good news 1964 (vol xiii no 04) apr

8/10/2019 Good News 1964 (Vol XIII No 04) Apr

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2/24

T h e GOOD

NEWS

More About Our Cover,

T h e new contemporary sculptured foun tain was in-

stalled early this year in the formal Italian sunken

garden in front of fabulous Ambassador Hall , on th e campus

of Amb assado r College in Pasadena.

M a n y ideas, designs, forms and shapes of founta ins were

viewed and considered before letting th e contract for th e pro-

du cti on of this massive

work

of art.

T h e

fountuins

vf

Rome ,

Lon don , Paris and N ew York were viewed. Bu t i n the end the

design submitted by sculptor George Hall was chosen. It is

entirely different from any that had been seen. It provides a

trem end ous and exciting play

of

water, causing it to come

A LI V E with mot ion, wi th the sound of rippling, ydnqhing , fall-

ing water. It form s, together w it h the pergola behind it , a

spectacular back-drop for the elongated pool down the center

of the breath-taking sunken garden. The pool

is

arched by

a

series of wa ter jets.

This ent ire sunken garden

i s

one of the outs tanding

exam ples of th e mag nificent la ndscap ing th at characterizes

all three of the Ambassador Colleges. T h is fine ph ot o-

courtesy of

THE

E ~ v o ~ - g i u e s you a foretaste of t h e m a n y

lovely

color

pho tos of bo th campuses coming in th is years

ENVOY.

end in your subscription

NOW

Ambassador

College

Photo

What our

READERSSAY

,

Good

N e w s C om m e n t s

The full-color cover on

T h e

GOOD

N E W S

was beautiful. It is thrilling to

watch the improvements, not only in

editorial content, but illustrations as

well.

Mr.

Richard

L. W.,

Mississippi

I dont like the paper you are print-

ing

T h e

G O O D

NEWS on

now-it

is

very hard on the eyes. I have also heard

other members complain about it too-

the softer

paper

is

much easier

to

read.

Member, Colorado

Yot i

iilill

plotice thcrt there

uye

TWO

K I N D S of

pnper. used in this mngazine.

The beginning FOUR pages and the

ending

FOUR

pager

d r e

pr i i i tm?

on

n

high-gloss pdper . Thi s is so th e f ines t

quality can be obtnined for the color

cover picture and other

COLOR

pictures

on

these pages.

All

the other pages-

sixteen-are o n a DriLL-cnated pappr.

Thi s paper

is

easy

to

read without

a glare et also produces quality

photos . This compromise of two di f -

ferent papers

is

used

to

obtain the best

QUALITY

wi th the

LEAST I N C O N V E N -

IENCE

to the reader . Readinx The

GOOD

NEWS-OY

many of our booklets-

under

an

INdirect l ight will reduce what

glare there is , and is also the best l ight

by which

t o

read.

New Bible Studies-Churches

I would

likc to say

that

my family

and the others who attend Sabbath serv-

ices every week here in the newly es-

tablished Odessa Church cannot begin

to tell you how much the new church

means to us.

M Y . J o h n

H .

M., Texas

April,

196

w

Good News

International magazine

of

THE CHURCH OF G O D

ministering

t o

its

members

scattered abroad

VOL.

XI11

N O . 4

Pub l i shed

monthly at Pasadena, Cali fornia

@

1964, by Radio Church of G a d

EDITOR

HERBERT . ARMSTRONG

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Garner Ted Armstrong

MAN AGIN G ED IT OR

David Jon

Hill

SENIOR EDITORS

Roderick

C.

Meredith

Herman L.

Hoeh

Associate Editors

Albert J. Portune Ronald Kelly

Contributing Editors

W. A. Berg

Robert C. Boraker

Bryce G. Clark

C. Wayne Cole

Raymond

C.

Cole

Charles V. D orothy

Jack R. Elliott

Selmer Hegvold

Ernest L. Martin

Leslie L. McCullough

Raymond F. McNair

C. Paul Meredith

L. Leroy Neff

Benjamin L. Rea

Lynn E. Torrance

Gerald Waterhouse

B a s i l Wolverron

Clint C. Zimmerman

Foods Consultants

Velma Van der Veer

Rose McDowell

Mary E. Hegvold

Isabel1 F. Hoeh

Editorial and Production Assistants

Paul W. Kroll

James W. Robinson

Donald

G.

McDonald

BUSINESS MANAGER

Albert J. Portune

ADDRESS A L L C O M M U N I C A T I O N S to the Editor.

Box

111,

Pasadena, California 91109.

Canadian members should address Post 0 5 c c Box

44 , Station A, Vancouver 1, B. C.. Canada.

Our members in United Kinedom. Eurooe. and

Africa should address the Edit&. Ambassado; Col-

lege, Bricket Wood, St . Albans, Herts., England.

Members in Australia and Southeast Asia should

address the Editor, Bo x 345 North Sydney,

N. S W ., Austral ia.

In

the Philippines,

Port Office

Box 2 B 0 3 .

Manila

BE SURE TO

NOTIFY US I M M E D I A T E L Y Of any

change in

your

address. Please inclose both old

and new address . IMPORTANT


3/24

Inspiring Growth in Gods

Church

and

Colleges

An

additional

ONE

THOUSAND

scattered brethren are

now

able

t o

assemble regzclarly for the first t ime. Swift PROGRESS

is being made

in

College Building Program

of

IT IS G O D which worketh

p i oth t o

will and to DO

his

good pledsure (Phil .

2 : 1 3 ) .

Let us realize, brethren, that just as

God literally WORKS in

us

to develop

His spiritual

nutiire

and chamcter, so

H e most certainly

WORKS

in us in ful-

filling the Great Commission given

to

His Church. For it is the Living CHRIST

who

hlesres

and directs in building the

much-needed facilities at

His

colleges

and elsewhere for fulfilling the job to

be done.

It is Christ who

culls

and converts all

of us in the first place. It is Christ who

brings students to the Ambassador Col-

leges. It is Christ who

moues iipoiz

and

i u s p i w s

you members and Co-Workers

to realize this is HISWork, and causes

you to send in Hi s tithes-besides gen -

by Roderick C. Meredith

erous offerings-that buildings may be

built, students may be trained, and that

minis ters may be

piepaircl

U reed

yvu

and the ever-expanding Church of God

everywhere.

It is

C h r i ~ t

who

I N s r I m s

Mr. Arm-

strong and His other leading servants

in planning the much-needed office

facilities, campus facilities and other

buildings needed to effectively

DO

the

very Work of God which He is now

accomplishing through human

imtru-

ments.

For

this is Christs Work-Tzot o w s

Building Progress on the

Pasadena Campus

Recently, Mayor Oakley of Pasadena

and other officials joined

Mr.

Herbert

W.

Armstrong here on our campus for

the ground-breaking ceremony of our

ultramodern physical education plant.

Donning a construction workers hard

hat, Mr. Armstrong dug up a shovel-

ful

of

dirt-thus breaking grou nd

with a history-making flourish that

markcd

a

milestone foi

Ambassador

College. With his effort, the FIRST

M A -

JOR

CONSTRUCTION

ever undertaken by

Ambassador College in Pasadena

was

officially inaugurated

As the entire Student Body looked

on,

reporters for the Pasadena

Stai

News and the Los Angeles

Times

scur-

ried about making notes, taking pic-

tures and recording this civic event.

Next day, the Pasadena Star News-our

major newsp aper here-devoted fully

one-hdlf of its third page to write up

the projected expansion program of

Ambassador College here in Pasadena.

An artists conception of the new gym-

Recent gymnasium ground-breaking ceremony. Pasadenas Mayor Oakley and other off icials jo in Mr. Armstrong and top men in Gods

Work.

Ambassador Col lege Photo


4/24

nasium was shown in the paper, photo-

graphed with the contractors and vari-

ous members of the administrative staff

of the college.

Even as this ground-breaking cere-

mony

was

taking place, construction

was already beginning

The roar of huge trucks and cater-

pillars echoes from the lower building

site where the new gymnasium construc-

tion is in progress. Within a matter of

only

a f e w

hnurr,

two or three

homes

and smaller out-bu ildings were wrecked,

and the grounds were being cleared

and re-landscaped for the new physical

education plant.

Meanwhile, plans and architects

drawings are being made in prepara-

tion for the already-designated construc-

t ion

of

our next priority need, the new

dining hal l to house the growing Stu-

dent Body which is already jammed

into the inadequate dining facilities of

Mayfair. Next to be built is the beauti-

ful hous e of God-the college As-

sembly Hall which will become the

meeting place for the Headquarters

Church of God on earth.

In addit ion to rapid progress on the

new physical education plant, our new

Press

Building to house the giant

presses destined to print T h e P L A I N

TRUTH s well as T h e GOOD NEWS

New gymnasium construction progresses rapidl y.

is approaching completion. One entire

building has been torn down by the

construction crew. Another smaller

building

is

being constructed as the

center of three-quarters of the electrical

p u w t r 0 1 1

campus. The floor has been

thoroughly waterproofed to keep any

and all water from reaching the equip-

ment to bc installcd later.

