Herbert W Armstrong

   I'm sure that all of you have heard from other people in the church, especially those who have preceded you, who have been in the church for a while, tell you something like this: "The church is going to flee to a place of safety 3 1/2 years before Christ's return." I won't ask how many of you have heard something like this because surely all of you have heard about it. This particular subject is one that has generated much speculation and interest over the years and uh has been, I'm sure even before my wife and I came in the church, but it's been that way we know since 1951. And it was of great interest, especially to us in those early years.

   And some have said one thing, some have said another. Some in the church has said, "Well, we're not going to flee. We're just going to be protected wherever we are." Others have said, "There is no place, but there are many places of safety." Others have said, "Well, it's just wherever the nearest mountain is." Of course, that leaves Texans in a little bit of a quandary maybe.

   Others have said, and this is true because I have heard this from people who heard it with their own ears. One man who went to Houston, excuse me, went to Pasadena from Houston said that the place of safety was, guess where? Houston! So you've already made it. Later though, this individual decided that he had made a mistake and the next time he went to Pasadena, he said, no, that it was going to be Pasadena, California. I guess that's before it falls off into the sea.

   Others have said that the place of safety is going to be the area of ancient Edom, Moab, or Ammon. And some have said that it is a place called Masada. If you don't know where Masada is, it's an interesting story to read about it, which I won't elaborate upon now at all. Others have said that it's Petra, which is sometimes and rather appropriately been called the rose-colored city of the dead. That sounds exciting, doesn't it?

   I remember in 1953 when we were going to make our first very long trip in the church from Oregon, Portland, Oregon to as we call it Gladewater, Texas, and we've never been there. All we could do is look on the map and see where it was. And we thought, you know, that's out sort of in a barren waste. There probably aren't trees within miles of there, probably very dry and so on and so forth, and of course we were rather surprised before we got there, we almost drowned on the way.

   Anyway, since we were going so far and our funds were rather limited for such a long trip, we decided to buy a tent, so we bought a 9x9 pyramid tent that would take care of my wife and I and our 3 children. And so when we got it all fixed up, you know, we had wall to wall people. Anyway, when we bought this, we sincerely thought, you know, we may take this tent to Petra. Well, I don't know what's happened to that tent. I know what we did with it. We used it for that one year and that was more than enough. Well, we had great ideas, you know, that place of safety was just around the corner and we're all ready and raring to go. That was in 1953. I suppose that tent by now has rotted, but I don't know, of course.

   I remember that some of us thought, some in the church thought that we were going to flee to a place of safety in 1972. Actually, of course, some said we're going to do that in January of 1972 because of course the, the bombs were going to fall in 1972. And in case you didn't know when, the first week in January is when they were going to fall. I don't remember that happening, but at least some thought that that was the case.

   And there was one family that I heard about in anticipation of the church fleeing to Petra, they were going to be sure that they were going to be there. So what did they do? Well, they got their passports and they sold everything, I guess, and they literally moved to Jordan and were there in January of 1972. Now, I don't know if they're still there or not, but at least they were at that particular time. What's happened since then, I don't know, but I imagine they're rather disappointed because the church didn't go there to meet them. I presume they thought that they would be the first ones in Petra, and they'd be able to greet all the others when they arrived.

   I remember back around 1971, maybe '70-'71, 1972, and I don't recall the exact time that some people were saying, "Get your passport!" Because we're about ready to flee. And some were saying, you know, "Get your silver, your silver coins, because the other kind will be worthless" and uh you'll need that in order to buy food and do this, that and the other thing. I presume that some of you heard things along this line and maybe you could tell some stories too about people and their plans and what they have done in regard to going to Petra or going to a place of safety.

   I remember many years ago, and this was back in the 50s, that a former business associate of Mr. Herbert Armstrong, who has long since uh not been associated with the work, but he was at that time, he wasn't employed by the work, but he was associated with the work in a very important way. But he was talking to another business associate. Now both of these men were not members of the church. But since that time, one has become a member of the church, but at that time, neither of them were members of the church. But they were rather close to Mr. Armstrong because of the business association. And they were talking about this place of safety on one occasion. And so the one man said something like this to the other, uh, that, uh, he was talking anyway about when we go to this place of safety. And this sort of startled the other man, I guess, and he relayed it to somebody else. He says, "You know, he thinks that he's going to go with us to a place of safety." Well, that was rather amusing to those that heard it, you know, because uh they thought well now here are all these people that aren't even members of the church and may never be members of the church as far as that's concerned and uh they're doing this, that and the other thing which are contrary to God's ways and they think they're going with us, you know, to a place of safety.

   Now just this past week, and I mean just this past week, uh, a lady from one of the Houston churches uh called my wife. I didn't happen to be there at that particular time, and she asked, "Well, now when we go to a place of safety, will my unconverted husband and son get to go?" I don't remember now what my wife answered her, but I don't suppose she was able to give her a specific answer necessarily because of course, these things are, first of all in God's hands, even though of course the Bible does give us some guidelines that might be of help along that line. But this indicates even the current interest in this subject. And I know that there are others that are scattered around that are talking about going to a place of safety and that we're just about ready to flee, probably in the next few weeks if maybe not the next few days. I sort of call this "Petra fever." I hope none of you have it.

   Now one reason why people get excited about this as far as a specific time ??" it is because they can count backwards as well as forward, and they can count 1260 days, 1290 days, 1,335 days or 3 1/2 years from when they think Christ will return. Uh there's only one catch to that. Nobody, and I mean nobody, knows when Jesus Christ is going to return. Now, I know God the Father does, and I presume by now Jesus Christ long since has found out, but you and I and all the rest of us on the face of this earth, none of us know when Jesus Christ is going to return. So there can be quite a danger here because we may make plans, we may say things, we may do things based on such a conclusion when that conclusion is not based on fact at all.

   Now what does the Bible say about all this? Or does it say anything about it? Let me go back to the first statement that I read to you, that the church is going to flee to a place of safety 3 1/2 years before Christ returns. Now I worded that very carefully. Because that statement is wrong on 3 counts. And you may think I don't know what I'm talking about, but I've studied the subject for a little while, you know, it's been interesting to me too over the last, uh, what, 28 years. And uh, so during that time, you know, I've read the scriptures that relate to this particular subject.

   Now first, and you think that I don't know what I'm talking about when I say this, and then I'll show you in the Bible that this is true, that the Bible does not say that the church will flee. Now you think I'm wrong in that. I'll repeat that. You may think that the Bible says that the church will flee. I want to show you that the Bible does not say the church will flee. And I'm going to be very specific. I'm going to be very exact to show you that.

