Dear Brethren Letter 06/05/05 : Raymond F. McNair : Church of God-21st Century

Brethren, since the death of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong in January 1986, scores of thousands of brethren have departed from the Truth, and many have gone totally back into this evil world! What a tragedy! How awfully sad that Satan has been able to deceive some into giving up, turning their back on God’s Truth, returning to this world’s system, thereby allowing him to lure them into accepting a false gospel and an ungodly way of life (2 Cor. 11:2-15)!

Will some of you brethren also follow in their footsteps, or will you heed the important message contained in this letter, and remain faithful to God and His Word until you receive your glorious CROWN OF IMMORTALITY (2 Tim. 4:8; I Pet. 5:4)?

My wife and I extend a very warm greeting to each and every one of you. We hope all of you will have an inspiring and wonderful Feast of Pentecost as you rejoice in praise and thanksgiving before our heavenly Father and His dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. As we observe this Festival, by listening to sermons or where possible, by fellow-shipping with members of the Body of Jesus Christ, let us keep uppermost in our minds the true meaning of this Feast. At this season it is particularly important for us to reflect on the significance of God reaching down and hand-picking each of us to be among the precious few “first-fruits” who are, at this critical time, being called into God’s Family.

How blessed we are to have received the “firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:23), thereby putting us into God’s Universe-ruling Family, by making us a kind of “firstfruits of His creatures” (Jas. 1:18)! Hopefully, all of us will continue to “grow in grace and knowledge” so that we will be among the true overcomers, and as a result will be among the comparatively few “firstfruits unto GOD and to the LAMB” (Rev. 14:4).

If we “endure unto the end” (Matt. 24:13), what will be our ultimate reward which our heavenly Father will grant each of us? God has made the following unbreakable promises to His people: “He who overcomes shall INHERIT ALL THINGS, and I will be HIS GOD and he shall be MY SON [or daughter]” (Rev. 21:7). We, like the Apostle Paul, live in the confident “hope of ETERNAL LIFE which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began” (Titus 1:2).

Make Your Salvation Sure! Notice the Apostle Paul’s admonition to the Hebrews: “Therefore we must give more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away…how shall we escape if we NEGLECT so great a salvation…” (Heb. 2:1-2). He then warns Christians that it is “impossible for those who were once enlightened …and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted of the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance…” (6: 4-6). Paul reveals that “if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment…which will devour the adversaries” (Heb. 10: 26-27).

Paul then says: “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise…. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (vv. -35-36, 39). He then concludes by saying, “Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (12:14-15).

The Apostle Paul then concludes his admonitions on a positive note by showing the final destination and reward of those who patiently endure to the end! He says that we will eventually “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN who are registered in heaven, to GOD the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the NEW COVENANT…” (vv. 22-23). What a wonderful reward awaits all who overcome Satan, his evil society, and self, which is so difficult to bring into subjection to God and His Word (Rom. 7:14-25)!

Brethren, let us not take our salvation for granted! We cannot float into the Kingdom of God! Let us not carelessly assume that we “have it made,” and think that we, like a dead fish, can float effortlessly downstream, along with dead fishes and useless flotsam and jetsam. We must bear in mind that any “old dead fish” can float downstream, but it takes a lively fish to swim upstream against the current!

We must diligently strive to enter the Kingdom of God! Seemingly, all-too-many brethren have forgotten Christ’s solemn warning. “Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And he said to them, ‘STRIVE [really struggle] to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able’” (Luke 13:24). In His oft-quoted Sermon on the Mount, Jesus further explained what He meant: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to DESTRUCTION, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to LIFE, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:13-14).

Do we really take Christ’s admonitions seriously? Are we deeply aware that we should never take our “salvation” for granted? Is it possible to “lose out” because of forgetfulness, or because of careless inattention to the Word of God? Or, do some of us foolishly believe we can “let down,” and that we have nothing to worry about? Do some even believe the false teaching of “once saved, always saved”—by which they mean that once we repent, are baptized, and receive God’s Holy Spirit, then from that time forward we are assured of receiving immortality as God’s free gift, even though we disobey God’s law, and even though we let down and become careless in doing the will of God?

A Very Tragic Story: During the last few decades since the death of God’s faithful apostle, Herbert W. Armstrong, many of God’s people have been deeply saddened to see thousands of friends, family, and brethren turn aside from the wonderful Truth of God. Sadly, they have chosen to go back into “this present WORLD” (Gal. 1:4), which is under the sway of the “god of this world,” Satan the Devil” (2 Cor. 4:4)!

Consider this: At the time of Mr. Armstrong’s death in 1986, there were about 150,000 brethren in the WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD keeping the weekly and annual Sabbaths, as commanded by Almighty God (Lev. 23)! Today, it is doubtful if as many as 30,000 brethren keep God’s Sabbaths in all of the many “CHURCHES OF GOD” around the world! Many of those who have rejected God’s law (including His commanded Sabbaths) now think they have been “liberated,” into the “glorious liberty of Christ,” which by their convoluted process of reasoning means that they can ignore or brazenly disobey God’s law—including both the weekly and annual Sabbaths!

