Paul gives us the following admonition in Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” We know full well that without “this mind,” we could not reach our future goal of partaking in the resurrection at the return of Jesus Christ. The mind Paul was referring to was none other than the mind of God the Father which was also in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit, which Christ had “without measure.”

This mind enters our minds when one of God’s true ministers lays hands upon us at baptism. We start off as mere “babes in Christ.” As we grow spiritually, we approach the maturity that God expects of us, by “growing  in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

In due time the expansion of the mind of God and of Christ displaces our carnal mind, which is enmity against God. By its very nature, our carnal mind doesn’t want to be told what to do. Romans 8:7 tells us: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” It is impossible for our carnal mind to be subject to God and to even want to obey Him. That is precisely the reason why we should seek to be baptized once God is revealing His truth to us. It is only through proper baptism that we can receive the Godly mind, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, which facilitates spiritual growth until we become more and more Christ-like. We know that this process will be completed at the resurrection. At that time, we will not be able to sin anymore.

Today, we need to concentrate on overcoming sin and developing the mind of Jesus Christ in our lives. As we approach the Passover in less than a month, we should take the opportunity to examine ourselves and put sin out of our lives, so that we will be able to take the Passover in a worthy manner. And as we continue to draw near to God the Father and to Christ, we can be assured that, as a result, “this mind” which was in Christ Jesus, will be truly in us.

In the Ian Fleming novels and later in the movies, the character of James Bond had the designation “007.” This was a license to kill in the branch of the secret service Bond was serving, which was a department of the British Government.

In this day and age we can observe what I have coined “spiritual 007.” It is not a license to kill physically, but rather to commit licentiousness under the guise of grace. After all, so goes the rationale, “God is merciful, and He loves us unconditionally.” “Spiritual 007” is a “license” to commit spiritual suicide and to murder others in a spiritual way through our bad example which they might adopt and follow.

Those who argue that they are free to sin–that they have spiritual license to sin–never seem to ask where our love for God is and how do we prove that love for God. “Spiritual 007” is a departure from what the spirit of the law embraces in regard to keeping the law of God and demonstrating that love for God through obedience. The Bible rejects the thinking: “I can sin all I want because I have God’s Spirit and am now under grace.” The concept and biblical truth of repentance and putting sin out of our life seems to escape this kind of mentality–as if the Holy Spirit somehow falls out of the sky on an individual without that person meeting first the biblical criteria of repentance, baptism and laying on of hands, as outlined in Acts 2:38 and Acts 8:18. The laying on of hands cannot be done by just anyone, but it has to be done by a true minister of God, and without true repentance, baptism is nothing more than a bath. It will produce no spiritual fruit, as outlined in Galatians 5, and which we are commanded by many parables of Christ to bring forth. We are also to grow in grace and knowledge all of our lives, not just during the time frame shortly before or after our repentance and baptism.

“Spiritual 007” is a sad commentary on the conditions of this world and the individuals who parade grace around as some kind of license to sin–by turning from the holy commands of God to follow the traditions and worship practices of men which we are commanded to reject. Paul admonished us: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, Authorized Version). Christ obeyed His Father, and He told us not to disobey God’s commandments by keeping man’s traditions instead.

We must reject the spiritual  misconception that when we are under grace we have license to do whatever we want. Rather, we should seek God’s ways, especially as we are coming up to the Passover season, which is a time to examine ourselves and recommit and rededicate ourselves in a our sincere desire to obey God and put sin out of our lives.

“Spiritual 007” is a “license” we must avoid at all costs. The only license we should have is the one to obey God, which leads to eternal life–rather than a “license” to sin, which only leads to suffering and eternal death, if not repented of. We are to look to and follow the example of our elder brother, high priest and soon-coming ruler of this earth, Jesus Christ, by not adding or taking away from what we are told in His Word, the Bible.

On the morning of January 16,1986, we received a phone call from our
eldest daughter who was attending Ambassador College in Pasadena,
California, informing us that Mr. Herbert Armstrong had died. For my
wife and me, this news was not unexpected, since Mr. Armstrong had been
ill for quite a while. The entire Church had been praying and fasting
for him, but we had come to the conclusion a week or so earlier that in
spite of our wishes and desires for him to be healed, it may not be
God’s will to do so.

We were saddened, but knew we had to carry
on in our responsibilities to do the work and grow in grace and
knowledge. Others were totally devastated by his death. It did not fit
in with their preconceived speculative scenarios which they were
preaching as doctrine. Some were so fixed in their minds that Mr.
Armstrong was going to be one of the two final witnesses and that he
would finish the work and lead us to the place of safety, that they
fell by the wayside. Others rearranged their new speculations to cope
with the reality of the present situation. However, God had other plans
altogether, and many found it hard to accept that.

After spending
some three and a half years with, being taught by and witnessing the
miracles of Christ, and having heard His admonitions in regard to His
death, the apostle Peter said: “I am going fishing” (John 21:3). Some
of the other apostles said, “We are going with you also” (same verse).
It appears that their mindset was something like, the party is over, it
was fun while it lasted but now I am going back to what I formerly did,
earning a living by fishing.

