Invisible Idol/Visible Man #1

Fred R. Coulter—December, 1994

 - Video |  - PDF | Audio | [Up]

As you will see, this sermon will help answer a lot of questions as to what is happening to the Church of God today, and in particularly what is happening to the Worldwide Church of God and all those other churches that have split off from the Worldwide Church of God. There's definitely a lesson for us. There's definitely the hand of God now being exercised in Pasadena, California, and Tyler, Texas, in destroying the Worldwide Church of God. And there is a reason!

That reason is the invisible idol, the visible man! Let's understand that the invisible idol is something you setup in your mind. We know we're not to bow down to idols that are made, graven or carved to serve them; we realize that. But God wants us to understand that there is a more deadly idol: the invisible idol, which everyone has been bowing down to. So, God's hand of correction is upon the Church of God very heavy and very hard and very difficult. It's not going to leave anyone untouched! Everyone is going to have to understand what it is that's going on, know the reasons why it's going on, and then what each one of any of the brethren or ministers need to do in order to get their lives squared around from this kind of thing. It takes two to tango!

Ezekiel 14:1: "And some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts…'" (vs 1-3).

• What is the idol that was set up in their hearts?
• Set up in the hearts of the brethren?
• Set up in the hearts of the ministry?
• Which God is going to cut asunder and absolutely destroy?
  • It is an idol that cuts you off from God!
  • It is an idol that breeds sin and corruption!

That idol is the idol of church authority and hierarchy! We will see in the Bible how God clearly told ancient Israel that when they wanted a king they rejected God. The king became the visible man and the authority became the invisible idol!

"…these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces…." (v 3). This kind of hierarchy and tyrannical authority is strictly forbidden by Jesus Christ, and that it leads to all the things that are here in Ezek. 14.

"…Should I at all be inquired of by them?" (v 3). Someone has these idols in their mind. If someone says, 'The minister said so'; and some have even said, 'If the minister is 99% wrong and the members are 99% right, God is going to uphold the minister, because he is the 'man of God.'

• That is an idol!
• That is a lie!
• That is a stumbling block!
• That is sin!

Verse 4: "Therefore, speak to them, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD…'" These are the words of God, and we need to let them sink deep within our heart so that we understand what God is telling us, and how we can come out from under this tyrannical oppression.

"…Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him according to the multitude of his idols" (v 4).

That's exactly what God is doing to the Worldwide Church of God. They had a hierarchal authority, the ministers in charge were oppressors, and we will see exactly how that has happened. Everyone would bow down to this idol, so God says that if you come before Him and you've got these idols in your mind, then you have them in your heart' and it's going to cause you to sin and you're going to have a great deal of problem, and He's going to answer you directly. We're going to see that that is exactly what God is doing to the Worldwide Church of God; He's answering it directly.

We need to learn the lesson: When God had the temple in Jerusalem, that's where He placed His name. When there's sin, corruption, politics and oppression of the brethren, just like we're going to see the oppression of the citizens of Israel, God will destroy, and that's what He's doing! Just as He destroyed Jerusalem, He is destroying Pasadena, California, and Tyler, Texas, and will subsequently have many sharp words to say against anyone who dares to re-create the idol!

God says He's going to do this, v 5: "So that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart… [God is going to judge us according to our own ways] …because they have deserted Me for their idols—all of them."

What is this invisible idol/visible man say today? It's all right that you work on the Sabbath! You don't need to keep the Holy Days! Go have all the shrimp in the world that you want! As a matter of fact, you don't need the Bible; you don't even need baptism. He's taking them in their own craft and destroying them.

Verse 6: "Therefore, say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Repent…"'" That's what this sermon is, a call to repentance

• for all of those who have participated in this
• for all the ministers who have given themselves over to it
• for all of those who sit in the seat of authority and abuse it

He says: "…and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations" (v 6). Have there not been a lot of abominations done in the name of God, in the Church of God? Yes, indeed!

Verse 7: "For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger who lives in Israel, who separates himself from Me…" We're talking about a personal, individual relationship between the person and God. He's talking to every one of us in particularly.

"…and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to ask of him concerning Me; I the LORD will answer him Myself…. [let's see what God's warning is]: …And I will set My face against that man, and I will make him for a sign and for a proverb. And I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know that I am the LORD" (vs 7-8).

Let's think about this in relationship to the invisible idol, but we have the visible man who proclaims himself to be someone very important. Everyone bows down to his edicts. Instead of worshiping God, we end up worshiping a man. They say they don't, but they're only deceiving themselves, because they don't realize the effects of the invisible idol. They see the visible man!

God is going to answer everyone. He's going to answer the one who puts himself in that position. He's going to answer everyone else who loves it that way, and accepts that kind of thing, because God doesn't want it. He says, 'Every man separates himself. God is going to answer him to his face, and "…make him for a sign and for a proverb. And I will cut him off from the midst of My people…"

• What do think is happening to Pasadena? They are closing down everything!
• Is it not a sign and a proverb? Yes, it is!
• What is happening to all the ministers who held that authority and exercised that authority, used that authority?
• Used that visible idol over the people? They're going to have all their paychecks cut off!
• What is going to happen to Pasadena? It's going to be gone!
• What is going to happen to name Worldwide Church of God? It'll be a footnote in history!