   Now, secondly, the Bible, nowhere refers to a "place of safety,. You can take those three words "place of safety" and you can look in their concordance or you can read from the first verse in the Bible to the last verse in the Bible, and you will nowhere find the words "place of safety." At least I haven't found it.

   Number 3, if or when the church goes to a place of safety, and maybe I should say uh "if" because this place of safety now is a little bit of question as far as uh what we mean by that. But any going to a special place by the church must precede 3 1/2 years. And of course, the Bible does mention a 3 1/2 year period that part of the church will be in a particular place, and we'll see that later. And so on 3 counts that statement ??" that the church is going to flee to a place of safety 3 1/2 years before Christ returns ??" in 3 counts at least, that is an incorrect statement. And yet I know those things are commonly believed by many in the Church of God.

   Now what does God say? What does the Bible say? Don't be too sure that you know. And I hope that you will hear me out and we'll go through those scriptures. And I may point out some things that you didn't notice were there or maybe we'll see some things you thought were there that weren't there.

   Alright, now first, consider that there are 3 different but distinctly related events that the Bible speaks of relative to the subject. There are 3 distinct, and you might call it 4 distinct events that Bible prophecies tell us and sometimes people put all those 3 or 4 together. And no wonder they're confused.

   Now, let's turn to the book of Luke chapter 21. Luke 21. And we'll be seeing uh this little passage uh more than once that we go through the subject, so I will not cover all of the points at one time. Let's look at Luke 21 starting in verse 20 (Luke 21:20). It says, "When you shall see Jerusalem compassed or encircled with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea, flee to the mountains and let them which were in the midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries enter thereunto. For these are the days of vengeance and the time of great distress" and so forth as he mentions right after that.

   Now another place where essentially the same thing is given is over in Matthew 24, and this might be a little more familiar, but let's turn there. Matthew 24 starting in verse 15 (Matthew 24:15). "When you therefor shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, stand in the holy place, who so reads, let him understand, let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the house top not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him, which is in the field, return back to take his clothes." And then again, he mentions how extreme these conditions are going to be. And uh then in verse 21, maybe I should read verse 20, but "Pray you that your flight..." Now notice this word "flight" and we're going to see the word "flight" and "flee" in several particular scriptures uh here and also in the book of Revelation. So he said, "But pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation" and so on and so forth.

   All right, now I want to emphasize certain things here. Number one is that it speaks about those in Judea. Now where are you? You're in Houston, Texas. This is talking about people in Judea. Now, do you know where Judea is from the Bible point of view? It's not Pasadena, California. It's not Houston, Texas. It's over in an area presently called the nation of Israel, where the city of Jerusalem is located, Jerusalem, Israel. That is in the ancient area of Judea. This is a specific pointed prophecy for people in Judea.

   Now, if you're in Judea at the time, this prophecy is being fulfilled and this flight is supposed to occur, then you're told here what you ought to do. And it's called a flight. Now, what does the word flight mean? If you look up in the uh uh Greek and then look up the meaning of the word, you'll find that the Greek word for flight here is "phuge." We would spell it, I suppose, P-H-U-G-E. And it literally means fleeing or escape, or flight.

   Now, by flight, you're not talking about flying in the air. Totally separate from that meaning, but you, you realize that the word fleeing can mean flight and not necessarily be talking about flying in the air. I want to make that distinction because we're going to see another word when we come to the book of Revelation that is very different from this word. So here the word has to do with fleeing, escaping or a flight, not going up into the air but fleeing, you know, on the surface, or for that matter, it's just not implying one way or the other, but at least it's not uh emphasizing flying at all. Maybe a flight might be uh by air as far as that's concerned, but when you read the account here, I think very obviously that's not the kind of flight or fleeing that he's talking about.

   Now, this particular flight or this fleeing, if I can use that term, comes after a specific sign. And this sign of course is for those in Judea at that time to flee for their lives. And it's a very, very sudden thing. Now, we'll come a little bit more to this later because there are two phases of this. This particular prophecy is in a sense a two-fold or a dual prophecy, not in its entirety, but at least in a general way.

   And I'd like to go back now and recount to you just very briefly some of the events that took place between 66 and 70 A.D., that's in the first century. This was, uh, you know, roughly, uh, what, 35 to 40 years after the finish of Christ's mission, His crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension to heaven, the establishment of the church. So about 35 or 40 years later is the time that I have reference to.

   At that time, there was an uprising or rebellion on the part of the Jews. And there were various sieges and wars throughout the land of Palestine at that particular time where the Romans under various of their generals, the first one and then another, were quelling this rebellion and putting down their opposition, but it ended finally in the Roman armies under Titus, who was at that time then the son of the Emperor Vespasian, who had been the previous general there before he had been made emperor, and anyway, he took completely the land of Palestine and those who were left after the sieges and after the war and so on were taken into captivity, literal captivity and removed from that particular land.

   Now, a very interesting event took place as far as the Church of God is concerned, and the only source that I know of that recounts this is from a Catholic source. It's from the writings of a man by the name of Eusebius who lived during the time of Constantine in the 4th century. And here is an exact quote now, of course this is translated into English from the original Greek or Latin whatever it was written in. And here's the exact quote now of what he said. He said, "But the members of the church in Jerusalem," and he's talking about the true church, which he was not a part of, but maybe he didn't realize that. I don't know. Uh, they thought, you know, that they were an extension of that same Christianity. He says, "But the members of the church in Jerusalem were instructed by a prophecy revealed to the leaders to abandon the city before the war and to take up residence in one of the cities of Perea, which was named Pella," end of quotation.

   So here now is a historical account of how the church at Jerusalem removed and went to a place called Pella, P-E-L-L-A. If you have uh a map of the Bible times, particularly during the time of Christ, you can look for the province of Perea and you might be able to find the little town of Pella. It's up north of the Sea of Tiberius or the Sea of Galilee.

   Now in the next paragraph continuing this uh particular account, Eusebius said, and here is an exact quote again, "that they migrated to Pella." They migrated to Pella. He didn't say they fled for their lives. He just said they migrated. Now, when did they quote "migrate," end quote? If it were early in the period that I just mentioned from 66 to 70 A.D., they would have arrived in Pella before the Roman army swept across that particular area, and they would have been captured by the Roman army because the Roman army went across there. It captured all the people, destroyed the city as best I recall, and so on.

   Now, if it would have been late in that period, 66 to 70 A.D., after the Roman armies had gone over Pella and captured Pella and so on, then they would not have been harmed. The thing that I would like to emphasize here is that if those people would have gone too early, they would have been either killed or taken captive. But if they went at the right time, they could have received protection and would not have been harmed at all by the Roman army, by the invading Roman armies.

