Herbert W. Armstrong Audio Sermon Transcripts
Qualifying or Disqualifying Yourself
Sermon Date: October 1982
Well greetings all of you future kings and priests that are going to have these wonderful spiritual crowns, you’re going to rule the world, you’re going to teach the world the way to peace, to happiness and to joy and real accomplishment.
You know, when this Church first started, and it started in the meetings back in July of 1933, almost fifty years ago, forty-nine years ago this last summer. It was in a little country schoolhouse that had only 36 seats. We had an average six nights a week for six weeks; we had an average of 40 people so there were at least four standing on the average. Some nights it might have been ten or fifteen standing and other nights were not quite full but we averaged four standing.
And now, this is just one of many Feast sites all over the United States. You know what Jesus said about the smallest herb of any, and how it grows, and grows and that is the way the Kingdom of God will be. And brethren we are the embryo that is going to sprout out and become the whole world! The Kingdom of God will teach the world for 1,000 years and finally we will constitute the whole world, of billions of people. I tell you brethren, you have no realization, I am afraid, most of us don’t really comprehend yet, what a fantastic thing it is that God has in store for us.
The natural mind is simply unable to comprehend the things that God has in store for us. Now God isn’t calling the whole world now, and I want to make that plain today. This is not God’s world. This is a very deceived world. You have grown up being deceived, and every one of you has been deceived. You have been believing lies. You have been believing things that are false that are not true at all. Open up your ears this morning.
It is much harder to unlearn deceptions, and Satan is the great deceiver, and he has deceived every one of you. You’ve all been deceived. I was, you were, all of us! And it is much harder to unlearn the things that are wrong, that are untrue, that are false, than it is to learn new truth you never heard before. I wonder if you understand that?
Now these annual festivals that we are observing now, and no other church on earth observes them. These festivals are full of great meaning and we should learn many things from them. Of course they are to bring us meat in due season, and every year at this time the same general message should be repeated, but there are parts of that message we have never realized before. And I am going to bring you things this morning that have not been proclaimed at other Feasts of Tabernacles. That you have not heard before, some of you, and some of you have heard it, but you haven’t fully received it, you haven’t fully understood it. Try to understand it this morning.
Winston Churchill said before the United States Congress, during World War II, he was the last I think, of the so-called great men of this world - there are none today. He said "There is a purpose being worked out here below." That certainly means God above doing the working out. A purpose, there is a reason for this world; there’s a reason why people were put on the earth, a reason why you were born. And these annual feast days picture God’s Master Plan for working out that purpose.
God has a Master Plan for accomplishing that purpose, and these festivals explain it. And this explains the part of the Millennium that is soon now to come, but there is a lot more to it, and I want you to understand the whole thing.
Now God’s main purpose is to reproduce Himself . I wonder if you believe that? I wonder if you understand that, I wonder if ever it got through into your mind until you comprehend it? No church on earth believes it. The Methodist don’t believe it, the Christian church doesn’t believe it, the Church of Christ, the Lutherans, the Catholics, the Baptists, they don’t believe it, they don’t know anything about it. They are in total ignorance of it. Satan has blinded this world from the glorious gospel and that is the good news.
The good news is that God is reproducing Himself and He is reproducing Himself in you. And each one of you has been chosen by God and called from out from among thousands of other people. He is going to call the others later, He hasn’t called them yet, but He is calling you first so that you can learn now and teach them and lead them into it later. That’s the great responsibility that is on you.
God formed matter, and out of matter He formed people, and we are just hunks of matter, that’s all we are. But there is a spirit in man, in your mind, that spirit doesn’t give you your life. Your life comes from the breath you breathe, and the circulation of blood pumped by your heart, that’s the only kind of life you have, and that’s only a temporary existence, that’s not real life. You don’t have real life. You just have a little temporary existence and then you go right back into the ground, every one of you.
And my, I tell you, how many, nearly all that were in that little country schoolhouse back there forty-nine, almost fifty years ago, practically all of them are dead now. They’ve gone back into dirt again. They’ve been buried in the ground, they’ve rotted, and the spirit in them didn’t give them life. The life came from their breath and their blood. The breath went out, the spirit returned to God, they went back down into the ground and they have rotted. And that's what's going to happen to all of us, if God doesn’t come sooner, which I am persuaded He will.
Now then God’s purpose began with Christ and the Church and that was the beginning of another world. This is not God’s world. God’s purpose comes in two general stages. Two general periods of time and two stages.
Jesus Christ came into a world that is not God’s world. He came to build the Church and most people don’t understand what the Church is. They don’t know why He started the Church. The Church is only calling out a few and He started with twelve apostles – only twelve people. It started with Christ Himself – one. Then He called twelve and along with them came a number of others, there were 120 altogether who started the Church on the Day of Pentecost. That 120 had to start teaching many, many, others as Christ had taught the apostles. Christ started it by teaching the apostles the right way. Which Adam, the first man, had never understood and never received because he made the wrong choice. Three thousand were converted that first Day of Pentecost. About the next day 2,000 more. And that 120 had to start teaching them.
Every one, you know one of our ministers graduating from Ambassador College can teach well, three hundred, five hundred of you in a church. When we get up around five hundred people in a church, we usually have an associate pastor or an assistant pastor. But the one man could teach up to five, or six hundred very easily. And God has chosen you so that each one of you is going to have to teach somewhere from two to five or six hundred other people. Are you ready?
Have you learned the word of God? Have you studied? Have you grown in grace and the knowledge that is in the Bible, the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ so you could teach three hundred, five hundred other people, and teach them the way of life? THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE CALLED FOR BRETHREN, AND IF YOU CAN’T DO IT, YOU HAVEN’T YET QUALIFIED; YOU’RE NOT READY YET FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD. I want to emphasize that more before this sermon is over.
The Protestants have lulled you to sleep! They say, "Just accept Christ and that is all there is to it, and stay part of this world, enjoy all this worlds pleasures." This is God’s world they think; no it isn’t, its Satan’s world. And then when you die, you just go off to heaven and nothing to do.
Your Bible doesn’t teach anything of the kind. Rather we are to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (II Peter:3:18). We are to wear a crown! We are to become priests and kings and rule and teach. Jesus taught His disciples and He said, Go and teach other people and teach them to teach others. And only those that are called can come to God now.
Jesus Christ said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw[s] him..." (John 6:44)
Do you know your neighbours think you’re crazy? Other people in your family that are not in the Church think you’re crazy. You can’t convert them. They can’t see it unless God calls them. God is choosing a few. We are the firstfruits – that is what the Feast of Tabernacles teaches us. The very first of God’s annual festivals – the Passover – that is the start. That is the start of a new world.
