Twenty-First Century Watch 

Vol. 4, No. 4  Published by the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

GLOBAL GUERRILLA WAR...
Can America Win It?

By Garner Ted Armstrong

Continually, the media tells us we are fighting a “war against terrorism,” or fighting “The War in Afghanistan.” We are told that “Iraq may be next,” and told of the latest rejection by Saddam Hussein of President Bush’s insistence that UNSCOM investigators should be allowed back in Iraq to ferret out Saddam’s programs to build weapons of mass destruction.

Will Iraq be next? And after Iraq, will we go after Libya, or Iran, or Syria, or Algeria, or Indonesia, or the Philippines, or Sudan, or Yemen, or Saudi Arabia?  All are known to contain, if not support, hotbeds of terrorists. In Damascus, for example, several of the most vicious terrorist organizations actually have offices with plainly listed street addresses and telephones!

The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of dollars on the war so far. Few seem to know that each one of those cruise missiles which were launched in the initial attack cost about the same as a small corporate jet aircraft; that the precision guided bombs cost tens of thousands of dollars each. How are our inventories holding up? How many bombs and rockets can those ships hold? What about ammunition ships plying the seas, bringing more tons of multimillion dollar weapons to the carrier battle groups?

From time to time, during my cruise offshore Korea aboard an American aircraft carrier, we took an ammunition ship alongside. I still have pictures of nets filled with 500 pound bombs being swayed aboard from the plodding vessel. I was called from time to time to assist in storage of our incoming ordnance in the magazines. For a long time, we would pass 100-pound bombs or five inch rockets from man to man, storing them in their bins. We would receive big 500 pounders, or 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs from little elevators, and then skid them along the steel decks, attach winches to them, and swing them into their bins. Exhausted from long hours of such work, I have sometimes snatched forty winks atop a couple of 2,000 pound bombs in the magazine.

The point is, even those huge aircraft carriers have limited storage space for fuel, food, and ammunition. They have to be resupplied. We have been expending our stores of bombs at a prodigious rate in Afghanistan, at enormous cost. How long can we expect to keep it up?

Presumably, the factories which produce such weapons here in the U.S. are humming along at full speed. Presumably, there are ample stocks.

However, as has already been pointed out, our military was so deeply cut during the previous administration that we could not marshal a force the size of the one we deployed during the Gulf War if we had to. Our troop strength was cut by about 30 percent according to some estimates.

At the same time our previous President was cutting troop strength, he was closing U.S. bases, or even leasing them out to the likes of China, and increasing the work load of the military, by assigning them to “peace keeping” duties such as that in Kosovo.          

Suppose we began attacking Iraq. What would be the response from our timid “coalition” partners? Russia has already issued warnings against any attack against Saddam. If the militant Islamic nations demanded “proof” that Bin Laden was the mastermind of the attacks on September 11th, wait until you hear them screaming if we attack Saddam.

The President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, occupies a very shaky office. The bulk of the country’s Islamic population (77% are Sunni, and 20% Shi’a Muslims) are admirers and followers of Bin Laden. While the demonstrations which have taken place virtually nonstop since the U.S. bombing campaign began, and while they have been downplayed by the western media, they indicate the strong sentiments which are rampant in Pakistan. The war which seems winding down in Afghanistan (with Bin Laden still at large as of this writing) is, as President Bush has declared, “only the beginning.”

It is quite likely that governments will topple; violent coups d’etat will occur. Remember the violent uprising in Dili, East Timor, in the Islamic islands of Indonesia? In fairly rapid succession, militant fundamentalist Moslems could overthrow governments in any number of countries.

President Hosni Mubarak succeeded Anwar Sadat. I interviewed President Sadat in Cairo. I have related many times how I suggested to him, in a conversation lasting for quite some time, that he go to Israel. At the time, the suggestion was to him “outrageous.” He told me all the reasons why it would not work. I reminded him that he occupied the top position over the largest population of any Arab country; how Israel, to his north, was like a “brain trust” of specialists, with the highest per-capita collection of physicists, doctors, educators, scientists and teachers of any country. I reminded him that he was the only leader in modern history who had kicked the Russians out; how that, once they put a foot down in a foreign country, they were there to stay (this was after the Yom Kippur war, and before the reunification of Germany and the implosion of the USSR). I told him that the Middle East could become like a “United States of the Middle East”; a large, prosperous, peaceful grouping of nations which were cooperating together for their mutual benefit. I said, “If you simply announce you are coming, what will they do? Shoot down the airliner carrying the President of Egypt?”

Exactly one month later, Anwar Sadat went to Jerusalem to meet Menachem Begin.

And, on October 6th, 1981, it cost him his life. President Sadat was shot to ribbons by vicious Muslim extremists, who also killed and wounded others in the reviewing stand on what was to have been the proudest day of President Sadat’s life. I cried when I saw those horrifying films! One man held up an arm, dangling only by a piece of skin, shot nearly off. The perpetrators of this bloody assassination were not all apprehended. Those who were caught found themselves on trial, and many were executed. However, they had connections to other operatives in Sudan, and other countries.

The fanatics who attempted to bring the Twin Trade Towers down in New York City in the early ‘90s are directly linked to the same organization which carried out Sadat’s assassination, as well as Bin Laden’s Al-Qaida network.  Recently, the son of the blind Muslim fanatic who orchestrated the towers bombing was arrested in Afghanistan; is high in the Al-Qaida network sponsored by Bin Laden. Mubarak, who succeeded Sadat, was himself nearly assassinated in Ethiopia on June 26, 1995. He again escaped being killed when a knife-wielding would-be assassin attacked him on September 6, 1999. He, like any number of other so-called “moderate” Arab leaders (Egypt was the first, and for a long time the only Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel), occupies a very uncertain office. If an extremist Muslim should overthrow Mubarak, the entire balance of power in the Mideast would immediately change.

Bible prophecy strongly indicates that the prophetic “king of the south” who will “push at” the Beast power precipitating a whirlwind occupation of the Mideast, may well be an Egyptian leader (Daniel 11:40-45).

Cells of Bin Laden’s “Al-Quaeda” organization are in dozens of countries all over the world. They are particularly active in all Islamic countries, but also operate in Europe and the Americas. They are active in the Philippines, have caused numerous riots, carried out assassinations, and eventually won recognition by the government for a substantial section of the large island of Mindanao to become autonomous. Currently, an Al-Qaida cell in the southern Philippines is holding two American missionaries hostage; has been holding them for six months.

The point is, “Islam” is everywhere! It is here, in the United States. It is daily flying over my head near Tyler, as 16 Algerian students are allowed to learn to fly in a local flying school, all supposedly here on “legal student visas.” Of course, we did not know that Atta and his henchmen were terrorists until they were dead, and documents recovered which identified them.

Recently, when Secretary of State Colin Powell attended a dinner with many American Muslims, major news media pointed out that several of them had been taped stridently denouncing the United States; calling us “terrorists,” and accusing us of being complicit in the murder of Palestinian women and children because of our support for Israel. At least one of these Islamic leaders, the same ones who met with President Bush only days after 9/11, are on record as saying that the U.S. is destined to “become an Islamic country.” We were shown the video of these men, smiling, talking at the dinner with Powell, and then shown them standing in front of a microphone, shouting invectives against the United States to a cheering crowd, calling for our overthrow!

That is, after all, their GOAL! They seek the overthrow of our country, and all of the democracies of the West! While we say we are “at war against terror,” they loudly say they are at war with us!

The Islamic fundamentalists characterize our “war against terror” as a “war against Islam”! They should know. After all, it is they who have declared war on us. If you have not yet read it, please read my article about “Islam--Religion of Peace?” Continually, they speak of Jihad, or “holy war” against the West!

At least one sect of the Islamic religion sees Islam as a “religion of peace.” Outside of Islam is the religion of satanic “infidels,” or “unbelievers” who have not accepted Mahomet as their “prophet” and who do not worship his concept of “Allah.” As you know, Islamic fundamentalists refer to the United States as “the Great Satan.” It is the sworn duty of every believer in these concepts to bring all of the “infidels” into Islam, and, if they cannot, to kill them! In much the same way (though drastically different in execution) as idealistic Protestant missionaries go to dozens of countries in order to bring about “Christian conversion” to the uninformed — to “bring Jesus to the masses,” so these Islamic fundamentalists see it as their life-long commitment to convert the “infidels.”

Isn’t it instructive to note that the United States allows ANY religion to freely espouse its beliefs; to publish, preach and proselyte — to build mosques — while Islamic countries, Asian countries, and even some Catholic countries openly persecute, and sometimes kill, American missionaries?   

For centuries, Islamic hordes swept over nations from the Balkans to North Africa; from Persia to Pakistan, bringing the “sword of Islam.”

Traditionally, those who overthrow governments or religions seek to stamp out and erase all the monuments and traditions of their predecessors. This is why Egyptology is such a difficult study. Many Pharaohs destroyed the statues and monuments of their predecessors, or altered the dates of their reigns to make them appear much shorter.

