Dear Brethren and Friends, Most of us “old timers” will know that over the last couple of decades, many thousands ofpeople we thought of as “brethren” left the Church and left the Truth. I am not talking primarily about those who are in some of the “splits”—as they are sometimes called—from the Worldwide Church of God. I am talking about the thousands who literally “left it all.” Many simply became disillusioned and confused. Many grew bitter. And many others just drifted away without any deep concern, because they were, obviously, very weak in the first place.
As time goes on, experience tells me that many more supposed “brethren” will leave us—for quite a variety of reasons. Will you be among them?
By the time you read this, we will be most of the way through 2012—more than 40 years beyond the spring of 1972, a time when many in the Church—not including me!—once felt the Great Tribulation would begin, in preparation for Christ to return at the Feast of Trumpets in 1975! Many of us have been “waiting” far longer than we once expected. This long wait may even make it easy for many of us to become discouraged at times. So, we need to remember Jesus’ inspired warning, “But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:48–51).
Is Jesus, in fact, “delaying” His coming? Brethren, most of you realize that God counts time in terms of thousands of years (2 Peter 3:8–9). We sincerely try to figure out, and even make “educated guesses,” about biblical and human chronology—to try to have some idea of when Christ will return. But we are often wrong (Mark 13:32–33). So, we need to remember that Jesus told us to watch the “signs” (1 Thessalonians 5:4–6)—and never told us to set specific dates! Today, many may easily let down their guard and say: “My Master is delaying His coming” (Luke 12:45–46). They may slack off from zealously studying the Bible, from deeply meditating on God’s word and all the wonderful lessons that it contains—and they may even cut way back on fervent prayer and fasting. This makes it very easy for the “wicked one” to influence their minds and emotions heavily. Satan truly “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). We all need to deeply realize that—and to resist when wrong thoughts and attitudes enter our minds, knowing that Satan may be coming after us with them!
As the American and British-descended peoples go further and further into decline, and the “pride of [our] power” is truly broken (Leviticus 26:19), and our nations descend even further into the cesspool of immorality—even approving the idea of men “marrying” other men—it is time to wake up! For even the Apostle Paul warned the brethren of His day, “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11–12). As one who has been God’s full-time servant in His Work for more than 60 years, let me now explain to you six major reasons why so many have fallen away—and why many more may yet fall away from the Truth.
So, will you be among them? If you, personally, will genuinely and prayerfully study this very article and act on it, you need not let any stumbling block take you out of God’s Church! As you think through the following issues that have destroyed the spiritual lives of so many, try to commit to yourself not to give in to any of these. Be sure that you “hang in there” where God’s Spirit is working, and where His Work is being done—so you can be in His Kingdom forever!
Never Converted?
Are you willing to consider the possibility that you may never have been fully or deeply converted? As you know, the Apostle Paul even warned the first century Christians in Corinth: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5). So, God commands us to “examine” ourselves. We must be willing to recognize whether or not we have truly been “conquered” by God and are fit to be kings and priests under Jesus Christ when He returns in a very few years to establish the Kingdom of God here on the earth.
Think! Did you fully repent and spiritually bury yourself when you were baptized? The Apostle Paul was inspired to challenge the Christians at Rome: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3–4).
Did you, personally, “forsake all” when you were baptized? Did you fully intend to give your life to God after “counting the cost”? (Luke 14:26–33).
Brethren, in all love, I want to warn you that many thousands of brethren in our former association imagined that they had done all this—yet they fell away very easily. I could tell you story after story about leading ministers who were still filled with “self,” who would quickly let their “feelings get hurt” and who were easily led into rebellion against God’s Apostle, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, over relatively minor matters. These men simply had not been truly “conquered” by God. They did not have the deep, profound fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). That great awe of our Creator—and the correct “fear” of falling away from the God who gives us life and breath—is a powerful tool for keeping us on the right path. Please think about this point, as it affects your attitudes and your very life!
Lethargy and Spiritual Laziness?
Another problem that often takes brethren out of the Church is simple lethargy. Many people never really go “all out” to seek the Kingdom of God. They do not seem to grasp that all eternity is at stake once God calls them. Jesus described these individuals in a number of His parables. The “Parable of the Sower” presents an overview of various types of people who were either never converted, or whose conversion was fairly “shallow” and who could easily fall away. Consider the example of the man who received the seed among “thorns.” Here is what Jesus said: “Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).
It is so easy to be caught up in the “cares of this world.” Consider how the “deceitfulness of riches” affects businessmen and women who let themselves become focused constantly on just how well off they are. How easy it is to become involved too much in the concerns of career, of “being important” and making more and more money to “get ahead.” And many homemakers become so involved in taking care of their households, wanting everything to be “perfect,” or are caught up in “loving” their children or family even more than they love God Himself, that it is easy for them to fall away after failing to put God first. Are any of you involved in these attitudes?
