The Final Truths

Ron Weinland

September 17, 2011

Last Sabbath we completed the sermon series entitled, ‘Truths Following Repentance’, and today we’re going to complete the truths that God revealed to His Church during the era of Laodicea in this sermon entitled The Final Truths.  These are the last truths that God would reveal to His Church during the period of Laodicea, however there would be seven more powerful truths given after these that we’re going to discuss here that were revealed in a unique period of time, a time after Laodicea.  And I hope everyone understands what we’re talking about when we speak of the seven eras of the Church and the last period (Laodicea) ending at a specific time.  It ended and we entered into a unique period of the final 1335 days spoken of in the book of Daniel which is not an era of the Church.  We’re in a unique period of time because of the final sealing that took place of the 144,000 on the Feast of Trumpets in 2008 – and that’s what the 1335 days signifies and the end of Laodicea signifies.  God had completed His work over 6,000 years of moulding and fashioning those who would be in that resurrection when Jesus Christ returns.

Continuing on today, this is number 43 in totality of the truths, 22 during Laodicea:

43 (22) The remnant God is awakening will consist of 10% of a third of those in the Worldwide Church of God, before the apostasy began.

So again, that takes everyone up to a period of time of December 1994, once the apostasy began at that particular time.  And so again here....

The remnant God is awakening will consist of 10% of a third of those in the Worldwide Church of God, before the apostasy began. The prophecy in Ezekiel 5 tells of both the scattering of physical Israel (in the coming few years) and spiritual Israel (which has already occurred). This and other prophecies also speak of a tithe (ten percent) of a third of both physical and spiritual Israel that will survive as a remnant. The past several years have been a time of tribulation on the Church, but it is nearly over...

And the reason for stating that is because the scattered Church did not comprehend that so much about the tribulation was about the Church. The first 4 Seals of Revelation and the things mentioned in Matthew 24 were very much about tribulation but we’d always thought it to be something on the world that would happen immediately and not something within the Church – but it was about the Church.

The past several years have been a time of tribulation on the Church, but it is nearly over and the physical tribulation is about to begin. Over the past many years, the spiritual remnant of the Church has only been the size of a tithe of the tithe.

Kind of interesting.  I was thinking about this as I was going through this again.  Scripture talks about a tithe of the tithe which is ten percent of that ten percent (a tithe meaning 10 percent); and at a particular period in time in the Old Testament, that was something that was given to the High Priest. Later on, in the times of the Church, that was used more in the line with Feast, Feast expenses and things of that nature.  That’s where Mr. Armstrong chose to have the majority of that being used, for Feast sites and things of that nature, and expenses of the ministry there and so forth.

As I was thinking about this, and thinking about its original usage, a tithe of the tithe, and it being given to the High Priest...I thought, “What an awesome thing!  Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, and He has had that amount to work with, in essence, at the end-time here of something that’s going to take place to begin to work with in a very powerful way, to continue with the Church, a remnant that would be there toward this end-time.”  Some things are very moving, very inspiring to see how God works, to see how God continues on with the things that He does.  It’s amazing, for years and years and years that’s all that was in the group as a whole. It was about that percentage for many years until about 2008 when many more were being... God began to draw many more into the Church, but before that there was basically a tithe of the tithe of the scattering, of the final third.

Let’s turn over there to Ezekiel 5 because, again, a little history included in some of these things of which we’re always to remember, the things that God wants us to learn lessons from, the things that should be very moving to us, to see how things have come to pass, some things that were written so long ago.  And there are some powerful lessons in some of this as well having to do with things we can learn presently as well when we talk about prophetic things that are written.  Sometimes as human beings we tend to read into what we think something is saying because of the time we live in or because of a preconceived idea we have about things that are going to come to pass.

We’re going back to around 592 BC, in this period of time when some of this was written – long, long ago – and here is a prophecy beginning in verse 1 of chapter 5.  We’re not going to go through all the scriptures on this like we have in the past talking about the thirds and the remnant and so forth.  But again, just a capsule here:

Ezekiel 5:1 - And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take you a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then take balances to weigh, and divide it. You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, another third here, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.  It’s an awesome prophecy because that’s exactly what happened in the Church; and yet some of these things are yet to take place physically for a physical Israel.  God is making it very clear here that that which takes place from the very beginning having to do with a fire, next having to do then with a knife ‘smiting about’ as it talks about, cutting about that which is there, and then just taking a third part and throwing it up in the wind.  Again, all this having meaning to it of what would take place in time.  And as I’ve mentioned so many times regarding what happened in the Church, that there were a third right away that were destroyed immediately in the sense that a third of the Church was moved by the teachings of Mr. Tkach to go back to Protestantism, to go back to beliefs about the possibility of Christmas and Easter being okay to keep, the ability to go back to Sunday and keep it as worship, the lack of a need, of a command to have obedience to the Holy Days or even the seventh day Sabbath.  And so again, a kind of swift destruction there that took place with a third.

And then another third simply just gave up and quit because they had believed about the Sabbath, they knew that they couldn’t go back to Sunday so they were disillusioned and what do you do?  This happened to God’s Church and you know that God’s Church isn’t anywhere out there; you’ve already proven that to yourself.  What do you do?  So people were scattered in the sense of the kind of destruction that was taking place.  They were no longer a part of the Body, no longer keeping the Sabbath.  They quit doing those kinds of things, quite observing it in the best that they could.

And then it talks about another third, it says here, that was scattered in the wind, and a third of the Church was scattered.  And the prophecy here is about a tithe of a third, overall of what would come through all this.

And I will draw out a sword after them. In other words, that which is scattered doesn’t have it made. So the first two-thirds in essence that God is showing here, prophetically so, basically experiences a kind of destruction, definitely some of it totally, fully destroyed; yet what happens in the Church is a little different and a little unique because God has the power to draw out of, call out of the whole, which is different in this respect here, of something that’s going to happen physically, something to Israel, but also spiritually here to the Church.  There’s a difference in the sense that God has the power to awaken them again to what is true, or to draw them back to – depending on what they’ve done – and everyone judged accordingly to the things that they do in their life.  And that’s in God’s time and God’s judgement.  And that’s why the vast majority have to wait until the great resurrection to be awakened and to be able to come back into the Church or to continue on in the Church.  Because it’s not a matter of coming back to it in one respect, literally, spiritually, it’s a matter of being brought to repentance for what they did.  And all of us have to do that, and then be able to continue on, but it’s going to take a resurrection for so many for that to be accomplished.

