Church of God News

Herbert W. Armstrong

COGwriter

Tomorrow is USA Independence Day.

Many in the USA will celebrate its independence from Britain.

But what about being independent of the world?

The Apostle John wrote:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

The world and its ways will pass away and be gone.

But being a true Christian allows one to abide forever.

Should one be independent from the Philadelphia portion of the Church of God?

Regarding the Church, the late Pastor General of the old Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:

Jesus Christ said: “I will build my Church.” What IS that Church — human organization, or spiritual organism? Of whom composed? How does one become a member? Does it have a divine Commission?—and if so, WHAT? — and HOW carried out? By organization, or by individuals acting independently?

MANY ARE CONFUSED about the nature of the Church founded by Jesus Christ. How shall we know? WHO or WHAT is the AUTHORITY to give us the right answer?

It was Jesus Christ who said, “I will build my Church.” He is the “WORD” of God (John 1:1-3) in person — the Spokesman. The Bible is the Word of God in writing — the Maker’s Instruction Book for mankind. The Bible, therefore, is the Authority.

HOW One Becomes a Member

The first place the word “church” is used following the inception of that Church (Pentecost, 31 A.D.) is Acts 2:47: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” This immediately gives insight into the means by which one enters the Church as a member. God adds each one. It is God who puts each one into the Church as a member.

Again, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (I Cor. 12:13). The word “baptized” means immersed — put into. So, again, it is GOD who puts one into His Church. And HOW? By His Spirit! When God bestows within one His Holy Spirit, that puts the believer into the Church.

So note it well! One cannot enter the true Church by putting him{her}self in — by “joining. One may join a social club, a sports team, or a secular group — but NOT the Church of God. Incidentally, is it not significant that so many of this world’s “churches” have become, virtually, just social clubs?

Notice, too, the Church is here referred to as “one body.” In several passages the Church is referred to as “the body of Christ.” I Corinthians 12:12 says: “For as the body is one, and hath many members. …

How the “Body of Christ”

The twelve disciples became the twelve original apostles. But HOW did they, with the other disciples, become “the BODY of Christ”?

While Jesus was starting the Work of God, He said, “I can of mine own self do nothing,” and again, “The Son can do nothing of himself,” and again, “… but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”

It was the power of God’s Holy Spirit, dwelling in His individual human body, doing THE WORK OF GOD.

Without this same Spirit dwelling in them, His disciples would be utterly impotent. The very night before His crucifixion He said to them: “As the branch [of a grapevine] cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches… without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:4, 5). It is sap flowing from the vine into the branch that produces grapes. It is the Spirit of God and of the living Christ, flowing into the collective Body that is the Church that produces results.

After His resurrection, just before ascending to God’s throne in heaven, Jesus commanded these apostles: that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father…” — that is, for the Holy Spirit, the same power that did the Work of God in Jesus’ human body.

On the day of Pentecost, 31 A.D., this POWER of God did come and enter into the COLLECTIVE BODY — the Church — that now was to carry on the Work of God.

The Head of God’s Church

When Jesus ascended to the throne of God (the Father of the divine creating — ruling — governing Family) in heaven, He became the Head of the Church. Notice Eph. 1:22, 23: “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body.”

The CHURCH is composed of those who are the begotten CHILDREN OF GOD — of the FATHER of the divine Family. One becomes a begotten SON of God upon receiving within him{her} the Holy Spirit of God.

This Spirit comes from the very Person of God — it is, first of all, the impregnating LIFE of God — divine, eternal, ever — living LIFE. As the physical sperm cell from the body of a human father begets a human embryo that develops into a fetus and later is born a human child, so the Spirit of God begets us into a state by which we are called, even now in this life, sons of God (I John 3:2).

Of What Composed

And thus it is that the CHURCH is composed of those who are the children of God. That is why the CHURCH is the Church of GOD, even as the Old Testament Church was called “the congregation of Israel” — the human children of Israel.

That is why, also, one CANNOT PUT HIM{HER}SELF into the Church by “deciding to JOIN.” When he becomes a son of GOD, by having and being led by the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:14), then God has PUT HIM{HER} INTO the Church by begetting him{her} as a son {daughter/child} of God.

“Joining” a group that calls itself a church — having one’s name on the membership roll of some group calling itself a church — does not make one in true fact a member of THE Church Jesus founded. Here is positive proof: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9). …

GOD Chooses Each Member’s Job.

We do not all do the same job!

These special spiritual gifts are given “to profit withal.” That is, to profit THE WORK — not the individual.

These gifts are aptitudes, or spiritual “tools” to use in doing the Work — not ornaments to embellish the person, as some have seemed to think — bragging about the least of the gifts.

God Himself decides which gifts to give each member: “But all these [gifts] worketh that one and the self — same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as HE will” (1 Cor. 12: verse 11).

Continue: “For the body [of Christ — the Church] is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?” (Verses 14-15.)

If one young man has been given special aptitude for a certain more or less routine office job that is actually a big help in the whole organized Work, he is doing HIS PART in the Work. But is each one free to decide whether he will be the apostle, or the pastor, or a teacher, or a routine office worker making it possible for them to do their jobs?

Here is your answer: “But now hath GOD set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased HIM” (verse 18).

But what if one is placed, by those God has set over him, in an office that this individual considers very unimportant, not honorable enough to suit his vanity?

Here’s the answer: “Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem [to us] to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness… but GOD hath tempered the body together… THAT THERE SHOULD BE NO SCHISM [division] IN THE BODY…. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And GOD hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of languages. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?… but covet earnestly the best gifts…” (verses 22-31). (Armstrong HW. Just What is the Church? Tomorrow’s World magazine, July-August 1970)

What about being part of the truest Church?

Well, although the Worldwide Church of God is no more, the true Church of God was never to die out as Jesus said:

18 … I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)

That means that the true Church would not die out, but continue.

1 Let brotherly love {Philadelphia} continue. (Hebrews 13:1)

We strive to do that.

Yet, Jesus warned in His messages to the churches in Revelation 2 & 3 that most end time Christians would NOT be Philadelphian. Most will be Laodicean–a term that roughly translates as “people judge.” While many seem to think that is great, Jesus harshly scolded the Laodiceans (see Revelation 3:14-22).

We have links to articles on dozens of Christian groups explaining where they differ from the Bible and the Philadelphian work, and more in the CCOG in the article: How does the Continuing Church of God differ from other Sabbatarian COG groups?

The Apostle Paul wrote:

14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them (2 Timothy 3:14)

Those who used to claim to be part of the old Worldwide Church of God should consider what Herbert W. Armstrong taught about God’s government in the Church of God.

In a sermon titled Rely on God, Herbert W. Armstrong said:

KEY ISSUE IS GOVERNMENT …

THE WHOLE THING WAS GOVERNMENT! THE THING THAT SATAN TOOK AWAY WAS GOVERNMENT. THE THING THAT CHRIST IS COMING TO RESTORE IS GOVERNMENT. AND WHAT HE RAISED ME UP FOR WAS TO RESTORE GOVERNMENT IN HIS CHURCH. And the whole test, the challenge in the first place …, was a point of government. (Armstrong HW. Rely on God. Sermon, April 6, 1985)

Notice that Herbert W. Armstrong said God raised him up to restore church government in His church. And he did for the Philadelphians, though most end time Christians do not accept that.

Do not let naysayers, negative past experiences, and/or accusers of the brethren convince you to not accept proper hierarchical church governance.

Here is some of what Herbert W. Armstrong taught:

The government of God has been restored to the Church, and the government of God has been placed in the Church. You read that in Ephesians 4 and I Corinthians 12. Christ is the head of the Church and under Christ in the administration of the government. … And the Church is restored in that form of government. The Sardis Church even didn’t have the right form of government (Sermon. Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era by Herbert W. Armstrong given on December 17, 1983).

The government of God is of necessity government from the top down. It cannot be ‘government by the consent of the governed’ …

The Presbyterian Church is organized with the presbyters or ministers in control. The Congregational Church delegates top authority to the congregation–“government by the consent of the governed.”

And so it goes. The churches of this world of Satan are organized according to humanly devised patterns. But the Bible gives explicit directions in regard to Church government. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church. God’s form of government is, indeed, hierarchical. God the Father is head over Christ–the sole Lawgiver and supreme authority…

To administer these many operations, God–not a vote of the members–“hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers.” Or, as stated in more detail in Ephesians 4:11 (RSV): “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.”

An apostle is “one sent forth” with Christ’s gospel message, including the supervision of proclaiming that message to the world by means and persons other than himself. Also an apostle was given supervision over all the local congregations or churches (I Cor. 16:1). The apostle Paul had oversight over the churches of the Gentile world (II Cor. 11:28).

The prophets set in the foundation of the Church…

Evangelists were leading ministers, proclaiming the gospel to the public, even raising up local churches and having supervision over some churches under the apostle. Therefore an evangelist may hold executive functions under the apostle in the Church headquarters or work today. An evangelist is not necessarily stationary. Pastors are stationary pastors over a local church or contingent group of local churches…

Old Testament Israel, the Church of the Old Testament, was also a nation in the world–though not OF the world as God organized it. Its GOVERNMENT was HIERARCHICAL. It was theocratic government–government from the top down–the very opposite of “democracy.”

The CHURCH is organized under theocratic government, hierarchical in form. The members do not set officials in the Church. God sets EVEN THE LAY MEMBERS in the Church (I Cor. 12:18).

Jesus said explicitly, “No MAN CAN come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44). The world, except for the specially called, is CUT OFF from God!

We have just covered the truth that GOD set officials to serve on the human level under Christ, in the Church. Members do not elect them. Yet in the churches of this world some believe in government by the entire congregation–“democracy”–and call themselves “Congregational.” Others have organized themselves into government by ministers or presbytery and call themselves “Presbyterian.” ” (Mystery of the Ages, Dodd & Mead, 1985, pp.49, 242, 244, 246-247).

The ‘loner’-the individual Christian’ who wants to climb up into the kingdom some other way than by Christ and His way through His Church-is not being trained in Christ’s manner of training, to rule and reign with Christ in his kingdom!… The person who says, ‘I will get my salvation alone, outside of the Church’ is totally deceived.

“Individual Christians”–Ex-Members

Now what about the “private,” or “individual Christian,” who says, “I don’t want to be a part of the Church–I want to seek my salvation direct and alone with Christ.” …

The Church is ORGANIZED on GOD’S pattern of mutual teamwork and cooperation to function perfectly together. They shall become the GOD FAMILY as it shall exist at the time of Christ’s Second Coming. Remember God IS that divine FAMILY! (Mystery of the Ages, pp. 270-271).

God has always, in dealing with humans, worked through ONE MAN at a time — one who believed God! Some in ancient Israel challenged this one-man leadership. Some, like-wise, have challenged it today! First, Moses’ own brother and sister challenged his one-man leadership. … That is the case of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On.

“And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes … famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses … Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Eternal is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Eternal?” (Numbers 16:1-3).

They accused Moses of appointing himself — though there had been ample evidence by the fruits of Moses’ leadership and even miracles God did through him, that they were without excuse, just as many are today. What happened to them?

“And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up … They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation” (verses 32-33). …

God has always worked through one man, primarily, at a time. God chose David and worked through him. Two of his sons, at different times, conspired to wrest his throne from him. But God protected David, and those sons were destroyed! …

In founding God’s Church, Jesus worked primarily through one man, Peter, even though He originally chose His 12 disciples. Few have ever noticed that Peter was the real leader… “Simeon [PETER] hath declared …” — And James merely CONFIRMED Peter’s decision, making it official. That ought to make clear this crucial 15th chapter of Acts — the one classic example of settling any disputed doctrine in the Church. And, though there were other apostles, God worked primarily through ONE man –PETER! Has God changed? Or is He the SAME still today? …

The Jerusalem conference (Acts 15) showed that PETER was predominant over even Paul, although Paul was the ONE MAN God worked through primarily in the ministry to gentiles. … Acts 15. This crucial crux chapter has been misinterpreted, twisted and distorted. I have tried to take space to MAKE IT CLEAR in this article. The other apostles and ministers were all in confusion, arguing and disputing. But CHRIST silenced them by speaking through His CHOSEN chief apostle, PETER! (Armstrong HW, And NOW Christ Sets Church Back On Track Doctrinally. Good News, April 1979).

Jesus came to start God’s world, and He came to start it by starting the Church. The Church was started with one Man. … Now He came to restore the government of God on this earth. …  It’s a matter of government. It’s a matter that makes sense all the way through. There had to be a Church Age to have time to train people that God is calling out of the world. … Now restitution means restoring to a former state or condition, or restoring something that had been taken away and lost. Jesus is coming to restore the GOVERNMENT of God. He’s coming to knock Satan off of that throne over the world, and Christ will sit on the throne and rule over all nations. … And then, finally, we are going to go out to the other planets all over the vast universe. … In other words, I’m giving you THE TRUNK OF THE TREE—the roots, and the trunk, and the major branches. And the others fill in with the smaller branches, and its smaller branches than that; then the little twigs. And all those are important too. They are all part of the same tree. (Armstrong HW. The Trunk of the Tree. Sermon, October 16, 1983)

The government of God has been restored to the Church, and the government of God has been placed in the Church. You read that in Ephesians 4 and I Corinthians 12. Christ is the head of the Church and under Christ in the administration of the government are an apostle or apostles, then evangelists, then pastors, then all are called elders, all ministers all the way up clear down to the lowest. So then there are teachers and elders both speaking elders and preaching elders, deacons and deaconesses. And the Church is restored in that form of government. The Sardis Church even didn’t have the right form of government (Sermon. Mission of the Philadelphia Church Era by Herbert W. Armstrong given on December 17, 1983).

God has always, in dealing with humans, worked through ONE MAN at a time — one who believed God! Some in ancient Israel challenged this one-man leadership. Some, like-wise, have challenged it today! First, Moses’ own brother and sister challenged his one-man leadership. Miriam and Aaron said, “Hath the Eternal indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?” (Numbers 12:2). And the Eternal heard it… . And the Eternal came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth … My servant Moses is not so” (as the others), “who is faithful in all mine house … Wherefore then were ye NOT AFRAID to speak against my servant Moses?” (verses 5-8). “And the anger of the Eternal was kindled against them” (verse 9). And Miriam was inflicted with leprosy for a while. Yet, though our members and ministers all know this, some are NOT AFRAID to speak contemptuously, in hostility or defamingly against Christ’s apostle today! They need not fear ME! For I will not turn on them or strike them.

