VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS CHURCH OF GOD
DECEMBER 9,2006
Greetings Brethren,
I hope this letter finds those who are patiently awaiting the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to be in good Spiritual health. We may find our physical bodies lacking in perfect health as we approach the return and appearing of our Lord, but let us not be lacking Spiritually in any way.
This age that we are presently living in is nearing its completion and soon the saints will be meeting Jesus in the clouds, and standing on the Sea of Glass with Him. Rev15:2. If there was ever a time to “prepare ye the way of the lord, and to make straight in the desert a highway for our God”, It is now. When John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, Jerusalem and all the region round about Jordan, went out to him. Mat 3:16. John was saying: Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. At that time Our Lord and Savior was arriving on this earth in the flesh.
How much more do we, the members of the church of God today, need to be repentant, prepared, and ready now, to meet our Lord and Savior Jesus in the air as He returns back to this earth again, And this time in all of His Glory? We are living in a time of great complacency brethren, a time when many in the church of God are neither “cold” nor “hot” but only lukewarm and in danger of being spued out of the mouth of Jesus Himself. Rev 3:16.
Let us fully understand what “Prepare ye the way of the lord, and make straight in the desert a highway for our God” means, so we will not be lacking in any way on “THAT DAY” of His return which is rapidly approaching, when we will be meeting Him in the air, face to face. In Matthew 3 and in Isaiah 40 the word “wilderness” is used for the location where this warning, this crying, this voice, is being proclaimed.
Well this “wilderness” spoken of here brethren is the exact location where both you and I are residing today. It’s the very world in which we are living, and it’s to the inhabitants of this world, and all the more to us, (the called of God), that the Spirit of Elijah is crying out to. This world is abounding with confusion, filled with sin, and overflowing with different beliefs and ideas and heresies. It’s a world where its sins are reaching all the way up unto heaven. Rev 18:55.
And it’s a world that both you and I, need to come out of and separate ourselves from. Rev:18:4 Now even in the Church of God there is much confusion and this ought not be. There are many men who are still trying to get brethren to be in their particular group. Let us not forget that the Church of God is a Spiritual organization. Membership depends TOTALLY on our walk, on our behavior, and NOT on which physical group we fellowship with. It has NOTHING to do with which man stands before us as our minister or pastor. Standing in the presence of a man, no matter how pious he may claim to be or appear to be, doesn’t sanctify us in any way. IT HAS TO DO WITH WHETHER THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS DWELLING WITHIN US OR NOT. If, the Spirit of God is dwelling in you then you are part of the church of God.
If, the Spirit of God IS NOT dwelling in you, then you are NOT part of the Church of God. If, the Holy Spirit is dwelling in me then I am part of the Church of God, if, the Holy Spirit IS NOT dwelling in me then I am NOT part of the Church of God. We need to be spiritually minded brethren. There should be no competition here concerning with physical group is the right group. This is not a physical matter.
We are not to be children of men, we are to be children of God and only those led by His Spirit are His children: Rom:8:14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. We are told in Rom:8:9: That what determines whether we are in the correct group depends on whether or not God’s
Spirit is within us, not which physical group we are in “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man “have not” the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. We need to have the “Spirit of Christ”.
It takes the spirit of God dwelling within us, not the association or approval of men, to qualify us as part of the Church of God. And that Spirit is given to us as a gift according to our walk, not our talk. When Herbert W. Armstrong became involved in the church of God, it was because our Creator raised him up to do a work. At that time the church of God had lost most of its Truth.
It was time to get the church of God back on track. It was time to restore the many truths that had been lost over the course of time. Now God used Herbert Armstrong to do a big work, and considering the condition the church was in at the time that Herbert was called into the picture, a great restoration was accomplished by God thru him. Back then they were operating under the name Radio Church of God and then the World Wide Church of God.