Mahomet, coming along about six centuries after Christ, is therefore accepted by Muslims as having SUPERSEDED Christ. While they acknowledge Christ may have been a “prophet,” they believe Mahomet was the “last prophet,” and therefore greater than Christ.

When Mahomet put together his concoction of religion, he knew that the Christians believed Christ had ascended to heaven from Jerusalem. As a false Christ, he and his followers perpetrated the myth that he, Mahomet, ascended to heaven from the “Harm al Sharif,” or the “Holy Mount” in Jerusalem, where the famous “Dome of the Rock” and the Al Aksa Mosques sit today. Thus did Mahomet not only pretend to usurp the teachings and doctrine of Christ, but also attempted to usurp His ascension, and therefore the claim of Christ’s followers to the “holy places” in Jerusalem. Thus were planted the seeds of centuries-long struggles over the “holy places” in Jerusalem!

Remember, the religion of Islam did not come along until the sixth century. Christ’s teachings were already more than 500 years old. By 637, the Muslims had conquered Palestine. They promptly turned a number of nominal Christian churches into mosques. Nevertheless, they continued to allow Christian pilgrims access to their “holy sites” for four centuries.

Then came the “Fatimite dynasty” who, in 969 AD extended their rule over both Egypt and Palestine. The “Fatimites” or “Fatimides” took their name from Fatima, a daughter of Mahomet. She married Ali, the son of Abu Talib, who was “caliph” (meaning successor). There is much literature on the subject of the ancestry of the founder of Islam, Mahomet. They believed that sovereignty was the right of successors, and this belief survives among various sects of Islam to this day. It is what divides Sunnis from Shiites.

Once the Fatimites had taken over the rulership of Jerusalem, cordial relations with Christian pilgrims and resident nominal Christians came to an end. Abuses became so intolerable that Pope Silvester II, who reigned from 999 to 1003, called for volunteers to free the “holy land” from the Fatimites. But it was not until long after the Seljuk Turks had occupied Palestine that an actual crusade was mounted. The first “crusade” was mounted in 1096 by a group of independent, often undisciplined men who undertook to pass through many countries enroute to Palestine, and who were almost completely destroyed as a consequence. Only a handful of stragglers ever reached their homes again. The protracted struggle of that first crusade makes interesting reading. Many nobles led an army of about 100,000 men to Constantinople, among them Godfrey of Buillon, duke of Lower Lorraine; Hugh of Vermandois, brother to Philip, king of France; Baldwin, brother of Godfrey; Robert II of Flanders; Robert of Normandy, brother of William II, King of England; Raymond of Toulouse; Bohemund I of Otranto, son of Robert Guiscard; Tancred, cousin of Bohemund, and many others. Tancred was the inspiration for many poets of the time, including Chaucer.

And why all this? To free the “holy places” in Jerusalem from “unbelievers,” meaning the Muslim Turks and Arabs! When, after four years, the crusaders succeeded in defeating the garrison in Jerusalem, and Godfrey of Buillon was chosen as king of Jerusalem, he refused to wear the crown where he believed the Savior had worn a crown of thorns, and so took the title as “Defender of the Holy Sepulchre” instead. He died in 1100 and was succeeded by his brother, Baldwin.

So much has been written about the eight crusades that it would require an encyclopedia to contain only a part of it. Suffice it to say that this protracted struggle over who would control the holy places in Jerusalem caused a whole new age of interchanges among and between the nations of Europe; led to the Hanseatic league; introduced Eastern and Middle Eastern luxuries to hungry markets in Europe, and was a huge leap forward in art, literature, and knowledge. Many claim the 13th century was the greatest leap forward in all time concerning art, literature, and human liberty.

As you will read in my booklet Middle Eastern Strife — Will It Lead To Armageddon? the struggle for control over the holy places in Jerusalem was also at the root of the Balkan War, involving Britain, Russia, Turkey and the Baltic States.

Today, the struggle remains the same!

At the very root of the hatreds in the Middle East is RELIGION! The believers in Mahomet claim they have divine right to the mosques atop the Temple Mount. The Jews claim they have the right to the Temple Mount, for it is the site of Solomon’s Temple, and the temple that stood during the Herodian Period. Nominal Christians claim they have the right to the holy places because of Christ’s ministry, death and resurrection from those same environs.

Thus, the three “great monotheistic religions” of the world come into conflict in Jerusalem, which is the focal point of Bible prophecy, and the very place to which Christ says he will return to rule this world for a thousand years!

You and I know that the virulent hatred toward the United States is primarily because of OUR SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL. I know apologists claim it is mere jealousy; that some of these deprived, downtrodden people are jealous of our wealth and success, but it is much deeper than that. They HATE the Jews, and they HATE Christians! They hate the United States not only for our wealth and power, but also for our decadence; our hedonistic society. Bin Laden railed against U.S. troops “desecrating the holy soil of Saudi Arabia” which is the birthplace of Islam, and contains the two “holy cities” of Mecca and Medina.

Religious Fervor And 
Nationalism

The United States has no “state religion.” It would have had such, had not far-seeing men repudiated the concept of a king, and even worse, a king who would be beholden to a foreign potentate, such as the Pope in Rome.

It is purely mythological that the pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock only to escape “religious oppression.” In fact, the early colonials enforced the strictest kind of religious oppression over their residents. When our Bill of Rights, (as the first 12 clarifications of the Constitution were called) or the “Amendments” to the Constitution were adopted, the very first one stated that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”  There is no amendment to the Constitution which is entitled “Separation of Church and State,” as many seem to assume.

All arguments concerning the “separation of church and state” eventually stem from the First Amendment. But the amendment clearly is for the purpose of KEEPING THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF RELIGION, and NOT KEEPING RELIGION OUT OF THE GOVERNMENT! Our founding fathers feared any kind of “state religion,” wherein a President would also be the head of the state church! They had seen enough of this in England, France, Spain, and many other nations!

Today, organizations like the ACLU and others become hysterically upset when they perceive that some “violation of the First Amendment” is occurring when a judge dares to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. Of course it is no violation! It does not remotely establish a “state religion” or so much as “promote” religion! What it does promote is the same belief in God as our Creator who “endows us with unalienable rights,” and the Creator who has sustained and preserved us all these years!

The Ten Commandments are hardly the doctrine of the mainstream churches, for NONE of them obey the fourth one! Perhaps someone should point this out to the ignorant people who believe the Ten Commandments are “promoting religion.” Oh, that they were!

But the United States, while not unique, is among the very few nations which have adopted similar concepts of freedom and democracy. Many of the states with which we find ourselves in conflict are RELIGIOUS STATES! The problem is when religious fanatics take over the government! As you know, the two young idealistic missionaries who narrowly escaped death in Afghanistan were arrested because the Taliban adopted a law which required the death penalty for “preaching Christianity” in Afghanistan!            Women were beaten in the streets for daring to show their faces. One report said a woman had acid thrown in her face for appearing without her “burqua.”

These, then, are the enemies of the entire free world.

They are here, there, and everywhere. They are within our land. Do not doubt for a moment that there are not other “sleepers” here — some of who may well have come to the United States over ten years ago, and some of whom may have been BORN here, but whose minds have been filled with hateful invective and vitriol, and who are willing recruits for the insane terrorists who would send them to commit suicide while committing mass murder!

There are approximately 1.3 BILLION Muslims in the world! According to the World Almanac of 2000, there are approximately 5.5 million of them in the United States! Other estimates have been wildly exaggerated. In an attempt to appear as a much larger minority than they really are, some who have been interviewed on TV have claimed up to “13 million Muslims” in the U.S. This is a lie.  Nevertheless, five and a half million is no small number.

Muslims are to be found in over a hundred countries. It only remained for a fanatic like Bin Laden, with hundreds of millions of dollars in hundreds of secret bank accounts in Switzerland, the Bahamas, and dozens of countries, to marshal modern technology in order to begin a network of terrorist cells that girdles the globe! By the use of telecommunications, the Internet, and every sophisticated device commonly available to those with the money, including corporate aircraft, access to satellite communications and/or intelligence information, Bin Laden managed to coordinate the activities of Islamic terrorists in countries all over the world. 

It has already been revealed how the terrorists, in their frequent moves about our country (from San Diego to Florida, and from New York to Boston), would purchase hand-held cell phones, use them for a time, and throw them away, in order to avoid detection.

There are terrorist cells operating in Belgium, Holland, Britain, Spain, France, Germany, the United States, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Italy, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and many other countries!

Which one will the U.S. attack next?

In some cases, the host government openly protects and supports terrorists. This is true in Iraq and Syria. In other cases, while the host government gives lip service to the “coalition,” and decries terrorism in its official statements, it looks the other way as terrorists freely operate. In still other cases, the government itself is terrified of the terrorists, and fears the possibility of a violent overthrow, torture and death, and so does nothing to arrest them. This is true of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and, to some extent,  Egypt. “Moderate” Islamic rulers can go only so far in their cooperation with the West; only so far in their internal interference with terrorist organizations. One of the prime examples of this is Yassir Arafat, who openly supports his “Hamas” guerrillas, who continue to carry out mass murder in Israel.