Our beloved Senior Pastor died
Thursday morning, at 5:15 am. He had been in a coma for a month, and
although we would have liked to see him healed, that was not God’s will
at this time. When Christ was in the garden, just prior to His arrest,
He prayed fervently to the Father, knowing He would suffer greatly, be
beaten, scourged and spit upon. He did not want to go through His
trial, humanly speaking, yet He submitted to the Father’s will and
said, “… not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). God knew
our wishes, desires and hopes in regard to Mr. Pope. And we know that
God was most certainly capable of completely healing Mr. Pope, and we
prayed fervently that He would do so, subject to His will. However, it
was God’s will that Mr. Pope would be taken from the evil to come and
that he be given rest till the time of his resurrection to immortal
life. Therefore, it is not the time for us to go fishing, but rather to
finish the job we have been given to do. We pause but do not stop. We
reflect but keep going. As the saying goes–and I don’t mean this in a
callous or unloving way–“The show must go
on.”

We
have a job to do and a commission to fulfill, and we need God’s power
and mercy to do it. We cannot do it on our own, but it must be done. We
must move forward in spite of trials, tests and obstacles which the
adversary puts in our path. We cannot get into the mindset of going
fishing, but rather, we must be moving forward and submitting to God’s
will. As was stated in Norbert Link’s sermon last Saturday, “Let’s be
about our Father’s business.” We are not to allow ourselves to be
discouraged by circumstances in our lives or in the Church. Instead, we
must look to God the Father and Jesus Christ to see us through
faithfully to the end, and we must be persevering in the relentless
pursuit of perfection.

Coming home from a hard days work, the head of household  was a
bit dismayed to hear his two sons fighting and squabbling in the
basement. Ordering them to stop, he said to them: “Boys, I would like
you to come outside to learn a lesson.” He went to one of the trees in
the yard and picked up a twig, which was about  twenty inches
long. He handed it to his eldest son and said: “ Break this.” His son
did so with ease. He then picked up eight twigs, gave them to his
eldest son and told him: “ Break these.” The son tried very hard, but
he could not do so. He even smashed the twigs across his knees and
still could not break them. He finally admitted that he was unable to
break the eight twigs. The father looked at his sons and said: “ There
is strength in unity.” This was a statement of truth and also a lesson
both boys never forgot. 

By the time you read this
editorial, the Feast of Tabernacles will be over. Hopefully, you have
been inspired and are determined to help finishing the Work that God
has given us to do. This must be done in a unified way, working
together as a team. Fighting and squabbling would only play into the
adversary’s hands. We must stay focused on the job ahead, remaining
faithful to God and doing His Work in a truly united and enthusiastic
manner, as God opens the doors of opportunities for us. Let us all stay
unified, while remembering Mrs. Loma Armstrong’s favorite Scripture in
Psalm 133:1: “Behold , how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to
dwell together in unity!”

It was a warm summer morning in 1930, as the nearly destitute man
walked along the rail track. The sun was beginning to get hot as he
strolled slowly along, small beads of perspiration forming on his
forehead. He thought that the heat was nothing compared to the pangs of
hunger he felt from not eating for the last two days. As he walked
along, he thought how nice it would be to have a decent meal–something
he had not enjoyed for a long time. He prayed silently, “Lord, it would
sure be appreciated if you could somehow fill my need at this
time.” Something suddenly caught his eye, glistening in the
sunlight on the ground. Stopping he looked, then bent down to pick up a
brand new fifty cent piece that someone had dropped on the ground. A
lump swelled in his throat with gladness and joy at the thought of the
fine meal this could buy him in the town just a few miles ahead. As he
walked along, clutching his new found treasure, he came across a
trestle which crossed a river almost a quarter of a mile long. About
half way across he lost his footing. As he fell forward and opened his
hand to break his fall, the fifty cent piece bounced off the track and
fell between the rail ties. He watched as it slowly turned,
flickering sunlight as it did, then slipping into the river, lost
forever. The man looked up to heaven and said, “Lord I thank you that I
still have my appetite.”

Although this is just a story, it
reflects a genuine spirit of gratitude–something sadly lacking in this
day and age. Let us look at how Paul described this end time
generation, in 2 Timothy 3:2: “For men will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
UNTHANKFUL, unholy…”

Even though this typifies our generation today, were people filled with gratitude in the past?

Let
us consider what happened in Christ’s time. Luke 17:11-13 tells us:
“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the
midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village,
there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they
lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!'”

All
ten lepers were healed by Christ, but what happened? Verses 15-17
continue: “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned,
and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His
feet, giving Him thanks… So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not
ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who
returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?'”

The
foreigner happened to be a Samaritan (verse 16). The Jews looked down
on Samaritans as being inferior. However, only the Samaritan was
willing to thank God. This proves that not too much has changed in two
thousand years.

What about us?