Well, let me go on with it however. The Church – the world doesn’t know what the Church is. The people in this world’s churches don’t know why they are, what the Church really is. It is not, they’re not the real Church of God.
Isaiah nine, here's a prophecy, and everything is based on this. "For [back in ancient Israel] unto them a child was born, unto them a son was given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and [the name], his name shall called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase [Of what? The increase of] his government..." (Isaiah 9:6-7 paraphrased)
He’s going to do away with the government of the United States, He’s going to do away with the government of England, the government of Canada, the government of France, the government of Germany and the government of Russia – the USSR. He’s going to do away with the government of the Peoples Republic of China. He’s going to do away with every government, every nation on the face of this earth. And Christ is going to rule, and you are going to rule with Him. And you’ve got to qualify for that rule NOW, not later. You won’t have any time to qualify later. YOU’VE GOT TO DO IT NOW BRETHREN AND I WANT TO TELL YOU, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN AWAKE! YOU HAVE NOT BEEN AWAKE! WAKE UP BRETHREN!
"... of the increase of his government and peace..." (Isaiah 9:7)
Yes, a government that will bring peace. What do the governments of this world bring you? Do they bring any peace? Because they are fighting one another all the time. Look how people in the governments fight one another. Husband fighting wife, or wife fighting husband, parents and children fighting each other, people fighting next door neighbour. Every class fights another class, Labor fights Capital, black fights white, and white fights black. All contention, all against somebody. That’s this world, this isn’t God’s world, brethren. We are called out of this world. Jesus said, "...COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE...SEPARATE..." (II Corinthians 6:17)
We are to be separate in living a different kind of life. I don’t mean wearing a different kind of clothes. Women putting on a funny little old black bonnet and men wearing a funny little hat as some religious people do. That’s not of God, that’s not God’s way.
"... but of the increase of Christ’s government there shall be no end, and upon the throne of David [David was the king of one of this worlds nations – ancient Israel, on the throne of David], and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with judgement from henceforth for ever. The zeal of the [Eternal] of hosts will perform it." (Isaiah 9:7 paraphrased)It will be done!
Brethren the Church is going to be made ready when Christ comes. And the very fact of preaching the gospel, as we are doing out of this Church, and the only church that is preaching it, and it had not been preached for 1900 years. And that kingdom is coming very, very soon. And most of the people don’t have any idea what’s coming. They don’t know these things. What I am telling you now, you’re going to have to be able to teach hundreds of other people. You had better open your ears. You’d better learn it, you’d better be able to teach others.
Jesus came to be a king. The angel announced to His mother Mary before He was born that He was born to be a king. Jesus on trial for His life, Pilate said, "...Are you a king then? He said, You say I’m a king. To this end was I born [to be a king], for this purpose I came into the world..." (John 18:37 paraphrased). But He wasn’t crowned when He was here, yet He was God in the human flesh. You don’t have a crown yet, but your crown is laid up for you in heaven; it’s laid up for you.
Now Jesus’ gospel was preaching about the Kingdom of God and you read of it, the beginning of His gospel in Mark, the first chapter where it says: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ..." (Mark 1:1).
What is the gospel of Christ? Are the Methodists preaching it, the Baptists preaching it, Jerry Falwell preaching it? He says he’s born again; is he? Does he know what it is to be born again? Now he’s a smart man, but it isn’t a case of how much smartness you’ve got in this material world, because the human eye, no matter how intelligent you are, no matter how many university degrees you have, your human eye cannot see, your ear cannot ear, your mind cannot understand the things that God as prepared for us. (I Corinthians 2:9)
Oh, they preach about Christ, they preach Christ to the nations, that’s what Jesus said they would do, and they are deceiving the world. In vain He said they even worship Him! Oh yes, they worship Him every Sunday morning, in vain, why?,"... teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7 ) And doing away with the law of God. Do you know why? They don’t want the Sabbath, they don’t want God’s Holy Days. They want the ways of this world, and that is always the way of Satan.
Now "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before [my] face, which shall prepare the way before [me]. The voice of one crying in the wilderness..." (Mark 1:1-3 paraphrased)
It’s talks about John the Baptist. Well he prepared the way before Christ’s first coming, and that’s quoting from Malachi 3, verse one. Later I am going to read that to you. And Malachi 3 verse one talks about a messenger, but verse two goes right on talking about Christ’s Second Coming and it’s talking about a messenger coming to prepare a way before His Second Coming. John the Baptist was only a forerunner; a prototype and yet Jesus said, no man ever lived was greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11). But he prepared the way for Christ’s first coming.
Brethren, you are part of the mission of preparing the way for His Second Coming, and that is even more important right now. Preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ.
Now then, after John’s baptism, he baptized Christ and in verse eleven (Mark 1:11) it speaks of that and verse thirteen (Mark 1:13) of how Christ was tempted of Satan, the devil. Satan is the king on the throne of this earth. Christ qualified to replace him and sit on the throne of the earth. He’s coming to rule. Satan’s on the throne on the earth now. You have to know that. I’ll come to that a little later.
"Now after that John was put in prison [had finished his mission], Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel [gospel means 'good news' – what good news did He preach? The good news] of THE KINGDOM OF GOD," (Mark 1:14)
The kingdom of God is the family of God. A family that will be a reigning family, a ruling family. The family of people that will be rulers that will rule all the other nations of the world and it will be a new and a different world altogether.
Now, let’s just get this, and get it straight. That was the gospel Jesus preached, but what happened to that gospel? You read in Galatians the first chapter, verses six and seven, just twenty-two years later. This was twenty-two years after the Church was started, where Paul said to the churches in Galatia: "I marvel that ye are so soon [turned away] from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel [another gospel, they changed the gospel, and turned away from the gospel of Christ]: Which is not another; but... some [would] trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ." (Galatians 1:6-7).
And that is what has been going on for nineteen hundred and fifty years brethren. Well it went on for 1900 years, and for the last fifty years now almost, we have been proclaiming the true gospel that Christ proclaimed; the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Now Jesus came, He said, "...I will build my church;..." (Matthew 16:18). He called twelve, He taught them, and He taught them to go into the world and teach others (Mark 16:15). Then He died to pay the penalty of the sins of all of us who’ve sinned in the world, all who ever lived. After His death, three days and three nights, He rose from the dead. And after His resurrection, forty days later (Acts 1:3), He ascended to heaven, and He’s been there ever since as the High Priest of this Church. Not the High Priest of the Methodist church, the Catholic church or the Baptist church. The High Priest of God’s Church, the Church of God, and He’s there on the right hand of God, at the throne in heaven.
