Refresh Yourself With Rivers of Living
Water
Online
Audio
Daily Webcasts
Sermons, Services and
Bible Studies
Library
Bookstore
Discussion
and News Lists
Bible
Study Resources
Success
Resources at Destiny Central
How
You Can Help
Links
rcg@destiny-worldwide.net
|
Sermon Summary: The Hirelings
By M. John
Allen
Please note: In the sermon
summaries, you are expected to look up and read quoted scriptures in your own
Bible. I generally use the New King James version. Beware of the New
International Version, as it tends to slant things to its own theological
preconceived ideas, as does the The
Living Bible, to site just two examples. It is hoped that this sermon
will be beneficial to you! Enjoy!
This sermon is intended for the
Sabbath of July 19, 1997
Since this Work is mainly an
internet ministry at the moment, we strive very hard to keep up with what is
going on in people’s lives as they are expressed on the internet. However, I
feel that these views are very much like those expressed by most of the
brethren in God’s Churches today.
If this is so, I am noting both
positive and negative developments. The good news is that more and more
people are opening their eyes to abuses that have gone on for years in the
Church, but which no one felt brave enough to express until now. Indeed,
perhaps in the past some DID mention these things, but, unfortunately, there
were no mediums for people to express themselves. However, the monopoly of
the hierarchies and ministry on information distribution is coming to an end,
thanks to the internet and a free press.
These are the positive
developments. People are waking up and allowing God to heal the wounds and
scars of years. Unfortunately, a negative development, which, unfortunately,
comes as no surprise to me, is that the old hierarchies are still behaving in
the same selfish, arrogant, and dishonest ways they have in the past. Times
have changed, though, and they won’t long be able to get away with their
spiritual abuse of the brethren, lies, and misinformation campaigns as
easily.
What we have here is a real
big problem what for years has been swept under the rug. When people
discovered these things in the past, it was easy to cover up, just like in
the old Soviet Union. But that fascist dictatorship no longer exists, and the
dictatorships in the churches of God are struggling with the light of day.
Jesus warned His disciples not
to rule as the gentiles rule. He pointed out that the gentile rulers loved to
have the preeminence, and have people serve them. Christ
said it was not to be so among His disciples, but that we were, instead, to
show who was the greatest by being the biggest servant. [Lk
22:24-7]
You should recall that this
vainglorious display occurred on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Try to
put yourself in Jesus’ position. Here He was, in the last day of His physical
life on earth. He had much He wanted to tell His disciples before He was led
away to be tortured and killed. It was the most serious evening ever to come
upon the earth, because the next day the Son of God was going to die for the
sins of humanity. Jesus’ heart was heavy because He knew what He would have
to suffer, but I am sure He also wanted to get it over with, now that the
Time had come.
So here was Jesus, our Savior,
on the most important night of His earthly life, and His disciples could only
argue about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom
of God, which they somehow thought was going to come right
away. What heaviness Jesus must have felt at this moment because of this
added burden that was now placed upon Him. Although I suspect He had a good
idea this would happen, that still did not make it any easier.
These men had spent 3 1/2 years
with Him. They had seen His example of humility, yet all they could do was
argue over power, vanity, and prestige! To make things even worse, no one had
even thought to about the cleaning of the group’s feet, as was the custom
upon entering a house. Apparently there were no servants present at this
meal, and none of the disciples volunteered for the duty, so everyone
suffered with dirty, smelly, dusty feet. And now this! It was just too much!
In sorrow, mixed perhaps with a
little disgust, after what Christ said in Luke above, Christ
got up from the dinner table on the night of his supreme trial, and
selflessly showed by His example what behavior qualified in His view as the
greatest in His Kingdom. [Jn. 13:2-11] he did the
job of the lowliest of servants, and thus gave an example for all Christians,
including and especially would be church leaders.
I want you to contrast this
action of the greatest Man who ever lived with that of some of His so called
modern day “servants” in His church. Jesus was loving, kind, patient, and
serving. Many ministers in God’s church, sad to say, have been exactly the
opposite! They have went directly against the Word
of God, and have lorded it over God’s people for decades now, crushing
underfoot any opposition and disfellowshipping any
who would oppose their “superior wisdom and inspiration.” Do you think Jesus Christ
would excommunicate people without first talking to them? Do you think Christ
would refuse to listen to the other person’s point of view before making a
drastic decision that can ruin the life of another human being? I think not.
If you disagree, I suggest that you read Christ’s
instructions in Matt. 18 for how problems are to be handled within the
church.
I remember years ago while I was
attending one of the Pasadena congregations, a loving, kind, and considerate minister
was replaced by someone of an entirely different caliber.
Whereas the previous minister had been easy to talk to and discuss problems
with, this new man viewed any serious discussion of the issues from members
as a threat to his “authority” and therefore something to be squelched.
