Saturday, October 6, 2007
GOD COMMANDS THAT WE AVOID CERTAIN ONES
Worldwide News, 25th Feb 1980 page 1
By Herbert W. Armstrong
IS GOD HARSH? Does call on us to mistreat those disfellowshipped for sowing the seeds of discord in God's Church? NOT AT ALL! Let us UNDERSTAND THIS!
Do we expect Jesus Christ to have friendly fellowship with SATAN? Do you think Christ is unjust in not treating Satan with what you might call LOVE?
WHY - yes WHY do some of our brethren feel we are unkind toward those doing Satan's bidding, if we OBEY Christ's following COMMANDMENTS?
God says, through the apostle Paul, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and AVOID THEM". (Romans 16:17)
Many of you brethren have deliberately DISOBEYED that commandment of God by attending "out of curiosity," a meeting of one disfellowshipped for that very thing! ARE YOU MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN GOD? ARE YOU ABOVE GOD, so that you need not heed what he says in the above paragraph?
You are going soon, to be called before the judgment seat of JESUS CHRIST. Will you say to His Majesty, "But Lord, I only wanted to hear what he had to say!" WHAT DO YOU THINK THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH WILL SAY BACK TO YOU, who make excuse for DISOBEYING his positive COMMAND?
Let's UNDERSTAND this! What doctrine have you learned? Where did you learn the doctrine? Answer? In or through the WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD! How did the Church receive its doctrine - its beliefs - its teachings - when the Church first started, A.D. 31? The Church from the start received its doctrine from the APOSTLES!
Jesus is the personal Word of God. The Bible is the written word of God. Both are the same!
In our day, Jesus Christ taught His chosen apostle through the written Word of God. The Worldwide Church of God - the same Church as founded in A.D. 31 - received its DOCTRINE through God's chosen Apostles!
Now back to Romans 16:17. Why have some leaders had to be disfellowshipped - MARKED? Because of causing divisions and offenses CONTRARY to the doctrine which you have learned!
God's Church is UNITED. We are commanded (I Corinthians 1:10) that we must ALL SPEAK THE SAME THING! Those put out were splitting the Church speaking DIFFERENT THINGS!
Now notice the next verse: "For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Romans 16:18)
And some of YOU brethren have wanted to hear those good words and fair speeches coming from persons of charisma, even though YOU WERE DISOBEYING GOD!
Notice FURTHER THE COMMANDS OF GOD!
God's message through Paul, "Now we COMMAND YOU, brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly... And if by any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed" (II Thessalonians 3:6,14)
Those ministers who have gone out, or been put out, of the Worldwide Church of God, often come to your town or city to speak. Many of them come to you in the form of a tape or cassettes, to preach their perverted doctrine, or to try to turn you AGAINST God's Church - even as they are AGAINST it! They do NOT come to you with the doctrine which JESUS CHRIST put into His one and only Church. WHAT DOES GOD COMMAND YOU? LISTEN, and OBEY!
"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed" (II John 10)
In the very beginning of the Church of God, in the first century, there were false apostles, and there were those who went out from the Church for selfish gain or for revenge - even as today.
The apostle Paul, speaking to the elders - the ministers - of the Church at Ephesus, said, "Also of your own selves [you MINISTERS] shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:30)
To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted...(II Corinthians 11:4) Now WHO was trying to turn these members of God's Church to some watered down doctrine or other teaching? Paul says they were men serving SATAN, and therefore SATAN'S MINISTERS! Notice, same chapter, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into" [that is, professing to be] apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [actually SATAN'S ministers, perhaps even themselves deceived into believing they are serving Christ] "also be transformed into the ministers of righteousness" (verses 13-15)
Brethren, STUDY THAT! If Paul had said to one of those ministers opposing God's true Church, "You are a minister of SATAN," he would have sharply said back, "I am not a minister of Satan, you are falsely accusing me!"
What about these minister who have gone out - or been PUT OUT - from the Worldwide Church of God today? They would be INDIGNANT if I should call them ministers of Satan. They would be ANGRY! They would say, as one was publicly quoted "I let go of coattails, and clasped the hand of Christ!"
