Good News 1973 (Prelim No 02) Apr-Jun

8/10/2019 Good News 1973 (Prelim No 02) Apr-Jun

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International Magazine o f The hurrh o od


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More bout Our Cover

This inspiring photograph was taken in theHigh Sierras of Northern California. David

saw things in their true perspective while meditating inthe midst of God s creation Ps. 8:3-9). l l of us need tostep back from time to time from our daily routine andtake a long reflective look at what we re doing; whetherwe are in the midst of God s creation, in our own backyards, or in our own living rooms. We need to take thetime to actively think about God, His laws, His Word,and how they all relate to our lives. Beginning on page23 is an article which will show you how to do this kindof meditation. Be sure to read it.

Cover photo b y Wi/bur Berg - mbassador College

What our RE DERS S YMy husband and I received the January

March GOOD NEWS today . On the front is apicture of the new auditorium. What hasbeen done is so beau tiful. I wonder if thebrethren in Pasadena know the blessingthey have being there to see it and one da ybe able to go inside the " Ho u se for Go d ."So many of us may never get to do that, yetwe want it built. I haven 't begun readingthe articles in this issue ye t , but it surelooks like these are the ones we need to readat this time of yea r.

E. R ., Rogers,Arkansas

Thank you for the GOOD N EWS with thepicture of the new auditorium. Wo w, itsure is beautiful W e are really lookingforward to its completion. Thank yo u forthe article on "Familiari t y" by Mr . Hunting. W e need to li ve each day as though itwas our last; to do the work more ferventlyand zealousl y than ever before. And thanksfor the article about the Canadian Work andthe map of the churches and Bible studies.

1. B. , Denver,Colorado

The GOOD NEWS came this week withcover picture of the Ho u se for God. I wantto say this work should be an example ofquality in all things, and the buildings andlandscaping certainly reflect right character.W e are also very happy with the TV andPer so nal Appearance response.

W. 1., Marston,North Carolina

This thank you note is a little different. Iwant to thank yo u for putting the section"W hat Our Readers Say" in the GOODNEWS. When I see how much impact yourarticles have made and are making on Go d 'speople all over the world, it's just wonder-

ful. Very often I want to go back and huntup and reread an article that has made suchan impression on someone else so as toinspire them to write such letters. Pleasealways keep that section because it helps usfeel so much closer to each other and callsto our attention things we might have takentoo lighdy . Special thanks for the article on" Fatal Familiarity." Like the classic linegoes - " Thanks, I needed that "

K . M ., Westwego,Louisiana

Thanks for the January-March GOODNEWS which has more informative andhard-hitting articles and meat of the Wordthan any yet. Keep them coming - they 'rejust what we need to stir us up.

R . G. , Carmi,Illinois

Thank you all on the staff of The GOODNEWS for all the articles I've read over theyears I've been a member. t seems eachissue tends to give me a " shaking up ,"which is sorely needed at times. W e allneed to be reminded of how very blessedwe are to be privileged to know the truth .Mr . Charles Hunting's article, " Fatal Familiarity," in the January-March issue hasshown me how I need to examine m ysel f.Also, I 'd like to express m y thanks to Mr .Basil Wolverton for his cartoons which areso unique I'd recognize them anywhereThe ones in the article, "Just What Do YouMean - Self-Righteous?" were especiallygood. Thank yo u all again for the love andeffort put into each issue of The GOODNEWS - it's as if each of you were sendingyour love directly to each of us.

T . D. , Portsmouth ,Ohio

(Continued on back cover)

e ood ewsInternational magazine of

THE CHURCH OF GODministering to its member s

scalle red abroad

April-June 1973

Volume XXII Numbe r 2

Publi shed at Pasadena, California 1973 Worldwide Church of God

EDITOR

HERBERT W . ARMSTRONG

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Garner Ted Armstrong

M N GING EDITOR

David Jon Hill

SENIOR EDITORS

David L. AntionAlbert J . Portune

Associate Editors

Richard H . Sedliacik Ron ald Kelly

Contributing Editors

Dibar K. Apartian Leslie 1. McCulloughAlfred E. Carrozzo Raymond F. McNairRaymond C. Cole L Leroy NeffWilliam Dankenbring John R obin so nRonald L Dart Paul S. RoyerCharles V Doroth y Norman A. SmithCharles F . Hunting De an R. WilsonRobert L Kuhn Bas il WolvertonErnest L Martin Clint C. Zimmerman

Lawson C. Briggs, Copy Editor

Thoma s H awor th , Art Editor

DIRECTOR OF PUBLISHING

C. Wayne Cole

BUSINESS M N GER

Albert J. Portune

ADDRESS LL COM MUNIC T IONS to the Editor. P. O. BoxIII. Pasadena . California 91109.Ca nadian member s shou ld address P . O . Box 44 . StationA. Vancouver 1 B. C. Cana da.Our member s in United K ingdom . Europe. an d Africasho uld address the Editor. P. O. Box III. 51. Albans.HerlS. . Eng la nd.South Africa: P . O. Box 1060 Johanne sbur g. Transvaal.R 5 A

Members in Au s tra lia a nd Southea st Asia sho uld add ressth e Editor. G. P. O . Box 345. Sydne y. NSW 2001. Australia. In New Zealand . P. O. Box 2709. Auckland . New Ze aland .In the Philippine s. P. O . Box 1111 . Makati . Riza l 0-708.

~ J J r ~ ~ ~T ~ ~ ~ s : F ~ n ~ ~ u l : : E ~ ~ ; h T E ~ r dof Unn ~: : g e a~ d ~ ~ : s ~IMPORTANT


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RE WE ASHAMED

OF GOD S TRUTH?

U NTIL recen tl y there existed agood deal of confusion in theminds of a lot of people about

the Worldwide Church of God, Ambassador College, and he WORLD ToMORROW.

Speculations ranged from an ultrarightist group with buried caches ofarms, supported, perhaps by HowardHughes, H . L Hunt, or anyone elsewhose initials happened to be HH(would you believe - Hubert Hum-phreyl), to an ultra-leftist organizationbusily badmouthing the country.

Perhaps it was partially our ownfault. We didn't want to push ourselves on anyone; we've always had the

policy of refraining from public altarcalls, public invitations to join anything , and public collections. We havealways made it plain we do not wish to

cram our religion down anyone'sthroat and have plainly stated ourconviction that none CAN come to theSon excep t the Spirit of the Fatherdraw him .

Still , though we only tried to avoidthe hard-sell evangelistic appearance- the sanctimonious Won't youcome to the Lord, right now pitchor the churchified flavor of the usualrun of radio and TV evangelism - wecaused a fair amount of confusion toexist over just who, and what, we are'

None of the apparent secretive na-ture of the Worldwide Church of Go dwas desired by any of us - it justseemed to happen as a result of acumulative series of conditions and circums t ances. Like Topsy, it justgrowed.

HStrange bizarre sect w sone magazine ' s appraisal.

They meet in secret , saidanother . Hyou can t findout anything about them , "complained a newspaper.HThey must be Communist,or something sa ys a _be-wi lde red ci t izen . Per -secution? Or the naturalreact ion to our own Hfearsyndrome " ? Perhaps a littlebit of both but whateverit is, we do n t want to bring

it on ourselves

b y Garner e d rmstrong

Now all of that IS very rapidlychanging'

Striking the RightBalance

One thing is sure. You have nodifficulty finding a label for other religious p rograms , magazines orchurches' They are what they are -and by the time you've listened for awho le 30 seconds, you KNOW whatthey are.

The evangelist who comes on theTV screen , saying , in a slight tremu lo,Surely is a blessing to be here with

yo u Christian brethren to talk abo utthe Lord . . . will never have a disclaimer put on the screen by the loca lstation which says, The opinions expressed on the following program do

not n ~ c e s s r i l yrepresent the viewsof .

But such disclaimers re sometimespu t before and after our program . Weprobably canno t ever change that -simply because no matter how stronglywe speak out about Christ's Gospel,His Gospel is so DIFFERENT from whatpeople think it is and it is PRESENTEDboth in the Bible and by H is trueservants, in such a DIFFERENT FASHIONfrom what mos t people assume wouldbe correct , that some stations feel wemus t be disclaimed when we speakthe truth.

Now by properly seeing what hasbeen a little bit of a fear syndrome on our part , and by capturing that right

b l nce between not being a shamed ofthe Gospel of Christ , for it is the powerof God unto salvation (Rom . 1 :16),and the overdone , hard-sell flavor ofthe world , we can alleviate a great dea lof confusion , wonderment and persecution.

My father and I have recently hadlong, anima ted and deeply heartfelttalks on these and other subjects. Weare both completely confident andthoroughly enthusiastic that God isleadi ng His Church to finish His Workmore effectively by a deeper understanding of some of these matters .

Our Fear Syndrome

I think many of our past syndromesI'm going to talk about in th is articlebegan back in the very earliest years ofAmbassador College when we werebeing actively persecuted b y one particular man and a few associa tes. someof whom were former Ambassador Col-


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lege students turned sour. At leastpartly as a result of their activities -handing out and almost forcing accusing literature on members, etc., andtheir threats - we began to develop a"fear syndrome."

Visitors on campus were oftentimeslooked upon with suspicion . All thathad to occur was for a stranger toappear and we began to get what I calla "spooky" (fearfully suspicious) look.And often, as a result of our reaction,we were a lot less than friendly topeople who were just honestly interested in God's truth and came here forno other reason than to learn about it .

