Mr. Herbert Armstrong often used to tell the Church of God that many among us were not truly "conquered" by God. Sometimes he also stated: "Only about half of you brethren are really converted." Near the end of his life, Mr. Armstrong stated: "Perhaps only a tithe—only about 10 percent—of the Church is truly converted and conquered by God!"
In the years since his death, it has become obvious that these comments were essentially true. The Church of God since that time has been scattered and splintered, and many brethren have simply gone back to the world. Many thousands have stayed with the leaders of the greatest apostasy in modern times, rejecting nearly all of the basic truths that distinguished us as the Church of God. Can we understand and learn from what has happened to so many of our former brethren? And what about us? How can you and I avoid falling for the same types of false ideas coming from Satan? Even though we in the Living Church of God are sincerely trying to restore the genuine Christianity of Christ and the Apostles, are we coming up short?
Let us be honest!
As the well-known American philosopher and essayist George Santayana wrote: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." It is truly vital that we meditate and learn from the lessons of the past. We also need to realize how terribly weak so many of us are, and not kid ourselves about it.
The Apostle Paul wrote: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). Even though we in Living Church of God are sincerely trying to grow, are we—perhaps unwittingly— comparing ourselves with one another, or perhaps with weak individuals we know in other groups? Remember, our real comparison ought to be with Jesus Christ Himself! When we make that comparison, we all come up very, very short!
Dear brethren, as the end of this age is surely approaching, I deeply feel that we must "get with it" beyond what we have ever done before. I am sure God wants us to take our spiritual growth to what I will call in this editorial, "A Higher Level."
As one of the Church's leading evangelists stated many years ago, God's people tend to be heavily influenced by the general attitudes and moral levels of the world around them. We need to fully grasp this fact. We need to realize that many of the western nations are descending into a "moral sewer," and that we as Christians must virtually "rescue" one another from this and reach a much higher level!
In Deuteronomy 4, we read of God's warning to our forefathers: "When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell" (vv. 25–28). We as Christians must not assume that we are "okay" just because we are somewhat above the moral level of the modern Israelites who are on the verge of going into the greatest tribulation in human history!
God told our forefathers that, after they had been taken captive, "from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice" (vv. 29–30).
Brethren, I am sure that we would much rather "seek" God with all our hearts now rather than having to do this after we have entered into slavery! We must not watch the same type of television shows, movies, Internet productions and other forms of entertainment that our friends may think are "just fine." We must not indulge in the same kind of drinking, partying and joke-telling that our worldly neighbors do, for we are supposed to be Christians! We are supposed to have Jesus Christ living in us through the Holy Spirit! We are supposed to be truly "different"! Yet, without realizing it, many of us are not really that different—are we?
We all need to go back, from time to time, and review Jesus Christ's own stern requirements for being His follower as set forth in Luke 14:25–35. Many of us may have had this passage expounded to us at the time of our baptism. Remember? Jesus said: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate [love less] his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple" (vv. 26–27).
Have we come to the point of genuinely hating—or "loving less," as it should be translated—our own lives? Are we, individually, willing to go through trials, tests and severe persecutions and "bear our cross" as Jesus Christ commands?
Do we truly understand Jesus' command: "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple" (v. 33)?
Even though this is not a time to sell our homes and possessions, as some early Christians did (Acts 2:44–45), most of us undoubtedly need to give far more of our time, our energy, our thoughts and prayers to fervently serving the living Jesus Christ and surrendering to let Him live His life in every single phase and facet of our individual lives! We need to have Jesus living within us in our family life, our sex life, our job or career, in the way we treat all those around us, in the way we respond to every situation and seek to honestly develop—through God's Spirit—the "mind of Christ" in every situation. We need to grow in expressing the patience, the mercy and the loving kindness that Jesus expressed.
Otherwise, dear brethren, we may be "a little better" than some in the world around us, but fall far short of the example of Jesus Christ. Note that at the end of Luke 14, Jesus described the "salt" that had lost its flavor, and He stated: "It is neither fit for the land nor for the dung hill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (v. 35).
A person who is truly "conquered" by God through His Holy Spirit—through Christ ruling his life in its every phase and facet—will hold back nothing from God's direction! That individual has truly "crucified" the old self with its vanities, lusts, misdirected "hurt feelings" and general foolishness. We all need to ask ourselves: "Have I, personally, been truly conquered by God?"
Are there "hidden corners" in some of our lives that we definitely would not want others to know about? If we are truly "conquered" by God, this would not be the case!
