Articles for the Benefit of Members and Ex-Members of the WCG

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52
A Message to the WCG
Part 2

This publication is a message of spiritual redirection for members and ex-members of the WCG. It was first written in 1992, revised in 1994 and also in 1998. It is also available in print from the address at the end.

"I find it so difficult to believe… "

Comment: "I find it so difficult to believe… [that many Christian groups] are coming together to do the end-time Elijah work… Why not the Elijah we wait for being one man that knows the truth and keeps all God's laws, such as yourself…?"

[N. B. This comment was prompted by our booklet entitled Who Is The End-Time Elijah? available on request.]

Reply: I do understand your difficulty in grasping the fact that God is using others we previously regarded as counterfeit Christians to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. I appreciate how you think, because I used to think that way too. We were all conditioned in the Worldwide to think like that. Our minds were fed information about so-called 'Sunday-keepers' which prejudiced us against them.

HWA taught, or strongly implied, that the organisation he headed humanly was the one and only true Church of God, and that other churches were not being used by God, but were counterfeit replicas or fakes. They were even called tools of Satan, at times. That false information was fed into our minds in many different ways over a long period of time. That legacy of wrong concepts still lingers on. It is often repeated in subtle ways. Mention is frequently made of 'the True Church', or simply 'the Church', meaning to imply the 'Worldwide Church of God'. Besides being arrogant and presumptuous, that concept is grossly wrong.

True to the words of the church's founder, HWA, it is harder to unlearn error than to learn new truth! So I appreciate that you find my words untenable.

Because God had called us through the WCG, we believed that it was the true Church of God. We saw no reason to question that philosophy. As a result, we tended to look down on others outside the confines of the Worldwide. Our simplistic, narrow-minded view of how God works caused big problems in our minds of judging others and not esteeming them better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

Stop and consider for a minute. The Bible declares the True Church to be those who are led by the Spirit of God (Rom 8:14). How can you tell whether a person is led by God's Spirit? Jesus said it is only by the fruits (Matt 12:33; 7:16-20). Those fruits are fruits of love (Gal 5:22; Jn 13:35). If you are judging and condemning another for different Christian belief, is that the evidence of good or evil fruit in yourself? Evil. Therefore you are condemned by God's Word if you have adopted such a judgemental approach. Yet that is the stance which has been promoted by Worldwide teaching for as long as I can remember!

NOT The Only True Church

Jesus said no man can come to Him unless the Father draws him (Jn 6:44). We see in Christendom hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Christians who have come to the Father through Jesus Christ. Why is it, you naturally ask, that so many have such diverse (and some, so obviously wrong) beliefs?

The biblical truth we recognised through the teaching of the Worldwide was the avenue God used to reach our minds. However, we are limiting God if we think He must always use that avenue to reach everyone. The WCG had a lot of biblical knowledge compared with some other churches. However, God cannot use knowledge as a 'bait' to draw everyone to Him. He has to use different means with other individuals.

Putting that fact aside for a moment, let us assume that the only means God has of 'calling' and drawing His children to Him is knowledge, and specifically the knowledge of the correct Sabbath. If we insist that the True Church is composed of individuals who have a seventh-day understanding, then the Worldwide cannot be the one and only True Church on that basis alone. God has called very many others through a seventh-day understanding, in several other parts of the world. Herman Hoeh wrote about the seventh-day Christians in China in a former Plain Truth. It is also estimated that there are about 15 million Sabbatarian believers in China today. Some of those believers themselves go by the name of The True Jesus Church, although there are other groups besides.

There are many thousands of seventh-day Christians all over the earth who have had no contact with the WCG, but whom God has reached with His truth. There are equally large numbers of Jews being converted to Christianity today in Israel and around the world by the direct supernatural intervention of Jesus. Some of these Messianic Jews have been reached like the apostle Paul was converted – through visions, directly by Jesus Himself.

Precise Doctrine Not Critical At This Time

There are millions of Sabbatarian Christians in the world today who have never heard of the Worldwide Church of God, (which we wrongly assumed to be the True Church). There is an even greater number of Christians, who do not understand about the seventh-day truth to which God has opened our eyes, but who are nonetheless dedicated to the name of Jesus Christ. I am not talking about nominal Christians. Many are prepared to die for Him! Christian martyrdoms today exceed 300,000 per year in third world countries, yet we hardly hear about them in the west, we are so preoccupied with our own selfish little spheres.