Verse 3 - You shall also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in your skirts. It’s a unique terminology here because the word for ‘skirts’ here is actually a word for ‘wings’, and if you go back to Revelation 12, and if you look at other scriptures about wings, it has to do very much with protection, it has to do with those that God sets apart in a very special way.  It’s talking about saving or protecting from destruction, if you will.  It has to do with healing sometimes, this thing about the ‘covering’ and so forth and the matter of wings.  So again here, it’s a unique part, in this respect, of a garment that was worn, but again, having to do more literally with the word ‘wings’.

And so again here, he’s going to take a few in number.  So this is the reference to other scriptures, to a remnant that is spoken of, and even here in Ezekiel we’re still spoken of as a remnant.

We’ll go to verse 12 – A third part, again, a kind of repetition here that takes place; A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with the famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and literally that’s what happened more within the Church.  There’s that which is physical as well but this here even more so when you understand what famine is in the Church, when you read other prophecies, when it talks about ‘there will be a famine in the land’ in Amos and other places.  There are things having to do with God’s word – there’d be a famine of God’s word, meaning that it came to a point in time where more and more the truth of the past began to be changed, it began to be talked down upon, and some wanted to totally get rid of Mr. Armstrong’s name and things that he taught.  And so there was a process that began before the apostasy but especially after the apostasy; and there came a time... if you’re not continually being fed strong spiritual food you will fall asleep spiritually and/or you will die.  Because falling asleep spiritually definitely can lead to, unless God gives some kind of help along the way to preserve until a future time (which is what He’s been doing) we would die, people would die.  And so that’s what this is about.

...and a third part shall die with the pestilence, and with famine they shall be consumed in the midst of you; And a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; so it’s still a destruction continuing to go on; and I will scatter the third part in the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. So even with what happened, if you look at the scattered Church, those that were scattered – God says “I’m still going to draw out a sword after them.”  So the third didn’t escape.  As a matter of fact, after the first 3½ years other doctrines began to come into the various groups and people and they began to die spiritually, began to fall asleep spiritually because they weren’t being fed strong spiritual meat.  And that’s what happened.  So again here, this repetition that continues on, and in previous verses here it talks about a remnant; later on it talks about a remnant, like verse 8 of the following chapter, an insert here.

Ezekiel 6:8 - Yet will I leave a remnant, that you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries.  And so again, we were called the Worldwide Church of God, and we look at what took place and we see that we came to a point in time where we were scattered all over the place as far as the Church was concerned, and only a few left.

A long time ago God had predetermined what would happen with His people, what would happen in time as He allowed a Laodicean spirit to come upon the Church, as He allowed, finally, an apostasy to take place.  Our own fault because of how we lived our lives.  We became rich and increased with goods, we didn’t hunger like we should have...and the rest is history.

I think it’s good to note here as we go through some of this, especially looking back at some of the things that have taken place with a few who are a part of the past of a remnant, that after 2008 God began to help us to come to see because of what He led us to fast about in the Church, that God has left a door, if you will, in things that He’s said, of an ability to move in different directions.  There are those things that are absolute prophetically.  There are those things that are open, that give movement.  In other words, that are going to come to pass (God’s word is going to come to pass exactly as He says) but He has left a great deal to what He is going to inspire eventually to take place.  And sometimes those things have to do with our reaction, or the reaction of God’s people, their response to Him.  The point being is when it talks about the various thirds here and understanding that there would be a tithe of a third, there’s also the potential for a tithe of the whole, and we’ve talked about that in times past.  So it isn’t locked in fully, completely.  A lot of it has to do with people’s response to various situations and circumstances, and we can pray to God for help to accomplish certain things, but again, the bottom line is our response.

And so I’m talking about people out there today who are scattered, who are a part of the various kinds of organizations, some who aren’t a part of any organization because they were a part of another third... God has already given the evidence, the proof, that He’s calling some out of the different groups; groups in reference here back to Ezekiel 5.  In other words there are individuals who, for a period of time, continued in Worldwide, who continued in for a long period of time, and finally were drawn out of that first third.  There is evidence for that also, and we learn a great deal, God teaches us a great deal.

As a matter of fact most of what God has given to me, to the Church at this end-time, has to do with seeing the evidence of what God is doing.  And when you understand that it becomes far more powerful because that has to do with the word ‘witness’, it has to do with testimony, it has to do with what we say and what we see and what we see God do.  And so we witness God doing various things, especially in this end-time, let alone two witnesses at the end, but so much of it has to do with things that God does.  It’s a witness to what God is doing and then declaring those things as He does them and making them known when they come to pass.

It’s like the 2nd Trumpet – It has not yet taken place.  And as I’ve stated in the book, I’ve stated other things at times, wondering in essence, speaking aloud – sometimes they are taken to be absolute – of what might come to pass in those or how they could come to pass or perhaps when they could come to pass.  Because we have wondered about China.  When is China going to do what it does?  It didn’t take too long into it to begin to understand when it talks about ‘a year, a month, and a day’ back in Revelation that - especially now - we understand it’s already taken place.  Whatever they were going to do, whatever they’d decided to do it’s already taken place, it’s not something that’s going to happen in the future, if you understand the prophecy I’m talking about in Revelation.  Let’s just turn over there right quick because there are lessons in all of this to learn from and so much of it has to do with watching what God does and learning from what God does and then God gives us the ability to see.