   Now, there's a rather remarkable account that you'll read in the book of Josephus and those of you who like to research these things, you may want to write down where you will find it in the book of Josephus in the book of the wars, uh, book 6, chapter 5, and section 3. This is book 6, chapter 5, section 3. He in that particular section recounts several very remarkable things that took place during this period that I have been referring to from 66 to 70 A.D. And one of those remarkable events that took place was the following.

   There was the sound of a great multitude in the temple. This is a miraculous thing now. It wasn't that there were a lot of people there, but the sound of a great multitude in the temple, which said, quote, "Let us remove hence," end quote. Now, this is an exact quote from the Western translation. "Let us remove hence," end quote. Now this occurred, he said, on the day of Pentecost. He doesn't say the year, but probably it was 69 A.D. because by the following Pentecost, Jerusalem was already in its final death throes with uh the Roman armies surrounding the city and uh besieging the city and finally many of them died by starvation, by famine, by disease, uh and also ultimately by the Roman armies and then those who were left were taken captive and made slaves, literal slaves.

   So probably it was in '69 A.D. on the day of Pentecost. And some believe, and this seems very reasonable, that the leaders of the church were aware of this and they realized that this meant now that they should go to a different place because they realized that the destruction of Jerusalem was near, which it was, it was just a little over a year away. And then the prophecy you find here in Matthew 24, in its former fulfillment, which is not complete in every detail, but there is a former fulfillment, at least in a general way, of these things. And uh so they realized that they had to leave there because armies did circle Jerusalem as we read over in Luke's account. And then after that they very surprisingly withdrew and it was about 4 years, a little less than 4 years before the final assault came on Jerusalem and when then it was impossible to escape. But after the first circling of Jerusalem and withdrawal, then God's church could leave, which they did.

   Now this migration ??" and I'm using now the words of Eusebius ??" this migration was not an emergency flight as described in the Olivet prophecy that I just read to you. Now, obviously, as you read this account in Matthew and also in Luke, you'll see that it's talking about a very urgent emergency exit and flight. And that particular event is yet to occur to God's people in Judea, not Houston, in Judea. So there will yet be an emergency flight where when this sign is seen that God's people there, however many there are there in Jerusalem at that time, whether few or many, when they see this sign, the abomination of desolation set up in Judea, you know, the abomination, not, it's not talking about an abomination being set up in Pasadena, California or Tucson, Arizona or, or Houston, Texas. It's talking about one in Judea that you can see with your own eyes.

   Now at that time, God's people who realize that and see this, they aren't even supposed to go back in the house to get a coat. They're not even to go back into the house, you know, to get the wife and the children. That's what it says. A very, very serious urgent emergency when those people there will flee for their lives. And that will be a flight in the sense of a fleeing. But that's not talking about the church in quotes, you know, it's not talking about the whole church. That's just talking about the people in Judea. If it were to happen today, I don't know how many people that would involve ??" a dozen,, 2 dozen. How many it'll be at that time, I don't know, of course.

   Alright, so that is a 2nd fulfillment of an event that is related, you might say to the subject of uh fleeing to a place of safety.

   Now, let's go to the book of Revelation next. To the book of Revelation. And sure you know the chapter that I'm going to turn to ??" chapter 12. Chapter 12 gives us a very long prophecy starting with events that took place even before uh apparently, uh, Adam was created. And Mr. Armstrong has emphasized and talked about this a great deal, so I won't. It's uh not helpful as far as the subject of today is concerned anyway, but it mentions about this man-child referring to Jesus Christ, we understand very clearly. And uh this is mentioned in verse 5, and then it says that he was caught up unto God and his throne, speaking of Jesus Christ and His ascension to heaven, almost 1900 years ago.

   Now, in verse 6 we find events that follow that. You know, back at that time, or I'm thinking very broad generalities, now it's not talking here about the end time and the way that we think of the end time. "And the woman fled into the wilderness." Now, here the word fled is from the same basic root word as we saw back in Matthew 24:20, where a person flees into the wilderness where she has a place prepared of God that they should feed her there 1260 days. And then there was war in heaven.

   Now, a great deal of time is involved in what we see here in verse 5, verse 6, and verse 7. It says now that this woman, and the woman, of course, very obviously represents the church, flees into the wilderness. Now the word wilderness, if you look it up in the Greek, is the word "eremos." E-R-E-M-O-S, we would spell it in English, which means literally desert or a solitary or a lonely place. And notice that it was a place prepared of God. And notice that it was for 1260 days, but in prophecy sometimes, not always, but sometimes, you can apply the uh statements you'll find in Numbers 14:34 of a day for a year. And in this particular case, that's exactly what it's talking about. It's not talking about 1260 literal days, it's talking about 1260 years, over one millennium, over 12 centuries it's talking about here.

   So how was this fulfilled? Obviously it had to be fulfilled before now. Because the war in heaven in verse seven and the events that follow that, I think very obviously are events of the very end time. It's not talking about the events of 70 A.D. or 100 A.D. or 280 or 300 A.D. or any time like that. It's talking about the very end. And so between the time of Christ's ascension and the end time, there is a period when the church is going to flee into the wilderness for 1260 literal years.

   Let me give you a little history of this time. And it's very brief, of course. There were various persecutions against the true Christians and for that matter even against the false Christians for quite some period of time. But the persecution against God's people was especially severe during the reigns of the Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius. And particularly during the years of 303 to 313. Now this is, you see three centuries after the time of Christ, that the church was established approximately. And those particular years are called, if you'd like to write this down, you can read it later in Revelation 2 verse 10. Revelation 2:10, where it speaks about the 10 days uh talking of a time of very severe persecution. Now that was 303 to 313.

   But the next emperor that came along was Constantine, and Constantine, of course, is very, very well known in the so-called Christian history. Because he supposedly saw a vision when he was on the battlefield, and this vision was uh that of uh what what it seemed to be a sword and a and a cross, and I'm not sure, but I think that's what it was and uh then the words, uh, what was it, "In Hoc Signo Vinces" or something like that, "under this sign, conquer" or something like that. And so he, uh, who was a pagan, thought, well, now here is God telling me that I should go forth conquering uh, with the cross and the sword as my symbol, which he did.

   And so he then, uh, in a sense accepted Christianity and then from another sense he did not. He was not quote baptized, end quote, by that particular church until he was on his deathbed. And so during most of his life, you see, he wasn't a quote, uh, a baptized Christian, end quote, from any, uh, point of view you might want to uh include. But in 325, Constantine, because of the bickering between various -isms and elements of the so-called Christian Church at that particular time, ordered the Council of Nicaea and he had all of these prelates, all of these bishops, the leading bishops and so on of, of the uh Catholic Church at that particular time, come together to decide certain basic things and he was not so concerned about what they were going to decide, but they had to decide certain major issues and it didn't matter to him, you know, whether they were decided one way or the other, but they had to decide one way so that everyone was going to do it that way.