Now He’s gone up there to receive His crown, and when He comes He will be crowned with many crowns. And He’s coming back to earth soon and to bring you your crown. But you have got to qualify, Jesus had to qualify. He had to live above sin. Now you have not done that, I have not done that, but we have to repent of the way we did, and never do it again. We have to turn away from it, and we have to grow in God’s knowledge and begin to live God’s way. And then we have to endure to the end too, and many have not endured.
Then I want to show you Christ will finally come again and we read that in Acts the third chapter. Third chapter, verses nineteen and twenty, where Peter, just a day or so after the Day of Pentecost preaching to a crowd, he said:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ [He’ll come with many crowns then – send Jesus Christ] which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive [now He went to heaven] until [until, the heavens are going to hold Him up there until] the time of restitution of all things..." (Acts 3:19-21)
Now when He comes it will the time of restitution. What does 'restitution' mean? Look it up in the dictionary. Restitution means 'restoring to a former state or condition'. Restitution means restoring back something that had been lost or taken away. Now what was taken away? What was lost that Christ is going to restore when He comes back? Do you know? Can you answer that? Are you able to teach other people brethren? If someone would say, "What's Christ going to restore when He comes back?" Could you tell them? You had better begin to learn it if you going to have that crown. You had better learn it!
Well I want to show you, this is not God’s world. I’d like to turn now back to Isaiah the fourteenth chapter, and I will show you the one who sits on the throne of the world now, whose world this is. It had been speaking about the king of Babylon, and that is the one who will be called 'the beast' over in Europe, and Europe is going to unite. It is in the process of uniting right now. And I’ve talked to, and only just recently in March of this year, or was that a year ago? Well, I’m losing track of some things, things are happening so fast in this world, but a man who could be 'the beast.'
He’s called the strong man of Europe and he very well maybe, and I told him so ten years ago, once when he was in my home in Pasadena. He’s a man who wants to be the Chancellor of Germany, and I told him I didn’t think he ever would be. But I think he is going to have a higher office. He looked rather strangely at me because he’s written a whole book on that subject; he knew what I was talking about. He understood what I meant.
But I want you to notice now, whoever it is will be the very tool of Satan the devil. And Satan will give him his power, and seat and great authority. And he will rule over the nations of Europe, and it will be a united Europe that will be a power as great, or maybe greater, than the United States or the Soviet Union. It may be greater than the Soviet Union. It is going to be that great; it will be a great third world power. And that power is going to destroy this United States and it is going to come very soon.
Now this union of nations in Europe could be completed within one year now, we’re getting close. I don’t know it will be in one year, now don’t someone go off and say, Mr Armstrong said it’s going to be just a year – I didn’t say that. I said it possibly could, I don’t know when it is going to be. So I wish you people wouldn’t misquote me, and it has been done. You just jump at something and say, well Mr Armstrong said this, no I didn’t! But I say it could happen, and the way is being prepared for it very, very rapidly.
Now then, the one who gave him his seat and great authority, all of a sudden this - in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah - lifts up to the greater one who is Satan the devil. And it says,
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer [now Lucifer is the name of a super archangel, a cherub and Lucifer means, shining star of the dawn, or one who brings light, like light coming in the morning at dawn, the light bringer], O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! [or thou that didst weaken the nations cut down to the ground] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven [now this is the super archangel, this is not a human being, this is a super angel and he said I will ascend into heaven], I will exalt my throne [he had a throne, he ruled. Where was his throne?... I will exalt my throne] above the stars of God: I will sit... upon the mount of the congregation [that’s where God’s throne is], in the sides of the north:" (Isaiah 14:12-13)
In the far, far north. God’s heaven is to the far north and it’s the only place in the Bible where it tells you where God’s throne is. Now he was on the earth because he says, "I will ascend." And then the next verse says;
"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like..." (Isaiah 14:14)
Or a better translation is "I will be the most High", or "I'll become the most High". He wanted to take God’s throne away from God. Now that happened more than 6,000 years ago. That happened before God created Adam, and created the first human being. I’m going to show you later why, and how we can know that. Now wait a minute, let’s see, I want to go now to II Peter, in the fourth verse of chapter two: II Peter 2 and verse 4:
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned..." (II Peter 2:4)
Brethren, did angels sin? I thought angels were holy? Angels are supposed to be holy and righteous, and yet here even angels sinned.
Now in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, you read that a third of the angels followed Satan. Two-thirds of them are righteous and holy, but a third of them followed him and they are the angels that sinned.
"...if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to ['tartaroo', and the word should not be hell, but 'tartaroo' is the Greek word that originally was written there, and that’s what Peter wrote. And it’s the only place in all the Bible the word is used, and it just means, well, the words that follow imply what it means; a place of holding them] ...into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;" (II Peter 2:4)
Now when did those angels sin? Notice they sinned. Now what followed that sin, what happened next? Here’s a time order: "And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness..." (II Peter 2:5). The old world is from Adam to Noah. So this happened before Adam. Now after that something else happened next:
"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes [because of their sin]..." (II Peter 2:6)
Now the whole world sinned. The whole world was destroyed by flood. Sodom and Gomorrha and those cities sinned. They were destroyed, only the area where the sin occurred, but before any of that, the angels had sinned. So they had sinned before, and Lucifer became Satan the devil. Lucifer became Satan the devil.
Now wait till I see where I am here, let me - let’s go back to Genesis three; he became Satan the devil. Well first I would like to read to you from the twelfth chapter of Revelation, just one word here:
"...there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels..." (Revelation 12:7)
Now this is about now, I think it may possibly have happened about five years ago, if not it may happen any minute now. And I can’t tell just when it’s happened, but some of the indications are that it has already happened.
"And there was war in heaven: Michael [who is a super archangel, a cherub] and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was any place found for them any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceived the whole world..." (Revelation 12:7-9)
Now Satan has deceived everybody. He deceived you, you, you, you, you, you, you! All of you, and he deceived me. But God has opened my eyes and begun to undeceive me, and as I say, it is harder to unlearn, and get rid of Satan’s delusions. Satan had you thinking you were an immortal soul, didn’t he once? That’s what I used to believe. I had to unlearn that I am not an immortal soul. I am a living soul that can die. And I hope God will hold me alive a little bit longer for your sake. And I know many of you are praying for that and I certainly need those prayers.
But now back to the third chapter of Genesis and verse one. Adam and Eve had been created, the first humans, only two of them. And you know, when God created the first man, He didn’t finish the creation of man. You see, God’s purpose, as I told you, is to reproduce Himself. Well He had to reproduce Himself out of humans, and He wanted to reproduce more than one.