In one of the bloodiest suicide bombing yet, vicious suicide bombers struck a crowded Jerusalem promenade on a Saturday night; also boarded a bus in Haifa, killing large numbers of teens and children, and injuring more than one hundred fifty. The bombers strap explosives filled with bolts, nuts, and nails around them, hoping to kill and maim as many innocent victims as they can.

Israel struck swiftly, sending IDF helicopter gunships and F-16 fighter planes to bomb, strafe and rocket Hamas hideouts. They struck Arafat’s office, destroyed several of his helicopters. A second attack landed rockets within fifty feet of the Palestinian leader, who was not hurt. Israel sent tanks into Palestinian towns, bombed and closed down the Gaza airport.

For once, the U.S. government did not condemn the raids, but said Arafat must act to arrest and punish leaders of the terrorist organizations. Arafat’s days are numbered. He will either be assassinated by his own people who disagree with his policies, or will be killed in a future retaliatory attack.

Like many other Islamic leaders, he occupies a very shaky office, paying lip service to a so-called “peace process” while clandestinely encouraging and supporting terror. Deep down, he has never renounced his desire for the destruction of Israel, and the murder of every Jew.

For decades, I have said “WATCH JERUSALEM,” for it is the focal point of Jesus’ prophecies about the end time. Struggles over who controls the “holy places” in Jerusalem are at the root of centuries of hatred and conflict.

This, then, is the world in which we live.

There is no real “front” in such a war, for the “front” is world wide! There is no “rear” where troops and the civilian population may feel entirely secure, for the enemy is among us!

The trouble with attempting to “root them out” (and of course the United States SHOULD DO SO, insofar as it is capable) is that they hide like cowards! Not only do they hide in the caves of Afghanistan. They hide behind false identities, false pretenses, false claims. They live and plot their murders in a shadowy world of lies and deceit. If there is any one word in the English language which describes these people, it is “treacherous”!

I have continually warned that, instead of trusting in God for our deliverance, we have trusted in “allies.” Read, archived in our web site, the commentary on how the Saudis claim to be “cooperating” with the U.S. in the war on terrorism. We have tried to “buy” the friendship of the corrupt Saudi government because of our dependence on foreign oil. God says of His people, “She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies” (Lamentations 1:2).

One of the great curses prophesied to come upon us is that “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low” (Deuteronomy 28:43).

Yes, we are AT WAR today, just as Christ prophesied we would be: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

“All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6-8). Yes, only the BEGINNING! As Winston Churchill said to the British people when the U.S. landed in North Africa during World War II, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning!”

We are in a war with no end in sight. And, truly, we are at the end of the beginning. Now, it has BEGUN! But there is no true end in sight. Even as mere children scream invectives, and throw rocks at Israeli police and soldiers in the streets of cities all over Palestine — children who know NOTHING about the true history of their own region, so there are CHILDREN today in dozens of countries all over the world who listen to the vitriol spilling out of the mouths of their bearded “mullas” in their mosques, and who are encouraged to hate the “great Satan” — the United States of America!

Root them all out? In the Philippines? In Belgium, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and a dozen more countries? What do you think our chances are to rid the world of terrorists?

Maybe, just maybe, it will occur to our people and our leaders at some desperate point in time to CALL UPON GOD FOR OUR DELIVERANCE, and to TRUST Him to “root them out!”

God says, “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

“And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 4:1-3).

May God speed that day!         

GERMANY AND THE EU;
NEW POWER BROKERS on the WORLD SCENE?

By Garner Ted Armstrong

Strangely, at least to most in the largely isolationist United States, Bonn, Germany is the site selected for the first talks aimed at setting up a multiethnic transitional government in Afghanistan!

Germany?

Why not Washington, D.C.? Why not London?

The meetings in Bonn are under the aegis of both the UN and the EU, is why. For decades, I have shouted the warning that a future United States of Europe as it may well be called, will emerge as a vast SUPER POWER which will rival the United States of America. I can document this by literally more than 50 articles; several booklets, and hundreds of radio and television broadcasts. If you have not yet read my book Europe and America in Prophecy, which contains a chapter on Germany in prophecy, by all means access it on our web site at “www.garnertedarmstrong.org/” or call (903) 561 7070 for your free copy.

Average Americans may be astonished that Bonn, Germany would be selected as the site for talks about the future government of Afghanistan, thinking the U.S. should be the site, since the U.S. is contributing the lion’s share of the military forces dedicated to bringing down the Taliban, and destroying Bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. Many Britons may believe London should be the site, since Britain has contributed the second-largest force to the coalition attacks.

But the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Abdul Sattar, doesn’t see it that way. To him, Bonn, Germany is the ideal site. Bonn was vacated some years ago by the German government, following the reunification of Germany and the completion of the new “Bundestag” or Parliament building. The many government buildings which were vacated in Bonn remain as a perfect venue for such meetings. Actually, Pakistan was a sponsor of the Taliban — many Pakistanis are members of the so-called “disciples” who have imposed brutal, dictatorial rule over the people of Afghanistan, and who have trained, supplied, and harbored terrorists.

Sattar wants the meetings held far, far away from his home country, for the simple reason that his government is very nervous that a post-war government in Afghanistan may reduce the influence of the “Pashtun” tribes, who make up about 40 percent of Afghanistan’s population, and who also make up about 15 percent of the population of Pakistan.

Such a snub would be similar to how the Treaty of Versailles ignored over three million ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland, (which resulted in Hitler’s demands they be repatriated) when the artificial country of “Czechoslovakia” was created following World I, and would lead to violent conflict both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan in future years.

However, the much-heralded “Northern Alliance,” whose fighters (one is loathe to call them soldiers) have massacred many who tried to surrender, is a mixture of minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, and has been backed by Iran, the former Soviet Union (is still backed by Russia — possesses Russian tanks, anti-tank rockets, and Russian-manufactured AK-47 assault rifles), and also by India. There’s the rub. India is the nuclear rival of Pakistan, and a long-term dispute over Kashmir erupts into violent firefights frequently.

Islamabad was the last country to officially sever ties with the Taliban, and did so only after about a month of intensive bombing, when the Pakistanis became convinced the U.S. would prove victorious. Do not be misled by the current government’s cooperation with the U.S.  Pakistanis as a whole are anti-U.S., and are wholly in favor of bin Laden.

The selection of Bonn, Germany, is symbolic of the new-found geopolitical muscle of the German nation, which has called for a “voice in world affairs commensurate with its economic strength” for decades. While Germany has cooperated with the U.S. in arresting suspected terrorists; in sharing intelligence, and even in sending token numbers of troops in “humanitarian” efforts in Afghanistan, the Germans’ participation in the actual fighting has been almost nil.

But Germany is once again a very powerful nation; a nation which may well have its own secret nuclear program. Many years ago, credible sources claimed the Germans had assisted the South African government in testing nuclear devices in the South Atlantic. Also, one must remember the “Red Army Brigade” and other terrorist groups like the “Bader-Meinhoff” gang who operated in Germany, and who helped carry out terrorist attacks in Europe and the Mideast.

Recently, Romano Prodi, who is President of the European Commission, demanded that the EU (United Europe) take over far-reaching powers over the government spending, foreign policy, defense (military organizations) and police forces of all member nations in an attempt to “transform the European Union into a global superpower!”

Naturally, Britain views any such proposals with traditional British intransigence and skepticism. Next year, the “Euro” goes into common circulation among member nations. It has already been in use in the inter-European banking system for almost two years. In Prodi’s view, the new spending policy would be a “model budget policy” which would be like a fiscal counterpart to the European Central Bank, which is controlled by a top-level German banker.

For decades, I asked, “Who would LEAD such a super power?” It is nonsense to expect a rotating “presidency” to be effective when major crises occur, such as that now faced by the U.S. and many other countries. A major difficulty in obtaining full economic and political union is the sticky problem of asking such nations as Britain and France, both extremely proud of their national character; their ancient cultures; their nationalism, to virtually dissolve their national sovereignty, handing over all decisions to some multinational body such as the European Parliament.

This would mean that proud heads of states, such as Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, would become mere “senators” in a representative government, and would lose their powers as prime ministers. Does this make sense to you? Do you think it will happen?

For decades, I have known that the ultimate TEN NATIONS (or ten groupings of nations under ten KINGS) to emerge in Europe would not result from a gradual coalition of peaceful states, but would come out of the aftermath of the collapse of the present configuration of the EU.

God’s Word clearly proclaims there will be TEN KINGS who will sit astride a huge, multinational coalition of governments, in cooperation with a great, powerful, universal religious organization, which will FIGHT JESUS CHRIST at His return! They will do so because it will be a time of WORLD WAR; of massive loss of life; of the toppling of many nations! God says, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

“These have one mind [one policy; one purpose — they are in political agreement], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast [the power of their national economies and military].

“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:12-14). The prophecy is therefore DATED in the sense that it is set at the time of Christ’s intervention in world affairs! When one sees the very political events which are shaping up toward the creation of this same power; when one sees the very things Christ described in His Olivet Prophecy coming to pass, it is time to REPENT of personal and national sins; time to call out to God in heartfelt surrender, and be involved in His end-time WORK of witness and warning!

