"I awakened considerably impressed with the dream. Was God revealing to me that TOO MANY within the Church membership are leaving GOD out of the picture? -- in their own minds putting GOD out of the Church? Do they think that the kind of men the people would vote for ought to be made the LEADERS in the Church? -- that the people should say to GOD, 'This is OUR Church, God, we want you to GET OUT of the Church and leave us alone. WE will run this Church OUR way!' I awakened impressed that TOO MANY of our people are LEAVING GOD AND CHRIST OUT OF HIS CHURCH, and trying to make it OUR Church -- the church of the PEOPLE, and NOT the CHURCH of GOD!"

"[In the 70s there] were at least six or seven in TOP offices next to Christ's apostle in authority -- men trusted and honored. But they were going to make it 'THE CHURCH OF PEOPLE,' instead of the CHURCH OF GOD. They could not see God nor Christ in their mental picture of God's Church. They were LIBERALS!"

"Now churches or works OF THEIR OWN have been started. But they overlook one thing: 'EXCEPT THE LORD BUILD THE HOUSE, THEY LABOUR IN VAIN THAT BUILD IT.'"

"GOD is not building their houses!"

This booklet may be freely reproduced. It is recommended it be reproduced in whole, not in part. Please use wisdom in its distribution. Please do not send this material to anyone who does not say they want it, but it is hoped you will freely duplicate it for those who do.

FOREWORD 5

PROLOGUE BY HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG 6

THE PRINCIPLE OF GOD'S GOVERNMENT IS ALWAYS FROM THE TOP DOWN 7

TRUE CHRISTIANS ARE IN TRAINING FOR POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY IN GOD'S GOVERNMENT 10

CHRIST BUILT HIS CHURCH AND ORGANIZED ITS GOVERNMENT FOR THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF DOING THE WORK 11

THE CHURCH'S TRUE "WORK" IS TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE COMING KINGDOM OF GOD -- NOT A NEW MESSAGE FROM A MAN OR AN ANGEL 14

THE "WORK" IS NOT OVER AND IT IS IMPORTANT THAT GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE THEIR WHOLE HEARTS IN IT 15

SATAN IS THE REAL ENEMY WHO HATES AND HINDERS THE TRUE WORK OF GOD 21

THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD ON EARTH CAN BE OVERTHROWN BY SATAN WHEN THE LEADING ADMINISTRATOR REBELS 22

THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN PROPHESIED TO PERSECUTE SMYRNA AND PHILADELPHIA 26

THE FALLING AWAY IS A DEPARTURE FROM TRUTH NOT A DEPARTURE FROM AN ORGANIZATION 27

SATAN IS THE TRINITY GOD AND GOD'S PEOPLE WILL FLEE FROM ANY MINISTER WHO PREACHES THIS OTHER GOD THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN 28

MR. ARMSTRONG AND MR. MEREDITH NEVER TAUGHT AN IDOLATROUS VIEW OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 30

THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION WAS FATALLY FLAWED IN THAT THE REFORMERS EXCHANGED HIERARCHY FOR DEMOCRACY 31

THE DREAM HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG HAD ABOUT MEN TRYING TO CONVINCE THE CHURCH OF GOD TO ACCEPT DEMOCRATIC CHURCH GOVERNMENT 33

GOVERNMENT, UNITY, AND DIVISION 34

DOCTRINAL COMPROMISE 37

"YES-MEN" 39

DISOBEYING GOD BY NOT DISFELLOWSHIPPING THOSE WHO CAUSE DOCTRINAL DIVISION 40

MR. ARMSTRONG WAS ACCUSED OF BEING A "CONTROLLER" 44

PERSONALITIES VS FRUITS 47

A BIBLICAL COUNCIL OF ELDERS 49

THE GLOBAL CHURCH OF GOD IS COMMITTED TO REVIVING THE TRUE WORK, RESTORING AND PRESERVING TRUE DOCTRINE, AND ADMINISTERING TRUE CHURCH GOVERNMENT 51

A LUKEWARM OR LAODICEAN SPIRIT PRODUCES DOCTRINAL LIBERALISM AND LETHARGY ABOUT DOING THE WORK 54

LAODICEA AND DEMOCRACY 57

THE LAODICEANS ARE HEADED FOR THE GREAT TRIBULATION 58

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO WARN THOSE HEADED FOR THE GREAT TRIBULATION 59

This is a companion booklet to my previously released book "Except There Come a Falling Away." The idea for its creation was born during many conversations with people who were interested in what Mr. Armstrong taught regarding true Biblical government and the importance of doing the true Work. I intensively researched these two topics and found that they are inextricably bound together. You simply cannot have one without the other. Mr. Armstrong explains why in the many quotes included herein.

I discovered that there were also many other related issues which Mr. Armstrong once addressed in the direct way that only he could. These are all found in the Table of Contents on the previous pages. These same issues are once again issues today. For those who respect what Mr. Armstrong taught and are sincerely attempting to return to all of the Truth as he taught it and as it can still be proven from the Bible, it is hoped that this booklet will be helpful. The many who have chosen the 18 Truths as the place to start may wish to note that the 18 Truths themselves start (number 1) with the truth about Church government.

I expect two clear and opposite reactions to this booklet. I know from experience that I will be severely attacked by some simply because I am willing to record what Mr. Armstrong said on vitally important issues and questions. Others will view it (and rightly so) as merely an attempt to reflect what we all once believed -- not as an attempt to indict other groups. The current issues facing God's people are herein addressed -- not by me, but by Mr. Armstrong. I hope very few will choose to challenge or attack him. There are no editor's notes in this booklet, purely because we must all "examine ourselves whether we be in the faith" (II Cor. 13:5) and have the courage and spiritual savvy to draw our own conclusions.

David C. Pack

"When the PURPOSE of assembling in a local group departs from God's purpose -- when the method of conducting the local assembly departs from the Bible instructions and example, members often are driven away from God and into loss of eternal life!

"For the safety and welfare of all, I must speak plainly and candidly. God commands His true ministers: 'Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality' (I Tim. 5:20-21).

"Some, who have attended a local congregation of God's Church for years, have gradually succumbed to the influence of Satan and the pull of the flesh, until they have come to look on the purpose and function of the local church something like this (and I summarize their unscriptural view as a warning to ALL!):

"'We just want to have peace,' they protest, justifying their departure from the BIBLE ways. 'We just want to attend church every Sabbath, and enjoy the fellowship, without having any preacher lambast us, or tell us what's wrong with us, or use the Scriptures to hit at us. We want a pastor who will show LOVE toward us, by letting us do as we please, and as each of us sees it for himself. We don't want a pastor to use the Bible to strike out at us, and tell us we're wrong, and make us feel uncomfortable.'

"'And another thing,' this attitude continues, 'we want to have the "say-so" in what we do, and how our services are conducted. We don't want any part in what our pastor calls "God's work" -- that's just his own personal work, and we're not interested, and we don't want to hear about it -- we want no part in it. We don't care anything about going into all the world and proclaiming the Gospel...'

"Rather astonishing, isn't it, that people who have heard God's TRUTH preached for many years -- people who at first accepted it in the love of God, professed it, started out practicing it -- should, through the years, fall away from the truth, reject new truth as it is uncovered, begin to embrace false doctrines and errors, and finally come to such an attitude as above quoted?

"But I assure you, my brethren, that such has happened! I do not here accuse any individual. I say to those concerned, look down deep into your own hearts! If the shoes fits, either put it on and wear it -- INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE, TO BE BURNED! -- or else REPENT before it is everlastingly TOO LATE! But to those who do not share this degenerated carnal attitude, I say, 'I don't mean you!'"

"Today some in the Church of God do not UNDERSTAND just what the Church of God really IS! Some have become confused as to whether there is ORGANIZATION or government in it -- and I mean in GOD'S OWN CHURCH! And God HAS ONLY ONE CHURCH! (I Cor. 12:12, 13.) But we of 'the wise' shall understand! That understanding shall be made PLAIN in this letter."

"Many times I have told you, dear Brethren, that when God first called me, beginning in the autumn of 1926, that the living Christ brought me into His truth a step at a time. YOU have not had to learn the truth so slowly -- Christ used me to do it for you. And one of the very last truths He opened to me was that of CHURCH ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT!"

"Brethren, I have felt it necessary that you should know and understand these things, so you may realize WHY I did not yet fully understand the truth regarding church government and organization, in February, 1939 -- MORE THAN 35 YEARS AGO -- when I wrote an article on church organization.

"There had been much confusion and argument among the 'Sardis' brethren about church organization. When the new so-called 'Bible Form of Church Organization' was introduced at Salem, naturally the Stanberry people argued against it. I think we all became confused on the question. It's like being too close to one tree to see the forest... In both of those -- Stanberry and Salem -- the people voted -- government from the bottom like these dissenters today."

"We published an article revealing new truth about church organization in The GOOD NEWS, November, 1952, and again in August, 1953, 'GOVERNMENT in Our Church,' and in November, 1953, 'JUDGING and DISCIPLINE in God's Church.' As God revealed truth, His Church accepted it. And long since, we came into the FULL TRUTH on church organization and government."

"Notice, now, the FORM, or PRINCIPLE of God's government in ancient Israel: It's given in Exodus 18:13-29."

"Here is government FROM THE TOP (GOD) on down. Here is God's own PYRAMID principle of government in ancient Israel.

"At that time the whole NATION -- with church and state united -- occupied one concise area. The form of organization could be administered by ONE MAN under God, at the top. It was Government from GOD. Under the Eternal God in authority was Moses. Under Moses a NUMBER of rulers, each over THOUSANDS (it could have been several thousands under each ruler). Under each ruler of a thousand, rulers over hundreds. Under each ruler of a hundred, rulers of fifties, and under each of them rulers of tens.

"It was RULE FROM THE TOP DOWN -- that is, FROM GOD -- it was the GOVERNMENT OF GOD! God chose Moses. Moses chose rulers of thousands, and so on down."

"In the days of Samuel, the people of Israel rejected GOD as their real Ruler, ruling through such humans as HE chose, as at that time, God was ruling through Samuel. They demanded a MAN to be their king. God gave them Saul, who rebelled against God. Then God gave them David, a man after His own heart. Still it was government FROM THE TOP DOWN!

"That is God's PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT. It's the SAME TODAY in His Church! He says, 'I CHANGE NOT!' (Mal. 3:6.)"

"As we progress through the Bible on the question of GOVERNMENT, the PRINCIPLE of government, from the TOP DOWN, is consistent. But the application, or details of STRUCTURE differs, and varies to adapt to the time, conditions and facilities. The revolters from God's Work confuse structural form with PRINCIPLE of government, which is ALWAYS from the TOP (GOD) down. They are NOT THE SAME.

"In the Old Testament, God chose ONE (Moses, Samuel, Saul, David, etc.) at a time, UNDER GOD, because Israel was ONE nation in ONE location or area. ONE at the top of the human level, under God, with others under him, was all that was required to administer the PRINCIPLE of government FROM THE TOP DOWN.

"But in the first century of the Gospel Work in the New Testament, God was sending the Gospel into MANY COUNTRIES, over wide areas. So He organized His Work into TWO principal divisions, or areas -- ISRAEL and GENTILES. They were widely separated geographically. Communication was virtually nil, except by personal contact. Transportation was by foot, horse or muleback, or by camel or elephant, or sailboat. If Peter were the sole human head under Christ, it might take him weeks to communicate with the man next under him in Rome, if he were in Jerusalem. So God worked directly with TWO in separated areas."