It’s like what took place in the apostasy: we knew about a great falling away, we know it would happen in the end-time, but how it would transpire, when it would transpire we had no comprehension. And so when it took place so many of the scattered groups out here would not acknowledge that it had happened.  On the contrary, they began to rebuild something, in time becoming deceived by their work, that they were going to become larger than what the Church was during Mr. Armstrong’s time.  And that’s not the case.  They’re not going to become larger and they have consistently remained very small as a whole, without growth, stagnant, no new truth coming along and anything that does come along as a whole, obviously, is a watering down of things, becoming weaker and weaker and weaker as time has gone on.  That’s because of God’s spirit being removed.

We came to a point in time in the Church where God showed us, yes, we have had an apostasy.  That’s why we’ve gone through some of these previous truths, and it wasn’t until afterward that we could witness to the truth this is what God has done, this is what God has begun to give life to again, a remnant, there is a group out here, it is very small.  And then God gave great inspiration to come to see the percentages of things because then we could see the evidence of what God said a long, long time ago.  And so we learn from that, we learn about Matthew 24 as I mentioned. We learned about Revelation here and the Seals, and we began to understand that we had gone through an apostasy in the Church, that 2 Thessalonians was very much about that.  I don’t want to repeat all the material in the sermons here that we’ve covered previously but it’s awesome, it’s inspiring!  We learn from so many things once we get there and come to see and to understand then what has taken place.  We are witness of those things, and then speak those things, and God gives great power in that.

And so it is going to be that way all the way through.  That’s why I mentioned the 2nd Trumpet.  It hasn’t happened yet.  We know it’s coming.  When is it coming?  I don’t know.  I candidly don’t know!  I don’t have the foggiest idea – that’s why it’s written in the book that way.  The 1st we knew, the beginning of.  The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, we do not know. The 7th we do know – I hope you understand that, the 7th Trumpet happens at the very beginning of the last day, on the Day of Pentecost.  As soon as it’s time for Pentecost the 7th Trumpet sounds.  So the 1st and the last (the 7th) we know, everything in between we don’t know.  And so, sometimes we think about some of those things, like the 5 months spoken of in Revelation.

Revelation 8:13 – And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven and saying with a loud voice – this is the 5th, 6th, and 7th Trumpet – Woe, Woe, Woe: the first Woe is the 5th Trumpet.  The 2nd Woe is the 6th Trumpet; and the last Woe is what God does on the last day, the day that is not a part of the 1335 in that respect, it’s the beginning of the Day of Pentecost.  But throughout that day this Woe, when it’s unleashed, when the Trumpet sounds, what follows that before Jesus Christ’s feet touch upon the Mount of Olives are 7 Last Plagues.  And so again here, Woe, Woe, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the Trumpet, of the three angels which are yet to sound.  And so it’s showing here that whenever this takes place this is when the world begins to experience, on a very large scale then, the kinds of destruction, the things that are mentioned throughout the book of Revelation here, especially following.

Revelation 9:15 - And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.  This is the 2nd Woe, this is the 6th Trumpet, it is the time that Russia and China, that part of Europe and Asia come together, primarily Asia that comes together – because Russia’s been divided up pretty severely haven’t they, but some of the other nations that still leap over in that part of the world, that unite at the very end to do the things they’re going to do.  And this year and a month and a day mentioned – whatever it is, whatever God is referring to here – that these beings are going to or are part of, that they’ve already been doing it.

I hope you’re watching the news.  I know a lot of people out here share various news articles and so forth, but look at how you see Russia and China talking to Europe in the way they are right now.  When you see this thing going back and forth because of the euro and because of the economy of Europe and everyone wanting to give their advice from different nations, whether it be the United States – China is doing it right now this past week, Russia is doing it this week – this is no small thing.  This is all a part of what’s taking place here, of bringing everything to a head.

It’s very much about the economy of the world, the economy of various nations; Russia is speaking in the terms they know what’s going to happen to them if Europe has problems.  China understands the struggle it’s going to give to the world.  The United States understands what it’s going... you can see it in the stock market; it goes up, way up, and it goes way down; these fears that are out there about Greece and about Italy and about France and the banks now being lowered..... You go through some of these things and I am dumbfounded, I am in awe of what’s taking place, because whatever this was that started at some point in time has already been taking place for some time.  Right now you can see it even more powerfully, these nations coming together, because there’s going to be an incredible struggle that takes place at the very end that has to do with these nations.  It has to do with Europe and it has to do with Asia, primarily Russia and China.  They unite together against Europe, against Germany and some of those nations aligned there with the European Union.

And so what you’re watching here is awesome.  You are a witness to things that God has said would come to pass.  As Johnny has said so often, “You have a front row seat.”  The news today screams, it’s crying out, these things are right in front of us. These things are taking place because these are the things that are pushing leaders to do the things that they’re doing.  They think the euro is going to collapse.  Europe will war before that happens!  Europe will come together as 10 nations and they will kick the rest out or do whatever they have to do, or the others will have left beforehand.  People are going to either take off or they’re going to be excluded.  When it finally comes together there will be 10 who agree to do what they’re going to do and it has very much to do with the euro, because that’s their life’s blood – it’s the economy, it’s how they survive - and they will go to war rather than lose it.  That’s where we are in time.

And so we live in some awesome times, things that you think in your mind, “We don’t have enough time for these things to take place.” Or, “there’s not enough taking place.”  Oh yes there is!  Things happen quickly!  Things in history that happened behind the scenes, when they finally erupt it didn’t happen overnight.  Nothing happens overnight like that.  There are events behind the scenes, and if you know what is behind the scenes and you’re looking at those things then it won’t be a shock to you when it happens.  This is going to shock the world.  They have no idea what’s coming.  They have no idea of the consequences of what’s coming to pass.  I marvel at it, I truly do.

And so as I mentioned here, here is something about that period of time, even before that there’s a period of time in verse 5 having to do with the first Woe, the 5th Trumpet, and it says....Verse 5 - And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man. This may be nothing more than an economic matter.  It may be nothing more than the misery it causes those who are leaders, those who are in finance, those who make the various kinds of plans they do in life that goes all the way down into every fabric of society, to all people, because it has to do with jobs, it has to do with business, it has to do with everything that people are able to buy their groceries with and the gasoline and so forth.  And so whatever this is – I don’t know what it is yet until it happens and I don’t know when it will be until it takes place – but I have thought about those things, we have talked about those things.  I mentioned about August of this year as seeing no other way but certain things have to take place at that time, and nothing that we can see outwardly has taken place like I truly thought it would have to by this time.

