Latest Audio - 2025-12-06
“Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles…”
“Germany, Germany above all, above all the world…”
Germany First
There is political upheaval in Germany as the AfD gains yet more support. As the following article states: “The AfD warned about all of this years ago — back when saying it out loud got you labelled an extremist. These days, however, those warnings read like the evening news”.
Germany’s Firewall Against The AfD Collapses
“For the first time since the party entered parliament about nine years ago, the anti-democratic cordon sanitaire around the right-wing, anti-globalist Alternative für Deutschland appears to have cracked wide open. According to the latest INSA/Bild poll, fewer than half of all German voters (just 49%) now say they would ‘never’ vote AfD — down from a staggering 75% only a few years ago, this Is Nothing Short Of A Historic Breakthrough.
Despite years of state-funded smear campaigns, constant domestic intelligence surveillance (Verfassungsschutz), court cases, job dismissals, bank account closures, repeated violence against party members by left-globalist extremists, and even serious discussions about banning the party outright, ordinary Germans are finally seeing through the propaganda and recognizing THE AFD AS THE ONLY SERIOUS OPPOSITION TO A FAILING SYSTEM.
While the Greens collapse to a humiliating 11% and the SPD limps along at 15%, the AfD is surging among exactly the people who keep this country running: skilled workers, families, young men, and increasingly women and eastern Germans who are fed up with being ignored and lectured.
Additionally, the poll revealed that Alice Weidel, the AfD’s co-leader, has stormed back into the top ten most popular politicians — a slap in the face to the Berlin bubble that spent years smearing her and her party as ‘Nazis’.
History Repeats? …Or At Least Rhymes?
Hitler’s Rise To Power
“IN JUST 13 YEARS, Adolf Hitler led a fringe sect with less than a hundred members and outlandish ideas to become the dominant force in German politics.” (bbc.co.uk)
Nothing about the AfD’s core policy positions has changed:
Controlled borders,
An end to the uncontrolled mass migration experiment,
Protection of German identity and culture,
Affordable energy,
Lower taxes for hardworking working and middle class Germans, Putting citizens first when it comes to housing, schools, and welfare.
Tragically — and entirely unnecessarily — Germans now live daily with the consequences of the 2015–2025 open-borders experiment. Knife attacks, gang rapes, and street violence are routinely buried or softened by a globalist-backed media apparatus terrified of telling its population the truth. Christmas markets — once symbols of peace — now sit behind columns of massive concrete barriers and squads of armed police because the government imported risks it can no longer control.
The establishment has failed miserably on the economic front as well. Rent and housing prices have exploded, while hundreds of thousands of new arrivals are placed directly into apartments and hotels — all at the expense of German taxpayers.
Like in Britain, Ireland, France, and elsewhere in Western Europe, Germans are too being forced by hostile, anti-European elites to pay for their own replacement.
Pensions and infrastructure continue to rot, even as billions in taxpayer money are funnelled to people who have never contributed a cent to the system. And energy prices — driven by ideological climate mandates and the EU cutting itself off from cheap Russian gas and oil — have turned Germany into a rapidly declining power among industrial nations.
Classrooms struggle as teachers spend half their time translating instead of teaching, the result of a decade of nonexistent integration policy. These are the realities everyday Germans face, while their leaders gaslight them, saying the system is working exactly as intended.
The AfD warned about all of this years ago — back when saying it out loud got you labeled an extremist. These days, however, those warnings read like the evening news.
The Rise Of AfD
“The Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland) party was FOUNDED 13 YEARS AGO (February 2013) - and now is the main opposition party in Germany! It has 151 members of the Bundestag and 15 members of the European Parliament. It is the largest opposition party in the Bundestag and a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group in the European Parliament.” (wikipedia.org)
The more the establishment panics — the more they talk about bans, firewall tactics, new speech laws, or rigging electoral thresholds — the more obvious it becomes that they are terrified of actual democracy.
They know that if Germans are given a free and fair choice, millions who once bought the scare stories now trust the AfD to finally put GERMANY FIRST again.
The AfD is no longer ‘coming’ — it has arrived as the people’s party. And no amount of state repression or media hysteria can put that genie back in the bottle.” (thegatewaypundit.com)
Nazis Planned A Fourth Reich …In The EU
The world is so full of conspiracy theories that the truth can be hard to find. The following news article appeared in the Daily Mail back in 2009.
