Herbert W Armstrong

   So what I'd like to relate to you today and speak for a little while on is what Mr. McClanahan was singing about — the wonder of God's plan and the wonder of what God has laid out for you and me and for eternity. And now you can do that in an hour. You'll see we'll have to do it very quickly and in a big summary.

   I'd like to divide the subject today and answering two questions. First of all, how does God look down on activities such as we're having here in Amarillo? You know, if God's here with us at church today, then as soon as we say amen and all the coaches gather across the hall and then the games start playing at 6 o'clock, why, God goes back up to his throne and leaves those humans down there to have their human joy and God withdraws himself back up there into his eternal dignity and gets back up on his, uh, cement throne and kind of sits there dead face while we're down here running up and down a basketball court, shouting and yelling and cheering and laughing and getting acquainted tonight with people maybe have never known before.

   I grew up in the Baptist church over in East Texas. I sat in the First Baptist Church in Kilgore and counted hat pins and dotted out zeros on the program for 20 years with Van Cliburn and my brothers. I got a picture of God that I think a lot of people have. And to start off with today, I'd like to try to change your image of the way God is going to be looking at the activity this evening.

   Then after I've done that, I'd like to give you a challenge as to why you ought to be in the family of God. You know, a lot of young people sit in the congregation here. They're all excited about basketball games tonight and tomorrow and meeting new people and seeing old friends and, uh, maybe meeting someone in the opposite sex they'll become acquainted with through the future years. But why should you be interested in being in the family of God? Now maybe the way most of us have God pictured to us, it's no wonder that it seems to turn a lot of people off toward God.

   I know before we left the Kansas City area, we went around town taking, uh, pictures of different statues. They had a Jewish synagogue out to our home. We took a picture there of the way Moses looked according to the sculpture. We took pictures of many different Protestant churches, and they all seem to convey the same image that God is kind of a stayed, formal, dignified, reserved, great being seated on the throne up in heaven.

   Not too many years ago, they took a poll in Look magazine and they asked people, "How do they see God?" And the most common answer was an old granddad. Now I used to laugh at that, but since I've been a granddad a second time this past week, I don't laugh at statements about old granddads anymore. Uh, but that was the most common idea people thought God was like.

   Now when they were approached about that, you know, "Why would you think God is like an old granddad? Why not like your dad? Why like a granddad?" Well, a granddad is someone you know that has time to take with you. He'll spend time with you, your dad doesn't have time. And he's just patient, you know, and he can just do all kinds of things, making things and, uh, playing with you and showing you things, and so most people think of God as a granddad.

   Now I imagine if most of us had to put down on a sheet of paper 10 traits of God, would laughter be one of them? Would sports be one of them? What about music? I imagine we associate terms like righteousness and wisdom and understanding and knowledge and maybe love and faith and, you know, we list all of those great virtues, but I don't imagine most of us have been taught about a God who laughs.

   And I, growing up as a hardshell Baptist, I never could imagine a God dancing. I mean, can you imagine a god dancing? What about a God, uh, enjoying a nice meal, you know, sitting down and enjoying good food and maybe a good wine with it and visiting with friends, and can you imagine God doing that? Is God just so distant that we never think of him in ways like that that would make him seem close to us?

   I'd like to show you a few scriptures about God. Psalm 149, Psalm 147, uh, two scriptures very close together, and they talk about God and his attitude, and I hope in the future, maybe when you go to the feast, maybe when you're at a tournament like this... I hope next year... I was talking to Jeff Booth a couple of days ago, uh, about coming up, and we were talking about the growth of the tournament, how many more teams are here this year, how many different divisions of teams and cheerleaders and everything, and we said, "Well, why don't we be sure to tell Mr. Ted Armstrong about that when we get out in Pasadena and see if we can't twist his arm and make him realize he really missed a lot by not being here and he ought to put it down on his schedule for next year and just plan to be here."

   So I hope... I don't think we can get everybody in this hall if we got him to come here, but we can find a bigger place and have church in a place that would be large enough to hold them.

   But you know, are these type of activities just for human beings and God kind of turns his back in his righteous dignity and enjoys himself up there in the third heaven while we humans kind of enjoy each other down here? And he just kind of turns his back and says, "Well, you know, humans got to be humans and... and maybe one day they'll get over all that humanity and they can get up here and be God like me and never laugh and never eat and drink and never dance and, you know, just have godly fun." What in the world that is. And what does God do for fun?

   Well, notice here in Psalm 147:11: "The Eternal takes pleasure in them that fear him and those that hope in his mercy." So here, obviously, and I've just written the word God across these verses because I want to know what God is really like. I don't want to have some childhood image of God. I don't want to have a misconception of God. I don't want to think God is a God that has a lake of fire somewhere and, you know, he's decided what we should and shouldn't do and he's going to get you in the end. Boy, if you don't do what he said do, he's gonna get you and throw you in that lake of fire. And God is just gonna kind of sit up there and look down as you burn in that lake of fire and say, "Boy, I told you, see there, now you're getting it. Now you had all that fun while you're human and now you're paying for it."

   You know, what kind of a God is it that most of us have had pictured to us? When the Bible says plainly in Ezekiel 18, God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He just enjoys torturing them, I guess, huh? Well, that's obvious that isn't true.

   Now notice this: God takes pleasure. How does he do that? When God looks down and sees one of us who are made in his image, and you know, you just look around you. I don't care what color you are, I don't care how tall or short you are, I don't care what sex you are. We've all got one nose, two eyes, two ears, one head and two arms. We're all just like God in that outward image at least. And we ought to be like God in every way to have the fullest life possible.

   But God is not a God that just sits up there sternly and strictly and legalistically and looks down on man and shakes his head at man's humanity. This says God takes pleasure in them that fear him. And I can just picture God when someone is tempted to do something and they react with the fear of God and say, "Oh, I better not do that. I remember God said don't do that, and I found out when you do what God says don't do, you wish you hadn't, you suffered, you pay for it."