But I take you back to what is written, and that’s what you have to go by, very powerfully so.  That’s why I mention these things here again, that it makes it very clear, I do not know, you do not know, we don’t know when the 2nd Trumpet, the 3rd, or the 4th, or the 5th, or the 6th takes place until they happen.  And so, please never forget that, please understand that.  And if you think you have to have a lot of time in there for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to take place, you don’t.  They can be in one day.  It can be accomplished in one day, what it says there.  They’re unique, they’re separate of themselves, God has said so, but the span of time it takes to happen and to have the repercussions of what it says to each one of those does not take a long period of time.  It can be a very short, very quick thing that takes place on the earth.  Some of the other things, what happens with Asia and Europe and so forth, again, God will give more as time goes forward in time.  But I mention this because sometimes we can be, and I’ve known this to already happen with some, where something will be read, or something will be heard, and we’ll read into it what we think it’s supposed to mean.

And that’s the way this is in what’s written in Ezekiel and that’s the point here today, that what is written in Ezekiel, there is leeway, there is possibility, there is potential for God’s word to still be fulfilled in whatever He says when it has to do with a third and a third and a third, and it can be as minimal as, but God says no less, than ten percent of one third.

And so when you talk about the scattered Church, what does that mean?  Roughly 96,000 people who were baptized, and if we take one third of them it equals 32,000.  If you take a tithe of 32,000 you have 3,200 who have to become a part of a remnant of the past, because that’s what it has to do with, it has to do with those who experienced the apostasy.  It’s not talking about anyone else who was called afterwards, it’s talking about those who were baptized at the time of the apostasy and that God’s going to bring them back.  My point being is that through time we’ve only had a tithe of that amount that’s existed, as a whole, until recent years here, and then very slowly some from that past have come along.  But God promises that that will be the minimum.  Can there be more?  Absolutely!  Because it can be within the meaning of what’s written here and how it’s written; it could be a tithe of the whole, which would mean what?  Instead of 3,200 there could be three times that amount.  There is the potential to fulfill what God says in Ezekiel, and in Amos, and in other places.

So sometimes you have to be careful.  Sometimes if you’re not careful, and I’ve seen this happen over and over again in the Church...if you read something into a matter and you say, “This is what is written exactly, the way God says it.  This is what I see.  This is what I believe.”  Be careful!  You may be dead wrong, and most often we are, or the Church has been.  My point being is you have to wait until something has happened and then... then you can witness it, and then you can know because God will let you know then.

And the reason for some of these things taking place in this manner is because there are still battles and wars being fought and there is that which God is not going to give to Satan.  He knows this book better than you do.  He doesn’t know what it means better than you but He knows what’s written in here far better than anyone in this room or far better than anyone that’s listening to the sermon today.  He knows this book word by word by word in the original language, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek...of the things that are written in here.

And so again, there are those things that he judges and tries to do. What has he tried to do from the very beginning of time?  Destroy God’s plan, destroy God’s purpose.  He knows what’s written here but he doesn’t understand it and he can’t comprehend it.  And that’s why God through the inspiration of His spirit helps us to come to understand things on a spiritual plane, that that being cannot comprehend because he doesn’t have access to God’s spirit.

And so again here, tremendous lessons to learn and you’re going to receive more of this even at the Feast this year, and beyond, of things we’re to learn from.  We follow God.  We follow God in the way that He leads us.  We don’t predetermine how God is to move and what God is to do.  I can tell you, I’ve known so many people who have made those mistakes in times past within the Church over and over and over again.

So here in Amos, I want to read this: Amos 5:1 - Hear you this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.  And so especially for that which leads to the end of the age here and the scattered nations of Israel, what takes place, the nations that exist aren’t going to exist in the near future.  The things that have existed in the past concerning the Church, Worldwide as an organization, as that which housed, if you will, the membership of God’s Church and was taken care of for a long period of time, it fell and it wasn’t intended to ever be resurrected again in the sense of an organization.  It went by the wayside and was, in that respect, spiritually fully destroyed.  God brought a remnant through it spiritually and is working with that.

These things that have already taken place; it says, none shall raise her up; she’s gone her way, just as the U.S. and others are going to go their way, and God’s bringing a new age, a new time.

For thus says the Eternal God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave a hundred, ten percent, a tithe.  When these things take place it talks about a tithe; and that which went forth by a hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel. And so the question can be asked: What does this mean?  ‘...that which went forth’?  What percentage is this?  Is this the percentage of the whole, or is this the percentage of that which was able to escape of that which was scattered?  Is that what’s being referred to here?  Well, again, for the Church God it will show in time.

For thus says the Eternal unto the house of Israel, Seek you Me, and you shall live:  There’s prophecy after prophecy and I’ve gone through this before with more scriptures that we’ve gone through, but again, just showing that there are those that are here that talk about a remnant, there is that which God promises He’s going to bring through it all, and when it’s all said and done then we’ll know exactly which portion that He’s going to deliver and how, because it’s going to happen exactly the way it’s written.

44 (23) The captivity of the United States and the British Commonwealth will occur during the 5th Trumpet of the Seventh Seal, and not during the 5th Seal as previously taught in the Worldwide Church of God. This understanding came as God revealed that the first four Seals of Revelation were about the Church and not about the world.

And so again here, things that we had thought, that God allowed us to think for so long because it wasn’t His time to reveal this yet.

Let’s just turn over there, Revelation 6.  This is what it says...and the reason we’re going through this right now is some of those of you who are new, depending on how much of the history you have read and understand, sometimes those things aren’t as interesting to some, just like numbers aren’t as interesting to some, some things of history aren’t as interesting to some, we may not have a proclivity in that direction, but anyway, what it’s going through here and talking about is this 5th Seal. There was a time in the Church, that especially at this point in time, it was a matter of captivity that was going to take place upon Israel, and the United States, and British Commonwealth, what was going to take place, there would be troubles and so forth, but at this time here it was a time of having been conquered by war – and that’s not what this is about.

