Well, greetings brethren. It is nice to be back. And we have had a very eventful, a very hectic, and a very exciting trip; in many ways, a very trying one. I'll tell you about it in a few moments. First I want to make one comment. I heard, in the morning service, a great deal about the many who have left the church, and again in the sermonette this afternoon; and I'd like to clarify that just a little bit. If even one member leaves the Church, brethren, that is too many. And I think if a dozen, or a hundred, or even two or three hundred leave the Church, we would begin to call that "many." But don't ever get the idea that it is the many who have gone out and the few who are left, because that is absolutely not true. THE MANY ARE STILL IN. THANK GOD FOR THAT. AND, COMPARATIVELY, it is the FEW who have gone out. And I want to say something about the many who are in the Church this afternoon. My message is going to concern them. GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS HELPING DEVELOPING NATIONS STRIVING FOR UNITY UNITY IN GOD'S CHURCH THE TREE OF LIFE THE TREE OF GOOD AND EVIL THE CREATION OF MAN THE FLOOD ORGANIZING NATIONS A WHOLE NEW CIVILIZATION THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD GOD IN US DEALING WITH DIVISION TRUE CHURCH TO GET READY BLESSINGS FROM THE TRIP
First, however, I think you'd like to hear a little bit about the trip we had; and I am not going to try to give you an account of the events, because you will read that in The Worldwide News. I think the first half of the trip has already appeared in print, and the rest of it will in perhaps the next issue of The Worldwide News. But it has been both a very eventful trip, a very trying one and yet with all I would say the most rewarding, the most successful, the most fruitful trip that I have ever taken.
And, I believe it was the next day, we went out to the S.E.P. Summer Camp. And somehow at the summer camp I was in one of the counseling rooms, there must have been a draft or something, and I caught a very sore throat. And, I think it was later that night, and certainly by the next morning, I had quite a sore throat. And I was quite alarmed because, if it went down into pneumonia, that would be quite serious at my age. I'm more afraid right now of something like that than I am of another heart attack. As far as my heart is concerned, I think you all know I am living on borrowed time. But it seems to hang on about the same way; and I simply have to stop at times, sit down and no matter what, just say I refuse to go another step until I rest, because it would overdo my heart. And if I started to go on, maybe I'd stop going on for the rest of this life. So I am usually very careful to sit down the minute I feel any trouble coming on to my heart. And as long as I am very careful about that, I feel God can keep me going for quite a little time yet.
The one thing I have been deathly afraid of would be catching a cold going into pneumonia, and I've had to struggle with that this whole trip. Fortunately God did not let it hurt my voice and my voice kept up. I was able to keep up with all of the speaking that I had intended to do, in every way; and I spoke to practically all of our brethren in New Zealand, and then practically all of our brethren in Australia. We even went out to, now I get mixed up down there whether it's Eastern or Western Australia, but the other side of Australia, or Perth. I have never been to Perth before. It's a very beautiful city; and, actually, quite a lot larger city than I had thought it was. It would be considered as one of our major cities if it were in the United States, a city of that population. I think it would be considered larger than Seattle or Kansas City. It's, after all, a fairly good-sized city.
At Singapore they had a special orchestra play a special, abbreviated concert for us. It probably lasted about twenty minutes. It was played on old Chinese instruments. I had never seen such instruments in my life, and I am sure most of you have never seen instruments of that type. So there was some talk about bringing that orchestra here to play in this auditorium. Now they are of the caliber that would qualify for performance in this auditorium. They are very professional, very proficient. They happen to have a very professional conductor. They played various kinds of music — not only oriental music and old oriental music, but some of the modern European music of the more classical type — on those instruments.
It was quite interesting; and I found that, if we would sponsor their coming here, perhaps they could also play at the Kennedy Centre in Washington and perhaps other places in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. The Japanese government would pay two-thirds if we'll pay one-third of the expenses, and I think something may come of that. But there is a Chinese orchestra also possibly coming to play here. So we may still see some of those ancient oriental instruments.
At Hong Kong, we have three members; and, the group of us and so many of our television crew being there, we really had quite a little group. I don't know, maybe that was just last Sabbath. I believe it was just last Sabbath. We had quite a service there. And then we went on to Tokyo. We arrived in Tokyo, that must have been on Monday night. Now Sunday night we went down to the newly decorated grillroom that has a new fancy name that I don't remember now (It's all renewed.) and had a dinner. I didn't eat anything that should have upset my stomach; but, about an hour or two later, I had very serious stomach trouble; and then I began to throw up.