A

new concrete floor is being laid

on top of the old one in the large

building which will house t h e giant

press. Throughout the concrete on this

new floor is an interlocking mesh of

heavy-gauged

steel

aking the floor

strong enough to be

a

testing area for

a giant steam locomotive

Other smaller projects are under way

on campus here in Pasadena as swif t

progress is made-day by day-in pr o-

v i d i n g m u c h - n e e d e d f a c i l i t i e s t h a t

Christs Work may go out to all the

world with increasing

POWER

Mr. Ted

Armstrong

Visits

Foreign Offices and

British

Campus

Accenting the

world-wide

scope of

Gods Work, Mr. Garner Ted Arm-

strong ccompanied by Mr . Ronald

Kelly-recently visited our Europe an of -

fices and the British campus. From a

stop-over in Texas-where they joined

Ambassador College

Photo

Mr. Herbert Armstrong and others in

laying definite plans for the location of

the new Big Sandy campus site-Mr.

Ted Armstrong and Mr. Kelly con-

tinued on to New

York

and then to

Copenhagen, Denmark.

After spending

a

day

in

Copenhagen,

the men journeyed on to Duesseldorf,

Germany-where our

Geriiiari

Office

is

located. They spent a full day there

visiting the office and conferring with

Mr. Frank Schnee, Office Managcr.

Then on to Geneva, Switzerland, where

they visited

our

Geneva office and our

men there. After that, quick one-day

stop-overs were made in Madrid, Spain,

and in Paris, France, to gain personal

insight into conditions in these capital

cities destined to increase in impor-

tance as the Beast power continues

to rise in Europe.

Arriving in London Monday night,

they spent five

busy days

on the British

campus-conducting assemblies, forums

and classes-and preach ing to the Lo n-

don Church on the Sabbath. They both

arrived back here in Pasadena Sunday

night with much news from the over-

seas

Work.

As a result of his visit in Duessel-

dorf,

Mr.

Ted Armstrong decided to

send Mr. and Mrs. Gunar Freibergs

over there

immediately

to help alleviate


5/24

Apri l , 1964

Th e

GOOD NEWS

5

some of the mounting pressure of work

from the shoulders of Mr. and Mrs.

Frank Schnee in the Duesseldorf Of-

fice. Mr. and Mrs. Freibergs had been

in Pasadena only

a

few months. They

had come for advanced training and

experience at Gods Headquarters after

Mr. Freibergs graduation from Ambas-

sador College in Bricket Wood. But

now,

as

this article is being written,

they should already be well-settled at

their home

or

flat in Duesseldorf and

serv i72~

in the office there. Things

certainly move fast, but God s W ork

mast go forward

Leaders Conference-and O u r

F i r s t P h i l i p p i n e C h u r c h

W e d d i n g

Directed by Mr. Garner Ted Arm-

strong, the first conference of our lead-

ing representatives of God s Church in

the Philippines was conducted from

January 31 to February

7.

Everyone

came to Manila where they were

to

meet with

Mr.

Pedro S. Ortiguero, our

Philippine Local Elder, and

all

things

went smoothly and the conference was

a

successful and happy one.

Mr. Ort iguero reports : The con-

ference was a leaders conference. Five

of

our outstanding leaders in Gods

Church in the Philippines conferred in

a hotel room with the writer. The whole

office staff in Manila attended, alter-

nately. News of Gods Church and

Work around the world, lectures on

Church government, discipline and pol-

icy were given, together with the dis-

cussion of dctailcd questions on doc-

trines-the

100

years after the Millen-

nium, the questions of fasting an d cook-

ing rice

on

the Sabbath day, marriage

problems, funeral problems, worldliness

and other topics. The leaders were in-

structed

on

church management and

system, just as the agenda covered dur-

ing the Ministerial Conference in Pasa-

dena this

year

There was

a

church picnic for the

church leaders, sightseeing, and dinner

in the home of the writer

for

all the

leaders and office staff and

all

mem-

bers in Manila. The leaders re-

turned to their congregations happy and

strengthened

Also, Mr. Ortigu ero has reported to

us on the first Philippine Church wed-

ding to take place in this era of Gods

Church: On February

12,

Mr. Benja-

min Ortiguero [Mr. Ortigueros elder

son) and Miss Teresita Ricardo be-

came husband and wife in the presence

of Almighty God and

36

witnesses.

The marriage ceremony was conducted

entirely in the Ilocano dialect by the

writer and in his home. Both the bride-

groom and the bride were baptized into

Gods Church just one year ago on

February

24,

1963, by Mr. Gerald Wa-

terhouse.

After the wedding a lunch was

served for all and there was an abun-

dance

of

food ilipino dishes pre-

pared by the family members of the

bridegroom. After the lunch the couple

together with several others drove to

the Municipal Hall before the Justice

of

the Peace

for

signatuies uii

tlir mar-

riage contract. After this, the couple

prepared for their wedding trip to last

for about 10 days in thc beautiful

mountain city of Baguio and the home

town of the bride near the northern

tip of Luzon Island. Then

on

to the

home town of the bridegroom and back

to work and housekeeping in Manila.

In reading this, all

of us

should

cer-

tainly

REJOICE

for the growth of Gods

Work in the Philippines, and even in

these personal matters such

as

this wed-

ding. For even though the

Work

and

the Church of God are small

as

yet in

numbers there, God

i z

pi.niudiiig not

oniy the spiritual blessings but even the

physical mates needed to be complete,

happy and

balanced

human beings

in

the service of our God

Let us

remember

our Philippine

brethren-and the W ork of God there

-in our than kfu l and earnest prayers.

O v e r

ONE

THOUSAND

Scat tered Brethren

Now A b l e

to

Assemble

As a result of starting the new Bible

studies and churches decided upon dur-

ing the Ministerial Conferences,

a

tre-

mendous

B L E S S I N G

has come to over

one thousand scattered brethren. Now,

for the first time, they will be able to

assemble regnlarly in

a

nearby church

or Bible study

Although some may have been able

to drive long distances and attend one

of our churches every month or two,

this

regzildr

spiritual meat will be of

N e w concrete f loor f o r

n e w

P r e s s Ruilding

A m b a s s a d o r

ollege Ph o f o

Interior of

new Press

Building takes sliupe

A m b a s s a d o r ollege

Pho t o


6/24

6

The GOOD

N E W S

April, 1964

inestimable value and encouragement to

these brethren. Already, many thankful

reports have come in to Pasadena Head-

quarters as a result of these new meet-

ing places made possible through Jesus

Christ-AND thro ugh your fai thf ul sup -

port of the

Ambassador Colleges

in

producing the trained ministers and

servants

so vitally needed

to carry on

the burgeoning ministry of Gods

Church.

Our new Bible study in Poplar Bluff,

Missouri, started off with 10 6 in at-

tendan ce Conducted by Mr. Dean

Blackwell with the assistance of Mr.

Hal Baird and other ministers and

elders, an inspiring meeting was held

fo r these brethren-many of whom had

never before

assembled in

a

regular

Sabbath service or Bible study with

Gods people

The new Bible study in Cedar Rap-

ids, Iowa, started off with 60 in at-

tendance and good prospects for future

growth. It will be conducted on an

al-

ternating basis by Messrs. Dean Black-

well and Bryce Clark-both of them

District Superintendents in adjacent

church areas.

The first Bible study in Kearney,

Nebraska, was conducted on March

15

with 55 in attendance. Mr. Clark men-

tioned that

maizy more

will probably

begin

to

attend as soon as they are able

to be visited by Go ds ministers.

Way up in Bismarck, North Dakota,

the first Bible study was held on Febru-

ary 23 with a total of 1 34 in attend -

ance Th is is certainly encouruging

since North Dakota seems such a re-

mote area. Yet, many of our radio sta-

tions reach into this area and God is

calling

many brethren

there to join us

as future kings and priests with Christ

The new Bible studies in Wheeling,

West Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio,

both started off with

very f ine at tend-

U ~ C ~ S .

here were 93 and 152 brethren

in each of these areas, respectively, and

Mr. Raymond Cole and Mr. McDowell

report that much future growth is ex-

pected

With Mr. Tony Hammer presiding,

the new Bible study in Austin, Texas,

got off to a fine start with 56 in at-

tendance. And in Roswell, New Mex-

ico, Mr. Dave Albert began the new

study there with

a

total

of 61

in

at-

tendance.

The new Church

of

God in Dan-

ville, Illinois, started with only about

62

present for the first services, but has

already grown

rapidly so

that the latest

attendance figures received show

ex-

actly

one hundred

brethren now at-

tending in Danville

The attendance figures at the rela-

tively new Bible studies in Spokane,

Washington, and Grand Junction,

Colo-

rado, show a solid increase with 129

and 76 brethren in attendance at these

studies, respectively.

