| by Arlan Weight (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
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| Recently a person who once attended the Worldwide Church of God commented on how his son, who is in his early twenties, is blaming him for his lack of social skills. He claims that, because he was kept from participating in school activities on Friday nights, he was deprived of something that now limits his ability to relate to other people. His story is, no doubt, the story of many thousands of others around the world dealing with similar accusations in their own families. What are we to think of it? Did parents in the Church of God do wrong by keeping their children from things other children had the chance to participate in? Should they now regret the course of action they took in withdrawing them from Friday night activities as well as other events relating to Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.? Could they have done it differently? Could they have avoided some of these nagging problems as they hear their own children telling them these things? As stated above, these accusations from our own children are common to many thousands of Church of God parents. It is one of the things that sometimes has caused one of the deepest, most bitter rifts in families. Why? Because maybe, the way our children saw it, they were made to feel like outcasts, different from society. Some have withdrawn themselves from people, as this young man, mentioned above. Is this what we would have wanted? No, of course not. How should parents receiving these accusations, respond? What should they say? Emotions can run hot and there can be a lot of anger and frustration. How can it be explained? In Matthew 10:34-36 Jesus gives us a hint as to what is happening when he says, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and daughter against her mother, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Why would Jesus say such a thing? Haven’t you always heard just the opposite? Of course! But why, or how would Jesus set a man at variance against his father? The word ‘variance’ comes from the Greek word ‘dichazo‘. It means ‘to make two, divide into two’ (Young’s Concordance) In verse 34 Jesus says he came to send a ‘sword’. What do swords do? They cut, they divide, and it’s even painful. But why did Jesus say this? Doesn’t Jesus want unity? In Psalms 133:1 it says “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” If Jesus inspired these words in Psalms, is he contradicting himself in Matthew 10:34 when he says he came to divide… cause division? Is there a contradiction here? On the one hand Psalms 133:1 says it’s good to have unity and then Christ comes along and tells us he’s sending division and divides families. Could it be he’s telling us something here, which we need to ponder and think about? Could it be he’s telling us he wants unity alright, but in these few verses he’s saying that truth has a higher priority than unity and that it will cause division in families… even church families. When Jesus was on trial for his life, He made it plain to Pilate that there is such a thing as truth and error. He told Pilate, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.” (John 9:37) If this world was following the ways of truth, there would be no reason for Jesus to say such a thing. Pilate himself must have been confused when Jesus said what he did. He (Pilate) then asked, “What is truth?” (John 9:38) This world is following after a spirit of error. It’s not following after a spirit of truth. It can’t. Notice John 14:16-17 Jesus said, “If ye love me keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter… even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive.” Imagine that! The world, the society we live in, cannot receive the spirit of truth. The Bible says this world is deceived. Look at Revelation 12:9. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world…” There’s the answer. That’s why this society can’t receive the ‘spirit of truth’. There’s someone guarding the door. And it’s none other than Satan. He and his angels are the present rulers of earth. Their influence is everywhere. Mankind, of and by himself cannot accept truth. So back to the questions asked above, what should parents have done? Once we heard the truth of the Bible should we have turned a blind eye and go on. Should we, could we have continued to send our children to ‘Sunday’ school when we once learned Sunday is not the commanded day of rest. Should we have continued to teach our children to observe Christmas, Easter, Halloween and all the days society observes, once we learned they all have their roots in paganism? Should we not teach our children to observe the days God says to observe? Let’s think about it… If we wanted to measure up to being a ‘Christian’ according to the Bible definition, we had no other choice. We were faced with a decision… There was no way of dodging the issue. How could we look our children in the eye and tell them lies, or not teach them the truth we had learned. Maybe some could but for many this was a crossroads. Let’s think back to that time. For me it was the mid-sixties-early seventies. Many of us were just starting our families. We were young exuberant people striving to be successful, striving to fulfill dreams of making our mark in life or just striving for happiness, like everyone else. Our children were young also, just babies or preschool. In our neighborhoods different families were attending various churches of either protestant or catholic denominations. We too attended different churches of our choosing. Maybe we were content, maybe not. Then one day we stumbled across a voice