Now, during the trip I had also been in a draft in Australia and had caught cold; and I had a temperature varying anywhere from normal and one or two tenth of a degree all the way up to two degrees. And two degrees of temperature I consider now at my age quite serious. And so I have been fighting those things the whole trip. Still I have managed to carry on everything except that, when this hit me in Tokyo, I was confined to bed for the next two days. I had to cancel all engagements in Tokyo. However many of my Japanese sons, as I call them, came to the hotel to visit me. Others, including Prince Mikasa, sent flowers and I heard from them; and some very outstanding things were accomplished.
They already have done that in Kenya, in Africa. Through our Foundation we contributed $35,000 to the establishment of a new University in Agriculture and Technology. I planned that some seven or eight years ago with President Jomo Kenyata of Kenya. Of course, the whole nation was named after him. The Japanese government put in a total of about $50,000,000; and the University is now going full bloom. Many new buildings have been built. They are not quite of the standard of Ambassador College Campus in quality and character. But they are new; they are modern; they are clean; and it is quite a university going. And they have about the same student enrolment there that we have on this campus here.
Psalm 133:1 How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
You know, the world has been trying to get together in unity ever since Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden about 6,000 years ago. It's been a goal that has been striven for to bring about inter-racial, international unification and a one-world government with peace, or some kind of united government. When they couldn't unite the governments of the world, they've tried to form alliances. But, of course, one alliance has always been formed to oppose and usually have war with some other union of nations, or alliance, or allied nations.
Why is it that in the world they have NEVER succeeded in a universal government? There has always been division. Something that I noticed on this trip, I noticed it in New Zealand and I noticed it in Australia. For example, in Australia I met a man who had the same position that we in this country, we would call it Governor of the State. And of course we heard talk about the opposition, and the opposing party. Everywhere there is the opposing party. Here in the United States, we have a Republican in the Presidency and a Republican Senate. But there's the opposing party, the Democrats. Now they are doing everything to move heaven and earth, if they can, to oust President Reagan and to get complete control of the Senate. It's one against the other. They cannot have unification.
Now, about six months ago (It doesn't seem that long; but it really has been now over six months ago, or just about that.) we had Dr. von Hapsburg here; and he spoke from this platform, visited my office and my home. He is striving for the unification of Europe into one nation again, and they are having a terrible time to accomplish it. And it is a little discouraging to some of those working for it at the present time. Bible prophecy says they are going to accomplish it. And something is going to happen to suddenly just change the course of events in Europe and bring that about. And it will happen.
But now, why? Why is it that men cannot get together? Why must there always be division? Why must there always be competition and strife? And yet, brethren, I wonder if you realize that in the last half century, the last half of this twentieth century, God's Church has accomplished what the governments of this world have striven for 6,000 years to do and could never accomplish. God's Church has accomplished it.
For the first time in 6,000 years, it has been accomplished — a united government; and there is united government in this Church! And I am going to touch on one reason why some have left, and why we're not going to have as many leaving the Church from now on as we have had in the past. There is a reason for these things. But a goal has been achieved (and I want you to understand it) by this Church, during the second half of this twentieth century, that all humanity has striven to achieve and never could before. And that is a unified government.
I notice now that wherever I go, and I've just been on a trip visiting brethren in ... Well, I met our minister and his wife in Honolulu; but otherwise I met brethren in New Zealand, both those from the north and the southern part of New Zealand. I spoke in Auckland and also in Wellington; and, with some telephone hookups, we've reached practically all the membership in New Zealand. And then I spoke from ... . I never can remember the names of certain cities. Well, in the north and south and the other side of the whole continent. But there were telephone hookups, just like we have here; and I spoke to practically the entire membership in Australia.
I wonder if you realize, brethren — and there is a great lesson for us in what has happened — but whether I go to black Africa, or to the Philippines, or to South America, or to Europe, to Australia, New Zealand, or to Malaysia (And, incidentally I spoke to most all of our brethren in Malaysia and Singapore on this trip.), and wherever I go, there I find the same spirit. And you can tell a Church of God member almost immediately! There is something DIFFERENT about a member of this Church, and you can tell a difference. They are different from Seventh Day Adventist members. There is a different attitude — a different spirit — than you find in Baptists, or in Methodists, or in Catholics. There is A SPIRIT that is the same regardless of race, regardless of nationality, or country, or location on the earth. It is all the same.
