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PASTOR GENERAL'S
REPORT
TO THE MINISTRY OF THE
WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD
VOL.7, N0.24
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
FROM MINISTERIAL SERVICES
JUNE 14, 1985
The 17th session of the third Ministerial Refreshing Program began Wednes
day, June S. Mr. Herbert
w.
Armstrong addressed the group that afternoon,
covering material from his new book MYSTERY OF THE AGES, and reemphasizing
the fact that God is not "trying to save the world" now. He further ex
plained that this present world is� God's world. It is a world ruled by
Satan the devil, a world of people who are naturally hostile to God and His
Law {Rom. 8:7). The only people in the world who are children of God are
those who have His Holy Spirit and are led .QY itl {Rom. 8:14.) All others
are children of the devil {John 8:44) until given the Holy Spirit upon re
pentance, baptism and the laying on of hands. God is calling out only a
very few from this world to train them for rulership in His coming new world
as coheirs with Jesus Christ.
Christ qualified to rule. He did so by overcoming Satan and remaining ab
solutely faithful to His Father's will. Now we are being prepared, while
liv�ng in Satan's wqrld, for rulership in God'�soqn-comipg world tomorrow.
We will then teach_the people God's way in God's world--a world ruled by
Jesus Christ and His government. We are now qualifying to rule by overcom
ing Satan as Jesu�the Captain of our salvation, did before us. He said,
"Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" {John 16:33).
We must follow Christ's example. He kept His Father's Law. He did His
Father's will, not His own. He even rejected the rulership of this world
when Satan offered it to Him. He said, "The prince of this world cometh,
and he hath nothing in me" {John 14:30). Jesus qualified to establish a�
world and civilization--God's world after the end of Satan's world. That
is why we must follow Christ's example in overcoming this world. It is
Jesus Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit that enables us to over
come. That is why we must not allow ourselves to drift away from God by
lack of prayer, Bible study
or
fasting. We must not begin to put our
fingers into what Satan's world has to offer. Many ministers have done so
in times past, and as a result are no longer in the ministry or the Body of
Christ.
Many through the years have gone out of the Church, or been put out, because
they either forgot or never understood that "strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" {Matt.
7:14), and that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer per
secution" {II Tim. 3:12). Apparently they also either forgot or never un
derstood that God commands us to "come out of her, my people" {Rev. 18:4)
and "be not ye therefore partakers with them" {Eph. 5:7).
God has called us to qualify for rulership while living in this same evil
world of Satan the devil that Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our
faith, qualified in. Do we view sin as Jesus did? Do we see that it leads
to eternal death as He did? Do we see it as separation from God the Father,
from all that is happy, all that is good and pure, all that is hope and joy?
Do we see it as the destruction of peace? Do we see it as suffering, hurt,
e
1886 WondwideChwctlofGod