   And so following that, the Christian religion, which was not the true Christian religion, but really the false Christian religion, became the state religion. And that meant that other religions, especially including the true Church of God, were not able to continue to fully obey God and put in practice their beliefs and still do it in the centers of worship, the centers of power, the metropolitan areas, uh the uh the city areas of the Roman Empire. And so what did they have to do following 325 if they wanted to obey God, if they wanted to practice the true Christian religion, they had to flee from the centers of influence of the Roman Catholic Church and of the Roman Empire into less populated areas.

   And in the earlier periods of this particular exile, I think you could call it an exile, they were most numerous in what we would call today eastern Turkey. In later centuries they were scattered in other areas in Europe, particularly in the mountains and in the mountain valleys, still away from the major centers of power and influence of the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman government.

   Now, as you come ahead, 1260 years, around 1585, a rather strange thing happened in England. Prior to this time, the Catholic Church had dominated England and also the throne of England. And then starting with Henry the 8th, surely you all know about Henry the 8th, he decided to kick the Roman Catholic Church out and it's rather amusing as to why he kicked them out. Uh, but then following his death, it was sort of, uh, touch and go for a while and they were sort of in and out of power depending on who the king or the queen was. But around 1586 to 1587, with the conviction and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, this domination ended. And this also ended the 1260 years when God's people had to in a sense flee from the influence and the power of that great church.

   But following this time now, the church was able to again, be more public and also be in central areas where previously the Church of God could not flourish in most cases, or even exist in the more populated areas of Europe and Asia, where the Catholics had power and influence and so on, or for that matter, maybe even in some of the Protestant areas following the time of Martin Luther and others. But now, after that 1260 years, the church no longer had to continue on under those very stringent difficult circumstances. So that is what it is talking about here, a historical thing that has long since passed in Revelation 12:6. That is the third event that relates to the subject of fleeing to a quote "place of safety," end quote.

   Now, let's go on a little bit further in chapter 12 and pick up the story in verse 13. But I might say now that in the interim, verse 7 through verse 12, of course, is telling about the war between Satan, the devil and God and his angels and finally, Satan the devil was cast out and uh then it mentions that the the people in heaven, excuse me, the angels in heaven is what it's talking about, those in heaven could rejoice, but woe to the inhabitors of the world, of the earth, and of the sea, for the devil's come down having great wrath, as it mentions in verse 12.

   Verse 13, "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth," and of course, the word dragon here is defined in verse 9 as the devil, Satan. "He was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman." Now later there's a war. You might notice that we'll get a little ahead of the story in verse 17. But to start with, he persecutes. Later he really makes war. So if you think things are kind of bad now, when he is persecuting the church, wait till he starts to make war with the church.

   Now, in a sense there is a war already going on and that warfare, of course, has been going on all the time, not just since he was cast down. Uh, there are various scriptures that relate to that, I think particularly of the 6th chapter of Ephesians where we're told to put on the whole armor of God to fight in this particular war. So anyway, he persecutes the woman. Now, when does this happen? It happens after the church had gone into the wilderness for 1260 years, and now many centuries later, Satan is cast down, he persecutes the woman, and after that time, now, what happened?

   This is the point now we've come now to the point that people talk about all the time, but they confuse it with what we've already read. And those are different events, prophecies of totally different events, even though obviously they're related, same, uh, there's certain similarities. Now what does it say? We're getting now down to the conditions as they are today when Satan is persecuting the woman.

   "And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the face of the serpent." Now, the time times and half a time, I think is commonly understood by many Bible scholars, not just the Church of God, to indicate 3 1/2 years. So it's 3 1/2 years that this takes place, or if you count days, it's 1260 days, or if you count months it's 42 months.

   But let's notice certain things now about this event that are different from those events that we've been reading about. He mentions here to the woman "were given two wings of a great eagle." Now that didn't happen back in verse 6. It didn't happen in the events that I read to you of A.D. 66 to 70, probably 69. This is talking about a yet future event ??" "given two wings of a great eagle." And I'll comment a little bit more about that point a little bit later.

   Then he mentions that she might "fly" into the wilderness. Here the word is not "phuge" that we saw before or derivatives of that particular word. It's not the same as the one we saw in verse 6 where the woman "fled." There it is the same. It comes from the same root "phuge" as we saw in Matthew 24:20. There the word was "flee" or "fled." And in that sense it was a quote "flight," end quote, but it wasn't talking about flying in the air.

   But now when we come to verse 14 that she might "fly." The word here in the Greek is "petomai," and I'm sorry, I'm not a Greek scholar. I probably pronounce some of these names horribly. So if you're a Greek scholar, I hope you'll forgive me. But the word literally means to fly, that means to go up in the air and fly. Whether or not that's a flight from the point of view of fleeing or not ??" it isn't talking about fleeing, it's talking about flying. Now, do you know the difference between fleeing and flying? Well, then you can understand that this is a different situation.

   That she might "fly" in the wilderness. And it mentions "in the wilderness to her place." Now, it doesn't say Petra, it doesn't say Masada, it doesn't say Houston, it doesn't say the mountains of Colorado. It says "to her place." Now where is quote "her place"? I'll comment at quite some length about that in a little while.

   Then notice another thing that says "she is nourished." She is nourished. Maybe I can comment about that a little bit later too, but uh it's surely talking in a physical way and also in a spiritual way.

   Following that, and I won't read the other details in verse 15 and verse 16, but in verse 17, "the dragon was wroth with a woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed." Now this shows that there were others of the church who were not able to fly into her place. Some were able to fly into her place and some were not able to fly into her place who were of the Church of God, which she goes on to tell. They're the ones that keep the commandments of God and so on.

   All right, so have you seen any differences between this and what we've read previously? Have you seen anything different here from what the common conception is that we're going to flee to a place of safety? The words "place of safety" aren't here. It doesn't say that it's a safe place necessarily as far as that's concerned or that it's a dangerous place. It just says that it is "her place."

   All right, now, I would like to answer some of the obvious questions. Who, what, where, when, how, etc. that sort of thing. I usually try to answer them in the sermon so that to anticipate any questions that people might have.

   Now first, who are the ones who are going to fly into her place? Who will go? I think very obviously as I've already shown you, not all of the church, verse 17 makes that clear, a part of the church. How much? 50%, 30%, 10%, 1% or 99%? I don't know. So not all of the church is going to fly to quote "her place," end quote.

   Now, who will? Well, to use words that we'll find over in Luke chapter 21 verse 36, those who are "worthy." Let's turn back there. Luke 21 and verse 36. Luke 21:36. Just the last verse, and maybe we'll have time later to read the rest of the short passage. "Watch you therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man."

