The GOOD NEWS
LETTER
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A personal letter to all the brethren of The Churches of
God, from your pastor, co-laborer, and fellow-servant in
Christ, Herbert W. Armstrong, Box 111, Eugene.
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Number 3 March 20th, 1944
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DATES OF H O L Y D A Y S , 1944
The LORD'S SUPPER, or PASSOVER will be observed this year
on Thursday night, April 6th, after sundown. April 7th is the
"PREPARATION". This date, sunset April 6th until sunset April
7th, 1944, is Abib 14th, sacred calendar.
The seven DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD begin with a night
service, on Friday night, April 7th--the "night to be much
observed unto the Eternal,"--and lasting thru to sunset Friday
April 14th. All leaven must be out of our homes before sunset
April 7th. The FIRST HOLYDAY falls on the weekly Sabbath, April
8th. The second holyday, an annual Sabbath upon which no work
may be done except preparation of food, and on which we should
hold an all-day meeting at each church, falls on Friday, April
14th (beginning, of course, sunset April 13th.)
PENTECOST falls on May 29th. (From sunset Sunday, May 28th
thru Monday to sunset).
FEAST OF TRUMPETS, 1st day of seventh month (sacred
calendar), September 18th (beginning sunset 17th).
DAY OF ATONEMENT, 10th day seventh month sacred calendar,
Wednesday, September 27th. (Begins sunset 26th).
FEAST OF TABERNACLES, 15th to thru 22nd of seven month
sacred calendar, begins with night meeting after sunset October
1st, lasting until sunset October 9th. The annual Sabbaths are
Monday, October 2nd, and Monday October 9th.
* * * * * * * * *
W H Y SHOULD WE HAVE C H U R C H E S ?
WHY should you brethren who meet at Eugene Church have
this church? And you brethren at Vancouver--up in Everett--or
down in Los Angeles, WHY should you group yourselves together into
a local CHURCH group? Do we have a divine PURPOSE and FUNCTION?
Are we sure we know what it is? Let's search the Scripture and
see.
First, we must fix in mind the truth that this world today
literally is "in BABYLON." Satan is the god of this world (II Cor.
4:4)--he appears as an angel of LIGHT--he has his ministers who
claim to be the ministers of Jesus Christ (II Cor. 11)--he is the
god worshipped by the worldly churches! The whole world is
ORGANIZED today, according to Satan's pattern. It is organized
commercially in a competitive economic system; organized into
man-ruled civil governments of man's devising; organized into
CHURCHES. And this we know--the TRUE church must be different,
and separate!
So to understand exactly what each of our own little local
groups OUGHT to be--our true divine PURPOSE and FUNCTION and
REASON FOR EXISTING--we need to begin at the very beginning.
Let's briefly sketch it thru.
When God created our first parents, He gave them His law--
His way of life. But as men multiplied upon earth, they turned
from God's ways of LOVE--the way of humility, of GIVING, of
serving--to the grasping ways of lust and greed and vanity--their
minds on evil continually.
So God wiped out, thru the flood, the entire human family
save eight souls. This colossal judgment should have taught men
their lesson. But it took Satan only two generations to find a man
of ability and capacity thru whom he could DECEIVE the whole human
family into a society of ORGANIZED competition based on the selfish
principle. Ham, son of Noah, survived the flood. The first son
of Ham was Ethiopia. And "Ethiopia produced Nimrod, the first man
on earth to be a despot. . . His Empire at first was Babylon, Uruk,
Akkad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar; from which he PUSHED OUT
into Assyria, building the great city of Nineveh and its suburbs."
(Gen. 10:8-12, Moffatt Translation).
Beginning of ORGANIZATION--Man Ruling Man
Nimrod was the first man to huddle families together in
CITIES--to ORGANIZE people into the ORGANIZED form of society
whereby one man or a few men assume AUTHORITY over, and regulate
the lives of the others.
IT WAS CONTRARY TO GOD'S WAY FOR MEN TO BE SO ORGANIZED
THAT ONE OR A FEW MEN HAVE AUTHORITY TO RULE OVER THEIR FELLOWS!
It is contrary to the principles of God's Law. But thru Nimrod
Satan started this world off on the ORGANIZED system. This
system began with and is based on the principle of building
CITIES as centers of various organized activities--centers of
civil and other GOVERNMENT; centers for industry, commerce,
business; centers for religious and social activity.