One of the first shocking acts of this eventual ten-nation power will be a swift advance into the Mideast, to OCCUPY PALESTINE and EGYPT, and along with them, most likely Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan! Read it for yourself: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

“He shall enter also into the glorious land [obvious reference to Palestine — modern-day Israel], and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom [Turkey], and Moab [Syria and/or Iraq], and the chief of the children of Ammon [Jordan].

“He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

“But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans [Put] and the Ethiopians [Cush] shall be at his steps.

“But tidings out of the east and out of the north [from Russia and her allies, and China!] shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many [the vast battle described here is the one called “the Battle of Armageddon” which will involve MILLIONS of soldiers].

“And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him” (Daniel 11:40-45).

For many years, I told tens of thousands in live audiences, “You will live to see the time when the U.S. and Russia are once again allied against a common enemy!” I said this during the very darkest days of the cold war; during the regimes of such men as Nikita Khruschev and Yuri Adropov. Today, under the impetus of the varius SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Treaties) which have been signed between the former Soviet Union (now Russia) and the U.S., and the newfound friendship and cooperation between Russian Premier Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush, Russia and the United States seem closer than at any time in memory! No one would have believed this could take place in the 1960s. But I did, and said so, many times.

WATCH as you see Germany become ever more active in global geopolitical events; as you see German military forces taking part in regional conflicts; as you see the formation of a new SUPER POWER in central Europe! 

For a step-by-step scenario about HOW all this will unfold in Europe and the Mideast, be sure to read my booklet Mideast Strife — Will It Lead To Armageddon? and the book mentioned earlier about Europe and America in Prophecy. Meanwhile, BE ALERT. WATCH!

Watch and PRAY every day to your heavenly Father, not only for His protection, but for His WORK which is going out to the nations!      

IF YOU ARE A TAINTED JUROR...
Get Out of the Jury Box!

No one dreads “jury duty” more than I. Thankfully, I am now past the age to be called for “jury duty.” Yet, now and then, when a family member or an employee is called up for “jury duty,” it is always traumatic for them  to assemble in the courthouse and anxiously wait to see if they are chosen. They know that jury duty could be a protracted, difficult intrusion into their lives; upset their work hours, home life, and that they could even be “sequestered” and  allowed no outside communication.  Still, without realizing it, some jump into the jury box on a daily basis! Could YOU be sitting in a jury box, but with your mind already made up; a “tainted juror,” knowing exactly how you will vote, no matter regardless of evidence presented during the trial?

By Garner Ted Armstrong

A jury is a body of twelve individuals, chosen at random from among the community, tasked with hearing the charges against a person whose case has come to trial in a courtroom. The jury must be unbiased; have formed no previous opinions as to the guilt or innocence of the individual on trial.

Officers of the court, often the judge who will preside at the trial, go to great lengths to interrogate potential jurors. They know that no member of the family of the accused should serve, or that the best friend of the accused could hardly be an objective juror. They also know that if potential jurors have been bombarded with massive media propaganda about the alleged crime, they may have already formed opinions about the guilt or innocence of the accused.

All this is done because if, after perhaps weeks or even months of trial by jury, one or another of the jurors is found to be “tainted,” either through threats and intimidation, bribery, or preconceived opinions, there can be declared a mistrial, and the process must begin all over. Perhaps worse, they know that murderers can go free. The pros and cons of the infamous O.J. Simpson double murder trial will be argued interminably. So will the famous “Scopes” trial, when Creationism was placed opposite Evolution in a courtroom.

Many times, defense attorneys ask for a change in venue, because in some smaller communities it is almost impossible to find a person who knows nothing about the accused.

Who is not familiar with the many TV series, such as “Perry Mason,” and the many more modern programs featuring trial scenes? Then there was the Micky Spillane book many years ago called I, the Jury. Many Westerns feature jury scenes. The “cops and robbers” and “law and order” motion pictures and TV shows are usually big money-makers for their producers. “Matlock,” reruns of which come on just before my program on WGN, almost always features tense courtroom scenes wherein the hero traps the criminal and proves his client innocent.

The point is, people love a mystery. They love looking into the scandals, peccadillos, crimes, and secret lives of others. Many make a habit of going to trials as a form of entertainment!

Especially poignant are those programs which present hidden clues, and which have many suspects, which keep people on the edge of their seats, wondering “whodunit?” At the time, the “Dallas” series, with its climactic program, “Who Shot J.R.?” commanded the largest television audience in history.

Unfortunately, this human, carnal tendency to “love a mystery,” and to revel in the character flaws and sins of others is alive and well in the hearts and minds of some who, like tainted jurors, are sitting in a jury box every day of their lives, judging, condemning, suspicioning, resenting, accusing.

Could YOU be a “tainted juror” who is sitting in the jury box of your mind, judging, condemning, accusing another?

Paul wrote of pagans, evolutionists and agnostics who deny the existence of God, and how they fearlessly indulge in judging and condemning: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

“Being filled with all unrigh-teousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness [feeding on malice against others]; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers [gossips, who defame, accuse and malign others]

“Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

“Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable [immovable in their wrong attitudes; impervious], unmerciful:

“Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:28-32). Obviously, the old saw “birds of a feather flock together” applies here. Accusers find comfort in numbers, as we will see from biblical examples. They have pleasure in them who believe as they do.

This is quite a list of the attitudes of carnal human nature, which, unfortunately, is still alive and well in the hearts and minds of many who believe they are converted Christians!

Jesus Christ commanded us, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.

“For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

“Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:-5). The Greek word used for “judge” is Krino, which means: “to distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); to try, condemn, punish, avenge, conclude, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (to sue) the law”

Does this mean we are not to “discern” or come to conclusions about the attitudes and actions of others? Are we to turn a “blind eye” to evil, and form no opinions whatsoever? By no means! The inner motives connected with such discernment; motives driven by contempt, malice, anger, and a desire for revenge are the problem! Notice that Christ specifically showed that it is those whose own lives contain the carnal traits of accusing, condemning, and prejudice who are unqualified to judge!

He drew the analogy of someone who wishes to draw a “mote” or a tiny speck out of the eye of a brother, while having a huge splinter in his own eye! He then says “you shall see clearly” how to extract the mote from the brother’s eye.

Therefore, it is the mental condition, the motives, or the attitude of the one doing the condemning with which Christ takes issue. It is the hypocrisy which Christ condemns.

The question is: “Do we wish God to judge us with the same attitude, with the same hypocritical bias, prejudice, anger, resentment, and self-righteous outrage that we use to judge others?  Christ is plainly telling us we are not to CONDEMN others!

Obviously, God’s Word gives us standards of behavior; tells us the difference between right and wrong; good and evil. When terrible problems were dividing the Corinthian church, Paul told them, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife [apparently, a step-mother].

“And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

“For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:1-5).

Here, Paul was judging an obvious, open, flagrant violation of God’s law. It was ongoing. It was known. But it was being tolerated by the Corinthian congregation. This was not condemning someone’s thoughts, or attitude, or accusing someone of “believing” something inordinate. No, it was a clear condemnation of open sin! This had nothing to do with the way the offender spoke, or dressed, or treated fellow lay members. It had nothing to do with alleged flaws of character. It had ONLY to do with the flagrant incestuous relationship in which he was living.

Later, Paul showed the Corinthians how they, too, should use the scriptures to discern good from evil; righteousness from unrighteousness: “For what have I to do to judge [krino] them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

“But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

“Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

“Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

“If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, [do you] set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church? [Note: The inference here is a question. The next verses show clearly that Paul chides them for not seeking to the wisest men, and to the ministry for discernment. This is not a command to seek out the most illiterate, uninformed “babes in Christ” or newcomers to the faith to judge serious matters, but rather a rejoinder to seek the oldest, wisest among them.] I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

“But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers (1 Corinthians 5:12, 13: 6:1-6). What a tragic situation! Rather than settle differences in a godly fashion, seeking wise counsel and discernment from the elders and ministers, angry members resorted to the laws of a carnal, brutal dictatorship to adjudicate alleged wrongs. No brother or sister in the church should ever sue another church member before worldly courts!

Paul told the Galatians, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1, 2). Notice that the motive is to RESTORE to full joyous fellowship, and not to seek vengeance, or exact punishment! This is an example of the agape love, which flows OUT FROM the Christian toward another who is harming himself or herself! It is the kind of love a parent feels toward a child, whose disobedience or harmful attitude is hurting the child! Because the parent LOVES the child, he or she tenderly, patiently seeks to restore the child to an attitude of humble obedience.

God does not “get mad” at us and punish us in His anger! David prayed, “O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure” (Psalms 6:1).

Jeremiah cried out, “O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing” (Jeremiah 10:24).

As Christ said, we need to “judge” or “discern” with the same compassion, mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness as we wish God to use in judging us! There are many tragic cases on police records of parents who have flown into a rage, and murdered their own children! Tiny babies have been mercilessly beaten by brutal parents, or even by baby-sitters, who could not control their rage.