So man had to reproduce first, and He created a man, and the man couldn’t reproduce himself. Did you ever see a man that could reproduce himself and have a child all by himself? I never did. The man was not physically complete, he had to have a woman with him. So God took one of his ribs and made a woman out of it. Now he was physically complete, and the woman joined to him, they became one, one family. Now they had a child, his name was Cain, they had another child, his name was Abel, they had a third son, his name was Seth. They were one family; they now became five people but only one family. The two became one.
Now I want you to get this. God also formed man after His own image, after His likeness, after the God kind. But He made man of the dust of the ground just like animals, and He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life just like animals. And man became a living 'nephesh' just like animals. Only when it says animals became 'nephesh', the men in translating the Bible into a language you could understand, the English language, used the word 'living creature.' And when it came to 'nephesh' and it was regarding man, they believed the devil’s lie, and so they said 'soul' and taught you it was an immortal soul.
But Moses wrote the same word 'nephesh,' the same as animals. And a 'soul' is merely a living animal being, that’s all it is, a breathing animal. A soul; "...God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man [made from the dust of the ground] became a soul." (Genesis 2:7).
The dust of the ground is a soul, not a spirit, but God put a spirit in him. Now, what is the difference between man and an animal? God created a man, he’s different than an animal. Animals came after their own kind, cattle after the cattle kind. Now they have four legs and they walk on all fours, they have horns. A cow looks like a cow, a cow begets a cow, and cattle reproduce after their kind, and every little calf they have it looks like another cow. It’s going to grow up to look like a cow, male or female. Dogs, elephants, cats whatever after their own kind.
But God said, "...Let us make man after our [kind]..."(Genesis 1:26), and the 'us' was God and the Word, who became Christ, more than one. And God and the Word are one. The two are one.
And when God made man and He gave a wife to him, they two became one. But He made man different than an animal. He made man in the form and shape of God, not like an animal. Animals don’t have hands and toes and fingers like we do, and they don’t have minds. Now animals have brains, and man have brains and the human brain is just like an animal brain. It's precisely like it, no different, no better. There is one difference, there is a spirit in man, but God created man with a human spirit, not a divine spirit. A human spirit, and just a part of spirit essence is in every one of you. Not a ghost, not a living being, or a person, the spirit doesn’t give you any life. It imparts mental powers to your brain, that an animal doesn’t have. You can think, you can figure, you can have knowledge of chemistry, physics, astronomy, an animal can’t. An animal can’t make decisions, an animal can’t appreciate music, and beautiful things, like that, like you do. An animal can’t have attitudes like you do, that all comes from the spirit in man.
But man was not made complete. God didn’t finish the creation. Man was not physically complete, He had to create a woman for him, and the two became one, and then man was complete. Man wasn’t complete mentally, he only had one spirit, and he wasn’t complete after God’s image yet. He needed the spirit of God, another spirit to go with the spirit he had, just like he needed another woman to go with him as a male. And when the spirit of God comes into you, you become one with God. Do you understand?
The world doesn’t know that, it doesn’t know anything about the Spirit of God, it's just a lot of foolishness to them. You can’t see the Spirit of God. But the Spirit of God is the power that created the earth. The Spirit of God is the power by which God formed you out of matter. The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace, it is a spirit of happiness and joy, it is a spirit of power, it is a spirit of faith and it is the impregnating spirit of eternal, immortal life, the very life of God that comes from Him.
Now man only had a temporary physical, chemical existence, he didn’t have immortal life. But God offered him immortal life in the Tree of Life. God offered it to him, but he had to make a choice. Now one tree represented going the way Satan had gone. Satan had rebelled against the Government of God. God’s way of life, and God’s law of God’s government is the way of love. And that is out-flowing love towards others. That is the way of peace and joy and happiness and serving, co-operating. But Satan chose the way of competition, and strife. Satan chose the way of antagonism, of hostility, he chose the way of rebellion against God, and not obedience to God. He chose the way of vanity instead of humility. He chose the way of hate instead of love, and love of God, and love of his fellow angels.
Now Adam had to choose either that way - the knowledge of good and evil - or he had to turn to the Holy Spirit - the Tree of Life - when God would then have given him the Holy Spirit, so that he could comprehend spiritual knowledge! And the Holy Spirit would have impregnated him with God-life, so he could then be later born of God and made divine just like God. A child of God and be as much God as God is God. Your child born of you is as much human as you are human. You’re a human, and your child born of you is also human like you are, and God is divine and if you’re born of God you’ll be divine like He is divine. Oh brethren, let’s learn these things, the world doesn’t know, the preachers don’t know, the governments don’t know, nobody in this world knows but God because (Mr Armstrong taps the Bible) here is the word of God that the world cannot comprehend or understand. They read it, they don’t understand.
You know, I’ve had a broadcast, I don’t know whether it has been aired yet or not. Every nation has a secret code so they can transmit information. Like the United States wants to transmit information to our representatives, the ambassadors and so on, in other parts of the world. Now we know that if we send a message over there to the ambassador in Spain, or in Italy, or in Russia that the people in that nation are going to read it. So we want to be able to send a message, they can read it but can’t understand what it says, so they have a secret code and only our own people know the code and can decipher it.
Well do you know that God has a secret code? He wants to get a message to those people that have repented that He has called and chosen out of the world, and He says come out of the world, "...come out from among them, and be... separate..." (II Corinthians 6:17) And be not of this world, and He wants to teach us His ways, and the world cannot understand, and He doesn’t intend them to understand. So He has a secret code and the Bible is God's secret code. Now they can see the message alright, they can read the Bible the same as you and I can read the Bible, BUT THEY CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT! Let me tell you, Billy Graham cannot understand the Bible, and it has come to me that Billy Graham has said, "Herbert Armstrong understands the Bible." I am glad he said that, and I wish he did too, because I’ve heard him say that the Bible says, 'When we all get to heaven', and the Bible says nothing of the kind.
...well a part of it and they manage to manufacture the rest of it and put it together so that they could read the code. And they knew everything the Germans were sending out to their Field Marshalls in the field, and so on. And everything that they thought, and that is one of the reasons the allies won the war. God’s secret code is the Holy Spirit and the Bible is His message, the word of God, His message, but if you don’t have the Holy Spirit that is His instrument that will open it to your mind, you can’t understand the Bible.
When God called me fifty-two, fifty-two and a half years ago, He had brought me down from a great success in the city of Chicago in business. He brought me down to nothing, to poverty, to hunger, real hunger. And He challenged me, and He challenged me on the one test point of all, the test point of all His law. The one test commandment, God’s Sabbath. He opened my wife’s eyes to that. We even talked about divorce, although I would never have done it, not with her. But she wouldn’t, she wouldn’t give up God’s truth, not even for her husband.