They will change the name! Because of the invisible idol and the visible man who exercised the authority of the invisible idol!

Verse 9: "And the prophet, if he is deceived, and he speaks a word…" Have we not had deceitful doctrines come along now?

"…I the LORD have deceived that prophet…." (v 9). Why? Because they're not taking the counsel of God! They're not looking into the Word of God to understand the Truth! They're looking into the Word of God to break the commandments and laws of God! To turn the people back to sin! So, God has deceived them!

Have you heard some of the sermons coming out of these churches, where they still have the invisible idol and visible man? Deception! Lies! That includes Philadelphia Church of God, Global/Living Church of God, and any other Church of God that still retains the invisible idol and has the visible man. Understand that God is not going to let them go unpunished.

"'…And I will stretch out My hand upon him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeks unto him. So that the house of Israel… [the Church of God] …may never again go astray from Me, nor be defiled again with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people, and I may be their God,' says the Lord GOD." (vs 9-11).

That's not what God wants in the Church of God. It is structured on completely the wrong and fallacious structure. Let's see what God wants it to be. There have been some people who have slanderously said of me, and the Christian Biblical Church of God, that we don't believe in any organization, in any structure. Yes, we do! We want to do it the way God wants it. We have learned our lesson! We have been burned! We have gone through the valley of death so to speak. God does not want that kind of structure, and we're going to see exactly what that kind of structure it is, and exactly what that kind of structure does. But first we need to understand what is that God wants from us.

Exodus 19:4: "'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore, if you… [individuals] …will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel" (vs 4-6).

Then God gave the Law, and immediately after the giving of the Ten Commandments, the people began to insulate themselves from God. That's not what God wants us to do in the Church of God today. He does not want us to insulate ourselves from Him, He wants to come and dwell in us.

Exodus 20:18, after the giving of the Ten Commandments: "And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, 'You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die'" (vs 18-19). So, they gave themselves a little insulation from God.

I'm here to tell you that the wrong structure in church government, and the wrong authority by the ministry has put the ministry between the people and God, and has given the insulation. And it goes one step further. Let's see how God wanted everything to be.

Let me mention that you cannot go to Exo. 18 where Israel was organized in such a way that when they were marching and camped with the captains of 10s, 50s and 100s; God did not organize the nation that way. That was only for the time that they were in the wilderness, and that they were being guided by God directly. Everything was so close, encamped, so you had to have that kind of organization. That's not how to organize a church. God did not give that for the Church. God never even kept that with the children of Israel at all.

In Judges 2:6 we have a very interesting lesson for us. We're going to see that part of the punishment for wanting to insulate yourself from God, and wanting to have a different kind of government than what God wants you to have leads to sin.

God set it up with the elders running Israel. You had Joshua and then the elders. Let's see what happened here. You don't find captains of 1000s, captains of 10s and so forth. That is reserved for only army-type situations.

Judges 2:6: "And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel left, each man to his inheritance, to possess the land. And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua…" (vs 6-7). We're going to see that when you follow the visible man, and you still have this invisible idol in your mind, as long as the man is righteous then the people obey. But when the man is not righteous, the people disobey.

"…and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they buried him on the border of his inheritance… [v 10]: …And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel" (vs 7-10).

We're seeing that same thing happen in the Church today. We are seeing a great division between those who knew God's way when it was taught properly, but now have suffered from the oppression of the invisible idol/visible man. They are still trying to retain that which is right, but there's another generation that is coming up within the Churches of God that are going to do exactly what the children of Israel did here.

As soon as you realize how corrupt that it is, people throw up their hands and say, 'This can't be right,' and walk back into the world. Or the whole church—part of the punishment and deception that is coming—for its punishment is being dragged back into the world: doctrinally, spiritually, morally, and every other way. That's exactly what happened to the children of Israel.

Verse 11: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim." That's exactly what's happening with all these new doctrines coming down. It's nothing more than modern-day Baalism and Ashtorothism. It's going back to:

• Sunday-worship
• Christmas-worship
• Easter-worship

That is old ancient Baalism! That's exactly what it is! What happens when you do that?

Verse 12: "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed other gods, even the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger." God is angry with the Church of God today! His correction is coming; it's already at hand; it's well enforced and coming way down the road to where we are going to see the Worldwide Church of God completely destroyed for the sins of its invisible idol and the visible man!

Verse 13: "And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth." Just go through all the book of Judges, and it says again and again that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord—every generation—until you come clear to the end of the book of Judges, and this sounds like a solution. It is a solution, but it is the wrong solution!

Judges 21:25: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes." The solution is not the king. The solution is individual repentance and everyone returning back to God. The king actually cuts people off from God!

Let's see what happens and how things progressed and occurred. This is when the people came and said to Samuel, 'We don't want you, your sons are corrupt. We want a king.'

1-Samuel 8:4: "And all the elders of Israel gathered themselves and came to Samuel to Ramah. And they said to him, 'Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'" (vs 4-5). I want you to understand all the nations. Jesus has something to say about that in the New Testament in relationship to the Church, and in relationship to the Church leaders beginning with the apostles.