How pitiful it is when a brother in God’s church seethes with INNER RAGE against another brother; allows his or her mind to “feed” upon malignity, wrath, outrage, disdain, contempt, and even hatred! When such situations arise, there is almost always SHUNNING as well! Rather than openly facing the problem; meeting with the offending (or offended) brother; talking, studying, even kneeling and praying together in an attitude of loving concern and helpfulness, most tend to “clam up,” and simply have no contact whatsoever.

Unfortunately, the offending brother is constantly on their minds! There is the telephone. But is it used? There is writing paper and envelopes. Are they used? There is, possibly, a computer with an “Email” address. Is it used? There is the home address of the offending (or offended) brother. Do they visit? Usually, once an attitude of a biased, tainted juror has grown into full-blown anger, malice and contempt, the answer is NO!

 Of course, we all know that you or I can devote countless hours of thinking thoughts of enmity and anger toward another person, and that person remain blissfully unaware of it! So who are we hurting? Why, ourselves, of course!

Armchair Generals And Monday-Morning Quarterbacks 

There are many “talk” shows which feature sports. One can hear dozens of “fans” (short for “fanatic”) excoriating coaches, owners, management and individual players following a lost football, baseball  or basketball game. Most who call in to such shows do not play the game themselves; perhaps know little about the behind-the-scenes programs of coaches and management, but they have an emotional opinion they wish to offer. If THEY were doing it, they would do it in thus and such a manner.

In the first few weeks of America‘s bombing campaign against Afghanistan, spoiled Americans, accustomed to swift, precise victories like the war in the Gulf, began complaining loudly about the futility of bombing. Millions of “armchair generals” who know nothing whatsoever about war; about strategy, tactics, deployment, logistics, or fighting a war, carped, griped, accused, and complained. Countless thousands of hours were spent by radio talk show hosts, second-guessing how the military was conducting the strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan. This, often as not, by people who could not find the place on a map!

Then, suddenly, it seemed the war in Afghanistan was successful! City after city fell to the “Northern Alliance,” and large numbers of the Taliban surrendered. Just as suddenly, the pundits who had griped, complained, and second-guessed the military became very quiet.

Some years ago, one of our leading ministers had a picture on his wall which beautifully illustrated this point. The picture showed a man sitting at a desk, hunched over voluminous piles of papers, busily studying and writing. Behind him, arranged in a tier of semicircular pews which climbed upward to about thirty feet, were about a dozen Monday-morning quarterbacks.

Behind his back, unseen by the hard-working executive, they were holding their noses, rolling their eyes, giving a “thumbs down” gesture; their faces a study in incredulity, disbelief, hilarious ridicule! They were whispering to one another, disdaining all that the working man was doing! None of them was accomplishing a thing. They could only sit there and JUDGE the work of the other man.

This is SO TRUE to human nature! It is easy to gripe, complain, criticize, and second-guess the actions of someone else. Especially someone in charge.

Moses had to deal with a massive rebellion when a prince among the tribes began to disaffect other princes, griping and complaining about Moses’ policies. Here is the story: “Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:

“And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:

“And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

“And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:

“And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him” (Numbers 16:1-5).

You and I know that Moses did not WANT the huge responsibility that God thrust upon him! He did not seek it. He tried to talk God out of it! He humbly asked “Who am I that God should choose me?” He said he could not speak without stammering, and begged God to let him out of the job because of it. But God said “I will cause Aaron to be thy mouth.”

Moses did not politic his way into becoming the human leader of about three million rebellious, hard-hearted Israelites! He did not volunteer! No, he was DRAFTED. God had prepared him from childhood for the monumental task he would have to shoulder when he was old. Moses was not voted into office. He was chosen of God Almighty!

But now, Korah and his company ACCUSED MOSES OF SETTING HIMSELF UP in high office! They did not see the grinding hours of hard work! They did not see, or understand the horrible mental burdens; the knotty tangles of disputes to be resolved; the constant sense of responsibility which wore Moses down! Instead, they RESENTED Moses! Why? Because they LUSTED AFTER HIS OFFICE! They said “...all the congregation are holy, every one of them...” or, in other words, “We are just as good as you are!”

But that was not the point! Maybe, in fact, they WERE “just as good” in many ways. Maybe, in some ways, some of them would be judged to be “better” in character than Moses or Aaron (though this is doubtful — but let us concede this for the sake of argument). The point was GOD HAD NOT CALLED THEM, but HE HAD CALLED AND PLACED MOSES in charge!

Now, notice what happened: “And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:

“And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even tomorrow the LORD will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.

“This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company;

“And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.

“And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi:

“Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?

“And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also? [These men were LEADERS among the people! They had been greatly HONORED of God, to be drawn near to the tabernacles, which glowed with fire every night, and which had a huge, towering column of smoke over it every day. But this was not enough! They wanted MORE power; more recognition!]

“For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?

“And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: [There had been many hours, if not weeks and months, of collusion! These men had caucused together, airing their gripes and complaints! Each had “fed” off of the other’s anger, until they became FIXATED against Moses! The result? Estrangement! Shunning! The LAST PERSON ON EARTH they wanted to face was Moses. Why? Because, inwardly, they were positively SEETHING WITH ANGER against him!] They refused to meet with him! They charged, “Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?”

“Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up” (Numbers 16:4-14). Here was a major rebellion. The minds of all those with Korah were already made up! There was no arguing with them, no explaining. Like tainted jurors, they sat there, judging, condemning, “feeding” on their spite and anger.

Now, they began posturing. Moses was evil, according to them. He had betrayed them. He had not kept his promises! Would he, (being evil) PUT OUT THE EYES of these men for being so good, so “righteous” that they could not help but SEE WHAT WAS “GOING ON”?

Now, let’s see what happened: “And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.

“And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow:

“And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.

“And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron [NOTE: Korah and his company were not authorized to carry censers and burn incense! This was the job of the Aaronic priesthood! Moses had asked, ‘do you also seek the priesthood?’ To Korah, and all those in collusion with him, it seemed they had won a major point!]

“And Korah gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the congregation.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

“And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

“Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.

“And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him [Moses had to go to THEM. They had refused to come to him!].

“And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.

“So they gat up from the tabernacle [a collection of tents, with a larger community tent in the midst]  of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

“And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.

“If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.

“But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.

“And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:

“And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

“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.

“And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

“And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense” (Numbers 16:15-35).

With a deep rumbling roar, the earth opened up in a huge crevasse! Screaming, all of Korah’s rebels, including all their families and all their tents, belongings and animals, plunged into the yawning abyss! Then FIRE fell out of the skies and killed those who presumptuously tried to FORCE themselves in the priesthood!

Today, somewhere in the vastness of the Sinai desert, deep in the bowels of the earth, are no doubt the ancient remains of their bones, their metallic instruments, and anything material which may have either become petrified, or remain as fossil evidence.

Then follows one of the most incredible, amazing commentaries of rebellious human nature in the entire Bible! Moses had plainly said that if God allowed these men to grow old, and die of natural causes, then God had not sent him. But if God “made a NEW THING;” something totally unprecedented, which had never before occurred, then it would prove who it was that God had sent. Now, notice, “But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

“And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

“And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

“Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

“And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.

“And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

“And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

“Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah (Numbers 16:41-49).

Astonishing! These rebellious, hard-headed Israelites accused MOSES AND AARON of somehow contriving to produce an earthquake! Accused them of somehow causing a huge crevasse to open up!

This so angered the Eternal [the One of the Godhead who became Jesus Christ (John 1; Hebrews 1)] that He would have slain them all!

But Aaron ran as fast as he could with a censer, symbolic of prayers of repentance, and stood between the dying and the living. THOUSANDS died!

WHY did God place so much emphasis on the rebellion of Korah? Why is so much scripture taken up with the details? Paul wrote, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

“And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

“And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

“And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ [Note: The YHVH or “Jehovah” God of the Old Testament is the Person of the Godhead who became Jesus Christ! See John 1 and Hebrews 1].

“But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

“Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

“Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

“Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

“Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

“Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer [this last, specifically referring to the constant carping, complaining, condemning attitude of those like Korah].

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:1-12). It is not gratuitous for me to include the sad story of Korah in the body of this article. These people died so we would not make the same mistakes! The entire story of Israel in Sinai; that the older generation did not qualify to enter the promised land is written for OUR ADMONITION!

Now, notice the obvious analogies:

Who Is The Judge?

Almighty God, the Father, has reserved the right to JUDGE mankind! He has also given this right to Jesus Christ, who will “judge the living and the dead.” Paul wrote of “...the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Romans 2:16). Over and over again God tells us HE has reserved JUDGEMENT to Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ! “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). Later, Paul wrote, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).

James, the brother of Jesus Christ said, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

“There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? (James 4:12).

Today, Jesus Christ is functioning as our HIGH PRIEST in Heaven above! He is ON THE JOB every day and every night! It is HIS RESPONSIBILITY.  Notice: “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus...” (Hebrews 2:16-18; 3:1). The Book of Hebrews is about the HIGH PRIESTHOOD of Jesus Christ.