“The paper is aged and fragile, the typewritten letters slowly fading. But US Military Intelligence report EW-Pa128 is as chilling now as the day it was written in November 1944.
The document, also known as the Red House Report, is a detailed account of a secret meeting at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg on August 10, 1944. There, Nazi officials ordered an elite group of German industrialists to plan for Germany’s post-war recovery, prepare for the Nazis’ return to power and work for a ‘STRONG GERMAN EMPIRE’. In other words: the Fourth Reich.
The industrialists included representatives of Volkswagen, Krupp and Messerschmitt. Officials from the Navy and Ministry of Armaments were also at the meeting and, with incredible foresight, they decided together that the Fourth German Reich, unlike its predecessor, WOULD BE AN ECONOMIC RATHER THAN A MILITARY EMPIRE — BUT NOT JUST GERMAN.
The Third Reich was defeated militarily, but powerful Nazi-era bankers, industrialists and civil servants, reborn as democrats, soon prospered in the new West Germany. There they worked for a new cause: EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION.
Is it possible that the Fourth Reich those Nazi industrialists foresaw has, in some part at least, come to pass?” (dailymail.co.uk)
The author of the article, Adam Lebor, made the following commment:
“The Red House Report, which was unearthed from US intelligence files, was the inspiration for my thriller The Budapest Protocol.” (dailymail.co.uk)
The problem is that this comment casts doubt over the information in the article. Many reading the article would conclude that is was nothing more than an advert for his latest “blockbuster” book!
But – We Have Verification!
What follows is part of a Plain Truth article written by Mr Herbert Armstrong entitled “Under Cover IN EUROPE” back in NOVEMBER, 1949.
“In the middle of May, 1943, top German industrialists held an important secret meeting. They assembled at Chateau Huegel, suburb of Essen, residence of the Krupps, head of the giant Krupps war munitions plants.
Present were Krupp von Bohlen-Halbach, the Krupps works head, Baron Georg von Schnitzler, chairman of the board of world-famous I G Farben works, Otto Pietzch, owner of Germany’s largest machine factory, Herr Hallersleben, president of the Vereinigte Kugellagerfabriken, Dr Otto Fischer, chief of the Reichskreditanstalt, Herr von Schroeder, and others.
Here plans were laid for divorcing German industry, so far as the facts appeared before the outside world, from Nazism.
It would be much easier for them to keep German industry free to prepare for World War III if they convinced the allied nations that the Nazis did not run it. They well knew that German industry is the economic heart of all Europe. The other nations in Europe simply cannot function economically without German industry and German commerce any more than a human body can keep alive without a beating heart.
These industrialists understood fully that, after the war, the other nations of Europe could not keep alive economically without German industry. They knew America and Britain would be faced with the problem of keeping Europe alive. They foresaw the threat of Communism if Europe were plunged into economic chaos and faced starvation.
They well realized that for these reasons Washington and London would wish to set German industry going ahead full blast — if they could be fooled into thinking the Nazis no longer were connected with it!
At this meeting in the Krupps chateau, plans for making it appear the Nazis were entirely disconnected with the source of arms production for the next war were carefully laid. It was planned for Baron von Schnitzler to try to use his many contacts abroad to re-establish relationships with former friends in America, Britain, and other countries.” (The Plain Truth - Nov 1949)
The Link Between German Industry And The Government
In Hitler’s speech to the Dusseldorf Industry Club on January 26, 1932, he called on big business to support him and the government in pushing through a militarist foreign policy turn against the will of the people. Around 650 members of the Industry Club were in attendance. His speech ended to LONG AND TUMULTUOUS APPLAUSE. (ghi-dc.org)
2014 – Same Tactics!
The strong link between industry and the government still exists. In December 2014, the then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (now President of Germany) appealed to business heads to support Germany’s rise to be a world power. At the end of the following article, note the respose from the industrialists present!
“In his opening speech at the SZ Economic Summit, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to business heads to support Germany’s rise to be a world power. Steinmeier’s appearance recalled Hitler’s speech to the Dusseldorf Industry Club on January 26, 1932. Like the soon to become Führer, Steinmeier made a direct appeal to German big business to support Germany’s rise to be a world power. He explicitly called on big business to support him and the government in pushing through a militarist foreign policy turn AGAINST THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
Steinmeier’s programme strongly recalls the German lust for power, once believed to be a thing of the past. Germany should ‘lead Europe to lead the world’… The implications of these words are unmistakable. The German elites once again see it as their ‘task’ to dominate Europe in order to become a world power. Today, as before, this programme of German imperialism means conflict with Russia and the United States.