Verse 6: "But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, 'Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.'" (vs 6-7). Now they have the visible man, but they also have the invisible idol! They don't want God ruling over them!

And that's exactly what is happening in the Church of God today. There are people who want God to rule over them, but they have been so used to the invisible idol and the visible man that they are at a loss as to what to do. They don't know how to recover themselves out of this.

The truth is that the monarchy in Israel and Judah was a step removed from God. Whenever you have that same kind of authority within a Church of God, based upon a monarchy or a monarchial or hierarchical system, it is a step away from God. It leads to all kinds of sins and corruption, as we will see with the children of Israel and their kingship.

• If you want to do wrong, God will let you do wrong!
• If you want to have the wrong government, and you submit to it, God will let you do it!
• If you want to exercise the wrong kind of government, God will let you do it!

Your own sins will find you out and it's going to collapse under its own corruption! Is not the Worldwide Church of God collapsing in its own corruption, and now in its own doctrinal error, going back into the world? Yes, because they didn't seek to please God; they sought to please the world!

"'…they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works, which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even until this day—works with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they do also to you. And now hearken to their voice. Only, you shall surely protest solemnly to them, and show them the kind of king who shall reign over them.' And Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked a king of him. And he said, 'This will be the manner of the king who shall reign over you. He shall take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and his horsemen. And they shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint commanders over thousands, and commanders over fifties… [organize it in a militaristic way] …and some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and weapons for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants" (vs 7-14).

• Did that not happen in the Church of God?
• Did they not take the tithe and oppress the people?
•  tyrannize them?
•  steal from them?
•  build mansion?
•  build castles?

—and give them to the 'princes'—the high-ranking ministers within the Church; and paid them salaries of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Did they not live like kings?
• Did they not have great, huge palatial houses to live in?
• Did they not say that they deserved all of this?

Verse 15: "And he will take a tenth of your seed… [they had another tithe added onto them] …and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers and to his servants. And he will take your male slaves and your slave-girls, and your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep, and you shall be his servants. And you shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not answer you in that day" (vs 15-18).

There are a lot of people saying, 'We're praying to God that He's going to straighten this out in Pasadena.' God is not hearing! God is not answering! Neither will He! It is so evil and repugnant that God is going to destroy it. You cannot save it. There's a Biblical principle in the New Testament: You cannot put new wine into old wineskins! You can't put the Truth of God back into that corrupt and evil way.

Verse 19: "But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, 'No, but we will have a king over us. And we shall be, also we, like all the nations, so that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.' And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, 'Hearken to their voice, and make them a king.' And Samuel said to the men of Israel, 'Every man go to his city'" (vs 19-22).

When it came time to appoint the king, 1-Samuel 10:17: "And Samuel called the people together to the LORD to Mizpeh. And he said to the children of Israel, 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms of those who oppressed you'" (vs 10-18). Think about that in relationship to your life.

• God called you!
• God forgave your sins!
• God lifted you up out from it!

Then what happened? You went and put yourself under the authority of men who oppressed you!

Verse 19: "And you have this day rejected your God…" How can you take a system that has rejected God and use that as the authority within the Church? How can you take a monarchical and hierarchical system and say that you have God's structure when you don't even know the truth that the monarchical and hierarchical structure is rejecting God?

• That's why it was doomed to destruction!
• That is why that God is actually fighting against the Worldwide Church of God!
  • God is going to fight against Global Church of God[transcriber's note: Global was split and became Living Church of God]
  • God is going to fight against Philadelphia Church of God

And any other Church of God that bears the name of God that will not conform to the words of Jesus Christ and teach the Truth of the New Testament and the Truth of church government within the Church of God. God does not want this kind of thing.
Verse 19: "And you have this day rejected your God Who Himself saved you out of all your calamities and your tribulations. And you have said to Him, 'But set a king over us.'…." And a lot of you brethren gave up your will to the visible man, because you were willing to bow to the invisible idol of that authority. Many of the brethren checked their brains in at the door when they came to Sabbath services. 'Whatever the minister says…' That's what they were saying here.

"…And now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands" (v 19). Then Saul was setup as king. Was he a failure? Yes, Saul was a failure!

Verse 25: "Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his house." Let's see what Samuel wrote, which we find in Deut. 17, which was later edited in by Ezra when he canonized the Bible.

If they wanted that system, God still gave a checkpoint, Deuteronomy 17:14: "When you come to the land, which the LORD your God gives you, and shall possess it and shall live in it and shall say, "I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me.'" That's precisely what they asked for.

Verse 15: "You shall surely set a king over you, whom the LORD your God shall choose. You shall set a king over you from among your brethren. You may not set a stranger over you who is not your brother." But he gives some instructions to the king:

Verse 16: "Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, so as to multiply horses because the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.' Nor shall he multiply wives to himself, so that his heart does not turn away. Nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold to himself" (vs 16-17).

You need to ask: How come all of those in the hierarchy, the high-level ministers, were paid such heavy salaries? They accumulated to themselves silver and gold. God says that if you're going to have a monarchial system, you're not to do that, because you will get lifted up over your brethren.

Verse 18: "And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom…" We have one man who calls himself the 'presiding evangelist' today. Isn't that something? Over what? Is he a king? No! God does not like the monarchial/hierarchical system. We're going to see what God did with it.