Now, notice the obvious analogy. SATAN is the “accuser of the brethren” who viciously keeps up a strident, nagging, vitriolic stream of invective against all of God’s people DAY AND NIGHT! Like a shrewish, hate-filed attacker, he spews out one angry charge after another!

Satan, therefore is like the “prosecuting attorney.” Jesus Christ is like the counsel for the defense! GOD IS THE JUDGE! But this is a TRIAL WITHOUT A JURY! There are no “peers” sitting in a jury box, who listen to Satan’s vicious harangues; no prejudiced, hypocritical, carnal jurors who are asked to “vote” on the innocence or guilt of the one Satan is accusing!

The scene in God’s heavenly courtroom is this: God the Father sits as the JUDGE. Jesus Christ sits at His right hand to INTERCEDE. Satan stands there, accusing, accusing, accusing!

But wait! Suddenly, one sees a JURY BOX FULL OF JURORS! They are pointing, accusing, complaining! They are angrily denouncing the accused — in full agreement with the devil! But they are INTERLOPERS! They just don’t belong there! They have not been asked to judge! But they have taken it upon THEMSELVES to JUDGE the one who stands in the docket, head bowed, listening to Satan’s vicious charges!

Could this be YOU?

Christ says, “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:35-38). But there are those who say, “Yes, but God does not forgive us until we REPENT!” This is true, so far as it goes! But remember, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:6-10).

God GRANTS repentance! Before we can repent, God’s Holy Spirit must work WITH us; and UPON us, gently LEADING us to repentance! You and I did not arrogantly decide one day, “Alright. It is time for me to repent. Therefore, I repent!” No, God led us by circumstances to come to the attitude of self revulsion; of shame, embarrassment, chagrin! He led us to be deeply SORRY for things we have thought, said, and done!

Then, when we reached that point, we prayed for forgiveness! Read David’s moving prayer for forgiveness found in Psalm 51. David prayed, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

“Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

“For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me [he was haunted by the ugliness; could not get it out of his mind!].

“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest” (Psalms 51:1-4). There is no evidence that David was required to go to Uriah’s family and prostrate himself before them. No evidence that he had to do the same before all of Bathsheba’s family! No evidence that he had to go before the people, in public, and detail all his “dirty linen” before them!

No, David REPENTED BEFORE GOD in heartbroken prayer!

Then, God FORGAVE! Though David had grievously sinned, God did not remove him from his office or his calling.

Often, people do not repent to other people in the way other people wish! It is very rare that apologies are eloquent enough; detailed enough; emotional enough, to satisfy. One may say “I have repented of that,” or “I am sorry for that, “ or “Please forgive me,” but sometimes it just is not enough to satisfy the prejudged scenario the offended party imagines. If the offended party imagines a scene of deep, body-wracking sobs; tears, abject subservience, and that scene does not develop, the offended party may “judge” the repentance of the one who is asking for forgiveness.

When one will NOT ACCEPT another’s repentance, there is nothing the repentant one can do.  God forgives, and says He forgets. Humans almost never completely forgive, and never forget!

Peter wondered about this. What were the limits? “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? [Peter thought he was being very liberal with this suggestion].

“Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

“Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

“And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents [a huge sum].

“But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

“The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

“Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

“And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

“And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

“So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

“Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

“Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

“And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

“So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:21-35). Perfunctory forgiveness; a “form” of forgiveness is not what Christ commands. He commands SINCERE, full, heart-felt forgiveness, so that the matter is completely over, and never more to be mentioned!

Now, back to our courtroom scene.

Without really intending to, and without any awareness that you have become an interloper, suppose you found yourself sitting there in the jury box? Standing in the docket is the person or persons who have offended you. For hours, days, weeks or months, you have allowed their offenses to gnaw away at your vitals. You can scarcely get them out of your mind! You may have thought, “How long, O Lord, before they get what is coming to them?”

You are sitting in a jury box, believing you know exactly how God should JUDGE this individual, or this group of people — for YOU HAVE JUDGED THEM ALREADY! 

You are trying to do God’s job for Him! You have set yourself up as judge and jury! “GUILTY!” is on your mind, and on your lips.

But God sees you sitting there, and looks sternly at you. He decides to be merciful to you, and instead of condemning you and saying you will lose your very salvation because you have become an interloper, and tried to take over God’s own responsibility, He orders you OUT of the jury box! “Why are you presuming to DO MY JOB FOR ME?” He might ask.

You are ordered to sit in the audience, with all the other people, who are mere spectators. He orders you to become a “disinterested, third party.” He shows you that you have NO DECISION-MAKING PART in the proceedings. You can scarcely believe how kind, and how patient He is! You are embarrassed. You get up, and move from the jury box to the audience.

He then turns to Jesus Christ, and says, “Proceed.” Christ continues to intercede; to explain how the one you have been judging has come to the Father through Him on his knees many, many times. How he has been embarrassed, ashamed, self-abhorrent; how he has cried, and opened the Psalms on his knees, praying that God will forgive.

Now, as you become only a SPECTATOR to the process of GOD’S JUDGEMENTS, notice how much at peace you have begun to feel. A great calm comes over you. You are not anxious any more. You are no longer impatient. You are not “upset” now, but relaxed, and confident in God’s ability.

You know God is competent to judge. You know Christ is extremely merciful, as is His Father. You hope that God will be every bit as merciful to you when it is your turn in the docket as He is to the accused. Then, wonder of wonders, you find yourself actually feeling sorry for the accused! You wish he or she did not have to endure Satan’s barbs. You begin to pray that God will FORGIVE them!

You watch as Satan viciously lashes out. But, suddenly, you realize, “Why, that sounds JUST LIKE ME only a little while ago — when I was a tainted juror, sitting in the jury box!”

But now, you wince when you hear Satan’s vicious accusations! Your heart goes out to the accused! You are thinking, “I know that Jesus Christ will WIN THIS CASE,” “I KNOW God will forgive this person!”

How COMFORTABLE it is, when we get out of God’s way; when we quit trying to tell God how to do His job; when we quit sitting in a jury box with our anger and our hurt feelings, waiting for our chance to “get even.”

My father often said my grandmother Armstrong’s “favorite scripture” was “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalms 133:1). She was a sweet, wonderful woman. I never (and I mean this sincerely) heard her speak a single bad word about any person! She was a very good example of a gentle, loving, forgiving Christian woman. God mercifully took her in her 97th year, as she slept in her rocking chair with her Bible on her lap. She exemplified that Psalm of David.

Yes, how PLEASANT it is to know Jesus Christ is on the job; that He is the HEAD OF HIS CHURCH;  that God the Father is capable of fulfilling HIS responsibility; that WE DO NOT HAVE TO SHOULDER THE BURDEN!

Not only that, but it is clear from His word that our Father does not want to ever find a single one of us sitting in a jury box, judging our brother or sister. That is HIS job, not ours!

Peter wrote, “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

“Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, [God is judging his church every day!] what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

“And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls [lives] to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:14-19).        

Humility or Pride?

By Tom Griffith

Two millennia ago a group of men, women and children had surrounded a man listening intently to what he had to say. He was extremely knowledgeable, full of wisdom and had a message like none the human race had ever heard before. Yet, there was something else that drew people to him. He spoke with an unusual air of authority as if he had full rights to his opinions, yet his face and his manner displayed a kindness that they did not see in the other rabbi’s.

Jesus Christ the Son of God was the Creator born as a man. He had all authority in heaven and earth, yet he did not abuse his authority as many human leaders have before and since. What characteristic did Jesus of Nazareth possess that enabled him to wield his God-given power with authority and at the same time remain unpretentious?

It is only after much study into the true nature of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the Son that an individual can come to answer these questions. God must become real to us, as real as our own human father, for the true impact of our offenses against God to take on a real meaning. Once God becomes real to us our past, sin-filled life takes on a new definition and we experience an emotion that has probably never before overtaken us. It is an emotion that must become part of us for a true repentance and conversion to occur and must remain with us if we are to become profitable servants.

The emotion we shall investigate is humility and it is a character trait of the God family that separates our spiritual conversion from our human existence. It is also the trait that those men, women and children sensed in Jesus of Nazareth those many years ago.

The children who surrounded Jesus began to cling to this understanding and gentle man. Those in the company of Jesus of Nazareth, his disciples, attempted to protect him from the onslaught of children, but Jesus scolded them and allowed the children to come closer. Children have a way of sensing goodness in a person. Children do not harbor any preconceived, negative ideas about others and are willing to accept their peers and adults, alike, at face value. Young children have not learned to hate, be envious or judgmental in the way that most adults have learned. They can, however, be misled because they are always ready to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone. Just as children can be misled those of ill intentions can also mislead the adult equivalent to a child, the new babe in Christ.

As the children that were clamoring to get closer to Jesus they must have sensed that he was a humble man. In Matthew 18:3 Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” What did our Savior mean when he said we must become as children?

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4). Jesus knew then and knows today that a person can only come to a true repentance and conversion if they first humble themselves before God. The Bible is full of references to humbleness as being the character that God is searching for in man.