Why, then, do they not fear GOD? …  In founding God’s Church, Jesus worked primarily through one man, Peter, even though He originally chose His 12 disciples. Few have ever noticed how Peter was the real leader. Jesus had told His disciples to go NOT to the gentiles, but to the “lost sheep of the House of Israel.” … Notice now PETER’S preeminence. Few have ever put all these scriptures together as I shall now do. This shows PETER was leader. … And, though there were other apostles, God worked primarily through ONE man –PETER! Has God changed? Or is He the SAME still today? … The Jerusalem conference (Acts 15) showed that PETER was predominant over even Paul, although Paul was the ONE MAN God worked through primarily in the ministry to gentiles. The CHURCH is GOD’S Church. (Armstrong, Herbert W. And NOW Christ Sets Church Back On Track Doctrinally. Good News, April 1979).

God has always worked primarily through ONE MAN at a time — as Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, then Joseph — later Moses, then Joshua, later Samuel, then David — and, in the New Testament Church, PETER. (Armstrong HW. How Christ Gives The Church Its Beliefs. Good News, November 20. 1978)Â

God has always, in dealing with humans, worked through ONE MAN at a time one who believed God! Some in ancient Israel challenged this one-man leadership. Some, like-wise, have challenged it today! First, Moses’ own brother and sister challenged his one-man leadership. … That is the case of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On.

“And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes … famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses … Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Eternal is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Eternal?” (Numbers 16:1-3).

They accused Moses of appointing himself — though there had been ample evidence by the fruits of Moses’ leadership and even miracles God did through him, that they were without excuse, just as many are today. What happened to them?

“And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up … They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation” (verses 32-33). …

God has always worked through one man, primarily, at a time. God chose David and worked through him. Two of his sons, at different times, conspired to wrest his throne from him. But God protected David, and those sons were destroyed! …

In founding God’s Church, Jesus worked primarily through one man, Peter, even though He originally chose His 12 disciples. Few have ever noticed that Peter was the real leader… “Simeon [PETER] hath declared …” And James merely CONFIRMED Peter’s decision, making it official. That ought to make clear this crucial 15th chapter of Acts — the one classic example of settling any disputed doctrine in the Church. And, though there were other apostles, God worked primarily through ONE man “PETER! Has God changed? Or is He the SAME still today? …

The Jerusalem conference (Acts 15) showed that PETER was predominant over even Paul, although Paul was the ONE MAN God worked through primarily in the ministry to gentiles. … Acts 15. This crucial crux chapter has been misinterpreted, twisted and distorted. I have tried to take space to MAKE IT CLEAR in this article. The other apostles and ministers were all in confusion, arguing and disputing. But CHRIST silenced them by speaking through His CHOSEN chief apostle, PETER! (Armstrong HW, And NOW Christ Sets Church Back On Track Doctrinally. Good News, April 1979).

“The PURPOSE for which Christ built the Church exemplifies its WORK…1) To ANNOUNCE to the world for its witness the coming Kingdom of God…2) To prepare the people to whom God adds to the Church…God has always worked with humans. He has worked with O N E  M A N at a time…The WORK consists of proclaiming the Gospel, by radio, by television, in print” (Armstrong HW. JUST WHAT IS THE WORK? PASTOR GENERAL’S REPORT – VOL.3, NO.6 February 6, 1981).

God only deals through one man at a time. GOD DOES NOT WORK THROUGH COMMITTEES. God works through ONE MAN AT A TIME. I want you to notice it as we go along now. Let’s understand the way of God. The world has not understood it. So God worked through one judge at a time. (Armstrong H. Building The Temple. Sermon, February 14, 1981)

Now HOW HAS GOD WORKED THROUGH HUMANS? He has always worked through one man at a time as a leader. He gave the promises on which all salvation depends to ONE MAN, Abraham. He repromised them to ONE man, Isaac, and again to Jacob. Four hundred thirty years after Abraham, God raised up ONE MAN as leader—Moses. Moses was specially trained from childhood. He didn’t let Moses die until his commission of leading the chosen people to the promised land was COMPLETED, when Moses was 120 years old.

God used ONE MAN to lead the Israelites across the Jordan river into that promised land. After Joshua, at first there was no leader. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. The Israelites disobeyed God and soon became a conquered vassal nation. God raised up ONE MANa “judge” to deliver them into freedom again. Again and again the nation sinned and became a vassal nation. Again each time God raised up ONE MAN to deliver them–see book of Judges.

Then God raised up ONE MAN, Samuel, specially prepared from childhood, by which GOD ruled the nation (1 Sam. 8:7). The people wanted a KING like other nations (verse 6). God allowed them to have Saul as king. Then God chose ONE MAN, David, to lead His people. (Armstrong HW. CO-worker Letter, March 19, 1981)

God … He has always worked through ONE MAN at a time. He worked through Abraham. He worked through Moses, through Joshua, through one “judge” at a time, through Samuel, through David, through Solomon. He worked through Peter and when Peter had left the Middle East, through Paul. These men had, in greater or lesser number, staff assistants under them, but God’s WORK was through the ONE MAN AT A TIME! THIS IS THE “WORK OF GOD” — and not a humanly organized institution, operation or organization on the worldly corporate type of organization, function and procedure. (Armstrong H. Just What Is ‘The WORK’? Good News, April 1981)

God never works through committees. God works only through one man at a time, and always did. All through the Bible you will find that God had to work through one man at a time. (Armstrong H. Another Civilization. Sermon, October 2, 1982)

To administer these many operations, God–not a vote of the members–“hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers.” Or, as stated in more detail in Ephesians 4:11 (RSV): “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.” …

Evangelists were leading ministers, proclaiming the gospel to the public, even raising up local churches and having supervision over some churches … an evangelist may hold executive functions under the apostle in the Church headquarters or work today. An evangelist is not necessarily stationary. Pastors are stationary pastors over a local church or contingent group of local churches. (Armstrong HW. Mystery of the Ages, Chapter 6)

Now what kind of a building do you have if part of the facade, one or two stones, or one or two pieces of the wood of it is over one place and some of it is over in another State, and a part of it is in another nation, and another part of it is somewhere else? Would you call it a building? And yet there are those that say; “Well I’m a loner, I’m an individual Christian. I don’t want to be a part of any church organization.” And then there’s those who say; “I don’t want to follow a man.” And yet that’s what they do do, they follow a man usually. And they go off into many little cliques, each one of them following one man.

Now God has always worked through one man as leader. But that man is only a leader, and always it has been God. For example, when Samuel was a prophet leading the people of God, they didn’t want Samuel anymore, they wanted a human king like the other nations. God said; “It isn’t you they have rejected Samuel, you weren’t the real ruler, I was. They have rejected me that I should not rule over them.” (I Samuel 8:7Â paraphrased). This is eighth chapter of I Samuel. And, you see it was God ruling them, not Samuel.

And so it is really Christ leading the Church today, it is not I. I am only an instrument. (Armstrong H. Ephesians 3 & 4 Bible Study, January 2, 1981)

So, ask yourself, who is that one man today? Could God somehow have put him in his office and somehow confirmed it?

Anyone who had been in the old Worldwide Church of God in the 1980s, while Herbert W. Armstrong was alive, should have heard him repeatedly emphasize the importance of proper Church governance and one man hierarchical rule.

But most, after his death in 1986, DID NOT accept this teaching, and many of those who thought they did had issues truly understanding and abiding by it–they became cold or lukewarm (see also Laodicean Church).

Now, the Laodicean churches are different than other church eras. The letter to them begins with:

14 And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write (Revelation 3:14)

All but one of the other letters in Revelation are addressed to a church using the singular–the Laodicean letter is addressed to the plural. These churches do not accept the ONE MAN at a time that God uses to lead the most faithful church.

The Laodiceans do NOT accept how God works and DO NOT accept any true prophet of God.

“The PURPOSE for which Christ built the Church exemplifies its WORK…1) To ANNOUNCE to the world for its witness the coming Kingdom of God…2) To prepare the people to whom God adds to the Church…God has always worked with humans. He has worked with O N E M A N at a time … The WORK consists of proclaiming the Gospel, by radio, by television, in print” (Armstrong HW. JUST WHAT IS THE WORK? PASTOR GENERAL’S REPORT – VOL.3, NO.6 February 6, 1981).

Anyone who had been in the old Worldwide Church of God in the 1980s while Herbert W. Armstrong was alive, heard him repeatedly emphasize the importance of proper Church governance. But most did not later accept this teaching, and many of those who thought they did had issues truly understanding and abiding by it.

You need to know who the O N E M A N at this time leading the final phase of the work is.

Many believe that they have been hurt by individuals, ministers, and/or church organizations in the past, and because they still keep basic doctrine, that this is acceptable to God. Jesus did NOT agree as His comments to the Laodiceans demonstrates that.

The New Testament has the following warnings:

8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ (Hebrews 3:8-11)

15 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. (Hebrews 3:15)

7 Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts. (Hebrews 4:7)

Many have hardened their hearts. Look, when Pharaoh hardened his heart, he thought he was doing what was best for Egypt. When the children of Israel hardened their hearts, they apparently thought that they were the people of God, hence they were doing the right thing–yet they had rejected the one-man rule under Moses. According to Herbert W. Armstrong, the rebellion Hebrews 3 referred to was “in the days of Moses” (Armstrong HW. Law and Grace. Radio broadcast). The children of Israel thought committees of leaders (cf. Numbers 16) or simply trusting themselves was proper (cf. Numbers 16:3)–but they were wrong. Sadly, independent Laodiceans are like that.

For more details on church governance, check out the article The Bible, Peter, Paul, John, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, Roderick C. Meredith, and Bob Thiel on Church Government. Another item of interest may be the sermon: Dreams, COGs, and One Man Rule.

Is God is calling you (or has called you), and will you learn, continue, and seriously do what is taught in the Bible? If so, you can be a member of the Continuing Church of God.

If God is calling you, notice what the Apostle Peter said you should do (those wishing to argue against this, obviously would not wish to be part of the CCOG):

³⁸ “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)

If you have already been appropriately baptized, then we also suggest that you read the Statement of Beliefs of the Continuing Church of God. If you agree, will live as a true Christian, and wish to be part of us, then we accept true believers who wish to support us as we lead the Final Phase of the Work by proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God as a witness (Matthew 24:14), teaching all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20), working to reach the full number of those called in this age (see What About Romans 11:25 and the Full Number of the Gentiles), while also preparing for the ‘Short Work, remembering the poor (Galatians 2:10), and proclaiming the Ezekiel Warning.

You can contact a minister or other representative near your area to let him know you wish to be part of us. We also would expect you to live as a Christian and, among other things, keep the Sabbath, attend or watch our church services, and strive to attend the Feast of Tabernacles.

If you have not been appropriately baptized, or are not sure if you have been, and you believe you are being called to become part of the Continuing Church of God, you will want to meet with a deacon or minister in the church to discuss church teachings and get questions answers. We have many congregations around the world, several of which are listed on our Congregations page. You can also read about the teachings of our church throughout this www.ccog.org website as well as the www.cogwriter.com website. For more on counseling, etc., check out the article: How does the CCOG handle Counseling, Prayer Requests, Funerals, and Anointing of the Sick?

Please understand, there is no minimum or maximum amount of time required to learn about the church. The important thing is to believe the word of God and understand the about living as a true Christian. We also have a booklet that may help online: Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian.

Once you have turned you life over to God and learned about the church, you are ready to become part of the body of Christ. You become a member of the Church of God through being baptized by a representative of the church. Baptism is a critical and fundamental step. Baptism signifies the death of our carnal nature and our being begotten as a follower of Jesus Christ. It allows us to partake God’s plan of eternal salvation. Furthermore, baptism is a public statement to the church and the world that the believer is turning away from loving the world and dedicating his/her life to God.

Additional information on baptism can be found in the article Baptism, the Early Church, and the Continuing Church.

If you are not already a properly baptized part of the Church of God, in order to be considered a real member of the Continuing Church of God, you must:

1. Be called of God (John 6:44).
2. Be willing to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).
3. Repent of your sins (Acts 2:38; 1 John 1:9).
4. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Acts 2:38).
5. Strive to obey God (Acts 5:32) and to fully live as a loving Christian (Matthew 23:23; John 15:12).
6. Prove that our beliefs are biblical (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, KJV).
7. Contact a CCOG leader for counseling (cf. Proverbs 11:14; Romans 10:14; 1 Timothy 5:22).
8. Be properly baptized and have hands laid upon you (Acts 2:38, 19:5-6).
9. Support the work of Matthew 24:14, Matthew 28:19-20, and other aspects of the Philadelphian work (Revelation 3:7-13).
10. Continue to live as a Christian, including keeping the Holy Days, and endure to the end (Matthew 10:22).

We also have literature to assist you in the process.

YOU can be independent of the world as well as non-Philadelphian Christianity.

Those interested in being part of the Continuing Church of God may also wish to read the following: How Do I Become a Member of the Continuing Church of God?