Up

in Canada, the

Toronto Bible study hit an all-time high

recently with

150

in attendance

At Lexington, Kentucky, there was a

very high first Sabbath attendance of

201.

This was

a

fine beginning for a

new Church of God there.

And , .

.

we have just received the

very encouraging

attendance figures for

two more

n e w

Bible studies.

The Har -

risburg, Pennsylvania Bible study began

March

1

with 142 present. One week

later, the new Bible study at Ashville,

North Carolina, had a beginning

REC-

O R D attendance for a Bible study with

16 4 present

Another new Bible study at Richland

Center, Wisconsin, began with

120

Add all of these

tzew

areas together

-with thei r attendance figures-and

you

collie

up

with

well

over ONE THOU-

S A N D

brethren who have recently been

enabled to meet together

regularly

in

a

church

or

Bible study

for

the very

first time

When we think back on

how many

of

us felt when we were

unable to meet with Gods people, let

u

realize deeply the tremendous

BLESS-

ING

this opportunity is for these

hun-

dreds

of our formerly scattered

brethren

Substantia l

GROWTH

in

Established Churches

and Studies

As

fast

as

our

ministers can visit

them, it seems, many

hundreds

of addi-

tional brethren and prospective mem-

bers are being enabled to attend Gods

local churches

and

studies throughout

the United States and Canada.

A

recent attendance record in New

York City showed 594 brethren in the

New York Church on February

1 5

Mr.

Cole said the church is

outgrowing

its

hall, and an additional church, perhaps

in northern New Jersey, may have to

be raised up to alleviate the situation.

But these are the kind

of

growing

pains which we enjoy hearing about

Mr. Jimmy Friddle reports that 697

brethren showed up for a combined

Seattle-Tacoma Church service recently

This is certainly indicative of the

tre-

mendous

gro wth in that area-in add i-

tion to the new Spokane Bible study.

Back east, Mr. Arthur Mokarow re-

ports record attendances on February

2 2 of 316 in Detroit and 149 in

To-

ledo

So

it looks like the Detroit

Church is rapidly heading for the

500

mark in attendance

as

are literally

dozens of

Gods other local churches

in the United States

This inspiring growth in church at-

tendance not only represents

a

blessing

but a tremendous

C H A L L E N G E

to

all

of

(PleaJe cunlinue

on

Pdge

21)

Smiling ond h appy faces of Kearney Nebraska Bible study congregation.

Ambossador College Photo


7/24

Did

CHRIST

Institute

Church

ORGANIZATION?

As

a member

of

the Church

of

G o d ,

d o

yon

have any obligation

t o a n ORGANIZATION? Is church attendance, t i thing, Holy

Day observance and attendance at Gods Feasts REQUIRED

of you?

VE

N E V E R

been much for goin

to Church one hears exclaimed

from time to time.

I dont belong t o any church-

theyre nothin but a social club you

may have heard another say.

If

youre

like

mos t

members

of

Gods

Tru e Church today-you are pretty much

disgusted with organized churchianity

of

this

world

Maybe you used to be a member

of

one of the denominations. Perhaps you

were not-perhaps you were siispicious

of all this ch urch -goin g and remained

aloof.

Perhaps you saw certain flaws in the

minister of a false church, or didnt like

the way the people claimed to believe

one thing, and actually practiced an-

other.

Religious Independents

W e live in a basically PROTESTANT

country. W c arc the kind of

peop l e ,

who, by our very nntiires, R E B E L against

strict authority

W e a r e natiivally suspicious of really

strict and stern

GOVERNMENT.

As a result of our basically protest-

ing, our protest-ant background, many

of

us

are totally iiizfamiliar with any

real CHURCH

GOVERNMENT

Today-many are religious inde-

pendents. They feel above the

church-going crowd around them-

disdaining and spurning church atten-

dance. Many of

yon

brethren of Gods

Church have clearly seen the error of

the worldly churches, and have been

faithful to Gods commands to COME

OUT OF HE R, my people .

. .

(Rev.

1 8 : 4 ) .

YOU have now come

out

(we prayer-

by Garner

Ted Armstrong

fully hope you really have ) of this

organized confusion of the modern

Christian world.

But herein lies a great

D A N G ER

Here is a pitfall

It could rob you of yozir salvation

unless you truly recognize it, and make

sure YOU are not trapped by it.

If

brethren, any of you have carried

this suspicion of ORGANIZATION,his

host i l i ty toward GOVERNMENT,his re-

sentment of R U L E , this aloof, superior,

suspicious

attitude toward CHURCH

ATTENDANCE, TITHING, BEING

SUBSER-

VIENT

TO

A N ORGANIZED, ESTAB-

LIS HE D, CHUR CH-then you possess

a frightfully

daugeroivs

attitude You

have an a ttitude that could, literally, rob

you of your crown

Self-Sufficient?

Perhaps this basic attitude-this basi-

cally protestant attitude is one which

has actually

HELPED

bring you

ozit

of

todays false religions, into the glorious

LIGHT

of Gods True Chu rch

But this brings us to a vitally impor-

tant principle

C OUL D T BE THAT A FEW OF YOU

HAVE

THIS SAME

ATTITUDE

TOWARD

GODS C HU R C H ?

Maybe, unknowingly, you have carried

this suspicion of

organization,

this reluc-

tance to

attend

regular church services,

this resentment and hostility toward a

regular, established, organized BODY-

a false CHURCH-right on over into

the

ONE

A N D ONLY

TRUE CHURCH-

the one Jesus

BUILT

Brethren, some of you have

YOU hall know them by their

@ 1961 by Radio Church of G o d

All

rights reserved

fruits said Jesus (Matt. 7 :16).

This is the

Bible

equivalent of the

old saying actions speak lozider that2

words. If you, by your actions, show

you

are a religious independent, sus-

picious

of

any governmen t or

organiza-

t ion

within Gods

TRUE

Church, then

it is plain

YOU

are one possessing this

dangerous attitude.

From time

to

time, on the summer

baptizing tours Mr. Armstrong sends

out from Ambassador College, this atti-

tude of self-sufficiency is encountered.

Some reason this way. They real-

ized God demands they

be

baptized

(Acts 2:38) . They k n o w , and have

proved carefully to themselves that bap-

tism is

R E Q U I R E D

for them.

But , their real contact with Gods

Church has always been

ONLY

VIA

THE

RADIO OR THE

PRINTING press. They

have never before had any personal,

individiial contact with Gods

own

servants, or those who are doing the

W o rk of God for this age.

Somehow, they would like to he

baptized.

They want to get right with God.

Then,

a f t e r they are baptized by our

teams they seem to want the men sent

out to baptize them to leave. They ex-

pect their former contact with Gods

Church to

remaiiz

t he

same

as

before.

They have been hearing Mr. Armstrong

or me persni?n//y. It is

OUR

voices they

are used to hearing.

Therefore, when they are told there

i s

a

lorn/ Chwrh

near them- they are

These cases are, thank God, few and

Do

you see, brethren?

Because many have falsely assumed

somehow

R E L U C T A N T

to attend

f a r between, but

they

h u e orcarred.


8/24

8

The G O O D NEWS April,

1964

this

is

rrierely

Mr.

Armstrongs work,

the s ingle-handed work of a MAN

w h o m the regard as himself being a

religious independent, they want to

associate theniselves with that man

They want to regnrd themselves as

believing like M r , Armstrong docs,

or be ing a Co -wor ker w i th Mr. Arm-

strong But

T H E Y DO NOT WANT T o

COXZE

U N D E R T H E ORGANIZATION, T H E

G O V E R N M E N T , THE AUTHORITY

OF THE

CHURCH O F G O D A N D ITS MINISTERS.

Some yenrs ago, my brother, Mr.

Richard D. Armstrong, wrote a similar

article to this one. H e entitled it Y OU

Perhaps the t en.ron my brother (who,

before his death, was one

of

Gods top

Evangelists, Director of the Foreign

Work,

and Associate Editor of The

P L A I N

T R ~ J T H

nd GOOD

NEWS)

nd I

have e.rpecinlly noticed this tendency in

some of you brethren is this:

Many people simply A S S U M E , since

our names happen to be ARMSTRONG,

that we are only going along with

Dads re l igion.

NOTHING

ould be further from the

truth

Mr. Armstrong and I are merely

TWO of the M A N Y true ministers of

the Almighty God, t h rough whom He

is carrying o ut H IS , not o ur,

WORK

We

are ministers in a highly organ-

izcd, bona-fide, registered, recognized,

official,

C H L J R C H

That Church is the

T R U E CHURCH

OF

GOD founded by

Jcsus. It is

NOT Mr.