"With such communication and transportation facilities available today, Christ requires only ONE, once again, directly under him. Several times I have questioned whether Christ would ordain one or several more apostles, but always on counseling with evangelists, their response has been a decisive and absolute 'NO.'"

"...the GOVERNMENT OF GOD...[is] organized from the TOP DOWN."

"Now let's look into New Testament teaching to see how this is POSITIVELY REVEALED.

"I quoted from Galatians 2:7-8 about how Paul was assigned by Christ to head THE WORK to the Gentiles.

"Now notice Titus 1:4-5 and 2:15 -- Paul wrote to Titus (UNDER PAUL), 'To Titus, mine own son after the common faith (even as those under me in THE WORK today, are MY own sons, directly or indirectly, in the Lord), ...from God the Father (first in rank) and the Lord Jesus Christ (second in rank) our Savior. For this cause left I (next in rank -- to Gentiles -- under Christ) thee (under Paul's authority in the Work) in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders (under Titus who is under Paul, who is under Christ) in every city as I had appointed thee.'

"No authority in the Church? What did God MEAN when He says in His Word, 'OBEY them that have the RULE over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account (as I know I shall) that they may do it with JOY, and not with grief: for that (causing those over you grief) is unprofitable for YOU. Pray for us (THOSE OF US GOD HAS SET IN AUTHORITY TODAY) for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things, willing to live honestly' (Heb. 13:17-18).

"No government in God's Church? Then WHY did God inspire this to the Thessalonians? 'And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are OVER YOU in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves' (I Thes. 5:12-13).

"One of the things SATAN works overtime in injecting into any mind that will let it enter, is RESENTMENT OF AUTHORITY. GOD'S authority is administered in LOVE -- and actually as one SERVING those under His authority for THEIR GOOD and out of loving CONCERN for them. That is the way I try to use what authority God has delegated to me, and I try to teach those under me to use it in the same manner -- as a servant, not one lording it over those under him -- as JESUS gave us an example. Satan DESPISES government, except as HE himself harshly and in hate employs it.

"But what does God say about DESPISING GOVERNMENT?

"'But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and DESPISE GOVERNMENT. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption' (II Peter 2:10-12).

"Brethren, THAT'S GOD'S WORD, not mine!

"Now notice I Corinthians 12: In this chapter God is showing that in THE WORK of the Church -- proclaiming the Gospel to the world, and feeding the flock, there are different ADMINISTRATIONS, different OPERATIONS, in the Church, and for these, God has given various spiritual GIFTS, or empowerments, by His Holy Spirit."

"So in the Church, God has set differences of ADMINISTRATIONS. For example, we have today the Division of Church Administration (CAD), or, Executive Administration over minister and churches. There is the Educational Administration, or Executive direction over the Colleges and Imperial Schools. There is Publishing Administration, Broadcast Administration over radio and TV, etc. This of necessity requires organization. The exact pattern or STRUCTURE may vary according to conditions, needs, etc., but the PRINCIPLE of the organization MUST BE THAT OF GOD'S GOVERNMENT, for the TOP, God, then Christ, on down, as CHRIST has directed and chosen."

"The very fact that God has endowed different members in His Church with additional spiritual gifts, added to their own natural talents and abilities, in itself shows emphatically that there is definite ORGANIZATION in His Church, and that the ORGANIZATION must flow from a chain of authority, according to the PRINCIPLE which GOD (our legislative branch), has set -- that is, AUTHORITY FROM THE TOP DOWN. That is the PRINCIPLE. The OPERATIONS refers to functioning according to the practical application of the PRINCIPLE of government given us by GOD.

"The ADMINISTRATIONS in the Church refers to executive performance and managerial responsibilities, NOT to policy-making. In other words, adapting the method of functioning, according to the PRINCIPLE which GOD (the Policy Maker and Law Giver), not we, has laid down."

"Now WHAT is this chapter (I Corinthians 12) showing? That the Church is ONE -- and ONE ONLY -- and has many members. That there are different Administrations and different operations (verses 5-6). That there are different spiritual GIFTS (but ONE SPIRIT -- verses 4, 7-11). Christ is the Head of the Church, called 'the Body of Christ,' having many members for many functions. To show many functions, it is compared to the human body (verses 12-26). Then, we read of the respective offices in rank (verses 27-30).

"So, as to RANK of offices of executive administration, and operational functions, 'And GOD hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues (languages)' (I Cor. 12:28).

"Notice now! GOD says -- the Holy WORD OF GOD says: 'And GOD set some in the church, first, apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers...' That's what GOD says. But [a] leader of the theology of the dissenters from God's Church says, 'BUT I THINK it is far better to call these titles, rather than ranks.' He THINKS his way around the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, and the AUTHORITY which CHRIST has delegated.

"GOD SAYS, first, secondly, thirdly. But HE THINKS his way around GOD'S WORD! Brethren, GOD'S Church dares not handle the Word of God so carelessly, so deceptively."

"In the world of the unconverted, those in authority do exercise lordship over those under them. Christ said it should NOT be so with us. But He did not in so saying abolish all authority or rulership. He PUT RULERSHIP in His Church. He DELEGATED authority. What He was teaching His future apostles, is that we in GOD'S GOVERNMENT should NOT bear rule IN THE SAME HARSH AND UNLOVING MANNER as the unconverted in the world.

"Let's get this point CLEAR. It's basic. Misunderstanding at this point has caused some to leave God's Church, and perhaps even God's salvation and gift of eternal life!

"Notice what Jesus taught...[in] Mark 10:24: '...ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them...but so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, ...' But no one can say Jesus had no authority.

"Years ago, seeing this, and not considering the many, MANY Scriptures charging some in the Church with authority, rulership, saying to 'rebuke' the unruly, etc., I took the above scriptures to mean there is no authority in the Church. I did not want to exercise authority. I was still NEW in God's truth (this was over 40 years ago). So, in the early days of the parent Church of the Philadelphia era, at Eugene, Oregon, I allowed 'wolves in sheeps' clothing' to come in and sow the seeds of discord among brethren. It resulted in splitting the church in two -- possibly turning half my flock onto the way that leads into a lake of fire! God had His own way of REBUKING ME SOUNDLY, making me see this in its true light. Jesus here is talking about THE MANNER in which the authority Christ delegates is used. He is NOT saying there is NO AUTHORITY."

"...in the same speech where Jesus taught against 'lording it over' those under one's authority [Luke 22], He delegated to them authority of KINGSHIP, sitting on twelve thrones.

"I have had to correct some under me in God's Work on this very point -- the manner in which authority was used. Those of us in God's Church are not YET perfect. We must OVERCOME and GROW in grace. But the remedy is not to take all authority which Christ has delegated OUT of the Church, but to learn to administer it IN THE MANNER Christ has taught."

"The parallel instruction on the RANK of authority in the Church is Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 11: 'And he (Christ) gave some, ...' The RSV translates it more clearly: 'And His gifts were that some should be apostles,' etc. Continue, 'some prophets, and some evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for THE WORK of the ministry (proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world), for the edifying of the body of Christ...'"

"God has ONLY ONE CHURCH on earth, which He directs in the doing of His Work -- not TWO churches -- not MANY denominations and sects, and 'groups.' 'But now are they many members, YET BUT ONE BODY' (I Cor. 12:20 -- see also v. 12, 13). 'For by one Spirit are we all (not part of us) baptized into ONE body.'"

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 2 May 1974.

"God's people are in the time of final trying and testing -- like taking final exams to determine whether we graduate."

"Brethren, CAN YOUR MIND COMPREHEND THE TRANSCENDENT MAGNITUDE OF [GOD'S] SUPREME PURPOSE? The entire UNIVERSE to be put UNDER SUBJECTION to you? That means you are to RULE over it all -- IF you are submissive, obedient to God and His government over you NOW!

"Do you want to let resentment against God's government over you NOW disqualify you -- snatch you from God's GRACE and PURPOSE for you, and cast you into a lake of fire? God's PURPOSE for us is SO GREAT, we need to FEAR lest SATAN divert our minds from that GOAL! Satan is subtle!

"Just WHAT IS GOD? He is CREATOR! But He maintains -- preserves -- what He creates. HOW? By His GOVERNMENT -- the GOVERNMENT OF GOD!"

"God's overall PURPOSE in creating and putting man on earth, therefore, was DUAL:

"1) The RESTORATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD upon earth.

"2) To REPRODUCE HIMSELF, and thus produce an unlimited number of beings, begotten and BORN of God into GOD'S OWN DIVINE FAMILY having developed PERFECT HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS CHARACTER, that WILL NOT, and shall have so SET THEMSELVES that they CANNOT SIN (I John 3:9). That is the only guarantee that the Creator GOD may perfectly PRESERVE that which HE designs and creates."

"Brethren, we in God's Church are being trained and prepared, NOW, to RULE in the Kingdom of God during the millennium. What KIND (principle) of government are we being trained to administer?

"At that time, beginning with Christ's coming and the resurrection, Christ will be KING of kings over ALL NATIONS (Rev. 19:16). Directly under Christ, over Israel -- that is all the nations springing from the twelve tribes of Israel -- will be the resurrected David...(Jeremiah 30:8-9)...(Ezekiel 37:22-25)...(Ezekiel 34:23). Of course, also under Christ will be others over the Gentile nations, but God has not revealed who specifically. But, UNDER DAVID, God does tell us who shall rule those of each of the twelve tribes...(Matthew 19:28)."

"Turn to Luke 19, beginning with verse 11. Jesus gave a parable to His disciples [which showed that His servants would receive authority over cities at the]... second coming of Christ to RULE all nations..."

"Later, from heaven Jesus said: 'He that overcometh, and keepeth my WORKS unto the end, to him will I give POWER over the nations, and he shall RULE THEM with a rod of iron' (Rev. 2:26-27). And, again, 'To him that overcometh (grows in SPIRITUAL CHARACTER) will I grant to sit with me in my throne (in Jerusalem), even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in my Father's throne' (Rev. 3:21).

"Brethren, we are IN TRAINING, NOW, for...RULE in the KINGDOM OF GOD. And what PRINCIPLE of government? From the TOP DOWN. From GOD -- it is HIS Government -- the GOVERNMENT of God the Father. Under Him is Christ. Under Christ, over ISRAEL will be the resurrected DAVID. Under David, each over one of the twelve tribes, the TWELVE ORIGINAL APOSTLES. Under each of them, rulers over CITIES.

"DEMOCRACY, from the bottom up -- every man doing what seems right IN HIS OWN EYES, would never prepare you to REIGN with Christ then. THINK, Brethren, what it would mean if you should REBEL against God's Government as HE has placed it in HIS CHURCH NOW, and follow the dissenters OUT of God's Church, into what unauthorized humans have ASSOCIATED THEMSELVES into -- an 'ASSOCIATED CHURCH.' I should demand PROOF that such is of GOD. There is NO EVIDENCE. It is of MEN -- disloyal, selfish men -- swayed and deceived by Satan!"

"Dear Brethren, I feel like writing to you as the Apostle John did, as 'my little children,' (I John 2:1) -- for, directly or indirectly, you are my sons and daughters in the Lord -- or of the Work which Christ raised up through me. We are right now in the time of FINAL EXAMS -- of severe trying and testing -- to determine whether we shall make it into God's Kingdom and eternal life -- to be a priest or king, ruling under Christ for a thousand years -- and after that, the WHOLE UNIVERSE under our feet! The future before us is so transcendently ENORMOUS we cannot now fully conceive of it."

