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together in ORDER. You get the
WHOLE picture. 1 had to study, and
grope, and search, and discard er–
ror, day by day, month by month,
year after year. 1 had to REALLY
WORK AT IT.
It was a continuous process. By
the time Ambassador College was
founded in 1947 (20 years after my
conversion), 1 felt that we had the
truth rather thoroughly. I did not
then realize HOW MUCH MORE was
still to come. Wbat has come since–
containing the MOST IMPORTANT
knowledge- was like a BOMB sud–
denly exploding, opening up the BIG
TRUTH!
1 had tried to fellowship with the
Church of God which, in my early
days of conversion, was located at
Stanberry, Missouri. But their min–
isters fought me, did al! they could
to discredit me, break up the broad–
cast, hinder and stop the very Work
of God. Soon they became divided,
with one group making headquar–
ters at Salero, Wes t Virginia.
Then they split and resplit until 1
lost al! knowledge of HOW MANY
groups there were. One established
headquarters at Denver, Colorado,
another in Los Angeles, another in a
town near Jefferson, Oregon, an–
other in Stockton, California, an–
other in o r near Nampa, Idaho. The
roan who beaded it when I first
carne
in
contact with them went to
Jerusalem, Israel , which he calls
"world headquarters."
Even though they fought me, and
very unfairly, I do not wish to im–
p u te m o t ives o r s pe a k d is–
respectfully of t)lem, because we
find them described and identified
in Jesus' own prophetic message in
Revelation 3: l-6. Even though it de–
scribes them as spi ritually dead,
they are the remnant of what is, or
HAS BEEN, one of the seven succes–
sive eras of God's TRUE CHURCH. As
we are, and are doing the Work of,
the Philadelphia era (Rev. 3:7-13),
so they were the Sardis era.
1 never became a member of that
church, though I was ordained by a
group who had been in it, locally
organized and incorporated as the
Oregon Conference. But when I bad
contact with them they refused to
correct error or to accept any truth
new to them. They ceased to GROW
spiritualJy and IN KNOWLEDGE.
42
And, of course, what has THE NAME
of the living Church, but ceases to
GROW, soon DIES (Rev. 3: 1). 1do not
rejoice in that, but say it in sorrow,
because there were many in that
church that I loved.
But in my days of trying to work
with them, between 1927 and some–
where around 1941 to 1947, there
was so much controversy over what
constituted God's CHURCH GOVERN–
MENT that 1, myself, became com–
pletely confused on that point.l could
see that their systems were so wrong
that 1assumed that God's Church is a
SPIRITUAL ORGANISM, and not a
church ORGANIZATION. 1did not want
to assume any rule or authority that I
ought not, and consequently when
troublemakers and wrong altitudes
carne into our little church in Eugene,
Oregon, I wielded no authority what–
soever, and the result was a church
split in two.
Perhaps the
b~ginning
of the bib–
lical KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION we
have enjoyed since the college was
founded was the clearing up of the
bíblica] teaching On CHURCH GOV–
ERNMENT. Personally I had gotten so
CLOSE to all the errors among the
Sardis people- with a General Con–
ference type government at Stan–
berry, and a "12 apostles, seven
deacons, and 70 elders" type at Sa–
lero, West Virginia, that 1 was like
the roan so close to one tree he
couldn't see the forest.
But once clearly seen, it was put
in operation. 1 had to repent of ne–
glecting to assume the responsibility
God had charged me with in Ore–
gon. God's government is always
government from the TOP-GOD the
Father- on down. Christ is the liv–
ing HEAO of His Church. There
is
authority in the Church. Trouble–
makers, bent on dividing and break–
ing up God's Church, are not
tolerated. There is no division, but
happy barmony and order, in LOVE!
Many NEW truths have come to
light in the past thirty years. Sorne
have been revealed through various
of God's ministers. And also God
has continued to reveal important
and basic truths through me.
Among these have been the
TRUTH about the PURPOSE of human
life- the fact that God is not merely
one person, or a "Trinity," but the
divine FAMILY
OT
KINGDOM; the
truth that we are now only BEGOT–
TEN, and that being BORN AGAIN is
to be actually BORN into that very
FAMILY, as sons of God, even as the
living Jesus Christ is a divine Son of
God. THAT truth
ÍS
BASIC-and l did
not understand it unti l a fter the col–
lege was founded. I could "see" it ,
even up in Oregon, but was AFRAID
to accept it. lt seemed Iike blas–
phemy to assume we humans could
become members of the DIVINE
FAMILY that IS God! But finally 1
had
to accept it, when faced with the
fact that it is taught throughout the
New Testament!
Another BIG truth is the final
COMPLETE knowledge of what roan
rs! This carne through my year-af–
ter-year perplexed search to learn
the difference between the human
MINO and animal brain. I discovered
the fact that there is a human spirit
in
man-a spirit that imparts the power
of intellect
to
the human brain–
converting it from pure physical
BRA1N to human MINO. This makes
clearer than ever the need for God's
HoLY SPIRIT, which bears witness
with our spirit
that we are indeed the
CHILOREN OF Goo.
Another truth which has been un–
covered
is
the origin of what the world
regards as the Christian church,
founded by the Simon referred to in
the eighth chapter of Acts; the fact
that the "Christian" churches of this
world are not , and never were, the
same Church J esus Christ founded
in A.D . 31 ; and the knowledge of
the "lost century" of Church his–
tory-A.D. 69 to about A.D. 170.
Yes, the WORLO's "knowledge ex–
plosion " may have resulted in
OOUBLING the world's ills and trou–
bles and problems. But our own
knowledge explosion of God-re–
vealed knowledge is opening before
our eyes the whole future God has
prepared for those who !ove and
obey Him. o
RECOMMENDED READING
The Worldwide Church of God pub–
lishes attractively printed booklets
on many of the doctrinal topics cov–
ered in this "Personal." Among them
are:
Al/ About Water Baptism. Does
God Exist?, Which Day ls the Christian
Sabbath?
and
The Book of Revelation
Unveiled at Last!
Please request your
free copies by return mail. (See inside
front cover for addresses.)
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1978