   You know, when God sees the human react in the fear of God, how does God take pleasure? God looked down and said, "That's great! Boy, I'm proud of that son of mine there." You know, does God ever say that to you, or did he just say that to Christ? Now you know that he said that to Jesus. He said that to Jesus, it's recorded at least three times that God looked down and said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

   But for some reason, we humans can't seem to feel God ever does that with us. And I know one of the great verses to me in the Bible, it's where God sent an archangel to say to Daniel, "Oh man, greatly beloved." And that angel said that twice to Daniel, "Oh man, greatly beloved." But you ever think God ever says that to you?

   I'm here to tell you he does. I don't care how old you are, you know, if you're a teenager on the basketball court tonight and all of a sudden things go wrong and you want to get angry or you want to react humanly and you say, "No, I... I shouldn't do that. That's weak, that's not godly, that's not Christian," so you react in the fear of God. I'm here to tell you, God looks down with a smile on his face and God's glory brightens up like a light that comes on brighter, and God says, "I'm well pleased with that son down there."

   Now that's the way God really is. God is an emotional being. God is a being with personality, with character. God is a living being. God is not some big blob of spirit off up there in heaven. God is not some kind of a stone statue seated up there in his dignity, aloof and above man. God made us in his image, and God wants us to be in his family. God wants us to be his children.

   And it might be hard for you to believe that God loves you, but this verse plainly says God takes pleasure in any of us when we fear him. God takes pleasure in any of us when we hope in his mercy. Now let's say we do something stupid, we slip up and make some bad mistake, and you're saying, "Well, I really... I'm sure sorry for that, and I know God is God and he will forgive me. I know God is merciful and all I've got to do is really be sorry and be determined I'm not gonna do that again, and I know God well enough to know that God's mercy endures forever. God's mercy never fails. God is a gracious God. God forgets your mistakes when you repent on them."

   Now that's what that verse says. God takes pleasure when any of us fear him, and God takes pleasure in any of us when we react with hope in his mercy.

   Now, you know, the Psalm 149, and it starts off, "Hallelujah, sing unto the Eternal a new song. Sing his praises in the congregation of saints." Now it's hard to imagine a God who's so cold-blooded and unmovable up there on a throne when you read verses like that. Why would God say, "Make a joyful noise to him"? You know, why would God ever say that? Why would God say, "Sing a new song, sing his praise in the congregation of saints"? Is that sweet music to God's ears to hear beings made in his image singing?

   And you know, humanly, when you're sitting in church and you hear one of the little kids... a few weeks ago I heard one of the little kids in Midland, uh, it started before everybody else did on one of the songs and just blurted it right out real loud before everybody else started, but you know I got a real charge out of that. There's a little tiny, maybe eight-year-old, just singing out vigorously in church, just got a head start on everybody else. But you know when God says, "Sing and praise in the congregation of saints," I can't picture God like we have grown up believing.

   You know, I'll have to admit when I was in Washington D.C. a few years ago, we went into the Lincoln Memorial and I stood there, walked all the way up these steps up into the Lincoln Memorial, and I'm reading these things Lincoln said on the sides, and then I stood there looking up into the face of this giant statue on this giant cement throne. Sad to say, it struck me as if it's kind of like God. It's kind of like God. And it's one thing that prompted me later to say, "No, no, that wasn’t kind like God. No, that really wasn't like God."

   You know, most people, when they picture God... it was a surprise to me when I read in the Bible that God travels around the heavens in a chariot. Well, I couldn't imagine when I read Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 11 about God's movable throne and how the... the wheels within the wheel and all the glory of the spirit composition of this throne and all the flapping of wings of these beings that travel in this throne, the cherubs and seraphim, and that... that really surprised me. I've never imagined God being able to get around. He's kind of like an old granddad just fixed on a thrown up there, couldn't budge, frozen there, couldn't laugh, couldn't get up and dance, couldn't tap his foot to music.

   You think God would ever dribble a basketball or ever look down and laugh at somebody when they get carried away in their vanity on the basketball court and then flob the dove? And you think God wouldn't laugh at that? I personally think God's going to have more fun this weekend than you are. I think he's going to have more fun than I am. And I think when he looks down and sees his people enjoying each other, being good sports, being Christians in this community, and setting a good example, and you know when God looks down and sees young people meeting new young people, you think God doesn't appreciate that?

   Let's just read on here in Psalm 149: "Sing unto the Eternal a new song, sing his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king." You ever notice how many times in the Bible it talks about being joyful, rejoicing, spending your feast money on whatever your soul desires? God surely can't be representative of what we understood God in the past to be like. We've never heard of a God like this. We've never heard of a God who's a living being with personality. We've never heard of a God who can be moved by your problems and mistakes and repentances.

   You ever imagine God weeping? Well, you know, your Bible says Jesus wept, and I know as a Baptist I memorized that as the shortest verse in the Bible. A lot of good that did me, you know, memorize the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." Why did Jesus weep? And you know, just because Jesus wept, we forget that Jesus said he came to reveal the Father. Now we remember Jesus told Thomas that "You've seen me, you've seen the Father." Then you think when you get to be God, you'll never shed a tear for another person? You'll never be, uh, emotional in your heart-wrenching feeling towards some other being? Yes, you will too.

   Jesus wept. It says in the Bible, God is moved. God is angry with the wicked every day. So all the way through the Bible, God is pictured as the God who tells Israel to rejoice in their Creator. Let the children of Zion be full of joy in their king.

   Can you be full of joy in your king when you anticipate Christ's return and his taking over the world and setting up a kingdom that will rule forever? Can you be joyful in that picture? Or do you think, "Well, boy, we better have fun while we can because before long God's gonna be down here and then the jig's up, you know, that's all. No more fun then. We're all gonna have to join God and be dead pans and sober pusses and legalists and..." No, no. No, no, that's not true. This says, be joyful in your king, rejoice in your Creator.