Yes, they LOUDLY and indignantly say "SATAN COULD NEVER DECEIVE ME!" But Satan has deceived the whole world! He had deceived ALL OF US - but thankfully God called some of us, opened our minds to our former ways following Satan and brought us to HIM!
Perhaps these ministers now opposing God's TRUTH and HIS CHURCH are themselves now deceived. Perhaps they are sincere - BUT THEY ARE SINCERELY WRONG AND IN THE CLUTCH OF SATAN!
Well then, you may say, "Should we not show them KINDNESS and LOVE?" Well, should Christ himself show kindness and love toward Satan?
These people, even if sincere and deceived, are in SATAN'S service doing what SATAN WANTS DONE - helping Satan try to DESTROY God's one and only TRUE CHURCH!
Let's not REASON our way to DISOBEY GOD! God COMMANDS "AVOID THEM!" "AVOID THEM" does not mean to go hear them out of curiosity! You who do that are DISOBEYING GOD. You are trying to be more righteous than GOD!
Now brethren, we have not wanted to act harshly. If we follow God's instructions strictly we should DISFELLOWSHIP and MARK you who go to hear these ministers, or listen to their tapes or cassettes. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE US DO THAT BY YOUR CONTINUED DISOBEDIENCE and continued going to hear them or hear their recorded messages which are AGAINST Christ's CHURCH, and therefore AGAINST CHRIST! But there is GOVERNMENT in God's CHURCH. Just as there shall be GOVERNMENT in the Kingdom of God. It is the same government now in the Church - based on LOVE - but do not mistake GOD'S LOVE, and DISOBEY HIM!
Let me give you MORE that God says about these false ministers, seeking to draw disciples after them.
God says of them through Peter "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty [as some of these very former ministers did when they secretly prepared and distributed to the ministry the "STP"] they themselves are the servants of corruption. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world [as these former ministers did when first in God's Church] through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (II Peter 2:15-20)
God says of them through John: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us" (I John 2:19)
Through Jude GOD says: "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core" (Jude 11) What was the gainsaying of Core? This is spelled Korah in the Old Testament. Read of it in Numbers 16. Korah led a group to challenge Moses, whom GOD had chosen to be the LEADER over Israel. For opposing the one GOD chose to lead His people, God had the earth open and swallowed them up. Yet men today oppose Christ's chosen apostle!
There is MUCH MORE in the Bible about those who go out OPPOSING the PEOPLE OF GOD.
Brethren, if I as Christ's apostle COMMAND YOU not to go to hear one of these or to receive one of his tape or cassette into your home, WHAT WOULD YOU THINK? Would you be angry at me? Well, that is PRECISELY WHAT GOD COMMANDS YOU. Are you angry with HIM? Some of you have been disobeying Him!
Are we a COMMANDMENT KEEPING CHURCH? If we are, then let's OBEY. If you DON'T obey God or Jesus Christ, YOU ARE RIGHT NOW BEING JUDGED. IT IS JUST THAT SERIOUS. And it's time we all begin to take it seriously.
We haven't much time left. It's time now to COMPLETELY CLEAN UP GOD'S CHURCH, and to make His Church READY FOR CHRIST'S COMING!
Some of you do not seem to know just who have been disfellowshipped - marked - or PUT OUT of God's Church. Below is a list. We love them, God loves them - but He COMMANDS US TO AVOID THEM - because they were causing division, harming God's CHURCH - and God loves His Church TOO!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Editor's note: The following list, provided by ministerial services, is in addition to previously published lists of disfellowshipped ministers: Charles Barrett, David Bierer, Bobby Boyce, Henry Buck, Rod Cames, Lor Chamberlain, Fred Coulter, Hollis Crotts, Brent Curtis, Richard Gipe, John Hammer, Robert Hoops, Joe Horchak, Bronson James, Charles Oehlman, John Ouvrier, George Panteleeff, Ted Phillips, Bill Porter, Jack Pyle, V. Ray Pyle, David Robinson and Doug Taylor.