"…he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book… [He personally hand-wrote the book of the Law] …from that which is in the custody of the priests the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them so that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren…" (vs 18-20).

God was even saying with the monarchial system, 'I still do not want the hierarchy of high-ranking people lording it over the children of Israel.' But when you have a king, he has absolute authority. When you have someone who has absolute authority, what do you have? Evil and corruption and every sin that comes along, because they're easily deceived and they're an easy target for Satan the devil!

"…and that he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel" (v 20). The exact opposite of that happened!

Let's look at the life of David for a real good instruction. Let's see how David started out. Very instructive for us because the Worldwide Church of God started out pretty much this way: humble, small beginning, not lifted up in arrogance and vanity, not calling themselves the one and the only, not calling its leader 'the great only apostle of God on the earth.' They started out very much like David: the least, the forgotten.

So, when Samuel was sent to find out who the next king would be after Saul had failed, God sent him to the house of Jesse, and here's what we have. He wanted to find the one whom God was going to appoint.

1-Samuel 16:6: "And it came to pass as they came in, he saw Eliab… [the eldest son of Jesse] …and said, 'Surely the LORD'S anointed is before the LORD.' But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his face, nor on his height because I have refused him, for the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart'" (vs 6-7). Samuel made all of Jesse's sons pass by twice, and God said, 'No, this is not the one.'

Samuel looked at Jesse and said, 'Do you have another son?' Oh, yeah! I've got this little son David out there tending the sheep! Samuel told him to bring him in. When Jesse brought David in:

Verse 12: "And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy with beautiful countenance and good form. And the LORD said, 'Arise, anoint him, for this is he.' And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah" (vs 12-13).

What happened when David was still small in his own eyes? Just exactly what it was with Saul! He was successful. Then God was with David:

• He destroyed all the enemies round about
• He set David in his kingdom
• He brought together all of the 12 tribes

So that we would have the full 12 tribes of the children of Israel, God gave David rest from all of his enemies round about. He had consolidated David's power and now he was king.

Now he was ready for corruption! Everyone who sits in a monarchial position and let's all of that authority go to his head and will not humbly yield to the Word of God and submit to the Word of God, and live by it, and he exalts himself over the brethren, he's going to corrupt himself. They can be corrupted:

• because of the sin of sex
• because of the lust of money
• because of the lust of power

When the king is sitting there—the minister sits there and makes himself the 'presiding evangelist,' or whatever he may be, and he takes to himself the absolute authority of God to himself—he's sitting in the seat of God. God does not want that! God will not have that invisible idol sitting in the seat of God in the form of a visible man!

We know what happened with David; he got all entangled with Bathsheba, committed adultery with her, killed Uriah the Hittite, her husband, and then thought he could get away with it, because he had this authority. He lied to himself! He lied to the people!

Have we not had that within the Church of God? Yes! We've had the very top leaders lie to us over and over and over again! What has happened? It got more corrupt and more corrupt! God had to finally say, 'This is enough!' Then a big vomit-session takes place; a big correction-session takes place. But they still did not learn; just like David.

We know that God sent Nathan the prophet, 2-Samuel 12:7: "And Nathan said to David, 'You are the man!'…."

We're going to read the judgment against David, but I also want you to think of this as judgment against the Worldwide Church of God.
"…Thus says the LORD God of Israel, "I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that was too little, I would have given to you such and such things besides'" (vs 7-8).

God would have given anything, but, v 9: "Why have you despised the Word of the LORD to do evil in His sight?….'" We're going to see that some of the most important Scriptures in the New Testament have been rejected, neglected and despised! God's judgment came upon the Church of God!

"…You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the children of Ammon" (v 9).

Yes, and God is doing that to the Church of God. You just take those words and apply them to the Church, where they took authority to themselves, they took the money, they took the license, they took the greed—all of this—and just built their own little empire!

Verse 10: "Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house…" There are some who have split away from Worldwide, and the sword is still in their house, because they haven't repented.

Verse 11: "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun, for you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun'" (vs 11-12).

Jesus Christ said, 'That which is spoken in secret will be shouted from the housetop!'

(go to the next track)

Well, you know what happened to David. He finally repented. God was still with him; He didn't reject him. Then he was given all the plans to build the temple. He was told that he couldn't build it, but Solomon, his son, would.

Solomon was visited by God twice, appeared to him in a dream; spoke to him. Solomon when asked said, 'I don't want wealth, just give me wisdom so that I can judge Your people.' What happened, after he built the temple and God gave him all wealth and riches and everything, he became so corrupt! He became one of the most wicked kings! Let's see what he did.

1-Kings 11:1: "And King Solomon loved many foreign women, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites; of the nations which the LORD had said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.' But Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. And his wives turned away his heart" (vs 1-3).

All the power and corruption in Worldwide Church of God turned away the heart of Herbert W. Armstrong, Garner Ted Armstrong and all the leading evangelists from serving God, one way or the other. They got all wrapped up in their own authority and own little thing, having politics and fighting back and forth. Then they did evil!

Let's see what happened with monarchy. What did Solomon do? Verse 5: "for Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites; and Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not go fully after the LORD like his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill, which is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise he did for all his foreign wives, and burned incense and sacrificed to their gods" (vs 5-8).

