Faithfulness: God's & Ours

Creeping compromise brings consequences,

and begins when you think that the little things don't count!

Fred R. Coulter—January 20, 2024

- Video |  - PDF | Audio | [Up]

Let's look at some headlines in the news, and we'll keep up on the things that are taking place.

As I mentioned before, China is having some financial problems, and we don't know how severe that's going to be, but this year their stock market fell by 30 percent. When there was the meeting with Biden and Xi in San Francisco, there was a very little publicized meeting that had all the major investment billionaires meet with Xi.

What he wanted was American money through the American stock exchange to help bail out China that was having their financial problems. So, that tells us a couple of things. Because of that, all the saber-rattling concerning Taiwan will not happen in war. The Chinese want to take over without firing a shot.

Remember what they did to Hong Kong? They waited to the right moment, the right time, then they just moved in and took over. They didn't have to destroy anything. They kept all:

• the businesses
• the stock market
• the foreign exchange
• the banks

So that's what they want to do with Taiwan! We'll have to see how that goes.

Right now there are meetings going on in Davos, Switzerland. Why is that important? Because that's where all of the 'woke' billionaires get together to try and form the New World Order!

They're having a little difficulty doing it, which is good, but they're trying to use A.I., and their goal is to replace 5 to 10 percent of the workforce and have A.I. do it.

Remember how Biden said he wanted to give a minimum income to all the people? That comes from the World Economic Forum, headed by Klaus Schwab and Yul Harari! So, watch what they're going to be doing with that.

Here's something else and, we're going to have posted online a link about this: What they are doing with DARPA—Department of Advanced Research Projects Agency in the United States, funded by the government.

They are performing many, many experiments and have been doing them for years and years and years! What they are coming up with are things that will make Dr. Mengele of the Nazis during WWII look like sandbox and children playing in it They want to directly intervene through:

• vaccines
• genetically modified food
• what they do when they have the planes fly over and spray the air

Contrails—all those particles will come down to the earth and they're developing the kind that will ingest by just breathing. All of them are designed to change your genetic setup to make you more receptive to their plans!

Now, I'm going to have online a special report by a woman in Spain who shows what they're planning to do. That goes right along with the eventual chip in the right hand or in the forehead. So, the mark of the beast equals complete control!

That's why there's a coming martyrdom of the saints. That martyrdom comes, because they are faithful to God; they don't compromise!That's what we're going to talk about today.

What they want to do is make human beings a combination of a physical entity and all of the add-ons and things that they intend to do to change our genetic makeup. We will be called 'homoborgensis.' In other words, they say that they want to bring 'singularity' through Singularity University.

I think it was 2008 for Feast of Tabernacles—days 3 & 4—I gave two messages on Singularity is Near by Raymond Kurzweil. He headed up. He had he heads up the singularity.

They want to bring false eternal life by taking your consciousness and what you have in your mind and develop a mind in a robot—post humanism—because you have transhumanism, then you have post humanism.

Post humanism—you will live forever because your consciousness will be in the mind of that robot. Satan is not looking to play tiddlywinks with human beings; he wants to remake them and destroy them!

Now then, if you have not read that 30-page report by that Chinese general that we have on the home page. If you don't come online for the live streaming services and you don't go online to the website, then you're going to have to write for that paper. It's a 30 page paper:

Secret Speech By Chinese General Chi Haotian {https://www.cbcg.org/images/books/The-Secret-Speech-of-General-Chi-Haotian.pdf}

It's important to understand, because this tells you what the Chinese have been planning for America for over 20 years, and they're actually doing it right now.

One of the things that they said way back then that they specialized in was enhancing biotechnology and viruses to infect people, to kill them without having to fire a shot, and then take over.

Now they're talking about it. Here's Klaus Schwab saying we have 'disease X' coming soon. Are they going to try and spring this during the election so that they can have all mail-in ballots and stuff them again like they did with the last one? Who knows! So, you need to keep up on that.

Remember, these people are working hand-in-glove overtime trying to set up the whole system to control the whole world. Eventually they will get the system. It may not be like exactly the way that the World Economic Forum proposes today. But nevertheless, it will come because Rev. 13 tells us that it will.

Now concerning the BRICS, that is Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. They've had five other nations join them, which are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia.