Armstrongs

Church. It is NOT the church of some

new m ethod of governm ent, called

the Methodis t Church. I t i s not a

church emphasizing the second advent

of Chris t and so adopt ing the name

Adventist . It is not the church

of

John the Baptist , not a church of any

man, woman,

or group

of men and

women

A R E hTOT

A N

ARhfSTRONGITE

It is THE CHURCH

OF

G O D

You

Are a Member of a

CHURCH

I f

you have renlly repented, and have

been baptized according to God s com-

mands, then you are a member of a

Church

Tha t Church is O R G A N I Z E D .t has

many m inisters, local cong regations and

its members are w.rponrible for certain

DIVINELY imposed

OBLIGATIONS

Among those obligations which God

makes plain THROUGH His Church

are attendance regiilnt.ly, t i thing, and

c o m p l e t e a n d t o t a l s u b m i s s i o n t o

GODS governm ent H e has placed in

His Church.

Jesus said,

.

,

.

I will build my

C h u r c h ( M a t t . 1 6 : l S ) . H e , Jesus

Christ Himself, is the H E A D of that

Church (Col . 1:1S; Eph. 1 : 2 2 ; 5 : 2 3 ) .

There is only ONE True Church

of wh ic h Jesu s is t he H e a d - ~ ~ r s

Church

There is one body [the very body

of Christ-the Church ] and one spirit ,

even as ye are called in one hope of

your calling. One Lord, one faith [body

of belief-system

of

doctrine-Gods

own TRUTH} one baptism . . . (Eph.

Yes IF you have Lem truly repent-

ant, and have been duly baptized by

Gods own chosen servants,

God

has

p n t y o , ~ izto His own T RUE C H U R C H .

By

O N E

SPIRIT are we all baptized

into

one body . .

.

( I

Cor.

1 2 : 1 3 ) .

Pctcr said only

when

we RE PE NT

and are baptized can we receizie of

Gods Holy Spir i t (Acts 2:3 8) . Paul

was inspired

to

write, Now if

any

man

have not the Sp irit of Christ , he is none

of

His (Rom.

S:9) .

I t

is

only through receiving

of I I i s

SPIRIT-the spiritual b e g e t t d to

po-

tent ia l God-l i fe that YOU

BECOME A

CHRISTIAN

A n d n o t i c e t

f you

have re-

ce ived H is Spiri t , y o n have AUTO-

4 : 4 - 5 ) .

MATICALLY

BECOME

A

LITERAL,

RE-

SPONSIBLE

h l E M B E R OF A N O R G A N IZ E D ,

VISIBLE

BODY-A CHURCH

Is ORGANIZATION

of

the Devi l?

Today, we are living in a world of

organized

confusion

It is in chaos,

disagreement, darkness, confusion . But

it is OR GANIZ E D.

The governments

of

t h i s world, their

military arms, their police forces, their

educational systems, their complex, in-

tricate business and social strata are

highly organized .

Satnn is the god of t h i s wor ld ( I 1

Cor. 4 : 4 ) . H e is the author of

i t s

sys-

tems, its governments, its religions

(Rev. 12:9).

Satan has a

KINGDOM

(Mat t . 12 :26) .

It is called BABYLOS THE G R E A T

(Rev. 1 7 : 5 ) .

But Satans kingdo m is a rnixt.vre of

good A N D evil. The Devil is the arch-

counterfeiter H e cleverly MIXES t ruth

and error, bad and good, right and

wrong, to nlloiu the human mind to

.fee

t h e g o o d , but to be deluded, to be

blinded to the bad

Some suppose all C I T I E S to be E V I L

-of Bab ylon , of th is i i ,o th l . And-true

enough-all of

THIS

WORLDS CITIES

ARE EVIL.

But GOD

HIMSELF IS

LIVING

IN

A C I T Y H e is going to bring the

WHOLE COMPLEX,

HIGHLY DEVELOPED,

BEAUTIFUL C I T Y TO THIS E A R T H

(Rev. 21:2 .

Mayhe

you

have supposed all con-

nected with the m i l i t a t~ j~s inherently

E V I L .

But God is an organizer of

A R M I E S ,

believe it or not (Rev.

1 9 : 1 4 ) . Jesus showed when His King-

dom comes to this earth, then will His

servants FIGHT ( J o h n 1 8 :3 6 with Rev.

T h e

WRONG

thing about military

organizations is their goal

T he ] ,

are

organized

for

the purpose

of

K I L L I N G ,

of destroying,

of

going to war.

Actually, there is no enrthl j system

closer. to the real Government of God

than that of the military. Soldiers are

taught absolute, unquestioning obedi-

ence to their supe rior officers-and fail-

ure to comply brings severe penalties

No,

brethren-or~aizizdtioiz,

depnst-

mentnlization,

order, S Y S T E M , are

OF

GOD, ot of the Devi l .

For

God is not the author of

con-

f l i s io n , but

or PEACE, as in all churches

of the saints (I Cor.

1 4 : 3 3 ) .

Th e word inspired by the Holy Spirit

in this scripturc for peace conies from

the Greek word eirene which, accord-

ing to the Exhaustive Concordance, and

the Greek-E nglish Dictionary, m eans

n n i t j ,

concord , HARMONY

Yes, God is the Author of Govern-

me n t ,

of

harmony, organization, system,

19:

1 1 - 1 6 ) .

O R D E R .

Gods Government Works

God

governs Hi s Church-not any

ma n Jesus Christ the Son is its Living

Head. Below Christ are Apostles,

Prophets (though not occupying an ad-

(Please contintie

o n

page

1 s )


9/24

In Gods Church?

H o w can wido ws serve in the Church? Wh at

is

the special

class

mentioned in Timo thy

5 1

And what about the support

of

widow s-whose responsibility is it?

You

will be surprised

to

see how much

N

GODS

CHURCH

oday there are

hi/izdi~d.l-of widows. Some are

younger widows who hnve recent-

ly

lost

their husbands. They may have

small children at home. There are oth-

er widows who have lived alone for

many

years

now. But, whether young or

old, widows have a wonderful oppor-

tunity to .rei .w.

Have you, as a widow, ever won-

dered whnt

p i /

coiild d o to better

SERVE in the Church of G od ? Have

you felt, because you are

a

woman,

there is not much for you to do? YOU

need to realize what a

i~i tn l ly mpor-

tnnt

part you can play in the church

and how you can better qualify to be of

m ore

.reriljce

in the coming Kingdom

of God

All the rest of the members of Gods

Church need to learn their definite RE-

S P O N S I B I L I T Y toward the widows, as

well.

I

W i d o w s i n t h e Bible

God has inspired His servants to

write about several specif ic examples

of widows. These examples even m i m e

the widow in some cases. Notice how

Atzm

served God in Luke

2:36.

A n d

there was one Anna, a prophetess, the

daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of

Aser: she was of (I gwnt

age,

and had

lived with

a n

husband seven years from

her virginity; And she was a

WIDOW

of

about fourscore and four years

{eighty-four) , which departed not from

the temple, but .rerzwrt God with f a s t -

. k < y s and ,/ivap~rs ight and day.

Anna, well up in years, has become

an example of how to serve God. This

the Bible h2s

t o

say about these important

questions

by R o n a l d Kelly

is

an example of a

very

old lady. W i t h

all her

heart

and

migh t

she wanted to

SERVE God.

She was not able to go out into the

cold and rain to serve the brethren in

times of sickness or need. She prob-

ably could 170 lotzge, knit or sew tor

those who needed clothing. The g r m t -

est service she could render Gods

Church and

His

people was P R A Y E R

and FASTING he d id

z o t

feel left out

or incapable of servin g. An d by

fnrtiizx

often, along with her

pvayers,

she be-

came an EXAMPLE for

all

generations

to come.

Many widows begin to feel they can-

not serve effectively because they

d o

u o t

hnve large incomes

and cannot send

in large amounts in ti thes and offer-

ings. But have you ever stopped to

think that by your P R A Y E R S God caiz

and

zidl

provide

Co-Workers

who can

send in

Iurge

amounts in ti thes and of-

fer ings? Ask G od

specifically

to provide

tithe-payers who are able to send in

one hundred dollars

or

even one thou-

sand dollars a month. Mr. Armstrong

really means it when he asks you to

p r a y for the NEEDS of the Work,

as

well as to contribute what you are able.

The W i d o w s

Mite

Another example God gives us in

H i s W o r d is the poor widow Mark

writes about in Mark 1 2 : 4 1 . Here is

a

prime

example

o f A T T I T U D E a n d

service: And Jesus sat over against

the treasury, and beheld how the peo-

ple cast money into the treasury: and

many that were rich cast in much. And

there came a certain poor widow nd

she threw in two mites, which make a

farthing. And he called unto him his

disciples, and saith unto them, Verily

I say unto you, That

this poor

zuidozu

bath

cast

moje

in, than

all

they which

have cast into the treasury: For all they

did cast in of their abundance; but she

of

her

waizt

did cast in all

thnt

she

had, even all her l iving.

This widow had her heart

so

much in

Gods Work that she w as wil l ing to

sacrifice

and go zcithont so she could

be a part of the very

WORK

OF GOD.

