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Worldwide All Over Again? By: David Ben-Ariel

When Herbert W. Armstrong died, Dr. Herman Hoeh declared that the seventh
candlestick had been lit. That means Laodicea officially began immediately.
Forgot Password? New
User? Nearly four years later, Malachi's Message to God's Church Today began to sound
the alarm: something wasn't kosher in God's Church! It exposed a corrupt ministry
intent on destroying the Worldwide Church of God's foundational doctrines, and
urged the brethren to hang on for dear life to what God had given us through His
end-time Elijah. We were encouraged to get a grip, while others were losing it
Home Based Business (Revelation 3:11).
Health & Fitness
Arts & Entertainment Those who were of God heard what the Spirit said to the Churches through Malachi's
Loans Message. Those who weren't of God quickly lost it (God's truth) and slipped further
Small Business and further into darkness. That darkness was disguised as a "new light of
Alternative Medicine understanding" (2 Corinthians 11:14). The true members of God's Church responded
Business to His call and came out of that decadent organization. Those who remained behind
Vehicles became the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN.
Religion
Internet Marketing They were no longer God's Church! You can't reject God's truth for demonic
Weight Loss doctrines without becoming a part of "Mystery Babylon" (1 Corinthians 10:21; 2
Pets Corinthians 6:14-18). All this has been quite revealing (I Corinthians 11:19).
Beauty
Marketing Knowing the Truth
Relationships
God knows the end from the beginning (Acts 15:18). He prophesied a great falling
View all Categories away that would leave few standing. The BIG ONE has hit and shaken God's Church
to its core! But isn't it possible to know the truth without knowing the Truth (2
Timothy 3:7).
Submit God's calling us to a deeper love and conversion (I John 3:18). Isn't God's truth a
means to an end? Didn't Mr. Armstrong fear some just "DON'T GET IT?" That too
many were only converted to our doctrines? The doctrines are meant to help bring us
closer to God by having a better understanding of His Will, but only a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ will save us! We need Christ's teachings, but we need
God the Father and Jesus Christ even more! Only they can establish us and secure
our salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17). You can have all the understanding in the
world and still fall short (I Corinthians 13:2).

Remember Solomon? Just because you know God's truth, doesn't mean you know
Him! (Job 42:5; I John 2:4) You're not going to be judged by how much you know,
but by HOW MUCH YOU GROW! By how much you apply what you know,
becoming more Christ-like, more Godly, more representative of God's Kingdom,
here and now (James 1:22; John 13:35). A system can't save you and ritual is no
substitute for a relationship! (2 Timothy 3:5).

Malachi's Message Still Applies!

Whereas Worldwide was physically rich, aren't we in danger of feeling spiritually

rich and self-complacent (Amos 6:1)? Ancient Israel had God's holy days; didn't eat
pork, etc. But it didn't keep them from going into captivity! (Amos 5:21). It wasn't
enough! Worldwide doesn't feel sufficient, they feel so impoverished they go to
Babylon for help! We're the ones who feel safe and secure! Who said we can let our
guard down? We're commanded to REMAIN ON HIGH ALERT until Christ comes!
(Luke 21:34) Yet some are failing to continue to apply Malachi's Message (Romans
2:17-21). God's refining process isn't over! (Daniel 12:10; Isaiah 48:10).

Let's see to it that Philadelphia Church of God (Judah) doesn't go the way of the
Worldwide Church of God (Israel)! These biblical principles still apply: don't put
undue trust in men; work out your own salvation, it's not a group affair; beware the
scholarly approach that demands you rely on men - not God's Spirit or personal Bible
study. And God help us to look past Petra (though it's important), to focus on His
Kingdom (Luke 21:36; Isaiah 33:17). To survive the Holocaust is one thing, to enter
God's Kingdom is everything! (2 Peter 1:10-11).

Beware of Emperor Worship!

What's the greatest false doctrine to come out of Babylon? The nefarious idea of a
DIVINE EMPEROR! Nimrod had put himself in God's place! He had people
depending on him for all their answers and protection. Today, we have such MEN
"playing God" in the Church! (Nahum 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:3). There's nothing
new under the sun. Unlike Moses, who wished that all God's people were prophets
(Numbers 11:29), Nimrod felt threatened by any "competition." He dealt cruelly, in a
jealous rage, with those who opposed his haughty position. God used Shem to put
him back in his place! Leaders are ordained of God; they do have a definite place,
but it's NOT in the Holy of Holies (II Chronicles 26:18)! They're intruding in God's
business, and trespassing on His sacred ground, when they get out of line and
overstep their bounds (Zephaniah1:9; Exodus 19:12; Colossians 2:18). Away with
emperor worship! It's soon to sweep Europe, but we don't need it in God's Church.
Not if we want to remain God's Church!

