Coming home from a hard days work, the head of household  was a
bit dismayed to hear his two sons fighting and squabbling in the
basement. Ordering them to stop, he said to them: “Boys, I would like
you to come outside to learn a lesson.” He went to one of the trees in
the yard and picked up a twig, which was about  twenty inches
long. He handed it to his eldest son and said: “ Break this.” His son
did so with ease. He then picked up eight twigs, gave them to his
eldest son and told him: “ Break these.” The son tried very hard, but
he could not do so. He even smashed the twigs across his knees and
still could not break them. He finally admitted that he was unable to
break the eight twigs. The father looked at his sons and said: “ There
is strength in unity.” This was a statement of truth and also a lesson
both boys never forgot. 

By the time you read this
editorial, the Feast of Tabernacles will be over. Hopefully, you have
been inspired and are determined to help finishing the Work that God
has given us to do. This must be done in a unified way, working
together as a team. Fighting and squabbling would only play into the
adversary’s hands. We must stay focused on the job ahead, remaining
faithful to God and doing His Work in a truly united and enthusiastic
manner, as God opens the doors of opportunities for us. Let us all stay
unified, while remembering Mrs. Loma Armstrong’s favorite Scripture in
Psalm 133:1: “Behold , how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to
dwell together in unity!”

It was a warm summer morning in 1930, as the nearly destitute man
walked along the rail track. The sun was beginning to get hot as he
strolled slowly along, small beads of perspiration forming on his
forehead. He thought that the heat was nothing compared to the pangs of
hunger he felt from not eating for the last two days. As he walked
along, he thought how nice it would be to have a decent meal–something
he had not enjoyed for a long time. He prayed silently, “Lord, it would
sure be appreciated if you could somehow fill my need at this
time.” Something suddenly caught his eye, glistening in the
sunlight on the ground. Stopping he looked, then bent down to pick up a
brand new fifty cent piece that someone had dropped on the ground. A
lump swelled in his throat with gladness and joy at the thought of the
fine meal this could buy him in the town just a few miles ahead. As he
walked along, clutching his new found treasure, he came across a
trestle which crossed a river almost a quarter of a mile long. About
half way across he lost his footing. As he fell forward and opened his
hand to break his fall, the fifty cent piece bounced off the track and
fell between the rail ties. He watched as it slowly turned,
flickering sunlight as it did, then slipping into the river, lost
forever. The man looked up to heaven and said, “Lord I thank you that I
still have my appetite.”

Although this is just a story, it
reflects a genuine spirit of gratitude–something sadly lacking in this
day and age. Let us look at how Paul described this end time
generation, in 2 Timothy 3:2: “For men will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
UNTHANKFUL, unholy…”

Even though this typifies our generation today, were people filled with gratitude in the past?

Let
us consider what happened in Christ’s time. Luke 17:11-13 tells us:
“Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the
midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village,
there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they
lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!'”

All
ten lepers were healed by Christ, but what happened? Verses 15-17
continue: “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned,
and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His
feet, giving Him thanks… So Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not
ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who
returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?'”

The
foreigner happened to be a Samaritan (verse 16). The Jews looked down
on Samaritans as being inferior. However, only the Samaritan was
willing to thank God. This proves that not too much has changed in two
thousand years.

What about us?

Are we grateful for our
precious calling–the pearl of great price which has been bestowed upon
us by God through His great mercy–or do we just take it for granted?
Are we grateful for the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, making it
possible to enter that great future kingdom? In less than two months we
will be gathering together, where God has placed His name, to celebrate
the Feast of Tabernacles, picturing the wonderful world tomorrow and
our part in ruling with and under Christ, our beloved High Priest and
King. How grateful are we to be allowed this tremendous opportunity of
experiencing a foretaste of that future world? Let us never forget the
blessings we have and the opportunities we will have in the future, and
let us express daily a genuine attitude of gratitude for all God is
doing and will do in our lives.

