Herbert W Armstrong

   What does that mean? JUST THIS:

   Bible prophecies say that this newly-resurrected Roman Empire will plunge us into WORLD WAR III — HYDROGEN BOMB WAR!!! — that our cities will be destroyed — a third of our people killed!

   Most Americans seem to think this present movement toward a UNITED EUROPE is a good thing — that it will be friendly to the United States. But de Gaulle already is showing how it is headed. GOD SAYS they will invade, conquer and DESTROY THIS NATION!

   For more than 30 years I have sounded the warning. WHEN this happens — very possibly in a short 8 or 9 more years — it means THE GREAT TRIBULATION shall have struck us — and the world will be on the VERY BRINK of THE DAY OF THE LORD, the END of this world, and the coming of CHRIST to set up the WORLD-GOVERNMENT OF GOD!

   And also WHEN this happens, MY VOICE and MY SON'S WILL BE STILLED! There will be no more editions of the PLAIN TRUTH. OUR WORK WILL BE DONE!

   Yet the BIGGEST, and by far the MOST IMPORTANT PART of God's Work He is doing THROUGH YOU AND ME, remains yet to be done! Some might say: "Well, if that's all the time we have left, why go on planning and trying to build bigger?"

   WHY? Because GOD's WORK is not yet FINISHED! The MOST IMPORTANT and BIGGEST part is yet to be done! Because we must NEVER stop! Because Jesus Christ said: "Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so DOING." (Luke 12:13). He was speaking of faithful and wise stewards in the WORK OF GOD — the very WORK you and I have been called into. Christ taught that we must continue FULL PRESSURE AHEAD, right up to the very END!

   Did you ever realize the REAL MESSAGE to YOU and to me, in this very Work of God TODAY, in the parables of the Pounds, and the Talents?

   These are like DIRECT TEACHINGS FROM CHRIST, JUST PERSONALLY TO YOU AND ME, IN THIS WORK RIGHT NOW, TODAY!

   Take the parable of the pounds, in Luke 19:11-27: WHY did Jesus speak this parable? Because His disciples thought the Kingdom of God was to be set up immediately — in THEIR time — between 27 and 31 A.D. It has to do with CHRIST'S COMING — and WHY He went to heaven, instead of taking over world government right then.

   Jesus pictured Himself as the young Nobleman going to a far country to receive authority to rule a Kingdom — and then to return. It was necessary for Jesus to go to GOD'S THRONE in heaven — the very THRONE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNIVERSE — to receive His Rulership for God's WORLD-RULING Government.

   But there was another reason. There needed to be time to carry out GOD'S WORK — which God has called us, today, to finish.

   The TEN SERVANTS He called simply represent those called and chosen for this Work out of the TEN Tribes of Israel. And that means America and Canada and Britain today! Remember the nation Israel had been divided into TWO nations, in the days of Rehoboam, son of Solomon. The TEN Tribes were called the HOUSE OF ISRAEL. The others THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, nicknamed the Jews. In Jesus' day, the Ten Tribes had long before migrated into the British Isles and Northwestern Europe. The JEWS were then in Palestine

   Now Jesus Himself was of the House of JUDAH, and the dynasty of David. He came unto HIS OWN — JUDAH — and His own nation "received Him not" (John 1:11). Did Jesus, then, turn to the GENTILES? NO! It was PAUL who later said, "Lo, I turn to the Gentiles." Jesus, rather, turned to the LOST Ten Tribes of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL — called the lost "sheep" (Matt. 15:24). He sent His GOSPEL to them by His TWELVE APOSTLES (Matt. 10:6).

   So, as the parable in Luke 19 shows, HIS CITIZENS — the Jews of the Kingdom of JUDAH — rejected Him, saying, "We will not have this man to reign over us." That is why He gave His TEN POUNDS to those of the TEN TRIBES, signified by the "ten servants." WE ARE THAT PEOPLE! That is why God has called YOU to HIS WORK!

   Now a "pound" as used here is the English unit of MONEY. A British pound is, today, worth about $2.80. There is a REASON why Jesus used MONEY as the medium in His parable. He gave these pounds to those He was calling INTO HIS SERVICE. They were to "OCCUPY" — till Christ's second coming.

   Now what does "OCCUPY" mean? Remember Luke wrote originally in the Greek language. That word "OCCUPY" is in the outdated English of the year 1611, when the "King James" version was translated from the Greek language. The Greek word Luke wrote was "pragmateuomai," which means "do, or carry on business, with the resources entrusted to you. In other words, the real meaning of Jesus is USE THE MONEY GOD ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE TO CARRY ON GOD'S WORK."

   What is that Work? To proclaim the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of the world-ruling Kingdom — or GOVERNMENT — of God, which Christ is coming to set up — which Christ went to heaven to RECEIVE God's authority to set up!

   THAT IS THE PRECISE WORK GOD HAS CALLED YOU, as a Co-Worker with Christ, to have YOUR PART in doing — the same as He has called me, and our ever-growing staff of specially trained consecrated full-time servants in carrying on GOD'S WORK!

   This parable of the pounds refers directly to the USE OF OUR MONEY in carrying on this very WORK OF GOD. Whatever you have, whether much or little, God has provided you with. Everything we have has come, originally, out of the earth. God created and owns the earth. ALL IS HIS. God claims the first TEN PERCENT (the tithe) as His, for HIS WORK. We OWE God His tithe. It does not belong to us. If we use it for ourselves, God says we are stealing it from Him (Malachi 3:8-9). But God also commands us to GIVE offerings — and says we rob Him if we fail to give them (same verse).