All of these nations have varying degrees of stability in their currency and their economy. Put them all together, they're going to have an impact. They're going to try and have a BRICS currency. So, that sets up a race between the central bank digital currencies, which they're now developing in 130 countries, and what the BRICS are trying to do with their international trade and their coming currency that they want to produce. So, it will be a race as to who finishes first. But it will probably be the digital currency.

Here's something that even has the Catholic Church upset at the Vatican. The Pope announces blessing on same sex couples, and there are quite a few Catholics who are rebelling against it. So, we'll see where that goes.

• Remember what it says that Jerusalem is called in Rev. 11? Sodom and Egypt, and that means the whole world.
• What is the false religion called? Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots!

So we see that coming!

Now, let's look at a couple of other things that are taking place right now.

They're finding that with all this cold weather back in the Midwest and the East, electric cars don't hold their charge very long, and they can't get them charged up. Here's a picture of an electric car with a cord stuffed into the apparatus on the side of the car to get the battery charged, and the car won't work. But it costs $15,000 more than a gas-driven car.

Everyone's looking to hope that Trump will get elected. Well, he may. But we'll have to see how far he can do it in changing the direction that America has been going. Because you come to a point… He was talking about mass deportation.  How are you going to round them all up? Will they be able to identify them?

Also, guess how much New York City has spent just on healthcare for all of the illegal immigrants that they send up to New York City. Last year, they spent $500-million in New York City.

• What's going to happen when there can't be any medical attention given to them or given to the rest of the people?
• What kind of plagues will come?
• What sort of sickness and disease will they bring?

All of this is a fulfillment of prophecies. Just like Russell Kemp said, 'Will the people listen enough so that God will hold back his hand?' {note message: Amos the Prophet} We don't know!

I just did two on Church at Home on The Hand of God's Judgment. One of the major things is all the immigrants coming into America! They've already come into a lot of the European countries that are of the other ten tribes of Israel.

Now then, for those of us who are not of the immigrant class and you have a family, your family is being attacked if you want to home-school your children, but it has been proven that home schooled children turn out to be smarter, more active, and more, desirable to be employed.

Then we have the thing here, the Red Sea, the Houthi going after the shipping. Biden is there because of the sins of the people, and his inaction is part of the curse brought upon us, because of our sins in rejecting God in the 'Christian' so-called community!

Go online and look on YouTube, the 50 most wicked or evil Christians! I mentioned that last week.

I got this e-mail from a man named Ehud Barak, a Jew living in Algeria and he's got about 20 who meet with him and they now have begun to follow along with truthofGod.org and churchathome.org. Plus, there's another group some distance away from them.

I sent him an e-mail and ask him if we sent you some Bibles, would they get through safely to you? And he wrote back and said, no, they probably would destroy them. So, I wrote him and told him you need to download the entire Bible from afaithfulversion.org and put it on your computer or notebook or smart-phone if you have a smart-phone that has enough memory to hold it. If you don't let me know, we'll send you the funds so you can get it.

Also, I put him in contact with John Guenther in Spain and he's already made contact with him. So, we'll see where that goes.

We're reaching out to new people. Clear over in Algeria. Can you imagine that? Just a small group; God is still working!

Jesus made a statement in Luke 18; first of all the parable starting right there in verse 1 He tells us what we need to do. One of the most important things we need to do to maintain contact with God is every day we need to pray:

• we need to pray in the morning
• we need to pray in the evening

As you go along, you'll find yourself praying more even while you are doing what you're doing during the day. That's called praying continuously, as Paul says back there in 1-Thessalonians.

Luke 18:1: "And He also spoke a parable to them to show that it is necessary… [or obligatory] …to pray always and not to give up."

God will answer the prayer either yes or no, or He'll answer it a little differently than you expect. He may answer the prayer in a time that is later that you didn't expect. Sometimes it happens that you will look back and see that God answered the prayer and you didn't even know it until you thought about it later on.

Jesus says here concerning the widow who went to the unjust judge and said, 'Avenge me,' and he didn't do it and she kept coming and kept coming and kept coming. The judge finally said, 'I'll avenge you.'

Then here's the lesson from that; Jesus said: v 7: "And shall not God execute vengeance for His elect…"

We're the calledand the chosen—which means elect, meaning selected; selected out of all of the human beings that God deals with and doesn't deal with. As a matter of fact, when you understand it and realize it, everyone, as I brought out in The Hand of God's Judgment on Church at Home, is this: God is judging everyone, everywhere, every nation, everywhere, all the time!

How does He do that?