Why? What is the difference? Why has God's Church (headed by Jesus Christ) succeeded where the world (who has rejected God and who has really rejected the real Christ), why have they failed? There is no unification taken even in religion. The world is divided into many, many different religions. And the largest of all of them is the one that is so-called "Christianity" or is often called today "traditional Christianity." And it is the largest of the religions in the world, and yet it is divided into hundreds of denominations and sects — each one having certain differences of belief and practice; and, to a more or lesser extent, competitive against others; and they don't agree. They don't associate one with the other. Each have their own spirit and attitude. But there is no unification. They are divided, and there is always the opposition. Why?
Now, once again, you know I have been accused of always going back to those two trees. Yesterday afternoon, it was almost sundown; and I got the idea that I would like to have a couple of big illustrations up to show you today. So I took it up with some of our editorial people in the artists' division, and so they whipped together something real hastily for me that you find up here this afternoon. I have to get back to the beginning once again to explain some of this to you. Not only to explain God's purpose, to explain why we are coming to unity and one government that is unified; and in the world there is always opposition.
It was ... Let's see. Is it a year and a half ago? It's quite a little more than a year ago now. I was in South Africa. And down there they were asking me ... We were in, oh, the home of Dr ... . I don't know why can't think of names. Anyhow, our leader and pastor down there. And practically all of the ministers and their wives from {1} South Africa were there. And they gathered around me and they asked me, "Well, what about the Tree of Life? And what would have happened if Adam had taken of that tree?" And, you know, we've never discussed very much the Tree of Life. We've discussed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now, while I was at camp in Australia, some children ... And they were the children of some of our ministers, or grandchildren. And they were anywhere from 3 or 4, up to 6 or 7 years of age, just children. I am not talking now about the youth, or the campers, or about the others there; but just the children that happened to be there. And they had produced a large chart for me with a drawing of a tree. There was the trunk, and then a lot of bushes around it; and they had the Ten Commandments on the leaves for the Tree of Life.
Well, that gave me an idea; so I went a little further in elaborating on it. Now I see at my right is a chart of the Tree if Life and (if you can hear), as I look at it, the root of that tree — from which it gathers all of its life, and everything comes from the root — is GOD. Then the main trunk of the tree is THE SPIRIT OF GOD. And above, on one side, are four main branches off of that trunk. The four main branches are the first four of the Ten Commandments, and they express love toward God. Then there are six other major branches, not quite so large because they are really not as important as those first four; and they denote love toward fellow man, the last six of the Ten Commandments.
So from God flows LIFE in the form of the Holy Spirit that is injected into those who take of this tree. And with Life comes the knowledge of the WAY OF LIFE (of good and evil) — love toward God and love toward neighbor. Then the very many other branches are all of the other things that come under love toward God and love toward neighbor. In other words, other ways that you love God and that you love neighbor. Then it comes out to the branches and the final fruit. And the FRUIT borne you'll see is ... Well, I can't read it all from here. But it is LOVE, and JOY, and PEACE, and HAPPINESS, and ACCOMPLISHMENT, UNITY, AND TOGETHERNESS, and ALL of those things are the fruit.
Now if Adam had taken of that fruit, he would have taken what came from the ROOT and up through the trunk of the tree. He would have had the Spirit of the LIFE of GOD. He would have done THE WAY OF GOD. And the SPIRIT OF GOD to give him the knowledge of that way; to give him the LOVE to FULFILL THAT WAY; to give him the POWER to live that way and then to produce the fruit of PEACE, and JOY, and HAPPINESS, and of every kind of abundance and everything that mankind could want.
But the root of that tree is Satan, and the spirit of Satan coming up through the trunk. And then the various ways that it leads to are the ways of COMPETITION, of VANITY, EXALTING THE SELF even above God, of COMPETITION, of STRIFE, of ENVY, of JEALOUSY, of bitterness. As those who attended the morning service heard in the sermon this morning — the way of OPPOSITION, of DISHARMONY and DISUNITY in EVERY WAY; and that ENDS IN DEATH.
The one tree was the Tree of Life, the other the Tree of Death. One is the way of GOD; the other is the way of SATAN. I think perhaps we can even improve on these drawings yet, and we can have something that can be printed and put in books that will help illustrate that whole thing. It is the very foundation of the way life began and has continued on this earth.
Now the first man that God created: God had first produced beings that were made perfect so far as their creation was concerned. There was a super archangel, Lucifer, who was placed over ordinary angels that were placed on this earth. God set a throne on this earth for GOVERNMENT; and He put this super archangel, Lucifer, on that throne to rule the earth. He is still on that throne, by the way; and he still is ruling this world. And that's what most people don't even realize. Because Satan is an archangel, he is therefore a spirit being. He is invisible. He cannot be seen. He cannot be heard, felt, smelled, tasted. And so the so-called scientists (And science, by the way, would better be called "fiction" if you really understand; because there is so much science doesn't even know and doesn't grieve their help. But ... ) they know nothing of spirit, or spirit beings. But he is still there on that throne to this day.