Jesus said that you cannot have greater love than that which enables you to lay down your life for another (Jn 15:13). These hundreds of thousands of Christians have been prepared to endure torture and martyrdom for the sake of their Lord! Their love is from the Holy Spirit.

The fact that these individuals may be deceived on what we might consider to be very basic points of understanding is not important to God at this stage of His plan. All people are deceived in some ways. That includes you and me. You don't know where you are deceived. Nor did Herbert Armstrong; nor do I. But as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, we can be led into all truth (Jn 16:13).

It is those who continue to be led by the Spirit of God who are the sons of God (Rom 8:14).

When I first learned at the age of 16 that I ought to be keeping the Sabbath holy because it is one of the commandments, I did so. I thought, however, that the day commonly accepted in Christendom – Sunday – was that day. However, in my heart, I dutifully set the day apart from the other six days of the week. In my mind I thought I was doing the right thing. It was only a short while later that I discovered the truth that the day I observed was the first and not the seventh day of the week.

While I kept the wrong day, did God accept my obedience as a token of my faith, even though I had got it wrong? Yes, of course. He knew I did so in ignorance. He could see my heart. He knew what was in my mind. I was doing what I genuinely believed was right, even though I was genuinely wrong. It is no different with millions of Sunday-observing Christians today. God may still be guiding many of them through His Spirit, and like I was deceived, permit them to remain deceived on this point.

The early Church was deceived about the imminence of Jesus' return. Worldwiders were deceived about the correct date for observing Pentecost for many years until the 1970's, and many are still deceived about other aspects of God's truth. Those points of misunderstanding are minor from God's perspective. There are far greater deceptions, such as that of being deceived into worshipping a man who leads the church, instead of worshipping Christ (II Thes 2:4). That occurs in the WCG, although it goes largely unnoticed because of its subtlety. That is a highly serious deception!

Much More Important

The church has traditionally denied the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is claimed that those spiritual gifts are not present today as they were in the early Church. Yet there are many churches today in which those spiritual gifts ARE very much present! (What will surprise some is that they are evidenced in predominantly Sunday-observing churches.) Worldwiders have been deceived and kept ignorant about spiritual gifts. And, to coin the old cliché, what you don't know, you don't know that you don't know! Some have ascribed such gifts of the Holy Spirit to the devil. That deception is serious. You could forfeit your salvation for believing such a lie.

About a year after our expulsion from the church, God led us into a fuller understanding of these gifts of the Holy Spirit, and He has blessed our family with various supernatural spiritual gifts. I explain a little more about this on page 13.

(For information on several points on which the WCG has gone astray from correct biblical teaching, request the booklet, Apostasy In God's Church.)

It is widely claimed that healings do not take place today as freely as they did in the first century when the first apostles preached. That is also a deception. They ARE very much present today. There are numerous spectacular healings which continually take place in the meetings of many other Christian groups. Just because you do not see them does not mean they don't occur. I have seen them with my own eyes, and they are not fake, or of the devil as detractors claim. There are thousands of authentic testimonies of wonderful physical healings, with evidence of witnesses, to prove it! Our own family has also been more blessed by God in this area since being outside the confines of the church than during the previous 25 years we were members. Physical healing is for the Church today!

These are just a few of the areas in which Worldwiders have been deceived by those who lead the church. Poor or wrong teaching will bring poor or wrong fruit. If church leaders are blind, and those who are taught do not see their leaders' blindness (or who overlook it to remain 'loyal'), then both will fall into the pit. God does not condemn you for blindness – unless you want to deliberately close your eyes to the truth as it is revealed to you and continue to believe the lies foisted upon you previously. It is now time to awake!

God can 'wink at' anything when people are ignorant. "And at the times of this ignorance God winked at" (Acts 17:30, KJV). ("Winked at" means overlooked.) Any sin God will mercifully "overlook", or forgive – except one – deliberate sin, which is blasphemy against His Holy Spirit.

If you have made mistakes, come out of the system which has promoted those mistakes. Leave it behind (Rev 18:4). Repent, and you will be forgiven. God wants to bless you, but He cannot do so if you quench the lead of His Spirit (I Thes 5:19). You must step out in faith.