By Herbert W. Armstrong
IS GOD HARSH? Does call on us to mistreat those disfellowshipped for sowing the seeds of discord in God's Church? NOT AT ALL! Let us UNDERSTAND THIS!
Do we expect Jesus Christ to have friendly fellowship with SATAN? Do you think Christ is unjust in not treating Satan with what you might call LOVE?
WHY - yes WHY do some of our brethren feel we are unkind toward those doing Satan's bidding, if we OBEY Christ's following COMMANDMENTS?
God says, through the apostle Paul, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and AVOID THEM". (Romans 16:17)
Many of you brethren have deliberately DISOBEYED that commandment of God by attending "out of curiosity," a meeting of one disfellowshipped for that very thing! ARE YOU MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN GOD? ARE YOU ABOVE GOD, so that you need not heed what he says in the above paragraph?
You are going soon, to be called before the judgment seat of JESUS CHRIST. Will you say to His Majesty, "But Lord, I only wanted to hear what he had to say!" WHAT DO YOU THINK THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH WILL SAY BACK TO YOU, who make excuse for DISOBEYING his positive COMMAND?
Let's UNDERSTAND this! What doctrine have you learned? Where did you learn the doctrine? Answer? In or through the WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD! How did the Church receive its doctrine - its beliefs - its teachings - when the Church first started, A.D. 31? The Church from the start received its doctrine from the APOSTLES!
Jesus is the personal Word of God. The Bible is the written word of God. Both are the same!
In our day, Jesus Christ taught His chosen apostle through the written Word of God. The Worldwide Church of God - the same Church as founded in A.D. 31 - received its DOCTRINE through God's chosen Apostles!
Now back to Romans 16:17. Why have some leaders had to be disfellowshipped - MARKED? Because of causing divisions and offenses CONTRARY to the doctrine which you have learned!
God's Church is UNITED. We are commanded (I Corinthians 1:10) that we must ALL SPEAK THE SAME THING! Those put out were splitting the Church speaking DIFFERENT THINGS!
Now notice the next verse: "For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Romans 16:18)
And some of YOU brethren have wanted to hear those good words and fair speeches coming from persons of charisma, even though YOU WERE DISOBEYING GOD!
Notice FURTHER THE COMMANDS OF GOD!
God's message through Paul, "Now we COMMAND YOU, brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly... And if by any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed" (II Thessalonians 3:6,14)
Those ministers who have gone out, or been put out, of the Worldwide Church of God, often come to your town or city to speak. Many of them come to you in the form of a tape or cassettes, to preach their perverted doctrine, or to try to turn you AGAINST God's Church - even as they are AGAINST it! They do NOT come to you with the doctrine which JESUS CHRIST put into His one and only Church. WHAT DOES GOD COMMAND YOU? LISTEN, and OBEY!
"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed" (II John 10)
In the very beginning of the Church of God, in the first century, there were false apostles, and there were those who went out from the Church for selfish gain or for revenge - even as today.
The apostle Paul, speaking to the elders - the ministers - of the Church at Ephesus, said, "Also of your own selves [you MINISTERS] shall men arise speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts 20:30)
To the church at Corinth, Paul wrote: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted...(II Corinthians 11:4) Now WHO was trying to turn these members of God's Church to some watered down doctrine or other teaching? Paul says they were men serving SATAN, and therefore SATAN'S MINISTERS! Notice, same chapter, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into" [that is, professing to be] apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [actually SATAN'S ministers, perhaps even themselves deceived into believing they are serving Christ] "also be transformed into the ministers of righteousness" (verses 13-15)
Brethren, STUDY THAT! If Paul had said to one of those ministers opposing God's true Church, "You are a minister of SATAN," he would have sharply said back, "I am not a minister of Satan, you are falsely accusing me!"
What about these minister who have gone out - or been PUT OUT - from the Worldwide Church of God today? They would be INDIGNANT if I should call them ministers of Satan. They would be ANGRY! They would say, as one was publicly quoted "I let go of coattails, and clasped the hand of Christ!"