You may also wish to read the article: Why is there a Philadelphian remnant of the true Christian Church of God?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Independent/Unaffiliated: Independent Members of the COG: Herbert W. Armstrong Comments, Plus Questions and Answers What did Herbert W. Armstrong teach about being independent of the organized Church? Should independents who claim to accept Herbert W. Armstrong’s teachings support the end time Philadelphian work? Here is a link to a related sermon: Church of God Unity. Watch also Zephaniah’s ‘Gather Together’ Prophecy.
How Do I Become a Member of the Continuing Church of God? This article has scriptures, links, and other information for those interested in being part of the CCOG. Here is a link to a related sermonette: 10 Steps to Be a Member of the CCOG.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection.A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Baptism, the Early Church, and the Continuing Church Was it by immersion? Did it include infants? Does Polycarp prove infant baptism? Here is a link to some information in the Spanish language: Bautismo de infantes o bendición de los niños pequeños. A related sermon video is titled Baptism: What is it and how should it be done?
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Real Conversion Many think that they are converted Christians. But are they? Would you like to know more about conversion?
False Conversion! Have you really been converted? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote an article on this important subject–but more scriptures have been added to it. How can you tell false conversion? A related video is also available: False Conversion. A Spanish language version is also available: Falsa Conversión.
About Baptism Should you be baptized? Could baptism be necessary for salvation? Who should baptize and how should it be done? As far as early history, see also Baptism, the Early Church, and the Continuing Church.
Laying on of Hands This is an elementary principle of Hebrews 6. Have you properly had hands laid upon you? Here is a link to a related sermon: Laying on of Hands and Succession.
Living as a Christian: How and Why? In what ways do Christians live differently than others. What about praying, fasting, tithing, holy days, and the world? There are also two YouTube video related to this: Living as a Christian: How and Why? and Living as a Christian: Pure Milk of the Word.
Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen What is faith? Can faith be increased? Are you saved by faith? What about works? Do Christians need to keep the Ten Commandments? What is the ‘faith chapter’? How do the just live by faith? Is faith one of the weightier matters of the law? How does faith come? Marque aquí para ver el pdf folleto: Fe para aquellos que Dios ha llamado y escogido. In German: Glaube für die von Gott Berufenen und Auserwählten. In French: La Foi pour ceux que Dieu a Appelés et Choisis. Here is a link to a related sermon titled: Faith for the Called and Chosen.and here is a link to another sermon Faith and Courage. Here is a link to shorter version of the written article in Mandarin Chinese N{ÇQsNŽOáNðv„\e‡zà.
Prayer: What Does the Bible Teach? This free booklet contains 28 biblically-based tips on improving the effectiveness of your prayers. This is a pdf. A related two part sermon is available: What Does the Bible Teach About Prayer? and What does the Bible Teach About Prayer (& Healing)?
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Herbert W. Armstrong, the Philadelphia Church, & the Mantle Herbert Armstrong claims God had him raise the Philadelphia up. Are there reasons to believe that the Philadelphia mantle in now within the CCOG? Here is a link to a related sermon: Herbert W. Armstrong and the Philadelphia Mantle.
Does the CCOG have the confirmed signs of Acts 2:17-18? Does any church have the confirmed dream and prophetic signs of Acts 2:17-18? Should one? Here is a link in the Spanish language: ¿Tiene la CCOG confirmadas las señales de Hechos 2: 17-18?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from lower level leaders? Two related sermons are available The Work per HWA and the Bible and Priority of the Philadelphia Work.
Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work.
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
4. The Thyatira Church Era was predominant circa 1050 A.D. to circa 1600 A.D.–but some are still in it. The Church during the time of Peter Waldo and the Inquisition. It claimed succession from the apostles. Here is a link to a related sermon: Thyatira, Succession, and Jezebel.
5. The Sardis Church Era was predominant circa 1600 A.D. to circa 1933 A.D.–but some are still in it. Discusses some early history of the Seventh Day Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, CG7-Salem, Jerusalem 7DCG, and COG-7th Day-Denver. Here are two historical sermons: Sardis Church Era: Beginnings, Doctrines, and Leaders and Sardis: SDBs, SDAs, & CG7s.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era and Remnant Though the era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D., but some few faithful are still in it as a remnant has continued. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God were part of the era, and now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God. Here is a link to a related sermon: Philadelphia Church Era: History & Teachings.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present.–and most end time Christians are part of it. The Laodiceans are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG or its offshoots.  They do not properly understand the work or biblical prophecies and will face the Great Tribulation if they do not repent. One video of related interest is 50+ Laodicean Prophetic Errors. See also Do You Hold to Any of These Laodicean Prophetic Errors?
Why is there a Philadelphian remnant of the true Christian Church of God? Did the old Worldwide Church of God essentially predict a Philadelphian remnant? Is a Philadelphian remnant needed for end-time prophecies to be fulfilled? Here is a link to a related sermon: The Philadelphia Remnant.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
CCOG.ORG Continuing Church of God The group striving to be most faithful amongst all real Christian groups to the word of God.

COGwriter

ZeroHedge reported the following:

What Parents Wish Their Children Could Grow Up Without

July 1, 2025

With the technological advancements of the past two decades, a lot of new challenges have emerged for parents of young children. As they try to navigate the ever-evolving media and device landscape, it’s as difficult as it is important to strike the right balance between giving kids the chance to learn how to use technology and protecting them from the potential harm that early (over)use of smartphones and social media can doubtlessly inflict on a child’s development.

Given the complexity of the task at hand and the lack of past experience to draw from, it’s understandable that many parents are uncertain how to manage their children’s device use, screen and social media time.

And while they acknowledge the potential benefits of smartphones and social media, a sizeable share of parents would like to turn back the time for their children’s sake, according to a recent Harris Poll.

As Statista’s Felix Richter reports, when asked which things they wished had never been invented thinking about their child’s experience growing up, more than half of the surveyed parents said they wished for their kids that social media didn’t exist. … the one thing parents wanted gone most for the sake of their children is online pornography, which more than 7 in 10 respondents hoped wouldn’t exist. https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/what-parents-wish-their-children-could-grow-without

Parents are rightly concerned as they know this is not good for their children nor their children’s future.

Pornography is becoming more recognized as a problem by secular sources. The BBC put out the following last Fall:

29 November 2024

Ofcom’s Online Nation 2024 report suggests 29% of UK adults accessed online porn in May 2024. Additionally, new research from addiction treatment centre, UKAT, suggests that millions of Britons are viewing pornography regularly – with 1.8 million watching daily, some multiple times a day.

According to treatment providers, more people are seeking help for problematic porn use.

Dr Paula Hall, a UKCP-accredited sexual and relationship psychotherapist at The Laurel Centre, in London, specialises in helping people affected by sex addiction and porn addiction.

“The numbers of clients seeking help with pornography problems at The Laurel Centre have doubled over recent years, as have our requests from health professionals for further training,” she tells the BBC.

Dr Hall explains that they have also seen a growing number of younger people seeking help.

“Ten years ago the majority of our clients would have been married men in their 40s and 50s who were seeking help because their partner had discovered their use of sex workers,” she says.

“But increasingly, our clients are in their 20s and 30s, many of whom are single, who are recognising the growing toll of porn use on their lives and on their ability to get or maintain a relationship.” …

“Young people tell me their exposure to pornography is widespread and normalised – with the average age at which children first seeing pornography being 13 years old,” Dame Rachel de Souza, the current Children’s Commissioner, tells the BBC.

“Pornography is no longer confined to dedicated adult sites – children tell me they can see violent content, depicting coercive, degrading or pain-inducing sexual acts on social media.

“The implications of seeing this kind of material are vast – my research has found that frequent users of pornography are more likely to engage in physically aggressive sex acts.”

De Souza adds that it is “vital” for high-quality relationship and sex education to be given parity of importance with other subjects to help young people understand that pornography is unrealistic. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg57r337rvzo

Yes, pornography is unrealistic. It is very harmful to those who are enticed by it.

BBC online reported the following:

Easy access to online porn is ‘damaging’ men’s health, says NHS therapist

August 15, 2016

Angela Gregory says more and more men in their late teens and early 20s are suffering from erectile dysfunction.

She puts the blame on people becoming addicted to watching online porn.

There are no official figures but she says a lot of the time it is via smartphones and laptops.

“What I’ve seen over the last 16 years, particularly the last five years, is an increase in the amount of younger men being referred,” she said.

“Our experience is that historically men that were referred to our clinic with problems with erectile dysfunction were older men whose issues were related to diabetes, MS, cardio vascular disease.

“These younger men do not have organic disease, they’ve already been tested by their GP and everything is fine.

“So one of the first assessment questions I’d always ask now is about pornography and masturbatory habit because that can be the cause of their issues about maintaining an erection with a partner.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37058019/easy-access-to-online-porn-is-damaging-mens-health-says-nhs-therapist

This is just another problem with pornography. Pornography, online or otherwise, damages men and women, physically, emotionally, sexually, and spiritually.

The Bible warns:

10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. (Proverbs 1:10)

The pornography industry is a sin-filled one that is always trying to entice people to sin!

The Bible also speaks against being “secretly enticed” (Job 31:27) and speaks of this essentially through sexual lust (cf. Job 31:1,9)–do not think that you can secretly view pornography and that all is fine: “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23)!

Notice some statements in the Bible from Jesus and the Apostle Paul:

27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.  (1 Corinthians 6:18)

Adultery is prohibited by the seventh commandment (see also What Did Jesus Teach About the Ten Commandments?).

Jesus and the Apostle Paul warned against attempting to provoke, stir up, or mentally succumb to sexual lust. Thus, they are also condemning pornography, including dressing inappropriately (see also 1 Timothy 2:8-9).

Notice something from the Apostle James:

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:12-15)

James warned about being enticed and that this type of sin brings death!

When one flees sexual immorality, one resists temptation. Notice also something else from James:

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:7-8)

Do not be ‘double-minded,’–keep away from pornography. Satan wants you to accept the falsehoods associated with pornography.

The Old Testament also had prohibitions related to pornography and seductive behaviors:

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
He who despises the gain of oppressions,
Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,
Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
And shuts his eyes from seeing evil:
16 He will dwell on high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure. (Isaiah 33:15-16)

1 I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? (Job 31:1).

20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? (Proverbs 5:20)

23 For the commandment is a lamp,
And the law a light;
Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
24 To keep you from the evil woman,
From the flattering tongue of a seductress.
25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart,
Nor let her allure you with her eyelids.
26 For by means of a harlot
A man is reduced to a crust of bread;
And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.
27 Can a man take fire to his bosom,
And his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one walk on hot coals,
And his feet not be seared? (Proverbs 6:23-28)

20 This is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth,
And says, “I have done no wickedness.” (Proverbs 30:20)

27 For a harlot is a deep pit,
And a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim,
And increases the unfaithful among men. (Proverbs 23:27-28)

26 Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.
27 I have seen your adulteries
And your lustful neighings,
The lewdness of your harlotry,
Your abominations on the hills in the fields. (Jeremiah 13:26-27)

15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor,
Pressing him to your bottle,
Even to make him drunk,
That you may look on his nakedness!
16 You are filled with shame instead of glory.
You also — drink!
And be exposed as uncircumcised!
The cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you,
And utter shame will be on your glory. (Habakkuk 2:15-16)

How porn-purveyors view pornography sounds a lot like “lustful neighings.” The righteous turn their eyes away from pornography. Many people are not ashamed and will not blush when they are overly-exposing themselves. No one is clearly to trick someone into seeing their nakedness, including using intoxicating substances to do that. Seductresses and adulterers are denounced by scripture.

Let me add here that Leviticus 18:6-19 has 14 verses against uncovering nakedness of relatives (plus other verses in other chapters). Thus, this would also seem to outlaw printed or electronic pornography. In Ezekiel 16:35-39, God tells of publicly uncovering nakedness as a significant negative. When Jesus told the Laodicean Christians they were naked, He also mentioned that they were miserable and needed to repent (Revelation 3:14-22).

Pornography is a problem.

For heterosexual males, it gets them to have unrealistic expectations when it comes to their wives. As one woman told me once, “Prostitutes are actresses” as are those who pose/participate in pornographic videos. While I have never watched any, from what I have heard, normal women do not act like the ones in these videos.

For heterosexual females, pornography gets them to have fantasy views about males that their husbands will not fulfill–as well as feelings that they will never quite be able to match up.

Regular viewers of pornography often end up with a distorted version of human sexuality which impacts them as well as, for married people, their spouse.  As it turns out, it was actually pornography that was a major factor in the early internet becoming somewhat commercially viable. However, pornography is wrong and quite harmful to society, and even some in the secular world are realizing that.

Related to pornography, the Continuing Church of God has the following sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:17

Pornography, Jesus, and the Bible

Is pornography harmless fun or is it an ever present evil in modern society? Does the Bible teach anything about it? What about Jesus? Just what is pornography? Does it have spiritual ramifications beyond the seventh commandment? Did the Apostle Paul teach about fleeing sexual immorality and dressing modestly? Does pornography violate the ‘golden rule’? What steps have the US Supreme Court and the State of Utah taken? What is the difference between hard-core and soft-core pornography? Are there steps one can take to overcome the addiction to pornography? Was pornography an issue in ancient Pompeii that was destroyed in 79 A.D.? How frequently is pornography searched for on the internet? Is there such a thing as “mommy porn’? Is pornography something that you should tolerate? Should the church be denouncing pornography? Could pornography have weather or prophetic ramifications? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.

COGwriter

In his booklet, The Seven Laws of Success, the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote the following related to success:

WHY are only the very few—women as well as men—successful in life? Just what is success? Here is the surprising answer to life’s most difficult problem, proving that NO HUMAN NEED EVER BECOME A FAILURE! All who have succeeded have followed these seven laws! The only WAY to success is not a copyrighted formula being sold for a price. You can’t buy it! The price is your own application to the seven existing laws.

DID IT EVER occur to you that there might be a reason why so many people make a failure of life? Not only men and career women, but wives and mothers to!

Are you one who is wrestling with the problem of “making ends meet”? Nearly all of us are. This problem need not mean failure—yet it often leads to it.

It is a fact—the vast majority do wind up failures. Yet none need fail!

Take a look at the facts in the world.

Is THIS Success?

Every two minutes someone in the United States attempts suicide {in 2022, an average of 132 people per day end their lives that way}. Each day nearly 70 persons succeed—but is that success? The World Health Organization estimates that some one thousand people commit suicide in the world—every day!

Suicides now outnumber murders. Now various organizations for the prevention of suicide are a reality! But the cause is individual failure!

Only a minority, of course, go to this extreme, but the overwhelming majority do end their lives in failure.

Much of the world is in current “prosperity.” Yet—in booming U.S.—more businesses failed in a very recent year than in any other in the last twenty-six. Across the world streaks the shocking trend of increasing failures. Scores of millions daily allow he creeping cancer of failure to chain them to a life of unhappy circumstances, from which only death promises release.

But why?

Why are only the very few really successful? Is it mere chance—is it just happen-so—can it be luck? Or are there definite reasons?

Why do all but the very few find themselves, by age 60 or 65, dependents? Why must there by old-age pensions, public welfare aid, charities to support the non-crippled, non-handicapped helpless? Why must children so often provide for aged parents—when it ought to be the other way around?

I am going to tell you why!

There are definite causes! Seven basic laws govern success! It is high time people come to know them, and end this unhappy and needless tragedy!

Since he wrote that booklet, we have seen many self-help books produced, but they tend to leave out the seventh of the laws and not refer to scriptures related to the others.

Life is not random and you really can be successful.

A wise person will consider life and setting proper goals for their life.

Some want money and some to be Olympic athletes.

Regarding money, the Apostle Paul wrote:

6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Money will not help you in the next life and may be a hindrance to you in this one.

Regarding being an athlete, the Apostle Paul wrote:

24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)

Physical goals and accomplishments are temporary.

Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:

The FIRST Law

Certainly NOTHING in life is more important than to know: what is real success—and how to achieve it.

What, then, is the first law of success?

Before stating even the first law, let it be said that I am not considering here such general principles of character as honesty, patience, loyalty, courtesy, dependability, punctuality, etc., etc., etc., except as these are automatically included in the seven rules. We may assume that one cannot become a real success without these principles of right character.

But on the other hand, many are honest who have never practiced a single one of the seven laws, specifically. Many may be loyal, have patience, extend courtesy, be punctual, who are unsuccessful because they have not applied a single one of these seven definite, specific rules. Even so, each of these laws covers a vast territory.

Here, then, is the first law of success:

FIX THE RIGHT GOAL!