   Then he says in verse 3, "Let them praise his name in the dance." And I had a hard shell of Baptist background as any of you had, and maybe you were Amish or Mennonite and it might have been harder for you to believe that verse, but I was a hardshell Baptist and I never danced in my life. I just believed dancing was hugging set to music. You know, I believed dancing was an excuse for a boy to squeeze a girl in his arms. That's all dancing was. Uh, I didn't, you know, I've never thought there was a purpose for dancing.

   Then I went out to Ambassador College. Mr. Herbert Armstrong said, "Say, Dean," he said, "we've got a dancing lessons down at Arthur Murray." I said, "Well, that's good," and he said, "Well, uh, you ought to go," and that's different, you know. He said, "Well, look, there's a purpose for learning to dance. You know," he said, "how are you gonna learn etiquette and poise and grace and dignity? How are you gonna learn culture, you know, if you can't go up and ask someone to dance and then talk with them while you're dancing with them and then take them back to where you, uh, got them and maybe if... if they're with a date or with a mate, ask them if they'd mind if you dance with them, and you don't have the poise..."

   And I never heard of a purpose for dancing to develop socially. I never heard of that. To learn to be at ease mixing with the opposite sex. I never heard of that. I knew I wasn't at ease mixing with them, but, uh, you know, I've never been taught there was a purpose for dancing.

   But there is, and one thing that struck me when I came into God's church, it was enough, you know, for us humans to have a social. But for a guy to have the gall to get up there on the stage and in a prayer to begin a social, ask God to be there, that... that really put the icing on the cake, and I couldn't believe that. Ask God's presence at this church dance. Well, I shows you what an image I had of God. I couldn't picture God being there.

   And yet what was the very first miracle Jesus performed? Raising the dead person? Healing someone that was crippled? Uh, straightening out somebody's, uh, family problem? First miracle Jesus ever did. You know, I don't have to explain why. If you can't understand the way God really is, you're the one who has to explain why in the world would the first miracle Jesus performed be at a wedding, turning water into wine at a wedding. What does that tell you about God? If Jesus came to reveal the Father, what was he trying to tell you about God when that was his first miracle?

   How do you see Jesus at that wedding supper? Like a Pharisee on the wall, sitting there with his radar ears and his binoculars, just looking for somebody to be human? Is that the way you think Jesus was there? I don't think he was. Jesus was there. Why did he go in the first place? He didn't have to go. He had no responsibility there. He wasn't obligated to go. Apparently his mother was obligated to go. She had a responsibility, but it says they welcomed, invited Jesus and his disciples. They didn't have to go. But I... I know he wanted to go. I know he... he enjoys weddings.

   You know, I've been in God's church 25 years and I've had God's spirit and preached God's word for 25 years, and I really enjoy weddings. And I'm gonna go all the way to Dallas next weekend just to do a wedding. And I went all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee this past summer to do a wedding for an old Wichita friend I knew up there that I loved and respected greatly.

   Jesus loves a wedding because it's beautiful to see two young people come to learn to respect each other and see... see in each other what they need to complement one another to become one real good team. I'll tell you, God rejoices when he looks down and sees through church activities, through feasts, through Ambassador Colleges, young people meet good solid prospective mates to found a great strong home. God rejoices in that. God delights in that.

   Yes, it says Psalm 149:3, "Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp." Now I've never believed as a Baptist that, uh, you should have drums and trumpets and trombones in church. Those just aren't... you know, those aren't godlike instruments, I mean. Harps, boy, that's great. I mean, all the angels pluck on the harps, that's good. Pianos, I never read about those in the Bible, but somehow we felt they were OK in the Baptist church, but we wouldn't dare have some guy get up there with his guitar and sing some western twang religious number, you know. It didn't matter what words he sang, if he had a guitar that made it unfit for church. We looked down on churches that had guitars in them.

   And I think people still have that reaction because I remember when our first student in Big Sandy got up on the stage with his guitar. And you know, how do you support that guitar? He had a chair and he put his foot up on this chair and got his guitar there and I... I bet if he could have been a mind reader, there would have been in the audience people would have been aghast. They'd have been dumbfounded. They... they wouldn't have thought that was really appropriate there, but I guess when he started singing, "Jesus healed the withered hand," and the words got across to them, they got the message. And the more the man sang holy scripture with real emotion and feeling, the more prejudice just kind of left the room, went out the ceiling, disappeared.

   But we've all had a wrong image of God in the past. We just can't believe God is really the way he is. Now after 25 years in the church, each time I preach this sermon, I think, "Well, now should I say God dances or not? Maybe I better not. Maybe I could say he does tap his foot though when you have good music, he taps his foot." But I... I really do believe God dances too.

   How in the world could God have put rhythm in all of his creation if God has no rhythm, huh? You know, who put that melody, who put that harmony in the birds and the, uh, frogs and all the creatures? You read in Romans, the first chapter, that the invisible things of God are seen by the things that are made. His eternal power and divinity, you can understand by the things that are made. Then you ought to just stop and think about that.

   Can you imagine God as he put the natural melody in different birds? Can you imagine what it must have been when God made little canaries? Then he made big dumb jay birds that just say the same chirp over and over. And then God made a mockingbird comes along and tries to copy all the others. Can you imagine God creating all of those things in creation, sitting there stone-faced, very sober and very dignified and all these funny creatures going by and he puts funny noises in them, never smiles, never laughs, never cracks his stone face at all, just sits there on that cement throne the whole time? Can't imagine God like that. God can't put in other beings what he doesn't have in himself. If God put melody and rhythm and music and beautiful song in creatures, it must have been a part of God. It must be partly the way he is.

   So when God says, "Praise his name in the dance," that's what he means. When God says, "Sing praises to him with the timbrel and harp," God really means that. And God is broad-minded enough in music that God even says you can make a joyful noise to him.

   Now not only that, one of my daughters corralled me one time and... it's one of the blessings, I guess, having had three daughters, and one of them said, "Well, Daddy, would you tell me what's wrong with our generation and its music and dancing?" Well, I started out like probably any of you would. "Well, in order for something to be music, you know, it's got to have harmony, it's got to have rhythm, it's got to have melody. And in order for something to be classed as music..." and I proceeded on the normal ABC lecture about music.