I’ve know many wives that did give up God’s truth for their husbands. Brethren let me tell you, men that have become ministers, have gone through Ambassador College, and they have even because of personality, they’ve risen up to become evangelists and do you know that one half of the men that had been made evangelists in this Church have all gone out or been put out? One half! And do you know that the wives of everyone of them went right along with them? If they left God, their wives went with them! Let me tell you Loma D Armstrong would never have done that. She stayed with God, and I had to study, and I had to agree I was going to stay with her, that’s all. She was a woman that had the Spirit of God and she was going to stay there, how about you women? You shouldn’t wear the pants. My wife could have worn the pants, she didn’t for two reasons. One is I wouldn’t let her, and the other is she knew she shouldn’t, and she wouldn’t have anyway. That’s two pretty good reasons.
Well, I want to go back now to Revelation, no before I go back to Revelation twelve, I want to read this here in Genesis three.
"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field [I’ve read you the serpent in Revelation twelve, the serpent is Satan the devil, the former archangel Lucifer] ...and the serpent said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ...the woman said... Well we can eat of all of the trees of the garden: except that one tree and God said if we take of it we'll surely die. Well then the devil said, You shall not surely die." (Genesis 3:1-4 paraphrased)
"Why," he said, "you are an immortal soul." I believed that once, didn’t you? He’s deceived the whole world into believing that. That’s his first lie. "...God doth know...in the day you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods [or like God yourself], knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [it was all good, it looked good, she was all deceived], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [it looked beautiful, and people want what looks beautiful] and a tree to be desired to make one wise [now that appealed to her intellectual vanity], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave unto her husband also and he did eat. (Genesis 3:5-6 paraphrased)
Brethren have you heard of the ERA movementthat women are trying to put over today? That’s where it started, Eve was the pioneer, she started the ERA movement. Do you know what ERA stands for? Eve Ruled Adam – E-R-A. Eve ruled Adam and too many wives are still trying to do it. And too many husbands are such weaklings that they are letting their wives do it. Now God does not want any husband domineering over his wife. I’ll tell you, I could never have domineered over Loma Armstrong, she had too much spirit, she wouldn’t have stood for domineering. But I did dominate, and that is altogether different. I dominated with love, with kindness, with consideration, because I wanted her to be happy in every way, because I loved her. And the marriage lasted fifty years. I proved that I could live in happiness and peace with a wife.
Now I’d like to turn to the twelfth chapter of Revelation again. Revelation twelve and beginning now with verse seven:
"And there was war in heaven..." (Revelation 12:7)
Now this is another war in heaven, and this has either happened just before the California assault against the Church. The largest state in the United States, which is the most powerful nation on earth, trying to completely destroy this Church. Now it may have happened just before that. It may not have happened yet, it may happen any day. All we can do is when we see what is happening to result on the earth, to know when it's has happened. Otherwise God doesn’t tell us what year it will be. But there was to be war in heaven.
"...Michael and his angels [fighting] against the dragon; ...and his angels [now Michael is another archangel, the same rank as Lucifer was, and the dragon fought] and his angels, [who are now demons], And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out, and his demons were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying [from] heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God..." (Revelation 12:7-10)
See we’re getting right down to the time of the coming of the kingdom now. So this may not of actually happened just yet, but Satan is showing, and some of the things Satan was going to do have already begun to happen. So now notice what he was going to do as soon as he was cast back down to earth – let’s see;
"...Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them day and night before God [he accuses this Church, he accuses me, falsely]. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb [that’s Christ], and by the word of their testimony [that’s the Bible, if you have the word of God you have to have that on as your faith, and everything, as your shield against the word of the devil... and by the word of their testimony:] and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." (Revelation 12:10-12 paraphrased)
Brethren how does Satan know he has but a short time? It's because the gospel is going out to the world now after 1900 years, which Satan managed to suppress 1900 years ago, and that gospel didn’t go to the world. And this Church is preaching it to the world for the first time in 1900 years. And that’s how Satan knows that his time is about up.
Now "...when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child [that’s this Church, and the Church of the Philadelphia era, now carrying right on let me show you]. And to the woman [he’s going to bring on the Great Tribulation – and to the woman, that’s this Church] were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time [that’s three and a half years], from the face of the serpent." (Revelation 12:13-14)
Brethren I don’t know whether that place is going to be Petra. I have just said this, and I have never said it would be Petra, believe me, I have not said it would be Petra. I say that if the Bible gives us any hint as to where it would be, the nearest hint it gives, would be Petra. There are several things in the Bible that indicate Petra, yes, but they don’t prove it, they don’t say it, but it says we are going to be taken to a place of safety. A place of protection and in the third chapter of Revelation, also for the Sardis Church it says the same thing, we’re going to be protected from that Great Tribulation. The rest of the world will not. The Laodicean Church will be born in the Great Tribulation and they will come out of it, but they will be going through it. We will not!
Now we are very close to that Great Tribulation. How close I can’t say. It may be within one year. Now, on the other hand, don’t, don’t go round saying I said it will happen in one year, it may be ten years too. If it is ten more years I probably won’t live for it. I’ve already past ninety. I don’t know, God can keep me alive till I pass hundred if He wants to. Because God can do whatever He wants to do. But then, later the serpent goes after the remnant Church which is the Laodicean Church. And they are the ones, that half of them, their lamps will have gone out of oil, and half of them are going to be unable to get in, and the door will be shut and they’ll be left out.
But brethren not all of us are going to get in either unless we have the Spirit of God, and unless we are constantly growing in grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Unless we are growing in the character of God, we won’t get in.
Now I was talking to a blind brother down at Big Sandy the other day, and I felt very sorry for him. He said, well he felt like the apostle Paul, he wanted to do what is right but he said he didn’t find he was doing it all the time, you know I’m the same way. I have to fight me all the time, did you know that? You know I have had to fight Herbert Armstrong, do you know who my worst enemy is – Herbert Armstrong. I’ve got a lot of other enemies, they want to kill me – I don’t – I don’t want to do that - my other enemies do. Well I pray for them. I pray for them before I pray for you, I really do. I pray for them too, because God isn’t going to do anything for them that isn’t good. I know that. So I pray for them.
But Satan is come down and deceived this whole world, and because he can’t deceive this Church he is angry against us. That’s the only reason. He is not angry against the Methodist Church, he is not angry against the Baptist Church, he’s not angry against the Roman Catholic Church. He is not, he is angry at this Church. He hates us because we have God’s truth because we know who Satan is and we know who God is, and he hates me. My wife Loma said one time, he hates me more than anybody on earth, well maybe he does. And I am so glad that so many of you write me how you are praying for me all the time, and do I need it. I want to tell you I need it, I need it more than you can realize.