A widow is not capable, generally, of

payins large t i thes and giving offer-

ings. But when a widow does give of

her need,

it

is

pleasing to God and

there

will

be blessiugs

and reward for

this kind of serving, humble atti tude.

N e v e r underes t imate the POWER

and the M IG H T which God has. He

is able to take the smallest offering

and accomplish the greatest possible

amount of work through it . As Mr.

Armstrong has wri t ten in Co-worker

letters, when one dollar is contributed

to the Work of God, i t reaches many

hund reds of p eople when it is used to

purchase radio time.

So,

although your

offerings may be small, a tvemendous

amoiint

is

being accomplished through

those offerings.

Tabithas

Example

Another fine example of a widows

.rewire

is found in Acts

9:36. Now

there was at Joppa a certain disciple

named Tabitha, which by interpretation

is called Dorcas: this woman was fn

of good wods

and

almsdeeds

which

she did. And it came to pass in those


10/24

1

The

GOOD NEWS

April, 1964

Notice the qualifications for serving

in this special enrollment in I Timothy

5 : 9 . Let not a widow be taken into

the number under threescore [sixty]

years old, having been the wife of one

man, Well reported of j o r good i iwk.r;

if she have brought

u p

children, if

she have lodged strangers, if she have

washed the saints feet, if she have re-

lieved the afflicted, if she h a w dili-

gent ly

fo l lowed eziery good i i w k .

Not every widow in the church

could scrvc in this spccial cnrollmcnt;

she had to, first of all, be sixty years

of age. All her children would be

grown and perhaps married or away

from home at this t ime. Also, an elder-

ly widow such

as

this would present

no kind of evil appearance as she trav-

eled in a small group to serve the

brethren of the church.

But

t i o f i c e

thP nthpi ,

qudl?f jr ( i t ;nJ i.r

She had to be a DEDICATED and

SINCERE woman. She couldnt be the

kind who showed concern only for

her-

.self

and her. past life. She needed to be

the type who enjoyed having company

and sewj iz ,? in the home. She had to

have

a

siizcere desire t o DILIGENTLY

F O L L O W all the l aws of God

In the Church of God today, we do

not have this special roll of widows

to travel with the ministry. But thir

does

no t

~izecl iz

there is no need for

this special service widows can perform.

Most of G ods ministers are married

and have their own families. Their

wives often travel with them as they

visit the brethren and there has been

no urgent need for this type of service

from widows.

But this s ew i ce does not have to be

restricted to the ministry alone. Widows

over sixty who hare these qualifications

can be of great service in each local

congregation to the brethren. We may

not have

a

special class of widows

which we recognize or call by a particu-

lar title, but nizy w i d o w can render her

services

to help the brethren. In fact,

E V E R Y widow ought to try to live up

to the standards and requirements of

this

Jprcicil

C ~ U J J u /

wid o wJ .

W h a t A b o u t t h e Y o un g e r

W i d o w s ?

There are times when a younger

woman with small children will be

days, that she was sick,

and

died: wliorrl

when they had washed, they laid her

in an upper chamber. And forasmuch

as

Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the

disciples had heard that Peter was

there, they sent unto him two men, de-

siring him that he would not delay to

come to them. Then Peter arose and

went wi th them. When he was come,

they brought him into the upper cham-

ber: and nll the

ri;dozi.r

stood by him

weeping, and sheiuin


11/24

April,

1964

The

GOOD

NEWS

widowed

as

a result of death or an ac-

cident. Naturally, for many months or

for

a

few years, a young widow goes

through a period

of

adjus tment wi th-

out a man to be head of the family.

There are times when this young wom-

ari wi l l

hiiw

t o ~o t o w o r k to provide

for herself and her children. There are

literally tbou.rmd.r of women in this

world who have had to do just this-

and even apart from G ods law have

been

s.vcce.r.rfu1

in rearing their children

and providing a proper living for thcm.

However, there are times when a

young widow realizes the need for the

children to have a father, a n d in some

cases, it is not wrong for these young

widows to want to ? J ~ C W J , . The Apost le

Paul said i n

I

Timothy 5 : 1 4 , I wi/l

there f

ore that the y o m g e r

w0112ei1

?izni.ry,

bear children, guide the house,

give none occasion to the adversary to

speak reproachfully. For some are al-

ready turned aside after Satan.

A young widow in Gods Church-

who is

thoi~oicghll~

oui~cv~fed-will put

this in Gods hands Far too often, a

woman will simply seek a husband.

Sometimes, she will pay no attention to

the ndilire of Gods mini.rfer.i and con-

sequently will find herself in a very

unhappy marriage.

Every young widow shoiild

clo nll

within

her

power.

to

make provisions

for herself and her children. If she is

being di l igent and fa i thful to the Word

of God, God will .ri/ppIy ull her, iieects.

If by patieiit and

com f a i z f

P R A Y E R ,

and if i t is Gods wi l l, H e wil l s~ip ply

the proper head of the family to be

a stepfather a nd I i u h a n d .

In every case, a young widow needs

to be constantly aware of the tempta-

tions

that surround her and

not

10, its

Paul said, turn aside after Satan.

Remember the atti tude and problems

some young widows might have in I

Timothy 5 : 1 3 , And withal they leuriz

t o be idle, wandering about from house

to house; and not only idle, but

tnf-

tlers

also and

h//.ii,bodie.r, speaking

t h i i 2 p which they oi/,yht

?io t .

This,

brethren, i s the common tendenq-

this is what is likely to happen-when

young widows are not diligently tryifig

t o m ee t the.ii,

? ~ ~ ~ . s ~ ~ o ? i . ~ i ~ ~ f i f ~ e . r ,

oth to

their family and to

God .

The goa l o f

a

young widow should

not

be marriag e-it should be to

meet the responsibilities which have

now been laid upon her and to

y i in l i fy herse l f for the

Ki?zgdom

o f

God. Her goal is the same as the goal

of any Christian-to be born aga in

Her responsibilities very likely will re-

quire her to be

out

working and earn-

ing a l iving to support her children, if

there are no visible means of support

otherwise available.

Our Responsibility

to the Widows

so far, we have seen how

a

widow

can serve and help in thc church. We

have read many scriptures on ho w

a

widow can better qnnl i f y to enter Gods

Kingdom and be

happier

here and

now as she serves in Gods Church.

But what about the rest of us in Gods

Church? What about some of n~

who

might hare mothers or grandmothers

who are widows and

also

who are mem-

bers of G ods Church? Wh at can we

d o

i f

a widow has need?

The very heart and core of a Chris-

tian life is summed up in James

1 : 2 7 .

Pzire

ieligioiz

and undefiled before

God and the Father is this,

TO

VISIT

THEIR

AFFLICTION,

and to keep him-

self unspotted from the world.

Yes, each member of Gods Church

has a pnr.ticdar respoi2,ribilitl, toicaiA

the iuidou-as well as the widows hav-

ing their responsibility to serve and

help the other brethren when it is pos-

sible. The whole reason for living a

Christian life is to

be of ser.iGce.

Jesus

Christ said that if we wanted to be

great in the Kingdom of God, we must

he a seriJnnt.

In the sixth chapter of Acts, the

early New Testament Church was

faced with a situation that resulted in

thc sclection of Deucu,riJ fo r Gods

Church. Notice it beginning in Verse 1

And in those days, when the number

of the disciples was multiplicd, there

arose a murmuring of the Grecians

against the Hebrews, BE CA U SE T H E I R

DAILY

MINISTRATION.

Then the twelve

called the multitude of the disciples

unto them, and said, I t

is

not reasnn

that we should leave the word of God,

and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren,

T H E F A T HE R L ES S A N D W I D O W S

IN

WTnOWS

W E R E

NEGLEC TED IN

T H E

look ye out among you seven men of

honest report, full of the Holy Spirit

and wisdom, zihom

w e

mny nppoint

over this bzisiuess. But we will give

ourselves coi2tiiziiall~ o p r q e r , and to

the minis t iy o f the zuord.

T h e n , se v e n m e n w e r e s e l ec t ed t o

fulfil l

the

of f ice o f

Deacoiz

in order to

allow the ministers to have time to take

care of the spiritual duties they would

have in serving Go ds people. In the

very beginning years of the church t he

need to help .rest;e widows was pointed

out. And because of the need to serve

widows, the office of Deacon was ac-

tually inspired.

Looking A head Is Wise

Many

of you

reading this article are

now m arried. W e trust every converted

member of Gods Church will read this

article to learn. Even though we

dont

like to think of it, we must ull realize

that it is possible that sometime in the

future o w iiies will

be

ziidowed and

left without financial support. What is

your obligation to your wife and fam-

ily? In the Bible, God says a righteous

man will

lay

up

for his children and

his grandchildren. God shows that suu-

jng

f o r the fiitiire

is a right principle.