Yes, they LOUDLY and indignantly say "SATAN COULD NEVER DECEIVE ME!" But Satan has deceived the whole world! He had deceived ALL OF US - but thankfully God called some of us, opened our minds to our former ways following Satan and brought us to HIM!
Perhaps these ministers now opposing God's TRUTH and HIS CHURCH are themselves now deceived. Perhaps they are sincere - BUT THEY ARE SINCERELY WRONG AND IN THE CLUTCH OF SATAN!
Well then, you may say, "Should we not show them KINDNESS and LOVE?" Well, should Christ himself show kindness and love toward Satan?
These people, even if sincere and deceived, are in SATAN'S service doing what SATAN WANTS DONE - helping Satan try to DESTROY God's one and only TRUE CHURCH!
Let's not REASON our way to DISOBEY GOD! God COMMANDS "AVOID THEM!" "AVOID THEM" does not mean to go hear them out of curiosity! You who do that are DISOBEYING GOD. You are trying to be more righteous than GOD!
Now brethren, we have not wanted to act harshly. If we follow God's instructions strictly we should DISFELLOWSHIP and MARK you who go to hear these ministers, or listen to their tapes or cassettes. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE US DO THAT BY YOUR CONTINUED DISOBEDIENCE and continued going to hear them or hear their recorded messages which are AGAINST Christ's CHURCH, and therefore AGAINST CHRIST! But there is GOVERNMENT in God's CHURCH. Just as there shall be GOVERNMENT in the Kingdom of God. It is the same government now in the Church - based on LOVE - but do not mistake GOD'S LOVE, and DISOBEY HIM!
Let me give you MORE that God says about these false ministers, seeking to draw disciples after them.
God says of them through Peter "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty [as some of these very former ministers did when they secretly prepared and distributed to the ministry the "STP"] they themselves are the servants of corruption. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world [as these former ministers did when first in God's Church] through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. (II Peter 2:15-20)
God says of them through John: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us" (I John 2:19)
Through Jude GOD says: "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core" (Jude 11) What was the gainsaying of Core? This is spelled Korah in the Old Testament. Read of it in Numbers 16. Korah led a group to challenge Moses, whom GOD had chosen to be the LEADER over Israel. For opposing the one GOD chose to lead His people, God had the earth open and swallowed them up. Yet men today oppose Christ's chosen apostle!
There is MUCH MORE in the Bible about those who go out OPPOSING the PEOPLE OF GOD.
Brethren, if I as Christ's apostle COMMAND YOU not to go to hear one of these or to receive one of his tape or cassette into your home, WHAT WOULD YOU THINK? Would you be angry at me? Well, that is PRECISELY WHAT GOD COMMANDS YOU. Are you angry with HIM? Some of you have been disobeying Him!
Are we a COMMANDMENT KEEPING CHURCH? If we are, then let's OBEY. If you DON'T obey God or Jesus Christ, YOU ARE RIGHT NOW BEING JUDGED. IT IS JUST THAT SERIOUS. And it's time we all begin to take it seriously.
We haven't much time left. It's time now to COMPLETELY CLEAN UP GOD'S CHURCH, and to make His Church READY FOR CHRIST'S COMING!
Some of you do not seem to know just who have been disfellowshipped - marked - or PUT OUT of God's Church. Below is a list. We love them, God loves them - but He COMMANDS US TO AVOID THEM - because they were causing division, harming God's CHURCH - and God loves His Church TOO!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Editor's note: The following list, provided by ministerial services, is in addition to previously published lists of disfellowshipped ministers: Charles Barrett, David Bierer, Bobby Boyce, Henry Buck, Rod Cames, Lor Chamberlain, Fred Coulter, Hollis Crotts, Brent Curtis, Richard Gipe, John Hammer, Robert Hoops, Joe Horchak, Bronson James, Charles Oehlman, John Ouvrier, George Panteleeff, Ted Phillips, Bill Porter, Jack Pyle, V. Ray Pyle, David Robinson and Doug Taylor.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
THE PLAIN TRUTH ABOUT THE COVENANTS
Good News (and Worldwide News) - December 18, 1978
by Herbert W. Armstrong page 1 Good News December 18, 1978
One of the most important doctrines Jesus Christ has put in His Church is that of the "Old" and "New Covenants." WHY should these be misunderstood? For that matter, WHY should the Sabbath truth, the annual Holy Days and festivals, tithing, healing or even salvation? Yet they are misunderstood.
