Even the Apostates
Back to The Work of God
The final quote that follows does not come from Mr. Armstrong, but rather from his successor who had instructed the Editorial Department to write a tribute to Mr. Armstrong. It demonstrates that even the apostates once clearly understood who Israel was, as well as the overall framework of prophecy, at least up to seven months after Mr. Armstrong died. This necessarily would have included the need to continue the Ezekiel Warning. Even these men once worried the Church could one day forget this.
Here is how this was described and listed in The Worldwide News as number 15 of what were called “the 18 truths” restored under Mr. Armstrong. The part in bold is as it originally appeared:
“(15) Prophecy can be understood only if you know that we are the Israelites, and what prophecies apply to us and which do not. Others who do not know Israel’s identity can’t understand, for example, the 30th chapter of Jeremiah and scriptures like that, which show the Great Tribulation will be the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
WN, August 25, 1986
This article carried both a photo of all Mr. Armstrong’s major books on prophecy as well as the familiar portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong together, with a caption stating, “In the early 1930s, God began to use the Armstrongs to restore these 18 essential truths to His Church. Could we, today, lose sight of them?” (Emphasis mine.)
Tragically, many more than the apostates lost sight of the basics—and the urgency—of Bible prophecy, and thus the need to continue the WARNING MESSAGE to Jacob (Israel) before his “trouble” began. What happened to cause this? Why do so few brethren today discuss something so central—so absolutely FUNDAMENTAL—to what was once understood to be an integral part of the Great Commission? How did so many forget all of the kinds of statements that we have just read?
The answer is that Satan’s spirit is confusing the splinters and causing memory loss on a matter he wants de-emphasized and permanently forgotten. He knows what this warning means to his future. It is much more attractive to him if God’s people can be diverted into, and become preoccupied with, fixing this world—HIS world!—through his social improvement gospel, rather than announcing the arrival of the WONDERFUL WORLD TOMORROW, when he will be bound and the KINGDOM OF GOD is ruling.