   Now notice carefully the MEANING of this parable: It is while Jesus is in heaven, on His father's throne, that we are to "trade," or "carry on His business" with the "pounds" He gives us from His earth. But when He comes, He will call YOU and me to an accounting. Notice what shall happen, SOON, when Christ returns to this earth:

   "And it came to pass, when He was returned, having received the Kingdom, then He commanded those servants (YOU and me) to be called unto Him, to whom He had given the money, that He might know how much every man had gained by trading." (That is, in GOD'S business — proclaiming HIS GOSPEL).

   To the one whose pound gained ten, He said, "Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in VERY LITTLE, have thou authority over ten cities." He enters GOD'S KINGDOM in joy, with eternal life. He may have had very little money, as some of you have, yet if he was FAITHFUL in tithes and generous offerings, he enters his reward.

   But what about the one who received his share of God's money from God's earth (ALL you have come from God's earth!) but put NONE of it into GOD'S BUSINESS — contributed NOTHING toward warning the world with Christ's Message — contributed nothing toward the salvation of precious lives for eternity in God's Kingdom. THEY HAD EVERYTHING TAKEN AWAY — they LOST EVERYTHING!

   Time after time I have told our Co-Workers in these letters HOW MUCH is GAINED — produced — by every single dollar placed in this glorious WORK OF GOD! This is the very Work CHRIST directs! HE is its HEAD. It has His GUIDANCE. It plunges forth in HIS POWER — the power of His HOLY SPIRIT! This is the Work HE BLESSES, and PROSPERS!

   The money placed in this Work is WORKING where CHRIST is working!

   That is why this Work is GROWING, and constantly MULTIPLYING in power and scope! Around the WORLD! Now the MOST POWERFUL broadcast in the world on radio!

   The parable of the talents, in Matthew 25, gives the same lesson, with emphasis on different phases of it. Co-Workers, Jesus Christ IS CONCERNED with whether our hearts are in HIS WORK — and with how generous we are with our MONEY in regard to HIS WORK!

   As this Work grows, we MUST have more and more completely yielded, consecrated, and specially trained full-time staff members for the MANY important positions in this Work, AROUND THE WORLD.

   We have to staff offices in South Africa, in Geneva, in Dusseldorf, in Vancouver, B.C., in Manila, in Sydney, Australia. We have to send trained and chosen men out to counsel with and baptize the thousands being converted.

   These men and women must be trained in the Ambassador Colleges — GOD'S OWN colleges! Unless these colleges grow, the WORK cannot grow. We have OUTGROWN our present buildings and facilities. UNLESS WE CAN ERECT ADDITIONAL BUILDINGS FOR CLASSROOMS, DORMITORIES, DINING HALLS, ASSEMBLY HALLS, GOD'S WORK CANNOT GROW!

   I have sent you, before, a "statement of intention" card, for additional, and SPECIAL offerings each month over and above regular tithes and offerings — for the special BUILDING FUND. I want to THANK those of you who have filled them out and returned them, from the bottom of my heart. BUT WE DO NOT YET HAVE ENOUGH!

   Some might ask: "WHY do you need these statements of intention?" Some might say: "Why isn't it just as good if I just send in whatever I can, whenever I can?"

   Let me answer that. Did you never read what Jesus said about BUILDING A BUILDING? "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? lest, haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish." (Luke 14:28-30).

   Shall I be so FOOLISH, dear Co-Workers? Shall I do what Jesus tells us is unwise and foolish, and have the world ridicule and mock GOD'S Work, and bring it to shame?

   WE HERE AT HEADQUARTERS MUST KNOW WHETHER WE SHALL BE ABLE TO FINISH IT, BEFORE WE LAY THE FOUNDATION OF EACH BUILDING! THAT'S WHY I have to ask for these cards. I have not called them "pledge" cards. They certainly are not making a vow. IF, for any reason, you find you are not able to keep up the indicated amount, YOU ARE NOT BOUND — though I would appreciate it, IF you find you cannot continue it, if you would just write a note and let me know. If that should happen, I'm sure God will cause somebody else to make it up. Just write in this card the amount you feel you will be able to send each month as an extra SPECIAL offering, IN ADDITIOn to other offerings and tithes. Then if you can send MORE, do so. Several are sending MORE than the estimated amount written on the card.

   But you see WE DO NEED THESE CARDS, so we may count the cost and KNOW we shall be able to FINISH before STARTING a building. THIS IS CHRIST'S WAY. You see, we must actually LIVE BY the Word of God — the Bible. That is what we do in GOD'S WORK.

   I notice that this past month there was a great slacking off in the loans. Many have some money ahead — sums larger than they feel able to give outright at this time — which they put to be WORKING in God's Work on a loan basis, until they find they need it. Of course many of these loans — or parts of them — are later converted into contributions, if and when the lender finds he is able to GIVE it. But if not, we will return it as or when you need it.

   But if you can GIVE, as a straight contribution, larger sums in amount of one or more thousands of dollars, IT HAS NEVER BEEN MORE NEEDED! Not many can give such large sums. That is why they count so very much! But it is the smaller amounts from the larger NUMBER of faithful Co-Workers which must be the backbone of supplying the need of GOD'S WORK!

   So, whether it be small or great — God will bless you.

   ARE YOU CONTINUALLY PRAYING FOR THIS WORK? Your prayers are needed a thousand times more urgently than you realize!