   Now here he talks about escape. But escape where? Now we'll see a little bit more about that later, but anyway, he says here that those who are accounted worthy, whatever that means, and I'll elaborate on that shortly, are worthy to escape. And some obviously are and some obviously are not.

   Does this include unconverted relatives? Unconverted parents, unconverted uh children, uh, friends, uh, neighbors, employers? Well, I'll let you answer that question. It just says that some are going to be accounted worthy and some are not going to be accounted worthy. And uh I wouldn't like to elaborate very much about that, but I think obviously it doesn't include everybody.

   Let's turn to the book of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. This particular passage that I want to emphasize relates to the Church of Philadelphia, and I'm sure all of you realize that that this work, this church is the Philadelphia era, if that's the proper term, uh that is talking about here. But that doesn't mean now that everyone who comes in the meetings of the, of this particular church, everyone who sits in, in services is really, uh, shall we say a Philadelphian. Some of them don't have that brotherly love that uh Philadelphia implies. Some of them don't have the characteristics that are described here. Some of them have the characteristics of the Laodicean church. Some have the characteristics of the Sardist church, and I don't want to elaborate on that because that would require another sermon.

   So just because you're with the Church of Philadelphia doesn't mean that you're even converted. You might be just as converted as the jackrabbit is as far as that's concerned, and still come and be in our services. But, but there are some that are doing what Philadelphia is supposed to be doing, and it tells a little bit about this. They have the attitude of Philadelphia and so on and so forth. And those are the ones that we're talking about right now.

   But let's notice now, particularly verse 10, "because you," speaking of Philadelphia, "because you have kept the word of my patience" or you have been patient in the time of tribulation and trouble. "I will also keep you from the hour of temptation" or sometimes translated trial and other translations, "the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth."

   Now some claim, of course, that these various churches that are mentioned here are not church eras. Of course, they are historical churches that existed in the first century, but there are other meanings of these words as well. But when was the hour of trial that came on the whole world back in the first century? There wasn't any such time. This is talking about the end of time, you know, our time even and yet a little bit future. We don't know exactly when.

   An hour of temptation or an hour of trial is going to come on the whole world. I won't turn there, but you might want to write down the scriptures, uh, chapter 17 verse 12, where it mentions that uh these 10 are going to give their strength to the beast for one hour. Now that's not the exact word but uh I won't turn there to save time. Then if you look and compare that with chapter 13 verse 5, you'll see that that one hour is 42 months. So this is talking about an hour or 42 months or 1260 days of trial.

   Wow. I don't know if that was me or it. Anyway, that's gonna come on the whole world, bet you can hear me now.

   All right, so we see then that Philadelphia is going to have divine supernatural protection from the events that are going to come upon the whole world. So obviously it's talking about the same thing we saw in chapter 12, when the church is going to fly to quote, her place. Now this hasn't happened yet, but it's going to happen around about the time of the greatest trouble that's ever going to come on the face of the earth.

   So I hope I've answered that question a little bit as to who will go. The Philadelphia church, those who are quote "worthy," end quote, and I'll say more of that later. Uh, in fact, that's the next thing I want to uh elaborate on. Who are those who are quote "worthy," end quote?

   Let's turn back to Luke 21. And uh this time again notice verse 36. Luke 21 and verse 36 (Luke 21:36). "Watch you therefore and pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man." Notice it says "watch therefore, and pray always."

   Now some think that this means you have to pray always you'll be accounted worthy to escape. And it sounds like I'm verging up and down here again must be having trouble with our sound system. Anyway, there are 2 points I want to emphasize here. One is that you have to watch. What do you watch? Well, you watch world events, the fulfillment of prophecy. You watch also to see what's going on in the spirit world, the satanic activities of Satan and his demons. You watch the activity in the world that affects the church, you see what's going on. You're very watchful of everything, not just reading the newspaper once in a while, but continually watching world events, seeing what's going on in the world and in the church, and so forth, and see how those things are fulfilling prophecy so you will understand what's going on, what's behind it, and what's maybe next, at least in a general way.

   And secondly, those "praying always," not praying, you know, "God save me, God save me from this trouble that's coming," not just uh asking God to save your skin, but what did you pray about? Well, there are a lot of things to pray about more than just praying for your own skin. You know, that should be maybe about the last thing you have to pray about. You ought to be praying about the world and a lot of other things. Pray always that we might escape.

   Now, I'd like to emphasize that just a little bit more, and that is that some who may think that they're going to escape to a place of safety may not be praying always. Because I've observed that sometimes those who think, you know, well, I've gotten in, I'm going to make it, I'm gonna go and so forth and so on, they sometimes neglect prayer. And if you're neglecting prayer, how can you expect to be quote "worthy," end quote?

   It's not by knowing exactly what to do and when to do that's going to make it possible for you to go to quote "her place." God will make that possible depending on those who are, as we see here, watching and praying always.

   Let's go a little bit further. How can we become worthy, not just by watching and praying? That's an important part of it as far as that's concerned, but we all make mistakes. We all sin, we have all sinned in the past. We have to have the forgiveness of our sins. We have to have the sacrifice of Christ to clean us up, and it's really he that makes us worthy, but he's not going to make us worthy unless we do our part, unless we repent of sin, unless we ask forgiveness of sin, unless that sin is removed. And unless that happens, we're not gonna be quote "worthy," end quote, because it's his worthiness, not our worthiness.

   Now, let's turn to Matthew 24 again, to verse 45 to see another point of how we can become or be worthy. Matthew 24. In verse 44, he says that we should always be ready, "be also ready for in an hour if you think not," that's when Christ is going to come. It's not when you think he's going to come, and some think they know but they don't.

   "Who then is a faithful and wise servant?" Now, now you could apply what he says here to the ministry or maybe the leadership in the ministry. But we can apply it to every single one of us as well, brethren, because it's not the foolish who are going to go to a place of safety and we could, if we had the time, maybe go over the early part of chapter 25 that talks about the foolish virgins and the wise virgins. Do you think those foolish virgins are going to be protected? I don't think so. The wise will.

   Now, who are the wise? "Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord has made ruler over his household?" God has given each one of us certain responsibilities, certain rules. Maybe not over the church. Maybe not even uh over a family, maybe just over ourselves, if we're single or a family, if it's a husband or a wife. But God has given us collectively a very great responsibility, and that is to preach the gospel to the world as a witness. And also as far as the ministry is concerned, to feed the flock and each one of us have a part in that as well.

   But "who then is the wise, that faithful and wise servant whom his Lord has made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom is Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing."

