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AN
OPEN LETTER TO THE
CHURCH
OF
GOD
IN DISPERSION
Greetings
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
We’re writing this open
letter to you because of what has happened to us over the past decade or so.
We all consider ourselves part of the one-time unified family of God.
Today our family is in a very sorrowful state.
The reasons we divided into several differing scattered groups seem very
complex, difficult to understand, and beyond our control.
It has shaken many of us. It
has affected and will continue to affect each of us in a very personal way.
Rest assured Christ is not going to leave us in this condition.
This letter is an initial step towards reversing what has happened to us.
Please read it closely. (All
scriptures used in the letter are from the New King James Version unless
otherwise indicated).
This letter is directed towards two specific groups, the leadership of the many
scattered congregations that came from our parent church, the Worldwide Church
of God (WCG), and the followers who sit in those congregations.
We recognize the leaders of the many scattered congregations are for the
most part the former leaders of WCG.
The purpose for this letter is to make us all aware Christ is taking action.
Be encouraged, He is beginning the final preparations for His return.
In the early 1930s, Herbert W. Armstrong
began a radio ministry preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of
God. He
taught the only way into the kingdom was through our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. In time his ministry of very
small beginnings began to bear fruit and evolved into the Worldwide Church of
God which we were a part of, and some still are. In 1986 Herbert W.
Armstrong, founder of the WCG died. Approximately
four years later a transformation began taking place within the church, slowly
at first. WCG at its pinnacle had
133,000 attending weekly Sabbath services. Annual
income was 200 million dollars. The
World Tomorrow television program was one of the top two religious programs in America. The
Plain Truth magazine had a monthly circulation of 8,000,000.
Ambassador
College
flourished with three campuses.
The WCG of today is dwarfed by its past accomplishments.
Weekly attendance is less than one half of its peak.
Income is off by over three fourths.
There is no TV program or college. The
Plain Truth circulation is less than 100,000. This
transformation has taken less than a decade.
No one will deny it took place. WCG
is very open about it. You can read
the above information on their website.
Who
Can Tell Us Why WCG Fell From Prominence?
All of us recognize WCG divided and fell from the prominent status it once held.
Instead of one church there are now several differing congregations.
The explanations of why WCG divided are without end.
It seems all have ignored Jesus Christ, the only One who truly knows why
His church divided and fell. He
tells us His true disciples will recognize His voice, listen to Him, and follow
Him - if they hear Him. Jn. 10:2 "But he who
enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 "To him the doorkeeper
opens, and the sheep hear his voice;
and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 "And when he brings
out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they
know his voice. --- 7 Then Jesus
said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the
sheep. 8
"All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep
did not hear them. 9
"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will
go in and out and find pasture. 10
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to
destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more
abundantly. 11
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the
sheep. 12
"But a hireling, he who is not
the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and
leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
13 "The hireling flees
because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
14 "I am the good
shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15 "As the Father
knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
16 "And other sheep I
have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they
will hear My voice; and there will
be one flock and one shepherd. ---
24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and
said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell
us plainly." 25
Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works
that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.
26 "But you do not
believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 "My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 "And I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out
of My hand. 29
"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no
one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.
30 "I and My Father are
one."
Christ
draws a definite distinction between Himself as the only Shepherd and those who
tend His flock. He distinguishes
them by telling us they don’t own the flock.
He calls them hirelings. Their
interest in the flock is much different than His.
We must understand, by Christ’s own definition, church leaders are not
the shepherds (owners) of the flock. They
are hirelings merely tending His flock. He
instructed Peter to, “feed MY
lambs, tend MY sheep, and feed MY
sheep”. Christ clearly says there
will be only one flock and one Shepherd. He
purchased His flock for a great price – His own life.
We are His sheep and belong to no one else.
We need to listen to His voice and
His only. As members of the one
flock, now in a scattered condition, it is our responsibility to find and listen
to the voice of the only Shepherd. Only
He can truly tell us why WCG divided. The
hirelings can’t truly tell us what happened.
When the perceived wolf came they fled.
What
Does Our Shepherd Say Caused The Fall?
Listen
carefully to what our Shepherd says. Mk.