Now he had been perfect from the day God created him, until iniquity was found in him. But (as you will read in my book, "The Incredible Human Potential," and many other writings) God made him a free moral agent with a mind that still could make his own decisions. If God had made him so he could not do wrong — that he could not disobey, that he could not choose any other way but God's way of life (which is love, and peace, and joy, and happiness) — that he would have been nothing more than a brainless machine.
But even machines have a certain kind of a brain today. You may not realize it, and yet most of you may realize it: most automobiles today are pretty much made by robots; and they are machines that almost have a brain. They work up to a certain extent, but its all mechanical; and they only work the way they are set to work. But they don't think, they don't make decisions, they can't work any other way but just the way they are set to work. And they are a machine. There is no personality there.
And that's the way it would have been if God had made angels so they COULD NOT sin. Angels are made so they CAN sin. They've been made to understand the consequences of sin, to understand that sin is wrong. But they've been allowed to reason that perhaps it isn't wrong after all, if they want begin to reason along that line. And that's precisely what Lucifer did, and led all of his angels under him to do. And God finally came to realize that no one but God Himself could be relied on to have free moral agency — and who had the POWER of deciding otherwise, and the POWER of doing wrong and going the other way — but who would have the character to NEVER DO THAT. But to ALWAYS live the right way, the way that would produce happiness, and peace, and joy, and abundance, and production, and everything good. And so I think you might call the creation of angels, and their experience, an experiment.
So God made man so that he had to develop the character so that he WOULD NOT sin BEFORE he could HAVE immortality. That's why Adam had to make the choice, and those two trees represented that choice. Now, Adam took the wrong tree. And I've explained so many times how God then shut up that tree entirely from mankind until Jesus Christ, the second Adam, should come. It's just like blocking off this whole thing. Man had no access to the Spirit of God, to God through His Spirit.
Now God made man so he could have access to God through the Spirit of God by putting a spirit — a human spirit — in man. Man himself is wholly physical and material. But the spirit of man, a human spirit, is put IN him. It is not the man. It is no part of the man. It is just something in the man that works with the brain in the man. That EMPOWERS the brain with intellect, EMPOWERS the brain to think, to reason, to decide, to plan, to design and to do some of the things even that God and only God can do.
But man rejected that; and then God closed that tree, until Jesus Christ would come AS the second Adam. And when Jesus Christ came, He came to open that Tree of Life all over again. Now, in the meantime, this world has gone along. And I have shown you, brethren, in so many sermons recently and so many articles, how the Tree of Life has been closed to the world. And ONLY those that are first chosen and drawn by God Himself can even come to Christ, the second Adam. And it's only through Christ, the second Adam, who is the Son of God, that the Tree of Life may be opened to anyone today whatsoever.
Now to the one who is a real Christian, one who through Christ has come to God, the Tree of Life is opened; and they may take of the Spirit of God. And God's Spirit will come in to them to join with, co-habit with, the human spirit. And that joins them to God.
[**The tape skips at 42:24.] ....that Adam took, and they are still under that way of life.
Now look at this world, before we come back to the Church now. In your Bible, things had not gone too long. We don't know very much about the history for the first approximately 1,500 years. Then we come to the 6th chapter of Genesis, in the history of the world, beginning with verse 5.
Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man [who had taken of the fruit of this Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That is man going on his OWN concepts of good and evil, according to what he could decide with his own human spirit and his human brain, his human mind. "God saw that the wickedness of man ... "] was great in the earth, (and) that every [thought and] imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Now, what Adam took was the Tree of the Knowledge of good AND evil; but man let the evil outweigh the good. And you see inside of 1,500 years man had turned. Undoubtedly, some had had some high ideals and wanted to be good in the human sense. There are many today that do. But it had finally turned, after about 1,500 years, where God saw that the wickedness was great. It doesn't say it was 100%, but it was great.
Genesis 6:7-8 And the {2} LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast ... and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (8) But Noah found grace in the eyes of the {2} LORD.
Well then, what did they do? You would think they would have learned their lesson; but they didn't, because they didn't have the Spirit of God. They only had the human spirit of man. And soon they wanted to unite, and unite themselves. And so, in the 10th chapter of Genesis and beginning with verse 8. Well, I want to begin first in verse 4 in the {3}11th chapter of Genesis. A little later on, God looked down and saw the people on the earth.
Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us [make] us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; [They wanted to go to heaven then, and people still think they can go to heaven.]and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered (abroad) upon [all] the face of the ... earth.