Thus the competitive principle--the selfish, greedy,
self-exalting way of life--the SINNING principle--became
ORGANIZED. At first, as the Scripture shows and ancient
histories record, each CITY was a kingdom in itself. Each city
had a KING. The world was organized into a system of CITY-
STATES. Each city had its army. The selfish, getting, sinning
principle was now organized for carrying out the principle of
competition in ARMED AGGRESSION. One king, lusting for more
power and wealth, sent his army invading a rival city-state. If
he conquered it, he now ruled TWO city-states. Soon he rules
over three--then more. Soon some of these despots were ruling
over NATIONS composed of several cities and the rural population
in between. Thus NATIONS came into being. Life inside each
nation became more and more highly ORGANIZED. Yes, SATAN is the
GREATEST ORGANIZER IN THE WORLD--and he had the world believing
in the principle of human-devised and man-ruled organization,--
even in the CHURCHES!
We come down to the time of ABRAHAM. Abram was living in
Babylon--in Ur of the Chaldees. He was born and raised in such a
society--even as you and I today. In the 12th chapter of Genesis
we read how God called Abram out of this life and environment, to
a life of SEPARATION in a land God would show him. He was led to
the promised land--PALESTINE. God made a COVENANT with him, which
after ABRAHAM'S test, was UNCONDITIONAL.
Some four hundred years later we find, recorded in the
early chapters of Exodus, God carrying out the first phase of His
promise to Abraham. The promised Birthright was handed down to
Isaac, to Jacob whose name was changed to ISRAEL, and to Ephraim-
Manasseh, sons of JOSEPH. The descendants of Abraham, thru the
twelve sons of Israel, had grown into a multitude of 600,000
men--probably two to six million people, counting women and
children. They were slaves in the land of Egypt. So God
prepared MOSES in a special way to lead these Israelites out of
the physical slavery and bondage of HIGHLY-ORGANIZED EGYPT--back
to the promised land.
And when they came, in their journey, to Mt. Sinai, God
made a proposition to these Israelites thru Moses. Here was the
whole world ORGANIZED UNDER Satan's competitive system started by
Nimrod--a pagan Babylonish civilization. In such a world no
nation could survive without organization. God now Himself
proposed to organize HIS people, Israel, according to a divine
plan of organization--different from the worldly system. The
people accepted God's proposition.
So God made a solemn COVENANT with these Israelites. It
was a MARRIAGE CONTRACT. It TIED these Israelites to God in a
husband-and-wife relationship. It bound them to Him as HIS
PECULIAR PEOPLE. Under this marriage Covenant the twelve tribes
were ORGANIZED--not after man's pattern--not a despotism,
dictatorship, autocracy, or monarchy--or yet even "democracy"--
but a THEOCRACY!
GOD'S GOVERNMENT--Under OLD Covenant
Under this MARRIAGE covenant, Israel was made utterly
DEPENDENT upon God--utterly obedient to Him, in a husband-and-
wife relationship. Under this OLD Covenant, the Israelites were
organized as a DUAL government--both STATE, and CHURCH. As a
STATE, or civil government, they were called "The KINGDOM of
Israel," or "The HOUSE of Israel." But as a Church they were
called "The CONGREGATION of Israel."
Their civil government was THEOCRACY. There was no human
king--no man to usurp authority to rule over his fellows! GOD
was their king. No man was to issue orders, decrees, directives,
regulations, or laws--nor were they to have any law-making body
of men. Their laws came direct from God--and all were based upon
and in harmony with the great basic SPIRITUAL law of LOVE--the
Ten Commandments--the principle of GIVING, and of humility and
dependence upon God.
The civil laws were administered by JUDGES. The church
ceremonies, sacrifices, and rituals, were administered by the
PRIESTS--the Levites. It was, incidentally, a FLESH-born
church, not a Spirit-born church. Every man, woman, and child in
the nation was a member of the one church. Membership came by
BIRTH. There was no promise of receiving the Holy Spirit, or of
salvation or eternal life. Only the prophets and leaders had
God's Spirit.
MISSION of OLD Testament Church
Now we come to an important point.
The MISSION--the PURPOSE and FUNCTION of the OLD
Testament Church was not evangelistic. When God first called
them out of Egypt to be His Church, He did not say to them: "Go
ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to all nations."