Revelation 6:9 - And when He had opened the Fifth Seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying... Now, who are these?  It’s everyone who’s been persecuted through time; it’s everyone who’s gone through tribulation.  Other scriptures here in Revelation talk about those that are the 144,000 as an example, the white garments that they are able to wear, that they’ve all gone through great tribulation to get to where they are.  If you go back to Abel, if you go back to Noah, if you go back to Moses – everyone has gone through a lot of difficult times as God moulds and fashions them, because they chose to go a different way than the world around them, and the way that others live.  Within the Church it’s always been that way.  And so you find that out very quickly once you’re baptized, that things can become very difficult in your life, on your job, in your family, with relatives and so forth, because they don’t see what you see, they don’t embrace what you embrace.

So this is a part of what it is talking about here, those who have died doing what they believe, being moulded and fashioned by God, slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: you know what that word ‘testimony’ means?  It’s the word ‘witness’.  Again, their lives are witness of something.  Everybody through time has been witness of God’s truth, of God’s way of life.  All the 144,000 have been witness of that, their lives give testimony, evidence to what it’s like in every age of man from the time of Adam and Eve all the way to the end now, of what the world has always been like and how God’s people have always been treated and how that people have always fought against it.  Because there’s a spiritual war going on out there and Satan doesn’t want truth to be out there in any fashion or form.

And when He had opened the Fifth Seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: they held it because they lived it; their lives, it’s registered as a part of their life, it is their life. And they cried with a loud voice, They are dead!  They’re all dead, but this was their feeling, this was their sentiment just like it is yours – especially the longer you’ve been in.  If you lived in the period of time of Mr. Armstrong, his death, what the Church went into, what was taking place, and you see a Body begin to become weaker and weaker, you see a Laodicean spirit become stronger and stronger.  I lived through a period of time, as an example, when we used to have what we called Bible Studies.  Not Sabbath services, not the service on the Sabbath, but about a different time that different areas would establish, perhaps once a week in different locations depending on where it was, or perhaps once a month or twice a month people would come together, often times it was on a Wednesday night.

After work people would come together to study, to have a minister set up in front of them in a room and go through various kinds of studies in the Bible, and they would have that benefit, an opportunity to receive things that they had been given in Ambassador College, that others didn’t have the same ability and time to delve into because they had occupations and other jobs, but the ministry had the time to work at those things, to prepare studies and so forth for the congregations.  And it used to be that, I would say as a whole, some because maybe they lived too far away to make it in after work, because we’re still talking about some regions where people had to travel 2 hours, 2½ hours to get to services, that by the time they got off work it would be too far for them to travel to come to Bible studies, so that cut out some people automatically.  But those who were closer in, within an hour, within a half an hour would come to those Bible studies, and as a whole I think 80% most of the time, back in the earlier days, of the congregation would be there, children, family, everybody.

It got to a point in time after Mr. Armstrong died that you could see the weakness creeping into the Church, because people weren’t as zealous anymore, they didn’t hunger as much anymore!  They didn’t hunger and thirst for the truth as much as before, and that’s the Laodicean spirit where it says ‘they were rich and increased with goods’.  There wasn’t the comprehension “I need to be there! I don’t have a choice on the Sabbath, I’m commanded to be there,” but they had a choice for a Bible study and it began to reveal a spirit that was there that some in the ministry would cry out to the congregation about, they would let them know that spirit that was coming in.  I did.  I know of other ministers who quit doing that and some who began to say we shouldn’t do that anymore, you shouldn’t try to make people feel badly for not coming to a Bible study – and that came out from headquarters, from the church, because it was becoming so weakened.

And so we got weaker and weaker and weaker and in some areas they didn’t even have 10% anymore of people who would come to the Bible studies.  It showed a spirit that was there.  And so, going back and thinking about what we have seen and what we have lived through – especially people, the farther back people go, and you don’t even have to go back that far, but this has been our sentiment.  And it probably is your sentiment as well because you know how close we are to the end.  But you know the date now; we haven’t always known the date, but our sentiment has been, “How long.... How long...”  Because the suffering is not easy, and if you go back to the early Church and all through time, it’s like, “How long before this is going to come to an end?”  During the Philadelphian period we knew we were getting closer.  Mr. Armstrong would talk about us planning 10 years in advance, then it became 5 and 10 years in advance because we thought it could be that close, that things could begin happening in the world, it could be as quickly as 5 years, but we need to plan 5 and 10 years ahead.

My wife was talking the other day about the first time her father came to visit. Her father travelled through parts of Texas and we lived in Houston, they lived in Corpus Christie and they were travelling through one time and he came by one night.  We didn’t know he was in the area there because he worked with the oil and gas industry all the way up and down the Texas coast; and he came by one night to visit (we didn’t know he was coming).  I was out getting some groceries or something and Laura wasn’t feeling very well because she was pregnant with our first child.  When he got there and found out he wasn’t real excited at first.  You know why?  Because of the ideas, the concepts, the beliefs of if within a short period of time we go into the great tribulation....because at that time it was going to be far worse than what we could even begin to comprehend...that this wasn’t a good time for a young child to be brought into the world; because that’s how we thought.

I’ve mentioned before in past sermons that every car we’ve ever purchased we’ve thought it was probably our last, or we’d planned accordingly.  And I’m talking about since – what...late 1970’s?  Yeah, since we got married; we got married in 1975, and always thinking that it could be that soon.  That’s the way we truly believed, that’s the way we thought, that it could...and it could have; if that was what God’s purpose was.  But that’s the way we thought, and so the longer things went on...we saw Mr. Armstrong die, we went into a period of time when we saw the Church getting weaker.  It’s like, “How long?”