If an "outsider " suddenly appearedat the Feast of Tabernacles (especially ifhe wore a black bushy beard, drove astrange-looking car, or walked abouthanding out little tracts or gatheringknots of individuals about himself inthe parking lot), a "security system"we had developed took care of him.We had our deacons and parking su-perintendents out to spot such potential "troublemakers ." Then theywould rush a minister , or several ofthem , to the area to try to deal withthe " problem."

As a result we used to turn off "outsiders" rather regularly - in all parts ofthe Work. In some cases we still do,

without meaning to or realizing it .

Mr . Portune's Experience

Mr. Albert Portune told me how hecame to Pasadena one Sunday yearsago , searching for Ambassador College.Nobody in Pasadena, it seemed, knewwhere it was, and Mr. Portune waspretty frustrated. He had already written four times wanting to be baptized ,but nobody ever bothered to answerhim . (We were a little inefficient in

those days. When Mr. Portune tookover management of the mailing officeand later the business office, he had apersonal reason for wanting it to be-come efficient )

Finally he did find the campus, butthere was almost nobody around at thetime. He walked in the back door ofthe old print shop (now the LibraryAnnex) and found one student bending over a font of type . Mr. Portuneasked, Is this Ambassador College?"The student looked up and saw a

GOOD NEWS

str nger - a person he didn't knowand got that "spooky" look.

"Yeah, it's Ambassador College ."Well, I'm here to talk to somebody

about baptism."Oh , well, er, ah, let's see " he

hemmed and hawed.Mr. Portune inquired, Well, you do

have ministers' You do have churchservices, don't you?"

Well , yeah, ah, as a matter of factwhat we have is just a college chapelservice - that's what we actually havewhen you get right down to it." Thatwas our standard answer in those days.

Well, can I attend?"Then followed some more conversa

tion which I can't recall, and finally thestudent said, I 'm not sure ', bettercheck with somebody ." But somehowMr. Portune finally got to attend. Thatfollowing Sabbath he was baptized inthe baptismal pool at the college.

I think this fairly well epitomizeswhat was happening and how we developed what I call a "shame-fear syndrome." We just weren't really beingwhat we were. We became more or less

sh med without meaning to beashamed, and it has carried over evenuntil today.

Ministers have told me that thelonger a member is in the Church the

more closemouthed he tends to be-come about his religion , whereas in thefirst few months many are not closemouthed at all, sometimes making alot of mistakes and turning off some oftheir friends and relatives because theywere overly enthusiastic about thetruth.

Try to ind Usf You Can1

I remember being part and parcel of

this mood or this syndrome at thetime. I strongly suspected in years pastthat some of our enemies would literally try to "infiltrate" the college campus, and that they would infiltratevarious branches of the Work and localcongregations.

To some measure, of course, some ofthese apprehensions were valid . Theunfortunate part is that in MOST casesthey were in error and that the "spinofP' from these apprehensions resultedin large degree to the "shame of reli-

April-June 1973

gion that I feel plagues the Church ingeneral today .

I t has been reinforced by the factthat we meet in rented halls, oftentimes without outside identifying characteristics or signs. They may bedowntown office buildings, AmericanLegion halls, Women's Clubs , Elks orMoose lodges, YMCA, YWCA, or perhaps high school auditoriums or civicauditoriums. Our ministers' names arenot listed in telephone directories, andthe Church is not identified in theyellow pages, nor is it ever identified oradvertised in the Saturday church pagein the local newspapers.

Unless I am mistaken, it has beenthe "generally understood" policy thatbefore a member may feel free to invitea relative, neighbor, friend or casualbusiness acquaintance to hear his minister preach on the Sabbath, he isexpected to get "clearance" from theminister , explaining whether or not theperson is familiar or conversant withwhat will be taught, whether the person knows about the Sabbath, what theperson's approach and attitude is etc.

Apparently all of this was to ensurethat we did not, u ~ e rany circumstances, experience any disturbancesduring a Sabbath service, such as anaudible challenge from someone in the

crowd. But because of this "syndrome," many people have turned awaytheir own loved ones, their own fam-ilies and mates . A husband would askhis wife, "May I go to church withyou?" and she would say , Oh, no, youcan't unless you get clearance throughmy minister." And so it makes mosthusbands angry to be told, in essence ;that they are not wel ome where theirwives are going on the Sabbath.

There have e e ~many cases where

our own spiritual brothers and sisterson the way home from the Feast ofTabernacles have thought, I 'd like tostop over the Sabbath here in Tucson(or there in Buffalo, or some otherplace) and worship with the localmembers of God's Church." But theydidn't have the "combination" - the"secret" address of the meeting hall.They could not have found who orwhere the minister was or where God'speople are meeting to save their lifeEven my father couldn't have found


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April-June 1973

them unless he first obtained the information from the Headquarters files

Letting Ourselves Be Known

As you probably know by now , allthat is changing_ We will be listing the

Worldwide Church of God in phonedirectories of those cities where wehave churches, using our "toll-free"

number in Pasadena so that anyonemay call for any information he maydesire about the Church.

I was amazed when Mr. Dean Wilson told me that he felt so bad whenhis name and the name of the Canadianoffice somehow got in the telephonebook. The telephone people just put itthere without asking him and he didn'thave the heart to change it. That happened eleven years ago. In those years,he has had hundreds of telephone calls ,many of which resulted in people becoming members of the Church. Onlyfour calls were of a threatening nature .(Each of those was from a spouse of amember who would have known histelephone number anyway .)

One lady called long distance about3 :00 a .m . She thought she had committed the unpardonable sin and wasgoing to commit suicide . Mr. Wilsonwas able to talk to her and convinceher she had not committed the unpardonable sin, then later he talked toher husband. Both are now strongmembers of the Church.

I can only guess at how many thousands of people over the years havetried to reach us late at night and havenot been able, simply because theycouldn't find the number

The "clandestine sect" as somenewspapers and magazines have described us, is to a large extent, what wereally have appeared to be, because wedon t intend to proselyte. We don't wantto say, World come in. World wel

come. Come in and worship with us "But we have needed to strike a balancesomewhere in the middle to make suret o s ~little ones who are looking for uscan find us.

During the campaign in Richmond,Virginia, a nice looking young manwith a big friendly grin and his handstuck out came backstage to meet me.He was the local pastor of a church ofone of the well-known denominations .We talked a bit and he said, I am glad

GOOD NEWS

you are here. I have brought one hundred of my people along with me." Hesat right in the front row questioning,listening , taking notes, an open lookon his face, ust wanting to know.

Maybe he will become a member ofGod's Church sometime soon . Andmaybe a few thousand other membersof his denomination will too , one of

these days. There is no reason why theycan't, is there - if God is callingthem) I mean, is belonging to a falsechurch committing the unpardonablesin ? Is a member of any denominationan untouchable ) Many of us belonged to other churches before, didn'twe )

Let Your Light Shine

Personally , I have been very unabashed and unashamed to urge peoplein my acquaintance - including

strangers that I meet as I travel hereand there - to come into contact withGod's Work. I try to ensure they understand that they can see the televisionprogram, listen to the radio program ,read The PLAIN TRUTH - and I tellthem where and how Of course , Inever hard sell my religion - but simply and in a friendly manner make it apart of the conversation .

If each member of the Church intheir contacts with people in the worldfelt a virtual spiritual responsibility tooccasionally wax a little bit excited -in a simple , friendly, casual manner -about the worldwide Work of whichhe or she is a part, how many morepeople might be added to The PLAINTRUTH mailing list, or become listenersto the radio program or viewers of thetelevision program

If we each made this a virtual"drive," realizing we are not ashamedof Jesus Christ or of His way of life orHis true religion, what a difference it

could make to our local churches, ourteen-agers, and even our entire worldwide commission

That we are not trying to "cramGod's truth down anyone's throat,"that we are not trying to proselyte inthe world's sense, must be remembered.But we need not go to the oppositeextreme of hiding out, burying ourtalents, covering our light (Matt. 5:14-16), being ashamed and withdrawinginto monosyllables and barest mutter-

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ings when we are a.rked about religiousmatters. I'm sure I Peter 3: 15 comesimmediately to our minds: But sanctify the Lord God in your heans: andbe ready always to give an answer toevery man that asketh you a reason ofthe hope that is in you with meeknessand fear."

Now am going to have to rely on

the individual intelligence of everyonereading this article NOT to leap to somecompletely ridiculous assumption thatGarner Ted Armstrong is going " offhis rocker" and is advocating some utterly unbiblical program of knockingon doors and forcing religious literature on people like one particularchurch does today. I do not mean toremotely imply this. . SO PLEASE - let'sunderstand , and find the right balancewhich is of God'

As you probably know , we have"freed up our policy on inviting newpeople to chutch , as decided by myfather in counsel with all the Headquarters Evangelists . With the Worldwide Church of God now becomingvery well known through our own radio-TV programs and personal appearance campaigns , we are get t ingnumerous inquiries from new peoplewanting to attend chutch. My fatherstated at the Headquarters MinisterialConference this last January that we

should make all who want to attendWELCOME, even if their interest is onlycasual.

What This Wi n Do forthe Church

In the past , some of us may havetended to misinterpret or misappl y thescriptural command to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works ofdarkness_" This does not mean to go tothe extreme of virtually shunning evencasual conversation with people in the

world. There 's a vast difference between"fellowship," which involves goingback and forth in partying, double dating, joining civic organizations andclubs, or attending their churches, andsimply being a friendly , vital , lively andinteresting conversationalist withpeople you come in contact with inyour daily life.