I had had a discussion with the
previous pastor about problems in the church, and he had agreed that if
people applied Mtt. 18 as it is written, instead of
first running to the minister with every little problem, much of the problems
in the congregation would be solved. I was inspired to write a Bible study on
this topic )something which had been suggested in a
forum at Ambassador College, no less), and presented it to this man for his
comments.
He hardly took the time to read
it. Instead, he launched into browbeating and insulting me, saying that if
“God wanted you to write articles you would be working in t he editorial department. You cannot possibly be in a
position to understand any of the problems of the church. Your article is
presumptuous and dangerous. I don’t want to see anymore of these write ups.
In fact, you shouldn’t even study the Bible without church literature at hand
to make sure you are not led astray in your Bible study.”
I was floored. Never had I heard
such arrogant pig headed hogwash! But I had not learned to stand up to such
idiots yet, so I meekly kept my mouth shut. If this happened today, of
course, my reaction would have been to get up and walk right out of his
office! But such maturity comes with time.
I have heard of cases where the
local minister has been such a dictator that he wanted members to consult
with him on every decision of ordinary life! And many people have gone along
with it.
In light of the scriptures we
have read, what do you think Christ would say about these men? I don’t think He would be
happy at all. In fact, I think He will say, unless they repent of their evil
ways, “I never knew you.”
But this is not all by a long
shot. Such practices continue today in all branches of the church today.
Recently Harry Curly of Altadena wrote a letter to Bob
Dick, chairman of UCG, to ask why he had been publicly humiliated by Brian
Orchard. Brian had secretly disfellowshipped this
man, not even having the decency to call him or send a letter to tell him he
was out. Instead, he waited until Harry showed up at a Wednesday night Bible
Study so that he could publicly humiliate him by marking him leave the study! I don’t think Christ
would approve.
And when Harry wrote to Bob
[notice I am using first names here; the use of the honorific “Mr.” for
ministers is, in my opinion, another arrogant stench in the nostrils of God]
asking for an explanation for the ill treatment, he got absolutely no
response. Only stony silence from those who think they are something in the
church when they are nothing!
And what was Harry’s “crime?”
Was he a fornicator, a thief, a liar, or a cheat? No. He simply had the gall
to disagree with Arcadia’s abuse of authority, arrogance, and misappropriation of
God’s tithe money! What a crime! And what a shame. These men will have to
answer directly to Jesus Christ!
But such filth is not confined
to UCG by any means. Garner Ted Armstrong is involved in a major sex scandal
at the moment, holding up a branch of God’s church to public ridicule and
condemnation. And what has Ted’s attitude been to his sins in the past? The
same as his father’s unfortunately, which is to think that they are somehow
above the Law everyone else must follow because of their so called high
position! I think Christ will someday have something to tell Ted, and it won’t
be pretty unless he repents.
But don’t think that this is
all. We have Roderick Meredith over in Global who has the arrogance to think
that if his isn’t the “one truth church today,” then it should be and someday
will be. He also reportedly collects a hefty salary, wears a Rolex watch, and
has a cushy expense account and car allowance along with numerous other
perks. But of course, this is his due as a “royal apostle.” After all,
haven’t servants of God lived in palatial estates down through time? Maybe if
you’re looking at the Great Whore, the Catholic Church, but I seem to recall
that the Apostle Paul and others sometimes
lived in poverty and worked at their trades to support themselves so as not
to burden the church. Interesting contrast.
And then there is John Ritenbaugh of the Church of the Great God who reportedly
treats the church budget as his own private little piggy bank. And so as not
to rock the boat and incur discomfort due to persecution from the world, both
his church and UCG do everything they can to not preach a Gospel to the world
while still holding out hope to the brethren that “we’ll do it when we’re
ready, but we’re not ready now.” Pray tell, David and John, just WILL you be
ready to follow the FIRST COMMISSION as instructed by your Lord and Master?
In the millennium perhaps?
Let’s now turn to Philadelphia. They would be funny if they weren’t so tragic. Gerald
Flurry has turned Herbert Armstrong into an idol. In addition, at one time he
published an article saying an angel told him something, and then later
retracted it. IN addition, he reportedly got drunk one night and was pulled
over by police, whereupon he screamed at them that he
could drive as fast as he wanted to because “I’m not subject to man’s laws!”
And how about the vainglory of
being number one. Even though the doctrines are almost identical in every
major way, do you think for one minute that any of these “great ones’ would
consider merging with another church? NOT ON YOUR LIFE! Like spoiled brats
they appear determined to play the game of “who is the greatest” for all that
its worth!
And what about the fact that
most of these ministers put up with Joe Tkach’s
heresies until they could make a soft landing somewhere else. Real faith,
huh? And these are the same gentlemen who in the past have counseled many
thousands to “step out on faith” and not go to work on the Sabbath or Holy
Days! They expect you to risk your income, but they were unwilling to stand
up for God’s Truth until the pension plans were ready in the new church!