Neither did He give them this commission at Mt. Sinai--or at any
other time or place, during the Old-Covenant Church!
Rather, they were to have absolutely NOTHING to do with
Gentiles whatever! They came to consider Gentiles as dogs and
mongrels--as unclean. They would not so much as eat with a
Gentile. When God sent Peter to preach the first NEW-Testament
sermon to Gentiles, under the NEW Covenant, you remember Peter
felt he should not carry the Gospel to Gentiles, and God had to
give him the vision of the sheet filled with unclean animals
before he would go. Upon return, Peter was called to task by his
brother-apostles, until he explained how God had shown him the
Gospel now was to be carried to ALL nations. (See Acts 10 and 11).
What, then, was the function of the OLD Testament Church?
It was concerned with a constant round of RITUAL--sacrifices,
meat and drink offerings, carnal (physical) ordinances, washings,
etc., of the Law of Moses. Consider, then, how DIFFERENT was the
Church of that day from the true NEW Testament church!
Every citizen, remember, was a member of that one CHURCH,
the Congregation of Israel. If we had that kind of condition
today, every family in Cottage Grove would belong to the ONE
CHURCH. In Eugene, in Portland, in Vancouver, in Everett, it
would be the same. Just ONE CHURCH, and every man, woman, and
child in the city would be a member. There was not just ONE
minister in each town or city--or one for several. There were
scores, or hundreds of priests for each city the size of some of
ours. About every twelfth man (one whole TRIBE of the twelve
tribes) was a priest!
And now what was the FUNCTION of those MINISTERS? It was
to minister, solely, to the LOCAL congregation--to officiate at
all these continual ordinances, sacrifices, rituals, washings,
and services. The priests of the OLD Testament Church had no
duty but to minister to the LOCAL congregations! We shall see
how DIFFERENT is God's commission today!
But, remember, that church was made up of carnal-minded,
UN-converted people who had not been "baptized into the one Body
BY THE SPIRIT." And so it was that these people soon departed
from God's rules and ways. They profaned and departed from His
Sabbath--His SIGN by which there were to KNOW that He alone--the
CREATOR-- is GOD. This led to idolatry. Soon they were
grumbling and complaining of God's ways, demanding that a man be
exalted to become KING and have authority over them, like the
pagan nations around them. Thus they REJECTED God as their king!
More and more they wanted to live like the other nations
--the ways of pleasing SELF-- of PLEASURE--of greed and GETTING
--of organized COMPETITION--of exalting self, and humans. Thus
they departed from God's ways, and drew deeper and deeper into the
ways of SIN.
And thus they BROKE their marriage-Covenant with God,
which had set them up as His organized CHURCH and STATE. So God
DIVORCED Israel (Jeremiah 3:8). He CUT OFF the church ORGANIZATION
--CUT OFF the government--took away from Israel the divine right
to GOVERN!
Right of GOVERNMENT Given over to GENTILES
Get this point! Listen!! "If ye will not hearken unto
me, and will not do all these commandments .... they that hate
you shall reign over you," God warned them (Lev. 26:14-17). And
this punishment was to last for "SEVEN TIMES"--twenty-five hundred
and twenty years!
First, the House of Israel (Ten Tribes) sinned and was
driven into captivity. They then dwelt many days without a king.
God took away from them the right and privilege of continuing
under His GOVERNMENT--both Church and state. Next, Judah sinned
even worse, and Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was sent down by the
Eternal to capture Judah.
And to King Nebuchadnezzar--the first of the GENTILE
kings, starting the "TIMES OF THE GENTILES"--Daniel was inspired
of God to say: "The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, and
power, and strength, and glory." (Dan. 2:37). It was a WORLD
ruling kingdom (verse 38). It was the first of FOUR such WORLD-
RULING Gentile Empires to last for the 2520 years of the "TIMES
OF THE GENTILES."
What does this mean? It means that so far as government
in His CHURCH is concerned--or any form of DIVINE government--
GOD TOOK AWAY ALL DIVINE GOVERNMENT FROM ISRAEL and turned the
right to govern (the human, competitive, Nimrod way) over to the
GENTILES for the duration of the TIMES OF THE GENTILES! And that
period is not yet over!