One vital instruction from our Creator should especially help us “wake up,” lest we slack off and let down our guard. Almighty God gave a powerful warning to our ancestors when they had become settled in the land of Israel and had begun to “take it easy.” God said, “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” (Deuteronomy 4:25–27). Here in America, Canada and many of our Israelite-descended nations, we have already “grown old” in the land and have begun to turn aside in remarkable ways from the laws and ways of God. So Almighty God will—as most of us know—drive us into national slavery unless we repent. Then, God tells us, “But 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).
Indeed, we are told over and over to “seek God” with all our hearts and minds in many places in the Bible! We must allow ourselves to be alerted and be shaken by God’s word—and by the prophetic interventions in the weather, in diseases, and in the denigration of our national greatness which we see happening all around us. We must not give into spiritual laziness and lethargy!
Liquor, Drugs and Sex Problems
It is sad to think about how many fine men and women—especially men—lose their opportunity to be in the first resurrection because of problems with sex, drugs and abuse of liquor. Of course, once you become “hooked” on drinking too much, your body and psyche become emotionally and chemically addicted to a lot of liquor. The same happens with drugs, as all those who study this problem deeply understand. It is better to never start down that road in the first place, than to need to try to get “unhooked” from liquor or drugs.
Our Creator designed our bodies as male and female. This was for the purpose of marriage, to draw together a young man and woman to create a loving family and a stable environment for children—potential sons and daughters of God Himself (Malachi 2:15). All of this is right and beautiful if carried out God’s way. However, in our modern society, the “marketing” of young women’s beautiful bodies—to sell everything from toothpicks to motorboats—is pervasive. It is practically everywhere. And the constant drumbeat of wrong information, and attitudes promoting even perverted sex, simply pounds Satan’s approach to these things into the minds of so many people in our society, especially the young.
We must not let this overcome us and take us out of God’s Church. We are told to “flee” sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18). Yet, following the world’s pervasive example, even many young people in God’s Church spend time with the opposite sex, unattended, in situations where it becomes so “easy” to stumble into the act of fornication or adultery. Too many people, even Christians, do not take proper care to “stay way back” from the edge of the cliff! They do not, in fact, genuinely try to “flee” the situations where fornication can easily occur.
So, be sure that you—or your children—do not become caught in this vicious trap. And, even for those who are married—it is vital that we “guard our minds” and never let our thoughts wander sensually onto anyone other than our spouse. God commands us to bring “every thought into captivity” to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Dear brethren—and all of you young people especially, who are particularly attacked by “Satan’s Broadcasting System”—it is vital that we sincerely learn to fear the loss of eternal life through lusting for others or in any way turning away from God in the area of sex. When all eternity is at stake, we must powerfully control ourselves through the Spirit of God, rather than “enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). It is just not worth it!
Brethren, be sure to plan ahead the strategies and defenses we all must prepare in order not to be overcome by the human problems listed above—liquor, drugs, sex and other related problems. Misuse of these things will destroy us if we let it. Many brethren have been involved in this in the past, or are now currently involved. We must determine to take action. We should read and follow the example of the Apostle Paul, who stated: “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). We must truly drive ourselves and “press” toward the goal that the Eternal God has set before us. We must not let down our guard and let our human weaknesses take away the magnificent reward God has planned for us in His Kingdom as full members of His Family.
Rebellion and Self-Will
The Bible is filled with remarkable examples of God working with self-willed people to help them overcome this problem. One of the most outstanding cases is that of ancient Israel’s King Saul, the predecessor of King David. When Saul was young, he was humble and tried to follow God’s instruction. Later, however, as time went on, Saul began to think too highly of himself, and began to “water things down” and “do his own thing”—instead of doing exactly what God commanded. When you read 1 Samuel 15, you can see this problem in Saul, and understand how God looked at it. God told Saul to “utterly destroy” the rebellious nation of Amalek—to slay all of its people and even all of its livestock. Instead, Saul “watered down” God’s plain command. He did not kill all the people. And he saved the best of the animals that God had commanded him to destroy.
When the prophet Samuel questioned Saul about this, he tried to explain his actions away: “‘But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ So Samuel said: ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king’” (1 Samuel 15:20–23).
This attitude of self-will—the attitude of rebellion against God’s instructions and His leadership—is an attitude that is found deeply entrenched in the character of most of the rebels in the Bible. They always seemed to have an “excuse” for why it was justified. But, deep down, it was their own selves they were exalting, and they ended up falling into a spirit of rebellion against God because of this. For, as Mr. Herbert Armstrong said, “Such people have never been ‘conquered’ by God!”
