Don Ward is back with one of his year-end encyclicals to his faithful followers in the United Church of God. It has been a rough year for many UCG members as they are constantly being berated for not doing enough. There is that "gospel" that UCG assumes they are getting out to the world, though you would be hard-pressed to find anyone on the street who has ever heard of them.
God has not called you to just sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by. He expects you to be in the arena fighting the good fight of faith with all your might.I am curious to know exactly when UCG has fought the "good fight". Its leadership has been on the dole since they apostatized from the Worldwide Church of God in a fit of rebellion as they went from one paycheck to another paycheck.
Ward continues on with this about the "calling" UCG members are the recipients of. One of the things UCG members must do is be baptized in order to be received into a relationship with Jesus Christ. He then lists 5 things that church members are called into. You can quickly so who gets the short end of the stick with last billing, as usual.
Perhaps our greatest spiritual blessing is our calling. In order to enter into the covenant of sacrifice with God and Christ we must hear the word and respond to it (Romans 10:10-17). That is, we must repent, exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ, be baptized and receive the laying on of hands. Do we grasp, understand and appreciate the significance of our calling? We have been called to: (1) the great battle of the ages; (2) the hope of the ages; (3) the work of God; (4) the Church of God; and (5) the body of Christ, the family and Kingdom of God. Do we remotely grasp, understand and appreciate the significance and importance of our calling?Ward seems to imply that baptism is a requirement for salvation. It is actually quite simple,
there is no external act that anyone needs to do for salvation. Faith is the only criteria needed. Romans 4 and Acts 15.
Ward then goes on to talk about a battle that's been going on for some time now, apparently. What he fails to realize is that battle has already been fought and won, but since Jesus gets continually short shifted, the law is necessary to trump him.
How can UCG members be focused upon the "hope of the ages" when the stone commandments are constantly being used to beat down members. How can they find that "hope" when "he" is hardly ever discussed?
God has called you to bear fruit. Every person has been given some gift. Never underestimate the gifts that God has given you—to do so would be to take your calling lightly. God has not called you to just sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by. He expects you to be in the arena fighting the good fight of faith with all your might.That "good fight" translates into tithe money. He should just admit it.
Never discount just your presence at Sabbath services. Through fellowship we draw strength and encouragement from each other.Getting UCG members interested in attending services regularly has been a task for UCG. Given that UCG services are filled with elderly men preaching the same sermons they have preached since they preached them in the Worldwide Church of God, keeping members interested has been a hard task. Even the blue sock puppet Jelly has not been successful.
UCG members should not wait for the ministry to do anything, it is up to them, particularly the ability to prophesy.
God gives talents to every person (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). God expects us to use our gifts and talents to bear fruit: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another” (Romans 12:6-10).Seriously, can you imagine what would happen when some UCG members might stand up and say they had the sure word of prophecy? They would be drummed out of the church as fast as Rod Meredith kicked Bob Thiel out for making such a preposterous claim. How could some ignorant lay member have a word of prophecy when the top dogs can't get their act together and even pretend to make prophecies?
Better yet, when has Don Ward ever had the faith to prophesy?
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