"Let's not fail in these final exams."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 2 May 1974.

"This is most URGENT and IMPORTANT."

"I have said before that Satan was attacking the Work of the living GOD, and that he would attack again. Now suddenly he is pulling out ALL STOPS in an effort to DESTROY God's Work."

"Satan HATES God's Church. He hates and seeks every way to DESTROY God's great WORK -- proclaiming the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD in all the world as a witness to all nations.

"Brethren, GOD'S WORK is the REASON for the very GROWTH OF, and EXISTENCE of God's Church!"

"It seems incredible -- unbelievable!! -- but some of these ministers have allowed themselves to be blinded to the ONE BIG MISSION of God's Church -- to the TRUTH -- to the FACTS, and to start denouncing in scathing and bitter tones, the very WORK, and chosen Ministers, of God.

"They began by 'questioning' this, that, and the other doctrine, finally exposing their REAL intent and purpose, questioning the doctrine of TITHING, and saying the tithes ought not to go for the GOSPEL WORK from Headquarters, but the tithes should stay in the local churches where, of course, it could go into their own pockets."

"Brethren, this letter is going to have to be long. I want you to have ALL the facts -- because the very life of GOD'S WORK is now being attacked with diabolical intent to DESTROY THE WORK!

"It is of VITAL importance that you read my letter on WHY God put you in His Church NOW, instead of later when He will offer salvation to the whole world."

"The REAL ISSUE is whether the COMMISSION the living Christ has been carrying out through me and HIS CHURCH, of which HE is the living Head, should be carried on -- or whether it should be abandoned, and your local churches become autonomous -- self-governed by the local ministers, independent of any Headquarters where GOD'S WORK is directed and carried on. This means the local churches would be precisely like the Baptist churches in organizational structure and government. That concept is TOTALLY UNSCRIPTURAL. God's Church is now established GOD'S WAY -- the BIBLE WAY, under the biblical pattern, which Jesus Christ the living Head, under God the Father, and next under Christ those on earth He Himself has called and chosen, and through whom He raised up this Church, and USED IT TO CARRY ON HIS WORK FOR THIS ENDTIME as covered in the prophecy for OUR TIME in Matthew 24:14. GOD'S Church is organized the BIBLE WAY as directed in the Bible -- through those HE has chosen and set in the various offices to get HIS WORK done."

"Those now advocating this Scriptural HERESY want to abolish all authority which Christ as our Head SET in His Church. Their contentions would lead to VOTING -- the 'democratic way' -- the very OPPOSITE of God's Way. They want to be 'LIBERAL,' and soon this liberality would lead into general and widespread SIN. They would become just a few more churches OF THIS WORLD -- Satan's world.

"Yes, SATAN is the real author of this rebellion against God's WORK."

"Some ministers [are] getting confused between this world's politics in the American 'democratic' system, and THE WAYS OF GOD..."

"These dissenting ministers want to desert God's authority and ASSUME IT THEMSELVES. In other words they want 'DEMOCRACY,' VOTING which is TOTALLY un-scriptural. They want to be part of THIS world -- Satan's world. They want to be autonomous in government -- INDEPENDENT of God's HEADQUARTERS.

"This would DESTROY THE GREAT WORK OF GOD! This would put an END to the GREAT COMMISSION for our time -- PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM IN ALL THE WORLD FOR A WITNESS UNTO ALL NATIONS, as we are now doing.

"Why, dear Brethren, THAT is the VERY REASON for the Church.

"Suppose we have local churches, all INDEPENDENT. We just ABOLISH THE WORK! Each local church, in time, could build its own local church building -- BUT THE GOSPEL WOULD STOP GOING TO THE WORLD!"

"The TITHES, of course, would not come to Headquarters to be used in the WORK! Where would they GO? To each local minister? What will the minister do with the money?"

"What they REALLY advocate and will try to draw some of YOU into, is simply THIS: DESTROY THE WORK OF GOD! Let the flock spend ALL its tithes on themselves, or, let the local minister spend it all on HIMSELF, any way HE wishes to allocate it!

"SURELY, dear Brethren, God's dear sheep are not stupid enough to be 'taken in' by disloyal, greedy, SELF-serving, rebellious local ministers who are rebelling against GOD..."

"Brethren, I ask you to FOLLOW THE LORD JESUS CHRIST -- follow HIS CHURCH, not some split-off by rebellious, bitter, greedy MEN!"

"This thing is of SATAN, and that's where I really place the guilt, rather than on these deceived men now allowing Satan to turn them the wrong way. Let's PRAY for them, that their eyes may be opened."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 25 February 1974.

"Too many of us have been getting our eyes OFF the main GOAL -- OF God's PURPOSE for us in our time, NOW. In order to DESTROY GOD'S WORK -- to get our eyes off it -- false 'ISSUES' have been raised -- QUESTIONS designed to cause DOUBTS in your minds, to destroy FAITH -- have been raised. Subtle, clever, deceptive methods have been used to detract us from and cause us to neglect God's REAL PURPOSE for us today! We must immediately get back to THAT PURPOSE!"

"Jesus came as a Messenger bringing from God the most important Message ever announced to mankind. This Message was NEWS -- the GOOD NEWS that the KINGDOM OF GOD would be restored to the earth, and already, even then, was AT HAND for those who would accept it and its KING, Jesus."

"And since the CHURCH OF GOD is to BECOME the KINGDOM OF GOD, it is now, 1) a spiritual organism, in which each begotten child of God has a personal contact, through Christ, in prayer and in fellowship, with the Father of the Family of which each of us is a begotten child. And in order to carry out the Divine Great Commission, 2) an ORGANIZATION, organized with the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, to carry on what we customarily refer to as the WORK OF GOD."

"Now notice I Corinthians 12: In this chapter God is showing that in THE WORK of the Church -- proclaiming the Gospel to the world, and feeding the flock, there are different ADMINISTRATIONS, different OPERATIONS, in the Church, and for these, God has given various spiritual GIFTS, or empowerments, by His Holy Spirit."

"So in the Church, God has set differences of ADMINISTRATIONS. For example, we have today the Division of Church Administration (CAD), or, Executive Administration over minister and churches. There is the Educational Administration, or Executive direction over the Colleges and Imperial Schools. There is Publishing Administration, Broadcast Administration over radio and TV, etc. This of necessity requires organization. The exact pattern or STRUCTURE may vary according to conditions, needs, etc., but the PRINCIPLE of the organization MUST BE THAT OF GOD'S GOVERNMENT, for the TOP, God, then Christ, on down, as CHRIST has directed and chosen."

"The parallel instruction on the RANK of authority in the Church is Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 11: 'And he (Christ) gave some, ...' The RSV translates it more clearly: 'And His gifts were that some should be apostles,' etc. Continue, 'some prophets, and some evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for THE WORK of the ministry (proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world), for the edifying of the body of Christ...'"

"Therefore the CHURCH is both the spiritual organism composed of the begotten (not yet born) children of God, and the organization or organized government of God on earth carrying on the WORK OF GOD -- the Great Commission: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel,' -- 'Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations;' -- 'And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations,' just before THE END of this age."

"Without organization, the Church could never fulfill its Great Commission -- its VERY PURPOSE FOR BEING, at the present time."

"The Commission is: 'Go ye INTO ALL THE WORLD' -- 'Go ye, and teach ALL NATIONS'; -- 'for a witness unto ALL NATIONS.' No other body, church, or group is doing that! As to whether you can RUN AWAY from your part in that Commission, having been a part of it, and still hear Christ say to you, when He comes: 'Well done, good and faithful servant,' YOU answer. I shall not be your judge -- you shall answer to the living CHRIST. I do know that I would be AFRAID to run from what God has called me to do, and then expect Him to bless me for it! And I will say, that the living Christ DOES NOT set up additional churches, on disloyalty, rebellion, false accusation, and character assassination."

"WHY has God called you and me NOW, while we still have to fight and resist the cunning of Satan, AHEAD OF TIME -- instead of WHEN CHRIST SHALL HAVE COME, AND PUT SATAN AWAY, AND SET HIS HAND TO CALL EVERY LIVING PERSON? The answer is, TO GET THIS JOB DONE!"

"So I ask you, dear Brethren -- and my children in the Lord -- to REMAIN LOYAL TO CHRIST IN HIS WORK..."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 2 May 1974.

"Ambassador College is not 'the WORK.' It is an instrumentality USED in 'the Work' to train personnel for positions in 'the WORK.'"

"And God has given us 'the WORK' to do as the VERY MEANS BY WHICH we may grow spiritually, so we may enter His Kingdom at Christ's coming. In 47 years I have observed that ONLY those whose hearts are fully IN THE WORK continue to overcome and grow SPIRITUALLY, and ENDURE."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 18 November 1974.

"The purpose when founding Ambassador College was not to be in the 'college business' but to help me fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION. Always the work of the GREAT COMMISSION must remain foremost!"

"I repeat, 'WE ARE NOT IN THE COLLEGE BUSINESS!' The only reason for the continued existence of Ambassador College is to support and contribute to the work of THE GREAT COMMISSION. If it ever loses sight of this fact God will let it fail."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 17 April 1978.

"It's hard to realize how this Work -- in which you and I are privileged to be Co-Workers -- has grown to such worldwide POWER and SCOPE! It is exerting tremendous IMPACT on more than 150 MILLION PEOPLE around the world."

"...and I want you to REALIZE THIS SOBERLY -- once that unseen Hand from Someplace...had miraculously OPENED THESE DOORS, if I had not walked through them in faith, ANOTHER WOULD HAVE BEEN RAISED UP WHO WOULD WALK THROUGH THEM -- AND WE -- this ENTIRE CHURCH, including YOU and ME -- would have been REJECTED BY THE LIVING CHRIST WHO IS THE HEAD OF THIS CHURCH!"

"...if I don't walk through these doors, God will reject me and send someone who is willing to go!"

"Brethren, read this carefully: The 'WORK' is NOT the fellowship of your own local church -- it is NOT a local SOCIAL CLUB -- it is GETTING GOD'S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD -- to those in India, the Philippines, in Africa, in South America! The PURPOSE of your local church is ITS PART in the WORK -- WORLDWIDE. That's the only reason YOU have been called now, instead of later. If The PLAIN TRUTH has to die, the WORK will die -- and IF it does, it will be only because you members have already died SPIRITUALLY! You ALL -- you in the Church as a whole -- NEED A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING! Some of you have been criticizing instead of helping and PRAYING."

"I know there is too much tendency to get your whole interest in your local church. But your local church IS NOT THE WORK!"

"God's CHURCH for this age is called Christ's 'BODY.' Why? As Jesus said He, Himself, divine though He was as well as human, could do NOTHING of Himself. It was the dynamic POWER of God's HOLY SPIRIT in Him. He came, among other things, to START the Work of God -- the WORK FOR THIS AGE. When He went to heaven, the SAME HOLY SPIRIT entered into the COLLECTIVE BODY of His disciples. That begat them as God's children. Now, with the SAME POWER working in them THEY -- THE CHURCH -- BECAME THE COLLECTIVE BODY TO CARRY ON THAT WORK, directed by the living CHRIST from Heaven!

"THAT is the real PURPOSE of the CHURCH, NOW! We are commissioned to get God's Message to the world. THAT is WHY God called YOU, now, instead of later..."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 12 April 1971.

