Herbert W Armstrong

Mr. Herbert Armstrong spoke to the group this past Wednesday afternoon, delivering a powerful and inspiring message about our calling to be a part of God's coming government. He stressed that God has not called us all just to receive salvation. The firstfruits of God's Family are now in training to rule and teach under Jesus Christ in the World Tomorrow!

I am glad to report that Mrs. James Reyer Is back home and feeling better. However, she still needs our prayers for increased strength and her complete recovery.

I want to thank all of you again for your prayers for the success of the recent Regional Directors Conference. As I mentioned last week, it is obvious that God heard those prayers. The prayers of God's people are likened in the Bible to sweet incense coming before His throne. God appreciates our heartfelt, meaningful prayers. He will hear us and give us the things we ask for if they are according to His will and if we are striving to please Him. One tool that can help us to pray more effectively is the WORLDWIDE NEWS. It is for the ministry and the brethren to use in order to know what God is doing through His Church. I hope we are taking advantage of this publication so we will know what to pray about wholeheartedly.

Through the Holy Spirit, each of us should be growing in the mind of Christ and becoming more and more interested and excited about the things that interest and excite God! What is God more interested in right now than His Church, which is doing His work on earth in preparation for the coming restoration of His government? As we develop the divine nature of God (II Pet. 1:4), our interests become more precisely attuned to the needs and growth of the work of His Church and our brethren, who make up the body of Christ. Our earnest prayers about these things are beautiful to God and are certainly heard (Matt. 7:7-11).

Prayer does make a difference! God wants us to grow in unity of mind. Since the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, how much more the effectual, fervent prayers of thousands of God's begotten children? As we grow together in the mind of Jesus Christ, God is able to use us all more effectively as His instruments and to bless us all the more in doing His work. Continue to encourage and inspire the brethren to seek God always in fervent, heartfelt prayer! As Mr. Armstrong has said, "As an army moves on its stomachs, so the Church of God moves on its knees."

I also want to thank each of you again, on behalf of Mr. Armstrong, for your ongoing sacrifice for God's Church, and your faithfulness and loyalty to God. God is faithful, and He will not forget your labor of love. God has called you to a great responsibility and a difficult task. But with it He gives you the help, encouragement, and strength through His Spirit to carry on. As God grants additional growth, workloads necessarily increase. (Here again, we must be praying that God will add more laborers to the harvest.) But God will see to it that we have the wherewithal to accomplish the job. Ask God for help to always keep your eyes on the glorious goal He has set before you, realizing that He has called you to teach a group of those He is now preparing to rule all nations in just a few short years!

1985 Feast of Tabernacles in China (U.S. and Canadian Ministers)

Please remind any in your congregations who plan to apply for the 1985 Festival tour of the People's Republic of China to send in their applications immediately. The Festival Office needs to have all applications in Pasadena by February 20 so we may formalize our commitment to the Chinese government. Thank you for your cooperation.

We have recently received a number of inquiries from U.S. ministers concerning the termination of the "double deduction" tax benefit for mortgage interest and property tax. Under current law the benefit continues for one more year. To help clarify the question, we are reprinting a statement that appeared in the July 27, 1984 PGR.

U.S. ministers who are living in homes they have owned (or had a contract to purchase) prior to January 3, 1983 have been given another year to include mortgage interest and property tax as an itemized deduction on their income tax return. The Tax Reform Act of 1984 has made provision to continue the deductibility of these items until January 1, 1986.

This means your "double deduction" benefit is available through the 1985 tax year. Even though your mortgage interest and property tax is paid with your housing allowance (which is exempt from income tax), you can still list these expenses as itemized deductions on your tax return. This effectively excludes another substantial portion of your income from income tax.

Those ministers who purchased homes after January 2, 1983 are not eligible for this benefit even during the current tax year. For them the benefit was terminated on June 30, 1983.