H e

also

gives us the example in Prov-

erbs

of

the ant who goes out in the

summer and

wor.ks

diligeiitly

t o

lny

tip

aheud

for the coming winter. This i.r

aiz e x am p le f o r

zis

Many have wondered about l i f e iiz-

sziruizce. About two years ago, Dr. Her-

man L. Hoeh wrote an article for The

GOOD

NEWS

magazine on this very

subject. All of you should be certain

you have read that article. It is a wise

man who will spend only a few dollars

a year to provide f u r urgent needs and

family support should his l ife be taken.

Far too often we d o not think of these

things and our families can suffer

greatly should an accident occur in our

lives.

If

Y o u Have a Relative

T h a t Is

a

W i dow

D o you know tha t if you have a

relative

iiz

god'^ Chnrch

who

is

a

zuidozu and has no means of support,

you have

a

direct obligation to her

according to the Scriptures? Notice it

once again in

I

Timothy

5 : 4 ,

But if

any widow have chilrlreu or nephews


12/24

1 2

The GOOD

N E W S

April,

1964

year. It is set up on the

same

tithiug

principle. Notice it in Deuteronomy

1 4 : 2 2 ,

Thou shalt truly

tithe

all the

increase of thy seed, that the field

bringeth forth year by year. And

thou

.rhult

ent before the Lord thy God, in

the place which he shall choose to place

his name there, the tithe of thy corn,

of thy wine, and of thine

oil,

and the

firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks;

that thou

M A Y E S T

L E A R N TO

F E A R

THE

LORD THY GOD A L W A Y S .

This tithe

is to

aid you in

travel

e x p e n s e and

nzenls

for the annual Feast

Days hel d every year-especially the

Feast of Tnheuzucles .

Howcver, did you

notice that this tithe is

n o t

for the work

of the ministry-rather it is fo r

ezjeiy

h 7 ( J i i d m d to eat and to enjoy. Yet, to

insure attendance at these Festivals and

to be sure

all

of G ods people are prop-

erly taught-God instituted

th iz

SET-

O N D T I T H E as an absolute LazLl

[this should be translated

Rrutzdchil-

dreiz) , let them

[ t h e

children and

grandchildren) learn first to shew piety

{or kindness) at home, and to requite

[ o f f e r

.r/ ip/iort fay) their parents: for

thnt i.r ~ o o d uiid acceptable before

God.

Yes,

if

a widow in Gods Church

has children

or

grandchildren ziho are

tilso iiz

the ~hntxh,hose children have

a DIR E C T R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y

to provide

for

the support of that widow i f there is no

other way for her to bc supported. And

notice again in Verse 16, If any maiz

or zoomnti

that believeth have widows,

let them vel ieue

them,

and L E T NOT

THE CHURCH BE C H A R G E D ; that it may

relieve them that are widows indeed

[or

who have

no

other means of sup-

port). And again in Verse

8,

But

i f

any provide not for his own, and

specially for those

of hi.r ozo?z house,

he

hath

denied

the fuith and is WORSE

Some members of G ods Church have

neglected this. Some have not realized

before this direct vespotisibility placed

on

e z w y

menzber

of

Gods Church if

he has a mother, mother-in-law,

or

grandmother who is converted. In other

words, a

zcirlozi~

who has relatives in

the Church of God is 170t eligible for

third-tithe support from the church. If

this situation exists with any of you, you

should begin as quickly as possible to

t .eliew this ohligntioiz f r o m the chzirch

and begin TO SUPPORT YOUR WIDOWS

so

y o u

will receive God s blessing f or

being completely obedient to all of His

laws.

Plan for the Future

T H A N A N I NF ID E L.

Todays present society offers many

provisions for the care of widows. First

and foremost, every family ought to con-

sider this need while

all

members of the

family are still living. As mentioned

before,

l i f e

iiisziraizce

is a possible an-

swer. Srliitzq.r and investment in proper-

ties for future need is another solution.

However, for those who are ulreudy

widozred and have not been able to

have these savings set aside, there are

means

of

support offered by our gov-

ernment.

Most

working people have paid into

the SOCIAL SECURITY plan. Social

Security is a payroll deduction plan

where every employee must pay a cer-

tain amount of each check for his re-

tirement

in

old age or toward support

of his widow should he die. The em-

ployer has contributed to this fund as

well. In case of need or old age, every

family is left with

a

small income on

which they can get by. In most cases,

Social Security is

reqnired,

and many of

you have been paying benefits for many

years. Many w idows in G od s Church

are supported today by Social Security.

Another means

of

support for wid-

ows and elderly people is the OLD

AGE PENS ION . This is a tax-sup-

ported plan set up by the United States

Governm ent. All of us pay taxes. W e

are to render unto Caesar the things

that are Caesars,

a n d t h i s

we gladly

do for the privileges of living in our

country. If a widow is left

zuithozit

support

or

a

person reaches old age and

has no means of income, our

tux dol -

lurs can szipport them in part by the

Old Age Pension plan.

If neither Social Security or Old Age

Pension can be received, there are gen-

erally

Coziizty

and Cztj Wel f are Ageiz -

cies

which offer support to elderly peo-

ple and to widows. This is also

a

tax-

supported plan and members of Gods

Church have every right to be supported

through this means if it is necessary.

T h e

Tithing System

In addit ion to what the government

of each country sets up to support those

in need,

God

has seen

T i t

iri Hi5 law

to establish a cpeciul

f zmd

to provide

for the support of fatherless children,

widows, strangers and the Levitcs who

have need.

God has always financed and sup-

ported

HIS WORK by a system called

t i thing This is Gods way to d o things.

A tithe is one-tenth of

a

persons in-

come. First of all, one-tenth

of

every

wage-earners income is not really his

at a l l -BUT IT

IS

GODS.This tithe is

clenidy

demonstrated

in the Bible to be

used

only

for the

WORK

OF

THE MINIS-

T R Y and the publishing of the Gospel

around the world. It can be used for no

other purp ose If it is held back we are

robbing Go d (Mal.

3:s-12).

In addition to this tithe for the work

of the ministry, God has liberally pro-

vided

a

plan f o r

ozir

ziacation every

T h e T h i r d T i t h e

On this same

tithing principle,

God

has established the means whereby

wid-

ow s

and others in need can have pro-

vision. Notice it in Deuteronomy

1 4 : 2 8 ,

At the

end

of three j8enr.r

thou shalt

bring forth all the

tithe of

thine in-

crease the

.same

jeav [the third year],

and shalt lay it up within thy gates:

And the Levite, (because he hath

n o

part nor inheritance with thee,) and

the stranger, and the fatherless, and the

WIDOW, which are within thy gates,

sha l l come, and

shall

eat and be satis-

fied; that the Lord thy God may bless

thee in all the work of thine hand

which thou doest.

Here, then, is the THIRD

TITHE.

This tithe is not taken every year as

are the first and second tithcs. This

tithe is to be taken only in the

third

and sixth year of a seven-year cycle.

In other words, th e third- tithe year

for every member of Go ds Church

who is

a

wage-earner and has an in-

crease is to be paid only

/zoo y e m r

ozit

of every .rezieiz jeunr-the third and

sixth years. These years are generally

counted from the time of

ones

baptism.

So,

the third

and

sixth years after an

individual is baptized are his third-tithe

years. The tithe of that year is given

to Gods Church for the support of the

(Please

c o t z t hme

011

puge

21 )


13/24

IS THE BIBLE

A

Protestant

Book?

id God entrnst the Protes tant reformers wi th the N e w T esta-

ment text? Did He now allow Protestant scholars

to

discover

the

original

unndulternted

words

of the Apostles? Are P R O T -

ESTANTS the gaardians of the N e w Testament?

by

P a u l Kroll

P

R O T E S T A N T S

C L A I M t h a t : T h e

gudrdianship of the Greek New

Testament passed f rom the Greek

Church

to those who were M O R E

FAITH-

F U L to

its teachings, namely, t o

evarr-

gelical Protestants.

Consistently Christian textual criti-

cism, therefore, is truly

Pvotestunt.

In

the Protestant Reformation, God sum-

moned men to return to the holy scrip-

tures (Edward Hills, The King J4me.r

Vers ion Def ended ,

pp. 19, 2 1 ) .

Is

this belief true?

A r e Protestant theologians now

re-

.rponsible

for the t rue text? Have Prot-

estant scholars, by means of textual

criticism, the ability

to f i n d

the

nrfunl

words

written by the Apo stles? Should

we as Gods people rely on THEIR

F I N D I N G S as to which text or translation

to use?

The Scholars Search

Biblical scholars have long sought to

unearth the actual text he real

words written by the Apostles. Critics

have labored to reconstruct the trzre

t ex t of the Bible under the assumpt ion

that the Apostles original words had

been perverted in the centuries after

their deaths.

The task of textual criticism .

. .

is

to

t ry

t

extract the

actzal words

writ ten

by the Apostles and the

Evan-

gelists from the great mass of divergent

manuscripts in which their works have

been preserved (Handbook t o t he

Textual Cri tici sm of the N e w Testa-

Copies o f Tyndoles English New Testament

bur ned. The place was London England. It

was called:

A

burnt offering most pleasing

to

Almighty God.