And since, all government on earth has been on the PAGAN
principle--man-ruled, competitive! ALL GOVERNMENT ON EARTH DURING
THIS 2520 YEAR PERIOD IS CONTRARY TO GOD'S FORM OF GOVERNMENT! It
is not God's will. It is contrary to His Plan, His laws. All
forms of GOVERNMENT today, whether civil or religious, are PAGAN in
form--based on the NIMROD principle! They are WORLDLY! And they
are WRONG! We are, of course, as Christians, to submit to such
civil government as may have jurisdiction over us--to pray for our
presidents, kings, or rulers--but WE ARE NOT TO BE OF THEM.
The True NEW-Testament CHURCH
Get this! It seems almost none have seen it, but it was
the MARRIAGE covenant made at Sinai which ESTABLISHED Israel as a
GOVERNMENT. When the covenant was annulled--the DIVORCE given
Israel, --the right of GOVERNMENT, so far as God's type government
is concerned, was taken from Israel. The privilege of government
is given over to the GENTILES because God always PERMITS human
beings to break His laws, and to live or organize contrary to them
--but as men sow, so do they reap!
In due time, God sent His Son, Christ the Messiah, as the
MESSENGER OF THE (New) COVENANT (Mal. 3:1). And so Jesus came
into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the KINGDOM (government) of
GOD (Mark 1:14)--the GOOD NEWS of a KINGDOM, or GOVERNMENT to be
set up only when Jesus shall come again as KING of kings (world
ruler) and LORD of lords (world high-priest).
By the time He came, the Jews had gotten themselves
organized into a number of SECTS, or denominations. There were
the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Samaritans, etc.
JESUS JOINED NONE OF THEM--rather He called His followers OUT of
all organized denominations!
And JESUS NEVER ORGANIZED A CHURCH--He never ONCE gave
His disciples any form of Church GOVERNMENT--He never once gave
any man AUTHORITY OVER His Church, or power to rule!
"Ye know," Jesus said, speaking of the GENTILE-type
government as started by Nimrod, "that they which are accounted to
RULE OVER the GENTILES exercise lordship over them; and their great
ones exercise AUTHORITY upon them. BUT SO SHALL IT N O T BE
AMONG YOU." (Mark 10:42-43).
It is true Jesus gave His apostles AUTHORITY--but over
what? Listen! "Then called He His twelve disciples together, and
gave them power AND AUTHORITY" .... over WHAT? over MEN? No,
NEVER, but ... "over all devils, and to cure diseases." (Luke 9:1).
Why is it that those men posing as the "ministers of Jesus Christ"
today never ATTEMPT to exercise this divinely-given AUTHORITY over
demons, and over sickness and disease, but trust in the pagan
science of MEDICINE which originated in EGYPT--and yet they assume
authority over MEN in what they call Christ's CHURCH, which
authority Christ never gave! Isn't this twisting and wresting the
Scripture--turning it upside down!
It is said that PETER was the "big boss"--that Christ
gave him AUTHORITY to rule the Church. I will gladly pay $25 for
one text showing the delegation of this authority! Rather, when
the disciples at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the
Gospel from Philip's evangelism, Peter did not order the two men to
go to Samaria to lay hands on the new converts for receiving the
Holy Spirit. No, rather the other disciples--as a whole--SENT
Peter and John on this mission. Peter did not do the sending--HE
WAS SENT. Not by any man, by ALL the disciples!
Of course, we do find local church organization in that
limited degree necessary to preserve decency and ORDER in the
conduct of church services. There were elders and deacons in each
local church.
How Elders and Deacons are Selected
But, even here, THERE IS NO POLITICS--none of the usual
WORLDLY methods in selecting local elders and deacons!
The NEW Testament procedure--if we wish to follow it--
does not provide for these officers being ELECTED by local
congregations; neither does it provide for their appointment by
some "big boss" in general authority over ALL the churches, or
over a large district. This all would lead, as it does in the
practice of worldly denominations, to PLAYING POLITICS--to
showing respect to persons, to the competitive spirit, even to
various forms of bribery, graft, personal favoritism.
Rather, the DIVINE pattern, as found in the NEW TESTAMENT,
is that those EVANGELISTS, called of God, USED of Him in converting
enough souls to raise up local churches, are to APPOINT, and ORDAIN
the elders and deacons in the local churches raised up and
organized by them.