Now let me see, we want to turn back to the book of Ephesians, and the second chapter of Ephesians. Now talking to us in this Church God says:
"...you hath he quickened [made alive, spiritually alive. We are not made of spirit yet, we’re not immortal, but we’re made spiritually alive in this temporary human flesh], who were dead in trespasses and sins [we were spiritually dead, the Sardis Church is called spiritually dead, the world is spiritually dead, while they yet live in pleasure in this world]; Wherein in time past ye [that’s you and me] walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:" (Ephesians 2:1-2)
Now the prince of the power of the air! I couldn’t understand that until I went on radio and later television. And I notice how I can transmit things right through the air, and Satan can do that. And we all have a human spirit and our human spirit is tuned into Satan’s wavelength and he broadcasts and he broadcasts in attitudes. He broadcasts in attitudes of resentment, of jealousy, of envy, of vanity. Yes, some of you women want to paint before a mirror and you say, “Well, Mr Armstrong we want to tell you a women’s viewpoint about that.” Listen women, I am not interested in a women’s viewpoint, I am interested in God’s viewpoint. Do you want to censor me for that? Do you? How about it. God’s view point says you will never rise to meet Him in the air with paint on your face. And let me tell you, we know, your children tell us, that some of you women put paint on right along through the week, and take it off to come to Church on the Sabbath. We know that, we ministers know it. God knows it. You think you’re kidding God, you women?
And some of you are resentful against me because I tell you. Quit trying to change the face God gave you. Painting up like a savage, Indian war-paint. Oh God says, "Cry aloud and spare not and tell my people their sins" (Isaiah 58:1 paraphrased). And it is sin, and sin is the transgression of the law and it doesn’t mean according to the strictness of the letter, but according to the obvious intent, or the spirit as you read in the third chapter of second Corinthians. The trouble is we don’t know how to analysis and interpret the law, it is the obvious meaning or intent, and vanity is the greatest sin. That’s what made a devil out of Lucifer. Vanity – so beautiful and you women just want to be beautiful. Well God made you beautiful.
I’ll tell you my wife Loma didn’t need to put paint all over her face, and I’d have, had to rub it off, and I never would have kissed her if she'd had. I didn’t get to kiss her on the lips very often anyway, she didn't - for some reason she couldn’t tolerate much of that, not all women are like that I guess, but anyway, I didn’t love her for her lips. I loved her for the spirit and the goodness that God had put into her, that’s what it was.
Anyway, now I want you to notice again in II Corinthians, II Corinthians, fourth chapter and fourth verse: "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid from them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ..." (II Corinthians 4:3-4 paraphrase)
Not a gospel about Christ. You know Billy Graham preaches a gospel about Christ, so do all these other Protestant preachers, they preach about Christ, but they don’t preach the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is the gospel Jesus preached and that’s the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and they don’t know that gospel. Jerry Falwell doesn’t know it. Now I can’t think of the name of some of these other electric evangelists, but they don’t know it, they just don’t know it.
Satan is still on the throne and he is still deceiving people as you read now here in II Corinthians, he has blinded the minds of the people of this world, he’s deceived all nations, deceived the whole world. He is still on the throne. Jesus Christ came and qualified to replace him on that throne!
Now this is a world started from Adam, and Adam chose Satan’s way and it is a world started Satan’s way. It’s a physical world, it’s not God’s world at all. Jesus came and said, "...I will build my church..." (Matthew 16:18). Jesus came to start an entire new civilization, an entire new civilization. He preached the way of the Kingdom of God. He taught evangelists, He called a few, just a few out, and He said, "You go and teach others." Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draws him..." (John 6:44 paraphrase)
Do you know the rest of the people around you, why they don’t see the truth and don’t get converted? They can’t, unless God calls them. They can’t! God chose you out of thousands! Look, it’s not a volunteer group. You have been drafted brethren. You’ve been drafted, but are you qualifying? Are you studying? Are you praying enough? Are you?
Oh, I forgot to tell you about the blind brother down here in Big Sandy. He said that he didn’t do what he saw he ought to, and he was all discouraged. Brethren you don’t need to be discouraged if you’re trying, if your heart is right, God will bring you through, and the faith of Christ will. But I’m only concerned - are you really trying and doing the best you can?
Now God judges us according to how well we do with what we have to do with. That blind brother didn’t have an awful lot of education, and now he can’t see, and I know what a handicap it is. I can’t see well, I have to use this magnifying glass, and even then I have to have great big type. I have a large type Bible, and I can’t even read that without a magnifying glass. I only see out of one eye, my other eye is blind, and the one eye I do have to see with is going blind, it is almost blind, it is very dim. I don’t see you out there well enough to identify you. But I have to keep serving God the best I can, and God judges us whether we do the best we can, with what we have to do with. And if you are doing that then don’t fear - but take courage. But God can use you!
I couldn’t get to sleep last night, I didn’t get enough sleep. But I just look to God and I say, "God, I have to look to you to give me power and strength, like you promise in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah." (Isaiah 40:29-31). Maybe I’m talking around in circles a little bit here this morning because I didn’t have enough sleep, but nevertheless you’re getting a message if you’ll listen to it. I know that and Christ wants to get a message over to you and He is.
Now Satan to this minute is still on his throne on this earth, unless he has gone up to heaven for that battle. But Jesus came to start a new world, and He did and He started the Church. But I told you after twenty-two years the gospel was suppressed, and that gospel was not preached for a thousand nine hundred years. That is one century of time cycles, a time cycle is nineteen years. And a hundred of those nineteen year cycles, the gospel was not preached to the world. Oral Roberts does not preach it, none of those electric evangelists do preach it. There’s one voice, and one voice only, on the air. Do you recognize the difference brethren? Totally different, and I think some of the others must think I’m crazy, because everything I proclaim is different from what they’re proclaiming. Do you notice the difference? And God helping me, nothing but the truth is going to come out, I won’t compromise.
Now I’d like you to notice in Malachi, the third chapter beginning with verse one:
"Behold, I will send [you] my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple..." (Malachi 3:1)
What is that temple? In the, let me see, it’s in the second chapter of Ephesians, later on - I read part of the beginning of it, later on, it says that you are that temple, brethren. A Church grown up to be a glorious temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21-22). We are the temple He’s coming to. He’s not coming to a temple built of stone and wood. He is coming to a temple built of spirit. And we will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The dead in Christ will rise first and they will be immortal, composed of spirit, and He is coming to put crowns on our heads, remember that.