• by His laws
• by His commandments
• by our choices

So, here's what Jesus said:

"…His elect, who cry out to Him day and night… [constantly praying] …and patiently watch over them? I tell you that He will execute vengeance for them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes…" (vs 7-8).

Now, notice this next sentence here, because this is the key, especially as we see what's going on today.

"…Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, shall He find the true faith on the earth?" (v 8).

Now, the Greek is the faith, meaning the faith that comes from God! God will give us the gift of faith, which is part of the gift of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. But we must make the choices to properly exercise that faith.

IF you compromise… remember this… WHEN you compromise, THEN you start creating problems.

I mentioned last week about this woman preacher that I saw on Daystar, and she really gave a good message, and it was mostly to women, so that's fine. God says He doesn't want a woman to preach in the church, but we find in the Old Testament that there is the prophetess Deborah!

God will use women when the men become so weak that they won't stand up for the Truth. That's brought out when Deborah told Barak, who is supposed to be the judge to go carry out the battle against the enemy.

She said, 'Barak, God says go do this.' He said, 'Well, I won't go without you.' She said, 'It's a woman's victory.'

This woman, when she spoke, said, 'Compromise brings consequences.' Compromise is when you shade the Truth, or move away from the Truth, and accept something that is not right.

Let's look at what happened to the children of Israel:

Deuteronomy 7:9: "Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God Who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him…"

• What are all of these Protestants going to do that say that the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God and there's no love in it?
• How many times do you find about loving God?

We'll see a little bit here just concerning that!

"…that love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations" (v 9).

That's more generations than there are generations of human beings.

Verse 10: "And he repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them…."

Isn't that what Christ said back there in Luke 18, that God will speedily avenge? Yes!

"…He will not be slow to repay him who hates Him. He will repay him to his face" (v 10).

• all of those who hate God
• all of those who don't believe in God
• all of those who want to take God out of everything that is happening in the lives of people and even in the 'Christian' church

The Christian church is virtually worthless anymore today!

Verse 11: "You shall, therefore, keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgment, which I command you today to do them. And it shall come to pass, if…" (vs 11-12).

It's all conditional because God has given us free moral agency.

• we choose when to pray
• we choose what to pray about
• we choose keeping the commandments of God
• we choose studying the Word of God

Or we can compromise and not do it! Does that bring consequences? Yes, it does!

Verse 12: "And it shall come to pass, if you hearken to these judgments to keep and practice them, then the LORD your God shall keep with you the covenant and the mercy, which He swore to your fathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, your grain, and your wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the flocks of your sheep, in the land, which He swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all people…." (vs 12-14).

I want you to stop and think about that, because this nation was founded on the Word of God, and the Constitution has many principles from the Bible in it. Were we not one of the most blessed nations of all people on earth? Think about it. Yes, we were, and look at what we have done.

Now let's see something else here about what we are to do. How is our faith expressed to God? First of all, we are to love God and keep His commandments!

It says there in 1-John 2 that if you profess God or Christ, you were to walk in His steps!

What happens when you have a trial? We're all going to have trials!

• some will be long
• some will be short
• some will be difficult
• some will be very anguishing
• some will not be so tedious

Deuteronomy 8:1: "All the commandments, which I command you this day, shall you be diligent..."

Now, mark that down and you go to Deut.28 and you will see how all the blessings come, and it's always with diligence.

• you are aware of it
• you understand it

you do it

• the way God says
• in the way that God wants
• with a willing heart

"…diligent to observe and to do that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember all the way, which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you" (vs 1-2). That's why we have trials!

• so that we can overcome human nature
• so that we can overcome the dictates of the carnal mind
• so that we can learn to have faith and trust in God

When they wandered He said, 'To humble you, to prove you.' God tells us to prove Him:

• by believing Him
• by keeping His commandments
• by believing Christ

"…to prove you, to know what is in your heart…" (v 2).

• Isn't that interesting? That's what God wants to understand!
• What is it that makes you tick?
• What is it that you have going on in your mind?
• Is it the way of God led by the Spirit of God?
• Is it that you're producing the fruits that are necessary for that?

"…whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and then He fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know it, so that He might make you know…" (vs 2-3).

That's what it's for, a lesson so we can know; so God can know!

"…make you know that man… [every human being] …does not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live" (v 3).

Isn't that the first thing that Jesus quoted to Satan the devil in Matt. 4 and Luke 4 when He was tempted by the devil? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God! That defines God's faith to us that we need to choose to do, so that we have faithfulness to God!