As the light slowly dimmed in the arena, a hush grew over the crowd
when the ring announcer entered the ring, wearing a black tuxedo and a
white shirt, with his dark hair glistening under the lights. In a
booming voice he started to introduce the two contestants for the title
bout of the evening. After welcoming the two fighters, he raised the
tone of his bass voice and said: “For the thousands of fans in the
arena and the millions watching around the world, LET’S GET READY TO
RUUUMBLE.” After months of preparation, training and conditioning the
two fighters faced off for the title bout of the evening.

Some
time in the future, after the culmination of a lot of suffering and
endurance for God’s children and the world for that matter, we will be
dressed in white robes (Revelation 6:11 and 7:9). The white robes are
the righteousness of the saints. A crown will be placed on our heads
and we will be seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb when Christ
Himself will come and serve us. At some point during this glorious
ceremony, Christ, in a booming voice, could make an announcement
similar to this:

“For the millions who have suffered for the past
six thousand years, and especially for the last  three and a half
years, and for the whole creation which groans, waiting for the sons
and daughters of God to be born, LET’S GET READY TO RULE.”

This
event of taking over the rulership from Satan and the demons will occur
in the future. The question we have to ask ourselves is, how ready are
we now? Peter refers to us as “a chosen generation, a  royal
priesthood, His own special people” (1 Peter 2:9). We are also
described as kings and priests in Revelation 5:10.

Anciently, the
kings of  Israel and Judah were instructed to be familiar with the
law of God. They were to read it daily–“all the days of his life”
(Deuteronomy 17:19). As future kings and priests we must be familiar
with the Word of God–our preparation, training and conditioning must
be in the application of the law as it pertains to our lives now and to
those we will rule over in the future.

Let’s not let down in
this most important task, so that we will be ready to move forward with
joy and anticipation when we hear those words, perhaps spoken by Christ
in the future: “LET’S GET READY TO RULE.”

The company I work for has invested large sums of money on in-house
training. It reimburses its employees for traveling to out-of-town
training locations. It does not mind spending money to train its
employees and upgrade their knowledge and skills. The company benefits
by this–and so does the employee who enjoys the perks of traveling
across Canada, the United States and even Europe.

The company
also used to have a manager training program. It interviewed everyone
who applied and selected a few for the program, which usually lasted
for about a year. Successful trainees were promoted to management
positions.

We might not always think of our calling as God’s
training program for us–but it truly is. We have been selected among
countless millions of potential candidates to be trained for a
wonderful future. Let us look at what Peter says about our
calling and future potential, in 1 Peter 2:9-10: “But you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special
people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are
now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained
mercy.”

What a wonderful and magnanimous opportunity we have in
this calling. Ironically, God did not call the intelligentsia of this
world, as stated by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:26-27: “For you see your
calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are
mighty.” Notice, He chose the foolish and unwise of the world.

This
does not mean we are to stay weak and foolish, as it were. Rather, we
are to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). In this
context, we need to grasp the significance of the importance of Bible
study. After all, the Bible is our training manual to assist us in
fulfilling our future roles as rulers and priests, as outlined in
Revelation 5:10: “And [You, that is, the Lamb, Jesus Christ] have made
us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the
earth.”

We are in training now for the most challenging,
awesome career anyone on this earth could possibly aspire to. We need
to ensure we are growing in grace and knowledge, by our daily study of
the training manual God has given us–the Bible. And, we must never
forget that we are not training for management positions in this
present world, but to become God beings in the future, assisting Christ
to rule and reign on this earth.

One of the characteristics of this end time generation is a distinct
lack of appreciation, as mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But know this,
that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers
of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, UNTHANKFUL, unholy, unloving, unforgiving,
slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people
turn away!”

This seems to be the plight of modern times in this
hustle and bustle “dog-eating-dog” world we live in. There is a real
lack of appreciation for so many of our blessings. It seems the more
one has in the way of possessions, the less one is appreciative.

We
have just come through a time of self-examination as we prepared for
the Passover. As we consider the great sacrifice of our Lord and
Savior, Who sacrificed Himself for all of us, giving His life for our
sins; our lives should be devoted to God’s Way of sacrifice and of
giving, rather than to the selfish approach of this world. Paul
succinctly put it in perspective, in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates
His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us.”