For example, Paul and Barnabas, "returned again to Lystra
and to Iconicum, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the
disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith ... and when
they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with
fasting, they commended them to the Lord." (Acts 14:21-23). The
local congregations did not elect them. Paul and Barnabas were not
executives ruling a church government IN AUTHORITY. They were
simply humble evangelists, used of God, the fruits of whose labors
PROVED God was working thru them.
Paul gave this same instruction to the evangelists he was
sending out. To Titus, here was the divinely-inspired instruction:
"For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in
order (this does not say ORGANIZE on the worldly GOVERNMENT plan)
the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I
had appointed thee." Then follows the divine qualifications for an
elder.
How are we to know, then, today, who is thus qualified
and led of God to ordain the elders and deacons in the local
churches? Not by any authority vested by MEN--but by the call
of GOD. "BY THEIR FRUITS ye shall know them." If, for instance,
an evangelist comes to our Pacific Northwest claiming exalted
titles in a man-made political organization, and the only FRUITS
he leaves as a result of his labors are dissentions and divisions
and bitterness sewn among brethren, with no souls converted, WE
KNOW, by his fruits, that man was never called of God. But if a
man's efforts have resulted in many conversions--many being led
deeper into the TRUTH who never saw it before--whole churches
raised up, not by the competitive method of proselyting and taking
members away from others, but by converting people from the world
--the sick healed, the gospel preached to thousands--then this is
fruit that NO MAN can produce EXCEPT GOD BE THE REAL POWER IN HIS
LABORS!
In the Churches of God, we have always followed this New
Testament divine pattern. This is one of our BELIEFS that makes
us DIFFERENT.
The MISSION of the NEW TESTAMENT Church
Now we come to the real question--WHY should you brethren
who meet at Eugene--at Cottage Grove--at Jefferson--at Oregon
City--at Portland, Vancouver, Everett, or Los Angeles--group
yourselves together, assemble together every Sabbath as a local
CHURCH group? What is our divine PURPOSE and MISSION? Do we have
one?
I wish to divide this question into two phases:
1) What is the God-given function and mission of the
MINISTER?
2) What is the divine PURPOSE and mission of the
CONGREGATION?
Isn't it just HUMAN that here and there one of our number
might get to looking at the way OTHER churches are conducted, and
begin to think we ought to be more like them? It sometimes seems
hard to remember those other churches are WORLDLY--in BABYLON--
organized and conducted according to the NIMROD principle of
organization. We are DIFFERENT. We seek a BIBLE REASON for all
we do! Isn't that one thing that makes us proud to belong to the
Churches of God?
So, first, the mission, the function, of the MINISTRY.
In the denominational churches about us, each church has
its own local pastor. His function is to MINISTER TO the local
congregation. He devotes his entire time to serving, ministering
to, the local MEMBERS. Thru the week he devotes his time to
visiting the members in their homes, or in various social
activities of the church.
You see, whether they realize it or not, everything in
these churches is on the GETTING BASIS. The only united activity,
aside from social and religious activity among themselves, is an
effort to GET more members, or take them away from other churches.
The members attend only for what they are GETTING out of it.
Perhaps they are like one of our brethren, when he was
first converted. Whenever I was in his city preaching he would
always try to attend, but when I was not there he seldom came.
Then one Sabbath I asked him about it and he replied, "Well, I
don't seem to GET much out of it except when you are there, so I
don't come." But when I explained the Christian is to be on the
GIVING side, not the GETTING, and applied this principle to church-
attendance, he instantly saw the point and began attending
regularly with the thought in mind of how much he could CONTRIBUTE
to the others, rather than what he could GET from them--and his
spiritual progress was much more rapid from that time.
But in our churches--the Churches of GOD--GOD'S
churches, what is the function we want our pastors to perform?
What should be the true divine CALLING and COMMISSION of the
MINISTER? To visit our members in their homes, to minister to US,
to serve US? Do we, the lay members pay our tithes and give our
offerings IN PAYMENT FOR SERVICES RENDERED to US? Are we only
paying for what we GET?
Let's see the commission of Jesus. Remember, under the
OLD Covenant, the ministers DID devote their entire time
ministering to local members. Is that changed in the NEW Covenant
dispensation?
Let us note, first DURING Jesus' earthly ministry, when
His disciples acted as His assistants; and then, secondly, His
commission after the close of His ministry, when He was departing
to heaven.