God has made a number of covenants, among them the Noachian covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, what we call the old covenant with the nation Israel, the separate covenant, etc.
In fact it might be of passing interest to know that my first "sermon," if it could have been called that, was a message to Church of God people near Jefferson, Ore., on a covenant that appeared to be news to them - the separate Sabbath covenant of Exodus 31:12-18. Whether worthy to be called a sermon or not, it was enthusiastically received with joy - for those people loved the Sabbath and rejoiced in receiving new light concerning it.
However, I am concerned here only about the "Old Covenant and the New Covenant."
Covenant defined
Let me first define covenant. Webster defines the word as "a usually formal, solemn and binding agreement: compact." In the biblical usage a covenant is a contract or agreement, solemnly binding, under which God promises certain rewards or blessings, conditioned on man's promise of performance.
A grave mistake very often carelessly made is to confuse the word covenant with testament. We speak of the New Testament and the Old Testament Scriptures.
A testament is not a covenant, and a covenant is not a testament. Yet common usage seems to confuse them. It is important, at the outset, to understand the difference.
The word testament is defined as an act or written instrument by which a person bequeaths or wills certain of his possessions to another. It may or may not be a conditioned will. It is not necessarily payment or reward for work or obligation performed.
The old covenant between God and the nation Israel was NOT a testament or will. It was an agreement by which the children of Israel covenanted with God to obey Him, and God promised material and national blessings and dominance. But He did NOT give - or promise to give - the Holy Spirit and eternal salvation.
Before proceeding further, let's get everything in its proper setting.
Adam had to choose
The first man, Adam, was required to make a choice. The super archangel Lucifer, having become Satan the devil, an immortal spirit being of tremendous supernatural power, was there when Adam and Eve were created. In order to QUALIFY to receive God's Holy Spirit - symbolized by the tree of life - and also to restore the government of God to earth, Adam had to make the choice of whether to reject Satan and Satan's attitude and way and choose to obey God and the government of God.
But Adam chose to reject God and believe Satan. He made the fateful decision - for himself and his posterity, which is the whole world. God drove out the man from the Garden of Eden and shut mankind off from access to the Holy Spirit - except such as God should specially call.
We need the above background to understand. Too often people start viewing biblical teaching in a manner comparable to tuning in a movie two-thirds of the way through. We need this background of what went before.
But God had called Noah and saved humanity alive through his family. God had called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), fathers of the PROMISES. One of the promises to Abraham was multiple "seed" - nations, the promised land - material national greatness.
Four hundred thirty years after Abraham God called the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to be a special people of God and to inherit the promised land. Other nations were still CUT OFF from God. God had specially prepared and called Moses. Through Moses God made the proposition to the Israelites. He gave them their choice.
God's proposal to Israel
God proposed to the Israelites: "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians... Now, therefore, IF ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people..." (Exodus 19:4-5).
There was a very large IF in this covenant agreement. But the people glibly agreed. "All that the Eternal hath spoken we will do..." they promised.
So the covenant was ratified by blood (Exodus 24:4-8). It was also a marriage covenant by which Israel promised to obey her Husband. It made them a separate NATION. Its basic law was the spiritual Law - the Ten Commandments. He gave them His civil law of statutes and judgments to govern them as a nation. He also gave them (as a CHURCH or Congregation) the law of Moses - a sacrificial law as a substitute for the sacrifice of Christ to remind them of sin and a ceremonial law of physical works (Greek, ergon in New Testament), rituals, and things to do morning, noon and night - a temporary substitute for the Holy Spirit.
But something was wrong with that covenant. Religionists generally seem to blame the wrong on God. What was wrong was the flagrant disobedience of the people.