Brethren, we all need to grow much closer to God than we have ever been in the past. Our goal should not be just to get back to where we may have been before Mr. Armstrong's death, but to grow closer to God than we have ever been! For we all are supposed to keep growing throughout our entire Christian lives. So we must truly devote ourselves to a type of deep and earnest Bible study, continuous and fervent prayer, profound meditation, regular fasting and an entire way of life that is based upon genuinely "walking" with God! This will help us achieve the above objectives.
Even beyond this, I sincerely feel that God Himself will help us as He begins to shake the nations, the society around us and even all of the people in the various Church of God fellowships. In His wisdom and mercy, He will no doubt deeply humble every one of us and bring us to our knees and to a profound "awareness" of His intervention and His power in a way that we have never before experienced! If our attitude is right, we should begin to "see" God in the circumstances around us as He starts to intervene even more powerfully in human affairs at the end of this age. This, also, should help us truly "get with it" and grow spiritually beyond what we have ever done before.
Even after Jesus' death, His Apostles were not fully converted. For the Holy Spirit did not come until the day of Pentecost. So during the 40 days after Jesus' death, Peter and the other Apostles showed a number of weaknesses that would not have been manifested had they been fully converted. On one occasion Peter said: "I am going fishing" (John 21:3). From every indication, this was not merely a casual fishing outing. Rather, as a number of these men had been professional fishermen in the past, this would probably have been the beginning of something far more serious if Jesus had not dealt with the situation. "But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus" (v. 4). In what may have been an overcast early morning, Jesus asked them if they had caught anything. He then commanded them: "Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish" (v. 6).
The "disciple whom Jesus loved"—the Apostle John—was more spiritually sensitive and perceptive. Although Christ used Peter as the leader among the Apostles, and the book of Acts shows that he took the lead in most situations, John was obviously stronger in a certain spiritual "closeness" and sensitivity to the will of God. So it was in this situation. "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!'" (v. 7).
Often, we fail to recognize how God is in overall charge of events that are happening in the world— and even in our lives. Certainly, He allows many events to happen to the world that He may not directly cause. He is, as we know, allowing terrible storms, earthquakes and other events to humble people—and is allowing human beings to go their own way for the present 6,000-year age until Christ returns.
As we come ever closer to the final events of this age, we need to be very sensitive to God's direct intervention in world affairs—and in our own lives. We need to be ever-mindful that, as Jesus said: "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29–31).
Our Father in heaven is in total charge of this universe, and He intervenes in any situation He chooses! As we are His own begotten children, He knows everything about us—even the thoughts of our minds and hearts! It is important that we develop a deep sensitivity and awareness to that fact! It is vital that we truly "commune" with God on a regular basis—far more profoundly than most of us have been doing. It is vital that we constantly ask ourselves: "What would Jesus really do in this situation?"
Jesus Christ said to His disciples— and to us: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 16:24–25).
In our present "me" generation, it is difficult for us to fully comprehend what it means to "deny" oneself or to "take up one's cross" and follow Christ. But we need to focus on these verses more than ever. For some of us will be called upon to leave everything—perhaps even our own lives—during the next several years!
You and I normally desire to "save" our lives, in the sense that we want a continuing stream of "good things," pleasures, friends and a nice "comfortable" lifestyle. But Jesus calls us to grow to a higher level— and to a profound spiritual awareness that we really are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" as God's true saints have always been (Hebrews 11:13).
Therefore, we must develop a genuine "fellowship" with Christ and with the Father (1 John 1:3). We must soberly heed John's statement: "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (vv. 5–6).
Many of us allow areas of "darkness" to enter our lives all too frequently. We allow a "watering down" process to enter our thinking, and often manage to reason our way around the total commitment we should have to our great God! I say this as one weak human being who experiences my own weaknesses, brethren! I have to fight myself every minute of every hour of every day as, I am sure, all of you do. It is so easy to allow our human minds to make "excuses" for the lower level of love and obedience that we often display in our walk with God.
However, as this world continues to suffer all kinds of convulsions, terrorist activities, disease epidemics, drought, famine and earthquakes, it is vital that we see that God is truly intervening in exactly the way He prophesied, and that it is truly time to put our house in order! May God help every one of us do this! And we must fully realize that it is only through Jesus Christ living in us that this may be possible. We must always remember Jesus' statement: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Only through His strength may we truly overcome and grow spiritually to the high spiritual level that God wants—"to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). We all need to experience this true overcoming and growth, which will only come as you "seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29).