Now they were going to have unity. So that they wouldn't be separated, they wanted to unify themselves.
Genesis 11:8 So the {2} LORD scattered them [He came down, divided their languages, and (in verse 8) He scattered them ... ] upon the face of (all) the earth [on all of the earth]: and they left off to build the city.
And their effort, they wanted one race. God didn't intend them to have one race. He wanted peace and all of that, but He did want racial geographic segregation. That's something they don't realize today. They want integration. In the world they want just THE OPPOSITE of what God decreed. God would have had racial segregation geographically; but there would have been peace between once race and another, even at a distance. But they would have been geographically some distance apart. If they had followed God's way and had God's Spirit, at least they would all be unified in spirit; but not for physical reproduction.
Genesis 10:8-9 ... Cush begat Nimrod: [and] he began to be a mighty one in the earth. (9) He was a mighty hunter {6} before the {2} LORD; wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the {2} LORD.
You see, the thing people had to be protected from at that time was the wild animals. He is the one who started building walls around the city to protect the people from the wild animals. Later on they built walls around the cities to keep the armies of other cities out. At first they were built, though, by Nimrod to protect them from the wild animals. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Let's see:
Genesis 10:10-12 And the beginning of his kingdom [Now he began to have governments; the beginning of his kingdom.] was Babel [or Babylon], and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (11) [And] Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh [Or Asshur is apparently the father of Assyria. "And builded Nineveh ... "] and the city Rehoboth [I can hardly read even this larger print any more.] and Calah. (12) And [Let's see.] Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
Well, they had city-states for a while. That was the way men first began to organize as the population began to grow once again. There still were not millions or billions of people on earth. This was shortly after the Flood. There were not too many people, but they built city governments. No nations yet; but, gradually, nations came along. And after nations, Nebuchadnezzar got together the first empire uniting the nations; and we had the first empire. We read of that a great deal in the book of Daniel.
But city governments then began to arm themselves against other governments, and there began to be strife. Not cooperation, but war; one trying to destroy the other, one wanting to dominate over the other. And governments were always self-motivated by those in charge of the governments. We come down to our time today, and we have modern attempts at peace by alliances between nations. But whenever you find an alliance, it is an alliance of certain nations against an alliance of other nations; and it's always to fight and to conquer. It's never for peace. It's for war.
The object is by war to conquer all the others, and then to have peace by having it your way. For example, today I don't think there is anyone in the world that wants world peace any more than the Russian Communists. They WANT world peace! Did you realize that, brethren? They want it Russian-style, however. They want world peace of the kind where they dominate over the lives of us, and every other nation on earth; and where their warlords exert themselves over everybody, and serve them, and we're just their surfs and slaves. And, you know, we wouldn't call that peace. But that's their idea of peace.
So the cause of it was simply the way that Adam chose — which was vanity, exalting the self, me first, I want everything for me. And vanity, of course, leads to greed. Since I am really greater than anybody, since I exalt myself and glorify myself, I must conquer everything and everybody else and rule over everybody else and make them subservient to MY will.
Now, in due time, God sent Jesus Christ — the second Adam — into the world. And in Matthew 16:18 we read how Jesus said, "I will build My Church." Now we had here in the world, we had a world that was really Satan's world. Adam took of that tree, and it became Satan's world. He is the root from which it all stems. Jesus Christ said that the people even who believed ON Him, but didn't obey Him and didn't believe Him. They didn't believe HIM in the sense that they didn't believe what He said. They merely believed ON Him, which means they believe He WAS the Messiah. But they wouldn't believe what He SAID. They wouldn't DO what He said. And so He said that they were the children of their father the devil.
The whole law is summed up in the one word, LOVE. Then it's divided into two main branches — love to God and love to neighbor, human neighbor. The first four of the Ten Commandments, the love toward God: the last six; love toward neighbor. And that is the WAY of life that leads to immortality and everlasting life: that leads to peace and all of the fruits that you see there — peace, and happiness, and joy, and patience.
Now Jesus came then to start a new civilization. He didn't start ... I have pictured this world as a building, and it's built on a foundation; and the foundation it's built on was an unstable foundation. This shows the foundation of that tree is the root. That's the foundation, and it's Satan. And Satan's WAY is the way of vanity, and the way of greed, the way of coveting, the way of competition, of envy, of violence, of war, of destruction, and of death. And this whole world is built on that foundation. I think I read you, in the last sermon I had before I left, some of the scriptures where Jesus ...
[**Tape skips at 58:46] ....and how it crumbled and FELL, and great was the fall thereof. And that is only picturing what is going to happen to THIS world (based on the tree you see at my left over here, and your right). It's going to fall.