Deuteronomy 8:2 and 8:16 show that God allowed ancient Israel to wander in the wilderness to humble them. He fed them with manna to humble them. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Why must we humble ourselves to be forgiven? What is it that enables a person to become humble so that they can receive God’s forgiveness? How do we get to the point where we are humbled?

Pride Stands in the Way

How often have you heard someone utter the statements, “I have my pride,” “My pride will stand in my way,” or “Where is your pride?” Some individuals have been known to allow pride to keep them from repairing small offenses that break-up friendships and even families. Proverbs offers us some very important instruction about the meaning of pride in ourselves.

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2). “Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19).

The word pride is defined in Webster’s as, “An undue sense of one’s own superiority; inordinate self-esteem; arrogance or superciliousness; conceit.” The biblical definition of pride is, “excellency, arrogance, haughtiness, swelling, majesty, pomp, highness, and presumptuousness.” In short, a feeling that the individual is responsible for his or her own success and inherent power is the definition of pride. Nothing can be farther from the truth! What have we to be proud of when discussing the many blessings and good things that we receive in this life knowing that they are all due to the blessings of our Creator?

A prideful person can also be called a self-righteous person. We know the story of Job. Job was a very wealthy man and is called, “the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3). Job was greatly blessed by God.

When Satan was allowed to affect Job by influencing evil men to attack his possessions (Job 1:14-17) and to influence the weather to destroy Job’s family (verse 19) what was Job’s reaction? Job reacted by saying that God gives and takes away. Job is saying that God taking away what he had given him through blessings caused his misery.

Satan is then allowed, by God, to cause Job to receive boils over his entire body and again Job’s response to his wife is to blame God for his predicament, “But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips,” (Job 2:10). Notice that Job did not curse God directly therefore not sinning. Job did, however, accuse God of causing the evil that had befallen him.

Job believed that God was somehow causing his suffering. Job knew that God had greatly blessed him with valuable possessions, a fruitful farm and family, but he failed to demonstrate that belief by his actions. The proper attitude for Job to exhibit would have been one of self-loathing, humbling himself before God and asking for repentance for what sins he may have committed. To demonstrate how righteous Job believed he was we can read Job 1:5, “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.” Job had become so used to being a righteous man that he began to believe that he, himself, was the reason for his righteousness. Even to the point of sacrificing for his sons. Job must have believed he was righteous enough to offer sacrifice for others. He had, in effect, made himself a self-appointed priest between God and his family. It could be said that Job was acting as a type of self-righteous Christ.

God, in the final chapters of the book, finally succeeds in opening Job’s eyes and Job comes to realize the true power of God. “I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not (Job 42:2-3). Job is finally returned to a state of humbleness, a state he no doubt existed in earlier in his life before he became self-righteous, and is able to repent before God. “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6). If Job had displayed a humble attitude from the beginning, Satan would not have had the ammunition he needed to use against Job. Self-righteousness was the chink in Job’s armor that allowed Satan to bring Job down. It is sobering to think that even if we live a completely righteous life we can still sin by believing that we are the beginning of our righteousness. Thank God that Job was able to humble himself and repent!

God, the Ultimate Power

With the power of the Hubble Space Telescope man is able to see thousands and in some cases millions of light years into space. We are able to see the power of creation displayed as vast interstellar clouds containing massive numbers of stars, some newly forming and many larger than our own sun. We have been treated to images of the blackness of space broken only by the oval shapes of scores of galaxies similar to our own Milky Way. Each of the galaxies contains millions of stars with perhaps billions of planets revolving around them. It is no wonder that Paul was inspired to write in Hebrews, “And, Thou, Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands”: (Hebrews 1:10). And again in Hebrews 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” King David wrote in Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

What insight the Apostle Paul and King David had to be able to grasp an understanding of the power of God. To them the power of creation was something that did not require physical explanation! God had merely to speak and the heavens, the moon and stars appeared! Read again in Isaiah 40:22, “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.” How humbling it is indeed to gaze at the night sky and realize how vast is the universe and how small and insignificant we are!

The Answer

At the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” It is interesting to note that the word translated into meek, the Greek word prah-ooce, is synonymous with the word humble. The word humble in our own English definition means, “to bring oneself low, to abase oneself.”   Humility is the exact opposite of pride and is absolutely necessary to receive God’s grace or pardon.

The apostle Peter said, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). The Apostle Peter understood that those that were young in the faith might have a tendency to become prideful and lord over those elders who had learned to be humble through years of continued conversion. However, Peter concludes his statement by saying that all should be subject to each other in humility. Peter also understood that there were those elders who might begin to think of themselves as more righteous than the new converts in the church. Finally, Peter says that God will give grace or pardon, for sins, to those who can humble themselves before God. 

God’s Church-Humble

Servants

The last few years of the history of God’s church has seen a great falling away and waxing cold of the love of many. How much time do we have left before the words of Amos 8:11 come to fruition, “Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

How much time is left before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ when some will be crying out to Him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). How much time do we have left to humble ourselves and serve the church? How much time is left to humble ourselves in the face of Almighty God?

Jesus Christ gave marching orders to the apostles by saying, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and also, “Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto you, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (John 21:17-18).

Those two commands are our calling and are still in effect not having yet been rescinded by God the father. The apostle Paul spoke of the prize of our calling, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Those who call themselves Christians can only lay claim to the title if they humble themselves as Christ did by submitting themselves to the will of God and humbly serving those whom God is calling.

Is it possible to righteously obey the laws of God and still sin? Job did. Is it possible to keep the Sabbath without fail and still sin? The Pharisees did. May God keep his promises to bless those who humble themselves, laying aside their pride, before God and his humble servants. May God bless all those who continue in His word!      

Australia Feast Site 2001 Report

This Feast of Tabernacles was perhaps the most important F.O.T. since H.W. Armstrong kept his first F.O.T., so said his son Garner Ted Armstrong.

The Intercontinental Church of God, Feast of Tabernacles Australia was held in Albury on the border of N.S.W. and Victoria. The sermons that G.T.Armstrong sent via express mail from the U.S.A., brought the brethren up to date on what had happened in New York 11th. Sept. 2001, and where we are at in world affairs today.

These sermons were the pinnacle of the Feast, bringing to the present what G.T. Armstrong and his father H.W. Armstrong have been warning the world about these past 70 years in the history of the modern day Church of God.

Albury itself lent a peaceful atmosphere in these turbulent times, and the brethren attending enjoyed a wonderful Feast of family fellowship. Attractions in Albury ofcourse feature the wonderful Murray River and surrounding countryside, with old gold mining nearby from a past era, reminding us of the old Australian ballad “The Man From Snowy River.”

We enjoyed the company of several brethern from overseas this year, and next year we hope to see more visitors to the Intercontinental Church of God Feast of Tabernacles in Albury 2002. All are   welcome!

Dusan Zubovic
    Phone: 02 60720416
   Area and Feast Co-ordinator

            or

Peter Ellis Sydney Host
    Phone 02 93169912
    Email Petevivie@aol.com

Attitude

By Fletcher Christian

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove "God Bless America" signs from schools in fear that someone might be offended.

Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags removed from the newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of reporters. Why? Management did not want to appear biased and felt that our nations flag might give the appearance that "they lean one way or another".

Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on city fire trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the community.

In an "act of tolerance" the head of the public library at Florida Gulf Coast University ordered all "Proud to be an American" signs removed so as to not offend international students.

I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called American citizens; and I am tired of this nation worrying about whether or not we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New York and Washington D.C. when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. In fact, our country's population is almost entirely composed of descendants of immigrants; however, there are a few things that  those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some native Americans, need to understand.

First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to offend you in any way. This idea of America being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language, and our own lifestyle. This culture, called the "American Way" has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom. Our forefathers fought, bled, and died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima, Normandy, Korea, Vietnam,

We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society - learn our language! "In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some off-the-wall, Christian, right wing, political slogan - it is our national motto. It is engraved in stone in the House of Representatives in our Capitol and it is printed on our currency. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation; and this is clearly documented throughout our history. If it is appropriate for our motto to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of Government, then it is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools.

God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every patriotic song, and in our founding documents. We honor His birth, death, and resurrection, and we turn to Him in prayer in times of crisis. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture and we are proud to have Him.

We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably defended our freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Flag Day. We have parades, picnics, and barbecues where we proudly wave our flag. As an American, I have the right to wave my flag, sing my national anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge whenever and wherever I choose. If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.

The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are proud of it...and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. We are Americans, like it or not, this is our country, our land, and our lifestyle.

Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion about our government, culture, or society, and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great American freedom, the right to leave.        