"Jesus went everywhere preaching the GOOD NEWS of the KINGDOM OF GOD. He taught in parables about the KINGDOM OF GOD. He sent out seventy men preaching, and commanded them to preach THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Luke 10:9). He sent the apostles, on whom the Church of God was founded, to preach only THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Luke 9:1-2)."

"The Apostle Paul preached THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Acts 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31). And God Almighty, through Paul, pronounced a double curse on man or angel that would DARE preach any other Gospel! (Gal. 1:8-9).

"Why, then, do so many DARE to preach so many other gospels?"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Just What Do You Mean...Kingdom of God? (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1972), p. 8.

"I came to know of the true Church of God, fall of 1926....They were so impotent spiritually (Rev. 3:1), and even in biblical knowledge, yet what they did have was more biblical TRUTH than any other church my researches revealed. They had 'the commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus,' and the right name -- and no other church had. But they were so small -- so pitifully weak. They were not proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, but 'the third angel's message.'

"But of what did their 'Work' consist, and how organized? They were organized on congregational (democratic) government as a 'biannual general conference.'"

"[The true Gospel] was not proclaimed by Seventh-Day Adventists, one of whose cardinal doctrines was the 'investigative judgment,' which had the resurrected saints a thousand years with Christ in HEAVEN."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Just What Is 'The Work'?" Good News, April 1981.

"Does it make any difference which Gospel we believe? Listen to the answer of the Eternal God as inspired in Paul's letter to the Galatians, the first chapter, the 8th and 9th verses:

"'But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.' And it is made a double curse! For the next verse says: '...So say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed'!"

"And, WHAT GOSPEL did Jesus say should be preached TODAY?

"Matthew 24:14, speaking of the PRESENT: 'And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM shall be preached in ALL THE WORLD for a witness' --- for a WITNESS -- 'unto ALL NATIONS; and then shall the END come'! -- the end of this AGE.

"Jesus Christ's message -- His Gospel -- was the Kingdom of God -- the GOVERNMENT of the living God!

"Jesus Christ was BORN to be a KING (Luke 1:31-33). When Jesus was on trial for His life, Pilate said to Him, 'Art thou a king then?' Jesus answered, 'Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end I was born, and for this cause came I into the world...' (John 18:37)."

"Jesus is coming in supreme POWER and GLORY... He is coming to set up the GOVERNMENT OF GOD and to rule all nations with the help of those who have qualified in this life...Revelation 3:21...and...Revelation 2:26-27."

Herbert W. Armstrong, What Is the True Gospel? (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1972) pp. 3, 11-12.

"Wherever God's true Church is -- the ONE Church that is CHRIST'S -- it will be preaching [the true] GOSPEL to the whole world -- over all continents -- today. For we are near the END! That is the Gospel of the living Christ! It is the GOOD NEWS of the coming KINGDOM OF GOD to RULE THE WORLD!"

"Many have appropriated God's name, but are not proclaiming the KINGDOM OF GOD..."

"[The] true Church is preaching the imminency of the coming of CHRIST as King of kings and LORD of lords, to RULE all nations for a thousand years on earth."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Personal," Good News, August 1983.

"I am now in my 94th year. God may grant that I continue in this very limited manner to direct the work for some time, but the occasional heart pains that I have endured have made me feel the necessity of letting our co-workers know of the condition as it is.

"Remember, this is the work of the living Creator God."

"I thank God that he has organized this present work of his so thoroughly that regardless of the outcome of my present illness, the work will continue right on to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ... Christ is the Living Head of this work, and he will continue guiding those he has chosen right up to his Second Coming, which grows daily nearer at hand."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 23 December 1985.

"This is my first letter to you in 1986, and could very well be my last."

"It may be the Work God has given me to do is complete, but not the Work of God's Church, which will be faithfully doing God's Work till Christ, the True Head of this Church, returns."

"Remember, brethren, this is not the work of Herbert W. Armstrong...or any man. It is the Work of the Living Creator, God."

"The greatest work lies yet ahead."

Herbert W. Armstrong's last co-worker letter, 10 January 1986. (Letter can be found in Volume 2 of Mr. Armstrong's Autobiography on pages 643-645.)

"Brethren, if we are to continue to grow -- and to grow SPIRITUALLY as well as in numbers -- we must remember that the PURPOSE of the Church is, first, to GO INTO ALL THE WORLD and preach Christ's GOSPEL. The FIRST commission to the Church is just that. Anyone who looks on the Great commission of Christ as 'Armstrong's private work' is just not a member of GOD'S Church. Anyone who does not have his whole heart in that work IS NOT A MEMBER OF GOD'S TRUE CHURCH, and has no right whatsoever to attend or fellowship in any of its local congregations."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Why Local Assemblies?" Good News, March 1954.

"The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message that Christ proclaimed. That message was the Good News or the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. That is the message He preached, the restoration of the Government of God by the coming Kingdom of God.

"The apostolic Church from A.D. 31 proclaimed it."

"Today we carry on God's Work in a world multiplied vastly larger in population, a mechanized, mechanical, complex world with instrumentalities to work with that were never dreamed of in the first century."

"If anything happened to me I would expect the Church to continue right on and the local churches and the local church ministry."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Congress of Leading Ministers," Worldwide News, 6 March 1981.

"We CANNOT AFFORD TO BECOME LUKEWARM! We cannot afford to let our minds drift from the intense NEED for this very special mission of this particular time in world history, so shortly before Christ's coming and HIS KINGDOM!"

"Now about the Work itself."

"Few understand just what IS the Church. There are so many churches in the world. People just take churches for granted. But more than 1,953 years ago, Jesus Christ said, 'I will build my Church.' Few know WHY He built it -- for what PURPOSE. The purpose, primarily, was dual:

"1) to proclaim to the world the Gospel Message God sent to mankind by Jesus as God's Messenger (Mal 3:1) of the coming Kingdom of God,

"2) to call and prepare a chosen people..."

"I have NEVER SAID I expect to live until Christ comes.

"...just in case of my disability for any reason, to prevent Satan from causing division, I feel God has inspired me to delegate power to the Advisory Council, during any such complete disability, to take full charge of the Work and all its assets and activities."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 19 March 1981.

"God started His Gospel WORK -- proclaiming the Gospel (good news) of HIS KINGDOM -- through the individual human BODY of Jesus. But after His resurrection, Jesus sent the same HOLY SPIRIT on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 31, and thereafter, to enter into the COLLECTIVE BODY of those constituting GOD'S CHURCH.

"The CHURCH, then, is the COLLECTIVE BODY Christ uses as HIS INSTRUMENT, empowered by God's Spirit, to carry on GOD'S WORK. Jesus Christ heads and directs it from heaven!"

"But WHAT is the divine MISSION of that Church? What is its PURPOSE? The answer is to do the WORK OF GOD, which Jesus started and now continues through His Church."

"Wherever God's true Church is -- the ONE Church that is CHRIST'S -- it will be preaching THAT GOSPEL to the whole world -- over all continents -- today. For we are near the END! That is the Gospel of the living Christ! It is the GOOD NEWS of the coming KINGDOM OF GOD to RULE THE WORLD!"

"But wherever that ONE true Church is, it will be named the Church of God.

"But that is not all. Many have appropriated God's name, but are not proclaiming the KINGDOM OF GOD..."

"That true Church is preaching the imminency of the coming of CHRIST as King of kings and LORD of lords, to RULE all nations for a thousand years on earth."

"There is only ONE such Church!

"It is doing THE WORK OF GOD. It is, as Jesus said it would be, a 'little flock,' persecuted, despised by the world."

"Personal from Herbert W. Armstrong," Good News, August 1983.

"Brethren, this world is being destroyed for lack of knowledge of and from GOD, as we read in Hosea 4:6. Through my personal visits, and the PLAIN TRUTH magazine, on TV and radio and through other literature, we are proclaiming that knowledge in POWER and AUTHORITY. Some listen. It is God's last witness against those who do not. BUT WE MUST DRIVE RIGHT ON UNTIL CHRIST COMES!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 18 November 1984.

"I ask you, brethren, in Jesus' name, to put whatever you are able into God's Work in this crisis hour before the Great Tribulation that will cut off our work just prior to the soon-coming of Christ and the World Tomorrow."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 25 November 1985.

"Our labors in GOD'S WORK will be ended soon after the resurrection of the impending United States of Europe!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 14 August 1978.

"Brethren, time is running out on us. When this great European power emerges, our great Work will be just about over. The day shall have arrived when 'no man can work,' as Jesus said (John 9:4)."

"NOTHING ELSE MATTERS NOW. We must sacrifice and devote our all that is reasonably possible to GOD'S WORK in these closing days."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 16 July 1982.

"We draw daily nearer to the end of this age. Time is growing shorter daily. The Bible warns us the time is just ahead when NO MAN CAN WORK -- in the Lord's Work. We must sacrifice now as never before for this Work that we may FINISH the Work that Christ has called us to do."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 23 October 1980.

"...brethren and co-workers, the prophesied Great Tribulation (nuclear World War III) will start soon after the European unification. That means OUR WORK OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE FINISHED! We have not now much more time. Soon shall come a FAMINE of hearing the Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11).

"God says, work while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work -- in the Work of God!

"Nothing else is important in our lives, now, but this all-important Work of God."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 22 November 1982.

"God has specially called and chosen you! And WHY? To stand loyally behind Christ's apostle and HELP in whatever way He opens to you in spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom of God! Yes, you were specially called for a JOB to do! Not JUST to 'get saved' -- to receive eternal life in the Kingdom of God."

"Jesus pictured Himself (Luke 19) as a man going to God's throne in heaven to be crowned and officially given God's Kingdom. He gave each of 10 servants...a pound each. This represented giving each one at conversion one unit of the HOLY SPIRIT.

"On His return...He called each to accounting. One had increased the one unit of God's Holy Spirit, in standing solidly back of God's apostle in proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and helping, praying fervently and remaining loyal -- in Bible study, increasing his own spiritual knowledge, 10 times what he started out with.

"...one had not grown in grace and in Christ's knowledge -- nor had he contributed to GOD'S WORK by tithes, fervent praying or loyalty. HE HAD THE ONE UNIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ORIGINALLY GIVEN AS GOD'S GIFT TAKEN AWAY. HE DID NOT GET HIS SALVATION OR ETERNAL LIFE."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Now Christ Moves Swiftly to Make Church Ready," Good News, June/July 1979.

"What is the PURPOSE of the Church -- its divine Commission? To proclaim this Gospel as a witness to the world. In other words, to carry on the WORK OF GOD, which Jesus, in person, started.

"After His resurrection, He gave His disciples this Commission: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature' (Mark 16:15)."

"First of all, the true Church of God is a spiritual organism. It is NOT a human organization. This spiritual organism is the 'Body of Christ' existing for the PURPOSE of carrying on THE WORK OF GOD."

"Is it possible that one who has joined a sect, church, or denomination NOT doing God's Work, might be truly converted, and led by God's Spirit in him? The answer is YES -- I have known of a few. But in every case, either they came INTO the organized spiritual organism Christ is using in the real Work of God -- or, when their eyes were opened to further light and truth, they rejected it and LOST the Spirit of God. And this was amply demonstrated by the fruits."

"Jesus said that His sheep do hear and RECOGNIZE His voice and His truth, and that they will follow Him!

"Every year, now, added thousands are hearing, RECOGNIZING His truth, and following Him where He is working!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Just What Is the Church?" Worldwide Church of God article reprint, 1970.

"Unless we fulfill God's SPECIAL PURPOSE for our calling now, we might never go into His Kingdom. This fact must not be taken carelessly!

