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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 18, 198b
walks of life all around the globe. It is becoming ever clearer how God
is fulfilling Jesus' prayer in John 17:20-21: •Neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word:
that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us; that the world � Y believe that thou
hast sent me.• Jesus is saying here that part o the proclamationoI'
the Gospel1tself, that is, a prerequisite, if you will, of the world
believing that the Father sent Jesus, that He is the Son of God, is that
those He calls become �1
In verse 23 of the same chapter Jesus continued, •I in them, and
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, a"stnou hast loved
me.
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Our growing together in God's character and mind in His love
through the power of His Spirit has as much to do with the proclaiming
of the Gospel, both now and after Christ's return, as anything else we
do.
As Mr. Armstrong always said, •When our ways please God, He will
bless us.• And of course, Mr. Armstrong was referring mainly to God
blessing the operations of the Work, the Work of preaching the Gospel of
the Kingdom of God. He tied those two concepts together, even as Jesus
did in these verses. After all, why would God bless the Work if our
w � ys were not pleasing to Him?
Certainly God allows us to make
mistakes, but He gives us help, through repentance and His Spirit, to
change and grow. And the more we humble ourselves before Him, the more
we submit to His rule over us, the more we put into practice His laws
governing our relationships with one another, the more effectively He
will be able to do His Work through�-
As Je � us sai� in John l3:3'S";
�thfs�ll afr men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love
one to another."
Friday, October 31, Messrs. Herman Boeh, Larry Salyer, Dexter
Faulkner, Leroy Neff, Greg Albrecht, Joe Locke, Michael Feazell, Joseph
Tkach Jr., Michael Snyder (assistant to Mr.·David Hulme) and I attended
a luncheon in Los Angeles where the keynote speaker was United States
Secretary of State George Shultz. Dr. Boeh, Mr. Faulkner, Mr. Feazell
and I were able to attend a private reception before the lunch where we
met and shook hands with Mr. Shultz, though there was no real
opportunity to talk with him.
Mr. Shultz' speech was about the effect of the Soviet Union's human
rights record on Soviet-American relations. We were all impressed that
the Secretary of State seemed to be a man of conviction and dignity. At
one point in his speech, when speaking of his and President Reagan's
personal conversations with Anatoliy Shcharanskiy and Yuri Orlov, Mr.
Schultz became choked up with emotion. He said that his conversations
with the two men and the thanks they gave the President and him for
helping them were among the most incomparable experiences he has had as
Secretary of State.
Let's not forget the Apostle Paul's instruction to pray for our
national leaders.
The Work God is doing in and through us is made
easier or harder by those in positions of government.
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