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MISSION: Impossible!
by M. John
Allen
Most are familiar with the popular television series and
movies with the same title as above. Yet, many do not understand the
spiritual dimensions of this saying, and that your entire life experiences
are a Mission Impossible!
When you look all around you,
the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and every plant and animal that
exists, when you look at the starts in the sky above you, and realize that there is intelligence here on this earth, when
you look at all the marvels of the creation, what you see is a giant Mission
Impossible!
It is impossible that all
that you see, feel, hear, and can touch came into existence itself out of
nothing. The very matter that makes up the universe didn't just come out of
nowhere, suddenly, by itself, in all of its marvelous complexity.
It's like a fine Swiss watch,
or the most sophisticated computer you can imagine. These things didn't just
appear out of nowhere, fully formed, all by themselves.
The materials in that watch
didn't simply combine themselves out of the elements of the earth, in all
their complexity. There was mind, there was purpose, and there
was design to it all. In this case, it was human ingenuity and
human intelligence that formed these things out of the raw elements.
But when we understand what those
raw elements are made of, that each and every ATOM is like a miniature solar
system, much like our own, only infinitely smaller and more complex, then we
have to admit if we have an open mind at all that there had to be a Creator
and a Designer, and a Maker to all we see around us.
So, the world around us
itself is nothing short of a Mission Impossible, because without the
intervention of an Almighty, all Wise, and all Powerful GOD BEING Who put it
all together with SUPERNATURAL POWER -- there would be NOTHING ANYWHERE!
Yet, man, in his petty
vanity, has forgotten these facts over and over again. The Apostle Paul
himself said
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation
of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even
his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Yes, the world, really, is WITHOUT EXCUSE for refusing to acknowledge God,
because everything around them speaks volumes about Him every day of their
lives and ever minute thereof!
For years, in God's Church,
it was Marcela after miracle. I was just listening the other night to the
story of the founding of Ambassador College. Many fail to remember that God's College was founded by
a series of STUPENDOUS miracles over years of time, one right after the
other, to keep a doomed project alive.
Mr. Armstrong and God's Work
didn't have the money needed to start a college, but, it opened anyway with
four students and 8 faculty members! But, WHAT COLLEGE ON EARTH EVER STARTED WITH
TWICE AS MANY FALULTY MEMBERS THAN STUDETNS! Who in their RIGHT MIND would
have entered into binding REAL ESTATE CONTRACTS without knowing where the
money was to pay for it?
For that matter, what man in
his right mind would start off to tape his weekly radio broadcast with HALF
OR LESS the amount of money it would take to PAY for that broadcast, knowing
full well that he had to pay before he taped? No one. There has NEVER been a
major Work on the face of the earth that started from such humble, IMPOSSIBLE
beginnings!
And I am sure that when Mr.
Armstrong started to tell people that he was going to start a college, that
most of the people he told laughed him to scorn behind his back. They
probably felt sorry for him, that he was so mentally ill as to think that he
could start anything so big or so bold. A man who had one pair of shoes with
holes in them, a man who sometimes didn’t even know where the next meal was going to come
from for his family.
It was THIS MAN, who at one
point was so low that the family only had macaroni and NOTHING ELSE for
dinner. But, somehow, God always seemed to intervene at the last moment and
not only rescued Him and the tiny Work that was being done, He usually did it
in such a way that it became a MAJOR ADVANCEMENT in the work!
And the history of this Work
has been much the same. Just as God most times waited until the ABSOLUTE LAST MOMENT to pull of a
spectacular miracle to save His Work then, so is He doing right now, right in
front of our very eyes. Yet, like creation itself, most men only look at what
they can SEE plainly in the physical, and so miss the miracles that are right
in front of them over and over. And they even dare to make fun of or laugh to
scorn anyone of faith who dares to BELIEVE GOD RATHER THAN THE SIGHT OF
CARNAL MEN!
The last three MIGHTY
MIRACLES that God has performed for His church were the miraculous virtual
RESURRECTION of Mr. Armstrong in 1977 when he lay DEAD of congestive heart
failure, the spectacular VICTORY of God's Church and Work against the predators
of the biggest State in the United States, when God THREW THE RECEIVER OUT ON
HIS EAR, and the even BIGGER MIRACLE OF PUTTING GOD'S CHURCH AND COLLEGE BACK
ON HIS TRACK AFTER THE RECEIVER WAS THROWN OUT!
It was a miracle to behold.
After his heart attack, Mr. Armstrong was just a senile old man who could
barely form coherent sentences. But after a few short months, HE WAS ON THE
AIR AGAIN DOING TELECASTS! And those telecasts grew in strength and power and
God used His endtime apostle to revive His work and
Church and College once more -- literally BRINGING THEM BACK FROM THE DEAD to
grow into the #1 religious broadcast in the country.