So, he literally filled Jerusalem with all kinds of pagan temples, shrines, offerings and incense places. You know what happened. God rejected Solomon and He split off the ten tribes of Israel. Rehoboam came along and thought he was a great important person and said, 'If you think that the thigh of my father was heavy, wait until I lay my little finger upon you.' That caused the split of the kingdom.

So, Jeroboam started out with the kingdom of the north, and God promised him if he would keep 'My commandments and walk in My ways, I will build you a dynasty just like I did for David.' But Jeroboam didn't! What did he do? He set up the visible idol! He made two calves—put one in Bethel and one in Dan—and told the children of Israel that 'these are your gods which brought you out of the land of Egypt.' He made the people to sin because of his corruption!

Whenever you have monarchy, you rise and fall with the king. Isa. 1 is very instructive for us. The nations of Israel and Judah got corrupt and they both went into captivity. Why? Because they initially rejected God; they wanted a king! They didn't want God to rule in their lives. No! They wanted someone else to rule in their lives, then they could turn around and blame God! Isn't that what has happened in the Church today? Absolutely!

Isaiah 1:2: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken, 'I have reared and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel does not know Me; My people do not understand'" (vs 2-3). They don't know God, and God called them to know Him.

Verse 4: "Ah, sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward." Isn't that what's happened to the Worldwide Church of God today? Going backward, right straight into the world? Do you know why God has rejected them?

It really doesn't matter when you understand the truth of it. If you have the right Sabbath Day and pollute it, it doesn't matter to God. If you have the right Holy Days and pollute them, God is not going to bless you. God gets sick of it!

Verse 10: "Hear the Word of the LORD, rulers of Sodom; give ear to the Law of our God, people of Gomorrah. 'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the LORD. 'I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more vain sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me—new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies; I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly! Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them'" (vs 10-14).

Why? Because it was used for their own corrupt, political, manipulative purposes! And to bring in every false doctrine under the sun! God says, 'I'm weary of it!'

Verse 15: "And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood." God says the solution is to repent!

Verse 16: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek judgment…" That's what God expects all of those in the Church of God to do:

• to seek Him
• to seek judgment
• to seek the right kind of church government

Now let's see how God, through Christ, strictly forbids all of this kind of thing.

"…reprove the oppressor. Judge the orphan; plead for the widow" (v 17). When you get back into that system. When you have a church government that is tyrannical and dictatorial, and exercises authority, what are you doing? You are oppressing the brethren! God says that if you're willing and repent, it will be well!

Let's understand the very command that Jesus Christ gave, and we're going to see that this is most profound.

Matthew 20:25: "But Jesus called them to Him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the nations…'" What did Israel want? They wanted a king just like the Gentiles!

"…exercise lordship over them, and the great ones exercise authority over them" (v 25). We have two classes of rulers:

• the king
• the great ones, or religious leaders

Simon Magus was called 'a great one.' In other words, someone like the pope. It's interesting that the Greek for exercising authority is 'katakurieuo'—to rule down or to overlord. The ones who exercise authority it is 'kataexousia'—to exercise authority downward: no one can go up; no one can question, no one can find the truth, because of the authority.

Jesus said, 'You know how they do it—a very strict command—v 26: "However, it shall not be this way among you; but whoever would become great among you, let him be your servant; and whoever would be first among you, let him be your slave… [then He points to His own ministry and His own life]: …just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (vs 26-28).

That's really very profound for us to understand. God does not want ministers ruling over church brethren! He says that it shall not be so! Did we not see what happens when you have a kingship? When you have a hierarchy? Yes! It's not good! It's not right!

What is it that God wants for us? It's repeated in Mark and Luke; we're going to see that Luke also shows that we're not to have any politicking going on.

Luke 22:25[transcriber's correction]: "And He said to them, 'The kings of the nations lord over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.'"

• Good people!
• This is right!
• We're doing this to benefit you!
• This kind of government from the top down!

And I will never ever forget hearing in my own ears that 'if the Catholics have anything right, it's government from the top down.' No one thought to ask:

• Why would the Church of God use the government of Satan the devil to run His Church?
• Did it not produce the same fruits?
• The government of the devil!
• Did it not cause misery, mayhem, depression and oppression?
• Did it not cause every sickness under the sun?

Look at what's happening to the Churches of God; just look at it; He says, 'It won't be!'

Then the other account in the book of Luke shows the mother of James and John came up and said, 'Lord, I want to ask you a favor. Jesus said, 'What is it?' She said, 'My two sons sit on Your right hand and Your left hand.' And Jesus said, 'Woman, it's not Mine to give, and you don't know what you're asking.'

That's very good lesson! God doesn't want all kinds of politics going on. We're either going to agree by the Spirit of God and the love of God, or we're not going to agree at all. 'Two cannot walk together unless they be agreed!' You're not going to walk with God unless you agree with His way! That's very clear and very true.

How is that God wants the government to be in His Church? He wants it to be that it begins with you as an individual person!

• God the Father has called you, the minister didn't
• God the Father has given you His Holy Spirit, the minister didn't
• God the Father has begotten you with His Holy Spirit
• Jesus Christ is the sacrifice for your sins, not the ministry

What has He called you to? To fellowship directly with God the Father and Jesus Christ!

