HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG 
Tucson, March 14, 1980
President and Pastor 

Dear Rod: 

Your letters of February 1 and March 7 show, I am sorry to say, that either you still cannot understand WHY the living Head of God's Church, Jesus Christ, had you sent to Hawaii, or you are unwilling to see or admit--and I prefer to believe the former. There is no point in telling you this letter is written in LOVE for YOU -- for you ought to know that without my saying it. But out of love for you, and DESIRE to see you back as PART OF GOD'S TEAM, working in full co-operation and right attitude with the rest of us; I shall take time and space to make it clear once for all this time. I have tried to hold the mirror up for you to see yourself as others see you. But still you don't see in that mirror the same YOU that others see--or are unwilling--I hope not the latter. But now I must be SURE!

I shall speak plainly, candidly. If this letter hurts, I quote from a letter the Apostle Paul sent to brethren at Corinth: ''For though I made you angry with a letter, I do not repent ... for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance, for ye were made sorry after a godly, manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorry worketh repentance to salvation ... but the sorrow of the world worketh death.'' (11 Cor. 7:8-10)....

The preliminary schedule is for viewing at Forest Lawn Funeral Home from 9 am to 11 am on Sunday. The funeral home is located at 3700 Forest Lawn Drive, Matthews, NC.  

The funeral will be at Weddington High School at 1 pm on Sunday with a reception immediately following the funeral. Mr. Ames will be conducting the service.

Services on the Sabbath (May 27th) will be at 2 pm at Weddington High School: 4901 Monroe-Weddington Road, Matthews, NC, with Mr. Weston giving the sermon. 

I lost a good friend this week. [Todd Carey]

We worked together a long time ago.   For many years we’ve been hundreds of miles apart, but we were always able to see each other, with our wives, at our annual church conference.

That is, until the latest split took place.   He and his wife went one way and we went the other.   So, for the last few years of his life, we did not get together.

Church splits can be devastating on relationships.   Even marriages have fallen apart when partners don’t see eye to eye on church affiliation.   More than one church I know of teaches that its followers should have nothing to do with people in other church organizations, even when they are family.

It’s ironic when you consider that Jesus Christ said:  “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another” (John 13:35).

Unfortunately, churches are not immune from selfish ambition, differences over administration or doctrinal disagreement, three of the primary causes of splits.

True Christians will always strive to fulfill the words of Jesus Christ; even as others in their midst will deliberately cause division, believing that God is on their side.

One of the root causes of division is that people have a tendency to follow men.   The Apostle Paul wrote about this in I Corinthians where some were following Apollos, some Peter and some Paul.   As Paul said elsewhere, we should only follow one man and that man is Jesus Christ.   That means we should all live in accordance with His words.   What a novel idea!!!

I mean, when Joe Tkach saw my first list of 154 doctrinal changes, he went to the entire church on video and said “Dave Pack has been eating poisoned mushrooms! We haven’t made those changes.” But a few here and a few there said he did. When he got my first copy of There Came a Falling Away, evangelists, who were in the room with him…when somebody handed it to him, he got so mad, he took the book and threw it as hard as he could against the wall, in what used to be Mr. Armstrong’s office. “He’s causing terrible trouble!” Trust me when I tell you they would have dispatched me right quick. I know the spirit we’re up against. You better come to grips with this, and let it motivate you to escape.

Those were furious times, and I had to work as hard as I could, 18-hour days were nothing…nothing. I never got out of my pajamas, sometimes, talking to people. I couldn’t drink water, because I didn’t have time to go to the bathroom. I didn’t eat meals sometimes. My wife was…You know, I mean, I was alone. I was up against “the power”—“the system”—alone, almost alone, I had a wife…but alone. Vilified, laughed at, excoriated…You know, I mean, just…just horrible things said. And it doesn’t make me great…I just, I just said…I…I left these things. I gave up a lot when I was a kid. You know, I had achieved some things in my life and before I gave them up, I thought long and I did a lot of research, and so I had really proven.

2 Peter 3: 

3 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophetsand the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

I’ll just tell you another kind of an interesting little side note. You know, since last summer…Just, I’m a different kind of person, and whoever was going to be the watchman would have to be this way. I have almost a unique ability…I’ve been tested, brethren…my ability to see things that are not real—but an ability, in the brain that could be tested out of 19 different human skills that people are, or are not, born with. There are human engineering tests and I took one back in 1974, at the beginning of’ 74, late’ 73. Tests whether you can see things three-dimensionally, two-dimensionally, or do you have typing skills, do you work well…there are all kinds of things they can test, and you either have the skill or you don’t; you can inherit it or not.

