Basic HTML Version
He specially called and trained
His apostles, started the Church with
them and the
120,
and then ADDED to
the Church such as He needed to
back up the apostles' ministry to THE
WHOLE WORLD.
To those He called, upon complete
repentance and faith, He gave the
gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus they
became partakers of the divine na–
ture
(U
Peter
1:4).
The PURPOSE and FUNCTION of the
Church is:
1)
to back up with loyal
support the apostles, as
theír part
in
the GREAT COMMISSION- and as
Goo's MEANS of, allowing them 2) to
overcome Satan, developing God's
holy, righteous CHARACTER within
them through the Holy Spirit, thus
qualifying
them
also to sit with
Christ in His throne in Jerusalem,
with power for ruling the whole earth
(Revelation
3:21; 2:26-27).
This lat–
ter promise applies to those CALLEO
OUT OF THE PRESENT WORLD-nOt lO
those who sha ll be called (as ALL
will) during the millennium!
Church a Spiritual Organism-
Yet Well Organized
At this point a bit of personal experi–
ence will help the reader to UNDER–
STAND.
Jesus had called His apostles and
taught them INPERSON. Jesus Christ is
the WoRo OFGoo in person. The Bible
is the Word ofGod IN WRITING!
As the personal Word of God
taught the original apostles, so He
called and taught His modern-day
apostle by the WRITTEN WORD OF
Goo- the same TEACHING-the
SAME TRUTH!
After calling, giving His apostle
the initial teaching, having him or–
dained, God added the
19
members
that started His Church of this Phil–
adelphia era. Then Christ had
opened before His apostle, ·as one
"SENT FORTH" with the gospel mes–
sage, the means Of MAS$ COMMUNICA–
TION of the printed word, radio and
later television.
With such vast mass communica–
tion facilities,
one
apostle could reach
many times more
people with the
gospel message than the original
twelve, plus the apostle Paul and
others sent to Gentile nations.
l
soon
saw the need, as God's Word sets
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1979
forth for the CHURCH, of evangelists,
pastors, other elders and teachers–
as well as people trained in ADMINIS–
TRATIVE responsibilities.
So God raised up Ambassador
College to provide training for the
supportive functions behind the apos–
tle in the GREAT COMMlSSION.
Remember, the Church is still in
the six-millennia era óf this ·PRESENT
EVIL WORLD. We are "called-out
ones"-<:alled to be SEPARATE!
Just as the angels on earth (pre–
Adamic) needed tbe GOVERNMENT
OF Goo to synchronize the various
functions into a team unit, so was this
.necessary io God's Church.
The operation of the GREAT COM–
MISSION, .especially in this twentieth
century, requires, as the New Testa–
ment clearly states, organization .
So God set H1s GOVERNMENT in
His Church. And God's government
is authority from the TOP down. God
the Father is in supreme authority
over all. Next in authority under
Him is Jesus Christ, living
Head
of
the Church. On the human and
earthly leve!, next in authority under
Christ is His chosen apostle. God or–
ganized ancient Israel, under Moses,
with captains over thousands next
under Moses, then under them cap–
tains over hundreds, over fifties, etc.,
as God led Moses to choose.
1
will here inject an incident in
point. Christ had led His apostle to
appoint the apostle's son next under
him, because he was the best quali–
fied, in the office of executive vice
president. Perhaps it was a mistake
to use such a modero business title.
Nevertheless the son, like David's
sons, Absalom and Adonijah, began
to simply take over. He initiated poli–
cíes he was not authorized to set. He
wanted to secularize the college, the
magazine
(The Plain Truth),
and
even the Church . He wanted this
world's accreditation for the college.
He demoted or shanghaied the top–
ranking ministers who had been
trained under and were loyal to
Christ's apostle.
Meanwhile, the apostle, as "one
sent forth" with Christ's gospel mes–
sage, was going into al! the world–
and was away from headquarters up
to
300
out of the
365
days in the year.
As the son departed from the ways of
his father and of God (as did the sons
of Eli and of King David), he SHUT
OFF ALL AUTHORITY ABOYE HIM. He
threatened
with loss of their positions
in the Work any under him who in
any manner contacted or revealed to
his father how he was departing from
God's ways, watering clown doctrines
and teachings- first in the college,
then starting also in the Church.
Cowed with fear, those who knew
how the son was destroying the Work
of the living Goo kept silent.
Finally, four leaders under him took
courage and carne to God's apostle,
saying, "God forgive us for keeping
silent so long, but we were afraid forour
jobs. But now we haveto report to you
. that your son is systematically destroy–
ing all that Christ has built through His
apostle and is building something for
himself. Like a spoiled child, he wants
hisown way."
God's apostle, to be not guilty of
Eli's sin, removed his son from all
authority and disfellowshipped him
from the Church.
The son had represented that no
one dare "take it over his head" by
going to · Christ's apostle-that ALL
authority in a then great worldwide
Work of God
stopped with him!–
that he had SHUT OFF all authority
above himself.
But even Christ's apostle has no
authority to SHUT OFF the authority
above him. In God's government, the
one in lesser authority is still UNDER
the authority of those over him. Au–
thority does not END at any point
under God the Father.
The end of this incident in point is
that all in God's Churcb now know
that the door to Christ's apostle is
always open to ALL under him!
God's Church is NOT a. worldly
ORGANIZATION- it is a SPIRITUAL
ORGANIZATION, called OUt of this
world and its ways by Christ. Yet it is
WELL ORGANIZED-it must be to
function. The Church consists of the
begotten children of God-the
DI–
VINE FAMILY-TO-BE!
The Household of God
Actually the Church is, on the hu–
man JeveJ, the BEGOTTEN FAMILY OF
Goo. To the Gentile converts at
Ephesus, God inspired Paul to write:
(Continued on page 38)
3