   Well, then she got a little more blunt and said, "Well, Daddy, how about soft rock or light rock, you know? Is there something wrong with it? Doesn't it have rhythm? Doesn't it have melody? Doesn't it have harmony? You know, can't some of that music be alright?" So I decided I would just get Concordance out and I would go all the way through the Bible from cover to cover and look up music, dance, everything I could in that area.

   Well, the first thing I realized was that there wasn't just one word for dance. That was a lesson. What that teach me that there isn't just one kind that's right and all others are wrong. If God has several words for dance, then there must not just be one kind that's good and all the others bad.

   But I'll have to admit back when I went to Ambassador College, if you listened to Western music, you were looked down on as less spiritual, less godlike, less, you know, inferior, uh, if you didn't like the classical music. If you just liked popular music, you were more human and less godlike and, you know, the sweetest music this side of heaven had to be Guy Lombardo and all that dreamy music and Beethoven and Bach and all those guys back there in the Middle Ages. They just didn't seem to be a godly composer since the middle-aged Germans and, uh, anything else is kind of inferior.

   Well, I began to look through the Bible, the different musical instruments mentioned there. I began to notice the different words for dance. When I mean circle. One word for dance just is the word for circle. Another word is the word square. In other words, I couldn't believe it, so I checked it up a little more thoroughly and I don't know for sure that I know the root of it yet, but the word was rock, and I, you know, that couldn't be. It couldn't mean what it said on the surface, so I have tried to check it up a little more.

   But you know, one lesson I learned, it's one of the things I've seen God's church grow in, you know, if I look out in the crowd and I see different, uh, people with different dress and some hair on their face and, you know, different things about their face. I'm glad. We used to be like carbon copies, you know. I've... I lectured a guy one time from Indiana because he had a beard. I told him how that wasn't good and it wasn't a good example and what other people would think about him and... and what kind of reflection it cast on the church, and so I gave him the ABC sermon on beards and... You know, somebody that had to stick my nose in the Bible and say, "Well, would you, uh, just prove all that out of there for me?" I had a hard time doing it. In fact, I couldn't have done it and you still can't do it.

   But you know, I'm glad God has allowed the church to grow where there's more variety, where there's more variation, where there isn't one kind of music that's God's kind of music. One kind of dancing that's God's kind of dancing. You know, just legislative type, uh, guidelines.

   Now, come back to Psalm 149, and notice what it says: "For the Eternal takes pleasure in his people." Don't ever forget that verse. The Eternal takes pleasure in his people. When do you think he does that? When you get together at the feast and you're laughing with old friends and you're having a hot dog or something and a beer and you're laughing and kidding and you haven't seen each other in a long... don't you think God really enjoys that?

   You know, one of the biggest joys I have at the Feast of Tabernacles, especially in Big Sandy, is to go over and walk up and down the piney woods. See all Israel in tents there, all camped out, you know. You go along, somebody will run in, you get a glass of wine and a piece of cheese, and before long you're over at somebody's place and maybe they got some popcorn and beer and boy, it just... all kinds of people you run on to you haven't seen in a long time and... Don't have a guilty conscience in that anymore. Maybe you're playing dominoes, maybe you're playing hearts.

   You know, it took us years before we could ever get Mr. Herbert Armstrong to play a game of cards. He always felt like he didn't have time for it, and if it didn't enable him to do the work better, then why should he do it? Well, as he got older, he felt like he really did need a release of some kind, some kind of an outlet just to relax and laugh and kid around, and boy, it's fun to play hearts with him and drop the old lady on him and, you know, the old queen on him. I've done that. And he said... alright, "You're fired," you know. Drop the old bitty on him, that's it.

   Now you think... how do you think God reacted to that? You think God up in... up in heaven is so busy he didn't have time to notice anything like that? He was just kind of looking down and saying, "Well, you know, humans got to be humans and... go along with it, I guess."

   Don't ever forget verse 4 here. God takes pleasure in his people. God laughs with his people. God rejoices with his people. God enjoys his people. God celebrates with his people. God commands you at the feast time to come into his presence, then he commands you to rejoice. Can you really believe that? God commands you to come into his presence with rejoicing.

   Now you stop and think as a parent how you'd feel if your children always thought you were so stayed and strict and rigid and dignified, and they never did come into your presence with rejoicing. But when it came time to go in before dad, boy, sober puss, deadpan, uh oh, boy, jump to it right quick. We got to go in Dad's presence now and, you know, like going before a captain or a general in the army or something, I guess. Well, God commands you to come into his presence with rejoicing, with laughter and joy, rejoicing.

   Now notice as he goes on here: "The Eternal takes pleasure in his people. He'll beautify the meek with salvation. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing out on their beds." Can you imagine that? Lying on your bed some night and your soul filled with anticipation of the kingdom of God or the way God is blessing your life or the fun you've had that God has been in? "Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the saints be full of joy and glory." Look at that. Even when you're going to be in glory, when you're born again as the spirit son of God in God's kingdom, let the saints be full of joy and glory. Let's say full of sobriety and deadpan sober and serious.

   Now we know in Ecclesiastes it says there's time to laugh, there's time to weep, there's a time to dance, and there's a time not to dance. So God... that reveals God's character. God is balanced, God is perfectly balanced, but we need to balance him out the other way from what we've seen him to be in the past. We've seen him far too much as a strict legalistic God.

   Now notice the last part of this Psalm 149, and it's kind of funny that this Psalm starts out telling you to be happy, to rejoice, to be joyful. God takes pleasure in you, uh, be joyful in glory, sing loud on your bed, and then he shifts gears and talks about something totally different in the next verses. "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth." That's why you should be full of joy anticipating the family of God and the kingdom of God. The high praises of God, let them be in their mouth.