How long, O Eternal, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them who dwell on the earth?  And so it’s a kind of sentiment that God’s people have had through time.  “How long?”  It’s like asking how long the suffering?  “How long do we see our brothers and sisters...?  How long do we experience some of these things?” Every year I’ve mentioned I’ve known of people who have left God’s Church, who were in our fellowship and then the next year they’re not there any longer.  I’ve mentioned this every Feast of Tabernacles I believe since this new era, this new period if you will that God has begun calling back a remnant.  Because it’s always been that way in my experience since 1969 being baptized, people have gone by the wayside and it hurts.  When you draw close to people, when you’re with people, when you share the same thing and they quit, and sometimes not pleasantly so; it’s like a knife going into your insides and being twisted.  It hurts.  And so again, all these things added to the suffering that’s there, and that’s the sentiment through time.

Verse 11 - And white robes were given unto them; and it was said unto them, so the point being is this is what we all have to go through.  It’s just that here, now, it’s getting very, very close.  We’re almost to the point that God’s going to make it very clear how long things are, to where things are going to begin to be accelerated and we’re going to begin to recognize that things are taking place on the earth.

...and it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little season, it’s not very long now, it’s a little bit longer.  So now we’re talking about the first 4 Seals that have already taken place, we’re talking about a scattering in the Church, those in the different groups and organizations, we’re talking about incredible destruction that took place, people have gone back to Christmas and Easter and keeping Sunday and etcetera, etcetera.  And so God gives this point of encouragement at this point in time to His Church when this Seal is opened letting everyone know we’re almost there, we just have a little season now in front of us.  ...until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, that should die, in other words, for living this way of life. So there would be some that would still die all the way to the end.  There are going to be those who are alive at the end who are going to be changed.  ...till all this should be fulfilled.  So God is saying, letting them know, that this constituted the 5th Seal.  It wasn’t a time of being conquered by Europe. So again, these are things that we haven’t fully understood that God began to clarify as time has gone on here, because the very next Seal then was opened on September 11th.  In everybody’s mind in the world it’s permanent, of those things that lead all the way up to next year now and Christ finally returning.

But I wanted to mention here before, as I started to get into this, talking about this particular truth here, about how that this doesn’t take place, Europe doesn’t do what they’re going to do until the 5th Trumpet, and not the 5th Seal, that that was just a misunderstanding of the past and not understanding because God hadn’t given it yet.  I wanted to mention here today that before services today, because I was thinking and talking about how that through time Satan has tried to destroy every phase of God’s plan, of things he thinks he knows, of things he thinks he understands but he doesn’t comprehend, he doesn’t understand.  But he’s always there trying to destroy.  I sometimes am dumbfounded by this when I think about how he even tried to destroy Christ and how he even tried to move a king to destroy children, because he was able to get to this king to do what he did and it included children 2 plus years and younger, to totally wipe them out because Satan has to work through human beings.  And so all these things, and God had them go down into Egypt for Christ to be gone for a time.  Incredible things that have taken place, but God always there knowing what Satan is doing, working out His plan; but that being is always there trying to destroy, trying to cover what is true. And I couldn’t help but think about that today when I was thinking about this particular area here.

May not mean as much to some but it means a great deal to me to be here in this part of Ireland today in ways I cannot express fully, because of thinking back about Jeremiah and Baruch who took Zedekiah’s daughter and came to this area.  I went on the internet just out of curiosity, just to read about some of these things. That was accomplished so that the Davidic line of kings would continue on.  There’s an incredible amount of dispute as to what has been written in Irish history or history of the UK, Britain, the peoples of Ephraim, if you will, that had migrated to this part of the world and Dan that moved to this part of the world, but I was struck by how so many talk about how there’s nothing absolute in history that’s written here.  And whether there is or isn’t...now they say that Mr. Armstrong didn’t quote, and others who believe in British-Israelism, that they haven’t quoted things that are absolutely true written as far as the chronicles of history in Ireland and other places.  And I think...and they didn’t make specific quotes out of specific books and so forth...and I think, “What an incredible thing that through time that Satan has tried to destroy what is true.”  I think of the stone that I’ve talked about in times past, the Stone of Destiny, and some of those things that have taken place, Jacob’s pillar stone.  And I think of the awesomeness of things that have happened in history, and how people have tried to wipe it out.

Should it be a mystery that there aren’t things written out there because that maybe people don’t want that to be out there?  Is it a possibility because people have other beliefs and because there’s a being out there who moves people that if there was anything ever written out there that it’s no longer there, no longer available, destroyed, but God can preserve what is true through time?  ...to be given through time?  And I believe that with all my being that it’s absolutely what took place, it was given to Mr. Armstrong about that.

It’s also interesting to note that there might have been a line of people here already that perhaps came from King David.  There is that in history here as well. That perhaps a daughter of King David was also in this area and basically...which means they would have been here long before even this line from Zedekiah which would still come from David – but God’s going to preserve something.  So there may have been something, I don’t know.  It’s going to be interesting before too long to find out all the truth of these things.  But that would make a whole lot more sense, that there was already a royalty potentially here and that another royalty came along and made it stronger and that which God was going to work with then because it was a continuation of something, but it went back to something that had already started here a long time before.  Because if you go back from Zedekiah to King David you’re talking about a pretty good span of time. Anyway, time will tell, but I find it immensely interesting.  But with all my being knowing that Jeremiah was here, the things that he did, the Stone of Scone, the feelings that Ireland - I don’t know how strong it is here - but Scotland definitely has had some very, very strong feelings about that stone and so has England.

It’s going to be good one day to have all the history come about to show what is true, but again, knowing what took place in the past, knowing where we are now, that we’re about to that point in time where everything’s going to be revealed, where that very throne that God said that Jesus Christ was going to receive is still on this earth and He’s going to come back to it.  I find it very, very moving and very inspiring and really can’t express that fully in terms to you what it means, frankly, to be here today, that I don’t think was by coincidence that it happened now when it’s happened, and things that God is going to bring to pass later on that sometimes we think we’re doing things, we don’t see God in the picture all the time, we don’t see what He’s working out, but God continues to work things out through a period of time, and I’d say more along these lines, but I think I’ll stop there.

I will read, just to make it clear here, that obviously what had been partially believed in the past about what was going to take place doesn’t happen until the 5th Trumpet, not the 5th Seal.  Revelation 9: I read a part of this earlier but I want to read it again here today because this is something that’s to come in the future, of something we already see transpiring.  That’s why I’m so dumbfounded about what’s being written in the newspapers.