on the radio that claimed most of these churches were in error. That’s right error… How could that be? How could all of these churches, claiming to be Christian be doing contrary to the Bible? Don’t they get their religion out of that book? Apparently not, because many of the things we did in our Protestant or Catholic backgrounds are not there. We began to find opposites in our Bibles, or things contrary to what we had always done or believed. We were somewhat stunned at first. How could this be? It seemed amazing that this knowledge had been there all these centuries and yet religions were not following the book that they claimed as their foundation. The following are some of these things we were shocked to find out.: The Sabbath is not Sunday but Saturday. Most, if not all, mainstream religions acknowledge this but continue to observe Sunday anyway. Jesus did not die on Friday and the resurrection was not on Sunday. The law (Ten Commandments) has not been done away or replaced by something else as some denominations teach. Rather Jesus kept it and taught us that we ought to do so also. Jesus was not born on December 25th. Even if he was, we are not taught anywhere from scripture, to observe it. Except for Thanksgiving, most, if not all the holidays, this society observes, come from origins predating Christianity. The Bible plainly tells us not to learn or practice these days but that it is simply worshiping God in vain (Jeremiah 10) Rather, we are taught to observe the Holy Days God commands listed in Leviticus 23. Jesus, and his disciples kept them. If Jesus is to be our example of how to live why aren’t we keeping the same days? Man does not now have an immortal soul. Salvation is possible but it is quite different than what this world’s religion teaches. The reward of the saved is not heaven. Evolution is a lie. God exists and is provable in a number of ways. The Gospel, the message of God’s kingdom, the message Jesus brought to this earth, has basically not been taught for 1900 years. This is a short list. There is more… much more. It was only the beginning of the things we began to discover. On the one hand we were excited about learning this new knowledge, but on the other hand we could see the problems coming our way once we began to embrace this understanding. Over time we began to see how religions of this world, even so called ‘Christianity’, were following after tradition and not God’s commands at all. They only had ‘form’, but no real substance. What were we to do? We had a fork in the road. We could either forget what we heard and read, or we could take up the challenge to begin to follow after the Biblical instructions. We could continue to observe Sunday, Christmas, Easter etc., or we could begin to keep the Sabbath and all God’s Holy Days. For most of us with families this was no easy task, and it was not just something we casually changed over to. It meant trouble for many of us. It meant hostile mates or parents, especially when they began to see our determination to follow biblical instruction rather than tradition. It was unsettling to them. It was new to us, but it was an earthquake to them! “What? Take off from work or school and go somewhere to keep what… The Feast of Tabernacles? What’s that? What, are you crazy? And what… no more working on Saturday? How are we to get anything done around home. Don’t you realize that’s the day when we do the things, we can’t do the rest of the week?” And so, you respond, “We have Sunday, certainly we can get our work done. It’s not like we’ve lost any time…”, only to hear, “No way! … that’s when all our neighbors are resting. Besides what will they think? And “we’re sending our kids to Sunday school, and that’s that!” Oh yes, our children…, what about them? What will we teach them? What will their friends say when they can no longer participate in Halloween parties or Christmas things? And what will their teacher say when you pull them out of school for eight days to go off to some ‘stupid’ thing called the… “Feast of Tabernacles”? For some it was not as difficult when husband and wife both resolved to follow after this new way of life, but this was not the situation with many. Many found they were faced with an uphill battle on two fronts. There was the one at home with family, and then there was the other with friends and work associates. In some cases, it meant our very jobs. Some lost them for their resolve not to work on Saturdays. Again, the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 10:34-36 suddenly came alive. What kind of effort, what kind of conviction was needed to follow through? Just like building a house or going into business, we needed to ‘count the cost’. Notice again what Jesus said, “For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28) Could we measure up? Did we have what it took. Could we finish the job? Luke 14:26-33 showed us what was required. Up to this point we had a little taste of what we could expect, but could we go on? Could we go all the way? So now, as this article started out, what are we to make of it when our own children, who are grown, blame us for things as they do? Should we not have taught them the ‘truth‘? Or was this not just one of the things we should have expected… one of the things we should have considered in ‘counting the cost’? As a parent looking back to those years, is there anything one could have done differently? As we’ve seen, we were faced with the decision of either committing ourselves to the truth or forget we ever heard it and kept right on doing as we always had done. Again, as we think deeply about it, we made the correct decision to step out and do what we did. We were compelled to commit ourselves