Let's see what happened to the children of Israel. Let's see what happened. They went into the 'promised land.' Joshua led them; they conquered the land and everything was fine. But Joshua also said before he died that you this day must choose who you are going to serve! There's always that choice:

• for every individual in his or her life
• for in a family
• for in a community
• for in a nation
• for whatever

There are choices that we make!

Note Deut. 30 that God 'has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life that you may live!' Here's what happened:

Judges 2:7: "And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they buried him…" (vs 7-9).

Verse 10: "And also all that generation was gathered to their fathers…."

A generational change we're in that right now, and that been for some time.

"…And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil…" (vs 10-11).

• How do you start doing evil? By compromising!
• What's the first compromise that came along in the Churches of God?

Well, you can get the book From Sabbath to Sunday by Samuel Bacchiocchi. He shows it began in Rome shortly after Paul was let out of prison, beginning in 62A.D. When did it all come to a head? When there were so many people drifting away from the Sabbath in 321A.D. when Constantine said, 'You're going to keep the venerable day of the sun.'

You see the choice, the compromise, the result! Sunday then began to replace Sabbath-keeping and then all the holidays.

Now, we have online and look at it. It's called: What the Vatican Doesn't Want You to Know.

Verse 11: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim."

Who's Balaam? Balaam is the sun-god and his day is Sunday!

Verse 12: "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt…."

What does God say? It is an 'if.' 'If you forsake Me, I will forsake you.' Then great distress and trouble comes.

And people wonder, 'Why is it, why do we have all of these problems?' Because we have forgotten God! We have left Him!

"…And they followed other gods, even the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth" (vs 12-13).

Then it shows God sent them off into captivity because of that.

Now, let's come to Rev. 2 & 3 and look at the Churches. Let's remember that it's all based upon our choices. We who have the Holy Spirit of God must maintain that Spirit of God by prayer and study and living God's ways.

Let's see what we would call 'creeping compromise' and what happens.

Revelation 2:2—the Church in Ephesus, Christ says: "I know your works, and your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot bear those who are evil; and that you did test those who proclaim themselves to be apostles, but are not, and did find them liars."

Verse 6: "But this you have: that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

What are the deeds of the Nicolaitans? That is rule over the people of God by the ministry and false doctrine that comes with that! We see that in the Catholic Church. We've experienced it within the Churches of God in our day. Here's what happens with creeping compromise.

Revelation 2:4: "Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (vs 4-5).

And if not, now this sounds just like reading Judges 2. When they sinned, God brought trials and correction upon them.?

"…for if you do not, I will come to you quickly; and I will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent" (v5)/

Then He gives a warning. Again, to all the Churches, it's the same thing right here. God is faithful:

• in blessings
• in cursing
• in Truth
• in righteousness

He doesn't want us to begin forsaking Him and begin compromising and not doing what God wants!

• How is it going to be possible for some Churches of God to say it's okay to take the mark of the beast? They may not say it exactly that way!
• How will they compromise? Because it's entirely possible! They don't know the total control that it will have over them!

Here's how it'll happen! The wrong interpretation that Herbert Armstrong had way back in the 60s, which is this, the mark of the beast is Sunday-keeping. The Seventh-Day Adventists teach that today: the mark of the beast is Sunday-keeping.

• How many of you have credit cards? We all do!
• that's a digital system
• it works
  • What will be the compromise when it comes? Well, it's only a matter of transactions!

After all, you've been using it for years on your credit cards. You also have computers, and are not these computers programmed to do this, that, and the other? Yes!

Look at all of the people in Sweden and various other European countries that already have the mark of the beast in their right hand, a programmed chip!

Look, they're doing okay! So, since it's not interfering with our worship of God….
Compromise!
…therefore, since it's only business and of the world…
Compromise!
…it's okay to go along with the system.
Compromise! Gotcha!

See how easy that's going to be? And then they would add on to this:

Well, God really doesn't want you to be hungry and naked.

Do you think anyone like that will be faithful unto martyrdom? Because it's going to come!

Now then, let's continue on with the Churches here. We'll just summarize the next one, which is Smyrna. They had to prove their faithfulness with their lives. Some were cast into prison, some were martyred, and they had ten years of terrible tribulation! But Christ  said, 'Be faithful and I'll give you a crown of life.'

Then we come to the next one, Pergamos. Now here, compromise came out to be big time because they accepted eating things sacrificed to idols. That's the beginning of what is the Catholic Eucharist or Mass, and accepting a hierarchical ministry. What did God say?