Some of the headlines... I have over the past week received incredibly large number of things forwarded to me that certain ones are very good about doing that have given me certain articles and so forth.  And I’m dumbfounded by the headlines, the headlines alone say volumes, and so much of it has to do with what we’re talking about right here, what’s coming about, what’s fast approaching, causing Europeans to address things that they don’t really want to have to address but they have to.  And if you see what’s taking place you see different ones in different countries out here saying certain things about power, about control, about the possibilities of certain things that have to be brought together, how to deal with some of these other countries; all this isn’t by chance, and yet they may have differences in some areas but overall they don’t. And you can see how indeed this is going to merge very quickly, and how they can make a decision and once they make it they can’t go back from it.

Things like that have happened through time and when they finally give their agreement and their nod and they see the repercussions of it it’s too late.  And that’s what this is about, because it’s about another being who is out here already working to deceive and to manipulate.  I’ll tell you, what you’re witnessing and what you’re seeing out here right now is absolutely awesome!  Things that Mr. Armstrong talked about so long ago are so clear today – where we are, what’s taking place, how it’s affecting China and Russia, why they’re speaking out like they are.  To me it’s just dumbfounding that we just watch these things...and we haven’t seen anything yet.  We haven’t seen anything yet but we see this taking place that we have known for so long was going to happen.

Revelation 9: 1 - The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out locusts... symbolic of war, weaponry and so forth that take place.

And it makes it very clear over in verse 11 who this is - And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, it’s about Satan.  It’s not that he hasn’t had power on the earth to deceive and so forth, but now he’s allowed to have greater power because every time what is referred to as the Holy Roman Empire has been resurrected and then stopped it’s indicative of him being given more power and then that power taken away from him again until it’s God’s time to allow him to do what he is supposed to do.  And this is that period of time where he’s going to be allowed to do much and have greater influence over various nations of the earth, especially parts of Europe.

And they had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue, Apollyon.  It’s referring to Satan, obviously, and the things he’s going to do for a very short period of time this last go around of the Holy Roman Empire, the 7th resurrection of it.

45 (24) Not all baptized members, including many in the remnant, will be part of the 144,000.

So again, for some who are coming out of the past, they have this question in their mind more, to understand what is going to take place.  What about the 144,000 and so forth?  And this makes it clear regarding that.

Once the sealing of all the 144,000 has been completed on Trumpets of 2008, the larger portion of those who are in the Church of God will continue on in their physical life, into the millennial period. They will constitute a continuation of God’s Church. Many more new people will be added to the Church during the final 3 1/2 years of tribulation.

And that’s still hasn’t happened to the magnitude we know it’s going to take place.  But again, starting in 2008 those of you, most of you who are here, most of those who are listening in today, this is when this began for you.

Once the Fifth Trumpet of the Seventh Seal is blown, God will begin awakening most who will make up the actual remnant of those who were once part of the scattering from the Worldwide Church of God.

Some years back God made it very clear that it would be during this period of time that we just read about when Europe does what it does.  When people finally grasp, who were a part of the Church, whether they still are a part of that other organization or were a part of some their splinter groups or whether it be a part of individuals who have just simply quit, when they see what Europe does, when they finally see some decisions that are made and they see and hear of 10 nations, that isn’t going to fall upon deaf ears.  Now, it’s going to fall upon a lot of deaf ears filled with pride because they’re not going to humble themselves, but on some God’s going to begin drawing and awakening individuals just because of this account of what’s going to take place.  It’s going to take that to shake them, to realize “Wow!  How did this happen all of a sudden?  How is this already on the world all of a sudden?”  To me it’s going to be exciting because there are going to be people we know that are going to come back.

Of the remnant that is awakened, only those who have been awakened before Trumpets will be able to be sealed.

And so, some of this written before that period of time, understanding what was going to take place during the sealing, knowing that, again, once everyone is sealed no one else can be added.  Anyone who comes out of the past, they will be able to live on into a new age, into the Millennial period, but they will not be a part of the 144,000.  So all those thousands that I am deeply looking forward to, that I know are brothers and sisters, and I know you’re looking forward to them as well; but for those of us who know many of them and because of what we’ve gone through, when that begins to take place, when God begins to bring them back it’s going to be an exciting thing. But it’s going to be a very humbling thing for them because they’re going to have to come to address something that’s going to be difficult: they’re not going to be resurrected when Jesus Christ returns, but they have the opportunity to live on into a new age and be resurrected at the end of the thousand years into God’s Family.  And that’s an awesome thing because they are going to come to understand that they’re still highly, awesomely, powerfully blessed, because the overwhelming majority of those that they had walked to God’s house side by side in the past aren’t going to have that opportunity, they’re going to be resurrected back into physical life a second time.  And for most who’ve been a part of the Church in times past, that should be a horrifying thought.  It would be a horrifying thought to know what you know and know that you have to come back and live your physical life again.  For me, once was plenty, truly.  When you fight the battles we fight, make the most of it – once is truly enough.

46 (25) The Church of God- PKG [Preparing for the Kingdom of God] is the only physical organization God is working with in this end-time.

It’s a tough one for people who are out there because those who come to be a part of the remnant have to acknowledge the truth of this, and that requires humility and that will be a powerful proof in itself, a witness in itself that they have repented, when they can acknowledge such a thing.  Because when you think you’re with a group and you believe what you have is true, to come to a point to say, “No, it isn’t.” Especially when you believe it’s of God, more than what you think in the Protestant world or the world of religions out here, this is different because it’s on a different plane because they were a part of God’s true Church and then became deceived through time.

God has always worked through a hierarchical method of government, especially at this end-time. There was one end-time apostle during the era of Philadelphia, and this apostle led the only physical organization that God worked through for His Church [speaking of Mr. Armstrong and Philadelphia]. Likewise, there is one apostle who leads God's Church today.

And I hope you understand why, because an apostle is different from a prophet.