When you are in supermarkets ,drugstores, restaurants, motels, etc. ,you inevitably come in contact with


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other people. These casual contacts, Jfeel, can become an important way inwhich this Church can GROW

I feel we are missing a very important area for real exposure for the totalWork of God in this end-time generation as a result of this worldwide"shame syndrome" that seems to reignin the Church .

Are we REALLY ashamed of the truthof God) Are we ashamed of the factthat we observe Passover , go to churchon the Sabbath, keep the Feast of Tabernacles, or send our tithes to Headquarters) Now I'm sure our answer is,

Absolutely not.' '' Yet, some of our postures in life make it APPEAR as thoughwe are , indeed, ashamed .

Remember, Jesus did say that if anyone is ashamed of Hi m , He, Jesus, willbe ashamed of that person at His coming' (Mark S:3S; Luke 9:26 .)

Let's put it this way, brethren : Arewe PROUD - in a sense of being thankful, grateful, and unashamed (not in thesense of being prideful, lifted up, orfilled with vanity) - of our Savior, ofour religion, of our ministers and ofour church?

Because churches of the world havemisappropriated the name of JesusChrist, and talk glibly about how theylove the Lord and the Lord loves them,and "Bless you, Jesus" and "Oh what

He has done for me," we as a churchtend to shy away from anything thatsmacks of such - and rightly so. But ifeach member can feel free simply to tellpeople about The PLAIN TRUTH, thetelevision and radio programs - thathe (or she) is proud of and pleasedwith them - and even about certainaspects of his (or her) own way of life,and blessings, and personal triumphs,this entire syndrome of fear, shame,closemouthed and clandestine exclusiveness will be ended - with dramaticresults.'

Think of it this way . We have over70,000 attending church every Sabbath,of which over half are adults - over53,000 individual baptized members. Isevery single one of our homes a microcosm of the Headquarters of God'sWork in that right there convenientlylaid our for guests, relatives or neighbors to see is the current number ofThe PLAIN TRUTH and some of ourmost colorful and readable booklets?

GOOD NEWS

Does each member who works carryalong the latest PLAIN TRUTH magazine on the automobile seat in hopethat perhaps he (or she) may show itcasually to others? Is The PLAINTRUTH, or perhaps one of our booklets,in each man's lunch pail at work, and ishe not afraid to be seen reading itduring lunch and not ashamed to talk

to people about it?Remember, I am not talking about

being like the denomination whoseonly purpose in life is to proselyte fortheir church. I'm talking about justbeing open about who we are and whatwe do. Our ministers, for example,who have been carrying identificationcards that say, "Ambassador CollegeRepresentative" are now going to beidentified as "Worldwide Church ofGod, Minister."

Giving ur Teen-agersa Chance

Take a look at our teen-agers. Our"shame" of religion is far more intensified among the teen-agers of theChurch. Why? As a direct result, I feel,of a subdued, or subliminal, or concealed shame on the part of the averagechurch members. -

But just give them a chance as wedid at the recent campaign

The teen-agers were the ushers in

Richmond. I talked to them afterward,and they were on "cloud nine" justbecause they were so excited to be ableto serve - just to have a part in something that was going on

The kids in the Church want to beinvolved. They want to help.' Just imagine the effect it would have if our teenagers could tell their teen-age buddiesto come to these campaigns and thefollow-up Bible studies, and even tochurch

Great rowth AheadAlready in these weekend personal

appearances, I have spoken to a cumulative audience of upwards of onehundred thousand people . Each time Iintroduce the local pastor, I have saidsomething like, "This is so-and-so,with whom I used to play college bas-ketball. He's a good guy and he's notgoing to hurt you, and he's the pastorof the Worldwide Church of Godright in this city ." Meanwhile, all of

AprilJune 1973

our counselors and ushers scurryaround handing out cards with hisphone number to all who want them .

Many people are interested and haveresponded to this. After the very firstmeeting down in New Orleans , forexample, 20 people responded withtelephone calls . A large number of families voiced an interest in wanting toattend our church regularly, and 150additional people actually did begin toattend the very first follow-up lecture.

You may say that's very small. Perhaps it is, bu t 15 or 20 years ago anintensive campaign going painstakingly through many doctrines andprophecies six nights a week for sixweeks added no more than two hundred. Now we are having the cumulative fruits of campaign after campaign.

Weare planning to run as TV spe-cials this summer, several tapes of ac-tual meetings and sermons in ourpersonal appearance campaigns. Eachwill last one hour, into which we willinsert two different three-minute spot"commercials" showing the college,the Church , The PLAIN TRUTH, thebooklets . Then flashed on the screenwill be the "SOO" toll-free number di-rect to Pasadena which our viewers cancall to r ~ i v further information,request literature or receive whateverhelp we can give.

We are going to put these speci ls onduring prime time, three nights oneafter another and include several messages about writing for various booklets. We hope to put them on in manysmaller cities too, not just the big ones- and later go to those cities in person. And so I expect a tremendousresponse from all this

Weare also planning a series ofpersonal appearances by Mr. AlbertPortune, Mr. Ron Dart, Mr. CharlesHunting, Mr. Howard Clark, Dr. ClintZimmerman, Mr. Dean Wilson, andothers . And they're all very excitedabout the prospects. Of course, becausethey have not had the previous publicexposure I have, and budgetary limitations prevent an extensive advertisingcampaign prior to the meetings, wewill not anticipate the size of audiencesto be as large as those that I have beenprivileged to speak before.

Mr. Wilson can go to , places in Can(Continued on page 30


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TH PHILIPPIN STORYhe office manager for God s ork in the Philippines has

filed this encouraging report on the growth of the ork inland rocked by recent dramatic political changes

Manila. Philippines.

A NEW society is developing in.1 l.. Southeast Asia. President Mar-

cos of the Philippines, in declaring martial law last September 21,introduced sweeping changes which

most of this nation's 38 million peoplefelt were badly needed. Prior to thisdrastic step, the Philippines was, to use thewords of Mr. Marcos, a sick society .

In the former political climate, theCommunist ca use was making headway. An estimated 80 to 85 percent ofthe nation's wealth was controlled byabout 400 families, whose business interests reached around the country .

Ironically , the Philippines is theonly Ch r isti an country in the wholeof Southeast

Asia.Eighty-five percent profess the Roman Catholic faith, with the remaining15 percent divided between varyingProtestant groups and Muslims. How-ever, religion obvious] y has not produced the answer to the country'smounting problems.

Something needed to be done , andPresident Marcos concluded that martial law was the only constitutionalmeans left to enact a democratic revolution before a bloody revolution engulfed the country

It is not the purpose of this articleto elaborate on what has been accomplished , or to condone or disapprovethe new form of government , but thenation does appear to be in much better shape than it was before . More reforms have been accomplished in thefew months since martial law than in25 years of American-style democrac y.

I would like to add that the work ofGod's Church in the Philippines was

b y Col in d ir

affec ted by the imposition of martiallaw - but more about th a t la ter.

History o f the W o r k Here

A few PLAIN TR UTH maga zines were

being sent into the country in the earlyfifties by direct subscription.

Mr. Pedro Ortiguero was appoin tedrepresentative of Ambassador Collegein 1961 and was instrumental in building the initial growth of the Church.(Today Mr. Ortiguero is a full-timepreaching elder of the WorldwideChurch of God and pastors the Urdaneta congregation in Northern Luzon,in addition to helpin g in the ministr ythroughou t the Philippine s.)

In 1962, an office was established tohand le the growing response to ThePLAIN TR UTH - Makati, a moderncommercial center in the Greater Manila area, being chosen as the site. Filipinos whom God had called werechosen to staff the offi ce under thesupervIsIOn at first of Mr. GeraldWaterhouse and later of Mr . GuyAmes.

In the early years, ads were run inthe Philippine Free Press and in theAsian edi tion of Reader s D igest causing the mailing list to grow rapidl yand steadily. The Filipino people 's lovefor education showed itself in the hugeresponses we received. The PLAINTR UTH and the booklets requestedwere (and still are) supp lied to theManila office by our printing plant inSydney, Australia.

Fortunately, the Philippines is veryfamiliar with the English language dueto United States presence since 1898 .Because of this, The WORLD TOMOR-

ROW broadcast i s widely un d ersto od . incontrast to the situation in most otherAsian countries . Along wi th somesmaller stations throughout the island s.God opened up the large 50-thousand

watt station DZAQ in Quezon Citywhich virtually blanketed the nation.

Most of the Work in the Philippineshad to be supported financially fromPasadena. The number of Philippin econtributors rose stea dil y, yet be causeof the lower stand ard of livin g andwidespread pov e rt y, the incomt wasnever enough to cover the cos t of operations.

In February 19 70 the PhilippineGovernm en t floated the peso and thesubsequent rise in the peso / d o ll ar rateenabled each doll ar to accomplish m orethan before. Then suddenly the financial condition of the Work at He adquarters no lo nger permitted thesending of so man y dollars to supportthe Philippine office .

It looked like we would ha ve toclose up the office and cease all operations. But the Filipino co-workers andmember s rallied and showed that theirheart s were reall y in thi s importantcommission.

