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What's In A Name |
Dear Brethren,
The Worldwide Church of God, of which many of us were
once a part, has said that it is changing it's name to Grace International Communion. A name
change has been under consideration for some time, and after looking to the
advice of legal counsel, and considering the desires of the trademark office,
the present leaders have chosen this new name. Nothing remains of
Worldwide as we once knew it. God's name has been removed. His Law
and Commandments have been done away with. God's true doctrines have been
supplanted by this present evil world's false doctrines. All books,
literature, and correspondence courses have been withdrawn and
invalidated. The Feasts of the Lord have been replaced by ancient pagan
holidays. God's true people have been abandoned and scattered.
There are a few faithful brethren who have tried to remain true to God
while remaining with the Worldwide organization - in all of its error.
Somehow, they reasoned that God worked through physical corporations more than
with His spiritual saints. Even the organization's corporate offices are
being moved away to Glendora, CA. Now that there is nothing left - not
even what might erroneously have been considered "tangible," like the
Auditorium, Ambassador College or the property, what will happen to those
faithful brethren who once prayed that God would, somehow, set Worldwide back on
track?
Brethren, we must pray now, that every one of those faithful
brethren who have a spark of God's Spirit will awaken to the fact that this
false organization, the Grace International Communion, does not represent God's
true saints in any way, shape or form. "We therefore ought to receive
such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth." (3John 1:8)
Those false ministers in Grace International Communion, who think that they have
accomplished what they set out to do two decades ago - do not realize that the
Church of God is a spiritual entity. They are like Diotrephes, who
loveth to have the preeminence in the church, and not content therewith, neither
doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and
casteth them out of the church. (3John 1:10)
Herbert W. Armstrong stated clearly and unequivocally that if those
imposters and charlatans did such things - that the Worldwide Church of God
would no longer be the Church of God - and it has not been, since the true
Spirit-led believers began to be thrust out - as prophesied. Herbert W.
Armstrong understood perfectly that the true Church of God is a spiritual entity
consisting of converted, Spirit-led brethren.
Let's answer three
questions from the Scriptures: 1. Should the called
out, "ecclesia", be called by God's name? 2. Does the
corporate organization retain anything of God's when it completely disavows the
Truth of God and the Laws of God? 3. What should those believing
Christians, who have remained in Worldwide through twenty years of apostasy, do
now?
The called out saints are called by God's name all through the
Scriptures. They are called, "the people of God," in
Hebrews 4:9, 11:25 and 1Peter 2:10.
"All people of the earth shall
see that you are called by the name of the
Lord [Eternal]." (Deuteronomy 28:10) "Holy Father, keep
through your own name those whom thou hast
given me." (John 17:11) "If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2Chronicles
7:14)
In well over a dozen places the Bible refers to the called out ones
as the Church of God, the household of God, or the Church of Christ. It
would be good to mark these in our Bibles. The preponderance of
occurrences of "Church of God," show the emphasis is not
a fluke - but inspired by Jesus Christ. (Act 20:28, 1Co 1:2, 1Co 10:32, 1Co
11:16, 1Co 11:22, 1Co 15:9, 2Co 1:1, Gal 1:13, 1Th 2:14, 2Th 1:4, 1Ti 3:5, 1Ti
3:15, Gal 6:16, Rom 16:16, and Eph 2:19)
"For this cause I bow my
knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named."
(Ephesians 3:14-15) "I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount
Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his
Father's name written in their foreheads."
(Revelation 14:1)
The corporate organization cannot retain anything of
God's when it completely disavows the Truth of God and the Laws of God.
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them." (Isaiah 8:20)
Believing Christians, who have remained
in Worldwide all these years must separate themselves from the Grace
International Communion because it is counterfeit. That organization in no way
represents anything of the True God. We must pray, brethren, for our
brothers and sisters in Christ that they are now able to come out. They
have reached the end of the road.
"Come out from among them, and be
ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive
you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty." (2Corinthians 6:17-18)
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The title of this week's sermon is: "The People of God"
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