"How many of us become unmindful of God's purpose and assume we were called and put into God's Church only to GET our personal salvation -- and to ENJOY the fellowship and social life of our local church?"

"Brethren, do we not find ourselves taking for granted that the churches in what is called 'Christianity' are also God's churches -- that WE are just another of the many denominations, the only difference being that we hold to some different doctrines?

"That is simply not true! We in GOD'S Church are not just one of all these churches. They are of this world. They do not have, or know, or proclaim, Christ's gospel -- the message God sent to the world BY CHRIST, as the MESSENGER."

"When [Christ] returns [Luke 19:11-24], He will demand of each of us to show how we have used the GIFT of His Holy Spirit -- how much we have CONTRIBUTED to His Work -- the PURPOSE for which He put us in His Church NOW! ...Those who prove disloyal or drop out of the Work -- the only purpose for which you were called now -- will find themselves in the position of the one described in verses 20 and 24. They will lose the very salvation they were trying to GET!

"You are each admonished to 'make your calling and election SURE'!"

"MUCH of the New Testament is WARNING God's people of these snares of Satan to hinder -- to attempt to DESTROY the very Work of GOD -- the very Work which is THE REASON God has called you NOW -- "

"Remember, Jesus taught us to LOOK TO THE FRUITS BORNE!

"Are they who falsely accuse -- who seek to draw a following away from God's Church for selfish purpose -- proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the nations of the world? Are they fulfilling the PURPOSE for which God has called us now? NONE but THIS VERY WORK of the LIVING GOD is fulfilling that PURPOSE -- bearing the FRUITS."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Why Did God Put You In His Church?" Good News, May 1974.

"What about the 'loner' Christian who says, 'I will serve Christ in my own way'? What about the one who leaves God's Church to have his own private relation with Christ -- to get his own salvation -- without giving his part of the Church's effort to send the true gospel into ALL THE WORLD?

"Or, what about the one who follows a MAN because of that man's personality, charisma or attractiveness, or some other group?

"Stop and THINK! Is Christ going to marry a number of differing groups, not in complete harmony with each other -- yet all 'professing CHRIST'? Jesus said, 'He that is not with me [and since He is the Head of God's one and only Church, He plainly meant with Him where HE is working -- in God's one Church] is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad' (Matthew 12:30). Jesus Christ is going to marry THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE CHURCH -- not a number of scattered groups or scattered individuals.

"The one who tries to GET his salvation apart from the one Church Christ is going to marry is on the 'GET' way. Those loyally in the Church are GIVING of their prayers, loyalty, encouragement and support to Christ's chosen apostle in GIVING the GOOD NEWS to the world -- its ONLY HOPE!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "7 Proofs of God's True Church," Plain Truth, September 1979.

"We ought to be ASHAMED of the pitiful, puny, weak, feeble work that has split up and divided brethren, reached but so very FEW with the message, with almost no real conversions! All this, while leaders desiring power to RULE send out misleading, exaggerated, deceiving statements designed to convince tithe-payers that 'the work is progressing.' What a mockery! What a tragedy! What a pity!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Did Christ Reorganize the Church?" Good News, February 1939.

"Some ministers are called of God, used of God, -- many are not. The tithe is HOLY. It is THE LORD'S -- for HIS WORK. It should be placed where He IS WORKING -- ....Ask God for WISDOM!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Are You Being Tested on this Point?" Good News, February 1939.

"The Work of God was originally started by ONE man -- Jesus Christ. But on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 31, the same Holy Spirit that had carried on God's Work through his individual body entered into and empowered his apostles, and the entire COLLECTIVE BODY, which on and from that day constituted God's Church."

"But, after proclaiming that gospel MESSAGE to the world of that day -- after the Church had grown and multiplied in number and power, the headquarters Church at Jerusalem fled in the face of advancing Roman armies shortly before A.D. 70, became scattered, and under persecution -- and because of discouragement because Christ had not yet returned in power and glory -- the Church WENT TO SLEEP ON THE JOB of proclaiming Christ's true gospel message!"

"We are in a spiritual WAR -- on the firing line with CHRIST as our general -- firing spiritual bombs of GOD'S TRUTH -- the message of Christ's own GOSPEL -- to make this whole world CONSCIOUS of the GOOD NEWS of Christ's soon coming and his KINGDOM, to rule the happy, peaceful WORLD TOMORROW! There can be no letting down -- no slacking -- no quitting in this war!

"What would happen in a war if an army, by a sudden burst of effort, surged forward to win a single battle, then laid down their arms and decided to take it easy or go on furlough? They then would LOSE THE WAR! Christ said it is only he who endures to the end who shall be saved! LET US CARRY ON, more determined than ever -- more dedicated and devoted to Christ's great mission than ever! We must not win a partial battle, and then lose the war. LET US NOW PLUNGE ON HARDER THAN EVER TO FINAL VICTORY!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 25 October 1985.

"I want to hear the living and soon-coming Jesus Christ say: 'WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT!' Don't YOU? ...We may have only one more year -- we may have two years -- we may have five."

"What I DO KNOW is that Jesus said, in regard to knowing or NOT knowing the time of His coming: 'Who, then, is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over His household...? Blessed is that servant, whom His Lord when He cometh shall find SO DOING.'

"If Christ should cut our work short one year from now, I want Him to find me SO DOING carrying on His Work right up to the last minute!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 21 January 1971.

"The FRUITS of this work are these: For the first time in more than 1850 years the same Gospel Jesus preached, THE KINGDOM OF GOD, is being preached and published into all the world as a witness. It is offending many in this world. The religious leaders of today -- the modern Pharisees -- attack it as the work of the Devil -- they call us false prophets, as they did Jesus. We are persecuted by the world. The world hates us. But many precious lives are being changed, converted, begotten of God! God is producing a precious harvest for His Kingdom. New churches are being raised up around the world. New offices are being established. The flock is being fed. Evangelists, pastors, elders, are being trained as God calls them. The sick are being healed, the demons cast out.

"The FRUITS of this tree are not corrupt -- they are the SAME FRUITS that the SAME HOLY SPIRIT produced in the human body of Jesus -- in the collective Body of Christ in apostolic days! THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES THE WORK, and the work is exactly the same -- the fruits the same -- as the days of Christ and the apostles!

"This work has grown too great and powerful to be the work of a human man, apart from either God or the devil. If this is not the very WORK OF GOD, then it must be that of SATAN. And to accuse it -- to condemn it -- I ask you, brethren, IS IT NOT MORE THAN POSSIBLE THAT THIS IS SPEAKING AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT, and therefore is the UNPARDONABLE SIN?"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "How You Could Commit the Unpardonable Sin!" Good News, March 1960.

"I have always noticed that those whose hearts -- and their pocketbooks as well -- are really in the work of God are the ones who remain spiritual, close to God, and who are growing spiritually. And, without exception, every single member of God's Church who has ever lost interest in this WORK OF GOD -- this work of carrying the Gospel to the world...begins to fall backward spiritually. Soon such people go off into false doctrines. Their understanding is closed. They begin to believe errors and lies. They become more and more bitter, unhappy, and they either go back into the world or they go into some false offshoot movement which bears no fruit, and fails totally to carry out the Commission of Christ -- THE WORK OF GOD!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "More Growth in the Church of God," Good News, March 1960.

"In my over forty-six years' intensive, rich, active experience, since God changed MY direction into HIS WAY, I have observed that the very first need of every Christian, who is to GROW and develop this spiritual character, is to have his heart completely in THE WORK OF GOD, which the living Christ has called His servants to do, as His instruments! Our 'WORKS' are our part in GOD'S WORK -- getting His true Gospel to the whole world as a witness -- preparing the way for Christ's coming. We are merely His INSTRUMENTS. It is GOD'S WORK! Those who condemn 'WORKS' are condemning the Great God who is the actual DOER through us as His instruments and Co-Workers! It is not, after all, our works!

"Those who are self-centered, caring nothing for the WORK OF GOD, having not enough outgoing concern to want to help GET CHRIST'S MESSAGE out to this blinded, deceived, dying world, fall away. Those who center their whole 'Christian' life and activity on developing their own selves spiritually, whose hearts are not in or concerned about this great OUTGOING worldwide WORK OF GOD, actually directed by the living CHRIST, develop only INWARDLY, until they shrivel up spiritually and fall by the wayside!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, What Will You Be Doing in the Next Life? (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1969), pp. 26-27.

"The Worldwide Church of God has consistently taught through the years that the message for each of the churches [in Rev. 2-3] is for the whole Church throughout time."

"The Worldwide Church of God has also taught that the letters to the seven churches are not dead history, as some scholars have proposed. They are a message for God's Church in every century. A prophetic history of 1,900 years of experience of God's people!"

"Jesus Christ highly commended the first (or Ephesian) era of the Church for its labor and patience and goodness (Rev. 2:2-3). The Ephesian era had early to face false apostles -- men seeking to build up a following for themselves. But Christ also had something against this church era. They had left their first spiritual love (verse 4). Christ threatened to remove the church out of its place!"

"The Ephesus church had let down. It had not continued its work to all nations after A.D. 69 (Matt. 28:19)."

"Later we hear of Peter Valdez or Peter Waldo... As he preached, others added their efforts to him. They became, as it is said, 'as many co-workers for him.' They dedicated their lives and their property to spreading Christ's Gospel."

"Philadelphia means 'brotherly love' or 'those who love their fellowmen as brothers.' It expresses the characteristic that is the motivating zeal of the Philadelphian era of God's Church.

"The [Church] shows love to mankind by carrying out God's commission -- that of warning the world of impending destruction. It is revealing how Jesus Christ will soon rescue humanity from cosmocide and teach man the way of peace, happiness and prosperity. The goal of the Philadelphian church is the ultimate salvation of all mankind!"

"The Church They Couldn't Destroy," Good News, December 1981.

"Brethren, WHO is preaching the same Gospel Jesus taught, the Gospel of the KINGDOM OF GOD, to the world? Do you know any other Church fulfilling this prophecy as to the WORK OF THE TRUE CHURCH for this very day and time?"

"Of the 'Philadelphia' Church, Christ says, 'I know that you have but little power.' It is probably the WEAKEST in numerical and physical strength and power -- the smallest in membership, of any of the Churches from the time of the Apostles until the Second Coming. It has but few ministers."

"And THIS is the Church Christ uses as HIS INSTRUMENT in proclaiming His GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM -- the GOVERNMENT of God -- to the world. He sets before this Church an 'OPEN DOOR,' for the proclaiming of this Gospel to ALL THE WORLD. The meaning of this 'DOOR' is explained in II Cor. 2:12-13. Paul said: 'I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a DOOR was opened to me of the Lord.'"

"But SOME of those in the Church today will grow weary with well-doing. They will brag about being the true Church -- thinking they are spiritually rich, when they are, in fact, almost spiritually destitute. Because they are indifferent to the real WORK OF GOD, lukewarm, lacking in zeal, Christ will spew them out of His mouth. THEY cannot be used in His work. THEY shall lose the very salvation they boast of having unless they repent! God help you never drift into the LAODICEAN church!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Must God's Ministers Be Ordained by the Hand of Man?" Good News," October 1962.

"Now notice Jesus' LAST WARNING to His Church. At the very close of this age, when the work of spreading the gospel is almost finished, Jesus addressed yet another Church work -- the 'Church at Laodicea': 'I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: ...I WILL SPUE THEE OUT OF MY MOUTH' (Rev. 3:15, 16).

