Third Scroll: A Tale of Two FAMILIES
Copyright © Jules Dervaes
March 15, 1987
But listen, dear brethren of God’s Church, Satan is MORE POWERFUL, MORE CUNNING, MORE SUBTLE, than any human being on earth! Unless you and I are constantly on guard—close to God in constant heartrending prayer—constantly close to God and His truth through Bible study—Satan CAN deceive you, blind your eyes to God’s truth and USE YOU!
…And SATAN DID BLIND AND DECEIVE THOSE WHO, WITH HONEST HEARTS, HAD ACCEPTED GOD’S TRUTH!… Brethren, do we think we are so superior to those of the first, second and third centuries that Satan could not have tried to pervert God’s TRUTH today?
These words of Mr. Herbert Armstrong were written, not to “the world,” but to God’s own people in The GOOD NEWS of August ’79. They are just as true today!
Have you ever thought deeply about why Jesus Christ was killed by His own nation—by the very family that He had prepared to receive Him; by the body that He had established to represent His law, the government of God; by the one special people that He had chosen to be His “bride”? You need to know the real reason!!!
History has a way of repeating itself for those who forget, or who choose to ignore, its lessons. This time, “the people of God” are the members of the Worldwide Church of God. And, the REJECTION that had happened once can just as easily happen again! Do you doubt that? (I Cor. 10:12)
Certainly, the time is right; the conditions are similar. “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” (Matt.16:3) You are knowledgeable of the world condition and you watch anxiously for the fulfillment of prophecies about a united Europe. You eagerly desire the Messiah to come, to set up His kingdom ON EARTH. And, you know about the Great Tribulation, from which you want to escape.
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” (Matt. 3:7-9)
Moreover, today some may claim that they had Mr. Herbert Armstrong as their spiritual “father.” But, if they were truly his spiritual “children,” then they would do the things that he did. They would see the need to get right with God.
You diligently study the scriptures because you think by them you possess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39- 40/NIV)
These are dangerously deceptive times in which to live. You may be thinking that your “membership” in the Worldwide Church of God is the single, most important concern in your life. You may feel that all is well for you there, safe and secure within its walls of exclusiveness.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (Luke 6:24-26)
Isn’t it possible that, here, Jesus is pointedly referring to one’s EXTERNAL CONDITION (or STATUS) of spiritual—NOT physical—well-being and affluence?
No such dire warning should go unheeded. Belonging to that group which is the one true government of God on this earth can backfire! It can lead you down the path which will take you away from Christ. It can hinder your entrance into God’s kingdom, your acceptance into His family. This, the House of Judah had to first find out—”the hard way.”
So, take these words of Jesus to heart:
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the SUBJECTS of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 8:11-12)
And WHO ARE the “subjects of the kingdom”? Today they are none other than the members of the Worldwide Church of God. For the Church—as founded by the Second Adam—IS the “EMBRYONIC” KINGDOM OF GOD!!!
It is just too easy to flippantly dismiss the lesson of the gospels as having been meant for only one people in the past. The Bible is a NOW book and it contains a LIVING message which is intended to affect and to admonish US—in 1987.
Can we afford, then, to consider the gospel narrative OBSOLETE? Can we say, for instance, that such a “story” as the Matthew 21 parable of the tenants no longer conveys a viable lesson? Can we also say that verse 38 could only apply to the Jewish people? And can we, thus, say that we would have never rejected the Son of God, that we would NOT have killed Him when He came to His “vineyard”?
And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. (Matt. 23:30 -31)
Yes, we are “the descendants” of those who murdered Jesus because we ARE the SPIRITUAL JEWS—laying claim to the same ancestry of the faith. Our “forefathers,” the Old Testament people of God, failed to see the coming of Christ-in-the-flesh. They clung to their image of themselves as the chosen people before God and they chose to put that self-image BEFORE GOD. The elect body counted on their highly privileged position as “the keepers of the Temple” and they elected to keep that status quo rather than accept the MAKER of the Temple.
Yes! We too, as a people—as a CHURCH—are capable of “killing” Christ. We also can be deceived! The only difference for the Second Advent is that Jesus will be coming in the RESURRECTED “FLESH.”
It is extremely likely that we will now be following in the footsteps of our Old Covenant counterparts. We will be fulfilling the alarming duality that is the plain truth of Bible HISTORY.
One thing is very certain. What will make this Physical/Spiritual parallel ALL-THE-MORE TRUE is that the WARNING will not be considered. The very proof IS the BLINDNESS!!!
Many will object to these words and say instead, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we put out the Gospel to the world in Your name? Didn’t we expel the ‘demons’ of the false religions? Didn’t we perform a MIRACULOUS WORK for You in this era?”
And, to that, Jesus will say:
“I NEVER KNEW YOU.”
NOTE: Prior submission of this material has been made to the Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God.