Dear Brethren and Friends,
Pentecost is coming soon! This 2011 Pentecost season is one of the most exciting in years because of the greater speed at which prophetic events are occurring. All across the Middle East and around the world, there are—more than in decades—various “rumblings” of big changes in governments and in the shaky world economy. The living Christ is guiding world events to line up so that His Second Coming will surely occur within the lifetimes of most of you dear brethren who are reading this.
So, as God’s people, we must act!
For we, in the Living Church of God, are called to perform a truly powerful Work before the Great Tribulation and before Christ’s return. If we do not truly warn our peoples of what lies just ahead, then who will? Let us regularly focus on Ezekiel 33:1–7. For, as Herbert W. Armstrong explained, this is our collective responsibility as the true Church of God. Notice especially verse 6, “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.”
“Since we are so small,” some may wonder, “how can we possibly accomplish this great Work effectively?” Most of us know the real answer: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).
Remember, dear brethren, Jesus told us to: “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you…. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:9, 13).
If we, as a unified Church, genuinely “cry out” to our God for more of His Holy Spirit—and for more power to accomplish the Work over the few remaining years before the Tribulation—can anyone doubt that God will hear? Remember, God inspired the Apostle Paul to describe the Spirit that He has promised to us: “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6–7). So, we are promised, first of all, the Spirit of “power.” We are told to seek that Spirit, and to “stir up” the Holy Spirit. I hope that each of you who reads this will begin to do this, with all your heart, more than ever before! Please carefully reread and study the book of Acts. Note carefully how God—through His Spirit—intervened powerfully again and again to help His Church have a great impact on a confused society. Notice especially: “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29–30).
These early Christians prayed together that God would pour out His Spirit and grant them boldness—“by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done.” Brethren, I deeply feel that it is now time that we in the Living Church of God begin to pray that way, more than ever!
So, as Pentecost approaches, I urge all of you to begin to seek God as never before. Please begin to regularly study and to “drink in” God’s word—the Bible—the very “mind of God” in print. As you read through the book of Acts, note how even relatively unknown brethren were sometimes given visions, and how God used them to help and to warn His Apostles (Acts 9:10–20; 21:4, 10–11).
Dear brethren, as we “feed on Christ” and mentally “picture” ourselves working in harmony with the original Apostles, we should begin to exercise the living faith which they had at that time—and which is still very much available to us now, if we seek God with all our being! For, as we all know, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
As we think about the reality of living by faith, I must refer you again to my favorite Scripture, written by the Apostle Paul under divine inspiration: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV). As we meditate on this, we must fervently ask God to help us walk by the faith of Jesus Christ Himself—not just our own, weak human faith! We must constantly think, day by day and hour by hour, “What would Jesus really do?” So many young people a few years ago had their “WWJD” bracelets, but they did not thoroughly study their Bibles to find out what Jesus really did when He was here on this earth, setting us the example.
So, we need to constantly and continually meditate quietly on this thought: “What would Jesus really do?” in each and every situation that comes up in our lives. As we all know, God tells us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Brethren, please take time to carefully think through all these concepts! For, as we deeply and prayerfully meditate on them, we will learn to grow in the entire approach of wanting to think like Christ thinks, act like He acts and want what He wants. This is vital! Then, once we genuinely learn to do this, we will have a profound concept of perfect union with God the Father and with Christ. We will have a radiant faith that will energize our lives, for we will not have fears and doubts about following Christ, or about asking Him for what we rightly need.
Though many brethren have lost much of the childlike faith they may have had in the earlier days of this Work, we can still go on to build an even deeper faith by applying the above concepts thoroughly. For God wants us to grow in faith—and in every aspect of Christianity. As the final events of this world’s history crash in upon us, we should be shaken to realize that we really are near the end of human civilization, and that we must cry out to God for a depth of understanding, knowledge and faith beyond what we now have—or have ever had!
To have the kind of faith the Apostles displayed on the original New Testament Day of Pentecost, we must move beyond our present fears and frustrations. We must not dwell on a sense of guilt over our own human nature—we must be busy overcoming that nature, confident that we have received the forgiveness we have asked for, boldly coming before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
Also, we must not let ourselves become distracted by the many problems that have beset the “greater Church of God” over the last few decades. Yes, mistakes have been made by the Church as a whole—and by each of us individually. But we must heed what God inspired the Apostle Paul to state, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).
Each of us must know deeply that God understands our human problems, and genuinely forgives us—if we repent and serve Him wholeheartedly, perhaps as never before. This attitude of accepting God’s forgiveness—and of “not looking back,” as the Apostle Paul warned us against—will help us to overcome one of the greatest enemies of faith: doubt. For God also inspired the Apostle Paul to tell us, “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).
So, each of us must strive to overcome doubt. We must remember everything God has done in the past for His people, and appreciate what He will do for us if we build on that foundation and grow in faith beyond what we have ever experienced.
Many of us who were part of God’s Church in the 1950s remember how there were often great long lines of people waiting to be anointed each day during the Feast of Tabernacles, the Festival of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. Hundreds of brethren back then were healed of serious flus and viruses, and some were even healed from withered limbs, heart conditions, cancer or tuberculosis. For there was a sense of “expectancy” back then—much more than today. Remember, as Jesus asked, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
It is obvious that in these very latter days, we have mostly lost that overwhelming atmosphere of sincere, childlike faith that was so pervasive among God’s people in the early days of this Work! Brethren, we must earnestly try to “recapture” that living faith! We must pray earnestly that God will put within His Church the “gifts” of the Holy Spirit—gifts of faith, of healings, of working of miracles, of prophecy, of discerning spirits, and of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to many more people in many more languages (1 Corinthians 12:9–10). And always remember, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (vv. 11–12).
Dear brethren, I hope that we all fully realize that Christ has not changed. It is we who have changed. Today, we are literally surrounded by all kinds of distractions in our technological society, by all kinds of gadgets and devices that so often draw us away from the reality of God that Abraham and David experienced when they quietly looked up into the heavens during a much more peaceful time, millennia ago. Each of us must think carefully and determine how we personally can recapture that simplicity and sincerity of faith, and develop an even deeper sense of the reality of God and all the things of God. If we do this with all our hearts, we will experience in the coming weeks and months an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the Living Church of God—and upon God’s people everywhere—so that we can move forward together in power and finish the Work that truly glorifies God.
The Great God showed His mighty power in helping the ancient Israelites cross the Red Sea—letting them walk right down across the sea bed as He held back towering tons of water—and He destroyed their vengeful foes. About this great intervention, God’s word tells us: “So the lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the lord, and believed the lord and His servant Moses” (Exodus 14:30–31).
If we truly seek the gifts of the Spirit—not for own self-aggrandizement, but in order to help and inspire human beings everywhere—then God will begin to show us more than ever how real He really is! Then, increasing numbers will “believe” the Lord and His human servants today. And then we can genuinely help them and serve them more than ever, as we learn to genuinely “walk with God” in this way as Pentecost approaches.
With Christian love,