Are we grateful for our
precious calling–the pearl of great price which has been bestowed upon
us by God through His great mercy–or do we just take it for granted?
Are we grateful for the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, making it
possible to enter that great future kingdom? In less than two months we
will be gathering together, where God has placed His name, to celebrate
the Feast of Tabernacles, picturing the wonderful world tomorrow and
our part in ruling with and under Christ, our beloved High Priest and
King. How grateful are we to be allowed this tremendous opportunity of
experiencing a foretaste of that future world? Let us never forget the
blessings we have and the opportunities we will have in the future, and
let us express daily a genuine attitude of gratitude for all God is
doing and will do in our lives.

As the light slowly dimmed in the arena, a hush grew over the crowd
when the ring announcer entered the ring, wearing a black tuxedo and a
white shirt, with his dark hair glistening under the lights. In a
booming voice he started to introduce the two contestants for the title
bout of the evening. After welcoming the two fighters, he raised the
tone of his bass voice and said: “For the thousands of fans in the
arena and the millions watching around the world, LET’S GET READY TO
RUUUMBLE.” After months of preparation, training and conditioning the
two fighters faced off for the title bout of the evening.

Some
time in the future, after the culmination of a lot of suffering and
endurance for God’s children and the world for that matter, we will be
dressed in white robes (Revelation 6:11 and 7:9). The white robes are
the righteousness of the saints. A crown will be placed on our heads
and we will be seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb when Christ
Himself will come and serve us. At some point during this glorious
ceremony, Christ, in a booming voice, could make an announcement
similar to this:

“For the millions who have suffered for the past
six thousand years, and especially for the last  three and a half
years, and for the whole creation which groans, waiting for the sons
and daughters of God to be born, LET’S GET READY TO RULE.”

This
event of taking over the rulership from Satan and the demons will occur
in the future. The question we have to ask ourselves is, how ready are
we now? Peter refers to us as “a chosen generation, a  royal
priesthood, His own special people” (1 Peter 2:9). We are also
described as kings and priests in Revelation 5:10.

Anciently, the
kings of  Israel and Judah were instructed to be familiar with the
law of God. They were to read it daily–“all the days of his life”
(Deuteronomy 17:19). As future kings and priests we must be familiar
with the Word of God–our preparation, training and conditioning must
be in the application of the law as it pertains to our lives now and to
those we will rule over in the future.

Let’s not let down in
this most important task, so that we will be ready to move forward with
joy and anticipation when we hear those words, perhaps spoken by Christ
in the future: “LET’S GET READY TO RULE.”

The company I work for has invested large sums of money on in-house
training. It reimburses its employees for traveling to out-of-town
training locations. It does not mind spending money to train its
employees and upgrade their knowledge and skills. The company benefits
by this–and so does the employee who enjoys the perks of traveling
across Canada, the United States and even Europe.

The company
also used to have a manager training program. It interviewed everyone
who applied and selected a few for the program, which usually lasted
for about a year. Successful trainees were promoted to management
positions.

We might not always think of our calling as God’s
training program for us–but it truly is. We have been selected among
countless millions of potential candidates to be trained for a
wonderful future. Let us look at what Peter says about our
calling and future potential, in 1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special
people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are
now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained
mercy.”

What a wonderful and magnanimous opportunity we have in
this calling. Ironically, God did not call the intelligentsia of this
world, as stated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27: “For you see your
calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are
mighty.” Notice, He chose the foolish and unwise of the world.

This
does not mean we are to stay weak and foolish, as it were. Rather, we
are to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). In this
context, we need to grasp the significance of the importance of Bible
study. After all, the Bible is our training manual to assist us in
fulfilling our future roles as rulers and priests, as outlined in
Revelation 5:10: “And [You, that is, the Lamb, Jesus Christ] have made
us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the
earth.”

We are in training now for the most challenging,
awesome career anyone on this earth could possibly aspire to. We need
to ensure we are growing in grace and knowledge, by our daily study of
the training manual God has given us–the Bible. And, we must never
forget that we are not training for management positions in this
present world, but to become God beings in the future, assisting Christ
to rule and reign on this earth.

One of the characteristics of this end time generation is a distinct
lack of appreciation, as mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But know this,
that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers
of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, UNTHANKFUL, unholy, unloving, unforgiving,
slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people
turn away!”

This seems to be the plight of modern times in this
hustle and bustle “dog-eating-dog” world we live in. There is a real
lack of appreciation for so many of our blessings. It seems the more
one has in the way of possessions, the less one is appreciative.

We
have just come through a time of self-examination as we prepared for
the Passover. As we consider the great sacrifice of our Lord and
Savior, Who sacrificed Himself for all of us, giving His life for our
sins; our lives should be devoted to God’s Way of sacrifice and of
giving, rather than to the selfish approach of this world. Paul
succinctly put it in perspective, in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates
His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.”

Not only did Christ die for all of us while we were
still sinners, but if you were the only person on the earth, He would
still have died for you. Christ is your personal Savior, as He is
mine–and He is potentially the Savior of all of mankind.

As we
are concentrating on putting sin out of our lives, and conducting our
lives in a Godly manner, it is important  that we remember
Christ’s great Sacrifice for us. It is also critical, especially at
this time, to be truly appreciative of the fact that because of what
Christ did and does for us, God the Father is granting us the
opportunity to become members of His very Family in the future.