I think, when you contrast this
with instructions -- VERY PLAIN INSTRUCTIONS -- in God’s Word, that you can
see that something is desperately wrong. But can you face the TRUE BIBLE
ANSWER TO THIS? I know it’s going to hurt, but I want you to turn now and
read what Jesus Himself said about the difference between the Good Shepherd
and the hireling. [Jn. 10:11-13]
I come now, to a passage, that
will be very hard for you to accept, perhaps, but the parallel to the present
situation is astounding. I want you to turn now to Zech. 11:16-17. I am going
to quote these verses here because they are so astounding and I want you to
think about this and then decide what you are going to do about it. Fist let
me say that Herbert Armstrong did a lot of work and converted a lot of people
and proclaimed the Gospel to the world for many years. However, the
indictment of him in scripture is very clear, and flies in the face of the
WCG arrogantly calling itself the Philadelphia era with no criticism from Jesus Christ.
The truth is very different, and I believe he paid for his sins, and so have
we all. It is time now to learn from the past, pick up, and move forward.
Anyway, here it is:
“For indeed I will raise up a
shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off [rather than
leaving the 99 good sheep to look for the one that is lost, HWA and the
ministers he trained generally don’t bother trying to help someone who is
either spiritually ill or unruly; instead, they secretly disfellowship
them without a hearing, and then wait until they show up for services so that
they can expel them publicly in humiliation, or, they send a cold letter
telling them not to come back, or make a phone call to the same effect. There
is no hearing, no appeal, just being cut off from the church and lifelong
friends at the whim of one man. And do these “ministers” then visit the
“spiritually sick” to counsel with them so that they can come back? Oh no!
They are out of sight and out of mind, consigned to the Lake of Fire unless
they “repent” of whatever they did that the minister did not like.], nor seek
the young, nor heal those who are broken [instead, the person “can’t come
back to church” until they solve their problem on their own, no support, no
help, nothing from a church that they may have supported for their entire
lives], nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh [instead
of feeding the sheep, he and those he taught FED THEMSELVES, and lived
luxuriously whole poor widow tithe payers went to bed hungry; there are many
stories of extravagance, but perhaps the worst is when HWA sent the G2 from
Tucson to Pasadena just to get some groceries at Jurgensen’s
market in Pasadena at about $2,000+ per second for jet fuel] of the fat and
tear their hooves in pieces. [and this story still
goes on today, with most concern seeming to be job security and compensation
and retirement plans, which must come first over their job assignment from Christ.]
Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock [ out
of a year’s time in the mid seventies, HWA spent almost all of his time going
around the world on what his son GTA called ‘the world’s most expensive
autograph hunt, paying for his so called impromptu meetings arranged by God
with lavish gifts; not to mention the years he spent away from Pasadena in
Tucson]! A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye [maybe
there’s a reason he was near blind at the end of his life];his
arm shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded [his
right arm could be referring to his son GTA].
I now want you to turn to Ez. 34:1-10. Read this shocking passage in full, as it is
an expansion on what we have just read. Here we have the shepherds --
hirelings -- again feeding on the flock like vultures, not caring for them,
but abusing, killing, and exploiting them! They are made merchandise of under
the guise of God’s Truth! God concludes this passage by saying that God will
take His flock from their care, and search for them Himself and care for them
as they should be cared for! So the hirelings are to be warned that their
feeding frenzy is about to be stopped by Almighty God Himself!
Read also Jer.
23:1-2.
I could go on, but I believe the
point has been made. God predicted our present problems long ago in His Word
for those who have eyes to see. But along with the bad news about an Idol
Shepherd and his cronies who are mere hirelings, God also promises His people
deliverance, so that they can learn His Truth undisturbed and unmolested, as
it should be. God promises to restore to His people true leadership, under
the direction of Jesus Christ. Shepherds who will do the job that God has called them
to rather than being distracted and enamored by the things of the world.
Brethren, I know that many will
not yet accept this message. It is very hard to realize
that you have been duped and led astray, but that is how it is. That is the
plain truth from the scriptures of God, and the facts and evidence of the
case.
It is amazing that human nature
tends to lend support to the basest of men, and gives them the position of
leadership. And it’s a shame that this has been going on in the churches of
God for so many years. I believe that Herbert Armstrong did not start out
this way, but, like old Eli [he himself admitted that he had acted in this
role, but did not realize the full implications], he hid himself from the truth
abut what his spiritual “sons,” the ministers in the church, were doing. In
encourage you to review the story of Eli and Samuel, the next to last and
last judges of ancient Israel.
In Eli, the situation was
completely out of control. His sons were dishonest and corrupt, greedy for
gain. Eli either did not care enough about his job, or made excuses for them.