After ca reful stu d y it was decidednot to close up th e office af ter all , butto transfer most of the workload to ourSydn e y office . Filipino listeners weretold to address their letters to Australia . On l y enough work was left to keepthe Manila office functioning. This waythe limited Philippine income was ableto cover our expenses.

Growth Begins Again

Becau se of the cutback , the officewas moved to smaller premises in the


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same building. t looked as if the daysof growth in the Philippine Work hadceased for good. But the Filipinopeople continued to support God'sWork, and even increased their support'It was found that our new smallerpremises were now too small There wasan urgent need to find larger officespace.

In November 1970 God opened upto us an office section in the T. Davies

Co. (Far East) Building on BuendiaAvenue, Makati, just five minutes walkfrom our old premises Now we hadthe extra room to handle the steadyincrease we were receiving. Since thenwe have expanded again and now occupy two more suites on the samefloor.

By March 1971 we were able to

transfer most of the mailing and Ii terature requests back from Sydney. (Onlythe larger facets of the Work, like- the

magazine mailing lists, remained inSydney where IBM computers wereable to handle them more efficiently.)Our radio programs reverted to carrying our lo cal box number instead ofthe Australian number. Extra office employees were added to cope wi th the

GOOD NEWS

letter increase. Today we employ fif-teen in the Manila office.

Television Begins

On May 8, 1971 DZAQ Channel 2television, seen throughout Luzon ,opened up to he WORLD TOMORROWprogram , which was aired at 10:30every Saturda y night when Channel 2was on schedule, but frequently startedlate . After complaints from us , the station agreed to make amends by re-playing our program free at a morningtime of our choice any day Sundaythrough Friday. So a second showingon Sunday morning at 10:30 was chosen to give those who missed the firstshowing an opportunity to see it.

To help promote the television program, small advertisements were placedmonthly in the Manila imes directing

the attention of the public to the telecast and offering many of our bookletsconnected with the programs. The re-sults were encouraging, and m any Filipinos came into contact with God'sWork for the first time . Schools, colleges and public service agencies re-quested our booklets on crime,marijuana and famine for their educational courses.

April-June 1973

The Effects of Martial Law

Then suddenly, in late 1972, the unexpected happened. As mentioned earlier , martial law was declared. It seemedlike Go d 's Work would come to ahalt . All media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television) were closeddown. Only a government-ownednewspaper was allowed to continue , toserve as a vehicle and mouthpiece ofthe government.

A new department under the President was created, the Department ofPublic Information (DPI), with President Marcos' former Press Secretaryserving as its head. t was given fullcontrol of all media. No radio or television station could function withoutits permission . No newspaper , or otherpublication could be distributed without first being cleared with the DP .

As soon as this information reachedus, we halted the distribution of hePLAIN TR UTH At first it looked likewe would have a long wait for clearance . Many publishers were "wai ting inline" for their own clearance . But,thanks to qod's intervention, officials'familiarity with our publications, andMr. Armstrong's visit to PresidentMarcos back in 1970, we were able toge t quick approval to continue.

So he PLAIN TR UTH and our booklets began to be distributed as before. t

had only been a matter of two or threedays since we had halted distribution'

With martial law we had also lostour radio outlets. The few stations thatreturned to the air were very expensive.However , again we quickl y receivedspecial clearance to resume broadcasting. By November 6 we were backon five provinci al stations, and on twoManila stations by January. We arenow on a total of eight.

But our troubles were not over.

With martial l aw the President re-formed the tax system. The ReligiousAct of 1916, permitting importation ofreligious Ii tera ture tax free, wasscrapped and a revised tax code set up.Now we faced two tax problem s Boththe Customs Office and the Internal

mbassador ollege hoto

OFFICE M N GER - Mr. ColinAdair, director of G o d's Work inthe Philippines, is shown at hisdesk in the Manila Offi ce.


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April-June 1973

Revenue Department imposed taxes onall imported goods.

With the Customs Office we wereable to obtain clearance through one oftheir sections allowing religious material in tax free . One problem wassolved But the Internal Revenue Department had a tax called "Compensating Tax ." At first we thought we

were faced with a possible paymentof

P9,000 to P13,000 ($2 ,000) on everyshipment of he PL IN TRUTH andother literature from Sydney, whichour budget could never stand, and thatour only recourse was a direct appeal tothe President through the NationalEconomic Development Authority(NEDA). So just before I left for theHeadquarters Ministerial Conference inJanuary, I sent a letter explainingexactly what we are and how we operate.

Since then we have found that be-cause the magazines are already ad-dressed before they arrive in thePhilippines and the booklets are imported for the same subscribers, they arenot categorized as bulk printed matter,and are free from the "CompensatingTax." God again showed us clearlywho is in charge of this Work

In the meantime, our appeal forcomplete tax-exempt status was ap-proved by NEDA and forwarded to thePresidential Economic Staff (PES) forfurther study and action. So as of midApril we are still waiting to see if wewill be able to bring in other items ,such as used clothing, without the tax.But it is now only a minor problem .

Growth of Churches

Today we have two churches in Lu-zon, the main island, and six smallergroups in Mindanao. These latter weregroups that affiliated themselves withus after being part of the "Sardis"

Church of God . The leaders of thesegroups are converted men and receiveregular instruction and guidance fromManila in conducting their services.They are in every way a part of the"Philadelphia " Church.

The Manila Church was establishedin 1965 by Mr. Arthur Docken , whenthe fruit of the broadcasting and advertising began to be harvested . Over 450people now meet every Sabbath andsteady growth is continuing .

GOOD NEWS

The Urdaneta Church in Central Lu-zon , pastored by Mr. Pedro Ortiguero ,has over 120 in regular attendance andis also growing steadily.

Last year we established twomonthly Bible studies in the cities of

Cebu and Iloilo , south of Luzon in theVisayan Islands . Their growth potential is very good. Weare also starting abimonthly Bible study in Naga City ,southeast of Manila , which we hopewill become a full church in a year ortwo.

Last year nearly 2,000 brethren keptthe Feast of Tabernacles at three sites- Baguio Cit y in Luzon (the mainsite) and Don Carlos and Manikling inMindanao.

Current Emergencies

The brethren ' s main problemthroughout the Philippines is still thesoaring cost of living and a low basicstandard of living . Though martial law

has helped to stabilize pri ces, primecommodities are very expen sive.To add to this , a very severe drought

afflicting Mindanao has affected ourpeople there . With the land dried up,crops and mone y lost , and e ven wellsand other water supplies failing , man ywould right now be in starving condition but for emergency aid rushed fromManila and from Headquarter s.

Here is a portion of a letter fromContinued on pag e 3 0


10/36

WH T IS THE

Why aren t God s ministersperform ing s pe ct acularpublic miracles today s itbec use of a lack o f faith?s the whole Church just too

weak , spiritually speakingIt s time w e under s t nd theprinciples set fo r th in this

article .

by h a rles F Hu ingnd Jim arn a cha n

D OES it trouble you that ministersof God's Church are not performing the same kind of miracles today that were done during thetime of Christ and the apostles )

Tens of thousands are members inthe same Church of God today. Yet wedo not see the blind receive their sight ,nor the dumb voice their first words inthe same way that sometimes occurredin the earliest New Testament Church.

This , of course , is not to say thatmany are not being healed priv t elysometimes gradually, all the time. Forthey are'

Daily Miracles

Jesus Christ ptomised His true ministers power to perform the miracle ofMark 16:18: " They shall lay hands onthe sick, and they shall recover." Thiskind of miracle has been and is beingrepeated thousands of times, for the

OF PUBLICbenefit of thousands of people aroundthe world

Today's miracles of healing arebeing performed not by dramatic decree of a healing "prophet" - butaccording to the command of James5:14-15.

" Is any sick among you) Let himcall for the elders of the church; and letthem pray over him , anointing himwith oil in the name of the Lord . Andthe prayer off ith shall save the sick."These healings are God's response toour request and our faith (Matt. 9:22,

29).But how many of the hundreds of

healing miracles which God is performing daily among our members ,Co-workers and others do we ever hearabout? We hear mainl y about those inour local church areas whom we know.

Mark 16:17-18 enumerates someother miracles that Christ promisedwould accompan y the preaching of thegospel. Notice, however , that not everysign mentioned has been prominent in

every church age. Nor were thesewords given as commands; not the imperative voice , but the simple futureindicative is used. (If one whom Christhas sent accidentally takes up a poisonous snake , as in Acts 28: 3-5 oraccidentally drinks something poisonous , it need not harm him. Butthose who deliberately handle snakes ordrink poison are tempting God andhave no promise of protection - seeLuke 4:12.)

In accordance with Mark 16: 17, demons are being cast out today. And

many other miraculous occurrencestranspire in the daily lives and experiences of God's ministers, and in opening doors for the furtherance of theWork But they are not the spectaculartype of miracle that the world musttake note of. God's miracles today arethe kind which go unnoticed by thegeneral public.

Wh y ) We will shortly see an important reason .

Regardless of all the miraculous

healings taking place in the Church,many of our deaf , blind, lame andotherwise handicapped people have notbeen completely made well. A lookback in history will help us to understand why.

Moses Worked Great Miracles

Moses performed tremendous miracles by the power of God. WhenMoses requested a miracle, he expectedand got an immediate answer.

