Mr. Meredith will be returning from San Antonio, Texas today (Monday) after completion of a three-night campaign there, Word from the team there indicates it was a fine beginning for our campaign series. Attendance ranged! from about 288 to 432. New attendance was low from the beginning, however, ranging from 85 to 58, but the program went very well, and the brethren and new people were very appreciative.
Next weekend, May 11-13, I will be conducting a campaign In Denver, Colorado, so would certainly appreciate your prayers for its success. There are seven campaigns planned for the months of May through the first weekend iii August. We will enclose the dates, places, and speakers at these campaigns in this Pastor's Report as a reminder so that you can ask the brethren to pray for God's blessing on each of them.
Last week I was in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon for meetings with all of our ministers and wives in those areas. Mr. Norman Smith joined me in Portland and we had a very profitable time discussing the various problems and needs of the ministers and churches in those areas.
Certainly the northwest has to be one of the most stable areas church-wise in the U.S. The ministers up there are doing a very fine job and expressed their loyalty to God's Work and to his apostle, Mr. Herbert Armstrong. Mr. Smith is doing an excellent job as area coordinator and I want to thank him publicly for the way he is working with the ministers and churches in his area.
Included in this Pastor's Report will be a list of the summer transfers including men going out from Sabbatical and those coming in. We have tried to take into consideration all the various factors and the personal needs and desires of the ministers and wives affected. But sometimes the need for a certain minister for a certain area overrides personal considerations and we must put God's Work and the needs in His Church first in our lives.
Mr. Meredith and all of us here on the Pastoral Administration team want to thank those of you being moved or transferred for your loyal, cooperative attitudes. I think most of you are happy with your assignments, but there may be a few cases of disappointment. I am sure God will bless all of you and make up for any inconveniences you may suffer as a result of transfers if you maintain a right attitude and keep God and his Work first in your lives. In the ministry we are all servants and must be willing to go where we are needed, when we are needed.
Pentecost is coming up on Sunday, June 3, as all of you know. We will be sending some men out from Pasadena and will be notifying you when we consider the various requests coming in for speakers.
I would like to close by briefly explaining how one minister who recently had to be put out of the Church was able to deceive a large part of his congregation into following him. I have given this a lot of thought and would like to relate to you the following points:
He began emphasizing certain Bible doctrines and teachings with the implication that the Worldwide Church of God is not following the Bible. He began saying that Christians should follow no man and that no man has any spiritual authority over us — only Christ is over us, implying that Mr. Herbert Armstrong has no authority over us. He alleges that Mr. Herbert Armstrong is departing from God's way and becoming Laodicean, and imparted his feelings to the brethren.
He used the legal problems we are having in a totally negative way — the charges against us, the lawsuits, the sit-ins, etc. to say that we are hiding something and that is why we are (supposedly) not being subject to the civil authorities according to Romans 13.
He has been in regular contact via phone with Garner Ted Armstrong for many months and also contacted the Church of God Seventh Day in Denver. This minister believes God is using them to do a great work also and convinced many of the brethren of this.
He is saying Mr. Herbert Armstrong learned most of the basic truth that he knows from the Church of God Seventh Day and not directly from God and the Bible as he claimed.
And finally, he convinced most of the brethren under his responsibility that no one can ever put them out of God's Church—that they are only leaving one era of the true church to join with another. He convinced most of the brethren that the Worldwide Church of God is becoming Laodicean and that they would be better off associating with the Church of God Seventh Day and/or Garner Ted Armstrong.
I gave a sermon recently at one of the Pasadena churches on how this happened and explained how this minister was able to accomplish this over a period of many months. He was very subtle but some of the loyal members began to detect his disloyalty and reported it to us here at Pasadena. This minister was actually accepting a paycheck signed by Herbert W. Armstrong but was, in essence, working undercover for Gamer Ted Armstrong. I know he would deny this, but it is the truth.
I will be writing up answers to the above points for a later issue of the Pastor's Report. In the meantime give them some thought. These are issues you need to be aware of and be prepared to answer.
That's all for now. Thanks again for your loyalty, faithfulness and dedication.
FROM PASTORAL ADMINISTRATION
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