GOD’S PLAN IN DETAIL – THE STUDY GUIDE

God’s True Church Today

Many generations have now past since the New Testament gospels and letters were written. Today’s ‘Christian’ churches teach a very different message:

• The pagan Trinity doctrine has replaced the understanding that God is a growing Family that we have been invited to join.
• Having an immortal soul that either goes to heaven or hell when we die has replaced the clear Bible teaching that eternal life is a gift, and that death is unconscious sleep followed by our resurrection when Yeshua returns.
• People are encouraged to pray to various ‘saints’ already in heaven instead of following Yeshua’ clear instruction to pray only to our Father.
• Religious ritual has replaced using the power of God’s Holy Spirit to overcome our human nature and the evil influences of the god of this world.
• Church traditions (the ideas of men) have replaced the inspired scriptures as the source of religious doctrine.
• We celebrate so-called ‘Christian’ holidays, like Christmas and Easter - pagan festivals that were adapted by the Roman Church to help win new converts.
• There is confusion and division everywhere you look within ‘Christian’ communities – and confusion and division come from Satan, not God.

While the people in these churches may well be sincere in what they believe and how they live, they have been deceived. Without God’s help, it is impossible to live in Satan’s world without being deceived. What we do when God opens our minds to see the truth is far more important than whether or not we have been deceived.

Yeshua promised that he would never desert his true church. Matthew 16:13-19 CEVWhen Jesus and his disciples were near the town of Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, "What do people say about the Son of Man?"

The disciples answered, "Some people say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah or Jeremiah or some other prophet."

Then Jesus asked them, "But who do you say I am?"

Simon Peter spoke up, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus told him: "Simon, son of Jonah, you are blessed! You didn't discover this on your own. It was shown to you by my Father in heaven.

So I will call you Peter, which means "a rock." On this rock I will build my church, and death itself will not have any power over it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth. But he will not allow anything that you don't allow.". However, even his true church will not necessarily be everything that it should be. There are some important qualities that God’s true church should have:

• It will be recognised by the love demonstrated by its members, and this will be visible their daily lives. While there may well be problems, these ‘fruits of God’s Holy Spirit’ are the one thing that Satan cannot counterfeit.
• It will teach true doctrine and actively defend these teachings to protect its members. This includes teaching the true purpose for which God created us together with how to go about fulfilling that purpose.
• It will not tolerate sexual immorality, or any other so-called enlightened pagan practises that would lead its members away from following Yeshua.
• It will be concerned to take care of the poor and needy.
• It will follow the instructions that Yeshua gave for baptism and for sharing bread and wine in remembrance of his sacrifice for our sins. Its members will strive to serve each other, even in the most menial tasks, as demonstrated by Yeshua’ example of washing his disciple’s feet at the last supper.
• Meeting together for worship, instruction and fellowship will be important. This may be in member’s homes, or in leased or purpose built buildings.
• While church members might suffer illness and die, there will also be miracles of healing and answered prayer.
• There will be evidence of members receiving the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit which they will be using to help strengthen and grow the church.
• Church members may well be persecuted for their beliefs.
• Just before Yeshua returns the Church will be commissioned to get the Good News of God’s Kingdom out to the whole world. This major activity will leverage the power of modern communications and freedom of travel.

Yeshua is still actively working with his church, preparing those that he is calling to be ready for the future roles he has planned for them when he returns. They might not be part of a formal church, or they may be scattered within existing churches.

Yeshua is working with everyone else as well, but at a different level. That is what the second resurrection is all about. Revelation 20:11-15 NIVThen I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire..

God doesn't judge us for what we don't know. Luke 12:48 NLTBut someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required., John 15:22-24 NIVIf I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.. We each have a conscience and everyone raised back to life at the second resurrection will be judged according to how they have lived given the understanding and opportunity they have had. Only God can do this. Some will enter God's Family and the rest will be cast into the lake of fire where they will die, never to live again.

God has not revealed how this will all be done - only that he has a plan that includes everyone. A plan that is amazingly generous and merciful, but also just.

God is working with everyone, not just those being called into his church. Those who have been called will have greater responsibility, and will be judged more harshly if we neglect our calling. 2 Peter 2:20-21 NLTAnd when people escape from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up with sin and become its slave again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the right way to live than to know it and then reject the holy commandments that were given to them..

A Lesson from one of today’s Churches

I spent seven years in the Worldwide Church of God founded by Herbert Armstrong. An important lesson can be learned by comparing what he taught with what is now being taught by the current church leaders following his death.

Herbert Armstrong was one of the few modern religious leaders who taught the truth about God’s Family and God’s plan for man to be born into that Family. He also taught that we need to repent of our sinful lives and accept Yeshua’s sacrifice for our sins so that we can be forgiven and reunited with God the Father.

However, he did not accept that the New Covenant replaced the old one. Instead, he required obedience to those parts of the Old Covenant that he considered to be important – keeping the Sabbath and annual festivals, tithing, and obedience to a strict church government structure based on the Old Covenant. An often emphasised teaching was that the good news of God’s Kingdom was all about learning to submit to ‘God’s government’ as taught by his modern day apostle.

Herbert Armstrong did not, or would not, understand that the New Testament apostles spent most of their later years fighting against those who were trying to teach what he was teaching. Paul devoted large portions of his letters to explaining what a terrible trap this was.

After Herbert Armstrong died in 1986, the church leaders moved away from these doctrines. But, like a child on a swing, they went from one extreme to the other.

Now it is no longer required for church members to keep the Sabbath and annual holy days, or to tithe. Being saved by grace and believing in the sacrifice of Yeshua is quite rightly emphasised instead. However, they have also thrown out their understanding of God’s Family to embrace the more universally accepted doctrine of the Trinity – teaching that men can never become members of God’s Family because God is not a family.

My purpose here is not to discredit the teachings of any particular church, but to show how Satan hides the truth by allowing only part of it to be taught. He doesn’t care if God’s true purpose for man is being taught, as long as the way to achieve that purpose is not also being taught. Likewise, the way to being saved might be taught, but not together with the knowledge of what salvation is really about.

This toxic mixture of truth and error is typical of what is taught by all of these false churches that claim to follow Christ. The particular mixture of truth and error is the only thing that separates them from each other.

Yeshua told his disciples that they would be saved if they listened to his message and believed that it came from God. John 5:24 NIVI tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.. He didn’t mean that they, or we, could pick and chose what parts of his message we might like to believe. His message was written down for us in black and white and is clear for everyone to understand - if only we are willing.