As a matter of fact, it says, 'Christ in you is the hope of glory' (Col. 1:27). God wants—as He has always wanted—the direct connection between the individual and Him. This is the kind of rule and authority that God wants, first starting with the individual, and let Christ rule in you; let Christ lead and direct your life the way He wants.

Let's understand something very clearly here. We need to go back and understand what Paul said concerning himself and Apollos. He said, 'Who is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers by whom you have believed?' Did he not say that 'only on the foundation of Jesus Christ can you build, and you're going to build gold, silver and precious stones; or wood hay and stubble.

Frankly, there are a lot of people who have built wood, hay and stubble! Why? Because they look to a man! They accepted the rule of a minister in their lives that God never intended! To exercise that authority means:

• to bring into submission
• to subdue
• to conqueror
• to tyrannize

That's the way the Worldwide Church of God was run in many, many instances!

But here Paul says, 2-Corinthians 1:24: "Not that we exercise lordship over your faith…" Dominion does not mean the ministry has lordship over your faith. The ministers do not have lordship over the faith of the brethren! Did you know that? Christ is the Lord! Christ in us is the beginning of the government of God! Do the ministers exercise lordship over the brethren? No!

"…but because we are working with you to increase your joy. For you stand by faith" (v 24).

• not ministerial authority
• not hierarchy
• not taking and falsely superimposing upon the verses in Eph. 4
• not superimposing the modern corporation, chairman of the board, CEO, all the vice-presidents and everything

—where you have this vertical kind of hierarchy. NO! We're going to see that God hates it; God says that He's fighting against it, and that's exactly what happened in Pasadena.

Heb. 13 is where some ministers turn to when they say, 'Obey those who have the rule over you.' Well, that's not the correct translation.

Hebrews 13:7: "Remember your leaders who have spoken the Word of God to you… [Remember those who are your guides, or who are shepherding you] …considering the outcome of their conduct; and imitate their faith." Which means that if they don't follow Christ, you don't have to follow them.

Today I'm not going to say 'follow me as I follow Christ'; I'm going to say that you have the Word of God, follow Christ! The minister is not to exalt himself over the brethren. He is to be their teacher. He is to be one who oversees, not overlords! That's exactly what Peter taught:

• not to be lords over
• not to be looking after money

but to serve the flock of God!

Peter says to the elders, 1-Peter 5:2[transcriber's correction]: "Feed the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight…"

• to see that everything is run properly
• to encourage and teach with love and understanding

"…not by compulsion, but willingly; not in fondness of dishonest gain…" (v 2). Not for money! How many of the brethren have been merchandized. 'Yes, send us your first, second and third tithe, and the tithe of the tithe, and offerings beyond that. You are here specifically to pay, to make this hierarchical machine run. Yes, you are to pray and obey, and to stay and let us oppress you.' NO!That's not the Church of God. That is a counterfeit kind of government.

"…but with an eager attitude; not as exercising lordship over your possessions" (vs 2-3). May all of us as God's ministers understand that all the brethren are the people of God! He's called them and they belong to Him!

"…but by being examples to the flock of God" (v 3). That's what Peter taught. Here is the foundation of the government of God within the Church of God.

• if all the ministers are teaching the brethren
• if we are all focused in on doing exactly what the Apostle Paul teaches us
• if we all get off our stinking high-horses and just put aside the authority and just put it down
• if we just be what God wants us to be
  • to serve and feed the flock of God
  • to uplift them with His love
  • to encourage them with His Spirit
  • to point them always to God the Father and Jesus Christ

That is the first step in the government of God.

And with this attitude, Philippians 2:1: "Now then, if there be any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit…"—which is the Spirit of Christ and the Father in us! That's how we have our fellowship. How many times, because of the hierarchical/monarchial authoritarian government has Sabbath and Holy Days been an absolute dirge and pain because there was not the fellowship of the Spirit?

"…if any deep inner affections and compassions, fulfill my joy, that you be of the same mind… [having the mind of Christ] …having the same love, being joined together in soul, minding the one thing" (vs 1-2).

I tell you something very true: If this is done, and if this is taught, and if every one of the brethren and ministers are focusing in on this as the whole goal of their lives, guess what? There's hardly any need for authority! You really don't need it, because the authority of Christ rules! Then you can have the oversight taken in a proper way, so that it's going to bring happiness, joy and the love of God.

Verse 3: "Let nothing be done through contention or vainglory…" Worldwide was run on strife and vainglory.

• Who is the greatest?
• Who has the office?
• Who is going to be promoted?
• Who is the evangelist?
• Who is the pastor?
• Who is the deacon?
• Who are the 'Little Lord Fauntleroys' running all over the place with their little dictatorial authority?

Oh yes, in their vainglory strutting around! 'I am the apostle on the earth.' Let it sink in!Because of pride, arrogance, vanity and robbery Worldwide Church of God ceases to exist!

Don't anyone come around and say, 'I wonder why this is happening?' God has done to the Worldwide Church of God—and any other Church of God that won't learn the lesson—what He did to Jerusalem! He destroyed it! It was all run on vainglory. Here's what it needs to be:

"…but in humility, each esteeming the others above himself. Let each one look not only after his own things, but let each one also consider the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (vs 3-5). That is the beginning of authority in the Church of God; Jesus Christ Who is the Head. Let's this mind be in you! That's what it is.