47 (26) The day Christ returns is the same 24 hour day when all seven vials (Seven Last Plagues) are poured out, once this Seventh Trumpet is blown.

I thought about reading through all those and I’m not going to today.  Incredible!  And again, some of these things are not written primarily for those of you who have been called in the last three years; it’s written for people that God has brought along out of that period of time who are part of the scattering.  It’s for those who grew up in the Church of God, because there are many people out there today who were never baptized before December 1994 who grew up in the Church, whom God is going to call as well.  There are large numbers of them and they’re not even a part of what’s considered baptized members and the scattering that took place.  They are different from that and God is going to draw many of those into the Church as well toward the end-time here.  And so these things are essential for them to come to see because there are things they must learn about what has taken place and what is going to come to pass that they believed differently in times past.  And so again here, some having been taught in times past that this was going to be for a long period of time, for several weeks or several months or whatever; no, it’s one day.

48 (27) The two end-time witnesses (two end-time prophets of God) have already been revealed.

No need to go into that.

49 (28) The Seven Thunders have been revealed and will happen precisely as foretold. ....

So again, this is all seven areas here...

1) Terror of War: ....

2) Earthquakes: Related to this are tsunamis and volcanoes.

3) Abnormal Weather: Related to this are flooding, mudslides, wildfires, and loss of agriculture.

I’ll tell you what, that’s a powerful one because that’s going to catch the world off guard.  It’s kind of interesting what’s happening in the United States today; because of the economy and because of government agencies, there is a bit of a furor in the midst of the United States right now and undoubtedly probably having something to do with how much the government might have to otherwise pay out to farmers and so forth.  There is a tweaking of statistics by the agriculture department and things aren’t truly as they are being stated.  In other words, they’re making things sound better than what they really are.  The point being is when we come to the end of the year or we get into a period of time that we’re headed toward very quickly here there’s going to be a lot less food in the world, even within the nations of Israel, than what they currently think – whereas in times past statistics have been a little more accurate if they were needed and the ability to act upon them.  But now it’s going to catch people off guard in a very powerful way.  And you look around the world, what’s happening... the fires, the drought, places that have had extreme flooding.

Received an interesting email the other day, because of crops throughout the Midwest and the bread basket of the United States from north to south, some were talking about the corn being the best, the highest, most beautiful corn they’ve ever seen in their whole life.  And they got in a conversation with a farmer about it and he said, “It may look good, but there’s nothing there.”  And the reason being is because there is so much rain that sometimes what happens is that the stalk and the bottom of it begins to rot and it can’t even create the corn on the cob needed.  And other things that happen, blight that happens when these things take place, and mildew, something may look really good.  I’ve been in wheat fields where you pull into a wheat field and it can look awesome because of all the rain they’ve had, looked like the best crop in that area for years and years and years, and all of a sudden you start cutting and there’s nothing in the head because of what they call ‘rust’. It’s like a mildew or something that enters into the wheat.  The wheat looks great, the head looks great, looks like there’s a lot of seed in there and all of a sudden you rub it out on your hand and there’s just dust, maybe a few grains, but nothing there worth harvesting.

That’s why right now you hear around the world different things that are happening.  This is not just in the United States, it’s being repeated over and over again in different countries with stats coming in and showing that there’s going to be a lot less when it’s all said and done for a time when it’s really needed the most.

4) Global Economic Upheaval. ....

That one doesn’t even begin to let up.  And again, I hope you’re attuned to these things, realizing that Thunders continue on.  But what is inspiring by all this is that a lot of this really wasn’t any mystery.  All these things go along with God anyway, with what God is doing with the last several Seals, especially the 7th Seal that was opened and the things that just are a part of that process.  It’s just that this is there; in some cases it has to do with a spirit world, it has to do with a scattering, and it has to do with people coming to repentance and humility.

5) Death in addition to destruction (divided into three separate phases and with random order).

Some of those things have happened only in small part but there’s much to come here and most of these things – every one of these, candidly, to be accelerated a great deal more toward the end here as we go forward.

6) A growing revelation of God's two end-time witnesses, in both the Church that was scattered and in the world.

Not happening yet, only to those whom God is calling, and these things don’t happen until all these others begin to intensify.

7) An accelerated revelation of God to man, in both the Church that was scattered and in the world.

And again, that doesn’t happen until we go farther into this because what does that mean?  It means people have to come to repentance.  It means the ability to understand what God reveals, the ability to receive it has to do with a mind that comes to repentance and that will be able then to believe it.  Because until a person does, God can reveal all He wants in books and in sermons and so forth and people won’t receive a thing until a point in time that they come to repentance.  And it’s only then that that acceleration begins to take place.

Candidly, the vast majority of this doesn’t happen until about probably the last three weeks before Christ’s return.  That’s when the greatest amount of number 7 is going to take place, and especially on the last day.  God is going to use that last day in a very powerful way to make it very clear He is God, and because of the 7 Last Plagues it’s through that process that so many who aren’t even a part of a belief in God, though they be distorted, whether it be Judaism, Islam, Traditional Christianity, all the others in the world are going to come to see that there is power out there that they have not comprehended.  So much so that some are going to believe it’s from another world, another galaxy, another universe, whatever people believe.  They’d rather believe that then believe it’s God, but many are going to be brought to that point in time to realize this is God.  God’s going to make it very clear.

Finally, the 50th Truth:

The 50th Truth

This truth concerns the revelation given by God of the actual timing that leads up to the return of Jesus Christ. ....

Again, I’m not going to go through all this today because it is about, obviously, understanding when Trumpets 2008 began to be a countdown of 1335 days that God gave.  Strictly a matter of faith.  Strictly a matter of belief.  Strictly a matter of something that God had to give and we live by faith according to it.

There are seven other truths that follow this but this was the last one to be given to God’s Church during the era of Laodicea.  You can go on the site and read it, I don’t need to read it, don’t even want to talk about some of the things right now.

We have Trumpets coming on us very quickly here, in about a week and a half, so there’s no point going into that last one because The Feast of Trumpets is almost here and we’ll discuss the meaning then. We’ll be in the Netherlands then.

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