Many of the ministers—who formerly taught obedience to the law of God and seemed to highly regard Mr. Armstrong, and followed his lead in honoring God by keeping His laws, including all Ten Commandments—now express contempt for the man whom they once praised so highly! They now refer to Mr. Armstrong as a “false prophet,” or a “deceiver,” and think their new-found “Protestant-based” religion is wonderful, since it frees them from having to obey the Ten Commandments and other laws and statutes of God! Unless they repent, they will have no future in God’s Kingdom!

Like Martin Luther, they endorse the view that we are “saved by GRACE alone”! Although we are saved by God’s grace, nonetheless, God’s Word does not say we are saved by “grace alone.” Instead, the Bible clearly states, “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that FAITH without WORKS is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by WORKS when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that FAITH was working together with his WORKS, and by WORKS faith is made perfect?... You see then that a man is justified by WORKS, not by FAITH ONLY” (Jas. 2:20-24). Luther looked upon the book of James as an “epistle of straw”!

It is clear that today many turn the GRACE of God into LICENSE to sin! This very sad state of affairs was predicted by Jude, who says: “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain [godless] men have crept in unnoticed…ungodly men, who turn the GRACE of our God into LICENTIOUSNESS [liberty to sin] and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 3-4).

An Utterly Corrupt World. Brethren, do you truly realize how utterly corrupt and godless the world we live in has become? Do you see the evils around you, on the news, on the street, in families, on TV, in politics, education, etc.? Is it possible to ever turn on the nightly news without hearing of a number of brutal murders, loathsome rapes, muggings, robberies, and other types of violent crimes which are incessantly being committed in our land today? Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ predicted that hatred and violence would fill the earth at the end of this age (Matt. 24). He said, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the [Second] Coming of the Son of man be” (v. 37)!

What was the world like in the days immediately preceding the Great Flood, when God decided He had to wipe out all mankind in order to put an end to the suffering that man had brought upon himself? “And the LORD saw that the WICKEDNESS of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continu-ally. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in his heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast…for I am sorry that I have made them”’ (Gen. 6:5-7).

God says, “The earth also was CORRUPT before God, and the earth was filled with VIOLENCE…for all flesh had corrupted His way” (vv. 11-12). However, God then

said He would save one righteous man, called Noah, and his family, and would re-populate the earth through them (Gen. 6:8-22).

So, what did Christ mean when He said the world at the end of this age would be as in the days of Noah before the Flood? He clearly meant that the earth would be “filled with VIOLENCE” and that the “earth also [would be very] CORRUPT”!

The Prophet Ezekiel also foretold our sad plight when he said, “Make a chain, for the land is filled with crimes of blood, and the city is full of violence. Therefore I will bring the worst of the heathen….” God will use them to punish our crime-ridden nation (Ezek. 7:23-26). Yesterday, a program on TV reported that one murderer, a serial killer, had been convicted of committing an estimated 250 cold-blooded murders! How mind boggling! We often hear of serial killers committing a string of murders before being apprehended. It was recently reported that a little seven-year-old boy kicked and beat to death his “baby sister.” Furthermore, we hear of parents murdering their children and of children killing their own parents. Brothers and sisters often murder their own siblings, and husbands and wives are often convicted of murdering their mates.

God’s View of This “World”! Every day, many of God’s people witness the world becoming more CORRUPT and more VIOLENT by the hour. In fact, I have heard some brethren, who were sickened by the ever-increasing proliferation of corruption and violence, exclaim: “STOP THE WORLD! I WANT TO GET OFF!” And I must confess that I have felt this way many times—each time I hear of another incidence of mass murder, rape, etc. In fact, I don’t think I ever hear of a single reading of the news, when there are not a number of crimes being reported. How should we feel, when we hear of another gruesome murder, another sickening rape, another report of some “white collar” crook getting away with stealing millions of dollars from pension funds, or committing other types of “corporate” thievery thereby depriving millions of hardworking people of their savings, future pensions, etc.?

Does it truly grieve you to see this ever-increasing CORRUPTION, VIOLENCE, GREED, etc.? It should! So many of our cities and towns are “full of bloody crimes.” Notice what God inspired the Prophet Ezekiel to mention in regard to the way God’s people should view widespread commission of crimes against man and God. “Go through the midst of the city…Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it…. Go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the MARK” (Ezek. 9:4-6).

God Almighty says, “For I am the LORD, I do not change” (Mal. 3:6). We can be very thankful that God is a gracious, loving and utterly faithful Creator-Ruler—Who will always be consistent (Exod. 34:6-7). He is never fickle, nor does He change, according to the stupid whims of foolish humans: “For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Mal. 3:6). If God set a mark upon certain ones in the city of Jerusalem, and spared them from a terrible calamity which came upon that city, will not this Great God do the same for you and me, if we “sigh and cry” because of all the abominations that we see proliferating in the city or town in which we live?