"This frightful condition lies now ahead of us. Just as the remnant of the Sardis era of the Church exists side by side with the Philadelphian era, so we will continue our work to the very 'end time' when another group will appear -- a group not accounted worthy to escape the coming tribulation. Another SEPARATE work is yet to arise -- made up of begotten individuals who are spiritually lukewarm! WOE BE TO ANY OF US IF WE TAKE PART IN SUCH A WORK! Here is a work, yet to arise because of our preaching, which will say: 'I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.' And Jesus will reply: 'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be ZEALOUS therefore, and repent.'"

Herman L. Hoeh, A True History of the True Church (n.p.: Radio Church of God, 1959), pp. 30-31.

"Today, as in the time of the first apostles, MANY DECEIVERS are gone out into the world. They will ACCUSE God's Church and His Work. It is Satan the devil who is the accuser of the true brethren (Rev. 12:10)."

"MUCH of the New Testament is WARNING God's people of these snares of Satan to hinder -- to attempt to DESTROY the very Work of GOD -- the very Work which is THE REASON God has called you NOW -- before He undertakes to SAVE THE WHOLE WORLD!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Why Did God Put You in His Church?" Good News, May 1974.

"It seems very likely that we may have now come to the time prophesied in Revelation 12:9-13: 'And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels (demons) were cast out with him....Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman...(God's Church).

"How did HE come to KNOW he had but a short time? Because he knows that when 'this Gospel of the Kingdom of God is being preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, THEN SHALL THE END COME' -- yes, the END of Satan's world -- the END of Satan's posing as GOD -- the god of this world."

"The NEW COVENANT will restore the KINGDOM OF GOD, which is the GOVERNMENT, under CHRIST, with SATAN REMOVED! Then we shall have WORLD PEACE. Proclaiming that GOOD NEWS IS OUR GREAT AND PRIMARY COMMISSION AND PURPOSE IN BEING, TODAY."

"Jesus did not raise up His Church merely to form various local social clubs with NO PURPOSE other than to enjoy each others' fellowship. He raised up the Church for a PURPOSE -- to proclaim His GOSPEL -- not merely in their own community, but AROUND THE WORLD -- ALL NATIONS."

"But SATAN now influenced a great PERSECUTION against the Church to STOP the proclaiming of the KINGDOM OF GOD. He knows that Kingdom will remove him from the earth and from deceiving the world into accepting him as the god of this world."

"God MULTIPLIED, once again, the growth of His Church [in our time] that HIS Great Commission might go to the world PREPARING THE WAY for Christ's return to establish the KINGDOM OF GOD to rule ALL NATIONS."

"Satan saw this. He knew he had but a SHORT TIME, because this very Gospel of the Kingdom now beginning to go effectively to the leaders and RESPONSIBLE citizenry of the GREAT NATIONS, heretofore unreachable, was the sign Jesus gave of the rapidly nearing END of Satan's world."

"And THAT'S the ONE MAIN THING Satan wants to STOP! The HEAD of this Church, the living Jesus CHRIST, wants us always to keep the Great Commission FIRST in our minds -- and NEVER to let other things crowd it out! For THAT'S what this is ALL ABOUT!"

"Repeatedly, all through the Bible -- especially in the New Testament, we are warned that our REAL ENEMY is Satan! He tries to get our minds OFF of our B I G Commission, by getting them on physical and material things that loom up as MUCH more important....until we CAN'T SEE THE REAL ISSUE."

"That which we have been called to PREPARE THE WAY FOR -- the coming of CHRIST with all the SUPREME POWER AND GLORY of the CREATOR GOD, as the KING of kings and LORD or lords, will soon come. Satan's time will be up."

"Then we shall, if loyal NOW to God's Government, rule ALL NATIONS under, and with Christ, each having our part in that GOVERNMENT, and working with and under Christ as our HIGH PRIEST in then SAVING THE WHOLE WORLD, with no Satan around to attack us!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 18 March 1974.

"Satan will never let up trying to DESTROY the Work of the living God. It's all recorded in the Bible -- in prophecy. I have looked into God's Book to see how it all comes out at the end -- and I find that WE (in God) WIN!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 25 June 1985.

"I have frequently been pressured to compromise -- 'just a little' -- with God's TRUTH."

"Nevertheless, if we begin to compromise with God's TRUTH, even in smallest, slightest manner, we have allowed Satan to get a foot into the door of the Church, and soon he will push open the door (he is stronger than we) and take over the whole Church."

"Personal from Herbert W. Armstrong," Good News, December 1976.

"I want you, brethren, to think about and understand what happened to God's Church in the 1970s lest history repeat itself!"

"Most of the dissension of the past in the Church has been over the matter of government. The dissenters believe in a very liberal government -- the way of Satan and his world. The whole purpose of the Gospel is to call those chosen by God out of this world and its ways into the ways of God. God's government is based on God's law. All government, even in the world's nations, is based on a foundation of law."

"And Jesus Christ will never receive any of those who have gone out to draw a following after themselves to come back and lead God's Church into Satan's liberalism. It would be no longer God's Church, even as Ambassador College was no longer God's college..."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Recent History of the Philadelphia Era of the Worldwide Church of God," Worldwide News, 24 June 1985.

"There is only one place on earth where the government of God is administered -- and even that has been sidetracked."

"AS RULER over the UNIVERSE, God set a throne on the earth and placed the super archangel Lucifer on that throne to administer GOD'S government over the earth.

"But Lucifer rebelled."

"God gave Adam the opportunity to SIT ON Lucifer's throne -- IF Adam...would reject the ways of Satan and accept GOD'S WAY -- that of GOD'S LAW! But Adam rebelled against God and chose to go HIS OWN WAY..."

"Some 4,000 years later, the SECOND Adam, Jesus Christ, came to earth...overcame Satan, chose the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, based on the LAW OF GOD. But He was not to take over the throne of the earth until the end of 6,000 years. He raised up His Church, with the GOVERNMENT OF GOD ruling IN THE CHURCH."

"A CAD (Church Administration Department) was set up in Pasadena, with Roderick C. Meredith administering the department.

"By about 1971 my son...had removed Mr. Meredith from that office, [and] sent him to England as dean of the faculty..."

"My son...began his own conspiracy to TAKE OVER the Church -- and if his father did not oblige him by dying, to put Herbert W. Armstrong into retirement."

"God Almighty and Jesus Christ were virtually thrown out of the college -- and were rapidly being thrown out of the Church!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Christ Now Moves to Put God's Government Back on the Track," Good News, September 1979.

"God placed on earth's THRONE the archangel, the cherub Lucifer, to administer the GOVERNMENT OF GOD over the angels.

"I repeat: That GOVERNMENT is based on God's spiritual laws -- as all governments are based on a constitution of foundational law."

"The super-archangel Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-14) had been perfect in all his ways from the day of his initial creation, till iniquity -- lawlessness -- was found in him."

"The GOVERNMENT OF GOD no longer was operative on earth!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "7 Proofs of God's True Church," Plain Truth, March 1979.

"...do you think YOU are immune from the wiles and subtle deceptions of Satan? Are YOU stronger than Satan? DON'T SO UNWISELY UNDERESTIMATE SATAN! Satan is the strongest personage God ever created, except the other two archangels Michael and Gabriel. Satan DID get to the more than a half dozen top-ranking ministers in God's Church!"

"The heavens must receive Christ 'until the times of restitution' (restoration) 'of all things.' What is to be restored is centered around the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, which Lucifer made inoperative."

"These ministers thought they had discovered a new truth, contrary to the teaching of God's Church."

"But their 'new truth' was gross and harmful error. They misled brethren..."

"It all gets back to THE LAW OF GOD, and the 'SIN QUESTION.'"

"The churches of traditional 'Christianity' teach that 'the Law was DONE AWAY.' ...They cannot REPENT of sin when they do not know what sin IS!"

"The Holy Spirit of God is given to those who have REPENTED of -- TURNED FROM -- sin....If we do not FOLLOW where God's Spirit leads, the 'lamp' -- or its light (the Holy Spirit) leaves us."

"YOU LET DOWN YOUR GUARD AND ALLOW SATAN TO DECEIVE AND USE YOU when, once you have known the truth, repented, received God's Spirit, started on GOD'S WAY, you take a step away from that way, begin to liberalize, compromise with Satan."

"He, if deceived by Satan and used by him, is one who, like Lot's wife, began to 'look back' -- even if just a little at first. He may have been willing to compromise on a minor point. He became a little 'liberal' on some point."

"Brethren, ministers and even chief evangelists in God's Church: 'EXAMINE YOURSELVES to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test YOURSELVES.'"

"For GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS. For if God spared not even the ANGELS that sinned (II Peter 2:4), He would no more spare YOU!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "'Satan Deceive and Use Me? Never!!'" Worldwide News, 1980(?).

"Remember, Lucifer had been placed in rulership.

"God placed the great cherub, Lucifer, to carry out His government on the earth, but Lucifer refused to carry out God's will, God's commands, God's government. He wanted to substitute his own. So he disqualified himself."

"Jesus Christ...REFUSED to obey the devil. He quoted scripture correctly. He obeyed God."

"So God did NOT create a devil. He created a cherub, Lucifer -- perfect in his ways, but with the power of free choice -- and Lucifer transformed himself into a devil by rebellion against the government of God!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Did God Create a Devil? (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1978), p. 9.

"[Satan] turned hostile to the law of God. He turned to a way of life of vanity, covetousness, envy, rivalry, competition, violence and destruction. And this hostile way of life is itself a LAW....That, then, became the basic LAW of the GOVERNMENT of Lucifer, whose name was changed to Satan the devil."

"So the government of God on the earth had been replaced by the government of Satan."

"...the THRONE and GOVERNMENT placed on earth -- the SIN of Lucifer and earth's angels, the replacing of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD by that of Satan over the earth -- all this was the backdrop to the creation of MAN on the earth."

"Adam had to choose between the government of Satan with its self-centered way of life, and the government of God with its GOD-centered way of life. Each way of life was the basic LAW of a GOVERNMENT."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "World Peace Just Around the Corner!" Plain Truth, November-December 1984.

"Judgment -- the time of trying and testing to determine whether we will choose and walk in the way of GOD'S LAW of His GOVERNMENT -- began, therefore, with the CHURCH OF GOD, AFTER the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Co-worker letter, 24 April 1981.

"[The] angels followed their king Lucifer in the decision to turn from and rebel against the GOVERNMENT OF God --"

"...Satan's kingdom of angels -- now turned to demons -- rejected the GOVERNMENT OF GOD, and it was thus removed from earth."

"That GOVERNMENT OF GOD exists at this time on earth only through those that are doing God's Work."

"Few, even among professing converted Christians, realize the vital and SUPREME NEED to be conscious and constantly aware of Satan's efforts to get to US, who already have turned from Satan's way and to the WAY of the GOVERNMENT OF GOD."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Human Nature -- Did God Create It?" Worldwide Church of God article reprint, 1976. (Also Incredible Human Potential, pp. 167-168.)

"Dissidents and enemies of God's CHURCH have been saying that we disobeyed Romans 13 in appealing the government lawsuit of Jan. 3, 1979. They say, falsely, the Church of GOD should have caved in...and let the State of California take over and run or destroy the Church of the LIVING GOD!

"When the Philistines came against Israel, with the giant Goliath, young David said, 'Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the LIVING GOD?" The attack was not against David, nor even Israel, but against the LIVING GOD!