Not just any goal. Most of the “successful “men I have mentioned had goals. They drove themselves relentlessly to accomplishment. But making money, gaining STATUS in the eyes of people, enjoying the passing pleasures of the five senses, has literally strewn the pathway of history with fears, worries, heartaches, troubled consciences, sorrows, frustrations, empty lives and death.

These things may be had and enjoyed along with true success. But they alone do not bring success. The right goal includes something more.

In other words, the very first law of success is to be able to define success! Once you have learned what success is make that your goal in life.

Do you know that most people go through life without any GOAL at all? In fact, most people, as I’ve said before, do not know, and do not apply a SINGLE ONE of the seven laws of success!

Most people never think of having any PURPOSE in life. They are not going anywhere, in particular.

If you have saved up money for a trip to Paris, or Rome, or London for your vacation or holiday, you spend a lot of time in excited anticipation PLANNING your trip—but you DO have a definite DESTINATION—and all plans are laid to take you to that particular destination—that GOAL. You know where you are planning to go. Otherwise, how would you ever expect to arrive there?

As I said once before, most people have no aim—they are merely the victims of CIRCUMSTANCE. They never planned, purposefully, to be in the fob or occupation in which they find themselves today. They do not live where they do by CHOICE that is, because they PLANNED it that way. They have merely been buffeted around by CIRCUMSTANCE! They have allowed themselves to drift. They have made no effort to master and control circumstances.

The first law of success, I repeat, is to fix the RIGHT goal. Not any goal. One could set a goal in which he had little or no interest, and drift into inaction. The right goal will arouse ambition. Ambition is more than mere desire. It is desire plus incentive—determination—will to achieve the desire. The right goal will be so intensely desired it will excite vigorous and determined effort. It will fire one with incentive.

There should be an overpowering PURPOSE to life. Few have ever known such purpose. Down through centuries and millenniums thinkers and philosophers have pondered, and sought in vain to learn whether life has a real purpose. Socrates, Plato, Augustine among others speculated and reasoned, yet the true meaning of life eluded them. This deepest and most important question in life remained to them a mystery—an unsolvable enigma!

IF one could discover such an overall PURPOSE—a definite purpose for which humans were put on earth—IF one could discover a human potential greater than mere temporary existence, one would think that PURPOSE would be the goal that should excite dynamic ambition!

But—alas! Who has ever discovered such an objective as life’s aim?

Was there nothing greater to look forward to, for my two prominent banker friends? Nothing greater than to enjoy fleeting status, only to be forgotten by those who succeeded them?

What is there, after all, to live for?

I repeat! The first law of real success is to have the right goal! The men I have described, rated eminently successful in the world, all had goals. They applied diligently all of the first six of the Success Laws. But failing the seventh, they misapplied the first. Their success was fleeting.

As far as your purpose goes, God’s purpose for you is for you to become the best you can be so that you can give love in a unique way to make eternity better for yourself and everyone else. More on that can be found in our free online booklet: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?

That said, Jesus pointed out that Christians need to have the right goal. And Jesus told those who wish to follow God what that should be:

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33)

Jesus said that His people would pray (Matthew 6) and that is one of the ways to seek first the Kingdom of God–start your day off with prayer. Wisdom and understanding, which the Bible also advocates (e.g. Proverbs 1:2, 4:5), are also appropriate goals.

Wisdom is important. Notice also the following:

5 Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
Love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she will promote you;
She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
A crown of glory she will deliver to you.” (Proverbs 4:5-9)

The Bible teaches that “wisdom brings success” (Ecclesiastes 10:10).

Christians should work and have their priorities in order. Notice something else from Proverbs:

27 Prepare your outside work,
Make it fit for yourself in the field;
And afterward build your house. (Proverbs 24:27)

The Apostle Paul also encouraged physical work:

10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. (2 Thessalonian 3:10-12)

8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:8)

Having a goal to make a proper livelihood is biblical.

You might think that at your age it is too late to change and become more successful.

That thought would be wrong.

For example, Harland Sanders did not even start his chicken business until after he retired. And by the time of his death, he had the most recognizable face on planet earth.

Anyway, do not limit God. Notice something from His word:

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

So, what should you do:

9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10)

Remember, the Apostle Paul wrote:

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

That does not just apply to him, but to you as well.

Maybe, you will be one supporting the work of God in outwardly obvious ways. Or perhaps, in ways that no one sees.

Yet remember:

10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:10-12)

As far as being used when older, Moses did not begin to lead Israel until he was 80.

Notice another scriptural example from the New Testament:

36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)

Note that this did not say Anna got to see Jesus because she was a prophetess, but she was serving God with prayer and fasting.

Here is another example:

41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42 Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43 So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:41-44)

Yes, you should have God’s kingdom as your goal and God will have you succeed. Even if you are rich or poor or young or old.

Setting the right goal (or goals) is important. Otherwise one spends all their time and efforts on things that are not important; or vanity as the book of Ecclesiastes puts it.

You might wonder: Why did God create anything?

The answer is: God created what He did so eternity would be better.

You might wonder: Why did God create you?

The answer is: God created you so that, after you have truly accepted Him and are resurrected, that you will be able to give love in a unique way to make eternity better for yourself and everyone else.

Since eternal life with God will be fantastic beyond human understanding, when it comes to real success, you should heed the words of Jesus and: “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

While you can also have physical goals, like education, a career, a spouse, etc., do not neglect the goal of God’s kingdom.

With so many world events happening that are aligning with end time prophecy, isn’t this the time to be sure that you have the right goal and understand the meaning of life?

We have a free ebook available: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?

Be an eternal success! Chose the right goal!

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally?
Is God’s Existence Logical? Some say it is not logical to believe in God. Is that true?
Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God’s Existence Logical? Part II This short article clearly answers what ‘pseudo-scientists’ refuse to acknowledge.
The Seven Laws of Success Booklet by Herbert W. Armstrong that can help people become successful.
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, Mystery of Race, and The Mystery of YOU. Here is a link to two videos in Spanish: El Misterio del Plan de Dios and El Misterio de Satanás, el Misterio de la Verdad, el Misterio del Reposo.

COGwriter

Scientists have concluded that the universe will continue to expand forever:

A “galactic lens” has revealed that the Universe will probably expand forever. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11030889)

The universe ‘will expand forever’, new Nasa study on ‘dark energy’ concludes (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7955379/The-universe-will-expand-forever-new-Nasa-study-on-dark-energy-concludes.html)

Universe ‘will expand forever’ (http://www.brahmand.com/news/Universe-will-expand-forever/4747/3/13.html)

Those of us in the Churches of God have long believed this based not upon telescopic images, but the following scriptures:

7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end (Isaiah 9:7).

33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. (Luke 1:33)

The only way for God’s kingdom to continue to increase forever is if the universe expands forever.

Now, this expansion view causes scientists a problem.

Which is?

That it means that the universe had a beginning.  Of course, Bible believers have always know this as the Bible starts out with the following:

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

Yet, as certain scientists did not want to accept that the universe had a beginning, some instead tended to want to believe a certain type of nonsense called the oscillating universe theory. I always felt that theory violated the known laws of physics and was an attempt by some scientists to try to persuade themselves that the universe had no beginning and that there was no God (for more details, see the article Is God’s Existence Logical?).

This year I watched a couple of documentaries related to dark matter and dark energy. Basically, many scientists say that without them, their explanations of the universe and how it functions are wrong. Then, scientists also admit that dark energy and dark matter may not exist. Hence, the idea that scientists have a better explanation of the origin of the universe than that contained in scripture is based on unproven theory after unproven theory, and many guesses–not actual science.

Furthermore, as far as actual or fake science go, notice a statement from Nobel Prize winner Dr. George Wald, from Harvard University related to the origin of life:

The reasonable view was to believe in spontaneous generation (life from nothing); the only alternative, to believe in a single, primary act of supernatural creation. There is no third position . . . One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. (Scott I. The God Solution: Are You Ready? Xlibris Corporation, 2013, p. 41)

Believing something that is impossible is not scientific–accepting evolution as the origin of life is another false religion.

Therefore, the acceptance of a supernatural creation (Genesis 1) is the only scientific option according to statements like the above.

Sadly, scientists are still not generally, publicly ready to embrace the idea of a Creator.

But the fact that they are starting to admit that the universe will expand forever and their explanation for life is impossible, hopefully means that they are distancing themselves away from the oscillating universe theory and the spontaneous evolutionary emergence of life.

And without those theories, they have to admit that the universe had a beginning in a specific point in time and some supernatural being started life. And the Bible is clear about that (Genesis 1:1).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Is God’s Existence Logical? Is it really logical to believe in God? Yes! Would you like Christian answers to give atheists? This is a free online booklet that deal with improper theories and musings called science related to the origin of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and evolution. Here is a link to a related sermon: Evolution is NOT the Origin of Life. Two animated videos of related interest are also available: Big Bang: Nothing or Creator? and A Lifegiver or Spontaneous Evolution?
Proof Jesus is the Messiah This free book has over 200 Hebrew prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Plus, His arrival was consistent with specific prophecies and even Jewish interpretations of prophecy.
I have made the decision to follow God. Now what? Have you proven all things? Will you hold fast to that which is good? This article will help you do so. Here is a link to a related video: You Want to Follow God? Then Prove the Truth!
How Do I Become a Member of the Continuing Church of God? This article has scriptures, links, and other information for those interested in being part of the CCOG. Here is a link to a related sermonette: 10 Steps to Be a Member of the CCOG. Here is a link in the Spanish language: 10 pasos para ser miembro de la continuación de la Iglesia de Dios.
Does it Make Physical Sense to believe in God? Some say it is not logical to believe in God. Is that true? Here is a link to a YouTube sermon titled Is it logical to believe in God?
Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God’s Existence Logical? Part II This short article clearly answers what ‘pseudo-scientists’ refuse to acknowledge. Here is a link to a YouTube video titled Is There Another View of Evolution? and another titled Quickly Disprove Evolution as the Origin of Life.
How Old is the Earth and How Long Were the Days of Creation? Gap Theory? Does the Bible allow for the creation of the universe and earth billions of years ago? Why do some believe they are no older than 6,000 years old? What is the gap theory? Were the days of creation in Genesis 1:3 through 2:3 24 hours long? Here are links to two sermons: Gap Theory: Doctrine or Modern Heresy? and Genesis, ‘Prehistoric man,’ and the Gap theory. Here is a link to a related article in Spanish: ¿Cuán vieja es la Tierra? ¿Cuán largos fueron los Días de la Creación? ¿Teoría de la brecha?
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, Mystery of Race, and The Mystery of YOU. Here is a link to two videos in Spanish: El Misterio del Plan de Dios and El Misterio de Satanás, el Misterio de la Verdad, el Misterio del Reposo.

COGwriter

2025 has been an unusual financial year for many around the world. There have been tariffs and trade concerns. Some are warning about about stagflation.

The stock markets around the world are jittery. Many around the world are concerned about international matters, including what will happen with the USA because of Donald Trump’s statements and actions.

The USA has the most debt any nation in world history has ever had–and it keeps going up. The per-capita debt of those in the UK are among the highest of all time. The Eurozone has struggles between members, plus its own debt issues.

Those in Asia and South America have seen their economic standards of living generally rise over the past decades, but great apprehension exists. There have been gains and losses in some parts of Africa and the Middle East.

As I repeated predicted, gold has hit record prices in US dollar terms–and while gold prices may drop dramatically, ultimately, gold will have value after the US dollar becomes totally worthless. See The Plain Truth About Gold in Prophecy. How Should a Christian View Gold?

Instead of focusing on national and international finance (which I tend to post about a lot), this post will mainly consist of quotes from the late Herbert W. Armstrong about personal finance from a biblical perspective. Anyway, here is some of what he wrote:

Ending Your
FINANCIAL WORRIES

by Herbert W. Armstrong
©Copyright 1959

What are YOU most concerned about? Is it the threat of hydrogen bomb WAR that can blast all human life from off this planet? Is it the race to conquer SPACE? MOST are concerned not about these issues but about making ends meet. THINK OF IT! In the industrial nations about 25% of parents are “farming out” their children so that both parents can work! WHY are most families experiencing such desperate financial worry? WHY such worry and striving over MAKING ENDS MEET?

FINANCIAL worries Seem to plague us all! IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!

When you stop to think about it, never in the history of this world were any nations so rich as the English-speaking and the western European nations today! Our peoples possess more developed resources and national wealth than any people ever had before.

Yet nearly every one of us is engaged in a constant STRUGGLE to make ends meet. Financial worries seem constantly to bear us down — rob us of real happiness and joy! WHY SHOULD THIS BE?

There is a reason! You CAN BE FREE from financial worry!

What Most People Don’t Know

There is something you probably don’t know about your income. If there is anything people are jealous of, it is the money they earn. They usually work hard for it. And they want full freedom in deciding for themselves what they do with it.

People say: “What I earn is MINE — I can do what I please with it!”

But is the money you earn really your own? Don’t be too sure. Notice these FACTS about your income you probably haven’t known!

What you earn is not yours!

The man who says, “What I do with the money I earn with my own labor is nobody’s business — I produced it — it belongs to me,” is mistaken.

What you earn, by work performed or investments made is not yours — not any of it — that is, not UNTIL …!

And here is what most people don’t know about their income!

There are two prior claims on your income. One, of course, is taxes.

Human governments, by virtue of MAN-made laws, are able forcibly to extract from your incomes not one tenth, but an average of over ONE QUARTER, a vast amount of which is mis-spent. Jesus said we are to pay taxes — render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s — be subject to the powers that be. Governments, therefore, have exercised a PRIOR right to one quarter of your income — and in the case of salary or wages, governments take it out BEFORE YOU get your pay.

But the first claim is GOD’S claim. You probably never realized this fact before — but it is a fact. God Almighty the living CREATOR-RULER of the universe claims it all — every dollar — every pound — every franc — every mark. Your Maker who gives you the very air you breathe tells you it all belongs to Him, not to you!

But didn’t you earn it? Didn’t YOU produce it?

Not exactly! Everything produced — money, and all that money can buy — comes out of the earth. You didn’t produce that! God created that. You merely applied certain energy in physical action and in thinking to what God had created and owned. And God created even that energy you expended — He created your thinking processes. He not only created, originally, but He sustains what He created, including all force and energy.

So, after all, it was GOD’S LABOR of creating and sustaining that really produced all. God’s claim to its ownership of all you have THOUGHT YOU produced is valid. It is prior to yours.

God Almighty says, in His written Word: “The earth is the Eternal’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods” (Psalm 24:1-2). These inspired words are repeated in I Corinthians 10:26.

“Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is MINE,” claims God (Job 41:11).

“Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the ETERNAL’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is” (Deut. 10:14). “All the earth is MINE” (Ex. 19:5).