He relied on God to open up theRed Sea in the face of the pursuingEgyptian army. Moses never forgot thathis staff became a serpent , that his handbecame leprous and was healed again atwill. Nor had he forgotten the plaguesof frogs , flies locusts and lice in Egypt.He remembered the river of blood andthe dreadful destruction of all the firstborn Egyptians on the first Passovernight - all public miracles of the firstmagnitude'


11/36

PURPOSEMIRACLES

As a result, Moses had great faith .But was Moses able to produce im

mediate spectacular displaysof

miraculous power - at any time Did youknow that even Moses did not alwaysreceive instant answers to his prayers?Sometimes his requests were notgranted.

As recounted in Numbers 12, Godstruck Miriam with leprosy because shepublicl y campaigned agains t Moses' authorit y. Moses immediately pleadedwith God to heal his sister then andthere . And why not? Read in verses 6through 8 how dose Moses was toGod . Moses had often asked for andreceived immediate action . But not thistime Even though she had begun torepent, Miriam had to live with herleprosy for seven days - to teach her alesson

The Miracle Work ofElijah

Look at the example of Elijah . Elijahchallenged t ~ four hundred and fiftyprophets of Baal before all Israel to

prove the Eternal was the true God .Those false prophets danced, cried andmutilated themselves in vain attemptsto make their god answer their request .

Then as sunset drew on , Elijah confidentl y constructed a stone altar for asacrifice to his God. To add insult totheir injury, he not only soaked theflesh of his sacrifice with gallons ofwater, but also flooded the area aroundthe altar until it was practically swim-

mingo Then in sight of the whole multitude he calmly stood before his altarand in less than a half-minute prayerasked God to show Israel who is Go d .

Immediately a brilliant bolt of firehissed down out of the sky and consumed his sacrifice in a flash of steamand smoke It devoured the rock altarand licked up every drop of water. Thatindeed was a spectacular miracle

But look at what happened as aresult. When King Ahab told his wifeJezebel how Eli jah had slain all theprophets of Baal , she was livid withanger. She swore to kill Elijah by thefollowing day (I Kings 19 :1-4) .

Then, in stark terror , Elijah fled allthe way to Mount Sinai , God performing additional miracles to helphim get there . But why didn't Elijahsimply rely upon God to protect himwhere he was ? Why did he flee for hislife?

i m ~ l ybecause he saw no need forsuch miracles for the furtherance of theWork of God.

Paul's Failures "The Apostle Paul was no stranger to

divine intervention. His prayers wereanswered many times as he carried outGod's Work. But Paul was aboard asailing ship in a terrif ying tempest ,mercilessly tOssed buffeted andpounded b y foaming waves for a fullfourteen days and nights without res-pite (Acts 27).

If ever Paul should have stOod up

and stilled the waves, this was the time .No doubt he wished he could . Perhapshe tried his best to do so. But he andhis companions simply had to " toughit ou t " till thankfull y the ship ranaground . There was no obvious miraclein the whole drama .

Paul 's faith did heal a serpent 's bite(Acts 28:3-6), but we are told inII Corinthians 12 :7-10 that God neverhealed Paul's thorn in the flesh ," aph ysical infirmity which he besoughtGod three times to remove .

Paul had to leave an assistant namedTrophimus behind, sick and unhealed ,at Miletum (II Tim. 4:20 ). Paul tOldTimoth y to take a little wine for hisstomach's sake and his frequent in-firmities (I Tim. 5 :23). Epaphroditusnearly died of an ailment at Rome(Phil. 2 :25-27) .

W h y weren't th e y all instantl yhealed ? Wh y weren ' t dramatic miraclesperformed ? Was it because o f a lack offaith ? We are tOld that Timoth y wasone of the few men who was trul yfaithful (Phil. 2 :20) - yet he appar

entl y was not healed of his infirmities The writings of Old Testament

prophets record a lmost no miracles . InJeremiah , Ezekiel , Amos, Hosea andJoel the total number of miracles re-ported is exactl y nil So far as we know ,onl y Isaiah and Daniel ever perf o rmeda miracle .

Christ said no one was greater thanJohn the Baptist (Matt. 11:11) , yet

John did no miracle" (John 10:41).


12/36

10

Not one Could anyone say John theBaptist lacked faith? He preached thecommandments of God faithfully, andfearlessly rebuked the religious leadersof his day. At the risk of his life heproclaimed God's law before King Herod until his faithful preaching ultimately resulted in his own martyrdom .

When Is a Public MiraclePerformed?

We have seen examples where miracles were performed and exampleswhere none were performed. How dowe understand the fact that men offaith worked miracles at one time andplace and not at another?

The logical answer is this: they couldonly perform great miracles when Godrequired them lor a specific purpose inHis Work .

Remember I John 5 :14: " . . . If weask anything according to HIS WILL, hehears us."

Carrying our thinking down to ourtime , then, the obvious reason we seeno great public miracles today is because God's Work has not yet requiredthem'

Is this a lame excuse? Not at all. Wewill see many awe-inspiring miracles inthe future But let us realize what re

sults they will bring.

Great Miracles BringPersecution

The apostles worked great wonders .Peter and John, for example, healed acripple . The incident greatly publicizedthe gospel (Acts 3 :10-16). t madethousands pay attention to what theyhad to say .

But it also brought persecution fromthe established religious leaders (Acts

5 :17; 4:2).Stephen, a deacon, was given power

to work great miracles (Acts 6:8). Buthe died an early death as a martyr (Acts7 :54-60) .

The mere passing of Peter's shadowhealed the sick who were laid in bedsand couches' in the streets (Acts 5: 15-16). Peter even raised a dead womanback to life (Acts 9 :36-42), as greatmiracle working by the Church continued . But soon Peter and James were

GOOD NEWS

imprisoned . James was martyred; Peterwas saved only as the result of anothermiracle - being led forth from prisonby an angel (Acts 12 :1-10).

Paul healed a cripple who had neverwalked in his life. The people who sawthis amazing healing wanted to worship Paul as a god. But the same

people , only afew

days later, were incited to stone him - and left him fordead (Acts 14 :8-20) .

These were the results of miraclesknown and seen by all. Through theearl y period of the Church, physicalsigns and wonders were very closelyallied with imprisonment, physical violence and beatings because the established religions of the day took greatoffense at the threat which they imagined the performers of the miracles

posed to their positions .What the Future Holds

for Us

History says persecution and miracles walked side by side in the earlyChurch.

Question: Would you like a tremendous miracle or miracles to occur thatwould cause the Church today to bepersecuted to such a degree that God'sWork would be hindered before God's

time to suspend it ? Or would yourather the Church continue to do itsjob unhindered for a few more yearswithout a great display of miracles'Jesus Christ knows which He prefers.

The time will come when great miracles will again be performed by God'sChurch . Joel prophesied that great miracles will take place once again in theend time (Joel 2 :28-31). But prophec yalso shows God's Church will be persecuted in the future, some even being

martyred (Luke 21:8-17) .Revelation 11 describes two men

who will work awesome miracles thatwill attract worldwide attention . Butthey will also be persecuted and finallybe killed.

Great miracles cause great problems.The miracles Christ performed out ofcompassion caused such widespread excitement that large crowds continuallysurrounded Him. He had to get awayfrom them to complete His job. Some-

April-June 1973

times they even tried to kill him .What would happen toda y if God's

Church began to perform great publicmiracles ? The same things that happenedat the time o Christ and the apostles. Thisis one reason why God is now - withholding this type of miracle from theChurch.

There are also other reasons - allfor our own good.

Miracles Given to Convincethe Unconverted

In the Old Testament God gavemiracles by the hand of Moses to convince the people of Israel that the Almighty God was the One backing himup (Ex. 4:28-31). As for Pharaoh, hehad seen great miracles done by hisown sorcerers and magicians . He

needed to see the greater authority ofGod Almighty God caused the miraculous healing

of the cripple by Peter and John toconvince the religious leaders of thatday where He had put His authority.He wanted the world to know thatauthority was now with the apostles.Whenever God decides it is time toconvince this world where His Churchis today, the power to do it will bethere .

So , like tongues (foreign languages),great miracles "are for a sign , not tothem that believe, but to [profit J themthat believe not (I Cor. 14:22) .

Brethren, do we have to have miracles to convince us where God's Spiritand His Church are ? Of course not. Godhas given us through His Holy Spiritthe absolute knowledge that His law- all of it - is the way to eternal lifeand that this is His Church That initself is a MIRACLE The world can't

believe it. We do .

W h y W e Must Be Tested

What we need today is more of thelove of God, compassion, patience andall the other fruits of the Spirit whichexpress the very character of God Almighty.

Would you rather have miracles performed to relieve you of all severe afflictions or tests, rather than developthe CHARACTER you need for eternal


13/36

April-June 1973

life? No, when you really think aboutit you wouldn't.

As James wrote, Count it all joy,my brethren, when you meet varioustrials, for you know that the testing o}our faith produces steadfastness . And letsteadfastness have its full effect, thatyou may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing Games 1 :2-4, RSV) .

We need to experience and sometimes suffer tests , trials and afflictions ,because we need to develop characterWe need to develop endurance, steadfastness and patience under great stress.In the future, this Church is going toface times which will try our faith se-verely. Without the preparation now,we could fail

"More than that, we rejoice in oursufferings, knowing that suffering pro

duces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produceshope, and hope does not disappoint us ,because God's love has been pouredinto our hearts through the Holy Spiritwhich has been given to us" (Rom.5:3-5, RSV).