   Now the thing I want to emphasize here, brethren, is that each one of us has our part in giving quote "meat," end quote, in feeding others. Maybe we think that our responsibility is just to feed ourselves, just to take care of ourselves, just to satisfy ourselves, just to do our own thing. God has given each one of us a very great responsibility to do our part, whatever that is, in preaching the gospel to the world as a witness.

   Now we all can't be the broadcaster, Mr. Armstrong is. We can't all be the writers of the various publications. We all can't be ministers, feeding the church and feeding the flock. But whatever our responsibility is, we had better be doing that. Now for the membership of the church, of course, there are multiple ways that we can do our part, our tithes, our offerings, our prayers, you know, some people don't have any tithes or offerings because they're unable to work because of physical circumstances, age, health, and so on, or maybe they have children. Our support of the church, whatever that might be, working hard to give more tithes and offerings to complete the job. But some fall down on the job. They quit.

   You see, God has given all of us here a tremendous job to do, and each one of us has our part. If we're not doing our part, to me, this scripture says, you're not going to make it, brethren. You're not going to be accounted worthy because when Jesus Christ comes, and every time up until that, if you're not doing the job, what does it say he's going to say?

   Verse 47, "Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over his goods," that is the one who is so doing, you know, the one who is giving meat, is giving spiritual food, doing his part in preaching the gospel and carrying on the work of God. "But if that evil servant will say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming," and maybe some think that, maybe some think that, that he isn't going to delay his coming. But anyway, if he does various things here, then he is going to be, you might say, ultimately cast into a lake of fire. And here specifically he talks about those who are taking advantage of other brethren in the church, uh being evil and mean towards them and so on and so forth. I don't want to elaborate on that and get off on another subject.

   But anyway, whatever our job is, God expects us to do that right to the very end. And if we're not doing that, if we're not giving meat, whatever our party is in doing that, how can we expect that we're going to be with God's church when they go to quote "her place," end quote?

   Now number 5, I'd like to turn to Luke 9 in connection with this. These are the ways now that we can be worthy. Chapter 9 verse 23 of Luke (Luke 9:23). "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me," and supposedly all of us, most of us at least have decided "I'm going to follow Christ now. I'm going to obey him. I'm going to do whatever it is he wants me to do."

   "Let him deny himself." You know, not do his own thing, but do "my thing," God might be saying, "and take up his cross daily," you know, not just for a certain number of years and then quit. "And follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it."

   And brethren, surely we all at one time or another, or maybe for a lot of times, I don't know, have been trying to save our own necks. I think that probably applies to every one of us in this room. I know it includes me. You know, some of us want a fire escape. It's not maybe the kind of fire escape that some people talk about in their Protestant religions, you know, and escaping hell fire, the kind of hellfire they're talking about, but uh I'm talking, you know, about an even hotter hellfire. And for some of us, you know, our basic motive, whether we may realize it or not is to save our own skin.

   Now it's not wrong to want to save our skin. You know, we all should want to do that as far as that's concerned, but for some of us it's a rather uh excessive matter. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it." If you're in it to try to save your life and that's your motive, and that is the basic reason for it all, you're going to lose it. "But whosoever will lose his life," or you might say give it "for my sake, the same shall save it."

   If you want to be saved, you want to give your life. And if you don't give your life to Christ and to his work and to the goals of this church, how are you going to save it? "For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away," and so on and so forth. So brethren, if you want to save your life, the best way to do that is to give it. And some of us haven't given our lives. You know, we've, uh, we're still wanting to do our thing, not God's thing, we want to do our thing. So I hope briefly those particular scriptures and those points will help you to understand how to be quote "worthy," end quote. It is not easy. It's not just because your name is on the computer in Pasadena that is going to decide what's going to happen with you. Some people have made some comments along that line, and it's rather foolish.

   All right, next, I'd like to ask, where is "her place"? We read that back in Revelation 12, quote "her place," remember? Where is that? Does this mean that the church will own that place wherever it is? I don't know the answer to that. Maybe God will set aside a particular plot of ground somewhere. And uh maybe that's quote "her place." I don't know. Or maybe it's a place that the church will own or will have at that particular time.

   We saw that it was in the wilderness. But remember that's where the church went during those 1260 years and it wasn't clear away from everyone. It was away from the centers of population, it was away from the governmental areas, uh, I suppose, uh not only uh central government but also provincial government and the like, you know, out in the hinterland, out in the less populated areas. So wilderness by itself, you know, doesn't tell you exactly where it is. There are a lot of wilderness areas in the world.

   Now possibly it's in the area of ancient Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Let's notice that in Daniel 11. Daniel 11. Uh, this particular verse is not talking about uh "her place." I like to use that term rather than the term "place of safety" because the word "place of safety" or the term "place of safety" is not biblical, is it? But "her place" is.

   All right, it mentions in verse 41 of Daniel 11 (Daniel 11:41), he speaking now of this uh end time king of the north who will be the beast power of the United Europe called the beast, uh, of course, in the book of Revelation. "He shall enter also into the glorious land," and I think almost everyone realizes that's talking about what is otherwise called the Holy Land or the land of Palestine, what is presently called the land of Israel. "And many countries shall be overthrown, but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon."

   So it seemed then that those specific areas would escape, escape rather the domination and the control of that beast power. And so some thought, well, it must be in that particular area where God's people will go. Otherwise, you see, they would be right there under the thumb of the of that government, that resurrection of the Roman Empire.

   Now, in that area of ancient Edom in particular is this place called Petra, which we hear so much about from time to time. But there are many other remote areas. This is a very waste desert area, much of it, not all of it. You might be surprised to know that even a part of present day Israel is in a part of ancient Edom. Not very much, but there is a little sliver of land, a little part of land that uh, that is part of the modern day nation of Israel, which is in the ancient area of Edom.

   Now, if Petra is the place, if that is quote "her place," there are certain texts that might be rather appropriate, and I would like to turn to them and try to cover them rather quickly. Let's turn first to Isaiah 42. And I would like to say ahead of time that some of these scriptures were rather ambiguous and may not mean exactly the way I say they may be understood. There may be other meanings and maybe it isn't applying to what we're talking about. But quite possibly it is.

   Isaiah 42:11. "Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up, lift up their voice." And of course, it's in the wilderness where her place is located. "The villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants of the rock sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Eternal and declare his praise in the islands."

   Now the word "rock" here in English comes from the Hebrew word "Sela," S-E-L-A. Now there's another similar word which is not related, "Selah," S-E-L-A-H. You'll find that frequently in the book of Psalms and also in the book of Habakkuk. But that's a different word, has a different meaning. The word "Sela," S-E-L-A. Now, in the word, that word in Hebrew is generally translated "rock" and it means a huge crag or a huge rock. The same word translated into Greek is "petra," P-E-T-R-A.