“If I were hungry,” says God (Psalm 50:12), “I would not tell thee; for the world is MINE, and the fulness thereof.” “For every beast of the forest is MINE, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (verse 10).

Yes, even the money — even the gold and silver: “The silver is MINE, and the gold is MINE, saith the ETERNAL of hosts” (Hag. 2:8).

DARE any man deny this claim of God? These same words of God are the words by which every man shall be JUDGED at the last. If any man deny God’s claim, the decision will be rendered against him, in the judgment! God’s claim stands! Admit, then, your income BELONGS TO GOD! It’s HIS to do with as HE wills.

How God’s Law Regulates It

However, God is a God of love. He knows your need. God is concerned about you. He is not selfish. He has your interest and welfare in mind. Therefore God has made A LAW respecting that portion of HIS WEALTH which your thinking, and your labor has extracted and worked upon.

Get this fixed thoroughly in your mind. Your wages, your salary, your profit, your income BELONGS TO GOD, not to you. Probably you never realized this before. This may seem like a new idea to you. But it is not an idea — it is a fact.

GOD IS THE OWNER OF WHAT YOU WORK ON AND HAVE A PART IN PRODUCING. You could produce nothing apart from God’s matter which He created — apart from the use of laws of force and energy which God set in motion and sustains.

Therefore GOD HAS A RIGHT to take, or dispose of what you regard as your income AS HE WILLS. He OWNS it. It is not yours, it is HIS!

So God, the rightful OWNER of your income, has MADE A LAW respecting its disposal and its use. By virtue of being Creator and Sustainer of the earth and all in it, God is supreme RULER and LAWGIVER.

God’s LAW respecting what you earn is in fact a DEAL He has made with you. He allows you to work on HIS EARTH, to use a part of the earth or what is in it or on it, and of its forces and energies, and to extract from it food, materials, supplies, metals, wood, oils, coal, or whatever — or to work on or with that which others have extracted from the earth, in manufacturing, distributing, selling, buying, investing — whatever may be your occupation or job or profession — and so, whether you have realized it or not YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GOD.

The farmer or gardener may plant seed, plow, and expend his labor in raising food. But WHO supplied the SOIL? WHO created the living process that makes the seed sprout and grow? Who sends the rain, or provides water for irrigation? Who set the sun in the sky and causes it to shine and warm the earth? Who causes the plant to drink out of the soil the minerals, vitamins, and good elements, and to grow into the vegetable, the grain, or the fruit? Did YOU perform this part of the business of raising the food you eat?

When we sit down and really THINK, we shall see that God supplies about NINE parts of everything man makes or produces, and man’s thinking, planning, and working supplies only about ONE part. But God does not take nine tenths of the proceeds, or the income. He doesn’t take even eight tenths, or seven, or even three or two tenths. God is GENEROUS. God has reserved for HIS use only one little tiny tenth of what is produced out of His earth through His forces and energies!

God takes only ONE tenth. And after you have been honest in PAYING God’s tenth to God’s chosen representative, then — AND NOT UNTIL THEN — God has decreed that the other NINE tenths becomes legally YOURS!

THAT’S GOD’S LAW! Not a penny of what you earn, or a penny’s worth of the value of what you produce, is YOURS — it ALL belongs to God to do with as HE directs. But God has legally directed that after you have honestly paid Him the one little, small tenth He requires for His use, then the other NINE tenths He gives to YOU. Then, and not until then, you can rightfully claim OWNERSHIP over that nine tenths. Then and thereafter it is YOURS to do with as YOU decide.

When we get our thinking straight — when we get UNDERSTANDING — when we stop to realize HOW MUCH of what we have was provided by GOD — then we realize how LOVING, how GENEROUS, how solicitous for our welfare God is.

How to HAVE MORE

But that’s only part of the story.

What does God want with that first TENTH? How does He use it? He requires that small fraction of what is produced out of HIS earth for the purpose of disseminating to the people HIS MESSAGE OF THE WAY OF LIFE that will free them from fears and worries, give them peace of mind and happiness, give them joy and success and LIFE ETERNAL!

Yes, even this tenth which God withholds for His use is expended for HUMAN GOOD! For proclaiming His gospel of peace, and happiness and joy and salvation! For letting people know God will heal them when they are sick — that God will deliver them from every trouble — supply their every need! Give them Eternal Life! (You can click the following for the rest of the article: Ending Your FINANCIAL WORRIES)

I will simply add that God is faithful and that one can live in this age as a tithe payer. No modern currency is going to last over a few decades from now (e.g. Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?). Do not put your faith in it–particularly the USA dollar.

Remember what Jesus taught:

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

The world will pass away, but God’s word will not (cf. Matthew 24:35).

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Tithing Questions and Some Answers Answers questions about tithing and also addresses some non-biblical arguments against tithing. Should people tithe? Here is a link to a related video sermon Tithing Answers from the Bible.
The Plain Truth About Gold in Prophecy. How Should a Christian View Gold? What do economists and the Bible teach about gold? Gold and silver may drop in value. Inflation/deflation? What do Christians need to know about gold? A video of related interest may be: Germany, Gold, and the US Dollar.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Ending Your FINANCIAL WORRIES How can people help themselves and others financially? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject. A video of related interest would be: Dealing With Financial Worries.
Gambling and Sin: Is it a Sin for Christians to Gamble? What does the Bible reveal? A related video is Gambling: A Covetous Sin?
What is Armstrongism? Did Herbert W. Armstrong raise a new faith or promote the original Christian faith? Here is a link to a related video: What is Armstrongism? Are Some Dismissive of Original Christianity?
Spiritual Samaritans: Old and New Who were the Samaritans? Do the represent true Christianity or something else? Here is a link to a related sermon: USA in Prophecy: Samaria.
Herbert W. Armstrong, the Philadelphia Church, & the Mantle Herbert Armstrong claims God had him raise the Philadelphia up. Are there reasons to believe that the Philadelphia mantle in now within the CCOG? Here is a link to a related sermon: Herbert W. Armstrong and the Philadelphia Mantle.
Living as a Christian: How and Why? In what ways do Christians live differently than others. What about praying, fasting, tithing, holy days, and the world? There is also a YouTube video related to that also called: Living as a Christian: How and Why?
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.

COGwriter

Chuck Norris wrote the following:

February 27, 2023

Chapman University’s Survey of Fear (CUSF) is “an ongoing project, now in its ninth year. Conducted annually, it follows trends over time and identifies new fears as they emerge. The survey is a nationally representative sample that gives us insight into what terrifies America.”

Unfortunately, it turns out that the majority of Americans suffer from tremendous fear. Many – perhaps as high as 85% of the population – live with a sense of impending doom. This is a classic sign of clinical anxiety.

So, here are the Top 10 Fears of America (2022):

1. Corrupt government officials – 62.1
2. People I love becoming seriously ill – 60.2
3. Russia using nuclear weapons – 59.6
4. People I love dying – 58.1
5. The U.S. involved in another world war – 56.0
6. Pollution of drinking water – 54.5
7. Not having enough money for the future – 53.7
8. Economic/financial collapse – 53.7
9. Pollution of oceans, rivers, and lakes – 52.5
10. Biological warfare – 51.5

A general overview of the present CUSF report shows us that Americans’ fears center on five main topics: corrupt government officials (No. 1), harm to a loved one (Nos. 2 & 4), war (Nos. 3, 5 & 10), environmental concerns (Nos. 6 & 9), and economic concerns (Nos. 7 & 8). …

John Hopkins University: Hospital for Children … recommend the following to overcome fears and phobias:

People can learn to overcome phobias by gradually facing their fears. This is not easy at first. It takes willingness and bravery.  …

Often, the hardest part of overcoming a phobia is getting started. Once a person decides to go for it – and gets the right coaching and support – it can be surprising how quickly fear can melt away.

Speaking of melting away, there’s a little verse in the Bible that reads: “Perfect (or mature) love casts out all fear.”

It is interesting that US Americans fear government corruption more than anything else–and if you compare this list to the 2015 list shown at the beginning of this post, you will see that the percentage fearing government corruption has increased. That is no surprise because of what has been going on in the USA over the past several years.

Consider that through the Prophet Nathan, God gave King David of Israel three choices for punishment. Notice the choices, what David chose, and why he choose them:

7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. 8 So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

9 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10 “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.”‘”

11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself, 12 either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord — the plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”

13 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”  (1 Chronicles 21:7-13)

People are not as merciful as God is–and David knew that.

Jesus warned that a time was coming when:

 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. (John 9:4)

This will be because of corruption in government. The Bible further warns that a famine of the word is coming and government corruption will likely be a factor in that. For years I have been writing that I believe that steps that the governments of the USA and UK have taken could help lead to the coming ‘famine of the word’ and/or directly cause it. Notice something I put in the article Who is the King of the North? back in 2011:

The Bible warns:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. (Amos 8:12, KJV)

The above will apparently happen after Daniel 11:33 is fulfilled, but portions may begin as early as Daniel 11:28. With FCC “net neutrality” rules (they were approved to start to use in late 2010), we are getting close to that time when governments will be too offended by the truth and some will take steps to stop it from being proclaimed. Perhaps under the guise of “neutrality,” perhaps under the guise of “The Patriot Act,” perhaps under the guise of “public welfare” or national security, something will be done to stop perhaps all of the organized media efforts to proclaim biblical truths.

Furthermore, on August 11, 2011, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom stated that he wanted Scotland Yard to consider stopping suspected rioters from having the ability to utilize “social media” that involved the internet (see UK’s Cameron May Call Out the Troops and Restrict Social Media)–thus the idea of interference with the ability to proclaim the gospel that way may fulfill what the Bible and Herbert W. Armstrong understood, just prior to the start of the Great Tribulation.

The work may be stopped by government officials (like on the internet, television, etc.) and persecutions began because people of the holy covenant are warning the world of the results of their sins (which they will not want pointed out) and teaching that the King of the North is fulfilling these prophecies in Daniel 11. The faithful may be saying things that are not “politically correct” to the point that one or more governments will take action (especially if we are saying, and I expect to help do this, that a certain individual is the King of the North and that he will invade and destroy the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, etc.).

The government corruption in the USA regarding restrictions for its first amendment are likely to be a factor and will help facilitate, to a degree, the rise of the King of the North.  While we in the CCOG realize this, we boldly go forward as we also know “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

As far as human fears go, there are other fears that Americans have.

Some people fear because they do not understand why they are here or the meaning of life. Some items that can assist include the following:

The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that humans have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, Mystery of Race, and The Mystery of YOU. Here is a link to two videos in Spanish: El Misterio del Plan de Dios and El Misterio de Satanás, el Misterio de la Verdad, el Misterio del Reposo. Why Were You Born? Why did God make you? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this booklet on this important subject. You may also wish to read the article What is Your Destiny? or watch the video, also titled What is Your Destiny?
Building Character: Going on to Perfection Once you have accepted Jesus, do you need to strive for perfection and build character? A related video sermon is available: Going on to perfection and building character.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally? If you would like to watch videos covering subjects of this article, you can click on the following links: Why YOU? Why Do YOU Suffer? and What is the meaning of your life?

Of course, various disasters are coming (Matthew 24) and it is wise to take physical and spiritual steps to deal with them. Yet, many with fears and worries take few, if any, steps to deal with such matters.

Jesus taught that having a godly fear was more important than fearing people:

28 And you shall not be afraid of those who kill the body that are not able to kill the soul; rather be afraid of him who can destroy soul and body in Gehenna. (Matthew 10:28, Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

As far as taking proper preparation goes, the Bible teaches the following:

3 A prudent man forsees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished. (Proverbs 22:3)

That does not mean that there will be no difficulties, but that proper steps should be taken. Jesus said:

43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:43-44).

Speaking to His followers, Jesus said they would have problems:

33 In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

But Jesus also said:

22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? 25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:22-32)

People need to take proper spiritual steps now. One of the biggest fears that people really have is a fear of making a mistake. Because of that, many Christians are paralyzed to do what they really should do and have proper faith in God’s word.

Jesus warned that it would be hard to find faith when He returns:

8 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?  (Luke 18:8)

Jesus also warned the Laodiceans:

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:  15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.  16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.  17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked —   18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.  19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.  20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘”  (Revelation 3:14-22)

Most Christians in the end times are Laodicean, so that warning should be paid attention to by all Christians. Yet, many do not fear being Laodiceans enough to repent. People really need to have courage and properly exercise faith (watch also Faith and Courage). Those who think they should be ‘independent’ are deceiving themselves per Zephaniah 2:1-3 (watch Zephaniah’s ‘Gather Together’ Prophecy; see also Independent Members of the COG: Herbert W. Armstrong Comments, Plus Questions and Answers). Those in COGs that are not truly Philadelphian and have prophetic errors (see list in the article The Laodicean Church Era) and need to change.

Trials and tribulations are coming, but those who will heed Jesus’ call to be Philadelphian Christians in this age can be protected from the coming hour of trial that will come upon the earth:

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,

‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie — indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:7-10)

Sadly, most who profess Christ in these days are NOT Philadelphian Christians and will have to go through the tribulation. Notice that Revelation teaches that only some Christians will be protected while others will not be:

14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:14-17)

Please consider your spiritual state, no matter where you may live. Just because you profess Jesus Christ and may keep the commandments does NOT mean that you will be protected. Only the Philadelphian Christians are promised protection and they have a different focus on truly doing the work (Matthew 24:14; 28:19-20) in these end times.

Related to Chapman’s 2015 list, the Continuing Church of God put out the following short video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

Top Ten Fears

The Continuing Church of God put out the following sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel related to fear:

Cowardice and Overcoming Fear

What does the Bible teach about fear and cowardice? Are Christians ever afraid? Does the Bible have a different standard for courage and cowardice than the world? Why have the fear of God? How can you overcome your fears? Does Jesus chastise Christians for being afraid? What are some of the things the parable of the talents should be teaching us about fear? What did Jesus tell His “little flock’ about fear? What is the fate of the cowardly? Perfect love casts out fear, so how do you develop ‘perfect love’?

Here is a link to the sermon: Cowardice and Overcoming Fear.