But one of the skills they test is whether or not you can see many avenues to a situation. And they told me at the end of this, you know, I failed miserably on certain things, because everybody does. He said don’t ever be a typist. Don’t ever be a civil engineer, you know, designing bridges in three-dimension, and so forth. It’s not, you know…You don’t have that ability, but…they said, Mr. Pack, we noticed something. You are untestable in one area. You can see things that are…we have no ability to test. You have an unlimited…or kind of an “unbounded,” they interpreted it later…an unbounded ability to see all kinds of avenues to address any kind of problem. You are sir…I remember the guy looked at me and said, “Sir, you are so far out there, you’re untestable.” We paid a lot of money for this test, and there was a particular reason why I did it.

Now I say that, because I don’t have their vision. I didn’t get to see what Habakkuk saw. I didn’t get to see what Daniel saw. I am the watchman. And certainly, God told Habakkuk, and Daniel did the same, to write it so that people who read it would run, because all we can do is read it…

These things are shocking. They’re devastating. My job is to create a vision, without being able to actually divinely show you one. But I have the ability to see things, some of it is just innate…But I can…I can make things very, very graphic, and whoever was going to be the watchman would have to be able to sort of “see” things before they happened anyway, wouldn’t he? I’d be able to make them graphic or the people in the world who are hearing these warnings, who might run, otherwise run, if they hear this watchman…otherwise would not, or else would not. So I’ll leave you to think about that. You may have your own little troubling feelings and emotions and health. These are terrible, terrible things to consider, and I must tell you, before this sermon is over, it’s not going to get better. We are soon going to move on to other things, but I want to share some more things with you.

Now I would suggest there’s the possibility…Along with something else I’m going to show you…there may actually be different clothing we wear. One of two things that suggests we’re different people…“Keep your hands off of them.” Because if you escaped, you escaped. There has to be some knowledge to others you escaped. Cain was marked so that people wouldn’t kill him. I mean, we can say he deserved to die; shouldn’t have escaped. But God didn’t want him to die, so God marked him in a way that people would leave him alone. What might He do with us?

One possible thing, to just speculate and think about, since this is not the pure white garments of salvation and linen, it’s just a change. It’s saying that the way God views this man’s life and his record—the same with you—is it’s gone from him. Remember, if you’re deemed entirely deserving—all of you—then you escape at that point, not at the time of salvation. So that’s what the change of garments has to mean, and he puts on a mitre. He doesn’t put on a crown or a tiara. A mitre—a turban. It signifies something has changed. It’s sort of like an interim step between the way we are now, and the way we will be when we receive salvation—which is another interim step before resplendence.

“And set a fair mitre on his head…[“Clean” is what it means—just clean; clean and pure. It doesn’t say white, just clean and pure.]…So they set a fair mitre on his head…[Who’s “they?” It’s angels there.]…and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by. And [that angel] the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying…[Now, I’ve explained that this does not mean “protested.” It can mean that, but essentially, it’s most likely meaning, and there…You can go study the word; it’s fascinating…it’s more like an announcement, or a pronouncement; not protesting to him.]…The angel the LORD [announced] unto Joshua saying...

Now I said last week that there’s another great question we needed to answer, and before I go back into more about the Man of Sin, I’d like to take you to that question. How will we know we escaped? You’ve arrived at a destination…Blessed, or happy, is he that waits and comes to the 1,335. (Dan. 12:12). To come to it, you’d have to know you did. I use the analogy of driving to Los Angeles from New York. You can’t head out to L.A. without a map. Without any picture of Los Angeles, you have no idea where it is or what it is…what it looks like when you get there. So you just sort of takeoff. Somebody says, “You know what? Go west.” Well, you could wind up in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, San Diego, or you could wind up at any city in the West that’s short of Los Angeles. You know, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver or Salt Lake City. You just don’t get there. Because you don’t know what Los Angeles looks like, you won’t know if you’re there.

And you’re with other people in the car…“Does anybody know if we’re in Los Angeles?”—“No?”—“Well, no, somebody said this is Des Moines, Iowa.”—“Okay, well…I don’t know where that is either, but I guess…” How would you plan a trip to Los Angeles without knowing whether you arrived? You’d have to know what Los Angeles looked like, where it was, what it meant…how to know your journey was over, and that’d be no matter where you started from, you see? You could take the analogy as, no matter where you lived in the world, not just if you’re starting from Los Angeles, because God’s people are all over the world. How do we know we got to L.A., if L.A. is “escape” at the 1,335?

Let’s imagine we get to the 1,335, but we don’t know that we did…And maybe somebody has a hunch we did…and we’re all sitting in a circle. “Well, it said we’d be happy…Everybody feel happy? Everybody feel happy? Anybody not? Nobody’s not happy, are they? Oh, they’re all happy. Okay…Well, who feels like an escapee? Does anybody feel like an escapee? Who feels like we waited long enough? Anybody feel…Raise your hands, we waited long enough…” Does anybody think it could be like that? Where you wouldn’t absolutely know. You’re watching and praying always to escape, but you can’t really know if you did.