But first of all, JESUS' OWN EXAMPLE--for He was the
EXAMPLE for ministers to follow, as well as the EXAMPLE of private
Christian living. According to Acts 10:34-38 Jesus' ministry did
not begin until after "the baptism which John preached." He was a
Messenger, sent from God with a MESSAGE--the Messenger of the
(NEW) Covenant, who proclaimed the New Testament GOSPEL. Mark
says: "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into
Galilee, preaching the GOSPEL (Good News) of the KINGDOM
(government) of GOD." (Mark 1:14). In preaching the Gospel, Jesus
called disciples to BELIEVE the Gospel, follow Him, be converted.
But did He--the example for YOUR pastor to follow today--devote
all His time to them, visiting them in their homes, serving them,
ministering to them? No, by far the greatest portion of His time
and effort was spent in carrying the Gospel on to OTHERS.
After Jesus had selected, called, and instructed His
disciples, He did not remain with them, devoting His time to them
alone--tho He continued thru His ministry to minister to them
and teach them. "And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end
of commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach
and preach in their cities. Now when John heard in the prison
the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto
Him, 'Art thou He who should come, or do we look for another?'"
(Mat. 11:1-3). How was John to KNOW whether Jesus was sent of
GOD--whether He had authority to do what things such ministers
of God are authorized to do? Jesus did not send back any
credentials signed by men. He did not tell John's disciples He
had been elected, or appointed, by vote of the congregation or
some denomination. He pointed directly to the FRUITS of His
labors--fruits which could be performed ONLY by one in and thru
whom GOD was working. Thus He pointed to GOD'S selection, not
man's. That is the sole standard by which we should determine,
today, who is called of God to raise up churches, ordain elders
and deacons, etc. But, "Jesus went about all the cities and
villages ... PREACHING the Gospel of the Kingdom." Jesus was,
first of all, an EVANGELIST.
How about those He called to His ministry? DURING His
ministry they acted as His assistant-evangelists: "These twelve
Jesus SENT FORTH, and commanded them, saying ... As ye go, PREACH,
saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Mat. 10:5,7). Seventy
other disciples were sent as advance emissaries into every city and
place He was to come later. After His resurrection, just before
ascending to heaven, Jesus' final COMMISSION to His ministers was:
"GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL." True, Jesus had
said to Peter, "Feed my sheep." The minister is to preach to,
minister to the FLOCK--the BRETHREN in our local churches. That
is PART of the divine commission, given to the SAME ministers who
are commissioned "GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL."
But the evangelistic mission of CARRYING THE GOSPEL is FIRST, and
was always stressed MOST by our Saviour! Peter and all the
apostles did the same. Paul charged the elders "FEED THE FLOCK,"
meaning the local congregations. This is most important. But it
is SECONDARY to the FIRST mission of SPREADING THE TRUE GOSPEL--
especially in these LAST DAYS when Jesus said the GOSPEL OF THE
KINGDOM must now be preached and published over the world, BEFORE
THE END OF THE AGE.
Now the divine PURPOSE of the CONGREGATION. The
individual Christian is called to a CALLING. He is to become, in
the Kingdom a king (civil ruler) or priest (spiritual teacher).
There is a DUAL purpose in the Christian life. One is to prepare,
train, and fit him to assume the responsibilities to be given him
then. But ALSO he is to have HIS PART in PRESENT EVANGELISM--
before the end of this age! Notice just two converts: One, whom
Jesus called, wanted to first go and bury his dead father. "Let
the dead bury the dead," answered Jesus, "but go thou and preach
the KINGDOM OF GOD. And another also said, Lord I will follow
thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at my house.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough,
and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." These were just
converts--not ministers. The FIRST duty, function, purpose, and
commission of the CHURCH is to PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE! Each of you
brethren has put his hand to the plough. You have YOUR part in it.
LET US NOT TURN BACK!
How thankful we are that we have this light--that God has
revealed to us His divine purpose--that our churches are not
social clubs--our purpose not to GET but to GIVE--we do not have
churches just to ENJOY ourselves and be ministered to, but to
MINISTER. And out of our LITTLE FLOCK--our few little church
groups, has grown a work of evangelism that is SHOUTING THE
MESSAGE all over the North-American continent--a truly great
work for so small a membership! Each of us has his part--in
PRAYER, in tithes and offerings, in encouraging and upholding the
pastor--and I know each is thankful for the privilege! The
minister cannot carry the load of evangelism alone--ALL our
hands are to the plow!