Pass the Test!

Back to The Work of God

You must see that some of today’s leaders are able to spin events and present confusing disinformation and outright lies faster than snowflakes fly in a blizzard and bullets leave a machine gun. You must be able to discern these men. This can only be done by measuring their teachings—and sometimes their conduct!—meaning their fruits—against the doctrines you were taught, not by the eloquence of their venomous attacks on RCG, me or the Work done here. Only those who deeply love all of God’s Way will be able to cut through the wonderfully cunning and murderous deceit from these ENEMIES OF GOD, and survive.

Desperate people say and do desperate things. When leaders feel that their empire, their following, their legacy and their source of financial support is being threatened—that it could begin to implode and crumble without action—they lash out. This can come with a fury that would make the devil blush!

But the wise will carefully weigh their words—and take action themselves (Dan. 12:10; Matt. 24:15). They will discern and REJECT murderous liars. In the end, you will either give heed to the voice of truth or to the voice of deceit. Do not permit yourself to see your decision as more or less than this. You have been shown the difference and by now should see it clearly.

Brethren, you must pass the test—GOD’S TEST!—of these SATANIC LEADERS in the overlooked second step you now face. II Timothy 3:14 told you how to do this!

Grasp that it will only be by the departure from spiritual captivity of enough courageous brethren now that will ensure the existence of a surviving Israelite Remnant who will be liberated from their prophesied horrible captivity later. These are willing to now cut through the avalanche of seductive deceit burying so many today so that they can come and put their shoulder to the wheel in God’s Work.

This means many more must yet come spiritually weeping and loathing themselves, and supplicating and seeking God, while He is still accepting some prior to the Tribulation. This will involve deep repentance, as these anoint their eyes through use of more of God’s Spirit, thus obeying John 14:26.

It has been said that the “road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Indecision must not be permitted to trump good intentions, and pave the road to the Tribulation. Those who will come must neither dawdle nor procrastinate in an age foretold to suddenly snare an unsuspecting world.
Do not dilly-dally!

Re-accepting the Same Commission

Nothing you have read throughout the book has been new truth. Instead it is just more forgotten truth for thousands who should have resisted amnesia by remaining filled with God’s Spirit. But for many others, like their Israelite counterparts born or becoming adults after Mr. Armstrong’s time, they have never heard explained—made PLAIN!—exactly what is at stake for either today’s descendants of Israel or the lukewarm dominant element now among God’s people. Thousands entered the Church and heard a generation of pastors who never preached, or carefully preached, these things. Therefore, I have tried to speak as bluntly as possible. I have tried to use a “jolt” to awaken all who will heed.

We must pause for a related question: Who else is even talking about all that you have seen presented? Who else preaches these subjects, giving many—or any!—whole sermons on them? You have seen enormous, towering prophecies open up—with two more to come—and seen that they are found all through the Old Testament prophets. (There are many more passages than those I have quoted.) You have also seen that the fulfillment of these prophecies is IMMINENT, and that they will affect all nations—the ENTIRE WORLD! Why then does no one speak with authority about them—and, most important, their direct connection to the final Work of God at the end of the age?

The time is soon coming when all of God’s people, the Church of the New Testament and Israel of the Old, will have to remember where they heard these truths explained—where God’s Church and government—and thetrue Jesus Christ!—was at work all along. They will have to acknowledge who it was who explained to them what was at stake in the years just ahead.

Will you have to remember THEN—or will you heed NOW?

Regaining a Sense of Urgency

People of the modern age take pride in not showing emotion as past generations once did. There has become a conscious effort in society by people to suppress natural human feelings. The emphasis is now more on being “laid back,” “cool,” “hanging out” or “chilling out.” Gone is an emphasis on being deeply passionate about a matter. And almost gone are statements such as “he has fire in the belly” or “he is on fire” or, as was often reported in the past, “he is on fire for the Work!”

Now ask: How did you feel after reading about the prophecies of the two previous chapters? Did you experience an overwhelming feeling of excitement? Did the picture described give you goose bumps?—chills? Did it leave you deeply sobered? But are you also inspired by God’s Master Plan? Most important, does this knowledge make you want to participate?—to DO something?

I am trying as hard as humanly possible with God’s help to rekindle the fire of urgency once felt by God’s people. I am trying to STIR YOU UP!—LIFT YOU!—to see a grander horizon, one connected to why you were called into the Church, and to WHY YOU WERE BORN!

Let’s allow Mr. Armstrong to describe this urgency by revisiting an earlier quote from him about the famine of the Word:

“…brethren and co-workers, the prophesied Great Tribulation (nuclear World War III) will start soon after the European unification. That means OUR WORK OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE FINISHED! We have not now much more time. Soon shall come a FAMINE of hearing the Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11).

“God says, work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work—in the Work of God!
“Nothing else is important in our lives, now, but this all-important Work of God.”
Co-Worker Letter, Nov. 22, 1982

Hear the message. Feel the passion. Catch God’s vision. Return to your first love. Regain the sense of urgency lost by society and the majority of brethren who have been so badly affected by society’s environmental “sea change” in approach to inspiration, zeal and feelings of excitement. Ask God to help you rekindle what has been lost. Meditate on the knowledge you have received. Use the forgotten tool of fasting, and do so more than once, if necessary. And be willing to restudy this book with all referenced sermons.

You can once again thrill to exciting news of God’s Work!

Open Door, Then Slammed Shut

We know some will seek to hinder God’s Work—this has already happened. But nothing will be able to stop the final message going out until the open door God has given His Work is shut, and the famine of the Word slams into the nations of Israel. This will come because the task—the God-ordained duty—has been completed. God’s Work will be FINISHED! The time will have come when no one else will listen and further warning becomes a waste of time. When this happens, God can no longer be found, having “withdrawn Himself from” Israel and “returned to His place.”

Next? Absolutely devastating national punishment must begin for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS!

Similar to Israel, God calls Laodiceans the “REMNANT of her [the true Woman Church’s] seed” (Rev. 12:17). This term describes the brethren remaining after the juncture at which Philadelphia has escaped to safety (Revelation 12:16). You do not want to be in THIS remnant, because it has no survivors! And it will have been indecision and procrastination that sweeps most of God’s people into the “fire” of Revelation 3:18! When this point comes, most brethren will have permitted—in fact, caused!—themselves to be out of time, sealing their fate. So tragic—and so unnecessary!

Next? The very worst kind of trial and chastisement must begin for TENS OF THOUSANDS!

One More Great Prophecy!

All of this should have real meaning to you, and at this point you should at least be intrigued, if not already fascinated, excited and inspired by rediscovered knowledge. However, there is another forgotten, but supremely important, prophecy that only now comes into view. It powerfully amplifies all that you have seen.

We are finally ready to ask: What is the connection between the “short work” and the “little book” of Revelation 10 ALL ? This question leads to the next chapter—and another subject that no one understands or talks about as did Mr. Armstrong…