New covenant prophesied
The prophet Jeremiah summed it up: "Behold the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers... which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Eternal: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel; after those days, saith the Eternal, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
This prophecy was inspired by one of God's holy prophets to become part of the FOUNDATION of the Church of God under the New Testament. And so, in teaching the Church, this was quoted in Hebrews 8:6-10.
Most Protestant churches teach that the fault with the old covenant was God's law, and that as the old covenant was made with Israel the new will be made with GENTILES - and as the old had law, the new abolishes God's Ten Commandments and is based wholly on PROMISES. Our ministers need to know how to meet that erroneous teaching.
The new covenant is made also with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Hebrews 8:8). A Spirit-begotten gentile becomes one of Israel spiritually, of the household of GOD (Ephesians 2:19).
It will remedy the fault of the old covenant (disobedience of the people) and will be made with those in whose hearts is the spiritual law of God, as these scriptures say.
Old covenant a marriage contract
The old covenant was made with the carnal children of Israel and was a marriage contract in which Israel engaged in whoredom exceeding individual human harlots.
The old covenant was made with a people on their PROMISE to obey. They disobeyed. The new shall be made only with a Spirit-born Church, a people who, in this mortal lifetime, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, have OVERCOME Satan (as Jesus did, and as the first Adam failed to do), have been begotten of the Holy Spirit, have already PROVED their obedience. The old covenant was made with sinning mortals. The new will be made with righteous immortals!
Now, where are we, today?
Both Israel and Judah violated their solemn agreement with God (actually who became Christ). As a wife, they spiritually ran off. Finally God gave Israel a bill of divorce. Yet, even after that He entreated Israel to return to Him - but she wouldn't.
To make that Old Testament marriage finally end, Christ, her Husband, died, so that she might be cleansed of her sins and become party to the New Testament. In Romans 11 we read of how converted gentiles are like branches of a wild olive tree, broken off and grafted into the natural olive tree of Israel. But it shows how the natural branches broken off because of sin may also be grafted back into the Israel tree.
What are we under TODAY?
Then WHAT ARE WE UNDER TODAY?
The old covenant is ENDED. The apostle Paul said, "... God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (II Corinthians 3:6).
Yet the new covenant HAS NOT YET BEEN MADE! Its terms and conditions have been revealed to us through Christ. We ministers preach it. And even though as a final MARRIAGE COVENANT it has not been made - that is, in contract language, signed, sealed and delivered, those whom God has called are privileged to have God's law written in our hearts, to have the life-begetting sin-overcoming Holy Spirit to open our minds to spiritual UNDERSTANDING, to guide us in God's ways, and, within us, to EMPOWER us to overcome Satan and DO THE WORK OF GOD!
Some have misunderstood
But some have seriously MISUNDERSTOOD - hopefully not any of our ministers. Seeing that the old covenant has ended and supposing the old covenant and the old testament are one and the same thing, they reject, for example, Malachi 3:8-12, which makes failure to PAY the tithe each OWES to God the SIN of STEALING - and the HEINOUS SIN of stealing from GOD at that!
In the days of Jesus' ministry, the writings we now call "the Old Testament," were not called that. In fact the old covenant was NOT A TESTAMENT AT ALL! Those writings then were called "the law, the prophets and the writings," or "the Psalms."
When Jesus said, "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets," He was saying that He did not come to end the Old Testament (as we now call them) Scriptures. God's CHURCH is built on the very FOUNDATION of the apostles AND THE PROPHETS, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone!
Much of the Church's doctrine and teaching comes from the prophets, as their writings are recorded in what today we call Old Testament Scriptures.
The Old Testament Scriptures record for us, today, all the history of ancient Israel, the old covenant and God's dealings under that covenant.
The Worldwide Church of God is based on THE WHOLE BIBLE.