to the truth and we saw in Scripture, where we also were commanded to teach our children. Notice the words in Deut. 6:6-11. “And these words, which I command you this day shall be in thine heart…” Were the things we were hearing and reading in our hearts? Yes of course. We were committed to them. We could see the way the world was traveling, and it was not the way of the Bible. So most definitely, the Bible commands were in our hearts. Then it says, “And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shalt talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up”… (Deut. 6:7) Nowhere in all of the Bible is there a more direct command of how we are to teach our children. What to teach them is spelled out in succeeding chapters and elsewhere. The things we were to teach were the commandments, statutes and principles God gave to our ancient forefathers. It also included things not to teach them, such as indicated in Jeremiah 10. It was plain to us and so we proceeded to do so. We wanted our children to have the best in education. We saw the need to be truthful to them. We could also see how it affected their relationships with other children. We could then, as well as now, see the truth of Jesus words. They are still ringing in our ears. But was there something else we could have emphasized, while teaching them truth. Notice what Jesus emphasized to his disciples. Just before Jesus was to give his life, he gave his disciples instruction as to what they should expect. Basically, he was telling them the world was not accepting him and that they should expect the same treatment. In John 15:19-20 He says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Jesus told them, “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service….But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them …” (John 16:1, 4) The disciples, while they were with Jesus were like little children. They were somewhat shielded from criticism. Our children, too, were shielded from things when they were small. Jesus emphasized to his disciples that it was not going to be easy. It seems apparent to this writer that our children needed this same type of emphasis. It was a kind of encouragement so that when they were taunted and criticized by other children, or even their teachers, they would also, just like Jesus’ disciples, remember that we had told them so. All the while we needed to teach them to love truth in all aspects of their lives, not just in the religious aspect, but in all areas. As far as Biblical truth, when our children got to be teenagers, many of them began to think it over. They began to say, “I don’t want to stand out this way.” Some of them began to withdraw from friends. Others chose the other course of action and withdrew from parents choosing their peers over them. What would we have done? Might we not have had a similar attitude? Might we not have had a little bitter attitude over not being able to participate in Friday night activities? Quite likely. Unless our children came to the same conviction that we did, and loved the truth as we did, they would not stay with it. The church, at that time saw what was happening. It saw that our children were being alienated from others of their peers and so it introduced the Y.O.U. program. (Youth Opportunities United) Because our children were not able to engage in sports and other activities on Friday nights, the church sensed this overwhelming need to do something. Did it work? Was it the right thing to do? Looking back, we can see it worked… at least partially. It allowed for our children to participate in some events. That’s true, and our intention was certainly noble and good. They would not have to abandon their parents or their desire for the sports activities. This seemed to make life a little easier for them. Parents too breathed a bit easier, as now the children had a semblance of what all other children their age had to enjoy. Besides, parents thought, “now our kids can have mainly church kids as their friends…” But did it deal with the real issue of our children following Biblical truths because they were committed to them as the parents were? To this writer it appears now to have been somewhat of an escape. Not only for our children, but for parents as well. It was a way of not having to face the fact of having to go contrary to the world. Parents knew by this time it was not fun for them and they wanted very much to help their children. They did the best they could or knew how to at the time. And why? Because of the love of the truth. Since that time 25 to 30 years have passed. Our children are now adults. Many of them have their own families with children of their own. They now are faced with the same decisions we faced three decades ago. What will they teach them? Will they remember what they were taught? Will they sense the same compelling need to teach them truth? Or will the pressures of society cause them to pull back? By this time, it should be apparent, that, only if they have a love for truth, will they go on and teach it to their children. Just as we were given it, and we received it, so must our children be taught to love truth. It’s not enough to just know the truth. It’s something we must love. It’s a character trait that has to be ingrained in us, to love truth and hate falsehood. If we teach our children this, then we have taught them. We will have set them on a path to ask questions. We will have taught them to test & prove things. We will have taught them the importance of it. They will then take it from there and seek out truth, even more than what we have done. Once they discover things they have proved, they will learn to love it and live by it. This world, this society, is riddled with deception, but truth is available. We must seek it, but before that, we must have a love for it. In the future scripture seems to indicate a time is coming when people are going to fall for deception ‘en masse’. Up until this time the whole world has been deceived, basically everyone, except for those God has drawn and given understanding. But a time is coming when deception is going to appear very much like truth. ‘False Christ’s and false prophets are going to wax more eloquent and more believable even to the point of deceiving the very ‘elect’ if that were possible. Notice Matthew 24:24. “For there shall arise false Christ’s, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Do you suppose this will be the same time when that great counterfeit Christ will appear on the earth? Notice 2 Thess. 