3:23
So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: "How can
Satan cast out Satan? 24
"If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25
"And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
(Matthew and Luke’s account say the same thing).
Here Christ tells us something that’s very simple to understand.
There is a cause for every effect. If
the church failed to stand there was an obvious cause.
It was divided. We need to
understand how our house was divided against itself.
Listen
to what else He tells us. Mt.
7:24 "Therefore whoever hears
these sayings of Mine, and does them,
I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
25 "and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 "But everyone who
hears these sayings of Mine, and does
not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 "and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it
fell. And great was its fall."
Who
has the responsibility of feeding the sayings of Christ to the church, and
tending to its welfare - Mt. 28:20? Our
Shepherd very clearly places the responsibility for keeping His house from
dividing on the shoulders of the leadership of the house of Christ (Heb. 3:6).
It’s a very simple concept. If
the leadership is unified the church is unified.
Conversely, a divided leadership results in a divided church.
If the leadership of WCG had been united we would not now be divided.
Their division over the sayings of Christ caused the fall of WCG.
Christ,
our Shepherd, also very clearly tells us a properly constructed house will
withstand the storms (trials - wolves) that assail it.
It will not divide and fall. WCG
divided and scattered (fell apart) when the storms came.
According to His voice we divided because we were not
doing His sayings (the truth). This
is the crux of the problem. The
leadership of WCG had the responsibility of teaching us the sayings of Christ.
They failed to construct His house (us) properly with His sayings.
Failure to teach - the doing - of His sayings caused the fall.
The doing of His sayings is the critical issue.
We heard or were taught His sayings, but the teachings to
do them were neglected. His
voice tells us this truth. Are we
listening to Him? It’s time to
face the Truth.
What Does Our Shepherd Think About Our
Divided Condition?
1 Cor. 1:10
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it has been declared
to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are
contentions among you. 12
Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or
"I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of
Christ." 13
Is Christ divided? Was Paul
crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
This
scripture defines our scattered condition perfectly.
We could easily insert in verse 12 the name of the church or group
leader(s) we follow. Paul describes
exactly what we are doing today. Paul
is speaking for Christ. As an
apostle he has that authority. He is
pleading with us.
Christ
hates our divided condition and He is going to correct it.
We realize the leaders of the divided and scattered church, no matter
which division they represent, will deny they caused the fall.
They will all say they spoke and still speak the same thing the Shepherd
speaks. If this is true, then why
are we divided? Our divided
condition speaks the truth with great clarity.
The Pharisees practiced and taught the truth, but only parts of it.
Mt. 23:23, Lk. 11:42. They
neglected the important parts.
If
the leadership prior to our division was speaking the same thing as Christ, the
Chief Shepherd, we would not be divided! We
would be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
The gates of hell could not have prevailed against us.
Christ is not divided! This
scripture convicts all of us. We
shall all come to admit the leadership prior to Joseph Tkach was not speaking
the same thing as the Shepherd. They
spoke parts of it but neglected the important parts.
As for the rest of us, the followers, most merely followed our trusted
leaders – the hirelings. We left
it up to them to determine what we believed.
Today we are not perfectly joined together.
Today the body of Christ is scattered in differing pieces around the
world. All of us, leaders and
followers, are accountable for our scattered condition.
Paul
very clearly tells us how to diagnose the condition of the family of God, and
how crucial it is to build the house properly.
The following scripture condemns all of us as well.
1 Cor. 3:1
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to
carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2
I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not
able to receive it, and even now you are
still not able; 3 for you are still
carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not
carnal and behaving like mere men? 4
For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of
Apollos," are you not carnal? 5
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you
believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither he who
plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8 Now he who plants and he
who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his
own labor. 9
For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's
building. 10
According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master
builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But
let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is
Jesus Christ. 12
Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each
one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be
revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14
If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a
reward. 15
If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire. 16
Do you not know that you are the
temple
of
God
and that
the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17
If anyone defiles the
temple
of
God
, God will
destroy him. For the
temple
of
God
is holy,
which temple you are.
We
are the house of Christ, the body of Christ.
We were poorly built after the foundation was laid.
The Day (of judgment) has declared this to us.
