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NEWS SUMM..1\RY, 1,.ay 21, 19 79
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didn't literally speak to him--he didn't say that. He said God has put
things in his mind. There are those who would gainsay and say, "Aw, hog
wash. That's ridiculous." Well no, it's not ridiculous. I think it's
either true or else there isn't a God because God has worked that way for
centuries.
I think what is difficult, maybe, for us to see is that "a prophet is
without honor in his own country. " You know, it's very difficult to
realize this about Mr. Armstrong, whom most of us have come to know in
various degrees of intimacy. Yes, he is a man. He has frailties just like
all of us. But I think the thing we miss is that God can still use a man
and use him powerfully, and can reveal things to him--and does indeed re
veal things to him--things that He wants for His church, for the benefit
of His Church.
I think until we come to that understanding, deeply and sincerely, then all
these things are alway�going to bother us. And if it's not a sit-in, or
it's not a demonstration, or if it's not tithing, or if it's not how you
keep the Sabbath, or whatever it is--these things are always going to bother
us. There is always going to be some other issue. You can be assured of
that! There will always be another issue. It's just moments away or hours
away, or a day away. But something else is going to come.
We must be willing and able in our own minds to come to the deep understand
ing that God IS--the "I am that I am," the Eternal; the Ever-existing One
who does stand forth and speak and reveal, and make known to the one whom
He has chosen what it is He wants done ....
When it comes down to it, we have to know where God is working, and if we
know that and through whom He is working, then everything else fits into
place. Then you've got the stability, you've got the foundation, and it
will all fit. It will not fit any other way. It just won't fit any other
way. Now you can force it. You can try to make it fit another way. You
can strive with it, you can wrestle with it, you can talk about it with
your fellow ministers. You can talk about it with all the pastors or
evangelists or whatever--but nothing else will work. It just won't work! •.
Our image of God must be such that we know that God is all-powerful, that
God is on His throne, that God is the Creator, the Law-giver, that He's
the One who has called us, He's the One who has extended mercy to us,
He's the One who has sent His own Son and is able and willing to give
everything that we have need of. Otherwise, we take to ourselves opinions,
making judgments ourselves, and it always involves judging God and His apostl
whom He has appointed. That's what it always is, when you get down to it.
It's making judgments upon God. Whether or not we agree with every deci
sion (and you probably will never agree with every decision that any
man
makes) doesn't have anything to do with·it.