What Steinmeier is proposing is an alliance of the state and big capital against the population that is overwhelmingly hostile to the new war course. Such an alliance, combining the rich and the powerful against the majority, is deeply undemocratic. After the terrible experiences of two world wars, opposition to war is deeply rooted, especially in Germany. Nevertheless, the ruling elites have decided to return to a policy of war, and impose this on the population.
When Steinmeier had finished, there was THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE in the ballroom of Hotel Adlon.” (globalresearch.ca)
1945 - The San Francisco Conference
In December 1963 Mr Armstrong wrote:
“While attending the San Francisco Conference, I spoke on Wednesday night, May 9 [1945], at the auditorium in Native Sons’ Building, to an audience of listeners to The World Tomorrow. What I said that night might be of some interest, in the light of subsequent events. I still have my notes on file. Here is a brief summary:
‘The war is over, in Europe – or is it? We need to wake up and realize that right now is the most dangerous moment in United States national history, instead of assuming we now have peace!
We don’t understand German thoroughness. From the very start of World War II, they have considered the possibility of losing this second round, as they did the first – and they have carefully, methodically planned, in such eventuality, the third round – World War III. Hitler has lost. This round of war, in Europe, is over. And the Nazis have now gone UNDERGROUND. Now a Nazi underground is methodically planned. They plan to COME BACK and to win on the third try.
The Bible foretells that third round – and it spells DOOM for us, as God’s punishment, because we, as a nation, have forsaken Him and His ways! The third round is termed, in prophecy, an invasion by ‘BABYLON’ – a resurrected Roman Empire – a European Union. I have been proclaiming that since 1927.
For a while I thought Hitler might organize it – especially when he tied up with the Roman Mussolini. It wasn’t done in this Second World War. It will be done and provoke the third!” (The Autobiography - Chapter 49)
Around 50 years ago, the warning went out in the Plain Truth magazine:
“So long as present German prosperity continues - the Nazi takeover will not be possible! But — should any severe threat to that hard-won prosperity come — the picture will change - VIOLENTLY in Germany.
REMEMBER!
It was the aftermath of the disastrous stock market crashes of 1924 and 1929 that fanned the flames of violence in Germany to pave the way for Hitler!
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF, they say. And your Bible predicts a great TRADE WAR between the economic power in Europe and the United States. It predicts terrible financial collapse of this country [USA].
“Make no mistake! Germany and all Europe would not escape unscathed in a hot trade war between the Common Market and the United States. Terrible economic disasters would result. And the result from such disasters? A new Nazi Germany!” (The Plain Truth - December 1963)
German prosperity is threatened…
A stock market crash seems inevitable…
Trade wars are happening, right now…
The US is on the point of financial collapse…
…And the AfD are in Government, ready to take over!
Europe – Ready For The End Of The Age!
An unelected President, appointed by 27 unelected Commissioners, rules over 500 million citizens from 27 different countries. None of the 500 million citizens can vote to remove either the President or the Commissioners who appointed him - no matter how badly those officials behave or what crimes they commit.
The European Parliament and the national parliaments have no say whatsoever. They must enact all laws coming out from these 27 unelected Commissioners.
The European Union already has the Constitution of a dictatorship, and the laws of a police state.
All is now ready for the dictator!
Why Is All This Important?
God made a promise. God has always kept His promises.
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
The lion hath roared, who will not fear?
The Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7-8)
For almost 100 years, the warning of the revival of the Holy Roman Empire has gone out to the world. Since 1927, the message has not changed…
“The Bible foretells that third round – and it spells DOOM for us, as God’s punishment, because we, as a nation, have forsaken Him and His ways! The third round is termed, in prophecy, an invasion by ‘BABYLON’ – a resurrected Roman Empire – a European Union. I have been proclaiming that since 1927. For a while I thought Hitler might organize it – especially when he tied up with the Roman Mussolini. It wasn’t done in this Second World War. It will be done and provoke the third!” (The Autobiography - Chapter 49)
Standing in the ruins of Germany, in 1947, that message did not change! Mr Armstrong said:
“Europe was laid waste, many of its cities in ruins. Almost no one believed, then, that Europe could ever rise again. Yet I had been persistently proclaiming for two years [since 1945], over the air and in The Plain Truth, that Germany would once again come to economic and military power, heading a ten-nation resurrection of the Roman Empire.” (The Autobiography - Chapter 54)
We were warned: A new Europe will burst onto the scene, undoubtedly as a result of a soon coming mega-crisis… And it will happen - suddenly!