Verse 16—Christ says to them: "Repent! For if you do not repent, I will come to you quickly, and will make war against them with the sword of My mouth."

Think about this: Christ coming to fight against His own Church. So, how important is our faithfulness? That's God's faithfulness toward those people who sin, because faithfulness of God comes two ways:

• Blessing, if:
• you love Him
• you keep His commandments
• you use His Holy Spirit and grow in grace and knowledge
• you pray night and day
• you study His Word and walk in His path

Then God's blessing will come upon you!

• If not, He's going to make war against you!

Same thing with the Church of Thyatira and Jezebel, full-fledged thing with the Catholic Church and again, eating things, sacrifice to idols, and that goes into all of the Waldensians and all of those. And again, He tells them to repent.

Verse 22: "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their works."

God doesn't judge just whether we're faithful, but faithfulness produces works. Compromise and unfaithfulness has consequences and produces sin and correction. Then He tells them to repent!

Rev. 3—the first part there is Sardis. They have a name that they live; yet, they're almost dead.

Revelation 3:2: "Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain... [v 5]: …and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life…"

Then we come to the Church that is faithful—Philadelphia:

• keeps the Word of God
• follows the Word of God
• lives by the Word of God
• guards the Word of God

Then He blesses us; He leaves quite a blessing here! He doesn't hold any great sin necessitating great repentance against the Philadelphians. Why?

If you're faithful with the Word of God and faithful in your prayers, what are you going to do every day? You're going to repent of your sins, just like Jesus said in Matt. 6! Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us! So, you need to remember that. Any of you who have something against some of the other brethren somewhere, you need to forgive them, and you need to ask God's forgiveness for you.

Then we come to the Laodiceans that everybody likes to accuse everybody else of being a Laodicean because they're rich and increase with goods.

How did they get rich and increase with goods and what is their compromise? Just like I said about how to receive the mark of the beast if you're in the Church!

Oh, look at all the blessings God has given us. Isn't this wonderful? We have all of this.

• Isn't that what was said of Ambassador College?
• Where is it today?
• Gone! All three campuses! Gone!

When I saw them digging up, never forget this, right across the street from the Hall of Administration was a shopping center with a grocery store. When I would go down to Pasadena for services in the 90s and so forth, I'd go down once a month and very often I would stop by in that, I think it was Ralph's, and get a couple of things for my trip. And one time I came down and there they were where the Hall of Administration stood, it was gone! Completely dismantled! And they were busy digging out the foundation that was the basement below the Hall of Administration.

I looked at that and I thought, did not God fulfill His Word that 'IF you do not repent, I will spew you out of My mouth'? Yes, indeed, because consequences came!

That was because they turned from God and didn't do what they should do. Let's look at some things in the book of Proverbs about being faithful. Let's see what we have here. There are a lot of things in it.

Proverbs 14:5: "A faithful witness will not lie…" [note that v 4 read in error]

One of the big sins of worldwide was from the ministry lies about behavior of the ministers. Lies about changing the doctrine, which is part of the punishment that God brought.

Verse 5: "A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will speak lies."

Prov. 20:6—this is again having to do with being faithful. Proverbs is interesting because it shows the contrast. So, here's the contrast.

Proverbs 20:6: "Most men will proclaim each his own goodness… [they'll only talk about themselves and what they do and what they have done] …but a faithful man who can find?" Yes, where are the faithful men?

Let's see what Jesus has to say about all of this. Let's come to Luke 16. Here are some good lessons for us. Right here from Jesus' teaching about what kind of faithfulness we need to have.

Luke tells us what we need to do; Luke 16:10: "…the one who is unrighteous in the things that are least…"

Compromise begins when you think that the little things don't count! But after a while with compromise with it, it becomes a big thing. Isn't that what we saw in the Churches of God? Yes, indeed!

Verse 10: "The one who is faithful in the things that are least is also faithful in much; and the one who is unrighteous in the things that are least is also unrighteous in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give to you your own?" (vs 10-12).

What does He mean by that? You're not faithful with others!  That's called stewardship! A steward is one who is given the property by his master to go out and make money. Produce it for him and bring it back to him. Of course, he'll be compensated for it. We find out in Luke 19 about the parable of the talents, and the parable of the pounds in Matt. 25.

He says for those who were good stewards and they made a gain for the master: 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.'

