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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord,
How
meaningful and precious is ALL of the
TRUTH of God to each of us? Before much longer each of us will
be tested, even to the possibility of losing our very lives for the sake of it.
As to how meaningful it is to us...it can mean the difference between suffering
the horrors of the Great Tribulation and receiving protection in the Place of
Safety! Even more importantly, we should also realize that in this context of
TRUTH, our very salvation is at stake!
Like our
brothers and sisters in the Lord, from the very beginning of God's Church in 31
A.D., you and I are having to struggle against the powerful unseen forces of
evil. Forces that use known wolves in sheep's clothing, with subtle and cunning
speech and skillful writing, to try and take away the very TRUTH God has opened
our minds and hearts to receive. The very same TRUTH, through which God
has set us free from the bondage of sin and set us on the path to life (John
17:17; Psalm 19:7-11).
As did our
brothers and sisters, throughout the centuries, who endured terrible ordeals and
even martyrdom to retain this wonderful blessing, so must we all. Because of
NOT deeply loving God's precious truth enough, we have witnessed thousands leave
God's Church in the past few years (II Thessalonians 2.10-12).
This can and
will happen to us, unless we struggle valiantly to retain
the TRUTH that God opened our
minds to receive through His late apostle, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. He who was
the last apostle that
God has sent in the end-time to His Church, and the
Elijah to come to the world.
In the very
closing part of the 1st Century, the last of the original apostles, John, wrote
to the members of God's Church a letter, to serve as a reminder and intended for
all of God's people throughout time and to us in the end-time. A reminder of the
all-important value, of embracing the TRUTH OF GOD and never, ever,
letting anyone take it away from us:
THE
ELDER-to the elect lady and her children whom I love in TRUTH, and not only I,
but also all those who have KNOWN THE TRUTH, because of THE TRUTH which ABIDES
in us and WILL BE WITH US FOREVER." (II John 1-2)
The apostle John was the last
surviving apostle who had seen with his eyes, looked upon, and whose hands had
handled the Word of life, Jesus Christ, the ever-living Creator God.
John had lived through the
false ministers and members who had secretly come in among the Churches of God
and had sown their seeds of destruction. Many people in his time had fallen by
the wayside as the result of their deception, just as we have witnessed in our
time.
God led John, in his writings,
to encourage the elect of God to continue to love and hold fast to the TRUTH
they had been taught, as we see in the above Scriptures and many others as well.
We, as God's people of the
end-time, have lived through the same types of problems. Times of great stress,
hard trials, and great discouragement have befallen all of us, as we continue to
remain faithful to our God.
Though God's late apostle, Mr.
Armstrong, did not live to see a major falling away (apostacia - a forsaking of
the teachings of the apostle - II Thessalonians 2:3), and the scattering of
God's people (Daniel 12:7), he wrote that we had entered the time of the
purifying of God's people through hard trials. (Daniel 12:10)
He lived long enough to witness
the beginning of the falling away from
the FAITH ONCE DELIVERED in 1974 and its continued
drain until he died in 1986. This led him to understand the beginning
fulfillment of Daniel 12. But God hid from his understanding how and when the
huge numbers would fall away from the TRUTH and the elect being scattered over
the face of the planet earth.
The apostle Paul wrote the real
reason why they left: "... because
they did not receive THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, that they might be saved. And for
this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie
that they all may be condemned (Greek: judged) WHO DID NOT BELIEVE TRUTH ..."
(II Thessalonians
2:10-12).
The apostle John wrote,
"... they went out from us because they were not of us. (I John 2:19)
Though Mr. Armstrong has been
dead for close to 19 years (January 16, 1986), he lives on through his writings
and many of his recorded sermons which are readily available from several
different websites.
In conjunction with the Holy
Scriptures, we have those writings to give us guidance in the uncharted waters
we now find ourselves. It is an evolving, continual time of learning, in which
we find ourselves trying to sort out the truth from the false teachings that
surround us.
To persevere faithfully, we are
to always follow the lead of the ONE who said,
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John
14:6)
Many of you have no place to
assemble on the Sabbath with people of like faith and beliefs. Others of you are
blessed to have a faithful elder, or pastor to be there for you. God expects us
as true and faithful ministers, whoever and wherever we are, to do all we can to
reach out with a helping hand to His scattered people.
There is a small group of us
here in the Modesto, California Church area.
Modesto
means modest, and we are...very small by comparison. No big names and with
meager means, but with a genuine, heartfelt desire, to reach out and help as
many of you as God makes possible. We have our website, that makes available to
those of you with computers, our Church publications, sermons, and world news
items that will relate to the end-time prophecies as they unfold. There is a
link there as well, that makes it possible to listen to our Church services live
each Sabbath and Holy Day, with the exception of the Feast of Tabernacles.
For those who do not have
computers, we also make available a
free
phone interface that makes it possible for you to call and join our live
Sabbath Services. The number is:
1-877-553-9909. Once you do this, the operator will ask you to
put in a code number, please enter the number
8819. The time of the weekly
service, is 11:00 am to 1:00 pm California time (PST). The time for services
on Holy Days is from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, and again from 2:00 to 4:00 pm.
We mail out recorded sermons
and the Pastor's Comments free of charge. We do not ask you for any commitment,
or require an obligation in any way. We just sincerely want to help any and all,
who desire to receive from us whatever contribution we can make,
to help you remain in God's truth and way of
life.
Normally we play a recorded
sermon given by Mr. Armstrong once a month, on the Sabbath, and have done so
since 1995. Never should we forget our roots and the man God used to teach us
His Truth.
We trust that God will guide us
in making continued improvements within our website, to make it as helpful and
useful as are we capable of doing, for all of you. As you will come to see,
though we try, we are not perfect in what we do, however, God is! And we are
continually seeking His help and guidance in our efforts to help others of like
minds in spite of our limitations. We want to do as Christ exhorts us to do, in
helping His people. (John 21:15-17; Matthew 24:45-46) At the same time, we must
not lose sight of our first love. (Revelation 2:4) This is a major reason why we
were called and selected by God to be members of His Church.
We must have an intense desire,
and put forth effort as God makes possible, to
SHARE the Good News of
Tomorrow's World, with which we have been blessed, with as many as we can reach.
Please pray with us, that God will show us how and what we might be able to
further do, in fulfilling this commission from God. Whether we can do a little,
or a lot, it will all be up to God.
Our responsibility is two-fold:
There must be a combined effort of reaching out to help as many as we can of
God's Church, and at the same time to proclaim the Gospel as God makes possible.
As God's chosen people, we find
throughout the Scriptures, God's
Spirit of TRUTH has to be all important to us!
Truth - by which we live,
truth to die for...if
that should come to be our lot.
Soon, Christ will return and
those of us who remain faithful to God and His
TRUTH will rise to meet Him in the earth's atmosphere
and "so shall we ever be with the
Lord." (I Thessalonians 4:16-17) Paul adds:
"Therefore comfort one another with these
words."
John further writes: "I have no
greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in TRUTH." (III John 4).
This is also our joy.
Your brother in Christ,
Don
Billingsley
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