Then Paul tells all that Jesus did to become a human being. Now, here's how the Church grows and overcomes:

Verse 12: "So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure" (vs 12-13).

When you have a hierarchy that cuts off God from you, because you're having a form of government within the Church that rejects God, Christ can't work in you the way that it ought to be.

Let's see what happens when this kind of love is lost. Then we will see what happens to the Church of God when they get so close to this world that they bring in the organizational system and structure of this world, and bring in the reigning king—a monarchy/hierarchy type of structure—into the Church.

Church at Ephesus:

They worked hard and tried all of those who were false apostles and found them to be liars. Listen, every minister who hears this, you're going to be tested:

• Are you teaching the Truth?

or

• Are you preaching lies?
• Are you preaching yourself and your own interpretation of the Scriptures?

or

• Do you love God that you would not dare do that?

We're going to cover this a little bit more, but I know that those who justify a hierarchy twist and turn the Scriptures so they can justify their own positions.

Revelation 2:4: "Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; for if you do not, I will come to you quickly; and I will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. But this you have: that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" (vs 4-6).

Church at Pergamos:

There are some tremendous lessons for us to learn, and then we will see how that came about.

Verse 12: "And to the angel of the Church in Pergamos, write: 'These things says He Who has the sharp two-edged sword.'" God shows that if you go against Him, He's going to correct you.

Verse 13: "I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is; but you are holding fast My name, and did not deny My faith… [that was only temporarily] …even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you because you have there those who hold the teaching of Balaam…" (vs 13-14). That's what happened to the Worldwide Church of God; they taught people to sin, and that is the doctrine of Balaam.

"…who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication" (v 14). That is exactly what happened. They committed fornication with the world to find out what their doctrines were, and what their theology was, and incorporated that right into the Church of God and said that it's okay to sin. God never said that it was okay to sin! Headline! Is it a sin to work on the Sabbath?

• Answer by the minister, 'no'!
• Answer by God: 'You shall not do any work'!

God's answer is true! That's the doctrine of Balaam!

Verse 15: "Moreover, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate." What is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? The doctrine means teaching. Who are the Nicolaitans? 'Nikao'means to conquer, and 'laos' means the people. These are the conquerors of the people, the overlords of the people, the kingship of the Gentiles brought into the Church of God; Satan's system of control over the Church of God.

God says that He hates it! Why? Because it cuts people off from God! It puts the ministry and the hierarchy between the people and God, and cuts them off! The ministry then exercises authority, which God never gave them. To have dominion over their faith, which God never gave them the dominion. To exercise that lordship and God says that He hates it!

Now let's read what happened to Worldwide, v 16: "Repent! For if you do not repent, I will come to you quickly, and will make war against them with the sword of My mouth." All of those Churches who have split off from the Worldwide Church of God and retain the same doctrine of the Nicolaitans and their church government, you better hear and fear, because unless you repent of that and turn the brethren back to God the way that they should be, God is going to fight against you. Believe me, your tenure is going to be a whole lot shorter than Worldwide Church of God was. You can count on that.

Once you have the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, what does that do? That opens the door to exactly what happened in Worldwide Church of God! It can be infiltrated, subverted, corrupted from within. Why? Because they have replaced the authority of Christ ruling in their lives with the authority of the hierarchy of the ministry!

Please know that that is the great invisible idol!Nothing, nothing, nothing should ever replace the Lordship of Christ in your life! Please understand that! When you get this hierarchy, here's what happens:

2-Peter 2:1: "But there were also false prophets among the people…" Didn't we read that at the beginning in Ezek. 14? Yes!

"…as indeed there will be false teachers among you, who will stealthily introduce destructive heresies, personally denying the Lord who bought them, and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many people will follow as authoritative their destructive ways…" (vs 1-2). Isn't that happening? How many in the Churches of God are standing for Truth? Standing for Christ? or Do they still want a king to rule over them? To rule over their faith?

"…and because of them, the way of the Truth will be blasphemed" (v 2).

• Isn't that what has happened?
• Haven't the commandments of God been deprecated and thrown away?
• Haven't the laws of God been scoffed at?
• Haven't the covenants of God been just thrown aside?
• Hasn't the Word of God been cast to the ground because they speak evil of the way of Truth?

Absolutely!

Verse 3: "Also, through insatiable greed they will with enticing messages… [hypocritical, calculated words to extract money from the brethren] …exploit you for gain…"—make merchandise of you. Did that not happen? Yes, it did! Is God taking it away? Yes, He is! The income of the Worldwide Church of God is down 50%[as of the 1994] They are closing offices, laying off hundreds and hundreds of people, and God's presence was withdrawn from them! They merchandized the people.

"…for whom the judgment of old is in full force, and their destruction is ever watching" (v 3). It is upon them!

When I saw these things coming to fruition in Worldwide Church of God and I resigned in 1979, I was labeled as rebellious and against God. Not so! It's better to love God, keep His commandments, let Christ dwell in you and rule in you, stand alone if you have to, than to stay in the crowd that goes the broad way and to destruction! Is that not true? Yes!

