May/June 2002

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Arial" ><B>Church of God, In Truth</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>   |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church of God, In Truth"><B>home</B></A><B> | </B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Letters to the Brethren"><B>Up Level</B></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="novemberdecember_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2008">November/December 2008</A>   |   <A HREF="septemberoctober_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2008">September/October 2008</A>   |   <A HREF="julyaugust_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2008">July/August 2008</A>   |   <A HREF="mayjune_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2008">May/June 2008</A>   |   <A HREF="id430.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2008">March/April 2008</A>   |   <A HREF="id422.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2008">January/February 2008</A>   |   <A HREF="id417.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2007">November/December 2007</A>   |   <A HREF="id410.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2007">September/October 2007</A>   |   <A HREF="id409.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2007">July/August 2007</A>   |   <A HREF="id399.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2007">May/June 2007</A>   |   <A HREF="id391.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2007">March/April 2007</A>   |   <A HREF="id385.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2007">January/February 2007</A>   |   <A HREF="id377.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2006">November/December 2006</A>   |   <A HREF="id369.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2006">September/October 2006</A>   |   <A HREF="id368.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2006">July/August 2006</A>   |   <A HREF="id354.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2006">May/June 2006</A>   |   <A HREF="id346.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2006">March/April 2006</A>   |   <A HREF="id338.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2006">January/February 2006</A>   |   <A HREF="id332.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2005">November/December 2005</A>   |   <A HREF="id331.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2005">September/October 2005</A>   |   <A HREF="id326.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2005">July/August 2005</A>   |   <A HREF="id322.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2005">May/June 2005</A>   |   <A HREF="id309.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2005">March/April 2005</A>   |   <A HREF="id308.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thank You Letter">Thank You Letter</A>   |   <A HREF="id302.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2005">January/February 2005</A>   |   <A HREF="id295.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2004">November/December 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id291.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2004">September/October 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id287.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2004">July/August 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id283.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2004">May/June 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id275.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2004">March/April 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id254.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2004">January/February 2004</A>   |   <A HREF="id253.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2003">November/December 2003</A>   |   <A HREF="id245.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2003">September/October 2003</A>   |   <A HREF="id242.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2003">July/August 2003</A>   |   <A HREF="id238.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2003">May/June 2003</A>   |   <A HREF="id231.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2003">March/April 2003</A>   |   <A HREF="id228.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2003">January/February 2003</A>   |   <A HREF="id221.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2002">November/December 2002</A>   |   <A HREF="id215.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2002">September/October 2002</A>   |   <A HREF="id211.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2002">July/August 2002</A>   |   May/June 2002   |   <A HREF="id203.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2002">March/April 2002</A>   |   <A HREF="id199.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2002">January/February 2002</A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Church of God, In Truth</B></div> <div> <A HREF="novemberdecember_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2008">November/December 2008</A></div> <div> <A HREF="septemberoctober_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2008">September/October 2008</A></div> <div> <A HREF="julyaugust_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2008">July/August 2008</A></div> <div> <A HREF="mayjune_2008.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2008">May/June 2008</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id430.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2008">March/April 2008</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id422.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2008">January/February 2008</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id417.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2007">November/December 2007</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id410.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2007">September/October 2007</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id409.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2007">July/August 2007</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id399.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2007">May/June 2007</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id391.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2007">March/April 2007</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id385.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2007">January/February 2007</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id377.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2006">November/December 2006</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id369.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2006">September/October 2006</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id368.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2006">July/August 2006</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id354.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2006">May/June 2006</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id346.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2006">March/April 2006</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id338.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2006">January/February 2006</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id332.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2005">November/December 2005</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id331.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2005">September/October 2005</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id326.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2005">July/August 2005</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id322.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2005">May/June 2005</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id309.