   I don't have time to elaborate and compare that with the name Peter, uh, but there is an interesting uh comparison there. But it means the same thing ??" a huge rock. And the place, the geographical place called Petra is, I suppose named that because of the huge rocks that are there ??" sandstone, I believe, sort of a soft rock, but it's a huge rocky area and a rather spectacular in a beautiful area as far as that's concerned. And here the word "rock" comes from the word "Sela." And so if you wanted you could translate the word "rock" into the Greek equivalent and say, "let the inhabitants of Petra sing." Now that doesn't mean that that is the place that it has reference to ??" there are other rocks in other places besides the geographical place called Petra.

   Now Isaiah 33. Isaiah 33. Verse 13 (Isaiah 33:13). "Hear you that are far off what I have done, and you that are near acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burning?" And answers: "He that walks upright, walks righteously rather, and speaks uprightly, he that despises the gain of oppression, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high," that is speaking of the person he's describing now in verse 15, "He shall dwell on high" or in the heights or the high places. "His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him. His water shall be sure."

   Now the words here "munitions of rocks" might better be translated "strongholds of Sela." And could just as well be translated that way, not "munitions," but "strongholds." So let's read it that way. "He shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the strongholds of Sela. Bread shall be given him," and this might be very significant if this is what it's talking about. "His water shall be sure," which is also very significant in what maybe we'll read a little bit later or hear about a little bit later. "Thine eyes shall see the king and his beauty, they shall behold the land that is very far off," and so on and so forth.

   Now, Isaiah 16. Isaiah 16, and this particular scripture is able to be understood in more than one way, and more than the way that I'm going to tell you about now. "Send you the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela" or "Petra," and my margin even says "Petra." "To the wilderness unto the mount of the daughters of Zion, for it shall be that as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. Take counsel, execute judgment, make your shadow as a night in the midst of the noonday, hide the outcasts." You might notice that particular word "outcast," and I'll have something to say about that later. "Betray not him that wanders. Let my outcasts," God now speaking about his outcasts, "dwell with you with Moab. Be you a cover to them from the face of the spoiler for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land" and so on and so forth.

   Now possibly that's referring to protection by the area of Moab, which is in the same general area. Uh, Edom and Moab were ancient neighbors, and uh they're not exactly in the same place, but they're neighbors to each other.

   Now, to Psalm 108. Psalm 108:10 "Who will bring me into the strong city?" Now the word here, "strong city," if you look, I believe in the uh Hebrew, you'll find that it's talking about Petra or Sela, Sela in the Hebrew. "Who will bring me to Sela? Who will bring me to Petra? Who will lead me into Edom," and then he says, of course, God will do that and so on. Maybe this then is talking about the same thing of God's people going to Sela or Petra.

   Now if "her place" is Petra, and I'm not saying that it is, but if it isn't, I don't think the Bible gives us much of a clue as to where it might be. If it is Petra, it's certainly a very inhospitable place. And maybe one of the most inhospitable places on the face of the earth. Some people think, well, we'll probably go there because it's impregnable. Well, it's not at all impregnable.

   In the first place, not even by foot. It's surrounded by mountains and there is a place called the Siq, S-I-Q, which is a narrow way in some places only 6 or 12 feet wide and almost vertical cliffs on both sides. And uh something when you go in that way and therefore it would be easy to defend, but you see it's surrounded on all the other sides by mountains. And not impassable mountains at that. It's not impregnable.

   There's no water there. Did you hear that? There's no water there. Not one time there's a spring, but I think commonly it's dry. There's no food there. There are no facilities there except for a hotel. I used to have 6 or 7 rooms, something like that. I don't think that would go very far. It's very, very, maybe I should say very again, primitive.

   And if you think you're roughing it when you go camping or you go to Big Sandy, you want to go to Petra. You say, "Oh, they have a lot of caves there." Yes, they do. And those caves were built or dug millennia ago. And they are filthy with human and animal waste of millennia. I mean we'll be cleaning them out, I don't know. But if you think that's cloud nine or if you think that that's going to be a beautiful, wonderful place to go to. And if you do go there, I think you'll find that it's everything opposite to that.

   I'd like to refer to some articles that we have published quite some years past in the Good News that relate to this. And the first one was Mr. Norman Smith's article after he had visited there. And guess what the title was? "We Fled Petra!" You'll find that in the October-November issue of 1966 Good News. Mr. David John Hill wrote an article on Petra and both of these uh have pictures of Petra. Uh, Mr. Hill wrote one in October of '63, the October '63, Good News. (PETRA!)

   Unless you think I don't know anything about the subject, I wrote an article on the subject in January of 1962. 17, believe it or not, 17 years ago, January of 1962, I wrote an article on the subject: "You May Not Escape the Tribulation." Maybe some of you think I don't know much about the subject, but I, you know, I studied it a little bit.

   Now if Petra is "her place," Petra would not be the kingdom of God on earth. It wouldn't be heaven. It wouldn't be paradise. And if that's the place, and if you and I go there, it may be the greatest trial of our life.

   Now some people have called this a "place of safety." Is it a place of safety? We saw that it is going to be safe as far as Satan is concerned. And if that's what you mean by safety, I guess it is. But being in such a place may not be safety at all for some people. I think some say, "If I can just make it there, I've got it made." Well, I've got news for you. You know, it's not the one who endures to Petra or wherever it is. It's the one that endures to the end and you'd have 3 1/2 more years and an awful lot can happen in 3 1/2 years.

   Yes, it's those who endure to the end, not to Petra or those who endure to a place of safety that are going to be saved. It's those who endure to the end, to the end. Some may get to that place wherever it is and then fall away because you can still sin. Not until you're given immortality are you not going to be able to sin any longer. So you can still sin, you can still rebel against God.

   Do you realize that people are going to have to learn to live together in harmony for 1260 days, 24 hours a day, and at peace, and some of us can't live at peace with each other? And some of us have to go to different congregations of the Worldwide Church of God in Houston because we can't get along with each other. And some of us husbands and wives can't get along with each other for 24 hours. How are we going to do it for 1260 days?

   Some may get sick wherever that place is, they might get injured. And they might even die. So if you think that's a place of safety, I guess that depends on what your definition of the place of safety is. It'll be safe in some things, but it might be your greatest trial.

   Now, how will the church go to this place? We saw that it was on "two wings of a great eagle." Oh, that means Boeing 747s for sure. We're just gonna swoop down there and land in Petra and forever be with the Lord. Well, I have to disappoint you. Because as far as I was able to find out in my research here a few years ago, there's only been one little airplane that was able to land there. Just one. Because it's a very rugged area. And as far as I've been able to find out, there's no major airport nearby.