Now, let's read along here a little bit more about compromise.

Verse 13: "No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and he will love the other; or he will hold to the one and will despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

You cannot serve God in any other thing or any other person. What has God given us; the most important thing that we have? His Word! We're to be faithful in that.

As Paul told Timothy, and this is for all elders and everybody who studies: 'Rightly divide the Word of Truth!

Now then, let's look at some others: let's see what else Jesus had to say about this.

Luke 12:42: "And the Lord said, 'Who then is the wise and faithful steward, whom the lord shall put in charge of his household, to give to each one the portion of food in season?'"

So, God gives us responsibility to see what we're going to do. That includes everything we do from:

• tithes and offerings
• to Sabbath services
• to Holy Days
• to the work that we do
• to the way that we think
• to the way that we react

Verse 43: "Blessed is that servant whom the lord, when he comes, shall find so doing."

What is God going to give us at the resurrection? Everything He's been working for up to that point! So that when the first resurrection takes place:

• we're all raised from the dead
• we're all changed to spirit beings
• we're all on the Sea of Glass
• the Lamb and the Bride
• the wedding takes place
• the wedding feast

We come back, and what is Christ called? Faithful and true! That's what we need to be.

Verse 44: "Of a truth, I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant shall say in his heart, 'My lord delays his coming,'…" Didn't work out like He said!

• How many people left the Church because it didn't work out the way that they were told?
• How many repented and said, 'Well, this is a warning from God. We better get close to God, and we better get with it'?

"…'My lord delays his coming,' and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to be gluttonous and become drunk, the lord of that servant will come in a day that he does not expect, and in an hour that he does not know, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers" (vs 45-46).

So, here's the choices that we need to make so that we are faithful.

• God is always faithful
• God is always true
• God is always merciful
• God will forgive

So we need to adjust our behavior and our thoughts into things that we do to that!

He gives a warning, v 47: "And that servant who knew the will of his lord, but did not prepare, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."

It shows that he's going to be held responsible because it was given. That's always important to remember. All of our elders know that, and we do not lord it over the brethren. What it is for all the elders to do is this:

Jesus said, 'It's sufficient that the disciple become like the teacher.' Christ is the Teacher. We as elders are the stewards, and we are to teach all the brethren everywhere to become like Christ!

Now when that is done, then all of the brethren will be correcting themselves. Why? Because they're faithful! They want to grow and overcome, and they will become aware of the things that they do, or the carnal mind thoughts that come in that are contrary to the will of God, to overcome them.

This tells us no one is going to escape the faithful judgment of God. Now, there's mercy involved when there's repentance. So he says this:

Verse 48: "but the one who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For to whomever much has been given, from him shall much be required; and to whom much has been committed, from him they will demand the more."

That's where we are. Think about this. Of all the times in the history of the world, beginning when the Reformation started, and unfortunately the Protestants never carried through. But beginning with that, the entire Word of God has been available to the whole world for 500 years, and now translated into 3,000 languages!

That means that there were a lot of translators. Most of them were pretty faithful. But today, in the so-called Christian world, they're compromising with Satan the devil big time!

The consequences are going to come. So, we need to be faithful in what we do. God will be faithful in what He does. And we need to continue in growing and overcoming in everything that we do.

There are many other Scriptures we could add to it, and you can study that in the book of Proverbs. So, we'll go ahead and end this way: And to the one who is faithful, Christ will say, 'Well done, good, and faithful servant!'

Scriptural References:

• Luke 18: 1, 7-8
• Deuteronomy 7:9-14
• Deuteronomy 8:1-3
• Judges 2:7-13
• Revelation 2:2, 6, 4-5, 10, 16, 22
• Revelation 3:2, 5
• Proverbs 14:5
• Proverbs 20:6
• Luke 16: 10-13
• Luke 12:43-48

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 13; 11
• 1 John 2
• Deuteronomy 28
• Matthew 4
• Luke 4
• Deuteronomy 30
• Matthew 6
• Luke 19
• Matthew 25

Also referenced:

Article: Secret Speech By Chinese General Chi Haotian {https://www.cbcg.org/images/books/The-Secret-Speech-of-General-Chi-Haotian.pdf}

Message: Amos the Prophet by Russell Kemp {truthofGod.org}

Church at Home {churchathome.org} The Hand of God's Judgment

Book: From Sabbath to Sunday by Samuel Bacchiocchi

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 1/26/24

Copyright 2024—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.