In this place of safety, this great rocky fortress, God’s people “declare his praise in the islands.” There certainly are no islands in the wilderness areas of the Middle East—especially in the area of Jordan. So there’s some kind of a work going on from the wilderness, something more than just what the two witnesses are doing during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 11:3-12). God has a message and these people are declaring it, probably via satellite and other technological means. A powerful Work will be done somehow.

Now who will declare His praise in the islands? The Bedouin Arabs? No. God’s Laodicean Church? Of course not. They are spewed out and will go through the Tribulation because of their rebellion toward God and because they were overthrown in the spiritual wilderness as ancient Israel was physically. They had the truth and then they lost it. 

God says, “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise” (Isaiah 43:19-20). In context, you’ll see this is during a time of great suffering. God is giving drink to His chosen, and He is making the desert blossom as a rose, even before the Millennium.

God is talking about a single wilderness and a single desert, and about “my chosen”—in the context of the rest of Israel, with whom He is not happy. So this cannot be during the Millennium; it must be in a place of safety, where God is going to start a “mini-Millennium.” There will be a message going out from the place of safety, and there will be miracles in that place, and the desert will blossom as a rose. There will be a message of hope to this world which will have very little hope—especially those who will have been victims of the Beast power. 

Herbert W. Armstrong used to say that the Place of Safety would be an embryo of the World Tomorrow. And it may be more of an embryo than even he realized, because of the work God is going to do in the place of safety which will give the whole world a vision. He is going to use this small group, a very elect, to usher in the wonderful World Tomorrow—a beautiful paradise where all the world and all the deserts will blossom as a rose. There will be hope like this world has never even dreamed. The word paradise doesn’t describe it. It is far more than just a paradise: it’s a glorious vision! 

Now, it’s interesting. The women are not mentioned yet. This does mean males…This is not salvation, where the women have the same power as men. That could be just a few months out. There’ll be no difference. Salvation for women; come to awesome power and authority, just like men. Don’t doubt that. But it’s interesting, one other important side point, the men are singled out. The women are in the background. The world is not ready to see you ladies, when God unveils you in final form. 

But the men are the ones who are going to go and shepherd the flock of God. That isn’t something that women would do. So it helps you understand that there’s an emphasis on the men. You’ll be just as escaped as they are. You’ll be playing important roles, all over the world, in the background You’ll be helping, and nobody can lay a glove on you either. Now, it could be a special emphasis on certain men at Headquarters, or the ministry. Everybody’s role is going to be different and I’m going to come to that in a moment. But it is interesting, it could almost be—I’ll throw an interesting side, kind of side point.

I told you a few weeks ago, or many months ago, really, in this series, that there were different ways that we bring knowledge to the Church. And I chose to bring the in-depth kind of knowledge to the Church—so, it’s why we’re at Part 59—more like you’d talk to ministers, which is even above what you talk to students, and way beyond what do you talk to lay members about. And of course, the literature is really basic and rudimentary when you’re teaching the truth to the world. But you’re getting almost…you’re getting graduate level detail here. And so, I’m explaining all of these different things at a level that we never understood in the time…in the past. But as God’s showing them to me…I’m constructed in such a way, I’m not going to sit…bottle it all up. Surely, God didn’t expect me to think…No one would ever think that increasing knowledge is so that one man can go around with a head full of it, or maybe half of it he dispenses; the other half he doesn’t.

As Income Plummets 25% Gerald Flurry Set to Buy Jet Plane So Stevie and His Kids Can Fly In Luxury

Gerald Flurry Follows in HWA's Steps and Buys Gulfstream G450 Jet

As we approach the day of Pentecost, let’s rededicate ourselves to our wonderful purpose, let’s all do our part to be a truly unified Body, a united Church for those whom God is calling.

Allow me to share my thoughts and prayers about this day and what it truly means to be “of one accord.” They center on what Jesus passionately prayed for concerning His followers shortly before being tortured and killed.

In that passage, Jesus is actually praying for us today! “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word [including you and me]; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us , that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one , and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:20-23, emphasis added throughout).

And so, we see that it was Jesus Christ’s intense desire that His followers stick together and be united together in purpose and action.

I invite you to consider how the Vision Statement of the United Church of God is drawn directly from what is called the “unity chapter” of Ephesians: “The whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies , according to the effective working by which every part does its share , causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

Unity represents the outcome of having a shared purpose and vision, a purpose that we all actively work toward! To achieve it, we must get in harmony with Christ’s prayer and diligently, as individuals, strive to all support and advance that collective purpose as one body in one accord .