"According to the dissenters David and all Israel should have 'caved in.' For it was a GOVERNMENT (the Philistines) who came against God's CHURCH of the Old Testament, and it's a GOVERNMENT of men that has now come against the CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD!"

"Now notice what [the Adam Clarke's Commentary]...says in expounding Romans 13. "Speaking of government rulers: 'If he rule according to the Constitution nothing can justify (the individual) rebelling against his authority...When the ruler acts thus (contrary to law or the Constitution) he dissolves the compact between him and his people; his authority is no longer binding, but illegal; and it is illegal because he is acting contrary to the laws of the Constitution, according to which, on being raised to the supreme power he promised to govern. This conduct justifies opposition to his government' -- and the commentary means in GOD'S sight!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Romans 13 and the State of California Attack," Good News, March 1980.

"The Book of books, containing the revealed knowledge of the Creator God, tells us that God created angels as composed of Spirit. But can you imagine angels becoming sinning angels?...Since sin is the transgression of God's law, these angels rebelled against God's law, the basis of God's government."

"And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels."

"When God placed angels -- apparently a third of all (Rev. 12:4) -- on the newly created, perfect, beautiful and glorious earth, He set over them, on a throne, to administer the government of God, an archangel -- the great cherub Lucifer."

"His rebel rule was not a government based upon the principle of love...but based on...darkness and error, instead of light and truth..."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Incredible Human Potential (New York: Everest House, 1978), pp. 41,42,45,48.

"The government of God produced a wonderfully happy state -- as long as Lucifer was loyal in the conduct of God's government."

"And then, even after Lucifer himself made the decision to rebel...it is not revealed how long it took him to persuade all of the angels under him to turn traitor and follow him."

"I know well the method he used. He uses the same method still today in leading deceived humans into disloyalty, rebellion, and self-centered opposition against God's government. First, he turns one or two to envy, jealousy, and resentment...Then he uses that one or two, like a rotten apple in a crate, to stir up resentment...in others next to them. And, as each rotten apple rots those next to it until the whole crate is rotten, so Satan proceeds.

"If, in the government of God on earth today, the 'rotten apples' are not thrown out early enough, they would destroy the whole government."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Incredible Human Potential (New York: Everest House, 1978), p. 51.

"God started this Lucifer out with everything going for him."

"He had been trained and was thoroughly experienced in administration of the government of God at the very throne of the endless universe."

"Yet this superior being...had resorted to wrong reasoning and made a diabolical perverted decision. He worked on the angels under him until he turned their minds to rebellion also."

"...the king [God] set as ruler -- Lucifer -- rebelled, revolted, misled a third of all the angels, and the government of God no longer governed the earth."

"The question might be raised: Could not God have known, in advance, what Lucifer and the angels under him would do? Doesn't God know everything? The answer is no....He gave these Spirit beings, as He gives us, the power to think for ourselves, to choose, to make decisions. Otherwise we would be nothing more than automatons, doing what we are compelled to do."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Incredible Human Potential (New York: Everest House, 1978), pp. 58,60-61,62.

"God placed Lucifer on the throne of the earth. He was no longer administering the government of God -- he was now disqualified --"

"...once the earth became inhabited by those in rebellion against the government of God -- once that government ceased to function -- it became necessary for someone to qualify as successor to Lucifer (now Satan) -- and to qualify to restore the government and way of God, the successor must actually reject and/or turn from Satan's way."

"...Lucifer led his angels into rebellion. The government of God was rejected, no longer enforced. The earth as a result, became waste and empty, in confusion and utter darkness."

"Until Jesus had qualified to restore God's government by overcoming Satan, there could be no assurance, save in the mind and purpose of God, of the restoration of the government Satan had rejected."

"When [Lucifer] turned to rebellion, it left only God Himself who be utterly relied on NEVER to deviate from God's way -- God's government."

Herbert W. Armstrong, Incredible Human Potential (New York: Everest House, 1978), pp. 69, 73,115,153.

"Once [Adam] succumbed to Satan's WAY of choosing to 'do his own thing,' in rebellion against a deliberate command of God, he became spiritually the property of Satan. He actually succumbed to the GOVERNMENT of Satan, choosing the LAW of that government --"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1985), p. 141.

"The synagogue of Satan refers to the great apostacy that occurred at the close of the apostolic age, the apostacy which gave rise to the host of denominations we have today -- a great mother church and her daughter churches (Rev. 17)."

Letter 938, Radio Church of God Letter Answering Department, 1956.

"Whenever they were able to influence a majority in a local church...false ministers began to expel the true Christians.

"In the letter of the apostle John to Gaius, we read: 'I wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, AND CASTETH THEM OUT OF THE CHURCH' (III John 9 and 10).

"The true Christians, who alone comprised the true Church, were being put out of the visible, organized congregations."

"But that did not mean the scattered individuals were not part of the Church. They were the Church because they were joined to Christ through the Holy Spirit. Those who drove them out became the false church -- the church of the god of this world -- 'the synagogue of Satan.'"

"This synagogue of Satan is the great apostate church which developed after 80 A.D. and ultimately became recognized as the State Religion of the Roman Empire. That Church has had many Protestant daughters which are also Satan's churches (Rev. 17)."

Herman L. Hoeh, A True History of the True Church, (USA: Radio Church of God, 1959), pp. 7-8, 17.

"First, remember this Church was never large, never politically powerful, or a world-known organization of men. It is a spiritual organism, not a political organization. It is composed of all whose hearts and lives have been changed by the Spirit of God, whether visibly together, or individually scattered.

"Under the lash of continual persecution and opposition from the organized forces of this world, it is difficult for such a people to remain united and organized together."

"Even in Paul's day, many among those attending at Antioch, at Jerusalem, at Ephesus, at Corinth, and other places, began to apostatize and turn away from the truth. Divisions sprang up. Those individuals, unconverted or turned from God's truth and way of life, were no part of God's true Church, though visibly assembling with those who were. The 'mystery of iniquity' was already working within these visible churches. This apostasy increased! By the year A.D. 125 the majority in most churches, especially those Gentile-born, were continuing in many of their old pagan beliefs and practices, though professing to be Christian! Gradually, a smaller and smaller portion of the visible churches going by the name 'Christian' remained truly yielded to God and His truth, and led of His Spirit. After Constantine took virtual control of the visible, professing Church in the early fourth century, this visible organization became almost wholly pagan, and began excommunicating and persecuting all who held to the true Word of God! Finally, it became necessary for real Christians, who, even as a scattered people, alone composed the true Christian Church, to flee from the jurisdiction of Rome in order truly to worship God! Thus, the visible, organized Church which rose to power was the FALSE Church -- the 'Great Whore' of Revelation 17."

Herbert W. Armstrong, The Plain Truth About Easter (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1973), pp. 14-16.

"Perhaps the synagogue that claimed to be the synagogue of Jehovah but was really the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 3, v. 9; cf. 2:9) had excommunicated the Philadelphian Christians."

The Abingdon Bible Commentary (New York: Abingdon Press, 1929), p. 1376.

"First, Jesus and the apostles foretold, not a universal, widespread popular growth of the true New Testament Church, but a falling away from the truth on the part of the great majority. Prophesying a popular, universal falling away from the faith once delivered, to the Thessalonians Paul stated, 'The mystery of iniquity doth already work,' only some 20 years after the Church began!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, The Plain Truth About Easter (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1973), p. 12.

"And even in Paul's day many among those attending at Antioch, at Jerusalem, at Ephesus, at Corinth, and other places began to apostatize and to turn away from the truth. Divisions sprang up and those individuals unconverted or turned from God's truth and way of life were no part of God's true Church though visibly assembling with those who were."

"Now, gradually, a smaller and smaller portion of the visible churches going by the name Christian remained truly yielded to God and to His truth and lead by His Spirit. And after Emperor Constantine took virtual control of the visible professing church, in the early 4th century, the visible organization became almost wholly pagan and they began excommunicating and persecuting all who held to the true Word of God -- the Bible! And finally it became necessary for all real Christians, even as a scattered people, it became necessary for them to flee. And they, the ones that were led by the Spirit of God, the ones in whom Jesus Christ was living His life in them, they alone composed the true Church and they had to flee the jurisdiction of the government in order to truly worship God. That's what's happened my friends, to the Church, but God still has His ministers. God still has His Church. I want to tell you God's truth is still written in the pages of your Bible if you'll blow the dust off of it and look at it as it is."

Herbert W. Armstrong, World Tomorrow radio broadcast, 1960s.

"The inspired Paul warned in his last letter to Timothy: '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' (II Tim. 4:3-4)."

"...Paul wrote the Thessalonian Christians: 'Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first...' (II Thes. 2:3)."

"Thus we know that even in Paul's day the falling away from the truth had already begun..."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Antichrist Is Here!" Plain Truth, June 1956.

"...[Jesus Christ] prophesied apostasy. 'Many false prophets will rise up,' He said, 'and deceive many' (Matthew 24:11). Paul foretold the great 'falling away' from God's truth and Jesus Christ's Gospel, turning unto FABLES (II Thessalonians 2:1-12, II Timothy 4:1-4)."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "7 Keys to Understanding the Bible," Good News, December 1984.

"The apostasy and falling away from God's basic original TRUTH started about A.D. 54, near the time Paul wrote of the Galatians turning to a counterfeit gospel (Gal. 1:6-7). That spirit of iniquity, contrary to God's Law, was already working when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians (II Thess. 2:7)."

"But REMEMBER GOD'S PURPOSE WORKS IN A PROCESS OF DUALITY!"

"Remember God does things in DUAL stages."

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 19 March 1981.

"Before the end of the first century, the persecution had reduced the true Church. Many members had gone out of the true Church by the nineties A.D. (I John 2:19)."

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Why Did God Put You In His Church?" Good News, May 1974.

"The false Trinity teaching does limit God to three Persons. But God is not limited. As God repeatedly reveals, his purpose is to reproduce himself into what well may become billions of God persons. It is the false Trinity teaching that limits God, denies God's purpose and has palpably deceived the whole Christian world."

"The Trinity doctrine limits God to a supposed three Persons. It DESTROYS the very gospel of Jesus Christ! His gospel is the good news of the now soon-coming KINGDOM OF GOD...

"The Trinity doctrine...is the doctrine of the great false religion called in Revelation 17:5: 'Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.'

"By that doctrine, along with others, Satan has DECEIVED all traditional Christianity."

"Satan has deceived the entire world in regard to the very nature of WHO and WHAT God is..."

"The very first idea or teaching about God being a Trinity began in the latter half of the second century -- a hundred years after most of the New Testament had been written. The counterfeit Christianity spawned by Simon the Sorcerer was promoting it vigorously... But the true Church of God vigorously resisted it."

"In Ephesians 2:2, humans have been walking 'according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [Satan], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.'"

"The Bible explains: 'If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not' (II Cor. 4:3-4). Satan is the god of this world."

"When God 'drove out the man' from the Garden of Eden....God said, in effect: '...Go, therefore, Adam... Produce your own educational systems and means of disseminating knowledge, as your god Satan shall mislead you. Form your own concepts of what is god, your own religions... In all this Satan will deceive your world...'

"In Satan's deceived world many have come to a counterfeit Christ.... They have been deceived into worshiping 'another Jesus.'"

"It has become Satan's WORLD though millions have been deceived into believing it is God's world. To this day Satan is still on that throne.

"Meanwhile Satan has worked IN all humans... People have no realization of the tremendous power of Satan."

"Those called out of the world and into the Church at this time are called for a specific purpose and a specific work."

"Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving world and the professing traditional 'Christianity' to this fact (II Cor. 4:4). Satan has deceived the entire world, including a professing traditional 'Christianity' (Rev. 12:9)."

"The churches of this world of Satan are organized according to humanly devised patterns. But the Bible gives explicit directions in regard to Church government."

"The CHURCH is organized under theocratic government, hierarchial in form. The members do not set officials in the Church... Members do not elect them. Yet in the churches of this world some believe in government by the entire congregation -- 'democracy'..."

"But what about all the many organized churches labeled under the category 'Christianity'...?"

"Satan is a great COUNTERFEITER! He appears as 'an angel of light' (II Cor. 11:13-15). And he has his counterfeit CHURCHES! His ministers are deceived by him into believing they are 'ministers of righteousness' and of Christ (II Cor. 11:15; Matt. 24:5).

"'But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which we have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him....For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works'(II Cor. 11:3-4, 13-15).

"Notice these deceived but false churches believe they are the true church... Yet they have...not preached Jesus' true Gospel of THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Matt. 24:14)."

"The CHURCH, as initially called in this life, is NOT YET capable of RULING the earth... And THAT IS WHY God has placed HIS GOVERNMENT in his Church. That is WHY God's Church government is theocratic instead of democratic... That is WHY it is hierarchial in form -- government from GOD at the top down, not from the bottom up... It is the SAME government by which Christ shall rule all nations beginning with the millennium!

"And that is WHY Satan has subtilely influenced dissidents in God's Church to become resentful and bitter over God's government...

"The churches of this world...DO NOT speak of the government of GOD... They do not preach Jesus as coming KING -- but only as Savior... And that is to say, they deliberately REJECT and OMIT the gospel MESSAGE of Christ in their teaching and preaching!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages (Pasadena: Worldwide Church of God, 1985), pp. 45, 51, 54, 59, 120, 134, 142, 143, 215-216, 242, 246, 249, 250, 279.

"God said [to Adam and Eve], '...Go, form your own ideas of right and wrong, led and swayed by Satan. You have rejected me as your GOD. Go form your own concepts of gods. Form your own religions. You have rejected my GOVERNMENT over you. Go, form your own unworkable forms of governments.'"

"'Satan will guide you, so you will in fact build SATAN'S world. But he will deceive you into thinking you live in GOD'S world. He will deceive you into thinking HE is God and that there really is no devil -- yet he will make himself the god of your world!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, letter to brethren, 27 May 1980.

"God reserves His strongest condemnation for those who claim to be speaking for Him, but are actually leading people away from the true God.

"'Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams...and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all...for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts, our God...' (Jer. 23)."

"Not all false prophets come from outside the Church. Some were formerly faithful servants of God, but swerved from the 'straight and narrow' path."

"Faithful pastors protect the flock from those who would spoil them. But some of those called and ordained in God's true Church would covet Christ's sheep. So they would turn from the teachings and the teachers they had originally acknowledged."

"Why does God allow wolves to have access to His flock? Why doesn't He expose them before they do any harm? He has his reasons!

"The first and most basic scripture about false prophets explains why. 'If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign of the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul' (Deut. 13:1-3).

"God wants his flock to stay with Him and the truth no matter what."

"The flock of God is certain to encounter many trials and tests -- false prophets and treasonous pastors among them. But the true sheep of His pasture, who seek His leadership and His will, won't be led astray and devoured. Thankfully, it is just not possible. Christ's sheep will see the fake fleece and run!"

Robert E. Fahey, "Beware of False Prophets," Good News, May 1979.

"The thing is, whoever is the Apostle, whoever is guiding and putting the truth into the Church must be honest with the Word of God! Now, if you ever find me dishonest with the Word of God you reject me as God's Apostle."

Herbert W. Armstrong, taped Bible study on II Corinthians 2, Tucson, Arizona, 6 December 1980.

"...inferiority manifests itself in a desire to belong to a group, club, society, church, group, organization to which one belongs. One would fear to be disloyal, lest the others in this factional group consider him a traitor..."

"Yes, it is human to fear the society to which we have become attached in the way we should fear the Creator God!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Why God Is Not Real to Most People," Worldwide Church of God article reprint.

"One of the most common forms of modern idolatry is making an idol out of one's church or society."

"If you blindly obey the dictates of your family, your church or society instead of the direct commands of God, you are guilty of idolatry. That group or institution becomes an idol to you in place of the true God."

Roderick C. Meredith, The Ten Commandments (Pasadena: Ambassador College Press, 1977), pp. 20-21.

"Christ has promised to be with and specially guide His called servants in matters of Church government and discipline (Matthew 18:15-20)."

"Although Jesus specially promised to guide His ministers in exercising their authority to 'bind' or 'loose' in applying God's law to a particular case, He did not promise that they would never make a mistake in appointing some to offices in the Church. Paul told the Ephesian elders whom he ordained: '...Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them' (Acts 20:30)."

Roderick C. Meredith, "Should You Help the Underdog?" Good News, March 1979.

"All of your respect to any minister should be based upon the fact that you have first proved to yourself that he really is a true servant of God....You need to look at the 'fruit,' the results in proclaiming the true Gospel, in leading the flock into the truth and ways of God, in healing the sick -- the accomplishments in the work of the ministry, carrying out the commission of Christ."

"Christians must be alert to the prophecy that even from among their leaders some would arise speaking perverse things -- twisting God's Word (Acts 20:29-31)."

"So respect and obey God's true ministers, but constantly study to acquire the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5) and to perceive a deceiver who might arise."

"The apostle Paul commands us to be humble. 'Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' (Eph. 4:3). Some ministers quote this text to persuade their congregation to blindly follow them in a false unity, not of the Spirit... The unity of God's Spirit....is not unity based on man's reasoning swayed by the devil!"

"...if there is ever a case when you have a real conviction that one of God's ministers is teaching something contrary to His will, you ought to 'obey God rather than men' (Acts 5:29)."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Final Authority," Good News, June-July 1979.

"By the year A.D. 125 the majority in most churches, especially those Gentile-born, were continuing in many of their old pagan beliefs and practices, though professing to be Christian! Gradually, a smaller and smaller portion of the visible churches going by the name 'Christian' remained truly yielded to God and His truth, and led of His Spirit. After Constantine took virtual control of the visible, professing Church in the early fourth century, this visible organization became almost wholly pagan, and began excommunicating and persecuting all who held to the true Word of God! Finally, it became necessary for real Christians, who, even as a scattered people, alone composed the true Christian Church, to flee from the jurisdiction of Rome in order truly to worship God! Thus, the visible, organized Church which rose to power was the FALSE Church -- the 'Great Whore' of Revelation 17."

Herbert W. Armstrong, The Plain Truth About Easter (USA: Worldwide Church of God, 1973), pp. 14-16.

"During the first 300 years after Christ, entirely apart from the true Church, more than fifty different professing 'Christian' sects appeared... They tried this idea of 'having LOVE' for those with whom they disagreed. But the DIVINE Love of God -- the same Spirit that guides all brethren in GOD'S WAY, into ALL TRUTH -- was not the kind of love they had. Their human 'love' only divided them in error! It proved no foundation for unity. It brought repeated DIVISION."

"The [Catholic] Church evolved the 'primacy of Peter' doctrine. The principle of authoritative government in the Church was God's -- but their system of using it was Satan's. It was not GOD'S government, but that of men swayed by Satan."

"Until the time of Luther, this counterfeit Church government, however, did prevent division! The Roman Church continued many centuries undivided. But the system of applying the principle of Church government was all wrong. It ruled by the will of man, Satan-inspired. It preserved unity by physical FORCE. It was the instrument of Satan. Therefore its fruits were EVIL!

"The Protestant movement failed to correct what was wrong. Because the Catholic government was a counterfeit mis-rule, they abolished the rule, instead of yielding themselves to the divine government of GOD. They reasoned that every man ought to do what was right in his own eyes."

"Some...wanted DEMOCRACY -- government by the whole congregation."

"They went the way that seemed right in their own eyes. But, devout though they were, they had no firm basis for UNITY. They split and re-split, and today we have hundreds of Protestant denominations!"

Herbert W. Armstrong, "Christ Did Put Authority and Rule in His Church," Good News, January 1957.

"At the start of the Reformation, where was the church Jesus built, the church to which He promised, 'I am with you alway?' If it was the Roman Catholic Church, then the Protestants were simply -- as Catholic historians claim -- revolting against the Church of God on earth."

"But if the case be that the church of Rome is not the church that Jesus built, then why did not the reformers seek for and unite with that church which had never participated in the paganism of Rome nor been contaminated by her false doctrine and influence, the church which Jesus promised to be with until the end of the age, the church of which He is the living Head?"

"Why start many new churches if that one true church was still in existence?"

"In spite of the apostasy of the majority, there is an abundance of historical evidence to indicate that a number of Christian societies -- some holding much of the truth, some very little -- continued to follow the basic doctrines and practices of the original church right down to the time of the Reformation."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation," Plain Truth, July 1958.

"It is an historical fact that there were many selfish and materialistic reasons why the Reformation took place when and how it did. Many of them were entirely divorced from a pure religious motive.

"There is no doubt that political, intellectual and financial considerations played a prominent part in bringing about the Reformation of the sixteenth century."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation," Plain Truth, September 1958.

"Without consulting the Bible to find out what type of church government Christ has instituted in His church, Luther thought out a system of his own."

"Luther decided that great freedom was permissible in the details of worship, as long as the 'Word of God' was kept central."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation," Plain Truth, November 1958.

"Like Luther and Zwingli before him, Calvin was trained for the Catholic priesthood. Thus, he too had deeply ingrained in his mind many concepts imparted by the Roman church..."

"It is significant...that the three most prominent leaders among the early reformers were all trained as 'Roman' theologians before entering on their reformatory activities....they all retained many pagan concepts and traditions which had crept into the Roman system during the Dark Ages."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation," Plain Truth, February 1959.

"We have seen that the real explanation [for the Protestant reformers' persecution of the Anabaptists] lies in the fact that the early reformers 'inherited' much of the doctrine and spirit of their 'mother' church. They were as men spiritually drunk -- unable to see clearly the real meaning and outcome of their teachings and actions."

Roderick C. Meredith, "The Plain Truth About the Protestant Reformation," Plain Truth, April 1959.

"We have seen how Martin Luther rebelled against this corrupt hierarchy, but still retained most of its doctrines and traditions.... The answer to many peculiar and wicked Protestant deeds is that, even long after their separation from Rome and their 'conversion' to Protestantism, the early reformers and their followers were still literally saturated with the doctrines, the concepts and the practices of their 'mother' church at Rome."

"At least in order to clear their own consciences, the Protestant leaders were forced to distort or reject many passages of Scripture which did not conform to their doctrinal ideas."

"Remember that Jesus spoke of His Church as the 'little flock.' He taught that it was to be scattered and persecuted (Mat. 10:16-23; John 15:18-20).

"The Church of Revelation 12 is pictured as being small and weak of itself. It is pictured as having to flee into the wilderness during the Middle Ages (Rev. 12:5-6). Certainly this picture is exactly the opposite of the dominant, worldly, historical Catholic Church! This is the Church the reformers should have united with, but did not."

"The reformers were actually rebelling against only a small part of the Roman Catholic teachings. And they were as men spiritually drunk -- not knowing where they wanted to go, or how to get there -- still guided and misled by a background of paganized Roman doctrines and concepts.....when they came out of the Roman Catholic Church they brought most of her teachings and traditio