(Judgment is on the house of God now.
1 Pet. 4:17). The condition
of our divided family, our dysfunctional
family, isn’t to be ignored or taken lightly.
Christ is correcting it.
Who
Would Have Ever Believed WCG Would Divide And Fall?
God
the Father and Jesus Christ did! They
planned for it.
Mal. 4:5
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the LORD. 6
And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the
hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a
curse."
Lk.
1:17
"He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
Why
do we think God said He would have to send someone in the spirit and power of
Elijah before the coming of the day of the Lord?
He knew there would be a problem between the fathers and the children.
(Turning the hearts of the fathers is the scriptural way of saying God is
going to turn the hearts of the leaders to the followers, and the followers to
their leaders). This work wouldn’t
be required if the problem between them didn’t exist.
God foresaw the problem. He
designated a specific work and time period to address and resolve it.
It’s easy to see who God targets with this work.
The major emphasis is towards the fathers - or leaders.
The leaders have done the flock a great disservice by allowing the flock
to scatter and divide.
Let’s
be realistic. In retrospect, do we
honestly believe our Shepherd was incapable of correcting the problems that
existed in WCG before the division and scattering took place?
Is the flock in a better condition today than we were before the
division? (Now might be an
appropriate time to think about the mindset of the Laodiceans, Rv. 3:17).
How
serious is God about this family matter? Read
the last phrase of Mal. 4:6 in the King James bible.
This is a very serious final effort.
We definitely need to be made ready because in our present scattered
condition we are not.
What
Can We Do About Our Dysfunctional Family?
Here’s
what we did. We are a small
independent church. Christ clearly
reveals the problem in His family and the cause of the problem.
It’s the most heinous problem that exists.
We as a group and individuals have confessed our part in the division of
the family and repented. Please
read this next phrase very carefully. We
are therefore joining with Christ,
our Shepherd, in restoring His family to a functional family, a family where
envy, strife, and division does not exist. It’s
His house, His family, His flock. We’re
His sheep. We listen to His voice
only.
Nothing
should keep you from joining with Christ in this endeavor.
Nothing is more important. You’ve
read His words and heard His voice. He
speaks the truth. He has initiated
the work of Elijah. He is the Head
of it and He is going to restore His family, His flock.
Mt.
17:11
Jesus answered and said to them, "Indeed, Elijah is coming first and
will restore all things.
Why
did we decide to write this letter and begin taking action?
Since Christ revealed the problem and the cause of the problem, showing
us no problem is more heinous, we saw very clearly His will.
We saw that if the family of Christ can’t come together in unity there
is no need to continue preaching the gospel.
There will be no world tomorrow,. That’s
what Mal. 4:6 last phrase is saying to us. We
also read and understand the following: Jas.
4:17 Therefore,
to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Lk. 12:47 "And that
servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 "But he who did not
know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For
everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much
has been committed, of him they will ask the more. Mk.
3:35
"For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and
mother."
Only
those who see and do the will of God in this family matter are His family.
Christ has led us to see much in the past five years.
We know Christ and the Father want more than anything else at this time
for the family to come together in unity. Ps.
133:1.
Many
are currently preaching the gospel with the intent of trying to bring more
children into the family. Think
about our dysfunctional family as it is today.
Do we honestly believe Christ wants us to continue to preach the gospel
with the intent of bringing more children into it?
We’ve already proven to Him we can’t get along and function as a
family. We seriously need to correct
our glaring problem of division first. We
have a huge beam in our eyes to get rid of.
There’s
good news though. Christ is going to
succeed in bringing His family, His flock, back together.
But it isn’t going to happen without you doing your part.
Join Him in restoring His/our family.
Acts 3:19
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted
out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20
"and that He may send Jesus Christ, who
was preached to you before, 21 "whom
heaven must receive until the times of
restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began.
With
Sincere Love For Our Family;
Your
Brothers & Sisters in Christ attending the New Covenant Church of God,
P.O. Box
246
Winterset
,
IA
50273
P.S.
If you want further information on
what you can do: write to us, visit our website at www.nccog.com,
or e-mail us at info@nccog.com. We
want to help.
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