Peter shows that God didn't even spare the angels that sinned, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Verse 9: "The Lord knows how to rescue the Godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unrighteous to the day of judgment to be punished; but particularly those who walk after the flesh…" (vs 9-10). Carnal, monarchial, hierarchical, merchandizing government!

I'm going to have much more to say about that, because there are still some Churches of God that are doing that.

• The brethren need to be warned!
• The brethren need to know!
• These men need to be called to repentance!

The error that caused the collapse of Worldwide Church of God should not be repeated and perpetuated. Yet, they say, 'We're building on the foundation of Herbert W. Armstrong.' It better be on Christ or it's going nowhere!

Verse 10: "But particularly those who walk after the flesh in corrupting lust, and hold in utter contempt the lordship of God…." They despised the lordship of Christ.

• They don't trust Christ!
• They don't trust the Spirit of God!
• They don't trust the Spirit of God in the brethren!

The brethren must be:

• manipulated
• controlled

told

• where to go
• what to do
• when to do it
• how to do it

That is not God's way! That is a tyrannical reign of terror upon the people of God! If you have suffered that and willingly submitted to it in your church experience, then you likewise need to repent of it. You have wanted and allowed a man to rule over you.

• let Christ rule over you
• let Him lead you
• let Him guide you

Don't put yourself in a position where Christ is going to fight you, where Christ is going to have to come with a sword in His mouth and cut you asunder!

• repent while there is still time
• repent while there is still hope
• change
• come out from underneath it

• Don't let any minister come and tell you, in the name of God, that you can't read, study and search out the Truth.
• Don't every let them come and tell you that if you have trouble with a minister you have trouble with God.

Nonsense!What if the minister is sinning and he's in trouble with God?

Let's see something very important we need to understand. All of this has to come from God. I believe, brethren and ministers, that

• if we let Christ live in us
• if we yield to God and learn of His love
• if we begin to build that within our lives

then God will show us how to arrange the organization that pleasing to Him:

• to where the brethren can grow
• to where the Church can grow
• to where there can be deep and profound love and faith

Ephesians 4:1: "Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, am exhorting you to walk worthily of the calling to which you were called with all humility and meekness…" (vs 1-2). Does this not sound like Philip. 2? Yes!

• not with authority
• not with lordship
• not with a hierarchy
• not with the ministers who are in control

"…with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love…" (v 2). That has to be from God. The whole basis of the Church of God should be to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and being. That's the way it should be!

Verse 3: "Being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, even as you were also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in you all. But grace was given to each one of us… [all the brethren, all the ministry, if we're yielding to God in the right way] …according to the measure of the gift of Christ" (vs 3-7).

• if we have this foundation
• if we have this kind of building on the foundation of Christ
  • God will bless us
  • God will be with us
  • God will grant us understanding of His Truth
  • God will give us His blessings that we need—the spiritual blessings

Verse 11: "And He gave some asapostles, and some prophets…" This is not in a hierarchical function, please understand that; this is in a function of a job to do. All of the government of God within the Church should be task oriented. What is the job to be done? Then we organize to accomplish the task.
We don't put in an organization and hierarchy to have a structure and then go do a job. First of all, you find out what the task is. In services and for church the task is to promote the peace of God, the love of the brethren and to learn of His Word. Then whatever structure we need with the elders and deacons it can be done. It can be done in peace, love, harmony and understanding.

"…and some evangelists…" (v 11). Remember, Paul told Timothy, an elder, do the work of an evangelist. He didn't say he was an evangelist. He said do the work of an evangelist. So, an evangelist is a function. It is not an office.

"…and some, pastors and teachers" (v 3). These are not offices, these are functions. If you're prophesying, you're a prophet; if you cease prophesying and you're pastoring, you're a pastor. If you're teaching, you're a teacher. You don't hold some great office. Yes, there's ordination into the eldership, that is correct, but in that it is according to the gifts of God, that God gives.

Here's the whole focus of it, not to build a hierarchy, not to have lands, not to have buildings, not to have great riches and wealth and be notorious in the world:

Verse 12: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Uplifting, teaching; not the downward of the over lordship and the downward authority. No!

Verse 13: "Until we all… [he included himself; he didn't exalt himself above the brethren] …come into 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 fullness of Christ." That's the whole purpose of it.

Quit bowing down to the invisible idol and following the visible man!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in It's Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References:

• Ezekiel 14:1-11
• Exodus 19:4-6
• Exodus 20:18-19
• Judges 2:6-13
• Judges 21:25
• 1 Samuel 8:4-22
• 1 Samuel 10:18-19, 25
• Deuteronomy 17:14-20
• 1 Samuel 16:6-7, 12-13
• 2 Samuel 12:7-12
• 1 Kings 11:1-3, 6-8
• Isaiah 1:1-4, 10-17
• Matthew 20:25-28
• Luke 22:25
• 2 Corinthians 1:24
• Hebrews 13:7
• 1 Peter 5:2-3
• Philippians 2:1-5, 12-13
• Revelation 2:4-6, 12-15
• 2 Peter 2:1-3, 9-10
• Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Exodus 18
• Colossians 1:27

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 4-28-14