   But then he says, "And a two-edged sword in their hand." So now he shows how you've seen the goodness and severity of God. You've seen the warmth and humor and joy of God and now the seriousness of God. So right after saying let the high praises be in their mouth, he says, "A two-edged sword in their hand."

   Now what's the two-edged sword doing in the saint's hand? Well, he goes on to say, "To execute vengeance upon the heathen, punishment upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written. This honor have all his saints."

   Did you ever think of that as being an honor, having a sharp two-edged sword in your hand? Would you call that an honor? I would when I read about India. When I read about Indonesia. When I read about the conditions of other countries in this world. You know, I... I say anybody that doesn't have a vision of being a son of God in God's kingdom is near-sighted. They are self-centered. They don't see what this world is like all over.

   I... I'd say one good thing everybody ought to, uh, do... I've got a world almanac and quite often I get this out. It's got a whole section in here about the world's nations. It tells you about their educational level. It tells you about problems that exist all around the world and it's a lot easier to read about them that way.

   You know, when I had to teach comparative religion over Ambassador College in Big Sandy, and I wanted to be boned up on Hinduism and read all I could find about Hinduism because one out of every eight humans on the face of this earth is a Hindu. Can you imagine that? One out of every eight humans on this earth believes cows are holy, believe cows are sacred.

   You know, you... you can read in this, the world's great religions, which was one of the textbooks we used in comparative religion, but it talks in here about Hinduism. And it says if anybody should kill a cow, you'll burn in hell as many years as there are hairs on that cow's back. I mean, that's true, that's what they're taught. That's what they believe. Why don't they kill a cow? You think how careful you'd be about hurting a cow if you're going to burn forever in hell as many years in hell as there are hairs on that cow's back.

   Can you imagine that? Can you imagine one-eighth of all human beings in the image of God, potential members of this happy, joyous family of God, one out of eight of them believe they are going to be reincarnated like a grasshopper? Maybe if they're a little bit better, like an oxen. Maybe if they're real good humans, they might even get to be reincarnated as a cow, have everybody bow to them and honor them and, uh, anoint them.

   Can you imagine that? Can you imagine one out of eight human beings on this earth thinking that the most sacred atonement you can go through for cleansing your sin is to bathe yourself in cow urine? Can you imagine that? Can you believe that? One out of eight humans on the face of this earth, 1977 today, believe that that's the most sacred atonement they can do, and go this in some dirty river. The greatest day in their life is the day of their death.

   Can you imagine that? You don't want to put an end to that? You mean to tell me you don't want to be a king and a priest and help change that? I'll tell you, when God says this honor, it's gonna be an honor to take a sharp two-edged sword, which is God's Bible, and put an end to Hinduism. Put an end to all the false religions that have blinded man.

   You can't imagine, you know, the way people have to live on this earth. You know, half of the little kids in Indonesia, they don't even live to go to school. They don't even live well enough to go to school. And only... well, in Indonesia, 40% of them are illiterate, only 40%. They expect to live 44 years, that's their average lifespan. I've already passed that. I know what that means. One out of eight of them are going to die before they get to the age of 44. And they make $90 a year, that's their average income, $90 a year.

   Well, India is much better. They make $91 a year. It's even worse, 71% of them can't read. And they only live to be 52. Here we sit in America with all of our blessings, all of our prosperity. Here we sit in God's church knowing the truth. And then we get ourselves sidetracked about being sons of God, being in the family of God, being kings and priests.

   Well, I hope you read again and again this Psalm 149. A sharp two-edged sword, you look forward to that time. You eagerly anticipate the time God is going to give you that sharp two-edged sword to execute vengeance on the heathen, to execute the punishments God has recorded in scripture ahead of time on people, to put an end to human rule by binding their kings and nobles. "This honor have all his saints," and look what he says after that, "Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise ye the Lord." That God’s saints are going to be doing this.

   Now you might come back to the third chapter of Malachi, one of my favorite verses I like to read quite often here. Malachi 3:16, Malachi 3:16: "Then they that feared the Eternal spake often to one another." Now in the first place, we know when anybody fears God, he takes pleasure in them. So now they that fear the Eternal speak often to one another, "and the Eternal hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before the Eternal for those that feared the Eternal and that thought upon his name."

   You realize God has a book of remembrance? And even when we as brethren think upon God's name and talk one to another about God's kingdom and God's family and the fear of God, God hears that. God hearkens to hearing that and God has that written in the book of remembrance.

   And what do you think God is going to do about people that keep their eyes on their purpose? People that know God's plan for them? Well read: "They shall be mine, says the Eternal of hosts, in that day when I make up my special treasure," as your margin probably shows you.

   People who fear God and talk to one another, think about the name of God and being in the family of God and what all you're gonna be able to do when you're in that family of God, God says you're gonna be my special treasure. "I'm gonna spare you like a man spares his own son that serves him. And then you're gonna return and discern between the righteous and the wicked. You're gonna be a king and a priest judging between him that serves God and him that doesn't serve him."

   But can you imagine that? Just as if you were taking a group of rare jewels, maybe an emerald or a ruby or a pearl or a diamond, and you're going to set those in a special mount. That's the way God looks at people who think upon his name. People who speak to one another often because they fear God. People who are looking ahead to God's kingdom, God's family, people who can't wait to intervene in man's world and straighten it out the way God meant for it to be. You'll never be able to speak to one another about that, but what God will hear it and God will hearken and have that written in the book of remembrance. And that means a great deal to God.

   You know, I think ministers have had an advantage in some ways. I'd like to suggest the way you might make up for that advantage we have. You know, when I think about being in the family of God, being a son of God, I think about the opportunities I'm going to have to do what God uses me to do today to heal people. You ever imagine yourself laying hands on someone and God healing someone through you?

   I remember back when I first went to Ambassador College and I knew it was the truth and I'd already been to college before and I was anxious to get through that training and get out and help the work. I remember a student one time was real sick and wanted someone to pray for her, and so I went in and was praying for her and, uh, then I thought, "Well, I ought to lay hands on her." I thought, "Oh, you shouldn't either. So the elders lay hands on her," but you know I... I was sure wanting to have the experience of having God work through me and heal somebody.

