Proclaim to the World the GOOD NEWS OF THE WORLD TOMORROW
BOX 111, Pasadena, California
Publishing: The PLAIN TRUTH a Magazine of UNDERSTANDING
November 15, 1955
Dear Co-Workers with Christ:
GREETINGS! Here we are again, racing the test of the Christmas shopping season. Just as our revitalized Television program is beginning to take hold on the public — just as we enter the stiffest crisis of this financial tight squeeze, we come to the season when people FORGET their gifts for Christ and His work, and embark on a shopping spree, exchanging gifts among themselves!
That's the terrifying crisis we face this hour! This week, I am having to consider the possibility of dropping Television altogether. If we do have to drop it, it means cutting off our ONLY door God has opened to us thru which this great work may grow. It means the work will then gradually dwindle, go down — and OUT! And right now — THINK OF IT! — just as we are on the threshold of the BIG TV season, when more people are watching — just as we are learning how to use it to attract a bigger and bigger audience — just as it is about to TAKE HOLD!
Co-Workers, what are we going to do about it? Shall we wilt, before this supreme challenge? Shall we be discouraged, lose faith, shirk the grave responsibility God has laid on every one of us? Shall we GIVE UP, and let the work of God die?
Let every one of us answer with a ringing NO!!
Listen, dear Co-Workers! This is the supreme challenge, but THERE IS A WAY TO MEET IT! We don't need to lose courage, faith, or zeal. Did you notice that I addressed this letter to you as a Co-Worker WITH Christ? Maybe you never realized it, but that's precisely what God has called you to be — a Co-Worker WITH Christ! Not just a worker FOR Christ, but a fellow-worker WITH Him! Do you realize He is working with us? — That Christ Himself is our Co-Worker?
Christ is not dead. What do you think Jesus Christ is doing TODAY? He is ON THE JOB, night and day! He's in heaven, on the very throne of God, at the right hand of the Father. That's the Supreme HEADQUARTERS of this great work. That's the Throne of GRACE! Christ is there for YOU and for ME as our High Priest, and as HEAD of this work.
If you are truly a Christian, you are a child of God, and He has added you to His CHURCH. Jesus said, "I will build my CHURCH." He did build it! He has called YOU — added YOU to His Church. He gave His Church a DIVINE MISSION: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel." Jesus came to this earth with a tremendous MISSION to accomplish. He came to become, eventually, the KING over all the world. He came, calling His disciples, to teach and train them to become apostles, and to GO INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Jesus Christ did not preach this Gospel, Himself, to all the world. Rather, He TAUGHT it to His disciples, and commanded THEM to go into all the world with it. His CHURCH is HIS BODY — the collective BODY empowered by the Spirit of God for carrying on the WORK OF GOD, which is to proclaim this very Gospel to the world as a witness. Jesus prophesied that, in OUR time, "this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached (and published) in all the world for a witness unto all nations," — and then, He said, shall the END of this world come.
THAT great prophecy is BEING CARRIED OUT BY CHRIST AND YOU AND ME TODAY!
THAT, my fellow-workers with Christ, is OUR call and commission — the very purpose of OUR LIVES! THAT is the very reason we are in a recess between World Wars II and III — to allow time for this tremendous work. THAT is why God is giving the U.S.A. such unprecedented prosperity right now — that there might be financial means for HIS GREAT WORK.
THAT is the work of GOD'S CHURCH, into which He has called you and me. But has Christ gone clear away from the Church? NO! A thousand times NO!! Jesus Christ today is ALIVE, dynamic, filled with all the divine supernatural POWER of the living GOD! Christ is the HEAD of God's Church, and the Father made Him so. JESUS CHRIST HAS HIS PART IN THIS GREAT WORK OF GOD. He's the HEAD of it! But, to be the head, it was necessary for Him to leave the earth, and take up residence at the Supreme divine HEADQUARTERS of God's work — the very throne of the Father in heaven.
Listen — because I don't believe you ever thought of it this way before! Christ is BUSY night and day, directing the work we are doing now. Look at it this way: Once, in 1915, I was sent, as editorial representative of the largest business magazine in the nation, to Detroit to interview Henry Ford and write an article. I saw the great Ford factory, with thousands of workers. Henry Ford was the directing head of all this buzz of activity — but he didn't do his work in that gigantic factory building. He did his work from his offices in another building, entirely apart from the factory. JESUS CHRIST IS ACTIVELY DIRECTING THIS GREAT WORK, AS ITS CHIEF AND ITS HEAD, FROM THE FATHER'S THRONE IN HEAVEN!
He — Christ Jesus — is OUR DIRECTING HEAD. We must look to HIM for guidance, support, help, wisdom, power. Supplying these things, opening the doors before us, sending a great wave of POWER by His Spirit to MOVE the hearts of people — that is CHRIST'S PART in this great work.
So, you see, we are HIS Co-Workers — yes, Co-Workers WITH Christ. He is IN THIS WORK WITH US — with all His divine power! He has commanded us, (Heb. 4:16) to COME BOLDLY TO HIS THRONE of grace, where we shall find the necessary HELP in time of need.
Co-Workers, we are right now in that desperate TIME OF NEED! But we don't need to give up, lose faith, or quit. NOW is the time to go to our Head and our Chief, and rely on HIM! NOW is the time to call on Supernatural Divine Power. NOW is the time to go to our knees in the private place of PRAYER! He has said He will never drop the work He has begun! HE WON'T QUIT — neither shall WE!
This very CRISIS we face is our GREATEST OPPORTUNITY! If we now let down and quit trying, then people will FORGET Christ, and spend lavishly on Christmas presents to TRADE them back and forth. They suppose they are following the example of the wise men, who gave gifts to the Christ-child. But they are not. The wise men gave their gifts to CHRIST — they didn't exchange them among themselves. And it was NOT His birthday, but several days after He was born!
If we lie down now, this work will go down, and OUT! But, if we wake up and realize we are Co-Workers WITH Christ — and He is a Co-Worker WITH us, and our Chief in God's work, we can go to Him in fervent, earnest, believing PRAYER, and He will send out a mighty wave of POWER, and MOVE on human minds and hearts, and cause them to REALIZE that they are NEGLECTING CHRIST in their Christmas generosity. And, instead of shutting off the income for God's work, He will touch the HEARTS of thousands right at this season when they are in the generous spirit of GIVING, and cause them to GIVE for His work more generously than ever before!
You and I can't do that! Only the power of God can do it! That's CHRIST'S part in this work — but He insists we must put OUR WHOLE HEARTS INTO IT, and come earnestly to His Throne of Grace in humbling PRAYER!
God wants us to be DOERS! This crisis is SO serious I have to ask those of you who can't GIVE it, but have large sums you might LOAN, if you will not send in as a LOAN for a year or more, anywhere from $500 to several thousand dollars. Also I have to ask you to send in the LARGEST offerings you can, beside your faithful TITHES — and, IN ADDITION, send in TWO DOLLARS, if possible (even one if you can't send two) EXTRA, over and above what you thought you could spare, every week for the remainder of this year! Will you do that? — EVERYBODY — an extra two dollars, over and above the largest regular offerings possible, every week until after Xmas? If every one of you will do this — and PRAY that God will cause THOUSANDS to come in — we shall be able to survive this seemingly impossible crisis. We're making GREAT STRIDES now, on TV. We already have the highest rating in our field. NOW is the time to make EXTRA effort — EXTRA sacrifice — STIR YOUR HEARTS — GET TO YOUR KNEES — PRAY!
Most URGENTLY, in Jesus' name, Herbert W. Armstrong
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