Abraham is called the father of thefaithful (Rom. 4:11). He believed Godand it was counted to him as righteousness. But the confirmation of God'spromise that he should have a son was

withheld for many, many years - untilhe was past the age when it washumanly possible to have a son. Why?Because early fulfillment of Go d 'spromise to Abraham w(;>uld never haveproduced the great character and pa-tience that stamped him as a faithfulman.

Christ also learned lessons of obedience through what He suffered (Heb.5:8). He learned what it meant to beobedient under severe trials and afflic-

tions. So must we.

How Will the Church Know Whent Is Time to Perform Great

Miracles?

Peter was merely going up to theTemple, when a longtime ,cripple - aman of forty - asked for alms (Acts3:1-11). Peter looked at him and commanded him - to rise. Just lik e that

How did Peter know God wouldback him up then and there, and heal

GOOD NEWS

this man who had never walked in hislife) Would Peter ever have felt andlooked foolish if the man had just continued to sit there with useless legs anda puzzled frown on his face

Once again Moses' example gives usthe answer. How did Moses know Godwould open up the Red Sea?

It 's simple . God had just told himHe would do it (Ex . 14:15-16.)

Actually, God always told Moseswhen He was going to perform a miracle. Reread the first few chapters ofExodus. God actually dealt with Moses

man to man and told him verballywhat to do in such cases. -

But how would God tell a persontoday, whom He was about to use toperform a miracle ) How could He doit?

God can inspire anyone with HisSpirit at any time to suit His purposeand reveal .His will. He filled Saul,before he became king of Israel, withthe power of His Holy Spirit andcaused him to prophesy (I Sam . 10:9-10). It was not a matter of whether ornot Saul was close to God - he wasnot a converted man .

If you have any doubts about Godinspiring whomever He wishes , youshould read Numbers 22:21-31. Godactually caused a dumb donkey to holda short conversation with a man Andthen a short time later He caused Ba-laam, in blessing Israel, to say just theopposite of what Balaam wanted to say(Num. 24, 25). That should pretty welldispel any doubts anyone may haveabout God's power to inspire anyone,at any time , to say anything He re-quires. (You might also compare theexample of God inspiring the JewishHigh Priest in A.D . 31 to say thatChrist should die for the nation -John 11:49-52 .)

Did you ever notice the words withwhich many Bible prophecies begin?Let us look at some examples. Ezekiel11:5 : The Spirit of the Lord fell uponme , and said unto me, Speak; thus saysthe Lord . . . ."

And Jeremiah 2:1-2 : "Moreover theword of the Lord came to me, saying,Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem,saying, Thus saith the Lord . "

As Peter wrote, " . . . Holy men of

11

God spoke as they were moved by theHoly Spirit" (II Peter 1 :21).

O f course, this is not to say that aman of God does not have any controlover what he is doing with 'the powerGod is granting in performing a miracle or series of miracles through him.God does not work through zombielike automatons who perform His will

like a pre-programmed computer.The principle in I Corinthians 14:32

shows that men of God ~ exercisecontrol over the operation of the Spiritof God within them - for the spiritsof the prophets are subiect to the prophets ."

And so it is certainly f


14/36

PARENTS-wh t today s youth w nts from you

Most p rents know whatthey want for their children.Parental advice and in-fluence is tuned to directthe young toward what thep rents honestly believe isbest for them But the

kids don't always agreeWhy are parental valuessometimes reiected andspurned by the youth of ourchurch? A teacher at Impe-rial igh School in Pasa-dena gives the nswers inthis most needful article.

by Scott Royer

SOMETIMES we don't give our young

people enough credit or consideration for their own views, in

telligence and visionMost youngsters in God's Church

know what the y want out of life. Andthey have their own ideas and plans onhow to obtain their goals.

But their parents also have theirown ideas about their children 's lifeand future . Sometimes, where two-waycommunication and the right amountof consideration are lacking, differencesof ideas develop. And so youth concludes that No one listens No oneunderstands No one cares " Consequently, they no longer desire whattheir parents have to offer, and theyreject much of what their parents say.Then the parents also become upsetand frustrated .

Thankfully, this is not the case in allfamilies in the Church of God . Manyparents and children do share the same

ideas . In many families there is peaceand harmony, and there is appreciationon both sides.

The youth in these families say theirparents listen , that they do understand,and care. They are not worried aboutgrasping desperately for more "freedom," because they don't feel bound

and fettered by their parents . They havea sense of securit y. These kids listenand obey. Their parents are happy andpleased with them.

What causes wide differences ofopinion in families of God 's Church?Why do some young people listen andobe y while others go their own way?What kind of parents do young peopleappreciate? And what kind of help willthey accept?

A number of teen-agers in this

church were asked a set of similar questions . This article gives their answers .One of the questions asked was :

What is the best thing your parentsdo for you ?" They said:

y Parents

" don't let me do just anything Iwant to and don't give me just any-thing I want - they advise me whenand where it is needed ."

" . . . put up with me [emphasis his ].

They teach me the right wa y of life andcorrect me when I don't live right .They don't leave me on my own andlet me get into trouble ."

" . . . make me understand when Ihave done something wrong ."

" . . . disciplihe and advise and instruct me in a very loving wa y "

I think the best thing my parentsdo for us is teach us and try to bring usup the right wa y. They try to keep usfrom making mistakes like they did,

and they give us things they never hadwhen they were younger."

The above answers were givenanonymously t o assure complete honesty . Other answers the teen-agers gavethat most parents would call "less de-sirable " were : Nothing besides givingme room and board." "Buy my clothesat Roebucks ." "Keep me alive ." "Letme do things on my own."

I Want . . "Two other questions on this ques

tionnaire were , What do you wantmore than anything?" and What doyou want most out of life?" Almostevery answer to these questions included some form of the word "happiness." A very few exceptions wereanswers like " a car" or a driver's li-cense ."

When given the multiple-choicequestion, How important are materialgoods and wealth to you ?" ten percentchose "Necessary for an enjoyable life ."Eighty-three percent chose "Enjo yable ,but don't determine how enjoyable lifeis ." The choice of seven percent was ,

Don't have much to do at all withhow much one enjoys life. "

ll the kids wanted to e happy Theyall want to enjo y life

And most of them are smart enoughto realize that material goods alone willnot give them the happiness they want .

But even the " hippies" saw that .

Lesson of the Hippies

The hippie cult rejected the establishment.

"Look at you" - sneered the hippies a few years ago - " needing acouple of stiff drinks before you have


15/36

April-June 1973

the guts to talk to another humanbeing . Look at you, fouling up theland, polluting the water and air forprofit and calling this nowhere scene 'TheGreat Societ y' Look at you.

And do you think you're going totell us how to live? You've got to bekidding "

They saw the "rat race " for materialwealth, the double standard, the cheating, the lying , and the killing. Theysaw a sick , unhappy world. No member of the unhappy establishment -neither parents nor minister nor teachernor boss - was go ing to tell themhow to find happiness So the y heldtheir "love -ins."

Did the y find true love - or truehappiness? If so where are the hippiestoday)

Most of them now have jobs . Nowthey endure the " evils " of the establishment because they found they

GOOD NEWS

couldn't get along without physicalnecessities, and because their own wayof life didn t bring them happiness either.All it got them was wretchedness,disease and wrecked bodies and lives.

The hippie experiment failed It'stoo bad they didn't know and understand in advance the results one personobtained who tried a similar experiment ages ago.

But before we look into his experiments and solutions, there is a questionchurch parents need to ask themselves :Do our children have a "hippie attitude " toward the family establishmentof God's Church?

Church Hippies?

Do any of our children have theattitude, " Are yo u going to try to tell

F MILY OUTING A campingtrip s one of dozens o f ways tohelp promote the family \\together-ness our youth desire_

H. rmstrong Roberts hoto

/

13

me how to live when your life is anunhappy mess) You've got to be kidding'

It will be hard to admit i f it's true inyour case. But many children do rejectthe advice of their parents because theydon t see the fruits o true happiness intheir parents lives.

What all too many do see is theirparents arguing every day - at leastuntil the minister comes to visit or it'stime for Sabbath services. Then theysee hypocrisy and the double standard.They see that all dad ever seems tohave time for is making more mone yto pay for m ore material things . Andmom is always on the go , never doingmuch of anything that reall y seemsworthwhile. Each parent selfishly "doeshis own thing. "

Do any of yo u parents wonder why

your children ne ver come to you foradvice) And when you give it to them

(Continued on page 31)


16/36

Few people in the worldreally enjoy their jobs. t ison o the tragedies o ourtimes. Yet did you realize

yourTTITUDE

toward youroccupation has a lot to dowith your reward in God sKingdom s well s thespiri tual character you

build today?

by Ronald ohr

y do you go to work? Justto feed the family? Wouldyou perhaps not work at all

if you had the means to sustain yourself indefini tely?

Do you work because you want toenjoy the "finer things of life")

Do you work only to please people- the boss, the wife, or friends)

Are you eage r to be the first one outof the plant or office so yo u can dosomething you really enjoy)

Do you s a church member think:"There is nothing 'sp iritual' about my

job; I am just putting n time untilChrist returns"?

Work s Important

Let's notice Revelation 22:12: And,

behold, I come quickly; and my rewardis with me, to give every man accordingas his work shall be }}

You probably have supposed thisscripture refers solely to your "spiritualwqrks" and has nothing to do withyour particular job - whether laborer,office worker, housewife, student orwhatever. But th e Greek word for

work in this verse is ergon meaningtoil (as n effort or occupation), doing ,

labor, work." This is the same Greekword used in Titus 3:14, And let oursalso learn to maintain good works [perform honest trades - margin] for necessary uses, tha t they be notunfruitful."

