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T
HJS LS a unique organization.
and none other is like it in
the world .
Our activities include administra–
tion of the Worldwide Church of
God, Ambassador College, o th er
publications. books and booklets
and my own personal activ iti es as
an ambassador without portfolio for
world peace. Or as an official of one
country expresses it. "a builder of
iron bridges for peace between na–
tions."
ln our vernacular we customarily
speak of a ll these activities together
as "the Work. " 1 have felt that sorne
co-workers with us in one or more
phases of the Work having observed
ou r use of the lerm might be a little
confused as to just whar we mean by
" lhe Work." Therefo re.
1
have just
senl out a personal letter lO such co–
workers and the many thousands of
members o f the Worldwide Church
of God a ll over lhe world explaining
the meaning to us of "the Work.''
And it now appears lo me lhat mos t
of this same letter might prove an
interesting and eye-opening subj ect
for my personal la lk with our read–
ers in this issue of the
Plain Trurh.
The le tter follows :
Novem ber 18. 1974
Dea r Inner Family of
Co-Workers wilh Chris t :
Aga in I'm wing ing my way. a l–
mosr eigbt miles above tbe Pacific
Ocean, toward Tokyo. Yesterday.
President Ford and Secrelary of
State Henry Kissinger were fiying
the presidentia l pla ne over approxi–
mately lhe same route. They are
in
T okyo today, a nd l am dueto arrive
there today. mid-afternoon.
lt seems Secretary Kiss inger and
l
are very frequently crossing paths–
especially
in
the Middle East be–
tween Cairo artd Tel Aviv. Ours are
the only two planes, so far as
1
know, tha t ever fl y from Cairo to
Tel Aviv. or from Tel Aviv to Ca iro.
And now our schedules meet aga in
today at Tokyo. It seems a little sig–
nifican! tha t. to the best of my
k.nowledge, our two pla nes are th e
only prívate a ircra ft that are per–
mitted to land al Tokyo airport.
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1975
Personal from
JUST WHAT IS
THE
WORK?
However, from there the Pres i–
den! and Secretary Kissinger fl y on
to Seoul, South Korea , and from
there lo the Soviet Union. while
1
am en route, a fter T ok.yo. for a re–
turn public appearance a t Manila,
the Philippines.
November 19, Honolulu:
Just as
we were somewhere close to the In–
ternational Dateline, about two
hours afler refueling al Cold Bay.
Alaska. we were forced to turn back.
We had been flying through strong
headwinds a ll th e way, but west o f
Cold Bay they graduaUy increased
to an a lmos! unbelieva ble nea rly
250 miles per hour. Our airspeed of
550 mües per hour was cut in hal f.
There was danger we might no t
make it to a refueling airstrip in
north ern J apan. We return ed to
Cold Bay, arriving on t hat snow
covered landing strip just after sun–
se t. refueled and flew on lo Hono–
lulu, Hawai i. lt was a long fl ight
from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Our
pilots are unable to get ai r clearance
lo fl y on to Mani la until tomorrow.
So
I
have a day for writing in Hono–
lulu. This slight setback will not stop
the Work. however. We still will ar–
rive in Manila in t ime fo r an impor–
tan! meeting.
An incident lik.e this is typica l of
our experience of the past 41 years
in God's Work. Occasionally there
has been a slight setback. But a l–
ways th e Work plunges on forward
after that, in a more powerfu l thrust
than ever, for this is the Work of the
living God and the most important
activity on earth - not on ly of
today, but in the last !900 years !
That's a strong statement
1
know.
but it is wh at
you,
as co-workers
with Ch rist and with me. are en–
gaged in a nd sacrifi cing and prayi ng
for. And
I
think it's time we come ro
a more clea r and concise under–
standing of just wha t this great
Work is!
When we speak of " the WORK,"
just
whar
do we
mean?
Wha t comes to your mind when
you hea r o r read o f " the Work"? Do
you think o f it as the mission of
"saving souls"? Or. perhaps, some–
thing
1
and/or Ga rner Ted Arm–
strong are doing. but in which
you
are not in volved o r especially con–
cerned? Does it mean, to you, th e
broadcast or telecast of the
World
Tomorrow,
or the Garner Ted Arm–
st rong program? Does it mean the
Plain Truth?
Or Ambassador Col–
lege? Or a combina tion of sorne of
lhese?
To grasp clearly just
what
this
Work is. and
why
it is the most im–
portant activi ty on earth, we need lo
begin at tbe beginning.
Why
was
it
sta rted? What was its PURPOSE? Just
WHAT
is
it seeking to accomp lis h?
Who
sta rted it? When? How?
More tha n 41 yea rs ago the li ving
Christ called and chose me as his
instrument in
reviving
and ca rryi ng
out his GREAT COMMISSION in this
END
time.
But that was not the rea l begin–
ning of God's Work. Jesus Christ.
h imself, carne to earth and
person-