Jesus came to start another civilization altogether, through the Church. He didn't come to try to repair this and that structure of this Church. You know, it's a strange thing; I was awakened this morning in a dream. I was in a rickety old house in the dream, and I was going to try to redesign it and turn some of its misarrangement into better rooms. I was thinking of a bedroom, and how they had to have a bathroom, and they had to have some of the things that I find in hotel rooms when I travel. You know, a wardrobe, a place to hang garments, and things like that. But it was a rickety old thing, and it was an awful job to try to fix it and patch it up. And I woke up and saw I was living in a nice warm bedroom. It was so much nicer than this old wreck of a thing I was trying to patch up in the dream. Well, I guess that's because I have been talking along this line. This world is a rickety old building, and it's about to crumble.
Now the Christianity of this world is a false Christianity. Satan has deceived it with a counterfeit Christianity. And that counterfeit Christianity says that a false Christ — not the real Christ at all — will reconstruct this old structure (this building that is this world), and repair it, and make it work. Now it's like a building where all of the water pipes and all of the plumbing pipes are rotten; and they don't work, the electric conduits, everything in it. And, if you try to repair everything like that, you're going to have an awful job; and when you get through, it's still going to be an old building.
Jesus came to start a new building — A NEW CIVILIZATION, which is built out of SOLID MATERIALS, out of LASTING MATERIALS. And lasting material is SPIRITUAL! It's based on the LAW OF GOD — of LOVE first to GOD (and a contact with God) and then (in context) to your fellow man. Love towards him: in cooperation, and in service, and in sharing, and in giving, and in helping one another, and that kind of thing.
Let's see. I Corinthians 1 and verse 10. Well, let me just read that parable to you. I think I read it before I left. Well, no? I Corinthians 1:10. This is the way this building, this structure, is built which is the NEW building, the new civilization altogether, where the apostle Paul said to the Church, which is this new structure:
I Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment
Now in Philippians for example, he says:
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
It has to come in the mind of Christ. Not in Sam Jones' mind, and Bob Smith's mind, and somebody else's mind; but in the mind of Jesus Christ. And that mind must be in all, and there must be no division. Now in I Corinthians 12 and verse 5. Well, in I Corinthians 12, he's speaking about the Spirit of God. And there are many different functions in the Church, many different activities; but it's one SPIRIT, one ATTITUDE, one MIND. And in verse 11 it had been speaking about how God gives certain abilities to one and certain other abilities to another; but, all these, verse 11:
I Corinthians 12:11-12 ... worketh the one and [same] selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (12) For as the body [That's the Church.] is one and has many members, and all the members of that ONE body [Not several churches, not several organizations or bodies; only one.] being many are one body; so also is Christ.
And then, let's see, that was verses 11 and 12. What did I have in verse 5 here? In verse 5;
I Corinthians 12:5 ... there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
But there's one Spirit through ALL; and there's the same ATTITUDE even though we have different offices, different jobs, different performances. But it's all the same attitude of love, and joy, and peace, and so on. (11 and 12, and now verse {7} 28, I wanted to read also.)
I Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets [And, in this case, in the Church prophets are preachers. Prophesy means to foretell, like a prophet of the Old Testament; but prophesy also means to preach. And a prophet therefore can be a preacher or one whom God inspires with prophecy for the future. But there are no prophets in the Church to whom God has revealed prophecy. But there are ministers. Apostles and ministers ... ]thirdly teachers, [and] after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of {8} tongues. [And so on and so forth.]
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore, you [And, by the way, he was speaking to the Church at Ephesus; but this is to the Church there. Nevertheless, in principal, it's to all of the Churches. You...]are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God;
The Church then is the Household — it is the Family — of God. And the NEW WORLD, if you please, the NEW CIVILIZATION will be the FAMILY of God, A BORN FAMILY. And the Family will be a togetherness Family, ALL TOGETHER. There'll be one Head of the Family, who is GOD. The Husband underneath God is going to be Christ, and the wife will be the Church; and all the others will be the children that we have (that'll be converted through the Millennium and then born as children of God) — fellow citizens of the Household of God.
