After the death of Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong and the doctrinal changes which were made, many people who once believed and held on to the truth simply walked away. They accepted false teachings such as eating unclean food, keeping worldly holidays, forsaking the weekly Sabbath and God’s annual Holy Days, as well as tithing, and, in essence, they lost everything they once held to be true. But the craziest thing is how FAST they lost the knowledge of the truth when they turned away from it.
How does something like this happen?
How do people, who have devoted their entire lives to something, just give up and walk away?
The answer, simply put, is they never truly loved God’s Way of Life. They never inculcated it into their everyday doings. And so, when lawlessness came, their resolve, their LOVE for God was not truly there (Matthew 24:12).
1 Timothy 4:1-2 accurately describes the condition of those who left—and those who WILL leave in the not-too-distant future. We see that their conscience is seared. Once someone’s conscience is no longer willing to be led by the truth, because they refuse to overcome or ask for forgiveness, then God cannot work with that individual anymore and so the veil that had prevented godly understanding but that was lifted, once again covers that person (2 Corinthians 3:14-16; 4:3). Ephesians 4:18-19 goes on to describe the life of Gentiles who live as we once did, who have become callous because they don’t understand, and so their repeated sins have no means of escape.
When the man of sin manifests himself (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9), he will come with the deceptive powers of Satan and he will cause those who are NOT strong in the faith—those who are not fully loving God—to fall away. Deception comes in many forms.
Now is the day and the hour for us to change our ways and seek a relationship with God—to set our minds and our hearts on full obedience. Matthew 24:13 says that while many will turn away, those who endure and press on in faith and confidence, will be saved. Those who love God with everything that is in them will escape the terrible times to come and will stand before the returning Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:37). We have to be found loving God more than anything else in this world. Family, work, money, anything can take the place of God in our lives if we allow it to. But we must not permit this to happen. Verse 14 also shows that the gospel of the Kingdom of God will continue to be preached in all the world so that the end can come. If we don’t show God that we care now, then we too may fall away in the future.
The Work of God will not fail. It will be accomplished, just as all the other things that He has prophesied. We can choose to either be a part of God’s plan, or we can choose to not be. No minister, no member, no other person can make that choice for each of us. It is a very individual decision. Let us make sure we have our hearts tuned correctly and our minds and souls ready for the return of Jesus Christ, so we can be told: “Well done, good and faithful servants.”