   Now, you might land at Cairo, you might land, uh, I was gonna say Jerusalem, but I'm sure you couldn't there, you could maybe Tel Aviv and it's a long trek over to Petra. A very, very long one from either of those places, or maybe from some place in the Sinai. Maybe they've got some military airports over there, which they do that accommodate large aircraft.

   I'd like to read Exodus 19. Now, we read a little bit from Exodus 20 earlier. Let's go back to Exodus 19, the chapter before that. I'll throw a monkey wrench into the fire here or into the works rather. For those of you who think that God's gonna take you, you know, from your home over to uh Petra in a 747 or whatever you would like to go on.

   Exodus 19:4. "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself." And if you want to find out how they got there, read the book of Exodus, and the book of Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, more particularly uh Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and you'll find out how they got there. They were born on eagle's wings. Now whether that's what God is talking about over in Revelation 12, I'm not going to say, but lest you, you know, get your plans all made and go out and buy your tickets. I just want to warn you that that may not be what God has in mind.

   Now some have speculated that the church will be forced to go to this place, whatever that place is, that will be thrust out, that will be outcast, and you know, one scripture made reference to that, that it could be a place of banishment, a place of exile, or even of execution. It could be that God's people will be sent to such a place and those governments who would send them think they were sending them there for, you know, final extermination or, or whatever, just like they did in Auschwitz and Buchenwald and other places in Germany.

   If so, we're not going to have any choice in the matter. You won't have to make any physical preparations. If you're in God's church and you're one of those, then that will all be taken care of by somebody else. It'll be out of your hands.

   Now others think that the church leadership will know what to do when the time comes. That reminds me of what Eusebius said about the church in that particular time when they were going to go to Pella, that the leadership of the church knew by prophecy what to do.

   If so, and I'm not going to say what it is. It's speculation on both sides. If so, probably some people will decide that it's too early when the church or Mr. Armstrong says we're going to do this and the other thing. Some will say, well, it's too early. Some will say it's too late. Some will say it's the wrong place or some will say it's the wrong way to get there. And they won't go.

   Now, whatever happens, brethren, it's probably going to be a time of great trauma in the church and for that matter in the world, a time of confusion, a time of turmoil, and I'm not just talking about the world, I'm talking about in the church, a time of uncertainty, a time of sadness. And especially personal sadness. A great conflict of mind, realizing that those who do go are going to be leaving loved ones who are not accounted worthy. Loved ones who are not converted. Loved ones, uh, that may not know anything about the Church of God. And whether they're relatives, neighbors, whoever, all that will have to be left behind. All personal possessions will have to be left behind. Your job, your home, the comforts of home. And also with the knowledge that those remaining loved ones will have to go through the greatest time of trouble that this earth has ever seen. And that by itself is almost a tribulation, I think, for God's people.

   Brethren, such a venture, which some look forward to with such great anticipation, is not going to be any joyous picnic or holiday. Wherever it is, it's going to be a place where the church is will be nourished, that will be said physically and spiritually, as we read for 1260 days. It's been very aptly called, I think, by Mr. Waterhouse, Gerald Waterhouse, a "place of final training," and I like that so much better than a "place of safety." But a place of final training implies a lot of previous training, and some of us aren't getting very much previous training.

   Why is it that the people in God's church are so anxious, so curious about this subject? In too many cases we're just looking for a fire escape, as I said. A way to save our own skin. Trying to save our own life. You remember we're supposed to give our lives.

   Now, the important lesson that I would like to leave you with, brethren, and all of this is this: That you do the job that God has given you to do. And do it to the best of your abilities. Get close to God spiritually and stay there. Forget about trying to save your own neck. Concentrate on trying to save the world, God's way. And I believe if you do those things, God will provide whatever is necessary. He will protect such people from the horrible tribulation that is going to soon come.

   As I said earlier, I had decided to give this sermon before I knew I was going to be leaving. And maybe it's not entirely an appropriate subject for a final sermon and yet on another from another point of view, maybe it is, I don't know. But anyway, I've been thinking about it for quite some time now and uh been doing a little research, a little reading in connection with it, but I'd like to leave some parting words aside from the sermon, parting words of exhortation because as you have heard, we're going to be leaving Houston now.

   We've been here about 2 1/2 years. My wife and I have tried to set the right personal example before you. I have tried to preach the word and not to preach my own ideas or the ideas of others. I've tried, and my wife has tried to help those who needed help and who wanted it. I hope that we have succeeded in helping some of you towards God's kingdom.

   But let me warn you of certain dangers that I've seen in this church, and not only in this church, but you know, in others as well. One of the main things I'd like to tell you about is, or shall I say exhort you to do is to look to Mr. Herbert Armstrong as the leader of God's church under Jesus Christ. No matter what happens. No matter what accusations you may hear.

   Now there have been a lot of accusations, especially in recent weeks and months and years about Mr. Armstrong and certain leadership of the church. Some of that's coming out and it's being cleaned out and cleared out, and some people who have wrong attitudes about this are gone or no longer with us, and I suppose others will leave as far as that's concerned. But he is the one that God has used to raise up this end time work. And until God removes him from that office and very obviously does that, you had better follow him as he follows Jesus Christ.

   And if God removes him from his office, that's going to be very evident, and it won't be because somebody says he's senile or because he's this, or because he's that or he isn't something else. Follow him as he follows Christ, and if he tells you, you know, break God's law, don't you do that. And I'm very confident he won't do that. But you follow him, you look to him as the leader of God's church under Jesus Christ, unless or until God removes him.

   Now on another matter, some of you have listened to my sermons over the last 2 1/2 years, and maybe I was like a pleasant song to you or playing an instrument. And you've done nothing about it. I've had sermons on family relations. I had a series on that subject, and some of you are failing miserably, and I know it. You know it, and maybe some others know it as well.

   Some of you have lost your love, your outgoing concern for your spouse. Some of you husbands are dictators. You're not loving, you're not providing for your wives as Christ has for his church, and you haven't shown that love to your wives that Christ has for his church. I know we can't measure up to him, but we can sure try and we can sure work that direction. And we can do an awful, awful lot better. And some of the wives here have lost respect and love for their husbands.

   Some of you are alcoholics. And either won't do anything about it or will not admit it. Some of you are smoking. Some of you are lying, some of you are committing adultery, some of you use foul language. Some of you are worshiping the medical profession. Some of you have bad disrespectful attitudes about others and about the leadership of the church and particularly the last one. And brethren, you can't fool God. You can't play games with him. And so all I can say, brethren, is that if you are guilty of these things or any other thing, and I'm sure there are many others, you had better change. Or the time will come when God will say that's enough. "Cut that tree down." Brethren, I hope that these words will encourage you to grow and to overcome and so that all of us and me especially, that we will all be in the kingdom of God and we can meet there.