The Continuing Church of God also put out the following sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel related to fear:

1:22:34

Ten Plus Steps to Rid Yourself of Fear

Billions of people are afraid for many reasons, including COVID-19. Are any fears good? Are there mindless fears and phobias? Can autosuggestion be deceptive? Can you deal with mental torment? What are some causes of bad dreams (nightmares)? Does Satan try to exploit fears through his lies? Can the weak become strong? Were Christ’s disciples ever fearful? Are there biblical ways to deal with fear? What about spiritual fear and the ‘fear of God’? The late evangelists Dr. Herman Hoeh had an article published in 1955 titled ‘How to Conquer Your Fears?’ What are eight steps from the Apostle Peter? What did Jesus teach about worry? Are most Christians Philadelphian? What did Jesus teach about fear? What is the ultimate biblical fate for cowards? Here is a list of ten steps to help rid yourself of fear: 1. “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Changing your mental focus will help you push out fear. 2. Develop faith. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). 3. Add virtue to your faith in the power of God. You cannot hide your sins from God (cf. Psalm 90:8). 4. Add to virtue knowledge. Study the word of God, study CCOG literature, pay attention to sermons (ContinuingCOG YouTube sermon channel) and sermonettes (BibleNewsProphecy YouTube sermonette channel). 5. Add self-control to knowledge. Resist Satan and his hopes that you will walk by sight instead of faith. 6. Add patience to self-control. You may have to go through many tests and trials to build patience, but as you get through the tests and trials you should have the faith to recognize that God got you through them and that you do not need to fear. 7. Add godliness to patience. 8. Add to patience, brotherly kindness. “Let Philadelphia continue” (Hebrews 13:1). 9. Add to brotherly kindness, love. 10. Be courageous. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). This is how YOU can conquer your fears and worries! Ask God for help to carry out His ten-fold plan to attain real peace of mind. Then there is also prayer and fasting. Yes, through God’s help you can rid yourself of fear. This sermon by Dr. Thiel covers these topics and more.

Here is a link to the sermon: Ten Plus Steps to Rid Yourself of Fear.

As far as the nation of the USA goes, America needs national repentance and the return of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Ten Steps to Rid Yourself of Fear This is a vastly expanded version of a shorter article by the late Dr. Herman Hoeh on getting past fear. Here is a link to a related sermon: Ten Plus Steps to Rid Yourself of Fear.
Christian courage vs. cowardice As you courageous? Biblically, what is cowardice? Do YOU really understand this? Two sermons related to this article are available and are titled Courage and Cowardice and Cowardice and Overcoming Fear. A Spanish language article is also available: Valor Cristiano vs Cobardía.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection; here is a message in Spanish: Me Está Llamando Dios Hoy? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Faith for those God has Called and Chosen What is faith? Can faith be increased? Are you saved by faith? What about works? Do Christians need to keep the Ten Commandments? What is the ‘faith chapter’? How do the just live by faith? Is faith one of the weightier matters of the law? How does faith come? Here is a link to a pdf. booklet titled Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen. Marque aquí para ver el pdf folleto: Fe para aquellos que Dios ha llamado y escogido. In German: Glaube für die von Gott Berufenen und Auserwählten. In French: La Foi pour ceux que Dieu a Appelés et Choisis. Here is a link to a related sermon titled: Faith for the Called and Chosen and here is a link to another sermon Faith and Courage. Here is a link to shorter version of the written article in Mandarin Chinese 一篇关于信仰的小文章.
Prayer: What Does the Bible Teach? This free booklet contains 28 biblically-based tips on improving the effectiveness of your prayers. This is a pdf. A related two part sermon is available: What Does the Bible Teach About Prayer? and What does the Bible Teach About Prayer (& Healing)?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differs from Protestantism How the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a Church of God background. As far as some changes affecting Protestantism, watch the video Charismatic Kenneth Copeland and Anglican Tony Palmer: Protestants Beware! [Português: Esperança do salvação: Como a igreja do deus difere da maioria de protestantes]. Several related sermon are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History, The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character, The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon, Eucharist, Passover, and Easter, and How Does the Church of God Differ from Protestantism?
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is a link to a related sermon: Could God be Calling You? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.

COGwriter

Related to prayer, the Continuing Church of God put together the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

Prayer works and aids in healing

Believe it or Not! In a scientific study prayer has actually been proven to help cardiac patients who were prayed for daily (without them knowing it) fare better, with fewer complications than those who were not prayed for. That is an amazing scientific proof of the power of prayer! A question worth asking is this: would that even be possible if there were no God? In this video Dr. Thiel uses scripture as well as scientific studies to shine the light on the power of prayer. He goes on to explain how God answers our prayers. Sometimes He answers the way we want and sometimes He answers in a way that is best for us but not necessarily the way we wanted. Why would God answer our prayers in a way not to our liking? For those of us that love God, Dr. Thiel reminds us of the scripture in Romans 8:28-30. How should we pray? Dr. Thiel shines the light of the verses from the Bible on that question with answers in his free downloadable eBook with 28 tips on improving the effectiveness of our prayers. Watch this video to improve your own prayer life and become a greater blessing to your loved ones, those close to you, and those who are suffering that you don’t even know through the power of prayer.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Prayer: What Does the Bible Teach? 28 tips on improving the effectiveness of your prayers People talk a lot about prayer. Many pray in public. Does God listen? What does the Bible teach about prayer? How can your prayers be more effective? Does the Bible give particular positions to pray in? What does God want you to pray for? What if what you want is difficult? What if what you want is humanly impossible? Why doesn’t God seem to answer all prayers? This free booklet answers all those questions and more. This contains 28 biblically-based tips on improving the effectiveness of your prayers. This is a pdf. A related two part sermon is available: What Does the Bible Teach About Prayer? and What does the Bible Teach About Prayer (& Healing)? There is also a single sermon available: 28 Tips on Prayer.
What Should I Pray About? An old article by Lynn Torrance on prayer.
Does God Heal Today? This historical article is by Herbert Armstrong and provides his views circa 1952, which he seemed to later modify, at least to some degree.
Ten Simple Rules that Lead to Health Herbert Armstrong gives his opinions on this.
Importance of Fasting An old article by Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject.
Faith for those God has Called and Chosen What is faith? Can faith be increased? Are you saved by faith? What about works? Do Christians need to keep the Ten Commandments? What is the ‘faith chapter’? How do the just live by faith? Is faith one of the weightier matters of the law? How does faith come? Here is a link to a pdf. booklet titled Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen. Marque aquí para ver el pdf folleto: Fe para aquellos que Dios ha llamado y escogido.Here is a link to a related sermon titled: Faith for the Called and Chosen. Here is a link to shorter version of the written article in Mandarin Chinese 一篇关于信仰的小文章
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.

(Pixabay)

COGwriter

Deutsche Welle reported the following:

Americans more vulgar online than Brits, Aussies — study

20 June 2025

Almost two billion words — just under 600 of them swear words — were carefully assessed, and the United States then handed the dubious honor of being the most cursing country in the English-speaking world, at least online. …

The reason that America — viewed by some to be a more conservative and polite culture among English-speakers — is the most profane community online may be the anonymity of the screen, according to the study’s co-author Martin Schweinberger, a linguist at the University of Queensland, Australia.

“Especially when you’re not tied to what you write with your name, for example,” said Schweinberger. “There are also cultural differences on what is allowed in social situations.”

“Different cultures have different norms on when and what is permitted. It seems as if the Americans, basically, are more forgiving online,” he said. …

Americans topped the list with a curse word appearing 0.036% of the time. That is equivalent to 36 curse words in a 100,000-word text.

The British were next, with 25 curses per 100,000 words. Then the Aussies with 22, Singaporeans with 21 and New Zealanders with 20.

Bangladeshis are the politest among English-speakers — just seven vulgarities per 100,000 words. https://www.dw.com/en/americans-more-vulgar-online-than-brits-aussies-study/a-72986152

My experience is that those who use foul language on the Internet tend to be angry and often hateful. They tend to demonstrate that they do not “love their neighbor.”

Last December, a Roman Catholic asserted out there is “a growing trend among online Christians that promotes vulgarity, verbal abuse and even blasphemy” (https://www.catholic.com/audio/cot/the-problem-of-profane-christians)–I would add that those who blasphemy, etc. would tend not to be real Christians.

People, Americans or not–professing Christian or not, should not use foul language. However, the amount of foul language has been increasing over the years–and not just on the Internet. Here is an older report from the Wall Street Journal on that:

December 20, 2021

In November, Jay Rosenthal unexpectedly found himself uttering a curse word—at his children’s school. …

The old boundaries between work and home have blurred, reducing formalities and often forging foxhole bonds during difficult times.

“Artificial walls came down,” says Mr. Rosenthal, a Toronto-based founder of a media company.

Pandemic stress, the melding of personal and professional spheres, and an exhausted slide toward casualness are making many of us swear more. It is “a perfect swearing storm,” says Michael Adams, a linguist at Indiana University Bloomington.

Mentions of {curse words and their variants}, rose 41% from full-year 2019 to 2021 through the end of November on Facebook and 27% on Twitter, according to Storyful, a news and intelligence agency. Storyful is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.

Denver-based Inversoft Inc.’s CleanSpeak profanity-filtering software, which is used by companies that host online communities and other discussion forums, says the volume of filtered words has more than tripled in the past 18 months.

“People are becoming more aggressive in their use of profane and sexually explicit terms,” says Inversoft’s Chief Executive Don Bergal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/were-cursing-more-blame-the-pandemic-11640008801

The increased use of foul language was prophesied in the New Testament:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!  (2 Timothy 3:1-6)

As far as being despisers of good, some people think foul language is fine and even relaxing:

Dropping a curse word here and there can also demonstrate comfort with someone else. “It’s something you’re not supposed to be doing, but you trust them,” says Dr. Adams. “It’s a sign of intimacy.” He says people are seeking this type of connection as they experience tectonic life shifts while often feeling isolated from their colleagues. “We’re using what we’ve got,” he says.

Tracy Brady, a communications executive in Boston who has found herself swearing more during the pandemic, likens the relaxing of language to a parallel relaxation of how we dress now.

Cursing “is the yoga pants and Uggs of language,” says Ms. Brady. …

Yet swearing can convey a kind of grittiness, or an appealing edge, say branding experts.

“If it’s used judiciously, it can be a spotlight, an exclamation point, a way to break out and seem authentic,” says Allen Adamson, co-founder of brand-consulting firm Metaforce. Yet too much swearing can undercut the substance of the speaker’s message, he adds.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/were-cursing-more-blame-the-pandemic-11640008801

No, it should not be used at all. It is not relaxing–it shows lack of self-control and lack of respect for the word of God.

The Bible condemns foul language. Notice scriptures from the Hebrew scriptures:

11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. (Deuteronomy 5:11)

28 “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. (Exodus 22:28)

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote:

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14)

33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (1 Corinthians 15:33, KJV)

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

Foul language is unnecessary and should not be used. Using ‘art’ as an excuse, does not excuse it.

Furthermore, using God’s name in vain is a prideful lie.

Jesus taught:

34 … For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:34b-37)

What you speak does matter, and that is more than not bearing false witness.

We see much vulgarity and blasphemy in the world today.

The United States has long been the world leader in producing movies. Yet, because some believe that those having a ‘G’ (General Audience) rating could harm their marketing efforts or their ‘artistic’ reputation, vulgar and lust-provoking language is often included in movies.

Such things should not be done (cf. 1 Timothy 6:9-10).

Jesus taught:

20 What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts … blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:20-21).

Interestingly, back in 2014, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed in a law against foul language:

May 6, 2014

The Russian President has just signed legislation that bans foul language in movies, television, theatre and other media. The law “bans the use of obscene language while ensuring the rights of Russian citizens to the use of the state language, and protecting and developing language culture.”

The new law will be enforced starting at the beginning of July 2014. Fines for offenders can reach 2,500 roubles ($70) for individuals and 50,000 roubles ($1,400) for organisations.

The ban will include “four colloquial words, including terms for male and female genitalia, as well as a term for a promiscuous female.”

Books with foul language will have to include a special warning on the cover.  http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Vladimir-Putin-Sign-Russian-Law-Banning-Foul-Language-in-Movies-TV-and-Theatre-20140506#

This resulted in certain ‘artists’ objecting to it (see Certain Russian ‘artists’ oppose ban on profanity).

I would add here that sadly, many ‘artists’ do need to be censored as what passes for art if often vulgar, lust provoking, and/or otherwise immoral. Nude shows in the West are called ‘performance art’ and now is showing actual acts of homosexual intercourse in the West. Now ‘soft pornography’ is considered as appropriate family entertainment by many in the Western media.

It is a sad commentary on the USA and its British-descended allies that it is the President of Russia and not a president of the USA that has taken steps to reduce foul language.

Violating the 3rd commandment, along with encouraging the violations of the 7th and 10th commandments, should not be done–and it is NOT real art.

Related to words and the third commandment, the Continuing Church of God put together the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:11:03

Third Commandment Plus: Words Matter

Do words matter? What is the third commandment? Does the command cover more than cursing with God’s name? Are cursing and blaspheming the same thing? Are we to try to control our words and our thoughts? Are there inappropriate or blasphemous religious titles? Is calling yourself a Christian without being a real one a form of blasphemy? Can real Christians blaspheme God’s name by not living as a proper Christian? What about ‘sacred names’? What about the use of euphemisms? Can you be speaking against God when you speak against His ministers? What about talebearing or gossip? What about swearing or taking oaths? How about affirmations? Did Satan use God’s name in vain? Was cursing a sin before the Ten Commandments were written in stone on Mount Sinai? What about after Jesus was resurrected? What did James, Peter, and Paul teach in the New Testament portion of the Bible related to words and blasphemy? What about Old Testament writings and the command in Exodus 20? Did people blaspheme God when they spoke against Moses, Aaron, and Samuel? Can you blaspheme God through hypocrisy? Are Christians to use words to hurt or words to help? What about bullying? Will the Beast of the Sea and the final Antichrist use blasphemous words? Will you be judged for your words? Dr. Thiel addresses these and more in this sermon?

The amount of foul language tolerated in Western and other societies is excessive and should not be done.

It is not good that such language use is increasing.

Even though that was also prophesied for the last days (cf. 2 Timothy 3:1-5), Christians should not do it.

As the Apostle Paul wrote:

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, …. (Ephesians 4:29)

We also have a short video related to this article:

9:09

Was Increased Cursing Prophesied?

Facebook reported cursing up 41% over the previous year. Twitter reported it up 27%, whereas CleanSpeak reported that cursing tripled. Was increased cursing prophesied for these last days times? Is cursing helpful and relaxing as some insist? Or is it corrupt, vulgar, and wrong? What does the Bible teach about this? Dr. Thiel goes over these matters and more in this short video.