2:8-13. “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned (judged) who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” Do you suppose, in order to remain undeceived at that time, it’s going to take something more than just knowing truth. It’s going to mean one will have to have a love for it. Truth Divides Church Families As was stated before, truth can divide church families as well as biological types. To this writer it’s quite evident the many splits and schisms that have occurred since 1986 are a result of different groups beginning to look deeper into the things they once believed. Upon research, some issues appear to be somewhat flawed, while at the same time many others are more deeply ingrained. Some people are maturing in that they are really doing what they have been instructed to do as it says in 1 Thess. 5:21, “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.” Maybe some things we’ve heard or done in the past were not 100% accurate, but does this mean everything? No, of course not. But proving things, holding on to some, while rejecting others has an unsettling aspect to the leadership of some of the ‘Church of God’ groups. For some, it’s not a problem. However, for some leaders, there appears to be an unwillingness to allow any other explanation than that which has been followed. If any is proposed, or openly discussed, it is viewed as divisionary, causing disunity. The person, or group of persons, are thus barred from attending services or interaction with others who hold with that leadership. This is nothing new. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 11:18. Paul had just finished discussing the issue of hair length and covering with men and women. In verse 16 it indicates that certain of these kinds of issues were generating a lot of contention. When in verse 17 Paul said he was not happy about the contentiousness. It appears that, when they got together, there could have been a lot of arguing and bickering. Maybe sometimes, when they got together, they got into shouting matches and were generating a lot of strife. “Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that you come together not for the better, but for the worse.“ They appeared not to be coming together so that they got a better balance or understanding of some issue, but rather to argue and fight. It was not that they should not discuss things, but it was primarily their lack of love for truth. The whole issue then, as it is today was attitude. If all individuals would have had a deep-down love for the truth of any matter, they would be willing to hold their tongue while another is given a chance to talk. They all would be willing to analyze facts and proofs and be willing to submit to that which is true. None would have the attitude of being locked in time over any issue simply because of tradition, but rather what’s right and what’s wrong, what works, and what doesn’t work. But what was happening? Paul goes on, “First of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you;”… The Greek word for ‘division’ is ‘schisma‘ meaning a ‘rent, cleft or schism’. “For there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” (1 Cor 11:19) The Greek word for ‘heresies’ is ‘haresis’ meaning ‘choice opinion, sentiment’. (Young’s Concordance) Normally the word heresy has a bad connotation of going contrary to some established understanding. But here it doesn’t follow that same meaning. The word for ‘approved’ is ‘dokimos‘ meaning ‘tested, tried’. (Young’s Concordance) 1 Corinthians 11:19 has always had a negative aspect to it showing disunity, but when we investigate the meaning of these Greek words it appears quite the opposite. If we read it with their intended meaning it would go something like this. “For there must be also choices, opinions and sentiments, that those things, or people, that have been tested or tried will stand out and become evident to all.” Paul quite likely understood that everyone did not see eye to eye and automatically have unity on everything and saw the need for some kind of discussion and testing, proving what’s right and what’s not. Today, some ‘Church of God’ leaders view open discussions as leading to disunity and discourage their congregations from doing so, or at least do not feel comfortable when it happens. But quite the contrary, many topics need this kind of airing out. To this writer, it also must not be only for the ministry or leadership to do it. (Matt. 23:8-12) Everyone should participate. Open discussions are healthy and reveal each other’s mind. As we do this, we actually can better test and evaluate things. We are then developing within us this love for truth. Furthermore, we must not get into a rut by saying, “this is the way we’ve always understood this, or this is the way it has always been done.” The Bible is quite clear that understanding truth is a process