November/December 2011

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TITLE="January/February 2002">January/February 2002</A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Elders Letter</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Dear Scattered Brethren and Co-workers,</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> James Russell,  Elder.</div> <bR> <div>      Greetings.  It is very up-lifting and encouraging to hear from many of you that are contacting us.  For the last nineteen years the Church of God, In Truth has been sending out Ezekiel’s  warning message to the people God has called about Satan's lies that have infiltrated and polluted the Churches of  God’s.   </div> <bR> <div>      In our first newsletter "Prove All Things" we quoted a Good News letter dated February 1939, Volume V, Number 1, written by Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, titled "Did Christ Reorganize the Church?" It said,  "Careless assumption has led most of us opened to be deceived.”  How true!</div> <div>      God's Word alerts us to  "Prove All Things."  A true Christen must be willing at all times to be corrected and chastened. He must continually seek to grow in knowledge as well as grace. It is the true  people of God who keep the commandments of God that the deceiver is wroth with today! We are told, "For there shall arise false Christ's, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24:24). Lies will pollute our thinking and beliefs if we carelessly assume without proof from scripture the things that are true. </div> <div>      Through careful study, we must continually be on guard not to place our full trust in any man, group of men or Board of Directors.  Always look for proof from God's Word.  Truth from God's Word is how the Church of God is being judged today. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God....”  ((I Peter 4:17).  A scripture in Roman 2 adds,  "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things" (Rom. 2:2).</div> <div>      When reading of our forefather's history out of God's inspired Word, we read about the sins of Judah and</div> <div> Israel. How they broke their promises to God and polluted the House of God with their practice of synchronizing, mixing God's teachings and the Babylonian's teachings!   This same scenario is being played out today, blending God's Word, His truth (that is to be obeyed), with the idolatry of man's traditions. </div> <div>      There are ordained ministers and self ordained teachers wasting God's Holy Time, teaching their followers un-provable doctrine. They do not follow God's Holy written Word. They teach and practice Judaism as if it is God ordained!! They are teaching a lie! Notice what Malachi God’s messenger said, "Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the Holiness of the LORD which He loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god”  (Judaism). The LORD will cut off the man that doeth this, the master (minister) and the scholar (teacher)" (Mal. 2:11-12).  Teaching Judaism is the same as teaching Catholicism! They are both a man made religion, a tradition of man !!!</div> <div>      The Churches of God today have the appearance of righteousness, but they are similar to the man in Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong autobiography. “Here was a man looking into the Word of God and he saw one thing, then he looked to a man who appeared to be righteous and holy, and he followed the example of man instead of the teachings of God” (Vol. I, page 304, 1967 Edition). Another quote from Mr. Armstrong, "Nowhere does your Bible tell you to rely on men. Don't go to men to learn whether we preach the truth! BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE! BELIEVE GOD. NOT MAN!!" (Herbert W. Armstrong, "If You Had Lived in the Time of Christ", Good News, October/November 1983).</div> <div>      Why are some willing to rejecting God's Word? Why do they teach others to reject God word? Are these ministers and teachers so convinced that syncretism has to be practiced in order to be in God's Kingdom? Listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote about the gospel of Christ, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers (Pharisees)" (Gal 1:6-14). </div> <div>       For practical purposes Judaism had degenerated into a system of external observances in some respect hardly distinguishable from those of the heathen religions. "It is important that we understand here that Judaism is not the teaching of the Old Testament but the oral interpretation of it. Judaism is a mixture of the ordinances of the Old Testament with the false doctrines of the Jewish elders” [Pharisees]   (Herbert W. Armstrong, Good News January 1983, page 27).</div> <div>      What is the first step toward salvation and entrance into the Kingdom of God?  It is to "believe the gospel" or the message of Jesus Christ.  It is the same message taught by His Apostles.  Belief in the message, (THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD) it is inseparable from OBEDIENCE to Jesus Christ as, our personal Savior and coming King. This fact is made abundantly clear by Christ: "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven" (Matt. 7:21).  Luke adds "And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). "This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. I5:8-9).</div> <div>      The second and third steps are linked together by the Apostle Peter in Acts 2. After having preached the gospel to a large crowd of  people he  was  asked  by  the  audience: "What shall we do?" His clear reply was:  ".... Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:37-38).  "Repent," in Bible language, means to be deeply broken up about one's past way of  life--thought,  attitudes, actions, and goals, etc--and resolve to CHANGE and to continue no longer in sin (lies), which is defined as being "the transgression of the law" of  God (I John 3:4). As Christ said, "except you repent, you shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:,3,5).</div> <div>      God's Word is to be obeyed, not man's, not Judaism and not syncretism! May God bless you and your studies in Proving All Things!</div> <bR> <div>                                                                    Church of God, In Truth</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Church of God, in Truth: P.O. Box 1120 Kimberling City; MO 65686. Tel: 417-338-0033 / Fax 417-338-0031</div> <bR> <div> James Russell,  Elder:   Tel:417-338-0033;     E-Mail: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:cogit@flash.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:cogit@flash.net"><U>cogit@flash.net</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Pete Fleming,    Elder:   Tel: 830-885-5502;   E-Mail: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:pmf06@gvtc.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:pmf06@gvtc.com"><U>pmf06@gvtc.com</U></A></FONT> </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Spanish:     Martin Martinez; Deacon:   Tel: 787-786-5856   E-Mail: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:marty@ucint.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:marty@ucint.com"><U>marty@ucint.com</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Philippines:      Romeo Samudio; Rep:        Tel: 090-333-3148  E-Mail: <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:romesamudio@yahoo.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:romesamudio@yahoo.com"><U>romesamudio@yahoo.com</U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Kenya:              Bradox Ochieng;  Rep:        Tel: +254-734-409-541  E-Mail: resetreadrest@yahoo.com         </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>