In 1981, Mr Armstrong said:
“…When it does happen, it will happen suddenly – so quickly it will take your breath, and the whole world will gasp in awe and wonder when they see the things that are prophesied. For example, ten nations in Europe – probably five of them in Western Europe and five in Eastern Europe – reviving, resurrecting the so-called Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages; and that is going to happen very soon now.” (Sermon - October 13, 1981)
We have witnessed the remarkable recovery of post war Germany. We were warned about German reunification.
We were warned about the Balkan nations joining Europe.
We were warned about the reunification of Europe.
We were warned about Russia threatening Europe.
We were warned about German rearmament.
We were warned about the threat to Germon prosperity… leading to the return of Nazis in Government.
This Has All Happened.
We have been warned of a coming economic disaster that will alter the whole balance of power in the world, leaving Europe as the leading world power. It’s not “if” - it’s “When”!
God Always Keeps His Promises
He revealed His plan to His end time apostle. That apostle revealed that prophecy to the whole world.
On a personal level, He gives His people
“EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES…”
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive THE CROWN OF LIFE, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” (James 1:12)
“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and HEIRS OF THE KINGDOM which he hath promised to them that love him?” (James 2:5)
“And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even ETERNAL LIFE.” (l John 2:25)
“Whereby are given unto us
EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES:
that by these ye might be
PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
(ll Peter 1:4)
Punishment – but Why?
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." (Matthew 24:21) ... And the cities shall be laid waste and the land desolate. (Ezekiel 12:20)
A Time of Punishment
It's very clear that we stand prophetically on the cusp of the greatest time of trouble this world has ever seen. And regardless of whether it is the world at large, or specifically the nations of Israel, or specifically the Laodicean church, this time of trouble is also seen as a time of punishment. But is that all we need to be aware of – that this dreadful time of trouble is coming? That it will initially involve the final resurrection of the holy Roman Empire? That the English-speaking nations of Britain and America will be punished? That the Laodicean church will be punished? That ultimately, the entire world will be punished? Is that all we need to know?
The glaring and simple, yet sadly too often ignored further question is, WHY? Why is God going to allow such punishment on Laodicea, Israel and the world? Is it merely the inevitable consequence of 6000 years under Satan's rule? Is there anything more specific that God highlights – something that perhaps would need to change for God to change His mind? Fortunately, God often mentions such things in the prophecies that go on to talk about the punishments themselves. 'Why?' is not merely an adjunct to the revelation He gives, but it should be regarded as the key central point of the entire 'secret' ... that He must first reveal to His servants the prophets – the most vital part of the entire prophecy that has been delivered:
- Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
- Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets .
- The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:6-8)
Differing Treatments
Before examining the 'why', it is necessary to understand another vital principle. That is the fact that God deals with different people in different ways. This is brought out quite graphically in the book of Isaiah where God points to the example in agriculture how the treatment of individual seeds must invariably differ – from the time of preparing the soil, to sowing the seed, to the best method of treating what is harvested. This is not so much a lesson in sensible farming practice, as God pointing out that the various categories of human beings He is dealing with need to be treated in different ways so the maximum harvest of human lives is made possible:
- Give ear and hear my voice, listen and hear my speech.
- Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow? Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
- When he has leveled its surface, Does he not sow the black cummin And scatter the cummin, Plant the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?
- For He instructs him in right judgment, His God teaches him.
- For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin; But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick, And the cummin with a rod.
- Bread flour must be ground; Therefore he does not thresh it forever, Break it with his cartwheel, Or crush it with his horsemen.
- This also comes from the LORD of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. (Isaiah 28:23-29 NKJV)
We can also see this vital principle of God's tailor-made treatment when He needs to bring punishment on nations or individuals. This is pointed out by Jesus Christ to His disciples when asked the question:" ... Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? (Luke 12:41).
- And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
- But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:47,48)
Three Broad Groups
The apostle Paul clearly recognised this need for a different approach depending on who he was talking to, when he said...
