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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, August 28, 1979
Page 2
So, Mr. Armstrong, I daily thank God for your restoration to good health
and DYNAMIC POWER. Please, keep writing powerful articles setting us
straight doctrinally; we need to hear from you. I totally believe that
Christ puts His truth into this church through you, and so I am looking
to you more and more now than I ever have before.
How often the apostle Paul wrote to his converts that they should
IMITATE him, learn from him, follow his example, observe his faith and
so on. Well, the apostle Paul is now dead--but there is a living
apostle of Jesus Christ! And I hope--and pray--that God will give me
the understanding and strength to follow, and to imitate, His apostle
in this day and age. How useful is your autobiography in this regard!
Thank you for writing it, it is a goldmine of advice and examples in
practical living and Christianity!
Mr. Armstrong, I find that the articles you write have a ring of truth
to them. When I read them, I just know that they are right; and I am
not exaggerating when I say that I literally EXULT when I read them--!
really do rejoice at God's truth (although sometimes it hurts!). And
so I tend to study your articles VERY CAREFULLY; I am often surprised
at how much I miss the first time I read them--you pack so much into
your articles! As I study, much is committed to memory Tat least in
general terms); my purpose is to see things as you see them--to have
your mind (and hence Christ's mind) on various issues.
And that brings me to the main purpose of writing this letter.
Three or four months ago I was intensively studying your article on
"How Christ Gives The Church Its Beliefs," which appeared in the
November 20th, 1978, Good News. I memorized its main points, and
thoroughly marked up my Bible--especially at Matthew 18:18, on the
subject of binding and loosing.
I was then staggered--left literally speechless--when I read an article
in the March 1979 Good News which, in my eyes at least, just plainly
CONTRADICTS what Christ is saying through you!!!
Whereas Chrsit
teaches, through you, that binding and loosing is given only to His
apostles, the author of this particular article states that the ministry
has the authority to make binding and loosing decisions...•
Let me add here that the particular article in question was a "REPEAT"
article which had appeared several years ago in the GOOD NEWS. At that time
no official doctrine had been made in the Church about "binding and loosing."
I did not reread the article prior to republication in the March 1979 GOOD
NEWS, and I am sure the author of the article did not recheck it, either.
I made the doctrine of "binding and loosing" official only a few months
ago. I do not remember catching anything in this article that should have
been edited when it first appeared several years ago. So I will personally
assume any blame for this discrepancy. I should h�e reread this article
prior to its being reprinted in the March 1979 GOOD NEWS--but since I knew
it was a repeated article from several years ago, I neglected doing so.
With all the day-to-day administration responsibilities over the entire
globe-girdling Work, it is difficult for me to read every article in the
GOOD NEWS and The PLAIN TRUTH before publication. I trust our brother-in
Christ in England, who wrote the above letter will forgive me.