What Is Most Important To God

About twenty years ago, while I was a loyal Worldwide member, I read of one case of a Baptist minister who lived in an eastern European country during the hard-line Communist regime of the sixties. [Tortured For His Faith by Haralan Popov.] One day the secret police came to his door at 5 am and took him away for 'questioning'. He was arrested and imprisoned without trial, held in solitary confinement, and subjected to the most inhumane treatment. His wife never saw him or heard from him again for the next thirteen years! She thought he was dead until after he was finally released, when he eventually traced her to her present address in Sweden.

During his imprisonment the authorities tried to break him from his convictions through systematic torture and solitary confinement. His implicit trust in Christ enabled him to endure the hell he was subjected to. He endured extreme cruelty which left him a hair's breadth from death on many occasions, but his captors never allowed him to die. In his worst moments, angels came and strengthened him. He had angelic visitations to help him through his horrific ordeal, just as Jesus needed during His darkest hours. God was with him, and comforted him. Yet God never revealed to him knowledge about His Sabbath, or Holy Days.

When I first read that story as an immature 21-year-old, indoctrinated by the WCG concept that any who did not keep the Sabbath could not be true Christians, I could not understand it. It was a dilemma. It didn't fit the traditional 'mould' that I had come to believe in the WCG. I had believed a lie. The lie was not the truth about the seventh-day Sabbath. The lie was that you are only a Christian unless you believe the same way.

Because of that misconception that the WCG teaching had left in my mind, I could not appreciate the real truth. It was not until God caused me to be thrust out of the church in 1990 that He could further open my mind to appreciate that God is working with other Christians. I was not able to accept it back in 1970. While my mind was filled with organisational loyalties which dictated against such a concept, I could not perceive that there might be true Christians elsewhere. Most Worldwiders still think this way. It is a myopic prejudice. It is a lie. It comes from Satan.

Those of us who have come through the WCG regime, with such an emphasis on the knowledge of the law, find it hard to understand why God doesn't reach others the same way. I could not understand in 1971 why God left that poor Baptist minister ignorant of what God had shown me was such basic truth.

The answer is simply that it wasn't in God's purpose for that man, nor for the rest of humanity to have such an understanding at that time. But his ignorance on that point did not leave him without favour with God. On the contrary, that man was highly favoured by God! He had a very personal relationship with Him. He obeyed God in the way he understood from the Bible. It wasn't perfect understanding, but that is not important to God at the moment.

Anyway, whose knowledge and understanding on spiritual matters is perfect? None of us yet has complete understanding. What is most important in God's sight is not our head knowledge; it is our heart (I Sam 16:7). At the moment, God is looking to see whether we want to obey Him.

After a gruelling 13 years of torture, that Baptist minister was eventually released! His captors gave up! They realised they couldn't break the man's iron will. One day they will realise it was not only his iron will, but that which God gave him for a purpose. Likewise, the prophets to whom God assigned a job, were given by God 'faces of flint' that could not be broken. Men who are tools of Satan cannot defeat God's purpose! That has been the lesson written in the blood of Christian martyrs through the pages of the centuries, when Christians were not deterred from their faith in Jesus by the prospect of death for their faith.

Men of such heroism do not endure such horrors when they don't know Jesus personally. It is because of their close personal relationship with Jesus that they are able to overcome under such duress. Knowing Jesus is the most important factor for us as Christians. We must come to personally know Him, or He will eventually disown us at His coming (Matthew 7:23). Just because someone has not been given understanding on some technicality of truth, does not cut them off from God. He is the one who opens people's minds to His truth (Jn 6:44). If God chooses not to reveal certain things to certain Christians, but to reveal them to others, who are we to criticise?

Remember, God is the one who allows certain people to be ignorant of parts of His plan. It sometimes fulfils His purposes to permit us to remain in ignorance at times, just as He did with Israel (Romans 11:32). We may wonder why. One reason is simply to humble us.

What is important for us to remember are the words of Romans 11:34, "Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?" (KJV.) We need to be constantly aware that God is in charge.

Personal Relationship With Jesus

God's primary aims at this time are: 1) to preach this Gospel to the world for a witness to all nations, and 2) to prepare the Bride of Christ for the new world-wide administration coming on this earth.