Now let us understand that it was NOT Herbert W. Armstrong who restored those lost Truths, It was God who worked it out at the time with His Spirit thru that man Armstrong. But remember what that man Armstrong was inspired to tell his listeners over and over: “DON’T BELIEVE ME, BELIEVE YOUR BIBLE”. Herbert knew that he didn’t have all the Truth, fact is he didn’t have any truth at first, he was trying to prove with his Bible that Sunday was the correct day to worship but learned that it was Saturday by searching the Scriptures. Now God used him to restore the church back from its state of near death. Rev. 3:2 says that the few things which remained in Sardis, were about or ready to die.
That era ended and another began, but what I’m trying to bring out here is that Herbert himself didn’t do the restoring, it was the Spirit of God, The Spirit of Elijah, and note this brethren, the total restoration of all things did not end with Herbert, It’s not over yet. Remember NO MAN can lead us into all Truth. It is the Spirit of God that will lead us into all Truth. Jesus did not tell His disciples on that last night before His crucifixion that some man would come with all truth, He said that “The Spirit of Truth” will guide us into all Truth John 16:13.
And please note the end of this verse because it has much to do with what I am trying to say here, “And the Spirit of Truth will show you things to come”. The restoration of all things has not yet been completed brethren, remember it is The hands of Zerubbabel that laid the foundation of this house (Church of God); And his hands (Zerubbabels) that shall also finish it Zech:4:9. And “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” Zech 4:6.
Now if I am going to fast or if you are having trouble understanding what I am trying to say here, don’t be worried in any way. Because all this is being worked out by our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus. We will not miss out on anything that They are doing as long as we do our part, and our part is NOT a gray area in any way. And if you please, allow me to mimic Herbert W. Armstrong: “Don’t believe me believe your Bible”
Our part in the matter is quite clear brethren, as we approach the return of Jesus Christ. We are told to “Make straight” in the desert a highway for our God. Those words “Make Straight” mean, to be level, to be straight, To Be Upright. Yes, Upright, or Right with God. And brethren, make no mistake about it, the only way that anyone can be right with God or upright, is by being obedient to Him, not to any man. And obedience to Him can only be accomplished by keeping His commandments, and
living by every word that proceedeth out of His mouth.
Do not let men confuse you or discourage you. If a man is a True minister of God he will NOT lord over you, and he will NOT make you uncomfortable. He will be concerned with your Spiritual well being. He will be walking this earth in the same manner as our Lord walked this earth 2,000 years ago, uprightly. Let us remember why God gave us apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. Eph 4:13.
God places men in these positions to unite us, not pride us. The true men that God gives us are there to unite us in mind and spirit, NOT pide us into different physical groups. We in the church of God need to stop thinking physically but spiritually. We need to become saints. And one is NOT a saint at baptism and hands, one has to become a saint. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 to be followers of God as dear children and to walk in love. Paul goes on to mention what should NOT be named among those who “BECOMETH SAINTS” Eph:5:3. That word “becometh” means to TOWER UP.
One has to change his old ways to be a saint. This can easily be seen just by looking at the definition of this word “saint” The Greek means pure, blameless, unspotted. Does this describe us
brethren? If not, then we better seriously consider our ways because Jesus is soon going to be “presenting to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Eph:5:27.
Brethren, if we are spotted, if we are wrinkled or if we are blemished, we will not be there standing on that sea of glass with Him at His return. We also need to realize that no man can directly clean us up or scrub us down. Only God Himself can sanctify and make something pure and Holy. We need to be looking to Him to accomplish that in us, not to any man. We are told in Rev.15:2 who will be there STANDING ON THAT SEA OF GLASS with our Lord and Savior. “Them that had gotten the victory” are the ones that will be standing there. Those six words come from only one Greek word “NIKAO” – CONQUEROR, OVERCOMER.
Is it possible brethren? Is it possible for a flesh and blood human being to get the victory, to be a conqueror, to overcome? I know a man who did just that, He is the same man that both you and I are to be following. (Rev. 3:21)
Brethren, We need to stop concerning ourselves with which group we consider ourselves belonging to, we need to be focused on our walk. We need to be connected directly to our God. We need to be producing fruit, much fruit, according to what we are told in John 15. And the only way a branch can produce fruit is if it is connected directly to the Vine. We need to fulfill our calling and become those saints.