   But can you imagine what that's gonna be like when you do that? You might have some kinfolks that have little crippled kid, maybe a retarded, maybe a blind, maybe you know someone near to you that's, uh, deformed in some way or another. Wouldn't you just like to have the power to put your hands out on them and take a little olive oil and put it on their forehead and... and know that God would just intervene and heal them?

   I've had the joy of doing that. I remember a few special cases. One time in Los Angeles, we went into the giant Los Angeles County Hospital, and they put masks on us and robes on us and hats and all, and this little boy had come down with polio and he was in this iron lung, and we went in and took a little olive oil and put it on his forehead and laid hands on him, and I remember how relieved I was to get out of there and how much more relieved I was the further I got away from there. How much more happy I was when I found out the little boy got out of there.

   I remember a lady in Kansas City who was doomed to go the way of death with breast cancer. And I've seen cases of people, very close friends of mine that died with breast cancer, and to know the joy of being able to take a little olive oil and put your hands on them and all of a sudden have God just cause it to disappear instantaneously in a week or two, and the joy it was when he and his wife came and mentioned that it was gone. There was no trace of it, no sign had ever been there.

   Can you imagine you're going to be doing that? You are going to be doing that. You know, who do you think is going to do the healings in your cities? When God sends you out as a king and a priest over five cities or ten cities, who do you think is going to sit down with those humans and teach them out of the Bible what God's way is? And when they've learned it enough and turned and been going that way enough, you know, the joy of getting to baptize somebody.

   You know, that never was work for me to take someone out in the lake or up by the baptistry when the weather was cold and to bury someone in a watery grave knowing God would send his power into them, and they begin to turn into a new man. You're gonna be baptizing people, you know that? Who do you think is going to baptize the people in your five or ten cities?

   When the Passover comes around, you know, every minister really gets touched when Passover time comes around. You really get to go through an emotional, uh, experience. First you think, "Well, I'm just not worthy to conduct a Passover," and I... You know, you feel like, "Well, I... I need this Passover more than any Passover I've ever had." And you begin to think about getting ready and maybe you take off for a day and study and pray and fast and meditate all day for 36 hours.

   We used to have what we call a 36-hour cure and people get away and they study for an hour and pray for an hour and then meditate for an hour and then they'd read for an hour and then think about what they read for an hour and then they pray for an hour, 36 hours. You imagine what that does to you? You wouldn't have your eyes off God's kingdom. You wouldn't have your eyes on me around, you wouldn't get so caught up in something physical, it's so tiny in comparison to being a... being a son of God.

   I would suggest all of you, as you start reading anew in the New Testament, make it more personal. Put yourself in it. You read about Christ turning water into wine. I think one of the reasons God did that was to make those people realize this sure was more than just a regular human being. Surely this guy couldn't have done that unless there's something unusual, abnormal, superhuman about it.

   Do you imagine when God brings you before him to give you your commission and send you out over five or ten cities, you think God isn't going to have to back you up with miracles? Can you imagine going over into your five cities and the people say, "Why, you're not any son of God, what are you talking about?" And so you have to start bearing evidence and proof that you are a son of God.

   You may have to walk on water to start making some people realize, "Well, I guess I didn't know Bill Smith after all, look at that, huh." And you know, maybe by the time you turn some water into wine, they'll say, "Why, boy, that's something unusual, something different about this man." And then maybe by the time you heal a withered hand and the guy just sits there and watches that withered hand just come right out to the full, they're gonna say, "Uh oh, I mean, we got somebody else with us here."

   You know, you may have to do miracles like that before cities God sends you out over are going to recognize you're a son of God. And that strikes me every time I read back here in Daniel. You might turn back here, and I've marked these verses in Daniel 1000 because they remind me of what the millennium is going to be like. 1000... uh, it's quite often here in Daniel 7, but notice what he says here.

   Verse 13 (Daniel 7:13): "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days." So here is when Christ is brought before God the Father, when time is up, when God decides that it's time for Christ to be given the kingdom and for him to return and intervene. That's what this verse is talking about. So God's workers go out and bring Christ before God the Father.

   "And there was given him dominion, glory, a kingdom that all people, nations and languages should serve him." No more Hinduism, no more Buddhism, no more Confucianism, no more of all of these satanic deceptions that have kept people in the image of the God of creation, ignorant, worshiping cows, uh, worshiping things created, no more of all of that. Now all nations are going to serve God. "His dominion is an everlasting dominion. It will not pass away. His kingdom will not be destroyed."

   And then verse 18: "But the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom." Now that doesn't sound like it's just gonna be a walk in and everybody says, "Oh," and they bow down and, "Oh," and, you know, they just automatically immediately begin to serve God and listen to you as God's servant in that area. Oh no, that's not gonna happen. We know for sure we're going to have to shut off rain from countries. We're going to have to send the plague on people that refuse to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. We're gonna have to shut off their rain and then they're going to have plagues and then they will come up. But we're going to take the kingdom. It's not gonna be easy, it's not gonna be just in an instant. It's not gonna be done all at once. "And possess the kingdom even forever and ever."

   Then verse 21: "The Ancient of days came and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." It doesn't say the saints were judged, but judgment is given to them. They're given the job of judging. They're given the responsibility of going out over five cities and ten cities, and you've heard and I have heard Mr. Herbert Armstrong say many a time that the least job available is over five cities.

   I've... I've only got three cities right now, and you're gonna have to organize educational, uh, Imperial schools, you're gonna have to organize Ambassador College for an area that's big enough to have enough young people to warrant a college. You're going to have to take five cities and do the job. You ever stop and think around about that? Well, now we want an athletic program and, uh, we don't want to have a Y.O.U. and we want to have a school and we'll have churches this way, and you're gonna be doing all that. Maybe the ministers, the ones that do that today, but you're gonna be doing that in a mighty few short years too.