Now He is coming to His temple, He is talking about the second coming, even now, the first time He came to a physical temple in Jerusalem, and John the Baptist prepared the way for Him
"...even to the messenger of the covenant, whom [you] delight in... he shall come, [says] the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap [that burns the metals off, of gold and silver, until well, it burns the gold and silver off the metals, I guess would be a better way of saying it]: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the [Eternal] an offering in righteousness. [And] Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD..." (Malachi 3:1-4)
Did that happen at His first coming? Not at all, this is not talking of what happened when John the Baptist prepared the way before Him, this is talking of what we are doing brethren right now, the Second Coming. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD. And it wasn’t when He came then, they rejected Him.
"...as in the days of old... And I will come near to you to judgment [that’s when He comes the second time]; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, and widow[s], and the fatherless, and [them] that turn aside the stranger from [the] right [and so on], ...saith the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 3:4-5)
That’s talking about the Second Coming. Now someone was coming to prepare the way for His Second Coming brethren, and we read on, on the fourth chapter, if you read everything on through it, you come in to the end of the fourth chapter, beginning in verse three, or verse five:
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD [and the Day of the Lord follows and cuts short the Great Tribulation, and that’s coming very soon now, it’s coming very, very soon now]: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with..." (Malachi 4:5-6)
'Utter destruction' is the correct translation of that last Hebrew word, not curse but utter destruction. In other words no flesh would be saved alive except Jesus comes.
Now immediately after the gospel, how are we going to know when Christ’s Second Coming is near? When this gospel of the Kingdom is preached to all the world, and then shall be Great Tribulation, such as never was since there was a nation on earth. That’s coming very soon, you’re hearing the gospel of the Kingdom now. The Great Tribulation is coming, and no flesh would be saved alive. In other words, if God didn’t intervene, every man, women and child would be destroyed. It means that all the cities are going to be destroyed, and that requires the hydrogen bomb, and it never could have happened till the hydrogen bomb came. And the hydrogen bomb came just thirty years ago, just a little less. More than twenty-nine and a half years ago the hydrogen bomb came after this gospel is going to the world, and while it is still going to the world. And immediately after the Great Tribulation of those days, they’re going to see Christ coming in clouds of power, clouds of heaven with power and great glory!
Brethren we are right down to the last days and we’re the tail-end Church. Now notice in Matthew, Matthew 17. The disciples had said to Jesus and "...asked him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come?" (Matthew 17:10 paraphrased)
Now Elijah had been put in prison, before Jesus even started coming to preach His gospel. Remember Elijah was already put in prison, and they said, why then must Elijah come first. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, [Elijah] truly shall first come, and restore all things." (Matthew 17:11)
John the Baptist had already come and finished his gospel, and yet He said Elijah shall yet come! The Elijah that He’s talking about hadn’t come yet, notice that. Now the next words that Jesus said, "But I say unto you, That [Elijah] is come already, and they knew him not..." (Matthew 17:12). They didn’t even recognize who he was, but they persecuted him and put him to death. And the Elijah to come is going to be persecuted in the same way, but he is coming to restore.
Did John the Baptist restore anything? What did he restore brethren? Answer, what did John the Baptist restore? He didn’t restore anything. What is Jesus coming to restore? He is coming to restore the Kingdom of God, and that throne of government, which Satan sits on now. What was the Elijah to restore, that was to come preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ?
Listen brethren, John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River. Preparing the way for the physical Jesus to come to His physical people, Judah, and to a material temple built of stone and wood. Just proclaiming there would be the Kingdom of God. But he was only a pre-figure of one to come before the Second Coming of Christ. One, a voice crying out in the spiritual wilderness of religious confusion; the modern Babylon. And this whole world is in that modern Babylon, and it is going to rise up in Europe and govern the world. And it is coming to prepare the way for the spiritual Christ, to come in power and great glory, as King of kings and Lord of lords to rule all the world!
Brethren, has Elijah come? Now I say that with every serious soberness that I have. And I want to tell you something. Many years ago, about fifteen, no wait a minute, more like twenty-five years ago Herman Hoeh, now we call him Dr Hoeh now, but he wants us to drop that Dr and I believe we should. Anyway, Herman Hoeh was a student and he wrote an article for the ‘Plain Truth’ saying that I was ‘Elijah.’ I killed that article. I said, “Don’t you ever write anything like that Herman.” I would no more think I was Elijah than anything. Later he wrote another article saying, the whole Church is Elijah. Now, it doesn’t say there’d be a whole church, it says a man was coming, but there had to be a church back of him, to stand behind him, one hundred percent, as you brethren write me you're doing. I said, “No it’s not a church,” so I had to kill that article. Now Herman Hoeh wrote several articles before one of them ever got printed in the ‘Plain Truth.’ Of course now he is in charge of all of the writing of the articles in the ‘Plain Truth.’ That was a long time ago, he is past fifty years of age, I think now. And that’s a little different than he was when he was at eighteen coming to college as a boy. Now a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.
You know brethren, how did Jesus say you can recognize things. He said, “By their fruits you shall know,” didn't He? I would never say, "I am going to be Elijah." Oh, never would I have said a thing like that. But brethren, I look back, and I look at the fruits, and now we are getting close to the time, and I know what has happened. I know that the true gospel of Christ has gone to this world for a witness to all nations, and I’ve gone to kings and princes, {6}and God has opened doors, and I have walked through them. And God has built up His Church and the truth has been proclaimed, AND THE GOSPEL HAS BEEN RESTORED. THAT’S WHAT WAS TAKEN AWAY, THE GOSPEL, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD WAS TAKEN AWAY. AND CHRIST IS COMING TO RESTORE THAT GOVERNMENT! And the Government of God has been restored in this Church, and the only place where the Government of God has ever been restored to this earth is in this Church. Brethren, do I lie or am I telling you the truth?
You answer! The Government of God is in this Church. Why have some gone out of this Church? Because they hated that government. That is the very thing that God has restored into this Church. I want to tell you we are in the very last days, and I am here to awaken you! John the Baptist came and said, "Repent". Well I say more than repent, I say you should have already repented, now GROW in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is the message that I come saying to you.
Brethren, of myself I am absolutely nothing. I am just a hunk of human flesh but I am a hunk of flesh that God beat down. Oh how, I thank Him practically every day, before I go to sleep at night. I thank God that He took away the businesses that I had, and I was making up to what would have been up to a third of a million dollars a year, when I was only 28 years old.
