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Surviving “PERILOUS TIMES” SURVIVING “PERILOUS TIMES” by David C. Pack THIS BOOK IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE AND IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST BY THE RESTORED CHURCH OF GOD. It is made possible by the voluntary, freely given tithes and offerings of the members of the Church and others who have elected to support the work of the Church. Contributions are welcomed and gratefully accepted. Those who wish to voluntarily aid and support this WORK OF GOD around the world are gladly welcomed as co-workers in this major effort to preach the gospel to all nations. Copyright © 2003-2007, 2011-2012, 2016 The Restored Church of God® All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America Civilization has entered the “last days”— II Timothy 3:1. The context through chap- ter 4, verse 4, reveals that “perilous times” have come upon both the world and the Church. There are now many kinds of deception and “sleight of men” (Eph. 4:14) being foisted on unsuspecting and gullible brethren. This volume addresses some of the worst of those deceptions, and assists in helping you survive them all! TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 7 ARTICLE ONE – ENDLESS FALSE DOCTRINES ...................................... 11 ARTICLE TWO – MAKEUP: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CHURCH! ....... 33 ARTICLE THREE – THE WEDDING SUPPER IS NOT IN HEAVEN! ............ 47 ARTICLE FOUR – IS THE “FALLING AWAY” (II THES. 2:3) A FUTURE WORLDWIDE REBELLION LED BY THE MAN OF SIN? ............................................. 81 ARTICLE FIVE – DINING OUT ON THE SABBATH— WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH? ............................. 123 ARTICLE SIX – HOW DOES GOD REVEAL TRUTH TO HIS CHURCH? ............................................ 159 EPILOGUE – WAYS THE PEOPLE RULE IN THE LAODICEAN AGE ............................................ 173 INTRODUCTION 7 INTRODUCTION s a result of the apostasy in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), Aapproximately 75 percent of the membership fell away from the entire truth of God. The remaining 25 percent, who fled and survived, scattered into many disagreeing organizations, forming at different inter- vals during the falling away. The fact that so many of the members com- pletely departed from the hundreds of true doctrines taught to the Church during Herbert W. Armstrong’s 52-year ministry, is a great testimony to the tremendous power of deception. That the 25 percent could not agree sufficiently to be able to assemble together—in one organization—rein- forces the fact that additional deception, confusion and division afflicts these “survivors.” This is not a book with six chapters, covering a single subject, but rather it is a reference book containing six related articles. Each in some way pertains either to wrong teachings now circulating in the splinters or to dangerous spiritual trends and conditions, and to false leaders whose methods of deceit are afflicting God’s people with outrageous false thinking. By now, if you read the rest of the Splinter Explanation Packet, you should be able to recognize that the kinds of dangerous pitfalls swal- lowing God’s people are many. As a result, as circumstances dictate, later editions of this volume may be amended to include additional articles, explaining future prob- lems and false teachings that have not yet surfaced among the splinters. This has already happened several times. Therefore, the title Surviving 8 SURVIVING “PERILOUS TIMES” “Perilous Times” overarches six topics, presented in the form of separate articles. No one article reflects the overall purpose or goal of the book. Each is intended to address a different, crucial issue that has remained unan- swered, unaddressed or unexplained—or explained incorrectly—within the splinters resulting from the break-up of the WCG. The first is an article initially published in late 2000, now listing nearly 200 false doctrines within the splinters, demonstrating how the pervasive “spirit of error” is now quietly fighting for dominance in these organizations, just as the New Testament warned it could (I John 4:6). As a result, false teaching is spreading—again, exactly as the New Testament warned—like cancer and leaven! What is occurring today in the splinters parallels and has actually far surpassed the liberal period of the mid-1970s in the WCG, when the Church was so obviously recog- nized then to be terribly off track! The second article explains the real story behind why false leaders in the Worldwide Church of God allowed women, in November 1988, to begin wearing makeup once again. The great majority of women in the splinters have followed their lead and now use cosmetics. What hap- pened here? How?—why?