It is for the former reason that the Iron Curtain fell so suddenly in 1989. God was opening the doors for the Gospel to go into that vast land. The Worldwide was offered broadcasting time on Radio Leningrad, but they turned it down because they are not walking by faith in Jesus. They have pushed Christ outside the door (Rev 3:20), and so have lost sight of His leadership. Other Christian groups are taking the Gospel message to that nation. Most of them don't preach anything about the Sabbath and assume that Sunday is 'the day', or believe that there is no obligation to keep any day of rest due to their misconception about the "rest" mentioned in Hebrews chapter 4. They don't know any better. But that does not stop God using them to do the job of preaching the Gospel. The Gospel is not a message about which day the Christian Sabbath should be observed on. Nor is it just a message about the future Kingdom of God on earth in the Millennium. It is a message of salvation – salvation from spiritual death; salvation from sickness; from problems; from despair; from suffering; from suicide; from hopelessness – through Jesus Christ. It is a Gospel about what Jesus did for us by dying to pay the penalty of all these 'things' so we can be released from such bondage that sin causes. It is a message which will bring us into PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.

The real tragedy is that too many Sabbatarians do not have a personal relationship with Jesus. They have not come to love Him like the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Because of the ritualistic emphasis in their teaching, WCG leaders have misused the knowledge of God's Word. Instead of using it to deliver from bondage, they have used it to enslave.

The Gospel is not a message primarily about what we do, but its emphasis is on what Jesus has done for us. Too many have come to Him thinking they are pretty good by their Sabbath-keeping and other ritual. Like the Pharisee who was rejected in favour of the errant publican (Luke 18:9-14), they are in danger of being shut outside the Wedding Supper (Matt 22:1-14).

God has deemed it unnecessary to reveal the truth about the Sabbath to many other Christians up to the present time. He does not regard them as being 'in sin' and distance Himself from them. He 'winks at' their ignorance (Acts 17:30). He is the one who has allowed them to be kept ignorant of that truth, so He is the one to 'blame' if you want to 'blame' Him. (Some Worldwiders even seem to want to sit in judgement of God because they don't like the way He does things.) What is important to God is not what we think – the outward appearance. He is interested about what is in the heart of each person (I Sam. 16:7).

It becomes a totally different matter when God opens the minds of people to the understanding of the necessity of keeping the Sabbath today. If they reject that knowledge when it is revealed to them, then they are in sin, and do cut themselves off from God. But, at this point in time, while many Christians are ignorant of such truth, they are guiltless before God, and God uses them to do His Work.

Consider The 'Fruits'

If you read the opening parts of God's Church – Whose Authority? I point out that the true Church is not a physical organisation, and give the indicators by which we can evaluate true Christians from false. They are spiritual pointers, not physical pointers. That catches a lot of people off guard!

Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them" (Matt 7:16), not by their beliefs, or by their understanding. What did He mean by the word 'fruits'? Galatians 5:22-24 gives us the answer.

Gerald Flurry in his magazine, 'Philadelphia Trumpet' has tried to make out that his church is the True 'Philadelphia' Church by pointing people's attention to physical factors which he claims are the 'fruits' of God's leadership. Such reasoning is spiritually incorrect, and quite inadequate to explain how God works. One cannot look to financial income, rate of physical growth of the organisation, number of 'members', or other physical indicators to see whether God is in the work being done. If one takes those mundane features as indicators of God's guidance, then John the Baptist should be written off for a start! He had no physical organisation to speak of. He lived alone in the desert.

Likewise, all the prophets should be discounted, for similar reasons. Their messages were invariably rejected and spurned. They had few followers. Their work seemed to go nowhere. They had little support, financially or morally.

There are big religious movements which have taken place on earth, but which have displayed evil fruits. The size of the organisation, or its rate of growth is no indicator of the blessing of God upon the work being done.

What we must look to are spiritual indicators. These are the factors we must consider, which Jesus was trying to point out to the disciples in context (Matt 7:18; 12:33). The knowledge of the Sabbath is not a 'fruit' as such. It is an understanding of revealed knowledge. I agree it is important, and when God reveals its identity to us, we must observe it correctly. But God is looking for deeper spiritual indicators in His children than mere physical observances which can become as empty as the ritualism of the Scribes and Pharisees, whom Christ roundly condemned for their hypocritical observances.

Empty ritualism must be a thing of the past for us. You must move on into deeper spirituality – that which Jesus talked about in Matthew 23:23 – justice, mercy, and faith! These three are inseparable from God's love. Could it just be that some of those we may have inadvertently condemned in the past, may have had greater spirituality – greater love – than us? The fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit are sadly lacking in the WCG, while they are far more evident in many 'charismatic' groups.