Those CALLED of God are privileged to live according to the conditions of the NEW covenant, though the actual covenant has not been, as we might say today, yet "signed, sealed and delivered." Those NOT called specially by God are, as were all outside Israel in Old Testament times, cut off from God - not being now judged - neither lost nor saved. Their time is yet to come!
by Herbert W. Armstrong page 1 Good News December 18, 1978
One of the most important doctrines Jesus Christ has put in His Church is that of the "Old" and "New Covenants." WHY should these be misunderstood? For that matter, WHY should the Sabbath truth, the annual Holy Days and festivals, tithing, healing or even salvation? Yet they are misunderstood.
God has made a number of covenants, among them the Noachian covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, what we call the old covenant with the nation Israel, the separate covenant, etc.
In fact it might be of passing interest to know that my first "sermon," if it could have been called that, was a message to Church of God people near Jefferson, Ore., on a covenant that appeared to be news to them - the separate Sabbath covenant of Exodus 31:12-18. Whether worthy to be called a sermon or not, it was enthusiastically received with joy - for those people loved the Sabbath and rejoiced in receiving new light concerning it.
However, I am concerned here only about the "Old Covenant and the New Covenant."
Covenant defined
Let me first define covenant. Webster defines the word as "a usually formal, solemn and binding agreement: compact." In the biblical usage a covenant is a contract or agreement, solemnly binding, under which God promises certain rewards or blessings, conditioned on man's promise of performance.
A grave mistake very often carelessly made is to confuse the word covenant with testament. We speak of the New Testament and the Old Testament Scriptures.
A testament is not a covenant, and a covenant is not a testament. Yet common usage seems to confuse them. It is important, at the outset, to understand the difference.
The word testament is defined as an act or written instrument by which a person bequeaths or wills certain of his possessions to another. It may or may not be a conditioned will. It is not necessarily payment or reward for work or obligation performed.
The old covenant between God and the nation Israel was NOT a testament or will. It was an agreement by which the children of Israel covenanted with God to obey Him, and God promised material and national blessings and dominance. But He did NOT give - or promise to give - the Holy Spirit and eternal salvation.
Before proceeding further, let's get everything in its proper setting.
Adam had to choose
The first man, Adam, was required to make a choice. The super archangel Lucifer, having become Satan the devil, an immortal spirit being of tremendous supernatural power, was there when Adam and Eve were created. In order to QUALIFY to receive God's Holy Spirit - symbolized by the tree of life - and also to restore the government of God to earth, Adam had to make the choice of whether to reject Satan and Satan's attitude and way and choose to obey God and the government of God.
But Adam chose to reject God and believe Satan. He made the fateful decision - for himself and his posterity, which is the whole world. God drove out the man from the Garden of Eden and shut mankind off from access to the Holy Spirit - except such as God should specially call.
We need the above background to understand. Too often people start viewing biblical teaching in a manner comparable to tuning in a movie two-thirds of the way through. We need this background of what went before.
But God had called Noah and saved humanity alive through his family. God had called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), fathers of the PROMISES. One of the promises to Abraham was multiple "seed" - nations, the promised land - material national greatness.
Four hundred thirty years after Abraham God called the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to be a special people of God and to inherit the promised land. Other nations were still CUT OFF from God. God had specially prepared and called Moses. Through Moses God made the proposition to the Israelites. He gave them their choice.
God's proposal to Israel
God proposed to the Israelites: "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians... Now, therefore, IF ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people..." (Exodus 19:4-5).
There was a very large IF in this covenant agreement. But the people glibly agreed. "All that the Eternal hath spoken we will do..." they promised.
So the covenant was ratified by blood (Exodus 24:4-8). It was also a marriage covenant by which Israel promised to obey her Husband. It made them a separate NATION. Its basic law was the spiritual Law - the Ten Commandments. He gave them His civil law of statutes and judgments to govern them as a nation. He also gave them (as a CHURCH or Congregation) the law of Moses - a sacrificial law as a substitute for the sacrifice of Christ to remind them of sin and a ceremonial law of physical works (Greek, ergon in New Testament), rituals, and things to do morning, noon and night - a temporary substitute for the Holy Spirit.
But something was wrong with that covenant. Religionists generally seem to blame the wrong on God. What was wrong was the flagrant disobedience of the people.