   Then notice: "Then judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." That's all it's waiting now is the time for us to get ready. The time is going to come though that the saints are going to possess the kingdom. And you're going to know the joy of being able to heal people.

   Can you imagine what it's going to be like to go to a mental institution and just clear that thing out, empty it? Now some of them you'll just have to drive spirits out, some of them you'll have to heal. And you're gonna have to have enough of God's spirit to know which is which. That's the hardest job they are, discerning the spirits. How do you know when someone's just been physically, uh, mental brain damage at birth or during their life or whether they've really got a demon? But can you imagine the joy of sitting down with people and counseling them about their marriages?

   You know, quite often you hear read from the pulpit letters of people who talk about how they were about ready to break up their home and they heard the program and they start getting the literature and they start taking the Bible Correspondence Course and their marriage is done to turn around and really gotten back together and it's become a joy and an abundant life. You're gonna be able to do that. That's what the work is doing today, but you're gonna be doing that in the future. You're going to know that firsthand. You're going to go out and sit down yourself with people in their living rooms and turn through your Bible and show them what God says about how to have a happy marriage, about how to gain control of their training of their children.

   Now I hope you can begin to foresee that. I hope when you read in the New Testament from now on and you read about healings, you're going to just really long for the time in God's kingdom when you get to know that joy of being able to do that. The conducting Passover. You know, each year you sit, you hear the minister go through the services and do you ever anticipate the fact that before long you're going to be doing that? And who do you think is going to conduct Passover in your five cities, your ten cities?

   I think if we could become aware of the conditions of other countries around the world, we just say, "Oh boy, oh boy, what a great thing to be a son of God to help straighten out India, to help straighten out Indonesia, to help straighten out some of these poverty-ridden countries, these death traps for humans, to put an end to all the suffering of man on this earth." You're going to have a job. And you know, how can you get sidetracked by TV? How can you get your mind off that future by material things, by home, by properties, by pleasures?

   Now I'm reading a little later here in verse 27. He says, "The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High." So God is gonna give you your cities, your responsibility, but you're gonna go out and you're gonna have to take the kingdom. You may have to shut off rain. You imagine being able to work a miracle like that, calming a sea, shutting off rain and knowing when somebody's repented enough to turn their rain back on again. You're going to be a rainmaker. You're gonna be doing all those things.

   A couple of golden chapters that I think you need to read quite often back in Isaiah 60. Mr. Herbert Armstrong, for years, every Sabbath, we'd put the Elijah and the Messiah record on and he'd listen to those, not because Ambassador College joined with other musicians and performed them, but because of the message. I'll tell you, there is a sabbatical message. You know, they are a message for every Sabbath day. Every one of us, every Sabbath day ought to be thinking about God's kingdom.

   You know, when you think of the Sabbath, what do you think about? Rest? Going to church? Not having to go to work? Not having to go to school? That's what most of them, most of the young people would think about. But when you think about the Sabbath, what do you think about? "Oh no, let’s go sit on that hard chair for another two hours." You know, what... what... If you had to list your priorities with reference to the Sabbath, if you don't have the kingdom of God at the top, your Sabbath hasn't been what it ought to be.

   The Sabbath pictures the millennium. God knows it isn't enough once a year to picture the millennium. The Feast of Tabernacles pictures the millennium, but that's not often enough. It isn't good for you to just be reminded of God's kingdom once a year. You ought to think about God's kingdom every week. Every week you ought to be thinking about God's kingdom. And we really should be thinking about it every day. But at least on God's Sabbath, you ought to remember what it foretells, what it pictures.

   And you know, it distresses me to hear someone ask, "Well, you know, what else can I do on the Sabbath? Can I go fishing? Can I... how long can I go swimming? Can I, uh, watch ball games? Can I..." You know, you don't even have a Sabbath to get ready for Christ's return. Don't worry about what you can do on the Sabbath. You can study and you can pray and you can rest and you can meditate, you can visit with your family and you can do all kinds of things with your family and your wife and with the Bible and God, and it's... it's the day to be kept holy. It shouldn't be a day you want to see what all you can do on it. You know, Isaiah said the day itself ought to be the delight, not what you can find to do on it. He said, "Call the Sabbath a delight," not what you can find to do on it.

   Now notice here in Isaiah 60 (Isaiah 60:1). This is a unique chapter because it pictures that day of the resurrection when God is going to change you from a physical, mortal, human, frail, corruptible, weakly human being into an incorruptible spirit, into a son of God. And notice what he says: "Arise, shine, for your light is come and the glory of the Eternal is risen upon you." Now don't spiritualize that away, it means just what it says. It's a time when you come up off the earth or out of the grave as a shining, glowing spirit radiating being. "Arise, shine, because your light has come and the glory of the Eternal has risen upon you."

   Now you keep your finger there in Isaiah 60 and notice the verse here in Daniel chapter 12. Uh, a spirit being, responsibility and glory. Is a matter of the brightness and the shining radiance, and you may remember in Revelation where John said, "I beheld a mighty angel come down and he lightened the whole earth with his glory." So the mightier the angel, the more the glory.

   Now notice Hosea 12... I mean Daniel 12, talking here about verse 2 (Daniel 12:2): "Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," time of the resurrection, and he pictures the first and last resurrections here. Some are going to be raised to everlasting life, that's in the first resurrection, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, that's in the last resurrection.

   Then he goes on to say, connected with the resurrection: "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." Now in the margin, you know, the word wise really means teachers. They that are prepared to be teachers, they are ready to teach people in ten cities, to heal people, to sit down and counsel people, to conduct the Passover and baptize people, to get peace together, to establish schools and colleges. They that are ready to be the teachers are going to shine as the brightness of the firmament, shine like the brightest stars, shine like the sun. "They that turn many to righteousness are going to shine like the stars forever and ever."

   That's what is ahead for all of us as spirit beings — the glory of the brightness of the firmament and the stars. Now that's why Paul said in I Corinthians 15, and you know, every time I've conducted a funeral I've read this and people are always astounded by the thought that dead when resurrected are going to shine like different stars in glory, and yet God plainly said that in the Bible all these years.