14/24

14

T h e

GOOD

NEWS

April, 1964

metit, by Frederick Kenyon, p.

6 ) .

Men-apnrt

f r o m

Gods guidance-

have sought to find the true text of

your

Bible. Guided by their own

h z m a n

ven.rou they have rummaged through

bits and scraps of musty manuscripts.

In the rubbish hcaps of decaying paper

and papyrus-scholars have spent z m

t o l d horus

hovering over reams of man-

uscripts n order to reconstruct the

original documents the Apostles wrote.

But this has been an

impossible

task

It

is

a

task

a t once

hopeful and

hopeless. Hopeful because in so great

a crowd of manuscripts

. . .

the truth

must, it wor~ld e e m , somewhere be on

record; HO PEL ESS , ecause the dis-

cernment

of

it

R E Q U I R E S

A

S U P E R H U -

M A N D E G R E E of knowledge and judg-

ment and because means do not

exist

for demonstrating it conclusively

(Handbook

to

the Textnal

Criticism

of

the New

Testnnzent,

by Frederick Ken-

Men have failed because they have

been relying on hff ind iz effort, when

it requires snperhuman understanding.

Scholars have relied on decaying heaps

of

paper as the cornerstone

of

their

theories. But the cornerstone-the basis

of proof-is

not

there. It requires the

impiration, the direction, the revelation

of God Almighty

yon, p. 6).

Why

Scholars

Went

Astray

Science, technology, education ll

have become the gods of this world

People rely

011

them for the answers.

I t woiild se e m

that they

SHOULD

HAVE

the answers.

But they do not

It is not enough to be educated; it

is not enough to have knowledge. What

these men needed the most that they

lacked. Because they L A C K E D S P I R I T U A L

UNDE R S T ANDING,hey couldnt grasp

the

spiritual principles on which the

preservation of the Bible is based.

Because they lacked this basis-they

c o d d

not

iizterpvet

the facts correctly.

A

man who is unspiritual refuses

what belongs to the Spirit of God; it

is f ol ly t o h i m ; HE C A NN OT GR AS P

IT,

because it needs to be judged in

the light of the Spirit. A man gifted

with the spirit can judge the worth of

everything

I

Cor. 2 14, i\eiu English

Bible ) .

Scholars

Admit

Ignorance

Biblical scholars and critics them-

selves hn v e rrdinitted that

THEY DO NOT

KNOW

In dealing with this problem-

they must resort to opiizioizs,

conjec-

tiryes

and theorier.

During the last thirty years, more-

over, the conviction has been growing

among New Testament scholars that

New Testament textual criticism is

no t

an

objective

science,

governed by clear-

ly defined rules

or

principles, but rather

an art, in which the deciding factor is

the subjective insight, or common

sense, of the critic

( T h e King J a m e s

Vers ion

Defeizded , Edward F. Hills,

p.

1 3 ) .

These

t ex t i d

critics

adinjt

that they

are forced-in the last analysis-to rely

on conjecture and opinion.

The methods of textual criticism

may broadly be described as two in

number-the comparison of doctrinal

evidence, and conjecture

. . .

where the

form er [evidence) is wan ting, the latter

[conjecture) will have

t o t ry

to take its

place (Hnndbook

t o

the

Textunl Cviti-

ctsm o f

the

hezcl Testament , Frederick

Kenyon, p.

7 ) .

How

Can Y o u KNOW?

Brethren, how can we know if we

have the true text-the actual words

written by host.

w h o

God inspired?

Must we rely on the theories, con-

jectures and hypotheses of critics who

admit that

they

do

n o t R n o z ~ ~ ?

here

can we

begin?

W e begin our understanding by te.rt-

ii7g

the Bible

Do not quench the Spirit, do not

despise prophesying, but TEST

eve iy -

thing;

hold fast what

is

good

( I

Thess. 5 : 1 9 - 2 1 , Revised Standard Ver-

s i o n ) .

But how do we test the Bible to see

if it is Gods Word? Bre th ren , we

should have already

doize

this nd

should be doing t u o v

For example,

how do we know the Sabbath is to be

k ep t ? Is it only because the Bible tells

us to observe i t ? N o W e know the

Sabbath

is

to be kept by

keep i n


15/24

April,

1964

The GOOD NEWS

5

Submit

To

Church Organization

(Coiztrniied f r o m p a g e 8 )

ministrative rank), Evangelists, Pastors

and Elders. The Apostles realized the

need for real orgaizizatioiz in Gods

W o r k

When widows were being neglected,

and confnsioiz ensued, they ordained

Deacons to organize a sistem for taking

care of these physical needs (Acts

6:l-7).

Later, God inspired Paul to write of

the divinely ordained offices in His true

Church: And

HE

LGod, not any man)

gave some, apostles; and some, proph-

ets; and some, evangelists; and some,

pastors and teachers . . . (Eph. 4:11 j .

C h r is t W a s O r g a n i z ed

But

why? Crud

ilxnwcrs,

For

the

per-

fecting of the saints, for the

zc~ork

of

the ministry, for the edifj,iu


16/24

16

The

GOOD

NEWS

April, 1964

recreational activities for the colored

brethren in God s Church.

Specially picked men from Pasadena,

arriving days and days well in advance

of the Feast in all three places had to

look into the electrical systems, sewage

and drainage systems, parking systems,

availability of conference and mothers

rooms, checking the public address sys-

tems, getting plenty of key personnel

placed in just the right areas, to help

direct G ods people smoothly, orderly,

so

they could have a more enjoyable

Feast

And there were many, many more

complex activities which I have not

mentioned

Brethren, all this took THOUGHT It

took

PI.ANNINC.,

a n d

i t

took careful

ORGANIZATION.

God Blesses

His

Work

God has truly BLESSED

His

W o rk

by sending more and more truly

C A P A B L E men and women, truly ded-

icated and consecrated to His service,

who are carrying vital responsibilities

in His Church.

He has blessed His Work with hum-

ble, hard-working, zJolnizteer laborers,

zoho are iiot

beiizx

paid for their serv-

ices to others during the Feasts, to make

it more and more enjoyable for YOU

Yes, this is truly

a

great blessing

But wait Something is wro ng Some-

thing is still LACKING

WHY re some of you people, claim-

ing to be the very men and women of

God , REBELLIOUS

TOWARD AUTHORITY

W h y d o s o m e BALK at any direction?

Wh y are so many STIFF-NECKED toward

local Pastors, Deacons, servers, traffic

directors, and ushers?

B E C AUS E OME A R E YE T C AR NAL -

THEY A R E REBELLIOUS,

S T I F F - N E C K E D ,

UNCONVERTED

If thi s mea ns You-then it is time

to HEED

Examine yourselves, whether ye be

in the fai th; PROVE your own selves.

Know ye not your own selves, how that

Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be

reprobates ? ( I1 Cor .

1 3 : ) .

But God is leading His servants more

and more to realize these harmful atti-

tudes must be weeded out

Look at a huge mechanical brain.

A great computer. Here is indeed an

electronic marvel. The machine is to

per form a certain task.

But a small, tiny tube becomes de-

fective. It cannot perform its task, it is

disorgunized, operating sporadically.

Will the operator of the machine

simply allow the machine to operate at

less than O N E P E R CENT efficiency,

bccause of one small tube ? Certainly not

No-he would replace that defective,

unco-operative tube

IMMEDIATELY

He would get

a

N E W one, or else

repair that one, so the machine could

operate smoothly, orderly, efficiently

You may have an eight-cylinder auto-

mobile. But if only ONE cylinder is

not functioning, your car is thrown

completely

out of

harmony.

t

sputters

and smokes, running on about

$

power, at less speed, and much greater

gasoline consumption. What do you

do ? Just

L E A V E IT

THAT

W A Y ?

O f course not You change it-or

you get it repaired

It is the same in GODS

RGANIZA-

W e h av e a vitally important JOB

to do. It entails our church attendance,

our faithful tithing, our attendance at

annual Festivals.

It means we are R E Q U I R E D , OBLI-

GATED, to co-operate, to obey. W h e n

Gods own

O RD A I N E D

APOSTLE

calls

upon you to send in for meal tickets,

W h e n a traffic director at any

Sab-

bath service or Festival says, Go thi.r

way, then

DO

it W hen an announce-

ment says DO

NOT

drive your cars

from the camp area to services-then

W h e n a n a n n o u n c e m e n t d u r i n g

Pentecost services this year comes ask-

ing for volunteer help, then HELP

When Mr. Armstrong asks you to

send in your second tithe for the Festi-

val of Tabernacles in advance,

to

insure

proper registration, then SEND it

Thc Apostlc Paul said the PROOF of

real Christianity is OB E DIE NC E

For to this end also did

I

write,

that I might

know

the p o o f

of

you,

whether ye be obedient

in

all things

(I1 Cor. 2 : 9 ) .