Praise and Thank You Letters

To Mr. Armstrong—9 Nov. 2001

Dear Mr. Armstrong,

I hope that this commentary reaches you.  I want to tell you that for a long time, I have read your insightful articles and commentaries and I consider myself a good judge of moral character.  I am a true believer of all you teach; not blindly, but because I have checked my bible for myself and I have yet to find any scripture that contradicts what you teach. I am not biased; nor am I a blind sheep by any definition.  Mr. Armstrong, over the years, I have kept a very open mind when it comes to preachers, denominations, etc. and in all consciousness, I clearly realize that your teachings and your ministry are being blessed in this age.  I KNOW that you are a true, whole hearted servant of the Son of God and the Holy Father and with all my heart, I pray that as we approach this final age, before the coming Kingdom of God, more and more of humanity will come to know our maker's truths.  I am so grateful and thankful for your messages and your mission to proclaim the truths.  I am totally convinced that the Lord is with you and is guiding you to the great tribulation that will soon befall humanity.  God Bless you as his special servant and I know, as well as I know my social security number that you will be among the firstfruits in the soon coming Kingdom. Sometimes, I am impatient for Jesus/Yashua, the only begotten Son of the Father Almighty to return to this earth.  I pray for all those I love dearly and I pray for you and your family, and all those you love on this earth.

Blessings to you.

To Mr. Armstrong—9 Nov 2001

I would also like to comment on how much I enjoy all of the articles that Mr. Armstrong writes.

To Mr. Armstrong—10 Nov. 2001

I wish I could better express my appreciation for your efforts and words of wisdom I have received through the years.

Thank you.

The one thing that draws me to the teachings of the "Church of God," came to me as a small child, about the age of 9 or 10. Having been raised in a Baptist faith, one day while looking at the calendar, I asked my mother "why is Sunday printed in red and Saturday is the last day of the week?" She said "I don't know...someday maybe you will find out."  I believe I have.

Again, thank you and keep up the great work.

To Mr. Armstrong—10 Nov. 2001

I want to thank all of you for your blessings and support for our group here in Evansville, IN. I am so proud to be a part of something so wonderful and special. I, in the last 3 weeks, have found out what it is to have true friends and family, and I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to be a small part of such a wonderful family.

May God bless all of you, and thanks.

To Mr. Armstrong—10 Nov. 2001

Keep on telling it like it really is. Not enough people are doing that. Thanks for all you are doing.

To Mr. Armstrong and the Web Site Office—11 November 2001

I have enjoyed your web site and I appreciate your stand on Christians observing, the Sabbath day and the commandments, especially the appointed times (feasts, festivals, etc.)  Your revelation knowledge is refreshing and my spirit man receives what you have to say.

To the Web Site Office—11 November 2001.  Note:  From a person who originally contacted us attacking our stand on Harry Potter.  We challenged him to read other materials.  He did.  We then opened a dialog with him and he has been writing to us on a regular basis with Bible questions.  This comment is in response to some advice we gave him on witnessing before his friends.

Thanks :)  You have no idea how good it is to have someone to talk to about this.

To Mr. Armstrong—12 November 2001

 Mr. Armstrong is the first evangelist I ever watched when he used to host the "Plain Truth" (World Tomorrow).  I just got my first computer and chanced trying to locate Mr. Armstrong's website.  Thank you for your work during these times.

To the Web Site Office—11 November

Note:  After we answered a question about the differences between the 1st and 2nd resurrections.

“Thank you very much for your response. I have forwarded it to Tyler (pre-med student at Drury College).

“Your response is so crystal clear and on point! How could anyone dispute this? I will see Tyler this Sabbath & review this with him. But I believe he will follow your references and see the Word of God makes the truth so easy to understand.

Thanks again.”

To Garner Ted Armstrong—11 November 2001

I am on the mailing list already, and you have referred me to a church in my area, Thank You and may The ETERNAL continue to bless your ministry! I have been baptized and filled with God’s HOLY SPIRIT, and am now living a life of overcoming! I am with a wonderful church group in Southfield Michigan. May God richly bless you Garner Ted. You are always in my prayers!

Respectfully, In Jesus Name.                                      

To Garner Ted Armstrong and the Web Site Office—13 November 2001

After reviewing your church doctrine on-line, I am very interested in attending one of your churches.  I am a young Christian, but I have been reading the literature of Mr. Armstrong for years.  What address do I send tithes and offerings to?

To the ICG via the Web Site Office

I saw your web site when researching wine in the Bible. I have since overcome legalism and actions that do not make you a better Christian, but make you FEEL like you are a better Christian. We are looking for a church home that is balanced, where we can grow and be used of God in service and leadership, where we can support others, and where correct theology is taught.

Thanks

To Mr. Armstrong—14 November 2001

My wife and I are already on your mailing list. We are members of God's true church and understand that it is very costly to produce and send out the materials that you provide. Presently we do not send our tithes and offerings to the GTAEA but we certainly would like to start now in light of the Sept. 11 attacks. we saw GTA in Norfolk the Sabbath after the attacks and we know he speaks the truth. Please send us any and all materials you can. We would love to also spread the truth of God if only people would listen and repent. My wife and I understand that there is no charge but we feel it is our duty as church members to at least send our tithes and offerings to the organization that will provide us with the truth that nobody else can. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!

To Mr. Armstrong—18 November 2001

 I just wanted to say thank you very much for your article I just read on your website on Harry Potter!  I was wondering if you (Mr. Armstrong) were going to write anything on the subject. I’m sure I knew you would. I hate to see what our country is so ignorantly doing in the eyes of Almighty God and I am so thankful to Him that He has you out there crying aloud and sparing not! I am a Sabbatarian and commandment keeper (as best I can) and just wanted to say don’t give up!

To Mr. Armstrong—18 November 2001

I read your articles on Islam, The Harry Potter stories and the one on Hillary Clinton about the homosexuals collecting the same benefits as normal couples and I agree with you 100 percent. I keep the 7th day Sabbath and believe as you on the state of the dead, heaven and hell and other doctrines in the bible that are never preached in most of our mainline churches.  I watch your TV program every week on WGN Chicago on cable as well as read your articles on the web.

God bless.

To Mr. Armstrong­—18 November 2001

I just read, "It was an accident." Well reasoned and well written. I agree that there is a lot more to this event than we are told and I agree with the reasons he gives for the suppression of any information that challenges the "accident" theory.

To Mr. Armstrong—19 November 2001

I really enjoyed the sermon on why God failed us on Sept. the 11th it sent chills down my spine.

To Mr. Armstrong—19 November.

Please send me the tape and paper on Harry Potter as seen on today’s program.  Thank you.

Excellent message!  Garner Ted Armstrong teaches and preaches at the exact same speed as my comprehension.  He also references and quotes scripture to back up everything he says.

I would also appreciate a subscription to the newsletter.

God bless.

To Mr. Armstrong—19 November 2001

I was listening to your program this morning.  This is exactly what I believed.  I am a Roman Catholic and I believed in the truth.  Could you send me the tape and document you spoke this morning on Harry Potter.  It is witchcraft. And my daughters don’t believe in it. Plus they never read a book on Harry Potter or saw the film.

Thanks.

To Everyone—22 November 2001

Just a thanksgiving wish for all of you in the GTAEA organization to continue your growth and may the work prosper.

Thank you Mr. Armstrong, Mrs. Armstrong, your sons, and all who are helping to get the work of the watchman finished.  Thanks to you Chris, for being there to answer my questions, and receive my comments.

God bless you all on this

Thanksgiving day.

To Mr. Armstrong—24 November 2001

Thank you. My husband and I are presently attending your congregation in Douglasville, GA headed by Phil Hunter.

We are very blessed in finding Christians of this quality and a pastor such as yourself.  We would like to be added on to your Extended Tape Program. In addition would you send a couple of envelopes from your ministry that we may include our tithes.

Thank you and God continue

to Bless You.

To Garner Ted Armstrong—26 November 2001

Hello, finally a man of God who knows what he is talking about.

(no name given)

To GTA—26 November 2001

My grandmother began ordering and reading your literature many years ago.  I am so thankful she has passed so much of this valuable information to my mother and me.  I will now be able to pass this along to my children.  Thank you and may God continue blessing you!!!!          

Television Log of GTAEA

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•  Arlington, TX–AT&T Broadband Cable, ch. 8, 12:30 a.m., Tues., Central

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•  Norfolk, VA–WTVZ, 6:30 a.m., Mon., Eastern

•  Woodstock, VA–WAZT cable, 8:00 a.m., Sat., 2:30 p.m., Tues., Central

•  Olympia, WA–TCTV cable, ch. 22, 7:00 p.m., Sat. & 11:30 a.m., Sun., Pacific

•  Seattle, WA–Public Access Channels 29 & 77, 9:00 a.m., Mon., Pacific

•  Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada–ATV ch. 9,  5:25 a.m., ASN ch. 7, 5:30 a.m., Sun., Atlantic

Radio:

•  Daleville, AL–WTKN, 10:00 a.m. Sun., Central

•  Fordyce, AR–KBJT AM 1570,  10:30 a.m., Sun., Central

•  Fulton, MO–KFAL AM, 7:00 a.m., Sun., Central

•  Brandon, MS–AM 970, 8:00 a.m., Sun., Central

•  Hattiesburg, MS–WHXB AM 107.1, 8:30 a.m., Sun., Central

•  Wheeling, WV–WWVA AM, 8:00 a.m., Mon., Eastern