Not only did Christ die for all of us while we were
still sinners, but if you were the only person on the earth, He would
still have died for you. Christ is your personal Savior, as He is
mine–and He is potentially the Savior of all of mankind.

As we
are concentrating on putting sin out of our lives, and conducting our
lives in a Godly manner, it is important  that we remember
Christ’s great Sacrifice for us. It is also critical, especially at
this time, to be truly appreciative of the fact that because of what
Christ did and does for us, God the Father is granting us the
opportunity to become members of His very Family in the future.

Several weeks ago, I watched an interesting movie in black and
white, which was made in the early sixties. It did not contain the kind
of violence and perverse scenes, which a lot of the modern movies have.
The story line was about a four-star general and head of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, who was not happy with the manner in which the U.S.
President was administering his policies towards Russia. He felt the
President was weak in a lot of areas and that he, the general, could do
a much superior job in leading the country.

This general
convinced four of the five generals of the other branches of the armed
forces that he would be better suited to rule as President. With their
help, he planned to overthrow the President and take the office for
himself.

His plan would have succeeded but for a colonel under
his command who became suspicious of this plot. He reported it to the
President, who set in motion steps to successfully thwart this coup. At
the end of the movie, the President was addressing the nation. His last
statement struck a chord in my mind. He said that in due time people
would come out of the corridors, caves [referring to the North American
Air Defense Command, or NORAD] and bunkers, to embrace freedom.

I
found that this movie contained a remarkable parallel to what Satan
did. He determined that his way was better than God’s. He turned the
minds of his top lieutenants to his way of thinking, and then he did
the unimaginable. He attempted to throw God off His throne and take
over the universe. He was, of course, thwarted in his efforts and shall
receive a just reward for his actions (Jude 12-13).

Just like in
the movie, there is coming a time when men will come out of their caves
and hiding places. This will happen when Christ returns to this earth
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. At that time, He will dethrone
Satan and his demons as the present rulers of this earth. Instead, He
will authorize His faithful saints to rule with and under Him during
the Millennium. Then, we shall truly have “Freedom At Last.”

In the latest member letter, which you will receive shortly, Mr.
Link mentions that Mr. Armstrong, in the latter part of his life,
preached repeatedly about the two trees. Mr. Link also states that Mr.
Armstrong remarked on numerous occasions that some “just did not get
it.” We remember well those sermons, which he gave on that subject, and
I am glad that some of us did get it and remained faithful to God and
His way.

For the benefit of those who were not around then, or
who might not have been church members, I want to discuss just what Mr.
Armstrong meant by these statements.

The two trees are mentioned
in Genesis 2:16-17 and Genesis 3:1-6, respectively. They are called the
“tree of life,” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” They
represent two ways of life. One–the tree of life–is the give way, the
way of co-operation and love, which will lead to eternal life. The
other one–the tree of the knowledge of good and evil–is the get way,
the way of competition and strife, which, if not repented of, will
ultimately lead to eternal death, from which there is no resurrection.

The
one way is based on the demonstration of love by keeping the
commandments of God. The first four of the Ten Commandments show us how
to love God; the last six show us how to love our neighbor. The get way
is going against God’s laws and results in sinning.

History has
shown that many people, who were viewed once as being Church members,
“did not get it,” since they turned their backs on God and went back
into the world. Peter compares this action with a dog turning to his
own vomit.

It is really a matter of choice. God lamented that
fact when He asked: “Why will you die, O Israel?” They were making the
wrong choice, adopting the way of get which leads to pain, suffering
and death. In Deuteronomy 30:15-16, God tells ancient Israel (and
spiritual Israel today): “See, I have set before you today life and
good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the LORD your
God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes,
and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your
God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.”

God
continues His warning in Deuteronomy 30:19-20: “I call heaven and earth
as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and
your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that
you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your
life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land
which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to
give them.”

Notice that we demonstrate LOVE through obedience.
Let us not become part of future statistics, listing those who are not
getting it, brethren, but let us rather ensure, through faithful
obedience, that we make the right choice. Let us always turn from the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and let us continue to choose
the tree of LIFE.