We need to encourage all of our brethren to do the same and stop this nonsense of looking for the right physical group to be in, or the right physical man to follow. The right group is a Spiritual group, if we want to be in it, we have to be spiritual. Physical groups and physical men will not inherit the Kingdom of
God, one has to be spiritual for that, 1 st Cor.15:50. We have to be overcomers to fulfill our calling because we have been called to be Kings and Priests, and to sit with our Lord and Savior in His Throne.
Those positions will only be granted to them that overcome. Rv:3:21 tells us “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”. Brethren we will not be there if we do not overcome. And if we do not overcome there is only one who will be to blame, ourselves.
We are the Church brethren. We are the called of God. We have been given the POWER that it takes to overcome, The Holy Spirit of God is at OUR disposal. But if we don’t take advantage of using it, we will not succeed. Now please let all rumors end here. We have not decided to start a new church. There is only ONE Church, and that Church was started 2,000 years ago by Jesus the Christ.
What we are trying to do is preach Truth, and the Truth brethren is that you and I and every other member of the Body of Christ, The Church, have better get our acts together and be READY NOW for the return of our Lord and Savior. This age cannot go on much longer, it cannot get much worse before those ten toes will be standing on their feet and the man of sin will be showing his ugly face. (Rev.17:12, 2nd Thes.2:3).
And remember, those who do not have a love for the Truth will be given “strong delusion” 2nd Thes 2:11. We do not want to be among those who are in darkness because of the love of this present world or the love of anything else besides the love for our
God. And that includes the love of following some physical man or some physical group. We need to follow God. We need to strive to become upright, strive to become those saints that will be standing on that Sea of Glass at Christ’s return. We do not want to be among those who He tells “I know you not.” Mt:25:12.
Now please understand, I am not saying that there are no ministers out there, but the scriptures do tells us, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” 1Jn:4:1. The Creator sets those in His church “where it pleases Him” “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” 1Cor:12:18. No man has the power to put anyone into any position in God’s church or to remove anyone from any position, without the approval of God. That’s God’s department. Our department brethren is to mimic our Creator, and follow Him.
We need to strive to work together with all of our brethren. And true brethren are not connected or pided by different incorporated church groups, or different race, or tribe, but by the Spirit of God. O yes, there are different administrations, but only one spirit, there are different gifts, but only one Lord, only one house of God, only one family of God. And Jesus made it very clear who our True brothers and sisters are.
He made it clear who is in our family both now and for eternity: “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” Mt:12:50. Let us recognize (and not neglect to recognize) our True brothers and sisters. Let us be in that family brethren by doing the will of our heavenly Father and let us all work together in unity. We need to come together like we are told in 1st Cor. 12.
We need to become like Him, and we need to worship Him. But make no mistake about it; He is NOT looking for us to worship Him by being in any physical group. He is looking for us to be in His Spiritual group and to be worshiping Him in SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. Let us stop walking in any confusion of wondering what we should be doing or who is greatest amongst us in authority. We need to let His Spirit lead us and we need to concern ourselves with being servants like our Master told us in Mt:20:27.
It is Satan himself, the master of lies and the author of confusion who is trying to bring this disorder and disunity to the church of God, to get our focus off of our priority of loving God and following His Truth, His Word. Let us utilize the STRONGER POWER that is within us to succeed at overcoming, and to succeed at becoming united instead of pided 1Jn:4:4, And let us not be lead astray brethren, with gossip. Bickering, back bighting and confusion.
We need to draw closer and closer to our God. The closer each and every one of us draws to Him, the closer we will be with each other, no matter which different administration of the churches of God we directly associate with, and no matter which Town, State, County or Continent we live in, we will be of the same mind and of the same spirit, only, if we let Him, Jesus the Christ be our leader. Let us listen to His Voice, which is becoming clearer and clearer to all His sheep.
Your brother in Christ
bill Goff