Have you, personally, truly been “conquered” by God? Do you truly surrender your will to do exactly what God says and even humble yourself to follow the instructions of His servants, His ministers and His appointed leaders as long as they do not directly contradict the Bible? Certain people and even certain families who are so used to doing things their “own way” are in danger of eternal death because of this rebellious and self-willed attitude. For Almighty God cannot be truly sure that they will always obey Him in the future—as He sees they are not willing to do that now. Think about it!
Hurt Feelings and Lack of Faith in Christ
People who always seem to be getting “in trouble” with the ministry—or even with God Himself—usually have one human tendency in common. They are constantly having their “feelings hurt.” But do they realize that their attitude of “hurt feelings” in fact demonstrates a lack of faith that Christ really is in charge, and that He will work things out for good? The “hurt feelings” attitude nearly always involves lack of faith in Christ as Head. For it amounts to people “judging” others in the Church, or the ministry—usually about comparatively small matters—yet leaving God completely out of the picture.
Such judgmental people have a tendency to “reason around” each situation in which they find themselves, and are quick to “evaluate” the supposed attitudes of other brethren or of the ministers dealing with them. When they “judge”—using their own human reasoning—they are quick to “reason” that the other person is wrong. They are unable to see their own sin, though it is often very apparent to many others around them who are witnessing their attitudes and their actions.
Even though these people may be in the very Church of God—which is doing God’s Work, preaching the full Truth and has God’s correct form of government—they are unable to receive correction. Somehow, they are always “right in their own eyes” in every situation! Such people do not genuinely read and study the book of Proverbs very much—at least not applying it directly to themselves! They quickly water down and forget God’s warning: “There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). And, in reality, they certainly do not put stock in God’s statements to the Apostle Paul that God Almighty “put all things under His [Christ’s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:22).
Even though minister after minister—along with many leading brethren—will warn such people and such families about how wrong and self-willed they are, they continue to “justify” themselves, continue to “feel sorry” for themselves, continue to get their “feelings” hurt and somehow reason around the obvious problems that they are having with others in the Church, with the ministry and with Christ Himself—who is the living Head of His Church!
Please, dear brethren, think on this. Try to be sure that you do not give in to this kind of self-pity, or to similar attitudes that may ultimately lead to rebellion against the Government of God. And remember that Christ will never put people who engage in such carnal “reasonings” in positions of great authority in His coming Kingdom, as we see by how He dealt with King Saul.
Discouragement Through Sickness, Trials and Tribulations
As the years continue on in what Paul called this “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4), more and more trials, tests, and tribulations are beginning to fall on God’s people. God Himself said it would be so. Yet, many people are easily discouraged. Some are even ready to “give up” unless events move along in a relatively smooth manner. So, what is the real answer? It is to be sure you want eternal life in God’s Kingdom so deeply that you can “taste” it! It is to be willing to drive yourself, with all your heart, toward God’s Kingdom—letting nothing get in the way!
However, being human, even some Christians become discouraged at times by the kinds of trials, upsets and persecutions God has specifically prophesied will come upon us. And many more of our dear brethren will die, even before the Tribulation and the most serious persecutions begin. This hurts us—and God understands. Yet, death is a very important part of life—and God uses it to teach us how weak we are and how much we need a Spirit body and eternal life in His Kingdom.
The Apostle Peter warned, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified” (1 Peter 4:12–14).
Certainly, we can expect a definite “fiery trial” as this Work grows more powerful and terrible accusations are hurled against many of us. Before it is all over, some will even suffer beatings, imprisonment and even death due to persecution.
In discussing our salvation, ready to be revealed in the “last time,” Peter comments, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6–7).
As Peter wrote, we know that our faith is being tested by fire in all these things, that we may be prepared to live forever in God’s Kingdom. We must be willing to be “all man” or “all woman”—genuine soldiers of Christ. We must be willing to go through all kinds of trials and tests to show Christ that we really mean it—that we desire with all of our hearts to be in His everlasting Kingdom.
Brethren, in all our trials and tests, let us dedicate ourselves to deep study and fervent prayer, so we will be able to say with the Apostle Paul: “In nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20–21). Since we in God’s Church have a degree of God’s very nature implanted within us through His Holy Spirit, how much more should we say—as Winston Churchill said during England’s darkest hour—“Never, never, never, never give up”! For if we give up, turn aside, or leave the very Church and Work of the living God, we are leaving our Creator Himself and losing out on the magnificent goal set before us—the opportunity to fulfill the purpose of our very existence, the opportunity to become full sons of our Creator.
With Christian love,