Yes, brethren, i you really ARE a

member of Gods own Church-You

TION

THEN DO IT

D O NOT DO IT

HAVE STERN

OBLIGATIONS

God issues orders H e gives com-

mands God

EXPECTS

AB S OL UT E , UN-

Is that unreaso nable? Is it not the

very ESSENCE

of

your Bible?

In the book of Genesis, God COM-

M A N D E D the man, saying

. . .

(Gen.

2:16),

and in the book

of

Revelation,

He inspired John to write, Blessed are

they that DO HIS C O M M A N D M E N T S .

.

(Rev. 2 2 : 1 4 ) .

Abraham

is

the father of the faithful

because he

O B E Y E D

God unquestion-

ing ly (Gen . 26 :5 ) .

QUESTIONING

O BED I EN CE

Our

Awesome Responsibility

Brethren, listen

In every worldly government, every

society, every club, lodge, group, every

church, every university, ez ery grou p

of

nzeii,

GROWTH

was always synonymous

with D E C A Y

Gett ing bigRer meant getting more

LAX, lesseniug controls, government,

real principles, basic truths.

Nations grow fat and lazy, lacking

purpose and drive. Churches get big

and unwieldy, and resort to

HUMAN

government

let this happen in the very Church of

God

T h e

BIGGER

we grow, the

better

more simplified, the more streamlined

and EFFICIENT we must become

W e must become more O BED I EN T

More RESPONSIVE W e must have that

utter spontaneity, that quickness to

help, to obey, to follow directions that

comes from a truly converted, humble

mind

W e m us t

LOVE

one another, and

RESPECT

offices God is using, no mat-

ter how slight or small they may seem

to be God says they are important

Lets make this Pentecost-1964-

the most organized, efficient and en-

joyable Festival ever. Brethren-all of

us need to co-operate one hundred per

cent -in

everything.

We have the AWESOhIB responsibility

of UNITED LY, i th OR DE R and OR GANI-

ZATION-performing Go ds own corn-

mission to His people in this age-

and we have got to get i t done It is

REQUIRED

of us ill

w e d o it?

WE CANNOT-and WE WILL NOT

urganized,

the

mure J

yJIerr iahed , the


17/24


18/24

1 8

The GOOD N E W S

April, 1 9 6 4

Des ider ius Erasmus. One of t he f i r s t to publ ish

and m ak e av a i l ab le t he New T es t am en t i n

G r eek .

Testament, and how many verses con-

tain all the letters of the alphabet.

All this fills us with amazement,

and with thankfulness for the micro-

scopic accuracy with which these men

did their work of preserving the sacred

text.

God Con t ro l led Preserva t ion

God revealed in Matthew 2 3 : l - 3

tha t He DOES

NOT

necessarily use con-

verted people to d o His will. W e saw

previously, that God had given the

leaders of the Jel-ui~h

c o m m z m i ~ y

he

task

of

preserving His

Word.

They were hypocrites They were

proad. They were murderers THEY

WERE TOTALLY U N C O N V E R T E D

Yet, as we clearly saw, they were given

the responsibility of preserving the

Scriptures

That is why you need the faith of

God-To KNOW that H e has the power

to control the preservation of the Holy

Bible. The scholars lack this faith.

Hence, they make wrong assumptions.

The Jews preserved the Old Testa-

ment. It made no difference whether

they believed what they preserved

(Rom. 3 : l - 4 ) . God made them pre-

serve His word in spite of themselves.

But the Jews rejected Christ. H e be-

came a stumbling block to them (I Cor.

1 : 2 3 ) . N o longer could they be used

to preserve Scriptures which openly

disczissed the person and doctrine of

Christ. From that moment on they

COULD NOT

BE USED

to PreSeXVe any

furthe r additions to the H oly Scriptures.

Th e task must pass to another people.

W h e n we see the BIBLE PROOFS

AND

PRINCIPLES

clearly revealed concerning

the Old Testament- w e can apply

those same principles to the preserva-

tion of the

N e w

Testament, which

generally lies outside the limits of

Biblical history.

To whom then was the New Testa-

ment given for preservation and trans-

mission

?

Greek s P re s erv e Ne w T e s t am e n t

Romans 1 : 1 6 reveals the answer.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of

Christ .

. .

to the Jew first, and also to

the Greek.

God raised up the Apostle Paul to

go to

the Greeks. They received the

Ne w Testament oracles-and became

responsible for their preservation and

transmission.

W e saw the principle in Romans

1 : 1 6 that God was going to use the

Greek-speaking world to preserue and

copy the New Testament Canon. The

leading Apostles and officials of His

New Testament Church WROTE and

under divine inspiration were led to

COMPILE THE

CANON. The Greeks had

nothing to do with these

two

great

functions. T he apostolic era of the

Church

oJ

God completed these two

great acts.

But the Greeks were given the re-

sponsibility to copy and transmit the

New Testament Canon.

Th e truth of Romans 1 16 dovetails

with many interesting historical develop-

ments that took place in the first cen-

Where was the Apostle John when

he wrote the book of R evelat ion? H e

was on the island of Patmos (Rev.

1

: 9 ) .

Where was this is land? In the

Greek-

speaking world

Where were the churches to which

the Apostle Paul wrote most of his

epistle s? In Asia Minor-the Greek-

speaking world ( I Pet.

1 : 1 ) .

T h e

Ephesian E ra of God s Church was

located here.

tury A.D.

Preserved in Greek World

by Or t h o d o x C h u rch

The point is that the original copies

of

the manuscripts were in the Greek-

speaking world to begin with. They

were NOT in Latin-speaking Italy They

were origiIially written in Greek.

God does not carry out His Work in

a clandestine, secretive manner. H e

does it in a publ ic way As the Apostle

Paul told Festus,

I

am persuaded that

none of these things are hidden from

h i m ; fo r h i s thing was not done

in

a

corner (Acts 2 6 : 2 6 ) .

Th e Ephesian Era of Gods Tru e

Church gradually left its first love.

It began to dabble in worldly poli-

ticking. It continued in the world-as

part

of

the ,world-under Polycarp

arid

Polycrates.

In this area of the world the Truth

of God longest remained. Here is the

record preserved by Eusebius

:

For neither could Anicetus {the

bishop of Rome] persuade Polycarp not

to observe it

{ the

Passover), because

he had always observed it with {ohn t h e

J i~~ip L l el uur Lord, and

THE

K E S ~

OF

THE A P O ST L E S

with whom he associ-

ated; and neither did Polycarp persuade

Anicetus to

obscrvc,

who

said

that he

was b ou nd t o M AIN T AI N T H E PRAC-

T I C E O F TH E PRESBYTERS BEFORE

H I M

(Ecc . Hist., Eusebius, bk. 5 ,

chap. 2 4 ) .

This was around

1 5 0

A . D .

Polycarp

of Greek

Asia

Minor was still preserv-

ing the Trut h H e was a disciple of the

Apostle John.

Fifty years later, Polycrates-a d i ~

ciple of Polycarp-had fur the r trouble s

with Rome. But he still maintained the

practice of the Passover. Rome had no

authority except the traditions of men

who came before them.

Just as did the Jews, the vast segment

of the ovganized, visible body in the

Greek world began to drift further and

f u r t h e r f r o m t h e T r u t h . O n l y a n

insignificant minority remained faithful.

But just as the Jews preserved the

true text of the Old Testament

so

the

Greeks still preserved the true New

Testament text even though they did

not obey it

This worldly Greek church passed

under the jurisdiction of Constantine.

But it R E F U S E D TO S U B M I T to the

authority of the Bishop of Rome. It

exists today as the Greek Orthodox


19/24

April, 1964

T h e GOOD NEWS

19

Church.

It

is in

tzo shape or manner

related to the Chu rch of God-but it

is STILL PRESERVING AND REPRODUC-

ING the Greek New Testament with

accuracy

Is it significant that we call both

Jews and Greeks who prc=Smwd the

Bible in the original languages Ortho-

do x ? Did you know th at i t means

one who thinks straight or correctly

about the text?

Tru e M anusc r ip t s Re jec ted

It may come as a shock for you to

know that scholars have rejected ninety-

five per cent of all extant Greek manu-

scripts of the Bible. These are the VERY

M A N U S C R IP T S

which have been pre-

served by th e Gre ek-spe aking world-

those to whom God

gave the responsi-

bility for copying and preserving His

Word. Instead, modern Protestant trans-

lators and critics turn to the

COR-

R U P T E D

five per cent of manuscripts

found in Egypt and the Latin-speaking

w n v l d

These Byzantine manuscripts have

been rejected due

to

the false ideas and

theories of men. Here is how uninspired

critics reason :

It is necessary to begin [in order

to find the true text) by examining

the extant manuscripts to see . . . which

ure the oldest and therefore probably

nearer

to the truth (Frederick Ken-

yon, Th e Tex t of

good news 1964 (vol xiii no 04) apr

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