Many of these Christians speak in 'tongues', receive 'words of knowledge' from God, draw on God's power to heal the sick, and prophesy. Spiritual gifts are strongly in evidence – the spiritual gifts which Paul described in I Corinthians 12 and 14, but which have been either condemned or rejected by the men who controlled the spiritual growth of Worldwide members! This avenue of spiritual expression has been consistently denied WCG members for decades. No wonder the WCG is spiritually dead and lifeless! God is only too desirous of giving the gifts of His Spirit to those who truly seek them.

If you want to understand a little more what I mean, read Colin Urquhart's revealing book, When the Spirit Comes. God does not limit His Spirit to only those who know of the value of the Sabbaths. There are many other Christians who have been led by the Spirit of God. We Sabbatarians can learn from them in areas where we have been ignorant, just as much as they can learn from us. It is time for a meeting of the minds and for sharing our strengths.

God has used a different avenue to draw these people to Him. He could not use the avenue He used to draw us. God reaches different people in different ways, according to their proclivities and characteristics. Many of the people God has drawn to Him through the Pentecostal movement are emotionally reachable and have been drawn to Christ via that avenue. Knowledge would have made no impact upon them initially, so God leaves that for later. We came to Him from the other end of the spiritual 'spectrum', so to speak. Knowledge of His Word came first; it seems the 'emotional' aspects are to follow. Both are necessary for full spiritual development.

As I mentioned earlier, the Church is not a physical organisation, or several physical organisations. Within all 'churches' are both 'wheat' and 'tares'. The devil has infiltrated every organisation that professes Christianity and has sown his seeds. True Christians can exist in any number of different 'churches', even having widely different beliefs.

It is not necessarily the beliefs which you hold in your head which make you a true Christian, but what you hold in your heart. It is the Spirit of God which is the common denominator between Christians in differing organisations and of various persuasions. And that Spirit is recognised by its fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, etc (Gal 5:22,23).

It is that Spirit of Christ which we must permit to lead us into all truth (Jn 16:13). All truth does not come suddenly, so Christians will be in various stages of spiritual development, depending upon several factors. God is the judge. We are merely onlookers. It is not a case of this church or that church being classified as the true Church, and this other church or that other church being a counterfeit. It's not that simple or straight-forward.

Unity of belief is not a sign of God's one Church at this time, because Jesus predicted a time of division first before the restoration of all things (Luke 12:51). We have to come INTO the unity of the faith from where we presently stand in Christ (Eph 4:13), we don't automatically have it when God calls us. It is a life-long process to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us out of error into all truth. We must all learn continually.

Those who submit to the constant lead of the Spirit are the sons of God (Rom 8:14). Thus, the Body of Christ is composed of those in whom His Spirit dwells.

The Spirit of The 'Elijah'

Concerning the Elijah to come, I am not the Elijah, nor is any man. No man could remotely achieve what is prophesied of the 'Elijah' before the Second Coming of Jesus. How could one man "restore all things"? How could one man "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children"? It is not the work of one man, but a Work of the Spirit of God.

It was the work of one man in the time of John the Baptist because Jesus' first coming was localised to Judea. The second advent will not be localised. It will be world-wide. A world-wide 'Elijah' is essential at this time. The task is simply far too vast to be accomplished by one man, even in these days of almost universal penetration of radio and TV.

Those whom God is using today to do His Work are those who do not want any 'glory' for themselves, but who want Christ to have all the glory which is rightfully His. That is why God can use them, because they are truly humble before Him. As long as they stay humble, they will be used by Him. If they get puffed up and step back, God says He will have no pleasure in them. It is a danger the apostle Paul recognised, and every servant or prophet of God has to recognise. Some men of God have stepped back and 'blown it' after bringing many sons to glory. Pride is no respecter of persons.

Discern The Spirits

I have heard Worldwiders and others with a dogmatic, ritualistic bias say that the miracles performed by Christians who do not keep the Sabbath are done by the devil. That is a lie! It is also an extremely dangerous assumption! It could be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to say such a thing! They will use Matthew 7:21 to try to support their false accusation. But the dire warning in Matthew 7:21 is as much a warning to those of us who think we are obeying God by observing all the laws of the Bible, as we may think it is to those who do not seem to do so (to us), but who do many mighty miracles by the power of Jesus' Spirit. The miracles of healing and casting out demons are not done by demons (Luke 11:14-20; Matt 12:22-32). There is no evidence in the Bible that evil powers have this capacity; rather the opposite! They can perform lying wonders (2 Thes 2:9), but not genuine miracles for the good of others. That simply is not in their nature. Deliverance from bondage is a manifestation of the loving nature of God, not of the devil.