Ephesians 2:20-22 And are build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ (Himself) being the chief corner stone; [There's the foundation. Or, like this tree over here, the root, which is the foundation of the tree, which is God Himself.] (21) In whom allthe building [And here you see the Church is compared to a building; and you can compare this whole world to a building, and this civilization. "In whom all thebuilding ... "] fitly framed together grows unto an holy temple in the Lord [That is the temple to which Christ is coming at His Second Coming.]: (22) In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
In other words, God dwells in each one of us. And each single one of us, in his human body (his or hers) ... Each human body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and God DWELLS within each one of us. And the mind of God comes into our minds. Now the mind of God is one of love, and of peace, and of cooperation. Jesus was God; and He had the mind of God; and He came as a servant to serve and to help. He is also Lord and Master, but He is the kind of a master who serves and helps those over whom He rules.
Now in Ephesians 4 beginning with verse 3, where he speaks of:
Ephesians 4:3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ...
The reason that we have that kind of unity today, and no longer the division that we had here five or six years ago, is that those who had not gone out were PUT OUT. They are not here to cause that kind of friction and trouble any longer.
Ephesians 4:3-6 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (4) [It goes on to say:] There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (5) One Lord, one faith, one baptism, (6) One God and Father of all [And we are all unified under the Father.], who is above all; and through all, and IN you all.
Ephesians 4:10-14 He that descended is the same also that ascended up (far) above all [the]heavens, [and so on] that he might fill all things. (11) And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. [Now what I want is the purpose then of this organization. Why should we be organized? It is,] (12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (13) Till we all come in the UNITY [That is, unitedtogether. Not competing one against another, but all of one mind and one spirit. "In the unity ... "] of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God [That's not knowledge about the Son of God, but the knowledge OF the Son of God. That means His knowledge in us, in our minds.], unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: (14) that we henceforth be no more [as] children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men.
We must all speak the same thing. We must all have the same mind. Now some people come with some crazy idea. He doesn't agree with the truth of God. I'll show you what's going to happen in just a moment, because there is going to be unity in the Church. We must all speak the same thing. There is one Spirit, and there must not be a different spirit coming in to upset that harmony and that unity that we have.
Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (16) From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted [just as if it's welded together — the one body, not two bodies. Not different branches, not different sects and denominations — one a Methodist, one a Baptist, one a Presbyterian, one a Congregationalist, one a Church of Christ, another a Church of England, and so on. "Compacted ... "] by that which every joint supplieth, [and]according to the {10} effectual working in the measure of every part, [that] maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
And it's love and unification bringing us all absolutely together. But now, how do we keep that unity? You see, God created angels. He created a super archangel, the greatest of all, perfect in all his ways as God created him. And yet there was a mind that was able to decide wrong, and to disagree with God, and to have other ideas and opinions. Now he was kicked out of heaven, right back down to earth. Jesus Christ has conquered him, and he is going to even be removed from his throne on the earth ultimately. I mean, Satan is. And Christ is going to come and take that throne, and there is going to be peace.
Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them.
Different doctrines — they are causing division, they are causing trouble. THAT IS WHAT WE HAD IN THE PAST. And the REASON that we had it was we said, "Well, we must be more loving and more kind and more good than God; and we must just leave them in among us." God says, MARK THEM AND AVOID THEM. Now there are two ways we can avoid them, and only two that I know. One is if we leave them in the Church and we all go out. We're no longer in the Church. The other is that we put them out, and we stay IN. Now, brethren, I think we'd prefer to stay IN. And so our choice is going to be to PUT THEM OUT.
And I want to say to you that one of the greatest offenses that we have COMMITTED — and we didn't know it, and we didn't realize it, and we didn't do it maliciously or deliberately; we did it thinking we were doing it to be kind. and to not be too hard or tough — we ALLOWED that kind of people to STAY IN UNTIL THEY TOOK OUT OTHERS WITH THEM. THE THING TO DO IS — JUST AS SOON AS THE MINISTERS MARK ONE, OR SEE ONE who is contrary, who is causing division, who has other ideas, who is in a wrong attitude — to deal with that person quickly.
Now that doesn't mean be harsh and put them out immediately. We don't do it that way. But we go to that person, and we try to deal with that person kindly. We try to show that person where he is wrong. We try to see that he is not going to be contrary, but will see where he is wrong. Work with him; and, if he will show a right attitude, he will get into a right attitude and all of the controversy will be over. And then there is no division in the Church. And, if we can save one, we will meet with him. We will pray. We will treat him with love.
But if we find he is in a hostile and an antagonistic spirit — a spirit of hostility, of bitterness, of strife, of resentment — then we will not waste the time of day with him. We'll say, "YOU ARE EXCOMMUNICATED! You are NO ARE LONGER A MEMBER OF THIS CHURCH. YOU CANNOT ASSEMBLE WITH US ANY FURTHER."