Didn't Mr. Flurry warn that we were slipping into a Laodicean attitude when he had
his unfortunate incident with alcohol? Didn't he say, after prayerfully wracking his
brains to understand why God had allowed that to happen, that we have to be careful
not to get proud due to our abundance of revelation (2 Corinthians 12:6-7)? Have we
learned that lesson? Has he? With his preoccupation with all his religious titles and
self-promotion, we really have to wonder and be most concerned!

Holy, righteous CHARACTER is more important to God than all the revelation in the
world! We definitely need the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but God says we should want
the FRUITS of his Holy Spirit even more! GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT!
(1 Corinthians 14:1) I'm convinced God's about to empower His people like never
before, but wants us to be spiritually ready (having learned from the Corinthians'
mistakes), and our ministers mature enough not to get in the way! (Joel 2:28; 1
Thessalonians 5:19).

As far as revelations go, God can inspire unconverted men like Caiphas and speak
through donkeys! All truth is from and belongs to God, so why should some become
puffed up with pride that they're something special rather than just an instrument
serving God's purpose? And why get bloated with self-importance when God can
quickly pop that balloon? (I Corinthians 4:6-7).

Warnings from History

If what happened in the Church during the 70's was a warning of what could happen
in the 80's what about the 90's? Having survived our Worldwide ordeal, are we now
home safe (Jude 5)? Let us pray and examine ourselves this new century: Do we
love God or fear men (Acts 5:29)?

God has an ordained government for His Church, but it can graduallly fall to Satan -
made over in some man's image - if we blindly follow it and forget that it's also a
means to an end, and not and end in itself! Isn't that how God's Church got off track?
 The Mother spoon fed the brain-dead! We need the Father! When Church
government stops directing us to God and substitutes doctrines or a personality cult
instead (III John 9), and refuses correction, God's glory has left such a bankrupt
administration! Will God destroy the very government He's installed because we've
failed to use it properly? Some are actually worshipping the government rather than
the Governor!

Didn't God level His Temple, stop the sacrifices, and disband the priesthood? Didn't
he empty the House of Israel and scatter Judah? Wasn't Jerusalem-headquarters
forcibly shut down? Even Hezekiah had to destroy the brass serpent God told Moses
to make, because they had perverted its purpose (2 Kings 18:4).

Too often, that which God had intended to become a blessing, became a curse! Such
historical warnings don't curry favor with "the top brass, " but it's evident God would
rather work through a very faithful few than let many misrepresent Him! (Jeremiah
26:18; Ezekiel 5:3-4).

What have we learned from our WCG experience? Haven't some since scrambled for
positions of power, while others claim we're all equal? (Numbers 16:3; 1 Timothy
1:7; James 3:1) God isn't an anarchist, and neither should we be. We mustn't throw
out the baby with the bathwater, just because of abuses of power! Proper leadership
encourages us to "be all we can be," within God's law; it encourages us to think and
become like our leaders, and able to teach what we've been taught-after all we're
PRIEST-KINGS IN TRAINING. (Matthew 10:25; Hebrews 5:12; 2 Timothy 2:2,
15).

The proper use of God's government never plays politics or acts jealous, but truly has
everyones' best interests at heart. (I Cor. 14:26) We're all members of God's Royal
Family, therefore we ought to respect each others' part in God's plan and place in
God's Church. (I Corinthians 12:18).

I truly believe in GOVERNMENT FROM THE TOP DOWN -- and it starts with
GOD THE FATHER! That's why we must always OBEY GOD, even if it means we
must disobey men. Wasn't it ministers who told you to throw Malachi's Message
away? Wasn't it Church leaders who threw out the faithful? Didn't we just take their
word for it, rather than check out what GOD had to say? Don't be fooled again! Do
you now CONSULT CHRIST, or are you still playing "follow the leader"? Which is
truly learning how to follow God's government? Have you finally learned this
lesson? Or did you ask your minister for permission to read Beyond Babylon?
Worldwide all over again? Not if you continue to read and apply Malachi's Message
to yourself. That's the only way to prevent a "repeat performance". Hopefully, once
was enough.

David Ben-Ariel, a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's

Rise and Fall (http://www.publishamerica.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?
catalogid=7144), shares a special focus on the Middle East, reflected in hard-hitting
articles that help others improve their understanding of that troubled region.
http://beyondbabylon.blogspot.com
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