Satan has power to perform certain types of miracles, when God allows him that power, but his intent is to deceive, to harm, to oppress, to hinder. Healings generally 'go against the grain' as far as the devil is concerned! And the devil does not perform miracles in the name of Jesus Christ! We were fed lies in the Worldwide that others outside the narrow boundaries of that organisation were doing miracles of healing and exorcism by the power of Satan – the very accusations which the Pharisees levelled at Christ, and who were in danger of committing the unpardonable sin by so doing (Matt 12:22-32). God tells us to judge by the 'fruits' (v 33), not by appearance (Jn 7:24). By saying such blasphemous things, the leaders of the WCG actually hindered the Work of God!

The Bible rightly warns us to beware the Synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9; 3:9) – those "who claim to be Jews (true believers) though they are not, but are LIARS…" They are present all around. Let us not think they are merely 'other' organisations to the one we 'belong' to. Satan is more clever than that. His deceptions are very subtle. He will try to influence the ones who are closest to 'absolute' biblical truth. He comes as an angel of light. He will make white look black and black look white.

The meticulous observances of the Pharisees concerning matters to do with the law of God did not exempt them from Jesus' most scathing condemnation (Matt 23:13-33). We must never forget that. God's thoughts are not our thoughts nor His ways our ways (Is 55:8). What God considers of far more importance than ritualistic observance is the way we treat others.

Those who complacently think they are the Temple of God because of what they believe or understand need to think again. Laodicea is condemned for her arrogant assumptions, thinking she has 'got it made' spiritually, when in fact, she is "wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked" (spiritually).

The prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write the following incisive words:

"Do not trust in deceptive words and say, 'This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord!' If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow…" (Jer 7:4-6).

Worldwide members have traditionally adopted the complacent approach of assuming that they are the Temple of God. However, it is not allegiance to a physical 'body' we wrongly call a 'church' that sets you in God's Temple. It is your spiritual transformation within, by the Spirit of God. Verses 6 to 11 add further condemnations on those who profess to obey God but whose 'works' are merely outward, and not the result of a changed heart.

Any evil thought is contrary to the law of God and the nature of God. God is condemning such spiritual sins of the mind – our approach towards others. "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness" (I Jn 2:9).

I know ministers of the WCG, who claim to be ministers of God, who hate us, resent us, lie about us, and slander us (and not only us, but some other faithful Christians too). We were thrown out of the Worldwide Church of God for wanting to help others, and for doing our Christian duty. The 'minister' literally 'framed' us to get rid of us! That's how deceitful and evil some men 'of the cloth' can be. They claim to be ministers of Christ, but they are ministers of Satan when they behave like that.

That is not the love of God in action. That is the hatred of the devil. The fact that the man recognises that the Sabbath is the correct day of worship is neither here nor there to God. While such evils remain unrepented of in a person's life, his 'worship' is empty ritualism and is vain.

You must discern the spirits!

The devil also knows the truth! But his heart is set against God. Even he has to obey God, when God decrees so! He can do nothing that God does not permit him to.

God wants us to worship Him in spirit and in sincerity (Jn 4:24). The obedience that God is wanting to see in us is not ritualism. There are numerous Jews who do not believe Jesus was the Christ, who observe the Sabbaths. But that does not save them.

The sign of true conversion is the manifestation of God's love (Jn 13:35). Mother Theresa will probably have a greater reward awaiting her in the Kingdom of God than some present ministers in the Worldwide Church of God. Matthew 25:31-46 explains why.

There is much more I could say, but I think I have said enough in answer to this question. I hope it helps to clarify some misunderstandings we have been given over the years by men who have held illicit control over the minds of Christians within the 'church' we have been a physical part of. The spiritual subjugation of members within the WCG, compelling them to 'bow down' to the human authority in the church is as great an evil as was that of Nebuchadnezzar, who insisted that all people everywhere worshipped his image. The image of the Beast is now in certain church organisations of men and also constitutes the Great Whore. God condemns that system in the WCG, or the CGI, GCG or PCG just as much as He does in the Great Universal Church of Rome. Irrespective of its auspices, it is a spirit of Satan.

It is high time to awake and to come out of her! (Rev 18:4.)!

Malcolm B Heap