The Church is going to remain united. Now, brethren, I repent of the fact that we have not been very careful on that point in the past. We are trying to be now. Now I have had a number of cases (not a large number, a very small number but a few) of ministers in the Church in this last three or four years. In some cases, they have had to be brought to me. In some cases, we have worked with them. We've found they were willing to come to a right attitude, or they already had a right attitude. What was wrong could be corrected. We have worked with them. We have saved them. They are continuing on, in harmony and in peace. We will work with them in every way we can — in LOVE, in PEACE — if they will have it that way. We want them to go into the Kingdom of God with us.
If they are hostile, then they no longer belong in this Church. And we're going to be very stern about that thing from now on. And there will be NO DIVISION IN THIS CHURCH! And that is the reason why now there is one government. Jesus Christ is the Head of that government. And I believe Jesus Christ is going to be able to keep it, and protect it, and carry us right on. The world has no way to eliminate opposition, competition, strife, division, discontent and unhappiness. God does give us a way to eliminate that from our midst.
My eyes are in worse condition today than they were yesterday. I don't know why. I think that's just something temporary today. Anyway, I just want to say that there was opposition in the Church in the first century; and it brought about a suppression of the true gospel. And the true gospel was not preached after about 22 years to the world. The Church itself continued on in the true gospel, and Jesus had said that the gates of the grave would never prevail against the Church.
There were 17 other major points of doctrine that they had lost, and God has restored all of those to the Church through His apostle. Now all 20 are here; and, if more are to be restored, we shall accept them as fast as God reveals them. But the Church has been making itself ready. Now, finally, I want one last scripture; and that's back in the 21st chapter of Revelation and the last verse of the 21st chapter, speaking of the Kingdom of God.
Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
In other words, there will not enter into the Kingdom any that are contentious, that are breaking God's laws and God's commandments, that are in a wrong attitude or a wrong spirit. They are NOT going to enter the Kingdom of God. God will not let them enter there; and yet some liberals would think we should let them enter and stay in the Church until they have ruined every member of the Church. It's a great deal like having a crate of apples. If you have one rotten apple, it'll rot the ones next to it IF you leave it there. If we can't — and if he insists on remaining hostile, resentful, bitter, antagonistic, of a contentious or a hostile attitude — he will be marked; and he will be disfellowshipped.
And the Church is going to remain united in love, and in harmony, and in peace. God help us that we will never again have to talk about many who have left the Church. I don't like to hear that. I don't mean that as a criticism of those who have mentioned it. There were lessons to be learned. But I am just sorry it's had to be. And God has shown us how to correct that so it will not happen in the future. And we are going to have happiness, and truth; and God is going to bless this Church from now on, as He has never blessed in the past.
Now I will say that everything's continued well while I have been gone. Mr. Neff said "Everything except the finances." And I rather laughed. And then he told me the increase in the month of January over a year ago; and I laughed, and I said, "And you say everything except that?" Well, it could have been bigger perhaps; but I will say I am very grateful that it was as good as it was. And God is going to bless us according to how well we serve and obey Him, and how close we keep to Him. He will bless us, and bless the whole Work, and bless the Church from now on.
I might mention that in Thailand (I wonder if I have time to mention it? I'm five minutes overdue. I'll just take time to say this one thing.) I had dinner with the Royal Family, and in the same dining room they had other tables; and our television crew and others that were with me on the trip all were eating in the same dining room but at different tables. And, during the dinner, I know there had been some discussion about the Queen of Thailand coming to visit us here on the campus. And apparently she didn't want to say anything if she weren't going to be invited, and she had to know that I would invite her. And I was in a position that I couldn't invite her if I were going to be turned flatly down, and I wanted to be sure that she would come. And so it was it was sort of up ... .
It's been talked about ever since I arrived in Thailand. And, well, I was sitting on the right of His Majesty, the King, during the dinner; and at my right was the Queen's secretary, so I was talking part of the time to her. And she sort of mentioned that; and finally she, apparently, she had talked to the Queen a little bit during the dinner. And I had signified or indicated to her that I would invite the Queen, if I knew the Queen would come; but I didn't want to invite her, and just appear to be presumptuous, and then get turned down. And apparently she had mentioned that to the Queen while I was talking to the King. Then she whispered to me. She said, "Her Majesty would come if you would invite her." I asked if she was sure; and she said, "Yes." And I said, "Okay, I'll invite her." So I crossed the table; I did, and she said she would be very happy to accept.
And so later in the year Queen Sirikit of Thailand is going to be our guest here on campus. Now I don't have any of the details yet. There is some little time to work it out, and it'll be in the summer or early autumn. But I just thought that might be a nice thing to say in finally closing. That's another one of the things that happened on this trip.