Here is a link to our video: Was Increased Cursing Prophesied?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
FIRST COMMANDMENT: Priorities and the Most Broken Commandment Which commandment is broken the most? Which one is most involved with what should be your top priority? Here is a link to a related sermon: The Most Violated Commandment and Priorities.
SECOND COMMANDMENT: What Did the Early Church Teach About Idols and Icons? Did the early Church use icons? What was the position of Christians about such things? A related sermon is available: The Second Commandment, Idols, and Icons.
THIRD COMMANDMENT: Words Matter Are you obeying the Third Commandment? Are you sure? Could you be blaspheming with your euphemisms or life actions? Here is a link to a related sermon: Third Commandment Plus: Words Matter. Here is a link to a shorter video: Was Increased Cursing Prophesied?
FOURTH COMMANDMENT: The Sabbath in the Early Church and Abroad Was the seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath observed by the apostolic and post-apostolic Church? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Commandment: Saturday or Sunday?
FIFTH COMMANDMENT: Honor and Be Honorable The fifth commandment involves family relationships. Is it more than parents and children? What about love and ruling well your household? Here is a link to a related sermon: Honor Your Parents and Rule Honorably.
SIXTH COMMANDMENT: Anger, Murder, Abortion, Sports, Self-Control, & Kindness Is there more to the 6th commandment than not murdering? What about abortion, hate, and violent sports? What is the attitude real Christians should have? Here is a link to a related sermon:: Murder, anger, kindness, and love.
SEVENTH COMMANDMENT: Love and Faithfulness, Not Sexual Immorality The seventh commandment prohibits adultery. Jesus made it clear that it involved more than marital infiedlity. What about the LGBTQ+ movement and the Bible? Here is a link to a related video sermon: 7th Commandment: Love and Faithfulness.
EIGHTH COMMANDMENT: Give not take. The eighth commandment prohibits stealing. This includes thievery, not tithing, debasing currency, cheating, and many other wrong acts. Here is a link to a related sermon: 8th Commandment: Do Not Steal or Cheat, Instead Produce and Give.
NINTH COMMANDMENT: No False Witness For a Better World What were the first lies in the Bible? What would happen if people obeyed God and did not bear false witness? Here is a link to a related sermon: NINTH COMMANDMENT: Joys to the World.
TENTH COMMANDMENT: Protects You From Sinning Against Yourself Lust is not a victim-less crime.
The Ten Commandments Reflect Love, Breaking them is Evil Some feel that the ten commandments are a burden. Is that what Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John taught? For a more detailed discussion of the first four commandments, please see the video The Ten Commandments: Loving God. For a more detailed discussion of the last six commandments, please see: The Ten Commandments: Loving Your Neighbor. Here is a link to a related article in Mandarin Chinese 十条诫命显示爱，违反诫命的就是邪恶的 .
The Bible Condemns Homosexuality “Same-sex marriage” for “gays” and lesbians is becoming more acceptable to many. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality? Can homosexuals change?
Pornography: A scourge on society Is pornography harmless fun? Does the Bible teach anything about it? What are the views of some involved with it? Here is a link to a YouTube video Pornography: Harmless Fun or a Scourge on Society?

Tucker Carlson
(Photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikipedia)

COGwriter

Last night, I saw Tucker Carlson ask Senator Ted Cruz if he knew the population of Iran. Ted Cruz did not know. Tucker Carlson then chastised him about wanting to possibly invade Iran since he did not know much about it. Today, NBC reported the following related to this:

June 18, 2025

Tucker Carlson clashed with Sen. Ted Cruz in an interview and posted a clip Tuesday night in which the senator was unable to answer questions about Iran.

“How many people live in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked the Texas Republican.

“I don’t know the population,” Cruz responded.

“At all?” Carlson asked, prompting Cruz to reiterate that he did not know. “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?”

Asked again how he did not know Iran’s population, the senator responded, “I don’t sit around memorizing population tables.” (The CIA estimated in 2024 that the country’s population level sits at around 88 million.) …

Cruz said in a Fox News interview on Sunday that he believed “it is very much in the interest of America to see regime change” in Iran. …

“You don’t know anything about Iran,” Carlson said, and the interview devolved into a heated, overlapping exchange. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/tucker-carlson-clashes-sen-ted-cruz-dont-know-anything-iran-rcna213697

Here is a link to the actual podcast: https://tuckercarlson.com/tucker-show-ted-cruz

Tucker Carlson has opposed direct USA involvement in a possibly expanded Iran war.

Today, I noticed that the Protestant Harbinger Daily site had an anti-Tucker Carlson article (not related to the Ted Cruz piece). Here is some of what it stated:

How do you feel about war? Christians, let’s be honest, it’s difficult. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be peacemakers and to love our neighbor as ourselves, but we also live in a broken world where evil must be confronted. …

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, speaking of Israel in an interview with Russell Brand, stated: “You do not have the right to kill people, except in self-defense. Ever. Because you are not God. And if you decide that you have that right—if you decide you are God and you just get to kill people because it’s going to make the world better, or whatever, you’re a monster. And just know that. By the way, I didn’t always feel that way, but I now do. I feel it strongly enough to become unpopular by saying it.”

If you agree with Tucker, let me be crystal clear: his position isn’t just wrong; it’s unbiblical, dangerous, …

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” in Matthew 5, He wasn’t talking about appeasing terrorists. When Jesus said, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword” in Matthew 26, He was stopping Peter from interfering with God’s redemptive plan; He wasn’t establishing universal pacifism. 06/17/25 https://harbingersdaily.com/misrepresenting-gods-word-tucker-carlson-and-candace-owens-condemn-israels-right-to-defend-itself/

Actually, based on what Jesus and others taught in the New Testament, yes, Christianity was established as a pacifist religion. It is not unbiblical nor un-Christian to advocate peace.

Teaching otherwise is dangerous–as could be fighting Iran (a nation with biological, chemical, EMP bombs, missiles, and other weapons–known and unknown).

Jesus taught:

7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:7-9)

Notice the following about Jesus:

18 “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;
21 And in His name Gentiles will trust. (Matthew 12:18-21)

Jesus was not violent.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

The Apostle Paul was non-violent. The Apostle Paul was not militaristic.

Neither was Jesus.

Neither, should be, His true followers.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Christians cannot have peace in every way if they are militaristic.

Furthermore, Paul wrote:

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: (Hebrews 12:14)

Christians are to pursue peace.

The Apostle Peter wrote:

10 For “He who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. 11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it…” (1 Peter 3:10-11).

Paul also wrote:

15 … God has called us to peace. (1 Corinthians 7:15)

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal … (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)

11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

All serious theological scholars who have looked into early Christianity realize that Christians were pacifists and would not engage in military warfare.

The historical fact is that, from the beginning of the New Testament church, true Christians (and even most of the heretical apostates) would not participate in carnal warfare.

Melito, a leading Church of God Christian leader wrote around 170 A.D., that if a leader is just, then God provides peace:

My opinion is this: that in `this’ way a kingdom may be governed in peace-when the sovereign is acquainted with the God of truth, and is withheld by fear of Him from doing wrong to those who are his subjects, and judges everything with equity, as one who knows that he himself also will be judged before God; while, at the same time, those who are under his rule are withheld by the fear of God from doing wrong to their sovereign, and are restrained by the same fear from doing wrong to one another. By this knowledge of God and fear of Him all evil may be removed from the realm. For, if the sovereign abstain from doing wrong to those who are under his rule, and they abstain from doing wrong to him and to each other, it is evident that the whole country will dwell in peace. Many blessings, too, will be enjoyed there, because amongst them all the name of God will be glorified. For what blessing is greater than this, that a sovereign should deliver the people that are under his rule from error, and by this good deed render himself pleasing to God? For from error arise all those evils from which kingdoms suffer; but the greatest of all errors is this: when a man is ignorant of God, and in God’s stead worships that which is not God. (Melito. Translation by Roberts and Donaldson. A DISCOURSE WHICH WAS IN THE PRESENCE OF ANTONINUS CAESAR, AND HE EXHORTED THE SAID CAESAR TO ACQUAINT HIMSELF WITH GOD, AND SHOWED TO HIM THE WAY OF TRUTH. Online version copyright © 2001 Peter Kirby. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/melito.html 11/18/06).

Tatian, a professing Christian apologist, wrote around 170 A.D.:

And for these the witnesses take their seats, and the boxers meet in single combat, for no reason whatever, nor does any one come down into the arena to succour. Do such exhibitions as these redound to your credit? He who is chief among you collects a legion of blood-stained murderers, engaging to maintain them; and these ruffians are sent forth by him, and you assemble at the spectacle to be judges, partly of the wickedness of the adjudicator, and partly of that of the men who engage in the combat. And he who misses the murderous exhibition is grieved, because he was not doomed to be a spectator of wicked and impious and abominable deeds (Tatian. Translated by J.E. Ryland. Tatian’s Address to the Greeks, Chapter XXIII . Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Athenagoras, a professing Christian apologist, wrote around 170 A.D.:

What man of sound mind, therefore, will affirm, while such is our character, that we are murderers?…

Who does not reckon among the things of greatest interest the contests of gladiators and wild beasts, especially those which are given by you? But we, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have abjured such spectacles (Athenagoras. A Plea for the Christians, Chapter XXXV. Translated by B.P. Pratten. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Even today, many Christians realize that enjoying brutal events intent on causing physical harm, such as real boxing and American football, is inappropriate.

Now, here is something from Theophilus of Antioch (who apparently was part of the Church of God) perhaps written about 180 A.D.:

Consider, therefore, whether those who teach such things can possibly live indifferently, and be commingled in unlawful intercourse, or, most impious of all, eat human flesh, especially when we are forbidden so much as to witness shows of gladiators, lest we become partakers and abettors of murders. But neither may we see the other spectacles, lest our eyes and ears be defiled, participating in the utterances there sung. Theophilus of Antioch. To Autolycus, Book III, Chapter XV. Translated by Marcus Dods, A.M. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Online Edition)

So, true Christians did not believe that they were to fight nor even watch the violent sports that were popular in the second century.

Notice that this is also the position of the third century Roman Catholic theologian and bishop Hippolytus, who also adds various occupations to those that reject one from being a follower of Christ:

16:6 A charioteer, likewise, or one who takes part in the games, or one who goes to the games, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. 7 If someone is a gladiator, or one who teaches those among the gladiators how to fight, or a hunter who is in the wild beast shows in the arena, or a public official who is concerned with gladiator shows, either he shall cease, or he shall be rejected. 8 If someone is a priest of idols, or an attendant of idols, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. 9 A military man in authority must not execute men. If he is ordered, he must not carry it out. Nor must he take military oath. If he refuses, he shall be rejected. 10 If someone is a military governor, or the ruler of a city who wears the purple, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. 11 The catechumen or faithful who wants to become a soldier is to be rejected, for he has despised God. (Hippolytus. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome. From the work of Bernard Botte (La Tradition Apostolique. Sources Chretiennes, 11 bis. Paris, Editions du Cerf, 1984) and of Gregory Dix (The Treatise on the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus of Rome, Bishop and Martyr. London: Alban Press, 1992) as translated by Kevin P. Edgecomb http://www.bombaxo.com/hippolytus.html viewed 08/06/09)

Around 250 A.D., elder/presbyter Pionius of Smyrna asked:

To whom have we done wrong? Have we perchance murdered someone? Or, do we persecute anyone? Or have we obliged anyone to venerate idols? (Martyrdom of Pionius as translated in Monroy, Mauricio Saavedra. The Church of Smyrna: History and Theology of a Primitive Christian Community. Peter Lang edition, 2015, p. 155)

He asked those questions knowing full well that real Christians had not done any of those things.

As late as the beginning of the fourth century, the Greco-Roman Catholic apologist Lactanus/Lactanius wrote:

For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage in warfare. (Lactanus. Divine Institutes, Book VI (Of True Wisdom and Religion), Chapter 20)

Or why should he carry on war, and mix himself with the passions of others, when his mind is engaged in perpetual peace with men? {The Christian} considers it unlawful not only himself to commit slaughter, but to be present with those who do it, and to behold it. (Lactanus. Divine Institutes, Book V (Of True Wisdom and Religion), Chapter 18)

Christianity Today has recognized that early Christians were against military participation:

The ancient church understood that war has been around as long as human beings and sin have coexisted. It is a consistent tenet throughout the Christian tradition that war is the result of sin. The responses to war, however, have followed two basic trains of thought: pacifism, and the idea that certain wars can be just.

Pacifism is characteristic of the early centuries of Christianity in someone like the North African apologist Tertullian (160-220 A.D.), who regularly warned Christians to distance themselves from pagan culture. He wrote:

“How will he serve in the army even during peacetime without the sword that Jesus Christ has taken away? Even if soldiers came to John and got advice on how they ought to act, even if the centurion became a believer, the Lord by taking away Peter’s sword, disarmed every soldier thereafter. We are not allowed to wear any uniform that symbolizes a sinful act” (On Idolatry 19.3).

The third-century Roman Presbyter Hippolytus wrote The Apostolic Tradition, Canon 16, (ca. 215 A.D.) which opposed serving in the military as a matter of church discipline:

“A soldier in the lower ranks shall kill no one. If ordered to do so, he shall not obey, and he shall not take an oath. If he does not want to comply with this directive, let him be dismissed [from the church].”

(Elowsky, Joel. Ancient Christian Commentary on Current Events: What Is War Good For? Christianity Today, posted October 28, 2003).

Now, I should add that it is doubtful that most of those quoted in the article were true Christians themselves. Yet, it is clear that they understood that John the Baptist and the Apostles were against war.

Here is more from Tertullian’s writings:

But now inquiry is made about this point, whether a believer may turn himself unto military service, and whether the military may be admitted unto the faith, even the rank and file, or each inferior grade, to whom there is no necessity for taking part in sacrifices or capital punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two masters–God and Caesar. And yet Moses carried a rod, and Aaron wore a buckle, and John (Baptist) is girt with leather and Joshua the son of Nun leads a line of march; and the People warred: if it pleases you to sport with the subject. But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away? (Tertullian. On Idolatry, Chapter 19. Translated by S. Thelwall. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885).

The Roman Catholic bishop and theologian Hippolytus of Rome, early third century, noted this:

That it is not meet for Christians to bear arms (Hippolytus. Heads of the Canons of Abulides or Hippolytus, Which Are Used by the Ethiopian Christians. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886. Online Edition Copyright © 2005 by K. Knight).

Theological historian Bart Ehrman noted this as a difference between the Jews and the early Christians:

Further indications of a separation of Christians from Jews came soon thereafter in the Jewish uprising against the Romans in Palestine, leading to a three-year war and the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the year 70 C.E. Old traditions indicate that the Christian Jews refused to participate in the struggle. (Ehrman B. From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity. The Teaching Company, Chantilly (VA), 2004, p. 33)

Furthermore, the historian Kenneth Scott Latourette noted that even late into the third century:

… perhaps most of the early Christians had conscientious scruples against military service (Latourette K.S. A History of Christianity, Volume 1, Beginnings to 1500. Harper, San Francisco, 1975, p. 89).