- For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
- And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
- To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
- To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. (I Corinthians 9:19-22)
In a similar way Mr. Armstrong also would vary his message according to who he was addressing – broadly categorised into three distinct groups: the world at large; the Israelite nations of English-speaking peoples; and the Church of God. He would go round the world talking to world leaders in a very simple way that they all could understand; the way of Give and the way of Get. Yet when talking to Britain and America in the World Tomorrow broadcast, a much more biblical message was used, pointing out the errant Christianity of the day and what the Bible actually does say. And to the true church his focus was on the spiritual dimension required – continually going back to the two trees, and the two entirely opposite ways of life, coming from diametrically opposing spirits.
THE Creator God
From a closer inspection of these three groups, we can see that what is expected of each is different. And one of the key areas – if not THE key area – that illustrates this is the recognition of the Creator God Himself. This is something that everyone in the world should be able to see but in Israel's case this Creator of Heaven and Earth is specifically Israel's God as well. And in the case of the true church, the Creator God is also our Father – working His greatest creation of all time – spirit born sons, who think as He does, sharing His spiritual 'DNA'.
We can see how this forms an essential end-time position to the world at large when we look at the message that the angel gives on the return of Jesus Christ and before the seven last plagues:
- And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
- Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:6)
In the western world especially there is truly a huge need for this message! Our children's education from kindergarten onward – and the media in all its forms – promote an entirely evolutionary position. They attribute the profound engineering and artistry we see all around us to nothing more than blind chance mutation. The beauty of the heavens is attributed to the lucky chance of an exquisitely precise, yet entirely undirected Big Bang explosion, totally ignoring the all too obvious "eternal power and Godhead" involved, as brought out by Paul in the first chapter of Romans:
- But God's anger is revealed from heaven against all the iniquity and wickedness of those who hinder the Truth by their wickedness.
- For whatever is to be known of God is plain to them; God Himself has made it plain –
- for ever since the world was created, His invisible nature, His everlasting power and divine being, have been quite perceptible in what He has made. So they have no excuse. (Romans 1:18-20 Moffatt)
Israel's God
Romans chapter one then goes on to graphically explain what this position leads to. The perverted thinking required to hold such a position – particularly in a setting of education (v28) – then cascades into a plethora of similar concepts and unmitigated evil. This is very much the 'why' punishment will come on the world at large, and particularly so for Israel. Even when we consider the mark of the Beast, it too fits within this excess of evil, replacing God's Holy Days with pagan holidays – and enforcing their observance – directing people's minds away from the Creator God, as the Sabbath itself is a memorial of creation and the annual Holy Days show His Plan. And both were given as identifying signs between God and His people!
It is the mark of the Beast, and all it entails, that is highlighted within the book of Revelation as the dividing line between those who suffer the first of the seven last plagues and those who do not (Revelation 16:2). Prior to this division the two witnesses will have been actively preaching and warning both Israel and the world what is coming and most importantly, WHY. And also no doubt informing modern-day Israel of just Who they are, Where they came from and Who their God is:
- Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
- The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
- Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. (Isaiah 1:2-4)
In the book of Ezekiel God gives some very clear explanations of the 'why' in Israel's case:
- And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned [Strongs G 02490 – to defile, pollute] my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
- But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
- Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. (Ezekiel 36:20-22)
- Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
- And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them ...
- ... A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
- Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. (Ezekiel 5:5,6,12,13)
In fact, throughout the whole book of Ezekiel – specifically written to the house of Israel in the latter days and warning our nations of the punishment God will not only allow, but also bring on us – the phrase "ye shall know" appears 25 times, and "they shall know" 26 times. God will leave Israel in no doubt as to Who is their God and WHY the correction is so necessary.