In the end, God’s judgment came down on Eli, and he fell off a wall and broke
his foolish old neck. His sons all died shortly thereafter. He was replaced
by SAMUEL, WHO DID WALK IN THE WAYS OF THE ETERNAL! Samuel restored God’s
kind of government to Israel before the people rebelled and demanded a king.
Now, the modern day Eli has Ben
dead for almost twelve years. The hirelings continue to rape and pillage the
flock, not realizing that their time is almost up. These evil shepherds
are due to be replaced very soon. God has pronounced a curse on all the
hirelings, as revealed in my article about what is ahead in prophecy now, in
the May issue of The Restoration Times. I also encourage you to read
my two part article on Elijah in the first two issues of The Real Truth.
These are eye opening articles that give you up to the minute information
about what God is going to soon do in this end time. You need to read these
articles, but prepare to be SHOCKED out of your stupor! This is strong meat
not for the timid or faint of heart, BUT IT COMES DIRECTLY TO YOU FROM GOD
ALMIGHTY HIMSELF!
Brethren, it is no coincidence
that I was inspired to call this church The Restoration Church of God. But
far from simply entering a 1960’s time warp like Global and Philadelphia, or a 70’s time warp like UCG, God is inspiring this
Work to go back to THE TRUE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS! That includes
leading God’s sheep in a Godly way, gently yet firmly, taking care not to
lose a single precious life that Christ
has given to our care. It is a work of healing and restoring of love and
decency among the people of God, in preparation for the REAL RESTORATION OF
ALL THINGS INT HE MILLENIUM!
I know that this sermon, my
recent co-worker letter, and the above two mentioned articles will be
shocking to many. Many have become offended and angry at such plain talk,
preferring to listen to smooth things given to them by the hirelings while
they pick their pockets and devour their substance, both physically and
spiritually.
Well, I am here to tell you,
dear people of God, that a rest is coming if you will accept it. A breath of
fresh air is now blowing that will turn into a gale
to blow away all the work of the wicked who abuse God’s people to this day
while refusing the main work assignment from their Creator.
I intend to obey God. I have
resisted. The last thing I wanted to be was a minister, but that is what Christ
has chosen for me to do. If no other voice will rise up to be an ensign for
the people of God, and to guide them to green pastures of pure spiritual
food, then God has decided to lift up a stone to do the Work that was first
offered to others who would not obey, but who gave into their fleshly lusts.
God gave them space to repent, but instead of repenting, they have rebelled
against Him more and more! That is why He has utterly rejected the
hirelings and hypocrites, and very shortly now they will begin paying the
terrible price for their evil ways.
Brethren, I know that this is
the smallest Work possible. We quite literally have nothing physically. But
God has promised to provide for His people and He will do it! Many will
despise this day of small things, but soon they will be laughing out of the
other side of their mouths as God’s judgment rains down on the hirelings, and
God makes plain exactly WHERE He is working!
Just as a humbled Mr. Armstrong
began a work with nothing back in 1933, so are we now doing, EXACTLY 64 YEARS
LATER! That was a work of faith until it went off the track, beginning perhaps
even in the 1950’s, as certain greedy men began to rise up and decided that
they would like to lord it over God’s people like gentile kings. And then,
with the death of Loma Armstrong in 1968, as related by GTA, Herbert just
went out of control and began to ravage the sheep.
In fact, a study of the
Armstrong family is a study in tragedy. I don’t have time to go into it now,
but Herbert managed to destroy most of his family. And to give Ted credit, I
believe that deep down inside he WANTS to do what is right, but sins learned
from his father’s example (yes, the sexcapades and
other abuses didn’t start with GTA, but with Herbert) just keep on
overpowering him. And it was probably the same with HWA. he
no doubt WANTED to do what was right, but the flesh was simply very weak.
That is why we must pray for
this new Work, which has had two false starts before but stopped due to my
own human weakness. I need your prayers brethren, more than at any other time
in my life that Satan’s hand will be stayed and his interference in my life
and in this Work will cease. He has tried from the beginning to destroy this
mustard seed that God planted back in 1992 with such hope and anticipation.
Pray that God will guide my steps so that I can learn from the mistakes, both
of my past and that of others, so that I don’t fall
into the same traps Satan has caught others up in. Pray that God will provide
the financing and staff needed to push this Work ahead, so that God’s sheep
may at last find spiritual rest and comfort and so that the True Gospel will
again be preached in the whole world as a witness. It’s as much in your hands
as it’s in mind. We must all entreat God for His blessing and guidance and
help at this crucial time. Because truly, this Work can only go forward on its
knees.
May God bless you and keep you
in His grace and mercy, and guide you into more and more of His precious
truth and way of life. I truly love all of you, dear brethren, and pray daily
for your well being and deliverance. So, until next week, I bid you farewell
and God bless!
|