Having the right at t itude towardone's job is important because whetherone is a working man, housewife or astudent, each is being judged by his orher works and performance in theseday-to-day tasks.

Yet, some member s seem to think,If only I had a 'spiritual' job like the

mInIsters, then I could really put myheart into it. " What they don't realizeis that s far s their reward in God'sKingdom is concerned, their job is justs "spiritual" s a minister's . And the

minister's job is often just s physicallytiring and enervating s theirs may be.

Satanic Influence

God is a practical God . He had apurpose in mind when He said , "Sixdays shalt thou labor and do ll thywork (Ex. 20:9).

But Satan, the god of this world , haspermeated the occupational area of lifewith falsehood just s he has mightilyinfluenced the religious and educational systems of society . Modern laboris constantly pushing for less work andmore pay, greater "fringe benefits," etc.The same archrebel who spawned theheaven myth and set a false goal of alife of eternal leisure - floating ethereally on clouds , plucking a harp, withno work, no challenge , no fulfillment- wants to influence God 's people swell

The same spirit that has permeatedthis society can affect us and our atti-tude toward our jobs i we're not careful


17/36

April-June 1973

The Fulfillment Value of Work

There was a time when people livedto work instead of working to live.What we see in the world today (andto an extent even in God's Church) didnot occur overnight. But a Satanguided evolutionary process has occurred which has resulted in boredworkers, and has made employee unrestand disinterest the major problem fac-ing employers in the United States andthe Western world today.

"Relief from the strains of modernlife lies not in shorter working hoursand more leisure time but in taking onstress with enjoyment," says Dr. HansSelye , Director of the University ofMontreal's Institute of Med-icine andExperimental Surgery . He was expertconsultant to the Surgeon General ofthe U S Army during 1947-57 and haswritten a book entitled The Stress oLife

Man is made to work, to do something . that makes demands on him,"says Dr. Selye. With the decline of somany other values such as religion , andnothing new to replace them , work isone of the few areas where man canfind a sense of worth and enjoyment."(Of course Dr. Selye doesn't see thattrue religion and one's work go hand

in-hand, and really have .tne samegoal.)

Dr. Selye added that too often workis a source of frustration. and insecurity ,just somethin g else to put up with , liketraffic congestion, pollution and violence .

In an article entitled "Liking JobEases Strain" (AP), he pointed out thatthe root ,of this frustration is the depersonalization of the individual and theloss of pride in individual accomplish

ment."Sure, we're technologically more ef-

ficient, but in the process we have lostpersonal contact," he wrote. What'sthe good of the end product - effi-ciency - if everyone's unhappy?

"Formerly a craftsman would make atable from beginning to end and get agreat deal of satisfaction. Today, oneperson makes the legs, another the topand still another paints, so that no oneperson has made the article and no oneis gratified.

GOOD NEWS

Too many people blindly acceptstatus symbols such as .owning a carand put up with a job . they probablydon't really want to do to gain them.They may get the car but also years ofpent-up tension and no real feeling ofaccomplishment."

Dr. Selye advocates employment ofeach person in a profession to whichhis talents are best suited. "There's justas much satisfaction in being a bricklayer and building walls well as there isin being a scientist. Everybody, no matter how low he may be in the scale ofmental development, has somethingthat he wants to express . . . "

On the other hand , the stress developed in work you can't bring yourselfto enjoy can wreck your health andyour happiness. Also , since you probably will not give it your best, it is notlikely to solve your financial problems.But most importantly, .your spiritual lifewill be impeded.

With these points in mind , let's notice some purposes which should not bethe reasons you work

You Should Not WorkJust for Money

t is certainly not wrong to receivepay for your work t costs money inthis developed, commercialized world

to live, to support ourselves and thosewho depend upon us, and to supportthe Work of God.

t is not even wrong to be rich , ifGod has so blessed us because of ourown or our predecessors' diligent application of God's laws regulating financial success. After all, God does want tobless us . He inspired John to write toGaius, "Beloved, I wish above allthings that thou mayest prosper and bein health" (III John 2).

The Bible also tells us that A wiseman lays up for his children's children:and the wealth of the sinner is laid upfor the just" (Prov. 13:22).

But the point is that the accumulation of money should not be ourGOAL. The wages and material blessingsshould not be ends in themselves . Theyshould be considered as benefits whichcome along with first seeking theKingdom of God (Matt. 6 :24-33).

Many today wOl'ship money. A rep

resentative poll showedmost

people

15

felt their financial problems would besolved if they got a 30 percent raise.Ge t , acquire, grasp is a way of life fortoo many.

Another poll, conducted severalyears ago, showed $75 a week wouldsatisfy one man, while a banker considered a cool million a year not toomuch. It often depends on one's immediate financial status. A survey conducted by Printer s Ink magazinerevealed that 76 percent of the advertising industry's executives who madeover $25,000 a year were unhappy intheir jobs . More than 21 percent ofthose interviewed blamed their gloomon the belief they were UNDERPAID .Such is the greed of human nature

Notice the admonition in I Timothy 6 :5-10. God inspired Paul to warnof "Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth ,supposing that gain is godliness: fromsuch wi thdraw thyself. Bu t godlinesswith contentment is great gain. For webrought nothing into this world , andit is certain we can carry nothing out.And having food and raiment let us betherewith contens But they that willbe rich [that put money before God}fall into temptation and a snare , andinto many foolish and hurtful lusts ,which drown men in destruction and

perdition. For the love of money is a[not the} root oEall evil: which whilesome coveted after, they have erred fromthe faith, and pierced themselvesthrough with many sorrows ."

Again in verses 17-19, "Charge themthat are rich in this world, that they benot highminded, nor trust in [the} uncertain[ ty of] riches, but in the livingGod, who gives us richly all things toenjoy; that they do good, that they berich in good works, ready to distribute ,

willing to communicate [share}; layingup in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, thatthey may lay hold on eternal life."

So don't work only for money .SeekGod's Kingdom first (Matt . 6:33) and

if riches increase , set not your heartupon them (Ps. 62 :10) .

Don't Work Just"Because You Have To

What is the most enjoyable physicalactivity in your life? Is it a sport -


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16

golf, tennis or skiing? Eating a steak?Drinking a cold beer? If you thinkabout it , and are completely honestwith yourself, you will admit that yourhappiest moments were during work -real production, fulfillment, accomplishment, building.

This pride in accomplishment is not

wrong . Solomon advised that a manshould rejoice in his own works (Eccl .3:22). He was also inspired by God tosay, "Whatsoever thy hand finds to do,do it with thy might; for there is nowork, nor device, nor knowledge, norwisdom, in the grave, whither thougoest" (Eccl. 9: 10) .

Put your heart into your workLearn to enjoy it

Don't Just Put in

Your TimeSome of God's people, knowing

Christ's coming is near, have used thisas an excuse for their lack of initiativeand zeal on the job . Many have subconsciously thought, "There's no need forextra schooling or trying to better myself on the job since time is so short."

The identical problem was apparentin ancient Thessalonica. Some in thechurch there "closed up shop" whenthey supposed Christ's recurn was imminent .

Paul had to severely reprimandthem . "For even when we ' were withyou, this we commanded Ye u; that if anywould not work, neither Jho';,tld he eat. Some had actually quit tHeir jobs .

"For we hear that ther b are somewhich walk among you disorderly ,working not at all , but are busybodies.Now them that are such wI commandand exhort by our LorJ Jesus Christ,that with quietness they work, and eattheir own bread . But you, brethren , benot' weary in well doing (II Thess.3:1b-13) .

You must work at your job as ifthere were years and years to go . Thatway you will be productive, fruitfuland happy in your work , and preparedfor Christ 's return Jesus said, " Blessedis that servant, whom his Lord when hecomes shall find s doing (Matt.24:46) , and "occupy till I come" (Luke

19 :13).

GOOD NEWS

Don't Work Just to Get Ahead

In 1959 Nick was a fledgling, butambitious young businessman. He borrowed $500 to start his business andtoday is a multimillionaire. Success?Yes, if money and getting ahead arethe important values.

He gets up around 4:00 a .m . eachday, grabs a cup of coffee and doesoffice work preparatory for his busy dayahead . He is off to work by 6:00 a .m.for a full day of meetings and decisionsthat sometimes involve millions of dollars . He is usually home by midnightor shortly thereafter. There is little timefor his family or anything else. His jobis his life. In fact , his job is his god.'

Let's not go to this extreme either .The First Commandment requires us toput our Creator first and foremost

above everything else, including ourown lives (Ex . 20:3; Luke 14 :26) . If weare to please God by the way we work ,we dannot put Him second. It's a matter bf proper priorities.

~ u God first in your work - makeyour spiritual responsibilities and yourability relate to God in the work youare doing . Do a good job - your best- even if you are being taken advantage of by lazy or incompetent foremen . Serve as if Christ were your directemployer. You will not only be happierwith your work, but you will be qualifying for a greater reward in the Kingdom of God, and building greaterspiritual character at the same time.

Don't Work Just to Please Men

Some workers are known boot lickers" and think success comes from buttering up the right people . As amember and representative of the trueChurch of God, you are to be different .