Spiritual Israel
In the case of the church, the relationship between God and His people is much, much closer. Individual members are destined to become the very born sons of God (Revelation 21:7) and collectively the wife of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:32) – the very dwelling place, or temple, of the Godhead (Ephesians 2:22). With such an exalted and responsible position the spiritual criteria involved is obviously that much greater. Simple worldly 'righteousness' becomes no more than filthy rags, for only those who are led by the spirit of God and are so developing the outgoing, loving mind of God are indeed His sons. As Mr. Armstrong brings out in Mystery of the Ages, regarding this truly converted mindset:
The very basic teaching, belief AND DOCTRINE OF God’s true Church therefore is based on the righteousness of and obedience to the law of God. That law is LOVE. But it is not human love. Human love cannot rise above the level of human self-centeredness. It must be “the love of God… shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy [Spirit]” (Rom. 5:5). Ancient Israel could not really obey God’s law – they could have kept it according to the strict letter of the law. But since love is the fulfilling of the law and they had only human self-centered love, they could not have kept the law according to the spirit – because the Holy Spirit had not yet been given. (Mystery of the Ages - p274)
As stated in Isaiah, God's thoughts and His ways are SO much higher than our feeble human attempts at righteousness – they are on a different plane altogether!
- Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
- For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
- For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:7-9)
A Stupendous Plan
In all three cases – the world, Israel and the church – God has His own stupendous plan in mind throughout. His ultimate creation: the Family of God, consisting of spirit born sons having the same mind and character as He does, influences everything He does with mankind within those three groups. This includes any punishment that may be needed. As Mr. Armstrong mentions in his Bible study on 1 Corinthians 3 and 4, when discussing how God's punishment is so different to that of the world:
Now the world has the idea that if you have done evil, you must be punished, that the punishment must impose as much pain and suffering on you that is enough to equal whatever your sin or your crime or your trouble. In other words, punishment to them is revenge. It’s getting even. You did something wrong, now I want to hurt you, I want to see you suffer. Now that is not the kind of punishment God has. God doesn’t know that kind of punishment at all. God’s punishment is always corrective. God only punishes to bring us to the place to correct us and no more than we need – just to correct us. That’s all ...
...As a matter of fact, I think God suffers with us when we suffer. He doesn't get any pleasure whatever out of our suffering. Men look on it in a different way.
Now capital punishment, God did impose in ancient Israel, but that was simply to remove them from this life and they will come up in the final Great White Throne Judgment. And there is another life after this life, and most people don’t seem to realize that. And that kind of punishment was just removing them from hurting other people now and they will be corrected when they come up in that life, and they will be straightened out and they will receive the gifts of God and the good things if they are willing.
If they are willing to, in other words, turn from the way that was wrong and that is causing pain and suffering to them and pain and suffering to others. It’s just that simple. That is the way of God. (1 Corinthians 3 and 4 - 27 July 1980)
God has a long-term view of what He plans to achieve with humanity, wanting only what is good for mankind, and as implied in so many places in the Bible, in both Old and New Testament:
- "Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:11)
Ultimately God is destined to be the Father of us all – not willing that any should perish (eternally), but that all, including those within the world now, be given the chance to become members of the God Family through repentance. This is why He is so insistent on Israel protecting His Holy Name as brought out in Ezekiel 36, as they are eventually going to be used to teach the nations across this earth using their example of genuinely applying the laws that define the Way of God – a Spirit-led Way of life that will ultimately bring peace, happiness and everything good – a true Utopia on earth:
- A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
- And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them . ..
- ...And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
- Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. (Ezekiel 36:26-27,35-36)
- And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
- O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. (Isaiah 2:3-5)
In a similar way, seeing as the church also is destined for a vital future teaching role within this process, it is necessary that our minds and the resulting actions from them now reflect those of a God-being, albeit currently still in the flesh. Hence we see the church being washed in water by the Word, in Ephesians 5, and corrected as a loving father corrects his children, in Hebrews 12. And as brought out in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Christ, our High Priest, is continually encouraging His people, His church towards repentance, change. The whole process is designed to bring many sons to glory as stated in Hebrews 2:
- For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
- For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Hebrews 2:10,11)
The Big Picture
What is coming on this earth is destined to be the greatest time of trouble the world has ever seen – or ever will see. It will come like a snare on the world at large (Luke 21:35) but simply knowing about the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord is not sufficient. Of far greater importance is WHY. What's the purpose of God allowing what is prophesied to take place? As God inspired Ezekiel to record, eventually all affected by the punishment will indeed understand:
- "... and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
- And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 14:22,23)
- And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.
- And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
- And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 20:42-44)
All the heartache, all the pain and suffering will finally make sense – both to the church, Israel and the world at large. There will be no more need for correction or punishment because the vital lessons will have been learnt! Mankind will have willingly turned from his way to God's way, and the result will be a world of peace, stability and everlasting joy:
- And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
- And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
- And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
- And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
- He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:3-7)
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
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