of learning and growing. Notice John 16:13. “How be it when he,” God’s Spirit, “is come, he will guide you into all truth.” Peter said it a little differently when he said, “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which links back to the words Jesus said in John 18:37, “everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Finally, then, in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul gives a short but clear discourse on how we ought to learn and interact with each other. Indeed, it appears this instruction is how the church services were conducted back then. Maybe we can take a lesson from this and apply it to our time. “Let the prophets (public expounder – Young’s Concordance) speak two or three and let the other judge. If anything, be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy (publicly expound) one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted (exhorted).” (I Cor. 14:29-31) Conclusion Truth is a very broad topic. Truth verses error exists in every facet of our lives. In the religious sphere when we first began to understand some things, it began to separate us from the world’s teaching. It also began to separate us from various members of our family who had different thoughts. As time went on the learning and growing continued. Up until 1986 the level of truth or understanding depended solely on the one who first taught us all… and that was Herbert W. Armstrong and the leadership in the Worldwide Church of God. After he died learning and growing did not end. For indeed, then is when the process began where all that had previously been taught, was looked at more closely. This process has continued to lead to further divisions, of the Church of God. Truth continues to be the thing that divides. Not that truth is the culprit, but that some are drawn to it, no matter where it leads, while others are not quite sure they want to go there. Another explanation is that some may love it more and are committed to it, while others accept truth more superficially. Whatever is the case it’s not a time for us to judge one another or be critical of each other’s understanding. This is best left in God’s hands, who is the perfect judge. With all the barbaric behavior of human beings going on in the world, we are more and more aware of how little true knowledge there really is. Nations are in the process of gearing up for war. The main reason is the lack of truth and sharing of it. Underlying that there is very little love for it. This is the world, but it need not be this way in the Church of God. Here is where there ought to be a great deal of love and forbearance, recognizing that most everyone is being tested and is being proved. We need to encourage each other more and more “speaking the truth in love.” (Eph 4:15) We also ought to consider what it says in Heb. 10:25. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. The young man mentioned in the opening remarks, is destined to come to grips with the issue of truth. In fact, the whole world is destined for an awakening. It will happen in a big way when Christ returns to establish his government. Then truth will be taught everywhere. It’s not taught everywhere today, as the one in charge is also the father of lies. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44) For now, only those God draws (John 6:44) are being enlightened, but one day all people will be. (Jer. 31:34) For those who accept the challenge to follow after truth now there is great reward. For those who are willing to accept criticism, being ridiculed and rejected there is great hope. One day they will be greatly honored for doing so. (Matt 5:18) Only when Christ returns, and Satan is removed will there be any hope for peace. Only then will truth prevail and be spread abroad. Those who are ingraining this love for truth now will have that opportunity to teach it at that time. (This article has been updated and re-printed from “The Church of God Messenger” November/December 2001—Issue No. 6.) |
| Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Truth Article by Arlan Weight Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota) |
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| This is an excellent article on so many levels. The main point of the article I believe is a warning for people to count the cost of actually anything they do but specifically what happens when you switch from Sunday worship to Saturday worship. There is even a little bit of prophecy included. Since this article was written back in the early 2000’s, at that point we saw no problem with keeping the national holiday of Thanksgiving. We have since studied the subject and no longer keep Thanksgiving due to its pagan background. See article: Thanksgiving Day – Pagan? In Issue #48. I know there are many things we don’t agree on with some people, but one thing we should all agree on is that when we are presented with doctrine contrary to what we believe, we need to study it. If we find, we have believed wrongly then we need to change as soon as we know. I believe there are many people who absolutely won’t change even though they see the problem with something they believe. I am not talking about being tossed around with every wind of doctrine. Instead, what I am saying is when something new is presented do you take the time to study it? There will come a time when the two witnesses appear, and you will have to either believe what they teach or reject them all together. The two witnesses will be teaching truth and so when we hear them, we will all have to be prepared to give up our false beliefs and our false calendars. Are you ready to do that? |
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