Powerful Technology
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Technology in the twenty-first century has offered a very special vehicle—the Internet—for doing the Work on a worldwide scale that has never been available to the Church of God before now. Strangely, most seem unable or unwilling to grasp this or to truly comprehend the potential that this medium carries.
The Internet is a tremendously efficient, and very inexpensive, means of doing the Work on a grand scale. Coupled with our overall efficiency, and our ability to make and implement decisions quickly because of God’s form of government, we are able to respond almost instantaneously to what is happening in the world at any moment and put it before many scores or hundreds of thousands—and this within just the first few days, or even hours, after an event. (Of course, we do the Work around the world also by several other means, and this is covered in Chapter Seventeen.) While some seem to still believe that the best way to carry out the Great Commission is to secure television time (and perhaps radio), this is now far from true. An extensive—and very informative—Chapter Seventeen inset amplifies this.
What about Television?
Sadly, some seem to be stubbornly entrenched in the idea that “television is the only way to do the Work,” because “Mr. Armstrong did it that way.” Most do not seem to realize that Mr. Armstrong did not feel compelled to preach the gospel in the exact same fashion that the original apostles did—and no wise leader and faithful steward of God’s tithes would feel bound to do this in the exact same way that Mr. Armstrong did, merely because it was the best way in a previous age. He himself would never want that, and would consider it foolish. How the Work is carried out—the vehicles and mediums selected—has never been a matter of DOCTRINEor TRADITION, but rather always one of wise administrative judgment after considering the avenues available to God’s Church at any given point in time. We do this. After all, Mr. Armstrong was an advertising man. This means he had been trained to be imaginative. My training also involves advertising—and it is extensive.
Be assured that we will NEVER be afraid to be creative!
Back to television. This medium has always been expensive—and now much too expensive for any of the relatively small organizations (meaning the larger splinters, which are all much smaller than the WCG) of the Laodicean age to be able to use effectively. (And “effectively” is the key word.) Major television networks, like airlines suffering because of increased competition, are being forced into retrenchment. Once available freely-flowing advertising dollars are being split in too many directions because of the proliferation of cable stations.
In addition, the still relatively high cost of airtime has become a huge barrier preventing the Church from being able to secure time in hundreds of metropolitan areas, as was possible when Mr. Armstrong was alive and the media budget alone was many millions of dollars. And this was at a time when dollars were worth much more—before the effects of inflation for over 20 years. The result has been that those who do buy time are forced to take very poor time slots to avoid these higher costs. Of course, this means that a relatively small number of responses are ultimately generated for the Work.
A related but different problem now exists for the big splinters. The number of television stations in medium- and large-size markets has greatly multiplied, thus diffusing the number of viewers who watch any given station. These groups are then forced to engage stations that very few people view, but they seem to try to do this to “stock” their official television listings for effect.
However, further comments about how we almost certainly one day will use television are found in Chapter Seventeen.
The Irony!
How sad and ironic that all of the splinter leaders are so willing to freely change doctrines and traditions, when Christ instructs them to hold fast both (Rev. 3:11; II Tim. 3:13-14), but at the same time, some of these same leaders remain strangely rigid in their approach to doing the Work. They seem equally willing to ignore the fact that much better and more efficient—and relatively inexpensive—means are now available to spread the good news of the kingdom of God around the globe.
Some other factors that have a bearing on the scope of the Work that God is now doing here should be addressed.
You have read and come to understand by now that we have produced the largest amount of literature—books, booklets, articles, magazines, Bible lessons, form letters, brochures, etc.—in the history of the Church of God. (This is also covered in more detail in Chapter Fifteen.) Apart from the ongoing need to produce our three regular magazines, all of the literature of the Church when it was “on track” under Mr. Armstrong’s leadership is now complete, plus much, much more. This has meant that The Restored Church of God has developed into the largest religious publishing operation on Earth today—and in history! This is why our websites are perhaps the largest in volume offered of ANY KIND of religious websites!
This has not gone unnoticed by certain mass media outlets that have noted our storehouse of material, and the quality of our reporting on world news and conditions, and approached us for information and assistance. With the passing of time and the increase in the scope of the Work, this interest in us can only grow greater.
The “fruits” of this Work are PLAIN for those who have anointed their eyes to see where Christ is working. There is no other organization on the face of the earth like this one. Truly, we are the continuation of the Work that Christ did through Herbert W. Armstrong in the Philadelphian age. I urge you to examine most carefully all that we are being used to do.
There should at least be a brief reference to the truly extraordinary staff that Christ has assembled at His headquarters. While none of us are the “great” of this world, He has selected people with a wonderful and unique array of skills, training and experience necessary to carry out all that must be done on a regular basis to serve the Church and do a wide variety of diverse operations in a worldwide Work. There are also plans in place to continue rapidly expanding the size of the staff (now at 65, not counting full-time ministers around the world) as needs continue to emerge. This has translated into an equally rapid expansion of our beautiful Headquarters office complex. (Bigger plans will be discussed later.)
You Will Want to Examine
Again, as referenced earlier, the reader is also urged to examine the wide variety of special tools and publications that have been prepared, and to recognize that The Restored Church of God has not only been commissioned, but positioned, by Christ to powerfully proclaim the kingdom of God to all nations, as well as to stand behind the responsibility to reach Laodicea (Rev. 3:14) and the nations of Israel (Ezek. 3:17; 33:7). The latter two duties are one of the reasons we have had to produce so much additional literature beyond what had been produced in the past. This has been Christ’s doing and not that of any man. No man and not even a much, much larger organization, involving the efforts of a great many men, could have published all that has been prepared here, and in such a short time, if it were not truly the Work of the LIVING GOD! This means that we have had to steadily draw our strength from God to keep up with and complete the overwhelming workload constantly before us.
I remind that this section has been a mere introduction to Chapters Fifteen and Seventeen. Now for an amazing prophecy…
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