And while after some time much of the empire soldiers professed Christ, this empire-wide acceptance of professing Christianity concurred with a “compromise with the world…a serious peril to the Gospel” (ibid, p.108).

For the most part until near the time of the sun-god worshiping Emperor Constantine, even the Greco-Romans who professed Christ were opposed to being part of the military (see Military Service and the Churches of God: Do Real Christians Participate in Carnal Warfare?). From around the time of Constantine, a variety of arguments were developed to try to justify violating this original Christian practice, yet those who continued the original faith resisted these human arguments.

It was mainly because of influence of the militaristic Emperor Constantine, who was a member of the Mithra religion (which was a military cult, see Do You Practice Mithraism?), that most of those who claimed Christ who affiliated with him became accepting of military service.

A former Roman Catholic priest reported:

Whereas up to the year 175 there was not a single Christian soldier, in 416, by an edict of Theodosius, only Christians were allowed to enlist (De Rosa, Peter. Vicars of Christ. Poolberg Press, Dublin, 2000, p. 156).

Yet, this military service is not an area that true Christians compromised on. The only ones who enlisted were those that ended up accepting the type of “Christianity” that nearly all the Greco-Roman Emperors from Constantine onwards endorsed.

In the later centuries, this violent trend worsened.

Notice that hate and violence against others who differed doctrinally was promoted by the Greco-Roman bishop and saint Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century:

I affirm, then, that it is a lawful thing to hate God’s enemies, and that this kind of hatred is pleasing to our Lord: and by God’s enemies I mean those who deny the glory of our Lord, be they Jews, or downright idolaters, or those who through Arius’ teaching idolize the creature, and so adopt the error of the Jews. Now when the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are with orthodox devotion being glorified and adored by those who believe that in a distinct and unconfused Trinity there is One Substance, Glory, Kingship, Power, and Universal Rule, in such a case as this what good excuse for fighting can there be? (Gregory of Nyssa. Letter 17 to Eustathia, Ambrosia, and Basilissa. Translated by William Moore. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 5. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893)

So, before the end of the 4th century there were people teaching that hatred and fighting against those who did not accept a doctrine that was not formally adopted by the Greco-Romans until 381 A.D. was good (more on the trinity can be found in the article Did the True Church Ever Teach a Trinity?).

That was later expanded.

“As early as the fifth century, St. Augustine of Hippo was considering the moral consequences of war. He was one of the first people to articulate a philosophical statement on war and justice, known as the Just War doctrine” (Just War Doctrine. Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, October 21st, 2014). The concept of “just war,” whereby limited uses of war were considered acceptable originated with earlier non-Christian Roman and Greek thinkers such as Cicero and Plato (Syse H. “The Platonic roots of just war doctrine: a reading of Plato’s Republic”. Diametros, 2010, 23: 104–123). Augustine (and others) borrowed much of the justification for warfare from pagan writers and Roman Law (Wells D, ed. An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics. Greenwood Press, 1996, pp. 30–31.).

The ‘just war’ concept, to a major degree, was also based upon the writings of the Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas and was a term used by early followers of Martin Luther.

In the 16th century, Martin Luther’s followers condemned those who did not believe that Christians were to be soldiers. Notice what the followers of Martin Luther declared in 1530:

Article XVI: Of Civil Affairs. Of Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that it is right for Christians to … award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers ... They condemn the Anabaptists who forbid these civil offices to Christians.

It should be noted that some of those called Anabaptists were in the Church of God (please see the article The Sardis Church Era). Martin Luther would have also condemned groups like the Continuing Church of God which hold to beliefs that he condemned on these matters.

As far as war goes, it will be eliminated by the final phase of the Kingdom of God. Notice what the Bible teaches:

2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4)

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

So, no, Harbinger Daily, it was not Tucker Carlson, but you, who pushed a position that was unbiblical for Christians.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Military Service and the Churches of God: Do Real Christians Participate in Carnal Warfare or Encourage Violence? Here are current and historical perspectives on a matter which show the beliefs of the true church on military participation. Is war proper for Christians? A related sermon would be: Christians, Violence, and Military Service.
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism The CCOG is NOT Protestant. This free online book explains how the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants. Several sermons related to the free book are also available: Protestant, Baptist, and CCOG History; The First Protestant, God’s Command, Grace, & Character; The New Testament, Martin Luther, and the Canon; Eucharist, Passover, and Easter; Views of Jews, Lost Tribes, Warfare, & Baptism; Scripture vs. Tradition, Sabbath vs. Sunday; Church Services, Sunday, Heaven, and God’s Plan; Seventh Day Baptists/Adventists/Messianics: Protestant or COG?; Millennial Kingdom of God and God’s Plan of Salvation; Crosses, Trees, Tithes, and Unclean Meats; The Godhead and the Trinity; Fleeing or Rapture?; and Ecumenism, Rome, and CCOG Differences.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to four related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
Sola Scriptura or Prima Luther? What Did Martin Luther Really Believe About the Bible? Though he is known for his public sola Scriptura teaching, did Martin Luther’s writings about the Bible suggest he felt that prima Luther was his ultimate authority? Statements from him changing and/or discounting 18 books of the Bible are included. Do you really want to know the truth?
The Similarities and Dissimilarities between Martin Luther and Herbert W. Armstrong This article clearly shows some of the doctrinal differences between in the two. At this time of doctrinal variety and a tendency by many to accept certain aspects of Protestantism, the article should help clarify why the genuine Church of God is NOT Protestant. Do you really know what the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther taught and should you follow his doctrinal example?
Christian Soldiers How are Christians to be like soldiers? How are they to be different?
World War III: Steps in Progress Are there surprising actions going on now that are leading to WWIII? Might a nuclear attack be expected? Does the Bible promise protection to all or only some Christians? How can you be part of those that will be protected? A related video would be Is World War III About to Begin? Can You Escape?
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation. Some shorter related videos may include Amphibian Apocalypse: Threat to Humans? and Zombie Deer Disease is Here! Are the 10 Plagues on Egypt Coming? Here is a version of the article in Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.
Wars, rumors of wars, and the Apocalypse Jesus foretold a time before the end where there would be wars and rumors of wars. The Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation) warns of the red horseman of war. Now, even secular writers, like Larry Edelson, are worried that wars and rumors of war are the most menacing problem that now haunts the earth? Are they right? What is the solution?

(COGWA logo)

COGwriter

At its Life, Hope & Truth website Church of God, a Worldwide Association (COGWA) has the questions, “What is the Purpose of Life?” and “What is God’s Will for Me?” Its answers included the following:

As amazing as it sounds, God’s will is for us to become like Him—to become His children! …

With this awesome purpose in mind, what should we do? How do we align ourselves to God’s will? Consider these key scriptures that show what God expects and how He helps us think and act like Him.

• “What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13; see also Micah 6:8).
• “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

The Holy Bible and God’s Holy Spirit are gifts from God to help us know and do His will so we can be transformed to become like Him. …

What is God’s will for you, with your unique roles, talents, interests and background?

God gives us gifts, He says, in order to build up His Church and for the “profit of all” (Ephesians 4:12, 16; 1 Corinthians 12:7). He intends for us to take them and serve others. …

Growing to become more like God is a continual process. It can be hard. But it will have amazing, eternal rewards!

Now, the above is correct. Yet it leaves out various key points–points I searched the related articles at COGWA’s site for, but could not find there.

Is there more to it? Is there more to God’s purpose and His plan for YOU?

Yes.

Such as?

Notice some passages from the free online book The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you?:

Why did God make you?

Does your life have any purpose? …

And both men and women are to be made perfect. And this will be better for us.

For what purpose?

To give love in a unique way throughout all eternity.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians (and not just married couples):

¹² And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all … (1 Thessalonians 3:12)

Whether male or female, humans are intended to give love. Increasing love to all will make eternity better.

What is your purpose?

YOU are not the same as anyone else. The Bible teaches that “all the members do not have the same function … individually … God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:18).

So, you are different. Your destiny is unique and important. Your life has meaning.

What is the biblical meaning of your life?

Who are you?

YOU are one who can give love in a unique way.

And that is something you will be able to do eternally.

In the middle of the last century, the Church of God (Seventh Day) published:

The Christian lives not only for today; he anticipates a better tomorrow. (What the Church of God Believes. The Bible Advocate and Herald of the Coming Kingdom. October 3, 1949, p. 7)

But a Christian does not simply anticipate a better tomorrow. A true Christian builds character now through the tests, opportunities, and trials in life (cf. Romans 5:1-4) which will help the Christian be able to personally contribute to the “better tomorrow.”

Ultimately God has special plans for YOU personally.

God made you to give love in your own individual way (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:20-13:10).

But how?

Essentially, by now living by faith and obedience to God in this life.

By being obedient, making biblical choices, having faith, practicing love, and enduring to the end, Christians will not only build character but make eternity better for themselves and others. …

Humanity’s purpose is not to vainly worship God to accumulate pleasures for ourselves and glory for Him. While eternity will be full of pleasures for us and God is worthy of more glory than we can understand now, our purpose is to make eternity better for others as well.

Jesus has made a place for each of us (cf. John 14:2) as God fashions us individually (Psalm 33:15) to perfect us (Psalm 138:8). He will complete the work He began in each of us who are willing (Philippians 1:6).

The billions of us are all different and have different ways to give. Our ultimate role is to make eternity better–this means that yes, YOU will have a unique way of giving. Unless you ultimately refuse to support God’s Kingdom, you will have your part in making eternity better for each and every one of at least 40 billion others and then even more (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26; Job 14:15; Galatians 6:10)! …

God does have a plan for you. God loves you and wants you to love others. You are to live according to His loving way of life. Increasing real love: that can be considered as the meaning of life.

The Bible teaches that the entire creation, including humans, was made “very good” (Genesis 1:31) and that He made and blessed the seventh day (Genesis 2:2-3).

The Bible teaches that although God made humans upright, they have sought many wrong ways (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Again, please realize that the Bible teaches:

⁸ The end of a thing is better than its beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

The beginning was very good, and the end will be even better.

God made humanity to reproduce Himself and be part of His family (Malachi 2:15).

He made us to share in His glory (Romans 8:17) and to rule the universe (Hebrews 2:5-17). Jesus taught that, “It is more blessed to give than receive” (Acts 20:35).

God MADE humanity in order to give love (cf. 1 John 4:7-12) and so that there would be more love in the universe (cf. Matthew 22:37-39). That is the meaning of life.

What is the mystery of God’s plan? Why did God create anything?

God created what He did so eternity would be better (cf. Hebrews 6:9, 11:16; Philippians 1:23).

That is why He created the universe and that is why He created men and women. He specifically created the universe as a heritage/inheritance for Jesus and all humankind.

Humans who are granted eternal life will make eternity better.

God’s plan includes all who will heed His call in this age (see also the free online booklet Is God Calling You?), and others in the age to come (see also Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation).

Christian or not, why did God make you?

Your purpose in this life is to build character so you can maximize your potential and increase how much better you can improve eternity.

God made YOU so that you will be able to use your unique talents (Matthew 25:14-23; Luke 19:11-19) to give love in order to make eternity better!

That is why God created what He did. That is why God made YOU.

More restored truths on this subject can be in the free online book: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you?

Let me also add that the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel related to something God may allow you to do in this age:

Here is a link to the video: Will YOU Instruct Many?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Continuing Church of God, Elijah, and Restoring All Things Have all things been restored? Is there restoration going on? Is there supposed to be a 21st century Elijah? Here is are links to two related sermons: 21st Century Elijah and CCOG: Restoring All Things. Here is a link to a related sermon in the Spanish language: La restauracion de todas las cosas.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection; here is a message in Spanish: Me Está Llamando Dios Hoy? A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Building Character: Going on to Perfection Once you have accepted Jesus, do you need to strive for perfection and build character? A related video sermon is available: Going on to perfection and building character.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally? If you would like to watch videos covering subjects of this article, you can click on the following links: Why YOU? Why Do YOU Suffer? and What is the meaning of your life?
Biblical Keys to Happiness This is an article for those interested in biblical teachings about being happy. A related sermon is available and is titled: 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation Will all get a fair chance at salvation? This free book is packed with scriptures showing that God does intend to offer salvation to all who ever lived–the elect in this age, and the rest in the age to come. Here is a link to a related sermon series: Universal Offer of Salvation 1: Apocatastasis, Universal Offer of Salvation 2: Jesus Desires All to be Saved, Mysteries of the Great White Throne Judgment (Universal Offer of Salvation part 3), Is God Fair, Will God Pardon the Ignorant?, Can God Save Your Relatives?, Babies, Limbo, Purgatory and God’s Plan, and ‘By the Mouth of All His Holy Prophets’.
Concerns about Church of God, a Worldwide Association This seems to be the largest group that came out of the United Church of God. Here is some history and concerns about it.
The Bible, Peter, Paul, John, Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, Roderick C. Meredith, and Bob Thiel on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had? What are some of the scriptural limits on ecclesiastical authority? Do some commit organizational idolatry? Here is a Spanish language version La Biblia, Policarpo, Herbert W. Armstrong, y Roderick C. Meredith sobre el gobierno de la Iglesia. Here is a link to a sermon titled Church Governance.
Unity: Which COG for You? Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God? Has it always been this way? What can/should be done about it? Here is a link to a related sermon: Church of God Unity. Here is a related article in the Spanish language: Unidad: ¿Cuál Iglesia de Dios para usted?
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from lower level leaders? A related sermon is available titled Priority of the Philadelphia Work.
The Final Phase of the Work What is the final phase of the work? Who will lead it? Do you have the courage to support it? Here is a related YouTube video titled The Final Phase of the Work. The written article has been translated into Spanish La Fase Final de la Obra.
Leading the Final Phase of the Work Matthew 24:14 teaches “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come ” will be fulfilled and RCG is not the group doing this. Who is leading the final phase of the work? What did Herbert Armstrong and the old WCG teach about that and about prophets? Does Bob Thiel meet the criteria that the Bible and the old WCG set? What is the proof? What has the Continuing Church of God been doing? This is a sermonette length video.
6. The Philadelphia Church Era and Remnant Though the era was predominant circa 1933 A.D. to 1986 A.D., but some few faithful are still in it as a remnant has continued. The old Radio Church of God and old Worldwide Church of God were part of the era, and now the remnant of that era is basically the most faithful in the Church of God, like who hold to the beliefs and practices of the Continuing Church of God. Here is a link to a related sermon: Philadelphia Church Era: History & Teachings.
7. The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present.–and most end time Christians are part of it. The Laodiceans are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG or its offshoots.  They do not properly understand the work or biblical prophecies and will face the Great Tribulation if they do not repent. One video of related interest is 50+ Laodicean Prophetic Errors. See also Do You Hold to Any of These Laodicean Prophetic Errors?