   Notice there in I Corinthians 15... Yeah, I said, "There's one glory of the sun," verse 41 (I Corinthians 15:41), "there's another glory of the moon. There's another glory of the stars because one star differs from another star in glory." So after you've thought that out about the different stars and their different brightnesses, different shining, twinkling, different size, then look what he says: "So also is the resurrection of the dead."

   That's the way it's gonna be when the dead are raised. Some people who've really been growing spiritually are going to really shine as spirit beings, and others, you're gonna have to get you a telescope, maybe one off from Mount out in California, Pasadena, you can be able to see them. And maybe by staring off into the distance you'll say, "Is that Bill Smith over there? Barely see him over there." That's gonna be sad. But that's the way it's going to be in the resurrection. The brighter the responsibility and the more qualified, the more ready you are to be the king and priest and teach over five or ten cities, the more the glory.

   Now back to Isaiah 60. Here he says, "Arise, shine, because your light's come, and the glory of the Eternal has risen upon you." You're in God's family. You share the glory of the family of God. You glow in spirit radiance as God does, not as brightly but in the same sense. "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth," right at the time of the earth's darkest darkness, right at a time of gross darkness of the people, "the Eternal shall rise on you and his glory shall be seen upon you."

   All of a sudden, God's sons, God's glory arises upon them, and God's glory is seen upon you. What do you think is gonna happen when a lot of saints are changed to spirit beings? A lot of people in graves come up out of the ground as spirit beings. Look what it says: "The Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising." God is going to cause humankind to begin to be dumbstruck by this sudden burst of spirit beings. And they're going to come and we're going to teach them and counsel them and help them straighten out their countries.

   "Lift up your eyes round about and see. They all gather themselves together. They come to you, your sons come from far and your daughters are going to be nursed at your side." That's a real comforting scripture. If your children aren't old enough to be spirit beings, then they're gonna still be with you. They're gonna still be in your cities, you're gonna still be able to work with them, and maybe they'll end up being the first one you'll baptize, first one you'll, uh, ordain.

   Now how would you like to baptize your own son and ordain your own son as a deacon in the church over there in Podunk, uh, New Mexico or wherever you're gonna be? How do you like to have him help you do the Passover and... I can show you a number of scriptures that show you what our children are going to be doing in God's kingdom. They're gonna be with us. We're gonna be working as units, as teams. "Your sons come to you and your daughters are gonna be nursed at your side."

   Verse 5, he says, "The abundance of the sea is going to be converted to you," and I don't think that's gonna happen till the millennium. We can talk all about the great energy potential in the seawater, but it's gonna be millennial. We're gonna use it then. We're not gonna discover it until then. But then that's what that verse says.

   Now just a few verses in chapter 61 in the next couple of minutes. I hope you'll read this no longer just as a prophecy about the Christ. Maybe your Bible has a P with a circle around it after these verses, and that means the writers knew that these were verses that prophesied Christ. But they're also talking about sons of God in the future too. And you see if this isn't what's going to happen when God resurrects you and sends you out to your five or ten cities. You're going to say what this chapter says: "The spirit of the Lord Eternal is upon me because the Eternal has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those that are bound."

   And what you're gonna be doing when you're commissioned as the son of God, sure is God's spirit specifically is going to commission you to go out over five or ten cities. And you're gonna be anointed to preach and to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, to open the prison, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the time for God's kingdom.

   Now he says verse 4, as a part of this commission of we as God's sons going out, we're going to have people build the old wastes, raise up the former desolations, repair the waste cities. Then notice verse 6: "You," you beings who are spirits, notice this can't just be talking about Christ only. Look at verse 6: "You shall be named the priests of the Eternal." That's what your millennial commission and name and responsibility is going to be. You're going to be named the priest of the Eternal. "Men are going to call you the ministers of our God." And we'll take the wealth of all the warring nations that they've gathered up and use it for a stockpile economically for the kingdom, the rest of the verse says.

   Then notice verse 8. God says, "I hate the Eternal love judgment. I'm going to direct their work in truth. I'm gonna make an everlasting covenant with them." Now I know it's verse 9. He... he's talking about those of us who become priests and ministers of God in the millennium and him directing our work in truth, but look at verse 9: "And their seed," their children, their kids, their young people, their young who weren't of age to be changed to spirit beings at the resurrection, "the seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring shall be known among the people. All that see them are going to acknowledge that they are the seed of those that God has blessed."

   I'll tell you, there are a lot of millennial scriptures that show us what our future is. I hope all of us can get our eyes on what God has promised. One last verse. It would be good for you to keep in your memory back in Proverbs chapter 29. Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

   Now can you imagine though if you can keep your mind on that kingdom of God, that sonship of God, that job of being a king and a priest and a healer and a person to baptize, can you imagine if you can begin to taste the future as if it's just right around the corner and it's real? You know, you're not going to get let off. You're not going to get weary in well doing. You're not going to drop out of God's church, but he warns us here: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

   Keep your eyes on God's kingdom. Every Sabbath keep your eyes on God's kingdom. And when you think about being a son of God, think about God the way God really is. Don't think of God as a statue, as an unmovable, rigid, austere, strict, stern legalist. Don't think of God as someone that kind of looks down on humans when they're enjoying sports and music and, you know, uh, things that he himself created and made.

   You know, I hope all of us can have a great weekend and know God's just having just as much fun as you are, as long as we conduct ourselves the way we should, and God looks down and he... he has a good time too. So I hope you can see God a little differently and, uh, we'll see you later this evening and I'm gonna go to that dance for fun and, uh, I'm not one of the young people, but I... I enjoy watching them being there, and when I'm there I'm just there to have fun. So if I'm there, don't get on edge and think I'm there like a Pharisee spying and seeing what's going on and jotting it down in my black book or something. Let's all have a good weekend and know that God really is a God you ought to be. You ought to be like him. You ought to be one of his children and his family.