or advanced training
as such. However, our "field" of endeavor is religion. And virtually ALL
of the religious and religiously-related courses taught in the universities
and colleges of this world are taught from an essentially pagan viewpoint.
The atmosphere involved in such classes and the attitude thus promoted is
one of secularism, doubts, liberalism, and intellectual VANITY. I will not
try here to argue or illustrate personal examples of, or partial exceptions
to this principle. But the principle is obvious to DOZENS of our top men who
have remained faithful in this Work and who have seen other men get "hooked"
on the "leaven of intellectualism."
Often, the teachings involved in these courses in theology, psychology,
or counseling are so very close to the truth that even some of our younger
ministers have failed�perceive how different would be the outcome of
following these teachings to their obvious CONCLUSION from the result of
following the pure and simple laws and ways of God to their conclusion. It
is a subtle thing--and therefore all the more dangerous.
Does this mean, then, that we should quit reading all outside books and
confine ourselves to sentimentally perusing only the King James version of
the Bible?
Not at all! But we all should study the Bible itself much more than
most of u�do.
And, with the help of commentaries and other study tools
really "drink in" the biblical teachings on marriage, child rearing and the