"Servants [employees}, be obedient

to them that are your masters [employers} according to the flesh, with fearand trembling, in singleness of yourheart [with one motive - to be a goodemployee because God requires it}, asunto Christ; not with eyeservice [justworking hard when the boss is looking} , as menpleasers; but as the servantsof [that is, actually working for}Christ, doing the will of God from theheart" (Eph . 6:5-6).

This is actually the conclusion of the

whole matter : WORK FOR GOD Put

AprilJune 1973

Him first (Matt . 6:33 ; Psalms 37 :4).This and this aJone must be your

prime motive in how you work , as wellas the attitude you have while youwork . Any other prime motive iswrong .

"Servants [employees}, obey in allthings your masters according to the

flesh ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fear-ing Go d : And whatsoever you do , doit heartily, as to the Lord, and not untomen (Col. 3 :22-23) .

This is the starting place . Only byworking for God can you properly reapthe secondary benefits of work - fi-nancial blessings , enjoyment of yourwork, promotion to your highest levelof competence and fulfillment , properrelations with those you work with .

But most important of all, doingyour work as if every individual actionwere directly a service to God is onemajor way you will be building thespiritual character you must have toenter the Kingdom of God, and receivea greater reward .

Are You Working for God?

How about it? How does your overall attitude and approach to your jobstack up in the light of what God saysabout working? How are you doing onyour job?

Your attitude toward your job is akey factor which affects and directlyrelates to other aspects of your jobperformance. Following is a list ofthose areas you can check yourself on:

Knowledge of your jobQuality of workQuantity of workReliabilityResourcefulnessJudgment

Drive and leadershipListening to suggestionsAttendance and punctualityPersonal characteristics

(cleanliness, dress, manners , etc.)If you detect any lack in yourself in

these areas , meditate on the problemsand possible solutions. Then writedown your objectives for job improvement . If you do this and couple it withthe right attitude toward your work,you will soon be on the road to greater

spiritual and physical blessings 0


19/36

We Must arry

A MESSAGETOGARCIAn teg rity loyalty resourc ef ulness and self- sacr ifice for a

w orth y cause a re exceedingly rare in ou r age . Th e re is ane ed to d ay for men and w om e n with th ese qua liti e s

peo ple w ho can carr y a message to Garcia.

IT WAS 1898 - just weeks before the

Spanish-American War. The WarDepartment wanted to get in

touch with General Calixto Garcia yIniguez, leader of the Cuban insurgents.

Colonel Arthur Wagner summoneda first lieutenant in the Ninth Infantryand a West Point graduate, AndrewSummers Rowan. His instructionswere oral.

Rowan's assignment: find Garcia ,learn the strength of the insurrectionistforces , what supplies they needed, Garcia's plan of campaign , the morale ofhis followers, and whether he wouldcooperate with an American army .

Hazardous Mission

Rowan sailed to Kingston , Jamaica,establishing secret contacts with exiledCuban patriots. From there he took afishing boat to Cuba. A Spanish patrolboat stopped and inspected their vessel,but Rowan , carefully hidden , escapeddetection.

At a remote point on Oriente BayCuban guides were waiting and re-ceived Rowan. Then for six days theytrekked through the steaming jungle,plagued by intense heat , barbarous insects, putrid water and numerous Spanish patrols. Despite the extraordinaryhardship , Rowan finall y met GeneralGarcia , learned of his desperate needfor artillery , ammunition and rifles andhis desire for American help .

After barely six hours of rest, Rowan

and a few companions plunged again

by W illiam F anke nb ring

into the thickly overgrown jungle toreach the north coast . They traveledonly at night to escape detection byswarming Spanish patrols . They sailedfrom the coast in a tiny three-man boatwith gunnysack sails, barely eluded sev-eral Spanish patrol boats, and suffered asevere storm before finally landing atNassau in the Bahamas.

Rowan's perilous journey waswidely reported in the American press .He was promoted to captain for hisvalor and courage in executing his dangerous mission . Twenty -four years laterthe United States remembered his va-lorous mission and awarded him theDistinguished Service Cross .

A Message to Garcia

In the meantime , Rowan's escapadesso stirred philosopher Elbert Hubbardin 1899 that he wrote an article entitled

A Message to Garcia," congratulatingRowan for his heroism , gallantry, enterprise, resourcefulness and loyalty. twas soon being translated into other

languages. During the war betweenRussia and Japan, every Russian soldierwas given a copy to read . Findingcopies on the bodies of dead Russiansoldiers, the Japanese had it translatedinto their language . Within the spaceof sixteen years over forty millioncopies of A Message to Garcia" wereprinted . t has been translated intoevery major language

Why did Hubbard's article havesuch an impact? There are many rea-

sons: for one, Rowan's exploits caught

the popular fancy because it was theaccount of an uncommon man whoaccepted his difficult assignment andfulfilled it successfully in spite of extreme odds and seemingly insurmountable difficulty.

Rowan never asked , Who is Garcia?" Where is he?" How do I get tohim?" Why choose me?" Why can 'tsomeone else do it?" What's in it forme?"

Rowan simply took the job - andaccomplished his mission.

Elbert Hubbard, the "sage of East

Aurora ," concluded in his article : "Civilization is one long, anxious search forjust such individuals. Anything such aman asks shall be granted... . Theworld cries out for such: he is neededand needed badly - the man who can'Carry a Message to Garcia .'

The Urgent Need Now

Such people are very rare in theworld today The world needs men andwomen who are loyal, who act

promptly , who have a sense of responsibility and deep commitment, who aremotivated resourceful, persevering andDILIGENT .

In our modern self -seeking, lackadaisical society - where slipshod service,dishonesty in business , and competitiveclawing and scratching to "get ahead"are rampant signs of decay - suchqualities as Rowan displayed are be-coming increasingly hard to find.

Rowan was willing to risk his life to

accomplish a perilous mission, with o


20/36

18

thought of glory, reward or recognition.He sweated through steaming jungles ,hacked his way through vine-coveredpaths, and kept on going past countlessdangers to life and limb .

What about you) Are you strivingto become such a person ? Are youreally going "all out" in service toGod ?

How to Be a Success

Rowan followed several of the lawsof success which Mr. Herbert Armstrong has since described. He had aGO L - he knew what his missionwas. I t was vivid before him . He neverlost sight of it, or allowed it to becomemuddled or nebulous.

When it comes to keeping your eyeson the goal of Go d 's Kingdom andcompleting God's Work, how easily

are you distracted.,. perhaps by brightlights , glittering temptations - or discouraged perhaps by an insult, a casualremark, an apparent injustice or inequity ?

Rowan was educated - trained as amilitary officer. He knew how to ac-complish his task. He was an excellentsoldier and knew his job. And, ofcourse, he was in tip-top health.

Andrew Rowan also had the ingredient called DRIVE He was zealous incarr ying out his assignment. He toiledand labored to accomplish his objective, without wondering if he wouldever be honored or recognized - simply because he loved his country, hisnative land.

He allowed no obstacle or series ofproblems to stand in his way. Absolutely nothing was allowed to preventhim from accomplishing his mission.Are you willing to labor as Rowan did,and drive yourself, to accomplish theWork of Go d ?

Rowan Had Resourcefulness

He figured out ways to overcome allobstacles in order to complete his mission . He wasn't daunted by impenetrable jungle growth, i n c c e s s i b l ~

mountains, poisonous snakes, miserablemosquitoes, polluted water, or Spanishpatrol boats. He disappeared into thejungle and came out three weeks lateron the other side of the island, havingsuccessfully traversed a hostile land on

foot to fulfill his assignment.

GOOD NEWS

In living your spiritual life , andovercoming sin , do you use resourcefulness to find a way to succeed ?

Far too many people, when problems surround them, stop "dead intheir tracks" - paralyzed into a state ofinactivity . When unexpected problemsarise , many people "cave in" and say, "I

didn't bargain for this " They exclaimin bitterness, "You didn't tell meabout this specific problem . I've had it- I quit " What are .your reactionswhen such problems arise )

Rowan also had tenacity of purpose- the sixth law of success . He PER-SEVERED until the mission was accomplished and his task fully carried out.He had character. He knew that "whenthe going gets tough, the tough getgoing." He never quit, regardless of the

threat to his life. With aching musclesand numb senses , he pulled himselfthrough to final success by sheer determination and grit .

How much tenacity of purpose -determination to succeed - perseverance in the face of inestimableodds - do you exhibit When thespiritual fighting gets rough - whenthe world batters and smashes you -when things seem to blow up in yourface , even though you've done your

best - is that when you call it quits ,give up, throw in the towel and cry,"I 'm finished - it's no use - I quit")

Rowan, of course, did not fully understand the seventh law of success -divine guidance and contact with God.But as a member of God's Church ,with His Spirit within you, you haveGod's promise of additional helpthrough every trial, every obstacle. Areyou maintaining that spiritual cqntactdaily , replenishing God's Spirit

through earnest prayer and regularBible study )

Spiri tual Warriors

"Sunshine patriots " and "fairweather sailors" are a dime a dozen.Many are willing to be Christians whentimes are good, when being a Christianis easy . But God expects more fromHis people . He has called us to bestrong soldiers - spiritual warriors -mighty men and women of spiritual

valor.

April-June 1973

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:"Thou therefore ENDURE HARDNESS asa good soldier of Jesus Christ" (II Tim.2:3) . He added: "No man that w r rentangleth himself with the affairs ofthis life ; that he may please him whohath chosen him to be a soldier" (verse4 .

Good News 1973 (Prelim No 02) Apr-Jun

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