—did so many women buy into such an obvi- ously wrong practice—one that Mr. Armstrong thundered would only be reversed “over my [his] dead body”? This story has been largely untold, with simplistic answers and clichés having been offered to distort the truth about this return to false understanding. The third article addresses the current popular belief that the wed- ding supper with Christ will take place in heaven. While this idea is silly, it has become widespread enough that it had to be examined in a systematic and thorough way. The fourth article, very extensive, was originally produced in August 2012. It addressed the new teaching by the Living Church of God (LCG) that the “falling away” of II Thessalonians 2:3 is a coming WORLDWIDE REBELLION led by the man of sin. Roderick Meredith and LCG now teach that this apostasy was not fulfilled in the WCG in the late 1980s and early 90s. This event is no longer seen to apply to God’s Church beginning a generation ago, but rather is a FUTURE “rebellion/revolt” against God. You will see what the Protestants teach about II Thessalonians 2:3, along with exactly what Mr. Armstrong taught and what the Bible teaches. This is a much more important article than meets the eye. The fifth article—“Dining Out on the Sabbath—What Does the Bible Teach?”—represents another major false teaching that has become widespread in the splinters. Many have now come to believe that it is INTRODUCTION 9 a sin to eat out at a restaurant on the Sabbath—that this is God’s great “test” today. The severity of this problem is similar to the wrong ideas surrounding the wedding supper issue. If you have not already heard of this thinking, sooner or later you will. The sixth article, “How Does God Reveal Truth to His Church?”, explains the overall process by which God used Mr. Armstrong to bring truth to His Church in the twentieth century. As with so many other truths, many brethren are now blurring, or even reversing, their understanding of two crucial doctrinal advancements that Mr. Armstrong made in 1974: (1) circumstances that correctly permit divorce and remarriage as it applies to the Church, and (2) changing Pentecost observance from Monday to Sunday. Now, incredibly, many hundreds who once understood the plain truth of these necessary changes have now convinced themselves that it was Mr. Armstrong who departed from “divinely revealed truth”—generally seeking to use against him his own statements made prior to the change. This thinking attempts to insert Mr. Armstrong as the true author of the apostasy, which is then deemed to have begun in 1974, having merely accelerated in the 1990s until it engulfed the whole Church. Strangely, these people often find a way to assert that they are “sup- porting” Mr. Armstrong and “standing up for the truth”—while they are doing neither. (Our booklet Understanding Divorce and Remarriage and article “How to Count Pentecost” more specifically address these sub- jects. Any who are troubled by foolish contrary ideas, now circulating throughout the splinters, should take time to study them carefully.) The book concludes with an “Epilogue,” which presents a special insight into the prevailing thinking of the Laodicean age. Prepared by a team of ministers, including me, it takes a careful below-the-surface look at ways that the thinking of brethren and ministers has been altered in the change of eras. Two of the articles—Two and Six—had other primary writers than myself, although I was very involved. There were also perhaps six or seven additional men in each case assisting in research. ENDLESS FALSE DOCTRINES How Most Are Still Being Fooled! False teachings—old and new—continue to fool most brethren in ALL the splinters. How many are you aware of? How many is your group teaching? Have you accepted or practiced them, either consciously or unconsciously? If so, which and how many are they? What will you do about them? Will you WAKE UP? ARTICLE ONE 11 his section includes a comprehensive list of the false teachings Texisting, to one degree or another, within the splinters. Some are actively taught—others passively tolerated. Some are taught in one or a few groups—others in many or most groups. Keep in mind that this is a “mixed” list of doctrines, comprised of ideas that have been spawned within the splinters and of others that first appeared in the WCG, but were carried as baggage, knowingly or not, into the splinters! There Came a Falling Away lists 280 doctrinal changes that all sprang from the apostates. But every one of the teach- ings on this list now exist in the splinters. Understand! This is not a complete list of all current false teach- ings. I have had to combine and/or omit some, because we cannot keep up with the explosion of new doctrines and ideas now appearing every- where. Assembling a complete list would be impossible—particularly for one person. Even if possible, it would only represent a snapshot in time, quickly outdated by newer heresies appearing almost daily within ALL the groups. Paul likens heresy to leaven and cancer.
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