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2005">March/April 2005</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id308.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thank You Letter">Thank You Letter</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id302.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2005">January/February 2005</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id295.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2004">November/December 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id291.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2004">September/October 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id287.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2004">July/August 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id283.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2004">May/June 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id275.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2004">March/April 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id254.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2004">January/February 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id253.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2003">November/December 2003</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id245.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2003">September/October 2003</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id242.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2003">July/August 2003</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id238.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="May/June 2003">May/June 2003</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id231.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2003">March/April 2003</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id228.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2003">January/February 2003</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id221.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="November/December 2002">November/December 2002</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id215.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="September/October 2002">September/October 2002</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id211.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="July/August 2002">July/August 2002</A></div> <div> <B>May/June 2002</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id203.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="March/April 2002">March/April 2002</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id199.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="January/February 2002">January/February 2002</A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>May/June 2002</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>ARE YOU GOING TO BE THERE? </B></div> <div> James Russell, Elder </div> <div> To God's scattered Brethren, </div> <div> Greetings from Corona, California! Over the years in God's Church, we have all received an invitation to the marriage feast of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. The Bible gives us some examples of these invitations. One in the Book of Matthew chapters 22:"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden [invited] to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden [invited], Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden [invited] were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid [invite] to the marriage. For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:2-5,8-9,14). </div> <div> This example makes it clear that dated invitations are now being sent out. But someone is blurring and distorting the dates of the wedding feast. Who might that be? The answer is found in Matthew 23. "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in" (Matt. 23:13). The Pharisee, Hillel II officially set forth the rules for "postponing" God's appointed feast days in 359 A.D. Will obeying false teachings of postponements, keep you out of the Kingdom? </div> <div> The Church of God, In Truth, has been sending out invitations to the marriage feast for the last nine years, beginning with the first PROVE ALL THINGS, dated December 1993. We never know when this might be our last opportunity to accept God's invitation to the wedding feast! Are you going to be at the royal wedding of Jesus Christ on the right date? Or, are you going to be like a foolish virgin having to go and buy God's truth after the Bridegroom has come (Matt. 25:1-12)? Many are called, but too many are sitting on a fence waiting for someone else to make a decision for them. We are told, "Be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2). </div> <div> God commands: "My Sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you" (Exo. 31:13). "Sanctified" means set apart - set apart by truth! The wedding garments we are clothed with are the garments of righteousness. That involves obeying God, and doing what is right in His eyes. "When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:11-14). </div> <div> Why will many of those called not be at the great wedding feast of Jesus Christ? They have forgotten the laws of God which command them to appear at the appointed time for the Holy (Feasts) days of God, </div> <div> (Lev. 23:1-2). </div> <div> They have stopped saving their second tithe, so they could have the resources to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and God's other Holy Days! "Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which He hath given thee" (Deu 16:13-17). </div> <div> Has God changed His mind? NO! Does God still require us to save our tithes to go to the Feast of Tabernacles? "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from Mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings" (Mal. 3:6- 8). Not only do we rob God when we don't tithe and give offerings, but we rob ourselves, because we do not receive the blessings God is so welling to give us! We miss the blessing of being able to go to God's Feasts! We miss the blessing of being together with people of like minds! Can we afford to ignore God's invitation? </div> <div> Over the years, God's people have lost the vision of the Feasts of God! They have grown lukewarm. The cares of this world and the trials of this life have caused God's people to take their focus off the Kingdom of God. Christ said, "But seek you first the kingdom of God [which the Feast of Tabernacles pictures], and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:33 ). But, most have lost the zeal for God's truth. They have put the cares of this life before the commandments of God. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure [money] is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:19-21). </div> <div> Now is the time to judge our spiritual life! "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Pet. 4:17). Now is the time to accept the invitation to the marriage of Jesus Christ. Think about it. If you receive an invitation to a close friends wedding, you would go at the time noted in the invitation. You would not pick your own time, or try to "postpone" your friends wedding date! Postponing the dates for God's Holy Days leaves you in the same position as postponing the friends wedding invitation, we do not have the prerogative to show up when we want to. God sends the invitation, we must choose whether to show up at His appointed time or not. "And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matt 25:10-13). </div> <div> We, as God's people must be ready and willing to accept God's wedding invitation, if we want to become the bride of Christ! We cannot afford to postpone the marriage! </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Church of God, In Truth </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>