And the Plain Truth magazine grew until its circulation exceeded that
of TIME MAGAZINE!
And yet, to this day, despite
these MIGHT MIRACLES that God performed through a sick old man in his 90's,
despite this overwhelming TESTIMONY of how to walk before God, some dare to
nit-pick and play Monday morning quarterback, whining that Mr. Armstrong was
wrong about this little doctrine, or he was wrong about that little point or
to say that he was too authoritarian and dictatorial and some have even DARED
to say that he was without love and that he was only a senile old tyrant and
guilty of "spiritual abuse!"
Some, in their blindness and
lack of faith, have CONFUSED genuine, loving concern, with spiritual abuse
and torture SIMPLY BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD THE GALL TO TELL THEM THAT SATIATING
THEIR OWN PERNICIOUS LUSTS WAS A SIN, AND THAT THEY RISKED LOSING TEHIR SALVATION
BECAUSE OF IT!
Some think they were ABUSED
because someone dared to suggest that they go to Bible study every week, or
Spokesman's Club, or college forum, or even CHURCH! They whine and complain
because someone had the GALL to tell these stiff necked people that they
needed to pray more, study more, fast more, meditate more, and that they
should be GROWING SPIRITUALLY TOWARDS MATURITY!
Yes, some have been
INDIGNANAT over what they perceive to be PAST ABUSES of God's church and His
Apostle, because they think that maybe following GOD'S way is too much for
them, and that they are thus DENYING THEMSELVES too much of this WORLD'S
PLEASURES!
Someone DARED to tell them
that they should not only TITHE to support the FIRST COMMISSION of every Christian to spread the GOOD NEWS of God's SOON COMING WORLD
RULING KINGDOM OF GOD! Yes, someone DARED to tell these people about their
VERY FIRST RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS LIFE, and was abusive because the reminder
of that responsibility made the listeners FEEL GUILTY!
Notice what God says about
all this:
Mtt. 7:13 Enter
ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the
gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it.
13:44 ¶ Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found,
he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth
and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one
pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Yes, God's Kingdom is WORTH
EVERYTHING! But what is our primary vocation in life? Is it to build a
physical fortune, to accumulate wealth and honor of men?
Matthew 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law
against her mother in law.
Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 12:46 ¶ While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother
and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
Matthew 12:47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and
thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
Matthew 12:48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is
my mother? and who are my brethren?
Matthew 12:49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples,
and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
Matthew 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in
heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
And just what is our WORK,
our JOB?
Notice what Christ said at a young age:
Luke 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business?
Yes, our main BUISNESS or job
in life is GOD'S BUSINESS, which is to get out a message of hope to adding
world, and also to BIND UP and HELP those who are spiritually sick and in
need today. We have a MISSION to announce that a BETTER WORLD IS COMING, and to CARE
FOR the co-workers that the FATHER calls to help in that business.
But we have let down. We have
not prayed as we should. We have not studied, we have not fasted. We have NOT
SHOWN FAITH. We have LET DOWN so much that now the body of Christ lies like roadkill, tossed on
the side of the road after being hit by a car, dying on the side of the road!
We have all LET DOWN and we are paying the penalty!
We do not deserve God's
mercy. We do not deserve His rescue. Whenever ANY OTHER CHURCH IN HISTROY has
fallen as far as we have, GOD HAS SIMPLY LET IT GO AND MOVED ON, to do the
Work through others WHO ARE WILLING to take up their MISSION IMPOSSIBLE from God. He has certainly showed us enough times that HE CAN SAVE, and that HE CAN RESCUE to prove to us
that HE CAN DO ANYTHING HE WANTS!
But we live in a faithless
generation. We live in a generation that believes only in what it sees,
instead of in what GOD SAYS! And we have paid the consequence! A great WORK
OF GOD now lies in ruins. The vultures are at the center, picking the last
remnants of the flesh off the dry bones, and yet we HAVE NTO HAD THE SENSE TO
EVEN SHEW THE VULTURES AWAY! Instead, we have stood IDLY BY while Satan and
His minions have plundered and ruined the HOUSE OF ALMIGHTY GOD! The sheep
lay scattered in the field, with only HIRELINGS for shepherds. They have been
plundered all the day long, and no one has rescued them from the jaws of
death.
There have been some who have
cried and sighed over this, but it has not been enough. I prayed this
morning, reminding God that WE DESERVE NOTING! Make no mistake,
we as a church deserve to die! But, if we will cry out to Him, Her will answer and He will rescue, but it is up to us! We
have to ask!
And if we do ask in this
eleventh hour of peril, God will hear from Heaven and breath life back into
the dry bones and perform a miracle such as has never before taken place on
the face of the earth. He can and will answer prayer, and He can and will
save everything, even in the last hour. All He expects is that we each do our
part. We need to reorder our lives right now, and answer His call. For this
is the last call to this ruinous heap of rubble.
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