However, we realize that God will sometimes cause His people to move out of a wicked city that is about to be destroyed, just as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Abraham and his nephew Lot. Notice what the Apostle Peter tells us, that if God “did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people…bringing in the FLOOD on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed [vexed] by the filthy conduct of the wicked…then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment…” (2 Pet. 2:5-9).

We Should Not Love this World! Some brethren in this “evil world” have not yet come to truly “hate the world,” because of its evil ways. Can we not see that this world is very corrupt, violent and evil? If we really know God’s Word, we will see that virtually everything in this world is against God and His way. This world’s systems of govern-ment, its religions, educational systems, social customs, economic systems and nearly every other facet of this world’s civilization runs counter to God and His word.

Notice what the Apostle John tells us about the “world”: “Do not love the WORLD [Gk. kosmos, civilization, society] or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the FLESH, the lust of the EYES, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17). John also says, “For whosoever is born [gennao, “begotten”] of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4). John then adds, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the WICKED ONE [Satan]” (v. 19).

This same apostle also tells us that” the Devil and Satan…deceives the whole world [Gk. oikoumene, “inhabited earth”]” (Rev. 12:9). That means that Satan deceives all of the people—the inhabitants— of the entire earth! The Devil is called “the PRINCE of the power of the air, the SPIRIT who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. :2:2). “MY KINGDOM is not of this world [Gk. aion, “age”]”—said Christ (John 18:36).

Satan is the real architect of this world’s civilization (kosmos), and the Devil is also the “god of this world [Gk. aion].” “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…should shine on them” (2 Cor. 4:4). In fact, during Satan’s temptation of Jesus, the Devil “showed Him all the kingdoms of the world [Gk. oikoumene, “inhabited earth”]…. Then the DEVIL…said to Him, ‘All this I will give You…if You will worship before me, all will be Yours” (Luke 4:5-7). Jesus emphatically rejected his diabolical offer!

Are you an “an enemy of God”? The Apostle James says this of those who love this “present evil world”: “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world [kosmos] is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (Jas. 4:4). The Apostle Paul tells us, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Cor. 2:12). This “spirit of the world” is the attitude or spirit of Satan that has been infused into the world ever since Adam and Eve allowed Satan’s attitude to take hold on their minds. All of God’s people continually have to wrestle against this evil “spirit” or “attitude” if we are to truly overcome! Christians are not to “love this evil world,” then how is it that GOD “loves” the “world”? “For God so loved the world [Gk. kosmos] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but, that the world might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

What does this all mean? Clearly, in this case it means that “God so loved the [people of the] world….” When we put all of these scriptures together, rightly dividing the Word of God, we see that we are not to love this world’s evil society or civilization, but we are to love the people who are in this world, whom Christ came to redeem!

Brethren, we have been greatly blessed to know God’s Truth. We have been called out of this world to receive Christ and His Kingdom. We are now coming down the “homestretch” and soon will be facing Jesus Christ, our Judge (Rom. 14:10). Will you and I be there with our brothers and sisters? Or will some of us give up, become easily offended, leave God’s Church—the body of Christ—and go back into to filth and wicked ways of this world? Remember, judgment is now on the “house of God” (1Peter 4:17)!

May God grant us the faith, love, grace, and the POWER through His Spirit to come totally out of this evil world, and submit to God now in this age, so that we may learn how to wisely govern the world under Christ in the “world to come” (Mark 10:30).

The CHURCH OF GOD-21st Century, will observe its annual eight-day Feast of Tabernacles in Hot Springs, Arkansas. This joyous Festival of God will be celebrated in October (Oct. 18-25). Hot Springs has been chosen because it is centrally located.

The Velda Rose Resort Hotel and Spa is a newly remodeled 10-storied resort hotel. This pleasant Feast site will provide spiritual rejuvenation and relaxation as well as many interesting and enjoyable activities for everyone.

ADVANCE HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS. Accommodations are available at reasonable prices. The special rates per night are as follows: Standard room, $55.00 plus tax, Deluxe room, $75.00 plus tax. You can make your reservations by calling: 1-888-642-3311. Please be sure to mention that you will be attending the annual Conference of the Church of God-21st Century, and give the dates you plan to be there.

The Velda Rose Resort Hotel and Spa is conveniently situated near restaurants, antique and gift shops, art galleries, performing arts theatres—and has a large lake nearby. Many fun-filled activities are available for children of all ages, such as an in-door mini golf course, Speedway Go-Kart track, wildlife sanctuaries, wax museum, national parks, petting zoos, alligator farms—and much more!

We wish to take this opportunity to announce that those who wish to observe this important, commanded Festival of God with us (even if you are not members of the Church of God-21st Century) will be warmly welcomed!

A dinner cruise, singles’ activity, seniors’ luncheon, and, hopefully, a dinner dance are being planned. Our scheduled daily meetings and assortment of activities are designed to insure that those of you attending this joyous Feast of Tabenacles with us in Hot Springs will have “The Very Best Feast Ever”!