Ranks, Offices, Functions and Duties

Mr. Armstrong knew that the “Rock” of the Old Testament—the One who spoke to Abraham, wrestled with Jacob, and worked through Moses to lead Israel out of slavery in Egypt—was the Word, or Spokesman, of the God Family (John 1:1-2), who later became Jesus Christ (John 1:14; I Cor. 10:1-4).

Since Christ is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8), and He declares, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6), Mr. Armstrong came to realize that the same God who established a structured, top down government with ancient Israel (Ex. 18:19-22, 25-26), the Old Testament “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), also established His government forspiritual Israel, the Church.

Mr. Armstrong studied passages such as Ephesians 4 ALL and I Corinthians 12 ALL, which list the ranks and offices within the true government of God, and describes the operations, duties and administrations that carry out God’s Work and structures, feeds and protects the Church.

In 1954, Mr. Armstrong wrote the following in the Good News magazine: “It’s vital that you know how God confers the authority of office in His Church.
“Jesus conferred upon His called ministers of His Church the keys of the Kingdom of God. He vested them with authority to guide His Church, and carry on His work, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

“But how can you know who carries this authority? How are those upon whom it is conferred ordained to office? How can you recognize the one and only true Church of God—the very Church Jesus said He would build—His body, thru whom the Spirit of God today carries on the work of God?”
“What is God’s order of authority in His Church?

“You find it in Ephesians 4:11-12: ‘And He (Christ, the head of the Church) gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists, and some, pastors (leading or presiding elders of local churches), and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come to the unity of the faith...’ In other words, to prevent separate, independent, and competing work which would introduce confusion, and division, driving many out of the Body of Christ, God has organized government in His Church. That government is the government of God.

“It operates from God, at the top, on down. It is government of and by and from God the Father, thru Christ, thru God-called and ordained apostles, thru evangelists, thru pastors, thru teachers, in that order. This government means teamwork. It works for unity, not division.”

“Must God’s Ministers Be Ordained by the Hand of Man?”,

GN, May, 1954

“One Sent”

As he came to understand that God’s government is structured with ranks and offices, Mr. Armstrong grew to recognize the true nature of the office and authority he held in the Church and in God’s Work.

For about the first 19 years in leading the Philadelphia era, Mr. Armstrong assumed that, in preaching the gospel and announcing the Ezekiel Warning, he was doing the work of an evangelist.

But it was during a Church festival, held at Belknap Springs, Oregon, in the autumn of 1951, when he was presented with a shocking statement. A man who had just graduated from Ambassador College delivered a sermonette in which he stated with unwavering conviction that “Mr. Armstrong is not a prophet—but a man called to the same kind of commission as the original evangelists and apostlesof the first century Church of God: to proclaim the message—the announcement—the good news of the kingdom of God—the message that Christ brought from God and taught His disciples.”

The mere mention of being compared to an apostle made Mr. Armstrong uncomfortable. Initially, he decided to shrug off the sermonette as simply being that of a young man who got carried away in expressing his zeal.

Still, the message did inspire Mr. Armstrong to study the Bible to examine how God’s government was to function in the Church. Over the following year, he learned that the government of God is not a democracy—a system wherein the people rule, deciding who should be ordained into the ministry, how God’s Work should be carried out, and other crucial decisions. Rather, Jesus Christ directs His government through His ordained leaders, functioning from the top down—not as a ruthless dictatorship, as seen in the non-democratic governments and regimes of men (Luke 22:25), but with humility, wisdom, service, and with genuine love and outgoing concern for others, all while upholding the doctrines and traditions of the Bible.

The ministry of that government is structured, from the lowest office to the highest, with local elders, preaching elders, pastors, evangelists, prophets (who hold no administrative authority) and apostles. Examining each office and then comparing them to how God had used him to preach the gospel and feed the Church, Mr. Armstrong slowly (and reluctantly) recognized that he held the office of apostle. (It was not until the 1970s, when a series of church-wide rebellions forced him to remind the brethren of the authority—and responsibility—Christ bestowed upon him.)

It has always solely been the duty of apostles to take the gospel of the kingdom of God to all nations—the whole world. This began with the original apostles, who were told by Jesus before Pentecost in A.D. 31 to “Go you, therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them...teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20).

Jesus foretold that the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world...unto all nations” before and up to “the end come” (Matt. 24:14), also called “the end of days” (Dan. 12:13) and “the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4), just prior to Christ’s Return. For this to occur, an apostle had to exist in the modern age, when “Many shall run to and fro [mass transportation systems of superhighways, international flight and high-speed bullet trains], and knowledge shall be increased [mass media communications]” (same verse).

“The word apostle means ‘one sent forth,’ Mr. Armstrong explained in a 1978 Good News article.

“The New Testament Church of God received all its teachings, practices, customs, from the apostles, with Peter chief over all the others.

“Yet the apostles were the teachers, who instilled in the Church the beliefs, teachings, practices and customs of the Church. And all members of the Church were required by God to believe and speak the same thing!
“There was no doctrinal board! The teachings of the Church did not come from a council of ministers and/or lay members, who voted on what to believe.
“Right here, mark well this point: God put His truth into His church through Christ and through the apostles!
“Note this! The Church of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets...
“I have shown you...that Peter was leader of the apostles—and that the Church received its teachings and doctrines from the apostles!
“So now let it be made official—by Christ’s present-day apostle—that this binding and loosing plainly, clearly was given to Christ’s chief apostle—not to lower-rank ministers ordained by his authority—not by the Church as a body—but by the apostle!
“Jesus Christ is the living head of this Church! He built it through His apostle. And He, Christ, still rules supreme in the one and only area on earth where the government of God is being administered today!”

“How Christ Gives the Church its Beliefs,” GN, Nov. 20, 1978

By Their Fruits

When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are You He that should come [the Christ, the prophesied Messiah], or do we look for another?” (Matt. 11:2-3).

Jesus replied, “Go your way, and tell John what things you have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached” (John 1:4-5).

In answer to how he knew he was an apostle, Mr. Armstrong said in a July 21, 1978 sermon, “I will answer just as Jesus Christ answered when the messengers of John the Baptist came to Him and said, ‘Well John wants to know, are you really the Messiah that was to come?’ Jesus didn’t say yes or no. He said, ‘You go tell John what you hear and what you see being done. Go and show him the fruits of what you see coming from Me.’ By their fruits you shall know.

“No, back in 1933 I didn’t know. Well, how do I know now? Because I looked back in all these years, and I see the fruits. And you’re here as part of it. You’re part of the evidence. Because you’re here. And I had something to do with that. And so did Jesus Christ. And He was using me. I didn’t do it myself. And woe be to me if I ever take credit for doing it.”

God had used him to publicly preach the gospel to several towns and communities, and to broadcast it across the radio and through the pages of The Plain Truth, through which the gospel reached large regions of the United States, Canada and into Mexico. Mr. Armstrong had also been used to baptize a steady and growing number of believers, to heal the sick, and to establish new congregations and ordain elders and deacons within them.

Mr. Armstrong never tied his recognition of the office he held to an ordination service specifically designating him to the rank of apostle. He followed Christ’s instruction to look at the fruits of his work.

Next Part Not Perfect

Back to Herbert W. Armstrong