New covenant prophesied
The prophet Jeremiah summed it up: "Behold the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers... which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Eternal: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel; after those days, saith the Eternal, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
This prophecy was inspired by one of God's holy prophets to become part of the FOUNDATION of the Church of God under the New Testament. And so, in teaching the Church, this was quoted in Hebrews 8:6-10.
Most Protestant churches teach that the fault with the old covenant was God's law, and that as the old covenant was made with Israel the new will be made with GENTILES - and as the old had law, the new abolishes God's Ten Commandments and is based wholly on PROMISES. Our ministers need to know how to meet that erroneous teaching.
The new covenant is made also with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Hebrews 8:8). A Spirit-begotten gentile becomes one of Israel spiritually, of the household of GOD (Ephesians 2:19).
It will remedy the fault of the old covenant (disobedience of the people) and will be made with those in whose hearts is the spiritual law of God, as these scriptures say.
Old covenant a marriage contract
The old covenant was made with the carnal children of Israel and was a marriage contract in which Israel engaged in whoredom exceeding individual human harlots.
The old covenant was made with a people on their PROMISE to obey. They disobeyed. The new shall be made only with a Spirit-born Church, a people who, in this mortal lifetime, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, have OVERCOME Satan (as Jesus did, and as the first Adam failed to do), have been begotten of the Holy Spirit, have already PROVED their obedience. The old covenant was made with sinning mortals. The new will be made with righteous immortals!
Now, where are we, today?
Both Israel and Judah violated their solemn agreement with God (actually who became Christ). As a wife, they spiritually ran off. Finally God gave Israel a bill of divorce. Yet, even after that He entreated Israel to return to Him - but she wouldn't.
To make that Old Testament marriage finally end, Christ, her Husband, died, so that she might be cleansed of her sins and become party to the New Testament. In Romans 11 we read of how converted gentiles are like branches of a wild olive tree, broken off and grafted into the natural olive tree of Israel. But it shows how the natural branches broken off because of sin may also be grafted back into the Israel tree.
What are we under TODAY?
Then WHAT ARE WE UNDER TODAY?
The old covenant is ENDED. The apostle Paul said, "... God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" (II Corinthians 3:6).
Yet the new covenant HAS NOT YET BEEN MADE! Its terms and conditions have been revealed to us through Christ. We ministers preach it. And even though as a final MARRIAGE COVENANT it has not been made - that is, in contract language, signed, sealed and delivered, those whom God has called are privileged to have God's law written in our hearts, to have the life-begetting sin-overcoming Holy Spirit to open our minds to spiritual UNDERSTANDING, to guide us in God's ways, and, within us, to EMPOWER us to overcome Satan and DO THE WORK OF GOD!
Some have misunderstood
But some have seriously MISUNDERSTOOD - hopefully not any of our ministers. Seeing that the old covenant has ended and supposing the old covenant and the old testament are one and the same thing, they reject, for example, Malachi 3:8-12, which makes failure to PAY the tithe each OWES to God the SIN of STEALING - and the HEINOUS SIN of stealing from GOD at that!
In the days of Jesus' ministry, the writings we now call "the Old Testament," were not called that. In fact the old covenant was NOT A TESTAMENT AT ALL! Those writings then were called "the law, the prophets and the writings," or "the Psalms."
When Jesus said, "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets," He was saying that He did not come to end the Old Testament (as we now call them) Scriptures. God's CHURCH is built on the very FOUNDATION of the apostles AND THE PROPHETS, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone!
Much of the Church's doctrine and teaching comes from the prophets, as their writings are recorded in what today we call Old Testament Scriptures.
The Old Testament Scriptures record for us, today, all the history of ancient Israel, the old covenant and God's dealings under that covenant.
The Worldwide Church of God is based on THE WHOLE BIBLE.
Those CALLED of God are privileged to live according to the conditions of the NEW covenant, though the actual covenant has not been, as we might say today, yet "signed, sealed and delivered." Those NOT called specially by God are, as were all outside Israel in Old Testament times, cut off from God - not being now judged - neither lost nor saved. Their time is yet to come!
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