And after that, God brought me down to real hunger, and I had to send my children hungry to school, and they had to stay the whole day without any lunch. Now that hurts a father to have to send his children to school hungry. Yes I came to the place when God had converted me and I started the ministry going out to that church, and I went out there with very righteous shoes on my feet. They were ‘holey,’ they had holes in the bottom and that was the only pair of shoes I had. But I tell you, I did have one suit. I had a suit of clothes for every day in the week and the one I was wearing was it and it was thread-bare. And one of the members of the church, that early church took pity on me and took me to Montgomery Ward’s and bought me a $19 suit. I wish I could get one for $19 dollars today.
But I tell you what I did do, I gave myself over to Christ and I've tried to leave myself there and I haven’t done a very good job of it either. I’ve sinned since I have been converted, but I have repented of it very, very bitterly. I have tried my best to overcome and not do it again. So have you done the same thing brethren, so don’t start throwing stones at me, because you are guilty too, every one of you. We are all in the same boat, and we all have to get through into God’s Kingdom through the very grace of Jesus Christ, and of God, and Christ who gave His life to pay the penalty we’ve incurred, so we don’t have to pay it. But I have to do that and you have to do it, and I am just another human just like you are, and your leader. Don’t think of me as anything else.
No I didn’t come up here to preach to you this morning, but I came up here to let Christ take over and He’ll preach to you and I hope He did. I hope He did and I hope you listened and got the message, because it's very important.
Satan started this world through Adam. Christ started this world through the Church, and brethren we are the last part of the Church. And there are just about as many of us in the Church now as were in the Church at its maximum before it went backward. Now the Church existed through all generations, but they continually lost the true gospel. And when I came among them 55 years ago, I tell you, they had lost every bit of the truth of the gospel except the name of the Church, and the Sabbath, as part of the law. But they had lost the gospel, they didn’t even know what the gospel was, they had lost it. They had lost so much of the knowledge they didn’t know any of the things I have been telling you here today. Do you know them? And you who are ministers here, do you know them? And do you preach those things to your Churches? When God reveals things to me, and I reveal them to you, do you ministers pick them up and go on and reveal them to your people? Or you say, "Oh that's from Mr Armstrong, I don't want any of that, I don’t agree, I am just going to preach my own ideas to my people."
No, I think those preachers are all weeded out now, I don’t think they are in the Church anymore. But God reveals things to me, and He wants you ministers to preach those things to your congregations, and He wants you people to follow these things. You see God gives the words to Christ, Christ only preached what his Father told Him. I want to preach only what Jesus reveals and this is His word (taps the Bible) and this is Him speaking right here in this book, and you can check up on me. You can read it too and if you have the Holy Spirit you can understand it.
So brethren carry on, and remember there are four steps to get into the Kingdom. One is you have to admit how wrong you have been, you have to repent. I have known people who came up to being evangelists in the Church, and we thought they had been converted, and they never had. They had never once admitted they had ever been wrong about anything! They are not in the Church any longer. When you admit you are wrong that is part of the first hurdle, the second half of it is you have to turn around and start going the other way, you mustn’t go wrong any longer.
Now the second hardest thing to do is believe Christ. I don’t say believe in Christ, millions do that but they don’t believe Him and that is altogether different. They don’t believe what He says. Now what He says is the word, it is in print here and that shows you the way of life. To come out of the way you have been living, come out of the way the world is living. Come out of this world’s interests, its pleasures, its occupations. Well you have to have an occupation to earn a living, I don’t mean that, but you know what I mean. I mean the world’s ways, and sometimes you even have to change your occupation, if it is a wrong one. But when you learn God’s way you have to do it. Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers.
Now then the next thing is, you have to continue doing that, you have to "...grow in the grace, and...the knowledge of [the] Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ..." (II Peter 3:18) And as you get knowledge you have to walk in that knowledge, you have to live that knowledge. Are you doing that brethren? And you’re still not in the Kingdom yet.
"...he that endureth [un]to the end..." (Matthew 10:22).
You heard in the sermonette something about a race, and if someone drops out of the race ninety-percent of the way he doesn’t win. It’s he that comes in on the finish that wins. I ran a mile race once when I was, I think seventeen years old in high school and I dropped over in a faint at the end. I’d run the mile in five minutes. Now Roderick Meredith, let me see, is he going to be here? He’s either going to speak here at the close, or in Big Sandy, one or the other. Well when he was in high school he won a State meet, and he ran it about four minutes and thirty some seconds, so he ran a lot better than I did. But I want to tell you, that if you run a mile in five minutes you know you’ve been in a race, and I dropped into a complete faint right at the end but I finished. I did finish, and I hope I’ll finish this race into God’s kingdom and I hope you’ll all finish with me and come in with me.
Brethren let me tell you something brethren finally in closing. Just a little personal something. The Feast of Tabernacles started up in Belknap Springs, Oregon, and it was held seven years up there. And then in 1951 we had outgrown that and we had the Feast in northern California, in central, northern California at Seigler Springs, and then the next year 1952, I believe it was, we held, I guess it was 1952 in Seigler Springs. And 1953 at Big Sandy, and that was the only place, and I think maybe some of you here now, were down at Big Sandy then. Anyway we got all of the brethren who had attended that first Feast at Big Sandy, and I was surprised at how many. I know there were more than hundred. One or two of them were older than I am, one woman was 96, another was 91 or 92. A year or two older than I and what a reunion we...
...now look we had so many of these Festivals all over now and all over the world. I wish my wife Loma could come back and just see how much things have grown. But she got to see it grow to a pretty big size when she died in 1967.
Well I hope we are not spiritually dead like we once were. Spiritually alive, and we will be made completely alive with immortal life very, very soon. Now if I don’t see you at the next Feast of Tabernacles, I’ll see you in the Kingdom of God. And I hope to see you again on the Last Day of the Festival again, as I did on - I’ll have to see you on this screen up here, but I’ll be speaking in Pasadena in the auditorium. And you know there’s a wonderful thing last Sabbath, do you know there were about 120,000 of us all over the United States, Canada, England, Alaska and Hawaii? All singing the same songs together, watching the same song leader – altogether. What a reunion, and what a reunion it is going to be when we are all in the Kingdom of God. We’ll see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you’ll be able to talk to them, and even Christ.
I’ve said so many times if I am ever accounted worthy to ever see Jesus Himself in person in the Kingdom, I know He is going to look down at me with a smile on His face, He’s going to be shaking His head saying, “Herbert, you’ll never know how you tried my patience, but I wouldn't give up on you and I pulled you through.” That’s the only way I can get through and I think that’s the only way you can get through. Let Him pull you through but you’ve got to give your all. All that you have you’ve got to give in to it. Well brethren, until we do meet again, thank you all.