Peace is not simply the absence of conflict. Pursuing and supporting our great purpose as a spiritual assembly—preaching the powerful gospel of the Kingdom and preparing ourselves for entry into that Kingdom as the very children of God —requires great effort and work by each of us. When we do so, when we are so minded and motivated, we have peace and unity!

Peace is the glue that creates a spiritual bond. Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). We have to be willing to wage spiritual peace rather than war in our daily lives. Of course, the waging of peace represents a more difficult challenge. It is far easier to tear down than to build up. But it is worth the effort. With God’s help, we canovercome the baser parts of our nature. We can put out anger, envy and pride—the mental and spiritual states that lead to words that hurt and harm.

As we approach the day of Pentecost, let’s rededicate ourselves to our wonderful purpose, let’s all do our part to be a truly unified Body, a united Church for those whom God is calling.

I’ve been a shepherd all my life. Mr. Armstrong’s background was not as a shepherd. His background was a businessman, and he began to work with the Church, and for a little while shepherd it, but pretty much got into colleges and trained others. The Church never got very large. The final man would have to be one who had spent his whole life shepherding…11,000 people…I know what I’m doing. Sometimes, I wonder why I don’t get to keep doing that. Except I understand that I can bring a grander application. I know how to do that. I’ve trained so many ministers, I don’t begin to have the fingers and toes to count them all. And I’ve seen bad ones and good ones, and men who progress, and don’t, and good ministers’ wives and bad ministers’ wives. I’ve seen monsters like this guy who just butchered his wife, and left an orphan…and all the while he was doing it, was standing behind a pulpit like I am now. No more converted than the very devil who was in him. I mean, I’ve seen at all! I’ve seen things you can’t imagine.

It took a long time, over half a century, but I know how to shepherd. I’m trained to do it, and we have a lot of good shepherds among us, some in this room, and others around the world. If you’re blessed to have a minister near you, no matter how inexperienced he is, back him up, help him. You know, the big guys sold out, but he’s there, because he didn’t, and his wife the same. Many of them don’t even have wives. Their wives left them, or they never have been married.

But I want to go to another question. Christ said and, we could say, was most careful, and…yet again, using the term…went out of His way to talk about a moment when He comes to Earth where one is taken and one is left. He says it five times, and once and for all, I want to clarify exactly who it is that’s taken and left. I think we all pretty much know who is taken—it’s us taken to the reckoning. That’s pretty easy. But why does Christ, five times…I’m going to do this for dramatic effect…say one is taken and one is left…one is taken and one is left…in Matthew and Luke…one is taken and one is left…one is taken and one is left, and one is taken and one is left?

Five times, He emphasized that one gets left. Who is that? And they are working together…these are people right beside those who are taken. Who is that? Now the Rapturists think it’s the poor…the poor idiots on the bus, that when the driver is taken away, they’re left behind to crash and get killed. Or, the pilot on the plane…You’ve heard all these lunatic ideas that they’re vacuumed up to heaven. Well, we know we’re not vacuumed up to heaven. We are taken to the reckoning, the Kingdom of God arrives. But beside those people who are taken was somebody who was left behind—whether in the field, the mill or the bed.

Who are those people that you and I are going to be right with? We’re jerked away and they’re not. It’s a critical question, and it’s one I have battled with and I have the answer and the answer is simply astonishing. It will astonish you, and it sets up a bigger question that we’re going to address right after it, although this is a big one. Well, let’s go through the possibilities. Here are the possibilities…

“It’s you working at the mill beside some Lutheran, and you’re in the field beside some Baptist, or you’re in bed with a carnal husband or wife. It’s just people in the world…all around us.” Now that would agree with the Rapturists. I’m suspicious of that one just because the Rapturists came up with it. So is that really what Christ wants us to know? Five times emphasizes that the world is going to be left behind while we go to the reckoning. Who would doubt that? Who would doubt that the world is not going to the reckoning to be given the Kingdom…and we need to be told five times, with specific references to different locations, they’re not going; they’re right there with you and they’re not going. I’m not saying it’s wrong to believe some in the world could be near us when it happens, but is that Christ’s meaning?

“It’s the handful of brethren who might work beside someone who’s in United or Living or COGwa or PCG…or you’re married to a mate, you know, and we’re not in their church, but it describes us in bed with them or in the field or the mill with them; grinding at the mill with them. It’s got to be a mate, right?” That’s precious, precious few people that we actually work right beside at the auto plant or at Giant Eagle or flipping burgers together, or…There are very few people in the Restored Church of God, men or women, who are married to somebody who goes to a splinter. I’ll bet the number in the entire church, worldwide, of that kind of people, I’ll bet it is not half-a-dozen couples. I could be wrong, but it could easily be three or four…but maybe it’s ten, you know, the huge number of ten. Is that what Christ is talking about…or who He’s talking about that is left behind? You ought to want to know this.